Transcript
Speaker: Hey everybody, welcome to Predetermined, a pro wrestling hangout. I am your host, Garret Callender, and with me as always, the man who has all the confidence to beat Brock Lesnar, and hopefully some of the skill, Derek Halpin. I can vouch for that. That is absolutely 100 % true, and we have one hell of a show for you today.
Speaker: Yeah, today we're going to catch up on some current events and pro wrestling. And we're also for our main event going to be talking about our favorite subject among wrestling fans, which is dream matches and fantasy matches. We've got some social media interaction from people with some suggestions and we're going to give you our picks too. So this should be a good one, man. Looking forward to it. Hit our goddamn music.
Speaker: I just want to say I fucking love our music. Oh, I do, too. Like it gets me. The thing is, the more you hear it, the more you get excited about it. I hope that when people listen to our podcast, the music gets them excited for each episode. I think it's good that while we're on the subject, we have not given credit where credit is due on the music. I want to have it. Yeah. I want to thank my buddy, Josh Hendricks.
Speaker: I used to work with him at Warner Brothers, very talented composer. He does a lot of stuff, you know, makes things for video games, short films. Very, very talented man. And we were fortunate enough for him to make that for us. So huge thank you to Josh. Thank you, Josh. Josh Hendrix is the fucking man.
Speaker: He is. I hope he knows how many positive things, how much positive feedback we've gotten on that music. Gets me pumped every time. It gets me pumped every time I hear it. So thank you, Josh. Yes. Thank you, Sam. So let's dive right into this week's episode. I want to start off by letting everybody know real quick that I am a little under the weather right now. Currently drinking a hot toddy from a WWE mug. Got Kane looking at me in the face. Sip a toddy to the working man.
Speaker: When you say it's Kane looking at you, is it demon Kane? Is it corporate Kane? Well, if I have to break down everybody on this coffee mug, the thing is when you're a wrestling fan and people don't know what to get you for gifts, you're gonna get a lot of WWE branded merchandise. That's not a bad thing.
Speaker: No, I'm never gonna complain about that, but it's got a cane. He is the demon, but it's like a more current version of the demon. We got Undertaker, Seth Rollins looking real smug, but this is like evil Seth Rollins with skunk hair. And the scene man, the leader of the C Nation. Everyone's favorite wrestler. So you're feeling like shit a little bit is what you're saying.
Speaker: Oh, but I'm always ready to talk about wrestling. This is pro wrestling. Suck it up. I got whiskey in this cup. We're doing it. We're doing it, man. So let's start off. Let's talk about what's going on this week in the world of WWE, man. What's going on?
Speaker: Honestly, Raw was pretty good this week. I had a really good time watching it. I thought there were multiple segments on Raw this week that were really, really good. I think we should just cut right to the chase and talk about what I thought was the best segment on Raw, which was Braun fucking Strowman. That dude doesn't want to bury the lead. Oh, no. Upright base. Going up against Elias. That segment was fucking awesome. Everything about that segment was fucking awesome.
Speaker: When he rounded that corner holding the fucking cello, right? Well, he steps off into the shadows. He steps off to the right into the shadows. You're like, well, what's he doing over there? The thing is, the crowd is going fucking crazy during that song. And you could tell that they were setting up for something. I was just like, oh, my God, what is what are they setting up for here? And I nothing, nothing could have ever prepared me to see that giant fucking man holding the cello like a guitar.
Speaker: Well, so, so, so here's where I'm, I'm looking at it and I'm for a second, I'm like, Oh God. They're like, cause I love comedy and wrestling as much as the next fellow, but I'm sitting there for a minute and I'm going, Oh man, I don't know if bronze, the guy they should be doing this shit with. I didn't know how much I needed it until I saw it.
Speaker: And then when I saw him come out and put that across his fucking leg and just immediately as soon as he starts trying to like pluck it like a base guitar. It just like guaranteed that was not planned but it was almost like it should have been. That's exactly how it should have happened. Turns out a gimmick cello is pretty hard to play. Fuck and then you start realizing I don't think I've ever seen one of those on a wrestling show before.
Speaker: No, it was something brand new and it didn't feel like when you get a comedy segment from the big show, when a giant man like that is being funny, it's almost even more scary. Like he gets it. Like have you ever seen a biker eat an ice cream cone? Like there's a part of it where it's like this could go wrong at any time. Right.
Speaker: But yeah, I know that segment was fucking awesome. I thought that the main event was pretty cool. I saw some people complaining about it online, but I don't really fucking get it. I thought the finish for them adding Rollins and Balor into the Elimination Chamber match, I thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker: Well, obviously, Rollins deserves a spot somewhere on this roster right now. Right. And a big spot, and he doesn't have anywhere to be. And that's a concern for me, like leading into WrestleMania with him. I have no clue what you're gonna do with him.
Speaker: Yeah, honestly, ever since I heard that Jason Jordan was dealing with an injury, not because I'm wishing an injury on Jason Jordan, I just think that Rollins needs to get out of the tag picture. Because if he's not going to be teaming with Ambrose or Reigns, he's a single star. And it's been a long time since he's done something as a single star that I think was meaningful. So I was kind of excited to see them go with that and immediately push him into that chamber spot. And I think a lot of people
Speaker: Like, they kind of have an idea of who's gonna win that match, right? I mean, we think we know. Like, we're all pretty sure it's Roman Reigns. Right. But, I mean, there are good options. We have good options in this match that if they do decide to surprise us, could lead to an awesome WrestleMania.
Speaker: So let me give you my dark horse prediction because I would like to, I would like to see Finn Balor win it. I wouldn't mind some scenario where they give Rollins a try. I don't see it happening. I think John Cena's my dark horse. I had, I had read with that. I read a while back that they had big plans for him at WrestleMania. And I know a lot of people are talking about him an undertaker and that may seem likely, but holy shit, like,
Speaker: I don't know. I don't think this is one of those rare scenarios where I think Cena going on to be in a main event spot at WrestleMania is appropriate because if he wins one more world title, he sets the all time record for world title reigns, right?
Speaker: Absolutely. Well, how do they count that? Do they only count that for the WWE title? No, they count that for both. Okay. So we are pretending that the universal title is equal. Like, I mean, I know we're pretending it's equal, but I didn't know. So if he gets that, we are boosted him up to 16.
Speaker: Wasn't he be at 17? 17, I'm sorry. Yeah, no, it's kind of a mess. The world title history of both shows, especially since they started doing the brand split. The couple times they've done the brand split, but yeah, all world heavyweight title reigns, all WWE championship reigns, all WWE world heavyweight championship reigns, and WWE championship reigns, and universal title reigns, all those count the same now.
Speaker: I feel like wrestling fans are going to be pissed at me for saying this, but I would rather see Cena Lesnar as the main event than Roman. Will they be pissed at you? I don't know. I feel like does everybody still hate Cena? Like, I feel like a lot are coming around. I don't know. Just he had, okay. So he was right at the beginning of, as the Miz put it,
Speaker: I was just about to say that. Yeah, no, that's a great point. I think there's a story there. And the thing is that match shocked the hell out of all of us when John Cena is just getting suplexed all over the place. But if you think about the next time they fought after that, maybe it wasn't actually, I think it was the next time.
Speaker: It was the next pay -per -view. The triple threat? No, I was meeting the Royal Rumble one. Oh, okay. Where we had a triple threat between Rollins, Cena, and Lesnar. Of that year, that was maybe my favorite match in WWE that year. And we know those two guys have chemistry. And right now, I mean, Lesnar, Cena, that's a huge marquee. You put that across the front of any stadium.
Speaker: And it works. It works. And that's going to be all over the news because then that means the next day you can send John Cena to Good Morning America. Get him on there talking about it, pimping out the product. I just I see it working.
Speaker: And then it gives you another opportunity after that to do John Cena versus Roman Reigns again, which happened at just kind of like a, you know, raw branded single one off pay -per -view. And they can do a different spin on that. But no, going back to what I was saying, yeah, I just...
Speaker: I don't know how they would go about doing it, but I do think there's potential there for a storyline that makes sense. If it's a redemption story for him, and like Miz put it, if he was the beginning of the Suplex City era, and correct me if I'm wrong, but Lesnar's contract is up at After Mania, right? I'm reading on the dirt sheets that he might not re -sign.
Speaker: How do you feel about that? If Lesnar didn't come back and he goes out on his back at WrestleMania, dude had an amazing run. He barely had to work. And when he was there, it felt special nearly every single time.
Speaker: I guess my question to you would be then, everyone's favorite wrestling topic, do you think that you could do a scenario where Cena beats Lesnar and in the process Cena can turn heel? At this point I don't even want to pretend like John Cena is going to be heel ever.
Speaker: No, I get that. I don't know. I'm just at a spot where I don't really I like him having this run he did and never turning heel. Has anyone ever done that? Like been in the business for 15 years and been a baby face the whole time.
Speaker: Wasn't, uh, I'm sure Ricky the Dragon steamboat. I'm sure there's like smaller guys. I don't know if the face of the company types. I don't know. I just, with all the Hogan was on that path for a long time. It's just, I feel like if this were going to happen, it should have already happened. It didn't. I don't know. And I'm good at last thing for him to do. I mean, it is other than, then for whatever reason we need to see him fight the undertaker. That would be the last thing. Right.
Speaker: Actually, that's probably a better scenario to turn him heel than against Lesnar. Have him cheat to beat the dead man.
Speaker: Yeah, have him cheat to beat him and retire him, like fucking hurt him. That's just, that's a match that's going to bum me out. I totally get that it's a main event. You know, if that does happen, that's a huge match, but it is a match that I feel like is a little too late for me. And I don't know, it's just, it takes away from what we saw at last year's Mania. If I have to watch them just do it again.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree with you. That's kind of my whole reservation. I'm sure Vince is still sitting there going, oh, but Undertaker's a draw and people love watching him. And that may be true, but he's not wrong. He's not wrong, but at the same time, you're right. The Cena -Taker match is like, that should have happened last year. If it was gonna happen, it should have happened last year. But okay, if you do have Cena win, what do you do with Roman?
Speaker: like win elimination chamber I mean. Do you have Roman and fuck I don't know. See the problem is there's like we've got like Braun Strowman who if we had never seen Braun Strowman fight Brock Lesnar that's a WrestleMania match but the problem is. I still think it's a WrestleMania match. I just I the matches were fine but I don't think any of them were so good
Speaker: that it's a main event. I mean, I guess it doesn't necessarily have to be the main event. If you have those two big guys going, put AJ Shinsuke last.
Speaker: To me, that's the match that I would go last with anyway, because I don't think anybody else on the card is gonna be able to top the match performance. I just don't trust that they don't think that SmackDown is the B -show, so it gets to be before the main event. I know that they think that. I mean, yeah, it's very obvious they think that, regardless of what's going to be the best match. You know, I don't know.
Speaker: I mean, honestly, it could come down to, I don't know, I remember I've only been to one go home to a mania and that was at the Staples Center and that was leading into mania 31. And at the very last moment of the show, they had Roman snatch the belt away from Brock.
Speaker: Yeah, they did a little tug of war and Lesnar pulled it back and everybody cheered more for him. And I could see them doing that with both sets and just gauging what gets the bigger pop.
Speaker: I don't know, I'm actually, I will be at the go home to Mania this year. Yeah, you're going to Smackdown, aren't you, in Nashville? Yeah, Smackdown's, the go home to Smackdown's Mania is in Nashville, conveniently. And I will be center row, first row of the stands.
Speaker: So I should be on camera a lot. I'm on. Well, I'll be some screencaps of that and put it online. Speaking of Smackdown, Smackdown just wrapped up not too long ago and turns out they're adding Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin to the WWE Championship match at Fastlane. So it's now a fatal five way. If you haven't heard about that. Oh, wait, is it AJ Sami?
Speaker: Kevin. Kevin. And then Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler. Well, okay. What's going on with Dolph? Oh man, I can do a whole episode on Dolph Ziggler. Not really. It didn't seem like, I mean, they tried to, but the problem is, is he was only gone seven weeks. And was he just on vacation?
Speaker: He was renegotiating a new contract. He literally just signed a new contract. And what I was reading in the dirt sheets was that the only reason he came back is because they paid him like they paid him a lot to job. They're paying him a lot to basically job. And at this point, I mean, yes, I would love to see Dolph go somewhere else and be successful. But if he's at a point where he's just like, I'm making a shit ton of money, I don't have to do that. Like, you know, I don't have to. The thing is, he still puts on really good matches.
Speaker: Even as the job is but he also has that stigma on him now that like, you know He's got like a ceiling over his head. Like he's not gonna go anywhere
Speaker: It's such a like, so there's only so much you can buy into storyline wise with him knowing like, I know again, great performer. I'm not, I'm not a huge Dolph Ziggler guy. He's a great, but he's a great in the ring. Um, just thinking about these five guys in this match, like right now, if I were the Booker for WWE, I would be stressed the fuck out thinking about like, where do we stuff all these guys at mania? Cause at this point I feel like Ms deserves a singles match for the IC title.
Speaker: He has done so much with that belt. He deserves to have a big match on his own at Mania and not have to defend it against like seven guys in a ladder match. Well, I'd read a rumor that Miz wasn't going to be able to do WrestleMania this year because Maurice is like her due date is WrestleMania. Is Mania weakened?
Speaker: Yeah. He did say, though, that he has a private plane on retainer and that the second she goes into labor, he will be on the airplane. OK. I mean, obviously, like I respect that he wants to see his baby being born. And I can only imagine there are a lot of wrestlers that did not see that happen. Sure. Yeah, that's not first. Yeah.
Speaker: I think that he's earned it like he is I mean him opening that show was awesome like him being first in the elimination chamber is gonna be hilarious oh there's gonna be presumably there's gonna be him and two other guys opening the match probably Seth and
Speaker: in Fen, right? That's only fair, since they kind of got in last. Well, to me, what would be funny is that Cena and Miz had a match on Raw to determine who was going to enter the chamber number one. It would be funny to me if Miz enters number one, but Cena's number two. So it doesn't even really fucking matter, just to stick it to you. I don't know, because they have that extra man, so it's probably going to start with three people, right?
Speaker: Yeah, it's going to start with the three guys. I guess when you look at the WrestleMania card, there's a lot of opportunities for them to stuff guys in matches, which sometimes is fun. Like I'm sure it's like a bunch of guys will wind up in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which is a mouthful, which is probably where like Rusev is going to be right. Rusev as long as he fucking wins it. Well, are you hearing like the Goldberg might be in this match now?
Speaker: Andre the Giant? Yeah. I didn't hear that. I read the other day that they're looking at Goldberg being in it and actually looking at Goldberg. The thing is, take all this with a grain of salt. This is shit I read on the dirt sheets. Yeah. But they're looking at Goldberg to win it and something to do with that Andre the Giant documentary that's coming to HBO. That makes sense. Because it's a way to incorporate a big name into winning a thing that gets to go into an HBO documentary. Right.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I'm sure they'll do something with the... Go ahead. I was just saying, at a certain point it gets painful to watch wrestling the way we do. Where it's just like you're looking at everything and trying to figure out like, how does this tie into this? This is probably what's gonna happen.
Speaker: Well, I don't know. To me, it's not painful. That's my favorite part. I mean, I know people get frustrated when they don't get what they want. But to me, the anticipation and trying to figure out what the best way to go about booking things would be and where guys should end up and what would be fun, to me, that's like 90 % of the reason I still watch is just trying to think along with the product. And it's really the only TV show I do that with.
Speaker: Well, that's because it's not like any TV show. Like, Game of Thrones or something like that, you know, is written out on a script, like, well before, like, the audience doesn't have a say in things. Like, they don't get to react to Game of Thrones live on set.
Speaker: And with pro wrestling and with WWE specifically, you get the audience that can kind of shape things. And I think one of the things that was so fascinating about the Daniel Bryan thing was that it was a pushback against the audience being ignored.
Speaker: And there's sort of like, you'll meet two different kinds of fans. You'll get the fans that say they don't like when the audience hijacks the show. And you'll get the fans who say the audience is an integral part of the show. And when you ignore them and pretend like they're not there, they fucking lash out. And I think that's what happened with Daniel Bryan. Yeah, no, absolutely. And that made for a really fun watch.
Speaker: Well, yeah, because I don't know, just the circumstances, those were very unique circumstances. And I don't know if we'll see that again, between punk leaving and the rumors that they didn't want to go with Brian and then they ended up doing it. And I don't know, it felt very different. But going back to what we were talking about, like just kind of anticipating where they're going to go with a given show or an angle or whatever, to me, that's most of the fun of watching wrestling as an adult. Because obviously, at this point, everyone knows it's a work.
Speaker: So it's not like I'm getting strict entertainment just off of storylines. It's a lot of wondering what's the best way to get the best crowd response. So, yeah. There's a lot of possibilities. I'm sure they'll do something with the US title match that WrestleMania that could end up being like a six man or like a ladder match or something. I would much rather them do it with that than the Intercontinental title. Yeah, me too. I think, like you said, I think Miz deserves a one -on -one match for the Intercontinental title, so.
Speaker: or if we're lucky, Miz versus Brock Lesnar. As he predicted. The thing is, that's a match I never even considered in my head until he said it. And then I was like, you know what, he would use his brains. He could beat Brock Lesnar. Are you gonna add that to your list of dream matches? It's already there. The second he mentioned it, I was like, oh yeah, I'd buy a t -shirt of that.
Speaker: So man, let's dive right into this week's main event, our main event topic, which is fantasy matches and dream matches and all that good stuff. So yeah, this is something a lot like wrestling fans love talking about. And this is something I've been looking forward to talking about on this podcast.
Speaker: And what's cool is that obviously you and I have opinions on things and we have matches we would like to see. But what's cool about this week's segment is that we got some feedback from some other people that listen to the podcast. So we want to give a shout out to those people. And let's go ahead and talk about like the first match that got submitted on our list. Chuck Anthony on Facebook suggested that we talk about Sting versus Undertaker.
Speaker: This is a match people have been talking about for a very, very long time. And it seems like we got so fucking close to maybe getting it. Do you think they dropped the ball on that, not making it happen? I think that it, I don't know, like coming off, that's a hard one. Because when they brought Sting in for what he did, it would have been a weird time to have him come in and face Undertaker.
Speaker: because Taker had just come off of the Lesnar loss. And I think you needed him, I think you did need Taker to win another match to keep him special at WrestleMania.
Speaker: Well, let me propose this because I'm on board. This is a match that fans have talked about for a long time. It's a match they wanted to see. I don't think they're going to see it now. I do think it's in that it's one of those that we're going to wish we'd seen and it's not going to happen. Oh, yeah, this is gone. This is something that I think we got close to but has disappeared. Yeah, it's on the pile of what could have been with the WCW invasion of WWF.
Speaker: Yeah, missed opportunity, but if you consider at the mania that Sting was at, he faced Triple H.
Speaker: And if you consider that at that same mania, Undertaker faced Bray Wyatt in a match that people really don't talk about a couple years later. Like it's it's gone. Well, that was that was a match I was looking. I don't know if I was looking forward to it. There was a lot of pretend lightning hitting rocking chairs. Yeah. And we didn't see Undertaker one time. Yeah, he didn't throw him over the match. Yeah. And then day of Bray Wyatt tweaked his ankle.
Speaker: Yeah, weird set of circumstances. It was just kind of a nothing match. And also, it was an Undertaker match in the middle of the day. Right. It was a daytime match between two spooky guys and, I don't know, there was something. It just didn't seem like it mattered. It was in the middle of the card.
Speaker: And there was a lot of people who were upset about the way Sting versus Triple H played out, because to me, like looking back on it now, considering the way those two matches individually were received.
Speaker: I don't know man, I think you pulled the trigger on it in hindsight, don't you? Don't you say fuck it? And like, cause here's the thing, a lot of people were upset that Sting lost to Triple H. I was one of them. I think there were a lot of people there cause you were, you were in attendance for that one and there was a lot of people who were pissed off about the way that match played out. And, uh, if you're gonna have Sting lose, isn't Taker the guy to do it against if you're only going to do that match once?
Speaker: Absolutely, but I don't think they anticipated what eventually happened to Sting happening. I think we could have gotten to that match. I don't know. Why do you look back at that Sting Triple H match? As that match is going, I think we just remember the finish and how no one was super satisfied with that. But if you remember how that match is going throughout, everybody was pretty into it.
Speaker: It didn't make sense in the sense that the NWO had no reason to interfere on Sting's behalf. DX interfering on Triple H's behalf made sense. And it essentially just became a match that was representative of the Monday Night Wars between WCW and WWF.
Speaker: but uh no i think it was fun at the time but you know i'm i'm one of these i'll be an asshole wrestling fan and say that i think that the finish is just as important as everything else and it's like that in movies it's like that in a book if you fucking don't stick the landing
Speaker: It doesn't matter how good everything else was, it just makes it look like, ah, you dropped the ball. It's partially for me that I was there. So I have a different memory, and it was my first WrestleMania I had ever attended. And mid -match, I was not expecting to hear that NWO music hit.
Speaker: So when that hit, obviously I popped huge because fucking Hulk Hogan is there. Scott Hall is there. Like that's exciting. But also with this match, you got to remember it happened at Mania. Mania is a big event. Like this is just it's based on all just star power. So do I think if they had had the same match at like SummerSlam, would that have happened? Maybe not.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know. I guess the point is I think that Sting Undertaker is a match a lot of people have wanted to see. I think it's pretty clear why between them both kind of being the respective faces of their organization that they wrestled for and Undertaker having the supernatural Deadman gimmick and Sting with the face paint and hanging out in the rafters. I think it's a good blend. I think they mesh well. I think it's something people are gonna wish that they had seen.
Speaker: And like you said, I think those two guys just personified their companies so well. Like Sting was the guy that Vince never got. Taker is like, Vince's most loyal, you know, loyal worker.
Speaker: I just it made sense but as I'm thinking about that match a little bit. I mean the bill I guess maybe you don't even really need that much of a bill because in my head is like this is going to be a lot of two guys staring at each other in silence and.
Speaker: That could have actually been kind of awesome. You could have had those two guys just stare at each other for five minutes and the crowd would have lost their fucking minds. Sting points at the mania sign with a baseball bat, taker nods and gives like a, you know, the thumb across the throat. And lightning strikes the wrestle mania sign. Yeah, I think like you're right. I don't. This is what to me is what makes it such a missed opportunity, I guess, is that
Speaker: They didn't have to do much, people just wanted to see it. They wanted to see something and I think it's a scenario where if Sting loses to Taker, I think people forgive them for it because it's Undertaker and it's not Triple H and it just makes more sense. And it would have been Undertaker fighting a WCW guy at his event.
Speaker: Right. Yeah, I think it would have been forgiven. I think and I think I don't know. I think it would have worked. And I think it's sad that we're not going to get to see it. But great fantasy match because fans bring it up all the time. Yeah, I exactly. Thanks. Thank you, Chuck. Chuck Anthony on Facebook with Sting versus Undertaker. Let's move on to one of yours, man. What do you got? OK, this was hard to narrow this down for a lot of my picks. I was trying to do
Speaker: more matches that I could feasibly see right now. And the hardest thing is picking who do you want to watch the Young Bucks fight? Who can't you watch the Young Bucks fight that you think they'd put on a stellar match with? Right now, I think that that team is the Usos. I'm with you.
Speaker: It's just if you I don't think I would have said this, you know, three years ago, but right now this version of the Usos we have is actually helping me see that the version three years ago were very good wrestlers. They were just in bright face paint and it was harder to.
Speaker: They didn't seem as cool.
Speaker: team to go against them because i think they match up well and you're right about the gimmick um you know i was skeptical at first when they when they ditched uh the face paint and they're in their their look and they just went for the the flat bill hat you know they just look like a couple guys
Speaker: Yeah. And that works for them. Like it started out, I think they were a little tougher at the beginning and not that they're not tough now, but they are kind of funny. Like I think once again, I watch a lot of Total Divas. You see those two dudes on Total Divas a lot and they're very likable.
Speaker: When you just watch those guys being themselves, you're having a good time. And in this version of them, I feel like we're getting to see them act like tougher versions of themselves. Like, they're still being funny, but they're still kind of badass. Can you just imagine the number of superkicks in that match? Exactly. When I had to narrow it down to one team, that was what sold it to me.
Speaker: Because the Usos do already do a lot of superkicks. The announcers rarely call them that. But that would just be a match of so many superkicks and I think the build up to it, those two just talking at each other. You know, the Usos can be cocky. Yeah, the promos, man. The promos would be the selling point of that.
Speaker: getting to see the Usos talking about, you know, just making fun of the young bucks for coming up in bingo halls while they've been at the top in these arenas the whole time. And then just, I feel like they would end up having a really stellar match, a lot of super kicks, a lot of good spots. I feel like we would even see the Usos pull out some things they've never done before.
Speaker: Yeah, that's, it's even the kind of match that I think would be perfect for like a gimmick match. Like give them the first ever one hour tag team Iron Man match. Holy shit. Let them go a full fucking hour, like tornado tag, falls count anywhere. Who has the most falls by the end of the hour? Like to me, that would be a fun fucking match. I never thought about like, I honestly have not thought much at all about the idea of an Iron Man tag match.
Speaker: and the bucks are the right people to do it. Yeah, I think, and here's the other thing, I think this isn't a thing that gets brought up a lot if we're gonna talk about this stuff. I just think they have comparable builds too, like size -wise. It's not like we're getting authors of pain versus DIY or something like that. No, it's two teams are about the same size that have similar styles who can do the high flying acrobatic shit that they both rely on super kicks. They can both cut promos.
Speaker: They're just very comparable teams and I think in a scenario like that where both teams can go, give them the full fucking hour and do something original and give them the Iron Man tag team match and fuck, fans are gonna go ape shit over that. And it's not often that a tag team match would be the main event of a show, but that's a main event. Absolutely.
Speaker: Abso -freakin'-lutely, man. We were talking about this one leading up to recording this podcast, and this is one we were both in agreement on that needed to be discussed, and Young Bucks versus Usos, man. Make it happen.
Speaker: Just to throw it out, the couple others that were in consideration were the New Day. Because once again, the promos there would just be so spot on. Yeah, they would mesh well together. And they've already like bickered on Twitter, which was funny. And I appreciate that they do that. Like, you know, but also the revival because fuck the revival.
Speaker: fuck the revival man yeah oh my god you could they've actually had to bleep out some fuck the revival chance on wwtv and i bet that just tickles the young bucks to know if you don't know uh the young bucks started a fuck the revival thing on twitter and as well as on uh being the elite they've started fuck the revival chance at ring of honor shows uh it's it's a fun little thing they have going on right now and just
Speaker: The Revival's such a good tag team. They would be, you know, the no flips, just fist thing going against a team that all flips. Yeah, that would be good shit. That would be just the buildup to that as well. Honestly, you can plug the Young Bucks in with anyone in WWE that we're never going to get to see them fight. And I would be pretty excited to see it. Yeah, there's a lot of matchup potentials there. So yeah, but I think we both agreed that like if you had to pick one, that's the one is Usos Young Bucks. Agreed.
Speaker: Yeah, so we got that. I guess we can go off one of mine. You want to do that? Yeah, let's do it. What's next? So this one's a little off the wall because there's a lot of big names that you get thrown out into fantasy match scenarios a lot. So I kind of tried to pick something like personal to me, something original.
Speaker: and I came up with Kevin Owens versus Eddie Guerrero. It's not something I've ever one time even considered, other than thinking about Eddie when he does the frog splash, when Kevin does it still.
Speaker: Right. Well, I think what I came up with is I was trying to think of somebody that I could pair with Owens in a fantasy match scenario, somebody that would fit. And the only other one I could really come up with was Triple H. And the reason I was thinking Triple H for a long time was because, you know, there was sort of a master versus student
Speaker: thing there that he kind of had with Rollins a little bit from their NXT days but I also just you know I passed on that and I just went with the reason I think Eddie versus Owens would be really really fucking good is that I think Owens is a heel and Guerrero is the babyface who lies cheats and steals to get victories would drive Owens so fucking batty
Speaker: and the idea of Eddie Guerrero having a match against Owens and stealing a win and Owens getting fucking ape shit angry. Watching him get mad about Eddie cheating would be the funniest shit. Yeah, to me that was what sold me on and then knowing that both guys like Eddie wasn't overly big. Owens isn't like a six foot five guy. I think that I think once again, I think they match up well
Speaker: I think Eddie's a great worker, Owens is a great worker, I think if you did like some more Kevin Steen style stuff that he did on the indies and let them have like a like a either a ladder match or a hardcore match and give them some time I think that's a match I fucking wish I could see and it's a shame that Eddie's not around to even make that a possibility. Well the thing is if you take Eddie in his prime and put him against Kevin Steen
Speaker: those guys could tear any house down. Yeah, I mean, if you just even look back at, you know, Eddie is a cruiserweight in WCW, the stuff he was doing there even. Yeah, that would...
Speaker: That would be wild. Like even if they were just doing wrestling holds and just actually doing wrestling rather than just moves over and over again. Yeah. That would be a compelling watch. Well that's the thing is that I think that both of those guys are capable of pulling off a wrestling match and then like a no holds barred street fight style too.
Speaker: And that's a match that if you had it like if you gave them enough time to build a great story It would definitely you could start with you know great like, you know wrestling traditional like Matt wrestling and then just gradually build it up to where they're in a fucking brawl until the end
Speaker: Yeah, I think that to me talking about all this and thinking about it coming into today's podcast, it made me really miss Eddie Guerrero. I don't know how much you were watching during his when he became WWE Champion and back in 04.
Speaker: Great run by him. I loved it. And I just, the more I think about his character back then, I just think that the idea of him stealing a match against Owens and Owens getting fucking angry and then cutting a promo saying to the fans, like, you guys are assholes. Anytime I try to get an edge or something in a match, I get booed and this guy cheats and steals and you guys cheer him for it. I think there's potential there for those two to have a really fucking good match. I just, I think it was a good matchup. So.
Speaker: It's just, yeah, those are just two fantastic workers. It would have been nice to see how that goes. But then you never know, like with sometimes with these like on paper, AJ Styles versus Kevin Owens seemed like it was going to be awesome.
Speaker: And it just didn't really work out like it was just two guys who didn't mesh well. I just think it's weird like you'll have situations like that where like guys can have okay matches. They're both good workers and they can have okay matches but they can't have the five -star match that you think they're capable of. So you never know but this is one that like to me like I wanted to see Owens against somebody from the past and Eddie I think was a good pick for potential fantasy matchup there.
Speaker: Isn't it weird that the only WWE legend or just wrestling legend so far that Kevin Owens has faced is Bill Goldberg?
Speaker: Oh, it's fucking infuriating. I guess technically, technically, he did face Brock Lesnar at a house show. Okay, and I'm sure he fucked Goldust at some point. Well, we got another user submitted fantasy match from Facebook from Angel Cruz. He suggested that we talk about Stone Cold Steve Austin versus Goldberg. Ah, fuck. That is just the attitude era.
Speaker: Yeah, that is a match that all of us thought we wanted to see. How much of that is based around the fact that they based a lot of Bill Goldberg's look being very similar to Stone Cold Steve Austin's? I mean, he was just a more fit Stone Cold.
Speaker: I mean, looking at them, that's funny, though, that basically the thing that made us want to see them fight each other was that they looked the same. But also they were the top guys in their respective, you know, in their companies. Yeah. To me, this is one of those, like, it's one I think, like, when we were talking about Sting and Undertaker earlier, how we just want the moment of, like, seeing them standing across from each other, them getting ready to fight. See, I don't know how good of a match Stone Cold and Goldberg could have.
Speaker: Goldberg's matches typically are not long and I can't imagine a scenario where you see Steve Austin getting speared and jackhammered in like five minutes. I'll tell you when it would happen. It would happen during the build is like you would already get a spear because Stone Cold would be talking shit hard on Bill Goldberg and calling him a stupid son of a bitch. He would have the beers going and when he turned he would get speared hard.
Speaker: Here's the thing, I think that actually happened. I think if I don't remember every little detail, going back to 2004 again, since that's going to be a theme I talk about a lot, those two actually had quite a bit of interaction with each other going into WrestleMania 20 for the very first Goldberg -Lesner match. Oh boy. So cold's just in the ring and a ref shirt laughing that whole time.
Speaker: Yep, that was basically the only good part of that match other than the end. Was the end where he stunnered everyone? Was that part of it? Or was there something in his earpiece that said, hey, you got to stun these guys. You got to change the crowd. You know what? I have no idea. But knowing that since both guys were already going to be leaving after that show, I would imagine that's something they planned beforehand. Yeah, it probably would have been weird if one of them had just turned. He's like, hey, I'm going to stun you. Just be ready. Just deal with it.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I mean, I get why that's a fantasy match. People talk about it. I think it was one that in 1998, 1999, people were talking about that they wanted to see. But I don't know how good the match would have been, but I totally make sense why people want to see it. And like you said, it's not one that gets me super excited right now. But if you had asked me that during the middle of the Monday Night Wars, 100 percent, I would have wanted that badly.
Speaker: for sure for sure so it makes sense why that's on there hey man let's head back uh let's get give me one of yours dude let's talk about another one of yours so i have already mentioned this on the podcast but this is one that could actually happen and it's and the thing is it could happen at elimination chamber we could get it you know settled i want to see fen baller versus brock lesner
Speaker: Ooh. God, I wanted this while he was in NXT. I was just like, if he makes it there, the size difference is fun. You have the beast versus the demon. We so rarely see Finn do the demon that this is the perfect time for him to bring it out. Have, you know, Heyman cutting a shitty promo on him. Like, you know, he's too small. He can't do it. The demon is coming out for this one.
Speaker: That is a WrestleMania main event. That is the only thing that I'm like, you know what? If they can make that the main event, I will take that over Shinsuke Eiji. I know that's a big statement, but I wouldn't like that. People are gonna be like, fuck you, Garrett. But I'm like, hey, teach their own man. That's what I'm excited about. There's at least a few people at home that were with you up until that moment, and then they're like, ooh. No, but I don't think you're wrong, though. There's something to it.
Speaker: We've talked about this match a lot before, and I think the reason people want to see it is because there's a lot of things about it that just makes sense from a pro wrestling standpoint. Number one, they call Brock Lesnar the beast, the beast incarnate. And Finn Balor is known as the demon, dresses up in the face paint, and he takes his wrestling style to a whole other level when he's the demon. And there's the whole David versus Goliath theme there.
Speaker: Fuck, think about his WrestleMania entrance. If Finn Balor main evented WrestleMania as the demon, the fireworks going, him as the demon, god damn, there's just so many possibilities for that being awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, no, I think this is one I would absolutely love to see. And I've talked about this match with a few friends. And one of the things I don't know how they would pull off. I would love to see Finn come across as like he can exploit like the weakness in Lesnar's arsenal.
Speaker: which is that a lot of it involves him trying to German suplex guys and it would be cool to see like every time Lesnar tries to suplex Finn he just flips out of it like he goes to suplex him and he throws him and Finn lands on his feet does like a back flip essentially or just think about Lesnar coming behind to lock it in him giving that Pele kick
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, I just think there's a lot of potential there. I think a lot of people, you know, just a few years ago, there were rumors that they were going to do Daniel Bryan versus Brock Lesnar. And it doesn't look like that's ever going to happen. And at this point, I don't want to see him do it. Like, I don't want Daniel Bryan to take. Yeah, I don't want him to land on his neck a whole bunch of times. Like, I yeah, I love him too much.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm with you. I think this is a way to kind of, at least in spirit, make something like that happen. But it actually almost makes even more sense just because of Finn Balor's gimmick. And a great worker, I think, I don't know, the fact that it's still technically a possibility. That's what gets me so excited about it, is that it's something that could happen.
Speaker: And if Brock is on his way out, and this is my last chance, I'm gonna be so bummed out if it, I mean, it's probably not going to happen at this point. But like, just picturing, you know, Finn getting on the top rope, giving him the coup de grace, like stomping on just Brock Lesnar's giant chest, going for the pin, not a kick out, but him just throwing Finn Balor in the air.
Speaker: Yeah. And then I like something I think that would be awesome that we haven't seen is just he knows that one coup de gras isn't going to do it. So have him just keep doing it.
Speaker: Right, and just stomping Lesnar to fucking death. Like just getting on that top rope and giving him like three or four coup de gras in a row, then going for a pin. Hearing Paul Heyman on the outside just screaming, Brock! Brock! Get up! Like him, oh man, Finn Balor walking out of WrestleMania holding the Universal title as the demon. That is a way to end WrestleMania. That is a main event.
Speaker: And again, I know it was a short timeframe to make it happen, but it's one, it's still a possibility technically. And it's still an easy build because, uh, Heyman wasn't it several months ago, but didn't he have promos on Fen baller versus Brock Lesnar? Yeah. He said it's a matchup that intrigues him. I think that was going into great balls of fire or something. Okay. It ended up being Joe and Sted.
Speaker: Yeah, I think there was a point where Heyman had said that matchup intrigues him. So, I don't know. It intrigues the fuck out of me. So, I'm with you. That's one I'd love to see. Yeah, don't hate me for saying I'd rather see that than Shinsuke AJ, but my main reason for wanting it so badly right now is it seems like the match that is so possible that would tear the roof off the place that we're probably not gonna get.
Speaker: Yep. And I guess you could always fall back on the idea. We've seen Stiles Nakamura before. Technically. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And the thing is, it was awesome. And that's why it's still a dream match for that to happen at Mania. But this is something that I have not seen at all.
Speaker: Yep, I'll tell you one that I haven't seen at all, and one that I think people should see, and one that I don't think they ever will see. One of my dream matches is HBK Shawn Michaels, the heartbreak kid against Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Is that really, like during the Attitude Era, that never happened? It never happened to my knowledge, and if it did, it happened before The Rock was a thing. Okay, so it's kind of one of those. Maybe when he was rocking my Avia.
Speaker: So it's kind of one of those like where the Undertaker Cena has happened before, but nothing memorable. Yeah, here's the funny thing about Undertaker versus John Cena. I've technically seen that as a dark match back in 2006 after a Raw super show. So I've seen it. So fuck all y 'all. I don't need. I'm good. You're being selfish because you don't need to see it.
Speaker: Well, here's what, okay, it's a match a lot of people bring up a lot, which is, you know, Rock versus Michaels. And there's actually a great story here. And I don't even know if you know about this.
Speaker: But the king of the ring that Stone Cold Steve Austin won, which prompted the whole Austin 316 thing. Yeah. That was originally supposed to be won by Triple H. But he got in trouble for the click thing. Yes, he got in trouble for the Madison Square Garden, you know, the kayfabe breaking hug that they did and all that stuff. So they rescheduled it and they did, you know, they had Stone Cold Steve Austin winning the king of the ring.
Speaker: Now, after that, I think Triple H just kind of accepted his punishment, but the whole time after Hall and Nash left WWF, Shawn Michaels was grooming Triple H to be the next guy. Like he thought, okay, take your punishment, but don't worry, we're gonna make you a top guy here pretty soon. And I think the emergence of The Rock,
Speaker: Really from what the the stories I've heard is that it really rubbed Sean and and Paul the wrong way that the rock just kind of came out of nowhere and was rivaling Stone Cold Steve Austin in popularity and that HBK and
Speaker: was trying to hold down The Rock early in his career to prevent Paul, you know, to prevent Triple H from getting usurped or whatever. And I think there's a great story there. I know that Sean had pulled some shit at one of The Rock's dads when he was doing shows. I know there's family history there where The Rock's family doesn't think too kindly of Sean Michaels. I don't know if they still do.
Speaker: But I think there's a story there where if, if Sean and Triple H really did try to hold down Dwayne backstage, they could run with that. And it's just, it's to me, it's one of those big matches. I can't believe that we, like you said, I can't believe we didn't see it. It's just, yeah, right. Like that already seems like a main event match that they just missed the boat on.
Speaker: Yeah. And maybe it's because they didn't want to work together. And, and I don't know. I think they're on, I think they're on good terms now from when I last read, but there's like, there's story potential there. And I just think they were both big stars. We got to see, we got to see HBK versus stone cold. And, uh, we got to see HBK versus triple age. We got to see HBK during against a lot of the guys from the editor. That's one. I just don't think that we got and kind of a shame.
Speaker: No, I agree with you. I think the promos we could have gotten out of that, I mean, they would have even had a really fun match. And that would have been, I mean, honestly, that's a WrestleMania match too. Yeah, that's a WrestleMania main event if you can make it happen. Yeah, I totally agree with that one. So let's talk about one of your matches.
Speaker: that probably can't ever happen at WrestleMania, but is one you'd like to see anyway. I think this is another intriguing one that I think people are gonna be like, fuck you for wasting my time. Do you think? I think people are gonna be with you on this. People are a lot more harsh on this than I think they would be. But as I was sitting down thinking about it, I was like,
Speaker: Well, obviously, who can we put Kenny Omega in a dream match with? And I wanted to do it with somebody that just didn't seem possible. And that is John Cena. And I'm with you. The reason I would want to pair them together. One, like just think if one day if Cena was just like, you know what? I do have something to prove. I'm going to Japan.
Speaker: Like he doesn't renew his WWE contract for like one month. Yes. Because when we got John Cena versus AJ Styles, I don't think any of us were expecting that to go as well as it did. Although you know what, to be fair, we should have considering when Styles had his brief like month or two month feud with Roman Reigns, Styles got a couple of really, really good matches out of Roman Reigns at that time.
Speaker: He really did, and I mean, a lot of that could be on AJ Styles, but I - I think it is, at that time anyway. But I also think that Cena, during those matches, stepped it up, and I feel like that was the beginning of me starting to be on Team Cena again, where I was like, you know, he looked like he was into it. It looked like Cena finally had, you know, a meaty storyline, like something that he could sink his teeth into, and something that was worth giving maximum effort for.
Speaker: And I think he, I think he would do the same for Omega. I'm with you. I'm with you on that. I think, um, I don't know the situations that you could, I mean, cause here's the thing. I said it probably couldn't ever happen at WrestleMania. It's not impossible cause you know, Kenny's, you know, independent, like he can do whatever the fuck he wants. It's not impossible for him to do a one -off if Vince thinks he can bring him in for, for a mania man.
Speaker: Well, I mean he is signed to New Japan exclusively for a few years. Is he? He can't do anything else.
Speaker: Well, I mean, he can do Ring of Honor, but they have a working relationship. And I think, I don't know, I think he does have a little bit of freedom, at least, because I just saw that he's going to be at the WrestleCon Super Show Mania weekend. He just got added to that. So obviously, like, they're cool with him doing some. But I think the promotion for New Japan would just be so good that if they wanted him to come to a match, I think they'd let him.
Speaker: Yeah, and there's been instances where like between WWE and TNA, they've had worked out deals where like, well, if WWE gets to use Kenny Omega for a match, WWE can let somebody go over to New Japan or whatever as a favor and do something over there too. So they could send Orton over there to work a program with somebody or whatever.
Speaker: Yeah, that one just really intrigues me because there's something about this new part -time John Cena that just doesn't seem like he cares a ton. Like, not that he doesn't care at all, but I feel like he's gotten a little lazier with just like, you can just hear him talking even more than usual nowadays.
Speaker: Yeah, I think part of that maybe comes down to maybe he knows what his role is at this point. Like he's there to put over the new guys. And so there's like, I don't know. I think you're right. I think that he's missing something. He should turn heel. And, um, no, I, to me, I get it. I get why this would be a match. And here's the thing. We know that Cena can work a good match.
Speaker: And we know that Omega can. And just like all the build for, you know, Omega versus Jericho, I think if Jericho can have a good match with Omega, I think Cena can certainly have a good match with Omega. And it makes sense why, at least, at least currently, because even though he's, you know, Cena's kind of winding down, you know, being the full time guy and just doing part time jobs and stuff.
Speaker: He's still technically like a face if not the face of WWE. Well, I mean obviously he's still the face cuz we're we legitimately discussed a possibility of him headlining WrestleMania this year. Sure.
Speaker: Sure. And I don't know, I just, Omega brings out a lot of good in people. He sells the shit out of anyone's finishers. Like until recently, I never thought the crossroads looked like a devastating move. Same with like, goddamn, just the way he sold the code breaker.
Speaker: against Jericho. That was, I don't know, I think he would just, they would compliment each other well. And I think it would just be something that we wouldn't expect to see. And I think it would just bring out a lot of good in both of them.
Speaker: Going back to your point, I think it would actually just be cool as fuck to see the John Cena character away from WWE. Oh my god, like, for real, like, I mean, everybody was fucking shocked when Jericho showed up. I mean, I don't think there was anybody who would say, oh, I saw that coming. Right. None of us did. But this would have been an e - like, if this were to ever happen,
Speaker: Like, I mean, when you were talking about guys who have loyalty to something, I mean, Cena is definitely there. Like, he is WWE. Yeah, he's a company guy, for sure. Him showing up to another company, I don't think, I mean, I almost feel like the place would go silent. Well, here's the thing, especially, this is kind of what I mean, though, is that, like, imagine him showing up as John Cena.
Speaker: like without the bright shirt, without the WWE merchandise on him, but still being John Cena the wrestler.
Speaker: John Cena, that guy from Total Bellas that wears really ill -fitting suits. Well, man, he can still wear hats. He can still wear his shorts and shit, but I just... It would be interesting to see... Giving John permission to wear a hat. Because if he doesn't have that on to throw in the crowd, he gets confused. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Or a towel or something. It makes him forget like he left the house without his keys. Ah, shit. I'm missing something. Oh, fuck. I forgot my towel.
Speaker: No, I know I'm with you. And I think that's I think that's a great dream match. Honestly, I don't know. To me, it wouldn't even really matter the circumstances, whether it's WrestleMania or something in New Japan. Make it happen. Find a way. You know what? Bring him as his opponent for all in. That would be fucking awesome. If it's just like we won't know Omega's match until you're in the building that night. And if John Cena's music hit once again, I think the crowd would go silent, not believing what they're about to see.
Speaker: I'm really hoping the All In show is in Chicago.
Speaker: And I don't know, maybe they are having it in LA so that they can - I really hope they're not, but for my biased reasons, I hope it's in Chicago. And speaking of Chicago, let's transition into my last rematch of the show. This is another one that people have talked about a fuck ton. And so I think it's worth mentioning because it's certainly on my list for the same reasons. It's probably on everyone else's list. Stone Cold Steve Austin versus CM Punk.
Speaker: Okay, so like I said, I hate saying this. I missed out on basically the entire CM Punk era of WWE. Obviously, I've watched a lot of things since then, but I wasn't there while it was happening. So I feel like I never gained that connection with CM Punk that a lot of wrestling fans did. Well, here's the crazy thing.
Speaker: I'm mentioning this on my list. I'm not like a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge CM Punk fan. I don't own a single bit of CM Punk merchandise. Which blows my mind because it's got Chicago shit all over it.
Speaker: Yeah, I get it. There's an expectation there. But I don't know if you've ever looked up, I can't remember what year it was. I want to say it was 2010. 2010 and 2011. There was an interaction between Stone Cold Steve Austin and CM Punk on Raw where Stone Cold was, I think he was like the guest GM for the night.
Speaker: The chemistry those two have is fucking amazing. And I'm just talking about watching them interact, but there's also a personality chemistry that they have in the sense that they're characters.
Speaker: are perfect together. Oh, they were like personality wise. They're very similar. Yeah, they're just like overall attitude. I mean, well, and then you have the aspect. Obviously we have to talk about the fact that CM Punk straight edge. Stone Cold Steve Austin is the beer drinker. Yeah. I think there's a lot. I mean, I know that when they were promoting, I think it was WWE 14.
Speaker: or 13, whatever one CM Punk was on the cover of, they did a lot of interaction between him and Stone Cold Steve Austin. And it's just, I mean, there's a lot of guys you can plug Stone Cold Steve Austin in against and say it's a dream match. To me, if I had to pick one Stone Cold Steve Austin dream match, this is it. Well, it's because, you know, together they got that Donnie and Marie thing going on. He's a little bit country. He's a little bit rock and roll.
Speaker: I think that's actually a great way of putting it Yeah, it's a city boy versus a southern redneck. Yeah Yeah, I think and I think punk being the loudmouth kind of abrasive does like I mean punk has to be the heel on that scenario I think but I don't think ultimately it's gonna end up matter if it came to match time because both guys would be so fucking over that people just be excited as hell to see the match and
Speaker: Yeah, I just think that them both being very brash very rebellious being fucking assholes to each other Like a month or two's build would be more than enough Because I like honestly no build you just hear like at this point Like okay, let's say it's happening right now and not you know several years ago. I
Speaker: Sure. As far as right now goes, the loudest pop I have ever heard or like been in the room for was Mania 32 when Stone Cold showed up in Dallas.
Speaker: Yeah. And I don't even remember if we knew that he was going to be there. Like we can't I think everybody assumed because it's Texas. But when that fucking glass broke, I don't know if I've ever been anywhere louder than that. And I think it would be the same thing. I don't think it matters what fucking like town they were in. If you were at any WrestleMania and see him punk's music hit.
Speaker: Like, I don't even know what would happen. I mean, the place went crazy last year when the Hardee's music hit. If Seeing Punk's music hit. I think the rest of the match would be quiet because everyone would lose their fucking voice during just the entrance. Yeah, the second you do that, I mean, the people of Philly are going to be eating horse shit off the ground and burning their city down. Vancouver's going to riot. And do you know how hard that is to get riots in Vancouver?
Speaker: All it takes is the Canucks failing to win the Stanley Cup. They're gonna go down there and, you know, you're not gonna be able to go to Tim Hortons for a while.
Speaker: Well, man, let's move on to the final dream match discussion of the episode here, which is another one that multiple users said that we should talk about. And I actually agree with them. I think this is one that if they hadn't brought up, I certainly was going to. But we had Brian Jax on Facebook, and we had at Doomlord Dalton on Twitter say that we should talk about AJ Styles versus Shawn Michaels.
Speaker: This is a match that if you had asked me about this a few years ago, I probably wouldn't have gotten super excited.
Speaker: I think I've talked about this before, but I was familiar with AJ Styles, but a lot of my exposure to him has been this current WWE run, and it took a minute for me to grow. I just did not immediately love AJ Styles, but looking at him now and just
Speaker: That match is very warranted. Everybody would want that match. If you had both guys in their prime. Which is weird because AJ... How old is he now? Is he almost 40? I think he's almost 40, but fuck, it doesn't seem like it. I feel like he's in his prime currently.
Speaker: Yeah, I would say he's still in his prime. I think working that part -time TNA schedule probably helped a lot. I knew a little bit about AJ Styles before he came to WWE because I, you know, for a couple years there I did keep an eye on what was going on at TNA because I followed Christian over there when he went to TNA after he left WWE.
Speaker: And I knew a little bit about AJ Styles and I knew that he was pretty well revered throughout the wrestling community. But I'm with you, I didn't have a ton of history with the guy until he came to WWE and I kind of fell in love with him immediately. I think a lot of it had to do with the warm reaction he got when he made his debut at the Royal Rumble.
Speaker: which I think it would be hard to not be excited about that just the way the crowd reacted. I mean, even if you literally like if you had no idea who it was like this is the first time you're hearing his name, the way the crowd reacted, it was very easy to tell that he is special.
Speaker: Right. And I think it didn't hurt, you know, right after he debuts, he has a pretty good feud with Jericho. He has a great couple matches with Roman Reigns. He turns heel, has all those fucking epic matches with Cena. Like technically since he's arrived, he's been off and running.
Speaker: and it makes sense that they made him the face of Smackdown because yeah he can carry a show I mean it makes me happy I mean it didn't take too long after Cena had a couple matches with him before he pulled Styles aside and said you're everything that you were advertised man see I wasn't
Speaker: I was not big into the Jericho matches. His match that he had at Mania, I remember being, as far as that Mania goes, I didn't love that one. It was kind of a snooze for me while I was there, I thought, until I went back and rewatched it. It is very good. So I think, would you agree with me? Maybe you'll disagree, I don't know. Would you say that Styles is the best worker on the current WWE roster?
Speaker: On the WWE roster, yes. I mean, I'm trying to think if even any of the new guys are like NXT or the Cruiserweights, but I think overall he is the top guy in that company currently as far as putting on consistently really good matches.
Speaker: And he has been for a couple of years since he's been there. He's been putting on good matches. So when you brought it up, I think like the Roman matches were the first ones that I was like, OK, I'm all on board. This guy can get a good match out of anybody. And actually, maybe it was the next. You know what? I think it really was the night after Mania. There was Jericho, that fatal four way. It was him, Jericho, Cesaro, Owens.
Speaker: I can't remember who it was. You know, I think you're right. He won a title shot that night. Yeah. And I was in the building for that one as well. And the crowd stayed so long after the cameras went off the air, still cheering him.
Speaker: I mean, there was another 10, 15 minutes you didn't see on the air of him just in the ring getting cheered like the match had just ended. That seems like that was really fun. That was absolutely a highlight of that night, is seeing AJ Styles get that kind of reaction. And that soon after debuting, getting like a WWE title shot too. That's exciting. Especially considering he had just lost his match the night before.
Speaker: right, basically showing that they could do whatever the fuck they want and it works, sometimes. But one of the things you said about styles that I think rings true about Michaels, and I think the reason this is like the dream match of dream matches for a lot of people, at least right now, is that they both had a reputation of being able to work a lot of different styles and being able to get good matches out of anyone.
Speaker: I mean, obviously that's a signature of a really great worker, but they both had that reputation of being able to work with anybody and it'd be like a quality match, doesn't matter if the other guy can't move a whole bunch. And somebody had, there was that table for three thing on WWE Network with Styles, Nash, and Michaels. And I guess Styles admitted that one of his guys made that Royal Rumble Photoshop.
Speaker: of Shawn Michaels versus Styles. Did you see that? Yeah, yeah, I did. It was floating around the Internet for a while. And I guess you're telling me that Luke Gallows made it. That's quite quite possibly the situation. But yeah, I guess he made that. And I guess everyone like is there somebody who doesn't want to see that? The thing is, like at this point, like if we could have seen Shawn in his prime versus AJ now,
Speaker: Right. That's a match that I think it would it's hard to even fathom what that would be like. Because there's not too many scenarios where you can say this where it doesn't sound like a cliche or like you're stretching the truth. It just feels like those two guys are capable of putting on the greatest match ever.
Speaker: I can tell you that it's a match that when they met in the center of the ring and were just going eye to eye, they would probably milk that for about five minutes and get a This Is Awesome chant before they've even touched. Correct. It's two guys who are gonna, I mean, Shawn Michaels already going down as the greatest of all time, if not, you know, arguably or just one of the greatest top 10.
Speaker: One of the guys that consistently brought up is the greatest. Exactly. And AJ is still in the middle, like, I mean, in almost 40 years old or 40 years old, not 100 % sure on his age, putting on some of the best matches of his career. I mean, even when you take into consideration the new Japan stuff, which were awesome fucking matches, he still switched to kind of somewhere between WWE style and Japan style to where his matches feel special.
Speaker: Yeah, I think you're right. Again, I don't think it's a thing we're going to see, unfortunately. Because it's not like it's entirely impossible. It's not like HBK is, he hasn't passed away or anything. We don't have a scenario like that. But I agree with you. I think if you had seen Sean in his prime, even Sean from eight, nine years ago, that would have been fucking awesome. Yeah, just the Sean that retired Ric Flair, even that version of him.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I think. Yeah, man, I mean, that's that's justifiably the dream match of dream matches for a lot of people and certainly on my list. So yeah, it's a match that just thinking about those two sitting down and discussing what they were going to do like that match. I mean, it needs to be in my head. That's a 60 minute match.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, they have to go a while. Multiple, yeah, fuck man. You're getting me excited about something I'm not gonna see. I know. Thanks Brian and Dalton. Yeah, thank you guys. Hey, why don't you tell everyone who's listening what we're gonna be doing to wrap up podcast episodes at this point going forward, man. Okay, so we've come up with a new segment. This is the ending of every show. A lot of wrestling fans, and I know some of you are guilty of it, we all are. We do complain a lot.
Speaker: When things don't go our way or we think something could have been done better. We do complain Maybe there's some wrestlers we don't like and we let them have it. This isn't I have never done any of this What are you talking about? Oh you motherfucker you used to give me so much shit about the Miz
Speaker: You were right though. So welcome to our new closing segment for predetermined called Now Say Something Nice. So every week when we do a podcast episode, we're going to close the show on a positive note by saying something nice about a wrestler or somebody in the wrestling industry that we really, really typically don't like. So, man, who should go first on this? Here, why don't you go ahead and hit me with it.
Speaker: All right, so to me I'll get this one out of the way. Because when you say that, I think I already know who you're gonna say. When you're like, I gotta get this out of the way, it's you saying like, I'm not gonna wait five weeks in. Let me just go ahead and say it now. I fucking hate Bill Goldberg.
Speaker: I fucking hate Bill Goldberg so much. And it's, fuck, here's the fucked up thing about how much I hate Bill Goldberg. I hated him in WCW. I hated him at the peak of his popularity. I hated him most of his time when he made his run in WWE, other than when I thought he was gonna kick the shit out of college. Does it piss you off that I bought a jar of Bill Goldberg jelly beans once?
Speaker: Did I know this? I don't know. I don't think I knew this. They were all black and mellow. It makes me mellow. I never opened them, but I can only imagine those are two terrible flavors of jelly beans. Yeah, fuck it. What does the flavor last five seconds?
Speaker: That would actually be zebra stripe gum. The fucking, the flavor of the jelly beans somehow still lasts longer than his matches. Anyways, no I'm not a Goldberg fan and it was fucking like horrible universal justice because my current favorite wrestler on the roster is Kevin Owens. And of course, years later and for no fucking good reason whatsoever, it had to be Bill Goldberg that ended Kevin Owens' universal title reign.
Speaker: And I could go on and on and on about all the shit I hate about Goldberg. I hate the fact that he's got like four moves. I'm gonna say something nice. I was getting ready to say, motherfucker, now say something nice. I will say something nice. I will say something nice about Bill Goldberg. I fucking hate him. But he does have one of the most iconic entrances in the history of wrestling.
Speaker: Oh, and there's there's no taking that away from him him walking down that hallway that long the music playing him getting into the smoke him breathing it I Get it. It's an epic fucking entrance
Speaker: I fucking hate him for it, but at the same time, no, it's like there's a few guys that you can talk about who have Epic entrances, Undertaker, Triple H, God, I don't know, Bray Wyatt. There's guys who have cool entrances, and Goldberg's on that list of guys who have really fucking badass entrances, and it upsets me to say it, but yeah.
Speaker: I like - There's my something nice. That's it. I don't have to do it again. There's other nice things you could say. Like he seems like a really nice family man. He seemed way more genuine about the business when he returned. I don't have to say any of those things though. You're like, I already said one fucking nice thing. Move on. I'm saying one fucking nice thing and now I don't ever have to do it again and now it's your turn. Okay. You say something nice. Hit me with it. Well, I owe an apology to somebody. Uh, so I have not been kind to Hangman Page.
Speaker: Go back a couple episodes of our podcast. You weren't nice to him then either. I wasn't like I was barely nice to him in person. It was like, which is awful because he seems like a very sweet man. I've just never understood in the elite where Hangman Page fits in. It seemed like a guy that they got stuck with.
Speaker: They didn't know it was going to blow up enough. They didn't really know it was going to blow up as big as it was. It ended up blowing up and then he was just kind of there. That's kind of what happened. I feel like he was in they were in Ring of Honor and they got Adam Page and I was just like, why the fuck are they with this guy? I'm like, what does this guy bring to the table? I hate his name. I don't like the way he looks different than the rest of them because he's like, you know, he's a body guy. He's like a bigger fit guy. And as time has gone on. Hangman.
Speaker: My apologies. You have started to put in a lot better work. You're working more of a style like the Young Bucks. I'm seeing you do flips and do things that make me pop. I was getting ready to say something mean again, but I was like, that's not what the point of this segment is. We're saying something nice.
Speaker: I don't know what it is. There's just something about Hangman that never clicked with me. He is starting to win me over a little more. But I just, I never, he always just seemed like the lesser person on that list. And maybe it's because every member of the elite went to PWG shows except Hangman. He was never invited. And you held it against him for not showing up.
Speaker: I don't know, there's just, I just, I never understood it, but the more that the, you know, their web series being the elite goes on, he seems like a funny guy. He is a very handsome man. I'm just giving him compliments right now. I like that he didn't sign your program. He didn't sign my program and he knew that I didn't want him to and he gave me that picture. So. Hangman, you're doing a much better. I appreciate you. I'm sorry for the things I said. There's my something nice.
Speaker: And now that we've said something nice, ring the fucking bell, man. Oh my god, it is time to end. But before we go, follow us on Facebook, where Wrestle hang out on Facebook. If you put in predetermined pro wrestling hangout, you will find it. I wanna say thank you to all the new people that have joined that Facebook group this week. We've had so many people start to join this thing. I have no idea who they are. I love you guys. Write us a message. Tell me who you owe an apology to this week.
Speaker: Yeah, keep the fantasy matches coming though. That's the stuff that we can talk about forever. Oh, if you have any that we didn't mention, please tell us now at Wrestle hang out on Twitter at pre -determined podcast on Instagram. I am at guard head on Instagram and Twitter.
Speaker: I am at Halloween Halpin on Twitter and just want to again say thank you to everyone who interacted with us in the lead up to this episode. Love hearing from people, love getting suggestions and yeah, if you want to say somebody that you're not a fan of in the wrestling industry and then force yourself to say something nice like we just did, fucking hit us with it. We'll talk about it on the podcast.
Speaker: Absolutely. Once again, thank you for listening. Please rate, review, subscribe. Tell your friends that are wrestling fans to listen to this. Derek and I will be at AAW in Chicago this weekend. I will probably be wearing a New Japan tracksuit. So if you see a jackass walking around in one of those, come say hi to us. But yeah, thanks again for listening and let's hit our goddamn music.
