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Episode 36: Garrett Attends PWG's Battle Of Los Angeles & WWE's Hell In A Cell Was Pretty Good!
57 Plays7 years ago
During this weeks hangout the boys are talking Garrett's recent trip to attend 3 nights of Pro Wrestling Guerilla's Battle Of Los Angeles! Also, the guys discuss WWE's Hell In A Cell!
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Transcript
Wrestling Event Excitement
00:00:00
Speaker
Sup guys, this is Jeff Cobb and you're listening to pre-determine dot dot a pro wrestling hangout
00:00:07
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Predetermined, a pro wrestling hangout. I'm your host, Garrett Callender, and with me, as always, a man who, if we're going off the noise in the background of where he's at, might be join a jazz quartet. Derek Halpin. Uh, the person who lives across the hall from me right now is playing their upright bass, and I don't know if it's gonna come through the microphone or not, but it's pretty distracting right now.
00:00:30
Speaker
Or do you know for a fact it's an upright bass or are you just going off of sound? Like have you seen this man carry it? I've seen the instrument. Okay, and does it make you think of anything resonant related? That seems like enough evidence.
00:00:44
Speaker
Uh, Braun. Exactly. Go give him those hands and get him to shut that shit down. I'm fucking I'm ready for them to shut Braun down. How about that? Hey, we are not going to open up the show talking about. Well, at least I'm doing it this time. Yeah, this is a last time you're like, why are you talking about this? Hey, you know what, guys? I attended the Battle of Los Angeles this weekend. I am ready to talk about it. Let's hit our goddamn music.
Evolution of Braun Strowman
00:01:45
Speaker
Let's be fair for a moment, you did instigate the Braun Strowman discussion. That's true, but I didn't mean- you didn't need to say anything bad. We all liked when he had the cello or the upright bass or whatever. Oh yeah, that was back when Braun was good stuff. I mean, you know, he was singing a song about getting them hands and we all popped.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, and now he's an asshole. But he's been an asshole for a little while as far as I'm concerned. I mean, he started out as a follower of a cult. So it's, you know, if you join a cult once, there's always that place in the back of your mind that could, you know, get you to follow the wrong people again.
00:02:18
Speaker
you feel like he's got some shit he's got to get through maybe that's why he was a musician briefly he yeah he definitely has some demons he needs to get rid of but i feel like he also you know he's going to adapt to who he's fighting at that time he was ready to give a guy who plays guitar these hands he's going to speak to him in a way that the that man understands
00:02:37
Speaker
And Elias is doing just fine. So but really quick, I wanted to point out this is the first time in many a week where we are doing our show in a regular format. Have you noticed that? Oh, I have noticed I'm sitting in my living room and I don't have to insert any clips from places that we've been. It's just you and me, baby. I was meant to be feels right. It feels right. Hey, don't get me wrong. I like some of those people that have been sitting in with us.
00:03:04
Speaker
Oh yeah. Love them all to death. One of the people that sit in with us has a relationship to an event that you just went to over the weekend. Jeff Cobb?
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, man. We got lots to talk about. Did Jeff Cobb have a hell of a weekend? He did have a hell of a weekend. I want to give everybody a heads up before we go into this. There's obviously going to be major spoilers for you for Bola. I feel like it's going to be impossible for you to not get these spoilers before the DVDs come out.
00:03:37
Speaker
Is it really counted as a spoiler if the internet exists? I mean, I guess you could just completely avoid the internet and be surprised by Bola. But even if you buy the Blu-rays and you're like, I wonder who's going to end up in the finals, it's always the three people on the covers of the three Blu-rays that you have to buy to watch it.
00:03:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a big fan of watching my pro wrestling live. It's hard for me to go back and not know the results of something. If I'm watching something from the past, I'm going to know who who won. I'm going to know the results. So, I mean, I don't know if you're one of those people that can go out there and avoid any spoilers on the Internet for whatever, especially if it's something that you care about like Bola.
00:04:22
Speaker
then good on you because I don't know how the hell you do it. Oh that would I can't even imagine having to completely avoid spoilers for a month or two while you wait for a blu-ray to come into your mailbox that means you just have to completely get away from all wrestling related media which I don't know if your Twitter account is anything like mine it is pretty much just wrestling when you look through it.
00:04:45
Speaker
I have a nice mixture of stuff on mine, but I don't know. You said you haven't really been keeping up with hockey as much the last year or two, but I've got a nice mixture of movie stuff and baseball stuff and hockey stuff and lots of pro wrestling.
MJF on Steve Austin's Podcast
00:05:02
Speaker
I don't know if this is an appropriate time to bring this up, but I can't think of a better time. What do you have? Did you see that MJF did a podcast with Steve Austin? Did you see that also fucking PCO did a podcast with Steve Austin?
00:05:20
Speaker
We're at a weird time where the things that I never would have expected to see happening on like a mainstream wrestling podcaster, or they're going down, man. MJF did our podcast and then that was a, what would you call it, a springboard to the Steve Austin podcast? Yeah, I think it was a milestone event in the career of the MJF and I think he would agree with you. If there were no predetermined, there would be no Steve Austin podcast for him.
00:05:47
Speaker
Hell yeah. I haven't listened yet. I hear that he goes in and out of character throughout the whole thing. He was probably fangazzed me a little bit, right? Well, which I also hear that he has a YouTube thing going on with Alliecat right now. Yes. They put like a sample of that up on the Twitter the other day between the two of them with, I guess, her showing him where she eats.
00:06:25
Speaker
It does, and I think what being the elite did is it gave independent wrestlers another platform to kind of expand upon their characters and develop a relationship with their audience. So it makes sense that more guys and girls are taking advantage of this. And I love that we're going to, cause I mean, we talked for so long about how weird it is that this like ultra baby face alley cat is dating MJF. And I love that they're going to kind of explore how weird that is.
00:06:30
Speaker
and they go to a pet store?
00:06:52
Speaker
It looks like, yeah, they're totally in on how odd this is.
Jericho's Prank on Don Callis
00:06:57
Speaker
And, I mean, you could say the same thing with PCO. PCO's doing all of those Twitter videos that he's putting out. Did you see the goddamn one where he's lifting a piece of a railroad track while Destro's throwing darts into his chest?
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. He is a fucking mad man. Who's another person that you saw at Bola over the weekend. And Derek, okay. So something we didn't talk about, we talked about it a little bit on the show, but when we recorded with Queen of the Ring post All In, pretty much right after we turned the microphones off, we were all in tears thinking about one moment from All In, which was after Jericho had done his unveiling and he went over and scared the shit out of Don Callis.
00:07:39
Speaker
Yeah. And Don Callis fell over backwards in a chair. We is it is it weird that we all knew that it was funny, but it took like a full 24 hours for it to sink in. I I still watch back on that and laugh because he was definitely watching that monitor. Jericho banged on the table. He looked up, saw what happened, scared the shit out of him and he fell backwards out of his seat. Do you think he was legit upset? Have we gotten any news on that? I feel like Don Callis is OK.
00:08:08
Speaker
I feel like he took it better than JR did. Well, for sure that. But you know Jericho doesn't give a shit.
00:08:20
Speaker
That's the best part is that Jericho's got no affiliation to anybody. Like he doesn't feel any obligation to WWE. He doesn't feel an obligation to New Japan. He doesn't feel an obligation to Ring of Honor or Don Callis or anybody. So like even if they are upset, what are you going to fucking do? It's Y2J. Well, maybe it's one of those things where, you know, we keep hearing those rumors that Jericho is going to join Impact. Maybe that was his welcome into his future announcer.
00:08:48
Speaker
Ah, I'm in here. And Don Calle's shit. Him and those goddamn sunglasses looking cool as hell getting flipped over. Yeah. If you didn't know that happened, which I don't know, if you're listening to this podcast, there's no way you didn't know that happened. Please go back and watch it again. That's some funny shit. Okay, Derek, so the thing I have to talk about, since we're already here,
Unforgettable Brody King vs. PCO Match
00:09:12
Speaker
We're just gonna get into Bola. We'll get back into other things, but I just have to cut straight to the match that I'll never forget for the rest of my fucking life. And I laughed about for three days. Anytime it comes up, I am just in tears thinking about it.
00:09:27
Speaker
Well, I don't know what you're talking... I'm actually one of the people who didn't follow along with... You just kind of spoiled Bola for me. I know who wins, but the only reason I know who won is because you told me. I don't know what else happened while you were there. Okay, so one of the matches was Brody King versus PCO. This was one of the first round matches of Bola. And I kind of figured out what PCO's thing is.
00:09:52
Speaker
he sucks would you feel confident saying that to his face not even a little bit and i debated whether or not i should say this but this match didn't suck because of him alone and it didn't really suck at all but it was not a good match but it was a match i'll never forget out of a card of amazing matches
00:10:14
Speaker
Okay. Give the deets. Why was the match so fucking brutal? It seems like Brody King's been having a rough couple weeks. So we had heard a story coming out of AAW. Metal Dave actually told us this and what we had heard is that Meltzer was at AAW before All In and he had a match against ACH. Brody King did.
00:10:38
Speaker
Yeah. And did we talk about this on the show already? I don't think we talked about it on the show. I know we talked about it at all in. Okay. Well, I guess what happened is at some point Brody King botched a few spots. And what we had heard is that ACH got really mad and punched him in the face and that the rest of the match was incredibly awkward because Brody was afraid of ACH after this.
00:11:04
Speaker
I found out what happened. So I found out what happened over the weekend as I was told that Brody actually got a concussion like two minutes into the match.
00:11:16
Speaker
So he was fucked up. He was fucked up and that's why he was botching and ACH didn't know that and still punched him in the face. Which I'm sure really helped the concussion. Exactly. So he had kind of a shit match. Bola is a huge deal for a wrestler. I mean this is kind of the proving grounds for indie wrestling. And when I say the proving grounds, I mean fucking William Regal was there the whole weekend.
00:11:41
Speaker
Like he was visibly in the building and was allowed backstage. But this isn't the first time he's been there though, right? No, but he used to be a parking lot guy where I assume he was in the building. But I mean, like I said, the first show I had ever been to, it was Mystery Vortex 3. First match of the night was Champa versus Gargano. At the end of the night, I saw Regal in the parking lot talking to both of them. A few weeks later, they made their debut on NXT.
WWE's Relationship with PWG
00:12:07
Speaker
So, this got me wondering this. If they're letting Regal backstage, do you think he's paying PWG to steal their talent and to allow him back there to do it? You mean like they're getting a cut of the action for when they basically scout their prospects? Possibly.
00:12:24
Speaker
That would make sense to me. I mean, at this point, like you said, there's an established relationship there that's been going on for a while. And if you look at PW or look at NXT now, it is PWG two years ago. It is basically their entire roster for the most part. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. But with this, it got me wondering, like, am I getting worked? Are they trying to trick me into thinking this is the coolest indie promotion on the planet when really I'm just watching WWE developmental?
00:12:55
Speaker
Because Triple H- Are you proposing that as an actual conspiracy theory? No, I think it's just a fun thing to explore because, you know, they never signed Matt Riddle to NXT and Triple H made that statement saying, you know, even if we don't sign you yet, that doesn't mean we're not watching your progression.
00:13:15
Speaker
And a lot of his biggest stuff was happening at PWG. And Regal is paying attention to all that. So that leads me to believe that they're buying those Blu-rays and they're watching them and stealing. Do you think that somewhere in Paul's office he just has a collection of PWG Blu-rays on the bookshelf?
00:13:33
Speaker
I don't know, I mean, just seeing Regal there, and the second night he had on a fucking NXT polo shirt. Like he wasn't hiding what he was there to do. No, I mean, he's standing behind a curtain watching all these guys, and he wasn't there for night three, which confused me a little bit, but he did, that means in those two nights he stood back there and watched every single guy wrestle that was going to wrestle. So how does all this tie into Brody King? Okay, sorry, back to Brody King. You're doing a good job of keeping me back on track.
00:14:02
Speaker
so i didn't want to lose the point so brody had you know kind of a bad match at aaw he had another i guess for a lack of a better word i'll say bad match at pwg oh i feel bad like saying anything bad about any of these guys because i respect the shit out of anyone who gets in the ring at all and you're a little bit nervous that they could listen yeah
00:14:29
Speaker
I like Brody King, and I watched him have better matches throughout the weekend, but this was his first one, and this was coming off of me just hearing this story, and I think this was the first time I'd ever actually seen him wrestle live. So he has this match against PCO, and as far as I can tell, and I'm sorry that I said PCO sucks earlier, I don't mean it like that.
00:14:51
Speaker
What does that mean? How I mean this is, it kind of seems like PCO watched a Leo Rush match and thought, I guess that's what I gotta do. To just watch a really athletic flippy guy and then be like, this is what wrestling is, this is what I have to do now. I can do that, no problem. PCO, throughout his match, he knew where he was that night.
00:15:16
Speaker
He 100% knew where he was and what he needed to do. And the only way I can describe his style in this match was I watched, let me pull it up and see how long the match was. I have the whole bowl of card in front of me. Let's see. Okay, PCO and Brody Kang lasted 11 minutes and 12 seconds.
00:15:39
Speaker
I watched a man try and commit suicide unsuccessfully for 11 minutes and 22 seconds. I'm taking that he did a lot of dives that he was not qualified to make. Derek, you know how everybody really likes this guy's moonsault that he's been doing.
00:15:58
Speaker
was like what if I do it a couple times holy shit man please don't just like when he does it once I get nervous he did it another time where he just had way too much time upside down where everybody in unison was like he's about to die and then at the last fucking second barely missed breaking his goddamn neck
00:16:20
Speaker
But Brody's botch. There were a couple, but the main one that I'll never forget for the rest of my life is the funniest botch I've ever seen in the history of attending live pro wrestling for me. PCO gets thrown out of the ring. Everybody clears their seats. That's kind of what you do there. Everybody has to pick up their seat and move to clear a path for a high spot.
00:16:43
Speaker
Brody is a big man. He's taller than PCO. He's just a large dude. PCO is out on the ground with his back facing the ring. Brody is in the ring and he's going to do a running dive over the top rope doing a front flip and land on PCO. This is a very large man I would never want landing on me in that fashion.
00:17:04
Speaker
So PCO stands up and he has just enough time to look over his left shoulder to see Brody King flying over the top rope about five feet too far to the left.
00:17:20
Speaker
Derek, the thud that landed on the fucking ground felt like somebody had just tossed a sack of cinder blocks over. Like you could feel it everywhere in this fucking theater. Ow. It could not have hurt anymore. I mean, I was on the opposite side, so I didn't get to see his land. But I do know that a man did a front flip and just flat backed on the concrete on the other side. What was the reaction from everyone in the building? Was it like an aw?
00:17:48
Speaker
There was a collective like, oh! But I don't think anyone really gathered the humor. If I could have a t-shirt of PCO looking over his left shoulder as Brody King is about five feet to the left just smashing the ground. And then that wasn't the only bodge. PCO...
00:18:08
Speaker
Oh my god, I'm sorry, I'm never gonna stop thinking about that. But he got on the top rope and what he wanted to do was Brody was pulled halfway out onto the apron. So his head was kind of hanging over the edge of the ring. PCO was getting on... He was getting on the top rope to like kind of do a senton onto the apron onto him.
00:18:30
Speaker
He slipped and just fucking hung himself out like laundry. It looked so goddamn funny. And then he tried to do it again later and he landed it. And I don't know who it hurt more. Cause he just like fell off of him onto the floor. It was, I wouldn't even say the match was a train wreck, but it was a fucking spectacle.
00:18:54
Speaker
Let me ask you a question. Was it hard seeing him in the same light since the last time you had seen him? He was wearing flip-flops and talking to me. See, I think a lot of wrestlers go casual Friday with the flip-flops because even more fucked up than him is over Mania weekend I saw Walter walking around in flip-flops and that is a giant ass scary man to just be flip-flops immediately make a guy less intimidating.
00:19:22
Speaker
that an ice cream cone that and I got if Walter had had like he just comes out with a lolly that would man but I feel like I am going to say something very controversial this was my first time at PWG's new venue they're no longer an American Legion Post 308 they're at the Globe Theater downtown Los Angeles
00:19:44
Speaker
Okay.
PWG's Venue Change Controversy
00:19:46
Speaker
So make the statement, man, what's gonna break the internet here? I liked it. You like it better? I liked the globe. And people are gonna be pissed at me for saying that, but you know what? There's fucking air conditioning there, man. There's air conditioning. That goes a long way for my enjoyment of the wrestling, it turns out. I mean, you feel like most people who would not be okay with that would be like, you're a fucking pussy.
00:20:10
Speaker
yes deal with it yeah and you know what i like the way it used to be i like hurting for six hours in a hot parking lot and then going inside and hurting even more for another six yeah i mean i'm not a big fan of like outdoor music festivals like especially like in like the summer because to me that seems like misery like misery it was it was a very nice theater it was surprising how were the bathrooms let's get this out of the way now dude there was a bathroom attendant
00:20:37
Speaker
Oh shit. You're going to a place where guys are gonna hand you towels. The first time I ever went to PWG, I had to go to the bathroom so bad. We get inside, turns out a couple assholes went in and stuffed paper towels down all the toilets and flushed them until it flooded the whole bathroom. No bathroom for anybody. And this was the opposite of that. This is the exact opposite of that, but I will tell you this about the bathrooms. I had to make a mental note and there was no way I was gonna forget this. You know me, I'm not a shorts guy. I wear pants.
00:21:06
Speaker
After the age of 30, I don't need to see your fucking legs, no one needs my legs, I'm gonna wear pants. I had on shorts this day. This was day two, or no, this was on day three. The urinals were all lined up and they're very, very close, way too close. You know how big a wrestling fan is. We're a girthy bunch. You know how big a wrestling fan is.
00:21:31
Speaker
we we aren't the thinnest people you know we've we're wide-shouldered folks hey man at starcast weekend i saw wrestling fans of all shapes and all sizes let's be inclusive hey no body shame here i don't i love everybody and you know what it just makes it really hard to use these five urinals that are just way too tight and you're saying there were some wrestling fans there saying that the urinals that took up a couple seats
00:21:56
Speaker
That wasn't even my problem, and I'll tell you what my problem is. I had on shorts that day, and as I was at the urinal next to the man next to me, I could feel piss splashing on my leg from his urinal.
00:22:10
Speaker
that you were wishing you were wearing jeans. Yeah. The one time I wore shorts, I got pee on me. To be fair, didn't you wear shorts when you met Okada? Don't tell people these things, because in the photo it comes down to my knees so you can't tell. You were wearing shorts. I think you're warming up to the idea. I am not. Now that you say this, I'm self-conscious because Okada's seen my knees.
00:22:31
Speaker
Yeah, he has. He remembers him, too. He'll never forget. Okada doesn't forget. You remember how he smelled? He remembers your knees. He looked down at my kneecaps and said, Scooby Dooby, don't. Queer eye for the straight Okada.
00:22:50
Speaker
Oh man, you gotta hit me up. What else did you see this past weekend, man? Here's the thing, I don't think everyone, if they just started listening to the podcast recently, Garrett lived in LA for several years. And so him going back for Battle of Los Angeles, kind of like a, what, bittersweet, would you say? Oh, I mean, it's a homecoming. I get to see all my PWG buddies that I don't get to see all the time. And just that promotion is always gonna have a very special place in my heart because
00:23:19
Speaker
It is WWE, it was the Daniel Bryan storyline that pulled me back into wrestling. And it was around that time that somebody said, well, you live in LA and you haven't been to PWG, go check that out. I went to PWG for the first time and that's when I became full time wrestling fan
PWG's Expansion and New Talent
00:23:33
Speaker
again. That's what started getting me to watch the NDs and start checking out Ring of Honor and New Japan and everything and really kind of kick started a full time love of this thing. Right, so going to LA is a little bit like going home, but going to PWG is really going home.
00:23:49
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it doesn't matter. And it turned out I was worried that, you know, the globe wasn't going to feel as much like home as Reseda did. But all the same people are there. There's some new faces. It's still the same crowd. The building is so nice. It's just such a tall, big theater that you don't it doesn't seem as loud. Even though there's more people, there's just more room for the sound to carry. So I do miss.
00:24:12
Speaker
how tight and loud the Legion Hall was. This is much, much more open. Has a balcony. There's balcony boxes. It's a pretty damn fancy place. I mean, they even had a big screen that Projected Battle of Los Angeles had their logo everywhere. It just, it kind of felt like a bigger production version of PWG and it's just nice to see them
00:24:33
Speaker
I mean I'm sure they had the money to do that before it's just it's nice to see it growing and being this awesome thing that people are going to be people who resent that you know like it's that's. I don't know what was like the you said that people are going to be mad that you said that you liked the new venue but what was the consensus there were you talking to people about it.
00:24:53
Speaker
I mean, I kind of said that to a couple of the people that I'm friends with that are regulars there. They were like, don't don't say that. Because I think I think the hurt is still in Los Angeles for the Legion Hall. People still definitely miss it. They miss the character, the cast of characters that came along with the Legion Hall. Legion Larry, him not being there is a big deal. He was a big part of it. You know, just that old curmudgeon that's going to tell you that you're doing things wrong.
00:25:23
Speaker
Oh, I guess this is an important question. How was the security check before you went in? It was beautiful. No one grabbed my balls, which I'll mention it. No one touched your taint. I'll mention it again. We've talked about this on the show a couple times. The security at the Legion Hall, this guy may have not even worked there. I don't know. He had a jacket that said fire department. It was an older man that would just grab your testicles as firmly as he could to make sure that you're not hiding knives in there, I guess. I don't know. Trying to pop a grape.
00:25:52
Speaker
Guess what they didn't do at this place? Fucking touch me at all. They didn't grab me at all. They just walked up. Super Dragon still takes your tickets, or hands of your tickets, so that's pretty cool. Didn't lose that. There's a bar next door, so I feel like we didn't have to line up as early as we normally would at the other one. Everybody just kind of hanging out in the bar, and when I saw the line get to the bar, I walked out and hopped in the line, got great seats.
00:26:19
Speaker
So it sounds like like for all intents and purposes whether people want to admit it or not it is an upgrade and really what what they're nostalgic for is just you know what it used to be.
00:26:31
Speaker
Yeah, and it needed to grow. I mean, they need, they can, there's so much money to be made. They were able to put a shit ton more seats in this place. And there's obviously the demand for it. It is cool to keep it this special little thing. And I think people are still gonna be pissed at me for saying that, but it's cool to kind of open it up and get more fans involved.
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. No more opportunities for the wrestlers to sell more shit. There's just kind of more eyes, you know, just every night we had somebody with us that had never been to pro wrestling before. And at the beginning of the night to each of these people, we said, see you next time. We're going to see you here again. And by the end of it, they're like, yeah, when's the next show? I'm in. I got to get tickets to this thing.
00:27:15
Speaker
That's cool. It's just, it's something, it's very special. If you were a pro wrestling fan, going to Bola needs to be on your
Bola: The Must-See Indie Event
00:27:22
Speaker
bucket list. This is a WrestleMania level indie promotion, you know, or the Bola is like WrestleMania of the indies. I guess you could, what do you got? Three days, three full days. It's a, it's a tournament that, uh, you know, an elimination tournament that ends with a triple threat match on the third day. So on the third day, there are three people that had to wrestle three times.
00:27:43
Speaker
Yeah. But I do need to say this about there was an embarrassing thing that happened in the bar next door that I cannot leave out. I met up with a couple friends of the show, Luke and Billy. Hey, guys, it was good hanging out with you this weekend. Nice meeting you. I asked them those. Where's the restroom? They gave me the code because he had to have a punch code. They told me where the restroom was, walked over, punched the code and got in, thought to myself, weird, no yearnals walked into a stall.
00:28:11
Speaker
What happens in your mind when you think weird no yearnals?
00:28:15
Speaker
I'm in the women's restroom? Yeah, I was in the women's room and I didn't realize that until I was standing in the urinal and then heard ladies come in and they got in the stalls and I ran out as fast as I could without them seeing me other than the entire fucking bar knowing that I was in the women's room. At that point, basically just ran straight out the bar and got in line. In my heart, I felt like I was no longer welcome at the beer house, the German bar next door. You had been the creep?
00:28:45
Speaker
Not on purpose by any means, but I felt like a creep, yeah. And it had to have looked like I was so confident. I walked up to the door, I punched the code in, it looked like I belonged there. Change the codes between those two bathrooms.
00:29:04
Speaker
Let me look through and just say what some highlights were of this. This was an interesting Bola for me because, you know, everyone's over at NXT now or have moved on to other things. This was the first time I'd been to PWG and not seen a single member of the elite.
00:29:20
Speaker
Yeah, was that was that weird? I was worried. I didn't know how this show is going to be because there were, you know, I had heard of a lot of these people, but there were also a lot of people I hadn't heard of or just feel like there was a lot of turnover. Like there were a lot of people like you knew of, but they weren't your regulars. Exactly. And they started. There were a lot of people that they announced this was their PWG debut and some of which were guys that we got to see at AAW like DJ Z made his PWG debut.
00:29:46
Speaker
Nice. And he had a couple botches in his match, and my buddy John, who's going to be our West Coast correspondent, he should have been on the show with us today, but he had to attend an adults birthday party. Once again, like wearing adults birthday party. What? Like wearing shorts after a certain age. Like normally attend kids birthday parties? You know what? At a certain point for me with adults birthday parties, I'm like, you know what? If it's not my significant other, I don't need to be at your birthday party. Wow. I don't even celebrate mine.
00:30:17
Speaker
John, no hard feelings, but... grow up.
00:30:23
Speaker
He doesn't mean it, John. I don't mean it. I love you to death and you let me stay at your house for free. So I can't be mad at that. But he talked to DJ Z after his match and was like, kind of said, you really collected yourself after that botch and didn't let it affect the rest of your match. And I guess he looked really heartbroken because this is a proving ground. There's been guys I've seen come in and on their debut do some really bad botches and they never ever come back to PWG.
00:30:52
Speaker
And I think that's a thing in your mind. There has to be a lot of pressure going into this, because it's just really good exposure. And he said, in my entire career, I've never missed that move. He just looked distraught. How did I fuck up this one move I've never messed up?
00:31:07
Speaker
Shit happens. Shit happens. I have some new favorites after this one though. There was, on night one, one of the best tag matches I've ever seen in my entire life. Timothy Thatcher and Walter versus Shingo Takagi. I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that. And then a Russian wrestler named Ilya Dragunov.
00:31:31
Speaker
Ilya Dragunov easily became my favorite guy that weekend. He's this crazy blonde Russian guy, has red contacts in, and took an absolute fucking beating from Walter. And I feel like that's what it takes for me to be like, that's my guy. That's what got PCO over for me. If you go- That's Garrett initiation. If you get in the ring with Walter and just take just fucking hell from him, and you're good at the end, good on you, man. He got my t-shirt money at the end of that match.
00:32:01
Speaker
Did Marco stunt, have any memorable moments? Marco's stunt, everybody, everybody loved Marco. Marco came out on night two and had his first match against, he went up against, why, Trevor Lee. So Marco gets in the ring, fucking hundreds of miniature candy bars start raining from the ceiling. Everyone in the balcony is throwing them because he's Mr. Fun Size.
00:32:29
Speaker
He had a really good match with Trevor. Trevor did that thing again where he's like, who is this guy? Is he even old enough to wrestle? And Marco got to say is, I'm old enough to fuck your mom, which I think is going to pop a crowd every single time he says it. But I loved it. Wasn't there an announcement that was put out about the candy bar or the candy situation saying that wasn't going to be tolerated anymore? Oh my. And that wasn't at PWG.
00:32:53
Speaker
Because Marco didn't end up wrestling again. Usually if you lose, you end up in a 10-man tag on the last night. He wasn't part of that. He was only there for the second night. And I saw that Southern Underground Pro, the local promotion here in Nashville, which does have a show coming up on Sunday at 2 o'clock. I will be there. It's 15 bucks. Get your ass to Southern Underground Pro at basement East Sunday. 2 o'clock. Fucking be there because it's so much fun. And Marco Stone will be there as well.
00:33:18
Speaker
And while you're there, walk up and say hi to Garrett. He'll be wearing the predetermined hat. Yeah. And you know what? I'll say hi back. Might even say more words than that. We'll see. He may even give you a sticker or button if he brings them. Oh, man, I bet I can fit some of those in my pockets. But yes, Underground Pro had to make an announcement already saying, please don't throw miniature candy bars into the ring. You can hand them to Marco yourself, but please don't just throw them in the ring. We rent this ring and we can't have smashed chocolate all over it.
00:33:46
Speaker
It was a weird concern because most of the chocolate's packaged. I think, yeah, it's not like we're throwing it in there during the match. Well, yeah, but also, even if you did, it's in a wrapper. It's not like the candy itself is touching the mat. Hey, take this up with Southern Underground Pro. It's their rules, not mine. Well, you take it up with them. You're the one going. I'm the one that has to show my face around there. Tell them your co-host has beef. Let them throw the candy.
00:34:14
Speaker
Let them throw can't oh and Marco picked up a Snickers and ate it right before the match and I can't think of a worse feeling Than having a dry mouth from eating a piece of chocolate and then doing a whole bunch of wrestling I don't know. Have you seen those Snickers commercials that turned you into something great? Well, not that great. I guess because Marco stunt lost in the first round. Maybe you shouldn't have eaten that chocolate Garrett wrestling's predetermined Okay, babe, man, I'm gonna blame it on that chocolate kayfabe Snickers
00:34:44
Speaker
What else? I love that Joey Janela was there and we talked to him on night three and there was a little bit of concern because he said, I think I broke my foot. He told us he thought he was wrestling with a broken foot. We still watched him go through two matches. He made it to the semifinals. It ended up being Bandito versus Joey Janela.
00:35:06
Speaker
And I know before all in, we didn't really know much about Bandito, you and I didn't at least. Yeah. This guy is easily one of the best luchadores I have ever seen. I feel safe saying this is one of the best luchadores I've ever seen in my life. Bandito is a fucking star, and that room treated him like he was goddamn John Cena. Well shit, we had suspected that he was Neville in disguise. Yeah, turns out he's just a really, really good luchador.
00:35:34
Speaker
And I really predicted that Bandito was going to be in the finals. I mean, I guess he was in the finals, but I kind of predicted he was going to win it just because he was so over and I don't know if a luchador has ever won Bola.
00:35:50
Speaker
Interesting. So the finals ended up being Bandito, Jeff Cobb, and Shingo Takagi, which really surprised me because his last match was against Walter. So everybody thought, no way is Walter not going to the finals on this one. He's the PWG champion. He's a giant motherfucker. How do you beat him? He did get beaten in about 17 minutes.
00:36:14
Speaker
Bandito ended up beating Joey Janela, which that match got fucking wild, man. There ended up being some crazy chair spots. Like, Janela has no care in the world for his body. He is willing to take whatever. And when you see him setting something up to put somebody through it, you're like, nope, he's just getting that set up the way he wants to go through it. Like, take a journey. That's how you wind up with a broken foot, man. That's how you get a fucking German suplex through a folding chair. Yeah. That's nasty.
00:36:43
Speaker
But something that surprised the shit out of me, the other semi-final match, Jeff Cobb versus Trevor Lee. I have never seen a squash match in PWG. Let it happen. 14 seconds.
00:36:58
Speaker
is the final time on that. What happened in that 14 seconds? He crushed him. Trevor Lee posted a video and said, here's real time footage of me getting beat at Bola by Jeff Cobb. And it was a clip of the Incredible Hulk and the Avengers just smashing Loki around the apartment.
00:37:17
Speaker
That was it, man. I mean, he beat the absolute piss out of him and in 14 seconds penned him. It was one of those things where Trevor Lee grabbed the mic to be shitty and he didn't stand for it and just kicked his ass really fast. So you said you got the chance to talk to Jeff Cobb a little bit while you were there.
00:37:35
Speaker
Yeah, we talked to him on night two. We didn't get to talk to him on night three, which I would have loved to, because that man was very, very emotional. This was easily, I don't know, it's weird, because the other ones I saw were so good. I've seen Zack Sabre Jr. win one, I saw Marty Scrull win one, and I've seen Ricochet win one. Jeff Cobb felt the most important. He felt like he had the most to gain from this.
00:37:59
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like it put him on the map even more. Yeah, because I feel like Jeff Cobb is still on his way up. Even though he made it to the finals of Bola last year, I feel like, you know, the other two guys he was in Bola with are on fucking NXT now, Keith Lee and Ricochet. And when we talked to him, it felt like, you know, there was a little bit of I don't want to say he felt like resentment or anything, but it seemed like he's like, well, everybody's there but me.
00:38:23
Speaker
kind of thing and I feel like this really made Jeff Cobb and the second he got that pin he was in tears man it was just as emotional as when Cody won you felt like you saw a guy who really fucking deserved it get over get it yeah and it was just that's awesome it was a feel-good moment and it's exciting because whoever wins Bola gets the next title shot and the sentence he said because he you know thanked his wife and everything but he said
00:38:48
Speaker
I know this means I get a title shot against Walter. And he goes, I don't know if Walter's ever been to Hawaii, but I hope you're ready for a tour of the fucking islands. Wow. And I thought that was super badass, so I'm really ready to see Jeff Cobb versus Walter. That's going to be a match to watch.
Jeff Cobb's Emotional Win
00:39:05
Speaker
When does that happen, by the way?
00:39:06
Speaker
Well, we know their next show is October 19th. That doesn't necessarily mean that's when that'll happen because I think PWG has a hard time booking because they're booking all these guys from, I mean, over this weekend, I saw people from Germany, Australia, Austria, Russia, China, Japan. I mean, they were from all over the place. There was actually only one wrestler from Los Angeles and the entire thing.
00:39:31
Speaker
which was Brody King. He had to fight Trevor Lee in the second round after he beat PCO, and that was something that Trevor Lee said. He's like, you notice you're the only guy from California here, and you look at all these tattoos on, you probably don't even believe in God.
00:39:50
Speaker
That was probably my favorite line of the weekend. Another wrestler I'm gonna feel bad if I don't say something about, Puma King. One of our listeners, Kevin Allen, was telling me, wait till you see Puma King. He saw him at the fairgrounds here in Nashville. This guy is a giant kitty cat. Picture of Pentagon weren't scary.
00:40:10
Speaker
He hangs on to the top rope upside down and just crawls across it like a cat. And just does general cat things throughout the match. Also, he was a great fucking wrestler. But it was a cute thing. It makes me wanna see Pentagon versus Puma King. Other top match I need to mention before we move on to something else. I have to mention there was the Rascals, which is Zachary Wentz and Desmond Xavier. And their gimmick a little bit is they're the little Rascals.
00:40:38
Speaker
Like they do the hand under the chin with the tongue out? Yeah, kind of thing. They're the PWG champs and they went up against the lucha bros, which is Phoenix and Pentagon. And Pentagon continues to be the biggest fucking dude in wrestling after all and like that room loves Pentagon.
00:40:59
Speaker
And those guys. Oh go ahead. I was gonna say like that was one of the things that surprised me from all in. I like considering how big Kenny Omega was. I was just blown away at how big Pentagon was. He is so good. And the rascals they're really funny but they kind of move like the young bucks. It's a very high spot flippy style that they do. And they both. They're.
00:41:20
Speaker
I would say have heelish tendencies from what I can tell from them, and that they both came out dressed as Pentagon and Phoenix. And Desmond Xavier versus Pentagon at first, he's trying to do the Cerro Miedo, and Desmond Xavier is just mirroring everything he does, and Pentagon's getting pissed off and complaining to the ref. Like, he's not allowed to be me. And it just made for a really good comedy spot and made for a fun as hell match.
00:41:48
Speaker
cannot recommend picking up these blue rays when they come out. There are a lot of guys on here you may have never heard of and you might walk away with a new favorite by the end of this.
00:41:58
Speaker
So yeah, good weekend in Los Angeles then. Oh, it was fantastic. This was going in and not knowing who a lot of these wrestlers are or not having seen a lot of them wrestle before. I walked away having a great time. It ended up being a very surprising show, and I overall had a great experience. Honestly, of the bowlers I've been to, this might have been my favorite.
00:42:19
Speaker
I guess we should personally give congratulations to Jeff Cobb. Just a couple weeks ago, he sat down for an interview with us. We played that on last week's episode. Just a couple weeks later, look at him now. Look at him now. I think we're about to watch this dude skyrocket. I mean, it seems like if you win Bola, good things happen. Could you see him getting the NXT in the next year?
00:42:39
Speaker
I could see him in NXT, but it seems like, I don't know if he just signed a Ring of Honor contract, but he just appeared on Ring of Honor for the first time, and where he's crushing all these guys in this tournament. I think Jeff Cobb could be the monster heel that Ring of Honor needs right now. Yeah, I don't know what his contract situation is, but
00:43:00
Speaker
No, but he's got the athletic background that WWE loves fucking marketing. They're into the former Olympians and the MMA people right now. The only thing I'm worried about is I feel like they have several guys right now, they're kind of built like him. Like when you start looking at Otis and Jizz and War Machine and- Otis and Jizz. Which is really, I think Otis is the other guy
00:43:27
Speaker
I don't know. Otis and Jizz is heavy machinery. If you haven't listened to the show, just look at those two guys' faces and tell me that their names aren't Otis and Jizz. It's a running gag on the show. Oh, just, we didn't mention this. Did you hear anything about, uh, what did, did you get any feedback from Mary Fucker Kill from last week?
00:43:50
Speaker
Um, I know we had, uh, we had Jeffy. I know we had Jeffy seemed appalled. Grossed out. I feel like the overall consensus was Jesus. Yeah. I think that was his exact quote. I had so much fun doing that. And I don't know if people enjoyed it as much as I did doing it. Well, maybe we'll do another one next week.
00:44:21
Speaker
Because I don't know. I think it's fun. At this point, it's like, no, this is for me. I need to know if this comes up quickly and I need to have answers. I need to be ready to to shoot them out. If it becomes like, you know, a life or death, would you rather kind of thing? My favorite pro wrestling game.
00:44:37
Speaker
Oh my god, hey, you know what? WWE had a pretty good fucking pay-per-view over the weekend, maybe we should talk Hell in
WWE's Packed Schedule and a Red Cage
00:44:43
Speaker
a Cell. We should, because honestly I had such little enthusiasm for this show going in. They've got a lot on their schedule coming up between they had Hell in a Cell, then they've got that greatest super showdown ever fucking thing in Australia. Which for some reason, I mean they're really promoting the fuck out of this.
00:45:04
Speaker
Well, we have a couple guys that we know from Australia that I met in Tokyo and they messaged me and said, does this seem expensive to you? And they sent me kind of the price range of the tickets at this place. And I thought I kind of said, like, I mean, it seems like WrestleMania prices, I guess. And he goes, this place holds a hundred thousand people.
00:45:27
Speaker
Yeah, so a venue like that where the cheap seats are in the like $100. That's crazy to me. Is it sold out? I have no idea whether or not it's sold out. I mean, maybe it isn't. And that's why they're pimping it so hard. Yeah, I don't know. It's just crazy watching how hard they're promoting this show, considering what time it's going to air here in the States.
00:45:51
Speaker
I mean, I know that they're international as a company, but still, good lord, they're putting more effort into this Undertaker Triple H rematch than they did Cena versus Undertaker at WrestleMania. I mean, I can't argue with that in the slightest. It's a weird time for them because like you said, I went into this pay-per-view, this aired while I was at Night 3 Ebola.
00:46:13
Speaker
And I was so invested in just seeing such good wrestling that I was like, I don't even wanna watch this. I still have this taste in my mouth from what I'm watching. I don't wanna ruin this flavor. And it didn't ruin it. It ended up being a pretty solid WWE pay-per-view.
00:46:33
Speaker
Yeah, kind of came out of nowhere. And like I said, you know, they got the Australia show, they've got evolution coming up. And then I guess they're doing another Saudi Arabia show in November and then Survivor Series. So they've got a lot of stuff coming up. But you know, this was the pay for you. I just like, again, I'm not a big fan of the Hell in a Cell pay per view in general. I really don't like the themed pay per views that much. But
00:46:57
Speaker
The big controversy this year for this show was the red Helen Estelle cage. We have to talk about that for a minute. What was your reaction upon seeing the thing? Because you started with Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton because that's where the pay-per-view started. But I don't know if you knew that when you were walking into it that that's what the cage was going to look like. I had no idea. I had not been really. The only social media I'd been on was posting some pictures on Instagram throughout Bola weekend.
00:47:22
Speaker
I had not seen the pictures of that, so when I flipped it on and saw that red cage, it surprised me. It was shocking. My first thought was, well, it looks like a McDonald's play place. Yep, and I think that it being red makes it look less painful.
00:47:39
Speaker
I mean, I don't know what the thought process was. I don't know if it was just a matter of them being like, well, this is different. This changes things up again. I don't know if it's supposed to symbolize blood and kind of evoke that emotion. Well, it's hell. It's hell. It's fire. I guess. But fuck, it took them a long enough time to figure that out. But I thought it was extremely distracting. I mean, it's one of my only like two knocks on the whole pay-per-view.
00:48:02
Speaker
I mean, I guess it's not really, I think the only distraction is that it's different. And I feel like we've all experienced touching a chain-link fence. We know what a cage feels like. And the red looked a little more plasticky, and maybe it actually was. They may have made it so that it doesn't hurt them. Yeah, it may be coated, and if that's the case, I don't know. But the funny thing is, if it was meant to evoke the blood, dangerous vibe, whatever,
00:48:29
Speaker
The show, there were so many brutal bumps throughout the show too. Randy and Jeff fucked each other up. Ew. Dude. Okay. In the venue while I was at Bola, I said I've been enjoying what Randy Orton's been doing.
00:48:48
Speaker
I think a lot of people have, but I said it in like the holiest of places. And I looked at the person I was next to and was like, don't tell anyone I said that. And he's like, fuck you. I'm going to post it. I'm going to find a way to put it on the show. So this is a way of me, you know, coming out and just admitting that I did say this. I have in the past not been kind to Randy.
00:49:09
Speaker
This is probably the better Randy match I've seen in a couple years. Yeah, a lot of people are digging this brutal, heartless, cold, viper. They're glad that he's back to being the heel. And then he's kind of vicious. But would you say this also looked like the first match that he gave a shit in a while?
00:49:31
Speaker
Oh and it makes sense to me that he does. Any story I hear about Randy where he talks about working with the new talent or the old guys, he's really partial to working with the older guys, the guys that were in the company when he came in and had history there. So it makes sense to me that if Jeff really wanted to do a Hell in a Cell match that this meant a lot to him and he probably felt really invested in it.
00:49:55
Speaker
That makes me feel really happy because Jeff had said multiple times that that was one of the last things he wanted to do in his career. And I don't know if it's the match that Jeff Hardy wanted necessarily, but it was a very good one. And they found they did a lot of memorable spots. I think we expect Jeff to go off the top, but they were saving that for the end. So he had to figure out something else. Yeah, I don't know if it looked as the way he wanted it to.
00:50:24
Speaker
but yeah I didn't like that there it felt like he had way too much time to process like that he shouldn't because the match ends with Jeff climbing a ladder to the top of the cage swinging from the top of the cage and Randy's down there on a table and he lets he swings back and forth and he lets go and Randy moves but Randy moves like two or three seconds before Jeff let's go
00:50:46
Speaker
Like anybody else would just be like, oh, I'm not going to let go now. I'm going to get back on the ladder. But I mean, the spot definitely got the reaction that they wanted it to. To me, like the most brutal stuff in that match was like the studded belt being used as a weapon and it tearing holes and Orton's back. And obviously this got a chunk of flesh screwdriver spot.
00:51:07
Speaker
Oh, for sure. We have to talk about
Randy Orton's Brutal Match Style
00:51:09
Speaker
that. Get the fuck out of here. And when you look at Randy Orton's face while he's doing it, he looks so pleased with himself. And he's like fucking red. And he knows, he knows that he's grossing Garrett out on the couch right now. Oh, yeah. You Garrett, you want to say mean things about me on the Internet? How about you drive over the couch? Oh, I was dry. Oh, yeah. I was screaming. I was screaming. Leah came in and I was like, look, what is doing to his hair?
00:51:35
Speaker
Did you see the chunk of flesh hanging off of Randy's leg? Yes, and then they fucking zoom in on it in unison. You just hear all the announcers go like, oh, it's so weird that they highlighted that stuff because they're usually quick to cover that crap up on WWE TV. Well, somebody backstage was like, is that muscle tissue? Zoom in on it. The cage is red. It's acceptable now. See if Cole throws up.
00:52:02
Speaker
take that Michael but uh no that the spot actually my favorite spot and it was Jeff had set that ladder up upside down and unfolded
00:52:12
Speaker
And my first thought was, he's not going stomach first onto that, is he? God damn it if he didn't, but that one rung broke and he went head first into the ground. They, I mean... It was more than I expected it to be by far because I wasn't even looking forward to this match and I didn't think this feud deserved a Hell in a Cell.
00:52:52
Speaker
This made me enjoy Randy's character a little more, is that he wanted to pin him. He wanted to get that win. He didn't want the match to be won by stoppage. He wanted to be able to say he defeated Jeff Hardy. Which is funny because that comes into play during the main event. The ref tried to stop two different Hell in the Cell matches on Sunday because of just how brutal they were. And only Randy was like, what the fuck are you talking about? It's no disqualification. Fuck that, I'm winning.
00:52:54
Speaker
What the fuck if they didn't make something out of it?
00:53:22
Speaker
So that was a detail. But yeah, we can move on to something else. Becky Lynch versus Charlotte Flair. For the Women's Championship, I don't know what everyone was expecting out of this, but I was very, very, very adamant that Becky go over in this match. And there's been some back and forth on the on the Internet saying whether or not Becky's is she a heel? She a baby face?
00:53:48
Speaker
Is Charlotte the heel? What is she? Well, then you hear people saying, she's like a female stone cold right now. And that's kind of apt. She's a little bit of a badass right now, but I really wanted to see her go over in this match, and by God, she did. Yeah, I mean, I don't have a ton to say about this one. I enjoyed it. It followed a very, very brutal match.
00:54:14
Speaker
was more memorable to me just because they did shit I'd never seen. Booing me? Boo. It was a good match. No, it was good. I don't have anything bad to say about it. That's what it was. It was good. I mean, I watched so much shit this weekend that I like having to switch from the style I watched for three straight days going back to kind of main event style is a lot of a change. It's the kind of match that Rich Brennan doesn't like.
00:54:42
Speaker
Yes, yes. Well, I had to go back watching like a slowed down, you know, story. No, I popped for Becky winning it, winning it clean. Didn't even use an underhanded tactic to get it done. And when Charlotte asked to raise her hand, she told her to fuck off and rubbed it in her face. And I don't know. To me, this is like the hottest story they got going in WWE right now. Yeah.
00:55:09
Speaker
I do. I enjoy the story. I need to tune in to Smackdown more. I haven't watched in a couple of weeks. I've been watching the highlights. I like everybody down there. I like what's going on. Boo. Boo. Windy Testa Burger. Boo. What are you booing me for? I'm booing you for not watching Smackdown. I'm sorry. This was a very busy weekend. I'm giving you shit. Smackdown's on a Tuesday though. All in's done.
00:55:35
Speaker
I bowl is done. I'm going to have a lot more time to be catching up on my WWEs and the new Japan's and all the everything's. You don't have a trip, a wrestling trip for a while, right? No, I'm done for the year. Oh, the year has like a few more months left in it. I know. And we'll see what happens after that.
00:55:56
Speaker
Next match at Hell in the Cell was Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre who were the tag team champions against Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. And fuck if this wasn't a banger of a match. Especially the last five to seven minutes. Just false finish after false finish. Crowd was digging it. I got into it. I was on the edge of my seat. This was, I don't know, to me this was match of the night. This was my opinion.
00:56:21
Speaker
It got me to pop in the last five to seven. Like you said, it really, really picked up because you would text me that it was your favorite one. So I didn't know what I was going in for, but it didn't necessarily grab me right at the beginning, but it had such a strong finish that it was it was good.
00:56:38
Speaker
Well, Styles and Joe, I thought that was another good match on the show. And it was controversial. I was fine with the match. Very good match. The opening promo. I didn't like him reading the story. I have a hard time picturing that character writing the book and going out and describing to people the illustrations that he wanted in his book.
00:56:57
Speaker
See, that's what I need. I need the male version of Total Divas so I can see Samoa Joe being like, I've got an idea for a story. I think it's gonna really freak him out and I'm gonna say some shit about his kids that's kinda fucked up. I think it's really gonna get in his head. It's WWE, man. It's fun. It is fun, but that's what I wanna see. Those are the stories for me. You were saying that's the kind of shit that's in the comic books. You get to see Friendship the Magician being purchased.
00:57:25
Speaker
Yeah, I want to see that in the next comic book where I get to watch him write a book. They had aired the storybook promo, I think on the Smackdown going into this Hell in the Cell show. So I gave it the thumbs up. I thought it was different. I really dig this feud between him and Stiles. But of course, they've got tons of history and time together. So they know how to put on a quality match. I don't know. I don't know how this is going to end.
00:57:49
Speaker
They have a rematch at that super showdown thing in Australia for the title, no disqualifications. I would like to see Joe become WWE Champion before his time there is done. And I don't know if that's gonna happen this time necessarily, I hope it does. But- I don't know who beat Styles. If it isn't Samoa Joe, I don't know who's the next guy that actually gets to get that away from him. Well, I had commented- Cuz he's just the man. Yeah.
00:58:16
Speaker
Yeah, no fucking Joe's great. But I mean, there's a couple other options. I guess on that Australia show, they're doing Daniel Bryan versus the Miz. And whoever wins that match gets a championship match against whoever's the champion. And that could be Joe or Styles. And so I'll say this, I said if Joe isn't going to be the one to beat Styles, maybe the money match is Daniel Bryan versus AJ Styles.
Skepticism About Dream Matches
00:58:42
Speaker
The big money matches scare the shit out of me nowadays. What do you mean? The matches that seem like they're going to be dream matches end up being disappointing and you have to wait for the third time of them doing it for it to be the thing you're waiting for. Because they milk it for too long. They milk it a little too much. Why don't they just give me three good matches? Yeah, that's a very fair question. That their philosophy is we don't think. But then again, with the Joe and Styles matches, both of those have been good.
00:59:12
Speaker
They're doing better than Nakamura and Styles did in my opinion. That's true. I think I look back on that first Joe Styles match because I was in the crowd for that one and I think it hit me weird just because the title match was an hour and a half into a four hour pay per view. You felt like it was disrespected a little bit? To the belt. So the whole time I'm just like, I think in my head during that match, I was thinking like, well, this isn't going to go anywhere or else they would put it at the end of the show.
00:59:39
Speaker
I thought that was a good match. And it was good. It was good. And you kind of had to just remind me of that now because all I remembered was the placement on the card. It had a really good that was. Yeah. So far, they've done two good ones, though. So Daniel Bryan, which I fucking love Daniel Bryan so much, I just I'm not back to loving him the same way I used to. It may never get back to that.
01:00:01
Speaker
and he may have been gone for just a little too long and they're really take like we talked about this right before WrestleMania they have time but it does feel like they're really I mean fuck what they had him work big Cass and now they're having him do miss but they're including the wives a lot in the angle and
01:00:20
Speaker
I don't know, I think people are just ready to see this thing go, or maybe the payoff down the line, maybe it's the Miz who wins the title from AJ Styles, and Miz becomes WWE Champion, and then maybe Daniel Bryan can win the Royal Rumble, and then they culminate in the blow off as a WrestleMania match, where Daniel Bryan wins the title again. You just got me so excited about a thing that may not happen. May not. I don't like when you present me with ideas that get me excited,
01:00:49
Speaker
Because already, I was just like, you know what? This year, I don't think WrestleMania is going to be the thing I'm most excited about. It's going to definitely be the New Japan show. But if you can get goddamn Miz in the main event, which, you know, at this point, if it's Miz and Daniel Bryan, that could be the opener to the fucking show for all I know. Or an hour and a half in. Exactly. I would love for Miz to be able to do that. What did you think of the Ronda Rousey match? Because I know she's your girl.
01:01:15
Speaker
Once again, I thought it was a pretty solid match. It was just I thought it was her best match she's had so far. Yeah, I I thought this one was because like the Nia Jax match I feel like was mostly her selling and I feel like this one had a good mix of selling and fighting back.
01:01:32
Speaker
She is ahead of the curve. That was the one thing, that she was doing a lot of good selling. That was the first thing that stood out to me. I think one of the things, one of my complaints, and I don't know if I've been able to articulate it on the podcast, I'm okay with them addressing her MMA background and incorporating that into her gimmick, into her moveset, but I don't like when she breaks out the quick shots and the jabs and the punches at the start of the match. Like I like it being the lead in towards her finish.
01:02:00
Speaker
Like where she just, where she goes ape shit. Oh, I agree with you. And I, that was one thing that I actually made note of while watching this match is that she saved it for the end. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's, it's a really weird opener when it's just like, why don't you just do that the whole fight? If that's what you're good at. Just brutal punches in the corner. Aren't something you think of as a finisher. And I think it makes sense to me that they didn't see that right away because punches are such.
01:02:26
Speaker
You know, that's how a match starts. So it makes sense to start it that way. But I think down the road as they've gone on and she's getting more of a move set, it makes sense that this is what's going to happen before the arm bar. She is just going to absolutely pummel you, flip you over, break your goddamn arm off. It's essentially her five moves of doom when she starts doing the punches, right? Exactly. It's it kind of lets you know we're winding this down.
01:02:49
Speaker
yes I mean again when I was watching the match I was making notes like she's doing a bunch of stuff that a lot of people take some a long time to figure it out so she's definitely ahead of the curve and I was definitely happy to see that talk about the main event for a little bit because a lot of people weren't into it some people thought it ruined the entire show some people thought you know it sucked or the finish sucked at least and that
01:03:14
Speaker
Derek, I watched this at my desk today at work on my lunch break. I was eating a Jimmy John sandwich, I had a number 17, the ultimate BLT, side of chips, had some barbecue chips. Did you know what happened in this match before you watched it? I did, I had heard. Okay. So I didn't, I mean, maybe if that, when I heard it though, it surprised the shit out of me.
01:03:41
Speaker
I think it was, I think some of it was cool to see live, like while you were watching it, but I don't know. I don't know. How did it play for you?
01:03:51
Speaker
I just, fuck. Again, I thought the whole pay-per-view as a whole was good. Especially since it was so unexpected. I would take this from WWE every time out. I would have no problem with this. The show went by pretty quick. I didn't feel like I watched a four hour pay-per-view or three hours and 40 minutes or whatever it ended up being.
01:04:15
Speaker
We've been so busy covering all in and star cast of the last few weeks, I really haven't had a chance to talk about this. I guess I'll get it off my chest now. I'm really kind of pissed at how easy and how quickly they sold out everything they had been building with Braun Strowman.
Braun Strowman's Character Shift Critique
01:04:34
Speaker
And that makes sense. They had gotten the next babyface built and then just took it away immediately. Well, they I mean, they had specifically over the last summer. I mean, over the summer, they had been having Kevin look fucking weak against him, which it was fun. It was part of the job. And I'm not worried about Kevin because I know he can get himself over again faster than probably anybody on the roster. They used to say that about Bray Wyatt.
01:04:57
Speaker
No, Bray is different because Bray has to cut those fucking backstage. Hey, man. Hey, man. I'm gonna come out here and I'm gonna just talk about God knows what for about 15 to 16 minutes and then I'm gonna get out. I don't even know what I'm talking about, man.
01:05:14
Speaker
I'm a big Bray Wyatt, I was a big Bray Wyatt fan. Here's my, somebody proposed this question to me. It was, I think it was one of my Twitter followers, Brian, on Twitter. He had said, name all the good Bray Wyatt matches over the last few years. And the only one I could come up with that I could call a good match was his one against Daniel Bryan, I think it was from the Royal Rumble. I can come up with one as well. This is him versus Cena at WrestleMania 30.
01:05:41
Speaker
I mean, his character is phenomenal. His promos are fantastic. Maybe the whole package wasn't there. I mean, I do think that he and Randy should have done something better than what they gave a couple years ago at WrestleMania. But no, I don't worry. I'm not worried about Kevin. It sucks when I see him get underutilized because I think he's maybe the best entertainer overall.
01:06:02
Speaker
that they have but it sucked watching all summer long it was like okay well the objective here is to convince the crowd that Braun Strowman is completely dominant which they already knew because they had been watching him be completely dominant for over a year specifically when he was feuding with Roman Reigns and crushing Roman Reigns on a weekly basis and tossing him on a gurney off the edge of a fucking platform upside down and backward yeah like brutal shit
01:06:32
Speaker
It's just one of those things where I stop and I ask and I'm like, were you guys watching the show this whole time? Like you didn't have to convince me that Braun Strowman is a bad motherfucker. And it just seemed like they were like, no, we have to convince you really quick again. I was like, no, you didn't need to. And then, oh, by the way, you've been selling him as a baby face all summer and then align him. You already know how I feel about Drew McIntyre being aligned with Dolph Ziggler.
01:06:55
Speaker
But those three together, it just immediately overnight turned Braun Strom. I said it, I called this months ago. He jumped the fucking shark. His character has jumped the shark. There's a segment of the audience I think that's still into him, but as far as I'm concerned, they sold out everything they had been building for over a year. I thought he was ready to win the Universal title last summer. Apparently they disagreed. So when it came back to what we talked about where they're always a year behind.
01:07:25
Speaker
They're always a fucking year behind what their fans want. I don't get it. Yeah, I don't. I mean, I understand that they're in the business of telling a story very, very long term and they're like, well, we'll wait and this is what they want because, you know, like if you want to see an Avengers movie, you got to wait a year to see it. Yeah, but that doesn't really work that way with wrestling when I have to watch it every single week.
01:07:49
Speaker
But they have the luxury of changing the story on the fly. They're not under any obligation to commit to something a year in advance. But it seems like they do commit.
01:07:59
Speaker
I just, I don't know what the fuck they're thinking. So, so, I mean, I mean, and this was, this was Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, whatever, how many times they fought. And presumably this was for the money in the bank briefcase, right? I was going to ask you that. I wasn't for sure. Was this a cash in or did he just, yeah, this was a cash in. So briefcase is gone. The briefcase is gone for the second year in a row. It just kind of went away.
01:08:26
Speaker
I'll be honest, this match, I was dozing. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. It wasn't terrible by any means. It was probably the least interesting match I watched throughout the card.
01:08:40
Speaker
This was supposed to be like, what, the 20 year anniversary of the Mick Foley getting tossed off the top of the cell by Undertaker, which was, you know, and he counted to three almost immediately at the beginning of the match. Yeah, that was that was funny watching live because the Internet would not let him live that down. But also fucking Roman, get your fucking shoulder up off the mat.
01:09:01
Speaker
Like that's the other thing Fucking that we were that we're that early in the match. You don't need to make it, you know two and three quarters, dude Did you hear the dialogue though between bronze strobe and a Mick Foley wears like I'm sorry. I didn't mean it was Like I fucked up
01:09:19
Speaker
Wow. The other best thing that the microphones picked up throughout any of this was during Daniel Bryan Mizz, where you could hear Daniel Bryan say, you son of a bitch, no one touches my wife. Yeah, that match was whatever. But as far as the main event goes. I disagree. I ended up enjoying it. You're a dumbass.
01:09:44
Speaker
Yeah. I'm not going to tell you that all the spots that match were bad, but that match was a typical mid-card WWE filler, whatever the fuck. Hey, you don't watch. I don't even understand the finish. I don't understand the finish. Brie Bella rolled up Maurice, and Maurice just kind of kicked out and covered her, and she won. Well, it obviously wasn't supposed to end that way. No shit.
01:10:10
Speaker
But when you fuck up the finish that bad, it kind of affects how I view the rest of the match. I'm sorry. If anything, it just makes Brie look bad, and it makes Maurice look like she has the most powerful pen in all of wrestling. And fucking Brie Bella did not show up on SmackDown this week. It was that bad.
01:10:25
Speaker
Really? Yeah. You know I love the Bellas. You know I love Maurice and Miz. That was basically Total Divas, Miz and Miz is the match. And I know a lot of us tuned in because of that. Fuck you. Fuck you, Derek. Yep.
01:10:41
Speaker
Watch Total Divas. Watch Miz and Mrs. I'm not gonna watch it now. I think Total Divas just aired their first episode. Haven't gotten to see it yet. We will break it down scene by scene next week, right? Nope. No, because next week we're gonna have to do a couple listener submissions. We got several listener submissions. We got a lot of stuff to do next week. Anyways, Hell in the Cell happened and it was a great show and the main event was whatever.
01:11:07
Speaker
That's a wrap on Hell in the Cell 2018. So next week we have a listener submission. Let's see. Pilar wants us to talk about the love triangle, the Lita love triangle. We need to get some specifics on what exactly she wants there. We can't just watch like months of story? No. We need to know what we're getting into there.
01:11:37
Speaker
Well I'll see what I'll see what I can do.
Humorous Story from Lowell
01:11:40
Speaker
Lowell. Our buddy Lowell from Canada saw him several times. The last time I saw Lowell he was inside of Denny's as we were trying to get food after all in and we gave up on the Denny's experiment pretty quick.
01:11:57
Speaker
Well, I think you freaked Lowell out a little bit. How did I freak Lowell out? You walked in and you said, Lowell. I had been doing that to him all weekend. I know. Because I remembered his name. You turn around and walked away and he goes, he keeps saying my name.
01:12:16
Speaker
and he felt bad because he didn't remember yours and you kept specifying specifically just saying he's the only lol I know well here's the thing I'm usually pretty bad at remembering people's names so when I get one and I'm like I'm gonna remember that one no that's when I kept that's that's what I'm taking with me and I I'm not gonna forget that one I appreciated your dedication to calling him by name throughout the weekend and I'm sure he did as well I hope he did
Requests for Comedy Matches
01:12:42
Speaker
But I guess we're going to be covering covering his request next week as well, which Kenny doesn't get to do comedy matches very often and he loves doing them. So Kenny, I think it was either before the G1 or before Wrestle Kingdom, he had gone back home and done his local indie promotion and got to do a comedy match there. And Lowell wants us to find that one and cover that.
01:13:04
Speaker
So we'll watch that. My girlfriend submitted another Mary Fucker kill. I guess she was so inspired by hearing me say that I would fuck Seth Rollins. She wants to see who else I'll fuck. Well, this is a fantasy camp for her. And honestly, for half our listeners and me as well, just picturing you just running a train on the WWE roster.
01:13:29
Speaker
What? Is that what you've been thinking about since last week? No it isn't, but now I am. Just bring up a list of them. Switching a new body. Mike Keota. Charles Robinson. Oh my god. Little Natech. We should do a merry fucker kill just with the refs. Oh, that's one last thing I need to mention about Bola. They introduced us to a third referee.
01:13:54
Speaker
So we got Mike Knox, the ref everybody likes. We've got Justin, the ref everybody fucking hates. And we got some fucking new guy that looks like Buster Bluth from Arrested Development. And every time he was like doing pen, like, you know, counting, I was just thinking like, that was Three Mother, I swear. Like, I couldn't, there's no narrative for him there. I don't know who he is. Maybe I'll love him eventually.
Promotion of Indie Wrestling and Social Media
01:14:18
Speaker
Garrett, before we get out of here, you think we should plug the social media and let them know how to give us a little favor on iTunes? Yeah, I want to actually plug a couple other things as well while we're doing that. For sure. Once again, Southern Underground Pro this weekend. Don't go in the basement. Don't look in the basement. It's one of those, I don't have it in front of me to look. Either way, it's at Basement East.
01:14:38
Speaker
The show starts at two o'clock. Do not miss these, man. You guys, these are fantastic indie wrestling shows. Each one is better than the next. And I mean, fucking Jeff Cobb was there three shows ago. He won Bola. MJF was there. He was fucking all in. Marco Stump was there. He was at all of the things. Marco's gonna be there this weekend. If you haven't gotten a chance to see him, now's your chance. And it's also your chance to check out Southern Underground Pro.
01:15:05
Speaker
15 bucks, you're gonna have a great fucking time at this thing. Also, check out our friend Queen of the Ring, Alex. Check out her YouTube stuff. In the last several videos she released, it's all of our trip from all in, so you see Derek and I all over those things. You kind of get a first-person view of what our entire experience was like through the eyes of Alex. And it was a damn good weekend. God, I rewatched her videos a couple times just going back and thinking about how it was. You had tears in your eyes, didn't you?
01:15:36
Speaker
Yeah, I was being serious. There were a couple moments.
NWA 70th Anniversary and Personal Anecdotes
01:15:40
Speaker
Oh, and the NWA 70th anniversary show is gonna be here in Nashville October 21st. You should definitely go to that. The tickets went on sale while I was on an airplane on the way to Bola. Had to have my wife get them. I get very nervous about other people trying to get my tickets. We ended up third row. She did okay. I think she did pretty good. She did okay.
Appearance on Tender Friends Podcast
01:16:06
Speaker
Did you do some appearances on anybody else's shows while you were out there? Oh, fuck. Yes, one last one here. I was on the Tender Friends podcast. It's a show where they review chicken tenders. On this week's episode, they were homemaking chicken nuggets. And I got to be the judge of their homemade chicken nuggets to see who did best. We still talk a little wrestling. We talk a lot of fried chicken. Hop on iTunes, all the places you check out your podcast to listen to me on the Tender Friends podcast.
Podcast Interaction and Reviews
01:16:34
Speaker
And while you're at it, while you're on iTunes, head over to our podcast and we would really appreciate it. You could do us a big favor. If you give us five stars, that's huge helps us out, helps get the word of our podcasts out there to more people. And if you have extra time, please leave us a review. Like we said before, if you leave us a review and you request us to watch something, it doesn't have to be a match. It could be your favorite match. It could be your least favorite match. It could be a great match. It could be a bad match.
01:17:01
Speaker
It could fucking be the Marie Six starring Mike The Miz, Mizanin, Shawn Michaels, Becky Lynch. I wanna watch that shit. Somebody throw that our way. We'll watch whatever you want if you give us a nice review and leave us five stars. And also, we're on social media. You know it. If you don't know it, at Wrestle Hangout on Facebook, at Wrestle Hangout on Twitter, at Predetermined Podcast on Instagram. Garrett, do you have anything else to add? Hit our goddamn music.