Fanatics Wrestling Memorabilia Controversy

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So visit spepectrum. com slash business to learn more, restrictions apply, services not available in all areas Cold openQest the week caz What's up shoes Which is the coolest name pro wrestling payer view Kight of Champions forbidden door. Great American Bash. or slam aiversary. It's so easily And far away. wait the pause timeim out. I don't like I don't know what you're going to say here. This is wild that you have one that you think is absolutely the best. And what is it It's so easily indisputably far away slam anniversary. Really? It's such a perfect wrestling show name. It's It's a name that like I know Vince McMahan like saw that one day and just like kicked himself in the butt like damnit. Let's sllam aurversary G away. Uh, you know Forbiddenor You know, more insidery Uh Night of Champions Cose second You know, close second U Great American bass Classic wrestling shows been around. Yeah I mean, maybe it's the history. I love Great American Bash. Great American Bash is like such a like I know also it's clearly wrestling fireworks and Bald Eagles when I hear that. right It's clearly a wrestling is' a you know, it makes sense as a wrestling show name, but it's not like overtly it's not slam aversary. It's not like, you know, just hitting over the head.lam ofversary It's like, Oh man, somebody was in their bag when they came up with that word for sure. Um That's good. That' be if it was Howard Fankke Rest in peace who famously came up with WrestleMania and didn't get a lot of credit for it, you know, and but what if and he was, you know, always just sort of Despite the fact that he had this like crazy on screen this big on screen presence like did not have the same presence backstage, right? didid not have the same role backstage. That would be great if he was just Did know didn't get enough credit for WrestleMania. So he just spent the rest of his days just coming up with payerview names and mailing them to the people at TNA anonymously, you know I'm going that's my lore. I'm going to keep I'm going to pretend that that is true from now on. You's a network with Justin Timberlake and those guys with Justin Timberlake walks in and he's like, Good do You know what I mean? likeike what if what if that's fink? The pink just walks into different wrestling companies and just like Great American Bash. Yeah and this walks out the room and it' like, God, damn, he did it again Or the reverse they're like, thinkink, C you go with a name for a a new name for a paper? He was like, Yeah, how about headadlock mania? It's like, no we've already done WrestleMania? you had't anymore. He's like, Yes, drop kick mania. It's like thinkink we've been through this Um The reason why I was asking there would occur to me to ask this is because there's a piece of me that for years has thought of Forbidden Door is the coolest payer view name And then I was looking at the lineup for this weekend and I'm just like, it might be last place. You know, if you had to put like all these all these shows together and like blind search them to somebody and be like, which is the wrestling show for Biddenor might be the fourth You know, inside baseball, we were talking off air for a hot second. we were like, yo Slamaversa would make like a great basketball show too. You know what I mean? Like it would be a great basketall term. It's like, oh Let's go ask Shaack when his slam aniversary was like That's what they should call the championship game in the big three Like you would be into it. you wouldd be, o, I gott to catch Slam aniversary tonight Or you could just act shhack and it be like, I was in the six grouid. I was set football already I had my first dog and it was really good That So it's like someone' specific slam aniversary. Yes, yes. Does it count if your dad is like picking you up above his head to slam the ball or does it have to be You gota, you know, I'm saying, use the legs God gave you Get over that ten foot rim Throw a down big man Can you have canan you have artificial legs in the NBA . Oh like a little poor little tink take. maybe I don't know what you just said, but I'm assuming I shouldn't like dwell on it too long. The a little tink tink classic Kat Williams stand upp special talk about Oscar Pistorius and his little tink tink legs his little his little Backwards Razor blades that used to run in whatever those were You know, as terrible a human as Oscar Vatorius is. and there's in a certain day and age, he probably would have been a pro wrestler That's what the dude from the dude that the fugitive was based on was became a proor wrestler when he couldn't be a doctor anymore He became a wrestler to make a living and he had like a lethal What mandable cllaw move or something that was like legitimately supposed like how he killed his wife, supposed. Oh Godd. Yeah, It was a great gimmick. Anyway, we're talking about about payerview names. We're going to go through the whole list. We have to now and just rank them. Here here's what which is a bigger which is the bigger show Sight unseen There's two events this weekend. One I mean, if there were only two events this weekend, One was Kight of Champions and one was sllamniversary, which was the which one sounds like a bigger deal I mean, Night of Champions probably because anniversary. I would think it was your WrestleMania. likeike it gives of WrestleMania Vbe but Kight of champions. It's like itesss the knights The thing that I guess slam what sllam of Vversary has going for it is that it's a little bit knowing It's in on the joke You know what I mean Whereas Kight of Champions is earnest, but that that works too. Unless you yourre tririple H who' out there giving interviews like once a month, it was just like, you guys don't understand. We're just having fun here Don't take it too seriously l keypect So Triple H is a big slam aniversary guy. And then the rest of the time when he is taking it seriously I guess you're a United Champions guy. Anyway, we got a lot of payerviews to talk about. four of them to be exact. Let's start the show. She she mask she ask you a mask man she ask masks man Welcome to the Mask Man Show withith Caz. How you doing Muddy? Tired of the fuck, man. Well I'm finally back to. This is it every time that we push a podcast of Friday, we're both just like zombie like walking dead by the end of it. I'm doing fine actually. I'm gonna if I have to carry a load, I'll do it. That's great. 're good. We're going work today. We're going to sh We're going to sh you to Minnesota for Nas Reed if you don't you don't think I've had to I had I had a pipe burst in my house like four days ago or three days ago and I had to take my whole family into a hotel which is the only hotels that were available or near the Netherlands, which oh, by the way the ming event on the planet at the moment. So you have one is it like a room with two queens in it? It was was a sweet. was don't get me wrong. It was a nice hotel. Like we were well taken care of. It was very nice But you know, getting around was not the easiest, if you can imagine with the Met Life Stadium just being You know, quarter of a mile away from where we were staying and literally ort Why't you guys just get a hotel in the city? Why don't you get a hotel next to hot and then like and then it's a vacation for for the rest of the family. because you got we got kids and a dogs and we have to, you know, the dog back and forth. Yeah. you can you can't bring a dog to the city. Yout bring a dog. tos city hotel. That's that's aggressive, you know. They wouldn't able to let it. We'd have to get one of those weird friendly hotels, this probably only exists south of Canal. Yeah I guess it's not bad for for. It wasn't so bad though. ended up ended up about Portugal versus Germany yesterday yesterday, which is Oh really Yeah Be you were Ecuador Ecuador versus Germany. I'm sorry. Because you were the neighborhood because you're in the hotel. you're like, I to go check this thing out? Is that really? I was doing something with the National Women' Soccer League and me me and Merow to go over there and s talk about our footy experiences. that was really fun Other than that, we're finally back home pipes are fixed It's Friday. the pipes are piews. Yeah. You have to do is there any remediation in your future? So at the moment, we have we have our insurance adjuster right now literally going through like our floors and walls and making sure Everything's good and covered and all that type of stuff. So as soon as we're done here it's the worst I've been through a very minor version of it. It's the worst because you want them to say there's nothing wrong so that you can go about your life and put this behind you. But you but if there's nothing wrong, you're going to spend the rest of your life wondering if there's mold growing three feet from your face. Like you' never you're never going to quite believe it, you know? So anyway. it's one of those things where like when you finally look into like the deeper crevices in your home and realize Like what's going on in there? You're just like you' never sleep. Ey again. justust like I need to fix this Unless you have unless you have a half a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket to all the homeowners out there. buuy your house as is, sell it as is. Don't ever think about home Oh it's stille sucker deal with it. Yeah, No, just don't think about it. evenven if there's like black spots on your ell just be like, oh, need a coat of paint. You You got any kills in the basement? Anyway, this is too much.'re way we're far afield here I do want to say Speaking of pid reviews I don't know I The Night of Champions thing And just the history of WWE's champ versus champ various shows, right has been such a disappointment. Not a total disappointment in Triple Hera but like not a high point in Triple H era, you know, and like certainly a disappointment before. Triple H is a pretty You know, he pickeds he's running things chalk for the most part, right? It's like, o, this is the logical conclusion to this evening or like whatever. doesnn't really get you too hyped up sometimes I think we got to bring back Taboo Tuesday or Rather than champ versus champ shit, which only serves maybe to further one storyline and ignore all the rest. We just need to bring back a paper view We're like, WWE gives us gives the fans ten people to vote for on who gets to wrestle the champps, the various champions. You know, and like let the fans vote I get it that you don't want some like ironic, you know Dan Hausen crew to come out and just like put him in every single match. You give them five or ten choices You know, like make it actually interesting But fuck, let the fans pick and don't announce it till the day of You know, let it be a mystery. Imagine if Imagine his inst inststead of John Cena picking Daniel Bryan, if that if it was like we got to pick Daniel Bryan Like that would have been so much more anyyone Like we voted for that. I mean, we voted for it by cheering for him. So it's kind of the same But imagine the buy in that fans would have if they got to pick the dudes Yeah I kind of miss taboo Tuesday simply for the fact that I would love for you know, and I understand the reasons why like, I guess they would take it away, but I think now more than ever sometometimes you need to put that merit back to that fan base and be like, all right guys You want to you want to be the voice. Here you go. You know what I'm saying? They're like If you want to if you want to get an internet sort of u a ground swell of support and be like, yeah, we're going to have Danhausen versus Roman Reigns And it sucks. That's on you fans. But if it's awesome Also that is on you fans. So Well the thing is and what was the what was the lethal lottery? Well I mean, what what was that Halloween havoc the where they had the leth the lottery in WCW That was fucking awesome too. I mean, it wasn't there there it was supremely boring. I mean because it was it was all these random randomly selected tag teams that if memory serves were actually randomly selected and the talent didn't know until it was announced So it was like, staying in Lex no sing Lex were always attacked Dav. It was like you know, staying like one of the Steiner brothers were teaming and they were like found out on the way to the ring. You know, we got it We're going to call this shit in the ring. And so you know as a fan, as exciting as that is, it's inherently boring because nothing's going to happen Like what you can't announce a random match and then be like and then expect anything big to go down. R Yeah I feel like's just so overly produced. There's like no way like just if you've sat through like one of these rehearsals and like the minute details that goes into like camera shots and like you know, all these sort of like, you know, facial expressions that need to be zoomed in on and all that type of stuff. I guess, you know, gets taken away a little bit when you're doing something like Taboo Tuesday, but I think something like Lehal lottery work so much better back in the day because correct me if I'm wrong Almost every old a good portion of OG Ros I've ever talked to calls a lot of shit in the ring anyway Especially WCW guys, like sure no guys just got there just did it. Did you Did you hear that story? We're all over the place already and we have four paper reviews to talk about. Did you read that quote, that interview from Big E this week where you' talking about when punk decided to sort of make him L there was some point where I think this is probably just post the had a big on on the morning show this morning. did He was great. Yeah he came And he basically said that Punk at some point just asked to work with them random raw match and then it went over, you know, it went over well and they worked again together Maybe the IC title was involved at some point regardless. And he and Punk weren't friends, weren't close and he thanked them and Punk was just like good people deserve a chance, you know, talented people deserve a chance or whatever U But he but part of the story was that he'd never called a match in the ring before And punk did. And so the first time they worked together, he was like super nervous and he had to just like get a hold of himself and he was like, it's going to be okay, even if it's fucking terrible. it's going to be okay, you know And it was and it was great and it didn't matter But u but yeah, calling it in the ring isn't the issue so much. I just want the excitement of like againgain Mbe's Stanhausen, mayaybe Danhaus's not an option, you know, like whatever, but just to have just, you know, we are going to give you five choices, you know, and it's just like, let's go, dudes, let's go And fans get to vote and it would be exciting. And Well you know what the best thing you could do if you ran a total fan vote thing in the main event Take the opponent that is clearly not the fan vote Like who like whoever the most despised person that you would never vote for that fans would never actually get behind voting for would be whoever's getting shoved down our throats this week, you know, this whatever announced that they're the winner. And just watch the internet melt down. That's just like WW forced this to happen. There's no way even release the voting trends were like somebody else is way in the lead up until the day of. And then it was like and the winner is like who's the point zero zero zero one percent. Yeah, point zero zero one percent. in a South American election presidential election, your winner is You know, whoever, who whatever, whatever Chris Masters of the moment is and watch the fans go nuts and then you can make it a storyline. You have the guy come out and just be like, you're damn right, I rigged the voting. What would you do? you know? Whatever Yeah, I can see that watch it. But just watching a meltdown anyway. this is so over the top. Is there anything else we need to talk about Joe Doring passed away Um He had a brain tumor and it's been going on for some time. They announced that he was moving to hospice earlier this week or the end of last week And we all know that's not a good sign Although as with every professional wrestler, this is what I started my career writing about. it's really impossible to wrap your fucking head around someone Be the person you remember on TV And so the concept of Joe Doruring, one of the straight up most old school tough guy looking guys in the business, when I thought about him going into hospice, I was just like, how's he going to fit? L you know, like it didn't even like I could not wrap my head around it But that dude was legitimately talented, was legitimately awesome was guess making good money over in Japan because I always was stunned that he wasn't Every time I saw him in TNA, I was like, whyy is he not signed with a major? Like what's going? Like, whyy is he not in developmental N not even all developmental. Why is' you in fking Smackown He's a legit He was so good and it's just so sad that he's gone. you know, has a wife he left behind and everything Just just shitty man Uh. Th those sorts of cancers are just like the fucking arrow from whatever evil Godd is up in the skies. likeike it doesn't have any correlation to anything in your life. It's just now you're fuck ins saye And It's sad. It's sad regardless But An anyway rest in peace Doruring. He's I mean, go back and watch Joe During in Japan today in his honor. watch him fucking larry it the hell out of some dudes. and bring back those memories of the Stan Hansons and and such guys of the generation before. He was just just it Really really great, really great wrestler There's there's a video going around that people are posting of him facing Ghhyazaki. So so if you can go check that. Oh I remember that match. That was so dumb. I mean in a good way, I mean My my seven year old just got into using the word sick and so now I'm back saying all all of the things all of the not Positive words as positive words this time U Anyway, we had four payer reviews this weekend. To, We have Kight of Champions and Forbidden Door will take up most of this conversation. mayaybe all of this conversation Um But it's a big pro wrestling weekend This is it. This is what it's all about. Gaz If they had all if all four of these shows were in one city were' in Las Vegas this weekend, would this be better than the WrestleMania weekend? We know WrestleMania was bad this year. No I'm not try I'm not trying to relitigate WrestleMania. I'm saying is it cooler to have four second tier payer views and by four different companies. Well, NXT is not a separate company but you you know what I mean than to have all of the WrestleMania shit. Well, I don't know, man. I feel like WrestleMania I still need my level of pomp and circumstance. and You don't think anniversary is going to have any pump or not so much pump Definitely lots of circumstances. but You know, it's it's tough It's tough to have that much wrestling with that that a lot of u, you know, casual appeal and This is Perfectly timed to wrestle the weekend and the finals are over. You know, it's a nice summer weekend. I think it's going to be raining all weekend now here in New York City. I can't wait to just sit and just watch Grep and Again, I've talked about this to my fellow big fans on the timeline who have And I guess I'm not alone here A lot of Your casual wrestling fans or even your die hards have been sort of in and out on wrestling for the past couple of months. This is the perfect sort of weekend to get right back into it and be like, all right Where are we at? Where are we going? Summer slams in the month. All in is in the month very soon. like we are we are on the road to some fun shit. so The summer of trying shit should be like this this should be it. We should try some shit this? What do you think Bruce Bruce you can have on M might do What do you think the match of the weekend is going to be when we meet back here on Monday Swarvers Ospy still feels like it's going to be a massive match. I think I got a lot of intrigue in Seth Rounds and Bron Breaker as well. I think that could be good. And Low' the keys rick Williams and Ricky Sance could a show stealer as well Those't matched number U you left out Kenny versus ZSJ Zach Saber Junior. I mean it Zach Sabver Junior is a certain I'm h be a great wstling, but it's definitely not one of those matches. I' like o Oh, I got to see that one The problem with Night of Champions Actually not night of champions because they they don't do that. The problem with the champion versus champion style payerview and also the forbidden door style payerview and also the lethal lottery style payerview U is that you get the none of it actually matters or very little. I mean, they find ways to make it matter It doesn't matter like a regular payerview does because it's just sort of a one off. It's a parallel universe, it's whatever And it's cool to watch. But you're right, it doesn't have the same vibe the same resonance I should say Um let's see. what's the best? I guess we get to see N Norocco debut for the NXC Championship, The greatreat American Bash. Oh, my world in Mercedes Monay. I thought you know, I thought you skipped out one on purpose. I was going to wait tillil I came up and ye, I buugged out. That's definitely a match I'm looking forward to for sure one thousand percent One that I'm looking forward to a ton that I think probably could be the best match the weekend is Sky teeam versus versus unbound co of the team of Singo Takaki and Titon Titon might be the best Luuchidor going today. I just watched best a Super Junior run. That guy for the past couple of years has been on another level. So putting him and then you got someone all these guys flipping around, you got Shingo being like, all right, I'm going to beat the hell out of you with some forearms and stuff. I'm like all right, that sounds like my cup of tea I wasn't watching live. I walked in. I turned on dynamite when the bucks and Cop and Cage were doing their their shit with the dogs and I was just like, oh, are the bucks now in this in that tag match And I was like so perplexed and then I was like, oone to actually paid attention? I was like, oh good, okay, that's good. Um I would really I'd be very excited to see the books go up against like Copen Cage, but I but it also might be terrible. Like I literiter I have no idea Um What else from the I mean, what else from the other two from the I mean, Lola Vice, your mileage may vary, but Lola Vice versus Kindle Greay is very intriguing and could end up being very good Mhm At some point we're going gonna tap to breraak some of the Kendall Gray train, I think, just because it's like, what are we really doing? hyping her to this degree, It's only going to make us hate her at some point or whatever Um, Uh what else There's nothing that's going's like a sure. looks Let's start going through these matches and seeing what we could like I will say I want to say before we get to just before we get to one by one I was looking at the just looking down the cards we're we may get to slam aniversary very late. So I want to sayve this up frront Mike Santaas is taking on Nick Nemeth. for the TNA title. I took a lot of shit this week for saying that Dolph Ziggler or slash Nick Nemmeth was not a WWB haall of Famer. I don't I don't regret what I said. Wow. I don't's nothing. It's nothing against Nick Nemeth. I think he's like he's incredibly he's one of my favorite wrestlers. likeike seriously go back and listen to fucking cheap heat back in the day I was on the Nick Nemmonss bandwagon. like it was Like I love this dude And he's still not a haall of Famer to you. And he still looks exactly like he did fifteen years ago, which is sort of mind boggling. and like from Thickness of bleached hair to, you know, that twelfth ab, like it's just nuts Um is nothing It's nothing just like It's just like what's just logistical. It's like if he's not working for WWE. if he hasn't if WWE never acquires TNA, if it just sort of goes down this way. Maybe he wrestles T andA for another couple years, does a last run in AAW and then like retires to be a stunt manan or whatever the hell he's going to do Uh I just don't think there's going to be any urgency from WWE to put him in. Now it does matter that like Biggie and AJ Lee have been around and there's some connection there. but I don't like that connion' strong I just think it's going to matter the question is whether or not he's decides to work for WB again or, you know, whatever. And I don't think it's a I just don't think it's a done deal that he's Hall of Famer You're either A WrestleMania headliner or you're like, a dude that Triple H saw a YouTube video of video of last week. You know? It's like I don't know like there's not like a process for this. We're not voting It's it's either obvious, like a hundred percent they're in or it's just sort of like idiosyncratic weird choices. like, you know, Well, I mean also this is you got to think of the, I don't know It's less about Dolphin more about Everybody gets into the WWE Hall of Fame. It's like No, that's not true. like five people get in here. That's the I mean, the truth is five people get in here. Maybe sometimes it's six if there's a tag team involved. you know, like it's not everybody Yeah. you know, we're fucking, you know, Mantraman Randy Savage. I don't I don't think he will not or not Russell for a long time. likeike if he decided to retire tomorrow is he in the Hall of Fame Unless something tragic happened, probably not But it's like I don't think it matters when he retire. I mean, I don't I think he could have he could be a forty five time TNA worldld champion. I don't think that would affect his haall of Fame candidacy. This is a WWE award You know, It's it's WWE o if uh for anything, you know, post eighty three. prior to eighty three, it's like, okay, well we'll factor in just sort of the wrestling universe You know But they're not like even if you just do the WWE. and I guess this is a lot to talk about this Being the king of the midcard has to count for something. like D I disagree that he deserves it. I kind of like the Kurt Henning of his time. You know what I mean? He's kind of like the Mrter Perfect of his time Joe Henig for a second. Yes. No. You know what I mean? It's like Well, yeah, and it's true. They have a lot in common including the curly the curly bleach locks and and the bizarre unwillingness to be promoted to the main event scene R Although I think But also I think mr. Perfect it had less to do with it had less to do with the bookers and with backstate politics Um But yeah. I mean, I think he's I think to me, he's a Hall of Famer. Will he willill he literally get into the WW Hall of Fame? I think it's a coin flip like it's just sort of random And don't I don't know that's right or wrong anyyway Let's talk about these shows. Night of wait What is the sequential order of these shows, Bruce We're not going to do it unless it happens to fall in the exact order I want to talk about them. But now I just want to get my weekend in checked. Thats a good question. give me a. All right, well let's just start with night of Champions. Bruce can jump back in with the answers. We're gonna to start at the top of the biggest match of WWE's weekend, Cody Rhodes You're WW champion Undisputed WWE champion versus Gunther versus Samy Zan I feel like missing. I feel like whiffing on the Oa Femi King of the Ring thing has really messed with my brain And I can't and these and anyytime something iss not a it Well, I mean, I think I just said I am second guessing my one hundred percent solid assertion that Oba Femi' going to win win King of the Ring I now think it's like a seventy five percent chance that that Brock Lesnar crosss Oa that they just go they just go the obvious thing. Brock Lesnner crosss soa for me Jay so wins Like we talked about on Tuesday or Wednesday, whenever that was. Um And the fact that it was so obvious to me and now I'm second guessing it makes me very confused. Who do you think is going to win Cody versus Guna versus Seth? I mean, Sammy I feel like Cody's going to win, but it almost I don't know. I always kind of thought the Samy Zanne storyline was eventually going to end up with him being WWE Champion And I and this kind of feels like the best chance for that to happen since it's a three way Third guys, Gunor You know what I mean? Like The third guy was like not this unbeatable dude. L I would be so in on like Same is going to steal the WWE Championship This is a perfect there's so many variables here. First of all, this is a perfect setu upp for an unbeatable dude because it doesn't have to take a pin. But if he doesn't take a pin, then Cody Rhodes has to take a pin and that's sort of bizarre U Sammy Zayan, they've done a really good job with this with this little twisty character for Samy Zaye. I mean, just absolutely excellent. always into characters like this and Samy ay's the perfect guy to pull it off. It's been seamless. It's been amazing. I've enjoyed it so much T shirts are a little bit over the top, but but I'm not going to complain like they're going people are going to sell them I think they should probably just sell tickets They should have found a way to sell t shirts that just say good guy Or make let' Sammy Zain use the phrase babyface and like just make babyface and heel t shirts or whatever sell these things. Make money, you know Um But the same thing has to be going somewhere It has to be going somewhere Does it have to be going somewhere at Night of Champions? Great question But we are in Do you remember where Kight of Champions is taking place in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and you know that that's that's n overall in there. Now now maybe you just say that's why he's in the match. notot he's going to win You know, but like it's not a it's nothing Oh, and It's where Sammy's rider dies, you know, like Oh my It's' I don't think we do not need to do the Bret Hart in Canada thing with Samy where where he' just like, finally, I'm with people who understand and then we have like an international conflict over whether or not Saudi Arabians are baby or, you know, supporting a It's the it's the sort of summer of trying shit It's the sort of to ass that WWE kind of needs right now. Why not start a little international incident to get a wrestling storyline off the ground, huh What that what' what you got going on right now that' Ne month's N next month's PLE is WWE in your house Colon International incident and they have to was wasas they not Was there not a paperview called International definitely had a Bit one that was ait UK folk with Daveoy, I think headlining that was was international incident? I think it was I almost positive. It was Seawn Michaels versus British Bulldog International incident He's like, Diana, my sweetheart This one's especially for you. Are you doing HBK right now? Yes. again. remember that? Yeah The main event of that show was a six man tag teed match between the trio referred to as the People's posse of Shawn Michael, Psycho Sid andhmed Johnson against Camp Cornet, Vader Ow Aart in the British Bullduck. Okaykay, so this is before U called Michael was title from Davy Boy and You know, Yeah. You want Cornet despite He' Not so kind words to me. is I love him. I love everything about Jim Cornet He never really did it for me in WWE. he was such a thing of the south of the of of WCW but prior to that, the territory is an end I don't know. He just didn't he didn't he never quite clicked as like the Bobby Heenan of that era for me. But I do but I love that team I love that team Um, People's posy. I remember this vividly, but. Where did this name come from I mean posse let me be clear. Posse is there because I'm at Johnson's on the team and this is the nineties. I get it You No, I remember this very vividly. I was like ninety. This is what ninety six if I'm not mistaken, Bruce, ninety six Chaz was a ripe old nine years old And who was my favorite wrestler at the time Ahmed fricin Johnson. He was the shit to me. I' prettyty so Saw Michaels is the WWF champion at this time, right were a few months past WrestleMania twelve Yeah, like That was like the backstage like I'm remembering the backstage vignettes of like Imed Johns and Saw Michaels I think Im Johnson might have been his Cld Champion also. or something like that They were awesome And Yeah, Sean defended. Sean defended the belt against Vader at Summer Slam right after this Anyway all love Vader in WW. They never they never figured him out, but that that run of Vader in WW is pretty sick All that being said I don't think WWE has anything exciting enough going on for them to not justify An international incident. So put Sam putting Samy Zane over Well, I also I I get my own vote here because I also was an Med Johnson fan. by the way, I saw a Med Johnson Wrestle as Tony Norris at the sportatorium in Dallas, Texas. Oh wow. And Tony JBL was wrestling too was his name? Tony Hawk was No no, Tony H skateboarder Justin Hawk. Justin Hawk Yeah Um Those are those were two big fellows. Firebreaker Chip was also one of the wrestlers. That was the kind of talent drop off in the sportatorium those days Anyway Um So you are you actually picking Sammy or you're just making the case that it's feasible I mean, listen, Samy's a ninety nine overall and Saudi. Thway dance probably going to feel around his rider des Samy Z in could sneak out of there with the WWE Championship But I don't know. I don't want to keep Ticken against Cody R. Well, we've already seen him. Haluva kick Gunther out of his fucking boots. whichich by the way is also just a nice, just a weird little nuance to this thing that like We're not just sitting here waiting for Sammy to turn heel in the most obvious way because he's kicking the real heel in the face, you know, like it's it's It's it's, you don't want to use nuance and pro wrestling together too much because you just sound like a doofus, but they're doing some stuff here Um So you can imagine how it happens, right? The bare the bare minimum for me when you're thinking about something this this crazy is imagining it I can very clearly imagine a world in which Gunthurga hits Cody with the fifth power bomb. And right before the pin Samy is Samy returns from outside the ring with a haluva kick knocks Gunther out and then just falls on Cody, right L you you can imag because straight up Cody. I mean straight up. I'm sorry Samy Zan is not getting a pin on Gunther and I don't think and you would think it's less likely you with Cody. I could see him getting a fairly clean pin over Cody just for the sake of the fuse that might follow I don't think he's getting a clean pin over either of those guys. So I can imagine but I can imagine it happening. Let's go with it. I'm going to pick Cody because I If there's three people there, I go with the champion. Let's go chalk. Um, But I hope that God, Samy an wins. Regardless, something' going to happen. There's no resolution. We haven't we're nowhere near a resolution. in the Sammy thing. So we'll get some excitement there. All right Um Let's do a thing. Bruce, if you disagree with what we say any of these picks so dramatically that it is necessary for you to jump in sound put a put a like have an air horn sound effect and then come in. All right Seth where you mentioned it before, Seth Rolls versus Bron Breaker. in a steel cage u in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. at night of Champions Everything about this scream Seth Rollins to me except that Why like there's no way in the world that Bron Breaker is not winning this feud You know what I mean? Like it's like what is the point of any of this? What is the point of any of the past year and a half if Bron Breaker is not just beating the shit out of Seth Rollins at some point cleanly Yeah, I mean this entire This whole thing was to get Braon Breaker over, right?? And the only way to do that is to have him beat the shit out of South Rland. Now You might they might have been envisioning world in which Brawn does the Batista and he leaves as the baby face. and then of course he can be to shit out of hes, Seth Rollins. like what but You got set as the baby. Bron is the heel Now who do you think' going to win? Brown Bak is the w. Okay. Me too I think it would be but I said, but I don't think it's as like uton dries, whatever I just lost the tattam titles. He's pissed off. L he should beat the shit out of somes in a steel cage He's a dog. If your goal gimmick is you bark like a fucking dog And you can't beat the sh out of somebody inside of a steel cage that you absolutely hate. Why not be a dog barking have to do He's in a cage Doll's gotta eat Like come on, son, like we got like, what are we doing Like this should be his like Jeff Hardy ladder match. You know what I mean? likeike No, you know what it should be It should be a it should be a goddamn kennel from hell match. If if we're going to talk about the barking come on Rob Breaker in a steel cage should be equivalent to Jeff Hardy in a latter match where it's just like, yeep, this is his match. Ron is we just hit we just had the anniversary the twenty fifth was an anniversary of Shane versus Kurt Engle and there is there is a a lot of justifiable hype rememiniscing about that. Although I feel like we reminisce about that once a year, like it's not like, you know, people always talk about that match Um There's a weird way, there's some weird curt anangle in Braon Breaker And it's not just the singlet that has me talking about it. Now, he's never going to be Curt Engle in the Ring. You know what? No one else is ever going to be Curt Engl in the Ring. specifically referencing that Shane match. There is both it's, I mean, and maybe it's not that big of a deal, but they're both these guys that like might just decide to jump off the top of the steel cage because it's a PLE You know, like they like there he's going to Bon Reger' going to go outside the rule going to go outside the normal playbook here You know, and probably do something that really wows us Um I think you Don't rule out Brroson Reed I keep watching him on Instagram faking he looks so shredded. Can we get the Bruce, canan you go back and find the clip of me saying Bronson Reeds going to come back in six shape? I call this one hundred percent the day he got hurt Yeah He looks I was like you know what? because he lost about twenty twenty thirty pounds in like the months leading up to the injury. You could tell he like hanging out with Bron Breaker was was having a good influence on him And then he got hurt and I was like, oh no, no, he's coming back looking like fucking. who is the terrible person? What was that guy's name Who was that Buzz Swyer looking dude who used to wrestle Ring of honor in Japan, It was like a real real Michael Elgan And o yeah Terrible personion byike Logan as he's widely known He might come back looking like a micout Down Um way I' sure I'll be in better shape than my go Peak Mike elggan looked like I mean He definitely looked witider, you know, up top than he did in the middle. So anyway, Uh, what were we saying? Okay, so Bruce, you do you think Brones going to win this Yeah, I as I said, I don't know if it's ending here. and If it is, he's going to win and still with a steel cage, it's like someone for the vision is going to get in there. I don't think it's going to be like, oh, we're actually this time the steel cage is going to keep everybody out My my gut tells me and I could be totally wrong that that the tririple H creative team is a little bit more reverential about steel cages than maybe WW was before, that they don't it's not necessarily the end of the feud, but they're going to treat the match with that sort of gravity. And I think it will be the end of the feud for a while. I don't know how you put Seth Rollins down. though, as big as as much as he's needed for the company right now I mean It seeam punks on his way back and is apparently going straight to Smackown Um to help out, you know, to fill things out over there. Seth Rollins like Is your top baby face on raw? You know, like Can't. He can't be walking around in like a freaking body cast. Well they wouldn't be walking in a body cast, but he can't be, you know, he they Rron can't put him in the hospital for two months. Raw Fuking needs this dude around. you know? not only that, like if if you think they're doing Roman versus Seth at suummererslime, it's like Well, that's the other question. like arere we doing Roman Seth at suummmerle? Like who If Oa Femy is not involved, then I guess you have to do J versus Cody because J versus well that you pick sameamy Zane Are we doing J versus J versus Sammy for the for the u the the plus player world championship. like I don't know what sorry, that was unnecessarily harsh, but like I feel like both of those dudes need a dude more important them than them across the, you know, in the other corner. So it's I feel better about my Kodody peg Um Kennel from Hellmatch though, how great would that be if Braon? Relegitimize that or legitimized it for the first time I just don't know what you do with Seth If it is a Roman Reigns feud, then that sort of eliminates the potential for like his next feud interfering in the match, which is how you would normally get through this, you know, freaking Bray Wyatt comes in after a lights out and and and takes your dude out, you know, like that's not going to happen here because not if we' not if we' career, you know, careering careering towards a a Roman Reigns match So maybe how does S lose clean and then get a stake at the world title? It's just very bizarre. I don't I don't I can't understand J like Roman like nobody She's one No no no Seth on the microphone can talk his way into that match. Don't disagree. I'm thinking more of like a big picture thing. L Bron has to win. I think Bron's going to win, but like how do you but what's more important just this the consistent trajectory of Bron Breaker or the Seth Rollins, It's not a project anymore It's the Seth Rollins experience It's like the Sher Rollins as the top guy in in the company. you know, I think Seth is especially on the eve of Summer sllam. Now after a summer sllam, you can put seteth in the hospital for two months for all I care. you know, like it's like you work it. but I don't know. it's this will be a fun one to watch. but we all got Brawn. I just feel again reiterating I feel weird about all these pics now after the Oba Femi things. Snoring, gasping during sleep? If feeleeling fatigued? askk your doctor about Zepbound, Tzepetite, the first and only FDA approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea and adults with obesity. 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Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Viori d. com slash Simmons. and discover the versatility of Viori clothing, exclusions apply, visit the website for full terms and conditions Let's talk about a condition many people haven't heard of And it turns out, it's more common than you'd think Pyony's disease, or PD for short PD can happen when scar tissue builds up under the skin of the penis This can cause a curve or a bump during an erection and for some men, lead to pain during intimacy and may impact mental health It may also lead to anger and frustration, depression, lower self esteem, and even withdraw from sexual activity and physical intimacy Because of this, some men could feel embarrassed or reluctant to talk about PD The actual cause of PD isn't always known In some cases, it may be linked to a minor injury or repeated injuries during sex or other physical activity The good news is PD is treatable If you notice a curve with a bump A trusted Uurology specialist can help diagnose it and walk you through your options, including non surgical treatment To learn more about Pironi's disease, visit talkaboutpD. comot Speaking of which We got two King slash Queen of the Ring Finals matches. Oba versus Jay Uso on the inside and Eo Sky versus either Charlotte Flare or Liv Morgan winner of that match to be TBD tonight on Summer sllam. I'm going to start with the women's match because this is another one where I'm just like, my brain is not processing in the same way. Oba Femi broke my brain. U by the way, I was looking this is like totally off said subject, but I was reading I think on Reddit about the about the the new Chad Gable entrance. Sean Rusap had some hilarious, you know Gable gave WWB the clap, you know, headline or whatever that everybody was working on um But somebody made the really smart point where they were just like, J Uso broke WWE because the yeat thing was so successful to them that now they're just trying to give a yeat to everybody and it's just like, don't you know what organic means you dumb motherfuckers? L like it's so silly. Let's go out and have The widest dude ever clap in the widest way possible. Oh yeah, everybody iss going to do that too Here's another thing I H's another thing you can give it I'm going to giver him some bail here because he is from Minnesota and it is it's more of a it's more of a skull like it's a skull clap. You know what I'm saying? So Oh it is. Yeah. like that's how the Vikings, you know, you ever go to a Vikings game or see how they do it. Like I kind of see where they're going with it with Chad Gable and I can't imagine they're doing this at football games in the way that Chad Gable is doing it because you'd be smacking your neighbors's faces. likeike he just has a full arm extension from the hip All right Well I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on that one. But here's the thing. you this is a big moment for Chad Gable. You don't need to give us more reasons to remind us of the dopey Kurt anngle comparisons. and I'm not saying cururt Agles is dopey. I'm saying the dopey side of Kurt Agle. Like this is That entrance is you suck. That That's all it is, you know, and it's like he we don't need Anym I'm going off anyway I don't know who's winning Charlotte versus Live Morgan tonight on SmackDown. Bruce, as the outsider here, is it so obvious and I'm being an idiot I always default to Charlotte Flair winning whenever it's up in question and it's a fifty fifty nuts might go too. WWE. be Okay, I don't know what the demo in Saudi is. I don't know who's more over of these two women in Saudi Arabia I think WW would be making a wild decision to put Jay Uso and Charlotte Flair in the two finals matches for King and Queen of the Ring Like that's a You're gonna have some people turn to the channel in the United States But not justifiably, but those those two people. But anyway, who do you think going to win gazz of the on Smackdown tonight Lve or Charlotte I think Charlotte's going to win and I think we're going to have well, I don't know I don't know. I feel like S. This is going to be it's going to be a judgment day. If liiv loses Friday I mean tonight or Tomorrow Its got it's got to be a j It's got to be a Roxsan. It's got to be a judgment day thing. It's got to there's got to be some some story they're doing there because Again, then why the hell is your world champion angling for a world championship match and not defending her own title on the show like this. you know, like well, the whole thought would be that Charlotte would beat Liv then Charlotte would lose to Eo. Eo would then challenge the other champion and then you have Charlotte having beat Lib to then challenge for her belt. So you can kind of get both there you go those things there Book it. I'm done. Im Kaz I mean, Eo is E is one hundred percent winning at the Pay review because I mean, that the one thing that I feel good about and it wasn't I shouldn't feel that good because we like stumbled upon it on this show we when I was just thinking out loud because it's going to be a rever versus Eo at Summerlam. Great match, great backstory. They're going to put on a hellv a show because they love each other like it's going to be that's going to be it Um But who do you think who do you think Yo is going to beat at at a night of Champions Gaz. Is it going to be it's going to be Charlotte I think it's going to be Chlotte Um Oh no man I know Eo and Rheya storyline for them to fight shouldould not come at a tournament. It should come from Maria being sick of losing to Eo all the damn on Well she didn' never beat her Yeah Um Charlotte versus Rheia. H some legs WrestleMania rematch. Charlotte going for another world Championship. As much as I know that Eo and Rio would be like a phenomenal match, like of God Hind them kind of miss seeing Charlotte on top I kind of miss seeing Charlotte as like a single like dominating like solo talent for a while And she's kind of turned over a new leaf and become like this beloved sort of figure in WWE within the fans And seeing her versus Ra kind of Kind of tickles my fancy. I think I want to see it at that suummer sllam more than the Eo and Ra. Like save Eo and Aa for like a real blood feud. Like like the friendship up. Don't be like this tournament. I gotta fight you. I don't think I love Charlotte. So I don't think I could disagree with what you said more in the context, but like All that said They Beloved as Charlotte has become as much goodwill as she garnered from her lengthy tag team run I think thirty second in the ring of Th Ripley at Sumerslame is going to make all that disappear. I mean, I think people are going to forget all about how much they love Charlotte Flair when they are freaked out that she's going to beat their favorite wrestler. I think this is any okay, so but anyway, but you you're making a you're making basically just like a philosophical point, which I don't disagree with totally Uh, but do you but do you think that's reality? Do you think that there's a chance that Charlotte's really going to win? I think so I mean She's not done yet. Like you know, like I understand it's like and it's also summer slam. L those are that's a big mess to have, you know I know she's been in the attack teing division for a long time But You know, Charlotte Flare is still Charlotte Flare. Now if you want to get me interested in Charlotte Flair, as a singles performer I think the move is to do something like what Liv is doing Liv is somewhat inexplicably doing right now, which is like, have Charlotte go for both belts. Let's lean into the inevitability of Charlotte Flair. No, no, no, I'm saying that's the story I would be interested in Like let her like Charlotte WrestleMania is like heal Charlotte saying I'm the only person like let her be the belt collector in the worst way. You know, let her be the heel who's just like I'm the best person here. whyy shouldn't I get this? I don't want to see her be I get paid I get paid more money than you. Wh I should be the champion. You know? I don't want to see her be a heill though. likeike I think The amount of press that Sl hass done over the past couple of years, like it's damn impossible to boo her. Like she's like She's such she's become such an open book where like Folks are really rooting for her. You know what I'm saying? L she she gets a massive She always gets a pop when she comes out, but it's different now. You know what I'm saying? And like she kind of is this living legend that can afford to lose that sumer slam and not lose anything. know Where are you on where are you on the apparently soon to be released Charlotte and Rick Flair podcast Or maybe maybe it's just Rick as the first guest on on Ashley Flair's new podcast Anyway, there it is kind of it is kind of jarring that, you know, she's going by her government Rick Flare with a li podcast microphone has been, you know, a real craps shoot past several years Nib Okay The early remember when Rick Clair had his own podcast And they all seem to be written Yeah, wasas that Conrad? I don't even remember because it wasn't, but it wasn't a co hosted show, right? It was just like Rick Flair in a hotel room with a cooler full of beer and stone cold Steve Austin. Like it was just very, but it didn't last long and I think there's sort of a limit to the number of people that Rick probablyably respects enough It's the same reason that Michael Jordan couldn't be a GM. Rick Flair can't be a podcaster. But like Um But Charlotte's an interesting one for a podcast because as great as she's been on our show and doing other interviews, I don't know I don't even know what to expect out of this. Anyway I don't expect her to win. I don't expect her to win and I a champion. so we disagree here That's great disagreement is what makes these show so great. All right Men's match, Oba Femi vers. Jay Uso Are we just are we all on the J U so I mean, on Brock Lesnner will cost over the match train right now Oh I'm like sixty percent there Yeah, that's about where I am because I started I started at zero percent there. So it's take it's a it's a steady progression You know what, I've said this before. It's just like money in the bank. I know that they don't actually wear crowns, but my number one criteria in making a pick is can I imagine this person wearing a crown Oba Femi? one hundred percent yes Jay Uso though. I would initially say no. and then as when you were talking on Wednesday, I was just like I started imagining Jay Uso almost like the jug head crown. likeike J U Jay Uso with like a crown at a tilt that doesn't really fit like scar when he was the kid the king and we didn't he have a crown No, no, I'm thinking of him. Who's the other lion? The Disney's Robin hood where that where where the shheriff of Nottingham is a lion and he doesn't have a crown or he's the he's the king and he has a crown that's like on sideways that doesn't fit on the tiny top of his head That's what I imagine for Jay So yes, he can win this. think it's a tough walk to go J heal Jay versus Cody Rhodes at Summer sllam to re to redo the J at the top of the card thing But it's not going to be cut and dry And Whatever whether or not this is a call from on high, having Jay and Roman in the main events at Summer Slam is intriguing You know, like or they can find a way to sort of tie it together Especially if they could find a way thats say maybe Jay wins and Roman loses You know, especially if Romans have to go take another six month vacation There's a lot of cool things you could do Um A lot of cool cool directions. you could go here. So yes, we're all picking J It's a admitted a giant shift and from where we started and I I'm going to be okay with that Uh US Championship match. Tiffany Stratton, your champion versus Jade Cargll. I love this feud for them Obviously not the first time these two have been in the ring together. I love the chemistry that they've had when they're in the ring. Um, The what did I say this on Wednesday? I really love the baddies. I love that Jade has a crew. It's a weird thing because it keeps her out of matches and that's what you need if you're if you're a talent on the level of Jade. You know, you have other people to eat pins. you have other people to wrestle your random smack smackown matches. But there's also an element of Jade where it's like, she needs to be on more of that Roman reign schedule You know, like Jade just like disappearing for a few weeks is actually a good idea You know, and she can't disappear now. Now she's just constantly there because she's got two other wrestlers tied to her. you know, like it's not going to happen. But anyway, that's all sort of beside the point Um I have no idea who's going to win. I'm going to pick Jade What do you think Kz? I think Tiffanany's tryer retains, Do we run this back at Summerersslam posossibly Uh Tiffity Stran another Minnesotan, you know what I mean? who'll be home in Summer sllam So it'd be really interesting but I don't know. I feel like I feel like I feel like Tiffany's going to retain here, you know James just WW champion. I mean It would make sense for her to hey, if she could win the World Champion, why can't win the WWE Championship? but gives me feel These the arguments I had when I was like nine. I was like, wait, but But if you could be Roddy Piper andri and Roddie Piper could beat Hulk Hogan, then like why can't he beat Hulkog? No All right, well, well we'll agree to disagree on that one too Williamsus Ricky Sains to be a funnelin not also versus Carmela Hayes who is not quite guilled at getting the dragon off treatment, but like why was he such an integral part of this and then he's not in this match Do't Isn't this the perfect? Wouldn't the a tririple thread be so nice I guess we already have a triple threaten in the main event so that's your answ Um, Trick versus Ricky I don't I think it would be very I would be shocked if Ricky Saints won this match but also if I were on creative, I would probably be making the case for Ricky Saints to win this match R I like Ricky Sands, but I don't think He has I don't think he should win this match Trick Williams is one of the best things WW has going right now He's carrying SmackDown. He can carry that mid card And um I'll be honest, as much of a fan of I am as Ricky Saints as much as I love like the guy. He hasn't necessarily really connected with the folks on the main roster like he had in NXT and like he had in AW. I don't even think he connected like that in NXT. I didn't think he really got the time and he was working heel the whole time. So what are you going to say? I don't think there' he certainly had a huge connection, a huge fan base starting in AEW And I think the put I think that putting him in the ring with trick on the main roster They did it in NXT obviously as well, but putting him in the ring with trick on the main roster has been an incredible has been a master stroke. You know, like it's really said over and over again. Ricky Saines is as big exactly as big as you tell the audience he is and P putting him in there with trick makes him look like he belongs in there with trick, makes trick look big for going up against a guy who who's so clearly on his level I don't think Ricky Saint should win and have a six month reign I think but like I think I likeike a short term Exchange. Maybe he wins and loses it back at Sumers sllam Maybe maybe maybe if we get that triple threat match at Summer sllam and there's and and let letting Ricky be the champ make let you allows you to to investigate the the trick Mellow relationship in a different way for a month, you know, like you can you can maybe there' maybe their're sort of teammates going into someumhere slam and then they five falling out again Um I think there's a lot you can do with it. I don't think the odds are in Ricky's favor I'm just saying I think that I would I think I'd be pushing for him to win if it were me No pickat trick wimes It's so good with him There is nothing Nothing that I just said take away nothing that I just said should be heard is me saying that he should not be in the ring for twenty minutes with L Yadti on a microphone. on SmackDown the following week. likeike Trick Williams is the star of that show and should very well continue to be whether or not the the gold hanging around his waist is there sort is almost beside the point for me Um, Is that it for the card for for the for the card? we got down we got through one show. Let's talk forbidden door Sorry, byy in We're not talking about you today U I talked about it before, Kenny Omega versus X Saber Junr. These forbidden doormat what is our abiding theory on forbidden door at this point I mean, it definitely don't hit the same now that AW's gotten a lot of the best new Japan talent. but Well also there's a lot of there's been a lot of visa shhip this time too. So yes and CMLL talent. Now they've codified their relationship with C CMLL The only forbidden door left is WWBE slash NXT slash AAA But that's the only thing forbidden And so I like the idea that people are coming, but like from other places. But if you're not doing versus champ stuff between New Japan and AAW then like, what's the point? Well, here's the point. You have a really cool name for a paper view, despite it being the fourth coolest of this weekend Um Omega would lose this match in any other any other moment in time in the career of Kenny Omega, I don't think he can afford to lose it I think it's too important for him to be up with the tip top of this car of this roster and I think Kenny is Kenny's going to win Yeah A Greekaz Yeah, I agree. U Zach Saber Junor is going to get a great match out of Kenny. I think Kenny needes a great match. He always has great matches. But I think he needs one of those match that reminds people of who he is notothing exactly everybody's going to give it to him But I'd give Keny the dog here. Very well put. I don't want to be belabor those too ungs we've got a lot of matches to get to But yeah Zack Saber Juniorors He's just, he's So class Um Let's see John Moxley Continental Championship match Domoxy versus Bandido. I don't know how much of that of the uh the Moxley and Claudio versus Bendido and Brody match from from Dynamite that was so good It was so good and so fun I had a bunch of like old school wrestling u convictions and when when it came on, I was just like This doesn't work because Claudio and Moxi are both bigger than Brody King and Brody King is supposed to be the giant and it's just like it's sort of just just awkward But that match is fucking sick. Like I loved it. I loved every minute of it. There's about every two months, there's a tag team match that just makes me feel like I'm twelve again it makes me feel like I'm watching the Strike force beat the Heart Foundation or whatever. And like that this this was it it was so, so good Um That said, John Moley's not losing this match Um What else? What are your feelings on the cage about this steel cage match? Briskco teeam Briskco versus Tim M team MJF. And who's on team MJF all Don Kal's family members. It's like basically to the cream of the crop. It's Yeah, we've got Reevven Kight, Kyle Fletcher, Jake Doyle Kzuchcokota in Andrade Eitelo joining MJF and a team Brisco. We've got Mark Brisco, Orange Cassidy, Rogerick Strong, Kyle O'Rey, Kenoskeate toekasha Darby Allen joining Mark Rrisco I okay, let's pick some knits I don't like Darby Allen being second banana on this team Do doesnn't make a lot of sense You were just the world Champion. Now are you on T team Brisco I appreciate who Jay Brisco is for AW. I appreciate his I am He's a much better wrestler than I ever expected him to turn out to be at his personality is obviously just like such a standout, especially in the context Um especially in the context of like the rest of the AW roster. U, but yeah, I mean It's just weird. It's weird that he is like driving this when you just came off of that feud In terms of the the heel faction I think the real key thing is that there's a some, you know, the never ending bubbling animosity between And Draw D and MJF Um will be, I guess, the story that they're telling, and that'll be a match that we'll be very stoked about at some point Um, And so it's ye, it's the Calis family. Also this is why Kevin I joined the Callis family. every time you every time I raiseed my eyebrown AW, they it's clear why they'd made a decision a month later. Um And then and then team Brisco Yeah, So teeam Brisco is just the baby faces with to Katcha and I mean, the the the conglomeration with Takeshta and Darby. and then the heels are MJS and Mically the standouts of the Cus family Um I don't know who's gonna win this thing It really doesn't matter when there's this many people involved. I'm going to pick Team MJF U The only reason I Pigan getst MJF is because he's the champion And he's an asshole and asshole shapers tend to lose these type of matches. Eespecially when they're feuding with people on their own team. Yeah. I mean, I think that the logic is certainly behind the name JF Los, but I I feel weird I feel funny about this one. I feel like Tony's going to pull something on us. I think I think the heels are going to win. Who knows Uh we got the Oen Heart Tournament finals to go toe to toe with the King of the ring tournament in finals Mercedes Monet versus Maya World and Will Osprey versus Serve Strickland Jesus F in Christ Osprey versus Strickland is going to be fun. Although this is going to be a I always talk about AW like you'll watch a match and it'll be like a five star match, but and yet somehow you'll know watching it that they have a few more stars they're keeping in their back pocket. you know That's what Bill would call the Milton Borl of the wrestling Milton Borl effect. So you just pull out enough to win Um, U I will Osp is going to win this match Yeah w this one. I mean he's going to he's got to go to England and take his world title. That's the that's basically the payoff here and whatever It'll be interesting to see how they treat Serve en root Like how like what it's sort of the like the Seth Rollins question from before You know, this like how do you keep sort of looking strong because he' looked strong as hell through this tournament and you're not just tossing them by the wayside obviously. So that'll be b Mercedes versus my world I mean, my world we haven't even talked about on this show, I don't think, but what a this is the story of the past month in AW What rops my world by the way Get it right Do you get residuals? Do you get like a cut? like like an agent's cut or something?ish I'm so happy for her She's such a talent to the woman Mercedes Monet is legitimately her idol in wrestling. G so just as somebody who has gotten to talk to her U many times during fourth Rpe shows, I'm really geeked for her. This is going to be awesome. What was this said? What was this is when in this shit But wait, what was this match supposed to be I think they just you know. You know, I guess should be the thinga No, but it was supposed to be like Athena versus was it Athena versus Tel? It was something without either of these people in Originally Si was supposed to be taking My Oh My worldorld was the last second replacement for Si who had not healed for her neck injury. Yet. But I think but I think that the projection was that it would be I thought it was supposed to be either of them. But regardless, it's felt like there with all of the Myorld thing cool as it's been, it's felt a little bit like it is it has felt like a last second replacement situation. and that gives it more urgency and more vibrancy and everything else. but feeles like Like it was hard for me to get a handle on it. the whole time it was going on, but she's so good and this is so great and I don't know. I don't know that she's good I don't know that she can't win this match bit on this one. and I think Mercedes has lost all of her belts. The only belt she's still coming out to the ring wing is the Owen Heart one and she's got to lose one more belt before she finally turns back being babyface. So I see my world winning this. I saw I thought whoever was going to get to the final because it wasn't even originally Mercedes in the first place. So She was going to lose the belt by not being in the tournament originally. So if you're going to have her lose that final belt, she's lost all of her belts and gone to every indie. She lose this final one in the finals by actually losing it to someone. You keep going from there Um And AW could use another I mean, as great as our women's division has become they could use another big star and my world has a lot of star potential Um Speaking of the women's divis I saw somebody say that There's been a lot of Harley Cameron Chatter. She had a good match this week. People are stoked Somebody I saw that said that she could be AWs Bay I think thinking more of old school bay likeg they shouldn't be funny and you know, change of pace sort of person, but also That is the craziest thing I've ever heard. I have all the respect in the world for Harley Cameron But calling Carl comparing Harley Cameron to Bailey is like comparing Jay Briskco to Kurt Agle. You know, it's like, Yes, they can both be funny, but the but there's such a world of difference in the ring in ring quality that like what are what the fuck are we talking about Um I like Harley Cameron a lot though. She But she's like, she's she's It fits her character really well. It's like every time she like jumps off something under a under somebody outside the ring, like it looks like it's it looks like she's imag like she's figuring out how to do it on the fly, which is cool for the character, but it's also the truth. So it's a little bit awkward. Anyway Um Moving on we, speaking of the women's division Tecla versus Starlight Kid and a traditional like they have traditional Survivor series matches. This is a traditional forbiddor match. Um Tekla is going to retain. We're going to zip through some of these Um a Mox is going over Bandido. I don't think we we actually said that officially, but is there any way Bandido wins this match? I mean, Bandido is possible Bandido' awesome. Mox doesn't mind taking a L think' possible Yeah, Mox has sort of done all the elevating there. He's he's elevated that Continental title about as about as high as it can go and and it certainly is a sort of thing that fits bandido a little bit better than it fit Moxley But I don't think I don't think I mean, Mx seems to make his own decisions and that's not to say that he's like the new Hogan, like you know, constantly demanding getting put over He clearly loves to lose more than he loves to win But don't know, it's hard. it's just hard to predict anything with I'm going I'm going to say Mx retains, but this could this could honestly go either way. U Next up we got the dogs Cononders and Finley versus Copeland and Cage It's been a while since we saw Cope and Cage have just like a match. You know, that wasn't fraught or loaded with like two decades of history. But everything else, I'm excited for this one. I like seeing them wrestle Um The dogs are great. The dogs are fantastic. The dogs are exactly what you want the dogs to be. I hope that the dogs go into this match with the mindset of we have to make Copen Cage look like they're the best wrestlers in the history of mankind. Like they they it's on this one's on them becausecause it's it's, you know The age is showing a little bit with Copid gauge, which doesn't it's not a negative thing. They're just they're just that old. and there's two of my favorite wrestlers of all time Um, I think I think the dog I'm going go with the dogs on this one It's shocking. I mean, it's like un you it's it's probably not against the betting odds or whatever but like come on Like let's do something interesting here. Are we what are we just treadding water in this whole paper view Well That's what they do forbidden door basically I know, I know, I know. But so give us something in the in one of the feuds that will continue on on TV next week. You know, like let us let's have let's have some fun with it But I know it's not going it's not that big of a deal. And Oh yeah Bruce, do you want to introduce the the elite sky team match. Yeah since since it's your favorite match of all time. Yeah. I mean Sky team anytime you get the chance to watch CMLL. If you see them in a main event match, it's going to be the match in the show It's their incredible Mstico is Misico and Mescararderad is one of the best young flyers going today that On top of that They're really fantastic and and then and they them in the elite is the real I mean, listen, unbound like Singo and Titan are are both wonderful wrestlers and They're really holding down They're really making this forbidden door thing happen by having this this exact triple threat. Yes Um, but you were but we're coming for Sky teeam versus the the bucks. and Um It's going to be freaking crazy. This it does not matter who wins this match. And I have no fucking idea how to make a pick I think the bucks are going to win the match, but We're just here to have watch the bucks just organize traffic and have an absolute bless. See to me, this feels like a sky team win Yeah Mystical Mstico' doing a lot of work. I know he's he's officially AEW at this point, but Mstico is has done a lot of Not necessarily takaking a lot of losses, but like, you know, come out on the losing end of the MJF thing. likeike he's he's he's been very giving in his relationship with AW so far. I'll put it that way Maybe goes over the boxs I'm going go with Sy team. Also, it just feels like a Tony Kon thing to be like, let's give our new partners in CML CMLL something that they can Just walk away with and be happy and proud. What do he say this week? Someone asked if he wanted to if he hadd ever be interested in buying buying TNA and he was like, how much? what's see the imaginary figure and someone said forty mill and he was like, hell no. but I'm very interested in helping promote other indie companies right now Um CML is not in any company, but he seems to be in a very giving mood, much like Mystico. So I'm going to go with them on this one We don't have time to talk through all thisuff. So we're going to do an online coin flip to tell you who's going to win every single match. We're going to start off. NXT worldor championship match. Youet your challenge in Naru defending against. I mean a challenging Tony D' Angelo who's had a I mean, I likeked I love both of these guys and of like enjoyed watching them together. Tony's Ba Thats the uneventful. run so far. I really hope they figure this dude out because he's got all of the stuff. I mean, he's got all this stuff. Um and according to the coin, Tony Dangelo is going to win. NXT women's Championship match Dude if the coin if the coin does if the I mean, the coin might be the the, um The the octopus that picks the college basketball playoffs of this For the record Lola Weice is defending her championship against Kendall Gray and according to the coin Lolois retains I'm on board with that Kendall Graves is going to get Kendle go ahead, Kaz. No. Kendall Gry is going to win at some point. The inevitability is off the charts here I'm not sure it needs to be now And I'm not sure it needs to be at the expense of low levices sort of their fledgling title reign All right North American women's North American Championship Your champion ara is defending against Tayum Paxley. A lot of Tayum Paxley Chatter. Bruce, are you are you are you seeing any of this? It basically just like people talking about how her call up is going to fail? It just seems to be like the ongoing conversation as she's like I guess the I guess the the the feeling is This is how it goes in NXT. You lose your title and then you lose the rematch for the title and then you get called up. And so there's this feeling that she's certainly getting called up and now that we're seeing Blake Monroe not getting much of a reaction during her on like live debut in London B the way. Love Bake Monroe holding Blakeman off TV for two months so that she could debut in the UK is like is is it idiocy. It's just idiocy. It's like all these It It's the same way as said it was idiocy when I was like nobody cares that swerve swerve and all these dudes are from are from Seattle. Like the Seattle fans don't care. L it's there' no homecoming what matters is what the world, you know is how behind them the world is And it's the same thing with Blake. It's like, dude it' be way better if anybody was cheering for in the UK It's not just like waiting for the UK crowd anyway Zaria, I mean, sorry, u How do we even get on that? Okay Oh the Tayum Paxley thing because the last few call ups haven't been going so great on the women's side for WEWE I think Tayt and Packley's got to got The thing that Tat and Paxy is going for despite being immensely entertaining, very, very, very good in the ring A to a degree that I think that her look blinds people to the fact that she's really great. Her look also literally blinds you to the fact that she was like a competitive power lifter and has a whole different skill set than you imagine Isn't that what she was She has a whole different amateur skills set than you imagine that she has Um biggest thing she has going for is that when she comes on TV, you know exactly what you're looking at You know, it's like you don't have to you don't have to just wait and see how this character develop the character is going to develop, but the fans get it. The fans in the back row get it And I think she's going to be I think she's going to have no trouble on the main roster adapting. That said I can flip a coin here. This is how we're going to know if the coin flipper is good Cari is one hundred percent winning that winning this match. Let's go. Nope. Nope The coin has picked Tatum Paxley Uh notot sure how I'm feeling about the coin here anymore But just for the record, that's what's going on. Let's see. nextext match, we got Miles Bourorne. defefending the North American title against Tavon Heights I like both of these guys a lot. I can't quite imagine that we're going to be like reliving the born Tavon Heights feud like coming from the the no quarter catch crew to the to their time to the main roster like we look back at like the fucking you know, DX breakup when Sean and Hunter were feuding in the later in their career We're not going to theseese guys don't have that kind of relationship. I don't care what you say. H hard to get too psyched about this match, I feel like they both need to be working with bigger names to kind of legitimize them. Both these guys are Wildly gifted in the ring And this might be a very good match Um, according to the coin It's a retain we got Miles Borne is retaining, which is the right pick, but I was really hoping really hoping that the coin was going to go for more chaos here. Rincentin Clair is defending her her speed championship against Ariana Grace Is this officially is the speed title just the new the new twenty four seven title Is the speed title just the silly title that we pass around now to our various silly people I mean it was always a silly t. But yeah, but when when Soul is the champion, it's like I mean she saved the title. I mean, like literally like kept it from disappearing U but she was not funny. anyyway Rin Sc Claair is much more than a comedy wrestler, by the way. I've said this a million times Francinclair is Standing next to Kindall Gray is not doing her any favors in terms of like people talking about who the best female wrestler in the next he is Renzen Glare Logi already got a main roster style worked out. Rincent Clire is belieievable in everything she does and thoroughly entertaining in everything she does. She's got a lot of Chelsea I mean, Chelsea Green But she's not a strictly a comedy wrestler. She's a real legit wrestler. Maddie Rinkkowski was a real fucking wrestler. go back and look at it. You know, like it's not this is she's she is one hundred percent legit And frankly, I think she's going to have a great time on the main roster or whateever she gets up but anyway She will hopefully retain, but who really cares? It's speed Championship. accccording to the coin She will retain Uh thank you, Coin. Um You know, we also gotrist Angels versus Chhilu Hill and Sake Kuon Sugars formerly of the bad guy faction that I don't even care what his name is versus Deion Linnox U goes We'll talk about those next week if they matter. Slam adversary. So the official rundown is Night of Champions is at one PM easastern on Saturday, right And then sllam Aiversary is at four PM. Oh four PM Sunday. sorry. I thought first I was thought I at slam aniversary on Saturday. So we got one o'clock Saturday for a Night of Champions What time is that in Saudi Arabia time, Bruce? I'm just kidding. I dont I don't care. And then Sunday we have Uh four PM for sllam anniversary and seven PM dueling p payer views for forbidden door and NXT Gade American Bash, which is not technically a paper view. It's for free on the CW but it is being programmed to run against AW because we're still doing that petty shit Um Mike Santana versus Nick Nemeth whichich is by the way, if you I mean I love seeing I love these two guys together. I love this being the feud. And according to the coin. We got a surprise here. Nick Nemeth is going to win Um Cedrich Alexander Y ex division champion. seems like just yesterday we were chilling in a green room at W Mania and I was like, what the fuck are you doing next? said And he was like, I don't know, cashing these checks for a minute. and that was we had no idea. He's so talented go back and watch I mean, everybody remembers but go back and watch that Chrisway classic batch where he where he literally earned his way into under the WW roster. Uh One of the most amazing things you'll ever see in terms of just Walking in as an extra bas when walking out with a contract, you know Uh Cedrich versus Leon Slater versus Frank Gazarian versus Mr. Elegance. I hate that, dude. versus Casey Navarro versus Fabian Eichner. Welcome back to the big Lagues versus the amazing Rd. Welcome back to pro wrestling I never got the amazing red I think it's because he came up in a time where having a shirt made me made me mad. And I never quite, I just never quite caught on I mean got on with. I know he's so, so, so talented and it's really fun to see him back. Um There's a million people in this match. One would assume Cedric's going to win, but Leon Slater' in this match. Frank is Aaran is in this match and it frankly is is a bigger deal in TNA than Cedric is. Fabian Eichner just signed with the company And presumably and in the in the new signing category is probably a bigger deal than Cedric right now Anybody could win this match. I'm going to to say Leon Slater wins because he's the biggest name of the group knockouts World Championship, Liing Li defefending against Gia Brookside and according to the coin Brookside's taken this spelled U TMA tag team World Championship ladder match the system versus the broken hardies versus the righteous versus the G Hs. I've really been enjoying the Hardy's righteous stuff. I mean, I'm sure there's some people that just sort of roll their ryes at it, but this is exactly what Matt and Jeff Hardy should be doing in the year of our Lord twenty twenty six. instead of like jumping off ladders and breaking their pelvises and trying to recapture the glory of their childhoods. Um This one will be a lot of fun too. I can't flip a coin again So I'm just gonna to go with the righteous on this one They've earned it They've earned it by carrying the hardest through some of these weird ass matches Um, I mean do we need to do the elegance brand versus Alli and Rosemary Mistaf Ali doesn't even have a tag. I he doesn't even have an opponent Um, o there you go, Moose versus Eddie Edwards in a no surrender match. Is that the same as like a? Wa what is it no surrender match Bruce shaking his head It sounds like a no like a like an I quit match, but the title of the match is no surrender So Y Are you allowed to do anything except submit? You cannot win by submission. I don't know what the stipulations of this match are But I'm just gonna to pretend that you cannot win you cannot win by stipulation. Um I love Edd Edwards. I've loved Eddie Edwards since Ring of Honor. Wolves days When he and Davy Richards were like feuding for the fucking worldld title, that was some good stuff Navy Richard's also a bad person. if memory serves But I really, I remember very clelearly when like I would show over those ring of Honor shows, cas that you and me always talk about and like Joe Coff would come over and just like every time would remind me that Davy Richards was like a five foot two orphan or whatever the fuck his life story was that made it so cool that he was a champion Yeah, I love him too Je. I don't Congratulations, I guess. I don't don know what to tell you Um, but I love Eddie Edwards Moose is going to win that match Ricky Sosa's got a match against Eric Young. Kaz. arere you excited for the Ricky Sosa entrance I hope so. I haven't seen them in a while. Are you going to tune? Are you going to tune in this anniversary just for the entrance No I'm not watching this But I'm sure we're going to get clips online, which would be really interesting. You going to get him fourth Rpe, what's going on Love too. because AJ's work AJ Francis is in the next the last match on the car on this entire long show. AJ versus Elijah. . Um It would be fun to start a wrestling Appo of nothing. I swear I'm not referencing these guys. It would be fun to to start a wrestling company where the only criteria is you're not allowed to hire someone who's a who's an who's an elite an a level wrestler But you You have to hire Bes or below J in terms of ring work, not mic work, but just ring work is not going to be good David's bad idea Championship wrestling That's a pitch to somebody. like we want to hire you because we your C plus guy. like great. Well, you know, it's sort of like when you're building a team in basketball, it's like we don't we're not we're not we don't tell the guys we're looking for small egos, but that's what we're doing here. You know, We just we tell them they're the greatest player ever, but really Our main criteria is you won't get to Sacramento and immediately want to leave. You know, we have there's different criteria for every team anyyway That's it, man. That's four PLEs. Smackdown tonight. We got a face off between the three Cody Gunther and Sammy. Um So that'll be I'm sure that'll go off with no violence or fisticuffs at all Um Tiffanyy Stratton and Alexa Bliss versus BFab and Michin Oh, Ray Phoenix versus Nathan Frasier. Oh, this is this is pre reccorded, right I already know who's winning all these matches. I realize that as I'm reading it out loud Ray Phoenix versus Nathan Frasier is a good one Uh Cargo versus Jed, Chelsea Green. Weird that they're throwing this away on a smackdown to me Um Paiage versus JC Jane another I mean, listen It is much more meaningful that pages from the UK That one hundred percent matters And I think her booking tonight and over the past week certainly reflects her significance in the United Kingdom Talk about a ninety nine overall. like she just rolled in there and she's just like starting it she's just like exploding people by looking at them Um, And Julieianiana James, which which I'm very excited about. Um Trick and Ricky are meeting face to face Oh in and Dan Hausen is team up with Matt Cardona Is that Is this a good look for dan housing My instinct is to be like, why are you why why why Wh I put him with Matt Cardona I think this actually helps Matt a lot and and Dan Hausen is totally bulletproof. And somehow is this going to end up with Matt going back to Zach Ryer funny. I don't mind the Ms Kit Wilson You know, I like the sort of like comedy division the men's comomedy Division in WWE. It' kind of interesting anyyway U So yeah, big smackdown tonight, although judging by the spoilers It's not like it nothing revel, you know, It's not maybe not the biggest show ever m But we get a shit ton of wrestling to talk. I mean to watch this weekend Um I don't know, Is there anything that we missed Oh, I know what we fucking missed. Here's's How many matches do we just go through, Bruce So's how many what is the total number? Say it's like thirty five matches? That means there will be thirty five steel chairs that fanatics will be selling at some point as the official steel chair that got busted busted over somebody's head in the match Did you see this fucking story about how Fenax was selling a steel chair from what match was it Was it Women's War games match. Yeah that's what I was going to say. It was definitely a War games match But there was no it turned out thanks. than you nerds. than you nerds that there was no steel chair ever used in that match And then weirdly, either whether it was an accident or whether this was just craven profiteering It was the this a strange thing happened, which is which they did which is they just pulled down the they just pulled down the auction Whether you were doing this deliberately or accidentally, the smart move is to say, oh shit we me it we got the year wrong becausecause it's not like they over identified it in some other way. J just o Oh, we got the you wrong, you know, good. I was sorry. that was Someone was king it in U, but no, they just pulled the auction So now you know I mean, I fucking hate to say this because the people of fanatics have been nice to us. but if you're spending your money on a piece of the WrestleMania ringat ring mat that, you know, you're paying for two by two inches of it for a bunch of money if you're buying a steel chair, if you're How are you validating this? The only people validating it are Fanatics and they're the one that just tried to sell you a fake chair Maybe pulling it down was the most admirable thing they could do You know, maybe maybe that shows you that they're at least honest when they're found out, I don't know Like what on what in the world? but I'll tell you hope I think they should just keep doing it. I think they should lean into it. I think every match just like this is the steel chair that Titos Santana used against Jake D Snig Roberts in Madison Square Garden in january third, nineteen eighty nine. justust sell some fake steel chairs. crazy make enough money off the