WeWatchWrestling Issue #651

Do you watch wrestling?

Salutations! Well, hello there! Welcome friends and foes, heels and baby faces, to the place that's in your face. It's the only podcast you need if you wanna hang out with two dudes. We just love pro wrestling. Welcome. Friends and foes to the We Watch Wrestling Podcast. I'm your wonderful darling, redheaded, bearded host, Matt Based Wrestling McCarthy. Based wrestling is my favorite kind of wrestling. I love where that wrestling is based.

With me always the professional wrestling encyclopedia. What kind of shoes are you wearing today, Viddy? House slides, right? House slides. House slides. House slides. Vince Avril, ladies and gentlemen. Hi. What up we went and got Jack some shoes. Yeah. We got two. We got you know, you got the the hundred dollar pair and then you got the other pair when you're like, All right. It's raining. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. DU reverse. Ah, this is

The place that's in your face. Go to Patreon for bonus audio, bonus video, QA, all that good stuff, Discord, place to hang out. Yeah. Wednesday busy on April eighth. What are you doing April eighth? It's a Wednesday, Matty. Ooh, Wednesday. That's when we watch Day of the Week. Best day of the week. Uh beyond the mat, the legendary professional wrestling documentary will be shown at Braindead Studios in Los Angeles along with the director.

Barry Blasting. So get your tickets. Link in the bio, link in the description, link everywhere. Link in Or like the definitive wrestling documentary, is it not? Uh I don't know that Any I don't know that there's a better one because wrestling with shadows is sort of a a specific story. This is more of a just a pro wrestling. It's about wrestling. Yeah. I find yeah. I mean the other

I can't think of any off the top of my head. G um what's the one called? Drawn Heat or whatever, the Memphis one is decent. Oh yeah, Memphis Heat. But I'm trying to think of like if there are other documentaries that are just generally about wrestling.

Well, I also don't I can't think of another one that had a um a theatrical release? Right. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah. Yeah, it really it's'cause even WWE wasn't doing Obviously I it never I don't uh if I ever put it together, I don't know if I did or if I did I forgot. But it's like obviously after Beyond the Mat came out, Vince is sitting in the office just going, Well, we're gonna make our own documentaries, but better

And then they did. I mean, th they weren't better, but it's like when you have access to the wrestlers and the footage, it obviously makes for a better wrestling documentary. And also yeah,'cause he's also going, No one's ever gonna get that kind of access again. Right. Between the one two punch of wrestling with shadows and then Beyond the Mat, like within a couple of years of each other, like

I don't know what he was thinking. Yeah. Uh but right in beyond the mat he says we make movies, so we make movies. My first question of Mary Blossine. Any do you any recollection of what Vince was eating when he said that? Why was he was he just swooshing water around in his mouth? Was he did he just eat a a scoop of protein powder? Any purple gimmick line around the game. Was he having a filet mignon during your energy? Yeah, was he eating filet mignon and ketchup?

And he has to have the vegetables on the plate. He doesn't eat them, but God ugh they gotta be on the plate, pal. There you go. Now let me ask you, Maddie, and uh what is it? In a world

And the only world I speak of is pro wrestling, of course. Yeah. Um, where nothing matters, where like there's never been a time in all of wrestling, I'm not even just saying WWE, in all of wrestling where it's like You know, there just there just aren't many uh rules at all. Um But I can't recall a situation where a referee has set about getting a new turnbuckle pad and started to string it. while a match was going on

Like like for all the like the we're you know, we're TKO, like this is uh like there's no on no one else at ringside who can start to work on the turnbuckle pad so they can keep their eye on the mat. There's no other ring crew at all. It's just those those kind of things where you're just going like

This this was the idea? I honestly you know what I felt like watching less r less watching Raw, because Raw's just kinda raw and you know, I I've thoughts but There was something about Elimination Chamber. Which I feel like I enjoyed, but I feel like my I think obviously anybody who watches WWE consistently, your expectations

uh have to be measured, you know? You suspend your disbelief when you're watching any pro wrestling and then you uh and then you get a full frontal lobotomy. You suspend that. What do you watch? WWE. Uh the phrase I feel like they've lost their way kept kept coming through my head. You know, there was just something about it it overall, you know, overall I was like I was like, man, I just feel like they are More than ev like I'm I'm kind of shocked.

Now that Vince is gone and it's not like everything I'm not one of these fucking dummies on Twitter or in Instagram comments that's like bring back Vince. Far from it. Yeah. But I can't believe how dated the product feels With him gone, it feels almost more so.

Yeah, it's weird because, you know, I feel like there was that that whole time where people were like, Oh man, just give like give give Hunter the fucking book. I know what he's done. And then

There was like an initial like, okay. Yeah. You know, there was that and then so so the question is like Are as there just there's so many masters to serve that he and he doesn't have The ability like like Vince, because there Vince was the only master where whatever it was was his and so he just now is like it's just completely turned into fucking I don't know what it is. Yeah.'Cause there's just this and and yeah, yeah. So so now I guess what it looks like

Yeah. At least to me, just w uh just just watching is so now I feel like they're going to have Cody and um Drew wrestle on. They they you do Randy. Which gives you a little surprise, but it also sets up this match on Friday so that then Jacob can fuck around. They can go to Randy and Cody, which makes sense. And then Fatu and and Drew without the belt can be another match. That's what it feels like now.

Like I don't think there's a three way coming. I mean, I hope it's it's singles matches. It's uh'cause it's also it's like you you've got two nights. Like I don't I it and it and and it's crazy too because like last year I believe it was last year the like the the two best matches were the three ways on either night. But here's my my concern. But I don't want a three-way. I I like it's it's ja somebody killed Jacob Thatu. He needs his revenge.

And Randy earned his title shot. I feel like Randy is Randy and Cody is as cold as can be, but it's also like Let's see where how you build it up, you know? If yeah,'cause if it's if if Friday um Drew retains and then it just ends up being Cody and Drew again with that even with Fatou. I'm just like, no. I think I think what needs to happen now is it needs to go'cause Randy and and um Cody have history and there was some talk of them

while back and then you and then you have that singles with with Drew and Fatu uh I think is the the best way out now. I mean on paper Drew and Fatto has the potential to be the best match on The show. Yeah. Um yeah, but yes, it just it does really um And it's funny it it was it it it and Randy winning. was a major factor in me being like, God, they have lost their fucking way. I'm like, we're going with Randy. And I don't and and and ultimately Cody and Randy

I guess it feels like a WrestleMania match. It doesn't feel like a main event. Randy is obviously is is is in WWE world a main eventer. At this stage in his career, I don't buy him necessarily as the last match on the show. You know? It's maybe maybe that'll be Jade and Rhea. I that is I that's gonna be an interesting one.

Um or to be like the window. And also, you know, peop people know what this show's about. I love after that fucking Comment that's age like fine wine where CM Punk's fine. Go do night two of a buy one get they they're fucking selling ticket packs right now. They are fucking buy three, get a four, whatever. It's just I mean only because He's a fucking hypocrite, but he's the big like the the the two like his Saudi Arabia tweet

And then the mania, buy one, get one too tweet. What a fucking it's so delicious watching him have to fucking Just shovel that shit over there now. Fucking Zilla. He's he's back on his little show where he's sitting in a room with some people where the one where he uh basically said Brett Lauderdale's a fucking pedophile or whatever. He now said, I'm like, I'm gonna fuck up CM Punk when I see him.

Because Romans about Roman's dad. He's like, I'm gonna fucking slap you when I see you. Dude, that line was so fucking weak. It again, it's it's it's the rock going, I'm gonna rip your throat out like where I'm like 'Cause first of all. I was like'cause obviously like Punk goes, Oh, well, you just made the list and I'm like, um We don't say that here. Yeah, I'm like you remember when what was his name? Silent Rage?

That poor dumb bastard who won like tough enough or whatever they were doing. Yes, yes. And then they they bring him out. Silent Rage. Yes. Wasn't that his name, right? Wasn't it Silent Rage? That sounds right. That big goofy bastard. Yeah. And he they announced the winner. This was live on Raw. And then of course the Vince McMahon era. We gotta throw him into the fire immediately.

Not what we do anymore in this business, but we're gonna fucking do it to this poor son of a bitch because how dare he win this contest that we threw. And they make him cut a pro Vince comes out, they make him cut a promo on the spot. The reason I bring it up is because the guy goes, I guarantee Yeah. And Vince whips the microphone away from him. Yeah. Did he just say Gar and Damn T? Oh, he just said Gar Damn T'cause that's somebody else's catchphrase. The guy who's in the ring with him.

Yeah. So CM Punk goes, You just made the list, my ears go up. And then he makes the fucking comment about his dead dad. And I'm like, Well, that's fucking Christian's whole gimmick. Yeah. Well, I I uh I don't know. That that whole s segment um made me wish that they just didn't talk to each other after the last one until until they fight or something. But um I did see someone post like the uh like a little gif of

When Shawn Michaels is dancing on top of that coffin next to the ring, uh, and it just said, uh, Roman at Larry's grave next week. I mean, wait wait, uh it's like Where do you go from there? I mean, like m my th my immediate thought was well now Roman has to make him like Mexican food and then find out that's a good thing. Doesn't even live in Chicago. He's not a Chicago guy anymore. He's a fucking LA guy. He goes to the house where AJ lives and is like, Oh, you guys don't live together? Weird.

Look, Freudian slips or not, Roman started saying, You're gonna go down to NXT and you're gonna cheat you're gonna teach. Oh boy. Well we'll see where this goes. I mean th they're they're really, you know, they gotta put some butts in the seats, so they're gonna have to say some crazy shit.

Yeah. Oh man, speaking of maniac. This fucking This new set of shows that just got announced, it's like, what a monkey wrench, dude. Well there's a whole bunch of shows over at the fucking back at the Palms now. That's where Stardom is. That's where Tokyo Joshi is. CML L is over there. Uh Hog is over there and Maple Leaf. And I'm and I'm already like, well, I'd rather go to Tokyo Joshi than to um

Prestige. I'd rather go to fucking stardom than go to uh blood sport. Like I'm just uh this is how they get us. And a and honestly, like the the couple of things that have been announced for the fucking super show, I'm like I can't remember which show over there is going up against it, but I'm like uh I might be going to C C M L L or whatever, you know, like

But anyway, it'll be great. We'll fucking see what we need to see. There'll be more than we need and uh oh also, yeah, yeah. There's just it's just just these these things and now they change the time. Mania is like at two thirty. The main show starts at three. Two thirty? Well that's you know, two like, you know, the two thirty and then the main show starts at three now. Which is like an hour earlier and I assume

That's because they're putting the first hour on actual ESPN and ESPN two. So I'm guessing they probably ESPN's like, yeah, we'll do it, but it's gonna need to be at fucking You know, six o'clock. We're not putting it on at eight, so fucking get your shit started up or whatever, you know. Buy one, get one free.

Hold on, I'm gonna grab my coffee. Man, get some coffee. Jesus, you're acting crazy. Dude, I've even I haven't even had a drop. Uh-oh. Yeah, man. It's uh and then there's all those other there's the marvelous show, there's the fucking the stuff over at the West Coast thing. Yeah. Sometimes it just makes you go, maybe I'll just sit at the roulette table. Sometimes that's the easier choice. WrestleCon's got untold amount of people. Oh Maddie brought the whole goddamn pot here.

I'm I'm picturing uh Glennis poured some coffee into a cup for you and then you just took the pot and walked away with the pot. Right, that's that's yours. And then I'll take this. This one's mine. Dude, I didn't even rinse out the urn.

Oh. So like I just threw in water and then I poured it in the tank and it just it looked like swamp water. I was like, Oh god damn it. Uh I I hadn't yesterday I I I I can't remember what was going on, but I didn't get any coffee until like One o'clock in the afternoon. So I ended up going to some joint that I didn't even want to and I was like, Let me just get iced coffee.

And then I took like one rip and my mouth was full of grounds and I was like at an establishment? I was like, Jesus, man, what am I? At Jesse Pop's house over here? Jeez. Good lord. I'd expect that in like a church basement, but not in Not a place that's sold. Good God almighty. One of these highfalutin joints too.

Fancy pants. Did you bring it back and you go this is full of grounds? I was I was uh in route to somewhere and I didn't have I almost I almost left without ordering'cause the dude in front of me was like You know, pouring over the fucking menu like it was and then asking a ton of questions. And I fucking grabbed a menu and I must have done it in a way where he's like, Oh, do you know what you want?

And I'm like, uh I go, Oh yeah, let me just get iced coffee. Cause I was just like, Jesus Christ, dude. I like I've been looking at my watch, I'm like, come on. There this is not that there's eggs here, there's oats here, fucking it's one o'clock in the afternoon. Like we don't need an a a a a follow up to a follow up about what this or this is, you know? Fuck. That's true. But I'm the asshole. Oh but it turns out I'm the asshole, huh? God damn it. Um

Yeah, man. So um Maria's gonna have to do that Jade Cargill. She got the fucking she pulled that straw. They have to work Cargill. Um I wouldn't expect that one to be super long. Dude. Um and then I think, you know, the other women's match should be good. Oh, that was the other thing I was like. I was like, Man, when EO Sky isn't in one of these matches.

They fucking drag. Well, I also think, you know, she was the first person that came out of Pierce's office. I'd be happy if if it was her and AJ. Whatever match they were setting up there may may come sooner, but if but if it ends up being AJ and Eo at Mania, that's not bad. Yeah, I thought her and um Becky was was fine, just middle of the road fine. You know what did occur to me, I was like, here's the problem with there not being a magazine anymore is th this is immediately

You put husband and wife with their belts on the fucking cover of the magazine. Yeah. Now you just put it on the front of a director garment shirt, probably. I haven't looked, but

Have you how are the Danhausen shirts? Are they There's only one and it actually I was like, is that actually Cody Rhodes with Danhausen's makeup on? Um that was funny too. Um and obviously like this was more in just a you know I don't know how how you wanna frame it, but um You see that shirt? I'm I'm pulling it up. Um, you know, obviously it wasn't a box, right? But the fact that when the coffin opened you just see the curtains.

part for people to cause like it's like sure, there's not all these people in this coffin box, but like let's can we try to at least keep the the illusion. Maybe turn the light off behind the curtain or something. There's a coffin inside the box and then there was a curtain inside the coffin. And then I didn't understand why the end of that was like just such h so heavy booze. Yeah, Chicago doesn't like Danhausen? It was weird. Um But Yeah, this is this is weird. It does um

I mean, I don't hate this shirt. I'm not gonna buy it, but it's also um It's an odd choice to make the cartoon hymn so Like like it doesn't look like him. Right, yeah. It's weird. It's weird. Like like the like that this this Dan Housen's actually evil on this shirt, you know? Right, right, right, right. He's not very nice though. Yeah. Well he cost Dominic the belt last night, so

Dude, I wasn't sure if I was seeing if my eyes were deceiving me. They're putting demolition in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, boy. So we've we've run out of people Who didn't? joined the class action concussion lawsuit and now we're inducting those guys. A legends deal a legends deal or whatever, yeah. We promise not to sue any more deal. Yeah. Well good, they should be in. I mean over Stephanie? Probably not, but Well Stephanie's your draw. Wow, Bill Eatie, back at the E. Well what you gonna do?

Ain't nothing you can do.

I guess what I'd probably do is I'd throw Brody King in there with our man uh our favorite wrestler from last week. Do that match? Old Mark Davis. Mark Davis is a fucking uh. Yeah, he's on, man. It's fucking on, dude. He's a fucking unit. So is Eddie Eddie's hurt again? Is he? I I'm positive. I'm positive that's what they said. Ah, Christ on a Christmas tree. I know. Well I I'm I'm positive that's what I read.

Unfortunate update, let's see. Yeah. Unfortunate update on Eddie Kingston. The the worst, the worst. Um fortunately hasn't a bit weird out of the status. According to Mike Johnson on Pee Win Sider. Pee Win Sider. In addition, Kingston has pulled himself from the sketch on the pendant this weekend. Kingston has been dealing with sev oh I did see this severe migraine headache.

Yes. Okay. So temporary injury, hopefully. Hopefully yeah. I mean, hopefully that's already done. My God, if he's just had a headache since five days ago or whenever the fuck this was. Um Come on, Eddie. You're gonna have to get the Botox. I know there's people that get the Botox shots like in the temple. That's right. For migraine.

Speaking of which, did did you see Jim Carrey? I haven't seen Jim Carrey no. You know what? I want you to stay living in a world where you didn't see Jim Carrey. Instagram's gonna be like, Oh, this guy needs some Jim Carrey. Mask? What's he want? Does he want fucking

He must he must Well I don't know. It's it's pet effective. If it was anybody else, I'd be like, Oh, they got a bunch of plastic surgery. But the fact that it's Jim Carrey, I'm like, it's gotta be a fucking work. He's doing a bit. Yeah, yeah. 'Cause he was even like talking and I was like when I heard him talking, I'm like, he's even doing like the Andy Kaufman voice. I'm like, something's going on. Hold on, I'm gonna blow my snoz.

Oh, that's good. That's good coffee. So you use that dirty, murky old coffee water, and then you're in the hunt. Goddamn. I've never had a migraine. I know people who have though. It is debilitating. Um hope hope Eddie Hope that he can can get it together and get it going. The next Wait. Wait, what? Well it's just like when you put in uh Eddie Kingston, the next thing it says is uh Eddie Kingston wife, and I was like, what?

He was married at a for a second, wasn't he? I have no idea. Wasn't that the b beginning of the pandemic and he bought a house and stuff? I mean he he i uh isn't is he married now? I thought he's married now, maybe. I don't know. Is he married now? Who the fuck is he married to? Who's the lucky lady? Mm. You know, th these goddamn websites, it's like when you look up a recipe, I'm like, I don't need the whole life story.

But well, just that one that I looked at to find out about the migraine. The whole like I had to go through all of like it was like last May, Eddie Kingston like it's just like went into like all the previous shit. I'm like, just tell me what happened.

I mean it's just th it's the Did you did you hear about how they they intentionally made Google worse? No. Like this this was this was brought up at a like this is this is not a conspiracy. This is like actual like Like discussions on like investor calls or like, you know, type of thing. SmackDown. Where like the the guy who um really was the the father of Google who was the m like, you know

Okay. The we've we've made the world's most perfect, efficient search engine. Okay. And then the other suits were like, Well, they're not spending enough time on the website, so we're missing out on ad money. So they intentionally made it worse to increase the time that you're looking at the Google screen. Bund. Isn't that fun? Um, listen, man. You don't think the internet's a work, dude? So fucking things a work, dude.

Let me tell you something. I've been um rearranging in here. Uh huh. It's slow going. But uh I went back through like observer back issues that I have. Uh-huh. You know, deciding okay, what needs to stay and what what can make its way somewhere else, you know? Okay. Into a fire. Into the fire. And thumbing through some of those.

It's a hell of a good time. Because I also because I also compared and contrasted to I don't have all those observer year books. Yeah. But I was like, you know, if If something's being covered, you know, like like for instance, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna hang on to the newsletter with the actual articles about

Carrie Von Erich's death, Andre the Giants' death, even though they are pretty well covered in the yearbook. And and and the Andre one in particular, because there was a a follow up In a different newsletter that I was like, okay, th this information's in the yearbook. I don't need this follow up. Because in the follow-up it was just talking about um, I don't know if you remember this, the whole story of uh Andre's coffin and then having to ship it.

Uh maybe. Cause he was in I might even have it right here. No, ninety one, he died in ninety-three. Oh, this is it. And Andre's longtime best friend and caretaker, Frenchie Bernard. Put together a lavish ceremony in front of 200 to 250 guests on Andre's 200 acre. Let that sink in for a second. Two hundred acre ranch in uh El Ellerbury, Ellerby, North Carolina, small town two hours north of Charlotte. On uh February twenty fourth. We just passed the anniversary.

There were actually very few wrestling personalities in attendance, uh most notable of which Hulk Hogan. who was one of seven who delivered a eulogy, Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, Brutus Beefcake, Renee Goulet, Pat Patterson, Wahoo McDaniel, Fabulous Moolah, Ivan Koloff, and Rita Chatterton. This is ninety-three. Hadn't she already accused Vince at that point? I don't know. Whoa. Um Hogan broke down.

No, I was just woeing you. You woed me, I woeed you. Whoa. Hogan broke down twice during the eulogy and we vis visibly moved from the moment he showed up. Breaking K Fabe to an extent by saying how Andre let him slam him in the Pontiac Silverdome. Um slam me, boss. Where is the bit about the fucking Okay, here, here, here. Um as mentioned here previously, Andre had asked to be cremated within twenty four hours of his death.

However, there was no crematorium in Paris that could accommodate his size. Andre was 550 pounds at his death. A three hundred pound custom made oak casket was built for him, but plane flights had to be continually juggled because the cargo holds on many airplanes weren't large enough to hit um to to to have the huge casket. When his remains arrived in Charlotte Airport, the coffin wouldn't fit into a hearse.

The funeral home had to bring in a forklift to get the eight hundred and sixty pounds of casket and body out of a friend's truck. And needed the forklift to get him out of the casket because it was nearly impossible to pick up the five hundred and fifty pounds of dead weight. Plus you can't I mean, I guess maybe, but like I it seems like you wouldn't want to just like throw a body into a casket and put it on a plane like did they

Did they was it like refrigerated or something? Well I just mean yeah, or like I guess if you're gonna I guess you could cremate it, you wouldn't embalm it, but like it just seems weird that you would just like put a body and just let it let it go. I don't know. I mean I think you're figuring that all out. I I mean uh yeah. I mean you gotta assume they preserve some aspect of it where it's you know

Where he doesn't start decomposing right then and there, right? Yeah. I don't know. Here, this is a special mahogany case had to be built for his ashes, which themselves weighed nineteen pounds. Fucking A man. Andre baby. Eighth eighth one of the world. There was something about reading about Andrew. And then thinking about um how protected his gimmick was and how um you know obviously towards the end of his life he like was like not

Not not that Andre was ever in great shape, but obviously he wasn't um wasn't working out wasn't working, you know. Yeah. You know, he would maybe go to Japan and work with Baba, but that was it. And then was on those um you know, his last T V appearance in the United States he was on those crutches. Um a couple of times. Like when he was with the Bushwhackers he was on crutches, but then when he showed up on that clash of champions. You know, he also had the crutches. So it's like

You know, you you the the Andre the Giant is a posse sticker. That's like the gimmicked height and weight. But it is true by the end of his life he was obviously, you know, if they're saying it's five hundred and fifty pounds, it it's probably legit.

Um but so much of the Andre mythos was so protected and is still protected to this day, you know? It really honestly got me thinking about um And maybe this is crazy, but it got me thinking about Brock Lesnar, where I'm like, okay, yes, he was N sub NCAA champion twenty-five years ago. My what I'm curious about, and this is just a question. I'm just two friends talking. Is Brock Lesnar as tough as they built him up to be?

Well, I mean he fucking he also w like was successful in UFC subsequent to that. True. And Uh and I also think it doesn't like the same way it it wasn't a matter of whether if Andre got his hands on you, it's like when you uh for me at least Brock Lesnar uh comes off very believable on TV. Very believable. So it's like, yes, you have you have those components of like, oh, so there's there's a re there is a reality to it on some level.

And then also like I don't want nothing to do with it. You know what I mean? Like I don't want nothing to do with it. I don't even want to have to fucking like, you know, just the stories of guys like having to go up to him. You know, who are like you know, work with him some and and a lot of times he's fucking around'cause like ultimately yeah as the story goes, he's very

Very easy and, you know, as far as like working. I have had I've been in the I've been in the room. Like it's like I remember Ed Koske, um And this is not something Med would do. But like one of his best friends, I don't know if if he went to the same college as Brock or if he was a Vikings fan.

Cause that's the team like Brock tried to walk on. Right. Or maybe w was he even on the team for a couple quarters? I don't know that he ever played he went to camp with him. I don't know that he ever played. There was something um of a personal significance that Ed was like, my best buddy wants this to get signed. Yeah. And I'm like, really? You're gonna ask Brock to sign it? I'm like, how do you and he's like, Yeah, I don't know how this is gonna go.

And he said that when he uh approached Brock with it at T V Brock looked at him and when Brock Lesnar looks at you, it looks like he's looking through you. Yeah. He just goes, Why the fuck would you do this? And then about a half a beat later he goes, Ah, I'm just playing and then he signed the thing and was like, No big deal. Mm-hmm.

Man, so I've been listening to Bret Hart's book. Which is I downloaded it. I haven't I I gotta do it. Yeah. I downloaded it and I haven't listened to it. Yeah. What I so you'll be able to tell me. Okay. There are um point Uh, which, you know, it must be like pickups they needed. So it'll be like a sentence.

Or it'll be like you know what I mean? Like Yeah, you're sure we we didn't get that. We or that's not we need to maybe clean that up. And I'm wondering if it's maybe AI,'cause the voice that comes in is It's Brett, but it's not Brett. And it's not in a way like they recorded it when the when they did the pickups it was a different studio or something. And so it just like it sounds like a sound alike to me.

So I'm just curious to know. Yeah. You'll know. Like'cause it'll just be you'll be what like a sentence will be like a different a different Bret Hart. Um I just it's curious to me. You know, it's funny. Before we started recording I mentioned Ken Reed um And it was like we had a similar conversation uh for you know an upcoming VHS tapes and magic. But we were we were talking about how like that was a whole industry of sound alikes.

Like Dave Coulier made like obviously he made his money from full house, but it's like How many how many more how many more houses is he able to buy because of m like matching Bill Murray and whoever, you know? Well, it's also there's an entire industry of people who fucking did who read books. Who read books. That's right. You know, and and they they won't be but but this is I mean, not that we need to go down this road, but like Skilled labor is going away.

Skilled labor is going away. If you can if you can dig a hole, you're probably fine. But if you're doing anything like uh at a desk or you know, like it's going away. And then we'll find out what happens when when there's like a such a giant chunk of society that can't make money anymore. Um if if in fact there is a society for all this like there there are some other factors in it. But if but if as things go now like

They're accountants not needed. Fucking you know, like the list goes on of of things that will that AI is just gonna be able to do. If and already can probably.

You know? That was the way that we do we do not need to keep going down this road. But but th now listen, but at this point they can't wrestle. There will still be pro wrestling. They can't there's no AIW. Okay. At least no AI here. There's no robots here. There's no there's no oracle here. There's no check. I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that. Oh, but but that like that Super Bowl commercial with Matthew Broderick.

Where he's like, Take the day off. Have AI do it for you And I'm like, What what are we selling here? Yeah.'Cause it's like if if it can do my job at work I don't get the day off. Mat Matthew, I'm not sure if you understand how uh the the normal working world uh is operating. 아멘 Um I saw uh a quote attributed to someone at TKO that was like Um the whoever it was was worried that this the ESPN unlimited or whatever had like priced out.

WWE fans. You know, like Yeah, no shit. I'm like, what about the fucking live events, asshole? Like, yeah, like may maybe maybe ESPN Unlimited's a little steep for for folks at this point to uh to watch your pay per views, but like You know, you can say polenti. About a son of a bitch like Henry Ford. You know? Nazi. Polenti. But at minimum, even that fuckstick. Understood. Wait, if I'm not paying these people enough money, they're not gonna be able to buy one of these stupid fucking cars.

Although the the other funny thing about um you know, how uh things change is ESP unlimited is what, thirty bucks a month. And I can watch all the Red Wing games and all this other stuff. Which is still cheaper than pay per views were when pay per views went away. But it still somehow is like like what the fuck? You know? Oh, hold on, as long as we're talking about this shit. I uh I told you just weeks ago, I wait for the fucking raw replay'cause the commercials are gone.

Commercials ain't gone no more. Oh, they listen to the show. Commercials are back with a vengeance. Now I will say where Brian Alvarez and I disagree, or at least one of the places, uh He was like, and you can't fast forward. Uh you can absolutely fast forward through the commercials, but they're but but it'll just be like a block, one of eight. You know, like starting now. Well they I haven't I haven't come I I haven't come up against that yet. Um but

Like HBO Max, you can just fast forward through the commercial breaks. They they are as, you know. Um wait, are you getting ads on your RAW or no? I feel like I don't know,'cause I just had it on.'Cause it's starting to feel like maybe it's it y'cause if Alvarez is like, I can't even fast forward, I'm s I can, you maybe don't have'em. I'm like, uh is it just they're just like throwing different versions out to eventually see or or what, you know,'cause

It's um I'll have to look. Cause like I I'll I'll watch what's on and then you know go seeking out you know the cherry picking of what what else I'm interested in. Right. But like I'm curious because whenever it does w when a situation is like you know, when the when they're n now they're putting in the commercials in post where it is just gonna be the one of eight like blocks At least on the Turner apps on the on the TBS and the T N T, which were miserable to try to navigate.

But if if you could kind of sp spot where the the break spot was and you started fast forwarding, you could uh like jail break and just skip over that commercial break. Ah, if you gotta go before it started. Yeah, but like it depends on um Trying to remember if n how Netflix is where it's like even when you fast forward it'll play the break and then and then pick up where you left off. It depends.

Yeah. Um it's Meanwhile I'm out here trying to book commercials and it's you know part of my livelihood and I'm like uh Yeah, double edged sword, man. Uh

Yeah the uh so now we've got if if you're following along, another reason why I'm s so curious about some of these shows that are being announced in other places on Mania Weekend. Spring break right now. You know, the the ultimate. Um bless up to anybody who bought those fucking two hundred and seventy five dollar front rows. Uh Sandman versus The Invisible Man. Uh-huh. One for the ages. And Joey Janella versus Brodie Lee Jr., a fourteen-year-old.

That kid fourteen? Those are the two announced matches right now. What what what's his gimmick? Negative one? It was. Yeah. Now now the hood's off? And he already took a pile driver from uh from the bad boy. Really?'Cause I I guess uh he showed up to be uh to well, he showed up and Janello was like, I want you in my corner.

And he's like, I don't wanna be in your corner, I wanna fucking fight you and he's like, Nah, not you're fourteen, that's not, you know. And I and he said something else and Janella fucking smacked him across the face and pile drove his ass. Oh, I love it. Does he have he's fourteen. Does he have like the Brody Lee beard? He's already got a full beard. Full beard down to his chest. Just a fucking uh a disgusting wife beater on.

God man, that was um oh it's it really is one of the worst um What a tragedy. What a what an absolute and and and You know, obviously like a family man and all that. Yeah. But just at at m th the most unimportant level, at the muna most unimportant aspect. It's just me selfishly as a wrestling fan, uh not getting to see that guy anymore. And was like in such a position to Be such a integral part of that company. Yeah. Him like bullying the dark order.

is still some of the best TV that I've ever like him come like whacking the fucking papers out of their hands and shit. Just like there's really nothing better than a like a mob boss Who's surrounded by idiots. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just constantly blowing a stack at them, smacking them around like you fuck like the best part and uh one of the best parts in Midnight Run is when um Uh, what's his name? Not Frank Langella.

Frank Vincent now. Fucking what's his name? Dennis Franz. No, not Dennis Franz, Dennis Farina. That's his name, right? When anyway, when he calls the two goons and he goes, Is this moron number one? Put moron number two on the phone You know? Ah, just so fucking good. You hate to see the uh

You hate to see that line mark logo on Instagram'cause it's usually followed by, hello, thank you for supporting New Japan Pro Wrestling. Right. Now let's tell you who's hurt. Yeah. He hurt his neck? Just came off something else, he got the neck injury, so he's the he's off the fucking New Japan Cup shows or whatever and uh Ah man. I mean I I didn't watch the the the uh show from uh Trenton on Friday. I heard it was good.

I'm sure it was. They I mean it's always good, but I just you know, the the interest level at times gets a little Well it's hard. It's hard. But it did uh someone put up the old video from an AEW where Jericho's standing in the hallway and Ishii's behind him and Jericho's like And he starts walking and then Ishii's following him. And Jericho's getting increasingly scared and like puts puts a box in front of him. And she moves the box. And it's pretty great. Oh my god. Let me see. I uh... Yeah.

What's up to you? Well, I mean it is it's one of those things too where um I suppose it can happen to anybody at any time. But like you d you don't picture Ishii as one of these guys who's Oh my God. Oh my God.

Oh my God. This picture of Chris Jericho in the gym, his abs look like like a corned beef sandwich. Why? I mean It just seems he'cause it to him it's like a fucking Yeah. He thinks he's Thinks he's twenty five. Yeah. And it's like, okay, you're in great shape, probably maybe better in shape than me. I don't know, but it just is not the photo. It's not the photo. It looks like

It looks like one of them fucking trees that was throwing apples in the Wizard of Oz, dude. Oh fucking shit. One of those apple throwers. Fucking shit. Ishii is not one of these guys who Um Unless I'm I'm I'm uh put it this way, when you watched that nineties all Japan. Yeah. You're like, yes, I understand why these guys all have neck injuries. Ishii, I don't

My mind doesn't immediately go to high angle like suplex bumps on his head and neck. Oh yeah, no, for sure. He I mean that guy has been yeah, he's had the fucking shit kicked out of him in New Japan Pro Wrestling. I just can't uh I just can't picture it. I think it's just been so long since I've like watched

Yeah.'Cause I'm just picturing him just they were always just punching each other and throwing each other. But even at that, one No, I mean that's just it. It's it it doesn't It it it the wear and tear on the neck in pro wrestling is like it's just Even though You don't have to be yeah. I mean if you unfocus your eyes, there isn't a lot of neck to speak of.

on the man. But still. And that's also the other thing. I'm like, does Ishii have a neck? Yeah. What where are we what are we talking about exactly when you when you say are you actually just talking about the spine?'Cause I don't see a neck. Right. Like i you know 'Cause like with Big E, we were waiting for that to happen because of that fucking dive he would do all the time, you know? And ultimately that wasn't the the problem. I I know.

Or like Trent, the way that Trent used to do that fucking dive into a the swimming pool with no water under the fucking ramp, you know? You know, uh God, he used to do that all the fucking time. They're playing your music for the second time. You start with me. Um

I'm like scrolling through Instagram. I don't know if when did Cena post this? Oh no. Five hours ago, John Cena's Instagram. Oh, he loves him. He loves Tannhausen. He's a company man. Um He's a company man. I'm happy for him. I'm ha get that fucking WWE money. He'll sell some t-shirts. But I mean He's gonna be fine. He'll he'll fucking He'll go fucking

Sign at some grocery stores, pop up on TV in a spot with our truth or whatever, like he's gonna be fucking fine. Do some fucking Halloween havoc shit. He's at least a guy that I'm like, if if if we could pitch doing Halloween havoc like An old fashioned love song. Just an old fashioned love song. Coming down and come on. Like an old fashioned horror movie host show. Have him host it. Not like

I am still fucking upset over the way that they they had Shotzi Blackheart host. I know you are Maddie. Hold on to that. She's all right. She works for Hog now. She's doing great. Uh is Dan Housen gonna get a Stephanie episode of the podcast? Is she gonna get is he gonna get the Royce Keyes treatment right on to the right onto the show? Royce Keys, you know who I'm talking about, right? Yeah, wait, who's Royce who is it?

Oh right. Oh yeah. Yeah. Royce Keys. He's like when I was little, he goes when I was little, uh I like I had chess gold or whatever and my my grandma made me swallow VIX vapor rub. What and immediately, like Stephanie's like, No, no, no, can't don't do that, do not do that, do not do that And he's like, But it worked. Holy shit. So I just hope Dan Housen gets his gets his day in court over there on the Stephanie podcast and is able to, you know.

Prop up Detroit. He's you know, he's a Detroit guy. Is he? I didn't realize that. I mean I watched when he was on Conan forever ago. I like I I remember watching that, but I don't remember anything about it. But he's like he's out of the gimmick. Oh yeah. You know? I don't know if that's the best thing to do on WWE immediately'cause it at least like like powerhouse hobbs it's like Yeah, like he can be a r like I can believe that the character

Of Royce Hayes or whatever he is. Keys. Royce Keyes. Remember how we were That will never stick. Carlos wanted him When we heard the name before he debuted, Carlos wanted like at least a guitar or a a tie with keys you know, like a Right, right, right. There needed to be a piano element. At least at least a Rolls Royce painted like a piano. For him to drive to the Slammy Wards. Whatever it is. That is never gonna stick. But like that character.

He's a guy. Yeah. You know, so I belie like Danhausen doesn't have parents. Danhausen doesn't have a grandma. Right. Danhausen doesn't catch colds. Like Danhausen He does eat Vic's vapor rub, though. Sure. Right. Like he he's he has a straw and a spoon. He's like, I'm not sure. Well maybe the can maybe Stephanie needs to turn her podcast into like Tuesday Night Titans and so he can come on in gimmick. That would be fantastic. And you know.

That would be fantastic. And I've never I've only seen these clips. I've never like sat down and watched or listened to one of the things that we're going to do. Can you imagine Stephanie? So I still don't know what's up with her friend. I don't know if it's like her friend from a cop a couple houses down that sits there with her. Stephanie has I guarantee it's her personal assistant. I guarantee whoever is running and organizing this thing.'Cause it at first it starts with

You know, oh, you gotta have your Conrad. But then as soon as you see Conan O'Brien has a podcast and his his assistant is part of it, they're like, Oh well, that's perfect. Have Stephanie's assistant do it. Yeah. It but the the weird thing is this woman doesn't at least in in clip form uh does not seem as if she like she never really says anything in these in these clips.

Let's see here. Elise Dodzinski, also known as Elise Ashley, is the co-host of Stephanie McMahon's podcast. Launched in partnership. Bop bup bup bup up. Who the fuck is she? She's she's the one doing all the work. Maybe. We know that much. Oh th no, they've got a team. There's no way. There's no uh No There's no th th there's no team. There's no there's no it's i I guarantee it's all that that woman. P doing the research, getting the bullet points, probably putting it into the fucking AI. Huh?

Former Senior Vice President, Chief of Staff at WWE. There you go. That I need a personal assistant. That sounds like code for Stephanie's assistant. Director of operations. SV of operations A former S V P of staff is now a co host of a podcast. Well, she's probably not doing nothing else. No, this sounds like she yeah, she w they were neighbors in Greenwich, or at least like was was Stephanie's only friend in high school or something. You're a neighbor in Greenwich.

Maybe it's Stephanie's side piece. Maybe maybe the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Wow. We don't know. Nah, not with the defecating again. I can't.

Enough with the defecating. Well, the the guy who likes pee pee pants is going to be main event in WrestleMania, so what are we going to do about it? How about I loved uh the one the one I don't know fifteen seconds of LA night last night? Popped out of the ambulance. I'll say this. Uh someone was quick to point out it that was the exact place that Finn Balor also slipped.

Oh interesting evening, so don't don't blame LA. You don't need to blame LA. I don't know if you saw the there was a video from the crowd. Uh after that happened, Randy rolled to the side and he's just looking out at the audience, laughing, cackling. Oh, after LA slipped? Yes. Fucking Randy, man. Yeah. Well, it's not like uh they had big plans for him that they're not gonna do now because it was because he slipped.

Do you think Randy and Danhausen get together and hit it off? Depends on if old Danhausen smokes weed. Hey Danhausen, you like smoking weed and playing Xbox? That stay the way uh stay the fuck away from my bus. Hey Danhausen, that's a pretty nice drone you got there. And then they're off to the races. Just a new it's it's like it's like Matt uh Riddle never even existed. You want to come check out some of my RC cars?

Man, if they imagine if they hit it off to the point where then the Viper puts on the fucking the the face paint and he's called Ranhausen. Right, and then you know I would be I would be moving chess pieces right now on the board trying to get this like to Make Randy think he's friends with Danhausen, but really I was pulling the strings the whole time. You don't think Roadog already pitched it? You know Rodie already pitched it. Hey man. Shit's crazy, dude.

You telling me this masked guy who's been doing Seth Rollins moves was Seth Rollins the whole time, dude? And you think they lost their way. God damn. So funny, man. I was like After he hit Heyman with the chair. Yeah. And Heyman's starting to get up for that stomp, I'm like, they're not gonna stomp him right now. I'm like, what's who who who's gonna like I I did not expect him To completely fucking desolate him and all at once right there. I thought like I was gonna hit him with a chair.

But something's gonna happen here. I go, Well then I go, Heyman, I'm th I'm going Heyman's not gonna roll out. It's not it's not like he's that athletic. Um I mean just in even in p like whether he actually could or couldn't, like it just wouldn't be the thing to do is like a chair and then roll out, right? So I'm like I don't think who's about to grab Rollins. And then nope, they just fucking stopped him. Nobody.

Just stomp'em. You're right though, that does feel like that's that's your mania moment when you're like, Holy shit, he fucking got his hands on him. I don't even understand why why does Seth Rollins not like them? Well, you just better hope that next week he doesn't say like I don't d I don't owe you an explanation. That's all you better hope. It really is one of those things where you just like like when when they pulled the mask off and it was Seth Rollins, I'm like

Okay. Well, I was trying to think,'cause before Rollins left, were they kinda they were kinda building it like he was Was he having a little trouble with Braun Breaker? Like was there a little bit of uh Couldn't tell ya. But it doesn't matter because Braun Breaker ain't around. I know. Uh feels like that was where there I mean, it's like Braun Breaker should be a fucking

I mean, well, hey. I mean who knows? I mean half that team is hurt. I mean football. Like I understand there's the the that Th there is celebrity in Logan Paul, you know? Um and a lot of people really Just fucking just want to slobber all over the drinking the prime. Yeah,'cause he can fucking you know, jump really far or whatever. But when when it was Heyman standing in the ring with

Who's the other one? Is it Austin Theory? Yeah, it is. I was like, when it was Heyman standing there with those two goofs. Just getting distracted by mass ma the the the fuck in the mass man can it stop. But when Haman was standing there with those two fucking J brones, I was like, Man, this feels like when Heyman was managing Michael McGillicuddy and fucking Yeah. You know? I'm just like oh like when there was the like the decoy when the other guy got unmasked on

That was Friday or whatever it was. That was so I'm like I'm I'm But it's almost like it's like, oh, this isn't anybody we know, so we don't gotta beat the shit out of them or what? Like But it was also I'm like I'm sitting there being like I don't know who it is, but am I am I supposed to am I supposed to know who it is? Yeah. Because there have been plenty of times when we when we're shown somebody and I'm supposed to know who it is.

You know, like cause it'cause uh suppose I'm I'm I don't watch the other product. You know, suppose I don't like what what if I am just one of these purely WWE guys? I'm like, I don't know who Powerhouse Hobbs is, I don't know who Dan Housen is. Right. But I'm supposed to fucking know or I'm supposed to pretend that I know. That's usually when

Michael Coles yelling, That's Dan Hosen, that's Dan Hosen. Right. You know? But so then but now there's this guy who's one of Seth Rollins' trainees or proteges or whatever. And I'm s but now I'm supposed to pretend That I don't know who that is, but I very well might. Like that obviously there are people who are like, oh, that's so-and-so. Yeah. But I'm not.

Like, you know what I mean? I'm like, but I don't know how they're demanding I react as an audience member. Right. Uh well to me, I think there are just times, even though Cause'cause to t to sort of what I'm saying, like when it is somebody that they want you to know, like Michael Cole is gonna say. Definitely. And so in that moment, it's like, okay, nobody knows who this is.

And so we just have to assume it's like some kind of decoy by the person who it actually is. You know, like that's the way it sort of was delivered. Right, but I think for me it's like If if that's what I'm supposed to think, then don't I understand if there was physicality, that's that's one thing. But like then don't use a wrestler.

Don't use that. Then actually make it somebody who we don't know at any conceivable level. Oh. Well did you know who that guy was? No, but it's like but but but then once you're on the internet they're like, oh that's You know, like w Well that's I mean, but here's the thing. Like you can't because now you're going like Wait, who's this guy that plays uh so and so on this TV show? Oh, they're actually so and so? Like'cause now you're just th like you can't put on and and go like

Um hopefully nobody looks on the internet and realizes this guy's being trained by Seth Rollins. Like'cause at that point it's also like, well, at least they're being trained by Seth Rollins. That gives you a clue. No, and it and it and it makes sense that it's like, Oh, this guy really is like It it it all makes perfect sense. You know, where it is it's like, oh, but there is a I There's something about that level of suspension of disbelief where I'm like It it's what am I trying to say?

Like when they're doing like the the anger management and Scorpio Sky is sitting there, you know? It's like, yeah, but that's Scorpio Sky. Or like or e even worse, like back in the day when they would be like That's Doc Hendricks. That's not Michael P. S. Hayes from the Freebirds. You know, I don't think it's at that level of I have to pretend I don't know who this person is. Not at all, because no one knew who the fuck he was. It looked like Ralph Feinstein.

And then it was like it should have been, but it wasn't. And so now it's oh if you look like but again I I Someone else looked it up. It's not like I ran to my computer to do a reverse image search to figure out who the fucking guy was, because like on the TV show it's just clear to me like I'm not supposed to know who it is. But yes, of course when you're like a head when you're a fucking head and you're like, oh

Tommaso Ciampa playing a lawyer, you know, like or or whatever you're doing. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But it don't matter the fucking lady I worked with in New York, you know what I mean? Like it's you at certain point you have to go like with this is a self contained TV show. It's fucking stupid a lot of the time and it doesn't make sense and is and insults your intelligence and uh and so like

I don't know, man. I'm just I think what I'm trying to say is And I'm talking about all of wrestling? Of course. It should have been Bad example, but like it should have been like downtown Bruno. You know, it should have been s it should have been apparent just by looking at the guy that this is a nobody. As opposed to This guy had a little charisma. Had a little something going on. As opposed to I'm I shouldn't be spending any time wondering, am I supposed to know who this is?

You know, it should be apparent that it's a goof. Yeah. You know? You know, because it because at this point now it feels like this guy is like should be at least on the roster now, or like you know, just because it is a wrestler and now it's like now the rums and it's like, Oh, this is actually one of Seth Rollins' proteges, I'm like

That fucks it up for me. Like it should be like the the head should come off and it should be like um who who was who was like Bobby Heenan's sidekick on the the the Bobby Heenan tonight show? With the with the glasses. He managed the the bushwackers for five seconds. Wait, are you talking about fucking um from Memphis? Uh Yeah. Like like with the glasses and the tape around the like it like it shouldn't Oh no no no that guy, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know w who that guy was. Marin was his name.

No, I mean seriously remember it's like his name was Mark Baron? It was like it ha he has the exact name Of um like a uh Eugene is the only name I can think of. It wasn't Eugene, but it was it was like Harold or, you know, Marcus or Hold on. Um God damn, I just cracked my thumb and it fucking hurts. Oof. You know, his name was like Lucas or um Frederick. Jameson. Right, but he let's see.

Um look it up, but that but that's all that's the only point I'm making. Like it the head should come off and I'm like, wait. I I should Green shirt guy. Should have been green shirt guy. It should have just been like a character actor where I'm just like, I know that this guy like he should have looked like a Jay Brown. It should have looked like this guy is a nobody.

That's all. I'm mixing this up, but there's some other old WWF like kind of just there and gone person who has the exact same name as like it's not Mark Baron, it's something like that where you're like that that person did not have anything to do to do with it but there was a there was a there was a job guy who managed the powers of pain named Kumel Nangiani in nineteen ninety two

Exactly. It should have been the green shirt guy. Give him a little extra for all his hard earned money he pays to sit front center. With his little chin piece. It's the chin piece. It's pure heat. Um well believe it or not.

It's time for the Raw Vault homework. Whoa. Not gonna back me up? Medium fighting to serve. It's just like that. It's just like that. Oh WrestleMania Thank you. Yeah, this is all to pop bum. Thank you. Raw Vault on Netflix. Kree Netflix. Netflix. Netflix. August eighth, nineteen ninety-seven.

Oh we're in Atlantic City. And oh my god, are they gonna remind you at the beginning of every when they come back from every break. Somebody had the idea. Oh, we should show footage of old time Atlantic City. How it used to be. Jesus Christ. Um this is truly. Like, this is such a Attitude era show. And also kind of like like pre-attitude era when it's still and and I understand we're in New Jersey. But it does feel like this it wrestling or in WWE still feels like it belongs to

You know, it it's an ECW crowd. That's that's really what it comes down to, you know? That's what it feels like. And it's still you can see Vlad in the crowd, you can see um, you know, uh Faith No More guy, you can Vlad's buddy. You know, it's just it and These people are

It's such an uh an incredible combination of they are so into it and they couldn't be paying less attention. You know, like every time it goes to a wide shot. I've never seen more people like jumping on their feet and like waving to be on TV, to be on the Titentron. So many signs. It almost feels like this is the this was the show where people were like, Oh, we're all supposed to bring a sign to the show. Yeah. I mean it's cra and it's so

The signs are s this is so long ago. The signs are almost cliched. Where it's just like it's just a sign that says ECW sucks or Mark three sixteen or Adam three sixteen, you know, or you know, uh dude love Fan club. Somebody had a sign that just said R Iron Mike Sharp fan club. Hell yeah. I I it was it it It's just it's so atypical of a like a wrestling crowd. It it felt like a a parody of itself. It was incredible. I feel you.

So Rick Rude comes out to be interviewed by Vincent Gain of the Ring. Uh apparently they do not want to pay the royalties on the original Rick Rude song. Uh there is a oh my god, the fake Rick Rude music that is blasting during this segment. Nah. It's like just pay the fucking money. None for me thing. I mean isn't it is it just they don't want to pay Jim Johnston? Is it a Jim John I've never understood

Some of these songs. Johnston like was an employee, right? I don't know. I know. Yeah. But did but did I apparently he must have owned the publishing though. It must have been one of those things where like Vince was like The fuck is that, pal, you know? Yeah. Yeah, there's just like uh it doesn't matter. Just put uh put whatever. It doesn't matter, you know.

And then meanwhile it's like I don't know, it just it's it it it changes the atmosphere, it changes the tone, but it is one of those things where then I watch, you know, AEW and they're playing, you know, the Pixies. Yeah. Uh, this is one of the most annoying interview segments I've ever seen in my life. Um it is nothing but this is pure Vince McMahon Carney eighties pro wrestling. Where clearly the idea was

He's not IRS. He's still ravishing Rick Rude, but his new gimmick is that he's an insurance policy. They use every insurance company cliche and pun and joke. This is one of the most irritating. Like the circular talk in this interview, it almost like you if watch this back, it feels like are they flirting with each other? Are these two about to fuck? Because it's this constant like

It it you know what it reminded me of is in Indiana Jones and the the The Last Crusade, when I picked this flower for you. Well I'm already sad because by tomorrow it'll be dead. Well then I'll pick you another one. You know, it's just it's it's It's just the this c can you two get a room already? That's exactly what the like he's like Yes, but are but you say that you're an insurance man.

And then Rick Root's like, well, like a good neighbor, Rick Rood's always there. I'm like, this is beyond and it goes on and on. And I'm like, I want to slap both of them. It's such a Vince McMahon segment. It's unbelievable.

Uh, they go to the announce desk. It's gonna be the King, it's gonna be Jim Ross, it's gonna be Vince. There is a space missing because Vince is not sitting at the desk, but luckily somebody in the crowd in the Vince spot holds up a huge sign that says RF video with a phone number that you can call. Yeah, but it was fucking Feinstein.

We got a promo from Owen and the Bulldog. Um this is kind of the the story of the night. They they it's one it's you you'll get these when you're watching old Raws. You're like, Oh, Vince is in a phase where well, this is what we need to be doing. Every match, every angle has we're gonna go here from the f person for about fifteen to twenty seconds. In a pre like b it might be live live, but like in a pre tape in the back, no interviewer, just them talking right to camera.

So that's what we get with Owner the Bulldog. Uh we see footage of Sergeant Slaughter and HBK arguing down the hallway. Um Shawn Michaels is very upset. Tonight is it's a historic night, the very first time ever. Shawn Michaels and Triple H will be tag teaming together, being forced together by Sergeant Slaughter, apparently.

Uh Owen and Davy Boy come down, the Legion of Doom come down. Um I mean this match in particular, the fans are like leaping in their chairs to get their signs on TV. It's insane. Um the Godwins come in, attack LOD behind the ref's back, heels go over. Mankind gets a promo in the back. HPK gets a promo in the back. We hear Sonny's music, which feels like the first time in forever. I can't believe she still has a job. I guess uh Sable didn't feel like working that night, I guess.

Here she comes. She comes down just to be a ring announcer. There is nothing for this woman to do anymore on the show. It's insane to me. Um Well, maybe they don't trust her. To to do something with her because she may not be there the next week. Uh you're probably not wrong. You're probably not wrong.

Well, she can barely do the ring announcing because um they start playing the wrong music or at least she thinks it's the wrong music. She thinks Flash Funk is coming down, but it's Brian Christopher. And then she's like, Oh no, it's it's not not from New Jersey or Atlantic City, wherever they they hail him from. It's Brian Christopher being the most Brian Christopher I've ever I mean this guy is gagged up. Like he's doing the high pitched laugh. I mean it's wild.

And d Jerry Lawler doing the the veiled I fucking love this kid. This kid's great. He needs to be you know. And then Jim Ross blows up the spot. He's like, Well maybe it's because he's your son. What? What are you talking about? Uh, he cuts a promo about being too sexy. Shades of things to come.

I mean it is wild. It's like obviously Brian Christopher it's like Vince had no loyalty to anybody. But it's like clearly Brian Christopher like he can work. Yeah you know, he's a he's a hell of a hand. He is Especially in this, you know, mode, he's very Rastlin. He's very Memphis, you know, which you you know Vince doesn't like.

Um but they keep him around. I mean it God bless him that he they they kind of fucking backdoored into the Grandmaster sex A gimmick. It's like fucking worked. It shouldn't have worked, and it fucking worked. Hang on one second.

So then we get uh Flash Funk's entrance. So insane they dress him like a pimp. Oh, is it? Think about everything you know about the subject. But it's like he's d it's not even the like eventually they just they go f I uh you know, they put the pimp pad on him. I can see the evolution of it where they're like'cause he's wearing his his like full body suit.

And it's like, Ah, you need something else. Put a pimp hat on him. Yeah, that's great. But then they don't come out and say it. Yeah. And then once he's gone, it's like, Well fuck it, we're not doing anything with Kamu Mustafa. I feel like Just make him a pimp. Actually, you know what? Fuck it. Give him hoes. He should come out there with hoes.

'Cause didn't uh uh Funk came out with with a couple chicks at times at least. Yes, at times he had but yeah, it was never addressed. It felt like had he again, was he a guy causing problems, could they not trust him? Was it just, uh, he's a fucking indie guy? I mean, I don't know what why he didn't last in that company. Yeah. I mean See a guy that like drinking and doing pills or something. It's not like he had already been in WCW.

Or did he go to or did he go back to the I don't remember. Uh well let me see. One second. Maybe he went to WCW. Maybe that was it. Yeah, because I feel like the timing would have been he was two cold Scorpio and ECW and then he went to WWF. Then he must have gone to WCW and then it was kinda like I don't know. He must have he must have caused problems or something. No,'cause he was uh'cause I the the the way I know for sure is because Yeah.

Uh the the R Sid thing was ninety-three and he was there for that. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He saw all that. So he came. From W but yeah, I mean who knows what what issues he had or didn't have and then ended up in D E C W after this, I think. Right? Or did he go to ECW then come here, probably I think he was E CW then well no, I mean the CID thing was in ninety one. No, ninety three.

Was it ninety three? That's what the thing I just read said. No, maybe you're right. No, I'm sure you know,'cause Sid was in WWF in ninety one. I don't know. That was another thing that I was going through the old observers and I was like, ooh, the the Sid Arn stuff. But I was like, oh, that's definitely in the yearbook. Strong. Never travel with a sewing kit. As we see Flash Funk here though, he's got a little bit of a pimpness to his presentation. Definite pimpetude.

Uh we got Ken Shamrock versus the Sultan. We've got uh I wonder how the Sultan felt about the um I'm gonna bury you next to your father line. Mm. We'll know soon enough. I'm sure we will. Uh, we got the Nation of Domination music. They come down. We got um Brian Pillman is still wearing this goddamn dress. Um It's funny that the dress changes every week too.

It's a different dress. It's not like here's a dress, you gotta wear this dress. It's like That's right. He's who's who's supplying, you know, in the I assume Yeah, it's I mean At a certain point it was Sergeant Slaughter was like handing him the dress, being like, This is the dress you gotta wear. So it's like he was stopping at the story every day. I know it's it's it's it begs the question, is the Sarge in between his duties as commissioner

Like, oh like he gets to the building and he's like, Oh, god damn it, I gotta go to Frederick's of Hollywood, pick up something for Brian Pillman. Uh Goldust is up on the stage. We got promo versus promo. I get a Vader promo, which is a it's such a bummer. This is this is Like 'Cause they're building up the Patriot for the the the next in your house. And it's gonna be the Patriot versus uh Bret Hart. And also brings up all this like some of those great shoot interviews with Cornette.

getting into those arguments with with Kevin Dunn over the Patriot. Like this guy's got a great look. Oh, he's got a mask on. It's like, well fuck you. You know? Um I mean, if there's a guy with a pill problem, he was all over that HBO doc, right? The w the one where Piper got in trouble. Totally. They had they had the the Patriot was on and he was talking about all the pills he was doing. I'm positive. Mm-hmm.

Anyway, so you know they're building him up for the main event of a pay per view, so then he's in there with Vader. It's like, God damn, Vader's just gonna job to the fucking Patriot dude? It's f it's a fucking bummer. I was I was almost expecting this to be it wasn't, but I was almost expecting is this the night where Vader cuts the promo on himself afterwards where he's like, I'm a fat piece of shit.

It's like God damn it. It it ri I hate the way they treat Vader in in in this era of WWF. It's the fucking worst anyway. Uh hitman on the stage. He's got his Canadian flag. Weird, weird thing where like Vader's up on the top rope. He's about to just dispatch with the Patriots. Uh go well, he loses. Yeah. Vader loses and then he starts the beat down on the Patriot. Then he's gonna lay him out with the Vader bomb and uh Bret Hart comes in and just lays the Canadian flag on top of the Patriot.

And presumably for Vader to then jump on top of the Canadian flag, I don't quite follow the logic there. Yeah. And then Vader is then furious. Because as all the Americans are, they hate the Canadians. And then they start jaw jacking. And then uh the heart foundation comes down, and then it's a whole The whole thing ends in a big schmazz, you know? Anyway. Not the best episode. Very something about this really befuddles the rock.

Anyway, this next segment gets a star. This is one of my absolute favorite um stone cold things. So so keep in mind it's August. We are still coming off of SummerSlam. Stone Cold Steve Austin is the intercontinental champion. Uh, they have shown us the replay several times tonight. This is the infamous uh Owen Hart. I don't know what Owen was thinking. Tombstone on uh Stone Cold. It's awful. Yeah. Compresses his neck. Does not get surgery for

A year? Two years? I mean, was it was it even was it ninety nine or was it it was late ninety eight? I think it was it was November of ninety eight. I would have said later, but I but who knows? I mean who even knows? I'm because I'm thinking of in terms of by the time next year's Summer S uh Survivor series comes around, is really once the rock was Getting his push.

Yeah, because then once you get into January ninety nine, I think that's when Once you did that buried alive match with Stone Cold and The Undertaker. Then he wasn't around for a while. Then you get that January ninety nine Late December ninety eight with uh Rock and Mankind for the belt on Raw. That'll put some butts in the seats. Then that was the first time we'd seen Stone Cold in a minute. Then yeah, maybe it's ninety-nine Rikishi hits him with the car.

I honestly I don't know. I mean obviously we could look it up, but I would I wish I could just remember off the dome. Anyway. So this is uh hotel room. Ironically enough, there he's in Philadelphia, but all the Philly fans are in Atlantic City for raw. And um this is all one take. It feels like there's no cuts. Maybe they go to the footage from SummerSlam. But this is as raw and as real, still in character, but

It this is one of the most genuine wrestling interviews of all time. Because he doesn't know. He doesn't know. what the prognosis is gonna be on his neck. He doesn't know what the prognosis is going to be on the rest of his career. This is a guy who is at the cusp of being the hottest thing in the business.

And it's a it could uh evaporate in a second. It's fucking unreal. And the w the the vitriol he is with with with Jim Ross, when he picks up the fruit basket, he starts throwing the fucking fruit at him. You know? Like uh i it it starts off Jim Ross asks him a three part question. Stoke hold runs through the first two and he's like, What was the third part? What's the other thing you want to know? I mean, it's and and and the way he stammers sometimes Like this is it's there's it it feels

So unscripted. Even though obviously there must be bullet points they're getting to, you know. And he's obviously he's in character, but fuck. This is it's so endearing to this character where you're like, I I I am this guy's gotta be okay. This guy is my guy. Right. It's fucking unreal. This is it's th this is one of my favorite Stone Cold interviews ever.

Uh and then the big, big main event, Strange Bedfellows. We got Mankind and Undertaker versus Triple H and HBK Shawn Michaels. Uh hell of a little match. We um we got our beginnings of DX. And uh we're off to the races. That's your raw vote homework for the week. Vince Averill. Yes. Who's your favorite wrestler?

I think I'm gonna go with El Clone. You mean Jim Carrey? No. Jick Harry showed up at an award show with either a mask on or with fresh Botox. El clone. And and and immediately a lot of the people on the internet were like, He's dead. They it was like it was Jim Hellwig all over again. They replaced him with a different Ultimate Warrior.

Uh what what uh what what about El Clone? Well he's just having some nice little matches. We already know he's a fucking great worker'cause it's uh Arez or whatever underneath there. No doubt. Um But I don't know if you have a favorite wrestler or not. I have favorite wrestlers, but I just want to get their name correct. 'Cause they're the the brawling bird. Um Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor. I I have felt um

Jamie Hader since she came back, a little bit of a man without a country. Mm-hmm. And then seventies. These yeah, you know, the seventies, but it's like it's like, all right, you know, I don't want you to be Becky Lynch. I don't want you to be Mike Awesome. I want you to be Jamie Hader. These two get paired up and I'm like, Okay, let's see where this goes. Fucking fantastic. This is exactly what the both of them need. You know, Jamie needs direction, Alex needs the rub.

And they they fucking compliment each other so well. I think AEW has been doing such a fabulous job with I don't know if this stuff is airing on the show or not, or if it's exclusive on social media, but they have been putting up So many great promos. Um again, similar to what we were discussing on Raw, where it's it's just them, no interviewer, direct to camera. And they are fucking fantastic. Marina Shafir, we were just talking about this, how it's like,

You know, maybe she needs to cut a promo. Maybe she's not good at cutting promos. The, you know, are we gonna move past the hat thing, the you don't know me thing? There was a promo from her that popped up on the AEW Instagram that I was like, this is the best promo I've ever seen this woman cut. But so then the birds pop up. I they were already kicking ass in the ring. And I'm like, this is believable. I l the women's tag division in AEW is is uh uh uh a thing to be um

Admired, studied It's a real thing. It's a real fucking thing. But those two, I was like, I was like, oh, this is fucking great. They they are it's fucking genitonic peanut butter and jelly. This is a great fucking combo, the two of them. Love it. Absolutely love it. Fucking A man.

Where can you kids find you online? I've Vince Averil on Twitter, Vince Daverl on Instagram. This is your old pal Matt McCarthy Saint. Follow me on all forms of social media at McCarthy Redhead. And if you want a membership card to the video garage and access to full unedited videotapes, join the Video Movie Club today. We got a couple of new patrons here this week. Adam Davik. Mm. Adam Davik. Yeah, we're gonna make you a German guy.

And Ciel Perez. Oh, Ciel Perez, we're gonna make you a uh Canadian guy. Yeah. And we thank all of our patrons, and we will see them a little bit later this week. We love ya, and we'll see ya. All right, Big Maddie.