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The Chicky Awards
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The gang's all here and we do a quick recap of the dawn of the Netflix era before handing out the Chicky Awards for the 2024 year in wrestling.
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Transcript
Introduction and 2024 Chickys Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to Chick Foley show.
00:00:22
Speaker
What is up, Foley fam? We are back with the biggest episode of the Chick Foley show of the year, the 2024 Chickys. We're looking back at everything that was in a crazy year of wrestling over the past 12 months. We got Jordan and Marco on the line, so the gang's all here, but let's get it started by introducing the star of the show, Sheena. How you doing?
00:00:42
Speaker
I'm doing good. I'm so excited to have all four of us back together on the mic at the show. Um, and we have so much, oh my gosh, so much
Holiday Delays and Weather Talks
00:00:50
Speaker
to cover. I know we're a little late on our year and wrap up, but you know, life comes at you fast. Holidays are crazy. Everybody's traveling. So I feel like we've had enough time to let 2024 digest and we can give our best. It's still the seventh. It's still you know yeah still the night of the seventh. We're still within the... We're barely making it, but we're still within the first week of the years. We're forgetting to record, but we were originally going to do this last Thursday, but Sheena big-timed us and pushed it back on us. And then ah you know Full Transparency last night, we were watching
00:01:18
Speaker
Uh raw on netflix and uh, you know, I had a freaking Head splitting migraine all day and then by the end of the night, you know, I I crashed out during a punk and and seth rawland So I think I might even before punk and rawlands. I was kind of like shout out to seeing punk. Yeah Seeing punk for ah putting me to sleep make putting the go to sleep on me. So, uh, yeah, we're we're here tonight though. Marco what's going on, man?
00:01:41
Speaker
Not that much, I'm just ah just excited to be back. Back, I'm back and better than ever. No, I'm joking. No, it's just ah you know crazy end of the year um for everybody. So let's start the you know new new year off right. That's so that's all I can say. And Jordan, what's happening it out in the Midwest?
00:02:04
Speaker
She's getting cold as shit here, man. I know shit is all against weather talk, but fuck dude. What's everybody's snow situation, man? We're supposed to be getting a little bit on Friday. I got no snow. I don't think we have any snow, just very cold weather. Wow. Nebraska doesn't have any snow and neither we yeah know the Northeast doesn't have any snow. South is getting pounded. Yeah, we're supposed to get you know any speaking of which we're supposed to get five to six inches on Friday. That's why guys that's yeah that's doable. good
00:02:35
Speaker
Sounds like Obviously, that's not any kind of catastrophic amount, they but just being in Tennessee, people just do not know how to... Oh, it's going to... Yeah, it's like COVID's back. Yeah. There's not a slice of bread, not a ply of toilet paper left on the shelves anywhere out here. Sheena. Milk sandwiches for everyone around here. Sheena hit Costco first thing this morning just to beat the crazies because over the next couple of days, man, you're going to see the shelves just get picked clean as if you know war is on the horizon.
00:03:01
Speaker
Oh, everything's going to shut down. It's going to be, yeah, there's going to be nothing open. Schools will be closed for an indefinite period of time. So yeah, the South is not ready. Yeah. Everyone knows it's a scam. It's always a, it's a, it's a scam between the, your local news and your local supermarkets. They get together and they get everyone all scared for the app. You know, you know, I'm a conspiracy theorist, I buy into that 1000%. I've been through so many weather scares do between snowstorms and hurricanes and stuff. I feel like it's a less than 10% hit rate for these big weather catastrophes that are on the horizon when they actually amount to something that has any sort of tangible effect. I know dude, but dude, things are crazy, man. I mean, look at our friends, like, you know, our guys in North Carolina and all that, like, you know, when it does hit you're fucked. You know what I mean? So it's like one of those things where you're like, you gotta, you gotta stay ready. You gotta stay prepared. The chance that they're telling the truth. Yeah. You don't want to be, you don't want to be caught with your pants down. You know what I mean? Also, I seem to recall being at your house two Aprils ago and a tornado took out every city around you other than the city we were in. And when me and I were driving home, I was like, holy shit, dude, this was bad.
00:04:05
Speaker
we see carefully Yeah, we're definitely a little bit more at the epicenter of some wild weather here than we were in Hawaii or Virginia. Yeah, it just seems like there's more volatile swings, right? Like it's like, you know, all of a sudden you're just like, like in the middle of a weather event and you're like, holy crap, where did this come from? Six inches of snow where you guys are. It's going to shut you guys down for a couple of days. There's probably like one snow plow in your entire city.
00:04:26
Speaker
Oh yeah. I'm fine with that, man. we We got a ton of food. As long as we don't lose power, I'm good with it. We got the generator that's rigged up to run the house if we got to. So yeah, I'm i'm fine with it, man. But it it is something to keep in mind of with the animals too. So they're a consideration. yeah they They've done good in snow and ice before. Oh yeah. well We had that big winter event last year and they did fine. We got plenty of straw, plenty of feed. so Okay, that'll ra it wrap it up for the Chick-Fully weather show. Yeah, for so for for people who don't like to talk about weather. We sure wouldn't. I don't like the small talk. If we can get into like you know some deep conversation about weather and like past weather events,
Raw on Netflix: Reactions and Critiques
00:05:02
Speaker
like I'm cool. But when it's like, you know hey, how how's the weather where you are, buddy? It's like, oh, it's sunny and 60.
00:05:08
Speaker
You know me, dude, historically, I've been somebody that kind of hates small talk. I'm like, it's so pointless. But if you really think, dude, small talk is really just a way to get the ball going back and forth until you hit on a topic you really want to talk about. You know what I mean? You talk about the weather, the traffic, and then something will spin off of it and you actually start to get talking about It's it. true, but I'm a deep talker, dude. I love to get into the meat and potatoes. I got to be careful when we get to places, because Sheena will 100% get in a 35-minute conversation with somebody, and I'm like, dude, NXT is about to be coming on. We need to get home, dude. I'm tired of being here. While you're sitting here going on these deep geopolitical conversations, I got to banter with these people I barely know on the sidelines.
00:05:51
Speaker
um ah i does I just have this like sign on my chest like, yeah tell me all your trauma. You know what I mean? People do open up the Sheena big time. I want to remind you guys, this show is brought to you by Ringside Collectibles. Use code Chick Foley to save 10%. I think they finally wrapped up all the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, New Year's sales. I think all the prices are back to normal. so you know You can still use your good old faithful code Chick Foley to save 10% and hit www.chickfully.com to hit all our links. Join the Patreon, eight bucks a month. You can't even get a double cheeseburger at McDonald's for that price anymore. It gets you into the best online wrestling community um out there. So Shane, anything else before we get into some wrestling talk? Let's go. All right, so first off, we had the huge Raw on Netflix debut. I'll kind of just pass it around to you guys to discuss just initial thoughts, man. This was, I think, easily the most hyped episode of Raw of all time. Where where did it land for you guys?
00:06:45
Speaker
I have mixed emotions. I thought it was really awesome. The presentation felt huge, like you know the whole intro, the the sheet dropping down, Triple H being in the middle. it It felt like history of wrestling deal they gave us. Yeah. Then we got you know the rock coming out. you know He was more corporate rock than I really appreciated, but um you know just hyping everybody up. and I don't know. if It felt huge, but there really wasn't a lot that went on. There was four matches. They were they were bangers, the matches that were on. um But I felt like there was so much fluff, dude. So much just corporate celebrity fluff. And I just, I hate that shit, dude. So, I mean, yeah the what the wrestling that we had was good. the The story stuff that we had was good. The other shit like I could have done without. What are your what are your thoughts, ah Marco?
00:07:32
Speaker
Um, yeah, it's a, it was one of those things where it was a, you ever been to like one of those, like, like you kind of said, like a fluff corporate event. Oh yeah. That's what it pretty much was. It was pretty much just like a, uh, a giant commercial, um,
00:07:48
Speaker
to sell to like obviously like the investors and the bigwigs, because they had all the bigwigs there from Netflix now and up at the Skybox and to celebrities. It was really to like kind of pull in, from what I've read anyway, you know the interview that Triple H, I would Sports Illustrated,
00:08:06
Speaker
It was basically like kind of built around, yes, us diehards, we got our you know four matches, but the other stuff around it was mainly to bring in like the you know the global audience, ah you know the the casual fans, that type of thing. so i didn't i mean i did really get too mad at the presentation because I thought it was awesome. But I just i just sucked it up too. It's a corporate shill. Yeah. I wasn't mad at it. I wasn't like bitterly watching it. like This sucks. I was just kind of like let down. I think i I just expected more, more just of what we're used to right like on on an episode of Raw. I just wanted more of what we love and what we like and what we're there for.
00:08:49
Speaker
versus like you know the corporate circle jerk that we got. What about you, Jordan? What were what were your thoughts? Jordan's about to bury us. Oh, yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I can't wait. like it I did text Seth last night. I'm like, I'm trying not to be negative here. i was Seth asked to say, I was on my best behavior last night. I was not burying anything. Well, now's your chance to be on your worst behavior. We talked briefly after the show. I mean, it it just kind of was what it was. Here's the problem. Dude, I have been just like,
00:09:16
Speaker
I don't know. It's just been weird for me watching wrestling lately. I just, I'm not as into it as I was even a year ago at this time. thanks a lot c and punk And like this like brought me back in. I'm like, okay, this show is going to be just an absolute banger. We're an hour and a half in and we've had 25 minutes of wrestling. It's like,
00:09:36
Speaker
i just I don't know. I'm with you guys. i just I knew what this was for. This was to appease people. This was to bring in the fan the laps fan even. i guess's just That's what they were using this for. And I get it. I i completely understand.
00:09:52
Speaker
The Rock thing, I even texted Seth after it was over. The Cody and Rock thing bothered the fuck out of me. Like, bro i was yes i dude, you literally just buried, ah to me at least. like And this is what I texted Seth. I said, did they really just bury this entire thing that carried us to WrestleMania last year? like Dude, that feud literally carried us until WrestleMania last year. like There were so many moments in the Cody and Rock saga up until WrestleMania. And just the whole like him acknowledging him and carrying the company on his back. And then them having like pictures of it him and Cody taking drinks backstage and him telling him how much he loves him. like Dude, the last time we saw the Rock and Cody in the ring was the night after WrestleMania.
00:10:39
Speaker
and he handed him whatever he handed him and he put it in his pocket. So there's a good chance we never find out what that was. Somebody said that whatever the rock handed Cody got put in that lock box that Shane had for Vince all those years ago. funny some um Some sort of inanimate object that seems super significant at the time that is just never going to get mentioned. i mean yeah nothing Does he do the rock beat Cody bloody dude and like, you know was like taunting Cody's mom and then just brings up Cody's mom and it just and it was a laughing moment when he brought It was yeah it was like giggling and the whole like, you know, hey Cody carried the company on them. I'm just like
00:11:19
Speaker
I get accepted, dude. I didn't have that much problem with that, man. I thought that was just them. I've had people that I've had beef with, dude. We've had heated arguments, and you don't talk to them for a couple weeks or whatever. Next time you see them, it's just cool, man. You dap it up and you laugh it off, dude. That kind of ticket is that, dude.
00:11:34
Speaker
i At first, I thought that I so i still don't know, dude. It's all signs of pointing to those those reports actually being accurate that the Rock's not going to be at Mania. I do think they still... They were definitely leaning into that kind of like unease, like you know tension, like love, like frenemy thing between him and Roman at the end. so I think they i think they're they definitely have took the the Cody and Rock pot off the stove.
00:11:56
Speaker
They left the rock and Roman on simmer at least man for I don't think we're getting a mania But I think they at least left the door open for that some point down there But I just think they had to I think rocks next thing is gonna be Roman I don't think it's gonna be a mania I think it's gonna be with Roman and they wanted to just focus on that and just tie up that loose in between rock and Cody because everything they gave us from that night after mania and then that appearance of bad blood it felt like like Jordan said it felt like the next thing was gonna be rock and Cody right and they weren't gonna be able to do rock and Roman until they get this Cody thing out of the way. So I think it was a way of tying it up. And just I think the rock said, hey, once when I can give, you know, three or four months of this, it's going to be to do this thing with Roman. Yeah. And it's going to be starting at Survivor Series the end of this year and wrapping up in Saudi Arabia at Royal Rumble next year.
00:12:40
Speaker
That's where they're gonna do the rock and Roman like dude, you know, I mean it just hasn't written all over it They got all the all the sponsorships on the ring and stuff like dude It would not surprise me at all if they did that match the rock enrollment in Saudi Arabia. I'm gonna be furious oh it's it'll happen in the day it'll be at two o'clock the afternoon know I feel like I feel like the American audience deserves an opportunity to be at that show and like be there in person. we're way past that now she i mean I'm not going to be there. I'm not going to be there, but I just feel like you're in Saudi and I don't know. For me, for the Raw last night, I think we're all kind of too close to the flames of hardcore fans. And that show was not for us, man. That was for the lapsed fans and for people tuning in for the first time. Like they said, dude, it was. I know, but I don't like that. The show was being streamed on. They sold out. They didn't sell out, man. It was still a good show. It was a good show. They still gave us good matches.
00:13:35
Speaker
Um, but you know, they, it was being streamed to 80% of the world at the same time. I think about that, dude, 80% of the geographic world was getting raw yeah at the same time. And I think they were just trying to set the hook on a bunch of people. I would say for the hardcore fans, I'm still optimist. I still really believe in Triple H and Nick cons vision for WWE right now, aside from the ticket prices.
00:13:54
Speaker
oh god I think next week, I say stay tuned for next week. Let's see what happens on week two. I think week two, we're going to get it back tuned in a little bit more for what we want to see. And there were still some cool ass moments. day Like Travis Scott, freaking smoking a blunt on the way to the stage, with on the way out with Jay Uso. That's a moment, dude. Like that's going to be something when we look back at wrestling 2025, that's going to be something you think about. We finally got Roman against Solo, Roman in the Kobe nines. I think there were still a lot for us to like.
00:14:19
Speaker
But like you said, it felt like they had about an hour and a half of content that they stretched over three. hours Michael Cole dancing to Jey Uso's theme. That's the most uncomfortable thing I've ever seen in my life. no yeah I'm calling it now. I think we're getting punk in Roman and I think we're getting Cena and Cody at WrestleMania. Yeah, that's what's happening. Makes a lot of sense. I just I feel like that's what we're headed towards at this point. Who do you think goes who you think goes night one and who goes night two? Night one is Cena and Cody. Night two will be Roman and CM Punk.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. ah You guys know I'm the biggest, bigger romance fans we have in our kind of circle of wrestling friends. I think Cena and Cody gets night to man. I do. I think he gets. I think Cena close. I think we closed WrestleMania this year with Cena coming up just short of beating Cody and Cena getting the big, the the big WrestleMania sendoff, man. yeah mean that's why predict That's huge. But I mean, WrestleMania is not going to be his last event. I know. it But it's going to be his last WrestleMania, though. That's true. I just.
00:15:14
Speaker
I don't know, man. I don't think it closed like dude, as much as I hate the fucking dude and we've already went on record, we don't need to rehash this. I can't stand seeing punk like him in Roman is, is your ticket selling match. Like I just, I mean, not that they need help selling tickets it to Vegas WrestleMania, but I just, I feel like that's your, your marquee match and Cena and Cody on night one will be awesome. Like that, that'd be a great ending tonight. One, um,
00:15:44
Speaker
I don't know, dude, the Cena retirement tour is going to be a lot for yeah anyone who watched wrestling during that time. So I'm excited for it, but I'm also terrified that they completely bought it. So WWE doesn't have the greatest track record on a farewell tours.
00:16:00
Speaker
But we're on a new era. We're in the Triple H era. You know what I mean? So we're in the Netflix era. Oh yeah. I forget. We need to go on the, we need to go on the Aeros tour. Cause I've, you know, yeah, we're in the Netflix era. Um, yeah, overall, I thought, I mean, I enjoyed it. I w again, I wasn't bitter about it. I thought it was going to be like WrestleMania light. Yeah, it was just a little bit too, too corporate for me. You guys know, I just, I don't like that kind of stuff. Like the ring mat just being just absolutely tatted up and the new ref shirts look like trash. I just, I don't know. Maybe it's me. Maybe it's a me problem. I don't really like change. Um, it just, it doesn't change that like shields out to
00:16:40
Speaker
corporate billionaire. It doesn't look like w WWE to me. That's the first thing I said to Ari when I saw the ring shirts in the ring. I was like, I started their own wrestling that like reminded me of like a boxing show that Jake Paul would put on like, that's what I felt like we were getting ready. 100% 100% I mean, the next thing you know, like Roman's gonna have freaking ah Snickers logo on his glove, tatted out with a Snickers logo. I think he was. yeah He wasn't wearing Nike's last night. He didn't have the Nike logo. Yeah, he was wearing he' wearing the Kobe's. I mean, he wasn't, they were in LA. So I mean, he did have to break out, break out the Kobe's. Um, but, uh, I thought the shoes were sick, but yeah, I'm already just, I'm bracing for shock for like the ring gear to be logoed up. Cause I mean, I just feel it coming, you know, like, Oh, Brock Lesnar's ring gear times a hundred. and
00:17:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Brock Brock can do whatever he wants. He's been doing it for years. He vibes. Yeah, he he all yeah he already came in with the USC vibe. So it was kind of like, you know, it was a natural thing. But I mean, I mean, just imagine seeing like Bianca Belair with like a freaking cricket mobile, you know, ring gear. Yeah, I like it. Just like, no. All right, you guys ready to get into the chickies? Oh, we hold on. We didn't talk about the the the the biggest part of the night. The return of the immortal one.
00:17:54
Speaker
Oh, they had to know better than I don't know what they were thinking about bringing out Hulk Hogan. Yeah. You're bringing them out in front of them by the most liberal city in America. Like, yeah, they said, hold up I mean, the Hulk's done himself no, no favors over the years, but they totally set him up for failure. Yeah. I mean, at least, you know, at least he went out there, made it brief and kind of just like duck back into the duck back into the thing. But he came back stage and was like, man, Jimmy, they were really booing you tonight. yeah What'd you do? What'd you do, brother? They didn't forget what you and earthquake did to me back in 90, brother. Wow. They should have pivoted, dude. They want to be smart. They should have known what was coming. They should have had Hulk tear off the first shirt and come out as Hollywood, dude, and just heal off on the fans. Yeah, I would have. I would have just cut it. That could be the next beer, dude. You could do Hulk Hogan's Real American. You could do Hollywood Hogan's IPA or something like that. Brown ale.
00:18:48
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah, there you go. Because it sounds like the, it does sound like the beer line has been pretty successful so far, man. All right, you guys ready to hit the chickies? Let's do it. Let's go.
Chickys Awards Highlights
00:18:59
Speaker
All right, so again, this is the chickies where we look back at 2024 and hand out some awards for our favorites of last year. We're going to start off with most improved wrestler of the year. Who wants to go first? I'll go first.
00:19:12
Speaker
Uh, I'm going to go with Naya. I just, Oh, that's a good one. She's not like most girls. Well, I think the biggest thing for her was like, when she came back, we were all like, Oh God, she's going to hurt half the women's division again. She really cleaned it up. Like I'm going to give her a ton of credit.
00:19:27
Speaker
It looked way better when she was in the ring. And not that I ever had a problem with this, but you could definitely tell she dropped a little bit of weight, so she was moving better. Yeah, she looks great. Yeah, she looks phenomenal. I was completely happy with her title reign. And I just felt like she worked on herself a lot. And you could definitely tell in her matches. So that's why I chose her. I thought she looked really good last year.
00:19:51
Speaker
All right, Marco, who did you have for most improved? um a Good thing I had a backup because I was going to go with Naya as well. And I thought I was going to get a crapped on for saying Naya. But I'm going to go with solo. Solo Sakoa. Yeah, yeah so kind of ah you know taking who on my shortlist taking the reins, no ah pun intended, after Roman left at WrestleMania and becoming the ah leader of the new bloodline and kind of carrying the storyline himself and taking it into his own and becoming his own his own man. um For sure. you know Recruiting the you know the the wild men, you know Jacob Fatu and the Tongas. So yeah, I'm going with Solo. I think he yeah he's definitely headed in ah and a world championship direction. I can definitely see him in the main event scene soon.
00:20:39
Speaker
I think Solo, he really got good when he stopped trying to be Roman and started showing more of his own personality, like kind of being kind of goofy. like so Still has an edge, right? He's still still scary and a little bit intimidating, but he was leading into some of the comedy and goofiness of him, kind of like a mix between like Roman and Jimmy Uso. And yeah, just a lot of great character work over the second half of the year. For me, I'm going with Liv Morgan, man. One was already pretty great, but I felt like she leveled up like two or three levels this last year, became a true main event wrestler, bringing it in the ring. Character work is awesome. Always looks like a million bucks. And I think she's a perm. You know, she had that little flirtation with the main event scene in 2022 when she cashed in on Rhonda. We saw her beat Rhonda at SummerSlam 2022, but it never felt for real. It felt like she was kind of just playing a part. um Now, I think she's going to be a permanent in the main event scene on the women's side of things in WWE.
00:21:29
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with that. and you know And on that note, I went with Dom. i had I had all the same people you guys did on my short list, but I'm going to go ahead and throw Dom out there yeah um because I just feel like his character work and his whole gimmick and his whole vibe and everything he's right and henry yeah everything has evolved so so well. And um you know from where he started back when he first came into the main roster, where he to me, it just felt like he was like playing a wrestler or he was just trying to be like this superhero.
00:21:56
Speaker
We thought he was only going to be around for that one storyline. We thought once the Rey Mysterio thing, that storyline ended, that he was just going to fade away into obscurity. Yeah, it never really clicked. And then, you know, him with mommy, like I absolutely loved him with Rhea Ripley. And then I feel like it just really leveled up even more when, ah you know, he left Rhea for Liv and it's it's been rolling ever since. Yeah, solid. Anybody got any thoughts on Dom's 2024?
00:22:20
Speaker
No, he he definitely got a lot better last year. And I agree with everybody's pick. I, I thought I seriously thought that was the four most obvious choices, honestly. Yeah. All right. We'll roll next category tag team of the year. I'll go first on this one. I'm going with fraxium at an NXT, Nathan Fraser and Axiom. I'll say this was a down year.
00:22:38
Speaker
For tag teams. Nobody really ran away with it. Those guys are the most consistent man. They had if you watch the NXT PLEs They always stole the show man. Like both those guys super athletic, especially Nathan Fraser. I think he's gonna be a really big deal once he goes solo But they just had an amazing year putting on banger after banger after banger won the won the belts lost the belts won them back and finished the year's NXT tag team champions So they're my pick I'll go next. i had this I don't know if this would be an unpopular opinion, but I had Jade and Bianca. um I feel like even though like the women's tag division's pretty depleted. It's like they just forget about it at times. They just forget about it, but I felt like Jade and Bianca breathed a little bit of life into it. They made it seem exciting. I thought it was a perfect transition for a Bianca Belair to kind of like just take her out of the main event, but still keep her relevant. It was the perfect way to get- They kayfabe their damn near unbeatable. Yeah, it was a perfect way to get Jade more reps and get her, you know, under Bianca's wing to, to just keep leveling up, leveling up performance wise. Um, unfortunately, you know, now we know that, you know, Jade may or may not be shoot hurt. So, uh, we got Naomi in there with Bianca, but I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with Jade and, uh, Jade and Bianca is tag team of the year.
00:23:48
Speaker
That was my runner up. I decided to go with the young bucks just because like Seth said, this was a down year. They won a shit ton of matches between February and October. They won the AEW tag titles when the AEW tag titles just didn't seem like they had anywhere to go um after they did the tournament. I just, I don't know, du the young bucks are just always consistent. Like they're easy to pick when they wrestle as much as they do on weekly television and stuff and Like they had one of the best matches of the year. with yeah and garby also Yeah. And then, uh, they also had one of the next best matches with FTR in the ladder match for the title. So it's just, yeah, this was a weird year for tag team wrestling. Like this is the most down year for tag team wrestling. I feel like in a long time. Yeah. Agreed. Marco.
00:24:40
Speaker
I'm going to go with, uh, we'll go with Fraxium. I'm going to piggyback off of you. I don't think there's any other tag team you can really pick, uh, for a tag team. Yeah, I think they're the undeniable like top. They're definitely most consistent, man. Yeah. They're the only ones that went like bell to bell January to December, like having a solid run, even the bucks, you know, they had that, you know, basically four month gap here at the end of the year where they weren't, weren't doing much, man, taking some time off. So yeah, we're here for tag teams for sure. All right. Let's go a few to the year. Ooh.
00:25:07
Speaker
I'm going to go with Drew Punk, dude. I feel like to me that was the feud of the year. That was the most entertaining to me. Obviously, we've been surfing the bloodline way for a very long time. There's nothing wrong with any of the feuds that go along with the bloodline, but I think something that just came out of obscurity was Drew injuring Punk at the Rumble. That was the best thing that happened to Drew McIntyre, dude. And punk also. And punk too, yeah, absolutely. A little bit of the Cody thing where you get hurt right when you get there. 100%. And they had just some absolute bangers of matches, you know, culminating in Hell in a Cell, which felt really deserving. We've kind of been critical on the show before about them just using Hell in a Cell as a gimmick.
00:25:45
Speaker
not really earning it, but I feel like they they really earned that Hell in a Cell match and they absolutely delivered. and ah i mean There was just some absolute comedic gold and just promos that were awesome and just just shit happening you know over and over and over again to ah to build that feud. so Yeah, I might be cheating a little bit as opposed to straight up Feud of the Year. This may be more like story of the year, but I'm just putting the whole bloodline saga man from the start of the year, Rock coming back, and everything with Rock and Roman coming together. Everything happened after with Solo bringing his crew in and turning against Paul and Roman's return and putting together the original bloodline. So I've kind of just gone with the overall bloodline saga because it's still been the the biggest deal in WWE for the past year. Jordan.
00:26:28
Speaker
I went with punk and drew as well. the yeah The only thing I got to add to what Sheena said is it did get a little hokey there in the middle when they were wrestling over a bracelet. The bracelet was a little much. You had it going on on both shows. You had ah the the main storyline on raw was all about a bracelet. The main storyline on SmackDown was all about a necklace. It was a year for jewelry. yeah Usually it's the year of the accessories. Yeah, accessories all around.
00:26:56
Speaker
Marco. Yeah, just that Punk and Drew. I don't think you'd, like I said, I don't think you'd get any better. Um, lackluster year for feuds as well. There hasn't been, usually there's multiple angles happening where you're kind of hard pressed to choose one, but yeah, that definitely stood out.
00:27:11
Speaker
ah about a You had a lot of start and, you know, start and stop. I feel like the elite thing was going to be huge. Then they kind of just put it on the shelf for the reason. It's something with the debt drivers. It feels like with the it feels like they're already kind of backing over, backing away from the, you know, takeover type aspects of the debt writers. And they're kind of just a, you know, another group of bullies. about Am I crazy on there or just seem like they're downplaying them want to take over the company? Yeah, I think so. Three, four weeks. i don't I don't think they got they didn't get chained to sign the dotted line so they can't go full force with the. ah with the higher power. Yeah, because mocks have been hitting at a higher power there for a while and it just never went anywhere. Hangman and carve was up there for me like that was awesome. That's a ton of gas. I mean, he started it. Literally had a time lot of that was in the deck. I kind of I feel like a lot of the beats on that were kind of 2023 also, though, you know. Yeah. Well, I mean, he burned his house down last year. Yeah, true. like I don't know how much more blood you get burned into his childhood house down.
00:28:09
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I just want to say like where Marco was saying there wasn't a lot of feuds I feel like it was kind of a good thing because we're so used to WWE wwe being so compartmentalized in their feuds Whereas like this year it was really just like ah an amalgamation of like, you know, everybody kind of in everybody's business and that's what it's best Yeah, that's when it's the best so there wasn't like these just individual like feuds that were like took took through three paper views cut off took through three paper views cut off like everybody's just kind of like That's why I'm with the bloodlines. I feel like they're kind of at the heartbeat of everything happening in WWE. You got like the Codyverse and you got the bloodline. That's kind of like the two big things. and everything Everything else kind of just branches off of that.
00:28:46
Speaker
All right, let's go show of the year. I'll go first. I'm going with AEW double or nothing. I felt like that was just an absolute perfect wrestling show. You had ultraviolet, you had comedy stuff, you had gimmick matches, you had amazing just entering bell to bell action. I thought that was like the absolute like just utopia of what a pro wrestling pay-per-view could be executed at the highest level. So I'm going to AEW double or nothing.
00:29:12
Speaker
Marco, what was your show of the year? oh I'm going to go i'm old Mania 40. Yeah, that was mine, too. Yeah, both nights. um Obviously, it was, I mean, obviously, overarching storyline with but the bloodline, you know, heading into night one and then into night two. So, yeah, I mean, and obviously, the other matches, you know, the cash-in.
00:29:30
Speaker
with Damian Priest and then the yeah kind of like the the beginning stages of CM Punk and Drew McIntyre. ah you know just That last match, my my son watches the ah Cody and Roman match like religiously for some reason.
WrestleMania 40 and Wrestling Highlights
00:29:46
Speaker
Like literally every day. be Yeah, because it was awesome. It was epic. It was everything. I mean, especially as a little kid, I mean, what more could you ask for? You know, i mean even as a grown-ass woman, I was like marking out. So I mean, if I was like, you know, six, seven, eight years old, I mean, i would your mind is blown. Like, why are you watching this? He's like, he's like because it's yeah because he doesn't like Cody. He like he loves Roman.
00:30:08
Speaker
So we're like, oh you see do you secretly love like Cody Rhodes now? And he's like, no, this match is just so crazy. I just can't stop watching it. So he's like, and I just watch it, rewatch it. And I'm like, yeah, that shit was kind of ah it was it was epic. It was an epic match, dude. it was I'm not sure if they'll be able to top it this year. but They probably won't. But yeah, it was just that whole storyline for the whole weekend. It wasn't just like they're two sectioned off Wrestlemanias. It was like literally both Wrestlemanias and something. Yeah, you had the tag match on night one and then Cody and Roman on night two. So yeah, I had Mania 40 as my show of the year two for all those reasons. I just felt like the show flowed. Both nights were great. Night two was especially great.
00:30:50
Speaker
um It felt like a big victory lap for WWE that weekend. Absolutely. Just really putting the Vince era in the past. Yeah. but Especially, especially when you think about how we got there, like how we got to Mania 40 was so chaotic. It was wild. Like, you know, it was supposed to be Cody and Roman and then the the fans turned. rock Then it was roman and yeah supposed to be Roman and Rock, and then you know the fans revolted, and they wanted Cody back. They somehow stuck the landing. Yeah, and then CM Punk gets hurt, which causes Seth to kind of get involved, and like so many things. like you know It was like all the plates were in the air, and somehow they didn't drop any, and you know everybody everybody came out better on the other side.
00:31:28
Speaker
I went with AEW All In. I just, I don't know man, i this is just like a show like I i think I'm just gonna remember for a while. just it wasn't I didn't feel like it was as good as last year's All In, but I still feel like this one was memorable.
00:31:44
Speaker
I mean, first of all, you had the Von Ericks on the pre-show, which automatically really cool to see all them, especially wrestling in London. You had the end of Mariah May and ah Tony Storm, which I loved that feud. So it ending that way was awesome to me. Osprey and MJF was really good. And then I enjoyed Jack Perry and Darby for what it was.
00:32:05
Speaker
I do not remember this match only being 10 minutes because they beat the piss out of each other for 10 minutes. And then you ended it with Brian Danielson beating Swerve for the title. That was awesome. I mean, I just, I felt like it like that ending to that show was just like perfect. And I still cannot believe they did all out right after that. I mean, that that will always baffle me why they were doing that show that close to each other. Cause all in was, I mean, it was nearly perfect. So yeah, I, I really enjoyed that show.
00:32:35
Speaker
Yeah, I thought that was a really good show. We were driving back from Texas that day, so I had to watch it on delay. So obviously, I had the full enjoyment, because ah you know by the time I watched it, I already knew everything that had happened. So I didn't get the full experience. But yeah, it's ah it's always fun seeing that huge stadium show and seeing somebody besides WWE put on the big stadium show like that. All right, let's go figure of the year. Jordan already knows mine. If you guys listen to our episode with the Fig guys last week, I picked Ultimate Edition Oscar. I thought this was just an absolutely tremendous figure. Yep, mine's the same.
00:33:04
Speaker
Oh, twinsies. I have two. I'm going to see what Marco's is, and then if he doesn't pick the other one, I'll give him my honorable mention. But um I have the Captain Lou Legends. I thought that was just an awesome addition to the figure collection. I mean, it may not have been the best like you know most ornate or you know best executed like the Oscar. You know what I mean? It's hard to mess up an Oscar figure. I don't know. Captain Lou's pretty perfect. But it was it was perfect. It was a perfect like portrayal of Captain Lou. They don't got to do another Captain Lou. Yeah, exactly. It's they nailed it. it's We got it. um It's been something that we've been you wanted. We've been talking about every time we're like, you know, what do we want to see at, um you know, Ringside Fest or whatever we want to see, you know, at Comic Con or whatever. We always say we want a Captain Lou. Now we have it. We can mark it off the list. They did a great job. And I'm going to pick that as my my figure of the year for that reason. What about you, Marco?
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah, mine was tough. I was kind of a late edition. We can't pick two figures. I'll pick one out of the it was a two pack. It was the Ultimate Warrior and Papa Shango to pack but I'm going with the Papa Shango as my figure of the years. Yeah, that was dope man. Warrior in that pack was really, really great on its own. Yeah. That's another, the Papa Shango was just no notes. Perfect figure. Yeah, dude. That, that right there. I guess I was going to pick the warrior one because obviously about warrior Mark and it had the, the face paint, the beautiful chalk line jacket as well. Yeah. Chalk line jacket and all that stuff. Yeah. It was a, like I said, late edition, but I'm going with, uh, either one of those. So I'll, I'll say their one figure.
00:34:38
Speaker
We'll go with that for me. Yeah. For my, for my honorable mention, I had the punk, uh, defining moments. I thought that was just a perfectly, a perfectly executed figure that we we needed from the, the pipe bomb and the little, the little, um, blowing, you know, the kissy face I thought was really cool in the open hand and all that. So.
00:34:55
Speaker
yeah We talked about the Ultimate Edition and the defining moments. The defining moments was the pipe bomb. Yeah. edition was oh yes The defining moments. Thank you. The defining moments. Yeah, conflating the two figures. Yeah, maybe I'm im i'm making a melding. Yeah, the defining moments was much needed because as great as the Ultimate Edition was, it was a re-release of Elite 16, CM Punk, just highly, highly upgraded. The pipe bomb, was you know that was the first time we got that figure. Yeah, so that's what ah that's what I had on my list.
00:35:21
Speaker
All right, let's get to moment of the year. you know it's all it you know To quote Vince McMahon, it's not about the matches, it's about the moments. I'll go first. I was there in person, so I'm definitely biased to this one, but I think it holds up. Sting's retirement, man. Sting's sting's last match, Sting's retirement. ah you know People criticize Tony Khan. We've been highly critical of AEW over the years. some of the stuff the the bit you know It seems like they have big, big hits, but also, you know, big misses to go along with them. But one thing that you absolutely cannot criticize them was Bulletproof was the way they treated Sting, his entire run there that last, um that last, you know, three years plus. And then just a perfect ending to it as well, man. Like it was great, dude. It just further solidified that, you know, Sting is the the second best ever besides Brett the Hitman Hart. And it was just a magical night there in ah in Greensboro.
00:36:12
Speaker
other than the parking lot. I was going to say. It was such an amazing moment and such an amazing night that it wasn't even spoiled by that. I still had a smile on my face going to bed that night, even after knowing that I had an absolute nightmare waiting for me when I got home with Sheena's wrath because I busted out the back glass on her van. Did I give you wrath about it? No, you didn't. Aside from the initial reaction, all things considered, you were pretty cool.
00:36:38
Speaker
I went with stings last match as well. I just, I mean, when you look back at 2024, I feel like that's always going to be something that stands out to you. Just like with what Seth said. I mean, that was the perfect send off for staying. Like they just, they nailed the the last four months, especially. I just, I felt like they did such a good job with sting send off. So yeah, I went with that as well.
00:37:02
Speaker
Marco. and Yeah, there's there's a lot of there's a lot of good, a lot of crazy moments that happened. I'm going to go with, I think I'm going to with, yeah, this is tough. It's a tough one. um I'm going to go with Brian Danielson.
00:37:19
Speaker
at AEW All in London, winning the AEW World Championship. I think that's, you know, if that was his last match, which it may be, I did that kind of, you know, I think he can go out knowing that, you know, he wrestled his ass off.
00:37:35
Speaker
and da You know, he got to do it in front of a, you know, a large, a very large crowd. Anyway, he did it his way. He did idiot yo he went out on his own merit. He wasn't told. that he said the shaking i literally say oh god as you were doing that i love that i love the why I love that addition to it. Runner up would you know run her up would have been, you know, Cody Rhodes finishes his story, but That was mine. Yeah. I had, uh, I had Cody Rhodes finishing the story. I think that, I mean, to me, that was just perfect. I was, I was absolutely gobsmacked that they did it, um, do it at 39 and just thought there was absolutely no way that Cody was going to recover. So the fact that he spent the entire next year rebuilding and just being better than ever, um, and really proving that he belonged in that WrestleMania match against Roman Reigns.
00:38:25
Speaker
um And defeating him in a match that was just of that magnitude and that madness, I thought was just amazing. And then that the call by Samantha Ervin at the end just really just put a nice little bow on it to show how incredible and emotional it was.
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, i you can't argue with that. like we We've said it before. That could have been the series finale of wrestling, and it would have been a totally proper ending. just they they gave us it was It was overbooked and ridiculous, but it somehow worked for for that storyline. Yeah, so you can't can't hate on on any of those choices. All right, we're to the the big ones, man, the big three, the creme de la creme. We'll go first. We'll go female wrestler of the year.
00:39:05
Speaker
I had Liv Morgan. I think, I mean, she just had the, the Liv revenge tour was absolutely epic. It was everything that you wanted it to be. Liv is finally just like being her true self. I feel like, I feel like it feels so organic. um You know, Liv has always had a grassroots type of ah support, but I feel like she really earned the, the mass fan support with um this revenge tour and everything she's done with the judgment day and Dom and the matches she's had with Rhea and everything. Just chef's kiss.
00:39:35
Speaker
I'm going with a little bit more of ah a deeper cut, man. She's single-handedly responsible for the little bit of interest that Ring of Honor is still able to get on a week-to-week basis. I'm going with Athena, the the former Ember Moon. She's been, the entire year, she's the Ring of Honor Women's Champion. I'm telling you, like she's carrying that brand right now. She's main event in most of their pay-per-views, putting on amazing matches with people that a lot of folks have never even heard of, and it's ridiculous to me that she's not being used on the main roster on AEW, so I'm going with Athena.
00:40:04
Speaker
Jordan. I went Tony storm. I just, I, love Tony was really, really good this year. I loved everything about it. Um, I'm glad we got her back at the end of the year, back to old Tony storm again, even though I did love every time. Just everything about her character was awesome. I just, her promos got better and better every week. I felt like, and they really did build something special with her and Mariah and having Luther there and everything. I just, I loved everything about her this year. For sure.
00:40:35
Speaker
Marco. Um, I'm going to go with, uh, I'm going to go to Roxanne Perez, uh, NXT. Um, just, you know, she, you know, stand and deliver. She won the championship. Um, just lost it recently, obviously tonight on NXT, um, against Julia. I mean, she's faced. Then Lola vice, uh, pretty much that hold like women's division there. There's no, there's no one left her to beat everyone. I mean,
00:41:04
Speaker
Except for Stephanie, um, but, um, yeah, I mean, she's, like I said, she's, she's definitely held her own. I definitely think she's going to head to the main roster. Like this is probably this upcoming year. Um, yeah, I think she's, you know, you know, with just that main event match that she had when when they were doing that crossover with TNA her and Jordan grace. I think that kind of for me, put, put me over as that she's like, kind of like a serious deal. yeah Um, it's a real deal.
00:41:33
Speaker
All right. We guys are ready to move on to match of the year. Yeah. Did we do, oh, we're not doing male wrestler the year first. That's going to be last year. What do you got for your match of the year? Uh, match of the year. I got Cody and Roman at WrestleMania 40. Again, I talked about it before, kind of alluding to it in different categories, but I just feel like, like Sess said, it could have been the serious finale of wrestling and it would have been totally fine with me. Just some unexpected turns. Um, yeah, perfect match.
00:42:00
Speaker
I had double or nothing as my favorite show and a big reason why was Will Ospreay and Swerve from that event, man. I thought that match was tremendous. It had some violence. It had crazy athleticism, some awesome back and forth at a great finish. Solidified Swerve as the man in AEW. And to be honest, I think that was the best match in AEW history, man. Swerve and Will Ospreay from double or nothing this year, which is saying a lot because pretty much every time Will Ospreay went out there this year, he was putting on a match of the year contender.
00:42:30
Speaker
Jordan, I went with Cody and Roman as well. I just, I don't know. It's it's kind of rare that you do WrestleMania 39, like Sheena said earlier, and we all just came off that thinking there's no way they can ever build this dude back to what he was. And somehow 40 was even bigger than 39 and having the rock involved in it and just all the, the run-ins, just the the randomness of it, have an undertaker come out to help Cody. It was just.
00:42:59
Speaker
I don't know, just still looking back on it. It's like the most wild night of wrestling ever. Like you said, really could have easily been like, okay, this is the end of wrestling as we know it. And I think everybody would have been okay with it. I mean, it just, yeah, it was, it was special. And I was worried that they were going to make Cody drop the belt.
00:43:17
Speaker
in the summer. And then I felt like they would have wore off some of the the shine of this match, but the fact that he still has the belt, it's still going to hold up forever now. So yeah, um that this was a pretty easy choice for me. Marco.
00:43:33
Speaker
I am going with the yeah what Brian Danielson and Will Ospreay at AEW Dynasty for my match of the year, I think. um um I was going to go with the the match with Swerve, obviously, because I picked that as my moment of the year. But I think that match between them two is it like just that last, like like if you like because I want to rewatch it again, like the last 10 minutes of that match is freaking it's definitely go back to what don't watch the the the whole match is super long if you don't have the time don't do it just skip to the last like 10 minutes and you'll see why it's uh for me match of the year um just so you know that just hit him with a tiger ja tiger driver 97 um and then the hidden blade to like you'll cap off the match um it says yeah definitely go back and watch it it's it's
00:44:24
Speaker
To me, that was like one of the best matches, not just of last year, just in recent memory anyway. Spoiler alert, my match of the year for 2025 has already happened. It was a Kenny Omega and Gabe Kidd on Saturday night. Oh my God, yes. That was a wild match. Holy shit, that match was crazy.
00:44:43
Speaker
ah Hey, so now that we've had about nine months to digest it, I'll finish this one for Sheena and Jordan since they both had as their match of the year. So now we've had about nine months to digest. Assuming money's not an issue and WWE just had their choice of them, do you think that it was the right call to have Undertaker instead of Austin for the the main event run-in?
00:45:02
Speaker
that that the final. I think Austin told them no, dude. I really do. He did. It came out, yeah, that they can... Even up to Thursday of that week, i know ah they were still in negotiations with him and ultimately Austin's probably... I think Austin's didn't want to do it and gave him a number that was they were never going to meet. i i but like That's what I'm saying, assuming that it was their choice. Yeah. I think Taker was the right choice because Taker is one of those entities that... kid like He just came, he did his choke slam, and then he was gone. Whereas like Austin, he's not just going to give you a stunner and then leave. He's got to make his rounds. He's getting beers pitched to him. I feel like Austin takes away from Cody. Yes, 100%. I don't think it fit that moment. I think that Undertaker fit that moment better than Steve Austin, because Steve Austin's got to close the show. It would have been crazy. I mean, I would have been going nuts, dude. Like, you couldn't help but feel it, dude. Like, when The Rock came out and they cleared everybody out. I was about to whoop Cody's ass. Like, you're waiting for it, dude. You could almost hear that glass breaking. In that moment, I wanted it, yeah. But I think it would have been, it wouldn't have been as bad, but I think it would have been similar to when Mankind won the belt the first time. Nobody remembers Mankind winning the belt. They remember that pop when Austin's music hits and comes out and, you know, clears out the corporation.
00:46:11
Speaker
One of my favorite moments ever in wrestling man, but you know It feels like mankind when the belt is almost secondary to when Austin's music hitting and coming out and you know I don't think that's I don't say as an insult Cody I
Cody Rhodes' Challenges and Future Predictions
00:46:23
Speaker
say it more is just it's just a credit to Steve Austin do the connection that he has with the fans has lived on You know, we're we're coming up on almost 30 years past his heyday Yeah, I just I think it would have took away a little bit from Cody Undertakers like yeah undertakers his own separate thing and yeah, really you know it's I don't know. I feel like under i felt like it worked as great and as amazing as it would have been. It would have been bonkers. I mean, it it would have been a damn near riot in that building when Austin's music hit. um But I feel like it was kind of it was maybe clear with The Undertaker. Yeah. I mean, I think the go the gong and the glass break are two of the most iconic, just like entrance moments, like in wrestling period.
00:47:00
Speaker
But I think it was a cool surprise too, because people weren't expecting it. Yeah, people weren't expecting it. And like you like I said, it's just a different energy. Like when when you hear the glass break, you're ready to just kick some ass, right? Like you're just ready to like, says so you're ready to riot. Whereas like when you hear the gong, your immediate thought is like, oh, shit. You know what I mean? Like, you're just kind of like, what's going to happen? And I think that's what we needed in that moment. Yeah, I think one of the main reasons I didn't think Austin was going to come out is because he's talked about like him and the rocks feud like numerous times on his podcast. And he just said every time it's been offered to him, he just felt like they couldn't can capture the magic the same way now, obviously, because Austin's not a full time wrestler. And he said he didn't want to try to like overdo anything if they were trying to do it again.
00:47:43
Speaker
Looking back on it, though, I know it's he's not as big, obviously, as the Undertaker. I still wish Tony Khan and Triple H could have worked some out to have Dustin be the last person out to the right. Or even if Dustin just came out for the celebration at the end. yeah I mean, even if Dustin or Dustin slides in some brass knuckles, did he would ah dust Dustin needed to be there, man.
00:48:04
Speaker
Yeah, Tony would have just talked on like 10 more years for his contract if he showed up there, so better he didn't. But I i was going to say, still so cold isn't a pop in guy. I think, kind of like Sheena said, it's a different energy. I don't think Stone Cold can just show up and then he leaves. He has to have a match.
00:48:20
Speaker
It's a whole, it's a whole performance. Yeah. He really hasn't. Yeah. I mean, you think about it, dude, he's come back for a couple of raw reunions and the thing with Kevin Owens and that's really it, man. He hasn't, he hasn't got involved in anything storyline whatsoever since he, uh, kind of since that stint as commissioner ended back in, uh, what was that? Like 2004, 2005. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's get to the finale. Oh boy. Wrestler of the year.
00:48:49
Speaker
Who wants to go first? Okay. Go Jordan. Uh, I went Cody. I mean, I, I just don't know how we, I can't pick him. I mean, he was the first wrestler to win back to back men's Royal Rumble matches since stone cold in 97, 98.
00:49:04
Speaker
he ended Roman's reign. Um, he had a feud with the rock in that timeframe. He defended his title against AJ Styles, Logan Paul, Solo, and Kevin Owens. And then he teamed with Roman, uh, to beat Solo and Jacob Fattoo at bad blood and also beat Goon third to win the crown jewel championship. Like, yeah I mean, like what what what are we doing? and I'm right there with you, man. Cody was the top guy for WWE in a year where they made more money than they've ever made. So he's got the business side of it, which he's always had. And they're like sitting K-fabe. He ended the the greatest championship run of the modern era. He's the one that ended it and did it in grand fashion and doesn't look like his runs in it anytime soon. I fully expect him to keep that championship through WrestleMania. ah So I agree, man. Cody.
00:49:55
Speaker
I mean, yeah, Cody is my obvious choice. If I'm just going to like, you know, just not be a contrarian. Yeah. If I want to be a bit of a contrarian, um, I'm going to say, I would, I would say Drew, I would say Drew was probably my wrestler of the year. I know that's a probably a stretch for most people because it was kind of like, so he won the championship at WrestleMania, won money in the bank, he won money in the bank match of the year, had the, the what's widely considered match of the year, few to the year. I know, but it's just hard when you, when you compare him to Cody, like it's like, you know, Cody's like the most. I feel like, I feel like that, but yeah, creatively, dude, drew had a great year. In a lot of ways he was, you know, aside from the bloodline, drew was kind of the one individual that was like, yes. And I feel like Drew's, Drew's whole thing was like self-made, right? Like Cody was the chosen one. Cody was like, you know, he's. He's the prodigal son. And then you have Drew who is like, he's just doing his own thing. And he's really creating his own character and his own feud. And I feel like he elevated CM Punk to a level that like, I mean, even I was like, damn, you know, CM Punk is, is doing good things, right? Like I- He's the biggest sore loser in wrestling. Yeah. Him and Hangman, they're in a fight to be the biggest sore loser in all of wrestling.
00:51:02
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, I thought Drew had some just absolutely incredible matches. He's still, I mean, he's still going strong, uh, you know, at the beginning of, of 2025. So, uh, Drew, ah Drew is going to be my pick if I, if I he can't pick Cody.
00:51:15
Speaker
Mark-up. I think it should have been unanimous. It's Cody. There's really no one else. I mean, you could go with Drew. You could go with Osprey. He had a pretty good year. You could go with Gunther. You could go with Seth. I mean, there's a question. You really got to convince yourself just to go to somebody besides Cody. Cody was falling away, dude.
00:51:37
Speaker
Cody's just, igra you know, me, I mean, I'm the resident Cody guy, so I'm not going to pick anyone else, but he, I mean, he definitely proved he had a, I mean, Jordan already listed all the accomplishments. So there's no, nothing nothing else to say about that really. The one thing, the one thing that took it down a notch for me was the kind of just like wedge drew in there for me is that Cody, like at the, at the beginning of the year, I guess it's more of like a recency bias, right? So like at the beginning of the year, it was just like,
00:52:04
Speaker
Cody is the freaking, like I said, the prodigal son, um, king of the mountain, killed Roman Reigns, sent him away. And then it just kind of like stalled out for me a little bit. Like yeah Kevin Owens stuff was okay. Like, you know what I mean? It just kind of like, it was a little bit stagnant. Um, I mean, Cody's still, I mean, he's still Cody Rhodes. He's still amazing. Like you said, he won the, um, the what was the crown jewel crown jewel he won the crown jewel title um but it just didn't feel as important as he felt at the beginning of the year i mean i'll keep it real yeah like i said i he i just gave him my wrestler of the year based kind of on kayfabe and the business stuff but dude the more time goes on man because he definitely it seems like he's running out of a little bit of steam at least creatively it seems like roman's back via the
00:52:45
Speaker
the face of the the franchise or whatever. I feel like Cody, he's just a big part in the Bloodline story, man. is he It seems like anytime Cody moves away from the Bloodline, he becomes significantly less interesting. Yeah, he was i mean exactly. i feel like I feel like we felt it when he wasn't feuding with Roman. He was feuding or teaming with Roman. And it's almost like when you get what you want, right? like the whole the Cody's whole gas was that he was trying to finish the story. And then once he once he finished the story, it's like,
00:53:13
Speaker
Okay, well you got what you wanted, now what? Right? And not saying that anything he's done is bad since then, but it's just like, it like says that it's significantly less interesting than what he was doing before. I think part of that also in his defense is like the slow booking style of Triple H because like, dude, how have we not gotten Cody and Randy yet? Like there's so much ground to cover there. Like Jordan, what do you think they're waiting on? Is that going to be something we see post-Mania and like carries us through SummerSlam? Because that's a big money match. That could totally be a Mania main event. I think Cody's going to go through the retirement tour with Cena and Randy Orton and all those guys. Like he's going to go through that phase of his title reign here. I think the other thing too, that is important is we have never seen that title on TV as much as we have in the last year. And I feel like that watered it down a lot too. I mean dude Cody wrestled like I think they said something like 45 matches or maybe even more than that after WrestleMania like he was on TV every week. That was one of the biggest things with Roman is like they made you miss Roman like he wasn't on for a month and I think that's one of the things that hurts Cody for
00:54:23
Speaker
what we're talking about here is cause we just saw him all the time. Like there, there's, there's no missing him. And you know what? right He lived up to everything that he said he was going to do though. He said he was going to be on weekly TV every week. He was going to wrestle every week and he did it every week. I mean, he,
00:54:39
Speaker
There's no way to feel larger than life when you're being exposed every week, yeah right? Like, it's just like, you just can't, there's just impossible to do. And that's not a discredit to him. I just think anybody, I think even if Roman, if Roman was on TV every week, there would be no way that he would carry the same aura and energy. I mean, we saw that for, you know, six years before he went to the, right care yeah yeah, exactly. Exactly. I mean, the last four days of 2024, Cody wrestled Kevin Owens in a house show in a steel cage match every one of the days of the last four days of 2024. Like,
00:55:09
Speaker
Yeah, it just works. Yeah, it it gets watered down at the end. I feel like that's the biggest thing you can say about it. All right, team, we got any listener mail? I thought we were going to do who will be the wrestler of the year 2025. Oh, yep. Good call. All right. Yeah. So last last bonus category, let's go around and say who is going to be wrestler of the year for 2025. I'll go first. I think this farewell tour is going to put food on the table for the entire WWE all year long, man. yeah you morning I mean, it's got me to the point where, you know, if he's advertised for this episode of, I can't remember, see the Raw or SmackDown, it's coming to Memphis in March, man, on the road to WrestleMania.
00:55:45
Speaker
As soon as advertised, I'm probably going to go ahead and suck it up and scoop the family tickets so we can see Cena one last time on this tour. So I'm going to go John Cena, man. I don't know if he's going to have the most in-ring success, but I think when all said and done, I think he is going to be the most memorable part of 2025. What are you talking about? I thought you said it was a guarantee you were going to the Royal Rumble. What happened? We saw the ticket prices grow. They're not going down either.
00:56:08
Speaker
I was fully expecting to ah i was fully expecting to like like break the you know quote unquote break the bank man and spend some serious cash. It was even beyond what my like upper limit was. du yeah to me because i'm not de I'm not going just to get in the building man. I don't got to have where I can... you know smell the BO coming off the Viking Raiders, dude. But I just i at least want to have like a solid experience. You know where we like to sit at, Jordan. Yeah, a little lower bowl action. I'm totally cool with being somewhere in the lower bowl, dude. And it's just it's ridiculous, dude. you know Even if it was just me and Sheena, it'd be bad enough. But you try to take the little ones, man. like it's The kids are big enough wrestling fans now, dude, that like the guilt would totally kill any of my joy if we went just me and Sheena.
00:56:50
Speaker
um And it's just out of the price range, dude. And they they made the product so good at home with the 4K, TV, and everything, dude. There's just no way to justify it, man. You know what I mean? like Yeah, we could swing it, dude. But like if it was anything less than like just an absolute like you know once in a decade type show, like I would just be like, God, I can't believe I spent that. Exactly. I mean didn dropped a mortgage payment. And that's me. Yeah, exactly. I'm thinking like, you know, all the groceries and all the, you know, payments and all the things. Like I said, man, it's the the prices. I talked about this on the to plug, our Good Buddies Turnbuckle Tavern, man. I was on the debate with them back first week of December.
00:57:25
Speaker
And we talked about it, man. I mean, not that me and Sheena are rich by any means, but we're you know we're financially comfortable, dude. And we're as big a wrestling fans as there are. And even I'm like, bonking at these prices, dude. I don't know who these people are that are buying these tickets. maybe I feel like maybe I'm not as big a wrestling fan as I thought I was. ah you know i just you know They're still selling out, man. So maybe maybe we're spoiled. We've been to enough shows that it's just not as big a deal for us as it used to be. But the Rumble tickets was just an eye opener, man. like Like I said, they were just i I was planning on spending way more than I should on these tickets and it was still I mean what we paid for like some prime, you know SummerSlam and like maybe it's like that's they're like getting us way up in the yeah we spent with yeah when me and you and in Jordan and our when we all went to SummerSlam like our combined price we spent to get in the building We'll probably buy you one decent ticket to the rumble this year yeah Yeah, I went to the St. Louis Rumble and I looked back our tickets were like 240 and they were dead center on with the ring in the lower bowl. And I felt like that was an okay deal for those same seats in indian Indianapolis. It's almost a grand like that is not paying that dude. like know they what had They really so one prices across everything's going up, but david they need to be really smartened up to how much people love sitting in that hundred section and for the longest time.
00:58:43
Speaker
The floor seats was where all your premium pricing was, right? Even if you're 30 rows back, it was like, if you're on the floor, you're paying more, dude. And the it was kind of like a little well-known secret, man. they Dude, get the tickets in the hundreds. it's goingnna You're going to have great viewpoints on the ring and it's not going to be nearly as expensive.
00:58:58
Speaker
Um, that's and I feel like wwe finally caught on to that dude because now the the hundreds are bait The the whole lower bowl seating is yeah it's it's put into like the premium tier man And then so yeah, like I said you're in the you're getting into like the 300 or 400 sections if you're trying to spend you know Just 150 200 bucks to get in the building You so far away at that point, dude, it's like how much are you really gonna remember our riser seats? Yeah, yeah how how much how risen we were off of the floor those tickets were only like 152 looking yeah and that wasn't bad Yeah, those are so many tickets for dad was only 10 years ago. Do you know so many tickets were cheap to do?
00:59:34
Speaker
And that was the best man ever. was Such an incredible mania. Awesome. yeah Yeah. I'm looking right now. I'm depressed thinking I might never go to another time. I'm looking right now and the, the sixth row in the 100 sections directly ah head on with the ring are $1,292 before fees.
00:59:52
Speaker
And the thing about it is is like you think about ticket prices. like yeah If you're just like, OK, I'm going to have this experience for $2,000, whatever. But dude, we have to drive there. We have to stay the night, hotel. You want the merch. You want the experience. You're going to be going to other things. you know dropping for but Your tickets prices are probably going to be about 50% of your trip, dude. but Yeah, you're eating out every single meal. like it's just it's It's bananas, dude. Yeah, it sucks, dude. I'm bummed because it would have been fun to go to Rumble, but it's just there there's i just know there's no way I would enjoy it, dude. you know i mean Even if we did just bite the bullet and say, screw it, let's go. Like like I said, unless you know Steve Austin came back at number 30 and won the Rumble, man, like i'm not ah I'm not going to feel like I got my money's worth.
01:00:32
Speaker
for sure. um I'll go next. I think the wrestler of the year for 2025 is going to be, I hate to say it because you guys know I hate this mofo CM Punk. I think it's going to be his year. he's healthy if he If he stays healthy, which is a big, big, he's definitely going to get, he's in better shape than he's ever been. I think as far as just like his in ring ability and his strength and muscle and all the things, right? I think he's going to take Guthrie's belt here pretty soon. I think, yeah, I think he's going to become the champion. And I also, I mean, I don't know if it's not going to be this mania, but I feel like, you know, he's going to be on the path to get his main event ah at mania. I think he is. I think he's going to take that belt from Gunther before mania. I man it's go i think he's, I think he's defending the belt against Roman and we're going to get a big storyline. You know, where's Paul's allegiance at? You know, Paul, yeah punk always says, Oh yeah, because I forgot about the
01:01:19
Speaker
He owes him a favor. with What if they take that into mania, dude? And it's punk versus punk defending that world. you know yeah It's open. It's transfer windows open too. So they can totally move Roman over to raw.
01:01:31
Speaker
um and you And you get Roman and, ah Roman and Punk for that World Heavyweight Championship, man. I think that'd be a way to elevate that belt even further. I think they've done a great job with that belt through the first, you know, almost two years now of it. And I think him and, him and Roman for that belt would be excellent, man. I think that's what we're getting. That tracks and that makes sense. So yeah, I think it's definitely going to be the the year of Punk.
01:01:54
Speaker
Marco yeah didn't, uh, didn't Roman call that title the second place title at one point. So I'm not sure if he wants to win that, that one. He kind of buried it that whole last year during that WrestleMania run.
01:02:05
Speaker
But it's been elevated now. You can write off anything. If it was more than three months ago, you can just wreck on it. Yeah, they literally just like squashed Rock and Cody on a global audience. You know what I mean? So like, you know, anything is possible. You just met in black. Yeah. And they're going to put a be dazzled end for Netflix on that title. Like, dude, it's going to be awesome. You guys. Oh, my God. There's going to be a Netflix title. I just thought about that. The TBS title. Yeah, there's going to be a Netflix. Oh, my God. Instead of big diamond end. I'm going to go Drew McIntyre as my Russell of 2025. I think he's going to be the one to take on because obviously we're not going to get the final boss this year. And I think the person close to the final boss in his promos, what he does in-ring and online, I think is going to be Drew McIntyre. I think he's one of the championship at some point next year. I'm not sure from who.
01:03:00
Speaker
Maybe Cody, maybe he gets switched over to Smackdown at some point, which I think they are going to do. It seems like that anyway. And he's in a feud with Cody and get that title from him, I think, or something. I can see it. But yeah, it's true. So where are we punting? Where are we punting Rock? Like, what's the deal? He's got movies coming up, man. Yeah, he's busy. Moana too is a hit. He's growing that beard for a role for a movie. So he's going to be doing another movie.
01:03:26
Speaker
he's a you know promote i think he's doing to netflix movies too so he came li it back to david to be a big reason he had that accident last year's because black aden was such a bomb he had to do a little bit of a image rehab i said that i said that on i said that i wrote and i said that whole thing was a hollywood audition that whole yeah last run that he did was a show that he can have range and he can do any type of acting. And look, he got that role and that, uh, you know, that biopic with, um, the smashing machine, I think at the MMA fighter's name. So like that's, that's all that was for. That was, that was kind of like his like way of his demo tape, essentially get back in Hollywood.
01:04:05
Speaker
I just feel like we're really playing with fate, dude. I feel like all the cover this may this may never happen. It's definitely got potential to be the next sting in Undertaker match. Like just an all-time dream match that made all the sense in the world on paper and the stars just never aligned for it. it it's It's totally, there' that's there's a very real possibility that we never get that match. I feel like them saying all that shit to McAfee, you're running all that shit off about like how much Samoan dynasty he is and all that stuff. And him putting the Ola Fala Ola Fala on ah Roman. I just
01:04:39
Speaker
Dude, I think if it does happen, I'm dead serious. I think it happens in Saudi next year at rumble. I think that makes the most sense, but I would not be surprised if rock never wrestled again. Honestly, this yeah plan think get yeah the way they the way they did it last night, they totally had it where it makes sense either way. That could have been the final thing between him and Roman, but they, they left just enough meat. He was totally, he was totally playing Dwayne last night. and Yeah. Yeah. He was not the rock. does He was does he definitely no final boss. Does either one of them need it? That's the other thing. like does Roman doesn't need the rub from Rock. to be roman indian I mean, the Rock obviously doesn't need it. I feel like Roman needs dude i feel to I don't know if Roman needs it. I've said this before, dude. I feel like, I mean, yeah, it's not going to kill him if it never happens. but
01:05:21
Speaker
In so many ways, dude, from the time Roman debuted back at Survivor Series 2012, everything he's done has been building to a match with him and Rock, dude. like it's just It's always been in the background, dude. like so i For kayfabe purposes, I do feel like it needs to happen. Obviously, if it never happens, Roman's still in the mix for... I think he's in the mix for greatest of all time, dude, at least in kayfabe, man, with everything he's accomplished, all the WrestleMania main events.
01:05:47
Speaker
Um, but, but yet I, I do think Roman needs to match for it to really just submit his legacy, man. I could just picture it. The Roman telling the rock he's a loser cause he couldn't get him over at Royal Rumble in Philadelphia. yeah I can just like hear the promo right now. Like you old loser, you has been, you couldn't even get me over when I needed you. well I honestly would not be surprised if that's the, I mean, we'll see the rock obviously again, but I,
01:06:16
Speaker
I just, I don't know, dude, everything about last night and tonight make me feel like he was giving everybody the final rub and like now he's going to go off. No screen-chicken, man. Yeah, it's just- Yeah, even tonight on NXT, he was very just like, you know, casual corporate feeling. He's just putting everybody over. Yeah, he's afforded directors. He can't really, I mean- Last year he was still he was still he was telling Seth Rollins. He was gonna make his title. Yeah disappear It was awesome if the last thing we really get a rock was that run last year. You can't top it. That's I'll never forget seeing the rock concert live in Memphis. Yeah, it was great Um, my wrestler of the year for 2025 is all hinging on one person and his name is Tony Khan that he doesn't fuck this up. I'm going Kenny. I feel like, dude, I feel like we're going to get Kenny and Ocada and AWW. I feel like we're going to get Osprey and Kenny and AWW. Like I, there's just so many matches for Kenny to wrestle now. Cause there's been a lot of people that came in since he got hurt.
01:07:18
Speaker
I mean, if anybody needs it, it's a W right now. Like they need Kenny to come back and be the man. If I'm Tony, I'm scrapping anything else at this point. Like dude, put the belt on Kenny. Like yeah and it'd be cool. Cause you know, Kenny took the belt for mocks before, but as a heel, he had cheating with Don Cal. So this would be cool. You know, run it back. But this time it's a baby face. Kenny taking it from a heel moxley, man. I think they, I think that's, I think there's a lot of juice there. yeah I'm scrapping. anything else. After what I saw on Saturday night, I told Seth back before that match chart, I'm like, dude, I really don't know what we're going to see. This dude was wrestling like he hadn't missed a day of work. like yeah just I don't know how many nights he's got like that in him, but for that night, he was definitely back at Prime Kenny, dude. not not Not a beat missed, man. Yeah. All right, Shane, we got listener mail? We got one. All right, let's hit it.
01:08:09
Speaker
This comes in from our buddy, the hidden gym, Matt Carlos.
Wrestling Music and 2025 Speculations
01:08:12
Speaker
He says, who has your favorite theme music in 2024? He said Dom Mysterio Solo is a banger. Favorite theme music, man. I kind of like the Death Riders theme, dude. It's really good. I feel like that's a pretty wicked little theme, dude. That little guitar riff, man. So I'll go to Death Riders.
01:08:31
Speaker
I kind of like Shinsuke's new, new, uh, music dude. I feel like it's very, very perfect for him. And obviously I've heard it a million times because my son Brett loves it and he makes me play it every time I get in the van. But, uh, I like Shinsuke's specifically his like pay-per-view, like where he uses the little, little extra oomph on it, you know? Swerves will always be my favorite now. Like they just, oh yeah I just love Swerves music. It just gets you jacked for a match when you hear Swerves music.
01:08:58
Speaker
Yeah, I've heard Swerve's music probably a thousand times. And it never gets old. And it never gets old. I'm always swerving, dude. You know, like CEO, CEO. That's on the list for the worst. that's that's That's at the top of the list for the worst music. Especially, it's a, 2024 was a bad year for CEOs. So I would say that's not the best year.
01:09:20
Speaker
at the best yeah for the same we to scrap that music aap i am here that's right is true okay right gene That's a wrap for the, uh, 2024 chickies, man. We're heading into 2025 should be an absolutely amazing year of wrestling. Hit us with some ah closing thoughts and we'll get out of here.
01:09:39
Speaker
I hope you all have a happy New Year. Remember, it is still winter, you guys. So if you're not crushing your New Year's resolutions, there is still plenty of time. So don't don't be mad at yourself. ah Take it easy. They say the second Friday of the year, that's Quitters Friday. It's an unofficial holiday. That's when most ah most New Year's resolutions don't last through the second Friday.
01:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, but I don't want to even get into my conspiracy theory about the calendar, but uh, spring, spring is, spring is really- This whole calendar thing's full of shit. This whole calendar thing, they do. There's no reason that the new year should start in the middle of fricking winter, right? Like the new year starts- But it's only the middle of winter for one hemisphere. For half the world, it's not the middle of winter.
01:10:14
Speaker
Well, I mean, we need to, we need a different calendar then because that's, it's bullshit. But that's what I'm saying. It's not the middle of winter in other places. I know what we still abide by this stupid new year's new me, all this stuff. Anyway, in winter you're supposed to rest. So I just hope you all, uh, if you have some goals, don't give up on them, keep chipping away at them and, uh, we'll catch your ass down the road.