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Episode 11: Wrestle Mania Recap + NHL Playoff Predictions
15 Plays1 month ago
We got a doozy!! The sports world is on a heater right now and we got a lot to cover! The boys welcome back official wrestling correspondent, Mike Judd, to recap this last week's Wrestle Mania event...the expected and the surprises. But fear not, NHL fans, the boys also give match by match predictions for round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with some first thought Stanley Cup predictions to be revisited later.
Also, Mason Miller is still unhittable, the Spurs are at the vibes center of the NBA Playoffs, and the NFL Draft commences THIS THURSDAY with the Las Vegas Raiders on the clock. All this and more!
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Transcript
Introduction and WrestleMania Recap
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Coastal Launch Sports Talk. I'm Cody, coming to you from the bayous of Houston, Texas. And I'm Justin, coming to you from the magic of Orlando, Florida.
00:00:13
Speaker
And today, oh man, I was going to intro you. Nah, nah, nah, you're good. I got it. I want to be in it. man jumped in early. We've got Mike Judd back with us to recap WrestleMania. If we figured out how to make it work and we're actually on YouTube this week, then you'll already have known that from the start. But if you're on the podcast, you just learned that we got Mike Judd back to recap WrestleMania.
00:00:36
Speaker
and And let me tell you what, the boys are fired up. We had to get this podcast started before they did it all off air. But not only that, we got and NHL playoffs too. a little bit of taste of NFL draft. There's a lot going on in sports right now, and we cannot wait to get started. So we're going to dive right in with that trajectory set. It's time to sit back, lock in and get started with the
Mason Miller's Pitching Streak and Comparisons
00:00:58
Speaker
rundown. This is the Coastal Launch, and we're ready for liftoff here on episode 11.
00:01:04
Speaker
All right. Back home, guys. I got to get to run the rundown. Here we go. um As we talked about before we hit start, Judd's going to hold us accountable here in case you and I go too long, Cody, so because we got a lot to talk about in in the in the big topics for the week.
00:01:19
Speaker
But I want to kick it to you real quick because this was your only contribution into the week's rundown. You want to talk Mason Miller again. Yeah, this is this is my baby. I've decided that we're going to do ah a weekly Mason Miller update, at least until the streak is over, just because it it seems like a fun thing to do. So ah this week, Mason Miller appeared in four games, four total innings pitched, only gave up one hit and one roll one walk, eight strikeouts, no runs.
00:01:46
Speaker
So the scoreless inning streak continues. He faced the minimum in three of those four appearances. The hit and the walk were in the same appearance, so that must have been a little bit of a sweat fest for for Padres fans. But the streak continues, so i I'm going to take us a little further back because I didn't last week. um On the season, 11.1 innings pitched, only two hits and two walks, four base runners and 11.1 innings pitched. Still no runs, no earned runs, 27 strikeouts. So on the season, his strikeout rate sits at 71% still.
00:02:19
Speaker
ah His last run allowed, last run allowed was August 5th, 2025. It was his second appearance as a Padre after the trade deadline. um His official stats is that he has 32 and two thirds inning scoreless streak. That's official MLB. It does not include postseason. and World Baseball Classic when we add those in, he's at 39 and a third scoreless inning streak. He was perfect in the postseason last year, two and two thirds inning.
00:02:48
Speaker
um And he held opposing countries hit list in the World Baseball Classic over four innings, allowing only two walks. the The update's necessary. that this I forgot to look at exactly what like the longest scoreless streak is in in baseball history, but this man's going to flirt with it. And i just I'm here to provide an update every week. So react as you will.
00:03:09
Speaker
um He's still unhittable. Another week goes by. No runs. Barely a barely a knock on the bat. Oof.
00:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think the the stunned silence is enough of a reaction yeah from from the from the two of us. I didn't know it went that far back, to be completely honest with you. It's insane what he's doing, and obviously in that closer role.
00:03:34
Speaker
um But yeah, man, I don't have much else to say. The dude is at this point, unhittable. When only a couple a couple of hits, honestly, through the through the first month of the season, or just about the first month of the season.
00:03:47
Speaker
Yeah, so mean, yeah, I... On top of what we said last week, man, he's just – he's figured it out.
NBA Playoffs Overview and Team Dynamics
00:03:52
Speaker
and we're we're talking about a generational talent at that closer position. And I said it last week. I think I'm going to say it as long as we keep doing these updates.
00:04:00
Speaker
The three of us lived in a time where Mariano Rivera existed, and I didn't think it would ever get any better than Mariano Rivera. But here we are. So you said how many innings he's at right now?
00:04:11
Speaker
If we add playoffs and World Baseball Classic, which I feel like should be added, then it's 39 and a third. um If it's just regular season MLB, which is how the MLB does streaks, it's 32 and two thirds.
00:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, he flirting with the the record. Yeah, yeah he playing with fire. Yeah, it's we're talking right now with him being at 32.
00:04:37
Speaker
Mariano Rivera, if I'm not mistaken, was what, postseason with 33.1 innings, something like that? And you got the MLB record at 59.
00:04:51
Speaker
59? Who did that? ah oral Oral. Was it Oral Archiser? Yeah. Okay. I was unfamiliar with that. that's one that was gee That was what August. It says here August to September twenty eight nineteen eighty eight so like as the kids as the kids say that was against plumbers though so now So now we're looking at it with everybody's happy the people juicing.
00:05:22
Speaker
Let's go. yeah See what you got. You know, and I'm i'm behind it 100%. I'm excited to see where he gets it, right? How far he goes. Yeah, for for sure. This is a Mason Miller pod. So get ready for the weekly updates, at least until the streak is broken, if not further.
00:05:37
Speaker
yeah i just did a quick number on it. If he were to do that for a game, he's thrown almost four and a third complete games with no with no run scored. It's crazy. is literally insane.
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah. If a starter did that, he'd be in the hole already. All right. Moving on. This one I think will just be a quick note. um The NBA playoffs started this ah ah this past weekend.
00:06:03
Speaker
I pulled up the Hard Rock betting odds, and the and the odds on favorite right now is kc to win and also repeat as the champions from last year. Cody, you threw in here as ah as a Texan and, of course, ah some of our boys over in the fantasy football league pointed out, don't don't count out the Spurs. Shout out to Eric. Yeah, shout out to our boy, Eric. They were this season against OKC, so it very much seems like they have OKC's number going into this playoffs.
00:06:30
Speaker
So we'll see if they can pull that off. Obviously, OKC made a very great a very good run last year in the playoffs. No one really expected them to really take off but um they sure did and then um obviously ended up winning the whole the whole damn thing um so we'll see what they what they can do this year um admittedly as we talked about earlier on in the in the pod's history we are not basketball fans really i think we're just i think we're just casual just kind of tune in when when you know cool things happen like march madness um so just wanted to point that out that it got started this weekend um either of you got any any comments for nba playoffs kicking off
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah, I was trying to shout out the Fiesta colors for the Spurs, man. They brought that back. I don't know if y'all saw the visuals
NFL Draft Strategies: Focus on Houston Texans
00:07:10
Speaker
from the game, but they brought back the, it's like a, almost like a ah hot baby blue, orange and pink. And they had a, they handed out the shirt. So one section was that highlighter blue. One section was pink. One section was orange, blue, pink. it was And they had the they had a special court with the the retro logo on it and some kind of San Antonio-style designs throughout it. The visuals were incredible. So ah even as a Rockets fan, ah the the vibes of the Spurs are are insane right now. Just watching the game, you're feeling it.
00:07:42
Speaker
So shout out to them for putting together a great home environment. And I think if anyone in the West takes down o OKC, it's going to be the Spurs. Yeah. I'm not really, like I said, like Justin said, sorry. I'm not really big into basketball like that. I'm more a baseball guy. So once this baseball season starts, I'm baseball full go. so But I do know a lot of the retro looks are always a visual, a spectacle every time you have something ah at those nights. And the amount of effort put into it, the fans, you know, as ah as a person casually watching, that's one heck of a way to to do that. All right.
00:08:20
Speaker
Moving into the next thing, Cody, as we planned out this month of of pods, we talked about that we were going to do the NFL draft preview. um as we As we kind of got started into building the show for this week, you and I pretty much unanimously agreed.
00:08:33
Speaker
The hype around the draft has died completely for the most part if you're not a Raiders fan. Yeah. we we pivoted and that's how we ended up with the NHL playoffs primer in the show.
00:08:43
Speaker
But I, we would be remiss to not at least talk about the Houston Texans going into this Thursday through Saturday draft preview. um So I just want to kick it to you real quick.
00:08:54
Speaker
Cause I think, you know, where my opinion is, but I'll share that in a second. What is, what is your thoughts going into the draft this weekend? Man. So the, the, for For me, the draft is like my Super Bowl. I get more excited for the draft than I do for the Super Bowl, largely as a um result of the Texans never being in the Super Bowl.
00:09:13
Speaker
If the Texans are in the Super Bowl, that's going to be my Super Bowl. But I just love the draft because I like college football better than I like NFL. And I just love watching the way these dudes go and get excited for for for what can unfold from from a Texans perspective.
00:09:27
Speaker
um for ah For content, it's not a great draft because they're going to take a very measured approach. They're going go best available. There's not a clear need that they absolutely need to address that's going to be exciting at a skill position. But I am excited for what they can do here. Having three picks in the first two rounds, 28, 38, 59. And... fifty nine um and And having the the whole world open to you for what you can go for. I'm very excited. i would really love to see them go defensive tackle um just because what they've done with these journeyman defensive tackles, what they've created for them. If you give D'Amico around one talent, I can't imagine what that guy has the chance to turn into.
00:10:10
Speaker
um under under that direction. ah But also if they go O-line, you're going to always get me excited about the idea that CJ Stroud is going to have time to potentially recapture that um that rookie year form.
00:10:24
Speaker
So I'm stoked to see what the Texans do. ah with With the measure, this is the kind of the first question I wrote for us here. I don't know if we're picking at these picks. Nick Casario is a wheeler and a dealer. He likes playing poker. And when it comes to the draft, it's it's his time to deal.
00:10:40
Speaker
And so, Justin, what are the odds that we pick at 28, 38, and 59? What are your thoughts? What are we doing? I think I've said it since this process has started that I'd be very surprised if we're picking at 28.
00:10:53
Speaker
um Which way we go, I'm not 100% sure. I've seen a lot of people say that we can move up. and And there's a good portion of people that say we go down in the draft. um i If you're going up in the draft, I think it has to be an offensive playmaker, whether that's a wide receiver or a tight end, whoever falls down.
00:11:12
Speaker
That could be the kid out of Oregon, which everyone is super high on at the tight end position. um The name escapes me as I've been in wrestling mode and not football mode over the weekend. Sadiq. Kenyon Sadiq. Sadiq, thank you. yeah um Everyone's super high on him.
00:11:26
Speaker
You know, i think you and I mentioned it a couple weeks ago. Where does Jeremiah Love go? Does Jeremiah Love slip in the draft? Does he stay in that top 10 realm? So you got to imagine if if some of these guys fall into that 15, look like and they may fall to that 15 range, so do you see the Texans move up to go grab them at, you know, a 16, 17 range?
00:11:47
Speaker
But I think if a lot of those names start to to go early, especially because it's not a super heavy quarterback class, then I think you see the Texans move back because there is so much O-line and D-line depth in this draft that you can get someone in a second round and spend less money than what you would because it's a first-round talent.
00:12:06
Speaker
So I think it really does come down to the skill maker position rather than the the trenches type position. So that's where my head goes. But I've said it since the process started that I think the Texans trade, right now I couldn't tell you which way it goes because it's really going to depend on what happens in that first 12, 13 picks of the draft.
00:12:25
Speaker
What are you rooting for? What do you want to see them do? Selfishly, I want playmakers. So you want to trade up? I would love to trade up. Yeah, I would love to get a Sadiq in there to to finish off that tight end room. you know you know How many more seasons do we have Dalton Schultz for at the peak that he's playing in? you know you know We missed out on Kate s Silver turning into an NFL talent.
00:12:46
Speaker
Obviously, we went out and got the tight end from New Orleans this offseason. um He seems more like a blocking tight end. So I would love for us to go and get a guy that is going to to be groomed to under Dalton Schultz and become that number one guy, you know, in Sadiq.
00:13:01
Speaker
Um, if for some reason Jeremiah Love falls, that's a generational talent at running back. You got to go get him. Like if you find a way to get up and grab Jeremiah Love, that's that for me is immediate. Yes.
00:13:12
Speaker
Um, I don't think there's a ton of wide receiver talent that would make me want to jump up the board. Um, there's no like Mecca Buga like there was last year. Um, you know, generational type talent. So, um,
00:13:23
Speaker
So it's really going to, know, I would love for us to go there, but I'm with you. I think ultimately first pick needs to either go D tackle or O line. I've seen a lot of talk go to potentially going linebacker with maybe Al Shire not being around here for too much longer or Toa Toa moving on for his second contract as well. So Casero's got a lot of in front of him. So, you know, going be an interesting draft. I'm with you. It's going to be best player available.
00:13:48
Speaker
So. Yeah, yeah. And that's like it' a good spot to be in, man, to not have a specific need. I think Casario gets to use um any avenue that opens up. And I'm excited to see that. And if if it is a trade down scenario, you're sitting generally in that same area you were last year where one of those teams at the beginning of the second round might try to trade up for a Ty Simpson.
00:14:09
Speaker
And you can try to get ah way more than what you would get otherwise. But I think I'm with you. I'm here for the excitement this year. We've done a lot of trading down, trading around. um I would love to see us just go trade up and take something.
00:14:21
Speaker
I don't think we've done that since Deshaun maybe and, you know, mixed results on that one. But um at the time it was, it was very exciting to just be like, Oh, we got our quarterback.
00:14:33
Speaker
um and And I would love a ah thrill like that come Thursday. Yeah. It'd be cool. um You put a, you put a question in here and then we'll get to mine and we'll, we'll move on here. What are you what are you looking for outside of Houston? Is it a player that
NFL Draft Prospects and Player Analysis
00:14:49
Speaker
you're excited to see get up for or just the team's like activity that you would be excited to kind of see you know in the draft?
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah, you you touched on it a little bit already. um It's two players for me, but the same concept. It's Jeremiah Love and it's Caleb Downs because I think those are the two best players in this draft just at ah on a player perspective. But they're both at positions that kind of gets devalued in the draft. So a lot of people have Jeremiah Love as their best player on the draft and they're still asking if it's too high to take him at four or five because he's a running back. And a lot of people have Caleb Downs as a one or two, and he might drop towards the bottom half of the top 10 because he's a safety. And um that's something that I've never fully grasped. Like if he's the best player, just just take him because having an elite safety is a massive advantage and having an elite running back is a massive advantage. and I think it gets overthought sometimes.
00:15:45
Speaker
I might be wrong on that. If I ever worked for an NFL team, I'd probably learn that i was wrong pretty quickly. But from from this perspective, I'm like, dude, if he's the best player in the draft, just take him because having an elite running back opens up the offensive crazy, especially if you have offensive line in front of them already and you have other things secured. It opens it up like crazy. And so that's that's kind of my thing. how How far do these guys fall that are elite talents playing non-premium positions? That's what I'm excited to see.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah. Only other note that I have in terms of player that i'm looking at off the board is Casey Concepcion out of A&M, obviously. Where does he go? Does he end up in the first round? A lot of people, a lot of gms out of you know before the combine and had him as a first round talent. late Obviously, there was a lot of ah ah lot of issue around the stuttering and the speech impediment that he deals with um you know that that apparently taints his stock.
00:16:37
Speaker
If he ends up somewhere in that second round, that middle of the second round, the Texans would be in ah in a great position to take Casey and immediately get a boost there. And I would almost rate him higher than, than Jalen Noel.
00:16:49
Speaker
And I wouldn't immediately put him over him in terms of writing day one type of player. Cause I didn't see much from Noel in season one. If they take him at 38, I'm buying a Jersey before the day's over.
00:17:02
Speaker
That's my favorite guy at A&M last year. He's so cool. He dropped that open letter don't know. I haven't read it yet, but I have it marked to read. It's a very short open letter. It's like five sentences long and it, and it gets the point across very quickly.
00:17:18
Speaker
Um, last note, maybe judge, you can jump in, jump in here since you're not a big NFL guy, but Fernando Mendoza ever since probably about halfway through the season last year has been the number one guy, um, to come off the drop board. Um, what do you guys think? Uh, cause this was the question I put in there is like, do you think he is the guy for Oakland? or I'm going to keep saying Oakland for some reason, um, but Vegas out there, um, do you think he's the right guy or you know,
00:17:42
Speaker
Is he actually ready to be an NFL quarterback?
00:17:48
Speaker
I mean, that's ah that's a tough one. I mean, if he's the number one guy, he's the number one guy. I mean, just plug and play, see what happens. That's where I'm at with it. um You know, we talk about athletics and just opportunity.
00:18:00
Speaker
Just go, see what happens from there. Let's wrap that with it. Yeah, i feel you. I know, Justin, you're you're low on Mendoza as a general rule of thumb, so'll be or at least you were when we were chatting around the national championship. So curious to see where you go with this. But I like it because i like the pieces that are around a guy that can walk in on day one. You've got ah ah Tyler Linderbaum, they spent bukus of money on him in the offseason, and I love it because he's going to help so much with the pre-snap recognition, the setting of the offensive line. That's a lot that he can take off the plate of a rookie quarterback.
00:18:39
Speaker
He's got quite possibly the best safety blanket in the NFL with Brock Bowers at tight end. and And he's got Ashton Gentry in the backfield, who who had an up and down rookie season, but you can't really blame him, given what the offensive line was pre-Tyler Linderbaum, given what the quarterback situation was. I know Mendoza feels more of a like more of a limited QB prospect from a physical perspective from ah an arm strength perspective kind of some of these things where you saw where his the way he played the game in college felt very routine it felt very uninspiring but it got the job done and i know for a fact from a mental perspective this guy's got what it takes he's got grit he's got determination he's ah he's a whiz kid he's smart as can be um i just i see him walking in there i see everyone loving him and him being able to command a locker room and we'll see if the athleticism is enough but
00:19:32
Speaker
If I was a Raiders fan, I would be stoked for the person that's coming through the door and and the pieces that they put around them to try to help them be successful day one. ye Yeah, I think I've gone back and forth during the during the since the the you know college football championship of kind of where I fell with with Indiana and and obviously Fernando Mendoza.
00:19:54
Speaker
Um, I just don't think he can be as a very exciting brand of football, which isn't a bad thing, right? We come off the heels of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, right? Being pretty much boring at the quarterback position for all intents and purposes.
00:20:05
Speaker
Um, but I just think about where we are and in the current NFL landscape and the type of quarterback you need to be successful. Like even Sam Darnold is able to move and get out of the pocket and do what he needs to do.
00:20:16
Speaker
So I keep looking at like, you know, CJ Stroud, you know, Bryce Young, um you know, obviously Tua, while he did have success, you know, the mobile quarterback does win football games. When when you need to get out there and survive for five more seconds to get the ball down in the field, that that means something in the NFL. And, you know, can Fernando do it? I'm not ah i'm not sold on it.
00:20:37
Speaker
um That doesn't mean I can be proven wrong. I've been wrong about quarterback evaluations in my past before. um I've also been right. And I don't think that Fernando is the guy. um to start year one and and be ready to take on that locker room.
Tampa Bay Rays' Small-Ball Strategy
00:20:51
Speaker
And maybe that's why they went out and got Kirko to, to start maybe and let, and let Fernando sit behind Kirko chains.
00:20:57
Speaker
um I'm not, I'm not sure. But you, you usually, if you're going to take a guy one one, they're starting day one. So um I don't know what necessarily what Vegas is trying to accomplish, but I'm with you. I do like the pieces around them. I like Gentile and I like Rock Bowers. So, you know, we'll see what they can do, but you know,
00:21:16
Speaker
Still a lot more question marks than answers in in Vegas when it comes to the Raiders. Yeah, they're going have question marks for a long time, though. That's been a dumpster fire for a bit, and you're not going fix it overnight. But no, I do expect Fernando to start day one.
00:21:31
Speaker
I think Kirko's probably more of a mentor-type role, or at least I would assume so. Maybe not. It's expensive mentor. It is, but, you know.
00:21:43
Speaker
It's the Raiders. like I'm not going to say that they spent wisely on a mentor. I'm just going to say that they got a mentor. But you know don't don't forget the truck stick in the national championship is the only thing I'll say. He's got some mobility, I think a little more than he is credited for. Hopefully not enough to scare you, but maybe enough to buy himself you know the extra two to three seconds.
00:22:01
Speaker
I mean, you also look at size, right? The kid stands you know what 230-something pounds, that's not far off a big bench. And when you talk about Big Ben winning championships too, not hard to say, especially when you have those options that you can go to, it changes it for you a little bit. So not saying that it's 100% no, it's how he learns in the NFL.
00:22:25
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right, that's all i got for the rundown. We'll breeze through the wrap-up real quick for you. I got one less team on the wrap-up because the Lightning are in the big topic for us this week.
00:22:36
Speaker
But for the Rays, the Rays went 4-2 this week, a sweep of the White Sox, which as we talked about in our primer, not really much to scoff at in terms of the White Sox, although Mirakami looking like a beast for that team and looks like he's going to be a cornerstone for the White Sox for a while.
00:22:52
Speaker
um And then 1-2 the finish off the week against the Pirates, so 4-2 for the whole week. um Cody, I know that you were begging me basically to talk about the Rays small ball once again this week.
00:23:04
Speaker
um So I want to put that out there. I couldn't get conclusive stats for you guys, but it does seem like the Rays are on track to be the all-time leading bunts team all time from the stats that i did see for a regular season schedule.
00:23:18
Speaker
I do not have the number in front of me but that's the track that they're on. And they are also putting down more sacrifice bunts than any team, and it's by a wide margin, and they're successful at it. They're actually, not mistaken, when comes to like sacrifice hits per game, they're tied with Milwaukee. there you go There you go. fly outs and everything.
00:23:39
Speaker
Yeah, you include that. But like you speak on Bunce in particular, if if I may, as a person who perfected like Bunce in my career when I was playing, you know, it is very hard to defend, especially at that level. We talk about pro guys especially in the U.S. hitting the ball, you know, upwards of, you know, triple digits off the bat, you know,
00:23:59
Speaker
that's what they're accustomed to. Now you're going into a small ball and the fact that you can put it in this little Bermuda triangle at any point in time between, you know, pitcher, first base, catcher, or even pitcher, first base, second base on the opposite end of the field as well. um It makes it very, very difficult to defend.
00:24:16
Speaker
And the team that can perfect it is always going to come out on the, on the better end of that. And that's what we're seeing right now. Very well played by Tampa. Yeah. Yeah. I, I,
00:24:27
Speaker
i I think the only thing that I didn't get to touch on last week that is something that's, you know long-term and that's something for for Kevin Cash to really start thinking about is when teams start to actually defend this strategy, when you are now going to be able to put bloop singles over their heads because they're going to start cheating up.
00:24:43
Speaker
And a lot of, even like Chandler Simpson, who is living off of, you know, soft contact, going to be able put those little bloop singles that would have been probably very easy outs for a third base or shortstop to make.
00:24:54
Speaker
um So there's a lot of different degrees of of of game plan that you're to be to do in the future, which allows you to sustain your your level of performance for for the whole season.
00:25:06
Speaker
And something that I texted you were middle about in prime middle of last week, Cody, was that the Rays, I want to say right before the Pittsburgh series started, had the best record in in the American League and the fourth best record in all of baseball.
00:25:19
Speaker
going into the Pirate Series. Obviously, he didn't do very well in the Pirate Series, but for a little while there, I had a lot to be proud of in Tampa. Still a lot to be proud of early on um this season in Tampa, but you know definitely not somewhere that I expected to be.
00:25:33
Speaker
going to keep riding this high for as long as I can as ah as a Tampa sports fan. Yeah, for sure. That was the main thing. i was begging you to bring up small balls just to highlight what Mike highlighted already. It's just that The baseball is better when we have multiple styles of baseball being played at the same time. Like the U.S. has its um it has its long ball style and that's kind of what everybody plays. But when you have somebody out there playing a different style, it's just more entertaining to to see these different styles compete against each other and the pros and cons of each. And um yeah, it puts a lot of pressure on the teams because like when you said, they can start.
00:26:08
Speaker
prepping for the the raise, but at what point do you not prep for one team doing things one way? Like, do you have the time to, to prep for this fully unique style or it is that a detriment to you prepping for the 30 teams doing it the other way? And maybe the raise can just keep getting away with teams, not being ready. for a bunt because the pitcher's not doing enough PFP or the pitcher just panics or the catcher panics, you know, especially with the speed, the speed, the the bunt applies pressure mentally and the speed of speed rushes it even further. So it's just fun to watch, man. i'm glad I'm glad there's a team out there playing small ball again so that we're not watching the same style of baseball every day.
Baseball Strategic Changes: Small-Ball Resurgence
00:26:47
Speaker
and it And it does look like the NL Central is taking on, as as Judd alluded to, right, that Milwaukee is doing it. St. Louis, I also saw, was doing it over the weekend as well. So it isn't just Tampa. This is catching on league-wide.
00:27:00
Speaker
I know Judd had one talking point about international baseball about this too, but um I didn't want to get out of here out of this topic without without at least bringing up that there are other teams that are now adopting this style of baseball, which is exciting because it's the type of brand of baseball that I grew up on. i know Cody has that an Astros fan with me from early on in my life that this was that type of brand that Astros played too when we were kids. So it's it's very exciting to see this type of brand of baseball come back around.
00:27:26
Speaker
um Because it's like you said, it's only better for baseball when it's not just, all right, pitcher throw 100 miles an hour. alright right, cool. going hit an exit VLO over 100 miles an hour. And that's the only baseball that we're getting. So yeah, I completely completely agree with you that it's it's better for baseball this way.
00:27:40
Speaker
Yeah. and And I'll tell you this, you know history has a funny way of repeating itself. ah When you see these high VLOs all way around and it becomes you know the the mainstay, let's take for example, best example, let's take the Yankees top to bottom. Everybody can the baseball hard. But at the end of the day, when you look back in history and you see the stats from yesteryear, you have guys that are literally sat in led the league and sacrificed flies or s sack bunts or, you know, just moving the runner over. So ah instead of you guys coming in knowing, all right, well, no. I know one through eight are going to hit bombs. Now you got to play chess, you know, plus play chess versus checkers, you know, and think moves ahead.
00:28:20
Speaker
Now you got guys coming in and getting back to the quintessential, your one, two, eight, nine guys or your speedy guys and getting back to, how you're going to set your lineups up. And it it is to, you know, Cody's point, it's 100% bringing fun back to baseball, you know, and and putting people, you know, behind back and seats, you know, and that's what people want to see. They want to see a fun contested game. they don't want to come there and just see home run after home after home run. Sure.
00:28:45
Speaker
But at the end of the day, like to to be excited, to be like, oh, I'm going to watch him steal a bag again. and Like that to me was everything growing up. And now we get to see it again, sign me up.
Houston Astros and Texas A&M Baseball Updates
00:28:56
Speaker
Yeah, the the other side of home run after home run after home run is strikeout after strikeout after strikeout, which is which which if it's ah if it's a pitcher pitching filthy, that can be entertaining, right? Like you can watch that ball bend and be like, oh, snap, I didn't know it could do that. But it also, it can be boring where you're just like, there's no action and then there's a solo shot and then there's no action and then there's a solo shot. So adds small ball is action packed.
00:29:20
Speaker
And and in in one more thing before we, you know, transform our way from this, and I have to say this, especially for all of your your future young, you know, baseball guys that are watching, the best way to neutralize a 90-plus fastball is it just running into a brick wall, and that's your bunt.
00:29:36
Speaker
Reality is, and and everybody nowadays, they're throwing 90-plus, and if you swing, you miss. Okay, cool, but that bunt and that confidence in it, but that's the easiest way to neutralize it. So for me, small ball is always a better way to go, especially for guys who are going to hit the ball, you know, four or 500 feet.
00:29:56
Speaker
You stay in the game one bag at a time. What adjusting you used to pitch. So for you, it's like, dude, if I can't get this guy out now, I'm frustrated. Now I'm in your head as a hitter. I'm in your head and the, the, you know, the top but four teams right now, Milwaukee, Tampa, Arizona, St. Louis are out here doing just that, getting in the pitcher's head.
00:30:19
Speaker
And that you can see the difference in how they're playing. Yeah, baseball is more of a mental game than it is than equally as it is to a physical game. But, yeah, you can get into a pitcher's head and rattle them. As I'm sure Cody's about to talk to us about the state of the Astros and rattling pitchers, it's a cancer, man, when you can't figure out a team because it's – It's frustrating. And, you know, you can throw a curveball you want. They're going to sit on it, and they're going to wait for their fastball to to to put in that triangle and and move that runner on get on first themselves. so
00:30:50
Speaker
But moving on from this, Cody, um the floor is yours to talk to us about the currency of the Astros in a and A&M baseball. Yeah, so I'm going to be short on the Astros here. I did my rant last week. I'm going to take a break this week. I'm not going rant on you again.
00:31:03
Speaker
um The Astros went 2-4 this week, so it was another – unsuccessful week. you It was all six games played at home. You took two of three against Colorado in the week. You were feeling kind of good about that, and then you go into the weekend and get swept by the by the Cardinals, a small ball team like you were talking about, and just did not get the pitching performances. You needed to be successful. The the injuries to the pitching staff continue to be a plague on this team, but the the big bright spot is Spencer Arrighetti getting the call up from AAA. He went, as I believe it was six shutout innings against the Rockies on Tuesday. um He pitched tonight against the the Guardians and went five innings of two run ball.
00:31:46
Speaker
ah Won both of those games. So already this week, the Astros are off to a 1-0 start. But i'm go I'm on hold as far as any takes on the Astros right now. Obviously, 2-4 starting the season out, eight and fifteen while playing generally teams that were expected to be on the bottom side of the league that's very disheartening to be this close to to last place playing against teams that are kind of generally picked to be around last place. But the best series the Astros have played this year was against the Red Sox 3-0, and that was the easiest series to mentally get up for.
00:32:20
Speaker
And so the thing that I'm waiting to see before I make a claim on what this team is is is this is just a team that plays to the level of its opponent. Because today, Guardians, that's ah that's a not a big name, but that's a very successful team.
00:32:34
Speaker
Nine to two victory on a Monday. So this might be a team that just gets up for the series that matter and then sleepwalks through the others, which will make up for a very frustrating year. But it's and it's a very different type of team than a team that's just bad.
00:32:48
Speaker
So we'll see. Two and four, unsuccessful. Pitching's got to turn it around. The hitting continues to to to carry. And and we're goingnna work're I'm on pause until I make any large claims about what the Astros are. I'm going to stop myself from riding the wave every single week.
00:33:05
Speaker
um and save us the the mental meltdown. But in college baseball, Justin, A&M 4-0 this week, won the midweek against U of H, goes to Alex Bach Stadium, LSU, the most hostile venue in college baseball, at least debatably, is LSU and probably ah the dude where Mississippi State plays, two of the most hostile venues in baseball. A&M sweeps LSU fairly comfortably, 10-4 on Friday,
00:33:36
Speaker
I have five to two on Sunday and I forget Saturdays as of this moment. I think it's six. to two. Seven to two? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, 10 to four, seven to two, five to two.
00:33:48
Speaker
It was a beat down that the, the, um the Texax reporter who was onsite kind of live tweeting the game, which is what I was following. He, he, he, he put a a note out to to LSU students that the, the baseball stadium was a very quiet place to get your studying done on Sunday. for finals It was empty.
00:34:08
Speaker
We emptied out another stadium. We emptied out the football stadium in the third quarter. We emptied out the basketball stadium in game two, and now we've emptied out the baseball stadium. I, Loved it. First road sweep at LSU for A&M baseball since 1978. The hitting, this is this is one of one of, if not the best hitting team in the country and has been since the season started, but the pitching is turning a corner.
00:34:32
Speaker
The pitching, we're relying on a guy coming back from Tommy John, missed all of last year, relying on another guy who was our best reliever last year, getting promoted to starter, and relying on another guy who our midweek starter this year, really getting his first taste of SEC starting.
00:34:45
Speaker
And they're coming around. And if they come around, this team could be special. We moved up to number seven in the polls. And right now it is we are in the driver's seat to be a national seed, a top eight seed in the in the playoffs, which would mean that we could host a regional week one. And if we get through the regional, we would host a super regional week two, meaning the path to Omaha would go through College Station. And that is not something we were talking about even two weeks ago.
00:35:12
Speaker
So this is incredible. LSU is down this year, but it is still impressive to go in there and sweep them. it LSU does not get swept at home. And we were able to do that, and it was electric.
00:35:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, what does it bring their record to now? Is that...
00:35:31
Speaker
Dude, that's a good question. Let me see if I can pop that up for you. I know. I'll i'll fill the i'll fill the void while Cody looks it up. um You know, last week all three of us talked about the emotional high that ah a lot of teams can ride um coming off a big win or a big series, right?
00:35:47
Speaker
um when So A&M obviously sweeping Texas, obviously not getting the third game of the series, right? But we talked about like what does the crash out look like from that? You know, what do you do? Can you can you continue that high?
00:35:59
Speaker
um Cause that other team doesn't care that you came off that emotional high. And, you know, that could be something, and, you know, I know Cody, you touched on it last week is that that could be one of the pivotal moment moments of the season that defines what A&M baseball is this year.
00:36:13
Speaker
um And obviously going into LSU, which is no laughing matter when, when you look at the the state of LSU baseball over the last decade. um So, i mean, that's, that's huge for A&M baseball, regardless of the record, which I know you have now, but um you know, going into the rest of the season, which what we got to,
00:36:29
Speaker
a little under a month of the regular season left before we get to weeks the conference tournament? I think we have four weekend series left. So it'd be, I think three midweeks and four, four weekend series left.
00:36:40
Speaker
Overall records. yeah you're good. Yeah. So yeah, my, my last point is just like, we're less than a month or we're right out of month away from, from finishing off the regular season, going to to Alabama to play conference baseball and then get ready for, for road to Omaha. Like, I mean, it's been a while since we could talk confidently about A&M baseball in this way.
00:36:59
Speaker
I feel actually pretty confident of what we can do. So um good to see, you know, as we get ready for what is one of the toughest postseasons to go through in college sports. Yeah. So we're sitting at 31 and seven on the season, 12 and five in SEC play.
00:37:17
Speaker
We started one in four in SEC play. I believe. Yeah, we started one in four in SEC play. We're up to 12 and five. and They're on a run right now, Mike. And I tell you, man I don't know if you're a college baseball guy. I don't know how much connection you have. But if you ever get the chance to watch some A&M baseball, those boys can slug.
00:37:36
Speaker
I mean, even just this conversation between last week and this week is getting me a little bit more excited to watch them play and watch how they do, especially as they go to Gainesville coming up. So, like, for me, like, I'm excited to see that, too. You know, to your point, Justin, you don't walk into LSU. and and to sweep them in their own home.
00:37:54
Speaker
So the fact that you walked up in their house, went in their kitchen, opened their fridge, ate up everything in there, and then just left without leaving nothing there and all the dishes that we could wash, like that's a lot. you know So that's's that's a major statement right there all in it itself. So I'm really interested see how A&M takes it for the rest of the season.
00:38:12
Speaker
Yeah, it was filthy. Like you said, they're going to Florida this weekend. That's going to be an even tougher test because Florida is just as hostile. not Not quite to the level of LSU, at least not in my opinion, but right up there with them. And that's a better Florida the baseball team than this LSU baseball team is. So it's the same thing as last week.
00:38:31
Speaker
Don't care that you did it anymore. That's in the past. You got to be focused on Florida or you're going to get run out of there. And and we're going to be right back where we were before. So very excited for A&M Florida this weekend.
00:38:42
Speaker
Mike, we should just tell the wives that we're leaving on Sunday morning, just go up to Gainesville and watch the game with the kids. Take the kids to take off. Just go. Just go. Hey, i tell you i was looking at I was looking at tickets today for the Auburn
NHL Playoffs Preview and Team Predictions
00:38:55
Speaker
series when they come back. That Florida series, mighty affordable.
00:38:58
Speaker
Mighty affordable. Is it Yeah. It's much more affordable than the Friday game against Auburn we're trying to go to. We'll talk to the wives. We'll talk to the wives because there's also, there's also a Whataburger in Gainesville. So that's a two for one for me. Two for one trip. All
00:39:20
Speaker
right, guys. Well, that, that concludes the wrap up for this week, man. Exciting stuff, but exciting even more so Cody that I'm going to kick it over to you for a week, for the first couple weeks, we have two topics to talk about this week. So,
00:39:33
Speaker
i'm I want you ah to run the and NHL playoffs. Yeah, we got we got two topics, and that's why we're trying to fly today. We're doing our best, ah whatever that means. We're trying to fly today because we've got a lot to cover. Mike, are you a big are you big hockey guy? You got some takes in here for us too? Hey, listen, man, I'm not big on hockey, but Justin's slowly but surely getting me out there to go and and watch it because, like, the more he talks about it, more I'm just like, dude, I really just need to go. So um I'm so down.
00:40:00
Speaker
You know, who knows? Next season. may have You may have another Tampa guy out there. Who knows? Next season, for sure, we're going to get to a Solar Bear game. At least it's a little bit closer drive than it is to going down to Tampa. But we're definitely going to to Solar Bear game next season.
00:40:13
Speaker
If you go to a Solar Bear game, I need you to spy the jerseys and let me know what they're going for. I need a Solar Bears jersey, dude. That logo is incredible. They're such good jerseys, too. I love it. Their color scheme so good.
00:40:25
Speaker
I love it. I need you to spy that for me next time you go. I got you. All right. So we're going to dive in We're going to start Western Conference and then we'll head to the Eastern.
00:40:35
Speaker
um and I'm just going in order of the way the bracket was shown them when I was filling this out. So we're going to start with ah the the one seed Colorado ah versus the four seed LA Kings. So I guess back up a little further, we're going to do first round discussions only. We're not building a bracket here because we got two topics today. And then um I'm going to make Justin give us a Stanley Cup prediction.
00:40:58
Speaker
I'll give one as well, but we're going to give a Stanley Cup prediction. But we're really going focus on the first round today. We'll cover the second round once the first round is done. is, uh, is finished and then we'll recalibrate. So we're starting off with Colorado, LA. Justin, what are you thinking for this series?
00:41:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think yeah we talked a little bit about it as we started the pod, you know, the state of NHL hockey. Um, and at the time it was, it was all Colorado. The Colorado was the the number one ticket in and the NHL for the, for the majority of the season until they ran into this team called the Tampa Bay lightning, uh, back in December.
00:41:29
Speaker
and everything started to fall apart for them for about two weeks. And then they put it right back together and they were electric from that point on. um LA is an interesting team in that they, they lived into the playoffs, basically needed help to get into the playoffs.
00:41:45
Speaker
I, it's a team that you can be scared of if you're any team besides Colorado, um because you're facing Colorado, because it is Nathan McKinnon and it's everyone else in that roster.
00:41:56
Speaker
I don't see any way that the Kings put anything up on the board substantial. um I don't, I, I'm not bold enough to call it a sweep, but it's definitely, you know, an LA team that used to be really good trying to do something special. And if they're playing anyone but Colorado, man, I would give them some more specs, but I don't have anything to give them.
00:42:19
Speaker
I feel you. Mike, are you, are you, you want to make picks on, on vibes or anything like that? no yeah my bob is is a pun I feel you. I just didn't want to leave you out if you want, if you were, if you're trying to toss me in there. Literally, as you guys are talking, I'm sitting here playing up like stats so I can like weigh in at the end of it.
00:42:42
Speaker
Okay. i got I'll save you for the end then. yeah I'm, I'm, I'm same as Justin here. Um, Colorado was the number one seed in the Western conference going into the trade deadline.
00:42:56
Speaker
And then we came on the pod after the and NHL trade deadline. And I said that Colorado was one of the winners of the trade deadline because they got, I believe it was Nicholas Wah and Nazem Qadri, both forwards, that ah depth forwards that they were looking for. They were one of the winners of the trade deadline after already being number one in the Western conference.
00:43:19
Speaker
They wrapped up number one in the Western Conference two weeks ago, April 7th, according to Google AI. They wrapped up the Western Conference on April 7th. ah There's just no reason for me to pick against this team.
00:43:31
Speaker
i A little teaser. i think that I think that the Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota trifecta is a lot more even than we give them credit for. And that could be exciting in round two, but in round one, I'm not i'm not picking against the best team in hockey. It's going to be Colorado over LA for me. I wasn't planning on picking number of games, but ah yeah, i'm I'm closer to four than I am to seven. That's for sure.
00:43:56
Speaker
Oh yeah. 100%. This isn't going seven. I'd be very, and I'm very much so that if they, if it does go seven, I'll come in here and eat crow um in a couple of weeks, but yeah, Right now, yeah, there's no way it's the thing goes to seven.
00:44:10
Speaker
Mike, any stats for us? I'll go to the next game unless you want to drop this. Hey, listen, the vibes for me right now definitely in Colorado. So that's where I'm at with it.
00:44:20
Speaker
I like it. I like it. We're going to kick it over to Dallas, Minnesota then. Actually, game two just just tipped off. So Dallas, Minnesota. Justin, why don't you let us know what you're thinking on this one?
00:44:35
Speaker
um Yeah, as a proud Houstonian um that lives in Florida, nothing in my blood will ever allow me to pick a team in Dallas to win anything. So that's enough for me to go and say Minnesota wins.
00:44:46
Speaker
um They won in convincing fashion in game one. I think it was like seven to one or something like that was the final score. Six or seven to one, something like that. Yeah. So, i mean, convincing fashion, and that's enough for me. And, you know, I'm sure you're going to talk about your boy Hughes over there on on Minnesota here on your end as reason why you're going to go Minnesota, I believe. But, um yeah, and nothing in me and in in my life will ever allow me to pick anyone in Dallas to win anything. So go wild.
00:45:14
Speaker
I was actually, i was prepped this morning. i was i was prepped to pick Dallas because Dallas is a team that has just been making runs in the playoffs lately. Like they've been a very good team.
00:45:25
Speaker
Playoff team a step below you know Stanley Cup caliber, but they've been a very good, very successful playoff team. And the Minnesota Wild, they're not immune to the Minnesota lull, where it's like the last time the Wild won a playoff series. I think I was looking at it was like 2016 or something something along those lines. a Very, very similar vibe to like the Twins.
00:45:47
Speaker
um So they're not immune to the Minnesota lull. um And I just know Ottinger is such a good goalie. I mean, he was the the reserve for Team Didn't get any time on the ice. But to to even get that call at all shows you the caliber of goalie that he is. And in in goalie matters in the playoffs. But Minnesota did whoop up on Dallas 6-1 in Game 1.
00:46:08
Speaker
um And Dallas is missing two star players in Seguin and Hintz. And for that reason, I'm going to go Minnesota. I'm going to go Minnesota 1-1. because I won't pick Dallas. And I'm going go Minnesota two because they're healthier. And three because I announced they're my team this season on the pod after they after I realized they had like three Team USA members on their squad. i said, well, I'm rooting for Minnesota.
00:46:31
Speaker
And so I'm going with Minnesota for the upset, three over two. ah like it. Well, with with that and convincing fashion, the vibes are going Minnesota. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:46
Speaker
and I like it. actually ah Very good. Very good. yeah We're going to kick it over ah to the third series on the West. So this is another one versus four series.
00:46:59
Speaker
Las Vegas Golden Knights versus the new the newly minted, I think this is year two or three, Utah Mammoth. What are we thinking, you Justin? Yeah. Second season with the Utah Mammoth. obviously And first season with the Zameth.
00:47:15
Speaker
Yes, with the Xamath, with the zammoth with the them as being the Mammoth this season. um This is a series that I don't care about. I'm going to be completely honest with you. um excited to everybody Yeah, this is one that I just don't care about. And I think a lot of people will agree with me that Vegas is a head scratcher this season with firing their coach and getting John Tortorella in there before the playoffs started securing their spot so it worked.
00:47:42
Speaker
But they just a head scratcher. um And I just can't root for Vegas, ultimately, because of how they came into the league and ended up winning the Stanley Cup in their first two seasons, going to the Stanley Cup finals, I think three out of four three out of the four first seasons.
00:47:56
Speaker
um So for that, I'm going to pick the Mammoth. um But once again, I just don't care about the series. Neither one of these teams are going to make a deep run. They're going to be out in the second round, whoever does advance.
00:48:07
Speaker
This one could go six games and it could be a fun one to watch in the long run. But neither team excites me in the in the playoffs.
00:48:18
Speaker
That's fair. This was probably one of the harder ones to pick, because like you said, there's not a ton of. um excitement behind this. Las Vegas is a team that it felt like underperformed all year. Usually the amount of talent on the team versus what they were accomplishing, they were kind of underperforming. And I feel like Utah is still just viewed as like the new team, the the fun off the ice team because they have the Zameth and They have the cool new logo that everyone loves and the owner that's just doing things right. He's got all these fun things everyone's enjoying.
00:48:49
Speaker
um And so I've never really paid attention to the hockey part of their team. and Just everything else that they're doing so killer. But um I'm going to go Vegas, and I'm going to go Vegas because Vegas is 7-0-1 the eight games under new coach John Tortorella.
00:49:06
Speaker
Like I said, they were a team that was felt like they were underperforming all year. And now that they have this new coach, it feels like they found their identity to reach the peak of of what their talent says they could or even should be.
00:49:20
Speaker
And so I'm going to go Vegas ah because of the new coach and the new defensive identity. I think they are on ah on a heater right now, and I think that continues through round one.
00:49:34
Speaker
I can go on the way. so You know, when we talk about new team coming in, you know, doing what they're doing right now, I mean, obviously what you said is year two, you know, and it's in there's they're in they're here, right? they They're clearly doing something right. um Will they get past this team as far as the Knights go? I mean, this team is is being is able to rejuvenate what they used to do at any one point in time from my understanding of it. So for me, like,
00:50:06
Speaker
A team that's been there, a team that's been able to take you know adversity and and turn it around and in in in showcase this. iss Right now, that's where my nod is. Based off of everything that we said that's where the vibes for me go withz with the night.
00:50:23
Speaker
There we go. I think that's the thing like you touched on about the and NHL playoffs. And I think the and NBA playoffs still in a lot of ways is those feel like the two leagues where there's still a there's still like a ladder to success. Like year one, you make the playoffs and you kind of get embarrassed a little bit, but you learn from it And then year two, you get you get years back, but you're still not there yet because you don't realize that the conference finals is – even more intense than round one. And you eventually, it takes a few years and then you build up to being like that team.
00:50:56
Speaker
um You know, we saw it with Vegas. I think they made the Stanley cup year one, lost it, got it back pretty quickly. and And, and I mean, you see it with teams like the Timberwolves and the NBA, these feel like the leagues where you still, it takes a few years to be a real contender.
00:51:11
Speaker
um And I think that's the journey that Utah is on for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll kick it up. So No, you're good. Yeah, no, just saying I like the mentality. Yeah, that it's an interesting way to look at it for NHL hockey for sure.
00:51:26
Speaker
Yeah, and we'll kick it over to the last series in the Western Conference. We had two-seed Edmonton versus three-seed Anaheim Ducks. Justin, I know you got some boys that like the Ducks. Are you riding with are you riding with dallas ah Dallas, right? he's the He's the Ducks fan? Yeah.
00:51:42
Speaker
You riding with Dallas or are you going against them? Yeah. Going off of just his vibes, because I do not follow California hockey as closely as I do the the East Coast hockey side of things with the Lightning.
00:51:55
Speaker
um Anaheim was on nosedive. I don't know how much you were following that towards the end of the season. Dallas was literally live-tweeting a game that he was at because he was out there for Coachella last week and was basically live-tweeting the downfall of the Anaheim Ducks, um and they were going to crash out and not make the playoffs.
00:52:12
Speaker
So I know he's just happy to be here. um And that might be the award that you give the Anaheim Ducks, just happy to be here. um Unfortunately, you run into a a behemoth out there in the West against Edmonton that might be on a down year ultimately, but it's still a behemoth all all to itself, obviously being the Stanley Cup Finals last two seasons in Edmonton.
00:52:32
Speaker
So still a team that's played spectacular hockey and a team that I can i expect to play spectacular hockey in this playoff run as well. So unfortunately, this fall this is where the the road ends for Anaheim. But in the same way you were just talking about for Utah, I think it's very similar for Anaheim.
00:52:48
Speaker
um This is a very young team and a team that did buy at the deadline. So they're obviously wanting to win and win long term. um So it's definitely something to to pay attention out there for for California hockey that Anaheim is here and they're going to be here for a while.
00:53:02
Speaker
Yeah, for for sure. i've I've got the same notes as you, I think. i was reading a New York Times preview for this series earlier today. um The Anaheim Ducks, on a per 60-minute five-on-five basis, so excluding power play, penalty kill, things like that, um they give up the ninth-most shots in the league.
00:53:26
Speaker
The eighth most attempts, I'm not 100% sure what that stat is. maybe Maybe you know, Justin. I don't know what makes an attempt different than a shot. I'm not that deep in the game. But most importantly, the fourth most goals.
00:53:38
Speaker
Shot on goal versus attempt. So you need to shoot the puck and it goes off net. That's the attempt. And the shot on goal is one that the goalie has to make an effort against.
00:53:50
Speaker
oh Okay, gotcha. So yeah, ninth most shot on goals, eighth most attempts, and fourth most actual goals in five-on-five hockey on a per-game basis. They're bringing that defense up against Connor McDavid and ah Leon Dreisaitl.
00:54:04
Speaker
I don't think that's a good matchup. I know they've got the the goalie Dostal who played in the Olympics. He seems like a stud, but the defense in front of them doesn't seem like it's ready.
00:54:16
Speaker
and And Edmonton seems to have found their goalie about halfway through the season with Connor Ingram. um I think this is an easy Edmonton pick, but like you said, even making it to the playoffs with a team this young is a huge ah bit of momentum that Anaheim can take in the next season. The Sharks were close. ah I followed the Sharks very closely when I got into hockey originally.
00:54:38
Speaker
They were close to see Anaheim doing it. thats It's got to be a fan base that's pretty excited for that.
00:54:46
Speaker
Spoilers. Yeah, there you go. There it is. There you go. It's just a dramatic pause, and then we know you get the quick hitter. like it. I'm here for that.
00:54:58
Speaker
I like it. There we go. if we If we kick it over to the Eastern Conference, Justin, I think this is probably one of the more exciting, maybe more evenly matched, could go either way series in the in the league. I'll see if you think the same, but we've got the number one seed Buffalo Sabres versus the four seed Boston Bruins.
00:55:16
Speaker
I mean, Sunday night was electric, so if the whole series is like that, just get the popcorn out. Yeah, and I think that's what you're in store for. I think it's very much that the the Buffalo Bills fans have invaded the Buffalo Sabres energy at this point, that they are, this Bills mafia is becoming Sabres mafia for this playoff run.
00:55:35
Speaker
First time they've been in the playoffs in over a decade. So definitely definitely good to see for Buffalo to be there. um And Boston doesn't know, I don't think they know what's hit them at this point. Obviously, they I think a lot of NHL, and depending on what article you read, it's A lot of people were were expecting Boston to come in here and showcase that they know how to play in the playoffs in and take out Buffalo very quickly.
00:55:56
Speaker
And that is not the case. This team is real. This team is here and they're they're wanting to be successful right now. There is no waiting for this Buffalo team. So I think Boston needs to be very careful i going through this. And you know if it's anything like we saw coming down the wire for the Atlantic division between Buffalo, and but between buffalo Montreal,
00:56:15
Speaker
in tampa um i You better watch out. This Buffalo team might make a run. So I'm going to say Buffalo wins this, but I think this can go seven games. Yeah, I think all of America hopes this goes seven games so we can get seven versions of what we saw Sunday night. I'll admit I turned the game off and started of watching something else. So I missed the electric comeback, but I caught it on the highlights and I won't be turning off one of these games early again in this series.
00:56:44
Speaker
i Before last night, I would have picked Boston. I was on the the thought process that you're talking about of like Boston's been here before. Buffalo was thrown out by most NHL fans in December.
00:56:58
Speaker
You know, I think there's, i don't know if you've, seen it going around the internet, but there's the big Ryan Whitney billboard in Buffalo where he's like on his podcast, he said Buffalo has a 0.000% chance of making the playoffs in December and they turned it into a billboard, which is electric, but I think that speaks to how much they accomplished just to make the playoffs.
00:57:19
Speaker
And there was this idea that that could be an emotional wall that they hit. Like they've been in the playoffs for four months and now they made it. and And you take a deep sigh like a deep breath, a sigh of relief, and then Boston kind of sucker punches you and and you you drop out in round one. I think that was a really reasonable decision.
00:57:39
Speaker
viewpoint to say like they've already expended their energy and they're running into a team who's been here before but sunday night down i think it's down two o come back to win 4-3 and in sunday i flipped my pick i said never mind they're not the moment's not too big for them they are ready for this um and and if they had lost game one i think that goes to boston they won game one this is a team that's here and ready to fight and so yeah i think they're a better team than boston and i don't think boston's gonna catch them by surprise
00:58:08
Speaker
Very compelling. Me, on the other hand, have a teammate that play softball with that is very much Boston. Love him, but I also have to go against him. So I'm Buffalo for this one, for sure.
00:58:20
Speaker
I guess I'm joining the Sabre side of things for a little bit. The Sabre Nation. there was there was no way that the There was no way the Jersey boy was going to pick against the Boston team to win. There was 0.00 chance of that
00:58:38
Speaker
I will say, you you bring up the 0.0, the podcast. It's giving 05 Astros with the Houston Chronicle. Counting about it the before the All-Star break. The tombstone.
00:58:49
Speaker
The famous tombstone. tombstone front page, yeah, on the Chronicle. And obviously we know what happens. They go they go into into the World Series and get swept by the Chicago White Sox. But hey, they went to the World Series. They went to the World Series.
00:59:01
Speaker
Yeah. Justin, we it's time for the series that means the absolute most to you. It's two-seed Tampa Bay at three-seed Montreal.
00:59:12
Speaker
Let the people know. Yeah, if this series is anything like game one and and it's that way through it all, this game went to overtime last night. ah Tampa ended up dropping the first game.
00:59:25
Speaker
But any point in this game, either team was going to win um game one and and take that take that momentum. Yeah. um And i like I said, that's how it is for the entire series. This series has a very real potential, going seven games. um i my My nerves set in on what we've been talking about all season with with the Lightning so far is that their defense has been a little lackluster at times.
00:59:47
Speaker
We can put points up like crazy, but we don't have and a defense to stand up in front of Azzy to give us a full 60-minute chance to win and be convincing. So we're going to need ah to out out-scape them the entire time.
01:00:01
Speaker
And this Montreal team is stacked from top to bottom. So it's it's ah it's a difficult team to go out there and and play against consistently. We saw it. I talked about Montreal through the through the end of the season um as Tampa tried to make an attempt to win the division.
01:00:15
Speaker
um The homer in me is going to keep saying Tampa because I have no reason to not say Tampa. I do think that the forwards outweigh what Montreal has. And, you know, when you talk about Kucherov, who didn't end up winning the Art Ross at the end of the season.
01:00:30
Speaker
um or the Rocca Richard. um But Vazzy still very much looks like a VINSA candidate. And all you need is for Vazzy to go out there and give you two or three. Stand on my head, I'm going shut them out for these two games. And the offense just needs to go win me the last couple of games. so And I think that's the mentality that Tampa needs to carry through here is Vazzy is going to give you two or three a series that you have that it's going to be one or zero on the boards.
01:00:56
Speaker
So you just need take advantage of of that in the other games. You just need to go out there and putt up six and hope that you don't give up seven. And that's kind of what the mentality that Tampa is going to have through this entire Stanley Cup run. But right now, I just don't think Montreal has enough firepower to beat out what Tampa has.
01:01:15
Speaker
I like it. Justin, can I take you back to to to ah to a time before in College Station, Texas, at the bar of a Buffalo Wild Wings?
01:01:26
Speaker
You rooting for Tampa Bay, me rooting for Montreal. As we talked to the the owner of the new franchise of Marco's Pizza that became our best friend for three hours. And Tampa Bay, I believe with 0.3 left on the clock, crushed my hopes and dreams as ah as a professional Justin Dalton hater, rooting for Montreal to beat Tampa. So today i have worn my Tampa jersey.
01:01:52
Speaker
to let you know that the hate never stops, Justin. I'm not picking Tampa. I can't pick Tampa. I'm still rooting for Montreal, and I will the jersey to rub it in your face, but I own this jersey because I went to the game with you, and I'm still picking Montreal because I have to.
01:02:07
Speaker
here's Here's the thing. Montreal is is on the ladder that we talked about. They're a young team. They made the playoffs last year. They weren't ready, and they got stomped by Washington round one. They're still a young team. still dumb enough to think that they can beat Tampa Bay and don't know better that Tampa's deeper and stronger. They just know that they're faster and they play good hockey.
01:02:28
Speaker
and And the thing that you told me when we were talking Tampa a few weeks ago is that Tampa Bay is one of the most penalized teams in the league. I think you said they lead the league or they're close to leading the league in penalty minutes.
01:02:41
Speaker
And that Montreal power play. was electric yesterday or Saturday or whatever day that was. They scored three of their four goals in that power play. I think that could be, if Tampa doesn't clean up the penalties, I think that could be the thing that tilts this series to Montreal. I think you see low scoring games like you saw.
01:02:59
Speaker
ah yesterday with montreal scoring almost exclusively on the power play And also the hate has to continue so I'm big in for Tampa. and we'll see what happens and i'm in giant didn go to rooty for tampa
01:03:21
Speaker
Judd, I didn't expect to get a freaking WWE promo cut off. in this house Listen, listen, I will tell you what, out of all the promos I've heard all weekend long and leading up to, you know, WrestleMania this past weekend, damn it.
01:03:36
Speaker
You got that, that, that right there won me over. ain't gonna lie to you. But I can't go against, I can't go against a road dog on this one, be in the proximity to Tampa.
01:03:50
Speaker
I make these claims from the safety of Houston, Texas. If we were anywhere other than here, i would be like, hey that promo won't be open for sure. Because he knows the exact moment I'm talking about. He remembers the seat.
01:04:06
Speaker
He remembers tribe that the Marco's Pizza guy offering us for free pizza if we come hung out at a store. He remembers it all. That is so funny because i can like as youre to as you're saying it, what made it such a good you know promo in that realm was the fact that i'm picturing this happen yeah in my head i'm going dang this guy went to the bag and pulled this out on you dog like
01:04:31
Speaker
yeah in that was like this whole nhl preview was just a build up to that i got nothing left in the tank
01:04:43
Speaker
You better have something. You got two more series to go through. Yeah. Yeah, we got two more to go through. So we'll kick it off with one seed Carolina versus four seed Ottawa. What do we got, Justin? every Every side has, I'm just happy to be here award, and that is Ottawa for the East. We're just happy to be here.
01:05:01
Speaker
They're going to run into this this wall that is Carolina, man. And they have an electric atmosphere over there for home games, and they're going to carry it through for probably the majority of the Stanley Cup run. So I've got Carolina winning pretty convincingly over Ottawa.
01:05:15
Speaker
Yeah, I do too. um i though The way I view it, um looking back at the last few playoffs, Carolina's biggest weakness is was that somewhere on their playoff journey, they would have to play Florida and they their style could not handle Florida. They just could not overcome that.
01:05:32
Speaker
But they were a dominant playoff team up until they would hit Florida. And and this year, there's no Florida to have to get through. you know the the The Panthers are out um and and Ottawa doesn't play that Florida style of physical hockey. Ottawa plays a very similar style of hockey to Carolina.
01:05:50
Speaker
And so I'm going to pick Carolina, the team that I think does it better. I think this is a good year for Carolina to try to make a deep run.
01:06:00
Speaker
Carolina. There we go. Convincing fashion. There it is. Perfect. And we'll we'll we'll wrap it up with, ah from ah from a vibe standpoint, probably the most...
01:06:11
Speaker
competitive electric hated game of the playoffs where you've got Pittsburgh and Philadelphia just down the highway from each other battling it out. Penguins Flyers, Justin, what are you thinking?
01:06:25
Speaker
Keep in mind, two games done in the series already. What was the second game? I know who won the first game. Who won the second game? Same as the first game. The Flyers took two. The Flyers took two on the road at Pittsburgh. That might and probably should change your opinion.
01:06:42
Speaker
Yeah, going into this, I was on board with the retirement tour for the the core in Pittsburgh. um Being down 0-2, going to Philly, that's a tough bout to to face, um especially for this Flyers team that's been, no pun intended, it very gritty and throughout this season.
01:07:01
Speaker
um and for intents and purposes, it's going to be a fun team to watch in the playoffs. um I think, sadly, that does mean that the the retirement tour comes to an end early in Pittsburgh. I don't think they get a chance at the Cup.
01:07:13
Speaker
I do think that the talent at the top is too much to to overcome anyway for Pittsburgh, um but this Philly team is going to be fun to watch, man. they they're They're fast. They like to score a lot of points, and they don't care how they do it, so very on-brand for a Philadelphia sports team, but I'm gonna go a Philly in this first round. but It's going to be a fun one to watch.
01:07:34
Speaker
Well, I think either way, I think the winner in this whole bunch is Pennsylvania as a whole. true yeah you you get to watch thetronomy of these guys yeah little literally You get to watch these guys go out in on their last run, the core of the team, and then now you got Philly who's out here just tearing it up. So, like I mean, hey, it's playing out the way it's supposed to, in my opinion.
01:07:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, for sure. just ah In my mind, this is like if if if Houston has a heart had a hockey team and please one day give us a hockey team. If if we went to the playoffs and and the first round series was was against Dallas, that would just be the most electric environment of all time. And that's what Pennsylvania is getting. It's a huge win.
01:08:19
Speaker
uh, for, for Pennsylvania. and I'm with you, Justin, I came into this, I was on board the Sydney Crosby retirement tour. I was on board of don't pick against the grizzled vets. The one of the greatest hockey players that that we've ever had the, the, the privilege to watch, but, ah things are different at two and O and so when I was, when I was prepping my thoughts, it was one O And I thought to myself, i need I need more upsets. I'm not picking enough upsets. So I was going to go with Philadelphia anyways, just because I needed to see more upsets. But at 2-0, it's really looking believable. And if Philadelphia does win this series, um I was looking at...
01:08:59
Speaker
ah Some stats and it looks like Philadelphia has a stronger defensive identity where Pittsburgh does not have a lot of skaters that um had a net positive impact on defense. It was some metrics that kind of the New York Times published.
01:09:13
Speaker
Not a lot of net positive defenders, but Philadelphia had quite a few. So they have a better defensive identity, which matters a lot in the playoffs. and And you see stronger goaltending behind that defense in in Philadelphia as well.
01:09:26
Speaker
Pittsburgh's running out Stuart Skinner, who I think we um most hockey fans will remember from Edmonton the last few years. He really had this ability to to kind of fall apart.
01:09:37
Speaker
when it mattered most. And for Edmonton, that was usually once you got to the finals or the the conference finals, but that doesn't mean it can't happen in year one here. um and and then you have the momentum of Philadelphia. They made the playoffs by winning in a shootout, the second to last game of the season, go on to win the last game of the season, and then take the first two in the playoffs. This is a team that is rolling.
01:10:00
Speaker
and And we talked so so whatever series that was, Buffalo, about the emotional wall And I don't think you can hit an emotional wall if you walk to the other side of that that regular season and you see your most hated rival on the other side.
01:10:14
Speaker
No, you just stay hot because the vibes were here and there's no letdown. Now you've got to go play Pittsburgh in the playoffs. The vibes stay right where they're at and you get to keep that running. And and Philadelphia is doing it.
01:10:26
Speaker
And I expect them to continue to. I think we get a good series. I don't think this is in four. I think Pittsburgh is going to take some at Philadelphia and this can go still go six, maybe even seven, but I'm going to go Philadelphia because they're just riding the waves right now.
01:10:40
Speaker
um And if anybody's going to upset, I think they're a team that you could absolutely see doing that.
01:10:48
Speaker
So let's, ah yeah, let's kick it over to Stanley cup predictions.
01:10:54
Speaker
I'm just, who who over who? And we're going to redo this every every round, right? So when we do round two, we'll see if we want to update. um So just right now, as we enter the playoffs, a couple, you know, what you one game in in most series, what are who are we thinking? Who over who in the Stanley Cup finals?
01:11:17
Speaker
ah Man, ah this is tough, man. You're talking, I mean, we we talked about it off the off the show that The Stanley Cup is the hardest playoffs in in all professional sports.
01:11:27
Speaker
So even your number one seed can lose in the first round and and it's all for the right reasons because the other team is just that good. um Right now, and gun to the head did you eat to put a bat down, the homer of me is going to keep saying Tampa until Tampa is no longer in the running.
01:11:44
Speaker
um I think Tampa has one of the best, if not the best goalie in the world, and Andre Vasileski. um You have... an electric core up front with Braden Point, Brandon Hagel, Kucherov is still him.
01:11:57
Speaker
So, i mean, you you have enough to sit there and say that Tampa can go and win the Stanley Cup any year as long as they keep this core intact. There's still a potential that we get Victor Hedman back in this playoff run, which only helps the defense, which has been our Achilles tendon this entire year.
01:12:13
Speaker
um The question is who comes out of the West? And It sucks. I wish Dallas and Minnesota played in the in the east air in the Western Conference Finals because I think that would have been a better spot for them.
01:12:24
Speaker
um I'm going to go Minnesota right now. So I think it's going be Minnesota-Tampa. um And I have Tampa winning right now. Okay. I'm going to keep it chalk here at the beginning um just because i haven't seen anything to to flip that yet. And i don't have the I don't have the alliances, like the depth of alliance that you have to kind of guide my My thinking, so I'm going pretty chalk here. I think Colorado has been the best team in hockey all season.
01:12:51
Speaker
I reserve the right to change next time we preview the second round just because, like I said, that that matchup of Colorado versus the winner of Dallas, Minnesota, it could really flip things. But right now am going to lean Colorado and i'm going to take Colorado over Carolina, who we said, I think this could be a good year for them to make a run without that, uh, physical Florida team to knock them out. I think the East is, is, is open.
01:13:19
Speaker
Um, so I'm going to pick Carolina, um, That is also based on the fact that I used hatred to to knock Tampa out the first round, so I couldn't pick them. ah Mike, are you are you wanting to put a put a prediction together? that deep Hey, man, i'm here for the vibes when it comes to this this part of it. like I really want to hear y'all's thought process and y'all passion on it.
01:13:41
Speaker
I'm just not as invested as ah as you know you guys are but trust me, after this conversation, for sure, for sure, We are going, Justin. There's no ifs, ands, and buts about it. We're telling and the wires we're going. I'm i'm definitely a lot more invested in it now, especially with the the lineage that were we're talking about and missed opportunities on my end to be able to watch some spectacles happen.
01:14:07
Speaker
For sure. um if you If you're talking about going to the game in person, if that's what you mean by we're going, you got to. i went to I've been to two two hockey games in my life.
01:14:18
Speaker
ah The first one was Tampa versus Florida with with Justin down at at the time, Amelie Arena, I think was the name. I think it's changed names since then.
01:14:29
Speaker
unless that was just never the name don't know but it was electric yeah yeah that that was a trip where i I wasn't I was feeling off the whole trip like I was I had some sort of bug that I was battling that trip and that game was still an absolute blast one of the most electric environments I've ever been to the only other game I've seen in person was capital stars and um ill I'll tell you, Tampa showed out. Capital Stars was a blast as well, but Tampa, the the energy was was on another level. I think it was a season opener too. It was unreal. If you get the chance to go, you got to go. You'll end up buying a jersey like I did, and then you can use it as a prop four years later, however long it's been.
01:15:08
Speaker
ah see i see what you did there. I got promo skills up, but I got you. yeah Speaking of promo skills, it's WrestleMania time, unless you got one more thought, Justin.
01:15:20
Speaker
just Just one more, yeah, just to, if I could push the needle over for for Judd to go to a hockey game. that i I've been to just about every sport environment that you can probably mention, with the exception of international soccer.
01:15:34
Speaker
um And man, there there's nothing better, in my opinion, than than NHL hockey. um and i've And I've been in football settings watching Johnny Manziel play. I've been in, you know, playoff baseball environments. I've been in regular season hockey.
01:15:49
Speaker
preseason hockey and playoff hockey and there is nothing better than than hockey um live um so if you need an electric environment you need a reason to go just get in the car with me we'll go watch a lightning game next season when when we can actually afford because you can't afford playoff hockey tickets yes say less say less but yeah with that as cody as cody attempted to segue for me It is time for WrestleMania recap season.
WrestleMania In-Depth Analysis: Ups and Downs
01:16:17
Speaker
Cody, I do see that you had two questions in here that you want to ask us in this transition period um before we dive into the recap. So I'll let you do your, these two questions for you. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I didn't, so I didn't get the chance to watch WrestleMania this weekend. Y'all did an incredible job hyping it up. And I, I almost,
01:16:33
Speaker
I almost flipped to it a couple times, but I was out out and about Saturday. We were celebrating our anniversary and then and then Sunday was NHL hockey. um So I didn't make it over to WrestleMania. But how how was the experience as a whole? How was the weekend?
01:16:50
Speaker
Take it away, Judd. I mean, there was there was a lot of ups and there was also a lot of downs. um You know, i think overall, I think WWE did ah a decent job between, ah for me, i think what seems to me like a 50-50 split between for night one and night two, which really turned it up on night two.
01:17:12
Speaker
There was a lot of emotion. There was a lot of storytelling from beginning to end. And there is also some, you know, stats that were involved that, didn't come out to on the back end, which ultimately helps better understand, you know, the, I guess, when we say the behind the scenes of our champions and and those who won their matches on the back end. So when we when we touch on those later on, you'll be like, okay, that makes so much more sense, you know, and, you know, it changes a lot for even the, from the seasonal fans to the long time fans of what WWE is all about.
01:17:48
Speaker
And, you know, it really, you know, manias Mania is my Super Bowl every day. So, yeah, let let's get into it. I love it. Justin, you getting the same vibes from this weekend?
01:18:03
Speaker
Yeah, um I think in comparison, this is my my second year back into it all with Judd watching it. And it very much is that i um in comparison to last year to this year, um this year's Mania is so much better than last year's Mania.
01:18:17
Speaker
um in terms of the matches that they built and the storylines that they had going into. I know we talked about the build not necessarily being the greatest um last ah building up to it all, but it definitely, once we got there, it was a whole lot better. and that's something we talked about last week, that it was better um as a whole. But yeah, I just think it was fine. um I think once we got there, it was great. But there was a lot of things that, like Judd said, there lot of highs, a lot of lows. And I think the lows just...
01:18:42
Speaker
just drowned out a lot of the highs and we're going to touch on it when we get to match the match breakdown. But yeah, a little bit, I think notes to take forward for, for WWE as a whole and triple H to hopefully look at next year's mania on how you want to build out both nights of WrestleMania out there and out there in Saudi.
01:19:01
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So I, um Mike, you already hinted at this. um There's another ah podcast I listened to that hinted at it this morning as well. So I think I already know the answer to this question.
01:19:13
Speaker
But the question is, which night was better, night one or night two? I think you already kind of told me the answer, but but let let's make sure. What are you thinking, Mike?
01:19:25
Speaker
Yeah, ah night one did a really good job of, like I said, you know the storytelling aspect of it. But night two really drove it drove it home as far as the event event itself. And in it gave and really delivered.
01:19:37
Speaker
on not just the storytelling aspect of it, but the physicality, the emotional play, all everything for me. And I think night two really just was was an A plus for me as a go-home portion of the of the event.
01:19:55
Speaker
All right. Night night night two outdoes night one. Justin, is is that the same takeaway that you have? Yeah, same I have as well. I think we talked a little bit about last week, they backfilled this card.
01:20:09
Speaker
Um, night two just had the better matches as a whole. Um, and just the storylines that we cared more about were on night two, um, as opposed to night one. So yeah, I think ultimately they need to figure out how to balance the cards. Um, I feel like last year they had a really good balance and this year, and not really a good balance for mania.
01:20:26
Speaker
Um, so they need to figure out how to balance it out better. Maybe split up championship matches. It felt like there was more championship matches on Sunday, um, as opposed to Saturday night. which helped out because obviously more storylines invested when when it comes to the championship matches. So definitely something they ah they need to figure out going into the future of how to balance out the cards.
01:20:50
Speaker
That checks out, man. I'm going to go hands-off from here, Justin. I think you're looking to recap night one and night two. so I'm going to let you take it away. And if you need vibes, give me a call. But going to hang out and hear what you guys have to say. All right.
01:21:04
Speaker
All right, Juddy, you ready for this thing, man? Hey, man, let's get it. Night one. um Let's kick it off with the very beginning. First hour on ESPN2. The Usos and LA Knight versus the Vision and I show speed.
01:21:17
Speaker
um The Usos and LA Knight, as both of us predicted, um get the dub. Something that I don't think either of us predicted is LA Knight getting the pin going forward with this match. So what are your quick thoughts on this matchup?
01:21:31
Speaker
I mean, overall, the match to me was... again, it's a gimmick match. You know, it was a match that and not a lot of people were like, oh my God, let's watch this one thing because, you know, I show speed into it and coming off of last the Royal Rumble and he got absolutely obliterated by the spear, you know, and then you you take that and you go into, oh my God, now he's joining sides with the vision and it was lackluster of a buildup for me.
01:22:00
Speaker
um But it made sense in some weird way. um And the fact that you you take the titles off the Usos now, it's not even on a line. Now you have a match with some popular YouTubers. what What does this mean for the business? um One thing I will say is yes, LA Knight got the pin win, which says a lot for who they believe can move forward next, which is LA Knight.
01:22:27
Speaker
um But they had to give somebody their moment and they gave Aisho Speed his moment jumping through the table. Jumping through Logan Paul through the table. So I think overall, like, to give Ayesha a moment that will live forever in WrestleMania history, sure.
01:22:44
Speaker
um Overall, the match itself, again, you know, I think that we... I think I would have to give it, what, seven minutes of a match, give or take?
01:23:00
Speaker
A CD in that range for me. I expected a lot more out of the Usos, lot more out of Logan, a lot more out of Austin Theory, but ah ultimately it wasn't a top tier match for me.
01:23:17
Speaker
Yeah, i feel I feel the same way. I wanted a lot more from this match, especially with the star power that was in this match. So definitely... not the outcome that I wanted, or well, the outcome would that we both predicted, but not the outcome that I really wanted in terms of the quality, especially when talk about, you know, Usos and LA Knight being, you know, main title main title players. I mean, the vision that seems, as you know, and spoilers for a little bit ahead, seems to be able to rebuild themselves here soon and see what they're going to be able to do long-term as ah as a faction.
01:23:46
Speaker
So, yeah, not not necessarily what I think even what WWE wanted in terms of long-term storytelling and what they could have done, especially on their first line on ESPN. um Yeah, not a great match. I'm i'm with you. I'm in that CD range of the match quality.
01:24:01
Speaker
um And I think this just kind of is the main the thread that I think we're going talk about when it comes to night one and as a whole is that just not the really the match quality that i think WWE wanted in terms of night one on Mania.
01:24:14
Speaker
Yeah. And I can say that the fans were super happy about I show literally putting Logan through a table. So that was about it. Anytime you put a Paul brother through the table, you're gonna it's a win. sell For sure.
01:24:25
Speaker
For sure. Moving on to the next one. The only one that I think that we really excited about when it came to Night 1 in terms of the build was Drew McIntyre versus Jacob Fatu. Jacob Fatu got the dub, as both of us predicted.
01:24:38
Speaker
um it Honestly, was a great match. i honestly wanted more from it. I wanted them to to you know go out into the crowd and use more of the weapons and all that stuff. I think it was still good for what it was, but I wanted i wanted more.
01:24:51
Speaker
i think that was the only drawback is that they didn't utilize more of the quote-unquote quintessential street fight portion of it. It was a fight. that They used a lot of weapons in it.
01:25:01
Speaker
but it didn't go into the crowd. It didn't go back at like, you know, behind the scenes like they used to back the Attitude Era, which would have really put this match over, you know, going through the streets of Vegas would have really put it over heavily.
01:25:15
Speaker
So for me, we're looking at, you know, although we did get the the nod as far as what we predicted, I'd give it a solid B just because it didn't go elsewhere.
01:25:25
Speaker
i think them maintaining it to the ring portion of it was, the part that hindered it from being, i would say, the actually, no, I think it it was the best match of the night, but definitely it would have been a contender between night one and two, and that's why I stayed at night one as being the best match for just night one.
01:25:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm with you. Keeping it ringside was a detriment to to the buildup. you know This buildup when involved them falling off a building, fighting on cars and all this stuff. like There was so much build in terms of what these two guys could do. and And we saw last year, right? Drew McIntyre was in a street fight in Vegas against Damian Priest and they went into the crowd and obviously it led to McIntyre being out for a couple months, Damian being out of the main title push for a couple months.
01:26:10
Speaker
So, you know, for them to not do that with two of these guys, you know, and Drew obviously taking some time off to go to go film a movie here soon. And obviously maybe you don't want to hurt Fatu again and make him lose time. But yeah, I wanted them to do more and get out into the crowd, get out, and you know, go to Gorilla, go back at house, whatever. Maybe start it back at house and then bring it into the ring, whatever whatever it may have been.
01:26:32
Speaker
I definitely wanted more from this match, but I'm with you. was, I think, clear and above the best match of the night for night one. Yeah, for sure. Then moves on to the women's side of things. And we got we have something to talk about here with the with the women's title match here.
01:26:48
Speaker
So this was our first title match of Mania. This was Bliss and Flair versus Bayley and Valkyria versus Jackson Legend versus the Bellas. And as we referred to last week, the Bellas dealing with Nikki having an injury um and potentially not being in this match.
01:27:07
Speaker
And as we talked about last week, it seemed like the Kabuki Warriors were going to be inserted into this. um But then and something happened on Friday that you and I were texting about. is that rumors were flying that Paige was coming back to the WWE, formerly obviously in WWE about a decade ago, did some time with AEW and some other indies um in the last couple of years.
01:27:28
Speaker
um But now she's back. Yeah. So I'll tell you, it was a major surprise because the reason why she stopped wrestling initially was because an injury, very similar to Edge in their neck.
01:27:43
Speaker
And it wasn't that she was going be able to come back. And when she made her return AEW, it was huge surprise to wrestling community as a whole. But then this is even bigger because now she's coming back home to WWE where her debut and her stardom, you know, we talk what, she was 18 when she came into WWE? Like, we're talking about young.
01:28:05
Speaker
And it made a major impact, you know, we're talking set the tone for a lot of what NXT is doing. today for the women's division and to to watch that match.
01:28:18
Speaker
And I know that, yeah, we predicted, you know, our prediction wasn't coming to fruition, but with this surprise, definitely threw it for a loop. As soon as she came out, I said, well, there goes the neighborhood. I knew that she was going to win. She's not going to come back in here. and not win a title just like her main roster debut. She came in with the NXT title won a Divas title right then and there on her debut match. So it's kind of like full circle in that realm to be able to come back and then win a title right on top of that. So the fact that this is the first title that she's had WWE since 2014, it's crazy.
01:28:57
Speaker
twenty fourteen crazy A long time. But yeah, as you already alluded, obviously the Bellas or Brie Bella and Paige are now the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, um taking off of Last Legend and Nia Jax. As we both predicted that they were not going to leave Mania with the title, just not where we had thought the title was going to go.
01:29:21
Speaker
um And I think we would have filmed this podcast on Friday. I think both of us would have said, yeah, Paige is going to win this title. Oh, for sure. So... ah so It'll be interesting to see how long they keep it on her until I guess whenever Nikki is ready. Apparently Nikki had to go get surgery on her ankle.
01:29:36
Speaker
um It's going to keep her out for a while. So I do wonder how long they're going to keep this this tag team duo together. um It does seem like they want to keep some of these big names together for a while, um obviously with Bliss and Flair being together.
01:29:49
Speaker
um So it'll be interesting to see where they go with it. um Unfortunately, this match did not live up to the what felt like the last 10 months of build that we've had with women's tag team division. Um, it was obviously a build for page to on Saturday with this, with this match, it was a major pivot.
01:30:05
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I think if this would have just been the Bellas, I think this match would have gone in a completely different direction. I think we would have had more quote unquote, like carnage through this match that we would have expected with, uh, um, with this bigger, this bigger of an environment for sure.
01:30:20
Speaker
Yeah, and I think one thing like for me, when the before the surprise of Paige and watching all the entrances, usually you tell kind of where they're investing their money into, like who's going to go over, who's not going go over sometimes. And when you know i watched you know Charlotte come out and then you and then you had her partner come and it was instantly a Bray Wyatt moment when she came out wearing a moth. And I was like,
01:30:49
Speaker
tear because you know Bray Wyatt was in my career in my life you know so like it is very much a lot of there's a lot more of a build away from the Bellas and then for that major swerve the whole everybody and their grandmother just went oh my god and the pop was so loud yeah so you know congratulations ah to Paige and welcome home but yeah welcome home Was she the one that had the movie made about her a little while ago? Yeah, okay. yeah That was her, and then she walked in, and then she did a little promo with The Rock.
01:31:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, cool. just want to make sure it was the same person. Good movie, too. Moving to the next one. AJ Lee versus Becky Lynch.
01:31:41
Speaker
This was for the Women's Intercontinental Championship. Um, and man, this match ended up becoming a snooze fest. Uh, this was not a, it paid off some storylines. Um, but this match, this is where night one for me really started to fall apart. i don't know about you.
01:31:57
Speaker
Um, but this is where the, the quality of matches just didn't pay off anymore. Um, and I'm going to be honest, the way that Becky won this, winning it dirty with the turnbuckle and Jessica Carr, the referee being involved with it, um, just, it didn't do anything for me.
01:32:12
Speaker
Um, And honestly, taking the belt off of AJ just didn't make sense, especially bringing Paige into it. like why You could have pivoted and kept the divas together with having AJ and Paige eventually building that rivalry back up and all that stuff. But it just didn't make sense to me of of letting Becky take this title back again for the third time.
01:32:32
Speaker
Yeah, and I think this goes back to what i was saying initially about underlying stats that you know, make make decisions and then you hear it and you go, okay, that makes kind of sense. This is Becky's fifth all time. Like this is her fifth win at WrestleMania, which is fifth all time by a woman.
01:32:52
Speaker
So reality is like, yeah, long-term storytelling, long-term career stuff. Yeah, it it puts her in a different, in upper echelon of like, the four horsewomen, you know, between her, Charlotte Flair, you know, now Monet and in even with Bayley, you know, you kind of have to look at it and go, i understand it. But the real question is based off that match and watching that match, how long can AJ go?
01:33:20
Speaker
Sure. it It started getting real sloppy, was almost as dangerous at certain points of in the match, where I looked at it and it was like, are are you are you physically tired or are you just like, i'm done? Like, what does that look like?
01:33:34
Speaker
So this upcoming season, you know, i'm really interested to see where they go with AJ. You know, i feel like they just felt like they didn't have anything. And then her promo skills used to be back in the day, really good. And now watching it, it I can see the disconnect.
01:33:51
Speaker
yeah Well, where Becky Lynch is super over in every which way she can get over. And that's by any means necessary, very similar to her partner.
01:34:02
Speaker
um And for me, business wise, it's a no brainer to put it on Becky because she's more marketable. Whereas AJ is more of a nostalgic kind of thing, like how we keep bringing back the same old monsters at Universal over and over and over again. This is a nostalgic thing, right? Whereas with her, I can say, hey, I need you to pivot, talk like this person. and Actually, now she's getting that gimmick over.
01:34:25
Speaker
So for me, I think Becky was was definitely the way to go, especially starting a new season. Now you've got Paige as a new player, and Becky and Paige haven't seen each other in a very, very long time.
01:34:37
Speaker
you know So it it gives the fan base something new, something fresh, without it necessarily being old. Yeah, I guess my... I was just going to say that over and over and over again felt personal. Hey, man. He said over and over and over. said what I said. I said what I said. Carry on, Justin. I guess my heart heart...
01:35:03
Speaker
Yeah, the issue that I have going into this season, right, the quote-unquote season, right, with tonight kicking off with Mania or with Raw tonight, sorry, um is the women's intercontinental scene is kind of lackluster.
01:35:15
Speaker
Unless you take Bayley or Lyra out of the tag team division and let them go for the IC, you know, do you put Paige in there whenever they drop the belt? Like, there's just no one in the IC scene that makes me excited for a Becky rivalry going forward.
01:35:30
Speaker
And that's where your NXT... women come into play. You know, so far, you and I, prior to starting tonight, we were watching a little bit of Raw and we saw some call-ups. There's going to be some more call-ups as we continue moving forward just because the main roster right now is superlim with injuries and then people that are injury-prone. So we're going to see some more people get called up and that's going to help shape that mid-card title a little bit better, especially when you're looking at the talent coming from NXT. So hopefully we'll have some new talent coming in to really shake it up a little bit where we don't have to pull a Bayley and Lyra from the tag division. Because to be honest, I think they're the most interesting tag team we got so far. And that's saying a lot because there's a lot of other people who've been together for a hot minute. So we'll see what ends up happening as we continue. But some fresh blood would be the ideal for WWE.
01:36:24
Speaker
Yeah, I know we were talking about the call-ups you know a little bit before we hopped on here. you know If it is Sol Ruka that is being called up, that's a good one to throw into that IC range if she gets called up. I know you're shaking your head that you want to see her in the main title picture and all that stuff. to the moon, baby. I'm with you, but the main title card scene is definitely it's clogged up right now. You need to let them keep fighting out up at the top.
01:36:44
Speaker
But Sol Ruka would inject a ton of life into the mid-card scene for for the IC. I agree with you. um Moving on to the match that both of us claimed as the the snack refill match last week. Gunther versus Seth Rollins. um Ultimately, the only thing of note that I really have to say about this match is what ended up happening, and I was completely wrong. i was talking to one of my leads at work this week about this. is um Does Braun Breaker come back and does he run interference? And I was like, zero chance because if they were going to bring back Braun Breaker, it would have been Braun Breaker versus Seth.
01:37:19
Speaker
They would have just done that match. um And boy, was I wrong. And I'm going to have to go back to work tomorrow and tell them that I was wrong on that. And happy I was because Braun Breaker being back is only good for for for Raw and WWE. But Gunther ended up winning due to the interference ran by Braun Breaker.
01:37:37
Speaker
um Seth looked good for his first match back. um I won't say he looked amazing, but he looked good. He's got a little bit ring rust on him. Gunther always looks stiff. You know, it's his style.
01:37:50
Speaker
um But they matched up a lot better than I think either one of us gave them credit for when they were building this matchup for us. Yeah. and And I think one thing for sure is like Gunther reminds me and, you know, you let me know what your thoughts are.
01:38:03
Speaker
you know of the celtic warrior you know sheamus in how they work it's the hit me don't pull your punch like hit me you know they like the physicality side of it the big dudes that just say you know let's get after it but it also takes a toll on the body and if you can't go like that then it's going to show and that's what we saw with seth rollins in that realm uh seth has a completely different style than than gunther in that realm And to have Bron Breaker and you know go interfering in it, you know you kind of saw it leaning towards Seth towards the end. And you're like, okay, cool. Seth's going to go over it, which is what I initially thought was probably going a thing. Like, hey, let's go, Seth.
01:38:42
Speaker
And then Bron Brader comes out of nowhere and i went, nevermind. Like, you know, so he hits hard and you, once you get hit by that spear dude, it's devastating. Um, and that's what we saw in that realm. So story-wise the vision moving forward afterwards, what happens with Seth and the vision now, you know, so let's see what happens there. But Gunther got the done. I think the question for me is, you know, Gunther asked Paul Heyman for a favor.
01:39:11
Speaker
So it was Braun Breaker the favor? Is Gunther now a part of the vision? Pseudo? Or is he a Paul Heyman guy? um So I think there's a lot of question marks that I think once both of you and I log off, we're going to watch the last hour of Raw um that has been going on since we started the pod um to see why you know what are they setting up going forward. well Obviously, we're going to talk a whole lot about more with that with night two. I think there's more implications from night two.
01:39:34
Speaker
on it, but definitely want to see what, where Gunther and the vision go and what, you know, Seth obviously has one goal in mind right now. That's tearing apart the vision and then go and get his world heavyweight championship back.
01:39:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Um, moving on to the, the main event for the women's side of things, um, Stephanie back here versus Liv Morgan. Um, this match was, this match was fine.
01:39:58
Speaker
It was a minily B to me. Yeah. Um, Judgment Day obviously showed up. Roxanne and Raquel showed up for Liv here. You didn't see Dom come out until after Liv won the title, um which was good. That was a good move. I didn't need to see Dom out there running interference.
01:40:15
Speaker
um Ultimately, it was fine. you know The intros, I think, were werere the best part of this, the walkouts for for Stephanie and Liv. um Liv doing her new...
01:40:27
Speaker
have to it It was, are you going to tell me I'm wrong? The match it wasn't didn't match the the hype of the intros. Even Stephanie's with the rose petals looked so good like aesthetically.
01:40:39
Speaker
um So it's you know it's good to see them putting money into the production side of it. I think Night 2 had a much more production side of things um with the entrances, and we'll talk about that when we get over there. um But this match was okay. And I think it was in our buildup last week. We just talked a little bit about it, that this This buildup as opposed to the other side, the other women's championship side of things, the buildup has been a whole lot better, but the match just didn't pay it off.
01:41:02
Speaker
And I don't know if that's just because you know Stephanie's tired or Liv was injured before this with the concussion protocol. Definitely felt like they were holding things back on this match than what we probably would have gotten if this match was like two weeks ago.
01:41:16
Speaker
Yeah. i mean, you you look back at the build throughout it. The care was hurt at one point, fighting through her ankle injury or an injury with one of the two. And then had Liv, especially with the with the concussion protocol, faddle knot on her forehead. It was diabolical.
01:41:32
Speaker
um But that's a testament to both of them, right? Both of these ladies are warriors who literally came back against and fought through all all the adversity and the challenges that was put before them of you know, healing from the injuries to put on a shelf and they, and they went a decent timeframe.
01:41:49
Speaker
Ultimately live getting a win. You know it it makes perfect sense for her, especially being that as a challenger, she's three, you know, when she's challenging for the title.
01:42:01
Speaker
So like, when you think about statistics, like you have certain things like, you know, Charlotte, being undefeated and you know certain pay-per-views and things like that leading into certain things and now you got Liv who's certainly on the way of making her her name uh in in WWE's history books you know if if she continues um she can very well be up there with you know a Charlotte one day with the amount of title wins as well um but right now if she's just I feel like this is the beginning of like Liv Morgan's like
01:42:36
Speaker
tenure, if that makes sense. true um yeah like she's She's a force to be working with. where If you asked me this when she was down at NXT, I'd be like, I don't see this happening at all. But now the the character that is Liv Morgan, the loud mouth, brash, in your face, beautiful blonde, is literally going to go ahead and and showcase her ability a day in and day out.
01:43:00
Speaker
She earned it. She earned it. And I think the good thing for me is that you're not going to tie her up with Rhea. Obviously we're going to talk about Rhea from night two and they were so tight at the hip because of judgment day, the first time that, that Liv had the belt.
01:43:14
Speaker
So now you're gonna able to talk about live, you know, ah so eventually Vakir is going to want to rematch. you know What does that mean for Raquel, who was very much in the number one contendership? you know What does the Bellas do? what There's so many, Io Sky, Asuka, Kyrie, Paige. There's so many names that can be thrown into that that number one contendership for that title that frees her up to have some really good feuds and rivalries throughout this year.
01:43:39
Speaker
And I can see Liv holding onto this belt for, for a minute, in it um because I think this belt needs it. I think you need that title to mean something.
WWE Major Announcements and Storyline Teasers
01:43:45
Speaker
And I think Liv is someone that can carry that belt for, for a while and and do a lot with it.
01:43:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Um, now to the, to the main event of the night, uh, Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton. Um,
01:44:01
Speaker
I will say we talked about production value before. um i loved Cody's entrance with him with his old his old costumes. So good showing off Stardust, all that stuff. Randy's even with the Viper in the video board was really good. It was Cobra.
01:44:16
Speaker
It was a Cobra. It should have been a Viper. Yeah, well, still, production value really good for this matchup.
01:44:27
Speaker
um Unfortunately, tainted by Pat McAfee. um, for the entrance of this match. Uh, uh, Cody, I know you didn't watch, but Pat McAfee getting involved right away with this matchup, um, attacking, uh, Cody before the bell even goes off.
01:44:42
Speaker
Um, and then just Lee, um, jelly roll puts him through a table, uh, before the match even gets started. Um, so we got rid of the celebrity interference, uh, right away, which made the matchup, I think, in my opinion, a lot better, uh, than what it probably could have been if you would have Pat McAfee hanging out on the, on the sides for the entire time.
01:45:00
Speaker
Um, the match was better than I thought it was going to be. um Cody Rhodes ends up winning. And I think we can have a, I think Judd, you and I can have a whole hour conversation about yeah this decision. Unfortunately, we don't have an hour to talk about it. um I don't, outside of our prediction, I don't necessarily agree with the decision of keeping the the belt on Cody.
01:45:24
Speaker
um I feel like you could have accomplished the same storytelling by with putting the belt on Randy and still allowing, this feud to last all summer. Truthfully, you could have done backlash. You could have done SummerSlam. You could have done, you know, King of the Ring. You could have done all these things.
01:45:41
Speaker
And you could have had them fight for every single PLE. And just to keep the belt on Cody doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And then even, you know, segue into Monday Night Raw with him going out talking to CM Punk.
01:45:53
Speaker
I don't understand what they're trying to do with this belt. i don't know what they're trying to do with Cody Rhodes right now. Um, where it, and I don't know if this is triple H just being like, screw you, Randy, you're not getting past by 15, but it's, it's just a weird position for Randy to be in. And I just don't mess. I don't really agree with it.
01:46:08
Speaker
I think there's, there's more to it than that, uh, for several things. One, I don't know if you noticed this, but Randy went to his lower back on several occasions where he couldn't even do his patent, you know, turnover and bang on the mat kind of deal. He had to say, uh-uh, let me just do it the other way get down on a knee and do it slowly. So I think it's more to do with injury.
01:46:29
Speaker
and him re-hurting his spine at that point. So I think that he did genuinely get hurt. So we'll see what happens between Raw and SmackDown and then the follow next couple of weeks to see where he's at with it. um you know I think that the pivot was to give it back to him and say, hey, Cody, kick him in the face.
01:46:54
Speaker
Him getting kicked in the face actually was, i't think that was supposed to happen. But he gnarly injury that i'm savage. So I think for for the pivot portion of it, you look at it from another perspective as well as well, Netflix wants Roman.
01:47:13
Speaker
What you do with Punk? So Punk needs something that's going to carry them over through the summer. And that is SmackDown. So I think you that's their way of saying without a draft, let's switch it over.
01:47:29
Speaker
And now you get Roman away from Cody. You get Roman away from Punk. Now you get Punk and Cody on the opposite end for SmackDown. That's going to draw people over to SmackDown because their ratings are not doing the hottest right now either.
01:47:42
Speaker
So now you have a little bit something different. And then if you give it to Punk, you're not losing anything as far as that star power on on SmackDown when you already had Cody. So I think that from the point of him saying a championship could fall you know from the sky, a championship could fall from the sky, that's them saying, hey, we had to do this from a business standpoint, and because you were a team player, here you go.
01:48:09
Speaker
Sure. I wouldn't be mad if that's the direction they go with it. you know I'm ah i a punk fan, so any way that you get punk involved in in championship fights, I'm ah i' about it. Yeah, little butthurt that my boy Randy is not it Didn't get the dub, but it's it's fine. Yeah. To round out um there, there was ah an announcement made on night one. John Cena, as we talked about last week, hosting WrestleMania for WWE.
01:48:34
Speaker
um Surprisingly, Bianca Belair comes back out. First time appearance since Mania last year, um where she broke her finger and has been out, has been out for a whole year with a broken finger.
01:48:45
Speaker
Announces that she is pregnant. Her and Montez Ford expecting a baby. Montez Ford, obviously another WWE superstar. um So very excited for them. But unfortunately, it means that we don't get Bianca Belair for at least probably, what, another year, year and a half before she's even maybe even back in the ring.
01:49:02
Speaker
um yeah So, yeah, what ah you know what are your thoughts, obviously, of not having Bianca? Obviously, very excited for them to have the baby, but um not having her in the ring definitely hurts that that main event cycle. Well, that now makes a lot more sense as to why she was out.
01:49:16
Speaker
um But also, Kama, It also means when you do a J because now sure you the two people who you were involved in invested in the three of them, meaning you talk in Chidi Patu, which you know her.
01:49:34
Speaker
um I'm drawing blanks on names right now. i'm so sorry, because I'm so wrapped up in this whole thing. So between and you have Bianca Belair and Jane, the three of them were supposed to be in this mania event.
01:49:47
Speaker
Yeah. And now Jimmy got her pregnant, so now she's going to have her baby. na Naomi yeah nami being pregnant. Now you got Montez getting her pregnant, so now what do you do with Jamie? So now, that was supposed to be the main event.
01:50:07
Speaker
And I think that is really good. I'm um um happy that they are doing a thing for their families. I'm so happy that she even made her announcement. When she came when her music hit, I popped. I'm not going to lie to you. i Let's go! And then,
01:50:21
Speaker
When she was walking, i looked that at my wife and I said, is she pregnant? She was like, why are getting so close to the screen? I was like, do you not see her jacket? It's literally, and then my wife was like, well, maybe she is leave her alone. And when she made her announcement, she unzipped her and I was like, wow, I can't even be upset. I'm not mad. um I ah wanted to just jump to the you know to the moon for them. So i'm I'm very happy on both parties and both families. you know, and I wish them very much the best.
01:50:50
Speaker
Um, cause as you know, being dad yourself, me, it's, it's it's not easy. And I imagine being on a road with your kid and doing those things. It's rough. So, you know, but I'm pretty sure they got a ah very close knit circle that they would be able to do whatever gotta do. Yeah, for sure.
01:51:07
Speaker
Um, to wrap up, uh, night one, I went, uh, three and four of predictions. You go two of five with your predictions. Um, so not good. Me and you, not a good booker for night one.
01:51:18
Speaker
i won Night two, on the other hand, we could talk about this. So let's jump right over into night two. um I think something that we wanted to, I've been wanting to talk to you about for the last 24 hours um is this Brock Lesnar versus Obafemi fight.
01:51:32
Speaker
Obafemi looked like a million bucks in this match, dude. He looked like the future of the business, looked like a guy that's ready for a championship belt right now. um Super stoked for him.
01:51:44
Speaker
um But it, um, All that aside, the conversation immediately shifted because Brock Lesnar has retired from the WWE. He has taken his belt his boots off, he's taken his gloves off, has walked out the arena.
01:51:59
Speaker
You go, because you you have so much more attachment to Brock Lesnar than I do. Listen, man, to watch this man make his WWE debut back in the day and then win the undisputed title,
01:52:11
Speaker
you know, to end, you know, Undertaker's streak to every time he comes back, just puts people to shame time and time again, squashes them, shows up, raise hell, leaves. And it is at one point, he was such a big heel that once his music hit, you went, oh, there goes the neighborhood. What the hell are we doing now?
01:52:33
Speaker
To going from that and looking at this going, I need Oba to win to prove a point. to immediately going, dang, I've watched this man's whole career and now it's over.
01:52:48
Speaker
Like no more Brock, no more time da da da and immediately the tear that started forming that was ready to fall. and what really set it over was Paul Heyman And watching Paul Heyman be the number one booker, in my opinion, to be the number one manager for ECW and to come in and then be his advocate the entirety of his career.
01:53:16
Speaker
um What do you do now? Right. And he said it, well, not him, but Triple H said it afterwards, which was that was what we call in the business a changing of the guard.
01:53:29
Speaker
That was when you know it's time, when you have somebody that's bigger, stronger, faster, younger, that can go and match you pound for pound and be able to just say, you know what?
01:53:41
Speaker
I'm good. And nobody knows anything like that except for Brock. Everybody thought he was just a big brute and he comes in and that's that's a a smart warrior right there. I'm going on my shield.
01:53:52
Speaker
And in that moment, not only was Oba made, in that moment, but it solidified the historic career of Brock Lesnar, probably, if not undoubtedly, the most famous combat fighter of all time.
01:54:13
Speaker
yeah Between UFC and WWE, yeah. You know, and to to pass the mantle to Oba. And to your point, we were watching you know Raw earlier.
01:54:24
Speaker
Boba comes out and literally just says, the ruler is here, drops Mike Leaves. like He's made, right? And it's things like that that make me respect the career of guys like Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, those guys who pass the torch to the next generation of the guys that's replacing them.
01:54:50
Speaker
And to do it on the grandest stage of them all, salute to you, Brock Lesnar, and welcome in Oma Femi. Yeah, I think this is even something you, Cody, you can touch on. Like Brock Lesnar is someone that has jumped medias. Like he's not just someone that stayed in WWE. He, you know, everyone has had a UFC phase in their lives of watching UFC. And everyone knew Brock Lesnar, you know, what was that, UFC 100 when he fought in there. And everyone knows him.
01:55:18
Speaker
to see the career he's had. And I don't know, Cody, if you have any notes to speak on with when it comes to Brock Lesnar or not. um But it's someone that's had an ah an incredible career, both inside WWE w and and out of it.
01:55:29
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have any any major notes then to just add on the, yeah, he absolutely jumped outside of um just kind of the WWE or the wrestling umbrella. um He was huge and in UFC. I think he did a lot of overseas as well. He had an NFL training camp stint with the Minnesota Vikings. He um also just ah seems to be an all-around good dude, um just a guy that's tough as nails, the sick dagger.
01:56:03
Speaker
tattoo just strikes fear in everyone, but also seems just like a um you know, like like a really good dude. um I know ah ah i listened to the Spittin' Chicklets podcast. I know they interviewed him a couple of weeks ago and he's just a hockey dad now. So he's even, his his fame has even broken into the hockey space as he's done interviews on on hockey podcast talking about how much he enjoys going around watching his kids play travel ball and um doing his best to hype them up when they're, when, when they need it.
01:56:37
Speaker
So yeah, Brock Lesnar is a legend. Yeah. I enjoy your, enjoy your retirement, Brock, for sure. a But there's one thing we gotta, we gotta, I gotta ask, do you think we'll see his daughter coming into WWE one day?
01:56:53
Speaker
Maybe. i mean, it's such a generational thing, right? we We talk about with Cody and Randy from night one, right, where, you know, wrestling has more than one royal family, to quote Cody's song, right? So, mean, you absolutely could see a next-generation Lesnar in there. And, you know, what does that look like? Don't know. i mean, are we ready for another Lesnar in WWE?
01:57:13
Speaker
We'll find out. Hey, you got to watch Colorado State to go watch her doing things. Your shot put her over there. So we'll see what's up. Standing six foot tall. So who knows? Correct. Insane. It's Kyle. I'm a shot on prospects over here.
01:57:29
Speaker
Moving on because we we are we're running long in this episode, so let's try to let's let see what we can do here. The next one, and I i think, at least on my side, the match of of WrestleMania um is the six-pack ladder match between JD McDonough, Dragon Lee, Javon Evans, Rey Mysterio, Rusev, and Penta. Your boy was correct in that Penta got the dub, kept his belt,
01:57:52
Speaker
But this match was insane. Everyone had a spot. Everyone had a moment. Everyone took a bump. Rusev taking like what could be some of the biggest ones between the Javon Evans cutter and and the Rey Mysterio body slam.
01:58:10
Speaker
So, like, what an insane match, man. Like, i at any point time, anyone could have won this match. um I was worried there for a second. i thought you were going right and you were going get the Javon Evans pick. That's cool. It was so close. But then Penta, man, yeah even Penta hitting McDonough with the with the Mexican Destroyer on the ladder.
01:58:29
Speaker
i was like, McDonough's dead. McDonough's dead. Someone get the structure. um But yeah, insane match. I love this match. It's a match that I would love to rewatch again. And it's probably the closest to me, that five out of five, you know, perfect match of the of the of the event.
01:58:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, aside from the Brock Ola being relatively like an A+, plus this one for sure was, you know, up there as well in the A range. So for me, you know, one thing that we should really touch on, especially with Penta winning, the retaining his tie, not winning it but retaining it, is this is, he's the first Intercontinental Champion to retain in a ladder match since 1984. So, like, we're talking...
01:59:13
Speaker
so like we're talking decades spent with just people just changing titles left and right, Benz has literally solidified himself as the real deal. And we we talked about this many, many times of how long will he actually keep the title? And we both agreed that, yeah, if he if he can get it, he's going to keep it for a long time. He's very marketable, very loved, not just here, but also in AAA. So like reality is you got a superstar right then and there that can make you know, that mid card title feel like ah the big, the big one, you know, and let's see what goes from there. And then you got Javon Evans right there behind him, Ethan Page behind them. So like let's see where it goes.
01:59:51
Speaker
Yeah. This, this may, this, this mid card in the, in the men's I see has the opposite problem of the women's I see. Correct. Like there is a, there is a line outside Penta's door for his championship. Um, and it's going to make for a really fun summer.
02:00:03
Speaker
Um, you know, i I'm with you. It's how long does he hold it? He could rival Gunther's run with this belt because he's so, he has so much potential with, with this belt.
02:00:14
Speaker
For sure. Moving on. i the next one that I, that came up on the docket was Sammy Zane versus Trick Williams. Trick Williams. This match was probably the most underwhelming of the night.
02:00:29
Speaker
um It was athletically. It was fine. i I like the other matches more, truth truth be told. sure this was this this This match ended up being exactly what we thought it was. It was Trix coming out party.
02:00:41
Speaker
um And he and he looked great he looked great doing it. So I don't have a lot of notes. I'm just glad that Sami Zayn doesn't have the title because I don't like the the character that they've been building with Sami. Maybe the heel will be fine in the long run, but I don't have much in terms of love for Sami Zayn right now.
02:00:56
Speaker
No, I agree with you 100%. I think this was definitely Trigg Williams' home to to to take this in. He came out very poised. He came out like I've been here before. The confidence that he eluded.
02:01:08
Speaker
And even just throughout the match and his pace in the match was just so good. um It, for me, was Sami Zayn's time to lose this whole time.
02:01:19
Speaker
Even in the build, you could see that, yeah, it it didn't feel like Sami was going to walk out of Mania with it. Trick walks around like he's the guy walks around with his head held high, chest out, says, I'm him.
02:01:33
Speaker
And in this mashup, he showcased that he was him. And we'll see how long he holds the title for. he even mentioned that he's not really, you know, trying to do the whole, ah you know, but open challenge. open challenge But I said, you don't necessarily need to. You don't have to.
02:01:54
Speaker
but it'd be nice for you to do it. Like I said, think, you know, we talked about in the primer last week, the one that I'm really excited for is for him and Carmelo. Um, yeah, hopefully we get that for, I hope we get that for backlash. Cause that's going to be a great story to tell.
02:02:06
Speaker
Um, obviously sucks that Carmelo and not at mania. Um, but I think they can have a great feud through the rest of this year. And then ultimately I think, you know, you give it back to Carmelo and that just catapults trick up into the, to the main card picture.
02:02:18
Speaker
I agree. all right. Um, Rhea Ripley versus Jade Cargill. Um, Last week we talked about this being the go get your snacks refilled match.
02:02:30
Speaker
I'm glad I did not. This match ended up being a lot better than what what we gave it a lot of credit for last week. um I was very impressed that Rhea was able to match Jade in terms of physicality and and making their movesets work against each other.
02:02:45
Speaker
um I didn't care about the interference between BFAB and Meechan and then the EO coming out. But I will say for the match proper, i was on board with what they had. I could see Jade coming back for a rematch in a little while and and it being a good match between her and Rhea, especially because that's a main card scene on SmackDown that's not very top heavy.
02:03:06
Speaker
So it'll be very interesting to see what they can do between the two of them. But it'll be a lot better of a match. It's still not the best match of the night, but definitely a lot better than I think what we what we gave it credit for last week.
02:03:18
Speaker
It reminded me of night one when Judgment Day came in and did the thing. So it was kind of like ah like a rinse, repeat kind of deal for me. But what made it different was the added help of EO.
02:03:30
Speaker
And EO flipping everywhere would really kind of just changed the feel of it. It was kind of like you were listening to a song and you hit the bridge. That kind of gets you reinvested again.
02:03:41
Speaker
And that's kind of what happened with me with this match. Did I think that Rio was going to win? Absolutely. How she was going to win? I thought she was going to clean. I didn't think that she was going to be any like interference really because the build with Meechin and BFAP wasn't really a major thing. It just kind of just happened. um So i really didn't think it was going to interfere like that. And when it did come out, I said, oh, well,
02:04:03
Speaker
I know they got Io, but is there anybody else I can help? And then Io just took care of myself. So for me, again, a B plus for me. But overall, not a bad match.
02:04:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm a little bit higher than you. I'm thinking about that A eight minus range for this match. It was probably one of the best women's matches of the of the weekend for me. Oh, for sure. For sure. um Cody, the the vested interest that you had in the next match, the demon Finn Balor, versus Dom Mysterio, the two best entrances of the whole weekend.
02:04:39
Speaker
Finn's entrance was incredible. Dom on the on the throne with the with the other luchadors. the The production value was there for this match. um Cody, if there is one match, if you go pull up the the recorded of of WrestleMania, I think this one is the perfect one to pull up because it showcased both the fighters and what they're good with, but also the weapons and the brutality that WWE w can can do.
02:05:00
Speaker
um But yeah, the production value was through the roof. I'm happy to say that I finally got to watch a Finn Balor demon match and it did not disappoint. And I i need more of Finn in the main event as soon as possible. And maybe that's the answer for, you know, Penta. Maybe you get the IC between him and and Penta at some point, or maybe you get, you know, Finn in the, in facing Roman spoilers for a little bit later. Maybe you get to see him but versus Roman a little bit, a little bit down the road.
02:05:29
Speaker
mean, With Balor, and I think this is where my knowledge of Balor kind of changed my mind a little bit more, is watching this fight, it was no-brainer that Balor was going to take it, in my opinion.
02:05:45
Speaker
um But how he came out, for me, the entrance was okay. He's had better entrances coming up from NXT, better entrances coming up in mid previous events.
02:05:57
Speaker
um But I do think that He was holding back a little bit because when I watched back the match between Balor and Seth, they go hard. And I think that a lot of it has to do with how he's protecting himself from those injuries that he sustained in that match. But as far as him and Mysterio go, to your point, on the opposite end of that, it it does showcase very good that they are both very methodical in how they move.
02:06:23
Speaker
how they counter, how they bounce off the ropes, how they jump through everything. And it it told ah it told a really good story of how Finn really had to go to a dark place to really show Dom this is what it takes to be the guy.
02:06:38
Speaker
Like Dom needs, at this point, what do you do coming from this way? And how does it change you as you move forward? Does he still remain a heel? Does he change? Like, what does that look like moving forward?
02:06:51
Speaker
Because I think Dom definitely needs especially after a losing streak that he's been on, he definitely needs to change something in order for him to come back and bounce back. Yeah. I was super happy with this fight. and You and I have talked about that Dom has an incredible future and in WWE.
02:07:06
Speaker
um And this is just another chapter in that, that, you know, he's got an incredible future and, you know, whatever they can do with Finn for the next, you know, 10-ish years that he's probably got left fighting, I'm here for you and i'm I'm a fan. So whatever we can do to get Finn into more storylines and,
02:07:23
Speaker
hopefully with a championship gold around his waist at some point um and deservingly. So not tag titles. I don't need him on the tag title anymore. Get him, get him gold and let him have some fun. Yeah. I need, I need him to go fully full Eddie Guerrero.
02:07:35
Speaker
I need it. and need it Interesting. Interesting. um One last thing before we get to the main event, something that I correctly predicted, um is that Mania was cursed because Dan Housen did come out. their housing ah Dan Dan Housen, obviously, Cody, as we talked about from from Elimination Chamber, is a ah funny wrestler. He's an R-Truth style guy.
02:07:58
Speaker
It came out with, ah as Michael Cole said, quote unquote, his midgets, which is, I guess, what they actually go by. They're midget wrestlers. Came out to go up against Miz and Kit Wilson.
02:08:11
Speaker
ah But it was absolutely hilarious. John Cena playing it up the entire time. um i wwe struck gold with getting dan housen away from aew um and you know you're looking at someone that's going to get you know we talked about passing the mantle with brock lesnar um but r-chew can now stay off into the sun the sunset now because there is another joke wrestler around w wwe um because there is that mantle passed down dan housen is so over with the crowd um he's uh he's hilarious to watch every single week he pops up on raw and smackdown you know he's he's you know
02:08:43
Speaker
not naming the person the right name and all this stuff, the same way that Truth has done it for years. um The way he interacts with, whether it's headliners or all the way down to, you know, to the bottom side of the card with Kit Wilson.
02:08:54
Speaker
The dude is so good. And I was glad that he got a WrestleMania moment. And, you know, coming at the expense at the expense of of The Miz is even better because that's just where The Miz is at now in his career. But John Cena had a great time with it, and i was happy to see the moment.
02:09:10
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I also was super happy with it. For you, Cody, definitely go check out some Dan Housen stuff that thinks he's doing AEW and thinks he's doing non-WWE. It's super great, especially for just the entertainment factor of it. It's super great.
02:09:27
Speaker
Okay. might have to check out... ah I mean, it looks like this was back-to-back, so i might have to go just find the the Demon Finn fight and let it roll into the Dan Housen and then see, get a little taste of WWE on the replay.
02:09:40
Speaker
Yes, sir. There you go. um Last match that we had is the main event of it in the night, the World Heavyweight Championship match, CM Punk versus Roman Reigns.
02:09:53
Speaker
um Roman ended up getting the dub, but I'm gonna let you take it away. Juddy, this is your match. Hey, man. Listen, at the end of the day, when we talk about hard hitting, we talk about what WrestleMania is all about.
02:10:05
Speaker
This match takes the cake on all fronts. It was a long, grueling match. It told a phenomenal story between the two people who genuinely just did not like each other, but also had a lot of respect for one another throughout the match. ah You saw CM Punk started bleeding at one point, had to go to a dirty tactic to try and win, and that didn't go over.
02:10:28
Speaker
you know Roman, super tired at the back end of it. And honestly, it got to the point where was just like your two top guys are trying to showcase why they're both the best in the world at what they do. One thing.
02:10:42
Speaker
who says I'm the best in the world and the other one who literally says that you can't lace up my boots because I've done this. I am the main event. You know, Roman Reigns, seventh world, so seventh?
02:10:56
Speaker
title at WrestleMania, most WrestleMania main events, you know, only tied with Hulk Hogan. So like, when you talk about the caliber of what WrestleMania is, you talk about the caliber of CM Punk and Roman Reigns and what it takes to be at the top of the mountain, that's what you get.
02:11:15
Speaker
And that match, hands down, it got to a point where I didn't care who won. I was just invested in the match itself. Yeah, I wanted Roman to win so i can be like, ha, CM Punk lost.
02:11:27
Speaker
Take that, Justin. But at the end of the day, when it comes down to it, he literally won the match and everybody, the entire arena went from chain CM Punk at the beginning of a match the match to chain Roman Reigns at the end of the match and everybody acknowledging the tribal chief.
02:11:46
Speaker
Yeah, for me, this is from start to finish, from the the entrances all the way through to the finish. the The entrances still give me chills um from Roman, from the live performance of his of his entrance song to CM Punk, pulling out his his Ring of Honor song um to the silent entrance into the arena to the Living in Color song.
02:12:11
Speaker
um Incredible entrance. like That CM Punk one, that you and I talked about last year's being so so good, right, with you know with going through his... you know his um his Indies, uh, intro song.
02:12:25
Speaker
And so you, him to dig deeper into when he first broke onto the scene, um, to for this year's song, like, you know, punk so is someone that's for me, the way that you said that you shed a tear when Brock retired, the day that CM Punk retires is going be the day that I shed a tear. Um, because he's just, he's someone that's so synonymous with my time watching WWE.
02:12:44
Speaker
Um, But this was so good all the way through, man, to pay off the year-old quote from Roman Reigns. um that that That's the reason why Punk lost. Punk lost because his body gave out and he couldn't get that last GTS.
02:12:57
Speaker
Because if he would have landed that second GTS, then we're talking about him retaining and him going through the summer as champion again. um But yeah, man, like what an incredible match. I have not been...
02:13:09
Speaker
around the WWE side of things to witness a Roman Reigns actual main event match. why I wasn't there for 39-40 against Cody Rhodes. So definitely you know good to finally be a part of that you know that main event match between the two of them. And they put on a war, um incredible match start to finish, and something that you can you can watch that match over and over again, and that's something that's going to hold up against the test of time.
02:13:35
Speaker
I do have one question for you that was the only weird spot of this match that leaves it for me being a five out of five is why didn't Roman get DQ'd when he hit CM Punk with the stairs? So, ah one I think my cousin asked me we were watching it and my nephew wanted it to, uh, ring equipment don't necessarily count as a disqualification.
02:13:56
Speaker
So like, for example, the stairs, i can throw you into the stairs. What's the difference between me throwing you into them and using it as ah as a weapon. right Same thing with the belt, but the turnbuckle, same thing with the tables, the announcer tables. that There's no rule against that portion of it. Should he have?
02:14:12
Speaker
Possibly. Especially with the intent behind it and him hanging there. But that's what the wool they want to throw over the fans, you know, face it at that point. um But i do I do catch your point on that one, too. Because I was like, little derby there, guy.
02:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, it was a weird spot. It was a weird spot. But overall, and an incredible match. Nonetheless, man, like that is that's a main event that I think we're going talking about all the way through to next year and beyond that ah in terms of what they were able to put on from the entrances ah of them all to, you know, to what the finish was like.
02:14:48
Speaker
that match could have at any point. And I'm i'm glad though it it ended the way it should
WrestleMania Recap Conclusion and Future WWE Excitement
02:14:52
Speaker
have. And, you know, whether or not we agree that Roman should have won it or not, um i think the the future storytelling that they're going be able to do with this title now enrollments on one on Roman's waist is going to be incredible because that frees up CM Punk to finally have that that feud with Cody Rhodes. And, you know, we've far we you know we've alluded to it. What does Obafemi do now? Obafemi is the made man. Obviously, he called out Roman last night after Mania was over. Roman responded. And Roman responded, said, earn earn your earn your spot, my guy. so See you at the end of the summer. yeah Yeah. Long term, like he's he's bound to win King of the Ring and go out to Roman at SummerSlam, which will be an incredible match. But you know we got to deal with Seth Rollins at some point against him and and Roman. And whether that's at Mania next year or not, does a Rock get involved at any point? But
02:15:41
Speaker
yeah know There's a lot of storylines that are coming up that are going to be something to watch for sure as we get through get through the next couple months. And I think to end it all, i mean, I think overall this mania told a lot of stories, ended a lot of things, sparked up some new ideas for some more things in the future. to have six title changes in the event in its history, that we haven't done that a long time. and it's a testament to what they believe in going into the next year when until we get to next WrestleMania to have the full final blow off.
02:16:10
Speaker
I think this year is going to be a very interesting and a must see year, especially with all the talent coming up and even those that are returning, you know? So I think that it opens the door for a lot of new, new, new things, especially as we get ready for next year in Savvy.
02:16:28
Speaker
Yeah. Last note before I let Cody take us home, is that I went six and o on night two. Mike, you went 5-1, so yeah that proves that I am the better booker. So WWE, hire me. I will take that salary to book the main events from here on out.
02:16:44
Speaker
Yeah, whatever. There you go. I think that if we tally that up over the course of the weekend, it looks to be 9-4 for Justin seven and for Mike. So Justin, by one each night.
02:17:01
Speaker
But electric stuff, way to bounce back on night too, guys.
02:17:07
Speaker
We got it. See see us again for SummerSlam when we bring Mike back on here for SummerSlam predictions. When is that? August is SummerSlam. We have some smaller ones between now and then that I can carry the conversation on those. but ww ww builds itself around four PLEs throughout the year. So you have Rumble, Mania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series.
02:17:31
Speaker
um So look for, look for Juddy on those four PLE cycles for us. That's right. Appreciate it guys. It's an incredible wrap up. Like I said, I might have to go look for that. ah Look for the replay on the demon Finn and the Dan housing segment.
02:17:46
Speaker
um Sounds like electric stuff and and maybe a good little toes in the water for the for the w WWE there. But I appreciate everyone for for tuning in. appreciate Mike for jumping on again to give us the recap, joining us two weeks in a row.
02:17:59
Speaker
our Our new wrestling correspondent. That's what I titled you in the in in the show notes here. So you're officially wrestling correspondent, Mike. I look forward to have you back on next time either SummerSlam or if anything happens between now and then that's enough that Justin feels like he needs as somebody to bounce the thoughts off of or have you on as often as you want and we're excited to have you man thanks for joining us and and thanks everybody for tuning in appreciate you being here appreciate it appreciate being here man thank you so much that's right if if anyone's still here please like comment subscribe let us know what you want to talk about we will definitely
02:18:39
Speaker
be discussing NFL draft reactions next week. We put the draft to the side this week because we had NHL and WrestleMania, but we will definitely dive into the draft reactions next week and whatever else comes up that that we're not not expecting at this point. So thanks for joining us. We'll catch you next time. I'm Cody.
02:18:58
Speaker
I'm Justin. And I'm Jetty. See ya. Peace. Peace.