WeWatchWrestling Issue #636

Do you watch wrestling? Dressley. Greetings, salutations, well hello there, welcome friends and foes, heels and babyfaces to the place that's never a disgrace. The We Watch Wrestling podcast. I'm your wonderful darling, red-headed, bearded host, wrestling, Matt McCarthy, flying solo this week. Solo, you can't even see me. Solo, Sakoa. Go to WeWatchWrestlingPodcast on Patreon. That's the place for the bonus audio, bonus video, Q&A. Is it in this moment that I realized...

We didn't do a .5 last week. It is. Do I feel bad about it? I do. I do. But... The irony being, Vince and I were both in New York City, not together. I was at the... Jesus Christ. What a weekend I had. Flew in Friday morning. like got up here in LA at like four to get to the airport, flew all day, got to Kennedy airport in Queens, took the train into Manhattan.

Dropped off my bags and went straight to the gig. Did the show. Went to bed. Got up the next morning. Drove. Was driven by one of the worst drivers I've ever been. Party two. I mean, we were green, green in the face, me and old Pete Holmesy. We got to Atlantic City. We were like, whoever drives us back, it can't be that guy. We did the gig. got up the next morning, was driven back to New York City by a somehow impossibly worse driver.

This guy was old. When I was walking up to the car, I was like, this is going to go one of two ways. When I saw that the dude was old, I was like, either this guy is going to be fucking Mario Andretti, like fucking got it down.

like an old New York cabbie, or it's going to be worse than the day before. Folks, I made her tell you, it was worse than the day before. Not only was this guy, because the first guy was like, if you're watching on the video on the Patreon, was like driving like in a cartoon or a movie kept like wiggling the car we were seasick we were seasick not to mention all the tailgating and the driving 88 miles per hour and weaving in and out kept opening and closing the window

Blasting the heat. At one point, I could see the dial in the Escalade. He had the heat set to 88 degrees and was blasting it full blast. Why? He said he had allergies. Pete and I were like, I think he was falling asleep. Brutal. But the old timer, he wanted to listen to the radio and we're like, eh.

It's been kind of a long weekend, and we were just in a casino. If we could just sit quietly for two hours, that would be incredible. He's like, sure, I'll listen to the football game in my headphones. Puts in both ears headphones, which... I'm not a cop. Pretty sure you're not allowed to do when you're driving, especially on the goddamn highway. Precious cargo in the back. Man, we can see.

And then he keeps going over and, like, it's not the radio in the car. He's got, like, his little, you know, digital Walkman thing that he's fiddling with. And then every time he leans over. We weave into the next lane. He's doing upwards of 80 miles per hour as he's doing this. Then he's got to correct real quick. Then he hits the brakes because he's tailgating. I mean, it was fucked. Oh, it was fucked.

hated it. And then, you know, got back to Manhattan just in time to get back on the train. Ate a hot dog. Ate two hot dogs. Let's face it. I ate two. Get back on the train. Back to Kennedy. Back on the plane. Back here. They don't pay you to do the gig. They pay you to do the travel. Because the gig is fun. But me and Vince, we didn't get a chance to hook up. He's over there with the murder girls. The favorite twins. The MyPillow. I couldn't think of a third one.

And Vince, he put his foot down and he said, Georgia, it's important that I go to this Madison Square Garden show and see John Cena's final appearance on Raw. And I was back here in beautiful downtown Van Nuys, watching it on the TV set. And it was something. I mean, it was, um... Well...

I asked Vince to record some audio. So I was like, maybe when you're in there, maybe afterwards with some thoughts, let's... see if i can do this i used to do this all the time during the lockdown and um share sound Optimize for video sharing. Let's see how this goes. My password. PC load letter. The fuck does that mean? To share computer audio, please install the Zoom audio device. Please restart your audio sharing application, such as the media player. What?

I'm recording this. Man, I thought this was going to be easy. Oh. Well, now it says I am screen sharing. So is this what you're seeing? Well, let's see. Let's see if this audio plays. No, there's no way you can hear that. That's just playing on my computer. So, but are you seeing this? I'm sure you are seeing it. Stop share. Okay. I'm going to try this a different way. Ridiculous. Ridiculous that Zoom would fuck me over like that. This is Vince filing in. This is Vince filing in to the garden.

Look, I can already tell that that was so fucking loud. I'm going to turn it down just a little bit because I don't want you guys to die. I don't want you to drop dead. from Vince Averill Overload. Okay. Let me see how this works. I'm just going to go ahead and assume that that was also too loud. I'm going to change something. Look, our producers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, I don't even know. I don't know where Rob is.

Last I saw, he was on the news. All right. Now let's see. And maybe that hasn't been too loud. Okay? I'm surely going on looking at the things. Now I'm going to be able to hear it. We'll see. A lot has changed in the years since we've been here, Matty. Pretty easy to get inside. Sat down. We've got the main event match here before Raw starts between Otis and Rusev. Old main event Rusev who has to be ecstatic that he loved AEW for this spot.

The dark is filling up. The vibes are good. Cena is the only guy getting a pop, and I will report back soon. Easier to get into MSG. I don't believe it.

I'm not calling Vince a liar. I just don't believe a fucking word he says. I... I mean, first of all, the renovation... I suppose the renovations have never stopped at MSG, but like... back way back in the day you know when they did the entrances like right to the to the you know before the big renovation right when when the entranceway was like right to the center of the ring

That was tremendous. You know, I don't quite recall the date when that changed, but you know, my mind always goes to obviously all the house shows from the eighties and nineties, but like specifically. Royal Rumble 2000, where they did the, you know, Triple H, Cactus Jack, you know, let's rip open Triple H's calf.

Triple H got himself over. Didn't need any help from anybody else. And it certainly wasn't those matches with Mick Foley that did it. Isn't that right, Paul? Think that's funny enough to be on Raw? He's the greatest of all time. Because I say so. Okay. All right. Let's hear from Vince afterwards. He's a little more subdued, but I think Vince is just feeling the effects of...

of it really sinking in that our time is up. And John Cena's time is now. And it's time for him to move on. Time to get going. What lies ahead? John Cena is not knowing. Okay, here we go. Menace evening in the garden. Penn Station is like a shopping mall now. which previously was, I think, most famous for the Undertaker- Triple H match that took place shotgun Saturday night. But the crowd was fucking pretty fired up.

Fun little six-man. Cena, I mean, when he came out, it was pretty crazy, and it was also interesting to actually see Dominic getting booed in a way that you can't always be sure on TV. Like, is this real? But it was real. And Ziggler bumping all over the place like a maniac. Super fun. Big Maxine Dupree upset. Featuring AJ Lee, who was on our plane when we flew to New York. last thursday uh yeah uh one one one one last quick thought from vince and then then i want to comment on it all

Super cool to be back in the garden. The vibes were heavy. And I even ran into Dan Ryan and Triscuit there beforehand from the Discord. Yeah, man.

10 of 10. Shout out to the Trisk yet. Yeah, tremendous, tremendous shit. Look, first of all, it does need to be said. It is hilarious. Fucking Rusev. Look, go make your money. Go make your money. But this idea that, oh, I'm going to be happier over there. I'm a main event guy. God bless. God bless. Can we get Otis a payday? Hey, if Otis is happy, I'm happy. You know? If Otis is happy, I'm happy.

And if Otis isn't happy, then I'm unhappy. Because I like my Otis's happy. I take my Otis like I take my men. I just wish we could get... I don't know why his social media game has dried up. There used to be a lot of stakes in the garage. I'm just going to check real quick to see if Otis is... You know, maybe he is posting about. Now, why the fuck does Otis Redding have an Instagram page? Okay. If that sounded like a complaint, it was.

Mostly pictures of dogs. Oh, no. Did this dog pass away? All right, good. Happy fifth birthday to Fred Bear. My sweet bear. Can't you hear Otis saying that in your head? Oh. My God. Of course, Otis has a dog that looks like this. Look at bear. Look at Fred bear. Oh my God. I can't, I can't. Um, yeah. If it's not clips from wrestling. It's pictures of him and Maxine. Him and dogs. It's dogs and wrestling.

Welcome to the family. Big girl sissy. Oh, my God. Look at big girl sissy. I can't. Oh, my God. Big girl sissy. But when is he... cooking steaks yeah he's not otis's instagram game used to be quite strong And now I feel that it is quite weak. Because even like the saved, yeah, look at this. The saved stories, these are from December 2020, and it's him cooking up. God damn, this looks good. Holy shit. Just cooking up some loin, cooking up some T-bones, the tomahawk.

It's all 2020. You tell me Otis went vegan? Come on. Look it. He's making a sandwich that he calls the Slamwich. Was it Tucker that was doing all the cooking? Because it feels like ever since they broke up, he doesn't cook in the driveway anymore. I'm not okay with this, Otis.

Get on top of that. Fucking figure it out, dude. Maxine, I love Vince with the Maxine upset. I don't know why they did that. Oh, you got to take him for a ride. Is Becky Lynch, like, I think Maxine is undefeated against Becky Lynch. The other greatest of all time.

God bless her. And AJ Lee gets involved. I like AJ. I guess we'll see where this... new run goes um and Vince thinks he's hot shit because AJ was on his plane Smokey Robinson was on my plane okay and it really was one of those moments where I saw him in the airport and I was like

Oh, I know this guy. This guy's a buddy of mine. Where do I know this guy from? And then two seconds later, it's like, oh, no, no, no, no. He's just one of the most famous singers of the 20th century. Got it. Got it. It's not funny. You're always like, oh. Did we go to high school together? Me and you? Smoke. This is not nom smoke. There are rules. It's a league game, smoke. I felt like the beginning of Raw felt pretty epic. You know, Cena...

Well, first of all, I'm glad it wasn't just a Dominic rematch. I guess they're doing that at the pay-per-view. I don't know. Does Dom just win it right back? Feels unnecessary. I think him winning the IC title felt unnecessary, but they just wanted to do it. He's the Grand Slam champ. Great. Wanted to do it. I feel like Dominic is better when he's, you know, got something to complain about.

There are different types of heels. You know, there's a cocky piece of shit and Dom is a cocky piece of shit. And if he's got something to fucking bitch about, that's great. You know, then you got your tough guy heels. And that ain't dumb. That ain't dumb. Okay? I would much rather whoever wins this cockamamie tournament wins that belt. You know? To the winner goes the spoils. I tell you what's hilarious is the fact that we were still having first round matches. And then I think...

Are people already in quarterfinal matches? This is a wacky tournament. This is some weird, wild stuff. I don't think Triple H has a plan. I don't think Triple H is good at this.

You know, and it's, you know, there's always, the WWF argument is always, look at all the money we're making. It's like, well, yeah, well, look what you're charging to get in. It's like... yeah you have a point but i i feel like my i have a better point it's not you know i mean it's it's artificial it's real but it's it's artificial you know

the biggest gate we ever did. I'm like, because you're just ruthless because of, you know, I keep wanting to say fabric pricing. What is it called? Dynamic pricing. Thank you.

I don't think the Cena retirement tour was shit. I don't know anybody who does. The MSG show. Was I hoping for a singles match? Of course. Was I glad it wasn't just a Dom rematch? Definitely. And then the six-man tag? It was fine for what it was. You know, you had your baby face spots. They all did their moves. And then that was it. And then it was just, hey, you know, are they going to...

Hang his jean shorts. The Cena jorts in the rafters remains to be seen. So does he go into the Hall of Fame now? Is that the deal? Future Hall of Famer Stephanie McMahon was in the crowd sitting with... Lin-Manuel Miranda. Hey, I am rapping and now I am rapping. And can you now tell that I am totally rapping? I got to get more. It's going to be a snore. Madison score Gordon. Hi, I'm Lin-Manuel Miranda. What I was just doing was rapping. That's Clintus's joke.

Hi, I'm Lin-Manuel Miranda. Do you enjoy the movie Moana? Do you ever wish that it was real actual people in it, but with a ton of computer generated images as well? And probably some AI. Then have I got the movie for you. Shane McMahon was in the crowd. Shane's seat sucked. I don't know if anybody else noticed that.

I don't know if anybody else noticed Brian Goertz. My old boss was in the crowd as well. What a riot, you know? Oh, they're showing Andrew Schultz and Eric Andre. My favorite murders. Georgia Hartstark was in the crowd, okay? Let's get some star power going. Star power? Give it a rest. I don't know, man. I don't know. Felt like a raw. I mean, the closing angle. Oh, man. I guess you got to take a bathroom break at some point. Phil and Brock.

The funniest tweet I saw all day. Somebody was like, Jack Perry couldn't possibly have been that annoying. I will see. We'll see. We'll see what cities respond positively and negatively to Brock Lesnar. But I don't know. I don't know, man. Here's my worry. Okay. Because then the final match is in D.C. We all know who lives in D.C. And Steph's in the crowd. Shane's in the crowd. Brock's in the ring. What's to stop them?

What's to stop them, not even just the president, what's to stop them from having Vince at the show? John wanted Vince there. And that's why we do what we do. We do what we do. This is... We do. That's why we do what we do. It's why we do what we do. Vince with his fucking skunk hair. Looking like... the heel and jabber jaw unreal unreal i wonder if vlad was in the crowd

There's no way. There's no way. From what I heard from several different sources, you know, the walk-in price was like 300 bucks. I mean, for God's sakes, it's just disgusting.

The pricing at WWE shows is truly foul. Like, it's really offensive. We priced out the moms and the pops and the families. I mean, first they price out the little old ladies. No longer in the front row. Oh, God. Who was I talking to whose grandma loved going to the wrestling shows? I don't know, but he was telling me, where did he grow up? Somewhere in the Midwest, I want to say. But his little old grandmother used to scream in Yiddish at the TV set.

I'm trying to think of who, if I can remember what part of the country they were in, I could recall what their favorite is. Anyway, I forgot to tell this story. When I was in Pittsburgh, The guy who drove my Lyft at one point, I went to the Vinegar Syndrome store. First, I called ahead to see if I could walk around the store with my microphone and interview people.

for the forthcoming VHS tapes is VHS tapes are magic podcast. And they called corporate and corporate said no. So I guess eventually at some point I got to. Go through the proper channels and talk to the proper people at the Wittiger Syndrome. And, you know, hey, we'll get there. And old, old guy. I mean, well into his 80s. You know. And, like, I feel like was doing Lyft and Uber just, I don't think he was, like, hurting for money. I think he just wanted something to do. And God bless him.

god bless him you know we should all be so lucky to be that old and still um be able to drive he was a hell of a lot better than the fucking drivers of the escalades in new york city I'll tell you that much. And we got to talking and we're just talking about Pittsburgh and he'd lived there his whole life. And then...

I happen to mention, well, I know Bruno Sammartino is from here, and he almost interrupts me. He's like, oh, yeah, Bruno. Oh, yeah, I used to see him around all the time. Like, did you ever go to the matches? He's like... uh no no but you know we used to see him all around he's like my friend john sullivan um we we were in high school together he uh he lived next door to bruno and then bruno trained to be a wrestler

I'm like, your friend John Sullivan? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was his name? Oh, big guy. He dyed his hair blonde. hey they put him with another guy and they said they were brothers but they weren't brothers and then i'm like johnny valiant luscious johnny v he goes yeah said john valiant yeah yeah john sullivan yeah yeah yeah a friend of mine from high school yeah no he he lived next door to bruno and bruno trained to be a wrestler and then he did pretty well with it

he died a couple years ago he was crossing the street he just got hit by a car and i was like oh my god that's right that's that's how i forgot that's how luscious johnny v died in like 2018 he was just crossing the street and got popped and let me tell you something those I don't I don't know how familiar y'all are with Pittsburgh even those of you who are from there but where the Pittsburgh improv is

is it's in a, what do they call it, like a lifestyle center? It's like a multi-purpose, you know, chunk, like real estate chunk. Like mostly, it's one of these many... you know, old foundries or, you know, steel mills, whatever it was, that has been repurposed into, you know, it's like an artificial town square.

where you got the the starbucks and the pf changs it's like an outdoor mall but you know it's like a multi-purpose um lifestyle or i think they also call them power centers whatever they call them and

There's a road. I don't know what the name of the road is. It's practically a freeway. On one side is some hotels. On the other side is, you know, the center. Where the... where the improv is and crossing that street from the hotel to the, to the fake town square is terrifying because not only are people driving so goddamn fast.

They don't even fucking slow down. Like you're in a crosswalk. You have the right of way. They don't even fucking slow down. Even when they do slow down, they don't even break. They just keep rolling towards you. So then what I heard about. you know john valiant i was like oh what a fucking way to go and especially and and and to be um like in your 70s and to have that happen brutal

No word on if he knew the Boogie Woogie Man. I'm like, well, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, his partner was Jimmy Valiant. He's like, well, they weren't really brothers. And I'm like, do I look like a Mark? And here's the button when we got to the hotel. He's like, well, Matthew, it's been real nice talking to you. And I'm like, yeah, it was real nice talking to you, too. And he goes, here's a little book I want you to read. It's about Jesus.

Hands me like this little pamphlet called the answer. And I'm like, oh, apparently I do look like a mark to you. Really, really put me off my.

French fried lobster. Anyway, I look forward to Seeing people boo Brock Lesnar. It'll be interesting to see, you know. I mean, I feel like they would boo Trump. I don't know if they would boo Vince. I guess it depends on the city. D.C.? Have they priced out the people who would boo? And that's my point. First they price out the old ladies, then they price out the families, then they price out the decent people.

But for Vladimir to not be in Madison Square Garden on John Cena's final night in the building, I don't know. It ain't right. It ain't right. We'll see what they can do with this pay-per-view. After last Wednesday, after Blood and Guts, I'm like, feels like to me, and correct me if I'm wrong.

Feels like the first time I recall AEW kind of counter-programming WWE. Because, like, WWE... ain't gonna be able to fucking with their war games they ain't gonna be able to follow blood and guts you know no fucking way i mean first of all it ain't war games war games has a roof They're just doing a double cage match. The men, maybe. Because with the lack of the roof, they're going to do those high spots from the top of the cage. But...

And, you know, I don't need for there to be, you know, the glass and the fire. Fire! Pizazz! or any of that necessarily um but i mean mark briscoe and wheeler utah fighting on the roof of the of the cage it's like That's an image. And that they don't. They can't do that in WWE. So that's right out. I'll say there's probably no way. The WWE women's war games can compete with the AEW women's blood and guts. Even with Asuka and Kairi.

I don't think they can do it. I mean, you know, seems like the direction they're going, Rhea Ripley's pulling in AJ. I don't know. I mean, AJ's... I don't know. In fact, I do know. There's no way they can top it.

There's no way. That women's blood and guts match was fucking unbelievable. The talent in that match, I mean, look, in a perfect world, if we could trade out Julia Hart, And I like Julia, but she was goofing. She was goofing some stuff in that match. And look, it's a subjective art form. She did a lot better than I would have. But, you know, if we could have swapped. And I thought Sky Blue held her fucking own. She worked her ass off. And if you watch the show, that's a lot of work, folks.

I'm just saying, if we could swap out those two for Kyrie and Asuka, it's so unfair. But like, Tekla... You know, when Sasha Banks is in there with the right opponent, that entrance was just fucking ice cold where she's got the dudes out there with all her belts on the tables. And they've got the other belts. That was a thing of beauty. And then Chris Statlander, I still think is... She might be the most underrated worker in the business.

She's so spectacular. She kept wrestling with the belt on. I loved that. Loved that. That feels like something you did with your action figures. And Willow fucking powerhouse in there. When her and Sky Blue kicked it off, I was like, oh shit, this shit's about to get fucking real. But like when Willow, like she flashes to the camera and like does like, you know, does that flex both guns up. I'm like, holy shit. This woman is ready to kill.

It's fucking great. Mina Shirakawa with like showered in blood was a, was a site fucking sky blue. I can't say enough. Like she was covered, covered in blood. God bless. God bless. And then Tony storm. I mean, the woman's batting a thousand. It was just, you know, even Marina Shafir, who I feel like they used her. Absolutely correctly. Absolutely to, you know, accentuated what she does best. She went in there and just hip tossing motherfuckers. Just poor Jamie Hayter getting fucking rocked.

getting her shit rocked bro um and it is so funny whenever they do the announcement when they say submit or surrender i'm always like the fuck does that mean it's always it's always submit and then of course somebody surrenders tony surrendered because mina was getting uh just getting fucking eviscerated man that was great the fucking the the the megasys come on what an

athlete that woman is my god my god and then my favorite part was then when the heels won they were such fucking heels about it they just like kicking them in the head fucking just kind of like stump because it's also it's like selling how fucking exhausted they are and what a beating they also took It doesn't need to then turn into a free-for-all. Tony starts fighting back up, and then they put her down, which makes perfect sense. But I just love the...

They just felt like such fucking heels. Like, I mean, like, I don't know, you put Nia Jax in any fucking match, I'm just like, I just, it reduces my interest level exponentially, you know? It's just, the woman has go away heat. It's just, I don't, I don't get it. I don't, I don't. I don't get it. She had a funny line on Raw, though. She's like, exactly what Asuka just said. That's great, but...

That's why we do what we do. We're not here to have great matches. We're here to tell stories. I'm sorry, Hunter. What? We're not here to have great matches. We're here to tell stories. Are you here to tell great stories or just stories? Got it. Copy that. I don't know. We'll see. I mean, look. Everybody in that company, everybody in WWE watches AEW. And there's going to be one of two reactions. One, holy shit, that was fucking awesome.

I wish we could do that here. Or two, look at them. They don't know what they're doing. And then the company line always, always is about money. It's always like, you realize how much money they spend on that? Oh, you realize how much money they're paying Mark Henry? Good God. You know how much money they're spending every week on Dynamite? Any, any time I was in the same room with somebody who was working for the E. And look, you're working for the E. Sometimes the Kool-Aid tastes real good.

that was always the line that would bust out i'm like that is it's so funny that's that's that's it that's the only like and and then what what are you supposed to say back to that I don't know. Maybe something like, do you have any idea how much money Vince McMahon was spending on NDAs? God. He's probably going to be there. He's probably going to be there in D.C. I mean, that's... I want to talk go-away heat. Does he show up on camera, though, or is he just backstage with Donald? I don't know.

Because Trump didn't even show up to UFC over the weekend. It was like the first one he ever missed ever. Hell of a thing. Hell of a thing. Unbelievable. I was worried at first with Mark Briscoe when they went into the back and he was beaten up and laying on the ground. I was like, oh, shit. Are they going to do the thing where Mark is faking it?

And then he's going to turn heel and join the Don Callis family? I suppose the answer is no. At least that's not playing into the story because of, you know. His spirit of 76 fighting his way down to the ring. And Roderick Strong. Roderick, so goddamn good. I feel like him and Kyle Fletcher, excuse me, Kyle O'Reilly. It was a side of both of them. I'm like, God damn. Those two haven't felt like killers to me in a long time.

And they felt like killers in that match, you know? That's the difference. That's the difference between Blood and Guts and War Games. War Games... Nobody is going to come off like, oh, this person is a killer. This person is a murderer. This person is trying to maim, burn, destroy their opponents.

It's going to be a bunch of motherfuckers with a bunch of kendo sticks. Here's what's going to happen. They got no fresh ideas in WWE. It pains me to say it. I'm not saying that the creative team doesn't have fresh ideas. I'm saying... What Triple H decides to put the rubber stamp on is same old shit. You know? I mean, goddamn Stephanie Vaquer and Nikki Bella. It's like...

Somebody pointed out in the Discord, it's like, it's kind of just Becky and Lyra again, you know? I mean, I'm supposed to fucking get it up for Brock Lesnar versus Roman Reigns? You guys are out of ideas, man. And I get it, it's the war games and all, but... Like, I'm supposed to fucking chant holy shit at the end of that show or something? I don't give a fuck. Fucking Roman and Brock, you're regressing. Brock Lesnar doing anything on the show. You are out of ideas.

Or you're just scared of new ones. Here's what's going to happen in the war games. Baby face shine. Heels get heat. Suddenly. Everybody's on one side of the ring facing everybody on the other side of the ring in the separate rings. They all have kendo sticks. They all walk up to each other, stare down, and then boom, they go at it again. Somebody jumps, probably everybody jumps off the top of the cage. Moonsault. Ass end over tea kettle. Gaga, Zabada, one, two, not today.

Babyface shine. Heels get heat. Babyface come back. Slip on a banana peel. Heels go over. Doot, doot, doot. I fucking love Michael Hayes. Michael Hayes has more ideas than what Triple H is willing to rubber stamp. You know? I mean, it's just... Let's not forget! Let's not forget his original idea. Allegedly, was that Cody turns heel. Why? All right. We'll have Cena turn heel. All right. Why?

Because that's what we do. That's why we do what we do. That's why we do what we do. Trips, I love you, but yeah. It's a no from me, dog. Who takes over from Triple H? Who takes over? I'm not putting the man in his grave just yet, but... I don't know, with his ticker? I'm not saying he's going to pass away. I'm just like, I don't know. That travel schedule, that stress, even if they're making money, it's still stress.

Even if they didn't have stiff competition, and it's like, look, is AEW going to overcome them monetarily? It seems highly unlikely. They're Kleenex. AEW is Koger brand face tissue, okay? But that Koger brand face tissue is fucking good. It's really fucking good. That Kleenex is way too expensive. Half the time, it hurts my nose. That Cogre brand face tissue, fucking unbelievable, dude. Had some downs. Let's fucking back up. Let's fucking back up.

But even without that stress. Because being in competition, having to go out there and be like, that's why we do what we do. We're not here to... You're not here to fucking have great matches. I'm sure the wrestlers loved hearing that. Hey, WWE, we don't have great matches. I'm sure the wrestlers loved hearing that. We're here to tell stories. Shut the fuck up. Anytime I hear them say tell stories, all I hear is that Joey Styles promo from the fucking entryway.

where he's like, I am told explicitly to ignore the action in the ring so that I can tell stories. Fucking beautiful. Beautiful. Thing of beauty. So who takes over? I mean, is it just internal? Do they just promote Ed Kosky to where he should be all along? You know, or they have to have a face. Do they have to have a, you know. Some, some, I mean, is it Bruce? I mean, between Bruce and Triple H, it's like dueling coronaries.

Like the EKG is just going, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Look, I'm not trying to get dark. I'm just having a little fun. And I don't. I don't know. I don't know what... I mean, it ain't going to be Shane. They're not bringing back Shane. Can you imagine if Vince McMahon outlives everyone? If Vince McMahon outlives Paul and Bruce, his own children, I don't see that happening. I mean, the man is a malignant narcissist.

When shit's blowing up, the malignant narcissists, they somehow manage to survive. Thrive, in fact. We'll see. We'll see. Well, as though you didn't already know, I asked our dear friend Vincent who his favorite wrestler was. You know what that sumbitch said? You're not going to believe this. John Cena. That's his EKG.

That was weird. They were singing along with the song. This latest trend, I mean, it's so played out. Obviously, it started with Jericho singing the lyrics of the song, but then like... You know, with Edge, they do it with Edge. That one, for whatever reason, doesn't bother me as much, but it was weird. When they do it with Cody, I'm like... I'm like, it feels a little forced, but, you know, worse things happen in pro wrestling. But with Cena, I was surprised by it.

It was fun. I was like, but you know, it's no John Cena sucks. They really did. I tell you, they really did manage to. Bring the. the crowd around and on board to the John Cena retirement because like, it really wasn't all that long ago that like before the heel turn, it was like, Oh fucking Cena. He can't go anymore. He's taking young guys spots. Oh, he's going to beat Cody for the belt. This is ridiculous. You know, it really, it really, he was like full circle back to.

Oh man, fucking Cena again. So in that respect, turning him a heel was a great move. But there was no follow-up. And especially with The Rock being involved. How bizarre. How bizarre. How bizarre. And then he turns baby face again. Really no apparent reason. But at least now in the home stretch, it does feel we are okay. People are loving John Cena again. It's sinking in. Oh, man. It really is sinking in. I don't know. I almost feel like...

I mean, it's the end of an era. That's for fucking sure. But it does also feel like, well, he kind of already retired. They're just making a big deal about it. You know what I mean? I mean, it doesn't feel like... I mean, look, it's pro wrestling. Fucking motherfuckers are always going to come back, you know? I don't think Cena's going to work a match, but...

Never say never. That's rule number one. That's rule number one, two, and three. I mean, come on now. Oh, also, I should mention texting with Vincent.

Ricky Steamboat might be on that no-fly list. That was... That was an uncomfortable segment. It's one of those things in pro wrestling. It's like... When things are mistimed, moves and talking. But with moves, you can at least be like, oh, that's all right. They botched that. Sorry. But when things get goofed up when they're in the talking segments, it's so uncomfortable. Because it really, it kills the rhythm. And when the rhythm is killed, it...

just become so uncomfortable. Ricky Simo was making me very uncomfortable. First of all, does he have dentures? I mean, I assume he must have gotten teeth knocked out at some point, you know. I mean, on top of the fact that he's in his 70s, why wouldn't there be some artificial chompers going on? But when he was talking, I was like, all right, there's something happening.

And if it's something bad, I'm not aware of it. I don't know if he's... I don't think he had a stroke or something. I have no idea. It didn't seem like it. It seemed like... I was like... It felt like his... teeth were loose or something. I don't know. I never remember Ricky sounding like that. But my God, when FTR came out and he's like...

When he grabs the mic and he's just like, I know him. I'm like, oh my God, Rick, please don't do this. Please, for the love of God, please don't do this to me. Not you, Ricky. Not you, Dragon. and then before Stokely can even start talking he's like I just want to say something real quick and it's just like

Did he forget a line? Did he forget to say something? I mean, it was so uncomfortable. Then also, where was Ric Flair? Ric Flair was supposed to be there. I think Ric Flair was there, but just didn't go out on camera. He... Posted a message saying it was because his rotator cuff is still hurt, or I don't know. I suppose since they got physical with Dragon, they were supposed to get physical with Flair.

And he was just like, there's no way I can do it. It's just too bad. I mean, hey, heal up, Rick. Rick, for the love of God, take a vacation. Take a vacation from your problems, Ric Flair. Baby steps. Baby steps out of the bar. Baby steps out of the hotel. Baby steps out of the limousine. Baby steps out of the jet plane.

Baby steps into your house. Baby steps into a relationship with your children. Okay, Rick? This is my prescription to you. Nature boy. Maybe it's perhaps time you baby step into a nature man. Okay?

Can you imagine if I'm like and that said my favorite wrestler this week is Rick the Dragon Steamboat. It is not. God in heaven. Oh, Lord in heaven. My favorite wrestler this week is Thomas Tony Storm. She's the glue. She's the glue. I mean, it's funny. It was almost to the point in that match where I was like, I almost forgot she was in the match. And I was just appreciating how great of a match.

They were all having the star power that was in the match. And then the timeless music hit. And I'm just like, God damn, God damn. Got me again. And she's got the pearl necklace and she's just punching them all with it, giving them all a taste of the pearl necklace. Fucking unbelievable. I mean, really, truly. Just, just, just dynamite. And it was. And it was Dynamite. It's a great week for wrestling, you know. I mean, Raw was Wah. Raw was Wah. Wah was Wah. Wah was Wah. Baba Wah Wah. Anyway.

Tremendous time. All right. Vince and I will be doing the .5 Q&A this week. I will be posting the 10th anniversary VHS. into the Patreon also this week. Furthermore, next week, boss, you ain't gonna like this. I'm off next week. So Vince will be here next week. Perhaps Solo. Perhaps Sokoa. Perhaps he'll tag in a friend. You never know. You never know what Vince Averill's going to do. Okay? The man.

is unpredictable uh it also means next week will be my annual and this is not something i do on the show it's just something i do for me my annual rereading of Dave Meltzer's history of pro wrestling on Thanksgiving. It's one of the, there are, I I'm always shocked how many traditions I have annual traditions. August 15th, that whole weekend, maybe even starts on the 14th. I don't even remember. I always watch Woodstock the movie just to celebrate. I always watch Halloween around Halloween.

and various other horror movies, but I always watch Halloween. It's not even my favorite scary movie. It's not even my favorite Halloween movie. Like, time of the year Halloween movie. But that, I say it all the time. Right up until the sun goes down, I'm just like, God, this is fucking great. I just love being in that town. And I suppose I could go anytime I want. It's in Pasadena. Bring some fake leaves with me.

But man, Thanksgiving, I always read that Meltzer essay. I always watch The Last Waltz. I always watch planes, trains, and automobiles. And I always listen to Alice's Restaurant. And at some point, I'm going to watch Cheers. I'm going to watch WKRP. I'm going to watch New Heart. Maybe even watch the goddamn Macy's Parade.

It's a veritable who's who of things to do on Thanksgiving. Also, if you want to join the Video Movie Club and get yourself a membership card to the Video Garage, you can join my Patreon. Links are in my bio. I updated my website to themattmccarthy.com. I just cleaned it up and, you know, put in new working links. I was looking at it today and I was like, oh my God, this is my old manager. So.

updated all of that, but you can find links if you want to join that too. But the reason I bring it up is because on that Patreon, I put together a playlist of Thanksgiving treats. Just to gear up for the big holiday next week. Even though it's bullshit. Fuck the pilgrims. Nonetheless, enjoy some television. And Vince Averill is, you know, wherever does Vince Averill is. And I'm at McCarthy Redhead. There you go. We'll do some shout outs next time.

And so then the week after, once we get into December, it's going to be back to normal. Me and Vince on Tuesday. Me and Vince on Thursday or Friday, depending. I mean, I am traveling quite a bit in December, but those Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I mean, we recorded on Tuesday, but the main show is going to go back to normal. We need it.

I mean, Vince texted me when he was headed to the garden. He's like, man, this bullshit of me going to wrestling shows without you, I'm fucking done with it. And I'm like, dude, I'm done with it too. It was brutal. I was in New York City too. But I was just like, it's just not in the cards. It's not in the cards. Anyway, kids, I love you. Go watch some wrestling. Take care of yourselves and each other. Later.