My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 46 - FROM THE TOP ROPE STRIKES BACK

Episode Date: February 3, 2020

GRAPPLEFUCKS, REJOICE! An old school From The Top Rope takes over the My Mom's Basement feed this week where Robbie is not joined by his longtime tag team partner, Jared Carrabis, but Brandon Fuckin' Walker as well! From where the guys are in terms of current interest in the product, to their pre-Royal Rumble predictions, to their post-Royal Rumble thoughts, they cover it all! Consider this the first of many Road to WrestleMania podcasts!You 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. Welcome to My Mom's Basement, presented by Barstool Sports, and a very special From the Top Rope edition of My Mom's Basement. As always, joining me is my tag team partner, Jared Karabas. But this has now become a six-man tag. It has. I have another tag team partner. Trios. You have another tag team partner.

For the first time ever. We've gone from a tag team to a faction we are a faction we are a fucking shield finally brandon fucking walker in studio first time the three of us ever sit down talking grabs hello gentlemen this is this uh what size shield are you like a vest if you were to wear one man-sized okay large all right very big I feel like we have to do that now. If we're a three-man? Do the three fists in the middle? We had a former S.H.I.E.L.D. video, but it was only the two of us.

Yeah. It was only when Dean and Seth reunited. Right. So I have to be Roman? Do I have to get leukemia? Oh, that's not. Whoa. Jesus.

Brandon. Brandon. Jesus Christ. Coming in hot. Coming in hotter than ever hot That was hot Holy shit My bad I seem docile

He's doing great We're here to talk about the Royal Rumble Now if you're listening to this, the Royal Rumble has already happened In podcast time The Royal Rumble has not happened So we got together It is Friday, January 24th All of us are friday january 24th yes all of us are kind of not tuned into the product right now no all of us have taken a break

away from wwe programming don't even put it like that don't even put it like it took a break we stopped watching because the product is bad it's not a break that's true they made us i didn't want to stop they made us stop this is the most tuned out i've ever been in my entire life i honestly might be able to say the same i think this might be the most tuned out I've ever been in my entire life. I honestly might be able to say the same. I think this might be the most tuned out. And I've been watching some NXT. I've been keeping up with AEW. I'm not tuned out of wrestling.

I'm watching Dynamite every single week. So I'm watching that. And I'm not tuned out of wrestling either. I still watch the WWE Network. I still watch the specials. And I still watch old pay-per-views. I'm keeping up with New Japan more than I have in the last few months if we're being honest there's not a lack of

interest in pro wrestling no there is a lack of interest in the current WWE product and I think that could be said for more than just the three of us I think a lot of people are I think this is going to resonate with them and be like thank you because the WWE product has been fucking bad for a long time there's been no like holy shit moments to pull

me back in but this is the time of the year where they rev it back up. Of course. If they're going to gin up some interest from casuals and lapsed diehards, this is the time of the year, and it always starts with the Rumble and goes through Mania. If they can hold them after Mania, great, but this is prime time for them.

So I'm going into the Rumble colder than I've ever gone into the Rumble. And when would you say you started to really tune out? Because for me and Jared, it was around WrestleMania. We went to WrestleMania. We had a good time there. But afterwards, they didn't keep us. So I was watching the specials like you guys.

But even after SummerSlam, up until SummerSlam, I watched it. And then even the specials after that, like Hell in a Cell, and I can't even remember, maybe they did a TLC. I didn't even watch those with any interest. That was probably the only one that, like Hell in a Cell and I can't even remember, maybe they did a TLC. I didn't even watch those with any interest. That was probably the only one that I tuned back in for because I think you texted me and you were like, did you see how bad the finish to Hell in a Cell

was? And it was all over Twitter. So I was like, think of it that way. Think of the current product right now. The only time since post-WrestleMania, besides was Roman coming back to say that he's in remission that was after WrestleMania? No, it was before. No, it was before.

He had a match at WrestleMania. Okay, so when Ambrose left, was that after WrestleMania? Yeah, but he kind of left with a whimper. He had that Shield special, right? Right, yeah. And they actually said he was leaving, and he just kind of faded away. Which goes to show you how great he is and how much he bet on himself, because in AEW he has been fucking crushing it. If you look on YouTube, all of his segments are always double the views

of whatever the next highest viewed segment is. He feels like a star there, too. Yeah, the only times that I've tuned in in the last year would be WrestleMania. I tuned in to see the Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins main event. You guys big fans of The Fiend still? I love The Fiend, but, like, again, I tuned in because everyone was talking about how bad it was. And then at the, was it Crown Jewel that The Fiend went over?

It was one of the Saudi shows. Watched that. Other than that, it's almost been like you tune in because people are talking about how bad something is and you want to see the train wreck. Yeah, I joined in for the wedding a few weeks ago, the Bobby Lashley wedding, just because everyone is saying this is gross. Yeah, that storyline is death. I can't believe that storyline is still going.

But that being said, it's such a cliche Paul Heyman storyline that people aren't really, I don't think, really going in on him enough. He is the head writer of Raw, and that's the most Paul Heyman storyline I've ever heard in my life. Yeah. To answer your earlier question, I was big on The Fiend when he debuted. going in on him enough. He is the head writer of Raw, and that's the most Paul Heyman storyline I've ever heard in my life. To answer your earlier question, I was big on The Fiend when he debuted. The SummerSlam debut, I thought, they've got something.

But I felt like they killed him with the Hell in a Cell finish, the non-finish of Hell in a Cell, and by the time he got the belt, he was lukewarm at best. The lights, the everything. The WWE succeeds so much in killing characters that are hot.

They did it with Braun not too long ago. They did it with Bray. I feel like it's already, people don't even, the universal title is blue. People don't even talk about that. Yeah, it is blue. It's on SmackDown. They swapped the titles, and we have a champion on Raw who's never fucking there, which is super annoying. I've been down on Brock Lesnar for a long time.

They've been doing this for a year, for what, four or five years now i took seth rollins win at wrestlemania as almost the end of an era i thought foolishly okay finally we're gonna get tv champions we're gonna get the champion on tv every week he's gonna be defending the title it's gonna be someone that the fans actually care about or invested in see all the time see on house shows nope it's right back on brock and how can how can you care how can you care about the title at this point? That was his whole thing on the WWE Network special that they did on Seth Rollins. We're leading up to taking the title back from Brock. And it was like – he was like, when I was the champion, you look into the crowd and you see kids with the toy universal championship.

And I took pride in that and blah, blah, blah. And he's like – and then Brock wins it and you don't see those toys anymore. And then he's like, I'm going to take it back. And then he does. And then Brock takes, blah. And he's like, you know, and then Brock wins it and you don't see those toys anymore. And then he's like, I'm going to take it back. And then he does. And then Brock takes it back. And it's like, Jesus Christ. He took it again at SummerSlam. Kofi was so, like, after Kofi had a fucking great reign with that title, too.

Squashed him. Squashed him. Two seconds. One F5. Literally just one F5. Yep. That's all it took. Do you think Kofi's being built back up for an underdog win?

Or do you think they're just like, nope, we're going to sweep that underdog? I think Kofi got his thanks for being a good soldier for 10 years championship run, and he's back to where he's always going to be, and he always was before that. I think that was just his employee of the decade award is what that was, and he'll never get to that level again. So regarding the Royal Rumble, what can they do at the royal rumble on sunday that brings you back that gives you that fire and says hey maybe wrestlemania maybe the road to wrestlemania will be a good one i think they've already kind of like i don't i don't want to be a pessimist as it pertains to wwe they've kind of put me in that corner but

they've basically already announced like 90% of the participants. Like the number one thing that I love about the Royal rumble is when that clock hits, like I want to, I want to know that someone that you didn't talk about is going to be in the Royal rumble. Even if they're on TV, like even if they're on the active roster,

just someone that's going to be in there that wasn't announced. I'm not even talking about like the callbacks, which are also great. But I feel like they've named like so much of the rumble where you've left like i like going into the rumble with at least 10 surprise spots agreed 10 what i would like this time around is they've never just given us and we always want it a pure surprise winner yeah they've never done that it's always been and that's fine understand how storylines work. Going in, the favorites are Drew McIntyre's second favorite, and then Roman Reigns is the heavy betting favorite.

That's for this year? That's for this year. So I haven't even been aware of that. I've looked at the odds. Roman Reigns is the heavy betting favorite to win and go on and face The Fiend at WrestleMania. Jesus Christ. So it would stand to reason that Roman Reigns could possibly win this.

I would like, what if you surprised me? What if you gave me a Keith Lee? What if you gave me a, I don't know, an Adam Cole or a Velveteen Dream returning? Or the biggest one possible, a returning CM Punk? What if you gave me that? Now I'm interested all of a sudden. Do you guys have any faith in CM Punk returning? I don't.

I think there's no way I would bet my life savings that he's not coming back. I mean, he, from what I understand, has the same odds to win the Royal Rumble as Brock Lesnar. But Brock Lesnar is the number one entrant in the Royal Rumble. So I don't think like if CM Punk is going to return, I think it's only to main event WrestleMania. I think I don't think he's going to give them a program like I don't think that he owes them that. And I don't think that he wants to give them a program. I don't think that he owes them that, and I don't think that he wants to give them the benefit of that. So I think if CM Punk ever does come back, it's going to be like, all right, here's the deal.

I'm main eventing WrestleMania. That's enough. I'll cut some promos, but I'm not doing matches leading up to that. No, he shouldn't. Let me ask you a question, Robbie. You say you don't think he's ever returning. No, no, no. I shouldn't say I don't think he's ever returning.

You don't think he's returning at this moment? I don't think he's returning at the Rumble. I no. I shouldn't say I don't think he's ever returning. You don't think he's returning at this moment? I don't think he's returning at the Rumble. I think he'll be back for one more match. Everybody always comes back. Everyone comes back. Right. And I hope that he comes back before he's, you know, like Warrior came back and couldn't have another match, obviously. I hope he returns before that point.

Well, can we talk about the rumors of the guy that is coming back? Let's talk about it. 46-year-old, hasn't wrestled since 2011. I don't know that he would win the Rumble. Maybe he's just a surprise entrant, but apparently Edge is being talked about as somebody who's going to return this week. Now, I don't want to say, me saying that,

I don't want to spoil the surprise, even though they're listening to it afterwards, but even if it hits number 29 and Edge's music hits, even if I know it's coming, I'm still going to love it. Oh, yeah. Edge would move the needle for me. Just because I don't think, like, yes, the rumors are out there, and I think most smart fans know that,

but because of the way that he left, it's not like a CM Punk situation where it's like, all right, I'm fed up, fuck you guys, I'm out, and then he leaves. Edge's fucking neck is... He was forced to leave. Yes. He was heartbroken.

Yeah, he did not want to retire. He had to retire. If he continued at that point, all the doctors were like, yeah, you might not be able to fucking walk again, dude. So it would definitely surprise me if he came back. But they're doing the women's Royal Rumble again, which like if Beth Phoenix is in that and like she goes over to have like a, like an edge return on the same night, like a sort of nod to that. I don't know.

I, there are different scenarios that could play out, but if edge returns, he doesn't have to win to just have a minute. Even if he returned and got into something in the rumble where someone threw him over the top rope that he didn't expect. And you could build up to a WrestleMania to one match. It's just good enough on the mic where he does.

He doesn't need a title in this program. No, no. I'm also curious about his neck. Like, is he just okay? Because he delivered a spear a few months ago on Raw, and he looked great. But when he did it, everyone's kind of like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Careful, dude. Well, I mean, Daniel Bryan was forced into retirement by the same thing,

and he's back doing everything he ever did. So if Daniel Bryan could do it now, Edge is older and it's been longer away. So can he come back and be Edge? Yeah, but if it's the same diagnosis, which I don't know if it is or if it isn't, Daniel Bryan I know had more to do with the brain than it did the neck. But I would be down for Edge as long as he's healthy. He was one of my all-time favorites and one of my favorite surprise Rumble entrants ever in 2009, I think it was. 2010.

2010. He won it in Atlanta in 2010. Yeah, came in at 29 right yeah and that was the year where they did the uh taker michaels too and it was you thought that michaels was gonna get it and he got a great elimination he was holding on with with dear life for dear life with that one hand yeah it's a great element that was a great rumble that's one of my five best rumbles i was hoping to give my five best rumbles was that 2010 is on the list was the hpk elimination in the 2009 rumble wasn't that the one where it wasn't supposed to

happen like wasn't he supposed to make it to like he was supposed to make it to like the final four or whatever it was and he got eliminated well in 2010 he got a limit to eliminate him i i don't remember in 2010 he made it to the final four yeah and and i think that was it was supposed to look like it wasn't supposed to happen i don't know if there was one that wasn't supposed to happen purely i literally just watched that like like top 10 countdown like a week ago where it's like top 10 eliminations that weren't actually supposed to happen in the rumble and one of them was hbk like around that time i always get so nervous when a guy is teetering on the ropes like if he's not supposed to go out please don't let

him go out yeah especially with kofi like those crazy when he when he makes the bigger turn what are your top five rumbles if you had him prepared so yeah i think 1992 is the gold standard it is it is the great it is my favorite wrestling match of all time uh and it's your number one match it's my favorite it's the one i watch the most in life it's the best commentary it's the it's the best match ever i think 1990 rumbles real good but my top five is 92 2001 which has the great rock austin stare down and whatnot 2004 which was won by he who must not be named uh 2010 is way up there and then 98 which was austin's second win but when austin was really popping off you had foley coming in three times and the last two the last two was rocking Austin

in a prelude to what was to come for the next three or four years. I don't know if I have a top five. I can say my favorite Rumble winners. Like my favorite, I love Michaels winning in 95, doing the skin in the cat over the rope. I love Rey Mysterio in 2006. That hit at the perfect time for me where he was my favorite i was a kid i was what eight years old and i was just fucking going crazy he was in

there for 52 minutes in the corner the whole time i wanted him great ending to that one too with the hurricane rana over the top rope him and orton the final two and then great triple threat that followed and like you said 2010 the edge rumble I remember being fucking awesome. Incredible. Yeah, the 2000 Rumble, I believe it was the 2000 Rumble, the one with Kane and The Rock as the final two. That's right. Where Kane set the record for most eliminations in a single Rumble. Was that 11? Well, no, no, no.

I think you're getting too confused. What? So he set the elimination record in 2001. So then it was the 2001 Rumble. The one that fucking... What's his name? Drew Carey was in. Yeah, that was was 2001 i watched it last night it's very very good 2001 rumble kane is uh gets eliminated so the rock can win and then it was uh drew carey the honky-tonk man i just getting and that was that was the the most fun i've had watching a rumble live uh and then the 2000 was it five rumble the one with cena and batista 2005 yeah that was the one where batista wasn't supposed to go over vincent

mcmahon tears both his quads coming out all pissed off and looking at the footage on that thank god they hit at the exact same time because they really did they really there's been moments where everyone's like you planned it great there was like some kind of thing years ago where luke harper and aj styles were supposed to hit at the same time and they completely botched it like you could tell one person that before the other they couldn't even show replays 2005 it was like a legitimate oh my god this just happened the referees played it perfectly right away going one and one another one to bring up 2008 the msg john cena return yeah i think that's the best even though he was an active participant that's the best surprise return in

the history of rumble well nobody expected him back we all heard he's gonna be out for eight months it was like three months he was back he's got that wolverine shit where he just comes back immediately it's crazy what was great about that was it showed you know kind of the marks what that they're really just big wrestling fans because Because when his music hits, it's a huge ovation. It's gigantic. It pops. The pop is monumental. As big as you'll ever hear. And then two minutes later they're booing him. Yeah. They already

turn on him. They're like, oh wait, we really don't like this guy. We want you to know we don't like this guy. And that was the same rumble where they did the Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper thing. They came out and you could see CM Punk watching from the ground. He's like trying to sell, but he's cracking a smile because he's just like, this is so fucking awesome, Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper thing. They came out and you could see CM Punk watching from the ground. He's trying to sell but he's cracking a smile because he's just like, this is so fucking awesome. Jimmy Snuka

and Roddy Roddy Piper in the ring right now at the Rumble. So that was a fun one. The Rumbles have always been fun for us. Did you ever do the drawing numbers out of a hat and you do the fun Royal Rumble game? I've always done that. That was a wild time at the Super Bowl house last year that's

what i heard yeah we did did you hear they watched the wrong royal rumble yeah we put the wrong rumble on first i think what we did it was like we i don't know how we ended up like paying 55 for last year's royal rumble and then i was like all right fuck it i'll plug my laptop into the tv and we'll just watch this Royal Rumble. But, yeah, we picked the names out of a hat for both. It was cool because we did the women's and the men's. And I think Devlin won the women's and maybe Fights won the men's or something like that. But, yeah, I mean, we all put in like $20 each.

And then the winner got paid out. It gives an extra incentive for those who just like maybe aren't into professional wrestling i would play that with my mom my sister my cousins like people that don't care about wrestling at all it's just fun well casuals can watch the royal rumble and and diehards can watch the royal rumble it is the most fun annual event they do yeah as long as they deliver on it because there have been i think in years past where i'll watch a rumble and be like that entire thing was miserable see I disagree with that I think a bad rumble is better than most things what was the year where they did it it was the same year where the I think the rumble kicked

off with Kevin Owens versus Roman Reigns in a street fight whatever that rumble was had like zero surprises and I was just like I love the surprises in the rumble I'm with Jared the more names you announce for the rumble the less interested on that yeah i am last year didn't have a lot of surprises had jeff jared at the beginning and that was pretty much it yeah and i don't like that i feel like that's a surprise like that's the spirit of the royal rumble at this that is the royal rumble to me is it's almost like christmas where you're opening up presents and it's like i don't want 50 pairs of socks like i don't want that like give me we don't need we don't need victor from the ascension to have his own entrance right he doesn't need to be in don't need Victor from the Ascension to have his own entrance.

Right. He doesn't need to be in the Royal Room. Right. Give me the present that I didn't even know that I wanted. When you open it up and it's like, oh, shit, here comes Kevin Nash. Or like, oh, shit, you're bringing him out as Diesel. That was incredible. Outside the Cena one that I just mentioned, he was active.

What's your favorite surprise entrant that you can remember? Is it that Kevin Nash one, that Diesel one? To me, 2002, Mr. Perfect's music hit, and I was a big Mr. Perfect guy from back in the 80s, and I didn't expect him, and he hit late. It was like 28th or 29th, so he was going to be a real thing, and his music hit, and I was just done. For me, I think, I remember there was one a few years ago, and I couldn't name the year because it's happened multiple years, but Rob Van Dam's music hit when I least expected it, and I went crazy for it. And then the rumble that Shinsuke won a few years back, Rey Mysterio coming back. I'm the biggest Rey Mysterio mark, so I did not expect that in a million years, and I popped like crazy.

They stacked surprises in that one because Hurricane Helms came out. Yeah, and I went crazy for that. And then Mysterio was like two inches later because you you hear one and you think okay well there's not gonna be a surprise and then here comes mysterio yeah they kept you on your feet and even the women's rumble that was the first ever women's rumble they had so many great surprises in that one like the crowd was every two seconds popping i don't remember what year it was or why this even came to mind right away but uh when bubba ray dudley's music hit in philly yeah home of ecw like that was after like that was the main event run and tna and then like he ends up like back in

the wwe is bubba ray and like no devon but it was kind of like a precursor they had a great run they did as the boys after that like when they were feuding with like enzo and cast when they first came up yeah new day like they had a great like i mean they brought feuding with Enzo and Cass when they first came up. Yeah, New Day. They had a great... I mean, they brought back the Headbangers and everyone was like, cool. That was a little strange. Who gives a fuck about that? Tag team tournament on SmackDown. Yeah, the Hardys obviously had a great run when they came back as a nostalgia act.

The New Age Outlaws had a great run. They won the tag titles again. Yeah, I love the Outlaws. But then having the Dudley Boys come back and the crowd just going nuts. And when they actually came back in Brooklyn, that was the moment when everyone was like, oh, fuck. But in Philly for that rumble, that Bubba Ray comeback was a nice little callback to ECW. It's a good one. Should we give our predictions?

Three people completely tuned out of the product.? Three people completely tuned out of the product. And I mean completely tuned out of the product. Predictions on the men's and women's Royal Rumbles? I can't even hazard a prediction on the women's. Yeah, I have no idea. I was just going to name a random name. Alexa Bliss. Sasha Banks.

I don't even know if she's in it. Is she in it? I don't know. I was going to say Sasha Banks, too. I don't know who's got the titles right now. Yeah, me neither. Well, there's a title match between Becky Lynch and Asuka, so I know they're not going to be in it.

Oh, that'll probably be a sick match. Well, you know what? The safe bet with WWE is Charlotte. She's always a safe bet. She's never won a Rumble, has she? No. And they want her to get all of the accolades in the world. Who won the women's last year? Was it Becky? Becky came back. Yeah, Becky was in the title match.

Was that the first one? No. The first one was won by Asuka so oscar becky all right uh yeah i'm gonna stick with alexa bliss i think charlotte is probably the it's a good it's probably the correct guess and then for the men's no idea it's not it's i think roman reigns will win why would they make it again if they had roman win it where is the rumble being held do we know uh it's in a big stadium is it in phoenix i think it's in that baseball i think it's in their baseball stadium whatever they call it i think is it in houston it could be in houston and i think it i think they just did it in houston did they yeah they because they did it that was the goldberg one when goldberg and the undertaker had their face down that was definitely houston see how plugged in the product i I'm Googling where it is.

I mean, it's definitely one of those two. It's either Houston or Phoenix. I think it might have been Phoenix last year. You think it was Phoenix last year? Yeah, because I remember they did the ballpark and they did the dugout entrances. It's in Houston. Fuck yeah. Let's go.

Again? They're going back? It's in Minute Maid Park in Houston. Or maybe they did San Antonio or something. I don't know. Have they ever done Minute Maid Park, though? I don't think they've run this baseball stadium. Which, that's going to be a cool-looking location.

Remember how cool Safeco Field looked in Seattle for WrestleMania? That was great. WrestleMania 19. That's maybe the coolest WrestleMania appearances ever. I'm wondering if they'll do the same for it, because this is going to be a cool spot. With the train and everything. True. All right, and then for the men's, I'm going to throw out a name and say Kofi Kingston.

Just because that's what I hope. I'm going to say Drew McIntyre. I think he's on the cusp of a face run. I don't think that would upset me at all. I think I'd be like, all right, let's see what he's got. That's what the Royal Rumble should be. Something to catapult a guy who's on the precipice of becoming something. So I would be happy if Drew McIntyre won.

I also really liked his indie run. Between TNA and WWE, he went to ICW in Scotland for a while as Drew Galloway. He had a lot of fucking great matches. Yeah. You know what? I think Brock Lesnar's winning the Royal Rumble

as the number one entrant. As the number one... That would be the ultimate troll for the company. You think Brock Lesnar's working a match that long, brother? Yeah. The way they got it set up, though. It think Brock Lesnar's working a match that long, brother? Yes. The way they got it set up, though. It's going to be one of those things where he goes under the ropes and he ends up leaving and comes back.

They did it with Roman a few years ago. They did it with Rusev. The way they got it set up is this Rumble is going to launch two title programs. Whoever eliminates Brock Lesnar is going to get the shot at Mania, and whoever wins is going to get the other one. So I think that's what's going to happen. And Cain Velasquez said he's going to be in this Rumble, right? I don't...

That interests me none. Yeah, I'm not interested. I'm not interested if the title's in the picture. But they already did the fight at the Saudi show. And I thought that was kind of cool. So if you want to do another Cain-Brock rematch and you fucking do it without the title involved, I'm cool with it.

And you literally structure it like the Goldberg match where it's like the five minute. Oh, my God, this is insane. Give us a quick WrestleMania sprint. Don't take time away from anyone else. But don't don't make that the title picture, man. We'll see. It's going to have the rumble. All right.

If you're if you're listening to this now, I guess you're just going to hear our immediate reactions coming up. So I'm going to circle right back to it, yeah here you go and we're back it is about a week later maybe more than a week it's february 2nd right now sunday it's after the royal rumble we've got the same crew here it's myself jared karabas and brandon fucking walker guys where do we start where do we begin we just had a week in miami we did we spent some time together at the super bowl barstool was sold because of the return from the top rope maybe i think that's definitely what it was perhaps yeah yeah well not sold i guess we took a big investment i should say yeah where do we start with professional wrestling the royal rumble has happened raw and smackdown

are past us we are officially on the road to wrestlemania do we remember what our predictions were did one of you said Charlotte. Brandon Walker nailed them. I think he went two for two. Two for two? I think I did, yeah. I know I nailed Charlotte, and I think I had Drew McIntyre as well. Yeah, or at least you brought up that there was the—

Yes, and I brought up the edge return as well. Yeah, and that was my favorite part of the entire week in wrestling. I think it had to be the same for you guys. For sure. So when you say the entire week of wrestling i more so than any rumble i can remember the only thing i remember for that entire paper for you is the men's rumble match yeah that's the only thing that had any staying power to me at all it's a good point and in the moment i felt like the women's rumble was pretty good i thought that it flowed well there

was never a point where the last two i thought got a little sloppy at times where it was like oh this thing's going off the tracks and they had to regroup and get it back to where they needed to. It went smoothly. It just wasn't as impactful as the last two. Because of who won. Yeah. Because of who won. I thought Charlotte winning was very deflating.

You know, one of the things that people have hated the last few years was the constant overpushing of Roman Reigns before the sickness. And if you look back, Charlotte Flair's been more overpushed than roman reigns ever thought about being i would agree she's been pushed down fans throats constantly and manias at rumbles and and when shana baszler came in i'm like all right something new that was an oh shit moment something new and something that was rumored but when she came in i was like oh fuck like maybe they do it right this is fresh this is new charlotte wins yeah i'm completely out. I did think in the Women's Rumble they used NXT talent particularly well.

Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair. Bianca Belair had like the standout performance of the whole thing. Sasha Banks noticeably absent from the Royal Rumble. I don't know what's going on with her. No idea. She seems to be one of these where she is spending months away from the product at a time. She makes a return. We hear reports about her being upset with the way she's used.

Did you watch her documentary? the 24 yeah or the chronicle yeah yeah uh yeah yeah i mean she like goes into all that she's frustrated yeah yeah but i think like now she has like a new like fresh perspective or whatever but i don't know i feel like with the royal rumble i i don't think that you can do two like diehard fan pleasers in one night. Like Charlotte was the obvious one. And then for like the men's like, yeah, we picked Drew McIntyre. But when it came down to like Roman and Drew McIntyre, did either of you have that? Oh, fuck.

Like Roman's going to win again. Because Roman was the favorite. Roman was the favorite. I actually didn't. And I don't know why. I probably should have knowing this company. They easily could have, you know, given it to Roman. But I didn't, and I don't know why. I probably should have, knowing this company. They easily could have given it to Roman, but I didn't. And the way they have done Roman dirty the past three years, not doing him dirty,

but he's been the last person eliminated from the Rumble for the last three years. It almost feels like he's just being used as a crutch now. And we can get into the men's Rumble right away. They're probably going to use that as an angle at some point where it's like they're going to point that out. Like you've been the last guy, but you haven't gotten it like you know this isn't philly anymore and totally he's has roman won twice he has roman's only won once just the once in philly 15 yeah so the men's rumble let's just talk about it they we knew brock lesnar was the first entrant yes comes out and he starts tearing up shop i have so has he

been the last eliminated four times? Because then the year before he won was when Batista eliminated him to win. Yeah, I guess he has to be then. Huh. And my issue with the – I have some issues with the rumble. Generally, the men's rumble was a big positive for me. I think it was very good, the best rumble we've seen in a while. But the first half of it I really didn't enjoy because it was the Brockck wasn't there you know tearing up shop not enough surprise entrance number number two was elias and i was thrown for a shock immediately because we've been disconnected from the product i didn't know i

wasn't aware he was a face the entire night i was so excited for his joke about the astros cheating scandal jared's fucking friends over at the houston astros alex bregman and all them the cowards i'm not really connected to the product either is he a face i believe he is because as soon as he came out and I was like, how could he not go after that? Everyone tweeted me and they're like, he's a face now, bro. He certainly didn't get a face pop. You know what that was, though, maybe, is I bet you, because it was in Houston at the Astros ballpark.

So they were like, oh, we hope he doesn't go there. I bet you they were probably like, you can, like, oh, you think maybe there was an agreement made? Yeah, me and Trent were watching it, and he brought that up. He's like, maybe the Astros told him, like, dude, if we're letting you use our ballpark, don't trash it. Or, here's my theory on it, you don't want Brock to get a face reaction right off the bat. And if he trashes the Astros, walks in the ring, and Brock throws him out, suddenly Brock's the biggest hero in the building. You don't want that.

It could be either or, but I would imagine that the astros were like yeah make no mention of this yeah so brock runs shop on the rumble for about the first half of it pretty much exactly drew mcintyre was entrant number 16 and you didn't like it i didn't like the way it was done the actual concept of brock starting at the rumble as the powerhouse that we've known him to be, I like. And I thought that's how it should have been. But my issue was we sacrificed John Morrison, his return, who's a very exciting Rumble competitor. Was that his first appearance in WWE? No. He's been back?

I think it was one of his first matches. He's been on SmackDown a couple times. He's doing stuff with The Miz again. They're doing their little program. We sacrificed John Morrison, a very exciting Rumble competitor. Kofi Kingston, very exciting rumble competitor kofi kingston very exciting rumble competitor he had a little more time in the rumble than these other people did kofi do one of his like quirky moment he didn't even do that he didn't get one because

brock threw him aside like he was a piece of trash the moment between kofi biggie and ray when they were triple teaming brock was fucking awesome yeah that's what i want out of my rumbles but then we also we sacrifice all those people then cesaro shelton benjamin shinsuke the returning mvp keith lee who they gave keith lee a bit of a moment so i'll be completely they also they gave a brock lesnar um facial reaction to keith lee like wow this guy's a little bit scared yeah and then keith lee stayed in there a while and braun stroman came and all of a sudden it was a hoss rumble keith isn't one that i'm upset about his use i think think they used him very well. I asked you at the time because I was confused.

When Shelton Benjamin came out and him and Brock and Paul Heyman had this moment, what was that all about? They were college teammates, but they have never made that a thing in WWE. They have never made that public and like a storyline in any way. And all of a sudden we're just supposed to know it right yeah that was a little strange i had no idea that was and and my and this is gonna sound weird but my first instinct was i was like are they just hugging because smackdown like 2004 ish no college wrestling teammates at the university of minnesota yeah that that was that

was a little strange and then the hoss rumble was good i liked the you know when we got all those guys in there together that was good and the way that we cast Ricochet aside was also like, eh. And it wasn't Brock doing it. That was McIntyre. But they didn't give Ricochet a good moment. So there were people later in the Rumble like Dolph Ziggler, Carl Anderson, King Corbin, Luke Gallows, Aleister Black even, Samoa Joe even, fucking Seth Rollins even that I would have rather been earlier earlier and I would have rather not gone on as long. Because for the Royal Rumble, for me, I always love when the ring is packed, when there's a hundred different things going on at once. We don't know what to focus in on.

And then all of a sudden, you know, a standoff happens and we're like, oh, fuck, we didn't expect these guys to get in there together. So I think it was my issue was more how long it went on and the people we sacrificed for Brock Lesnar to get over. But I'll eat some crow because the moment brock was eliminated was amazing mcintyre hitting the claymore kick him being flown over the top rope huge pop for that and it seems like mcintyre did it got him over because so next that's why that's why i thought maybe they're a very warm reception yeah i was afraid that the crowd was reacting to brock getting eliminated and then later on to Roman not winning and that when McIntyre came out on Raw, he would get no reaction because it was more like crutches. But he did. But he did get a reaction.

So I'll eat some crow. So I loved everything about the Brock Lesnar run through. And when he needed to give somebody some shine, he gave them some shine. But it's still Brock Lesnar. It's still a guy at the end of the Undertaker streak. It's still the guy that takes the belt whenever he wants it's still the number one guy they got so he would always get the drop on somebody until he couldn't until drew mcintyre walked in and had his star making performance by knocking not only knocking brock lesnar out of

there which got a huge pop you knew when brock lesnar entered the rumble it was all about who's going to eliminate him he wasn't going to win he was never going to win but who eliminates him that sets up mania so when he eliminated him i thought oh there's your mania him he wasn't going to win he was never going to win but who eliminates him that sets up mania so when he eliminated him i thought oh there's your mania match he doesn't have to win yeah but it was a bonus that he got to win anyway but brock lesnar if drew mcintyre becomes a star he has to write a check to brock lesnar the rest of his life because the way he took that claymore over the top the way he stood on the outside and let drew mcintyre stare at him like like, I'm running this shit now. That was masterclass.

Do you remember Brock's first match back, the Extreme Rules match against John Cena, where he had the moment where he bounces off the rope, stands on the stairs, and he hits him? And he went flying over the top rope. It was almost a botch because it looked like he fucking killed himself. He sold the Claymore like he went flying over the top rope. He did. It was fantastic and the fact that yeah like you said drew mcintyre didn't have to win but the fact that he won and then the next night on raw was like i got my decision lesnar i fucking want you if he goes to mania and beats

brock lesnar which god willing because brock lesnar may just dismantle him and one f5 and be done but that will be he will have made a star. People tweeted me and they said Brock's a star maker. I disagree with that. I don't think he's made a single star since he came out. Well, he also hasn't worked with anyone besides maybe Kofi who he squashed that he could make a star.

You can't blame him. AJ was already a star. Someone on Drew McIntyre's level who has yet to... Maybe that's an issue too though because Brock decides, Brock handpicks every single person he works with. Brock is like—Vince gives him complete control of anything he wants to do. You can't blame Brock Lesnar for Seth Rollins not becoming a bigger star last year. He laid down in the middle for him at Mania. He laid down for the middle in SummerSlam.

But Seth Rollins was a star when he turned on the show. Yeah, but that was designed to make Seth Rollins go into megastar status, andh rollins just doesn't have that yeah i agree with that seth rollins on the mic is like a just doesn't he's not he's not a a hogan he's not an austin he's not a cena no he's he's a he's bret hart at very best yeah which can be you know one of the greatest technical wrestlers i wouldn't even i wouldn't even go that far because i feel like when brett turned heel brett showed some chops on the mic when he did his stuff in the Attitude Era, when he did his stuff against Austin. Yeah. He showed some chops.

Like Seth Rollins, I don't know if the dude ever cut from all that. Well, you're never going to overcome that voice. You're never going to overcome that voice. But that's why he should never work as a face. Like when Seth Rollins was trying to get over as a face, it was never going to work, but he's just a natural heel. So I don't know i'm not writing off seth rollins becoming a star but to the point about brock lesnar not making any stars that's kind of on him like if you get to handpick all of your opponents that's what i mean and this is the first time that he's worked with someone on a drew mcintyre type level let's see it now like that's your that it's in your corner now and and you people will maybe say

he tried to make roman and that's true to a point but like you had to realize the ship was sinking at every turn every time they remade the roman rematch for mania people were like what the fuck is going on so going forward in the rumble though just to finish this thing out we had some cool moments from aj styles who appeared to get injured in the rumble and then it looks like we're going with edge and randy orton for mania which the the rumble kind of hinted at maybe aj styles and edge um dolph ziggler came in had a few good moments and then i guess we get to the big moment edge at 21 that was awesome but before we continue i just want to make sure all my listeners out there are smelling good and feeling good. Remember I told you about this last week, this Hawthorne shit?

Well, let me tell you. I've been using it all week this week, and oh my god. It was the hit of the century down in Miami for the Super Bowl. Everywhere I walked, I was meeting up with Barstool employees. I was meeting up with Jared. I was meeting up with Kevin. We went to dinner the first night. Know what they said as soon as I sat down?

They were like, someone wearing cologne? I was like, actually, I am wearing a little spritz of cologne, a little spritz of Hawthorne. Are you still wearing your blue polo from your high school girlfriend? Get rid of that shit. Are you walking into Sephora to get cologne? You're all overwhelmed. People are walking up to you trying to spray your wrist with a thousand things. Fucking smells horrible.

By the time you get out of there, you go in to see your girlfriend afterwards she's like why do you smell like a sephora were you out with another lady avoid all of that avoid it all you go to hawthorne you take this quiz they have a quiz it says like you know what's your body type what's this what's that i don't even know if body type is one of the questions it probably isn't go on their site though it's hawthorne.co last week i think i might have said though. It's hawthorne.co. Last week, I think I might've said.com. It's hawthorne.co. That's H-A-W-T-H-O-R-N-E.co, hawthorne.co. Fill out this quiz. They'll send you some scents. They sent me two colognes, like a thousand things, a shampoo, conditioner. I mean, they got me hooked up until the apocalypse hits.

There's a work cologne and a play cologne, work and play. I think play is probably a sex thing because otherwise they would have said like home. There's a work and a play. I've been using the work, professional Bob. Everyone here telling me how great it smells. People on the street, sir, what are you wearing? I tell them it's Hawthorne.co, and it smells. People on the street, sir, what are you wearing? I tell them it's Hawthorne.co. And I tell these people on the street, you use the promo code MOM.

That's M-O-M. Think of your mom when you do it. Maybe send her a text. Tell her you love her. You get 10% off your purchase. Hawthorne.co. And then you click the promo code. You fill out the quiz.

You get your personalized products, your deodorant, your shampoo, your body wash, all that shit. It takes you two minutes. It gets the two colognes that are best for you one for work one for play it's risk-free free shipping free returns use that code mom when you text your mom you call even here here the tears you text your mom good on you man you call your mom damn you're a good son you facetime your mom now we're talking now we're talking so use. You FaceTime your mom. Now we're talking. Now we're talking. So use this code, FaceTime your mom, tell her you care about her, and we'll get back to wrestling talk. Who's it going to be? You think you know me?

No, no way. Oh my! You gotta be kidding me. You think you know me? Crowd fucking blows the roof off the astrodome woman not the astrodome the minute made part of it um incredible the way he came out immediately like did you guys notice i tweeted it he didn't even wait for the normal he usually waits a second he sprinted out of that dugout he had like tears in his eyes the emotion was obviously overcoming him beth phoenix his wife was in the women's rumble she got split open finished the rest of the match so maybe the most badass couple in wrestling i put that in my blog i said sorry to seth and becky but

i gotta go with the ogs here yeah i mean i you know we were talking about the rumors of uh the reports that he was coming back it's a three-year deal which still blows my mind but the promo that he cut on raw talking about you know like I wanted to end my career on my terms. If you have a return, how many years? Like, nine years in between? Nine years, yeah. 2011. 27.

Nine years in between his last match. He's like, there's no fucking way I'm ending my career on an Alberto Del Rio match. Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, you have to come back with a bang. And, like, for who is available on the roster right now, there's no better dance partner. No, I'm very cool with it.

And some people were tweeting me they wanted Edge to work with younger talent and I think he's very – He will. He's going to do that. If he's here for three years, he's got plenty of time. If he's here for three years, exactly. And first one back after he's got the whole neck thing, Randy Orton is not going to fuck him up. Randy Orton is a safe worker. He's known for being a safe worker. They're old pals.

They have chemistry. They have predetermined chemistry. And the way they did, we could skip forward to Raw. We'll finish this talk out later. But the way they did that turn, I thought was tremendous. Like that was the thing

where I watched it and I got chills and I was like, all right, this is what brings me back for WrestleMania season. If anything, it's this feud.

The hug and then the slow burn into, he's about to, he's about to, oh, there it is. RKO. RKO. Yeah.

And then you could see Randy Orton, who I've never found particularly interesting, was really interesting the other night to he's about to he's about to oh there it is okay oh yeah and then you could see randy orton who i've never found particularly interesting was really interesting the other night when he put the chair on him and stood on the top rope i'm like i mean that's there's no coming back from that that's that's mr heel for the rest of your life and he thought about it he got down like okay well and then the concerto yeah it was he was very conflicted but he was very sure of himself i don't know how you pull off that dichotomy, but he pulled it off. It was two pros.

And you don't always see pros in this day and age. You know, I love watching other companies and other, but you see a lot of amateurism. Those are two pros. Yeah. Like, such a clear, like, if you made this the WrestleMania main event tomorrow, nobody would bat an eye. Everyone would be like, sweet, Edge versus Randy Orton WrestleMania main event. We never thought we would see that. The way they teased the rated RK over reunion, I was over the moon about it.

Because the hug looked so pure. It looked real. Exactly. They were emotional about it. They were real about it. Edge's promo before Randy Orton even came out was the perfect mix of a real person, Adam Copeland, talking to the fans. And Edge also being like, I want to end my career on my terms. It was the perfect mix.

And Rated RKO wasn't a tag team for that long. They were in 2006 only, I think. Like four or five months. It wasn't much. But they were like and still are pretty beloved. They were a great tag team. Me growing up as a DX fan, they were like my favorite tag team to love, to hate. The tease of that, the fans going crazy for it and being like for a second, oh my god, are they going this are they gonna do it against you know akim and razor whatever nope rko we're doing that for

mania like you said the concerto completely brutal i got the the privilege of watching that with trent a non-wrestling fan who was just bought into every second of it oh yeah his neck his neck how could you do it to his neck yeah oh it was great i didn't tell him that the chairs are hitting they're not hitting on that the rest of the rumble i did want to bring up uh because this this was interesting and it was a backstage story uh we got matt riddle coming out and he got some shine in the rumble and then we found out later that him and brock got into it backstage because he's been tweeting at brock he's been cutting some promos towards brock saying some derogatory things and apparently apparently Brock cornered him backstage

and said, you better stop running your mouth because you and I will never work together for one day in the rest of our lives. That is a much better threat than, hey, I'm going to mess you up. Hey, I'm going to beat you up. If you're Brock Lesnar and you're the top guy, I say, hey, you're just wasting your time.

And you'll never work with me? Yeah. That'll get somebody to shut up quicker than anything. That's a great threat. It is a good threat. It pains me to say that Brock seems to be such a douche anything. That's a great threat. It is a good threat. It pains me to say, because Brock seems to be such a douchebag.

Matt Riddle probably fucking told somebody. He's probably smoking a joint, and he was like, you want to hear what fucking Brock said backstage at the Rumble? But yeah, that's tough to hear, because a lot of people wanted to see that Matt Riddle program, and it is wrestling.

I know that people are sometimes shitheads, and then their excuse for being a shithead is like, come on. I was working you. We were working the fans, weren't we? We hear stories about that and shoot interviews all the time. But I feel like Matt Riddle was like playing the – we're both UFC guys. We're both actual fighters. The underdog, if they did that match, it would be a David versus Goliath, which Brock always works best in.

Look at the Eddie Guerrero match for the perfect example. For Brock to do that, I got to give him one of these hard oh really yeah i don't know i kind of respect you're hearing you know the way he fucked up randy orton at summer slam and then went back at yeah chris jericho and apparently said like kiss me you f word that was like his his go-to who said that apparently lesnar said that to jericho like they got face to face and he was like you're gonna kiss me do it and then dropped like a hard f-bomb was the report huh so just the the clip of him throwing the title at vince mcmahon after wrestlemania all these reports about brock lesnar i'm like i can't believe that everyone is like just still okay with him and being the only

star in the wwe for the past nine years but you know why you know why? Well, I think a lot of people are, because if you look around the landscape, he's the only star they got. He's the biggest deal they got. I sort of disagree. I feel like that's because you put the title on him and you let him take a six-month vacation. But they've tried with Roman. They've tried with Seth. They've tried.

They've tried. They've tried. You're trying with the wrong guys. Who else are you going to try with? I'm looking at the Royal Rumble right now. Kofi Kingston. If you would have put him over Brock, they've tried, they've tried. You're trying with the wrong guys. Who else are you going to try with? I'm looking at the Royal Rumble right now. Kofi Kingston. If you would have put him over Brock, that would have been a massive deal. I don't know.

He had a six-month title reign, and there was no juice. How about you put Big E Langston in front of that, and he avenges his friend Kofi Kingston. I like that. That's a good idea. You put Cesaro in there. I've wanted to see Cesaro and Lesnar. Is the charisma there to make a run?

I think the in-ring talent's there. Put a manager with him. They tried with Heyman, and it didn't work. It was a weird connection. Even further down the list, McIntyre I'm fine with. You trying out with McIntyre, I'm like, cool. I love the direction that's going. I love McIntyre giving him a shot.

He's a big, good-looking guy. He can talk. We're going to see. He's going to probably go over. He's going to go over Brock Lesnar, probably, and we'll see and we'll see if he what do you think the odds are of that actually happening though i think they're pretty good i think they're better than 50 i'm worried i'm worried because if they leave the title on the fiend till mania which it seems like they're gonna do or we're gonna we're gonna have two back-to-back underdog overcoming monster matches i think with brock

though you've always got the rubber band principle if if you you can take it off of him if it doesn't work with whoever just slingshot it right back just bring it right but you can do that that's an option that you have i guess i think he'll put him over put it on someone else to make another transitional champion i don't care but i think the the uh bray wyatt has to go over give me something fresh bray wyatt has no wrestlemania moments and like this has been his year you have to put him over at WrestleMania. Give me something fresh. Bray Wyatt has no WrestleMania moments. And this has been his year. You have to put him over at WrestleMania. I hadn't thought about that, but it makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, he has zero—I don't even know if he has a win. Lost to Undertaker, lost to Cena, lost to Orton. Yeah, I was at that Undertaker match. It was brutal. There's a moment that I think about maybe once a day. San Francisco? Every single day in the shower, yeah, where he just runs into the stairs. No explanation.

Go back and watch that match. At one point, they're on the outside of the ring. Undertaker's selling. Bray Wyatt runs into the stairs, like, knees first, and then just starts selling. It looks like a glitch in a video game. When you accidentally bump into the stairs, you're like, fuck, my guy's fucking bumping and selling. At 30, they should have put him over Cena. Yeah.

And he probably, I don't know if he's ever recovered from that until the Fiend character. And they should have put him over the yeah and he's probably i don't know he's ever recovered from that until the fiend character and they should have put him over the undertaker oh yeah because he already had his loss he already had his loss if you weren't doing that everyone wanted the american badass not i shouldn't say everyone i wanted the american badass after the streak was broken if you weren't going to do that yeah fucking have bray become the new face of fear how to beat undertaker they've they've messed up with every turn at him it's another reason why i think The Fiend is probably going to lose at Mania.

If he's holding the title till there, then... You can't, though. Who do you have beat him? Who's on SmackDown? It's going to be Roman. It's going to be Roman. Roman went out

next to last. It's going to be Roman against The Fiend. You just can't do that. You can't have Roman go over and you can't have Bray Wyatt knock him over. They have weird chemistry, too.

I remember their match at Hell in a Cell was very awkward. I feel like both those guys have weird chemistry with everybody. Bray kept hitting Roman with kendo sticks, and Roman wears Bulletproof Vest. You're not kendo stick-proof, though. I guess not. What else on Raw did you guys like that were worth bringing up? I guess Drew's promo. Drew came out.

I think it was good, him keeping things short and sweet. I want Brock Lesnar at Mania. He had the handicap match with the Gallows and Anderson guys. What's their tag team name? The club? The OC. The OC. I'm going to go back to the Rumble real quick.

You know, AJ got hurt. Yeah. I think he got hurt when he tried to oversell the spear. He did the flip and landed right on his shoulder. It looked like, I don't know why, we're a week later and we still don't know. That's weird. But usually we find out when they get hurt. But I noticed when he threw AJ out,

and you could tell where AJ's talking to the consultants and the ring guys, and he stands up, walks over to Edge and says, just throw me out. And Edge throws him out, and Karl Anderson and Drew Gallows look like, wait a minute, what? So obviously there was a program there. So the next night, they come out and they're sacrificed to Drew McIntyre. So I would think the club and AJ had something planned with Edge. I think you're right.

Didn't work out. And now they've got nothing to do, so they get sacrificed to Drew McIntyre, which is a good use of them. Drew comes out and says, I'm challenging Brock Lesnar. I'll fight anybody. Boom, beats two guys. If you can't get over with this push you can't get over no yeah i definitely he i think the key to it is going to be keep him short and sweet on the mic he doesn't i don't know at drew mcintyre's mic capabilities but i think that just works look at like remember how over ryback was

when they built him up to that cm punk brad maddox thing? Remember how over Braun Strowman was when they kept him short? Oh, Roman. Roman got over on look. Exactly. And when he became a face and started doing suffering succotash, it all disappeared. Yeah. So if you can get over on look and being a big bad motherfucker, be a big bad motherfucker. Goldberg.

There you have him. Braun Strowman on SmackDown won the Intercontinental Championship. But I wanted to bring this up, Brandon. What the fuck is that title? Jared texted me and he said, what the fuck is that? Is that the first time? How long has that been in circulation for? It's been around for a little bit.

They debuted it with the Shinsuke and Sami program. Looks terrible. I saw clips of it a week ago. I don't really like the way it looks either. I get what they're going for. And they're trying to make everything look very sleek and uniform. And everything needs to look good. I also could not believe that was Braun Strowman's first singles title in WWE.

That's another one that I feel like Brock fucked up more than anybody. If Brock would have put him over, he would be a red-hot megastar. Well, I mean, Brock doesn't fuck the matches. Oh, boy, he does. He doesn't. Brock decides who to put over. I think if Vince says, I'm putting it on Braun, Brock would do it. I think Brock puts over money.

If you give him enough money, he's going to. I don't think Brock said, we're going to stop this Braun Strowman push. Oh, I think he did. See, I don't agree with that. I really do. Because I know Brock had influence over the Braun Strowman feud, over random things that had nothing to do with him. He knew Braun was going to be his next challenger.

He built Braun up to that point to beat him. I don't think Vinceince would i don't think anyone in their right mind other than brock just telling vince this is what's going to happen would cause braun to lose that match well regardless they missed the boat on braun strutman they should have pulled the trigger i don't care who we're saying he could be the next hulk hogan i remember people unironically saying that me and jared were probably part of we were all in on the on the braun train um the ic title thing though do you think they changed the ic title because the one we had was the one cody rhodes brought back because i think they're that petty and i think that's exactly they're definitely that petty i have

i gotta be honest i have no fucking idea and and to be honest i you guys are talking about it you know i'm a huge fan you know how much i love it i can't in my mind see the intercontinental title right now with shinsuke nakamura shinsuke had it since july and didn't do a fucking thing with it i didn't even know he had it he doesn't have it anymore braun beat him for it i want to know that but he had it since july true and he didn't do a thing with it yeah i didn't even know i didn't even know that he was like a thing with like sammy zane which one there's a lot of belts here which one is it so it's the one i have clicked on oh the one over here yeah it kind of looks like the cruiserweight title to me with like a black strap it doesn't look i'm not i'm not it doesn't look great the issue it looks so forgettable

it looks like uh something you would pin on your date at prom or something it doesn't i actually love the attitude era intercontinental yeah me too the oval yes even they debuted with the rock triple h one yeah the the ladder match um the last thing that i wanted to touch on the superbowl shamrock one it was the ken shamrock one yeah the world's most dangerous man go back listen to that interview on this podcast yeah we talked about him holding that title good stuff um the wwe stock dropped tremendously this week because the rumor is these people have left george barrios and i forget the other the co-president's name of the wwe was a lady but they've been there for a very long time

george i know has been there forever and apparently vince fired him over poor ratings and whatnot and poor uh earning reports earnings reports the the next wwe earnings report will provide more detail but this is just the rumor from the dirt sheets and i think fightful might have reported on something like that kind of crazy it dropped like ten dollars per share in one day it's the first time that's ever happened for the company i don't know what happens going forward because like it's clear they're aware issues are there the ratings are down worse than ever attendance is down worse than ever merch is down worse than ever they're saying all these things the network seems to still be there but does the wwe realize like is vince a hypocrite for fucking firing these people because ratings are down when vince has creative control over the product right well yeah

probably but vince isn't going to fire himself true i mean you're probably right and he can't vote him out but he's got to fight he's got to do something to the rest of the company right he's got to he's got to make a statement i don't know what that statement means inside of – It's tough because the statement should be made to him. Right, but it's his company. Yeah. So nobody's going to make that statement to him unless Jane and Stephanie sit him down and say, Hey, maybe give us a chance to see what we can do.

And you just go let your grandkids sit on your lap. Can you give Triple H six months? Give him just six months. Work with his NXT team. I know it's not all him down there. I don't want to give him all the credit. He's got a writer's team. He's got a team of bookers.

I'm sure Shawn Michaels has a lot to do with it at this point. He seems super ingrained with those kids. I'm calling them kids. They're probably all older than me. But it's just strange to see something like this happen, something so drastic, and know that the product probably won't change much. We probably won't notice a difference. It seems like every couple of years something – like Vince will say something publicly. I hear you.

Things are going to change. Last year, the old McMahons came out. Remember they got in the ring together? What changed after that moment? Nothing ever changes. Nothing changed. Nothing changed since then. Absolutely nothing. To be fair to them, though, I mean, if they weren't forced into that moment where we're like, hey, we hear you.

We're going to change. Could you have seen a scenario where Brock Lesnar was entrant number one and then just eliminated 29 other entrants? Like, I feel like Vince would have been like, that's a great idea. Let's do it. I think Vince would have liked it. You know, I knew. What if he just fucking throws everybody out? What if he looks so strong, damn it?

He looks so strong, he throws all the horses out. Get Keith Lee in there. Get fucking Braun Strowman in there. That's pretty good. So there was a moment in the Rumble where I knew he was in there to get thrown out. But there was a moment where I was like, huh, he might do this. He might go wire to wire and win this. And then as soon as Drew McIntyre came out, I was like, well, it's nut cutting time.

Somebody's about to do something. But to your point earlier, though, like Drew McIntyre comes out and he has that moment where what did he do? He did he let he either eliminated someone or gave someone. What did he do to Brock? Nothing. He was staring Brock down. I thought he did something with Brock when he first came out. He was staring Brock down and Ricochet crotched Brock from behind.

Brock bends over and catches a Claymore right in the face. I thought if he just had a moment with Brock, like something to set up a WrestleMania match, that fans would have been like, all right, well, you're giving us that. You're giving us that later. But we can still, oh, Roman's win the rumble but true i feel like if you're gonna have uh a drew mcintyre royal rumble winner we also on the same token can't be like well they'll never gonna learn like they're not gonna try something new like this is something new like it's not that's a good point it's not a favorite it's definitely for the first time in a

long time i feel like the royal rumble before we knew who the surprise entrants were, before we knew anything about it, we could handpick across the board who was going to win. Were there any surprises other than Edge? No. MVP. Yeah, MVP. He retired again. What's crazy is that they brought MVP back, but they didn't bring back the fucking bouncy house that he used to come out of. That was like the best part of his entrance, when he'd of that crazy thing yeah i just mvp just comes from

did set him on fire did that was the only w we got in a fucking inferno match every fucking time kane gets set on fire and then he has a vengeance was that on a vengeance it was i think it was like a smackdown to be honest with you it might have been i honestly think he was in some weird programs i was at summer slam 2007 it was actually historic for being the first pay-per-view john cena versus randy orton match very good match as well that was a good um and mvp had a program with matt hardy at the time where they were trying to one-up each other on all the random things and matt hardy had to uh one-up him on the beer drinking challenge by bringing out a guest replacement and it was stone cold he fucking gave him that stunner. And it's a great sell

because MVP used to wear all those big chains, the 305 chain. And when he sells the stunner, the chain goes flying into the crowd. I think that's about it. Before we get out of here, let me ask both of you. Going forward,

we're going to be doing a lot more of this, talking about wrestling leading up to WrestleMania. What do you want to keep you invested? What are you looking for? I am behind this Drew McIntyre push. I'm behind this Randy Orton edge feud. I would have liked, I wouldn't mind a Ronda Rousey return

or something to, if the women's matches, which are very good in quality, if they're going to be a prominent part, I need something more than Charlotte Flair to stoke my interest. That doesn't do much for me. And seems like becky's kind of hitting a stagnant part as well she is she did a thing at the rumble or it might have been on raw the next i think it was on raw the next night where she did a backstage interview and she said because i'm the

goat and she turned around and she pointed to her jacket and like paused for a second walked out and i wanted to tweet this but i was like i'm not going to tweet this because people come at me everything that she does in my mind she should be asking herself what would stone cold do and i know we can't make her a carbon copy of stone cold i'm not trying to make her a carbon copy of stone cold but it was just such a lame moment i was like stone cold is the coolest motherfucker that's stone cold would never point at a goat he would have never said you know because i'm the baddest motherfucker in the world, and turned around and pointed at the skull on his back. So they got the shot of it on the vest and then walked away.

I was just like, ah, Becky, come on. You're the man. Be the man. Yeah. She needs something, definitely. I don't know what you do with her title. I mean, does Becky and Charlotte do anything for you? No, not at this point.

Not anymore. They've had way too many matches. Yeah. What do you do to one-up it? Because they've had every stipulation put on their matches. I don't know. Who else is there? Last year, they did the triple threat with Ronda,

and it basically became like an Extreme Rules match. That match sucked. Which was stupid. There was no reason for Charlotte to ever be in that match. We should have got Ronda Rousey and Becky. They were like, wait, it's going to be the main event? Well, we've got to give it to Charlotte Flair. Right.

I love that. It's pointless. It's pointless. It's wrestling. It was bad. It should not have gone on last. Once Kofi won the title, the crowd was just like, all right, well, what's next? How can you top that? And then they didn't.

I think Kofi winning the title was still my wrestling moment of the year last year. If it wasn't the aftermath of Cody versus Dustin. You know what I really need to plug me in more? What? I need, and you talked about it in the Rumble, I just need more surprise. I need more unpredictability. And that hasn't happened in the

WWE in years. But now that you've got NXT and... What was the best part of the Rumble? It was Edge. It was right. Because it was unpredictable. Because we heard the rumors, but we didn't have, you know, it didn't leak. Nothing was concrete. Edge is coming out tonight. When you think you know me hits, you're in the rumble. You forget it's happening.

And fucking people went wild. Grown men were crying. We need more of that. It's very hard to surprise in today's world. Randy Orton hitting the RKO. It was surprising. Two in a row. Two nights in a row.

They did it really well. Yeah. For me to stay invested in the product moving forward to WrestleMania, two words. And we're going to be able to get those two words don't don't say it's jinder mahal this is so when jinder mahal this is a jared comes back this is a jared especially around wrestlemania time is drew mcintyre i think is the wwe universal champion jinder mahal comes back and goes into a program with his former three Is the WWE Universal Champion. Jinder Mahal comes back and goes into a program with his former 3MB bandmate.

So what about Heath Slater? No, he doesn't do it for me. Is he in the company anymore? Is he? I think he is. But when Jinder Mahal comes back. So just 2MB. Points to the sign. And then it becomes a triple threat match at wrestlemania

pumpkins came back without their base player brock lesnar drew mcintyre and jinder mahal and then jinder mahal goes over at mania in the main event yeah i hate it hate it all that that would probably end my fandom yeah because how can you top that i agree i probably stopped watching all right that's the end of this uh from the topope edition of My Mom's Basement. We're going to do a lot more of these. We'll start doing – I wanted to start doing some – Brandon, we used to do a segment called Cream of the Crop where every week we would just pick favorite match or favorite ladder match

or favorite wrestler doing this, favorite wrestler doing that. Send us your Cream of the Crop topic suggestions, and we'll do some top three lists and top five lists. Beautiful. Really dive deep into this wrestling. Get the wrestling content picked up for us you know i love a list oh you love your list yes yes more than david letterman we'll talk to you next week