WWE Top Salaries/Rampage/Smackdown

sixth Eastern Friday here on this program. You know that means we got a lot to talk about here today, including is coming Sunday n x T two point oh War Games, and I have just learned breaking news here that land Storm will in fact be replacing Vinnie on Sunday to cover this show, so he has to watch n x T two point oh War Games and then it'll be myself and Lance and Craig all recapping the show afterwards. Only for our top tier subscriber us here

on Twitch and YouTube. You have to be a subscriber to the video services to watch it live after the show goes out here. But we have the line up for the show here today. We can tell you about that obviously, Rampage and SmackDown tonight. We've got notes on the top Salaries in w w E, which was written about in this week's Wrestling Observer newsletter, who's making five million dollars a year to a headline at w w E shows. We'll talk about the dynamite numbers, not great numbers.

Last week, the dynamite numbers were better than I expected. This week, the dynamite numbers worse than I expected, So we'll tell you about those here. We've also got an update on Clark Conners, who tested positive for COVID. He was expected to be at Comic Con uh this coming weekend, and uh he will not be there, but we'll tell you about it. That and w w E postponing a tour of Canada, and pretty much whatever else is on

your mind. We were schedule today to be joined by Jervis Cotton Belly, but unfortunately after booking the show, he was unable to make it here today, so we're gonna schedule him for next week. We've got a lot of big guests coming up, Jervis dan Housen, who will be on the show Tuesday alongside Oreo of the Orca My God. So much coming up, and we'll talk about all of

that more after the break. Four to five seven eight zero seven, five six six If you'd like to send a text message then to seven eight zero seven five six EXCEMP for VV will join us after the break and we will be back in at just a moment. Stick around, everybody, Wrestling Observer Live, come day, coming come Monday, back in the show. Bring eber Is here Wrestling Observer Live. My Semper Viv also of Wrestling Observer dot Com. All we do is just get constant of breaking news and

information here on this program. So as we went on the air, I learned that Lance will be stepping in for Vinny this coming Sunday for the War Games show. We can talk about that line up here in a second. Although just completely vanished off my notes, but I'll figure it out. So there's that. And then also we just learned that Jervis Cotton Belly will not be able to do the show here today, but we learned during the break that he will be replaced today on this show.

I hear that you're you're leaving early, Mike, Is that right? I am. I'm skipping out of here early today. Boss. I've had enough of this week. Well you know what you're missing our interview with Gabriel Kid. Oh yep, too bad. Buddy. He's gonna be on the show coming up in the final segment of the show, talking New Japan and plenty of other things as well. So we've got questions, you can text or email them to me, and we're gonna talk to him about lots of different things that's coming

up later on in the show. In this week's Wrestling Observer newsletter, day Els reported w w E Universal champion Roman Reigns and former champion Brock Lesner are currently the heads of the company table. When it comes to annual contract value. Molta reported both men make more than five million dollars a year, which we knew about brock Lesner. We knew that brock was making in excess of five million a year, but Roman Reigns also up there five

million per year guaranteed deals. Another unnamed talent is around four million, and he had to quote a lot of the top talent is now a two million and some at three million. If you recall. It's uh, this is

just the way life works. So when when a w was kicking off, w w E went on this big deal where they started offering to pay everybody double and there were a lot of people that were making around one million downside, and so the top talent ended up making as noted here, one person at four, a lot of top talent at two, some of them are at three. It's probably not hard to figure out who these individuals likely are. I mean, just look at the show. Find

out who never does jobs as always protected. I don't know. Let me make this clear, I don't know. And then the person who was making four million dollars is Randy Orton. But if I found out that the guy that was making four million dollars is Randy Orton, I would not be the least bit surprised. You're you're two and three million.

I mean, watch the show, it's your Charlotte Flares, and you know the folks that are getting main event pushes regularly, always there in the in the year, Becky Lynch for example. I mean, they're making plenty of money. But the problem here is that they started offering these these deals two more than just the tippy top talent. So essentially, if if you were a great example would be um, uh,

you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, the point is if you were lower on the tone and pole, you were also suddenly making twice as much money as you were making before. And the problem is when a w ends up doing fine and you're not putting them out of business, and there's no chance of putting them out of business, and you're paying all of these these lower tier guys double what they were making, and not just guys,

but women as well well. Then all of a sudden, you know, the story of the year is they've cut eighty five talents or whatever the number is. So it was, it was as usual, and it's not the talent's fault because you know, they're not gonna offer you. Hey, you were making uh, you know, to fifty. Now we're gonna pay you five. Take it or leave it. Well, I'm taking it. Well Now, all a sudden, you're making five dollars and they're looking at their little budget right here

and oh, I'm sorry, you gotta go. We ain't paying you five hundred thousand dollars. And we haven't seen any yet. But I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if their individuals that got cut and uh, they end up coming back for less than they were making. I mean, it's inevitable that's gonna happen with some of them at some point. But Anyway, that's the story. So as usual, life's not fair if you're if you're a Randy Ortons, they're gonna

double your contract. You're making a preposterous amount of money compared to you know, what you used to be making. But they ain't cutting you because they don't want you to go to a W If you're a whoever, you know, they're not worried. I mean, I don't know what the whole situation was with Nia Jacks, but she was clearly making more than they wanted to pay her, and so they weren't concerned about her going to too n x T and so she ended up getting cut along with

eighty five other people over the last year. So that's life in w W E. And it doesn't really trickle down, you know what I'm saying that trickle down economics is a has always been, uh that propos issue for most of us who are waiting on that money to come trickling down. But happy for the people at the top of the food chain, that's for sure. Happy for the people that did make out because of a W and I mean Randy Orton, Becky, Charlotte Raines, Lesner, you know

whoever else is up there. Awesome, that's awesome. We've seen the cuts happen where they have buyers remorse good brothers. The greatest example of that, I think one of the more high profile examples of that you talked about. It was another one. They had seven hundred fifty thou dollars was their new deals, and then all of a sudden, they realize we're paying these guys seven or fifty thousand dollars. They cut them well and think about that too, and this is not and I love you know, Carl Anderson

goes back a long way. I'm cool with that, but like seven thousand dollars a year, you know, they they were losing their minds. Drake Maverick left, came back. He's kind of got a weird situation because I don't know, you know, with his index tea contract and all that sort of stuff. You know, did he come back for less? I bet you probably would if they offered him less. Uh,

you know, I I don't know. I I don't know what you can really say other than they're gonna only take care of a certain group because they only look at a certain group as being valuable, and where they have made mistakes are Sure you've let bray Y go and he hasn't made an impact yet. Sure you let braun Stroman go and he hasn't gone anywhere yet. But it's not going to be those guys who hurt you. You know, Daniel Bryan left in a different way. You

want different challenges, But it won't be those guys. It's going to be the other people. And I don't want to say the two point ohs, but like you see where they're at with just a little bit of effort. I don't know how long it's gonna last. I don't think they'll ever get to a level of an FDR. But oh yeah, FTR. You know that they're gonna die by people like that leaving because they don't want wrestlers with experience. They don't want certain things that a w

absolutely put the value on. So that's where they're really going to hurt from some of this stuff. And there are going to be people they go back to w W because they can't go anywhere else. And I don't want to say that like Nia Jacks for example, And I said this about bron Stroman. I can see him. Yeah, he can be an impact, he can be in some other places, but like because of his skill set, because of you know, his dexterity or lack thereof. As he continues to get older, it's like, in some ways w

w E is the best spot for him. So even if he does take a little bit of a pay cut, it's still maybe the best bet for him for a guy like him. And I think that's the same way with Nia Jacks. But again, they're gonna pay people what they want to pay them. Are people still criminally under paid in that company absolutely for the amount of money

they bring in. But this is this is how it goes again there, in my mind, their mistake of not seeing value right now in a certain type performer, which tends to be the experience independent wrestling fan, you know, in the wrestling fan. They don't want those guys. They're not putting a value on that. That's where they're really gonna hurt. And at some point those people are gonna make money. You gonna w W because they're gonna have to because you know next in line. Well, well we'll

see how that works out. Wednesday's Dynamite Interstitty one thousand viewers, down four point one percent from Thanksgiving Eve lows audience for Dynamite at a Wednesday since May nine, third on Cable point three one, which was the lowest demo since May nineteen. Demo categories all of that information here. Fact of the matter is this not a great number in

terms of viewership last week. Last week, I was expecting them to do around one and instead they did significantly better than that for the first time ever on Thanksgiving Eve this week. I I know there's no chance in the show isn't up from last week, but in fact it was down. Now, I know the sky's falling is always, but it's not. They were third on cable, so that's good, but that is a lower number than expected. Backing them up with morebs were live back in the show. Brian

albare is here Wrestling Observer Alive. Mike Subberviv also a Wrestling Observer dot Com. A couple of things. If you ahead of my Twitter at Brian Alvarez at the top there sticky, it is the link to our final Whale Scout co host auction. And once this one is done, they are done for the year and it ends tomorrow.

So if you have any interest whatsoever in h participating, then now is a chance to uh check that out top of my Twitter at Brian Alvarez put in your bid winning bid gets to co host with myself, Vinny Craig, Granny, whatever Brianny Vinny show you want and if within reason, I will let you review the show that you want as well. How much for Granny to put on the work out but not allowed, Dude, we'd never get her

out of it. Discuss that could be the entire Christmas special Actually would be trying to get her in and out of the Oreo outfit, which would be I mean, you can't say that it wouldn't be hilarious, horrible you you why don't you do the craigline the other day when he talked about the next time Granny falls down, poor attempt at comedy. Craig was disgusting. I'd also like to note, speaking of hospitals, that Lance here tweeted no show today with myself. Wife had emergency surgery. They just

got home from the hospital a few hours ago. He's watched no wrestling. Well, I have the free time today. She is home in recovering. Obviously, best wishes to Lance and his wife and he will be taking the day off today. But we'll be back Sunday for war games. Can you imagine? Oh boy, I still I'm I'm going to watch war games. I promise you I will watch war games. And I hate to say that I have a good with the some of the experience level in

this match. I am very much looking forward to how it's laid out, what some of these folks do in this match, what some of the big spots are, and it's going to be It's gonna be interesting, I think, and I wonder, you know, again, they they have made the bar pretty high for war games, and I know everything is out the window now with the new regime. Nothing that happened before matters. Although and we've heard those stories about Vince. You know, Vince watched the show and

he really liked all that nonsense. Whatever. It could be completely different layout in scenario and all that sort of stuff tonight. But the bar has been raised pretty high for war games there as far as spots and as far as you know what they do in those matches. So it is interesting to me. It's a very intriguing line up here for the very first take over the

two point oh era. For instance, you're gonna make poor Lance watch the n x T two point o pay per view after the week he's had hold on a minute. I made an offer to Lance. Lance is the one that said that he would do it, and Lance is getting paid, So no one's being forced to watch this show against their will. That maybe Mike. So we got Raquel Eo, Cora, Jade, Kaylee Ray against a Kodakai toxic

attraction that's Mandy G G and j C. Jane. So these War Games are four on four matches this year, and baby Faces have the advantage in the women's match. That should be really exciting. And the last time that we had a match that was stunt match with Green Workers.

It was a few weeks ago. There was a ladder match or something like that, and I was petrified that someone's gonna get killed, and uh, someone actually did get badly injured, but it was Zoe Stark, who I was not expecting to be one of the people that got injured. So we're back to do in some War Games match and somebody as I'm sure we're gonna have to come off the top of that cage and there's gonna be gimmicks and weapons. So I just say a prayer before

that particular match. Cameron Grimes Duke Hudson is hair versus hair. I'm sorry, we got imperiod versus Kyle O'Reilly and Von Wagner for the tag team titles, Joe Gacy facing Roderick Strong. And then we've got the Old versus New although they're calling it Team Black and Gold versus Team two point oh, but it's the Millionaire's Club versus the New Blood. Chompa Gargano, Pete done in l a Night Again, Spraun Breaker, Carmelo, Hayes, Grace and Waller, and Tony Angelo, and also happened some

of the creativity with some of these names. You remember when the Survivor series was actually good and you had like Sergeant Snipers and you actually had some a little bit of punasha these names, For heaven's sakes, it's it's just it's black and gold. Are they gonna put on shirts to like they do on the main roster. Are we going to have to have like black because we've mixed up baby face and heels here. You can't convince me l A. Knight is a baby face. He is not.

I know that he's working on that side. I know he's footing with somebody on the other side. But how is L. A. Knight a baby face? Now we've seen this in wrestling for you, Breaker is obviously a baby face. Well, but he's on the heel team that's clearly a baby face. They bark at him, they chant his name, they cheer for everything he does. Just wait till the Royal Rumbo when he comes out baby face. Just wait, and it'll be interesting to see who he throws out and who

he gets thrown out by. And I know you saying, Mike, how are you so sure that he's going to be in the Royal Wumble? Come on, He's going to be in the Royal Rumble. And if anything, Walter will be the one that chops him out of there. It won't be somebody that you even see every week. I'm almost this, I'm already seeing into the future on this. How is Broun Breaker not going to be in the Royal Wumble? Be insane for him not to be. For instance, I

hope Knight leaves. He's too talented. Bro, That guy just signed. He's been there like less than a year, hasn't he? And no offense to anybody with L. A. Knight? L A Knight went through that system. Once he reimagined himself in it was an impact. And then I don't know if he did he did n w A for a while. To like him just being back there, you know, I I to me, he's not being wasted at all. To me, like that's a great example of that's almost the best place for him. He can talk his ass off. Is

he good in the ring? He is, okay, it's just there's he's missing a component that puts him somewhere where his his talking is. And I know people get tired of the catchphrases and all that, but look, if you threw some of that out, the guy is very good. And I'm sure he can mix up his game if he wanted to. But this is what they have him doing. This is what has worked for him. So I don't blame him for doing a stick but he can talk his ass off and to me, w w E he

should be very happy where he's at. And I'm not saying what you should be happy because he's signed there, but like that to me is like the perfect place where l A Night. Am I wrong? Do? I think he's actually overshot his target by making it there A second time and being a feature piece. I want to wear wrong. I will hold on. I gotta, I gotta make sure we get this in. But Clark Connor was supposed to be on the show today, Clark Connors and he has COVID and uh, he's supposed to be on

our show. He's supposed to be on this show today. Well he can't do it because he has COVID. So it's a long story. But anyway, we were microphones are a really good that you got trying to uh, we were trying to book him. Anyway, let's get to the point, Mike, he's got COVID, so I want to wish the best to him. He is vaccinated. He hopes it will pass quickly. But we'll get him back here on the show soon. So actually, this has been a rough day for for guests.

We first we lost Clark, and then we replaced him with Jervis, and then we lost Jervis. So I'm only I'm only hoping here that everything is okay with Gabriel Kid for the next four minutes, really, and we'll have him on. Clark was supposed to be at comic Con this weekend, the l A Comic Con and obviously had to pull out of that, but they are having a

meet and greet. There's a new Japan booth at Comic Con and there's a meet and greet Friday, December three, and there will be a panel discussion with j White and Fred Rosser on Saturday December four, and Gabriel Kid not only taking the place of Clark on this show but also at Comic Con. So that is the update. They're White and Fred war osso sounds awesome as a panel and as a match, well, we'll get the match. I'm sure at some point maybe the panel will turn

into a match, or they'll shoot an for a match. Also, very quickly, WWBS postponed the tour of Canada scheduled to take place in January. Two four show tours, set to include an episode of SmackDown, an episode of Raw, and two house shows. They have been rescheduled. These were all scheduled to take place January twenty three and twenty four, the live Raw scheduled. They've actually rescheduled all of these already for October and September next year. So I thought

it was because of the Winter Olympics and hockey. Honestly, I thought Okay, there might be facing hockey competition on those nights, and I honestly thought that was it. And I know hockey doesn't begin until February, so I have no idea if this has got what this actually has

to do with, but I would think it move. I would think it's so it's not ticket sales, as Dave noted, because the advances are good, and so I mean, I think that it is something travel related and you can all probably all figure out what that would likely be. I'm not saying that's why, but if if the if the shows are booked, the advances are good, but you're not gonna go to and from Canada, it seems self explanatory to me. And I know people are probably saying

right now, well, what has changed? Nothing, but something very well may change, So maybe they're just hadging their bets that way. Actually some stuff has changed. Patrick here, by the way, says no wonder they have problems selling tickets to w w E shows. A mid level seat for a house show in Baltimore is one hundred and forty dollars.

Wait what now? A mid level seat for a house show in Baltimore is one forty dollars So if you're going to take your family, Mike, and you wanted to get mid level seats, that would cost you five hundred and sixty dollars, not counting parking and merch. Well, first of all, Brian, I do nothing mid okay. Number two, I've been to the Baltimore Arena slash Civic Center, whatever the hell they're calling it now, Royal Farms Arena, the

Chicken Box whatever, man any worth it. It's it's just there's no way A hundred and forty dollars for that that. I cannot believe that. That's got to be What is the high how is that? What is the low end? I mean the low ends usually fifteen bucks amid? I mean, how are they staggering the seats where you jump to that kind of number for a mid range seat? That's insane. I got to go to a break. Mike's out of here,

will see him next week. Gabriel Kid joins us after the break, resting up Ember Live, moving begging the show, Bright now Bare is here, Wrestling Observer alive. Very happy today to be joined by Gabriel Kid. We got a lot of talk about here today. How you doing? You know, we have a I don't know if he's a friend or not, but I like to say mutual friend because you guys worked together, Filthy Tom Lawler. You're aware of him. I'm aware of him. I didn't speak to him too much.

He's a Yeah, he's on a different team to me. But he's a putting sort of fell, isn't he at those Giants years? You know? Say that again? Sorry, it's kind of an off putting fella. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, he's not too not too kind really, but very good wrestler. Well, the reason I bring this up is because we were having a discussion on the show and we were talking about New Japan Strong and uh, we were talking about you,

and uh, he kept calling you Gabe kid. And for my whole lifetime, every time I've heard of you, it's been Gabriel kid. So can you clear up? What do you prefer? That's a question. Well, you know, I already I picked Gabriel because I think it's it's the full version of my name and it's proper, and I think that's how I want to be presented, you know, But all my friends call me Gabe. The only person that I know that caused me Gabriel is my grandma and my mom when she's angry at me. But you know

I don't mind either. Oh man. So so technically is it now? Should I be calling you Gabe kid? Now? You can call me Gabriel kid. You know that's how I present myself to the world. So I'll take Gabriel. Well, you can go. You can call me whatever you want. I'm easy. I didn't mind. Sure. So what is what has been going on in in life? I mean, there's there's been you You've resurfaced here and there's obviously been a pandemic and kind of take us through the last

two years of your life. Yeah, there's been a pretty crazy two years. So I joined New Japan Pro Wrestling in the l A Dojo in September two thousand and nineteen, and did I went over to Japan for the Young Lions Cup. I didn't wrestle it. I just supported the

boys and started Young Lion duties. And then I came back to America and I was at the l A dojo for three months at the back end of two thousand and nineteen, and then two thousand and twenty, I was they Shibatsan wanted me to go to Japan to debut. So I was going to be there for four months and then go back home see my family and then move out to l A properly. But then, yeah, the pandemic happened, so I kind of just stayed in Japan

from January to May this year. So are you what is the status as far as as New Japan Strong. I mean, you've got some some various dates coming up. I mean, are you are you under contract to New Japan and largely gonna be doing Strong tapings and then whatever else is is happening in the meantime. Yeah, So I don't think it's already been you know, announced officially really, but I'm not you know, I've graduated the Young Lion system. I've had that conversation with Shabatisan, and I'm on my

excursion in the United States. Now. This is like, so I rested on the UK scene for a bit and then went to Japan for a year and a half, and I've never wrestled in America until recently, sir. I'm on excursion in the States and I'm doing some independent shows and New Japan Strong too. Yeah. One of the most recent matches I saw with you was with the Zack Saber Jr. I think it was in the New

Japan Cup and just a fantastic match. And the next match that I'm aware of you doing, apparently is with Eddie Kingston, which is a completely different kind of match. In the match that you had was Zack Saber Jr.

What are your thoughts on on Eddie? You know, I love Eddie to be honest, and I've said this publicly before, and you know I say a thousand times over and you know what he's done right now and just like the past year, you know, because I had a conversation with him in two thousand and nineteen in England and he was thinking about stopping and he had some stuff going on and he was thinking about stopping wrestling and I just said to him, I pulled him aside of

that show and I just said, please, don't like give up on this because we need more people like you. And you know, he's a real inspiration. He's I think, you know, he's inspired a generation of young wrestlers without even knowing I feel, and you know, I really look up to him. But when I'm standing in the ring and I'm looking at him, I'm not. You know, we're not friends anymore. It's it's good time, you know. And I've had six months off and I I'm not coming

back just to slow down again, sir. You are are doing the show today, and originally, like a long time ago, you're actually the third guest that was scheduled here for today because of various situations. And uh, the first one was gonna be Clark Clark Conners and he ended up getting COVID and uh then I mean, so you've replaced him here on the show today and we're actually here to talk about what you're replacing him on this weekend, which is the the comic Con in in l A.

And uh, I have read on the internet. I want you to tell me if this is true, because if it's on the internet, it's usually not true. But I want to I want to clarify this. Is it true that you were reading an issue of Fighting Spirit magazine when you were like compelled to get into this business? Is that true? Yeah, that's true. Okay. It's weird because I've I've met Brian after and we've like spoke about it, and because he did a piece on me a few

years back, like four years ago. On the one to watch section, and I told him that story, and it's kind of funny how things come full circle. You know. Well, you know, I'm really old. I'm forty six years old, so you know this this new generation of of guys like you and I look up the stuff and it's like this guy was born the year I graduated high school. And then the Fighting Spirit thing was interesting because I wrote for Fighting Spirit Magazine, like in the very beginning

when that magazine began. So to see that, like you were a kid reading Fighting Spirit magazine, which is what guy into the business, it's just it blows my mind. And and not always in the in the best way. Oh sorry, that's all right, But I mean you've gone help being born, yeah, from from reading Fighting Spirit magazine too. Now you are signed with New Japan and you're you're

a Comic Con booth coming up this weekend. And you know, we had another viewer here that says they remember you from or was it here I first watched Gabriel Kid on wcp W. Very happy for him, like Diver Sitt And just think about how far you have come from

reading that Fighting Spirit magazine. Yeah, yeah, I do quite a lot, actually, especially in the past couple of months, I've kind of learned how to take a step back and be like, because when you're chasing something, you're just constantly thinking about the next thing, you know, and you're constantly like looking forward and trying to reach where you're trying to go, and you know, it's real easy to get lost of what you're actually doing in like the

prison movement. But I've been very like I was in South Carolina res at me and I took a step outside my hotel room in the morning and I just kind of like took a breath of fresh air and was like, this is what I always wanted to do. You know, this is what I always I said to myself, You've gotta work hard for this, and now I'm, you know, living it. So I do do that quite a lot. I always like to ask people the question, I mean, when you were reading that Fighting Spirit magazine or whatever

you're early dreams of wrestling were. I mean, when was the first time that it hit you, Like you showed up at a building and you saw the lineup, or you know, the bell rang and you were looking across the ring from so and so. I mean, what was the first thing that really blew your mind in this business where you just cannot believe that you actually were

doing this. So November two thousand and sixteen, I was scheduled to wrestle Doug Williams in my hometown on the pre show of an I pay per view for w c PW What Culture Pro Wrestling, and I was supposed to which at the time for me, it was a really big match. You know. Doug was h he had just started picking up like bookings around this time, and

I was really excited for it. And I got to the building and someone had missed a flight and the premier comes up to me, and the guy who was running the whole thing was like, okay, your match has changed and I was like, oh no, I was really you know, I want to test myself with this one. And they were like, yeah, you're going on with Johnny

Munda instead. That's the former John Morrison. Yes, And that was that was in my hometown, you know, so all my friends were there and I kind of came out and got this big reaction and it was this you know, it's about one thousand, five hundred people in there, and yeah, that's when I was like, oh, this is different or

anything else I've done before. You know, we had a Hammerstone was on the show about a week or two ago, and he was talking about how, you know, it's been recently that he's been doing shows and and he can go to a building and now he no longer feels like, my god, something could go terribly wrong because he's been doing it long enough, and now he feels comfortable that regardless of who the opponent is or what type of match, now he feels like, you know, I can get through this.

When did you start feeling that way in the sense that you know, there's not that fear, Oh my god, who am I going to be in the ring with? Am I gonna be able to work with this person? When did you start feeling comfortable? Um? Honestly, I mean I've always been pretty confident in my ability, especially the past few years, you know, really got into like self belief and kind of really getting into a good mindset.

But not until recently, you know, because I took six months off and I was getting ready to come back, and I was you know, there's always that battle in your mind, like am I going to be there? Am I not going to be there? Like? But then I was like, no, I've done this for ten years, you know. I just said to myself, I've done this for ten years. I know exactly what I'm doing. I've done it a thousand times, and for the past year and a half, I've done it at the top level, you know, in

Japan with the best wrestlers in the world. So just kind of, you know, I feel I'm confident in my ability now, you know. But I'm it almost feels like I'm starting again in the sense of I've got that hunger that I had when I was first starting out, when I first got to New Japan, And it's almost that that like six months has kind of given me a reset, you know. And now I'm just in a different mindset and I'm just ready to go, go, go, And yeah, I feel the most comfortable I've ever felt.

And yeah, really looking forward to the future. So who in New Japan as you as you look at the roster and who's available in America right now? I mean, is there in anybody that you're particularly interested in getting in the ring with here soon? I mean, you know, I'm always looking at my next opponent. I try not to look past my next opponent I think that's you know, the longer I've been in it, the more I've come

to understand that. But I think it'd be silly, you know, not not to, you know, go for the best, because I need to be in the ring with people who are better than me and people who have been where I want to be. And you know, I think the first answer is always going to be Hiroshi Tanahashi, you know, the absolutely know, the ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling inspired a generation of Japanese wrestlers, and you know, it's still innovating, and he was really good to me my

time in the dojo. But you know, I've always been here to be at the top ever since I came

to New Japan. And it's going to be a day when I stepped in the ring and Horoshi you tanna as she is going to be looking at me in the eye, and I have to be I have to know that I have to beat him, you know, And I'm just every day I think about this, and I trained for the moments like that, so that will happen one day in front of a big crowd in a big arena for big steaks, and I look forward to that day very quickly here if you look at the ton of Hashis and the Ayokadas, I mean, these are

these are names that are in the running. When people talk about the greatest restorer they've ever seen, Who is the greatest wrestler that you have ever seen? Question? The greatest rest I've ever seen? I mean, there are so many components that go into it. But if I had to go off, you know, if you asked me out a question right now, I think I'd have to say, you know, it's hard not to say cats you're Shibata,

you know, because he essentially stopped at his peak. And you know, even just recently he had a five minute grappling exhibition. Was Zach Savi j hold that hold that thought, we'll get him more of this. Half of the break swn by Everybody Observer Live. You were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez and Mike semper viv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network. Back in the show, Brian Evera is here Wrestling Observer Alive. Gabriel Kid joining us

here today. The Comic Con coming up in l A and we've got a panel discussion coming up tomorrow at ten thirty a, M. J. White, Gabriel Kid, and Fred Rosser are part of that panel, and then there is a meet and greed over the next three days. Tonight, uh six eight pm, it'll be Gabriel and Saturday from one to three J. White Sunday. One of three is Fred Rosser. So you can check that out at the

l A Comic Con. And I want to make sure we get a chance to get some plugs in here today for your stuff, Gabriel, some up coming matches, you'll be doing all the New Japan's Strong tapings. What else is coming up? And how can people find out more about you? I got the Strong taping in Hollywood on the ninth of December, and on the eighties, I'll be in North Carolina for p w X, and yeah, just shout out my team l A Dojo, all my boys, and just two thousand twenty two is going to be

a big year for the l A Dojo. And you know, I'll our work speak for itself. But I'm on Twitter and Instagram Gabriel Kid Underscore and uh yeah, that's pretty much it. There you go at Gabriel Kid Underscore on at Twitter, So check that out and best of luck this weekend, have fun of the comic con and best of look with all the future matches. Well, I do think it'll be a big year for the newch Pan Deligo because it was a big year last year in the middle of a pandemic, so next year it should

be even better. But thanks again, and of course thanks for doing this on short notice here today, and thanks everybody for listening. We're out of time. We'll talk to you next time. Wrestling Observer Live. You have been listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network