The Press Box - Ep. 157: 'The Masked Man Show' With Dan St. Germain

Episode Date: July 27, 2016

The Ringer's David Shoemaker and comedian Dan St. Germain discuss the new era of WWE: a solid 'Battleground,' a shocking 'Raw,' and a new-look 'Smackdown.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of The Masked Man Show is brought to you by Seatgeek, our presenting sponsor and the only fan-friendly app for buying and selling sports and music tickets. Seatgeek makes buying tickets on your phone a total snap. With just two taps, you can instantly buy tickets to an event that same day, have your tickets delivered straight to your phone, and enter the event without ever having to print a ticket. And if you can't go to the gamer show, you can sell your tickets directly from the app in less than 30 seconds.

With Seat Geek, there's no guesswork. You'll know exactly where you're sitting, what you'll pay, and whether or not you're getting a good deal. all right from your phone. So drop your old ticket app and experience buying and selling tickets the way it should be. To start using Seatgeek, download the free

Seatgeek app or go to Seatgeek.com. And also, wanted to mention the Ringer now has merch. Go to bitly.com slash ringer merch where you can find shirts and hoodies. A portion of the proceeds from each purchase will benefit charity water, a nonprofit organization that provides

clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Again, go right now to B-I-T-L-Y dot com slash ringer merch. You'll look really good. Welcome, one and all, to the Mask Man Show. It feels so good to keep saying that, man. Thank you so much, my good friend Dan St. Germain,

for one, making me name the show that and to being here really early this Wednesday morning. Thank you for being here early as well. I can't get here any later. So those are a rip-wurring way to start a podcast. I actually, I vouched for the David Shoemaker show, but Masked Man, I think is a nice compromise. Yeah, it's good.

You just can't put yourself over. You're too good of a guy to put yourself over. It's true. It's true. And I got to live the gimmick, you know. That's part of the job. That's true. So, this has been a kind of incredible week in the world of professional wrestling.

It's great. I mean, like now, like, you know, like before this week, you know, you were just like, yeah, you know, to do this podcast, you just got to watch Raw. And then, you know, like, read it. about, or watch a clips from SmackDown. But now, you know, you just got to watch Raw and do the same thing that you were doing. Oh, yeah, that's not fair. Listen, there was, I'm about putting the finishing touches on a column for this week.

And it's about, I mean, my cell to my editor was, it's the first week of the marathon, of like, the 400-minute Iron Man match that is watching all of this stuff live. It's being a WWE fan. Yeah. And thankfully, I mean, clearly WWE knew this, right? Yeah. We used to joke on my old show, Chee Pete, that, like, WWE creative was listening to us all the time. And I don't actually believe that to be true.

But if, based on my, like, never-ending complaints about having to watch all this stuff and the fact that I drafted Finn Baller and Sasha Banks three and four in my fantasy draft, I'm just going to take some credit this week. But I'm just kidding. But no, but it was like they knew very well. They knew that they had to make this a watchable three-day experience, right? I think I don't, for me, that was the most fun I've had watching a raw since when Foley won the title. Like in like 98 or 99 when he beat the rock.

That's a really, really good comparison just because of, I mean, yeah, the weird euphoria that you can't even, yeah, you were happy to see Foley win. Just like on Monday you were, and by the way, do we, we never say spoiler alerts on this show. but there's just so much volume that I feel obligated to say, spoiler alert. We're going to talk about Battleground Raw on Smackdown without any. I've never seen, like, that show. Compunction. Like, raw, like, I mean, it, like, it, like, it felt like it was a, it was a, almost a WrestleMania level show as far as, like, the matches that were on.

Oh, hell yeah, yeah. And, like, and, and, and, and the results. But then it's set up for a Summer Slam that was just, it's, it's going to be equally good or, or better. Like they didn't blow, I didn't feel like they blew their load. No, as we talked about this in previous weeks, that, you know, everybody was asking why they were doing the Shield three-way at Battleground when they could have done it. Even before they announced a brand split, that was the big. And it was just like, you know, just do, just do, make your best move right now. And then next week you'll have to do a better move.

You could tell the Triple H was like when people were saying that, like just be quiet. We got it covered. You're going to get the dream match that people have been talking about. Yeah. Oh my gosh. is crazy. Finn Baylor, Seth Rowe, Finn Bauer, Baller. Was Baller winning the number one contendership on his first night up?

I mean, that was almost like a Foley level win. Because just like with Foley, you were happy that he won, but just like with Foley, the parallel is that it means so much more than him winning. Yeah. It doesn't matter if he's the next champ, you know, in a month. It doesn't matter if he's the next champ, I mean, if it takes six months or a year or two years or whatever. It's the fact that, and really it's the same thing with Dolph Ziegler on Smackdown. The fact that he's in that position is an indicator that WWE is giving a fuck.

Yeah. I mean, about what, I mean, listen, we smart fans, smart fans, whatever, sit around fantasy booking all the time and second guessing WWE. And a lot of times we do that to a fault. But the idea that the wrestlers that we like don't overlap with the wrestlers that, like, casual fans like, is crazy, right? I mean, like, you can push Dolph Ziegler. You can push Finn Baller. push whoever and WWE can make that work and find a way to sort of make everybody happy. This week, I would hope, is a great example of it.

I would hope so too. It felt, you know, I don't want to throw Smackdown on the bus. First of all, the Smackdown announce team, I love. I really do like the SmackDown. And I read somewhere that they were boring or something. And I think that's B. I look that Moro-Ranallo guy or whatever the... He's great.

He's terrific. Everybody was wondering who's the next J-A. I really think it's that guy. Yeah, JR likes him too. He's great. He makes everything important. But it did feel like, like Ziegler v. Ambrose doesn't feel like it's as important as Seth Rollins versus Finn Baller. I've said this on the show before.

This is a weird aside. But talking about smart fan wrestlers, casualable fans sort of hate Seth Rollins. Like, they're just not into it. And maybe that's because he's a great heel. but I mean everybody from like my girlfriend watching the show like yeah I mean people they're just like yeah what's it how was that guy a champion and you see it in the comments all the time I have a sick fascination with the comment sections on www.com whereas just people like trying to talk to wrestlers and just like really misunderstanding what they're involved in

but yeah it's a lot of just like how did Seth go number one I would have picked him like 30 after the draft you know I mean just like crazy stuff like that what about what do they think about Finn. I don't think there's been much fin response yet. So who do they like? That's a really good question. I mean, they like Roman Raines. They like Ambrose a lot more than Rollins. They like, I mean, I don't think most, most, yeah, I mean, but like, it's not like they're the people commenting are not blind marks, you know, they just, there's just sort of like, it's that middle ground between where it's just like, you know. But my thing is like, those fans, they can't be too casual because they're commenting. That's what I mean, yeah. Their, their views aren't that different

and then yours or mine. It's just, you know, it's like the version of you that can't type a complete sentence onto his keyboard. That is the first. That is me. That is me. It's me. Yeah.

The version of you that can't type a complete sentence and doesn't like Seth Rollins. But yeah, I mean, it's very strange. But that's all beside the point. You're right. Rollins versus Baller seems like a big deal. Although, you know, kudos to WWE also for finding the right sort of next phase usage of Brock Lesner. which is the same thing that UFC used him for, which is like his presence on a card

equals like means that we have a main event match so we can kind of play around with the rest and not get too worried about making dream matches every week or every month, I guess, every, I don't know what it's going to be. And props for Brock Lesnar for probably getting Shelton Benjamin signed again. I cannot, that might have been my biggest pop of the night.

I was so tired by the end, I mean, by like, you know, Smackdown. Yeah. Not just because of watching wrestling. I have a job too. But yeah, I mean, I was so beaten down that, like, I didn't think anything was going to get me that up. And I was just like, I couldn't believe I was watching a Shelton Benjamin promo package.

No, I was really excited about that. It's interesting what, like, when they bring somebody back, like, what makes, like, because Shelton Benjamin was super excited about it. And I like Rhino fine. I think he did some really great things at ECW. But when he came out and, like, Gord Heath Slater last night, I was just kind of like, first off, like, Heath was, like, in the crowd going. People were like rooting

for him. I'm like, yeah, sign Heath. And then you have Rhino who doesn't look that great now. He looks sort of like King Kong Bundy with a wig. Right. Early King Kong Bundy, not like old King Kong Bundy. He was pretty fit. Yeah, he looks, he literally looks like

a slab of velvita cheese put on a singlet. You can still move, man. I mean, yeah, he can still move, but, you know, like watching it. I think even the crowd was like what and it also like seemed antithetical to like what Shane's trying to do which is like we're going to put the superstars you like over yeah so here is a guy who is wrestling

pwg shows two years ago or whatever and we're going to have him uh beat up our new guy yeah i mean he's got a little bit of the rhoder no no no i mean i think you're right i think he's got a little bit of the rub from being on nxti for a while and uh i think he's friends with stepney too that's i heard rhino they're like they're friends or that's what i heard i would just love to see them going out to like Chi Chi Chi's Mexican grill for like you know for a couple of margaritas that's a network show I would watch 100% I think he's like one of those

libertarian guys like he was running for office he is running for office like right now is it Republican or libertarian I don't know I think Republican well I know it was really weird because the pictures of him were wearing a bow tie which is I don't know it just reminded me of like a dog walking on its hind legs it just I just was uncomfortable with rhino in a bow tie I would be more comfortable

with an actual rhino wearing a bow tie than rhino the rest of wearing a bow tie I'm sure there was one of the Republican convention last week The So anyway The Let's let's run through battleground really quickly Let's run through the week

That was battleground first off great pay-per-view Yeah it was really weird A lot of the response that I saw online was like Hey no titles changed hands nothing to see here move along And I was just like that was the As far as I you know I walked out I had the great honor of watching the show show at Bill Simmons's house, which was, which is always fun to see Bill, but also his son

went without his parents' knowledge. David was actually catering. Yeah, I was I was serving ham sandwiches to everybody. But his young son went out with, like, his cousin, his older cousin, and got Inzo Amore's haircut without telling his parents. It was really great. He's calling himself Binzo Amore. It's a really, it's an amazing moment. Tate, have you seen photos? yet? No, I have not. Oh, man. You're missing out.

It's something really spectacular. But the, but so anyway, that was really fun. But, like, I walked out of his house. We had a good time. And, like, Joel Salman from New Given Wednesday who's been on the show was there. And we were just like, it didn't even occur to me that they hadn't, that they hadn't been, there hadn't been any title changes. Like, that was the last thing, the furthest thing from my mind.

Well, this is what I can't stand about wrestling fans. It's like, you got, just, just be happy when stuff is good. Yeah. There's so much stuff that's just terrible, right? That pay-per-view we watched like a month ago, like a, I forget which, which- The one before Money in the Bank. Yeah, some like old throwback money-in-the-bank won. Oh, the one that we, the old one from like 2007 or 2008.

I don't know. It was a bad, whatever paper we watched. There is so much actual wrestle crap. Like, we may be starting a Golden Age of Wrestling, wrestling. Appreciate that because a couple years from now, it's going to be shame his first-Miss Miss headlining around. WrestleMania again. You know what I mean?

So enjoy it now. It might be a good version of Shamis Shammis versus Ms. headlining wrestling. I'm just kidding. But yeah, you're right. I mean, I used to,

when people would complain about Raw last year, I was like, they're giving us NXT. Just be happy with that, right? And now they've given us NXT on the main roster. Like, let's just be happy. NXD and Raw.

Yeah. Yeah. So the show started, I'm not going to do the kickoff match, but the main broadcast started with the women's tag team match, right? at Battleground

and which was the big main roster debut of Bailey who's not officially been called up I don't think to either brand but that was a huge pop and the fact that WWE was like oh yeah this is a great way to start the show was brilliant

I mean it just made it I mean it's those little things that give you some assurance that they know what they're doing now you know? Yeah I think that to fantasy book it I think they are sitting up

Bailey and Sasha WrestleMania and we know they can go. Yeah. And, you know, Sasha's probably going to, you know, go over Charlotte or if she doesn't, you know, I get SummerSlam or, you know, eventually she will. And then they'll have like Nea Jack, Sasha to build Sasha up. And then I think Bailey comes in and then, uh, they flip flop, you know, Sasha turns

heel, Bailey's face. Wow. It's my fantasy booking. We're going to, let's get through the entire WrestleMania card before the show is over. But yeah, that was really cool. the Wyatt family beat the New Day, which was sort of a weird like farewell. I mean, that was,

you can toss that and Rousseff overrider. The weird thing was the, was the Mojo Rowley, like, running at the end, even though him and Rousseff run different shows. So I don't really know what the, like how that leads anywhere. I guess it was just a,

I guess every question about, every question about Battleground can be answered by trying to figure out how it helps Raw or SmackDown in the post-draft era, right? I just really, Mojo Rale did what? what Trump supporters do where he didn't touch

Rusev, but he got in his face and, like, tried to fight him without touching him? Trying to lure him into, like, throwing the first punch? Is that the, yeah, that's the, like, point.

He's like, it's like, the real world, rule's challenge where they just try to get each, like, the only rule is you can't, you can't attack somebody.

So they just get, you know, they'll get your enemy really drunk and then just get in their face and scream until they, like, slap you and then they get kicked off the show. It's a great,

it's like, that's what the entire show has devolved into, which is, It should just be its own show, just trying to get drunk people to hit you. And everyone would watch that. So the big one with Sammy Zane versus Kevin Owens, which I wrote in my column this week. I got a text message from the editor-in-chief of the ringer, Sean Fennessey, saying these two guys should be forced to fight each other at every paper view for the rest of time.

It was so great. The storytelling was amazing. The storytelling, first of all, props to the announced team. At some point, I noticed at the first of the first of the first. the time when Inzo got hurt, and you never like to see guys get hurt, but at some point a decision was made that if somebody gets hurt, we're just going to keep calling the match and report on it as if it's, like, as if it's a real sport, right? You never want to see that. Sometimes these guys are going so strong. There wasn't even a hiccup that time. And the same thing happened

with Zane when he did the, when he tried to do the little like backflip out onto Owens and landed on his head on the apron, which looked terrible. But like, because of the announced team, and really because of Owens and Zane, it felt like, that was a scripted part of the match. They really have to stop doing that, though. Landing on their own heads? Yes, you can, I could just, just dial it back a little bit. You sound like Vince McMahon right now.

No, I'm at the age now where I watch these guys and I see him hit their head and I feel like, I feel terrible for him. I don't want them to be. Well, Sasha on Monday night as well. I mean, Sasha did that outside of the ring. Wasn't it? Am I, I, I'm right, right? Like, she, like, jumped outside the ring and Charlotte caught her, but she also just, like, kept going and hit her face on the ground. Oh, geez.

And Sasha's done that stuff before. I mean, some of it's the same people that you see do it. And, you know, you don't want to, it's the last thing I want to do. The last thing I want to do is to, like, you know, inhibit those people in big time matches. That's true. It works both ways. I mean, Shelton Benjamin, who were all happy to see come back was, I maintain that his career was sidetracked, but the fact that he, like, he botched one of those, like, some high-risk spot.

didn't hurt himself, but he just, like, he messed up when he was running up the ropes one time, and he just got the yips, and he could, he was never the same again. Like, every time he tried to do it, he failed. And and, and that was like that dude from the Orlando Magic. Yeah, exactly. It's like, you

just can't hit a free throw anymore. You can't like throw, you can't throw a, you can't throw to the first basement, you know, it's crazy stuff. But though, anyway, there's no amount of time that we can spend on Owens and Zane that'll do it justice. I was, you know, you're my favorite wrestling writer, David, but there is a terrific

Cage Side Seats article about that match. Yeah, I forget who wrote it, but I haven't read anything this week, but I'll look, I'll see if I can find it. No, it's all about, it's about,

it's a really interesting take on Kevin Owens' character and relation to that match, so. Yeah, I mean, it was a really, oh, I see it right now. It was, it was just a really fulfilling match, right? I mean, it was, there was, you know, it had,

Of all the matches over the years that are hyped is like the last match between these guys are finally going to blow off this feud and it's never true because wrestling is endless. But they really, they have a power to make matches feel as significant as they need to be as their build as in the ring. They have like, it's almost like a Spider-Man Green Goblin thing where it's like you could tell they both love each other as they're fighting. Yeah. But hate each other.

I did it. I did a thing last week. I mean, sorry, not Grantland. The Ringer did a little shoot around like a group post about what athlete we could watch for eight hours on YouTube, like just endless stuff. And so there was a lot of like Bo Jackson and, you know, I mean, just the greats of all time. And I wrote about Kevin Owens just because like there's not like his, the amount of, first of all, the amount of his indie work that's on YouTube is pretty spectacular. Yeah. And his indie stuff is just so nuts.

It's, it's, it's fun to watch him do package pile drivers one after the other knowing that he didn't actually break somebody's neck. In real time, it's sort of hard to watch. But, you know. But yeah, I mean, those two guys, I mean, if you go back and watch those early matches where Owens just looks like, Owens and Zane looked like dueling, I mean, 10 years ago, or whatever it was,

six, eight years ago, they looked like dueling, like personifications of like everybody's idea of what a basement dwelling nerd is, right? You have like the fat dude who hasn't shaved and the really skinny, guy who's like in who's like cosplaying as a mexican wrestler right i mean they're like it's so silly and yet even at the very bigating you can see that they had this chemistry and this like

you know that they're trying to make each other look good and at this point it's just like i mean honestly they could wrestle every day they could wrestle a different match every day because they're so comfortable with each other and their vocabulary that they share is just so incredible i do wish that they had split them up on brands just so we it makes it more important the next time they they someone on reddit and i i i I always give credit to the Reddit people, but I don't even know who it was. Someone on the Squared Circle page on Reddit

suggested that this is going to go to, not based on anything, this is fantasy booking again, that they keep feuding and then at SummerSlam have a loser leaves town match where somebody has to go to Smackdown. That's a good booking. That's a great booking, right?

That's good booking, guy drinking Mountain Duke Code Red in his mom's place. Dan is holding a Mountain Duke Code Red right now. He says that lovingly. But yeah, I mean, but yeah, I think that you're right. I think that a lot of the stuff about, I mean, a lot of the quibbles that people had about the draft, about one roster being whatever, like Smackdown being weaker about, about these two people should be together separate.

I think a lot of that stuff is going to be, is going to even out over the next couple of months, you know? And a lot of the stupidest decisions were obviously storyline driven or not, if storyline is not the right war. Yeah, storyline driven. like Bailey wasn't drafted, right? Yeah, Bailey was not drafted, and it's crazy that she wasn't drafted, right? But the point is that she's going to like finish off her thing with Ashka and then like she's

going to make a giant debut on Smackdown in a month. Like that, I mean, I'm just guessing, you know? And there's a, I mean, just there are a lot of those little moments where it's like, like Apollo Cruz fell really low. I mean, for based on his hype or maybe he didn't fall really low or whatever. And everybody was complaining about Smackdown, not. having enough people, but like, if you're going to put over Ziegler and Apollo Cruz as, like, championship competitors, which they deserve to be, then SmackDown had a fine draft,

you know, but like, it's just a matter of, like, you can't look at the actual draft rankings for more than just a gag and expect to get any, like, divine any wisdom from them, you know, or, like, really critique what's going on. It just felt, Smackdown felt very house showy. Well, compared to Raw. But it just felt like, it almost felt like the show where they were rejuvenating people. Yeah. rather than like bringing new stars up.

Sure. I mean, but like, but Apollo Cruz is, is, you know, was put in that pole position. He's going to be fine.

I mean, I said that to somebody on Twitter after he got drafted. I was like, don't worry about it, man. I don't have a tiny baby face, though,

doesn't he? Like, he's got a little face. He's got a little baby face on a grown man's body. Oh, man. Don't even,

they both have baby faces. Corbin and Apollo Cruz. They'd remind me of one another, and I can never quite put my finger on why. Maybe that's it. It's small features. Uh-huh.

Small feature. I don't know why I look at wrestlers like a musical theater casting director, but... Well, musical theater is kind of okay because they're like always... There's no cameras that zoom in on their faces. But yeah, it's... Let's... Okay. I think that Apollo Cruz is going to be fine.

Shelton Benjamin also going to be fine. If for another reason... You put those two together, David. Well, no, I specifically... That's my reaction to Apollo Cruz getting drafted so late, and people worrying about his draft. I mean, someone was saying, oh, they're going to bury Apollo Cruz. And I was just like, look at the roster.

He's the only black guy on the roster. And they know that that's an issue, right? The fact that he got drafted late was just a, was just a byproduct of everybody that got drafted ahead of him, needing storyline reasons to go where they did. Also, he hasn't gotten himself over yet. He's got, okay. And that's true also. But he, but he, I mean, Smackdown is an opportunity for a subtle reboot of him. And we saw that on Tuesday night, you know, I mean, that was a, I, I, I mean, that was a, I,

I think that what he did, I think for right now, Tuesday is the blueprint for Apollo Cruz. He can have great matches and give like just real quick, upbeat promos about why he's like the happiest man alive. He would actually maybe be better. I mean, I don't, he's not, he's not, he isn't, he doesn't have like the mic skills of a lot of other guys. But I feel like I would appreciate, if you're just giving Rha, Ra, you know, like I'm happy, I'm motivated promos. I'd rather him be doing the ringside promo thing that they were doing on Raw. But still, that's enough for Apollo Cruz. It just doesn't seem right.

Because he's kind of a dick on Twitter, right? That's what I heard. Is he really? Yeah, him and Biggie had a thing a couple weeks ago. Well, Biggie is a Twitter, is a professional Twitter troll. Biggie is amazing. But no, he started it. Like Apollo Cruz started it.

Really? And like Sasha Banks, like there's a great photo where she made peace between those two. And this is real life. But yeah, yeah, they had a feud that he started. So I don't know if I buy the nice guy. thing with him. Like, so maybe, maybe there's,

like, a change in his character. I've only met him really briefly, and he was just, and he was almost comically humble, you know, just like, yeah. But there's,

you know what? There's never been, like, since, like, in a while, there's not been, like, and W. W.W.

E, particularly, but they need, like, maybe, like, a sniveling black heel because they always do this thing. They kind of had that with Xavier Woods with the new day,

but it would be good to see, you know, like, you know, a more, a black Kevin Sullivan rather than, you know, because they always like, I think sometimes they do these generic Ahmed Johnson face, like, I'm just going to get, I'm just going to get over because of my athletic prowess. Yeah, no, I think that's, that's definitely valid.

But I think that we've, I mean, let's just give Smackdown and Raw a couple of weeks before we start. Sorry, I'm not, sorry. Before we reopen the race and wrestling conversations. No, no, no, no. I think that's, I think it's all to, I think it's totally valid. I think that I'm really interested to see, so I know, this is some inside information for you, Dan. Vince was, Vince and by his various proxies, was reaching out to, like, everybody that he had worked for WWE in the past, that like he knew in sports media, whatever, that he respected. He was just, like, casting a very wide net for people to offer him suggestions about how to reboot these shows and, more importantly, how to differentiate Smackdown and Raw.

You saw a lot of this throughout the course of the two days. right, the announced teams. One of them was back in, in the middle of the crowd. The Raw announcement team was back in the crowd. They were doing the ringside interviews on Raw.

They were doing, and they were doing like the backs, the old school backstage promos on SmackDown. You know, they were doing some interesting new camera shots. You know, the overhead shot on Raw and the walkout shot on Smackdown. You know,

they were just doing little things. Obviously, there's new logos, which are trash, but whatever. I like the new logos. They're better than the old logos. I love the new, the raw logos is awesome. The raw logos is awesome.

The Raw logos. logo is great. The Smackdown logo... It looks like it's like falling off a table or something. Like, I don't... Anyway, this is, I'm obviously, I'm obviously biased. Which is usually just what mean Gene Okrawin does after a couple drinks. Oh, that's not... Okay, that's funny.

But the, but yeah, so, but, you know, it's gonna be interesting because, like, I guarantee that every one of the emails that people sent to him about how to make these shows different said, you probably thought about this, but why don't you do separate creative teams, you know? And,

that's not there's not been any reporting that that's what's happening but that but like it'll be interesting to see how much separation and sort of independence you know volition that each the two brands get it definitely felt like a different show i will say that like it did not feel like raw light like i didn't love smackdown but it didn't feel like okay smackdown you just get what we didn't want yeah it just felt like a look a weird show that's all um it will be was, yeah, I mean, listen, it was good. It's great that it's two hours. You know, I mean, it's automatically like my favorite show because it's shorter than raw. Yeah, and listen, like I said, they got the short end of the stick and some of the

roster moves, you know, it would have been like if we're joking all after the draft last week that, I mean, they're just idiots. Like Simmons was really upset with the Smackdown draft. That like, if this was real, if you're actually drafting for Smackdown, you draft New Day first because you get three guys, you know? I mean, it's like you're already hamstrung, so like make up the difference and then just go all work rate, you know, or go all NXT or whatever.

But, you know, it's not, it's not, it wasn't a real draft. It really annoyed me how they handled New Day because they even said like, pray Wyatt, thank God he's at Smackdown. I'm like, if you look at the history of both, both the Wyatt family and the new day of this year, barring the fact the White family got Lesnar out, there is no reason.

of out of the Rumble, there's no reason that New Day shouldn't have gone over the Wyatt family and that would have made of why the Wyatt family would have broken up.

But this is just like if the Owen Zane fantasy booking thing turns out to be true then I mean that's an example of how the draft is subordinate to the storyline, right?

And the New Day is the same way. They weren't done with them they're not done with them being a group and frankly like the New Day needs to be on Raw both for Raw and for the New Day.

Yeah. You know? But they literally beat the Wyatt family and then kind of broke the Wyatt family up with no explanation whatsoever. Well, they lost to the Wyatt family at Battleground. Well, I'm sorry. I mean, the Wyatt family beat him.

And then usually like when you beat a team, then that causes the breakup. But instead, Wyatt family beat the team. And then they broke up without any explanation. You're right. I mean, I just think that the storyline that's undergirding that is that it's time for Bray Wyatt to go single. And you saw on Tuesday night. With this weird Lisa Bonnet hair. There's, first of all, nothing weird about Lisa Bonnet, full stop. She is

She's an angel I mean I honestly There was like there was like a two there was an 18 month A two year run in the 80s Where she was the most beautiful woman on the planet She's the most beautiful woman at high fidelity Yeah Yeah she's just she's unstoppable

She dates Jason Momoa She's like married to Jason isn't she Aren't they married? No they're married Tate thanks for this is it When there's basketball podcasts Tate chimes in frequently She gets to

This is the Tate gets one shot a week on the wrestling show. She gets to jump on that sweet Mamoa dick every. You're going to put that on your reel, I'm sure. Yeah. Did you watch any of the trailers from Comic-Con? I think maybe one. I don't know.

What were they? They had a Justice League teaser that had Jason Mamoa as Aquaman, like grabbing Bruce, grabbing Bruce Wayne, Ben Affleck and holding him up against the wall. they were kind of laughing. I tell you, man, I would love to watch any given Wednesday. I feel like there should just be a segment of the end, drunk

Ben Affleck. That was the most entertaining interview that I've ever seen in my entire life. It was a really good interview. I loved it. I don't know what he was on or what it was going on, but I could just what pisses off Ben Affleck every week. Just have him in a corner in a Red Sox bar. He could be like, what's his name on 60 Minutes? Who's the old

Oh, Andy Rudy? Yeah, you should give tell Bill, be my condo to Bill and tell that Affleck to be the new And just, you know, you can just, he can just do it from his phone. Like, he could be anywhere. Wait, can we, can we import, since this is a wrestling podcast, can we import this logic?

Like, can we just put, like, who, like, who is the angriest ex- wrestler on Twitter? Oh, man, well, Ultimate Warrior's dead. So, yeah, I mean, but there's got to be, there's all these people, I mean, most people are, most people are too. I actually follow us and vicious on Twitter is really good. No, it turned out that's fake.

Oh, it is? Yeah. I was like one of his early followers and people have been blaming me for blowing him up. I'm just like, no, I thought it was a funny, like, I thought it was real, but like, I don't, I didn't research it. You know who's super funny, and I'm, I'm friends with my, I know who it is, but the WWE creative Twitter feed is really, oh yeah, they're really great. But if there were like, if there were a disgruntled ex-wrestler, like a Bruno San Martino five years ago type, or like, oh, superstar Billy Graham would be a good one, but like, make him watch Raw and Smackdown every week and then just. Dynamite kid.

That's terrible. He's literally like, I don't, it would be too dark. I don't want to talk about dynamite kit. Yeah, that's how dark for this. Like, he's in Benoit territory. He lives in, like, the upside down of stranger things. I'm trying to, yeah, you're right. Who would, who?

But if there, just get somebody like Super Star Billy Graham, make him watch Raw every week, and then just give him the last five minutes of overrun, to give his commentary. That would be great. Oh, Brett Hart. Oh, of course. That's who it would be.

Yeah. Brett Hart. Of course, then it would just be five minutes about how Triple H goes his boots every single week. He really, It's getting to the point. I give props to Triple H for like, he keeps giving that guy jobs,

even though like every opportunity Brett Hart can take he tries to... How much money... Take Triple H down. Like, WWE creative or Triple H just needs to get on... Whoever runs their social media accounts needs to get on this right now.

Just a quick... Just a Snapchat video of Triple H sitting in the back room, having trouble tying his laces. And they have him say, like, what's going on? And then zoom out to see him wearing Brett Hart's pink and black boots.

That would be a perfect Snapchat. I feel like every time this is so dark, but like every time Triple H is like, we're going to fire him, we're going to fire him and then Vince is like Owen, Owen, he goes, all right, yeah, he gets a bad. That's so dark.

Let's go. We brought up Owen Hart and Crispin Wall and like a two minutes span. Did we bring, we didn't bring up. Did we? I said that Dynamite Kid was in Chrisman Watt's territory for like someone I don't want to talk about. That's right. But yeah, so so we're talking about the Wyatt family.

Let's jump back really quickly to Raw. Braun Stromen made what appears to be his big singles push debut. He looked better than he ever has. With the shaved sides of head and ponytail. Same outfit, but this new music that sounded like, I said in my column, it sounded like a bomb went off at a Guar concert. Like, it was perfect for him. And he got to squash James Elworth, who was the new jobber, like, heartthrob of the internet.

Like everybody just thinks he's the coolest dude in the world because he's so unlikely. But yeah, I mean, he looked really great. I mean, they're like, give him new pants, though. It is a weird thing because clearly the pants, I mean, I'm sure we've talked about this before. The pants are the way they are because he can't fit into normal human pants. But it looks, it just looks like he's ripped his pants. Like a tarp. Yeah, the black, that would be great.

If he was wearing just like a moo-moo. That would be scary. Yeah. That would be really, that's a great. No, I'm serious. That would be amazing. That would be really terrifying. If he was too big or put him in Zubas, like whatever people wait.

Like, just like, honestly, just like he's wearing. He's wearing a giant beach towel because he can't find pants that will fit him. He's gigantic. Also, tiny face. Yes. Yeah, we're, I think all these names are sort of circling back around to the same, maybe to it to a potentially the same reason. The, but. Tiny face table.

Yeah. The, Nia Jacks also. had her debut in a squash match. To a dead crowd. They were not totally. Don't worry. Nye's going to work. She's great. I mean, that match she had at the last NXT pay-per-view was amazing. I talked

about this. I think I was talking about this to a human beings earlier this week and not on a podcast. So apologies if I'm repeating myself. But for, WWE's done a lot of good with the women's division. They still have a lot of, a long way to go. But honestly, I feel

like for as much as like, you or I might book it differently, better, whatever. Like, we're in a position right now where it's actually the fans, and I'm including us smart fans in this, that need to catch up. And it's not WWE. Like, we need to condition our, we need to be prepared to see multiple main event or multiple big women's matches

on the same pay-per-view card, right? And if you've ever been to a live event, when the first, like, less significant women's match happens, you've probably heard people who are like the voice of the fans, who are the very reason why this. is the slow progression, you know? Naya Jackson is another example of how we just need to like, like, average fans need to get, need to, like, get used to her being a major star.

And fans like you and me need to get used to the, you know, the women's division squash match. It's just, we're seeing things we're not used to sing. And I think it just will take a couple of weeks to settle in. But I have all the faith in the world in Niagara Jack. She's going to be, she's going to be just fine. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think she's great. was and then we had speaking of the divas division we had which is I mean kind of just shocking Sasha Banks going over our new women's champion five star match sheesh yeah I mean I don't I don't I don't

give star ratings the matches it was a really good match and I've only watched it I only watched it one time pretty great the one I mean one real problem with the with the marathon of of wrestling over these three days is like I'm never going to rewatch anything before you know I mean like Even that, which I know is a great match. The Finn, I mean, the Finn, listen, just like Owens and Zane, there's no amount of time we can give these matches to do it justice, except to say, go rewatch Sasha Banks and Charlotte. Maybe I'll do it and like live tweet my rewatch later this week. Unbelievable. And then the main event, the main event that night with Roman Reigns versus Finn Baller, first of all, that's always been secretly one of my dream matches because it was just sort of the, I just sort of, it was my little personal CM Punk versus John Cena.

You know, I always, I thought they would hold it. That would be a WrestleMania match someday and it might be. But like, I mean, the fact that they're giving all this stuff away is sort of great. I think it does spell trouble for rains. I'm like, I don't know what that. But it's so great by, I mean, so smart by WWE to not just demote him, but to use him as a tool to get other people over if you're going to give him a subtle demotion. Right?

Let's not, like, if he, if they had suspended him and then put. him in a different match at the pay-per-view, they would not have gotten the chance to put Ambrose and Finn Baller over at his expense, you know? Yeah. And the fact that WWE has given, I mean, who knows, maybe they are just being defiant, but they seem defiant, and so that makes these storylines work. Next week, it's like, Rain's losing to the Lucha Dragons. There's only one Lucha Dragon on Raw, so.

Oh, that's right. Which one, I think it's Sincara. Yes, it's definitely Sincara. But, yeah, so anyway, I mean, that, be a, I mean, that, that, that, that, that'll be a very interesting storyline to watch. And Finn Baller will be, I mean, is even more interesting to see how he, you know, how he progresses over, I mean, I got to tell you, we were talking about Apollo Cruz earlier, he didn't make the transition to Raw very seamlessly, although he wasn't getting over in the right way on NXT either. And I thought

that it felt good to see him on Raw when it happened. Yeah. Finn Baller, I've been very worried about that transition, right? They handled it so well Monday night. Like, he looked like, like, like, like wrestling, I know we call Seth Rohn's wrestling Jesus. He looked like the literal second coming of Jesus on Monday Night Rock. Well, I don't, here's the one. I mean, I think it was great. And I thought the, his actual literal entrance was a little weird. It was cool.

I think it, I like it because it was like different. You know, everyone just parted and he was there. But, you know, I still don't think the crowd, live crowd, they liked him, but I don't think they're totally on board yet. I think it would be better to have him do a little bit of a heel thing with the bullet cloth first. I think that that's definitely in the cards. And make Rollins a face, try that out. No, I mean, I think that it's going to be a straight-up baby face push.

I think you've got to go, you know, you got to go with plan A until plan A starts failing. And then you immediately pull the trigger on plan B, which is the bullet club comes out and hits Rollins with a chair. You know, I mean, or whoever he's feuding with the time. I think Baller's going to go over, right? At SummerSlam? Yeah. I find it hard to imagine that either Ballar or Ziegler will win at SummerSlam, but we're still so far away. Right.

You know? I mean, and sure, why not? I mean, Baller is that, if they're going to do it, if they're going to shotgun somebody, if they're going to give somebody the Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar treatment, it sounds so silly, but Ballar is the guy. I mean, like there's, but the distance he came from last week's draft where he gave a really uncompelling sort of, of post-draft interview, you know. He just looked like the most generic, young, you know, blue chipper,

like, yeah, I'm really excited to be, like, I'm not even going to try an Irish accent. I'm really excited to be here on Monday Night or all. Oh, my God. Was that a YouTube clip you just played, Dave? Oh, I have on the four leaf clover on the side of the ring. Are you, aren't you actually of Irish stock? I am.

That was my fit, Val. This is my fit, Valor. For an Irish person, you're the worst Irish accent. You know, although there was a point last week when we were seeing all of those promo, all of the post-draft promos where I just kept wondering if, is this offensive for me to say? Like, do they ever try to get Irish people to lose the accent? Not, I mean, British people too. Like, there's not, you know, if you speak another language, obviously you learn English.

Vince McMahon loves Irish people. Oh, he's Irish. He loves Irish. people. He changed his biggest star. He changed the name to Hogan. That's true. He loves Irish people. So they're never going to be ex- senior, but yeah. But yeah, there's a lot of, they're, they're an Irish clan, you know, they're very, they're very excited about, about seeing their, their fellow Irishmen succeed. I just think that Finn with like 50% of the accent and like, you tell like 50% less Irish,

50% more, you know, one direction or something. And he could be the biggest star in the history of wrestling. He does look like someone from the departed. like when he starts talking. He's got those like intense Irish eyes. We're going to get real. We don't want to spend the rest of the time talking about how Finn Baller looks and talks. But weirdly, I was staring at him in his match on Monday night when he was coming in. And one of the best things he has going is that like from a distance he looks like a teen heartthrob.

And up close in his face, he looks sort of like a dead person. And I think that it's that juxtaposition actually that really works for him. I only get the second one with women. So there I go. You look like a dead person from far away or close that. So, Finn Baller won. I mean,

that was a really good match too. He's great. And then Smackdown we got another great women's match. I mean, not a five-star women's match, but we got Becky, we got, you know,

we got Becky versus Natty. And that was really cool. And then we got the six-pack challenge. Was there another big match on Smackdown that I'm totally glossing over right now? Just very quickly, that Roussev Kevin Owens' work and the six-pack challenge was phenomenal. I just wanted to say that.

Those two guys are both phenomenal, but when they are together, there's some kind of weird magic that happens. They were in that triple threat match with, was it Cesaro on Raw like several months ago? When those guys, and I saw them live, I think it must have been a dark match or something that like where they were on the opposite sides of like an eight-man tag. I mean, they were on maybe the same side of an eight-man tag, but just like they have a weird chemistry. Well, you know, and they play this story in the ring like, we don't like

each other, but we know we work well together. Yeah. And Kevin Owens is like, I can control the monster. Someday, they're going to have a WrestleMania match together. And if Vince McMahon is still around, they'll probably be like wearing sumo outfits. But like, it's going to be, it's going to be a great. It's just who in one of those inflatable summa outfits

jumps into a sticky wall, the hardest. So anyway, and it was a good week for wrestling. I mean, it was a really, really good week. I'm going to toggle through all of my notes right now and see if there's anything that we're missing. There are a lot of great, I mean, just a sea of great gifts from the night.

I mean, from the week. And it's been, I mean, WWU's Twitter account was going nuts, just sending out really good stuff. Brock Lesner, according to TMZ, this just out today, will not be punished for his failed drug test because part-time performers are not subject to the wellness policy, which is news to me. Big surprise there.

Yeah. I wonder what the minimum number of appearances for a part-time performer would be. It's whatever they want it to me. I'm working in K-Fa-Fa-I-Hae here. This is how the conversation went, David. Brock, we got to suspend you. Okay, I'll just quit. We don't have to suspend you.

That's how the conversation went. So he's done 19 matches over the past three years, according to TMZ, which I guess is pretty pretty freaking part-time. But yeah, the Cruiserweight classic still chugging along. And apparently Zach Sabre Jr., who is front of the show, Angelina Burnett, and many people on the internet's favorite wrestler just got offered a real contract. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, really, really cool stuff. I love that guy. And he's got a good look.

I mean, he's got some potential. But yeah, I mean, there are a lot of these little positive signs coming out of WWE. I mean, I'm a big fan. You're a big fan of wrestling? You're a big fan of wrestling. That's why I'm here. Yeah, it's totally true. So, yeah, I think that that's, I think about it for the news.

I'm scanning through right now. If there's anything that I missed. Congrats or wrestle zone for the ultimate to the ultimate teaser headline of all time. Just how old is Triple H? Whiz one? Let me see if I can get this. 43? Oh, no.

You're young. You're on the young side. Really? Yeah. 46? Close. 47 is the answer. Triple H is 47?

Yeah. He looks amazing. So both, yeah. We still have time, you and me. Just to let you know people listening. Wrestling fans, we're a little gay. I'm fine with it. I talk about guys' bodies a lot.

Oh, man. Yeah, the stuff that doesn't make the show with us just like us just sitting at a restaurant talking about guys' bodies is pretty incredible. Oh, did you see Tatanka's nipples the other night? Oh, my God. Oh, man. And sadly, the answer is always yes,

I did see Katanka's nipples. Is there anything else you wanted to get any? Did you have any other? I do want to say, you know, I am really excited about Ziegler v. Ambrose in theory. I, you know, like those guys can go and I hope they just build it right. You know, the Ziegler post-match promo was really weird. It was like, the connotation of the promo,

I don't know if you saw the post-match promo, was like, yeah, I know, you know, I've kind of sucked for the last two years, but things can happen. Like, he literally just goes like, Post-match or pre-match? Post-match. He says, like,

like, he literally, this is one of the lines from it. And he goes, a broken clock is right twice. And you're like, oh, dude, have a little more faith in yourself. You put together, like, your performance of the Survivors years ago is like one of my favorites ever.

Yeah. He has that one. It's a weird thing because he's done, he's tried the sort of semi-shoot promo in the past of like, I'm not getting a shot and that didn't work, you know? So it's like now he's got to go sort of kayfabe. Mickey Rourke and the wrestler. Yeah. I'm going to come back. That's actually, I, Dolph Ziegler is going to look exactly like Mickey Rourke and the wrestler in 20 years, isn't he?

I don't know. I think it'll look better. Or 30. Rourke, I think has four different people's lips now. You know, like that guy, I mean, he looks on a hollible. Halloween mask. Yeah. Give Ziggler some credit.

It's true. So, yeah, I mean, listen, the important thing about Ziegler and why it's cool that he got to nod, we all would have loved AJ versus Ambrose. I mean, that's a really cool match. And we'll have that for down the road, you know. Yeah. I think we all would have been. Hopefully.

I don't know. I mean, listen, like Bray Wyatt, Ambrose, we've seen a bunch of times. But, you know, Bray Wyatt has dreadlocks and a beanie now. So maybe that's a, it's a different gimmick. But, but like, we would have. have been fine, I think, with Brave versus Ambrose. We would have loved AJ versus Ambrose. We would have,

I'm sure all been really good with, like, John Sina versus Ambrose, and a sort of like John Cena making, making the fan favorite look good sort of situation. Yeah. What really matters about Dolph Ziegler is that he is just like Shane McMahon was, this sort of

fan, he's the avatar for the fans, right? For all of our unhappiness for so many years was like placed on to Shane McMahon. We were just like, oh, if only Shane were here. You know, that's how way. And then, and in the same way, I mean, it's not entirely true. That's beside the point. In the same way, for the past three, four years, we've all been like, ah, if only they would push Dolf. And listen, there are a million other guys we've been

begging from the push, and they have pushed and whatever. But the fact that Dolf never got any traction just seemed like, I wrote about it this week. It seemed like, in a weird way, that was W.W.E's Cardinal Sin. That they just could see it, take a guy who had so much to offer the company. and just and see jobber to the stars. Yeah, I get it. But, you know, sometimes they know things that we don't know, too, like you're saying beforehand. Like, I'm not going to say who, but there's definitely been some internet fan favorites who I think are incredible workers.

But I could see what like Vince and Triple H are thinking where you're like, I don't know if that guy could headline of WrestleMania. They might be, I mean, that might be true about Dol Ziegler. But the important thing is that they're like the one that they're making this statement and they're, They're projecting it. And also that they're smart enough to make the statement. That's more important than whether or not Dahl Ziegler goes over. It's that we're like, we don't have to agree with every move WWE makes. We don't have to agree with the raw, the raw announced team being in Okerland.

They're halfway back into the crowd or whatever. But the fact that they're trying, like, we want to be, we want to be spending, what, seven hours a week. Wait, is that right? Is it more than that? It's five, six. And then, is there superstars too? Yeah. I mean, if you count all the other stuff,

NXT, yeah, whatever. If you're going to be spending 10 hours a week watching the product of WWE, you want to believe that they're making decisions intelligently. And if the entire decision was, let's just give these idiot smart fans, smart fans, Dolf, so they'll quit complaining for a week. That's at least an intelligent

decision, even if it's a craven one. Right? So I think that a lot of the stuff we saw this week was really, gave it, was really hopeful, you know? I mean, Sasha, Finn, Dolf, Ambrose, which was, again, circling all the way back around to battleground, there was no title change, but it's a crazy thing to complain about a lack of a title change because Ambrose keeping that belt was literally the least likely outcome of that match by a long shot. Absolutely, absolutely, and go over clean on rains.

The way he won it, yeah, it was nuts. The one thing we haven't talked about, and it's the only real sleigh against Raw. It's about Duke of Lumpurzey's. pimples. No, it is about calling it the Universal Championship. Jesus, come on, guys. I just wish that... You were so close to having a perfect show. My only complaint about WWE, and it's an ongoing one, is that they, sometimes they just don't project a thing when they should have.

Like, for instance, at Battleground, when they put on the highlight reel, that's what it's called, right? Jericho's show, I guess, Ms. TV is Ms. They put on the highlight reel. Jericho is amazing now as a heel again. I like how he just 100% morphed into the sort of like old school fay, you know, like I... Which is what he needs to be. Which is what he needed to be for two years. But they put that on in the main event slot. I mean like not, obviously there was a main event afterwards, but they're not restrained by these time barriers anymore.

They're because they're on the network almost exclusively. So they, the main event can run over. But you're still not trained for it. So it's just like WrestleMania. You're sitting here watching a promo at like tin till they're. hour and you're like, are we really going to get a like a five minute schmaws for the main event? You, you, you, you,

everybody that I was with was subtly resenting that Orton promo, even though it was really good, because it felt like every moment that went on was a moment of the main event we wouldn't be getting. And it wasn't true, but it's, but anyway, in a similar way, different, but related way, I resented the universal chance, I was, I was predisposed to hate the universal championship

because why the crap would you not just announce this before the grand split. Whoever doesn't get the title, I understand it makes the main event of Battleground less significant, but it was so obvious it was going to happen. And like, so just let us know,

at least leak it onto the internet. You know, like don't, you don't have to make a big deal about it on the show, but like, give us some assurance that like, you know,

we know what to expect going forward. It felt like such a letdown because all we could do was fantasy book it and we all kind of fantasy book something better than, yeah, the universal.

It was a, that was the only thing about Raw that I was, like, man, they got that wrong. Yeah, but anyway, I mean, it's not, it's hard. I can't criticize it too much because, like I said, we all kind of knew they would have their own belt. The really interesting thing about these title matches, and we got to get out of here, but

was, was the fact that Baller and Ziegler were there means that Roman Reigns and John Sina and whoever else are not in the title matches at SummerSlam. So we have, I mean, there could very well be like five co-equal main event matches at SummerSlam. What if Roman Rains is the pre-show? it's possible. What would what would the

most hilarious use of Roman Reins be? I don't know why we're even talking about this. He's the host of Axis before the movie starts. He's just on the commentary table in the pre-show

just like in Cory Graves' seat just giving his opinion on stuff. Oh and one other thing I thought of him like because you know Daniel Brown you can tell he just so wants to be wrestling still when he's in this role.

I just kept thinking of like every week he tries to make him backing out into the arena more challenging, like he puts obstacles where he has to jump over on the way back and try to do a herk and Rana off the railing. It's really good to see him back. And also they made, and he's been a lot, he and Mick have both been,

were a lot better this week than they were last week. I loved, it was last week's raw, I think, where Foley and Brian had a promo together backstage where Foley said, you're in my way now. I thought that was great. Yeah, no, it was really, really, They've had some really good moments. My problem is, like, when Foley's with Steph, he's this bumbling oaf, which is not the way we want to remember Foley.

You know, and it's not his best use. You know, he's very good at being a comic, but he's not a comic character, but he's not a... He's better at being serious than he is. I mean, the Can Doey promo is still the greatest promo of all time. And like I said, he's a legend and we want to remember him as such, you know? Exactly. And Daniel Bryan's in a similar way. I mean, he's so good on the Cruiserweight Classic.

Like, he's, the fact that he's that good at being a color commentator shocks me more than him doing like a 980, like, you know, the Phoenix splashed off the top rope would shock me. Like, it's, like, it's so, and the fact that now he's back to playing his least, his least successful role, which is backstage, like, promo work. It's a weird use of him. Although, they've both had moments of being really, really good. And this past week has, I mean, this week has been a really good showing for both of them. He's one of those guys just never underestimate him, you know? He's always, every time when someone's like, oh, he's just a worker, then he had a really funny angle with Kane. Oh, he's not a main eventer.

He's a main event. Oh, he's not a good commentary. He's good a commentary. And now he's, so wait, should we not underestimate him, like, in storyline or in real terms? I just think, like, whatever he does, there's a good chance he's going to succeed in it. So he's going to turn out to be a good on-screen GM, but you're not actually advocating that he's going to be a good GM in KF. I have no idea. I don't know, maybe.

I thought he was going to build like eco-friendly huts. I'm surprised he's doing wrestling at all, so I'm just glad he's back. Yeah, there's still time for eco-friendly huts. Yeah, that would be the worst wrestling name ever. It's eco-friendly hot! We might be back to that sort of promo. It's just Prince Albert repurposed into a hut costume. Just a giant, like a life situation, like a body guy.

grass skirt. That would be really incredible. Listen, this has been a big week. I'm sure we missed a million things. This is the first episode of the Masked Man show to not mention Cesaro, I think, in the entire run of the show. Oh, that shoot promo he did was really good. That's what we skipped. Last week we did the show, I did the show before the draft. It was actually a shoot promo. And yeah, I mean, it's good. But I heard that they kept trying to recreate it and it got worse each time. Really? Like they filmed it multiple times. Yeah. The first time he did it was amazing. And then they tried to like almost like produce it and then that took away yeah it a little bit but if wb if

you want to hear one thing i think the one thing if they out of all our suggestions brett heart five minutes at the end of smackdown yeah yeah the heart the heart report or like that yeah i mean it would be it would be really really good i'll one more thing about the about the about the promo the cesara promo but the promos in general last week the show they They were running the Draft Center live on the network during SmackDown, which was amazing. I mean, it was to have that, to have them competing with themselves, it wasn't competing. It was just supplementary information, right? They should do that all the time.

They should have, they should just have a camera in like the WWE controller room and put that on the network during Raw. You know, that's going to make everybody watch Raw. It's not going to take away from it. But the, um... Just Brian Goertz, like eating a rap in the back. First of all, Brian Goertz no longer employed by WW. No, he's not. He works for the rock now.

He's a Hollywood big wig. But, yeah, I mean, but if they had that kind of thing more often, it would be great. But the greatest thing about it was they were spread so thin during the draft that almost all of the promos just felt like shoots. They clearly did not have enough manpower to script these promos or time. So everything just felt fresh and real. I don't care if Finn Baller or whoever gives a terrible promo. Like, I would rather just see them like just the vitality of them doing it live.

is worth so much more, you know? It's just so much better for something. If you are struggling with something in wrestling, just be like, okay, go out there, don't say these curse words or don't bring this thing up and these are the three points you got ahead. Yeah. You know?

It's funny. I heard a really compelling argument about why everything is so over-scripted right now, and I can't even say it on the air. I'm just going to let that be a teaser. All right. Someday I'll be able to report this piece. When you finally retire to your houseboat.

Yeah. I'm just, yeah, I'm no longer on WW's payroll and I can really just come open with everything. Yeah, that's what people don't realize. Like, Shoemaker is a mole. He's trying to take Simmons down. Every time I walk out of the studio. Simmons, by the way, I mean, like, why would Sim I'd be very thick?

Why would WW be taking Simmons down? Well, obviously the feud between Vince and Dana White is not working. Yeah, exactly. Dana's like, yeah, I like Vince. Every time I walk out of the studio recording the podcast, John Laurenitis is standing there with just a, with a Halliburton full of cash. Thanks, David. You put us over. I appreciate it.

All right. We got to get out of here. So thanks to Tate. Thanks for thanks to Dan Tanger. Oh, hey, promote something. Yeah, promote your stuff. Guys,

I will be doing my Finn Baller character at the Montre. No, I will not be doing it there. But I will be the Montreal just for last comedy festival this weekend, Saturday at noon at the Hyatt. Right now, our first guest is Roy Wood from the Daily Show. And we're going to have another guest.

Oh, awesome. So please check us out. You can check, you know, I'm on Instagram. I'm on Twitter. and watch Not Safe with Nikki Glazer We have two more episodes left by the time this air I think I think Former I mean friend of the ringer

And channel 33 standout Andy Greenwald Is gonna be up there too Doing some panel discussion Oh nice I could be crazy Yeah I'll let them know Good of super sex together But yeah read the ringer

The ringer is really good I'm gonna have a piece up probably by the time You're listening to this But there's other stuff on there too And we have merch Which is a great way to show your support For this podcast To wear the ringer logo

Everywhere you go and, uh, Tate, what am I forgetting to say? Those are all great things. All right. Well, thanks to Dan. What's your Twitter handle? D.S. Jermaine and I'm also on Instagram and I don't know what that handle is yet. Yeah.

Okay. Well, I'm at David Shoemaker and, uh, Mr. Lorinitis. What's your? Uh, okay, he left. Um, anyway, thank you for, uh, listening. No, I'm still here. I'm trapped under the table. David, help we get under the table.

I need to take the bell. Oh, God. Enjoy the new era of human rights. Oh, Jesus.