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Episode 9: Will I Get Blood On Me? Will It Be Very Indie?
62 Plays8 years ago
Join our hangout as the we discuss the weeks controversial wrestling issues, Ring of Honor 16th Anniversary, the New Japan Cup, Wrestlemania and maybe even Hurricane Heist!
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Transcript
Introduction and Brock Lesnar Jokes
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Predetermined, a Pro Wrestling Hangout. I'm your host, Garrett Callender. And with me, as always, a man who even the Undertaker fears, because unlike Brock Lesnar, low blows do not affect him. At all. Derek Halpin. Low blows don't affect me? I mean, they took down Brock Lesnar, and since he's basically your personal jobber at this point, I thought that maybe that would make you sound tougher. Brock Lesnar's my personal jobber.
00:00:29
Speaker
I think in your mind he is. Fuck yeah. He is now. Yeah. Like, I mean, honestly, you'd probably win just by default because he didn't show up. You know, I'm starting to develop a reputation as a guy who outrageously claims he can beat the shit out of Brock Lesnar. And one of these days I might actually run into him and I hope to fuck. He hasn't heard about everything I've said. He's like, I have been listening to pre-determined a pro wrestling hangout and you know what? I don't believe you.
00:00:58
Speaker
You don't make Brock Lesnar sound Irish. You don't look like I imagined you'd look. Yeah, he does sound a little Irish. I guess he's like an Irish Canadian guy. I never said accents were my thing. Make you take a trip to Suplex City because it's magically delicious. Goddamn it. Hit our goddamn music. And there it is again where I said goddamn it twice in the intro. That's our gimmick now. Hit our music.
Stray Cat Chaos and Movie Madness
00:01:59
Speaker
Oh, man. Well, so what do we got on tap this week, my man? What's going on? Honestly, a lot happened this week in pro wrestling, but I do need to also I need to go ahead and just say this before we get going too much. I let you remember last time when I said there was a whole thing where I let a stray cat in during the pay per view. Yes, I have a stray cat in my apartment right now.
00:02:23
Speaker
What are you doing? Are you turning into like the crazy cat lady? Yes. That is me now. You're just you're just bringing in homeless cats off the street. So there's a homeless cat in front of me and my cat here and they are not getting along. So this is just like a little cage match inside of the podcast. So if you hear yelling, it is this I'm trying to I'll try and make it better, though.
00:02:44
Speaker
I really hope it gets worse. Hey, I don't. I just want it to be, I think it'll be more entertaining for everyone listening if they can hear like a cat royal rumble going on in the background. I promise you that that will happen at some point. There's no way it won't. They were already arguing during the intro. But before we get talking about wrestling, I saw the movie Hurricane Heist over the weekend. Twice. What do you know about that movie? Not a thing. I've only heard you reference it on social media.
00:03:14
Speaker
It is basically Fast and the Furious with the addition of Wind. All right. Just a really windy heist movie. And it is absolutely dumb as hell. And I loved it to death. Is there anybody in it that I know? Not a person. Actually, no. No, there's no one in this movie you know. I was getting ready to say something, but you've not seen True Blood, I promise.
00:03:36
Speaker
I definitely haven't. Yeah, I knew that. Just from knowing you. I knew you did not sit down and watch six seasons of a vampire soap opera. But you did give me the courtesy question of what do you know about Hurricane Heist? Answer, nothing. Maybe you saw a trailer. So I did go see it twice, the first time only person in the theater laughing like a goddamn madman the whole time.
00:04:00
Speaker
It was the best movie experience I've ever had. Second time I went, an old man two rows in front of me masturbated. That's how good this movie is.
00:04:09
Speaker
Now I've heard you talk about this in the last 24 hours. Are you positive he was masturbating and what evidence do you have? Well, he was sitting two rows in front of me and a little to the left so we could see between the seats. I was with my friend Jane who actually went to WrestleMania 32 with me. So this ties into wrestling somehow. But I looked and I noticed he had his feet up on the seat in front of him barefoot.
00:04:35
Speaker
He had both socks in his hands. Socks down in the crotch region. He was either shaking a pancake or masturbating. It's really hard to say. One of the two. It was one of the two, and the movie is that good.
00:04:52
Speaker
I mean, there is a scene and just say, OK, the movie basically starts out the exact same as Twister. But as the kids are looking into the sky and the clouds are rolling in a skull forms in the clouds. And at that point, I pumped both fists in the air and said, let's do this. I knew I knew what I was in for. Did you do that the second time? Yes.
Podcast Expansion Announcement
00:05:13
Speaker
The old guy. Did the guy do that before he started jerking off?
00:05:16
Speaker
You know it took him probably 40 minutes of the movie before he's like you know what I'm good. I'm good to go Let's get this going. He said let's do this. Let's get this party going This is a weird fucking story to start the show. Yeah, it's like five minutes in they're like What are they talked about cats and a hurricane heist have they even mentioned pro wrestling everybody? This is a pro wrestling podcast happy Thursday. We do release this on Thursdays and
00:05:39
Speaker
Thanks for listening. Thanks everybody who started joining in from Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play. We're on all the things now. So if it was somebody's excuse that we weren't on that thing and that's why we weren't listening, we're on it now. Listen. No more excuses. Rate, review, subscribe. I love you. Thanks new people for joining.
00:05:59
Speaker
And we have some new international listeners too from what I
Upcoming Wrestling Events
00:06:02
Speaker
understand. Yeah, I'm starting to see dots pop up all over the globe. It's feeling good. I'm happy we've got wrestling fans from everywhere. Hopefully we can come enjoy wrestling in your town sometime soon. Shout out to the people listening in Sweden and Brazil. Speaking of!
00:06:17
Speaker
I got you a just speaking of going to live wrestling. I actually got us a little present this afternoon. Oh, yeah. So the weekend of May 13th, Derek and I are attending Ring of Honor New Japan show in Chicago front row. It's going to be great. Well, turns out the night before there's another show in the same town.
00:06:41
Speaker
because it's a little outside of Chicago. It's like Villa Park or something like that. It is called GCW Game Changer Wrestling. I believe it is, somebody told me, Metal Dave actually should get a shout out for pointing this out to me. These tickets went on sale. He said that Joey Janela has something to do with it. Are you familiar with Joey Janela? I'm not, but shout out to Metal Dave. Yeah, thank you, Metal Dave. So you and I will be sitting front row with Metal Dave and his friends at Game Changer Wrestling.
00:07:10
Speaker
Which is a deathmatch league or Federation Am I gonna get blood on me? I don't think you're not going to get blood on you I can't guarantee you that you're not gonna get glass in your eyes. I can't is this Let me ask this question because this is important our listeners care about this kind of information
00:07:27
Speaker
Is this show very indie? Joey Janela is actually a pretty, he's starting to come up pretty big in the indie world. He has a, last year he had a show, Mania Weekend, called Joey Janela's Spring Break that got a lot of buzz. This year he's doing Joey Janela's Spring Break too. I will be at that, it's at midnight. I think that, I think we're gonna see some really cool stuff out of him. I don't know anything about any other guy on this card.
00:07:55
Speaker
So you're saying it's very endy. It could be very endy. Am I gonna lose a beer over this? You might lose a beard over this. I don't- We're in the front row and I'm assuming it's gonna be a lot of sharp objects. I'm in a beer.
00:08:10
Speaker
I knew what you meant because you were referencing Uncle Biff stealing my beer. That's what I was worried about. I was afraid of Uncle Biff just based on his size and cleanliness. I'm more afraid of this because everybody's gonna have weapons. Hey, is this one of those shows where we're allowed to bring a weapon? We'll see when it gets taken away at the door or not.
00:08:35
Speaker
Oh man, now I have time to see if I can bring something obscure to be used as a weapon at a wrestling event, which has been one of my goals. Or build something obscure, bring them something that really confuses them and they don't know if they should use as a weapon.
00:08:50
Speaker
So hey, so on that note, because this is relevant, I'm breaking this to you right here live on the podcast. I saw Cody Rhodes tweeting earlier today and somebody was asking him again when they were going to make the tickets available for the All In event in September.
00:09:06
Speaker
And one of the ideas he had tossed out was all the people who bought a hotel package would get early access to tickets. But another thing he said is they're contemplating giving early access to tickets for the people who are going to that Ring of Honor show in May that we are going to. Really? Correct. So we might be able to buy them at Ring of Honor potentially.
00:09:29
Speaker
I don't know if we'll be able to buy them at Ring of Honor or it'll be a situation where they provide like a pre-sale code or something specifically for us. But if you scroll back through Cody Rhodes' Twitter, he definitely says that they're contemplating doing that for the All In show for everyone who goes to Ring of Honor in May. So maybe lucky for us. I hope that's true. The hotel thing worries me a little bit because I saw they already sold out of the hotel packages.
00:09:58
Speaker
Oh yeah, no, the hotel thing isn't a factor. I'm not getting a fucking hotel because I already live up here, but... I actually considered it. Yeah. Because I'm driving up. Why not get the full experience? Why not spend the whole time in that town? Unless they get another hotel, you're fucked. Well, it sounded like they were considering adding a second, but that... Ugh. Every day until I have tickets to this event is going to stress me the fuck out.
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, you should be. I want to be at it so bad. Look at how, like we were just saying, look at how quickly the hotel sold out. That's not even the event. Yeah, that's not even tickets to the event. That does not include a ticket. That is people buying a hotel room for a thing they hope they can go to. Just to be in town. That shows you how big this show is. I hope everyone can be at this. And by everyone... We've already kind of pointed this out. They really, really, really could have booked a bigger venue.
00:10:50
Speaker
unless we end up being wrong. And it turns out there was really just six or seven people and those were the only hotel rooms. And it's just going to be us in an empty arena. No, I think that's wrong, too. It felt wrong as I said it. No, it's going to be a pain in the ass getting tickets for that. And I think anybody who's listening to this, if, yeah, if you're planning on coming into town and to Chicago for that in September, let us know. Well, you've got a place to stay on Derek's floor.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, you don't know where I'm gonna be living, so. But I know where I'll be living. And you're not invited. Since we're still talking about all in, did you watch this week's Being the Elite?
Feuds and Streaming Issues
00:11:29
Speaker
I have not. I've had a busy few days. We had an opportunity to see something that has been one of my favorite story builds over the span of several weeks. And that is Hangman Page and Joey Ryan.
00:11:44
Speaker
Joey Ryan's been locked up in his house drinking his own urine. Hangman Page has been accusing Joey Ryan of being a penis pretender and saying that he actually does not have a powerful penis, that it's all make pretend, make believe. It's predetermined. It's predetermined. But at Joey Ryan's show, bar wrestling in Baldwin, I believe it's in Baldwin Hills in LA,
00:12:10
Speaker
In the middle of a match, the elite showed up. Hangman Page walked into the ring and called out Joey Ryan. He grabbed his dick. Hangman got flipped. Turns out he is not a penis pretender. I never thought he was.
00:12:30
Speaker
Oh man, who are you cheering for in that scenario? I think I'm going with Joey just because his affiliation with Candace, but I really liked Hangman's determination to prove that he actually couldn't flip somebody with his dick. You know, it shouldn't be surprising because you didn't let Hangman Page sign your program from Wrestle Kingdom. Obviously, you're biased. I have since decided if I see Hangman Page again, I will have him sign the Wrestle Kingdom program.
00:12:59
Speaker
You have not changed your mind. Yes, I have. Do you feel bad? Well, what made me change my mind is it was on, what, like two weeks ago, the Ring of Honor show where he did a moonsault out of the balcony at the Manhattan Center. Yeah. That was pretty good. I was like, all right, you can sign my thing, man.
00:13:17
Speaker
You could have him sign something, but I wouldn't have him sign your program. Well, I don't know. There's just, we've talked about it so much at this point that I feel like it would mean more to me if he did sign it than if he didn't. I've really come around on wanting Hangman Page to sign that program. Are you becoming a mark for Hangman Page? I think all the dick talk has done it. Like him having like a five week feud about whose dick is better and people actually being super into it. Yeah.
00:13:47
Speaker
WWE needs to take some notes from what's going on with that storyline. More dick storylines, please. More dicks. Actually, I'm trying to think of other dick storylines, and the only one that comes to mind is the Viagra on a pole match. I've told you, the Valvina storyline. Oh yeah, there was a dick cut off. There's been a lot of dick storylines, I guess. And they all work perfect. Either way, I hope that at all in, we're gonna be seeing Hangman versus Joey. I think if we actually got to see a full match, it would be really funny.
00:14:18
Speaker
Yeah. I'm into it. I hope that happens. Me too.
00:14:23
Speaker
Did you happen to watch any of, there was just so much wrestling this weekend, it was really hard to keep up with you. Yeah, you had to do pay-per-views three nights in a row. And I'll be completely honest, I didn't get to watch all of the New Japan stuff. And I did, let's start by talking about the Ring of Honor pay-per-view. This, it wasn't necessarily the first one that you could use their streaming service for, but it was kind of the first big one at least that people, a lot of people bought the package for it.
00:14:53
Speaker
because they kind of did the same thing as the WWE Network. It's 10 bucks a month, but in order to do the pay-per-view thing, you have to pay the whole 120 bucks up front. Didn't love that.
00:15:04
Speaker
So they basically wanted a deposit, they wanted your commitment. Exactly. You could still get the pay-per-views, otherwise you could pay like 10 bucks a month, but then they would charge you half price for the pay-per-view, so you're paying 10 bucks a month plus an additional 17 for the pay-per-view, if you did it that way. I just didn't want to deal with that. But either way, first show that Ring of Honor put on, it did not go super well as far as the stream goes. Like the quality of it wasn't good?
00:15:33
Speaker
their website crashed. Not everybody was locked out, but a good amount of people were locked out. I actually ended up missing the first... Now that I'm looking at it, I'm thinking the other two matches that I missed may have been pre-show matches, but I did miss the first actual match, which was Takahashi versus Flip Gordon. Still haven't had a chance to go back and watch it. I came in during Marty Skurll versus Punishment Martinez.
00:16:00
Speaker
Punishment Martinez every single time I watch that guy is just getting better and better Is he getting better because I know when we saw him over this past summer, he seemed like he botched a couple things Yeah, I mean I It's interesting the pairing with him with Marty is Marty the face in that scenario. I
00:16:19
Speaker
I guess so just because he's Bullet Club or the Elite. Because I think Elite's kind of at a point where it doesn't really matter what they do, they're just the NWO, they're gonna get cheered. Punishment though, definitely has the heel vibe to him. There's just something in my mind when I look at him and the way he moves that I have to think, I feel like this is what they want Roman Reigns to be like.
00:16:46
Speaker
You think so? Don't they have a similar build or is punishment bigger? Punishment kind of reminds me a little bit of Baron Corbin. Okay, that's way better. I think I meant that. Let's edit out the part where I said Roman and say Baron Corbin. Except this guy's doing flips and he's flying over the top rope. There was a move where he did a flip and basically landed with his back on Marty's face. He cut open his eye.
00:17:14
Speaker
Ouch. Oh, is that the shot I saw online of Marty saying that he was bleeding or he was crying blood? Yes. When he land, when he got his head landed on by punishment's body, it busted open next to his eye. But that was a pretty solid match. You said you missed the beginning because the service was out and that's what you came in on. Yeah, I got there right as that match started. And that was a singles match to determine who gets a world title match.
00:17:45
Speaker
at Supercard of Honor WrestleMania Weekend. So that- And of course- That means we're gonna get to see Marty Skirrell versus Dalton Castle WrestleMania Weekend. That's good. That's gonna be a really good match. And kind of the main match I think to talk about on this show though was the Dalton Castle Jay Lethal match. Dalton Castle is- Oh, go ahead. You were saying that this was like an amazing match and that it kind of stole the show? I mean, it was the main event and it felt like a main event.
00:18:15
Speaker
Jay Lethal, I mean, he's Jay Lethal, he's amazing, just a great wrestler. Dalton Castle is a guy that I love, but until this match, it made me realize I've never seen a Dalton Castle match that is incredibly memorable. Well, Miz had that reputation for a long time, up until the last couple years. I guess Dalton Castle's difference would be people enjoyed his thing.
00:18:41
Speaker
Oh, right. But I meant like, Miz was just a character that kind of existed on TV for a long time and nobody knew him for having awesome matches. And right when he cut that promo on Brian and he made himself memorable, he's actually had some decent, like some matches that are actually are worth noting.
00:19:00
Speaker
I know you've been a Dalton Castle guy for a while, so it's probably pretty exciting to see him get into this spot.
Memorable Matches and Surprises
00:19:06
Speaker
And what's cool about Dalton and Marty is that they both kind of have like the theatrics of their gimmick going, and those are going to be two good parallels. Oh, I mean, them having entrances WrestleMania weekend, I have to imagine they're both going to be just ridiculous.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah, but it was it was this match that made me realize, you know, holy crap, I just haven't seen a Dalton Castle match that's super memorable. And I think they must have known that. So they put them in there with Jay Lethal, who people love, who's just an incredible worker and had these two just they put on a 26 minute match.
00:19:39
Speaker
such a good story. And then at the end, you know, Dalton Castle goes over him and Jay Leopold shake hands. And, you know, I feel like that really sealed Dalton Castle as everybody's saying like, okay, this makes sense that he has the title.
00:19:53
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, I guess for me, like as somebody who doesn't follow Ring of Honor closely, that's actually pretty exciting. And that'll be a good, like you said, like for everyone who's going down for Mania Weekend, it's a little bit more to look forward to, man. It is, especially because that weekend is a double main event, which before I mentioned that, another big thing that happened, Cody fought Matt Tavern.
00:20:16
Speaker
and it was a match that Matt Tavern took Cody's ring actually the night we were in Nashville watching and Cody was trying to get his ring of honor back so he had to fight Matt Tavern and he came out with Barry the Bear yeah I saw Barry I really liked that the whole time I was just like this is the way wrestling should be a wrestler coming to the ring with a silly mascot that's like dancing and shit the whole time
00:20:42
Speaker
Didn't he kiss it at one point? Kiss the ring? Kiss the bear. Did he kiss Barry? He might have. It's hard to- I think he did. What happened that night?
00:20:52
Speaker
It was a little overshadowed by what happened with Barry after the match had ended. Cody beats Matt Tavern, gets his ring back in. Barry's in the ring dancing with him. Barry beats the shit out of him. Takes his helmet or his, you know, his bare head off. Kenny Omega. Oh shit. Crowd goes fucking crazy.
00:21:14
Speaker
Wow. Just seeing the reaction that people are starting to have to seen Kenny Omega and just like even at bar wrestling getting to see when the Young Bucks and the Elite walked in. These are wrestlers that everybody's seen a lot but I think right now everybody is realizing how special it actually is to be in a room with them.
00:21:32
Speaker
It's huge. It's changed the game. And, um, no, I mean, going back to what you were talking about, do you think that like, and I guess I talked about this last week a little bit with, uh, ring of honor and with the bullet club and with indie wrestling, it's kind of at a point now where I, like I said before, it's hard to imagine it getting much bigger. And do you think that part of the reason that the, uh, the streaming website crash is because they like are having a hard time
00:22:02
Speaker
grasping how many people want to watch this product? I really do. I think they're starting to learn that, oh, my God, people want to see this. People are willing to pay this much money to come watch our paper views now. But I think, you know, when that I wasn't that mad when the streaming wasn't working because, you know, I can go back and watch it later. But a lot of people who this was their first experience at all with Ring of Honor, I'm guessing that probably left a bad taste in their mouth.
00:22:30
Speaker
Well, Ring of Honor has a long history of letting people down with their streaming services. Going back for like seven or eight years, I think. So, yeah. The AI pay-per-view always seemed like an unreliable pay-per-view.
00:22:47
Speaker
But I I don't know I hope that people you know once it finally did come back on and they got to see Several amazing matches. I'm hoping that they stick around. I'm hoping that more people pay for this service and You know the more people that get this the bigger places. They're gonna be able to play I'm just I think it's pretty exciting what's happening with them right now. Yeah, I
00:23:09
Speaker
Yeah, you know what? I don't know. I think this goes kind of without saying, and it's been talked about by wrestling fans everywhere. I just think that wrestling's better when there's multiple places people can go. And a lot of credit goes to the Young Bucks and to Cody specifically for giving up his career in WWE and being willing to head back out onto the Andes.
00:23:33
Speaker
And there's been an explosion where you can make a good living away from the mainstream WWE product. And I don't know, it's an exciting time to be a fan because there's a lot going on. And it's kind of cool to see like when it's WrestleMania weekend, you do have all these other shows that pop up and you have all these other things so that it can be basically like a wrestling vacation as opposed to just one day.
00:23:58
Speaker
Exactly. I mean, while I'm there, I'm actually going to be missing out on several things I would like to go to because I'm trying to go to a bunch of shows that I've never seen before. So while I'm there, I'm trying to hit up like this Joey Janela show. I'm trying to do Progress Evolve. I'd love to go to Shimmer. It's just, you know, there's so much going on that weekend that you really have to pick and choose what you're going to wind up at.
00:24:22
Speaker
Well I don't think that's a bad thing either because like you're not gonna be able to go to everything and some people are gonna miss out on certain things and then they they still have other options like other options besides like the obvious thing.
00:24:36
Speaker
Um, there may be, there may very well be people who go down there who aren't going to mania who are just going for all the other stuff. Oh, and that would be a hundred percent worth it. I mean, if this same event was happening, but no WrestleMania, I would still be very much drawn to drive into wherever that is. So quick question, cause it's a weird tangent. Do you think they'll end up moving Bola because of all in or what do you think is going to happen with that?
00:25:03
Speaker
That's so hard to say, because PWG's been kind of going through a transitional phase right now anyway. They actually had a show not long, a few months ago, that didn't sell out instantly. And that was the big deal, that it took like five minutes to sell out, rather than 60 seconds. Even though five minutes is still pretty good. Yeah. Because basically, from the time I started going, every single time I went, it was like the next time I went, somebody was on NXT.
00:25:33
Speaker
And it's just they've had most of their guys poached everybody's headed somewhere I think I mean just I could see PWG having to change it just based on You know needing guys and I can't imagine them wanting to do that event without the young bucks at it
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was pretty interesting for a while because it felt like there was a backlog of talent out on the indies, whether it was PWG, Ring of Honor, New Japan. And it seems like there was a few years there where NXT was just, like you said, poaching people. And that pace has kind of slowed down. Probably one of the reasons they brought Chris Hero back in is because they had gotten so many of the indie stars in and then had promoted them or moved on.
00:26:20
Speaker
Yeah, what's your opinion on that? Do you think that this is sustainable? I mean, I get why they're doing it, but we've almost hit a point where WWE has so many guys and girls that we just can't see them all. We have such a stacked roster that even their main card, there's gonna be so many people that we don't get to have a proper WrestleMania match. Same with the NXT card. A takeover card, they can only have so many people in that two-hour block.
00:26:50
Speaker
So we're gonna have all these amazing, you know, just world-class talent. All this world-class talent just not being able to go. I hope at that point, you know, Ricochet would have a match at TakeOver. He's there. I mean, we're hearing rumors that Keith Lee is gonna be signed soon. I don't know if that's true, but that did decide a few things that I was gonna go to WrestleMania weekend just to get, you know, a few more Keith Lee matches in before I can't see him in small rooms anymore.
00:27:18
Speaker
Right. So do you think here I saw I think it was like a dead spin article I saw like a week or two ago where somebody was pointing out the idea that NXT was created with the idea of it being a developmental territory for Ron Smackdown.
NXT Evolution and Controversies
00:27:34
Speaker
And that ultimately what it ended up becoming is it's kind of become its own brand, but they still kind of give it the label as like developmental because winning the NXT title. Isn't considered a world title. Like, like your, your, if you get called up to the quote unquote, the main roster, you don't like your, your, your championships and all that stuff doesn't transfer over.
00:27:57
Speaker
Are they at a point now because the whole idea of them doing the brand split was that they could get guys who otherwise would have been blocked from getting into the main event scene. They could get guys into the main event scene because they have their own show. Are they at a point now you think where NXT needs to be treated less like a development place and just more like its own brand? I kind of feel like that's what it is and I think it became that while Finn Balor was the top guy.
00:28:25
Speaker
I think that sort of just became the Finn Balor show for a while and that's why he was there so long. I feel like it is kind of becoming a thing that is almost direct competition with ROH.
00:28:38
Speaker
because they're taking ROH level talent and putting them on this show. And I don't know, I mean, I get it that they are starting, they're trying to learn to be on a television show, know where the hard cam is, know, you know, more practice cutting promos and everything. There's just, I don't know, I feel like when they get to NXT, they start off by doing a similar style to what they were already doing that got them that job. And then you gradually see that taken away from them.
00:29:06
Speaker
Well, and then the other thing is when you get called up, you get knocked back down the pecking order, which I guess makes sense. But the fans, WWE fans, if they follow NXT even a little bit and they know who it is, when one of these guys or girls gets called up.
00:29:24
Speaker
Like, part of the hype is that they got called up and they know who it is, but they don't immediately go from being in the world title picture down in NXT to suddenly being main event level on the main roster, except for Finn Balor. And we saw what happened there and it seems like since then, no one got to just jump into it like that.
00:29:48
Speaker
Well this goes back to our discussion we had a few weeks ago where we were talking about Daniel Bryan getting hurt right after WrestleMania 30 and Vince being reluctant to put the belt on him because he was reluctant to put the belt on Mysterio before him. Does Vince, do you think he just has this feeling of like small guys can't be champion because they get hurt too easy and then all this shit just random
00:30:11
Speaker
nonsensical crazy injuries happen and he just feels vindicated in that belief because Finn Balor has I mean I guess he had over the summer a couple matches to potentially be the number one contender for the Universal title but he never got like a rematch for the belt that he gave up.
00:30:30
Speaker
which I don't I think it's weird sometimes when they just drop that like when Kevin Owens never got a rematch but as far as what you're saying with you know smaller guys
00:30:42
Speaker
I think there is something to that, though, but it's when there's a smaller guy, a big part of their match is getting thrown around to make the bigger guy look strong as shit. Right. So they're just going to already be taking more abuse just based on that, let alone like Daniel Bryan, whose work rate was already just really high and a little dangerous. Yeah. So when you have that when you have that combination, it's just it makes for a rough life.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. I mean, I even I mean, the thing is, and I'm not going to go on a rant here on Rollins hurting people, but I mean, Rollins isn't a big guy. I mean, he was the guy who hurt baller.
00:31:20
Speaker
I think you forget how big Rollins actually is. I feel like he is a guy... He's not jacked though. Like he's not like... But he's somebody that when I actually see him next to John Cena, I realize, oh, they are like the same size. There's just some of these guys that I feel like, you know, like you always hear people say that Mick Foley is a giant and you don't realize that until you see him.
00:31:44
Speaker
Yeah. And then they say, you know, oh yeah, he was standing toe to toe with like Stone Cold and The Undertaker and everybody and oh yeah, he was about the same height.
00:31:54
Speaker
Well, and you know, here's the crazy thing. I didn't realize, I mean, we, the attitude era was different in that a lot, like most of the roster across the board, you just took for granted that a lot of those guys were tall or big. And then you, I don't think I realized just how much of a difference it was until the rock came back and he had his feuds with Cena and when he had his feud to see him punk.
00:32:17
Speaker
Um, because the Rock, I mean, he wasn't, he wasn't like on the same height level as Undertaker or Kane or Big Show or whatever. He was a big guy, but he fit in there well against, like you said, Stone Cold or Foley. And it was insane to watch him basically tower over CM Punk. Um, he just looked like a guy out of place out of his era. I mean, yeah, that, that's another example of, I mean, that's pretty close to what, you know, Finn Balor versus Brock Lesnar would be in size.
00:32:46
Speaker
Right? Or unless CM Punk, I don't know how much bigger CM Punk is than good ol' Fergal Devitt, but... I'd say Punk is maybe... He's probably a little taller, right? Three or four inches taller, I'd say. But, uh... Yeah.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah, so you had a busy weekend with wrestling. You did your shit, man. You had to do three or yeah. And I watched what I wanted to out of the New Japan Cup. The New Japan Cup started this weekend. It's a single elimination tournament. I believe it's done over the span of nine days. There were a couple matches, though, that really stuck out to me that I wanted to watch. The first being Zack Sabre Jr. versus Naito.
00:33:33
Speaker
which I heard was fantastic. It was insane. Zack Sabre Jr., a lot of people, I don't know, I saw him be the champ at PWG for quite a while and there were a number of people that don't like him. He's a very thin, lanky man and his whole thing is just grappling and holds and, you know, tying people into knots.
00:33:56
Speaker
But he told such a good story with Naito. He just worked his arms the whole time, and we're bending them so far behind his back that you felt it through the TV. It was- And we just saw Naito a couple weeks ago. I know, and now that we saw him get broken by Zack Sabre Jr. Which- So real quick- Sabre actually won that match and moved on in the tournament, beat Naito.
00:34:22
Speaker
Oh, shit. What are you doing over there? That was the automatic cat feeder feeding the cat. Are the cats having a food on a pole match? Right now, my cat is eating it, but uh-oh. Uh-oh, stray cat's coming in for some. Oh, fuck. Watch out, caddy. Oh, shit. Run in. Because this outside cat, it's a street cat. It's tougher. My cat's kind of soft. That's the Dean Ambrose of cats. Oh, yeah.
00:34:52
Speaker
It actually came in drinking a beer. It's got a wife beater with Roman Reigns. That was my favorite era of Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns were just when they were just drinking buddies every match. They're like, come on, man, let's go get a beer. I'm like, when are we going to see this? When are we going to turn that into the bar? Oh, yeah, the bar got their gimmick. So, OK, so meant to do this a couple of weeks ago.
00:35:15
Speaker
or was it last week? Not sure. I owe an apology to your friend and my new friend, Metal Dave, who listens to our podcast. Hi, Metal Dave. Gave him a shout out earlier. He had submitted something for us to talk about on our questions and comments on our social media and I didn't bring it up and I want to apologize and I want to bring it up now because I think it's relevant.
00:35:38
Speaker
We were supposed to talk about Sammy Callahan. And the spot he did with the bat. I know that we're a little bit late to the news a week or so, but... The thing is, that story's still going. Is it? It is, because there's a whole thing right now where people are trying to figure out what's at work and what's not at work with Sammy Callahan. All right. The bat spot is definitely not at work. Go ahead and explain the bat spot.
00:36:07
Speaker
So Sammy Callahan sets a chair up. What was like on top of the guy or it was Eddie Edwards and Sammy Callahan and a TNA or I guess impact wrestling match. Yeah. And Sammy unfolded a folding chair and sat it basically over his chest.
00:36:28
Speaker
Right, and then he swings the baseball bat down on the chair, and just because of the texture of the chair being smooth and the way the bat hit it, the bat just immediately, when he strikes the chair, slips off the chair and whacks Eddie Edwards right in the eye. Right in the eye socket. I hate watching shit like this. I don't like watching people get hurt.
00:36:51
Speaker
you know there's a thing that like anyone that gets in the ring I respect them I don't want them to actually be injured so when you watch a man go in and basically just commit a felony
00:37:06
Speaker
I just think it's funny because to anyone who's listening this who's not a pro wrestling fan, they're gonna be like, what do you mean you don't like watching guys get hurt? They do it for a living. And you're like, I want them to do it as safely as possible without actually getting hurt. I don't want anyone to be blinded for this sport. So how do you feel about thumbtacks? Thumbtacks? Yeah, I mean, does it bug you? Derek, I got us front road tickets to a death match.
00:37:35
Speaker
Please wear a white shirt so that you have a great souvenir later on. The first WrestleMania I went to, the guy I was standing next to in line, was one of the original, like, he went to the original ECW shows when shit was wild. And he was telling me that he had a program. He said that Sandman got busted open, left a pool of blood in the chair next to him, so he dipped his program in that blood to take home as a souvenir.
00:38:02
Speaker
and he still has it. And maybe some blood diseases. Bloodborne pathogens. So back to Sammy Callahan. So people are confused about what's working, what's real. He's never issued a real apology. He says he's not sorry. Yeah, that's what I mean. Fuck. OK, so god damn it. OK, so.
00:38:28
Speaker
Here's the way wrestling works. Sammy Callahan, I guarantee you, talked to him and apologized and made that known privately backstage and they both realized this still happened in front of a camera and it's in everyone's best interest to pretend like it was real because they can use it. And it was real because it got smashed in the face with a goddamn baseball bat.
00:38:55
Speaker
The pain and the injury for sure was real. He immediately like a day later already had a t-shirt with Eddie Edwards bloodied eye on it that just says I broke Eddie Edwards face and then in parentheses with a baseball bat. Here's my thing. Why didn't he just use the bat directly on his face?
00:39:17
Speaker
I didn't understand what he was doing hitting the chair anyway. It didn't, the spot. The spot didn't make sense to begin with. And so when there was an accident from it, I was like, of course there was an accident. You were doing a dumb thing. And you smashed him in the eye. But I think the thing that makes it even weirder is that like TMZ, I didn't know they even had a sports section. TMZ had like an interview with Sammy Callahan where he's like, I do it again. And you know, he's acting tough.
00:39:46
Speaker
It just adds to how scared I am of Sammy Callahan. Well, you saw him recently too. Yeah, he spit in your face and then he'll smash your eyes out. I don't know. I hear there's like other stuff with Sammy Callahan. He's somebody that I've never heard exactly what he's done, but people say like, oh, if you're gonna be mad at Elgin, you need to be mad at Callahan. And then when I try and find out what he did, they're like, well, if you were part of the indie wrestling, you know. I'm like, I feel like I'm a part of it.
00:40:15
Speaker
I feel like I'm a part of it. Why can't you just fucking tell me? Why can't you just tell me? Why do I have to search? Why is it time sensitive? Why is it if I fall outside of the time period where something happened? I mean, I don't have a reason to doubt that they're... I don't think it's a conspiracy, but just fucking... No, I heard the same thing.
00:40:33
Speaker
I guess if you're listening to this podcast and you know what happened with Sammy Callahan, tweet at us. Tell us what happened because I don't know. Yeah, and everybody's just like, you didn't look hard enough on the internet. And you know what? You're probably right. Google it. I tried, man. Okay. Before we move on, I want to say one more quick thing about New Japan.
00:40:56
Speaker
There was, so it would have been last night's show, the main event was something that was very near and dear to my heart. It was Sanada from Los and Gobranabile's Day Japan versus. You rushed through that. Yeah, that's so that everybody's like, did he say it right? I can't tell. But who he fought in the main event of a New Japan pay-per-view was Chucky T.
00:41:25
Speaker
That's your boy. Getting to see him headline a New Japan event is something I never thought I would see. I think that's what a parent must feel like when their kid does something they're proud of. You were proud. I was proud of Chucky T. The only thing I'll be more proud of is if he does get bigger over there so I can hear the little Japanese girls shouting like, Chucky, Chucky T. Chucky. That's still.
00:41:53
Speaker
What's funny is I follow Ta-Nehisi on Instagram. Any time I pass one of his pictures, my wife has already liked the pictures. She loves that Ta-Nehisi is just out in the world taking selfies all day. Chucky T has an amazing profile picture on Twitter, by the way. What's his profile picture right now? I think it's him with like an astonished face, but he looks like Christopher Bale.
00:42:20
Speaker
Okay. Oh, is that when he had a goatee? Christian Bale, sorry. I don't know why I said Christopher. Christopher Nolan directed Batman. Christopher Nolan. Christopher Reeves was Superman. Christopher... Name another Chris. Is there a wrestling Chris that comes right off your head? Christopher Lloyd, Chris Canyon, Chris Jericho. Christopher Benoit. That's low. Get low! You're like, no one has ever called him Christopher and lived. Christopher Benoit is how he comes back.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's the reincarnation. That's a guy who wears a suit. He actually dresses more like brother love. We're dancing around some touchy subjects right now. Yeah, so let's move on to some other touchy subjects this week in WWE. Before we do that though, are we ever going to do an episode about Chris Benoit? We have to now, right? Because I brought it up. The good, the bad, the Benoit. That's what it's called.
00:43:18
Speaker
We've already named it and it might be four months away. Yeah, I read this Chris and Nancy book. So I've got some insights on the conspiracy theories.
00:43:30
Speaker
Yeah, let's talk about it one day. Yeah, let's not do that WWE though. No, not right now. Um, we got stuff to talk about, but yeah, because for the, for, for the foreseeable future, for the next month, it's WrestleMania season, man. So there's just, there's going to be a lot to talk about and going into WrestleMania. A big thing was announced and that was a hall of famer. There is a new hall of famer in a fucking kid rock.
00:43:54
Speaker
You've been talking about this a lot the last few days. It's just, it's already, pro wrestling sometimes is really hard for me to spend so much time defending. And I know it's not asking me to defend it, but when pro wrestling decides that Kid Rock is in the Hall of Fame, it's hard for me to help, you know, justify that. I'm gonna play devil's advocate with you. It's the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame, which also includes Donald Trump and Drew Carey.
00:44:22
Speaker
I have no issues with Drew Carey. I'm just saying, how seriously can I take it? I don't know. I'm not a fan of Kid Rock. I mean, other than the late 90s when I was a youngster and enjoyed me some ball with the ball and some American badass and some undertaker coming down to the ring on his motorcycle to, yeah, American badass and Roland. I don't know. To me, I don't like Kid Rock the person.
00:44:51
Speaker
I don't like Kid Rock's music, but he makes about as much sense as being in their celebrity wing as anybody else.
00:45:10
Speaker
They typically have whoever did the theme song to WrestleMania perform it at WrestleMania. And if I have to watch Kid Rock perform two times in one evening, that is really going to be taking up a spot of somebody who could be wrestling. I don't think it's going to ruin the night for you.
00:45:28
Speaker
I mean it'll be a bathroom break for sure one way or the other aren't all I mean you and I are on the same page as far as they just need to get rid of that entirely like I get that it's supposed to be like they try to make WrestleMania into like a variety-hour show where they have celebrities and musicians and everyone comes in because
00:45:46
Speaker
goes across all different forms of media and entertainment, but son of a bitch as a pro wrestling fan with a bunch of pro wrestling fans in town, we didn't show up to watch a concert by somebody that we're not necessarily a fucking fan of, so... Well, I think what could be interesting is because a lot of the people that end up going to the Hall of Fame is not very fun to attend.
00:46:06
Speaker
It's a long show with a lot of talking. And I think that a lot of people that are in town for WrestleMania, if they've been drinking all weekend, they've been watching wrestling, they're so excited. And this just kind of brings everything to a halt, especially this year. I feel like this year, I mean, there's definitely people I like this year, but no one, I'm not super excited to hear Bill Goldberg talk. I'm not super excited to hear Kid Rock talk.
00:46:31
Speaker
I could see the majority of these tickets are actually sold with the travel packages. And typically, the overseas fans are pretty vocal. I'm wondering if they let Kid Rock have it that night.
00:46:43
Speaker
Possibly. I mean, you said it brings everything to a halt, but they do the they do the Hall of Fame on Fridays now. So it's not like it interrupts NXT or the WrestleCon stuff or like most people all they're doing is fucking their own fans so that everybody has to choose between Ring of Honor and NXT. Now it used to be you could go to both because the Ring of Honor would be during the Hall of Fame.
00:47:08
Speaker
Well, that was deliberate. Oh, yeah, they did that on purpose. So I mean, I get it. I'm not. You see, I'm not in the habit of trying to deny my past. And there was a time period where I enjoyed two or three kid rock songs in like the late 90s or early 2000s. Haven't enjoyed anything about him since then, though. And
00:47:30
Speaker
We definitely come from an age group where if you deny that you didn't enjoy ball with the ball when you were in junior high, you're fucking lying. Right. And I mean, it's going to be the same thing with Limp Biscuit. Like, I'm assuming they'll go in one day. Well, I even said, I said if they had at least inducted Limp Biscuit into the Hall of Fame, we would have all just listened to Roland, look at each other, give each other a shrug and think, well, at least it wasn't Kid Rock.
00:47:59
Speaker
Well, they may be getting Kid Rock out of the way, so they can do that next year. I mean, to me, the qualifications for going into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame are so slim. You don't need much. And they have all those people that they had be guest hosts of Monday Night Raw there for a few years. All those people are gonna qualify at some point. So Ben Roethlisberger and Pee Wee Herman may be on.
00:48:23
Speaker
maybe going in the next few years so you named uh i don't have an issue with what p we did he masturbated in a theater that you do that in so it all comes back around to masturbating into a theater yes thank you actually it was paul rubens paul rubens saw hurricane heist with me
00:48:47
Speaker
The other controversial thing that got announced. The Great Moolah Battle Royal. Honestly until today I didn't know much about the controversy surrounding her. I only knew the wrestling aspect. This whole other side is brand new to me.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah, me too. Oh, I was just gonna say, I'm right there with you in the sense that I didn't know anything about this. And actually, maybe it's unjust. I guess I'm just gonna be honest with how I feel on this.
00:49:22
Speaker
I feel like it's unfair for me to go this whole time hearing nothing about that. And that's not, I don't know, I mean, you could argue that it's on me to Wikipedia, every single person that I come across in the wrestling industry. I didn't realize all the stuff that she had done throughout her career that's pretty heinous. I was reading about it, it's pretty fucking bad. I mean, it's about as bad as it gets, really.
00:49:49
Speaker
But how come I wasn't informed of this stuff 15 years ago?
00:49:55
Speaker
Like, they, I guess, should know better, and they should have like a, the ethics to know, like okay, probably not somebody we should name something after. But for- Just so that people know what we're talking about, Great Moolah, for a while she was the longest reigning women's wrestling champ. This is gonna be an all women's battle royal match, similar to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal that the men have at WrestleMania.
00:50:23
Speaker
So every year, WrestleMania is the biggest payday for a wrestler. If you're on the show, you get that WrestleMania payday. So these battle royals are a way to get everybody who didn't have anything to do on the show so they still get that big payday. And now that we have such a big women's roster, I do think it's fair that they have the same thing for the women because that's also something I'd like to watch.
00:50:46
Speaker
Sure, and it's fair and it gets them, like you said, their payday and it makes sense. And quite frankly, they haven't even announced a single thing about the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. I'm surprised they said all that. They haven't said anything about it yet. I'm assuming they're still gonna do it, especially with the documentary coming out on Andre. Oh, absolutely. It's just an easy way to get some old timers in there. Just get a couple people to get a pop for WrestleMania, just a little extra something.
00:51:13
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't know, but go ahead, lay into it. How are you feeling about them naming the battle royal after this for the women? Well, I was fine with it at first when I saw like the video package and everything. I was like, oh, that's nice. I was on board. And then today when I started reading like, holy shit, she was a lady pimp.
00:51:34
Speaker
Like I'm reading that there were times, like she would actually pimp out her own daughter for sex. Uh, and then like her and her husband or something would like beat the shit out of their daughter and she would come home with like swollen eyes and teeth knocked out. And that, uh, great Mula apparently had something to do with sex trafficking as well. And that, I mean,
00:51:56
Speaker
especially I mean that's never good that's awful that's fucking terrible but right now with the me too movement especially when it's something that's supposed to be you know promoting you know equality and like women's wrestling and show you how fucking awesome it is
00:52:13
Speaker
I don't, why did they have to put a name attached to it that had to bring more controversy? Why couldn't they have literally picked anyone else? Like Trish Stratus, or? Even, honestly, China. Alondra Blaze. I know they don't want. Oh, you know it's not gonna be China. I know it's not gonna be. I've heard other people recommend that, but it's not gonna be China, which is fucked up and that says everything about that company that Triple H and Vince would rather reference the great Mula
00:52:43
Speaker
as opposed to China because she did a couple porn films. And. Hunter broke up with her for Stephanie, so I don't know. It says everything. Yeah, it's I don't know. I do you think they're going to end up changing the name? I don't know. They're so close to WrestleMania already. I feel like I don't know. I could see Vince just being like, oh, they'll forget about it.
00:53:07
Speaker
Yeah, until that crowd of however many people starts chanting something at it and ruining that moment for a bunch of women. Yeah, I am a little tired of the crowd thinking that, like, if going back to SummerSlam, when the crowd ruined the Rollins-Baller match, no one sat there and enjoyed this amazing match they got. They chanted that they didn't like the belt was red. And it wasn't that big of a deal. I still don't think it's that big of a deal. And everybody's forgotten about it by now.
00:53:37
Speaker
Well, mostly because the belt's never on TV. Well, that's a whole other issue. Hey, hey, it was while my guy was holding the title for however many months, seven. Goldberg. Shut up. Guys, he likes Kevin Owens. I don't know if you've heard. I marked out tonight when Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn destroyed Shane McMahon to end SmackDown. That was good.
00:54:02
Speaker
Like we said, we do record, this does come out on Thursdays. We record it Tuesdays after SmackDown. I don't see it. What happened tonight? Like what happened with Kevin Owens?
00:54:13
Speaker
Well, Sammy's in kind of promo earlier in the night saying something about, he was pissed off at Kevin. Kevin was the reason he wasn't WWE champion. Then they highlighted that Shane was gonna come out and make a WrestleMania announcement at the end of the show. And then they did a segment where Kevin was walking through the back and he said, it's not my fault. It's Shane McMahon's fault and he's gonna show Sammy why that's true.
WrestleMania Build-Up
00:54:33
Speaker
And then Shane comes out at the end of the show and says that effective next week, he is done as commissioner for SmackDown Live, he's resigning. And before he goes, he's making an announcement at WrestleMania, Sami Zayn will fight Kevin Owens at WrestleMania in New Orleans. And yeah, he makes the announcement. Didn't say anything, but I'm sure there's more to come in the next few weeks. Okay, that's exciting. That would be fun. I'm happy that's happening.
00:55:01
Speaker
As of right now, that's happening. What happens next may change that. So, Owens comes out and says, I'm happy you're getting out of here, whatever, fuck you. Zane comes out, says something similar, whatever, and then they end up double teaming Shane and beating the piss out of him. Zane gives him one hell of a haluva kick.
00:55:25
Speaker
and throws him into a pop-up powerbomb. They put a steel chair around Shane's throat, throw him into the ring post. They knock out a couple refs. They physically drag Shane up the ramp into the backstage area, powerbomb Shane onto what looks like a metal ladder or something, and then he's heaving, and sounds like he's giving birth, and the show ends. So what you're saying is this could end up being Sammy and Kevin versus Shane and Vince.
00:55:53
Speaker
I don't know. Get him out daily. Goddamn. I'll take a bump onto a ladder. That's fine. I don't know. Like they made the match announcement and I'm hoping they stick with that. I'm hoping because supposedly Daniel Bryan supposed to be back next week. Um, I'm hoping they'll add, like I, like I've been hoping they would add a stipulation and it's like a loser leaves town match, um, to add some extra incentive to try to split them up because the show ended with them on the same page and then being friends again. So who knows if that match even makes sense.
00:56:25
Speaker
But no, it was a great ending to SmackDown. It was a pretty good show this week. That's good. And oh, Asuka had a segment. She came out and had a back and forth with Charlotte. How'd that go? I heard that on Raw it didn't go so well. With Alexa? I heard that people didn't love Asuka's promo.
00:56:46
Speaker
I'm gonna tell you, we talked about this on our last episode, the bonus episode. I just think it hurts when they're, it's the same with Nakamura. When their English isn't good, there's this weird sense of, okay, we're waiting for you to do a pipe bomb promo, and then they say five words, and then there's a five second pause after the last thing they say, and then their music hits.
00:57:12
Speaker
So I feel like some of the crowd is trying to listen intently to understand everything they're saying, and then the promo's over. And I don't know. It was okay, but there was a sense of awkwardness where you're like, fuck, man. It has nothing to do with their talent as wrestlers.
00:57:35
Speaker
I just, I wish that it wasn't as big of an issue as I think it is. I don't know, there's something, I really like watching her talk. Like I like her, like she kind of does that bob thing with her head and shoulders. It's like, okay, okay, okay. I really like it. I don't know. She's charming to me. I would watch, if you have a chance tomorrow, I would watch the SmackDown recap and yeah, Styles and Nakamura have begun their promos against each other heading into Mania. That's fucking exciting.
00:58:04
Speaker
Yeah, the SmackDown, what if I put it to you like this? From the SmackDown side of things right now, you're getting AJ Styles versus Shinsuke Nakamura. You're getting Charlotte versus Asuka. You're getting Sami Zayn versus Kevin Owens. And this is really- Those were singles matches. This is such a stacked match.
00:58:21
Speaker
good WrestleMania cards so far. I'm actually excited for several matches. It's hard to want more or to think I could hope for more just because we have so many good things right now.
00:58:35
Speaker
We do have to comment, so last night on Raw, great little in-ring segment between Balor, Rollins, and Miz. I did see that, yeah. I'm excited as hell for that match. And I think that those three, like I've said it before, they have a great dynamic together. I like that Miz is being the weaselly heel, egging on the past history between Rollins and Balor.
00:58:59
Speaker
I don't know man, that's gonna be a really fun one. You know who I'm hoping we see one more time? I'm hoping that after WrestleMania we get to just one more time we get to see Sad Boy Cena.
00:59:12
Speaker
Well, he cut one motherfucker of a promo last night. Oh, it was so good. But, you know, it started the same as the rest of the promos. Gee shucks, guys, I just couldn't do it. I tried again and just, I just keep losing. But I'm gonna come out here and keep losing. I'm just not good enough. I'm just, yeah, it's just this weird, like, self-deprecating, like, I'm just not good enough. So you think we're gonna get biker taker at WrestleMania? I don't know. I don't even care. I'm just excited to see it at all.
00:59:42
Speaker
So we are going to see it, you think? I think we will see it. I don't think they would have done all that. I mean, you heard how excited that crowd was. They finally made it to a point where John Cena is getting cheered and Roman Reigns is getting cheered.
00:59:55
Speaker
Yeah, what bizarro world is this? And I'm one of the people cheering. Yeah, I never thought I'd be there. So then there's, you know, you have Braun Strowman wins, what was it, like a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the tag titles. Braun Strowman by himself wins. Amazing. I love it. And here's the thing, it's unique. And then I hear that that's just a backup plan.
01:00:19
Speaker
and that they could still very well do that and have Braun Strowman take on the bar at WrestleMania by himself for the tag titles, which again, like you said, is amazing. It's creative. You haven't seen that before. Has anyone ever held the tag title by themself? I think so.
01:00:38
Speaker
I wanna say, I wanna say it's not, it wouldn't be the first time I've seen that, but. But I don't remember it off the top of my head if it does exist. And it's a way to give Braun Strowman a big match without having to throw him into another title. It gives the bar a big match. There's just no one else on the smack, or on the raw tag team division right now that I think would be a fun, exciting match. Having him go in there and just beat the shit out of two,
01:01:06
Speaker
I mean, it's essentially just like a three Haas match, like just like three dudes who can pick each other up, throw each other around. It could be a lot of fun. Yeah. And I think people believe it because thus far, Braun Strowman has been shown to be a guy who's essentially multiple men's worth of carnage. Because at that point, we could also see Cesaro could have a huge spot and do the thing where he picks him up and spends him in circles.
01:01:33
Speaker
Yeah, and Seamus may have to help. Oh, and he could do that. Do they do that where, I know he still does the spin, but does Seamus kick him in the side of the head while he does it? I don't know, but he should. He should. That'll put him down. Hey, Derek? Yeah. We're pretty much at the end of this show. Why don't you say something nice?
01:01:54
Speaker
Oh, you put me on the spot. All right, everybody, this is the point in the show for our new listeners in
Reflecting on Wrestling Legends
01:02:00
Speaker
pro wrestling. There's a lot of complaining out there. We've probably done some of it tonight. There's always a wrestler. Maybe you just don't get him. Something about him rubs you the wrong way. Well, in this segment, we take those wrestlers that we feel that way about and we say something nice. John Cena.
01:02:18
Speaker
John Cena is a man that when he began his WWE career, God, how many years ago? 15? Yeah, man. 2003, I think. Yeah.
01:02:32
Speaker
Here's the thing, John Cena made his debut and I was a fan because I really didn't think that the white rapper gimmick was ever gonna get over. And he got it over against all odds and I loved him for it. And he'll John Cena cutting promos and then eventually getting over with the crowd and cutting raps and promos on the guys he was going up against. It was good TV and I was a fan for a long time.
01:02:57
Speaker
And then he played to the crowd a whole bunch and everyone turned on him. And people thought he was too much of a baby face and they thought he got away from his edgy characteristics. And it felt like there for a long time, despite him being the guy, despite him clearly being talented, that he kind of followed a formula with a lot of his matches. One of the five moves of doom and all that stuff and the crowd's booing him. And we lived through that together, guys. We saw it weekly.
01:03:25
Speaker
And here's the thing about John Cena in the last maybe four to five years.
01:03:33
Speaker
I feel like we got to watch John Cena become something different and show everyone that he wasn't just the company guy, that he was actually a really, really good wrestler. And regardless of whatever you think about his quote unquote character and who he was on TV, obviously a great guy doing all his make a wish stuff away from the ring and being an incredible human being.
01:03:58
Speaker
I actually feel like I learned to love John Cena, the character and the wrestler the last few years. And so great. I mean, he's been having excellent matches and he's been putting people over left and right. And I just don't think I mean, I could spend a whole episode here just talking about the metamorphosis of John Cena, the character, this like new humble sad boy Cena.
01:04:22
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I mean, but it doesn't even have to be sad boy Cena. Like even when he was doing the US Open Challenge. No, I know what you mean. I completely agree. Like it was kind of during that time that he started to win me over too.
01:04:34
Speaker
Well, I mean, I just think after spending years of people saying that they got sick of seeing him win for him to start putting over some of the younger guys and the new faces, I mean, that really won me over. Yeah, so credit to John, who over the years has gotten a lot of shit from basically everyone you could possibly think of. I don't really have beef with you anymore. I said some negative things in the past, but good on you, John Cena. Good on you.
01:05:02
Speaker
Maybe you and Derek can tag someday. I hope so. I still have a John Cena stocking cap in my possession from 2004. Maybe wear it to this death mat show and see what happens. I'm going to. I'm going to. Please, please do. Wait a minute. Isn't that in May? Yeah. You want me to wear a stocking cap in May?
01:05:26
Speaker
It's a windy city, man. I want you to catch a cold. It's not impossible for Chicago to have some cold weather. Hey man, say something nice. Okay, every week on this show, inevitably, I say something not nice about Randy Orton. Whether it be him vaping, whether it's he doesn't want to go to work, whether it's he puts on really boring matches that I don't care about. I will have to say, dude's built like a fucking Greek god.
01:05:53
Speaker
Like, if there was a wrestler that I could just have his physique right now, if I could just be tall, ripped, and just a goddamn phenomenal vapor. The vapor, Randy Orton.
01:06:10
Speaker
I would gladly, I would gladly take that. What was there? There was a wrestler that said, if you were to build a pro wrestler from the ground up, he would look like Randy Orton. I'm gonna go ahead and say if I have to, great move, love the RKO. You know, he's done a lot in his career. He ended a lot of legends careers. That was his whole deal. Loved that punt kick. I fucking love a good punt kick.
01:06:31
Speaker
So guess what? I guess I love Randy Orton now that I've talked. You're finding out that he has all the characteristics of somebody that you would normally love. You just don't love him. Yeah. As I'm saying all this, I'm like, you know what? I guess you know what? This whole time for like the past 15 minutes, this fucking stray cat has just been tangling up in all of my goddamn cords. It's unplugged my headphones twice. It is just walking around fucking everything up. I think that means it's time to go ahead and let's let's ring the bell on this one.
01:07:02
Speaker
Yeah, before we go, I just want to say thank you to all the new listeners again. It's been great seeing the podcast kind of catch on around the world. I know we're starting off small, but it's still exciting to us every time we see we get some new listeners. And make sure to hit us up on all of the new ways you can listen to the podcast, Google Play, Spotify, iTunes. Stitcher. Stitcher.
01:07:25
Speaker
So also reach out to us on social media at Wrestle Hangout on Twitter, at Wrestle Hangout on Facebook. We love hearing from you guys, it encourages us. And we'll be back next week with another episode. We look forward to hearing from you guys. And on that note, hit our goddamn music.