Sound Off 903 - I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE THE DAY, BUT JOHN CENA IS A HEEL AGAIN

wrestling history. And we are coming off of an elimination Chambers show that also now has set the table for a championship match at WrestleMania that I think if you were coming into this year and you ask people, hey, do you want to see John Cena in the main event wrestling Cody Roads for the WWE title, Not that there wouldn't be people who would be like, oh yeah, sure,

that'd be a big match. I'd love to see it, but there'd be a lot of people to be like, eh, all right, I mean Babyface against Babyface, Cina and Cody, you know, coming out every week and complimenting each other. Not really a lot to get excited about there. But what we got last night was John Cena winning the

elimination chamber punching his tickets to WrestleMania. But this is going to be a very different John Cena than the one that we are used to seeing over the past twenty years, and that is what makes things very interesting and very exciting now as we head into WrestleMania forty one, there is a lot to dissect coming out of last night, so I'm going to give it my all, and then we got a bunch of other news items to get

into as well. So busy shit, a busy week, and I'm very happy that you were joining me here for the first sound off for the month of March. If you would like to make a PayPal donation, you may do so on Thesolomonster dot com ten dollars and more. We'll get your nickname and a shout out. I want it first. Actually, the first people I want to shout out are everybody who joined me on YouTube last night,

because we went into the wee hours. I mean, I didn't even get off YouTube until I don't know sometime after three o'clock in the morning. You guys were hanging with me well over four thousand strong, and I love you for it. So thank you to everybody who was

with me last night. I want to say thank you this week to Big B Bryant, Becea, The Diamond Dallas Dance Machine, Harrison Soap, Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray, the Portland pop Star, Paul Hamilton, the Chicago Slayer, Willie Iicherd, Night Stalker, n f Alsafar, the Alabama Assassin, Chris Young, Best in the Game, Trey Porter, Killshot, Keith Hart, and Tough Guy Temjin Zephyr. Thank you all for your support this week.

Sometimes there are moments in wrestling that reminds you of why you became a fan in the first place, and why it is so much fun to follow this stuff and watch this stuff week to week. Triple H said coming into the Elimination Chamber this weekend that the show would be an industry changing event, and we get a lot of hyperbole from WWE. They throw all kinds of words and things like that around about how it's gonna, you know, transform this, or it's gonna, you know, shake

the foundation of that. We were so desensitized to it at this point. But for a change, this was hyperbole that actually lived up to expectations. And this show last night will go down as one of the most memorable nights in WWE history, and that is not hyperbole. The ending of that show last night will be replayed many, many times over the years for years to come. A lot of people have been underwhelmed by the road to WrestleMania so far. Did a whole segment about this couple

of weeks ago. I was feeling a lot of that too, and I said, one of the reasons for that is we are missing some very big names. We're missing some key players in the television build to WrestleMania. John Cena had not been seen on TV at all since the Royal Rumble. Same for Roman Reigns. Randy Orton's been missing for months. They've been dragging this Jade Cargill mystery story

out for months. Also, the who done it? She hasn't been on TV, and in a lot of ways, it felt like we were in a holding pattern until they got a lot of these names back on TV. It felt like we were in a holding pattern until we got past the chamber. Let's just get to the elimination chamber. Let's find out who the number one contender is going to be for the WWE title. Let's see who's going

to be challenging Rio Ripley at WrestleMania. Let's get some names back and then the pieces should start to fall into place. Would The Rock be involved at all in WrestleMania this year or is he skipping the show? He showed up in Bad Blood, never said a word. He showed up on the Netflix premiere to sing the company's praises as Dwayne the board member, and he gave Cody Rhades his flowers like a total babyface. People thought it was strange how they seemed to drop the entire Rock

in Cody story. It's like, oh my god, they're drinking Teamana together in the back. It was like a sin against all humanity for some people. He's killing k Fabe. He's throwing away a perfectly good story. The Rock told Cody last year the night after WrestleMania. Your story with Roman Reigns is over, but our story is only just beginning. So we saw The Rock at the Netflix premiere. We saw him with that very strange promo where he admitted he went out there on NXT and didn't know what

he was going to say. That was clear, and then he went radio silent until last week when he reappeared and he showed up on Raw in New Orleans to announce the WrestleMania next year was coming back to the Big Easy and everybody you know loved it, and everybody cheered and went crazy, and then he said that's not the only reason why I'm here, and he invited Cody Rhodes out to the ring, and that's where we got the promo where he told Cody, I want you to be my champion. I don't want this title. I want

your soul. And that brought us into the elimination chamber because The Rock said he was going to give Cody until the chamber in Toronto to make his decision. Go consult with your wife, talk to your family. I want you to be my brother. You and I could do big things together, and you give me your answer at the Elimination Chamber. Now, of course the winner of the Elimination Chamber was going to challenge Cody for the WWE title at Wrestle Media, so the two things tied together.

It was pretty important to see who was going to come out of the Chamber match on top. This was John Cena's final shot, right, I mean, he didn't win the Royal Rumble, and so in his mind, the only way to get a championship match at Wrestle Media, to try to win number seventeen and break the record was to win the Elimination Chamber. Because John Cena has been on this horrendous losing streak, at least in terms of singles matches. He's been on this terrible luck and has

lost many matches over the last several years. This was maybe his last chance in his retirement year to try to get that championship shot. So he went into the Elimination Chamber and we had Sena, We had CM Punk, who has his own story going on. He wants to go to the main event of WrestleMania for the first time. Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins and Logan Paul and Damian

Priest and I mean Logan Paul and Damian Priest. They were never going to win the Elimination Chamber, but you could at least make a plausible argument for any of the other four names that they could very well have won that match last night. But we had John Cena in there wrestling with CM punk. It was like they never missed a beat, right. We got to see the interaction with them. There's a lot of good shit, and I'll talk about it, but John Cena wins the Elimination Chamber,

which means he's going to WrestleMania. They saved the Rock and Cody segment though, for the end of the show, So I just sort of assumed, you know, coming into this, that Rock and Cody that segment would go on in the middle of the show and they would close the

show with the Elimination Chamber on the men's side. And when I realized that wasn't gonna happen and they were going to actually close with Rock and Cody, it became very clear that they've got something very big planned here, because you're not going to go off the air on this show with a talking segment in the ring and not put the chamber on last unless you have some kind of big twist or angle or something planned for

the end of the show. So Cody is not just going to go out there and say, you know what, Rock, I think I'm going to take you up on that offer. Here's my soul. I've put it in a box for you. I put a bow on it. And that's how they go off there. So you knew something big was gonna happen. Cody comes out to the ring, scene is still out there. Then we get the Rock, who has Travis Scott with him. Triple H invited Travis Scott to come to the chamber.

Of course, he sings the raw theme on Netflix every week. Rock and Travis Scott come down to the ring and the Rock wants his answer. Embrace me, Cody Rhodes. I will take you to heights never seen before. I will make your dreams come true. Give me your soul, and Cody Roads says Rock. I love the way they did the little tease where it was like Rock, you know, like he's gonna give him his soul, right, but he goes I can't because I've already given my soul to

this ring. I've given my soul to all these people says, Hey, Rock, go fuck yourself. You know, Christian Cage telling Adam Copeland to go fuck yourself was one of those great moments in Dynamite history, right in part because it was just it was so unexpected. It just kind of came out of nowhere. He said, It's so matter of factly, like

it was this great moment. Cody's standing out there on a show that has been technically PG for so long and standing in the middle of the ring here on this show and telling the Rock and no uncertain terms, to go fuck himself was quite the unexpected moment. It was great. That's exactly what he should have said to the Rock after the stunt the Rock pulled on Friday night when he sent that video in and he talked

about Cody's father. He has this weight belt with the date on there that Dusty died, and he's invoking the name of the American Dream. If I were Cody, I would have told Rock to go fuck himself too. That was exactly the response that he should have given him. But it wasn't about that. It was about what happened next. Because John Cena is in the ring, and he's in the background and he's hamming it up, which he always does, but he's hamming it up and he looks so proud

of Cody. And then they lowered the boom and the rock gave the cutthroat sign. John Cena's big smile, his big cheesy grin turned to this just stone face, look like he was about to murder somebody. And then came the low blow and then he picks up the rolex and he bashes Cody in the head with them. Michael Cole says it was brass knucks. It wasn't brass knucks. He picks up the WWE championship when I tell you that he hit Cody in the head with this title

like you could hear the sound that it made. If Cody didn't wake up with a grapefruit on his head, I'd be shocked. Like he belted him right in the head, I think twice. Actually, Cody ends up bleeding, so we got some color. Seena rips his dress shirt off Cody's shirt. He's choking him with his neck tie. He's holding Cody down. Travis Scott is in the ring, he's holding Cody down.

But he slapped the shit out of Cody too. I didn't even catch it when I watched the show last night live, but it's a video going around of him. I don't even know if it was so much a slap or a punch, but he nailed Cody right in the face as he was laying there. And then Rock takes off the white weight belt, whips Cody with it, wipes Cody's blood on it, just like he did last year.

Remember Mama Rhodes in the build up to wrestle many of forty and we get the visual going off the air, bloody Cody Roads laying in the middle of the ring, John Cena being booed and leaving arm in arm with the Rock and Travis Scott. I said when they came out to the ring, it was like father and son. When I saw Rock and Travis Scott walking down to the ring, it's like take your son to workday. But there they are. They're all standing shoulder to shoulder in

the aisleway as they go off the air. I mean, think about this visual, Okay. In one segment, we had Cody Rhodes telling the Rock to go fuck himself while Travis Scott is in the corner burning sage and John Cena turns heel. It sounds like the sort of thing that you wake up from and you tell your friends about, Like, man, I had the wildest fucking dream. I think I ate too much last night. Only that actually happened. And so now you see the Rock and Scena standing side by side.

We got the Hollywood heels, we got the new two man power Trip. In WWE, this was the greatest elimination chamber pl that they have ever done, which I think says a lot considering it only had four matches, Like it had to be the fewest number of matches that they have ever had on one of these shows. It has to be, and yet it's gonna go down, if not as the best, that'll go down as one of their best. I think it says a lot about matches

versus moments, you know, matches versus moments and story. But it was highlighted by one of the greatest heel turns of all time, second only to Hulkgan forming the nWo, which which wasn't only shocking, I mean that was transformative in what it did for the wrestling business as a whole. I mean, if you didn't live through that era, I can understand people thinking that last night blows it out of the water. You got a lot of people watching

wrestling right now who are casual fans. They don't they don't know about the history of the heel turns and the past and all that stuff, or they just are are either newer fans or young enough that they just didn't grow up during that era. And you have a lot of people who grew up with John Cena as the top guy. John Cena was their guy. He was their big baby face for so many years. He was on top for so many years, and that's what people remember.

Ruthless aggression in the PG era, the Reality era, all those different eras that John Cena sort of transcended throughout the history of this company. And so I can understand people looking at this and going, man, this is tops right here, right this is just a number one. This blows everything else out of the water. I can't sit here and say that, but I do think it's fair to say that last night was this generation's Bash at the Beach nineteen ninety six definitely the most shocking heel

turns since Steve Austin and WrestleMania seventeen. And this was better because of the way that they set the whole thing up. It's actually very similar to the Austin turn. If they go with the idea that he's desperate to win Number seventeen in his final year. Like what did Austin tell Rock before that WrestleMania. I need to beat you, Rock, I need to beat you more than anything that you

could ever imagine. Austin had already won the Royal Rumble, he already had a guaranteed title match of WrestleMania, but he was so desperate to ensure that he would win that championship that he would end up siding with the man who who was a thorn in his side from day one in that company, right, Austin versus mcmahnon. There he is standing in the middle of the ring, shaking hands with the devil himself. John Cena already has a guaranteed title match at WrestleMania as of last night, he

won the Elimination Chamber. But maybe he's so desperate to ensure that this is it because right he's made it very clear this is his final year. He needs to win number seventeen to cement his legacy, to make people forget maybe about all the horrible losing streak. He's been on to set the record. It's best for business, That's what he said after the Royal Rumble. If they take that tack with this story, it's very similar. There's a

lot of similarities between the two. Only I don't see business dipping the way that it started to dip after Austin turned heel. That's one of the big differences. And look, there have been a lot of great heel turns in wrestling history. There have been a lot of great heel turns. Let's focus specifically on WWE. Okay, forget other promotions, because that just opens it up to a whole bunch of other angles. There have been a lot of great ones over the years. Andre turning heel on Hogan to align

with Bobby Heen and heading into WrestleMania three. That's a pretty fucking big one. Brett Hart in nineteen ninety seven. But when I think of the top three most shocking, not even heel turns, I would say jaw dropping moments ever in wrestling storyline wise, it's the streak ending at WrestleMania thirty. I swear to God, I'm looking around. I've never seen so many jaws drop in my entire life, like just shocked expressions on people's faces. It was like

somebody died in the building that night. I've never experienced anything like that in all my years of going to wrestling shows and not since. So it's the streak ending at WrestleMania thirty, it's Hogan turning at Bash at the Beach, and it's John Cena turning Heel last night at the Elimination Chamber, and think about how we got there. I think it's important to take note of how we even got to this point. Let us not forget how we

got Final Boss Rock last year. The only reason The Rock won Heal and we got the Final Boss is because the people wanted Cody Rhoades in that match. He won the Royal Rumble. He was getting fucked out of a WrestleMania match with Roman rains right. He was not gonna be able to finish his story. He won the Rumble and was gonna step aside and let somebody else take a spot. That's ridiculous, and The Rock realized that and they change course and we ended up with Heal Rock.

That was not the plan. We were gonna get Rock against Roman rains. But think about it, if we don't get Final Boss Rock and they don't take that detours, very possible we don't get Heal John Cena. Right, you can't say that for sure. Maybe it's something Sena wanted to do in his final year. Regardless the way they they've weaved it into the Rock and Cody stuff, It's entirely possible we do not get Heal John Cena this year if things don't change in the way that they

did last year. And it's why wild, how one thing could lead to a domino effect in so many other ways, and sometimes it just works out for the better. What does it say about Cody Rhodes as their top babyface that his run has led to the Rock Right going heel and abandoning his big plan for a match with Roman Reigns. We got the Final Boss, he turns heel for the first time in eleven years, and now the impossible has happened, the one thing that we never thought

would happen. I certainly never thought it would happen. I'd given up hope on this years ago, and yes it does feel like it's many years too late, But I never envisioned that I would be sitting here talking about John Cena turning heel. Well, that's what happened last night. This all has happened under Cody's watch, with Cody as the top babyface in this company, and it gives Cody

yet another obstacle to have to overcome. These things would not be happening if they did not believe in Cody as their top babyface, if the fans did not buy into Cody as their top babyface. And I think it says a lot of his value in that role, which is why I said it would be ridiculous to turn him heel. Right now, for all of the different scenarios that people were playing out in their head over the last few weeks, who might be the corporate champion? Right

We've all been talking about it. We've all talked about the possibility that it could be John Cena, or that it could be cmpunk. People wanted Cody to go heal, It would have been ridiculous. Cody is their guy. He is the face of the company. He is the guy that is going to be there every single week, not John Cena, not the rock. Cody Rhoades is now to wwe what John Cena used to be. The only difference is people had grown sick and tired of seeing Sena doing the same thing over and over again for so

many years. They were ready for a turn. They were ready for something different, and we almost got it in twenty twelve after he lost to the Rock, but Vince McMahon got cold feet and he changed his mind. Seena has talked about this. He was ready to go, He had a new track made, new gear made. He was ready to go, and Vin chickened out, but the fans were ready for it. Cody Rhodes has not yet reached that point where the fans are in rebellion against his

push right. They've grown sick of this guy. And I mean there are people that don't like Cody and they think he's boring. I'm not saying everybody loves the guy, but you don't hear that in the crowd reactions every week. It's not coming through. We're not watching Raw and SmackDown every week and hearing the fans go back and forth with you know, let's go Cody. Cody sucks, right. They like him, they believe in him, and what this does

is it makes Cody an even bigger star. He finished his story last year, but it now creates a whole new one for him, especially if he loses the title to John Cena and he has to chase to get it back. One of the things I'm not gonna lie that that I got excited thinking about last night is the possibility that we could get a redo on what we did not get last year WrestleMania, which would have been a tremendous moment and it didn't happen, and I'm still kind of sore about it, but it could happened

this year. Of all the cameos that we got in that WrestleMania Maine event last year really felt like their version of Avengers Endgame. The one big name missing from that equation was Stone Cold. Steve Austin. You had the Rock was there, and you know, Cody obviously was in their Roman reigns. The Undertaker showed up. Where is Stone Cold?

I don't know what he would be doing, right, He's not going to wrestle I know he had knee replacement surgery a few months ago. But now, all of a sudden, I can envision a scenario or in the main event of WrestleMania, and Cody is out there, He's trying to beat this guy. Rock is out there, right, Rock's out there in Cody's corner or seen his corner. Sina needs some backup, and you hear the glass shatter. This year, we got Austin coming out and stunning Rock out of

his boots. Right. I could see that, I could see him. Maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment again, but I'm just saying they could redo it. They could get a redo on last year. But look, John Cena had to turn heel. He had to turn heel if they wanted to give us John Cena in the main event against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania of forty one. This is what needed to be done, because if not, what you end up with is John Cena effectively wrestling himself, and that's boring.

This makes things far more interesting. It turns everything on its head, and it's very easy to explain. This man is desperate to win number seventeen because it is best for business. And like you said at the rumble, I need to win number seventeen so that I could eventually shake the hand of the man who wins number eighteen. But he is so desperate to ensure that he is going to win that champion, but he is willing to do whatever it takes. Look, there's any number of explanations

that you can come up with for this. You could have seen it go out there and finally unleash on the fans for all the shit they put him through for so many years. The thing is over the last several years. You don't really get that anymore. Right, The fans have warmed up to John Cena. They've been cheering him for years now. The whole let's go see a scene of sucks thing that's from many, many years ago.

But maybe he never forgot about that. The majority of his run was spent with these mixed reactions and no matter what he did to try to please the fans, it wasn't enough for some people. Right, Maybe they tap into that. It's like the Rock when the Rock went. He went from Rocky Myivia to the Rock and he joined the Nation and he said he talked about the Rocky sucks chance. Rocky is a lot of things, but

sucks is in one of them. And all you people, right, the U People promo, It's like it's a necessity when you turn heel and wrestling, you got to get the U People promo. Maybe he goes the U People route and he taps into that a little bit, but that first heel scene of promo is going to hit like crack right now? Can you see me? Can you see me now? I don't know when we're gonna get it. I saw rock last night after the show said that Sina was flying right out to Africa for filming on something.

If that's the case, we may not see Scena back on TV until Saint Patrick's Day, because that's the next show he's advertised for. They're going to be in Brussels. They've got that big European tour coming up. He's advertised for dates in Belgium, in Scotland the week after that, and then in London the week after that, which is the end of the month. So it's very possible we're going to have to wait a couple of weeks, and

that's not ideal. I think that sucks. But if they got the rock on TV, if scene is not going to be there, but we get rock, at least that's something. Yeah, And I'm not saying that making people wait another week to get the explanation is a bad thing. Having to wait two weeks or you know, longer than that, that that I'm not interested in. Right to get this man on TV. This is what people are gonna be talking about. This is what people are going to be excited about.

So he may miss this week, but I'm hoping that by the next week we get him back on TV. And when we see John Cena again on TV, he needs to look and sound completely different. No more jorts. Somebody on the stream last night says he should burn them on TV. Sure, get a garbage can in the ring and set it a blaze and dump the jorts in there. The jorts, the T shirts, the armbands, the baseball caps, all of it, the music, the presentation. I mean, God help us if they give him the deaf Rebel treatment.

I would like to think that if Sena was told he was going to get the Deaf Rebel special, he would be like, you know what, fuck that, I'm gonna sing my own song. You ain't given me that. I mean, if Randy Orton could say no to Deaf Rebel, I would think John Cena could. But the music, the presentation, all of it needs to change. They need to go all in on this, and I think they will. I think they've already got that mapped out. Sena's been wanting to do this for over a day. Kid. Now he's

finally being given the chance. It's his last chance, because it's his last year. I think that John Cena will have carte planche to pretty much do whatever he wants, much like The Rock does, because why wouldn't he.

his moves in all of his matches. You want to put more heat on John Cena. You have him. You do an injury angle where he puts our truth at a commission. I know that Bronson Reid put our truth out for a while with some tsunami splashes all those months ago. This needs to be far worse. He needs to put this man out. We're gonna get heal Sina. We need heel Sena. And think about all the possibilities

now that this opens up. You know, does John Cena break the record at WrestleMania as a heel and then go on a run defending the title against a bunch of his old rivals, CM Punk, Randy Orton, AJ styles Winning number seventeen feels like it should be a babyface moment, not a heal moment. But there is a redemption arc for Sina later this year that will be told because Sena is not ending his career this year as a heel. Right, we don't even know how long this is gonna last.

It could go all the way to WrestleMania and then end. It could be as short as the Shawn Michaels heel turn was in two thousand and five. I think that was like four weeks. I hope not. I think there's a lot of fun to be had with this, and I would hate to see it end in six weeks. But we just don't know. We don't know how deep into the year they plan to go with this. I was watching that E Limit Nation Chamber match last night and I commented on the magic that is still there

with John Cena and Cmpunk. We have to get a singles match. When we get a singles match. Now the dynamic has completely flipped because now it's Cmpunk is the babyface, John Cena as the heel. Funny to say that the dynamic has flipped, because back when they did it at Money in the Bank in twenty eleven, it was already

kind of like that because they were in Chicago. Punk was the hero and people were booing Sena, but Sena was still a babyface back then, and they had the Summer Slam match and they had that Raw match in twenty thirteen, but now the dynamic is completely different, which

would make it even more fun. The promos matching the promos, Heel Sena and Punk going toe to toe on the mic heading into a big match on a pl Sign me the fuck up, because those two were in the ring last night, going back and forth, trading spots like it was twenty eleven all over again, and the magic

was still there. They're a lot older now, maybe they don't move the way they used to, and scene is a lot you know, he looks a little bit different, he doesn't have the fade, needs to get that spray ten going to be like the old Sena, But the magic is still there between those two. That's what hit me when I saw them working together last night, Sena and Randy Orton. Every John Cena Randy Orton match I think that we've ever had was Babyface Sena and either

baby Face Orton or Heel Orton. But Sena was always the constant in that equation. But now you get to heal John Cena against the baby face Randy Orton again. Everything is flipped on its head. John Cena and Roman Reigns. You know we're gonna get another match between them, I mean, hell, this even puts a new spin on Joe Hendry calling John Cena out for a match in T and A. Only now Sena would be the heel. I don't know if it's actually gonna happen, but it definitely makes it

more interesting than it would have been before. Right. It shakes everything up. That's what I love about this. It shakes everything up. That is what this build to wrestle Mania needed. This is the shakeup that this build needed. And I look ahead to WrestleMania in New Orleans next year. Is Rock and Cody the destination? Is this another three year story like Sena and Rock had? It started at WrestleMania twenty seven when Rock was kind of involved in

that main event with Sena and Miz. That was the kickoff, and it bled into the two matches they had won. At WrestleMania twenty eight. Rock won that one and then finally at twenty nine and Rock put Sena over. It was a three year story arc, the Rock and Cody stuff that started last year and the Rock pin Cody on Night one of WrestleMania. Now it's bled over into this year. Do we get the payoff next year with Cody getting that win back over Rock from Night one

last year. Is that where this story ultimately pays off. I know what Rock said last week about how you know this doesn't have to pay off in a match. At the end of the day, this is pro wrestling and people want to see these stories pay off in the ring. So yes, this does need to pay off in a match, and I think WrestleMania two would make a hell of a lot of sense. Maybe they want to still do Roman reigns in the Rock at some point, because at this point, I'll tell you this, the match

to do is not Rock against Roman. Not that it wouldn't be a big match, that's not the match anymore. At this point, the match is Rock and Cody. If Rock is ever gonna wrestle again in a singles match, that's the match to do. We had what I thought was the best women's elimination chamber match they've ever done, because I thought last year's was probably the best and this was better than that. But they opened the show and they closed the show in the same way they

opened and closed with two major angles. They opened the show with Jade Cargill coming out and making her return. She was not even in the women's chamber. But right before the bell sounded to start the match with Live Morgan and Naomi, here comes Jade looking unbelievable. She's walking down all dressed in all black, she got that silver hair.

She's walking down to the ring. She gets into the chamber, the door was still open, making like she's going to attack Live, but then comes the swerve and she attacks Naomi, who a lot of people, myself included this entire time, have thought was the culprit right she was the one who attacked Jade, or the mastermind behind the attack on Jade.

She went right for Naomi and Bianca Belair. This great visual of Bianca Belair in the pod right behind them in that corner, banging on the glass, desperate to get out, just freaking out. Can't believe what's going on, and she can't do anything about it because she's locked inside the pod. And Jade beats the ever loving shit out of this woman. Naomi tries to crawl out, Jade slams the door on her and then leaves, doesn't take her spot or anything.

Naomi is eliminated. So basically it was a five woman chamber match and Jade leaves right arrive, raise hell and leave. Never said a word. We don't know what the explanation is. When did she find out, you know, about Naomi? Why did she attack Naomi now and not before? And it almost was done in a way that makes me think, Okay, this is not going to be well Naomi did it and that's the end of it. Right, Maybe Naomi did do it. Maybe Naomi did it with some help. Maybe

it was from the metaphor girls in NXT. Maybe she had some help. Maybe there's something else going on here, and the big swerve is yet to come. Because I haven't bought into this idea that Bianca was behind any of this, because I just don't think they're gonna turn Beyonca heel right now. I think Bianca bell Air would do great as a heel. I really do. I think that she's I think that she actually is due for

a heel turn. Not the first time I've said this, but realistically, like what they turned Bianca bell Air at the same time they've turned John Cena, two things I never thought that we would see right now. That would be hard to visualize, but you know what, after what we saw last night, anything's possible. So maybe there is another chapter to this story that has to play out. Clearly,

there is going to be something. I don't think it's as cut and dry as what we saw last night, but as far as an angle to kick off the women's chamber, Maager, I thought it was funck great and we didn't see Jade again for the rest of the night. Bianca, though, goes on to win the elimination Chamber, and so she was my pick. It came down to her and Live the two likeliest winners, really, and so they gave it to Bianca, and I was very happy to see that because Ria and Bianca is a match I've wanted to

see at WrestleMania for a very long time. Now. The wrinkle in all this is that Ria is defending her championship this Monday against Eo Sky. The winner of that match is going to defend the title against Bianca at WrestleMania. Are we going to get a straight singles match? Are they going to do the finish in such a way tomorrow night that Eo finds her way into the match and we get a triple threat at WrestleMania. And I've

thought about this. I actually thought about this this morning as I was put my nose together, and I said, you know, as much as I want to see Ria and Bianca one on one, my only fear and they have six weeks, but my only fear is that only now is the build really about to begin for this match and it's a big enough match, is that going to be enough time? Is that going to be enough time to tell a proper story to really build this

match up the right way? Would it not be a better idea to do a triple threat match and have Bianca bell Air win the championship but not beat Rhea Ripley to do it? EO is in there, and I know people are gonna hate hearing this, who love Eo? But EO takes the losing fall to protect Rhea. Bianca wins the championship. Maybe she does get a heel run. Maybe we do end up getting a Bianca bell Air heel turn. Right, we'll circle back to things with her

and Jade. We come to find out that she had some involvement, or she framed Naomi or something like that. We could get Bianca and Jade at Summer Slam or something. But you give Bianca a year. Right. Starts out as a babyface ends up as a heel. You give her a year with that championship, and you build to a singles match between Ria and Bianca heel Bianca at WrestleMania next year in New Orleans. As I say that out loud, I like that idea more and I kind of hope

that maybe that's the direction they're going in here. We get the triple threat. Eo gets into that match somehow, but let's be honest here. If she gets into the match, I don't see her winning. But there's a longer term play here with Riha and Bianca. So I like that idea. But Bianca winning was absolutely the right choice. She's been on the back burner for far too long. It's about time to get her back into the mix. Kevin Owens and Sammy's Ain they had their unsanctioned match last night.

I thought it was an excellent match. Beat the hell out of each other. They did some big spots. The biggest surprise to me no blood. Kevin Owens was bleeding like a pig after the latter match with Cody Rhodes at the Royal Rumble. He goes in there to have an unsanctioned match with Sammy's ain and they beat the hell out of each other tables and chairs, a barbed wire chair. No blood. When the show was over, it became clear why that was. They didn't want them to

do blood. I mean, if they bled by accident, there's nothing they could do about that. But they didn't want to do blood in that match because they wanted it to mean more in the clo angle, and it does. You know, when you save blood for very specific situations, it does mean more. So I don't disagree. I'm sure that's the reason why we didn't get any in that match. When the match was over, Kevin Owens picks up the win, a much needed win for him. That's where we hear

Randy Orton's music. And finally, after months on the shelf, after that shitty pile driver, Randy Orton is back and he goes after Kevin Owens and he teases a punt kick and the agents dive in. It really was. It was like secret Service diving in the way of the President, and they dive in the way to protect Kevin Owens. And so now you've got six weeks to build to Randy Orton kicking this guy in the fucking head, and we could see what the direction is now for Orton

and Owens going into that show. What that means for Sammy's ay, he feels like the odd man out. Maybe it's carrying Cross, maybe it's something else. I don't see him being involved in this, so he's gonna be the odd man out. But it was good to see Orton back, another big name. Now they get back on TV in the build for WrestleMania, and then came the men's chamber, which I also thought was excellent. I don't know if I can call it the best men's chamber match. In fact,

I know I can't. It's definitely not the best men's chamber match. I still think the first one is probably the best. But they've had some great chamber matches with the men. This was not the best, but this was great. This was a great one. Priest and McIntyre. Drew McIntyre goes out first at the hands of Damian Priest, just like he was eliminated from the Royal Rumble by Damian Priest. Now we know those two men are headed on a

collision course for WrestleMania. If anything I was said, I think McIntyre should have been in there a little bit longer, but if he was going to be the first one out, then he was gonna be the first one out. Sena and Punk again, they still have that magic touch when they're in the ring together. Seth. Rollins gets eliminated and he warns CM Punk. On SmackDown Friday night, Rollins was out there dressed like an oven mitt and he warned CM Punk and he said, you're not going to WrestleMania.

He goes, even if I don't, you're damn sure not going WrestleMania. He's going to make absolutely sure that CM Punk does not go to that WrestleMania main event. So he warned him. He spoiled it. He told you exactly what was going to happen. And in the end he

gets eliminated, but he's still in the chamber. He stomps CM Punk face first down on the padding and John Cena sees an opportunity to take advantage of it and he ends up pinning, well not pinning, but he ends up putting CM Punk in the stf Punk goes out. That's how Sena wins the chamber, which was actually very smart because for John Cena to take advantage of the situation in the way that he did was very unlike him. But again it just plays into what happened later on

at the end of the show. So now you see the possible WrestleMania card, the matches that we already know of that are confirmed. We have four confirmed matches for WrestleMania. We know that John Cena is going to challenge Cody Roads for the WWE Championship. That's going to be your Night two main event. We know that Jay Usso is going to challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship right probably on Night one. Although I would not call that

the main event. It's very possible that Punk Punk may end up getting his WrestleMania main event, because I don't think that it's a lock that Usso and Gunther are going on last, but that's confirmed. Rhea Ripley will defend her championship or EO Sky against Bianca bell Air, and Tiffany Stratton is going to defend the WWE Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair. Those are the confirmed matches that we know of so far, CM Punk, seth Rawlins, and Roman Reigns.

There's gonna be some combination of these three, probably a triple threat match is I think all but guaranteed for WrestleMania, and don't forget Punk has that favor from Paul Haman, so he's not going to the main event of WrestleMania. I don't think that he cashes in the favor from Hayman to work his way into the Sena and Cody match. It doesn't feel like that to me. That doesn't feel

like his story anymore. It just he and Seth and Roman Reigns are all tied up together and it only makes sense for them to be in a match against each other if they wanted to use the Hayman favor now because they can hold onto it. I mean, there's no law. It's not like money in the bank. He has a year to cash in his Paul Hayman favor. He can cash it in whatever he wants to. He can cash it in for WrestleMania forty two if he wants.

But if it's going to come into play here going into this WrestleMania, Roman Rains is going to be back on TV probably as soon as this week coming up, and he's going to be going after Seth Rolins. Rollins is the one who put him out at the Royal Rumble. If they get their match confirmed and it's Roman and Seth at WrestleMania and Punk is without a match, then I could see Punk going to Paul Hayman and saying, look,

I got that favor. I want you to work me into this match at WrestleMania and we get Punk, Rollins and Roman. If they do that match on Night one, that's your Night one main event. It's not Gunther and jay Uzo. In my opinion, I think that Cmpunk may yet get his WrestleMania main event if that's going to be the match, because I look at that match and that could easily be a main event. Randy Orton and Kevin Owens that looks likely. Drew McIntyre against Damian Priest,

that looks likely. Jacob fought to against Solo Sacoa. Sure feels to me like that's what they're building too. And then based on what happened in the women's chamber last night, Liv Morgan hinned Alexa Bliss, I think we could be looking at Alexa Bliss and Nicky Cross representing the y at Six against Liv Morgan and Rakel Rodriguez for the women's tag team titles. They could put more teams in there, but I think that's probably gonna be the women's tag

team title match. That is the way the WrestleMania card is shaping up so far. So as I said, coming out of the Chamber, things would become a lot clearer as far as the direction that they're going in, And there's still some questions to be answered. We don't know where certain other people are going to end up, Logan Paul. I still think aj Style against Logan Paul is the match to do. Bron Breaker. Is he going to defend

his title in a big multi man match? Is he going to defend it against one person?

This week's episode is sponsored by Express VPN. You know what I would tell someone if they said that they were going online with that Express VPN, I would tell him to take out and add on a giant billboard, and on that giant billboard they should plaster all of their passwords and all of their credit card information. And then they would ask me why the hell would I do that? And I would tell them because that's what

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misses on runways. Like I'm stressed out enough about traveling in general, Okay, I don't need to also worry about the data on my phone being seen by someone who shouldn't be seeing it. Not only that you've heard me say this before, I've been using ExpressVPN on my iPad to connect to a Canadian server so I could watch Monday Night Raw without commercials and I can see the segments that take place during the commercial breaks. So if you're a WWE fan, that's another reason to use ExpressVPN.

Secure your online privacy today by visit zitting Express vpn dot com slash solo Monster that's e xp R eessvpn dot com slash solo Monster to find out how you can get up to four months extra free ExpressVPN dot Com slash solo Monster. There was a report from wrestle Nomics this week about morale among WWE employees fading fast. In a story titled WWE employees Benefits and raises limited

as record financial performance rewards shareholders and executives. As WWE continues to post record financial results following its merger into TKO, employees say that they are seeing cutbacks and benefits and fewer promotions than expected. Multiple current WWE employees, speaking under the condition of anonymity, described to wrestle Nomics a decline in morale tied to reduced benefits, limited pay increases, and

heavier workloads as the company integrates with UFC. Employees also pointed to a growing disconnect between corporate messaging and their daily experiences. While WWE management has emphasized the value of its workforce. At town hall meetings, multiple staff said that they feel increasingly undervalued. A key reason for the merger was to improve profitability by consolidating services under Endeavor, which

holds the majority of TKO's ownership. As expected, this resulted in significant layoffs soon after the merger was finalized in September of twenty twenty three. At the same time, WWE is experiencing its hottest period in consumer business, perhaps since the vaunted Attitude era of the late nineties and early two thousands. Despite that, the company's stock purchase program ended when the merger closed. The program had allowed employees to

buy WWE shares at a fifteen percent discount. Since the merger was completed, the stock price has climbed more than fifty percent over the past eighteen months, meaning that employees lost access to a benefit that would have allowed them to invest in the company's growth at a discounted rate. The removal of the WWE Superstar Program, a peer recognition initiative that allowed employees to reward each other with points redeemable for cash, bonuses, gift cards, or experiences, has also

been a source of frustration. Additionally, WWE eliminated complementary live event tickets for employees, a long standing perk. Now that I can understand, because with business being as hot as it is, TKO is all about making as much money as it possibly can, right You see what tickets are going for these days. If they feel like they can sell those tickets instead of giving them away, then of course that's what they're going to do. WWE did not

respond to a request for comment for this report. Attendance for televised events is at its highest in years, and the company has greatly reduced a number of domestic house shows. Still, some employees see the move as emblematic of a broader trend. WWE's corporate website, where potential job applicants could consider the company's total rewards benefits, still lists the recognition program, the stock purchase plan, and complimentary tickets among the rewards that

employees may be eligible for. And then there was an update to the story shortly thereafter, saying, since this article was published, the total Rewards page has been updated to remove the benefits that are no longer offered. Meanwhile, WWE and TKO management have publicly touted a strong financial outlook. WWE's new five billion dollars ten year streaming deal with

Netflix took effect in January to remarkable fanfare. Company announced that, as part of its partnership with Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority, it will bring the Royal Rumble to the country next year. Saudi government already pays WWE around one hundred million dollars annually for two premium live events, which are traditionally less prestigious than the Royal Rumble. Further, many recent pls have

set new ticket sales records. WWE registered a four point eight million dollar gate for the premiere of Raw on Netflix just outside of Los Angeles in January, the biggest arena gate in company history. Weeks later, WWE had its biggest non WrestleMania gate ever, somewhere over seventeen million dollars, for the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis. Last month, WWE announced the deal with MLS to allow the soccer league to

produce its studio shows at WWE headquarters. Employees told Wrestle Nomics however, the WWE's financial success has not translated into meaningful pay increases. Multiple staff members said they received a three percent cost of living rays this year, which they argue hardly keeps pace with the rising living costs in Connecticut and New York, which is the region around WWE's headquarters. I can vouch for that. Okay, the cost of living in New York has always been terrible, but it's not

getting any better. Employees with strong performance reviews were told that despite those positive ratings, they would not get more than a cost of living adjustment due to budget constraints set by upper management. Some had expected significant raises or promotions based on past company practices, but were informed that the business was not in a position to offer increases because of the merger. Employee morale at WWE has been

declining for some time now, according to employees. Following recent performance reviews. Employees already frustrated by the loss of the stock purchase program and comp tickets, were further discouraged by the lack of meaningful raises to reward those who have performed well. Concerns raised with lower and mid level managers, we are told, were met with explanations citing executive level decisions.

Many who were frustrated by these unwelcome changes since the merger have respect for the company, but nonetheless told this they feel obligated to speak up because they want to be compensated fairly for the work that they have performed. While pay increases for most employees have been modest, top executives receive substantial bonuses multiples of their base salaries tied to the closing of the merger, according to SEC filings.

They mentioned here that Ari Emmanuel, who's the CEO of TKO, got twenty million dollars in cash related to the merger, and he got a stock award of three hundred and eighty eight thousand shares, which is now worth around sixty million dollars. Mark Shapiro is the COO. He was awarded five million dollars and he has stock grants valued at

about fifty million. Nick Cohn, president of WWE, got a fifteen million dollar cash bonus, Paul Leveck got a five million dollar bonus, and TKO's top executives are compensated not only with a base salary, but with millions more in bonuses that are determined by the board. This practice is not at all unusual for a public company like TKO, but further highlights how executives are being incentivized in ways that most employees are not. And it's not just executives

benefiting ahead of much of the employee base. Investors have been rewarded, and then it gets into the stock buyback program and all of these other things. And some employees are concerned that as TKO expands acquiring endeavor assets like the Professional bull Riders League WWE, staff will be expected to take on even more work without additional compensation and dwindling benefits. TKO executives have publicly discussed the possibility of

entering professional boxing as well, and that is true. Mark Shapiro just said the other day, in fact, that they are close to an agreement with the Saudis on the creation of a new boxing league. So the Saudis would bankroll it. TKO would just produce and promote the events and be responsible basically for the day to day operations of the league. So if it fails, it doesn't cost them anything because they're not the ones putting money in.

But if they're handling the day to day operations, who do you think is going to be handling the day to day operations? You think they're just going to hire new people. It's going to be the people they already have, right, They'll just add more work to their plate, that's all. Like the wrestlers and MMA fighters who work under TKO. The story ends here. WWE employees are not represented by

a union or an association. One WWE employee noted to us that morale has suffered to the point that some staff are less willing to go above and beyond in ways that they once did. First of all, this is nothing new in the world of corporate America. Okay, you hear stories like this with other companies, big billion dollar companies. Right, in a capitalist society, it's profits over people. It's just the way it is. When you're a publicly traded company.

They only care about shareholders, and they have but is you know, called a fiduciary responsibility to those shareholders. They have to act in the best financial interest of the company and basically make as much money as possible, lose as little, and make as much as possible. So that in and of itself is not surprising, right, that's not news.

But it still sucks if you're one of those people who works, you know, at their headquarters, let's say, and your workload keeps getting bigger and bigger, and your pay is not keeping pace with that. And if they enjoyed certain benefits under the company when it was still independent, right, well, now there's new ownership and Endeavor is well known for this, Like look up UFC fighter pay since Endeavor acquired UFC. Like it's a thing. It's a big thing that's been

talked about for years. But I also remember, like Ari Emmanuel and Mark Shapiro and the whole lot of them throwing buzzwords around before the merger, like synergy and redundancy. Right, they wanted to eliminate redundantc with WWE and UFC employees who may have had overlapping job responsibilities. That's why they laid off so many people. And you'll notice, by the way, most of those layoffs they came on the WWE side, not the UFC side, so they basically gutted the WWE side.

So yeah, I mean, they're making more money now than ever before, but they want to keep as much of that money as they can. They don't want to pass

it on to anybody else. So I can imagine every time one of these people who works in the tower they hear that WWE's going on about the latest gate record that they just set right because ticket prices are astronomical, or going on about how much money they made off their media rights deal or this deal or that deal, and they don't see that reflected in their salary or in their benefits, then yeah, it's going to be deflating.

And if they're not happy there, then they always have the option of leaving and going to work somewhere else where they feel appreciated. I mean, that's really the only option here because they they don't have a union, they don't have anyone standing up for them, they don't have any singular voice representing them. They feel like they're being taken advantage of. If that's how they feel. If they feel like they're being taken advantage of, nobody is going

to stand up for them. And so if you don't like it, the option, of course is to just leave. Devor is not suddenly going to change the way that it does business. So if they're that unhappy, unfortunately, the only option is to leave. No one should feel like they're forced to stay in a place where they're not

happy or where they don't feel appreciated. Like I promise you for all of the raw ras speeches and town halls that they host there with all the employees standing around like fans as Triple h gets an entrance and he walks out and spits his fucking water like and he talks about how it's all of you who keep this machine running. At the end of the day, it is still a giant company, and that giant company doesn't give a shit about you. They care about up money.

They want to make lots and lots and lots of money. And if a few people are upset that they can't get free tickets anymore and their bonuses are only three percent and not ten percent, they don't care because they don't have any incentive to change the way they do business.

You know, people tag me in a video the other day if some guy he made it on TikTok, I guess talking about how WWE's greed is going to prove to be their downfall right, mainly because they're pricing hardcore fans out of most of their events these days when it comes to tickets. And he was saying, how, oh, eventually business will begin to fade and they're going to have, you know, they will have chased the way all of those diehard fans and the company will collapse. That's the

word he used, it's going to collapse. I agree that it's pure greed and they're pricing people out right. They're pricing families out of a lot of these shows. They do it because they can, and they can get away with it because they're still able to sell those tickets supply and demand. If the demand is there. They have no incentive to reduce the cost of these shows. I agree with that, and it sucks. But the idea that it's going to be the collapse of WWE, that's ridiculous.

WWE at this point is almost too big to fail, and that's not really what the phrase means. It has more to do with financial institutions, not wrestling companies. But I'll use it anyway because it's more or less true. I can't say that WWE will never ever fail. Right, if business starts to decline and their media rights deals expire and they don't get renewed, right, they're under new ownership. Now here today, gone tomorrow. Anything can happen. But what

is the likelihood of that happening? Right, very very slim. WWE is not going to collapse. Business is up right now, business will go back down at some point, but they have weathered storms far worse before when they were a lot smaller than they are now. But it really does feels like the company is too big to fail. Their greed may be what eventually causes the bubble to burst, but it won't collapse the company when push comes to shove.

These same employees complaining right now, they'll just be the first ones on the firing line the next time TKO talks about the need to cut costs, and the train will roll on like it always does.

that's all. It was that Vince McMahon was looking to get back into the wrestling game by starting a new promotion, and that the Fox Network was holding a spot open to air whatever this new promotion was going to be started with Conrad Thompson and Eric Bischoff on Bischoff's eighty three Weeks of Nonsense podcast, where Conrad said that he was hearing rumblings that McMahon has had conversations with cameraman experienced in shooting pro wrestling, which is impossible because Michael

Cole just told Logan Paul last week on his podcast that WWE doesn't do pro wrestling anymore, so I'm not sure why Vince would be looking for pro wrestling cameraman, so that can't be true. And Conrad said that Fox is said to be possibly holding a spot open to air this new promotion, the same Fox that dumped WWE after their five year deal expired because they weren't getting

a return on their investment. More specifically, one of the Murdoch sons I forget which one, I don't remember, if it was Tweedled or Tweedled Dumb said that they weren't hitting their advertising goals with the wrestling audience, nor did they get the level of retransmission revenue that they were hoping for. So Vince McMahon was still running the show, of course, when they made that deal. He was in

the room during those negotiations. Yet Fox is ready to jump right back in bed with this man and air his brand new promotion with no history whatsoever to speak of, by the way, So to that end, Andrew Marshand, who writes for The Atlantic, tweeted, there is a report that Vince McMahon might start a wrestling company with Fox as a partner. If McMahon is planning that or not, I don't know, But the Fox part is not true, according to a network spokesman. So Fox has already denied this.

Now they could have stayed silent, or they could have given a no comment, they outright denied that there is any truth to this whatsoever. I should point out that Conrad and Eric they both said on that same show they don't believe the rumors to be true themselves, although that didn't stop them from putting it out there. But they don't believe it, they said. One aspect fueling the rumors was that McMahon attended the Super Bowl earlier this month,

which happened to Aaron Fox. I shit, you nod, that's what they said. That's what some people. Some people are connecting the dots in this way and thinking that because Vince McMahon was at the super Bowl, that means he's going to have a new show airing on Fox. It's all bullshit. Vince McMahon is not getting back into the wrestling business. He is not starting a new wrestling promotion. I doubt that he cares enough to get back into

wrestling unless it was with WWE. That's the only thing that would make sense for him is if he was to be back in WWE. And that's not going to happen either. Why would Vince McMahon want to get back into the wrestling business just to be number two or number three? He was number one for so many years. WWE is a juggernaut. No one is ever going to catch up to them business wise, no one is ever

going to catch up to them audience wise. They've got so much of the market share locked up, so much of the talent pool locked up, especially now they have things like their ID program and LFG and their nil deals Like whatever is left, you've got Tony Kah snatching people up for aw and Ring of honor. The wrestling pool is not that big, it really isn't. I don't even know where he would pull enough talent from like quality talent to make something like this work. He obviously

knows how to promote wrestling. Nobody is denying that. He's spent over four decades doing it. He was very successful at it. He was more successful at it than any other promoter in the history of the business. But the man is almost eighty years old. Even with all of his money, right, he's got plenty of that. He could probably get TV somewhere. Well, why would he want to at this point? You know? I talked months ago about the PW Insider report about starting up a new entertainment

company of some kind. Apparently that's still in the works, and I don't doubt that he is pulling people together for it, probably even some people who used to work for him in WWE. Brad Blum is said to be one of those people. He was chief operating officer under Vince McMahon. He was also revealed as corporate officer number two in the Janelle Grant sex trafficking lawsuit, and he

resigned from the company shortly thereafter. It's said to be some kind of entertainment hub company focusing on producing film and TV projects. Vince doesn't have a good track record of success when it comes to projects outside of WWE, but he's got more money than he's ever had before. That money can go very far. It's been said that the company is not going to launch until after all of his legal problems are behind him, So if the Janelle Grant case gets settled at that point, we'll probably

hear more about this new entertainment company. But I cannot see it being a wrestling company. It just doesn't make sense to sink his money into something that's going to end up being a money loser if he chooses to pursue it. Plus, if he has success doing something completely outside of the wrestling bubble, he'll finally have what he always wanted. He'll have that validation is more than just a wrestling promoter. This is his chance. Here's your chance.

I don't really give a shit what he does, so long as he stays away from WWE and I don't have to see him on my TV screen anymore. Some news and notes In this week's issue of The Observer, Dave Meltzer reports that Malachi Black's return to WWE is imminent. He didn't say what those plans might be, but the Judgment Day is going to need new leaders soon. You know. Dominic's been trying to convince Finn Balor they need a

new member. Ballor he doesn't want to hear it. If Black takes over that group, that could be a WrestleMania match right there. We could get Black against Balor, and the Judgment Day would need to look very different the current makeup of that group. It doesn't really fit his vibe vibe like he would have to remake it in his image, I would think. But it's it's an idea

that could work. I just hope we get more of what we got from the presentation of Alista Black in NXT more than anything else they did with him later on on the main roster. If anybody knows about that, it's triple h because he was the man in charge of Black and Gold at the time that Black had his best run. Meltzer also reports that WWE is already making plans for the arrival of Ray Phoenix, even though there was no indication of any movement on him getting

out of his AEW contract. Tony Kahn decided to let Miro and Ricky Starks go early from theirs. There's no reason he can't do the same with Ray Phoenix. If not, he's still got many more months left on his deal. But ye know, WWE, I'm sure they know that once he's a free man. It's like Ricky. They knew that once Ricky was a free man, he was coming in. Literally the day after Ricky was freed from his contract, he was already on NXT, like twenty four hours later,

he was already on TV. You don't think they don't know that Ray Phoenix is on his way in the moment that he's free, so they're brainstorming ideas for him. Pent Ha's got a good thing going right now as a single, but the Luchabros would be a huge shot in the arm for that tag team division. I think for Phoenix more than Penta, the best thing to do would be to reunite the Lucha Bros. You could always go off and do more with Penta if you want to.

Penta doesn't really need Phoenix, but I feel like Phoenix would be better off at least starting out, he would be better off in a team with Penta and according to a report in the West Australian newspaper on Friday, the city of Perth will soon become the host of major events promoted by TKO, including a triple header of Raw SmackDown and a pl to be announced in the

near future, as well as two UFC events. All of the events will be held at the rac Arena or the Perth Arena, which fits up to fifteen thousand, five hundred people, so they're not going to be running Optis Stadium like they did last for Elimination Chamber. The events will be held over the next eighteen months, with the WWE events set for later this year, and the deal with TKO and the West Australian Government was locked in some time ago, but was not announced publicly until this week.

I wonder if they'll call the PWA and rent out one of their rings to make sure they have a ring for their shows. Today's episode is sponsored by Hymns Calling all you men out there, all you wrestling fans. Once upon a time, Sean Michaels lost his smile and he had to go find it again. Well, he did find his smile, and if you've lost your hair, it doesn't mean that you can't find it again. Try Him's hair loss Solutions and you'll be joining hundreds of thousands

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for full details and important safety information. You'll be happy to know I watched NXT this week. They were at the Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, the same place that AW held Dynamite in January. I like the look of that venue a lot, and I enjoyed the show. Some big T and A appearances and the inn ring debut of Ricky Saints. They are really loading up that roadblock show.

Not this Tuesday, but next Tuesday. They're going to be at the theater at Madison Square Garden, and they are putting together one hell of a card for that show. By the way, two B TV, which is carrying the new WWE Evolve show starting this week. It's going to

be airing every Wednesday at eight pm. Two B has now added past seasons of NXT to the service for free, so it's not the complete archive of shows I was perusing it before, but they do have shows going back as far as the first season on the old network

from twenty fourteen. From what I saw, there were only I think three episodes from twenty fourteen, but the other years look pretty complete, so it goes all the way back to the full Sale era if you want to check out that content, because I don't know, it hasn't been an easy thing for people to find a lot of that archived NXT content. I know they just created

a vault channel on YouTube specifically for NXT. I don't think they have everything up there yet, and ever since they went over to the CW, I think the CW only has CW NXT episodes. So this is a way if you want to go back and check out some of those early nxts, you can find it on two B Again, it's a free service. Stephanie Vicaire retained her North American Championship over Carmen Petrovic. Carmen's a little rough, but I thought she hung in there fine with Stephanie.

And then after the match, Julia comes out and she says that Stephanie calls herself the best champion, but she's not I am, and Stephanie says that she's down for champion against champion, and later in the show, Ava, the GM made it official that at Roadblock it is going to be Julia versus Stephanie Vicaire, not only champion against champion, but it will be title for title, so it's going

to be winner take all. And interesting that this comes after it was reported this week that Julia is pretty banged up right now, and it's not any one specific injury. It's not that she's not that hurt, but she's banged up, So make of that what you will. The fact that both of them are putting their titles on the line, I don't know if she's going to miss any time.

This feels like it's being done as a way to get that title off her, to give her some time off to heal, because this is a stand and deliver match and they're doing it on their Roadblock show on TV in a week. You know, There's been nothing said about her taking time off. It's not confirmed that she's going to be taking time off, but that's what it

feels like to me. So my guess is Stephanie wins the NXT Championship and they hold up the North American title in a tournament and they crown a new champion at stand and Deliver and not Jordan Grace, because if Julia is taking time off, I think the Stand and Deliver main event would be step defending against Jordan Grace, So they're not calling it a unification match. I don't

really see a need to unify those two titles. But I also don't think they're going to have her going around defending both belts individually, and we don't need another Roman reign situation. So if Julia wins, then that's probably what they would do. But I don't think Julia is winning. Stephanie wins, you vacate the lesser of the two titles. We also have the first ever defense of the TNA X Division Championship on NXT television with Moose defending against

Lexus King. This was the best Lexus King match that I have ever seen. I missed a few of his matches that he had for the Heritage Cup, so maybe he had some good Heritage Cup matches that trump this one, but this was easily the best Lexus King match that I've ever seen, and it took Moose to pull it out of him, someone from a different promotion, but they had a hell of a match here. There was a

spot where Moose back dropped him onto the ramp. There was a ramp to the ring, and that did not look like a fun landing for Lexus King right on his tailbone. But they were in Cincinnati, so you know he was over that's where he's from, and he had the crowd behind him. Of course, Moose wins, and then out comes Oba Feme to confront Moose and he challenges him to a match at Roadblock for the NXT Championship. So this is only going to be for the NXT Championship.

I believe there's no way that Moose takes the title. But that's another huge match now added to that show. And you watch Moose out there on Tuesday and he fits right in. You know, he's already over with their audience, and I thought he looked great and I could easily see him making the transition full time over to NXT whenever his TNA deal is. He's been there for so long. That's assuming they make a play for him, right, They've had the chance before to sign him and they've never

expressed interest. His past history may have given them cold feet, but the fact that he's on their television show and Tessa Blanchard is not tells me that that's not going to be an issue for him, probably in the future. Jordan, Grace came out for a promo which by the end turned into a porno. We went from a promo to a porno. She talked about how she knew the only place for her was NXT and that she is going to be standing across the ring from either Julia or

Stephanie Vicaierre. Soon enough, that brought out Roxane Perez, the former NXT Women's champion, who welcomed Jordan back and said that everybody wants to be a part of the division that I made famous, and she talked about Grace being a big fish in a small pond in the knockouts division, but she's in Roxanne's world now. And this ended with Grace saying that everybody's got a plan until and then she punched her in the face. And then two things happened.

Grace got her up on her shoulders, rox Sam rapped the top rope to escape, only she got her leg tangled in the ropes and she could have easily tore her knee out, but you know, Jordan helped free her, and so that happened. But the other thing that happened was Grace had a wardrobe malfunction and she was exposed on live TV, right there for all the world to see, at least on the version that I watched. I didn't watch it live on the CW. Maybe on the CW it was edited, but not on the version I watched,

it wasn't. You could see the panicked look on her face just as they cut over to show Rock sand On on the ramp, and they went to go pan back over to Jordan in the ring, but then the cameraman stopped and he put the camera back on Roxy and never showed Jordan again after that. I assumed she was adjusting herself. But the NXT universe got a little

more of Jordan Grace than they bargained for. On Tuesday, then we had the return of Matt and Jeff Hardy to WWE television for the first time together as a team since twenty nineteen, and they returned as the TNA Tag Team Champions. I feel like we are living in the weirdest timeline because this just isn't something that you would have ever seen only a few years ago. I think it's great, but it's still very jarring. To see. I mean between this and what we got last night

at the elimination chamber. Cody Roads out there telling Rock to go fuck himself, Travis Scott doing whatever the hell he was doing in the corner, John Cena turning heel. The Hardy Boys are back, but they're the TNA Tag team champions. You gotta admit this is just fucking weird. Wreussell Votes tweeted this week that WWE is optimistic that the Hardys will have a main roster run in the coming months, and they even put a new T shirt out for them on WWE shop ahead of their match

on Tuesday. I wonder how that works with TNA, Like how much of a cut would TNA get for that merch, like, if any relative to WWE, And how how much would the Hardies get for that, Like if that's T shirt takes off, I wonder what the split is. I think the Hardy's back on WWETV is inevitable, but again I wonder how that would work, Like it's it's one thing to appear on NXT television while you're being paid by TNA.

Like I'm sure the Hardies are making good money in TNA, but if they start working main roster matches, then they should be paid main roster money. So like, how does that work? If it's a one off, it's not a big deal, but if it became a regular occurrence, Like, how would that work? But the crowd loves seeing the Hardys and they played the hits against the No Quarter Catch crew Miles Bourne and tave On Heights. It was good.

It was a good match. Miles Born, he got chance of You're not Randy because unmistakenly he looks and moves around the ring just like Randy Orton, like right down to the snap power slam that Orton does. It's very eerie how much he reminded me of a young Randy Orton, like his mannerisms and everything. And I'm talking Randy Orton back during his bald phase, like the Bald Menace from the late two thousands. His response to this on social media after the show was great. He said, bro, I'm

not Randy Orton. He hears voices, I don't hear shit. If you don't know the man has been partially deaf from birth, I don't think I don't think he would have even known what the fans were chanting, right away on Tuesday unless somebody told him, because I remember he said once early in his career, might have been his first match, he didn't know that the fans were chanting something at him. He had to go ask somebody, like, what are they chanting and they said, like, dude, they're

chanting your name. And you know, he said, the other wrestlers they have to raise their voices when they're in the ring with him to make sure that he can hear them. But otherwise it's not been a problem so far as far as him working in the ring. You know, hey, maybe he could work a match with John Cena during this heel run on his retirementry. He'd be the perfect opponent for Milesbourne. Even the deaf can hear John Cena

when he's in that ring. But Born ad to twist the Fate and a Swanton bomb to give the Hardies the win, and that brought Fraxium into the ring. The NXT Tag Team Champions, they had already come out mid match. They took a seat on the ramp to observe, so they get in the ring and they called themselves the greatest tag team in the world today, which honestly, I can't argue that point. I mean, they've had an incredible

run that they've been on. But the Hardys they said they're the greatest tag team of all time, and Jeff wasn't really interested in all the platitudes. He grabbed the microphone and he challenged them to a match, which brought out Santino Morella, the TNA Director of Authority, to his

WWE music and he got a big reaction. You know, we have all these TNA people on WWE television, but they're mostly EXWWE guys, so like it's inter promotional, but it doesn't really feel interpromotional, you know what I'm saying, Like it's it's weird. And you know, made the match official for Roadblock in New York City with only the Hardys TNA tag team titles on the line. Because he's the TNA Director of Authority, he has no authority over any of the NXT championships. So that's gonna be a

TNA tag team title match. And in the Oba Moose match, again that's only for the NXT title, but here it's the TNA tag team titles. You know, people have asked me if I think we're ever going to see NXT against TNA like a World's Collide show one day. We don't need it. We're already getting it at roadblock. You want your World's Collide. March eleventh, there's your World's Collide show. And the other key thing on this show was the main event, which was the n Ring debut of Ricky Saints.

I wanted to see the entrance. That's really what I wanted to see. I know what he can bring in the ring. I wanted to see the entrance. I wanted to hear the music. It is not as good as his aw music. I liked his aw music. It's not awful. It's not great, but it's not awful. It was Ricky Saints and Javon Evans against Ethan Page and Wesley and there was a long stretch where the heels got heat on Evans and eventually he made the hot tag to Ricky.

This was a good showcase for Ricky and he wins it with his Rochambeau finish, which he's keeping the name of that finish at least. And they went off the air with him posing in the middle of the ring. So a fine spotlight for him his first win. I didn't care for a lot of the other stuff on the show. They had, like a Tony d sit down in a restaurant somewhere with the family, and like all that stuff. If you follow those smaller stories week to week,

I mean, that's fine. They're developing their characters. But the stuff that I cared about, I thought it was very good. I enjoyed the show. All right, let's get into your questions here from the mailbag. You could always email me the solom Monster at gmail dot com. Please include your name of where you are from when you write in Richie in Siaset, New York. By the time you read this,

the Elimination Chamber will be in the books. However, whatever the direction, I think the favorite Paul Haman owes to CM punk has to conflict with Roman Reign's agenda in order to get the maximum amount of drama out of it. What if the favor is Hayman has to be CM Punk's wise man for one night only at WrestleMania. If the WrestleMania forty one matches Punk against Rains against Rollins, wwe can play up whether or not Hayman keeps his word to Punk or defaults back to Roman. If it's

Cody against Punk. You can play up Hayman having a phone for the Rock from last year's WrestleMania and they've been formulating a plan to take down Cody if Cody refuses the Rocks offer. That could have been the catalyst for Hayman to call Punk back after last fall to unite the duo, but this time as the Rocks new corporate champion. What do you think of these scenarios? Well, obviously, uh Punk will not be the corporate champion, but it does look like we're gonna get Roman, Punk and Rollins,

probably in a triple threat match. As far as the favor where he has to be his wise man, I think that's pretty thin. I really. I still think that the favor has to tie into one of two things, either the WrestleMania main event and or a title match. Anything else would be lame. He has this favor in his back pocket, right, I want you to be my wise man for one night. It just doesn't feel like a worthy payoff. There has to be more to it

than that. What I proposed earlier is if the match is made between Roman in Seth or it looks like Roman in Seth is gonna be a WrestleMania match and Punk may be left out of the mix. Punk can go to Hayman and say, look, I want it. I want in on this match, like you're gonna have this match made with Roman in Seth. I need you to

do me this favor and go to whatever GM. I guess it would be Nickall, Well maybe not actually Roman, Seth is unraw, So go to whatever GM or authority, Triple H, whoever you have to go to, go to

the Rock. I want in on this match. And that, to me at least would make sense, especially if you assume that match is going to possibly close out Night one of WrestleMania, Because then Punk gets his WrestleMania main event, he gets his hands on Seth rollins, and you can work in some tension and drama there now between Roman and Punk. Roman is not happy that Hayman did this. He wanted Seth all to himself after what happened at

the Royal Rumble. Now he has to contend with this fucking guy that he doesn't like already, and now you've got tension between Roman Reigns and Cmpunk that I think you could absolutely do that and it would make sense. Michael from Texas. I was thinking of different ways to get out of another older guy holding the aw championship, and also how to get it off of John Moxley. Sooner than all in I came up with this, so

let me know how it sounds. First, Max should beat Copeland at Revolution and after a hard fought match, had Christian come out to cash in his contract. Except he doesn't. If I remember correctly, Jay White had issues with Christian this past fall and said that they were never or

they were never properly resolved. So before Christian can sign the contract, which it has been established he has to do, you have Jay White take him out, sign his own name on the contract, and take the title from John Moxley. To me, it would make sense that Jay was playing the long game and aligning himself with Cope while the Guns were out trying to take out the Death Riders and screw them both over as for the patriarchy. Have them get taken out by the ops or the Guns

to leave Christian all by himself. Ah, yes, signing his name on the contract that has nothing to do with him. That's how Chris ben Wa got into the WrestleMania twenty Maine event or no, I'm sorry. That's how Sean Michaels got into the WrestleMania twenty Maine event, right, He super kicked Ben Wah and then signed his name on the contract. You could do that. I forgot about that that you have to sign the fucking thing first. So yeah, I mean, I suppose somebody could take him out and then put

their name on the contract first. Honestly, I'm fine with your idea if for no other reason because it gets the title off of John Moxley. I'm just I'm over it at this point. If you wanted to have Christian successfully cash in and take the championship for a brief period of time, I'm okay with that. Like I'm resigned to pretty much any idea at this point that would a get the title off of Moxley and b hasten

the downfall of the Death Riders. Even better, find a way to get that title on MJF in the next few months and then build two Hangman beating MJF at all in to win the championship. You want to work the two of them into this equation somehow, that would be even better. Yandy from South Africa, I think if there is one wrestler that needs an excursion, it is Bailey. With her already wrestling on NXT, what do you think of having her get a short run as the Knockouts Champion.

I'd be okay with it. I definitely think she needs something different. You know, she's done it all right now. It looks like she's gonna be working with which I think is fine. If they wanted to give Bailey Ah even a short run as the Knockouts Champion, she could add that to her resume work with some of the women in TNA, you know, Masha Slamovich and some of those ladies. I think that'd be great. I think that

would be fun. Mac from New Jersey. Are you surprised the Shield never had a triple threat match at WrestleMania. Which WrestleMania do you think was the best time to do so? I am surprised, and I think that the WrestleMania to do so probably would have been thirty one. I mean, had had Roman not won the Rumble, which he should not have, that would have been the time to do it, right. That was the first WrestleMania coming out of SETH turning on them, So I think thirty

one or thirty two. The problem is I think Seth was her That's why he missed thirty two right, So thirty one probably would have made more sense. And David from Arkansas, My question is about the Right to Censor faction for what it was. I was entered attained it first. I thought Stevie Richards did a decent job with his character, and that Bull Buchanan, Oh my god, Bull Buchanan B two. Remember B Squared when he was with John Cena. Hey, you know John Cena is a heel again. Maybe he

can bring back B Squared. Oh great with that, I completely forgot about that. He said Bull Buchanan was a good choice to be his heavy. But once Godfather was put into the group, I thought it jumped the shark. Adding Valvenus and Ivory to the group just made it worse. By the end, it came off as a weird cult group with Richard's brainwashing his followers, almost like Cmpunk's Straight Edge Society. I don't recall you ever talking about this,

So what is your opinion of right to censer? Well, there's a reason why I don't talk about it because I wasn't really a fan. Look, the right to Censor. What I thought was kind of cool about it is the way they converted all of the old fan favorites. Well, you think of the attitude raon some of the more risque characters. You think of people like the Godfather, right,

the Godfather and the whole Train Valvenus. So basically what Stevie Richards and The Right to Censor did was he took these these fan favorites, these these characters from the Attitude era, and he turned them good. Right, the Godfather literally became the Good Father. And they got good heat, and they had some success. I think they held the tag team titles. Ivory, I know, was the women's champion at one point. I just never saw it as anything

more than a decent mid card stable. You know. Stevie did the best job with it that he could, But I can't say it was a favorite act of mind. Oh my god, Right to Censor is on TV. I can't wait to watch what they're gonna do next. Like, no, you know, I didn't really care one way or the others. So, yeah,

they got good heat. They served their purpose. Obviously. This was their way of kind of making fun of the Parents' Television Council, which went after them in the early two thousands for their Actually, that's really the reason why some of the sponsors started to get chased away and they had to tamp down on some of that to risk a stuff that they were doing was because of the PTC. So this was kind of their way of lashing out and making fun of the PTC. Yeah, again,

it was fine. I wasn't a huge fan of it. It was a decent mid card faction. I didn't really look at it as anything more than that. But thank you for reminding me about Bull Buchanan because I completely forgot about B Squared. Now I'm hoping we get a B Squared cameo. If John Cena can't be on TV the next few weeks, can we get B Squared in the ring with the Rock? Isn't his son in NXT? Who is his son? Is it? Oh? My god? What was the team Briggs and Jensen? Is Jensen his son?

Do I have that right? I know his son I think is in developmental lot it might be Jensen. Anyway, We will get some more next week. I am very sleep deprived after last night, so we'll cut this short. But hopefully you guys enjoyed the show. Hopefully you enjoyed the show last night. I had fun talking about it. There's a lot of fun things that could come out

of this. It's going to be an exciting next couple of months, and hopefully you will join me on the ride here as we head towards WrestleMania to follow me on YouTube. Sola Moster Sounds Off is the official channel. I will be live this week after what should be a very important Monday Night Raw, and then again on Friday after what should be a very important SmackDown. And in the middle of that is the go home episode of aw Dynamite. It didn't talk much AAW this week.

We're gonna save that for next week because next Sunday is Revolution. I'll probably be covering that live on YouTube when the show is over. I'll save my predictions for next week as well. So we got Revolution coming up. You know, Elimination Chamber was a great show last night. Revolution is going to be a great show in its own way. Obviously, it'll be more focused on a lot of the matches that the card will be much bigger than the Elimination Chamber. We had four matches last night.

We're gonna have at least double that number of matches at Revolution, if not more than that. But they got some really great ones lined up on that card next weekend, including Kenny Omega and Kenoski Takeshta, Kyle Fletcher, and Will Ospray. I got my fingers crossed that the Death Riders may no longer have a stranglehold on the aw World Championship. Tony Storm and Mariah May a lot of good stuff

to look forward to next week. So we are being spoiled in terms of the pay per views here on these two weekends, and I'll be back with you next Sunday for episode nine oh four of The SoundOff. So until then, be well, stay saved, have yourselves a great week. We now live in a world with heel John Cena. I never thought I would see the day.