WeWatchWrestling Issue #640

Match Wrestling? Greetings. Salutations. Well, hello there. Welcome, friends and foes, heels and babyfaces. All are welcome at the We Watch Wrestling podcast. The place for the wrestling fan in your life. I'm your wonderful, darling, redheaded, bearded host, wrestling Matt McCarthy. With me always, professional wrestling encyclopedia, Mr. Vince Averill.

controversy come on dude it's only right that such a polarizing figure go out in such a polarizing way come on we'll get into it all right all right all right go to patreon.com bonus audio bonus video q a where there's t-shirts available links in the description of the show Are there t-shirts available somewhere? You can go to prowrestlingtees.com. Yes, of course. Of course. I wonder what goes on over there. Yeah. You'll have to scroll past a few.

video garage shirts and then you get to the triple w shirts but it is on because i had the because i don't know if you remember they had a separate website pro wrestling tees that just yes i do vaguely remember and then for whatever reason that one closed okay i guess whatever yeah i blame that VHS tape destroying son of a bitch Colt Cabana. I was just quickly running over to Big Cartel to deactivate the hats because I ain't going to the post office anymore for the rest of this fucking year.

sorry about that sorry about your bad damn luck it's all out there for you folks you just gotta type it into google probably or maybe or ask a friend

get your get your ass over to google um john cena's retirement yeah how did how did you feel how did you feel about the um oh what did you think was well i had i had the um experience of sitting next to my brother who knows fuck all um and you know interestingly enough we didn't make it to the finish but pete and i were able to watch basically I think all of Saturday night's main event in between shows or at least I'm trying to think oh you know what Pete came in during the tag match because

We were just talking about the show and talking about comedy, but when he glanced up and saw some of the high spots, he was absolutely gobsmacked. Pete loves Javon Evans. I'm not even... You just nailed it. He goes, wait, I didn't know that they could... They can do this. This is insane. Yeah. I also got the experience of watching Cena's last match with a, and when I told her, because then I, you know, they're warming up the crowd.

yeah and so i go out backstage and i'm watching it on my phone and i'm like i gotta see this finish before i go on stage and then sure enough the smirk and the tap when i told pete he couldn't believe it well

First of all, all the NXT wrestlers should have gone over clean on the way to the John Cena main event. There's no reason they shouldn't have. Dude, I could spend the entire show talking about... the fucking finish of the cody match how fucking weak that was well and then also don't worry we're gonna get back to john but also then they just do for the 470th time it's almost like uh

fire in aew they decide to have cody attack drew at his house did you see this no so um all this goes to drew's house He's like, I brought a camera crew because I don't know how you're going to behave, but I've come here out of respect to Cody wants you reinstated. They're basically filming a meeting in Drew McIntyre's pool house.

between him and all this and then drew mcintyre gets an alert on his phone and he like his camera he can see is the camera in front of his house and cody rhodes is there and so cody's come to attack drew because drew went on his bus at some point and cody of course gets through and then you know attacks drew at his house and i'm just like hey man when all else fails when you gotta heat it up

go into his house, I guess. Triple H loves the fucking home invasion angle. He loves a home invasion. He loves a home invasion. so so yes uh but meanwhile obafemi probably could have fucking beat him but um no kidding so you know uh i think was the belt on the line was it like it was champion versus champion or something no no no i don't think so i don't should have beat him that was a he like obafemi won me over i mean there's there were just and and it kind of plays into what

what i'm going to say about john cena it's like so i think a lot of the hubbub was actually that for once they had they had actually gotten some casual people to to tune in and so these casual people were like what do you mean he didn't fucking win so that's that's the jump off right and right and i also feel like you know

Uh, there's no way none of this, uh, any of this happened if Cena didn't want it to happen. Cena was like, right. And when, when, when I explained to Pete, I was like, yeah, but Monday morning, Monday night. Gunther's going to be there and Cena isn't. It doesn't benefit anyone if Gunther now goes out and goes, I lost to the old guy who just retired. Right. And I also think that at that point, I get the whole like never give up.

and so have him pass out but it's like you know let's let if if we're working off of the the original system the original policies and procedures right make him fucking tap but yeah also completely understand that in the world we live in now where nothing matters scenic because sting fucking won his last match and everyone fucking and obviously even jeff jarrett is like he's he's upset you know so it's like the world has changed and so i also completely understand the thought of like who cares

and i mean the story goes it was tony con and the young bucks were like sting you are not losing this match right because the other part too is like gunther has already been the fucking world champion so it's like And it also, I actually forgot about this because of the speed at which things happen.

Because in my mind, I'm just looking at the logic of... I was just watching the match just for the psychology and the beats. And the fact that they kept going back to the chin lock, the sleeper hold, I was like... I was like, oh, this makes sense because you can't do a quick submission finish in any match these days, but in that match in particular. So I was like...

The fact that they kept going back to it, I was like, oh, they are going to do... He quit, which I was like, okay, that's interesting. But the... What the fuck was my point? Oh, God. oh uh but like i'm also looking at it with the logic of like okay well gunther benefits from this he's the guy who made john cena quit yeah and it wasn't until somebody uh i don't know if it was a college friend or an ex-wwe employee was like

Yeah, it definitely benefited Gunther that Brock Lesnar just squashed John Cena along the way on this fucking retirement tour. Well, no, that's the thing. He has... Cody beat him like... people have been beating right people have been beating and it hasn't been action andretti it hasn't been you know what i mean like there hasn't been any so if it's so important to like put somebody over on the way out

then maybe it should have been fucking Obafemi or someone who, like, not someone who is already where Gunther is or was and, you know.

it's like and there's just no faith that like this this launches him that they they they take this and they're like we we must now have him be the the strongest the most evil whatever you know it just so it's like in this world cena should have just fucking stomped him out and left on top and the confetti fell and everybody fucking boohooed and vince mcmahon was in the video and everything else you know

I miss that moment. Was it a clip event or was it a sit down talking heads? So when everybody comes out, when everybody comes out,

and they're around the ring, and Hunter's getting booed out of the building. Actually, at that point, they were chanting, you fucked up. He throws to the video for John to watch, and in the course of the video, it is like some old... piece of footage of him okay going like he was made to be you know like giving some quick little quote about him it was yeah yeah it was quick whatever but which in it now this is the the soft launching of

i don't know at least in in historic footage of vince coming back you know these fucks also do you see uh i guess overnight uh mick foley was like i let wwe know that

I will not be re-signing my Legends contract with them. I can't represent the company anymore. They're just in bed with Trump, and I've put up with... more than i can take and with the rob reiner shit he's like i just told him no more i mean i like we don't have to get into it but like that rob reiner tweet was like i was like this is

i'm like is it possible for this to be a new low like i'm like i mean it's just so crazy dude i mean it was like i was like this isn't just whatever i'm not gonna get well no i mean it's it it all fits together it's like wins and losses don't matter nothing matters there's no checks and balances you can't you can do whatever you want and there's no repercussions like it just and so cena so i say all that to say cena should have just fucking uh

five knuckle shuffled him into the fucking ground and and everyone would have fucking been happy except the you know the the handful of neckbeards who were like you got to put somebody over on the world or else you know like so i don't know man uh

I don't know. I don't know what the right thing to do is. All I know is what actually happened. And if nothing else, at least we once again got to see... triple h in a fucking post show interview just getting like fucking jeered by the crowd behind him so wonderful that is so that was really the win that was the big win yes channing you fucked up at

the booker is an incredible moment oh yeah yeah they were chanting we want vince adam and their aw chant yeah it's fucking awesome i love it it's great it's great it's absolutely hilarious that's that's that's that's that's entertainment that's professional wrestling i you love to see it and also i mean you're gonna leave i mean i understand leaving your boots in the ring but not those like fucking

isotoner sketcher fucking it was all casual shoes he wrestles it and then i i never really appreciated that he's wearing his own gimmick socks until he took off his fucking yes tennis shoes yes it's a beautiful thing but uh i mean what's hilarious too is um the taking your boots off and leave them in the ring i I don't recall that being a trend until, like the farthest back I can walk that, and correct me if I'm wrong, if you can think of another instance.

would be when The Undertaker, I feel like when he lost to Roman Reigns and didn't retire. So it was this very uncomfortable, like, but wait, was that a... Was that a symbolic gesture of leaving your boots in the ring that you just retired? Well, it is funny that the non-retirement wrestling is...

it's known at a level where my brother was at least going like, well, this isn't going to be the last time he's wrestling. I mean, we can watch it. He's like, but this isn't going to be it. I'm like, I think it might be this time. He's like, eh.

which is to that because i mean i really loved the presentation of the show the whole night because you don't get these big retirement shows at least in the u.s where it's taken very serious and it's like a celebration of the person like no this is the last one yeah um you know i mean it's different in japan at least in the past it's different in

you know i mean i guess in mexico i i didn't i didn't haven't seen i've seen clips of the match but like elijo del santo had his final match also on the same night as as seen right yeah and i think that's the other thing about the the tanahashi one coming up is like one he's been wrestling like just full time this entire time and he's put over plenty of younger guys to what to what effect

who's to say but and so that's that one like i don't think there's anybody going into that that's like well tanahashi has to lose okada you know well it's also interesting that it's like instead of instead of going into the tokyo dome with the idea of this is the old big guy putting over a new young guy which is what obviously what they were attempting with cena and gunther

they're going into it with this is this is the perfect final match right this is like a storyline these characters it should be these two having like you know in a perfect world maybe it should have been i don't know just throwing something out there like randy orton and john cena like it's like this is like this is the story right like if we could have booked the perfect roddy piper

hulk hogan this is their final match type of thing who knows but and also tanahashi i guess so he's gonna wrestle prior to the tokyo dome the three matches he's got left are gonna be uh i believe hiromu desperado and who was the last fucking guy um who was the last fucking guy who was the last guy Where was Randy, by the way, on Saturday? Hey, man, you know how it goes. I'm on vacation. Oh, man. You know, Paul, I'd love to be there. John, I'd love to be there. I just got 14 kids now.

you know i don't know if i'm coming or going dude oh man i gotta clean this pool uh you know i just i got an advanced playstation 6 that nobody knows about i gotta you know Wish I could be there, dude. Where the fuck? Be real sweet. Oh, man, I can't listen. These plane tickets are non-refundable.

I'm taking a family. So let me get this straight. Cena can smirk when he taps out, but I can't use my pun kick. That's such a great image now. It's a great image. All right. I don't know who the fucking is.

have you seen the you've seen the meme of people texting it like hey did you did you figure out the the vcr clock and it's just the what does that mean it means i give up uh i love to uh that chalk line that did i send you the jacket no it's not i don't think it's real but they posted like uh like the the picture of a like a jacket as if they were gonna like have have this uh jacket available

and it's a chalk outline of oh my god you know chalk line is like the brand oh i see the jackets with those like you know the prints on the back i would wear that everywhere look at that that's incredible what did what did you think of the smirk um i didn't catch it in real time oh no no i didn't catch it in real time but i caught it in real time yeah um but yeah i don't know and again it's like i guess him passing out satisfies the like never giving up piece but i don't know i mean

i took it i didn't i mean i when i saw it obviously i was literally about to walk out on stage but i was still thinking about it i was like oh this is i was like this is gonna bother people that was my second thought my first thought was you know

I don't think it no-sells the match. I don't think it no-sells Gunther. I think it really was... this is this is gonna this is gonna be a long walk but if you you remember the movie the perfect storm yeah the book is excellent the the movie's fine but the book is tremendous

And the book, they actually, based on people who have survived drowning, the author really goes into the detail describing what it is like to drown. And they say that once you... accept it and your body just lets the water in that it's very peaceful and that's that was what the moment was to me where he was like he knew he was beat yeah

and it was that moment of acceptance of like i don't i don't have it anymore fuck but to me also it's like if you're you know if you're being um knocked unconscious unconscious effectively yeah like you know people snore like you you're you're going goofy like so to me you know it's just like i think that's also a great point he just doesn't even know what the fuck he's doing you know but it's like but you can't have your ultimate baby face who's going out

go out angry like he can't be he can't be pissed off and like be a sore loser he can't he couldn't be that is a worse image yeah him being shitty about it right is is far worse yeah so i mean i don't know it's it's a fucking funny image though dude i mean yeah it really it really turned out great that that that picture is available yeah

maybe not for gunter i mean he looks like um he looks like the monster in basket case or something he's just like all just just face with just flesh everywhere or like a but also who so here's my other question who who what what fucking baby face do they have for for gunther right now to to really um reap the benefit

I don't know. I mean, Punk's an old man. And Punk has got Braun Breaker ahead of him. He's got no time for Gunther right now. Punk also, I never really clicked in until I was watching the scene of retirement. and they were doing the interviews like the sit down interviews with people i'm like oh my god punk has those sad wet muppet eyes that hulk hogan had you know what i was thinking though i was like looking at that and i was like he looks terrible but i was like i wonder if this is like

they're like we know larry died but we got to get this shit we got to get this shit for oh that's like i was thinking like maybe he had just been like legitimately crying for a while because of his dog that was my thought because i was like damn that's horrible but I feel like he kind of looks like that all the time. He's got bigs. He just looked really irritated, like you're saying. I don't know. So it's not punk, I don't think. uh cody is busy with his uh home invasion angle um

Jay Uso's back in the tag ranks. Where's the baby face? Where are the big babies? LA Knight has been fucking removed. He's on an injury angle right now. He got his sternum broken. Who did? LA Knight. He's out on a... It's a working injury angle from the attack that he suffered from who we now know is, in fact, Austin Theory with a shaved head. Wow.

earth shattering uh you know i i just don't see who they have who's the who's the knight in shining armor that gunther will now now have to to make this fucking work

I mean, you got to turn Braun Breaker babyface at some point. I don't know if it's sooner rather than later. I guess it's Otis. Otis is the only... Otis is the only one who stepped up last night. Yeah. And said something inaudible to him when he walked by him. I think it was on his Instagram, Otis.

had a shirt where it was like uh jesus putting uh satan in a in a headlock and like a chokehold and it said like something like you know jesus has your back or something like that okay um yeah i don't know montez ford who's who they sending who's the big baby what happened with montez do they nothing yeah well that's that's for sure

oh yeah tell me that's not the face of the company right there there we go well they just give him give him a crack man what's the crack let me check his stories why is he not cooking meat like he used to posting fucking ai slop pictures all right well he's he's posting pictures of his dog what him and maxine did a fucking snickers commercial did you did you see all of raw or no

no did you see part of raw i saw gunther call cena a bitch because i just for some reason in my head i just started thinking like yeah was chad gable was was he on raw or did i have a dream that he was like that i love like i know he isn't back but it was more like he was sitting on a couch talking with like Maybe who's the chick that was on Raw last night that used to be affiliated with him? Maxine? Oh, the other one. The other one, yeah. Anyway, maybe I was just tripping out.

I mean, I did like the... Well, let's... I mean, the finish to the Cody match was so... I mean, that was like... It almost turns Cody heel. Like the fact that like Drew comes in for no reason. I'm like, there is no earthly reason, right? There is no possible motivation.

for Drew, is it Gallup? What do they call him? McIntyre. McIntyre, yeah. For Drew McIntyre to come in and just stop that match while Cody's losing. Right, right. If it isn't... cody is paying off drew mcintyre okay right the next factor is then once once they clear out drew the entire audience starts chanting

restart the match yeah because cody's on his feet like and and then he's just like he grabs all of his arm and just he's like it's over like if you want to do your fucking long-term storytelling This was a setup all along by Cody because he knew he was getting beat by a bigger, faster, stronger, younger champion. Yeah, it was horrible. Horrible. That's a bad finish in 1995, dude.

it made me go oh i hope i hope they're all fucked finishes tonight i just started just like fuck this you know i was like i was like let them all be fucking stupid run-ins and shit i'm just like this is ridiculous uh that was terrible i mean that is the most bottom of the barrel we have no ideas finish no i mean it's like it's not even that it's like it's not even considering how does how does it make Cody look because again you're just going like

Why doesn't he just say, oh, sorry about that. Let's fucking continue, please. I genuinely thought I was like, no, there's no way. I'm like, they're fucking with us. They're fucking the champion of truth, justice, and fucking whatever. I'm like, they are fucking with us, and they're going to restart this thing.

that's what and i couldn't but when he grabbed his wrist it was like hey cheer this kid he gave me a hell of a fucking it's like the match ain't over homeboy yeah that was that was terrible that was really weak i was glad what's her name beat who did she was it bailey bailey i was yeah well yeah because fucking bailey bailey does business bailey bailey is fucking a bastion of hope and truth in that company

Bailey knows what's right for business. It was funny when I was watching that match. What's her name? Costa Rica? Oh, Sal Rucka. Yeah. She... I was like, this woman is doing so much acrobatics. I'm like, this is what WWE bots on Twitter say that AEW is. It's just flipping around. No selling, no psychology. i also love there was like uh you know melter or whatever it's like uh you know i'm hearing like people in wwe very high on all the nxt talent that was on sanders but it's like

It would be like the manager of the Tigers being like, yeah, we got really happy about these mud hens. As if they're surprised or they're just seeing them for the first time on Saturday. Wow. It's like, what does that mean? It's so funny. My sources, which is Shawn Michaels, very high on the NXT talent. My God. Yeah, the tag match was a riot.

again i was like holy fucking shit it's just you know i'm like i'm like i'm like that match in particular i was like this is this isn't even just like lucha inspired i'm like they are just doing a fucking lucha libre match

but i loved the show i loved the presentation i really because we you don't get a a lot of stephanie in that environment oh my god that was great for you did you watch any of the stephanie aj lee nope i can't watch any of that stuff i have i struggle with stephanie i can't i can't

i can't hear uh if it's a video the audio will not be turned on if if it's you know i can't do it it's um the subtle and not so subtle digs that aj insists on taking at lita is uh pretty remarkable right that makes sense yeah yeah it's it's like homegirl we get it you you won You got the prize. You got the boy. You won. Damn. Yeah. I was like, this is... It was like bordering on... I was like, oh, this is kind of sad. She's still fucking...

Lita's living rent-free in your head. Yeah, but I'm talking about Stephanie on Saturday on the big show, Matty. Stephanie Vaquer. McMahon out there with Joe Tessitore chopping it up. What a dynamic charismatic personality. Here I was going, geez, I sure miss Jesse Ventura. With that classic insight. Oh, he's won it 17 times. It also means he's lost at 17 times. He's been saying that for 30 years. We needed him sitting next to Michael Cole when that fucking Cody finish happened. No kidding.

He would have said exactly what I said. He's like, Cody was losing. Cody was losing. He paid off Drew McIntyre. It's the only thing that makes sense. Tell me I'm wrong, Michael Cole. Something's not right. What don't they want us to know? Obafemi was dominating. Why don't restart the match? Why wouldn't they restart it? Big time. It's so funny.

Like I wound up watching dynamite after Saturday night's main event. And it's, um, there's something, I think it really is. What am I trying to say? Something dawned on me as I'm watching it. Like, obviously, maybe not the best comparison because that Saturday night's main event was a special event. Yeah. But it struck me as... Here's the difference. When Triple H says, we're not here to do great matches, we're here to tell stories. When you are there for the great matches, the people sit...

and watch the match and get engaged with the match, you know? Whereas with WWE, and I'm not saying, like, there are clearly AEW fans. And WWE only fans, you know, not WWE's only fans. Yeah. That's how Mandy Rose got fired. And then there's, you know, obviously people like us who.

And I would assume the majority of the people who listen to the show watch everything or at least are interested in, you know, even if you just watch one thing, you're interested in hearing about, you know, a little bit of everything. Or, I mean, obviously we don't watch everything. We watch as much as we can. You're not closed off. We're not closed off. Yeah, we're not closed off. The people in the crowd at WWE

It's so much more performative. It's so much more... It's not like we haven't run into shitheads in the crowd at AEW. or at indie shows but i feel like the or the grocery store or the grocery store let's face it or you know god forbid i didn't see that you know you're not taking debit cards and it's cash only right now i'm so sorry i fucked up your life

But I feel like I've noticed more of that. I don't know. I'm going to be more aware of looking for it now. But I find there is much more of the people who know that they're on camera hamming it up at WWE. Because it's not about watching the match. It's about you watching me watch the match. Or just being at an event. Or just being at an event. You see much more of the...

I think disingenuous, the performative reactions in the crowd of WWE. As opposed to like, I'm watching the Continental Classic. I'm like, how can you not be locked in? Because it's like the, you know, if I compare, what's his name? I keep wanting to say Austin Butler. No, no, no. On AEW, it was Austin Gunn. Guns up. I can't think of anybody's name. I've only had one cup of coffee. Here's what I wanted to say, okay?

I'm going to say the names I wanted to say. Okay. During that match between Austin Butler and Karate Charlie. And I'm like, this is not correct. It's Speedball Mike Bailey. Yeah. And then who's the head guy? Kyle Fletcher. Kyle Fletcher, yes. The future of business. Austin Butler versus Karate Charlie.

karate charlie no speedball mike bailey star boy mike bailey i i when i was running through i got to star i'm like wait no star boy charlie karate charlie speedball fuck Watching that match, that's like, I mean, you could compare that match, I feel like, with the tag from Saturday. with the lucha match between the TNA guys and AJ but it's like there was more at stake because of

I don't know, the tournament, the shortness of the match. I don't know. It was just... When the company has set you up to be... we're here to watch the match as opposed to we're here to we're having a party it's a rock and roll show you know it's an event it's it's a you know yeah

Does what I'm saying make sense? It does. I don't know. Yeah, I agree with you. I don't know if... I'm trying to think about... when i have been at um the last day because i'm just going like it's part of that also like wwe leaves like the hard cam up so you can also like you're you're doing it because you can also see yourself

A little bit as well. I think so. I mean, look, it's not like you couldn't find a hundred clips of people being dipshits in an AEW crowd. I think that there is something to...

presenting the show as the matches are important yeah uh lead to a different way that the audience consumes it right because yeah yeah no for sure i mean it's um The other thing I wonder about is, like, as I had said, when I went to the garden and I was like, oh, like, Dominic is actually getting this response. Because last night, looking at Gunther, I was like, the sound just doesn't, it doesn't.

doesn't seem real to me like the sound that's being piped through the speakers at my house i'm like i'm trying to look at the crowd i'm like is he really being booed this bad or yeah i mean sure he's getting booed this bad well they're so guilty of like piping in just that din just that like it sounds like the video game where I'm like there's just this constant drone of fucking

It never gets quiet on a WWE TV show. It can't. That's the other thing that I feel like was so helpful in the discourse surrounding the the retirement match was just like because there's already people who are going to hate it or love it unconditionally yeah because of of this and and the other thing i thought about was like the same way i was saying you know like how um spotify was like giving people their like listening age

so ridiculous and like but but the thing was like no one i didn't hear from anybody even people i didn't know online so it's not like i'm just talking about people my age whatever that like there i didn't see an age younger than like 66 So at that point I'm going like someone at Spotify was like, here's what we do.

we hand out these listening ages but we make them kind of crazy and so then people are going to be like look at this you know then then everyone's going to go like i want to know what my listening age is am i am i fucking 78 or whatever and so i'm going like it's not out of the realm of possibility that wwe's like look it

this may not be what these people fucking want but if if we want people to fucking talk about it if if cena fucking goes out in a fucking blaze of confetti glory by tuesday it's over if we do something fucked up then it's going to be way like that's what that's what drives everything if it's if it's if it makes people mad bro you got it or if it's something like outlandish

yeah you know so it's like that's the other thing to consider at this point like especially at that company where they're booking for fucking that kind of shit they're not possibly i don't know that triple h is that is bright enough to think that way but it is yeah

But the outcome to me was like way more talk than had he just fucking won the match and moved on, you know? Yeah. I did love seeing Ed Kosky in Gorilla.

and out on the fucking out and and ryan ward was out there too yeah i don't know if you saw him right up front i saw him and of course i saw fucking uh brother love with his headset on because he's of course always working still working yes still gonna run the show baby yeah still making uh abyss feel horrible about himself and uh did it wrong so i guess elias and uh cena are buddies dude when he fucking popped out i was like oh all right

Like this fucking guy? He strikes me as somebody that I can't recall specifically, but it's like... It wouldn't surprise me if there was like, no, no, no, this guy lies. He asks questions. You know, he wants this thing. It's like, I love Haku was there. That was... I don't know what was more. I was shocked to see Elias, but Haku, I was like, what does he and John Cena have at all to talk about?

well to me i'm just like well he's there because his kids work there and he was just sure i'm gonna come in the fucking say what's up to the dude you know yeah uh but who was the guy there was like a guy right behind haku who clearly was like trying to get up there and cena like like just never because i was like who's that guy but he seemed to be with kind of haku and seemed like he thought he was gonna also get a and then cena was just like all right back this way you know

i don't know i'd have to i also thought it was wild they let fucking sammy zane just sit in the fucking front front row right on the aisle for the whole show with his kid and i also i loved that everyone else was on their feet for cena except sammy zane he's like no i don't need to stand up yes because sam sammy sammy has a good heart he's like i'm in the front why would i stand up

Owens, this is the first time I think we've seen Owens since he got hurt. Yeah. Yeah, hopefully it's a good sign. I think I had read or seen that he was back in the ring a little bit. Like getting, starting to work out a little bit maybe, but. Probably out in Rancho Cucamonga, running around in somebody's backyard. No, he's a Florida guy now. He's a Florida guy. You know, sometimes you need to, you know, get some. some dry California air right down there with the good brothers. Oh my God. Um,

Now, obviously, you were able to pull yourself together and watch Saturday night's main event after Eddie Kingston was unable to win the big one on Wednesday. Well, I mean... Who amongst us thought that he was going to win? Uh, but it just, um, you know, hell of a match. And also, uh, the, the clip that.

made the rounds after with danielson i felt like yeah was also because you know danielson he's right in the mix there so if he says this guy's gonna have the belt eventually then it's like you know i mean not that I mean, I think he has to get a run, but, um, and he didn't put on any outlandish outfit like he did that first time i'm just so blown away by that fucking crazy green and white outfit he wore the first time he got a title shot just like out of nowhere eddie's the greatest

Yeah, I mean, that's the other thing. I so much prefer the... It's just a tighter show. dynamite I mean like you can't compare it to Saturday night's main event because obviously that was like a special event but it wasn't It didn't feel like a, it wasn't an unusual presentation for WWE. Like you watch Raw and it's just like, and it's not even the length. It's not even the three hours. It's the constant like.

motion and and yeah going to this and talking to this person and the phony hype what struck me was like on dynamite they at least on this particular one when i was aware of it They almost never go to the announce desk with the camera. They just let it, like, they're there to talk over the images of the show. Right. You know? Even when Jungle Boy was throwing his shit at Don Callis, they didn't immediately cut to that footage. They did very quickly, but it was like...

They're constantly showing us Cole or Wade Barrett. I just love that the announcers are there to announce that the consistency of a Rene Paquette. Just being like, I'm here to interview somebody. Or we just go backstage. Samoa Joe has promo time, and it's just the promo. Jon Moxley has promo time, and it's just the promo. It's not... um it's not as frantic it's not as that is exactly the word i was looking for thank you vincent frantic yeah and i mean also please

I fucking couldn't be happier that Raw is not three hours anymore. It's usually like a little over two, thankfully. But I did see that SmackDown is going back to three. But SmackDown is a show that I like. It's...

Unless there's something very specific, that's a show I struggle to get to at this point. It feels like an afterthought. By the time that happens, I will be like, sometimes if it's that night... and like georgia goes to bed or something i might be like all right let me let me get in here like it but it's not it's the one and this is it's at different times different shows from fucking aww whatever one of them usually ends up

being uh at the bottom of the list and so right now it just it just seems to be smackdown but um just one of those things like when i when i turned on winner is coming and they ran down the card you know I was like, holy shit, I am interested, not just interested, I'm like, they've made me invested in each of these things happening, you know? Right.

And that's why it's always crazy when it's like, it's all cold matches. AAW, you just tune it. It's like, nah. No. Not at all. They did such a great job building up that women's tag tournament. And then the sit-down interviews with the women. They've done a remarkable job, I think. Immediately when Mariah May left, Mina Shirakawa slipped into that spot of...

This is Tony Storm's best friend. Yeah. But they've done a great job building up the, what do they call it? The Babes of Wrath as a unit, as like a very entertaining duo with a very believable...

relationship that I'm like, oh, these two do... They come off as genuinely funny, genuinely likable, and I'm like, they are... best friends as far as i can tell watching the show you know yeah and i thought they did a fucking great job on that match it's just such a just such a riot man you know i don't know man it was just uh no yeah it's just

yeah any argument around like the aw doesn't have stories or that like all the matches are cold is like that's that's that's a bischoff talking point or something yeah yeah

And then I am so down for the Continental Classic. It's just, I'm like, fuck, this is great. And then they do such a great job of like... You know, on the lower third, here's who has what points. When they go to the bracket, I'm like, I'm not lost. I'm like, yeah, so-and-so, he's in the lead.

but it took him two matches to get there. He's in the lead. They're tied. It took him three matches. It's just a whole... It's fucking great. I don't have a great track record, but I did fire a question into Cornette asking... about if he's if he has noticed that Ric Flair capitalizes every word in his in his in his posts on the internet and

If he has any thoughts on how someone might do that or why they would do something. I threw the question in. What's up with Flair and his capitalization? We'll see if Cornette bites. That's tremendous. It is. I'm like... unless there's an automated setting that the entire world is unaware of you have to go in and do that manually because that's like you know that's a question that I felt like is for cornett because cornett's going like or at least his his buddy is like all right

If we put this into a clip on YouTube, people are going to be like, what? You know what I mean? It's not like Meltzer's going to be like, I don't care. Cornette's going to be like, clicks. This could be clicks. If I fucking blow a snot bubble...

about rick flair capitalizing all the words it's gonna right dave i'm gonna make some money you know dave could not compute that question well but it also is it just isn't gonna make dave another fucking red cent either you know what i mean whereas like cornette's going like

This might be some YouTube views. Probably. Yeah, I mean, Brian Last is probably thinking that way. Yeah, not Cornette necessarily, but Last when he's like, let's see what we can get from this. He's like, oh yeah, we could cut this up. Because Cornette isn't... sitting there thinking like oh we should go run on this list of hulk hogan lies honestly that's the it's the only way i'll know whether he answered or not is i i i i only um

absorb that show on youtube so whatever gets put in the clips sure i go in and look at like oh do i want to hear him talk about ron garvin yeah

or whatever it is you know what i mean or or jim cornett talks about his fucking anniversary date yes please like i you know that's how so he could answer 50 more questions that i never even know got answered because i don't listen to the show can we get that question does does kevin nash take questions yes i feel like kevin might be willing to field that that question interested in that question too yeah again only if uh sean uh whatever is oliver whatever decides to put it on the youtube but

um because again i don't i don't listen to anything to know i just like when i go into my youtube i'm like anybody talk about anything that i'm interested in today you know that's why i'm like i'm so grateful like because um alvarez will put in the time stamps yeah of like here's when we're done because i'm like i'm like every single person that has been involved in wrestling

And Meltzer will give a brief obituary at the top of the show. But like, there are some people I'm just like, I don't know who this is. I don't know what this is. I'm like, I just, I gotta, just tell me what you thought about.

you know this this or this right or at least like can we just get like anytime there's a UFC just like who gives a fuck I love Mick Foley walking away from fucking wwe that's fucking fantastic what was he going to do when they they try to induct the hell in a cell into the hall of fame as a uh as a match who knows i mean He's got his stand-up shows. He's doing the conventions and that. He's all right. Mick's not going to be... No, he can show up on Wednesday, cut a promo. It'd be wonderful.

Oh, a full wholesale change. Bring him over. I wonder if Dewey still works in creative. I'm going to guess no. Yeah, if his old man's getting him heat. It's always the comment. It's always the comment on Facebook. I'm always curious how many bots or just dipshits leave the comment. Anytime it's some sort of political thing. involving McFoley criticizing Trump or criticizing TKO. How many dumbasses comment? He took one too many chair shots. Damn.

I would love to have brunch with Ron Simmons again. Oh, it's a shame they don't offer that. What's more shame is, and you know, I recognize it's all about the, but like.

you'll recall last year wrestle con like to get like the you know anything more than like a general admission ticket like was they had just jacked the price up to a crazy amount right And then this year again, it was like, it was like a hundred bucks for the entire weekend or it was 500 bucks and you got to like skip every line there, but there wasn't that like.

other stuff like like the brunch or you could like different things and one it's not worth 400 more dollars to be able to skip the lines because a lot of times we're not in in lines for people who are super you know but also in our experience you know that like that skip the line thing is going to be like aren't we supposed to be able to is there somebody here to you know and you're just like you're not gonna so so you're basically paying 400 bucks to get

mad so yeah i just feel like um yeah god bless everyone at wrestlecon i love it but uh well the problem is it's not to have brunch with russ who knows what the feedback was yeah not everybody got to have brunch with ron simmons right some people had to sit with fucking i don't even remember who else was there i don't remember even who you know we lucked out

that was tremendous just like yo dude i'm i'm here to have brunch with you what would you like to know what do you want to ask me anything just so so effusive you know and All the more wonderful when we were walking the floor for the autograph room later that day or later that weekend. Yeah. He would kind of be like, Runch Buddies.

i know these two yeah yeah god damn i think we also i mean we lucked out every which way because i don't recall anybody any of the other fans at the table being dipshits you know well we also went to the jimmy heart brunch that was the worst hosted by glacier glacier who's having to be walking by and they pull a uh is there a doctor in the house

We need somebody. We need anybody to go right now. Yeah, because Jimmy Hart ran out of Aquanet or whatever. He's waiting on a bottle of hairspray. He can't be here. He couldn't find a shoe polish that morning to put in his fucking, his hair and his beard. Grecian formula. Walks in the room. He's like, I just got off the phone with Hulk.

most memorable story of Vince McMahon oh man he was the greatest right no Jimmy just give us a story do you have a favorite Vince McMahon story you know I just remember him being like I'm gonna you know I'm gonna I'm gonna take this thing to the next level Oh, you are so scared. Thanks, Jim. We're going to take our powdered eggs to go. Yeah. I'm going to take this constipation on a plate to go. We'll appreciate it.

Uh, won't be long now, Maddie. We'll be back in Las Vegas for the big, uh, wrestle con. Yeah. Oh, I can't wait. I really, really collective joining forces. We've got professional wrestling coming up. Oh, yeah. Big Defy show. The House of Glory show in January. West Coast just announced a new show. In L.A.?

Yeah, but they keep running the place they ran last time, the hot dog place in Compton or whatever. Hot dog place in Compton? Yeah, they... we didn't even last time i can't remember if people were fucking on the road or we just didn't or whatever but like they did a show here once before them and they did like a joint show with somebody else let's see okay and this is this is not the room with the balcony this is a room we've never been in before okay um place in compton it's uh

you know excuse me commerce it's called the compound at like the compound at some kind of hot dog what is it called the compound let's see I stand corrected on the location. Obviously commerce is not where I thought it was. Uh, the compound by dirt dog, dirt dog. And there seems to be like a large outdoor area to it. Wow. Do you, is this, hold on, where did it go? Do you recognize this as a hot dog? Holy shit. What is that? Fuck. Oh, not. What about that one?

i guess that's close to that first when you show me look like a taco salad so the dirt dog so at least at least they we know they have uh hot dogs somewhere in there You know, you dig enough, you're going to want a fork. You'll find some sort of tubular meat. On Google Maps, know before you go, try the deep fried Oreos with horchata whipped cream. They're a popular choice.

I had deep fried Oreos in, where the fuck was I? Milwaukee. I guess Brookfield. So the West Coast Pro is going to be there on February 27th. And so far announced, we've got Johnny Robbie versus Lane Luck. Now, Johnny Robbie also going to be competing right here at the Lodge Room on the 28th for the big Defy show as well.

And we've just got a lot of wrestling coming up, Matty, and it's a big time. I'm in town on the 27th. Well, we'll see you in commerce, my man. We will. Defy has not canceled the show yet, right? No. They've even sold a few more tickets. I love that you have the... You're keeping your finger on the pulse of how many tickets are going. Goddamn. Son of a bee sting. Son of a bee sting, indeed. Well, I didn't get to any Raw Vault homework. Oh, no. Just so you're aware. Okay, pal?

Hey, we'll get there, man. We'll get there. This is a marathon, not a sprint. No, no. We are absorbing as much wrestling as we possibly can. Hell yeah. Fully loving it. Did I watch Collision? I don't think I got to Collision yet. I assume another Continental Classic. That was the one that had Briscoe and Garcia, I believe. Okay. Let's see. Nice and slow. It's just a better product, man. It's just a better product right now.

That's not always the way. You can go to the back issues. There was a time when AEW, I'm like, I don't know what's going on. And WWE was fucking firing on all cylinders. That's why it's such a great time to be a professional wrestling fan, dude. Oh, man. If you seek a great wrestling TV show, look about you. Look about you. That would have been on 12. 13. Okay. Hey, Rob. Rob, pull up the results of Collision.

on saturday oh swerve and alexander yes yes yes yes yes oh and her hater versus the sisters of sin yes yes yes yes claudio uh versus takashta that one was uh pretty hype Speedball and Kevin Knight. Oh, shut up. Yep, and the tourney. Oh, okay. Yeah, that collision was dope. All right, I got him.

I gotta get the, I gotta get my, uh, my wrestling ladle and take a dip, take a dip into college. Um, yes okay and i and uh unfortunately i put the q a up late so we don't really have enough to even do it right now we're gonna have to we'll do it on thursday yeah we'll do it we'll do a big double shot well then who's your favorite wrestler oh well i guess i have to say cena

just because it's the last time is now there's no there's not there won't be another opportunity to say it and i don't i don't necessarily feel that way from the past year yeah but i'm just gonna out of uh you know uh respect and and history and everything else i'm i'm just gonna have it be john cena yeah same john cena my favorite wrestler this week i mean i the i love i'm a sucker i'm a mark for a series finale

yeah and that's uh you don't get shows like that in wrestling in the united states very often yeah um and i love that he was the focus of the whole show because even like the tokyo dome i don't know

that the whole show is going to be, you know, focused around Tanahashi. Right. Um, but they will do more of a ceremony afterwards. Um, But I mean, it is wild that it's just like they set themselves up, especially WWE, they set themselves up in like that they can't, that they always make it a... they want to make it a surprise or they want to make it a your career is on the line right match instead of being like no this is his final match and you know whether dennis stamp is booked or not

It's going to be an event. It has to be. It's my last match. My last match. The tickets aren't refundable, Terry. I was going to pay you 50 bucks. my man when he walks back in were you serious before referee brett i gotta get to work on that i gotta i gotta try to get a hold of fucking barry blostein and get the ball rolling on this thing on what us doing a live reading yeah well no on us showing the movie and then interviewing barry blostein after that's what i want to do

I would, I am. No, I just got it. I got it. I'm, I'm, I had, I had started to look into how to get ahold of them. So I just got to figure it out. And then I would hope that vidiots would be on board. I guarantee vidiots would be on board, dude. You got your name on the wall. As a founding member, come on. Help a brother out. Come on. We'd sell it out. No problem. Wrestling's so hot right now. So hot right now.

And Lord knows Mick Foley's free. There you go. See? Why wouldn't Mick come by? You have to find out what the payday looks like for that. But anyway. Where can the kids find you online? At Vince Averill on Twitter, Vince Averill on Instagram. And there's your old pal Matt McCarthy saying, follow me on all forms of social media, at McCarthy Redhead.

And TikTok is the place to be. I'm watching different videotapes. And join the Video Movie Club. Get yourself a membership card and access to full, unedited videotapes. This fucking thing. When you want to do the thumbs up, it won't. Whatever. That's so lame. So we'll be back for the Patreon patrons on Thursday. Patreon. We'll see you soon. We'll see you soon, you goon.