Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.
Live from San Francisco. I'm a sports byline broadcasting network. You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with your hosts, Brian Alvarez and Mike sempervb.
Right, you're ready, where you're ready, Let's get it off.
How's it going, everybody? Brian Alvarez here on Wrestling Observer Live. We are here every day Monday through Friday, New Pacific three Eastern Sunday three Pacific sixth Eastern Saturday Mornings with Jim Valley, Today Pacific one Eastern Sundays with andrews Arian. And it's Tuesday here on the show, and you know what that means. We got a lot to talk about here today. Yes, I am here actually in Lovely Canon Beach, Oregon. Here today for the next couple of days, half vacation.
I'm still doing all the normal work except for yesterday's Observer Radio. Thank God for Garrett. But anyway, we got a lot to get into here today. It's Tuesday, and so we got NXT tonight and NXT is actually a go home show sort of the NXT tonight is they got a six man tag involving Trick Williams, Joe Hendry, and Mike Santana, all of whom are facing off for
the TNA title coming up on Sunday at Slammiversary. And as always, whenever there's anything T and A related to talk about, we're lucky enough to just by coincidence, have Landstorm as the co host here today, so we're gonna talk about that on the program. We got raw from last night, which included a gauntlet match to determine the challenger for Gunther at SummerSlam. We'll tell you about that. We got Impact in Slam a versary lineups for the
next couple of days. A match has been announced for tomorrow's Dynamite, which is interesting and I'll tell you why. We've also got notes on the Goldberg retirement rating, which I really got to talk about, and I'll tell you why when I get to it and SmackDown on Friday, and plenty more. If you want to text us here today questions for Lance or myself, you're welcome to do so. Four two five seven eight zero seven five sixty six.
That is four two five seven eight zero seven five sixty six at for W online at gmail dot com is the email I'm at for W online, Threads, Instagram, and cameo at Brian Alvarez on ex and Blue Sky. I could have won with more Observer Live.
Sometimes I'm holding in my head the American silver Eagle dollar. It's a beautiful piece of American history and it's one ounce of silver originally minted in nineteen eighty six. These coins are a beautiful, classic piece of American history and they're a great investment you should add to your portfolio. The beauty of silver is that, however much you have available to invest, silver is affordable and easy to acquire,
with one coin costing around thirty dollars. So if you choose to invest a few thousand in silver, you can get quite a bit for your money, and you'll have a tangible asset that you can hold one you can be proud to own. Claim your piece of American history with American silver Eagle dollars. Call the Silver Hotline right now.
Eight hundred six two oh one six two four eight hundred six two oh one six two four, eight hundred six two oh one six two four. That's eight hundred six two oh sixteen twenty four. Keep listening for an exciting offer from us MAD. If you're living with diabetes and using insulin, you know the pain and inconvenience of pricking your fingers over and over again. By wearing a small remote device called a continuous glucose monitor or CGM, you can reduce the pain of pricking your fingers right away.
If you're testing your blood sugar four or more times per day, injecting insulin three or more times per day, or using an insulin pump, call today and learn about the latest CGM technology. Call eight hundred two two three four nine seven nine, eight hundred two two three four nine seven nine. We'll tell you all you need to
know about cgms. A CGM can immediately reduce pain, it's accurate, easy to use, it helps you make better diabetes treatment decisions, and with insurance, you can get a new CGM at little or no out of pocket cost. Call now to learn more eight hundred two two three four nine seven nine, eight hundred two two three five four nine seventy nine, Plus get free shipping and we'll bill your insurance company
for you. Cgms are the newest in diabetic technology. They can help you stay in range and manage your diabetes better. Call now to receive your new continuous glucose monitor at little or no out of pocket cost, and delivery is free. Remember if you're testing your blood sugar four or more times per day, injecting insulin three or more times per day, are using an insulin pump, call today and learn about the latest CGM technology. Eight hundred two two three four
nine seventy nine. Eight hundred two two three four nine seven nine, eight hundred two two three four nine seventy nine. Copes and deductibles may apply. Call eight hundred two two three four nine seventy nine. That's eight hundred two two three forty nine seventy nine sponsored by US Medical Supply.
You were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez and Mike semperviv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Are the show Bryan Alvarez here, Wrestling Observer Live. Oh, Lance Storm is joining us here today. All Lance Storm, which is my favorite nickname for you, Lance. What's going on?
Not too much? Finally, stop raining here in Calgary.
So it's been raining, oh all.
Day yesterday, like for like twenty four hours straight, very wet.
Wow.
Well, Lance, we haven't talked to you since since this weekend. What if anything did you watch on this wild weekend?
What did I watch? I watched the Goldberg retirement match. I was curious to see it and see how we did. I've always liked Bill and got along with him, so I watched that. Thought it was quite good considering his age. I thought Gunther and he did a great job. I would have liked to have heard his entire speech at the end. I'll probably track it down at some point. But yeah, I saw a few clips of a few matches.
I saw all of Monday Night Raw last night, but I didn't actually watch any of the shows other than the Gunther match.
Well, I want to mention the Goldberg retirement match rating because it's kind of interesting actually, because everybody was talking
about all of the shows this weekend. Okay, so you know, we had this big kind of debate on Observer Radio about like what's the point of all of this, Like everyone's trying, Oh, we're gonna do this show to counter this show, and it's not nineteen eighty eight, and I can watch this on this device and I can record this to watch it later, like, is anything really affecting anything else? You know what I'm saying. And you know, AW ran their show, which ended up being an eight
hour show. There was actually seven hours of wrestling on
the show. The first hour of the pre show was only talking, so if we're talking about just wrestling matches, they ran seven hours of wrestling matches and it actually cut into the beginning of Saturday Night's main event, which originally, you know, they didn't really want to go head to head with Saturday Night's main event, so they moved it, but then they went head to head with Saturday Night's main event for the main event anyway, so everyone's talking
about will it affect Saturday Night's main event? Will it not affect Saturday Night's main event? You know, blah blah blah. So the Saturday Night's Main event number did one point four million viewers, and it was down twenty seven percent from the last Saturday Night It's main event. Okay, Now, the moment you hear that, obviously your first thought is, wow, maybe all In actually did effect Saturday Night's main event.
The show is down twenty seven percent from the show in May, and it did have the retirement match of Bill Goldberg. Now we don't have the quarter hour ratings, so we can't really determine, you know, because all In didn't go headhead with the entire show. It just went head to head with the first I can't remember half hour or something like that. So but here's here's the notable thing about this. Okay, yes, this show was down
twenty seven percent from the last show. The last show in May did two million viewers and a point five to four. Okay, this show did one point four million and a point three to three. So that's a substantial drop, and if you want to, you probably could argue that
all In heard it. However, However, the first Saturday Night's main event in December of twenty twenty four did one point six million and a point four the second one in January did one point four million, one point four to nine million and a point three to three, and the one on this past Saturday to one point four million and a point three to three. So what actually happened. I'm not saying that all In did not affect Saturday
Night's main event. Maybe it did, But what actually happened if you look at the last four episodes is for some reason. The May episode just did surprisingly well. The July twelfth show this past Saturday actually did virtually exactly the same as the show in January, and only a little bit below the show in December. So while it is down some stantially from the last show, really the last show was kind of the aberration. The last show did an extra half million viewers above all of the
other shows. So I don't really know what the answer is. We don't have quarters to really make the determination, but you know, you can say that going head to head with you know, parts of all Out, the show was down twenty seven percent from last time. But you could also look at all of the ratings for Saturday night's main event and say it's actually, it's actually more likely that what happened was May was just substantially up for reasons I cannot explain, but anyway, that's the number.
I think.
Also, too, traditionally aren't television ratings on the weekend traditionally lower during the summer, Like, do we have a summer number to compare?
No, because they just started back up again in December. So when you only have two winter numbers, a spring number and a summer number.
My kids are out of school, whether it's good people vacation, chance that people just turnt home on a Saturday as well.
Well, the SmackDown on Friday did well. It was up twenty percent from the previous week. This was the show that actually went head tohead with the Ring of Honor show. Although I don't think anyone, I don't think anyone thinks that the Ring of Honor pay per view is going to affect SmackDown. But this show did one point four million viewers in a point three to seven and we didn't even talk about this on any of the shows this weekend. But on SmackDown Friday, the Wyatts won the
tag team titles. So I talked about this before the match, actually because I didn't think the Wyatts were gonna win the titles, because you know, the Wyatts had been off TV for a long time, and their first match back, my god, they had an atrocious match with the Motor City machine Guns, which filthy Tom. It is current state and me and my current state, we would have had a better match with the MotorCity machine Guns. This thing was just off the rails. It's almost impossible to have
a bad match with the MotorCity machine Guns. But like the Wyatts, particularly Dexter Loomis. I mean, this poor guy had probably the worst night of his career. And I was talking about this prior to the tag title match, because I said, you know, one difference between you know, Triple H and Vinces. If they would have had that match and Vince was in charge, I mean, like that's probably the end of the Wyatts. I mean, he would
have pulled the plug on them immediately. But the thing with Hunter, you know, whatever you want to say about the guy, like he'll have his plan, he'll have his storyline, and you know, ninety five percent of the time, he's just gonna keep going. And so you could see, like when they brought the Wyatts back, the idea was they're gonna run through that tag team division. All of the other tag teams are gonna be fighting amongst themselves, and like the Wyatts are are gonna end up winning the titles.
I mean that's what it looked like when they started the thing. Then they had that horrible match, and so like I just thought, I don't know if they're gonna put these belts on the Wyatts, dude, but he did. So the Wyatts are the tag team champions. I mean, God bless them, they're the worst tag team in the division, but like that's the story they're telling right now, and they much like this show, barreled on through. So the Whites are the tag team champions.
And I believe if you consider Tiffany Stratton to be a heel, every WWE championship is currently held by heels.
Well, I think Tiffany is supposed to be a babyface, as astonishing as that is, So there is one right now, there is one. There's one babyface champion, and I do expect some title changes to be up coming, maybe even CM punk at Summer Slam, although we are going to talk about that after the break and a little bit more on on seth rawlins uh that that's coming up
after the break as well. We'll do the Raw Report and talk all of the rest of the news and some TNA notes with Lance and of course if you have questions Texas four two five, seven, eight zero seven, five sixty six, But we're gonna add to a break. We'll be back in a moment with more Wrestling Observer Live.
Some stop.
You were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez and Mike simper Vivi on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
All Right, a couple of things here. First off, we were just talking about the whits winning the tag titles. Lance, the whites are babyfaces?
Are they really?
Yeah?
Spooky creepy?
Yes, the whites are babyfaces. The whites are baby face and and this this doesn't actually count because they are heels. But uh, the Judgment Day did win the tag titles as total babyfaces. They went into the match, they worked total babyface, they made a baby face come back and they won clean. And it was like, but they're heels, but they're a heel group. Yeah, it was ridiculous. Now, I will say, as we'll get to later, I'm fine with all the champions being heels if one of those
champions is Naomi. She was she actually, I was gonna say, was on Raw. She has been so awesome since her most recent heel turn when she did that promo on Raw and she called all the women in the locker room raggedy heifers. I died, I absolutely died, raggedy heifers. She was the greatest. I hope she never loses the belt.
She's really found her confidence and oh, Yeah, it's just it was fantastic. I was really impressed last night.
Okay, we also have to talk. We'll do the full raw report, but I know you want to talk about uh, Nicky and Chelsea, which I also want to talk about, because I had a bunch of people that were messaging me saying that match was horrible, and this is before I watched it, and so I watched it, and honestly, it wasn't horrible until about the last thirty seconds. Last thirty seconds, that thing went off the rails. Before then it was it was, it was not too bad.
Did you find Nicky's post about the finish?
What'd she say about the finish? I saw that. I'm about to read the whole interview she did about the experience, But what did she say about the finish?
She said, she instinctively accidentally went for her old finish by mistake. She was supposed to go for the TKO because the rack attack is what broke her neck, but she just instinctively accidentally went for her old finish that broke her neck, and when she did, she realized she screwed up, and that's when Chelsea countered out and then she went for the proper finish.
What is a rack attack?
Compared to Ako, she would do the torture rack and then drop to her knees and the woman would bump on her back. Oh yeah, yeah, broke her neck.
That ain't good for your neck.
And so when Chelsea fed in for the new finish, she for some reason just muscle memory spun her around backwards and then tried to pick her up for the rack and then realized, oh crap, this is the one that broke my neck. I'm not supposed to do it. And they had to counter out of it. So it was just a memory lapse.
Yeah, that was weird. So she did an interview and it was funny. She goes she always puts a lot of pressure on herself. She was coming back from a seven year layoff. She says, where I'm at now is I knew I wasn't going to go in tonight and be perfect. I knew I wasn't going to be an Eo Sky. I wasn't going to be a rear Ripley. I wasn't going to be a Bailey. I wasn't even gonna be a Chelsea Green. I howled. I don't think she meant to Bury her, But god, what a line.
And then she's talked about how you know it's been seven years I had a baby, you haven't been in the ring, and she was very happy. She was very blown up, she said, but I gave it my all. Well, you know what, Nikki, I'll tell you one thing. No matter how blown up you were in that match, you were not as blown up as brown Breaker. Oh my god, that poor guy. He was dying in that match, as
we shall get too later. But I thought, honestly, like nothing against Chelsea, but I thought, honestly, in that match, I thought Nicky like did a better job than she did, very much like on Saturday, I thought that Trich did a better job than Tiffany. So that's just me. But you wanted to talk about their full circle deal.
Here, well sort of. I posted on I don't know if it was Threads or Blue Sky and actually texted Chelsea about it. But Chelsea's WWE television debut, when she was like weeks into the business, was as Megan Miller, the physical therapist for Daniel Bryan, and had the confrontation
with Brie. Not Nicky unfortunately, But for the enjoyment of myself, last night, I considered it the same person and Bree slapped the holy hell out of her in the ring for rumors of her having an affair with Daniel Bryan and tonight, however, many years later, she got to go full sole and have the grudge match with a Bella.
I feel like she knocked her silly with that slap. I can't remember if that's the case or not, but I do know that Stephanie McMahon had a reputation too.
I remember everyone said, steph slap's worthy hardest.
Yeah, you know everyone, you know, they watched all these matches and you talk about this or that or this big move or landing on this head or whatever. But I don't think people realize how many people in wrestling got messed up because they got slapped. I mean, there have been a lot of people that have gotten messed up because they got slapped by some lady or another. And Stephanie was she was a what do they call.
It a potato?
Well yeah, that too god.
But yes, there's actually proper ways to slap people, and not everybody utilizes that technique.
Yeah, I like, I like the old slap the neck so you actually don't even touch the head that's slapping in the face really frickin hard.
I'm as fine with the face as long as it's just with the fingers. It's when you get the heel of the hand in the side of the head that you're gonna get knocked out.
So NXT tonight we have got the go home show kind of for a Different Promotions pay per view. It is Trick Williams, Joe Hendry and Mike Santana versus Dark State, and obviously the Slammiversary main event coming up on Sunday is Trick, Joe and Mike Santana for the TNA title. The TNA title being defended in the main event of a TNA pay per view by an NXT wrestler against
two TNA wrestlers. So we got that six man and we got Tony d and Channing Stas Lorenzo and Luca Cruzefino in a three way, and then on on Impact Thursday, we got Joe henda In Santana versus Trick and Frankie Kazarian. So many different uh, a lot of different combinations of these three guys leading up to this main event, Champion Moose versus Sammy Callahan Tessa Blanchard and Danny Luna and order for versus the System. That's the TV the actual
TNA Go Home show coming up on Thursday. Is that taped?
Yes?
Okay, let the guy in charge that what's his name, Bigfoot Silva? Let him know that I never know if the show's taped or not. So is that his name Carlos? Well, I know, but like Bigfoot Silva's name is Antonio Carlos Silva. So like the other day, you guys don't know what happens,
which you don't. So I called Dave to do the Observer show at usually around midnight, and he's usually not ready, and then you know, eventually he'll say, I'm I'm checking my emails and so we connect everything and then for some reason, it's like another half hour before the show starts. Okay, So he finally comes over ready to do the show, and I say, what are we gonna talk about here today?
And so the other day he's like, you know, all the shows this weekend and you know this and that and Carlos Silva and this and that and so like and I actually should record this someday because the way he actually says it is he goes NFC Impacts, Slammiversary, Summer Slam, Goldberg's retirement, and I'm like, whoah, dude, hold honest, sec, I'm trying to write it down. So I write it down, calib you yeah, and I try and put it in
the order. So I do, like, you know, the pro wrestling first, then I do the MMA, and he doesn't want to do the TV shows until the very end, even though I used to always want to do him first because I figured they were more important, but he likes to do him at the end. So I'm putting everything in order, and I put Carlos Silva in the MMA section because I hear Carlos sil and it's like, okay, it's Antonio Carlos Silva, Bigfoot Silva. Like what's going on
with him? Is he added retirement or something like that? So like we do the whole show, and then I do in the MMA section, what stupid thing did Connor do today?
Oh?
He was weightlifting with his Oh. And then you know, it's what's going on with Bigfoot Silva? And he goes Bigfoot Silva, I'm talking about that guy in charge of TNA. I was like, what, oh, Carlos Silva Okay, who.
Looks a surprising amount like Sean Michaels. What if you if you put a hat on him?
Oh, the current Shawn Michaels.
The current Sean Michaels. If you put a cowboy hat on Carlos Silva and Sadam mctguerrilla, you could get a photo and people would mistake it for Sean.
It's the cowboy hat.
There's also a similar something. I'm not sure what it is, but I've mentioned to a few people backstage. You're like, oh, my god, does he ever look like Sean?
Yeah, my dad is a I mean he is a Mexican, and whenever he wears a cowboy hat, he actually does sort of come. He does kind of have that Sean Michaels thing. It's just kind of the older man with like a little bit of you know, stubble right here, and uh, you know, he's in pretty good shape, I would say. But anyway, what's the point of all of this. I don't know, except that the show is taped this coming Thursday, and it doesn't matter if it's light or taped.
But there you go.
All right, then, yep, we got the main event, and we got the Masha Slamovich J C. Jayne match for the knockouts and NXT titles. Yep, we got the Nemoths and the Hardy's and Trey Miguel and Zach Wentz and aj Francis and Casey Navarro for the tag titles. In a ladder match, Champion Moose against Leon Slater X Division title to.
See if Leon can beat Amazing Reds record and become the youngest ex Division shap ever.
Yep, Ash and Heather by elegance versus inspiration. The former Iconics was all Le versus Cedric Alexander and Tessa Blanche versus any art. Well, so there you go. That's the lineup when we come back. I got to make one comment about the lineup for Dynamite on Wednesday, which, by the way, we have one match but it's notable, and then we'll get into the raw report. So stick around, everybody. Back in a moment Observer Live.
Yeah, here's that's the sound of uncertainty lurking under your hood. You know the feeling I know, I do, that sudden sinking sensation when you see a check engine light or your car unexpectedly breaks down and you're faced with sky high repair bill. It's time to shield against unexpected repairs with Carshield. Carshield as America is most trusted all the protection company and has an a rating with a Better Business Bureau. Don't let the fear of a breakdown keep
you up at night. Trust the Shield, car shield, and say goodbye to terrifying repair business and hello to peace of mind. Your plan also comes with twenty four to seven roadside assistance, courtesy tolling, rental car auctions, and so much more. Don't wait till it's too late. Call Carshield now before a breakdown, Protect your wallet, protect your car with Carshield, get our best protection ever. Call down. You'll
thank me later. Eight hundred two four seven sixty one three five eight hundred two four seven six one three five. That's eight hundred two four seven sixty one thirty five.
I am a non attorney spokesperson representing a team of lawyers who help people that have been injured or wronged. If you've been involved in a serious car, truck, or motorcycle accident, or injured at work, you have rights and you may be entitled to money for your suffering. Don't accept an offer you get from an insurance company until you talk to a lawyer, and we represent some of
the best personal injury lawyers. You can find tough lawyers that will fight to win your case, and they're so good they stake their reputation on it by only getting paid if you win. So if you've been in a serious car, truck, or motorcycle accident, or hurt on the job, find out today for free what kind of compensation you may be entitled to. Call the legal helpline right now.
Eight hundred four oh one five to one sixty three. Eight hundred four oh one five one sixty three. Eight hundred four oh one five one sixty three. That's eight hundred four oh one fifty one sixty three.
One out of two Americans thinks their life is worthy of a book. Here's another startling stat You may be one of the fifteen percent of people who bothered to start your book and one of the six percent that got halfway through it, but your gem of an idea likely died or did it. Some published authors are making significant money, so join the ranks of the successful people
that finish their books with help from Dorance Publishing. Call right now and are experienced editors and writers will explain to you what it's going to take to get your book completely written, published and then taken to market to sell it. It's a free consultation, So call right now find out how much time and money it takes to finally get that book idea of yours published, Make your dreams happen. Call Dorance Publishing right now.
Eight hundred four eight five six thousand three, eight hundred four eight five six thousand three, eight hundred four eight five six thousand three. That's eight hundred four eight five six zero zero three.
You were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez and Mike Simpervivi on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Back in the show, Brian Alvarez here, Wrestling Observer Live, Lance Storm joining us here today. The heck's going on with this thing? Kle Lee, all right, So I don't have in front of me, of course, because I was busy during the break my children arguing over a block. Anyway, there is a match announced for tomorrow's Dynamite show, and I bring it up because it involves the Death Writers,
meaning John Moxley is in the match. And I bring it up because I thought for sure that he was going to take some time off after that match on Saturday, but apparently not. They're they're barreling on forward. It's Death Riders against Hangman and I forget the other two, but
that's the only match announced thus far. And you know, they're they're moving from All In, which did like twenty seven twenty eight thousand people to this Chicago residency and as of yesterday, there were only eleven hundred tickets out for Dynamite, eleven hundred, and I think the building was
only set up for like maybe twelve hundred. But you know a lot of people were, oh, man, they should have done a much bigger building for the for the first show after, and I mean, you could you could argue that, but I mean it is actually an issue that they'd only sold eleven hundred tickets yesterday and that wasn't sold out, so they didn't even sell out twelve
hundred seats for the post All In show. So I think, like you guys watched WrestleMania, and you know, they've been doing a really good job with wrestle Mania of late, but it wasn't until it wasn't. It was a while ago,
but you know, for a long time. You know, they did WrestleMania one, which was a big deal, and then WrestleMania two really wasn't all that big a deal, and then WrestleMania three was a big deal because they had a Hogan and Andre but then you know WrestleMania four, in WrestleMania five, and you know it wasn't then what it became, which is like, you don't miss WrestleMania. It doesn't matter if Hogan and Andre's the main event or Bushwhacker, Luke and whoever, like you are gonna see like that's
a big show of the year. They made it an event, and they made the raw after wrestle Mania an event, and so far aw has kind of done that a little bit with double or Nothing. And obviously they had big they had a couple of big shows in Wembley, and they're trying to make that for all In, which is like all In is their WrestleMania every year. It's gonna be a giant event. They're gonna run a stay, it's gonna be the big blowoff shows. Like for the hardcore fans, that's what it is already, but it's not
there like to the regular wrestling audience. Yet their wrestle media, you don't miss it no matter what. So they need to brand that. And they also they really do need to brand like the Dynamite after all, in as you got to watch this show, there's gonna be all sorts of stuff, the whole shebang and uh and clearly with eleven hundred tickets out, which I know people are gonna go, well, it's they're only there's only set up for a twelve hundred.
You're right, that twelve hundred should be gone by now. It's the show after all, In they should have been eleven hundred in a twelve hundred seed building. So there's work to be done obviously, and this has been has been obvious for a while. You know, the pay per views always do well. They do they they sell lots of tickets and they do very well on pay per view. The TV is not doing well. Some shows do better than others, but in general, the TV isn't doing great, and so they need to work on that.
It's a tougher branding because it's a lot easier if you're coming in for many weekend to stay till Tuesday. Sure you're not going to stay Monday and Tuesday to catch the show Wednesday to fly out on Thursday if you're coming in for all In. So there's a big disconnect just by the geography of being on Wednesday rather than the day after all in.
All right, So this raw show here was it was all right, I thought pretty good.
Actually I enjoyed it. I thought it was interesting that off on the heels of the all women's Evolution show. The first two hours of this show was all women.
It was very, very women heavy all the way up until the main event. Actually, yeah, everything else was all women. And you know, the thing about the show also is I mean more than you know. There was one awesome match on the show, a women's match actually Bailey and Lyra, and I think that the main event. It was pretty It was a pretty good gatlet match, but it wasn't like something you people look back and go, my god,
you remember that gauntlet match before SummerSlam. But what was most notable to me about the show is between the Women's Evolution show on Sunday and I mean the Saturday night It's main event as well. But they weren't Atlanta for Goldberg, so that's kind of an aberration. It was his retirement match of course they're gonna go nutty. But the Sunday, the Sunday Women's Evolution Show and this Raw show,
these frickin' fans were fire. I mean, they were so hot for that Women's Evolution show and Dave was kind of talking about how, well, you know, it sounded like more women, heavy audience, lots of little girls and lots of women. Well Raw was the next night and it wasn't all little girls and women. And they were on fire for this show, and especially at the end of the show when Roman Reigns came back. I mean, they
were just going nutty. And it really felt between between Saturday and between Sunday and Monday, and really, I guess Saturday too, it really felt like this place is heating up again. And it wasn't like it had cooled down, because I mean it had as far as like booking goes and you know, some of the crowds here and there in terms of like their reactions, it kind of
felt like it had cooled down a little bit. But it's certainly like if you look at ticket sales and you know, business, I mean, it was still totally on fire. There's been absolutely no business decline, but the crowd reactions from the last two days made it feel like this company is like heating up again. So I guess we'll see. You know, we got three weeks until Summer Slam. It's a two night Summer Slam. But man, this crowd was crazy.
So the show opened up with the Naomi segment and she came out and she was just she was so awesome.
She was on fire.
She was like, she was the best promo in the show. I mean, I don't think anyone was even close, to be honest. So she came out and she was awesome. She's interrupted by Rhea and she's interrupted by EO and leads to Adam Pierce announcing a three way for the title at SummerSlam. And the only thing I did not
like about this is Naomi is a heel champion. Ria and EO are both babyfaces, And when Adam Pierce came out to announce that Naomi was gonna have to defend in a three way against two babyfaces and a match where she can lose that belt without being pinned, she was like happy, She smiled, she was like yeah, I was like, why are you excited about this? Like the whole idea is that he always hates having to defend in a three way. But she was happy, So I don't know why that didn't make sense.
Maybe she's got friends that are gonna help her out because three ways are no DQ, which drives me insane.
That is that is true? Yeap? By the way, since when we're gauntlet matches no DQ.
I don't know. But as soon as Michael Cole said those words after the trip in the main event, I lost interest because I hate those rules and I always wonder why the villains are standing ringside that long before they help.
I could have sworn that they have done gauntlet matches where a person has been eliminated via DQ.
Oh, I'm sure they have.
They just randomly announced there's no DQ's in a gauntlet. I was like, what, that doesn't make any sense. So we add Raquel and roxand versus Oscar Kyrie, which I thought was pretty good. Roxanne and Raquel won, and they continue to work together to win matches and they're starting to get on the same page, and that, of course, is building to the eventual return of Live Morgan to be very happy.
I'm becoming a big fan of Roxanne.
Oh, you're becoming.
Well, I haven't seen her much. I don't watch this.
Show, dude. She's freaking great. Yes, yes, but I probably twenty one.
I've probably seen less than five of her matches.
So yeah, she's been this good, like since she came in. I mean, this is not like one of those those women that came in it was bad. I mean she came in at like nineteen or whatever she was, and she was already like one of the best women's workers they had. And man, she's good. We had a and this,
by the way, this is also notable. Jackie asks Simon what's up with Seth Rawlins and allegedly Seth had his evaluation in Birmingham, and Paul claimed, we have no information, and I now, I mean, listen, I don't have that much inside information. But I will say I believe one hundred percent that he has a minor knee injury. They weren't the injury on Saturday Night's main event. He's getting the minor knee injury taken care of. They're gonna lead
you to believe he's gonna be out nine months. He's gonna make a surprise return, maybe not as early as Summer Slam, but significantly quote ahead of schedule, and the way they did this segment right here, it was like if he was legitimately injured on Saturday night and tore his ACL and everything else, that they're kind of hinting that he did. I mean, they don't have no information on Monday, Paul isn't keeping it a secret and making
it come across like a total angle. I mean, I I'm of the camp that he's mildly hurt and we'll be back somewhat soon.
But I'm also of the camp that this injury has gotten a lot of speculation and a lot of buzz and a lot of talk, and they're going to want to keep that in the dark, to keep that buzz and talk going no matter what.
No, we had the women's best of three falls match Lyra versus Bailey with the Winter getting Becky at SummerSlam, and the first match went a minute the first fall and the first fall goes a minute and it's just a cradle Bailey, Slappter and Pinder, and I was like, what a waste, Like I was already irritated, But then the second fall went ten minutes and the third fall went I don't even know how long longer. But this match was frickin' awesome. I mean, by the time they
got to the end, the place is going wild. The work is great, and the finish was so awesome as Bailey had a thanks she got her in like the crossface or whatever, and Lyra is fighting for these ropes and she's fighting for these ropes and she's not gonna make it and she's about to grab and Bailey does a deal where she pushes off the ropes and does a roll back into the move, but Lyra uses her momentum to continue rolling to her feet and she hits a night wing and gets the pin clean pin. It's
her and Becky at SummerSlam. This was the best thing on the show. It probably would have been. I think this was better in a three way at the Evolution show, which was awesome. So this was great.
I enjoyed it too. I just don't like the inconsistency, especially on the same show, in that the other title match was kind of in a three way that Naomi won, and the decision is we'll have another three way, and this one they had a three way where one person won, and they decided that the two challengers will have a single match to determine who's the single challenger. It's like, why too, completely different change of brains of thought for the exact same scenario.
And then, uh, really, the only thing I want to talk about because we don't have time is the main event, which was the Gauntlet match, and it didn't go an hour, went about forty five minutes, and uh, bron Breaker beat Penta, bron Breaker beat La Night, bron Breaker beat jay Uso. And then finally the last match, it's bron Breaker in CM Punk and everybody tries to interfere your Bronson reads, et cetera, et cetera, and then jay Uso comes out
and Punk ends up hitting the gts and winning. And my two takeaways are number One, poor bron Breaker was freakin' exhausted. I mean, dude, he's trying to do his sprinting spear and this guy can barely run. And the other point is like the idea is, you know, this guy runs a gauntlet to get a title shot. Ciampunk came in at the end against an exhausted guy and after interference one, so like, if the idea was to get him over big for Gun, I don't think this did it at all.
We'll talk about Roman after the break Observer Live.
You were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez and Mike Simpervivi on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
So the raw show ended with all Roman reigns coming out, and he ran wild and they chanted O c OTC and they chanted his name and he ended up destroying Reed and Braun And I guess we have to find out what he's doing at SummerSlam. Is it like Roman and Bronson Reed? Is it Roman and bron Breaker? Who's Roman facing?
I don't know, but they were singing his name, which was weird.
Yeah, I mean they've done that before. They've they've done the Roman Reigns Roman Reigns song before. But I think obviously it was probably I mean, Mike guess is because whatever happened. Somebody asked like, well, if the seth injury was a work, why did they have to redo the last forty minutes of Saturday Night's the main event. Well, it's because if it was a work, they haven't told anybody it was a work, like all the production people and the other wrestlers. That's what I talked about the
other day. If people find out this whole thing was a work. They're gonna be furious because everybody was under the impression Saturday that he got hurt on that spot, and they like had to scramble in the last forty minutes to get the show back on track because I was told there was something at the end of the show, which I later heard was it was not a cash in, but there was something planned for the end of the show that didn't happen because of what happened with.
Set The rest of Goldberg's speech.
Well, it could have been that, but what I actually think it was was Seth probably was was gonna head down to the ring or something, and Roman Reigns was gonna make his big return, and they were gonna do Roman Reigns in Seth rollins at SummerSlam. So with set out, maybe it's gonna be Roman and Braun or Roman and Bronson or something of that nature. But anyway, we're out of time. Thank you, Lance. We'll see you over the
next couple of days and I'll be back tonight. Brian and Vinnie show Mid South Wrestling and More Wrestling Observer Live. You have been listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side network,
