WeWatchWrestling Issue #635

Salutations. Well, hello there. Welcome friends and foes, heels and baby faces to the We Watch Wrestling podcast. Well, hello there. I'm your wonderful darling. redheaded, bearded host, Matt Bass Wrestling McCarthy with me always professional wrestling encyclopedia, Mr. Vince Averill in the sport of professional wrestling. There can only be one.

Go to WeWatchWrestling on Patreon. Bonus audio, bonus video, a Q&A. A thriving Discord channel full of real people having real relationships, friendships. friendships. Yeah. I think the, uh, the window just closed the, the, uh, the chimney just closed on secret Santa over there for the year. Unfortunately, if you missed it, that's where I got this mug.

Oh, um, are you in this year? No, no, I, I haven't been in a couple of years, but no, I, I, I, uh, yeah, my to-do list is excessive. So I'm like, I, I'm going to. I'll sign up and then I'll forget and then I'll feel bad. My to-do list today, turn the party out. You know, people send me things to like review and I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I'm like, oh, fuck. When the fuck am I going to do this?

anyway any woozle can i can i tell you something you'd like to bend my ear i don't want this is it's not you're lowering your voice is this something we don't want to get out is it do we need to No, no, no. It's just because I turned the music off on my phone. Okay. So now I'm regulated again. You need to be regulated, dude. We talked about this. We can't record. This isn't entirely wrestling related. Oh boy. And when the story's done, you'll see that it's not wrestling related at all.

Interest of full disclosure and admission is the first step. Here we go. But I just want you to remember your blood pressure when I tell you this one. We'll see. I went to an estate sale yesterday. So now we're talking an estate sale that went through the weekend and is now on a Monday. Whoa, not good. I'm picking Jack up early. They had early dismissal yesterday and now he's home.

do these kids even go to school at all anymore my god my god and uh so this sale is ending at three i go about noon the place is a fucking like you know This is a, I hesitate to say hoarder house just because that means somebody like has trash everywhere.

Okay. And, and very well may have been the state of the place because when I walked around the joint, I was like, man, I'm like, this place is just full of junk. Wait, so let me ask you though. Yeah. When you say that you think, uh, for it to be a hoarder house. Like, like actual trash, like a wrapper, or you just mean like stuff that otherwise is of no value. It might be there. Like, I want these papers that I printed of whatever, you know, I think it can be both.

I think, look, all I'm saying is, at a certain point, there's a clinical definition. Like, it's like when somebody's like... oh don't mess up my desk i'm ocd it's like no that's like a there's a clinical thing that people go through and it's and it's unfair to just throw around that label that's all i'm trying to say okay um but like this place was a fucking this person was a pack rat that's that that's we'll say that oh sure

And I'm walking around and I'm, I'm gathering up some VHS tapes here and there. Not too many, which I like, you know, I don't want to feel overwhelmed. I don't want to feel compelled. Like I'm like, was the smell of cat piss in the air.

no no but it was it was dank this this place was dank and um and mind you it's day three potentially even day four so it's like this is all that's left and this panorama city uh no we were in studio city we were in in sherman oaks you know okay and it's still overflowing with shit i'm like how much stuff was here that's gone you know yeah

A lot of tools, a lot of equipment, a lot of devices. I go into the garage and I see a Sony U-Matic video player, which... This is the machine that Sony made before the Betamax player came out. Okay. I have, I have, yeah, I have two umatic tapes over there, which, you know, I'm waiting to be played. I would presume one day I would just, you know, take it to a spot and be like, will you digitize this for me? You know, I'm not in the market for a U-matic player, but I was like, wow, to see one.

The umatic tapes you have, those are actual like motion pictures or those someone's home thing or what is this? I believe they are probably both. I think one is a like an instructional video. And one is probably something taped off of television. Like, I don't know if you saw, I found a videotape of... A made for TV movie called the UFO incident starring James Earl Jones, which, which aired on NBC in 1974, which is like, you know, just, there couldn't be a videotape of this.

right but at that same estate sale they had tons of umatic tapes which one i have no use for and two uh they literally had this shit out in the rain this is it some of these estate sales like they're run by decent people and then other ones they're fucking jackals you know like it rained and the shit's in the yard and then they're gonna fucking try and act like they're doing you a favor by charging you too much money for shit that's now soaking wet at any rate.

hey man happy belated birthday man all right how about it yesterday big man having a big motherfucking birthday and shit no sunday sunday sunday sunday yeah so i bring the umatic deck up there and this thing is a piece of shit okay so what are you gonna do with it i don't know i'll see if it works and if it didn't well here's the thing i wouldn't say it's a piece of shit i just wonder what you're you know i would have seen if it worked

I have two tapes I can test it with. If it doesn't, take it to my man Joe at Joe Stone's Electronics on Beverly. All right. And more than likely he'll either tell me I can't fix this or I have one. I could just sell you for cheaper, you know, and he can have it for parts. I bring it up like a Jawa.

And mind you, this thing, there's a screw missing from the top panel. So I'm like, I already know somebody's been inside this machine and fucked around with it. I have the shoebox of tapes and the tape deck. And she goes, I don't know, 35. And I go, would you do 30? Just because. Yeah. It's Monday. It's Monday. There's three hours left. She immediately goes into.

oh i don't know i don't know i'll have to i'll have to check with the boss and i'm like over five bucks what is happening here so then she does and now i need you to remember your blood pressure she takes out her phone and pulls up ebay okay i i'm ready buddy i'm ready to i'm ready to lose my fucking mind yeah and i go instantly i go i go whoa i'm like if you want to sell this thing on ebay sell it on ebay yeah

You know, I'm standing right here. Yeah. So now she pulls up. Wait, so does she need to talk to the boss or does she need to talk to eBay or is eBay the boss? I mean, buddy, I'm, I'm all, I am. i'm i'm at a i'm in the red at this point like as she takes out her phone and pulls up ebay i am furious yeah furious because i'm like you're gonna fuck it now now you're gonna fucking You quoted me 35 bucks. I asked for 30. Now you're going to fucking compare this item to refurbished working models.

on ebay and i'm like you got to be fucking kidding me so of course she started scrolling and she sees i don't know these are going for like hundreds of dollars Wait, did you already say if you want to sell it on eBay, sell it on eBay or no? I 100%. Those are the first words of my mom. She just kept scrolling. Yes. She goes and gets the boss. Now the boss comes over and I'm like...

Would you do $30 for all of this? Now the boss takes out her phone and goes on eBay. And I'm like, these are working refurbished machines. I don't know if this thing works. And she's like... you don't know that it doesn't and i'm like there's a screw missing the top's been taken off i don't know that this it's been sitting in a fucking garage for i don't know how many decades she's like but you don't know that it doesn't work see we're in the same boat here

And then she uses the word argument. I'm like, I'm not arguing. She's like, okay, yeah, no, no, we're not arguing. We're negotiating. And I'm like, all right. I'm like, here's what happened. She said 35. I said 30. She went and got you. Now you're both looking at fucking eBay. So now she walks away. Now they're talking to each other. Now the boss, for some reason, is talking to.

Yeah, the boss is having a secret meeting with an employee who can't make decisions. She literally scrolls. Five dollars. Buddy, she scrolls to a sold unit. that sold for $1,200. And I'm like, you said I'll do 35. I said, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, she comes back and I'm like, I'm like, so what's the deal? Do you want to do the 35? She goes, no, we're not doing it for 30. We're not doing it for 35. This is going back to the owner. And I go, okay. And did you buy the tapes or no?

Are you fucking kidding me? They're lucky I didn't shove the tapes on the fucking ground. Well, at least you didn't use any of profanity. I know I would have. I was. I mean, like, do you know the amount of like machines that sold for $50 that she had to scroll past to get to the 1200 it's like, uh, from the manufacturer, right?

All that, and you had to go home and watch Raw? You poor son of a bitch. So what's the deal? John Cena's the Intercontinental Champion now for some reason? I see title, baby. Let's put a little heat on this last couple weeks. And you know what else? What our man, Greg Johnson was in the building last night for the last Boston show. Oh, he was feeling it, dude. He was having a wonderful time. I heard from Greg pretty consistently all the way through till today. And, uh, I'll say this.

Yeah, I am one Netflix from week to week. I don't know. Are they going to give me three minutes of ads every fucking 10 minutes of the show? am I not going to have ads? If I wait and watch it when it replays, I can fast forward through the ads. How's it going to work? But so I started the show at like, let's say five Oh five or something. And I,

Um, but I knew Cena was opening the show. So I, I click it on, but before I, cause you know, it's hard to fumble around and get it to restart. I'm already, I've already got fucking triple H in my face. Right. but I'm like, all right, well, let me go to the top of this. And then I fucking regretted it, man. He like getting all the way around to introducing scene. I was just like, bro.

save it for the oval office what are you doing man shut the fuck up um he is such a dork how about that i don't know where that supercut came from that somebody posted where oh yeah All the times, all the posts, the press conference interviews where Triple H says, what we do. What we do. This is what we do. This is why we do what we do. What we do. What we do. What we do. What we do.

that was tremendous that was so fucking funny what a dork yeah um it's it's interesting man i you know um of all the i i read i read a little article um that somebody wrote it was on the it was on the uh melter site but it was sort of comparing tanahashi and cena's retirement tour or retirement year or whatever yeah it's just like this is just another like kind of what what what's going on here you know like because it because they don't compare at all it's like i mean

but i just mean like here's another sort of just like weird turn left turn of like okay instead of uh putting over dominic mysterio instead we will beat him and then and i know for for what because so now that cena is a grand slam champion now or something at the last second it means so much more whoever finally beats him at saturday's main event but the other funny thing to me is um

uh the possibility that is not going to happen but after the whole little i don't know if you saw there was like the little hubbubbery of like oh maybe maybe it could be nakamura versus tanahashi at the dome you know like after wb had been in japan and nakamura was doing some of tanahashi stuff and whatever and they had this that and they're like you know and it's like that seemed highly unlikely right there's uh there's a company that has a relationship there but

But now that Nakamura is in the tournament to face, uh, no, I think he actually lost last night. He did, but, uh, it would have been so funny if then they're like, no, no, Nakamura is going to be seen as final. Um, But if, you know, if the fucking, if the G train is to be believed that it'll be Gunter and he'll be the IC champion when it's all said and done, unless they just fucking have decided to just completely.

do a lot of mysterious shit uh around this cena farewell tour but i think the problem is uh their mr long-term storytelling hunter hers helmsley is booking it week to week just like vince did And they're not. And it's hotshot booking. It's the heel turn was hotshot. And putting the icy belt on him was hotshot.

or just like they're just doing it just to oh look at you know you don't know what's gonna happen well i also don't it seems like and again you know this this this tko thing like you don't you don't know who's who's leaking what or who's saying what but yeah you know there's there was like was it the saturday night's main event and the smackdown proceeding or something that triple h and and fucking uh brother love wasn't they weren't even there

And then there's the fucking TKO guy coming out saying like, eh, we got to get rid of these, this antiquated, these PLEs from the Vince McMahon era. You know, like he's like, we created Russell Palooza. Now that, you know, like we need to. It's so, so you're just going to fucking go like, ah, SummerSlam. That's fucking, that's old time. Let's, let's make a new, like what, what's it fucking matter? What the fucking show is passe. I was Russell Palooza. I mean, other than it being.

a show that hadn't already transpired before or something. There's nothing like unique about it. No. Except that it was on ESPN. It's the name of an ECW pay-per-view. Right. But I just mean to say like, you know. maybe uh and you know and then you got fucking uh triple h was talking about um what did he say essentially it was like we're not worried about like the matches i'm worried about the stories

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not here to do great matches. We're here to tell great stories. It's like, oh, Hunter, you're not doing either. We make movies. But, you know, so who knows? Maybe he's getting a little heat. Maybe they'll... Maybe Vince Russo is coming back or something, you know, like maybe they're going to plug in a new little, little fresh blood into the, into the booking meeting. Yeah. Vince, the log cabin Russo. Well, he's not managing his own Airbnb. So.

He's got time. He was, did they, wasn't he, was he doing something with MLW? Is that what I saw? No, no. He wrote something for like the juggalos or something. He did some big tease. Oh, right. It was Juggalo Championship Wrestling. He was like, I've been writing for wrestling. And then let people think it was MLW or something or NWA. He loves to swerve, this guy. And then was like, ah, you mocks. You fell for it. I swerved you.

I've been writing for juggalo championship wrestling. It's like, Jesus Christ. It's like, damn. Uh, I want to just really quickly. Cause I feel like, um, somebody in the listening, somebody in the.

Somebody in the listening audience might be able to help me out. Cause I saw a clip of a match that I want to see the whole match and it is from allegedly from March 13th, 1995. And I, I believe it took place. in new japan uh sabu chono saito and tenzan versus harada chosu Choshu and Hashimoto two out of three falls. If anybody has this whole match, I saw like three minutes of it and I said, I got to find it. And I am not great at, uh, searching the IVP site. Help me out.

Because that was my first thought was perhaps I have this on. I may have the fucking thing. I just don't know how to find it. And so I'm like, you know. Uh, and other searches like in, in some of the daily motions and things like that did not end well for me. So, but sometimes what happens is the date is wrong on the original thing or whatever, and you get sidetracked, but someone's going to know what I'm talking about.

Somebody knows. Oh, they know. They know it. Someone over there is a hoarder for wrestling footage. It's so upsetting. It's been. Yeah, man. uh and then i'm in the video garage yesterday and i'm trying to film something and then a fucking mouse runs by dude that was a hot video what were you were like just setting up when you know that i i I had recorded... See, here's the problem. Because you can shoot a video with the camera on the back or the camera on the front, right? Okay.

No matter what you do, the camera on the front looks worse. So you got to do the camera on the back. And TikTok is, they are such nitpickers about you can't. You can, but it'll affect your money if you're doing it handheld, like it needs to be in a tripod. Interesting. So now I hit record and I put the thing and now the screen isn't facing me. And so once in a while.

when i put it in it it hits the button again and it stops recording and i don't know got it so buddy i was in there for a fucking half hour just like yakking into the into the phone Into the void. Into the void. And right as I was wrapping up was when I first saw the mouse and it like ran by. And so I'm just like yelling to try to scare it. You know, I mean, I was skeeved out.

do not get me wrong i was skeeve skeeved to the bone sure but i'm making a ton of noise so it'll run away yeah and i leave i come in the house Literally I come in the house and Jack's like, why were you screaming like that? I didn't come to check. I just was wondering. He's ready to lock himself in the bathroom again with a baseball bat.

and they're not these these uh this vermin is not chewing on the collection or anything out there it didn't seem like i mean this it might have been passing through i have no idea because i went to ace hardware and i got

snap traps and nothing nothing's happened okay um what are you baiting with over there peanut butter should i use something different classic no i don't know peanut butter seems like it always works That's what it seems like. But nothing. The trap's empty. Still set. We'll see. Anyway, it also seemed kind of messed up. So the footage I sent you, I went back in. I was like, well, maybe it scared it away.

But I was like, I was like, oh, fuck. I didn't do the intro. Yeah. So I went in and I set up the phone. Still haven't even realized that all that stuff I shot before was gone. Yeah. And then as I'm saying the words 50 years of late night at NBC, he runs by again, and now I'm just screaming it. Monet. Monet. Monet. Number one on the PWI.

250 women's professional wrestlers maddie oh is that out um i mean the announcement was made i don't know if that means the issue has hit the newsstands um I, uh, I'm at that time of the year, that time of every two or three years where I'm like, ah, do I get another subscription or do I just roll over? to Barnes and Noble once in a while and just take a peek and grab one because it's like so much of the time they show up they're just like it's just destroyed you know I don't know

Oh, no. Vince froze. Now it becomes the question, did Vince freeze or did I freeze? I don't think I froze. Oh, no. I hear Vince, but I don't see him. Vincent, are you there? Oh no. This is terrible. I mean, what are the chances that you're hearing me, but not him? It begs the question, Matt, maybe keep talking. I'm going to test my internet test test. This is a test. Okay. It says I'm the host now, which.

I think means I was here the whole time and Vince is gone. Um, I'm going to test my internet connection. Oh, he's coming back. Oh, there he is. I'm back. That's so weird. The whole thing crashed out and I was like going to try to re and then it just popped me back in. Rob will figure it out in post. Rob will figure it out. I was sitting here the whole time going, I think it's just me, kids.

See, this never used to happen when we were in the room together. How long has it been? I mean, it's got to be five years. It's got to be five years. Son of a... bitch who do you think shares the cover of the pwi who's number two they put one and two on a cover for some reason very unorthodox who's who's number two with a bullet on the monet cover this uh

this fall well maybe i don't know because they are such marks for obviously if mercedes monet is number one yeah it's it's because she has so many belts they are they're so not a kayfabe magazine yet they are still very much like it's the only place where win losses matter is is is in your standing on the pwi 500 i mean truly so that said

either but they're also they're so political i don't think that they would put tony storm as number two i don't think they would put like it's got to be someone from wwe right don't you think i'm asking you i know Oh, you do know? Yeah, I'm saying there's two people on the cover of the magazine. Oh, you already saw it. That's right. There's two people on the cover of the magazine. Number one is Monet, and number two, and they decided to put two on the cover with Monet.

That leads me to believe it's even more likely a WWE talent. I am going to say it's... I want to say Rhea Ripley, but she hasn't had a belt all year. You know what? It might even just be interesting. I don't know if she's Bailey. Interesting. No, Tony storm, but. wow uh you know what else is very interesting let me just let me run down the top 10 because okay but before you do let me say that i agree with that like that is accurate every all the hem and haw and i did was political bullshit yes

Uh, all right. So one, Monet, two, Tony storm, uh, three, Sia, Kamitani, Kamitani, Kamitani, uh, four, Tiffany Stratton. Three. Really interesting. Excuse me. Five. Stephanie. Oh, I like that. Six. EOS guy. I like that. Seven. Athena. Interesting. Eight. Sorry. nine, Naomi, 10, really? Rhea Ripley. Interesting. Yeah. So I mean like no Bailey in there.

but she was she was out of action for a little while that's right it's october one of last year till yeah yeah yeah uh but interesting like real no becky lynch and you know for all they want to talk about fucking you know nxt's women's division uh not a ton of representation there because uh tiffany stratton was in uh or excuse me no i'm thinking of sorry you're thinking of uh the one that is very similar

Monica, Monica Barbie or whatever they changed her name to Blake. But the best thing that came out of it is, uh, Monet. So, so Meltzer writes, yeah, that's a tough category. In ring best to three all around as contenders. I see Tony storm, Monet, sky, Siri, Saya, Kamitani, whatever. Monet, you dumb, stupid, salty Mark.

I'm the greatest of all time. Ten belts, Monet, the CEO, Ultimo Monet. I had the greatest year of my career. Who's better than me? Who better? Who better than Monet? Oh, that's too fucking good. you you dumb stupid salty mark you dumb stupid make that a fucking t-shirt you dumb stupid salty mark that is so great he's gone from

Yeah, you know, Gino Hernandez called me on the phone to, you dumb, stupid, salty, Mark. You know, I used to... Who did he say? They were talking about some... like legend from the business and he's like yeah he would call me on my birthday every year was it lance russell it was somebody right yeah yep i'm i'm almost positive it's lance russell yeah

It's like, yeah, Lance would call me over a birthday every, every year, you know, I would, I would talk to him once in a while. Yeah. I mean, you know, Dusty called me up.

You dumb, stupid, salty Mark. That is too fucking funny. Dynamite continues to be the best wrestling show in the world. In the world. It's a good hang. It's a good hang. It's great wrestling and great stories. Yeah.

Oddly enough, they're able to do both. Yeah, it's strange that you don't have to say you're doing one over the other. Or trying to... Because the only logic to that is you're trying to... you like take aews like what what's perceived as their greatest asset well they have fucking great matches yeah yeah yeah you're in the wrestling business i'm in the entertainment business it's like

You can't make having great matches into a bad thing. I mean, you wouldn't think unless... I mean, they've spent a lot of time trying to get away from trying to... be a wrestling company so i guess i guess in that realm you might but um i also thought it's weird so i'm i'm more excited than i thought i would be uh for blood and guts to be the conglomeration

versus the rough riders but bummed that Ishii is injured because I imagine he may have otherwise been in that match which would have been cool when did he get injured? I'm going to put it at a week or two. I saw New Japan announced it first because they were like, he's supposed to be on this show and that show, and we're sorry he got hurt at AEW, whatever.

The other side of that, which is strange to me is so, you know, then you got the E running their war games in a couple of weeks and the way they announced it last night made it feel like it's going to be three on three. Like there was no. there was no war games yeah like well only because you know when that all culminated last night and punk was like i'm tired of all this shit whatever and then he like called in regal walks in and goes war games and they you know they were like

punk uh cody and uh uso yeah those other three clowns and it's like there but there just was no mention of like and you know and the other will others will be tbd So it just left it kind of feeling like, is this going to be a fucking three on three max? There's no way. Right. They just didn't fucking like, yeah. I mean, well, it's the, the, the, the, the tail is all this time they got to take.

the audience for a ride and stretch it out that's you know like oh god stretch it out but I don't know that would be weird honestly It might be better if there was less people in the match, but that's odd if it was only six guys. Yeah. That does seem odd.

But I just thought that, you know... unless i missed something this morning it just there was no like mention of like and you know whoever else comes along you know it's just like this is this is who the war games is going to be like just i don't know right i mean

Well, the women already have four on each team. Again, this is just according to Wikipedia, which is who... you know it has done you wrong before fucking forget it uh they're assuming that it's going to be five because it says punk cody j and two tba i don't like tba i prefer tbd Instead of to be announced, to be determined. Well, H will determine and then he will announce. You're going to have to wait. TBD.

I just feel it should be a six man. What if we did the Tower of Doom? Less is more. More is less. Man, this reminds me of the time that Terry... He grabbed his Coke dealer by the fucking lapels and was hanging him out the balcony window of our hotel room. He's just like, you better get us our fucking money back. Does Hayes still drink, you think? He strikes me as one of those guys that he says he doesn't drink anymore because he only drinks beer.

you know what i mean because i imagine he would start a lot of stories with back when i was drinking yeah no he 100 because he's not drinking jack daniels and doing blowing lines of coke and he only drinks Miller Lights now, I'm off the sauce. I'm off the sauce. That's why you don't catch me trying to tell Mark Henry that we're the same. I don't do that no more. Those days is done.

I don't drink no more. I only have about 10, 15, 20 beers in a sitting. And that's light beer. We're talking cans of light beer. no no no these ain't ipas i ain't hanging out with jesse pop on the farm i ain't drinking that fucking i'm trying to make towns i gotta be able to i gotta be able to have it in the car hey you know i gotta have it in the car can of fosters a little brown bag doop doop doop

I might be changing my oil. I might be getting drunk. Hey, you know, you drive by the cop, those highway patrolmen, they don't know if you got a can of oil or can of Foster's. They just see a guy in the front seat. Holding a huge. Yeah. Look at fucking sweet as hell. My hair blown in the breeze. When the hair's down, don't be around. Oh, half these goddamn states. You can smoke weed anyway.

I mean, half these fucking kids, they just got their Nintendos and their, and their Pac-Bans and they're playing that on the fucking bus. You think a town down can make a bong out of an apple? Nope. Please, A-Town down. They're trying to figure out how to fucking build a mud hut in Minecraft. They ain't got fucking shit on dick. Sometimes I walk in that locker room, I shake a bottle of Tic Tacs. Nobody looks. I'm the only one with fresh breath. Oh, man.

Did you hear this? I don't know who started this. It was JBL on a podcast. Somebody was saying the rumor is Vince McMahon's going to write a tell-all book. Ooh, please. Who's going to write it? Take a letter. Once upon a time. No, no, no. That's the first time I shit on somebody's head. The end. Give me a break. Get me, get me Gortz on the phone. I need a ghostwriter. Get me rocks guy. Show me your notes, Brian. Tell all book, huh?

I need all the writers to be taking notes during the meeting. Hmm. Stand up and tell them what a Simon and Schuster is. Hmm. Show me your notes, Brian. Well, don't bother. Cause I didn't take any things. Hmm. Uh, first of all, you wish you could do a Tony Schiavone impression like hangman page does. Okay. Oh, well, I don't do impressions. Exactly. Man.

I just, I weep for the next sorry son of a bitch at the end of October, 2026. Who's locked in a feud feud with the hangman Adam page, because they are going to get duped. They're going to get dumped. You don't, you don't want to be hangman page on your ass around costume season. Right? No. I mean, and, and think like degree of difficulty, like obviously Excalibur. Well, that's an easy one.

but shavani but shavani phantom of the opera style bro tricking everybody's ass fucking tricker and treating everybody that's true um

Dude, there's really nothing better than the Don Callis family right now. I mean, that's like... And it's crazy. Like, I forget, like... Cage is in the family. He's hurt. Trent is in the family. He's hurt. Trent stays hurt. I know. But also just beyond the entertainment. And, and, and all of that, like it, it just keeps going their way. Like the Takeshita becoming the fucking IWGP champion. Yep. Okada being.

tapped as tanahashi's final opponent so you're gonna get callous being able to say fucking okada retired you know like it goes on and on dude they just it just keeps fucking The man who ran Tanahashi out of the business of professional wrestling. They're back there talking with the Young Bucks. I think the bucks are it's because it's another one of those things where I'm like, all right, we're, we're drawing this out to the point where I'm like, now I'm not sure what's going to happen. Yeah.

because aw is it typically the place like oh i swerved you you marks you know right But they are doing such an unconvincing job of acting like, I don't know, we'll have to talk about it. I don't know. Luckily, Don Callis is. 11 out of 10 on the entertainment scale in every interaction. Him trying to wine and dine the young bucks into joining the group is just tremendous.

But also just the group itself. And I guess it is of a size where you're not like, there can be like micro feuds within, you know, like this thing with like, uh, Takeshita.

like trying to come in over the zoom or whatever and then okada like turned it off or something like there's just these little things that can go on within it that doesn't mean like oh when's when's the family gonna break up you know or when are they gonna it's not like it's not like the groups that jericho had you know where it's just like it's all or nothing kind of thing like people come and go a little bit there's some fucking

some stories within like it's just and it doesn't feel like there's only one guy who's the focal point because like with the jericho group it's it's all about jericho with this group it's like you know fucking uh okadas a fucking top top guy Takeshita top guy fucking um why am I blanking on his name Will Osprey's old best friend oh uh Fletcher thank you Kyle Fletcher

top guy it's like and you do have that it's it's a it's a layered cake where you're like even the guys who aren't the top ones it's still like you know what rocky romero's been shining since he joined the family lance archer he's still the big dude you know right i was gonna say archer is the guy who i mean i guess if nothing else he's he's getting some tv time but i feel like right um but

but it also just goes to show like, and then you have Moxley's group. That's just like full of fucking studs. Like, yeah, there's just a lot of fucking talent in that company. I love that. being showcased on on what feels like more of a level you know no doubt yeah it doesn't feel like it doesn't it doesn't even remotely feel like in wwe when they where they just arbitrarily make teams

Like everybody's in a trio, you know? Um, what are they called? What's, what's Ricochet's group called? The demand? Uh, right. I think. Is it the demand? When they come fucking walking out with their fucking coats on their shoulders, I fucking lose it. Yeah. Who did, who did ricochet? Um, Take a picture of his butthole for, we don't know. We've never gotten an answer. We've never, you know, he's trying to pretend it was AI house before AI.

what's no he wasn't he took it for his doctor okay something was going on and he needed an inspection oh that's what it was what um i'm just trying to confirm what the name of the the demand yes um it's and this feels like a uh an mvp thing as much as i i like mvp but he's he him and him and ricochet's interaction on must have been dynamite there wasn't enough give and take

it's one of those things where it's just like mvp dude like talking over the guy yeah like relax like you're not gonna can't interrupt each other yeah and it was like some of those and there's just certain guys and maybe i'm just putting this on them where it's just like you know like like with not that the it was his fault necessarily but like him the the edge and ricky starks thing where some of these guys sometimes

You're just like, are you, are you afraid of something? Are you worried about something? Like, why do you feel like you have to like, not let this be a fucking song? You know, you have to like stomp them out or something. It's weird. It's foolish. And it doesn't help you to do that. Everybody looks bad. It makes the whole thing look bad. Yeah. And then poor Bobby Ashley is standing there. Bobby Lashley.

What did I say? Bobby, you said Bobby Ashley, dude, the fucking, the guy loves cheeseburgers. Do you know? We broke that story to be fair. he asked to be on our podcast so that he could talk about hamburgers that was one that came way out of left field he was on such a deep media tour to try to get a match with Brock Lesnar at Mania that year that he shouted he's like can I come on the show

He's like reaching out to Tom, Dick, and Harry. Bobby, yes, you can. Get yourself a cheeseburger. I think he's doing videos of it now. I saw a video. He's doing cheeseburger vids. He should.

What's the best cheeseburger you ever had, do you think? Well, I think I need to preface by saying that... You're not a cheeseburger guy? Well, I guess I just feel... relative to other people cheeseburger and pizza are like these and i i like them both a lot but but they're not a thing i you know like it's not a i don't always feel like a cheeseburger i don't like

but that being said um i i want to say back when uh shake shack was just that like stand in the park i remember it really blown my head off And I've had it since then and it's good, but it, but there was something about that. Yeah. Um, so maybe, maybe that, or, um, yeah, I don't know. I, uh, it's certainly not fat burger, Tom Sibley. Tell you that anyway.

What about you, Matty? Good God. Well, I mean, I, I prefer a simple, like, I don't need a bunch of bullshit on it. You know? Yes. Manageable. It has to be manageable. Yeah. Yeah. i like a burger that reminds me like there's a place called royce everson bar down in downtown la and they have a cheeseburger and it just reminded me of a fucking like

cafeteria cheeseburger, but in the best possible way. You know, I feel like we have talked about this before about like our love of microwave cheeseburgers or like, but just the manageable, I can't. Like, you know, uh, the fucking, the Morrison that has the sign, like, you know, greatest cheeseburger of all time has voted on by whoever the fuck it's like, yeah, but I need a fucking dump truck and a, you know,

to like manage this fucking thing. I mean it with a fork and knife. I'm like, I don't want that. Like when I go to, like, I like a simple, I'm just laughing. This show has been incredible. We we've, we've covered it all, but please. Yes. This is what the people want. That's what we want. I want to feel like I'm just eating a cheeseburger in somebody's backyard. Paradise. Like a potato bun.

off the wall bullshit like when i go to what's what's the one on the train cagney's that you could get you know anything you want in the world put on this fucking burger yeah and i'm like i don't even want you know, ketchup and mustard on it. I'm like, I just want the, the meat, the cheese, the bun. Yeah. It's so good. I'm like, you're, you're hiding the taste of the actual burger mixing with the cheese. Yep. Yeah. Uh,

Another place, um, the Douglas, uh, like in echo park, they had like what's called a backyard burger. Right. Fucking tremendous dude. Tremendous. Oh, now you got me hungry again, man. You always do this. Oh, you're going to forget your manners and leave no man untested. Oh yeah. What'd I say? Cagney? Yeah. Yeah. Carnies. Carnies. Um, how did we get onto that? Bobby Lashley.

Yeah, he did it again to us, didn't he? Goddamn Bobby Lashley. Making the patties out of bacon. He's telling us about that peanut butter one that he ate or whatever. I don't need that. Well, it's funny. There is a... a school of thought where it's like because like on its own like when you're picturing like the taste of peanut butter and the taste of a cheeseburger like those don't go together but like when it is mixed in with other stuff like when there's like hot stuff

and the peanut butter it could work yeah they compliment each other because like when you get Chinese food and there's like a hot peanut sauce That's the worlds of flavors that you're getting into. You're stepping into a world of flavors, Vince Averill. Well, you've got a, you've got a very refined palate. You know me, I'm a fucking Luddite. I. I'm a real fucking. Go ahead.

Man, I forgive you. I want to take an Amtrak train with you just so we can get that microwave cheeseburger that they used to have 30 years ago. Don't remind me you're not going to Survivor Series. You're going to piss me off again. Man. Son of a beast thing. Anyway, we'll get on a train. Let's take a train somewhere just for the fuck of it. How about that? We're just here for the conversation. Are we allowed to go on a fucking wrestling trip anymore? Can I go on a wrestling trip with Vince now?

I know. It feels like it's not going to. Where's the rumble? Minnesota? We got mania on the docket, and don't worry. That is going to be a Brinks truck situation. But we're going to have a great time and you know Corbin's coming because Casey, that's our mania man. And as it stands in this moment, it's the last mania for the foreseeable. That's my excuse this time around for, you know, making sure we're getting it. It's like, well, it ain't happening next year. You know, that's, this is.

Oh no, excuse me. It's in Saudi Arabia. The Royal Rumble is? Yeah. The 2026 Royal Rumble will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Jesus.

I thought Minnesota was getting it. Maybe that's SummerSlam or something. If that even is a thing anymore. Was that the place where it was going to be and then they canceled it? No, that was... that was mania in new orleans that they had announced the date and everything and the the logo and then they were like wait a minute but there was a while word from the accountant there was a while ago when they were like you know nothing was official but like

the soft feelers were being put out it was like because remember they were going to do like the deal they like with Indianapolis and then in Minneapolis all the Appalices they were going to do like a deal where one state got all the major pay-per-views for that year type of deal yeah and i think what has happened since then is

this you know the same people within tko that are like you know pricing for families is for idiots if the show sells out in the first like month then we left money on the table uh are the same people who are like well you know it came out vegas vegas is going to pay us three million dollars just that's just off the top to come so i'm sure they're going like what's the point i mean unless unless the state is fucking saudi arabia like who's going to come with the money

for all four it's like we might as well just get whichever city wants to pay the most for each which again it's like you know that's that's their fucking that's their business but uh but that's exactly why there ain't no state getting all four

Not unless something insane. Was there an accusation? I didn't listen to this. I skip all of it. Did UFC get accused of fixing a fight like the other week? Did you see this? I didn't see that, but I also, I tend to avoid.

all ufc related i know i'm not i'm not even interested in pursuing the conversation i was just curious if you knew anything about it i didn't hear anything about it but but but my contention has always been when you pay Fighters a bonus for the most exciting fight, then you are effectively impacting the outcome because someone may fight. out of their style to try to get that bonus by making if you're typically going to try to like you know get someone on the ground and just you know

wear them down, but you're like, well, that's not going to get me that extra a hundred grand or whatever. Then you're going to change how you fight. And that's going to impact you the same way in the NBA, when you don't call traveling or you don't have fouls, the stars have a different.

version of a foul than the regular you know you're impacting the outcome of the game beyond whatever fucking sure i can't believe you and i still haven't discussed yet this latest nba well i'm just not clear like i know obviously it had there were like you know chauncey's like he's in trouble for poker games i don't know i haven't really seen exactly what this is about like actual nba games but but it doesn't matter i mean there's two pitchers who just got indicted in in baseball because

you know, they have these prop bets about what pitch they're going to throw or whatever. And the dude, like the, you see the video, he just like fucking just like throws the ball in the dirt and you're like, what happened there? And then you realize like there was a bet to be made.

you know but but when you watch the fucking game and it's like the game is presented by fucking one gambling site and this and they give you there's some channels that give you percentages in the game like of chance of victory it's just like of course of course it's like you're it's like it's just fucking utter hypocrisy but anyway i don't know if it was vice or it must have been vice There was some mini-doc about gambling and sports, and specifically a scandal that rocked sumo wrestling.

And it may have even, I mean, I might be conflating two different things, but it may have even, you know, overlapped with, you know, someone who was in a dojo who was training and then wound up.

dead you know either they beat him to death or probably beat him to death and left him there or something but what I remember specifically was somebody who had retired from sumo talking about how much they love the sport, but that when they watch it, they can tell immediately whether it's a real fight or if it's a fixed fight and the heartbreak.

he feels when he's watching a fight and he knows that it's fixed yeah i just wonder with how fucked up the world seems in general like what it would actually take for one of these sports to see a real decline you know like like after baseball had the big strike in 90 whatever there was like a like a dip in yeah for that they kind of had to dig their way out of

but i feel like just anymore everything's so sideways people just be like well am i not gonna watch the game you know like yes i don't know like you know we've already there's already been like an nba ref go to jail for shit like Um, and, and the other thing is they so quickly sweep it. You know what I mean? Like it's already like, cause to my point, I'm hearing about these poker games.

But I'm like, well, why is Adam silver, the fucking president of the NBA being asked to fucking go speak in front of the fucking Congress? Cause I haven't heard anything. What's the part about the game? What's the part about the NBA getting rigged? And that part is just not. You know what I mean? So it's like, everyone is just, it's fucked, man. It's all fucked. It's very, very fun. You know, if wrestling can survive the book, The Fall Guys.

Then the NBA can survive this. They're exposing the business every goddamn week now. It is funny when we were sophomores. maybe even june no we were sophomores so this is 1998 98 if we were even even if we were juniors 99 freshman move-in day like if you help freshmen move in as an upperclassman you can move in early you know which you know was appealing for whatever reason it's just you know you're you're away from your folks but

Strangers are handling my personal effects. I don't think other students, but you know, there's no class, but you're away from your parents. So it's already like you're kind of on vacation at school. Yeah. And I remember. somebody from, I don't know what license plate it was, you know, say it was Michigan. And my buddy was like, ah, Michigan, you watching the, uh, the tigers.

And the guy's response was, I haven't watched a professional baseball game since 1994. Still mad. Still mad. Still mad about the strike. Before we...

climb into the raw vaults are you worried about mark briscoe joining this john calis family um feels like it's got to happen it feels like it does the most interesting outcome yeah yeah I mean, it, it, it actually, no, I'm actually, I, you know, it's weird to be like, I hope that happens. I kind of do because then I feel like it'll just be great. Yeah. Yeah.

It would also be great if instead of playing it like he's... The butler. Yeah, he's the butler, and then we get no follow-up. We get one promo segment where he's wearing a bow tie. fucking rusev saying he's coming for john cena like you think anybody gives a fuck uh starter podcast though a lot of bombshells on that first episode i'm told whose podcast russo's lana oh lana started her new podcast oh fucking let me let me i'm gonna sign off so i can listen to that shit as long as they play it

As long as they don't play it, like he's miserable. I'm dude. I hate this. Kevin Von Eric. I'm only doing this because I have to David Von Eric. I hate this. None of that. Yeah. He's in. Now he's acting like he's having a great time and he's really Mark Briscoe-ing it up. Yeah. And it's making the doc, like they're regretting their decision. Hey, I'm a man of my word. I'm like a family now.

obviously not this but like if he walks in with like a live chicken and he just bites the head off and he's like it's good you gotta get it while it's warm you know that type of shit and they're just like fuck no immediate buyer's remorse. Like they're trying to sit at the club and have drinks and then Mark comes in and just like, woo wee, I brought dead chickens for everybody. Guys are like, guys are kind of pissed at.

don callus like why'd you do this like right like they're sitting there they got their glass of whiskey and then like mark comes over and just drops his teeth in the glass of whiskey and he's just like you got marked it's gotta be that would be oh be so fucking like that's that's that's this is the way all right now as a reminder for everybody who's doing the homework along with us we're

Since they upped the running time, it's one episode. One episode is the homework. Uno. So we are on March 31st, 1997 on Netflix. Netflix. The Raw Vault. Opens up with a package about Bret Hart turning heel. WrestleMania 13. We've got Vince. We've got King. We've got Jim Ross. Owen Hart comes down to the... We get a recap of Owen and Bulldog basically breaking up last week. Now they're having a big, big fight over that European title. Hell of a match. It's not...

And because of the circumstances, it's not a match you got to see very often between these two. It is interesting, this time frame, you're getting... a lot of one time or few time only matches um and we are fucking like you might as well just keep your eyes peeled for fucking wrestling with shadows cameras because this is like

No kidding, right? Right in there, yeah. We're right in the heart of it. They have a great little match. Brett winds up interfering, and maybe for the first time in wrestling history, the person who breaks up the match... isn't doing so to beat the shit out of the guys quite the opposite he is begging them to come together and they're kind of listening cut some money promo about

family and friendship and really about family and having each other's backs and how much America stinks how much America stinks what this company did to dynamite what these people did to their family look what they're doing to us and Brett the healer

And Jerry the King Lawler was moved. Truly moved by this display. This is before Sonny came out and he was moved. Something else moved when Sonny came out. So Sonny doing her gimmick of just... Joining the announce team for no reason. Elmasco versus Supernova. You never know what you're going to get with these guys from AAA. Well, Moscow looks like the bad guy from G-Force. Do you know what I'm talking about? No, but it's a hilarious description. Do you know G-Force? Is that that cartoon?

yeah what was the other name it went by two names g-force and you know were they all birds of course anyway um you know what's so funny is g-force is now a disney movie with guinea pigs let me see yeah anime we want the anime I'm here to tell you the guardians of space oh battle of the planets was the other name God, this is so cool. Now I'm just looking at pictures of G-Force. Okay. Nice little lucha match. At one point, Sonny goes over and gives Hugo Savanovic a thrill of a lifetime.

Jim Ross in the ring to interview the Legion of Doom. I always kind of clock what their football pads look like. to base where they are in their career and once once they once there's less spikes and there's more singular one really huge spike Things are getting bad. That's how we take the temperature. Yes, that's how we take the road warriors temperature. So things are starting to get bad.

First of all, and I don't even know if you noticed this or if anybody picked up on this. They're standing on the wrong sides of Jim Ross. For whatever reason, it's like Hawk is on one side of him. And then Animal comes over to where Hawk is, and Hawk's like, oh, fuck, I'm supposed to be over there, and then kind of walks around. And it's like, and it really is, like, you picture any Legion of Doom promo in history. Hawk is on the left.

animals on the right you know of like looking at the screen sure and i don't know if hawk thought that they i don't know if hawk's drunk god god rest his soul i don't know if he thought that they were doing the promo to the screen or to opposite hard cam. But like once, once, you know, Joe Laurinaitis comes around, like Hawk's just like, oh, fuck. Oh, I gotta go over there.

And especially in this era and especially coming off of that Bret Hart promo, which was, you know, practically a shoot was very heartfelt and sincere. Yeah. Fucking animal starts screaming. I'm like. Oh, this is, this is, this is dated. This is over. Yeah. Yeah. Like when, um, those first, the first time they shot NWO promos. Exactly. They were like, Hulk, you don't understand what we're doing here.

being a heel from the 70s uh okay so they talk about their title match with the heart foundation and then the honky-tonk band comes out which it's so funny honky coming out because i'm like thinking of the time frame, thinking of what the competition's doing. Like, is this Vince McMahon's idea of competing with WCW? Like, oh, they're bringing back stars from the 80s? We'll bring back the Honky Tonk Man.

Well, that was the first thing I thought when I saw the fucking Lucha guys. I'm like, oh, okay. 100%. They're doing Lucha on Nitro. We got guys from AAA. We've got Lucha, but better. So the Honky Tonk man is looking for... the next, um, the next greatest of all time. He's going to, and he's got a very important, everybody knows this is one of those, you might as well be wheeling out a birthday cake. The fact that honky is like, this guitar is really important.

It's like you've been smashing guitars over people's heads for two decades now. Now you're coming out and telling me, but this guitar is real special. I don't want anything to happen to this one. Oh, this one's real, real important.

So the Road Dogg Jesse James comes down. He's singing to the ring. A little pitchy dog. He's got his kid with him. And we get Road Dogg versus Jared Fox, I think was his name. Honky Tonk Man comes in the ring after Double J has won. He gives him this pep talk.

Trying to decide who's going to be the greatest of all time. Can you imagine? Can you imagine where you could go if Honky Tonk Man was with you? Can you imagine what you could do if you had this guitar? Can you imagine if I got you in better clothes with some black hair dye? And now I'm just picturing.

road dog jesse james dressed as elvis and i'm fucking coming apart uh road dog accepts the guitar you know this is a piece of music history he's like i don't know what to say but i know what to do and then he just starts to smash And smashes the guitar on the ground. Doesn't smash it over Honky Tonk Man's head, which I'm like, that seems odd. Watch the hair, man. I got, well, Vince, you want to smash that guitar over my head? That's another 50 bucks.

Smash it on the ground. Killing me. God, Ted Turner's killing me. Now you're killing me. Jerry talked to your cousin. Let's see. Nation and Domination does their entrance. Fucking brutal. Brutal. Savio Vega and Crush versus Bell and... Bell and Sebastian, I guess. I don't know. I didn't get the other guy's name.

We get a WrestleMania recap. Paul Bearer wants Undertaker to take him back. We get the Undertaker entrance. We get... Well, Paul Bearer's... Excuse me. Paul Bearer's in the ring and cuts a promo. these two these two should not be doing long talking segments you know i understand we gotta we gotta fill time and undertaker's a draw but like this whole like doing a soap opera gimmick with

Paul Bearer and Undertaker betraying each other, swerving each other. I'm afraid not. It doesn't work. Paul Bearer seems like he's being sincere. Vince McMahon doesn't believe it. Jerry Lawler says, of course he's being sincere. And then Vince McMahon hits him with the line, oh, I suggest you see the movie Liar Liar. And I believe Jerry Law's response was, what does that mean? Undertaker decks Paul Bearer.

Mankind reveals himself, throws a fireball at Taker. Mankind and Paul Bearer hug. It was a trick all along, Vince, which basically renders the entire segment. meaningless and we're just just wasting time at this point then i suppose sid comes out he chases away mankind apparently they must be working together at the house shows sid does a promo backstage and we get

Triple H versus Goldust. Managers barred from ringside. Decent match. Feels like they're holding back. Nothing really going on. Goldust. Don't look at Raw! He doesn't know what to do as a baby face, Goldust. It's an odd spot. Your whole gimmick is making your opponent uncomfortable. But also, they're so... deeply homophobic it's like well they're not going to cheer for him if he's making triple h uncomfortable by making passes at him so now they don't the fucking do you know yeah yeah

Eventually China comes down. Half a dozen refs come down. Pat Patterson comes down. He gets knocked on his ass for his troubles. Eventually Stone Cold makes his entrance. He does an in-ring interview with Vince McMahon. Talking about Bret Hart, WrestleMania 13, Ken Shamrock's big, fat, stupid head. Stone Cold didn't quit. Bret pops up on the big screen and they scream at each other a little bit more.

Now it's time for the big, big main event. Bret Hart versus The Rock, Rocky Maivia. This match gets a star, not because it's anything special. I mean, it's still... It's a Bret Hart match. It's still a cheeseburger. It's still a pizza. That's right. But as soon as the match starts, I'm like, this doesn't feel like a match that happened very often.

And apparently this was the only time that it ever happened. So this, this is worth watching if for nothing else, the one and only match between the rock and. the hitman Bret Hart and that's something because it is wild to think like the changeover in talent at this time but then once Bret was gone he was gone yeah

You know, he never came back from WCW. And even when he did, it was very limited. It was not for a run of matches with anybody. Right. Um, so yeah. And I also, I didn't look it up, but I also wonder, I was like, how many times did the. Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart wrestle each other. It's a pretty special time in the history of our biz. And we're watching it. So yeah, Brett versus Rock. Wrestling has more than one royal family.

I'll tell you that much. Winds up in a DQ. This was for the IC belt. Brett decided he didn't care about the belt. He just wanted to hurt the rock. He puts him in the figure four hanging over the post. Does he have a name for that? If he did, I never noticed it. I don't believe so. The guillotine figure four or something. Yeah. I mean, it's such a great visual.

It is odd that it's like, you know, the other guy has to be holding onto your leg. Otherwise, there's no way it'll work. Stone Cold comes down, beats up Brett. The Heart Foundation comes down, beats up Stone Cold. The road warriors come down, even the odds. We're getting ready for a big six man at some point, probably on the house show loop. And that's your raw vault homework for the week.

You gotta be joking me, dude. You gotta be joking me. Who's your favorite wrestler? Uh, I think it's going to be, uh, Shinsuke Nakamura. Uh, You love that Shinsuke. Yeah. You know, it was nice to see him coming down last night with no pain on his face and him and Seamus are two fucking solid ass fucking dudes. And, um, I'm going to give it to old Shinsuke for nostalgia. What about you, Matty? I got to go with Orange Cassidy. I loved that match between him and Claudio on Dynamite.

It was just classic orange. You know, he does the hand in the pants, uh, in the pockets, not his pants in his pockets. Uh, gimmick. Um, also and like claudio just beating the shit up at one point when he had him in the gorilla press position and threw him into the ropes i was like jesus fucking christ he could have knocked him out yeah um

But then also just with Bryce Remsburg being the ref, I'm like, it's a fucking Shakara match and live in color on TVS, you know? Beautiful thing. But Orange, man, he's just, he's so goddamn good. Had to give it to the man. King of denim. The Canadian tuxedo. Vincent, where can the kids find you online? At Vince Averill on Twitter. Vince.Averill on Instagram.

This is your old pal Matt McCarthy saying, follow me on all forms of social media at McCarthy Redhead. And join the Video Movie Club at the Video Garage Patreon. You get a membership card and access to full unedited.

video tips and like i mentioned last week i am going to digitize that 10th anniversary vhs we did for the triple w live show and put that in in the triple w patreon there you go so look forward to that um and we've got a new patron who was last week uh christina goodson oh you know i've got a bad daughter but a good son named christina yeah And, uh, if you want to believe it, we're going to have a Q and a for you here in just a couple of minutes. It's like old times. Okay.