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Episode 23: The Boys Take A Trip To WWE's NXT Takeover: Chicago & Money In The Bank
51 Plays7 years ago
This week Garrett & Derrick share stories after a long weekend of attending NXT Takeover: Chicago and Money In The Bank!
Time is running out to enter our contest to win a pair of tickets to All In! Be sure to enter before it's too late! Leave a 5 star review on iTunes, then send a screenshot of your review with your contact info to predeterminedpodcast@gmail.com to be entered!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Predetermined' and Event Highlights
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everybody, happy Thursday, and welcome to another episode of Predetermined, a Pro Wrestling Hangout. I'm your host, Garrett Callender, and with me, as always, a man who just spent two days in a hot-ass building in Chicago, Illinois, the Allstate Arena, Derek Halpin. And I'm also a man who, at this moment, is sharing not a sofa with you. No. A loveseat. And we are ridiculously close to each other right now. And both of our voices are pretty raspy from the past two days in that hot-ass building.
00:00:30
Speaker
I really, and I mean we'll get into this in a second, but really enjoyed that building, was very surprised that it felt like American Legion Post 308 in beautiful receipt of California where PWG used to take place. So fucking hot for an arena. It seemed evil, but you know what? Hit or goddamn music.
The Heat and Atmosphere of Allstate Arena
00:01:22
Speaker
You are not joking, my friend. We are sitting very, very close. And also, this is easily the earliest we've ever recorded. It is eight in the morning. I have to get up and drive back to Nashville. We wanted to do this before I left. And just so you know, we are touching. Our thighs are touching.
00:01:39
Speaker
Yeah, because last time we recorded, there was an echo in here, unless we face this brick wall. So we're looking at a couch, very spacious, but sitting very close. So if this one sounds more intimate, like it sounds like we love each other. It's because it is. It is more intimate. Predetermined lovers is the new title for us. Hey, that would be apropos right now, right? I mean, our legs are touching. It's hot.
00:02:08
Speaker
It's getting a little intimate, a little sexy. It's getting Allstate Arena hot in here. Oh my god. You see, that's the thing about that venue. You hear so many great things about Allstate Arena. And it's true. And that building gets loud as fuck. And that was your first experience there two nights in a row. And I think it was loud as fuck for you. But you also happen to be up here in Chicago
00:02:28
Speaker
when we're getting like 95 degree weather. And I just don't know if that building was prepared to have a packed house with that kind of weather with people shoulder to shoulder. So you said it best. It turned into the smell of the building became a wrestling building smell.
00:02:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah, like I saw that Elton John is playing there soon and good fucking luck getting that wrestle must out of there because that is a special smell made specifically for pro wrestling. You're not going to get that anywhere else. Maybe Comic Con. I've never been. But I have to imagine that a wrestle fans smell about the same as comic book fans. Big hairy sweaty men who are airing out their pits because of their excitement. Oh, yeah. And just we're screaming, which is making us hotter. It.
00:03:15
Speaker
You were, oh, just going back to how loud it was though, okay.
Allstate Arena Characteristics and WWE Preferences
00:03:19
Speaker
You know, I'd always heard Stone Cold and Edge and other wrestlers say this is their favorite wrestle venue. So this immediately became a bucket list wrestle venue for me. And it really didn't disappoint. I thought it was a, it's a weird building though.
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think people associate this building so much with Chicago. And if you don't know already, the building that WWE and Vince prefer to use when they come to the area, they prefer to go out to Rosemont, Illinois, which is not actually in the city. It's several miles outside. But your instinct is, well, they're in Chicago, the venue surely has to be really big. But this isn't a huge venue. I mean, I think it maybe holds tops, maybe 15,000.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, we heard that I think that they said the attendance last night was like 13 something. Right. And that is with it completely sold out. Yeah. Like, I'm sure for a concert that could, you know, stuff a few more people in there. Sure. But I loved the wood ceiling. The wood ceiling is what makes that venue special. Not only does it look great,
00:04:23
Speaker
but it makes that place so fucking loud. I mean, NXT wasn't even sold out. There were actually quite a few empty seats in the upper level, and I couldn't talk to my friend that was sitting next to me. I mean, anytime he said anything, I could hear absolutely nothing but just screaming.
00:04:41
Speaker
You had a hard time grasping that that's where they held WrestleMania 22. Tell people why. I mean, you walk around this building, and at one point you hit a spot in the arena that you think, did I just wander backstage? Am I allowed here? Like, you start seeing the signs like, WWE production meeting this way. Yeah. Finn Balor, come right here. Right. That's just as well said that. And it's right next to the entrance where their buses are.
00:05:10
Speaker
So I have to imagine if you just stood there the whole time, at some point Bobby Roode walked by. For sure. And I mean, you're seeing security in certain places who are clearly told to stay there for the purposes of escorting people outside. And I try to go to shows out there maybe once a year or so since I've moved out here.
00:05:30
Speaker
It's I mean it's I think it's flaws got exposed the last couple days just as far as maybe the air conditioning can't handle a packed house on a ninety five degree day. It wasn't the worst experience I like I've had is at a venue being hot. I went to go see Tenacious D back in 2012 with Aragon Ballroom when it was about this hot and it was way worse and I fucking put up with it.
00:05:53
Speaker
You see, you threw in another thing that I'm like, no, I bet tenacious defense smell about wrestling. Like, I mean, maybe a little more weed. Yeah, there was no weed last night. It was more like it was just like Mountain Dew and which I was part of. You're part of the problem, my friend. I guess my 50 jalapenos mother fuck.
00:06:17
Speaker
This dude has an iron stomach. I can't eat anything without shitting my pants. And this guy, I watched him eat what was probably the equivalent of 50 jalapenos.
00:06:33
Speaker
I decided to follow you out as an excuse to at least get out of my seat, like, whatever. While I was out on the concourse, I decided that, all right, maybe I'll
Event Refreshments and Humorous Nacho Story
00:06:42
Speaker
get a drink. And I saw that they had, you know, Mountain Dew Code Red and you never see that as an option at a venue. So I got a souvenir sized Mountain Dew Code Red and I was like, well, while I'm getting this beverage, I might as well have something to like, you know, use it to wash it down. So I grabbed some fucking nachos, told them to load it up with jalapenos. They did that to you?
00:07:03
Speaker
What do you mean? You requested those, like I figured you put those on yourself. I requested them. But what did you say? Because they gave you a fuck you amount of jalapenos. I think that's basically what I said. Give me a fuck you amount of jalapenos. I don't know if you've ever been to a subway when people are angry.
00:07:24
Speaker
Have lettuce! There was a time that I remember saying, like, can I get some olives? And she put four tiny pieces of olives across a foot long, and was like, can I get more? And she basically stared me in the eyes, stuck her fist into a pile of olives, and just punched them into my sandwich. And then I was like, okay, I get the point, fuck you olives.
00:07:46
Speaker
that's that's actually and like if you go to like jimmy johns or something they're notorious if you don't tell them hey take it easy on the lettuce it's a lettuce sandwich so yeah that's basically what happened my jalapenos last night and you were impressed that while the entire arena was participated in some kind of chant uh about the quality of the match oh boy yeah there's a lot to talk about on that show should we
00:08:12
Speaker
Should we go ahead and start back with NXT before we just hop in? Oh yeah. Well, I guess just let me finish my story. If they haven't seen our social media yet, I was not one of the people who was participating in any of these chants during gender
NXT Event Experience and Crowd Dynamics
00:08:27
Speaker
versus Roman. Garrett can vouch that I was literally sitting to his right, not giving a fuck. Eating a lifetime's worth of jalapenos on tortilla chips. You would assume I was just at a ball game in between innings.
00:08:42
Speaker
Oh yeah, like you were definitely, you said it best, you said you treated that as an intermission. I absolutely did. He took a break as being a wrestling fan and became a jalapeno fan in that moment. My stomach's fine by the way, I know Garrett's extremely jealous. That's fucked up. That's fucked up and I, it's not fair. I don't think about it so much until you come around because I know that you have the James Ellsworth of stomachs.
00:09:09
Speaker
I have Shawn Michaels versus Bret Hart. No chin, kind of shitty. And upsetting people as much as he did last night. Oh, man. Let's go back to Takeover, man, because that was Saturday night, I guess, what, two nights ago? Yeah, we're recording this Monday morning before I head back to Nashville. We went to Takeover. We actually sat separately on this when my buddy John sat with me.
00:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, I was up in the upper deck with my lady. And this was his first time ever seeing NXT. He had attended PWG with me in LA before, so he was familiar with some of the guys from that, but he had never actually watched an NXT show. And I'm gonna go ahead and say he left a fan. I have a feeling he's tuning in on Wednesday.
00:09:57
Speaker
Well, he's not gonna get a good show because we saw what they taped on Wednesday. And, spoiler alert, not much happened for their NXT taping, so. Yeah, we never discussed this. The opening match ended up being TM61, which, have they been going by the mighty for a while now and I just missed it, or was that a debut? It felt like a debut, but I'm not 100% positive.
00:10:21
Speaker
because they came out and I was like, I guess this is just a job tag team. And then I realized they're beating the shit out of war or war. What are they war Raiders? Yeah. Um, we never talked about how
War Raiders and Character Critique
00:10:31
Speaker
I feel about war Raiders. They, I always thought they were fine in ROH and, uh, new Japan, but when they were, there's something about them pumping those fists.
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah, it just comes across as very like, I don't know. It's like watching your dad do it for real. It's like if your dad had a lot of belly tattoos and didn't really quite grasp what he was supposed to do with that rock fist. It's like if you had your dad take you to a Slipknot concert and he was trying to fit in fear and just like, yeah, this is what we do, right? We throw the horns up and we pump them.
00:11:10
Speaker
It's just like a really mechanical, like, robotic, like, I'm doing it right now. It reminds me of like a background sprite of a character in a video game where they're just on a loop where they're just doing the same thing over and over again. They are in the background of Street Fighter and Blanca is fighting like M. Bison and there's just one guy rocking that rock fist, you know, just real robotic pumping it. I don't know.
00:11:38
Speaker
For guys that are supposed to look really badass and cool, they look so out of place doing that. Like there's like, I have never done this in my life and I never want to. It's one of those things though that like, maybe you and I are the only people who feel this way.
00:11:53
Speaker
I've watched enough of them now to where their gimmick is supposed to be cool, isn't coming across that way to me at all. And because of that, it's looping back around and it's kind of cool that they're, like to me, their shtick is that they think that they're cool and they're not. And it's amusing. So for you, is it like so uncool that it's circled back around to cool? Yes. It's so weird though, because they do look
00:12:21
Speaker
Kind of cool. I guess. You want to be them for Halloween? Maybe. Just we'll both be shirtless and walk around, some face paint, and do they have a kilt? I feel like there's a kilt in there. A Viking kilt. I don't know why I feel this way, but I will say that there's something about how committed they are to that weak ass devil horn pump. Like, we're never going to stop. Like, they had a meeting like, we're not just going to do it. We're going to do it in sync, right?
00:12:51
Speaker
do you think though that like where we look at it and we say Triple H is doing everything right is this like his Vince moment where he's just like we're not giving this up like I'm gonna die on the fist they're like dude I don't think they're getting it no just give it some time it'll it'll get over it'll get there and when they come out I said I'm never going to do that with them and I didn't but I bet by the next time I'm gonna be like
00:13:16
Speaker
Shit, you're right. Yep, here we go. Doing it. Pumping that robot arm. Well, they pumped that robot arm all the way to a victory over the mighty. So that's what you're going to get on your taping of NXT
Unique Wrestler Attributes and Match Recaps
00:13:28
Speaker
this week. And then we got, what, Bianca Belair versus Dakota Kai? Dakota Kai, which I really liked both of them. And I was very excited to actually see that.
00:13:39
Speaker
I don't know, I've said this a lot of times, I love Bianca Belair. I think she is a future champ in that company. And I think on NXT and the main shows, she's gonna get there. I know my girlfriend thinks it's unfair that she can use her hair as a whip. And I've had to try to explain her as like, well, then why don't all the other girls do it too?
00:14:05
Speaker
It's not like she's grown a third leg. I mean, maybe it is a little unfair, because if you follow her on Instagram, her hair isn't that long. That's an extension she puts in. Oh, shit, did not know that. Yeah, so technically she's attaching a weapon to her head. Is there any other kind of weapon that anyone has ever just had on their body? I guess just, I would consider her hair like...
00:14:29
Speaker
Menorah Suzuki's attitude. It's really dangerous, but you can't get rid of it, so you gotta let him utilize it. See, I kind of assumed, and I'm finding out this information, and I had been working under the assumption that she was using her hair in the same way that Joey Ryan uses his dick. Yes, it's unconventional, but it's part of the body, so all is fair. Yeah, you can't, I mean, Joey was blessed with what he had.
00:14:53
Speaker
So you aren't going to just not use that. But he, in all fairness, he didn't use that that for years. You think he found it out on accident? I think in that first time that we saw it, he was surprised, too. Was he in the shower and he like picked up the shampoo bottle with his dick? And then he found out that this is a gift from God. Like he's scrubbing his head with his hands as his penis squirt some conditioner in there as well. I think conditioner was the wrong thing to use.
00:15:22
Speaker
Uh, yeah. So we got our NXT pre-taping out of the way. And which I will say, thank you all state arena. This is the first time I've attended a takeover where the time that was listed is the actual time that the TV taping started. Cause I have missed part of the TV taping at every takeover. You said that's been a nightmare. Like, like where you've missed parts of the show because it's unclear when it starts. Well, I think I'm showing up early and on like, you know, I'm on time. And then I walk in and I'm like, Oh,
00:15:50
Speaker
What the fuck? I'm missing. But like you said, if I walk in and I'm all I'm missing, like War Raiders. Hey, don't miss War Raiders, man. That gets you hyped for the show. Were you kind of bummed that Otis and Jizz weren't on the show? Yeah. What, are they heavy machinery? Yeah. I guess you could. That's why War Raiders had to change their name. Do our listeners, do they remember that that's an end joke with us? Is that calling them Otis and Jizz? I don't. Because we don't remember their actual names? Tucker.
00:16:19
Speaker
Tucker and... Tucker and Otis. I think Otis is real. Is it? Jizz might be his real name, too. I have no idea. If it's not, he should change it. I will say Otis and Jizz, though, they live that... When they come out there, they are those characters.
00:16:36
Speaker
How do you be the character Jizz? What defining attributes do you have to have? If I could show you a gif of that man's face right now, every single... And the listeners know who I'm talking about. Two like Portley Fellows, Bearded. One is just built like a goddamn dump truck. And he comes out and the face he makes is Jizz. He is Jizz. Like earthquake and typhoon? That is who they are. But they're doing it to the best of their abilities and God bless them.
00:17:05
Speaker
I mean, I think if we're gonna start talking about actual NXT takeover, I mean, can you imagine the show starting off with a better match? That fucking tag match between Undisputed Era and- Oney Lorcan and Danny Birch, that I have never liked either of them. Neither of them did anything for me.
00:17:29
Speaker
Lorkan Lorkan and birch more. Yeah, even when I saw Oni on the the Indies when he was Biff Busek, he didn't really do anything for me He's tiny Cesaro to me. Right but that night I mean, I was obviously, you know undisputed air that whole crowd was undisputed. There's children wearing undisputed era shirts
00:17:48
Speaker
Well, like I said to you, the pop that they got when they came out, you would have thought they were the fucking NWO. For real, like getting, being in a WWE environment and seeing Kyle O'Reilly get this kind of a reception.
00:18:04
Speaker
is still mind blowing. He got his own chant in the middle of the match. I'm still trying to process this because I think out of everyone in that match, people like him, but I didn't realize that he was that over. He was the man. Yeah, that was. Yeah.
00:18:20
Speaker
I mean, I think it's, we kind of talked about it back and forth a little bit yesterday, but is it that they're over because the NXT crowd knows that they're essentially a Ring of Honor invasion crew? Pretty much, right? I mean, they're the indie guys, but it's weird because NXT is just the indie show now.
00:18:41
Speaker
The whole roster, other than Velveteen Dream and Lars Sullivan and Otis and Jizz. I hope Otis and Jizz were big on the Indy somewhere. So what territory were you big in? Iowa?
00:18:55
Speaker
like that little accent you threw on there anyways so they get this huge pop and just the match was so hard to hit in and there were just so many good spots in here where I don't know like you you said they won you over
00:19:11
Speaker
Halfway through, I wasn't even rooting for Undisputed Era. I wanted Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan to walk out of there with it, and I, I'll be honest, thought it was gonna happen. Really? There was a moment where I thought, this is their time to shine, and I'm on board for it. Well, and it seemed like the crowd reaction may, and maybe it didn't, but it seemed like the crowd reaction may have changed the way that they were working the match, because eventually Undisputed Era started working like babyfaces. It's true. What happened with that?
00:19:41
Speaker
I think they realized that they knew they were gonna go over and it wasn't gonna look good if they were like the crowd was behind them being heels and going over so maybe they called an audible like I just know that the spot where they had the submissions locked in and you've got Kyle O'Reilly who's not the legal man
00:20:01
Speaker
Kicking I couldn't even remember who the fuck had like the what was it like a Boston like a half Boston crab? Yeah, like lock locked in and he's kicking him in the face while he's in a cross face and that's some babyface shit right there like Like saving the day. Well fucking Adam Cole is on the outside for this match. I
00:20:20
Speaker
He did interfere and get kicked out. We have a new friend, Josh from Wisconsin. Hey, Josh. Thanks for listening. It was great sitting next to you for two days. But he said he was hoping that Pete Dunn was going to run out and save the day. I think I was kind of hoping for the same thing there.
00:20:40
Speaker
What is, what's babyface Adam Cole? Like if he ends up being a babyface, like I'm so used to him yelling at everybody to suck his dick. Is he a babyface or is he just ridiculously over? I think they're, like you said, at this point they just feel like the NWO. They could still be telling people to suck their dick and they could say that to the biggest babyface there and get a pop. I mean you could make the argument that, I mean,
00:21:03
Speaker
They made that North American championship to give to somebody, I guess, but they did say, like, well, we got to get a belt on this guy. They put it on him. Who do you want to see him face for that? Who do you think is a good matchup for Adam Cole? I think we talked a little bit about where Gargano and Champa can go after their feud is over. I think him going into something with Gargano would be fun.
00:21:26
Speaker
I think him doing something with Ricochet could be fun. I know heal versus heal doesn't always work, but could you see him versus Champa? It's just two cocky assholes trying to out-dick each other.
00:21:44
Speaker
I think that if they did that, you could try to make it two heels versus each other, but I can tell you who the crowd would choose, and they would probably choose Adam Cole at that point. Hmm. Just because of his charisma. That's not saying that Champa doesn't have charisma, but he's a notorious prick, like on that show. Comes out with no entrance music. Just this fucking, what, name is Psycho Killer? Yeah, the Psycho Killer Tommaso Champa. Against the guy who's screaming, I'm Adam Cole, baby? Like,
00:22:14
Speaker
I think when it actually hits TV, people are going to pick their side pretty quick. Now, does that mean it won't be entertaining? No, that would be entertaining as shit to watch that for a couple months. So this tag match is what opens the show, and we still have a few more things to talk about.
Setting Expectations and Anticipation for Matches
00:22:34
Speaker
Set the tone. And talking to several people, it sounded like it's insane to say, but it was a contender for match of the night and how worked up it got us. I think a big part of that was I wasn't expecting to get all worked up on that one, but in the opening match, I'm already losing my voice from just how much I'm screaming and on my feet and just amped.
00:22:59
Speaker
Is that another situation where the match is enhanced immediately by how hot the crowd is for it? For sure. I mean, that room was so loud that you wouldn't know that wasn't sold out. Right. It probably sounded just as loud for takeover as it did for Money in the Bank. Absolutely.
00:23:18
Speaker
Yeah, and then like from I when you're guessing what the card is gonna look like you go from that match undisputed error retains and Then boom we're getting the other match everyone was looking forward to on this show. It's just ricochet velveteen dream Man, I it's I love
00:23:37
Speaker
that WWE has finally, they have a homegrown guy that is insanely over. And he's got a unique gimmick. I loved in the opening video when it showed him in, what was it, Tough Enough? Yeah. And then it cuts back. He was like, the dream has no recollection of this. Because he was kind of awful on that show. Tough Enough? Well, you just didn't like his personality. And I remember Hulk Hogan yelled at him.
00:24:06
Speaker
And basically what you now looks funny, which is hilarious because he came out dressed as fucking Hulk Hogan, but he What did he say? I'm trying to remember a lot of there were guys and tough enough that didn't watch wrestling and at that point Patrick Clark I guess was an indie wrestler okay, and I
00:24:26
Speaker
He was like, you need to know your history before you do all this. This is bullshit that you don't watch wrestling and you should be watching wrestling and you all went out and party and I stayed home and watched the WWE Network all night with fucking the guy who won.
00:24:42
Speaker
Remember that fucker? See, I didn't watch this season of Tough Enough. I didn't give two fucks. The last one I watched was the one they actually had on USA Network. Okay. And what was this big Andy was the guy who fucking won? Big Andy. Jesus. That was where Stone Cold was the host. And he was like, he didn't have, he was like Stone Cold Booker T. And who was the lady on that? Like, was it Trish? Maybe.
00:25:07
Speaker
Yeah, either way. Either way, Velveteen Dream was on a season of Tough Enough, and they worked that into the angle. And I just remember Hulk Hogan saying to him, oh, because he at one point yells at a guy, the era of the big man is over. He said that to him? He said that to some, he said that to one of the other contestants. And on that season of Tough Enough, they had to watch the episode with the judges in real time. So Hulk Hogan sitting there and watching it, and he's like,
00:25:34
Speaker
What do you say in the era of the big man? It was like Hulk Hogan just found out. It was like he had not gotten the memo. He's like, what does that mean? He's like, what is flippy shit? I don't know if I, I'll give it a try, brother. I don't, I mean, I'll try that flippy shit. But I remember him saying, you need to tone it down. Because what, I mean, are people going to love Patrick the smart mark? And he called him that. Wow. Like Hulk Hogan gave him a spanking.
00:26:02
Speaker
And when Velveteen Dream was in the room and apparently thought that'd make for a fun gimmick, right? Yeah. So, I mean, it was one of the things where, you know, they pop that graphic up on the on the Titan Tron that you're getting Ricochet, Velveteen Dream. They pop for that. They're like, oh, shit, we're going from this awesome tag match to the match that we were maybe looking forward to most all night.
00:26:26
Speaker
And I can't remember how long it lasted. The match felt like it lasted a while. And basically, the theme of the match was two guys trying to outdo each other. And I think they told a pretty good story. Ricochet ends up going over in this match, but not before they let Velveteen Dream get a ton of offense in. They let him do a bunch of spots off the top rope. They let him suplex Ricochet from what?
00:26:54
Speaker
Inside of the ring out to the like the floor. Yeah Yeah, holy shit. He did yes He's suplexed it was that off the apron were they on the turnbuckle like I don't think he was on the turnbuckle Maybe he was but like yo they I think he totally fucking was on the turnbuckle And he's two plexed him from the turnbuckle out to the floor on the outside and that was in the middle of the match That was just I think that's what pisses off What's his name the guy that?
00:27:23
Speaker
Chuck Taylor's ruining this fucking bit, why can't I think of his name? Cornette. Cornette? Like I bet when Cornette saw that, it was just like... Just that's the top of that. That's the fucking finish! That's the motherfucking finish! What are you doing putting that in the middle of a fucking match, goddamn motherfuckers?
00:27:38
Speaker
I mean, are you just having a heart attack? I bet his apartment is just in shambles. It's just broken glass everywhere. There's just holes in the wall from things that he's punched. We actually find out that his place looks like the GCW arena. Like where he works and where he lives. Is he married? Yes. Well, he was. I don't know if he is anymore. I feel like he would be a hard man to live with. I guarantee it. Could you picture rooming with him? No.
00:28:26
Speaker
And I don't know. He's that guy who's he's he's the like the cliche guy in the pro wrestling business that loves to pull that. I've got like 40 fucking years in this business shit on you at the drop of a hat. So the moment you suggest an idea, you're like, I think this would be working. Like, yeah, well, you got 40 fucking years in this business, motherfucker.
00:28:29
Speaker
I won't picture it, let's move on.
00:28:45
Speaker
Like, I don't know. This is interesting that this turned to Jim Cornette in the middle of Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream. However, I thought it was good because what they did kind of show is that Velveteen Dream has a mean streak because it felt like for a long time he was the one getting the big offensive moves in.
00:29:04
Speaker
I know my girlfriend was pulling for Ricochet, and she was pretty upset that it took Ricochet a while to get going. I feel like it's hard to not root for Ricochet. I don't care what your sexual preference is. That is a handsome man. That is a handsome man with fantastic abs. And lasers. And he has lasers? And you know what? I don't know if I've told you this, Derek. I'm sure I've said it on this show at some point.
00:29:28
Speaker
I love lasers. Anytime I'm at a concert and lasers get brought in, it's like, this is how we do it. This is how you amplify a concert. How do you take it up a notch? Love a good laser. Yeah. No one has lasers in wrestling other than, you know, several people, but not in WWE. He's got that wicked laser intro. He's got the music that sounds like it's like the background fight music from like Primal Rage or something. And a Transformers, like one and only.
00:29:58
Speaker
And I think there was such a good dichotomy there. I mean, there were two different characters. One's kind of a badass and one's like... Prince. Yeah. Not saying that Prince can't be a badass. Prince was a badass. Prince still is, even in death.
00:30:12
Speaker
I mean, I think he just released a record on his birthday. Yeah, while dead. And he's gonna release records until long after we're dead, because he has a vault of them. He's gonna be a really sexy Kurt Cobain. Or Tupac. Is that how we're describing Prince? He was sexy Tupac? That's how you're gonna describe him. I don't know. I think some people would argue that Tupac was pretty sexy too.
00:30:33
Speaker
This is turned into what men... What dead musician do you think is sexiest? Who's the sexiest dead musician? Elvis. Yeah, that was where I went. Couple white dudes marking for Elvis here. I hope that doesn't piss anybody off. No, I mean, they put on a pretty fucking classic. I mean, assuming there's gonna be a chapter two, right? Oh, you can't end with that. That's, what was it? The final five minutes where they were just doing these big spots and missing. And at one point,
00:31:03
Speaker
I haven't rewatched TakeOver yet. Really very excited for that. You need to. He did a moonsault halfway across the ring. Didn't Velveteen get his legs up or something for it? It was just reversals and misses and then Velveteen tried to do the elbow drop but he did an elbow drop pretty much coast to coast. Yep. He got some serious air and fucking ricochet capitalized and did what it was like a 450. Yeah.
00:31:33
Speaker
almost landed on his head, like barely made it, but guess what? Barely is making it. He did it. It works. He did it. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, ladies and gentlemen. But you've never heard that expression before. I have heard that expression. Are you blown away that I whipped that out for the pod? No, it's a fairly common expression. Well, you looked stunned. Didn't mean to.
00:31:55
Speaker
You know what? You would be surprised since we never actually record in the same room. You never know when I'm looking stunned. That just could be my face. That's true. And also we are sitting inches apart. Again, let's reiterate that. We are right up on each other. We could stick a subway foot long in between our heads and meet in the middle. Literally meet in the middle.
Match Summaries and Unique Moments
00:32:19
Speaker
Well, I guess from here they went into the women's match which was Nikki Cross versus Shayna Baszler. Crowd was still good. They were coming down. It was going to be impossible for anyone to follow that. I like both of these ladies. The crowd liked both of these ladies. One asshole brought a beach ball out. That guy immediately got booed.
00:32:41
Speaker
Not only did he get booed, he got shut the fuck down because the beach ball didn't get very far before some heroic soul in the audience went over, grabbed the beach ball, tore it in half, and got a pop. And then gave a middle finger towards the audience where it came from. Yeah. I would say the crowd was pretty hot for Nikki Cross in this match. I think that's who they wanted to go over. And she played her part really well. She was fucking crazy. Some of the shit she was doing at the beginning of the match, like getting on all fours and chasing Shayna out of the ring like a dog.
00:33:11
Speaker
I if we found out that Dean Ambrose had a secret sister that would be here It would be Nikki Cross or she could have been a really good sister Abigail if they really wanted to do it I always thought that was gonna happen was kind of disappointed They really pissed that opportunity away. That might be the funniest thing ever I do you think they're ever gonna just pretend like that didn't happen That was the weirdest best reveal where Bray Wyatt is just I'm sister Abigail and I think the whole crowd simultaneously Remained silent and then said um
00:33:41
Speaker
they would all and and and and it was funny is that he gets meningitis with everybody else on the roster at that point and they just used that as an excuse to be like you know that didn't happen you know let's not bring that up again yeah we can just luckily we'll just book Finn baller versus AJ Styles and we'll never talk about this again
00:33:59
Speaker
And what are we gonna do? When he gets back, throw him in a lake. Change that up. Yep. And you think that he's gone completely from that gimmick. And then he just comes back with the gimmick and pairs with Matt Hardy. We just gave you the recent history of Bray Wyatt on this podcast. So there you go. Tune in next week. Next week. So Nikki Cross, Shayna Baszler.
00:34:19
Speaker
I wouldn't say anything spectacular happened. Obviously, the big spot everyone's talking about is that Shayna chokes out Nikki Cross and about halfway through the move, Nikki just starts smiling right before she passes out. That was the that was the Undertaker laughing moment. Like she just took it. It was like she expected it and didn't bother her at all. And it was cool. It was a cool visual seeing her smiling while getting choked out. And then we got our title match.
00:34:50
Speaker
Aleister Black versus Lars Sullivan and I think I mean I guess I can't speak for everybody and I'm assuming I'm gonna you're gonna be on the same page with me I think everyone's expectations for this were really low and It met those expectations
00:35:06
Speaker
Do you think it was that bad? I don't think it was that bad, but it was definitely a match of Aleister Black having to do a bunch of shit to make it a match. Basically, it was Lars Sullivan, you stand there, I'm gonna run around you, I'm gonna jump, just keep catching me. Make you look like a monster. Yeah. There was just, I think the moment everyone is gonna pinpoint in that match, regardless of what happened. The missed kick? The missed kick. And it did not, I don't, I splayed this, still haven't watched it on TV, but from where I was, I was just like, oh boy, he missed that, and then,
00:35:35
Speaker
I don't even know how he knew that Alistair had even tried to kick him. Right, because he was so, it was like a foot away. Did the ref, he kicked at you. Yeah, like, like, at you. He didn't kick you, he kicked at you. Whose fault was that though? Was it both of theirs? I think you would have to show, oh, you know what, it's, I don't, maybe I'm wrong. I think it would be on the person initiating the, the quote unquote contact to make the move get as close as it needs to.
00:36:04
Speaker
Like, if I threw a punch at you, it wouldn't be your fault that my fist wasn't, like, right next to your face. But how would he even know it was coming without just kicking him in the head? Kick him in the head? Yeah. He's a big guy. I just, I loved what you said. You said, you saw him throw that kick. It misses. And then you just said, please don't fall down. Don't fall down. Don't fall down. And then he just immediately. And then, it wasn't even immediately. There was, like, two seconds after the missed kick where he was like, I guess I'll fall.
00:36:33
Speaker
And I was just like, ugh, you could have saved that spot. They could have totally milked it as, ah, Mr. Black went for the kick and he missed. That leads me to believe that this monster has probably committed insurance fraud at some point. He's a liar. Like where he, he, so he got tapped. He, his car got tapped and he gets out and he says, ah.
00:36:53
Speaker
It hurts.
Aleister Black's Impactful Entrance
00:36:54
Speaker
It hurts your suit. So fucking obviously Alistair Black wins, gives him a couple brutal kicks to the head, matches over. So where are you with Alistair Black? You aren't sold yet on him. I don't think that's a fair way of putting it. I'm sold on him. I think he's a great talent. He's ridiculous. Like I don't have to necessarily be a guy's number one mark to tell you like, oh, what he's doing is working.
00:37:18
Speaker
His shtick is working. He's got a fan base. They pop for him. Like I said to you yesterday, before we were going to Money in the Bank, he's got the heaviest, hardest entrance music I've ever heard in WWE, except maybe for CM Punk's Killswitch engaged music. God, just, and the crowd knew every word of that song. I know, like they have it in their playlist. I don't know a word to that. The whole crowd, I felt like-
00:37:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's all I hear and that's fine and that's what it sounded like when the crowd was doing it So that actually is that the crowd's just making those noise The last