My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 272 - WRESTLEMANIA 39 RECAP WITH BRANDON WALKER AND NATE

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

Robbie is joined by Brandon Walker and Nate to recap and discuss the WWE's WrestleMania 39 two-night card and the RAW that followed! Plus, the WWE sale and the future of the company! This is the 'Then, Now, and Forever' of Barstool wrestling coverage coming together for the first time in history. 3Chi: Use code BASEMENT15 for 15% off your complete order at 3Chi.com! HelloFresh: Use code FOX50 at HelloFresh.com/FOX50 for 50% OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER plus FREE SHIPPING! C4: Go to 7-11 or c4energy.com to purchase yours in all four flavors **************************************** Subscribe to My Mom's Basement on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeZ96PqdsJYQ7DFLRx6MHw My Mom's Basement Merchandise: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/my-moms-basementYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello and welcome to My Mom's Basement presented by Barstool Sports and 3C and a very special WrestleMania edition of My Mom's Basement. It's a wrestling crossover, it's a Kraken Aces crossover, and this is the first time in the history of Barstool that we've seen the then, now, and forever of Barstool. Together. Together. Of Barstool Wrestling, really. Yeah, it really is. It's pretty shocking that I did wrestling for a year and a half

and we never collabed at all. Because you guys hate each other. With that, yes. We have a feud. We were building up to a big blow-off match at some point. We just never had it. Yeah, and then Vince took over. And then the third member of the team went to the competition yeah yeah wrestling went out of business and got bought

out by by my mom's basement so now i just work for him yeah that'd be nice if you did honestly well we could always use the help but we're here to talk about wrestlemania wrestlemania the two night extravaganza one night was seeming every wrestling fan's wet dream the next night didn't go the the quite same um well i think a lot of it for most of it i think a lot of it did i i think night night two's getting a lot of undeserved hatred for the ending agreed and the ending is something that is a big bone of contention for a lot of people but i i think that's discounting a lot of great work on night two before the main event and the main event itself the actual match and not to be contrarian we will be talking about the ending to night two forever because of how polarizing it is it's true

i think it's one of the more baffling booking decisions i've ever seen in my 25 years of being alive yeah i would agree let's let's get into it let's talk about night one then let's talk about night two and then we'll talk about some of the future very good and real quick to endeavor vince mcmahon has a mustache now uh raw laughter mania we have i think is the bigger which is crazy i think it's the bigger story than night one or night two. I think Raw After Mania shows so much about where we're at. I don't know if it's the bigger story. It is certainly an epilogue that might make you close the book. It's interesting.

It has worn away at me all day today. It has frustrated me. It's made, like, I love when wrestling's good. I love writing about wrestling. I love talking about wrestling. And we were on such a great path. And then it was just like, let's throw a grenade into this because I'm Vince McMahon and I said so.

And fuck that, dude. let me tell you something you're not going to talk about a man with a mustache like that okay that mustache mr whip snidely whiplash has i not the mustache and the mustache is one thing yeah he dyed his eyebrows the eyebrows are dyed i noticed that as well he dyed his hair his eyebrows and his mustache yeah like this man is now worth which he was already worth probably billions anyway. He just sold for $9 billion and he came out with the worst look he could possibly come out with.

We know he has nobody in his team that's going to say that ain't it. Oh yes, Mr. McMahon. Great look, Mr. McMahon. Shane McMahon went out and tore his quad just so he wouldn't have to stand and look Vince eye to eye. It was a beautiful tribute to his father.

It really was. You know, it is funny. If you think about all the people in power in WWE, Vince, Triple H, Shane. Kevin Dunn. They have all blown out their quads on camera. Oh, yeah. That just happened. that's just happened like that's just a prereq it's such an odd injury like like yeah do you know anybody what you've been in

wrestling training and stuff but i don't know anybody in my life who's ever torn their quad i don't either i've been around wrestling for years i'm the only the mcmahon's and 100 of the people on camera yeah flares chopped and mcmahon blow out their quads. It's like Samoans, too. The headbutts, yeah. They just have weak quads, the McMahons. They tear right off the bone. Let's talk about WrestleMania. You fill yourself with horse steroids. You know, things happen. I'm just

so angry about it. Let's get into it. This podcast is brought to you by 3Chi. Of all the things in life, one of the best has to be getting high whenever you want, wherever you want, without the paranoia of consuming some sketchy black market stuff. What's the best way to do that? With 3G, of course. 3G has the highest quality cannabis products from their delicious Delta 9 edibles and their industry-leading Delta 8 products to their new line of Delta 9 O-vapes and everything in between. I've been telling

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Go capitalize. Austin Theory and John Cena kick off the show. I thought it was a good choice to put this first with John Cena going first. The match was fine. It was nothing special. One of the themes of what I felt throughout this show was this feels like its own era of wrestling. It isn't trying to be anything else. This show, for the first 80%, felt new.

It felt fresh. It felt like they were making bold decisions to move forward. Yes. And while the match itself was just, all right. Yeah. It was just, you know, John Cena is not even a part-timer. He's just a mania guy now. Yep.

And he just doesn't have it right now. He's not in full-time mode. And Theory was trying to carry him around. It was a fine match, but the decision to go ahead and give Theory a win over John Cena will pay dividends down the road. Will it, though, with this win? I think so. Cena got the tap on him.

Well, clean, not clean, does any of it matter? I mean, Roman Reigns won because Solo's thumb. Clean, not clean, does it really matter? Don't get me triggered yet. Five years from now when Theory's standing in the middle of the ring, he's not going to be talking about, remember when I almost tapped, but I beat John Cena? No, it's going to be retconned into him beating Cena clean in the middle of the ring he's not going to be talking about remember when i almost tapped but i beat john cena no he'll it's uh it's going to be retconned into him beating

cena clean in the middle of the ring i guess i i like austin theory as a person i know he's done the yak stuff he's a nice guy i'm not fully sold on him yet you don't think the character is is there no i like it i like where they were potentially going with him i think i texted you i like austin theory as the new legend killer i like him as sort think I texted you. I like Austin Theory as the new legend killer. I like him as sort of challenge me, you know, he'll beat Orton. That could be a big match. Just these veterans, I like the rise of Theory and I really saw potential. I think he's good on the mic. He has that look that Vince loves. And I liked him getting the pin over Cena. I thought it was a good way to kick off Mania.

I agree with that. Then the Street Profits won the WrestleMania Tag Team Showcase. This was fucking awesome. I think this was better than it had any right to be. The Chad Gable German suplex on Braun Strowman, Ricochet doing every flip in the book to the outside. My God, get that guy in a ladder match before he can't do twists and turns anymore. So I thought, you know, these four men or these four team exhibitions, right,

when they just put as many people on the card as possible, can often just be slogs like, okay, everybody's out there, everybody's getting a paycheck, yay, ten minutes, let's get out of here. It felt like all eight of these guys were like, you know what, fuck it, I'm on WrestleMania. We're going to go. And they all had a moment where they all just started. Like the street prophet not named Montez Ford. Dawkins. Dawkins taking out Braun Strowman was incredible.

You know, everybody. Gable. Gable with the rolling suplex on Braun Strowman. Yeah. I think there are three or four guys in this match that you could take out, make a single star, and like Gable, I think, could do bigger things. He's been underrated for years. Montez Ford, we all are just waiting for him to get the star push.

But, yeah, I thought for what it was, it was delightful. Yeah, very short, too. I think this was like eight minutes, all it needed to be. It was a sprint. Yeah. Going back to what you said, where you said for the first 80%, it looked like it was a new era and they were pushing people forward. They weren't doing your stereotypical WWE match.

It wasn't going through the motions. You know, we know this spot's coming, this spot's coming, this spot's coming, pin, one, two, three, done. It was almost like they knew what was a day away, and they said, we're going to put our balls on the line, and we're not going to listen to what street agent Road Dogg tells us to do. We're going to put on a fucking match, and they delivered. Well, not to jump ahead or anything, but Street Profits won the match, right?

Yep. And I thought it was a great match, and it really kind of set the table for what was to come. It really was the first, because Theory of Cena wasn't great, and then this one was. And it set the table for things to come. But does it sour you at all? Because the Street Profits won that match, had a bunch of momentum, and they show up in Raw after Mania, and they just wrestle the champs and lose.

Lost right away. Immediately. We can do three hours about how angry every single thing on Raw after Mania made me. Every single thing. Montez fuckedia made me. Every single thing. Montez fucked up that finish. That was tough. That was tough to watch. He didn't roll back into the turnbuckle.

When they get that right and it's the stunner into the Huluva kick, I think that's going to be an awesome tag finisher. Yeah. Yeah, no, it will be good. It does. I mean, it bothers me a little bit, but I didn't look at this as like the biggest number one contender match ever, so I'm not super bummed.

Yeah, and Street Profits can always get a shot. Yeah. When are the Street Profits going to transition into Montez Ford being Montez Ford? I think it should be pretty soon. I have this idea, Robbie, of Montez Ford, biggest heel in wrestling, and Bianca Belair is right beside him, and they're just two assholes that are just the best wrestlers. I mean, I would kind of like to see her as the biggest baby face

and him as the biggest heel, and the fans to have that dichotomy. That's not bad either. Like, that would be kind of cool. Like, how can you love this guy and we love you? Like, that would be really cool as well. I think definitely doing almost the Becky-Seth thing with them where it's not acknowledged every time but everyone knows that they're together yeah would be cool when he eventually breaks off into

a solo star speaking of Seth Rollins his match against Logan Paul was awesome I think as we anticipated it would be at this point Logan Paul you know he's gonna go out there and do something that goes viral it was the prime spot this time with KSI I thought that was really good as well like I know it's a shameless plug a shameless ad the way they worked that spot in with KSI. I thought that was really good as well. I know it's a shameless plug, a shameless ad. The way they worked that spot in with KSI filming himself and everything was great. This was another match that gave us a WrestleMania moment and did what it needed to do. Is it crazy to say the greatest celebrity match in the history of WrestleMania?

Oh, that's a good question. Tell me a better one. That's a really good question. The Bad Bunny one is pretty good. Is there a better celebrity performer in the history of this business than Logan Paul? And is he even considered a celebrity performer now because he's been, that's his fifth match in a year. Is he just a wrestler now in that universe? Because he kind of seems like he is.

He kind of is. I got a lot of notes about this match. Do you? Go on. First of all, the zipline entrance, liked it. I didn't love it. It wasn't great because he ended on the ramp. It was so slow, too.

But he was talking. It was like a heel thing to do, go a slow zipline and talk to him while you're doing it. Yeah, I guess. Look at me. Look at me. Now, I will say the second Seth Rollins hit the entrance ramp, he took my breath away. That red thing was phenomenal. I loved it. The little gimp suit under my

heaven the jeff jarrett there's a jeff jarrett yeah uh rollins i don't know when when exactly rollins became the the gear guy where he's just gonna give you some gear special gear but it's just it was great and then they get in the ring and i i i don't know it was just awesome seth rollins can wrestle anybody yeah logan Logan Paul kind of can wrestle anybody. He didn't have a single, like, stutter, flub, botch, nothing. He looked like a wrestler. He looked like he's been doing this. There are other matches on this card with wrestlers who have been wrestling for 10 years.

Small mistakes here or there. I never saw it with him. At the Rumble, he did the turnbuckle smash in the middle. The ricochet, that was insane. Yeah. Something we've never seen before. He turnbuckle smash in the middle. The ricochet, that was insane. We've never seen before. He's a top athlete at the company. Can I say something controversial?

Go ahead. He might have a better fucking over-the-top rope clothesline than Hangman Page. I don't know that that's controversial at all. I was going to bring it up. Did it strike you that he used it very early in the match almost as like a transition move? Yeah. And it's Hangman's finisher. That was kind of like Barry in the movie. Does Logan Paul have a finisher right now?

Is it the punch? That's awesome. Is it the punch or the frog splash? I feel like the frog splash is. It might be the frog splash, yeah. But you could pretend Roman Reigns doesn't exist right now and he's got a hammer lock on the title. You could put the title on Logan Paul. No problem.

People wouldn't like it. They wouldn't like it. Let's say we had a regular champ right now. Bob, he's credible. You could buy it. He can't be Roman Reigns. But let's say there's a regular champ right now. It's the normal.

Logan Paul could beat Finn Balor for a title. Correct. He could beat Kevin Owens for a title. Bob wouldn't like it. I wouldn't like it, but it could happen. He could yeah that's the thing you wouldn't be able i we're talking fantasy bookings now i wouldn't buy that as much as i would buy someone who is you know interchangeable i think ko is a little more elevated but i see what you're saying anybody the champ other than roman reigns because roman reigns been the champ for a thousand days and they're not going to let

it end by logan paul but if anybody else were the champ yeah if if somebody had beaten him you know uh for it along the way if randy orton was the champ right now yep logan paul randy orton could headline the summer slam and logan paul could go over i mean you were saying about cody and logan paul at summer slam if cody would have won at wrestlemania you could have main event that absolutely could have main event yeah and there was a second during this wrestlemania i thought that might be a real possibility and logan's probably going to show up at every mania every summer slam and wrestle somebody he should why not they're probably paying him up the ass oh yeah i don't know deals and everything i would imagine the hell we're paying him just to say he likes once every two

fucking years so why not good point he's a part-time barstool employee as well um trish lita and becky defeated damage control another one that that was nothing special i thought it Part-time Barstool employee as well. And it's so much money. Trish, Lita, and Becky defeated Damage Control. Another one that was nothing special. I thought it was fine for what it was. This is a nostalgia match. And seeing Trish and Lita, seeing Trish, I'll never be angry at. She's something. She's a stunner.

Lita can't really wrestle anymore. No. She was wrestling in quicksand. Do you guys get so nervous when she goes to the top rope for the Lita Salt? I get nervous when... Yeah, it was...

I get so nervous because there was one time she came back, I think, in 2018 before the Rumble where she almost, like, landed on her head for that. I'm just going to say it. I did not enjoy the times

when Lita was in the ring for this match. I just... I didn't feel like she... Listen, the level of wrestling in the women's division is higher than it was back then. That's not a... And she's older. I didn't feel like she – listen, the level of wrestling in the women's division is higher than it was back then.

That's not a – and she's older. But Trish, Trish can still go. Still great. Still has the stratisfaction, the chick kick in her arsenal. Looked great. The only – The WrestleMania 21 outfit she had on looked great. The only sad part for me is there are some great women's matches on this card,

and we'll get to them. But Bayley and Becky, there were probably better uses of them than this. And Bayley seems pissed. They have failed Bayley. To go from Bayley-Sasha to what she is now, and she kind of did a goodbye tweet on Twitter today. I thought they failed Sasha before she left, too. They failed. They did.

When those four got on the main card and Becky made her own self-star, but Charlotte was just pushed as the biggest deal. I would say Becky put herself over. Charlotte is just the best wrestler. I think Sasha's the best wrestler out of those four. That's what I think. That's just my opinion. I think...

I mean, they're all good. Sasha throws way more caution to the wind. Charlotte, man. That's what I think. That's just my opinion. I think. I mean, they're all good. Yeah. Yeah, they are. Sasha throws way more caution to the wind. Sasha will let you, like, throw her into a barricade and break every bone in her body to give you a good bump. Well, I don't want to shit on Charlotte there because she'll do a moonsault onto anything. True. True. She does that crazy.

She'll land on her head. She breaks up. But I just think they have failed Bayley so much. And then she was ignored on her all after Mania. She said wrestling can be heartbreaking.

Yeah, the greatest love story has the most heartbreaking conclusion. Seems like she might be done. I don't know. It's tough.

She might go out and join. Also, yeah, she's got her best friend traveling the world having the time of her life. She might want

to go over there. But listen, night one was a terrific night. Terrific. the weakest part yeah easily easily one of the strongest parts and one of the strongest duos of entrances we got all wrestlemania was ray mysterio versus dominic mysterio father versus son the matchup we've wanted for a really long time since dominic's debut pretty pretty much. Their entrances were phenomenal. Dominic coming out with the ode to his time in prison in the handcuffs. It's so funny.

And one of the guys was Officer Dan Barry, who does a sergeant gimmick on the indies, bringing him out. So that was great. And then Rey Mysterio having nothing but a G thing. Snoop Dogg driving him out, hitting Eddie Guerrero's music. And then his.

That was the perfect stage to be set for this match. And then the match was incredible as well. It was a family drama. Bad Bunny getting involved. Setting up a match for Backlash pretty much. Pound for pound. One of my favorite WrestleMania matches I've seen in the last 20 years. Wow.

Because when Ray and Dom were tag team and they were bringing Dom along, I didn't see much. Yeah. I didn't see much. I was like, I don't know about this. In fact, they wrestled in Logan Paul's match last year, right? Wasn't it them against the Miz? Yes, it was.

I was like, I don't know. And then he gets with the Judgment Day and he starts to grow the hair out and you're like, okay, okay. But WrestleMania, when he comes out in the back of that paddy wagon, and he's got the mask on, and he's walking, and they take the mask off, and his face, like, that's a star, man. Like, that kid's over. He's leaning into it.

I was like, yeah, I'm picking up everything Don Mysterio's laying down. And then Rey does the fucking Snoop Dogg thing, and he does the Eddie thing, And he does the Eddie thing. And he does his own thing. And the match goes 20 minutes. And they bring in the sister and the mom. And I thought it was phenomenal from start to finish. Yeah.

Yeah. For a while, I thought Dom could definitely use some NXT time. He never, as far as I understand, never wrestled indies, never did NXT. And then he was just thrown. And you could see that he is a little green, but obviously he's just been trained by the best since he was 12. Then it paid off. They invested in him.

They trusted him a ton, and he paid it off. I'm with you. The insurance was just unbelievable. I loved it. Very high hopes for Dom. It was such a great package of, all right, our time starts now when Dom starts to come out. The entrances into the match, into the Bad Bunny involvement, it was all done perfectly. And just think about the fact that Rey Mysterio has been with them since 2002, right?

His first Mania was 19. He had a whole career before that. His first Mania was 19. He had a whole career before that. His first Mania was 19. He had a whole career before that. He just had his best WrestleMania match. Name a better WrestleMania match than that one for him. I think you're probably right about that. You know what?

WrestleMania 22 is a classic. When he won the title over Orton. It's shorter, though. It's like a 13-12 match. I don't think it was what it could have been. No, no, no. They were supposed to get more time. His match against CM Punk at 27 was really good, 12 minute match. I don't think it was what it could have been. No, no, no. Definitely. Like they were supposed to get more time. His match against CM Punk at 27 was really good, but not this.

Yeah. This might be his best WrestleMania match. This, this, you talk about match, but this, the entertainment value on this one started the second the entrance is fired. Like the, I wouldn't judge this as a match. It's a whole experience. This was like a whole show in and of itself. Great is when the story pays off.

Yeah. Like that is what makes good moments so special is it's not just, people can have good, there's five-star matches that I'll probably never even see,

you know, just like overseas. But you know the good stories and this story has just been told and delivered and paid off with a great match.

And that's also why WWE's been so good in the road to WrestleMania. It's the stories. The wrestling quality has always been there. The roster's always been there. It's the stories. The wrestling quality has always been there. The roster has always been there. It's the stories they're putting together at this point.

Well, I think the last three months, five months, six months, maybe some of their best story writing they've ever done. Agreed. Because they finally did it on multiple levels. For the first time in a very long time, it wasn't Reigns and then nothing else mattered. It was the story matters, the story matters, the story matters, the story matters. And it all paid off. And I'm not going to talk about it yet,

and then they blew it all up. A story that I didn't love going into WrestleMania, but they over-delivered on their match was Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair. Could have been invented. I disagree with that. I mean, I don't think they could have gone so good. The main event was so good. On a normal night, yes.

They couldn't have followed the tag match, but the match itself between Rhea and Charlotte was awesome. The right woman won. Rhea got the big WrestleMania moment in front of a big crowd. Really good stuff. She rules. She is so cool. She has the build.

She can wrestle with anybody. She has a great look. That look for a casual wrestling fan immediately goes, whoa, that's a wrestler. Yeah, I thought it was terrific match. Now, when you say you didn't like the story, what did you not like about the story? I don't know if the immediacy of the story

between when it was announced until now, I don't know if they stuck that landing, but the fact that she lost to Charlotte two years ago. No, I like that. I don't like Charlotte as a baby face. I don't think Charlotte likes Charlotte as a baby face. No, I don't think so either. And I could feel that. The crowd wants to cheer for Rhea so badly. And they did

in this match. They were just like, we don't give a fuck. Vince never realized in the last 10 years, if you have like a badass look in someone cool who beats the shit out of everybody, the crowd's gonna like that person. Yeah. And yeah, Charlotte should never be a face. Ever, ever, ever, ever. She's gonna take some time off apparently. She just gave the WWE a heads up. I yeah, Charlotte should never be a face. Ever, ever, ever, ever. She's going to take some time off apparently.

She just gave the WWE a heads up. I don't know how she would be a face. I don't even know how to identify her face. She's got to chill in plastic surgery. It's just... Everybody her choice! It's a different one every time. I've got to cut that out. Someone's working extra tonight.

That's why we don't have a show. I'm sorry. This is not Barstool Sports. We can't talk about it. I'll let it fly. I didn't say it't have a show. For real. I'm sorry. Was this not Barstool Sports we can't talk about? No, I'll let it fly. I didn't say it. I didn't say it. It wasn't me. It wasn't him.

She's a beautiful lady. Boycott the yak. Gorgeous. Boycott the yak. That's right. Pat McAfee. Surprise appearance. Surprise match.

Let's just not clip that out. No, we won't clip that. Surprise appearance against The Miz. Quick three-minute little segment here. They got George Kittle in. I was just happy for George Kittle to get his WrestleMania moment. Real quick. Kittle got no pop, and it's not his fault.

He doesn't play on the team that plays in that stadium. He plays on a upstate team. Well, they also never, to my knowledge, they didn't ever say, there should be a crowd shot earlier saying, this is George Kittle on San Francisco 49ers. They never did that. There was no build. There should be a crowd shot earlier saying, this is George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers. They never did that. They did that the next day. He's not even part of the WWE universe unless you follow him on Twitter

and see that he wears Stone Cold shirts on game day. They just expected people. And George Kittle is a pro bowler, NFL player, but he didn't get a pop because they never built him to have a reason. He's not exactly a star. He's a star player if you watch the NFL. But you don't know him if you don't watch the NFL. Credit The Miz.

He's been doing it for 20 years. He doesn't miss. He's great on the mic. He does great matches. And then he just eats shit night after night after night after night. I just think he deserves better. I don't know if he deserves better because I think he's so good at doing that role.

But I want to shout out Miz and Snoop Dogg because I thought they really performed their roles beautifully. Oh, they were great. As far as when you bring a celebrity in to guest host, it's usually awkward. The fans usually want to boo. They might call it Summerfest or something. But Snoop was on point every single segment that they did. And then he set up this well and McAfee got his moment. I guess my point is like yeah so like the ms is better than a dolph ziggler who can't even incite

a reaction you know it's just like wallpaper but the ms is better than a i don't know a zach rider who you could put into that position and he could execute it i just think the ms has been doing it long enough that he doesn't have to just eat shit every week for two years. But I think that shit-eating role is so valuable. And I understand. I agree. I agree. I'm not saying you're wrong.

If you can make a career out of that, you've made a hell of a career. I think he's so much better at doing that than being that main event guy. He can be that main event guy. He can heal main event. When they put the title on him during COVID, that was cool. It was like eight days. If you need it to transition or if you need, you can throw him in whenever. He can heal main event. When they put the title on him during COVID, that was cool. If you need it to transition, you can throw him in whenever. He's like a 6th, 7th, 8th inning relief guy,

which if you need him to go in the 2nd inning, he can go in. But he's going to be a star in that 6th, 7th, 8th inning. And those are very valuable to a baseball. I get they trust him so much that he is the host of WrestleMania, but I also hate that he just isn't involved in the title picture whatsoever at any level at all but i think i think he's got a job for life i think he's got a job for life and i think he is do you think he'll he's a made man do you think he'll go to commentary like almost yeah i think yeah i think ms will be on wwe tv until ms dies i think so as well.

Oh, I got triggered by a tweet. Someone said he is carving out his Hall of Fame career. I was like, carving out? He is a bona fide, no doubt about it, 100% first ballot Hall of Famer. Pretty much anyone who main events WrestleMania is, in my mind. Almost. The fact that careers kind of last a long time now, and everybody circles around to the title eventually,

I don't know that anybody that performed on this mania isn't going to be a Hall of Famer. If you have carved out a 5, 10-year career in WWE, you're just there. If they split the belts again, I could see Miz having another title. I hope they don't. I don't want them to split the belts. Like Braun Strowman. You know they will.

Braun Strowman was in a tag match. Braun Strowman's a WWE Hall of Famer already. Yeah, he probably is. He is! Now that is a good discussion we could have. I think he is. Right now? I think he is. If he stopped wrestling right now, ten years from now, he would... He's part of the Wyatt family. Yeah, ten years from now

he would be put in. Also, he is so athletic and in such good shape. And remember when he was at the top of the top and they just didn't do it for him? I gotta say, God, I love Braun. I loved Braun. I loved his time at the top. Right now, I'm not in on him.

He just looks like a generic whatever. You think he got too in shape? It's not too in shape. It's too normal. He just looks like a guy I would see at the local LA Fitness. He used to look like a guy from the swamp that was like a monster. He's big, but he's not that big. He's not

shockingly big. Not like Omos is shockingly big. And if we can just finish off the Wyatt family once and for all, Bray, just rest in peace, brother. I'm sorry, I'm out on Bray. I've been for a while. I'm sorry, I'm out on him. And he's got to stop getting plastic surgery.

So I'm trying to cover my tracks. He overcomplicated. I was telling Bob, he just overcomplicated it. Just be the weirdo and do matches. He couldn't help himself. He's got to have 10 different storylines. That Uncle Howdy thing that the story drugged for like 6 months and nothing ever happened.

Alexa Bliss, she died. It ruined her. Morgan was almost part of it for a second. She got lucky to get it. Nothing ever happened? Like, okay. Alexa Bliss, she died. They ruined her. Yeah, she died. Morgan was almost part of it for a second, it seemed like. Yeah, she got lucky to get it. Poor Alexa. You mentioned a name I'd like to talk about for 30 seconds. Go off.

You said Zack Ryder. Yeah. What happened to Matt Cardona being on Raw last night? I thought. I know, Jay White, too, I thought. Jay White, I thought we were getting some surprise. We will do our three hours about Raw after Mania. We will get there. Now, question.

Are we in an era where we should change that to the SmackDown After Mania? I was thinking that, too. It's on Fox. I know it is, but Raw After Mania is the day after. They might be changing it. But it's that WrestleMania crowd is still there. SmackDown's their bigger show now. I know it is, but it's in Portland this week.

You know what I mean? They're going up to Oregon. That's pathetic. It's their bigger show now. I know it is, but it's in Portland this week. You know what I mean? They're going up to Oregon. That's pathetic. It's not that WrestleMania crowd. It's going to be a bunch of antifas. Yeah. The main event of night one. They'll be in good spirits after today, though. Did we talk about Charlotte Ripley enough?

I thought you were going to say something. I got all I needed to say. I think Rhea Ripley is maybe one of their best stars that they have right now. Rhea versus Bianca. I think they're doing that. WrestleMania 40, they're both going to hold the titles until then, I think. Would be an incredible match, and that could legitimately main event a night.

I think Rhea, I'm surprised it took them this long to put it on her, but I'm glad that it did happen. It worked. They built it to Mania and she's a heel in a heel faction that everybody boos and the fans just ate it up when she won the title and to Charlotte's credit a very reliable

dependable champ to hand it to her yeah absolutely alright I gotta cut off this podcast real quick to tell everyone about HelloFresh one of our favorite sponsors here in the basement. HelloFresh takes the hassle out of mealtime this spring by delivering pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-prepare recipes right to your door. Skip the checkout lines and get outside in the warmer weather this summer

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have HelloFresh meals at the ready. It's America's number one meal kit for a reason. Go to HelloFresh.com slash Fox50 now. The main event, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeat the Usos, finally completing the Sami Zayn versus the Bloodline story. I don't know if completing actually is the right word, because I could see them coming back to that at some point. Depends on who's booking it, brother. Depends on who's booking it. But this was the happy ending for Sami Zayane and Kevin Owens in this whole saga.

And some of my favorite matches in the history of wrestling, in my opinion, encapsulate the whole feud. And that's what this did. It was mostly Kevin is not in the picture. Sammy Zane is being put down, put down, put down. But he kicks out at every single turn. Every time they try to pin him, he's kicking out and he's fighting back. When Sammy Zane gets Kevin Owens to even the odds, they go toe to toe and then eventually they take over get the win they did that emotional almost

battleground like finish he pins jay with the multiple huluva kicks everyone is crying at the end this is the kind of wrestlemania main event that sent me to bed on a high i didn't want to go to sleep after this no i wanted to re-watch it i wanted to read all the reddit posts watch their post fight presser all of it this was everything i wanted the reason night one will live forever is because it ended the way gigantic events should end yes with happiness joy celebration comeuppance tears all of that everything that you can write in a wrestling storyline and let's give them credit because you want to shit on them every you because you want to shit on them every turn. The Bloodline story has been the best story they've told,

and it's one of their greatest stories of all time. Do people shit on the Bloodline? No, they don't. But we will shit on the ending of the next night in a minute. Sure. So let's give them credit for sticking the landing on this one. Yes. Because when Sami Zayn didn't win the title in February,

it was like, okay, all right, Zayn didn't win the title in February, it was like, okay, alright, I kind of wanted to win the title, but give him the tag match at Mania, and he'll end the story with Jey Uso, and the way they did it, the three Haluva kicks, him holding Jey up and staring, looking him in the eyes. It was perfect.

It was perfect. Sami's inclusion in the Bloodline storyline, if it was the Oscars, he would win Best Supporting Actor in a landslide. He would get every vote. He was so necessary to that storyline. And that put him in the main event talk. And he had the match. And we all wanted him to win that match so bad.

And we understood why he didn't. And now we can go back to the whole Cody thing, et cetera, et cetera. But we understood why Sammy didn't win. He tags with KO. They have this 25 year history together. They get their mania moment. Two things. I want a little pushback on you,

not pushback, but get your thoughts on hit you in the face. Should, should Sammy Zane who is, and Kevin Owens who are, you know, they've been in the industry forever. They've given their bodies to the industry,

et cetera, et cetera. Should their WrestleMania moment be winning a tag team belt or do you think they will sammy zane he doesn't have the look he doesn't have you know the type that vince wants etc should he get a title run again and have a title wrestlemania moment or is this the peak of what they'll get i'd like to answer that okay i believe if he gets a title reign later, fine, whatever. We'll see.

We'll see. Maybe this isn't the peak and maybe it builds to something bigger. But if this was the peak, it's one hell of a peak. Okay. Because this guy and Kevin Owens go back. And you know Kevin Owens. I mean, what did it mean to you to watch these two guys standing in the middle of a ring with 80,000 people crying because they won and fireworks

going off like is it just the tag team title yeah sure it's just a tag team title that's not a small thing and they they it's more the fact that these two best friends went through hell and fire and brimstone to get here and they got to the top of the industry so together and I'm not and that's a peak. I'm not shitting on that. I was just trying to devil's advocate a little bit there. Could Sami Zayn have main evented this and won the title on his own? Yes.

You had two diverging paths, and I think the end of both paths were pretty good. Yeah. And so now, it's so sick. My first thought was, I can't wait for KO to turn on Sammy. You know, it'll happen. I can't wait. I absolutely can't wait. What if it's the opposite?

I won't say me saying to turn on. What if, what if they finally flip the script? Yeah, it's, we know it's going to, something will happen and they are two of the best workers and they have all the chemistry and they put on the best matches. It's if Roman walks away or whatever they're doing and we stop caring about Cody versus Lesnar right now, KO and Sami are the main eventers to me right now. I mean, I could write you a story of Sami Zayn winning the 2024 Royal Rumble

and winning the title at WrestleMania 40. I could also write you a story of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a bloodbath to end all bloodbaths at WrestleMania 40. Yeah, something like that. And they're such good, because I want to believe both of them were involved in the storytelling and involved in the process. They were. They're such good storytellers that they'll get it to where it needs to be.

Yeah. Yep. I loved the gear as well. I wanted to shout out Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens wearing the PWG logo on their gear. I thought that was an awesome touch. I want to shout out Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens wearing the PWG logo on their gear. I thought that was an awesome touch. I want to shout out two other guys. Oh.

I think the Usos might be the greatest tag team in the history of the business. They're up there. I really think they're top five without a doubt. I said it, and people want to love the teams back in the day. What about Hard Foundation? They were together three fucking years. The Usos for ten years have been great. And they, as much as Sami Zayn put himself,

as much as he put himself in this main event, he doesn't do it if Jey Uso doesn't act his ass off in this storyline. He doesn't do it if Jimmy Uso doesn't act his ass off. They were just as key to this storyline as Sami Zayn was. You know what stops them, for me me from being the best of all time is I mean the storyline and everything aside what is their uh TLC match what is their like that moment the edge spear and the hearties diving off everything they just made it into Wrestlemania and uh there you can you can take three or four of their New Day matches. The Hell in a Cell match. And it lines up with...

Because, I mean, I would put New Day over Usos. I would have before this whole thing. Before this feud. Jay and Jimmy Uso have been a part. And you can say Roman Reigns. They've been a part of the most important storyline in wrestling for two years. I was going to say... Two years!

And they started it. Jay and Roman was the start of the bloodline, head of the table. Roman is the catalyst here. Jay was kind of the catalyst. Jay they started it. Jay and Roman was the start of the bloodline. Head of the table. Roman is the catalyst here. Jay was kind of the catalyst. Jay was the catalyst. I understand. I understand. But the story revolves around Roman.

Yeah. And the story ain't over because they got pushed out of Raw last night. I know you're going to get deeper about it. I can see the psychological wheels in your brain churning. I get it. But for me, I need a gift that lives in infamy. Think about this, Nate. Edge and Christian.

Yeah. Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy. D-Von and Bubba Ray. The Dudleys. The Hard Foundation. The Road Warriors. Scotty Tuhati and Grandmaster Sexay. You tell me a period in wrestling where any of those teams were part of the biggest story in wrestling for two years.

You cannot do it. There ain't one. None of them main event at WrestleMania as their teams. You can't do it. Even TLC when it happened at WrestleMania 16 and 17 were part of the card. They weren't the focus. Can I say this, though? That is one of the most famous matches in WWE history.

It deserves to be. I think this one will live. It won't be in the opening like the Edge, Spearing Jeff Hardy 15 feet above the ring. That's crazy. But this in 10 years will be, remember that time, the Usos. Is it the first tag team WrestleMania main event since the first one? Yeah, I think so.

That's pretty big. I'm not trying to discredit what they've done. I need a moment. All right, fair enough. I'm not trying to discredit what they've done. I need a moment. All right, fair enough. I feel like the moment just happened. I think the moment might have just happened as well. And I think we might even have a moment in the future. It might not have.

They might be the people that cause Roman to lose the title. There's a chance. There's a chance. Solo has to give him a thumbs up real quick. There's not a small chance. Jay's going to give him the thumbs down. There's not a small chance that Jay Uso is the man that thumbs down. There's not a small chance that Jay Uso is the man that ends the Roman dance.

There's a chance. I would say he's the favorite in the clubhouse at this point. No, Cody's still the favorite. You think Cody's the favorite? I think Jay is. I think Cody's still the favorite. If it was Cody, it could have been Cody now. I know, but they're just going to make us wait another year for Cody at 40. Do you guys not know who's running the show? Amos is far and away the favorite right now.

Am I the only one paying attention? Speaking of him, we got 20 minutes before you gotta do the ready to rumble. It's just Clemmer, man. So let's get into night two. Facts! Brock Lesnar vs. Omos kicks the show off, and I called this, by the way, as soon as I saw that this

wasn't obviously headlining, I was like, alright, this is kicking the show off because Brock wants to get the fuck home as soon as possible. Four minutes, and it was four minutes of fun. We got to see Brock thrown around like a baby, which never happens. And then we got to see Brock throw Omos around like he was that shark from the SummerSlam commercial. It was fine.

But at this point, what's Omos going to be? What do you think? I mean, is this the peak for him? Yeah. Yeah, I think this is the peak for him like what he just yeah yeah i think this is the peak for him i don't i like him too but i like him but he probably needs to be the heavy and attack team yes i think you're right about that yeah yeah he probably needs to be that or or a shit-eating heels uh backup yeah yeah yeah he did his part well in this match he did fine yeah

he did fine and and brock doesn't get enough credit for when he'll sell his ass off. That's what Nate texted me during the show. He goes, you're paying me? I'll sell. I don't care. He'll get thrown around just like anybody else will. He sold all the way to the back. I thought he had a fucking hernia.

His face was purple by the end of the match. Yeah. For what it was, it was good. It was a good start. I thought it was a better opener than Austin Theory and Cena. Do you agree with that? I agree with that as well. And the pop brock got when his music hit was gigantic huge i mean that is one of the greatest opening theme sounds ever yeah and seeing brock is one

of those things that he has an aura about him he's cool that is seeing him with almost two is like yeah baby face brock different and i mean dude that guy is every pound of 450 pounds, seven feet tall. When he played video games in game time, he was a massive, massive, massive human being. I mentioned this in my blog. One of my favorite moments ever was going to the SummerSlam after party, walking onto the balcony. First people I saw was Glennie Balls and Omos talking. I walked over. I was like, what are you guys talking about?

I think I had gone home by then. Yeah, he's like, Omos is telling me about getting into wrestling from college basketball and stuff. Yeah, played at what, Howard? I don't know where he played. He hangs out at the Columbia Mall in Columbia, Maryland. Does he? Yeah. First weird decision of the night.

Ronda and Shayna Baszler win the WrestleMania tag team showcase. Can we skip over this? Fuck Ronda. She is worthless to this company. What's weird about that decision? Why do you put them over in that match? Why? Why, Brandon? What were your alternatives?

Liv and Raquel. Liv and Raquel were right there. I also love Chelsea. Chelsea's one of my favorites. Chelsea, you could have put Chelsea over. I would have put Chelsea over Ronda and Shayna. You're putting Sonya Deville over? Chelsea, yeah, but... I wish this match was, like, Chelsea versus Liv versus Raquel versus Io and Shirai.

That's better. That's better. I wish it was a fatal four-way. Like, Ronda stopped being cool ten years ago, and they're still doing this thing. Shayna's got a lot of potential. She doesn't like the business. A lot of potential? Don't you think Shayna's talking about?

What are you talking about? She's been a monster for how many years now? I'm going to get angry. Shayna? Y'all don't think Shayna has? What are you talking about? She's been on the main roster for how many years now? I'm going to get angry. Shayna? Y'all don't think Shayna has a problem? I think she was great. She was great in NXT. At this point, she's been on the main roster for, what, four or five years?

Well, hell, so has Rhea Ripley. She just got her moment. I think Shayna can still be a star for them. Shayna hasn't been climbing and climbing and climbing like Rhea, though. Shayna's been baselined. I mean, it's a scripted event. I just think Shayna... Mr. Wrestling's fake over here. Mr. Wrestling's fake over here. What the fuck? I think Shayna's been baselined. I mean, it's a scripted event. I just think Shayna's fake over here. I think Shayna's got more to offer than y'all are giving her credit for.

I have nothing bad to say about her. I want to yell about Ronda Rousey some more. Go ahead. She's not cool. She hasn't been relevant in the world. She doesn't seem happy doing that. In a decade. She doesn't like the industry.

She openly talks shit about the industry. And then they trot her out there as if she is the female version of Brock Lesnar. She doesn't seem happy doing that. In a decade. She doesn't like the industry. She openly talks shit about the industry. And then they trot her out there as if she is the female version of Brock Lesnar. And she's nowhere even close to that stratosphere of wrestler, draw, or anything. But you, I think you can still use her to make somebody else. She's not a draw, though. I don't think you can. You can't. You don't think so?

No. She's wallpaper, dude. Liv went over her, and I don't know if it made Liv. It didn't. And I love Liv, but like... Why are y'all getting up on me? Just relax. Bro, you just said wrestling's fake. No, I didn't know if it made Liv. It didn't. Why are y'all ganging up on me? You just said wrestling's fake. No, I didn't. You basically did.

I'm saying, I think y'all are being harsh on Shayna. Shayna is not a career maker or a drawl or someone who You can heat Ronda up to make her a career maker in five minutes. I don't think you can. She lost in UFC when I still lived in Virginia.

That was eight years ago. Yeah, but did she make an event at WrestleMania after that? Cool. She did, but people don't look back at that like it's

an amazing moment like they talk about. I didn't realize you two hated Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler. Shayna? I don't hate Shayna. You're Ronda haters.

Ronda, I'm over. Completely. I think it's a failed experiment. Happy birthday, Chelsea Green. Happy birthday, Chelsea Green. Oh, happy birthday, Chelsea Green. From the wrestling podcast. Oh, let me text her that.

Was she the co-host? We tested her out as the wrestling co-host a couple times. She cut her. I tried to get her hired by Gaz, but I don't think she would hook up with him. It was like succession. Jesus Christ. So she said no. Cardone is going to come to kick somebody's ass for that comment.

I hope it's Gaz. Let's talk about another 10 out of 10. Five star, six star, seven star, eight star, nine star, nine and a quarter star. Talking about Trish again? Wherever Meltzer's up to. Gunther versus Sheamus versus Drew McIntyre. Every star that's available. This was, I called it one of the best Intercontinental Championship matches

WrestleMania has ever seen, the best in decades. I would say best Intercontinental Championship matches WrestleMania has ever seen. The best in decades. I would say best Intercontinental Championship. Don't say ever. I would say one of the best Intercontinental Championships ever. I would say there's three. WrestleMania 3. Savage Steamboat. Yep.

Bulldog Bread at SummerSlam. Yeah. And then this one. Wow. Give me one I'm missing. WrestleMania 8. Pretty good, but I think this was better. What was that Zackrider one I saw?

The ladder match. WrestleMania 32. Yeah good, but I think this was better. What was that Zackrider one I saw, the ladder match? WrestleMania 32? Yeah, that's fine. That was fun. Like the WrestleMania 31. Sean Jarrett had a five-star classic, but as far as... Oh, oh, oh, oh. Ladder match at 10. Ladder match at 10 should be there, too.

That's number one. That's number one. I got Savage Steamboat at one, but I'm fine. I would just flip those. I would go one Savage Steamboat, two Ladder Match at 10, and then three Brett Bulldog, and then I would have no problem slotting this one in at four. I'm okay with that as well. We all are in agreement when it's big burly men beating the shit out of each other.

No gimmicks, no nothing. Just wrestling. Nothing can beat that. No, it was amazing. These guys beat the fuck out of each other for 20 minutes. I know we got to go soon, but I want to talk about all three of each other for 20 minutes. I know we've got to go soon, but I want to talk about all three of these guys individually. Five years ago, I wouldn't have given you a nickel for Sheamus.

I thought he was fine. He's a guy. No-talk Sheamus when they're chanting, you look stupid. He's a guy. The bar. I didn't really. Whatever. This guy's reinvigorated himself.

Oh, yeah. The crowd want him to win. As just this ass-kicking dude that just wants to fight. Drew McIntyre, 10 years ago. we all know his story that he came up. But Drew McIntyre is every bit the potential that they thought he would be 15 years ago. Yep. And this motherfucker, Gunther. This motherfucker, Gunther. If you give your name Gunther and get the crowd over, you are doing something right.

This motherfucker, Gunther. Gunther. He is as legit as legit gets i i just think whoever had the idea to put these three together knew what the fuck they were doing oh yeah i mean they took the clash of the castle match which was match of the year material and yeah it it and and they they went for it you could tell early drew's like over the top rope dive on this match yeah it's crazy but you could tell early on that they had probably decided, hey, we're just going to go. We're just going to go for it.

We're going to whoop the fuck out of each other. Because Sheamus hit Drew with the thing 27 times. Until he fell. And then I think Drew fell out of it. And I think Sheamus hit him on the face on the way down. Yeah. And the chops. You know.

Those chops are insane. There's chops that you can hear hit the skin and it slaps. But sometimes you can hear it hit the meat and the bone. You hear that thud. And you were hearing thuds on these chops. And I think the right guy won here, too. I know the crowd wanted Sheamus. I like Gunther getting the WrestleMania moment.

Gunther had some of my favorite gear in WrestleMania, too. That navy and white. It was sick. One of the rare matches, triple threat matches, where I would have been fine any of the three winning agreed uh but i'm glad go through one i think there's a lot of story to tell with him um i also like his imperium the tag team with him i like the whole presentation when they like announce him i like that skinny guy i don't know what his name is i like him a lot the way they go like that i like that of course is our oson

somewhere wondering what could have been he He's the ring of honor champ. He's got a big dick, too. Yeah, well, what's that got you? I don't know. Bianca Belair. Tony Khan's phone number these days. True. Bianca Belair defeats Asuka.

A match that I thought would be amazing and then, once again, lived up to the hype for me. Bianca, I said, might be turning into Mrs. WrestleMania. And that's what they're going for. Two years ago, she beats turning into Mrs. WrestleMania. And that's what they're going for. Two years ago, she beats Sasha in a terrific match. Last year, she beats Becky in a terrific match. She can't have bad matches at WrestleMania.

This might have been the best of the three. The Sasha one was really amazing because the environment, the atmosphere. The only shame of it is I don't think it's quite as epic as Rhea Charlotte was. It wasn't. Oh, I liked it better. You liked it better. You liked it better. I liked this one better. I thought the epicness of the moment felt bigger in that one. Maybe it's because a new champion was winning.

Yeah, I don't know. I disagree. I loved the finish of this. The strong, slow power up and then hit the KOD. Well, the mist and then her looking at her like, I know the fuck you didn't. Listen, Bianca is one of those rare when she was in that nxt i don't think anybody said wow this is going to be the one uh i don't know people did i think people did

she she she never hit the stardom level once she got to the main roster yeah she took off yeah she i didn't see her being three-time uh women's champ at wrestlemania good no no that's a good point especially because you already had, she was going into a WWE that already had Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha, everybody was already there. Yeah, and she's not just

the ponytail girl anymore. No. When she came up, she whips people with her It was just waving everywhere, dude. She turned baby face. She was a heel in NXT.

I think when she went baby face. She's a natural baby face. People love her. Yeah, that's a good point. And I just want to point out the entrance with the kids from Compton. Compton Angels, maybe. But the dancers and the story that they told of the main dancer that lost her mom.

What an incredible story that day. But WWE is a special organization that can really be a light for people like that right oh the John Cena interns with the make a wish and I like that then they all watched him get but then they all know they were gone listen we're discussing Wrestlemania today and Wrestlemania is powered by c4 ultimate energy I love this stuff I truly do I've got the arctic snow cone right here I think it's the best flavor 300 milligrams of of caffeine. C4 Ultimate Energy will fuel you up to get the energy, to get hype, whether it's for gearing up for a night out, pulling an all-nighter. If you're trying to play the new WWE video game all night, get some of this in there. C4. It is so good.

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C4 has got your back. Get hyped and get fueled with C4 Ultimate Energy. They want me to ask the audience. This is a great question. I'm glad C4 actually threw this in there. What was your favorite WrestleMania moment this year? I want to know in the comments below. I want to know in the reviews on iTunes if you're listening to this on the podcast feed.

Did you have a favorite moment brought to you by C4 Ultimate Energy this year? Let me know and get yourself some C4. Go to 7-Eleven or go to C4Energy.com and purchase yours in all four flavors. I recommend this one right here, Arctic Snow Cone. That's my favorite. That's the My Mom's Basement flavor. Snoop Dogg defeats The Miz in an impromptu match after Shane McMahon tears his quad, blows everything

in his leg out. Shane McMahon's music hits. The crowd is always going to pop for Here Comes the Money, but if that music never hit ever again, I'd be fine with it. I'm over Shane McMahon, Shane O'Mac. If he's not diving off to Hell in a Cell, stay at home, Shane. I think that might have been Shane O'Mac's last

gasp. I hope it was. And then Snoop comes out. He hits the greatest people's elbow in the history of the people's elbow. Well, one thing about Shane. The second his quad tore is when this WrestleMania changed. Yeah. Don't you think everything after this is different than everything before? It's like his quad was holding the whole thing together. It was like a butterfly.

And the next match was kind of a train wreck. I mean mean it's just a man's quad tears in la and then a title is the only thing holding everything together but but uh and again back to snoop snoop did his job one i don't know what they paid him he they could have doubled it he's been worth it really clocked him is with that first punch so what i think was i don't know that he ever learned how to gimmick punches. Maybe not. Maybe punch him in the face. I think Miz just says, punch me. Yeah.

Because the second one's pretty slick, too. The second one was, yeah. And then the referee, apparently, Jessica Carr, apparently, was the one to go, people's elbow, people's elbow. He punched him. Yeah, yeah. My thought on that is, I think Shane was supposed to probably go five minutes, and then Snoop was going to do people's elbow. So it's not like he improvised the people's elbow. She was just like, get back in there real quick.

But he did. He made it look seamless. Oh, without a doubt. There were people arguing with me that that was supposed to happen, which is when you see the videos of Shane backstage hobbling on his one leg. I don't think that was supposed to happen, guys. I don't think you could fake an ACL tear, quad tear, or like that.

Vince calls him, he goes, Son, I've always hated you. I'm so proud of you, son. We're going to have one more moment at Mania. God damn it, I'm proud of you. And then that's it. Like, him tearing his quad just like daddy before. Vince backstage, well, he's a McMahon now, God damn it.

Finally. I wouldn't have sold if I knew he was going to tear his quad. Wait, you're making me nervous. How much longer can you be in here? I'm fine. Okay, okay. We'll go a couple minutes. I'm fine, I if I knew it was an entire squad. Wait, you're making me nervous. How much longer can you be in here? I'm fine. Okay. We'll go a couple minutes. I'm fine.

I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm going to put my legs up like you guys. Edge and Demon Balor in the Hell in a Cell. I wish it got a little darker before their entrances because they both had the hot topic entrances for this one. I also wish Edge didn't go over Demon Balor. I'm very confused about the thought process of let's bring him back. I get it's WrestleMania.

This was the first time in this entire two-day show where I was like, I think the wrong person won. Yeah. And the match also suffered from the cut that Balor got, which was gnarly, gnarly. 14 staples. Let's take it bullet point by bullet point. The entrances.

I felt like I tweeted this. I was like, they started brainstorming ideas for the instances and didn't throw anything out. They used every one. They used every single one. They had a ball mask. They had a whiteboard. Like you can do this,

this, this, and this. And then he took the marker and he just, the wings, the fire, I got bat wings. I got a disco mask,

three different entrance songs. I got songs. Can I have Slayer? Yeah. Goddamn right. You can have Slayer. Is Gangrel here? Can we get him out here? Edge did everything.

Finn Balor. It was great entrances. But the problem was, if that was a match in a ring and his head busts open and they stop and do it doesn't really change the flow that much. But it's Hell in a Cell that is supposed to

be the most dangerous environment. It's supposed to happen like that. It's supposed to. And I understand you had to medically, because that was a hell of a cut. But the fact that they stopped a hell in the cell match to administer medical work. Attention to the demon. Right, to the demon. It kind of took you out of the whole thing.

Who tried to murder Edge and his wife. And now they're like, Edge, back off. You might have a fucking boo-boo. And Edge is like, all right, I'll just go over here and look for some chairs. I'll go grab seven more pixie stick kendo sticks that are painted purple for some reason. Why did they paint the chairs and tables? Why'd they paint all the fucking weapons for this match? Whose idea was that?

The table was purple. And why did it get approved? Well, I don't know. That came off like a Vince idea. Oh, without a doubt. That's a Vince. It reminded me of you. To me, that was an Edge. It seems like Edge was like, hey, I just want a purple table one time.

Edge, can I say this too? I love Edge. One of my favorites of all time. Yeah. Since he's come back, his acting has gotten dramatically worse. Well, his facial expressions were always a lot, right? They're a lot, but now it's like he's like every scene, he's like acting. I'm acting.

Acting! I agree. Yeah! I'm over the edge over acting. Bob, do that again. Yeah. That is all he does. Yeah. So they stop it, then they go with the demon losing.

Why bring the demon back if he's going to lose after the faulty turnbuckle beat him last time? Yeah. The demon doesn't mean much anymore. No, it doesn't. It's almost like it's a prop now. It's Mania, so let's paint him up. That's the goofy guy who puts paint on.

Yep. Yeah. Yep. It was like when they put Bray Wyatt in the, what was that match? The neon glow stick match. But the demon itself. Yeah. The demon itself isn't a hard character

to keep going back to because like I don't think it is. If he wins the title doesn't he have to be the demon every match? But you could keep him out of the title picture.

He's a baby face because the demon needs to be a baby face. He can't be the heel. But if he's got a demon in him why would he ever not be the demon? Tell me that.

Because he needs to channel the demon. He can only channel it once in a while. It takes a lot out of him. Dude, you need to channel the demon for the big matches but if once in a while. It takes a lot out of him. Dude, you need to channel the demon for the big matches. But if the demon can't win a match... Well, don't channel him anymore.

He's a loser. Why would Paul Barrett just hold up the arm the whole match? The demon's a loser. Don't channel him anymore. The whole thing, I'm agreeing with you, is like, so now the demon loses to 49-year-old Edge. That's tough. What do we care now?

So what should have happened, obviously, is Finn Balor should have lost to Edge. And then in the rematch, he channels the demon, and he wins. Let me tell you something. I'm over a little bit. I think the hell in the sales time has probably come and gone. Yes. Well, they really, the pay-per-view kind of killed it.

It killed it, but I was watching the other day, and I'm like, I'd really just like to see this better. So, Brandon. If I like to see this better. So, Brandon. If I could just see this more clearly. I tried to yell at a cameraman, too. He's like, get out of my way. Get out of the way. As a child, growing up watching wrestling, when they did the one Hell in a Cell every year and a half, two years.

I feel like sometimes it went longer, but then I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it never went three, but it felt like it. It was like, holy shit stuff is about to go down. And then they made hell in a cell, a pay-per-view. And there were times in those pay-per-views when the cell wasn't even utilized. It was just, it was,

it made no sense. There's still matches. And then they let women wrestle in and it was like voting. Like who wants to do that anymore? Now the women can do it. Hell in a cell should go away for two years until like someone's ready to fall through that mother i just realized something i'm gonna use this show and my appearances to say the things that i can get canceled for you can i would love that i think that would be good for the show we've

been thinking about we need on the podcast nobody listens to cracking aces we need to mean girl it up a little bit there was cracking asses no no No, that's the one I do with my dad. So on Cracking Aces, not to be confused with Cracking Asses, we need someone to come on and just have takes. So we might have to just have you on. Just write down my cancelable takes? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm talking about Charlotte.

The main event, night two, finally. Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes. How sure were you guys going into the main event that Cody was walking out champ? I was 75% sure. Really? I was 95% sure. What about you? I mean, you texted me.

You said you would respect it if Roman Reigns walked out. So our old friend, Shmarid Shmabis, you don't have to edit that out. Could be anybody. Could be anybody. He's a huge Reigns guy. And I always love a good zig when you think they're going to zag. I always love rooting for the heel. And I was convinced until the week of that Reigns was going to win LOL.

Not even like LOL Reigns wins. More like Reigns wins because he's the baddest dude on earth. And then I bought into Cody. I was like, this isn't, I hate fake pushes. I love organic, build yourself up, like how Daniel Bryan did it, and then like how Sammy did it. And I said, they didn't let Sammy win because Cody is going to win. I bought into this.

This makes sense. The rehab videos, the montages, he is a face that I'm buying. And it takes me a lot to buy into stuff like that because they write who they want to be the face, and that's what Vince does. And I bought it hook, line, and sinker. And I went in and I said, you know what? This makes sense.

Cody, you're my guy. But that's where it was kind of well-written, right? Because this was the convergence of two immaculately written stories. It was the convergence of the Bloodline, which has dominated wrestling for three years, and when the Usos lost, it did make sense for Reigns to win and then come back to the Usos and be like,

you guys blew it. Kind of, but it makes more sense for the Bloodline to start crumbling altogether. On the other side, it made sense for Cody, who went to AEW and went through all these struggles in his career and then got hurt when he came back to do it for his dad. Both made sense to me.

Dude, how hysterical is Vince, though? Man, you're going to be number 30 in the Rumble. You're going to win it. You're going to be the biggest face in this company. Double middle finger. Fuck you, Cody. But we don't know that he isn't going to win it next year. Doesn't matter. I still think he is. That's what almost

frustrates me more about this, is that I don't know if he's going to be as hot and as over as he was this year. It would be almost impossible. It would be almost impossible. Because how do you ask the fans to invest in somebody twice? You can't. And some people are saying he didn't face enough adversity. He's got to face

the adversity. He's got to get the loss. He tore his pec. Exactly. He tore his pec. Exactly. He tore his pec. And let's not act like this is 1995 and wrestling fans don't watch other companies. Yeah, exactly. We saw him go start the WWE's competition. That is enough adversity.

That's how we should have known. That should have been. We should have known all along. Maybe. We were idiots for not seeing it coming. Let's give credit where it's due, though. Because I just told you, going into Sunday, I thought there was a real chance Roman Reigns could win.

But when they got in that ring and they started telling the story and Cody kept doing the babyface comebacks and fighting through everything, they had me in that 30 to 45 minutes there in the ring dying. I didn't know earlier that day, but that 45 minutes, I was dying for Cody Rhodes to win. I needed that feeling. The crowd was too. The crowd.

They sucked us in. Yeah. They sucked us in, and Cody had me convinced he's ending the story tonight. And then they didn't, and they took that moment away from me and you and it's like it took my it took my breath away and you know what i have a pretty good gauge of when wrestling comes into the mainstream yeah daniel bryan still since my time working on the internet has been more mainstream than anybody this storyline and just based on my what i see people were buying in and saying what is everybody talking about what is this cody rhodes thing roman reigns is a bonafide superstar now i need to see this and then they pop the balloon they said no my and and you've

already said it but when sammy i wanted sammy zn to beat him in February. I thought it was a great ending to the Sami Zayn story. But at least we got it. When he lost and everybody said, just wait, they did it because Cody's the biggest. It's Cody's to win. Yes. Cody. And I was like, I don't like that. And then over the next six weeks, I came to like it.

And in that 45 minutes, I needed it badly. My big thing is the end of WrestleMania used to end of wrestlemania used to mean something it used to mean the most you ended stories at wrestlemania you did you you ended it with hogan slamming andre you ended it with with austin you ended it with sean and the boyhood dream imagine if the boyhood dream and brett small packages him in overtime like like like for three years now wrestlemania 37 38 39 it has ended the same way with roman walking out doing this what more do you need to do to build roman range you've got him he's there why and you know why did this happen they even did it correctly kicking solo to backstage like get out of here this is man versus man are we not even talking about how the pivotal person in this

match is the most forgettable non-existent person of the entire storyline altogether solo yeah he was inconsequential to me they could have done it without him they have they have they have enough Roman Reigns is running around that they could have done it I think he's got a chance to be something I think he's got a chance but did it special. I think he's got a chance to be huge. But did it have to – I agree. Did it have to be now? No. Did it have to be now?

No, it didn't. And I don't like the way they did it. And people telling me on Twitter, oh, well, they want to have the tag matches and this and that. Guess what? You can do the same damn tag matches, but, Brandon, you said it best. Take the moment. Take it.

It's there. Take the moment. Wrestling is about moments. They had a chance in February. They had a chance the other night. it. It's there. Take the moment. Wrestling is about moments. They had a chance in February. They had a chance the other night. They punted both times. If you're not going to give it to me, why the fuck am I going to keep coming back? For what?

Is it for the accolade of Roman Reigns having 1,000 days? Is that why? What's 1,000 days? Who cares about 1,000 days? It's a made-up number. It doesn't matter. Well, 1,000 is a real number. It's not.

But 1,000 doesn't mean any more than 940. It doesn't. My only thing is they have to know the end. They have to know the end. They have to know who it is. Is it Cody fighting through more adversity? Is it Sammy spending time at the tag team and then coming back and taking Roman down?

After hurting the bloodline, does he kill it later? Or is it Jay who started the whole thing ending roman reigns i think that might be guys i think it might quit but jay's not the next face of your company cody is that's what i'm saying cody sells the merch cody's the draw they might see jay as a potential i don't know i okay so here's my question we bought into sammy didn't get the win we bought into cody didn't get the win. Are we going to beat the football again? Are we just going to swing and miss again? Are we going to buy into it?

I mean, it's going to be hard to get the fan base to that emotional point. If you keep pulling the football, they're going to stop kicking. And at the end of the day, I truly, truly, truly believe this is Vince saying, you started our competition, fuck you. I have a question saying you started our competition. Fuck you. I have a question for you guys. Yeah. So Cody Rhodes, if he did win,

is there any fear that they would have turned on him early? I don't think so. So by SummerSlam, you don't think the fans are trying to turn on his cheesy When he was getting destroyed by Brock last night, it wasn't exactly the crowd going, oh my god, please don't let this happen to us. They were kind of saying it. They were chanting it one more time. That happened. See, that did happen. That is the Raw After Mania crowd. That's also Brock. It's Brock.

I also think WWE, more than AEW, and Cody especially talked about this, has the family audience who are less likely to turn on someone like that, the kid audience. I really think the time for cody was now i don't think they'll ever get another opportunity as good to put the title on them as they had at wrestlemania that hurts me to my fucking core that i believe that yeah i don't

think they're and i think to put the title on someone else you now have to wait until wrestlemania you have to it can't happen at money in the bank it can't happen so now we're in no mercy another full year of the roman reigns run which has been great the bloodline story's been great it's so risky though robbie because roman's 37 years old yeah and he's got health issues what if roman gets hurt yeah what if roman gets hurt and you have to destroy like the you you had a chance twice to make huge stars based on taking the belt off of him. You didn't. Like the biggest moment since Daniel Bryan.

Literally the two biggest moments. Sammy Zayn and Cody Roach. In a month and a half. Yeah. And all you got to do is hopefully trust that they can build up a moment like that again. Because they did do it twice. But if they're just kind of. And if anyone's going to do it, it will be Cody with his baby face underdog promise.

And the other guy, Rollins, perhaps, do the shield architect thing again. I don't know. They built it up good for the Rumble. Will ever love Rollins like that. Maybe they will. I don't know. They bought in for it at the Rumble

when he kind of beat Roman by a DQ and everything. But, you know, it's not... Rollins has had his time at the top. It never felt like what could have accomplished with Cody winning and then his music hitting first thing on Raw and everybody going absolute apeshit. That pop, if Cody would have pinned Roman, oh, my God, it would have been Austin level.

When he hit the crossroads, then he hit another crossroads. He should have just pinned him right there. Three crossroads, done. When he grabs him for the third crossroads, this is it. I was standing up same and as soon as i saw solo my heart sank i know and and i felt like such a mark i said to you like i literally said to my girlfriend after the match oh no this isn't the way the match is ending someone's gonna come out restart the match because solo got ejected yeah so he can't interfere there's no way this is how wrestlemania is ending and then it just faded to black.

It was over. Do you ever think, I don't know if you guys have asked wrestlers this, Cody reads the script. How just disheartening is that? I think it's disheartening. Now apparently Meltzer has said that the result has been in for weeks. I think Cody is a fucking pro, right? Of course.

And I think Cody is from a wrestling family. And somebody said this on Twitter, but I kind of agree with him. This feels like something Dusty would have booked. It still sort of does. Dusty kind of would make somebody go through hell in a handbasket. Dusty would have things go for years. That's fine. And he did that to himself.

It doesn't mean when you open it and you look at it your head just doesn't drop like god i can't believe like vince really like really i think that's the reaction more than sadness i think it's like really all right if that's what we're gonna do it but like i'll have to trust you on that one and then do you think roman looked at it was like can i just take a fucking i really thought roman going to lose here and we wouldn't see him again until like summer's left. Can I just go to Bali for like six months? Can I just go? I want to say something that you're going to have to edit out.

We are going to bleep that. Yeah, we'll bleep that out. So we're all after Mania and whose music hits besides it's all about me, Triple H. Nothing's going to change. The company's sold. I can't. I got to say, I really like Triple H. I like him being that guy for the fans.

I didn't love his promo at Raw After Mania because it was such him saying nothing to me. Yeah, and he just kept repeating too. Just kept repeating himself saying nothing. Shout out Stu, the camera guy, Stu Mania. I got a smaller thing um sure place have equity do you think he has oh yeah oh triple h is he made out i think yesterday was a hell of a day in the life of paul lovek so he has it because he's married to steph he doesn't have he probably has on his own on his own okay uh but but i mean again i think it was a hell of a day. But him coming out to King of Kings and not the game pisses me off. The game is better.

The game is for when he wrestles. This is the King of Kings. But he's never going to wrestle again. So we're never going to hear the game again? Maybe not. I like the game better than the King of Kings. Now, it's a better song for sure. I said this, and maybe they are hinting at it.

Triple H long-term storyline, the game, it's all about the game, how you play it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think this Cody Rhodes storyline of him losing to Reigns works if you have an authority figure like Triple H or Vince saying, fuck you, Cody. You left us. You deserve nothing.

Based on your family name, you don't deserve to be in the main event. So I could buy into a, and that would be a great redemption arc. I'd be okay with it now. I'm about tired of authority at English. I know, I know. But at least it works. At least a, you left us to try to bring this company down.

We don't need you. I could buy into that. I'll tell you what. Last night when they kind of looked like they got one over on Heyman and Brock joined Cody at his side to be his partner, I immediately thought, man, give me a couple months of them just being buddies and then let them turn on each other or something like that. I thought that could be funny.

It could be good. And then it was gone after. Yeah, we're going to wrap up in a minute. Can I tell you what's bullshit? Yeah, just walk into a studio. Can I tell you what's bullshit is? God, this pisses me off. It's fine.

Is, uh... So, Cody works back from the injury. He does all the promos. Dusty storyline. Everything's leading up. He loses the biggest moment and the biggest stage of his entire life. He comes out raw left through mania. And he's doing jumping jacks and smiling and singing tunes that he gets to tag team with Brock Lesnar. He was pissed at first.

He wanted a rematch. He was like, rematch. He demanded a rematch. And then he didn't even know, because there was a moment where he didn't know who was coming out to tag with him. He had this look in his eyes, and then the music hit, and he was like, that's when he got happy. It was nonsense, dude.

He should be angry. He's the American nightmare. But he's also Superman, dude. He has a neck tattoo for some reason. He should have been furious. He should have been taking out knives and stabbing Roman Reigns in the face. Instead, he goes,

ooh, I get to work with Brock Lesnar. That's fun. It was bullshit. And then they do... And then Brock, oh my God. Oh, I was going to say, then they do Omos versus Elias. Then they do Omos,

which I read today on Fightful that that wasn't even supposed to happen almost didn't have his gear and he was in catering and was told you're going out to wrestle next like get your gear which is a total Vince thing Vince is back in charge he apparently ran the show last night I said it last night the second I saw that Rollins segment Rollins

goes out to have the crowd sing to him I tweeted Vince is back in charge what do we learn today Vince is fucking back in charge Rollins goes out and sings the crowd sing to him. I tweeted, Vince is back in charge. What did we learn today? Vince is fucking back in charge. Rollins goes out and sings. They go to a backstage interview. They go back to Rollins, who's still just singing in the middle of the ring. And they apparently told him during commercial, like, hey, sing and get out of there. Does somebody not tell him it was better when Triple H was in charge?

Does somebody not just say, hey, Triple H really reinvigorated this thing? I think he knows it was better. I think he's like, fuck those fucking fans. I'll show them what they want. God damn it. My mustache mustache i don't understand i do understand but it's all it's been driving me insane you take so much momentum and so much storytelling and so much good stuff and you throw it away in two hours for what for that's the that's the question we'll have to wait and see that's a wrestling fan's favorite fucking thing to say.

Wait and see how it plays out. Right now? For what? Are you not going to say the big return? Oh, Matt Riddle? Matt Riddle. He gives a fuck.

Last line or my producer is going to kill us. I know. We got to get out of here. Double play. Last line real quick. I can do another hour. All-time mania

that I will probably never watch again because of the ending. I'll watch it again. I agree that it's an all-time mania. I will probably never watch again because of the ending. I'll watch it again. I agree that it's an all-time mania. I think it's top five mania. I don't think it's top five because of the ending. I think it could have been the goat if they stuck the landing.

So final two thoughts for me. So the Raw ends with Brock beating the hell out of Cody. I'm very excited for Vince to now have Lesnar pin Cody in five minutes at SummerSlam. He better fucking not. Oh, it's happening. Oh, it's happening. Listen to me right now. I will turn, what is SummerSlam, August 6th?

I will turn that into January 6th and go to Stanford, Connecticut. If Brock Lesnar goes over Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam. I don't see that bad. I will. Roaming the halls with a flag. And number two, AEW, I am now your biggest fan. Do not let us down. AEW has the wrestling world in the palm of their hand.

I don't know what they have in store. Whatever they had in store for AEW mania, do it tonight. You should have been a fan already. I know, yeah, yeah. But do it tonight. We'll get you to Long Island Wednesday night. Yeah, this Wednesday. Are you guys going?

I'm not. I can't. Oh, okay. Well, then you should go Island Wednesday night. Yeah, this Wednesday. Are you guys going? I'm not. I can't. Oh, okay. Well, then you should go. You should go. Go by yourself. All right. All right.

All right. Thank you, everyone. That was my mom's asshole. We'll do this again sometime soon. My mom's puss. My mom's puss. My mom's basement.