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Episode 19: Fox May Have Given WWE A Billion Dollars, But Predetermined Is All In For Starrcast And Those Are Of Equal Importance Right?! Also, We're Giving Away 2 Tickets To All In!
54 Plays8 years ago
This week Garrett & Derrick announce that they are officially #AllIn for Starrcast and will be appearing on podcast row! They also chat about Smackdown moving to Fox and a recent trip to ROH/NJPW War Of The Worlds in Chicago!
Also in this episode, find out how to enter to win 2 free tickets to All In from Predetermined: A Pro Wrestling Hangout!
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Transcript
Introduction and GCW Event Souvenirs
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everybody, happy Thursday. Welcome to another episode of Predetermined, a pro wrestling hangout. I'm your host, Garrett Callender. And with me, as always, a man who I have to assume is still picking a little bit of glass out of his beard from last week, Derek Albin. You know what? This is actually an opportunity to tell you something that I have been saving for this podcast.
00:00:21
Speaker
So, Sunday night, my girlfriend's getting ready to leave the apartment, and I go to put on my shoes, so I pick my shoe up, and as I'm getting ready to untie the laces a little bit and get it ready, a tiny little piece of glass falls down into the heel part of the shoe, and I pick that out, and I'm like, well, holy shit, you know what this is from? This is from GCW. Holy shit, it's been in there for over a week.
00:00:43
Speaker
Hey man, it's a souvenir that you're gonna get to keep forever. I mean, I've washed my new Japan hoodie since then and, you know, it cuts me every fucking time I put it on. I'm sure there's a whole bunch of diseases that are gonna be a souvenir that we get to keep forever from that show. And you know what? That didn't cost us a dime. Just four hours and a little bit of dignity, a lot of night terrors.
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, really, just really a lot of screaming. A lot of screaming. It's just free souvenirs that last a lifetime, buddy. But it's safe to say that I am not over it yet. I'm still thinking about it every day. They have made a lasting impression on me. GCW, goddamn you. Hit my goddamn music.
GCW Event Impact and Ring of Honor Experience
00:01:58
Speaker
GCW's in the past, man. We got a new episode today. We got lots to talk about. Holy shit, there's a lot going on. But I feel like I do need to say overall, people, their response to the GCW episode was positive that they got to hear it without being at it.
00:02:16
Speaker
It was positively negative. Everyone was like, ooh. That was kind of everyone's reaction to the show, which was, holy shit, that's a funny episode. Everyone loved it, but ooh. Yeah, a lot of people just kind of apologized to me that I went, like that it was their fault, like they were Metal Dave.
00:02:36
Speaker
Do you think, I guess Metal Dave did apologize for getting us to go to the show, but he shouldn't because it made for a fucking great episode. Oh, I thought you were going to say, but you know, it didn't, it wasn't effective because no apology will ever be enough. How are you recovering, honestly?
00:02:51
Speaker
Have you moved on entirely? Well, my co-workers and my managers knew where I was because I was posting on Instagram the whole time. And it got brought up in an actual meeting the other day at work. So I was sitting there with two managers and it got brought up like, oh, did you get any blood on you today? And then the other manager, you know, asked what that meant. And I had to explain and then partway through the meeting, I just hear the other manager go,
00:03:17
Speaker
Oh, damn. He's looking down at his phone, watching GCW on YouTube during the meeting. And it's just swearing now. And he important environment because because at first he was saying like, oh, this sounds like something I would want to go to. And as he's watching his hear him go, oh, my God, you went to saw.
00:03:42
Speaker
Yeah, you know what? I have actually kind of gotten over it. I do feel like I'm a worse person for going, for being in that environment, but I also feel like it makes for a great story. So... And you feel like you can conquer the world now. There's no wrestling show. You can say, I can go to anything. I went to the GCW deathmatch.
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Also, I rewatched a couple clips online and there was one where Joey Janela did the double stomp into the tacks. I didn't remember that the gentleman he was fighting was already laying on the razorboard. Oh yeah. There was one where he was laying on the razorboard and he basically gave him the coup de gras onto razors.
00:04:27
Speaker
We should probably stop reliving this. I can't. It lives in my head forever. This is where it is. Let's try to get it out of your head because we actually have some pretty cool stuff to talk about today on the episode. Oh, did anything exciting happen this week? Because I'm still thinking about getting Nick Gage's blood all over me.
00:04:45
Speaker
Well, you know, one of the things we could talk about, you know, to kind of transition away from this is so much has happened since the GCW episode where we talk about how traumatized we were in that the next night after GCW, we went to a Ring of Honor show out and what like exactly in the same town, wasn't it? Oh, yeah, it was made. It was less than a mile from the Foreman Mills that we got tortured in.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah, a lot more pleasant experience. Oh, that was a wonderful night. We went to Ring of Honor, War of the Worlds. That's where a few new Japan guys are there for the night. Ended up getting turned into a TV taping. And we got to see some pretty fucking awesome matches.
00:05:27
Speaker
and we got to see it from ringside which it had been a while since i'd been at a wrestling show ringside if you don't include the shit from the night before um you don't count that no because that wasn't wrestling oh i said it i'm an asshole fuck you it was murder it was saw i'm a co-worker
00:05:47
Speaker
call it saw and you accepted it i'm just saying when nick gage comes after you i'm on his team look at how we immediately went back to it no the next night we went to ring of honor i had a lot of fun it was some of the most fun i've ever had at a wrestling show um we had some pictures that we put up online we had some videos that took off a couple of the videos uh took off mainly with the japanese audience
00:06:10
Speaker
and we were getting retweets and likes out the ass from people whose profile I couldn't read. I have to assume they're not listening to the show, that they're just a fan of Nido. Or a bunch of the people that were in that match. Or yeah, I mean, the main event of this show ended up being the Bullet Club versus Los and Gobernabele's Day Japan.
00:06:32
Speaker
you did it i did it i think i think i fucked up japan at the end like i think i tried to do it like fancy but i i think i fucked that up but you know what i think you did well it felt good to say it with confidence even though the confidence disappeared at the end that match though it really shows you how it showed you kind of how overall these guys are
00:06:53
Speaker
Yeah. No, it was really awesome. They did so much in this match with so little. A lot of it was just everybody getting their shit in, everybody doing little spots. I think the Bucks took like maybe one dive out of the ring. But it was a lot of showboating, everyone getting tagged in, doing their stuff. And the crowd was hot for the entire, actually for the entire show. The Chicago crowd was really hot for the Ring of Honor show. And I had a lot of fun.
00:07:19
Speaker
And like I said, we got some great footage of Bernard the Bear interacting with the performers on the outside. The footage that we have of Hangman Page yelling at him and Bernard shaking his head and not having an explanation. Let me tell you, getting to high five Bernard at the end of a show, regardless if he was blinded and went.
00:07:43
Speaker
He took some mist to the face. Bushy gave him some green mist right to the eyes, and Bernard sold it for about 20 minutes on the side of the ring. Even after the show was over. When it was over, Cody led Bernard out of the ring, kind of away from the ring, and he still was high-fiving fans as he walked by, and that was getting to meet Mickey Mouse to me, like getting to really see Bernard, the business bear, up close. That was really my Disney World experience.
00:08:11
Speaker
Oh man, it would have been so good if we had been able to stop him for a minute and get a picture with him. That would have been the true Disney World Mickey Mouse experience. Well, it's hard to get a picture with somebody who's just been blinded. You know, it's... I understood. Like, he needed to get to the back. He needed to wash that green shit out. Do we even know what green mist is?
00:08:29
Speaker
No, I have no idea, but I also said to you when we got in the car, I was like, I don't know how you get that out of the fur, the pseudo fur. Do you shout? How do you wash that? A warm washcloth? You just throw Bernard away and we find out we just get a different Bernard altogether. That's why he's all fucking business. Speaking of a green mist, there was a man throwing some green mist with his eyes at us. One of the ring attendants to Ring of Honor fucking hated me and you.
00:09:00
Speaker
Yeah, there was a guy on the outside there that during the first match decided he didn't like us yelling things. And once I realized that, I was yelling things even more and I didn't give a fuck. He didn't, I don't know who it was, but he was a guy who would collect the streamers, after they would throw it, he would move some of the wires for the cameras, or the cables for the cameras.
00:09:23
Speaker
And anytime we yelled something, he looked at us like, you guys are fucking assholes for yelling at wrestlers. And we were just sitting there trying to have a good time. And once, like, I made you aware of it. And I don't know, what were your thoughts on that? Like, we were there to have a good time and he just didn't seem to be enjoying his job. Well, I think that he was probably a wrestler in training. That was the vibe I got from him. And I think that he didn't like anyone in the crowd thinking they knew anything about wrestling.
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah, and you know what? Fuck that. We're gonna butt heads with a lot of people if that's gonna be the mentality we take. Hey, I'm not claiming to know shit, but I had paid my money, I was having a good time, like we weren't shouting obscenities, we were just, you know, we were playing along. No, but you know what? We were playing along with the show. That's what we were doing.
00:10:17
Speaker
the guys like a couple rows behind us they were the ones that were yelling shit that was outside of kayfabe maybe he thought that was us maybe because those we actually had two two guys behind
Upcoming Wrestling Events and Starrcast Plans
00:10:29
Speaker
us that legit sounded like beavis and budhead
00:10:33
Speaker
I just remember at one point they were yelling something about Seth Rollins and... Oh, you got your fucking Rusev Day chant out of them, too. I did. How did that make you feel? Did you feel like it was good? It wasn't in a good spot. See, because you were telling me you were gonna do it, and I think when the two guys that were annoying you did it, I think there was part of your brain that was like, oh, fuck. Garrett's right. Garrett's right. I didn't like the sound of their voice. I didn't like the cut of their jib.
00:11:01
Speaker
Sorry, what were some other highlights of the night we got to see Got another bully Ray We got to see him give flip Gordon a salute talk about how he didn't realize he was you know a Serviceman and said how much he respects our troops before kicking everybody out in the dick Yeah, there was that we got to witness something that kind of pissed me off, but that was what it was intended to do was a referee reversed her decision on Austin Aries versus Elias
00:11:31
Speaker
Wait, fuck. How did how did it play out again? Like, so it was an area that ended up winning the. Yeah. You know, doing the belt collector thing. I think he already had three belts. He was fighting Silas for the TV championship and Beer City Bruiser came out to interfere. But then Kenny King came out to save the day, make sure there was no interference. And I did end with him hitting Silas, I believe.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah. There was no referee. A referee came out, counted. Austin Aries won. We all got that moment of celebration for him. But then fucking God damn it. Why did I just forget his name? Yeah, I'm blanking on Todd. Todd, fucking Todd. Fucking Todd comes out and like, nope, can't do that. Like everybody else and every other match is goddamn cheated. Todd, why? Why does this one suddenly matters? Suddenly there's instant replay for Todd.
00:12:25
Speaker
Really really stretching the wrestling rule book as far as it can go there comes out reverses the decision Austin Aries doesn't win Results in Austin Aries throwing a little bit of a tender temper tantrum and attack and Kenny King Does he kick him in the dick too? I think that it was probably I mean dick hits are in right now, man
00:12:43
Speaker
Clearly did you see the the picture it was I think Shinsuke and Kota bushi somewhere in Japan recently hanging out and they were in an intersection and it was just a photo of Shinsuke giving a bushi a low blow in the middle of a crosswalk
00:13:00
Speaker
I didn't see this. That's fucking hilarious. I love that he's just, he's like, it doesn't matter where I'm at. Dicks are getting it. Like if I was working at the airport and I saw him coming through the line, I'd just immediately call security over. You'd bolt. Yeah, no, we saw a bunch of cool stuff at this show. It lasted like what, almost four hours?
00:13:21
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it was, the TV tapings, usually they film, you know, three, four episodes. That's one thing, Ring of Honor doesn't really have down, like when you go to a WWE show, just smooth sailing straight through. Ring of Honor show, there's a lot of stoppage, and there should be a little something, like maybe music, or even just a guy asking me if I had a good time. It gave me an opportunity to go get a beverage, which was nice. Which I saw one of the Briscoes in line buying beer.
00:13:49
Speaker
He put his match in, he was done. Just waiting in line, and that's a guy that you can't hide. He stands out in a crowd. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I think the Ring of Honor show kind of washed the taste of GCW out of our mouth, at least temporarily. You will actually be back here in Chicago in just a few weeks.
00:14:09
Speaker
uh for uh nxt and money in the bank um which is happening what the week into june 15th yeah yeah i think it's the what is it the 13th and 14th or something like that yeah but yeah well around then yeah no i think the nxt is on uh saturday june 16th and i think uh money in the bank is june 17th
00:14:28
Speaker
Regardless of when it is, I will be there. I have not requested off work yet or anything, but I'm going to be at this show. Nice. Yeah, no. Yeah, that's coming up. So you'll be back up here for another show. And I think to transition out of the Ring of Honor show, God, because we've had so much stuff that's happened since we recorded the GCW episode, everyone kind of knows by now from the bonus episode that we were all in here at Predetermined podcast.
00:14:54
Speaker
Uh, we will be, uh, going to the all in show. And as we have been announcing on social media, we were, uh, also able to get into, uh, something a little special that, you know, a couple of days before all in, why don't you, uh, inform our listeners, uh, what's the, what's the big deal around these parts, my friend. So.
00:15:16
Speaker
predetermined, a pro wrestling hangout is officially all in its star cast. Whoo! Which is basically at this point, indie wrestling comic con. Yeah. It sounds like from what Cody Rhodes was saying on the Edge and Christian podcast, that he was contacted by them and they pretty much were like, we'll do whatever you want us to do.
00:15:39
Speaker
Like, you know, they're not officially like labeled as all in, but it is a company that's basically just Bullet Club. Do what you like. We'll do whatever you ask us to do. And they did allow for several podcasts to be a part of a podcast row, which includes yours truly. The two of us here. This this all kind of came together last minute because I don't. Did we even fully realize this was something that we could do? No, I was like the last like the eleventh hour.
00:16:08
Speaker
yeah it was the last day uh or well not the last day but it was just it came down to it and i saw like oh my god i didn't realize that anyone could be a part of this uh you know even though we do have millions and millions of listeners
00:16:23
Speaker
We are a relatively new small podcast that we're just excited as shit because this is an opportunity for us to get our name out there. So I mean this is just huge. I wasn't even counting on this being a thing and we just can't overstate how excited we are. We're going to be there Friday, August 31st.
00:16:45
Speaker
We'll actually be there all four days. Well, right. But we will be set up Friday, August 31st. But yeah, on that Friday, we'll have a table set up. We're going to be doing some live podcasting from a table in front of people, which is going to be interesting. That means people can come by and watch super exciting part. The super exciting part is we will be interviewing guests. We don't know who.
00:17:07
Speaker
We don't even necessarily exactly know how many, depending upon how they split it up. We just know how many times we'll get to interview guests. And that's another exciting thing, because other than Metal Dave, that'll be probably one of our first guests. Or celebrity guests, anyway. Basically, people are going to get to come by and watch us hanging out in real time. I know that's exciting for you. You've wondered what it looks like when Derek and I hang out. You're going to get to see it if you come to the Friday of Starcast.
00:17:36
Speaker
And there is plenty of stuff to come to that day at Starcast. I believe the roast of Bruce Pritchard is that night. They haven't announced the guests. But to me, the biggest one of the night is they're having the official all in weigh in. So by that point, we're going to have matches announced and they're going to actually come out for the press conference, have to do the weigh in and do the face off the day before the show.
00:18:01
Speaker
And they're doing that on Friday? They are doing that Friday. That's Friday evening. That's so cool. I think that's like 8 to 10. And you better believe that our table is going to be empty during that because I'm going to be over there looking at that.
00:18:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we got I think included with it, we got like four day VIP passes, media access, like just like again, this is so cool because, you know, we just started just a few months ago and we're excited to be up there with a bunch of other up and coming podcasts. We've had some people reach out to us. We've reached out to some people kind of congratulating each other on on this chance that we have. And yeah, it's going to be you. What's that?
00:18:41
Speaker
I said it's gonna be cool interacting with all of our listeners, everyone who comes up to us. And you know who else is in podcast row? Fucking James Ellsworth's got a podcast I didn't know about. I bet, you know, he could be sitting at the table next to us.
00:18:53
Speaker
He better keep his chin out of our business. Oh, he will. He will. I watched Matt Riddle try and knock his chin off his face, and it just didn't happen. He needed chin, didn't happen. He's not going to get his chin in his business because he doesn't have one. I do think it's going to be weird having guests on this. Because just so you know, I will not change the format of us hanging out.
00:19:18
Speaker
You will if they hand us somebody that's not and watch Randy Orton will be there that weekend because he's injured. Fuck. Or Bob Holly.
00:19:28
Speaker
But you know what, in all seriousness, when you go over the list of potential guests, everyone that's going to be there for Starcast all four days, it would be exciting to interview any one of those people. It would be huge for our podcast, obviously, since, you know, we're so new. And we have we have a preference list. We were talking about this a little bit yesterday. We do have some people that we would prefer to interview. And I think my number one is different than your number one.
00:19:58
Speaker
You don't know what my number one is. Oh, I have a feeling I know who your number one pick would be. And I'm going to go ahead and just tell everybody right now, if I had a say in it, Derek and I would be hanging out with goddamn Macaulay Culkin chatting pro wrestling because that just seems like it would be a good fit. I'm going to go with our conversation that we had yesterday over the phone. If we could get Noel Foley and Macaulay Culkin, Macaulay Culkin, Macaulay Culkin on our podcast,
00:20:25
Speaker
During star cast that would be fucking amazing that to me they would fit right in with the with the theme of the show Don't you think I think they would hang out with the best of them and by the best of them? I mean fucking us professional hangouts But I mean there's like I said, there's tons of people that'd be exciting to have their
00:20:45
Speaker
Like you said yesterday, I just don't know if Kevin Nash and Scott Hall as awesome as that would be to have them there Do you think that they would be able to just hang out with a couple of marks and shoot the shit? I think it would be weird as hell like I mean Scott Hall was your childhood favorite like yeah I'm sure you still have action figures of him somewhere in your room
00:21:07
Speaker
Not not here, but well, you know in a room. Yeah. But if he were sitting there with us, I feel like he's I'm not saying Scott Hall would be scared. You would be scared. Just say it. I'm not afraid of Scott Hall. He's seen. I mean, he's the bad guy, but you know, he seems nice. You would be scared.
00:21:27
Speaker
I'm just afraid that the dynamic isn't gonna work. You would try to run the same way you did at GCW. Why do you think I fear these men? Because I think you're afraid you'll say something that'll upset them and that they'll get angry and then you'll have to try to talk them off the ledge and you'll make it worse. I do not think that will happen. I hope that's who we get now. Oh, fuck you. Fuck you. I'm gonna make sure that we get the one guy that you're most afraid of.
00:21:57
Speaker
Hopefully Boogie Man will be there. Oh, fuck. No, I'm coming to fuck your dreams, my friend. It's going to be so it's going to be so fucking hard for us to figure out, like to agree on what we're going to do all four days there, because there's going to be so many cool things to see. And what's cool is that they're going to let us we can basically record a lot of the stuff that they have going on there and we can use it on the on the podcast. We can't do any video.
00:22:28
Speaker
But, uh, yeah, that's, that's, I mean, like when, when you came to me and said that we were in with star cast and that it was such a last minute thing, it's a big fucking deal. So please, if you're going to star cast all, all on weekend, make sure you come by, say hi, listen to us, uh, listen to us doing some, some wrestle hangout live in person. And, uh, you never know who we'll be interviewing. We're, we're, we're hoping for Macaulay Culkin and Noel Foley.
00:22:54
Speaker
What's funny is I was telling a friend about like, yeah, these are some of the people that are there. And he's like, and you're not going to request. He was like, his mind was blown that I wasn't just like, yeah, Marty Skirrell. It's like, I mean, I love Marty Skirrell, but I want to hang out with Macaulay Culkin. Well, you know, I would honestly, I think it would be huge for us to be able to interview any of the guys from the Bullet Club that weekend.
00:23:20
Speaker
And maybe we'll get that opportunity because this is a huge fucking deal. And those are kind of like the founders of the weekend. And I would love to get their insight on what's going on. Do you truly believe that they didn't think they were going to sell out in day one?
00:23:37
Speaker
I don't know. I don't believe them. I go back and forth on it because we from the outside know how big of a fucking deal this is, but maybe they're in a bubble. Some people are in a bubble and they lower their expectations and they don't want to buy into the hype because they don't want to be disappointed.
00:23:55
Speaker
Cody said after that Ring of Honor show that they were hoping to sell 4,000 tickets in the first month and then announce matches and advertise over the summer to get everything filled. And then they sell out in 29 minutes. And honestly, the thing about that all-in show selling out that quickly, it probably would have sold out even quicker if the website for the tickets hadn't crashed.
00:24:19
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I know personally, you know, from what we experienced, I mean, we were not even having a shot at getting tickets for like 15, 20 minutes, at least. No luck whatsoever. So like, I don't know. I mean, you can say that they. You know, you watch the last the like, well, I guess the second to last episode of being the elite and they look genuinely humbled and overwhelmed by it.
00:24:47
Speaker
So, I don't know, believe what you want to believe, man. Maybe they didn't think that it would sell out that quickly. It doesn't bother me if they're trying to work us and be very humble for this, because the way it's playing out right now would be a great fucking Disney movie.
WWE's Billion-Dollar Fox Deal
00:25:02
Speaker
With the underdogs taken over.
00:25:06
Speaker
I just, especially considering what else went on this week and like in the world of pro wrestling, like we had this 10,000 seat show sellout and then we had a gigantic purchase, not a purchase of WWE, but we're finding out that Smackdown, a billion dollar deal going to Fox. Five years, $1 billion and that begins, I believe in October of 2019. Jesus.
00:25:34
Speaker
And here's the thing, and I pointed this out today on social media, that's just for SmackDown. I mean, you know that Vince considers SmackDown his B-show, and it got him $1 billion in TV rights. And it's not going to FS1, it's going to Fox.
00:25:53
Speaker
And that means a lot of households are going to have access to it. It's not on USA Network. So yesterday when that was announced, my initial thought was, holy shit, this could actually be very, very huge for this. Because like you said, not everyone has USA. Even if you have rabbit ears, you can mostly get fox anywhere. So a lot of people are going to have access to this, but it's also now we find out it's going to be on Fridays.
00:26:21
Speaker
And I'm not necessarily nuts about that time slot. I feel like a lot of people have shit going on Friday nights that they look forward to and they don't necessarily stay in and watch pro wrestling. I like SmackDown on Tuesdays and I liked it back when it was on Thursdays. And Friday's don't know if I have room in my life to accept another day. You're like Friday is not your SmackDown time.
00:26:47
Speaker
I think I could easily see myself waking up Saturday morning and watching it on Hulu. You know, that's like my Saturday morning cartoons. What else was I gonna do? Watch Shark Tank? Right, but you're not justifying them having it on for everybody else on Friday night with that explanation. That explains you.
00:27:03
Speaker
But Smackdown used to be on Fridays, and it was widely considered like a dead time slot. But wasn't that on like UPN? It was on like whatever, my network TV 51 or whatever the fuck it was. You're making that up, that's not a thing.
00:27:19
Speaker
That's absolutely a thing. That was the name of the network? It was like my TV or my network or something. That was the name of the channel they were on before they went back to USA. What else came on that channel? I don't fucking know, man. What led in and what led up? It was maybe like Family Guy. If you're going to make me look it up, I'll fucking look it up. No, I just want you to... What am I seeing? Am I seeing some Will and Grace reruns before and after? Am I going to catch a Frasier?
00:27:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think, I mean, I think it was a lot of reruns of shit. I think there were, you know, like, I think Family Guy or something aired on there occasionally. So you're telling me somebody looking for a Family Guy rerun was disappointed when they got there? It's, well, I guess this makes sense because I'm looking, I'm looking it up right now. MyNetworkTV is an American television network syndication service that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group division of 21st Century Fox. So yeah. Eat a dick.
00:28:15
Speaker
Me or my TV? You. I'm just bullshitting stuff to you. No, I mean, it started out on UPN. I know for a while it was on sci-fi. Yeah, I remember actually when it went to sci-fi, I remember watching one of the first few shows and there was a hardcore match between Ric Flair and The Big Show. Well, that was ECW.
00:28:41
Speaker
Oh shit, wait, was SmackDown on Sci-Fi as well? I'm pretty sure SmackDown wound up on Sci-Fi as well. They truly don't give a shit about that show, do they? I mean, I just think Vince shows so much favoritism towards Raw.
00:28:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm pulling it up right now, so keep talking. Tell the people stuff. Well, in that ECW, I mean, if we're just going to talk about pro wrestling we've watched on the Sci-Fi channel, this to this day is still one of the most disgusting spots I remember watching on television. Big Show just ragdolls Ric Flair sideways into a pile of thumbtacks. And that dude's skin is just paper.
00:29:21
Speaker
Like, even then, that was maybe the start of college for us, so maybe around 2005? Jesus, that guy just, it was gross. It was gross. You shouldn't do that to anyone, no matter what channel it's on. Yeah, the list of networks SmackDown appeared on, I'm reading right now, is USA Network, The CW, MyNetworkTV, Sci-Fi Channel, TFX, UPN, and there's even more. What's TFX? Fuck if I know. Maybe that's like a
00:29:50
Speaker
Well, fuck, man. I mean, that could be like a Canada station. Like, as you're going through, yeah, you're like, it's also been on BBC America, PBS, local access.
00:30:01
Speaker
Well, I just I don't know like that. My initial surprise that it was on that many stations. Everyone's so surprised. I mean, I know a billion dollars is a lot of fucking money, but I also know it's. I mean, it's pro wrestling and it's going to like a like a like we were talking about, it's going to a network that everyone has access to. So see, to me, that's a good thing. That means that it has potential to be bigger than raw. But
00:30:28
Speaker
Then I watch Raw and I see this Bobby Lash Sami Zayn bit and I'm like, you better hide these bits for a minute, man. If the paperwork isn't done like Fox can see that shit and realize they made a mistake.
00:30:43
Speaker
I just, but you know, as far as I understand, don't SmackDown and Raw have different writing teams. I mean, I made the point today of saying that it's basically the same people. You know that everything goes by Vince's desk before it makes it onto television. So, you know, I don't think that the Fox announcement is going to change how they handle things creatively. It's not going to become the A show.
00:31:08
Speaker
And we don't know necessarily where Raw's gonna end up here in a few years, right? Raw can end up on a different place than USA Network. But do you think that that deal was made knowing that Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey were never gonna be on that show? Yeah. You think that they're willing to put the show as is on Fox?
00:31:33
Speaker
So, I mean, just to play devil's advocate. So what you're saying is you think that Fox made a deal with WWE's Smackdown Live, which is their B show, on the understanding that this is what the show is now, that's not good enough for us. You need to make it better by October 2019 or else. I'm just saying, I think that if you're gonna spend a billion dollars, you probably want Ronda Rousey on your station.
00:32:03
Speaker
Maybe you do, and maybe, I mean, they do have time to get her over there. I mean, there's a whole other superstar shakeup that they have to go through before October 2019. That's after the next WrestleMania. Going back to what I was saying, how much would Raw sell for? That's how much somebody bought SmackDown Live for. If Raw hit the open market here soon, it would probably be like almost twice that.
00:32:33
Speaker
So what would be the justification on moving anybody? I mean, it's what he has. Smackdown Live was apparently worth $1 billion, and I think that's hard for people to fathom. It is hard to fathom. Because like the Ascension is there, or you know, like Breeze Dango. Like I feel like Fox, you know, if you're gonna spend that kind of money, I pictured it more being a thing where they're like, well fuck it, it's all just the same show again. First of all, fuckface, the fashion police are on Raw.
00:33:03
Speaker
It's too hard to keep track of this shit.
00:33:06
Speaker
Are you even a wrestling fan? Hey, I have been watching so much other wrestling, and I watched a Hulu cut today, and I, okay, for anyone that's listening just because we're gonna tell you pretty soon how to get tickets to all-in from us, potentially, this is normally a very positive show. I'm like, you know what, if you don't like something in wrestling, there's plenty of other flavors of wrestling ice cream for you. But what the fuck happened with that Bobby Lashley bit? I think we gotta talk about it.
00:33:36
Speaker
Like, how did this get past enough people that it went out there, and how did Sami Zayn look so enthusiastic while he was doing something he knew sucked? I don't think he did look enthusiastic, and maybe it's because I know fucking Sami's face, but I felt like as soon as that segment started, when they were in the ring, he knew that they were fucked. And to follow up on your other question,
00:34:00
Speaker
This is business as usual, isn't it? Don't we usually? I mean, wasn't that Alexa Bliss, Bailey thing, like just about a year ago? Oh, this was worse. But yeah, you are correct. Like that was the first thing that came to mind is this was happening. And like, I couldn't put my finger on it, but something felt offensive about this bit. But maybe it was just offensive that it was so unfunny.
00:34:22
Speaker
I just, well, I think they're definitely in deep water when he announces, here comes his sisters. And then you see that, oh, that's not actually gonna be his sisters. We're doing a bit. And you know, it's, and just from the moment they stepped down onto the stage in those dresses, I just, like, I think everyone had the same reaction, which was, oh fuck, it's gonna be one of these. It's not gonna be funny. This isn't what we wanted. And here's the thing.
00:34:49
Speaker
For all the critics of WWE, for their style of how they present things, how they do their brand of entertainment, they can do some funny bits.
00:35:00
Speaker
They've done the festival of friendship. They have done this. And then they fired the guy who did the festival of friendship. Right. And now we have all in. So it's not that they can't successfully pull off a funny bit in the ring that's, you know, non wrestling. It's just I I'm I don't know how the fuck that made it out of the writers room.
00:35:23
Speaker
I mean it almost came across as they had a different plan and then that got fucking nixed and this is what they came up with. Because that was fucking bad. I just like that somewhere on paper or in a room somebody had to say and then Bobby Lashley hits a man in the dick with a broom.
00:35:43
Speaker
Like that's the credits it's all over like yeah that that whole thing the whole payoff was we got to watch Bobby Lashley rack a man and drag with a broom and throw him over the top rope and I guess he's a babyface I mean I guess but Sami Zayn made fun of his sisters
00:36:03
Speaker
But also when it cut back and was showing Bobby Lashley talking about his sisters, I was like, how's this? I don't give a shit about this. This is like. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people would agree that his return to WWE has been lackluster thus far.
00:36:18
Speaker
That segment last night didn't do anything for anybody. And I'm not even gonna say that it hurt Zane or Lashley, because I think everybody immediately knew that that was on the writing team, that they didn't choose to do that segment. But it was hard to imagine that a company that just got a billion dollars for a show, that that was the decision they decided to do on primetime Monday night programming for entertainment. And it was embarrassing to see as a wrestling fan.
00:36:47
Speaker
like that was not the time to have eyes on the product if that's what they're gonna be willing out there so yeah it's just funny that after like this huge moment in indie wrestling where they're you know doing something where it could potentially be like a hey we're coming for you kind of moment and then that was their response oh yeah you're coming for us we'll hit them with what we got well I mean and but the funny thing is if you that's true but they also did earlier in the day announced that they just got a billion fucking dollars
00:37:16
Speaker
That's what's so fucking confusing. They're like, look at this. It doesn't matter what we do. It's like. That's what I'm saying is I agree. It doesn't fucking matter what they do. Vince, every time we see a show where the crowd boos, Roman Reigns and people walk out.
00:37:32
Speaker
there's so many people especially like if you go to the social media that say it doesn't fucking matter they already have those people's money you're still watching they still have your money they don't give a fuck because you're still going to show up at the next show and that's true that's 100% true until you see a show
00:37:50
Speaker
where the people in the first five rows say fuck this and halfway through the show or halfway during the main event of the show, they bail. The people leaving in the $20 upper deck seats doesn't fucking matter. They just won't show it.
00:38:04
Speaker
So the idea that, oh, they got a billion dollars, they have a bunch of pressure on them now to deliver, that's a five year, one billion dollar deal. They could do jack shit on that show for five fucking years. It's in ink. They have your money or they have Fox's money.
00:38:20
Speaker
Like, they're golden. Their stocks surged yesterday. Is there a point, though, where, like, I understand that Fox has their money, but is there a point where Fox can be like, no, no, no, no, no. Festival of friendship. And they're like, well, we fired him. Can Fox, they will bring him back. I don't know. I don't know how that stuff works.
00:38:40
Speaker
I mean, you would think that there was something in the... I mean, Vince McMahon isn't obligated to hire anybody. They can probably recommend stuff and put pressure in, but I don't know, man. My initial reaction is they were just given a billion dollars, and I hope the company that gave them a billion dollars kind of makes them have a good show.
00:39:02
Speaker
But now that they have this money and it seems like it's going to get the ratings that it gets, regardless, that they can just be like, ah, who gives a shit? It's still the B show, but this time it's on a bigger station. Right. I'm more apt to think that's what's going to happen to me. In fact, I saw an interaction between Bubba Ray Dudley and Road Dogg today on Twitter basically indicating that.
00:39:25
Speaker
where somebody kind of implied, I can't remember what the fucking tweet was, but somebody said, so now that you have your money or like, are you going to do things differently or like, is the show going to get better? And Bubba Ray's response was, what do you mean do better? They just got a billion dollars for doing the show that they've been doing. Like, and Road Dog responded like, yep, or whatever. Like, it's, they feel vindicated.
00:39:48
Speaker
This idea that they were. They did. You know, you don't. I mean, to compare it to sports, when you hand an athlete a big time fucking contract. You're really naive if you think that you're handing them the big time contract to be better than what they have already been. You're giving them the contract based on what they have done thus far. And Smackdown Live got a billion dollars for what they have done thus far over the last whatever couple of years.
00:40:17
Speaker
And it's just, it's crazy to me that there's gonna be a show on Fox that's fronted by AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan. We don't know that. I guess you're right, it's like a year from now. It could literally be anyone at that point. We do not know who will be there. I mean, I would, again, we don't, we keep, you brought up Brock Lesnar, you brought up Ronda Rousey. I assume Ronda Rousey will obviously still be with the company at that point, and they may move her to SmackDown.
00:40:43
Speaker
It's a possibility we've been talking openly for months now that Lesnar could leave. I mean, at that point I wonder if they could do something to get Cena back, because obviously Fox would love to have a movie star on TV every Friday night.
00:40:56
Speaker
For sure. I mean, and I, you know, we talked about this some yesterday, like they really, I mean, our instincts as people who comment on wrestling, as fans of wrestling, we sit here and say, well, they got a billion dollars. They should do X, Y and Z. They don't have to do shit. They can continue running the same thing out there.
00:41:16
Speaker
I mean, you and I aren't sitting here talking about, ugh, fuck that Sammy Zane Bobby Lashley segment was so bad yesterday and they just got a billion dollars. I'm done watching. Neither of us are talking about turning off the show.
00:41:27
Speaker
Well one, we're doing this show that requires us to watch it. And two, I wouldn't stop watching it anyway. It's a show I've been watching since I was a kid, and I'm gonna watch it in a constant state of hoping that it gets better. Because it's one of those things that when wrestling's good, it's fucking awesome. It's really good. It can be so good. And WWE has the ability to do really, really good shit.
00:41:50
Speaker
and they do once in a while. You just gotta sift through a lot of bullshit to get there, and in the meantime, enjoy the other shit you're watching. Because, I mean, even just at that ROH show, I mean, everybody is pretty well over. I mean, we only saw a couple matches that, you know, just didn't do anything for anyone. But I feel like any given match on there, somebody in that ring is over enough that you're interested.
00:42:15
Speaker
I guess we'll end this discussion with this, or at least this is my last bit on it. I think that the $1 billion deal from Fox is going to do less to motivate them to be better programming, have better writing, and make better decisions. That's going to motivate them a hell of a lot less than watching
00:42:39
Speaker
Cody and the Young Bucks put on the greatest independent show of all time and watching the rest of the wrestling community, including former employees and legends, rally around it. That's gonna rattle Vince, and that'll rattle that, I mean, it's not, here's the thing, it's not even a threat, but like financially, but it's the idea that somebody out there, like an investor, or somebody could see that there's interest and like love for this so much that they invest money in it.
00:43:08
Speaker
I would love it if because you know right now Mark Cuban's like really going in on New Japan He's helping like he has that access station that he's bringing it to the US it's like, you know getting televised where more people can actually watch it and He seems to be into this new style of wrestling and getting people to see it It would be fucking awesome if somebody that just had you know, really deep pockets decided to take on another billionaire and
00:43:33
Speaker
Get us another Monday night war. Do it. Yeah. I mean, and how many times on this podcast have I said if not now, then when? Because I can't imagine it getting bigger than this. Even people who are huge critics of like the way they work on the independent scene or critics of the young bucks.
00:43:53
Speaker
guys like Jim Cornett, even them, even guys like Dave Meltzer, they're tipping their hat and they're saying, well done. Holy shit, we were wrong. There's enough interest in this. I can't believe you did this. Good job. So there's something changing. And I, and I just, the $1 billion thing doesn't affect me as much because I go, ah, okay, I guess that's what Smackdown Live is worth.
00:44:14
Speaker
We didn't know it. Fox apparently thinks it's worth a billion dollars, but that's not going to motivate WWE to do like they just got their payday. They got their check. I'm sure it pisses Vince McMahon off watching people like Jim Ross and Paul Harickel. Yeah. All these people say, hey, good job. You guys are doing something great. And Vince is over there like, well, fuck you guys then.
00:44:39
Speaker
I mean, that has the potential to change. I mean, fuck, we talked about it with Metal Dave. That there could be a trickle down effect from this that does affect WWE positively. Maybe they work harder. Maybe, and fuck, and how much better would things get if Paul, Triple H, took over?
00:44:56
Speaker
Maybe, maybe that's the plan, is that Paul will be running SmackDown Live by October 2019. And maybe at that point, you know, if that isn't the case, Fox sees what's going on that's popular on this other side and like, can you make it more like this?
00:45:10
Speaker
Which is basically just, they would just need to do it more like NXT. Which as far as WWE goes, they've got two things super right right now to me. And those two things are NXT and Total Divas.
00:45:28
Speaker
They, I mean, they're doing that. I mean, you just really no soul me saying that because I don't you're you're trying to push the total divas total Bella's thing. The premiere was this week and you think I'm not going to talk about it. John Cena John Cena let these people in their house with hit their shoes on.
00:45:47
Speaker
He's like, you know what? You got stupid fucking worked over the Nikki Bella John Cena stuff. I did not get worked. I knew it was all part of the show, baby. Sure, buddy. It's part of the Archie and Riverdale gang version of pro wrestling, which is total bellas and total divas. And if you're not hanging out with Archie and the Riverdale gang, go fuck yourself. There's the door. I'm pointing at a door, people.
00:46:09
Speaker
But no, I'm being deadass serious. Those shows make me laugh so hard. I love watching the pro-wrestling universe continue into them having loved lives. It makes it even more of a soap opera.
00:46:24
Speaker
So I think you and I are both in agreement that we're hoping that All In Weekend and the show that the Bucks and Cody put on that that pushes WWE to get better. So that's something to hope for. And even if it doesn't, we're still looking forward to it, which is a great fucking segue because this is the part of the show where we're going to announce to all of you, you have your first opportunity.
00:46:47
Speaker
to win tickets to all in through predetermined to pro wrestling hangout.
Community Engagement and Indie Wrestling Appreciation
00:46:52
Speaker
We're going to tell you how to do that. And let me just tell you, we've been hyping this up for like a week. Before we like announce, let me tell you a little bit about this pair of tickets. So we ended up with an extra set of tickets and we're like, who's going to get these? Is it going to be a friend of ours? Cause we definitely have people that want them. Is it going to be our significant others?
00:47:15
Speaker
no no it's not it's going to you that maybe maybe it's going to you we decided we wanted to give it to you guys we want to give it to somebody who really really wanted this because i know like a lot of people had a hard time and we just want to hopefully it ends up going to one of you guys that aren't going to turn around sell this shit on the internet
00:47:34
Speaker
because that'd make me really sad because I just want somebody to go enjoy the best night of fucking wrestling they've ever seen. We don't want you to do anything like that. We're going to take steps to try to prevent that from happening. And you're right, we had the opportunity to... I mean, you could have turned around and sold these and made a nice chunk of change.
00:47:51
Speaker
and we could have given them to people in our lives that we directly knew. We just thought this was an opportunity to help somebody out who didn't get tickets to all in. And it's a great way to kind of promote our podcast because we came up with a game plan for how we're gonna, how we're gonna do this contest. And do you want to lay it out for them, Garrett, or do you want me to? Oh, you go ahead. So what we've decided...
00:48:12
Speaker
If you wanna enter to win these two tickets to All In, what you need to do for us, this is very important, so pay close attention, you need to write us a review. Write a review for our podcast on iTunes. Give us the rating, give us the review, if you haven't already, give us the subscription. But write us a nice, pretty review. Tell us what you like about the show. Tell us maybe your favorite episode. Write something positive.
00:48:41
Speaker
And before you send it, screenshot your comments, screenshot your review, and then send it. Wait a little bit. And it usually takes about like half a day for that review to show up. I know a lot of people were telling me they were having issues with the reviews they were writing not showing up. If you go back and try and redo it, I think it kind of keeps resetting that clock. But I did it and it looked like it showed up after about like somewhere between like eight and 12 hours.
00:49:09
Speaker
Yeah, so just be patient. Don't worry. We're not going anywhere. You've got a couple months to work with here. But screenshot the before and after of your review and your rating of our show. And then take those images that you have screenshot and email them to us.
00:49:25
Speaker
with your name and your preferred email address that you would like us to contact you at, email us at predeterminedpodcast at gmail.com. That's predetermined, p-r-e-d-e-t-e-r-m-i-n-e-d, podcast at gmail.com. And send that to us with the subject line, I want all in.
00:49:48
Speaker
And when you make that submission, we'll take it. Like I said, if you give us our name, your name and your email address, we'll jot that down. And later on in the summer, we'll be doing a drawing. Now, this is the first way that you will be able to enter to win these tickets. You will have other ways. Here in the next few weeks, we're going to come up with some more ways that people can enter to win the tickets.
00:50:11
Speaker
But we just figured this was a great way to give you guys a chance to win the two tickets to All In. Plus, it's a way for you to help us. The more reviews and more ratings we get, the easier it is for people to find our podcasts when they search for it. It makes us a little bit higher up the ranks in the wrestling podcast world. So when you scratch our backs, we'll scratch yours.
00:50:33
Speaker
And hopefully one of you ends up walking away with a pair of tickets to the greatest and biggest indie wrestling show of all time. Garrett, do you have anything to add to that? No, you covered it all. Like I like thinking about I'm like, I want these. It's like I fucked up.
00:50:51
Speaker
Yeah, just like I said, make sure you send us the before and after image of the... Do you think there's somebody listening right now that's like, oh, fuck you. You're doing this so that I'll write you a review. And then a Necro Butcher guy who like gave us the one star said, fuck you for talking about Necro Butcher. Hey, I'm decided. I can't decide. He might be entered. You know, maybe that Necro Butcher guy is going to be all in. I prefer five stars. But you know, if we we shit talk Necro Butcher and you don't like it, don't tell me about it. I don't care.
00:51:22
Speaker
I just like, you know, we want to give everyone a fair chance. And I don't think we're asking too much to me. Yeah. This is a way for us to get some reviews. But, you know, we're hoping that in the process of listening to this podcast and.
00:51:38
Speaker
and trying to get these tickets that you will love our show and that we will become your favorite pro wrestling podcast. We like to think that we're pretty funny and we do a good job doing this show every week and giving you guys something to kind of rally around, whether it's positive or negative in the wrestling world. And so, yeah, this is something we're offering up to you, our listeners, as a chance to go to All In if you missed out. And yeah, this is gonna be fun. I'm kind of excited to see how this progresses over the next couple of months.
00:52:08
Speaker
I know I've got a ton of like, I started laying it out and realizing like, holy shit, I have so much pro wrestling that I'm attending coming up. This is gonna be a busy few months of just driving, flying, and watching pro wrestling.
00:52:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean you're coming here for Money in the Bank. I know that you're going to New York to go to SummerSlam. My upcoming schedule is next month, NXT and Money in the Bank in Chicago. Then the next month, just a few weeks later, I'll be flying out to San Francisco for the G1.
00:52:45
Speaker
After that flying out to New York where I'm gonna go to NXT with our friend Queen of the Ring on her name's Alex. Hey Alex, thanks for listening. You should definitely check out her Instagram and her Twitter. I believe it's just at Queen of the Ring. I think one of those has an underscore. Probably should look that up.
00:53:04
Speaker
We post about, she did a really good thing this week too. It's Mental Health Awareness Month, and she posted a really nice video about how wrestling helps her depression. And I know there are some of you out there, including myself, who definitely use pro wrestling as a way to feel better about things. And sometimes Bobby Lashley goes out and hits a bunch of dudes in drag, and it makes you wonder, does it really help? Well, that's up to you to decide. For some people it does.
00:53:35
Speaker
Yeah, she's at a queen of the ring on Twitter. So I'm sure her Instagram has the underscore. But she's she's a fan of the podcast. She's been very good to us. She's promoted some of our stuff and you will be going to a show with her during summer slam weekend.
00:53:52
Speaker
Yeah, that'll be great going to NXT, then next day SummerSlam, then what we have all in, and Starrcast. So we're gonna be hanging out with James Ellsworth and hopefully Mikulik Holkan. One thing I do wanna sneak in here because you and I have talked about it a little bit. We've talked about doing this in the past. Garrett will be coming up again here in a few weeks to visit me in Chicago. And we're going to go to NXT together on Saturday. And then he and somebody else want a friend of the podcast Dalton.
00:54:20
Speaker
or Jeffy Wrestling will be going to Money in the Bank the next night. But what we're talking about doing is that Saturday, June 16th, before the NXT show, we're talking about doing a predetermined to pro wrestling hangout meetup somewhere out there in Rosemont at a bar, at a restaurant, maybe three or four hours before we go to the show.
00:54:44
Speaker
Yeah, just stay tuned on that. We may make a decision on that here in the next few weeks on where we're doing that at. But if you're listening, if you're in the Chicagoland area, or if you're traveling into Chicago for money in the bank that weekend, pay attention. We'll be setting something up. You can come meet us. We actually, just recently, we have some predetermined stickers. We have some predetermined snapback hats, which finally got our hands on this recently a couple weeks ago.
00:55:12
Speaker
Hey, just speaking of money in the bank, did you see the announcement they made today where pay-per-views are gonna be four hours long now? Yeah, and then the big ones may be even longer. Yeah. There's no room for WrestleMania to be longer. I get like where they're gonna be like, well, SummerSlam's five hours now instead of four.
00:55:30
Speaker
I mean, where do you stand on that? Like, if you're at home watching, is that too long? If you buy a ticket, do you feel like you're getting more bang for your buck? Or do you think that just wears the crowd out and makes for a weirder, worse show?
00:55:45
Speaker
I'll attack this from multiple angles and I'll start from you were there for this past WrestleMania. I don't have a problem with the show being long when I'm at home because I can go to the restroom as I want to. I can go grab something to eat. I can come and go. Not a big deal. People do this with football on Sundays all the time where they just stay on the sofa and they watch football all day. So to me, once a year for WrestleMania, not that big of a deal.
00:56:11
Speaker
I'm sure it's a pain in the ass for people in attendance and I do think that the crowd getting like tired and worn out from a weekend long festival of wrestling and then the extra-long WrestleMania show probably did actually affect how they reacted to stuff during the show. That said, none of you are gonna stop fucking watching. It goes back to what we were talking about with the Fox smackdown stuff and the Sami Zayn segment. You're still gonna follow along.
00:56:41
Speaker
They could make the show 10 fucking hours. You're not gonna stop being a WWE or a pro wrestling fan because of it. It'll be a pain in the ass. You'll bitch every step of the way, but you're still gonna be there. You know, we're on the internet and that's what that's for. You're supposed to complain about shit, I think.
00:56:59
Speaker
You know, you've had people who've talked about the idea of maybe doing WrestleMania as a two-day, you know, event. And there's a lot of reasons to do that. I mean, it makes sense to me. I mean, I don't know if that'll ever happen. There's reasons why it wouldn't happen. But it would also help them because then they could justifiably have two different main events. Exactly. Like a double main event that truly feels like a double main event.
00:57:23
Speaker
Right. Night one, night two. You know, New Japan does that. I was going to say, when has there been a WWE event that's double main evented that you truly felt like you got two main events? Because I know like with New Japan at Wrestle Kingdom this year, between Okada and Nido and Jericho Omega, those truly felt like we watched two main events. I have seen WWE do pay-per-views before where I felt like I got multiple main events.
00:57:52
Speaker
I don't feel like I've seen them recently, but I know that, you know, God, like when I go back to like, I bring this up all the time, I feel like WrestleMania 19 was a stacked fucking card.
00:58:03
Speaker
And there were multiple matches in there that could have potentially closed that show and felt like they could have closed that show. And now they do a lot of the ebbs and flows, you know, like a typical wrestling show would where they, you know, they do a big match and then they bring the house down and they do another big match. Sometimes, you know, they'll do pay-per-views though, where it's just boom, boom, boom, boom. And it's like big match, big match, big match. And sometimes that's fun. Sometimes the crowd just being like fucking ape shit for like an hour and a half is great stuff.
00:58:31
Speaker
I wish they would do that more often. But no, to your point, I don't think it's happened frequently or recently that they have had multiple matches feel like main event matches on the same show. Agreed. No, I mean, that's kind of what I was. I guess like I should have expected that. But yeah, it's just that's too long. Like even when Backlash went like three, that was the last pay-per-view, right?
00:58:58
Speaker
Yes, because I did a lot of bitching about it. Yeah, it went three and a half hours. That was too much then. I don't need like, okay, picture like traditionally one of the worst pay-per-views is like extreme rules. Something that's all gimmick matches. Making that an extra hour seems just so hard.
00:59:17
Speaker
Yeah, but you know what, if they're doing these co-branded pay-per-views, the logic is there for why they're doing it, because they got a lot of talent they gotta fit on the fucking show. I mean, like, the logic makes sense, it's just practically, it is gonna be hard to get through. But you're still gonna get through it. I've never had an issue with the show being too long. I mean, being there, you definitely start to feel the length, but you also pay a lot to go to some of these WWE events. So you kinda wanna feel like you got your money's worth.
00:59:44
Speaker
Yeah, more bang for your buck. I get it. But, you know, if you leave it short and sweet and just have, like, really big moments rather than have to have too much of a midcard, which I still feel bad saying because I want these guys to get a pay-per-view payday. Yeah? Huh? I don't know. Fuck it. Like you said, either way, we're gonna end up watching every goddamn second of every pay-per-view.
01:00:06
Speaker
Well, yeah, I meant that. We can be as upset as we want. I'm not upset. I mean, it's just more wrestling. No, but I think there are people who are going to be upset by it. I mean, I know there was a lot of hemming and hauling about the length of the last WrestleMania. But do you think that means that the pay-per-views will start earlier? Or does that mean they're going to get over an hour later than usual? I don't know.
01:00:32
Speaker
I don't know, maybe the right thing to do is to start it earlier and have an intermission. I know like for the, even at the Ring of Honor pay-per-views, they do have an intermission for the crowd, which is super nice. And all they do for the live streaming of it is just show you an old match and they say, while we're at intermission, here's a classic match. And then, you know, while you're walking around, you walk by, catch some cool moments from a match you kind of forgot about.
01:00:59
Speaker
Right. I mean, to me, that would be an effective way to bring the crowd back down and then get them back into it. You can jumpstart it again. So something to think about. I think they should think about that. The crowd needs to go stretch their legs for a minute and just walk around, get some energy back. Get a last burst of merchandise sales and concession sales. Let people walk around, bathroom break, and then, you know, even if it's only like 20, 30 minutes.
01:01:27
Speaker
do something, but yeah, if these shows are gonna be getting longer, it'll be interesting to see how people react to it. And like we said, it's not gonna change anything for us. We're still gonna be watching because what's one extra hour of my time when I already have the whole night set aside for the fucking pay-per-view? Like, that's not gonna be the deal breaker for somebody like me.
01:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm going to be tuning in regardless. And, you know, even if we're all, you know, didn't love this week's Raw and we want to give it a break, you know, you can still watch the highlights on YouTube and then just, you know, catch up on Ring of Honor, you know, or catch up on New Japan.
01:02:01
Speaker
All the flavors, all the flavors of ice cream, you'll find some you enjoy. I pop in and out of WWE once in a while. There'll be a while where I'll catch Raw every single week. But then something like the Bobby Lashley thing happens. And maybe I'll just watch from a distance for a little bit.
01:02:20
Speaker
I will acknowledge that after the Bobby Lashley segment for the next 30 minutes I tuned out and then I just completely shut off the show and went to bed last night. So I guess they did get me to tune out last night. So might need to work on that before you get your billion dollars.
01:02:36
Speaker
Just saying. Don't you feel like we should say something nice? Yeah. Just for any new listeners, at the end of every show, we like to say something nice. I feel like there's been a couple complaining episodes lately. Typically pretty positive, but all the complaining, you know, all of it's geared at WWE. I don't think any of it's been thrown at New Japan. Ring of honor.
01:02:59
Speaker
No, they're not doing really a whole lot to bitch about lately, so WWE is catching all the shit, which actually makes sense. I think that's what people would expect from us. But Derek, do you have anything to say nice about somebody? We always pick a wrestler that we've not been kind to in the past, and maybe throw him a bone. Say something nice.
01:03:19
Speaker
I'll say something nice, and I think this is an appropriate time to do it, if I haven't done it already. This isn't necessarily somebody I ragged on a lot, but I think the time is ripe to give proper credit to Cody Rhodes. This wasn't a guy that I was a big fan of in WWE while he was there, but the guy left after having some moderate success there, and he made a list of goals.
01:03:46
Speaker
And a lot of people laughed at him when he talked about doing all in. A lot of people didn't think that he would have the success on the indie scene like he has had. And people need to start giving him proper credit. He proved a lot of people wrong. He reinvented himself. He made his image. The Bullet Club has obviously helped him a lot along the way. But he's put in the work.
01:04:07
Speaker
And I keep saying it because I can't think of a reason why it's not true. This is the biggest and most important indie wrestling show of all time. It's being run by the boys and he teamed up with the young Bucks and this is kind of their brainchild and he made this a reality. And this is exciting as hell and I just think he deserves all the credit in the world. So congratulations to Cody and the Bucks, but specifically Cody.
01:04:32
Speaker
on the success and hopefully they pull off a really fucking awesome show. And I think they will. So well done, Cody. Well done. I completely agree with you with Cody. He was somebody that I didn't not like him when he was in WWE, but, you know, they didn't give us a lot of reason to like him. I think we always appreciated that even with Stardust, he gave it fucking everything.
01:04:56
Speaker
He committed to the role. Oh yeah, absolutely. He was stardust. Not everybody's favorite character or anything, but he committed to it. And then when he left and went to the Indies, his wrestling style didn't immediately grab me, because the first time I saw him on the Indies was he showed up to Bola. One of his goals was to wrestle at Bola. That was actually the only time I ever, I think Cody ever actually wrestled at PWG were those two nights.
01:05:26
Speaker
And he wrestled still a very WWE style. Nothing had really changed, but it also hadn't really been very long. And the more he went on, the thing that really started to grab me with Cody Rhodes was how he was on being the elite.
01:05:43
Speaker
their web series, he is so goddamn funny that just every, anytime he, there's just certain people that if they swear the right way, it just gets me every time. And there's something about hearing Cody Rhodes say fuck that just works perfect. Like when he's like, this is Bernard, the business bear, he's all fucking business.
01:06:08
Speaker
Are you doubling down with me and your praise of Cody Rhodes? No, I actually have one this week myself. I just wanted to sing Cody a little praise as well. Well, quit fucking upstaging me, asshole. Who are you saying something nice about? I was just telling people to watch Being the Elite. Okay, mine this week, this might be a little bit of a surprise. Gender Mahal.
01:06:45
Speaker
So I hope that I get to hear this. But he was saying, he's like, the gender Mahal match wasn't bad. And I didn't believe him. So I watched it for myself. And there was something about gender last night that didn't rub me the wrong way at all. I don't know. Like he took away like I feel like he always had really cartoony facials that made him feel like an 80s movie villain.
01:06:54
Speaker
I did gender a while back. What do you gotta say? Say it. Say it.
01:07:07
Speaker
And he didn't have that last night. He just kind of seemed like a badass and there was something about him and Roman Reigns that worked. There was no belt involved. It's just two dudes kicking the shit out of each other and I think that works for them.
01:07:21
Speaker
Well this is funny because much like Roman Reigns, I think a lot of people are 50-50 on this and they're split as to how to feel about this Money in the Bank match between each other. Some people think that, oh fuck Chicago's not gonna give a fuck about this. And then you're seeing some people are like, wow this is actually better than I thought it would be.
01:07:37
Speaker
And who knows why that dynamic is what it is. Roman, like I said, usually does draw the 50-50 crowd response. Well, but I'm wondering if it has something to do with like, okay, I don't really care for Marvel movies a whole bunch. We kind of get the exact same stories from wrestling. I'm happy people enjoy the Marvel movies, watch them all you want, not for me. But a big part of it for me is the stakes are always so high in the Marvel movies. You know, like the world's gonna, it's always gonna end and then it doesn't.
01:08:06
Speaker
We've always got Roman Reigns in these high stakes matches. Maybe they brought down the stakes a little bit so that you can actually just watch him work and not have to worry about what's going to happen. I think that could very well be right, but I also think it has something to do with both of them have weird perceptions from the fans.
01:08:28
Speaker
There was an outright rejection of gender as WWE champion and how long that lasted. And there's been obviously all the rejection that Roman Reigns has gotten from fans. And it's almost like they flipped roles in this feud. And something about it is just refreshing. That's my take on it. No, I agree. It's also, sorry, just going back to Roman for a second because I was thinking about this while I was watching it. It's so weird to watch him fight somebody like Kevin Owens.
01:08:55
Speaker
Roman? Yeah. Cause there's just so many indie guys on the WWE roster that when you bring in a guy who looks like he could stand next to like Schwarzenegger in a movie
01:09:06
Speaker
fighting what an indie wrestler looks like. There's just something we're like, this is fucked up. Well, you know, I think that's there. But I also think those two actually do work really well together. And it made me happy. Like it's it's been nice seeing since Owens has come back to roll. They're actually putting him in situations where they're showing that he can be a threat to top guys again. So that's helped. But yeah, there is something weird, like, you know, whether it's the size or whether it's the look. But
01:09:34
Speaker
I don't know that that was I guess that is a positive from from Raw was they did handle a few things well before they got to the Lashley Zane segment before we get out of here. One important thing I just I want to remind everyone if you're going to submit for the contest.
01:09:50
Speaker
It's important that you put the subject line, I want all in, send your pictures of your reviews that you submit for the podcast, the before and the after, and send it to predetermine podcast at gmail.com. I just want to make sure that we're clear on that before we get out of here so there's no confusion. Real quick, before we leave, I have one tiny other thing about Raw. The main event of this week
01:10:17
Speaker
was Finn Balor versus Braun Strowman. Is that the closest I'm ever gonna get to Brock Lesnar versus Finn Balor? Possibly. That was actually a good match. We watched Braun Strowman sell for Finn Balor. And there was a moment that they shot it so perfect. That is one thing that I will give WWE credit for. They always have really good camera angles when they know they're gonna be doing something.
01:10:40
Speaker
Yeah. There was that moment where he knocked, where Finn Balor knocks Braun Strowman over the barricade and he's in the corner selling and then Braun Strowman just rises up from the ground like a fucking monster. Like Michael Myers. Yes.
01:10:55
Speaker
Loved it. I loved that they were gonna be friends, then they agreed that they should just beat the shit out of each other, and that we almost got to see Finn Balor win. And he crushed an apple in his hand before the match. That was pretty funny. He did like, okay, when he crushed that apple, there was a moment after he didn't just crush it and drop, he crushed, then squished it around a little bit with his fingers, and I'm like, settle down.
01:11:18
Speaker
And Finn Balor did give the oh shit what am I getting into look we're like this man's so sick that he's he did the little squishes and I think even Stephanie was like too much
01:11:30
Speaker
All right, everybody. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. We'll be back next Thursday. We're on every Thursday. I think it goes up midnight. And by I think I know because I fucking post it. Yeah. Hey, have a good those reviews. Submit those reviews. Yes. And also give us a follow on Instagram at predetermined podcast at Twitter on Twitter at Russell Hangout. And we're on Facebook at Russell Hangout. Hit our goddamn music.