Oh hey there! It's your girl Brynn Whitfield. You might know me from a little show called The Real Housewives of New York City on You are about to see a whole different side of me. Unedited, by the way. On my new podcast, please see below. Spoiler alert, it's not about passive-aggressive company emails. actually way juicier than that. Join me every week as we get down and dirty with my friends, celebrities, experts, even some of our exes.
From dating, the highs and lows of reality TV, career sex union. And honey, we're not just going to spill the tea. I am here to smash the entire pot. Believe me, you're going to want to see and hear what's below. Please see below. With me, Bryn Whitfield, is premiering soon. Love to listen to podcasts. Cold open question of the week, Kaz. What up, shoes? Early morning recording session. Hurting our voices. Darby Allen did it. He got to the mountaintop.
and did what every pro wrestler dreams of doing he scaled mountain effort And flew an AEW flag at the time. Is this his career highlight? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Yes, it is. I'm not going to make light of the reasons for climbing Mount Everest because no matter how you scale it, no matter how you slice it, Dude, climb Mount Everest, all right? I don't think going over Jon Moxley in a bloodbath, especially.
the type of matches we've seen Darby Allen have in his career already, I don't think that's really going to compare, man. That is incredibly impressive. I'm sorry. As much as I love wrestling, as much the dude could win, a Roman Reigns length of a championship in his career.
It's not going to measure up to doing something that only a couple of thousand people that have ever walked this earth have done. So props to Darby Allin, man. That takes a lot of balls, a lot of balls, a lot of balls to make that happen. Come back in one piece. So, I mean, if anything, it may not be his career highlight, but I'll tell you this. Every single time that dude walks down the aisle, the moment he comes back into AEW, the moment he comes back to another wrestling ring.
His aura is going to be 10 times it was before he left because he could say, yeah, that dude climbed Mount Everest and came back to wrestle. Insane human being. Well, congratulations. That's not the direction I thought you were going to... I thought you were going to be offended with my premise that this would be the highlight of his career. Not at all. Are you kidding me? Mount Everest, dog? So where's the line? Where's the line on Mount Everest is cooler than your career accomplished?
If Hulk Hogan had climbed Mount Everest, would that be the highlight of his career? And flown the WWF and American flag side by side. That would be the peak? Yes, yes, yes. No pun intended. This is the dirty secret, guys. As much as we love wrestling, in the grand scheme of things, It's not all that important. I don't know. Is climbing Mount Everest that important? You risk your life every day. You risk your life driving a car every day.
I mean, I don't know what to tell you. I put it like this. You risk your life every day wrestling, but you don't. Go into a wrestling match and go into a wrestling ring and see actual dead bodies on the way to the end of the match, right? Like the more you climb Mount Everest the more remains the more Reminders Hey, you can die doing this Shows you whether it's the fecal matter on the way up there whether it's the remains and dead bodies the shoes Whatever it is It is a truly death to fire act.
And even a curmudgeon like us cannot hate on that. So Darby Allin, you get all the props in the world, my friend. You'll never accomplish anything cooler in wrestling. So if he comes back and beats Moxley for the title. Great. It'll be a nice talking point for a couple of weeks on the show. But we can never ever say. Anything last?
Should we just be an all Everest podcast? Would you feel better about your life's journey if we were just covering Mount Everest climbs all the time? I don't know, man. My Everest knowledge still needs to brush it up. You know, I don't know if there's any new technology out there.
that might slow the game down, kind of like a three-pointer in the NBA. It's like, ah, well, you know, they didn't have three-pointers back then. You can't do that. I don't know the technology of mountain climbing these days, but... It would make for a painfully boring podcast, I will tell you that. No offense to the average truth is out there. Just one foot in front of the other, man. It's that slow podcasting. Anyway, we got it. fast podcast. Let's start the show. Let's bang it out.
how about yourself man we're doing good we got saturday night's main event this weekend double or nothing this weekend it's a big wrestling weekend big wrestling weekend We don't usually come out on Tuesdays to talk about Raw, so let's talk about Raw. Do you want to just get the Joey Stark entry done off the top? Oh, God, that was brutal to watch, man. It was really painful.
The timing of it sucks. Obviously, this was Zoe Stark's first match post... shane and basil release and you know we talked about this on the show man like when folks get released that are in tag teams that's usually you know we've seen sort of that happen throughout this entire
Release schedule we see last legend kind of going to alone now. We see Kairi Sane going to alone now Without damage control and you know scenes always Stark out there So the fact that they were both in the match at Rhea Ripley you could kind of get the feeling they're like alright we're trying to like warm this these these people back up and into their singles uh you know contribution so to see uh what happened to zoe was just awful man um and you knew it right away like as soon as you know
The legs aren't supposed to bend like that. And it was just awful to see and awful timing. And it really, you know, it really was tragic. I mean, props to WWE for... I guess recognizing the gravity of it going to commercials, somehow still finishing the match. And, you know, but in any case, man, it is. It is terrible for Zoe and terrible for those in the ring too, man. I know that's not great to be in the ring when something that awful happens. So hopefully she recovers well. She bounces back.
And, you know, hopefully see her in the ring soon. But, boy, that was a tough watch. It really was. Yeah. Yeah, it was. I mean, it was just heartbreaking, too. I mean, it's clear that her knee is going to take some... some major reconstruction um we had zoe stark on the show what last was it last wrestlemania she's absolutely amazing i mean totally won us all over yeah for sure such a big fan and and it just it it sucks for her um
I think this could have been a real opportunity. I think Rhea Ripley was probably winning that match regardless. This seemed like, hey, let's get a showcase off with two women who are going to need it, especially now that they're back.
permanently as singles competitors kairi sand making her big debut there's almost something there's almost something in there that like Kinda makes me think Kyrie wasn't Supposed to be the one to take that pin because she's literally just making her debut and then I'm having to do it on the fly, especially if Rhea was gonna win Yeah, it's it's it's it's rough all around but I think anybody who watched that could at least
give that match and the results and everything that happened a little bit of grace and hopefully you know it doesn't hold back Kyrie so much and hopefully uh you know Zoe gets the time to truly recover and come back. She's a really good wrestler, man. You can say what you want about how they figured out the characters of Pure Fusion Collection and all that other stuff. the trish angle but like
She can wrestle her ass off, right? She's really good in that ring. So to see that happen the way it did, truly heartbreaking. And I wish her nothing but the best in the speed of recovery. Just terrible to see. But Rhea Ripley, I mean, just unfortunate segue of the week. We have too many of these in this business. Rhea Ripley is in the money in the bank match now. There was some snark online about whether or not...
It was necessary for Rhea Ripley to win this match. This is kind of the conversation that I had last week. I mean, all she has to do to get a world title match seems to be to like, you know, well, in kayfabe, ask you a sky for a match. In reality, whatever, just be like, no, I want a match. She's Rhea fucking Ripley. You saw the reaction she got last night.
A friggin' train seal. This is a rock star, man. A train seal that gets that kind of pop can have a title match just about any day she wants. So, you know, I don't know about that. You know, I always, when it comes to money in the bank time, we're about to go on repeat for me. But I always try to visualize the person with the briefcase. Rhea Ripley does not need a briefcase. You know?
unless there's a gimmick change and it's just like you know she becomes like a alexandra york character for a year you know and like a suit and a leather briefcase that could be something but you know the way she is now come on i'll tell you this though There's something about women's money in the bank, briefcase holders, that doesn't last terribly long. I think Tiffany Strand might have held it the longest, right? Like she had the special briefcase.
Kind of work the entire character all that type of stuff if you really think about it Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan, gosh, who else won the Women's Money in the Bank? I think Asuka did, and then she... was gifted the title the next night because uh becky was pregnant like women's money in the bank holders tend to not hold it very long they're very very impatient they want the title and they want it right now like i think so uh but those who are probably like well if rhea ripley wins then you know
I don't know if we can picture her walking around with a briefcase like that. Maybe we can. Maybe we can. But at the same time, it's like, well... Maybe Rhea Ripley's in that match just so we can think she's gonna win it and she's not you know, there's always that way I think so overwhelming favor in the field where it's all this person wins it then what the hell are we doing, you know, but Is that your thoughts today?
yeah i mean i think that the logic of her not needing the briefcase is is not ironclad or else why would she be in the match but i do think it exists to the extent that like she doesn't need to win it you know i think she's in that match because it helps the match And just like last night, we saw it legitimizes everybody else who's around her, right? I mean, it helps.
really makes it a bigger deal. That reaction she got transfers to some degree onto everybody else. And I think that's necessary. Like you saw last night, Becky Lynch was in a qualifying match. And they just seamlessly had, I mean, this is wrestling 101, but you had Lyra Valkyria come and yank her out of the match two different times.
uh and and cost her the title meaning to roxanne perez winning her way in roxanne perez now uh uh well is she a member of judgment day an adjunct adjunct member of judgment day is she a judgment day protectorate I'm not quite exactly sure if she's achieved statehood. But it's nice. She's a good fit for that group. There's a little bit of a... And we're scatter shooting here. It was a little bit weird to see Julia down on SmackDown. Even though she's been on Raw for like three weeks.
And it was even weirder to see Roxanne just like subsumed into an existing main roster storyline. Honestly, I think this is a perfect spot for her on a logical level, on like a weird, like, you know, meta-emotional level. It's weird, you know, I mean, like there's storylines out in X-Day, there's obviously like factions, there's whatever else.
but it's still to the point where a lot of the people, especially in the women's division come up in like, like as just a sort of, i'm a professional wrestler gimmick you know it's like and that's the core of what everybody needs and i applaud them for it it's weird to see somebody like taken into a storyline sort of out of nowhere but we did see roxanne and finn talking in the background over the last several weeks
it does make a lot of sense. And with Liv gone, This is one of those great instances where the kayfabe and the real life are like... kind of lay over each other. Like, what was it? Remember in school back when we were old where the teacher would use a projector? What were those clear pieces of plastic where they would write the math problems on call and it would go up on the wall? What was that called? Are you too young for that?
An overhead projector, right? Overhead projector? Isn't that what that was? But anyway. But it's all about the actual, like, translucent paper that you write on. Yeah, like, where there would be, like, one with the graph and then one with the... like the graph paper and one with like the line the drawing and you play it on so it fits the point anyway it doesn't matter she fits the group
It's my first, I've been podcasting for over a decade. It's my first overhead projector conversation. It's the first time you've aged me out of a comp. I was like, Dave, this might be even old enough for my body. Everything.
I'm getting so old. Every, like half of my conversations with my wife are just, Hey, do you remember when fill in the blank was a thing? And I'm not talking about, I'm not talking about like, like athletes or pop stars or movie stars. It's like, oh my god remember when like it's just phrases that you just heard and had so much relevance as a kid like like uh like olympic sized swimming pool you know it's just like i don't know when
that became such a big deal you know it's just like like your parents would be like i think that was to hook the parents into the into the local pool right it's just i don't know you want to go to the olympics yeah where you're trying you know i remember that Anyway, so what's your take on Roxanne and Judgment Day?
I think it fits really well, right? Like Roxanne, you said, it was weird. I feel like Julia definitely is probably going to take some getting used to on SmackDown, but I think Roxanne kind of fits on Raw easily. And even the Judgment Day fit. I don't know if she's technically... all the way a member you know what i mean they're just sort of like hey let's have like i think she's pledging she's pledging like alpha five judgment day right now right like she has to kind of prove herself
She brought the attendees. She brought the Apple. She brought gifts for everybody. It's sort of like a ready-made... feud with Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez once Liv Morgan returns. It's a great feud. I can't wait. It's perfect because nobody wants to boo Dom and nobody wants to boo Liv. And there's definitely going to come a moment where herself, Raquel, Roxanne, they're all going to sort of cross paths.
From what I'm told, I think Liv's done filming already, and she should be back sooner rather than later. Yeah, but it was a major motion picture. She can't be done filming already. It's 2025, baby. They can bang those out on the weekend. It's not that. It's not like they got to put on actual film and do all that type of stuff. They can knock these things out. So apparently she should be back. They got a green screen?
iPhone 16, actually. Just a little NL joints. They're just filming at the Thunderdome now. right exactly uh but nah man um i was i i think it definitely fits um They've had plans for Roxanne for a long time, and I think, obviously, just with everything she's been thrown so early in her career, they have a ton.
of stock invested into her um you know you don't just earn a nickname the prodigy and win titles at such a young age and have the longest uh stint in the royal rumble and getting to the money in the bank match with you know natalia and becky lynch and the match like They clearly have high hopes and high expectations for her. So getting her into Judgment Day and putting that sort of dynamic in there is going to be really interesting, especially knowing that, like, you know...
Roxanne's kind of got to run solo for a while, right? Cora Jade is no longer a part of the company. Julia's on a whole other show. And that means Solo as a character, not Solo as in like she's going to be by her solo fights. As in Solo Sokoa, yes. Not Solo Sokoa. She'll be insulated with a ton of that. And that's sort of what you do with a new person, man, no matter how gifted or... They might be for the show. It's always best to insulate them
And into something that's already sort of established. And it's crazy how Judgment Day has sort of become that for like the past, what, three years now? It's true. I mean, it goes to show their legitimacy, their value to the company, all that stuff.
And also, I mean... obviously there's a lot that can change within the judgment day um in terms of interpersonal drama and everything else um but it's uh but but it also goes it's that you know judgment day the name the faction the existence the faction is not going anywhere for a while right i mean because now we've got
a new member. It's lasted a lot longer than I've expected. I'm not going to lie. Oh, of course. That's sort of the thing with Judgment Day. People have been calling for the end of Judgment Day since like the third week of Judgment Day. Once Edge left, I think everyone has been like, oh yeah, well, Judgment Day is going to last. Right when Edge was gone,
I think a lot of us all thought, like, all right, well, you know, this little thing is around its course. Then the Priest thing happens, Rhea Ripley becomes a megastar, Dom blows up. Finn finds his footing again like it's crazy how that it's Judgment Day has found like multiple lives over the past several years. And now even this little, this Roxanne, this potential Roxanne Perez live Morgan thing that I think is probably coming down the pipeline.
is going to give it a little bit more life and you know dom's face when finn walked into the room is going to give it a little bit more life also so it'll be interesting to see and i think the one thing That Judgment Day has it. really conquered yet as far as all successful stables are concerned is a babyface run right like they still haven't like had that moment where we're allowed to cheer for them and we're allowed to just be like you know what i'm rooting for these people
And I think, you know, whether the Finn and Roxanne of it turns the entire Judgment Day group into a group you want to cheer for remains to be seen. But I think that's like the last. infinity stone of a long-running stable. The whole stable gets shared. That's tough with a group that big. I don't think it's that tough when you consider who's in there. Carlito is fun enough.
where he can do silly stuff and people will share for him. Dom is... should be main eventing wrestlemania next year in my opinion um you know finn has that thing where he's taking a couple of l's a couple of high profile l's especially one against dom mysterio and kind of feel like eventually he's going to be the guy that causes that shift in the group. And shoot. And then when Liv comes back, I don't think people are going to... Yeah, like Raquel and Liv, I don't think people are going to...
I want to boo Raquel and Liv once Liv gets back. I was joking. You're probably right. Liv is going to get a huge reaction when she comes back. For sure. Especially if they keep her away from Rhea Ripley.
super sure yes um oh yeah i mean live is this is actually one of those perfect time off situations she's you know just she had a monster year this year man she had a monster year and usually after monster years you either like have an injury and then that's what turns your face but in this case you know take a time out to do a movie and the group's still popular and she's popular. Uh, yeah. And it got a brand new toy to play with and Roxanne Perez.
I think, you know, I haven't seen them lock up yet, but you kind of get the feeling they'll probably have some really good chemistry as far as like being two, you know, diminutive size women who can really, really go if given the time. So I'm... I'm looking forward to see where this goes, to see how long this lasts. I have one minor, minor gripe. Roxanne Perez, Roxanne Perez. That was a box of chicken nuggets.
That was not tendies. All right. Those are, those are freezer chicken nuggets. That's correct. Yeah. Those were, those are straight out the freezer nuggets, man. Tenders. Attendees have a little bit more love to them, a little bit more breading, a little bit more meat that long.
A tender has to be bigger than an inch. If it's this big, that is not a tender. That is a nugget. My only gripe. And if I was Dom, I would have brought that up too. I'm like, all right, I like it. But you know, these are nuggies, not tendies. Give me the tendies. That's all right. No, he's not tendies. Yeah, no, no. We had some serious, serious chicken issues. Although I guess, you know, maybe, you know, if you're like wooing a woman and you know that she likes whatever.
He likes... chocolates or something you might come bring her a chocolate bar you might try to like go off script a little bit you know i feel like this you're like this now you have something to remember me by you know when you think of this food you'll think of me who knows I had more of an issue with the fact that that was just like clearly like a...
the kind of like gift box that you buy at marshall's and like a four pack you know like it just like unfolds and you put it together wasn't meant for chicken tenders no it definitely wasn't meant for chicken tenders it's not for more like a knitted sweater You know what I mean? That's not what you put your nuggies in. How you gonna dip? There's no dip in there. Well, in all fairness, I feel like I gotta defend this. In all fairness, she was trying to woo him.
And I'll take you back to last June. She gave him chicken nuggets. So chicken nuggets... Say it. That was... Mmm... There's a way to get him. And then this is what she was trying to get with him. And then woo him with that. Then he gets the attendees.
Even those nuggies seemed a little bit more... A little bit had a little bit more girth to him than last night Those might have been McDonald's Nuggets that that that Roxanne got she might have uber eats like Three boxes of 20 piece McNuggets and I gotta say as a chicken connoisseur
that was a little like look at that like look at that face like look how even if dom didn't get like the actual attendees that he was hoping for there was at least intrigue in his like look at that now compared to last night Yeah, open the box. I mean, come on, man. We all know this shit. I can spot a McDonald's nut McNugget from a mile away. I'm like, come on, come on, Roxanne. Yeah, but that's not a bad thing.
It's not a bad thing, but it's like, yo, the number one rule of McDonald's that we all abide by is I will never eat McDonald's on purpose. But if I am... It has to be hot. And I need that shit right now. I don't want that joint waiting in a box.
I don't want the condensation to hit the top of it and get it all soggy. No. That joint's got to be crispy. They need a countdown clock on the... If you've ever ordered McDonald's from Overeats or something like that, you've got to watch the... there should be a countdown clock because once it passes a certain threshold you're just like just Just take it back. Just go home, dude. You can keep the money.
Those are clearly McDonald's nuggets. Okay, we're looking at the screen right now. Those are clearly McDonald's nuggets in a Macy's gift box when we go to Macy's. They look a little bit too panko crusted They are pretty round. And there's none of the S shapes or whatever the other shaped McNuggets. There's a couple of Staten Island shaped nuggets in there, which makes me think.
Those are freezer nuggets, man. 100%. But now I want McDonald's, so thanks. Somebody's getting a happy meal today. I mean... Raquel's looking at the nuggets like, you know, they all look pretty solid. This is such a hilarious screen. Everybody has a hilarious face. Including the skeleton. I'm not sure. The skeleton's like, ooh, is she blood nugget?
Yeah, no, it is just a remarkable moment in time. I love how the skeleton has to be in the lock in the clubhouse. It's like, yes, this is how you know. In case you forgot we're spooky, here's our skeleton back. The skeleton for Judgment Day, although it's funny, the walls look sort of like... Is it just me? We're going really deep on a video still from Monday Night Raw that no one listening this can hear. It's very important. Very important storytelling. Are those walls recently painted?
Do you think they come in and they're like, do you guys mind if we paint the Judgment Day as corner black? Oh, man. That's a... That is a lot of pain to knock out in one day. That's a lot of fumes you're inhaling. Regardless, the skeleton is like the coat on the chair.
right it's like judgment day rolls in like jd or carlino gets there first and they just like they're like fins like find our spot and put the skeleton there so nobody tries to hang out yeah the skeleton just like is the x marks the spot it's like make sure nobody gets in there and tries to like take their that's like their dibs on the corner it's like i'm just saying listen there's not many times i will i will i will uh reminisce
I have fond thoughts about the previous era of WWE, but I'm just going to say, in the Vince McMahon era of WWE, there would have been a silver platter with one of those old-fashioned silver domes on top that waiters in the olden days used to have. There would not have been... in a Marshall's gift box. Yeah, the gift box, the presentation, like, first off, any good food gift in those, presentation is non-tent.
The gift right there why you can put the worst food and anything if it comes on one of those silver But you're right this probably would have been a lot. Oh god. It's gonna put in a box Somebody get the silver butler thing that they always do. You just open it up and the presentation is...
After battle there, man. Come on, Roxanne. I know you're a rookie. Gotta step it up. Gotta step it up. You're the prodigy for a reason. Come on, man. You're the prodigy. You gotta come correct with your nuggie presentation. Um... Dominant, by the way, speaking of Dom, someone posted on Reddit the other day, for your money, what's the best thing going in wrestling?
You want to make some guesses as to what that... This is the very specifically... The best thing going in all wrestling. The best thing going. And this is Reddit. I'm just going to let you know, Dom, one of the top ones, highly voted ones, is Dom and his improvement over the last couple of years. Okay, I'm gonna guess if this is if this is the reddit audience, I'm gonna go Tony storms in there absolutely number one with a number one. Okay Dirty Dom and his rise I'd say Number three.
I guess, uh, the bruv? Is the bruv in there somehow? He must be. Uh, yeah, well, Osprey vs. Hangman is up there. Okay, alright. And then lastly, I'm going to guess... There's a big AEW one. I'd say number two, according to this, as I'm looking at it, is an AEW storyline. Damn. Is it Kenny, the eventual Kenny versus Okada? No. Is it?
Oh, MJF and the Hurt Business? Hurt Business, yeah. MJF isn't even mentioned in most of these comments. It's just, we hurt people was the answer. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that is the most over song. Probably the most over song in wrestling right now. It's got to be top five. Top five most over songs right now. Yeah, it's really great. Someone said, I want to hurt people when MVP starts speaking. That's how influential he is. I mean, MVP is just incredible.
Everywhere he goes, he doubles his worth every place he stops at. It's absolutely true. I mean, he's on the short list of like... Like, why didn't they let him cook guys in the past decade? Just in terms of being a manager, a mouthpiece. And, you know, he can work too. But Dom's on there. Everybody loves Dom. Not as much as you love Dom. What else from Raw last night? There was no men's Money in the Bank qualifiers, but we did get Roxanne Perez and Rhea Ripley, as mentioned.
We got all this stuff with the main event scene, which I'm just going to kind of lump in together. Jey Uso officially beat Braun Breaker because Seth Rollins interfered and caused the DQ. But we also got... Sami Zayn and CM Punk teaming up to come take out Seth and Braun. And then we got Logan Paul's involvement. Jay previously in the night, earlier in the night, had laid him out with the super kick.
Logan Paul comes in at the end of the show, and Cole Cox, Jay, knocks him out. And I guess we should also say, at the start of the show, Gunter. had a face-off with Logan Paul and basically told him, if you beat Jay, there's going to be hell to pay because I'm going to hold you accountable when we fight at Money in the Bank. Because Gunther's got the championship rematch set just regardless of who it is.
I think the odds of Logan Paul winning are pretty slim. Oh, Logan Paul also had a backstage convo with Paul Heyman. Everything's all these tentacles. Everything's sort of tying together. What's your big takeaway from the raw main event picture coming out of last night? Still a work in progress. Still a work in progress. I have loved the presentation of Jey Uso the past several weeks, right? I think...
Shout out my guy Cam. Cam Hawkins, great writer over here at the ringer. Love Cam. Had a great tweet where he said, Jey Uso plays a... The heavy is the head that wears the crown so well, especially as a babyface, because we haven't seen that in a long time. And that's why I always thought this rain had like a ton of potential because nobody, not nobody, but a lot of people out there don't think he was ready to carry that ball and be that guy.
Every week when that dude comes out, every week when that music hits, every week when he's about to wrestle, he looks more and more and more like a real world champion. I think a lot of people gave him credit for whether he's holding up the kids, whether it's the gold grill with the gold glasses and the gold championship. But more importantly than that, every interaction he has with somebody, you can see the stress on his face.
like the same sort of stress and seriousness in his face that he had when he was the right hand man with Roman Reigns and you know he was sitting in that bench with the title next to him and he had that sort of like Man, you know that look that you have when you're sort of sitting over and your arms are over your kneecaps and you're just sort of like...
Not tired, but just sitting here and just thinking like, man, I got so much on my plate right now. Yeah. I think Jey Uso has done a great job of doing that. Now, I'll be honest, man. Like, I still think the whole Heyman-Rollins breaker. uh coalition stable whatever we want to call it group It still needs some time to cook, I think. I still think we're still sort of playing both sides a little bit. He hasn't really gone all the way.
as like uh in a direction in my opinion i still think he's sort of Like, oh, no, man, like, I'm the good guy here. Like, oh, no, you know, this is ultimately good for everybody sort of thing. And Sammy's not buying it and Punk already hates him. And, you know, it's still, I think. And you tell me if I'm bugging.
I think the addition of Heyman I think the addition of Heyman raised the ceiling for Seth and Braun so high that if it's not bloodline level if it's not uh you know brock level but you think it's then it's a failure is that where you're gonna go no it's just not as it's just it just needs more time to cook it's just it's just not there yet for me like they're together
Braun's going to obviously get a ton of benefit off of being around Seth and Paul Heyman. But as a collective, as a group, the story they're telling, even the backstage segments with Paul Heyman. and still not all the way clear. Who they are as a collective like the bloodline clear as day. It's like oh Family it's more dynasty all that type of stuff. Well
No, no, no. It's a great question because they do have... I mean, the Bloodline sets a high bar. Paul Heyman's legacy sets a high bar. It was always going to be hard to maintain the level of... feeling of significance that came after the... Heyman's win. I mean, Seth's win and joining up with Heyman that moment in time.
it was achieved perfectly and then that moment in time is it really set its own bar really high uh and then braun breaker joining up the next night well that they're able to keep momentum now they risk becoming just another faction. Here's the thing. I think that everything they're doing right now is, you know, with everything, interacting with everything else is supremely important.
In a weird way, they hit a little bit of a roadblock with the Punk and Sammy thing, because I think Punk and Sammy are just the mega powers, and it's sort of hard to book counter them and feel like... You know, it's the weird crux of pro wrestling booking, especially in the modern era where it's like, really, what does Seth and Braun need? Like, Seth and Braun would be great if you could give them a year of just... Like, powerbombing jobber.
you know like just just absolutely like ripping seems like that works right but they're too important to the show and that would be supremely boring if you actually did that. It would be great if you could go into a wormhole and just, if we could all pretend, it's like Goldberg when his streak would get longer and longer from fake house shows.
if we could just all sort of agree that Braun Breaker and Seth Rollins had been just like running rampant that like you know Everybody who's not around anymore is not there because Braun Breaker killed You know, like, that would be great if you could just, if we could assume that. But now they're right into a feud where they're just sort of equals with the other dudes. They look slightly less than dominant. They have to win, right? They have to win in Saturday Night's Main.
Oh, yeah, I think they're going to win. I think they're going to win. But I also think something has to happen in addition to the win. Like something has to... Stakes need to be raised a little bit with these guys, right? Like why is it so important that Seth Rollins is champion and why is Paul Heyman going so hard to make sure like the ultimate long-term plan is not the champion for what what's the
What's the catch? What's the deal? What changes if Seth is champion? What's the difference between him and Jay? Things need to be... This is the plan. This is what Seth told Tammy. This is what we've been talking about. No, but you're right. I mean, it does need a little bit more definition. And I think we'll get there. Right?
Which everyone, that's what the pay-per-views are for. That's what Sandnet's main event and all these shows are for. It's like, move that story forward. Like, they're still treading water, I think. Even as much as Brom Breaker, as awesome as he is, as Noah's... No one every week is going to do some cartoonishly athletic shit that we all love about him. I want this shit.
I don't want to go all the way there, but you can almost argue that like this has sort of slowed down Braun's momentum that he had going into WrestleMania. Like, he was arguably like... They got it. Even the night after WrestleMania when they got up together, I was like, oh yeah, now he's definitely the guy. I saw some people saying that this week, that Braun doesn't need this faction.
that's basically the thing that everybody said oh everybody the assumption was that he was going to move up to the main event scene now he's playing second banana for someone who's not even the champ yeah yeah yeah and that's that's
that's a completely fair thing to say about this so far yeah i mean i i totally disagree with it but i guess it's fair i mean it's this is just not there's nothing weird about braun first of all braun wasn't there like braun was braun was ready to be in the main event scene in the sense that like
all of your 12 favorite wrestlers should be in the main event scene i'm not saying i couldn't have held his own but that main event scene is stacked you know and like braun to have like the up-and-comer like braun in there First of all, it kind of only works if he wins or loses, just like he did in all of his run-up to this point. You win the title, then, you know, lose, or you lose on your way up.
You have to learn a lesson, then you become dominant again. That would get stale, and it kind of only works in a one-on-one situation with the old Braun, right? It would have to be Braun versus Jay. It would have to be Braun versus Seth, and Braun versus whatever. This is cool. This gives them some depth and also...
Not for nothing, but in kayfabe and out of kayfabe, you get to be the next Paul Heyman guy. I mean, really? Isn't that? If you think that climbing Mount Everest is bigger than winning the world championship, you must believe. that being a Paul Heyman guy is better than winning a world championship. Well, let's keep it a stack, Dave. Let's keep it a stack. Paul Heyman has had... A great second run for his Paul Heyman guys. That was definitely a moment in time.
But some of the Paul Heyman guys that were getting picked were, you know, like they all can't be. Are you talking about like Michael McGillicuddy and Cesaro? Like Michael McGillicuddy and Cesaro. It's like. Didn't work out as much as people expected it to. But that's what I meant by the expectations are raised so much higher now.
after the bloodline after brock after punk where it's like yo the next dude that this guy taps as his guy especially if they're still super young and still establishing themselves it's like you are that guy but the beautiful thing about all this is that like when you're tapped as one of these dudes and especially the main event segment it takes a long time to finally
be that person i think of randy orton where like you know when randy orton joined evolution and we all knew he was the guy coming up and had all the charisma and all that type of stuff it still took a long ass time for that moment of being the undisputed dude came for him. And I think Braun might be on that similar trajectory because in this case, Evolution is Paul Heyman and Seth Rollins. And it's like he's sort of being insulated as like...
You know, as long as you're within this group, no matter what you do in that ring, it'll always matter. It'll always be top of the card. It'll always be something of importance. to the main event of the show even if it's not specifically the main event until
It's time for you to be the main eventer. And that's where Braun's at right now. And you can make the argument that before that, as the Intercontinental Champion, heading into that four-way, everything there like you know the dogs didn't bark as loud as they did last night and that was all I was a that was a hot crowd you know they got hot for a lot of things but the barks were starting on you know outside of the entrance
Wasn't as strong as they were going into WrestleMania. I'm sure it'll change. I'm sure. Yeah, it'll definitely nobody is in a better spot right now than Ron break yeah yeah for sure if he had been on his if he had been on his own they kept doing his own yeah he might have gotten that shot he might have gotten that opportunity he might have gotten his push to the top but now he's got a foundation where what he's building is a foundation now he's building the shit he's
telling the stories that are going to make his WrestleMania main events when they happen matter. And that's way more important than getting shotgun to the top. I mean, that guy, we saw him when NXT 2.0 took off. That guy was born with a jet pack on his back. Yep. Getting to the top of the card is not difficult. And Goldberg is a good point of reference. Getting to the main event for Goldberg. It's just a matter of just straight line book.
Making us care about Goldberg a month after that, that's the tough stuff. That's always the tough stuff. You can truck through people as much as you want into getting people to give up. an F while you're trucking through them, that is the true test. That is the magic right there. Everybody can get excited. Everybody can go along for the ride. Everybody can get up. I mean, it's Dude, you can
It's basic stuff. Not everyone's born looking like that. But man, you can get that reaction. It's just making us care about it. So yeah. So anyway. Jey Uso versus Logan Paul, the Saturday Night's Man event. We're going to obviously talk more about that and Double or Nothing on Thursday's show. Do the predictions. Seth Rollins and Braun Breaker versus Punk and Zayn. Io Sky versus Rhea Ripley. Of course, Rhea Ripley is also in the Money in the Bank match.
kind of confusing uh fraxium versus the street profits for the titles i mean oh by the way the smackdown tag team division got some votes in that uh best thing going right now nice i like that too they gotta do another They got to do another TLC match. Just like a five team, I guess four team, I don't know. I'm not quite sure if Los Garza are still together. But they got to get all those people in there together. So we got right now, by the way, the money in the bank standing.
We've got the two women that entered last night, Rhea Ripley, Roxanne Perez. We've got Alexa Bliss from SmackDown. And so I believe is the only male entrant who's in so far after winning his match on SmackDown. with the help of J.C. Mateo. What do you think about J.C. Mateo? J.C. Mateo, a better name than Jeff Cobb, yes or no? I don't think it's a bad name. It's just always, he sounds like a Dominican baseball player. It's just a little different. We'll all get used to it like we always do.
Jordan Devlin became JD McDonough. We all got used to that. The new main roster name generator is just your initials with a new last name. What would your name be? i guess i'd be like what's the wwe kf sanderson or something no no you still gotta have some background in there it's just gotta be like new and trademarkable and like maybe short Yeah, Sanderson's probably too many words. but there's always
What about yours, David? I don't know. You can break yours into, like, your name is three names. David Shoemaker. So, like, DS. He can be Yaka Belair and just be David Maker. Yeah. Just like shorten it down. Or Michael Hickenbottom and just be David Maker. My middle name is Steven. steven all kinds of things steven shoemaker yeah that's my dad's name actually i can be like david stevens
D.S. Stevens. D.S. Stevens is the jobberest name I've ever heard, Brian. Well, my middle name is Adi Takumbo. And as a kid, I wouldn't think that would make for a great... It's spelled the same way as Giannis? So here's the thing. Giannis being a Greek immigrant, it was originally spelled the way my name is spelled because we're both Yoruba people. But once he, you know, migrated to Greece,
The DE turned into an A-N-T-E. So it's the same name. They just Greekified it when he became an immigrant of that country. Yeah, nah, Yanis definitely could make my middle name a little bit more tangible for his people. I'd have to be super, way more African than I am, though, if I was just Adetokumbo Famuide. It's like, that's not a lie. That's too much. That's too much. They'd break it down. I'd be, I'd be like, they'd overfame it. I'd just be, I'd be, I'd be FAMO.
There you go. No, yeah, your name is just KF. Yeah, KF. KF Jackson. KF Jackson. Oh, yeah. 2K25 is going up now. That's all you, Brian. Thank you. Brian, what's yours? Oh, man, I don't know. I was just sitting here thinking. I was talking. I was like, oh, I got Kaz's name. I didn't even think I'm talking about it. That's so great. Brian Waters is a great wrestler name on its own. It just needs a nice
It just needs a nice, like, prefix of a nickname. A nickname, yeah, like Brian. You can call him, like, Ice Waters. Yeah, like Brian Icewaters or something like that. Or Showtime Brian Waters or something like that. That's the guy. That was funny. I actually did that on 2K one year. What? Showtime Brian Waters? Showtime Brian H. Waters. Well, there you go, man. You got very easily pronounceable names.
on video games. That name generator is fun. It's gotta be. It's gotta be. I never, I never, I never got to experience that feeling as a video gamer. Never in my life. I'm actually in NBA 2K. I'm actually on the social media section of Twitter.
And I still can't have my name pronounced in the game, which is absolutely insane. But you always comment on my bad decisions, my bad general manager. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'll let y'all have it on that shit, man. Shout out Ronnie. He made Charles the curmudgeon. on the timeline. That's so funny. Oh, man. Yeah, man. Guys, send us your wrestling names with the name generator in your tweets. Literally.
started playing 2k25 like this weekend i was like i'm doing that and 2k nba 2k is on his last legs let me finally jump into wwe 2k and the first thing i do whenever i play a new wwe video game is i gotta create my guy i gotta make sure his entrance is fire and then i gotta start my rise right yeah but the only thing that sucks about my rise and creating a player is that like they can never say my actual name so like when i create one
And it has, like, some, like, knockoff version of my name. And, like, you know, Jasmine walks by and she's like, who the hell is KM? Is that supposed to be you? I'm just like... It's not as easy as... Is the name the problem? It's not that you're making a U-looking wrestler on your computer? She always clowns us because it's like, yo... They know exactly how to get people who love video games because you're sitting there creating the most.
We got like a 12 pack of abs and stuff. Yeah. The perfect circles of people who love video games and love themselves. Where all that giant space that overlaps in there. it's like i hope no one takes any offense to this at all please i want to be very clear But there's almost always something just a little bit inherently gay about creating.
That's not gay, that's onanism. This is self-love all the way. Yeah, it's like you're making like the sexiest version of yourself. It's like nobody makes how you actually look like. There's like a whole version where I can have like... A pretty big build, but not really a six-pack. Do you think I'm going to pick that? Oh, give me the six-pack. Give me the perfect hairline with the waves give me the beard
And the Esha's got to be fire. But one day, one day, the 2K gods will bless me with some pronunciations of either Kazim, Adetokounmpo, or Fami Wide. One of these days. Giannis. It's up to us, Giannis. We can do this. We can do this. Well, we have more we have to talk about before we can just end the show, although that seems sort of like enough. Wait, where were we? What were we even talking about before?
Let's talk about name generators and JC Mateo. Oh, JC Mateo. JC Mateo, for the record, is a huge step up over Jeff Cobb. Love Jeff Cobb, the wrestler. Jeff Cobb, the name sounds like... It sounds like the lead singer of a band out of Seattle. Yeah. It's like the lead singer of the Smashing Chairs. Jeff Cobb is here. Jeff Cobb is more like the lead singer of the pseudo-grunge Christian rock band, right?
There's not a lot going on there for Jeff Cobb. JC Mateo is definitely a step in the right direction. Oh, yeah. I'm not mad at it. Yeah. Alexa Bliss earned her way in the Money in the Bank qualifying match. We talked about that a little bit. What do you think her odds are? She's won it before. It would make a ton of sense to have her win it again. But, you know. I'd give it, if there's what, six people in the match, I'd give Alexa Bliss a 17% chance.
Winning money in the bank and that's real matter Steiner math. That's Steiner math So if you got six competitors and you only know three of them so far that gives you a 33 and 30 percent chance of winning We're not normal. So you take... Alexa bliss a 33rd third percent chance and you get the rest of the Unnamed the competitors of money in the bank and give them a 6.7 percent chance Alexa bliss
Her chances go down drastically. So at least a 12.7% chance. But then they add Rhea Ripley to the mix. Well, then they're never losers. Alexa bliss has a two point three point three percent money in the bank We don't have a storyline also.
Really? I mean, except just kind of being around Charlotte and saying, hey, you're going to need me. Well, okay, so there's been a lot of complaints about Alexa Bliss and how they've dropped the ball with her since her return, the reaction she got, and blah, blah, blah. I mean, listen, yes, there was going to be some Wyatt sick stuff that didn't. work out, it seems like because there were some health issues or whatever. I don't know all the details.
This feels like the Alexa Bliss reboot. I don't know if we're still going to wait on the YN6 or whatever, but it certainly feels like over the last few weeks, they're like, okay, that's not going to work. We're on to a separate story. So, yeah. I mean, you're saying she doesn't have anything going on. She'll have stuff going on by then. I feel fairly confident. That was fair as hell.
yeah uh and it's nice to have her around it's nice to have her around um anyway so yeah so i mean we'll obviously have much much more time to discuss money in the bank as those things go on uh a w side Brov Hangman is finally happening this weekend. Again, we're going to talk about all this stuff later. I was pleasantly surprised that the Hurt Syndicate got as much praise as they did.
I have picked a lot in this storyline. No, no, I'm, I'm, yeah. I mean, I'm not surprised. I'm, I'm happy that they got as much praise as they did because it's all there because they're so great. I feel like I've picked a lot of nits with that storyline, but it's not really, it's more of just a pacing thing. It has nothing to do with the wrestlers or the performances. So yeah, I mean, that's definitely cool.
What else from, well, was there a quick timeout? Was there anything from, Collision was really good while it's dead until it cut out on Mac. It was really fun.
For my first grading on Black Adam, by the way, which has got to be a special sort of... f-u from someone up there that's like the full round of f-u it's like an f-u to aw because it's the rock but it's probably also it's like the rock wearing the new japan shirt it's like the implicit f-u to wwe you know um Damn, well do you think that was that that was that I had to digress from collision real quick Do you think that New Japan shirt that the Rock wore the week before WrestleMania was a Nah
Yes, 100%. I'm just happy to be like, nah, I couldn't do that. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's like you just wear the shirt just to remind somebody to call you. you know just to make sure everybody collision was good though collision was good up until then for sure uh double or nothing is again coming up this weekend we still don't have the energy in the arena match has officially been has been announced, but all we know is that it's Team Swore versus Team Mock.
So we don't know all the members, although Mox is teaming up against the Ops. Mox is teaming up with the Bucks for a trios match on Dynamite. So I think we might be teasing in that direction. Regardless, I'm coming around. That'll be a lot of fun. Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara won against Cruz. So they win the official get destroyed by the Hurt Syndicate tournament. And then, of course, the two big matches, double or nothing, or the two Owens Cup finals.
uh hangman versus bruv will osprey and jamie hater versus mercedes monet um you know this is one of those moments where the long-term storytelling or at least the long-term planning kind of pays off those both those matches are going to be absolutely sick And that's worth the price of admission alone. I'm sure MVP MJF will get involved in that tag team match. They'll have some role to play. They'll continue telling these stories.
Saturday Night's main event is really big, too. We're going to talk about it on Thursday. If the Knicks were playing both Knights, What is the... What one match spread out between Saturday Night's Main Event and AEW Double or Nothing is going to make you change the channel from the Knicks. Most likely to change the channel from the Knicks for this whole match.
Let's just thank the Lord upstairs that Game 1 and Game 2 are on Wednesday and Friday. So Saturday, I will not have that choice. But if I did... Probably Anarchy in the Arena. Really? Over Brough Hangman? I think so. Oh my gosh, Brough Hangman. Jeez, what am I thinking? Yeah, I think I'll take an arena for sure. Yeah, there's gonna be there's gonna be stuff in there that is I Know I know Osprey and hangman are gonna have an amazing match. Don't get me wrong
Anarchy in the arena is anarchy in the arena. It happens once a year. They usually pull out all the cartoonish shit, violence, and there's usually cars involved and people falling off of stadiums. all types of shit like i i just love the concept of the match and I don't know if they did it before, but like, you know, when they had the music playing throughout the entire match, I always thought that was great.
i love how there's like a specific camera crew for each fight so like if one thing is happening and one part of the arena something else is happening in the other part and they always come together like i know hangman improv is going to deliver but like anarchy in the arena is like I'm probably going to see some great wrestling and something like... massively entertaining as well. So I'd give that a spin, you know, if the Knicks and the Pacers were on.
A 60-second timeout or something in our halftime. What about Sami Zayn and Punk against Rollins and Brick. ¡Ahhh! It's... something gives me It makes me feel like the end of the match is going to be much more important than the actual match. I was just going to say the same thing. I don't know exactly what it would be. I feel like there's definitely going to be something schmazi happening at the end. Has to be. Although, it's Saturday Night's main event. This isn't, you know, the big...
After the first new main event, it's not like this is the moment for the biggest things to happen, necessarily. What do you think it's going to be? A new member joining the faction? Just a schmazi finish? I don't know. I can see a return. I can see a debut. They're going to win. Seth and Brian are going to win. They're going to stand tall at the end of the show, probably. Or at the beginning of the show, the minute when it's on. But how's that going to look? All saying.
but it kind of feels like people are projecting a sammy zane heel turn i don't know how much i believe that But I do believe they're both going to be laid out somehow. And, you know, money in the banks around the corner. Roman Reigns still hasn't really been around. I'm sure he'll start warming up his summer schedule, too, and see how he fits in there. You think so? i'll be honest man like a roman punk sammy collective
I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued in seeing how all three of those dynamics work out because Roman and Sammy are still cool. Roman and Punk were both left laying at WrestleMania the day after WrestleMania. Those three together on the same page, that's some TV I'm watching. Yeah. But I don't know. I'm sure we're probably not getting Roman into Halloween SummerSlam, but that's just my take.
Oh, you know, we didn't mention Nia Jax versus Tiffany Stratton from SmackDown. Oh, I heard it was a banger again. It was. Tiffany's best match as champ, and Nia Jax got absolutely... I watched the replay. I was in the midst of the New York craziness on Friday night in the garden. And the first thing, once I sobered up and got all that tequila out of my system, I asked Twitter, how was Smackdown? And every single person said,
Nia Jax and Tiffany Strand tore that shit down. Go watch that. It absolutely did. Shout out to them. It was really, really good. Right before we go. Mentioned The Rock in his New Japan shirt earlier. Fightful reported this week there's strong opposition internally within WWE to turn Cody Rhodes' heel despite The Rock insisting they could revisit Cody selling his soul.
Now, I'm a little bit torn on this because I feel like The Rock is missing more than he's hitting over the past several months, but I'm the one who made the case for Cody Rhodes' turning heel in his match where he regains the title from John Cena myself. Um... Does The Rock just live in a parallel universe? Or do you think... Do you think we'll ever get... It's just so weird how The Rock's rollercoaster of crowd...
vibes has gone over the past two years. What's your take? Should The Rock come back? I mean, The Rock can be a huge asset to WWE. Yeah. What's getting in the way of this working out? Is it just egos? Is it hurt feelings? Is it... Does The Rock just have a weekly call with Nick Khan where he's like, hey, I got an idea. Why don't we redo the selling the soul gimmick one more time?
What if every week it's just like, Nick, or he sends a text, Nick, I've got a new idea. Can we chat? And it's the same idea every single time. I'll say this, man. I don't know.
if it's, I'm on the outside, we're all on the outside looking in, so we're all just doing what we always do in the show, which is wildly speculating. And I feel like if there was, uh, if the only thing The Rock was doing was being involved in WWE I think this would be a much different conversation I think as it goes with anything creatively, anything in work, anything as far as having people to answer to ultimately when it comes to...
stuff like that i've been in that position before where it's like you know i'm on i'm boots on the ground for this thing every single day you can't just come down from your you know The million things you're doing. Throw an idea out. We just got to throw everything away. Like, no, I just thank you. I just think collaboratively, we probably don't get as much Triple H and The Rock collaboration as we would probably expect in this whole thing.
sort of popped off and again i'm just wildly speculating i'm no clue what really happens between uh you know what the rock creatively thinks so where triple h creatively thinks uh but You would think that when the rock goes out there, there's a level of unscripted unpredictability that is always watchable. Now is it easy to follow along?
Is it easy to follow up on after these things happen? That's probably where I think of our Triple H or I was boots on the ground in the creative department every single week. That's probably where I would have my issues. Only thing is the rock is the rock and anytime he shows up and he does anything It's the only thing anybody is going to talk about and is that the unpredictability is gonna curse He's gonna do what the rock feels like doing
Because ultimately, no matter what we think about him, The Rock is always good for the wrestling business. Him just being there is always going to be somehow good. Now is he good for the long-term creative of WWE? Kind of has been remained to be seen so far because he kind of came in at the tail end of the bloodline story And even that part was sort of amended to what I think he ultimately wanted which was a match with roman reigns yeah um so who knows man like it's it's it's weird it's
It's getting a little awkward, isn't it? Like it kind of feels like this is heading for As many times as we hear these reports, it's kind of like there's going to be a collision course here somehow of egos versus egos where someone's going to have to win out. And I don't know who that's going to be. Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe there aren't. Yeah. And so we're like... We'll have more to talk about The Rock in our weekly What the Hell is The Rock Talking About feature. We gotta get out of here.
Thank you guys for listening. Kaz, you want to get your plugs in on the way out? Yeah, man, 7 p.m. in Brooklyn. Catch me every Thursday there. Catch me at 7 p.m. I'll say less with Kazza. Okay, Rosie available now on my YouTube page, youtube.com. That's Kazim. And catch me here on the Ring of Wrestling show, talking all day's grabs. Know what time it is, buddy. Catch y'all next time. You can find me here. You can find me on the Press Box.
Thank you to our producer, Brian H. Waters. Thanks to our EP, Ben Cruz. Thank you all for listening. Finn Balor is going to be okay. You see him get that pin? Last night, watching the coding ground. We'll see you back here on Thursday, humanoids.