Monday Night Raw/Elimination Chamber Preview/Smackdown Ratings

here on Wrestling Observer Live. We're here every day Monday through Friday, New Pacific three Eastern, Sunday three Pacific, sixth Eastern. Well Tuesday here in this program. You know what that means. Last night was Monday Night Raw, which was in fact the fallout for the Royal Rumble, if you guys know this or not. But in three weeks w w E

is in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For yes, the Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia, and we're going to tell you what they have set up so far, including an elimination Chamber match that involves both Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesner. What does not involve is Shane McMahon because plans have changed again. And yes, we will tell you what some of those plans were and what they may still be or may not still be, so a lot of things change.

We talked about a little bit yesterday, the booking of the Men's Rumble, the booking of the Women's Rumble, the number of people that have been fired that ended up being called to please show up at the Rumble, including Naya Jack's who and no uncertain terms told them to I can't say here on the radio what she told them to do, but she did. We'll tell you about that.

We've got the SmackDown ratings for the go home show, we got the a W Rampage ratings, a full recap of Monday Night Raw, and plenty more lots to get into here today. If you would like to text us, the text message line four to five seven eight zero seven five six six. That is four to seven eight zero seven five six. Brian at Wrestling Observer dot com is the email at Brian Alvarez is the Twitter handle if you'd like to go there and uh and join my timeline and who wouldn't. So that's gonna be the

line up for today. Mike simper Viv joins us after the break. Lots of news to get into and we'll be back with more and momently, shall we just start with raw? Get it over with a lot of news coming out of this raw show. Let's go real fast, alright. So it opened up with Bobby Lashly and m v P in the ring doing a promo, and out came brock Lesner and he was in his gear and he said, listen, you can't be happy about how you won last night.

I mean Roman Reigns, Paul Hayman, everybody interfeared. But don't worry, he said, I will not be choosing you as my opponent at WrestleMania. I will be choosing Roman Reigns, but it will be a title versus title match because I

want you in the ring tonight. And of course m VP would not allow this, and so Lessner started the fans doing a chance which they bleeped out, and they announced that Lessner is going to be in the elimination Chamber match in Saudi Arabia, which means literally, there's only two options here. One Lessner walks out of the chamber as the champion, or two Lessner gets beaten in the chamber. I'll talk about this in a minute, because there's a

lot to talk about there. Rea Ripley beat Nikki ash in eight minutes, four minutes of which it was during the commercial hit her with the riptide pinder clean in the middle. You know, I normally like if I or any other company and say, well, it's ind of that feud, but I'm sure they'll keep wrestling for like, you know, all the way to wrestle me. We had the Alpha

Academy Academic Challenge. Uh, there was a scooter race and last week they were teasing that Randy Orton was gonna have to get on a scooter and Otis as well. But Otis did not get on the scooter. But they literally they did this for like an hour on and aftering breaks, and then right when Riddle was going to cross the finish line, Otis just ran him over and killed him. And then Chad Gable cross the finish line. That was a payoff to this one. Last week's was awesome.

This one sucked. And on top of that, no Randy Orton on the show. And I do not know what is going on with Randy Orton, but I was told that he's gonna be gone for a little while. I don't know why. I don't nobody he'll be back. They're continuing on as if you know they'll be getting a championship match maybe the chamber. So he might have like a minor injury. I don't know, but he wasn't on the show. And uh, of course when they say he won't be back for a little while, he could be

back Monday. But that's what I was told. We had the first of many Alexa Bliss segments. She's been given a replica Lily. It uh sucks. MMS beat Dominic Mysterio in two minutes. If you here they're gonna do Dominic Mysterial versus Miss. You think what a styles clash, Well, it wasn't because they didn't even do a match. MS ran around and then there was distraction. He pretended like he tripped the refugected ray. This idiot Dominic has distracted

and pinned with a skull crushing finale. This did nobody any favors Ko show with seth Rawlins. Seth Rawlins reveals I'm in the chamber. Kevin Owens says, what I have to qualify to get in the chamber, So says, well, I beat Roman Reragins last night. I don't have to qualify. Kevin says, why don't you go to the back and you tell them that if they don't just put me in the chamber, you are going to walk. You're just gonna refuse to to be in the chamber. Rollins like, ah,

he's not damn with this idea. But it's too late because outcomes Kevin Owens opponent, Austin Theory. Austin Theory beat Kevin Owens. I would go as fast as they clean. He kicked the ropes into his genitalia and then hit his finish and pinned him. Austin Theory is now in the chamber, replacing Shane McMahon. Tell you more about that in a minute. Angelo Dawkins and Dolves Ziggler four minutes. It was fine Angelo Dawkins, hometown guy. He won, but

I mean nothing really to write home about. Elimination Chamber qualifying match. Riddle and Otis wrestling was good. It was and I swear and I love both guys. The longest seven minute and twenty six second match I've ever seen in my lifetime. Odas just beat this guy for seven minutes and twenty five of the seven minute and twenty six segments or seconds just went for ever and then Riddle did it come back floating, bro pinned him. That

was a match. Riddle is in the elimination chamber. Bianca bell Air defeated Carmela five minutes and thirty two seconds. Felt like he went five hours, stalling, stalling, stalling, stalling. Match finally starts, Carmela gets the heat chinlock chinlock, chinlock, chinlock, chinlock. Then they botched the spot and then Bianca just grabs her and hit her with her finishing pinzer. Not good.

She wasn't looking good at this point. But then it all turned around because we had aj Styles and Ray mystereo. They went twelve minutes, very very good match, two professionals. The fans got into it. Everything looked good. AJ Styles beat him with the Styles clash, so now he's in the chamber. This is the best thing on the show.

By Miles and Miles and Miles and Miles, and then the main event yesterday, I said, if you look at the storyline here, there is one person the Ronda Rousey shouldn't want to face at WrestleMania after winning the Rumble. It's Becky because last year or they did the three way at WrestleMania and Becky kind of sort of pined Ronda. She was supposed to, but she actually did because Runda got her shoulder up. It was an accident, she didn't mean to get it up and just say they screwed

up the finish and then run to left. And so, knowing all of this, Ronn It should come back and say, bro I never got pinned, I never lost my title. I'm gonna beat you and I'm gonna win my belt back. But instead of Ronnie gets in the ring and she explains, I am the main event over Becky Lynch. Becky is my undercard, so I'm not gonna dignify her with a big match at WrestleMania. I was like what, But then

she doesn't even challenge Charlotte. The Becky comes out, I mean, she's dressed like a fukiguan death and this segment was death and she's in there and she's like doing all the ha ha. Rhonda is supposed to be a baby face, but she looks like she just hates life and doesn't want to be there. This segment was a I mean, when this segment was over, I didn't want to see

this match. I certainly don't want to see run in Charlotte, Like, I don't know what's up with Rhonda, but bro she's out there acting all Healis, but the fans are like cheering her. They cheered the night before, they cheer when she won, they cheered when she came out here. But she hates them, and I was just like whatever, And then she lays out Lynch and then she says, I'll make my decision Friday, even though they promised you'd make

the decision on this show. So I thought this segment was a total swing and a miss, but I rushed to the raw pork because there's a lot to say here. Rhonda is likely and anything can change. She is going to challenge Charlotte. It's gonna be run in Charlotte this year, and it's going to be uh, Rhonda and Becky next year. That's the plan for the men. It is going to be Rhonda Rousey sorry, Roman reigns and Brock Lessner. That's

the Wrestlemanian main event. So what they want to do is they wanna keep Romans strong and they want to keep Brock strong. Okay, so their brilliant idea. The rumble was, well, you know We're gonna have Roman looks strong by beating up Seth with a chair, but we don't want to hurt Seth, so we'll do a d Q and then Roman's gonna beat him with a chair, which, by the way, Seth didn't even sell the next so like nobody knows what they're doing here. So the the Chamber match Brock lessner.

I mean, he either wins or he gets beaten again in their plan to keep him strong going into the match with the Roman rings. I was told multiple times and that's w w E. So this means nothing. But I was told multiple times. It is not title versus title, Roman versus Brock, even though Roman and Brock have done storylines talking about how they wanted to be a title versus. They're telling you what they want, but apparently that's not the plan. So it either is the plan now or

Brock is gonna get beaten in the Elimination Chamber. It's part of the plan to keep him strong going up against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. This is one of those things where they got all these ideas about what they want, but like they have no idea, Like if I want something, you know what I'm saying, Mike, if I want a ribby, do you know what I do? Well, I go to I go to the store and I get a ribby. Okay, these guys want to push young talent. I any times

I've heard Days say this. They know they need young talent. They want to push young talent. Well that's all fine and good, but they have no clue how you know you push a young talent, You push them and they don't lose. These idiots, oh well, you know, we'll give you know, Austin theory win, but then you had to beat him in the chamber. They don't know what they're doing. So the other thing is, yes, I can confirm that as of a couple of days ago, their plan, their

plan for Bobby Lashly the wrestle media was Shane McMahon. Okay, I think that's changed, but that absolutely one was their plan. We'll talk more about this train wreck after the break Observer Live leave check. I've almost done, Mike, so listen Shane. Multiple people told me this that Shane and Bobby Lashley

was discussed. I think after whatever happened at the Royal Rumble or whatever happened yesterday, I think that and I know also because Dave mentioned this that it was then going to be Shane McMahon versus seth Rawlins at WrestleMania, but then, uh, you know, Shane wasn't email on the show at all, so I don't even know if she's

gonna be at wrestle Media. Shane Shane did in fact have heat Sunday, because Shane showed up and tried to run the show for the Men's Rumble and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and had blood of heat as a result. And I don't know if that's the reason that that things changed or or what the situation is. And I like to add, by the way that, um, I don't know if you're aware of this or not,

but I wrote an article for Sports Illustrated. It's on my Twitter at Bryan Alvarez, and I mentioned the Men's Royal Rumble was boring, and uh, I saw some bloke on my timeline go oh. This article was such that it left me actually enjoying the show more than I had. Like, you know, I'm like, I'm such a jerk for saying the Men's Rumble was boring. Well, yeah, we pleased to know that I'm not the only one with the Men's

Rumble was boring. They're well aware that the Men's rumble was boring, and uh there plan is to make sure next year it's not boring. Okay, yeah, you know what, that's easy. I was boring this year, but next year we'll make sure it's not born. How are you gonna do that same way you decided to push Young Island like Cora Jade. Huh. I hear so many things. It's so, oh, well, we know we gotta do this. Oh, we know, we gotta do that. Oh we know we got we'll do it.

What are you waiting for? I'm sick of hearing they know what they need to do because they never actually do it. A go ahead, Mike, I need to take a break. Oh no, I'm not gonna let you do that quite yet, because I'm gonna bait you in by saying I don't even start yet. You were the one that complained on Wrestling Observer Radio last night that Austin Theory got himself a clean win over Kevin Owens Brian Alvarez.

How do you explain yourself, bro, I wasn't complaining that you gotta clean win over I was baffled that of the two of them, Kevin Owens wasn't in the chamber. Okay, because you know what they're gonna do with Austin Theory in the chamber. They're gonna beat him. I even said it during the rest. And they needed they need somebody they can beat in the chamber because it's elimination chamber.

Raise your hand if you think Austin Theories winning that chamber. Oh, nobody, okay, because he's not gonna welld on, hold on, hold on. Brock Lesner can come out of the chamber without the title because he doesn't have to get beat. He can murder everybody, and they could do something stupid. They could do something with the with the USO's and with Roman Reigns and with somebody, some hired hand by Paul Aman. Look, it's not impossible that happens because Austin Theory gets the victory.

I mean, you already have your two wrestleman numine events Brock and Roman Reigns supersedes everything. Then you throw in Ronda against Charlotte. If you put the title on Austin Theory. I'm not saying they're going to do that, but like it's within the realm of possibility. There's a percentage chance you could do that and not miss anything, because otherwise, what do you do? You put the title back on Bobby Lashly. I mean to me, I put the title on Brock and I have a title versus title match.

But they're obviously not going to do that, at least that's not their plan. So if you do at you could actually have all some theory come out of this thing. Is it the worst idea in the world? No? Is it the best idea in the world. No, But you could actually do that, you know. I I don't know if you guys are aware of this or not, but there's this other promotion called a w heard of it? You heard of it? Yeah? You know? Uh, they got these guys are called the Four Pillars, the four Young Pillars.

You know these guys. It was like, you know, there's the Jungle Boy, and there's m JF. Yeah, and there's a Semivara yeah and Darby Allen you know those guys, Yeah heard them? Yeah? Stars, Oh there's stars now for sure, yeah, young fact. You know what they even got like a back hold on pillars, like you know, hold on They're all under thirty. Yeah, you know, m JF is twenty five and like he legitimately is the biggest quarter hour ratings movie that they have. So anyway, you know they

all have in common. What's that, Well, they have this other thing I don't know if you're aware of. It's called pro fight dB dot com. And go up there and check everyone's win loss records. Yeah, you should probably go there and check the win loss records of of all these guys. Bet you're pretty good. Yeah. You know It's funny is they never lose, and when they do lose,

it's very very very rarely. I bet you it's for a reason too, and they win again, and you know there's uh because you know, you know it's what's funny is it's actually not hard unless you make it hard. And I've never I have never in my life. I'm not making this up. I have never seen a company that makes it hard more than w w E never. I have never seen one ever makes it so difficult

to do anything like. I don't know, bro, Look, man, I gotta I got a book written by written by Scott Teal and uh, forget what else it is, but this Amarillo book with wrestling results from nineteen eleven and nineteen sixty historical stuff, newspaper clippings, all this stuff. Guy talks about bringing his four pillars out not even lying to you, is four young stars that he's going to build a proportion around. I'm not even lying to you

about this. This is pro wrestling. It's very simple. It's very easy when you actually plan things out and you think about things, and you give everyone a value, and everyone's got pros and cons and people they can't beat and people they can beat, and just I mean, forget forgetting long to forge by that, I'll make it easier for you. Don't beat him, but but you can hold on. You can beat him, but it's got to mean something. Beatings it doesn't look here. You're not wrong, but I'm

gonna tell you why you're wrong. Okay. In the case of w W each you're right. Okay. If you have anything resembling a clue, you can beat someone, and you can you can make it work. Okay. The problem is they don't have a clue, Okay, So don't complicate it. Just don't beat them. You don't know how to beat them, So don't beat them. Because I'm not I had to

break k fame everybody, but it's fake. Oh you don't have to beat anybody, don't want to, but these guys, and you know it's funny too, is is is there are two theories. There's the first theory, which is don't beat them, and then there's the other theory, which is, well, we can beat them. Well we'll make sure they're in the ring with somebody so they get the rub as they lose. Okay, well, you know what, we've seen one way of doing it for the last twenty years and

they ain't got no stars. And then you've got the other way of doing it, and they built four stars in two years. Okay, So it kind of tells me that whatever your plan is to get over these young stars, it ain't working. But even more than that, it's likely not only four stars. Then it's like you look at like the next surrounding tier Britt Baker, yeah, check checker

win loss. You know, you look at people who came from the outside that WW didn't put any value on, and you look at their records like Serena Deep and thunder Rosa, and you look at how they're treated and you just again it's a W is not perfect, certainly

not perfect. They do a lot of things that make me want to slam my head against the wall, but nothing like w w E. I mean, because at least a e W is still in the realm of professional wrestling and things being booked and planned like every other wrestling promotion on the planet with the exception of w w E. And I don't know how long you want to continue on and what talking points you want to

take away from raw numbers. You know, it's moving numbers for very w whether you whether you like her matches or not, Jade Cardial, maybe her win loss record on don't you compare her win loss record to uh, Cora Jade? Tell me who's moving numbers and who's not? Yeah, you know, Daniel Garcia, Uh you know, is a good example of somebody who can lose matches if you're a young guy, if they're to the right people. And this is where this is where it bumps up a little bit against

what Brian said. But unfortunately, because it's w w E. He's right, you can't oversimple of you know, you need to oversimplify these things. You need to make it as easy as possible. And you know, if you want to throw anything to austin theory now going on to go ahead and win, you know, look strong these next couple of weeks. You got a couple of wings against other people and do it cleanly. You might have something with him coming out of the chamber with the title. Again.

It may not be the best idea in the world, but you know, for what we're talking about in this situation, you know it fits. Now. I am gonna put one positive on too raw even though you keep the segment and it wasn't like last week's. We must celebrate Chad Gable and Otis both together in their quicksilver outfits. That Chad Gable said that we're given to him by fellow Olympians speed skaters who helped him train for this whole deal.

And I don't know what Randy weren't being out, you know, had to do with any of this, probably didn't affect anything whatsoever, considering the whole concept kind of sucked. And then you know, led to the ending. But Otis is still not shakes and waits Otis, But at least they're having him come out of the show a little bit and be somewhat of a goofball and try to regain some of his charisma. And Chad Gable is fantastic. Barn On, he has been great, and he has been an m

v P on that show. And they'll probably kill him death sometimes soon. What he's he's scooting around on a scooter. He's he's And and let's talk about young austin theory. You know those segments with Vince McMahon. It wins a man to be a cheating it's gonna get eliminated in the chamber. And meanwhile, who can we have face Bobby Lashly at Wrestle Media. I got an idea, Shane McMahon. But you know what, you know what we know we

need to make young stars. We do know that. Hey, Brian, you know there's a kid that became a star in a w before he even wrestled his first match. Oh, Hook Hook? Have you looked at Hook's win loss record? Pretty good? Let's look at the Cook's win loss record compared to us in theory. See which one is a star and which one isn't. Back in a moment observer life, Oh I love this story. Here, what I'm gonna read it? Let me get back here? Alright? I scrolled down too

far on that Raw report. During an interview on the Sessions with Renee puck Hat, the former NIA Jack's revealed that she turned out an offer to appear in this year's Women's Royal Rumble match. She was released by w w E during a round of roster cuts last November. On the session she received, she said she received a call from someone in Talent Relations when w w E

was putting together a list of possible Women's Royal Rumble participants. Funnin, which is a real name, said that she thought the call was a joke, but then she was told it was serious and her response was she would absolutely not be in the Royal Rumble. Oh yeah, she said, I did receive a call. I was in the middle of trying to get my stuff back. I had a bunch of crap, you know how that is, Like you should have been shoving stuff and everybody's boxes or whatever. So

I'm in the middle of getting my stuff back. They sent me a box and like more than half was missing. I'm like, yo, what's going on. When I got the call, I thought it was about where's my stuff? So I answered, I'm like, hey, what's up. My homie and tr they were like, hey, we're just calling to see if you're interested in participating in the royal rumble. And I started hysterically laughing because I thought it was my friend joking with me. I was like, Oh, you're freaking hilarious. He

was like, actually, no, this is an official call. And I said, oh, f no, I'm not coming back. And he was like, oh, we'd like to offer you this. I said, first of all, I already know I'm still under my ninety days. You're still gonna be paying me anyway, so you're not offering me anything. I was like, no, I'm not effing coming back, absolutely effing not. I was like, is this all this was? And he said yes, And I said, okay, by what a baby face turn. Let's

not go that far, but maybe a tweener. Amazing, amazing, amazing that you go ahead and you lay somebody off like that who's still under their ninety days, and then go, hey, you want to come back, we'll give you stuff. Get the hell out of here. Mean, look, dude, they called so many people. They just fired. We just fired you, but suddenly we realized we need you. Can you imagine And if you didn't know, there was a Royal Rumble

coming up. Some people it's worth taking the payday. There are other people where it's like there are people that go, well, if that money was offered for you to you, you take it. No, wouldn't. If there was somewhere I didn't like and the people that I worked for I didn't like, and the entire experience sucked, I probably wouldn't go back for any amount of money because I don't just don't like going back and taking that kind of beating again. Just there's other things in this world for me to do.

There's other things in this world for Nia Jacks to do, so she's going out there to do them. And I don't blame her for her response whatsoever. And I'm surprised she didn't curse more. Now with that being said, uh, with all of those kudos to Nia Jacks, thank god she's not coming back, because I don't look, I saw enough botches between Shane mcmannon and Alicia Fox on Saturday Night.

I don't need to see anybody battered about anymore, which was another part of her conversation with Renee where she mentioned she has been hurt by all of the criticism that she has gotten over the years about hurting people. To her knowledge, she has only hurt two people, Becky, which everybody knows about when she busted her nose, and

then one other person who shall remain anonymous. Now, I did see one person that wrote that person's name is Kyrie Alexa Kyrie again and then listed a bunch of names, including Ron Killings because yes, Niajacks still Ron Killings and apparently pissed him off. Uh So, who knows who she's talking about or who the other person is that she thinks that she hurt and was the only other person. But there were plenty of people, both on and off

the record, at least mostly off the record. I guess some have said on the record that they didn't like jiving with Nijacks. Well maybe maybe she only injured two people, but hurt doesn't Yes a good point, good point perspective, I guess some man tis all right. Person says there's an interview on w w e s YouTube page where Round is getting interviewed after the Rumble victory. She's kind of mean to the interviewer and she does a hell like promo saying the fans cheered for me and I'm

not gonna fall for it again, dude. You know what I always just remember when like you know that I was an I'll be right back, go ahead, like be picked on, you know Ronda of like you know just

I she would drive me nuts during UFC interviews. And it's a matter of like sometimes you don't want to deal with the media, and I get that, but there's another thing to be combative with everybody that you come in contact with, and you just have to be, you know, a cold bitch sometimes and in this situation with wrestling, like you gotta be like water sometimes, especially at that level of superstardom and then the position that he wants you shoot to be, and you need to be like

water because if they come out there and they give you a great response and nothing has been cast in die yet for you, I mean, come on, I mean you have go with the crowd when they start turning on you, Okay, then you can change your your act. And somebody has got to get in her head, and I guess they won't to let her know this, Like I don't know, Shana, please Shana talked to Ronda and just tell her to go with these things because this

it's not how w W E booked her. It's not like they may have given her some stuff to say, and that's a problem in of itself, you know, to give her too much verbiage like it is for a lot of people that's written out for She needs to do things more based off emotion. But like, you've got to be able to deal with the crowd, and you cannot.

They're gonna eat her alive. People are gonna eat her alive if they see it's getting to her and this whole thing will not work out in the way they wanted to once again, because again she wants to fight the fans and that's gonna be part of her m O coming back. Here's that's not. Your job is to entertain the fans. Dude, however they take you, figure out a way to make it work. You're rustling. Now here's the problem, bro. This is like when people go Briant's

part of the media, the media. Media, Like, I don't even talk to anybody like other media folks. I don't even know if Mike did a show last week. The point of this is there's no such thing as the media. And you know what else, there's no such thing as the fans. You go to a building and a bunch

of fans turn on you. What you know, eight thousand people turned on you out of you know, three or thirty million in this country, all a sudden because those eight thousand people, which might have been eight thousand might have been like you know, two thousand angry people and everyone else. There's no such thing as the fans. Oh the fans hate me now. It's just like the fans in that building hated you. Maybe you should think about

why they hated you, why they turn on you. Was it was it that you work for a company that doesn't know a book of baby Face. Maybe should be angry at them instead of the fans. Maybe should give it a shot before you just decided that you already hate the fans. I mean, bro, she came back and uh, some guy was like, ah, Brian doesn't know about cry Bro. This wasn't crowd sweeting, you idiot. She They hit her music at the Rumble and that place went nuts. She

won that match and that place went nuts. They hit her music on on Monday though, and by the way, forget Monday. Forget Monday, because this interview happened after the Rumble. She didn't have one fan boo her at the Royal Rumble, and she had already decided I hate these people. I'm

not falling forward again. So she can be picked into a heel versus heel match no matter how you cut it, whether it be Becky or whether it be Charlotte, I should should have made my prediction that she quits before the end of the year because she's getting off to a bad foot. Man, she's getting off on a foot. Is that right, getting off on the bad foot? What's the phrase, getting off on the bad foot? Yeah? You know what I can't just can't wait for, is he'll

run a rousy against Hells Charlotte. I mean, I can't think of a more ticket one. I was gonna say for fan reaction to sit back and watch the comments online. If if you're into that sort of sociology and and playing around, I mean, it's gonna be people are gonna

have a field day with that. And who whatever the other matches, whether it be Rhea and and you know, Bianca or whatever whatever combination you put together, you know you're gonna have people that will go nuts over the heat in Charlotte against Charlotte, and it won't matter because it's WrestleMania and the media and all that sort of stuff, but it probably will not be the critical favorite. What else have we got here? Everybody fan favorite? I should say,

Oh my god, let's see Brian. The promo of the Millennium from Rhonda was quote amazing into quote last night. I'm amazed. Yeah, he didn't like it. I think that's what he's saying. I couldn't understand that, Marcello, try again.

You know who's more believable? And you know, they didn't make it to the level of m m A. But like you look at all these badass women on the indie scene who have some training, you know, or at least are badass pro wrestlers, and it's like, you know, I Ronda really needs to take a tip from a lot of sources, and I don't know if she's going to do that. And I don't know, you know, Paul Hayman, I don't know who's involved in all of this sort

of stuff. But I just kind of the more I think about it, and the more I think how valuable she could be down the line against Aria and against the Bianca and people like that, it's just, you know, it's tough to see it start like this, but hopefully, you know again, I'm looking for silver lining here, so hopefully Shana Baslor can be somehow jump started out of all of this stuff. You know who gets it a lot better is her former stablemate Marina Schaffer, who is

just great on the indie scene. So let's Rhonda more of that? Okay, more of that? Please? Less angry Rhonda, just to be angry Rhonda, mean face with with too much I make up fans O bad? Come on man, stop running promo. Felt like our direction was to seem like she didn't care. It took that to mean she should look like she was barely awake. I think it's just rhondas true that at one point riddle was penciled exactly what this company needs to win the Royal Rumble

on Saturday. Um. I don't know for sure, but I did hear that, and uh, I do know that they changed the plans for the Rumble multiple times, so it's possible. I can't say, let's see what else we've got here. I have three kids and a job until five. Is the Royal Rumble worth my time? I don't know if i'd no play with your kids? Yeah, the rains and Rollins. If you want to watch one thing off the Rumble, it's rains and Rollins. You the ending is what it is.

You already know what it is, so you can watch that. But when it comes to the other rumble matches. If you're gonna waste an hour watching, waste, But if you're gonna go back and spend an hour watching a row or Rumble, this is neither one of those were the ones to do it. Here's the thing, everybody, I apparently enjoyed the Royal Rumble pay per view more than most. I did not think it was great, but I was.

I was entertained enough over over four hours. But if you have a if you have a limited amount of time, then if I had a limited amount of time and it was my job, I would choose to spend the time with my children as opposed to watch the Rumble. Doesn't mean I hate the Rumble or I hate w w E. But if those are my two options, this Royal Rumble or spent some quality time with your children, pick the kids. Now. How about the Rick Flair Royal Rumble?

Was it two or whatever? One? Whatever? How about that roy I don't know if I watched the whole pay per view, but definitely watched that rumble. That was a great rumble. You know, this is a great rumble. Whatever talks about except me Royal rumble. Yeah, oh yeah, the one with Hogan and Warrior where they did the goofy thing. That was good. It was a good rumble. I went back and watched with Tom and it was good. Would you would you miss that on quality time with your

kids for those bro? If I might, never mind, could have frozen Rhonda's contract and forced her to no run is not She's not doing this at gunpoint. And and don't get me wrong either, I'm not saying that they made the wrong decision here or anything like that. Ronda Rousey is a star and no matter who she faces, she should be in the main event at WrestleMania. It should be somebody that they're trying to do something with here.

But again, there's there's gotta be a happy medium here on on how she comes across, because it's not very well right now, Back at the moment. Observer Live right the show. Brian Elbert is here Wrestling Observer Live Mix

and for video also Wrestling Observer dot Com. Brandon Thurston as the quarters for Rampage here, and uh, like I said, let's look at the undefeated Jade Cargill eighteen to fourteen nine, the eighteen to forty nine demo Jade Cargills match with Julia Hart thousand viewers, the high point of the show between even John Moxley's match and Jungle Boy in Luca Source defending the tag team titles in the main event, undefeated Males eighteen forty nine high his Rats segment, Jade

Cargills match in persons thirty five to forty nine high point Jade Cargills match. Let's see what we have here, Males thirty five to forty nine, Jade Cargills match. So it seems to me that, like, you know, pushing somebody as a star, portraying them as a star, never beating them.

I mean, it's just like, oh, I don't know, Brian, if that works better than like, let's look at Austin Theory being and for in his last six and being told that if he doesn't win, Vince McMahon was going to do something to him, leave him in a ball of his own vomit and blood or something like that, and then call his mother. Yeah, No, Jade was not on first he was in the third quarter of the show. For those askings, we are out of time. I want to thank all of you for listening here today, Mike Simper,

VV callers and listeners, and for the studio. We'll see again tomorrow. Everybody, Wrestling Observer Live. You have been listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network, ID Network, I'D network, I'D Network,