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This week Fax checked an item off his pro wrestling bucketlist! Chris and Fax discuss attending CMLL at Arena Mexico! Also, Jon Moxley made another masked man bleed...
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Transcript
Introduction and Greetings
00:00:35
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Predetermined, a pro wrestling hangout. I'm your host for this week or segment, Chris Miggs.
Gringo Facts' Taco Adventures in Mexico
00:00:45
Speaker
And with me, as always, he's returned from the land down under the border. And by that I mean.
00:00:58
Speaker
Mexico Jimmy facts. I do that's uh, and and I am gringo facts now It's a gringo. You're officially gringo facts gringo facts facts loco, whatever you want to call me Yeah, I am uh, I'm a taco snob now. That's a thing
00:01:16
Speaker
I, uh, that's the only, that's the main reason, by the way, I went to Mexico city. It wasn't really the lucha. It wasn't the warm weather. It was really, so anytime we get Mexican food, I can be like, Oh, that was good. But you know, the, the gringa El Pastor at El Vilcito is far better.
00:01:36
Speaker
You know, I mean, that is true when you really eat like legitimate Mexican tacos. It does. It makes everything else in New York people like, oh, this is really good. You're like, this is fine. This is enjoyable. I'm not arguing with it. But yeah, this this seven dollar small taco is OK, but it's nowhere near as good as the giant taco I had for 50 cents at some some stand in Mexico City.
Wedding Antics and Wrestling Attire
00:02:03
Speaker
I think Max Loco is a good name. I think that's one, I think that's one Mrs. Fax is going to use sometimes. It's like, oh, how's, how's he doing? Oh, he's, he's Fax Loco right now. I think that that's when like, we're at a wedding or something like that. And like, I've had a few too many drinks and she knows like, I might, she, in her mind, she's like, I might as well just go to bed. Cause I see where this night's going. That's when she can buy gym, gym, Fax Loco is coming out. Are you sure you want Fax Loco to come out?
00:02:33
Speaker
and then later in the evening you do a shooting star press onto the bed exactly where i think i'm doing a shooting star press onto the bed but i'm actually just falling into the bathtub yeah
00:02:51
Speaker
Um, we have to find a wedding for you to go too soon then. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know what? I'm actually, I'm going to one in Canada in a couple of months or two. So it's, it's my wife's family. So I don't know if that's the right one for fax logo to make his first appearance, but, uh, we'll see. Depends. Well, you know, it is going to be one of those weddings where I know barely anyone there. So it might just be one of those ones where like, I'm just kind of standing by the bar and just like getting to know somebody like,
00:03:20
Speaker
I think my plan is to like try to go to whatever like the event the night or two nights before is and wear like one of my Bret Hart shirts and then just see who I can kind of bring into my circle of like, just let's talk about Canadian wrestling. Um, and then, and then we'll just drink and I'll talk about Chris Jericho a lot.
00:03:43
Speaker
See, that is also where I think you go, you're wrestling lapel pin for the actual wedding. You put the jacket on, but you put a lapel pin just to let someone go, oh, oh, that's Bret Hart over there. You know, you want to talk about Montreal? You know what also could be a good look is doing the like black shirt, black suit, pink tie, just like kind of overtly kind of go for a Hart Foundation thing. I think you could pull it off. I'm envisioning it and I like it.
00:04:13
Speaker
I think it's just a good look too. Like I think that, yeah, I like it. Yeah. I think you got, you got hot pink tie.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, which is just full black. See, no, there is one problem with this is that, um, this is in the future, not a lot in the future, just a few weeks, a few months, a couple of months in the future.
Embracing Lucha Libre
00:04:34
Speaker
But I don't know that I can talk about mainstream wrestling in America, in North America, like United States and Canada. I'm also kind of a Lucha Libre snob now. Like I listen, I listened to the podcast, you know, you and Garrett did last week and I'm just like, man,
00:04:51
Speaker
Death Matches, GCW, AEW, Sammy's, like, who cares? Lucha Libre, that's where it's at after seeing two CMLL shows. And I did see two while I was in both of them in Arena Mexico. I did not get to, I saw Arena Colosseo from the outside, but I went to the Friday night show and the Sunday night show, which are both at Arena Mexico.
00:05:19
Speaker
And yeah, I'm kind of a lucha snob now. So what do you mean a snob?
00:05:27
Speaker
I mean, what is elevated for you? Yeah, well, I just, you know, non-Lucha Libre Wrestling just doesn't do it for me. Like I came back, I missed two weeks of AEW and, you know, I saw there was some six-man tags and I'm just like, why are they actually tagging? Why aren't they doing this Lucha Rules? Why is it one fall? It's just the Lucha Libre, even the rules for it. I really do. And this is like serious. I really do think the ROH and or AEW six-man titles
00:05:57
Speaker
should be defended under lucha rules. I just do think it is a superior format. Tags are kind of like, why bother with the artifice of the tag when they're all basically just people jumping all around the entire time? Just lean into it and just go full lucha rules and then the tagging isn't even a thing.
00:06:18
Speaker
This is very much the opposite of the Dax Harwood opinion from his podcast. He really believes in the tag rules. And you're saying, screw that. But I think that that's a good way to differentiate the tag team titles and a six man. Right. So rather than because I think that the six man title is already of a different vibe to them.
00:06:34
Speaker
Right. But but it is typically just like a tag team and a third guy. And in AEW, there are a lot of like three man factions and like legitimate three man teams. But like, I don't know, just mix it up a little bit because like Kenny and the Bucks, you know, they're going to have a different match than just a tag team match that the Bucks would have. And they're both great. Yeah, they're both especially ROH, right? I mean, in ROH, you could definitely just be like a look.
00:07:01
Speaker
We're just, whoever shows up, we're going to wrestle this, this style. They can probably get way more luchadores just to come in for shots. You know what I mean? And just kind of have fun with it. Yeah. Yeah. And so interestingly enough, so the Friday, so for, you know, listeners don't know this, I think it's, it's somewhat well known, but people are not going to be totally aware. So they do, CMLL does five shows a week.
00:07:26
Speaker
Every week, four of them in Mexico City and one in Puebla, which is like an hour and change outside of Mexico City. So the biggest show of the week is the Friday night show. Right. So when we knew, you know, I was going meet friends, Mrs. Fax, we are sorry, Mrs. Loco.
00:07:49
Speaker
We knew we were going. So immediately, like the day tickets went on sale for that Friday night show, I bought them and I was able to get literal front row seats. So the actual first row on the four sides of the ring, the first two rows are just totally
Experiencing CMLL Shows
00:08:06
Speaker
sold out. The second tickets go on sale. So I assume there's either.
00:08:09
Speaker
a season ticket situation or like it's for sponsors or whatever, but I was able to get first row kind of on the diagonal. So I was like right in a corner, but literally first row, nobody was in front of us and it was $25 a person or it might've been 30. I think it was somewhere in that 25 to $30 per ticket, just sensational.
00:08:30
Speaker
Which is we'll point out cheaper than general admission tickets to the GCW show with the Melrose. That's right. That's right. You have to stand at the stupid Melrose ballroom and you paid less for front row to read a Mexico. Yeah. And again, this is like with fees because there's hardly any fees. So like there's almost no wrestling show. Like the only wrestling show you can go to for even GA for cheaper than that is at a Buffalo Wild Wings. You have to bring your own chair.
00:08:55
Speaker
And you've got a chair, right? And I got a chair. It's very comfortable, spacious seats, comfortable. There are vendors and things like that. You know, you can get, you know, you don't even need to get up. If you don't have to pee, there are guys that will bring beer to you. They'll get you hot dogs, tortas. I did not have any of the food there. I will say you didn't have a tour. Oh, I see. I could, I could go for a torta. Someone just bringing me in.
00:09:18
Speaker
I didn't. So the first before the first show, we didn't know what to expect. So we got food immediately beforehand because it's an 8 30 p.m. show. I kind of wish I didn't because it was probably the worst taco dinner we had. We had to always like all the there's a ton of food places right outside of Reno, Mexico. They're not great. So we kind of got a pretty mediocre taco taco dinner, several tacos.
00:09:41
Speaker
I wish I had waited for the tour. And then on the Sunday night, it's actually a five o'clock show. So it's kind of like an awkward time to eat. Like, you know, in Mexico City, you want to do a lot of that eating, right? You don't you want to. So I didn't eat anything. We had several beers. Great deals, great bargains on everything. Great crowd. And then so here's here's the thing, though. So when you buy tickets,
00:10:07
Speaker
Um, so I'll like, and so here's my recommendation. Anyone is you should buy tickets in advance.
00:10:14
Speaker
Yes, you can get tickets there. The box office line is really, really long. So if you want to buy tickets at the box office, you've got to get there a solid hour earlier than you otherwise would waiting online. And you're going to want to see this little village of vendors that are all there selling magazines and videos and toys and masks. It is cool. So you don't want to waste the time. So I would say buy- Did you get anything at the village?
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we bought Johnny O bought some some toy toy. He bought himself a La Parka action figure. I got a T-shirt. I actually wanted to get some of these Lucha Libre magazines, but.
00:10:59
Speaker
Um, I didn't get them the first night. Um, because like we were kind of like, we got there not early enough before. And then when we went after the show, there's just so many people. It's just so chaotic. So we'll get them when we go back on Sunday. And then the lady with the magazines closed early on Sunday, we saw her before the show. And I'm like, well, I don't want to
Lucha Merchandise and Missed Opportunities
00:11:20
Speaker
just carry magazines around.
00:11:21
Speaker
And then I'll catch her as soon as we leave. And she was gone when we left. But I definitely got some lucha merch. So I'm happy. But it is all local vendors. The actual wrestler t-shirts are really bad. So I got a more generic luchador t-shirt of a card. I'm wearing a CMLL t-shirt that I did not get there. I was looking for one there. Couldn't find one. Bought one online from Mexico that arrived at my house the day after I got back.
00:11:53
Speaker
But yeah, so what you do, though, is you buy these tickets online, you can choose your own tickets, like Ticketmaster, like you can choose the exact seats the same way as you would for any American event. You get the seating chart. It's gonna be in Mexican dollars, but you just do the math yourself. It's, trust me, again, they're going to be extremely cheap, so buy really good seats. And what you have to do is there's no, like, you can't just go with a QR code, right? You can't just, there's no E tickets on your phone.
00:12:20
Speaker
And you can't do printouts and you can't, if you're American, you can't have them mailed to you because tickets also only go on sale like a week before. So you actually have to go to a ticket master office. And like there are ticket master offices like inside electronic stores. So they have this chain called like mix up. It's kind of like.
00:12:40
Speaker
Midway between a Circuit City and a Hot Topic is the way I would describe it, including size-wise. It's closer in size to a Circuit City than a Hot Topic, but it's a lot of posters and comic books and t-shirts, but also electronics.
00:12:58
Speaker
And it sounds like the old like Virgin mega store in like Union Square or something like that. Absolutely. Yeah, that's you. That's the exact right vibe. Right. It's a pretty high end store. So you go there and then you literally have to go. And that's where you can have them. Then like you give them your ticket order and your ID and the card you purchased and then they give you the tickets and they're like real tickets.
00:13:19
Speaker
And then a lot of people, though, were would just go and you buy your tickets there. So most Mexicans don't buy online. They actually just go to these ticket master offices, wait on the line and buy the tickets there. So when I went for the first night. There's this really huge line because there's issues with the credit card machine. I don't need to get into it, but it's a really long line and waiting and I'm waiting and I'm waiting. And there's this guy behind me.
00:13:45
Speaker
And I think like, cause like, you know, my wife and friends, like they're coming, coming over and I'm like, Hey, you guys just like, go get a drink across the street. Like I'm, I need to be here. Cause it's, I'm the one to put the order. I need to show my ID and stuff. Like you guys just go get, but like they keep coming and checking on me. Cause it took a while. And then the guy behind me is like, Oh, are you going to the Lucha show tonight? CMLL. I'm like, yeah. And he's like, Oh yeah. Awesome. He's like, yeah, I'm a.
00:14:10
Speaker
He's like, I'm from California, but like Mexico, like California, Mexico. And he's like, I drive down here for the big shows. He's like, this is like my eighth or ninth show this year or in the last year.
00:14:23
Speaker
And he's like, he's like, yeah, the Friday night show is definitely the one to go to. He's like, particularly when there's going to be a big, like a big Friday night. And he's like, like tonight, he's like, tonight's going to be crazy. This is one of the best shows you could go to. And I'm like, awesome, because this was just the weekend we're here. We were going to spread over, was here this weekend. And it was, they, they do an annual tag tournament and I forget what it's called. I have it up. I have it up because I have the, it's the tornado.
00:14:53
Speaker
So what the tornado increases, so it is a tag, right? So it's two on two. And the gimmick is it's one rudo and one technical per team. So a baby face in a heel teaming together that don't normally. So it was incredible teams. This was an incredible team. Incredible. And this was the finals.
00:15:15
Speaker
Right. So it was so like, like a lot of things it starts with like, and the guy was telling me in line, he's like, the first match is usually something just like for kids. Right. So it was a minis match. Uh, night one, uh, on, then when we went on Sunday, it was just like a six man, but it was kind of like a silly man. So it starts usually with a couple of silly matches. And then there's in the middle, there's one singles match. And, um, on the Friday night, the singles match was a, was a woman's match.
00:15:43
Speaker
went to a time limit draw and it was a fucking banger right it was like legit i didn't know what to expect with a one-on-one women's lucha match like i've never seen one before but it was something like you would see at like a top indie and be like wow they worked their asses off that was a great match
00:16:04
Speaker
And then there's a couple of six man's after that, including with Rocky Romero. He was, he was our one, uh, our one mainstream ish guy with angel to Oro and cavernario and Teton. It says from the, yeah. Yeah. Which is by the way, and apparently we've been wrong. It's Titan. It is pronounced Titan in, in other people say, I don't feel like we got it. You're right. Like the, the announcers and ring of honor called him Teton, but.
00:16:32
Speaker
The Mexican announcer called him Titan. He all the fans, the local fans were calling him Titan. He was Titan. So we're just wrong there. But yeah, we got like Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero. We got a lot of guys. By the way, quick side note, me and Johnny did do our usual underwear bet. I came home with two new pairs of underwear. Wow. That's not only to have Mexican lucha libre merchandise, but you now have Mexican underwear.
00:16:58
Speaker
I do. Unfortunately, it's not Lucha Libre underwear, but it was underwear from a market in Mexico. One is a soccer and the other is like video game controllers. Um, it was kind of the first underwear you saw. But then this main event was legit. So it was, um,
00:17:17
Speaker
Averno, I think you say the name, and Mystico, right? So we do know, we all know Mystico, right? Mystico is like the biggest star in Mexico. Or at least- The original Sin Cara, right? The original Sin Cara, and he's the original Mystico. And there was another Mystico, and then since he's been back in WWE, he has now retaken the title Mystico. They did have a match for the title.
00:17:40
Speaker
So that was, and then they went against Templario. And who did he team with? Saburano, Saburano Jr.?
00:17:50
Speaker
that close enough for me. It looks like soberano to me, but I'm not, I don't have to speak great Spanish. Yeah. So, which by the way, he is, uh, he wears a mask, but he's like, it just ripped kind of thin, like all the, so my wife is like, Ooh, who is he? And literally it was like every time he did anything, you would just hear all these women in the crowd oohing and ahing for him. He was also, by the way, in the main event Sunday night.
00:18:15
Speaker
Um, so again, I only like, I know, I know Mystico. I kind of know the other guys. Like I at least know all of their names, right? So this was the only match of like, I knew every single guy's name. So that was a good sign, but it was awesome. And like, I can already tell you, so they, um, their biggest show of the year is their anniversary show.
Speculating on Future Matches
00:18:35
Speaker
So the next one is their 90th anniversary show. I don't think it's many months away still, but I kind of got the feeling that I can already tell you right now. I think we're going to have a Lucha de Apuesta match between between Mystico and Templario because even though they're both baby faces, they're on opposite sides of this match. Templario is like trying to take his mask off.
00:18:59
Speaker
Which is not something you see in CMLL, like I've seen a good amount of CMLL, that is not something they tease, right? And they did it in this match, even though it's babyface on babyface, because it's the big tournament. Mystico ends up going over, and then, and then Templario does the thing where he like grabs, because they have like these trophies, very similar to like World Tag League trophies, right?
00:19:22
Speaker
And he kind of like then goes bends his knee and like presents mystical with the trophy and like they embrace with this kind of like babyface show of respect thing. Nobody turns on anybody, but it was like legitimately like I am now invested in these guys. I want to see where this goes. And I've been telling you, I've been watching the YouTube clips of CMLL.
00:19:45
Speaker
That is going to continue. And I would say overall, the shows flow better. I think you and I have talked on this podcast before. We definitely have not on the podcast about how Lucha Libre individual matches can be really good, but it is really difficult to watch a whole card. And what I would say to that is I think it's because we're trying to watch the big AAA shows.
00:20:09
Speaker
And I think the big AAA shows have a lot more bullshit that American wrestling fans are not interested in at all. And we just want to get to the Young Bucks match or the Kenny match and obviously the Pentagon and Phoenix matches. Yeah. And those matches are all great, but like the entire first hour and a half of the show is pretty brutal. With CMLL, I think it's more like, again, watching like a World Tag League or like a Super Junior type thing where
00:20:36
Speaker
every match is solid that like you can just ignore the first two or three matches because those are kind of like little silly nothing that isn't gonna greatly appeal to you but you're also missing nothing by missing by skipping it and then like the last two to three matches per card are fucking awesome
00:20:53
Speaker
So, you know, and again, Sunday night, it was the same thing. And Sunday night, the family night, so it wasn't as big an event, but they only sold the lower bowl. So it was like a third of the amount of people. Arena Mexico was not sold out on Friday, but
00:21:08
Speaker
I mean, there were many thousands of people, like there were people in the upper deck. It sounds, the structure sounds a little bit like, if you ever watched like the old WWF house shows from the eighties, where like, if you ever just put one on from the start, they're going to, it's, they're going to take their time and build up, right? They're like, and, and
00:21:27
Speaker
Now the first match of one of those probably involves like Iron Mike Sharp and Scott Casey. So a minis match sounds more exciting than that. Um, but the same concept, right? Of like, Hey, we're going to start with like, you're walking in, you're getting settled. You got some wrestling on building up to like, at the end you're going to see Hulk Hogan against King Kong Bundy or whatever. Yeah. Like it's to the point, like, you know, you watch like a big indie show and you'll watch this, like the fourth match in the card. You're like, fuck, how are they going to follow that?
00:21:58
Speaker
I feel like you would get caned in a Mexican locker room if you were the match that was on third or fourth and you stole the show. Like I think it's very overt. Like every match is designed to be better and more thrilling than the match before it. And in both nights, it was pretty damn clear the last two matches were very clear. And again, this must be a formula. And in both of them, it was the third from the top was the one singles match.
00:22:25
Speaker
And then it just seemed like, and the, the Sunday night show, it was a two guys in the singles match. And that one wasn't as good as the two women, but it was, it was solid, but it was definitely clear. Like once you do that singles match, like the undercard is over. Um, the singles match, by the way, are 10 minute time limits.
Building Excitement at CMLL Shows
00:22:42
Speaker
Right. Um, the women went to the time limit. The men did not, there was a clean fall, uh, one fall, those matches, they're not two out of three.
00:22:50
Speaker
Um, but that definitely like, and then those, those last matches that are just awesome. And they're like, like, again, like a new Japan or an ROH, um, or AEW six man, where it's just nonstop action. And they're doing, and it's also even more impressive when like, you're so used to AEW and you're like.
00:23:10
Speaker
You know death triangle only wrestles at most once a week and then you're like man These guys like sober on jr. Was in the main event on Friday then again on Sunday They were both like 20 minute bangers where he's taking huge bumps, you know off the top rope and stuff It's like it was really great. Like it exceeded my expectations quite frankly and I I do gotta say
00:23:36
Speaker
I do think it's it's something that every wrestling fan needs to have on the bucket list is seeing a show. And again, I think you can see the Saturday show at Arena Colosseo. But, you know, I don't know that you have to go to Arena Mexico versus Arena Colosseo. Again, I didn't go to both. But you got to do those. You got to do one of them. And it's worth the trip. Well, it also sounds like, though, they need to do faxes, taco tour, fax locos, taco tour.
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah, again, you can check either Jimmy Lloyd's IMDB page or at Jimmy facts on Instagram. You can take a look at all the places we went. I can give you the recommendations. We had some amazing food, amazing tacos. The one thing that we missed out is that you had sent me about a week before, a couple of days before that there was a show at Bandito's gym on that Saturday, but we had already booked like a tour to see the pyramids and stuff that day.
00:24:30
Speaker
And then the Banditos gym is about an hour or like 45 minutes from like center city kind of Mexico City where we were staying. So it was kind of like we we would have if I could have talked my group and wife into it, which I could not have.
00:24:47
Speaker
But even if I could have, it would have been like, hey, let's skip showering, not get dinner and go down 45 minutes in an Uber to see half of this show in Bandito's gym. So it was not even myself. I knew like, I think I'd rather just see the last hour of the Arena Colosseo show, which which is like a five minute Uber from our hotel because Arena Colosseo is in like is is in the main
00:25:16
Speaker
nice area of Mexico City. Like it's like you literally may walk by it just doing normal tourist stuff. And Arena, Mexico is not that far off the beaten path. It's still fairly central in Mexico City. But yeah, Bandito's gym. Pretty pretty far out there. Yeah, I feel like I got to do it. I feel.
00:25:39
Speaker
I could not make it that weekend because of other commitments, and I'm just like, we gotta go. It sounds like you'd go back. I would go back in a heartbeat, quite frankly, yeah. It was great, and it was one of those things where, again, we got amazing floor seats to two Lucha Libre shows. We were eating absolutely everything. We were having several cocktails every night, all of us.
00:26:04
Speaker
There was one night, because as you know, I had to reschedule this trip twice. I felt bad with some of the people that are going there. One night at the bar, I'm like, hey, just to make everything easier. I was the one that changes. I'm just getting literally everyone's drinks. There were five of us. For a whole night, we were just drinking as quickly as they could bring them out.
00:26:23
Speaker
And like, it was something crazy. Like when I got home and I checked my credit card and I'm like, well, how much did I spend? Cause like I put all this stuff because they do take credit most places, actually, maybe not every taco stand, but like you can use credit card at most restaurants and bars and stuff like that. The taco stands, even some of them will take it.
00:26:40
Speaker
Some of them will some of them will I wouldn't bank on it, but like and and uh irina mexico You can put beer you can buy that you can't buy tickets interestingly enough On credit card at the box office. Someone told me this. I I don't know. I obviously use credit card because I use ticket master um Ticketmaster you can but the people said at the box office you can't
00:26:58
Speaker
The beer guy absolutely takes credit cards. The beer guy, sorry, at the stand, not the guy that. But I mean, I've, I've found in Mexico, most places take card, but you'll find sometimes that, um, sometimes they won't take certain cards. Like I'll be, they'll be like, not the MX.
00:27:15
Speaker
Yeah, honestly, I was using Amex most of the time and it was all good. But the key here is we are eating everything. We even at like one night we had a pretty upscale dinner and stuff like that. And I looked and like I honestly thought I was going to call my bank and be like, there's a mistake. My balance should be much more than this. There's no way this is all I spent in like six days in Mexico City and going to like everything as high end as possible. But it is.
00:27:44
Speaker
Incredibly cheap and incredibly good. Mexico guys, I love it. Did you find here's the other question? Did you find the Randy Orton Lamborghini ring?
00:27:56
Speaker
We did not. Now, there were a lot of like I'm not going to lie. Like I kind of wish I I there was a like I had a nephew or a child in my life that was like the right age for action figures because they had so many action figures and they had so many different they had like octagon rings with cages. It was like so much cooler than the wrestling toys we had when we were kids.
00:28:22
Speaker
And there's just so many like they have every luchador who's like ever existed in action figure form. It's incredible. There were so many. I did not see the Randy Orton one. And we even we saw a lot of weird shit at some of these markets that we went to.
Lucha Toys and Audience Observations
00:28:38
Speaker
But I did not catch that. Otherwise, I mean, I would have bought it, of course. Anything else stand out in terms of weirdness?
00:28:44
Speaker
um there was one so this isn't like an item like to buy but so so johnny oh a friend of the podcast johnny never been on any podcast never will i don't think but he's a he's a friend of the show we would go to a ring of honor shows with him um he watches a lot of so he stayed in the same hotel that that me and my wife did but obviously his own room and you know
00:29:10
Speaker
He's obviously his own room. Obviously his own room. So, you know, not for nothing. You know, he's, you know, a 41 year old man. He doesn't take a lot of time to get ready. Right. And my wife needs a little bit more time to get ready. So pretty much any time we would, you know, do our usual routine, like we're out during the day. We go back to the hotel.
00:29:32
Speaker
kind of freshen up and you know get ready for the evening. He would just watch Mexican TV and he would just watch whatever's on he would try to find like whatever sports channels and stuff and he would notice and tell us about commercials he saw and there was this one apparently he even took a picture of it this great commercial
00:29:50
Speaker
of like I think it was like diarrhea medication and it has like a luchador in the back in the locker room like after a match and the implication is like oh my god either I did shit myself or I almost shit myself like take this medicine and that was that was great where I'm like
00:30:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's just a good ad. You don't want to have won the match. He would have won the match, but he would have seen he was going to shit himself. So he had he had to lay back and take the fall. You had to. And because you're not going to not have the taco before the match. Right. That's the option.
00:30:27
Speaker
Um, you gotta have, well, that's, I sent you guys the, um, uh, the Kushida soy retail commercial that popped up on one of the, um, new Japan strong things that appears to be selling. Soy Chorizo, which sounds like something that would give you the diarrhea that the, the, the luchador needed. Like maybe Kushida, that's what it was. Kushida gave him the soy Chorizo. Um,
00:30:51
Speaker
in order to like throw him off his game. He's lost to Kashida and now he's like, ah, man, if only I had my diarrhea meds, just ready to go. Yeah. Well, I'm not going to lie, though. I found that the Mexico City Mexican food did not really give us, did not upset our stomachs at all. No, I mean, it was just digestion as usual. No bodily,
00:31:11
Speaker
Function slip-ups not a lot of beans because I think that's the thing is like I think in America We're just used to like these massive burritos that just have everything on it. Whereas they typically it's like
00:31:23
Speaker
It's just like a shell, meat, vegetables, like that's it. Throw some salsa on there. And the salsa is spicy as hell, but I don't know, maybe somebody that is not having, as you know, I go real spicy with things all the time. So I think maybe a lesser person, but even my wife, she didn't really, she has a pretty weak constitution when it comes to travel eating and nothing untoward.
00:31:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's the thing. But you're right, though, it is like a little bit less. They're like heavy it up a little bit less on the individual taco. So you can kind of work your way through a little bit differently. Yeah, absolutely. But but yeah, so to recap, definitely go. It's obviously an easier trip than going to Japan. And I would say, you know,
00:32:13
Speaker
It's hard to compare going to, you know, New Japan and Corrigan to Arena Mexico. Arena Mexico is also way bigger. Right. So for what it's like I said, it didn't sell out. But like Arena Mexico is like a like a full size like basketball arena size. You know, like it's huge. It's it's probably sits over 10,000 people.
00:32:34
Speaker
So it's a much bigger audience and they're super into it. So like, again, I'm not going to compare and say which one I liked better because they were both, but they were both like once in a lifetime and they don't need to be once in a lifetime. Mexico City is not that far. We have listeners in the West Coast. It's like a two hour flight. You know, New York, it was like five, a five hour flight, five and a half.
00:32:57
Speaker
But yes, super worth it. And the flight almost pays for itself. When you think about how cheap everything else is, even the hotels are super duper duper cheap. Do not look at Airbnbs. Get a hotel. The hotels are stupidly cheap. Yes. The version where I was going to go with you, I was like, that's the hotel. Facts, are we staying at like a
00:33:20
Speaker
This was cheaper than the hotels, the really kind of grody hotels around the grand sports arena in Hoffman Estates. This was cheap, the significantly cheaper. A fraction of that price. Yeah. Yeah. This was cheaper than the hotel Derek stayed in that we were scared of.
00:33:36
Speaker
Yeah, and there was no even hint of murder in the hotel. Not a hint. Not even a hint. There was a nice restaurant in it. It was a nice hotel. It had a pool. It was a little too cold for the pool. It's warmer in Mexico City, but it is still February. But we hung out by the pool one night. Me and Johnny, we went out.
00:34:00
Speaker
We kind of sat up by the pool and just kind of talked wrestling after the Friday Night Lucha Show, just because we had kind of such that high that we didn't want to go out for drinks because we had to be up early the next day. But we kind of just needed something to bring us down before we could go to sleep. So we picked up a couple of beers at the convenience store and just drank them on the roof overlooking the pool. Sounds nice. I love Mexico.
00:34:25
Speaker
It's, it's great. It's, and, and you know what, in Mexico city overall too, it has that kind of Athens Rome vibe where there is like, um, ruins and stuff like that. There's like a ton of history, which shouldn't come as a surprise, but like, I wasn't, it's not to the level of like, again, Athens or Rome where like, literally you could just walk down anywhere and all of a sudden it's like, Oh my God, that's something I read about in school when I was in elementary school. It's not quite to that level. Um, but.
00:34:52
Speaker
it is kind of remarkable how they're just like oh here's this giant ruined like Aztec building just in the middle of the city and and it's kind of nuts and um it's very metropolitan it's huge they're skyscrapers
00:35:08
Speaker
um you know there's there's convenience stores and stuff like that everywhere it's very easy and you know people talk about it being a dangerous place i think that's kind of people talk about new york being dangerous but like and it's it is in the same way that like
00:35:24
Speaker
If there are parts of New York that are still dangerous, but like, why would you ever be there if you're a tourist, right? And it's the same way where, yeah, you know, I'm sure there's pickpockets in some of the popular tourist areas, but there's no violent crime. There's, there is like police presence. You can see them with the lights on. Like you don't feel unsafe. So again, anyone that's been thinking about the reasons why they're not doing a Lucha Libre visit, I'd say get over it. You got to do it and let us know. We'll join.
00:35:52
Speaker
Yeah, we might just. I mean, I'm I'm excited. There's there's apparently triple A's opening something in Cancun that we've talked about. That could be an interesting thing to do. But I definitely want to hit Mexico City at some point. Well, you know, we kill in Mexico City is Beastman. I think. Oh, him and Cavanario together. Yeah, he would kill you. Oh, that's a match made in heaven. Yeah. Right. That's a Cavanario and Beastman just as a tag team would probably be the greatest CML tag team ever.
00:36:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and I think Beastman, he can go Ruto, he can go Technico, he can go either way. He could be Cavanaugh's opponent, because I think Cavanaugh is a... He's a Ruto, yeah. Oh, he's a Ruto, okay. He's a Ruto, yeah. Yeah, but he'd go either way. He can be Cavanaugh's opponent. Well, interestingly too, the difference in the Friday night audience and the Sunday night, so Sunday is family day, right? And I found out it's not only because it's the 5 p.m. start, which is the early start, it's also like,
00:36:52
Speaker
A child's ticket is like 50 cents with the purchase of an adult ticket. So it is very much like more of an all ages crowd. Whereas Friday nights, definitely like the hardcores and the smarts. So they're all cheering the rutos. It is very interesting. And there's not like, and there's no, there's no like big, like in go Bernabe thing that like the rutos weren't like initially playing to be that cool heels. They were just getting pops and then just starting. And it was interesting. And you saw the same guys.
00:37:20
Speaker
Then Sunday night, just getting food like traditional heel and it's like same promotion, same arena, 48 hours later, completely different reactions. So Mexico is kind of Philly. Mexico on Friday night is Friday night. It's Philly. And then on Sunday afternoons, it's it's Tulsa. It's Tulsa. That's interesting. That makes me like want to also like take
00:37:47
Speaker
Maddy to see a Sunday show in Mexico City as well. So if it's only 50 cents. Yeah. Yeah. I think you might have to do the box office. So for you, it's probably worth paying the very small full price ticket for her front row seat on Ticketmaster. But yeah.
00:38:07
Speaker
So I'm curious, cause you said, you know, CMLL may be replacing other things in wrestling for you in terms of watching. I feel like you're going to tell us three weeks from now that you've like set up a VPN and now you're watching the, the full shows that they put up on new Japan world. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. So I told you like I had missed two full weeks of AEW programming.
00:38:28
Speaker
And when I got back, I got back on Thursday or I got back Wednesday night and then like Thursday night after work, I'm kind of like, all right. And maybe I had something Thursday, but it was the first night I was like home and like, what am I going to do? And it was like, I guess I should catch up. Like I have all these texts from you guys. And I'm like, maybe I should catch up on AEW and oh, the elimination chamber. Like I've read the spoilers, but like maybe I should watch that. I still have not watched elimination chamber, by the way. I have not watched one second of
00:38:57
Speaker
other than a couple of clips. Yeah. I haven't even seen the clips I just read. I read on blog doom. I read Scott Keith's recap of the main event match. I didn't even read the whole rant.
00:39:10
Speaker
But I'm like, I'd rather just watch more chilebre on YouTube. And then particularly, I'm not going to lie, I was debating resubscribing a New Japan world because it's fantastic mania. And I was like, oh, and like there is like Dragon Rojo is a guy I really like that I didn't get to see in Mexico because he was at fantastic mania.
00:39:32
Speaker
Um, but I didn't, and I ultimately did watch some AEW kind of like begrudgingly where I'm like, well, I guess I do a wrestling podcast. I got to watch some American wrestling sometimes. Um, and I thought I would just kind of fast forward through it. And I found myself like kind of reenchanted with AEW too. Like it was, um,
00:39:57
Speaker
You know, Rampage has become a show that's kind of really easy to watch on DVR. Like the middle 20 to 30 minutes, it's trash. So just fast forward, but like usually the first and the last matches are usually at least one of them is really solid. So like I was just kind of burning through those. And then in the newest dynamite that I was ranting about this on our text thread, like Orange Cassidy versus Wheeler Yuta,
00:40:24
Speaker
Was awesome. That was one of the best TV matches. Like, I don't know. That one was like four and a half to me. That one was like way up there. One of the best matches. I know it's only like end of February, but one of the best matches on TV this year. And of course, you know, you guys had told me, oh, no matter how much you fast forward, make sure to watch Mox and Evil Uno.
00:40:47
Speaker
And man, that did not disappoint. So let's recap, right? First, first Mox blades a man in a mask. So that's like B-I-S-N in Mox Bingo. Yes.
00:40:59
Speaker
It is. He tears the mask just enough and then he's just like, let me blade you so that you can't see the blood. But of course it's enough blood. You can kind of see that there's some blood. At first. At first you can kind of see there's some blood. And then he puts him in the bulldog choke. But even before then.
00:41:25
Speaker
Right. Well, even before, but the bulldog joke. So this is like for anyone who hasn't seen it. Uno bled so much that mocks didn't.
00:41:41
Speaker
Like, like that's how much blood is that, you know, like, I don't know if the Renee talked to Uno before. So first off, Evil Uno was in a main event. We all loved it. How great is that? Like, that's another thing just makes me excited about AEW. Even though, by the way, that detecting Battle Royal was dogshit. One of the worst battle royals. Really terrible. I was actually surprised that I.
00:42:01
Speaker
I was like watching that with the assumption I was going to watch it again, because again, my my daughter's favorite team was in it. But they everyone did so little that I was just like, no one needs to see this again. It was dreadful. And I don't know whether maybe they're doing another one this coming this week. And they are. They may be like they're saving the good stuff for that because it was just bad. But anyway, back to Mox and Evil Uno. Like, you know, Mox is just like or Renee is just like, listen. Uno.
00:42:30
Speaker
I know this is a lot to ask. I know you've not been in a main event in Dynamite in a long time, if ever, and you've definitely never been in a singles match in a main event, but I'm gonna need to ask something of you. You're gonna need to bleed to the point that my husband doesn't feel like he needs to.
Blood and Blading in Wrestling
00:42:45
Speaker
And then you have Mox come in and be like, Oh, boy. Oh, what are we doing tonight, boy? Where are we getting? Whoo. You know, like I just. You know, it's like here's my pitch. I'm going to bleed so bad that when you put the bulldog choke on me, blood squirts from my forehead. Mox is like, Oh, oh, I like it. Yeah. And he was getting all over his arm and stuff. It was it were a fucking genius, you know. Yeah. I honestly think.
00:43:16
Speaker
I think like the stakes are on Mox anytime Uno wants one for the foreseeable future. And not because he made him look good or he put him over. Just because that's what Mox doesn't give a shit about that, right? Tony Khan does the booking. Mox doesn't cite who wins or loses. Mox just appreciates that level of blade. Oh yeah. Of course he does. Oh yeah. Let's get some, let's get some stakes. Let's talk about cutting ourselves open.
00:43:43
Speaker
Um, yeah, it was great. It was gross in a way that was, but in like a, like a wow way. Like, again, like we've watched a lot of death match stuff, but not since really like, I think like Dustin at double or nothing. And even then like Dustin, I mean, Dustin's blade job was gory. I think part of what made this really.
00:44:01
Speaker
spectacular and sort of like really very visceral is like Dustin's bleeding a lot, but you obviously see pretty early on that he's bleeding a lot, right? Right. Uno's blade job seems normal until the bulldog choke where the blood is squirting and you're like, whoa. Well, the one is a result. Again, you guys told me to watch for that match. I didn't know anything about why. Right. I could kind of maybe pencil in and I actually thought it was I honestly thought it was going to be opposite.
00:44:28
Speaker
I thought it was going to be like Mox gives Uno a lot of offense and Mox is bleeding like a pig for Uno, but based on the way you guys are saying it and based on who Mox is. Yeah. But the fact that early on, I think we all all we told you was that you were going to you were going to get some Mox Prime Mox content. That's always. Yes, exactly. Which I took to mean Mox would be the one bleeding. But then as soon as you notice, because again, just to even notice the bleeding at all with a man in a mask and it brings back up that despi match right in my head right away.
00:44:57
Speaker
And it's like, that's where I'm like, oh, something has happened here. Like I knew kind of right away. And I also think that was kind of the perfect match. Right. Because the way they've booked it, you know, can't like it's kind of a glorified squash. Right. Like like, you know, got some offense early on and it was like a semi competitive match for the first half. And it was, you know, but it was a respectable main event length. I don't know what it was like, maybe 10 or 11 minutes, probably.
00:45:25
Speaker
Almost just like almost exactly 10 minutes though. It was like shorter than a normal dynamite main event, which I actually think again worked fine. I think that kind of. Yeah, I think it worked fine because there weren't. You couldn't create. It would have been very difficult.
00:45:41
Speaker
to create a scenario where it would have been believable that Uno could win, right? When we know that like Hangman can't come out or Uno told him not to and like obviously Moxley and Hangman, it's gonna happen at the pay-per-view and Uno is not going to be at the pay-per-view or not in the match anyway. But it was kind of like that perfect thing of like,
00:46:03
Speaker
Uno got over via losing, right? That he kind of got that out of Mox and kind of got Mox to go into that high gear. And then Mox obviously is Mox, so he obviously is going to be able to take out Uno and then set up the final showdown with Hangman at the pay-per-view. But I kind of left.
00:46:26
Speaker
Before I watched these and when I was thinking about when I was when I was in Mexico, I was like, I don't I'm actually going to be out of town next weekend. And I'm going to miss the AEW. I'm not going to be able to watch it live. And I was kind of thinking, like, maybe I won't even order the pay-per-view. Like, honestly, like, I don't know. And I got to say, after watching this, like, I'm pretty pumped, like a face of the revolution. I don't know what it's supposed to mean, but I'm always up for an AEW pay-per-view ladder match.
00:46:56
Speaker
I'm kind of that's on dynamite. Oh, I thought that was at the pay per view. No, they announced that that latter matches dynamite. Oh, all right. Well, that's that's cool. I guess we'll be good. Well, and that's kind of because like with the hour match, I was beginning to be like, is there not going to be a six man tag match at the pay per view? Like you kind of feel like there's got to be right. Right. Where they've been. And so that'll be that, you know, them in the House of Black, which should be presumably great. I think they.
00:47:24
Speaker
They've either said it or they've made it so clear that it's got I mean, they made it very, they have made it quite clear. So yeah, because in getting with the Iron Man match, you kind of have that. And it's kind of interesting that like, I'm not I think me like a lot of people I kind of like it went from this is kind of like a one match, like a month ago, it was like, oh, this is a one match show. And I'm already in on the one match.
00:47:45
Speaker
And as time has gone on, I kind of am waning how much I care about Brian and MJF. I don't particularly care if MJF loses the title, but I also don't necessarily want him to lose the title. And I kind of am OK with it. I just kind of am indifferent to that at this point. I wonder if it's just kind of gone on a little too long. And the story didn't really have enough beats. They ran out of story beats a month ago.
00:48:13
Speaker
Yeah. And that's why I felt, especially with like the MJF promos recently, where it feels like he's just veering between different concepts each week. And you're like, okay, that would be one way to sell the show. Although that's different than the way you sold it last week. So I, you know, whatever. I mean, I MJF, I mean, it's a little bit tricky in the sense that I think he's still.
00:48:35
Speaker
He's at a pretty high level, right? I think he's the right call. This is the right time to make him, at least take a shot with him as champion. But it does still feel like he's figuring out the last details of his character. It feels like watching him over these last three months, you're like, there's a little bit of schizophrenic aspect to different things where you're like,
00:49:02
Speaker
What's the actual character here? Like, what's the direct...
00:49:09
Speaker
I feel like sometimes if you asked him a question about would his character do X or Y, it could change based on the week. That's what I always think of. I always think of the, there's like a Raven quote about how much when he was talking like Shane Douglas about something and Douglas like, oh, franchise wouldn't do that. And Raven was like annoyed at first, but then he was like, oh no, actually that worked. He gets it. He's like very, he knows exactly what his character will and won't do. And I respect that and we'll figure it out. And I feel like MJF is like a step away from having that
00:49:39
Speaker
All the way dialed in you know Yeah, and and like And even the whole thing where like he was kind of afraid of the idea of the Iron Man match And that's why he's like paying all these people to take him out and then as soon as like the match is confirmed It's like it's they don't even really talk about it being an iron man. It's just like oh, it's just a match mjf's fine with it like it's just kind of a weird stuff, but but I
00:50:03
Speaker
But that's one thing is but the other stuff I'm more interested in. All right. I do think obviously the gun club winning the tag titles is bizarre. It's so weird, but presumably they're dropping the titles at the pay per view. I don't know. The four way aspect is makes me I'm not sure about that.
00:50:24
Speaker
Well, I'm not. My gut is they potentially lose it, but not necessarily back to the acclaimed. Right. Yeah, I think that's I think that's a likely scenario in that regard. Because I will note we're recording this. If you're listening to this, if we end up dropping this on Thursday, we have not seen the Wednesday show yet. So we don't know who the fourth team is. And it could be a PR. I don't know. So yeah.
00:50:46
Speaker
Could could be Yeah, could be could be FTR could be the lucha brothers right could be And then that's but it also could be
00:50:58
Speaker
I don't know a team, another team that doesn't necessarily bring the work rate. Like we're at a point where it's very possible that the acclaimed is going to be the work rate team in this match, which, and I love the acclaimed. We all, we all love the acclaimed, but that they're not supposed to be the mechanics right at this point in their career.
00:51:18
Speaker
Yeah, I'm pulling, I mean, uh, best friends possibility. What? They seem to be teasing best friends potentially, which I'd be, I'd be in for that. Best friends does seem like the move, which, and, and those guys can, I think add, add some good work rate to it. And, and with eight guys, um, if they do it as a traditional tag and obviously they'll get into the flippy lucha, nobody's tagging.
00:51:40
Speaker
fuckery in the I'm sure during the match but it also does let you manage the pace a little bit better right it's not like Jeff Jarrett's gonna be in 22 of the 28 minutes you know no no no no hopefully not
00:51:55
Speaker
I will say the I would be in for Aussie Open being the fourth team, but I also am pretty sure they need to be on a flight to Japan at that point. I was like, looking at like, wait, they're wrestling in Japan on the sixth. I'm pretty sure that does not work from a flight perspective. I was like, literally at times, I was like, does this work somehow, maybe? And I don't I don't think so. But I was also thinking that when I saw that they were on
00:52:22
Speaker
Rampage. And of course they were in the Battle Royale and I'm like, okay. So like they got two paychecks for one night from AEW. And I'm like, but how long are they in America for? Like they probably want to like, and I think Tony Khan would love to have them. And like part of me was like, sure. Put them into the tag title match, particularly if like your main objective is. It doesn't kind of matter who the fourth team is. Right. I will say that match they had with the Bucks was, I think one of the best Rampage matches in a long, long time.
00:52:51
Speaker
Yeah, no, I can't I can't disagree with that. I think it was a it was a really good bet. I mean, an Aussie open. I they're the one team like I kind of they're they'd probably be my number one draft pick of a team I'd want an AEW like, you know, like the Uso's would be great or something. But like, right. Well, like a realistic like, I think I'd like Aussie open more than Jay White, quite frankly, in terms of the match potential.
00:53:17
Speaker
Well, there's a slot for them, right? I mean, again, the thing with Jay White is like, it's unclear exactly where he would be needed. But yeah, if you just replace, like, Jarrett and Sanjay's minutes with Ozzy open, you go, well, that's an improvement on the TV show. And the Bucks, I mean, the Bucks gave them a lot of that match. I think kind of shined them up a little bit, which was good.
00:53:37
Speaker
Yeah, I could Aussie open against the Lucha Brothers. Aussie open against the acclaimed, I think would actually be really interesting, just given the way those personalities would bounce off each other. Obviously, Aussie open an FTR, if the FTR is back.
00:53:52
Speaker
Yeah, I'm in for all of that. And I don't know what the nature of their deal with New Japan is, what the terms are or anything like that. But like, I actually, you know, because again, just watching these Arena Mexico shows just kind of got me all the way back on all of wrestling. So like I even was catching up on a lot of New Japan again on access. And I was watching through a lot of Wrestle Kingdom. The matches on there and I watched Kenny Ospreay again, which was even better watching in a second time. So good. Like I think that
00:54:21
Speaker
I underrated it while saying it was probably going to be the match of the year. It's incredible. But the tag match was FTR against Yoshihashi and Gotou.
00:54:35
Speaker
And it's just not good. And it's like probably the worst big time FTR match of like the last three years. Like it's just like, and again, it was a fine match like in the grand scheme of things, but it was just like a normal dynamite match. Like is the way I would put it. And it's like.
00:54:53
Speaker
Why is Aussie Open not the top tag team in New Japan right now? Like they're so much better. And like New Japan, you obviously can do bangers with guys and then it's OK. Like you can put them against two singles guys. Like that's that's a New Japan thing. But like Aussie Open feels like they could be having four to seven star matches every single big show in New Japan. And they just don't seem like they get that spotlight.
00:55:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they really hadn't been to Japan until World Tag League. So I'm wondering if they're just we're like building them up a little bit. Like I do think they probably get the next shot at Goto and Yoshihashi based on the New Japan Cup brackets where they're matched up against each other. So I mean, that suggests look, maybe they go and they're going to take the titles now and then start having the bangers that they just.
00:55:43
Speaker
I don't know if they wanted to give Yoshihashi and Goto the win over FTR for some reason. I also think at that point FTR was pretty hurt and I think they barely got to the building because of flight stuff and yeah it was not a great I mean there might be a lot of reasons for that but yeah I don't think they were gonna have a true banger regardless because I just
00:56:01
Speaker
Goto and Yoshihashi are fine. They're just fine. I don't know. Like they're not the best. Yeah, but like now that I've seen more of the card, yeah, it was a weak wrestle kingdom. It definitely was like the women's match and bizarre. Like I remember talking about it, you and Garrett and I hadn't actually seen it where it's like a solid match, but it's like an eight minute match. It's like this really short match.
00:56:23
Speaker
and then um which is weird because the other kairi matches that have been on like the big new japan shows have gotten some length and been really good and then this is kind of like a squash quite frankly and then and then yeah then then then sasha banks comes out and they're like she gets like 15 minutes of like entrance where it's like what is going on this just doesn't make any sense like i get she's a big star but like what the fuck is happening like
00:56:49
Speaker
You know, this is supposed to be the wrestling promotion, not the intro promotion. But, you know, obviously.
00:56:58
Speaker
Osprey Omega makes it a big thumbs up overall. But yeah, definitely. I think they need two nights. I think they need two nights from a quality like a spreading the matches out quality perspective at this point. It was probably smart from a business perspective to go back to one because they could just focus on the one night and just blow it out and just really like build it up. But it does seem like, yeah, like you just you lose a lot in the middle if you're doing if you're trying to pack everything into a four hour show when they also did that that.
00:57:27
Speaker
um other stadium show in february right where with stardom where it was like the last mooda match right and right so like i i think that they they like they could do something interesting with that right where you can almost do like you know like most like you know obviously like wrestlemania is in april then summer slam is like six months later or or like four or five months later but that could kind of interesting of like make the one b show like not that far after
00:57:57
Speaker
I don't know, just the thought. Yeah. Um, yeah. Yeah. No, I think, but I mean, again, I'm definitely back in a little bit on new Japan. I'm excited. I haven't watched any fantastic and mania probably catch a little bit of that. Um, but I'm excited for the new
Anticipating New Japan Cup
00:58:11
Speaker
Japan cup. I think that's going to be kind of fun. It's also shorter than it's been recently. It's only like two weeks long, which I think is good as opposed to blowing it out for weeks at a time with matches that aren't going to be that exciting. I think they're really kind of cutting to the chase in a good way.
00:58:26
Speaker
Yeah, and obviously I need to catch up on New Japan just to get my bracket ready. I listen to you guys talking about that. And I do think we should throw some other... I think it can be anything combat sport related. I think that's good. If you want to watch Mr. Nanny, that's in play. It can even be movies with wrestlers.
00:58:49
Speaker
But I think there does need to be some kind of like hour. Like it needs to be like you can't be like watch every episode of Thunder and Paradise. And like I don't know how many episodes there are, but like I think there does need to be a time limit. Sure. So we should probably set like it can be one like show. So it could be a five hour show. But I would say like five hours is about the limit of what you're allowed to to make the loser do. So it can't be the seven hour expw show.
00:59:18
Speaker
And I think that if any fan of any listener beats all three of us, I think that all three of us have to do it and possibly do a live video of us watching it possibly. I like it. No, I like that. I like that.
00:59:38
Speaker
We'll see if any if anyone we have one from a fan so far. They know who they are. But whoever else, if there if anyone wants to toss it in, the brackets are available. Feel free to message us. We'll send it around. And can you resend me? Because I got to do that before I go on my next trip. But yeah, I think again, wrestling is looking up.
00:59:59
Speaker
And it's interesting that, again, with the Lucha Libre has really brought back the wrestling of wrestling to me, where it's like, I don't, and even when I found what I was fast forwarding through on the EEW, it was like the promos and like the video packages, like, I just, I lose, like, that's where I think I talked about before is like, my wrestling view is competing with my other entertainment time, right? And like with everything else is so good. Like I've heard, I haven't seen the new Ant-Man,
01:00:28
Speaker
But it's getting these mediocre reviews because people are like, oh, it's just another Marvel movie. I'm like, yeah, but Marvel movies are a lot of fun, right? And if you're comparing even a mediocre Marvel movie to just like a Daniel Bryan promo, not the greatest Daniel Bryan promo ever, just a normal average one, I'd rather probably watch Ant-Man.
01:00:47
Speaker
So I think that that's where it's like the reason that wrestling is special is the in-ring, right? And that's where I think I'm really just enjoying this. And I'm looking forward to this AWP pay-per-view because of the in-ring, right? Not necessarily because of the storylines.
01:01:09
Speaker
And I love that. And of course, New Japan is sensational at that. And hopefully, you know, we'll get some good shake ups. And again, I think that and I've talked about a couple of times, the going away kind of brings you back because everything feels fresher.
Exploring Wrestling Styles Beyond Brands
01:01:24
Speaker
So, yeah, it's just it still continues to be a good time to be a fan. Yeah, I mean, again, Bite Plus has got more stuff on it. There's a ton going on, I think, even
01:01:36
Speaker
You know, there's just a lot out there and you can find whatever works for you. I think that's part of the thing is he kind of can't, I always feel bad for people who try to, um, like tie themselves to a brand in any way. Cause I think that's the worst way to do it. Like there's no need for brand loyalty. I mean, be loyal to a wrestler if you want. That's that's great. Um, but to be loyal to a brand, if the show's not good, you don't got to watch the show. You know, don't.
01:02:04
Speaker
I have no, I like, I have probably some loyalty to AEW just in level, they've built up a lot of trust. But if they sucked for a few months, I'll watch something else. I don't really care. Yeah, no, and I've definitely found that about myself is that I'm willing to skip anything, right? Because there's just so much good stuff on and like, I can't, I'm just like already kind of fast forwarding to where a month and change from WrestleMania weekend.
01:02:32
Speaker
And like, you know, again, I haven't watched the second of the elimination chamber. Most of the rumble I had on his background viewing, I'm sure I will watch some parts of WrestleMania, but it's like there's going to be just so many dozens of hours of wrestling that are going to be available to me. And a lot of it's going to be really good. And it's like.
01:02:54
Speaker
I'm excited the fact that I'm not going to watch everything right like I'm excited that like I get to pick and choose the best stuff and the stuff that is going to most appeal to my personal sensibilities. It's just kind of this wonderful time and the fact that
01:03:11
Speaker
You know, it is still thriving that people also like have this, especially between AEW and WWE, like kind of pitting them against each other where it's like, and WrestleMania is the weekend is the perfect thing where like, obviously WWE is making a shit ton of money, but like, so is everybody else. Like the industry was in a really healthy place. Um, and that's awesome.
01:03:33
Speaker
Yeah. I'm actually, what's one of the things I'm most excited about for WrestleMania weekend is, is the fight plus of it all that I don't have to choose as much. Um, and so if there's one banger match that I want to see on gringo locos world on Lucia, I can watch that one match and not have to worry about, is that worth $15 or whatever? Yeah. Um, be a little bit more choosy. Could it be me against Vicki Guerrero in a taco eating contest? Right. I mean, that's worth 30. That's worth 30.
01:04:03
Speaker
You know, an interesting thing that I always hated, but I feel like Fight Plus is actually positioned well, is that you've seen other like little promotions in the past, tried to do like an internet or streaming network champion. I would love if there was a Fight TV Plus world champion.
01:04:20
Speaker
And it was like the biggest indie title. We're going to make it. So like maybe what I would imagine GCW is probably what draws the most eyeballs on of pro wrestling on there. So maybe they get the champion, but that's like a thing where they're like, hey, Brett, if you start like if XPW starts beating you in what draws people mock up, which is getting that title, we're going to we're going to start putting put in the hamburger place is going to get the world title matches.
01:04:49
Speaker
Make it like the way the NWA title used to be. Yeah. The Meccas, the true Meccas, Atlantic City. Yeah. I mean, how is Billy Corgan and NWA not on Fight Plus? Like that. It seems like they are partially. I think I'm confused as to what is available in the eye. But why aren't they completely? Like, I just don't understand the economics of the decision making here. I don't understand any of the economics of the NWA existing at this point. So I.
01:05:19
Speaker
I've just given it at that big Mexico city music festival. That's also going to Lucha Libre, which I did see a billboard for, by the way, when I was in Mexico city. Yeah. I mean, it's a weird, I think I saw some of the card for that. It's pretty weird. It's like Lucha doors and NWA guys. And like, it just looks just stupid. It looks very stupid. Yeah. I'm sure Matt Taven will be there. Of course. Of course. Um, I, I mean,
01:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, I will say the other thing I'm this is the fun thing about like how much is out there. I was watching an Appalachian expose the other day. Sure. And I think I'm going to watch a bunch more of those. I don't know. I'm just in the mood. I was like, you know what? Shane Douglas is a pretty good podcast host. I was I was even intrigued by listening to talk to him talk to Val Venus, which seems.
01:06:10
Speaker
I don't know. I'm generally not interested in what Valvenus has to say about the world. It was still entertaining. They love MJF. That was what I took away from that. They don't really like modern wrestling. Too many kids doing things too fast. They don't really understand. And they lost the car rides where they really learned things. But MJF they like.
01:06:30
Speaker
I mean, he does a lot of car rides in Long Island, a lot of traffic, LIE. You know what they need, though, in Fight Plus? And you know what? And by the way, we are available, the predetermined boys, we are available for you, is they should shoot some kind of digest show.
01:06:49
Speaker
of like, because that's the thing again, I love on the access new Japan is that if I went back to watching the whole shows and I know you talk about how you'll only watch the new Japan open a new Japan cup matches, you're not necessarily going to watch the undercard or if you get background. And like, I love that about the access show that it's like it also keeps things fresh because I don't have to watch 12 Yoshi Hashi matches. I could just watch the one good one.
01:07:13
Speaker
And that would also be great with just how much stuff there is. And like you guys were even talking last week that like none of us watched the Jimmy Lloyd birthday party show, right? Which is crazy. Like if we're not watching it, who's watching it? And it's like, but I'm sure there's probably at least one thing from that show that kind of if you hold it into like a best of fight TV this week,
01:07:36
Speaker
I feel like that could be a real strong hour to two hours a week that would be just the most essential. It would be more essential than raw or dynamite or SmackDown.
01:07:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think again, more curation, at the very least Fight Plus makes it easier to just fast forward through stuff and really get to what you want. Yeah. But we could still have a bit more curation, I think would be great. And yeah, maybe we're the guys to do it. Although not again, not if you're watching six hours of Lucha Libre every week, because they've got no Lucha on Fight Plus yet.
01:08:06
Speaker
Yeah, but again, the CMLL and AAA have not really been able to make money from the American audience. So honestly, I don't know if they have some legacy agreements that prevent it, because they both generally, AAA still puts a lot of stuff out for free on Twitch.
01:08:26
Speaker
Not everything anymore. CML puts everything on YouTube, albeit in a condensed form. But to the best of my knowledge, there is no way to get them in full. And they're obviously airing in Mexico in full. I honestly don't know why they're not on Fight Plus. It seems like it's got to be a matter of time. Send me down there. I will make that happen. And I will personally curate a one hour Lucha Libre show every week.
01:08:56
Speaker
And will it all be in VR? Well, it depends on what Estrilita's availability is. Because I think they can only afford the VR cameras for the shows Estrilita is going to be at. Of course. Okay. That makes sense. Like once a month, maybe we do VR. Yeah, exactly. The big Friday nights. High depth for the rest of it, you know. That's right.
01:09:24
Speaker
Yeah, I would I'd watch it. Let's send you make we'll make the deal. You'll spend some time in Mexico City. It'll be great. And then like I I'm going to like learn a really good Spanish. I speak, OK, Spanish, but like I'm going to learn really good Spanish. I'm going to turn into gringo loco. Like it started as a joke. And then like I feel like slowly this is it is coming around. I think you would look good in spandex. I think you just get the spandex gringo loco outfit.
01:09:52
Speaker
I think you're right there. I really, at some show we really need you to do a meet and greet with Gringo Loco so we can take a picture and see if we can spot the differences. Do it like one of those bug bar games where you have to touch the photographs.
01:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, I want to bring it to my dog because again, a lot of like the highlights magazine, whatever, there's always a thing that's like, what's the difference? The two photos look generally look very similar, but there's a couple of small differences and I want to bring it to her and be like, okay, these two photos are the same, but what's different? And she'll probably go, they're the same. I don't understand. Yeah. Um, he's like, don't you see this?
01:10:35
Speaker
Fax is a little bit taller. Fax Loco is a little bit taller than Gringo Loco. Just a little bit. Or maybe not.
Humor and Plans for WrestleMania Weekend
01:10:43
Speaker
I don't know. We haven't seen you guys face to face yet. Yeah, I think his hair's a little redder than mine. But yeah, there's a few differences. But I think, again, especially though, if I wear a bandana and I wear the sunglasses, I think we could make it pretty tough. I think we could make it pretty, pretty tough, especially if I had a few weeks to prepare.
01:11:04
Speaker
I think we're going to have some time. We're getting WrestleMania weekends going to be in the Northeast next year. Maybe that's a final goal. We got to make sure that that happens. Yeah. And before we were recording tonight, we were talking about WrestleMania and Philly and like we were speculating, you know, what shows do you think are going to be the ECW arena and stuff like that? But like, you know, we didn't talk about is what shows are going to be in Boone?
01:11:25
Speaker
Right? I mean, Bhutan's about an hour and a half from Philly, maybe a little bit about an hour and a half. I feel like we need to start working booking the first ever predetermined card in Bhutan WrestleMania weekend, maybe the week before WrestleMania. We'll do like, that'll be the Wednesday. We'll be like, people, you fly into Newark, do the Wednesday show, Wednesday show in Bhutan, and then go down to Thursday, catch the Thursday Friday shows, the ECW Arena and the hockey arena and stuff like that.
01:11:55
Speaker
I like it. I think this is, I think we got to do this. I think a predetermined show has to happen in Bhutan, New Jersey. Yeah. Main event did
Main Event and Conclusion
01:12:05
Speaker
obviously by Beastman against Jimmy Lloyd. Of course. Yeah. Beastman against Jimmy Lloyd. One-on-one for the, uh, the rights to the predetermined to our hearts, the rights to our hearts. The belt is just a big, it's just a giant heart shape, um, with our faces on it. That's right. That's right.
01:12:28
Speaker
All right, well, I think I just kind of want another taco right now. So I feel like we should probably just wrap this one up. You're making me legitimately hungry facts. So, yeah, we'll be so I'm Chris at Chris Miggs on Instagram. If you want to check that out, we're at predetermined pod. Is that the right one? Predetermined podcast on Instagram. I mean, maybe facts take a picture of his t-shirt and show it to everyone.
01:12:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I'm also at Jimmy facts as well as Jimmy Lloyd's IMDB page. Um, hit our goddamn music.