Hello there everyone, it's Luke Owen here. If you enjoy this WrestleTalk audio content and you've thought to yourself, hey, I really wish I could hear the WrestleTalk news in audio content, well now you can! If you search for the WrestleTalk network in your podcast catcher, you can hear... the daily WrestleTalk News in audio form. Did someone order their Cody Rhodes well done? Because man, did Cena just cook him?
Thank you. I'm Oli Davis. I'm joined by Luke Owen D.A.D. Welcome to the Raw Review Podcast here on the WrestleTalk channel. If you haven't already, please press the thumbs up button, give us a subscribe and leave a comment down below with how nice it was. Meeting us at the show last night, I'm sure. Thousands of you.
are really happy and lifelong experiences and memories, they said. I mean, thousands is strong. Certainly a good baker's dozen stopped us to say hello. We think there were some other people that were... were sort of trying to say hello but other people kept jumping in their way uh and i've heard from some people who messaged me on instagram to be like i didn't see you and i wanted to say hello but i was too shy so i didn't um so yeah
It was very nice meeting as many people as we did. We should always come and say hi in the future, unless we're in Pizza Express. That's Ollie and Luke's private time. We like to enjoy the pizza. Ollie was very concerned that we were going to lose our spot in the queue system for Pizza Express. We weren't even in the queue system. Well, we thought we were in the queue system. There were people queuing up outside Pizza Express. So we joined...
that queue and then a lot of people came up to us I say a lot you know a few people came up to us to say a lot to say hello and you know some pictures taken and stuff and every single time someone came up you were just trying to inch closer to the door so you could try and get in and as it turns out those people weren't queuing they were just standing outside pizza express so we just wandered in and then got a table you kept saying it's like
There's loads of tables free. It's the British compulsion within me. I feel like I have to be queuing if I see anything that looks even remotely resembling a queue of people. Anyway, I'm sure a lot of folks at home are like... Please talk about Raw.
Some actual huge things happened and you're talking about Pizza Express. But yes, please put your thoughts down below in the comments and send in your chat gables, your El Chatterdoors to wrestletalk.com forward slash support. We'll read out every one of them. over five us dollars uh because we are talking as our main opening point about the john cena cody roads promo where they actually felt like they would build in a feud oh man this was so so great but it's
I loved this promo. People really, really liked that first Cena promo. The heel turn promo he did on the Raw, the one in Brussels. And I was like, it's the best Cena promo ever. I think it's pretty well established. I'm not a John Cena guy. I never have been. If you were to ask me, name me top five great Cena promos, I would struggle to name you five. That's just a personal thing for me. I don't think I could name you five great Cena promos. but that one in the heel turn...
Certainly up there in terms of the best promos I've seen that man do. This, I think, trumps every single one. I think this is the best promo this man has ever done. What I love about it... is that it is the build that you and i have been talking about for the last three weeks the first week was just i turned heel the second week what i was like what do i look like as a heel the second one was
why do I want to win number 17? And this one is, why did I sell out? Yeah. And we've only had him for three weeks and we've not got him for the next two. And I think that he built each one of those to get to this point here. I think this was brilliantly done. I think, yeah, so that first one was just, here's me as a heel now and you can boo me. All that 20 years of pent-up booing you've had and you...
Just give it to me now. So that was like cathartic in that sense. Second promo up in Glasgow. That was more about, like you said, laying out the idea of I'm going for the 17th world title because then I'm going to retire that belt. Yeah, kind of. That's like, oh, an evil supervillain mission. I'm going to ruin wrestling. But it was all very much focused at us. Like, we're the problem. It's an elongated you people motivation.
What I really liked about this one is he made it about him and Cody. It's like this whole, I'm going to ruin wrestling for you, which is a superficial. motivation really when you get down to it that now feels like more of a facade to the real meat of his unhappiness and why he turned heel which is He doesn't like that it's Cody. And all of a sudden you turn this thing, which I don't know about everyone else, I wasn't that emotionally invested in. I thought it was all cool and stuff, but...
Cody Rhodes defending the WWE against John Cena, who's going to ruin wrestling. It was fun. It's a bit one note. Yeah, I don't think it's been helped by the fact that... cody keeps doing his full entrance and doesn't seem all that mad about what happened elimination chamber yeah it's come out smiling glad handing with everyone at ringside i guess someone's like yeah but you john cedar you're a problem
And then he comes out with a blue Peter badge. I'm like, oh, you feel like a dork. Yeah. And even here, like when he came out, because John Cena comes out, same deal as the last couple of weeks. You have the big start of the show, then everything goes quiet. Pew beats. And Cena comes out. He's about to talk on the mic, but Cody's music interrupts. And Cody comes out. He's smiling. And I just thought.
God damn it. Take this seriously, Cody. I don't care if you've got to slap some kids' hands in the front row. This man... Burst your eardrum. He's sided with The Rock. He's a bad guy. And you're here being all fun about it. And then he got in the ring and he goes, well, before you cook me, Cena, how about I beat you to it? Yeah, I've got a lisp.
Yeah, I've got a silly neck tattoo. And all the time I'm thinking, oh, please don't go in this direction. You're undermining the seriousness. This feels very much like bad John Cena.
from back in the day yeah in a way yeah i guess so what i what i loved about this and it's similar with the first promo the first heel promo is it's kind of going against what everyone's expectations are so there's you know wb a terminally online company so they are always looking at what the internet discourse is about wwe and when he turned heel it was like
He's going to get new ring gear. He's going to get new music. He's getting a new presentation. So the first promo was, nope, not getting any of that. I know it's what you want, but you don't know what you want. I'm not going to give that to you. And this one was, Cody Evans would be like, I've seen what all the online discourse is.
you're going to cook me because ever since he's turned heel everyone's been waiting for john cena to cut that john cena promo where he tears apart everything about someone which is usually about the way they look the way they talk and the way they do things
And it's what he did with Roman. It's what he did with Austin Theory. And it was like, I can't wait for that promo. So again, he comes out here and they cut that all because you think that's what you want, but it's not what you need. And so he's like, we're not going to talk about my list. We're not going to talk about Star.
dust i'm going to talk about me going to aew and getting creating my own company and getting booed i'm going to talk about my neck tattoo as i got all of that off the table straight away so what scene was left with was so much more meatier because it wasn't superficial garbage
Yeah, because then Cena was like, okay, I will roast you. And he just unleashed, I think, because I've gone to watch it back. We were there live, of course. So I feel like we had a very different experience of the show, and we'll get into that.
We didn't watch, we haven't rewatched it all with commentary, with all the backstage gubbins. So we might miss bits here and there, I apologise. But this one was, didn't need the commentary. It was just the two guys talking back and forth. And Cena cut this like... eight minute long promo on cody and cody just sat there and took it um but the stuff cena said was so good and so well delivered that by the end
we were all cheering for Cena. That's it, right. And I think that's what everyone's concern was with Cena being a heel. If he becomes cool, then he will get cheered and whoever he's in the ring with is going to get booed. And that nearly happened. It did happen. I don't think it happened to a degree that it's like was the worst dreaded fears of it because people like WWE. So they're quite happy to play into the boo the bad guy, cheer the good guy. But man, there was a...
where that London crowd sort of forgot that was the edict and just were cheering John Cena as he was getting to his big crescendo cheered him and then did boo Cody a little bit when he responded but then Kenny was like the fans chose me and we were like nope that's right Yay, yes, Cody, that's what we're doing. I disagree. I think we cheered Cena because his promo was so good and he started to say real things.
at Cody. This was a shoot promo, a work shoot promo, the likes of which we haven't had in this feud so far. So he said a lot of personal stuff about Cody. And then he's like, that's why I'm going to beat you and become a 17-time world champion. And we cheered. Genuinely. You know, I know the rules. Like, we've got to boo this guy. He's the heel. Impossible not to cheer him. And at that point, he would walk off. And I was so worried.
that Cena would walk off and Cena would be, sorry, Cody would be left there looking glum. Like that sort of, and that's the, that's the angle. And we've now got to deal with low confidence Cody for the next couple of weeks. So I will disagree because I think that the moment was, so Cena's first big chunk of it, and then he ended it with, I'm the last real, I'll be the last real champion.
this home forever and expose you for what you are an errand boy who got lucky and that was like that's the crescendo point and that is when people cheered cena and so when cody then said like
Well, I think what actually got Cody Boo was like, do you know what, John? I think you're right. Yes, that got him booed. And the crowd got him booed. But then when he said the fans chose me, the fans started cheering him again. So I don't think that there was a worry. Because then the segment goes on for like, that's only like the halfway point of the segment. I wasn't finished. I'm sorry. So I was worried that was going to be the end. But thankfully...
From that point onwards, it was a really balanced promo that they should have done way earlier. I disagree that it should have done that. Yeah, I guess so. But Cody has not done anything. Cena's role for the last three weeks has been great, but Cody has not done anything. shown that fire back he's just been going oh wwe's great these fans nothing offended me personally like come on man show something
So Cody initially agrees and says, well, you know what? I agree with you on some points there. And the fans boo because why aren't you standing up for yourself, Cody? And then Cody says the line, but the fans chose me. We're like... We did. But the next line is, you were chosen by a guy in an office who doesn't work here anymore and we're not allowed to talk about. And then everyone's like, whoa!
He's talking about Vince McMahon on a WWE show, and suddenly it's not Cody just being generic one-dimensional babyface. This is a meaty shoot line that's almost more...
more vicious than anything Cena just said back. That's what got us to cheer him. And it's like, because this promo was, you know, we use the word shoots you know they were talking about AEW in this promo right from the very get-go the very start of this and then to again at the end but I just want to run through some of the stuff that Cena did kind of cover because I watched this again this morning just so I could take
some brief notes to remind myself. I've made like two pages worth of notes. I've just transcribed it because it's so good. I'm not going to punch down to your level. I'm not going to protect you. I'm going to bury you just like I've buried everyone else because that's what people say. about me don't this we've been saying for the last 15 years john cena buries talent i don't bury talent i am talent
I don't bury talent. I bury mediocrity. And then poor Wade Barrett on commentary is posted. Sort of sad face. Yeah. He said that Cody has manipulated his way to the top by right.
my coattails i was great in wwe and i let i can't believe that wwe will hand off this heartbeat of an organization to my chauffeur honestly the way he said chauffeur there's there's two line deliveries in all of this um when he says chauffeur and when he says you're just a fan like all of these like it's that the the sort of theatrics The theatrical bad guy that he's performing here is this gear that I've never seen from Cena before. Not on screen, not in wrestling. And it's crazy good. Yeah.
If you really look at some of the verbiage he's got to say here, it is a complicated script. There are long words abounding. It's almost Shakespearean. I just tripped over it. It's written down in front of me. Yeah, and he says it all seamlessly. And parts of me have thought in the day after, like, I feel robbed of having this scene for longer. Yeah, I know. It's like that bit, you know.
Hollywood Rock was only a couple of months long. I hope this scene lasts for a lot longer than that. Yeah, because we've been talking about, like, will he turn babyface before the end of this retirement run? And it's like, well, when do you pull the trigger on that? I've been talking about maybe...
it in the summer and a lot of people saying i kind of do agree it's not long enough like we've been waiting for this for so long to only have it for four months seems like a waste of uh of an opportunity um Because they talked about how they used to ride together back in the day and that Cody would always ask Cena questions and Cena then says in his promo, you just stole the blueprint from me. That's why I did what I did because what you have done disgusts me.
me you stole every secret to be undeniable but you are still underwhelming the that was one of my is that undeniable but you are still underwhelming yeah i loved it and then you know cena did sell cody to be authentic which is pretty mad coming from John Cena, one of the most inauthentic people I think I've ever seen. That's the point, because a lot of those bits there when he talks about Cody, you know, you're like a 16-year-old trying to take a public speaking course, stuff like that.
and being overproduced. Yeah, you're too perfect. I think that's intentionally in there to undermine John, heal John's character credibility because it's so obviously him. as well pot kettle black there's a great moment in this as well and it kind of ties into what he did last week as well when he was talking about the cadence of which he speaks makes you charm what and he said that you rely on lazy gimmicks like fans singing your name and like and
Which is great as well because he then talks about being the Pied... Cody is the Pied Piper, just playing a tune. Cena was the Pied Piper here. He said this line and instantly... 11,000 people in the O2 started singing Cody Rhodes' name. And John Cena just starts laughing at Cody Rhodes. Not at us. Laughing at Cody. Being like, see? Yeah. You're nothing. And also kind of at his own power.
Yeah. Look, you fools. You fools. You've tricked these people into believing mediocrity. Strip away everything and you are just a guy in a pinstripe suit. Again, another line directed at Cena. Yeah. pinstripe suits and all those movie junkets is ridiculously Dick Tracy. You do not look like me. You do not sound like me. You certainly don't work like me. You're too afraid to show who you really are.
Some people have said that's kind of foreshadowing a little bit of a scene. Cody Healton, if you want to go down the line. You're just a generic mix of stars you've ever loved or TV shows you've ever watched. You are like a 16-year-old taking acting classes who's still afraid of public speaking.
You have shown me one thing. Someone mediocre holding something so meaningful nowadays is enough to trick people. I worked so hard to make that mean something, which again is a good heel line because he didn't. He actually... actively worked against that in a lot of ways and the line earlier is like you don't work like me yeah and you know seen as in ring work is objectively bad you're an egotistical nepo baby who has his gimmick tattooed on him for the world to see but it's not where you're
tattoo is it's what it means it means you're a fan just like all of these people and his delivery of fan is perfect and when you lose that belt you can go to fanatics and buy yourself a toy belt because the last real champion is taking that belt home forever
expose you for what you are an errand boy who got lucky and this was like a big sort of five minute soliloquy and yeah we did and i couldn't help myself i was like that was one of the that was an awesome premise the best premiere you've ever done i mean Obviously, I've not been to loads of WWE TV tapings. It's the best promo I've ever seen live. Ooh, yeah, probably.
Yeah, probably. Actually, yeah, now I think about it, it probably is. Because I'm trying to think, like, when we've been to pay-per-views and stuff. It's all matches. It's all matches. When we go to a lot of British indie shows, there's not a lot of promo work there.
this probably is the best promo I've seen live. Yeah, you're right. And I was there for the contract signing on Friday, which was an awesome segment. And Roman was really, really great. Still going on, apparently. Seth was so good in that segment. And that's when Cody was like...
Maybe you're right. But the fans chose me. You were chosen by a guy in an office who's not there anymore and we're not allowed to talk about him. I'm Cody Rhodes. I'm a wrestler like my father before me. I'm not a company creator. like you and i've heard more dick in your promo than there is in your jaws i don't understand that it means i've heard more dick in your promo i think that's just more like that is uh more balls to like to speak up here actually
Oh, I see. I hear more bark in your... I don't know. Look. It made me pop for some reason. The way he delivered it, it sounded cool. And he said the word dick. I was about to say, he said the word dick. He drops an S-bomb later. And that also got the people to cheer because we're quite easily pleased. As John Cena says.
Speaking of being easily pleased, I think this is the most truthful thing that was said in this entire segment here, which is when Cody looked at Cena and said, you want to claim creation for all of this? No, no, no. What you left is a lot of disenfranchised fans who came...
to me when i left and started another place don't act like you cleaned your room before you left to hollywood don't claim that you left this place better than when you found it that is an incredible line it's probably my favorite cody line the promo but just the idea of that using the metaphor of you didn't clean your room before you left for Hollywood it just it really perfectly encapsulates what he's trying to get across here
And this is how you make Cody a proper baby face to everyone. It's he's got to be voicing the stuff that we're feeling against John. Because up until now, he hasn't. He hasn't been asking, but what about The Rock? What about Travis Scott? Yeah. But here he's saying deep rooted things we've been feeling for 15 years. And yeah, it makes me want to root for the guy.
so i think the really fascinating thing about that line of you just left nothing but disenfranchised fans who then came to me is that is it's not exactly true because it wasn't john cena's fault it was wwe as a company became very very bad he was the figurehead of that company on screen because he was the top star from 2005 up until he left for Hollywood in sort of 2018 or so. What happened at 2010 SummerSlam?
The plan was for Cena to lose. And Cena said backstage, I think it would be better if I won. Yeah. Cena is responsible for some of this. But there is always that guy who was at the top who was making the final decisions. And he was the guy. that did drive away fans. Cena is a big part of that because there were a lot of people who stopped liking WWE because they did not like John Cena. Ding dong, hello, I'm one of them.
But the company as a whole was also not good and that drove it away. But what I love about this is that it's kind of like what they did with Baron Corbin. It's not our fault the product's bad in 2019. It's Baron Corbin's fault. It's Constable Corbin. Here it's like... your wwe isn't bad john cena is bad so it stops the company being the bad guy and it just makes a character the bad guy
And I loved it. I thought it was so, so great. He did ask about The Rock, briefly, because he's like, one of us sold our soul to The Rock. And that was pretty much the only mention, I guess. Now, that's it. Because Cena's not on TV now until WrestleMania. Unless we get The Rock on the show. And that means that we will have had a WrestleMania build where all three of them weren't in the ring at the same time. And I find that confounding. But also...
Totally plausible, could have predicted that. Yeah, he said, you are still my hero, but you're also a piece of ass. And then Cena, the little smirk on his face, said... Just like these fans, your brain is full of feces and not facts. Which I think is great. I worked harder from anyone else and I was never protected. Yeah. yeah um he's a bad guy he's a bad guy he's supposed to say these things and then it was like yeah the reason why i've been on top for so long is that no one was worthy
A lot of people stepped up and no one was worthy to take my place. So I decided to take the bullet myself and I take myself out to pasture and retire. On the protected line, you know, obviously we hear that as, well, you were protected. You won every single match for about nine years.
We're going to go through very recently, actually tomorrow, WrestleMania 29. We're reviewing it for our series we're doing at the moment. The whole story of that show is that Cena's had this terrible year following his loss to The Rock. But if you actually look... at his win-loss record. He won basically all of his matches in that year. Got beaten by Lord Tensai though. He did. He beat David Otunga like 20 times.
On TV. And Michael Cole. But when Cena says, I wasn't protected, from his character standpoint, to understand how he's gotten in that warped sense of reality, I see it. Because he's saying, I would go out there and I get booed by all these fans. So I wasn't protected against there. I wasn't allowed to turn heel. That's exactly it. I think that's what he's saying. It's like, I was never protected.
from the fans. But it plays both sides. I think it's wonderfully nuanced. That's it, because then he said, no matter what garbage they gave me, I made it great. Also not true. And then he had what I thought was an awesome line, and this really got the crowd going, was that I make empires for billionaires. All you've ever done is steal money from their kids. It's such an epic line.
I have built empires for billionaires. Wow. That's great. And one thing that's really interesting, you look at this last week or so, you know... WWE clearly still see AEW as competition. They should do. They are the second biggest wrestling promotion in North America. And their viewership weekly is $400 billion as well. And...
you know that's why they're doing the european tour like it is not a coincidence that they are doing this european tour around the time that aw are doing forbidden door literally talking to someone outside the o2 who said that they want to go to rev pro when they do the 13th anniversary show and then said but i don't know
going to go to all in because i'll probably get a ticket for clash in paris i can only choose to do one of the other and i'm like yeah that's that's why they did this and he was like he was like yeah i know but yeah so they do see them as competition but they clearly don't see them as a threat
And I think that's the difference. They don't think they're ever going to overtake them again because they are currently... riding this high because they have been referencing aew on tv so much over the last like seven to ten days you had punk saying that he's worked uh works with children which is the line from he did this thing you had sean spears talking about ricky saints burning all of his
bridges at the other place and uh ricky even saying like oh finally a canadian that likes me because adam copeland apparently had heat with him and stuff um drew referencing the real glass as punk walked by i got booed in a company i created literally referencing tony khan on this show so they're now in a really fascinating period at wwe where they see them as competition but not as a threat so you are getting a lot more of these we will reference
that there is another place but we'll never say it by name but there's also the mjf school of thought where it's like hey I think wrestling's just grown up now, gotten out of the clutches of the mad old billionaire, where it's not going to patronise its audience. It knows there is this other place. We're not going to say the initials. That's it. But we won't treat you like idiots. And actually, a lot of that other place.
stuff can fuel our own characters and stories yeah mjf has got really good you know completely right on there the difference aw will literally say wwe or bruce pritchard or like they will say the names on tv but wwe are doing i think a much smarter way of doing it which is Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Overall, absolutely brilliant segment, and it's really made me excited for Cena versus Cody, which I guess I haven't been up until now. I've been excited for Cena as a heel.
I've been excited for Cody, but I've not been into Cena versus Cody. Yeah, they picked the right time to do it because this is our last one we're getting. We've got two weeks now of Cody Rhodes coming out and saying, I'm going to face John Cena at WrestleMania. Will I get the real John Cena? I can't see that happening. I feel like someone's going to appear.
I think the Rock will show at some point. But yeah, the last point of it was that Cena goes to leave and Cody tells him that no one has ever chanted you can't wrestle at me. And Cena... Goes back to his goofy selling, looking at the crowd. Gets back in. you know goes to leave to fake out cody lays him out with the crossroads and we got a good glimpse into wrestlemania because cena did some terrible selling he is just immediately asleep he just laid there And that was it.
Let's see what everyone thinks on the chat gables. WrestleTalk.com forward slash support. Send them in there. We'll read out everyone over five US dollars. Our moderators have wonderfully titled the chats. Fine speeches. Ross says, was eating at Pizza Express when I saw you guys standing outside so couldn't say hello. Everyone will be talking about Cena. So I just want to say that after that double suplex and kip up from Bron, the arena went mental. He's my guy. Yeah, it was great.
Dwayne Roshambo. The Cody and Cena segment cooked tonight, but kind of disappointed there's been little to no mention of The Rock. And unless the list of Cena's dates wasn't fully correct, we won't get a Cena Rock promo on weekly TV. Yuv yuv.
Love y'all though. Jam that effing jam. So there's every chance we get one of those taped... uh cinematic vignettes you know the football stadium meeting with cody and roman so maybe we'll get something like that which all of them are involved in but i don't think that those have the same impact as like you know
If we'd have just watched this segment on a football field filmed very nicely, it would not have felt the same as being in the ring with a live crowd reacting to it. I agree. I also want Rock and Cena Entourage style. comedy vignettes around Hollywood. Not comedy. Geek of Arabia! So we now know why Cena turned on the fans, how he intends to exact revenge, and why he turned on Cody specifically. But the question of why Cena had to sell his soul to The Rock...
as yet remains unanswered. I feel it lacks the desperation of Austin at X7. That said, the segment was super good. Shots fired back and forth with AEW and Vince catching strays. The invocation of You Can't Wrestle was a hell of a killing blow.
of John Cena continues apace and I'm here for it. I disagree on the idea of the desperation of Austin at X7 because they set that heel turn up before the show itself when Austin said... i want i have to win that title you have no idea what i the lengths i will go to to win that title yeah he literally told you before the show he's going to turn here we just didn't expect it um and it's only then you go back and watch it was like oh man they told us ahead of time he's going to do it so i don't
disagree with that i don't think they had the desperation of trying to justify because they justified austin's actions there this to me i mean i'm now very much on the train of this was not the planet bad blood but you'll you know you go back and watch austin rock and you're like oh my god deborah was rocks
manager for a bit and then when we watched this back in 10 years time oh yeah Travis Scott was involved in that angle James Dobinson I thought Cody matched Cena as well as anyone could except maybe CM Punk it was an awesome mic battle and the good Simpher Uso's segment also finally got me looking forward to that match. No Liv or Alexa on the card yet, do you think they'll be involved? Liv, yes, she'll be defending the tag titles.
But I think Bliss probably postponed again. Will Campbell, great show last night. Also, I hope you had fun. I'm pretty sure one of your fave things about being there was that you got to boo Cena in person, lol. That said, it was a hell of a promo segment, and I'm glad...
they made it personal versus what they have been doing. I don't know about Will, I've been booing Cena at every show he's been on. Yeah, I was doing this in the same venue in 2013. The Deckardame! We saw him last night, attended Raw last night and had a great... Thank you, bud.
small list of people that can hold their own with Cena firing from the hip, so Cody holding his own was very good. Even the man himself smirked in acknowledgement. Great segment, but it's still missing the crucial element of The Rock. I feel like let's just move past. The rock stuff. Yeah, it should be there, but it's not going to be.
Harriet Manga Girl we saw last night as well. Hey guys, the Cena Rhodes promo has been so good and it was fantastic to see it in real life last night. It is now one of the matches I can't wait to see at WrestleMania. It was a... Brilliant go-home promo. Bored Goose. I think Cody felt weak in the promo and didn't break the fine speech curse. I really want John Cena to win the belt and have a mega heel run before redeeming himself and sacrificing himself to defeat the Rock.
I thought Cody didn't feel weak in the promo. No, no, no. Yeah, I thought he actually really... He came out better of that than Austin Theory and Roman Reigns did. He stood tall at the end. Yeah. Gotta remember. King Burbs. Hey, Ollie and Luke. I felt Cody attacked more surface level stuff on John, but at the same time it worked because it made Cody have this edgier look to it, which helped for me. Also, Gunther attacks Cole one of these weeks trying to protect Jay.
be different be fun um i would jump on the that point of cody's stuff was more surface level i think white worked for me is that all of Cena's stuff is also a promo against John Cena. So it's almost doing Cody's work for him, but while also doing it as a promo on Cody Rhodes. I don't think it was superficial, though. I think particularly stuff like the... Vince McMahon picked you. I think that could be argued as a superficial surface level thing.
I feel like that's incredibly substance-filled. But I think more for fans, it was like, well, yeah, of course he was picked. I don't think anyone hears that promo was like, whoa, he was hand-picked by the boss of this company to be the top guy. I was like, no. you'll know that he was on top for so long because the boss picked him to be on top. Well, I don't think that's, I don't think superficial is different from not knowing what we already knew.
Okay, fair. Real Double J, Cena versus Cody is like Pizza Hut versus Pizza Express. Hut was here first, paving the way for faux Italian family meals out. And here comes Express laying it on too thick with its dough balls. does have superior garlic dip, so will remain a Pizza Mania 41. They didn't have the garlic dip last night. They certainly did not, and we went to Pizza Express because someone had a voucher. Uh-oh, 20% off.
friends of mine outside they went hey luke and i was like hey pat and he said he went got the voucher too oh yeah oh yeah got the voucher sunday to thursdays And finally for now, Elmtrez writes, I guess now we know why they are called him John Cena. I don't understand that. No, I'm not sure I do either. Is John because John is... It's like Johnson, like a dick. Johnson. Johnson. Well, maybe someone can explain that to us.
Right, well, let's go through the rest of the show as speedily as possible because we've spent a long time on the scene or opening angle, as we should have. So we were there live. And we can exclusively reveal what was the dark matches on main event. Karrion Kross beat Akira Tozawa? Sure did. My cousin's fiancée is the biggest Otis fan.
Otis is his favorite wrestler. And so when the Alpha Academy music hit, he was so excited and then had his heart broken when Akira Zazawa came out to wrestle instead. And he was backstage. We saw him in a vignette later on. And Lyra Valkyria beat Zoe Stark. Wow. I thought Zoe Stark was really good in that match. Yeah, she was good. That was Lyra.
Yeah, well, Lyra's always pretty good, I think. But Zoe was working pretty stiff. She liked this Snap German. I thought it was really good. And they announced at the start of the show, your dark match main event will be Ludwig Kaiser. versus CM Punk. and you went oh i got too happy continues well because um punk had been pulled from the advertising for that show like he was advertised for you know several shows across the european tour and there were two shows he was pulled from
I think one of them was the Brussels show and the other one was this O2 show. So I didn't expect him to be there. And then someone said outside, I was like, oh yeah, he just posted a photo from Gatwick. And I was like, I think he is here tonight. And then they announced him for the dark match. Actually, my gym buddy saw CM Punk in the gym in Bethnal Green in Muscleworks, which is the same place that...
MJF was working out when he was over. So I feel like they recommended that gym. Or that's the wrestler's gym when they come over. Could be. But yeah, he was... Yeah, I think that was... over the weekend. So he was still in town. When the guy said that to me, I did think it was mad for him to fly back on Friday, or maybe even fly back on Saturday, only to fly back to London. It's not a short flight. Yeah, it's not Will Ospreay's contract.
back and forth all the time. So just one observation from me. Are you going to talk about the video? Oh, you talk about the video. No, please, send me your observation first. My point... is better off the back of you talking about this. If anyone has been to a WWE live show in the Paul Levesque era will have seen this video that they play to hype the crowd up beforehand. It is, I've now seen it twice because they played it before Smackdown and they played it before Raw. It is sensational.
it is basically just prepare yourselves for an incredible live event and you know triple it's been like it's a new era now vince sucks and we're doing things better now it's a good company again and they've got clips of the wrestlers being like hey this company's good now and like the product's really good right
but it's filled with like lots of great wrestling moments from the last like two years or so there's awesome song with it they've got audio clips of give me a hell yeah and if you smell and they're in front of the millions and it genuinely gave me goosebumps on both occasions if that video if that video was on youtube i would watch it every morning yeah because i think it would get me ready for to take face on any challenge from the day it is And it's that accompanied by the...
the feeling of oh in five minutes we're gonna go live it's raw on netflix there's 11 000 people whatever there there's the lights like the triple h obviously really really understands live production at a The topmost level, or at least he can guide a very talented creative team around him for the live production stuff. Every little thing, be it lighting, sound, set.
felt like it was there to make you the most hyped you could possibly be at that exact moment. And that video, yeah, I felt like I was going to climax. When it got to the end, I was like, Jesus Christ. I know. My mouth was open. I was smiling. I was genuinely... in another place for about five minutes it's so incredible and what's brilliant as well is that both you and i had the exact same reaction to the start of it because it opens with triple h and both you and i went
and of course it does very cynical it's that cynical you know he's so humble he doesn't want the spot or anything but he literally opens the video package to be like i'm in charge now and it's great and it's because of me it's great but the rest of the four minutes is just spellbinding the awesome yeah
And it really sets the state for the show. I always said, avoid WWE TV tapings like the plague. Because they are boring. But they really, really... designed it so you have an excellent experience live for raw oh for netflix yeah the smackdown show on friday
Still had the same issues that WBTV did from the old regime. Interesting. Which is... dipping down for commercial breaks the place just going dark for a bit wrestlers coming out then standing around for a while waiting for the next you know for four segments to to run And I don't think it helps that SmackDown is three hours at the moment. Because when Jimmy and The Miz had a match, you could collectively hear 11,000 people being like, I mean...
I do have a train to catch. So if you could bring out the stars for this main event segment, I'd really appreciate it. Well, should I say my sort of on the flip side of this? I think WWE as a live production is some of the... finest cutting edge live experience stuff you can probably do on this planet right now. The wrestling is bang average.
It's weirdly like having all this amazing stuff around it made me notice how formulaic and repetitive all the matches but the main event are. And the main event, you know, was really good. And I think you don't notice it as much on TV because you've got the commentary, you've got this. But man, when you're in there and even stuff I thought I'd really enjoy, like Brom Breaker, Penta versus Judgment Day.
Oh, yeah, it's another tag match where you get worked over for ages and then you make the tag and then they get worked over. You know, I'm not saying I was it wasn't bad. It was just this is.
totally average yeah and of a wwe sports entertainment style what it is incredibly formulaic and all the time i go to live wrestling i'm very lucky it is very very modern wrestling where it's a lot more back and forth and it's not and every match on the card is different generally that's that's the key to it every match feels different whereas wwe it was all the same hell style that's their thing
That's the thing. I'm not really technically criticizing it because I think that's their product and it works incredibly well. And actually, there's something to be said for putting on really easy matches.
like three really easy matches and then having a pretty good main event i think that's it's structured very well in that sense because people were super it's not like people were bored throughout the show because people are always quite willing to wait for the next star to come out and we had a main event that featured ria ripley a massive star and eos guy
a very big star in Bianca Belair, a very big star. So they kind of like, it never felt like it dipped down. It's honestly, it did on Friday during Jimmy and Miz. like it really really did but there was also the feeling of yeah but the main event is going to have cm punk roman reigns and seth rollins and tate mayfair as a ringside so everyone was like really excited you know and rocco's going to be there so everyone was like pretty geared up for that so it's
You asked me, what do you think is the difference between going to an AEW show or going to a WWE show? And my takeaway from being on both of those nights...
and I'm not saying this is a negative at all, this is just my observation of being there, is WWE fans going to wrestling shows are not there to watch wrestling. And WWE probably know that, and thus they can... not have to put on a five-star classic they are there for entrances and singing songs and having a good time and therefore the sports entertainment and their wwe do that so so well
AEW fans, probably when I get into indie shows and stuff, are going there to see the in-ring matches. They're going for something that's very, very different. And I don't think that AEW could do what WWE do in the same way. Well, no, WWE could do it. They just...
not to do it because they have their house style versus what aw their house style and that then appeals to do to two separate fans there is crossover but i think the large portion is is very different but man i was what on both war and smack then was wild to be at a wrestling show where you could feel 11,000 people not be arsed that wrestling was happening. Yeah, so just some thoughts, hopefully.
Non-controversial thoughts. Oh, I'm pretty sure that will be a very controversial statement. I've already seen someone call me. I've just said that that was insulting. I didn't say it was a negative at all. Just a reality. Yeah, that was my observation of being there. So after the Cena Cody segment, we had the New Day come out. They were there for like...
10 minutes, I think, while various segments played. And then we got their opponents. It's a returning Tyler Bate with Pete Dunne. They had a, you know... A standard WWE match, tag match, fun though. And New Day won. which really showed me something because you're like, wow, you are beating Tyler Bate, who's returned from injury in his home country, and you're beating him with the New Day. That says to me, we've got to reheat the New Day because they are going to...
probably win the tag team titles or at least they you know they set up a match uh afterwards because they said we're looking to win these tag titles and the war raiders came out and posed next to them i don't know if that's a wrestlemania match i could certainly being a raw main event
in the lead up, like maybe in two weeks time. It's a shame because you think of where the new day we're at in that December heel turn angle and where we're at now. It's like, oh, it feels like all the momentum's stopped. We're backstage with the Usos and Jimmy says that he's going to beat Gunther because he's just a man and a mania. You're going to do the same, Jay. And I thought, wow, Jimmy beating Gunther now would be a terrible build. I mean, it's not...
I don't think it would diminish the build they've done thus far. It would just be another step on the bad build. Luke, they then played this video package of Cactus Jack versus Triple H at Royal Rumble 2000. And me and Luke just thought... Oh my God, they're inducting that match into the Hall of Fame. Because on Friday, they announced they're inducting Bret Hart versus Steve Austin from WrestleMania 13.
Which, funny enough, I just watched on Friday. I watched it on my lunch break. And then I was like, oh, it's weird timing. So yeah, then they play the video. We both thought, they're inducting this match into the Hall of Fame. Which is so funny, because then Triple H will be going into the Hall of Fame twice this year. And he's already in as part of a faction. Yeah, but actually it was just...
A video promo for Triple H going into the Hall of Fame. Bit of fun, though. Charlie Brooker was in the crowd because Black Mirror is coming out soon on Netflix. My friends saw Charlie Brooker walking around and texted me to be like, I've seen Charlie Brooker.
here, but I don't think he'll be getting the Lewis Capaldi treatment. I was like, dude, Black Mirror's on Netflix. Then we got Jimmy versus Gunther. Kate Nash was shown at Ringside as well. Jimmy versus Gunther was next. Again, this was a... Pretty standard match, I'd say. Gunther took the vast majority of it, and then he had Jimmy beat with a powerbomb, but he breaks the count. He had one with a lariat, but he breaks the count, and he chooses to choke Jimmy to death to win.
Then he starts choking Jimmy out again. This brings Jay down. He chases off Gunther. It's weird where we were because we could see everything. And then we see Gunther walking off. I was like, Jay could catch him. I know, but you move past stuff when it's wrestling. So then the medics attend to Jimmy, and Jay's helping Jimmy out, and that's when Gunther...
has a comically long run back through the crowd. Sneaking as well. And the whole crowd are like, he's there. Jay, honestly, you've got about 30 seconds before he reaches do so. And Jay's like, do, do, do, do, do. Help. But if you watch it on TV, you don't see any of that. You just see Gunther appear from nowhere and attack them. So it works brilliantly on TV. It's just from where we were sat as well, because we were quite high up.
We were watching Gunther comically sneak around to the sides. So then Gunther does this really vicious beatdown of both guys. Incredible. And he beats up a couple of sort of officials around the ringside area too. He cable ties Jay's hand to the top ring rope. And then he gets Jimmy in just out of Jay's reach and beats him up. over and over again that Jimmy is bleeding a gusher from his forehead, and Gunther just rubs it over him like it's moisturiser. Yeah.
My favorite bit of that, though, is when he took a bit off his chest, licked it, and then spat out because his blood's not even good enough for the ring channel to drink. I... I'm so thankful that the second half of this happened because I was there and I watched Gunther beat Jimmy with his wrestling moves.
And, you know, it was like, oh, you know, the way that like, you know, security run down. And I was like, I mean, he had a powerbomb and a lariat. It's like, yeah, he does that in most of his matches. I don't think we need EMTs to come down and check if Jimmy is okay.
chased him off and i was like this angle really does need like this feud needs something here and then we got it in that second half and even in that second half because he like power bombed one of the lads onto steel steps i was like that was way more devastating anything he's done to jimmy in all of this but then he like the choking out jimmy the making played by hitting him with the steel with the title belt and stuff i thought this was a great
great angle i am concerned there's still two more weeks it's also a fascinating angle and it's got nothing to do with any of the story they've told previously which was i don't think i can beat gunther yeah now it's well i guess jimmy is very much like jay They share a lot of DNA and Jimmy has not beaten Gunther. And now it's just a personal thing. He's now looking for revenge for his brother.
But I think this angle was needed because this story has had absolutely nothing going for it since Jay won the Royal Rumble. This was interesting for me because this is a TV angle. And from where we were, we could see everything happening. And it was like, oh, wow, this is a good beatdown from the cable tie onwards. But we couldn't hear all of the talking between the guys in the ring. So having watched it back on Netflix and Jay's screaming and Gunther's saying things.
it heightens the intensity way more. And Michael Cole's commentary, to add to that as well. This was an angle that was better on TV than it was live, and it was very good live, but it was really effective with the TV production. So we watched Triple H. cactus jack on our lunch break uh and there's a whole bit where cactus jack is handcuffed i thought huh why didn't they have handcuffs for jay here rather than cable ties and then we're like
Maybe that's a bad look, considering all the DUI arrests Jay's had. You said we. I didn't put two or two together until you mentioned it. But I thought they'd just do zip ties because it's... It's visually interesting. And it's not like someone's got to uncuff him or anything like that. I thought it was a really, really good angle. Then we're backstage in the Judgment Day house. Finn says he'll win tonight and he'll bring home the IC title, unlike you, Raquel.
And then we got Penta and Brom versus Judgment Day, which was Dominic and Finn. Penta's entrance looks way cooler live than it does on TV, and it looks pretty cool on TV. It is. exceptional all of the entrances are so good i would say even the judgment day's entrance i was like this is pretty cool actually that was you know
We always make the joke that, oh, they've been death-rebelled. Apparently, like, Harriet Manga Guild was in the old chat earlier. Someone said that behind her when Zelina Vega came out on SmackDown and was like, nope, she's been death-rebelled. I... didn't know i there was no point where i was like this is a death rebel yeah yeah because i think all the entrances felt really really cool i was like i actually think these are all pretty rad even the judgment day
So Pentacle worked over. Again, sorry to be a bit down on the actual in-ring stuff. It's all right. I think I said something that people have found more offensive. So everyone is now going to completely bypass what you said. Oh, what did you say? The majority of fans were not there to watch wrestling. You've spoken for the people. Spoken for a portion of the fans, yes.
Sorry, I should have covered you. You went for your drink before I went for mine. I'll pick up. So Bronn got the hot tag. Bronn accidentally spears Penta. Same sort of format as usual, quite predictable. But then Finn pinned...
Penta, which is Penta's first pinfall loss in the company. You said Pinta. Yeah, good joke. So yeah, I don't know how I feel about that. I didn't... particularly like penta losing in the three way and not getting pinned i quite like it because i think it's balor and jay balor and dom needed to win this match
And I think Penta is the better person to pin and not Brom Breaker, don't pin the champion. You could have done it because then you could have had Finn being like, we just pinned the champion, we should have a little match now. But rather he pinned Penta and he's backstage with the Judgment Day being like... I just pinned Penta and I think I should have a title match so now he's going to have his title match and Liv says to Dom
I think really, he didn't win the match, you won the match. I think you should also be going for the IC title. I've got no issue with them pinning Penta. I was surprised, but I've got no issue with it. I really like Lady MacLive's character. Right to right now.
sort of manipulating tom it's better character than she's had for the past i don't know five years uh chad gable's backstage with adam pierce uh talking about how good that america a grande americano is and chad said he's sick again so he can't next week. And Pierce goes, oh, but next week's in Minnesota. And Chad's like, that's my hometown. Maybe I'll be okay. It was very fun. But Pierce books Grande Americano for next week.
They Chad walks out and Otis is right there. And it's because Maxine wants to talk about a tag team with Natalia. And then they just it's like. It didn't feel like the end of the segment. It felt like they were going to continue to talk about that because they were talking, didn't fade down or anything. And WWE, for us live, just went...
Cut. Cut to the next thing. No one cares. Boring. They've heard the word Natalia. They'll stop listening. It's quite funny. It was quite funny. Penta was angry with Bronn backstage because of the miscommunication. Did I say Fenta or something? I don't want him saying that in the chat. Did I say Fenta instead of Penta? I didn't hear Fenta. And then we got AJ Styles and Logan Paul having a face-to-face. As much heat as Cena and Cody got, I couldn't hear Logan Paul.
do you know what was really interesting for me about this is i think this is one of those ones where live it was better than it was on tv because on my way home i tuned into fightful's post-show and it just so happened i tuned into sean was talking about this segment and then i um when i got to my train station i then tuned into denise salcedo and santi's after review of it and they were also talking about the segment and they were really down
on this and like it's from from what i can gather not a lot of people were into this segment but i think we there live had quite a lot of fun with this segment because we were just chanting things at logan pulling him so loudly we couldn't hear what he was saying uh prime is s word
was probably my favourite, but YouTube Wanker was in it too. I don't really know what they were talking about. Logan Paul just kept calling us poor, like picking out... people in the crowd you're poor you haven't got any money which was quite funny with those ticket prices what he was essentially saying was like it's really expensive to buy tickets for this show and now you've got no money um and then they brawled at the end and aj no
Logan stood tall. Like it was genuinely not a great segment because there was nothing really of substance in here. But we as a live audience had a lot of fun. The main event was Rhea versus Io with Bianca Belair as the special guest referee. Bianca sort of did... some officiating early, which showed that she was being fair to both sides. Like she pulled Io off at one point and she pulled Rhea back at another. And then in the final, again, like I've seen this match. I loved it on TV.
Watching it live, I felt like it took 10 minutes to get properly going. Yeah, with a hot crowd that were so into both of them that I don't think it matters too much. But by the final third, I was like, oh, this is like... a modern wrestling match outside of wwe that i would watch so i think wwe are aware that that is the best style but they just save it
for the very end of their shows yeah because the rest of it is the opening someone does a dive to the outside you go to commercial break i think that is what a lot of your like your bang average thing is is that it's what they do in the commercial break which is
nothing a bit of that but I think it's also formulaic I think there's every tag match is the same and also there's even in singles matches you don't get the back and forth it's working over it's built and that's how that's WWE style always has spin i think chad gable matches stand out in that sense because i think he his matches do feel have that more back and forth style well i didn't get that here um but we got yeah so then they did start to go back and forth a lot and it was
Really good moves back and forth. Rhea head-butted Io out of midair, which was awesome. That was great. She also hit a razor's edge because of a... Terror Twins? Terror Twins buddy Damien Priest using his moveset. But then Bianca got bumped from Rhea and Rhea hits a Riptide. and gets a visual tank out. She should be the new champion, but Bianca gets in the ring, and she pulls Rhea off of Io because she's beaten her up too much, and then Io missed a top rope dropkick.
Hit Bianca instead. And Bianca's like, I've had enough. Lame double DQ. Yeah, the finish was rubbish. Yeah, and then the crowd didn't like that. We weren't meant to like that. But then they all had a brawl and Rhea stood tall at the end, and people cheered that. Yeah. We got what we wanted, I guess. Yeah, I feel this is not a great way for us to get to the three-way at Mania. But it is our way for us to get to the three-way at Mania. How do you do it now? I don't know. Adam Pearce.
Something something Adam Pearce. Just makes it official. He's looking at singles matches and he's like, I haven't got everyone on the card yet. Can I have more multi-man matches? And that's how it's going to get Rhea Ripley added into this match. Well, overall, I thought this was...
a really fun, interesting show to watch live. And the main event was good. Watching it back on Netflix, the Jay Gunther angle was really good. And that opening segment... genuinely a privilege to have been a part of that and seen that live so so incredible yeah well one of my one of my favorite Like I say, it's the best promo I've ever seen live. It's one of my favourite... Is it the best segment of the year so far? Yeah, I'd say so.
I think so. I mean, apart from maybe on TV, because the actual heel turn at Chamber will probably rank above it. But as a TV segment, as a promo segment, yeah, it's probably my favorite one. And that does come off the back of that... contract signing segment on Friday, which I absolutely loved. I thought it was so, so great. And I nearly missed my train because of it.
And I think if I'd have missed my train and got stuck in Tunbridge, I would not have minded because I saw that great contract signing. And then, yeah, this one here was just an incredible way to open the show. And it really set me in such a good mood for the rest of it. I thought it was...
a masterful segment. I gave it 85% overall, but you can have your vote. The poll's gone live in the chat now. We have already done all of our Pledgehammer shoutouts for March. We're in a new month, so that's all still being processed. But thank you to...
everyone who supports us go over there now be a better pledge hammer patreon.com forward slash wrestle talk where what was the most recent thing that went up there well monday night war early access is live now yeah we've got a new episode of three counts coming this weekend uh which is reviewing Wrestlemania 40 in three words or less slash viewer and I've just remembered tomorrow we're not going to do a news episode and it's place we are doing reacting to our Wrestlemania 41 predictions
from before Royal Rumble. Yeah. So we did a video back then, and we've gone back and looked at what we booked, and it's all wildly off. It's not wildly off. It's mostly wildly off. I think we actually did all right. broadly. But over on Patreon, we're going to be looking at, you might remember this, long-time viewers, we did a video where we predicted WrestleMania 41 way to in advance last April. So we're going to be looking back at the cards that we booked there.
to see how wildly off we were. And in some cases I was wildly off. Both of us were wildly off. But yeah, patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk. Let's do our remaining chats. I'll leave them to you. Ben Vlerick here said, Yes, Mania seems a little too much Mania 2000. Triple threats, fatal four ways. Lyra potentially teaming up with Bayley to go for the tag titles. However, we all know damn well that the women's three-way will be...
awesome i am proper hyped for that one title match on the raw post show chamber was awesome the little sequence all three had on raw was cool and this match here was fun i think the mania match has the potential to be in all time and just give them 15 to 20 minutes do uh do wonder
where it'll be on the card. Confused by Rhea's heel vibes, she's still too hot as a face. Bianca's gone quite stale as a face. She is getting more booze. She's never been a heel on the main roster. Might be time. I'm sure she'd be great at it. Here is hoping. I agree with a lot of that. Ben to be honest because I think this match it's one of those it's Bianca and Sasha
That build sucked, but the match was awesome. I think the same thing could happen here. Build might not be great, but man, that match at Mania is going to be superb. I've enjoyed the build. I think the time for Bianca has passed. I thought, turn her heel against Jade. But they went with Naomi instead. There's still time for Bianca to be involved in that. I would say of the three people...
I don't think she was booed outright by the crowd in London, but she was the one who didn't feel like the biggest of the babyface. People were super into Rhea and Io, and Bianca was also there. So I would be an advocate for turning Bianca heel. Kevin said...
be the bearer of bad news but the last time jimmy got beat down by a world champion in the lead up to a jay title match he turned on jay at the title match so gunthorpe winning at mania confirmed well tune in to this weekend's three count maybe One of these guys thinks Gunther is retaining.
Christopher Hines said, Hi gents, loved this week's show. They definitely took their foot off the brakes last night. Sina Cody to Gunther J had me on my feet. Also, my wife. And I couldn't stop laughing every time Logan tried to speak. Well done to the crowd and yourselves. Thank you. you
Samuel here said, hi, Luke and Ollie. Just wondered what with Bianca being booed for the third week in a row, is it time to finally convert her or is it simply just European crowds preferring Io and Rhea and she'll be fine when she's back in the US? We'll find out.
Yeah, I don't remember her getting many boos over in the States. I don't recall so either. Can I tell you a funny story, actually, from SmackDown? So, Dave Bradshaw... said to me on thursday he said i don't want to sound like i'm a curmudgeonly old man i'm actually getting a bit sick of these european crowds um
Wouldn't want them to be too hot. Well, that's what I said. I was like, oh, because they're having fun, Dave. That makes them bad. You're such a conventionally old man, Dave. Look at these European crowds. They're having fun. And on SmackDown, during the Secret Harvest...
versus party girls match i was with uh luke morton from kerrang magazine and i told him that story and we both loved we were like yeah dave being this curmudgeonly old man the second we finished that the crowd stopped paying attention to the match and we're chanting for chelsea football club Because Chelsea Green was at ringside. So everyone was standing up and going, stand up if you hate Tottenham. And I was like, well, they're not helping my point.
Some guy here said, maybe this is just me, but with the imminent Phoenix debut, I'd love to see Icy and US title wins for both Penta and Phoenix at Mania, then maybe reunite as a tag team with both mid-card belts. Dunno, I just feel like that'd be very interesting. That's way too much.
to put both mid-car belts on them like that i'd say yeah i think it's also a bit soon to be getting phoenix into that u.s title picture which you very much got uh cooking up with jacob la knight and braun stroman the milkman who says hello said man that scene of promo and the heel turn
in general, is giving Flanders Snaps Energy a real diddly ding dong crap vibes. Loving it. All just missing is some fleshing out from the rock now. It's not going to happen. Plasma here said, off topic, so feel free. But have you guys watched any of the LFG show? I'm a newer wrestling fan, but I've been really enjoying it. Kind of weird they pull back the kayfabe curtain, but it's still fun. I've not. I've not, actually. Apart from a few segments here and there for the news. Maybe I should.
Rafael Garcia said, it occurred to me yesterday that WrestleMania falls on Easter weekend this year. Not me. I had to break the news to my mother that I'm not going to be there for Easter holiday this year. Can't wait to see who comes out as the bunny on night two. I think I've reached Old Man Who Yells at the Sun. I agree. I agree. Yet you called it cook on the thumbnail today. Yeah, I didn't know what else to put. Cook, Pure Cinema.
I'm done. I saw someone in the chat said I was rage baiting with a clickbait thumbnail because they pointed out they cooked each other equally. There was equal cooking. I don't think that negates the first cook. Casey here said, hi guys, serious question here. If Ollie loses the £20 bet, which he already has, does he owe Luke one £20 note or two £10 notes? Personally, I think he gets off easy if it's the former. Love the show. Thank you. Four £5 notes.
Yeah, you have technically already lost that bet. It's still time. It's a main event, even though they've announced both of the main events now. It could be a co-main event. it'll be one of the main events uh big john's world here said hey guys i traveled from wales by myself for raw in a spur of the moment decision and i was so anxious when i saw you guys i came over and i was so nervous i just bled it out thank you wrestle got me through the lockdown so awesome
awesome meeting you thank you so much yeah that was so nice thank you uh finley here said thanks for keeping me company while i hoover at my s word minimum wage lads you're welcome italian josh uh said hi lads oh sorry um It sounds like your minimum wage job really sucks. This is for free. You get this for free. I know. I should save it. You get this for free, man.
Italian Josh here said, Hi, lads. Last Monday, unfortunately, I was working, but I now try to pop in and say hi every Tuesday so I don't upset Master Oli. No B for my freeloading for the past seven years. Lol. I feel Liv is getting okay reactions. Definitely. Yeah, she's like one of the stars of this European tour with the Mona, Liv, Sir, or whatever it's called. Yeah. She put on good matches and she has gotten to strengthen her character. Jimmy out here reminding us that he's...
better on the mic and in the ring than jay did the wrong uso become main event also i'm so glad that new day is going to become the tag team champions in brussels the war raiders while on the main event prenings not even in a segment revitalize this division now i'm so glad you got to enjoy
all together. Love you, lads. Thanks, Italian Josh. It was lovely, wasn't it? It was a really nice time. Elmtrez here said, generate an image of John Seeneth, Cody Rhodes on the swing set holding hands. They both have chocolate chip, ice cream, waffles.
cone. Jonathan Punneth dropped this. Pitbull, Mr. Worldwide is there. Cool. Kuzu here said, very interesting analysis on the difference of WWE and AEW shows. I've been to both shows myself, so it's good to hear someone else break it down. AEW shows feel like they're trying to get the... crowd into the wrestling itself while WWE shows are vibes yeah I think that's a fair
And I do want to just stress again, even though I know no one will clip this bit out of context, they'll just take the other bits. I don't think either is wrong. And I don't think any fan who just wants to go and cheer the entrances, because I did it last night and I had a great... time the entrances were awesome they're so good i don't think either of those wrestling fans is wrong yeah it's it's not
We're not saying it's a bad thing that you don't appreciate the main part of the show you're meant to be watching. But it's not the main part. In WWE, it is not the main part. Like, I think Guerrilla Position... The promos and the entrances. Guerrilla Position did this really well. Wrestling is not... Like, their stance is...
wrestling is is not enough you can't just get by on wrestling alone you need all of the other stuff around it which i don't think is an incorrect way to to look at wrestling but there is another wrestling company that has been mostly just wrestling and they have been doing very well off the back of it it's it's it's you know
Different strikes for different folks. I don't think either is wrong. I'm just really making sure that I'm getting all of this out now because I just know that someone is going to clip out of context. It's already clipped. It's already clipped. It's already done. Real Double J here said, you mentioned best promos you've seen live at the start. My first ever...
WWF show was Raw at Madison Square Garden where on my birthday where Taz turned heel on JR with the immortal line I'd slap you in the face but God beat me to it still pops my down oh wow some guy here said also regarding the probable multi-man match for the IT title if Bron doesn't do Steiner math about it I don't want it that would be amazing
but probably wouldn't be the best fit for Breaker's character. And Charles Berg here said, if Paul White drove John Cena around, he'd be the big chauffeur. Oh, because big show, chauffeur, very good. Charles Berg, as usual. Thank you very much for your puns. Also, I believe as well, someone said in the chat that John was like, now I know why I call him John. John's another word in America for toilet.
oh okay going to the john gotta use the john uh well thank you very much for joining us here today and for all your chats there let's have the result of our poll end of this poll it is a very positive one as well as it should be 82 thumbs up 14% in the middle. Yeah, great. Great opening segment and the rest of the show was pretty decent too.
I would say that it was an incredible all-timer opening segment and a very good beatdown angle with Gunther and Jay and the rest of it was also there. Main event was very fun. Finish sucks. But yeah, please go over to the rest of the news and watch that if you haven't already. Remember, tomorrow we've got us reacting to our WrestleMania 41 predictions that we did back before the Royal Rumble. So stay tuned for that tomorrow. But for now, I've been Oli Davis. It's been Luke Owen DAD.
On BBC iPlayer... The last five years has just gone bam. Stacey Solomon and Jo Swash are opening their doors to their home. People's Cottage is a lot like our relationship. Constantly working on it. And their perfectly imperfect family life. We have more arguments parenting together than we do parenting separately. I'd like to get myself down to the level of the kids. You bring them down! Stacey and Joan. We all look back at this time and we'll be like, oh.
That was a magical moment. Watch on BBC iPlayer.