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Premium Toyetic Event: WWE Wrestlemania 42
0 Playsin 9 hours
WWE's Wrestlemania 42 is now in the books and it's time to unpack it and determine who we think is most deserving of the action figure treatment from the fine folks at Mattel. Part review, part analysis, and part fantasy booking, join us as we discuss the ins and outs of the last PLE stop on the road to Wrestlemania!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
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Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey guys, this is the thousand dollar broski, the Michael Jordan of wrestling, for collecting, Matt Cardona, and you're listening to the major wrestling. Wait, what? This is adventures in collecting.
00:00:12
Speaker
Is this the bootleg major wrestling figure podcast? Are you serious, bro? Enjoy the show.
00:00:21
Speaker
Are you ready? Kids get your parents permission. Check your mailbox and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the adventures in collecting podcast. I'm Eric.
00:00:33
Speaker
And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls, along with our journeys as collectors.
Toy Events and WrestleMania Discussion
00:01:05
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting Premium Toyetic Event. That's right. ah This is the one that we, you know, we we go big on every year. Well, actually, we kind of went big on Royal Rumble this year, too. There was a lot to talk about, but ah I feel like WrestleMania 42.
00:01:24
Speaker
I feel like the one we went biggest on was SummerSlam. as we Yes, actually, you're right. You're right. That was the one that we went big on. Royal Rumble was like a normal one. um But yeah, WrestleMania 42 in the books. Yeah. Where we are through WWE's annual Awful Black Friday.
00:01:43
Speaker
Yeah, disappointing. Very disappointing. Hashtag we want Kyrie. i But ah yeah, but but before before WrestleMania goes too far into the rearview mirror, of course, we're going to take our look at the event in this episode. So an extended premium toyetic event like we did with SummerSlam. I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about the the event itself as well. um People seem to be entertained by our I guess, light analysis of the event. So we can provide a little bit more of that as well. um
00:02:21
Speaker
Before before we we hop into the event, we do have some some housekeeping to take care of. So first and foremost, ah it is still April, the last time I checked. Yeah, still is for a couple more days. And...
00:02:37
Speaker
Yeah, there there are a couple of days left here in April. um And that, of course, means that our ah our giveaway is still live, Dave. So ah let me get that up here.
00:02:53
Speaker
it is and a Hall Fame-worthy giveaway. It is. it is, in fact, a Hall of Fame-worthy giveaway. i It is the ah the trio of Demolition. While the duo of Demolition went into the WWE w Hall of Fame at WrestleMania 42, or 42 Weekend, um Axe and Smash are joined by Crush here in Big Rubber Guys form. These are not the ones that are currently up for pre-order with the cutaway ah cardboard mask on the back of the card. These are the sold-out and sought-after trio of Demolition. So um you still have time to enter, just days at this point to enter, to win ah some some really awesome Big Rubber Guys from our our friends at Collect Major.
Merchandise and Guest Success Stories
00:03:42
Speaker
So, um yeah, and ah and and LJNs are all the rage again. where they're They're back. ah These will fit in wonderfully with your your vintage LJNs, or if you are just getting into LJNs through the, um we'll say, Mattel JN, right? um Right? That was ah that was that was Craig's... ah Yeah.
00:04:06
Speaker
ah craigs Trademark. we'll We'll go with that. um So we're trying to get Mattel JNs over. But yeah, these these will will scale perfectly with those, with your old ones, with your growing Big Rubber Guys collection. So you can head on over to at AIC underscore podcast um and and you can enter to win throughout the month. Steve even gave the Big Rubber Guys a shout there in the panel.
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah, during the WWE World Panel. so It was a meeting of the LJN-style minds there with Matt and Steve. was so nice to have Matt back on the WWE Elite Squad stage.
00:04:48
Speaker
so bill bill Bill will never be dry again. forever Forever sweaty with with Matt ah you know sitting in in his vicinity. um And then, of course, ah you know our merch. so we've got We're constantly adding new t-shirt designs to the store. so you can You can visit us at aicpodcast.dashery.com We've got funny t-shirts at least we think they're funny um funny t-shirts for for the toy collector for your toy hunt for your your next workout session um if you want to not only celebrate an impending movie release but also um pray to whatever deity you choose when looking for a monday night war or legends figure on the shelf um
00:05:45
Speaker
You can get that swap fighter design. Yeah, there you go. um Yeah, so again, that's AICpodcast.dashery.com. Of course, ah we get like, I think it's like a dollar for every shirt that we sell. So just know that you're Apparel choices are helping one of your favorite podcasts.
00:06:06
Speaker
So look at it that way. um Yeah. So that's, that's about it for housekeeping. Oh, and a huge congratulations to our, our last guest. I mean, the, the, the project was already funded by the time um Craig sat down with us to talk cryptoids, but ah they finished with well over $300,000. think it was So they doubled their um their goal which is awesome for a first project. Tons of unlocks.
00:06:35
Speaker
The link is still live for late backers. So if you didn't get in and you know you're having a little bit of FOMO, there's still some time. So now that the project is closed, that they've reached all their funding goals, um there is a price difference, obviously. So if you didn't get in during the campaign, um yeah there is a little bit of a premium now on it. But ah You can go to our our link hub.
Cryptid Figures and Wrestling Books
00:07:00
Speaker
So it's AICpodcast.com forward slash links. And you will find a link to Cryptoids War for the Green Planet on there.
00:07:08
Speaker
um There's still a chance to to get your cryptid action figures and support a really awesome project. Like Craig said on the show, i that he's hoping that ah by by this time next year, everyone will have them in hand.
00:07:23
Speaker
So um April 2027 is is the the mark. They've already started talking to their factories and stuff like that. So the wheels, they are moving.
00:07:34
Speaker
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the the Mothman and Batboy. Yep. Yep. Yeah, I ended up so I ended up getting because I I i backed like within the first day I grabbed Mothman.
00:07:50
Speaker
Mothman. Mothman. and um Like Hans Molman. Yeah, like Hans Molman. Mothman. I ended up grabbing Mothman and the Yeti and and a glow in the dark alien pretty quickly, like within like the first couple days. So I got an email um towards the end of the project within the last couple days, something that Craig did not hint at when he was on the show, which was a surprise even to us.
00:08:14
Speaker
um They offered early backers access to like the heads and accessories pack, um which gave you like the attacking Mothman head, the young Bigfoot head, the attacking Yeti head.
00:08:29
Speaker
all the extra weapons and stuff like that. So I actually ended up going back, adjusting my, my, um, my backer choice, my campaign choice to get the core four along with the alien. So now I am getting both Mothman figures, the Eddie, the Bigfoot and and a green alien.
00:08:46
Speaker
So, um, yeah, looking yeah looking forward. I have both Mothmen coming and, uh, we got the weekly world news style, that boy. Nice. Very cool. Very cool. Um, before we move on to PT, Dave, you have a little bit of, uh, I've got something here in front of me and you've got a copy there too. You did something that's premium toyetic event adjacent.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah. And you know, fits in with my, with our wrestling fandom. So, um, I, there's a bookstore near me called bookends and they frequently have people from the pro wrestling field in for their, when their books come out.
00:09:26
Speaker
Um, You know, Becky Lynch was there previously. um I'm drawing blanks now on everybody. I met AJ Lee there years ago.
00:09:38
Speaker
Natalia. Natalia recently. But ah yeah, got to meet Mackenzie Mitchell at her book signing, talking about Threads of Triumph, um which is about like the history of wrestling gear and people who've made gear and um talking about like the like macho man's designer, um, is interviewed in here.
WrestleMania 42 Highlights and Comparisons
00:10:02
Speaker
She interviews a lot of people, um, Matt and Chelsea, I believe are in this.
00:10:06
Speaker
Um, so it's a really cool book. Definitely looking forward to like really burying myself into it, but, um, great photos goes through all different eras, talks to, you know wrestlers from all the different companies, wrestlers, you, you know, and love, and maybe some people that might be new to you as well. Um,
00:10:28
Speaker
But it's it's really cool.
00:10:32
Speaker
Definitely worth checking out. um And yeah, happened to get ah book signed by Mackenzie. Got to talk to her for a little bit. Tell her about PTE and the idea of it. So you know hopefully at some point we can have her on talk about the book.
00:10:52
Speaker
This may be a click you'll see on the old Instagram. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let us know if you want us to talk to ah to Mackenzie about wrestling attire. And I wonder I wonder how she feels about the some of the attire ending up in figure form, too. So, yeah, there's there be a lot to talk about with her. Yeah, it was definitely like just the brief conversation we had talking about how cool, like basically this stuff gets immortalized, not only visually in our memories and all that stuff, but on figures.
00:11:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Super cool. Well, speaking of attires, and we alluded to this at the beginning of the the episode here, but we are here for WrestleMania 42. So ah WrestleMania 42, I believe the first ever WrestleMania that was in the same location as the WrestleMania before it. Am I am i mistaken there?
00:11:47
Speaker
Have they ever doubled up like that? No, they've done that before? Okay. um Atlantic City. Oh, that's right. That's right. Okay. So one of one of two WrestleManias that that played sequel to their their host city.
00:12:03
Speaker
um So we're back in Vegas. third ever WrestleMania in Vegas. Yep, yep, we're we're back in Vegas. um What's funny is, as i think you could you could say that this WrestleMania was maybe as controversial as WrestleMania 9, which was a WrestleMania held in Las Vegas. The first one, yeah.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah. um A WrestleMania burned in a lot of our memories. For for completely different reasons. Yeah, yeah. um Some of which I disagree with, some I don't, but...
00:12:36
Speaker
two night Two night WrestleMania. There was a lot happening. Lots of incredible ah ring attire, which you know we'll we'll start to get in into. We're going to divide this into two nights. So we'll start off with night one, as that makes the most sense. Um...
00:12:55
Speaker
Yeah, so Night 1, I would say, is probably the more controversial evening of of the two nights. I think Night 2 was pretty well received across the board in terms of in terms of product.
00:13:07
Speaker
um Night 1, on the other hand, has a lot of people still kind of, I think, I don't want to say upset. but like maybe disappointed. Let's go, let's go with disappointed. um Of course, headlined by the, the, the Randy Orton, ah Cody Rhodes match with Pat McAfee and, and jelly roll involvement. um It seems that, ah you know, maybe however that was booked and, or I don't want to take it away from you, Dave, because you had a fantastic idea that I parroted,
00:13:43
Speaker
um on Caster's Corner. So our buddy Khalil had a last minute opening on his show i was like, hey, do you want to come on real quick and talk about wrestling? So I hopped on with him for for about 30 minutes and I parroted your fantastic repositioning of Pat McAfee um in that angle.
00:14:01
Speaker
But I actually don't want to paraphrase. Oh, it was. OK, so, you know, we we have this angle right with with Pat McAvee, where he is. He's coming in as the savior of of wrestling um because ah Cody Rhodes is not moving tickets and tickets are not selling. And this is now you know becoming a business problem, which means that they need a real champion, ah that being Randy Orton. So feel felt very shoehorned. Dave, you had this fantastic idea that this whole thing with Pat McAfee could have worked a whole lot better if he just came in representing yeah ESPN. as Yeah, okay. As he came in being being the the the authority figure, yeah, from yeah ESPN saying like, hey, the folks at ESPN are not happy. um You know, tickets aren't moving. We've got these, the you know, the first...
00:14:55
Speaker
what was it first hour right first hour is on espn and we don't want to have you know all these empty seats in our first hour so i'm coming in as like the authority figure from yeah espn in fairness it was paul hayman and don callus's idea from like 30 or 25
Wrestling Storytelling and Character Analysis
00:15:11
Speaker
years ago but Sure.
00:15:14
Speaker
But without it, without a ex-punter from the Indianapolis Colts. Sure. um But yeah, so it it seems like, you know in terms of ah delivery, they they might have shifted some things as the the um the dirt sheets and the... ah The wrestling journalists are reporting that you know there there was some kind of last-minute pivoting potentially um to where where Pat kind of removed himself from the situation, realizing that maybe the story wasn't there, maybe the heat was too much, whatever it it may be. But ah Jelly Roll put him through a table very early on in the match.
00:15:54
Speaker
um The table exploded, which is something that I don't think I've ever seen before in a w WWE event. Like there were clearly some sort of assistive devices with that that table, um which was pretty awesome.
00:16:08
Speaker
ah But yeah, then the match match went on like I guess anyone would have expected it to. so And then Pat McPhee ran back and was a referee. Yeah.
00:16:19
Speaker
Was a referee and got an RKO for his troubles. So, yeah. Very, very, very strange 90s booked match. I guess it's not everyone's cup of tea, but um I also think people are a little hard on everything these days, so... And this wasn't particularly great.
00:16:39
Speaker
No. It was messy. It was definitely messy. yeah I didn't think it was necessary, but... Yeah. Yeah. i I think you've got two people that have. And first of all, their entrances like like their entrances were so good. The like Hall of Armor thing with Cody.
00:16:56
Speaker
who I thought that that was fantastic. And you have these guys that have this super long history. They obviously like there's more than one royal family. Right. Like however you want to look at that.
00:17:06
Speaker
the The Hortons go way back. um You know, obviously the two of them go way back together. you have the story built in there. Even if you didn't have a real, like the, the reason that Randy Orton gave after they had inserted Pat McAfee into that, where it was basically like, Hey, I thought I was going to be facing Drew. I didn't need permission to be like, uh, you know, a crazy person against another crazy person that I already have, you know like a rivalry with, but like, you know, Cody, you gave me permission to listen to the voices inside my head and be a lunatic. And,
00:17:42
Speaker
you got what you asked for like that would have been i think enough for for a lot of people frankly or it could have made you know been like hey we have this long history of being together let's just see who which one of us is finally the better man like yep yep but instead they had to do the whole thing with the other person on the phone and the Yeah, it was just, it was it was a strange choice. Like, it you know, every every now and then, it's funny. Like, and it's this is not unique to wrestling. It's like storytelling in general. Like, from the outside looking in, you can see this very clear runway where all all they have to do is put the plane down. Like, all they have to do is land the plane. And instead, they're like, well, let me do a barrel roll first. Yeah.
00:18:33
Speaker
Well, and it turns out there was even a plan B for it, or maybe a plan a but that wouldn't have mattered anymore anyway. Yeah. Yeah. it's just's It's just very strange. I was listening to... um Sam Roberts was on i ah Chris Van Vliet.
00:18:51
Speaker
and Okay. the he he asked him, like...
00:18:56
Speaker
what was the worst booking decision that like you could think of in the history of wrestling? Like what was the worst, worst thing? And Sam went on, proceeded to go on for about 15 minutes about, uh, what was it? Starrcade 96.
00:19:12
Speaker
The, the sting. Okay. The sting Hogan payoff. And that i totally just ripped the plain analogy from him on that. But he was like, you had the wrestling world on pins and needles in the palm of your hand for 18 months.
00:19:29
Speaker
Like you ran that story for 18 months and you were the best thing in wrestling. People were willing to forgive you for just about anything. And all you had to do.
00:19:41
Speaker
for one night was just land the plane. Like you didn't have to overthink it. You didn't have to overcomplicate it. Just land the plane and everyone will be happy. And it's like, why did you lose the, why did WCW lose the Monday night war? Like, you know, you can blame this person. You could blame the finger poke of doom, blah, blah, blah, bla blah bla blah. Right. Like inmates running the asylum.
00:20:01
Speaker
It started right there in that moment. Like that was the moment that, they they, you know, kind of shot themselves in the foot and, like, it was a terrible booking decision. Now, I'm not comparing by any means. This isn't that.
00:20:16
Speaker
This is not that. I would actually argue that WrestleMania 9 is probably closer to that than than this is. like the The fiasco at the end of WrestleMania 9 is rough. Nothing will be as big as the Sting one because of how big wrestling was at the time. Correct.
00:20:34
Speaker
And that's the thing. yeah And if Cody didn't wind up winning the following year, then maybe WrestleMania where a Roman beat Cody...
00:20:46
Speaker
would have been there. Yeah. Because, but it led to it being even hotter and then Cody winning with the Cody Avengers. Yep, they made it work. They made, they they really did make that work.
00:20:58
Speaker
um But yeah, it's it's one of those things where I get it. They, Randy is is just so over right now that getting him like to have heel heat, like That was one way to do it, but people were still cheering for him, which means that it it didn't it didn't work the way that they wanted it to work. Plus, they tried People like Matt, throw Matt out there. Matt gets booed out of the pills.
00:21:25
Speaker
Yeah. But, like, you know, they they they tried to also flip the switch on that in Randy Orton's hometown... Like it's you're, was, they were swimming against the current and like, sometimes your baby face is going to get booed. Like it just, it happens. And like like, it's, it's cyclical, right? Like there was that way with Hogan for a long time. It was that way with, you know, Brett eventually with Austin. It was that way with Sina for the longest time.
00:21:58
Speaker
And then you eventually um with the rock. Yeah. Yeah. austin never got it austin is more on the the orton thing but even with orton people like randy orton decided at some point i'm just gonna have fun and people like really took to it and thank you matt riddle yeah
00:22:21
Speaker
and um even you know cena at the end like it got to the point where people were like no i'm happy to see you now like yeah and cody's Cody's kind of in that point for some fans, but I think the general audience still loves Cody, so...
00:22:36
Speaker
Yeah, and that's the thing. It's really it's really hard because, and wrestling's always like that. There are are cities that are just not friendly to babyfaces, even at the height of babyface.
00:22:47
Speaker
you know And again, it ah it genuinely depends on who they're up against. And right now, you know you have to do this program between Cody and Randy because you know you don't know how much longer you're going to have...
00:23:00
Speaker
a a a like peak randy orton right like like let's let's be real so like you have to do this program now it makes sense but you also have to deal with the ramifications of like okay from a storytelling standpoint maybe you know like it's okay that cody gets booed a little bit here like just let it ride like take a step back and let the crowd kind of drive it a little bit but Yeah, I mean, it seems like, you know, this new program now, you know, Cody going into it with Punk.
00:23:31
Speaker
Again, you've got two people that are over as anything. um really the direct next thing. i think that's just a seed. Yeah, yeah.
00:23:42
Speaker
Um, I still think like, you know, everyone immediately jumps to like, oh, well now you can do a heel turn with Cody. It's like, I really don't like, I don't see, see it necessary unless it gets to the point where like the crowd is every city, everywhere he goes, the crowd is just constantly booing him.
00:24:02
Speaker
It's like Sina, as long as there's kids in the audience and there'll will always be kids in the audience. Yep. There's no need to turn turn Cody. Especially when you have as good as co as Bullet Club chip on his shoulder Cody was, that's not what a heel Cody would look like here.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah, and it's also not, like, believable at this point. Like, he can't do that because he's made. know, like, the chip-on-your-shoulder thing worked because of... When he had one.
00:24:32
Speaker
Yeah, because of... he I mean, he's a made man at this point. Like, he's succeeded past his his father's success, his brother's success. um You know, he he's he's made. He's QB1. Like, is what it is. The chip has been filled in, right? So like, you know, I i frankly, i don't know. i would have to sit and think like what a heel Cody would look like in 2026. Like it it it's it's more complex than just like he dyes his hair black and he's a bad guy. You know, like no it would have to be like Cody buys into a celebrity like it would be yeah Hollywood rock.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, like, or or you bring... That's the the the trigger that you pull to bring Rock back, and he does sell his soul, or whatever it is. Like, you could always cash that ticket in, too. But I feel like it would have to be out of desperation.
00:25:23
Speaker
Like... Yeah. it's It makes no sense. Like... Yeah. The threads we're pulling on are so bare. Mm-hmm. Like, and that's why Punk and Roman was so good, is because those guys can go either direction on with the different, you know, with the wind blowing in a different direction. Well, that's the thing that's cool too, right? Like you mentioned Stone Cold Steve Austin. um Both of those guys, so like Roman and Punk are at that point where they're just like themselves kind of turned up to 11, right? And people love that.
00:26:00
Speaker
And like, you know, Punk, you know, taking his wrist tape off and throwing it at Roman's face and, you know, and going for the low blow, like those are, those are, They're heel things, but like those neither of them are heels. like They're also just both so over and so beloved for their their lore and their character development that it's one of those things where it's, I don't even want to say it's like a tweener. like They're just themselves. Yeah. And and will work heel or babyface in a individual match or even more of a microcosmic like moment
00:26:39
Speaker
in order to to forward the story. So, you know, I don't know if you got a chance to see Punk's follow-up promo when he got interrupted by Cody on um on the Raw Aftermania, but it was fabulous. It was it was continual excellence in his in his department, you know, coming out there saying, like, yeah, lost, but, like, whatever. And it's two guys who, you know, Like someone said, Punk finally completed WWE. wwe He's got one. it's
00:27:10
Speaker
It's just like Cena. He's got a US title left. Yep. Yep. um All right. Well, with that, let's get into some of these attires. I think that kind of sums up our feelings genuine generally. And of course, we'll we'll talk about the matches too. But I'll get us kicked off here. Especially since we're not going to talk about Cody and Randy anymore.
00:27:30
Speaker
like Yeah. um yeah Spoiler alert. Yeah, they didn't make the cut. um But let's let's talk. I'll start us off here. So my first pick takes us to night one. One of my favorite, ah I would say one of my favorite women's wrestlers right now. um Local to here in North Jersey. So my first pick is Liv Morgan. Yeah.
00:27:58
Speaker
this music video that she put out to like kind of redo her own theme song has no business being as like fun and cool as it is. Like I genuinely, it's a little cringy, sure, but like, it's it's a great bad song.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah, genuinely enjoy it. gen Genuinely enjoy it for her and her presentation. I thought her whole entrance was fantastic. the whole as As a dance dad, i loved watching the whole like dance routine thing. I thought the the ring attire was excellent. And she has been criminally underserved in the action figure world. I think she's got like two elites.
00:28:37
Speaker
ah Like in in her modern um modern modern look, she's got the the one that has like the Terry Clough. Yeah, it wasn't evo yeah that's right that's right. The only one that she's got in the modern look is the the one the Dom one. the The one that comes with the the world title.
00:28:55
Speaker
um And like... they're They're terribly hard to come by is the other issue. um It looks like from what we saw at WWE w World that there there's there's an Ultimate Edition of her with the women's tag title ah coming soon.
00:29:12
Speaker
But um I would love to see a ah just a ah an elite that we can put out like several times, like get it in like top picks, get it in... you know um the the ah whatever the those like the Roman figure like let's get her on pegs. Let's represent Elmwood Park, New Jersey.
00:29:33
Speaker
um This this was a great ring attire and and and a great performance from her. And it and her follow up on Monday was also excellent. the month The Monday after Mania, her match against Sol Ruka. Yeah, it was great.
00:29:46
Speaker
So um yeah, let's get let's get live a new elite.
00:29:53
Speaker
All right, so my first one is going to come from, um believe it was the first match of the the weekend. um That's Jacob Fatu. um Drew, honestly, also had a great gear and could be a new figure from that. It's rare to see Drew in such a red theme.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah. But Fatu won out with the flak jacket and the combat gear, and the camo. Because it's so very different for him.
00:30:25
Speaker
Like it's not a little easy. You're used to like the red and black or the black on black, black and white with Fatu. And this being such a drastic color difference for me, um really kind of won out. and Yeah, I just love the tactical vest on. I love a good tactical vest.
00:30:45
Speaker
um Great accessory. Mm hmm. Bring back some shield reuse maybe. But ah it's ah yeah, it was just a great look. It it looked really cool. um I mean, Jacob Fatu just always always looks really cool. So yeah, Toyotic AF, as they say.
00:31:06
Speaker
And yeah, and he's got that ultimate edition coming right with the wolf head. Yeah, he's good, which is his second ultimate because the first one was with the ring. i don't think the guys had a bad figure, even with the going back to the um MLW boss fight.
00:31:19
Speaker
Like, oh, yeah, he's he's someone who people love, love to watch.
Tag Teams and Wrestler Fashion
00:31:25
Speaker
um And you can't really find his figures anywhere. So the more Jacob, the better the shelves will be.
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. and it looks like he's going to be moving into the first um ah title program with Roman. So it looks like he's heading to Raw.
00:31:45
Speaker
Yep, and that'll be that'll be something that that you know people have wanted to see for a long time, and the fact that Roman's going to be full-time, at least through the summer, um should should mean for some good programming. so um That moves on to my second pick from Night 1, which is a cheat pick. I'm taking two people. I'm taking a tag team.
00:32:06
Speaker
ah The Irresistible Forces, in their absolutely incredible... demolition homage, uh, attire here.
00:32:16
Speaker
i the, the white and at the moment they walked out, uh, I, I like cinema. Like I had my, my, uh, Scorsese moment. Um, plus it would be a hell of a way to get lash legends, you know, a first time in the line figure, uh, in this, in this gear, uh, once the demolition gear comes off, it's just like, like very straightforward white, you know, attire, which is awesome.
00:32:42
Speaker
um you know a lot of deco though yeah lot of deco but uh yeah i mean like look at them here with demolition i mean this is just this is just the coolest this is people that get wrestling that like understand the assignment um you know and and this is the best that naya has been i think ever this is my favorite naya you know Shouts to her on her her amazing like fitness journey that she's been on.
00:33:12
Speaker
um But her in in this this tag team especially, like I think this is where she's best utilized. There's been a lot of very, i think, reasonable feedback for Naya in terms of...
00:33:26
Speaker
you know, how stiff she can be, you know, in, in certain instances, but yeah, this, this tag team title run that they had and, ah and hopefully that they continue with this tag team. Like this is like, they're, they're that good. They're like natural disasters, LOD, demolition good, the two of them. So I really hope they keep this team together.
00:33:51
Speaker
And I think, you know, Lash, if you go back to when Lash first signed and they first brought her in, they first used her, like it was like, Oh no what are, what are we doing here? Like Lash was not, they put her on TV way too early.
00:34:08
Speaker
And, um, you know, unfortunately her career suffered for it. Lash is easily one of the most improved wrestlers on the roster period.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yep. Her and Maxine have definitely done the work to become very good, very entertaining in the ring to the point where Lash like basically stole the rumble.
00:34:34
Speaker
um That was her. That was her like reemergence. That was her big like, yeah. Because she was doing great work as as part of a tag team in in NXT.
00:34:45
Speaker
And so, you know, seeing her continue to be a good tag team wrestler with Nia and bringing, like, this great tag team wrestler out of Nia is is really cool. Like, this is definitely my favorite Nia. And Lash is just, you know, I think she could become huge.
00:35:06
Speaker
I agree. I agree. And now, a word from our sponsors.
00:35:16
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores.
00:35:32
Speaker
Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at chubzywubzy.com.
00:35:45
Speaker
That's
00:35:51
Speaker
And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:35:57
Speaker
And now, back to the show. um davis takes you to our next pick from the same match yeah so um you know one of my all-time favorites is back um it's page this was so cool it was so cool um it's something i've been kind of hoping for since her her other contract um expired and you know now now we're back and you already have seeds planted for
00:36:28
Speaker
a Bella heel turn, like, um, and it's great. Or they could wind up being like, you know, new day free bird rule where it's the three of them until it's not. Yeah.
00:36:42
Speaker
Um, I don't think there's a wrong answer here. um
00:36:49
Speaker
you know, maybe it winds up being where like, as I'm wearing my Tatum Paxley shirt, You see Tatum get called up and it's Paige and Tatum versus the Bellas, who knows?
00:37:01
Speaker
um Who knows where that's gonna go, but for now, Paige is back. She's a tag team champion. She's well on her way to, um we'll say Grand Slam glory. Like, it's great to see, by the way, Paige only 33. People forget that.
00:37:20
Speaker
She's still got yeah as much time as she wants back. And the other thing that's really cool is, you know, I don't want to say she's bookending her career, because like you said, to by no means is this like, you know, it for her.
00:37:33
Speaker
But she debuted with a a title win and she returned with a title win, which is really cool. But also now, like people, think maybe AJ is who helps her like. Yeah.
00:37:45
Speaker
You know I think people forget that she was part of that early, you know women's evolution and didn't get to really experience the fruits of the tracks that she helped lay. So if yeah like her getting to getting to be in a rumble, getting to be in an elimination chamber, potentially like the things that the the women wrestlers were not doing prior to her involvement,
00:38:11
Speaker
and something that she worked very hard to like, you know, earn for the roster. She now gets to come back and enjoy, which I personally, that's the thing I'm most excited for is to see her in all of the gimmick matches that she helped, you know, fight for.
Night 2 of WrestleMania 42: Highlights and Attire
00:38:27
Speaker
Yeah. Basically be like the Bellas, like AJ, the ambassadors of the past that come back and, you know, Natty's there still. Yep. Tamina is still on the roster.
00:38:40
Speaker
And like to see her work with like Lyra Valkyria and, you know, to see her work with Bailey and Steph Faker and, you know, Julia and some of these other you know younger kind of talents, too. I just I everybody wins here. I think this is a big one for everyone. She may be younger than. And she she also she looked fantastic. And I i know like, you know, she was working in AW and, you know, therefore ring rust is not really like a thing.
00:39:09
Speaker
But um she looked great in the ring. So I think that's that's the other thing, too, is like she looks fantastic. I also think down the road, like whenever she wants to, the performance center is there for her, like.
00:39:22
Speaker
She comes from a family of people who've trained, a wrestling family, people who've trained people. Yeah, watch Fighting With My Family if you haven't. There's going to be a play that's going to be getting a musical on the West End in London.
00:39:36
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah. Interesting. All right, that takes us to my final pick from night one, ah which is Seth Rollins. So I normally don't go with Seth Rollins in my picks. I feel like we get a lot of Seth Rollins figures. um But this was really cool. I like his his kind of newer presentation where it's a little dialed back from the the Elton John slash Liberace-inspired entrances. Very, very, like...
00:40:10
Speaker
flamboyant entrances which are great great ring attire but um i loved the magic trick that came with this too so like the smoking jacket and however the hell he did the thing with his eyes which i i went back and watched i did not see him physically take contacts out so i'm i genuinely don't know how he did the thing with the darkened eyes i saw how i you can see it um there's one point where he turns away from the camera but so brief so he and and his hands went up to his face. So he literally must have just, they must have been like squeeze and they'll pop out lenses. Oh, because it was so smooth. And then his hands went right down. I think he just chopped them.
00:40:50
Speaker
I was like, is there something dissolvable happening here? Like I genuinely did not understand what I saw, which is great which is great. That's a great WrestleMania like magic moment. Plus, like the smoking jacket. I don't think we could do a smoking jacket and figure form. Maybe they could use something like the the, you know, there are smoke effects in like the God's action figures like Godzilla, like um except it it it either looks like just clear plastic or marshmallow. depending on how it it works out. But I would love to see two head sculpts, one with the blacked out eyes and one without. um
00:41:28
Speaker
Plus like it's nice just to get another Seth Rollins out there that just has kind of like plain, like the plain black, um ring attire the the jacket was great uh yeah just another just another solid um piece of showmanship from from the architect uh i i i love me some some seth rollins in the ring uh he has been very fairly treated with action figures from the folks at mattel so it um it doesn't it wouldn't surprise me if they do tackle this one ah
00:42:00
Speaker
the most recent one uh not the ultimate edition but there i think it was the wrestlemania um sam roberts build a figure they did the game of thrones one when he when he wore the game and throw game of thrones inspired uh ring gear so the black and gray yeah yeah and with the blue and he's got the blue eyes they they even did like the icy blue contacts in his eyes so um yeah would love to see this in figure form dave Yeah, so um for my last pick of night one, I'm going to stay in um the Rollins Lynch family.
00:42:35
Speaker
Shout out to their new coffee brand. um And I am going, I think it's called the am ah um AMO. I'm guessing it's like... Oh, that's them? Yeah.
00:42:47
Speaker
Oh, I didn't realize that was their brand. I gotta try some of that. um And it's Becky Lynch. And Again, i went with the fact that it was a like as cool as Stephanie looked with the the train, which the train got better, somebody with a train got better on night two.
00:43:07
Speaker
But um it was a very similar to her normal look for Stephanie. Like it was still the black and red. Yeah. um Becky, you don't see in like that purple, like blue, like that deep blue that often.
00:43:21
Speaker
Plus, I think she stole one of Seth's jackets for this. Yeah, it's usually either like yellow or red for Becky. Yeah. Orange. um Whereas the blue I thought was really cool.
00:43:33
Speaker
um And I think there is like the fur coat. Mold already. Yeah, or or it could be an Ultimate Edition.
00:43:44
Speaker
Yeah. There's a lot of people. they they need to They need to get a new fur coat coat situation sorted out because there's a lot of people rocking fur coats these days. Becky hasn't had an Ultimate since Series 2, I believe.
00:43:56
Speaker
She's another one that's criminally undertreated in the action figure world. She she doesn't even have a whole lot of elites. we And the last couple have been like weird elites. Well, her yeah, her most recent from the then now forever together.
00:44:11
Speaker
ah no then now together forever. Multipack when she had like the chop big time backs, like the chopped hair. Oh, yeah.
00:44:22
Speaker
But that's her most recent elite. Wasn't there also in that wave with like the. Maybe it was after the butch wave where it was the ladder match, Becky. um oh yes and she had the chase variant with the uh with the yellow and green yeah i forgot about that one yes correct but even still that's been a while yeah yeah she has and she has a main event coming um but we haven't had a a becky lynch figure from really like her return yeah we haven't had this current wonder years the man becky
00:45:00
Speaker
Also, that song rules so hard. It's so good. Like, I was upset at SummerSlam when she came out to not her theme song. it was Irish, ah not Irish, Curse. i don't I don't know the name of the song.
00:45:16
Speaker
Celtic Invasion, maybe? Celtic Invasion, that's what it is. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah.
00:45:23
Speaker
But like, even when she goes... Sorry everyone, it's the NBA playoffs. Yeah, when she goes back to being... Inevitably goes back to being a babyface, because it's just a matter of time. um That theme... the Her current theme song will still work. Like, i I love the hook in that. And it's actually like...
00:45:43
Speaker
full stop has, has made, I did not really follow the wonder years prior to them doing this song. um And now i like I've gone down the rabbit hole and the wonder years are great. And if you like, um if you like like folk punk, ah check out Aaron West and the roaring twenties, which is the the singer from the wonder years side project. um really depressing folk punk so if you enjoy stuff like Frank Turner and and Gaslight Anthem and things like that ah check out check out Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties you won't be disappointed but yeah yeah so I just thought the blue was cool like ah super cool look um does that take us into night two Dave?
00:46:28
Speaker
um it's done for me for night one so yes Yeah, all right. So taking us into night two with my first pick, um I'm just going to go out there and say that that this talent is the most toyetic wrestler of all time.
00:46:43
Speaker
Like, I will die on this hill. I don't think you could possibly have a better answer than it, ah than Rey Mysterio. So Rey Mysterio is, without question, the most toyetic wrestler.
00:46:56
Speaker
wrestler that has ever lived um i would i would pay to go to a like a museum installation to see every one of every single ray mysterio figures that have ever been made um i bet you could fill a room like like display wise with just ray mysterio figures and this is no this is just another on the pile of amazing master wrestler I'm counting Masked Wrestler. Yes. Yes, I am. um Ray Poole, however you want to put this. The Deadpool inspired Rey Mysterio outfit here. Just another one. And again, in his long standing relationship with doing comic book inspired ring gear.
00:47:39
Speaker
This was fantastic. The entrance code. i love that he has like a full like a mustache. It almost ah at first I thought I was getting punked and like Dom was coming to the ring.
00:47:49
Speaker
um But like even with the the Deadpool style like belt belt that he had on, like the the belt buckle, um just just a tremendous, tremendous ring gear. And any and even um ah Rob Liefeld got wind of it on on ah on a Twitter and was sharing it, was like, oh this is the best. This is so cool. Um, so hopefully, you know, uh, Mattel can figure out a way to do this without infringing on any copyrights, but, um, love love me some, uh, some, some Ray Mysterio and, and some Deadpool. So even did the old entrance where he came up from, uh, under the, under the stage.
00:48:30
Speaker
Yep. He did the little spring up. ah You made a fun comment to like his wrestling career is like two years older than me. Like just like yeah in or something like that, like in general.
00:48:41
Speaker
Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. From when he first started as a teenager in Mexico, he is his wrestling career is two years. They say younger or older.
00:48:52
Speaker
Well, I'm 38. So what is his career 36 years? or is Okay, so so I'm two years older than his wrestling career. Wild. um Also, he was in a ring with somebody that was was not born when he started wrestling.
00:49:09
Speaker
Because Javon Evans is 21. Yeah, just think, like, you saw Rey Mysterio in 1996 in Orlando, Florida. I sure did. you You saw him too. Diamond Cutter. um Anyway, that's my pick my first pick from night two. Dave?
00:49:30
Speaker
I'm going back to the first match. um You know, the the very short hit you through a brick wall Brock Lesnar WrestleMania match has become an awesome staple for the past handful of WrestleManias. And this one was no exception. Of course, we had the great Brock Lesnar potential retirement moment at the end, um which took everybody by surprise. But we're here to talk about the ruler, Obafemi.
00:50:02
Speaker
um The aura. I've seen Obafemi live now couple times. Just the sheer aura when... the music hits and he starts the walk and like his entrance and everything. Like it's, it's the rare deaf rebel, like banger theme song.
00:50:23
Speaker
um It's all, you just can't not focus on him. Like there's, you can look at this impressive man and then the guy's got the talent to back it up.
00:50:36
Speaker
But Obafemi out of his normal colors in red, another kind of, different look for for him um i thought it was definitely worth especially with the moment like this could be a ah defining moments easy easily define i i really hope they stick to their ah stick to the guns here and and keep this a retirement moment i i think it It undermines how important this moment was for Obafemi and his kind of like development as as a character to to take that away from him for a retirement match against Gunther or so or something. like I think there's one way they could make it work, but and that's if like Gunther is going to cause like extreme bodily harm to Paul Heyman.
00:51:34
Speaker
Okay. Okay. And it doesn't undermine Oba at all. Yeah. Yeah. Nothing takes this moment away from Oba.
00:51:45
Speaker
i get I guess you're right. um Yeah, because this was... this this was because What a way to start off the met the night. like This set the tone for the entire evening, and it did so with fireworks. like If Oba doesn't win the world title at SummerSlam, I think that's too late.
00:52:05
Speaker
Yeah, it might be time at that point. Might be time at that point. But at very least for next year, like a Roman Oba, even if it's a rematch, like that's money, that match.
00:52:17
Speaker
This dude rules. um You know, I can't say i was I was on board from day one, but by the time i I'm... When I got on board, like, this guy is... is it.
00:52:31
Speaker
Yeah. i'm I'm with you. I'm with you. The only thing and the only thing that could stop him is him. His existing elite is great. Great, great figure. My one my one issue with it is the the face. So that the head sculpt on it, he is way too happy to be Obafemi.
00:52:48
Speaker
that That figure. That's OG Oba. Yeah. So, you know, that's that's the one thing, you know, and in terms of like toy photography and posing and stuff like that. Now it's just like the man is just perpetually happy instead of looking like he's going to, you know, end somebody. So, um yeah, he definitely definitely needs a main roster figure.
00:53:08
Speaker
um But overall, they they could just repaint that, give him give him a new expression and call it
Charisma and Merchandise Potential of Wrestlers
00:53:14
Speaker
a day. So. um Yeah, awesome awesome pick, Dave. ah So that sends us to my second pick. Dave, you alluded to mine a little bit earlier. um He's the man with the train.
00:53:27
Speaker
um Trick Williams. So Trick has had it has a very excellent elite figure out now. If you did not get it, um you can try to get it on the aftermarket for like $75 $100. So...
00:53:43
Speaker
so Dear, dear friends at Mattel, please just put this figure back out, get him, get him in, get that figure into something. But um I think this could be, ah you know, a huge, again, you know, here, maybe, maybe this is your, your, your second figure in the defining moments pack at, ah on ringside. Could I think you would need an Ultimate Edition to deal with something like this entrance entrance ah cape, cloak, jacket. The train. um
00:54:15
Speaker
But, ah yeah, it's... I love him. i'm i He is... i knew you would. When he was on um NXT, and, you know, i've I've said this before, I don't watch a whole lot of NXT. It's, like, the one thing that I don't watch wrestling-wise. But anytime he was on...
00:54:34
Speaker
um just matt ah like It was one of those things where he'd come on the screen and be like, dude, what are you doing here? like you yes You need to be on Raw or SmackDown like yesterday. So um him taking off as quickly as he did and getting over as quickly as he did does not surprise me in the least.
00:54:51
Speaker
I absolutely love his gimmick. I love his presentation and he's got the skills to match it in the ring. He's one of those guys that has a finishing move that looks like it would actually damage you in real life. So I love the trick shot.
00:55:05
Speaker
um just everything about him. Like he, he has very quickly become like top five guys for me in, in modern wrestling. I mean, he's just, I mean, I think too, he's one of those guys that has shown he can work with anybody.
00:55:20
Speaker
Um, And and this this attire is just like, I love the all white. and And obviously the train was hilarious. So um shouts to whoever did the meme of making it look like the CBS receipt. You sent that to me. And I almost peed my pants. So...
00:55:36
Speaker
Yeah, Trick's great. I've like i've enjoyed Trick. I'm an avid NXT viewer. I've enjoyed Trick since he was Mello's heater. um Never once did I think he was going to be like, oh, um he's going to surpass Mello because Mello rules.
00:55:52
Speaker
Oh, that was the thing that I said from day one. When I saw the two of those together, I was like, this is going to be Shawn Michaels and Diesel thing, except Diesel is going to outshine Shawn Michaels in every way, shape, and form. Like, I i knew it.
00:56:07
Speaker
trick rules like he's he's so good and he's another guy you've seen him improve from day one to now um so much but the the whole trio that just came up from nxt trick oba and javon they're your guys for years to come yeah trick between trick oba javon mellow And um as much as I hate to say it, he's ah Ricky Saints. Those five guys I really think are going to be like the pillars moving forward, you know, as as those guys, you know, start to kind of fall into things. And maybe even Ethan Page, too. Throw him in there. Yeah, you're but you're not starved for for talent that just came up from NXT. Nope.
00:56:55
Speaker
oh If anything, if you're and if you're an avid NXT viewer, I'm i'm more concerned with with what's left there on NXT. The women's division is fine.
00:57:08
Speaker
Yes. The men's division. um Speaking just of men's. um The men's division, it'll be interesting, but I think they'll be okay. The rumor of evil getting signed. Oh, Joe Hendry also just came up, by the way.
00:57:24
Speaker
Yeah, the rumor of Evil signing with w WWE and and requesting to start in ah NXT is interesting. i'm curious to see what what happens there. And Hiromu might be right behind me. It seems like they're t already teasing Evil to go up against um Tony D. I think the rumor is his name is going to be Sinister, so we'll see what happens there.
00:57:46
Speaker
um because what then what's not evil but sinister um just as long as it's not Mr. Sinister though they could do a cool time with Marvel there alright Dave so that takes us to your ah your next pick from night two another person who's like shockingly underserved in figure form crazy and that's Rhea but the thing is this we're shockingly underserved in like a standard Rhea I feel like that most recent Elite is the closest we've gotten Because every like cool, like weird Rhea gear has been made into a figure, but none of them are like standard Rhea, and neither is this, which is why it it was my pick.
00:58:30
Speaker
I like the whole like explanation of she just broke out of an asylum that they gave on on TV. But yeah the contrast of of normal, it was like when Priest did the all-white Yeah. um And this is the second time she's done the all white. She did the all white during the the Daddy Dom days, is too. Yeah. Which they made a figure of. They made an elite of that.
00:58:55
Speaker
But, you know, it's a world title win is always going to be a big deal. And Rhea is a big deal. She's... you know, if not the most popular, for sure the most popular women's wrestler on the roster, if not one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster. And she's just like, A, she seems like the coolest person on the planet. i don't know if you watched the sneaker shopping with her on Complex, but also like just like effortlessly cool and just always looks awesome.
00:59:25
Speaker
Like she is she looks like an action figure at all times. Yeah, she she is ah genuinely awesome, like genuinely awesome. um And also the the thing, you know, again, from just kind of like a nitpicky thing, her hair keeps getting longer and none of the figures have long hair now. So like even like the most recent um Ultimate Edition in like the devil or demon, ah the black and red one, which is like a figure the year.
Main Event Analysis: Roman Reigns vs CM Punk
00:59:55
Speaker
Phantom Mask.
00:59:56
Speaker
one Yeah, kind of with the horns. yeah um that i think that was from War Games, maybe? War Games. Yeah. um One of the best w WWE Ultimate Editions, I think, like ever of all time. It's it's up there.
01:00:14
Speaker
It is a very much one-off. Even with like her face paint, because she's got like the entire like top half of her face is blacked out. Yeah. Yeah, the the only thing that we have that that comes close to a standard Rhea is the... It was it was from whatever whatever um whatever event they had in yeah in in Australia. It was when she when she wrestled Nia.
01:00:39
Speaker
um It's great figure, and it's it's available again, I think, in in the best of or top picks or one of those. so Yeah. but Yeah, let's get let's get more Rhea out there.
01:00:51
Speaker
um That takes us to my next pick, which takes us to the main event of Night 2. um I will unapologeically unapologetically say that I am a massive Roman Reigns stan.
01:01:05
Speaker
I acknowledge that. I acknowledge my tribal chief. um So when he makes a small change to his his shoes and and or gauntlet, I immediately need it in action figure form. So, yeah, I need the gold and black Jordans because he doesn't wear boots anymore. So I need the gold and black sneakers. I need the gold and black gauntlet.
01:01:29
Speaker
I need the golden signia on the pants. um Yeah, we're getting the black and white one from SummerSlam, which is great ah that that we're getting that in both main event and and elite. So next time they need to put him out in a wave to anchor something.
01:01:48
Speaker
Let's just get some golden black and call it day. And yeah, get get me my Roman Reigns. He's even down to like the joggers now. Yep, and you could put... and and and Not the tack pants.
01:02:00
Speaker
and And throw the world title in there with his side plates on it. So, and then that gives you another another reason for for, you know, the the the belt collectors out there to to pick up the figure too. So add a little little more incentive.
01:02:14
Speaker
um But yeah, great. I loved, again, his whole presentation. This main event... When we went to go see SummerSlam, I thought that we had seen two of the greatest main event matches in modern wrestling history. Like both Punk and Gunther and then Cody and Cena. For completely different reasons.
01:02:38
Speaker
For completely different reasons were um incredible matches. Incredible like history making matches. This is probably top five WrestleMania main events of all time, this match. um fit Absolutely. From start to finish, the build, it was it was tremendous.
01:03:03
Speaker
Tremendous, tremendous match. And... um and yeah so i even though it's a simple ask it's a simple repaint i guess at this point um i i would love to have this version of roman and the in the collection yeah it's it's great i mean it was really mean it wasn't a difficult choice for me but i also have enjoyed tribal chief roman but for me you know one of my favorite wrestlers of all time cm punk um I love the Harley race shout out with the, with the King.
01:03:38
Speaker
i had a feeling what was going to happen when I saw he was wearing all white and it did. yep um Hey, ringside exclusive, right? um Yeah.
01:03:49
Speaker
But can't, can't argue with a wrestling trope though. At the moment I, the moment I saw the all white, was like, Oh, okay. And, co you know, I also, and this probably wouldn't make the figure, um but,
01:04:04
Speaker
Shout outs to all the people that all the people and Larry that have recently passed in Punk's life. Had dogs are a people to all the people that have passed.
01:04:15
Speaker
To all the beings. In Punk's life that mattered recently, whether it was on a historical wrestling aspect or. You know, from a a musical standpoint.
01:04:28
Speaker
um Yeah, oh that was a great tribute as well. You also have the the AFI entrance, which nobody's going to be upset about. That was the other thing about that main event. Like I watching Roman's entrance, i i i literally was in the process of texting you like, I don't know how punk beats this. And then I heard the opening song and I literally before I hit send, i was just like, delete.
01:04:54
Speaker
Never mind. and as soon as you eat and it's such like if you're an AFI fan, you hear the and you know what the song is. Yeah. i saw When I saw them recently, they opened with that. And it's one of those ones, everybody lost their mind when they heard that opening, like, beat.
01:05:13
Speaker
Yeah, the Terminator 2 beat. Yeah. ten to to yeah Yeah. And I mean, it's one of those things, too, where it's like, if you know, you know, right? Like, if you know punk's history, you you know what, you know, what that song alludes to. goes back to Ring of Honor, right? um You know, and then even him on that roof wearing the old Ring of Honor jacket and the shorts and Yeah, like it.
01:05:39
Speaker
They really they swung for the fences on on night two and they cleared the bases in the process like it's just. It was so good. The last time he busted that out, it was his best AEW match.
01:05:52
Speaker
Yep. Yep. The dog collar match. And the other thing, too, is like, you know, I was trying to think. The Harley race call out was actually more than just the jacket. And I don't think a lot of people took notice of it.
01:06:06
Speaker
The actual accents on his gear were gold and purple. So the the gold and purple actually carried into the kick pads and the trunks themselves yeah well, like on the on the the stars and everything. but also Macho Man, too.
01:06:21
Speaker
And, and I was thinking like of all of the ring attire that he's had and, and the punks we've said this before on the show and both on PTs and otherwise, like he's one of those guys that like knows what he's doing in terms of like, like, oh, I want this to be an action figure at some point.
01:06:37
Speaker
Um, I don't think he's done anything similar to this color combination, like with the purple and the gold. Like I, I, I can't recall. And I did like a quick look and I i didn't see anything. So it also just done much by way of purple.
01:06:54
Speaker
It's just a cool, unique ring gear to like cool opportunity to do something unique with him. um Yeah. Fantastic. Although it wouldn't shock me if when we get to Minnesota, there is some sort of like Prince theme thing.
01:07:10
Speaker
Could be. Could be. Because Punk is... Punk appreciates his music history as much as he appreciates his wrestling history, it seems. And also, like, I love the point...
01:07:23
Speaker
say what you will about w WWE and how it's run the product and all that stuff right now from like a storytelling standpoint. I love where we're at from like and a live analysis.
01:07:34
Speaker
The fact that like Michael Cole was reading off those names and giving like back, like quick, like, you know, backstory to each of them was unbelievable. Like that adds an element of realism to like the, the kayfabe part of this and,
01:07:52
Speaker
in In an immeasurable way. Like, I really think that, like, kind of sports analysis aspect that has come into the product in the past, like, two years, um two or three years, like, even with, like, Joe Tess and, like, you know, the way that it's treated the the the sports part of it, the the wrestling part of it.
01:08:14
Speaker
is surfaced a little bit more and it it helps with the storytelling. It helped to add so much gravitas to like how he came to the the entrance, and everything like, like just kudos. Like the fact that they were talking about, um you know, they mentioned things like ring of honor and they like mentioned other companies.
Character Development and Legacy of Wrestlers
01:08:31
Speaker
The fact that harm's way was mentioned on a WWE pay-per-view or premium live event in, you know, a Chicago hardcore band, like. Tremendous, just tremendous.
01:08:43
Speaker
Um, so that takes us to our, uh, something that we've started doing with these is we have a dual pick. So something that we agree on that, um, we both think deserves to be made. i think it should be no surprise to anybody. Um, but it's, uh, we, and if you disagree with us, Dave, I think we could fairly say that you are cursed. Um, look how far we've come from elimination chamber.
01:09:13
Speaker
Yeah, right? who I don't like to say that i don't like to say that we're we're right or we told you so, but... um I do. In this case, I very much do. We told you so. We told you so.
01:09:27
Speaker
I watched Madison Square Garden in person lose their mind when he came out to fire t-shirts into the crowd and tell them that Saturday night's main event was coming. Did you hear the pop that he got on SmackDown on Friday? Yeah.
01:09:41
Speaker
insane yeah insane well deserved i love it well deserved so i think um this needs to be some sort of box set situation um i while i would absolutely love some some little dan housens i think dan housen the dan housen mobile um this thing just rules so hard it's now his car he came out to it yeah with it on friday too um Did you see, by the way, on Friday that when he got to the corner and he was trying to make the turn to go around the ring, somebody multiple people dropped twenty dollars, like tried to hand him 20 human dollars. And he like kind of gave this look like I can't take your money. And then they just dropped it in the the car. But like other people like people are just giving him actual human. They need really good favors.
01:10:33
Speaker
So um the Knicks should consider doing that next. We had a Blimphausen. Yeah, I mean, it was WrestleMania-Hausen. You have Blimphausen in the box as well.
01:10:45
Speaker
but But I think it should really... if If we could only get three things in there, right? It's gotta be Dan Housen, right? It's gotta be the car. And it's gotta be suited John Cena, man. Like...
01:10:59
Speaker
But I need the handshake. We need the the reuse on the the handshake hands. Yeah, you could do that. um it's It's just... With the heads? With the smiling heads? like that was That could be a t-shirt.
01:11:16
Speaker
i I am so happy with how well this is going. um To the point where even John Cena was like, that was great. i I love...
01:11:29
Speaker
how seriously they're taking the curse stuff too, like, and leaning into it. And when it bleeds into like real world stuff, they like, I, him going up in the, the, the, the blimp in the Goodyear blimp, the,
01:11:45
Speaker
ah A seven-minute video should not be that entertaining. And I watched all, like, seven minutes of him in the blimp yelling at the poor blimp pilot who clearly did not understand the joke.
01:11:59
Speaker
Like, it's just... It's so... It's just so good. It's all so good, and it makes me so happy. but Christina, who does not, like...
01:12:14
Speaker
watches wrestling when i have it on but does not care about wrestling yeah follows dan hausen on instagram i so i had the video on of dan hausen crashing connecticut like crashing headquarters and i was watching with the girls and jess caught some of it and her first thing was like this is so stupid And then like I looked back like a couple minutes later and she's not on her phone. She's just like locked in watching it.
01:12:44
Speaker
And she's smiling and she's like, this is so stupid. And then by the end of the video, she's like, I don't know why I'm watching. Like, I can't look away. Like, this is so stupid, but I I'm enjoying it. um And I think that's Maddie's favorite wrestler for years.
01:12:59
Speaker
That's I'm so stupid, but I love this or or this is so stupid, but I love this is like the one sentence review of of Dan Housen for non wrestling fans.
01:13:11
Speaker
um And that's that's great. I love that for everybody. But like also. like he's they're using him in the ring. i love the way that they're doing the dumb pyro thing.
01:13:24
Speaker
um i i just... i I cannot wait for somebody to run afoul of him and for him to flip the switch and do the and do the the very evil Dan Housen. It's going to be amazing when it happens.
01:13:38
Speaker
And poor Miz is going to get a railroad spike for his troubles. Miz has like... This is almost like reinvention number 52 for Miz. Like, this... I'm gonna say something that that I think is a hot take.
01:13:57
Speaker
I am most likely gonna agree with you, but I have for a long time. I think The Miz is a better version of Chris Jericho.
01:14:09
Speaker
Oh, okay. I... be Because disagree he what he has done in wrestling. And it's not to say that Chris Jericho, like you look back on his like WCW and his Japan stuff, especially it's not to say that that's not has not been like.
01:14:26
Speaker
Hugely beneficial for not just Canadian wrestlers, but like, you know, bridging the gap between different promotions and stuff like that, like Jericho has done a lot for the business.
01:14:37
Speaker
What The Miz has done to get where he is today, remain relevant, and continue putting over young and new talent, I think is immeasurable.
01:14:48
Speaker
Like, forget about the fact that the guy's a Grand Slam champion. Forget about the fact that he is a hell of a worker. He's safe. um And and he's he's talented. Like, when he puts when he turns it on, he turns it on. And he's a legitimate celebrity. Like, he's...
01:15:06
Speaker
if he didn't If he doesn't win a match for the rest of his career from this point onward, and won he's a he's a first ballot ballot Hall of Famer for the for the w WWE Hall of Fame. like he is he doesn't He is bulletproof.
01:15:22
Speaker
He's bulletproof. The Miz is bulletproof. there there is There is maybe not anybody more important than him in the locker room right now in w WWE. Hands down. And, like, you know, people always make the joke, like, like oh, they're going work with The Miz. Like, exactly. Look at Mello.
01:15:42
Speaker
Look at how he needed that. Like, those yeah programs with The Miz, like, they get people into shape for being on TV. i have I have always liked him.
01:15:55
Speaker
Like... Yeah. Yeah. I've always liked The Miz, I don't think i've I consciously have respected him the amount that he deserves. And this whole situation with... Because he now in this situation, the thing that people I think a lot of people are overlooking is he's doing it for two people at the same time. Because Kit will will kit Wilson rules too.
01:16:19
Speaker
Yeah, but he's he's doing he's doing the job effectively for two up and coming talents at the same time when the actual joke in the in the story is that he's there to like make Kit a star. But the other yeah the other part of it, too. And here's how, you know, it's like this is an important thing.
01:16:44
Speaker
And there it actually like matters is that Maurice is involved, too. Like for her to be like, yeah, I'll do this. Like it's it's just I want one day, one day people are going to realize how how vastly and I don't mean like Miz will be a guy they miss when he's not around.
01:17:06
Speaker
Yep. yep And I don't think there will ever be a time where he's not involved with w WWE in some way, shape, or form. I'm also super excited to see him host American Gladiators, by the way. um But ah yeah, this is just fantastic. We need all the Dan Housen figures. um Jazzwares did a good job with with getting Dan Housen out, but we need Housen in ring gear. Somebody who's designed Dan Housen before is yeah designing figures now.
01:17:36
Speaker
yeah Well, you you heard the edict. Comic-Con or they're or they're cursed. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. so Yeah, there was that video that ah Steve and Dan Housen posted. right um he He would actually make a hell of a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive like for for like a launch, like an ultimate, edit like they did with ah Logan Paul and hilly with Cody.
01:18:01
Speaker
the san diego comic comic like ultimate edition danhausen let her rip man let her rip or even if you did it quickly it's like return punk or one of those even yeah yep but let like get one out there and then start because there needs to be one out there the dan has mobile what i would actually do is would the main event reckon with a main event absolutely Nailed it.
01:18:27
Speaker
Just like the Rey Mysterio. Because they're starting to do, like, kayfabe vehicles in there. Like, it's not just, like, an ambulance or, like, you know, ah a fire truck. Yeah, because it doesn't need to break apart.
01:18:41
Speaker
You can have it have a t-shirt cannon. Like... You can have it break apart. Like, that's fine. Like, have there be gimmicks in it. Like, you can have the coffin explode or whatever. Like, that's totally fine. But, like, yeah. Make uh...
01:18:56
Speaker
make it a reckon with a, I also love that. It's allegedly the coffin. He showed up. in It's just, it is just the best, just the best. Well, with that, Dave, that wraps us up on another, another edition of PT and WrestleMania 42. We put that in the rear view mirror. We'll, we'll be back. i I would guess for backlash, right? It's our next, next PT. Mm-hmm.
01:19:22
Speaker
um But in the meantime, we want to hear from you. So if you're watching this on YouTube, ah let us know in the comments below, who did you think was the most toy addict from WrestleMania 42?
01:19:33
Speaker
ah And, and we, we would love to hear what you have to say about it. So um with that though, Dave, that, that is, that is a wrap on WrestleMania 42. That is a wrap on this edition of PTE. I think you, I think it's time to ah send everybody home.
01:19:50
Speaker
Yeah. Bye everyone. See you for backlash. Or you are, you are cursed.
01:20:01
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener for hanging out with us today, subscribe, rate and review us wherever you listen and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is game boy horror by the zombie dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
01:20:18
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:20:33
Speaker
Don't try this at home. Voidware prohibited. Some assembly required. Each sold separately. Not a flying toy. Consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours.
01:20:41
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaui. This program and many others like it on the Non-Productive Network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.