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Chris and Garrett are back catching up after a few week hiatus. 

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Transcript

Return from Hiatus

00:00:34
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Predetermined, a Pro Wrestling Hangout. Garrett Callender, Chris Miggs here after a long hiatus. What happened? Why were we gone? I honestly, it's been so long. I don't remember why we were gone. Well, you went to Italy. I went to Chicago and then you in facts couldn't talk for a bit.
00:01:01
Speaker
Not because you disliked each other, but you both had an illness that was constricting your voice.

Rejected Podcast Idea

00:01:06
Speaker
And you both rejected my suggestion, which was that we do a podcast in which you write things and I read each of your lines as you.
00:01:17
Speaker
The thing is, I didn't reject that. I just didn't get back to you in a timely manner. And I did hear from a friend of the show, a listener, Joey, that he did want to hear me attempt to speak because my wife told me during that time, I was, honestly, I'm still sick now. The sickness went away and then came back.
00:01:40
Speaker
But I went I think three and a half days with like little to no voice. And when I could get voice out, I sounded like Harvey Firestein, which, you know, it would have it would have brought a little something to the table. You know, I don't think it would have been the worst episode we've ever recorded.
00:02:03
Speaker
No, no, as long as we didn't talk about an episode of WCW Thunder from 2000, I think we were safe there. I was getting ready to ask, can we definitively say what the worst episode of this show we've ever recorded is? And I think you might have hit the nail on the head with that one.
00:02:21
Speaker
Certainly in the era in which I have been a co-host with you, Garrett, that's the nadir, for sure. I don't think it's close. I need to go back to the beginning and start listening to the me and Derek ones. There had to have been some stinkers in there. I would assume, I don't know if I listened to every last one. I didn't recall any at the level of the Thunder episode.
00:02:50
Speaker
Honestly, there were probably a couple that I had a little too much to drink and still like released it for some reason. I will say I'm drinking.

Chicago Trip Highlights

00:03:03
Speaker
So speaking of official beverages of the podcast, I'm drinking a spinny tonight. And I do think it's appropriate that we discuss that while I was in Chicago for like less than 48 hours for a friend's wedding, I landed on a Friday morning
00:03:19
Speaker
I got on the blue line. I went a couple of stops past where I was supposed to go, was not paying attention, was reading a book, turned around, went back a couple of stops. And went to Mindy's bakery. And here's here's what I have to say about that. I I don't know if CM Punk is right about a lot. But that man fucking knows baked goods. That's delicious.
00:03:49
Speaker
You, I don't know if you sent us pictures of everything in the group text that you ate, but the things you sent us photos of looked fucking delicious. Like they look, I sent you like, yeah, those were the only things I got. Now my instinct when I saw the spread was, was to say one of everything, but I realized that was like going to kill me. Yeah. Um,
00:04:18
Speaker
I did buy for the road. I bought, um, a large holla loaf for my friends who I was staying with when they said that was delicious too. I had a little bit of that as well. Um, I had something called a laminated brioche. I don't know exactly what that means, but it was just like brioche with like meat and, and squash. And it was delicious. I had a cookie with like hot chocolate fudge in the middle is incredible.
00:04:48
Speaker
And they did not have muffins, but I did have a cupcake. And let me say. After eating that cupcake. I can see how that would be the only thing that satisfied a rage inside me that required me to yell about the company that I work for next to my boss. But like that, like if his like I can actually only imagine now what CM Punk would have said if he didn't have that cupcake.
00:05:17
Speaker
Did you happen to ask the employees if they'd seen like an influx of dorks since the press conference?

Chicago Bakery Scene

00:05:27
Speaker
I didn't, it had been a year, and let me just say, that place was really busy. There was a line, and this was like 11 a.m. on a Friday. Great sign for any restaurant. If I see a line out the door, I'm immediately interested.
00:05:47
Speaker
Yeah. Not a lot of spaces sit and eat there either. I, I basically just like stood there with like a small like tabletop thing, just shoveling food in my mouth. I probably looked insane, but did they sell spinny's? They didn't. If they would have, I was, I was going to purchase a spinny just to, just to make the full complete CM punk kit. But.
00:06:12
Speaker
and they come over your brown bag and spinny's. They're like, what the fuck? You can't drink here. It's a spinny. Don't worry about it. It's a sack. You got a sack of spinny's. Oh my God. Like your favorite customer.
00:06:27
Speaker
Just the brown bagging thing made me think of this.

High School Concert Adventure

00:06:31
Speaker
In high school, Derek and a couple of our friends, we drove to St. Louis to see, they might be giants. And it was pretty late when we were driving back and we're like a truck full of underage kids. A cop pulls us over. And he couldn't have pulled over the biggest bunch of dorks.
00:06:55
Speaker
ever. I mean, you're coming home from a they might be giant show. Yeah, like, we don't drink beers. I'm sorry. Like, yeah, you fucked up, sir. We didn't do anything. The cop like asked a bunch of questions asked if he could search the truck. And we let him and he goes, aha.
00:07:14
Speaker
as he pulls out a brown bagged beverage in between the seats, which belonged to Derek. The cop's face when he reached into that bag and pulled out an empty Yoo-hoo bottle. That is just the most Derek shit ever. You gonna arrest me for that Yoo-hoo, sir? You gonna arrest me? Oh, ma'am.
00:07:44
Speaker
I was hoping when you were cracking that beverage over that you were about to partake in some, some woo. I've been looking. Okay. I've been, I've been walking around the city. I've been trying to see if I can find some boo energies. I have not found it yet. I think eventually soon, I'm just going to break down and buy a six pack online. Now, for those $35, you know what though? It's going to be worth it. There's mushrooms in there. Garrett, there's mushrooms.
00:08:13
Speaker
Well, like not magic though, right? Just like some fucking, like probably some shit they just found on the ground that you have to tell your dog not to eat. Like, you know, like it's not. So this is, so since we last recorded, right?

Ric Flair's AEW Signing

00:08:28
Speaker
Ric Flair signed with AEW and then it came out that that was mostly because he there, there, his energy drink. Woo. Energy is a sponsor.
00:08:43
Speaker
of AEW and if you Google woo energy as Garrett and I did the last time we talked on the there about page. It's a it's a sparkling mushroom energy drink and if you go on there about page, it's just pictures of mushrooms and discussions of them Chaga Red Rishi my talkie.
00:09:11
Speaker
Turkey Tail, these are the mushrooms that they put into this fruity beverage. I love mushrooms. I do too. I had a piece of mushroom pizza tonight. However, I've never
00:09:37
Speaker
gotten the urge to drink them no matter what wrestler tells me to, especially Ric Flair. You're not curious what dragon fruit mushrooms taste like? Or strawberry banana? It's like they say two words together that you're like, yeah, that's a match made in heaven. He's like, but also a shiitake.
00:10:06
Speaker
Do you think, honestly, when you saw that Ric Flair had signed to AEW, did you think that Tony wanted to just show up Conrad and be like, you didn't get to kill him, but I'm a billionaire and I'm gonna live my hostile fantasy of just like torturing and murdering this man in front of, like, we've seen what he's done to Sting. Right.
00:10:32
Speaker
I think, you know, it makes me wonder if people have been trying to kill Ric Flair for years. You know, I think Vince was interested in the attempt. I think Triple H was protecting him. You know, I think Vince, Vince would have sent him out there to do like Shane level stunts. If Triple H hadn't been like, no, no, no, Rick, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't, you know, you're not going to, you're not going to want to fall. He said, there's a pad under there. You're still not going to want to fall.
00:11:01
Speaker
off the, off that scaffold. Um, and then they signed to TNA and the amount of blood that man shed for like a B level promotion on spike TV. Pretty sad. I think Dixie Carter was out for blood. Wanted to kill him. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. Here's how we kill him. Rick flair versus Darby Allen.
00:11:30
Speaker
and a Darby Allen Books the Spots match? Well, that's the thing. I think he turns on Sting. I think the final Sting match is Sting versus Flair. And I think Sting is like, OK, we're jumping off this thing. You've never seen a man literally break in half taking a crossbody.
00:11:57
Speaker
Yeah, he fell into four pieces with the shit. The mushrooms didn't keep them together somehow. Yeah, I mean, Conrad, you got to think Conrad went the furthest, right? Because Conrad married Flair's daughter just to get close enough to murder him. Started a podcast empire really just in probably just an attempt to murder Rick Blair.
00:12:24
Speaker
and came this close, so close, you were there. Yep. What wrestler's daughter do you need to marry? Do one of the predetermined boys need to marry to get closer to a wrestler to murder them? Well, look, let's be clear, not for murder, but I definitely, for legal reasons, it is not, it is, yeah, we absolutely not for murder. When I was in high school,
00:12:55
Speaker
maybe even middle school or whatever, cause it would have been 97 or something. Um, they had like an article on like the heart family in one of the WWF magazines. Maybe it was WWF raw or something like that. And I definitely developed a crush on Brett Hart's daughter. Cause I was like, she's cute and her dad's Brett Hart. That's all I need to know. And I'll make up the rest of my mind. Don't worry.
00:13:25
Speaker
Well, I say we get, I mean, fax isn't here to okay. Any of this, but you know, I think if two of the three of us sign off on it, it's what's done is done. Fax is going to have to infiltrate the Hogan family. Uh, so brookies coming for you or Nick, whichever, whichever one, whichever one takes a liking to fax is, uh,
00:13:52
Speaker
Facts is oral skills and. This here's here's my question. Does knobs have children? The thing that's I didn't not that we know of or that he know he definitely knows about a couple days, but this isn't to get to Hulk. This is to get to knobs.
00:14:14
Speaker
I mean, that's, that's the goal here is to create that knobs special. He, oh, he, all they say is that the couple has one child on, on his webpage. It does not say anything other than that. We don't know the age. We don't know if this is going to be a twilight situation where, uh, fax is going to have to imprint on a baby and wait till it's.
00:14:40
Speaker
legal. That's, this is getting yucky, but so to no, no, I don't think so. They've been, he's been married since 1994. So you got to think that kids, at least in their kids of legal age, I don't think we're suggesting anything creepy here. I mean, we're suggesting very creepy things, but not based on an age based thing here. Damn it. Uh, be a Bret Hart's Bret Hart's daughter. I haven't seen her picture for in a very, very long time, but
00:15:06
Speaker
stole my heart. How about you, how about you, Garrett? Who are you? Well, I mean, like, I wouldn't be mad about Mick Foley being my, my father-in-law. And, you know, like, you have to think that if Frank the Clown has enough redeeming qualities to be with Noel Foley, that it can't be that hard to beat him, right? Who knows? I mean, we, look,
00:15:35
Speaker
Love is a complicated and splendid thing, but I think you're right though. I think Mick Foley is He'd be a good father-in-law Right. I think the only potential downside to Mick Foley is he might be too involved You know, he's definitely got opinions about how you're gonna like get ready for Christmas for example Like don't disappoint him
00:16:00
Speaker
Yeah, I trust him around Christmas time. I think Christmas with the Foley's would be awesome. He is definitely full Santa gimmicked. Did you ever watch the Mick Foley Christmas Santa Claus documentary? No, but I do know he's a Santa lover.
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah, for a while, every December, you could go to Holiday World in Indiana, which is a theme park. And Mick Foley would be Santa Claus for the month of December. And I am not super far from there. I've been there in the summer, but I have not gone to a theme park in Indiana in the wintertime to meet Mick Foley. I mean, that does seem very cold.
00:16:47
Speaker
Like that doesn't seem like a fun place to be unless it happens. I mean, I guess if you're getting to meet Mick Foley, that might be worth it, but. Yeah, I guess it's worth sacrificing the log flume for. Don't go on the log flume in December though. Mick Foley's like, look, I got thrown off a cage and I think you're crazy.

Logan Paul's Wrestling Feats

00:17:13
Speaker
That documentary, I wanna say it followed like three different Santas, maybe a couple I don't remember. All I remember is it gave me the same feelings as when you find out a magician's origin story. Like none of the people were Santa because they were happy and just continued to be happy. Everybody experienced some sort of trauma that resulted in them being Santa Claus.
00:17:43
Speaker
I can see that, right? Because it's it doesn't sound like a fun job. Well, it's like Mick Foley was just kind of like, I've experienced so much violence in my life. This is a thing that brings me peace. Is the being Santa Claus? Yeah, because you're just like making kids smile and it's. Mommy, why is Santa missing most of his teeth? Santa Santa got thrown out of the
00:18:13
Speaker
out of the sleigh. This is a common thing on this podcast. We have to discuss Logan Paul. Obviously, did you happen to watch Mysterio and Logan Paul at Crown Jewel? Only the part where Logan Paul is the only reason Rey Mysterio is alive.
00:18:43
Speaker
It's funny that that's now the thing, like not the fact that this guy has had only incredible matches in his career so far. It's also a hero. He's a hero now. And people are like, well, I guess he's not so bad. Yeah, people are people, even people who were haters, now they're like, now they're trying some prime because prime's a hero beverage.
00:19:13
Speaker
we we missed in the because we've been gone so long we missed Logan Paul had a real fight he had a boxing match with a guy who was shit talking him a lot and like seemed pretty confident that he was gonna beat Logan Paul in this fight Logan Paul beat the shit out of this guy to the point that like illegal things were happening in the fight and it like
00:19:36
Speaker
Logan Paul ended up knocking him out and then punching him while he was down on the ground after he was already knocked out. There was like a mini riot with both sides. People rush in the ring. Logan Paul beat the shit out of a man for real. Gets on the microphone and then calls out Ray Mysterio in a pretend fight. That's. K.A. Brother K.A.
00:20:04
Speaker
That's kind of incredible, I don't know. I think there was a long time where it's like, you know, I don't like Logan Paul, but I like his drink and now I really like him in the ring. I think I just like, like him now. I think I'm just like a regular fan.
00:20:21
Speaker
I mean, I don't watch his YouTube videos. As far as a beverage maker and an in-ring performer, he's provided me with everything. He gets me to watch WWE. That's true. If you can isolate those from all the problematic stuff, you're just like, look,
00:20:42
Speaker
Look, I don't think about the complexities of Logan Paul. I just know he kicks ass. He makes delicious beverages, except for that meta moon stuff. That's just disgusting. Um, he saves lives and he wrestles real good. So seriously, the meta moon whose idea was it to make a beverage that tastes like smarties who, what market was there for like, let's just crush up some smarties and put them in some water.
00:21:13
Speaker
Well, that's what I was like, what other depression era candies should it be turned into a sports beverage? This one tastes like circus peanuts. Just cracker jacks, there's a sticker at the bottom of the beverage.
00:21:34
Speaker
Yeah. It's just a little picture of a jet at the bottom. Um, man. Yeah. It's like, have you ever wanted to drink something that tastes like a Werther's that's been in your grandpa's pocket all day? Come on down to the prime factory where we're, and I saw that they were giving out.
00:21:53
Speaker
They were, they, he hid somewhere in London, two, uh, solid gold prime bottles. And we were talking about how like he's entering his Willy Wonka era of, uh, and, and I'm definitely that the kid that gets stuck in a pipe in the, in the prime river. Yeah. Yeah. But, but you get, you get stuck in the pipe and he realizes that Ozzy is the true heir.
00:22:24
Speaker
My wife's gonna hate that. She's just like, I'm dead and now she has to talk to Logan Paul way more than she wants to. Yeah. I did buy a t-shirt from circle six and they sent me a Kit Kat with it. So that's. Circle six that you candy. Yeah. What I think it was it was a generic circle six shirt. It was part of a like a Halloween grab bag thing.
00:22:54
Speaker
OK, so there were some stickers in there, some some pins. I'll probably toss it a couple of a couple of bar room blitz stickers. Oh, there's a well, I'll I'll I'll surprise. No, I'll just tell you. There's a koozie that says I got blitzed with the Sandman at Bar Room Blitz. So. Circle six. Merry Christmas. To view, which is right. It's on fight TV, right?
00:23:24
Speaker
have not yet watched, but I know there's an episode with our pal, Hardway Eater, that's up on the Fight TV right now, right? Yeah, actually, it aired tonight, the night of this recording. So, we have no excuse, but we have our Fight TV subscriptions. It's time to watch some violence.
00:23:47
Speaker
Just thinking of this, NWA is in a little like, you know, I'm sure any listener that read any NWA news had to think that we were smiling somewhere as this was happening. But all of the NWA news made us smile. The good and the bad. Did NWA get pulled from fight TV as well?
00:24:13
Speaker
Did they, that seems amazing. Cause fight TV like aired Rob Black shows. But you don't see them doing drugs at American cheeseburger. It's just heavily implied.
00:24:30
Speaker
Um, let me pull up the quote here because I don't know if, did you happen to see what was said on Effie's podcast about NWA? I did see that Effie, uh, was quite, um, dismissive of the product and their offers to get him to be a part of it. So the quote from Effie is.
00:24:51
Speaker
You know what I told Billy Corrigan? I said go fuck yourself. They asked me to come work NWA. They begged. They had multiple people call me to come work NWA. You know what I said? I'm not helping you. They said Tyrus isn't here anymore. You know what I said?
00:25:06
Speaker
You leaned into what tyros was doing which was hate speech and fox news bullshit for such a long period that it fucked you and now you want to come in and fix things and do a PR job.

Effie's NWA Critique

00:25:17
Speaker
No I'm not helping you I don't need you and I'm not helping your company look competent.
00:25:23
Speaker
Then what happens, you blow your TV deal with CW, because oh, the GCW guys are all smoking crack? Is that the rumor going around? No, the NWA guys are doing fake cocaine live on the air and getting pulled off fight TV and losing their TV deals.
00:25:41
Speaker
Oh my god, you want Effie to come in? Alright, well guess what? It's as easy as giving me 50 million, you stupid dumbass piece of shit. Go be a rat in a cage, dumbass Billy Corrigan, you fucking loser. Great promo. Great promo.
00:26:00
Speaker
But he mentioned the fight thing. So I didn't know if like actually showing drug use is prohibited on fight where I watched guys make each other mentally challenged by hitting each other, slapping their faces. I mean, you can still purchase the NWA Samhain pay-per-view on fight.
00:26:23
Speaker
So Effie, OK, misspoke him. He may. OK, maybe he meant CW instead of. Fight TV. Yeah. That is really funny, though, that that like pull it trying to pull in Effie when you're like getting out of Tyrus is trying to completely change the way people look at that company. And to me, that is Billy Corrigan acknowledging he's fucking up.
00:26:53
Speaker
Sure. I mean, I also personally, I actually don't believe that they couldn't they weren't going to be on the CW because of the spot. I think the CW got got WWE and was like, we don't actually need you. And Billy Corgan simply didn't realize that he was just a backup plan all along. Yeah.
00:27:18
Speaker
The interviews I see of him talking about it now, I guess he's kind of bickered with Cornette and stuff online. And it seems like Billy Corrigan's insane now. It's possible this is driving him insane. The wrestling industry is just slowly making him nuts.
00:27:44
Speaker
wouldn't it seems like it does that to everyone and i think he's been doing this too long i think he's hit the point of overturned it's five years now god like he kept that going through the pandemic like he is this can't be the show he wants to watch it's like
00:28:04
Speaker
He fucked up and can't admit that it's the shit that he's doing at the, I don't know, he started off so great. And by not like super, pretty good with the Cody stuff. Like he had a good lead in to get us there. Right, 10 pounds of gold and specifically Cody and Aldis. It's a moment in time. It's a moment in time. It's the only one. The only moment in time.
00:28:34
Speaker
Uh, I mean, even GCW, it seems like they stole violent Jay. He's going to appear. He's going to appear. He's going to be shows. He's going to be doing, um, Wrestlecade with boozy insane clown boozy. That's kind of awesome. I mean, again, it's been a bit since I've watched GCW, but that is, I haven't watched it since the Japan shows. Um,
00:29:02
Speaker
That is pretty terrific. What, um, I get GCW, like I, occasionally I'll see a match that seems interesting, but like I haven't committed, like I used to, if there was a pay-per-view that night, I was tuned in to GCW every time live and I'm doing that less and less. Uh, I did see, I thought this was strange. So it is cool to me that they have Andrade coming in.
00:29:28
Speaker
There's definitely some cool match ups you could do with Andrade. They announced tonight though, that LA is the dream match. Andrade versus Joey Janela. And that seems like that would have been a dark match on AEW. Yeah, that's not, I mean, no one was like, oh man, I wonder what Andrade against Janela is going to be like. I don't think anyone was discussing that one.
00:29:56
Speaker
Who would, I mean, I think Speedball versus Andrade would be a good time. Maybe even like Gringo Loco. I don't know, who in GCW at this point would you be excited to see Andrade work? I guess Effie. Effie would be interesting. Andrade and Charlotte against Gage and Edo.
00:30:26
Speaker
Fuck. That's a dream match. Well, it's not a dream match. It's certainly it would be different. Just Andrade and Charlotte against the Kirks. Are the Kirks like regularly wrestling GCW? It's been a bit. It's been a bit. I don't know. I'm just thinking. I'm just thinking out loud here. Mostly.
00:30:53
Speaker
Mostly I find Andrade just fine, but him and Charlotte as a tag team sounds hilarious. Just doing figure eights together. It's a figure 16 when it's a double team version. Twice, two times eight. Or maybe it's a figure 64. Eight times eight multiplies. Do one more time.
00:31:24
Speaker
Keep the times table going. I don't know if I can get there. Eight times 60 is going to be like 480. It's 512. It's a 512. What have you been watching any other wrestling? Like what is. Like you've been watching Dynamite or have you been watching New Japan? I'm just too busy doing math.
00:31:53
Speaker
I watched, um, I mean, I've been, I've been watching AEW, I think I'm really excited for full gear, even though the TV has been sort of scatter shot and kind of up and down, I think. Um, but I mean, you look at that card and like every time the bucks have wrestled Kenny in a tag match,
00:32:16
Speaker
They've like blown up scales. So we got that. And that's, you know, probably third or fourth in the top, right? I mean, we got, um, the best Jericho match in a while. I mean, is it really a Jericho match when he's the fourth guy in there with the bucks and Omega?
00:32:38
Speaker
I'm saying like, this is a situation where he's in with guys that like, it could be very fun. Like I don't know how the last time I was excited for a Chris Jericho match, you know, like, but once again, I guess you're like, it's not really his match. Like literally any fourth person in that match, I'd be like, sounds good. Sign me up. Jordan Oliver. Sure. Fascinated to see what they can do. Greatest Jordan Oliver match of all time.
00:33:09
Speaker
No doubt. I'm excited about the street fight or the Texas death match with Swerve and Hangman. I think that's going to be good. I think Mox and Orange Cassidy again is going to be really, really good. I'm assuming that won't headline this time though, will it? No, I think the world title is going to be the headline this time.
00:33:37
Speaker
Are you excited for Jay white versus MJF? I'm curious to see where they're going.

AEW Storyline Complexity

00:33:45
Speaker
I don't know how excited I am for the actual match. I think it's going to be pretty good. Um, they've got a lot of stuff going on. It's interesting. I've seen some criticism of like, wow, there's like too many people that want MJF. This to me feels like very NWA eighties booking where everyone's calling out flair. You know, everyone, the champ is.
00:34:08
Speaker
The champ's got a blood feud and a title challenger and some up and comer and all these different people who are trying to get a piece of him. And I think it's, I don't think they've executed it the best at all times. I think sometimes the TV has been a little bit muddled at times, but I think on the whole, I think it's, it's pretty cool to see them basically kind of building around MJF and saying, look, this is really all about all these people want his title.
00:34:39
Speaker
You know, and we're seeing a lot more of him wrestling now than than we're used to. And the quality, I mean, the wrestling like it's always been great. And I've come in every time and I don't know what it's going to be like. We didn't get to talk about the Omega MJF match, which was, I mean, main event quality match.
00:35:04
Speaker
on television, he wrestled like Kenny Omega. I mean, the guy is like truly a wrestling chameleon where like whoever you put him in with, he can do his own thing, but also have enough moments where he matches the style of who he's up against to show that he can do that. And I thought that was super, that match is really interesting because it kind of proved almost definitively of like,
00:35:34
Speaker
MJF's making choices. It's not because he can't do anything, it's because he's decided not to. Which is an interesting thing to just have and just haven't be able to prove, I think is really kind of a unique opportunity and it's kind of an interesting, it adds a certain context to his work, I think. That matches one that happened.
00:36:02
Speaker
and he was able to do a Kenny Omega match from a physical perspective. Again, obviously, I think there's no one quite as good at doing Kenny Omega matches Kenny Omega, but from a physical moves perspective, when called upon, he was able to match Kenny. It's just a high bar. There's certain things that he did in that match that my jaw dropped, and it's not necessarily things that
00:36:33
Speaker
Like I've never seen that before ever, but I've not seen him do it. So when he busts something out, it's like, oh, fuck. He's when he did the, uh, when he just did a backflip over the top rope, like that's not like the craziest shit in the world, but like for him to do that, I mean, I don't know. I'm like, I'm fully on board with watching any match he wants to give me now because he's going to get me invested every time.
00:37:03
Speaker
I also think it's really helped in them evolving his character to have him interacting with a lot of people because it's still allowing the character to show different beats, right? If he was just interacting with one person or even a couple of people, it would be easier, I think, to sort of like jump, you know, to like, oh, he's basically just a baby face now.
00:37:32
Speaker
Whereas I think by having him bounce off so many different people, you can see where the character is evolving, like where he's softening versus not. I think it's letting that character shift happen more gradually than otherwise it would have.
00:37:57
Speaker
And he can, he can be different shades, you know, in, in, in a single episode. It, I mean, it adds, you know, layers to the, just a little more, a little more depth and nuance to the, the guys. Yeah. Like, right. Like accepting, finally accepting the help of Max Caster. That's an interesting step. Accepting the help. Will he accept the help of him, of Samoa Joe at some point?
00:38:26
Speaker
Um, what does that say? If he's accepting lots of help, different people's help, you know, there's again, just, just kind of a, some, some different, different shades of play, which I think has been kind of fun. And I'm curious to see.
00:38:46
Speaker
I'm assuming he has a title match in Long Island, um, which I guess again, I think since the last time we recorded, uh, AEW announced that there's going to be a pay-per-view at the, uh, the old Nassau Coliseum. Um, maybe the first, the first place I ever saw a WWF show back in 1999 at the Nassau Coliseum. Um,
00:39:15
Speaker
last weekend in December. And so I think it's going to be interesting. I'm curious. You got to think it's Long Island. So there's got to be an MJF title match. And who's going to get it? Is it going to be Joe? Is it going to be Roddy? Is it going to be? I don't know. Cole's not back, right? I don't think he's back by that point. He really fucked up his ankle in Queens. Which match did he fuck his ankle up in?
00:39:44
Speaker
It was a run-in to the MJF Samoa Joe match. He jumped off the ramp and landed funny and just exploded his ankle. That grand slam. What, he had just been back like? A couple months basically, yeah. No, more than that, like four or five months, but still, you know. Is he one of those guys that's just like been doing crazy stuff too long and it's just like a little too fragile now?
00:40:13
Speaker
It's been interesting because this has been kind of a recurring problem a little bit for AEW. I mean, the same thing with Daniel Bryan, where Bryan Daniels somewhere, he's just, it just feels like every match he comes out and it's like, oh, fucked up his eye this time. And you're like, what the hell? Didn't he just break his arm? And I mean,
00:40:34
Speaker
That is something that with the level and like the intensity that these guys and just the difficulty of the shit they're doing is you're going to get more of that. He announced the basically the AWG one with an eye patch on. Wait, was this on last week's or on collision? They're doing. Did you not see this yet? They're doing. No, I didn't hear about. So two blocks. It's called the continental classic.
00:41:04
Speaker
It's a two block round robin tournament. They said it's 12 guys. So I'm guessing six guys a block, you know, a few matches per week, six over six weeks, um, that ends at world's end. Okay. And this is the week after full gear and winner gets title shot and.
00:41:27
Speaker
I don't know if they established that yet, although you'd have to think anyone who's like won a tournament like that would be in line to get a crack. Did they announce all the names already? They've only announced Dan Nielsen so far. Okay. And then, man, to have him go through a whole tournament and then in January, him versus Okada again in the Tokyo Dome. That's asking a lot of him.
00:41:57
Speaker
That's, I think he wouldn't have it any other way though. That's another thing to talk about is that they did the final build other than some details at this point, but the main matches are set for the Tokyo dough.

Tokyo Dome Key Matches

00:42:12
Speaker
And, um, I don't know how I feel about it. What are they? So main event, IWGP title, Sonata against Naito.
00:42:27
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm. Danielson versus Ocada. Yay. Yay. Of course. Osprey versus Mox. Yeah. Versus David Finley.
00:42:45
Speaker
the oh my god because we know we we know osprey's leaving it seems mox isn't winning that title this is a match to build up david fenley and to looking like he can beat two of the best in the world i had a thought about the new bullet club by the way because i was yeah i watched
00:43:11
Speaker
Like kind of on and off. I watched actually a surprisingly decent chunk of Super Junior Tag League. Just, you know, one of those things that just seemed to have the time each day to throw it on for a little bit. And the new Bullet Club guys, Maloney and Connors, and then the same kind of same shoot with Gabe Kidd and Coughlin, you know, they're all good. And I was trying to figure out like what was bothering me about them.
00:43:40
Speaker
and it hit me, which is that the elite, when Kenny Omega goes bang, it's campy. When Jay White and the Guns and Juice Robinson are talking about being like the bang bang gang, it's a joke.
00:44:04
Speaker
Right? Like the bang bang is like a play on like, yeah, we're, we're tough and cool, but really it's more this, this sort of like mocking thing. I feel like none of these guys seem in on the joke. They're like guns. Yeah. Boom. I don't know. It just, it just doesn't feel like it feels way too serious to be called the bullet club. Like you can't be called the bullet club and not be kind of joking about it. Cause if you're not, then it's creepy. You're not joking. It's dark.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yeah, there was always kind of a level of fun to the Bullet Club. I mean, maybe not in the, they were pretty serious in the, the Fen baller days, right? Like in the, the Fergal Devitt, like AJ styles, but they had the good brothers, like they were like, and the good brothers baller, I think was also a little bit campy. I mean, he's called himself the real rock and rolla. I mean, come on, really? That's, there's a, you know,
00:45:02
Speaker
That sounds like some New Japan shit though that like, doesn't fully translate into being cool everywhere. It's true. But like, again, like the good brothers, you know, I think, you know, gallows especially is, you know, there's, he's, he's, he's just, you know, basically just doing big sexy. Yeah. You know, it's just, um,
00:45:28
Speaker
I don't know, I just, every time I see, like, Maloney do the gun thing, I'm like, do you, no, you gotta, you gotta grin a little bit, buddy, you gotta, give me something here to know that you're not a creeper. Yeah, I mean, I guess that's a direction to go with it if you don't wanna sell any t-shirts. I'm not buying that t-shirt, I'd have considered buying the Desperado and Watto t-shirt, that was pretty amazing.
00:46:01
Speaker
Desperado, that's another Tokyo Dome match. Desperado's gonna wrestle Hiromu for the title. Hiromu called him out. Yeah. So who's Jun Kasai wrestling in the Tokyo Dome? No one yet. No one yet. Oh, probably no one, because they sent him to be in AC fighting Nick Gage. Oh, that's right. So yeah, he'll be hanging out in AC.
00:46:29
Speaker
That like, see, that's one that I think you can call a dream match, but a few years too late. Yeah, that does seem like it's just not, I mean, I'm intrigued, but I, that was actually one, you know, Joey built up his match with Kasai and was like, we're going to have the greatest death match of all time in Cork. And, and it was just good. I mean, it was good. It was entertaining, but it wasn't the greatest death match of all time. Wasn't even.
00:46:59
Speaker
It wasn't Jon Moxley versus Despy in a barn in Nashville. No. No. I really thought like somebody's gonna leave super injured in this and like all things considered like there were a couple knife board spots which are always pretty icky but all things it seemed like kind of like honestly substantially more tame than I was expecting.
00:47:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'm with you. What else is happening on that show? You have the Bullet Club guys against Akira and TJP. So funny to me that TJP is still over there. Still over there. Oh, CSJ in Tanahashi. Shingo against Tomatanga. Those are the other title matches.
00:47:54
Speaker
Again, I don't think it's gonna be a bad show. I think it's gonna be entertaining, but I think they really shot themselves in the foot by not just doing mocks and an osprey. The match that I think people would have been jacked for would have been mocks against osprey. That's a money match. That is a match that, that could be a semi-main event. When you throw in David Finley,
00:48:24
Speaker
That's the opener. It it's yeah. I mean, you see, by the way, did you end up turning in and checking out any of Mox against great Ocon? No, I saw a couple of clips online, but I didn't actually watch the match itself. They fought all over the fucking arena. Mox is like gushing blood from like the side of his head and like he cut part of great Ocon's hair and like they just had a ridiculous like
00:48:53
Speaker
just full on insanity, like gives no fucks. Mox just like chokes him out on the middle of the floor between like a pile of chairs. It's quality John Moxley weirdness. Like if you're a connoisseur of Mox,
00:49:15
Speaker
You know, you got to see this one as my that's my only that and that and Osprey against a shooter were pretty great from power struggle. OK, that was the thing, actually. So so Osprey against shooter was really, really good and shooters. Keeps coming back. You think he's got him at a couple of points. Osprey is just unstoppable. And it's like a really dramatic match. Mox is coming out and he's supporting shooter and
00:49:46
Speaker
You know, he fought like shooter, like Mox doesn't get involved. He's just there to support and shooter falls like just short. And like, you know, Mox is coming in to kind of protect him and he's like standing up to Osprey and you're like, yeah, yeah. And then like, this is going to be amazing. And then Finley comes out and you're like, no, no, no ghetto. No, don't do this to me.
00:50:10
Speaker
Do we have any idea where Osprey shows up after all this? Everyone seems to be saying it's an open season, that everyone's making offers. WWE, AEW, Impact. Billy Corrigan. Billy Corrigan. I'll let you drum for the pumpkins on the next tour if you didn't. I didn't ask to do that.
00:50:40
Speaker
Yeah. He seems like he, I think he's going to the highest bidder is kind of the vibe of sort of like, look, I want to, I got, I got a kid now pay me. And I think he's willing to, in that case, WWE might be the, like, if you've got a kid and you just need longevity and money. It might be, it's, it's an interesting question because I do,
00:51:07
Speaker
look obviously I would rather see Osprey in AEW I think that'd be way more interesting but again you come back to like how many top guys does AEW need given although you know they keep adding more television hours you know so maybe they do need they could use another guy but at this point too with WWE like
00:51:32
Speaker
They don't have more guys now to debut at the Rumble ever. Like anybody that you would originally like with the NDs and no AEW, there's no one left.

Will Osprey's Future Speculation

00:51:46
Speaker
You just assume they're going to AEW. Like a Will Ospreay showing up at a Royal Rumble is a big fucking deal. And that also means I can see Will Ospreay versus Logan Ball. That would be amazing.
00:52:01
Speaker
That would be like, they're basically the same build. I'm fantasy booking the one, like my once every three months match that I watch with the WWE now. Maybe look, we're still thinking WrestleMania, right, Garrett? And so, you know, right? Osprey, Logan Paul, Philadelphia. You know, look at that shit.
00:52:29
Speaker
I mean, and they were talking to, um, I, I don't know where I read this. It said that like the offers that MJF is currently getting, like he could end up being one of like the highest paid wrestlers of all time, or this could be like one of the highest like contracts of all time. I mean, AEW is building the entire show around him currently. So yeah, I think they're, I think they've invested in him and I think they're going to
00:52:58
Speaker
I think they're gonna pay him. I think they'll do whatever it takes to keep him. Even if he's not getting Will Ospreay.
00:53:07
Speaker
Yeah. Did you watch the after match portion with Omega and MJF? I didn't. It was really great. And MJF, they really sucked each other's dicks and just really praised each other's work and stuff.
00:53:28
Speaker
But MJF did his thing where he's like, I don't know where I'm going in 2024, but being able to share a ring with Kenny Omega tonight makes the decision a lot harder. So they're giving him good stuff to do. I mean, if you can be the top guy there, I don't know why you would want to do the other. Yeah. I also just think.
00:53:56
Speaker
He's again, they're building the entire show around him. He's just you're just not going to get that with WWE. I get the idea that it's a bigger platform. So again, we'll see.

MJF's Contract Potential

00:54:10
Speaker
I don't know. I. It's just it's so funny that this guy we were watching at basement East.
00:54:18
Speaker
is now potentially gonna have one of the biggest contracts. Well, it's like Hogan and NWO money, more than that with inflation. Yeah, the last time I was in Philly for a WWE show, we went to NXT 2018, the Rumble weekend 2018.
00:54:42
Speaker
And that afternoon, before NXT, we went to see a beyond show at Mike Quackenbush's gym in North Philly. And MJF opened that show.
00:55:03
Speaker
and now his name he's listed as the executive producer on the iron claw like if you told me a few years ago when we're watching him that like he's gonna be executive producing a movie for one of my favorite companies
00:55:22
Speaker
The sky's the limit with that guy. I honestly, I can't wait to, the movie looks great. Um, I can't wait to see him in it and see what him acting and being a different character is like. I'm curious about the whole thing. My wife is actually, we were talking, my wife and I watched the Cassandra movie last night with Kyle Garcia, Bernal. And afterwards my wife was like, Hey, did you see? I might've said like, Hey, do you see like Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen white are going to be in a wrestling movie too? And she's like, yeah.
00:55:52
Speaker
I'd be interested in that too. And I was like, just FYI, one's gonna be a sad one. It's gonna get dark. Because that was actually, I liked the Cassandra movie. It felt like it pulled a couple of punches.
00:56:12
Speaker
Like it didn't get quite as dark as it could have. Like the guy had a pretty serious drug problem. He tried to kill himself before the Santo match because of all the backlash he was getting. And like, instead of him trying to kill himself, he's just kind of sad before it. And it's not, I don't know, it didn't, it's an interesting story and it's well told and the acting is, is good. It just felt just slightly
00:56:39
Speaker
It never quite finds a next gear, exactly. For a movie like that, that's just like an indie movie, I don't know why you would pull punches. Like you think you would want to go just do the story if it is more dramatic, you know, like where like, I don't know, you think of like the, like the queen movie where they're like, they made, they made, basically made Freddie Mercury a straight guy so that your dad could still watch it and not feel weird.
00:57:10
Speaker
Not yours, just in general. My my dad was a dancer. He's he's hung out with some gay guys. Yeah, I. It felt also like they were so intent. On making the point about him. Like creating a level of acceptance for gay characters in wrestling. That they.
00:57:39
Speaker
Again, sort of soft peddled the resistance, if that makes sense. Like they show it, but he wins people over so quickly. It's kind of this, like the story of like, wherever he goes, he seems to win people over like, you know, they think they don't like the exotico, but they start cheering for him. But.
00:58:05
Speaker
I guess to keep the movie a reasonable length or something, it just feels like it happens in his first match in every town. And I just can't imagine that was true. Does that mean eventually there's going to be a movie and we'll get to see Effie wrestle in Tolohoma? Maybe. Maybe that's the central to because
00:58:28
Speaker
If that is the case, I will say this, that crowd was not on board with that, but by the end of one single match, that town was won over by Effie. Maybe I'm understating it. Maybe he did just every match, he'd come out in his mom's top and yeah, it would just win people over. But yeah, it was,
00:58:54
Speaker
Again, I don't want to say it was bad. If you're a wrestling fan, it's worth seeing. And it seems like it was reasonably true to this story, as best I can tell, of Cassandra, which just didn't, again, just didn't quite hit a high height.
00:59:14
Speaker
I can't- If it were any other year, this would probably be the best of the, it would probably be the best wrestling movie of the year, but I think it's gonna get surpassed. Yeah, I think that one's gonna sneak in. Did we see Cassandra wrestle at Big Gay Brunch, or was that a year after we went?
00:59:32
Speaker
I don't think I, I don't think I've seen him. I don't think I've seen him fly. He was at big gay brunch in Chicago. I was thinking, but it might've been a different time. Like, I think it might've been when I missed.
00:59:49
Speaker
Um, I don't know. Is there any other, what else? Like, I feel like so much has happened. We've been gone for weeks. Um, hopefully we can get facts back. Another, another, uh, it doesn't sound like it will be soon, but he's working hard. He's okay, guys. He's working. He's just working hard. Um, I, uh, I went and saw Suzuki. She mentioned that.
01:00:17
Speaker
He signed a picture I've got of him and Zack Saver from the legendary photographer Brain Buster. He beat the crap out of Charles Mason. I was entertained. How did Charles Mason act? Did he win you over more that night? Or did he get more of the same? It was the same. Did he seem excited at least to be wrestling Suzuki?
01:00:42
Speaker
Um, he just seemed like himself. I'm sure he was excited. I did also get to see Daniel Garcia do the dance. He came out with, um, Isaiah Cassidy, just to say hi to the crowd at the beginning of the night. And, um, he did the dance. I'm not tired of the dance. I love the dance. It works in any context. I love when it cuts to the crowd. Do it to your loved ones, your boss.
01:01:10
Speaker
There's just a bunch of dudes that look like us doing that in the crowd. Is Danhausen back yet? No, he's just been on TV, like little vignettes so far. No Danhausen yet. Yeah, I don't know. It's a weird time for wrestling. It feels like we're...
01:01:43
Speaker
waiting for something new to sweep us off our feet. We've spent so much time over the last five years being swept off our feet. Even over the last year, Beastman, Mox, Despy. I'm waiting, we're waiting, guys. Someone come sweep, you know, take our hearts, capture our hearts. No one's doing it right now. Yeah, I know.
01:02:09
Speaker
There is good stuff happening in wrestling. I feel like just nothing has captured my imagination in the last few months like those guys. There'll be something. There always is. There's ebbs and flows. It's just around the corner, and sometimes you just gotta take your time. We got a pay-per-view coming up. It's gonna be a good pay-per-view. I get to go see one soon. So, you know,
01:02:38
Speaker
AEW is in a weird spot now. Like when Collision was the CM Punk show, I didn't always love it, but at least it was very different than the Wednesday show. And now it does kind of feel sometimes like Collision is just there to set up the Wednesday show and it's fine, but there's maybe more TV than anyone needs.
01:03:04
Speaker
Well, now that there's this extra show, I was kind of hoping it would mean they would find their way to Nashville sooner. Uh, and that has not been the case. It'd be interesting to see if they announced anything in the earlier part of the year though, cause they are, um, in some, some Southern cities, I think at least Florida.
01:03:24
Speaker
I do get you wanted me to last time you were a little disappointed. I didn't go to Plaza Mariachi for the the luchadores. I don't know what company this is, but they did announce another show. It's very beginning of December and Pentagon is going to be wrestling there. So I think I will go attend that. It's not like a Saturday night. And so there'll be ladder matches. There were a kind of like sexy star. Who else was on it? There's a couple others that
01:03:53
Speaker
or recognizable folks like a couple triple A wrestlers. You're going to eat a burrito and watch Penta. Yeah, go get a margarito like that's a pretty good night. That's no I mean, that's the dream. That's the dream. And it's not from no no shade to the taco lady. It's the the covid dome or whatever we called it. Better not better not give any shape to her. The grand sports arena.
01:04:24
Speaker
Yeah. I think that'll be good. It's the same around the same time. GCW does come back to New York and probably go check that out. And, uh, I'm going to see a wrestling drag show a couple days ago. Thanksgiving. Yeah. Somewhere in Brooklyn. Love it. Check this out. I was like, okay, let's do it.
01:04:47
Speaker
I don't know, this just popped into my head. I remember, so did you see that Ronda Rousey wrestled an ND show? Yes. It was her and one of the four horse women. Shafir. Marina? Yeah. Yeah. Is that my saying her first name right? Marina Shafir, yeah. Marina Shafir versus Athena and Billy Starks. Has that one happened yet or is that happening soon?
01:05:15
Speaker
Oh, that might be the one that's coming up. Yeah, they wrestled Tia and Brian Kendrick. Okay. PWG, I think. Really? I think it was PWG. I think she just showed up to PWG and wrestled.
01:05:33
Speaker
I mean, I saw her at a few of those shows, so I mean, she was a fan. And that has to add something that she left WWE, was done with it, but enjoys wrestling enough that she'll pop into an indie show and wrestle a match. To me, that does add, that adds a little respect. I mean, that showed that she enjoyed it enough that it,
01:06:01
Speaker
Not 100% for the money. There's still some enjoyment in it after the fact. I don't see CM Punk showing up to Plaza Mariachi and having a burrito. He did hang out at Backstage at Impact, apparently, when they were in Chicago. Just having a good time. Probably just brought a pile of Mindy's Bakery. Just... Got it for the boys. Got it for the boys, yeah.
01:06:30
Speaker
I do say maybe Ronda Rousey, just like us, she's looking for, she's looking for a spark, you know, she's just trying to find, she knows, she knows there's something there that she loves and she's just gotta, she's gotta go find it. How cool for Billy Starks. Yeah.
01:06:47
Speaker
Good for her. That's pretty cool. Even if she wasn't the best wrestler ever, still a very important athlete, that's definitely a check off of a list of accomplishments. Interesting times. Interesting times. I feel like we're running out here.
01:07:17
Speaker
Maybe that's all we got to say. Next week we'll have a pay-per-view to talk about. And they'll be World Tag League. I'm a World Tag League supporter because I like weird, strange shit. And look, Ghetto is gonna disappoint and break my heart. He's gonna push David Finley down my throat. But Ghetto's also giving me eight or nine
01:07:47
Speaker
bracket matches with a tag team of Lance Archer and Alex Zane. That is called monster sauce. That's pretty cool. That's a fun tag team. It's weird as we're weird. I kind of just kind of see it right. You want to see some Lance Archer and you're curious what it's going to be like.
01:08:17
Speaker
When, so for example, if I'm just picking a day here, you know, Sunday, December 3rd, Kyogo, Japan, you know, totally normal time, totally normal place where we all hang out, Hyogo. Um, Zane, Archer, Taguchi, German guy against Bushi, Tsuji, Takagi, and whoever the mystery person that's going to be Tsuji's partner is.
01:08:45
Speaker
Right? That's weird stuff. Or Monday in Kochi, Japan. Another famous place. You know, Zane and Archer against Tsuji and that other guy. Or in Miyagi, Japan. Legendary town, of course. It's Zane and Archer against El Fantasmo and Hikuleo. I could go on and on.
01:09:13
Speaker
They're going to wrestle. They're going to wrestle Soberano Jr. and Atlantis Jr. They're going to wrestle Yoshihashi and Goto. They're going to wrestle Suzuki and Eugene Nagata. Okay. They gave Bad Luck Falle a partner. That's not Chase Owens. I mean, it's probably still going to be terrible, but it's not, I don't even have to watch Chase Owens in this tournament. No one is more excited about that than Bad Luck Falle.
01:09:41
Speaker
Yeah, he's like, this is great, guys. Tremendous. Get a different car, buddy. I mean, have you have you smelled Chase's farts? I mean, oh. You know what he does to that thing? Yeah, and like. Slim Jim, slim Jim farts. It's just it's just delightful strangeness and I'm I'm in for it and I'll be.
01:10:07
Speaker
I don't know how much I'll have to say about it. Facts night a few years ago, in the real darkest COVID era, we recorded a few episodes that I think are still up on our, the best there ever was Facebook page where we were like talking about world tag league. And I think it's just, I think we were fighting depression. We all were. We all were. But yeah, I don't know. We'll just, we'll bounce in and out. Let's watch weird wrestling matches in Japan.
01:10:37
Speaker
probably be convinced to buy a Lance Archer shirt by the end. Don't worry, guys. Thank you for coming. We just want to check in on you. You were worried about us. We were worried about you. It's we love you. We're here for you. And something will capture our imagination again soon. And we'll be talking about penis cocaine. And who knows what something new is going to come out of this. Do you think
01:11:08
Speaker
Do you think they found a way to penis snort the mushrooms? You know, if they don't, they'll be my New Year's resolution for 2024. Dear Ric Flair, we have a mission for you. We have been working on something very special.
01:11:34
Speaker
I guess I'll go to a GNC before the next episode and get a woo, even though I don't like energy drinks already, and now you're gonna make me drink strawberry mushroom. We promise, guys, next time, full gear review and woo energy. What you been waiting for? Woo!
01:11:59
Speaker
All right, everybody, thanks for listening at Predetermined Podcast on Instagram, at ChrisMigs, at Gartet, at Jimmy Lloyd's IMDB page, AKA Jimmy Fax. I think that's it. Have a good week. And our goddamn music.