Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru - Episode 424

Episode Date: December 27, 2025

This week on the Drive Thru, Jim answers YOUR questions about SI's 2025 wrestling awards, PWI's Tag Team 100, The Road Warriors or The Dudley Boyz, Jimmy Snuka, Tony Khan in the territory days, Ric Flair & Mike Tyson's lawsuit, and much more! Plus Jim reviews Austin Theory's return match on Raw, and discusses Austin Theory or Kyle Fletcher: who has the brighter future? Thanks to our episode sponsors: SHOPIFY:  Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/cornette. RAYCON:  Raycon audio products are up to 20% off this holiday season. Go to buyraycon.com/JCEOPEN to save on Raycon audio products sitewide. PRIZEPICKS: Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/JCE and use code JCE to get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Send in your question for the Drive-Thru to: [e-mail]  Follow Jim and Brian on Twitter: @TheJimCornette @GreatBrianLast Merch! https://arcadianvanguard.com/ 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.

Hello again, friends. And Merry Christmas, happy New Year. It's the time of season, good music like we just heard, and good times and good wrestling talk. Welcome back to another edition of Jim Cornett's Drive-Thru. The Mail is in, and we are here, lots of your questions, big topics, and so much more. I'm yelling again. Hello, Brian! I'm your host, the great Brian last.

Hello, Jim! And here he is, the leader of the cult of Cornette, the kids. King of Louisville, Kentucky, Mr. Jim Cornett. Is there a volume gimmick here I can grab suddenly? I don't, maybe I'm just dizzy from that. After that Faye Ray scream effect that you hit there, what? Then suddenly it got frantic like some kind of Bernard Herman knockoff score of the

psycho shower scene where you're going to be bam bam, and then, and then it insulted me again on the way out. I was dizzy. head is ringing. That's kind of my sound. That's the scene I'm trying to build around the sound. Well, that's a, that's a scene you're trying to, and scene. You know, we've been getting a lot of feedback, and I mean that literally, as well as figuratively, about your, about the manner in which you play with your organ, Brian. And they, the cult of Cordette has had some suggestions, you know, on how to improve. They, they think that, you. They think that, you.

you should play something that I can sing along with so that that way that you're, you can be, you can follow my musical talent and kind of learn from me and be drawn into my orbit. You're like, and the other day I said some deep purple stuff. Give me the,

dun, dun, dan, dan, dan, and then we all came out to my troll on the leg Geneva shoreline. my God, it's worse. The records with a mobile. We didn't have much time. See, and then you could be in the background. Oh, yeah. Maybe instead of the keyboard, I can get my electric bass

and just bash myself over the head with it while you do that. Well, you really, you can't do that. It's hard to do because when you think about it, when you grab the neck of the guitar and you try to hit your own self over the, you're not getting enough centrifugal force because you can't get that wide swing. You can't hit yourself over the head with a guitar, hard enough to hurt yourself. Now you

could run your head into the guitar. You could throw it up in the air. I saw that happen to Chris Novicellick from Nirvana at the MTV Music Awards. He throws his bass guitar in the air and hit himself in the head and knock himself cold. You know, they said just last month, somewhere in Los Angeles,

Prince's guitar from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony fucking finally came down, hit a guy in a hit. man that is one of the most impressive things ever just him showing up on stage for the George Harrison tribute I believe it was playing the greatest guitar soul you've ever seen and they're just leaving and then just and and and Swami again is applauding even to this day it made such an impression the fucking FedEx guy sometimes just park in front of the the fucking do fucking FedEx guy you sound like you're about to extort him for some kind of protection I just wanted to leave just leave me

alone. Leave Swami alone. Perhaps the express that he's federallying is important to you and or your or our business enterprise. Don't dismiss him so suddenly. My father never called it FedEx, because he was used to being

Federal Express, so he always called it Federal. Ship it Federal, and then they shortened the company named the FedEx. I used to go out actually with a girl. They called her FedEx, because when she went out on a date, she absolutely positively had to be there overnight.

All right. It's one of those shows, ladies and gentlemen. We're making jokes. You know, it's the holiday time. And I'm reminded of holidays of years past. And as I was waiting on you earlier here, something just popped up. And Tony Richards from out and he's the Duke of Paduca, who's been doing a bunch of history stuff on the Twitter machine.

and elsewhere lately, tweeted out an old Louisville clip from Christmas week of 1975, 50 years ago. Well, it was December 21st, so 50 years ago today, and this was 12 hours ago, whatever the fuck. But in that particular instance, because it was

Christmas time and the schedules for some of the arenas were all catty-womper's, as Aunt Lola would say, they were running Memphis and Louisville on the same night. And again, this was before Jarrett split off from Nick Goulis, when the Goulis Welch territory in effect had two different ends to it. The Birmingham end, which was Chattanooga, Nashville, Birmingham,

and the Memphis end, which was Memphis, Louisville, Evansville, and spot shows. But the talent bounced back and forth more freely, and I've mentioned it, Brian, at this particular point in time, Louisville had two TVs that we got every week. One was the Memphis TV, and another one was a rotating one of Nix tapes from Chattanooga or Birmingham, because that had that ends talent if they were going to be featured in Louisville, 1975, was kind of a mash up, as the kids say, in Louisville, of the two separate, its talent and Jerry Jerich was here a lot of the year

but a lot of the year I thought that's when he was also I'm pretty sure working for Barnett so he was back and forth and so they were changing talent around right have I put you to sleep already? No, not at all. Oh, okay. It sounded like I heard a faint snore but anyway would you like to hear what the cards were for these particular nights to memphis and louisville two of the biggest towns in the territory on the same night can't duplicate talent and then a humorous nostalgic holiday story about the louisville show yeah i'd love to hear what are the dates again december 21st 1975 it was a sunday night and both louisville and memphis had to run off night because of whatever the first

fuck's going on with the arena schedules. So in Memphis, then Buddy Wayne, the Memphis Buddy Wayne against Jerry Bryant in the opening match, and then Don and Al Green, the Green brothers against Robert

Fuller and Eddie Marlin. And then Gentleman Ben, the seven foot, 700-pound wrestling bear, took on Jerry Lawler's manager, Sam Bass, and of course, gentleman Ben was accompanied by Nick Adams, the Southern tag team title, the interns with Ken Ramey, they were the champions against Bearcat Brown and Tommy Gilbert.

And that was an ongoing angle. And then the main event for the Southern heavyweight title, Jerry Lawler, who had just come back from Georgia in the fall and it won the title again with Sam Bass if he wasn't eaten by the bear against Ron Fuller with Robert Fuller in his corner who was the previous had been the previous champion and would attempt to become champion again is what I'm trying to say so that's not a bad card right not at all and I actually don't even have one of Mark James's books here right in front of me to tell me what the crowd was if it was reported in the paper. But I'm assuming because Memphis was doing well at the time, they probably did pretty well unless there was some type of weather issue.

But up in Louisville at the gardens on a Sunday night, listen to this card we got. The opening match, Joey Rossi, the son of Lynn Rossi. and bless his little heart, as they say. But boy, that was another one of those second generation efforts that didn't work out. Poor Joey Rossi was, he was so bad that this is before I was smart. I was before I was a photographer, I was just still sitting in the front row at this point. But everybody knew Joey Rossi was the shits, right? He's a nice kid, but he was always the shits.

and he got by on because Lynn Rossi had been such a superstar for 15 years. Anyway, Joey Rossi versus Mitsu Erikawa, who was on loan at that point in time from Indianapolis working for Bruiser, he made a number of shots for that two or three months period. then the all-star baby-face showdown of bless both of them again Don Anderson who was just kind of a middle card baby face of the 70s when he was in the Tennessee territory against and Brian you've heard this name many times cowboy Bob Kelly Wow.

The all-time baby-faced superstar of the Gulf Coast Territory, Mobile, Alabama and et cetera, before it became southeastern wrestling, et cetera, with Fullers, that 60s and early 70s. But he was from Louisville. And he came up to visit family and got booked to, you know, pay for his fucking gas, right? but it's the only time

that Bob Kelly ever, but they needed somebody. Boom, hey, there you go. Anyway, then on this All-Star card, Tommy Rich, no wildfire. Wow, 75, yeah, wow. He had not combusted fully yet. He had been a team with Tojo, and they had worked with the bounty hunters,

and I think he'd already held maybe the Mid-America tag title and Nick's end of the territory, but his first, his first pro match was in January, this is December. And he's taking on before he became a doctor, David Schultz.

This again, David Schultz was, I'm going to say, was it, well, maybe a year, maybe a year from having been stretched on Herb Welch's fucking farm, right? And to be trained. And while both of them

would go on to great fame and glory, having been there, let me tell you that while you could see flashes of brilliance, this was an awkward fucking match. And Tommy could sell, which was good because Schultz was better on offense than anything else at that point.

But they would blossom again, but later, again, literally rookies. When you think about it, the biggest names probably that are going to be on this fucking card, but this was a preliminary. So anyway, have you got to where they drew any money yet? Not yet. What was Schultz's hair like in 75?

It looked like he wasn't red-haired. He had brown hair. But again, I go back to the fucking guy in the 70s TV. shows that had the big red afro. It looked like that. It was, it was not long and stringy. He hadn't figured out to wet it yet or whatever.

It was a goddamn big giant, just bush of head of hair on his head. Well, that's why I asked, what kind of reaction did I? It looked like a chia pet. What kind of reaction did that get from the fans? Well, there was, I mean, at this point, Schultz was getting a reaction because he was just a big, gangly surly fuck. So it wasn't necessarily

they'd hoot anybody's hair. Again, he hadn't started working out in a gym. So he was 6 foot 4 or whatever and easily 240 or 50 pounds legitimately at that point, but had no physical definition.

He could always, because he was so tall and lanky, he could always drop that big elbow. But he had the, you know, little small beard and whatever the fuck to make himself look older because what was he 23, four, whatever the fuck it was. But nothing stood out except just his, he always had some kind of heel demeanor to him when he would come out.

You would never, he never was, to my knowledge of baby face ever in the, they may have fought other heels, but I don't think he was ever used as a baby face in Tennessee. And he would be there on and off for most of the next, what, five, six years. But he

just always had that demeanor and he was a big fucker and you could tell that he would knock the fuck out of you. But he just had no lee where it wore a singlet with one shoulder strap and

maybe it was black and maybe it was brown. And then over the next couple years when he started getting some more experience and then remember he and Dennis Condry were a great fucking team by what, 78 and worked the Memphis end and the Knoxville end and I think went to Georgia for a while. And he started getting his shit together

and started working out and getting and bigger, probably on some of the Hogan type of vitamins that I'm sure did wonders for his already calm demeanor, but he was just a big country boy at this point. Am I remembering right? On one of the video compilations you did way back in the day to show the history of the Midnight Express, on Memphis TV, did they do a music video at a good times?

Yes, but they showed it on Memphis TV, but it was from Knoxville, it was from South, Eastern Wrestling. Oh, okay. I didn't realize that. Okay. And it was an instrumental of that and a mashup, again, as the kids say, of that and something else. But we're just a lot of highlights of Schultz and Condry doing this tag team, these different tag team maneuvers and Dennis doing his big power slam and the big suplex he did and the goddamn facebuster and Schultz doing his big leg lariat. And it looked impressive as head. And then Dennis was bodybuilding a little bit, let's say, at the time. And he got up to about 240. And between the two of them, that's where they didn't ride in the car together on a regular basis. But I would imagine if anybody ever tried to fuck with them, that period of time right there in their lives would have been the worst possible time to pick. All right.

Well, that's the preliminary matches. We're still in the preliminaries. Anyway, those are the three preliminaries. Then Dennis Condry and Phil Hickerson at this point, this was the end of their first six months as a team. And not only did Jared Jarrett like him as a team so well, but Nick was using them. And I think his Booker at that point may still have been Len Rossi.

I don't know, but he was using them as a top heel team and his end of the territory also. they had worked with Tommy Rich and Tojo. They'd worked with in the previous months or previous few weeks in Louisville, Condrey and Hickerson had been working with Jackie and Ruff House Fargo. Remember we talked a few weeks ago about the time Fargo had Higgerson Hardway on a TV and then fucking ran out on another TV having been run off the road by the bounty hunters. This was all happening at the same amount of time here.

into Christmas of 75. You know, Scott Teal told me years ago that that was the hottest program he remembered from all of his years covering, you know, the territory as he did the programs and stuff, was Hickerson and Condry versus Jackie Fargo.

Yes, and that was almost all on the Nashville, Chattanooga Birmingham Inn. They didn't do it. It may have shown and they may have had a match or two. And Louisville, as I said, was kind of a crossover town here.

but they didn't do it in full on the Memphis Inn because they had other hot. This was when Lawler had just come back and was getting hot with the Southern title and they were about to do a whole goddamn completely different run that Fargo would figure into, but not in all those combinations. But nevertheless, so Condry and Higgerson have been working with the Fargoes. Well, they're in the semi-final match,

against Pistol Pez-Watley and George Goulis. And Pez-Watley... That's early in Pez's career. He had, I'm going to say, he had been working maybe a year or a little more at that point, but he was a standout wrestler at UT Chattanooga, University of Tennessee. and he had the incredible drop kick, and at that time he was just so athletic, but he already had the personality.

He could talk in a pleasing baby face, excited way, big smile, you know, he was a great young baby face, right? And everybody knows about George. And Condry and Hickerson in this, because they were going to, I mentioned the previous, couple of weeks they'd worked with the Fargoes in Louisville and they had beat the Fargo's the first week and then come back and you know obviously put Fargoes over in the rematch and by the way the previous week that's when we got the bear and I was going to tell you

ain't Lola's in Louisville and decides well because the lady that sat next to us we already knew her nephew or whoever came with her was going to be out of town she's got an extra ticket. So ain't Lola coming to the wrestling matches. with us, right? And she sits there and she watches the first couple matches and she's having just a fine old time sitting there watching everything.

And we didn't really tell her and she didn't think to ask that the next fucking match was going to be gentleman Ben the bear, right, against Jimmy Kent, the manager. So she's talking to the lady next to her, look at a way

down the baby face aisle comes the bear. She hears the people, kind of rumble like ooh and she turns around and there's within 10 feet from her and remember there was a clothes line a clothes line attached to a pole like you would find at a graduation or something

around the fucking ring that was the security barrier here comes the fucking bear she turns around and she's 10 feet from gentleman bin and she's from my mom she jumped up we grabbed her hand and pulled her down and said no no no it's okay, they do this all the time.

The bear gets in the rig, and that's when the thing you had to do, and again, the bear has just walked through the goddamn arena. I don't mean to get off track here, but the bear's just walked from the locker room through the entire ringside section to get to ringside. But because of the athletic commission, when the bear got in the ring, they had to put the chicken wire around the poles

so that the bear was behind some type of cane. right they had chicken wire nailed a tube of fours that they just unrolled around the ring post right so you can see that's a formidable barrier for that 600 pound bear to have to overcome right so at one point a low was sitting there and they jimmy kids doing the bear shit with the bear and then suddenly as they had locked up the bear was up on its hind legs and i think he pushed Kent down or whatever, but he reared over and the bear leaned with his front legs on the top rope and it bowed the chicken wire all the way out.

It looked like the bear was coming over the fucking fence. And we turned to the right and Aunt Lola was all the way down the end of the ringside aisle. She was headed toward the gimmick table. She thought the bear was going to fucking leap out. But anyway, so we had had the bear the previous week. So the point I'm making to you is that I'm taking this time, to consult my book for the results of this match because basically they were going to come back

the next week in a return match. Condry and Higgerson against Pez-Watley and George Goulis in a coal miners' glove match. So I forget which one. Condry or Hickerson got caught using a chain wrapped around their fist to fucking knock out one of the baby faces and got disqualified.

So it's that way they'd cut to pro. most next week it was going to be the coal miners match which by the way here's a trivia question for you what was george goulis's greatest ever match as a professional wrestler his battle with flatulence no he didn't win that one it was the coal miners glove match on december 28 1975 at the louisville gardens i saw it and they went 38 fucking minutes right it was goddamn insane but hickerson and conry they concentrated on doing shit with pez wotley

whether it was to make him look like Superman or to fucking get heat on him and kick the shit out of him and let him sell and they kept working trying to climb the pole and get the glove and they would use george in spots where that he just had because he was six feet six or whatever he would be trying to go for the glove and the other motherfuggers,

whether it be them or his partner, would just climb over the top of him and get like an extra boost from being on top of the tall guy. It was, it was an exciting fucking match. He played almost no part in it. I think Dennis and Phil had to be doing that on purpose.

How do you compare George Goulders to Joey Rossi? Joey Rossi was probably a better rest, He was definitely, I would think, a better amateur wrestler, but he was a better professional wrestler because you'd almost have to be, but not by much, but he was not nearly as offensive because, at least in this end of the territory, and even in Nashville to some extent,

they used him in the preliminary matches. And after the initial, oh, we've got to try, he's going to be great. then when they saw, then it was, okay, we'll put him on the card. It wasn't just down your throat with every major legend in the territory by his side, like George. He was better, but he'd almost have to be, but he wasn't as offensive. So which town do you think had the better show that night?

Well, no, no, we're not there yet. We've got to get to the main event. Because that's the thing. I mean, I didn't even record the crowd in my notes. I can't remember it probably on an off night and Christmas week, probably only a couple thousand people in Louisville. So Memphis definitely out drew the thing. But here's the thing.

They've seen Joey Rossi and Mitsu and Kelly and Anderson, Rich and Chills, Conrad Eggers, and blah, blah, blah. The main event, that's the angle. That's what everybody's been waiting to see. The bounty hunters, Jerry and David, Novak. I managed Jerry Novak at the summer of 83. He always felt safe when he was around.

And Jimmy Kent, who was managing, we've talked about Jimmy Kent, who not only took insane bumps and also just got immense amounts of heat, I mean, to the point where it almost wear you out with interfering and shit at ringside. Against Jackie Fargo and Tojo Yamamoto, they have aired the ghouless tape that they shot in November where Fargo came burst into the studio when the bounty hunters were wrestling and broke a board over one of their heads and his clothes were ripped off and his face is bleeding and beat up and he had said that they had run him off the road on the way to TV

and if it wasn't for a passing good Samaritan picking him up he may be dead they left him on the side of the road and by God I'm going to kill the bounty hunters in Jimmy Kent. And then he actually in the studio walked out into the audience and the fans patting him on the back so they could see his face was really fucked up. And then they saved it and they played it in Louisville the day before this fucking match, right?

And Fargo's got his longtime tag team partner and friend Tojo. to help him out in this. So the people have set there all night and they've got to set through this other shit and then this match start, it's two out of three falls and it's fucking wild because it's Fargo,

so it's got to be wild, right? Well, then the first fall, Tojo beat one of the bounty hunters. And then in the second fall, Jimmy Kent's doing his thing, he's got Jackie tied up in the ring ropes behind the referee's back and I've got a picture of this

on the cover of my Tuesday night at the gardens book. Some middle-aged woman just grabbed him from behind and started slapping him and tried to get him off of Fargo and Thomas Marlin turns around and is like, hey, hey, get back, you can't.

And this woman's husband is trying to pull this woman off of fucking Jimmy Kent, here come the cops, right? And so the police are pulling her back and one of the bounty hunters evens it up. and fall pins Tojo. Well, yeah, because of that, they fucked him some kind of way. So the third fall

just breaks into a five-way. Tojo's got his wooden shoes. Kent took his cowboy boot off. Fargo ends up getting a hold of Jimmy Kent and ripping his clothes almost off. And when Jimmy Kent went out on a floor to get away from Fargo before he stripped him naked, another guy out of the fucking audience

jumped on Jimmy Kent. Kent started wailing on him. And here came some other people. That's when I've told this story before. The same thing with the Schultz with the big Afro. It was one of those guys in the 70s. He was a white guy, but he had a big fucking afro. The Novak boys jumped down there and start kicking a shit out of these guys.

And one of them ended up bleeding and the cops are dragging him off. And it was Jerry Novak got back in the ring with a handful of, of hair that looked like a wig itself off that guy with the fucking afro. And so then at that point, here came Schultz and Condry, because that's what the heels did back then. When shit like that was going on, we had guys help us at Louisiana. They come running out to see, in case of a riot,

or the boy's going to need some help. and the police settled everybody down at that point. So the heels just kind of jumped in with it and everybody fought their way back to the fucking locker room. And they never really gave a decision in the fucking match. And nobody noticed. So then the next week, they came back with a return grudge match, no time limit, no disqualification with the tag team match.

And after that, immediately, they'd have a lumberjack match with Jackie Fargo against Jimmy Kent for three minutes with no referee where nobody could leave the ring and run away without getting thrown back in. And it fucking worked. So anyway. So which card was better? Well, the Memphis card was better, but I bet you the Louisville card was more fun. All right. This has been Memphis, December 75 wrestling history and Louisville. We can't leave that out.

Memphis, and Laida, both ends, both ends of the spectrum. You know, Jim, both of those towns and so many other towns had people that were either your heroes or your friends. And of course, on that topic, why don't we talk about Cornets collectibles at Jim Cornett.com? Well, it's closed for the holiday break. You can buy the things, ladies and gentlemen. But until, whenever this is coming out, I'm so confused, it's either Christmas, or right past Christmas until the first week of January, there will be no mailings because we love you all,

but we're very tired. But go to Jim Cornett.com right now and plan your New Year's purchases or make them and we'll hold on to them for a week or so. Jimcornad.com. That's right. Jimcornet.com. Jim, as we get going with this, right through, we have here

Sports Illustrated or at least the takedown on SI there are 2025 Pro Wrestling Awards it's that time of year okay well

Sports Illustrated we've established the old gray mayor ain't what she used to be or at least this website offshoot of the once

revered magazine publication. But at the same point, it's not like it's pro wrestling illustrated where they're trying to just sell magazines so they have to split it up. Well, I guess they still got to stay in favor with the promotions or they won't talk to them and let them have pictures anymore. I was going to say maybe they'd play it straight.

Well, Jim, one of the good things about this Sports Illustrated or SI article is it has the names of all the contributors, so we know who to blame. It's Rick Uchino, Blake Lavelle, Ethan Schlaebao, John Alba, Lyric Swinton,

Sid Poular the 3rd, and Zach Haydorn. There's been two more? There's been two more, and then who was the last guy? And the last guy was Zach Haydorn. Was that, what a, we play an NXT name or

porn star with that list of, does anybody just have a goddamn just regular name, I guess, for lack of a better term anymore, that, they're just making them up from scratch. All right, go ahead.

The Take Down on SI had 14 categories up for debate this year with new categories from last year. The panel of nine writers carefully considered all the best matches, stories, promos, and performances from December 16th, 2024 to December 13th,

2025. It's just specifically within that time frame. The winners were determined by the total number of points with a maximum of 45 points available. Jim, the storyline of the year. The storyline of the year, the winner, Hangman Adam Page's redemption arc. What the...

I, what was Hangman Adam Page's redemption arc? Did we ever see him go to AA for that drinking problem he had? Or was he ever incarcerated with an ankle bracelet for burning the house down or potentially even driving the lawnmower on public streets while under the influence? What the... Heading into 2025, Hangman Adam Page found himself still in the midst of his own. madness created by his obsession for vengeance on Swerve Strickland. This led to a rivalry with his former mentor Christopher Daniels

and saw Paige end his friend's career in a Texas death match. I forgot about that. Entering a rivalry with MJF, Hangman was able to find a desire to be the best again, not only to prove himself to be better than his rival, but also to redeem himself to the fans. He entered the Owen Hart Foundation tournament looking to regain the AEW World Title

that had been held hostage by John Moxley and the Death Riders since Wessel Dream last year. After an instant classic with Will Osprey at Double or Nothing, the stage was set for all-in Texas 2025 where Page Challenge Moxley in a Texas death match for the AEW World title.

In one of the more emotional gripping battles in company history. Page defeated the leader of the death riders and gave fans one of the more satisfying payoffs of the year when he released the physical belt from its imprisonment inside of Moxley's briefcase. These guys want to write, and this is what they're writing about. I was, well, but no, actually,

I was going to say maybe I'd get one of these guys to write this shit, because at least they make this tripe sound kind of halfway fucking gripping. Through this one win, Hangman redeemed himself from the evil deaths he went to in his rivalry with swerve Strickland. Strickland got

his own redemption by helping his rival in the closing moments and AEW was rescued from Moxley's reign of terror. But not Tony's. It was a masterful stroke of storytelling that won over the controversial

booking. A masterful stroke. It won out over the controversial booking of John Cena's retirement tour. That was the runner-up, and last year's winner... And the runner-up just grossed however many tens of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the other one was over there. The runners-up were John Cena's retirement, and the downfall of the death riders, and the 2024 winner was the Bloodline Saga.

The rivalry of the year, Jim. They went for the Bloodline Saga to Hangman Page. Okay. Rivalry of the year. Any thoughts? Any predictions? Uh, C.M. Punk and Drew McIntyre.

I think that would have been last year's, but... Oh. Well, I can't keep track. Rivalry of the year, Hangman at a page. Has it been that long? How time flies. Hangman. Adam Page and John Moxley.

Oh, Christ on a cracker. So we just heard a lot about that in the previous description. We won't go to this very wordy one here. Did Tony or Shad one of the other by Sports Illustrated? The runners-up were Tony Storm and Mariah May and C.M. Punk and Seth Rollins. Those are the other rivalries of the year. The 2024 winner, CM Punk and Drew McIntyre. Okay.

He'll turn of the year. the winner Naomi well you know you laugh but when you think about she was good in the role she did good there was quick because she got pregnant but who else has had a good heel turn well that's why I was laughing

and it started to say well there may be something to it because it made her fun to watch for that brief moment before she was inseminated and I mean, does anybody, does anybody ever now turn heel anymore? Can we put that to some Chicago music?

Some Chicago. Some like Eddie Foy now in some Chicago. The runners-up, Jim, John Sina for a heel turn of the year, and Becky Lynch, the two runners-up. Last year's winner. Oh, boy, that runner-up heel turn of the year. certainly killed him at a box office. Well, it still did.

It just, it was a... But it's interesting, though, I mean... ...procifully. Box office aside, the actual heel turn with the rock and... Forget about even Travis Scott, just the rock, Sina, Cody,

the turn itself was a... was the biggest turn. I mean, the moment was massive. But the follow-up left a lot to be desired, I guess. Yes. Yes. Best on the mic, Jim. Any thoughts on who would be best on the mic?

CM Punk would come to mind. Becky Lynch would come to mind on some of her tirades. Well, I could go on like this all day, but I'm sure Sports Illustrated is going to tell us. Best on the mic for 2025? Timeless Tony Storm. Oh, God, damn. With the runners up being Hangman Adam Page and Becky.

Oh, what? Okay. I'm sorry, Tony at least has a controlling interest. He may not have bought the whole thing, but he bought like 52%. Come on. Tony Storm was, no, at one point, Tony Storm, as we've mentioned, was interesting before it just went way, way too far, and everybody started playing along in the whole nine yards.

and but you still can't make the case that again I've just mentioned Drew Macon, Drew McIntyre and he's had something to work with. Drew McIntyre has been tremendous promo. Heyman, are we opening this up? Again, you know, is the best promo? Is it just wrestlers? So are we saying here that Tony Storm and Adam Page are better promos than see him punk, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes,

if you like that for that kind of thing, Paul Heyman, et cetera, I don't understand. Jim, best in the ring for 2025. You have any thoughts? Off the top of my head, encompassing the entire world of wrestling. Oh, my God,

that's enough to make you want to have your brain removed. Best all around. For me, it's Gunther. Best all around in the ring. Bronn Breaker has explosive speed and all the potential. You know, Austin Theory has amazing body language and kind of ring timing on his shit. From what I remember.

Yeah, but he didn't do anything in 2025. Again, we're looking at this. No, no, no, I know, but I'm just saying for me, who would be, but there's so many people that have, and then the experienced pros out there that may not be as feisty as they once were, but they got better psychology. And so, but Gunther is my best in the ring right now, but that's because I'm an artist and I like fellow artistes.

Well, the takedown at SI or on SI have picked Best in the Ring for 2025, Will Osprey. Oh, okay. This writes itself, best in the ring in 2025, Will Osprey, best in the Hospital in 2006, Will Osprey. Listen to this. How impressive was Osprey's

2025? He wrestled 26 matches, yet hasn't performed since August due to a major neck injury. 26 matches. In eight months. Jesus Christ.

Runners up, E.O. Sky. And Konozkechita. Of course. are. And this is a new award for 2025. It did not exist last year. Jim, the breakout wrestler of the year. What wrestler do you think would have won the breakout wrestler of 2025? Well, again, I can't remember when he's, I'm old, every day seems to be just passing by at a whirlwind. I can't keep track, but is Bronbreaker not the breakout guy? The breakout wrestler of the year for 2025, according to S.I.

Kyle Fletcher. Oh, Christ. All right. The Runner's Upper Dominic Mysterio. Are you denying? Are you denying now that the Con family has bought some type of interest in this enterprise that we are reading from here?

I don't think they bought an interest. I think the team that they have compiling this show what they prefer with these picks. The Runner's Upper Dominic Mysterio and Javon Evans. the 2024 winner Jacob Fawzoo. Javan didn't, well, and by the way, I wish he'd come back.

Jacob Fatsu? Jesus Christ, yes, is he having werewolf fangs implanted? What the fuck? But nevertheless, Javon Evans just broke out. Somebody's going to make a racial comment out of that. I don't mean jail. He just broke out on TV?

What? Last month. They've just started using him on the main shows. Did he just make the deadline? Well, again, he was in NXT all year, so I guess that would count towards these awards. Well, I guess that's something you'd need to break out of. Jim, the comeback performer. Fontanamo Bay for wrestlers down there.

The comeback performer of the year, any thoughts? A comeback. Who made a big comeback? How can we miss you? Nobody ever goes away. Actually, everybody goes away and at one point or another these days because they're all being hospitalized and worked on orthopedically. Who made an alleged big comeback in,

MJF's comeback wouldn't, didn't make the deadline. He didn't make the deadline, no. Okay, well, that's fresh on everybody's mind. So now, see, now by next year, everybody will have forgotten about MJF's comeback. He'll have gone away again and come back again. Uh, I don't know, you tell me.

One of your favorites. One of your favorites. Ilya Dragonov. Okay, okay. 13 months. He was out for 13 months. Wow, with a torn ACL. I still think that they're,

remember when a dramatic comeback was like one of the big business movers in a territory when a big star came back after being gone for a while or hurt for a while or a big heel came back to challenge our hero or whatever and now. everybody just kind of meanders around comes and goes. Punk was a huge comeback. We ain't going to get any more of those. The runners-up were Becky Lynch and Bandito. Did he make a comeback from his comeback?

I didn't he run in the ring? Yes. He's the guy that made a comeback from his comeback because on his comeback he was hurt and went back out. He came back and then left again. he did the drop kick off the top rope and landed on his head and then it was out for another however long it was that's right this is a new award for 2025 tag team of the year jim who do you think that's a new award no no they've got these other awards the previous one was a new award tag team of the year is a standard i would say well i was going to say wait with these people you never know tag team of the year boy that's a wretched lot I really would like to see Jay White and Judas Robinson again, but I know it ain't them.

Bronbreaker and Bronson Reed. They're the only tag team that's actually been featured in a main event position and gained by their presentation. Everybody else is just fiddle fucking around in every company. According to SI, tag team of the year, FTR. with the runners-up being the young bucks and Brodito.

God damn it. So a clean sweep over there in Conland. Last year, this award went to Fraxium. Of course it did. Fraxium still sounds to me like a synonym or some type of new age language for a giant mistake. Either that or some type of spreading pandemic. Fraxium.

Well, Jim, match of the year, you have any thoughts of what you thought the best match this year was? Did they have one? Did anybody have one, Brian? You know, we enjoyed, and I don't know how many people saw it, but we enjoyed MJF versus Mystico from Arena, Mexico, because even beyond the wrestlers, the energy there was like another thing. Yeah, yeah.

But the winner here, from WrestleMania 41, Eoskeye versus Ria Ripley versus Bianca Bel Air. That was a good match. I remember that. Well, maybe it's just come to this then, that everything else stinks so bad that that was the best match of the entire year of everybody. The runners-up were Hangman Adam Page versus John Moxley at all in Texas. they've lost their credibility with me. And Hangman Out of Page versus Will Osprey at double or nothing. Is Page's cousin

on this fucking board here? Or did they waterboard the judges to get them to pages in everything? The 2024 winner was Brian Danielson versus Will Osprey at Dynasty

show of the year. I'll just end your suspense. Show of the year, AEW double or nothing. Which one of those was those? This was, let's see if they list any of the matches. The conclusion of the annual Owen Hart Foundation tournaments. Mercedes Monet versus Jamie Hater.

Adam Page and Will Osprey's match. And there was Anarchy in the arena. Sware Strickland, Kenny Omega, Willow Nightingale, and the ops, overcoming the Death Riders, the Young Bucks, and that's it, Death Riders and Young Bucks, in an insane spectacle. Also, there was Rickshay versus Mark Briscoe

in a stretcher match, and Okada versus speedball Mike Bailey. The runner-up was... You know, I think they ought to show that in some of these prisons and detention camps when they're interviewing and cross-examining the terrorists to get them to spill their guts, just play it over and over.

until they talk. The runners-up were WWE Evolution, and AEW all in Texas, and last year was won by WrestleMania 40. The female wrestler of the year, Jim, any thoughts? I don't know. Is it Mercedes-Mone? Congratulations, you got it. Mercedes-Money, wrestler of the year,

female wrestler of the year. Runners-up being timeless Tony Storm and EOSCI, another big award, another big accolade for Mercedes Monet. Do you know how I got that one right, Brian? Because I figured, okay, what is the exact opposite answer that I could possibly give that I really feel and that it was perfect? Well, Jim, a few more awards here.

Who do you think won male wrestler of the year? I don't know who's the guy that's most experienced at wrestling males. Well, the winner, I'll give you the winner, the winner, Hangman Adam Page. Oh, Jesus, gross. The runners-up were John Sina and John Moxley. Last year's winner was Cody Rhodes,

but Hangman Adam Page, the male wrestler of the year. Oh, my God, I don't care if they did blotch up Sena's retirement tour. I don't care if Sina had fucking projectile vomiting and blood from his anus on every appearance. There's no way he was a runner up to Adam Page. Jim, promotion of the year. Any thoughts on who S.I. would pick as a promotion of the year? Well, I'm going to this completely blind. I have no idea which way they're leaning here,

but I'm going to go out on a wild limb and say AEW. Promotion of the year, all elite wrestling. Bottom line, all elite wrestling produced some of the best pro wrestling programming of the entire year. It's funny they would use the phrase bottom line to and then go on to do whatever they're doing and praising this inanity, but they don't think about the bottom line.

The runners-up were CMLL and WWE, last year's winner was WWE, Tony Kahn rebuilt a strong foundation for all elite wrestling in 2025, and the sky is the limit for what he'll be able to accomplish in 2026 if he stays on this current trajectory. Wow. Fuck. He can't get talent.

He's shut out of talent. The 2025 Legacy Award goes to John Cena. I don't know if that's one you would pick. And that's it. Those are the awards for 2025. I'm just thinking about Tony's trajectory as he's shot in. into the sky. Eventually, those rockets, you know, they'll, they'll enter orbit and they'll kind of circle for a while in the same motion over and over, but eventually, don't they fall back

to Earth and burn up on reentry? When you hear something like this, does this make you, I didn't know if reconsider is the right word, think about any credibility that SI would have in 2025 for anything else they cover? Do you hear my leaf blowers, by the way? They're right on the other side of the wall. Yes, it's Christmas week, and the weather of the snow is finally melted, where that my fucking yard maintenance personnel

could come and do my last leave. So I apologize in advance for any noises you might hear. You always say this about your gardeners. No one hears anything. No one ever hears it. Well, no, you're always the one saying, I'm actually, I'm sitting right on top of the, goddamn high-powered jetpack leaf blower out the other side of the wall right here.

But nevertheless, what was the question that you were asking me? What was it? The credibility of Sports Illustrated in 2025. I don't know anything about football or baseball or basketball. I assume maybe they have more, they, whoever the overlords, the corporate overlords are of this enterprise, Sports Illustrated, probably puts more stock in and has, one would think, more qualified people reporting on that,

I can't shoot them down about anything related to shit I don't know. But this is just, they've hired a bunch of fucking internet marks to write about their wrestling, apparently. And I mean, not even because objectively Adam Page and John Moxley stink for different reasons. And some of them have due with their hygiene issues, but it's not even personal taste. It's just ridiculous.

It's, again, the small segment of Internet mark behavior here showing through ignoring what most people even fucking watch or know that exists or give a shit about. and sports illustrated and whenever it started, I can't remember when the first issue was, but in the first, however many years up until I guess today, there have only been two wrestlers.

Did Austin ever make the cover? I bet not. Only Hulk Hogan and Danny Odge have ever even made the cover of that magazine. But they just went out and hired a bunch of website marks to write about wrestling because it's popular. And they don't give it any credibility or put any thought into actually hiring people who know something about the business to disseminate this information. Yeah, and that's Sports Illustrated, I guess.

You know, you go there to see what's happening in baseball. All of a sudden, they told you all the best players were in the minor leagues. How many home runs did this guy hit tonight? No, look at this other guy over here, hitting home runs in the smaller park. I was about to say, yay, he hit twice many home runs. The fence is only 62 feet away. Well, Jim, those are the picks of Sports Illustrator, or at least a take down on SI. But lots of people have picks, lots of listeners,

have various picks they want to make, lots of things they want to go out there and see if their picks are correct. Jim, before I butcher this any further, I know you love telling the listeners about our very good friends at prize picks. Well, that's because I am a prize, and I pick you, ladies and gentlemen of the cult of Cornette.

You know, it's Christmas time, it's the holidays. You're probably broke. You need to make some money. So what you need to do is you need to start applying your computer-like brains to downloading the prize-picks app and start picking, pick shit. Just pick some shit that you know about.

We talked about football and baseball and basketball just a few minutes ago. Well, if you know at least as much about those things as Sports Illustrated knows about wrestling, then you can pick and you can pick on all the people like Steph Curry. And I guess you can't pick on Patrick Mahoney anymore because he's, well, did you pick that he would hurt himself? I don't know if you could make that pick, but his name is Mahomes, not Mahoney. If you just, can, can you, are you allowed to pick on prize picks if you're just like, I hope this son bitch breaks his leg?

I don't think that's the spirit that prize picks wants the listeners having when they go and make these picks, these thorough, thoughtful picks with prize picks. Because whenever the guy would go to Jersey, then some guy with his friend named Vito would go, I'll break the son of bitch's leg, so you can't pick that. You can't pick that, no. You can be, oh, you can't pick that. You're the only one I pick, but you can't pick that. I'll tell you how straightforward prize picks is.

You don't have to spend a lot of time trying to calculate payoffs or payouts because prize picks makes it easy with payout multipliers. Whether it's just a simple three times or a big 2,000 times, you're going to get all kinds of multipliers when you win. So start winning. Right now, you could even get paid if one of your picks misses. Again, I think this is some type of laundering operation.

But nevertheless, that's what it says here. It is not in any way. I muted myself when I was trying to jump in to off mute to stop this. It's not in any way a laundering operation. It's in fact not in any way whatsoever like that. How are they being so nice to you with the flex play where you can get paid? even one of your picks misses. Well, that's just insane. They're making it too easy on you to win

money. Maybe I'm taking this back. I don't want people to do this. I'm going to do it all for myself and have more, more for me. And they now offer stacks. You can pick the same player up to three times in the same lineup. He's got to play three different positions at the same time, but some of them can do it, folks. And again, right now, all you got to do is download the prize Picks app today and use the code JCE to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. JCE is the code. Prize Picks is the app.

You get 50 bucks in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. So again, they're literally showering you with free money as soon as you just jump in here. Just put up your $5 and put up. of where your mouth is, and boom, they're going to give you all kinds of, you're going to be in more lineups than Dillinger. Once again, not the comparison we think we should be making, but if you've got picks, if you enjoy your sports and you want to make some picks, maybe make some prizes or win some prizes, words and noises, ladies and gentlemen, prize picks.

One last time, Jim, how can the listeners get this great thing? Yes. Well, they just use the code J-C. E, after they play their first $5 lineup, they get $50 in lineups to do with as they will. Prize picks, it's good to be right.

All right, Jim, well, let's get to some questions as we move forward here with the show. I have one that was sent to corny drive-thru at gmail.com from Tom Bailey. Who do you consider to be the greater tag team?

The Road Warriors or the Dudley Boys? How would you compare and choose between the two in the following categories? Oh, well, hold on. I didn't know it's going to be a goddamn essay question. Let me start taking notes. Which team currently has the bigger icon status in wrestling? Which team had the bigger impact on wrestling overall during their durations? Which team has had more memorable matches? Which team had the better chemistry?

Which team had the better, more significant title reigns? Which team delivered the better, more memorable promos? Which team had the overall better wrestlers? In terms of athleticism, working ability, selling ability, the ability to wrestle safely enough, etc. Two more here? Which team was better at getting over with the crowds, wherever they wrestled? and finally, which team had the better finishing move?

I'll refer back to you on some of this stuff. Because, I mean, some of this is going to be a duplicate of some other answers. But what I was originally going to say when you said compare the Road Warriors to the Dudleys and who was a better team, the Dudleys were better workers. but the road warriors were almost a thing unto themselves at that point. And what they could do, they did do, and it worked. If you break this down bigger icons, I'm sorry, but it's not, are there bigger icons in tag team wrestling over the last 50 years than the road warriors,

the Rock and Roll Express? I won't even put the Midnight Express in there. And give me was, would you think your iconic WWF teams were Breton Knightheart or was it demolition or the Bulldogs? But more impact is not, again, not really fair because the road warriors had more impact than anybody that debuted in 1983, would you say,

and anybody that between the face paint and the rip-offs and various duplicators of the gimmick and the fact that they were smashed over from the start and seen on national TV from the start. What single or tag team in the decade of the 80s really think about it had that kind of instant impact, Brian? Can you name one? No, I think the Road Warriors are definitely the team of the decade, if you consider everything. If you consider influence on the business, other people popping up with the same gimmick. That was a thing in the 80s. I mean, the Midnight Express, all of a sudden there was Expresses everywhere.

There were a lot of teams that did something and then other people copied it. There weren't a lot of copycat Dudleys. Well, more of the, and the expresses were as much or more due to the rock and roll because they were taking off on the baby face aspect of it, but point being, point taken, more memorable matches, again, more memorable

is not exactly, the Dudley's had great matches with a variety of opponents at ECW and the WWF, but is more memorable, Hogan and Andre in the Silver Dome is more memorable than anything. Does that mean it's the best?

Think of the road. warrior matches with the war games with the horsemen with the midnight on the scaffold I'm some chemistry again that's a subjective term the the Dudley's had more chemistry and doing moves because they did many more tag team type double team moves than the road warriors and their partnership worked because they were somehow, you know, similar yet opposite to blah, blah, blah. But goddamn hawk and animal, can you imagine anybody else being either one of those two guys? And maybe that's a toss-up.

The title reigns is meaningless because since the Road Warriors window was 83 to really to 90, before they had run through everything and started splitting up and or retiring and or going to Japan or whatever. Dudley stayed together longer, but they were never, they also, the road warriors were the biggest box office attraction for much of that time they were together in the promotion they were in or close to, whether they were the champions or not. and whereas with the Dudleys you could put the belts on them because you could get them off of them. It didn't kill them to beat them. But the road warriors most of the time,

you don't want to put the belts on them because you didn't want to, you didn't know whether you could beat them to take them off. So that's meaningless. The Road Warriors won every important tag title when they were still important. The Dudleys won a lot of tag titles when the titles didn't mean as much, and there were less tag teams.

Outside of the Hardy Boys' Edge and Christian feud, which is a lot of why people have reverence for the Dudleys, you know, I don't think, you know, winning titles in 2005, six, seven, whatever it is all over the world is the same as winning it in the 80s, when, again, these titles meant something, and the Road Warriors held every important tag title when they were important. Yeah, and also the multiple, titles. I mean, when the Middite Express held the belts in 86, we won them in February,

lost them back in August. That was kind of a middle-length run. The belts didn't change hands often. So you couldn't, unless you were around in the top mix for 15 years, you couldn't have the belts fucking seven times. So again, a lot of this is out. apples and oranges. Better wrestlers, the Dudleys. But at the same point, what I said before, what Hawk and Animal had to do, they did. You think the Dudleys were better than Rogue Warrior Hawk in the ring? Yeah.

Especially when Hawk was, how shall I say, when Hawk was having a bad day, he could, he could forget shit or just, whatever the fuck, but no, hawk and animal could do the things that they did well and their presence and that it was the heels working with him, whether it's Tully and Arne or whether it's the Andersons or whether it's midnight or whatever to put that all together in a way that tore the house down.

Bubba and Devon could both do a wider variety of things and it's not like that, either team was particularly, you know, the road warriors weren't dangerous. Sometimes they just didn't know their own strength and would take matters in their own hands sometimes. I don't think the Dudley's have a reputation for injuring people left and right. So in their own ways being completely different,

the Dudley's probably better wrestlers. But they, again, you know, that's the thing. sometimes the better wrestlers are not put into position or have the gimmick to draw more money. And it's not a, it's not really a competition as to which team drew more money. Because again, the Dudleys were never put in a position to draw the amount of money to be the important thing on the card for their promotion for that hot few years the road warriors were. over with the crowd

there's no that's why they call it to Road Warrior Pops people just went fucking insane and I just wrote at the end better finish what is this

who had the better finishing maneuver the doomsday device or the 3D I guess it is again I wouldn't want to take either one of them they don't look appetizing to me again that's that's subjective the only

the only way I would pick one over the other is if I had taken both and I'd tell you which one was easier on your body but as long as they gave it to people and they didn't get up I don't care but the warriors would pop on the or the warriors would pop the fans would pop on the doomsday device

you know just the tease of it or the thought of it or the idea of it. I don't remember anybody ever kicking out of it. I'm sure at some point, did they have people kicking out of the 3D? I'm not sure. Well, then if they protected both of them, it's a draw. Wow, I was very diplomatic.

I actually thought you would tell the truth and just say that the Dudleys don't belong in the conversation with the road warriors. It's completely ridiculous to put a tag team that was there as tag team wrestling was dying with a tag team that was the biggest thing when tag team wrestling was healthy. It's just... Well, that's why I was trying to be fair because it is, it's not a fair

comparison to put the Dudley's up against the road warrants. It's, so that's why I was trying to... I said it's a different, whole different fucking animal. All right, so you say the road warriors, and of course, that is the correct answer. Jim, our next question was sent... This guy sent in a question last time, and many times, was sent to Courtney Drive-Thru at gmail.com from Big Andy in Louisville, Kentucky.

Big Andy! His full name is Andrew Mountbatten from Louisville, Kentucky. He's the one who last time wanted to know about the fart-nist wrestler in wrestling history, but here's his question today. It's always bugged me when the champion gets introduced first for a match. Does Jim think the challenger should get introduced first, or is he just not give a shit either way. Well,

I know I do give a shit. And again, that standard wrestling tradition and that the champion would enter second and be introduced second. And I also understand as a booker and

former matchmaker, producer, etc., etc., sometimes you get stuck in a position where, God damn, we need to have the other guy come out second for whatever's going to happen. I can't even call chapter and verse right now, but then you play with it a little bit. I think when I think it's overdone a lot just for convenience sake, having said that, especially in modern times, because it didn't used to happen that often. So I'm of the opinion that, yes, the champion should always intersecond and always,

always be introduced second, except when there are really good overriding, extenuating circumstances, like the challenger coming in is the big hero coming back from a long injury absence or some fucking major important thing, that it's really going to, then it becomes a thing that affects the quality of your show. do you have this entrance that everybody goes bonkers for and then he has to stand there with his dick and his hand and an empty ring while maybe somebody else comes out that now they've blown their load

and they don't really give two sheds right now. So kind of sort of but not always. I feel like we see it more now than we did for a long time. The idea that it's not about who the champion is. It's about the baby face comes out when they come out, the person who needs the pop comes out when they come out. It just so happens. Some of them have belts.

Yeah. All right, Jim. Our next question sent via the culticorna Facebook group was sent in by Cyan Pierce. Now that the FIFA World Cup draw has been done, and fans of most countries know which cities they will be in on what days, should the WWE and AEW? I understand part of those words. What now exactly?

They announce where the World Cup will be. So there's a location. People know a lot of people who travel for this kind of thing, know where they're going to go. They're starting to book hotels. So they have the World Cup in different places every year. And they announced for when? How far ahead of time is this now?

And I think it's every four years. Hold on. I'll give you the answer to that as a world cup. They have even more time to play. plan, wouldn't they? The World Cup is 2026. But they're just now telling people where it's going to be? I think they, he's not saying it's just now, but they've announced it so people are making it. Well, so he's behind. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's expecting us to go back into history to fucking bring him up to date. Well, let's go back to his question here. Should the

W.W try and exploit the massive influx of international visitors to try and get more ticket sales the way a lot of tourist in Mexico, will go watch a Lucha Libre card, or purposefully avoid those cities. Instead, go to locations that wouldn't be involved in any. The question kind of trailed off there. Do you think that... They wouldn't be involved in any of these type of activity. The same way indie promotions, and it'll be interesting to see what happens in Saudi Arabia, that they tag along to WrestleMania should a wrestling company tag along with the World Cup.

They ought to take women of wrestling over to Saudi Arabia to piggyback on those shows. No, no, look, when the tourists go to Mexico, Mexico, Lucillebrae is part of Mexican culture. It's like, oh, we're in America, we're going to go watch the fireworks and eat apple pie or whatever the fuck, right? That type of thing. it's not that all those Americans are necessarily even wrestling fans. They do it because that's part of the thing to do when you go on vacation now in Mexico. But if there's no, I'm sure there's a crossover, especially in Europe, but there's no evidence that there is a giant crossover audience between football, soccer,

in America. We don't even call it the same thing. And football that would indicate the thing that wrestling fans or football fans want to do on their trip to see the goddamn World Cup is to see the wrestling too. You see what I'm saying. There's no crossover there. And it would be American promotions just willy-nilly wandering around the world

of wherever these events are taking place. No. No. There's no. And then it's like if you're, if you go to a town to run a wrestling show because there's a lot of people in town because of a big festival, I found out the hard way,

if you ain't part of the festival, you've just shit the bed. Because that's all they care about is the festival. Now if the FIFA people, we're going to buy shows to put on for the FIFA fans. Well, Fee-Fee-Fo-Fum, more power to them. But I wouldn't go and compete with the goddamn World Cup in major markets with wrestling show, even the W.W.E. Why? Jim, our next question

sent via the Colt of Cornet Facebook group was sent him by Chris Scott. Can Jim tell the garlic story from Bruce Pritchard's wedding? What now? The garlic story from Bruce Pritchard's wedding. The garlic story from Bruce Pritchard's wedding. Oh, well. Anything funny ever happened at his wedding? No, it was after his wedding. My ex-wife and I were there at his wedding in Las Vegas. This is 30 years ago or whatever now, almost.

And it was, it had been a nice little wedding thing, and then we all go to dinner at this place. And as soon as we order, they start bringing the appetizers out, and I'm a garlic fan. But it was heavy garlic. They were cooking with garlic and had all the garlic stuff, and my ex was, I don't know if allergic is the right word, but enough strong garlic, she needed to get fresh air.

And we had to bow out of dinner early because it was garlicky. I don't know if they were trying to keep away vampires or what, but there is no, there is no story. It's just, too much garlic. Eat fresh air. We took off.

That sounds about as exciting as one of those Bruce Pritchard stories, I have to say. Well, that's kind of, you know, the, that's why he has to fucking embellish him

because his stories start out is just kind of events like on Seinfeld until they start embellishing them. So I don't know what story he's told off of that, but that's pretty much it. Jim,

our next question, was sent via the cult of Cornette Facebook group by Adam Woolcock. Who is the most morbidly obese or otherwise unattractive wrestler ever to regularly attract rats? What the fuck? Jim, any real freaks that couldn't keep the women off him? Well, no, I will say that Plowboy Frazier was very proud of Polaroid pictures that he had with one of the lady midgets. and it was an interesting juxtaposition of size and spatial configurations. But that's not really addressing the, you know, Abdullah used to dress up in those

finely tailored suits and considered himself somewhat of a fashion plate, possibly in his younger days. I wasn't around, but Dick Murdoch to look at him was popular with some of the ladies at one point in time. But he wasn't really morbidly obese just between the beer belly and the pale skin and the missing front teeth and the general overall demeanor you wouldn't imagine. Oh, who am I missing, Brian?

Buddy Rose. Well, he wasn't always big. Yeah. I'm playing, I'm playing, I'm playing. and poor buddy may rest in peace. There are pictures of Blimble Evie with his wife. I don't want to say she's a rat or anything, but it's always like surprising.

Well, that's what I was not just going to call someone's betrothed. I mean, Billy and Benny McGuire were married. Does that mean that they were whores? See, we don't want to cast aspersion. So I don't, I mean, there was, just saying this, if they were a professional wrestler and I have first-hand knowledge of the 70s, 80s, 90s, I can imagine 60s, 50s, whatever,

if they were a professional wrestler, there was a lady that liked them and usually more than one. It's killer Carl Krupp had his success with the ladies. And again, he was not a fat person, You know, you've seen his face. All right, this has been a great episode so far.

Another question here, Jim. Well, it's your show. This one was sent via the Culta Cornett Facebook group. This was sent in by Charles Drew. Where did the idea or concept of Smoky Mountains beat the champ television championship come from and were the cash bonuses really paid to the champ? Or was there a bump in pay during their reign? Oh, good God.

I love you. What's his name? Charles Drew. Charles bless you, Charles. I like the beat the champ name that they had done in Los Angeles, beat the champ TV title, and they'd done it a few other places,

and it was also something that we could do to introduce new talent that I'll give you an example. Let's say that, Brian, you're the Smoggy Mountain Champion, and you're a he, and I'm the top baby face.

We're in a program, so we're taken. And the tag team champions have the top challengers, and they're taken. And so for television, not only to have interesting matches for a TV title, where they're somewhat more important and competitive, not just a squash match, but also if somebody new comes in the territory,

then, or if I'm playing, planning on a baby face that's already been on the cards, but he's going to move up and I want to make him more prominent or whatever, because the deal was that the TV champion would, if he won it from the previous champion, he would defend it every week on TV for six weeks. And then every time he successfully defended it, he'd get a bonus of $1,000.

And then at the end of six weeks, if nobody had beaten him, he would get another bonus and retire undefeated. We'd have two other guys the next week, wrestle, and the winner of that would be the new champion of blah, blah, blah. And so I can't even remember right now who the first guy that I had go through with it was six weeks. Was it Candido? It might have been Tracy Smothers. I don't fucking know. but it was just something to have on TV that we weren't featuring in the arenas

but that would give me a chance to give some of these guys a little wind streak and get them over and then do some kind of angle out of it because at some point, somebody is some heel is costing some baby face some fucking money. So there's a million things you could do with it.

No, they didn't actually get any more or less money than they would normally. I hate to break it to our friend there. Jim, our next question sent via the Culta Cornette Facebook group was sent in by Robert Ernest Jr. If Jimmy Snooka wouldn't have had the behind-the-scenes issues in the early 80s, which included murdering his girlfriend for the record. Yeah, those behind-the-scenes pesky issues.

Is it possible Vince McMahon would have chosen Snooka as his top baby face instead of getting Hogan from the AWA to be the face of the national expansion? So if everything worked out perfectly in 83 for Snooka, does Vince still want Hogan, need Hogan, and can he run further with Snooka at his age? Well, he still wants Hogan, he still needs Hogan. He could have run further with Snooka because if he hadn't had out of the ring problems, you could never really tell Snooka's age, because he would just, just he was unique but he still needed Hogan because Snooka couldn't talk even even if he wasn't impaired he couldn't talk and he he had to be completely visual he was like a superhero or a Tarzan or a jungle boy or whatever the fuck but he could never the people believed in him because of his physical performances, the interviews were halfway gibberish.

And when he was younger, he was better. But still, he couldn't have carried the company short term because he got so hot. But that wasn't going to be like, oh, this is the guy that can go do the Tonight Show and this guy that can go do Saturday Night Live and this guy that I can hang every pay-per-view that I do for the next seven years around his neck. Like Hogan, he wasn't, Snooka was not that type of superhero personality. He was the Wildman,

which had a peel, but it, it would have limited what Vince was trying to do. Vince was still going to go for a, a dusty or a superstar Graham or a flare or some type like that rather than a snooka. So again, to the question, even if 83 had gone perfectly,

no outside the ring incidents, it doesn't change what Vince McMahon felt he needed to do. No, I mean, Snooka would have still been figured in as long as his in-re health and, you know, not injured, whatever, allowed, but he still needed

the guy. Jim, our next question was sent via the Colta Cornette Facebook group, and it was sent in by Matthew Snow. What does Jim think would have happened? if Tony Khan tried to get involved with the business during the territory days?

Oh, God, almighty. Well, I mean, I laughed at first because nothing good would be the short version. But I'm thinking if he had that amount of money in those days, I don't know who would have got to him first, whether the boys would have not taken him seriously as far as you expect to be the booker or you're going to what they would have all been jumping up and down over the money but the promoters if they had gotten to him first and who was going to sell the territory to this guy first for twice or three or four times what it was worth if that had happened then it would have, I think, done significant damage to the business because then he would have run, who knows, one, two, three, or however many wrestling territories in the country,

pretty much out of fucking business. Because if it would have been the same thing, just a different product, but the same concept, if the average fan that was and there were a smaller number of them but if the average fan that was kind of smart in 1978 had bought one or more of the territories

and tried to run it it would have been as disastrous as Tony trying to book this is. It's just more of the boys would not have listened to him if he had tried to start his own promotion, again, if he had guaranteed guys money at that point in time, they would have taken it because nobody else was.

But then either they would have done what he wanted them to do and the whole thing would have fallen apart. Everybody would have walked out even because of the money. Or they would have actually forced him to hire a booker in that case, you know, it might have gone somewhere. But that's almost an impossible what if. Nobody would, nobody, Eddie Einhorn was a millionaire and all, and some of these other millionaire angels came along,

but they always at least had not only some knowledge of the wrestling business, but the knowledge to not actually be the Booker or, whatever the case themselves. Yeah, see, a lot of it's about behavior, too. I'm sure there's a lot of people that thought, there's no way Vince Jr. is going to run the wrestling company. Who's going to listen to that guy? Well, he had the money.

And he was able to pay guys to get him in, but then also it's about behavior. How many guys who said, what's Vince going to do, came out of it on the other end saying, whether they liked him or not, he's a promotional genius. You know, you couldn't deny that. Tony's had now seven years. You can't say he's a promotional genius.

in terms of buying anything during the territory days, like if he had bought Georgia from Barnett, like you said, it doesn't change his mindset. He's booking... I don't think Tony would be capable of booking a territory wrestling television show. I don't think he's capable. Oh, definitely not.

No, because he'd have to use the same crew of people every week in new and interesting ways. But that's the thing. He wouldn't be doing this kind of wrestling then because this kind of wrestling didn't exist then and it hadn't been invented and nobody would have known how to do it even if you fucking told them to.

You know, they'd be like, what? But I know how the fans thought at that period of time and he would have booked like the kind of smart fans thought at that time and that would have excluded half of the stars in the business because they didn't like their work rate

even though that phrase had not been coined at that point. And a lot of other just general stuff, it wouldn't have been, they would have been setting people on fire, but they would have been doing stupid stuff that the fans wanted to do back then. Do you think if he bought in back then, it would be like when that old lady bought the territory from Ronnie Gossett, and she's like, called up, she's like, I'm ready for the booking meeting. Yes, yeah.

Miriam Springfield in Tupelo. they were going to quit running Tupelo, Mississippi, because that fucking old building and Herman Sheffield had been a promoter and he was getting old and they didn't draw and the territory was expanding. And Mrs. Springfield and her friend sat front row every week and they couldn't stand the thought that their wrestling would be taken away from them. So they paid, I think Eddie Marlin, $40,000 to buy the town on. on the agreement that the office would still book them

eight guys at a referee on Friday nights. And that's what they did. And they ran Tu-Bullo another like two fucking years after that. Everybody was dying to get out of Tupelo. That's where Jimmy Kent showed up to the loser-le-town match he had in Tupelo with a fucking, his car was hauling a trailer and his kids were in the back seat. between 1975 and let's say 2010, so years before AEW,

was there a time where you could see someone like Tony Khan getting in there and making a difference because of the money? And again, with inflation, it would be less than he has now, but it would still be more than everyone else. But is there like a window where, you know, if he had tried to do this in 93, he could have done something or 2002 he could have done something? Do you think there's any window for Tony Con in the past?

yet there was a goddamn giant drive-in movie screen window at any of those times for a guy with that much money to start and finance a wrestling company there has never been even a keyhole that you could peep through in that time where Tony Kahn would have been successful doing it if he insisted on booking it and picking all the wrestlers therein lies the problem Well Jim a lot of people say that Tony Kahn only listens to himself He enjoys talking wrestling with lots of people Lots of his employees But he's only going to listen to himself

Makes you wonder How different things could be Makes you wonder what if instead of listening to himself The inner Jiminy cricket inside of him What if he was listening to good music Or good podcasts? What if instead of listening to the internal voice of Tony Kahn, what if he got into free-form jazz?

Whatever it is, there... What if he got into free-form commercial intros? Once again, ladies and gentlemen... Just winding, meandering down the pathway. The pathway leads us right to the front door, the front door of great sounds with Raycon. The front... Well, let's slam that door.

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Open save up to 20% on all their fine audio products. We shall return momentarily. after this short commercial timeout. We are in the future! Ladies and gentlemen, for the final time this year, some time travel. You know what that reminds me?

It reminds me of the Twilight. No, it was not a Twilight Zone. It was a Night Gallery episode, where I think it was maybe Artie Johnson. Did he play the hip DJ that went to hell and just had to broadcast eternally from hell for the rest of his life? Oh, get out of here.

I've got to see that. I've never seen that episode. with no goddamn discernible audience besides demons, and the music would fit that. And I feel like that's what we're doing. We took our last time travel so that we could come back and now we've actually got more breaking news on the Rick Flair front. And also there's my adopted son, Austin Theory,

stole the show on Raw about, what, 12, 14 hours ago as we're speaking now, and we're going to talk a little bit about that too. and then that's our cue to head to our Christmas break. Oh, we've a few other things we'll talk about as well, but since you brought up Austin Theory, let's talk about that first because, although it was a taped raw, this was the first time we were going to see Austin Theory

since he was revealed as the masked man or the hooded man, whatever he was. The masked hooded man, the dark secret, they should have used that. What? From almost the first time you saw him, you were one of his biggest boosters, even when he was booked poorly, even when he was in a tag team with Grayson Waller.

So it's been a while since you've seen him. I think a lot of people want to hear your thoughts on what you saw. He's better than I remember. My boy, my boy is better than I remembered he was. Now, here's the thing, first of all, the speculation that we had had, theory was trying to prove himself to

Paul E in order to join the group there. And by the way, I wish they'd tape all the wrong. It was like an hour and a half long, and the on-screen search worked so you could see what you were skipping and find what you wanted to watch. It was incredible. What an experience. But he's trying to prove to Paul. He said, hey, these other guys stepped up, I want to step up, right?

And Paul's like, interesting, interesting. And he offered to take part in the match that night against Ray Mysterio and punk. and he's you know you can tell that Paul has a vision for theory right and then Paul of course goes and tell breaker and read well you know he's either going to do what he says he's going to do for us or

you know you'll fucking carry him out of here and that's exactly what they would do because this is the cut throat top heel group. And that's how they said. And by the way, I can't wait to January 5th. I'm actually looking forward to watching Rob because Braun Breaker, again, they did a sit-down package with him talking about punk and he can talk. Even though, yes, it was edited. It wasn't like he did to hold two minutes or whatever off top of his head, word for word, but he has the emotion, the facial expressions, the inflection, the eye.

contact. You feel that he means what he's saying. He's a fucking presence. And he sold the match big time on January the 5th. So anyway, back to my boy. So then Brunson Reed even tells him beforehand, listen here, just follow my lead. I'll start and I'll tag you in and follow my lead. We'll be fine.

In theory, he says, no, I'll start to match. and I'll tag you and you follow my lead, right? So he's not going to be some dip shit, you know, as he may have been in the past or doing comedy shit or whatever. And then, to me, this even added a little bit, but you always see people interacting that it doesn't really make sense sometimes in the aisle ways or whatever, but this was perfect,

where they had Gunther come out and do his, big entrance and soak up booze for a few minutes and not speak and laugh at the people. And then he reminded us that Sina tapped out like a little bitch and threw the microphone down and was leaving and like a mous lady. Just like that, Brian. Punk comes straight to the ring. They do the face-to-face. The people are chanting see him punk.

Gunther at all kinds of heat. Now punk has come to do something about. it. They face-to-face, punk's got the belt and puts Gunther in the main event position and then Gunther laughs at him too and fucking walks out of the ring.

They boo him, then they play Ray's music and Gunther, as they passed, what, how tall do you think Gunther is? Because that camera shot made Gunther look two feet taller than Ray Mysterio. It was

fucking classic. and Gunther laughs at Ray and leaves too and then that was perfect that's all he needs to do for a while and then they get to Ray and Punk and reading theory and without going over the match blow by blow or whatever to me

Bronson Reed Brian as a connoisseur accent on the sewer you are of classic wrestling I first said Bronson Reed is like a younger Crusher Blackwell. And then I realized that Crusher Blackwell was probably younger Bronson Reed is now, wasn't he, when he fell apart. Yeah.

But you know what I'm saying, right? For about two or three years, especially to the smart fans that existed at the time, Crusher Blackwell was fucking, oh, it was a must see, must talk about, guy because of the things that he could do with his size and shape and body weight. Of course, Blackwell was, what do you think? 75 pounds bigger than Bronson Reed, not nearly in as good as shape.

Maybe shorter too. Probably shorter too. Yeah. But when he'd uncork that drop kick or do the fucking bump over the top rope or take a backdrop from somebody, I was lucky enough to see him live finally against Lawler in 81, which I think was the last year.

What was he really good in 78, 79, 80, 81, and then? No, no, I would say he was still pretty good for a while there. He really started slowing down by like 85, 86, I would say maybe. Well, yeah, but I mean, doing what got him there, what got all the attention, after 82-ish, it, that slowed down. still could move somewhat, but it was just a whole different animal. It's an interesting trivia note that when Vince McMahon had his first wrestling at the chase taping, and all of a sudden he had Mean Gene Okerlund and Hulk Hogan and David

Schultz, Jerry Blackwell was booked. Jerry Blackwell was going to jump to, and the story goes that at the last minute, he decided to stay with Vern. But imagine the national expansion of Vince had had Jerry Blackwell. well that first year, where he was still healthy enough to work regularly. Well, but at least Vern used him good for a couple years until he could pay me for. Anyway, we're off the subject. Read point being, even if he isn't younger, he's in better shape. He's not going to be the guy, the world champion, the single main events at

WrestleMania, whatever. but he's going to be main event adjacent, barring another injury, I would think, for a while now. They've got him where he belongs in the ring with some of these other guys. He's beaten up. They have done a good job. Heyman has done a good job of renovating him.

And of course, and Ray is a legend, obviously, and Punk being the world champion when he's guys are in the ring with them, it elevates them in the people's eyes. And they got a double set of heat in this match. And then finally, punk and Bronson Reed were down on the floor, got wiped out of the thing. And Ray went to the top rope and Theory crouched him, hit him with the stomp, one, two, three. And then Braun Breaker comes in and jumps punk, but as theory helps but punk turns it around and shit cans theory and then bronze spears punk

out of his shoes and boom but that's how you get people over Austin theory who was and we'll talk about in a second the most impressive guy really

in the match as far as his work went and he's the one who gets the win and you talk about the class of Lesner and Orton and Sina and Batista and I know that they were they were not as experienced then as these guys are now, but as a new grouping for the future, Austin Theory, Bronbreaker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, in and out. and you know who am I leaving out here there's somebody else affiliated

well I was going to say Rollins but Rollins is going to be on the other side when he comes back but the point is this is a great fucking group your thoughts on the group of them I agree and I think it's better without Rollins I said that before we knew what was going to happen when he was just hurt or when they were pretending he was hurt

and it was just Heyman with the bronze I was like this is better adding Logan Paul's perfect and theory and that's what I was going to say to you so theory I guess holds up he's still as good or you said better actually now that I think about it you said better than he was

look at and I assume he was injured because they always mentioned you know I was injured or whatever the fuck and I think we heard he was hurt but he was in that tag team with Grayson Waller thank God he's disappeared wherever he may be

smack them. Good. Leave him over there. But they had just marginalized theory completely after that bizarre push that Vince gave him with the egg and the whole thing.

And actually it's worked out well because this is what I talked about how can we miss you if you don't go away and when you've got a guy that's talented but he's just been booked to shreds

just leave him off and in bringing back the way you want to present him. That's as old as the hills in wrestling, but they don't do it enough anymore. And sometimes they don't know when to do it. And then, or like Steen, when I try to do it with him and Ring of Honor, he got offended. You'll leave me off of 12 shows in six months.

Yes, to bring you back in a different, nevertheless. The theory now, People aren't thinking about the egg, right, except for us historians and pundits and whatever. And they aren't there thinking about Grayson Waller because now this guy showed up. He's, it looks in better shape physically. He's, you know, he's obviously taken whatever rehab he had to go through

for his injury seriously and hadn't been sitting around and fucking get lazy. And that's another thing I like. about him, you can always tell in his matches, he's working as hard as he can to take advantage of whatever the fuck opportunity. And he's putting whatever he's got into it. That's number one. So physically he looks great. He's got the height. He's got the body. He looks a little older now with the facial scruff and everything, but he's still young enough to be some young punk. but also again technically and I've never talked to the guy he may have an IQ of six I don't know outside the ring

I don't know if there's anything to matter with him or not but inside the ring what I'm looking at is his work not only technically from the basics on up is proficient in every way his reactions his body language is facial expression he's selling his nose and squirtis went so he's not just staring at somebody waiting to catch him he he when he make the guy makes a comeback when fucking punk made a comeback theory was a ping pong ball and boom and then boom and always feeding up in the right place and feeding up in the right place and making it easy instead of being all over the place like some of these fucking dipshits it it his he doesn't overdo things

that he does so you can see through them. He doesn't fucking hit a guy with 16 punches in a fucking row. He makes the shit that he's doing seem meaningful with some enthusiasm in it. And again,

they gave him the pen and he belonged in this group. That's how you get the guy over. And on his promo earlier, he needs more he needs to make it a little more natural he's he's well spoken he's not just droning on

like a robot reciting glorious verbiage that either someone's written for him or he's come up for himself like on the other channel he's still somebody's written this for him and he's trying to deliver it by speaking so distinctly and so perfectly he needs put more of him in there and grunt every once in a while. But it's not to the level of some that just stand there and talk again and like this or just wide-eyed and pie-faced. He's got inflection, it'll get better. But otherwise, I mean, again, you just, you, this is the classic example of Jim Ross,

is where he needs to go away and learn a new hole, which Vince McMahon would lose no opportunity to mock, but what JR was trying to say, Vince couldn't understand because there's a difference in Oklahoma and Connecticut, was the guy was stale and he needed to leave the territory, so people got him out of their minds and on to something else, and he needed to come back with some new feature, that differentiated him and made him better

than he was the last time he was there. Brian, I'm droning on, but does that make sense? It makes sense, and again, you've been saying good things about him since your first saw him. This is going to be a very interesting period of time. He's finally getting, I guess, the push that a lot of people. It's crazy saying that. He beat John Cena. He was put with Vince McMahon.

He was a part of that big Pat McAfee thing at WrestleMania. but he's about to get the best push of his career we'll see what happens and don't get brawn breaker will be I would think I would put my money that brawn breaker will be the wwee champion before austin theory but theory is still young enough that there's the opportunity if he continues to mature and fill out his face and I still like guys with fucking hair

but whatever is fashionable with young folks. But the talent is there. And again, when you're looking at Braun Breaker, Austin Theory, Logan Paul, Bronson Reed, and you're looking at the Sina and Orton and Batista and Lesner class, these guys are better workers. Batista had the visual appearance that no could really duplicate.

I don't know if we're ever going to find another motherfucker it just visually looks standing there like that guy again until he started wearing suits and fucked it all up. And Lesner, they knew was legitimate because he was. But this group are better performers. And we'll see if anybody turns out to be able to talk like CNN. But nevertheless, Brian, who? If you were to compare Austin Theory with somebody on the AEW roster,

who immediately comes to your mind because it immediately comes to my mind? Oh, of course, Daddy Magic Matt Menard. All right, all right. What do you mean? No, I'm talking about pockets. I'm talking about pockets. I don't know who you're referencing. Kyle Fletcher.

Good old Kyle Fletcher. Think about this. Kyle Fletcher and Austin Theory, they have similar height and they're tall and muscular. They put work into their bodies

and if we ever get to see Kyle's hair again, he's got the pleasing blonde hair. Nevertheless, they got the same kind of haircut almost these days. but they're tall and they got good bodies and they're athletic and they're, I would think, approximately the same age. They look approximately the same age.

And they're being pushed to the main event level in the two separate companies. And I guess what I've been saying about Kyle all along when he's been in AEW, I say he needs to get NXD needs to get to their program, and he needs to get something, is unfortunately, Austin theory is what

Kyle could be if Kyle was ever going to be taught anything about the wrestling business. But he ain't, so he can't. And part of it is the experience that the two guys are having, not just what they're learning in school or learning in the ring,

when they're being, you know, putting a ring with veterans or whoever the fuck. It's their experience of the way they're being booked. That's because you learn something, whether it's good or bad, based on when you first get in a business at a halfway professional level, how the booker books you and uses you and et cetera.

So, So Kyle with, you know, again, all the tools in the world, and we've put over his athletic ability and the stuff he can do in the ring, he can do the moves, great. He does too many of them, can't beat anybody with them. But look at Kyle came in and has been put in the callous family, which I'm not sure what that even is at this point. because there's so many parallels here.

Yeah, Austin Theory is trying to get in this group with this manager. Paul Heyman, who's been a successful manager for all these years, and the wise man and the Oracle and the Zabada. And he deals with nothing but main event talent and worldwide known stars. And then Kyle gets in this group with Don Callis, that he's always playing his part of the manager with his tongue and his cheek and winking at people and playing it for laughs, I guess, to friends back home watching on television.

I don't know. And his group consists of everybody, job guys and miscellaneous mass Mexican guys and the guys that they want you to think their main event guys and ex-Japanese expatriates, you know, and I, everybody. So then you might as well say theory is coming in brand new because they're banking that everybody forgot on his experience before was what he had gone through after he's been out for so long. So now they start him out by telling the top manager,

I want to prove myself that I hang in your group. That's already over. Bronbreaker, who's challenging for the world title on the big Netflix. show. It is a fucking stud and Bronson Reed who beat Roman Raines and okay. And on the other side of the fence, Kyle, with no assistance from his manager, is getting beat by middle card baby faces. And I use that appraisal in Spitball Bailey's case

at best because he's in a tournament that he may or may not win probably not. Because the other lazy member of the Callis family is going to probably win it because he's the greatest tournament wrestler. And meanwhile, again, the difference

in the booking. Theory goes into the match and beats a Hall of Famer. One, two, three. Kyle is being drubbed over here by these miscellaneous fucking guys on the roster. Everything

he does in the ring looks natural and makes sense and and he gets the most out of things and he only turns it up when he's feeding for a comeback but then and when he's in control he slows it down so he can work to people Kyle's a hundred miles an hour doing brain busters on a top rope for 30 fucking minutes until your goddamn brain is numb so Kyle can do Kyle can be like Austin. Kyle can athletically perform all of the same basic moves and functions and everything that Austin is doing, but he's not being taught when, how many, how much to who and why. And so it becomes the difference between a main event guy ascending to the next level

and a guy over here doing video game moves with 18 other people. That's what I'm talking about when I say, well, you take a guy with that talent, and then you have to help him figure out how to use it. The indie bunch doesn't know how to use it because they're just used to goddamn having matches where they had fun with their friends until they were done, whether the intricacies of the booking,

of who gets a win, over who, of how it's done, of how it's presented and elevated into the next then they don't know and they don't care. I'm sorry, Brian, I'm monopolizing your program. Well, no, this is an interesting conversation.

You know, we've done it in the past about things like Hooker, Dominic, Mysterio. Here we have Kyle Fletcher, Austin Theory, both guys look like professional wrestlers. Who's going to have the better next five years? Well, I don't know how long Kyle contract is for over there, but theory is going to have, again, barring an injury

and barring there being something wrong with him that I'm not aware of because I've never, I've never even talked to anybody that's met him about him. But barring him being some kind of mental case, his guy going to be the biggest stars in the company for the next 10 years.

Well, we will see what happens, and the good thing about YouTube is this clip will be out there so every year people can evaluate it. sure we'll discuss it again at some point. And see where everybody's at. Jim, we have more news and more topics, a few more things before we wrap things up, but I did want to get you another thing that a lot of listeners have sent over

because it pertains to something you just talked about when reviewing AW Dynamite, the Dynamite Diamond Battle Ring, the Dynamite Diamond Ring and the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal for the Ring. you. Okay, Nick Gullis. Hey, hey, one night, he was, they had booked in one of the spot shows, I think it was like Madisonville, Kentucky or what, this is what he was doing the local interviews. A nine man blindfold battle royal where the guys all war hoods. There's nine guys, there's nine guys. There's eight guys in the manager on the card, come back into battle royal with blindfolds on and the winner gets whatever. and Nick Gulles tried it and there's going to be a nine blind men,

a nine blind men in a manifold match that will be, that'll be the main event, folks. And a manifold. Yes, nine blind men and a manifold. Nevertheless, you were saying. What I'm saying is we discussed this. You had some questions and I didn't have answers for you. Why isn't MJF involved?

What happens to the ring that MJF has? Hasn't he always been involved? Didn't the winner have to wrestle MJF? All these questions. Yes, so was it the same ring? Are they making another? Then MJF got screwed out of four rings if they make a new ring every year? Because he's still got the same one.

They never gave him another one. There's so many questions. Well, as it turns out, apparently Brian Alvarez had very similar thoughts that you had. That worries me. And he brought them to Dave Meltzer. Of course, Dave, known for always giving an honest, analysis of Tony's booking and Tony's faults as a booker and always pointing out things Tony needs to do better. Would you like to hear this audio here? I won't say like would be the word,

but intrigued by morbid curiosity. Well, let's go to this now. Here is from Wrestling Observer Radio, I presume. This is on YouTube. F4W online on YouTube. The discussion about the diamond diamond dad the diamond manifold let's go to this and I don't want to hear one person tell me to pay attention because they've changed the rules of this three times in six years

the first few times it was like a battle royal and whoever won got the ring then it was a battle royal and the last two guys wrestled each other and the winner got the ring then it was the two guys wrestle each other, and the winner then faces MJF for the ring.

And then this year, apparently, these two guys are going to wrestle each other for the ring, and there's no MJF involved. You can't say they didn't say it, and they didn't make it clear because, my God, they said it week after week. But where is MJF? Well, let me stop it there first. I usually watch this on mute as much as I can. Did they say it week after week that it'll be a new diamond ring winner, no MJF?

would know, no, what they, they have completely ignored the MJF factor. They have advertised, we're going to have the dynamite, diamond, now you goddamn, you got me. They're going to have the dynamite diamond ring battle royal on this particular night. They've advertised that, and I think they even mentioned a few of the people that are going to be in it, but they'd never addressed. The MJF still got the ring. We're waiting on him to bring it back. Or we got a new ring or MJF is in the thing

or he's not in the thing. MJ, that whole. And yes, Alvarez is right because remember they had the first year he won the battle royal and he won it. And then the next year, it was again something Alvarez didn't cover there, but another detail in this.

It still makes it make no sense. The second year, I believe they had MJF, come back to be in the battle royal to defend it and he ended up being one of the last two and beating the guy whatever and then they changed but mjf was always a part of the equation having the ring and someone is eventually going to get to him if he doesn't outlast that you see what i'm saying yeah so yes they advertised the goddamn thing but they've never addressed whether it was a new ring or whether mjf would be because they weren't

people probably think MJF would be involved. And I'm wondering why he wouldn't since he was in the goddamn building. Let's go back to this audio. Dave Meltzer's thoughts on the booking around the diamond ring. How was he not part of this in any way? It would make no sense for him to be in this. But shouldn't he be defending the ring like he's done every year prior? Evidently, that's not the thing.

Evidently, he's going to be doing something else. We both expected him to be in the battle rule. Did we not? You opened the review saying he wasn't in the Battle Royal. He did. I did. I did expect him to be in the Battle Royal because I was pretty sure. Because it's been six years. Yeah. Well, the winner of the Royal Rumble from the year before doesn't face the winner of the Royal Rumble for the championship shot. The winner of the Royal Rumble gets the championship shot. Let me stop again.

Because that's fucking ridiculous. What a ridiculous argument. What a ridiculous argument. The Royal Rumble is an annual battle royal with different entrance and a different winner, unless somebody wins it twice in a row, to get a title shot at a champion that has the belt already. So that's a completely different thing than once you have established every year that this guy, the ring is in effect,

the MJF's belt. He won it and then has defended it somehow in each succeeding year. and then suddenly, we're going to have a title match for that belt, and nobody involved has ever had that belt before. While the other guy still over here holding a fucking belt. And again, there's more audio, but Dave won't just say, you're right, Tony should have done it in a way that makes sense,

or a little consistency, or they should have a reason, not, well, the Royal Rumble does this, which has nothing to do with this at all. But that's where he went. that was a yeah that's completely not germane to the whole situation here every single year they've changed they've they changed it but they told you they changed it they told you they changed it the I mean you're building it up in your

head because in your head and in my head we expected MJFN the fact is he was never advertised they never said he would be in and they explained the rules he should at least like they've done every year defend the diamond ring against two ever wins. Well, in the entire buildup, they never once talked about MJF defending the ring. And Dave,

it was never talked about it. Isn't that weird after six years? That's what I'm asking you. You don't find that weird? No, they said the rules are different. They changed the rules every year. I know, but MGMF was involved every single solitary year.

And every year they built the whole thing around him. And every single year, they built the whole thing around him and this year they never mentioned him once. And you don't find that. weird. No, not at all. If they advertised them.

Okay, fine. And there it is. That's the clip. Okay, fine. He can't just say, yeah, Tony should have done a better job with this. Or any of it should make sense. You know, weird was the word that Alvarez kept going. You don't find that weird?

Just, just again, another giant hole in their continuity and their logic in the just say some do make some reason for it. And again, that was the night he was there and came out and told all the other guys off to their face, and they signed the four way. Well, because who's in the final for the goddamn ring? I forgot now already. It's ricochet.

Oh, Jesus. And someone, actually, I don't know either. Oh, God damn it. is it Bandito? Bandito and Rickusay. Very good. Okay, well, look at that. Then as soon as, you know, something,

all the other guys were in, MJF was in the building, they're all down, he comes out and just kick somebody into balls or pokes him in the eye and wins the fucking thing and wins the dynamite diamond ring. Rickishay is going to draw exactly zero fucking revenue

for this company, and Bandito probably, you know, $60 or $75 maybe. MJF is the biggest star they've got and he's going for the world title. Why didn't you just come out there and fucking put a foot on somebody? It's all meaningless at this point. Just load up heat on the fucking one guy that might carry some.

What idiots they are. You know, Jim, perhaps MJF sees all this and maybe he feels insulted about the way he's being treated by AW, the way his previous diamond ring success is being treated by AEW. Maybe he says, you know what, I got this ring. Maybe I could sell it.

Maybe I could find some wrestling fans looking to buy MJF ring-worn rings. Finger-worn rings. Finger-worn rings. Whatever it may be. There's so many opportunities. Just get out of it. Just get out of it. Just get out of it as quickly as you can now.

I'm talking to Shopify, of course. Well, there you go. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think instead of just selling the one ring, I think that MJF ought to make cheap knockoff replicas made in Taiwan of that ring. And still a, still a, instead of selling one of them for $10,000, he could sell $10,000 of them for $1.50 and he'd be $5,000 a hit. See, and right there, that's the kind. Exactly.

Boom. He would hear that in his head every night when he laid his head down on the pillow because he'd know he was selling cheap rings made in Taiwan to the wrestling fans, and that's the way he wants it. And you can do the same thing, folks. You can sell cheaply made shit to anybody. Man, woman, or child? Just wrap this shit up with, I don't know, dental floss, toothpaste, and duct tape. Why? And just put a price on it because Shopify, well they could they could sell ice to eskimos and they can sell igloos to people who live in places with ice where they have eskimos and things like that chili willie chilly chili willie and all of the other penguins because ladies and gentlemen 2026 it's a new year you want to launch your business you want to transform yourself into an entrepreneur a founder the boss the final boss as you're laying awake at night thinking my new year's resolution is to run things,

push people around and make them do what I say. And it's time for you to make the powerful move that puts your future and your family's future firmly in your fingertips. And it's starting a business with Shopify. Like I said, just put the kids to work and the wife and the mother-in-law and just all the family making some shit that you can sell because Shopify can sell anything to anybody. Once again, this is great for all business owners,

no matter what kind of products you have, hopefully some... That's right, just big balls of cat fur and sell them as lufus. Shopify gives you... You can't mislead people, Jim. That's false advertising. Well, some people in Indonesian countries

use them for that very thing. Ladies and John, I don't know what. Give you all the tools to build your dream store. Yes. See, we're making money already. Choose from hundreds of beautiful templates. They write product descriptions and headlines. They can edit product, photos, marketing, email and social campaigns.

And you think, I'm telling you, it's going to be hard to get enough cat fur. So you're going to really need a resource to find that. And once again, folks, Shopify will grow with you along side by side. You'll be attached by skin and corpuscles and you won't be able to just slice them off. They're grown to you. What are you talking about?

That's because they grow with you. They don't grow. Nothing's growing with you. Your business will grow because Shopify will be there to help you and escort your business along its merry way. Here this merry time of the year. And of course... There you go.

If you want an escort for your business... That's not. what I meant. That's not what I meant. There's no escort for your business. If you want your business to be treated the way your business should be treated, if you want sales to go through the roof, we could recommend, because we use them, we could recommend Shopify. That's right. That's why there's a goddamn hole in my roof right now and it's fixing a rain tomorrow. So, folks, once again. Whether rain or shine, Shopify is there for you. That's the Shopify promise.

and they're bringing the tarp. Stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 a month trial period and start selling today at Shopify.com slash cornet. Cornet. That's my last name. Shopify.com slash cornet is the code that they would like you to use,

C-O-N-E-T-E-T-E for the $1-A-month trial. period. Oh, my eye hurts now. E! A $1 a month trial period to start selling today and you'll, I'm telling you those fur balls. Boy, I just box them up and send them out, put duct tape

around it, and they'll take care of everything. They'll just charge money for just your own turds. That's not how it works. It's not how it works. If you take one of your old turds, let it harden up and spray painted gold, they'll sell it as a nugget. Again, not exactly.

Exactly how it works, but for those of you out there who own your own business, who have your own goods that you're looking to sell, or have your own turds. We can recommend Shopify, no turds needed. One more time, Jim, for a great deal. What's that promo code? Oh, I thought you meant one more time about the turds. Shopify.com slash cornet.

All right, we're in the home stretch now, Jim. But we still have a big news story that is breaking as we are recording. I have an article here from the New York Post. Mike Tyson, Rick Flair, sue Cannabis Company for $50 million for alleged embezzlement scheme. You know, I hate it when these, it seems like these matches would be made in heaven

and then the relationship falls apart. I hate it. Who could have ever thought that either Rick Flair or Mike Mike Tyson would make a bad business decision about which weed dealer to get involved with. I'll have an ounce of Laca Pogo Gold! Woo! Let's go to the article here, Jim, by Eric Richter.

Mike Tyson thinks he got knocked out in an embezzlement scheme. Tyson, along with former pro wrestler Rick Flair, submitted a lawsuit related to their former cannabis licensing company Karma Hold Co. Inc. Doesn't I just roll off the tongue? Karma Hold Co. Inc. That's a name brand that's on the tip of everybody's tongue. A 76-page lawsuit filed in Illinois, on behalf of Tyson and Flair by their lawyers, accused former karma executives, Chad Bronstein, Adam Wilkes, and Nicole Cosby

of a RICO conspiracy involving criminal wire fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, extortion, and securities fraud. These claims are filed. And by the way, Chad Bronstein was involved with the Hogan Beer business or is or was, and I think there's a lawsuit in some way over there. We might need to cross-reference back when we come back to this. Well, actually, you know, I'll just say it real here before we go on. I was wondering, and I hope this article says something, is this.

the Flair energy drink or is this a different No, this is the the weed where remember when there was a period of time there, I don't know, was it two years ago, whatever, where every video you saw of Rick Flair, he was smoking a joint or smoking

some form of weed, remember that? Nothing says blunt like Rick Flair, wow! Yeah, and that's apparently this company at the same time had Mike Tyson gummies where it was in the shape of an ear

with a chunk out of the ear. Oh, I do remember that. That's right. Yeah. Okay, so that's this. So, and here's the, also, here's the thing of all the things that you could, anyone could claim that Rick Flair was doing in the 80s, he was

noted among the boys. He never smoked weed. He'd never, you'd never know. It didn't happen. And so, and I was around him for all that period of time, for what, close to 10 years on and off. And then 30 years later, I look on the fucking internet.

There's video of him smoking more weed than Snoop Dog does in a month. I'm like, what the fuck is going on here? And they looked like set up videos because I remember one, it may have been him with Mike Tyson. It was Rick Fier with someone else. And they're almost just like standing on the street with people around them, like just smoking weed casually. Like they would be doing that there on the street.

You know, well, you see him hanging out on a corner. all the time, just, you know, dressed like Christmas wrapping paper. But so anyway, apparently this was the business that it's not doing well, apparently. These claims are filed in civil court and would not require jail time, although the lawsuit seeks $50 million in damages and legal fees, and the plaintiff's lawyers have requested a jury trial. Throughout their time at Karma, this is from the end,

filing. Bronstein and Wilkes treated karma as their personal piggy bank, using more than $1 million to pay for unauthorized personal travel on private jets, costs associated with Bronson's private yacht, renovations to Bronstine's personal residence, a mortgage payment for Wilkes' personal residence, and lavish entertainment expenditures for Wilkes, including exorbitantly priced meals,

and travel expenditures, as well as excessive and unapproved compensation of bonuses, a court filing obtained by the post-red. They said they're really influenced by Colin Thompson, their hero and savior. I'll continue on here. Tyson and Flair.

More on him in the New Year, but... Oh, more. Oh, my God. I can't wait to talk about what we have to talk about. It's the funniest thing ever. We have documents, but go ahead. Tyson and Fleeckley.

have tapped a New York-based law firm, Wilkie Far and Gallagher, LLP. Wilkie Far and Gallagher. I wonder if is it a descendant of the Wendell Wilkie? To represent their interests in the lawsuit. Or possibly we Willie Winky.

The lawsuit also claims that Bronstein bought Rams coach Sean McVeigh, a watch with company funds, unbeknownst to McVeigh. In late 2020 or 2021 or early 2021,

Bronstein used company funds to purchase a watch for L.A. Rams head coach Sean McVeigh. Unbeknownst to McVeigh, this purchase was completely without company approval. Bronstine misappropriated approximately $15,000 worth of company funds to purchase the watch. So this guy just walks up, gives him a watch for $15,000, and obviously the guy didn't know he stole the money to buy it, but... Oh, yeah, yeah. In a statement of front office sports, Wilkie... Oh, excuse me, that's a different person. Wilkes denied allegations in the lawsuit that included RICO predicates.

These claims are as credible as the people they come from. In short, the allegations are without substance, Attorney Terry Campbell told the website. This is nothing more than an attempt to spit out an earful of salacious headlines and attempt to coerce my client into paying money to them when they did nothing wrong. Kama Holkoe previously filed a lawsuit against Bronstien after he left the company, alleging that their former president, along with Cosby, the former chief legal and licensing officer, stole the real American beer brand idea. That's right!

featuring the late Hulk Hogan. Bronstein and Cosby's attorneys also denied those accusations to front office sports. The complaint is fiction dressed up as a lot. lawsuit. Their attorney said, before filing, the plaintiffs tried to intimidate my clients with settlement demands that read more like a shakedown than a legal claim, demanding millions of dollars and attempting to force others to surrender their karma shares. Karma contended that both executives broke their employment agreements by exploiting marketing strategies to fast-track the new beer brand, the new beer brand, with Hogan's depot.

poster boy. Tyson previously claimed that Don King cheated about $14 million and had skimmed his fight purses from 1988. I don't know why that needed to be there, but there's the story. What are your thoughts? Meanwhile, Flair said Jimmy Crockett still owes him $750

for Greensboro. I don't know what to think about this. Obviously, I don't know that there was any was there any sign of massive popularity of the Rick Flair, the Wu weed or whatever that was called or the Mike Tyson ear-shaped gummies, but one would think that they would have gotten something out of it, although you never know about these things. If they didn't get anything

out of it, how did they come up with the accusations that, you know, these guys flew around and bought all these things, which we know happens. We know that people do misappropriate money and do these type of things. But where does $50 million come from? I don't, I'm just again astonished that it's just, I would have never seen it coming that if Rick Flair had told me one time, I'm going to get in the weed business, with Mike Tyson and we're dealing with the guy who's going to work with fucking Hogan's beer.

I would have... How'd you like an ounce of sunset show, but... Woo! No, it's, you know, you don't want to ever look at a legend or a former athlete or anyone, really, and say, like, there has to be a better way to make money, because they are taking the opportunities that come to them. but these things all seem scummy, don't they? The energy drinks, the sudden weed brands popping up.

We've seen more video put out by Rick Flair of Rick Flair endorsing Rick Flair branded shit that disappears than I can imagine. I mean, just think of how many things we've seen, Woo Wings, where's that? Is that still out there? Wings! Well, here's the thing, it was never really there to begin with, wasn't it? because people, other existing businesses were going to license out the Wu Wings or something.

There was not like going to be a Wu Wings store. I haven't heard anything lately. But, and you said, you said scummy. I don't, I don't think it's scummy. I think they were setting up just, no, hold on. I'm going to, I know that's why I'm going to say. You said scummy, which implies they're setting up bodegas for German fetish porn videos. I think it's more just low rent and ill-advised.

Because when it's something that's kind of silly, then it looks like it's low rent and ill-advised a lot of this stuff because, like you said, everybody was doing the same thing. Everybody needs a vodka or a fucking wing or a weed or a goddamn dick pill or whatever the fuck. and it just cheap maybe, instead of scummy, cheap, I guess, is the word we're going for. It all seems very cheap. I just saw a commercial again, I haven't seen in a while with him and Dave Marquez on TV the other day,

for Car Shield or whatever it was. So, I mean, again, you take the opportunities you get, you have to think that every time Rick Flair launches a new thing and every time Hulk Hogan's name is attached to something, Steve Austin must say, there but for the grace of God, go I. and there's still going to be a Hogan restaurant in Times Square, correct? Yeah, I wondered about that. I just saw a picture someone posted the other day of, I guess, the outside of it, and it's the image from Sports Illustrated.

So I'm wondering, like, they had to have cleared the rights for that image. They don't own that. Well, they also had to have cleared that with Hangman Adam Page because Sports Illustrated is in his back pocket now. Oh, that's true. That's true. Well, we'll stay on time. top of the Cannabis News with Rick Flair and Mike Tyson.

A couple more things before we wrap things up for the year here. We had a list earlier from Sports Illustrated, or at least a take-down on SI. They took down the industry in that list. But this is PWA. We've done a few of these throughout the year. We do the annual awards. We talk about the PWI 500. Now there's a women's 250.

Now there's a tag team 100. Oh, good Lord. They rank the 100 best tag teams in the wrestling business. Oh, you're going to give me this early in the day, you're going to give me heartburn. These are tag teams. You are a tag team manager. Maybe you'll agree with this. Maybe you'll say, you know what, this isn't so offensive.

Try me. The evaluation period was October 16th, 2024 to October 31st, 2025. Did not put Brian Solomon's name here as being part of the committee, but he may be, but congratulations on not being attached to this. Jim, who do you think would be number one on a tag team 100, ranking the 100 best tag teams in wrestling today? Well, not today, but between October or Snavitz-Favits-Favits 24 and October, Furnum-Sternum, 2025, which leaves out Bronnbreaker and Bronson Reed.

See here, I'm kind of cursed because, Because if I, the first thing out of my mouth is going to, even though people are going to hear qualifiers after it, they're just going to take all that fucking it, no matter who I say, right? Oh, what the fuck? There are few good tag teams. If I talk about FTR, people are, oh, well, yes, they've been booked into insensibility and they get way to show offy and confusing with the other. teams for their own good, but they have had the best tag team match that I've seen over the last couple of years, but they're also pretty meaningless now. I mean, the other tag teams in both companies for the most part are either used in the middle

and not really particularly that impressive or involved in anything with the stars of the show and or just the same interchangeable indie flippy thing in AEW. So I'm lost. Number one on PWA's 2025 Tag Team 100, The Hardees from Cameron, North Carolina. Okay. Brian, we haven't been watching them lately,

but we were watching Matt and Jeff a couple of years ago. And, I mean, I hate to speak ill. It's not that they couldn't at one time. And we mentioned Jeff's work was never, it's like the Argentina Rocca of modern day, His basics were never right, but he was such a personality and a star, and he just did his own thing. Matt's work was better, but both of them are older and have had significant injuries. And is this an indictment on the state of tag team wrestling today?

The two guys in their 40s, they think, are the best team in the business? Well, let's go to number two on the list. The Hertz Syndicate. Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin Their catchphrase, We hurt people. You know, they're over in their environment.

The people chant we hurt people and blah, blah, blah. And they have been the only believable thing, really, on the program over there. And again, because they've been used as a tag team and because they are legitimate and people take to them,

but they're not really a tag team in the classic sense that they don't do tag team maneuvers. They don't do the tag team shit that you would see tag teams traditionally do. They're two guys who work well together. So I guess just because they're the only tag team that's gotten over and I don't know how long in AEW with the people despite the booking

and the fact that nobody else in WWE either, they might, should be number one. Well, that was number one and that was number two. Who do you think would be number three if you had to guess? Well, now we've got to make some of the buckaroos or their immediate family and friends happy, don't we, if this is any kind of mark list? At number three on the list, Jim, Wingory,

the team of Hanan and Sop. Aida in stardom. Okay. Wingdory. They're affiliated with stars. Yes. Basically, the third best team, tag team in the world of professional wrestling is a couple of the indie girls from Japan that, you know, have matches, I guess, with that Freddie Mercury

impersonator in people's apartments. Jim number four on the list. Any guesses? Any guesses? Not anymore. Los Hermannos Chavez. Angel de Oro and Niebla Roja. From CMLL. Well, good, good for them. Good for them. And wonderful pronunciation there. Thank you very much. Number five, the street prophets.

Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford. followed by Fraxium Then we have Brodito and El Sky Team at number 8 that is the team of Mascaro de Rada Mystico and Neon That's three people But they are on this list

El Sky Team Followed by Jim Any guesses number nine? Any guesses? Well The gang bang bang bang gangers Close. The Allies of Convenience.

What? Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair. Is that their name? The Allies of Convenient. I guess I haven't been watching SmackDown that closely. Jesus Christ, I'm going to pay less attention after that. Number 10, Jim, the Saito brothers from all Japan. What's their first names?

June and Ray. June and Ray? What about Ward? Where did Ward go? Ward in June. Jim, number 11 on the list, FTR. I didn't, I've already made them feel bad enough, and now they find out they placed nine spots below the Outlaw Girls in Japan. Right behind them at number 12 are the War Raders, followed by number 13, the Knockout Brothers, Oscar and Utah Ice.

And number 14, Jim, one of your first, one of your favorites, the Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson. Oh, so they've fallen out of favor badly amongst even the, the nerd-like creatures that put this list together of unknowns and never wases. Fall by number 15, the Wyatt 6. Number 16, the House of Torture, Dookie and Show. No. D-O-U-K-I. Dauke?

That's Dukey. That's Dukey. That's Duke. Right. Dukian Show, the House of Torture, followed by Jim, one of your favorites, number 17, The Ichabon Sweet Boys. The Ichabon Sweet Boys,

from New Japan, Robbie Eagles, and Kosei Fujita, followed by, I don't know how to pronounce this, Y, D, N, D, D, D, D, Alex Price and Jordan Oliver. Wait a minute, what, just hold on, stop now. Why do you spell this? Y. D. N. D.

Okay. And their names are what? Alec Price and Jordan Oliver, also known as Busta and the Brain. Number 19, Jim, Hank and Tank. You've seen them in NXT. By more of your favorites at number 20, DIY, Gargano and Champa.

At number 21. How do you say this? The font they used is not very friendly to some of these Japanese words. Kidraku Kaiome, comprised of Hyper Missau and Shoko Nakajima. By 22, the Nemoths and 23, the Uso's. Oh, the poor Uso's. Jesus God, no, they're not very good, but by God, they've got parking attendants from a lot in Cleveland

above him on the list. And number 24, Nueva Generation Dynamita from AAA or AAAA or AAAA. Followed by number 25, Sinner and Saint, Judas Icarus and Travis Williams. Any thoughts so far? We're 25 into 100 here. My thoughts are, I've never heard of any of these fucking people and what, how are you going to get 75 more tag teams? If we're down this, far into the weeds. And if I had a magazine with the old APTA rankings from 1985 in front of me, it would look something like Midnight Express, Rock and Roll Express, Road Warriors, Heart Foundation, British Bulldogs, fucking fantastics, freebirds.

I don't understand what the fuck is going on here And number 26 The New Day Followed by 27 Motor City Machine Guns Oh those poor boys And number 28 Let me see if this is correct That's correct, the team of 4825

Jaden Newman And Jameson Shock The Tennessee Tucson Troubled Team across the Indy circuit 4825 followed by Judgment Day Good Lord of Finn and J.D. At number 29.

They might be the best tag team in the ring right now that if you're just going for athletic performance and they can't even top the fucking guys from the backyard. Number 30, Violence is forever. Dominic Garini and Kevin Koo.

KU. KU. Koo, right? Well, KU too, fella. Number 31, the vision. Bronbreaker and Bronson Reed. Oh, now wait a minute. I thought the only reason they weren't because they weren't on it. Because they weren't in the time period. But what the, you have got to be out of your mind that anybody

expects this to be taken seriously. And these guys are down below itchy-titchy and her friends and fucking Kevin it's ludicrous. And number 32, Jim, fresh air. I need some. Junior Benito and

Macray Martin. Is that how you say that? It is now. Fresh air. Followed by number 33, you guessed it. Sunshine Machine. Chuck Mamba and T.K. Cooper. What the? Followed by 34 Judgment Day.

But this being Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Roxanne Perez. That's the highest ranking. Well, no, the other women worth number three. I'm wrong. Number 35, the ops. Followed by 36, Pagano and Psycho Clown. Number 37, Jim, have you heard of FWC? FWC.

FWC. HZUC. Hizuka, excuse me, Hizuki and Kaguma. I'm guessing not. Number 38, Los Garza. No, no, no. I'm sitting here blankly staring. Los Garza, Los Garza. Los Garza.

Jim, what about the Immortals, number 39? The Immortals, Cretos and Odinson. Cretos and Odinson, the immortals. Hopefully they won't live too long. Number 40, Lycos Jim, comprised of Kid Lycos, the first and second. Why? I mean, I understand if it's an internationally based team,

but why are the English-speaking people picking stupid fucking names and numbers that conjure up the image of complete dipshits for their goddamn names they're picking on purpose? Number 41, the Dark State, Dionne, Lennox, and Osiris Griffin. I think we've seen them in NXT, and we didn't like it. Number 42, Private Party. Remember them?

Prime Party. My God, how their stock has fallen. Number 43, the grizzled young veterans. Remember them? Remember them? Yeah, yeah. Number 44, the Outrunners. Remember them?

Yeah. Number 45, the team of hate. Hate. Natsook Torah and Rao-Rouka. Rauka is her name, I think. Number 46, Knox and Murdoch, Mike Knox and Murdoch. and Trevor Murdoch, you know Trevor Murdoch, at least. Again, this is just, now they're just picking it out of a thing

like they pick the bingo numbers, right? Because there can't be any rational thought put into these rankings. I don't know how you could say that one. At 47, you have the Young Guns, Ethan Allen and Luke Jacobs, followed by 48 Chiquas in-dom, what is it, endomables? The endomables, the chicas in-domables, the chicas-indomables. the chicas and domables followed by 49

the elegance brand and number 50 the what is this the depradors depradores now wait a minute that's one of those medicines they advertise on television on the commercials

where they say one of the side effects is your taint's going to get infected and kill you Jim we are 50 into this list what is it I mean just the state of tag team wrestling it doesn't have to be like this well apparently it does at this point they have enough trouble

all the companies especially Tony and I mean some of the secondary companies you can't really hold that against them too much but everybody's having trouble making stars and then they're this obviously shows

they'd have to completely revamp the entire tag team division in every company and then you start you've got to start teaching guys how to have tag team matches again. So I don't know at this point if I'll live long enough to see those things happen just because of the factor of impossibility. What do you think of some of these names as we go through the rest of this list?

Swipe right. Does that pass the name test for a tag team? Swipe right. No. What the fuck? Again, that's a thing they do on the phone. right? If you're on a dating app, you may swipe right, yeah. Well, I make, wipe my ass with it too. I might do that.

You never know what I might do, but that doesn't have anything to do with a tag team. Jim, what about the team of Bang and Matthews? Depends which one is Bang and which one is Matthews. Davey Bang and August Matthews. Do those pass the name test? No, because what the fuck? You've got. goddamn who would have a British fucking punk

guy from the 80s with the Davy Bang with a fucking folk singer from the 40s Jim, does this pass the test

team 200 KG I guess it could be 200 kilogram team 200 kilogram I don't know how much is

200 kilograms comprised of Chihiro Hashimoto and you me why you you you. Why you,

I a yada? You son of a bitch. The shooter boys. Does that pass the name test? The shooter boys. Only if it's a god, again either Blue Boy magazine or some kind of cult video. Neogenesis. That's a tag team right now in

Stardom, followed by Gaja docorro. Gaja docorro, comprised of Jason Lee and Koda Minoru. Minora. Minora. Jim, what about the team of magenta?

I don't know. I'm thinking fuchsia or potentially lavender. The team of Zaruka, which is Sal Ruka and Zaria, Zaruka. What about the team of T-M-E? T-M-E. I guess not. What about Bob Bob-Bob-M-M-O-Banana? Oh, come on now.

You're either having a stroke or you're winding me up. I swear to God, that's here. What do you think about this name? Business team. No, no, no, no. Back up to Bobbobo and Boo Boo. Bob Bob Momo Banana, which is comprised of Mio, Minomo, and Eureka. They beat Team 200 KG for the marvelous AAAAW tag team title.

I'm the current marvelous champion. The marvel is that the name of the promotion? The marvelous champion. All right. What about business tag team? Does that pass the name test? Business tag team. Oh, that's like insert the graphic here on a blank screen.

Is that what they replace? Okay. With the tag team's name in there. you call yourself that? Right, here's a new game. I'm going to name the tag team. You tell me if it's a tag team in Japan or a tag team anywhere else in the world.

Okay. We'll start with business tag team. That has to be in Japan where they have a limited grasp of the subtle meanings of the English language. That is correct. All Japan Pro Wrestling. This is what's currently happening in all Japan.

Jim, what about the team of Cowboy Way? Cowboy Way sounds like it would be some dipshit here in the United States. It appears to be Americans, a team comprised of one called Manders and Thomas Shire. Oh, boy, they really sound like they belong together. Go ahead. What about the team of astronauts?

Astronauts would have to be another Japanese thing, kind of like a speed racer takeoff, wouldn't it, since that would just be just corny as fuck for the United States at this point? You are right? Is the team of Fumi Nori Abe and Taka and Takuya Namura of course

Jim the main event Japanese tag team or not Oh the team is the main event The main event Well that's got to be American Because they're Trying to glorify themselves Through their name to make up for the fact

That they probably look outlaw That's right Jay Lyon and might is black What about the team of Cozy Max Cozy Max? Cozy Max I think that's the the lineup of

Gisha girls that MJF has in his bathhouse, isn't it? I don't know about that. It says here two-time former MLW World Tag Team Champions, but it is Oku Mora and Satoshi Kojima,

so that's a Japanese tag team. The Miracle Generation. Anything with Miracle in it is from Japan. Swerve, apparently, it's not. Dustin, Walker, oh no, Dustin Waller, excuse me, and Kailon King, the Miracle Generation. What about Darkness Revolution?

Okay, that's got to be Japanese. It is indeed Chiaki, Misa Matsui, and Nagisa Nozaki. And they named themselves that because their matches are better when you watch them in a dark. They wrestle for marigold. What about country gentlemen? that's got to be American or at least not

Japanese AJ and Casey Kazana Kazana Oh that's yes that's Joe Kazana's young young offspring Oh no shit

Yes they're working down in Tennessee I don't know exactly how you say this Is it a star Decourage Decourage So the letter D and then an apostrophe

And then courage Decourage has to be some de mass in America apparently not it is the team of Dragon Dia

and Yuki Yoshioca that's the courage Planet Gojura that one may be too easy for you I was about to say no I'll pick Kansas City number 81 Jim

the Von Erick's Oh good Lord What did they do to piss anybody off. Jim, Japanese tag team or not? Arcade violence. It got to be Japanese. No. Brody, Turnbull and Jake Lawless. They're dominant in Scotland's insane championship wrestling. So they, their calling card is they go to arcades and exhibit really violent behavior for, instead of all the other teenagers that are just there to play games and have a good time.

What about the Apex, Japanese tag team or not? No, it's American. It is Yuki Ino and Yukio Naya. They're really starting to throw you. They really change things. Wouldn't you know it was Yukio? What about the Brothers of Funstruction? That's got to be some stupid American outlaw shit.

It appears so. That's Rufo, or is it Rufio? No, it's Rufo. Rufo and Yabo, the Kloch. the brothers of funstruction. Well, no, what? Is he the one that gets roofied, or is he the one that's roofy and people?

No wonder they're having fun, if they're roofy and people. Jim Crush Boys, Japanese tag team or not? That's got to be a Japanese, yes, because the Crush Gals, the Crush Boys, are the, is that the, some type of male-oriented sub-genre of pro wrestling, like Rent Boys? They are not a Japanese tag team.

They are the tag team of Star Boy Charlie and Titus Alexander. What about North Shore Wrestling? That's the name of the tag team. That's the name of the tag team. Well, that's got to be on the north shore of Lake Pontchertrain. This is Jack and Sam Osborne and Will Ketus.

We're on the home stretch here, Jim. Midnight. See, they live right over in Belcher, Loxy. Midnight heat. Oh, come on. Midnight heat. They would be Americans, I would think, just barely maybe.

It appears so, the team of Eddie Pearl and Ricky Gibson. Not him. Not him. What about the Mexia boys? Well, I think they'd be Mexican, wouldn't they? Mexia boys comprised of Noisy Boy and Spiderfly. Noisy Boy and Spider-Fly. see that's what why why does anybody

involve themselves in something where they're labeling themselves to the public as a dip shit before anybody even has to make an opinion on whether it's true or not Jim what about the good hand Japanese oh I'll tell you what I'm in favor of that but I don't know what that's got to do with these list of tag teams

Japanese tag team or not the good hand oh I know I'd made my answer oh oh I got I thought actually they were Chinese or Korean, the good hand. But nevertheless, I enjoy all of the Asian countries. They're, yeah, they got to be from Japan. Doesn't appear so. It's the team of Shug D. And Tyler Stevens, the good hand.

What about? Do they do a forehand now? Because it's, I don't want anybody to be left out. Rivality. Rivality. What about rivality? That's got to be a misprint, doesn't it? R-A-V-A-L-I-T-Y. Well, that's got to be American because Japanese people wouldn't know how to spell that. Well, it is the team of M-B-M-B-M- and Ultima Sombra.

Ah, so that's Spanish then, is what that is. What about the tag team of the experience? Well, you and me do pretty good on my show, but what about the team that? the drive-thru. They didn't make the list. Number 97, the MXM Collection. Oh, my God. That's those two Mansour and Minaj. That's right. They deserve to be that far down. Jim, three more tag teams here. What about the team of sent to slaughter? Sent to slaughter. Is that the Mokies new gimmick? And it's the number two. So sent to slaughter. One word. with just the number separating instead of space marks.

Yeah, they're going to go far. They're going to go real far. Jim, top team. Top team, a Japanese tag team or not? No, because the Japanese are too humble to refer to themselves as the tops. It is Jay Lucas and Terriaki. Terriiaki. That's right.

And finally, Jim, the final tag team here, number 100. the money or not the just says money money birds money birds money birds money birds they come pretty cheap

though that's Gigi Ray and Monica Monroe and apparently they they wrestle for the NWA or reality of wrestling women tag team champions

there it is 100 tag teams to show you including women to show you how far we have fallen as a wrestling populace. Jim, any final thoughts on the PWA tag team 100?

Yeah, that's depressing. There is no more tag team wrestling, unfortunately. Well, unfortunately, there's no more drive-through this week either. You know, that actually sounded pleasing and tuneful. Because it's the end of the year. We want to let the listeners know how grateful we are for another year of support, another year listening to the shows, another year of going to the shows, another year of going to the YouTube channel, another year of going to Coronets Collectibles.

Jim, as we wrap up the drive-through, any thoughts, Christmas time here at the end of the year for the listeners. Well, yes, and now is the time where the lights go down and the camera zooms in on me, and I deliver the heartfelt Christmas message of this Peanuts special, but I forgot my blanket and I can't suck my thumb and talk at the same time. So, folks, just have a Merry Christmas. and a happy new year. And we'll be back here to take the piss out of people in 2026.

That's exactly right. Stay tuned to the official Jim Cornett YouTube channel. There'll be videos going up. Omnibus is going up as well as on the podcast feeds. But until next time, for Jim Cornett, I'm the great Brian last.