The Press Box - Ep. 150: 'The Masked Man Show' With the Miz

Episode Date: July 18, 2016

The Ringer's David Shoemaker is joined by 'AGW' writer Joel Solomon and The A.V. Club's Latoya Ferguson to discuss the PED allegations against Brock Lesnar (6:00), the impending brand split (20:00), their top-10 draft lists (40:00), and the most valuable wrestlers in the new-look leagues. Then, the Miz joins to discuss the importance of the draft (1:16:00) and what it's like to be a Cleveland sports fan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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which is a nonprofit organization that benefits, sorry, charity. Water, which is a nonprofit organization that provides clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Again, go now to BITLY.com slash ringer merch. Welcome to the Masked Man Show on Channel 33. This is the first time I've actually said, no, the second time I've said the name of the show out loud. Last time I said it, but I thought I was going to get it beeped again.

I'm joined here today by any given Wednesday's Joel Solomon, by Latoya Ferguson of the AV Club. And at the end of the episode, a very special appearance by the best wrestler in the world today, The Miz. Stay tuned for that. Before we get to him, though, Latoya, Joel, let's talk about the draft. Cannot wait. And not only do we have it coming up, but it's like, they're taking it really seriously. This is, it is.

I mean, there's rules. They've released rules. Who's eligible? Who's not eligible? and the McMan's. The McMans are the big thing, right? Between the mock draft online, all the rules they're putting out there.

And you can just see online the way that people are like taking like mock draft seriously. We're going to get into our own little mock drafting later on. But you can you can definitely get the vibe that WWE wants this to be a moment. Also building a brand. So whereas we're on Smackdown, In past drafts, people, well, I've seen them on SmackDown. I've seen them on Raw. Now, who's going to be on this new Tuesday night brand?

And how is it going to be new and different, really? For sure, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I talked about this some last week, but you saw on Raw last week that they were walking this really fine line between making it seem like SmackDown is the new Smackdown show is more important than WrestleMania 1, but also saying that, like, it's not more important than Raw. You know, they're trying really hard to make us believe. Like Shane and Steph were arguing over who got Smackdown for the past few weeks, right? It wasn't even about Raw. It was like, I really want, like, Smackdown was the crown jewel.

And then on, but then, you know, when they're finally, when they finally give Smackdown to Shane, they have to equivocate a little bit and be like, but Raw is still the flagship, you know, like Raw is still three hours. And the draft rules are skewed in Raw's benefit. And, okay, let's take a break. Before we talk about the draft. You are very excited. I am.

This is a big, this is, I've been, I've been begging for a brand split for ages, but the most, but inherent in my begging was that I wanted them to treat it like a real draft and make, and treat the brand split like real sports. And, and like, just, because that's the biggest part of the sports world now is, is trade rumors and like, you know, draft rumors. It's like the most important sports journalism right now is happening on Twitter and not on, you know, major newspaper sites or anything. and that's what WWE needs to see. Anyway, we're going to get back to this. Before we get too deep, there's a few things we need to touch on. Number one, Brock Lesnar. Oof.

Our greatest, Latoya is, for the benefit of those listening at home, Latoya is wearing a Superman t-shirt, which is very poignant because all of our heroes are lost now. Who do we have to trust now that Brock Lesnar, who got all of the steroid patterns, in the world in my in my adult brain just because I just thought he's the physical freak he's the exception to every rule if anybody can look like a jacked up 22 year old at the age of 38 it's Brock Lesner and now it seems that he got dinged on one of his one of his very few one of his

eight tests at leading up to UFC 200 there's no one left there's nobody left you I guess you I'm your hero and Tate of course yeah um man Man, not a good month for UFC 200. I mean, that is, that was rough. Yeah. I mean, Ariel Hawani, who's, you know, who's a friend of the show, a friend of the ringer, has, to his tweeting right afterwards, they have to figure out a way, like, drug testing is necessary and it's good and everything, but they got to figure out a way that this stuff

doesn't keep happening after the fact, right? It's like, there must be some way to run tests more quickly and whatever. But, like, Brock got this really conspicuous power. pass. The four month, right. Yeah, usually you have to, you can't, you can't, you have to be tested for four months. He got a pass because he was coming out of retirement. But, you know, there are a lot of people, a lot of people, a lot of UFC reporters who were saying, you know, clearly this was all he's been doing since WrestleMania is prepping for this match.

So like, they probably could have figured something out. It is funny how the Twitter reactions, once the test comes out. And again, we have no idea what the substance was yet. I don't even know what's on that list. We're not going to know unless he tells us. Right. I love how, you know, UFC and fans are like, oh, well, obviously. Look at him, obviously, after the fact.

No, but people were saying that before the fight. Right. And I didn't even say anything, but, like, many people were coming to Brock's defense, which is, like, he's been drug tested so many times in his life. And he's always looked like, he's always looked like a crazy CGI ogre. Like, that's always been the case. So how does this happen where he, he, He's already produced three.

He's turned over three tests. He said, look, I passed these three tests. I passed five times in two weeks. But I've never taken a drug test. How does that happen? Thank God, by the way. Yeah. So how does that happen?

I was saying that with an unnamed other person, other semi-regular co-host on the Masked Man show, who was saying that he would never be employed, obviously, if he had to take drug tests because, you know, he smokes a lot of weed. I mean, and I think that that would be, I think that that's pretty, you know, I think a lot of people, a lot of people fall into that category these days. You know, I mean, it's not, I don't want to go on some rant about like the morality of performance enhancing drugs, but like, you know, you're both professional writers. If you could take, like, if you're not already on Adderall or something of that sort, if there was something that came out that was just like, low-key, you know, upper that really helps you focus and write a whole lot better, like, we would all be on it.

Like it's not like if there was no bad, if there was no negative side effects, you know, if you, if it didn't mess with your normal brain function or workflow, like, whatever. That's all that, that's an aside. I think it's, I think it's, it's a bad look for UFC, although they already got their pay-per-view buys. And who knows, they don't need to ever invite Brock back, I guess. You know, the New York State Athletic Commission just came out. I'm reading this on Wrestling Inc. But I'm sure they, I'm not sure where they got it from. But the, but yeah, the new, but New York State. is going to let him wrestle at SummerSlam. Obviously, this is not that big of a deal. Which sort of underscores the more salient point about WWE, which is that, like, obviously we don't want our wrestling idols dying because they took, you know, horse steroids for five years and their hearts explode. But in an era of, in an era where the game in UFC and baseball and football and in the NBA is just not getting caught.

It's not whether or not you're doing it. It's like how good your doctor is. It, like, cycling you on and off. Does it really matter if professional wrestlers who are doing PEDs? What does it affect, Latoya, what do you think? Does it affect your interaction with the product? Because, yeah, it is a case of, you know, just hiding it very well for the most part. But I kind of do feel like, hey, it is that unfair advantage.

Like these are, you know, human marvels in a way. And I kind of like the idea that, hey, they could naturally get this way. So it kind of cheapens it just a bit for me to know that they kind of cheated, if you will, you know? It does also, I mean, we'll get in, we're going to talk a little bit about the Cruiserweight Classic after this. But there is the one sort of moral argument that I think holds some water is, is, you know, if it weren't for, like, who is the, who is the, who is the, Who is the wrestling, the cliche of our life, oh, like, in our entire lifetimes of someone who did too many, like a lot of steroids and only got over because of it. No, in wrestling. In wrestling?

But, we can talk about it. Still can sayco. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, if, you know, the, the ultimate warrior, maybe. I don't know. Yeah. Someone like, someone like the ultimate warrior, like, you know, the argument is like if he doesn't, if he doesn't have access to steroids or, you know, if he doesn't do the steroids, then, you know, maybe Brett Hart would have gotten that spot way back when. Or like maybe.

and, you know, who knows who's clean and who's not. Now, if there's not, you know, for every, I might, I can't, I'm not going to name any names, but for every, you know, big pop-a-pump, Scott Steiner that's on the WWU roster, that's a spot that, like, Will Osprey isn't getting, or like some of the, you know, some of the thinner guys, the lighter guys, whatever. So that's the sort of, that's the argument that's sort of interesting. But that, that is true. You talk professional wrestling.

Oh, well, it's not a level playing field anyway, but if you look at it through that land. There's only so many roster spots. Right. And if they're going to go with someone who has the best look, even though they're like just out of their head. I caution everyone listening to this because, I mean, when you comment online or talk to your buddies, just because a dude is like skinny and a cruiserweight, that doesn't mean he's clean. Like it just be, I mean, it used to be the telltale sign was those, you know, Michelin Man like hyper water inflated muscles. If you, you know, look back at just anything from 1984 when like Ricky the Dragon steamboat had biceps the size of his waist, you know, there was like, that. That was the old look.

Now, there's a lot of things that are on, you know, the Olympics, like, no fly list or whatever that, like, regular dudes can go pick up at G&C and are taking all the time just to shred, you know, like, like, Dolph Ziegler, Dolph Ziegler looks like the most, I mean, he looks ridiculously cut. But, like, people, there's like, I wouldn't assume he's doing steroids because of the size of his muscles, but he could be doing all kinds of stuff. Who the hell knows, you know? And, of course, this is hypothetical. We're not accusing anyone on the roster, off the roster of being on. performing enhancing drugs. No. And honestly, Lesnar was jacked as hell,

but did not have the body type of like the traditional steroid muscle head or whatever. You know, I mean, like, it's anyway. Well, that's why I like the W.W.E calls it the wellness policy. I think what they're really looking out for is, hey, let's not have any more, you know, blood on our hands. And whereas, you know, the UFC, that has to be a level playing field. That can't be a competitive advantage. That can't.

And, I mean, that's why there's a separate governing body. that is taking these tests. Yeah, but I think in the case of both companies, and I don't say this necessarily is like, I don't mean to come off like a dick. I'm not trying to like accuse anybody of anything. You can. It's your show. But if, now that we've named the show, and I guess it is,

the, I mean, in both cases, the testing situations are public relations decisions, right? I mean, like, I guess for the UFC, there's a functional side of it, which is they had to be totally on the up and up to eventually get a clear, to fight in New York State and like whatever. I mean, there's like there are functional repercussions.

But at the same time, it's like, you know, if they had everything going their way, would they be like subjecting themselves to test? I mean, who knows? But probably, you know, that wasn't, that hasn't always been the case. And WWE, I think knows that they care about the welfare of their, of their competitors. But like to the extent that like the wellness policy has a name and it's on press releases and stuff. Like that's a PR move.

And that's a good thing because a, you know, a company that's like just such a purely capitalist enterprise like WWE needs like a lot of their bad impulses that are balanced out by good PR decisions you know and that's how we get good things anyway well I'm sure Brock is gonna fight this and you know he as he is

and you know what will be interesting to say too is if WW even you know I think I think they did release a statement like that but yeah it was a it was weird in an era of really comprehensive hence of statements, you know, that we've been in of late. But if, you know, it turns out Brock was popped and rightfully so, you know, I guess the WWE would have to kind of suspend him too.

I mean, no, I don't think that they or no. My question is, like, is this going to be the year basically of like wellness violations? Last year was the year of injuries. Is like this the new thing that's going to like kind of mess with everything? That's a good question. if we're going to look back on this as like the well because you know the company is probably cleaner than it's ever been so that would be funny if like I mean that would be kind of ironic if they I don't know I mean there is a track record for them you know suspending people for like drug busts that happened even if they didn't fail a test but I don't think that like here's a thing Lesner doesn't have to the only way we find out what Lesnar did I think it's I think we know that it wasn't recreational drugs but like We won't know specifically what popped him unless he tells us, or someone associated with him tells us,

or it leaks out somehow. Orrton tells us. Yeah. Oh, and like a shoot promo? Yeah. Yeah, that could totally happen. But the point here is that, like, there are lots of things that he could have,

that he could, I mean, I assume there are many things that he, you know, that could have caused that, that test to be a fail or whatever, that, that are presumably okay.

within the confines of the wellness policy. You know, I mean, like, they're not, they don't have a specific banned substance list, or they might, but presumably there's, there's some things. If you have the proper doctor's note or whatever. Well, like, very specific, like, UFC just outlawed, what, testosterone replacement therapy last year or something like that. Like, it was okay before then with a doctor's note.

Presumably, WWE would allow you do that with a doctor's note, too, if, you know, if looking at any of the, over 40 members of the roster is any indication, or the front office too. But what a shame. I mean, at the end of the day, what a great story, Lesnar was, still is. And you didn't know maybe there is a future here with UFC,

another fight, and now it's just, I mean, at the end of day, it's a bummer for the fans. I think, who, I mean, my God, that guy needed steroids? That guy, really? Well, you look at that fight, and it seems like, yeah, like you would have loved to see a version of that fight where he didn't do something, where he was clean, you know? because it seemed like he had enough of a natural advantage that he probably could have handled it.

But a lot of times that you take that stuff, you just do it for faster healing, you know, you tweak something during training, you break something and you're just trying to get back. And with wrestling, it's even worse. Anyway, we've talked enough about Brock Lesnar. Tate, Tate bet $200 on Lesnar. He was in Vegas when it happened. Do you feel good about keeping your bet? I mean, keeping your cat, you got your money? I already cashed out.

You told me I'm fine, Schuiker. All right. No, let's hope so. I did not place any money on this. Only 200 from Tate. He's a big, that's a low best for him. Tate's 23 years old. When I was 23, $200 was like $2 million.

He's where just Jordans every day this kid. That's all the money I had, actually. So let's talk briefly. Was there anything else we need? Oh, the SPs. Do you have any SB thoughts? You email me about this. Sina did a great job.

I kind of think, and we didn't get a chance to talk about it, I honestly think this. This is between the Espy's such like a huge coming out party for him. Yeah. If this was wrestling, this is kind of seen as like pivot towards not necessarily one foot out the door, but kind of one foot out the door. He has to host SNL this upcoming season, right? Yeah. And he's got some movie.

Like if you were doing, I guess you don't, it depends on who else is in the movie. But in, you know, he's in that movie that he's in the upcoming Tina Faye. Wait, isn't he? He was already in the Tina Faye. What's his next, what's his next turn? What is his next thing? He has something else. I don't know.

He'll never be the rock and we should never, no one will ever be the rock. But to, this was seen like between train wreck, he did an amazing job with ESPs. He's in, I think, a hefty commercial. He signed a American grid and a deal with a major production company. This is, I think, Sina saying, you know, I will always be with the, WWE and I'll have a couple more runs, but this is now, you're starting to see him build who he is. It's not the rock, but it's kind of like this American, just, you know, American fun-loving.

Yeah. He went, I will say that his, on my W, on my draft board, he dropped a few spots because, because at some, because you realize at some point what you're drafting is like, you're, you're, it's closer to drafting the rock than drafting Sammy Zane as far as just like work like day like how much time he's going to spend there potentially in the future now there's nobody with a better work ethic than John Sina but you do have to wonder you know are we looking at like a 50-50 schedule at some point well I think so because he isn't so demand and when you see him do these turns outside at WW.

Like, I love when people discover him. And even people that were watching the espies that, you might not be familiar. Yeah. Or even in train wreck, my wife was like, John Cena was the best part. I had no idea. My mom texts me every time John Cena is like a co-host on the Today Show or whatever. And she, but she, like, I honestly think that if there's one thing that Sina has, okay, the two things that Sina has over the rock.

One is that he is, I've been saying forever. he's the guy in WWE that makes the guys you care about matter. You know, like, he's the only, like, and maybe, and the rock could theoretically do this, but if the rock came back. Well, he didn't do with rain, so you're already right. Right, but if the, yeah, exactly. But if the rock came back and just got beat up by Kevin Owens, it would see, it would almost be too transparent, like, oh, all they're doing is using the rock to get Kevin Owens over.

Sina, like, it's like, he just works these good programs with young guys, it makes it matter. So he has that. But also, I honestly think Sina does better, is better with the mom demographic than, than The Rock. Oh, that's a... It's gonna be all those Today's show appearances now. If The Rock just decided that all he wanted in the world was to be Kelly Rippa's co-host,

the Rock would be the best in the world at it. Don't get me wrong. But Sina is sort of like, that's sort of his perfect... Just like Steve Austin was born to be a podcaster, John Sina might have been born to be Kelly Rippus co-host. Like, that's his perfect spot. Whereas the Rock is so exciting

and just turn on the camera. That's what he does. no matter what it is, I think with Sina, when you, when you interact with him and people always say he is the nicest guy. No one, no one's ever said Sina, most electrifying man in Shibis, but everyone says, oh, John Sina is the nicest, nicest guy. Latoya, do you or your mom have any feelings on John Sina? Well. John Sina, the entertainer, the show, the television host.

I was going to say, as you're saying, it's like John Sina's coming out party where, like, when people discover, you know, how fun John Sina is, like I kind of feel a sense of even after like years of booing him basically because I like I like John Cena the person and like the John scene that we have now is he's like really entertaining and it's just like good for you I want to see you succeed it's not like that bitterness there kind of was you know when the rock left yeah seen I'm like I want nothing but the best for him in his post wrestling career he's earned it yeah I mean I mean as huge run in the WWE won like every title and done everything I've asked of him I'm actually excited now to see what what he does outside of the ring. And I mean, the ESP's, he really did look like a perfect host, even though, I mean, some of those suit choices weren't the best, but. He still looks funny in a suit. Yeah, so weird.

He's so big. Like, the Rock can wear a suit and look like a million bucks, and Cina looks like the State Puff marshmallow amount. Like I've said up, he's just too big in a weird way. Maybe he just needs a better tailor. He just, he needs to get out, he needs to get away from the Vince McMahon's tailor and get with the Rock's tailor. Like, that's, that's the,

That's what's at stake there. As for mom opinions, my mom doesn't really have an opinion too much on Sina, but she's very disappointed in Brock Lesnar. She adores Brock. Oh. Really? He's an adorable beast, yeah. He is an adorable beast.

That should be his new nickname. Let's talk, but we still got to get to the draft, but let's talk Cruiserweight Classic. Did you guys watch the first episode this week? Yes. I've watched some, yeah. Yeah. And it looks like these next round of matchups are what everyone wanted. These are like no, there's no cupcakes here.

First of all, let's just establish that it is insane that this is happening. Yeah. On the WW network. Also, I mean, we'll get, there's, I have a lot of questions about the WWE calendar right now. I guess when you're just stacking awesome stuff, there's nothing to complain about last, let me, not last night. This weekend was the first time where I've spent like, you know, upwards of 10 hours watching WWE stuff and stuff on the network and not felt like I wish I was doing something else for a second. There's just so much good stuff, you know, rewatching Raw, and then you're watching the Cruiserweight

Classic, and you're catching up on all the stuff, and it's like, well, there's just different sorts of things that are keeping you interested, and the draft is coming, and I'm excited about it. Anyway, yeah, man, I mean, I got... Wait, were you going to say, because now it's not until August 26th? Yeah, but it's just, it's weird that there's, it's weird that in one week we have the draft the Cruiserweight Classic and the next pay-per-view, which I have forgotten what it's called. Battleground?

Yes. I thought Battleground was the last one. So Battleground, the Cruiserweight Classic, and the draft are all happening basically within the span of a week, and they're not really relevant to one another? Like, it's very strange that I was talking to somebody who sort of, I guess, sort of on the inside of WWE, trying to figure out why they're doing the draft like the week of the pay-per-view instead of just either doing it. it halfway between pay-per-views or doing it making the pay-per-view the draft or something.

And I think the answer is just that the USA TV schedule operates independently of the raw, I mean, of the, of the, of the WWE pay-per-view schedule, and it's silly to think too deeply into it. They're like the NFL network now. We've got, we have football every day of the week and now. It's true. So, but I don't mind when you get something like the Cruiserweight Classic tossed on top. Yeah.

This has been fun. I'm just so happy to see. people like that I've been watching on the indies or I've seen like at PWG they get to show the world how great they are you're way more of that scene than I am tell me who you're most excited to see whether or not that I mean that was on the show this week or that's coming up oh uh I'm just Cedric Alexander I love him so much I don't understand how you know he hadn't broken out and now I guess he's breaking out really you know yeah man I used to watch him at Ring of Honor shows at the Hammerstein and and and

And when he was, what was the tag team? The C&C wrestling factor? Yeah. And I remember watching them and thinking like, also Cedric was a little bit chubbier than. Yeah, he slimmed down for this. And it sort of had the look of a traditional tag team. Like there's one guy who's good at wrestling and one guy who looks like a heavyweight wrestler, you know? And he was the, and Cedric was the sort of better, you know, ring worker.

But man, he looks like he looks really legit. And I got a couple of text messages about that match. Like people are really into Cedric Alexander, which I think is really cool. Also, in those Ring of Honor Days, he had some, like, they came up at, like, the best time for tag team wrestling. I mean, that's sort of when, like, the American Wolves were there, where, like, every... Future shock. Yeah. Every tag team match just devolved into people kicking each other really hard in the chest, like, legit, strong-style chest kicks.

And it was just a pretty... It was great for the young people, the young teams coming up because they... That's how Cole and O'Reilly got to show all. like early on yeah yeah and that's I mean and they were I mean O'Reilly specifically was like part of that that crew backstage but like everybody I mean when when when Alexander and Coleman got to start doing that stuff it was just like wow I wasn't really expecting this from them and it got I don't know it was it was a lot of fun and watching it like you guys are saying sometimes it takes cruiser whites for them to really put on their their show to be put in a ring with fellow cruiser weights yeah it's tough

with a guy maybe like a Bray Wyatt or a big show, even though it looks, wow, this is impressive. You know, for them to really work, you know, it takes being in the ring. Yeah, it felt, a lot of the matches felt very much like the indie matches we've seen partly because a lot of these guys have probably wrestled before. But there was just, the matches were very, all very good and slightly, I mean, and you felt a lot more unfamiliarity between the parties that were wrestling.

Like, you, WW.E, sometimes, doesn't get enough credit for just how comfortable the people in the ring, like the ring workers are together a lot of the time, you know, it makes the matches a subtle 5% better that like, you know, Dove Ziegler and whoever biggie have wrestled on 100 house shows before they get in the ring on Raw. Dov Ziegler and Kofy Kingston's Best of 2000 series? Yeah.

I say deliberately skipped that matchup for the, but yeah, you're, you're right. The only way this could, I think, and not wrong, but in a WWE way is if Brian Kendrick won. That would be. You're not in for Brian Kendrick? Why are you guys wrong? I like Brian Kendrick, but did I miss something? Did Brian Kendrick fall in hard times?

Because they're really going with that as his driving factor. He has a wrestling school. I love that they're like sort of gimmicking this thing. Everybody gets to use their name, like they're established names or for the most part. Are there a couple of renamed people? Gran Metallic is Masgara Dorada. Right, but that's someone else owns that. Yeah, because that's the whole Mexican system.

But like most people are coming in using their indie names. They're referencing real life stuff, like, but they're still doing it in the sort of k-fabe way. The Brian Kendrick thing is really hazy. DeVari's brother came in and they kept referring to his brother as instead of Sean Davari as just Davari, which was the strangest thing. Like, we understand that they share a last name. You can say his first name. It's not that weird. But yeah, I mean, there's just these like subtle ways that it's different.

But going to what you were saying, I mean, the coolest thing about it. this whole thing. I mean, not the coolest thing, but one of them is Daniel Bryan being there and being incredibly good

at color commentary, which is, you know, not a total shock, but kind of a shock. And, I mean, in a certain sense, I don't know if you watched the, they sort of did like

a brackatology show in addition to it where they had a bunch of the talking heads and Triple H was there. Canyon Seaman, who's one of the, I was shocked that he was on TV.

I thought he was always going to be a behind-the-scenes guy, but one of the really undersung heroes of the roster that we have now. But they were on there talking about what this meant, and they really kind of basically said, this is, without saying it, this is a tournament to see who gets to be Daniel Bryan. You know, I mean, that's sort of the unspoken subtext here.

My favorite part of those talking heads were actually, was Corey Graves' bit when he was discussing Champa v. Gargano. He's like, I hope they both lose. They go one-on-one. And he's like, I hope they both lose the match. Yeah, it's funny. There's a one joke he threw in the entire time. And what is cool is, I think, whether it's Triple H or Daniel Bryan or when it was

CM Punk in the past, these are the guys that the wrestlers watch. These are the guys they admire, whether, you know, sometimes they might not admit it or not. And now here they are under a WWE umbrella. And I just remember years ago when it was so taboo for W.E. I mentioned it was a Batista interview. I always point out where it was a BATI's interview. Like someone asked him about AJ Style who's like, I have no idea who that is. Like, I don't know if that's true, but like, he made sure to say it.

Well, is it, but it might be true. It might be. Yeah, I mean, but like, Cedric Alexander was great. Who else looked really good this week? Were there, I don't mean, I'm trying to, I'm trying to pull up the. DeVar? Huh? Oh, no, go ahead.

I thought DeVari looked good, but. But then he lost. Yeah. To ho-ho. Yeah. As a comedy bang bang fan, like, it takes, like, everything in my heart not to, like, say hoho, like hoho the evil elf. Yeah.

And I really want to. Yeah, ho ho-ho-lun, I mean, it's also a very Lord of the Rings sounding name. Like, I mean, not Lord of the Rings, a Game of Thrones. He sounds like the Giant, like 1-1 or whatever. There's a lot of-confuse Lord of Rings and Game of Thrones. They'll come after you. There's also the weird thing that a lot of these guys are just like actually under NXT contract. And then they have the, like, Brian Kendrick and who else is coming back for this one?

Oh, Tijiri. Oh, Tijuri. Yeah, yeah. So there's some filler. I mean, I guess this could be a big gimmick where Brian Kendrick comes out on top at the end. The files are him and Tajiri. That would be the old WWB way of doing it.

But so, I mean, but it looks like between, I mean, it looks like there's a few guys who are sort of already in pole position for the same. We'll watch it going forward. I don't want to talk about the ending or anything. But, yeah. Akira Tizawa is like such a fan favorite. Yeah. Orge's match, Gulak, Sabre, obviously.

Jack Saber Jr. is great. Yeah, I mean, there's just a lot of, there are a lot of opportunities here that they could really, I mean, they can. Nome Dar's like 22. Yeah. Great backstory. There's that, which one is he? I love Jack Galaher. He's great.

Jack Gallagher. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Grand Metallic is already under contract. I mean, that was the word that came out this week or that has come out at some point. Oh, yeah, Nome Dar looks really good. Koda Abushi. I think Kotaubushi and Graham Metallic are the two that they've signed to officially to contract. Man, Cedric Alexander seems like kind of a sure thing.

Ho-ho Lund, I was not a big fan of based on the one week. I was surprised that he went over, but he looked like, I mean, he wrestled like a kid pretending to be a wrestler, which is not always bad. But let's see. Alejandro says, size. They kept on pointing out that he lost like 40 pounds to make the weight limit, the weight cuts. But like, I want to see this guy. I mean, I want to see that guy at full weight. Can't he just be a regular, on the regular roster?

I mean, he had some cool moves that he busted out. Exactly. They should sign him too because. I mean, I think a lot of these guys are going to end up getting signed. Oh, I was a big fan of Clement Petsu, whatever you say. Pachu? Yeah. As it sounded like they were sneezing every time he said it. Yeah.

It got to a point where Brian was just saying like, he's on the, because. I don't think so. I don't know. He hasn't been on TV, but a lot of the footage they showed of him was much higher resolution than they were showing it. Like, they were showing him working out, and it was like, this, this is footage that exists. It was the usual performance center. Yeah.

That was, maybe I'm wrong, but that was just what I gathered from watching it. But yeah, man, I mean, there's, it was a whole lot of fun. I can't believe Rich Swan's going to be on television. Drew Gullack's another one. There's a lot of, I mean, there's a lot of really, a lot of really interesting names on here. T.J. Parkins, you said? Yeah, Perkins. He's good.

Yeah, and Johnny Gargano is what, like, man, I mean, he's, I guess him being on the NXT roster makes him sort of a dark horse. You feel like this is going to be an excuse to put over one of the guys they just signed. But, you know, whatever. But it's a lot of fun. Like, it's, every time there's a new wrestling show, it's like my favorite wrestling show for about a month. But this is seriously my favorite wrestling show this weekend. I mean, and it's, you know, like at NXT, some of these other guys really. on that WD

roster you just feel bad. Like they're just going to get lost in the shuffle now. The guys that are like on the main roster? Yeah.

Yeah. Of like a Seamus or even a Rusev. Like honestly poor Seamus and Del Rio are already kind of feeling it

right now, especially Seamus. Well, I just, well, listen, we had, this is a segue

that I've been working on for several days, but there are, there a lot of times guys like Seamus and Del Rio just need, you know, they can fill roles.

To go to Lucha Underground? Is that what you're going to say? Well, Del Rio's already been there. And Jim is he'd go to New Japan, with you all know. Oh, man. He would be the world champion in like 45 minutes. But yeah, I mean, what they need, I mean, they fill important roles when called upon. But what they need is the time, they need space in their roster to work those roles.

And starting on Tuesday, with the WWB draft, there will be that space, right? I mean, presumably there's supposed to be that space. Listen, when Smackdown existed When there was a hard brand split And the soft brand split That's when people like Seamus Got the opportunity to be champion And it's not, I mean obviously

You know I will as a smark or formally say That I'd rather Ziegler be champ than Seamus But there's going to be more space For someone like Seamus in the mix I mean I wouldn't prefer this version of Ziegler To be champ or Shemannes And Seamus

You know is the sort of person Who works a lot better as a champion And then he does is just like a random like guy on the roster. Also, someone's going to have to be kind of the face of that show. I feel like whenever they've launched like ECWs or, you know, someone kind of takes the reins and runs. No pun intended. Yeah, probably no pun intended because all three of those guys will, I imagine, for the most part, like they're with Rob.

But, you know, whether it's styles or who knows, like Charlotte, someone's got to be the kind of. runs the place. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's totally true. I mean, you did a really good job of not mentioning Chris Benoit in that little introduction there. Well, that was the wellness policy. I had to bite my tongue there. But yeah, the, yeah, I mean, it's, I think that, you know, I've been, I think, I think it's, I think we're just going to get, like, you know, one of the members of the shield is going to go to Smackdown. My guess is that they, is that, I mean, I wouldn't, let me just say, I wouldn't be surprised if Dean Ambrose having the belt is a way to legitimize SmackDown. down for the first couple of weeks and also put the least favorite member of the shield

onto the B show. Well, least favorite to people who aren't the fans, really. Yes. Oh, no, that's what I mean. The least favored in-house. Yeah. I was going to also say, I think Dean and Seth are going to be on different brands. Yeah.

Well, that's the way they're running house shows, and I think that's a pretty good indication. Dean Ambrose has been, I mean, a lot of the talk was before he got busted by the wellness policy was that they took their belt off reins because Dean Ambrose working the B-shows had been out or had been drawing the same number of fans as Roman Raines as the headliner of the A shows on the house. Which was supposed to be bigger, yeah. It's so weird how that belt can change people's perception. It really is.

Dean Ambrose didn't change. Roman Raines didn't change, but when they put the belt on, it is strange. I don't like them. Roman Raines not changing was the problem. Well, right. Well, yeah. I mean, Roman Raines gets a lot of shit. And it's not, and most of it has nothing to do with him.

Like he's gotten a lot better in the ring, but that's so beside the point. We're like if we didn't come into this with the feeling that WW was shoving him down our throats. I mean, that's a W.W.E. issue. That's not a, that's not a... Yeah, let's just put it in terms of, like, just acting in general. You could have a phenomenal actor, but with really shitty writing, you're not going to care about that character at all. Sure. But, but, okay, so as two fans, like, other than Seth Rollins, and I guess Kevin Owen's, like, who do you really want to have the belt? Like, who do you really...

I think Ambrose is. is, just like I said about Seamus, I've said it before, Ambrose is another guy who, the difference between him being a main eventor and a mid-carder is so significant. When he gets in the middle of the ring and a show-closing promo segment,

knowing that he's in the mix for the title or he's the champion, it feels a little bit like Stone Cold Steve Austin. You know, you can feel the crowd reacting in a way that just is disproportionate to how normally we would view him. They are just so attached to the guy. Yeah, he's been like on his A game lately just as the champ.

Like it's night and day almost, even though he hasn't really changed. He's doing less prop comedy than in previous pushes. Yeah. Just slight less prop comedy. That's all you needed. Yeah, he's really, really good. And, you know, you could do, I mean, I guess I like, on some, on the one hand, I like that the heels, JBL and Stephanie and whatever else are reacting to him so vehemently by like calling you saying, he's just like needs to get a haircut if he wants to be champion.

On the other hand... I mean that thing that definitely sounded like a Vince in the mic, like in the ear thing? That was the first one they ever mentioned his hair. On the other hand, I'd rather, yeah, it would be great if they weren't like running down our champion just for the sake of like, you know, cheap giggles. Yeah, like tweaking Daniel Bryan jokes. No, I know. That's exactly what it is. It's like we've had...

That didn't help anybody, you know? Yeah. Well, Daniel Brian is a nerd, so we should talk about it at nauseam. He doesn't own a TV, you guys. Oh, well. All right. So I have your top ten list. You guys came prepared with your top ten draft picks.

I also, for a piece that we're running on the ringer, compiled to the top ten lists of Bill Simmons, the founder of the site, your boss and mine. And I'm saying that to you, Joel, and not to people listening to this, but it's conceivable that he's your sort of boss to. Did he pick David Ortiz number one? Yes. actually. But then WW released the rules, so we had to edit that out. I got a top 10 list from his son, Ben,

who is the biggest wrestling fan that I know. Got a top 10 from Sam Donsky, who's a ringer writer that everybody should be reading if they're not already. He has a great piece up today about Kanye and Taylor Swift and that whole Snapchat situation.

And then I got a list from Steve Kazee and Dan San Francisco. Germain, two of the great co-hosts of the show in addition to you guys. Now, I will say that the most surprising thing is that a lot of these lists look really similar. And I'm including, and I'm including the little kid on this too. There, Seth Rollins was, was not the consensus number one, but I think, you know, if you start tallying it up, Seth Rollins is sort of the most undeniable person on the roster? I feel like he's the only number one that would be like a clear cut, right?

The only reason he's number two on my list is because I'm like, I think Dean should be number one just because he's the champ. In my notes, I have Dean Ambrose, number one champ next to it in Seth Rallon's number two, Crown Jewel is what I put. Yeah. I think that you, once you start making actual, like, logical decisions, then that's the only reason that these lists are very different at all. You know, like I know at some point on my list I started going, well, if I, like, I'm,

I'm basically fantasy booking. It's like, well, once I have these three guys, who is the fourth guy that I need? But that's not really, once you start applying logical rules of these lists, they start going in different directions. But I think that Seth is, for most people, you know, up there. And definitely a top three on every list. Well, he's like your Adrian Peterson. If this was a fantasy football draft or whoever that big running back is that gets 25 carries a game, that's Seth Rollins. I mean, there is no other guy once he's off the board.

I mean, there's other guys, but there's only one Seth. Yeah, the only way you pass on Seth is if you're hoping, you think for some crazy reason you're getting in with number three because, like, you want Seth Rollins on your roster. Yeah. There's the dude and the guy. Only won the man. Yeah.

Yeah, so, yeah, Rollins was number one on both Simmons family members list. He was number one on your list, Joel. and let's see, number three on Dan's list, number one on Steve's list, and number, oh, number three on Donsky's list. Donsky went really, I was really happy to see that he's a huge mark. Like, I knew he was into wrestling, but Donsky went Kevin Owens with number one and AJ Styles at number two. Those are the two really interesting names also that will keep coming up.

I'm guessing that Kevin Owens isn't going to be number two on the actual WWB draft on Tuesday. I think that he'll be a top, a high pick, but, you know, they got to keep him in a in his role a little bit. But Kevin Owens and AJ Styles both made, considering where they would have been on a draft board a year ago, both of those guys, it's shocking how high they landed on every draft board,

just in that context. What do you think about, Latoya, what do you think about those two guys and if they're worth that sort of value? Well, I put AJ as number four on my draft, and my note next to that is, come on. Yeah. Like, seriously, I feel that with the two being Dean, Seth, first ones, I put three with Sina because he's still John Sina. Yeah.

But I think the next, like, logical step is like, AJ Stiles, just listen to his reaction, just see how quickly he's gained fans. Like, I think he's phenomenal A.J. Stiles. That's like an obvious choice. It's crazy. It's crazy how quickly he got over. And then why I had A.J. Stiles at 3 hasn't even hit his ceiling yet. That's the most exciting thing. That's crazy, yeah.

Where did you have, have them? I, I, I mean, I've been moving around my list up to the point we started this show, and it's, and it's, I can't, I'm not even settled. I get, I get the benefit of being. You could have me change anything. No, because I'm the host, I can change it. Right now, he's sitting at number eight on my list. But like you said, it, like everything after, I'll just, I'll tell you my list as it stands

right now. Everything beyond, I mean, talk to, this is. is a the top 10 is hard it would almost it's like an NBA draft where it's where the whole lottery is loaded but I look at you as as Mel Kuyper Jr. I look at you as Wojahowski I've I psyched myself I psyched myself out so many times doing this here's what I did Seth Rollins number one because I think it's just it's really hard to make a case for anybody else and there's and there's no knocks on Seth Rollins right I have John Sina drops dropped way down on my draft board of number nine because I because like as important as he I don't want to have a show without John Sina

But as important as he is, I'm worried that he's going to go to Hollywood. Like, I think that's a concern, you know? Number two, I picked the New Day, and that's a total talent grab. According to WWU rules, teams can be drafted as a unit, and I think those three guys together are a, if I was not allowed to ever split them up, they would be in my top 10, but much lower. That's just a savvy, Sabre metric. Yeah.

My note on New Day is just dollar signs. Yeah. I think that we should keep them together, but if we're just really, talking about making smart draft picks, you know? I mean, it's like, it's why you draft a seven foot dude just because there's, there's, you know, it's, it's about bang for your buck, you know, there's, there's, it's, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a decision. It's it, it makes just like strict numerical sense. Can I actually ask you a question?

Yeah. But if they were, let's just say hypothetically, who, how do you rank New Day? If, I, I'm, I'm, honestly, that was my only trepidation by putting them number two, because I don't really know the answer to that. Like, I think that the move is. It's big either. he would be the number one now? I think that it's funny because for a while I was like,

my feeling was that the best, the best outcome of a long new day, I mean, of just keeping the new day together and if you split them up the right way, that is that Xavier Woods actually gets over as a singles wrestler because he's incredibly talented in a lot of different ways. So good and so underrated.

But I think that, I mean, I've really come back around to Kofi Kingston over the past month or so, month and a half. I think that Kofi Kingston could I think if they were determined to do a new day breakup or if you were the showrunner and you got to do it

I'm not saying that's what you should do but if you did it right now I think Kofi Kingston could be headlining on Raw not even Smackdown in two months just like break them up and have him win whatever the resultant wars and put him in there with the champ I mean Kofi can do that right now and I think that that's really big

But whereas almost any other time people want factions to break up and turn on each other, this is like the one. It is. Like, no, ride this out. We can wait. I don't suggest they break up. I just think they should kind of do like the shield thing where it's like you have just the two tag champions and you have like the singles star technically. Shoemaker just wants to see children cry. Apparently.

He just wants to see kids crying that they were fighting each other the new day. Yeah, exactly. No more positivity. I think that's I mean, listen, kids crying is always something that's fun. And we'll get to Ben Simmons picks in a minute, but I'll just finish out mine.

After the new day, it became money where my mouth is territory. I've put Sasha Banks and Finn Baller over so many times that like that's number that's number three and four. Those are the two people on the roster that I think have upside rivaling that of John Cena. And I think, and so

like it does, these are, these are, this is like drafting an 18 year old from like Belarus. I understand that. But like, especially in the, in the, put, to put Finn Baller over Owens, uh, Ambrose, AJ, and Sina is, is not, is crazy. But like, this is me drafting my 18 year old out of Belarus. You do not have to defend it. I'm, I'm pretty much with you so far. Uh, and Sasha, I think, I mean, Sasha is incredible. Um, I think that, you know, it's, it's a sort of, it's, it's just, where you put like the one or two women that you, that you

pick in your top 10 is, you know, it's, I don't want to say it's arbitrary, but like, you're drafting against yourself when you're making your top 10. So it's like, at some point, you're, like, it's not, I'm not ranking, Sasha's the only woman on my list. Page was in my first draft. Charlotte's in my top 15. But like, you know, I don't have, I'm not, I'm not ranking Sasha against any other women by putting her at number three. Yeah, my, like, my final draft picks, I think it was like my third full, like, attempt at it. Like, my first attempt, I was telling you it was between Charlotte, Sasha, and Paige. And I think I had that, like, the women would have been four on my list.

I'm getting my first glance at Latoya's actual, like, handwritten notes here. My insanity. Yeah, this is some true detective shit over here. Like, it's going crazy. My second run, Sasha was my fifth pick. And now at this final point, I have her at ninth, that I just feel awful. Sasha was another pretty close to consensus, like top five. On Shoemakers' list, I have a feeling that your guy,

in the green room, your Mansell, Aaron Rogers, just waiting back there. Raines is just going to be waiting and waiting. You're right. You're right. He's going to be waiting forever. I think it's going to be sad. I'm going to rush to the rest of these. I have Kevin Owens at six because there's no, he's too valuable to drop that far.

Bray Wyatt, I have at seven just because it's a little, maybe a little bit of a stretch, but like he, I love him. I think he has all the upside in the world. He can be, he can be your undertaker. He can be, I mean, depending on the size of the rest of your roster, he can be your, you know, your cane, your monster. and he can be your he could be your number one heel

he could be your number one baby face if he's booked the right way. I think he has a lot of potential there. Also fans love dressing like him. Nine, I mean, which number is that? I don't even know what I'm at what? Six is Owen, seven is Bray Wye.

Oh, wait, no, no. That's five is Owens. I have my numbers are messed up. Five is O'Ns. Six is Bray. Seven is Ambrose. Eight is A.J. Stiles. And part of the AJ style, this is just crazy person calculus, but it's like, if I'm really drafting these people, if I have Finn at number four, does AJ really need to be number five?

Like they're a little bit duplicative. You also took, I like that you, like you said, you put your money wearing out of this, took Sasha Banks over Charlotte and high. Number three. And then I have Sina at nine and then 10. Honestly, I might, I might make, I have to make my pick during the course of the show. I have Roman Raines and Nakamura tied at number 10 right now. And basically, and basically it's like, and I know, listen, I'm not, I'm not okaying this tie. I'm not saying everybody can do ties.

Our copy editor actually fact checked or what it got into this document and said, I don't think you can have a tie on a top 10 list, on a draft board. I would have had so many ties if that had been allowed. I was about to text you. Can I have tied? No, but this is really like, a supplemental pick. Like, really, I'm, like, it's crazy. All of the guys that I have that are on the roster are.

absolute workhorses with at number 10 i'm looking at rains and nakamura and saying like one of these guys is basically going to be my number one heel you know like i don't like any roster could use nakamura roman rains is sort of like i mean as much as people love to shit on him he's really good and he and he gets a bigger action from the crowd even if it's them booing him you know i mean that's really important um i don't know i don't know so that's my top 10 i'm i'm confused i'm i'm making a lot of really bad decisions, but, you know, the draft is a really crazy time. Ambrose, I have a feeling was low on people's list, obvious. Yeah, so he got a lot of low picks, but I think that there's, I think that, I think that

he's got a lot to prove, you know? I mean, I think that, like, one person who, I mean, it's interesting to me how many times Finn Baller showed up on lists. Enzo and Cass made a lot of big appearances. They weren't on my list at all, mostly because I feel like both of them have a little bit more to prove. The other name that I think, I don't know if he came up on anybody. list was Sammy Zane, which I think Sammy Zane is potentially a month away from being a top five guy,

but it doesn't surprise me at all that he is not on anybody's list. I think on a previous draft board, I don't even remember what I did, but I've done these fake drafts for WWE. I would put Sammy Zane in the top 10 solely because you have El Generico in your back pocket. And I think that's like money, as far as the eye can see, but I didn't put them on my list this year because there's a lot of wait and see. Yeah, because I think also a lot of it is that you have Kevin Owens on your list, you're like, well, I don't need Sammy Zane, really.

Like, it's kind of like an either or. For me, I put Owen 7. It was Owens or Cesaro basically as that guy's like this close to breaking through pretty much is how I looked at it. Yeah, so Owens made a big, I mean, Owens, Owens did really, really well. Bill Simmons had Owens at number two. He was a little bit lower on Ben's list. Donsky, like I said, had Owens at number one.

Steve Kazee had him at number three. So, yeah, I mean, Owens is big. Owens even on your list, Joel? I did not put Owens. I did not put Ambrose. Wow. Again, you had more time. You pressured me.

I did. You're like, I need this in five minutes. I need this in five. Listen, if I gave everybody, if I gave everybody two weeks to make their top ten lists, they would all be the same top ten list. I mean the same names were in the mix I tried to make mine as irrational as possible Because at some point you're talking yourself into Seth Rons at number one

And then wow just like Then it's all about whether you know John Cena is number three I mean they're all gonna look the same I don't like that you undervalue people that can host a show For 15 minutes in ring interview shows I guess that's true I'm taking Renee Young as like in like the 12th round So I'm gonna be set

There's no MIS there's no Jericho I think you're undervaluing hosting an in-ring show. Miz was my number 10 and it was between him, Roussev, and Randy. And I'm like, what's going to be better off just in terms of storyline driving and characterization? I'm like, Ms. has it above both of them. The Ms. I wanted to get Ms. on my list. Like I thought that would be a great number 10. There were a couple of other, I mean, there were a number of people.

I actually wanted, I was deterred. The Ms. was going to be number of. number 10, then I thought Triple H would be number 10, although he seems to be not draft eligible. I wasn't, I'm not making people stick to the rules that WW put forward, but that was a good enough excuse to get him off my list. Because honestly, I think he's like one of the best, even though he wrestles twice a year, he's like one of the best wrestlers, W&B has right now. Yeah, but had Shane drafted Triple H at 10, it is strange that some guys aren't eligible.

Underdaker. Yeah, for sure. Joel, you had Undertaker as number 10 on your list, which I thought was a great grab. it would have been had he been eligible. Now I lost my pick out of stupidity. But you got Finn Baller on there, so that makes things a little bit better. Brock Lesnar was a really interesting one because he wasn't on my list at all. I think that just when you're talking, I mean, like, he's such a big deal, but some of it's a little fantasy booking and some of it's just, you know, he's only working a few dates a year and he just got busted per PED.

That's why Sid was the only one like kind of part. art timer ish on my top 10 because I don't want to have to deal with the thought of like well how useful will they even be I think you can make the case that Brock is number one regardless this is why I want Shoemaker in our fantasy football draft because he would not take a guy like Brady or levy on bell because oh well they're out for four games I don't want them and now I get I get Lesner later I get Lesnar at like six and he's he would have been a number one pick do you really think I mean I feel like Levian Bell is just like the exact guy you don't take in your fantasy draft in the first round

anyway. This is the running backs. You can never be sure about running backs. But I think Brock Lesnar is the same way. He's going to be, he's definitely the WWE MVP over the past two years. I kind of just now want Shane to be like really inept at drafting. Be like, I want Brock Lesnar. I want Undertaker.

Then he just like says people who are. I need an announcer. Michael Cole. When you go back, when you go with you. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Did we watch the original draft the last time you were on the show? So you go back and watch that original draft. and it was like, there were a lot,

it seemed like the drafting was being done based solely on the pop that saying the name would get, right? Right. Like, I think that, like, it's more likely that, like, Donald Trump will be drafted on Tuesday than Shinski Nakamura, you know, just because it's strictly from, like, based on crowd reaction. When you watch Sina get drafted on Raw in,

where was it St. Louis, I guess, 06, that pop was so big. It made me, wait, where did it go wrong? At what point? Dude, there are so many moments I know exactly where it went wrong because then he beat everyone's favorites he beat Jericho, he beat Christian

like at the height of his popularity and Christian left basically because they wouldn't push him. They had to move him to Smackdown so they could try to cool him down because of the whole Sina thing. That pop was enormous. But Sina got some big pops even after that.

Like Sina was, Sina has been beloved. You know what I mean? It wasn't until it wasn't until punk or right before it that people like vocally turned on him. It might have been punk, yeah.

Well, there's the WrestleMania against Triple H where J.R has talked about the traditional wrestling fans who are cheering for Triple H because it's Triple H. And like in that entire buildup where Triple H is like, well, you can't wrestle. And everyone's like, well, he's constantly defeating all these clearly superior wrestlers. It was like kind of showing his weaknesses, you know.

Yeah. Huh. This will be, it's going to be fun. This will be interesting. Who's coming to? Who's coming? through that door. That's a really, yeah.

He's going to have the like Undertaker. I'm too old for this shit reaction to being drafted somewhere. That's what I'm excited for. That is the best one. It might be Undertaker again. He's going to come out and just be like, damn it, we discussed the rules.

He's reading the newspaper. They would be great if they just had like a camera on the Undertaker in his kitchen or whatever. Undertaker in his living room with like Michelle McCool on the couch next to him. And he gets picked and he does the exact same reaction that he did before. That was, That would make my day. I mentioned that when we had our last podcast and asked people to send me gifts of that and got like $5,000. It was a much more established gift than I was aware of.

So good. I will, I want to run through some of these other lists. And if you guys have any thoughts on these wrestlers and where you rank them, jump in. Let's see, Bill's list was, I'm going to say not, it wasn't, there wasn't a lot of surprises there. Rollins 1, Owens 2, Inzo and Cast 3. he has Charlotte on here at number six. You know, there's... I still think Sasha's gonna get drafted before Charlotte.

And that's gonna, because you said this to me off before we started going, that's a good storyline contrivance too. Yeah, because Shar's like the champ should be obviously drafted before, but, you know, the upside of Sasha Banks. Yeah, where does Dana Brooke, does Dana Brooke count as a valet? Does she get drafted with Charlotte? I don't think she does. I don't think she does.

See, this would be a good... If you were really good at being a wrestler, I mean, if you were, if this was a real draft, what you would do is, like, form artificial tag teams with, like, your arch rivals and your best buddies, and then you would all get drafted together. Although, even apparently, Lucha Dragons don't count as a tag team for this draft. It's so weird that they would make that stipulation, instead of just having Shane only draft one of them or something to make, and make it seem like a bold move. Who, where in Bill's bottom five, are there any surprises?

Is there any? No, he is the Markeyest bottom five ever. It's Charlotte, New Day, John Sina, Nakamura, and Ballar. Ballar came in. Ballar is a solid number 10 pick. That was another recurring theme.

Ben Simmons, who is not as marquey as he once was, has Ron's won. Inso and Cass at number two. He's so crazy about Enzoan Cass and A.J. Stiles at number three, that he'll turn to not deter him.

He has Sasha. at number four. John Seen at 5. Ambrose, Owens, Lesner at 8. A shocking entry at number 9 by Ben Simmons, Shaquille O'Neal. He is,

is he in the Hall of Fame? No, he's going to be in next year in Orlando, I guess, is the idea. I like, that's a smart pick. Yeah, I know. I think that's a big money, it's a big money pick right there. And then also sort of a wild card

Becky Lynch at number 10 for him, which is, I said on this podcast, when I went to the house show at Staples Center, Becky Lynch was the most over baby face on the roster, except for AJ Stiles and he's a heel. I can tell you who's on the bottom of my list in the entire roster, and that's Natalia. Don't draft her at all. Wow.

Wow, we're coming strong here. Just last night, so I was getting up on Smackdown and Main Event and Superstars, and Becky Lynch had a match both on Main Event and Superstars, and we had Natty on Commentary, and Natty on Commentary, here's what she's got in the tank for this feud. She's got Becky's a doormat. She's got Becky needs to look into the mirror She's got Becky has no friends And she just recycles those

Also, you know, of course she's a heart Yeah Yeah Demon Kane over Natty Yeah Wow I'm yeah maybe We should have done who's on the do not draft list

Never draft Natty Who is on you are you Are she, I think you're just getting worked Her heel stick really has you upset No because she wasn't good on commentary When she was face either Um Let's see

I'm going in on Natty guy Steve Kazee has Charlotte at number two. There's a lot of, and Sasha at number four, so Sasha wasn't left off his list. But Charlotte at number two is a really ballsy. I mean, is it really, I don't know, Balzy is the wrong word, but is a really bold pick compared to some of these other ones. If Bill was the real GM, I could see him trading down for more picks. Oh, absolutely.

Like he would, you know what, you take, or if he had the number one pick, he would gladly take four. He's learned all this stuff from his idol Bill Belichick. Yeah. He would just trade back and back and then eventually just, settle for like taking everybody in the cruiserweight classic and like Charlotte and page and that's it that would be his roster there was one really good and he would win the super ball commentary thing on main event superstars which was David Otunga being like ride or die for his buddy Curtis Axel he's like he needs to leave the social outcast and he could be like

a top draft pick I'm like their former tag team champions oh tongue has been really good on the mic I mean on on on the commentary he's kind of hit like hit or miss on commentary but like I I love that little bit of W.E continuity where he was like so like gungho for Curtis Axel. He's like, he needs to drop these losers so he can like achieve his potential. I'm like, oh, that's adorable. Yeah. I mean, at least he remembers.

I feel like JBL forgets that he had huge matches with these guys sometimes. Yeah, no, that's totally true. I mean, they bring back JBL's history. They've been doing that more and more. He brings up Ron Simmons. You have to like, the draft has been really big for JBL because that's when he, when the APA was. broken up was during the original draft.

That's what GBL began. But that goes back to the point that we've kind of been making on an office. They're taking the draft really seriously and they're trying to hype it up like a real sporting event and they keep by referencing history, that helps. By taking this kind of like people making brackets and, you know, sites talking about it really seriously, that helps. My old buddies, Peter Rosenberg and Brian Campbell did a back-and-forth mock draft on ESPN, which I'm sure WWU is just like absolutely insane for you know they went Peter by the way went

all in on like drafting to show he wants to draft instead of just ranking the people for like talent wise but I think that that's totally legit I mean I think that there are a lot of different ways you can go about looking at this and that's what makes it really really interesting to me um Dan St. Germain before we get to before we get off the specific list Dan St. Germain did I say has Jim Johnson number one that was that that's his really that was his ballsy pick and I think that it was, that's definitely worth the number one spot if you're, if you're going to go that way. But yeah, I mean, it's, they're, like I said, the interesting thing is the way that the same, about 12 or 15 people just came up where this people were every single list.

And it doesn't, when you're, when everybody's top, when everybody can agree on the top 12 or top 15, I'm a little bit nervous about how this brand split's going to go all of a sudden. How great is it? Hopefully it will affect people's worth in the positive fashion. Hopefully we'll be talking about, you know, I mean, I've said, it keeps saying, but like the Miz and Dolv Ziegler and guys like that will be, it will be given a chance to elevate their place, I mean, elevate their stature, right? I really hope they don't break up Brizongo.

That's something I really care about, actually. I think it would be insane if any of these tag teams that have just formed, or, you know, that are, I mean, a tag team like that is just for. Break up Golden Truth just to see the ridiculous video package of all their greatest hits. They should just draft Golden Truth to Superstars, even though they're not of the draft. Let's just make that official. Just to get their reaction. Yeah.

Yeah. Also, WWU probably very happy. Everyone's top ten just filled with NXT guys. Wow. That's a really good point. And AJ Styles, but. Yeah. But you got to have AJ Styles.

You know, I mean, you got, like, he is one of the most important hires they've made because he came from outside of the system, you know? And the new, I mean, I guess the new day. isn't all NXT guys, but certainly W.W.E. guys. And, yeah, I mean, Owens, again, I'm kind of surprised there was no Sammy Zane on here, but, like, you know, Owens is much more a indie guy, obviously, than, you know, even Dean Ambrose is, just because of the amount of time Ambrose has been a WWE guy. But, yeah, I mean, it is, it's interesting how some people come in and just sort of keep their indie

gimmick. Kevin Owens is a little, I mean, obviously there have been a handful of tweaks, but I, but I will never see Owens as a fully WWE guy. Whereas I'll see, you know, like Finn Baller just seems so, like, so much like a WWE guy despite spending all the years wrestling the world. But yeah, I mean, part of that is just this gimmick. I don't know. I'm excited. I'm excited to see how they do it, how they treat the draft itself. It's probably going to be really gradingly, like, like a rip-off of ESPN. But that's not a, a bad thing. I mean, I don't know how I would do it if I were them. I'm going to, I'm going to be excited and, like, repulsed at the same time, I'm sure, during the whole presentation.

Classic WV. What a terrible pick. Yeah, do you think they're going to be getting running commentary? Oh, God. I would think. They have that, they have the desk where they, that they use for pay-per views, you know, for like the halftime show or the pre-game show or whatever. That is, like, it's basically the same desk where they put Mel Kuyper during the NFL draft, right? Yeah. So why not just go all in and just have a running comment? I would think that's probably what's going to happen, but they'll probably take breaks in between picks. Yeah, to show like Our Truth and Gold Dust Talking Backstate.

Like, it's going to be Hammy, which is, you know, it's not, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see also if we get more of a split in tone between the two shows. I know that WWE has been working diligently behind the scenes at figuring out how to make the two shows feel very different. I mean, SmackDown's already kind of getting there just with their like, B-roll they're showing like at the beginning of the shows now. Yeah, they're trying some stuff out. I will say that I don't think there's been any serious talk of splitting up creative teams or splitting up show running.

Vince is back on the road. He's going to be sitting guerrilla at Smackdown as far as I know. And, I mean, not to get too nerdy about this, but who knows, the Tuesday night show not going up against Monday night football may do, you know, slightly better. Well, not better than Rob, but... Yeah. I mean, they were talking about ratings, right?

Wasn't Vince talking about ratings to Shane and Stephanie when he announced that Shane was... He wasn't competing ratings too, yeah. And I think that they're really going to go in with that. Like, they're not going to maybe not state the ratings on the air, but I think that they're trying to kind of shoot that part. And it's... I was saying this to Latoya before. It's a little bit weird because most wrestling fans are not...

or probably not Nielsen households. So I don't really know how they're going to, like, exactly, I mean, I don't know if that's going to feel right. But, like, it would be nice if there were some way that WWE fans could, like, legitimately vote or something without it being, you know, just a total sham. I'm sure WWW will tell you when they're back coming back from commercial. No, that's what I mean. I wish there were more of a, I wish there were a legitimate way to gauge, like, what,

if you subscribe to the WW network, to gauge what shows you're actually watching live every week or something, because that would be really interesting. But see, the fear is if SmackDown does do well in the ratings, will they do that classic WB thing where it's like, well, SmackDown ratings is getting better? Let's gut their roster and put them back on Raw to see if that helps. Because that's kind of what got us this last, that was the Raw Super Show era, basically. Yeah, no, it's true. I mean, listen, they were gutted. They gutted Smackdown every year in the expansion or in the whatever, the draft. And then eventually the whole thing came tumbling down because, John Cena was too big of a star to not have on every pay-per-view. I still don't know why they're keeping all the pay-per-view separate, but actually we don't know if that's true or not. That remains to be seen, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until then. We won't know really until, like, they actually happen.

Yeah. Classic W-W.E. Is there anybody else on your do-not-draft list, Latoya? Titus O'Neill. Really? I do not like Titus O'Neill. Sorry, Titus. I know he's clearly listening.

But yeah, I, he's on that list. I don't want you here anymore. Like, outside of primetime players, Titus has never done anything for me. And now we have, you know, Darren Young being great again. So Titus is really doing that. If someone tweeted me about this, that just yesterday, or at least I just saw the tweet yesterday, about how kind of, and I responded. So I'm going to conflate what he said and what I said, because I'm going to remember.

But it's so weirdly reassuring that. you have Darren Young, who is gay and black, and he's being presented as just the all-American man. I mean, there's a little bit of irony in the character, but, like, he's just, like, it's, it's so crazy that it's, that neither of those things are part of his gimmick, you know? And it's, and it's, and it feels great in a weird way. It's just a minor thing. He's probably going to lose the Miz of the pay-per-view and get repackaged again in six months, but, um, this is a, this is, this feels like the right gimmick for Darren Young. And I'm excited to see it. I'm excited to see them give it a little.

I mean, who knows, man? I didn't, like, already botch it all up with the Battle Royal on Monday. That was his debut, right? Yeah, that was the... And that was the real throwaway. That's a weird way to... Anytime somebody gets promo segments or gets vignettes and then debuts, like, as an afterthought in a match, you get real nervous because that's...

Yeah, I was... Oh, no. He doesn't even get an entrance. Like Apollo Cruz did. I was so worried Apollo Cruz was going to win. Wait, where is Apollo Cruz? If you have a 50 person... If you draft everybody.

He's not my do not draft list. Where roughly do you think Apollo Cruz is? I don't even know at this point because I think he was called up too early. And I think he's slowly losing stock. But you're running the show. You can do whatever you want to with him. Draft based on potential. Somewhere after the bottom half, I think.

Yeah. After the other Wyatt brothers, I would have. He's after Braun Strowman. Have you seen Strowman's body lately? You didn't see him at the White Compound? We don't talk about that. Can I draft bro. Matt Hardy?

Can I ask a real, yes. Can I, yeah, the non-WWB list gets really interesting. And I think I'll probably mention that in my column later this week. But before we get off the subject, do you think Bronstrom in losing his shirt at the Wyatt compound will mean that he is now shirtless when he appears in the ring? Man, this is why your brain. My God.

For some reason, for some reason, for some reason I felt his shirtless. shortlistence was very conspicuous. Everybody else managed to keep their clothes on. That just might be a weird compound thing he has, but... He just hangs out in like swim trunks and that's it all the time? I mean, you do what you got to do when you're trying to kill black people with axes

on your compound. Listen, they showed up, okay? They like they came, they started that fight. Well, at least they showed up for that fight. I mean, they said that the white family smelled, so it was on. It was like true detective C's in three. I want to...

That whole vignette. Okay, so you both have, you both have crews in the bottom half. Yeah. Man, I think he's, I still think I'd find a way to get him into my top 20, but we'll see.

Is Baron Corbin on anybody's do not draft list? Nah. You might also be in the bottom half, but like... He's not on my do not draft. Yeah. How many people here,

I'm going to guess for like the eight top tens that I gathered, at least half of them had Cizaro on them at one point, and now none of them have Cisaro on them. Like I said, it was between Kevin Owens and Cisaro. So, yeah, so he's close for you. You're right. No, Cizaro, I had him as high as seven, and then, but Lana coming with Rusev.

Yeah, I think that's actually a really, that's not a bad call. And I'm surprised we didn't see more Rusef, although it's my fault because I'm a big Roussef supporter and he didn't make my list. It was Roussef or Ms. And going back to my do not draft list, like when Titus's feud with Rusev, like all A lot of his arguments, like, because, you know, America, we fight, and he would constantly challenge Roussev to a match when Rousseff would have just, like, cleanly won a match. I'm like, why am I supposed to be supporting this guy over the one who just valiantly crushed

his opponent? Because Rousseff, for the most part, he doesn't do the heel, like, cheating thing. He wins clean, and then he's, like, super aggressive, but that's just kind of wrestling. All right, we got to wrap to show up. I got to, we got to run out of here really soon, but really quickly, where is Dolfs? Ziegler on your list? Top half? Is he in the top 15?

No. 25. He's up 20, 25. Stop 20, 25. I think the top 25 starts, if he's at 25, that becomes second half. Shoemaker. Well, no, he's top 20, I'd say for me. Shoemaker, I want you to get Vince's do not draft list because I bet that is a real list.

Yeah. Vince is, I should just write that whether I should just make it up. Hall Kogan. Hall Kogan was now on that list. Yeah, exactly. I wonder where Donald Trump lands on the list. That's the list I want to see. If they could get him in the ring, I bet they would.

I mean, he's, obviously, he gets ratings. Donald? So he's rating, it's going to be interesting to watch the ratings and to see how much they really pay attention to it. Tonight, on Monday Night Raw, we get, they're going to announce who the commissioners are, or who the, sorry, the general managers are underneath the McMans. They're going to serve very important roles

of allowing Stephanie and Shane to take regular vacations, which, you know, I'm sure is a very going concern for the McMahon family. But yeah, it'll be really interesting. Thank you guys for stopping by and for giving me your draft picks and for putting yourself out there to get ridiculed by Twitter. Natty, Natty, you're on my list. I want to throw that out. What is it going to be under the bus?

Maybe 67, 60, but you're somewhere on the list. All right. So we've got an official, we've got a guarantee from Joel Solomon over here. Natty doesn't even have to work out for other teams. He's definitely going to take her. at least at some point in the later rounds. I think you need to look into the mirror because you're clearly a doormat with no friend

because she's a heart. That is a, that is, it's hard, hard to hear, but it's true, Joel. So anyway, guys, enjoy the draft. I hope this podcast is some fun. I'll have some more pieces later, or I have a piece later this week, but our top tens are on the ringer right now, so go check them out.

And now on the other line, as my co-ho say goodbye, we have a very special guest. It's the Ms. calling in from his his hotel room somewhere in parts unknown. Well, let's jump right into this, man. We got the WWE draft coming up tomorrow.

We're recording this on Monday. I guess it'll be up the same day. Now, I don't know, Ms. you and I don't know each other that well, but I do know that you're like a legitimate sports fan. So, like, you know, I'm sure that you're obsessed with the NBA draft, with the NFL draft.

Like, what is the, like, how excited are you right now for the WWE draft just as a sports fan. Really excited. You know, I've been through two of these drafts before, you know, about, I think like five or six years ago, we stopped doing the draft. But I was involved with two of them, and it changes not only your life, but your career. It changes everything.

Your whole landscape just changes because superstars go to different brands. You never know who's going to be at which brand and what competition you're going to have. And you don't know where you're getting drafted. Like, legit, I remember being at home. home and it was a supplemental draft of other people on www.com. And I was one of those people. So a bunch of my friends called me and texted me and said, hey, check out www.com.

You got drafted. And I go, wait a second. Shouldn't WWE be the one telling me that I'm drafted? Not my friends telling me online that they found out that I was next year. I got drafted while I was in the WWE ring. It really well. And, you know, you never know. Yeah, I mean, how much does that affect, how much does that affect your actual work life

if you got, if you, even if you're on Raw versus SmackDown, when you get picked on a different show, does that change your travel schedule and stuff? Absolutely, our entire travel schedule. You know, now you'll pause. Well, I don't want to get too far away from the draft, but when you're talking about like your life getting shaken up, it must be, I mean, on a personal level for you, it must be a little bit easier now that you're like, that your, that your wife is, is traveling with you, I assume, right? I mean, she's. Yeah, she missed her so much. Wow. The years that she wasn't with WWEI, I missed her so much. You know, we've been together for a long time, married for her. almost three years now, but we've been together for almost She's, you know, she's my best friend and so when, you know, you're sitting there talking to each other on face,

you know, you want that physical connection, you want to hug, you want to kiss, you want to, you want to see them physically champion and keeping the... Well, I mean, as it, like, is obviously a long-time fan, I'm happy to have Maurice back too because she's like, one... She's... She gets a reaction from a crowd that few other people

can emulate. I can agree with you more. She's one beautiful, beautiful person. inside and out. So, you know, we just went through some of our, some of the, the ringer staff top 10 picks. Now, I'm not, I assume that if you were making,

if you made a top 10 list and then the MIS would be number one. But, uh, I should be number one on every one of your list. What, any other superstar that has been in five WWE studio films, that has his own talk show, that can do commentary, that does all the media, whenever, wherever,

and is the current Intercontinental Champion. You can't name one. You want to know why? because there is only one and it is me and that's why I should be the number one draft pick on all of your boards. Okay, you make a strong case and I'm moving you up my draft board as we speak.

Who else is in your top five? Who are some other people that you think, you know, based on all the champions. What? You know, if you're on Stephanie McMahon or if I'm Shane McMahon, you know, I'm looking for champions. I want champions first

because no matter what, you're always, you always have that championship match that you can plug that you can put on your show. You know, you look at the new day as the current WW World Heavyweight tag team champions. I mean, you'll get three people, you know,

if you just, if you take them, you know, you got Dean Ambrose, you got myself, you got Charlotte as the women's champion. You know, you go up to champions first. That's first and foremost, because the championships mean something in this company. No matter if, you know, a lot of people, critics out there will say, oh, this or this,

and this company, the titles really do mean something. And you think the titles are going to be held down by the shows they get drafted to? Is that what you're hearing on the inside? You know what? I know as much as you. I know. All the rules I know are on www.com, and that is that Raw has the first overall pick. Smackdown Live is a two-hour show, so it gets two picks.

Raw is a three-hour show. He gets three picks. Tag teams count as one pick unless a general manager or commissioner, specifically only wants one member of the team. And six draft picks will be made off the... NXT roster so people that you've never seen before will be drafted into WWE SmackDown or Raw. So the fact is, those are the rules I know. That's all I know.

And I wish I knew more. I wish I could give you more. But that's, I mean, they're keeping this very secretive. Well, okay. So how, like, you are of, you know, when I was going through my top 10s with my co-hosts with my co-workers, we, the hardest thing to decide for us was how to rank, like, the number of dates you're, you're going to. available to work. Like how does Brock Lesnar who wrestles, you know, four times a year,

stack up against, you know, Seth Rollins or the Miz, someone who's there night in and and night out, like... Put yourself as the commission. Well, I think you want a little bit of both, right? But how to, but what... Of course. You, you as a guy who's there all the time, what do you think? And everything, you know, as well as, you know, the undertakers and, you know, there's key matches, you know what I mean? You need to have. Yeah, I mean, but I mean, like, there's all, you know, we always hear these rumors of wrestlers that are upset when a part-timer comes in and his headlining when they should be, you know, when they should, when they put in all the, all the blood, sweat and tears every night. I mean, do you, I get that.

I don't get mad at that stuff, you know, like when the Rock comes back at WrestleMania, I always look at it as an opportunity to, for more people to see my abilities, because I think people are going to watch the show because Rock's there, and those new people that watch the show from his movies and that kind of stuff that have become fans of his, you know, from his shows like ballers and that kind of stuff. You know, I think they come to watch the rock, and then when they see the rock, they see me. And if they see me, they might stay to watch me.

So that I look at it as a new opportunity. That's a good segue to just talking about the draft in general. I mean, I feel like a lot of people are talking about WWB right now because of the draft. You know, there's also, I mean, there's a lot of other reasons why it's been popping up in the news, but do you think that this brand split is going to help drive internal competition? Do you think it's going to get more people into the product? Oh, I absolutely think so. I think it's one of those situations where, you know,

we're always competitive as WWEs compete on every level. And it's one of those types of things with this draft. You know, your draft pick, if you're not a high draft pick, you're angry. Like, I'm just a competitive nature. If I'm not one of the top five picks, I'm going to be very, very angry because the fact is I'm an interconnell. champion and I do everything. More than 90%, I'll even go 99% of the superstars out there, I do more than them. I work harder. I'm on every live event, every show. You know, I don't take days off. I'm never,

you know, that Yvonne Miller type guaranteed contract. That's just my mentality, and I think that's every superstar's mentality. Everyone wants a high traffic, and if you're not high traffic. Well, that kind of sets the tone for the week then, man. I'm really excited to see what happens. Before I let you go, I have to say... Hey, I want to know what your top tip. Oh, man. Well, let... No, you have to tell me.

All right. Mask, man. I already said it on the show. I got Rollins at number one, New Day at number two, and that's just purely for... I mean, all those guys are talented, but that's a volume pick.

And then, you know, number three, I have Sasha Banks. It's a really interesting thing is that, you know, you're married to a former women's champion or divest champion. The women appearing on top 10 lists really regularly

on the end and it's and it's uh it's been it's been um you know sort of a sort of a change of culture i think a little bit to see to see some of to see some of these incredibly talented female performers get get the credit they deserve i could agree with you more and they're really shaping up and really doing a great job you know her charlotte um you know have really uh you know taken this to the wwee by storm and really have done a great job you know my wife coming in and has really helped my career out so It's just one of those situations. That's, yeah, that's, I couldn't, I couldn't agree with you more.

Listen, I'll give you my top 10 list in a second, but before I get there, this is Cleveland Week on the ringer.com. We're having a special theme week dedicated to the city of Cleveland. Well, it's about time we get all this recognition. I went to the SB's and literally I was like everything was Cleveland. I've never been so prouder in my life of being a person from Cleveland. What is it, has it been, has it been tough to be a fan, to be like a Cleveland resident in the sports world growing up?

Oh my God, are you kidding me? Do you even need to ask that question? Do you have any idea how hard it is to be a Cleveland fan? I mean, I'm going back in the days of Bernie Khosar, and, you know, when I was a child, and Mark Price, and when the teams were actually good, and then going through a huge, just slump when we got, like, Sean Kemp, when he was, you know, out of shape, and then we got, like, 45 million quarterbacks, you know, the Indians, you know, are always up and down. They're kind of like that, that 500 team.

But this year, this is the year for the Indians. They're really taking control and really doing great in the pitching as well as hitting, and it's fun to watch. Did you have any embarrassing Cleveland Brown's quarterback jerseys in your closet? Like, was there anybody that you... Oh, I refuse to buy a Brown's jersey that has aim on it. The reason being, get traded, or they leave. I'll wait, I'll wait, two years, and then we'll see you, and then he gets traded.

I go, okay, I'm guessing I'm not buying that one. Yeah, it's funny because, you know, with Kevin Durant's free agency, all that stuff just happened, like, there are all these fan bases around the country that they just convince themselves on a daily basis that they're about to get Kevin Durant or that they're, like, they're going to win the championship this year regardless. It's kind of incredible that you as a Cleveland Browns fan were going to the total opposite direction and, like, not even buying jerseys because you knew you were going to lose the guy or he was going to get hurt. Yeah, I mean, that kind of, that kind of, happens all the time with us. I mean, so many different things have happened and just to have that

pure moment of the NBA finals and LeBron coming back and taking us to where we needed to be. He said, listen, I needed to go to Miami to find out what a winning franchise is, and I'm going to bring a winning franchise back. I'm going to bring out back all the information I learned and take it to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he did exactly that. And I thank him because I was one of those people that was very angry with LeBron when he left. But when he wrote that note, it made me understand why he did it. And I'm so happy to be from Cleveland because we waited a long time for that. What the, you know, you thankfully you don't have to like pick another city to live in

and like turn your back on Cleveland. You get to be a Cleveland guy no matter where WWE travel takes you. You also got Dolv Ziegler on the roster who's a Cleveland guy and now Johnny Gargano is sitting there is working down on NXT. what's in the Cleveland water that produces these, produces three at least, really great ring with us. I think it's the hard work ethic. You know, I think we are the type of people

that are always trying to prove ourselves to everyone. You know, everyone always calls us a mistake on the lake. Everyone always makes fun of, you know, the browns, the calves, the Indians, you know, they're always, you know, knocking us down. But we always get up and it makes us work harder for it, and I think that's what it is. Keep nays saying us, keep hating on us on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook and all the social media that you want and all the critics can write blogs about it all they want.

But the fact is it just makes us work harder. You know, that's hate on me all you want. I can take it. Well, good. I mean, listen, the ringer is going to be kind of nice to Cleveland this week, but I'm sure we'll go back to hating it next week. And I really... As long as we get one week. Thank you for one week.

I appreciate it. Cleveland has definitely earned it. I appreciate you coming on the... coming on the show today, Miz. Your insights have been into the draft were really, really cool. And just for the record, the last five picks on my draft board were four of them were MIS and one of them was Maurice. So you guys are set up.

Well, you know, I should be number one in your list, but I'll forgive you because obviously you didn't talk to me. Now I imagine I've changed your mind, and now Seth Rollins is no longer number one, and that the Mizz is because I basically have told you... Yeah, well, I mean, listen, I would start a performance. promotion with you as my as my number one guy any day of the week. Thank you. I'm glad to see that WWE is finally giving you a little bit of opportunity to be to be the

Miz that we all know you can be. And good luck going forward, whether it be on Raw or SmackDown. It's going to be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out. It's going to be all and have fun and watch everyone's lives change as WW superstars. You're going to see real reactions on Smackdown live. So enjoy it. Have fun. And thank you very much. Tell Bill Simmons, I said hello, and that the next time he better be on this bad boy. All right, man. I'll make it happen. Thanks again. All right. Later.

Thanks for listening to The Mask Man Show. Thanks to The Miz. Thanks to Latoya and Joel. Get ready for the draft, guys. Check out our draft boards on the ringer.com. Buy the merch. And let me know what you guys think. Have a good week, humanoids.