Official 2025 Royal Rumble Predictions

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as the show goes on. But I want to give some shout outs here to some new patrons, as we've gotten several of them over the last several days and heading into the Rumble season, which is great. And I like to welcome Martin Miller, Correll, Corell, thank you. I don't want to say your last name because I'll screw it up, so Martin Miller, that's an easy one. Corell, thank you for joining us. Andrew Hammond, thank you for

joining us as one of our paid members. And thank you everybody, if you'd like to join, everybody, over at Patreon. Get it at access to a discord server that allows you to talk with everybody in real time during the event. Head over to Patreon. It's also a one week free trial if you'd like to join us so Patreon. Apple Podcasts also a great place for ad free as well as Spotify. Alrighty, so, my goodness, my goodness, here we are.

We're all Rumble season. And just as a reminder before we get into it, I am on vacation from Wednesday to Sunday next week. That doesn't mean you won't hear from me at all. It doesn't mean I won't be posting anything. I will try as long as the Wi Fi in my hotel is good. I may even record something here and there if I can. But I can't promise anything. I will not be even in the country,

so I will not be here. I will not be not be around to you know, get my normal content out from my stuff that I do on the weekend review well for the end of the week in the mailbag. The mailbag next week may not happen. You guys can still send in questions. Maybe I'll answer them on the Sunday show. If I will actually have to be a

Monday show because Sunday I'm traveling. It's gonna be a mess next week, guys, So I apologize in advance if you're like, hey, what the hell is content not as consistent? I'm gonna try. I promise you. I'm bringing my laptop and as long as the WiFi is good, I'll be

posting content. So all right, Well that out of the way, Let's get to our mailbag and let's talk to those who sent in emails this week, and we'll get through them as quickly as we can, because I know y'all want to hear about the royal rumble and the potential returns. What my thoughts are, and we're going to get to that, all right, So let's hear from Andrew. Andrew is a patron. Thank you for being a patron, Andrew, and he says, Hey, Matt, I wanted to share my thoughts on the transfer window.

I'm actually a fan of the recent transfers. Priest to SmackDown Bailey to Raw it shakes up rivalries right before Mania season. I also enjoyed seeing Tiffany and Rhea together. Why does it bother me that this transfer window sees more seems more impactful than the actual draft. They hype up the draft for weeks just to see us have Carmelo Hayes go. Number one. The transfer window that seemingly came out of nowhere has been brand shattering. Also, does

the transfer window ever end? It feels like w W has been using as an excuse for two months and quick rumble predictor predictions for the women Charlotte for the men.

I shouldn't say that. In principle, the draft is a good idea, I think generally, But the problem is they they don't adhere to their own rules and break them when they want out of convenience and they want to have their cake and eat it too is what they want. So this transfer window, it does seem more impactful. You know why, because the draft is, especially when it comes to draft order, is preposterous. I mean, it was very much.

I don't want to get into the politics of it, because I think there were some politics to this, I really do. So let's look at the WWE draft order right in twenty twenty four, every draft pick that happened in April of twenty twenty four. All right, let's take a look at this. It's absolutely ridiculous. Ready, you want to Night one Round one, SmackDown chose Bianca. Now, you guys know, I'm a huge fan of Bianca, but she wasn't doing jack around this time at all, and she

hasn't done anything since. How are those first round draft picks going for you? Raw chose Jay Uso. That's a solid pick, but I wouldn't say he's the first overall pick for Raw. Then SmackDown gets Carmelo Hayes, a guy that can't find his identity, that gets from a main crowd, a main roster crowd perspective, doesn't get exactly the biggest reaction. And then Raw chose Seth Rollins. That's a little bit more of a I guess some more logical pick. Yeah,

you're right. How the hell is Carmelo Hayes in the first round? He belongs in like the fifth, sixth. Then we get round two, which had Randy Orton, bron Breaker, Nia Jackson, Live Morgan. All right, Randy Orton makes more sense if you're going for star power and you're going for in ring ability. I mean, Randy Orton should have been like an overall pick. Right, This is very much a it's for optics, Okay. At the end of the day, the order of those draft picks is more about perception

from the outside world, from stakeholders, shareholders and sponsors. Guys read between the lines, why do they want these people? Nothing again? Bianca top talent, jay Uso top talent, Carmelo Hayes top talent. Well I shouldn't say that, sorry, potential future top talent, but urrently way down on the totem pole. Why would they do that? M I have my suspicions. I have my suspicions that I know that if I

said it on the show, people would say stuff. But you got to remember what time we're living in, the perception we're living in the type of company that owns w now and what their values are, which are very explicit. I'm not interpreting them. They are what they are. I think some of that had to do with that, because in what world would Randy Orton be picked in the second round with over Camalo Hayes all right, Kamalo Hayes

is that's ridiculous. Also, how did the Bloodline solots to call it, Tomatana and Paul Hayman get chosen in the third round? How did La Knight get chosen in the third round? He was hot on fire at that point. Aj Styles Granted he's at injuries, but Aj Styles at one point the face of the company is in the fourth round. How does that work? So it's just absurd. You can draw your own conclusions. You can probably read

between the lines of what I'm thinking. The reason is ultimately, this transfer window back to the point at hand, is open for as long as they want it to be. That's what it is. That's the rule. That's what the they're going for is it's as long as we need it to be open to set up the WrestleMania card.

But here's the thing that kills me. They're doing this transfer window, but if they don't adhere to the brand rules, anyway, then there's just why even have this, because you're just going to have a crossover for no reason anyway, with no explanation. I don't know. I just they don't have a brand split, but they want to say they do. That's what this is. Okay, thank you, but yeah, no, the transfers have been good. I mean, if they're actually

sticking to the rules. Here a priest to SmackDown feels fresh. Bailey de raw, I like it helps her, helps him, Tiffy and Rhea, Yes, I agree, I totally agree. All right, AJ, let's get to your email, and AJ says, really looking forward to my favorite pl e or you said pay per view. I like paper. I still miss the phrase pay per view. I enjoy not having a clear winner in month months in advance, like Cody and Bailey last year.

I do have some personal nightmare scenarios and things I don't want to see, like the Rock winning to face Cody, and I've seen some people theorize that Roman could win and Punk would use his favor to make a triple threat with Cody. Either way, I just don't want either one because I'm tired of the bloodline hogging all the main event. Matches for WrestleMania. They've had the last five. The last one they didn't have was Kevin Owns and stonecolds the Boston and I think it's time to move on.

That's a great point.

look at the ratings minute by minute. I mean, I'm gonna guess that you don't, but if you did, you could see that these particular stars drew draw in the fans. This story of the Bloodline still does have a spike in viewership. And listen to the crowd when they're in the arena. It speaks for itself. So I agree that

from a distance it's like, oh my god. But until the crowd changes its mind that they don't want to see this anymore, w W is gonna keep cranking out different versions and different variations, and the Bloodline splits and gets back together and there's turns and there's Yeah, it's gonna keep going. I don't have a super solid prediction.

Sena plus one fifty and Punk plus one seventy five are the current betting favorites, but I don't think Sina will win because he's so heavily advertised for the chamber. That's a great point, aj An excellent point. Excellent If John Cena, as he has said prior to his twenty twenty five debut of his uh you know farewell tour that I mean, boy, you talk about, uh, he's got the Roman reign schedule. You know he's not here every week.

If if people thought he was gonna be here every week, you're sadly now mistaken and getting a slap of reality. But the key here is that i'd even think about until aj brought it up. He said, the rumble will be my last rumble. The elimination chamber will be my last chamber, which hinted that he'll be in the chamber. I would imagine he would be otherwise, you know, maybe to one on one match outside, but I doubt it he'll be in the men's chamber, which why would he

be in the men's chamber? Match if he won the Rumble, You're not why would the World Rumble winner be there. They've already got a guaranteed spot wrestle any what the hell are they doing in there? You know? So he kind of gave it away up front. I think you're exactly right. Ooh, you may be onto something, all right. I'll be ritting for Punk, Drew or Orton if he enters, but honestly, I think it'll be Roman. I hope I'm wrong. Charlotte is the betting favorite for the women, but I

hope that doesn't happen either. I would like to see Bianca win, but I think the Jade step will overshadow so that so I'm hesitantly picking Charlotte. Her and Stratton seem like a match Wwe would love to help Stratton get over and look like a star he has. It's kind of ridiculous that you can bet on scripted sporting events and wish me luck. I'm not being stuck working

too late Saturday. Oh I do wish you luck. The good thing is we're in the era of streaming, so as long as you stay off social media, which is difficult, especially if you have notifications enabled. Sometimes I do that, I stay off social media, but then I get a notification from like WE or from X, and I'm like, no, right, it's like I don't want to see that, and then

it spoils the whole. So here's the key. Since we're in the era of streaming and we're in a luxurious time in our lives where we're able to just see things on demand even when they're live, turn your notifications off for social media. That way, if you do have to work late and you don't want things spoiled, you can always start from the beginning and not have any spoilers to be worried about. So cool, Thank you, AJ. All right, let's see here. Uh, let's talk to I.

Wait now, I already already talked to Andrew. Sorry, I was gonna read your It's gonna read your email twice. It was so nice, all right. Doc to DJ and he says, it's here the Royal Rumble, the pl that most of us would probably say is their favorite ple

of the core four. This will be Triple H's third rumble is chief Content Officer, and I got to say his past rumbles have been, in my opinion, kind of obvious with the choices of the winners for both men and the women in twenty twenty three Cody and Rhea, and then the last year Rumbles winner Rumble winner and Cody, Rhodes and Bailey. However, this year's Rumble has an open field of credible and potential challengers, plus the women's Rumble looks to be probably the best it's ever been with

a stacked a roster of SmackDown Raw NXT. And don't forget TNA, as Jordan Grace will be making another appearance, or maybe even Masha Slamovich. Did I say that right? Probably not TNA's knockout champ, or maybe the recent TNA return of Tessa Blanchard could make an appearance at the Rumble. Don't forget about my guy, Joe Henry. All you gotta do is say his name. That's it. I mean, it's that simple, all right. Here's your predictions. No spoilers, so again,

not my predictions, guys. This is DJ's predictions. Cody versus Kevin Ladder match for the untersputed title. Cody retains second. DIY versus the Motor City machine Guns two out of three falls with the w Tag team titles. DIY retains all right, straightforward. Three Women's Rumble Match three dark Horse picks Naya Live Morgan or a possible returning oscar Ooh, all right, all right, we're getting We're getting in there now.

Two potential picks Bianca or Charlotte. However, my number one pick to win the twenty twenty five Women's Royal Rumble non none other than Eo Sky. Yoke Sky has been a crowd favorite for quite a while since Damage Control became Babyfaces, and since she's always had really good matches. My only concern is her character. Who is she? What is her backstory? For those that never saw her on a next year in Japan? I think wwe could work

on that if she wins the Rumble. Interesting? Interesting, all right. The men's were Rumble Match three dark Horse picks Logan, Paul True McIntyre or a possible final Boss I e. The Rock. Two potential picks Roman or John Cena. However, the number one pick to win the Rumble j Uso. Excuse me, Main event, jay Uso. I really think it's his time to get that moment, to finally get that Rumble moment. Jay's been a crowd favorite for a while since the Left the og bloodline in twenty twenty three

and King de Raw. I believe that this year Jay Usso finally lives up to his main event name and potentially becomes world champion in WrestleMania with a very stacked women's and men's rumble this year. I don't think there might be it might be any returns, however, I could probably think of four omas. Yeah, people can forget about a moss aj styles. Nicky I don't really get you know,

let me just pause there. Nicki Bella is pretending there's some kind of grassroots movement, some kind of just some kind of organic desire from the fans that's growing for her to return. Like no one is asking Nicki Bella to return now if she wants to do a one off as many of the women do for yesteryear and the men's match too, for the rumble, which is fun. You know, you have Diesel, You have Diesel one year.

You know the Honky Tonk man like things like that. Fine, you want to have a moment like that Nicky comes out and does her stripper pole dance that. I mean, I just have no time for that. I don't need this anymore. I'm sorry, I wasn't a Nicky Bella fan when she was in her prime, if there was such a thing. I find her her character extremely one dimensional. I don't think she's that good in the ring. She does nothing thing for me at all. This is my

personal opinion Nikki Bella. I don't understand. She's the only one who's believing her own hype, I think is what the problem is. But she could absolutely appear and Becky Lynch Yeah, okay, okay, maybe brock Lessener or do I dare say Goldberg? No? Please, please don't say it. Hopefully you don't say his name and he appears all right anyway, Djikuzmas signing off, have a great weekend, enjoy the Rumble, and I'll try to appear in the discord chat for Saturday.

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a track record. Sorry, no starter loans. It's fast, easy, and built to help mom and pop shops not just survive, but thrive. Check out Blaze Business Funding at Blaze business funding dot com. All right, let's get to those patren emails directly in the system, and then we'll get to those I think I might have one that's outside of Patreon. If I don't get to everybody, I do apologize today. I've We've got a lot to get through here, so

let's get to it. Let's get to our first patron who message me directly through the system, which I always do appreciate. This is Scott and he says, hope you're doing well, A couple things for the mailbag and listening to the raw review it got me thinking about significant moments that got me watching wrestling. So for me, it was being eight years old at school and being told about stone Cold Steve Boston and watching role the following Saturday morning and being hooked. Ever since I'm now thirty

nine years old, what a time that was. Well, Scott, we share the same birth year, I would imagine then and I can't. Yeah, Well, first of all, you were eight, So if you're my age and you're eight, that means you started watching wrestling in like, how are you eight? You're hearing about stone Cold? Stone Cold Steve Boston didn't really start until like ninety seven is really when he started to catch on. I think his character started in ninety six. I guess maybe the math isn't mathing for me,

but I would agree he's the one that got me hooked. Actually, Sean and Taker did with their hell Ando Saw match that's well documented, but stone Cold, by far and still to this day, is the most just powerful character for me and my wrestling. You know history, we all have different journeys and what kept us watching wrestling and what started. But that's cool. What's your favorite rumble moment? I have a couple. First, the three faces of Folly in ninety eight.

How did he not win when he had three attempts at it? Shame? I like Folly to have won it at some point. The second is John Seene has returned from injury oh eight, the look on Triple H's face when he entered at number thirty. Those are two great moments, definitely, the three faces of fully. I remember watching that and I'm like it. I was naiven up at that point to believe, like, wait a minute, does he is he Triple It? Is this the same guy? And it took me a few minutes. I'm like, no, this is the

same guy. And I found it funny and I still do to this day. It's very clever. You know, it's a you know, a schizophrenic character with which all three characters are well portrayed. It's just great. He had three cracks of the rumble and he still failed. He took up three spots. It was great. As far as John scene has returned, I still remember that. Here's the thing about this with John Cena. I during that whole chain Gang era where WW turned very soft coming off of

ruthless aggression. Right at that time, I was resentful of John Cena character, not that I didn't understand or recognize his talent or I was blind to the success he was having, or thinking that, you know, oh well, he's just a flash in the pan.

road for the growth of the company. And sure it's worked out great for them, but at the time I was extremely resentful of John Cena because he was the symbol of that change. You know, hustle, loyalty, respect. I mean, like, does it get any more just I mean PG than that, you know what I mean? It just I hated it. You go from stone cold beer and middle fingers to hustle, loyalty and respect kids. I just that change really turned

me off. I hated it, hated it so I still have some of that lingering to me for me today for his babyface character. But now we have Cody Rhodes that we can point to for that exact type of character. Mister clean cut. Anyway, I don't get on it, but some of my moments, I mean, one comes to mind that's really funny is Pete Rose and Cain when Pete Rose, you know, got Tombstone by Caine, just hilarious. We had

Drew Carrey in there one year with Caine. The ongoing rivalry though with Cain and and Pete Rose and Pete Rose was the well was he the mascotters of that? That was really funny. Stone Cold's first win, Stone Cold's second win in two thousand and one, eliminating Caine was I mean, knowing that he was going to main event wrestle MEINGI a sevent team at the Rock, that was

a big moment, you know. So those are some of them for me, and also Randy Orton, r ko ing Naya Jacks there you go, all right, so your predictions, you think EO. Sky is gonna win the rumble for the women, Nicky, Jordan, Grace and Mickey are surprised. Mickey James are surprise entrants Bailey to be the Iron Woman in the match going fifty five minutes. Wow. Becky Lynch

returns but not Alexa Bliss. Seampunk wins the men Men's World Rumble, Joe Hendry, the Hardy's Wow, the Hardies and Big E all return and Seth Rollins is the Iron Man in this match, lasting over an hour. Keep put the good work always a great listen Scott and the UK, Well, thank you, Scott. I hope everything is well across the pond, as they say, good stuff. You guys give me a lot to think about for my predictions. All right, let's go. Let's go to what do we want to talk to?

Let's talk to Jeff he Wrestling Family. First off, I want to say JD is a beast after a Monday night. I hope he gets better fast and see what they do with him next. With that, I wonder with him out, what are they gonna do with the judgment day split them. He's a great wrestler and needs a singles push. Yeah, I don't know what they're gonna do. I think JD getting injured here. Of course, getting injured always sucks and there's never a great time, but sometimes time away allows

the fans to miss you. And JD's not a major character, but he's in a major group, but part of a major group that is starting to, you know, certainly wear out its welcome. I think it's it's lifespan is coming to an end quickly. So sure. I think as Upono's return, he could maybe be slotted back in if it's only a couple months, but the Judgment Day is probably on its way out sometime this year. Having him in a singles role going after maybe the Intercontinental Championship is going

to be fun. So excited for the Rumble, my favorite ple. You talked about Rhea possibly entering the Royal Rumble, and I do agree. There's no reason for her to be in the match, the men's anyway or the women's. The only thing I could see her doing is coming in eliminating dominic and then leaving. With that being said, my picks and predictions are okay. Well, first of all, yeah,

I mean that is a very thing to do. But the stickler in me, the logical, just a small part of my just any logic here, would say she's doubly disqualified. If that's a thing from the men's Rumble. Number one, she's not a man. Okay, despite what some people say today that you just have to declare you're the opposite sexon you, bibity bobbityboo, you are one. That's not how reality and biology works. But she's not a man. And

also she's not a legal competitor. So even if she was in the women's Rumble and she did this to a woman and she it wasn't her time to come out, or she was eliminated and did this, it's still not legal. So it's doubly illegal, which would I know, two negatives don't make a positive here, but you get my drift, all right. I really hope that doesn't happen, but it's a very debuta be thing to do, so sure that's

probably right. All right. So you think Cody Rhoades is gonna beat Randy Okay, Oh, you're gonna He's gonna win because of Randy, got it? D I y wins the tag match. And for the men, you think jay Uso is gonna win? Wow? Why do you guys are picking jay? I gotta say I can't agree with jay Uso. I just can't. And I'll talk about that a little bit.

I feel like he's either gonna win the Rumble or if not, then the elimination Chamber for a championship shot at WrestleMania against the champ that isn't chosen at the Rumble. The women's match, I'm not too sure is gonna win, because to be honest, everyone's already won. But if I had to choose, I would say Live Morgan or possibly Charlotte. I also heard that Trish will be in the match as well. This is gonna be a jam packed night.

I can't wait see all the Discord chat. Thanks for making this podcast, Yeah, no problem, I appreciate it, Jeff, and I hope you enjoy the conversation in Discord. And you also wanted to add that, apparently, from what I read, Triple H was doing and was told during town hall that he's going to be the first uninductee into the

w B Hall of Fame. I yeah, I haven't really talked about that w with Triple H an Undertaker or I'm sorry Undertaker and Shawn Michaels making this quote unquote surprise to Triple H that he's going to be the induct first inductee to the Hall of Fame certainly worth it, absolutely worth. I mean, Triple H his career is unmatched, one of the best heels WWE has ever had ever in its entire existence as a company. Triple H is doesn't get the credit he deserves for how good he

was as a heel. I don't think Stone Cold of the Rock would have been as successful as they were had it not been for Triple H. Not solely, but in part. He was a perfect foil, the perfect a hole. He was awesome. You legitimately hated him. It was it was Yeah. So now with that said, you guys know there's a butt here. I have to say I am kind of tired of seeing Triple H on my TV screen.

He and I don't know if it's just the performer in him, the wrestler in him rather what it is, but he just seems to have this knack, this unsustainable urge that he cannot not act on where he has to be on camera more than he should be for the introduction of a new championship or oh you ready, He'll come out at the beginning of the rumble and ask us if we're ready. Uh, you know, this is I'm seeing too much of him. I don't want to. I know, if it was occasionally backstage, you know, fine,

but I don't know. And now we're gonna see I've been more of him moving forward because his induction to the Hall of Fame. I don't know. It's weird that I feel like I'm getting a Triple H burnout a little bit, but I kind of am. So Again, no disrespect to Triple H. He's just an incredible I mean again, he is arguably in some circles in the Hall of Fame down a Hall of Fame, rout mushroar of wrestling.

You know, if you want to put Triple H on the Mount Rushmore wrestling, there's an argument to be made for that.

that's just it. Then here's the kicker for all the fans, and now I'm not saying it to you, Alex, just just generally, there are so many fans that they complain and their sole one dimensional complaint is wrestling's too predictable. Oh it's predictable. Oh I saw that coming, right And with this WrestleMania season, in this World Rumble, there isn't a person a fan on this earth right now that knows again, unless you're in the business and indobaby and creative,

that knows what's gonna happen. This is one of the most unpredictable seasons we've had in quite a while. So for everybody out there who is just complaining on the basis that it's predictable all the time and you value predict unpredictability so much, well then right now you should be elated. Right now, you should be skipping down the road, skipping to work. You're in your glory because you cannot tell me with any certainty you know who's gonna win

the Rumble this year, or WrestleMania for that matter. So but here's the thing. Those same fans that love their unpredictability and they're going through a lot of it right now, will then complain when something happens that they don't agree with, So they're going to be they're not getting there. They're I guess not giving ww BE credit for things being unpredictable right now, but when they have something happen then they don't like it. It's like, well you like unpredictability, right,

So they're trying to have it both ways. I think it's a good thing. I do. I think it's a good thing. Now, there are so many good options. There isn't a glaring option that you're like, oh my god, they have to do this or it'll suck, you know what I mean. There's not one that you're like, oh my god, if they don't get to this match at WrestleMania, it's going to be horrible that match doesn't exist. Because there are so many good combinations. It's not that one

is so far above out all the others. Although I will say Rock and Rollman is one that I want to get to, but that's beside the point here. So yeah, good overall. Oh, let's get to Miller from Beautiful South Africa here his predictions. All right, what's Miller? He says, I don't think it's gonna be Sena because it's his final retirement tour. It's his last time to compete in the chambers, so he shouldn't win and go the other path and compete in the elimination Champion and move Ondo Mania.

Yeah exactly, it's funny. I just made that point. It's not gonna be soether Punk. Their story is still too fresh and not completely resolved. They will have a WrestleMania rematch. Okay, cool. Roman Reiins has his story that has to happen this year with the Rock. The Rock might either enters thirty one with Roman still in. Roman will eliminate the Rock, but The Rock will come back and throw Roman Reigns

over the top to eliminate him. My pick is going to be a wild card, but I think jay Usso Man, you guys, Juso is gonna win the Rumble and get his rematch with Gunther and win the title. The women in my pick is Becky to be the first two time women's winner and she will go on to face Rhea Ripley. Hm Cody will win the latter match. Kevin Owens will get Sammy eliminated in the Rumble to set up their match at the royal rumble. Cheers to everyone.

All right, Miller, well he joined the bandwagon of cmpunk or I'm sorry, Jay us so winning the rumble. I don't know, man, I'll get the my predictions very very soon. We're almost there. But other than that, you've got some good stuff in here. I will just say that it's hard for me to not spoil my predictions by responding to you. It's a bit of a contrarian you know, a bit of a contrarian issue here. So all right, we have one more email. Let's get to it. This

is kay back on some things, so smack down. Three hours is too long? Two hours is perfect, I would agree. Why is pretty deadly around? The gimmick sucks and it's been flogged for years. I don't know. Pretty deadly is on life support. I have to say the women were great. Chelsea and Piper are gold with the gimmick. Tiffy's always great. As we all keep stating, bel Air has to get out of the tag team division. Look for liv and Roqueal to be crown soon. Yes, please please? Can we

put a bounty on it? I mean anything?

Irish lade. Yet well, that's the whole point I was making is he doesn't have to be your favorite to just have sympathy for the guy, because if you love pro wrestling, you feel sympathy instantly whether he's a hated heel or you love him as a baby. But it doesn't matter. All that goes out the window immediately with that hit. How you feel about his character instantly vanishes and it's just again, if you have a soul, you're thinking, oh my god, is he okay? You know? And luckily

he relatively was right. Nothing life threatening, which is great. So you have a couple of predictions for the rumble, a lot of shenanigans throughout. Sina wins, although I can't stand him to keep the final two. We're going Charlotte one. The Queen is back. Thanks for all you do. Cheers, well, thank you, kay, thank you appreciate it. Alrighty, So do I have in a minute? Oh wait, I might have one more here? This is from Amber. Let's see what Amber says. This isn't the best video, but I recorded

it while watching Saturday Night's main event. A fan along the ramp has a sign that says quote a year later the story still sucks, which Cody sees and then ignores. But after Cody walks by at a security guard walking behind him shoves the guy's sign out of view of the camera. Interesting. Just thought it was interesting that does how desperate WW is to make sure the fans support Cody.

They don't do this with anyone else. I've been noticing a slight decline in crowd reaction for Cody over the last few months, and simultaneously an increased effort from WWI to shove Cody down our throats as often as possible. It makes you wonder what is it about Cody specifically that makes WWE desperate for him to be the guy? This has been going on since his return at WrestleMania thirty eight. They obviously didn't see it in him before he left, So I wonder what it is about him

that made them go this is it. This is the guy, even when fans seem to be slowly losing interest, hoping he loses the belt at WrestleMania forty one. So I'll check out that video, amper, thank you. I mean, here's what ww would say in response to that, And I'm going to speak officially on behalf of the company, okay and get myself in trouble. No, but here's what they would say. They would probably say something to the effect of, we didn't choose anyone. You guys did, right.

fans to react that way. That's I mean, that's certainly possible that we all felt well we I say, you guys all fell for it. It's not impossible, but it's not the likely scenario. The likely scenario is the fans actually decided no, we want Cody, and hence hashtag was born. So the fans are there really the ones responsible for this continued Cody support, right. WWE at times has shoved stars down our throats. A Lah, the big dog character

from Roman reigns for six years. Horrible John Cena for however many years he dominated the top at his baby Face character. I never liked his Babyface character very much, especially the humorous version of his baby Face character. It's one of the worst I've ever seen, but incredible on the microphone, and I don't think he gets enough credit for how good he is in the ring. I don't think he's a you know, a Matt technician, let's be all honest, but you know, certainly one of the best

of all time. I don't think he's the best, but one of I can't deny that. But it's not WWE shoving him down our throats. They're just trying to create the perception that there is no dissension right now for Cody.

Right if you're the company and you put the you went with the fans, and you decided to make him the face of this new era, which is exactly what happened at Wrestling the A forty, then you don't want it to look like especially if there's no plans for it right now to turn Cody heel, then you don't want it to look like there's any fans that are, you know, against this movement. The only way that this is going to change is if the fans do it in larger numbers, and if there's a little bit less

of a support for Cody. That doesn't get me excited yet, because that's that's Ebb and Flow. I don't care how big of a star you are, Stone Cold Hogan, Rock Kine Taker go down the line Ultimate Warrior. The supporting from fans, ebbs and flows, especially from city to city, town to town, country to country, year to year, month to month, It all varies. So it's difficult to take the temperature of the support for Cody from a single event.

You'd have to really pay attention to every single show, and you know, look at it as an aggregate, you know, in totality. You know, from week to week patterns is what I'm looking for. And right now I would say the slightest of decline for Cody, but nothing that would get me excited. I mean, I just don't know how people support him. Again, not the man. He seems like a genuinely good guy. But this genuinely good guy character

is actually kind of who he is. But I don't want to see that nice of a guy on my TV screen being champion, wearing suits, and you know, just the way he speaks in his promos. He's a good promo. Good's good's great promo, let's be honest, really good in the ring. I'm not downplaying his talent, it's just he's not my flavor at all. In fact, he is the antithesis of what I kind of want out of a champion. He's too hard to anger, he's too slow, and he

speaks he's too self aware of how he looks. I've said this before, but I can't explain it any better. And part of it is what really annoys me with Cody is not his beach blonde hair or his suits, although that adds to it. It's almost like when he's cutting his promos, when he speaks like this, and his promos start out really slow, and I understand there's an evolution to a promo, but you can almost feel that he's thinking about how he looks as he's delivering it,

like he's self aware of how he's looking. And I don't want to feel that. Now you're trained to know how you look. You probably watch tape back of yourself. It's a weird point to make, but I can't describe it any more than that I wanted to feel ad libbed. I wanted to feel like, you don't care how you look, You're just gonna speak your mind. Cody feels very controlled and produced. He feels very produced, and I've never appreciated

that about his character. So you didn't you the guys didn't think you're gona get an episode without a Cody Ran did you come on there? There's some fuel for you guys to complain on Spotify that I'm how do I like wrestlings? You even like wrestling? I can't stand too bad? Get your own show? All right? Uh so yeah, thank you so much Amber for that, and I am.

I'm watching the video right now. It does look like he pushed it out away a little bit, but also maybe he's leaning a little bit too far, you know, to contact with stars. So yeah, I mean sure, that's the more fun answer. All right, let's get to some of the voicemails, guys. I don't know how many I'm gonna get to here because I gotta get to my role with predictions and I usually don't want to go over an hour here with my time crunch. So let's see what we can do.

So there's I guess you could say a fifty to fifty chance that Joe Hendry will make an appearance at the roy Rumble via Russell Khan Indianapolis, which is one of those wrestling conventions that happens every year, especially around the big pay per views of the big plees in the ww So Joe Hendry will be at Russell Khan Indianapolis on January thirty first and February first, as we all get ready for the Royal Rumble. Now, let's tick it to what happened last week on a live episode.

That's right, folks, a live episode of TNA for Rustling, as this was the fallout from TNA Genesis, as Joe Hendry was celebrating his championship win as becoming the new

TNA World Heavyweight Champion. As we see Joe Hendry comes in and the crowd is saying, we believe, we believe, singing along to his song, the catchy theme song that everybody loves and everybody says his name, as Joe Hendry thanks the crowd once again for believing in him and having that belief and having that movement that we believe movement to carry him into TENA Genesis to become the

new TEENA World Heavyweight Champion. He mentions that he wants to be a fighting champion and he told sand Tina Morella, the commissioner of ten A par Wrestling, that he wants to face any comers, any person from Tena's Rosstar or anybody outside of Tena that he wants to defend the TENA World Championship against whoever it is. So then here comes San Tina Morella as he made a big announcement that the main event of this live episode of Tina Parustling would be Joe Hendry versus None of the Den

Matt Cardona. If you remember him in WWE, he was known as zach Ryder Woo Woo, you know the whole woo woo guy zach Ryder. So Matt Cardona is Joe Henry's challenger, his first challenger in his first TNA World Heavyweight Championship defense. Now let's take you to the main event itself, as we had Joe Hendry versus Matt Cardona. The match won sixteen minutes and eight seconds, as we had a couple of Shenanigans that won something like this.

At first, we saw that Matt Cardona accidentally knocked out the referee in the right corner, so the referee.

comes John Bradshaw Ladfield again. This time he gives a closed line to Matt Cardona as Matt Cardona was trying to attack Joe Hendry with the TNA World Have with Championship belt. And then it was this very odd, very kind of interesting staredown between John Bradshaw Layfield and Joe Hendry. Does John Bradshaw Layfield believe in Joe Hendry? This is the second time that John Bradshaw Layfield was involved in

a match with Joe Hendry. Now, I hope this does not continue that every time Joe Hendry has a match that we see John Bradshaw Layfield. I mean, come on, guys, come on, TNA creative, Let's not do that all the time. So hopefully this is the last time that we see

John Bradshaw Layfield appearance doing it Joe Hendry match. Anyway, we get to the closing part of the match, as the referee finally wakes up, Joe Hendry goes for the Standing Ovation after when Matt Cordona has trying to attack Joe Hendry with the title belt, so Joe Hendry goes for the Standing Ovation choke slab at one two three. Joe Hendry gets the victory to retain the championship as he has his first successful TNA Championship defense sky Bencher before.

Joe Hendry will be at the Indianapolis, Indiana this Friday, January thirty first and Saturday February first for Russell Khan Indianapolis. There's a fifty fifty chance that Joe Hendry might make an appearance at the roy Rumble. He will also be at the Jericho Cruise on February second and February third.

So with all the exciting things that are happening in the world of Joe Hendry, always remember to say his name, believe, Always remember the words that Joe Hendry says any time at plays at any show and most so poorly as Joe Hendry is your TNA World chap. But always remember to do this.

he's gonna debut at the Rumble. He's already been an NXT, But I think he's going to definitely be a part of the Rumble, see what the reaction is, and then he's gonna stay back in TNA as W and TNA have a working relationship that has worked out pretty well so far in Jordan Grace and then all the rest. So certainly, yeah, I think that that's very plausible. Now JBL getting involved with Matt Cardona. Those of you that aren't following JBL, you know, probably didn't even know that

he was involved. I didn't. I heard rumors that he was, you know, appearing here and there in TNA. I don't know what this is leading to. Like you said, I would agree, I don't need JBL anywhere near wrestling at this point. I don't need a match between JBL and Matt Cardona or JBL and Joe Hendry. I'm good now, br Like, I'm okay, don't need it. But thank you DJ, thank you so much for the updates, and I hope you enjoy the Rumble. All right, last couple of voicemails and then my predictions.

Here's my prediction. Seth is gonna win the Royal Rumble. He's going to challenge Gunther Sina, who has been advertised like crazy for Elimination Chamber, is going to win Elimination Chamber and he's gonna challenge Gunther. And that's when you're gonna get teena Seth Gunther three way for the championships, because I don't think that Tina can carry a twenty to twenty two minute main event match by himself. But in a three way, obviously that goal goes out the window.

You could have set and Comfort doing a lot of the heavy lifting and then have Seena, you know, roll out of the ring for a or two, catch his breath, get his wins under him, come back in, do some cool stuff, come out whatever. I think it is the most brilliant way to get Sena in the match, and I think that is what's gonna happen. I also think

that CM punk will get into the main event. I think it will honestly be Cody versus Roman, but I think that CM punk is gonna get the favorite from Hayman and get into that match as a three way as well. So I think you're gonna have three three ways as your WrestleMania Night one and Night two main events for the Heavyweight and Universal or Undisputed Championship, and I think that's the way it goes down. Then. I'm

just shocked. I was shocked to see Seth Rollins as the betting favorite, and I mean by that by the odds makers making him a heavy favorite to win it. But after you kind of think about it from that perspective, I'd love to know your thoughts. Seventy three degrees here today and Sonny, thanks, Matt Bybe came out one other thing that I wanted to say that before I forget Louise who does your after dark show? This man is

an unbelievable broadcaster, incredibly interesting. I cannot recommend listening to Louise. I believe it's Gonzales Louis Gonzalez anymore if that means you have to go up a tier. This guy is so phenomenal. It's like listening to Joe Tessitour or something. I just and I mean this very seriously. He is an incredible broadcaster and just has a really funny, interesting way that he puts things that that is really compelling.

So bravo to you, Louise. I hope this gets on the air, And Matt, great job choosing a wonderful after dark podcast post there because he is amazing.

up a tier. The NXT plus and above get it every other week and the SmackDown level gets it every week. From Louise, He's great. Dave's great. Just I'm telling you, within like two minutes of listening to him, you're like, oh, I get it. He's just the way he delivers his voice was made for audio, I mean just everything. I totally agree. Yeah, I mean absolutely so. Thank you for

the compliments to him. And I'm sure you know, if he hasn't listened to this, I'll let him know that, you know, to look at the timestamp and hear from a listener that really likes his work and couldn't agree more, couldn't agree more. I'm learning from him, not that I'm trying to mimic him, but certainly he's he's excellent. Can agree more, Brad, And thank you for the last little quick jab, this little six inch jab about the weather.

Thank you so much, Bud. But I'll be in Mexico where it's eighty five degrees and sunny for four days. But then I have to come back to reality. There's nothing worse than coming back from a vacation knowing what's waiting for you. I'm already like pre depressed, that's the thing. I mean, I'm excited for my vacation for a few days, but also like I'm pre depressed for knowing how I'm going to feel heading home. But also on top of that,

like another plane crashed. It wasn't a commercial airline this time with you know, obviously we all know what happened to breaking airport with the military helicopter that crashed into the American Airlines flight disaster, first accident in fifteen years for the commercial airlines. But then today, just like an hour and a half, two hours ago, a plane, I believe it was something a medical plane took off from an airport in northeast Philadelphia and just went plummeting to

earth and killed six people. So I'm sitting here going you know, I don't have a really big fear of flying, but I'm starting to get it. I'm starting to develop one, and so I don't know what I'm gonna do. Maybe get some xanax, I don't know. But anyway, thank you Brad for that. And you know you present some great scenarios there, and let me get into my predictions. Let me just do them now, all right, So here here on my official twenty twenty five we're all rummel predictions.

So first of all, let's get some of the other matches out of the way. And I don't mean that in a derogatory way. So the undisputed uh, well, the Tag Team Championship match, I mean, let's be honest, that's the least interesting match out of all these for most people. I think probably DIY retains in a fun wrestling match that we'll get the crowd into it more than you think it will. It's one of those matches that on

paper you go, eh, it's just yeah, yeah, right. There's only four matches on the whole car, which is incredible, and this is a DIY win, all right, Cody Roads, Kevin Owens, Cody Roads retains. I don't even think again, how does he retain? Could be Randy Orton. Randy Orton could come in, but you also don't want looking like Cody needs help, so someone would have to come and help Kevin, which could be Sammy. So how about this, Cody still retains, the outcome is still the same, but

how they get there could be Randy. It also could be Sammy who looks like he's there to help Kevin because Kevin demanded that he essentially help him, and he ends up accidentally quote unquote screwing Kevin, leading to the eventual match potentially again between Sammy's and Kevin Owens, which is I mean, they work well together apart, They've got

great chemistry no matter how you put them together. So that's why I think either Randy or Sammy or a combination of both end up screwing Kevin Owens and then he's got something else to bitch about for the next six week, which is just great. Kevin Owens in the delusional state of aggression, the aggressive delusional state is the best version of Kevin Owens. I will stand by that. But fun match and Cody retains now more fun?

gonna go. I'm gonna go Bionc Belle Air. I'm saying Beyonce bel Air wins the Rumble because I think they're gonna go Bianca Rhea Ripley and I not only because I think that, but also I want that. So two different things, but hopefully they'll be the same thing. Bianca versus Rhea at WrestleMania. It needs to happen. That's a right in the tank now, you could have. Yes, Becky Lynch could return, although I mean, I don't know. Fans aren't dying for her to return. She could, I don't.

Although Kyle is Kyle that from one of our listeners loves Becky, I don't know. I think Becky Lynch has kind of run out of ideas and run out of things to accomplish, which is kind of also a compliment to her. So Becky Lynch I think loses or I'm sorry, does fifty to fifty chances she comes back. Yes, the big potential return for a one night only stand could be a J Lee. The pops she'll get is going to be incredible. If aj Lee does come out, I'm

looking forward to that. Trish could make her you know, make an appearance and that'll get a nice reaction. You could have Tory Wilson, but I hope they don't lean on those kinds of entrance and act lean on the talent they have more than anything. Yeah, So EO Sky is going to be in the final four. I expect Bailey to be in the final four, but I think ultimately it's Bianca Bellair who's going to win this and face Ree Ripley for the women's championship. All right, So

for the men, boy, this is tough. This is the most difficult world Rumble that I've been involved in recent memory. So let's look at who's already announced. John Cena, Roman reigns, Punk Rollins McIntyre, Uso, Knight Saints, Nakamura, Ramisterio, Logan, Paul Brown, Breaker Penta and Chad Gable and Carmelo Hayes. Those are the fifteenth. So they gave us half of the entrants that are going to be there. This is difficult, This is hard. I will say no to Jay Uso. And

I know a lot of you're like, but he's ready. Yeah, I think he. I think he is. But are the fans, like, be real with yourself. I mean, I know you, you those of you out there who want jus to win, But is it the majority you feel that the fans also concur with that? Like, are the fans generally also behind you? And I don't think the answer is yes on that because there's bigger stars in here with more support, like a punk like a Sina who's on the last run of his career, Roman Reigns. My god, Jay Uso

is just not in that top tier. And he just had a world title match in which he lost. He lost, fair and square. So they really, I think, made a statement to fans, Hey, I know you like Jay, but not yet, not yet, seth Rollins. Let me look at the names in here, just these names alone, We'll tell you that Jay has no chance rollins punk reiins Sena, no chance. Sorry. Jay is not in that top tier. He's in the top of the second tier, but he's

not in the top of the top tier. Sorry. Great, you know, good crowd reactions, but they've been inconsistent with Jay. That hasn't been really a story to tell yet with Jay. Yes, he has had a couple of championship matches and he hasn't been able to cross over the bridge yet, but the timing of him, I'm sorry, jay Uso main eventing WrestleMania in a one on one doesn't It's not quite there for me yet this year because of the way things are lining up. I'm not against it. Don't get

me wrong. If j Uso wins, hey, cool, Like I'm on board, man Like, all right, we're building a new star here, single star that is ascended into that next level. Cool. I'm not against it. I just don't see it happening this year because it's Sena, it's Rains, who's in the Rumble for the first time in six years. You have I see him punk back in the Rumble for the first time, and yeah, well actually no, last year he

got injured, so hopefully it doesn't happen again. But you have punk in there as a serious contender, Seth Rollins in there, who's gonna be targeting Rains. You have Drew McIntyre who's also on the run of his career right now, and I'm sorry, Jay Uso just doesn't line up with that. So Jay's out for me, Sammy Zane's out, Knakamura's out, Raymisterio's out, Logan, Paul's out, bron Breaker, Penta, Gable, Hayes all gone. McIntyre, I would love it, but probably not.

That leaves us with Rollin's Punk Rains Sena, okay, you could have a big Ee return. I think Biggie, if he does come back, will be set up in a scenario where it's Kofeen Xavier in the ring dominating and then here comes Biggie, which I imagined for a while, which will be fun. But none of those three men have any chance. It's about building to a match with those three in some way. It can't be a handicap, but

some way to WrestleMania. If indeed that happens, they're yeah us the other the other of course outlier, but possible, and would I would even say somewhat likely. Is the Rock? Now what does the Rock do if he's in there? Does he make himself number thirty one? I don't know. I mean that that got leaked, so you'd imagine we if that if that rumble list was true, knowing it got leaked would change the plans. So I'm gonna say,

if the Rock's in there, he could win. But if he wins, if the Rock enters and wins, those are two big gifts. The Rock will challenge Cody because they teased that last year, So that's finishing this. They're all about finishing stories. There's a story they didn't finish that started the Monday Night Raw for WrestleMania last year. But you can also have Roman eliminate Rock. I'm sorry, Rock eliminate Roman, and then the Rock gets eliminated by I

don't know, Johnson or whatever. It's kind of immaterial. Rock is the one to eliminate Roman, thinking they're on the same page. Bam, he eliminates him. Sena eliminates Rock. Two massive eliminations. But it was about the Rock eliminating Roman, and they build that story to WrestleMania. How about that That's why I think it happens if it goes down, If the Rock's there, He's going to be there simply to eliminate Roman Reigns to start a match to WrestleMania

forty one. Roman's not gonna win the Rumble. We don't need him in another title match yet. Fans are not quite ready for him to be there, because part of what made the fans turn on the whole thing sourly is because he was champion and holding it hostage, and Roman Reigns has no intentions in w seemingly has no

intentions of changing romans schedule back to full time. We kind of understand what roman schedule is now, we've all accepted it, and it's way more palatable to accept this schedule when he doesn't have a championship holding You know that he's able to whole hostage. So Roman doesn't win, but he's there. He'll be targeted by probably Drew, by Punk. There'll be some fun interactions of punkin Roman going face to face, punkin SNA going face to face Rock and Punk.

If he's there to go, there's a lot of fun combinations. That's why I said this year is really kind of hard to screw up because there's just so many good ways to end this that there's not a lot of bad ones. So it's a hell of an exciting match. So what do I think? Well, the idea that Seth

wins isn't the most crazy. He could challenge Gunther right, he certainly is on the table, and then whoever wins the chamber could face Cody, and then you know what if the Rock enters the chamber and then he's the one to face. There's a lot of crazy ways to go. There's two pass to WrestleMania. This isn't the only one. It's not one undone. So Seth Rollins winning the rumble

does make sense. But if they want the focus of the winner to face Cody, right, if the winner is gonna face Cody, then you could make it more of a case for Punk or Rock, not Roman. I don't want and I will, Brad, I see your triple threats, but I can't imagine WW doing triple that many triple threats. I'm not a fan of that. But just because I'm a fan of it doesn't mean they wouldn't do it.

But the WrestleMania main events, particularly for championships, should not be for triple threats, like it's one on one, you know, traditionally, not all the time. I mean, we've fell. The first women's main event was a triple threat, but I don't think that they would do that many triple threats. There could be one out of the two, you know, like Punk Rollins and Gunther on one side, and then Rock versus Cody or Randy versus Cody. I didn't even bring

up Randy Orton. Randy Orton there. Jacob Fatu is probably gonna have a big night, impactful night. He's going to be a fan He already is a fan favorite. Fans are getting behind him so quickly because they sniff out a big star. They've sniffed it out and they are on board. They want to be behind him right from the ground level. So Jacobatsu's gonna have a big night. And so that's that's my prediction. It's kind of a wishy washy prediction because it's such a crazy night, but

I feel pretty confident about the women. The men is a little bit more difficult, but I'll say Seth. I'm gonna say Seth Rollins to challenge Gunther and then the Chambers to decide who faces Cody. But again, if the Rock's involved, boy does that change things? It changes things because the Rock could win the rumble. Hell, John Cena could win. You can make a case for Sena because Sena versus Gunther. What's wrong with that? I think Seena is capable of it. Why, because these two have a

style that I think would work well together. There's nothing high flying, very much a power for power, uh, you know, base match. It wouldn't be anything spectacular, But I don't know. I'm I'm just thinking about all these possibilities that are just flying through my head. And Seth is a front runner for me, and I see why the money's going to him. But boy, Punk also makes sense as I go through it too, because Punk hasn't ever won a rumble and he got injured last year. So Drew is

not gonna win. Given that the fact that no one wants Drew versus Gunther and Drew versus Cody doesn't really well that there's some isn't Drew on SmackDown? Yeah, Drew's on SmackDown, So I guess you could do Drew and Cody. But Jay, guys, I'm sorry, and I if I eat my words, I eat my words. But jay Us so I don't think has a chance he'll be in the final five or six or four or three even. But no, Jaus was not gonna win. Sorry, I mean he just had his championship matches, all right. So there you go,

wishy washy predictions. Because I'm not a man, I can't stand by my own word. No, but I really just I'm that perplexed about all the potential opportunities here, and that'll do it. Thank you so much everybody for listening and all your predictions. You guys are probably going to be way better than I am with all the predictions. As I kind of I'm probably gonna stumble right through it from the first match you're going to have. You know, I'm probably gonna go zero for four. I recognize that,

but that's my best, my best foot forward here. So thank you everybody for listening. As you guys want to check out our Patreon side of things, you can do that at patreon dot com, slash ww podcast get yourself and ad free experience about the entire WrestleMania event, and on Apple podcasts or on Spotify. So thanks everybody for listening. I really appreciate it, and then I'll talk to you next time. Small businesses are at the heartbeat of our communities,

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