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Services not available in all areas. Cold open question of the week, Cass. Cold open question of the week, Cass. What's up, baby shoes? Cs Test. How you doing, buddy? Good. Nice. It's good to hear from it. Oh, this is Pootie Tang. Say hey, hey guys. Say hey, what's up to Pooty. Hello, Pootie. Yeah. That's my greaties. I heard That a really cool wrestler said hi to you at WrestleMania. I can't hear you, my ear. I heard I heard a you met a really cool wrestler, or a really cool wrestler said hey to you. Who which wrestler was that? Svon Evans. Oh, you're a big Javon Evans fan. Is he your favorite? Mm-hmm. You like that he can be flips? What's the best part about him? You like his flips and what? His shirt. Why do you like his shirt? Oh yeah, 'cause I had six seven on it. Six seven. It is easy work. Easy work. Can can you say one thing for me, uh uh, Aubrey? So That boy bouncy. But look right here when you do it. Ready? Or look right at Kaz. Or look right here. Look at my hand and say that boy bouncy. That boy dancy. Yeah, that's bouncy fat boy. Yeah, I'm letting you go. That was Aubrey. I do have a question for you guys. What's up? You might know this already, but they released the SummerSlam twenty twenty six first posters today. I saw that. Do you r do you have it committed to memory? Because it kind of ruins the guessing game. But I was gonna say Not committed to memory. There's ten there's 10 wrestlers on the front. Can you guess who on the poster can you guess who they are? Oba family, Trick Williams, CM Punk. Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns. Rear Ripley. Mm-hmm. Live Morgan. Mm-hmm. I'm like Mysterio? Nope. Two more, I think. Two more. Two more. No no no. You got three more. Three more, I think. Logan Paul? Uh one more woman. Okay. Jake Cargo. That's a great guest but no. Uh Title holder. Beggy Lance? Becky Lynch. Okay. And You've not mentioned her husband, I don't think. House of Thrones. So there's one but there's one more. Okay. Brawn Break? Nope, but in the same category as up and coming star. Also a title holder, actually. Oh, uh oh um Petza. Yep, that's Middle Metal, yeah, of course. Now I forget that. Doing it in the poster. By the way, punk? Will always be important and you know, this is not to discredit him at all, but he made the smartest move. By having the little hands crossed across the you know, the straight edge X as his pose. Because he's in the middle of every poster. You know, if if he's not the very foremost, like I'm squaring off with Roman Reigns face, they always gotta throw him right in the middle 'cause he's got this perfectly even pose. Um So I I did you saw this, obviously, but the surprising ones are, I mean, you'd have to say are Penta and Oba Femi and Trick Williams, right? Yeah. That's what that's what jumped out at me immediately. I was like, Oh, they are big on these guys. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um And I mean, these are the three stars of that first act of night two, right? I mean, we we complained about I complained about Javon not winning. That's more of a personal taste. Or You know, I have to feel for my son. But um Yeah, but the I mean, this is if that first half of night two is just a showcase for the future, these are your three guys and they Oof. They did it. Um And down in NXT, they're just recharging and recharging. You wanna talk about some of those? the new faces down there at some point soon. But um Anyway, we had a lot to talk about today. Let's start. Yeah, that NXT stuff was nuts. But yeah, we do got a lot to talk about. Whoa, let's start it. What up? Welcome to the Masked Man Show with Kaz. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing good, shoes. How about yourself, man? I'm good. Superproducer Brian H. Waters, you good? Making his making his Masked Man show debut. The one and only Pudy Tang is in the house. Yeah, might hear him. Majorkyorky Bichon mix. Oh, my first child right here. What does the Bishan bring to the equation? Uh, you know, his parents were very white. You know what I mean? Like he just got, you know, the black genes just took over, so that's why he looks like this. But if he hits the if he's the light, his parents could pass is what you're judging. Yeah, his parents are definitely white passing. You know what I mean? Like he's he's kinda light skinned. Like when the light when the light hits his his face, it's he turns brown, but everywhere else he's just black. Mm-hmm. And then you see, and I mean just a little bit. When you see his parents, it all makes sense. You're like, Oh, okay, that's the Bichan right there. Yeah. Um, well great. Welcome to the podcast, Booty Tad. We're doing this on on what is today? It's Thursday afternoon. Weird time for us to tape. I don't remember what day it is most of the time. Now is even worse. I will say right off the bat that we I mean If Darby Allen is gonna continue as he is pledged to be a fighting champion, gonna keep going till the wheels fall off. First of all We've had a lot of different kinds of world championships. But there's never been anybody that that continuously defended the world title at the pace that he's set. Now I'm guessing he can't continue at this pace. But you'd be looking back to like Ric Flair as the last traveling NWA champion when you were trying to find Try to find a w like a uh a title defense number that's good that would be up to someone defending it every week on TV. You know what I mean? Um We're also gonna have a very constantly moving bar for my favorite my favorite Darby Allen match. I will say that Champa match is gonna be very difficult to beat. And even the excellent, excellent match he had last night against Brody King. did not do anything to nudge that from the top. Did you w did you like Darby Darby Brody? Darby Brody. Darby Brody sounds like not a wrestling match, but you know what I mean. Yeah, nah, Darby is such a a a fun guy to watch because like He just bumps so well. Like he's just so easy to like. I don't know, easy. I'm not the one in here tossing him around, but like he makes everything look like All right, the best way to put it is He's so small, he looks like he should be dying out there every time he goes out. So instead he's like I'm supposed to die anyway, so I'm gonna use my body to hurt you first. Yes. That's the Kfabe psychology and it's really sad. I mean, he's often confused confused compared to Jeff Hardy. And nah. And in terms of and in terms of ring work. There is a lot of similarity there. I mean, Jeff Hardy had his absolute singles Apex, like his original run Apex, not his like his l latter day return. Like he didn't have much of a move set. I mean obviously he had a lot of ex like memorable exceptional moves. But his leg You know, turn buckle to turn buckle offense was a lot of like punching and but mostly getting punched. Like he was mostly a punching back. That's what made him so compelling, right? That you could tell a twenty minute story. And Jeff Hardy gets in five moves. You know, like it's it's pretty crazy. And Darby has that too. But He's really been innovating. I mean, it's nothing like again his Champa match. It seemed like he was like they were inventing moves. Like he was like coming up with stuff I didn't know he could do. Last night's match was more of a storytelling situation. One, it was a very necessary story, and I almost wonder if that should have been his first title defense. Because You know, they have a history. Yeah and and And in so much as like Brody King is not like a solid main eventer. He is certainly like right on the cusp of being a big name main eventer. It did sort of feel like Darby had to get past this before he was really a legitimate champion, in a way that Those normal first defenses don't always make you feel. But they did a great job telling that story. And really one of the most compelling David Goliath stories in in it in in Darby's career w and which is to say of all of his matches, 'cause they're always David Goliath stories. Mm-hmm. Um But of course there's a memorable like suicide dive outside that that Brody basically no sold that was just exceptional. And I should say kind of an endlessly renewable resource. I mean he could do that up against Lashley, we go you know, he can he can run that same bit over and over again and people will pop just the same. Um But so yeah, so there's so I mean, but the but the story they told Durrow is just like is like you said, is Darby willing to be crazy enough. Uh a his monstrous opponent. And he was able to do it. And I thought the finish was just exceptional. I mean, it was the sort of thing that's just like you can imagine the producer saying it, you can imagine coming up with it. Backstage. Just the butt-a butt the the one two three. It was from going outside. the ending with the double the no triple coffin drop. Uh with just Chef's case. I mean it's very, very good stuff. And I will say You will hear nothing you I was have nothing bad to say about Darby Allen's run. If he really does defend the title every week or every other week. Like it's cr like it's such a great That's the smartest thing they could have done given their main event. scene, right? Like it was There was like eight people in the main in in in the world title picture like a month ago. Probably the least deserving of that group. Probably the least deserving. And MJF was like You know, a month ago we're like, How's MJF gonna go through all these guys? Well They'll have Darby do it for them. You know what I mean? Like Darby's gonna be the guy who defends the title against like all these dudes that were like eventually gunning for MJF. And you can kinda see the light at the end of the tunnel, like after Darby like successfully goes through like You know, the Scott Pilgrim versus the World Nine Boyfriends or whatever it was. It's like he's gonna eventually find himself in front of M J F again. And then MJ's gonna take advantage of a guy who's been Defending the title every goddamn week, you know what I mean? So Um it's smart. It's a smart play for for AEW and just the visual last night during the main event of MJF watching exasperated from the back and Just icing on the cake, Kevin Knight watching from the stands. Like That's the real I mean, you know me, people listening to this know me. That's the stuff that just tickles my wrestling fan. Loins. Yeah. When it's when when things m matter for more than one reason, right? When it when various storylines are laying over on each other. Like that's that just makes you just feel so good. Obviously. I mean also As someone who's watched You know, as many as Kevin Knight matches as one can possibly imagine me watching. Last night was the first time I felt like I really know what know what he looks like, which is really compelling. Do you know what I mean? Like I've seen him cut promos, but just watching him stand there, not in the midst of a promo, not with sunglasses on, not in the ring doing work. I felt like I got to know him better. But anyway, you're right. The dar that's a great way of putting that, that Darby is now gonna knock down all these you know, boyfriends or whatever that that that so M J Fesn't have to And Not only will I am I excited now to see a Derby match every week if that's what they end up doing. It really like it's a really a distinctive run if he if he keeps going this way. You know, like we will all I mean, I swear to God, we'll be doing this podcast at sixty years old. Darby Allen will be having his retirement tour, probably. Uh God, you know, knock on wood if he makes it that far. It will be like Yeah, this was good. That was good. A dude that run with the title in twenty six. Yeah, when he when he wrestled when he comm when he defended it every week, like w that'll be that that's like line one Of the of the article sort of stuff. Yeah, and he's he's kind of putting the show on his back. Because I think Think we all could kinda see This eventually go into MJF eventually. Sure. Well it still has to go there, yeah. But the the the fact that he's small The fact that he's defending the title every week. There's real intrigue every week to see if they really go through with this all the way. And you know. Have him defend the title up until double or nothing here in New York. And, you know. Probably face off against MJF or Since that seems like too on the nose of something that's coming down the pipe. They could have another switch before then. That really shocks people. So they could. They could. And I was thinking about that last night. I mean, part of me thinks I mean listen, people hearing rumors about this Darby Allen win for a while. I mean, wasn't there weren't there originally rumors that he was supposed to win it when Swerve won? Right? Like way back. We've been hearing about this. possibility for a while. So there might be an element of like He the m the management owed him one or whatever. Although I don't think that's the final decision for any big decision maker. Mm-hmm. But I do think that in so much as it's like An interesting PR gimmick, like let's see what this with this what kind of attention this guy gets. Mm-hmm. feels like that applies to New York. I mean, it feels like like if if it is just sort of a let's like let's just see. I would be very interested to see what he would draw. A double or nothing. You know, he's just a very I don't know. He's I mean he's he's just a he seems like the kind of guy that could attract your casual fan. You know, I think that's sort of the allure of him. I kinda think it's the easiest way to get over, too. Not for nothing. Like Just wrestle every week. Put you in the main event every single week. And by the time you get to Arthur Ash Stadium. Even though you're the champion, I need to defend you're you're still the underdog. Like It's rare when the champion is still the underdog. If the promo if the hype package for the for the Arthur Ash match It's just five minutes of Darby Allen getting murdered. Like that's better than just seeing someone's actual highlight. You know what I mean? Like Like that would be on par with an Osprey highlight reel just to see all the bumps Darby Allen's taken in a month. Right? I mean I have no complaints about that. Obviously there's a lot going on. beyond that at AEW. But I think it's really interesting like you talked about the clear out and Let's just see what he can do with it. Let's just let's just give this guy a shot. I do think that there's probably something more I mean There's a probably a safer bet, you know, you could do one of those I mean, I don't know. What would be the sho I mean, having Brody beat him would have been the real shocker. Right? Like he lost it not just to a You know, B level a you know, be a minus level Baby face, but also to a friend. Right, like that would have been and and to have it be clean, like that would have been shocking. What kind of shock were you imagining? I don't know. I mean like think of all those dudes that We're ready to step up to him a while ago. I think Swarve is gonna be a little occupied with Bandito, so you kinda take him off. I don't I don't know why that's happening, but I love it and I love that. Oh, that video was fire. Yeah. Like I was like I was like, this is different. Swerve does feel Swerve partly because he's done all those those remotes, you know, all those various house burning down shots and stuff. It didn't feel strange for him to be in like a Cinematic universe. It just he feels like the kind of guy that can just Cross the time streams, you know? Right, right. Um, so I mean you probably take him out. Samoa Joe's back. But he's kind of already had the shock win. I mean Uh, is there a way that you'd cross stories with Will Osprey and Moxley, what they're doing with the Death Riders and Darby Allen, where it's like They're kinda trying to I don't know, teach Will Osprey to be a little bit more ruthless, be a little bit more disciplinary into his craft, where He takes advantage of a weakened Darby Allen. And just wins the title. You know what I mean? And now the Death Riders help him win either to you know, to help we don't know if they're helping him or maybe not as a member of the Death Riders, but just like as a like, you know. They helped him sharpen his sword, sort of thing. Exactly. And hey and if all and if all else fails, we have a we have a Osprey Mox match lined up and Mox can take the boat from it. You know, like it's there's a lot of things you could do with that. And do you want Lowest the keys, I mean May not be the s may not be the the worst idea to have Osprey go into all in as the champion instead of winning. The championship at Wembley. You know what I mean? Like if it's trying to I mean listen that's that's always the debate. I would ha I would prefer to have him go in just because it leaves the ending a little bit more up in the air. I feel like if if Osprey goes in as a designer. No, no, yes. I think if you go I think if he goes in as challenger, it feels like a done deal that he's gonna win. And now if this were if this were Vince McMahon's WWE, no, it would not be Oh yeah, that's that's the perfect I was like, Oh, is it his whole town? Fuck him. Yeah. But I think especi I mean, Tony Khan is a lot of things, but he's certainly a wrestling sentimentalist, and I say that to his great credit, you know, I think it'd be really it would have to be at the in the service of telling an insane story. For him to pass up on a challenger ch uh on on having Rubb as the challenger and losing that match. So I prefer to send him in as champ. And you could probably do a little bit more with ticket sales. At least with the PR stuff. I mean again. old school promoters would a would disagree on on behalf fifty percent of them at least would disagree, saying it's better to send fans in wanting their hero to win, but come on. I mean Him being there is a the he is the the conquering hero's return. Right. Yep. I don't think you would. I don't think you gain a lot by seeing him overcome anything. If it was Will Osprey's first year in AEW, I'd be like, Yeah. Establish him as the guy by having him win at Wembley Stadium. That makes sense. But he's been here for so long already. And he can beat and he can beat Osprey or he I mean he can beat Moxley, he can beat He can beat MJF, he can beat all the like we're we're not looking at him as like, I wonder if he can do it. Right. It's like we've seen him beat all these people already. You know what I mean? Like Yeah. I mean it's basically like even a kid would look at it as a booking decision. It's just like, Well what like is he gonna win? Well then why not? You know? And if it's a booking decision, you can feel safe. You know, at that point that some of the mystery is gone from it. But like But yeah, I It will be interesting. I wouldn't be interesting if they cross the streams. I wonder if it weren't for The fact that you have to it seems like you m like MJF has to be featured at at at in at um at Arthur Ash, right? Mm-hmm. It's his it's his Chicago. It's his home town. So unless he were mysteriously up off work that day and they were trying to build to something like that. I think the most intriguing thing would be to put to have Darby keep doing these open challenges and somehow insituate him in the middle of a feud like Mox Osprey. And have them do a triple threat at double or nothing. You know, like have him get stuck in the middle of another feud. Both guys are legit challengers. and then tie them together. That would be my choice, but you can't have MJF not working double or nothing. And you can't have I I find it hard to imagine he could be doing anything except challenging for the title. So maybe the most intriguing question to ask is is there any way that Darby retains. at double or nothing, but we're a ways off from that. A would never happen except for B in the storyline. Conventional b conventional booking wisdom that you just end up running a foul of your own point at some point. But anyway. Great episode of Dynamite. The Darby Allen era is Fantastic. And I feel like it gives a real form to the show. The dynamite in particular that it didn't have before necessarily. Um And Always something to look forward to. But now when you get those freaking great matches. bonus to whatever the main event's gonna be. I don't know. My fear is that it's gonna be a super short run and it'll be over at double or nothing, cause how could somebody keep this up? But if anybody can. It's Darby Allen. Um, any other big notes from last night? You got to see you got to see your favorite your childhood favorite Adam Copeland wrestle? Yes, on this day. Uh I saw clearly. Um She was That was cool. Um, what else was the what happened last night? I'm tipping my tongue, man. We get Kevin Knight went over on MJF earlier in the show. MJF. With a with a with a low blow. Um The Brawling Birds, who I love and enjoying that tag team much more than I thought I would. I mean, Jamie Hayter's really bought in. I don't know if that was a question, but I just couldn't quite imagine it. Um and Alex Windsor's fantastic, but It just seems super weird in a rather depleted women's division. I know Jamie Hayter just challenged for the title, but it's just a weird team to be a t a weird time. This podcast is brought to you by Carvana. Selling your car should feel like one less thing on your list. Not one more. With Carvana, it is. Just go to Carvana.com. Ento your license plate or VIN and get a real offer down to the penny. No back and forth, no surprises, just an experience you can trust. Like your offer, accept it, schedule pickup, and we'll come to you with a check in hand. Your car, your timeline, your terms. Visit Carvana.com to sell your car today. Pick up these may apply. Let's talk about a condition many people haven't heard of. Turns out it's more common than you'd think. Peirone's disease, or PD for short. PD can happen when scar tissue builds up under the skin of the penis. 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Shift your flavor to high gear with new Nas Energy Grand Prix Guava. Hit the street, grab a can, and get after it. Time to choose to be a tag team, but whatever. You had your Nokata to catch the stare down. Emotion down at the end. Um I can't wait for that match. They better pull that pull the trigger on that at double or nothing, or I'm just gonna skip I'm gonna be over it at at some point. But it's gonna be sick. Um And quietly Okada's on kind of a run, man. I mean He's He might be at peak. AW O'Cotta, right? Am I wrong? Oh, you're giving me a look now. Still don't see it. Uh uh. You don't see what? I I I He is a great wrestler, but he's still one of those guys that I'm just like I'm all right. Here's a here's a here's an example for folks that listen. I know this is somewhere else. Kazuka Okada is like The re the It's like the the ready to die of of wrestlers, right? Like When you ask like rap fans like who their top five is. And they're like You gotta put Biggie, Tupac, and Jay and all these people in there, like That's kinda how it looked like Okada. It's like People just put 'em in these like Heavy like top level conversations. And I feel like they only put him there out of like respect. Respect an obligation, you know what I mean? But You're right, you can you can you have to cite Ready to Die or whatever, but then you're like, Okay, what are the what's the three track run that is like Like when's the last time I just threw Ready to Die on because I was in the you know I mean just in the mood for it. Like I know it's a classic. I know. I know it is. But like is it like the thing that I just listen to so much. What wing of the Hall of Fame did Sid get inducted into that made us The legacy wing? Yeah, that made everybody so mad. They should just have a legacy wing. You should just inv be able to invoke the legacy wing whenever you're having a town top three or a Mount Rushmore conversation. You're just like, We can agree that this person's in there. Now let's go back to the real question. Right. Um I mean, but all all that being said, he's still being very entertaining. Uh He never loses. He never loses that title. He never loses matches that are important. Um, but he he stays important somehow because of his character, which is a testament to Well, I mean you can listen, you can take all this back to the question of should he go into WWE too? Because you know with WWE right now there'd be no doubt that you'd be feeling him in the same way that you feel about him in your memory or in your imagination. Right, he would be coming to the ring at WrestleMania in the robe and seeming like the biggest deal in the world. Would his matches be as good? I don't know. I mean, listen, he's a very good wrestler and and all of his AEW stuff has been You know? Good to great. But I think that like Lately he really feels like a top flight wrestler. I get what you're saying. Go back and watch the I know you have to hold your nose, go back and watch the Speedball Mike Bailey match. I think that's his best AEW. Nerd. But his his match against Kevin Knight recently was super good, like, you know. Um He's had a lot of and even the tag team stuff he did with Takesha and then he did you know, uh he teamed up with Fletcher, um I mean, there's a lot of really, really good stuff. I'm excited. When he gets in there with Takeshta, it's gonna be It's gonna be big. And I think that I don't know, there may not be a more this is a great debate that is unanswerable, but Hear me out, listeners. Tweet at at at Ringer Wrestling. You can hit me at David Shoemaker. I do look at Twitter now. Uh you can comment on Instagram at what's our thing, bro? Just when the when the when the bots and the Russians took over. You think that's a coincidence? There you go. Don't forget the blue sky. Beautiful, beautiful view of Kiev out my window here. Uh but the um But no no, I was gonna say Uh Has there ever been a more perfect pa passing the torch situation. Than this. Like, or just you know, putting I guess passing the torches, right, putting somebody over in the next generation over who will eventually inhabit your role, more or less. Um I don't know that career station wise, age wise Ring work wise, there's ever been anything as perfect as this. 'Cause both these guys still I mean, clearly Okada can still put on a five star match. But he is at the age where it kinda makes sense to be like aware of your legacy and of who you're leaving for the future of the business. Well look at all the people who've retired recently. Like they're all kind of like his I don't want to say age mates are classmates, but definitely like As far as relevancy is concerned, like, yeah, like I don't think he's getting ready to retire, but he's definitely at the age where Sure. I just think this this is this might be the highest ceiling passing of the torch match of all time. Like this could be the first like seven star torch passing match. You know what I mean? I'm trying to think of one. I'd probably like Nah, it wasn't really a pass of the torch, but it was like uh I was almost gonna say Nah, that doesn't really listen, you could say any of those you could say Foley Edge at WrestleMania. You could even say Foley Orton. I'll t I'll give you those. They didn't it wasn't a straight torch passing. But it was the old guy, young guy, you know, prove you've got it, got what it takes, match anything in that category. It was like But I don't think but I think this has the ability to be better than edge Than edge foliate WrestleMania, which is a huge Mm-hmm. Totally different match style. But I feel like the passing of the torch always concludes somebody going away or retiring. So that's why it's hard for me to find a a appropriate comparison. No, but like Hogan passed the torch to Warrior, but it wasn't but he didn't disappear. I mean he wouldn't have disappeared even if he Even if Warrior had held onto the belt. So my my so my example was gonna be Shawn Michaels to Ric Flair to the Undertaker. Right. Where it was, you know. Sean retired Rick Flair at WrestleMania the year after You know I mean, he has that classic uh with with the Undertake. Was it was it Undertaker the the the the year after that? Ryan? It was, right? It was one it was one, two, three. And then so It was almost like a passing of the torch of like you are now the established Living legend who still got it. But those are I mean, but again, as Gray's was those are all old guys. Like can you think of can you think of a match where the old guy is as vital as Okada is and the young guy is as established and put together as as as Takeshta is. It's hard to do that. No, because we just had like We've only had two real wrestling retirements, like Shawn Michaels And John Cena. You know what I mean? For Terry Funk's fifth retirement, uh, which was not his final retirement. Um you're saying a Roman? Money in the bank? What you think? Scene of Romans pretty close, but you know, like No no no no if if Jacob Fatu wins at Backlash that's a passing of the torch moment, even if Roman sticks around. He won't win, but Roxena? WrestleMania. Yeah, that's a good one. That's but then they have to go away. They don't go No, they don't have to go away. I mean, I'm the same, I'm saying this about Okada. He's not gonna go away. He's just putting over the younger version of himself. Yeah, they can establish in him. Now is like the main event or the guy we need to be watching. Charlotte Flair Ripley. There you go. Oh that's that's the one right there. Charlotte Flare Ripley. Yeah. Like Charlotte is the Ocada. Ripley was absolutely that's a really great comp, and that was a very good match. I think this match has a higher seal. That's all that's all I'm saying. I don't know if it'll get there, but a higher I mean certainly. What it what it I mean, Rhea Charlotte was what, a four and three quarter a star match or something? Like it got rate I know I know Meltzer put it way over. Mm-hmm. No, it was a fantastic match. Um, but I think I mean, but I I'm sure Melcher would agree with me. He's gonna have to reframe the scale for Shoka. Um If nothing like if nothing, I think Melzer and I would agree on that point. Um What else? We talked about co uh Cope Cop and Cage. Um Uh the Divine Dominion match versus Sheeta and Statlander. Was very good. Can I say something about Say it No, it's not bad. Pay attention to Sheeta. Pan and Sheeta. There's something very intriguing going on with this character. What you mean? I might have missed it. I don't know how much I can really say 'cause I feel like it's gonna be it's gonna come off as a huge spoiler if I'm right. Pay attention. We'll talk about it next week, Brian. Make a note. Mm-hmm. Next Thursday, we're gonna talk about Sheeta. And I want you guys to go back and pay attention to what she says in English and in Spanish. I mean in and in in Japanese. All right. That's your homework assignment for this week. Is it this may be if I'm not wrong. And I'm not exaggerating here. Like my favorite thing in wrestling that I can remember. I could be wrong. So put a pin. That is how you get people to listen next week. Um and subscribe to YouTube. And Stat Lander looked great, um That match is really good. Lena Cross I got to talk to for a minute WrestleMania weekend. She was incredibly nice and uh It seems like a big star. Um Not like she was like Trying to one up me. Uh anything. She wasn't she wasn't walking around like a big star. But yeah, it was a good episode of Dynamite overall. Um And that and like I said, it doesn't matter how good it is, man. I mean the Ignite MJF match was was fantastic, man, with a if you go to Darby match. He's rest until the wheels come off for real. It's gonna be so, so enthralling to watch. What did you want to say about NXT? We're talking about NXT in the T's. Tonight. Uh can can can we start with the most important part? Which is L Lizzie Raynes debut defeating Nikita Lions. I talked to somebody who is Very well placed last night. And they were saying that her finish is ridiculous. I disagree. She has the greatest finish in the history of Russian. Well, I personally love the finish. I guess it's ridiculous because the opponent has to hold your foot while you do the kind of Step up portion of the What is it? They do it in insiguries all the time. But is yeah it's not a this is not an insiguri, it's a what's it called? It's like a uh Uh What's the big what's like the giant kick to the back of the head move? Um Carbstone? Yeah, no, the the Japanese. No, but there's a whatever, there's a name for it. But it's yeah, it's not exactly an insiguri, it's more of like a knee to the back of the head the way that it's Oh it's a r it's a it's a it's a hanging hook kick. Yeah, it's a shining wizard, basically. It's like a shining wizard with a step. Nah, shining wizard is the knee. She like steps up and like swings the leg around the head. But it's but it's supposed to be the knee hitting their head. That's the I saw I saw her talking to Bully Ray about it. Let me just say this about Lizzie. I understand why a character this thick You know, this sort of like such a broad broad, can I say that? I understand why I just want to know what you're talking about. That's all that's just like. When you're talking about a character this uh erotic I'm just kidding. When you're talking about When you're talking about a character that's this like over the top, you're gonna have a reaction. I think a lot of people's it's a lot of times you feel a thing and then you search for the emotion and sometimes you get it wrong. You're like Wow, that evoked a response in me. Am I happy or am I sad or am I angry? In the internet age, who knows? They're all the same thing. I can get it. But I but the moment that she walked out there and I watched some of her indie stuff because you know, I look whenever they announce new signings, I you know, I try to do a little homework and she she drew me in. Mm from the moment that she entered the NXT ring. And by the way, she's been in Orlando for like seventy five days. Like she's not even that long. She's been for like seventy five minutes. You know, she's barely there. She gets on NXT and immediately The character. I understood who she was, and I could imagine her headlining WrestleMania. Like not. Not like you're ready to headline WrestleMania, but if there is a Rear Ripley versus Lizzie Rain match at Wrestlemania in five years, like, yeah, I can see that a hundred percent. You know? And that is That is That says a lot. You know, I mean it says in the that that's that I th I that that should be a real compliment there. She's already established and she can go in the ring. You know? I mean it I I don't even know what else to say. I really enjoyed that match. She's like if Natasha Leon was a wrestler, right? Like as soon as I heard her song So as I heard that song, she's brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. She's like, you know, so I'm really like the kick. Someone top up that thing. And I was like, ah I know exactly the type of person you are. I think is it her dad in like Iron Maiden or something like that? No, it's like she has her her like uncle was the original drummer of Iron Maiden or something, but Yeah, so she does have a connection there. But yeah, she it was um But yeah, I mean it's you know exactly who she is. She's got enough characters she's gonna skate through NXT. You know, I mean they're gonna layer some humanity onto her, 'cause that's what you do with characters like that. But it was great, but I just think in a world where and I want to talk call ups now too. But in a world where Fallon Henley. spend f how many years in developmental and basically and like basically get called up as an afterthought? Like when you're that talented, that attractive, when you have that much character, when you have that much potential. And it's still fine hard to find your footing in NXT because of the just overabundance of talent. When somebody stands out, you have to just like take a second and recognize that. Yeah, I mean it's that's big. Um So uh yeah, I mean I think dude, I I think she's I I mean, I just Can't I can't even wait. I mean, even like fucking Kalani Jordan gets overshadowed by most of the stuff going on in the show. You know what I'm saying? Like Like it takes a lot to stand out in NXT. And I w by I'm saying by saying that, I mean, Jesus Christ, Kelani Jordan is one of the most talented pr you know, wrestlers on the roster. You know? And It's it it it takes a lot. So congrats to Lizzie Ring. Welcome to the big leagues. If we were still hanging out rockets. This might be This might be a one match rocket, man. I mean she's I think it's so straightforward with her. Um all that being said, she was still my second favorite debut uh oh, who was your favorite? Will Cruz, man. Big fat white boy throwing mo salts. Soon as I saw him, I was like, I love him. Immediately. We need more fat guys at the top of the card, all right? Like too much of these pretty ass Abdu. You know I mean, super slow guys. I need someone That looks like They work a shift plumbing. before they come to wrestle, you know what I mean? I need we need more regular built dudes. That are just outstanding athletes. 'Cause we all know we all know those type of people that are just The their body just didn't Like when God was picking out bodies, they were just like, Bro, we ran out, but we're still gonna give you the athleticism. They were like, All right, cool. No, there is there is so No, it's fantastic. Give them the athleticism. It's good to have people that look different. Even Evil, who made his debut last night, is gonna have a different look for NXT. Um Relatively speaking, I mean part of the problem with just the the professionalization of the pro wrestling training program. Is is homogeneity, you know, it's that everybody sort of kind of looks and feels the same. It's true of men, it's true of women. I think I joked on the air that they need to just stop letting people get their tattoos in Orlando because everybody's ink starts to look the same. Like it's like it it it there's a every there's a sort of sameness. Dude, if you could if you get Your first WAB check when you're ninti. Mm-hmm. And you have the genes at all to be to look like the rock, you better believe you're gonna look like the rock by the time you're 25 or 30, you know, like that's your job. You know, I mean that's it's full time. Yeah, it's like every time you see these these WWE recruit pictures or Next up pictures or whatever, it's like You're gonna see the blonde that was either the gymnast or, you know, the former athlete. You're gonna see the offensive lineman. You're gonna see the offensive lineman. You're gonna see The racially ambiguous, like maybe black guy, you know what I mean? W with some some weird looking hair. No, it's like a baby. Racially ambiguous. Actual is actually the secret is everybody that you've on this list is half black. We just won't know for six months. There it is. You're gonna have your nipple, baby. And then you're gonna have, you know what I mean, your body guy. Me a fat. Talented guy. Put 'em at the top of the card. Watch them co I watch like I saw and had the No, he's fat. He's fat. And it's okay that he's fat. I mean like though but like what is the minimum body fat for to be considered a fat guy? 'Cause there's a lot of big Okay, like legitimately, like nobody would think you were an athlete build. Right. Exactly. Like the fact that Uh uh Vic Joseph. The first thing he said was, Was that a fan? Yeah. Yeah. I don't think Zach meant that the way it was taken, but it was a bit yeah. It was no, I mean, but it's it's good though. You should look like one of the fans. You know what I mean? Like that that's what makes you stand out. When everybody that is being brought in is either like a star from some other company Or like a D one athlete who was like just shredded to the gods or something like that. Being a porky white boy that could moonsalt stands out immediately. You know what I mean? I had the I had the privilege of never even hearing of this guy up until Tuesday and just seeing that moonsault. And I got to dive in, you know how how good it feels. Dive into a rabbit hole of somebody completely brand new to you. And then you're just like I love this dude and I want all of the success in the world from he reminds me of Keith Lee. He reminds me of Keith Lee, like he reminds me of like a British version of him. Maybe not as like thick and strong like body wise, like as far as like solidness. But like he moves like 'em and he that Power stuff. I was gonna say I think that the distinction you're looking for in in fatness is does or does not take off their shirt at the pool. Like Keith Lee Keith Lefty. He did the the the go to fat guy move, which is after the moonsault, he immediately adjusted his shirt, which is what everybody for every fact So Keith Lee shows up doesn't even show up with a shirt at the pool party, but like Cruz does does wear a shirt. Right, right, right. So I like But I I like I liked him a lot. Like I I dove into the rabbit hole. I saw the highlights. I like the He's got a chant that's over already. Like he's big, he's bad, little body slam your dad. I was like, yo. I'm with it. I want to see what they do with him next week. Like evil. Um um Familiar. Tavian Heights, incredible belly to belly, but I'm familiar also. That fat white boy. What do you think about Tavian Heights with the braid? Do you like Tavian Heights' braids? Am I being gonna be over specific about this? I think he looks I I like him. I think he looks cool. I just think that he's way less interesting looking than he was before. You like the you like the the the the line of Richie curls? That's who you're into? Anyway, Evil, do you have anything to say about Evil? That was a that was a very enthralling way to write him in. You know, to have him like be a piece of another storyline right off the bat. Um Yeah, I'm listening. I'm I'm all about these new folks. Uh it'll be and I like the way they did it. I'm I'm I'm more of a fan of how they did it. Like you you just had a bunch of people get called up to the main roster. You got your champion in the middle of the ring and then bam, just like throw 'em all out there and be like, Yeah. Yeah. Well it's a little bit like an exit. Like we're gonna do a hard reset, let's just do it. It's like two point oh when it was just like all right, new era, now you know Ron Breaker's going over Champa. You know? It's just like we're just like we're not gonna we're not gonna make you wait through the things that you know are going to happen anyway. Right. We're just gonna slap like these are this is the the new top of your card. Like boom right off the bat. Here we go. You know what I mean? Like. It's And it's weird, like Shawn Michaels has like An advantage and a disadvantage when it comes to booking the show because eventually you're you're you're getting them all ready to leave or, you know, go to greener pastures. And You can get creative on the ways you could just Introduce brand new talent, you know? Like I think we're all so We were all so locked in on the evolve and NIL uh, you know, portion of the stuff that you forget, like. They can also just like Go hire these other guys that you've already kind of heard of. Like these indie guys. Well these people in other promotions. Uh are still available to WWE's disposal and and specifically NXT's disposal. So Um, you know, it it it's a big get to get evil, you know what I mean? Like I may not be the most like familiar with all of his work, but when you're an IWGP heavyweight champion, like That's immediate gravitas when you go to NXT. Like I'm immediately thinking Is he too big to be on the show? And even if I never heard of him, I'm just like, okay, he's a big deal. You know what I mean? So Uh, Will Cruz again. Incredible Moonsaw and I like the pushing of Tavian Heights into like, yeah, he's ready to to to step up in uh be one of the faces of NXT. So I'm a big fan of how they did it. Like it could have been anybody that they debuted there. They just put did it in the way. that made you realize like, Okay, we just lost a bunch of talent. Here is your new stars of your show. Here is your new talent. We're just gonna throw them out there all at once. I was a big fan of that. Well Will Cruz is part of last summer's SummerSlam tryout. Brian, did you go to the tryouts last year? Nah. That was some. In in New York. No. We might need to make it a plant a point to go this year, 'cause last year it seems like they recruited like four people, and two of them were on N X T last night, and one of them was R F K Junior's like niece or whatever, which seems like that's a story in and of itself. But Um But yeah, I mean that was the the summer tryouts just seem like the thing. It's like if you look online, that's the only like four person recruitment class. And Like when we was in Nashville, that's when Dwight Howard was there and we was working. Oh yeah, that's right. That's right. Um But yeah, man. I mean Congrats to all these new kids. Let's talk about the call ups a little bit So we got a bunch of call ups. Some of them I mean, Ricky Saints had an admirable match last night. I thought he they were gonna have him s hang around for another year down to next year, or at least another little stretch. But he got the v the Smackdown video package. That'll be really enthralling. To see I've always said the key thing for Ricky Saints is to for them to tell us that he's a star. And then for him to back it up or not, you know, or get hurt trying, you know, whatever, but that's sort of the the love the the the joy of Ricky Saints as a heel. Is watch him get his ass kicked. Ricky Saints. Blake Monroe got a video package too. Which you have to say I don't know what the Wikipedia bar is for changing somebody's name, but it's still Mariah May. I feel like WWE must have some Wikipedia mods on staff that could do something about this. Mm-hmm. Uh Lizzie Rain's name on Wikipedia is Lizzie Rain. She's been Lizzy Rain for approximately 24 hours. Like I don't know how some people change immediately and some people never change. But anyway, Mariah May. I mean In retrospect, both her and Ricky Saints, and particularly Mariah May's last feud could be seen as a farewell. Yeah. Toxic attraction, as I alluded to before, is now uh all on SmackDown. And um They were on Smackdown, right? I'm not getting this confused. And then Raw's and then Raw's got uh Um Joe Henry, Ethan Page. Uh, Sol Ruca, obviously some really big stars there. Toxic Attraction, I think was my favorite thing, and I'm a longstanding J C Jane Stan. I think. She is gonna be so huge. You've you've you've went to bat for JC Jane a lot on the show. I said mu like a while ago in the group chat, I said that she reminded me I said I know this is offensive. She remind but she's for some reason reminds me Sherry Martell. And Uh, I find it very difficult to put into specific words. It's only the broadest of words, right? I mean, she's really good at She can somehow be everything at one time. She could be like physically compelling, but also like snivelling, also, you know, cowardly, also Yeah, dominant also. You know, she could be Just like any any a any Any you know, adjective you would could put on a female wrestler. I think she can kind of be everything at once and it all comes together in the sort of Wonderfully booable pot. And she's She has a very main roster ring style. I think she's a lot more talented in the ring than sometimes she gets credit for. I think she'll m I think she'll slip in just fine. Um And you just want a booer, even if you love her, you want a boo her. That's the that's the key. She got wild heat. You can't know. And that's crazy 'cause like who the fuck is she? Like six months ago, like on N X T, who the fuck is she? You know, it's like Never been at the top of anybody's like scouting lists or whatever, but I just think But it proves NXT works. It proves that their model works, man. Like you can't discount being on national TV every week. You can't discount You know, uh T V time, you know? You can't discount the TNA stuff that she did. In addition to being the NXT women's champion. I'll tell and you know that in the in the sp in a broader culture change conversation, I mean the fact that they called up Laney Reed with her I mean and I mentioned Fallon Henley earlier. I'm glad, frankly, that found's on the main roster, 'cause it did seem like she was getting to a point where I didn't know if she'd get the chance to spread her wings. And if she ever did, does that mean she's obligated to stay in NXT for eighteen more months to put over the next generation? You know, like whatever. Fallon's gonna be fine. You know, Fallon's g Fallon will be a main eventor. Fallon is Fallon is that gifted. And This way we just we're not gonna we don't have to do the fatal influence split twice. Like like that's that would kind of be the old NXT model, right? Yeah. Test market it in NXT. If it's gonna work okay, then we'll run it again on the main roster. Make it work on the main roster, yeah. For sure. But Lini Reed is a real shocker because she's so new. She's so green. I mean, she's obviously she may be the most gifted and ring worker of this trio. just in a very short amount of time, certainly has the highest in ring ceiling. But I but when you're talking about culture change, I think you can just It is fun to look at it and be like, Well they must really trust J Chain and Sean Henley, but trust the infrastructure of the main roster. in a way that they might not have in the past, because the idea of calling up somebody as young and new as as Laney Reed would have could have could have felt catastrophic. You know, at some point. So Are you like like a or re like a recipe for disaster? And they're content to let her do it. I mean, she's got the skills. Um, now we just got to count down until they So they turn on the world's greatest wrestler, J C Jane? Um There's a lot uh who do who do you who of all those people and of course mentioned Joe Hendry who had his rock concert, which was Risingly over on the Not that you should ever doubt Joe Hendry, but the crowd ate it up. Um And so Ruca, who I think we can all agree has like the highest upside, you know, this side of like the sun. Yeah, like it's she's so crazy. Um Of all the call ups. Who are you most intently watching? Well I mean The way you probably feel about J C Jane is the way I feel about Sol Ruka was like it's not. I don't not feel that way about Sol Ruoka. I just think I shout out to J C Jane because she doesn't get a lot of that. But yes. Gotcha. Well I'm gonna go the easy answer and go with Soul. I think she's you know what I mean? Did you see her uh she posted a video somewhere. To some social media site responding to the posts she made about her debut on the main roster? Did you see this? It was just her like out of character, out of makeup, out of the whole thing. Responding to some of the haters. There's a lot of people that just like called her a man. Yeah. So call Sol Ruka, man? 'Cause she's got muscle. Ah, mm. She seemed to take it well, but it was just like of all of the Jacked female wrestlers, I don't think that Sol Ruckka is the first person I go to and think That looks like a dude. But you know. Would not W that's the probably the last one I would say looks like a dude, in my opinion. Um But she's another one so so talented, so young I mean Good Lord. Um who else? I mean Yo, did you see the video with Logan so The Joe Henry point. Logan Paul did like a whole video. Did he see the video? No. Before? So good. So like he's on, you know, Logan Paul's vlog and like before Joe Henry goes out, he's like, Yo, man big inspiration, you know what I mean, as far as like viral videos and like love that how much you take the craft seriously. He's like, I'm really inspired by you. And Logopols like, Oh man, thank you, bro. Like He's like, Yo I'm about to go out there and sing the song and he's like, Yo, man. you know, there's gonna be a little bit in there for you. So hopefully you enjoy it and da da da da. So like local like And he's into it, and obviously like the with the song? He's he's sitting there in Guerrilla, like watching it like mad excited, like then he hears his name and he's like And then they say we should fire the power. What and then and then he both that and then he goes outside and cuts it off. I was like, see? That's how you use the internet. Like uh you're always thinking like all right. When these moments happen in a ring, l and these people are are these people just outside waiting, like what happens, you know? So That's how you use the second screen and the internet to really enhance these moments and The Joe Henry concert was really good. I didn't you know uh My my taste varies on him. You know what I mean? Like sometimes I'm like, he's incredible. Like that is being a wrestling superstar is all about. Mm-hmm. And then other times I'm just like He's all right. You know what I mean? Like He has a high floor. He has a high f floor. Well, I would say I mean he's it's sort of incredible. It's like when he catches I don't think there's a recipe for someone like that catching lightning in a bottle. I mean, there's certainly some performers that seem to do it more than others. But it's like when the when he's got the lightning in the bottle, there's no denying Joe Hendry is one of the greatest. You know, he's like so great. But it's like sometimes it's just not quite there. You know, and you're just like They're like a mid Joe Henry feud. Does not get my attention. Nah. But this is a great one. They put 'em right in there with two of the biggest heat seeking missiles you could possibly want in the company. We've established, you know? He's a baby face. He had the Crowd going with the song. It gets him right in the mix. I was a little bit worried about the Randy Orton slash Seth Rollins test when it came to Joe Henry 'cause he's not the biggest dude. Mm. But he looked plenty big next to those two guys in the ring. You know, that's sort of the bar now. I mean Logan Paul's probably on the tall end of wrestlers now, you know? And He looked up a piece there. I met Joe Henry very briefly on at Raw when we were out there and Very nice guy, unsurprisingly. Mm-hmm. How much how often do you think you bleach your hair if you're Joe Henry or Cody Rhodes? Weekly. Weekly 'cause there's certain days where like it is bleach, bleach. Like there's like the high yellow. There's the high yellow Cody in Joe Henry here and there's like the regular like The brunette's fighting with all its might to get out of their, you know, blonde eyes. I do the same thing with my beard, you know, there's certain days where my joint is blankety black. But you know. Sometimes it's gray is just It's it's gonna come out. Let's go peak out. I remember Flair I have a it's a very vague memory. I think it was Flair saying that he got You know, a haircut and bleach. Every week? Twice a week? It was some shocking amount. And my and my response was of course you've never seen Rip Flare's roots. So yes, I believe it. But also don't you just But I guess it's Salon quality bleach isn't exactly the same as like when I was You know, eighteen and we all put peroxide. Uh But yeah, that's a that's a lot of it's a lot of time and and money and investment spent on on Bleaching your hair. Well, it's a good investment if you're workflow Cody Rhodes. Joe Hen Joe Hendry. Joe Hendry. I mean Joe Henry worked without the bleach air for a while and didn't, you know, this was part of the transformation that made him who he is, I think. If memory serves. That was another call up that I really liked, and I can't name it. Another call-up? Yeah. Uh Ethan Page. We l I like how Ethan Page is immediately in the spot that he needs to be. Um Let's see, we got fatal influence. We mentioned Mariah Ma sorry. Blake Monroe. Blake Monroe, and I've confused myself. Uh, Ricky Starks. Was there somebody else? Alright, maybe that was it then. Maybe that was it. That could be off there, but maybe that was it. Um, very interesting. Very interesting. Interesting to see what they do with Ricky Saints though. You know what I mean? Like He kinda gave like us a baby face sort of goodbye to the NXT crowd. So I'm like I don't know, like are they gonna Like how's this gonna look? I was kinda digging him in Ethan Page's like these these older sort of like heel you know, jerk characters, but you know, they're on separate shows, it looks like. You know, Paige's gonna be on Raw, Ricky's gonna be on Smackdown. With his boy Cody. So uh Cam Hendricks. We got it we forgot to mention him. I'm looking at the list right now for the NXT call ups, so we hung we hung out with him over the rest of the weekend. That was who that was, right? Like I was wondering, I'm like, Oh okay, like I'm remembering now. Got it, got it, got it. Okay, yeah. Uh, he was with us at the uh What was that bar called in Vegas? Reception. Taps. Taps. Yeah, we're at taps together. Chelsea Green, his girl uh Maxine Dupree was there too. Mm-hmm. Um Danhausen was there. Uh Yeah. Bunch of the folks. But Best Good time. They were there. Yeah, they was kicking it. They were on the other side of the joint. I feel like that's the thing came after you came. They they just I feel like they just bring Abyss around just for like potential crowd control. You know, it's like if things go crazy We got one three hundred pounder in here to to to keep things going. Gotta have one. That's why they keep uh My guy Albert of all. What's his name? Matt Bloom. Matt Bloom, yeah. Maybe Swed too. Who do you think's better at breaking up a fight? Uh Abyss or Spud? I don't know, Abyss Abyss Abyss Abyss strikes me as like a con giant. You know I mean like he looks really I mean, now if you look at him, he just looks like a Republican, you know, like it's like like football dad. I'm just saying he is like every man, you know? Um But at his peak with the long hair, I'm not talking about foliing gimmick, you know, he might be the kind of guy that would break up a fight, but would end up just throwing punches, you know, you'd be worried that he was involved and it wouldn't really work. Bud seems like a guy that's probably broken up a lot of fights successfully. You know? Yeah. He's a smaller guy, but he's level headed, but he can get pissed off too. He's like, just fucking quit it. The um Yeah. Are you surprised that we haven't I don't mean this to be a particularly pointed question, but coming off of the WrestleMania season that we were in. We haven't heard more news about the WWE creative team. Restructuring. I know we got some of that right before WrestleMania. Mm-hmm. It's not usually news unless a notable person publicly gets fired or leaves. Basically, if a writer doesn't tweet about it, then like most people don't know. Mm-hmm. I mean I know some things but uh knowing it. I'm just saying I'm just saying that like in terms of being a public, you know, news story. Mm. But uh part of me kind of expected after the build to WrestleMania that there might be one more road dog type somebody falls on their sword sign to kinda restructuring move or something, you know? Because the It what no one no none of us smart people think so think it was creative's fault, strictly speaking. But this but the sort of meta story going into WrestleMania was Creative hasn't been as good this year. Well that was definitely restructuring. Uh I'll I'll never I'll never break that news, but It's it's it's it's um We have a new road. So basically when Road Dog left That and uh that sort of directly resulted in do we have a new head writer of Raw and Smackdown? Yeah. And um Well they're not necessarily new, but you know, but like new titles or new like people of or their p positions were affirmed. They've just Major folks have moved for, you know, there's been specific writers that have moved shows because of, you know Roman Reigns, you know what I mean, being a major player, you know I'm saying like certain people work with certain talent, yeah, yeah, yeah. That kinda restructures a lot of things and You know, there's you know rumors of people going over to other shows, so You know, there's definitely restructuring, but definitely nothing that would like make Twitter headlines. You know what I'm saying? Like That definitely uh read some news out there about like Paul Heyman possibly being like being like the main like head of creative when it comes to all things Roman Reigns and it's like It's not I mean it's kinda true, but it's like, you know, uh there's There's there is some truth to like Paul Heyman, uh Paul Heyman, I'm sure like likes to be seen as the person who is in charge of creative. There is certainly a case you can make that he's in charge of all. Bloodline creative or Roman Reigns creative or Brock Lesnar creative or whatever. And I think that the people who probably do the actual work of that creative are happy to have Paul Heyman as the figurehead. You know what I mean? Like no but nobody's nobody's worried that I'm not famous. There's no the person and then well, I'm not gonna name names, you feel free to, but like The dude who writes all of Roman Reigns stuff does not is not sitting around wishing he was famous like Paul Heyman for doing that work. Absolutely. Happy to have happy to happy to do good work, happy that Paul Heyman gets the heat when I do bad. You know, like it's it's a good trade off. I guess it is. I guess it is, but I don't know. What of what of what have what have you thought about Roman being back so far? Like kind of being back in the mix and You know, on every poster, it seems like that is coming out. And when I first looked at the SummerSlam poster, he's right in the front, but I he was the last one I r I recognized. And I was I spent thirty seconds like holy shit, did they just not put Roman on the poster that he said he was going to be at the event? Like is this telling I was like, Oh, he's there. Um I think That Roman Reigns is such a Such a dude. That you can skate at this point with Roman Reigns, like you could skate with Cena, like you could skate with the rock, like you could skate with Hulk Hogan. And not necessarily put in all the work to make something really and truly good. You can And I think that this next six months or whatever is gonna be a really intriguing Journey. Because he's got a chance to kinda reinvent himself and or at least reesta or sorry, or at least establish establish who he's going to be for the next five years, sort of, you know, this assuming this is his last full relatively full time run. Um But I think it's actually gonna be a real tight rope act to get to get to the finish line. I think that I think the closer that we get to SummerSlam, the more difficult the storyline's gonna be. This is very broadly speaking. Because I think any time A super duper star like that is on the way out, you risk not you're not gonna get into Goldberg Grock one territory, but like there is some of that emotion, you know? And I think if it does seem like his loss at SummerSlam is inevitable, it's gonna be it's gonna get some people up in their feelings. Mm-hmm. Me included. But I'm very. You know? The break. You're right. Yeah, the loss and the break. He could he could very well win that SummerSlam and just be like, all right, y'all stay on December. You're right. And actually I would probably vote for him to win because I think that like him losing at SummerSlam, no matter how great the build is, no matter how how great the match is, it's gonna feel like it was obvious if you lose. You know, it's gonna feel like Oh, we all knew that was coming. Mm. So I would maybe go for the F U and have him hold on to it or have him drop it the next night on Raw or you know, just do something freaking interesting. Uh we know where we're gonna be able to but his character has been listen, Jacob Fatu is in the ring with him. It's already better than I thought it was gonna be. Mm-hmm. And his human His reaction to to Jacob I do we talked about this um uh on Tuesday. His his interactions with Fatu The cinematic thing they did with the Usos. It all feels familiar, but like fresh. And As long as they can keep Roman reigns of all freaking people feeling fresh. Uh, kudos to you, you know? What do you think? We haven't talked about the Jordans. Mm. Oh yes, yo, Bloodline twelves, you know what I'm saying? I already put in my order for my uh I already hit up my Nike plug. Okay, if you didn't have a Nike plug If you were a normal human being that had to pay how much for these shoes? Guessing about two two twenty something, two thirty something. Retail. I'll give you a free pair of these shoes, but you're not allowed to watch SummerSlam. Yes or no? I got plenty of shoes. Like I'm going to do it. I'll give you a free pair of these shoes, but you're not allowed to watch just the Roman Reigns match at SummerSlam. Yes or no? Oh yeah, no, that's fine. Yeah. I'll thank you, Roman. Appreciate you. I'll catch the highlights. Brian, do you agree? The twelves are my favorite, so absolutely Would you skip all of SummerSlam permanently? Like you're never allowed to watch this show for a free pair? Never I've I watched most pay per views once anyway. That would be that would no but that would be wild for Brian who's rewatching stuff left and right and and he would I guarantee he would piece it all back together because he was like I know that Roman Reigns lost a match and I know I don't remember seeing it. So that must have been SummerSlam twenty twenty six. I will say I do wish there was like a little bit more like bloodline influence in that shoe though. It's just it's just a black and red twelve. Like I was looking for like I'm like, is there gonna is it gonna be like a finger in the air on the tongue? Is there gonna be like Oh yeah, we need something. Like a blood drop or something, just a little a little Ulafala print on the interior. It just seems like a black and red twelve to me so far, but like, you know, maybe the Maybe they'll make some player custom additions. Maybe they'll hire uh our guy Mosh. Like Marshall like, you know Oh, is he does the customs that he's like at the in the green room sometimes or whatever? Yep, yeah, yeah. You've met him a bunch of times. Bald guy from Minnesota, good brother. Um I'm sure he'll probably Uh spice 'em up, makes 'em ri make them, you know. Tribal chiefified or we gotta get our we gotta get our Ring a wrestling show. Special edition. Well I still have the talk about Wally Mania sevens. Hold on. I still got these. Wait a second. Only a couple of these made. Right here. Mm. Wallie Mania Sevens right here. Never been worn. What size are they? These are a size twelve. These aren't even my size. That's why that's the thing. If you send me those, I w I'll make you a deal. If you send me those in the mail, I will let you watch Summer Slam. Yeah Well you know what what do you you try to do something strange for a piece of these shoes? What you trying to I turn four years. I'm too old to be doing such strange with. And you know it's gonna go up in value since Wally Mania is done, you know what I'm saying? So it's should we get Nike? Should we get some custom Nike's for the Ringer Wrestling show, or should we just get some like Get some like, you know, black and white, like black chucks and just like just just a paint pen and just decorate them. Nah, I ain't doing no chunks, man. I'm a big guy. Chucks the chunks aren't good at my ankles. Oh, dude, can I can I do an unsolicited sponsorship right here? I mean an advertisement right here? Hold on. Go for it. I talked to my buddy or a a friend of the friend of the show, Cam at um WrestleMania is a guy that I know. He's a wrestling fan. He's friends with Steven Mel, which is how I first met him, but we hung out a bunch at the thing. And he told and I was just like oh so what do you do like day to day or whatever? 'Cause I didn't know if he's like involved in the business. I always see him at WrestleMania. And he was like, Oh, I have I have an insults company. And I was like What, an insults company? Like I wanna work for an insults company. And then he was like no eight, right? Yes. Yeah, with Nate Jones. I think I th I googled him just to make sure I was here listening to the right thing later, and it's it seems like That uh that Lillard was involved in this, at least a launch. Lillard is the is their main partner with that. Yeah. So I but so I it so it's so funny so it's uh partner uh since Adidas days. So I t so I was talking to him at the uh at the Netflix party thing it was and he we were like saying goodbye and he as he walked up, I was like, dude, I thought you were gone. He was like, Oh, I'm hanging out for one more day. And I was like, it's so funny. I thought of you first thing this morning because I woke up to two giant blisters on my feet. And he was like, What's your shoe size? And the next thing I know, I got these move insuls. I got like a pack of them in the mail. Yeah, buddy. I got the I got the the the game day and the and the everyday and the it was uh I can't wait to put these things on. They're comfortable with us. Uh shout out to Ken, man. Shout out my guy Nate Jones too, friend of the show as well. You know, he's been on the show. He's been on the show. There you go. Now we now get Dame on the show. Okay. He's a wrestling fan, right? He is a wrestling fan. At least he wasn't didn't he famously dress up as the Undertaker for a Halloween or something like that? It was Stone Steve Austin. Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, the the the mask on it, the Austin three sixteen shirt. That was walked into the game with the bell. I was like, one of us. One of us. One of us. Oh, I see him as Macha Man Randy Savage as well. Oh wow. Fred Fenstein. I'm feeling that. Mm. Um yeah, Dame is Oh yeah, he had the full face stone cold mask on. Yes. The super creepy. Man, if he if he dressed up as Stone Cold ET, then he would really be one of us. Um, all right, we'll look at specific shoes. What else we gonna talk about this week? Brian, is there any news or anything we missed? By the way, all those call ups, I mean the the story is not over on any of them. I think Sol Ruka Is the most is the closest to the Peak already? Um Although I don't think either the women's titles on SmackDown are particularly like secure. With the people that are holding them now. Um Rhea Ripley, I think will pro will likely hold on to it for a while, but she spent the past year not anywhere near it. So it's not like a done deal that she's gonna be a long term champ. Obviously Julia Uh you know, was not the the the cleanest fit for the US title. They haven't quite figured that out yet. Um It wouldn't shock me if J C Jane was the US champ. within a month. You know, like it wouldn't yeah, I think that there's a lot of possibil or or or or Um I keep saying Mariah May. I've totally forgotten her name at this point. It's completely gone to me. It's Wikipedia's Blake Monroe. Blake Monroe. Um, Blake Monroe could be US champ inside of inside of three weeks. You know, like it would you really be that shocked if something like that happened? So but I but I do think that Sol Ruk is probably Sol Ruk and Blake Monroe are probably co leaders in the clubhouse for closest to the top as they walk in the door. Of course. We're already counting Well, but Femi and Trick Williams and Javon is like a previous class, even though they're functionally the same class. I think the real interesting thing to one to watch, as mentioned, is is Ricky. I think How this is how this goes for Ricky. You know what I mean? Like I don't know if he's going in as a baby face, as a heel. Uh I I think the US title scene is gonna be really interesting between himself, Trick. You know, Mello was probably in that mix. Better be Sammy Zayn's probably in that mix, you know what I mean? Like I think if he throws himself right into that that that, you know, field, that'd be really interesting. But I'm excited to see him. He got the he got the coming next week uh graphic. You know what I mean? So it's gonna be a I'm really interested in seeing what his main roster entrance looks like too. You know what I mean? Like Everybody's entrance when they leave NXT gets a little bit more souped up. So like I've been really interested to see how the That shit goes off in the in the in the packet. I know that they announced him and it takes a little bit of the heat off. For some reason I'm convinced he's going to appear first in the crowd, like he did in NXT. Wouldn't you really I know that Ricky is a more I mean, listen, Ricky's one of the great promos. And sometimes I think he's slightly overblown as a promo, but he's not, but but he's got the gift to be whatever he wants to be. You know, you remember his punk? promo battles, like he's done so much great mic work. I kinda think you go Jericho with him. I think you debut him on the mic. I think you put him up I mean, I'm and that that's m that's what I'm imagining more than Ricky's like, you know, in crowd reveal it at in NXT. Mm-hmm. Give him a microphone. Let him let him tear into Cody Rhodes. I know that they're real life friends, so maybe there'd be a little confusion there, but like let him just Kick his opponent call his shot and just talk shit the whole way, you know? Like that would be That to me is m maybe the most compelling Ricky thing. Mm-hmm. Um In terms of main roster appeal appeal. And and I think he'll but I think Physically He's gonna be fine. His work his ring work is very good. Um The thing with Ricky for me is that like he always does better when he's pushed. And I think that's true of any real athlete, but like Sometimes you can just see it and you see it more clearly. Mm-hmm. And I just hope that they find enough people to push Ricky in the ring. 'Cause he's a he's a he's a insane work rate guy. But I think that if it was like Ricky Saints versus I mean I'm gonna name a name. Think of your like think of like the the the the pinnacle of like Midiocre mid card or to you. If they just put Ricky with that same dude every week, I think Ricky would kinda lower himself to that level, you know, like over time. So I hope they find him. I hope they put him in that I C title scene. I hope there's a lot of I wanna see Ricky and and and Mello. Like I want that's a match I would die to see. Um I wanna see him get into real classic stuff because I know he can do it. Um That's so cool. That roster is that SmackDown roster is pretty nuts. You know, you lose Jacob Fatto to Rod and You get a good trade off, I guess, in the long run. Seems like it, right? So you're most excited about soul. Who after soul do you think is the closest to A real like a title. Oh man. Uh f out of the people who were called up? Yeah. Probably Ethan Page. Like he seems like the guy that would be the person who ends up stealing the intercon notes out of Penta before I'm gonna be I mean he's the kind of the least sexy guy to pick, least exciting name, but like he he arrived fully formed onto the scene. Mm-hmm. Next week he could. He got a pop on his music hit this past week. Ego. And now and and and yeah, I mean sort of he's involved with that, obviously involved Rusev by proxy. But he he emerged fully formed onto the scene. Like you he could do a sneaky somehow win and a multi person match next week. And no one would be like, Who's this new guy? It's like the moment he was there, you're like He's been hanging out in the locker room for twenty. Like it's just he's it's so clear. Um So yeah, that could totally happen. I wonder how you do the math on that if you're in creative. It's like is it too early? Certainly though people will argue it's too ear to put the belt on and fill in the blank. Can it be too early if you've already found your role, so Perfectly. Like I don't think so. You know, it's like there probably wasn't a bad time never put the belt. We're seeing it with we're seeing it with uh Trick Williams right now. He came in fulmant immediately, slapped the title on him. And if whereas I think seventy Vacare got about ninety or eighty five percent of the way there. Yeah. But she was not fully formed. She kind of became fully formed and now the next time she has the belt, it won't be any There won't be any question about her. But Stephanie's another one. They need to go back to like Like if somebody's if one of the core things about a wrestler is that they're elite in the ring You have to let him keep being elite in You can't do the stand over to the side and get into brawls backstage and like Dude, you just sometimes have to let people go and just remind us why we love them so much. Um, even though with someone like Steven Eva Care, she's a great test subject, 'cause there's five million reasons why we love her so much. Being great in the ring is one of them, but as a wrestler, it's sort of a core one. So let's not forget that WWE mean. Um We've got three matches, so we gotta get out of here. We had three matches currently scheduled for backlash. Yeah. Seth Rollins versus Bron Breaker. Eo Sky versus Oscar. And Roman Reigns versus Jacob Fatu. Which are you most excited for? That's the that's only the raw side. We'll probably get three more matches tonight. Um tonight, tomorrow night. It's thirteen. Hill and Oscar are gonna fucking tear it up. Like they're gonna tear it up, like Eil didn't have a WrestleMania match. This is this is such a Oh, you didn't put me on WrestleMania this year, watch this shit sort of spot. Like, you know? Like But at least everybody well Bron Breaker, sure, but like at least All these other guys were on the card. Like EO Sky had the best match of WrestleMania last year. Yeah, but I I don't disagree with you. Eosky is the most the the most wronged And there's no Kyrie Sane. But Jacob Fartu Yeah, it's true. But Jacob Fartu was but you know, was was penciled in for a main event spot at WrestleMania this year and ended up getting, you know Day two opener or whatever. Or is it day one? Day one opener. Um Which is a great inter interesting spot too, but that was a pretty big jump down. Everybody in all of these matches, this is an impl this is the IOU of pay per views. You know, this is and and it's intriguing. You're right about Eoskay and Asuka, 'cause you're right with with the c with The Kyrie thing. Um with everything EO and Oska mean to this company. They could just wrestle. They can just have a mess. They better give them fucking twenty five minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Two of the best wrestlers in the world at their absolute peak, paying off a story on a second or third tier P L E that you don't you know that that Don't don't that you can get time for. Like I almost feel like if you had this match at WrestleMania It would have been like six minutes long. Everything was six minutes long. Everything was six minutes long, exactly. At least on backlash, you'd think it's you would think it's gonna get a little bit of it's gonna be twenty five minutes, but like holy shit, it better be eighteen. Like it better it better be a real match. And it you better be able to see what both of these people can do. It's not just I'm sure there'll be some inc inclination by both the r by both probably the wrestlers and the and the prom I mean and the The producers to go kind of EO heavy in this match, you know, to focus on her triumph. But it but Yeah, you can only you can only insist upon Asuka's dominance and scariness so much without having her look that way in matches. And Dude, she's so good. I still kind of wish they turned to Yo Hyo. On Rhea. Um But yeah, uh I think it'll be incredibly compelling. And I that that if they if they allow it to, that'll be the real match. Obviously, Rollins Breaker. Should have been a Wrestlemania match too. And we got a little taste of of their interaction at Mania, but Um But yeah. Their promos have been really good. We talked about that some earlier in the week. I think that'll be a really fun match. Another one where it's just like, I think you get to you're gonna watch Seth Rollins, you're gonna watch Asuka, and you're gonna watch Roman Reigns. There'll probably be another one from coming from Smackdown at least. Where you just get to watch in real time and see how much Just how willing these veterans are to really put over the young talent. It's like Brock Lesnar laid down the gauntlet at WrestleMania. And backlash is gonna be wall to wall. How Brock Lesnar are you? You know, how much of your ass are you willing to show to help the next generation? Um So it'll be interesting to see. Oh, I think everybody's gonna come out looking good, hopefully. Anyway, do we forget anything, Brian? No we got everything. Do you have any uh Burissa Barber beef cake updates for us? No. I think you should come with a Bruce the Barber beef cake. Every week. Just a fun fact you don't think we know about our man Ed Leslie. And We can just laugh about it. That's pretty much the whole thing. That'll work. Um Let's see, is there anything else? Oh, Athena's Ring of Honor title run. That's tied Bruno San Martino's title reign of one thousand two hundred and thirty seven days. Good thing or bad thing, Kaz? Couldn't give even less of a shit. Yeah, and that means it's a bad thing, yeah. No offense. No offense. I mean Yeah, I I I like Athena. I love the O face, one of my favorite moves in all of wrestling, but like to like I don't know what's going on there. Yeah, but Billy Starks Billy Starks is like a freaking Phenom, you know, she she's like a prodigy wrestler. It gets to the point where you think like they must really not like her if they just keep ordering about her all the time. Like really? She can't. There has there has to be something else. There's gotta be something. I'm like, who just doesn't wanna deal with this lady on the main roster? And listen, hear me out. When I when I say there has to be something else, that something else could be You gotta build ring of honor. I got a freaking meeting that day of the week. I can't I'm not allowed, I just I'm not I'm not gonna work Wednesdays. You know, like whatever. It could be three. It no no I'm just saying it could be something as basic as like My doctor said I can't fly. Or like you know, whatever. It could be something that like we don't even think about. It's not necessarily backstage heat. There but there's gotta be some reason. Billy told me that she's bit that Tony Khan told her she was about to get called up like ten times. Meaning like as soon as this feud with as soon as the Cina story line is over. We'll bring you back to the two years ago. Yeah. It was almost it was it seemed over two years ago. They keep straightening along. But you're right. Maybe it's just what other people have said, it's the ring of honor you know, the never ending search for the T V deal. And then once they kinda get that in line You know, Vortex Vortex was that Jericho is gonna go back to Rigmana. By the way, Jericho Ricochet is What a fun feud that's been. J we're just in the beginning of it too. Anyway, uh Taz. You wanna get your plugs in? Yeah, man. Every Monday through Friday, six a.m. to ten a. Listen to me on hot ninety seven Motors of Merrill. on the hot ninety seven app and on youtube.com slash hot ninety seven at eight a m Starting at six a.m. on the FM Dis. Brand new episode of seven PM in Brooklyn is out. Well Coming out this Monday. Uh, shooting the shit with the gang, Harmella Anthony, Kid Merrow. And um yeah, that's then. No guests, it's just us. But it's fun. Like Those episodes are the funnest 'cause like we argue about like stupid shit. This episode We have a debate on the best hood snacks and it went Very left. Talking Cosmic Brownies, honey buns. You know I mean flaming hot cheetos. Hot fries. Yeah, Rap snacks. Yeah, like lots of lots of Lots of intense battles on snacks. I like it. I like all of those snacks except for I can't do the hot chips. My little one just had flaming hot shedles never did it for me, man. When we lived in LA, uh my older son who was in the third, fourth, fourth grade there at the time, and he we went to like a Neighborhood schoolman. Because of just social influence, he became the biggest hot talk's fan. Would c would come back home and he didn't like it even. It was just peer pressure. He convinced himself that he liked it. And he would chomp on those fucking Takis. Those were gross. I mean, it's just too much. It's like the crazy sour stuff. You get to an age where you're just like, I don't get it. Anyway. I can't wait to see who wins. Yeah. Hood snack battle royal. Uh Oh, it's a controversial, I'll tell you that much. You remember the ringer did a fast food bracket early in its existence at a really Well thought out voting Yeah, like weighing the vote scheme and number you know, the whole everything and the fucking winners Chick fil A waffle fries.