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New Day Doesn't Rock
101 Plays23 days ago
We discuss the New Day break up, Survivor Series review, AEW creative, Saturday Night's Main Event, live unboxing of Ultimate Edition Steiner Brothers, plus Listener Mail
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome
Introduction and Opening Remarks
00:00:01
Speaker
to the Chick Foley Show. are
00:00:22
Speaker
What is up Foley fam? We are back with the first December episode of the Chick Foley show for 2024. Got a lot of ground to cover and in a little bit of a rush because I got a road trip first thing in the morning. So let's get to it before we move any further. Let's introduce the star of the show. Sheena, how are you doing? I'm doing good. i
Thanksgiving Adventures and Farm Tragedy
00:00:40
Speaker
don't I can't imagine how you're doing because we literally just got back from a little road trip for Thanksgiving and now you're back on the road again, dude. so um Yeah, gonna be a little bit of ah a truncated episode tonight, but we're gonna cover everything. Everything that needs to be said and probably some things that don't. but
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah, um, I guess we we're right into what's new on the farm. Oh, well, I mean, bad news. Um, we kind of, uh, while we were gone for Thanksgiving, we got back, we had somebody watching the the backyard farm. We hired a barn nanny to come and just kind of like make, you know, make sure the goats were fed, let out all the chickens in and out, all that kind of stuff. And, um, on the day that we got back, when I went to check the eggs, it was kind of like in the earlier in the evening, I went to check the eggs and make sure all the chickens were up. And, um, inside the coop, there was like straight carnage, dude, like, um,
00:01:25
Speaker
I don't know what kind of, some sort of ground predator got into the coop. big impossum We have no no hard evidence, but ah you know there but there's a known possum in the area. Yeah, we we mentioned Vinnie the possum on the podcast. I think it was last week when we mentioned last week or the week or last time we recorded or the last or the time before that, I can't remember, but we mentioned Vinnie the possum and how he was kind of showing up in the yard and how he we thought he had maybe disappeared, but um you know All signs point to maybe Vinny got a little chicken dinner while we were gone for Thanksgiving. and Unfortunately, our chicken Morticia ah you know didn't didn't make it. RIP to her really sucks, dude. It always sucks to lose an animal, especially in that way. because we i mean We've been really good, but it's been what? like
00:02:08
Speaker
It's been over two years since we had any prayer. We had we had a ah hawk that was going heel on us the first year we were here and got two of our chickens. but Yeah, we haven't had any predator attacks since then. so um Unfortunately, that's the that's the news from the farm this week. um you know Other than that, ah we had a hard killing freeze, which basically like you know took out what was left of what was left of the garden and it's legit all brown and crusty out there. so R.I.P. to the 2024 garden as well. Winner is officially here. Winner is here. Well, not officially, but unofficially. Yeah, like Sheena said, ah we went up to Kentucky for for Thanksgiving and then, yeah, I got to go down to Texas for work this week. So it's definitely been a busy time, but i should I'll be back Sunday and then we should be smooth sailing, have a nice, easy roll on a Christmas. We already got
00:02:51
Speaker
What'd you say, about 90% of our Christmas shopping done for the kids? Yeah, that's more hu yeah that's very um unlike us. Usually, I mean, we we we so always start early, but it seems like we just kind of like drag it out. We're usually like the December 15th kind of people in our yeah last week before. We're like getting Amazon packages in like the week of Christmas and you know wrapping that stuff up. But I think we're we're ahead of the game this year.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah. Proud of us. I want to remind you guys, this show is brought to you by Ringside Collectibles. Use code Chick Foley
Wrestling Merchandise and Promotions
00:03:17
Speaker
to save 10%. They have an amazing... you know they all they got like All the sales kind of rolling to one right now. So I'm not sure if we still got the post-Black Friday. I know Cyber Monday is still happens as we record this. And Ringside is always pretty generous about extended all those sales three or four times. So again, great time. like last che if you last first chance yeah If you're looking for gifts for the the wrestling friends in your life, or if you want to treat yourself this holiday season, this is an amazing time to get caught up on some of the figures that you may have been waiting to pull the trigger on all year long. Also visit www.chickfoli.com. You can
00:03:51
Speaker
Hit the link to become a premium fully fan member, join the best wrestling community on the internet, two bucks a month, can't beat it. I promise you, you're going to enjoy yourself.
AEW Full Gear Analysis
00:04:00
Speaker
It's a satisfaction guaranteed on that. Shane, you ready to talk some wrestling? Of course.
00:04:06
Speaker
going to jump around a little bit. We're not going in any kind of chronological order. But you know again, last week was crazy, getting everything ready for Thanksgiving to get the kids out. So we weren't able to get a pod done before before we headed out of town. Do you want to touch on AEW full gear, specifically the ending? gene what What did you think about that ending? We see Mox successfully retained against ah Orange Cassidy And it's pretty damn good match. They pour the ringside cleaning chemicals, I think is what Tony Schiavone called them on Orange Cassidy. We had Christian showing up, teasing the cash in. Hangman's there. We saw Jay White, just everybody and their mother. And then finally, it all ends with Darby Allen just straight up smashing a car into Mox's pickup truck, Mox and the Death Riders pickup truck. And we end with Darby Allen bleeding from the head and cussing out the Death Riders.
00:04:56
Speaker
what was this Was this bad or was it so bad it's good for you? I don't know, I go back and forth. I'm i'm exhausted just like hearing you replay that. And I remember- It was a lot. When we watched it, it was just it just kept happening. And I feel like, I don't know, WWE did it so well in a way when they were having the, it was when Cody and Roman, you know they had like kind of like just a bunch of people coming back and you know getting their one hands on- It was serious finale energy yeah at WrestleMania 40, the bloodline rules. one Yeah, bloodline rules. that's what I couldn't think of the gimmick. Bloodline rules. um Yeah. So I think it was they were trying to do something like that, but it was like in the most WCW way I've ever seen anything. And I think it's just kind of like Tony, and I could be totally
Tony Khan's Booking Strategies and AEW Challenges
00:05:43
Speaker
off base with this. He just maybe just not knowing where the hell they want to go. And they just kind of like throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. And then they're like, okay, we're going to figure this out by Wednesday. yeah You know what I mean? Yeah, I wouldn't say they planted seeds because there was at least, there was backstory to everything that happened, right? You could kind of put the threat, you could weave the thread through to why everything happened. It wasn't just straight up like WCW 2000 chaos. We're just the whole locker room empties into the ring. I think he nailed it. I think it was, I think he was watering a bunch of plants at once too. Like he doesn't know which plants his favorite right now. So I'm going to sprinkle a little bit of fertilizer on all of these and
00:06:15
Speaker
we'll kind of see what goes. A couple months back, I think it was an interview Tony Khan was doing with Brian Alvarez of Wrestling Observer when they were talking about long-term storytelling, how you know that's been a real critique for AEW that they rarely stick the landing on that stuff. And he openly admitted. He said that for them right now, you know he didn't come out and say it, but I'm assuming it's in response to the dropping ratings and dropping attendance that they book week to week, right? like His storytelling is going week to week with whatever's hot, whatever's catching interest. And I think I think that definitely played into that, that ending that we saw. And I think that's a big reason why you see them kind of hesitant to to commit fully to this death writer's takeover gimmick. I know, but to me, that felt like what how you would end a dynamite, right? Like that felt like how you would end a weekly television show or even like... It felt like the ending of the show going into a pay-per-view. Yeah, or a go-home show. I was just about to say, it felt like a go-home show versus like, you know, you had this awesome match between Orange and Mox, and then it just kind of all got flushed away because it was... It was overshadowed by this this muck, right? Like it's just, it just seemed like, I don't know, not, a not a clean, crispy, and even I'm all for like a post-match, like surprise, right? Where you're just like, holy shit. You know, you leave the pay-per-view, like, you know, wanting to watch the weekly show when it comes on the the the following week. But I was, it was too much, dude. It was a, it was a train wreck for me.
00:07:31
Speaker
I give it a thumbs up, man. I give it a i get a soft thumbs up. I'm not going to say it was a train wreck. I kind of dug it just because I do like the... I enjoy some of the more like crash TV, like chaotic aspects of wrestling booking. And like you said, you could you could kind of weave the thread. if you If you close your eyes and squint, you can kind of weave a thread to to make it all make sense. Yeah. I mean, that everybody was is loosely tied together. But again, I give it a thumb sideways. I'm not going to give it ah ah and a total thumb down, ah
WWE Highlights: Raw and New Day's Evolution
00:07:56
Speaker
but i'm I'm definitely giving it a thumb sideways. I could have definitely done with without that.
00:08:00
Speaker
Okay, let's move on. So we're going to go more real time now on our discussion. Full Gear feels like a year ago, doesn't it? I know. A lot of life has been lived since Full Gear. We're about 20 minutes from the ending of just a straight up cracking episode of Monday Night Raw. In contrast, every single storytelling piece just fits into place.
00:08:21
Speaker
they They're crushing it right now on all fronts. We saw Drew McIntyre return. We saw continuation of the the bill to the Seth Rollins, CM Punk. ah Judgment Day is doing really interesting stuff with this friction between Dom and Finn and now Finn's getting another title shot at Gunther.
00:08:36
Speaker
at Saturday night's main event. I thought it was just a brilliant episode, but I think the thing that most people are gonna be talking about that's gonna be the thing we still remember a year from now for this episode of Raw is the new day's 10th anniversary celebration. We had the whole family, you know, had been kind of milling about. We just got back from Brett's basketball game about 30 minutes prior, but from the the time that segment started, all four of us were glued on the couch, eyes on the screen, nobody checking phones, nobody looking at nothing watching this segment.
00:09:03
Speaker
Shane, what did you think of the the stunning turn? We'd been building to a Kofi and Xavier breakup and now suddenly Biggie returns just to get absolutely shit on by his former teammates. I was not expecting that. that was i mean yeah That was unexpected to be honest. I thought when Biggie came out, obviously when they came out with just Kofi and Xavier, I was like, I mean, Biggie's got to be coming out. There's no way they were celebrating the 10-year anniversary without E.
00:09:27
Speaker
Um, but I didn't know him what capacity. And then when he came out, I was like, Oh, he's about to bring, bring the brotherhood back together. Everything's going to feel, feel nice and cozy at the end of this. And dude, we just saw straight flames from, from Kofi and Xavier toward, uh, toward E, which only, which, you know, Ironically, welded the two of them back together. So welded them yeah. Wow. What? That was just a funny way to describe it. The flames welded them together. I mean, did it or did it not, dude? Keep cooking. Keep cooking over there. I think it's cool though. I'm here for it. I mean i think we need this this next evolution of ah of the New Day to keep their relevance and um you know head into the next decade of New Day. Yeah, it's something new. We're definitely going to see them as evil heels for the first time. I wonder if they even keep the New Day name or if they
00:10:20
Speaker
they They moved to a different name for for Kofi and Xavier now. because yeah even the you know they've been They were heels at various times during the early years of the New Day, but it was always comedy heels. They were never like you know mean or like evil like like we saw tonight. so I'm interested to see where they go. I mean, you got to scrap everything. You got to scrap the gear, the entrance music. like i don't want to see I don't want to see them being heels like the word before. I don't want to see them smiling and being like obnoxious heels. I want i want to see the these guys just going hard. Yeah, I 1,000% agree. and i can't like Imagine just Kofi and Xavier just coming out in like all black gear or something, dude. Something that we just like never see. you know just like totally Totally blacked out gear.
00:11:02
Speaker
um healed healed to the nines. And I mean, so what and what capacity are we going to see E in this though? Because I mean, from what a I know, he's not clear to to wrestle. I think he's coming back. i I think beyond a shadow of a doubt, Big E is coming back, man. And the fact that he didn't take a bump tonight makes me even more confident because I feel like If you took a bump, you're telegraphing it. I kept waiting for you to take a bump. If you took a bump, we were all we're all smart enough at this point that we know if we see him get some sort of beat down that, okay, he is coming back. But the fact that there was no physicality and you know he straight up said, you know I don't know when I'm going to get medically cleared, to me that tells me that they can see, if whether he's... already i don't I'm not going to say he's already cleared now, but I think they can see the finish line on his rehab.
00:11:48
Speaker
and And this dude's going to come back in a big way with these guys. They telegraphed it a little bit because Xavier said, you know, let's just tell it or I can't remember Xavier Woods said that let's just tell him, um you know, or not Xavier Kofi or Xavier um said, you know, you're never going to be met you're never going to be medically cleared. You know what I mean? So they were kind of like setting it up for a picture. Yeah, and I just i I still I think what they did there was well done. It didn't really make sense. I wonder if like there was some sort of change last second because this really came out of nowhere that these guys have been
00:12:19
Speaker
You know, fighting with each other big time for the last month and a half. And now just because they're both mad at Biggie, suddenly it's all okay. So that, that was a little weird to me. I think maybe they came to a revelation. I think they can't like, they were in real time coming to a revelation that Biggie left him, dude. I don't think it's something that they had really explored and something that they had really verbalized up into that point.
00:12:37
Speaker
So they were feeling the frustration and in that moment when like, came to gate yeah, when he was face to face with them, like, you know, trying to like act like he was bringing them all together, then they were like, you know, know what, if you do, like, you know, this is you, you left us. So like, maybe they kind of face their frustrations and realize like, you know, it's not it's not us, it's him.
00:12:53
Speaker
Yeah, in my Kfabe brain, I can definitely buy that. That definitely makes sense for wrestling logic. But just watching it from like a critical eye with the storytelling they've they've been doing, I feel like there was some sort of ah change of plans during the last week. you know I feel like maybe they didn't know exactly how they were going to play this out. And then and then this got pitched. it felt It felt a little abrupt to me and a little out of nowhere.
00:13:14
Speaker
um But yeah, I thought Big E did his role perfectly. That's a that that's a lot to add. you know wrestling We love wrestling. It's you know the greatest form of entertainment ever. But a lot of these guys aren't the best actors. And I think that was a big ask, what they put on Big E's shoulders to ah to do tonight. and And I thought he played it to a team. And it was really, really well done. I'm a little bit bummed, honestly, man. i' I'm on record on the show, to say it. i really Because we've gotten that question a few times during like listener mail over the years, like, how would you book a new day breakup?
00:13:41
Speaker
When it didn't happen at WrestleMania 35 and they didn't you know turn on Kofi and screw him out of winning the belt there, i I was content for these guys to never break up. I wanted that to be New Day's gimmick, be the one the one group that never splits up. you know Yeah, I think, well, I mean, I just think it's it's it that everything took a turn. when When E broke his neck, I think it really just like changed it changed the trajectory of the New Day. I feel like it would have been on the path of never breaking up, but I mean, Yeah, I agree 100%. It's definitely been a lot more. You're never as excited. They seem, they definitely seem lesser than in the two years that we've been going with no biggie. And it's just Kofi and Zae are coming out for a tag team. They're just, they're a legacy act, right? They're closer to like, ah you know, like the Hardy boys in AEW, the the the new day of what we've really seen. But, um you know, let us know what you guys thoughts were, because it was definitely, you know, it was definitely something to talk about, man. I think, you know, if you want to get people interested in the new day again, this was the way to do it.
00:14:36
Speaker
All right. You want to talk about survivor series? Let's do it. All right. So this past Saturday we had survivor series war games. Uh, we'll kick it off with the first, the women's war games match. Uh, we had Rhea, Bianca, Naomi, and EO and Bailey, um, you know, going up against Liv Morgan, Raquel, Nia and Tiffany st Stratton. Um, and, uh, that match to me was kind of a mess, dude. Dude.
00:15:02
Speaker
I get the equality thing, man. like you know ah I'm ah literally on a podcast where my wife is the star of the show. dude and you know This whole this whole kind of online brand we got going is built off her image. and you know people being drawn to her, her thoughts on wrestling. There's no need to have women's war game, dude. Pick, pick one side that you're going to commit to for the year and just have it. You know, we kind of saw this last year, last year, the men's side was kind of slapped together, right? Like it was just the, the hodgepodge super friends. I just, I hate these inorganic. Let's randomly find five people to team up against five other ones for the sake of a war games mesh. now
00:15:36
Speaker
If it's an old school Survivor Series, yeah, I'm all for it, dude, because that was kind of well established. The Survivor Series, you know, this is what the show's going to be and everybody's got to find a, you know, scrap together a team for these shows. But War Games is like a big deal, right? It's like the, it's like the hell in the cell of team matches. And when it's just, again, you know, this random group of heroes against this random group of friends, it becomes just a spot fest, right? The match is kind of irrelevant. You want to look at, you know, what spots happened. And we had some cool ones. All right, Liv had her her big colorful baseball bat. We saw EO do, you know, a really cool trashcan spot. Tiffany off the top of the cage. Yeah, Tiffany had a beautiful swanton. You know, Rio went beast mode on everybody. Had a really cool look, which I'm hoping they're, hopefully they're already working on the action figure version of Rhea Ripley from this. But I'm with you, man. It it was, ah I don't want to give it a thumbs down because there was nothing like, once the bell rang, there was nothing like really offensive to me. um But I just, it was just a waste of 40, you know, an hour. If you can include the entrances and the the post match, it was a waste of an hour of screen time to me.
00:16:32
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, I'm just really puzzled. I mean, obviously the, the, the, the baby face team was, was loaded, right? However, nobody on the baby face team is like, besides Bianca holding the tag team champions, there's, you don't have your top champions on there and they just came in and absolutely freaking dominated your top two women's titles and your women's money in the bank holder, dude. So I just feel like, and I understand like their heels, so like, you know, they don't lose that much by losing, but also you're taking the belts down and a notch when you're just like steamrolling these chicks, you know? And then Tiffany Stratton, again, just looking like an absolute moron, like, you know, just cash in, dude. Like you literally, you, you're giving up every beautiful opportunity to cash in, dude. Like just, yeah like, what are we doing here? You know, I don't know. She's really playing into the blonde thing. Maybe she's going to do that. Uh, the storyline that I always, uh,
00:17:22
Speaker
the story line that I was always talking about, that you have somebody who just literally goes the whole year without being able to cash in, man. I think that's what that's one of the last unique yeah story ah you know stories they could tell. Like run out of time. But I can see that with somebody else. With Tiffany though, like I feel like they want her to cash in. She never needed it. She was such a blue chip. like yeah not's She's not an underdog. She's not somebody that even needs it. I feel like If you're telling me that she was going to have a straight up match with Nia or Liv, and there's not going to be any interference, it's going to go to a finish, I'm picking Tiffany against either one of them in kayfabe. So I'm with you. it's So as fun as it's been, it's a little bit of an awkward fit with her being this money in the bank. Yeah, they need to just you know cash it in, do it, and get it over with before mania season, I think.
00:18:04
Speaker
um Next up, we got Shinsuke versus a new Shinsuke, a heel Shinsuke with some new sick music that our son is like obsessed with all of a sudden. Channeling his inner great mood. I love the new Shinsuke. He's been a big run for a while. like yeah I just love it, man. He he straight up kicked LA Knight's ass to the point that I'm wondering if maybe LA Knight's got an injury that hasn't been announced and he's about to be gone for a couple of months because that it was ah a step down. It was like a step and a half above a squash match, man. He really, it was definitive, right? Like he he doesn't know LA Knight or rematch or anything off of that. That was a straight up ass whooping.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I love the new look. um I'm here. I'm so glad to see Shinsuke Nakamura holding gold in 2024. So hopefully this is the start of a ah meaningful title run for O'Shinn. If I could fantasize this or fantasy book this um this run for him, I want to see him have a nice solid run.
00:19:00
Speaker
with his U.S. belt and then come back to, you know, babyface King of Strongstop for one more nostalgia run and in the main event.
Shinsuke Nakamura's Title Run
00:19:07
Speaker
Right. Give him even if he doesn't necessarily win it, let's get him another run at the World Championship.
00:19:13
Speaker
All right. Moving on. We had the triple threat match for the intercontinental championship. We had Braun breaker, um, versus Seamus versus Ludwig Kaiser. Uh, Braun coming away with the win. Um, that was an awesome match. I thought, I thought it was just a hard hitting. Like what, what you expected out of, out of this match for sure. Yeah. Everybody did their job. I thought Braun breaker especially just showed out, man. Like he's you just future world champion, future mania and main event are like the dude's incredible. Yeah, definitely.
00:19:40
Speaker
um Next up, we got Gunther versus Damian Priest again um for a singles match for the World Heavyweight title. um I think Damian Priest is officially done, dude. He got to go back to the drawing board, man. yeah Obviously, Finn interfered, man. But you know I mean, we'd already seen that. To me, that's why it did it just didn't hit that hard because I'm like, dude, we just did this. it's it's kind of like him is like It's like the equivalent of all the guys who would get beat by Roman on his run. like dude You've got to come up with a plan to counter this stuff because you're losing in the same way every time. You don't look like ah you know a noble good guy who gets gets screwed over. You look like a buffoon that you didn't see it coming. yeah you i mean Have you not watched any tape? Did you not like live through this already? like you know Yeah, where's the scouting report? Where's the scouting report? Where are your people? You know what I mean? I know you're a baby face, but like come on. Get your people. Where the hell's Rhea Ripley? Have Rhea out there watching. Rhea could take down Finn in a snap, dude. so
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah, Goondar came away with the ah the world title. um What do you think of now Finn's getting the shot? did Do you think Finn actually wins this or do we get just the the turnabout's fair play and Priest screws the belt here? Yeah, 100%. I think Priest is going to get his his comeuppance against Finn. I was kind of thinking that Finn, when it got announced towards the end of Raw, I was kind of thinking, okay, Finn's maybe going to win at this time. But yeah, now that I'm like kind of talking it out in my head, we're probably going to get the yin to survivor series yang within that match.
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah, I don't see Finn defeating Gunther at all. um On the opposite end of the wargame spectrum, we had the men's wargame match. We had new bloodline versus bloodline 2 or OG bloodline versus bloodline 2.0.
Survivor Series and Wrestling Storytelling
00:21:16
Speaker
I thought this match rocked dude. Yeah, as much as we had criticized and the fifth people in there, the CM Punk Roman Reigns drama.
00:21:23
Speaker
Clearly worked. the the The real that they posted of Roman keeping Punk from going into the match and letting Sammy go first, that's officially WWE's most watched video of 2024. I think last, is it saw it's got some like 174 million views already. That's nice. So, you know, Punk and Roman, that's the two biggest needle movers that they have. And even though they're not due to kick off a feud anytime soon, I think that the powers of B just wanted to see what it looks like if we get these two guys involved in the same situation. um So you know I was wrong on that when Triple H was right. That's why he's yeah he's the Booker and we're not. um But I thought this was the best war games match since they brought the gimmick back. I believe it was 2017 was the first year. ah you know It was NXT exclusive for about five years there. um But even going back to the NXT, it was back in 2017 on. I think this was the best match. I thought everybody in there did their job really, really well. It had the best story.
00:22:19
Speaker
Leading into it and it paid off and it was just a a really really fun match Yeah, I mean I I do have a soft spot some war games was where ah Jay and Sammy finally like can't you know? Had the yeah after the match was really cool, but you forget they were fighting the brawling brutes Yeah, fire and I was trying to think who they were fighting because I couldn't even yeah remember i was totally disposesd it was It was just they they wanted to put bloodline in a war games match So they just came up with five guys to to go against them Right. The Bloodline was the best part of that match for sure. like the the The actual like inner Bloodline drama, they actually came to ah to a head. That was really kind of the peak of the Bloodline, I'd say. when they When Bloodline was making their entrance for Survivor Series, you know War Games 2022, I think that was the absolute peak of of the Bloodline.
00:23:03
Speaker
They were never stronger than at that moment. Yeah, but this war games definitely had the most meaning and like the most like, you know, like legitimate organic build, I think. Had some really cool spots. Jimmy going off the top of the cage. Bronson Reed going off the top of the cage. Jacob Fatu looked awesome. I just, I thought everybody really showed out.
00:23:19
Speaker
Yeah. Jacob Fatou going through that table, dude. That was wicked. I mean, he literally just like, the table just like snapped. How about Bronson Reed? I mean, Bronson, yeah, Bronson Reed is just like snapped and snapped. Yeah, that's a very, that was a large amount of mass dropping off the top of that cage. That's nuts, dude. So yeah, the OG bloodline came away with the win on that one.
00:23:40
Speaker
What were your thoughts on more game or a survivor series? I thought it was a really, really good show. I thought it was, what you know, Survivor Series is my sentimental favorite pay-per-view because it's always so close to my birthday. It's a lot of years where Survivor Series is actually on my birthday. um So definitely sentimental favorite. And I thought this was a really, really good entry into the Pantheon. I don't think it was an all-timer.
00:23:59
Speaker
but it was definitely in the, you know, probably top 10 survivor series ever. I also got to give them a shout out that for this, the signature shirt for the event. They did an homage to the survivor series 94 shirt. That's been like my grill. That was the tie dye with the San Antonio skyline. So they they brought it back with the the Vancouver skyline for this one, man. So I got it ordered. It's not tree tie dye, it's a sublimated print, but hopefully it's good enough to scratch the itch that I can finally close out my quest for that 94 shirt, because it's so much, man. For an old shirt, it's probably going to fall apart if you wear it with any kind of vigor. But yeah, I give it a solid thumbs up. I give it a thumbs up too. There was no absolute stinkers, which I mean, I guess WWE hasn't really delivered absolute stinkers anymore. So we had a bad pay-per-view.
00:24:43
Speaker
Well, when you only have you know lean, mean five matches, I think it's kind of hard. Elimination Chamber earlier this year was a little bit of a weird one. That was the one in Australia that was at like three in the morning. There was only four matches. I think one of the Saudi shows was like a B-minus. b Yeah, their bad shows nowadays are like ah ah just a B-minus. They're not putting those straight up where you're like, why did I just give this company three hours of my time? right it's been they've They've been on a roll, man. and It looks like all... you know Everything's going to keep going that way. dude I'm really excited for Saturday Night's Main Event. I love that they're bringing back the retro feel. They brought back the OG theme song and stuff for
Saturday Night's Main Event and WWE Network Transition
00:25:14
Speaker
it. What do you think of that coming back as a proper pay-per-view?
00:25:17
Speaker
I think it's cool. Do you think it's going to be something that is um you know like year after year? No, I'm thinking, I mean, i have this is literally just me kind of you know putting my finger on the pulse, man. I think that they're resurrecting it in in anticipation of the move to Netflix. I think it's going to be something we see as a quarter week special on Netflix, right? like Because you don't necessarily need like to have like you know Saturday Night's Main Event 2024 and 2025. I loved it as a kid. when you know when every couple months, you'd see, oh, sweet, we got Saturday Night's Main Event coming up on NBC because there was always some good matches and fun segments. So I think maybe make it the... Because it's going to be a couple of years before, at least a couple of years before the PLEs are on Netflix. So I think they're going to create some stuff to give them some more return on their investment aside just from just having raw. So I think we could see ah Saturday Night's Main Event come back as part of the Netflix deal.
00:26:07
Speaker
Yeah. And speaking of that, didn't we finally say our final farewells to the WWE Network? I mean, even over in the UK, I think it's finally gone, dude. I think they- December 31st. December 31st. Yeah. After this month, it's going to be no more network across the world. Yeah. So for those that don't know, when Peacock took over their WWE Network in early 2021,
00:26:28
Speaker
um That was only in America. everywhere Just about everywhere else in the world, WWE Network lived on, right? like That's still where people went to watch all their old pay-per-views, the documentaries. like It was still a thing internationally. There were some some truly hardcore wrestling degenerates out there that had went through the trouble of getting a VPN and signing up for Sky Sports as a service in the UK that you could sign up for to still get your WWE network fixed that way. I thought Pico actually did a pretty good job. They did. actually the initial yeah transition. I absolutely loved WWE Network. I mean, it's really what got me back into wrestling after about a 10 year break from it. So I was very, very, very concerned when it was switched over. But I mean, if you just blindfolded me and didn't tell me and just plopped me in front of the WWE section on Peacock, I don't think I know the difference, right? that that it's it's I think they've got it back to about 90%.
00:27:17
Speaker
of what WWE Network was. And I think it actually, the the tech side of it actually works better. I feel like I get way less lagginess or any kind of issues and WWE Network could be a little bit buggy. But yeah, it's as of now, it's going to be no more. um Internationally, they're going to get all their their premium events and everything on Netflix. I think they're getting raw SmackDown and everything. yeah I think every every w WWE um entity overseas is going to be on Netflix. Yeah, the US media rights are still so valuable that I think it still made sense for WWE to parcel them out and you know get a Netflix check and get ah an NBC Universal check. But um I got a feeling that I think this deal is going to be even better for Netflix than they're anticipating. And I wouldn't be surprised if we end up seeing 100% universal rights for WWE content going to Netflix the next when when this next round of media deals wrap up. Yeah. So, you know, December, December 31st, we're going to do a Tim Bell salute for the, uh, for the WWE network. Yeah. You can see that first episode of raw Netflix is going to be huge, man. They're already putting super produced commercials for it. It's going to be in that beautiful new Intuit Dome in, uh, in Los Angeles, Iraq, Roman, everybody's going to be there. So I'm excited to to see what they do to kick off this. It's really a truly new era for, uh, for Monday Night Raw. All right. Are you getting some figure talk? Of course.
00:28:56
Speaker
All right, want to remind you this segment and the entire podcast is brought to you by Ringside Collectibles. Use code CHICKFOLY to save 10% on all your purchases and make sure to check out all of the various sales that they have going on right now.
Wrestling Figures Review
00:29:10
Speaker
All right, so not a lot of figure news. We do got some reviews though, so more Ringside exclusives. Last episode we brought you guys the Takeshta and Tony Storm. Now we got on the WWE side of things, Ringside coming through with some exclusive Ultimate Editions. First off, we got CM Punk. This is from the iconic Money in the Bank 2011 match against John Cena where CM Punk won and then stole the championship and ran out of the arena. um I love this figure, man. you know i've been We got it last week, dude. I've been playing with this figure you know pretty much all the time. Me and Sheena have been potting, dude. I think the the parts choices, all the paint apps, like the head sculpts, I think this is just ah as much as I hate to say it. I think this is a home run and a contender for Figure of the Year.
00:29:52
Speaker
Yeah, it looks great, dude. I mean, it's definitely, I mean, it it captures CM Punk of that era. It's got the the blowing the kiss face and the hand, which I think is a really cool. Yeah. Really, really cool, man. This was, you know, this was a remake of Elite 16, which is one of the, had been one of the most valuable elites in the the whole line. It was a really, really beloved figure.
00:30:15
Speaker
and i think they just upgraded it in every single way man i'm in love with this figure yeah i love i mean i just i love this gear too i think this gear looks so sick dude so yeah yeah killer figure um you know even if it is yeah i think they're already starting to ship the back order so if you are late to get on the train on this one I think you should have CM Punk home for Christmas if you go and order them right now. So definitely check it out. And now we got something. Literally, we grabbed this box. It's still cold from sitting on the front porch, man. We grabbed this off the front porch 30 seconds before we went on the air. One of the most anticipated releases in the last five or six years from the Mattel line, we got the classic 1993 Steiner Brothers Rick and Scott tag team. Yeah, I got this beautiful navy and gold colorway on the outside. Wait, wait, wait. We gotta apologize to our Michigan fans. It's Navy and Maze. Oh, sorry, Navy and Maze might be. Michigan Wolverines theme box. You got a WWF 1993 branded logo on the side of it for the Steiners. Really cool. Box looks great. We're gonna crack it open.
00:31:19
Speaker
see what we got. Let's make sure we got Rick and Scott. I saw one of our Foley fan members, I don't want to mention his name on here to give him me heat with ringside, but he, yeah he or she, I think he received Rick Steiner and Evader Ultimate Edition. No, in his box. Mattel, you know, we love you guys, but definitely still iron out the kinks from the new, the new factory there in Vietnam. but yeah And also Ringside already said they were making it right and sending them a new one. So awesome customer service from Ringside on the pretty funny mix up. Yeah. um So yes, we confirmed we do have Rick and Scott. So we're we're good to go on that. We got the soft goods jackets, which we've had we've had customs of for
00:31:54
Speaker
Yeah, quite we have a custom set of elites of the Steiner's that are pretty simple. You know, they definitely got the job done, but it's always customs. You know, they're fragile. that you know You know, the paint's never going to hold up like factory made figures are. So it's very I'm very happy to upgrade them to these ultimates.
00:32:08
Speaker
Yeah, the face scans on these I think are great. I think they just really they just really nailed it. I love Rick's ring gear. um You know what's cool is we got a Braun Breaker Elite with that same ring gear. Yeah, so that'd be a nice little display piece. I love the Rick head sculpts with the wrestling gear with the strap off. It's just a really, really nice touch to just bring some life to him. Another cool thing that is those two the jackets aren't identical. If you go back and look, the Steiners, they both were Michigan jackets, but they were slightly different. And Mattel even captured that on the jackets.
00:32:37
Speaker
Yeah, they totally didn't have to do that. But yeah, the fact that they went ahead with with the extra mile and changed the jackets up is pretty awesome. Something else unique that I... yeah We needed to get with Trey, man, for my damn toys to double check this. But I think this is the first time ever in the line that you got a guy with two different boots, man. Rick Steiner, he was so goofy as the Dogface Gremlin, he would wear mismatch boots to wrestle in. And they actually even captured that. you know One's kind of like mid shin length and one's almost up to the knee.
00:33:07
Speaker
like a classic wrestling boot style. um mean I mean, I know you have a much better memory than I do, but I i can't remember a figure that's i can't remember had two different boots. Yeah, I'm really trying to think. I don't think that's ever been the case. There may have been somebody where like, you know, maybe a barefoot guy where one foot was taped up and one wasn't, but I don't think we've ever seen two different boots used. For sure. What are your thoughts?
00:33:28
Speaker
I think it's awesome, dude. I think they're a little bit overdue. if you know I get the Mattel strategy of not giving you the most wanted figure right out the gate because we got- This is more of a contractual thing, right? No, I know. Because we got WCW 2000 era Rick Steiner about a year ago, and then we got like a 1998, 1999 Scott Steiner. I kind of would have liked to see him just come out hot, dude, with the these guys right out the gate. But maybe because they were Ultimate Editions, maybe that's why it took a little bit longer. Right, but there was a while between the time like they had the rights for the Steiner's, right? Yeah, but he said, you know, ah action for your attack just said that they were, it was just going to be a matter of getting them in the line. But yeah, I think Rick was under contract a little bit before Scott. But even that being said, it's been a long time coming on these and then there was, it was little it was a pretty good size weight between the time these were announced and the time they released. But again, better late than never. These are really must haves, man. If you're any kind of like new gin,
00:34:19
Speaker
or WCW collector, you got to have these. I think these the look is generic enough on these that they definitely work for ah early 90s, late 80s, WCW, or from that WWF kind of new gen run, like wre between WrestleMania 8 and WrestleMania 10. The Steiner said that little cup of coffee there with WWF. I think they work for for both of them. And the Rick Steiner, if you're into like you know unique displays, he's going to look really cool displayed with that, that Braunbreaker Elite too. Yeah, totally.
00:34:48
Speaker
Knocked it out of the park. Yeah, home run. All right, Sheena, do we got some listener mail? Yes, we do. Let's get to it. All right, let me unlock my phone here. Sorry, I let it die on me. All right, Zach Hertzler, do you think Saturday night's main event is just a one-off? Oh, we just talked about that. Or will they do that more often? Yeah, we just covered that, Zach, so I hope you're listening. I know you are. Zach also says, who do you think will win the men's and women's ah Royal Rumble. For men's, I'm going to say ah Seth freaking Rollins, dude. I think it's all built into it. I think we're going to see Punk get that belt from Gunther at some point ah between now and Mania. and I think we're going to see Seth challenging a champion CM Punk at WrestleMania.
00:35:30
Speaker
I could see Roman winning the Rumble. Yeah. So Roman can never be counted out. I think Seth is a good shout. I think Seth i think seth would be the the best choice um just because I feel like Roman is in in there no matter what. You know what I mean? To me, the Rumble is almost beneath Roman Reigns at this point, dude. Why would he even go in a match with 30 other people? Because he needs to reproof himself, dude. He's lost everything. He doesn't care, though.
00:35:53
Speaker
Seth told you, he doesn't care. the you He doesn't, he didn't lose everything in his mind. What do you mean? while didn yeah yeah He had both his cousins. He had Sammy Zane and he had freaking CM Punk, the biggest deal in wrestling, all working for him, all on his team. Nobody, they weren't on CM Punk's team. They weren't on Jay's team. They were all on Roman's team.
00:36:11
Speaker
Working for him one thing. He doesn't got the stupid. name Maybe he's trying maybe he's trying to Know him here you call it a stupid necklace and also sorry to all our Polynesian friends for keeping it real in the context of this story Romans got everything back and he's had to do almost nothing for it I know so maybe maybe in true babyface fashion He's going to want to just show everybody like you know what I am still the best I can beat all these guys. I mean I He's not a baby face, dude. So no, why why would he do that? if He's not a baby face. I mean, he's not a full blown heel anymore. He's not like... He is. He's already gaslit all his cousins to going right. I mean, yes, when you break it down like that. Paul Heyman got powerbombed through a table and Roman didn't... We know for a fact Roman didn't check on him for at least months. That's true. Yeah. What kind of baby face is that?
00:36:56
Speaker
You're right. um Sam Rosenthal says, who wins in a celebrity death match? Seth Phelps or the commissioner Phil Dunnett? Phil Dunnett. You think so? Yes, Phil's a weenie. Not sad.
00:37:12
Speaker
I would love to see that though. Now that
AEW vs WWE: Future Prospects
00:37:14
Speaker
we know what now that we know what Phil Dunnett's face looks like, he actually posted a picture of his face in the ah in the Foley fam group for all of us to see. um Now we can make a little clay Claymation figure of him and and we can go to town. It was a Buffalo Bills coach, Brian Dayball. Phil Dunnett.
00:37:31
Speaker
Um, Sam Rosenthal also says, uh, what are you wishing for most during ringside fest? Oh, it's the left from last week. And, uh, are you still excited for AEW paper views? Do you see them riding the ship for ratings and attendance at some point? I'm so excited for them that I purchased every single.
00:37:48
Speaker
Every pay-per-view that Tony Collins put out, he's got my money, man. I still get excited for him. They're really good shows. I don't think AEW is as bad off as people make it out to be. I know we were kind of down in it a little bit earlier in the show. um But it's not, you know, anybody that says it's like WCW 2000, you definitely didn't watch WCW 2000 because that was just god-awful. I think, dude, it's tough when you lose momentum, man, right? Like they had... I think if AEW was, you know, if you, if you book their trajectory in reverse, I think they'd be a smash success right now, man. But they, they just flew too close to the sun, right? That mid 2021 to late 2021 period where they were building towards Hangman, winning the belt.
00:38:26
Speaker
Kenny was doing the belt collector gimmick. um They signed Adam Cole, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson in short order. And not to mention they had gotten stinging at the end of 2020. I think the sting effect cannot be um cannot be overestimated on this whole deal. ah it just It really felt like they were number one. right Even though they were they still were beating WWE in the numbers, it felt like they had completely captured the hearts and minds of all the hardcore wrestling fans. And it's like, since then it's just dwindled, man. It seems like every single month, like there's less and less of that hardcore AW following as people start to just exclusively watch WWE.
00:39:00
Speaker
um I think they're kind of just so, I don't think they're ever going to be like how WCW was during the Monday Night Wars. so I think people fantasizing that it's just not going to be a thing. I think they're going to be a really, really high end version of what TNA Impact was, right? They're going to be super high quality and it's just going to be ah it's going to be an alternative. It's not going to be a competitor.
00:39:20
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, but it makes you wonder though, cause it's, it sucks because all of that kind of came about like when AEW started taking it's like, it's nosedive. I guess nosedive is a little bit stronger word, but you know what I mean? When they started to go downhill w WWE, like that's when they lost Vince and things started to shift. We went into the Triple H era and things really just like, you know, took off and picked up steam. So I feel like, you know, it's, it sucks because it happened to them as WWE was picking up such steam and they've just done such a great job of retaining that.
00:39:50
Speaker
But if WWE was still in the Vince era and it was still down, I don't feel like AEW would feel so bad. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, because now WWE seems like the cool place to be. For the longest time, AEW is where you wanted to be. Yeah, you aren't a real wrestling fan unless you watch AEW explicitly. It feels like, unless you're just going for that check, man, WWE is definitely the place to be. It's got the biggest interest. They're breaking records every single month commercially.
00:40:15
Speaker
um But yeah, it was within too much, you know, Vince stepped down in July. And then in September is when CM Punk just went nuclear on the entire locker room, and made Tony Khan look like an absolute buffoon after all out 2022. And it's, it's, it it got weird in AW after that. I remember like specifically, like watching that press conference as it happened, dude, I had it, I ah we're it was was on the TV there in the master bedroom and I was, I was playing Madden and I had the press conference streaming on my phone.
00:40:41
Speaker
and just being dumbfounded. I kept waiting for it to be like an angle and like, you know, yeah somebody to show up. But then it turned out that it was just, it was all a shoot.
Podcasting Reflections and Goals
00:40:48
Speaker
yeah And it just made it get weird, right? There was just so much over, to it felt like, there was so much like backstage, like drama and like overtones and shit that you had to like keep up on to stay in the AW. And you had to read between the lines on like every little thing that happened, that was happening. And it was just, it took the joy out of it for me, man. Not to mention that I can't stand seeing a punk. So the fact that he's like the the full chrome of this whole thing,
00:41:10
Speaker
um It just, it played out for me. And again, at the same time, WWE is having this creative renaissance that is still continuing to build momentum to this day. Yeah, for sure. All right. And I think that wraps up, um you know.
00:41:25
Speaker
I saw the lean mean 45 minute ah version of the chick-fil-a show. This is, you know, behind the curtain, they're behind the microphone. This is really what we were shooting for when we originally conceptualized this thing like six years ago. Cause like at the time, you know, the Conrad was really hitting this stride and like these two and a half hour, three hour long podcasts were becoming the norm.
00:41:42
Speaker
We're like, dude, wouldn't it be refreshing if we could just do like 45 minutes, week in and week out. And we quickly found that, you know, unless you're just rushing through and leaving out a ton of shit, it's kind of impossible to keep up with everything happening in wrestling in under 45 minutes. So, uh, but it's always nice when you get a little bit of a quicker episode like this. Hopefully, you know, something you guys can enjoy on a commute, you know, on the way and um to and from work, you're already done with it. Uh, and you get everything we had to say about, about pro wrestling for the week.
00:42:07
Speaker
Yep. All right. That wraps it up. Um, make sure you go to chick Foley.com. Join us over on the Facebook group. Join us over on Patreon. Uh, we have a lot of fun over there. And, um, Seth, do you want to leave us with some closing thoughts this week? Enjoy wrestling.