Jim Cornette Experience - Episode 540: Jim Reviews Money in The Bank

Episode Date: July 13, 2024

This week on the Experience, Jim reviews WWE Money In The Bank 2024! Plus Jim reviews the good & bad on AEW Collision, WWE Smackdown & A&E's Steiner Brothers documentary, and more!  Follo...w Jim and Brian on Twitter: @TheJimCornette @GreatBrianLast Join Jim Cornette's College Of Wrestling Knowledge on Patreon to access the archives & more! https://www.patreon.com/Cornette Subscribe to the Official Jim Cornette channel on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/c/OfficialJimCornette Visit Jim's official site at www.JimCornette.com for merch, live dates, commentaries and more! You can listen to Brian on the 6:05 Superpodcast at 605pod.com or wherever you find your favorite podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:04 Like the midnight and the rock and roll. He's in a fight for wrestling soul, using a racket and some mind control. He's Jim Cornett. The keys to the future, held by the past and with tag deep art. You has a mark in the back. It's the Is It Any Wonder Who's Winning Edition of the Jim Cornett experience and joining me for all this and more.
Starting point is 00:01:15 Hawaiian Brian, the podcasting lion, the king of the Arcadian Vanguard podcast network, co-host to you. He's the winningest man in the National Podcasting Athletic Association, the great Brian Last everybody. Hello, Aloha, Jim. And hello to everyone out there in Podcast Wonderland. It's a pleasure to be here once again. You see, that's the thing. You got to play the Pai Annie there, your little organ that you fiddle with, and then... Organ. And come out like you're in March Madness, the NPA, the National Podcasting Athletic Association. You're the man. We have run off and left everybody.
Starting point is 00:01:58 Left them in the dust is what we've done, Brian. And I'm pretty confident in my athletic abilities, so I'll take that award. Well, and I'll have you know that I've spent a lot of time over the past couple months jogging my memory. So I'm ready to go. I got the cardio in. I can't hear... That's a good line. I got to remember that. Jocke my memory. Good. Thank you very much. I can't hear it thunder right now out of my right ear. I got the tenitis has gone into the echoing thing, and I don't know whether I'm screaming for no reason
Starting point is 00:02:30 or whether I'm whispering, and it just, I don't know, it's just moire. So bear with me today. We've got things going on. And I want to, right now, I don't have gardeners today, but I do have people drilling and grinding. upon the other end of the house. What a pervert you are. What the hell's going on over there?
Starting point is 00:02:52 What are you talking about? Why does your mind automatically go in the gutter? I figured this was going on. Now you admit it. Drilling and grinding happening all over the property. It's like the Playboy Mansion out there. They've got the plug-in apparatus where there's high-powered stuff. Oh, Caligula cornet.
Starting point is 00:03:11 And maybe something is pneumatic. I'm not sure. It's making a lot of noise over there at that. No, I'm having my windows worked on. Oh. And, and you know, a lot of these companies these days will just come out and they'll just put you a brand new window in, right? With varying degrees of quality and or success, depending on how much money you pay. But there's very few that will come out and restore your historic windows.
Starting point is 00:03:38 And I found myself, another problem, a homeowner's problem I found myself learning about. at the west end of the house where the creek stone siding is that my father laid when he built the house there's still the original windows from 1955 and they look gorgeous on the inside they matched the woodwork
Starting point is 00:04:01 that the whole nine yards but on the outside when I went to look and get some new storm windows and see what was going on 20-something years ago when we had some remodeling done I told the guy I wanted new storm windows and he gave me the new storm windows but he wrapped the other
Starting point is 00:04:18 the edges of the windows in this aluminum business have you ever seen that where it's aluminum around that it's supposed to keep the water out no actually I've never seen that well I didn't like it when I saw it but it was brand new as well it's there now so I'll keep it but then as over the years
Starting point is 00:04:38 I've thought you know that looks like a state mental home and then I ended up having one of the pieces come loose and saw that the wood on the outside underneath this aluminum was rotting. And that's what I call these people. And they heritage window solutions out of Lexington. They restore historic windows. And it's a fascinating fucking procedure they go through.
Starting point is 00:05:07 Now, you have some experience just in the last few years alone of dealing with windows of, you know, different kinds around the house, right? Well, this was brand new stuff. Brand new windows we were having put in. Right. And that's fairly straightforward. They just take everything out to you got a big hole in your fucking wall and then put a new window in. But if you want to save the windows, this is fine art they're doing here. It's like a dentist filling cavities.
Starting point is 00:05:33 They're grinding out the rot at the sill to replace with new wood while at the same point they're going to clean up the other parts of the window that aren't rotten, repaint them, seal them. They've even got for stuff that goes in the masonry, they've got like synthetic, what they call it? It's some kind of like putty that they shoot in there and then it hardens and then they can sand it off in the shape and it's synthetic wood that they can make
Starting point is 00:06:04 and then blend it in with the rest of the shit. And then they seal all this stuff up and we get to custom-made storm windows, and they say it's good for 100 years. But it's loud and fascinating. But if I could get a hold of the guy that gave me the aluminum, because they said, yes, it traps moisture inside instead of, it's like a flashing thing,
Starting point is 00:06:27 but it's supposed to run the water off, but it can trap water inside. If it gets in there, it can't get out, so you're just... But that guy's dead, considering our respective ages 20-something years ago. So if he's still alive, he'd probably be so old that I wouldn't feel good about kicking the shit out of him. Not that I wouldn't win. I'd be pretty confident if he's like 80-something now I could take him, but I wouldn't take as much pride in it as I would if he was only 60 or 65 and I was to hit him over the head with a hammer.
Starting point is 00:06:58 What if he was an 80-year-old man with a foul mouth? Well, then I'd give him some slack because I'd feel some kind of kind of kindred spirit with him. Really? If he all of a sudden started talking shit and running his mouth to you, like right when you're feeling some sympathy for his age? Oh, I thought you just meant a general foul mouth. No. No, if the old cock sucker came up to me, well, fuck you. Well, I'll kick you in the fucking dick, you fucking non-agenarian son of a bitch.
Starting point is 00:07:23 There it is. See, and there's something, there's another string of English words that have never been put together in that order before. That's true. I will kick you in the dick, you non-a-generian son of a bitch. Now, that's something you don't hear every day. What was the one Carlin said? Here's something you never hear. If you don't stop blowing me, I'm going to call the cops.
Starting point is 00:07:43 Yes, if you don't stop sucking my dick, I'll call the police. You never hear anybody say that. So this is a program. In addition to learning about wrestling, ladies and gentlemen, girls, you expand your vocabulary. We're very big on spelling. and pronunciation over here. So, you know, it's a very literate program, I think, that we foist off on the people.
Starting point is 00:08:16 I mean, it's a very cultured wrestling show. We have music, performance, critique. I mean, it's almost like it's on PBS. Well, you, I sing. That's music. I'm not sure what you do. If we can call it that. Well, I'm not sure what you do could be called melodious, at least.
Starting point is 00:08:36 it might be music to some of the... That's melodious. Yeah, I think that's an Emerson Lake and Palmer outtake. Maybe. Anyway, we got a lot to talk about today because they had the money in the bank in Toronto in front of the biggest arena gate in the history of Canada for wrestling.
Starting point is 00:09:02 The biggest name star of the last couple of decades has announced his retirement. mature for that very same company. You got it, old Tony Con, he responded. He brought a few. We're going to talk about that too on collision. He popped out a couple of surprises. Just to battle John Cena coming out unannounced in front of that big crowd. We're going to talk about that.
Starting point is 00:09:29 The biography last weekend was on the Steiner's, and we got to catch up with that. But before we do that, we mentioned this on the drive. through. And now we've got somewhat of an update that on the Kevin Sullivan GoFundMe, if you didn't hear the drive-through yet, apparently the news has just come out, but Kevin has been in the hospital in Florida since the middle of May with what was an accident, a surgery, sepsis, blood poisoning, various medical issues that of case. still from what we understand in intensive care.
Starting point is 00:10:12 He lives in Washington State. He's down there in Florida because he was there for an autograph session when this happened. And at this point, even with his insurance, you know, two months in the intensive care and a hospital surgery and all this other stuff, and there's associated costs that insurance doesn't cover. So his daughter Nicole had started to go fund me, which you can, have... Brian, you say you just go to GoFundMe and look up, wrestling legend Kevin Sullivan will get you there, right?
Starting point is 00:10:45 If you go to GoFundMe and search for Kevin Sullivan, it'll be probably the top hit, I'm pretty sure. But also, if you just go to Google and you Google Kevin Sullivan, GoFundMe, GoFundMe being one word, it'll come right up. Right. But anyway, obviously, it had just started when we heard about it, they were only asking for $20,000, which I think is a modest amount in a situation like this with who knows what, because he's still not, you know,
Starting point is 00:11:15 out of the woods with the whole thing. So they've blown past that since we mentioned it and, you know, it's gotten out on Twitter, but we still like to ask everybody if you were a fan of almost any wrestling for the last 30 years, then somebody on the show was helped or started or booked by. or learn from Kevin Sullivan, if you like Kevin's work and any of the promotions he's been involved in, you know, here's a chance for everybody to let him and his family know what we thought. But I wanted to mention that again.
Starting point is 00:11:55 I think I can't remember they were over the goal when I looked yesterday. They're currently a 34,000 as of right now. Yeah, but, you know, again, this is not one of those frivolous go-fundies you hear about from some people, and that is not a big amount of money in the United States of America when you're dealing with medical expenses. Yeah, you know, we just watched Who Killed WCW, no one talked
Starting point is 00:12:18 about their pension plan. Yes. Yeah, that was a little lacking in that organization also. But anyway, as I said, if anybody gets the opportunity to, and Brian and I
Starting point is 00:12:36 appreciate everybody that has and obviously the family does. And, you know, so if you've got an opportunity to check that out and just, you know, keep posted, because Nicole had already done an update saying that she was, you know, happy for the surge at the start there and that, you know, she will keep us posted. So we'll see what's going on there. And it shouldn't surprise anyone, but I believe Jeremy Bagley has been sharing it all over Twitter. So a lot of the Colta Quartet members have been helping out.
Starting point is 00:13:06 And like you said, everyone appreciates it. I never worked with Kevin, but he's always been incredibly supportive of what I do. So really good guy. I've had nothing but good experiences with Kevin Sullivan. Anyway, before we get into the modern effluvia that we have to talk about here this week, because it kind of ties a lot of it does into Kevin Sullivan. The biography on the Steiner brothers, Rick and Scott Steiner that was on, I won't do what you do and say AEW.
Starting point is 00:13:39 It was on A&E. That network. You were about to do it. You were about to do it, weren't you? And I caught myself. I never do. I never do. It's so similar.
Starting point is 00:13:52 Maybe Tony will buy A&E because it's confusingly similar. That way people will be tuning in thinking they're watching you know, goddamn cooking fucking class or something and up will pop the rassling. Anyway. The biography, you saw this episode, did you not?
Starting point is 00:14:11 Oh, absolutely. I wish this one was two hours. Usually they're two hours. This one was a quick one hour, but I enjoyed it. Yeah, and again, we talk about that so many of the A&E programs at this point are cross-pollinated with other, the rivalries and the biographies and the heels and the baby faces and the waterboys and all the various series they have, they have not done that much on the Steiner's. and so a lot of this stuff obviously you weren't seeing it for the first time if you
Starting point is 00:14:42 have been a fan of the Steiner's but seeing stuff that you haven't seen in a long time in terms of the wrestling footage and then you don't get a chance to because when was the last time we saw especially with Scott a sit-down interview with Scott Steider on a network program in not in not in a wrestling show not when he's being big pop a pump but when he just being himself which, as you can tell, there's sometimes not a lot of fucking line of demarcation there. Yeah, where else do we get to see an interview with the most understanding woman in the world, aka the wife of Scott Steiner? Yeah, but no, that's the thing is that for good or bad,
Starting point is 00:15:27 because of Scott's being mostly Scott, Rick is, you know, Rick doesn't have that many personal issues with people and is the more laid back of the two. But Scott was on the outs with the WW for years and years to the point where they, and I'm sure he probably got a fucking kick out of this at the time. Like, yeah, fucking good thing for them. What was the show?
Starting point is 00:15:54 What was the WrestleMania year or whatever when they put his picture up backstage and said, do not admit this man called police or whatever the fuck? When was that? I don't remember. It must have been about a decade ago, but I think Hogan was there, which prompted it because he had just threatened to do whatever to Hogan
Starting point is 00:16:10 like the day before, within days of that. Yeah, he was going to fucking stretch Hogan for some reason, and they're probably valid. You know, but they put his picture up back there, and it was fucking hilarious. Because, you know, or was that kind of a, was that a Russo thing, do you think? Was it me just fucking lighten up Rousseau thing, do you think?
Starting point is 00:16:34 Was it me just fucking lighten up Rousseau? to the point where he panics and fucking puts out a restraining order or they put it was hogan just like shitting himself like shit stain wood or Scott Scott would have you know would have been down there in a couple minutes if he'd have had the thought cross his mind but yeah I think with Scott there was the threat that things could get very physical and no one could stop it. Well anyway but now they're in the Hall of Fame Rick's progeny is about to be the biggest star in the wrestling business,
Starting point is 00:17:09 and they get their own biography on AEW. See, I did that just for you and you named him sell it. You know, the problem, too, I'll just bring it up here because you bring up Braun Breaker, I apologize for Swami barking at the mailman in the background. But don't you think that this biography almost points out how ridiculous it is, that his name's not Braun Steiner? Well, yeah. And I mean, it's been ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:17:34 since day one we talked about it. Why not Braun Steiner? Because, you know, everybody, if you didn't know, how could you not know? If you don't know, your ass better call somebody. How would you not, he, I mean, there's no fucking suspecting
Starting point is 00:17:54 the milkman here in this relationship. Well, he certainly looks like a Steiner. He should be named Steiner. Everyone knows he's a Steiner. And his dad was even been on NXT TV with him. It's ridiculous. that they gave him a name just so they could own it, but... Well, they're now calling the clothesline, the Steiner line, and the Frankensteiner.
Starting point is 00:18:12 So, but... They just can't own Steiner. I mean, again, he came in under Vince. You have to wonder if it would be different now. If he came in, they could actually take advantage of heritage. Because one of the things under Vince, and we'll see how Triple H does with this, at a certain point, it was almost bad to be a second generation wrestler. Remember Kurt Henning's son?
Starting point is 00:18:30 They gave him multiple names. Not one of them was Henning? Oh, God, yeah. Well, but now here's the thing. As soon as he achieves his first milestone level of success championship, whatever they deem that to be, that's when he can come out and say, okay, now I can use my name because I'm not trading on my old man
Starting point is 00:18:52 because I'm better than my old man now because he'll still be a heel. Whatever. So it's possible it could happen. I think, I just, you know, again, they don't seem. as hard and fast Ari and the gang there, the Hollywood crowd as with Vince's rules
Starting point is 00:19:14 as Vince was and made people be so it could be open. But yeah, right now, obviously everybody knows because he's in this fucking show and my son. So anyway, Bronn Breaker-Steiner maybe they'll hyphenate it like these ladies that get married
Starting point is 00:19:34 but want to keep their own name, and then they become Gertrude, wildebeest, foofingham. Well, you know, talking about the Steiner's, they go back to the very beginning, the Rex Steiner's, I guess we should say, and it's kind of weird seeing images of Rick and Scott as children growing up,
Starting point is 00:19:53 just the size difference as they're getting older. You know, Rick Steiner with lots of hair and no facial hair. It's a real trip seeing that stuff. And I'd never seen those, obviously, I didn't ask him, hey, can I see your fucking baby pictures? You know, but I, it's like you don't expect them to look like normal humans in some cases because they've always been these genetic freaks and these, you know, unique people.
Starting point is 00:20:22 And they were from Bay City, Michigan. They wrestled in high school, wrestled in college at Michigan. And they made a big deal of talking about their parents were very straight. Their father was, boy, he looked like a. real strict conservative type of fellow from the leave it to beaver era so but their personalities Rick said it best well when we went to college got away from dad we went wild so I'm wondering if this is a cautionary tale for maybe advocating permissive parenting but the first thing they did at college was take a guy's car and put it on a 50 yard line at the football stadium and
Starting point is 00:21:03 I mean, we've told stories about these, they, not malicious and not trying to fuck with people's property and not just being vandals or whatever the fuck, but they were stiff with goddamn ribs and it would fight, and it's not like that they would have a problem. If somebody fucked back with them like that,
Starting point is 00:21:27 they would laugh about it too and then get you back, but everybody was scared to retaliate in many cases. but anyway more on the ribs in a little while when they start talking about them but it was it was cool seeing that early footage where Rick was introduced as Rob Recksteiner and he's just he's got the the fuzzy hair by that point he's jacked but you can tell he's kind of like what the fuck's going on around here but as we mentioned you know when we've talked about him before we talked about Braun Rick picked it up so quick because it was, it said January 85 was his debut on AWA television,
Starting point is 00:22:11 and he's in Mid-South by fucking 86 and- Oh, 805. He came in at the end of 85. That's right. Well, and by the next year, he's looking like he's somebody and he's Rick Steiner now. So, I mean, it was, it was very quick because I was watching, you know, all the, the territory TVs that were still remaining, right? and in 86 I was seeing you know mid-south and CNN guys like what's fucking then by the time he came to work for Crockett
Starting point is 00:22:43 even that that was 87 the again exponentially better in two years and now I guess I've got in the notes here somewhere but we're like two years or a little removed from bronze debut in NXT
Starting point is 00:23:01 and I think he He's better at this stage than Rick was. You know, it's interesting. You never hear Rick Steiner on a list of people that was a Vern Gagne student, and they talked about it here. And the other thing, you never hear anything about the late 84, 85, 86, the territory's still kind of operating like the territories. The idea that Jack Lanza and the AWA sent him to work for Watts,
Starting point is 00:23:28 you know, again, think of where things were in the middle of 1985, in terms of what Vince McMahon was doing and what everyone else was doing to react to it, it's wild that they were still doing that, that he was still sending him out there to get seasoned. Well, but that probably wasn't official. And see, that was the thing. And he had met George Steele, the animal,
Starting point is 00:23:48 who, before he became so popular later in his career as George the Animal Steele, remember, George Steele, Jim Myers, he would work, he would teach in Michigan. He would teach school, nine months out of the year and then go to work the summer for Vince Senior as George the Animal Steel in what the early 70s, right? And then he started making so much money and he would work for Sheik and Detroit or whatever.
Starting point is 00:24:16 But he started making so much money in a wrestling business, he quit teaching. But since he was from Michigan and he had been an amateur and he, hey, you need to go train with Vern Gagne. And this was 1984. because Vince wasn't training anybody. And at that point, George Steele was like, he was not just an,
Starting point is 00:24:41 and Jack Lanzah. They were not just agents for Vince. That's what they did, you know, for their jobs or, you know, whatever. But if you, they knew everybody in the business. So if they saw a guy that just needed a break or some place to train,
Starting point is 00:24:58 they thought you ought to call so-and-so or here, let me try to put a word in for you. They weren't too much. any options either. And that's off the clock type of stuff, where it wouldn't be going through, Vince wouldn't have give a shit at that point. I mean, if you think about it, if any wrestler
Starting point is 00:25:13 in that period of time met someone and they thought this guy should be a wrestler, either they were going to train him or they had to have somewhere to send them and there weren't too many options. Yeah. What were we going to send him to Larry Sharp? Well, it ended up, that was, he got the, about what, the late 80s
Starting point is 00:25:29 when all the regular territories had ceased, he got the business by default. Yeah, that's right. But anyway, so that's how, and you would see Rick Steiner and you go, okay, somebody can do something with him. And, you know, so anyway, that's the way that happened. And I loved, again, because I knew Rick by this point and he was working in Crockett,
Starting point is 00:25:56 I was paying attention when his brother, Scott, starts working in the, was it bruiser trying to restart it or was somebody else just using the w w a name in 86 ohio indiana and a bit of michigan jerry graham junior have something to do with it he may have but i think bruiser was still involved well i mean you know at that point he wasn't wrestling by that point on most of the shows or whatever and it was a really low budget attempted a resurgence i mean he probably owned something the background, but the point being, it wasn't something that a lot of people was seeing at that point in time.
Starting point is 00:26:39 No, which is why I was surprised when they showed the footage of him beating the great Wojo, really good crowd reaction. I was like, wow, I didn't think there would be anyone there, but they actually still had a respectable audience, I guess. Well, but, I mean, look at the size of the building. Was there 1,500 or 2,000 people there, which back in the 80s for any type of promoted wrestling show under Bruisers? you know, fucking name, even the
Starting point is 00:27:04 WWA, it should have done something. But point being, they didn't have, I don't think any television at that point in Indianapolis, I'm pretty sure, may have had something like Toledo, whatever the case, but Greg Wojikowski, the great Wojo
Starting point is 00:27:20 had been a hot shot amateur, I think with major credentials. Oh yeah. And I think he'd done some work in Japan, right? Probably for Inoki. Did he not? I don't recall, actually. I thought they, at some point, they brought him over as a shooter,
Starting point is 00:27:38 but he was a high-level international amateur, decorated, blah, blah, blah. And the great Wojo, because nobody could pronounce Wochikowski, and I can't spell it, and they had put the belt on him, and then it was the same principle. When they not only they saw Scott Steiner and the physical impression that he made to begin with, and his credentials, you know, in school,
Starting point is 00:28:07 but also they figure, oh, his brother is working for Jim Crockett. He's on TBS. Maybe we could get a date on him or we see that kind of thing. So, man, because I'm not downplaying Scott's potential, but they put the belt on him over the great wojo in his first match. And contemporaneously, as I was keeping up with it and getting the clip, I think Brian Hildebrand, as a matter of fact, was around this area, probably with some of the shows and shot.
Starting point is 00:28:38 It looked like they were given Scott Steiner a big push because Rick was a star on television and there's his brother. But at the same point, he grew into it fairly quickly. If you remember when the Steiner brothers hit, all the Aptor magazines had ads for WWA matches with Scott Steiner. It was all about young Scott Steiner. And whenever you finally saw that footage, I mean, it was crazy.
Starting point is 00:29:00 He was doing stuff that some of the high flyers today don't. do. He was doing like a 450 splash in the middle of the ring. Yeah. And well, he was like Brock Lesnar. They had to calm him down for his own good as far as keeping his body. In the shape he was able to keep it in
Starting point is 00:29:16 doing all that stuff, right? If he'd have done everything he did from the start, he'd have fucking broke down before then. But anyway, that's, that was the thing is that you knew you had something with both of these guys. Everybody who saw him say, oh, you've got to go train with somebody good.
Starting point is 00:29:33 And with the WWA, oh shit, this guy's going to be a star, his brother's already a star, and holy shit, we'll sell his tapes or whatever, we'll push him to the moon. But I don't know that Scott was there. Again, how quick they were, how quick studies and quick developing. I don't even think they put a, it was two years, two or two and a half years tops. with Scott too by the time he has that first match and wins their world title in Toledo to he's on TBS.
Starting point is 00:30:08 Yeah, he was in Memphis at the end of 88, I think. Right? Yes, yes. Because he had to, you know, there had to be some kind of middle ground there. And I think that's, you know, again, another time Memphis was able as the last, one of the last places left at that point in time to just give him seven nights a week of work and live TV. Yeah, think about who was there at that same time.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Him, Cactus Jack, Sid Vicious, three guys, very different that would go on to be three of the top guys of the 90s. And, you know, in this biography, they skipped the Crockett run almost entirely. And I know the focus was the Steiner Brothers, but, you know, Rick was, I don't think they told the story of how popular
Starting point is 00:30:59 and successful Rick had been boom boom boom in that point in time but as you mentioned it was only 46 minutes plus commercials so but but by early 89 you know here come the steiner brothers in in wcw and then you get to see all those highlights and jesus again i got kind of used to it when i was seeing it on the monitor every fucking tv taping but they just picked these guys up and just put them in anywhere they wanted to. It was fucking amazing.
Starting point is 00:31:32 Andor could turn them in any position. I mean, Ronnie Garvin used to tickle the guys on a boring Saturday morning TBS taping by taking a job guy. The poor fellow obviously looked like a piece of shit, but they were trying to, you know, be part of the thing and do favors for guys. But he'd take the guy's own index finger
Starting point is 00:31:54 and make him pick his own nose and eat it and shit like that. but the Steiner's took just a whole new level of what the fuck you had no idea where you were going but they reasonably put you down well if that makes any sense most of the time most of the time there may be sometimes that they didn't
Starting point is 00:32:13 I'll tell you we'll talk a little bit about it here I'm such a mark for the Steiner brothers from 89 until let's say 94 and when they first hit there was nothing like them. I mean, the road warriors are like big painted up, shoulder pads, big like monsters almost. You believe that the Steiner's could handle them.
Starting point is 00:32:35 Yes. Just based on how they handled themselves. And their matches were spectacular. A few years back, when everyone, and it's funny thinking about it now where they are now, when everyone was going crazy about how the young buck should be in the Hall of Fame, and thank God that didn't happen. I mean, again, look where they are now.
Starting point is 00:32:53 I would say the Steiner brothers are, go watch those matches. It's not just the innovation. There are very few baby face tag teams ever that got those kind of reactions midmatch to everything they did. And those WCW fans, and it was tough to be a WCW fan
Starting point is 00:33:09 for a lot of that time period, the Steiner's were guys that gave you optimism. Until they were gone in 92, every time there was a Steiner Brothers match, you had to see it. The matches they had with random to the American fans, random Japanese wrestlers,
Starting point is 00:33:25 some of the all-time greats from New Japan of that era. Tatsumi Fujinami, I mean, everyone was in the ring with them. They destroyed everyone. You've never seen anything like it. Go watch WrestleMania 92 before the actual War Games match. They have a match that lights up that audience. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. There are very few tag teams that have ever hit the way they hit.
Starting point is 00:33:47 And again, WCW wasn't doing big business, but that wasn't their fault. They were one of the few bright spots in WCW. Well, and it started in 1990. When Jesus, they hadn't been together as a team for six months, you know, we talk about, yes, sometimes when you go back and look at the highlights with the job guys, a lot of the job guys didn't know how to take bumps either. Some of that, some of the bumps they were just given, but there was some awkward things going on. But in that time period with them only having been in the business for a couple of years,
Starting point is 00:34:25 and having only six months as a team, the team in the whole company that the Midnight Express and I wanted to work with was the Steiner brothers and the Southern boys for the, you know, obviously we had wonderful matches with them because they got it also in a completely different way. But the Steiders were so over.
Starting point is 00:34:49 And if you knew what you were doing and you didn't fight this, them on trying to get their shit in, they were the easiest team to work with. I don't people call bullshit, no, with the mid-they-they-they-they- were the easiest team to work with. Because if you watch the nasty boys or the road wars or the Japanese teams or whatever, like you're talking about, those guys were also strong, ball-busting teams, right? Slobber-knocker people, it's got to be a fight.
Starting point is 00:35:19 You're going to close line, close-line, punch, boom, boom, boom. and so the Steiner's even had to fight to get their shit in, right? The midnight was completely, it was like Tully and Arne, completely different style team. We're going to do all of their shit and take bigger bumps and put it over facially and with the body language because that's the style of team we are. And then to get heat on them, we're going to go from behind, we're going to use the racket, we're going to double, triple team, and not make them look weak. and then on the fucking comeback,
Starting point is 00:35:54 we're going to do all our shit again. And so they liked working with the midnight because it was a night off for them and they were very careful with Bobby and Stan and me because they respected what we were doing. Same thing as the road warriors, same formula. They knew we were going to do all their shit and fly for them.
Starting point is 00:36:18 And so they would let us get our shit, when it was time to get our shit you didn't have to fight for it that's why the matches worked so anyway that's why the matches were good and we all enjoyed working with each other right and and they could be careful
Starting point is 00:36:35 and not hurt you they'd never pitated me a bit but the ribs now they were stiffer in the locker room because they talked about you know Lex Lugar talked about them stretching him and
Starting point is 00:36:50 you know, all of the guys they used to duct tape. They duct taped disco inferno in the parking lot at Universal Studios and T&A one time. And they duct taped, I can't remember who, but guys would be. But as the- When you say they duct tape people and they said it here, and how does that start? Well, let's see. It could just be going back and forth verbally. and somebody zings,
Starting point is 00:37:22 oh, well, fuck, come here. Or it could be, they just see somebody and they got to roll a duct tape and they, somebody leaves on a roll of tape. Is duct tape a usual thing that you find in a wrestling locker room?
Starting point is 00:37:33 Well, in the Steiner's bags, it was. Because that, it's better than the padlocks. Because I remember in the WWF, and as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure they got me one time that it was them but a number of guys would do the padlock rib in the 80s
Starting point is 00:37:55 where you would they'd have like the master lock like a school locker right and they would either fucking put it around your suit bag or your wrestling bag handles and padlock it to a locker where you had to go get to bulk cutters to get your bag and leave the building or from the janitor or you'd come back from working and in addition to your already heavy bag
Starting point is 00:38:21 there'd be like eight or 12 fucking padlocks hanging off of it that you couldn't get it so you had to drag that whole thing around the duct tape was not as bad because at least somebody could just get a knife or a pair of scissors but they could actually duct tape you and so if a guy was leaning on the rail and they caught him they'd just duct tape his fucking wrists around the railing in the arena
Starting point is 00:38:44 when the doors were about to open and the fans were about to come in and they'd pull his fucking pants down around his ankles and he'd even try to figure out how to cover up his dangling fucking dingling. Or, like they said in the documentary, they had duct taped the nasty boys, hands behind him like they're handcuffed and their, you know, ankles together.
Starting point is 00:39:06 But they would do that again to people out in the parking lot to a goddamn railing or out in the building. But remember when, because they lived in Georgia, So when we do the WCW TVs in Savannah or Macon or something like that, they'd ride down together in a car, Rick and Scott, and they would bring Scott's dog Arnold, who actually managed them when they worked for me in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. And Arnold was a pit bull and was, you think, fairly lovable,
Starting point is 00:39:42 but he sounded like the most goddamn mad dog you've ever seen in a horror movie. and he Scott had him on a leash but he could he could get out about 10 feet in front of Scott with his thing and Scott could have him chase guys at command right and when he found out that Bobby Eaton was kind of nervous around big mean looking dogs anyway one time in Savannah at the Civic Center
Starting point is 00:40:09 the doors are opening and the fans are coming in the front door and there comes fucking Bobby Eaton in his underwear and bare foot and fucking holding his goddamn towel around his neck as he's running out of the goddamn breezeway and there comes Scott Steiner with his pit bull on a 10 foot leash. Chased him around through the goddamn ring side and back in the other side and the people are going on. And he chased him all the way and then another time they got after Bobby. Bobby had his boots on.
Starting point is 00:40:43 And they chased him into the bathroom and he got on the stall and he was. standing up on the toilet seat and holding on to the top of the stall and the Steiner ripped a fucking door off the goddamn deal so that Arnold could get in and he said, Sigg him, sing him. And Arnold clamped down on Bobby's boot and he could work. He wasn't even biting the boot. He just even grab your foot with the boot in his mouth and like that. And Bobby's petrified until he realized he's not really trying to hurt him.
Starting point is 00:41:15 so we worked that spot with the heavily bodies in Smoky Mountain where they could get Arnold to Jimmy Del Rey's boot but anyway remember I told you I think last week on the show or on the drive-thru they duct taped Kevin Sullivan's son to the right they didn't pull his pants down but they duct taped him to the rail for acting up when he was 12 years old or whatever
Starting point is 00:41:40 but that way I've told you the story of Amarillo right when we left the Civic Center and stopped at that convenience store? I'm not sure. Okay, well, me and Bobby and Stan, and we're in the convenience store on the service road. Everybody in West Texas know what I'm talking about. It's a road that goes to the right of the interstate, but only one way along. And that's where all the businesses are.
Starting point is 00:42:08 And there's a ram, and you get off and on the interstate every so often. And on the other side, it's the same thing. It's a West Texas thing. the service road. So we're at the store and all of Rick and Scott come in. And there's no other fans in there. There's nobody else in there except the guy working there. But we're trying to cave,
Starting point is 00:42:27 and they just start talking to us because they don't give a shit. Hey, hey, fuck you, Bobby Eaton. Because that was Rick's favorite fucking greeting for Bobby. Fuck you, Bobby. And we turn around and Rick has pulled a goddamn handgun. the size of a dirty hairy movie out of his fucking fanny pack and he's just standing there
Starting point is 00:42:50 holding it and showing it to fucking bobby what the fuck? The guy's ringing the shit up in the store he's not noticing anything and he sticks it back in and this was 1990 right so you could fly around with shit like this
Starting point is 00:43:07 apparently I don't know maybe they bought it when they got to town so anyway we're like fuck this he's going to this fucking guy's going to think we're all going to rob me. Let's get out of here. Me and Bobby is standing getting a car. We turn out.
Starting point is 00:43:20 We're going down the service road. And on the left of the service road, like I said, is the interstate. It's up about 20 feet higher, the interstate on an embankment. And, you know, they got it graded off and everything, right? So a couple seconds later, here come Rick and Scott in that fucking, a rental car of some description, on that service road up behind us with their lights, flags, and he decides, I think it was Scott driving, that he's going to go around.
Starting point is 00:43:51 He goes to the left and drives up the, so he's driving alongside us on the embankment, kind of sideways in between the interstate and the service road, and Rick is firing that gun up in the air out of the window. Bang, bang, bass, say, and off they go. They're just, you know, on the way to the hotel, having fun. they were fucking insane
Starting point is 00:44:16 but that's but they loved having fun and like this program said they were always had each other's backs and they were always together you know whatever they were doing had I ever told you that story I think you may I remember you talking
Starting point is 00:44:37 about Rick Steiner with a gun the driving on the embankment I don't remember you ought to remember everything that I ever say to you we've only known each other for 30 years I remember when Rick Steiner first started out him and Steve Williams and the UWF were driving to a show and they found like a car on the side of the road in flames and they rescued the people. Oh, that's right.
Starting point is 00:44:55 They pulled the door. Yeah, they pulled the door off the car and saved the people. Yes, and it made the local news and, you know, they got a lot of attention out of that at that time. Yeah, some burning car. And again, nobody was, nobody was shocked. Oh, it was Steiner and Doc, and they jerked the car door off. the fucking hinges to, well, no problem. But that was, you know,
Starting point is 00:45:22 and nobody was surprised it was in the Mid-South territory with the shit going on on the roads down there. They talked a little bit about in 92, Scott and Bill Watts not getting long at all. Again, Rick Steiner had broken in pretty much under watch. You could say he did some stuff before, but Watts is where he really got his first bit of attention. You surprised that him and Scott butted head, the thing was only about the money issues. Watt's
Starting point is 00:45:47 trying to cut everyone's salary no matter what and everyone who had a nice salary saying, what the hell? No, you, or do you think it was a personality thing that never would have worked? You didn't hear the brief, they buried the lead here, but the brief line that Scott had about Watts,
Starting point is 00:46:03 that was the, you didn't hear that? I mean, I don't even know that they tried to cut his money that drastically because, let's, I know in 19, they were making three grand a week apiece.
Starting point is 00:46:21 Now, by 1992, that may have increased, and it probably did. But it wasn't like they were making outrageous money, but Scott said that he told Bill Watts what he thought about his son, Eric's push. And I can hear that conversation. And I would, if I was a betting man there, Smithers, I would say that the personality conflict came from Scott told Bill Watts, what the fuck are you pushing this gangly fucking blithering simpleton
Starting point is 00:46:53 as Bill Watts called his son Joel one time you blithering idiot Joe you blithering idiot no I'm sure that Scott in pretty blunt language told Bill what he thought of Eric and I think that's where that came from and they kind of just mentioned that and went off in another direction.
Starting point is 00:47:13 I don't know if that was the only thing. I mean, I bet that was probably the straw that broke the Campbell's back on one side. Remember, the end of their WCW run, right before Scott had like a, he won like the TV title from Rick Steenboat and then was vacated when he left, but it was the Steiner's against Gordy and Williams that summer. Yeah, and that's the kind of, that's why I said, that's the kind of stuff that Watts loved because those were classic match. and everybody was a legitimate athlete and a hawse, as the kids say.
Starting point is 00:47:48 And so there was deep personality conflict with, I'm sure, with Scott and Bill, and partly over Scott probably telling, not talking to Bill Watts like he was not used to fucking guys talking to him that have been into business for three years or whatever. but that they started in the WWE WWF let's call it by its real name since it was at the time at the end of 92 and you know honestly they were successful there for the brief period that you know what the first six
Starting point is 00:48:27 eight months of the year until and that's when we worked with them and I got in the middle of well I didn't get in the middle of anything but we were right there in the middle of the transition from them doing well into WWF to start to tell Vince, hey, we need to fucking leave. Yeah, you know, their first several months in WWF was exciting. I was a big fan of theirs.
Starting point is 00:48:51 You know, I saw them live. I think they were on the first Monday Night Raw. It was a big deal of the Steiner Brothers were there. They wrestled the head shrinkers, or they had a history of from when they were the SST in the NWA. They wrestled DiBiase and Mike Rotunda, and those as a fan were like the least exciting matches they could have to me. Then we got them in the Quebecers.
Starting point is 00:49:13 And I enjoyed that personally, but I don't know if they, they don't seem like Jacques Rousho kind of guy. But the Heavenly Bodies was the highlight of their run. Other than the Breton-Owen match, I think the highlight of their run was the stuff with the Heavenly Bodies, specifically maybe the one night that was the highlight of their run was SummerSlam 93. Well, yeah, and the four weeks of TV we got to build up to it. But see, that was the thing when they went to the WWF.
Starting point is 00:49:44 They were some of the few guys at that point that were still interesting and watchable. And, you know, people wanted to see their squash matches. Because they were still doing all that shit so impressive, right? And at the time, a lot of the WWF television was, so they were a breath of fresh air up there from what the guys were doing. But then when they got into it, as you said, with whatever teams, they were just so good, right? And they were, again, really different for the WWF. And so they've been there six months or so. And that was when completely, you know, independently, not tied to them being there, me and the heavenly body showed up.
Starting point is 00:50:34 for me to work with Yocuzuna, whatever. And they, at the time, you know, they had said, well, we'll have the bodies work with the Steiner's at SummerSlam. Do you have a problem with them putting them over? Of course not. And so the bodies came in as a new team for a build to work the SummerSlam, WWF tag team title with the Steiners. And I thought, well, first of all, I thought,
Starting point is 00:51:04 There'll probably be some extension of that program, you know, when they see how good it is or whatever. And then, you know, so we did the deal, and it was the same formulas I just talked about earlier in the show or earlier in this clip here, in that even though they didn't know Jimmy Delray at all. And I'm not sure if maybe Rick and Dr. Tom had met at some point, but really not working. with each other, but it was the same formula team. And, you know, I'm kind of conveying the spots. Here's what we do and blah, blah, blah. So they knew we were going to do the same thing. They're from Michigan.
Starting point is 00:51:48 They went to college of Michigan. We're in Detroit or Auburn Hills, as they say, the palace. It's sold out. It's the biggest home state audience they've probably ever appeared in front of at that point. time and they've got a team one of my teams that does that stuff to do all of their shit so they were a fight and they did all of tom shit and all of jimmy's shit and jimmy del ray he was fucking yeah jimmy del ray was one of the people that after people watch that event because most people had never heard of him before and most people didn't even realize he was jimmy back on or heard
Starting point is 00:52:26 of jimmy backlin before it was like where did this guy come from he stole the show well and that's because we knew for a few weeks out when we started doing the television and I told Rick and Scott I said just watch their matches watch the body's matches because we had some TV matches where we did some shit I said watch their matches you can see
Starting point is 00:52:46 I said but we're going to do the same fucking thing right we used to do we're going to have fun and do all your shit but watch what this guy does and Jimmy was good he was light he was easy and so that's the thing is Jimmy was, Tom was, you know, laid back, and he had obviously been in, that was a high profile
Starting point is 00:53:07 position for him at that point in his career, but he'd, you know, been in main events and worked territories and blah, blah, blah. Jimmy had just got the break, and he refused to believe and was shocked, and you can see it on his face, and no, they're not going to, they're going to do the DD, the float over DTT, and oh, shit, they want to do this, and that, he was timid at first. to ask the Steiner brother. I said, no, they're fine. Show them here.
Starting point is 00:53:34 Boom, boom, boom. The fucking headlock, ding. And so, and it was one of the better matches that either team had during that run that year in the WWF. Because of that. I think other than the Brett and Owen match, which was a unique match, it's probably the Steiner brother's best match there. Do you remember before the match started? Again, hometown show, best night of their WWE careers.
Starting point is 00:53:59 and they interviewed their sister at ringside before the match and whoever it was, Pedengill or someone says, what was it like having these guys in the home growing up? And she goes, oh, you know, Rob and Scott, there they are. It was the first time they used his real name on TV accidentally. Well, it's because, you know, he's always robbed to her. And no, yeah, the sister and the mother was at ringside and the whole thing. And it tore the house down people like the fucking match,
Starting point is 00:54:29 and they got over and had the belts up, right? And that's when I had already, because that was, what, August 30th, I think, that year, right? That seems to stick in my head. It used to be late August, so that sounds right. But anyway, the first weekend of October, I had them four days in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. When we first started, that's when I'd talked to at the time. It was Bruce and Pat. Bruce Pritchard and Pat Patterson doing the booking for the house shows and the talent.
Starting point is 00:54:56 I said, you know, says we're already. we're going to be promoting this match on SummerSlam. Can I have the rematch of my big October shows? Yes, and it was going to be for the WWF tag team title. And thankfully, before we ever announced that when I was a TV up to, probably at the, it may have been the TVs after SummerSlam, but they told me ahead enough. Pat came and said, well, I can't do the accent, bless Pat.
Starting point is 00:55:29 We're going to take the belts off of De Stina's, the Steiner. I said, well, and he said, well, we're putting it. Apparently, that's when they found out there was switch the belts, which they did to the Quebecers, right? Jacques and Pierre. That's right, with Johnny Polo. With Johnny Polo. Well, because, unbeknownst to me, because I, again, wasn't asking Rick and Scott their
Starting point is 00:55:51 personal business, that's when they had registered their dismay or disappointment to Vince with the money they were making, which wasn't exactly apparently the gold mine that he had promised him. It's the same line, you know, Shane Douglas years later, you know, he had a big problem with WWF when he went up there as Dean Douglas, but he said the same thing that him and his wife met to meet with Vince, and he said, you're going to make more money than you've ever made before in your life. Yes. And then it didn't happen.
Starting point is 00:56:23 So I guess that was just a typical line that he used. Well, and see, in the 80s, it was you're going to have the opportunity to make more money, right? And then it gradually became you're going to make more money. And then it started being that it wasn't more money because WCW started offering guarantees. So at any rate, so the Steiner's did come down to make the dates, but it wasn't, they'd lost the belt, so it couldn't be for the belts. but I think honestly it drew the same whether they had the belts on the line or not but that's when Scottie told me
Starting point is 00:57:05 when we were talking about the finishes because I figured if we slipped because it was going to be Knoxville and Johnson City were the important towns that we were going to have footage of and we were going to do a DQ because obviously I didn't expect them to put them over in that high profile of situation
Starting point is 00:57:25 or was I going to have them come in and beat the bodies and not come back. But I wanted them to split, I think it was Hazard, Kentucky and Barberville also. We'll put you over one night there, you put them, so I could at least say it on television. Well, we beat him in
Starting point is 00:57:42 Barberville, but that's when he told me, eh, we got some problems with the office up there, and we don't know how much longer we're going to be there, and so they weren't going to be putting anybody over, because, as we found out here, they were already eyeing going to Japan.
Starting point is 00:58:01 And Smoky Mountain Wrestling, believe it or not, was getting publicity in the Japanese publications. You've seen a bunch of it. So what happened there was reported in Japan, so Scott and Rick were old school. They couldn't do any jobs, which I understood. But that's when I found out that they were not happy. So they were there a year.
Starting point is 00:58:27 So that their whole, as the team, as the Steiner brothers, their whole WWF career only lasted 12 months, because they were like in in December and out in December, right? Yeah, that's why I always say 94 is kind of for me the end of the classic Steiner Brothers period after that WWF run. They still went to Japan and then they returned to WCW. but, you know, by the time they returned to WCW, it didn't feel like the same team anymore. Scott was much bigger, and that changed the way he worked.
Starting point is 00:58:59 And Rick, not that he was disinterested, but just Rick didn't seem to say, he didn't have the charisma that he had just a few years earlier. So I am a big mark for the Steiner brothers, but I wasn't a big fan of their return to WCW. Well, and I agree with you, and I think that it was a combination of bad, creative, which plagued the whole company unless you were part of the chosen focused people.
Starting point is 00:59:28 With the Steiner brothers, they had to, they were WCW originals at that point, but they had to persevere through the fucking you know, Hogan, NWO, Bischoff, that era
Starting point is 00:59:46 where everything revolved around that, and they didn't particularly use Rick as well as Scott. I think probably because Scott, as he said, pushed back more. I think Scott told him awful lot more. And I think they may have seen possibly Rick was disinterested because they were lost in the fog in that size of a roster with, they were the giants of the locker room.
Starting point is 01:00:20 in 1990 and they were medium-sized by the time they got to 96. So part of that aura of the Steiner's, they had muddled it up with a bunch of other guys as big or bigger that didn't have the talent or the presence, but muddied the water. You know what I mean? I do. So I think all of that.
Starting point is 01:00:42 But then Scott becomes big pop a pump and Rick gets his real estate license. and I think that's why Rick is more calm to this day is Scott had another every 15 years of a fucking wrestling business a lot of time to drive him absolutely bat shit but you know at the same time
Starting point is 01:01:09 big pop a pump in WCW it worked and the WWF it's another thing they didn't they didn't get and I think by that point with Scott's injuries and et cetera. But Big Papa Pump was a big deal in the WCW programs for that period of time. Was it, am I just misremembering that? He was a big part of those shows.
Starting point is 01:01:31 He got over big time as a heel. You know, at the time I remember the big comparison was superstar Billy Graham, because all of a sudden he showed up with the new hair. Chain male. And he had two women with him. He ended up with that one, I think Medea all the way to the end. But there was another one who was even hotter who was there at the beginning. and the other thing was all of a sudden you were talking about his promos
Starting point is 01:01:52 because no one had ever talked about the Steiner Brothers promos or Scott's promos. Now he was unhinged as a heel and you never knew whether in K-Fave or not what he was going to say. The whole idea of, oh my God, they're going to give Scott Mike, they're going to give Scott Steiner an open mic. That's the time when it started, the late 90s in WCW before that. He was never on the mic really. Well, see, that's the, Rick was good, especially in the varsity club, and as the dog-faced Gremlin was, and then later on in the, you know,
Starting point is 01:02:26 the early years of the Steiner brothers in that era, as being the goofy guy that could get serious, et cetera, physically, but he had that gimmick going. And Scott was just, Scott looked like an all-American guy, if an all-American guy, if an all-American guy was also a superhero. and he couldn't talk like a baby face because as you can tell, that's not naturally him. I'm not saying he's a criminal and evil person. He's not naturally a nice, pleasant guy with a cheery.
Starting point is 01:02:57 You know, he likes to have fun, but when he turned heel, he could let loose and he could be more of himself and it was also a time where you could say more things on television than what you could have in 1992 or whatever. So, you know, that's the, that was the difference is that it was more of him, naturally, which we always talk about being a big difference. So as a single, you know, Big Papa Pump was, you know,
Starting point is 01:03:31 it was very natural for him and it was entertaining. And the TNA math promo, I was there the time he did that. And that was just something he did. It's not like anybody wrote it, wink, wink. But at the same time, then people would try to get him to do it again. You could never do it again as good. If it wasn't planned, it's just something you do.
Starting point is 01:03:56 When you try to do it again, it never turns out as well. But nevertheless, by the time that, go ahead. Did you know, I mean, I guess we're going to that time period, did you know about his whole thing with his foot? where he had a numb foot, he had no feeling in his foot for years? Yes. Well, he didn't call me up first thing. Would it happen to give me the diagnosis?
Starting point is 01:04:19 But whenever the next time I worked with him after it happened, yes, I knew about it. So that would have been in what, in T&A, I guess, right? I think he said it happened at the end of WCW. Well, no, but I'm saying the time that I would have next seen him. Oh, yes, yes. I'm trying to think. Yeah. No, no, mate, no, he was in the WWF in the early Tuesday.
Starting point is 01:04:44 Didn't he come over briefly in the early? So the point is, a few years after it had, the next time I worked with him, and, you know, just in the process, and especially in TNA, because I was the agent on a lot of his matches. And, you know, so you would discuss what you could do or can't do or whatever. I would see him taping his goddamn foot up. but what is that drop foot syndrome or whatever
Starting point is 01:05:14 whatever it's called it's a a condition where he was he basically had to tape it and and wear tight boots and do the whole thing where he was almost in a cast because there was either not only numbness but nerve damage where he couldn't control
Starting point is 01:05:32 like the part of his toes if you want to go up the stairs and you want to not trip over the goddamn stairs, your foot will drop. Boy, this sounds like a real medical fucking explanation, but do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? Oh, I don't know. That's a lot to ask.
Starting point is 01:05:53 The ankle hinge, he couldn't just control that at random. That sometimes he couldn't control where the front of his foot was going or something to that effect. That's why I had to tape it real tight around the ankle and the foot. God damn it. You need to see his medical fucking, get a court order. But that's the thing is that he wanted to be the top guy in WCW. He didn't get it until November 2000.
Starting point is 01:06:21 You know, when it was too late, they were about out of business. But he had wanted to be the top guy. And like a lot of guys in that era and eras before and athletes, you go, well, fuck it. I'm going to tape it up. I'm going to go out there. because he was ambitious and also Rick said that Scott got
Starting point is 01:06:41 kind of a bad attitude at that point because he thought people were out to get him and got a little crazy was the quote. But so if one wonders from watching who killed WCW, if WCW was in somewhat, as Sebastian Cabot used to say, a classic state of disarray around about this time period. If I wanted to make up a funny story that bears no
Starting point is 01:07:14 resemblance to people or events that actually exist in the world, but boy, it had been fucking hilarious if this really happened, if a person won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, the big gold belt that Crockett had bought for Rick Cromwell, Flair back in 1986. If that person won that belt in WCW
Starting point is 01:07:40 in the year 2000 and took it home in their bag with them and because that office was so ver-climped and preoccupied and bum-fuzzled and gobsmacked that that person then brought back
Starting point is 01:07:56 one of those good-looking replica belts that they started making about that time and he kept that original belt in his office for years and years until somebody found out about it, at which point he would then sell that belt to that person for literal shoeboxes full of cash American currency, tens and tens of thousands of dollars. Well, that would be a funny story, wouldn't it, Brian?
Starting point is 01:08:28 Hysterical. It would be hysterical. Possibly criminal for the people buying the belt. because they're buying stolen property. That's why I just made that story up out of complete whole cloth, ladies and gentlemen. What a funny story. It would be, it would be so hilarious if that actually happened.
Starting point is 01:08:45 And then after they did that, they bought an NWA champion. And his whole family. They got the whole package then. Now, moving along here, that, uh, basically, at that point, a few months later, WCW is out of business. And Scott, again, you know, that's the point where he was really, I think, having trouble with it.
Starting point is 01:09:18 I made note of the foot injury about this time. And, you know, that's when he, oh, he showed up to drop the belt to Booker T. That's what it was with his boot all taped up and everything. Because he, you know, say what you want about his bad attitude, but the company's going out of business, he's the champion, but they want him to drop the belt to Booker T, and he shows up with a bad foot and does it. Last night of the company, too,
Starting point is 01:09:47 if there was ever a night where you're no show without repercussions, that's it. Well, remember Nash's opinion was, well, I'll sit home and watch the Titanic sink on my couch, and Steiner went injured to drop the belt because he, see, part of the bad attitude may have just been not taking that much bullshit. So, anyway,
Starting point is 01:10:08 at that point, that's when Rick said he got paid for a year afterwards to not wrestle at all and do anything that he didn't want to do. He went to Japan
Starting point is 01:10:20 after that and missed his son's ball game, which he's got a couple of kids. I don't know if it was brawn breakers or not. And he came home and got his real estate license and stayed home for his kids.
Starting point is 01:10:33 And that's been Rick pretty much, you know, since then, what 15 years or whatever, more than. And he seems really happy. It sounds like a happy life. Yeah. Because he... Imagine having a problem with the school board and he's on the fucking board? Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:10:52 And I'll tell you what, Rick Steiner is the closest one that when you shake hands with him, he's got the closest hands in wrestling that felt like Luthes. his hands. The swollen knuckles, the calluses, the calcium from various broken bones from amateur wrestling,
Starting point is 01:11:15 it's like, it's an unusual fucking feel. And he's the closest one to it. So if he's shaking hands out there running for a school board, they're probably scared not to vote for it. If you were running against him, would you be tempted to cut wrestling promos
Starting point is 01:11:32 and put them online? No. No, because then you're getting in a pissing contest with the skunk, as they say. You're playing right into his hands. You're going right down Steiner Alley. You're going to get Steiner line. Well, you've got to have backup. You've got to have some kind of bodyguard. I'm booking the school board thing like a wrestling angle. All right. Back to the documentary. Let's go back to the show. Because, you know, but yeah, but there's Rick Steiner is at home in Georgia. and he's doing his thing and Scott goes and has another run
Starting point is 01:12:05 in the WWF that he doesn't like. And, you know, I don't think him and Vince were meant for each other, just like him and Watts. But, and also his foot was bad at that point. And then he went to TNA, he said, to rehab his abomination of a WWE run. But then, so this is what, yes,
Starting point is 01:12:32 so I knew about it. about his foot earlier on, but the Puerto Rico thing is while I was in TNA because I remember getting to television or the taping and hearing the news that he had
Starting point is 01:12:48 torn his trachea and as how the fuck do you even do that? And he got kicked in the throat. Do you even remember who he might have been working with? I don't even know. I don't remember. I don't remember. No. But it was in Puerto Rico. Whoever might have been there then.
Starting point is 01:13:10 But he got kicked in the throat and it didn't tear his trachea in his throat. It tore it in his chest. And because he said if I just torn it in my throat, I could have just had a tracheotomy and it would have been easy. That's his outlook. But in the chest they had to. Because I saw this not long after it had fucking happened, and it was just disgusting. They had to cut way around his rib cage under his arm and go past his lung some kind of way to repair his trache apart in his chest. and so that was and that was like almost a fatal fucking thing that could have occurred if it had gone the wrong way to begin with so you know that was definitely not good and and then his wife said she got pissed at him when he was like oh doc how much time do I have to take off and she's not off fuck and he was back at a couple months and that's you know that was the things that he did he did.
Starting point is 01:14:31 But when Rick, I meant to mention with the real estate license, he mentioned he was buying houses and flipping him with Rick Rude and Kurt Henning and Bubba, boss man. Because I remember that's when Bubba for a time when he was working as
Starting point is 01:14:48 agent producer, whatever they called it back then at that point with the WWF, they sent him to OVW some. And I don't we ought to get a cabin in Gatlinburg. And that was like maybe six months later,
Starting point is 01:15:06 that's when Bubba passed away. But he had, because the Minnesota crew that became the Georgia crew, that he either knew from Vern or from, you know, Mid-South and the Rood had, you know, been around him for a long time.
Starting point is 01:15:26 Because Rick had told me, also at one point that apparently one of Scott's I don't college friends or somebody he knew had become a hot shot financial advisor and said it made Scott a fucking fortune and that was in 1995 so it was no wonder he was telling
Starting point is 01:15:46 all these fucking people off about his money anyway um and that you know they finished the show up with Braun but do you have any other Steiner-ish comments before we move on to the second generation. Any Steiner-ish comments?
Starting point is 01:16:05 Well, any, any... Hey, fuck you, Cornett, you four-eyed jerk. Hey, Arnold, get him. Sing him, Arnold, sing him. Rick Flair, you're a piece of shit. Hulk Hogan, I'm going to kick your ass. What else you want, Steiner-Ey comments? Well, no, any comments on the stand?
Starting point is 01:16:20 And that was a funny thing. Also, I made sure when they came to Smoggy Mountain, I told Scott, I said, we can't have the belts on the line, bring fucking Arnold and we'll make him your manager against me and we did the boot spot with Jimmy Del Rey and Dr. Tom he'd go after the fucking boot
Starting point is 01:16:39 and the people went out of their fucking minds the dog was the star of the matches. Those are good shows too. You had Sherry Martell on those shows. Yes. And so we had a little something for everybody. But nevertheless, but any other comments about the Steiner's
Starting point is 01:16:55 before we move on to close with Braun and his generation. I would just say to anyone who has not watched any of those matches from 1990, let's say 1989 to 1992 in WCW, watch every available one, especially against Japanese wrestlers. They're incredible. And also, did we get in WCW, I'm just trying to think, that we dropped the U.S. tag team titles to them in the Metalands,
Starting point is 01:17:22 and we had one TV. In the summer of 90? Yes. and we had a bunch of house show matches where we put them over in cold matches pretty much during that period of time and I think we had one TV match with them for like 10 minutes on syndication
Starting point is 01:17:39 and never had the Steiner's on a pay-per-view and but would go and have the again the matches tore the fucking house down but between the only regime and heard we could never do anything meaningful with him there. You know, one other thing I'll bring up because I just thought about it, there was a period there 1990 or so
Starting point is 01:18:05 when people started realizing Scott Steiner is really special. Great shape, could do stuff no one else could do, legitimate tough guy. Remember, think of the beginning of 1991, if I had to guess, they gave him a main event against Flair at the clash, and it was a disappointing match just because they didn't mesh well together. But at that point, just a few years into his run there, people are already predicting he may be the future world champion. Yeah, but what they did with that, to be honest with
Starting point is 01:18:36 you, is they went with that for rating, Flair versus Scott in a singles match, they went with it for ratings, and because Scott was obviously a star and et cetera, et cetera, but it was disappointing because think about this, how many singles matches had Scott Steiner had in the previous two years of his career at that point? Not too many. Maybe none. Unless they did an angle where Rick was hurt
Starting point is 01:19:11 and Scott was in a single match on T or whatever, they were always in tags. It's a whole different animal. So part of that was a point where that was one thing that, And I mean, of course, Flair can get something out of anybody, but it was not only a style clash, but it wasn't something where Flair could just naturally control the tempo
Starting point is 01:19:35 of everything as he was used to, because Scott was not only too big to move around like that, but also may have had ideas of his own. But that's in some cases, that's why things like that don't come together. Anyway, a very, a very entertaining, program and then they went to they went to
Starting point is 01:19:56 basically comments on Braun which Scott said he's got the potential to be better than both of us and I think I saw all three of I'm seeing Braun now and saw both these guys at this same stage of their careers I think Braun is because he's got
Starting point is 01:20:12 he's got the advantage now of having watched a template with his uncle and his father that he's not going to he's not going to
Starting point is 01:20:26 just try to do it be a greatest hits, a tribute band or whatever, but he's got a template of being able to see someone that looks like him and moves like him and is shaped like him and has the abilities of him apply themselves to this
Starting point is 01:20:42 while he was growing up. And now, and he's also, he's got the access to a great training facility and all these different minds and etc. So I think, you know, he is ahead and should be. But at the same point, he's smarter now to the business, I think, that at this point in time, than they were back then.
Starting point is 01:21:09 Because the only thing that he's missed is the time on the road and the territory. And otherwise in that, Braun's, you know, formation. has been more advantageous and he's taken advantage of it. And then when Scott talked about they closed with him going into the Hall of Fame and all that stuff
Starting point is 01:21:34 and Scott said I came in peace. He didn't want to screw bronze chances up and he'd probably gotten over it at that point. I like that line. I came in peace.
Starting point is 01:21:51 I could identify with that the Hall of Fame ceremony. But it was awesome. Brian is what it was. The Steiner biography, it was awesome, wasn't it? It was awesome. Could have gone longer, but I thought it was an awesome documentary.
Starting point is 01:22:06 Well, since we're just talking about awesome things, wouldn't it be great, Brian, if you could just every month go to your mailbox or receptacle orifice that you receive your packages in? The mailbox. Called the mailbox. Other pages, yeah, whatever. You know, it depends on different cultures, you know,
Starting point is 01:22:24 around the world. You know, but if you could just go to that hole or holding area and open up a box of awesomeness or just a box of awesome, as it's come to be known, every month, wouldn't that be just swell? It would be awesome. It would be awesome. Well, now you can, folks, because of our friends at boxofawsome.com and the awesome things that they send you awesome people every month.
Starting point is 01:22:57 And I got to lean over here because I couldn't, this item is so heavy. I couldn't put it on my desk. I was afraid it would collapse. Hold on. Oh, my God. Oh, good Lord. It is the latest item that I've got in my box of awesome.
Starting point is 01:23:14 The Thai, and that is from Thailand, right, T-H-A-I. The Thai, I don't know if my Kentucky accent translates around. the world. The Thai moon knife set. It is a half moon shaped knife along with a other knife that is shaped sort of like a quarter of a moon. I don't know, but I am no astronomer,
Starting point is 01:23:37 but it looks to me like a layman to be about a quarter of that moon. In a custom-made wooden box with beautiful brass hardware on this thing, it's engraved in the top of this deal, what it is. It's authentic carbon steel. made in Thailand. Hence why
Starting point is 01:23:56 they call it a tie. Listen to this. That, that, do you hear that ringing? It's almost like unsheathing Drew McIntyre's imaginary blade in his entrance
Starting point is 01:24:11 music. Oh, wow, it did sound like that. Yeah, what that is, is that right there. Just be careful. Well, see, I'm just, I'm sliding it slowly across the wooden box that it comes in. because you could cut somebody from asshole to appetite with this thing. But what it is meant for, it's for culinary purposes.
Starting point is 01:24:36 And it's made from a small village in Thailand by talented blacksmith artisans. It can be used for anything in the kitchen. Both of these fine knives with the carbon steel blades and the wooden handles. And boy howdy, heavy-duty workmanship there, and it came along, that's when I closed the top of the box, Brian. And it came alongside the tie knife sharpening set. So you can keep these knives, as I mentioned before, sharper than a mother-in-law's tongue. So right there, that's what you get, or you could get other things. Usually they give you things to commit mayhem with, and they give me things for the kitchen.
Starting point is 01:25:21 This time my kitchen implement could also be used to commit mayhem. But if you'd like to whack down the... Culinary mayhem. Well, your culinary mayhem, just to and fro, chopping the vegetables and the fruits and the nuts and the... All those different things. But if you would like to whack down the weeds in front of you and some awesomeness, then sign up right now at boxofawsome.com. You fill out a quiz that you find out, or they find out,
Starting point is 01:25:51 you're interested in. Give them all your various hobbies or interest or collections or fetishes or whatever it may be. Probably not fetish. And they will then send you something related to that type of activity or proclivity on a monthly basis across a ton of different categories. They release these items every month. And they all come from small mom and pop businesses that have been propped up by these sales, so help out mom and pop. I guess is AEW a pop business? Just because Tony's not married. There is no mom.
Starting point is 01:26:30 Dysfunctional son. A dysfunctional son business. Well, that must be where the 10% comes from. 90% of everything that comes in your box of awesome is from a small, up-and-coming mom-and-pop brand, and 10% is from a dysfunctional son. But right now... I mean, a lot of families have a fuck-up kid, you got to think. A lot of mom and pops have a fuck-up.
Starting point is 01:26:53 Just by process of mathematics and percentages. That's right. Yeah, and just open your eyes and look at the street. See who's walking up and down it. But anyway, you get 15% off your first box of awesome. And that's certainly not a fuck-up. When you sign up at boxof-awom.com and enter the code J-C-E at checkout.
Starting point is 01:27:14 whether it's things to cook with or to eat or to hunt or fish or whatever you do with all those knives you keep stockpiling up there, Brian. What knives? And many more items of interest. I got a box of socks, very warm socks a month or two ago. Knocked my socks off it did. Box ofawsom.com. Enter the code JCE at checkout. You're going to get 15% off your first.
Starting point is 01:27:44 box which is already at a discount of up to 30% or more. You're not going to pay full price for anything around here, folks. You're just going to get full value. Boxofawsome.com. Enter the code JCE at checkout. All right. Well, as I said earlier, we're going to talk about the money in the bank, but first we got to talk about the mark in the back.
Starting point is 01:28:10 And that's poor Tony Kahn. he had one bright spot last week on his television program. And on Saturday night, the collision, and I'm assuming it's going to do potentially record low rating because it was against money in the bank, which is money in the bank. But there were a couple of things that happened we're going to comment on. and the first one opened the program,
Starting point is 01:28:44 and that was MJF's promo explaining why he did what he did to Daniel Garcia and peripherally, Will Ostrich, and the whole thing from last week on dynamite. And again, it's almost a shame sometimes when they do something really good, it's a bigger shame than when they do something
Starting point is 01:29:10 that's really the shits, because when it's really the shits and hardly anybody sees it, it helps them. But when this is really good and hardly anybody sees it, it ain't going to help them. But maybe they'll put a package on Wednesday night to bring us up to speed on the program that a few more people watch. Do you know where South Haven Mississippi is, Brian? I have no idea. I'm not big on Mississippi geography. Well, it's not, it's a trick question because South Haven Mississippi is peripherally in the Memphis, Tennessee, kind of metropolitan area.
Starting point is 01:29:54 And as a matter of fact, hold on one second, just so I can. I think we're about to introduce Mr. Rand and Mr. McNally back to the show. We got Randy McNally coming in here because I want to make sure that I am, because I, you know, I free frequented that area quite often in my younger days, but now that senility is creeping in, oh, bye, bye, sweetie, love you. Are you too, Stace? Harley's leaving the room with Stacey. So, yeah, if you go across the Tennessee, Mississippi border, set your clocks back 20 years, ladies and gentlemen, then, you know, South Haven is only about 10 or 15 minutes from downtown Memphis.
Starting point is 01:30:40 what was that old George M. Cohan song, 45 minutes from Broadway, but it's a world away. But they've got a, it's another one of these small suburbs that has built a halfway D's size arena in modern times, and they've got a building down there now. So, but the way Tony Chavani introduced the program when they came on the air from Memphis here in South Haven. I miss that.
Starting point is 01:31:11 And now people are like, wait, what, what to find? What happened? From Memphis here in South Haven, it's collision. You must have been in a collision. Head on, apparently. It's like WCW and 89. We're going to be in New York, in Troy, New York. Well, and Vince was bad about that like a lot of other things also, in that we would be in certain places.
Starting point is 01:31:38 he would just call it the college arena or greater Comquotville, I don't fucking know. But anyway, they opened this program collision from South Haven against Money in the Bank with a package on the MJF and Garcia and Will Extravaganza last week, which we have covered. You can listen to that if you want to on our YouTube channel and then get back to us. and the package actually was well done for once they had something to work with and that some points were made
Starting point is 01:32:14 you know not only verbally but visually and then they hit MJF's music and he gets a big pop obviously either way he gets a large bunch of noise when they know it's him coming there was booze there was cheers but when they turned the music off it seemed that the people had picked up there were more booze going on. No leather jacket. That's important, too. It was back to looking or dressing somewhat like the old MJF. Looking as only he can look. Not like the Dice Rules era, MJF. Well, that's because now
Starting point is 01:32:51 he's put away his childish things as he's become a man again. And they even got some YouSuck chance going. And then he said, I wish that unlike your mother's on their knees at a truck stop bathroom, you'd keep your mouth shut. So we can tell by the tone that we're going to go in here that he's here to lay waste to some people. Yeah, that was the first sign that, okay,
Starting point is 01:33:18 this promo may be promising. Yeah. And, I mean, I'll go over the points in a minute. You can't replicate this. Not only his machine gun delivery when it needs to be, but also just
Starting point is 01:33:35 the sheer volume of story that was told he but he made sense out of this shit for once on any of their programs something makes sense not just from last week but he made it make sense from six months ago he's being consistent to who he is MJF
Starting point is 01:34:02 who we have thought he is who he's supposed to be not referring to the song and dance with Jericho obviously, but part of the way that he lasted that big baby face promo last August, which they excerpted, was when he bared his soul to the people, that he's got a rejection disorder. He named it, I have no idea, I couldn't even spell those words,
Starting point is 01:34:27 I just said rejection disorder. But he was scarred as a child, and he was made to think that everybody was an evil scumbag. But now he's opened up the whole deal that he did about being a vulnerable person to be baby face last year
Starting point is 01:34:47 has now the seeds have come home to roost if I fucked that simile up. The rooster has come home to lay an egg. To seed. There you go. Because now you're, You've rejected him.
Starting point is 01:35:04 The people have rejected him. They started, he's off, broken his body, sacrificed his all for you people that he opened up to, and you scorned him, and you went and cheered for Will, and you went and cheered for swerve, and you went and cheered for swerve, and you went and cheered, well, fuck you. Garcia was a pawn. You really thought that you were getting that match at all in with this?
Starting point is 01:35:30 I was always going to stab him in the back, because he's a make-a-wish kid and then... That was the second promising part because it wasn't trying to elevate Garcia like everything else they do is. It's trying to put reality back into place. It was like I blew smoke up your ass
Starting point is 01:35:51 so I could stab you in the back because you're another one of these pretender, these clowns that they're cheering for. And then, you know, when they played the clip, he came back and he said, I told you that if I opened up to you, if you turned on me, it would tear my heart out.
Starting point is 01:36:12 Because when the great heel turns in wrestling in the territory days were not when somebody just said, fuck you and hit him over the head with a chair when nobody expected it. But it was when the heel thought, like this Drew McIntyre stuff, but he thought he was right.
Starting point is 01:36:30 He thinks he's right. And he laid the whole deal. out, I broke my body for you. And you chanted, thank you, Joe. And then you discarded me for a swore and Okada. And a talentless hack, Osprey. And he told to people, it's not personal
Starting point is 01:36:51 between me and Garcia. He's a pawn. It's personal between me and you. I'm going to take away the things you love. I mean, snidly whiplash. Couldn't have gotten a more fucking heinous. goddamn attitude, right? He's going to tie some people to the railroad tracks here. And it makes sense for once.
Starting point is 01:37:15 It's not people just dressing up as somebody else or changing their hairstyle and trying to act differently, Chris Jericho. And, you know, oh, the line, he said, Osprey only cares about ratings from Meltzer. I care about ratings from Nielsen.
Starting point is 01:37:39 Oh my God. Since everybody who was watching this show will get that, so it was good. Anyway. But that was just a tease. Let's do it. Let's pop a number knowing he's not there. So just doing things to ratchet up the heat in the room. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:37:54 Calling him out, they play the music. He laughs. He's not here. Now, of course, the music guy now has to be on MJF's payroll. I wish he'd stick to things that he ought to nominally be able to control. But nevertheless, and he didn't even when he started his catchphrase
Starting point is 01:38:13 at the end they started to say his name and he said no you had your chance fuck you I'm MJF and you can thank me later boy I've got a whole list of people I'd like him to get rid of but anyway it made sense of it and it may it got some interest in him and Osprey
Starting point is 01:38:35 just because he's he's trashy guy and they like young will so they had got some interest in that without them really haven't doing anything physical yet but also it just it explained he made some of the
Starting point is 01:38:52 pandering, simpering nonsense now work for him in a way because he said it was fake and phony all along just to make you people like me basically because I wanted you to lie and he still didn't like me so fuck you. I'm going to fuck all this shit up. I like that spunk. What about you?
Starting point is 01:39:15 Won't call it spunk. We'll start with that. I thought that was the best MJF promo in a long while. And it was a return to form in some ways, but it didn't feel like it was retro. It was what he needed. do is what this, what this company needed. Every heel is cheered. Every baby face acts like a heel. There aren't any just flat out heels. And he's the best at it. The problem is, as good as this was,
Starting point is 01:39:48 and it made perfect sense, and it went a while, and it was good, it held you, and it was his best performance in a while. It was on collision against money in the bank. Yeah. That's the only issue I have. because you have to now seek this out to hear it, and you should hear it.
Starting point is 01:40:07 If this was on Wednesday night, it would have gotten a big reaction. You know, that's the other part. He had the crowd in his hand right away, and he got a big reaction exactly when he wanted to at all the right times here. I thought this was great. This was the best AEW promo all year
Starting point is 01:40:23 and his best promo in a long time, and it gives you some hope for the TV possibly improving at least his segment. Remember early on when shit was already nuts and bad and the booking was bad from the beginning, you always had the MJF segments.
Starting point is 01:40:43 Other than the Chris Jericho shit. Fuck Jericho. And for a while you had the punk segments. And you eventually had the punk and then when they met up it was the best thing in the history of the company. And then you got no punk and then you had no MJF. Now at least we got one back. And listen, those were the days when MJF meant the most of the ratings.
Starting point is 01:41:02 and to everything else. So I return to form and something that gives you hope for the future in some way in AEW. Well, it also because it even do you remember, just let's look at the
Starting point is 01:41:17 at the state of the group that tormented him behind the devil that had sworn to take him out and blah, blah, blah. Mike Bennett and Matt Taven, where have they even been for a while. They're still in, they never
Starting point is 01:41:35 work on the main show and they're in Roddy's corner whenever you see Roddy come in to do a job. And Roddy, who I just mentioned comes in to do a job. And Wardlow, does he still work there? I don't know what happened. Remember even they started trying to give him like a renewed push
Starting point is 01:41:53 after the things with the Undisputed Kingdom started like going nowhere and then that went nowhere. And now he's just off TV. And Adam Cole, who if Adam Cole comes back, but by the time that he returns again from his injuries, and Britt Baker is a giant baby face, and everybody knows there are a couple, and she's returned from her injuries. Is the devil Adam Cole going to be a fucking manipulative heel,
Starting point is 01:42:22 Professor X in a goddamn wheelchair, you know, sending out mayhem, or is he going to be a beloved returning baby face hero? So that whole thing that they put MJF through was for absolute fucking not. And how bad are Adam Cole's injuries for real? Brick Baker just came back and she had a series of mini-strokes. No, now, come on now. Nobody said it was a series. It was a mini-stro.
Starting point is 01:42:49 Excuse me. It was a mini-strike. Excuse me. Yeah, damn, you'll have her slobbering in her fucking soup next week over this thing. Well, my point is she came back. No, she got better. She came back. Adam Cole broke his foot and never returned.
Starting point is 01:43:02 Well, never's a long, long time. When did he jump off that stage and break his foot? I've lost track now. What decade was that? No. No, come on now. No, that was like a year ago, right? I mean, well, people have, I know, have had leg transplants.
Starting point is 01:43:17 And, you know, but it's, I'm sure that they're working diligently. But the point being, he's not going to come back as a goddamn heel. So all of that was for naught. The only other thing I'll say is it's a two-way street. MJF could do a job like this, not a job, but can do a promo like this, and hit a home run even if no one's going to see it on collision, and hopefully they do replay it and people see it on YouTube. But now you need a baby face who can do the job and do the promo
Starting point is 01:43:46 and get people behind them against MJF. Do you think it's Osprey? I think it's only Osprey. Name another one. You can't. There you go. Ospre's, well. Osprey's the only one who's a baby face.
Starting point is 01:44:02 He just left the heel stable. Well, yeah, yeah, he resigned. His, he resigned and his heel manager wished him the best in his future endeavors. God damn it. Oh, I don't even know. But that has to be Wembley because they just had, people were thinking it was going to be Osprey. I've called him ostrich so many times. The bird man, the bird man, will he beware?
Starting point is 01:44:30 They were thinking it was going to be him against swerve, and he would win the title at Wembley Stadium. That's what early Scuttlebutt was from all the smart sources, right? But they just had that match, and they can't have it again. So I would imagine that because of what we are seeing just unfold in front of us, and they're stupid if they don't, put MJF's biggest match and Osprey's biggest match
Starting point is 01:44:58 in Wembley Stadium, Osprey would be MJF and MJF would be Osprey. What the fuck else are they going to do of Mitsu Erikawa and Higo Hamaguchi in a tag team match? Well, you got the AWA, AWA, the AEW World Champion Swarst Strickland. Adam Page is fired up and ready to go and back in action. Okay, then let them wrestle each other, because who gives a shit? name another match that would sell any tickets right now to anybody. Well, they've already sold, and I understand that the number has been sitting at about $40,000 for a while now.
Starting point is 01:45:39 Some of them may have buyer's remorse at this point, but what match is going to instantly move tickets amongst people that ain't already going that they can put together off of their roster? I'm just asking you. There aren't too many big matches. you could really think of, are there? They have stars. I mean, Danielson is allegedly
Starting point is 01:46:01 going to be retiring at the end of the year. Moxley's a star. I'm not a fan of his. You don't have any matches for anyone. You can think of that. You can think of that. Like, wow, that's a stadium show where we need to get some extra people in there. Well, in that case, it's up to our boy, MJF again. He's going to be hunchbacked with scoliosis from carrying his
Starting point is 01:46:23 fucking company and all these dead. weight, non-drawing sorry sacks of snake feces on his back. Did you watch any of the other stuff on collision? Well, you know I did, Brian, because we got to talk about it. Not only did we see the sublime of AEW, the MJF promo, but we also saw the ridiculous. And this, this is why that they're, where they're at, and this is why they've been where they've been, despite spending now we know literally hundreds of millions of dollars, and why that is not going to basically substantially
Starting point is 01:47:08 change. At money in the bank, in Toronto, Canada, in the biggest indoor sports arena there, well, it's skydome's technically indoor, but they had 20,000 fucking people in Toronto sold out in a major North American City and they brought out the biggest star of the last 20 years John Sina to announce his retirement tour featuring stops at the major pay-per-views, including WrestleMania along the way. That was a big surprise. People didn't know he was going to be there.
Starting point is 01:47:44 There was a surprise in South Haven is with a South Haven surprise. A returning superstar came back to AEW to appear on this. their collision program from South Haven, Mississippi, opposite money in the bank. Hometown boy. Hometown, well, not even a hometown, but he's from Olive Branch. Not South Haven. He's from Olive Branch, Mississippi, but it's his home area. Our old friend, Dwarf Dongsucker, Marco Stunt.
Starting point is 01:48:18 Rimp. Oh, my God. They brought him back to wrestle, jungle jackoff because of their history together when it was Jurassic Express, a boy and his dinosaur and a smaller boy or whatever their tagline was. And this highlights the differences, the reasons. W.W. gives him John Sina. A.W. gives him dwarf dong sucker.
Starting point is 01:48:56 and it's not like that this was a years ago they were just starting up there was never an excuse for using this fucking freak show bullshit might as well have had a train chimpanzee but even in the first year there was no excuse for it and it gave a negative perception of that company to a lot of people a lot of people may forget now that the biggest audience they ever did
Starting point is 01:49:32 for AEW Dynamite was the first show they were on. The very first night, first show they telecast. And a lot of people tuned in and saw some amateur hour bullshit and didn't come back. And or because this amateur hour bullshit, whether it be Marco Stunt or Jelly Nutella, or to this day our little puppy pockets most people that might have sampled this
Starting point is 01:50:05 looked at it besides the original audience that knew what they were getting they looked at it and they said what the fuck is this a parody of WWE or is this supposed to be some kind of kids show or is it cover of it they had a legless man on their first pay-per-view
Starting point is 01:50:25 in a battle role and anything that was the indie darling or the hot thing in rec centers across America from Hickory, North Carolina to goddamn Atomwa, Iowa because they were all friends because they all worked the same shows because these modern marked promoters fly people in from all over the fucking country to be on their shows because they have a name on the internet
Starting point is 01:50:57 that's what they presented. And as a result, they got the perception with, as we've seen. They haven't increased the audience. They've decreased it. Because some of the people are willing to give
Starting point is 01:51:15 the amateur hour a shot. It got bored with it. And what else can you see done to a human being? So, you can't, Say what you want about even the WWE under Vince, but 98.5% of the people on the program, if they don't look like athletes,
Starting point is 01:51:43 they look like some kind of celebrities. And if they don't look like an athlete, Sammy Zane, that's the gimmick of the guy that's the underdog that doesn't look like a goddamn athlete. He looks like a piece of shit just like you assholes in a stands. You can identify, but that's the gimmick. in AEW they got fucking 45 people with that gimmick it's been
Starting point is 01:52:08 it's certainly not been a low rent in terms of expenditure but AEW has had and this is not a compliment an indie look a low budget look a fucking outlaw feel an amateurish parodyish
Starting point is 01:52:28 tongue and cheek element to some of this programming since they've been on the air. And Marco Stunt was one of the poster boys of that, and they've learned nothing. As I say, at least it's a benefit of song, because nobody saw it anyway. But just, they've learned nothing. They've learned nothing. Comment on this. I'm getting enraged.
Starting point is 01:52:55 I'll say the same things I said about the previous segment. This was a nice return to form. Marco Stunt looked great out there. You know, this is another one of those things. It should have been on Dynamite. If you're going to do it, do it where people are going to see it. You get some payoff. It's the only time Jack Perry's ever going to look intimidating, ever.
Starting point is 01:53:15 Yeah. And it was buried on this show. And like you said, it's a long-term storyline thing, if you really think about it. And it was on this show where they knew it was against the pay-per-view. They knew they were going to get killed. you know, I don't know what else to say. It's not surprising. In the classic days of MJF doing a great promo,
Starting point is 01:53:34 it was usually followed by some shitty, embarrassing thing right afterwards. And this was it. And the big benefit was just it didn't make Jack Perry look like a very, very, very skinny, in shape kid. And that's what he looks like. And that's part of the problem. You look at who are the champions. Only because he was booked against fucking tiny Tim. My God, put a fucking crutch under his arm and Bob Cratchett behind him and he's tiny fucking Tim.
Starting point is 01:54:05 You got to see Jack Perry do some of his power moves. You never get to see that. You'll never get to see it again either. So it was a very interesting match. But it exemplifies a lot of the problems with AEW, not just the general booking principles or lack thereof or the mindset behind things. Not just Marco Stunk being used. But Jack Perry, the response to everything.
Starting point is 01:54:29 with punk, making him this scapegoat. If you watch the reaction, not just listen to it, but watch it when he hit the ring. No one was reacting. He's not, he doesn't have that star quality and Tony thinks he does. And it's one thing being a lot of these things and being a baby face, who's going to get your ass kicked and have to find a way to win. It's another thing when all of a sudden you're the badass Jack Perry. Well, yeah, because if you notice as Jungle Boy, oh, Jungle Boy, he had the blondeish
Starting point is 01:55:06 flowing locks, right? And the little loincloth thing, and you could beat him up and he could get sympathy because, you know, you're beating up a young-looking small child, I don't know. But now he's got the dark hair and his pull back and he's grown the facial
Starting point is 01:55:25 scuff. and he still looks like he's 146 pounds. So as a heel, no, no. It's just, he's play acting like his friends. And they, none of them can come to grips with the fact that they have a look for a certain thing and that's their ceiling and they ain't going past that. Yeah, like his one big move is he smirks with a beard. That's it. What else is he doing?
Starting point is 01:55:53 That's the only thing you can think of. It's an acting thing. Hey, at least some of his friends married their beards. So the point is that this is, what, see, get your mind out of there. But that's the thing is that besides this indie bubble level of fan that wants this preposterous shit, that's why they haven't grown because they had items like this, the Marco, stunt or whatever on the program. And I'm sorry
Starting point is 01:56:29 if people, but if people say, oh, Cornett just wants A.W. to fail and go out of business because he didn't like him. They didn't give him a job. I want to, I need to talk to Stephen P. New. I know that you cannot disclose what is told to you when you're under
Starting point is 01:56:45 an NDA, but since the NDA has been disclosed, could I sell copies of the NDA I signed with Tony Conn in 2018, like for charity? because it doesn't contain any of the things that he told me, it just contains language telling me not to tell any of those things. We got to check on that.
Starting point is 01:57:05 They may want you to black out, I'm talking about this like it would legitimately happen from their end, they may want you to black out the LLC name because it's not one that is publicly known, really. Well, but besides that, we could, you know, we can redact some information, but my opinion has not changed. I was not against the outside.
Starting point is 01:57:25 idea of a second company rising like a phoenix from the ashes and challenging vince mcmans dominance in the wrestling landscape i was to say the least pessimistic and actually outright oh horseshit at the thought that tony con was going to book it and at these outlaw morons that he was dealing with were going to be able to fucking operate it and my opinion has not changed and many of those roosters have come home to roost And other people, I was only the only one that was honest about it. Some people probably called bullshit at the beginning, but nobody cared what they said. Other people didn't call bullshit at the beginning because they wanted to take some of Tony's dad's money.
Starting point is 01:58:12 And then when they finished with that, then they called bullshit. Just give me a 10-year contract of some gray goose. I'll say great things about you. But don't be none of you people out there in or out of the business. Be grumpy at me because my opinion and my commentary has not changed and many of the things that I've said have turned out to be valid because Tony can't book and these assholes can't run a goddamn national wrestling company. And that's just the way, and this is an example of it,
Starting point is 01:58:42 putting their friends who amount to trained chimpanzees. Marco Stunt and Orange Cassidy on a program it's expected to be competing with the goddamn biggest multi-billion dollars. conglomeration of fucking wrestling and fighting and fussing and feuding that's ever been and they counter-programmed with shit like that. There you go. Oh, a nice return from Marco's stunt.
Starting point is 01:59:09 That's why I stayed home. Did you see any of the other stuff on Collision? No, I did not. Oh, come on. There was a long Claudio match. I didn't even see who his opponent was. He was in a mask. I just fast forwarded because I'm sick of Claudio.
Starting point is 01:59:23 But this really was a return to form for AEW as, a company, Reho was on the show. Yeah, Rejo returned on Collision of all places. Her name is Rejo. Or as I think Tony Chivani said it, she's making her debut here on Collision. Or actually, she's making her collision debut. But she returned, and it was her against Lady Cross. How long has she been gone now?
Starting point is 01:59:47 She came back not long ago and beat some people and then left again and went back and said she was making, what, $400,000 a fucking... match or whatever, oh, a year. No, since then, she made, she did the interview where apparently she said she made $400,000 a year and also she appeared in one of Kenny Omega's video game streams in the background. Well, she's got that going for it. Lady Frost, who, I want to say I heard she's a second generation wrestler or she's someone's, she's someone's kid. She is the grandson. She's the grandson. She's the granddaughter, I believe, of Tony Marino. the famous Tony Marino
Starting point is 02:00:28 the Batman The Batman With two T's The Batman with two T's Like that would With the exact same costume Well Reho wrestle Lady Frost
Starting point is 02:00:39 And I had to watch it Because A it's Rejo And whenever she just pops up For no reason I'm always entertained at this point And Lady Frost ain't bad She's not much taller than Rejo But she's kind of built like an athlete
Starting point is 02:00:53 They said she's a gymnast So I'm watching in this match, it got real sloppy at one point, and then Rejo did a dive from the top rope to the floor. It was almost like she landed arm first, and
Starting point is 02:01:08 yeah, she broke her arm apparently, or friction her arm, and then it just continued the match, and she's holding her arm and selling and kicking out of everything still. She kicked out of a perfect moonsault from Lady Frost. She dives off the top rope to the floor
Starting point is 02:01:24 and breaks her arms, Was she diving head first? Well, I'm going to open this back up. I have it here on the computer. And I mean, it was Lady Frost, did she lose her in the lights? Lady Frost was fucking nowhere near her. It was just leaped. It was a leap of faith is what you're...
Starting point is 02:01:43 We're not laughing about... No, we're not laughing about Rio getting hurt, but you know what? We predicted Rio getting hurt because how the fuck is Rio not going to get hurt when she's 90 pounds with rocks in her pockets doing shit? with goddamn grown adults that she shouldn't be doing. Hold on, I got the finish where she's gripping her hand, her wrist. Let me go back to the dive. It was right after picture and picture.
Starting point is 02:02:08 Here's the moonsault. Going back 15 seconds on a clip. Here's Rio gingerly walking back up the stairs, holding her arm. You've got to see this. Here's she's running now. She's going to the top row. Rejo is on the top row. Wadey Frost on the floor.
Starting point is 02:02:22 Rio dives, lands at the feet of it. Lady Frost on first. Oh. Was she trying to catch herself or she was off balance? You know what? There's no way she would have, she was too far. I mean, again, I'm not even blaming Lady Frost. I'm saying Rio shouldn't have jumped until,
Starting point is 02:02:42 I don't know if Lady Frost wasn't close enough or not getting closer, but that was a... I'm getting closer to your dive. The injuries from dives and jumps has gone through the roof. Adam Copeland broke his leg, jumping. leg first off the cage under the table, whatever the fuck that was. You know, he thought if he got his, if he got his feet under him and just kind of leaned over the table. But anyway, that's, okay, poor Rio, hopefully she gets well and goes home and gets a job as
Starting point is 02:03:19 a clerk or an accountant or of anything that you do that doesn't require diving off shit. and, you know, and but yeah, so Rejo and Marco Stunt on one side and on this other show, they give us John Cena. What is at this point? The main event was Adam Page, the hangman, versus Jay White, the channel changer.
Starting point is 02:03:47 Wait a minute, I thought that Adam Page is now a heel because he came out and kicked a shit out of poor old Jeff Jarrett. Owen Hart tournament. And then, well, now Jay White's a heel. Right. he's part of the gang bang gang. And they really bloodied up Adam Page, the heel, who comes out there now with the mustache,
Starting point is 02:04:03 but you got to see him when he hits the entrance stage. Now he just makes angry faces. So he kind of just looks like Dax with long hair. When he gets off the stage. But that was collision against the pay-per-view, unless there was a good reason that MJF thing should have been on dynamite. And hopefully it will be in some form.
Starting point is 02:04:22 He's a rich kid, and he's gone too far, but you know it don't matter anyway. He can rely on old Shad's money. He can rely on old Shad's money. You know, you would have it so good right now if you came back to managing. Because you've established it where you could just grab the mic and start singing to get your heat. Hey!
Starting point is 02:04:44 You don't have to do much. You could just stand in the middle of the ring and sing. No, I'm going to get to you. No, I'm telling you, I'd be hitting those high notes. As a matter of fact, Bobby Eaton used to always request I sing his favorite song. He'd say, Corny, can you sing far, far away? That was his favorite song? Yep.
Starting point is 02:05:04 And so I'd go as far as I could, and sometimes I couldn't even see him by the time I got finished. But nevertheless, let's get far far away from collision. That was AWW collision. You know what you need to do, Brian? You need to get in a better state of mind to listen to music. You're always stressed. You're always, you're up, you're not sleeping, you're stressed, you're working too hard. and you don't have enough high-quality, clean, all-natural ingredients and things that you take.
Starting point is 02:05:33 You're taking trash and garbage and over-the-counter, hoo-ha. You need to cool out, chill out, calm down, get relief from pain, get relief from stress, get relief from the hurry, scurry society that we live in. That's what you need. Can you tell you're hanging on by your fingertips? I'm okay. I mean, I'm busy and everything. I'm not really as stressed as you say. Rio, I'm watching the finish of this match where somehow they still gave her the win over Lady Frost. She looks like she's unpaid. Said there to the emergency room, this is embarrassing.
Starting point is 02:06:08 She could use some help. Well, there you go. I'm sure a couple of drops of items from CB distillery would have fixed her broken arm right up. Because folks, in two non-clinical surveys, 81% of customers experienced more calm, 80% said CBD helped with pain after physical activity, an impressive 90% said they slept better with CBD, and
Starting point is 02:06:36 1.5% said that CBD instantly healed their broken bones suffered in a near fatal dive in a pro wrestling match. Well, for the record, I don't believe that's actually one of the statistics they've supplied us with, so let's just make sure we let people know that. It's within the
Starting point is 02:06:53 margin of error, see. so you can't really disprove it. Well, you got me there. That's how that works. Long as you're under 2%, anything could happen. Dalmatians could mate with monkeys. Under 2% margin of error, folks, take it to the bank that our friends at CB Distillery
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Starting point is 02:07:44 I heard it from a guy at Kroger. Who? Well, this guy was wandering around Kroger. Just saying this out loud? Yeah, he had a poster about it. It was a sandwich sign, more or less. It was hanging around his neck. I think he was a disgruntled ex-employee.
Starting point is 02:08:00 But folks, I'll tell you, at CB distillery, you don't have to worry about taking capsules filled with packing peanuts ground up into powder because they actually have doctors and professional people making this stuff. And it's, again, no fillers, just pure effective CBD solutions designed to help support your health. And after all, your health needs all to support it. get if your health goes limp and it can't be propped up or stiffened up in any way, well, how are you going to use your health? So if you struggle for a health concern and you haven't found relief, and if you've turned
Starting point is 02:08:41 to various forms of street drugs and alcohol without success, send all those street drugs and alcohol to me and go to CBdistillery.com. Don't ship drugs or alcohol to anyone. on behalf of myself and the U.S. government. Do not do that, ladies and gentlemen. Don't put your real return address on it, just in case. And with over 2 million customers and a solid 100% money back guarantee,
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Starting point is 02:09:24 Well, I mean, if you're not high on, did I misspeak? I said if you're not high on this formulation, which meaning that full-throated endorsement of it and able to say that it honestly and legitimately helped you with your various burdens, then you're high on this stuff. And two million people are
Starting point is 02:09:44 and they got a money-back guarantee. So go to cbdistillery.com right now. Use the code J-C-E. You're going to get 20% off. CBdistillery.com, use the code JCE. You're going to get 20% off the fine items contained therein at that website that are brought to you by these trained professionals and backed up by non-clinical surveys.
Starting point is 02:10:13 That's right. And again, whether you are in the clinic or out of it, it doesn't affect any of this. Well, see, a lot of those clinics are biased. you know, they have biased results. It's the non-clinical surveys that really tell you the truth about what the average jackoff on the street is thinking.
Starting point is 02:10:32 Because you won't find most of these people on the street going into a clinic. Well, again, for some help with the aches and pains of life or a good night's sleep, CB distillery. What's that promo code one more time, Jim? JCE for help with the aches and pains of life. And in addition to your relatives, it also helps with your close friends.
Starting point is 02:10:54 All right. Well, we're going from all friends to all business. To no friends at all. You know, SmackDown, I think you termed it a nothing burger on July the 5th. Were they looking at this like, well, this is kind of a lame duck show. We're in Toronto. We got to do something for these 16,000 or 17,000 people we had at TV. They sold, what was it, 45,000?
Starting point is 02:11:20 tickets over the course of the weekend for the various WWE activities in Toronto is the press release I saw something I know there was a Sammy Zane comedy show oh well right there they turned them away from the fucking sky dome but no they had NXT they had what I think about that they had 20,000 for the pay-per-view and then they had about 16,000
Starting point is 02:11:50 here for this smackdown. There's 36. And then they had what, five or six thousand for the NXT? NXT. And then they had 374 for Sammy. So they had worked out. Where are they for raw? I don't know. Maybe they're in Quebec City. But you said it before. It was a nothing burger, but usually, at least lately, it seems like typically, for the most part, it is the night before
Starting point is 02:12:19 a pay-per-view that's not WrestleMania. Yes, because they don't need to, and this is a personal appearance in tights at this point. They can't do any better than the following nights sold out, right? And on Peacock, everybody's going to watch because more on that later, it's dirt cheap or free or, you know,
Starting point is 02:12:41 whatever the case. So, they've just got to show up and it's like a soap operandi. It's like a soap opera now, well, you might not remember, but back in the prehistoric days where there were soap operas on all three of the networks all day long, it's 30 minutes, five days a week, and it's a drama, but it moved so slowly. It took people an entire segment to have coffee with each other. Because they got to, and they know that the housewives are probably going to miss a couple of those episodes that week. they can't run off and leave the audience.
Starting point is 02:13:19 So nothing, it's the same thing here. They're out there doing shit, but nothing actually happens. If that's a way to phrase it. And honestly, at the start, they had the opening in-ring money-in-the-bank interview with all six of these guys out one at a time. And Drew is the star of that show. he's the one they care between Jay Uso and L.A. Knight. It was Yeat versus Yeah for a minute there.
Starting point is 02:13:53 Carmelo Hayes, Gable, and Andrade, and Drew McIntyre. So he got to see him punk chance, and he's the one that told each one of them off in his own way. And he asked Jay how he got across the border, which was pointed. And then everybody got in a fight. and the end and it was 15 minutes into the show
Starting point is 02:14:16 so they used the time and let everybody see the celebrities on the roster what else can you say the fans seem happy no matter what we say or how boring things get or slow they get at times the fans seem happy I mean they keep coming out why go faster than you need to
Starting point is 02:14:37 or give more than you have to I guess is the modern thing in WWE more than ever before well and that's true but it just has never seemed this easy before. Anyway, the girls got to fight in the back, and then the street profits had a tag team match with purely dreary. And remember, I said 98.5% of the people on the roster either look like an athlete or a celebrity,
Starting point is 02:15:01 except for Sammy Zane because that's his gimmick. Well, this is the other one and a half percent. What the fuck? Purely dreary. anyway 35 minutes into the show when that was over with and then Jade and Bianca fought Indian candy and you'll never guess who won and you'll never even want to try
Starting point is 02:15:28 and you'd be right and then we were at 9 o'clock and this was this was probably the only I'm looking at the rest of my notes this was the only thing I gave a shit about on the whole show Kevin Owens cut a good promo they sent all the baby faces to the ring for the six-man tag
Starting point is 02:15:50 at the pay-per-view and by the way have you noticed Cody finally has even got the what do you want to talk about over he hung with it and it works
Starting point is 02:16:02 but um pay-per-view crowd in Bizarro land I don't know if that I don't know if that counts is it working well it's it's not met with the crickets it used to be but anyway he talked and then Orton had a line and then Owens took over
Starting point is 02:16:20 and he cut the promo and this is true on the past Monday his mother was rushed to the hospital and he did a really heartfelt promo about that he wanted to be there with her but he wasn't going to miss this because his mother wouldn't have wanted that because she's always been behind him and you know, blah, blah, blah. So it was, and he finished strong, fired up.
Starting point is 02:16:48 And that was a good, I don't know if that's the kind of thing. When everybody talks about, oh, they ought to have more realism in wrestling and give the guys more chance to do their own material, whatever, when you can talk like he can and you've got something to say, yes, you should. They've taken it to an extreme in both these companies, in the WWE in the past not letting anybody say anything except what's written. And in AEW, not having anybody with the sense to write anything for people that can't
Starting point is 02:17:21 fucking talk. So this was in the middle of all of that. Very good. Did you have an opportunity to listen to that at all? I did. I thought it was really good. It was an excellent promo actually from him. And it was something to kind of tie him into the main event the next night a little bit more.
Starting point is 02:17:41 And obviously, she was still in the hospital of next night. night, so he was, you know, still a sympathetic figure. And then Bailey wrestled Piper and all the other girls got involved and the refrigerator came out and beat up Bailey until Mia Yim came in and saved her bacon. Did I encapsulate the information contained therein as succinctly as possible? That's right. Bacon, yes. Bagan.
Starting point is 02:18:10 That smells like bacon except bacon. So then for the tag team, title, and this is the state of affairs. In the once great tag team division, the home of the Heart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, Demolition, the Rockers, the rollers, the strollers. The tag team title match is Tomaso Champa and Johnny's same face against Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. And the story now is Waller is using Thameson.
Starting point is 02:18:46 theory to get ahead, so hopefully that means that soon we'll get theory away from Waller so I can pay attention to him again. And the fact that Johnny's same face can hold a belt in the WWE either means the belt means nothing, or the
Starting point is 02:19:02 incriminating information he had was not on Vince McMahon, but apparently on either Triple H or Ari Emanuel or whoever else was operating this thing, because what the fuck? this fucking
Starting point is 02:19:18 I'm even if you like him wouldn't you be way past bored of him I can't just I mean I agree with what you're saying it seems like he's a triple H project that Triple H is not going to give up on
Starting point is 02:19:32 he's one of the last few guys remaining from that era of NXT right and I guess and Triple H for whatever reason they're not going to give up on him now they've given up on the tag team division
Starting point is 02:19:44 that's one of the thing you may not give up on Gargano you gave up on your tag team division, not just with this, but with everything. We have so much happening in WWE. Where are the strong tag teams? Where are the tag teams that are over? Where are the hot tag team matches that steal the show?
Starting point is 02:20:02 It doesn't happen because they don't want it to happen. But if there's anything that you'd like to see change from the Vince McMahon era to the current era, a focus, a refocus on tag team wrestling and developing good tag teams, believable tag teams. good heel tag teams not like you said purely deadly you're here on this show Street profits have been around for a while and they just feel stale and then this
Starting point is 02:20:29 a makeshift tag team of WALorin theory and DIY which no one I mean they were getting no reactions what are they doing your what are they doing themselves what is has DIY ever been explained if you didn't watch NXT five years ago Tomaso Champa they missed an opportunity by not putting him with this little fucking boring pipsqueak. And the whole family.
Starting point is 02:20:53 What does, Candy Laroo! In the middle of these mostly fit and tanned and impressive looking women, she looks like a, she's the make-a-wish kid like Garcia is on the other channel. One of these things does not look like any of the others. Her! What the fuck? She's a local girl wrestler. and so anyway, they won the belts with double submissions on Waller and Theory.
Starting point is 02:21:28 And then they finished the program with a pre-taped package of the bloodline was solo, basically saying that Roman wasn't man enough to defend their legacy, so I'm the tribal chief now, and I'm going to take the title from Cody, and if Roman wants it, he can try to take it for me. and boom is going to go to the dynamite. They're already chanting for Roman reigns. The amount of people in this company that they're all chanting for is growing exponentially.
Starting point is 02:22:07 So they're literally over here not even trying. This was the equivalent of a fucking bowl of oatmeal with no sugar. And the people are scarfing it right down and asking for more. You know, Roman Reins can literally come back and in his return promo whenever he does it after whatever happened, say, you beat up my wise man, you stole all my shit, and then you said all these things when I was burying my father. Oh. Because that's literally when it was happening. Yeah. So, I mean, the bloodline can get really personal and it can be really strong.
Starting point is 02:22:46 I mean, this is all intriguing and it's all great. I will say, though, you've asked me. about Tangaloa. And I told you, I haven't really watched too much. And I saw a highlight video going around of him in New Japan, botching every single thing. And then he botched the nutshot the next night. Yes, let's memorialize him coming up when we talk about it.
Starting point is 02:23:09 But he is the man who on pay-per-view television missed a nutshot on a stationary target. Well, that was Smackdown. Speaking of nutshots on a stationary target. We got Jacob. We got Jacob, at least thankfully. Because remember when I said there, wait a there's four of them and they're in a six-man tag, which one's going to work and which one's not? You know what it may have been? They said, and it sounded like a shoot based on what we know, too, they said on the pregame show that WWE and even Triple H had to work with the Canadian government to get Jacob Fat 2 into the country.
Starting point is 02:23:48 Yeah. I bet if he wasn't going to be able to get into the country, it would have been Tonga Lowen. At least they're covering. Yeah, and then he could have missed the nutshot as an active participant. But anyway, before we go to the shots on the nuts, what in the world, Brian, is going on in the various Arcadian Vanguard network programming this week? Hey, another fine week. You get caught up on everything on Twitter at Super Podcasts or on Facebook,
Starting point is 02:24:12 facebook.com slash Arcadian Vanguard, of course, all that's happening in the world of wrestling, get that news for free. from the wrestling news each and every day, The Wrestling News.com, or the daily wrestling morning newscast, wherever you find your favorite podcasts, Arcadia Vanguard's The Wrestling News. Want to make mention of Stick the Wrestling with John McAdam,
Starting point is 02:24:34 another fine series of shows looking at 1984, the year the WWF blew up things like Buzz Sawyer showing up, and then Buzz Sawyer leaving, seemingly right away. Bulldog Buzz Sawyer, not Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer, not Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer, the Bulldog, but hear about that and so much more. It was Bob Brown filing for trademark infringement that doomed that run.
Starting point is 02:24:56 McAdampod.com or look for Stick the Wrestling with John McAdam, wherever you find your favorite podcast, and of course, the 605 Super Podcast, The Vership! Well, thank you. Listen to part one of the Scott Cornish tribute and omnibus six hours of all of his impressions in the top ten,
Starting point is 02:25:18 the handsome boogeyman, hot dog and Lasto, impressionist Jim Ross, Sheila the shooter, angry barista Ken Patera, and so much more. It's a funny, funny look back at someone who we miss. I can't believe he's not here,
Starting point is 02:25:31 but hear it today. 605pod.com or look for the 605 Super Podcast. Wherever you find, your favorite podcast, The Mothership! Yeah, yourself. All right, well, now the time has come.
Starting point is 02:25:47 We've got to talk about the money in the bank. It's as good. as money in the bank, Brian. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 19,8, 58 fans is what they're saying. It was sold out, regardless of what the official number was.
Starting point is 02:26:04 It was the largest arena gate that they've ever done in the country of Canada. And they've done a couple of stadiums that have outdrawn it. And, I mean, they know how to put on a fucking show. Now, I gotta be honest, at the top of the thing here, I'm gonna say I almost couldn't watch their fucking show that they know how to put on.
Starting point is 02:26:28 What did you watch this thing on? I watched it on Peacock. Did the picture on the cock look like a third generation VHS tape to you? No, that's your internet. Well, my picture on the cock was rotten. because I ordered the pay-per-view like God intended to be watched on real television with a remote that fast-forwards and rewinds and slow-moes.
Starting point is 02:26:59 We spent all this time from the days of General David Sarnoff to get to this point where we could have a DVR on our cable box that records things in high-deaf and you can control it. And people want to do away with that for this streaming shit. So I order the pay-per-view. And for once, because, and I will expose your business, Brian. You had a family birthday to go to, frivolously, just paying attention to your family,
Starting point is 02:27:32 instead of coming and recording with me, like normal people should, that care about their goddamn profession. Actually, I didn't have to go there. I was the host. It was here last minute. Well, it's even worse. You were right there. That's right. But nevertheless.
Starting point is 02:27:46 So I had a day to absorb this thing from Saturday night. I could record it and watch it on Sunday at my leisure and skip through the 10 minute in between the matches where they sell a stuff and blah, blah, blah. And I go and I sit down to watch the pay-per-view. And when I recorded the pay-per-view, I don't know how they managed to do this. but the audio and the video were not you know like when the audio and the video is like 30 seconds off and it just what the fuck yeah ruins the experience completely imagine when the audio and the video were five minutes off wait this is on your DVR this is on the DVR of the payper view on the payper view channel how the hell did that happen i've never heard of that that's what i meant the entrances for the first
Starting point is 02:28:43 the money in the bank men's match I was still hearing America the beautiful or whatever was being sung and it was like that fast forward through the whole goddamn it didn't make it was completely unwatchable
Starting point is 02:28:57 so I'm like fuck now I guess so Stace finds me the peacock on the smart TV in the TV room I never used the smartness of it I like my dumb TV in the TV room but then the
Starting point is 02:29:13 picture not only looked like dog shit, but also there's no way with these modern TV remote controls, there's like four buttons on it, and there's not even anything that looks remotely like a fast forwarder or rewind. I can pause it and unpause it. And I don't know how this shit works anyway. So I had to sit there and let this thing play
Starting point is 02:29:39 unmolested without skipping anything for three and a half hours. So my mind wandered a little bit. And in some of the long shots, I couldn't tell who was in the fucking ring. I used to get a better picture at 2 o'clock on Saturday morning on Channel 4 from Bloomington, Indiana, trying to watch Dick the Bruiser's TV. Hey, did you see that clip I tweeted out last week of Dick the Bruser on Letterman show, The Morning Show? Yes, I did. I retweeted that and somebody else had somebody at Bruiser on another thing that I retweeted.
Starting point is 02:30:20 Did you watch the Letterman appearance? Yes, I'd seen it before. The bit at the end where he tries to apply the stomach claw to... You know, that's why that Letterman named Paul Schaefer the world's most dangerous band, or not Paul Shep, but his band the world's most dangerous from the world's most dangerous wrestler, because Letterman did the news in Indianapolis. And that's why Jim Cornett named Gary Capetta, the world's most dangerous ring announcer.
Starting point is 02:30:46 Yes. Yeah. So anyway, back to Money in the Bank. And they started with the Money in the Bank men's match, which thankfully, because after the women, why would you want to see any more of this latter whoreshit? And I will say that Samantha Irvin, Irvin, not Irwin, I give me, could she be related to Dr.
Starting point is 02:31:09 Bill Irwin? No, she's Irvin. Well, she may be Irvin or not, she's revving up and ready to go. She explained the convoluted stipulations well. She's got a lot of enthusiasm.
Starting point is 02:31:25 And, but it was Jay Uso, Andre, L.A. Knight, Chad Gable, Carmelo Hayes, and Drew McIntyre in a six-man ladder match everyone for themselves to get the fucking briefcase. and right off the bat,
Starting point is 02:31:41 why do they have to have six? They could have taken Andrade and Carmelo out of this and not harmed anything. You can't, this is a stunt show. You can't, you can do cool things in it, but it can't be a wrestling match
Starting point is 02:32:04 that makes sense, that has any logic, that tells any kind of a story, or that it's just the ladders came into play in the first minute and then everybody does tricks and it'll be two guys doing their set thing that they've agreed on that they're going to do
Starting point is 02:32:23 while the four other ones wait for their cues and at three minutes in the crowd is chanting we want tables because the fucking half a dozen ladders ain't enough and you know in this thing Chad Gable and Drew McIntyre looked great, I thought, all the way through. L.A. Knight got to beat a few people up. But it's just you're waiting for different stunts and you have to suspend any type of,
Starting point is 02:32:57 not even any disbelief, but just like Drew McIntyre at one point sold out on the floor somewhere for longer than people recover from open heart surgery. And then he comes back at 100% right when he needs to be. and same with everybody. And then finally, at the end of the thing, they figure out a ridiculously, after everybody does everything to everybody, then each guy takes a bump on the ladder
Starting point is 02:33:26 that is risking life limb into pursuit of happiness, so they've got a reason to be out so that the last two guys can do the thing. And we knew Drew needed to win it, and we hoped he would win it. And it was a good little finish they did where Gable had got up there
Starting point is 02:33:47 and was hanging from the cable when Uso turned his ladder over, so he stuck up there, and then he dropped, took a hell of a bump, and bounced up and got speared. So he's out, and then Uso climbs the ladder, and has his hands on the briefcase. But Drew grabbed one of the ladders
Starting point is 02:34:06 and kind of used it like a cue stick and knocked Uso off the top of the ladder and then he climbed it and got the case. So it was a nice finish, but God, this has become so ridiculous now with the ladder matches, and they're so dangerous, and it's just, it's a stunt show, and that's all you're watching for,
Starting point is 02:34:27 and I just, I'm just, be, what'd you think? Yeah, I mean, it was run in the mill as far as these ladder matches go. The one later in the show was really the one to write home about, and write to other people about too. It was really the one to complain about. That's why I'm saving it. But Drew got the win and it played a part in a bigger story.
Starting point is 02:34:48 It was the right guy. Yeah. And I guess for a Money in the Bank show, it was a fine opener. I think we are starting to realize that, you know, I've always said you can't, you can't be successful. Good booking can sometimes overcome subpar talent more than, the other way around is what I'm trying to say. Great talent, great booking.
Starting point is 02:35:15 Well, great talent can sometimes, but not often, overcome subpar booking, but great booking can sometimes overcome subpar talent. And I'm not saying that Drew McIntyre is subpar, but the WWE booking right now, everybody that wins is should win. it fits into the thing, into the bigger picture. That's why they've made these stars.
Starting point is 02:35:42 And some of these same people were there under the previous administration and they didn't mean nearly as much as they mean now. But on, you know, again, on the other side of this war, you've got some guys that have talent, but to can't overcome the shitty booking. Yeah, McIntyre is the biggest case. He went from being the most boring guy
Starting point is 02:36:07 the company, the most intriguing guy there? Well, and sometimes it's just letting people actually act like adults and real instead of the scripted dramatic bullshit. On the other side, they don't have any scripted shit to work with and they can't come up with their own most of them. It's feast or famine is what it is, bride. But anyway, so Drew got the case and that was the start of this event. Yippee.
Starting point is 02:36:41 Next up was the intercontinental title, the real one, not the one that Tony Kahn made up, Braun Breaker against Sammy Zane. And I can't remember now, I didn't think, did I think or did I not think they were going to put the belt on Braun when we talked about this earlier? I think you did, but I am not in any way certain.
Starting point is 02:37:07 well nevertheless with this match and the way they did everything i'm glad they did what they did because i think they're they're wanting to establish brawn as a major player but they're not going to rush it and they don't want a rocky myavia like kickback or blowback or whatever like die brawn die or whatever even though he's a heel instead of a baby face they don't want people to think he's getting it too soon. And Sammy is over in Toronto. Because, who was it?
Starting point is 02:37:42 Corey Graves said that? How come anybody's from Canada? They're a hometown guy. Canada's a fucking giant country geographically. But they're very loyal. But the commentary that you can actually listen to on this program, by the way,
Starting point is 02:37:59 they're pushing Braun perfectly. They're prepared. They've got producers feeding them statistics. They sell the talent. They don't sell Mark shit about what somebody did in an indie show in Japan
Starting point is 02:38:15 10 years ago. They're selling the talent and they're back whether he hits the ropes at 23 miles an hour or he's fucking this or that or the other thing. They're selling the fucking talent.
Starting point is 02:38:32 And Sammy's the perfect guy I think to work with a guy like Braun because not only being the underdog that's over but he sells like a man, remember since he was El Generico. I've said the fucking guy can work and boy can he sell.
Starting point is 02:38:48 And he sells with his whole body so he can be disragged by Braun Breaker and it's not like Braun's being unprofessional taking most of the match. That's the fucking point. And Sammy fights back with fire. and again, Braun has the heel attitude, the facial expressions, the body language.
Starting point is 02:39:14 He's seen, like I said earlier in the program, kind of templates of his dad and his uncle, that he can draw from that and he can kind of, he's his own guy and he can do his own thing, but the genetics are there. And he hit the Frankensteiner again where he runs up to the top and does the pose. and the blah, blah, blah. And he's already getting the This is Awesome chance from people.
Starting point is 02:39:42 So, anyway, they had a real good match in that respect, and finally, Braun went for that spear where he runs all the way around the ring.
Starting point is 02:39:54 Sammy leapfrogged him again like he did the other day on TV, but this time Braun stopped and turned around and stopped Sammy again and did the deal where he closed, line him over the desk. and it looked like he tweaked his knee, Braun,
Starting point is 02:40:08 so I hope that's not the case. But then he, again, the strength, he hit the press to the power slam, but he ran into a kick. And as he staggered up in the corner, Sammy came with that big kick in the corner. Boom, looked a little fucking firm, and surprised him with it, one, two, three.
Starting point is 02:40:30 And so Sammy's beat up and wore out, but he got it, and Braun's sitting there with that evil fucking look on his face. They didn't get lost. He was right there with everything the whole time. He's working up to, you know, main roster level. So I like what they're doing. If they didn't put it on him here because they don't want backlash of too much too soon,
Starting point is 02:40:54 but at this point, I'm starting to be convinced they've got a halfway decent plan for everybody. So I'm not going to get too upset. Yeah. match. I was surprised by the finish. I thought they may belt them here. Sammy, in a lot of ways, and I think I kind of said this before, but it keeps hitting me every time I watch these two guys now, Sammy's like Moxley done right. The man of the people who just looks kind of slovenly. Yeah. But he'll put up a fight. Like, he'll fight to the end. He's that gimmick done right,
Starting point is 02:41:30 Sammy Zane. And good match. What if Sammy went to the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy and came back a grappling master? You know, I would believe it, maybe a little bit more with him, actually. And Moxley, yeah, you got a point there. He's a better promo.
Starting point is 02:41:49 He could at least tell me more about it. But good match, and we'll see where they go with Braun Breaker. You know, like the Steiner brother, Steiner's got the world titles from the Freebirds early on, but then they lost them almost right away. to Doom. And then they were always chasing. I mean, they got the U.S. tag belts from you guys, not the world tag belts in the
Starting point is 02:42:09 summer of 90. So let's see where they go with Braun Breaker and how long it takes from to get there. Did you see the Sammy promo afterwards? I'm trying to think. Probably not. He did a really, really, really good promo afterwards putting over Brown. And I'm not going to start quoting it or anything because I'll mess it up. But I was hoping you had seen it really, really.
Starting point is 02:42:32 good promo. I may have stepped out of the room because this thing was just running in the background in some instances. All right, the next segment was the surprise segment where they bring somebody back from their past and it turns out to be the biggest star
Starting point is 02:42:48 of modern times. And they had even k-fabed this internally, I guess, because they had from what they say on the formats that day for the majority of the crew and everybody, a 15-minute interview with Trish Stratus. So people were smelling something was up
Starting point is 02:43:05 because I don't know if she's ever talked 15 minutes cumulatively, but... And by the way, the picture I had on Peacock, she's standing in the ring, it looked like Nicole Bass. I couldn't fucking see shit. Is this what we're going to have to put up with when Raw goes to Netflix? Until you get better internet, yeah. Well, it's Spectrum. It's their fault.
Starting point is 02:43:30 That's a free plug for you, Spectrum. Yes, and that's all you deserve is free plugs. But people, if you have any choice, don't get Spectrum. So anyway, Trish starts out by introducing my special guest. She made an awkward illusion to apparently something that happened when she was Cina's mystery partner or vice versa on TV, I guess, 20 years ago. Did it sound like anybody got it? I didn't get it.
Starting point is 02:44:01 So I don't know if anyone else did. Yeah, she made that awkward illusion. She introduced John Sina. He came to the ring. She handed him the microphone and left. It was perfect. And then, I mean, he gets a big response because he's a big star and because it was a surprise. But then I think he hooked him.
Starting point is 02:44:23 He announced his retirement right away. And then he went into more detail. But I think he kind of hooked him there. Oh, shit. this is serious, instead of beating around the bush about it, and then he went into his promo and he put the Canadian fans over big, and it is true. Even when WWD domestically has been soft, Canada, especially Toronto, has always, before the big turnaround in the 90s, we were still doing raws in the Skydome in Toronto, in
Starting point is 02:45:03 because they couldn't get to people in, you know, the smaller building. So he put them over and he says he's going to be there when Raw goes to Netflix, which I bet probably was maybe a deal sweetener. But the 2025 Rumble is going to be his last one, the 2025 Elimination Chamber, which we know sets up WrestleMania and the 2025 WrestleMania. but I mean he does he does a great fucking baby face promo he thanked the people for their support
Starting point is 02:45:38 they chanted thank you Sina he got emotional and thanked them again and apparently the tagline of his retirement not even tour but his final dates is going to be the last time is now yeah the tagline is this Hollywood thing's really working out well add that too also a p.S
Starting point is 02:46:02 Hollywood is beckoning but I think they kind of he may have had to jump in and hook him at the start because then I heard afterwards they had the the last time is now t-shirts on sale in Toronto at the building before his promo so they may have had a slight clue
Starting point is 02:46:21 but at least he's not gonna he's not gonna stick around until he's fucking ancient and he does have other options and he wants to remain somewhat special in people's memories. So if, and I think that's going to be,
Starting point is 02:46:39 that's going to be 25 years. So why not? You know, we've seen it in baseball a few times. It happened a few years ago with Derek Jeter. Yankee great when he retired. He announced it before the season. So every time he went to a town, it was the last time he was ever coming to that town.
Starting point is 02:46:58 So even if you never cared before, you may care now. And WWE, you know, you said it'll be his last WrestleMania. He said they're in the press conference. He's retiring at the end of 2025. Not at the end of WrestleMania. So that means that's one year on top of everything with the bloodline, anything with CM Punk or Drew McIntyre, anything with anyone getting elevated or signed
Starting point is 02:47:22 or returning from injury or whatever it may be. Beyond all of that, the rock returning, they're going to have one year of booking the last time John Cena comes to a town in multiple towns. They're on fire now. They may, they miss, I mean, it's just, it's extraordinary. No one's done that because, again, no one really retires. So you've got to be careful. Terry Funk announced multiple retirements.
Starting point is 02:47:47 I went to at least one of them. Yeah. But if he's really going to retire, and I believe him, a tour, a retirement tour is a brilliant thing for them to do. And even if it's only, you know, what, six or eight of the pay-per-views? At this level of the game,
Starting point is 02:48:06 that's tens of millions of dollars, potentially on a table, and the TV ratings through the fucking roof. See, with AEW, everything would sting was about the pay-per-view, even though they would kind of say it on the way there. This is his last time he'll be here in Greenville, or whatever it may be.
Starting point is 02:48:25 In advance, it really wasn't a big deal. it was all about the pay-per-view. Here you have one year every paper-view he appears at, whatever TVs he appears at, anything un-televised he may appear at. Who knows? Maybe he has out on his bucket list.
Starting point is 02:48:41 One more surprise, house show appearance. That's a lot of tickets. That's a lot of tickets to sell. And where are they going internationally next year? Because then they could say, well, I'm just saying it. The last time. ever in Germany.
Starting point is 02:48:59 The last time ever in wherever. Goddap. Saudi Arabia. You think they're going to call up Prince Muhammad Ali Hassan or whatever his fucking name is to go, hey, for
Starting point is 02:49:14 an extra 25 million we could get Yassina the month before he has his last match. Whatever. It's just, it's amazing. Brilliant move. Now, I will say this and everyone knows he's a genuinely nice guy, the make-a-wish stuff he has done that's not really publicized, even a lot of it is. People know he does it.
Starting point is 02:49:31 You don't know about specific examples. He extraordinarily nice guy. But he speaks like a pandering motivational poster. Ha ha. It's just, like, nothing has really said. I'd be very much like Derek Jeter in that way, too. Nothing is said during the press conference afterwards. They asked about Vince McMahon, and he just wouldn't say a thing.
Starting point is 02:49:50 Go listen to his previous things. He's focused on the future, like Mark McGuire, and he was asked about steroids. he's focused on the future. And then the next question, he goes, I want to answer all your questions. I'm open to anything. Ask me anything. The guy just did.
Starting point is 02:50:04 You wouldn't answer it. But this is going to be big. They got him now, like you said, the Rumble, money in the bank and WrestleMania, that's just the lead up to the biggest. No, elimination chamber. Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania, that's the biggest buildup of the year,
Starting point is 02:50:20 the run from the Rumble to Mania. You've seen it in the mix there. Well, but now SummerSlee, is a stadium and two nights. So next year, I'm sure it will be two. So that's bigger now than WrestleMania used to be. And there's matches to be had, you know,
Starting point is 02:50:35 think about specific matches. They ask punk about it during the press conference. There's a match. Punk versus Sina, a big history. One more match would be a big deal. Punk versus Randy Orton. Maybe the same thing. I mean, there's lots of different things.
Starting point is 02:50:50 By the way, I said all those things they're doing right now to heat things up. Lesnar. Lesder. Roman Reins. I mean, there's still guys just not in the mix. And things are exploding and now they're going to have a retirement tour with Sina. And every show they do, they announce it's the biggest gate of all time in any way.
Starting point is 02:51:08 Any building with concrete. It's the biggest gate. Every single show. The most people that have ever breathed air in a specific location, ladies and gentlemen. We've just done that. They're going for the noise record. That's why they got that thing on the screen, you know? Oh, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 02:51:25 Like a fucking Who concert. So again, ladies and gentlemen, John Sina about to retire. It's not going to be around very long, but Brian, I have it on good authority that you may not be able to see him, but you can still hear him. You want to know how? Well, you know, that album's about to be 20 years old, but how? Well, I'll tell you how, because you can plug in your Raycon everyday wireless earbuds and you can listen to the best of John's all day long and all night long. All night long, stay a little longer, all day long.
Starting point is 02:52:02 You can do it because the Racon everyday wireless earbuds, they not only sound like real life, is this real life, they sound like it, but also they've got the 32-hour battery life now on these new upgraded models, and so you can actually play them longer than a day is long. Longer than a day is long. Only time will tell if they'll stand the test of time. It's a good one, Ringo.
Starting point is 02:52:28 Long of the day is long. And then, photograph, I still, but nevertheless, all I want is a, no, I'm the photograph. What are you doing? Photograph was deaf leopard or was that phonograph? I was making a reference to your faux pie in terms of the way you were phrasing things. I'm thinking about Ringo. All I've got, he had a song about a photograph too. I don't know.
Starting point is 02:52:50 Photograph is death leopard. That's like their first big hit. All I've got is a photograph. Not photo. Yellow submarine. We all live in one. But anyway, the everyday wireless earbuds, folks,
Starting point is 02:53:01 they've also got the quick charge function, the ergonomic design to fit that wide range of ears. As a matter of fact, even if you've got earlobes like an elephant, an African one, not the Indian one, have the tiny little shell-like airs, they'll
Starting point is 02:53:18 fit you. And the awareness mode, the active noise cancellation, the customizable sound styles and especially important for our audience, they are sweat-resistant. And as a matter of fact, you know, you can use these things. When you put these in your ears and you're sweating like a whoring church out there doing labor in the middle of the summer or whatever, you won't get an ear infection because all that sweat can't run down your ear canal and then coagulate with your ear wax and
Starting point is 02:53:51 cause an infection. it's effectively performing a blocking mechanism so I guess if somebody was to come up beside you and spit the side of your head it would keep the spit from going down your ear canal also so these things are a good way to avoid the spread of communicable diseases as a matter of fact put them in some of your other orifices and it provides a blocking mechanism I think you go too far I pause for a second and then you go further.
Starting point is 02:54:23 No, do not put it anywhere other than your ears where they will work better than anything else will work in your ear to play you oral delight. Whether it's podcast or music, whatever it may be, enjoy your life, enjoy your ears with Raycon. Enjoy your ears. That is their new slogan. Enjoy your ears with Raycon, oral delight.
Starting point is 02:54:44 I knew her. She used to work down in New Orleans. A-U-R-A-L. Oral-D-L-L-E-L-L-L-L-ol- Delight. Yes, and Oral Roberts. You know, it wasn't it ironic that a guy that was against all the fun was named Oral? But anyway, folks right now, the Racon folks, they're fine people over there without the judgmental nature of an oral Roberts. They don't care what your personal proclivities are.
Starting point is 02:55:14 They just want you to listen to fine audio in your head. And they want to get in your head and stay in your head like little earwerews. worms. That's why they offer a 30-day happiness guarantee. So that may you get these RACON everyday earbuds and for 30 days you're going to be happier than a pig and poop? Go to Buy RACON, B-U-Y-R-A-Y-C-O-N-B-R-A-Y-C-O-N-B-R-A-C-O-N-B-R-R-A-C-E-E, and you're going to get 15% off your entire RAC-C-O-R-R-E-C-L-L-E-S-3 shipping. So order, order about six or eight these things. And they'll send them to you for free too. And the more you order, the more money you will save, 15% off so it's a sliding scale. 15% of $10 is only $1.50. But if you spend
Starting point is 02:56:07 $1,000, you'll get $150 off. And you can't beat that math and you can't argue with it. No, you can't. That's math. So there you go. Buy raycon.com slash jCE, 15% off and free shipping. and stick the, again, buy some for your friends, some for people on the street. I have it on good authority that they get good feedback when you just walk up and just stick a pair of these in people's ears and turn them on, and the people will be surprised at how good they can hear.
Starting point is 02:56:38 Again, we've gone through this in the past, I can't believe we have to do it again here at the end of the spot. Do not ambush anyone with Raycons other than in a gift presenting fashion in a package that is sealed with maybe a bow as a gift. As a gift. If you're trying to surprise somebody, now surprise is the best kind of a gift.
Starting point is 02:57:00 So you just want to walk up behind somebody. They don't know you're there and stick a couple of these in their ears while they're turned on to like iron butterfly. And boy, watch the reaction. Wouldn't you hear them coming? Wouldn't you hear them coming before they got into your ear? That's what she said.
Starting point is 02:57:16 Wouldn't you hear them coming? I don't know what kind of iron butterfly you're listening to, but I don't think they made those. kind of noises. Ladies and gentlemen, buy Raycon for yourself or in a gift presenting fashion. Or someone you love. And you want to make them come. Present a sealed package and you will come to oral delight with Raycon.
Starting point is 02:57:37 What's that promo code, Jim? JCE. Well, now, Brian, we've come to the time where we're talking about a former 16-time world champion. Now we're talking about a one-time world champion. In Damien Priest defending that recently inaugurated title against Seth Franklin Rollins, haven't we seen this before? Seems like a lot. You know, sometimes you get that feeling for something you haven't seen before,
Starting point is 02:58:09 and that's when it's really scary. You know, Triple H in the press conference afterwards really put over Damian Priest and says he's really, you know, earned it. He's really been a great world champion. to me it's not he's not there yet and watching him walk to the ring with the belt i don't know it's just you know we'll see where they're going but he still doesn't feel like a world champion to me we've wanted him to be there we saw that he might be there uh someday and it just it ain't i don't i don't know there's some guy is it the the minions that he's got that cluttering him up
Starting point is 02:58:48 and now he's told all of them to stay out of his business and Fin's like, oh, whatever you say, boss, you know, there's going to be trouble, but whatever. See, that's part of the problem. You've seen him a little bit fire up, but other than that, you see him come down. Yeah, he's not a very stern disciplinarian for this band of Mary Pat Pranksters. Yeah, there's so many friendly conversations backstage, and then, you know, he comes to the ring. He's just your friendly neighborhood, Damien Priest. You know, we've seen him.
Starting point is 02:59:17 he kind of rolled his eyes and held his nose and bore up under our truth's silliness, which is not like, can you, can you see Stone Cold thinking a guy was cute and putting up, no, it just, I don't know, but then also the matches, well, there's a couple of things here, and I don't know what was going on with one of them, but they, the way they had to work this, they teased from the start that McIntyre was going to, to cash in on Priest like Priest did to McIntyre. And they says Seth and Priest are the only two men to ever cash in the money in the bank at WrestleMania.
Starting point is 02:59:58 But they opened at 100 miles an hour in such a hurry. It was like they were just doing stuff to do it. And then it would be the pattern where they do a lot of quick shit and then they just stop everything and like expect Drew or look for Drew or call for Drew. Like one time Seth started calling Drew, come on out here. And then he did three dives in a row. So, and then, you know, at one point, I kind of zoned out because they're going so quick and it's just doing stuff. But then Seth hits the stomp and some kind of shit and gets a two count on priest.
Starting point is 03:00:41 And then stopped and started daring him to get up. Get up, get up, forever. I was wondering if priest was going to get up, like, is he hurt? And then as soon as he gets up, he just gives Seth the razor's edge. And, but, you know, just in wrestling school, they used to call it zero to hero, you know, instantly. And then it slowed down. And then the superplex spot. Do you remember what I'm talking about?
Starting point is 03:01:13 The three count before the finish? Oh, yeah. I mean, look, I was going to say there was more than one timing issue. in the match and the biggest one was the one with the referee. Well, it wasn't really his fault. Because and first of all, the thing where they do,
Starting point is 03:01:29 they do a great superplex. But then Seth is one of these people that has to do and you used to see it on the Indies. I yelled at a couple guys in the Ring of Honor, I think, for doing it. They'll do a superplex and then hold on to the guy and then pick him up and give him the Falcon
Starting point is 03:01:48 arrow, the fucking arrow. And then to make it even worse to kill the superplex, the guy will block the fucking arrow and give his own fucking arrow. What the fuck do you just do the superplex for? It's so stupid.
Starting point is 03:02:10 But they did that here where Seth did a superplex and didn't try to do the thing and priest blocked it and then did and they, whatever the fuck, but Seth ends up falcon arrowing him and covered him
Starting point is 03:02:29 and it was a three count because he didn't kick out. Maybe he really was selling the superplex. And the referee counted three. He had to. And everyone saw it. And then they continued on and the crowd was kind of confused,
Starting point is 03:02:44 but then here came Drew McIntyre. They turned the house lights on too, didn't they? Oh, yes, that was one of the things that apparently the lighting guy was going by his eyes instead of his fucking format instead of a well no instead of his IFB you know they're going to cue the lights somebody's going to say that uh and they turned the lights on so the people really thought that was it but and and to me i say i think the referee held up and did not count to three he just sweeped it at two point nine but it was a three because nobody moved and they turned the lights on
Starting point is 03:03:21 So there are people like, ah. So you say it's not the referee's fault? Is it Damien Priest's fault? Well, yes, he didn't kick out. And the referee, you know, you always hear they say, the tell the referee, call it like a shoot, and under normal circumstances, but in the goddamn, with the import of this match,
Starting point is 03:03:44 the fact that neither one of these motherfuckers was supposed to win, I can understand why he held up because, you know, it would have fucked everything up. But did Damian Priest have the wind knocked out of him? Did he not hear the first count and think it was still two? That's what I can't figure out. But they, again, they destroy the superplex that is the biggest bump to give somebody else
Starting point is 03:04:12 another pissy little bump because it's fancy. And then it fucked up anyway. and then here came Drew and now we got something he cashes in it's a triple threat match any DDT's Rollins and then he kicks fucking priest
Starting point is 03:04:34 and then all of a sudden here come see him punk and not involved in the mat but there's no disqualification in this case not lazy booking at least it worked for him for once pump they go to the floor
Starting point is 03:04:51 and he wears him out with a fucking chair and he chokes him with a camera cable and hits him with a chair again and the crowd goes bat-shit and then he rolls him in the ring and gets the title belt and whacks McIntyre over the head with it and then sits on the fucking announced desk
Starting point is 03:05:13 holding the belt while Priest gets up and chokeslam's McIntyre boom one two three that was perfect again priest isn't happy because he told people to stay out of his business and now it's somebody else
Starting point is 03:05:29 Drew's laying there out cold you just know he's going to have to do something about that Seth doesn't like punk to begin with and certainly didn't appreciate this goddamn intervention here and punk's sitting there like he just had a big old hot box of Mindy's muffins.
Starting point is 03:05:53 And then Seth even said Seth has a baby face, but he starts to go after him and the referee, stop him and blah, blah. Hey, he caught Seth. He gets up there. He caused Seth the belt here too, if you think about it. Yes, yes, that's what I'm saying. Yeah.
Starting point is 03:06:06 They set up 18 matches here. And again, Drew McIntosh, this was, they, it's looking like SummerSlam may be a more sure thing now because they wouldn't be heating this thing up like this every week if they weren't pretty sure they could be selling this soon.
Starting point is 03:06:29 So, no wonder they got two nights at a stadium. Pretty soon they're going to need goddamn three nights and where's a bigger place than a stadium? That is a good question. Three nights in the Grand Canyon. All right, I guess that's a way of a lot of guys.
Starting point is 03:06:50 This could be their version of Sturgis, right? Would WCWs do the? the Hogwild bike rally. I don't think WW would do it unless they could set up chairs and sell the, sell the rights to sit in them. Well, no, that's what I'm thinking. They fucking buy the Grand Canyon. All right.
Starting point is 03:07:07 And they start having their events there where they could just, they could hang people on the side of the canyon to get some Sherpas to come in there and fucking navigate to people all. It'll be visually stunning. Anyway, were you finished talking? about Drew and Seth and punk. I don't know if I said it even yet.
Starting point is 03:07:29 Did you say anything? Would you like to say something? You know, the thing at the end, everything at the end, all the things at the end were so hot that it almost made you forget about the referee thing. With the rice, keep going with the referee thing. Yeah. The three count that wasn't. Yes.
Starting point is 03:07:43 It, it, and at least it happened right after that, so it took their mind off of it. They didn't have time to get confused, too bad. You know, the stuff with the bloodline is so intriguing. But to me, feud of the year, the feud I'm. Most into is C.M. Punk and Drew McIntyre. And both guys have been so good in this. I don't know if you saw any of the stuff after the show, where McIntyre went nuts on the post show.
Starting point is 03:08:06 I'm sure we'll catch up with him and Adam Pierce got physical. And now he's been suspended in K-Fabe because of his behavior. So we'll probably see clips on Raw before we're recording right now. Well, Raw is after we are recording. We rephrase that. And then Punk was at the press conference. Wait a minute. What day is this?
Starting point is 03:08:24 It didn't too far from Raw. We never get a chance to, we talk and then we watch. But go ahead. But I thought everything there was great. And again, you still tease everything with Punk and Rollins. They're really good now at teasing long-term stuff and having it pay off. So we're going to get Punk and Rollins at some point. And Drew and Punk don't even have to wrestle until the match.
Starting point is 03:08:48 Let them do shit to build it up. They've now established these guys hate each other so much that they keep doing these. and they're all believable. It's never like, I ran over his dog, or I showed up in his house and held his wife hostage. Like, any of these things we've seen. Does either one of them have a baby that could be terrorized? Let's, uh, let's save that for AEW.
Starting point is 03:09:08 That's kind of their thing. They may have a trademark or a copyright or something on that. But great finish to a good match that completely, if this thing hadn't happened right away, the three count thing could have really poisoned everything. It was about to go south because it hadn't, hadn't been that far north to begin with, but they got through with it.
Starting point is 03:09:32 And Punk and McIntyre though, right? Feud of the year. What feud has been better than that? And because it's two individuals. With the bloodline thing, it's an ongoing deal. You'd have to, you spread the credit around, a lot of baby faces.
Starting point is 03:09:44 This is two guys focused on each other. And McIntyre, he's been just a revelation. Is this? Like you said, he has legitimate reason to be pissed off, but you still don't like him because of everything he's doing. It's the way he reacts to it. Yeah.
Starting point is 03:09:59 You know, it determines whether you like him or not. This is perfect. But then, Brian, we went from the sublime again to the ridiculous. Or as Corey Macklin would say, as ridiculous. I mentioned that because of the streaming on, the cock. I could figure out how to fast forward this shit with any...
Starting point is 03:10:26 I couldn't figure out how at all on this television, much less with any accuracy and the picture was so shits. I didn't want to monkey with it too bad. It might turn into a kinescope next. So I just let the thing play out in real time.
Starting point is 03:10:44 And so it was on the screen. I was listening to it as the next match came up was the women's money in the bank ladder match. and surprise surprise ladies and gentlemen this is not something that I was in favor of and see some of my comments about the men's ladder money in the bank match six way
Starting point is 03:11:11 extravaganza it's not they have gotten completely away from the point of a wrestling match to the extent that the thing that these things have to do with wrestling is they're held in a wrestling ring and wrestlers are performing them. And I want to say at the outset, I understand what the young ladies are trying to do. They know that they're now more than ever in this company where they have the potential to make untold amounts of money,
Starting point is 03:11:43 but they're also deep, deep, they have a deep talent roster with all these superstars and the guys are, you know, main event fucking level up and down on these pre- premium live events, and they've got to do something to stand out and try to get over. And many of them are inexperienced in terms of being on the main roster of blah, blah, blah. So they're trying to get by, oh, watch what I can do, Ma. And that's generally when the kid winds up taking a trip to the emergency room.
Starting point is 03:12:20 Watch this, Ma. But they're trying to get over. I don't blame them. They're being allowed to do it. they're being booked in something like this, and then it's being tolerated. But it's good, not good for the, it's good for the fans that want to watch people do stunts,
Starting point is 03:12:38 and maybe, maybe sometime they should do a championship ladder stunting on pay-per-view. And you could have male and female division and just let everybody do stunts off of ladders. and don't even worry about ringing the bell and starting a match or what, just watch this shit. And that would be, but it's not good for the business because you not only have, the bumps in this match were so ridiculous that humans shouldn't live, much less 150 or 130 pound girls or whatever the weight of the girls were.
Starting point is 03:13:21 And because they were trying to outdo the guys. but it's bad for the business and it's also bad for them because somebody is going to break their fucking neck or their back and it's not necessary the people were like wow bang capow
Starting point is 03:13:41 zowie right there but in six months or three months or six weeks when they watched another fucking 40 hours of television and two or three more pay-per-views with people taking bumps off of shit. What the fuck?
Starting point is 03:14:03 They're going to have the effect of this when they're 35, 40, 45, 45, whatever. If somebody doesn't get carted out now, and I guarantee you, Brian, if I'm lying, I'm flying, and my feet ain't left to ground, somebody, male or female, could take one of these goddamn
Starting point is 03:14:24 suplexes off the last, ladder onto another ladder and paralyzed themselves. And if it didn't look like a cool bump visually, people would not even really pop on it because they've seen so many. It's numbed people, the people in the stands, that this shit actually hurts and is very, very high risk, because the furniture can't work with you.
Starting point is 03:14:52 And they think because everybody does it and lives and gets up and walks away and does more of it, that it's all just bullshit. But, but, but, so they, they numb people to just seeing this and they, okay, there's a trick to it. Well, there's a trick
Starting point is 03:15:11 to evil, can evil jump into fucking, fountain at Caesar's palace, but the trick didn't work right. And that's, so the fans just to accept these bumps now and they go, but they have no idea anymore because they've seen so many of them
Starting point is 03:15:35 what they feel like or how dangerous they might be. And they're going to... Somebody going to get hurt. And I don't remember who won. I don't care because it's ridiculous. Is that an unfair commentary at this point? I don't know. It's not unfair for you because you're consistent.
Starting point is 03:16:03 So I can't say that. I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed it because no one really got hurt, and I got to enjoy everyone going right to the brink of getting hurt, because some of this stuff looked dangerous. If it was in AW, someone would have died if this match was there with their women's division like this. I enjoyed it. Now that you say you forgot who won, so did I,
Starting point is 03:16:29 because I can't remember who was in it. See? What Ty of Valkyrie? No, it was Tiffany. It was Tiffany. Oh, yeah, Tiffany won it. Yeah, no, no, that was nice. And then...
Starting point is 03:16:40 Lyric Valedictorian almost got killed. That's who I'm thinking of. Lyra Valkyrie. She was greatness in terms of like almost dying but not dying. And then Carmela... Is it Carmela? No, not Carmela. No, that's...
Starting point is 03:16:54 That's Hayes. He was in the men's division. No, that's not even... I'm taking about either. Who's the name of the girl... Chelsea? Green, that's her name. Chelsea Green, who was scared of heights. But it was her hometown, too, and I thought she was very entertaining in this match.
Starting point is 03:17:10 I enjoyed this match, although I remember half of the participants' names. No one died, so we could all enjoy it. But your points about it are not unfair. And again, you've been consistent on these things, so that has to be... Well, it just... There's a limit to human endurance. they can't make soft ladders or you wouldn't be able to climb them, it's just gotten out of hand ridiculous. And, you know, I blamed the guys 20 years ago that had to start this path that led to
Starting point is 03:17:48 these fans that were fans of theirs getting in the business, but not losing the markish part of their personalities. And the companies who have tolerated it for the sake of, oh, well, you know, we'll fucking sell more tickets if these guys break their necks and cave their fucking faces in. But, and now, having women do, what's next? The kids division ladder matches for the 10 to 12 year olds. Let them fucking fracture their spines. Hey, because, you know, you've got children.
Starting point is 03:18:26 Their bones are softer when they're young, right? That is correct, yeah. So if they break a few, they'll form back. They're not brittle like me. If I'd break into dust now. But you could, let's start breaking the kids' bones. I'm pretty sure this would violate all sorts of laws and child labor laws and OSHA and CPAC. Well, but they'd be independent contractors.
Starting point is 03:18:49 Right. But they wouldn't have the ability to sign off. The parents would. And I think the parents would be in trouble if they were signing off for their children to participate in money in the Bangalada matches. If you're 29 years old and the person you are an independent contractor for says, I'd like this motherfucker to suplex you off the top of the ladder through a table as the finish of your independent contracting. But that's the thing. I'm paralyzed.
Starting point is 03:19:15 I wonder what would happen. But that's the thing. Are they being told do this spot? Are they saying, hey, we have the idea for a spot? Or we want to do this spot? We want to show we could do this spot. Well, one way or another, the office is approving it. But I mean, I don't think anybody's going out there specifically saying,
Starting point is 03:19:31 okay, we want you to take the crotch-locked leg strangle off the top of the ladder, but they're saying we want you to get knocked off the ladder through something. That can be a vague but still specific request. And you know what else? EOSCai was in this, and EO Sky is pretty awesome, I have to say. Oh, good Lord. Good Lord. She's good.
Starting point is 03:19:52 Whenever you've given her a chance, she's the one that you end up liking her matches every time. Well, anyway, so Tiffie won. Tiffany. Tiffany. And then Tiffany and Trish, Trish and Tiffy, did some shit backstage in the break in between the matches with, I would say, some of the phoniest acting that I've yet to witness anywhere broadcast past somebody's home movies. But that's just me. That match will be both ends at the 18-the-49-year-old demo. Well, they're coming at us from both.
Starting point is 03:20:27 ends, Brian. We've got to be careful. But anyway, now we got to the main event of the evening. The six-man tag team match the Bloodline versus the sort of team, WWE, the big three baby faces
Starting point is 03:20:43 there, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes. And we've been waiting to see this thing and it's going to explode, right? Hey, one day down the road, saying it now, what, down the road? When Randy Orton turns on Cody, it's going to be big.
Starting point is 03:20:59 Oh. And see, that's another one they got. Yeah. We didn't even think of that one earlier. And they can all, and Cody and the Rock. They've got Cody and Rock. Cody and Orton. They got Cody and Gunther.
Starting point is 03:21:13 They've got, it's on and on. Yeah. The matches don't stop until the break of dawn. Anyway, so did you notice some of the announcing, some of the commentary at the start of the six-man tag when the heels, made their entrance and came out first and etc. Did you hear what they were saying? I heard some of it.
Starting point is 03:21:35 You alluded to it earlier in our program about the strings they had to pull to get Jacob Fatu into Canada. Michael Cole said the WW had to pull strings to get this dangerous man into Canada. And Corey Graves said he has no morality. He's a menace, who ought to be locked up. Did I book this?
Starting point is 03:22:01 Did I send them announcer notes? This seems familiar. It may be on the YouTube channel. Well, I'm sure they are, but still, I'm not, I'm not crowing about this because I was a genius and thought of this. I'm mentioning this because it's fucking obvious. It's wrestling. Again, they're getting the talent over.
Starting point is 03:22:27 The announcers are. telling a story to get the talent themselves over, not a mark in his basement telling other marks that they used to play video games together in fucking Sapporo. And then also did you see what he was announced at, size-wise. 6-2? Yes, and the weight? I don't remember the weight.
Starting point is 03:22:53 275. Now, the problem is when he was in with Randy Orton, if you really paid too much close attention, which a lot of people don't, then that means Orton was like 6'6 and fucking 310. But remember I told you, Jacob, he plays bigger than he is. He seems bigger.
Starting point is 03:23:16 You can say, I've stood next to him. I bet you he's 5'10. But he seems like he's six feet tall. And at the time I was working with him, he probably was 2, 280, 290, something like that, but he's slimmed down for this because he needed to to show his athleticism. But that doesn't mean they have to tell the truth. That's what I've been saying all along. They've given this guy, this badass entrance at his screen and his debut, and he's laying
Starting point is 03:23:49 waist to everybody, and he's allowed to do his shit, and they're talking about his criminal background and how dangerous he is, the good parts of doing that to get him over. And they're making him seem bigger physically than he is. That's how you get somebody. And his first WWE match is a main event on pay-per-view. But that's how you get people over for fuck's sake. So this was not, this was not revolutionary on my part. it just makes sense
Starting point is 03:24:27 that's why so few people do it these days and from the start this thing this was this was not the free birds and Yvonne Erick's in Dallas on the 4th of July it was not until the end an exceptionally exciting six-man tag team match
Starting point is 03:24:48 but everything that needed to be done for business was done and it was back and forth and it was very professionally executed but it wasn't the goddamn you know the greatest match to history of wrestling
Starting point is 03:25:04 but it didn't need to be because they were there for it and it sold out the building and the people were loving what was going they're chanting we want Roman they're chanting fuck you solo I noticed that they pretty much started with Tomatanga
Starting point is 03:25:22 and all the baby faces just kicked a shit out of him. Because they can't kick the shit out of solo. He's the heat and they can't kick the shit out of Jacob because he's the enforcers. So, and apparently they don't want Tonga Loa in the fucking ring. Yeah, we'll get to that. So it looks like Tomatanga is designated,
Starting point is 03:25:43 kick the shit out of guy. But then they did simple, and Jacob didn't do everything in his repertoire. There's still a bunch more to go and that's great. but against Randy Orton, Orton gives him that draping DDT and gets up and starts to turn around for the fucking setup for the RKO and Jacob pops up.
Starting point is 03:26:09 It doesn't sell it and fucking Samoan drops him and super kicks him. That's, again, that's all you need to do from a guy, Orton's stature, no sell one of his moves and fucking drop him. He didn't have fucking take him out and put him through a table. Gets the point across. And Corey Graves had a great line. He's about Jacob Fattu.
Starting point is 03:26:36 He said a criminal record was almost a job requirement in ECW, and Paul Heyman is scared of Jacob Fattu. And so, you know, then they got a lot of heat on Owens. I think maybe too much. The crowd got, I think, a bit testy was seeing so much. it, he fired up to keep them going.
Starting point is 03:26:59 But, you know, that was the thing is that I think besides using too many headbutts, Jacob Fatu was great. They've got solo positioned as the guy that's got all the heat because he's the usurper
Starting point is 03:27:14 of Roman Rains' reign to make a little pun there. And Tama is the fall guy in this thing, probably El Tongaloa eventually. and they didn't need to do much. They kept it moving.
Starting point is 03:27:30 Cody did, you know, all of his shit. And finally, Cody backdropped Jacob Fatou over the rail into the goddamn orchestra pit. But then solo-speared Cody got a two-count, and that's when they wiped out the referee. And Cody hit the crossroads, but there was no referee. So then Owen splashes solo off the top rope, and Orton hits an arcade.
Starting point is 03:27:57 on solo, but there's no referee. So Cody clears the desk off and they go to power bomb him and that's when Jacob saves it. And Owens manages to splash Jacob through the table, which sidelines him for a minute. Owens goes to
Starting point is 03:28:20 Pile Drive Tama in the middle of the rig and that's where Tonga Loa came from behind to interfere and on a stationary target with an ass as wide as Owens is, he missed his nuts. He hit him, but he didn't hit him. He did the between the legs arm motion, but he didn't actually hit him, and Owens never knew he was there, and he started picking the guy up for the deal, and he had to hit him again.
Starting point is 03:28:50 And then Orton came out with two RKO, but Solo spiked Orton and Cody hit solo with two of the crossroads is but Jacob ran up to the top rope and flipped off and dove or body blocked
Starting point is 03:29:14 Cody and hit the implant DDT and held Cody for solo spike and then threw the referee in and he counted one two three and solo beat Cody but Jacob did all this damage he saves
Starting point is 03:29:30 solo from Cody, lays Cody out, holds him for the fucking spike, and then rolls a referee back in. So they are obviously highly optimistic about what Jacob's going to be doing, and I don't blame him.
Starting point is 03:29:46 Your thoughts on the swinging a miss on the ball. Yeah, how do you fuck that up? And then I told you before, I saw a highlight reel going around. It's on, I think, the Colta Cornett Facebook group. page of just basic things, various basic things in New Japan that were like that. Like, how did he miss that?
Starting point is 03:30:11 How did he end up like that? Why did he move like that? You know, you can't blame footwork because he was on his knees. I don't know what. Knee work. He just, he can't fucking hit the target on his knees. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
Starting point is 03:30:30 really weird. I've never seen anyone botcha shot to the balls before. And I mean, obviously you're not supposed to hit the person, you know, with any degree of force in the balls, but there is a variety of things you can
Starting point is 03:30:46 do to let them know that you are there and he did none of them. It was like... Is this why he's the infamous Tongoloa? Well, he is now. Because he has all these infamous incidents. You know, like Jacob Fatu's criminal record.
Starting point is 03:31:01 Tonga Loa keeps having infamous botch incidents. Should they make this part of his gimmick now? Like he is the one guy who can't shoot straight on the fucking team. No, if this was AEW, I'm sure they would exploit that to the fullest. But I have a feel that he may be wearing a suit a lot more often in a future now that there's other folks that can handle the work in the ring. Maybe that's what pushed him over the edge to get Jacob. they were like, oh, shit, you know, we better rethink this anyway.
Starting point is 03:31:35 No, I think that, you know what? The fact that he's in the shape he's in tells me this has been a long-term thing. Remember, his name was on the family chart, the family tree, when the Rock had that press conference before WrestleMania, and he's in great shape. Well, I mean, everybody's name was on the chart. People are goddamn, not even in wrestling this name was on the chart. So they didn't all get hired unless. Or did they?
Starting point is 03:31:59 Or did they? And then I told the TKO Board of Directors my sister-in-law would make an excellent marketing rep. But anyway, so that was the excitement. A solo has beaten Cody now. That's NWA champion booking back to the 1950s, 1960s. He's got a pinfall and a tag or six-month. man over the singles champion.
Starting point is 03:32:31 That's going to heat that situation up. Cody's got all kinds of challengers for big matches on the horizon. No one kicks out of the spike. No. And nobody nips up after the Randy Orton DDT, which I was exceptionally pleased that Randy did that for Jacob Fatu. It's Road War Your Hawk in Memphis. Yeah, well, Lawler told him to it.
Starting point is 03:32:56 Just pop right back up. he didn't know it was going to become a thing around the world that he would never stop that he would always not sell a pile driver from that point forward Lawler is like I've got this fucking he's been wrestling for three months and he's fucking stronger than a goddamn fucking Ford truck and I've got to get something out of this so let's see if I could get something without actually having to have him hit me but anyway at Jacob Fatu comes out a bigger star there's heat on all kinds of these
Starting point is 03:33:26 matches it didn't hurt the baby faces to lose on and on and on. Except for the attempt to paralyze 12 members of the roster with this ladder foolishness, you know, I thought this was, again, they're not giving them everything, but they don't have to, and they're setting records, but what they do give them, it means something, it makes sense, and their fans are loving it.
Starting point is 03:33:52 And it's easier to watch than it used to be by a long shot. maybe for these ladder matches they could do something different next year like line ringside with foam or you know those balls like a ball pit and then the fun is watching these big guys try to crawl out of it it's hard to get out of those things well yes you turn it around completely and you say we're going to make it safer and now when they fall they just keep bouncing and rolling and it's like in quicksand and they're trapped they're just bouncing all over each other they can't be hurt but they also can't walk so if a guy's climbing to
Starting point is 03:34:27 to the top of the ball pit, but a guy's already made it back up to the ring. He could then jump from the ring into the ball pit, do his spot, both guys are okay. Well, he could jump from the ring into the ball pit and bounce up and get the fucking briefcase. Instead of having to climb the ladder. So you definitely think trampolines under the ball pit?
Starting point is 03:34:46 Well, I think you almost have to, don't you? I don't know, because then you create a situation too where once someone hits the ball pit, instead of just sinking, the balls could just start bouncing all over the arena. Well, then give the people baseball bats. Ooh, bat day. And then there you got, so you've got trampolines around the ring with big beach balls all over the top of them. And then when the fucking guys, well, the big bouncy balls, the big round ball thing.
Starting point is 03:35:15 You know, you went in a different direction. This is why me and you have to have our own promotion each. What? I was talking a ball pit. A ball pit. Not a beach balls. No, no, like the little tiny balls. You have to, like, you fall into it.
Starting point is 03:35:28 You have to try to climb your way out of it. No, I thought you. I want to see these motherfuckers bouncing around. Well, they could still. They're just balls everywhere and you dive into it and it bounces you up. See, I want trampolines. And then these bouncy balls and then these motherfuckers dive off ladders and bounce off these balls everywhere.
Starting point is 03:35:49 And whether the balls bounce into the crowd or the wrestlers bounce into the crowd, you give the fans baseball bats to knock the son of a bitch's back. Why don't we make a Jim Cornett night, make it tennis rackets? Well, there you go, and that way they might last a little longer before you wore them out, either the balls or the wrestlers. Instead of the bat, the bats might be hard. You probably wouldn't get a lot of wrestlers bouncing back. You know, a human body once it's drained of blood doesn't have the dribbling capacity.
Starting point is 03:36:21 I didn't know where you were going exactly. Well, yeah, it won't bounce. Dr. Lector, I didn't know where you were going. Chena hits with a sick thud rather than bouncing back. So that, you know. All right. Well, we'll see. Do you think that's something?
Starting point is 03:36:33 I think it's something. Something is the word. I think it's something. Do I think it's something that will come to fruition? You know, the ball pit may be more realistic than this baseball bat-wielding batting beach balls out of the sky. It sounds like with your version of the ball pit, Somebody could get hurt.
Starting point is 03:36:55 Well, I don't know about that, but that was, uh, W.W.E. Money in the Bank. No one got hurt there, but Jim, I think we can kind of do it now. Let's talk about if anyone got hurt on Wednesday night. We finally have some, uh, some version of the ratings. Good Lord, it is, there, this was last Wednesday, July 3rds, AEW program. It's now Monday, July the, what does that say, 8th? And we're just now getting these quarter hours. And WrestleMania's has not published them, so we only have what Dave Meltzer is published as of right now.
Starting point is 03:37:30 Oh, so we're taking this with a grain of Epsom salts and possibly some bleach. Possibly. Russellnomics gave us the overall number. Well, gave us. They sent that an email with the overall number. Oh, they told us, they said, don't tell anybody, but here's what it is, guys. 688,000 viewers on average. Again, this is Wednesday, July 3rd, 8 to 10, 16 p.m.
Starting point is 03:37:51 68,000, that's up from 680 last week. Well, but then everybody was wringing their hands and clutching their pearls about last week. And now they're going to, well, this was the day before a holiday. So I understand it used to be it's a holiday. I could accept that. But then it became it's a day before a holiday, a day after the holiday, it's a holiday weekend. Didn't there always used to be days and weekends before and after holidays and it still didn't just continue to perform like shit? It's blamed on a lot of things by a lot of people.
Starting point is 03:38:31 Another one you hear is that people have dropped cable, but then reports have surfaced recently that the drop in cable, the drop in AEW viewership far outpaces the actual drop in cable. Yes, if people are trying to decide apparently that more of them are. dropping AEW first than dropping cable. Less people have cable and less of those people are watching AEW. I guess that's the best way of saying it. Ah, it's a double whammy. All right. Well, what information is Uncle Dave perpetuating here? According to this report on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter website, the major key he says is that 18 to 34 was way up.
Starting point is 03:39:15 Now, that's a demo we haven't really heard before. 18 and 34. As another country heard from. Well, there were way up, way up, way up, Jerry. I'm not diminishing it being a real thing, but it's something that's never been cited before for AEW, but... Was that the only thing that was way up? Well, let's see.
Starting point is 03:39:34 That may be why it was cited. Besides being, let's see, even with the disadvantage cable has, it was way up in that demo. Dynamite was the top-rated show for the night on television for the night. What? Dynamite was... Read it verbatim now. We don't want to take anything out of context or misquote Uncle Dave. Read it like he wrote it.
Starting point is 03:40:01 Dynamite was the top rated show for the night on television for the night. NTBS for Primetime as a whole was the highest rated station for the night. Besides being second behind the price is right, in all of television in 18 to 49, it was first on television in 18 to 34. What? We're now going to harp on this one. They can't use 18 to 49 anymore, so now it's going to be 18 to 34,
Starting point is 03:40:31 and then it'll be 18 to 29. They're really big at 18 to 19. I think they're going to hit their sweet spot between 24 and 26. All right, let me scroll down. Dave does not break it down as nicely as Russellomics does. I have to say, this is one of this. Oh, I can't imagine why. This is one of those areas where
Starting point is 03:40:48 Russellnomics has really done well and Dave's brain must be as cluttered as his office. He's got things up there, but he just can't get them out in an orderly fashion. The show did 1.53 viewers per home, which is AEW Glory Day
Starting point is 03:41:05 level numbers, and 62.2% male in 18 to 49. So few people are watching, but at least of the people that are watching, more of them are in the same. home. From one year ago... Is the way, do you think, is this a series of county and state homes across the country?
Starting point is 03:41:26 I'm not sure, but from one year ago, the show was down 19.5%, which was on July 5th last year. It was down 21.1% in 18 to 49, but it was up 8.5% in 18 to 34. Factoring homes that lost cable over the year, The real numbers would be down 14.5% in viewers, 13.9 and 18 to 49, and 18.5% up in 18 to 39. Did you get all that? I've got it right here. I was taking notes. According to this, Uncle Dave needs an increase in his medication.
Starting point is 03:42:08 All right. Let's see. The show opened. He doesn't have the quarter like the times or anything. Quarter one. usually it's 8 to 8.15 p.m. This was MJF Daniel Garcia and Matt Menard and the start of PAC versus Brian Danielson.
Starting point is 03:42:24 733,000 viewers. Okay, now, the big bangers were on this week? It wasn't the Black Panther, was it? It was the annoying white people? I believe so. So they're dropping with what they're handing off to AW. And for those of you listeners who got in touch after the last time we talked about this and said,
Starting point is 03:42:46 I don't understand why you don't like the Big Bang Theory. It's such a great show. We respectfully disagree. Yes. I think it's dog shit. It's horrible. Is that respectful? Yeah, I could say a whole lot worse.
Starting point is 03:42:59 Oh, well, you're true there. All right. So if they started at 733,000, they've got to hold somewhat most of their audience to hit their average because they're starting so much lower than normal. Okay, now I'm going to assume that Dave's referring to quarter two because he never actually breaks down the times or anything. Quarter two, which would be 8.15, 8.30 p.m. According to Dave, the rest of Danielson versus PAC and interviews with Willow Nightingale and Mark Briscoe 688,000 viewers. And that's their overall average. So they're going to be fluctuating that I don't know what's going to happen here. I'm biting my nails here. I'm on the edge of my seat.
Starting point is 03:43:42 It's because of hemorrhoids. The next segment listed again with no time, I'm going to assume it's quarter three, 845 to no. Yeah, 830 to 845, excuse me. Yes, that's what it would be. That's what it would be. The in-ring with Briscoe, the elite, and the acclaimed, plus a Tony Storm and Mariah Mae interview, 715,000 viewers. This segment was also the peak in 18 to 34.
Starting point is 03:44:12 And who was in it? Brisco. Mark Briscoe, that would be. Yes. The elite, the acclaimed, plus Tony Storm and Mariah May's interview. Well, maybe there's some horny high school dropouts staring at Tony Storm's giant buttocks. We now go to quarter four, I believe, I think, 8.45 to 9 p.m. The Jeff Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, Satnam Singh, Jay Lethal, and Sanjay, Dutt Backst. stage interview and the Britt Baker Mercedes Monet segment, 711,000 viewers.
Starting point is 03:44:52 Okay, this, go ahead. High point in the traditional key demo that they were using for their barometer until that wore out. 18 to 49, this was the high point in that, 322,000. This show has only fluctuated from the high point in the first hour from the high point to the low point, which was quarter to 12, 45,000 people. And otherwise it stayed in that
Starting point is 03:45:20 range, which I don't ever remember happening. So was it because it was the night before a holiday, only the dedicated people that really wanted to see this thing, bothered to even tune in at the top? Or what is... You know, what have we said every time there's a big dip?
Starting point is 03:45:37 There's a big dip. They recover slightly. And that slight recovery, which is not to where they used to be becomes the new norm. Until the next dip. Until the next dip. Which is coming. Which is coming. You can't just play cable television for that.
Starting point is 03:45:52 What's coming in quarter five at the top of the nine o'clock hour? Quarter five would be the rest of the Baker and Monet segment. Plus Don Callis backstage with Will Osprey and Kyle Fletcher and the start of Samoa Joe Hook and Shabbata versus Brian Cage and not the bloodline. 721,000 viewers. They're still in the same pocket. They have not fluctuated more than that in now an hour and 15 minutes. The rest of the trios match in the next quarter, which I don't even know where we are,
Starting point is 03:46:29 because Dave doesn't say where it is. Quarter six, I've got some notes here. Quarter six, which would be 9.15 to 9.30 p.m., the rest of that trios match, and the postmatch attacked by the learning. tree fell to 647,000 viewers. Oh. But it also had two commercial breaks, Dave notes. Well, boy, Ed gave them an excuse to get the hell out of there.
Starting point is 03:46:53 So that was the biggest drop of the entire show of 53, 73, 74,000 people. And that's the low point so far. Yeah, you could have six commercial breaks. You had one learning tree. That's what it'll do it. The next quarter, Jim, quarter seven, 945. No 930 to 945. You are correct, sir.
Starting point is 03:47:14 Hangman Page versus Jeff Jarrett. 680,000 viewers. Well, at least they got some back, and there was some legitimate interest in that until they killed that off too for Cowboy Page. But there's still, that's the second lowest quarter of the seven they've done so far.
Starting point is 03:47:38 And finally, quarter eight, I remind you there's an overrun. 9.45 to 10 p.m. The Adam Page Youngbuck's backstage confrontation, and the start of Will Osprey versus Daniel Garcia, 655,000 viewers. Ouch. Two commercial breaks in the match two, 16-minute overrun, MJF, beat down on Garcia, 647,000 viewers. And remember we said on the drive-through
Starting point is 03:48:14 when we didn't have these numbers that it would depend on whether people stuck around to see what MJF was going to do because who gives a shit about Daniel Garcia and Will Ostrich after two hours of this program. And it was a great deal, but it was the lowest viewership almost, except for Seg 6 of the whole
Starting point is 03:48:40 no it was equal to Seg 6 it was the lowest viewership by the time they got to it I think for the sake of the biggest audience seeing it they should have done it in the first 30 or 45 minutes instead of you know
Starting point is 03:48:57 because let's face it MJF is not Merlin a magician he can't make people sit through all this dreck for you know to see what he's going to do in somebody else's match.
Starting point is 03:49:12 But go ahead. Well, the other thing, too, and I agree with you 100% obviously, and you're the expert. But look at WC... And don't you forget it. But look at WCW. You know, if you had stayed there in 1990, no matter what you guys would have done, there was only so far you guys could recover because of all the damage that had been done. Right.
Starting point is 03:49:31 And I think with AEW, it's a similar situation. They may not recognize it. But the booking, the storylines, the lack of stars, whatever. combination of everything. It's been going on for so long that it's like WCW back then. There's only so much that could be done and not really too much can be done right now to fix all the years of problems.
Starting point is 03:49:51 You can't just fix them like that. And I think, you know, with this and again, you know, they said, well, the previous week and there's been the playoffs and this was a holiday or the day before holiday, Juneteenth was a holiday. but they're consistently starting with a couple of hundred thousand people less than what they started with not that long ago last year, a year before last, and they're not losing as much of the audience because there's not as much of the audience to lose. They're not losing as big a percentage, but still they can't get their own audience to stick with this all the way through just two hours, not even three. So, and you always know when, you know, the drop is coming when it gets to be the real amateur hour type of bullshit around about Seg 6 where they try to stick that in and think nobody will notice. But, you know, again, from regulation start to regulation finish, they only lost 78,000 people, which was only probably about, okay, do the math, not at 12 or 13.
Starting point is 03:51:02 13% of the audience they started with. Some weeks, it used to be 30%, but that's when they started with a lot more people. Well, unlike Dynamite, we usually have a lot of people here at the end of the show that started with the show, and I think we are, I hope we are here at the end of the show for this show. Well, we've overstayed our welcome, folks. Until the next time we do this again on the drive-through and again on the experience for Brian, I'm Jim. Thank you. Fuck you. Bye-bye, everybody. Everybody!
Starting point is 03:51:33 Xperial! Period!

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