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Episode 10: Daniel Bryan Is Back And Shane McMahon Made Some Weird Sounds
56 Plays8 years ago
Join this weeks hangout as the boys talk about Daniel Bryan's return to the ring, the weird sounds Shane McMahon made last week, Brock Lesnar as a business man, Zack Sabre Jr.'s New Japan Cup matches and more!
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, friends. Happy Thursday and welcome to another episode of Predetermined to Pro Wrestling Hangout. I'm your host, Garrett Callender. And with me, as always, a man who not one time has failed the WWE Wellness Policy, Derek Halpin. That's a true statistic. You can take that to the bank. Is that the first true one I've said?
Derek vs. Brock Lesnar Feud
00:00:21
Speaker
I'd have to go back through them. I'm sure there's a couple you said that's true. There was a lot of fighting Brock Lesnar in there. I think all those are true.
00:00:29
Speaker
Yeah, and who knows what's going to happen with him. So I feel like the feud between you and Brock Lesnar is just going to build over the duration of this podcast. I may even get added to the match this year. There's still a couple of months or a couple of weeks left. Yeah. You know, at this point, you versus him is one of my dream matches.
00:00:49
Speaker
For what reason? Oh, because I get to... I don't know if you'll allow this, but I would like to accompany you to the ring. Sure. And I think that while you're doing some shit with Brock, I probably get to interact with Heyman. Well, what do you say we get this thing rolling and hit our goddamn music? That sounds good to me.
Daniel Bryan's WWE Return News
00:01:47
Speaker
All right, everybody. Welcome back. Happy Thursday. We had a game plan for today. And like, you know, any wrestling show says card subject change. Card change today. We got some big news dropped on us. And, you know, I said, Happy Thursday. This is released on Thursdays. We record this on Tuesdays as soon as Smackdown's done. And I have a feeling you already know what happened today.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, they have a pretty good idea of what we're going to be talking about on this episode today, I think. So let's just dive right into that, man. Yeah, don't bury the lead. Just throw it at them. Daniel Bryan is fucking back. Holy shit. Like, there are times watching wrestling that you get the good feels. And sometimes you forget what those good feels feel like because there's so much time in between them. Holy shit, today was a good day.
00:02:37
Speaker
today was a great day to mark out today was a great day to be a wrestling fan and man I I want to say it came out of nowhere but
00:02:49
Speaker
I mean, this has been people, I mean, God, he didn't he just do like a radio interview or something like last week, where he was saying, as of this moment at this particular time, I am not cleared by WWE. Like he made a very specific point to say, right now, I'm not. He even seemed particularly sad lately.
00:03:09
Speaker
like where there was just something about it where I was like, OK, it's I don't know. I figured we would see him again somewhere. But I truly did not believe we were going to see him in a WWE ring.
00:03:20
Speaker
Well, the fact of the matter is he's been gone for a few weeks. A few weeks ago on SmackDown Live, he just walked out midway through the show. Didn't have any idea why. And then Shane last week said that Brian was coming back to tonight's episode of SmackDown. And God, just a few hours before the show starts, you get the internet bombshell that Daniel Bryan has been cleared to return to the ring. And that gives everybody a reason to tune into tonight's show.
00:03:48
Speaker
gives us a reason to change our plans for today's podcast.
Impact of Bryan's Return on Fans
00:03:56
Speaker
You were at work? I was at work. Like what am I supposed to do? I had like three or four hours left in work and they were expecting me to continue to be productive when I have received, you know, news like my child had been born. The economy just died because everyone at work who received the news just stopped working.
00:04:19
Speaker
And the problem is, I don't have anyone. Well, I have a couple people at work that I could talk to, but they weren't there today. Didn't see them on the IMs. So everyone around me did not give a shit about how excited I was. And you know what I did for those final four hours? I stayed on Twitter and just tweeted. I was chatting with people. I was, you know, when you feel that good about wrestling, you need to be around other wrestling fans. So let me ask you this question. Did you first receive the news from me?
00:04:48
Speaker
Oh, you 100% broke it to me. Well, you, basically what had happened is you had said, did you say he's back? I think I said he's back or he's fucking back. You said he's back. And then I said- I sent your text. Then I said he's back. I said who? And then you didn't answer in one second, so I immediately sent it again with two question marks. And as I opened Twitter, I saw it. But as I saw it, you sent me the text. So it was kind of a simultaneous thing. You do get credit, though.
00:05:18
Speaker
Yes. And you better believe within the next 30 seconds, like 10 more texts from other people. Oh, yeah. So the day that people are blowing me up about wrestling on my phone is my favorite day.
SmackDown and Bryan's Storyline
00:05:33
Speaker
Yeah. Well, today was a good day. Tonight, Smackdown was a good episode of Smackdown. Yesterday was a good episode of Raw. But where do you want to where do you want to attack this thing from to start the show? What do you want to dive into first as far as Brian knows?
00:05:46
Speaker
Since we just finished SmackDown, SmackDown is just finished. I mean, the Tupac show that comes on after it is on my TV currently. I can see that in the background just to let you know how fresh this is from coming off of it.
00:06:01
Speaker
god damn like during that finale the last part of raw when sammy and kevin came out i looked over at leah who actually was watching with me and she's just like oh no he's yeah he's gonna get it he's gonna get his ass kicked and i was like yeah i think he is because there is nothing fucking better than us being excited and just seeing him get his ass kicked
00:06:24
Speaker
that's that's old school nothing better than just pure heal heat like they took everyone's good moment and just fucking broke it in front of them and that's what you're supposed to do with an angle and uh so so so you got the feel good moment of him coming out at the beginning of the show and announcing that he's clear to compete again and he said he doesn't know when it's going to be
00:06:47
Speaker
But I think we all have a pretty good idea that there's no way he's not competing at Mania after the way that show ended, right? Oh, I mean, they had the camera ready to get him with the Mania signed behind him. He's that's happening. And, you know, so we did run into this today. We do have to discuss it, unfortunately.
00:07:07
Speaker
There were a lot of people trying to bum us out about great news. And I'm not singling out any of our listeners or any friends. No. Because there's a lot of people who did this. It wasn't even just people in our circles. Like, it was just rampant throughout social media. It's rare that we get this good of news in wrestling, and when you do, it's amazing. Motherfucker. Wait, Derek, sorry, just a second. Can you still hear me?
00:07:38
Speaker
I can still hear you. Okay, uh, I'm gonna go ahead and leave all of that that just happened in and let you know, once again, third week in a row, let a stray cat in the apartment, and that's what happens when you let a stray cat in the apartment, it gets tangled up in all the cords, jerks the headphones off your head, and runs away with your microphone. Why would you let a stray cat in the room with you while you're podcasting? You've asked me this two weeks in a row, and we've determined it's because I'm insane. Like, the house I get, kind of.
00:08:08
Speaker
Are you afraid to let it out of your sight? Well, I mean, obviously I don't want it just running around like rummaging through my shit. Is your wife not home? She's home, but, you know, she has to leave the room the cat doesn't.
00:08:26
Speaker
So fuck the stray cat. Well, right now, this is the first time it's done anything that's bothered me.
Critiques and Enjoyment of Bryan's Return
00:08:32
Speaker
OK, I'm sorry. Let's go back anyways. So so so we get this we get this amazing news, you know, that breaks about Daniel Bryan coming back to the ring. And it's one of those moments that you feel like 100 percent of wrestling fans are going to take this moment
00:08:46
Speaker
and we're all just gonna kinda hold hands and join together and be like, you know what, fuck all our past differences, fuck all the stuff we normally bitch about, and just be happy that someone that we cannot have kind of all universally agree is awesome and good for the business. It's coming back. It's a guy that, whether you're an indie fan or, you know, a WWE fan, he has been everywhere and done everything. Whether you're a fan of Bryan Danielson or Daniel Bryan,
00:09:15
Speaker
He's done something for everybody. So, and we try to, on this show for the most part, not every day, but for the most part we try to remain positive. And it was frustrating because a lot of the initial response was people just trying to find a way to critique aspects of this. Whether it was, why didn't they wait until SmackDown was on the air to make this announcement.
00:09:38
Speaker
or oh they're going to waste them and they're going to put them in a tag match with Shane. Well it's kind of you know with improv you know it's always yes and yeah with wrestling fans it's a lot of like instead of yes and it's yeah but
00:09:54
Speaker
God damn, and so, I mean, well, I'm gonna talk about this for a couple of minutes, but we have to because there was a lot of that out there. I think everybody just needs, like, I tried to really fight that with positivity and be like, come on, man, we all just got amazing news. Worry about all this other shit later. Just step back and fucking enjoy that one of your favorite wrestlers, a guy who has so much passion for this business, who, I don't know if anyone has ever made me cry,
00:10:23
Speaker
more in professional wrestling than Daniel Bryan, out of joy, sadness, everything. You know, he's really run the gamut of emotions for me. I think for a lot of people, there's, I mean, I think you could argue that in the last five years, nobody has created more new wrestling fans than Daniel Bryan, right?
00:10:46
Speaker
Me included. I mean, I had completely dropped off and it was the Daniel Bryan storyline for WrestleMania 30 that sucked me back in in a big bad way.
00:10:56
Speaker
Well, I think it's the same for my girlfriend, too. She got into wrestling during the Yes movement stuff. And so I just I think both of us were kind of taken aback by like, there's this awesome moment that should just kind of be universally accepted as this is great. And before people could even digest how awesome it was, they were critiquing what they weren't going to get out of it immediately, as opposed to the fact that a guy
00:11:21
Speaker
that wasn't allowed to wrestle 24 hours ago is now allowed to wrestle again. And regardless of what they do with him in the next month, he's going to wrestle again. And what he does two months from now or three months from now, don't worry about that. We're not at that stage yet. And here's the here's the other aspect of this. We don't necessarily know how long this has actually been in the works.
Daniel Bryan's Role and WrestleMania
00:11:44
Speaker
They released today that he's been cleared to return. We don't know that they haven't been planning this since this last fall.
00:11:52
Speaker
Oh, and I mean, the way they've been doing this, you know, this setup, it felt like something had to happen with him. You couldn't just have all this giant story for months with K.O. and Sami. And Shane and Daniel, like, and not have it end with something.
00:12:10
Speaker
correct I called this a long time ago I called this as soon as there was like a power struggle on SmackDown between Owens and management and then they added Zayn into the fold and to me like this had at least have been discussed and on the table a long time ago whether or not it was actually finally approved or not like
00:12:29
Speaker
To me, this, if it ends up being, of course SmackDown ends with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn getting fired, and I'm doing the air bunnies right now. I think everyone kinda knows that's not gonna stick.
00:12:45
Speaker
they're gonna come back Daniel Bryan is gonna bring them back Shane is gonna bring them back and we're probably the way it looks right now gonna wind up with Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn now if you want to gripe about how they're not maximizing Brian's potential guys he just got cleared to wrestle again
00:13:05
Speaker
Like, what do you expect them to drop all their storylines, all their, you know, everything they've been building up on both shows and just go, no, what do you guys want? What do you guys want for, they're not gonna dive into- We can't throw him in in like a 60 minute Iron Man match. No. I don't even know, I mean, I assume the dude's still in good shape.
00:13:26
Speaker
Everyone wants to see a match like Daniel Bryan versus The Miz. We're both in agreement on that. I think everyone's in agreement on that. You know I'm in. Miz is on Raw. Miz is on Raw. Daniel Bryan's on SmackDown. He's in the middle of a storyline right now. He wasn't even allowed to wrestle 24 hours ago. Can we let this stuff play out first and then see where we go from there? Let's just all pop fucking huge when he comes out in wrestling tights.
00:13:52
Speaker
at fucking WrestleMania in the same building that he last won the heavyweight championship in. Right. And they've put themselves in a situation. Everyone wants to see him kick Zayn and Owens's ass. Especially after tonight. Right. I was curious to see at first when Sammy jumped on top of him and were giving him fists.
00:14:14
Speaker
I thought, okay, they're going kind of easy on him a little bit. They're easing him into this. And the second they got him out of the ring and Kevin had him in the power bomb position, even my wife was like, oh, that's not a good move for him to take right now, is it?
00:14:29
Speaker
Well, if the issue was concussions, the main things you would be worried about were hits to the head. And if he has legitimately been cleared by all these different doctors, I mean, if you're cleared to swim, you got to jump into the deep end, right? So take that fucking power bomb off the apron, man. Hardest part of the ring. Your head's hurt, not your spine. Don't be a pussy. Welcome back, DB. Oh, real quick, we can jump back into this in just a second.
00:14:57
Speaker
I want to say I'm a little upset with you. Why are you upset with me? Well, last week, because this is the first week I'd watched SmackDown in quite a while before this, and last week you were describing to me the Sammy Kevin beat down on Shane. And you did say that it sounded like Shane was giving birth when he got powerbombed onto that thing, but I feel like you didn't really do it justice. I've rewatched that over and over again.
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's good shit. I think that we should take turns trying to recreate that sound. Right now? Yes, give me your best shame. Is that pretty good?
00:15:56
Speaker
Can we do that every show? Yeah, just do your best, Shane. That's a new segment. Do your best, Shane. So they replayed the Shane beatdown and Leah actually watched the whole show with me tonight. And when she saw that part, she goes, well, that doesn't look like they were having fun. That looks like they stopped playing.
00:16:24
Speaker
She said Shane didn't look like he was having fun in that part. Like before it was just friends hanging out and then they crushed his throat with the chair and all that. She said it just seemed too mean. She said it stopped being pro wrestling and just became a real thing there for a minute. She was legitimately concerned for Shane's health. Well, you hear those sounds. Those aren't a sound you make on purpose if you're gonna be on TV. One thing I'll give credit to Shane on, he's always done a really good job of selling when he wants to.
00:16:53
Speaker
I mean, you know, it's pretty easy. That's what that was. So as far as you being mad at me, dude, what could I have said to possibly have done that sound justice? Make it like what we just did. You're like, I can't even describe it. I have to just do it. You needed to watch that shit.
00:17:09
Speaker
And I did, and I just think that next time if somebody's making a dumbass sound, I need you to really give it to me. And you're right, it did sound and it looked like he was giving birth. He was looking down at his dick like maybe something was gonna come out of him. I don't know if you caught it tonight. Did you notice that when Brian had them replay that segment and the ring that Owens leaned over to Zayn and recreated the noise? No, he didn't.
00:17:38
Speaker
He did! Go back and watch it! Fuck. If somebody out there can get that Shane sound into MP3 form and send that to me, that'll be my ringtone for the rest of the year. Hold on.
00:17:59
Speaker
hold up if somebody could get that into mp3 format and send that to you can we blend that into the music next episode please oh yeah there won't for the next while it won't even say hit my goddamn music it's just gonna be like hit it Shane
00:18:20
Speaker
Oh, I'm sweating, I'm laughing so hard. God, seriously, nothing brought me as much joy. Honestly, if I could choose between having Daniel Bryan back or just that sound, I mean, I'm really happy for Daniel.
00:18:38
Speaker
But that sound, if he saw how much I laughed when Shane was doing it, he would be like, okay, it's fine. I'm not wrestling anymore. Can we talk about it seriously for a moment, though? It's good that they finally made Owens and Zayn an injury threat. That's two weeks in a row. They've taken out popular figures on the show.
00:18:59
Speaker
As far as getting them in a position where everyone wants to see them get their asses kicked, yeah, everyone's gonna be behind Shane and Brian at Mania. Yeah, go ahead. Oh, I know this is one, I know this immediately came to your mind too.
Potential Dream Matches for Bryan
00:19:16
Speaker
So when the announcement came, I mean, my friend John texted me and he said he was on a phone conference and he's like, I can't concentrate. He's like, I'm literally in my seat vibrating right now.
00:19:30
Speaker
And he's like, I don't know what to do because I can't pay attention to this. And that was happening to me, except I was in a position to not pay attention to anything and just do nothing for four hours at work. But all of our minds had to have gone to this. Who's your fucking Daniel Bryan dream match? You had to have come up with a list of like 10 people where you're like, oh my God, I can plug him in with anyone and just get excited right now. Yeah. Actually, you know what my first reaction was when I heard the news?
00:20:01
Speaker
We saw your vinegar strokes. Shane just gives birth to his spinal column.
00:20:14
Speaker
Remember back on Conan O'Brien when he had that switch that he could pull that would just randomly play clips of Walker, Texas. Oh my God. I wish to God we had that on the show to just cue that sound up whenever we needed it. No, I've got a long list of Daniel Bryan dream matches right now.
00:20:32
Speaker
Are you asking me if I had to pick one? No, just give me like, when you saw that he was coming in, who were like the first couple that you're just like, holy shit, this is like a real thing I can watch now, like, this is a possibility, holy shit, this is a match! Uh, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles first came to mind. I think that's what everybody thought, right? Isn't it just like, oh my god, these guys are gonna just, they could tear any house down, that's a main event anywhere.
00:20:58
Speaker
Surprisingly, the second one that immediately came to mind because we've talked about him a couple times in this spot is Johnny Gargano. Because it's he it kind of they're kind of the same guy a little bit. Yeah, like Johnny Gargano is like the next Daniel Bryan, but we didn't know we were getting Daniel Bryan back. So it's a unique spot to kind of see those two go at it. Obviously, they got Finn Balor, Owens and Zane are on that list because I think they've got history with him. They're both good workers.
00:21:25
Speaker
Nakamura is the one that a lot of people are talking about. And plus Nakamura put out that tweet that, what did he say? He said, it's no longer a dream match. It's something you can see with your eyes. Yeah. And then it was like hashtag Nakamura versus Brian. I mean, and then there's, there's people he's worked before in the past that like you kind of get a fresh perspective. Like in theory, Daniel Bryan can go work Seth Rollins now.
00:21:52
Speaker
Like, you've seen those guys face each other before, but now not like this. Well, I'm even thinking about guys that he used to work on the Indies that we haven't seen in fucking, what, 10 years? Like, somebody like Roderick Strong.
00:22:07
Speaker
Ricochet yeah, oh man. I don't think him and Ricochet have ever worked together I think ricochet and maybe they have I don't know somebody could prove me wrong on that and but that to me that was my After AJ Styles. I was just like oh my god I never even Considered that I could watch Daniel Bryan and Ricochet fight each other and the fact that it would happen in a WWE ring Yeah mind-blowing
00:22:31
Speaker
Well, even go back like I said five years ago, I don't think people were expecting this kind of indie star explosion in WWE that they've had. I mean, the last half decade has been huge for them as far as recruiting names that you never thought you would see inside the mainstream wrestling company.
00:22:51
Speaker
And this and this is the difference to me is that like we were talking about all the people who were immediately doing Yeah, but yeah, but yeah, but look guys There's a long list of people that you could go down and say I want to see Daniel Bryan face this guy That we're like what three weeks away from mania Yeah, this is the night. This is the current. This is the current angle. He's in if I had just told you I
00:23:19
Speaker
If I had, I guess I'll put it to you this way. There's a high likelihood that you're going to see Daniel Bryan or Bryan Danielson take on Sami Zayn or El Generico and Kevin Steen, Kevin Owens. With a fucking McMahon, you are seeing like indie wrestling royalty.
00:23:44
Speaker
and the son of the biggest wrestling promoter in the world have a match at WrestleMania. And I can get why some people are like, well, I don't want Shane in the equation. The fact of the matter is Shane has been a part of this equation since the beginning with this storyline. So we're not escaping that. And you always have to remember this. Like a lot of people look at a Shane match as a blow off match.
00:24:07
Speaker
But Vince McMahon doesn't. Vince McMahon looks at any match with a McMahon as a top match. So that means these three guys that you think are getting a shit match are getting a good match in the boss's eyes, which could lead to more later. I mean, last year, AJ Styles fought Shane McMahon in the opening match of WrestleMania. This year, he's goddamn headlining in a dream match against Shinsuke Nakamura. Wrestling is a waiting game.
00:24:35
Speaker
You know, you never know what they're setting up for. And it's, you know, something might not make sense in the moment, but give it a few months, you know, give it sometimes even just a week. And yeah, that's one of the situations. There is an immediate payoff, obviously, in my opinion right now, which is that you're getting to see the build towards this the finale of this story that's been going on since the fall. And I also think
00:25:01
Speaker
What you're getting to see is them ease Daniel Bryan back into wrestling. Yeah, I think a lot of people, like you said, would like to see a 60-minute Iron Man match against somebody like Styles or somebody like Balor or something like that. But let's be real.
00:25:15
Speaker
He's been away for what, over two years? They need to ease him back in. A tag match is perfect for doing that. He's coming back at WrestleMania. He's coming back at WrestleMania in New Orleans, where he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship just a few years ago.
00:25:37
Speaker
I don't know. To me, everything about it's kind of lined up perfectly. A lot of the complaints with this match are basically the exact same complaints for the Rousey match, which everybody's like, you know, Rousey's there. I want to see her fight Charlotte. I want to see her fight Asuka. I want to see this, this, this. It's a first match. It makes sense to put her in a tag match where she has, you know, the whole weight of the match isn't on her.
00:26:03
Speaker
somebody else same with Daniel Bryan it is the guy is inevitably gonna have a little ring rust on him sure I mean he looked good tonight like I was he didn't do a ton but I was super excited I was yelling like the moment I knew that he was good to take bumps again I was screaming for Sammy to kick his head off just because I was happy he could take the move
00:26:23
Speaker
well there's that and then there's the you know it's it's building up to those guys getting their comeuppance and you know that Brian's gonna get his moment at mania like I'm a big fan of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn I'm a fan of Daniel Bryan I'm gonna be more than happy to watch Daniel Bryan and Shane or Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon beat my guys
00:26:44
Speaker
So like this is what I think a really good true wrestling fan appreciates is like a good story playing out. And Daniel Bryan on screen and Daniel Bryan off screen, this is a great story. He thought that his dream of being a professional wrestler was over.
00:27:04
Speaker
And it's not. And he worked hard and he had a lot of support and everyone wanted him back and he's back and this is huge fucking news. It's WrestleMania season and they're letting Daniel Bryan wrestle again. That's the takeaway from today. Regardless of how you feel about SmackDown's writing over the last couple months, maybe the reason things slowed down over the last couple months on SmackDown is because they've been waiting for this.
00:27:30
Speaker
because they knew they wanted to do it last fall, and they had to find a way to wait to make the announcement that Daniel Bryan could wrestle again until it was WrestleMania time. And this is the payoff. And I saw another complaint that I was seeing today is like, why wouldn't they just leave it as a surprise and let us be surprised like we were with the Hardys at Mania? Not calling. Once again, I'm sorry, Luke. I'm not calling you out on this one. I saw other people say it. It seems like I'm directly calling you out. I'm not. Love you.
00:28:00
Speaker
No, you weren't the only one Luke because I saw it too. Okay, but you know tonight he comes out everybody gets excited But I think it's a better story with you know Our favorite guy has been gone for two years on his first night back these two pieces of shit kick his ass Correct sets up a great story you know it's one of those just wait a little bit and you'll see and you know this means more than if he had just shown up to help Shane and
00:28:28
Speaker
Also think because I saw some complaints. Well, why didn't they wait until the show?
WWE's Timing of Bryan's Announcement
00:28:34
Speaker
To make the announcement there's they want us to watch it in ratings Well, I mean there yeah, that's that's the primary reason but they want to get your eyes on it to get you excited for mania, right? They want to make you tune in they gave you an excuse to tune in tonight and then they gave you a pretty damn good show They're trying to sell network subscriptions right now and they did it
00:28:56
Speaker
So I mean like they got me to get a goddamn Hulu live account tonight Just so I could watch this fucking match or watch this episode You could tell Hulu they got your eight bucks because Daniel Bryan came back to wrestling
00:29:12
Speaker
Yeah, fuck man, to me this is just one of those moments you gotta be positive about. Like I said it before on this podcast, it's not like I own a piece of Daniel Bryan merchandise, but fucking wrestling is better with him in it and him performing. And the fact that he's getting another chance to do this, he's getting to wrestle at another WrestleMania, let's get through the next month or so and then see all these dream matches. But right now this is actually a great scenario for him.
00:29:38
Speaker
And hey, I'll tell you this much. I guarantee you if you asked Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, you know, off screen, if they would prefer this spot to being in the honor of the giant memorial battle royal, hell yeah. Absolutely. Oh, for sure. I was going to be sad that they were going to be in that. Yeah, because that means they're forgotten. But the fact that they're in a match, like I said, with a McMahon means that they aren't, you know, they're not going anywhere. They're going to be around for a minute.
00:30:08
Speaker
Correct. This is a huge spot. Again, there's plenty of time to go over all the dream match possibilities. Right now, we've got a pretty damn good thing. We got great news today. Daniel Bryan's back. That's going to be the big story, I guess. Oh, I mean, it's funny because there was like, we'll go ahead. The other big story of the night, obviously, is Randy Orton cut the promo of his career on Gender Mahal.
00:30:35
Speaker
Those of you didn't hear it, let me recite it. This might not be word for word, but it's pretty damn close. Hey, gender, I'm gonna tell you something why all these people don't like you. You suck. And then they got in a fight. That is just, see, I can't just, I have such a hard time enjoying Randy Orton.
00:31:01
Speaker
Well, you don't have to say anything nice about him right now. I don't. But that was, I was just like, oh boy, what's he gonna, I was like, is he gonna let him know, like, what we don't like about him? Nope. Alright, he just told him he sucked. There we are.
00:31:15
Speaker
Well, the crowd popped for it, I guess. So it does summarize a lot of their feelings. Hey, I laughed. I laughed really hard because it was just a very Randy thing. Just cutting straight. Cutting straight to the point. Like we've got, you know, tonight was a big night. We had Daniel Bryan, who has more passion for the business than arguably anybody. And then we have Randy fucking Horton.
00:31:45
Speaker
It's like, wait, does he have his after he's done wrestling shoes on already? Oh yeah, I'm not changing shoes for this.
Comedic WWE Segment Recreation
00:31:54
Speaker
You know what else we got tonight? What'd we get?
00:32:04
Speaker
You know what's going to make me so happy? They inevitably are going to show the build to the Sammy K.O. Shane Brian Magitmania. And on the big screen in the Superdome, we will hear that on a large fucking sound system. And I am going to be fist pumping. I'm going to be high five and strangers.
00:32:26
Speaker
holy shit your homework before you go to bed tonight is i'm making you go back and rewatch that five seconds after they show that that package on the screen night where owens leans over to zane and mocks shane's noises
00:32:45
Speaker
Everybody's tired of this by now, but I am not. I'm not tired of it. It's gonna be months. This is annoying to you, I'm sorry, but it's not to me because that was great. And you're right, I do owe you an apology for not pressing how awesome that was last week, so I'm so sorry. So before we move on from SmackDown, I do need to bring up a couple things here. It has been a while since I've watched SmackDown with commercials, you know, actual television commercials as it airs.
00:33:14
Speaker
Right. They really don't think much of us, do they? No. Do you know how many weird breakfast products they tried to sell me? That Taco Bell fucking egg taco? Like, what the fuck, man? Do you know people who use Cricket Wireless? Not one. I mean, I know there's people out there who do, but I don't know any of them.
00:33:39
Speaker
Well, when I'm looking at this egg taco, I'm just like, an egg is in a taco shell that looks wet. Do you want a wet taco filled with cheese? No.
00:33:48
Speaker
And then they showed me this little cup thing that looked like you added water or something. It was like eggs, eggs and bacon and like what looked like an oatmeal cup. Get the fuck out of here. You know what? I might be a wrestling fan, but I've got some goddamn dignity and I'm not eating that shit. Let me ask you something, because a lot of times I miss raw. And do they do the picture in a picture thing on raw?
Reigns vs. Lesnar Build-Up
00:34:11
Speaker
What do you I I only when they cut commercially, what do you mean?
00:34:15
Speaker
Like, well, okay, so when you're watching SmackDown Live, when they cut to commercial breaks a lot of times, they'll do the picture in a picture where they're showing you commercials with like 75% of the screen, and in the corner, they still show you what's going on on SmackDown. Oh, they did on the Hulu Live thing that I was watching, I did not get that tonight.
00:34:36
Speaker
at all I don't believe so really no and I mean on the rock cut on Hulu that's never a thing because I it doesn't have commercials anyway so it's just jumping back and forth interesting because I still get the picture in a picture commercial break so
00:34:54
Speaker
Hey, on Raw last night, Roman Reigns assaulted three U.S. Marshals. Yeah. I feel like lately, WWE is just getting out of hand with crimes. Yeah. Bludgeon Brothers are hurting people with hammers. I mean, what they... That can't be legal, you know.
00:35:14
Speaker
Okay, we talked about this after Elimination Chambers, so before we get too much further into the podcast, how do you feel about how they're handling the Reigns-Lesnar stuff? Like over the last couple weeks, they've just been blatantly addressing the fact that Lesnar doesn't show up for Raw very often and he's a dick, and then they've been having Roman cut these shoot-style promos
00:35:40
Speaker
saying Lesnar's a bitch, saying that he doesn't show up for work, he should be punished, and that he's Vince's boy. How do you feel about how they've handled the build to their match at Mania? Because I've been rather impressed. I have too. I mean, that one night, the night he cut the first one, that crowd was a hundred percent behind him.
00:35:59
Speaker
And I feel like they're still behind him, but it's just slightly less. I think there was one little detail that just didn't sit right with me, because I think when he pointed out, you may hate me, but I'm here every day working. And I think everybody, you know, they can't deny that. Everybody's like, you're right, he does. He's here every day. Whether or not we like him, he is here putting in the time.
00:36:23
Speaker
Lesnar is not, but when he called out Lesnar as being Vince's boy, then I think we're all like, motherfucker, you're headlining WrestleMania for the fourth year in a row. Right, right. No, I'm with you there. I think that one little detail like, no, no, that's kind of the pot calling the kettle black because I mean, there's no doubt that Vince
00:36:48
Speaker
off-screen, you know, has given Lesnar a lot of breaks and perks to this contract. And it doesn't look like he's gonna re-sign right now. But they are also doing a really good job of making me not really give a shit if Lesnar's gone.
00:37:05
Speaker
Well, absolutely. Like, I kinda wanna see him get his ass kicked out of the building. But if he is on his way out, will we- I don't know, do you think Lesnar will be like, you know what, this is my last match, let's make it a good one. Or do you think he's gonna be like, seven minutes, I'm in and out of here. I don't give a shit, I'm gone.
00:37:26
Speaker
I would bank on the ladder.
00:37:46
Speaker
Yeah, you gotta remember, the back stage storyline going into WrestleMania 31 is that Lesnar wasn't under contract past WrestleMania 31. And that he had signed like what, a week or two before Mania? To extend it? Why set up his contract to where he's gonna tie up your belt at the most important time of the year?
00:38:08
Speaker
Well, it goes back to what your good buddy Jim Cornette said about the Montreal screw job, which is, why didn't you take the fucking belt off him before you got in this situation? It's like your good buddy Jim Cornette said, that goddamn Chuck Taylor's ruining the fucking business. It's like the good buddy Shane McMahon said, oh, oh, oh, oh.
00:38:36
Speaker
No, I think it's I think it's a valid fucking point like this is what gets me is that Fuck there's a whole tangent. I could go down just talking about Vince McMahon The guy has clearly hit so many moments out of the fucking park Everybody knows why he's the king of wrestling Everybody knows why he basically has the monopoly for the most part on the business and
00:39:00
Speaker
Then you see him make creative decisions like turning down the invasion angle of WCW for some petty revenge bullshit. And then you see him put himself into a business situation where he doesn't have any leverage because the guy that's getting ready to leave has his number one show's world championship.
00:39:23
Speaker
fuck man like why would you go to the negotiating table where a guy can like put in zero effort and and no show and I mean I'm not saying that he legit no showed their shows it was more than likely you know all scripted but like it's the idea that he doesn't have to show up and
00:39:42
Speaker
so many days out of the year and he gets a lot of heat. Like why back yourself into that corner? I think because Brock Lesnar is a great businessman. And I think if anything he's proven like he could go to any major company in the world like he could go to fucking Coca-Cola and be like you don't think I could make deals? Well listen to this deal. I haven't done shit for the last four years and I'm getting paid like crazy.
00:40:11
Speaker
Let me sell your coffee. You want me to have five Pepsi? I'll go over and tell Pepsi, you know what? You can sell Pepsi three days out of the year and that's it. And you know what? I think they might listen because I don't know why anyone else listened to me before. Once again, we've gone from trying to do Brock's Minnesota accent and when you do it, it just sounds like an Irishman. Hey man, it was just St. Patty's Day. Just quit. You're in the spirit. Yeah, don't bust my nugs on this one.
00:40:38
Speaker
Going back to my original question, I do think, man, I feel like they've done as bad as well as they can do.
Brock Lesnar's WWE Role and Contract
00:40:44
Speaker
For as many people as were down on Reigns Lesnar again, including, you know, I think you and I were a little bit like, yeah, here we go again. They've done as good a job as they can do as making people care, because they've painted Lesnar to be everything that they have allowed him to be for real.
00:41:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The question, like you said, is are they going to. Since since the fans know that that's a work now. How long are they going to buy into it for? Well.
00:41:16
Speaker
The main thing for me is where we were talking about, is this gonna be a seven minute match or a 20 minute match, says a lot about whether or not it actually goes on last. And I feel like Vince has to know, I mean, maybe he doesn't cuz it sounds like he sucks at business based on what's happened with Lesnar. But not putting him on last, actually giving us Shinsuke AJ last and getting that real actual dream main event.
00:41:47
Speaker
And you know that if they went to Lesnar and were like, if Vince was like, okay, so here's the deal. If you're willing to give me like 15, 20 minute match, I'll let you go on last. But if you don't want to put in the work, I'm going to have to put you in the middle of the card. And you know, Lesnar's like, I don't give a shit. I'm doing seven minutes. I don't care where you put me on the fucking card. You're telling me if I don't want to do 20 minutes, I can only do seven and I can go home and beat traffic.
00:42:19
Speaker
You really gave me that option. But what does it say that we both feel that way? Like we both think that like Lesnar does not give a shit. He's on his way out anyway, why would you put him in a situation where, and then again, just like the last couple, I mean I guess Mania's end last year was cool watching The Undertaker pack all his stuff away and go under the ramp or whatever.
00:42:45
Speaker
But the year before that, where Reigns took on Triple H, that match just drug on and on and on and people weren't into it. Oh yeah, people didn't like that. We're not gonna do that. I'm gonna give you a quick seven. I just need to remind you that under my business man shirt, there is a giant sword pointing right at my dick. Does that tell you what kind of a man I am?
00:43:11
Speaker
I also want to point out that the only thing that really saved WrestleMania 31 was Rollins cashing in, because there were a lot of people who weren't into that either. Oh, that saved the night. That crowd was booing him so hard.
00:43:26
Speaker
And four WrestleMania main events in a row is... I mean, come on. I could sit here and say all sorts of positive things about Roman Reigns, especially how much he's developed in the last year plus. But four years in a row and people wonder why the fuck their response is, dude, stop jamming them down our throats.
00:43:45
Speaker
you know what maybe he had it right though where he's like you know what he's like i think it's gonna take four years it's a long plan but it's gonna work and then i'm just like it's not gonna work and he goes i ain't gonna be Brock Lesnar's bitch and then he's like holy shit i like him he's like i come to work like you do come to work
00:44:05
Speaker
It's just like, I'm just sitting there waving that little Roman Reigns flag, doing it. It's not impossible that the Knight of Mania, Lesnar, could go into Vince's office and be like, all right, so here's the deal. I'm just, I'm not losing tonight. And there's really nobody here in this building that can make that not happen.
00:44:24
Speaker
You see this? What am I looking at, Brock? Yeah, what you're looking at right now is a tattoo right above my ass crack. Some people call it a tramp stamp. It says, kill them all. See these other two? Yes, I do, Brock. Those look like just disembodied hands holding meat hooks. Yeah, that's kind of fucked up, isn't it? I put that on my body. I don't even remember getting that one. Yeah, I just woke up with those.
00:44:53
Speaker
that's a birthmark you should see when I pull up my shorts here I got I got this thing tattooed down the side of my thigh it's a quote from your son it goes Roman Reigns
00:45:15
Speaker
Let's move on out of the WWE. We've talked 45 fucking minutes about the WWE and there's like so much good wrestling happening right now that it just needs to be talked about.
Zack Sabre Jr.'s Performance in New Japan
00:45:26
Speaker
Okay, so the New Japan Cup is going on right now. We talked about that a little bit ago. Oh my God, these two fucking cats are fighting again. Well, I know somebody close to me has been super excited about the New Japan Cup and specifically one Zack Sabre Jr.
00:45:45
Speaker
It's Dalton, isn't it? Nope. It's you, buddy. Oh, I thought a friend of the show Dalton. I thought we were talking about him giving a shout out to Dalton. No, it's a it is. It is me as well. I I'm a big Zach Sabre Jr fan. I.
00:46:00
Speaker
He's been at pretty much every PWG show I went to from the beginning, and I got to see a long run of him as champ, is a babyface champ. He was fucking awesome. He's a really unique wrestler in that he's a very, very lanky man. Like he's just a thin British man who, if you just saw him on the street, maybe you don't fear him, but I feel like after a match, you're just like, that fucking pretzel man will kick the goddamn heart out of my chest.
00:46:30
Speaker
So you have been catching up on the New Japan Cup, and you had me, you kind of gave me some homework again. We both kind of took a break from wrestling over the weekend, from what I understand. I really didn't watch anything over the weekend, which is rare. Yeah, I didn't have time to. That was the first time in four years that I went like a consecutive three days without watching wrestling. That's like, that's fucked up for me.
00:46:55
Speaker
It's not always a bad thing, though, because when you come back, it's like you're even like you're ready for it and you're excited. Oh, yeah. Then I just sit down and watch like six straight hours of New Japan Cup. And I'm just like, yeah, this is this is the way life's supposed to be. Yeah. But OK, so this was your had me watch a match today. OK. And this was the this was your first time seeing Zack Sabre Jr. Correct.
00:47:18
Speaker
Um, I think so unless you he was in the cruiserweight classic. Yeah, you may have seen him there but like this was probably the first like real Zack Sabre Jr. Match that you've seen you said you wanted me to watch primarily because you wanted me to see what kind of style he wrestled and you're right The guy is not he doesn't have a whole lot of mass to him. He's kind of a skinny just kind of an old-school Grappler type and the thing I that kind of stood out to me about him is that
00:47:48
Speaker
he does something you don't see a lot of guys do which is he does a lot of strikes to limbs like he targets limbs and then locks you in these really wacky ass submission moves that you don't see other guys do very unique like he really like you know how Jericho said he was the man of a thousand holds or whatever
00:48:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think actually after one of the third match he did in the New Japan Cup He said he's the man of 8,000 and whatever holds and you've only seen six of them so far It's just every match you're gonna see him do a new submission that you've never seen and the way this man can contort his body Around you it's almost snake like
00:48:30
Speaker
Well, the way he got Naito to tap out blew my fucking mind. Oh, and that's what you watch. Let's set that up first. I had Derek watch the first Zack Sabre Jr. match. It's a single elimination tournament, and the first match he had in the tournament was Zack Sabre Jr. against Naito. And I think with this, because Naito is very, very much a top guy in New Japan, so I think everybody really thought, well, obviously, Naito's gonna go over Zack Sabre Jr. in the first round.
00:48:57
Speaker
Shocker. Nope. So, I think Zack Sabre Jr. is really good at just describing a New Japan match. New Japan matches, they definitely have a beginning, a middle, and an end. They're a very slow build match.
00:49:14
Speaker
And Zack Sabre, his style, he's a grappler, but he'll start grappling. And then gradually throughout the match, as you see him just getting a little more frustrated, his strikes just get harder and harder. That was the thing I wanted to talk about. I think that's what New Japan's kind of known for, is they have a lot of hard striking guys. Nakamura's known for that.
00:49:38
Speaker
And then so but like I said, there was a lot of situations where he would like I remember one spot he had like Naito hooked on the ropes and then he did like a Pele kick to his arm. Oh, it looked like he broke it. Yeah, it was it was awful. Like you're right in that. I think specifically that match because there were three of my watch. So I'm getting a little jumbled. But that's the one where he just worked Naito's left arm the entire match. Right. Yeah. Both arms, actually, because by the end, like he just was basically armless.
00:50:09
Speaker
Well, I mean, I think that's the thing that like, you see it a little bit maybe in WWE, sometimes with certain guys, but like it's different in New Japan. And it was different with, with Zach Sabre Jr. is that he'll strike a limb. Like you, a lot of times you'll see guys throw kicks and punches and they'll either do it to like the face or sometimes they'll do it like to the back of the knee.
00:50:31
Speaker
or to the back of the leg and this guy is kicking your arm he's like like like to target a specific limb I mean that's just classic old-school wrestling psychology that you don't see very often where they you know they target a limb and they work on it throughout the match and it ends up coming into play for the finish
00:50:50
Speaker
I just it's different. It's it's it's something that I'm actually not used to it. It's a little there's something about it that I think a lot of people don't immediately take to it because I think when you think of that old wrestling where you just you know grappling an arm the whole time you're really working that arm.
00:51:06
Speaker
This is very similar to that, except it's almost adding that extra, you know, that British strong style or like a New Japan strong style, where not only are you working that part in a grapple, but you're just beating the absolute fuck out of them while you're doing it.
00:51:22
Speaker
Like there'll be moments where he has your, both arms locked behind your back, you can't move, and he's also kicking you in the side of the, like kicking you in the ear the whole time. It just looks so vicious. And him being a heel right now, he's such, he just has such a punchable face when he's a heel. Like he kind of pisses you off a little bit.
00:51:47
Speaker
So where do you think this is all gonna wind up for him? Oh, this is awesome tonight actually It'll be like 2 a.m. Here the time it actually goes on But okay, so his his if you just get into New Japan and just watch the saber junior matches You're gonna see something pretty incredible His first match was against Naito a top guy him taking out a top guy first round huge Second round he goes up against Kota bushi
00:52:14
Speaker
Another top guy. We've talked about him before if you don't know him. He's Kenny Omega's partner right now in the Golden Lovers. He was also in the Cruiserweight Classic. I think he had actually a couple matches on NXT afterwards. Amazing wrestler. Takes him out. So then he ends up against Sonata.
00:52:33
Speaker
Another amazing match. I have to look it up. Sonata did a move to him during that match I had never seen before. Let me see, I wrote it down here. Okay, he put Zack Sabre Jr. in a move called the Paradise Lockdown. You familiar with that? Nope. He basically turned Zack Sabre Jr. into a pretzel to where all of his weight were on his legs and his arms, so he was tied up in himself and couldn't move.
00:53:02
Speaker
It was really weird, and then he took a run and just drop-kicked him right in the asshole. You never see anyone work the asshole. It's a body part that just, you know, people tend to leave alone, but if you kick that enough, you're gonna tap.
00:53:15
Speaker
But to say where he's at now, the finals are tonight and he's up against Tanahashi. He's up against essentially New Japan's... John Cena. In the fucking final match. I don't think anyone expected Zack Sabre Jr. to go this far. And, you know, he'll probably lose to Tanahashi because...
00:53:33
Speaker
Like I said, he's Japanese John Cena. But even, I don't know, anything that happens. That's a huge match for Zack Sabre Jr. It makes him look like a huge threat. And I think that means he's gonna move up pretty far in the New Japan lineup.
00:53:47
Speaker
Without knowing too much about New Japan my question to you is though What would be the purpose of having Zack Sabre Jr. Have this run? Over all these other top guys like you said if they didn't intend on cashing in on it because I Don't know man. It's like what does Tana Hashi gonna do with this? See, I don't know that I
00:54:09
Speaker
Does he need it? Tanahashi doesn't really need it, and Tanahashi's also pretty beat up right now. I think he either has recently had surgeries or is in need of surgeries. So, I mean, if he got the shit beat out of him and just disappeared for a while, I think that would be better for Zack Sabre Jr. But even if he loses, you know, I think that proves that he's now ready to go for, like, the junior heavyweight.
00:54:35
Speaker
But, like, he's beating fuckin' Nido, who just, you know, was in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. And beat him fairly easy in the first round. So, I don't know, I just have a hard time picturing him as a heavyweight, because he is not that at all looking at him. But, you know, he has an interesting style, he can take a lot of abuse. And, like I said, I love a good punt kick. That guy's punt kick, I'm convinced, would stop my heart.
00:55:04
Speaker
I'm too out of shape, and if he just kicked me that hard in the chest, I would just die. Or just be done. I'd just be like, I'm in a nursing home now. Don't talk to me. This is the difference between our characters on this podcast, is I'm telling you that I could take down Brock Lesnar, and you're telling me that somebody's kicks would kill you. Would you allow Zack Sabre Jr. to give you that kick?
00:55:29
Speaker
Yeah. Fuck yeah. We're going to make that happen someday. I promise you this. Let me let me put it to you this way. I don't see myself ever being a guy who becomes a professional wrestler.
Wrestling Injuries and Anecdotes
00:55:41
Speaker
It would be like an honor and something like knowing damn well it's going to be painful to get at least one move performed on me by somebody who's like well known. OK. What if I tell you that I've set up Zack Sabre Jr. to give you his punt kick to the chest.
00:55:57
Speaker
But when you're sitting there ready to do it, you turn around and fucking Bob Holly's standing there like, all right, Derek, I hear I'm gonna slap you across the chest. Are you gonna let that happen? Are you gonna be like, fuck this? You're like, Zach would have had fun with me a little bit. Bob Holly's here because he's essentially an assassin. Garrett paid him 50 bucks to hit me, and he's gonna get a lot of pleasure out of it.
00:56:24
Speaker
I don't think I'm too proud to admit that I would be a little bit more nervous if I knew that Bob Holly was there. And it's just his demeanor more than the chop. I think he's just excited to actually, like, hurt me. And Zach's gonna be nice about it.
00:56:38
Speaker
Like he's, I mean he's gonna, Zach's gonna be, Zach is gonna try to hurt me but like not in a way like where he's trying to kill me. Like he's gonna say. Like Bob Holly's gonna be like, I want him to be paralyzed for the rest of his life for thinking that he could take this. What's funny is that's pretty accurate and Zach's just gonna be like, you okay mate? Yeah, like, and go tell your friends how much that hurt.
00:57:01
Speaker
like I'm going to Leah went to she actually attended college in England for a minute for like a semester abroad or something and her and Zach Sabre Jr. went to the same college at the same time they discussed it before really so that was there you know old classmates
00:57:21
Speaker
Let me ask you a question. Would you let Ric Flair chop you? Oh, absolutely. Right now? Any time. Do you get what I mean when I say that that would be kind of cool to say? Oh, do I want the chop? Yeah. Get in there in the moment and is it going to be impossible for me to not flinch and try and block it with my hands and then they're just going to be really pissed off and just really take it out on me?
00:57:45
Speaker
I would take an F5 from Lesnar. I would take an F5. I would take a German. I might take a couple of Germans. I will never take a German in my whole life. God damn it, I really need somebody to do something to you. This is gonna be payback. This is gonna, no, this is payback for that time when we were kids and I did something to you on the playground and you acted like you told the teacher on me and got me to go admit it to the teacher when you had never actually said anything.
00:58:17
Speaker
You mean I worked you? Yeah, you worked me pretty hard on the playground, you piece of shit. And, uh, little did you know, a few years down the line, I got Bob Holly in my corner. Scariest thing I had to do was talk to him on the phone. Guy's not great at texting. Doesn't know how to do it. Gotta give him calls. Hey, man. Uh, we're getting towards the end of the episode here. Don't you think it's time we say something nice? Oh.
00:58:39
Speaker
Real quick, I want to say one last thing. I had, okay, so I told you that that very endy show was coming up on 422. Very endy, if you haven't, if you don't know what that means, go back a couple episodes, listen to the one that's just called very endy. I went to a very endy show here in Nashville, had a very good time. But at that show, a guy we just saw at AAW is going to be there, MFJ.
00:59:07
Speaker
That's your boy. My boy MFJ's gonna be at very endy. And he's, the match he is in, this is his debut at very endy, or Southern Underground Pro, as it's actually called. The match he's in is called Ipoke Mania 2.
00:59:22
Speaker
So I'm guessing it's just two shitty heels poking each other's eyes into that. Ready for it? He's also going to be doing a show down there in New Orleans, Mania weekend against Joey Ryan. Oh my God. There's just so much going on there. If I could just pop in, see that match and move on to something else, I really wish you could get an a la carte. Oh, you know what fucking match I'm going to see that weekend? It was just announced for Joey Janela's spring break.
00:59:51
Speaker
I'm going to see Matt Riddle, former UFC fighter Matt Riddle, take on James Ellsworth at like two in the morning in New Orleans. That is gonna be a fucking party, because Matt Riddle's gonna be stoned, we're all gonna just be having a great time, and he's gonna kick that man's head off.
01:00:15
Speaker
James Ellsworth is going over. Okay. So, like Derek was saying just a minute ago, every episode, you know, we complain a lot, not necessarily us, but just, we talked a little bit earlier, but, you know, wrestling fans, we tend to complain about things.
Positive Remarks on Critiqued Wrestlers
01:00:29
Speaker
So, at the end of every episode, we say something nice. Derek, pick a wrestler, say something nice. Oh, but also, this is wrestlers we tend to have issues with.
01:00:44
Speaker
such as Bob Holly but it always we say something nice but it always starts with us having to describe why we don't like why we don't like them so it's like 90 percent running them down and then just throwing them a bone at the end which is fine I like doing it I guess for this week I'll say
01:01:03
Speaker
I'm annoyed by the position that gender Mahal is in on SmackDown Live. I thought the way he was kind of rushed into the main event WWE Championship title picture.
01:01:20
Speaker
over the summer was poorly handled I think his promos kind of suck I think that the I think for the I think for the most part the anti-american gimmick is overplayed I think we've seen it done way too many times I don't know if you guys can tell but say something nice it really takes a minute to get there yeah well I mean that's the idea
01:01:43
Speaker
Because if I just say something nice, you might think that I like them. And you don't want me to say something. No, I'm not a fan of Jinder Mahal. The point I'm getting at is I really don't have a lot to say about him that would be positive. I'm not a fan. You get to the end of this and you're like, actually, I don't have anything. It's your turn. I will say here's what I will say.
01:02:07
Speaker
When you go back, and I don't know if this is legit. I don't know if this is, was, you know, helped by, by, uh, by, uh, what do you, would you call it? Some supplements, some, some drugs, some steroids, some HGH. The guy will, if you go back and look at what kind of shape he was in a few years ago to where he's at now, dude did get himself pretty jacked.
01:02:30
Speaker
and didn't realize until after he got pretty jacked that he's actually got like a pretty nice like he's tall like he's got a nice body on him as far as like being like an intimidating size and having the look dude looks like a pro wrestler
01:02:46
Speaker
He does look like a professor. He looks pretty jacked. And so I'll give him credit on getting in the best shape of his life to make himself at least look physically like a big threat and looking intimidating. Would you have fun watching him fight Zack Sabre Jr.? No. That is not fun for you. I would have fun watching him fight Bob Holly. He's just like, I don't like this guy. And Bob's going to let him know it for me.
01:03:17
Speaker
What about you, man? It's your turn to say something nice. How did I get that out of my system? Yeah, that was nice. I was hoping that you were going to be like, I was hoping you were going to tell me something I didn't know about gender. Like, I don't know if you know this man, but dude's got the high score in Donkey Kong. You're like, well, it's not Billy Mitchell.
01:03:38
Speaker
Oh, fuck that guy's hot sauce. Okay. I'll go ahead and say something nice about Baron Corbin after I shit on him a little bit. And actually, the thing I happen to say nice is probably not even that nice.
01:03:54
Speaker
Baron Corbin when he was in NXT, you know, he'd come out, the crowd would count, he would defeat them, usually in under like 15 seconds. It was always a very quick match, one move he's done, real Goldberg situation. Wasn't very good. But I will say, some wrestlers aren't always shirt off wrestlers.
01:04:14
Speaker
Some of them are shirt on wrestlers. You know, a guy that you're never gonna see shirtless. Kevin Owens, we're probably never gonna see his belly. He's always got that Under Armour spandex on under there. Baron Corbin isn't afraid to show me his tummy. His tummy, I love it. I love it. Have you ever seen Baron Corbin's sad tummy? No. If you look, he's got a line straight across that looks like his tummy's frowning. I feel like when you finish this, I'm gonna give you news that's really gonna burst your bubble.
01:04:41
Speaker
Well, I know he was an NFL player, and he was a bigger guy, and he lost a lot of weight, so it's not really easy for him to have abs. So, I mean, the guy's in great shape. He just has this one line that looks like his tummy's frown, and I think that makes him just a little more endearing.
01:04:55
Speaker
So I guess the thing I'm saying is Baron Corbin, I like your sad tummy. And when I say sad, I don't mean like physically sad. I mean, like it literally looks like it's sad to be in the ring. Like he, maybe he like absorbed a twin in the womb and that's his face. And it, you know, you can see if it's happy or sad. Doesn't want to wrestle. You're going to think that I'm saying this to fuck with you. Did you not hear the report from like four or five months ago on Baron Corbin and his shirt? Are you about to fuck me up in a way that I just feel God awful about something?
01:05:25
Speaker
No, not like that. The big story that made rounds like months back was that Baron Corbin was really insecure about wrestling without a shirt on and Vince and the rest of management told him to fucking like get over it and they were intentionally going out of their way to make him wrestle without his shirt despite the fact that he wasn't comfortable doing it. That really bums me out for him.
01:05:49
Speaker
Guys, a goddamn WWE superstar. Be proud of your body. Chris Hero's out there. Okay, Chris Hero used to be built like a basketball player. Just kind of tall and lanky. He got fired from WWE, put on a shit ton of weight. I love fat Chris Hero. He's my favorite. I think he's really endearing. I think he looks awesome. He would always rest shirtless in trunks.
01:06:10
Speaker
It was fine, like, cause the dude can still kip up, he does flips, he does everything. Chris Hero's the fucking man. When you get to WWE, they're like, Chris Hero, we are never going to see your belly. So we're gonna make you tuck a basketball jersey into a speedo. That is a fucked up look for anyone. Like, if you met a grownup, a grown man dressed like that, you wouldn't be allowed to be around him.
01:06:33
Speaker
I get mad anytime I see somebody who's a non-player on a team tucking in their jersey into their jeans or their pants. Just don't do it. You know what? We're not here to body shame. So I'm not making fun of, you know, Baron Corbin's tummy. I like the way it looks. It brings me joy. But it does make me sad that he is self-conscious about it. Now maybe I should have picked something else.
01:06:55
Speaker
Well, I will say this for him. I can't remember what magazine it was, but some metal magazine named him the most metal pro wrestler out there. So I can't. I mean, I think Dolph Ziggler would disagree, but that's hair metal. I feel like Baron Corbin looks like metal. And I feel like Seth Rollins is going to be like, I'm more metal. You're not. You dated a Nazi metal.
01:07:15
Speaker
Where's our music? Hey, real quick before we ask you to hit that goddamn music producer, man.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:07:22
Speaker
So thank you for listening. Happy Thursday. Every Thursday we're here for you. Thank you for hanging out. I love hearing from you guys. Please chat with us on the social media. Talk to us on Twitter at WrestleHangout. Talk to us on Instagram at Predetermined Podcast. What are we on Facebook, Derek?
01:07:41
Speaker
On Facebook, we are at Wrestle Hangout. On Twitter, we're at Wrestle Hangout. Reach out to us. We do a lot of polls. We've been doing polls for a few weeks now. You guys seem to be responding to those. Yeah, talk to us. Spread the word about the show. Get our name out there and let your friends know that if they're fans of professional wrestling, man, this podcast is probably for them. And I beg you, I'm on my knees.
01:08:05
Speaker
Please rate, review, subscribe, get on the iTunes, smash that five star, ride a little something nice if you like us. If you don't, just move on. Uh, you know it was a pleasure having you here, but please, hey, come back, bring a friend. I love you. Hey, hit our goddamn music.