NEW FLAGSHIP: Keller & Martin talk Sid, Vince documentary on Netflix expectations, Danielson's post-title win promo, Bash in Berlin preview

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Then well, I mean, because there's the w he jumped around because the guy, you know, the guy wasn't terribly reliable. But I mean he was said Vicious eighty nine to ninety one, and then you know, said Justice in ninety one ninety two, and then said Vicious ninety three to ninety five, and then you know, Psycho said from ninety five to you know ninety seven, and then you know Sid Vicious again in ninety nine two thousand. So I

don't know, that's so much of a generational thing. I The first said I knew was Sid Justice, because as I mentioned from time to time on the show, that when I got into wrestling again was when I moved back to the States from Singapore, where I'd been living. And I was very excited because I've been watching old tapes in Singapore that I didn't realize we're old tapes

from like six months in the past. And then I returned to the States and I was back up on live that w television is supposed to like six month three runs. I was like, oh my god, all this stuff happened.

It was very exciting. And when that happened, it was the build for Summerson like Tanty one and uh and that was you know, one of the hooks of Summer semin ninety one was the debuting Sid Justice for for the UH for the tag match with with Hogan and and Warrior against the US called the Triangle of Terror, the Sergeant slaudron and and UH and UH General Mustafa Iron Cheek. So that was where I first knew him.

But I think he's better known on balance as either Sid Vicious or Psycho said, And I would say Sid Vicious is what I think most people call him, or just Sid, just because he's known under a bunch of different names.

Not a good wrestler, but that didn't matter at that point, a bit of a head case outside the ring, which did matter ultimately, And you know, he's the sort of person that the you know that big promotions would you know, would really sort of clamor over, you knows, this guy that just sort of looked the role at that at work,

looked the part at that point. What I find interesting about him is that you would think that, you know, with that archetype, that he'd be someone that was not as well received by you know, hardcore fans, who would you know, sort of think this guy isn't very good. But that wasn't the case at all. He was the hardcore fan choice back then. I think it reflects the way one of the ways that wrestling business has changed.

You know, I myself gravitated towards better performers most of the time, you know, from the point I was a kid, but I really liked to city to speak myself, and most big longtime fans I talked to did as well that were there through that time. Period because you know, fans at that point cared more about wrestler's coming off is as badasses, and he came off like a total badass. You know, the swagger, the way he talked. You know, he'd come to the ring talking trash, you know, about

to murder some porchemo. And there was sort of a Mike Tyson element to his squash matches where you know, he was coming out there to you know, to to cause mayhem, and that was you know, that was appealing. There was an energy to it, and you know, while he could say some goofy stuff sometimes I thought also he was a very effective interview, you know, with the gimmick of speaking softly and then screaming, screaming loudly, and then speaking softly again. You know, it wasn't you know it.

It didn't always work, but I thought it it often was was very effective. And you know, from the time he started heating up with you know, with the skyscrapers, you know, the places that he tended to be the big biggest were you know those you know, those Northeast audiences. You know, if you go back and watch those old uh you know it was you wouldn't watch the all VHS tapes now, but you know, you watch those shows

from that time period he was coming up. You know, he had the the big reactions in Philly, Baltimore, New York. Those were you know, some of his big cities, and there's an element of danger there.

package for you know, shorter explosive matches. In particular. He was not someone to you know, to throw in a you know, in a fifteen minute match and expected to be any good. I can't. I can't even think of a single longer sit match it was good. Yeah, I mean I suppose if it went and looked into it, you know, I could probably find something that I enjoyed those longer but I can't think of one, you know, but it didn't. It didn't matter that much for that

time period. But I mean, ultimately, you know, as much at the beginning, he didn't have the career that he could have because he was constantly sabotaging himself. You know, when he got hot with the Skyscrapers and joined the Horseman, he was going to be one of the top stars in the business. But it just, you know, one thing after another. You know, there was using Harvey Wipplman's urine for for a drug test and then getting fired when Vince von am In after you know, a massive push.

There was you know, the squeegee incident with with Brian Pellman.

More infamous the scissors incident with Arn Anderson when he was going to be WCW champion, which led to Ric Flair taking his place and having what I think was the last you know, really great match of you know, classic match of Rick Flair's career against Vader at starr K ninety three, which would not have happened in that you know particular setting, if if if Sid hadn't gotten the thing with Arn, you know, constantly getting released or

fired and bouncing around. You know, I heard you talking about it sort of like as a guy that sort of like was missing something, and perhaps he was, but I don't really think of it that as being born out in the sense that like, there are people that like, you know, like they were given their run, and the promotion was hoping that they'd make it at a bigger level than they did, and they just didn't take as with the fans as the promotion hoped that they would.

But with said, the thing was that you know, the periods where he would have been most likely to you know, to succeed h you know, he would get injured or something would come up before we got a chance to see, you know, how well it would have done. And so we never really, I thought, got the sort of the

definitive answer on that. And you know, he got world title runs a few times later on, but by that point it was you know, the you know, in ninet ninety seven and nine sinety nine, those are just you know, like measures to get to something else. Those aren't the idea of like, oh, we're going to build around said in the way ww was preparing to in ninety one, in ninety three again, and WF was preparing to in

ninety two. But you know, circumstances Uh, circumstances intervened, And that's sort of the way I think of of of Sid Uh principally is Uh is a guy where he just sort of shot himself in his own foot. But in some ways I kind of wish wrestling was more like Sid's wrestling. You know, like, yeah, you get some bad in the ring as opposed to a lot of

good in the ring. But I like the feeling that I think people were energized by with Sid, which was wrestlers were you know, dangerous wild cards rather than well behaved art students, and that was, you know, that was the appeal of of of Sid. It was it was much more of an m a fighter thing where you know, like you know, you're you're like, oh my god, this

guy's going to kill some people. I would argue it is different than a lot of the sort of the muscle bound types of that time period, although there was, I mean, that was part of the appeal just muscle

on people in general. It was the idea that they were like a physical threat from that, but like he was less like the idea of like oh it doesn't need you know, look, you know, looks so impressive though he did, but more the attitude and demeanor, which I think would have translated even if he didn't have the exact same body type. And as you know what I mean, he wasn't his muscle miner earlier in his career like he only you know, he sort of got more jacked up as he uh as he went on.

the elements I talked about. And you know, now people fans are so much more interested in the quality of work, and if you don't have that quality of the world, people kind of get bored of you over time, even if they become interested for a period, just because there's so much television and if you can't really go very much, you know, it's it's difficult to be like a weekly presence week after week with work as as as bad as sid I you know, I compare it to Wardlow,

where like you know, in war there is a better at wrestler than Sid ever was. But like the hook of Wardlow was similar to the hook of Sid, Like just sort of explosive, impressive looking guy in the context of the roster, and you know, would do a you know, a squash match that looked impressive and sort of destroy people, you know, with power bombs. So you know, sort of a similar dynamic there. And you know, Wardlow got over for a time period there, but it was difficult for

him to sustain. I think for similar reasons they would be difficult to sustain, and said now, I think, you know, the fan base of today, even some of the people that liked him back then, if a you know version of him came along now, I think the same people, if they've been watching the whole time, would be more likely to turn up their nose at them now than they would back then because the context of everything has changed.

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So go VIP here in twenty twenty two and enjoy all the benefits, all the bonus content and the ad free listening experience. PW Torch dot com slash go VIP all right, A quick introduction here. This is the Waight Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast, a special Thursday flagship edition for

August twenty ninth, twenty twenty four. And I am Wade Keller, the editor, publisher and founder of the Progressing Torch newsletter and the website pw toorch dot com and the host of a variety of podcasts throughout the week, including the Wayde Keller Podcasts, the Wadekeller Post shows those are free, and also a variety of VIP shows, one of which is The Fix with Todd Martin. I host that every Thursday.

We talk for usually over four hours. First half roughly is current events, the second half is the Fixed mail bag where listeners of The Fix send in an eclectic, wide ranging mix of current events, historical, and just kind of fun offbeat questions that mostly Todd answers, but I join in also a decent amount of the time. And that is a VIP exclusive show, which you can find out more about at Pwtorch dot com slash go VIP.

It is a many VIP members look forward to this show on a weekly basis, and now you get a chance to listen for yourself and see if you might be one of those people who wants to hear it. Every week on a semi regular basis, we feature a simulcast of that week's Fixed Current Events show as the flagships. You get a sense of what the show is like, and this is one of those weeks, So let's get back to it. We have so much more to cover,

including thoughts on the vincick Mann documentary. The docu series is coming out on Netflix, premiering in about a month, and a lot more about WWE's lead up to Bashion Berlin with a preview of Bashion Berlin, and much more. But first we're going to move on to a discussion about Brian Danielson winning the aw World title. I've got a bunch of thoughts and questions for Todd about where we go from here and the path to getting here.

So let's get back to the conversation. I want to start before we get into kind of running down some of the AWTV leading into the pay per view. Is just the way the news about Brian Danielson and now we handled yesterday on Dynamite announcing or clarifying or confirming the way he's gonna handle the title Ragne, which is he's going to defend it, be a fighting champion and then when he loses, he will not be a full

time wrestler anymore. With a little tease that he was going to give up the title and not defend it at all. What you think of a way of the way w handled it and uh, and then Danielson's delivery the message and uh and then Jack Perry stepping up and how they how they went about that.

more pressions. So so yeah, I thought I thought it was a strong close to the show and a uh good way to you know, a good way to uh to cook coffin Ryan. And I think, you know, Perry's a perfectly fine choice, particularly giving you only have a two week beild as the uh the guy for him to uh to uh you know, go against and presumably go over before they move on to other things.

anticipator will probably be the hangman uh swerve match. But you know it's not it's not aw'smo or most companies mos to have, you know, the guy that h that they just lost the world title put on last you know after the guy that just won the world title kind of undercuts the world tyler?

doesn't end up being a great role for him. So I don't think they've gotten a ton out of him to this point. Other than he's a great performer and so you get, you know, really good matches out of him, and he's a cool personality. Having your television, he's you know, more of a star than than than most people they have,

but it's an ensemble promotion. He hasn't been been a big difference maker one way or another, and I don't expect him to be a big difference maker, uh you know during his titleign because you know, he's already been sort of rained the level he is and you know, over the over the time period, we haven't seen in aw uta, you know, the world champion typically been being

a big, a big driver of business anyway. You know, it's sort of the biggest indicator of whether aw pay per views are doing well is it's just sort of how much interest there is in the product generally speaking. And you know, the exceptions the rule have been things like Sam Punk and uh instincts retirement and Danison hasn't

been uh presented at that level. Could he theoretically have been a different difference maker at that level potentially, but you know it's it's at this point, it's hypothetical, I think.

But I mean, I, as we've talked to him many times, I'm expecting you know, him to you know, to lose the title and maybe take three months off and then just you know, it'll it won't be that different than what it is right now. I'm not unexpecting this to be a big, you know, a big change in Danielson's career, even if he's thinking it was more of a change

right now. I just there's way, way, way too much history and progressing of everybody you know coming back and wanted to continue to work because they enjoy doing it, and Danielson enjoys doing it more than most of those people, and he's already been less you know, committal on the idea of like stepping aside than most of those people

were too. So yeah, I you know, I'm not I kind of grit my teeth a little bit when I hear people talk about retirement, because the idea of that he's going to retire anytime soon just seems farcical to me. Like I you know, we were talking before the before the show about sort of probabilities and like, you know, like barring some sort of you know, serious injury. I mean, the the odds that he's not going to be wrestling, you know, barring injury in twenty thirty two strike me

is really really low. I mean, I really think the only thing that would stop him is injury, and I'd be willing to go much later than that, you know. In terms of predicting where this thing ends up, Yeah, I put.

Does anything I just throw out there surprise you? And where are you in terms of the matches that on two levels one you'd most like to see happen. I know you think there's eight plus years to go to see him in these matches, but playing out the idea that the odds perhaps go down quite a bit in terms of how frequent he will be wrestling. If you were willing to stipulate to that, what would you like to see him get in in the next several months on that list or anyone that identic glued to.

really a hurry. And in any of those, I mean, it makes sense that McGinnis would be would come up high because that's the match, you know, whether intentionally from a promotional standpoint or not, that that is the one that's been built the most with Nigel, you know, doing all the discussion on commentary and reminding people of the program that he had with them back there, along with you know, the fact that he put in a pretty good showing overall it all in that I've got people

talking about that. And you know, he had you know, a a great, you know, phenomenal match with with with Osprey last time out, and uh, you know Okada, he had really good matches it as well. Well I think there were two, but yeah, if I'm yeah, I'm pretty sure they were really good as well. So you know, all of those makes sense and and uh and they've got a lot of a lot of good options. I don't think there's any sort of obvious you know, like, oh, this is what you've well you've definitely got to do.

And I mean Danielson is also a guy where like he you know, he just wants to work with people that sort of you know, strike his uh his fancy for for you know, for for one reason or another, Like you know, he really wanted to work with with Etchi Sero. You know, he talked about wanted to work with you know, I think I think he's trying to want to work with minors Zuki uh and and uh and uh Atlantis and and I remember talking I wanted

to work with with Blue Panther at one point. And so like there's you know, there's a lot of a lot of people that sort of you know, are appealing for formal reason or another. I think that's you know, one of the reasons they're doing the Darby Allen thing, the two you know, the two guys from the Pacific Northwest. I don't think they've had a match, and so, you know, I think, uh, you know, that's another one that you know, sort of jumps out at him as just sort of

a fun match from the do. So there's there's tons of options. And danis and is such a fun uh such a fun wrestler to watch, and he has so many different styles that he can work very effectively. That makes him, you know, a good opponent for for pretty much anybody. And and uh, you know, he's he's also a guy that can have different types of matches with

different sorts of opponents. There are some opponents who can have a you know, great match with with most people, but it'll be their type of match, and Danisen can have great matches different sorts of people. It'll be different types of matches. So you know, there's plenty of plenty of good options.

you'd be thinking on that context. But you know, as I started outline, that's not the way I'm thinking, I'm thinking about it as you know that that it's just going to be it's going to be the end of Dani's the title on and Danis will still be around doing match some time to time, maybe less frequently, maybe not all that much less frequently, And so the idea of like, I'm the person that beat Danielson is not going to stand out in the way that it would

wear a different circumstance. So you know, I don't think I don't think it matters so much who beats him from that context and his mortgage to question who you think is is a good choice the next champion, and you know it's I mean, things are sort of up in the air and that in that regard and that

you know, aw sort of ram through. I mean, Tony's talked about how he had his plan for who he was going to put the title on for the first you know, so many title ons, and he you know, hit all of those, and you know, from that point they hit other you know, sort of top people, and you know it at this point it's sort of not you know, it's not clear who you know, who's who are going to be the champions moving forward and that's fine. You know, they can sort of map it out to

go along. I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure Tony likes the idea of having, you know, put in the title on a cot at some point. But other than that, I mean, I don't, you know, I'm not sure it will jump out in his uh, in his mind.

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of this. Is there somebody on the roster. I'm kind of curious who you'd come up with that that like, yeah, if that's the case, if this is a big deal, it's Danielsen truly the end of his full time career, a couple of matches every few years at most he has Again, is there someone you'd be like, yeah, that should be the person.

there as much anymore. But I mean with that said, I mean there's a lot of talent on the roster, so I mean you could you could pick a you know, a variety of uh of people that it would be good to give them, you know, sort of an added bump of one sort or another, and you know, you would you would gravitate more I think towards younger people in that role you know that you know you're gonna

have for a while. I mean, I wouldn't choose Perry, even though he's on the younger side and the short of potential, I don't I don't see him as being a guy that's sort of going to be a perennial top guy. I've talked in the past about about Tekashtra and uh, you know, you know, thinking of him as a guy that could be a you know, a top guy for a long period of time in in a w and still you know, still under thirty. But I don't know that they they think of him that way.

So you know, that's sort of them, it's that But those are those are the you know, those are the people that that uh that that come to mind at first.

I mean, I I don't know that, you know, I don't know that it would be sort of the right dynamic with sort of wanting it back from him and then sort of uh, you know, using that as sort of a talking point with him, even though he's a guy that they're gonna, you know, have plans for over the long haul, and uh, you know they already did you know, they already had mg I beat Danielson and you know some memorable and memorable feud you know, a

little while back. So I don't know that he would get a lot more out of going back and being in Danielson again. So yeah, there's isn't someone that you know in particular that seems like the one guy.

top of my head. Those those factors could change. But again, it is under the premise that it would even matter at all, because if Danielson just ends up wrestling, you know, in a way that's not super distinguishable from how often he's been wrestling lately over the last few years in the perception of aw fans, then it's not gonna matter. Okay, well, let's let's just pivot and I'll throw you to run down Rampage and Collision and the lead up to all in this weekend.

over Robin Renegade. Karashida did an interview where she was very angry that no one cares Mercedes Money cheated to beat her and angry that she's lower on the card heading into all in. Obviously she wasn't on all in, and you know, uh, basically it was pretty clear that she's turning heel and she wasn't fully heal here, but it you know, it was it was not subtle that that's where this is going. And uh, she's really been working on her English, which is it's quite good. So

I was impressed by that. And uh yeah, she cut a uh an angry, indignant promo and is you know, a uh a positive trait. I think of a lot of heel turns. She had a specific reason for why she's presumably going to start acting like more of a jerk, and there was you know, there's you could see your point there. You know, there was a righteous indignation, which you know, then we'll move in UH in the wrong

direction presumably. Then we got another squash, gatesw Agony beating the Iron Savages, and final squash was the one Eric's beating the odd Runners in ten minutes. And then at the end of the show they did that thing where a big show's coming up, so a bunch of random people ran out and they fought to UH to close the show. Then Collision started with Mark Briscoe, Kylo Riley in Orange Cassidy beating Roderick Strong, Matt Tavin and Mike Bennett.

Match kind of kind of odd that they you know, the show on Friday started with a very similar match the show that started the show on Saturday, and one was in Texas and the other was in England but taped you know, a week apart, but not a big deal. Willow and Nightingale beat Harley Cameron a quick match. They set up a ten man tag with Dustin, Sammy Shabbata and Van Erics for the pay per view. Shabbata beat

Jay Lethal. It was okay. They did a training vignette for Stokey Hathaway and Chris Christtlander going into the mixed tag on the pay per view, and I guess in the pre show, I figured they play it for total comedy, and there was some comedy, but they played it more

straight than I expected. Then Stokely and Statt beat kidcos two and Nina Samuels in a very quick match in advance of the match with is She and Willow, so nice to get a few, a few uh you know, sort of names from the from the local scene and progress on the show. And up to that point it had been a you know, typical uneventful collision. And then Hook and Big Bill are having a match, and again there's there's not not a ton to it, you know, just a continuation of what had been kind of a

sleepy show. And all of a sudden, Big Bill starts mocking Hook and tazzes mannerisms, and the crowd decides, damn it, we're gonna have some fun here, and they start wildly cheering Bill. They're popping for everything he does, they're booing everything Hook does. They're just having fun with it. It was not happening like that at all until until Bill started doing those mannerisms. And I think if I were.

You know, I think if I were Hook, I probably wouldn't be very happy with it because, uh, you know it was him sort of doing that that you know, that that that turned the crowd and and uh made it harder for for for Hook, but you know, he know, he's just trying to get some some at some reaction, and uh, you know, it became a very fun atmosphere and hooked one with the contage. Crowd booed, but it

was still a fun time there. Then we got Jeff, Jared and Aria Davari in a ten minute match with those suspense and that sounds like an awful way to be wasting time the night before your biggest annual show. Jeff, Jared and Ario Davari for ten minutes. But the crowd again decided they're going to have some fun, and so they pop huge for Jeff. They chanted for Jeff, they sang for Jeff, they cheered for Jeff. He was having a ball. He was like, it's the glory Days again.

this show did not offer you very much. And so the crowd, which you know, these you know, the crowds you know in Europe love you know, participating and getting exciting and getting excited and whatnot, and so you know, they I think wanted to have a good time, and you know they they got you know again Briscoe, O'Reilly and Orange against Strong, Tavin and Bennett, which is fine, Will Nightingale against Harley, Cameron Shabbat against Jay Lethal, you know,

Stokely and Statlander against kid like us Too and Nina Samuels, you know, and then hooking Big Bill and you know, crowd just decided Hey, I mean, which still isn't like that big of a match, but it's like, hey, we want to get into this. So I don't view it as sort of like a you know, sort of we don't care about anything that's going on in AW because you know, MGF was not at there, Osprey was not out there. You know, Danilson was not out there, Swore was not out there. None of these people were on

the show. You know. The main event is we'll talk about here was Claudio, Wheeler, Yuda and Pak against Top Fight Leo Rush. So yeah, I mean, it certainly is sort of an implicit rejection of interest in the you know, the the stuff that's on Collision. But I mean Collision is not intended to be like a big show, Like they know what Collision is. I mean, they're not oblivious to that. I'm not justifying it, by the way. I don't.

I don't think their approach to Clision is good, but I don't think they'd be shocked that, like their offerings on Collision are getting you know, you know, muted would get muted reactions from most of the fan base because they're not giving you their stuff here though they're over

you know, they're overseas. They don't get nearly as many shows there the crowd that really wanted to get into stuff, and so they just picked random stuff because they wanted to get into stuff, and the stuff they were they were getting for that show was not high priority stuff. So yeah, I mean it is you know, it's not a great sign in that sense, But what would be a great sign on the show like that they were

bigger into Claudio? I mean, like is that really like, I mean, there's there wasn't you know, there wasn't something that was really significant to aw in general or all in for them to get into, and so they just picked random stuff. Yeah.

DV time in twenty twenty four. My own is AW fans, based on the core mission statement of AW, would groan or be a little nervous or feel like things went went a little awry.

important stuff on the show. And so yeah, there are periods where like, yeah, I mean, you don't want Billy gunn to be getting a bigger reaction than the people that you're pushing most the show, and that's a bad sign here. I don't think this was so much like we love Jeff Jarrett more than you know, than than Danielson or you know, sore because we remember him from years back. I think this was just literally like they've

reached about the halfway point of the show. There, nothing's happening, and so like, let's get into this hook big Bill match, and then they just start going crazy. And then Jeff Jarrett was the next guy that came out after Big Bill and they decided, hey, you know they're not gonna they're not gonna rally behind Ari Davari. So Jeff Jarrett there's our guy, and uh and uh it was. It

was fun stuff. I it was. It was positive because I don't remember whether I made this point on uh on on about another show, but I don't think it was. I think this was the one where when Jeff Jarrett came out and now I'm now questioning myself. Whatever, you know, they like, if it was a different show than than Find whatever.

somewhere about this exact thing. Was this on dynamite like that would that would undercut my my my theory that it was just that there were that Jeff Jerrett came out at this point. But one of these shows in last week, the crowd hit and the reaction was so big that I I I had to wonder. I was wondering to myself whose music that was, because my mind would just not connect the idea that this reaction was Jeff Jaerrett, and then once it was Jeff Jarre is like,

oh yeah, I guess that is Jeff Jarrett's music. But the the the loud cheers just you know, made it seem like a foreign experience to me.

night and Tuesday night at pewtorch dot com. That also applies to wwepayperviews. I cover those live at pw torch dot com with a detailed written report with star ratings. And of course you can find other TV reports from other contributors to pw torch such as nxt roh, Impact Wrestling and more. Check it out pwtorch dot com your first stop for TV and pay per view written reports. Okay, so that covers rampage and.

rest of the show here. They First of all, did the crowded around two thousand in a big arena stand out out to you? Or do you think a w has gotten actually pretty good at aiming the camera in the right way and producing a show and setting it up acoustically and audibly where it didn't feel minor league And if this is amongst the lowest crowds outside of Jacksonville that they've ever had for Dynamite, I didn't.

be fine from the go to smaller buildings. I think it's fine for them to run larger buildings. So yeah, I just not viewed as being a big deal because I feel like the thing, you know, the shows feel perfectly you know, perfectly professional, the way that they're shot in uh in in in uh with a smaller crowd.

Now granted I haven't I haven't ever been one where it was like on the smaller side, but I've definitely been to their tapings where you know, they had you know, they had the camera side filled then and then they had the you know, the mostly empty third of the

arena and going to that it didn't it didn't. It didn't feel to me like, oh this is you know, things are struggling here are like, oh, I think loss of the promotion, which I would have seemed the possibility to me before that but didn't for whatever reason while taking in the show.

an extra boost to Oh, this product seems hot. This wrestler is in a featured segment in front of a crowd where the camera's panning every part of the building and they're going nuts. WWE has that more often than not these days. AW has had it at times, especially early on, including the first Dynamite and the weeks afterwards a months after to where we talked about God. One

of the biggest assets AW has is this crowd. The crowd week to week to week is just elevating these some of the newer names and some of the free agents that they picked up, but especially the names that were less familiar to those who were were not familiar with them but watching them on national cable for the

first time. The AW lacks that. So even if there's you're not noticing a negative, there is an absence of a positive that would be beneficial when you're trying to come across as a hot product and create new stars, or just give a boost to stars that have been around a while and feel a little cooled off. And so I think it's worth differentiating between those two things.

Because they were good with the setup of the sound last night where it didn't sound super echoey, But there have been times where they've been in buildings where there hasn't been in a big crowd and there was just something about the echo in the building and it could just be the acoustics of the facility too, more than

anything Aw's done. So yeah, whatever the reason is, I think they're at a point where they can have a crowd of two thousand in a major league looking building because their stage looks good and they shoot it well that it's not going to just pull the product down. But the absence of that boost is a bummer, and you would obviously rather have that, You'd rather have ten thousand people.

entire time of the uh his entire time there. Yeah, And as far as the segment goes, I mean, I'm intrigued where it's going. And I don't use that word as liberally as you do, but I'm concerned that it sure felt like he's going heel again and It's frustrating to me that wrestling promotions just don't learn their lesson when it comes to try and turn to turn faces that people just inherently like and have shown no signs

of losing their interest in. And you know, we've just seen it flop miserably and hurt the wrestlers involved so many times, you know, from Becky Lynch to Okada to you know the BCC and Danison and Okada that you know just last year. But you know, hopefully they've got a fresh idea that's going to add some energy of the show. And you know, it was, it was an

interesting start. I'm curious where they're going with it. And you know, after someone wrote the mail bag about doing more with Marina Shafir a few weeks ago, they're going to get their wish. Hopefully. I'm not wrong that too much damage has been done to or for it to be effective, But certainly, if I'm Marina Shafir and I'm hoping that I can I can get hot here. You know, you you it would be hard to present a scenario

that would get me a lot more. A realistic scenario would get me much more optimistic than I'm gonna repair with John Moxley. So that seems like a good spot to be if you're a Marina Shafear.

It wasn't like that got sort of over. Fans just didn't buy it, and they roared it, so move on, Like, he doesn't need to apologize for it, but it sure is in making him likable or cool to lean in on it, just like that affected villain laugh isn't cool and doesn't make him likable either. He needs to drop that.

It was like he was trying to be a heel taunting and menacing hangman rather than just being a cool, collected dude who's not going to back down from this crazed monster of his own creation, which to me is what the story should be. And it also that vincent man thing where two people are supposed to be in this blood feud and they just stand there listening to each other talk for a minutes on end. So I didn't think it was it was terribly productive in advancing that story.

him as a baby face. But you know, like I, you know, I do have greater context than just that one angle.

one of those. Uh, you know, so that's I would I would.

very effective. The you know, the the run with with Kenny Omega and early aw with you know, with singing Judas and all that was was was very effective as well. So he's he's had a lot of very successful reinventions as far as what's going on now here. There just comes time with different wrestlers where fans aren't into them anymore.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, like I you know, like there's so many I've brought this up from time to time, but like they are wrestlers when I got into wrestling, where I watched them in the state that they were in and I just was like, why are they these people even on the show? And I think that's the perspective of the people that aren't longtime fans that know them when they were more effective character, and they just you know, it's like, why not Dick Murdock.

You know, I first saw Dick Mark, I was like, what is Dick Murdock doing here? And then later I saw Dick Murdock in his prime, and I was like, Dick Murdock is great. But Dick Murdock in nineteen eighty nine was not great. He wasn't effective anymore. You know, Sean Waltman had a great career, but they've reached a point where, for whatever reason, people were like, I just

don't want to see Sean Walman anymore. And you could, you know, you could, you could intellectualize why they shouldn't feel that way, but that was just the way they felt, and having him on the show wasn't terribly effective relative

to other people. The Hardys, they you know, they reinvented themselves a million times, you know, Matt Hardy, like he came up with different ideas, came up with different ideas, like he had an nice, long career, and they're just to reach a point where people didn't care that much anymore. It happens. It's just that's the way of the world. And you know, I I get why once people you know,

reach that position. They don't want to admit it to themselves and they make rationalizations, but you know, it's you know, just like you know, like when when you know, when when uh, when fighters are at the end, the end of their career, and you know, it's it's evident to them, you know, not not evident to them, it's evident to

everyone watching them that they don't have it anymore. They're getting knocked out, they're moving slower, but they're thinking, oh, my training is going so well, and they remember what they had before, and they just don't want to believe that it's it's it's over and something that's changed. And even if they could spot in the in the the the the same fighters like them, but for them, it's different. And you know, that's that's in my opinion, the situation

with Jericho. I mean, it's it's unfortunate, but I mean, you know, I'm I'm analyzing this from the standpoint of what's you know, what's good for the show, what's you know, good for the business in general? And you know, you can it's you know, there's sort of it. I mean, I was gonna say, like this sort of an unfairalm, but there's an unfair Amum, that's the way of the world. You know, like we all got old, and it's you know, it's it's sad. I mean, I wish the you know,

the human aging process were a lot longer. You know, I'd love to, you know, live five thousand years and do all sorts of stuff and and and you know just feel, you know, exactly as the same that I felt, you know, twenty years ago and in twenty years. But you know, that's that's not the way things are going to go unfortunately.

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timeframe and would it have to be tweaked? Like I'm general Ker's like, are you thinking there's almost nothing Jericho could do? It's just it's time, you know, no matter what you do, or now it's this choice. This choice is so tone deaf, or it's flopped and they should have adjusted or moved on.

unpleasant reactions you know, uh, inac interreactions with hr. At some point this the thing was not really spelled out at any point. People tied it into you know, to to speaking out whether that's fair, whether that's not fair, and you know, that broke in a period before an aw pay per view, and there was talk about whether he might be pulled from the pay per view, whether he might be pulled from the company. And you know, the reactions to Jericho have been negative ever since. So

I mean, that was the clear point. And you know, I still you know, as we talked, we talked about the show that that night, I wasn't, you know, ready to sort of uh, you know, to to to call for Jericho to be fired or something when we didn't even have explicit allegations, let alone, you know, let alone have confirmation that the allegations were true. But you know, regardless, and I mean, I guess you I guess you could argue, well,

you know, well, I don't know. I mean I was I was thinking, like, well, you don't want to like punish someone for something they didn't do. But it's I mean, as Evans by the fact I didn't call from the to you know, to to to to be doing less at that point, and I am now like at this point, he's just not effective as a part of the show.

And you know, he created this character specifically to deal with the fact he was getting those sorts of reactions and the character is not in my opinion, I mean, it's not whether the character is working or not working. It's just like as of Tigers, the aw's promotion that really needs its own positive identity. It does not need to come across as debt to be light. And the Jericho thing is just like bad deda Bee. It's just this goofy cartoon guy doing wacky, you know, winking stuff

that you can't take seriously. And you know, it's just like this tonal, you know, you know, it's it's just a bad tonally in the context of the show, you know, not unlike you know, the acclaimed, but you know there's a number of characters like that, and you know, Jericho is is the worst of the bunch.

portrayed as on television. And then he did that you know, that stupid year long tern where he never really explained why he turned and he's putting over the fans and then he just randomly turns back one week and rather than easing back into it into making you buy him as a jerk again, he just leans into the most contrived, cheap heat every week and it feels so phony. And playing the American patriot for a few weeks because he's wrestling in other countries only to then come back to

America and denounce America is the epitome of that. And that was an issue going into this, but like this, like you know, made it even worse. Of like this guy that just comes across like everything he's doing is just he's just doing because he's playing a bad guy, and that's there's not heat in that. Like it's hard to get real heat when you just feel like you're

trying so hard to be the bad guy. You know, he you know what, he should have been the one to randomly slap his own mother at the ringside because that was so on brand for what he's doing right now. And he needs to simplify everything and try to feel like a believable human being again. And my big recommendation for him would be for the next year to always be thinking about the reason why he's doing every heelish

thing he's doing. You know, not because he's a bad guy and that's what bad guys do, but because there's something in it for him, or he has a specific reason for not liking individual people. There's you know, there's a reason in his head for why he's doing these things. You know, if there's a motorcycle rider who is in an accident and he's you know, the guy's thrown from his vehicle, he's lying on the side of the road and it's you know, it's not a crowded time, and

there's a car, you know, there's car driving by. A good person is going to stop and try to help the person who's laid out on the side of the road. After this accent, a bad person might drive on because they don't want to be bothered. MJF and his incarnation would stop, piss on the guy and start making fun of him. And there's less heat in that than the guy who drives on, because it's discordant with basic human experience and it's not relatable. And that's what MGF has become.

He's become an implausible caricature of a human being, made all the worse by the fact he was playing a face a few weeks ago and by the way, like Tony Shavanni, like you know, I've been noting you know how I don't think that Tony Siavanni is good in his role right now, but he's that is most awful screaming at MGF because it epitomizes his general insincerity, like no one could possibly be this upset at a cartoon character, and it shows Shavanni as the cartoon character that he

is in his own right, the way that he gets so upset over this cartoon character that nobody else is upset at because he's a cartoon character. So yeah, I think MGF needs a lot of refocusing right now. On the plus side, I thought that Danny Garcia was very good on the MIC. I thought it was the best point I've seen him do. And I think it's a very good sign that in what's the most prominent role of his career thus far, that he's carrying himself as

a future player from a personality standpoint. So I thought that was a positive sign. Not not high on on what mgf's doing. All right.

tease of the eventual Ospring match as well. Hopefully there aren't fans watching that who expected a three way and end up disappointed.

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stuff in there. I think, you know, morally, it could end up being a bit of a quagmire trying to cover it, because I mean, they did the thing before, you know, before things really sort of broke down with him and the I mean, I don't think that their intention was not to do a fawning documentary, but it

was with him. I mean, you know, he's going to be through his lens, and you know it was you know, even if their intention was to be you know, sort of you know, fair minded, this was a thing that I think was gonna end up being more charitable to Vince than he probably merited before the allegations. So you've already recorded this thing and you know it's probably nicer

to Vince than than it deserves. And then you've got to try to you know, tackle this, you know, this uh, this situation that you know that that is just a minefield and you've already got this whole thing covered, and I don't know how you do that. I frankly was I frankly was expecting the thing to be shelved all together, even with all the work that they put into it.

So yeah, I mean I think I think, uh, I think the odds are you know, not slight that that you that they come out of this thing with people sort of like not thinking very highly of the people producing it. But you know, we'll see what they can do. I mean, it's a you know, it's a it's a total minefield. And you know, I don't think they're going to get very close at all to this most latest situation.

And you know, I, yeah, I wouldn't like to be a producer on that thing, because yeah, I think there's going to be a lot of criticism coming their way when the thing's released. Hopefully not I mean, because like I said, there's there's plenty of room for some some interesting stuff there. But yeah, tough, tough deal.

mcmannon documentary series chronicling the rise and fall of w's controversial founder is coming to Netflix since the number twenty fifth, including interviews with McMahon prior to his resignation, his family in some of the most iconic names in wrestling history, as well as the journalists wh uncovered the McMahon allegations. McMahon's allegations, do you does any of that stand out to you as good a matter telling now that I've

read that out loud to everybody. And then also, how do you feel about Bill Simmons and his history of covering wrestling and the tone he's taken and the respect do you have for him or don't when it comes to pro wrestling and his lens if he had a big influence on how this is portrayed and framed.

him that. But if you back up and you just think of the term mister McMahon. It's it's a distant term. It's kind of an off putting term, like mister McMahon.

It's a little it's a little creepy at a distance, like that's he is, mister McMahon, Like he's not he's not Vince, he's not you know, like someone, he's this person that's framed a certain way, and like that that to me, like there's there's something you know, like if you if you call a bio you know, biped now used term a docucid, and pretty much anyone if you just call them mister whatever, it would be a little off putting, you know, mister Trump, mister Disney, mister Biden, you know, mister.

didn't intend it that way. That that that that that struck me when I saw the name for it. As far as the two things that you highlighted there, that's interesting to me in a different way in the sense that, like you know, I talked to earlier, sort of the the concern about it coming across as uh to uh to fawning, the what are the two names again, rather than pulling them up here the.

There are terms that have a more judgmental tone than mad man, and so using up mastermind and mad man, I feel kind of has like a positive slan on it already there as far as you know, uh, Bill Simmons producing it. I mean when Bill Simmons talks about he was a longtime wrestling fan and then he was not one of these people that you know that that didn't follow wrestling very closely for a while and then

sort of drops in on it all the things. He's been paying attention to it more and years, and then he got into bed with be and started producing stuff with them while Vince was still in charge and the product was still bad, and he would put over the product as you know, as having improved and being good

before it actually got there. I think because of the relationship with them, I think I'm someone is the you know, like sort of the category of people that like know a lot of things about wrestling but don't understand wrestling that well, which is a pretty broad category. There are a lot of people in that category. And so yeah, with that said, well, I don't think that highly of him in terms of his opinions on wrestling. When he's come he's produced a number of documentaries and he's produced

a lot of you know, great documentaries. Really, I mean, that's one of you could argue that's like one of the things that's the most successful. It's producing a lot of great documentaries, and he's like, he's been involved in some very good wrestling documentaries. So you know, that's a definite positive for him and would give you more hope in terms of a project like that. You know that that history.

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women as being potential friends. So then as that sort of wraps up, you see Brooks Jensen walk across the back of the screen. He attacks a no Fay to set up his match with with with Blade. Uh Uh. Later, Karmen Petrovitch beat is He Dame another week match. Is He Dame is a little distinct from some of the other women because of her height, but she's not coming

along very well in the ring. And you know, they've had a lot of women there that have that you've seen a lot of improvement in over the years, and uh, she she's not one of them, unfortunately, So uh that's that.

and speak in you know, in in slang. And the new Jada Parker won a gauntlet match, and now she smiles all the time and talks about a college soccer background and how she was getting scholarship offers back when she was a young kid. Despite that weirdness. Uh, she was. The good news is I thought she was. She seemed very natural in the new role, just like she seemed very natural in the old role. I thought she was able to portray a menace when it came to, you know,

to the heel role. And I thought she came across as likable and and and a good talker in the in the babyface role as well. So, uh, it was it was an encouraging, encouraging sign. She she's really one of the most talented performers they have in developmental and you know, came out of nowhere and she's been doing

very well for herself. Anyway, Uh, Roxane Press came in and started badmouthing her, so she slapped Roxanne and uh Parker then had words with somebody off screen and uh perhaps you know spec Oh, okay, So then because people were speculating it as Juliet, but that's that's that's settled. It is it is not. It is not Julia, it

was you. And uh, well maybe I was thinking maybe Julia was going to show up to it to help Roxanne win it no mercy, but maybe you will show up to to uh to help help Roxanne when.

So then he goes to ringside for the match. They come out again to talk to him, and this time he immediately leaves, and so he leaves. He never comes back for this thing. Then later on the show, he shows up the D'Angelo family restaurant and first thing he asks is why I was called here? You told me this was urgent. So in summary, if you tell Tony you really need to talk to him, he may refuse

to even let you finish your sentence. But if you tell him it's urgent, he'll drop everything he's doing and drive to another location without even asking you to finish the sentence to tell you what in fact it is. But he knows this isn't really important, but it's urgent. So I'm going to drive somewhere else and you can tell me once I get there what's happening here? Perplexing

individual as Tony Dean. So anyway, he was told Obafemi was at the restaurant and he's sitting there in a suit mining his own business drinking the glass of wine. Why this was an emergency, I'm not sure. Maybe they're really racist, you know, freaking out at a nicely adress dude sitting at a table in the restaurant. There weren't even other customers at the surrounding tables, Like, I don't know what their problem was with this guy, but you know,

he rushes there and he sits down. They have a few polite words about their match on Sunday, and family left. So Tony, I mean, he probably should have just followed his first instinct and just ignored those dudes because they, you know, they were just I mean, yeah, I don't know. Those guys are sketchy. I you know, I don't like

calling people bigots, but I think they're biggots. Pete Don did an interview talking about wrestling Trick Williams again Wesley and Zachary Wentz that had an in ring segment another Vincent Man special where you just did this personal breakup angle for a heated feud, and so they stood in

the ring together fifteen minutes and took turns talking. Wentz was upset about the portrayal, Lee was more just blowing them off as a cocky heel and a big part of this for Lee was burying TNA and the portrayal of TNA I found interesting because because I figure he wins, but it sure doesn't make TNA look very good if he wins. After he basically you know, called TNA second rate and and uh and you know, made it sound like it's, you know, something bad for Zachary wants to

go back to TNA. So that was an an interesting an interesting choice. Colnie Jordan beat Rosemary, who debut as a mystery opponent. It was cool to see Rosemary get a shot on w television because I mean, she does a better job than anyone with her type of gimmick, and I think she's you know, done a on balance, a very good job in in TNA over the years.

The idea was Jordan was taking out one spooky opponent before taking on another, and so then afterwards, after she beat Rosemary, they played audio of wee Y Chew laughing and Jordan like, you know, like Seth rollins and and Bray White had to act just terrified, as if anyone could possibly be scared of Wendy Chew with her pajamas and pillow laughing but she, you know, was freaked out. Colnie Jordan was or a mensa go into an argument

buying Peman Junior. So they're gonna feud. Chase you was celebrating their title win when Duke Hudson and uh Riley Osborne were sad about having lost, and Axiom Nathan Fraser showed up and did a very scripted promo where they

finished each other's sentences. I the thing that's that's so funny, but about about uh And I guess it's sort of a positive in a sense because like, there are all these things that that used to happen all the time on the main roster with Vincent Land there, and so many of them have gone away, not all of them, you know, particularly the finishes, but so many of them have gone away. And I watched NXT and and ryding like, oh yeah, they don't do that on the main roster anymore.

Isn't it great? They don't do that anymore in the main roster. I don't need to really need to see on NXT either, But it's you know, it's nice that it's it's less common on the main roster. Brooks Jensen beat Blade in a quick match. It was fine, but Jensen is better as a face and a heel hank a tank on an argument with OTM, so they're gonna wrestle. Joe Coffee beat Javan Evans with the help of other members of GALLAS, so it looks like Evans will be

enlisting help and UH and coming back after them. Pretty good match, best match on the show. And the final segment was a Joe Hendry concert and he as He's wanted to do sang a derogatory song about Ethan Page, basically making fun of Ethan Page's wacky past gimmicks and eclectic interests. I thought it made Page more likable, actually, but who knows how the average person is going to take that. And then Page came out he was unhappy and.

good opponent, but Joe Henry's is not particularly opponent. You know, Roxham president Teta park will be probably be pretty good, but they're both you know, well they're not both pretty inexperienced. With Jada Parker is pretty inexperienced, even though she's good, So I wouldn't count on her to have like a you know, a great match. Chase you and Frasier Axiom should be a strong match over me and an Tony

DeAngelo should should be good. Colonie Jordan Wendy to probably won't be very good, and Lee and Zachary went so probably be the best mess match in the show. So it doesn't it doesn't feel like a a super show on paper, and it doesn't feel like a uh, you know, terribly anticipated match either. It's also five matches out of sixer titles on the line, and that's not even all the titles, which is pretty pretty stupid for a you know, one week, you know, one show a week developmental to

have that many titles. But yeah, also go through the matches that Ethan papers Joe Henry. I could see that one going either way. They seem very interested in Henry, but he is still a teenage guy for now, and Trick Linkers is a Challenger and it would makes more sense for him the Challenge Page than Henry if he's getting the title back. So I think Page retains, but

who knows. As I mentioned with ROX and President Data Parker for the woman's title, they teased the mister person getting involved and they love to book an excuse for the finish, so that person costing Jada would make sense, whether it's Julia or Stephanie Vaker or or Wade Keller, Chase You and Nathan Fraser and Axiom, they've been teasing a Fraser Axiom break up for a long time, and them losing here and then splitting makes the most sense.

Femi and DiAngelo. Femi's delivered every time in the big match, and I don't expect this to be an exception. I'd be very surprised if if Emi doesn't retain, though, and then Colonie Jordan wenty Chu Jordan will retain. I think they can have a good match if they don't get bogged down in stupidity, but I think they're gonna get bogged down in stupidity. And then Lee and Wentz definitely the favorite to be match of the night is mentioned.

Lee just turned and he's the NXT guy and he has the most upside, so I think he wins, although the way that Lee buried TNA and his burial of once gives me pause. And uh yeah, that's the only non title match of the bunch, all.

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they head towards Bash in Berlin. They were in Washington, d C. At Capitol One Arena, Great Arena, great town, Todd.

no one ever stands up for it. Isn't like you know, when like Trump allegedly said bad things about Milwaukee and like everyone piled on, like you can just trash d C left and right, and uh and nobody will be bothered by it. So uh, it's too It's it's too bad. And did you ask about the first segment or did we did? Okay, Yeah, I thought it was an effective segment.

You know, you had the further teasing of issues between Wallnert theory as well as Cody and Owen's one of the things that that the Triple h has done well to maintain interest during his time running things is he's always doing these weeks week stories, teasing turns, and in the long term that may and issues as far as turning people too often and just watering down the meaning

of the turns and feeling too redundant. But for the time being, one of the hooks for fans on every show is there's you know, constant chapters and all these different turns that are going on, and it makes it, you know, like it's wrestling is frequently described as a a soap opera for men, and this is, you know, a sort of a classic example for it where it's just, you know, week to week, you got these you know, little drama things and you know things are you know,

moving one one direction or another with all these different characters, and it, you know, it makes sense to flag Owen's history of turning on people and his his defense of himself was amusing.

at your word and prepare for what happens next. If I'm Kevin Owens, I wouldn't consider that a endorsement of his vow.

trust the guy. And I think the story is more gonna be like he's sort of put upon and frustrated and feels like he sort of boxed into a corner, as opposed to like you just couldn't trust him from the beginning. With that said, even though I still think that's the direction, does them leaning this hard into it make it seem more likely or less likely that I'm right in my initial reaction that eventually Owens is going

to be a heel out of this less likely? I mean, I think they're they are leaning into it hard enough that it does make me wonder whether it's not going to go in that direction. But it being pro wrestling, I always think, like when you start teasing someone is going to turn. They aren't necessarily going to turn, but

usually somebody turns. So like I'm thinking and like, okay, maybe if like Owens isn't turning, this is building to like orton turning at the end of this, like with you know, like you know, Cody not trusting Ham or you know, some sort of other tangle, because it's rare in pro wrestling that, you know, someone like they tease all this person's gonna turn and then at the end they're like nope, I'm just a friend, and then they

just move on from things. That's that's an you know, it's it's not that common of a scenario.

and they're literally right next to each other. I mean, they were not four feet away from the original position where these people are standing here, like you could see the original spot in the original spot in the camera as they turned the camera thirty degrees to show Chelsea and Piper standing right next to them, Like you can see Chelsea and Piper in the screen You can literally see the spot where Naya was at the beginning, still in the same shot, and then Nia in the middle

of it, standing next to them as they're having their conversation here. It was ridiculous. Again, doesn't matter, but I thought it was comically ridiculous how this thing went. And I mean, it's it's sort of hard to describe, but I feel like if you if you watch that and it didn't strike you, like, watch it again because you just weren't paying very close attention and how ridiculous the whole thing was.

an their interest to do that like they were. You know, she seemed shocked and upset when it was there, because now she's gonna get beat up by Nia Jacks, which she presumably doesn't want to have happened.

done that too. I my my sense years back was that Sid probably wasn't on very good relations with them based on you know, like the various you know issues

with him leaving the company over the years. But then they brought them running back for that episode of Raw and like, you know whatever, it was twenty twelve or so twenty ten, and I was like, oh, okay, so they must be on you know, at least decent terms, because you know, they you know, there are other people where you know, they just never bring them back, and like those are the people I assume have you know, some sort of heat.

beat Ray again to advance their pairing. And then you know we got Rihan and Dominic coming out to redominant Rhian Damien coming out to UH to get some revenge, which you know, I think was appropriate as well. So yeah, I want us to get to the physicality is better?

ads and plugs through Patreon. Full VIP membership starts at nine dollars in ninety nine cents to reach yourself to a streamlined, ad and plug free listening experience with a VIP or Patreon membership. Is the deconstruction of of of Punk's promo through just openly mocking isn't it great to

be alive and blank? And then I talk about my and then he talks about himself and then sitting across like it is it like if somebody just like deconstructs a kind of a routine that you have as part of your job or I don't know, or your personality that sort of frames you as unoriginal and following a certain pattern, which is what Drew is getting at there? Is it is it too?

I thought it was fun. It's sort of a little you know, novelty, uh novelty promo that you know is the sort of thing you typically hear from him.

It was just one little wire like at that top area, and it was so you know, it was so weird and it was just so small that I thought, I think that's probably legit. I mean, I certainly would not be shocked if that was gimmicked, but like, what a weird thing to gimmick like one spark off in.

as Bronson read, I mean that's a big question. I mean, you know, it sure didn't feel like Hunter had a lot of belief in uh In Bronson Reid. And you know it's even even when they started, you know that they started to set up this you know, little program with seth Rawlins. I you know, I initially was not sold either that you know, that they were going to do something significant with him. But you know, they they sure seem more invested in him now. So hopefully hopefully

they they are. I mean, because I I think highly of the guy, and uh, you know, I think you're seeing you know, I think you're seeing him do well in the role. So yeah, hopefully they're hopefully they're thinking of him that as somebody that can be a you know, player in the in the upper mix for a while.

So you know, here's this chance, you know, to prove that, you know, you know, prove what type of great wrestler he is because he's you know, often labeled a great wrestler, but he you know, and I mean he you know, he obviously has his has his strengths as a performer, but he does he hasn't has produced a lot of classic matches over the years, and this is you know, a uh, you know, a definite opportunity and as far as the finish yet, Gunter will definitely one.

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get the heat back on them on the heels. After that, other part of me says that, like, because Rihei and Priest are so much stronger, you know, give Judgment Day a win, to give them a little credibility at the start of the angle. The thing that tests me towards having Priest and Real win is that Baler isn't in the match, and they presented him as the strongest linking

Judgment Day. So you can have them, you know, you can have Priest pin Dominic and then still, you know, move things towards a you know, a ballort priest match.

Baralio and Jared Cannonier. That that named Kyle Borlio. It feels like it's just ready to go off the rails at any point, you know, Like I feel like, even if you get used to saying it, it's you know, you can never feel that comfortable.

but Bralio Bohalio took over as it went on. Rock Canyear in the third, Rock Canyear in the fifth, and uh, Cannoneer wasn't reacting all that well to getting hit, which is not a great sign as you uh get into your forties, and Bajolio called for a fight afterwards with the Draycus Duplessy, which he won't get, but he might be maybe two or three fights away if he can keep winning, so uh, you know, he's uh, he's not that far off at this point and this this fight

will will help him because he he looked good against Ah, a good opponent. They also had the Ultimate Fighter Finales Our finals. I mentioned last week about how much Robert Valentine had stood out on the show, and unfortunately he

lost to a pretty one dimensional Westler. Ryan Loder took him down and Valentine actually went to town with submissions and was controlling most of the fight on the ground, but eventually Vader was able to trap him in a crucifix and it wasn't like he was devastating Valentine with with with shots by any means, but he was just trapped and the referee stopped that because he wasn't able to defend himself. And that I feel like there was a finish more a number of years back, and it's

it's not satisfying one because like you're not. You're not really like it's it's it's almost like a loophole finish because like you're not. The crucifix is not a position where you usually can do that much damage from because you have to use you have to control the guy's arms in a way that you can only throw elbows from relatively short distance. And you can do some damage with those short elbows from from from from short distance, but it's, you know, usually it just ends up being

relatively light, you know, light punches and elbows. But if you just keep you know, punching an elbow and the guy and the guy isn't you know, isn't able to do anything to defend himself, then you know, referees are gonna stop it, so so it goes. Other final was Myron Santos knocking out Confley with a left hooke in exchange.

Beautiful finish, but I don't see either of these finishers winners going far as Dana White Contender Series has become the the dominant entry point for UFC fighters now, and Ultimate Fighter is basically an afterthought kind of a relic from you know, from an earlier days with you know, Dana White Can Series being where they filter you know, pretty much all the top contenders through and put the top prospects through rather and you know, now you know, so many of the uh you know, the top fighters

in the UFC roster came through you know, came through the UH through the Contender series. By the way, I there's a funny moment of the Contender Series this week where these two guys had a great fight and they make this big production the Dana White is going to give the loser not only his show bonus, not only his win bonus, but another bonus on top of that, and the announcers are like freaking out, like oh my god, like what a you know, they've never done anything like this.

He's getting all these bonuses. And then later you overhear Data White going yeah, you're getting an extra fifteen K, and it's like, I mean, look, I'd like to have, you know, I'd like fifteen K for Data if he wants to give me for fifteen K. But they've made such this production and it's like, you know, fifteen K of this promotion that's you know, like a million dollar company, and uh, you know is uh he is making hundreds

of millions of dollars a year anyway. Uh. In addition to the to the to the main event and the Ulti Fighter finale's uh, there is also another up and comer versus veteran fight with Neil Magni and Michael Morales,

and up and Comer won there too. Magni was going for takedown on Morales and Morales was defending for a while, and then when he had a moment, he threw a spinning back elbow and it you know, it knocked uh, Magni down and back and down, and he got him down to the ground, got his back, finding him out and pounded him out. So Morales now seventeen to oh and uh, he's only twenty five, so he could have a pretty uh, pretty bright future there given the way

his his career started. Edmund Shabbassian and Jerald Miershard this is a hell will come back. So Miershart has always been a one dimensional submission guy and Shabbasian was just lighting him upstanding for pretty much the entire fight. But Meershart survived. He hung in there to his credit and uh and in the second late in the second he managed to take down and grabbed an arm triangle and got the submission, so it was, uh, it was quite

the turnaround. And with that submission, Meershart is now the middleweight fighter in UFC history with the most finishes, which boy, I don't know anyone would have been able to guess if they hadn't heard it specifically on this telecast, because that is one, you know, counterintuitive record. But good for uh,

good for Meershart and uh for Schabasian. I mean it's you know, it's not the first time he managed to smash smash defeat from the jaws of victory and impressive opener as Wayang Kong knocked out Victoria Leonardo with a two punch combination in a hurry, and Kong has a kickbox background. She wants to beat Valentina Chevchenko and kickboxing.

She's on being an MMA and she's confident. After the beautiful k I winning her UFC debut, she said she wasn't happy because she should have been on the main card rather than the opener, which is a pretty badass thing to say. So I enjoyed that and no no show this week so people can enjoy the return of college football on Siduray, although it's starting up starting up now only a few minutes from from North Carolina, Carolina and Minnesota. Wade excited. I no, no, yeah, what what a disappointment?

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