Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Pod Warriors 22: Five Years of AEW
29 Plays2 years ago
The Pod Warriors are back to reflect on the good, the great, and the ugly of AEW’s first 5 years. They go thru the timeline of major milestones and events, hand out some awards, and answer listener mail!
Use code CHICKFOLEY to save 10% at www.ringsidecollectibles.com
Find all things CHICK at www.chickfoley.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Pod Warriors
00:00:20
Speaker
What is up, Foley fam? We are back with another episode of the Pod Warriors. Man, that song gets me fired up. Yeah, there's not much better than getting the Potties going. Who is watching it do? Wow, the Potties. Let the Potties hit the floor. Yeah, right. All right.
00:00:44
Speaker
I can't top that one, dude. I was not expecting Jordan to hit me with the Potties right there. We got a very special episode for you guys. It's the first time in a couple of months doing a wrestling version of the Pod Warriors. We had our special, it's kind of annual at this point, doing a Christmas episode for the Pod Warriors.
00:01:01
Speaker
But yeah, we've me and Jordan been busy doing the goal line. Thanks again for all the support over there. For those quick, quick intro for those that haven't listened to a podwares episode before this is me and Jordan's little spinoff of the chick Foley show where we create some evergreen content. We look at stuff that you know you get
00:01:18
Speaker
You can listen to it the day it comes out or the year later, and it's still going to hold up for the most part exactly the same. So if you like what you hear here on this episode, make sure you go back through the archives. We have them all clearly labeled as podwares episodes and check out some of the other stuff we've done because we're really proud of some of those episodes we've put together over the last two
AEW's 5-Year Milestone: Celebrations and Comparisons
00:01:37
Speaker
years.
00:01:37
Speaker
Speaking of putting a couple of good years together, we are here to celebrate an anniversary that just went by in wrestling, man. AEW has quietly completed five years. Jordan, am I crazy or do they not make a very big deal out of wrapping up five years of AEW?
00:01:55
Speaker
They did not, which is pretty disappointing, honestly. I mean, MJF had that thing that he did talking about five years AEW, but yeah, I thought they would make the first dynamite of the year just like one of the biggest shows, but I mean, they briefly touched on it, but just kind of went by the wayside, which is weird considering how important the five years of a company, brand new company is. I mean, pretty incredible.
00:02:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean they and it's wild, you know, even the WWF back in the day, you know, WWF, they had to build up to what they were, you know, TNA before it became what it ultimately was, it was kind of, you know, wallowing for a couple years just trying to find something that works. These guys were basically
00:02:42
Speaker
Main Street, they were basically the number two wrestling company in the world the moment they debuted which is pretty wild That they've been as successful as they have been so we're gonna kind of go through the timeline of major Accomplishments over the the five years of AW talk about the stuff that we've loved some stuff We'd like to see improve over the next five years We're gonna hand out some awards and then we got a ton of really good listener mail to get to So you ready to get into the timeline Jordan? Let's do it. I
00:03:12
Speaker
So.
Formation and Impact of AEW
00:03:40
Speaker
Man, I was halfway expecting you to yell out a wild thing right there. Sorry to disappoint you again. I really enjoyed Mox's first AW thing, but I thought it was a huge upgrade when they switched to wild thing. I felt like it just works with the whole entrance to the crowd and everything. It does. I wasn't a huge fan of it when they first debuted it, but it's grown on me as the years have gone by.
00:04:05
Speaker
All right, so let's start off really where it all began. We'll start where it began, and then we'll do a little time traveling back in time before that. But I think we got to start New Year's Eve 2018 in Japan. The Bucks, Cody, and Hangman all upload a video on social media at the same time. They'd been teasing a countdown that was in at midnight on New Year's Eve for a couple of weeks on BTE and stuff. And all their phones go off.
00:04:33
Speaker
you know, Cody in the books, they're holding up there showing that it's going to be a double or nothing. 2019, you know, we're thinking it's just the follow up to that first all in from that prior September. Um, and then hanging man says, wait, mine shows something different. And for the first time we see that AWW logo, all elite wrestling. Yeah, man. It was, uh,
00:04:53
Speaker
It was it was crazy time in wrestling because there wasn't a whole lot of variety, you could say. I mean, you still had impact and stuff like that. But this was like the first true competition WWE was going to have since WCW. Just the absolute sheer wildness of four wrestlers starting their own company. I mean, so this day kind of just it feels surreal that this actually happened.
00:05:23
Speaker
Um, especially considering who the four were. I mean, it was four of the biggest wrestlers in the world. Like any of those guys could main event anywhere. Cody wasn't as big at that point, but, um, Kenny and the bucks were as big as it was at that point. So yeah, it was a, I still remember it, but, um, yeah, I'm happy they did it cause it brought us some really good wrestling out of it.
00:05:46
Speaker
I mean, dude, the thing you got to remember, especially we're in a little bit of a boom period right now, so I'm sure we have some listeners who maybe weren't watching or weren't watching as intensely at the end of 2018, early 2019. WWE in the time was in the absolute crapper creatively, man. This was around that time where they had Vince, Triple H, and Steph in the ring basically apologizing to the fans for the product and saying that they were going to start listening to the fans from now on just because
00:06:13
Speaker
It was just the straight up doldrums, man, for what they were presenting week by week. So the thought of having a young upstart like this was just so, so tantalizing for wrestling fans. Impact had fallen off, right? Impact slash TNA was, they were just trying to keep a pulse at that point. And there really was not an alternative in American wrestling, dude. ROH was doing its thing, but
00:06:38
Speaker
you know they had been rated big time by NXT so you know they weren't really playing with a full deck of cards so this was just this was so appealing man that that these guys were all going to be showing up because remember the time you know they were free agents there was a lot of rumors that WWE was going to go get all these guys
00:06:54
Speaker
Uh, but the fact that they were starting their own company instead after all the positive momentum from all in was just very, very exciting time
AEW's Debut Pay-Per-View: Double or Nothing
00:07:01
Speaker
to be a wrestling fan. I remember being so stoked. Uh, once I saw this was going to be a real thing. Um, we'll flash back to that prior Labor Day weekend. Uh, you know, it was basically the elite in conjunction with ring of honor put on
00:07:12
Speaker
all in. I thought it was a great pay-per-view man. I was very, it was very, you know, just groundbreaking at the time. It was basically an independent, you know, a glorified independent show that managed to sell out 10,000 in the Chicago area and do a pretty good number on pay-per-view and just presented something totally different from everything WWE was doing at the time. And it was the first time a lot of fans in America had seen wrestling like that.
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah, they sold 10,000 or 11,263 seats in 30 minutes for a company for that wasn't even a promotion at the time. It was just a standalone event at that time. Like no matches announced. Zero matches announced. It was a standalone event. Um, the event itself, just absolutely phenomenal wrestling all around. I mean, dude, you look back on this and Okada and the villain were in the co-main event of the night.
00:08:06
Speaker
then you had the Golden Elite and they wrestled Bandito, Ray Phoenix and Ray Mysterio. Like dude, just those two matches alone, like you just kind of think back in time and it's like they had Ray fucking Mysterio on all in. Like sometimes you kind of forget that that actually happened at that show.
00:08:27
Speaker
But yeah, just absolutely insane. And I think MJF was an opening match, right? Or was he at the pre show? No, he wasn't on the pre show because the pre show was but yes, MJF wasn't the first actual match. He got beat by Matt cross in nine minutes. So yeah, pretty crazy.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, I thought it was a ton of fun. And so if you knew we were getting something in that flavor, but an actual full fledged promotion, um, it was, it was lit, man. As the kids say, I remember seeing those weird rumors on like Reddit, um, like mid 2018 that
00:09:03
Speaker
the Jacksonville Jaguars son might be starting up a wrestling company with Chris Jericho and Jim Ross and you're reading it. You're like, what the hell is this? You know, cause there've been so many different kind of stories bubble up like that over the years as wrestling fans. I know for a while, uh, sound like Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart were going to start their own promotion. That was going to have some big, you know, big financial backing, just different things like that. So you don't really think much was going to come of it, but then, you know, and the blink of an eye, there we were, man, on the verge of, uh, of AW kicking off.
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah.
AEW Dynamite's First Episode and Jake Hager's Debut
00:09:34
Speaker
We'll fast. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. We'll fast forward to their first pay-per-view, which really their first show, man, uh, was double or nothing there in Las Vegas Memorial Day weekend in 2019. Um, big, the biggest thing on this is that, you know, after the main event of Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho, we have John Moxley, you know, formerly known as Dean Ambrose in the WWE, uh, making his debut and coming up and just wrecking shit.
00:10:00
Speaker
on Jericho and Omega. I was very happy with this man. I remember this paper, I remember getting this pay-per-view. I had been out fishing all day with my dad out on the boat out in the sun. So I was kind of freaking like baked man, like just really, really tired. You know, you get when you're out in the sun all day. And I remember the first half of the show being like, you know, whatever dude. And then that Dustin and Cody match happened and I was just locked in the whole second half. And I was so fired up for AWW by the time Mox came out to end the night.
00:10:27
Speaker
Yeah. Looking back on it, man, what a historic night for wrestling. Like you have what was one of the top three guys in WWE coming over to AW and his contractors of AW that had just started by the way. Like this wasn't like an established promotion at the time. Like Mox literally put his career on the line doing this. And I mean, it's safe to say it paid off for him. Like he's, I think he's just as big, if not bigger than he's ever been at this point. So,
00:10:55
Speaker
Um, yeah, just, and I mean, dude, you had the young bucks and the Lucha brothers for the triple a world tag team titles. Like, I, I mean, this, I remember watching this event and just thinking, man, I hope this continues to work. Cause it's really cool. I mean, you left out the most important part. You had the AEW world championship being debuted.
00:11:16
Speaker
by none other than Brett, the freaking hit man heart, dude. I mean, how perfect was that? Yeah, that, that couldn't have been any better the way they did it. Um, still to this day, I'm a little shocked that Jericho was the first champ concerning Omega was in that match. But I mean, not like shocked to the point of, I think they made a mistake, but just kind of just shocked overall. But I mean, getting Jericho to come over there was a huge deal. Cause he really lifted that brand up with him being there. Just an established guy like him. I mean,
00:11:46
Speaker
It's arguable on a lot of people if Jericho is like one of the five best wrestlers ever I mean people argue it all day So it's just it's insane that this event had these two guys being part of it with mocks and Chris Jericho
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, I thought, uh, I thought it was important that Jericho was, was the first champ, just cause he was a credible main event superstar to American wrestling fans, man. Like, you know, the, obviously the hardcore fans were already worshiping at the altar of Kenny Omega, but there was a ton of people that probably the first time they saw Kenny Omega was that first episode of dynamite, you know? Yeah, you're not wrong. Um,
00:12:23
Speaker
but yeah, it was a, it was very cool to see. And yeah, just, this show does age really well too. That Cody and Dustin matches. Absolutely phenomenal. One match of the year on a lot of people from Dave Meltzer and a lot of other people that year. Yeah. It's a great match. Going back to Brett, man. I think it's kind of cool. It almost makes it seem even more significant. The fact that he's never done anything with AWS since that was a legit one off man. We saw him.
00:12:48
Speaker
debut the championship and that was it. He hasn't touched AWW since then. I feel like it makes that moment even that much more special. Yeah, I feel like them getting him to come in, like you said, even though it was only a one-off, it's a pretty big moment for AWW, honestly. I mean, yeah, Brett has bad blood with WWE and he always will, but I mean, it's still pretty damn cool to get Brett to unveil your first title.
00:13:13
Speaker
I feel like I gave it just instant credibility and just put it over as something special. Let's fast forward to the first episode of Dynamite. It was that October out of Washington DC. First match is Sammy Guevara, Cody Rhodes. I felt like that I really enjoyed that first Dynamite. I felt like it was WCW Nitro all over again in like all the best ways.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, I still like kind of think back to that time of how lucky we were that this happened, you know, it did, it felt just like nitro to me, like, everything from the presentation all the way down to the matches, it felt like a WCW event, which, I mean, for your first event, there's worse things to be compared to, you know? Yeah, very cool.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah. Bro, I'm recording the show. We're in WCW Nitro Chalk Line Shorts. Yeah. So we love WCW here. I mean, up until...
00:14:10
Speaker
WCW was freaking awesome. Just up until, you know, it's death spiral that last year or so, man. So yeah, no, I don't say that as any kind of insult. I will say, man, I think I take a mind that age kind of well. I remember at the time, um, with episode ends and Jake Hager, you know, formerly known as Jack Swagger is like the big reveal, you know, coming in to be Jericho's kind of like bodyguard or whatever. And I was like, Oh dude, why, why?
00:14:34
Speaker
We couldn't find anybody besides freaking Jack Swagger to come in and do this. And he came in looking like Jake from State Forum where I'm like khakis in a polo shirt. Yeah. He looked like a complete turd man because he is a complete turd. I just, I fucking did Jack Swagger, Jake Hager, whatever. Not good. He's dude. He's a mid-card jobber to me, man. Nothing more, nothing less. Yeah. I agree.
00:14:59
Speaker
All right, let's flash forward about another six months into the future. The pandemics hit, it's kind of changed the way wrestling looks and feels. AEW starting to hit its stride and they give us something that we really, you know, we've had empty arena matches before, but nothing ever to this level. The first stadium stampede match from Double or Nothing 2020.
00:15:20
Speaker
this still to this day is one of my favorite matches. I'm not I'm not even like exaggerating. It is one of my favorite matches like I just I thought at the time this was so cool that they were doing this and I don't know man just it seems so like off the radar for what was happening in wrestling at this time. And but yeah, it was just
00:15:45
Speaker
Absolutely incredible, man. I love it. I mean, you got the elite versus the inner circle. Like what more could you want out of a match? Honestly, you got horses, you got freaking, you know, one winged angels out of the freaking stands, dude, like, yeah, it was
00:16:03
Speaker
It was just insanity, man. They were really kind of pushing the envelope for what we could do with this, you know, crowdless wrestling format, which leads me into the next thing I want to talk about. This isn't necessarily one event, but I always want to talk about what an amazing job AEW did adapting during the pandemic with their run of shows they had there at Daily's Place, man. I thought, I just loved the look and feel of those shows. Considering the hand they were dealt,
00:16:32
Speaker
I thought they just nailed it and was absolutely lapping what WWE was doing over on the other channel.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah, it just everything AWS doing at this time was just gold. Like there's there's no other way to describe it. They just they were shitting out gold. I mean, there was no fans and they're just literally running circles around WWE at this point. WWE is barely like surviving it felt like at this point and AWS just thriving and this is not like a shitting on WWE. It's just the fact was when when the pandemic hit,
00:17:04
Speaker
AEW went up a notch and WVU went down about 20 notches. It was just what it was. Dude, if you think about it, man, AEW should have died that first year. Can you imagine investing all this money in a live entertainment company and then less than six months into it really?
AEW During the Pandemic: Adaptation and Success
00:17:23
Speaker
Less than six months from really getting kicked off with the weekly TV and stuff anyways, a global pandemic happens and basically shuts down your entire mode of operation. Yeah.
00:17:34
Speaker
It's, uh, I mean, the fact that they survived the pandemic is, is something to behold. Like WWE obviously was going to survive the pandemic. They weren't going to run out of money or anything. It seemed like David B was content to just tread water though. It seemed like they were fine with just, you know, treading water for awhile, at least for that first six months or so until they switched to the, uh, the Thunderdome stuff. Yeah. AW was not content treading water. He was ready to put it down.
00:18:00
Speaker
They were building momentum, dude, to the point to where when fans were allowed to come back that next May, it was an explosion, man. I remember you were at my house for that first, that rampage, and then double or nothing 2021. And it was just electric, dude, seeing AW in front of a live audience, man. It was so great. Yeah. I'm really glad that I came out there for that pay-per-view in that weekend, just because I felt like
00:18:23
Speaker
Honestly, that weekend was a really historic weekend for wrestling, just having fans back in attendance and, um, AW put on a damn good show. But yeah, we're focusing on the pandemic era and they killed in the pandemic era, man. You go back and watch those shows. They still hold up. I've watched a couple of them since then. So.
00:18:42
Speaker
I think it was one dailies place just it looked unique right like just it looked different from a typical wrestling setup. I think being outside helped a lot too because most of the time they were starting off while it was still daylight outside so you kind of had the light changing as the episodes went on. You know you'll see that you just look at a cover art for this episode man there's some spectacular sunset shots and everything during the wrestling I don't know it just
00:19:08
Speaker
It felt a lot, man, and I love that day. I was on, so we're getting a little bit of the personal stuff, man. I went on deployment basically, I think it was January 2nd, 2020. I went on deployment to the Middle East and was gone for six months, dude. So I missed the whole actually living through the pandemic and stuff. I was able to see AEW on cable on the ship and then
00:19:32
Speaker
By the time I got back home that July dude, AW was just humming. And I remember just being so excited every single Wednesday night to see a dynamite there from daily's place. I'm not going to lie. They, they did dynamite last week at daily's place and it felt gigantic again. Like, yeah, it felt like AW was right back where they needed to be.
00:19:53
Speaker
And don't get me wrong. I love that they travel, but dude, there's always going to be something special about them around the show at daily's place. Just like the setup of it, the way like the stage is set up and everything. I don't know, man. It just, it, to me, and don't take this like the wrong way to me, like daily's place is like what, uh, Madison square garden is for WWE. Like, yeah, it's home base. It feels like a home show. Like that's what they should run that way more than they do because
00:20:22
Speaker
I mean, just just everything about it just feels it makes it feel like a big show to me, even though it's the smallest arena they run, but it feels like such a huge show and they run a show there.
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah, I'm totally cool with getting TV there once every couple months and making that every, you know, I think they should do the first episode of dynamite each year there and do it, you know, call it homecoming like they just did make it one of the big hyped up episodes, man. Like, I think people would get down for that. Yeah, I agree. I just I think that they, they stray too much away from daily space because I think they felt like they ran it so much because of the pandemic. But dude,
00:20:56
Speaker
telling you man last week felt big. It felt like a big show like Samoa Joe came out debuting that new belt like it just to me it felt like a huge show.
00:21:06
Speaker
And in a smaller venue like that, where you can pack it out, where it's going to be filled with your hardcore fans. I don't think that hurts you to run that week after week. Look at NXT, man. NXT benefits so much from, from running there at their, their studio in Orlando, um, every single week, man. Cause you just, you build up so much equity. And I know there's people who are like, I haven't really been super into, but I see how much the NXT crowd is getting into. I mean, you can talk about it's like, it's like that with the modern NXT.
00:21:34
Speaker
And going back to the original black and gold NXT when they were taping a full sail dude. There's people that that local crowd gets so into that it makes me start to get into a more. And it was the same thing with AEW wrestlers during this time period.
00:21:46
Speaker
Yeah, because like when WWE or NXT, sorry, ran deadline last month, where was it Texas? I can't remember now. But either way, dude, the crowds just not into it the same. Even though there's 10,000 more people there. It feels like it's a smaller show. And they're running such a big arena. Like, dude, the problem is, is when you're when you're like a smaller company, like NXT, AW,
00:22:10
Speaker
The problem is, is you have your hardcore built in fan base and like that's the people you should be appeasing to. I feel like AW goes too much into like appeasing places in the country that don't really, they don't really want it, you know, like when they got all crazy about running California for whatever that was three weeks, like by the end of it, you could just kind of tell like it kind of wore off, you know, it just wasn't a lot of support out there.
00:22:37
Speaker
They hit, you know, they hit Utah, Salt Lake City. I think that was kind of like their rock bottom for ticket sales. So, yeah, I think they need to kind of stick with the, you know, kind of the southeast and moving up the east coast, man. And then you get Chicago there for kind of their area. And there's nothing wrong with that, man. That's where a lot of the hardcore fans are. Dude, most of the Foley fam, if you did like a little geographic map of the Foley fam, I think we have like maybe like 5% of our people out on the west coast, dude. Like, I don't know what it is. The south and Midwest is where wrestling lives.
00:23:06
Speaker
Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that. Like, dude, look at the way WWE used to run shows like, yeah, they would go to like different places in the country. But the majority of the shows were northeast, southeast, they'd run a lot of like Chicago, things like that, like,
00:23:22
Speaker
Yeah, even they don't go out west coast a ton, man, they'll go to LA some but it's not a routine yet. David abuse still stays pretty much on the eastern half of the United States, and you should do like you have to, you have to work to your fan base like you don't need to be something you're not and I feel like that's where a w gets off track too much is like,
00:23:41
Speaker
they want to be something that they're not like, they're not going to sell 8000 tickets in fucking Cuyahoga, Michigan, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. Like I just, I don't know, man, I just I really feel like, yeah, I just I don't get it, man. I just, dude, you know, where you sell tickets, go there when you prove that you're good enough to move out back on the road, because the other thing is, man,
00:24:04
Speaker
I don't know about you, but shelling out $100 for a wrestling ticket right now is not like at the top of my list for just a weekly. It better be a pay review, man. If it's weekly TV, you better have a damn good match that I feel like I have to be there in person to see. That's why I said I brought this up to you the other night.
00:24:21
Speaker
everything in the lower bowl should be 25 to $50 make it affordable to take your family to a wrestling show. And that's what will make it better for like ticket sales. I mean, shit, maybe even cheaper than that, maybe like 15 to $40 because dude, when you're going to an AWS show, you're not worried about how many tickets are selling the upper bowl, they're not selling any
00:24:40
Speaker
fill in the lower bowl with the smaller tickets with the less tickets. And then if you need to fill in the upper bowl, dude, so those takes for 10 bucks. I'm fine with them doing floor seats for 100 bucks for even for weekly tapings. But yeah, dude, I just I feel like when you're charging that much money, like if you're not delivering an A plus show, people are going to feel like they got ripped off and then they're never going to do it again.
00:25:03
Speaker
Yeah, I think they still got some work to do on figuring out exactly what the sweet spot is with their ticket strategy. Let's move on to December 2020, probably the most monumental episode of AEW from Daily's Place.
Sting's AEW Debut: A Successful Return
00:25:19
Speaker
This was the big themed winter is coming episode.
00:25:22
Speaker
We didn't really know what that meant. I was low key hoping that we were going to see Glacier debut. But on a night when Jon Moxley lost the AW Championship to Kenny Omega, all that was overshadowed by the icon, the franchise, the legend, Sting, making his AEW debut.
00:25:43
Speaker
I'm not going to lie to you when, uh, Shivani announced its sting. That was like, I'm not shitting you, dude. I went from being a 30 year old mid thirties man to right back to 16 and, you know, heartbeat. Like we all did. That was one of the most special nights in AW history and you'll never be able to replicate it. It just.
00:26:04
Speaker
It hit on every level of nostalgia. Here's the other thing, dude. Usually when they trot out legends, they look like shit. Sting has looked the same for 20 years, dude. The dude has, dude. He really, he kind of stopped once it is like the TNA run started and he just stopped aging. Yeah. I mean, his hairline's obviously further back, but I mean, that was the aging that happened when he was in TNA. But ever since then, outside of that fucking hideous picture of him at WrestleMania when his face paint wore off,
00:26:31
Speaker
and his hair looks like I don't know but outside of that cotton candy yeah outside of that dude sting sting for being as old as he is still looks good man and I don't like I don't know why but when he wrestles I don't feel like I'm watching a 60 year old man wrestle like he's killing it everything yeah yeah sting stings freakin like four years older than my dad I couldn't imagine my dad like giving somebody scorpion death drop off the
00:26:58
Speaker
off the rafters man like yeah stings crushing it dude I feel like the debut is great there were some like some tiny murmurs about you know sting maybe doing something with AEW but it was a hundred percent a surprise when he showed up at that episode and I really felt like
00:27:14
Speaker
You know this is possibly the biggest kind of like trophy you could put in Tony Khan's case man for these five years is the job that they've done with steam going on the, you know, the basically three and a half years by the time this run wraps up. I feel like they righted a lot of the wrongs man like the steam WWE chapter was
00:27:32
Speaker
really just, you could, we could do a whole pod wars episode about how much WWE fumbled that, um, the, the little bit of time he was there with them. And I feel like this AW run has just showed exactly how to present a, uh, a legend and, uh, during the, you know, at the twilight of their career.
00:27:49
Speaker
other crazy thing is, is like, I feel like Darby has been elevated so much from being with sting. Darby would probably get overlooked a lot of times because of his size. But dude, having sting by your side for the last three years, I mean, it just, it has elevated him so much more into like what he is now. It's gonna be sad man when once March hits and stings no longer there, it's gonna, it's gonna be fucking
00:28:18
Speaker
horrible. It's just, did you know me, man? I've been, I've been a little bit, I still love it, but I've been, I've definitely been vocally critical of AEW over the last maybe six, seven months. Um, the moment they announced the new stained glass match, I knew, dude, I mean, Jordan could tell you, I badgered him for weeks. He already had some prior commitments. He could make it, but
00:28:37
Speaker
Badgered him for weeks to go dude. I was a day one ticket buyer man me and and my son Brett and some of the term vocal tavern crew We're all heading out there I I knew I had to be in the house to see stings last match and yeah, man, like I'm not told together I read I want my son to see me cry man But there may be one little gangster tear trickling down my cheek whenever you know sting does the final send-off after the match I'm not gonna lie to you in the back of my head
00:29:02
Speaker
all I could fucking think about when you said, Hey man, you should go here. Dude, the WrestleMania 31 thing will never sit right with me. No, I'm not joking like this. It will just never sit right with me what they did to him. I just to this day.
00:29:19
Speaker
I mean when people talk about that show the first fucking thing they bring up even over Rollins cashing in is why the fuck would you bring in sting to have him lose like I mean that match was so much fun do you like even even though it really didn't make sense for like the NWO to be helping out sting like with all the run ins all the Gaga that they had involved like
00:29:37
Speaker
The crowd was rocking, dude, during that match. DX hit comes out, gigantic pop. The NWO comes out, which Jordan called, by the way, like five seconds before it happened. Jordan tells me, watch the NWO is coming out next. All-timer of an Nostradamus moment for Jordan. Then you have HPK, another big pop. The crowd was just electric. All you got to do is a couple of stinger splashes, scorpion death drop, send everybody out happy. Send everybody to the intermission happy.
00:30:07
Speaker
But no, dude, he gets hit in the head with a fucking sledgehammer, which is bad enough. But then like a total just freaking loser, he gets up and shakes the guy's hand. And I'd never forget listening to Steve Austin back when he was doing his podcast. He did his WrestleMania 31 review. And I remember him, you know, in that classic, you know, Texas, that West Texas
00:30:28
Speaker
boy saying, I'm not so sure if I'd shake somebody's hand, if they just hit me in the head with a sledgehammer. And you know what? The worst thing is, is that's the only stain on that pay-per-view. Like that is literally the last great WrestleMania. And I'm telling you right now, if Sting wins that match, that is up there in the top two or it's top three, four. Yeah. I think it's a top tenor right now, but yeah, it goes into that, like the absolute freaking peak of the hall of fame.
00:30:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean sting wins that match and you're in the absolute peak of WrestleMania is like I don't I don't even know how it would be arguable like because the rest of that card is just phenomenal but that match was great until the ending dude that match was way better than it had any freaking right to be man it was so entertaining and it was like it was a perfect WrestleMania match right with all the legends running in everything like it was just primo dude until the freaking ending man.
00:31:20
Speaker
Yeah. So long story short, like that's what's running through my mind as you're like asking me, Hey man, you want to fly out to Greensboro and watch Sting? Sting's last match and all that can go through my head is.
00:31:32
Speaker
dude, if it ends any close to way that they ended the WrestleMania match, which I'm going to be honest, dude, I'm going to put my full faith in Tony Khan that he's not that fucking stupid. I don't necessarily think Sting is going to win. And I think there's a way to do it where they don't win. But dude, if, if we have some bullshit like that at the end of that match, like, I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive Tony Khan because
00:31:56
Speaker
Just just let them have a good match man. We don't need any dumb shit like that at the end of it Well, did you see Darby? Did you watch dynamite last night? Mm-hmm Yeah, so Darby said that they're gonna be tag champs So I'm wondering if the Bucks get the belts prior to revolution and and the matches for the titles or sting and Darby go in as you know if they get the chance from Ricky Starks they get the belts from Ricky Starks and in big bill man before that show because I
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's interesting. I was kind of hoping that, man. I actually wouldn't mind seeing it, dude. Just let the Bucks have the belts. Let's sting and Darby win, then just vacate it. And that's a good chance to do like a little soft reset on the tag team division. You know, Tony Khan loves a freaking tournament. So why not? Let's sting go out on top with the belts.
00:32:41
Speaker
He needs to go out on top, man. He does. Like if anybody has earned that right to go out on top, it's fucking staying like the dude has never done wrong by anyone. Like he has always like done everything the right way. Like I've never heard anyone say a bad word about staying like, I mean, seriously, you can say a bad word about every wrestler, but I've never heard anyone say anything poor about staying.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah, agreed, man. And honestly, I don't think that would cheapen the tag belts, man, if they want them and then just forfeited them. I think that that would make me more prestigious, man. So yeah, we'll see what happens there. But this debut was perfect. And then I kind of wanted to talk about the debut, but just segue and the Sting's overall run these last three years in AW. I mean, dude, it
00:33:29
Speaker
It took away everything that WWE did to me. Like Tony Khan, if we're going to rip on Tony Khan for the bad shit that he does, you got to congratulate him when he does something right. This sting run has been immaculate. Like he hasn't missed any of it every fucking time. I'm not kidding you guys every time.
00:33:47
Speaker
that there's a sting match on the pay-per-view. It is always like the buffer between the third to last match and then the main event. It's always like the co-main event spot. And I swear to God, you guys, every time we're at a six hour pay-per-view, Seth's like, dude, can they just kick this off to dynamite? And then every single time the sting match completely delivers every fucking time, dude. Sting does something wild that just makes the match memorable every time. And I love it, man.
00:34:17
Speaker
him diving out of the crowd at that one show and doing a cross body off the, about 20 feet in the air. It's just, what about the time when it was the bucks coming out and they had all of a sudden you see stings like silhouette up against the wall and he dives off the freaking entrance stage.
00:34:34
Speaker
Tony Khan nailed the sting thing. That is one thing I'm going to give Tony Khan credit for. He has absolutely nailed everything that they've done with sting. I saw somebody complain like I wish sting would have been in like title contention, not not a W title, but a different title. I was like, for what sting doesn't need no goddamn title, the tag title send off would be awesome. But I don't need sting carrying around a belt, dude, like,
00:34:59
Speaker
That to me feels way too WWE ish to me, like having a 60 year old man hold the title like it would have been weird seeing him holding like, you know, the, the international title or the TNT type or something like that. Like I do, I had kind of fantasy booked in my mind if they just
00:35:18
Speaker
If they ran back the, uh, the Rick flair storyline from WWE, where, you know, the next time he loses, he's gone. Um, you know, figure out some kind of way to get to that, but Steve could even just say it, right? Like steam says, Hey, the next time I lose a match, I'm gone. And then go on a winning streak that ends with him, like facing somebody like MJF for the belt for his last match, you know, and coming up just short. I thought that would be kind of cool.
00:35:40
Speaker
They did that but you know, obviously stings kind of been pretty vocal. He doesn't want to do any singles matches on this run He feels like tag teams where he's most comfortable Well, yeah, and it helps that Darby's his fucking partner because Darby can wrestle for 45 minutes if needed Yeah, I I'm serious man I I don't think they can get any better of a send-off than what they're gonna do at revolution We don't know how the match is gonna go but
00:36:05
Speaker
the Bucks are deserving of that match to me. Like, yeah, definitely. In Greensboro, North Carolina, like WCW, NWA hotbed, like, yeah, it's going to be.
00:36:14
Speaker
It's all team up to be an incredible night of wrestling and I'm very excited to it to be able to say I'm going there in person
Tribute to Brodie Lee: Emotional Highlights
00:36:20
Speaker
man. Yeah Alright, let's move on to definitely a little bit of a down note, but I think it's something that looking back It's something you know people feel good about man Brodie Lee shockingly passed away man really just kind of rocked the wrestling world You know right after Christmas 2020 and
00:36:41
Speaker
AEW did a tremendous job. This was the first time that they really experienced something like this. You know, it's kind of sad to say WWF head or slash WWE. It had quite a few wrestler deaths over the years, man. Um, so they had a little bit of experience on this, but this was AEW's first time. And I thought the job they did on that next episode of dynamite was absolutely touching. Um, everything they did for his family, the tribute they put together, like it was something that was just really, really special. And you know,
00:37:10
Speaker
Not that I don't think they in any way were like, you know, exploiting his death or anything. But I think the way they handled that and stuff got them a ton of goodwill and really set them up for the incredible year that they had in 2021. Just because, you know, the fans really appreciate all the love they showed to Brody and, you know, just. You know, I don't know, it was just it was a really, really special night, the way they did everything and making the best of an absolutely horrible set of circumstances.
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah, when a, when a wrestler dies, it's tough. Like you said, WWE has had to do it several times, but like they were experienced in it for, for this being a W's first time experiencing something like this. I, I felt that they absolutely knocked it out of the park. I mean,
00:37:54
Speaker
It felt like, I don't know, man, I just felt like every match mattered on that show. Because a lot of times, dude, you get these tribute shows and like, the one that always comes to mind is that Iraero one that was like, to me, that was one of the saddest shows ever.
00:38:09
Speaker
And a lot of the guys couldn't even get through the matches, but I felt like AEW did such a good job with this. Just all the matches were fun to watch. There was no storyline. We were not doing any storyline that night. It was all about Brody. Very similar to what WWF did when Owen Hart passed away back in 99. Yeah, that one was probably one of my other favorite ones. It seems like every time they do,
00:38:38
Speaker
Um, a current wrestler dying. It just, I don't know, man, it just always like, you don't even really care about the show. Cause it's just, you're sad about the death and stuff like that. But I just felt like they gave the fans like something to be really happy about and go home happy. And I just, I don't know, man, I just, it felt like, like Brody would have been thrilled with that show that they put out for him. So I think that was the biggest thing that came out of that night.
00:39:03
Speaker
If you want to go back I'd you know, it's kind of hard to recommend going back watch that whole episode because it is very somber Definitely want to check out the video tribute that they did to him and the stuff they did with his family It was you know, very very sweet man. I remember seeing us, you know his son out there You know in the suit and stuff and it's just it was it was rough man He's kind of tugging on my heartstrings right now thinking about it
00:39:24
Speaker
go back and watch the clip of Wardlow talking about him. You know, we barely, we may have not heard Wardlow talk before that. If we did, it was very, very briefly. You don't really know what this guy was all about, man. I remember he gave up just a very, very soulful, sweet tribute. And I remember like seeing that and like seeing just how much charisma the guy had and stuff and thinking like, okay, this guy really does have a future. He's not just a goon, man. That was the night that I bought a bunch of, you know, in addition to reflecting on Brody, I bought a bunch of stock in Wardlow after that, man. And I still think he could end up being
00:39:53
Speaker
an AW champion someday. So yeah, take a swig of beer for Brody Lee. We'll have a brief moment of silence and then we'll roll into the beverage break.
00:40:34
Speaker
What do you think man bucks best theme music in AW history? It's pretty fucking high up there. I just shout out some streamers while you're playing that song.
00:40:47
Speaker
I think it's, you got them, obviously the license stuff they've done is great, right? Like, you know, when Daniel Bryan comes out to final countdown, that's special. The guns coming out to mini men was freaking awesome. I liked when they did the elite coming out to wayward son too. I thought that was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. That was great, man. I love hangman's theme. Hangman's theme gets me amped up, dude. Like, yeah. And of course we can't mention, you know, we can't leave swear about.
00:41:16
Speaker
one of the best wrestling themes ever made, man. I just, one thing about being a parent, when you got a kid that's into wrestling, anybody your kid is into, it automatically like makes you a mark for him. Also with the exception of Bobby Lashley, for some strange reason, my son Brett just loves Bobby Lashley. Um, but Brett's really in a swerve right now to the point where like anytime he's coming out, I can just look over on the couch and Brett's doing the freaking Prince Nana dance, man. So yeah.
00:41:42
Speaker
Swear, swears the man, dude. It looks like another thing we're gonna get at revolution is Swear, Hangman, and Samoa Joe triple threat. So that should be pretty great. Let's do the beverage break though. You know, one thing about pod warriors, man, me and Jordan do not pod sober, dude. Every once in a blue moon, you might catch this pod and sober on the goal line or the regular cheek foley show feed, but not on pod warriors. We're not gonna back some beverages. Two best friends talking about wrestling and yeah, the brews go great with that. So what are you drinking tonight, man? I am drinking a beer. It's called Colorado native.
00:42:12
Speaker
I'm drinking their amber right now. I actually already had a
00:42:17
Speaker
the one that's called the Cerveza and then I also still have an IPA left to drink from Colorado Native. I brought these up on your trip. Yeah, I brought these back from Estes Park. These beers are so good. They had a Christmas one too the first night that we got there and I bought one six pack of it and I downed it that night and then went back the next day and they were already gone. So it was pretty deflating that I didn't grab any more of those because that was like one of the best Christmas beers I've ever had. So
00:42:46
Speaker
Um, yeah, I love trying new beers of different places. So this one's a good one. Uh, the, I'm drinking a Corona in line, man. Can't be to do classic combo right there. Um, we're going to move on and talk about one of the lowlights,
Revolution 2021: Exploding Barbed Wire Match
00:43:02
Speaker
man. Like honestly, one of the all-time just botches in wrestling history right here. Revolution 2021 exploding barbed wire does match hellified match up to that point, man. I thought, I thought the match really delivered on the violence and
00:43:14
Speaker
Some of the explosions that they had done but that explosion at the end of the Kenny Omega John Moxley match man Like what are you thinking as you see this go down Jordan? The match itself is fine. It's completely fine It was it was made to be what it was and they deliver it on it But you get to the end of that and they're doing that fucking countdown and I'm like, oh my god, dude like the best way to do this is like
00:43:40
Speaker
flash and explosion in front of the camera and then everything just goes black like and you just you just roll off air from there no yeah hit some smoke bombs something like that no instead we get a flash of sparkler like in snakes and sparklers like dude like who is it who put this on kicking wing like come on man
00:44:02
Speaker
I didn't have no who's could do his or who's could know it's that whistling bungles it nothing it was just a couple of sparklers and a little bit of smoke and though I think the worst part about it too was
00:44:15
Speaker
just like them trying to make a big deal about it. And that just made it 10 times worse. I feel like they could have saved it if they were like, Oh, it must have been some kind of a mishap where it didn't all go off and then everybody just kind of walks up and you're like, Oh, that fucking sucks. But the fact that they tried to sell it just made it a hundred times worse. Yeah. You had Kenny Omega and Don Callis like awkwardly laughing. Eddie Kingston still selling it. Like he just got shot, dude. Um,
00:44:41
Speaker
Cause he didn't know he said that, you know, he put his head down and he didn't know what had happened. He heard, he heard some sounds. He wasn't sure what it looked like. Cause he was just already in the thing that pissed me off, man, is if they would have had a proper explosion or something close to a proper explosion, I think that would have been one of the most beautiful moments of storytelling that we've had in wrestling.
00:45:02
Speaker
You know, if not ever, at least in the last five or six years, man, you know, Eddie Kingston and mocks there, you know, they used to be friends. As far as we knew in AW, they'd been feuding the entire time, right? Like they, they were at each other's throats. You know, they may have ended, uh, the prior pay per view, they had made a vented against each other.
00:45:17
Speaker
for the AW championship. And you know, you got Eddie Kingston coming out to save his rival, but you know, his old friend and protect them from this explosion. And I thought that would have been just an awesome, awesome ending to the pay-per-view, but instead it just becomes freaking Comedy Central.
00:45:34
Speaker
dude, I still like looking back on this, it's kind of fucking embarrassing, you know, it's just like, dude, like, why are I don't know, man, I just, it's so bad that the whole thing is just so bad. There's not really much you can say about it. But yeah, it's not good.
00:45:55
Speaker
the dude the one that they the one that they have on a w fight forever the video game it's awesome dude like the explode like they actually it's I'm not sure they've ever had exploding barbed wire death matches in a video game before they got him in fight forever and that one's great dude the explosions awesome man the first thing we did when we got that game me and Brett fired it up
00:46:17
Speaker
And we did a Malachi black versus Luchasaurus exploding bar bar death match that explosion freaking delivered man. So they definitely, you know, they know what it wasn't supposed to look like, but yeah, they just could not execute it that night for whatever reason. Have you played fight forever, dude? I have not. I still have not played that game. Unfortunately, I just, I heard so many shitty things about it that I just, I could not justify spending the money to buy it. And you've even said like you guys have played it very little since you got it.
00:46:48
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, the problem was, dude, that it is a fun game, right? It's a very fun game. Like as far as straight up the bell rings playing a match, it's a ton of fun on there, but there's not a whole lot of modes and the roster feels like it's like 70% done. I felt like they were kind of caught between like two different ideas because they pitched it as being like a fortnight or rocket league, like subscription model thing, right? Where you have like just seasons where they'll add in new people and new game modes and stuff.
00:47:18
Speaker
like to do on rocket league and fortnight, but the thing is those games they're free dude like you could you get those games for free and then you just buy the DLC and stuff fight forever they were charging full price man and I think there just wasn't enough meat on the bone to where you know the game didn't sell good enough.
00:47:35
Speaker
When it initially released and that kind of killed the incentive for them to keep developing stuff like they've added a few they've added a few people to the roster since the game came out but they haven't done anything like they were talking about about making this like a You know, it wasn't gonna be like WWE where you have a new game you gotta get every year You would just buy this one time and have new stuff come out for it and it looks like that ideas kind of died on the vine so
00:47:57
Speaker
I'm hoping that they at least did it well enough to where they can take another crack at it because the gameplay engine they have is fun, man. It's really, really close to the old N64 wrestling games, but there's just not a whole lot you can do aside from firing it up and playing a few matches.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah, maybe they try to re-release the game again, eventually, because I thought about that too, man, to have a, you know, re-release it again around like a big DLC drop, right? Like add in a couple, you know, a new game mode and like, you know, eight or 10 new characters for downloading and make them free, right? And make all the downloadable stuff free just to kind of boost the, the install. Cause they did.
00:48:32
Speaker
So they put stadium Stampede matches in the, in the game, right? Like you could do it, you know, it's, it's basically like a, if a wrestling game was Fortnite, you're in the stadium and you got to kind of like, you know, if you know how Fortnite works, like the playing field kind of like constantly like constricts and stuff, but it's a 30 person elimination match. But the problem is that there was rarely 30 different people playing online at a time, dude. So even that kind of fell flat. So
00:48:58
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know, man. I think they need to just make the game free and just start charging out the wazoo for DLC.
AEW's Video Game: Fight Forever's Shortcomings
00:49:03
Speaker
Like video, people who play video games are fucking dumb about that. Like people will spend money just to buy, you know, people would spend five bucks to buy the outfit that Kenny Omega was wearing on like the last pay-per-view, you know? That's a very nice way to say it. They are dumb.
00:49:20
Speaker
Yeah, we'll spend money on stupid shit man, that's what I mean. I love video games I play video games pretty much every night But but yeah, dude, like if you told me like, you know, if hangman and swerve
00:49:31
Speaker
end up, you know, fighting for the belt at, at, at all out this year. And they both got some fire ass ring gear. And if later that week I can spend five bucks and get, you know, add those attires in the game, bro, I'm not even thinking twice, man, click the button, dude, add the, add the AW bucks or whatever it is in the game, you got to spend, right? Yeah, that'd be awesome. I feel like they'll, they'll right the wrong eventually. I just don't know how long it's going to take.
00:49:54
Speaker
All right, let's move to September of 2021. Now, this is a real fork in the road moment, man. Like, if you ask me, this is kind of where AEW lost the thread a little bit and, you know, still awesome, but kind of fell off the peak that they were on there for a while.
Debuts of CM Punk, Adam Cole, and Brian Danielson
00:50:11
Speaker
Within a month timeframe, you got CM Punk, Brian Danielson, and Adam Cole all debuting at the same time. I guess we can start off with just the individual moments, man. CM Punk debuts on, I think, the third
00:50:24
Speaker
episode of AW Rampage, uh, all timer of a pop man, like in Chicago, everybody knew it wasn't announced, but everybody pretty much knew it was happening. Um, we know how Jordan feels about punk now. What were your thoughts? Uh, August, 2021, when he, he makes his return to wrestling for the first time in about seven and a half years.
00:50:44
Speaker
This was actually the second episode of rampage. I remember when they announced this, that they were doing it at the United Center, you knew you were getting something special that night, and everybody just kind of knew it was going to be punk. 15,316 people and all of them were there for one thing and one thing only.
00:51:02
Speaker
and they delivered, they gave out ice cream bars, the shirt stands had lines that were two hours long to buy the CM Punk is here and stuff shirt. No matter how I feel about the guy, the fact that AW got CM Punk to come there, I felt like that was a pretty big moment for AW overall.
00:51:24
Speaker
just I don't like the guy I just I don't I think a lot of stuff that he's done. I just feel like it's it's really worn off any like goodwill I have for him. He complained a lot for eight years and then came back to wrestling. It's just I don't know man. Don't get me wrong. I was excited that he came out like I thought that was a big moment for a w I really did felt like that was kind of a
00:51:50
Speaker
a point where they had turned the corner and it really did start feeling like a big deal at that point. I'm not saying that dude doesn't put butts in seats because he does.
00:52:01
Speaker
I don't know. It's just as time has gone on. And especially with what's happened, like that moment to me feels a little bit. I don't know, man. It just it doesn't feel the same anymore to me. Something changed in AW when he showed up, man. It's I felt like they're still searching to kind of get back to what they were since then. A couple of weeks later at the at
00:52:25
Speaker
all in, no, excuse me, all out 2021. End of the night we have Adam Cole and Brian Danielson debuting in the same segment. And I remember after this show, it wraps up. I'm thinking like, I felt like they were like ready to go toe to toe with WWE at that point, dude.
00:52:42
Speaker
I just remember me and you texting back and forth. And I remember the text conversation very well. Adam Cole comes out and you texted me and said, damn it, someone lines of damn man, they couldn't even get Daniel Bryan for this show like
00:52:58
Speaker
kind of looks like a flop now, like Adam Cole is great and all, but not getting Daniel Bryan, who was arguably, if not the best wrestler in the world at that point, one of the best wrestlers in the world at that point. And it just kind of felt like, man, they're really losing it. And then I think within like two minutes, the music hits and I was like, holy fuck, man, they actually got Daniel Bryan, dude. Like, I feel like AWS, one of their biggest weaknesses is,
00:53:28
Speaker
they don't make it feel big enough when they get new people over there, you know, like it wears off after night one, like, by Wednesday, it didn't even feel that big anymore that Adam Cole and Daniel Brandon debuted.
00:53:41
Speaker
I feel like they got to figure out a way to make it just seem meaningful longer. Cause I just, I feel like they bury it with the rest of that show. Like I'm sorry, man, that next Wednesday, that should have been nothing but them just like talking up Adam Cole and Brian Danielson, as we know him now as the two biggest wrestlers in the world. And I feel like they failed at that.
00:54:04
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like if I had one overarching critique on AEW, it's kind of in line with that, man. It just feels like nothing matters, dude. I can't really put my finger on exactly why that is. I don't know if maybe the show just because it moves so fast between the pay-per-views and the weekly TV or maybe their video packages just aren't up to the caliber of WWEs, but I always enjoy it, man, right? I've never sat down and watched an episode of AEW TV or an AEW pay-per-view and been like, man, that sucked.
00:54:34
Speaker
but I've definitely watched them and like enjoyed it while I'm watching it. And then like, if you ask me the next morning, like name five things that happen on dynamite, I got to struggle a little bit, man. It just seems like it all kind of just like goes like, you know, in one ear and out the other, so to speak. I feel like
00:54:53
Speaker
I feel like AWW is that kid that you knew in third grade that couldn't focus. We would all be doing a math problem and this fucking kid's talking about recess. I feel like that's- And everybody knows that kid, man. Everybody knows exactly the kid you're talking about. I feel like that's what like AWW is. They can't focus on what's happening right in front of them. They're always worried about what's next rather than what's happening currently.
00:55:18
Speaker
And dude, they delivered so well the first two years on focusing what like what was happening currently. And somewhere along the line, maybe it was CM Punk, maybe it was the Adam Cole, Brian Daniels, something. I don't know, man, it just it felt like they could not focus on what was happening. And they were they were always worried about what was next. Like,
00:55:40
Speaker
I don't know. And this is not to say that this is not a great period for a W because this period we're talking about right now is still in a W's wheelhouse for when they were fantastic at running shows. Cause I went to show. Yeah, they're running.
Hangman Page's Championship Victory
00:55:54
Speaker
Yeah. And they're rolling right into the next grand slam, man, where we saw, uh, Danielson and Kenny Omega put on an absolute clinic. I think it was definitely Omega's best match in AEW to that point. It was a time limit draw, right on that one. Yeah. And it was phenomenal. 30 minute time manager.
00:56:09
Speaker
time limit drawn. It was phenomenal. Yeah. Absolute clinic, man. And you know, they weren't Arthur Ash in New York. Uh, the biggest show that they'd ran that far, at least from a, uh, you know, from an attendance perspective, it looked like a big deal. I mean, it looked like it should have been a fricking pay-per-view.
00:56:24
Speaker
the like going back and looking at pictures of this first one this first grand slam it's incredible like just like the backdrop of there being a wrestling event there because that stadium is huge man like yeah i don't think a lot of people realize how big that actual stadium is like it's gigantic and
00:56:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's built to host the US Open, which is one of the three or four biggest tournaments in the world for tennis. Yeah, and they had that place packed, man. I still remember back to this time, because this was the time right after pandemic where everybody's like, god, dude, I want to get some travel in. And I had talked to Ari about this. And I was like, I kind of want to go to this show. She's like, you're going to fly to New York to go to an AEW show. And I'm like, yeah.
00:57:10
Speaker
Yeah. But like when, when the big stuff happens, you, you feel like you need to be there, you know? And like, I just, I felt like driving 10 hours Greensboro for seeing me. I just, I felt like this was going to be one of those moments where it's like, dude, you'll always remember being in attendance and like looking back on it, I really wish I would have actually pulled the trigger and gone. Cause this was a really good show and it was really well done. And they just, they produced the shit out of it. It looked good. And yeah, I just, it does make me sad that I didn't go to this one.
00:57:40
Speaker
I remember you hitting up me about going to it and I tried to, I tried to sell Sheena on it and it was basically dead on arrival. Yeah, this would have been a good one to go to, but I mean, it wasn't meant to be, I guess. Let's pass forward to a full year. Another just fine piece of pro wrestling businessman. Hangman defeats Kenny Omega to win the championship. This was really, in a lot of ways, this was like the overall story arc of AEW from that first pay-per-view.
00:58:10
Speaker
Double or nothing up until Up until this nightmare that was really kind of the one thing that was going to do is hang man losing That that first championship match to Kenny Omega, you know, he earned the title shot of double or nothing He loses it all out goes on a little tag team run with Kenny falls out with Kenny and the Bucks and you know it was basically hang man's redemption dude like that path back to the championship and
00:58:34
Speaker
awesome match the books kind of give them the cosign like they come out you think they're going to interfere and help help Kenny but they don't they just give hangman like that nod buckshot Larry it goes over clean as a sheet against what I think was the top wrestler in the world at that time Kenny Omega.
00:58:49
Speaker
And then I wasn't you know, this one's really special me one. I love hangman, too I was in the house that Wednesday night the very next, you know Jordan was there when he won the belt I was there at the dynamite right after When he comes out in his home state of Virginia with the Virginia's for lover shirt on he's got the leather fringe jacket and he's showing off that AW belt It was just proud to me, man. That was the absolute peak of AW right then going to the show
00:59:15
Speaker
this is probably for me a top three wrestling show I ever went to. Once you had kind of started to see like the seedlings of this is probably going to be where Kenny or Hangman wins the belt. I just I decided I had to go to this show and be on the floor for it and see it happen live and in person and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. It was
00:59:37
Speaker
It was a snowy night in Minnesota. It was just, it was like a weird night. Like every, a lot of the stuff around it was closed. It just seemed really weird, but, um, the show itself was absolutely phenomenal. I mean, it just, and ending it this way, like you're not wrong. This was the peak of AW that, that night, him winning him doing his speech after the match, the dark order coming out, like it just.
01:00:02
Speaker
it was perfect like they nailed this they nailed him winning the belt that night and yeah just everything about it was awesome i just i still have fond memories of this and actually we uh the world of wheels came to Omaha in march of 2022
01:00:19
Speaker
Um, it was actually the morning of, uh, WrestleMania night one and we went and Kenny Omega was actually there and we all got her picture with him and, uh, Zoe got to hold the belt and everything. It was, it was really cool. Yeah, man. Hell of a night. Uh, you know, hangman's run wasn't nothing to write home about, but him winning that belt was just, it's, it's definitely on the short list of best moments. He didn't need to have a huge run though, dude. Just him winning the belt was enough to make that a big deal.
01:00:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I feel you 100% on that. Let's go to another another kind of down moment.
CM Punk's All Out Press Conference Fallout
01:00:56
Speaker
You know, I like to call it the Chicago scrum job. It's most commonly known as brawl out. I'm all out 2022. You know, hang me or CM Punk gets the belt from hangman.
01:01:08
Speaker
at double or nothing 2022 gets injured right after there's a whole lot of just convoluted complicated shit happening with the AW Championship but it ends up with him defeating mocks at double or nothing to become a two time champ.
01:01:24
Speaker
But the real story is the press conference right after day. Like there had been some chirping back and forth. Him and Hangman did, you know, I think Hangman was cutting a promo. CM Punk took it as a shoot though and started shooting on Hangman prior to their match for the championship back in May. It seemed like some resentment carried over from that. Their stuff, you know, just search Chicago, you know, brawl out Chicago scrum job. You can get all the details, man. You know, the Bucks and Kenny Omega supposedly feed and stuff that Dave Meltzer, but
01:01:50
Speaker
Basically, CM Punk goes to this press conference right after he main events to pay-per-view, wins the championship, sitting right there next to Tony Khan, and just eviscerates the entire company, man. The saddest part was, dude, that really at the end of the day, all the shit that he was saying, he was talking about Tony Khan, man, basically just not running a tight ship, dude.
01:02:10
Speaker
you know, whatever you want to say about a man like I felt like that was just a cheap shot this dude's brought you back into wrestling, he's made you that he's made the entire television product revolve around you since you came back, paying you a ton of money, I'm sure, and you're going to sit there and just be that much of a self righteous prick right next to the guy it just showed you exactly what kind of character he was.
01:02:28
Speaker
Then he goes on to bad mouth Colt Cabana, dude. That's another reason why I say, if you have any sort of doubt, dude, just look at the people that CM Punk fights with, man, if you want to know what kind of asshole he is. Because I've never heard anybody else have anything negative to say about Hangman or Colt Cabana, dude. Obviously, we don't know these people, but from what we see on TV and what we see on their personal lives that they share with us, like, am I crazy? They seem like two of the most wholesome, nice dudes in the wrestling biz.
01:02:55
Speaker
Yeah, this was a this was one of the things I was referring to when I said like the shine had worn off the the first dance thing with CM Punk in this moment was one of the moments that
01:03:08
Speaker
just kind of made you realize who he was as a person. He's a fucking shitty person and he's an extremely vindictive person and he he just he cannot get out of his own way on just being that person that he has disruptive just shitting on people for no reason at all. It's just
01:03:29
Speaker
I get it. And punk fans are always going to stick up for him. I get it, man. But I don't know how, man. He's not that entertaining in the ring. I mean, he's a fine wrestler, but he's not Bret Hart. He's not Kenny Omega. He's not Shawn Michaels. He's not like somebody that's like, you know,
01:03:48
Speaker
I think, you know, Michael Jackson, right? Like Michael Jackson's got all these horrible allegations about him, but the music is so good that it's like undeniable, right? Like CM Punk's not that. Like, I don't know. I've never gotten why people just bend over backwards with the mental gymnastics to forgive this guy for what a dickhead he is.
01:04:05
Speaker
Yeah it it's sad man it really is because the working relationship until this point was actually working and it actually made sense like a lot of things they were doing made sense it just I don't know man the fact that Tony Khan bent over backwards to make this dude look like a million dollars and then that's how you repay them
01:04:25
Speaker
I don't know, man, I don't know how anyone can think like, oh, man, CM punk is like this great person. Like, he did that to the person that brought him back to wrestling, gave him a chance gave him a fuckload of money, let him win the title, almost immediately. I just I don't know how you can out anyone can sit up here and defend him. Like, I know racers. Oh, well, it always takes two to tango. It's like, yeah, but look at what Seth just said, like the people he's
01:04:53
Speaker
talking shit about are people that nobody ever says anything bad about I just I don't he was talking trash about seeing Colt Cabana having a bank account that he shared with his mom like what's wrong with that here you know what I mean like this dude's helping out his mom with money man like big deal dude to me like that comment right there just showed everyone exactly who he is and how people continue to look past that is beyond me like who gives a fuck dude I don't care if you live in your mom's basement it doesn't make you any less of a person to me
01:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, sticking with punk man on what should have been absolutely a crowning achievement for AEW a day to just celebrate how far they'd come thus far as a company packing, you know, depending on what number you read it, you know, somewhere between 80 and 90,000 people in Wembley Stadium. He makes it all about himself again, dude. He lets freakin' Jungle Boy of all people get under his skin to the point where he damn near ruins the show and gets himself fired. Yeah, it's just...
01:05:53
Speaker
I don't want to do a whole lot of talking about him because like, this is supposed to be us celebrating five years, AEW. And I just, I feel like every time we talk about CM Punk is just always going to be in a negative light just because of who he is. Um, and I, I just nailed it, dude. Fragile ego, fragile body, weak mind, weak spirit, man. That's the, the single most accurate CM Punk summary that you can find anywhere.
01:06:16
Speaker
Before we go too much further into the timeline, I do feel like we at least need to mention Forbidden Door 2021 or 2022. I went to this groundbreaking show and I this was another show that I told myself I had to be at just because
01:06:34
Speaker
The fact that we pretty much knew we were going to get okada on a an American show like it's just it never happens. For a while it didn't look like we were going to get him like I had bought tickets right out of the gate because I knew I wanted to be there.
01:06:50
Speaker
Um, and then it looked like he wasn't going to wrestle like, um, his wife was pregnant. And I'm like, dude, if I seriously shelled out all this money in Okada, it doesn't even wrestle. Um, it ended up being a great show. It was a lot of fun dude to still to this day, it just blows my mind. Like obviously new Japan's not as big over here, but new Japan is the biggest wrestling company outside of the United States. It's not even close either.
01:07:15
Speaker
Yeah, the fact that they paired with the second biggest wrestling company in the United States to run joint shows. I just, I feel like that, that to me should tell you like, there is something there as far as like Tony Khan's business acumen, like he has an idea of how he's supposed to run a company. He just like, like I said, he's like the fucking kid that can't focus on what he's doing right now and has to be focused on the next thing like,
01:07:43
Speaker
That that's Tony Khan's biggest weakness, man, because he does make good wrestling decisions. Like, dude, doing Forbidden Door was one of the best decisions he ever made. That place was packed. They packed the United Center. There was people everywhere. Everybody was excited about it all weekend. That was one of the finest wrestling weekends I've ever had. And I don't know, man, I just, again, Tony Khan knows what he's supposed to be doing. He just each struggles to get there sometimes. And
01:08:11
Speaker
Um, yeah, but I, I hope the forbidden door thing continues because it is really fun to watch. Yeah, definitely. I think, I think they got a good relationship. I mean, we saw a second forbidden door this year and then we had a wrestler dream. I mean, that was kind of, that was forbidden door S ton of crossover on that one. Yeah.
01:08:31
Speaker
So wimbly man, I thought that show came off great, dude I know there's been some critiques over the years of a W kind of just fumbling on the presentation a little bit But I thought they did a good job making that show You know seem as big as it really was packing packing that many wrestling fans into the building
01:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, whatever. Like this is everything that annoys me is people that are like arguing attendance who gives a flying fuck. They was a fly. It was a fuckload of people dude, they sold a fucking ass load of tickets without even announcing a match. We had no idea what was gonna happen on this. They didn't even start announcing matches till like three weeks before this show. And it was still basically sold out. That was the first
01:09:10
Speaker
big show since summer slam in 92 to run Wembley and they absolutely killed it. I don't care what anyone says. That show was one of the biggest success stories in wrestling history. Like a less than five year old company runs Wembley and nearly sells the fucking joint out, puts on a banger of a show. Like Seth just said, it was presented perfectly.
01:09:32
Speaker
This was, this was a W's like crowning achievement as far as presentation goes. Like it felt like we were watching a huge wrestling company put on a huge show. Like, and the crazy thing is this was the week before all out. So I felt like people could have mailed it in, man. I really do. I feel like the wrestlers could have mailed it in. Like fans could have mailed it in a glorified house show. You know, it was not sad. It was the biggest pay-per-view AEW ran last year by far.
AEW at Wembley Stadium: A Historic Event
01:10:01
Speaker
Adam Cole and MJF gave us one of the most WWF or WWE esque matches that he'd have he's ever put on and it just hit dude. Yeah, that that show to me is like, that's as close as you can get to like wrestling perfection for a secondary company because I mean, in the end, AWS, I think for any company, man. I mean, yeah, I get what you're saying, dude. But I think
01:10:25
Speaker
I think the quality would have been great for everybody. You had awesome in-ring action. You had the great storytelling, you know, the great, I mean, the main event was just straight up sports entertainment all the way with, you know, what's going to happen with MJF and Adam Cole. Are they going to turn to get each other? They're going to be good sports. You had the nostalgia with steam coming out in front of those London fans who have always supported him big time, even though he's really been over there a handful of times in his career. Will Ospreay in front of his home company or home country.
01:10:53
Speaker
Uh, dude, I thought that was damn near a perfect after and the other cool thing, dude, we always talk about it. It's awesome watching daytime wrestling, man. We got to watch that show in the, uh, the afternoon. I thought that was lovely, dude. Yeah. That, that show is, is going to go down in history, whether or not this next one works or not to be determined, but
01:11:13
Speaker
for the next one, they're going to juice the car, dude. I think they could do well again, but I don't think they're doing that without any matches announcement. Cause you know, it's the big novelty of that was, you know, AW just putting on this big show in the UK. So if you're doing it the second time, you got to put some matches on that bad boy to me. Here's the thing though. Like, dude, this is, this is Tony con smart business.
01:11:34
Speaker
London doesn't get that many fucking shows. So like, when a wrestling show comes to London, they're gonna buy tickets. Like, no matter who's wrestling what it is, like, dude, that's rewarding the European fans, which I feel like WWE does a really poor job of this. And I get it. They've gotten better about it. But I mean, dude, look, last year, they ran. That was London for money in the bank, right?
01:12:01
Speaker
They had to be kicking themselves. They didn't do money in the bank in Wembley, man. I don't know why they just did it in the regular. Okay. But I am remembering that. Right. So they did. Yeah. They did money in the bank in London. The clash of the castle was 2022, but that was in, I think Wales. Yep. And then they did a backlash in Puerto Rico.
01:12:16
Speaker
those shows a fucking kill because the fans are happy dude when you run boston anywhere chicago like sometimes the fans are jaded because they've just seen everything so much but like those people are legitimately jacked for every match and i i i honestly was hoping this wasn't going to be a one-off for wendley because i loved that show um like you said afternoon wrestling it gets no better for the us fans either and
01:12:43
Speaker
The London fans are just jacked, man. And I feel like a lot more US people are going to go to it this time around just because how big of a success it was last year. And they gave you a full year this time to kind of save up and prepare yourself for that because I would love to go to that show. I think seeing a wrestling show at Wembley would be unreal.
01:13:04
Speaker
Oh, yeah, dude. I mean, as I'm sitting here recording, I'm looking at a Sam Evans painting of SummerSlam 92, Bret Hart in the British Bulldog. I'm right there with you, dude. So I know it's a different wimbly. It's a new wimbly stadium. But yeah, that had big SummerSlam 92 vibes all over the place for me, which is one of my all time favorite wrestling shows. So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do for the sequel.
The Devil Storyline Conclusion
01:13:25
Speaker
So one last thing we'll touch on timeline wise, the big storyline coming out of
01:13:31
Speaker
of all in that rolled all the way into world's in the final pay-per-view on December 30th of 2023 the devil freaking you know we see the rest of the Adam Cole MJF saga play out and ultimately it ends with Adam Cole turning on MJF. All in all I thought this was one of the cooler things that AEW has done in the last last couple years man I thought they did a
01:13:55
Speaker
You know, a couple of missed story beats here and there, but for the most part, I was really happy with how this played out, dude. If I had one critique, I don't know if I'm, if, I feel like they probably could have found two better people than, you know, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven, but I get it. They got history with Adam Cole, so it makes sense from that standpoint, but I was overall pretty happy with the devil, and I really liked how they did the reveal at World's End.
Critique of AEW's Handling of Samoa Joe
01:14:18
Speaker
What's kind of your temperature on the devil storyline now that it's kind of in its second phase?
01:14:23
Speaker
this is one of the best storylines they've ever put out. I know a lot of people were pissed with the ending of it. And like you just said, Matt Taven and Mike Bennett, but that didn't bother me. Honestly, I just thought the reveal of the I just felt like the reveal of the devil was so good. The way they did it. Like, again, that was pure production from AWS. Like that was that was perfect.
01:14:46
Speaker
the way the lights came up with Adam Cole's hair all down in his face and he just slowly sets up like yeah that way it was cinema man they did it right the only thing that and this has nothing to do with Adam Cole or MJF the only thing that I still have a kind of a problem with about that pay-per-view is the way they just kind of nonchalantly acted like Samoa Joe just won the title like
01:15:08
Speaker
That should have been such a big deal. Cause like, dude, some old Joe's never been on top of a major company. And me and you have talked about this for years. Like he has deserved to be on top of a company. I'm still going back to great balls of fire. He should have beat wasn't it? Yeah, dude. Yeah.
01:15:25
Speaker
He was so fucking hot at that time. The crowd behind him. Oh, man. It's just dude. And the thing is, you could have had Brock win it back the next month. If you're still trying to get to Roman and Brock eventually, you could have had Joe still. Yeah, Joe should have won that night.
01:15:39
Speaker
Joe is just you can tell he's just such a good guy. I mean, some of the stuff that he did in WWE, like when he was an announcer and stuff, and they didn't want him to wrestle like you can just tell he's a good person, like you can tell he's a good human. And like, that's the kind of people you want to get behind. And so like, that's my biggest critique of the end of world's end was that
01:15:59
Speaker
But the devil, you know, I'm the king of kayfabe, man. You got to remember, dude, Joe had already made the deal with the devil, dude. Like they had said, you know, the week before pleasure doing business with you, man. I think he was in on it. I think in my, in my kayfabe brain, they told Joe, Hey, we're going to make sure you win this belt.
01:16:16
Speaker
just, you know, we have business to do afterwards. So get out of there, you know, and I felt like it made it that, you know, I felt like they still did a good job. Like when Joe came out with that brand new AW title on dynamite in the suit, looked like a million bucks. He looked like the biggest star they got. I'm we're going to move past devil storyline a little bit, but dude, I'm so happy that Samojo is the champion that match last night with Hook.
01:16:42
Speaker
I did just some old Joe just looks like a huge deal now. Like he's a killer. There's just the crowd is so into his matches. I mean, if we seriously get the triple threat with hang man and swerve. I don't know how you could make a better main event than that to be completely honest. Like I just Yeah, that's perfection. Like
01:17:04
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited to see what he does man. Yeah, you know, hopefully the health is there because he's gonna come out and said I saw on Twitter, he responded to somebody they were talking about, you know, WWE was so stupid, not letting him wrestle. And then he told him, he said, no, I just had injuries. Like that time he was doing the commentary and stuff. He was just banged up because remember he ended up coming back to NXT actually won the NXT championship.
01:17:24
Speaker
And then he got hurt after like two matches then and then then, uh, you know, getting released shortly after. Uh, I think he was just had a, had a rough period health wise there for a while, but it seems like he's been doing really good since he's been it. I don't remember him missing any time on the shelf since he's been with AW. No, no, I think he might've missed a little bit of time for personal reasons, but dude, for the most part, he's been healthy since he's been in AW.
01:17:45
Speaker
that not having to work every night of the week makes a big deal for your body and stuff. And I think that's exactly what he needed is this light and schedule.
Reflection on AEW's First Five Years
01:17:55
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. So, that's five years of AEW in a nutshell. Obviously, there's a ton of really fun and memorable stuff that we could have potted on. I would direct anybody if you're a hardcore AEW fan, check out our good friends over at the Turnbuckle Tavern, the Two Bad Chads, do an awesome AEW recap that's out every Wednesday night, Thursday morning, right after Dynamite. So, definitely give that a listen, man. You got to give those guys a plug.
01:18:22
Speaker
if we're gonna be talking AW on here. You ready to get into some awards? Yeah, let's do it.
01:18:47
Speaker
All right, so we're not going to go super in debt, but we are going to give out some of our best of the first five years of AW. Let's start off your favorite figure of the AW line. All right, let's go all the way back to series three on the unrivaled line. The Darby Allen one of 500 chase this figure.
01:19:10
Speaker
I don't know how I didn't buy this to this day. It's just this figure is perfection. I know we got kind of something similar to it in the unmatched line, but did the skateboard and his paint and everything on this figure is just absolute perfection. This is what a chase should be. Like this figure showed you what a chase should be.
01:19:34
Speaker
Yeah I'm honestly I'm right there with you dude I had to kind of just because the price is so high on that thing I kind of had to just tell myself like you know what the other Darby's are close enough you know you can live without this one but I agree dude that figure is absolutely sick man I'm gonna do a quick
01:19:53
Speaker
I'm gonna do a quick eBay search dude for what that thing's going for right now because it does look incredible man I think there was one that came out similar that had that same like half as body printed that was like I said It was close enough to pass, but it's still not the same dude. So There are currently None listed for sale on eBay right now. It wasn't one of 500 This is back when the rares were truly rare man. Like if that if those run counts are true, that's extremely low Let's see what the
01:20:21
Speaker
what the last sold was on eBay. What do you want to take a shwack at it? What do you guess the last Darby rare sold went for? I'd probably guess somewhere in the 500 range, maybe five 550 somewhere in there.
01:20:36
Speaker
So he's all over the place, man. Somebody's gonna be pissed off when they hear this, man. So on November 21st, one sold for $519. December 7th, one sold for $310. So somewhere between 300 and 500 bucks is the going rate for this guy. Yeah, and honestly, that figure's sick. That's what it should go for.
01:21:00
Speaker
Yeah, Darby's awesome. He's one of those that they've just nailed. They put out a bunch of Darby's that are pretty similar. They've all been bangers, man. I'm going back early in the line to you. I'm going to unrivaled five, the Moxley, the Chase Moxley with the eye patch, man. I love Mox, dude. The shield is kind of what brought me back into wrestling. And so I've always had just a super, a soft spot for Roman, Seth, and Dean Ambrose. And obviously that carried on when he went back to Jon Moxley's AW.
01:21:27
Speaker
And I love that figure you know it's depicting him right before he beats Chris Jericho for the AW Championship with the eye patch I think it's one of the best head sculpts that they've done across the whole line. And just a really sick figure man and yeah like those those first five sets of AW figures were absolutely incredible they were they came out of the gun hot.
01:21:47
Speaker
Yeah, they absolutely killed it. Um, this isn't, this has a little bit to pertain to AWW, but I feel like we have to talk about it cause this is breaking news. I just got a text about it.
Okada's Potential Move to AEW
01:21:59
Speaker
Um, Okada to leave new Japan pro wrestling.
01:22:04
Speaker
Wow, do we is he just taking time off or do we think he's going to go to an American company or what's the deal? I seriously think he's going to AW. I had heard about this a couple weeks ago about him possibly leaving and going full time to an American company. And everybody immediately went AW because a lot of his
01:22:23
Speaker
American friends are in AW. So that's pretty big deal, man. Like imagine AW picking up Okada full time to go with already getting Osprey like
01:22:35
Speaker
pretty big deal, man. Yeah, that'd be awesome, dude. I can't imagine him going to WWE. I'm sure he's well off enough financially right now, man, that money's probably not the... It may still be the main consideration, but I feel like there's some other stuff up against it. I feel like if I'm him and looking at it, dude, looking at WWE's track record with foreign guys,
01:22:55
Speaker
I can't imagine that I'm going to do much better than what they've done with Shinsuke Nakamura over the past, you know, seven years, right? Which has been, it's been fine if you look at it in totality, but definitely not what it should have been. Yeah. So I think the easy comparison for this is, um, when Nakamura came over, I think that's the biggest one. I don't, did you just say that's where I was reading something?
01:23:20
Speaker
Yeah, I said if I'm Okada, I'm probably looking at it and I'm saying to myself I'm probably not gonna do a lot better than than what Shinsuke Nakamura's done the last seven years, which is fine But it's still not what it should have been and definitely not fitting of a guy of Okada's talent
01:23:36
Speaker
Yeah, because like they've done the listeners there you guys just got a two for one special courtesy of Jordan Yeah, I mean they've done cool stuff with Nakamura in WWE Yeah, but it just has never like been fulfilled like yeah, it's been it Yeah, it's been at the if you look at like what the range of like good enough outcomes for his career was I think it's been good enough But it's it like the bottom end of it right like he should have had a couple world title reigns and stuff man He's just
01:24:02
Speaker
he's been he's gotten a couple main event runs but he always ends up coming up short dude just imagine like uh i don't know dynamite or the next pay-per-view oh god dude i just like gave myself like a fucking wrestling boner dude imagine the main event at revolution ends and samojo's like he wins and he's like i wipe the floor with these guys who else you got and then okada's music hits you hear the coins drop
01:24:32
Speaker
Yeah. I want to see hanging make it happen. I want to see hangman Okada go one on one, man. I feel like we never we never got that when it's kind of been teased a few times. Yeah, dude. Imagine double or nothing this year. The main event's Okada and Samoa Joe like that. I don't really care what they put on the rest of the card. Just make that a three hour match and I'll just watch that the whole time. Yeah, very interesting. That would definitely be a big story for the the early part of this year, man, is Okada going.
01:25:02
Speaker
You never know, dude. It is a new era for WWE, man. They may, they may find a way to get it done. Yeah. No, no kid, no kid.
01:25:11
Speaker
you know, is dreaming about main event and double or nothing. Uh, you know, as they're growing up, dude, it's all about that WrestleMania main event. So we'll see what happens, man. But I'd be shocked though, if he went, uh, if he, I feel like I'd almost put impact is the second most likely for him to go to maybe see impact, just freaking putting all their chips in to just get all caught at it. Cause they seem to really have some momentum right now. It'd just be such a weird thing for him to go to WWE for all the reasons we just mentioned, like,
01:25:38
Speaker
I don't know man. They've just never they've never handled a foreign superstar. I mean, you know, Gunther is probably the biggest deal they had, but I still do. I mean, if I squint, I can maybe see Gunther having a run as the top champ. But I don't, I feel like this, I have some very strong suspicions that this intercontinental championship run is going to be the peak for Gunther, which again, it's fine, dude. But if you're got like Okada,
01:26:04
Speaker
I mean, you're trying to, you're trying to go down as one of the absolute legends, right? You have a chance depending on how the, you know, this last stretch of his career goes to go down with like Anoki, right? Or like Masawa for, you know, absolute best of the best Japanese wrestlers of all time. Yeah. And I feel like that's why like him going to AW, we get more Kenny Omega and Okada matches, like,
01:26:25
Speaker
It has to happen man. Osprey and Okada like, dude, the dream matches and a W are just endless. Honestly, I just granted, I'm not saying that there's not a lot of dream matches in WWE for him. I just I mean, dude, are you risking your career on WWE finally getting one of these guys right? I'm not.
01:26:45
Speaker
The other thing with the way WWE is working now with Triple H and Nick Khan in charge, it does feel much more open than it's ever been. Like we've heard stuff that, you know, they may be going into a partnership with All Japan Wrestling. I feel like the WrestleMania match is always there. If that's something he's got on his bucket list, he could go do two or three years in AEW. And I mean, if he hits him up and he's like, Hey, I, you know, I'd love to come in for the Rumble and work some storyline between Rumble and Mania and give you guys a big match. I don't think Triple H says no to that, you know?
01:27:15
Speaker
I do. I think if the phone's ringing, oh God is calling, you're answering it and you're basically doing whatever you can to get them in your company. Like, yeah, that's not that's not some small name wrestler from New Japan. Like Nakamura was gigantic in New Japan. He ain't touching Okada star status.
01:27:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he's really, he's probably Japanese Roman Reigns is probably the, the best, like the best description in a man. He had a long multi-year run as champ there too for, for those that aren't familiar. Um, all right. Uh, your best match in AW. Um, there's some, there's been some really good ones in just this last year. This was tough for me too, man. I had a hard time coming up with my answer on this one. Um,
01:28:00
Speaker
Dude, I think just, just for the fact that I was in the house for it and just how big of a moment it was. I'm not saying it was the best match they ever had, but for my personal favorite match, I'm going to go hang man and Kenny. I feel you, man. That was, that was a good one, dude. Like I said, it was the culmination of huge storyline, a ton of emotion there. So yeah, no shame on that one, man. That's a good pick. That's definitely one that I had like on my short list and I was narrowing it down. I'm going with.
01:28:26
Speaker
all out 2020 the tag match between the revival and the young bucks dude I thought that match just slapped I thought it told a great story the action was incredible there was a ton of callbacks with with the teams doing different classic tag team finishers and I thought it was just beautiful the way it ended
01:28:44
Speaker
you know, FTR hair. I just call them FTR bald and FTR hair because I end up just in my brain, I cross their names with, you know, the Dax and Cash with with Dawson and Dash from the revival days and divvie to be so much. I just go FTR bald, FTR hair. But
01:29:00
Speaker
But FTR hair, you know, Cash Wheeler, he does the, it goes for the 450, man. They'd always said it's, you know, just fists, no flips. And he went for the flips and, you know, botched it and it ended up costing them the match. So I thought it was a beautiful story. Love tag team wrestling and AW's tag team scene was really, really cooked at that time. So that one's my pick. Good choice.
01:29:23
Speaker
All right, best overall show. I'll go first on this one, man. We already talked about it a lot tonight, but I'm going to go with All Out 2021, dude. I love that show. Really, really fun one. The main event was good, not great. I couldn't really buy in on Christian freaking main event in a pay-per-view against Kenny Omega. I thought he had less than 0% chance of actually winning that belt, but we had the huge ending with Danielson
01:29:49
Speaker
and Adam Cole debuting, you know, seeing punk had an awesome match with Darby Allen on that show. And like I said, that was the end of that night. I'm thinking it really felt like, you know, maybe these guys are actually going to go toe to toe with WWE for the long haul. So that's that's my pick man all out 2021.
01:30:10
Speaker
It's pretty funny considering that is exactly what I picked to like, I honestly had it. We did not, we have not exchanged any info on the show whatsoever. I had that I had, um, double or nothing 2021. And then I had when boy as my three tops. And yeah, this, I just went with all out 2021, just cause of how historical it was for AW.
01:30:34
Speaker
Yeah, they've never had a bad pay-per-view, man. They kind of, I think they suffer a little bit because every single show they have is like an 8.5, 9, 9.5, right? So it almost makes them all kind of run together, right? You almost don't have any standouts because the pay-per-views are so consistently good, but that one just really stuck out from that closing segment. Yeah.
01:30:57
Speaker
Alright and last but not least best wrestler.
Orange Cassidy: Most Improved Wrestler
01:31:00
Speaker
I'm going mocks man I feel like mocks, you know, he closed the first pay-per-view debut and he's been the heart and soul of that company man You know three-time champ. I feel like he's been the most consistent one had a stint in freakin rehab during there and you know, really kind of
01:31:14
Speaker
when he was at one of his hottest moments of his career and still just kept answering the bell. For like a year and a half, we heard like he needed to take vacation, but he just kept on showing up to work and doing what he had to do for the fans. So Mox is my pick for AEW's best wrestler the first five years.
01:31:31
Speaker
He was on my short list, but I'm going to go with someone that I think has improved so much from day one to be who he is today. I'm going to go Orange Cassidy. Dude, I was a cut hair away from saying Orange Cassidy, man. Yeah. Let's hear it, dude. Give Orange Cassidy his flowers.
01:31:49
Speaker
coming from what he was when a w started, he was just a comedy act and no one really took it serious. Just some of the matches he's had over the years, one that really sticks out to me is when he wrestled pack. I think it was a dynamite. But yeah, I think that was like the night that I realized like, dude, Orange Cassidy is the real fucking deal. Like,
01:32:12
Speaker
Yeah, he's a comedy act, but when this dude wants to go, he's one of the best wrestlers in the world. Like, and he's done nothing but prove that the last two years, like, I feel like his last two year run is up there with anybody, to be completely honest. If we're just talking wrestling, I'm not talking like he's on the level of Roman Reigns as the overall persona, but as far as just wrestling, I feel like we're all the bail man. Yeah.
01:32:37
Speaker
I just I feel like he's he's up there. Just everything about him. Dude, he's a fucking star to like whether or not people want to admit he's a star. Like, yeah, if I was doing I really give to mocks. I mean, he's been great in the ring and on screen. But it was really kind of just more for what he's meant to the company. If I'm gonna strictly build a bill.
01:32:56
Speaker
it's orange Cassie we talked about this a lot on the chick Foley show like the regular feed we're very high on orange Cassie. You know at first you think he's like this crazy gimmick but dude I still stand by it man in so many ways he's the most old school guy working today dude like he makes every single thing he does in that ring matter he's working from the moment he comes out of that curtain until the moment he goes back in he is doing stuff to draw you in to the character that he is
01:33:21
Speaker
and the type of wrestler he is, and he's got such a unique vibe. Like, yeah, I'm right there with you, man. Like, I gave some serious thought to Orange Cassidy, but I just couldn't bring myself to giving it to somebody that hadn't won the world title, dude. But yeah, great pick, man. And you're right, dude. He's absolutely been killing it over these last five years. Yep. All right, let's get into the mailbag. And we got a pretty big mailbag to dive into here. Our bag is full.
01:34:13
Speaker
Alright, you ready for this dude? Let's do it.
01:34:16
Speaker
All right, let's go. We can go speed round on some of these masks, because we got a ton of questions. Feel free to elaborate where you need to. Feel free to go speed round where you want. What's the best storyline as of today that AEW has done? The devil storyline, no doubt. To me, that was like the purest form of storyline that they've done. And there wasn't a lot of misses in the whole thing. I feel like they've done some really good stories over the course of AEW.
01:34:45
Speaker
but the problem was is like dude a lot of them had a lot of missteps while they were going along i don't feel like anything in the devil storyline missed honestly like
01:34:55
Speaker
I just, I don't know, man, everything about it was so good. And it always left you, like there was a lot of nice sets would text me after dynamite and be like, Jesus, are we going to wrap this up soon? Like what would they keep teasing it? And it's like, just let it roll, man. It'll end when it ends. They'll probably go too long. But I don't think it ended up going too long. I thought they ended it at the perfect time. It was beautiful. The ending was great for it. The reveal was great. I loved it, man.
01:35:24
Speaker
I just, I still go back to dude, I feel like if you would have swapped Taven and Bennett with Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, I feel like it would have just, that would have just made it perfect. I just felt like they didn't want to go back to the fucking wheel with that though. Like dude, I just- Nah, I feel you. Cause that's so, that would have been so WWE, right? Cause I feel like we would have all complained if they would have done that too. Like, okay, they just reformed undisputed era. That was the whole thing.
01:35:50
Speaker
Yeah. You know what else is great on that reveal, dude? That need that Roddy Strong hit with MJF. When MJF took that one step, dude, he fucking launched that knee. That was just beautiful, man. And the other thing about that is, dude, they made Wardlow look like a million dollars when they did that reveal. Wardlow finally, to me, looked like a complete badass when they did that reveal.
01:36:12
Speaker
And yeah, so you get the feed with MJF and you already get the seeds planted for I mean, it's it's right there, dude. They don't need to swear this. Do the Batista turn with with Wardlow. You know what I mean? With MJF or with Adam Cole already saying, you know, but Wardlow is going to win the belt. Hand over to me. You're set up to recreate that classic moment where Batista turned on Triple H, right?
01:36:32
Speaker
Yeah. Thumbs down. Oh, yeah, dude, that was fucking incredible, man. Yeah. And dude, like, especially if Adam Cole keeps leaning, just being this shithead, like the fans are going to be looking at their chops to see Warlow just tear him the freaking shreds. I mean, just exactly like they were when Wardlow shredded MDF like, but I think it'll be even bigger than that.
01:36:54
Speaker
The for my best storyline, I'll go with hangman's redemption. Like we talked about earlier, just that overall arc from, you know, starting to double or nothing 2019 and rolling all the way to
01:37:06
Speaker
to full gear 2021. So that one's mine. For the worst dude, I'll go to the Hardy family office, man, whatever was happening in that whole, everybody, it seemed like everybody that got involved in that was just freaking ass dude for, you know, for, for months at a time, man. So yeah, the, the, the Hardy family office, that whole storyline was, is probably the worst thing I've seen on AWTV. Um,
01:37:34
Speaker
That wasn't good. I can't really come up with anything right now. I'm trying to be positive tonight. So I'm trying not to get to like, what about when Brandy was feuding with America's top team?
01:37:49
Speaker
Oh dude, that is the worst. Anything with America's top team was absolutely garbage. What about when, or what about when Cody was feuding with Anthony Agogo and Cody Loki ended racism with one promo or when he was feuding with QT like, Oh God.
01:38:04
Speaker
The Cody verse was bad. It's truly, I still really haven't wrapped my mind around it. I like to think of myself as a really knowledgeable wrestling fan. If somebody asked me to write an essay or just give them a really detailed explanation of how Cody was so horrible in AEW and then bounced over to WWE with the exact same character and the exact same presentation and somehow became the hottest thing in wrestling, like how that happened, I couldn't even explain it, dude.
01:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, because WWE literally has done nothing different with Cody. Same thing, dude. I mean, if he could have been on AEW the night before WrestleMania 38 when he came back, they did the look, the music, the character, the promos, it's all the same. And for whatever reason, it just it's worked in WWE where it was off on AWS. So it's the weirdest thing. I feel like one thing that really killed Cody in AEW is when he said he wasn't going to go for the title anymore after he lost, like then what the fuck are you wrestling for?
01:39:02
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. It kind of made it seem like it didn't matter and I felt like it was right there for them. I mean, this is nothing groundbreaking. We're not, this is not a hot take. A ton of people have had the same opinion on the internet, but it seemed like it was right there for the taking for him to just be a heel, right? Keep the same persona still at, you know, actually be like homelander off the boys. Like be, you think you're a baby face, but you're really a freaking heel. Um,
01:39:26
Speaker
And and let in and go back on your word and challenge for the belt it seemed like that would have been a story I feel like that's a big reason why the fans in a you got so frustrated with him just cuz Yeah, it just would have been entertaining and seemed like for whatever reason he had no interest in doing that JDB says besides MJF what wrestlers a you made popular I mean to be honest, I think there's kind of too many to count you there's a ton of guys that they've given opportunity to and That probably would never got a shot in WWE
01:39:55
Speaker
Yeah. Orange Cassidy immediately comes to mind. Orange Cassidy, they would have, they would have boiled him down to just being like a one note gimmick on NXT 2.0, right? They would have took away all the nuance and different stuff he does. And it just would have been just, you know, something that's entertaining for six weeks and then you're ready for it to be off the TV. Also, FTR is bigger than a bigger deal than they ever were in WWE. And I loved the revival, but dude, FTR is a huge deal in AEW. Yeah.
01:40:26
Speaker
Brett Cheryl says how do you guys feel about Jericho's a w run other than his work in the first year? I feel like it's been boring and he probably shouldn't be featured as much on TV as he is at this point of his career I kind of agree man. I won't go as far say it's all been boring, but I do feel like Jericho's kind of in a spot like how Shane McMahon was on WWE TV in like 2018 and 2019 like
01:40:49
Speaker
guys get sucked into the Jericho vortex and you just in these endless like faction based feuds for, you know, six, seven, eight months at a time, dude, it's, uh, I don't know, man, I feel like he's done. I felt like he, you know, being in the inner circle helps sell me Guevara a lot. I feel like Sammy Guevara would be better off if he hadn't been, you know, either attached to the hip or feeding with Jericho for the past two years though, since then. So
01:41:11
Speaker
Yeah, I'm kind of I'm ready for him to move into his like kind of part-time legends phase as opposed to the stuff He's been doing the last you know year and a half two years
01:41:21
Speaker
I kind of agree with that, but I kind of feel like Jericho has like vaulted a lot of people into like bigger, bigger spots on the card. Orange Cassidy comes to mind when they did that, the feud with him in orange, like, I felt like that really vaulted him up. I felt like that match that Mox and Jericho had helped Mox at time like, I mean,
01:41:42
Speaker
Dude, beating Jericho at that point in his life was it was a huge achievement. And I feel like moxes are sorry, Jericho's done a good job of like, I don't know, dude, he just he does the job a lot more than I honestly ever thought we would see him do. And I felt like it's helped a lot of the younger wrestlers being able to like, get some of Jericho's tutelage on how to work in the ring and everything like that, like,
01:42:07
Speaker
I know that shit's come up in the last three months, but I mean, I think that ended up being BS though, dude. We don't got to go in detail, but I think that ended up being a whole lot of nothing. Yeah. And I just feel like Jericho's helped a lot of those young guys a lot, man. Like this is a lot of these guys first time in the spotlight and wrestling. And I just feel like having him there has helped a lot of those guys.
01:42:30
Speaker
I feel that. And honestly, at this point, Jericho is going to earn the right to do what he wants to do, man. I think, you know, Jordan mentioned him possibly being in top five earlier. I think he's probably somewhere close to the bottom of the top 10. To me, he's the Emmett Smith of, of wrestling, man. Like, you know, Emmett Smith never gets, he's never in the argument for like best running back of all time. It's usually like, you know, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders to get mentioned. I think Emmett though was, he played at a top level for longer.
01:42:56
Speaker
than anybody ever had any right to at running back, right? And that's what Jericho's done, man. Nobody should have ever had to run this long at the top, this consistently that he's had in wrestling. And I think that's the real, you know, kind of like his biggest attribute. Yeah. All
AEW's Longevity and Profitability
01:43:11
Speaker
right. Sam Rosenthal says this may be controversial. Do you think AW will still be around in five or 10 years?
01:43:19
Speaker
Um, I feel like AWS started to turn back to what, what they were originally focused more on the wrestling and less on the sports entertainment aspect of it. I don't know if you've noticed it, like as much as I have, but like, I feel like the past two months they've, they've kind of went back to what made AWS great at the beginning.
01:43:37
Speaker
Continental classic was a little bit of a reset for him. It felt like yeah, I feel like they've done a lot more of what made it great at the beginning like less talking and more wrestling. So for that reason alone, I'm going to say yes, the money's never going to run out either like his dad's never going to pull funding for this like there's just no way
01:43:56
Speaker
They're still making money. They're still going to have a TV deal. I know everybody makes a huge deal about like the crowd attendance and stuff. But again, we went, we talked about that earlier. There's, there's ways to solve that. Um, they just, they got to re find their footing again. And I feel like it's getting better again. So I'm hopeful and dude, I want it to be around. We need something other than WWE. Like we need someone to be there.
01:44:20
Speaker
Because it's pushed WWE. It's given it's given us back those exciting moments of people jumping ship, right? Like that's always fun. Yeah, it just we need it to be around, man. We need a strong number two. To me, dude, I'm kind of just looking at creatively. I think it's definitely good enough to be around, right? Like even people said last year was a down year. It was still solid, though, dude. It wasn't like it was like WCW in 2000, man. There was some stuff to critique.
01:44:45
Speaker
Like Jordan said attendance was down a little bit but the pay-per-view still did really well and for the most part TV ratings held Okay, especially for dynamite rampage and collision, you know, they had some room for improvement But but dynamite, you know, their flagship was still good I I wonder about the business side of this man, like I don't from everything I've been able to gather I don't think they've been profitable right? They're making money
01:45:07
Speaker
But it's also extremely, extremely expensive to put on a production like this. I think this next TV deal will make a big difference. You know, I think the cons pockets are pretty much endless. I just wonder what their stomach is for being able to take losses year after year on this product, man. So hopefully, you know, hopefully with this next TV deal, it's lucrative enough that it becomes profitable and that they're not just, you know, running this thing basically as a, you know, on speculation or as
01:45:36
Speaker
as some people would say, you know, a hobby for Tony Khan. I think regardless, I think we'll still be around in some form or another. Look at impact, dude. How many times has, or TNA, as it's back to being called, how many times has TNA or impact been on death's doorstep, dude? I think there's enough of a buzz in AEW's name
01:45:54
Speaker
that if for whatever reason, if Tony did want to, you know, just get out of the wrestling game, I think somebody would snap it up, man. I don't necessarily think WWE would just because I just don't think it'd be worth it to him. I think they've just, you know, let let it go by the wayside. But I think somebody would would try to buy it up and keep it going. So I'll say yes, I think it is around. I think it's possible that maybe Tony Khan is not running it in five or 10 years, though. Yeah.
01:46:21
Speaker
All right. Uh, Brett Charles says, what AW homegrown talent do you think would have the most success in the WWE atmosphere? Uh, I think MJF man, he mentioned it. He went on to mention MJF in his comments. I feel like MJF is, uh, you know, if he could tell him down some of the R rated aspects of his stuff, I feel like, you know, he is a tremendous wrestler. I feel like he's a born sports entertainer. Um, I feel like the easiest answer is Jade. Cause that's what's going to happen. I felt like they built her up enough and,
01:46:49
Speaker
went through the green part of her career and now WWE is going to get the peak of her career. So I'm going to say Jade, I just, I think she's going to be a huge star.
01:46:58
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Jason Koenig says, have you been an AW fan since day one? Yeah, I can proudly say yes. I know that the Chads over at the Turnbuckle Tavern that we plugged earlier, they give me a hard time because I can be vocally critical of AW at times, but I will proudly say I bought every single AW pay-per-view it's been. Even the Tony Khan-produced Ring of Honor pay-per-views, I've gotten those. So I have supported this company wholeheartedly since day one, and I will continue to until they do pull the plug on it eventually.
01:47:27
Speaker
Yeah, I am we me and Seth are day one ish for a and it ain't going away like there's just me I think for the most part I think the biggest problem for a W is is people are just overly critical of it because it is different than WWE and
01:47:45
Speaker
I feel like a lot of people are just used to WWE. So anything else to them is weird. Um, I mean, that was a lot of the critique of WCW back in the day. Like they were so much different than WWE and a lot of people didn't like that. So yeah, I think AW is great, man. I do. I say they definitely have their flaws, but dude, so does WWE. Don't act like WWE doesn't have flaws, man. I hate when people bring that shit up.
01:48:11
Speaker
Oh, well, they're, they're not WWE. They're not trying to be WWE. That's the thing. And they don't need to be WWE. Like we need something else to watch. Like if every week or let's just say, okay, let's just say for argument's sake, AEW was running the exact same thing as a, as WWE was. And whoever was champ, let's just say Kenny Omega. Cause that, that would probably make the most sense. Kenny Omega had been champ as long as Roman Reigns and we're running those two, two storylines together every week.
01:48:41
Speaker
Dude, nobody wants to fucking see that. Like, I'm sorry, man. The Roman thing works for WWE. If a W did that, we would all be fucking furious because that's not what they are. Like, I'm sorry, that's just that's what it is. And I feel like people are overly critical. I see it every fucking day. Everybody's talking about like, oh, their attendance and like Sean empty seats. Who gives a fuck, dude? I don't care about that in the lease. I could care less if they're running an empty arena. I'm just there to watch the wrestling. That's all I care about.
01:49:11
Speaker
The other thing is, people are dunking on AEW the last year or so, dude. WWE's been on a year and a half hot streak right now, but that was after basically a decade of being in the gigantic slump, right?
AEW Talents: Potential Success in WWE
01:49:23
Speaker
They were in a slump more or less for about 10 years prior to Triple H taking over and getting us on this run that we're on right now. So yeah, dude, I just think it's for whatever reason, it's become the end style thing to just slam AEW.
01:49:38
Speaker
Um, do you think we'll Osprey wins the world title this year? I think no, I think he's a year away. I think, I don't think he had, it happens at, I think it happens at the 2025 version of all in. He's definitely winning the title. I just probably not this year. I think he'll, uh, he'll grow the, um, what the hell they calling out, uh,
01:50:00
Speaker
Continental whatever the belt that is. Yeah, I can see it. Maybe having a run with that. Yeah, the Continental Championship. Yeah, dude. I think he'll make that into a huge deal and then he'll move on to I could see like having him walk into whatever pay-per-view next year is that champion and challenging for the belt and having like a
01:50:18
Speaker
kind of an ultimate warrior kind of feel to it. I had, I could see. Yeah, it just feels like there's a feeling there's people ahead of him in line. It feels like we, you know, it feels like swerves going to get a run. Adam Cole is going to have to get a run somewhere in there. And then we may get hangman second title reign sometime before little Osprey. So I think about a year and a half from now, all in 2025, that's enough time to let him get fully established here in, you know, here with the American audience and we'll see him go for the belt in.
01:50:45
Speaker
Um, let's see here a lot of it. So if I didn't read your questions that we, that means we've already touched on it at some point in the show or somebody had a similar question. So don't feel like I'm leaving anybody out here as we go through these. Um,
01:50:58
Speaker
Do you think we see a new company take over a EW action figures in the future? I could totally see that man. I could totally see them jumping ship and you know, it seems like the jazzwares is still putting out some good figures. Even the most recent ones, there's been some really good stuff in there, but it seems like there's just a lot of issues with stuff getting out on time. Distribution. I don't know. There's just, there's a ton of room for improvement with, with AWS action figure line right now.
01:51:24
Speaker
Yeah. And it started off so good. They were the hottest one. You couldn't find those things on the pegs for pretty much the first year they were out. I just I really feel like we got to get back to that dude like the original like love of finding those figures was was so high. And I'm not saying it has to be perfection by any means I just I think
01:51:50
Speaker
We got to get back to some semblance of what it was before, you know. Yeah, it feels like with Mattel's WWE line and obviously Mattel is a gigantic company, much bigger than Jazzverse. Even though Jazzverse is a pretty big toy company, it feels like the misses really stand out in the Mattel line where it seems like it's the hits that stand out more in the AW line, right? Like when a figure really hits.
01:52:13
Speaker
That ends up being like the standout of the series series as opposed to to Mattel where they're pretty much knocking it out of the park on on damn near every figure. Yep. All right. If the Yeah, we were touched on that one. Let's see here talked about favorite moment. Talked about them doing a reset.
01:52:33
Speaker
What's been your favorite promo cut in a Debbie and why is it brand brands open mic night promo? That's definitely the most memorable, dude. That segment was cooking, dude, regardless what you want to say about brandy, dude. I don't know how, you know, she went for me like the sweetest, like, you know, sweetest lady in wrestling and all of a sudden being like straight up hood, man. That segment definitely freaking rocked it for me. It's that one. And then that Moxie, when I voted earlier, where he just straight up eviscerated CM Punk.
01:53:13
Speaker
Don't you talk about my man. Don't you even look at my man. All right. What's your dream? This is Jamie Wills, one of our UK listeners. It says dream three man commentary booth for AEW, man. I'll take Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGinnis, and Taz, dude. That's probably my three favorite of all the different commentators that they have in the mix.
01:53:20
Speaker
Yeah, the brand brand ones unbeatable there. That is such a cringe. Just everything.
01:53:36
Speaker
I'll do the same except I'll replace Nigel with Excalibur. I love Excalibur, man. He does a good job, I think. And Tony Schiavone is...
01:53:46
Speaker
If he ain't the best of our childhood, if he ain't the best in the business, he's right up there, man. Yeah. It's a, and I feel like Taz is low key funny man. Okay. Yeah. I like Nigel just mixing it up here in a little bit of British accent in there, dude. Excalibur's totally fine. I just, I literally pick Nigel just for the accent. I don't know how much of it you watch, but did you watch much of like a W dark on YouTube or did you ever watch any of it?
01:54:11
Speaker
I used to put it on, I never would pay super attention to it. But like, if I'm just at home, this was like, you know, back when that was still a thing, my kids were a little bit younger. And we had a lot of just kind of just, you know, if you've ever had like little kids, you know, like one, you know, like one to three years old, you know, when you're playing with them, it kind of just involves like, you know, rolling shit around on the floor and stuff, right? It's kind of mindless. I would have it on like background on TV as I was doing that. I never like super tuned in, though.
01:54:37
Speaker
I don't know why, but I love like Big Show on commentary. I just- He's funny, bro. Big Show's a funny fucking cat, dude. It ain't just that he's funny, dude. He's just so knowledgeable in wrestling. To me, he's one of the most underutilized people they have on that fucking roster. I just feel like he could be doing so much more, especially for the younger talent and stuff, man. There's gotta be something they can use him for.
01:55:04
Speaker
Dude, it's a fucking big show. Like, I mean, it literally is the modern day Andre the Giant. Like, I know that sounds weird, but it is like, we're not gonna have very many guys like this ever again. And I just, I feel like he's so underutilized. Yeah, I agree, man. He's, you know, it seems like he's been on, I feel like I can count the number of times he's actually been on TV since they signed him, man, which they made a pretty big deal about it once they got him.
01:55:33
Speaker
Um, Zach Hertzler says, how long of a title run do you think Samoa Joe will have? I think the, the over under is definitely double or nothing,
Samoa Joe's Championship Potential
01:55:42
Speaker
dude. I think he survives this. It looks like I'm almost positive. We're going to get that triple threat with hangman and sort of a revolution. I think he survives that and then drops it to one of those guys that don't wear nothing.
01:55:52
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. And it doesn't need to be a long title, right? No matter what. It's already successful. He already defended the belt once. So like, dude, I just wanted him to get more. You know, he's already like halfway to Roman's defenses in the last year and a half. I just wanted him to have the title. So to me, it's already a success. Like there's nothing that contained this for me. Honestly, I hope he holds it till never nothing. But I seriously hope that
01:56:18
Speaker
we get a lot more like dynamite title defenses against like guys that wouldn't normally get them because I thought the whole thing was brilliant. I thought that was fucking brilliant the way they did it. Yeah, it made Hook look, Hook leveled up in defeat, man. Yeah, I'm right there with you. Let's let's make Samoa Joe be like Seth Rollins style, like just a fighting champ, right? Like, you know, every couple weeks give us a
01:56:39
Speaker
AW championship match on dynamite. I'm right there with you. This almost reminds me of this could be like the Cena thing when he had the US title and just did the open challenge like that would be fucking awesome if they did that every week.
01:56:51
Speaker
That'd be very cool. Zach also asked, do you think AEW will ever do an elimination chamber type of match? They need something, man. I feel like it's been a while since we've seen a real creative gimmick match from them, dude. They had Mimosa Mayhem way back in the day, and then they got their stadium stampede slash anarchy in the arena deal. Yeah, I feel like a good signature gimmick match would really kind of work for them, dude. I think that'd be something they could draw some fans in.
01:57:21
Speaker
Yeah, they definitely need to add something. I don't know how much more gimmicky you can get though, like that's the problem. Yeah, you never want to go the TNA route or, you know, we talked about it with the NXT iron survivor stuff where you come up with these just overly convoluted matches just for the sake of it, right? Like it can work, but it's much more rare that it ends up just being a mess, you know, so.
01:57:43
Speaker
But you could take something that's already been done and just put your own twist on it. Fuck, run a Survivor Series. WWE doesn't use it anymore. Yeah, they've abandoned it. Yeah, give us a 4-on-4 elimination match, dude.
01:57:56
Speaker
And then Zach, last question, he says, who do you think has what it takes to bring AEW to the next level?
Swerve Strickland: A Future Champion?
01:58:03
Speaker
I don't know, man. I think Swerve getting a run could be something great, dude. I feel like he's really on a heater right now, dude. Don't wait on it, man. Strike all the irons hot, dude. I feel like Swerve needs to be that guy to take the belt from Samoa Joe at Double or Nothing. As much as I love Hangman, dude, I'd give it to Swerve to be the next champ.
01:58:23
Speaker
don't do the WWE thing where you wait fucking nine months to pull the trigger on something and then it's too late at that point. Like I agree with you. Swerve needs to win the belt. I will say though, this Okada news tonight, like dude, you get Okada in the full free W changes a lot of things.
01:58:41
Speaker
Alright so that's a wrap man let's kind of leave a closing thoughts dude I'll start man for me.
Gratitude for AEW's Contribution to Wrestling
01:58:47
Speaker
If I had to come up with like one thing to sum up how I feel about a w dude it's just grateful man, I'm grateful that they're around, given a whole bunch of other talented wrestlers jobs. It's created competition like you can't as much as
01:58:59
Speaker
WWE likes to act like AEW is not competition to them. You cannot tell me that it hasn't. If it hasn't pushed them from a business standpoint, it's at least motivated them from a pride standpoint to put on a better product. And that's better for all the fans, man. And I hope, regardless of what anybody says, I hope Tony Khan sticks with it. I hope he listens to some of the thoughtful criticism out there and continues to tweak the product to get it as money as possible.
01:59:29
Speaker
And I really hope the fucking figure line improves, dude, if I'm being honest, it's a figure. I feel like if the figure line and stayed humming, man, I'd be much more forgiving, dude, because, you know, I've said it on here before, dude, a lot of times I feel like sometimes I'm a I'm a figure collector who also likes wrestling as opposed to a wrestling fan that collects figures, man. I just I the figure collecting is a huge part of my wrestling love. So, yeah, give jazzwares, do you get Jeremy Padour on on this shit to turn it around a little bit? But overall, man, I am just grateful that AWS around.
01:59:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's just kind of echo off that we we haven't had something this cool since WCW was around just something that could like really push WWE to be better and also just a complete alternative. Like I feel like that's the biggest thing that wrestling has been missing for the last 30 years is like a different an alternative to what WWE was putting out. I feel like a W got a little bit off course after the first couple of years and
02:00:28
Speaker
kind of went more towards like what WWE does, which I don't feel like helped them. I feel like they need to be different to be where they need to be. But dude, I just I hope a W makes it and I hope Tony Khan figures it out and they get everything going because like
02:00:48
Speaker
I'd be fucking crushed if AW ended dude. I'll cry bro. I'll have real man tears dude. I would literally be crushed because it's brought us so many cool moments like we got sting back in the fold. And it's gonna end the right way. It's just
02:01:04
Speaker
I would be fucking crushed if AEW left. And like, dude, I encourage everyone that's listened to this. I know we see this shit talking online and stuff. Dude, support AEW, man, because we cannot have this fucking die. If this dies, like, dude, we'll never get this again. Like this is, this is our last crack at having a actual company that can rival WWE. And
02:01:26
Speaker
I just encourage everybody to go to the shows, man. They're fun to go to. I've never been to a bad AEW show. I've went to dynamite. I went to the pay per views and they're always fun. It's just, it's different, man. Let your guard down. It's not supposed to be WWE. Like that's just my biggest thing. And dude, stop making it like a competition online. Just enjoy both, man. Like there's a, there's a world and there's plenty of room to enjoy both. So I guess that's my biggest thing.
02:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, these companies at the end of the day, they really don't give a shit about any of us. So nobody should be dying on the hill waving the flag for one of these companies unless you're on the payroll. Yeah. All right, that's a wrap for, I believe, the 22nd episode of the Pod Warriors, man. It was a blast. What are we going to do for the next one, Jordan?
02:02:13
Speaker
still need to do our Bray thing. I know, man. I feel like you're putting it off because you don't want the people to hear you crying on the air, dude. That's going to be tough for me to do, honestly. I feel you, bro. Dude, I mean, it took me, it grew over years, dude. But I feel like by the time he passed, man, I feel like I was pretty damn close to you, man, for the love of Bray also, dude. I was so hyped when he came back, man, for what he was going to be, dude. I clan on Jordan.
02:02:39
Speaker
This will be the quick teaser for the Bray episode, man. I think we're kind of locking it in. This got to be our next one. I clowned Jordan because Jordan was obviously just so overjoyed when Bray came back at Extreme Rules 2022. And I had to tell him like, pump your brakes. And I remember texting him like two weeks later. I was like, dude, I was like, I think you were right, man. I could kind of see
02:02:58
Speaker
Bray main eventing the next WrestleMania against Roman dude. It feels like, you know, it feels like he's the biggest thing in wrestling right now. And, you know, obviously none of that ended up, you know, it wasn't meant to be, but yeah, we're going to basically do the, you know, kind of just do similar to what we did with AW tonight. We're going to do that with Bray, man. We're going to do an entire retrospective of his career. So it'll be a ton of fun. Hit us with some clothes and thoughts, man. And we will put a wrap on this one, Jordan.
02:03:22
Speaker
I want to just tell everybody how enjoyable this is for me and Seth to record these for you guys. There's no stress involved in recording one of these podcasts. Whether you guys realize it or not, there is a lot of stress that goes into podcasting, making it right.
02:03:42
Speaker
We may or may not have seven different recordings just trying to get this thing off the ground tonight, dude. Dude, it's just, there's a lot of stress to it, man. And me and Seth both have family. So like, dude, we take time out of our, our days to record these for you guys, for you guys to enjoy. And when you guys tell us you guys love it or whatever you guys give us feedback, it just, I want you guys to know it truly does like make our day to know that you guys are enjoying this.
02:04:07
Speaker
that you guys enjoy what me and Seth get to talk about when we do these so like that's what these were always supposed to be is just me and Seth enjoying and just kind of sharing like our wrestling lives with you guys more than anything so keep giving us positive feedback keep listening we're gonna start pumping some more of these out we know we've kind of let you guys down with how many we've done but we've got some good ones in the chamber and we're gonna
02:04:34
Speaker
we're going to unleash them on you guys in 2024.
Podcast Conclusion and Listener Appreciation
02:04:36
Speaker
So maybe we'll get one a month. We'll try to shoot for that and just kind of go from there. But yeah, thanks again for listening and guess have a good time.
02:05:05
Speaker
On the inside You are innocent's personified And I will drag you down And sell you out Run away I am cold like December snow I have carved out this soul made of stone And I will drag you down
02:05:47
Speaker
I've become, now that I've betrayed Everyone I've ever loved I pushed them all away And they have been a slave To the Judaism, my mind Is there something left for me to save? In the wreckage of my life, my life I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become, I've become
02:06:24
Speaker
Should I sit? Should I sit my mind?