WeWatchWrestling Issue #631

Hey do you watch wrestling? Be watch wrestling. Greetings. Salutations. Well, hello there. Welcome friends and foes. Heels are babyfaces. to the Professional Wrestling Podcast with your best interests at heart. I welcome you to the We Watch Wrestling Podcast. Well, hello there. I'm your wonderful darling, red-headed, bearded host beyond the map, McCarthy. With me, always professional wrestling encyclopedia, Mr. Fitz Averill. I detect no lies. Tell me when I'm lying.

Hey, bud. Hey, dude. You were starting a query when I interrupted you just then? I mean, why doesn't Phil just come out and admit he listens to the show instead of posting cryptic messages about Crocodile Dundee? Got his ass. We're on to you. Well, it's a long flight to Perth, dude. You're going to have to watch, listen to something. You read the watch pile. It's going to be.

piling up. You got to hope unless you're just going to sleep the whole time. I flew from Cleveland. Yeah. To monster Palooza. That's right. What did I do on the way there? I, I know I put on something. You went to Atlanta. So you may have put on the world famous program, Atlanta. Or. Oh, yeah. Ugh. Some old TBS Atlanta Brave games or... I think in the morning I might have just zonked out for a little bit on the way to Atlanta. I don't remember, but on the way... Oh, no, no, no.

What am I talking about? I watched the casino. Oh. Which didn't even cover the whole flight to Atlanta. Oh, yeah. That's insane. That's a bit odd. And then from Atlanta to Cleveland. I watched a... I definitely watched a Frasier. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, but on the way back, I had a Vince Averill double feature. Oh. I watched 28 years later. Okay. And then the Steven Soderbergh haunted house movie presence. When you watch back-to-back car movies, that's a Vince Averill double feature.

Well, that doesn't sound right, but you can call it whatever you want. But it's also appropriate because you were headed to Monsterpalooza. You were just getting ready. Just getting geared up for the old monster Palooza. And that was at the Marriott by the Burbank airport. Yep. Tremendous facility. Such a tremendous facility. Um, yeah.

It's balled up on the ground over there, but I bought a nice, like, I guess fleece. I don't know what this. It's balled up on the ground already. It's a blanket. Oh, I bought a, uh, a, from the. from the famous monsters of film land booth. I bought a nice soft, I don't know if it's fleece or what it is, some sort of synthetic, but it's so soft blanket with, uh, the Santo cover.

Which might be nearby. Santo body slamming a group of gnarly vampires. And they had that on a blanket? They must have it all at these things. Bro, it was a huge blanket. Well. Well. What about you? What? No, you. I tried staying up last night to watch that.

King of Pro Wrestling match, the Takeshita and Sabres Jr. I started it. Caught you a little too late. I was like, it's so funny too because I was doing the raw homework and I was nodding out and I kept rewinding it. But then once you texted, I was like, okay, I'm going to get a bowl of cereal. Can't fall asleep while I'm eating. Frosted mini wheats. Not yet. And then...

So I watched the, I, it was so foolish of me. I watched their entrances. I'm like, I should have just gone straight to them fighting. They make it so easy on new Japan world. I know, you know, they got it broken up all nice, but, uh, yeah man I zonked and then all of a sudden the next thing I noticed the press conference I'm like god damn it great match IWGP champion it's unreal and

I don't know because I haven't been completely dialed in the New Japan Pro Wrestling in case you haven't listened to this show. I don't know if like... there was some something about you know it was sort of expected that goto would would be the challenger it seemed like and so yeah i caught that it's so funny when like like i'm trying to watch something but i'm asleep and then like every so often i like because i'm so stupefied so i wake up and i look and i'm like no i know what's going on

ah yeah goto's upset yeah yeah that makes sense like when someone calls you they're like oh no no no no in the morning i was waiting for this call no no what's going on dude um but precious precious days wily wisely rather um to catch just like well i'm not going to go into the tokyo dome without you know basically warmed up like I'm going to have to get a defense in so they're like

that'll be goto you know like we don't let's not right to go to at the at the dome let's but that's what needs to happen or is going to happen so we'll just fucking put pencil that in right here and then uh to cash to in theory unless of course goto reclaims the the iwgp title and uh we'll we'll see who to catch the faces i have never felt good about goto It's a no-do. It's a no-do. But anyway, Takeshita and Zack Sabre Jr. was a fucking pretty dope match. Man, it seemed it. I got to watch it.

i mean here's the thing the um when they were running through the intro because of course i love that it's still they still just present it like you know this badass, uh, important sporting event. Yeah. You know, and not, you know, nobody, not that I don't love the over the top, over the top angles in the United States, but there is no. you know, Zack Sabre Jr. set Takeshita's childhood home on fire. Sure. That wasn't necessary? No.

Drilla Maloney broke into Sonata's house. Watched his kids sleep. But going through it all... I just like when they run through the roster, or not the roster, but the card up top. David Finley, he's fine. We went through this. But we've been through this. No, I mean, I like David Finley and I think bell to bell David Finley is cool. Right. But man, talk about change something. Do anything.

But then, you know, Clark Connors, it's like, all right, well, God damn. Now, can this guy run the war dogs? He needs to. He needs to get the leg surgery that they had in that one movie where he can be taller.

there's a movie where somebody gets like there's like uh it's so funny uh georgia that was a movie from this year with don johnson's daughter and fucking um who's the guy everybody loves from last of us uh pedro pascal yeah what is it called like very good friends or something i don't know but george was like this is kind of like she was presenting it to me like this is kind of like tippy toes like the the mcconaughey movie where everyone

because what it is is this chick is like a matchmaker and she like lists like what her deal breakers or whatever and ultimately you find out that Pedro Pascal had had this surgery where he like had his legs so he would be really taller it's the materialists ridiculous yeah is what i would have called it uh they call it materialist i would have called it ridiculous but

So that was a big spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen that movie. But anyway, Clark Connors, maybe. Now, when you're watching it, Vince, did it have A24 vibes? I still don't know what that is, so I can't speak to it. Clark Connors is it. Clark Connors is great. I just think they're not going to...

you have to fucking be able to be in the heavyweight class anyway. You can't even get out of the fucking the juniors, unfortunately. That's silly. He needs to just do the Kenny Omega gimmick where he's like... That was one of my favorite promos when Kenny got bumped up to the heavyweights. He's just like, I've been starving myself to stay in that light heavyweight division.

it's it's new japan obviously is in such a strange state because it's like i don't know there's still guys like sonata around i'm like i don't know there's just it's not It seemed exciting at first, and then I'm like, it doesn't grab me. What do you mean still around? He's not on his way out. That guy's fucking... Tana, she's the only one retiring over there.

They're definitely going to still be around. But that's the problem. I'm like, there's no one. No fresh blood. Well, you got the cash in the mix. Yeah, thank God. Now we're talking. Well, and maybe that, maybe that also speaks to why, you know, some of these, uh, the, I mean, they're not really young lions at all anymore, but the, like the Yoda Tsuji's and the Yuyumura's and the fucking shooters and them.

Maybe they haven't gotten to where we thought they might because they don't have people to work with. I know. Drilla Maloney, I don't mind, but his name, Drilla. I'm like, it ruins the whole thing for me. I don't know about you. You don't like the word Drilla. Drilla? As a first name? As a given name? As a Christian name? Drilla? And then it's just his regular Maloney last name. He's like...

I mean, Boney Maloney would be better or like, you know, Baloney Maloney would be better than Drilla. It's also interesting because, you know, they have this guy, New Japan has this guy, Aaron Wolf, that they're like.

they're gonna you know they've been building up who who is um first match is going to be against oh right kind of thing you know like uh-huh debuting the fucking and it's going to be evil but uh i just i just mean like you know so here's another guy that they're like i don't know um but uh you know going back to this to catch the uh zach saber jr match

i mean melzer was like i think this is the match of the year you know and i'm like again subjective art form so sure sure but at the same time i'm like um it was really good but but i'm just thinking like there was that uh tony storm mariah may match that you guys were at that i wasn't at but there was um i mean fuck i know maybe even the the to catch the omega match that was an aw uh i don't know whatever what else happened this year let me tell you i take copious notes

Cause that's the kind of fucking dedicated professional wrestling fan I am. Oh, Fletcher and Ospreay. Oh, forget it, dude. Um, I don't see anything topping. Mariah May and Tony Storm for me because it's not only because it's sometimes we get a great story and sometimes we get a great match but

It shouldn't be as few and far between that we get both at once. And those two was a great story that culminated in a great match, which is, I don't know. I thought that's what professional wrestling was supposed to be, boss.

now again because it's always so very subjective this art form so subjective you know you could be like well i i'm not into the fucking death the blood and guts yeah but but again All I'm saying is there have been a lot of fucking great matches, and I just was like, oh, interesting that someone thinks that this one is, which I guess whatever.

Well, it definitely, I mean, those two names on paper or like put in an Ishii, it's always going to be the type of match that Meltzer gets, you know. Don't you dare say it. gets a boner for so ishii does he just live in the united states now like he's he's pretty exclusively i think he's yeah i feel like he's an aew guy at this point uh you think

Nakamura is like, does Nakamura have kids? He's telling his wife, keep it down. He hasn't woken up. Our house guest is not woken up yet. Mrs. Nakamura is sleeping in bed. and then like shinsuke comes sneaking in like because they keep the plunger in their bedroom bathroom yeah and then he's like sneaking through the room with the plunger and she like she doesn't even open up her eyes she's just like tell tomohiro to keep it down and like shinsuke he just like freezes and he's like what oh no the

This is for me. No, no. I was eating fish cakes and clogged up the toilet. Or it's like in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood when Brad Pitt's fixing the TV antenna and he goes into the shed. And if you haven't seen it, you don't know. You don't notice that there's the fucking blowtorch in there. Oh, right. So Nakamura goes into the shed to get one of his surfboards in the morning. And if you don't know, you don't see that Ishii is just like sleeping upright in the sheets in the shed.

If you watch it again, look, do you see Ishii? He sleeps in Nakamura's shed now while he's in AEW. That's Ishii right there. So it makes sense later when Ishii comes out and kills those hippies. My list right now, I have Kenny Omega versus Gabe Kidd at Wrestle Dynasty. Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay versus Kyle Fletcher and Takeshita. At Grand Slam. A really good show that happened in Australia. Oh, McCarthy's full of hate. The Boys Elimination Chamber.

The Hollywood ending, of course. Kenny Omega versus Takeshita. Will Ospreay versus Kyle Fletcher. Both on that same show, Revolution. Then...

I don't know. I mean, these are not matches of the year, but like the Natty Neidhart-Miu match at Bloodsport, along with the Gresham-Zack Sabre Jr. match at Bloodsport. That Gresham-Zack Sabre Jr. match at Bloodsport was like... you know chef's kiss dave should have been there where where were you dave he was there was he there yeah i remember he's sitting down there well he wasn't at ping pong i'll tell you that much all right you said

What did I say? Nothing. Um, I mean, look, is it a, is it a sentimental thing? Is it in fact a great match? They didn't come with us to ping pong pong, did he?

no we went on quite a journey he would have been really mad about me going into the wrong casino to find that restaurant he would have been like we're here we're here we should just see something here yeah some people dropped off after that news but the hardcores the jerry's the ashley's and that's and that's exactly why it's a survivor series we made it to ping pong pong and it was delicious in my recollection although i was very tired

You remember we walked past one table and some dude said to his date, like, that guy's famous. Yep. Or that guy's a celebrity. Something like that. Something, dude. Sabu versus Joey Janela. Okay. Alright. That was definitely a match this year. The triple threats at WrestleMania. Kind of the... I don't want to say only good matches on those shows, but like, no, I don't know, man. Those were, those were, those were disappointing manias.

So you're saying Cena AJ Styles from this weekend didn't move the needle for you. I thought it was good. Okay. Anarchy in the arena. Hangman versus Osprey. FTR versus the Outrunners on Collision in July. Yeah, that's all I have so far, honestly. I don't have any starred matches since July.

gable versus vikingo this is this is by no means exhaustive i uh you know i'm not keeping track of talking about some matches that was good man just talking about matches that i saw that that that moved my needle come on man

Uh, uh, what? Uh, now can Koharski and his brother be trusted to go to wrestle dream alone without any supervision? I doubt it. Cause I know St. Louis has got some casinos. Okay. That'd be one thing.

I just don't want him to get into trouble. I don't know when I wrote this down. Did I ever say this to you? For some reason in my notes, when Eddie Kingston returned at All Out, I wrote, Eddie Kingston, the Marilyn Munster of Chikara. Do you recall what you meant? Well, I know exactly what that means. I mean, you think of Chikara. I'm thinking of Chikara. And now, does Eddie Kingston necessarily fit in with that group?

You know? Because he's not... Because it was a heavy, you know, cartoon, anime, lucha character-based thing, and then you got... the regular dude yeah but i i i mean definitely um but i also like i don't and maybe it was just a less internet

or whatever but i also don't remember thinking of eddie kingston as like the um like knowing i you know up until like the 12 large summit begins and we and those are like promos i remember and stuff but like prior to that i don't i don't remember like knowing a tremendous amount about him and so

I don't know. I don't remember him sticking out to me at the time. I feel like he stuck out to me at the time. Not like saying I didn't like him or didn't think he was good. I'm saying stuck out like, oh.

he's not really like these other guys here. It was just like, he was just another character to me, but, um, but I, but I, I hear what you're saying. Yeah. I definitely hear you in a company where there's, you know, wrestling army ants and you know an evil pumpkin and a and a mantis sure but there were also just like you know icarus and and the uh the claudios and you know which again they they had gimmicks but yeah i don't know they were regular dudes i understand what you mean eddie

What do you think Tursus is up to? Probably nothing good. Probably take a huge dump somewhere. I mean, just a massive dude in my recollection, but maybe it was because he was in Chikara. I remember him thinking he was quite large. I'm just picturing Nakamura now. He finally gets the toilet unclogged and then Ishii's like, my friend is coming over. And then Tursus walks in at full gimmick and he's just like, and he's got a bag of Taco Bell.

Yeah. Or, or fucking, you know, Nakamura is just about back to his room and his phone buzzes. He's like, Hey, uh, can you come back? Yeah. Clock. Clock. Again. Clock. How was Phantasmo versus Tanahashi? From... from the King of Pro Wrestling I just watched that main event you know what's hilarious is the way that this is formatted is it says evil with Dick Togo and Don Fale

but the way that it's formatted, it's in these grids. So it's just like right on top of each other. Body Count had a song called Evil Dick. So that's the first thing I saw was just evil. Dick. Let's shoot a text to Cabana and find out what Tercis is up to now. I'm struggling to remember even how to... spell it T-U-R-S-A-S hasn't been active in the ring since 2016 I hate that Is this his Twitter? Is Tersis on Twitter? War God, War Monster, War Monger. TersisBDK at Gmail to purchase tribute cloth.

Or if promoter to arrange for Tersus to destroy your best fighter. Tribute cloth. When's the last time he... Um... 2021, give generously to honor a wonderful spirit gone too early. Memory is the true immortality. And then I don't know what this is a link to. It won't work. I don't know. Someone passed away in 2021. Are we thinking? That's just kind of some retweets. I bet it's Jimmy Rave. Is it December of 21? February.

Yeah. Maybe not. Anyway. I don't know. Then below it is some sort of sweet and sour shirt. So maybe it was that. Maybe it was just like a Sweeney shirt. In a memory post-haste. Oh, man. I wish he was more active online. This is 2019. He's just like quote tweeting. AEW was like, who would make a great creeper for dark order? Would you become creeper for dark order? And then he replies, maybe not creeper, but smasher or crippler. Sure.

remember the dark order remember when that was a thing when they were like oh sure who's the next cult member in the dark order gonna be well i remember you know that was like remember right at the start of aw it was like such a big deal oh sure and all those dudes would like sit down like would form a chair and evil uno would sit on them

You know what you're going to do. Ain't nothing you can do. I don't know. What's he up to? I think we leave him alone. I was interested. You don't want to try to book him? for our indie promotion we're starting because there's not enough wrestling in LA anymore. We're just going to start our own promotion. That's the name of the promotion. Not enough wrestling in LA. Not enough wrestling in LA.

Also, you and I will book it. We'll have Denise Salcido do the ring announcing. And the interviews. And the interviews. We'll do it in that room where early morning Guy Steele had his show. WrestleMania weekend. There's already a ring there. There's already a ring there. It's about, it holds about 20 people. Yeah. Standing. So we don't get a hard, hard concrete drawing. Yeah. Yeah. This is going to be great.

We'll book Tersis and Allie catches back off the bench. She's taking bookings again. I'm thinking main event, Frank the Clown versus Dan Housen. Fuck. Paint versus paint.

Somebody has to fucking unpaint themselves. This is just like in the Goonies when they find the machine that prints money. Yes. How's the rain out by you? Uh, it was coming down pretty good when I started this damn thing, but I'm not going to be able to tell. I don't let's take a look if I can see out this way. I can't really tell. Yeah, it was supposed to allegedly get worse around now, but I'm like, it seems a little better. Allegedly. Allegedly. I'm in a nice little pocket.

it's so funny because then when I have the news on like Jack, you know, it's almost like he's nine. He doesn't, he doesn't really like, he's like dad. They said that there's going to be tornadoes and there's going to be like, flooding and i'm like he's like he's like dad there's there might be mudslides and i'm like yeah that's not all our neighborhood yeah i feel you dog i feel i used to get fucking so scared of fucking tornadoes in michigan

Yeah, I'm like, no, they're talking about a very large area. I'm like, they're talking about mountains and deserts and shit. He's like, Dad, there's going to be snow. I'm like, you need to put the filter back on your cigarette, boy. I'm like, this is why I can't watch news with you in the room, boy. You get ideas in your head. And then he gets it half right. And then he takes it to school. He's like, I told all my friends about how there was a snow tornado.

God damn it, boy. Oh, you better forget it now. Um, Samoa Joe, anyone, does this match move the needle for you? Are you even excited about WrestleDream? Do you even care about it anymore? What are you smoking? WrestleDream, dude. I'm going to pull up that card. When is that? Is that this weekend? It's on Saturday. Yes. I'm going to be in town, dude. Beautiful thing. Oh, God damn it. What's the matter? Well, it'll start in the afternoon, right? I don't know. Why?

Going to the Haunted Hayride on Saturday. That's at night, right? Traditionally, it is at night. Don't blame me, dude. I don't know about these things. I haven't been on a hayride in a long time. hey man haunted or otherwise there's only one person whose fault this is it's not my bag and it's yours dude um wrestle dream yeah the thing the thing about an aw paper you know is

No matter when it starts, it's definitely going into the night. Yeah, it ain't stopping before I'm doing the funky chicken with Elvira at the, let's see, St. Louis. Are you going to Griffith Park? Oh, yeah. That's the only Haunted Hayride, baby. Also have, I believe... I'll have to do the rundown of the tickets. I believe we get a ride on the... There's like a spooky merry-go-round.

Okay. And then they have the mazes, which, you know, we weren't sure about last year because I was like, because I always heard this thing, you know, I'm like. is it scary is it too scary and nobody nobody can get like people without kids or even people with kids yeah it's such a well like like we say around here it's such a subjective art form what's scary and what's not sure

And I remember Jack being really small. Do you know the pumpkin place on... What is it like? North Hollywood? It's on like Riverside and... What is that? Is it Lancashire? Maybe. I almost said. It's right near my dentist. You know where I go to the dentist, Vince? I've only dropped you off the one time.

there is a um it's it's it's always there okay uh you know they they change it up seasonally but there's always like a petting zoo i don't know when you would i hate that man i the petting zoos you i've got a fucking this target parking lot by me turns into a pumpkin patch and then a fucking christmas tree farm and they have it's like do you got to have a bunch of fucking goats and shit standing there in order to sell pumpkins like leave these fuckers on the farm please

Leave him alone. Well, I guess my question is what would the goats be doing otherwise? Not staying in a fucking target parking lot with fucking idiots putting gum in their hair or whatever the fuck goes on.

well i can't get down with that i don't know is that is is our petting zoos no fun for the animals i can't imagine it's very fun right you're just like i don't know you're trying to be a goat and all of a sudden there's these other fuckers that are sometimes useful like just trying to handle you and kids i'm sorry that's a t-shirt right there i'm trying to be a goat every fucking that's that's what killed me about fucking eric andre's birthday parties that would be fucking smoking hot

outside and fucking whatever month and he's got all these fucking animals standing in a goddamn parking lot or wherever the fuck with everyone's tripping on shit and i'm just like leave these fucking this this is not a gimmick i'm into anyway

About this pumpkin patch you were talking about. They have a haunted maze, right? You know? And we're back.

What about the petting zoo at the zoo? They're probably a little more well cared for at a zoo, right? I don't dig zoos. I haven't been to a zoo in a long time. If you're at a farm, I suppose... if you're at a farm and they're like at their house and you come over to their house you know and you're like hey what's up i guess zoos are their own set of problems you got like but like you know if you're at the farm and it's like oh over here we got a little goat pen if you want to say hello

where was it was it central park didn't they have a zoo where there was like two polar bears and it's just like these these bears are not fucking having a good time i just saw a video at the san diego zoo where one of the fucking gorillas like broke I mean, didn't break through the glass, but fucking just smashed into it. I'm like, he seems like he's having a good time there. He's, he's happy. He's not in the lowlands. Fucking.

doing whatever the other fucking thing he would be besides getting poached. He's, he's trying to run through a fucking glass wall to get the fuck out. Uh, but this does remind me pop text me. Uh, he goes, uh, let's see.

there was a teenage girl who passed out in the corn maze at their farm and but he goes the fireman and she ended up being fine but the fireman emt's kept getting lost trying to find her fucking pete has a joke about that where he was at a corn maze with his daughter and he's eating like a like a buttered roll and he said he started choking on it and he's like

you know like he panicked but he's like also like so then he just broke down the wall to get through but he's like because he's like he's like i can't die like this and you can't like choke to death in a in a maze within the EMT. It's like follow one wall. No, it's like a saw movie. Uh, but it was this corn maze in Bryant park who eats a buttered roll. Like what?

I could get a donut or a buttered roll. It seems like you're getting it from the cart on 33rd. That's a great question. Look, I have no answers. Anyway, this is a pro wrestling show. As anyone at this point is about to hit the fucking delete to stay with us. We're about to drop right back into this wrestle dream. All I was going to say was. The haunted hayride is not scary. But this stupid little petting zoo pumpkin patch in North Hollywood, you walk in.

And Jack was so much smaller. And we even said to the guy, is it scary? He's like, oh yeah, it's real scary. And then we went in and it was just like, it was so much worse.

because it's so low budget so like it was like all this blood and gore and i'm just like this is like glennis literally covered jack's eyes and we just ran through it man well yeah i could see sitting on the back of the hay wagon though and someone pops up on me and might not be into it but you know i used to and the funny thing is i was in charge of a haunted forest when i the last job i had in michigan

uh-huh the parks department that i was working for we would do a haunted like a haunted thing a park it you know that people like wasn't it was a the suburb wasn't a like a lot of people came out to this fucking thing you know so you would like you'd ride out

And then there was like a cabin that you went through and then some other shit. And then you came back through the woods. And I was like, I was in charge like me and like two other like grounds maintenance guys be like, all right, well, why don't we put some fucking, I remember after I saw, um,

or i must have re-watched american movie or something i was like oh we should put some like crosses like some scarecrows that are like tilted because it was from like coven or whatever or northwest or whatever the fuck yeah i was just like a guy who had no interest but i'd be like here's some kind of scary shit ah the abandoned best was you make a fucking like when you came out of the cabin we made this like

basically out of plywood you can picture right you just uh-huh and put probably like a little fucking tarp over the top sure what you do is you paint every other board it's black white black white right but you have uh one of the um one of the blackboards or two of them you can't tell but it's like there's an opening because what you do is you shoot the strobe light and so then it's just it's strobing

And someone can come right out of the fucking black panel because you can't tell that it's not solid, you know? Man, I think you missed your call. Throw a little fucking smoke in there, a little smoke machine and hit the fucking strobe, bro.

and motherfuckers are coming out of the walls anyway maybe that's the thing the people who are who are the most scared are the ones who should come up with this shit well that's just it here's what i wouldn't want to have happen like you know what i would hate Also another thing that I remember from like one of the only haunted houses I ever went through was like finally getting out. And like, I remember like having my hands on my knees being like, ah, fuck.

And then there's just a dude with a chainsaw who chased us like, like around the parking lot, you know, like you're like, fuck. And then, then here comes the one more guy. Like anyway. Wow. See, here's what I thought you were going to say. We finally got out, but then everything had changed. We were in an alternate reality. It was the wrong year.

we're almost we're almost a wrestle dream the other thing about this haunted house that i remember and i was probably in like fucking junior high or something it was in union lake michigan like in an old fucking i don't even know what they had done but one of the rooms you walked in and it was you couldn't see anything and then all of a sudden all the lights come on and it was fucking animal from the muppets just playing a drum set fucking loud as hell and it's like startling but you're like

what he was like what the fuck is this yeah it was crazy yeah that was that was and then probably you know i don't know what happened from there but it was just such a strange like what is this yeah anyway oh wow that's a get uh hurts in the kit versus the demand now this little ricochet bishop khan and toa leona group is uh They're putting something together. Oh, yeah. Wasn't there a... Who just got released? From... Oh, Cedric, right?

Did he? I think Cedric Alexander just got his release and then the word was MVP was campaigning to get him a job. I thought you were going to talk about...

kota bushi's femur what's up with his femur did he oh he got hurt didn't he oh dude he like it's it was kind of wild like uh him and um josh alexander he goes out he goes flying out of the ring and well i mean actually what happens is alexander's trying to get him up on the turnbuckle and he loses he like he lost his balance and fell right and he fucking broke his the fucking femur dude

and abushi's like later he's he's you know he he's like you know i'm i'm so bummed he's like all i ever do is get hurt now whatever he's like the fucking bone was almost coming through the skin because he was down on collision so it happened probably on tuesday or wednesday and they were like how are they going to do this and they you know i don't know they showed a lot of it but but also it wasn't like

gruesome or anything other than he was just like fucked on the ground you know yeah like there was no there was no other option but to fucking do a count out you know like yeah but it's one of those things where it's like i didn't see him Like you, he falls, you don't see the whole thing, but you're just like, what happened that like, cause.

i know anyone who hasn't had anatomy the femur is the one up in the fucking under the thigh there like that's a pretty fucking it's an extremely hard pretty solid pretty big and solid as far as the human body goes so i'm just like what the fuck happened I don't know. Is it, is that, it doesn't, is that like, are all bones this way? Is that the type of bone where it's just like, you can wear and tear like enough's enough. It doesn't feel like you're.

I mean, that's more, well, now we're in the weeds again, but I feel like that's more like muscular, tendon, that kind of stuff than like bones, unless your bones are brittle. But like... i mean maybe he came down on the sort of like knee moving forward to the barricade and it just like between that and the hip was just like nope but i don't know man

I don't know. Shelton Benjamin was released by WWE in February and he signed with TNA in June. Wait, not Shelton Benjamin. He works for AEW. Excuse me. Cedric Alexander. Yeah. So he's in...

Oh, so it's one of those. We're like, we don't want to pay you, but, uh, are the company that we just tell what to do. Um, also again, you know so this weekend was the fucking hardy's um bubba ray and devon oh right it was like final match whatever you know and i don't know if i gave a shit well i mean part of the problem for me is just how much i i dislike bubba bubba dudley now well yeah that's that's always a fact and and it's one of those things where you know he talks so much shit

and how how it's how it should be done and what and so there's i see this clip that anise sends me that at the end of the match it must be like you know they once both members went through a table or something because bub is like sets up a table and he turns around and there's the hardies and they both have chairs and then they put the chairs down and they just like pick him up and put him through the table and that's it right uh-huh but i'm like okay mr psychology

Mr. Yeah. You just turn around and stand there and wait for them to like, and again, I didn't see the whole fucking match, but it's like, uh, you know, and I think whoever was like, was like oh you know it's like like you know flair it's like well the flair wasn't when he said fucking or when sean michaels was like i love you where kicked him in the face it wasn't like

flair wasn't like just waiting for it he like came out of a move and was like yeah anyway he had his he had his dukes up he was selling so it happened and i'm happy for all those guys but uh i uh you know once you fucking once you get up on your high horse dude then there's just anyway i mean for me it's like

So are all four of those guys retired now, or was it just being billed as the last time they're going to wrestle each other? I think it's the last time they were going to wrestle. And also I think Devon was very clear, like, okay, like I kind of had been trying to not do this anymore. I did this one. I'm done. He's got a job. Devon produces at WWE. I don't think he does anymore. Does it anymore? I don't think he's there anymore.

But regardless, he's not trying to wrestle anymore. We know that. Because, I mean, with him, it's so funny. I forget who the writer was, but I never worked with D-Von. But I remember somebody telling me, they were like, They were like, literally every time you go to Deacon to find out what they're planning on doing in a match he's producing, every single time he's like, yeah, I don't know. I was thinking maybe, you know, like...

Baby faces at first. Then the heels get some heat on the baby faces. Then get that hot tag. Baby faces come back in and run rough shot. Then baby faces go over. It's like, oh, you mean literally?

literally every every fucking tag team match in wwe yeah that's that's what you're thinking to do also funny that um i saw where bubba ray was like it's like the hardy boys breathed new life into tna and like are this huge part of this tna resurgence or not resurgence but whatever popularity like that that they're having now it's like

maybe but you know i mean obviously everyone who watches tna like yeah that i know whatever they're like oh it's great like whatever you know but and so i i feel like not just feet i don't know it's whatever i'm just trying to pick pick apart fucking bubba now but but i was just like i don't know did i guess probably a couple people were like oh the hardy boys are on this because the hardy boys obviously super popular every time you see them at a fucking oh yeah yeah

I mean, I'm just going off of seeing the clip on Instagram and so many of the comments. Also, I'm just like, how many of you people still watch wrestling? Are you still reading comments? I'm always, I warned you. I'm curious. Sometimes I'm curious. Sometimes I don't see anything in my feed. Sometimes I just post and I put it down, you know, but.

Once in a while, I'll be curious enough to like, what are people saying about this? I'm like, clearly, obviously a different generation, but like so many comments were just like, this is my childhood. I'm not crying. You're crying. yeah and i'm like the fucking dudley's and the hardy boys i'm like i don't even i'm like because allegedly it's the last time they're ever going to wrestle each other i'm just like it also felt like i don't know the hardy's

are never going to stop wrestling. Right. You know? And then the Dudleys, it kind of felt like they were half-retired anyway. I'm like, when the fuck... i don't know i mean it's it's completely fine i mean i didn't i had no issue with it taking place at all i just think probably what you're reading are people who yeah who like like saw the clip and were like oh my god i remember this you know like

Yeah, maybe. That's very true. Now, what I am wondering about, not enough to turn on TNA yet, but now that Santana is their champion, I wonder, I don't know. Tito? No, Mike from, uh, you know, Santana Ortiz fame from LAX. Uh, and, um, I just wonder like where are the promos at? Have he has his passes? Cause that was remember like.

when it was like oh man santana's he's pretty good whatever yeah and then he started to talk there when he came back from that injury or whatever yeah and they try to go as a single with him and it was like oh this is like so i just wonder what if he's you know put some other things together um i don't know put him with a manager well maybe he doesn't need one now maybe he fucking came came all the way full circle and he's doing big thanks well we should see

We will, we will see a little time for, for TNA. We'll see what I can do. I'm free. That matches on the pay-per-view. It's so funny that that's the very next thing you go to, because literally. I watched the Instagram clip of the Hardys and Dudleys hugging. And then I scrolled. The very next thing is AEW with... the picture for that match that specific match hater and tecla and i'm like and that was and my gut reaction was like man some people are living in the fucking past some people

some wrestling fans like are desperate to stay in the past when like a match like that is fucking on the books it's like I don't know it just brings up a lot of that sentimentality about like, I think it was also like Cena and AJ having their match too, of just like this idea of, oh man, back when wrestling was good, like this was when, you know.

oh man, it's just like, I don't know. I never buy into that bullshit of like, oh, that's back when wrestling was good or like, oh man, they don't do it like that anymore. I'm like, I definitely don't need... guys like the hardys and edging christian and the dudleys like murdering each other out there like taking really unnecessary risks i'm morbidly curious to see what darby

is going to do this weekend but it's like thank god there's only but you know it's like the open chair shot thing or just like the like it's unnecessary because it hold on I'm not totally sure what you're talking about so you're saying like when there's a match like Hayter and Tekla people are like no no no I'm just saying being stuck in the past When there is current wrestling and current wrestlers that are so fucking fire. Yeah.

what you saw someone like there was a post about it or something or no no no no i just started having this argument in my head and i started getting angry hey man we all been to that dance uh yeah no you know sure it's it's that you know um i know guys who don't buy records anymore they're like i don't need to listen to new music you know you're just like well that's fine but your your favorite band you probably never even heard them yet

you know like it's that yeah we're just like well oh i used to i mean and wrestling is is like the number one wrestling is like yes i used to watch that you know it's like all right cool man um but yeah no that's a good comparison like with music it's like oh i i liked it when it was good yeah or like any all this stuff today and it's like what stuff like there there couldn't be like there's just music being created everywhere at all times like what do you mean

this stuff today that like the whoever played on saturday live well yeah maybe not but like like i mean i like i can get it like with movies because it's like man like something happened to movies at some point but but that said The amount of movies that have come out this year that I loved. Huh? Fuck My Son? Is that the film you're speaking about? Fuck My Son? In theaters now?

Do you know what I'm talking about? No. It's the guy who made Catechism Clatechism's film. It's got an X rating, but it has been playing. That's the title of the movie? Yes. yes uh and i don't know if there's a trailer or not but um you know it's it's it's it's making the festival rounds so what hey man i'm just It's all facts. I'm just being factual. I don't want to type fuck my son into my search. Thank God. That's the first thing that comes up. Okay. I'm going to have to look into that.

wow well all I was going to say was The amount of movies that have come out this year that I've loved, I'm like, okay, there's still movies, new movies that I love. The problem is... it's only a handful and like that's the amount of movies that I loved that came out like one weekend in like 1982 or 88 or something you know yeah yeah there was like a yesterday an ad for the uh

springsteen movie and george like you go see that i go i don't go to see any fucking movies so i don't know like i want to go see movies i don't do it so i probably i don't know uh but that also speaking of an advertisement it fucking bums me out and maybe i don't watch enough tv otherwise although i feel like i do get into my cable pretty good only during aw am i seeing fucking ads for ice to join ice there's like no other program i watch that fucking Not WWE? Well, I mean, I probably just...

Maybe I'm so quick with the fast forward because I'm usually watching that after. And also Netflix, sometimes I get ads, sometimes I don't. There weren't any last night on the Raw that I watched on Netflix. That's true.

but like yeah that that ad though i was like what is this aw it's like fucking every every other fucking commercial break i'm like and i know that hangman page fucking said something sure but like but it's just strange to me that i'm not like i i don't recall seeing it during a fucking i haven't seen it during any of like playoff baseball you know like unless i'm just missing it but anyway is it a bummer i know is it just purely

I mean, I wouldn't put it past these people. They're so fucking petty. Is it because of Brody coming out and like that sweatshirt he wore in Mexico? Like that went viral, you know? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, you've worked in traffic. Maybe who's paying for the ads? Is it Paul Levesque? Is he the one who's putting the ads during... I mean... It's his mother-in-law who's fucking...

I've worked in the education system. I have worked in both industries and I've been on the phone with people. They're like, yeah, this ad is scheduled to run. Can we move that? Yeah. Like people are well aware of what's going on.

Speaking of Brodito versus Okada and Tekashta, that should be pretty good. Dude. I mean, I've said it before. I'll say it again. I want nothing more than I... top singles run for Brody King and for Bandito that said they are a fucking hot goddamn act together him fucking slamming like him slamming Brody onto people like fucking god damn dude yeah i'm wondering so he i think his shoulder popped out um doing that

no no no uh bandito i think he was doing he was working a match in mexico and his shoulder popped out but it but it seems like he's i mean he's working whatever hey man just pop it back in you're good good to go dude After his big win over MJF, can we get Briscoe on a roll here? Will he beat Kyle Fletcher? I mean, look at it this way.

neither one of them would be hurt if they just do what you're expecting Kyle wins retains that championship Mark loses just continues being Mark and I don't know that Kyle is necessarily hurt by losing to Mark Briscoe. Kyle is still on the ascent. He's still headed for a heavyweight championship. And who better to have that kind of mid-card...

TNT belt, then a Mark Briscoe. And then also, you know, you've got enough fucking guys in the Don Callis family. It's nice to have a new target. Like Don Callis is now honed in on Mark Briscoe, like you son of a bitch. I don't hate it. I could see the concern being we can't have Kyle Fletcher lose to Mark Briscoe. But at the same time, I'm like, it just depends on how you do it.

It's not what you do. It's how you do it. Come on. I love the idea of having that belt on, on Mark. I, uh, well, let's see. Oh yeah. It is for the TNT championship. Uh, I am a little concerned about the, uh, the headline that says Darby Allen on post wrestling plans. I honestly just want to disappear. Darb. All right, bud. Darby. Just from the public eye or from the planet Earth? Now, was he dressed like an old man in the middle of a mall when he said that? Like, I don't want to be around.

Uh, and hold on. This is also, this is breaking news. Uh, Mears, do you live near, uh, Mishawaka, Indiana? Is Ryan Nears Mishawaka? Are you Nears Mears? Because Ruby Soho and Angelo Parker are launching a new business called a new board game cafe named Victory Roll.

So are they done wrestling those two? I don't know. I mean, Angelo was around not too long ago. I think Ruby Soho, maybe is she pregnant or... or maybe had a baby but uh cafe aims cafe aims to be all ages space with hundreds of games available a board game cafe i don't know i'm not sure about this maybe

This is exactly what Mishawaka needs, but to me, I just don't know. I mean, it sounds good on paper, and then you walk in, and every table's playing an operation, and all you hear is that buzzing. Oh, hold on. This gets better. Most of the coffee, most of the coffee sold at victory roll will be from open air coffee, a company that is owned by Baron Corbin.

Yes. The whole thing's very incestuous. Yes. They're on maternity leave right now, or she is, and he's... Well, he's on paternity leave. I don't know, man. To me... board game cafe says to me, uh, about a month in, you're going like, should these, uh, checkers with the connect forge all be covered in fucking whatever they're covered in stevia.

Can we get one of these kids that works here to come around and just get some wipes and some of these chess pieces up so people stop getting sick? All the little people in the game of life are sticky. This is... Hundreds of how many, uh, guys, if you're going to start a game of risk, just know we are closing at seven tonight. So you're going to have to, um, I don't want to start that one.

I don't suggest we do this on the main show, but perhaps we do a, a bonus on the Patreon at some point, not a separate from the point five. Sure. Where we, without cheating.

see if we can even name 100 board games okay i'm gonna go with probably not but i'm i'm here to uh i'm here to to play along on that the 100 board game I mean, we're in the generation where it's like, I mean, we've seen some board games. We've seen some board games, dude. They may not all still exist. No, no, no. What we're going to name off. Once in a while, I'll go to an estate sale and I'll see like board games and I'm like, ah, you know, it's, it, how do I know all the pieces are in there?

Because the one that always sticks out to me is Mad Magazine, the board game. Because that was one where it was like, I'm not even sure that this is fun. They're just making fun of board games and they're kind of making fun of me for playing this. also you know there are plenty of board games that seemed really cool and then you got them like i remember the six million dollar man i was like this looks awesome it's not there was one i think it was called now we're just doing it

There was one. This has been quite a show today. Are they ever going to talk about Crown Jewel? Oh, God. Do they even know that Perth happened? Uh, there was one called dark tower where yeah. Fuck yeah. I know dark tower ad looks fucking cool. Yeah.

But then I'm like, man, yeah, I'm sure you get it home though. You're like, God damn it. Oh, my cousin had it, dude. Yeah. It's like, it's fine. Or stop thief. It's more about like, oh, let me, let me fucking get my hands on the electronic piece to this. Oh, forget it. Yeah.

than like playing the game, but, uh, Statlander versus Tony storm. This could be interesting. It is a rematch for the title. Of course. I love it. Tony needs to, I don't know. is it getting stale for you what happened no i just like now like i said like is she still from fucking studio seven at the fucking warner lot like it's starting to blend into like

you know, uh, a Joker henchman or, you know, some Pagliacci gone wrong. I don't like, I don't know what she's doing. Maybe she doesn't either. And I just need to like, stay in there. I mean, the match is going to be fucking good. I would imagine. I mean, she's just kind of, um, it's kind of the lady gold dust at this point. Yeah. She's just like, I could see her like riding on the side of a car with a Tommy gun.

like yeah and but she but her face is painted like she's working for the joker or something like i yeah i just don't know exactly what's up but but i don't need to know exactly what's up i'm yeah i'm still enjoying it

I mean, I remember early on and she's like part, like part Andrew dice clay, you know, you know, she's going to do like a dirty rhyme. Yeah. She is. She's going to say something about somebody's vagina. Yeah. Um, early on when she was I don't even know that she was even timeless yet she was just acting weird yeah she um do you remember she was like laying on the announce table and she kept pulling oranges out of her fucking trunks

yeah i feel like maybe she's just getting back to that area where it's like you know less less acting like i'm jane mansfield and more like you know i'm a fucking psychopath well it's the same thing not the same thing but but it brings to mind like Oscar currently, who's just like a deranged person who also has time to like do ornate face painting, but is like, like inexplicably just deranged and uh you know like ever since she came back she's just she's just like deranged she's uh

There's no other word for it. She's deranged. And somehow has power. What's the Japanese word for deranged? And has power over Kairi Sane who is very animated in her. um, sadness. Uh, but EOS guy is still the fucking MVP of WWE. Uh, anyway, I mean, look that, um, that's your Perth update. And that's your ESPN unlimited update. Yeah. What grading did ESPN give this one? C plus.

i bet i bet there was a fucking they get to a b minus at least someone was like hey uh when you get in today just stop by my office hey um real yes we were told we could say whatever we want no you can't Now go give them a fucking a yeah, we can, uh, we can say whatever we want. Just be clear. Don't. And, um, paid quite a bit for this property. Listen, I'm going to need you to take.

i do like paul walter hauser is like publicly just going like ticket prices in wwe are fucked and yes it's corporate and yes you have uh shareholders but try being a human being and you know like just he's just going i mean it's like a guy you know whatever it's like it it's the same thing with the people who went to fucking the saudi arabian comedy festival like what they have on their side is

it's already almost out of the news cycle so it's like if it had been another like golden globe winning fucking you know actor at a different point in time like bitching about wwf it would have been a much bigger thing but instead it's like you know it it's in the mid card of of news it's calm down so it's like you know no one over there is like oh man they don't even have to fucking say a word about it just floats away you know just like a lot of other things that are way more important

Well, I mean, it's just one of those things where what is the company going to do? They're not going to lower prices. But are the buildings going to be half full? I mean, it's... I assume their strategy is always there's not enough people here. Suddenly the ticket's a real cheap day of. You know?

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how that all goes down because obviously they are a company that uses dynamic pricing. So it's not as if you can't go in and find a seat that's being sold by them, not secondary market. That is a different price than it was two days ago or whatever. But I also don't think they're never like, there certainly aren't going to do it on a level where it like people will begin to go like, Oh, if you just wait.

you know they're never going to do that like like some seats may but but however they're however they're operating and working it i don't think it'll ever be like you know if you just go and ticket master like the day before mania you can get a ticket for like

a regular price like they're never going to allow that to happen whether they fucking they run it through a fucking they run it through their own secondary market or they you know because all they're all in bed i mean fucking seat geek goes right into your fucking mlb account

sub hub is you know sponsored by what you like none of the secondary market is to be trusted anymore as far as not like you will some i've seen tickets on sale on ticket master now we're i mean this is let's name this show the weeds but i've been on where tickets are on sale and ticket master and i've found the same seat on sale on stub hub you know so it's like okay as long as as long as we're clear here everybody is everybody so like

You can run it that way. You can be like, oh yeah, like sometimes I find something on StubHub because you're thinking fucking it's your neighbor and it ain't. It's fucking Linda McMahon. Anyway, Congress would have stopped all that.

i think congress fucking opened the gates to it you know because like you used to not right it used to always be like oh i guess like early days of stuff up you'd be like is this are they gonna give me my tickets like this doesn't sound like it's okay and then it's like it's like oh no not only is it okay but we here at the fucking nfl endorse it you know like it's all good same thing you can fucking gamble all right we got to land this plane uh jurassic express back together

I love it. At long last. And the Bucks have to win because there is a cash prize. Just to continue this, Nick. Nick Jackson losing streak. He's going to blow it so quick. You just know. They better have someone in play. Their wives better be at ringside to take the bag and be like, nope, we're going to give you an allowance. I don't know what this fucking barber did. Why is it so long right there? Am I in the place now where I'm like...

Like, do I go in there and they're like, oh, we got to give him an old man haircut because he wants a comb over or something. Why is that? Why is that so long? like that's insane why is it so like uh i don't know it is it does feel like it goes from one point to another point Like I came here for a haircut, sir. I don't need, like, do you think my, it's, I don't have a fragile ego. I know how much hair I have up here. I just want. But also, I mean, because of the part, is it just.

Does it help with the part if the area closer to the part is longer? Because they're expecting you to comb it that way, the way you're doing it right now? Is that what it is? I don't know. I mean, it's also unlike... I just woke up. It looks like you might just got a side spike. You might've got an old fashioned side spike, which was very cool at one point. Bring it back. Nineties are fucking here again, dude. As far as fashion, you might want to go ahead and just do a side spike.

side spike side spike dude yahoo serious or something i don't know yahoo serious not to bring it back to australia but hey man fucking not not one person defending crocodile dundee has mentioned the movie chopper okay

You want to talk about Australian cinema? Oh, no. Oh, no. Well, before we take a trip into the Roth hall, how'd you like Perth? I ain't seen it. i this is the second i i have espn whatever because of my cable yeah yeah but i um i don't even know where i was but i was not around my my thing and then when i got home and i started to like go back over everything i had missed i didn't i didn't see it i i want to watch i want to at least watch the fucking aj styles scene a match i want to

see what else happened but i just haven't done it yet it's part of my it's part of my wwe apathy right now i don't i'm i'm i'm in the same boat i feel like a lot of people are You know? Yeah. It'll be okay. Sure. Sure. It'll be fine. It's going to be all right. Hey, man. Hey, man. Let's see.

let's go on over to the raw vault then oh yeah where is it here we go raw vault February 24th, 1997 on Netflix. Netflix. This is, oh, we're going all the way back to the Manhattan Center in New York City. We have Vince McMahon and Jerry the King Lawler on the ones and twos. The show opens up with the Godwins versus the new Blackjacks. I mean, it's, I know, it's like, this match in particular, watching it, I'm like, like, you ever see footage of, like, what's her name?

Lauren Boebert. Isn't that the Congresswoman? I've heard that name, yeah. Sometimes you'll see footage of her and Marjorie Taylor Greene yelling at each other in Congress. It's like the Godwins versus the new Blackjacks. It's like watching a guy in a MAGA hat get into a fistfight with a dude who's wearing a t-shirt that says, I don't call 911. I saw a guy at the Burbank airport with a shirt that said...

underwear can't stop a fart but you're telling me masks work right yeah it feels like all four guys in this match shouldn't be wearing that shirt this is it's it's the godwin's versus the blackjacks it's like the the maga powers explode or some shit you know yeah uh ken shamrock is in the crowd Looking so fly in his 1997 threads. Hell yeah. Let's see. He's also with his wife, which kind of kills the rain.

Oh, no, no. He wasn't dating Ryan Shamrock. That was his sister. Never mind. Also, it's ECW night here on Monday Night Raw. In the front row... There are two dudes that always fascinated me in the attitude era, in the ECW era, and then vanished. And I don't know if they got priced out like Vlad. Or what? But there's the Faith No More guy. You know exactly who I mean, right? Sure. Looks like, what's his name? The guitar player from Faith No More. Yeah.

And then there's like two seats over is a dude, a black guy, always had a hat on backwards and an expensive camera. Yep. You know exactly what I mean, right? Sure. Where are those guys now?

That's what I want to know. Somewhere on the streets of Philadelphia, my friend. I guess so. Match is fine. Bradshaw looks weird with the... twirly mustache on the like he looks like a barista at this point he looks like a like a mixologist hipster ah fucking Williamsburg or some shit or Portland ah let's see foot on the rope referee didn't see it

Second referee comes out, try to reverse the call. Referee refuses, then the Godwins grab the bucket and give him the slop, which is so gross. I can't even imagine what, especially at 97. And in wrestling, you just don't know what people are doing. And Vince McMahon, like, oh yeah, fuck, if we're going to shoot with the slop, put slop in it. Make it sloppy. Stop it on me, pal. Stop it on my office on the way out with that slop.

I mean, yeah. Yeah. God, Vince is like, leave the slop in my office. I'm going to make it extra sloppy. You want me to contribute? Pass it around the locker room. I want everybody to get a little slop in here. Okay, they cut something out because it fades out and then fades back in. I need to go to my private collection and see. I didn't do it last night because I was... Falling asleep. Trying so hard for this show. I know. God, I work so hard. And I make dinner for everybody listening.

But because there's a dude in the ring, we don't know who this dude is, and he's got like an ice pack on his head. And then the eliminators come in and just give him a total elimination. And I'm like, I feel like I'm missing something. Paul Heyman's with him. He gets on the mic and says the challenge has been accepted. It's crazy to me how young Paul Heyman looks. He looks exactly the same, but I'm like, God, he looks like he's 30.

yeah well he doesn't have coffin makeup on yet either buddy boy let me tell you uh how's lawler doing do we know um i don't i mean i think I think we've heard from him, but he's just recovering. Back from the break, we get a locator shot in Times Square, which was really... hit me with some nostalgia like seeing Times Square look like that yeah I was like fuck I remember I remember when Times Square looked like that that's when I was working there

Heyman cuts a promo about ECW, introduces Little Guido. The BWO enters to fake WWE music, mind you. Of course. And we got Guido versus Stevie Richards. It's hilarious. Vince on the ones and twos with Heyman. So... What is the BWO? Explain to the people what the BWO is. And then he's talking about the logo, and he's like, no, this is... Because they won't say it.

And then, because Lawler's like, it's just a rip-off. And Heyman's like, a rip-off of what? A rip-off of who? Ripping off who? Doing what? And then I was shocked. McMahon even says, he goes, now this, uh, this logo, this is not a, uh, a takeoff of the, the t-shirt company, uh, NWO. Couldn't believe he said it. Almost like the announcer the other night mentioning Bullet Club when she's introducing AJ Styles. Which I'm also like, I don't know if AJ is... He was in Bullet Club. He led Bullet Club.

I do not, he is not the first person I think of when I think of the leader of Bullet Club. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, I suppose not, but he started it, right? Wasn't he the... No, it was Devitt. Oh, Devitt started it. Raven comes out. He's got the belt. Goldust watches on picture-in-picture backstage. and delivers some pre-can lines. Oh. And then Vince asks him something that seems unscripted or impromptu, and they had already cut away.

And then Vince is like, I guess we're having technical difficulties with Goldust. We can't get it. So then all of a sudden, they rush to get him back up. And they're doing a match with Marlena and Sonny. arm wrestling match. Yeah. Now apparently China had already beaten up Marlena you know over the weekend or the week before, who knows what they, they show replays. This is a replay heavy revel. And this is a moment where it's like clearly.

They had nothing scripted for Dustin. And he has to think on his feet. And it's the first time he... is not gold dust at all in this moment he just starts talking like dustin roads and he's like struggling to like like to think of what he wants to say and he's kind of stammering

It was fascinating to see it happen. Yeah. Totally out of character. It was crazy. Sonny cuts a promo backstage on Marlena. Honky Tonk Man enters the ring. He's going to be the referee for the women's arm wrestling match. They do your usual arm wrestling gimmick. Line up, walk away. Line up, babyface walks away. Heel hits her with the powder.

And Goldust comes in to make the save. Salvio Vega comes in to beat up Goldust. We go to Salvio Vega versus Goldust. Miguel Perez is on commentary. After the Nation of Domination gets involved, Miguel Perez gets involved. We get a raw flashback of Jerry Lawler embarrassing Tiny Tim. We go to Jerry Lawler interviewing Ken Shamrock.

At ringside, he keeps insisting that he trained Ken Shamrock, that they're old friends. Ken Shamrock doing his best, making faces like, I don't know you. I've never met you. You're a liar.

Paul Heyman ringside introduces Mikey Whipwreck. We got a really cool Taz entrance. This is the height of Taz, you know? I haven't watched any old Taz matches in a minute. There's one of those suplexes he does with such a tremendous bridge. Like the way he just, he pulls the guy back and then immediately flips on like his tippy toes.

and just badass in ecw dude oh my god arch is back it's fucking amazing because you look at him now and it's just like i can't believe that this guy was ever so limber or could move you know or you know stretch his body out like that We got an insert promo from Farouk. We got the moment of the show. Sabu jumping off of the Raw entranceway. Classic. Which the cameras nearly miss. fucking unreal headbangers versus the LOD the road warriors come out to the biggest pop of the night I mean it's

It's incredible. It's still over. Dude, 1997, there's still a Road Warriors pop. Fucking unreal. We get the Tell Me a Lie, Shawn Michaels music video. Devon Dudley versus Tommy Dreamer. Where's Bubba? Where's Bubba? One of the nudie booths on 42nd Street, no doubt. We get Paul Heyman and Jerry Lawler in an argument at the desk. Now, when you broke his jaw, was it an accident or was it on purpose? It was on purpose.

We get the Sandman. We get Brett and Stone Cold recap. Todd Pettengale interviews Ken Shamrock. It's like, all right, we get it. Ken Shamrock. This is the... You know, they're hyping up because he's going to be the referee for the I quit match at Mania between Brett and Stone Cold. Brett's the better technician, but Stone Cold doesn't have any quit in him. We get the Nation of Domination entrance with...

PG-13 rapping over the music, which is a treat. Farouk challenges Ken Shamrock, which does bring up, I was like, damn, I wonder who would win in that fight. I mean, Ken Shamrock's Ken Shamrock, but it's also like, I don't know, Ron Simmons is a fucking mean bastard.

both of them at there i don't know i mean ken's it's he's he's trained oh i think yeah i think i think if if if we're not in a bar and yeah yeah else then i think ken shamrock would probably take him but i mean probably right i mean but it is it's like you know because it's like it's not like ming was the best fighter it's like ming's gonna rip your eyeballs and teeth out like yeah i just think that shamrock would probably have him on a have ron simmons on his back before he knew

Just based on training. I don't know if he gets a little too close and Ron fucking dots him. Who was that other guy early on in UFC? It was the most boring. He won every fight. And it was the most boring shit you could possibly imagine. Cause he would just, he would grab you and hold onto you like a bug. And then he would just take the heel of his foot and just keep.

pounding it into your kidney until you couldn't take it anymore I fucking hated this guy so much let's see Royce Gracie that's exactly it Royce Gracie the most Like, talk about heat. Like, anytime they would stand them back up, I'm like, please just punch him in the face and knock him out. Because once he got a hold of you, it was fucking over. Yeah. And he had an oversized gi. So he would reach around and he would be holding on to his gi. Fucking hated Royce Gracie. We've struck a nerve. Dude.

The fucking worst. Just hold on to you like a fucking bug. Undertaker versus Farouk. Undertaker got a fucking big pop. Nice little 10-minute match. Eventually, the nation interferes. This is the name of the game these days. Non-finishes, interference, no winners. What are you talking about now or are you talking about then? I don't know. Which am I talking about? Matty McSee.

it did strike me though Undertaker is one of those guys where it's like they never really ruined the Undertaker you know um so funny we just got a text from Koharski he's like you guys good during these storms it is coming down pretty good out there but it's that's what I'm saying like the news makes it like there's tornadoes made of snow yeah I mean I was I was just in war-torn Portland Oregon for fuck yeah exactly walking around with a coffee you know

hoping hoping i didn't get hit by a fucking parent uh whatever the pepper bomb yeah pepper pot soup i mean even when undertaker became like the american badass it was like I didn't like it, but I'm like, it's, it's, and it's kind of stupid. And he's got the motorbike and stuff, but it was never like, like Vince made Vader lame. or like made like you know like dean ambrose getting an enema and shit or like you know like god you fucking you ruined it you ruined it

LOD comes in and makes the save. I'm sure the house show circuit is Undertaker and the LOD versus The Nation. Who knows?

Next up, March 3rd, 1997. Honestly, I give this show, as fun as the idea of ECW invading is, watching it back, I'm like... It's kind of a boring show. Sabu jumping off of the Raw entranceway, it's a classic moment, but it's like nothing really stands. I don't know. It's just like it felt like a Raw.

This show is from Berlin. Vince McMahon, Jim Ross on the ones and twos. And really, it's a... like a house show it's it almost this almost plays like a pay-per-view honestly because it's marquee matches all long matches because they're they're overseas not everybody went with them either for some reason so there's um it's it's overrun with packages and replays but there's not there's like no interview storyline bullshit it's just action

so this is a fucking great and the fucking lighting is unbelievable because it is just they're not rigged for a TV shoot so it looks like when you see house show footage from the era So it looks different. It looks cooler. But these matches are all like 10, 20 minute matches, which is unheard of. Bit odd.

Honky Tonk Man comes out. He's on the commentary for some of these matches. We get the Triple H entrance. Get a Bret Hart promo in his entrance. Then we get Triple H and Bret Hart in a nice... 20-minute match. Oh, he gave Paul the match of his life. I mean, it's up there. From Brett's perspective. Probably the best match he ever worked, you know.

I had to fucking carry him the whole goddamn time. I don't recall him thanking me. Yeah, he didn't thank me. And then of course, you know, he doesn't want to do the job at the end. Fucking, you know, China's got to come in and cause a fucking DQ. Because I was ready to fucking knock her ass out. Tony Guria comes down and fucking spoils the whole thing. During the match, we get an insert of Stone Cold arriving at WWF Studios in the snow.

He walks past the camera and just very quickly just goes the hell out of the way. We go back to Stone Cold via satellite. The camera is outside of the bathroom. We hear a toilet flushing because Vince McMahon is a child. Oh, boy. Let me do it. Hold on. Let me pull the handle. Oh, my God. This is great. Such good shit.

We get Vader versus The Rock for the IC title. Once again, mankind, for no reason, just waits until about 10, 13 minutes in to walk in and cause a disqualification. The Sultan, a.k.a. Rikishi versus Two Cold Scorpio, a.k.a. Flash Funk. Kish. When he's entering, somebody in the aisle way grabs Flash Funk. It's also the same person who grabbed Bret Hart. Somebody's being a real problem.

in the entranceway. They're just grabbing hold of wrestlers and not letting them go. Only in Germany they let that happen. We get an Austin package. We get a promo from Sid. Sid apparently, um... was either playing softball or just fell asleep on the beach before the trip to Germany. He is beet red. We get an interview with Ahmed Johnson, which is also interesting because it's being translated into German in real time. We see an LOD promo from Shotgun Saturday Night. We hear from mankind who...

delivers his entire promo in German. Spreaking the Dutch. Uh, then we get stone, uh, Sid Vicious versus mankind in, um, I was trying to think, I was like, I'd be curious to look it up. How many times those two actually wrestled each other? Cause it couldn't have been very often. Right. You know?

We get... Now, this is tremendous. We get a Stone Cold insert promo. We get two back-to-back, okay? The first... And these are classic. This is like Stone Cold at the... the peak of he's a heel but we love him because he's so fucking like unbelievable and then obviously he's about to turn babyface and what a week, a month. Uh, so the first one Vince McMahon asks about like, well, we heard you in the bathroom, but what was going on there?

And Stone Cold's like, you know, he flew coach. He ate a stale sandwich. And none of that is why his stomach is hurting. His stomach is upset because he heard Bret Hart talk and it makes him sick to his stomach. And it's, and it's not just, it doesn't just make him throw up. It's worse than that. It's like, Oh God, we, we understand. God, we get it. Ugh, gross. It's like, Vince, you love this stuff. So Bret Hart makes him sick to his stomach. The next insert promo, I know this.

maybe maybe by heart it is so goddamn good this is the one that ends with um you treat me like a dog and expect me to smile you remind me of a jackass He is just selling this pay-per-view, this match between him and Bret Hart. It is absolutely tremendous. Because there ain't nobody. There's a moment where he switches. Where he's like, he's about to say there ain't nobody. There ain't nobody who can make me say I quit. I quit. I give up.

His demeanor, like he goes from being entertaining to like fucking terrifying. Terrifying. Wow. Absolutely fantastic.

Also out of curiosity, I looked it up. According to the internet wrestling database, Mankind and Sid wrestled three times. Two live events in... december of 96 and this match on raw did they ever touch in wcw probably it doesn't seem like it maybe not and they were in a tag match um in a week or two on raw if we get a chance to watch that mankind invader versus sit in the undertaker which is probably a bunch of fucking schmoz uh-huh and the big big main event

Absolute star match. 30 minutes. Owen Hart versus the British Bulldog. David Boy Smith for the European title. Fantastic. match. Absolutely fantastic. Oh, Berlin or Curry worst. Dude. Well worth watching. If you don't keep up with the homework, that one's worth checking out for sure. Vincent. uh who's your favorite wrestler who's your favorite wrestler dude man i think i was it was it the same one last i i just i think uh ricochet he's that's

I'm, I'm, I'm into ricochet right now, man, as much as maybe ever happened. Really? So he's just got this little weird thing going on with these other guys and, um, I'm digging it. So, and yourself, Matt, a favorite wrestler. Well, it doesn't usually... I try to keep the homework separate from... Gotta keep them separated. It's a great song by Green Day. Folks, I...

was so impressed with Taz watching the raw balls. The human suplex machine. Yeah. I mean, I was kind of expecting it to be Takeshita, but then I... Still haven't watched the match. It was on. I was in the room. Could have been either of those guys. Could have been either of those guys. But no, I was inspired to go back. I'm like, God, I want to watch some old Taz matches, believe it or not.

I remember being at the Plymouth Ice Arena right before Taz left ECW and it had gotten out and there was some you sold out business and I don't know what this guy toward the curtain on the rail said but taz uh went about trying to kill him in real time uh and it was the whole thing and it was great it was really great It clearly worked against him. You could get under Taz's skin. Clearly. It is apparent. That's been documented. Where can the kids find you online?

at Vince Averill on Twitter, and Vince.Averill on Instagram. This is your old pal, Matt McCarthy, saying follow me on all forms of social media at McCarthyRadhead. And if you want to join the video movie club, get on over to the video garage Patreon today. And we'll see those patrons on Thursday for the big Q and a in 0.5 together as a family. Bye.