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Weekend Of The Year?
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We preview 5 count em 5 big shows for this weekend and answer your listener mail! Plus, a deep dive on WWE''s counter-programming of AEW and whether it is good or bad for the wrestling industry as a whole.
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Transcript
Welcome Back & Preview of Wrestling Events
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome the Chick-fil-A show. are
00:00:22
Speaker
What is up, Foley fam? We are back with a gigantic episode of the Chick-Foley Show. We have, what, aside from WrestleMania, this is probably going to be the biggest weekend of wrestling of the year.
00:00:34
Speaker
We're going to preview all five big shows coming this week. But before we get into it, let's start by introducing the star of the show. Sheena, how you doing? I'm surprisingly overwhelmed to cover all five of these shows. This is going to be absolutely bananas, dude.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah it's a ton of wrestling, man. Luckily, I got some family functions kind pulling me aside because I think I may end up just kind of melting my brain if I was trying to watch all these. You should be
Personal Reflections & Travel Plans
00:01:00
Speaker
rotting on the couch. But we got the man who's going to be heading down to Texas to take in All In, man, who's hit there for the Y'all In weekend. Jordan, what's going on, dude?
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a um really excited and I'm glad I don't have to just sit at home and watch everything back to back to back because, yeah, I'm with you. i would just sit there and watch all of it at the same time and it's probably not a healthy thing to do this weekend. So we're just go to head to Texas and just get liquored up and go to y'all in.
00:01:28
Speaker
Shayna, tell us what is new on the farm. Nothing. It just keeps raining and raining. So it's the wettest spring we've had in Tennessee. What wettest spring and summer that we've had in Tennessee since we've been here. So I know I'm complaining now, but, ah you know, probably next month it probably won't rain the entire month. And I'll be bitching about that. So other than that, just garden stuff coming in trying to get all that processed.
00:01:51
Speaker
Getting geared up for football season. Getting geared up. Yeah, the kids, Seth and I, I can't remember if we talked about it on the last show, but we have been child free since July 3rd. We dropped the kids off with their grands. They went to like our local like hometown festival back home in Kentucky.
00:02:06
Speaker
They raced some turtles and they've been, you know spending in the week with their cousins and grandparents. So Seth and I have been here forever. child free for mean what's it now like four or five days like uh yeah nuts how does it feel that we're going on a week now we talked them off thursday oh yeah so yeah seven days now yeah how does it feel quiet very quiet i mean obviously i like you know i miss i miss my kids but it has been it's actually been very nice to just yeah peaceful just to be able to like chill out reconnect stay up play video games watch movies without the kids going what are you watching you know so it's been nice
00:02:42
Speaker
I want to remind you guys to use code Chick Foley to save 10% at ringsidecollectibles.com, our so presenting sponsor for
Wrestling Merchandise & Snack Talk
00:02:50
Speaker
this show. And visit www.chickfoley.com. There's still time to join. $2 a month. You can get involved in all of the various live threads and everything else that's going to be going on because you you want friends to to virtually watch all this wrestling with you this week. You need it.
00:03:03
Speaker
All right, you guys ready to get into it? Let's do it. Let's go. Uh, Jordan, first off, man, hit us with the, uh, hit us with the itinerary, dude. Oh yeah. Uh, so we're heading down tomorrow. It's me and Tony that are going down.
00:03:18
Speaker
Um, tomorrow we're probably not going to do much tomorrow night. Just hit Bucky's and Tony's never been to In-N-Out. So he's going to be in for a real treat tomorrow night. So what do you got? do you got anything kind of in the, uh, in the, in the target zone, man, for, for Bucky's?
00:03:33
Speaker
and ah Just the three meat sandwich that you told me about But I know I'm just going to be In absolute paradise there So I'll probably spend 400 Have you still never been to Bucky's Jordan? It's his time some beef jerky The fountain drinks are on point They have their own Bucky's cola On the fountain that's amazing Get some of the pickled quail eggs do you Those would be a good trip for the Especially for the road trip back to Nebraska data a couple jars of pickled Quail eggs man They're really good. You know what? The roasted nuts are really good, too. I bet they are. You know, pause, but for real. And the fudge.
00:04:10
Speaker
The fudge is good, too. Yeah, you can pack a lot of fudge and roast a lot of nuts, you know, while you're You just get meat, nuts, and fudge. That's all you need. Meat, nuts, and fudge. Yeah, they got sausage on a stick, you know. Oh, the sausage on a stick is good, too. We definitely need we we need a post of your Bucky's haul, man, in the Facebook group after you guys leave. Yeah. So. all right. And then, so, in and then, okay, man, like I mean, I want to, I want the details. What's your in and out order?
00:04:33
Speaker
Uh, three by three animal style, extra grilled onions. Same thing. Every time i go. Shane, your thoughts. Sounds good. i haven't been to In-N-Out since... 2016 is probably your last time.
00:04:45
Speaker
Yeah, me and that was my last time. I think it was Mania. Remember, you came to California for a weekend with me. Oh, yeah. You're right. Yeah, but it's been it's been off yeah almost a decade since I've been In-N-Out. I go with the 3x3 also, man. I feel like In-N-Out basically has smash burgers, and I feel like if you go with the classic double-double, I feel like the bread-to-meat ratio is just a little bit off, dude, whereas the 3x3, I think you kind of get the perfect meat-to-bread ratios. Just do it protein style and then you'll get a Yeah, but you still I mean, you still want the nice toasted bun.
00:05:13
Speaker
Yeah. You need a bun to hold all that. You know, it's a wet, saucy burger. You need a bun to kind of absorb some of that and hold some of that flavor. And just going to be it's already messy enough with the bun. Now, what are my hands going look like by the time I'm done to fight that thing? Protein style. The one thing I'll never understand about In-N-Out is how their fries are so trash. Like, I just, I'll never understand. it like They taste like you're chewing on cardboard and you're watching them fresh cut them right behind the counter. i I'll never understand. Fresh cut fries, the most overrated thing. Fresh cut fries are overrated, yeah. You you almost got to go frozen or at least, like, blanch them. There's a process, like, you know.
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah. to To making fries the that we. There's a certain point where the potato is perfect for the fry, dude. Yeah. That's why you go to
WWE vs AEW Programming Debate
00:05:55
Speaker
you want to cut it, prep it, flash freeze it until you're ready drop in the deep fryer, dude. Yeah. And to me, man, my pro tip, dude, get them well done. and My in and out order. It still doesn't work for me.
00:06:05
Speaker
yeah i get it three Yeah, they're still not great, but they're at least passable. to They're decent to kind of just break up the burger, man. I go three by three, fries well done, and I go with a lemon up for my drink. That's ah lemonade and seven it up mixed together. Is there only side option, fries?
00:06:20
Speaker
Yeah. There's like off the menu stuff that you can kind of piece together for like a half ass side order. But yeah, the only official side item at In-N-Out is the fries. No like tots or nothing, right? now which is Which again, to Jordan's point, you'd think they'd have it down pat. It's a testament to how delicious the burgers, shakes are and just how how cheap it is you know what mean? Even though it's it's gone up price a little bit last couple of years, it's still arguably the best value in fast food. Dude, it was still for the quality it was still only for a double when i went to vegas And that was in Vegas in December. Like, I mean, it still is not bad at all for pricing. Yeah. They're really, really fair on their prices because it is quality stuff, you know, regardless of the, obviously they got to work on their technique on the fries, but like Jordan said, it's fresh gut taters.
00:07:03
Speaker
They use quality beef and everything. That's a big reason why they've been so slow to expand out nationwide because they want to protect, know, make sure they get suppliers for the stuff that meets their standards. Um, Yeah, we're getting in and outs in the state of Tennessee this year, man. I think it's going to be like ah Middle Tennessee, though, more like toward Nashville, Clarksville.
00:07:20
Speaker
Yeah. um So, yeah, that's Thursday night. And then ah friday Friday, we're going to give Conrad some of our money and try StarCast again. Lots of prayers. Wow. Oh boy, I can't wait to hear about this. We'll have some live thoughts. Maybe I'll ah go live in the Facebook group while we're at fucking Concast. Who are you trying to meet at Starcast? I don't know. if Honestly, the only person I really wanted to meet and Seth will know who this is, Sheena's not going clue, was Monty Brown. He used to wrestle in TNA.
00:07:48
Speaker
Played for the Carolina Panthers. But the problem is, is his meet and greet is at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning and all in starts at noon. So we're going to pass on that, but we're going to go tomorrow and just kind of check it out. But I don't really have anybody that I'm for sure meeting. I mean, I'm sure I'll meet somebody, but.
00:08:06
Speaker
wasn't really i wasn't really blown away by this, but I had already bought tickets. so It was $45. It's not terrible. Hopefully they've changed it back to where you can do the walk-ups. Remember, that was the one we went to in Nashville, dude. You couldn't even really do you can't like the walk-ups like you do at a WrestleCon. can't do those now? They already said you can.
00:08:24
Speaker
But they do have... um In their defense, that I think it has gotten better because they do have ah a ton of free people tomorrow. Or on Friday. I mean, hold on. Let me get it pulled up here. Has Tony ever been to StarCast? He has not.
00:08:40
Speaker
So, yeah. I mean, it'll be... yeah i maybe That'll be cool. Yeah, it'll still be fun. to everybody So, Friday, the free people that they have, this is actually a pretty good list. So, they have Max Caster, and Big Justice. I swear to God, if the Rizzler is not there, I'm leaving. Aubrey...
00:08:56
Speaker
Bryce Remsburg, Kiera Hogan, Diamante, Queen Aminata, Alex Abrahantes, Top Flight, Jay Lethal, Serpentico, Angelico, The Dark Order, Grizzled Young Veterans, Red Velvet, Work Horseman, Billy Starks, Satnam Singh, and Alicia Ataut.
00:09:16
Speaker
That's cool. Those are all free, so that's pretty good. That's good, yeah. And then Saturday, the last time I had looked, the only free one on Saturday was Jake Roberts. Oh, no, they've added three people. Blake Christian, Lee Johnson, and Commander on Saturday.
00:09:30
Speaker
okay so i mean it's a decent list like there's a lot of good people that are going to this the problem is is i've met a lot of these people already who's the biggest name that's going to be there um well daniel bryan's doing professional ops photo ops so that's that daniel bryan yeah then that already sold out so that's um stings there um i think that's the two biggest ones but and But Monty Brown has not done a public appearance in 15 years. So the fact that they got him to do this is pretty crazy. And they have a professional photo op where you can get pounced in the picture, ah which is kind of cool. But I don't know how that's safe at all.
00:10:09
Speaker
uh all right so that's that's friday afternoon what do you guys got on the uh the culinary menu for friday man so the thing is is like i don't think we're gonna go anything fancy just because we're gonna be in a hurry the whole day there's a lot of places tony hasn't been i don't think he's had shake shack ever either um so we'll probably hit that they have a portillo's down there as well probably hit that the hell is portillo's It's like a Chicago staple. They have like Chicago dogs and Italian beef sandwiches and stuff like that.
00:10:37
Speaker
You know, they got Papa does in Dallas Fort worth. Also. I know dude. I just, I don't think we're gonna have enough time for that. Cause we're going to GCW Friday night as well. Maybe, uh, maybe say long sleeves.
00:10:48
Speaker
Maybe Saturday evening after All In. You guys may a cap on the weekend. I'm going to be Saturday night after All In. Exactly. and So how great will it a big belly of freaking seafood be? there's so that is the We'll get to Saturday after this. But the only thing that pisses me off is I hate the way AEW did the tickets for a Ring of Honor. like You couldn't get Ring of Honor tickets unless you did the VIP packages.
00:11:11
Speaker
which kind of pissed me off because I did want to go to that ring of honor pay-per-view but now that I've seen the card and stuff I'm not as mad about not getting to go to that I think GCW will be more fun honestly it's super card of honor in name only yeah it's yeah it's not there's not much super about it So, yeah, that's what we're doing Friday.
00:11:29
Speaker
Then Saturday we'll get up. They're doing like – at the Texas Live thing, they're doing like pre-show. AEW is doing a pre-show thing. It's free to go. It's like a tailgate, so we'll go to that.
00:11:42
Speaker
And then obviously all in all day. And then there's like a post or after party at the same place where a lot of the wrestlers and stuff are going to hang out. So I don't know. We might hang around for that and wait for the Uber surcharge to go down.
00:11:54
Speaker
i just I got a feeling Saturday is going be a long day, man. That's that's a lot of time at a wrestling event because I'm imagining we're going to be there seven or eight hours. So. For sure. Or you guys might go bankrupt getting stadium beers, dude. You need to get one of the like the the pouches that you can get and like wear it under your shirt, dude. and just ah You can kind of funnel your beer. Yeah, like a little a little hydration pack. I don't know how this works. Get some powdered beer you can like strap it around you, dude, and then just get a bottle of water when you get there, don make Make your own. I don't know how this works because I've been to um events in football and baseball stadiums where they they still adhere to the same rules.
00:12:28
Speaker
We're sitting in club seats and the club seats we're sitting in usually come with all inclusive food and drink. I doubt that'll happen, but I mean, who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky. So, yeah, we'll see.
00:12:41
Speaker
But, yeah, Saturday is just going to be a ah long day. But, yeah, it's going to be expensive to drink beers there. I'm sure they're like 18 bucks at that stadium. so Have you done any? I know you're a ballpark aficionado, man. Have you done any research? Does Globe Life have like a signature concessions item or anything? That's like the number two ballpark in Major League Baseball for concession food. They got like a and two foot long hot dog or something. I know you're getting that, dude. No, I'm not. is he Jordan, were you with us when I got the two-foot-long hot dog in Atlanta? And I got the the heart attack burger with the grilled cheese sandwiches as the bun.
00:13:17
Speaker
Yeah, and you ate like a quarter of that hot dog. I tried my best It beat my ass. it it beat my I think we're actually going to say Sunday too, just to kind of go around Dallas and stuff.
00:13:28
Speaker
I don't know. we We haven't decided yet, but we we might stay Sunday as well just to do some stuff we're around Dallas. cause cooperop Cooper's barbecue over in Fort Worth is pretty dang good, man. What's the other one that's there too that I've really wanted to go to?
00:13:41
Speaker
Terry Black's, is that in Dallas too? I'm not sure, dude. When I was going down there for a call time, I spent more time in Fort Worth than Dallas property. Terry Blacks is there as well.
00:13:53
Speaker
And then I've never had Bojangles, so we'll get that at some point during the weekend. and Bro, I see, dude, if I was there, dude, and I get one meal Papa Dose, man, can sell Tony on it, dude, like Papa Dose is just, it's to die for, man. Yeah, I feel like it was Sunday for sure.
00:14:08
Speaker
I know you have, Dave. I'm saying david that was you need to go back, man. The catfish off. we Did we eat it in Atlanta together? we Yeah, me and you and Jordan went the night before the NFC Championship. The night before the day that shall not be named.
00:14:20
Speaker
Yeah, the night the time this wasn't the time where they had blew the biggest lead in Super Bowl history. This was the time they blew the biggest lead in championship game history. God, what a freaking... I'm just remembering that. 200 yards at halftime and doesn't catch a pass in the second half. Seth's Facebook's out 30 minutes to a land or to New Orleans. I'm like, yeah, we're fucked.
00:14:40
Speaker
Yeah, and you guys, so you know since we've been doing this podcast, I i have been out on like NFL, you know what I mean? like i you know I just watch it just casually, very super casually. But back then, like you are you you couldn't compete with my fandom. It was pretty hardcore. So yeah, I remember that game well and just being just absolutely, the pistification level was like 900. So y'all staying Sunday and then driving back Monday morning? Most likely. We might still come back on Sunday. I don't know. I would like to be able to watch Saturday Night's main event and stuff. So probably staying there is probably the best move because it'll probably take us too long to get back. so um Sorry. like Evolution. My bad.
00:15:20
Speaker
But yeah. all right We'll probably stay Sunday. How long is the drive, Jordan? It's just about 10 hours. Oh, that's not bad. a killer No, it's not bad at all. Are you going to be playing Fortnite Mobile whenever Tony's driving?
00:15:32
Speaker
Tony's not driving. I'm driving. The whole way? Yeah. and back oh yeah dude i don't when when we go on road trips i always drive i just i prefer to drive i don't like riding with other people i mean last time we had someone else driving she almost killed us so i think and i think i remember the last time yeah and then i remember when you guys got back from knoxville hadn't seth been driving and you guys were like fighting when when you got back jordan drove the whole way it almost killed us like 18 times almost kill us ever when was There was at least three times where i was already bracing for shock thinking we were going to rear somebody. Oh, so you were just passenger seat driving, which why y'all were fighting. Oh, hold on. Do you mean like bracing for death like the time that Sheena had a 100 an hour SUV coming at us? How am I catching strays here? Same feeling, dude. Like that point where you pass like, oh, this looks bad. And you're like, okay, how am I going to position myself to able to get away from this? It wasn't even remotely that bad. Just relax.
00:16:29
Speaker
All right, you guys ready to get into the actual wrestling? let's do it. go. All right, so we're going go in chronological order. um We'll start first off with Friday Night Supercard of Honor.
Ring of Honor Championship Discussions
00:16:41
Speaker
So, again, in theory, this is Ring of Honor's WrestleMania.
00:16:46
Speaker
We'll go around. kind We'll do this for each show. Overall ah hype level from from one to five chicks, Jordan. One. I have almost... I'm right there. I'll go one and a half just because I do think I'm actually probably one of the more devout Ring of Honor fans at this point. Surprising us all. But even with that, I'm going one and a half chicks. i I'm going one. I might even go 0.5. Really got two big matches. First off, for the actual Ring of Honor World Championship, Takeshita is going against Bandito.
00:17:13
Speaker
Do we think Takeshita leaves with a belt becomes a new Ring of Honor champ? God, dude. No. No, I don't want... to kehe and Would it be a downgrade for him, as crazy as that sounds, would it actually be a downgrade for Takeshita if he's going walk around as the Ring of Honor camp? Him carrying that on an AEW show would piss me off.
00:17:33
Speaker
Yeah. Sadly, I'm kind of with you, man. I feel like this a better spot for maybe a... Maybe even like a Kota Ibushi, man. Somebody that you're trying to just rehab a little bit, you know, or yeah i don't know, man. It feels like Takeshita could, with a little bit extra seasoning, he could be right there in the mix for the AEW proper world championship. And i kind of I'm with you, man. I think this kind of takes him down a notch. Yeah, i'm not trying we're not trying to crap on all the Ring of Honor fans out there. know there's some hardcore Ring of Honor fans. I've watched every episode of Ring of Honor Weekly TV, Honor Club, all year long. So I'm right there with you, dude. I think he wins, man. I just don't see a way he loses, dude. yeah there's There's not really... In kayfabe, Bandito can't beat Tekashta.
00:18:13
Speaker
And unless they just do something out of the blue, i don't really see an angle where... where Takeshi still loses this either, man. So, you know, interested to see what they do with it, man. If it's a way to kind of elevate the entire Ring of Honor brand, that's great.
00:18:25
Speaker
But I do not see a way he doesn't walk out with that It's wrestling. Anything can happen, dude. True. There'll probably be 12 people in attendance as well, so nobody will see it when it happens anyway. Yeah, they made just the bizarre choice to have um the only way to get tickets to this, man. You already got a show where it's going a ton of hardcore wrestling fans in in the Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington area.
00:18:48
Speaker
You're doing this in a much smaller stadium. like i I know for a fact they sell this thing out. They just put it up for sale regular, but they tied it all to the VIP passes for All In, which I think there are still a decent amount of those available as of today. So it's almost impossible to even get ah a regular ticket to this show.
00:19:04
Speaker
Yeah, i don't I don't know what they were thinking with this. This was not a good idea at all. Yeah. The other big match for the Ring of Honor Women's World Championship, Athena versus Thunder Rosa. I think that could be a killer match, dude. should be a great match. should be awesome match in the ring.
00:19:18
Speaker
Dude, it's Thunder Rosa is definitely at the level she could beat Athena, but like I don't know if she's earned it, man. Athena has been... that ring of honor women's world champ since December, 2022, she's going at two and a half years with the rain. It feels like it's ah to me.
00:19:34
Speaker
I think it's the opposite, dude. i'm I'm kind of pissed that Athena is still in the ring of honor. What are yeah what are we doing? why don't Why is she not in AW? She's been showing up a little bit more in AW the last couple of months, but, but yeah, she's kind of been almost a ring of honor exclusive since she showed up.
00:19:48
Speaker
Do we think she actually dropped, finally drops the belt this weekend? Yeah, because I think that's the best way to get her up to AEW permanently. And this is Thunder Rosa winning that belt is not a bad thing at all for her either. Right. I just kind of feel like she's been kind of an afterthought the last year or so, which is sad for her. But her being the Ring of Honor champion would be perfectly fine.
00:20:09
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I am going to... um um I'm going to keep riding with my girl, man. I say Athena wins. and keeps it This thing keeps going. I think it's... I think it...
00:20:21
Speaker
Athena losing would be better for both of them, dude. I think this gives Thunder Rosa something meaningful to do. And then it opens up Athena to be able to go and contend for bigger titles up in AEW.
00:20:33
Speaker
So something to really let you know, like Ring of Honor is kind of Tony Khan's playground where he kind of gets to do stuff like less in the public eye where he's not getting criticized for every little thing that they're doing. Just an absolute puzzling decision.
00:20:44
Speaker
For the last couple months, they've been they created the women's peer championship to to be the counterpart for the men's peer championship. They've been going back and forth. They somehow didn't time up the tournament to end with this show.
00:20:56
Speaker
Seems like a perfect place to have it. And instead, the ah Red Velvet has had to forfeit the Women's TV. Well, she hasn't had to forfeit the Women's TV Championship. She's injured and can't compete on this show. And instead of just letting it ride, i don't think anybody would have noticed or been up in. Jordan, would you been upset if the Ring of Honor Women's TV Championship didn't get defended on this show? Wouldn't even have known.
00:21:17
Speaker
Yeah, but instead we're going get a singles match to crown an interim women's world TV champion. He fucking loves an interim champ, dude. He loves an interim champ. So we have TBA versus TBA to crown, in not not to crown a new champ. I feel like that could have got a pass, but we're going crown an interim yep women's television championship. I don't know if that belt warrants having an interim champion created. Absolutely. No, like if it was the main women's title, like, yeah, I would get that. But I don't think we needed this match on this show.
00:21:46
Speaker
i don't know if you need that belt at all, but yeah, much less. Yeah, there's already so many titles and now we're making like fake champions. You know I mean? Like I've never loved an interim champ, dude. I just always thought that was kind of whack. It made sense in like UFC and stuff. Like I got that. in real sports, it totally makes sense. Yeah.
00:22:05
Speaker
But yeah, wrestling, it's it's weird. yeah So we're limping into the weekend a little bit. All that being said, the hype might be there. I have no doubt that the guys and gals on the show are going to show out. And Ring of Honor is known for its work rate. I think it's going some pretty badass matches. yeah The Ring of Honor pay-per-views generally end up being some pretty good watches. you know They're super low expectations. I think that they benefit from that. But...
00:22:25
Speaker
They're always pretty fun to watch. So I definitely encourage you guys. It's, you know, nine bucks, I think, to subscribe to Honor Club. And you can watch a couple of hours of wrestling on Friday night. I can damn near guarantee it's going better than SmackDown. Kind of a bummer to the people who wrestling, too, that they didn't open up the tickets and allow them to have more people. you know what i mean? I mean, the place they're going at, I think it only seats like 1500. So they may still fill it up, you know. but I don't know. we we'll We'll see what it looks like on Friday night.
00:22:51
Speaker
All right, so let's go to Saturday afternoon. we got the big head-to-head matchup. WWE shifted. I guess they've changed the start time once again for Great American Bash to start 30 minutes prior to the... Let me see what the latest is. I think I saw something today that...
00:23:08
Speaker
They, <unk> yeah, so they've changed it. Starts at 3 p.m. They've changed the main show to start 30 minutes prior ah to All In. Just the count that the levels they're going to counter-program AEW is just, it's it's funny. It's also petty. It's so petty, dude. Ridiculous, man. But yeah, so they're going to start 30 minutes early. I mean, how many, i don't even know what the crossover is between people that are watching modern day NXT and AEW. Like, I can't imagine that it's making a dramatic difference on their, uh,
00:23:35
Speaker
on the buy rates, you know, you for if that's what they're trying to do. I'm going to say If AEW did this same fucking thing and ran a pay-per-view against w b I would be absolutely furious and I would think it was the stupidest fucking thing ever.
00:23:49
Speaker
This is the stupidest fucking thing ever I still think it's stupid. I think it's stupid either way. Either way, it happens. you know I think it's just ah completely unnecessary, honestly. Bro. Yeah. Like, hold on. While we're on the Great, while we start on the Great American Patch, want to bring this up.
00:24:02
Speaker
So they're they're running a 772 seat arena and it ain't even sold out. Like, that should tell you the level of excitement for this show right now. For Great American Bash? Yeah, they haven't even sold 772 tickets.
00:24:15
Speaker
At last check, it was at $593 for how many tickets it sold. They've saturated the market in Atlanta, man, between the three shows. like That's just a lot for three. like I think all three shows by themselves going totally fine, but I don't think any three of them are like absolute must-see. Let me open up my wallet to be in the building.
00:24:33
Speaker
for these shows and i think having them all three in the same city this time is just a little bit of a swing and a miss man i'm sure they'll still come out with the press release date it was one of the most you know we profitable weekends and i mean who can afford to go to all three in the same weekend you know what i mean it's just i think it just gets like yeah i get like the petty and stuff like that but like at some point it's just like dude what is the point of all this like it i just I think the whole thing is fucking stupid at this point. ah Especially backing it up 30 minutes. like Come on, dude. like that To me, that's just extra petty. Yeah. I think AEW's really got a chance to snatch some momentum from the weekend if if they deliver the show that we all think they're capable of.
00:25:13
Speaker
um Because, yeah, it's looking like it's a little bit of a bad buzz around WWE with that you know just This loaded down weekend, and like i said, none of these shows feel like they absolutely can't miss. Maybe they'll do something crazy, and we end up talking about WWE coming out of the weekend. but But I think that ah they definitely got the momentum stacked against them right now. Either way, we'll get into Great American Bash. I just don't think they can do anything too crazy because we have SummerSlam right around the corner. I don't feel like they're going to shift the complete trajectory of WWE. This is the the biggest money grab that I've seen WWE do in quite some time. like
00:25:45
Speaker
This is literally just to sell tickets and get eyeballs off AEW. That's the only reason they're doing this. It has no other point to it. Well, that's the du that's the big problem with WWE right now, man, with the weekly TV. so right They've shifted away from...
00:26:00
Speaker
um the TV rights now that they got their deals locked up, dude. Now it's all about these live events, right? Having these huge live events with, you know, selling a ton of expensive tickets, dude. I feel like when you watch the weekly TV right now, it's all just a commercial for whatever the next big WWE show is going to be, you know? Like, and there's so many different things to promote, dude. We're already, obviously we got the three big shows this weekend with Saturday night's main event, the bash and evolution.
00:26:24
Speaker
SummerSlam is right around the corner. They're already, so they're already seeing commercials for Survivor Series war games every single weekend. And the Clash in Paris. And the Clash in Paris. Yeah, we're already building stuff for Clash in Paris. So it's like, dude, it's hard to keep and keep it straight what matches are happening on which shows, man. Like if you just, if I had a board right now with like Great American Bash, I guess, main event evolution, man, it'd be, it'd be a challenge for me to like tell you which, and you gave me all the matches. It'd be a challenge to kind of match each match with each show.
00:26:49
Speaker
Um, Just a lot going on, man. I love it as a wrestling fan. I'm always, you know, more is better. But we're definitely kind of at a saturation point right now with WWE with all this stuff. And again, we still got a whole ass SmackDown on Friday night, dude. Right. So you're looking at, you know, free over 12 hours of content just on WWE this weekend. Going, you know, AEW's version of WrestleMania along with Ring of Honor's biggest show of the year. Like, dude, it's just, it's a lot, man. It's too much, man. like Yeah, yeah.
00:27:19
Speaker
i Like i said, they're going to sell tickets and they're going to make money this weekend. But I don't know, man. There just there has to be a line that somewhere gets drawn. And for me, this is the hard line. like I'm kind of happy to see it's not selling a ton of tickets for each event.
00:27:34
Speaker
Just because, like dude, we did eighty ease back a little bit we've talked about this so many times. like Just the pricing of it and just like how many events they're pumping out. It's like, dude, at some point, you've got to ease it back a little bit.
00:27:45
Speaker
and make it better for like the common fan. Who the fuck can afford to do three shows in one weekend? i just Exactly, especially if you're like traveling from out of town. and i mean In Atlanta, i mean stuff is expensive in Atlanta. Well, and Sunday for Evolution. Evolution is definitely... yeah I think Great America Bash is a throwaway. They're doing it at Center Stage, right which you can make that look full. There used to be 200 people at the WCW shows there, and it look it looked jam-packed.
00:28:11
Speaker
Evolution is the big loser right now, dude. They're holding it at ah State Farm, right? That's the name of the arena. yeahre That and Saturday Night's Main Event are at the same arena. Yeah, Saturday Night's Main Event, it's not always always sold out, but it's got a a solid number where Evolution's looking at like it may be like a third to like a half full for Sunday.
00:28:27
Speaker
I think it's one, you know, me and Jordan talked about this yesterday, dude. being an all women's show, you're automatically turning some people off, right? Like as great as women's wrestling is, there's a big chunk of the audience that they're just, they hear it's nothing but the girls.
00:28:38
Speaker
They're not, they're not paying money for that. Fuck those people. Yeah. too It's at the end of a long weekend of wrestling. The other big thing that I think you're hurting a lot of like the local business that might go, it's also, there's a Beyonce concert happening at the Falcon stadium.
Event Attendance & Market Saturation
00:28:52
Speaker
at the same time so you know you've been in downtown atlanta you know it's not the most easily du downtown atlanta on a day when there's not shit going on is still a freaking nightmare if i'm local and i'm like on the fence about man maybe we should go and snatch up some tickets and go sunday and then i remember where there's a beyonce concert going down i want no part of the traffic in atlanta is oppressive yeah there's there's gonna be like 50 000 people at the beyonce concert that absolutely i'm out on that And combine that with a build that, you know, has not been the greatest, I think, to be kindly.
00:29:23
Speaker
I think it sucks, man, because they're really doing the ladies a disservice, dude. Like, because all the you know, the conclusion at the end of this is going to get boiled down to, oh well, the all women's pay-per-view is not going sell. You know what I mean? And the the ladies are going to end up being the victim and and end up taking the blame for this because it can't it can't possibly be because of the poor planning and poor marketing by WWE. It's all because this was a women's paper. Yeah, so it's shitty that this is going to break the seven-year break between the first one and the second one. And, the yeah, just the build for this has been god-awful. And I know Liv got hurt, but, dude, it's just...
00:29:57
Speaker
regardless you don't have to have lived dude there's tons of talent man they had to break glass and bring back trish just so like there would be some star because i'm looking at this card like there is a ton of good women on this card but like what is selling the card's gonna rock man i think it's probably gonna be second to all in for okay show the but what is selling the tickets on this card is my point yeah like what are you like dude charlotte and trish yeah Like that selling tickets. I just, i don't know, man. It's so weird to me.
00:30:26
Speaker
Nikki Bell is going to be in the battle. where I feel like, you know, if they, if they, if we ended up getting, we never, we have no idea what the original plan was, but i feel like Nikki versus live or Nikki and Brie versus live and Raquel. Both of those matches are kind of like money matches. I think people wanted to see. Nikki Villa just being in the Battle Royale, it's a little bit of a letdown for her her big comeback match. you know First time we've seen her in a few years.
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's weird. and they have you know Did you guys notice they posted a bunch of AJ Lee content on YouTube today? They posted an AJ Lee career retrospective. I see her coming back for the Battle Royale. I want to say they did the same thing for Punk, man, before Punk came back.
00:30:59
Speaker
so I can't remember if it was Punk or somebody else. There somebody recently that they posted a bunch of content for them right before they came back. That'd be cool if AJ Lee came back. Yeah, that'd be nice, man. Even if it's just for the Battle Royale, it'd be cool. Yeah, I mean, I feel like every woman in WWE is going to be in this Battle Royale, dude. mean, do you think we see any, like, legends come back besides you? The entire show's a failure if we don't see Deuce Deuce, man.
00:31:20
Speaker
Medusa ain't in there, dude. Like, why why even have the show if not bringing Medusa back for the Battle Royale? Ugh. Yeah, Lita is obviously going to be in it. Like, there's no way they're doing this show without her on it. I think it's going to be fun, man. i think and yeah excited i'm probably It's probably number two behind All In for my show i'm most excited for this weekend. I don't i don't think that's ah ah real high bar, though, Seth. I think i i do hate the way they... like dude um You guys know how I feel about women's wrestling.
00:31:46
Speaker
I love women's wrestling. I think there's a lot of talented ladies in WWE. The other problem, Io Sky hasn't wrestled a match in two months, and she's probably in the second or third biggest match of the show. Like,
00:31:58
Speaker
What are we doing? I just, I don't get the entire build of this show.
00:32:04
Speaker
If y'all could drop one card from the weekend, what would you drop? Supercard of Honor. but No, no, no. do Do main shows. I i don't think, because Supercard of Honor is just, yeah I think that's just in with all in. i think you have to drop one of the three w WWE shows.
00:32:21
Speaker
um i probably I would drop Saturday Night's Main Event, honestly. yeah Yeah. Because I think Great American Bash is going to be fun. i think that show is going to be good. NXT usually delivers. Yeah. Saturday Night's Main Event feels like it's a big nothing burger to me. Like, I mean, we got Goldberg, but other that, man. That's the entire point of it is just Goldberg and they want to do his retirement match in Atlanta, which it's WWE. So is it really a retirement match or will he wrestle again in two years? like I don't know. Just the the whole Saturday Night's Main Event thing is just weird this go around.
00:32:55
Speaker
Well, the fact that they did it twice, like back to back, I feel like they've overplayed the Saturday Night's Made It. When was the last one? Last month, wasn't it? Yeah, last month. Didn't they just do it? Let me see. Yeah, the Jey Uso and Gunther one, right?
00:33:12
Speaker
No, because that was before WrestleMania, I thought. It was Uso and Logan Paul. We had John Cena and R-Truth. What's the date on that? It was ah May 24th. Okay, yeah. Well, that one went like in one ear and out the other, dude. I remember it now you mentioned it. remember the John Cena, because R-Truth came out as Ron Cena.
00:33:31
Speaker
Damian Priest Drew McIntyre but see that one like seemed like it had a purpose like to to me that one this one the only purpose was to to cross promote against AEW that was the only that was the only purpose to this entire show in their defense we've been criticizing them they definitely made AEW flinch dude All In was originally supposed to be a primetime show, and they moved it to the afternoon.
00:33:52
Speaker
ah the goldberg Goldberg, you know, they got off the tracks, dude, when Goldberg was coming down. da The Goldberg train was moving through, and AEW flinch. I don't think it wasn't a but it was definitely a smart move, right? Because Saturday Night's main event, obviously, it's main roster, WWE. You're going to get a lot of eyeballs.
00:34:07
Speaker
there's definitely They definitely probably saved themselves a few dozen thousand fans. pay-per-view buys by not having to go up against Saturday night's main event. But WWE did it. I'm thinking in like Triple H and Nick Khan's mind, it was a win for them. The moment AW changed, ah changed times.
00:34:25
Speaker
True, but I think, yeah I mean, 3 p.m. is a, that's a hard time for a lot of people. You know what I mean? Like 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock. That's what I'm saying. they got they made all in they They made all in bounce to the afternoon. That's what I'm saying, but you said they would get more buys by going to 2 o'clock. No, saying a that instead of going so head-to-head with Saturday night's main event.
00:34:45
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. It's, it's ah the whole situation is just weird, man. I wish AW would have, I wish they wouldn't have flinched. It just kept it at the nighttime. Yeah. You just do the dual screen thing. You know what I mean? i get Get yourself your iPad or your phone and, you know, watch your TV. I mean, the last AW pay-per-view was like this too. Double or nothing. It was what, what NXT show was that? Was that heat wave or
00:35:05
Speaker
No, it was. What NXT show went up against double or nothing. Do you remember Jordan? No. Remember that's what I was, Let me go back. Kept falling asleep. It wasn't Money in the Bank. No, it wasn't Money in the Bank. It wasn't Worlds Collide.
00:35:20
Speaker
Oh, it was Battleground. Battleground went head-to-head with Double or Nothing. cause I remember right as Bodies was hitting in the Anarch in the Arena match, Trick Williams won the TNA Championship. And it was just like, you know, craziness happening on on both screens.
00:35:32
Speaker
Wait, those great hold on. So AEW announced on April 2nd that they were moving the start time to 2 o'clock. WWE announced Saturday Night's main event on May 24th for this weekend.
00:35:44
Speaker
Well, they confirmed it, but they it that was when it was like ah officially announced. But they had it. ah it was The rumors were already out there, man, that it was going to be ah Saturday Night's Main Event that night, that they had the State Farm Arena booked for Saturday night. I personally think for it being a weekend, like, dude, I love afternoon wrestling. Me and you have talked about this numerous times, like how much easier it is to watch afternoon wrestling because it's not on until midnight.
00:36:08
Speaker
I think this was the best thing that happened to AEW to be completely... They're going to sell over 25,000 tickets. There's no way that this is not a success. I mean, the show could suck, which it would be the first AEW pay-per-view in a while to be bad. so Yeah, I'm just saying that a lot of people have a lot. you know If you've got kids in sports and stuff like that, you know people playing baseball fall on the weekends, people throwing barbecues. like it's just There's a lot of stuff going on on Saturday weekends in the summer. You know what mean? I still think they'd have the same problem on Saturday night, too.
00:36:39
Speaker
like just Summer pay-per-views are just destined to fail to me. like it's just yeah Everybody's got shit going on. I do think it's going to up being a net positive for AEW. I'm just saying in WWE's mind, they it was probably already a victory for them the moment that they they moved it down to the afternoon. um Either way, let's get ah let's get back on track or we're going to be here all night, man. Let's talk Great American Bash. Two big matches we got.
00:37:03
Speaker
First off, Obafemi against Yashiki Inomura. you know I like Inomura. He's definitely something different, especially as far as like the modern Japanese wrestlers go. I think he has zero chance of beating Obafemi here. I think he has zero chance, but when um when are we going to see Oba move up? when I mean, do you think it's going like, you know, next year, like the end of this year, maybe the Rumble?
00:37:22
Speaker
I think when you bring him up, I think you want to bring him up as a main eventer, right? Because I think he's good. and I just don't think you want to bring him in mid-carder. I just think the main event scene is so jammed up. Like, why not let him keep getting experience and get the reps? It's always going to be jammed up.
00:37:35
Speaker
up. You know what mean? mean, dude, Roman and Seth are getting up there, man. AJ Styles is getting up there. you know Maybe you wait until somebody gets injured. what mean? That's one thing about having that old ass main event scene. Anybody in WWE's main event scene right now could get injured and be out for eight to nine months and it would not be like a big shocking thing to happen. Maybe that's when you bring Obafemi in. I feel like Royal Rumble is the time for Obafemi to debut on the main roster. like i just I feel like you can carry out him with the title for a couple more months. I just i don't see it.
00:38:05
Speaker
Yeah, I agree, man. I think come in on the rumble, wreck shit, immediately immediately establish himself ah as, you know, the man in freaking in WWE. Because, yeah, you don't want to bring him in at all and get stuck in kind of like the Bronson Reed spot is just like a big, big, strong dude. But they're firmly in the mid card.
00:38:24
Speaker
All right, the other big one, we're going to see the debut of formerly known as Mariah May, now Blake Monroe in NXT, teaming up with Jordan Grace to take on Fatal Influence. Sheen, what have you thought of Mariah May in NXT so far?
00:38:38
Speaker
I mean, she's about the same. know what I mean? She's about what she was in AEW, which is not bad. It's not a bad thing. But, you know, I mean, I'm excited to see what she does on, you know, her big her first big match. Yeah, I've enjoyed the comedic skits and stuff with ah but Jordan Grace that they've had on NXT. But, yeah, i got got to see how she looks in the ring um with with the WWE stuff. She should be able to translate. should be totally fine.
00:39:02
Speaker
But it's going to be interesting finally seeing her go under, know, the WWE lights on Saturday.
00:39:10
Speaker
yeah i think her and jordan probably win this oh yeah definitely yeah i think the only question is like did they do we she's kind of been being a baby face so far do do you think she turns on jordan grace right at the end of this one jordan wells
00:39:25
Speaker
no not yet no dude if they turn her heel already like i just no not yet Well, you know, Jordan, we'll talk about it on Sunday. Jordan Grace got a big match on Sunday, too. So I think you could, if if you punt on it for a day, I think it could hit even harder if you wait till Sunday. Yeah. I feel like that's got to be, i feel like they're, to them as, i like, buddies, like, I don't think that's got much legs. I see that being the next big feud. Yeah, and I mean, honestly, like, the Blake Monroe, I mean, to me, that's just a he that's a heel gimmick waiting to happen, dude.
00:39:53
Speaker
You know what mean? Like, it's just not... It's not very conducive. What's the what's the new warm wears off? i think they're going to be booing there. yeah I think NXT is going to be good this weekend, but I think them doing like anything like spectacular is probably not going to happen. They're going to pull some eyes, and that was the entire purpose of this, but I don't think they're going to do.
00:40:12
Speaker
That's why another reason I don't think Obafemi's losing, because they're they're definitely going to have less eyes on this show than they would for a normal NXT show, I feel like. Yeah, definitely. You can tell. It's been a little bit more. As far as NXT, Pippa Breeze goes, it's definitely been little bit more low-key. We're not getting Trick Williams on there.
00:40:29
Speaker
Most of the... You got a lot of the talent, the the female talent that's kind of been NXT's calling card. They're going to be competing on Sunday as opposed to Saturday. So, yeah, I'm right there with you. Let's go to the biggest show of the weekend, all
AEW's All-In Event Highlights
00:40:41
Speaker
in. It's going to be AEW's biggest stadium show in North America.
00:40:45
Speaker
ah Jordan's going to be in the house for it. We got four big matches we really want to talk about. Let's kick it off. With Swerve and Will Ospreay against the Young Bucks, got some crazy steps on this one. If the Young Bucks lose, they are no longer executive vice presidents.
00:40:59
Speaker
If Swerve and Will Ospreay lose, they each cannot challenge for the AEW World Championship for one calendar year. Even though Swerve and Will got all the momentum in the world, that's such a specific stipulation. Like,
00:41:11
Speaker
I can't imagine you come up with that in the drawing board just to not have it happen. And I think it serves a lot of purpose, man. I think, you know, Swerve's already been on the mountaintop. there's ah There's a ton of different interesting things Swerve could do for the next year.
00:41:23
Speaker
i think you need to create some space between Will Ospreay and Hangman. where You know, I'm kind of starting to lean towards Hangman's winning in that main event. They're so just 1A and one lowercase a as far as being like the top um babyfaces in AEW. It seems so natural that – Whoever comes out of this is gonna be going going to Will Ospreay next. I think this is a way you kind of delay that Will Ospreay world title push, give it some room to breathe on its own, because I think that could close All-In next year. Like I said, I think it winds up beautifully to to drag you out to All-In next year when we finally get to crown Will Ospreay.
00:41:56
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. And another thing is, too, is... This makes me more confident now that Hangman wins, that this stipulation is in here. Because I would have been way less confident if Will Ospreay just keeping on going. And I just feel like he was going to win the title at All Out if this wasn't added. It makes me 100% feel like Young Bucks are winning, which will end up being Hangman winning in an event.
00:42:22
Speaker
I was thinking Forbidden Door, man. You know, we got Forbidden Door back in London this year. I was thinking that lined up for Ospreay. Yeah, they usually try not to do a title change at that show, though. They try not to, at least. I think that's such a, like i said, it's such a funky stipulation. Anytime I see something like that get added in on a match, I kind of think like, all right, they didn't.
00:42:39
Speaker
It's like when you're taking the multiple choice test in school, if you don't know know what the answer is, look for like whichever answer. seems like they put the most, the the test writers put the most effort into right now, you know? Yeah. Because why would you do all that for a wrong answer? Right.
00:42:52
Speaker
Shane, are you picking, Bucks or or Swerve? and I mean, i'm I'm in alignment with you guys. i like you know I think everything that you said makes sense, and i'm just I don't like it personally. I don't either.
00:43:05
Speaker
I think it's lame. It's shades of Cody you know losing that match to ah to Jericho all those years ago and never being allowed to challenge for the AEW championship again. Yeah, I don't like the stipulation. i don't like that they're pulling chalks on Will Ospreay, dude. Again, it's just like...
00:43:21
Speaker
you know I know you just can't just make everybody... you know Everybody's not going a champ when you want them to be, but I just feel like, dude, he's so hot right now. And if you i mean if it's a year, a year in wrestling time is a lot of freaking time, dude. A lot can happen.
00:43:39
Speaker
He could lose momentum. He could lose steam. He could get hurt. like There's just so many things, ways that this could just never come to fruition that it just like I don't like it. it's just I think it's lame. and I would love to see Will Ospreay. He's done so much since he's been in AEW. just feel like he deserves the opportunity to fight for the biggest prize. Cody was definitely the exception to the rule, man. Of being able to keep the momentum going for a whole year.
00:44:02
Speaker
anybody could do it, it could match that. be Ospreay. Yeah, it's definitely a risk. you know Daniel Bryan said it best, dude. Wrestling fans are freaking fickle. and It's far from a guarantee that you can keep the heat and the love that everybody's got for Will Ospreay. Yeah, I mean, what you're you're putting Will Ospreay in Tony Khan's hands to like just like hopefully keep him hot for the next year. you know I know people love Will Ospreay and they'll cheer for him no matter what, but also there's going to be a a sector of the fans that are just like,
00:44:29
Speaker
what the hell are we doing here you know what i mean and we're we're trusting tony khan to do something right and something that makes sense you know so i mean osprey is definitely going be wrestling for that unified title or whatever they end up sticking with he's going to be wrestling whoever is the unified champion at some point i mean i would guess by all out he's either wrestling okada mega for that belt so it there's ways to still do it. I think to keep him hot and swerve is just going to be swerve. No matter what happens, the the loser out of this is definitely will Ospreay. If, if they lose this, like i think swerve is fine. No matter what swerve is fine. And dude, swerve has nothing to prove. I mean, I know, you know, anytime you're not the champion, you know, you're always trying to be the champion again, but like swerve has nothing to prove, dude. He's already been in, you know, at the top of the mountain.
00:45:17
Speaker
um And I mean, so was Hangman. And so was freaking, you know, Moxley, dude. So yeah, like you said, they're the person that's really getting screwed in all this is Will Ospreay. And it may all work out, dude. But like you said, when when Cody lost at freaking 40, I was like, dude, like, that's it, dude. Like, there you know, and he managed to do that.
00:45:35
Speaker
I don't think... that could happen again. you know what I mean? I don't think like that was a very rare, like surprise. Wrestling fans have turned on people for just absolutely no apparent reason whatsoever. do Just one week. We just, everybody just kind of collectively says, right, we're going to start booing this person.
00:45:49
Speaker
I don't like this. It should be in pretty good shape, but yeah, it's not a lot I don't love the stipulations, but having said that, this is still the best booking AEW has done in a really long time. So I'm going to give it some, some leeway and hope it continues.
00:46:03
Speaker
match is gonna be I think the match is be great. I just think, like I said, I mean, like Cessa, it's specific. You need the The stipulations are stupid, dude. I get what they're trying to do. They're just trying to add more stakes to it, but I just don't think it needed it. Like, dude, just go out and watch these dudes have a banger match because they're going to have a banger match. Right. And then what you're doing is you're you're painting yourself into a corner, right? So what if something happens to Hangman?
00:46:27
Speaker
What if something, you know What if he gets hurt? You know what mean? So then you can't go to Will Ospreay because he has to wait a year, you know? So really you're screwing yourself with this stupid stipulation that you're either going to have to men and black people and just pretend like it never happened, you're going to have to punt if something does unfortunately happen to the champ. Blake Christian is going to be the No, stop. 100%. And then you're in a position where you're like, oh, I'm going to have freaking, you know, have...
00:46:49
Speaker
Osprey fight this, you know, obscure asshole for the freaking championship, you know? Um, all right. Jordan mentioned it. We'll go to it next to match for the unified championships. This is the new belt.
00:47:02
Speaker
Uh, you know, I think we thought that this was going to be combining the international and the continental championships to form this new title. But now on the AEW media call, Tony Khan said that, you know, it's just that those, the international continental titles aren't retiring. This is just to unify them.
00:47:18
Speaker
And the lineage of those titles stand intact. And said the winner could even carry all three belts if they want to. Oh my God. So yeah. i don't know if Tony maybe just put his foot in his mouth and was just kind of you know, set fantasize what he wants to see. I mean, dude, early w wwe did the same thing when they did the undisputed title. Like get this has happened before. I mean, this, three though? It's stupid. but I don't think it. I hope he just put his foot in his mouth. That would be the stupidest thing ever. If you're just going to do that, then just let him carry the the international and the freaking continental. Why create a new belt just to have to carry the other two belts? And when Roman was doing it, he was the man. He was the undisputed king. No, no, that's not the one I'm talking about. i'm talking about mid-2000s when they did Oh, yeah, you're right. When dad Daniel Bryan carried two belts and then John Cena, yeah, it went Ray D'Orton, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, and then Brock had him for one night before the new belt was brought. Yeah, I
00:48:06
Speaker
Yeah, they have. But again, that was for the world championship. i don't know if I need to see three belts on the no upper mid-card title. If you're going to carry the two belts, you're like, oh, this is the unified title, right? You're carrying the two belts. But you are creating a new title and still having to carry the other. You i mean, that's like getting new luggage and still fucking carrying your old luggage. I'm thinking maybe he just, I think maybe he just got over his skis on the interview, man. It's true. I don't see him both belts coming. would just It makes zero sense. Too much cocaine. It makes no more sense.
00:48:34
Speaker
So they haven't they haven't unveiled a new title? Yeah, they have a new title like a month ago. Hold on, and I'll pull up a picture. Jordan, how do you see this match going? I think Kenny's got to win. Yeah, Kenny has to win this match. The the longer this has gone on and and the way they ended Dynamite last week, I really feel like Kenny has to win now.
00:48:51
Speaker
He just, yeah, it'd be, I feel like we're i feel like we're lining up for a real babyface kind of afternoon, man. Oh, yeah. Yeah, saw that. Yeah, that was pretty clean. I think we're lining up for a babyface afternoon. i think this is the the first one we see, man. I think Kenny walks out of here as the new champ. I think that's a perfect way to immediately establish this as like a really, really high-end championship. because remember, they said they want this not really to be a mid-card title. this is going be something that's like close, not equal to, but close to like the world championship. you know meaning Kenny keninny is known as the belt collector. Maybe we'll bring the belt collector gimmick back and just have three belts walk around.
00:49:27
Speaker
Can't have two people in AEW doing that gimmick. Who are you picking, Shane? kenney or ah Kenny All right, let's go to what they're calling. AEW's calling this the biggest women's match of all time. i don't know if it's quite that. It is a big one, though. It's probably the biggest. It's definitely the biggest match AEW could put on with the women's division.
00:49:48
Speaker
Timeless Tony Storm against Mercedes Monet. I hate to say it, man. We were on the debate with the Chads a couple weeks back. They're both more hardcore AEW than than even me and Jordan are. I think they really kind of give Tony the benefit of the doubt, man. though To me, the right booking decision is Tony Storm wins.
00:50:08
Speaker
um When I said, you know, they give Tony the benefit of the doubt, talking Tony Khan. I think the right booking decision is Tony Storm wins, but dude, I don't think they came this far for Mercedes Monet, with Mercedes Monet, just to have her her lose this match. Tony Khan is H-A-R-D for Mercedes, dude. She is winning this, dude. At the biggest show of the year, she is winning, dude.
00:50:29
Speaker
I don't necessarily know if the right decision is Tony winning, honestly, at this point, just because of how they booked Mercedes for the last, what is it, two years now? Like, yeah dude, if we come this far and she loses at this point, then what the hell was the point of the last two years to me? like i just You almost kind of shit on the rest of the women's division if you have her lose now. You shit on the TBS championship if she loses. Yeah, like they've got they've gone too far to where, yeah, I'm with you, man. It you could actually do damage if Tony storms. They've shoved it down our throats for two years and now they're just going to be like, ah fuck it, she'll lose this one to Toni Storm.
00:51:02
Speaker
I love Toni Storm. I don't think so, do you? Toni Storm legitimately one of my favorite wrestlers right now and I just do not see any world where it makes sense for her to win this match. yeah and she's I saw a funny one-liner on Twitter. you know they came out with that They came out on one of the various interviews they did this week. Tony Khan said that Mercedes-Benz has absolutely no creative control or no input. I'm the one that makes all the calls. so like The top comment underneath the tweet kind of summarized it said that Mercedes-Benz used her creative control to could make Tony Khan say this. Yeah.
00:51:35
Speaker
Yeah, I can't stand her. She's pretty talented when the bell rings. I'm just not a fan, but unfortunately, I think it's going to be a CEO time on a on Saturday. Yeah. All now the big one, man.
00:51:47
Speaker
Deathriders rules, Texas deathmatch, Jon Moxley against Hangman, dude. Yeah. I main man's winning. Yeah. I, I, you know, a couple weeks ago I was leaning mocks, but as time's gone on, dude, it just, and there's been so much, you know, they've really been pushing in the press this week, you know, all the positive momentum, he's got right now, the good feelings.
00:52:09
Speaker
I just, I don't think they got the stomach to have mocks. When I think that'd be the most interesting thing they could do would have the rain keep going. Cause I think they captured a little, think they're starting to get a little bit of bloodline, Roman reigns energy with this rain that mocks has got going right now.
00:52:22
Speaker
Um, But I just don't, I don't, I don't think that they could deal with some of the negative blow. There's still a ton of fans out there that absolutely hate the Death Riders and don't like mocks. um And for that reason, yeah, I think Heyman's walking out with the belt.
00:52:36
Speaker
dude And it's a Texas death match, dude. what what little in texas yeah In Texas. The fact that they did the Texas death match stipulation, just i mean we're going to see all kinds of shenanigans. I'm imagining some form of the Von Erichs comes out during this match. like dude it It is going to be pure shenanigans, and Hangman has to win at this point. I just, yeah, I mean, how do you keep him down for a 10 count? How do you, you could say face as the good guy.
00:53:01
Speaker
If you get fucked over and get pinned or pass out in a submission hold, you can't really, it's, it's kind of hard to come back from getting put down for a 10 count, man. I feel like you hardly ever see baby faces lose a death match.
00:53:12
Speaker
Yeah. Whatever wins this match is going to be probably something that we've never seen. Cause I, I mean, they're just going to pull out all the stops for this match. It's going to be insane. Do you think we see Bryan Danielson come out in this match?
00:53:27
Speaker
Yeah. We know he's going to be there. Yeah, I do. I think we see him come out, and then I think the coup de grace is going to be Darby, man. I think a combo of Bryan Danielson and Darby Allen helped deliver this belt to Hangman.
00:53:42
Speaker
They need this to have a really strong finish to this pay-per-view, We need like ah a definitive ending, and I just i think Mox winning. No wet farts. Yeah, I just think Mox winning is, i don't know. it just It feels so wrong at this point for him to win this match.
00:53:58
Speaker
It would definitely kind of kill the buzz, man, i as much as i as much I hate to say it. what ah What did you think of them switching to a Texas Deathmatch, dude? Because I was kind of against it. I love that that guarantees the violence, but I would rather see them just do in some other version, you know, make it a Dallas Street fight, some other version of anything goes because...
00:54:17
Speaker
Dude, to me, man, even though it's only been 260 days, it feels like this mox run has been much longer. you know It's been like just so oppressive with the heel energy. I feel like you want that big three-count exclamation point at the end of this. you know I feel like it's hard to kind of get that same thing from you know the ref slowly counting to 10 to ring the bell. I kind of feel like you want that three-count.
00:54:38
Speaker
Well, they might do some crazy shit, dude. No, I mean, there's go there's definitely going to be some crazy violence. I'm just talking about, like, the actual moment that this thing ends, man. I feel like that three counts really what gets the people going on. i I guess it could be fun. The whole crowd counting to ten along with the ref is fun, too. I guess here's my thing.
00:54:53
Speaker
Like, look at some of the matches Mox has had on this run as far as, like, violence and stuff and, like, the things they've had to do and he still didn't lose. I think that's why they added the stipulation because they're going to have to do something that nobody's done to Mox to get him to lose. Like,
00:55:07
Speaker
So in that sense, I get it. And it's like definitive. Like we know what a Texas death match is like. We're not doing just oh death writers rules or whatever you want to call it. I just I think they wanted it to be definitive what this match is going to be and what you're going to see. I think that's the entire reason they did it.
00:55:24
Speaker
Hangman's going to have to like calf rope him and yeah time to the freaking ring post. That legit might be the finish, dude. I can see him getting strung up, man. They did that last time. It was a Texas death match between these two guys.
00:55:34
Speaker
Yeah, I think the other thing about doing a Texas death match, I think that kind of helps spike. That could probably help spike some ticket sales and pay-per-view sales because you pretty much know that's going be the last match of the feud. You know what I mean Texas death match, that's a blow-off type match. That's equivalent to hell in the cell. It's like this is going to be the end-all, be-all. This is going to settle the score.
00:55:52
Speaker
Between these two guys. So it's got that going forward too. Yeah, I hate to say it. Official pick. I want hangman. Hangman. Hangman. All right. Let's go to Saturday night's main event. Really just one match worth discussing. But it's going be interesting. yeah It's going to be fun to see what happens.
00:56:08
Speaker
There's some definitely some some car crash potential in this. And then we also have Seth Rollins kind of hanging around with the money in the bank. How do you guys see Gunther and Goldberg playing out? Um, less than 10 minutes. mean, my heart is telling me that Gunther's going to win, but I mean, you could just never bet against Goldberg, you know? Never bet against Goldberg. His last match, that gives you XP boost. It's in Atlanta. That gives you an XP boost.
00:56:31
Speaker
Dude, the crowd's been behind him, man. I know the internet, the hardcore fans been shitting on him, dude. The live crowds have been losing their minds. They got holy shit chants when Goldberg and Gunther were steering each other down in the ring on Raw.
00:56:41
Speaker
Um... I, again, I, I just can't bring myself to say he's going to beat Gunther. I think we could potentially see Seth and the, the Heyman gang have a role in this to to, end up kind of messing, you know, messing, either messing things up for Goldberg, or maybe he does find a way to steal this and win. Then we get the cash in. don't know. um I'll say if you've gunned to my head, i don't think Goldberg wins.
00:57:05
Speaker
no I think Gunther's going to win. What about you, Jordan? I think Gunther's going to win. You cannot have a 58-year-old pinning Gunther in the middle of the ring on Saturday Night's Main Event. Like, dude... I didn't get what you're saying. The crowd is going wild and the crowd's going to go wild for him on Saturday too. But come on, man. I think that's part of being a, yeah. Part of it being the retirement. Yeah. Like, yeah. mean ah A part-time Well, I mean, not even a part-time guy at this point, like a 58 year old man. He's a legend. Retirement match. Like, dude, if they didn't let flair when his retirement match in WWE, nobody's winning the retirement match in WWE at this point.
00:57:38
Speaker
And think we're all permanently scarred from that Goldberg and Fiend match. But Goldberg was doing some J-O-Bs on this last run. you know, he lost clean to Braun. He lost clean to Roman. Lost clean to Drew McIntyre.
00:57:50
Speaker
Took the fall against Bobby Lashley. So, yeah, he has ever ever since that – it seems like since he beat the Fiend, it's kind of been all downhill for Goldberg for the most part. Yeah. Yeah, maybe this is just one last job ah for the road. But either way, it's going to interesting, man. i think, ah you know, you know WD pays a ton of attention to this stuff. I you guarantee you they got folks.
00:58:11
Speaker
They're probably in the crisis room right now trying to figure out what can we do to kind of turn around some of this kind of negative uh, kind of energy around everything we're doing this weekend. So I, I, and that's typically when WWE's at its best when they're, their backs against the wall. So I think they're going to qui up with some creative to at least get people talking coming out of Saturday night's main event. Hopefully they found a way to format it. So we're not getting commercials every three minutes, like, uh, the last time. God, that was cool.
00:58:35
Speaker
right, and now we already talked about the actual, you know, kind of everything else around the show. Let's go to just the the nuts and bolts. Sunday afternoon, WWE Evolution.
WWE Evolution Speculations
00:58:46
Speaker
um EO Sky versus Rhea Ripley. Any chance EO doesn't, any chance EO walks out with a belt? No.
00:58:53
Speaker
don't know. mean She's had Rhea's number for freaking... Rhea's never beat or you ares never beat way that They're it up too much now, dude. The fact that you can rattle that off off the top of your head, is it spells doom for Io. She hasn't wrestled in two months and she's barely been on TV in the last two months. like They need to get the belt off. Rhea is the... She's probably the number three hottest person in the company at this point. like She has to get the belt back. I know people don't see it.
00:59:22
Speaker
Cody. Cody. Cena. Yeah. Actually, Rhea might be too, honestly. Yeah. Cody's definitely one. I mean, Cody's far and away one. Cody's the man. Yeah. ah you guys think Io and Rhea goes on last? i'm kind of looking at the card right now. and I think so. It has to go. Yeah. Yeah. I think he got it or Tiffany and Trish. Yeah, I could see that. No, Tiffany and Trish was thrown together. Yeah, I feel like Io and go out and give them 20 minutes, man. Give them 20, 25 minutes. Let them tear it down. They could end up having one of the best women's matches of the year.
00:59:52
Speaker
Becky, Bailey, and Lyra is going to be awesome. That's a show stealer. Yeah, that's a potential show stealer. Becky and Bailey got so much history together. lyra can Lyra can kind of be the one to carry the in-ring action. Yeah, I mean, it's not going to be the main event. I think that's the show opener. I think that's how you start that show.
01:00:08
Speaker
Jade and Naomi, no holds barred. That's going to be fun. Trish and Tiff. That's going to be fun. You know, about I always love the battle royal. Yeah. And we've got a fatal four. Yeah. Like, I think this match is going to, this card's going to slap. We've got JC Jane defending the NXT belt against Jordan Grace. All signs point to her winning the belt. Like,
01:00:23
Speaker
Dude, this is... it's it's There's All In, then Evolution, then I feel like it's a distant drop-off for those the other three shows of the weekend after these two. Yeah, this card is good. i just Like I said, it doesn't have the the one match where you're like, all right that's going to sell 5,000 tickets by itself. Yeah.
01:00:41
Speaker
Io and Rhea could have done it. There was more feud, but I feel like it's more... this is kind of just It's going to be a great match, but that's it. There's not a ton of heat behind this match. It doesn't feel like... and Yeah, and we've seen it. You know what I mean? It's not like it you know it's something fresh. Liv and Nikki would have been the ones. It seemed like that's where they really going to put all the the storyline chips behind. It's just a shame that Liv got hurt. Do we think Nikki wins the Battle Royal?
01:01:02
Speaker
a I don't know. It's for a title shot at class of Clash of the Castle, right? Clash in Paris. Clash in Paris, bud. Oh, sorry. No, she's not winning. I don't think so. I think she gets i think she's down to the last two. I think she gets done. I'm probably going to say ah La Primera wins, man. Stephanie Becker. Yeah.
01:01:21
Speaker
Yeah. Or AJ Lee. I'm going right there. They've been posting a lot of AJ Lee stuff on YouTube. CM Punk's hinted at it a couple times. I know. I think she comes in and has a good showing, but she's not. Yeah, she's not going to get a title shot, dude. I think she's going to come in, have a good showing, but I could see Steph... Steph's definitely the most likely to have a ah ah title shot where you're just like, you're not questioning it, you know? Yeah, don't botch this. Tina's making faces at because my stomach is growling right now.
01:01:47
Speaker
Growling. Hungry boy. freaking roaring, dude.
01:01:52
Speaker
hope didn't pick up on the mic, dude. did you hear my Did you hear my stomach growling, Jordan? No, wasn't paying attention, so no. Jesus. All right. um Sheen, you're kind of in the catbird seat, dude, as far as having the opportunity to to watch all this stuff, because I'm leaving going to Kentucky for the weekend. Jordan's going to be on the road. like they You're in prime position, dude. Sheen ain't watching all
Weekend Wrestling Viewing Plans
01:02:15
Speaker
this. There ain't no what is your What is your viewership ah game plan for this weekend? You're the only one of the three of us that you have the potential to watch the most wrestling out of all three of us.
01:02:25
Speaker
we can So what's what's your game plan? Friday night, you got SmackDown and Supercard of Honor. watching both, one or neither. I'm watching SmackDown. Okay. Saturday, you have Great American Bash and All In happening at the same time.
01:02:38
Speaker
I will watch All In. Not even making it a 10-foot screen version. Yeah, I might have a dual screen. Yeah, a dual screen. Are you going to the full two TV setup are you going to have an iPad? No, iPad. iPad.
01:02:50
Speaker
I ain't pulling that TV down. I'd probably do... What we did last time where we had NXT on mute underneath All In and something really... Or underneath Double or Nothing, if something really exciting is happening on NXT, we'd mute. Yeah, I'll have Bash on mute and then, you know.
01:03:04
Speaker
Yeah, you can automate the sound as necessary. All right. And then Saturday night, you got Saturday's main event. You watching that? probably passed out or i mean i'm i i'm not promising i'll be awake but typically when you're away i have this weird insomnia that i like i'll stay up to like three o'clock in the morning so the potential is there for me to watch it like you know completely uninterrupted by sleep and then sunday we should me and the kids should be back in time for evolution so we can all uh i think evolution all in is guaranteed to rock and have a chance to up being in the show of the year I think Evolution is going to great chase here on Sunday evening for that, man. I hope they just show out. think they are, dude. I think that i think the the two takeaways from this weekend is going to be how great All In was and just a celebration of everything that AEW can be. yeah And then that wrestling fans, and not necessarily wrestling fans, that WWE just did a real disservice by putting Evolution on this weekend because I think it's to be a badass show.
01:03:54
Speaker
and i think the ladies obviously they've earned it man but they they definitely this should have been on a weekend all by itself and it could stand on its own because remember the dude the last um time they did evolution it was in a direct response to a saudi show right it was in saudi they still weren't they didn't let the women go and it was like the week after crown jewel and there was like a series like survivor series or helen's house but it was the same type of shit it wasn't quite this loaded but there was like three big wwe shows happening it all around the same time and those that they were They literally had a pay-per-view like every three weeks. And then they had, uh, they had evolution just kind of shoehorned in there in the middle, dude. So yeah, I, I think that's my, I think that's going the big takeaways from the weekend, man. I mean, the good new evolution the good thing about evolution, it's in a typical freaking Sunday night time slot yeah by itself. There's nothing else. You know what i mean? Nothing else going on. i think, I think it's going to get a lot of TV eyeballs, dude.
01:04:42
Speaker
So. all right. What's the number one match you guys are most excited for for the weekend? Hmm. Omega Okada got me to go to all-in.
01:04:53
Speaker
I'll probably say um i want to see Hangman and Mox. I'll say Hangman and Mox. I'm interested to see how it plays out. i got i got some That's my two favorite wrestlers in AEW. Love seeing them going for the belt. But you know i get even with some minor critiques of how they've kind of are gone about getting to the endgame here, I still think it's going to be a ton of fun.
01:05:11
Speaker
ah Jordan, man, one last prediction going the man in the building. Will you be seeing the AEW championship belt on Saturday, man? What do we think is going to happen with this briefcase? Over and over, they made this briefcase such a big plot point.
01:05:24
Speaker
Do we see the belt or do we get the Scooby-Doo ending where he wins all the baby faces and they're celebrating and he goes up in the briefcase and it's just like a a light shining up out of it with nothing else in there, man. and ah Tune in Wednesday night. The tape machines are rolling.
01:05:37
Speaker
What do you think? Do we see the belt or do we not see the belt? I mean, if it's that same briefcase, the belt is not in there. I do not love the the idea of not seeing the belt on Saturday night. Yeah, i'm waiting. Hangman's waiting. Let's just be done with it, dude.
01:05:50
Speaker
Like, I just, i i hate that. as If that's what happens and that's how they close the show... Hopefully that's how Daniel Bryan comes out as he has the belt. Like somehow Daniel Bryan has the belt. I don't know how you work into that, but I'm just hoping somehow he has it because he was in the Death Riders. He knows all Mox's secrets. Like I just, I cannot fucking imagine hang man being in the ring and opening that briefcase and there's no belt. Like I think that would be a wet fart of an ending.
01:06:19
Speaker
Which is very possible. I mean, that's how they could, that's how they could merc it up. You know what i mean? The one thing they could do. They've at the big surprises, man. Remember the exploding barbed wire death match? Yeah. The whole devil storyline. Yeah. And, uh, remember when Chris Jericho went through the table and it was all styrofoam? and yeah they've let us down what i want to see yeah yeah ask sure i want to see him go full scooby-doo on it dude like mox is celebrating like oh we got the briefcase in the real belt here and like he opens it up and it just like explodes with like you know snakes and sparklers and stuff dude and then freaking daniel bryan comes walking out with a real briefcase like he swapped them out before the show wow god
01:06:58
Speaker
I still say we should end it with Chris Jericho. They got Mox tied up and they pulled off they pull off his face, skin, and then somebody else under there the whole time. was Tony Khan the entire time. Khan the entire time. ah We were going do some figure segments, but we're at an hour plus. I say we collapse it. We'll catch up on the figure talk and figure news and reviews next week. Sheen, we got listener mail. Oh, yeah.
01:07:27
Speaker
All right. This is a perfect ah question based on kind of how we've been ah discussing these, these ah shows for this show.
Impact of Attendance on Event Perception
01:07:33
Speaker
Sam Rosenthal, does IWC care too much about attendance?
01:07:37
Speaker
Keep seeing reports about how evolution isn't doing well. How does that affect your viewership from home? it doesn't affect my viewership at all. As long as it's not to the point where like it's noticeably bad on TV, which I've, I've seen some unconfirmed reports that they've already decided they're going to tarp off the upper bowls for evolution and basically push everybody down to the lower bowls and the floor for the show. So I'm sure NWWE can always get creative with how they do the lighting. So I'm sure it's going look fine on TV.
01:08:02
Speaker
As far as it being part of the conversation, dude, we've been conditioned, man. If you were a child of the nineties and grew up in the Monday night wars, like it probably matters way more to us than it does to the actual companies. But dude, we have just been ingrained that that is a straight up metric for how good,
01:08:15
Speaker
the shows are doing, you know, the ticket sales plus the the TV rating. So I don't think it matters as much as it used to, but it's still fun to talk about because it's one of the few like hard line metrics you can look at, like a number you can put to say like, hey, this is how good this thing that I love is or this is how crappy this thing that you love Do you think the newer wrestling fans, do you think that that's something that they even really talk about? Well, WWE, I mean, dude, the winners get to write the history books, dude. And WWE's pounded over our heads with all the different looks at the death of WCW and the Monday Night Wars that it was all about the TV ratings. And Dave Meltzer, you know, it gets engagement also, dude. Like Dave Meltzer, you know, he's one of the biggest AEW shills there is.
01:08:54
Speaker
He owns all this. And Tony Khan, dude. You know, that's why i always kind of like call bullshit whenever like – the hardcore aw fans are like oh you know it's so stupid you guys want to do this dude go back in 2020 and 2021 man tony khan would when he would post his like you know post tweets like thanks for uh you know everybody's support and he would always post the aw and nxt ratings on there dude so they made this part of the conversation i it's not ratings attendance you know mean well it's part of the same thing yeah the no i i hear just the numbers you know i mean so it's definitely part of the convo I like keeping up with it just because it's kind of like an indicator of like how hot or not hot the companies tend to be doing at any point in time. But it makes a difference to me. Again, I've watched every single episode of Ring of Honor this year. True. But I think I think I think the economy can be an indicator as well. you know what mean? I feel like if people aren't going to shows, I mean, it's not because they're not enjoying or watching the product. You know what I mean? Yeah, I think. But I think he's talking more just the comparison between the two companies, not necessarily how, you know.
01:09:48
Speaker
What the overall ticket going public is, which seemed like they seem like live events have kind of been recession proof, honestly, last couple years. know they're always like, this is the biggest gate we've ever had. Like, yeah, you screw you screwed less people for more money. know it always cracks me up when Triple H comes out and announces, you know, this our highest grossing non-Restalmania PLE and everybody's going nuts. That literally just means you guys spent more money than any. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. There's, there's less people in attendance that have been in this building before, but yeah, you guys set the record. Like that's not something to be proud of. Yeah. They put like, you know, 20,000 less people in here. And all of a sudden, you know, there's no, there's no bigger, it reminds me of the Jerry Springer shows when they're like, Oh, you are not the father. And then the whorey mom, like cheers.
01:10:30
Speaker
It's like, um, I don't think that's something you should be cheering about. and Attendance record, something like that. Like, yeah, that's fun. But being part of like the highest grossing, like what the fuck do I care? Come tell me when I got the biggest bang for my buck. but Exactly. And like, now it's a, now it's a joke. It's like a running joke. Like, what is the first thing that triple H mentions? It's the same thing that Dana white does with UFC. Like TKO tells them to do that. They need to mention how big the gate is, but now it's like a running joke. Like,
01:10:58
Speaker
oh we traded company yeah we tell me Tell me when Triple H is going to send me a STEMI check. We absolutely just shit the bed in our main event. Oh, here we go. The gross attendance, the gross um amount we made was $4,800,000. Everybody cheers. And it's like, you guys are idiots.
01:11:13
Speaker
we dump We doubled the ad revenue from this event last year. Oh, God. Yeah.
TNA & Merchandise Talks
01:11:18
Speaker
Anyway, TNT, Tyson Il Trevino. Do you think Mike Santana is the next TNA champion?
01:11:25
Speaker
I mean, maybe, dude. I don't watch TNA close enough to really give a super educated answer on the rise of Mike Santana. I know he's got some buzz. To me, he's still like one half of you know proud and powerful or whatever. I'd i'd probably rather see the belt. Just go back to Joe Hendry.
01:11:41
Speaker
um Zach Herzl. Do you to give Jordan chance to answer? Jordan knows TNA. He's a TNA hardcore. Go, Jordan. i didn't have any I didn't have anything to add about Mike Santana. Yeah, sure. Yeah, he's going win TNT.
01:11:55
Speaker
ah Zach Herzler, are we ever going to get an updated or release ah released Chick-fil-A show chalk line shorts? I think those were a one and a one and done. that was That was pretty labor intensive. yes george Jordan was right there for the ah shipping operations. That was a pretty big...
01:12:11
Speaker
Pretty big event, man. Yeah. don't know. We kind of stopped doing We kind of, the other thing is, dude, we kind of hit all the big, like, fake logos. You what mean? We could probably a reissue really easy. We could maybe take the temperature on that. But don't know. As fun as that was, man, and shout out to our friends at Chalkline make that happen. Yeah, for doing that. That was super cool of them to that. Be proud if you have those. As far as I know, that's still the rarest set of Chalkline shorts ever put into production.
01:12:34
Speaker
um But yeah, I don't know, man. The jury's out on if we do do a part two or not. uh tony barker what's on the menu for this super packed weekend of the graps so already heard jordan's menu i'll be up in kentucky with family yeah i'll be doing i don't know don't know in the past you'd always do you up a steak usually up steak and potatoes i usually uninterrupted all by yourself yeah i usually get a a good ah a good steak out of the freezer and cook it up but i don't know you know like got my kitchen all clean i don't have any kids here you know what i mean a blackstone outside
01:13:07
Speaker
True. i could do that on the Blackstone. I don't know. The jury's out. Shows in Texas, man. I think i think that'd be awesome, do i think I think the Foley fan would love seeing you enjoy a little solo, nice nice steak dinner where still learn to watch all it. Solo.
01:13:19
Speaker
Solo. I love you. ah Yeah, I might do that. I might do ah taken and ah some sort of steak and tater situation. Sheena's going to be taking a nap by the last hour of all in. I can already, I already know her credit. If she starts watching on zero hour, i would not, and even money if she makes it to the opening bell on the main show.
01:13:38
Speaker
ah No, I'm telling you, like, Sheena does, look she's a good ass wrestling fan, dude, but I think she's much more, you know, she, like she's, you you feel free to counterpoint. I think she loves, she likes AW a lot, but she's definitely more of a WWE fan. just Oh yeah. i don't think that's, that's not a hot take. That product lends itself to her fan little bit.
01:13:56
Speaker
I mean, same for me, too. I love both, but they're in a lot closer. Yeah, I like it. I like AEW a lot. But yeah, i mean, if I mean, there's just there's so much to watch now. I mean, and I'm just I'm getting older. my mom, my mom, ah body and brain and energy just doesn't have a one critique on the AEW paper. We talked about this before, too.
01:14:12
Speaker
Every single match goes balls to the wall, which is great. You know, you get your money's worth, but it can get a little same sometimes in the middle. Yeah, you're just totally like numbed out by the middle. you You don't get the same ebbs and flows that you get on a WWE show. Yeah, but like I said, when when Seth is away, you know, like he spent a lot of time in his ah career traveling away from home and stuff like that. And typically when he's not here, um something kicks in. Like, i because I'm a person, like I can i could sleep at any moment, right? Like I could, you know, take a nap and fall asleep if I have to.
01:14:40
Speaker
um But... When he's not here, I have like an insomnia kicks in and I can, I can stay up. I don't know what, what, what it is, but, um, maybe I'll get to watch this entire show. I'll keep you guys posted. If you, see if you see me disappear out of the live thread, you'll know what happened.
01:14:53
Speaker
We'll put, we'll put Sheena's, uh, cell phone number on the, uh, on, at the top of the live thread. And if she doesn't comment every 10 minutes, they everybody start blowing her up. Um, Let's see here. oh speaking of that, Johnny JB, do you guys watch every show of WWE and AEW or do you catch up through YouTube recaps? This year, I've said a couple times, man, I've watched every episode of Raw, SmackDown, NXT, NXT,
01:15:19
Speaker
aw dynamite aw collision and honor club last year i was much more on um just doing the youtube highlights and um you know read a lot of recaps dude but i have found just watching the shows myself and it's i'll catch little bits over here and there but every you know now and then but i
Online Negativity & Viewing Habits
01:15:36
Speaker
stay away from basically all like reviews of wrestling shows anymore just watch them own formula my own opinions and I found it way more enjoyable. Yeah, like we talked about this before, dude. I feel the same way. When I watch the show, I feel like I can enjoy it and find something good about it. And then you go online and just like people... People shitting all over it.
01:15:55
Speaker
There's a certain segment of fans that they're going to hate every single thing AEW does no matter what. And same thing WWE does no matter what. they like Logan Paul nailed it. That quote he said. He said, if I walked on water, you guys would complain that I wasn't swimming. There's wrestling fans or like that for the two companies, man. I'd rather just enjoy everything there's things i don't like about each company but there's that there's way more things i love about each company and it's been fun and now don't get me wrong i'm not like straight up locked in eyes glued to the tv for every minute but sometimes i'll have it kind of streaming on the laptop while i'm playing madden or ncaa or something on xbox but i have managed to catch every single weekly tv show and i've enjoyed wrestling this year more than i ever have that's across both companies
01:16:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think when you're allowing other people to infiltrate your opinions and stuff, because sometimes you start to question. You're like, you start to think like, well, shit, are they right? You know, and maybe they are right about this. And they kind of it kind of sways how you feel about the product. I mean, I just think everybody else is wrong and I'm the one that's right. I mean, but Jordan, i believe we have no comment. We're just going to go ahead and leave that. crew If I'm the one person that likes an angle and everybody else hates it, it's just that nobody else got it and I was the only one that Jesus Christ, shit's getting deep. My God. Jordan, what's what's your normal watching, dude? I know you're not you're not quite as deep into it as I am nowadays, man. What's what's your normal, like your week-to-week viewing habits, man? How much wrestling are you taking in? How much are catching up on social media? I haven't watched a full Raw since the debut on Netflix.
01:17:23
Speaker
ah I haven't watched a full SmackDown in probably five years. You haven't watched a full SmackDown in five years? He hasn't watched a since Vince was there, dude. I just... i'm Guys, it's Friday night.
01:17:37
Speaker
SmackDown has been... Hold on, hold on, hold on. He's not a homebody. That's true. I mean, yeah, you are going and going. I am not a homebody. You have to remember, don't stay at home as much as you guys. I just continue going. There's a concert something, or go out with my friends. Like, I do a lot of stuff...
01:17:53
Speaker
at night during the weekend weekend so i don't have time just to sit around and watch smackdown and raw aw i try to at least quickly watch each episode i dvr it and then i watch it that way like if there's something that might end collision or just dynamite collision i do not watch like that if there's something good on collision i'll watch it but i do not watch it like that and i've watched zero hours of ring of honor in the last two years so Dude, the big problem is for both companies, they have made it so... They've made the TV products so disposable, dude. They both... I feel like they both go overboard by showing basically every single big angle or highlight that happens. It's on Twitter, like yeah in like instantly, you know? And I guess that's that's where the eyeballs are and you're better off just putting it there, but...
01:18:37
Speaker
I feel like if they you know showed a little bit less, maybe give a little teaser, you know like, hey, this crazy thing happened. Tune into the Dynamite Replay on Max right now to to check it out. like I feel like you maybe get a handful more people watching, but I don't know, man. it's just it's You could 100% not watch any of it and stay like you know almost all the way knowing every single thing that's happening just by following on Twitter.
01:19:00
Speaker
yeah I know, but I just, I feel like that, I feel like that's a ah discussion of the greater like degradation degradation of our like, yeah, ADHD and not being able to like sit and focus and enjoy anything longer than, you know, 140 characters. You know what i mean? Like, uh...
01:19:16
Speaker
That's it. That's ah again, a wormhole for another day. Johnny JB. I wasn't watching wrestling when Michelle McCool was wrestling, but I feel like she wasn't a big of an impact on the wrestling world for her to be a hall of famer and have a spot on LFG. Am I wrong?
Wrestling Legacy & Nostalgia
01:19:29
Speaker
Or is she getting these things because of taker? Sam Rosenthal chimed in and said a hundred percent taker. Yeah. agree with Sam and Johnny JB. I'm right there with him. Dude. It goes beyond LFG. You know, Undertaker has had a pretty nice little podcast, man. If you guys have been listening to six feet under yeah over the last year, it's a fun listen.
01:19:43
Speaker
he moved his show over to the WWE's official podcast channel. And as a part of that, he got rid of his co-host and Michelle McCool is a co-host now. I was telling Sheena, like, yeah, his co-host was one of the best parts of the show, man. Like he was like the Conrad to Undertaker's Bruce. And like, they just had a nice chemistry. his He had like, he was just a good podcaster. it was a nice flow to it, man. And now it's just like, it's bad. Yeah.
01:20:04
Speaker
it's It's a hard list. Taker needs somebody. Taker needs somebody with a little bit more fear like pizzazz. Yeah. and i feel like michelle mccool like she's never going to like ask the hard questions to take her you know what i mean like she's never going to like funny stuff dude all just like dude like again not to go like anti-chick but it was just ah some good guy humor on the other one man and like if you go on like the reviews on spotify or apple like people are shitting all over i feel like they could have added her and also kept him yeah spring if you want to if you want to have michelle mccool on there cool dude but i don't know why yeah very mccool
01:20:36
Speaker
I don't know why you had to get rid of the original co-host, man. Cause he, in a lot of ways, he kind of made the show. So are you guys saying that lay cool did not move the needle for you guys? Do you even know is? do still think if they can get them, if they can get them on a legends deal, I think we need the, uh, the best friends women's championship, man. That would be a cool release. Michelle McCool was not getting it done in the ring. She somehow won woman's wrestler of the year in 2010 though. I,
01:21:02
Speaker
I know you guys were out on wrestling at that time, but I completely blanked her even being a remote competitor. Bad. bad Yeah.
01:21:13
Speaker
Zach Hertzler, what event are you looking forward to most? I'm going to say... think we're all in. All in with Evolution at close second. Close second. Yep. And last question, Sam Rosenthal, what is your thoughts on the legends taking spots on shows? Goldberg has been very love-hate. Looks like Evolution didn't invite many previous female stars.
01:21:33
Speaker
I think for you got to tell the guys the current roster make it undeniable, dude. Get over it enough to where it doesn't even seem like an option for them, man. They're always going to go with what makes money. somebody so Especially now. some Somebody somewhere said the biggest money-making match we can put on the Saturday Night's Main events, Goldberg versus Goffey. I feel like with the, you know...
01:21:51
Speaker
this merger that we've seen in just like ah just becoming a part of a bigger machine i feel like we're going to see less and less legends that yeah feel like it's gonna be i say the last couple wrestlemanias it's been less and less part-timers you go back through like wrestlemania 30 through 35 dude like almost every other match had a part-timer man you know obviously it was the brock was a big part of that but she'd have triple h coming back for a match every year you know we had batista coming back at wrestlemania 35 yeah You know, it's obviously front and center with Goldberg and a big match on Saturday night, but I feel like the part-timers coming back has been a lot less of a thing the last couple years. Well, the good news is they're aging out now, too. Like, we yeah we can't have a 65-year-old out there wrestling on SummerSlam. I mean, they'll do it, but...
01:22:32
Speaker
just That's the reason why Goldberg's had this run, man. He's one of the few from that era who kind of like, you know, obviously he had a lot. He had he was probably had the lowest mileage of most of the guys for that time frame. But he's one of the few that's still in good enough health and took good enough care of himself that, ah you know, you can still kind of bring it back for these things. and He's at least passable.
01:22:50
Speaker
Most of those guys are broke down. So I would say enjoy it while it's here. cause i think it's going to be one of the things you miss. And okay, so I have a question. So do you guys think that as as wrestling progresses along, like that we're going to lose the nostalgia that like we have? You know what I mean? Like, do you think this current generation of like new wrestling fans that are coming in, young people that are watching wrestling and grow up with wrestling?
01:23:13
Speaker
Do you think that they're going to have the level of like nostalgia and stuff that we have for like superstars or like stars of the past? You know what i mean? Like, I feel like going to be a totally different vibe. The only people that really got. So in that era, if you want to Ruth's aggression era, I think the only people that got that big.
01:23:29
Speaker
with Cena, right? Which it looks like Cena's never come back. Orton's still in his prime. Orton was so young when he came in. Like, I think we're, I think we're a decade away from the Randy Orton, like, legends run. Yeah. No, but I'm, I'm saying, do you, but do you think like, do you think that that's even going to be a thing that happens? I think it will be. It'll be less, it won't be the same because,
01:23:47
Speaker
There's more stuff to pick from now. you know what i mean? Like wrestling was just way bigger when we were kids than it is. but But yeah, I think there's always – nostalgia is always going to be a thing. Yeah, but I feel like there's just less – like you're not going to see – like the video packages and stuff, they don't like play up like, you know, the same kind of – We don't have a Stone Cold in the Rock right now.
01:24:07
Speaker
like du Yeah, we don't just not gonna don't talk about a lot of stuff that happened in the past, I feel like. You know what i mean? like It's kind of like whatever's happening now, like whatever the current thing that's happening is like what's happening. But it's like when they're talking about... I got to disagree, man. Go back and watch that promo, that video that played before Seth, Roman, and CM Punk. I knew you were going to say Seth. I think Seth and Roman are probably the exception, but like, they're like two people of like, you know, here's, here's Roman and Brock. I think when Roman is done, he's done though. Like, I don't think Roman's going to do this thing where he just hangs around for an extra 10 years just because like, I think when Roman's done, he's done, done. And like, that's the biggest star of this era.
01:24:46
Speaker
ah got Everything we've seen from that and everything we've, that he he's an extremely private person. Everything we've seen is Roman is like an extremely like down to earth, like just balanced dude. Yeah, I agree, Jordan. I think he's more than content to kind of do the stray movie roles here and there. And he's got like six kids. Yeah, spend time with his wife and kids and family. I mean, you can already tell like his part-time role is way more part-time than the guys we're talking about right
Future of Wrestling's Big Names
01:25:10
Speaker
now. Like, yeah. When The Rock and Stone Cold went to their part-time-ish role, we still saw him at least once a month that at most times. like
01:25:18
Speaker
Roman is completely different. Roman's continued to show up a dozen times year. When he's done, he's he's done. i don't think we're going to get a nostalgia Roman run in 15 years where he's just wrestling on SummerSlam just because. I don't think we're getting that out of him.
01:25:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think Seth could be the guy. You know what I mean? He might not do it as as much as Roman, like just straight it up get out. But I think when him and Becky just decide they're done, I think they're both going to be done too. like i yeah But do you think the new gen of wrestling fans are going to like, you think they're going and like, oh I have to rematch? You know, those those matches that we've watched like a hundred times, dude.
01:25:53
Speaker
Do you think that they have those, that they're going be like, oh, yeah, we're going to go back and watch this match? I think so. Like, Seth, Roman, and Brock from SummerSAM 2022. Yeah, there's going to be matches they go back and watch. Everybody's got that. I guarantee the people, the wrestling fans that, like, talk to Tom Montalto. He probably thinks we're dumb for going back watching matches from the and 2000s. He was watching the and 80s stuff, man. So, like, I guarantee you, Shane, I get what you're saying, right? But there were probably Bruno Sammartino fans who were saying the same thing in the late 70s. Like, man.
01:26:22
Speaker
nobody's ever going to look back on wrestling the way that we're looking back on this Bruno run. You know what mean? think that's just part of... I guess it's super philosophical. i think she's part of getting older. My biggest counterpoint to that is the reason that everybody goes back and watches these matches is because these guys are on shows and they bring them up all the time. Like, yeah, yeah I just don't feel like as these guys in this era age out, if they're going to get brought up as much. Like they've never let us forget the attitude era and the ruthless, ruthless aggression era. Like we're always going to remember that in the Monday night wars era. They still talk about it all the time. Like, It's going to take – what it's really going to take is somebody – it's going to take Seth taking over for Triple H, right? Whatever whatever that might be. you know i mean? Whoever the next guy taking over. Yeah, I agree. as long as
01:27:07
Speaker
As long as Triple H and Sean are two guys running things from the wrestling standpoint, yeah, that's always – that 95 to 2005 is always going to be era that gets horrified. Yeah, because what do you ever hear them, like, mention from, like, the PG era? You know what I mean? Where it's just like, oh, my God. You know what mean? And they don't mention – They don't mention very much from the Hulkamania era, dude. It's really like new gen through early ruthless aggression is what gets the most nostalgia pub, dude. Obviously, that was a tremendous run for wrestling, but I also think that that's heavily colored by that was Triple H and Shawn's glory years, and they're the two people in charge.
01:27:41
Speaker
But no, I think the guys, I mean, to me, dude, I've been watching this stuff forever. I think wrestling right now is better than it's ever been. and Like if you told me like I could only lock in, like I would watch, I would take what we got right now. And I think these guys are going to, they're going to live on. it No, I'm not saying, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying that that what we're watching isn't good or these guys aren't talented. I'm just saying, do you think like pee fans today are going to feel about wrestling, how we feel about wrestling? hundred percent.
01:28:07
Speaker
what Brett grew up with. When Brett goes back and thinks, he's going to be thinking about Finn Balor and the Judgment Day and stuff. He's not going to go up and be like, oh, let me watch the stuff that my mom and dad watched when they were kids, man. Why wouldn't they?
01:28:20
Speaker
I don't know. i just i' It's just a question that I posed. I feel like it's just different now. Things move so much faster now and things are... It may not exactly the same, but yeah. they so The other thing is is they bring in so much young talent because of NXT that like the i mean when the top of the card does eventually change, which it's going to...
01:28:37
Speaker
like Those guys are going to be so young at that point. like i yeah I just feel like this era is just so much different now because they cycle in 100 NXT wrestlers over a three-year span.
01:28:49
Speaker
We didn't have that. We had OVW classes where they brought up five people, and like that was the five people you saw for like a four-year span until they you never saw you never saw those people who were who never only in OVW but never quite made it the main roster. But yeah, there's so many people down there who are like decent NXT acts who have almost no chance of going anywhere on the main roster.
01:29:11
Speaker
But we're still seeing them and they're kind of like in the collective consciousness. Well, and I think that's another thing maybe why I'm feeling this way is because the the spectrum is so broad, right? Like I feel like, you know, when we were like our nostalgia is for kind of like a very like small sector of wrestling, right? Because there was a lot of Indian stuff going on then, but it wasn't so high. Yeah, well, you didn't see it, right? So you were seeing WWE, you were seeing WCW.
01:29:32
Speaker
But like now you can watch anything, right? So you can watch anything at any given time. So like the the level of like collective nostalgia, I think, is going to be a lot less. It's going to be a lot more watered down. That's a totally totally fair point. But I think as far as the actual like the core wrestling fans...
01:29:48
Speaker
I think it's going look pretty similar to how yeah we look. But yeah, it definitely won't be. i I think another thing that's noticeable, especially with with our um age of fans, is like we we do talk about like, oh, man, we need like a Brooklyn brawler figure and stuff like that.
01:30:01
Speaker
I find it really hard to believe in 20 years people are gonna be like, oh, man, we need an Andrade figure like a. a legendary Andrade figure or like. Well, we're spoiled from a wrestling figure standpoint because they're they're making so much more stuff, dude. Like back in the day, like you might get 16 to 18 figures for an entire year, like in the LJN and Hasbro years, you know what I mean? Or like Mattel is pumping out in one year what Hasbro would do in two or three. or like when they would do like the gimmick battle Royals on WrestleMania and stuff like that stuff would excite us. Like, I just don't think that that's going to happen in 20 years where people are like, Oh shit. Like i said, Andrade's back. Oh shit. Look, it's Chad Gable 20 years later. I just, i don't think you're going to get that again.
01:30:39
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Um, seeing anything else. Nope, that was a good one to end on. Yeah, great batch of listener mail, guys. Jordan, you're going to be the man on the road, dude. His with some closing thoughts and we'll get out of here. Yeah, I'll enjoy my Texas weekend.
01:30:53
Speaker
It's only supposed to be like 91 degrees, so they must have known I was coming because I was assuming it was going to be like 110 all weekend. And also, Tony, I have to share this funny story.
01:31:03
Speaker
Tony thought that the stadium we were going to was open air and we're gonna be sitting outside and I just yeah i've been roasting. Yeah, going to happen. Anyway, you guys have a good weekend. Enjoy your wrestling. Try not to get overindulged in wrestling this weekend.