The Press Box - Ep. 160: 'The Masked Man Show' With Joel Solomon

Episode Date: August 5, 2016

The Ringer’s David Shoemaker is joined by 'AGW' writer Joel Solomon to discuss Rhyno’s recent GOP victory (5:00) and Shoemaker’s trip to the PGW (14:00). Then they run through the ‘Cruiserweight Classics,’ (15:00) some of the rising NXT stars of ‘Raw’ (19:00), and highlights from last week’s matches (21:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Again, go right now to B-I-T-L-L-Y dot com slash Ringer merch. Welcome to the Maskman Show. We're back, man. I'm here with Joel Solomon, the writer for any given Wednesday. The writer for any given Wednesday. That sounded terrible. But go ahead. How you doing, Joel?

I'm good. I'm good. This has been a really big week in the wrestling world. The first thing I want to get to, I'm just going to spring this on you. Mm-hmm. I think probably the biggest storyline that's going on right now. It's a guy who's actually been on the scene for a long time, but is sort of like getting his first push.

on a sort of bigger stage. You know, people are talking about this. Like NBC I'm reading right now is talking about this. There's a lot of really big, he's getting a lot of attention. And it's that Terrence Garin, aka Rhino, just won a Michigan House Republican primary by 56 votes. How do you feel about that? I think this is what I talked to Bill about earlier.

This is the new road to the White House. Pro wrestling. Pro wrestling. You used to have to go to an Ivy League school, possibly go to the military, or become a high-profile lawyer, work your ranks through local government. Now you go to the WWE. You learn Mike skills. You go down to the NXT Center, work with Triple H, get some on-air screen time, maybe endorse Slim Jims. Next stop, the Oval Office. I know a lot of people have gone, you know, a lot of people have talked about Trump as a pro wrestling character. Right. But I do think there's actually something to it where it's like, like if you're, if you have, if you're a full wrestler, let's say if, you know, I'm trying to think of who like an old school guy is, or Jerry Lawler kind of toyed with running for, didn't he run for like mayor of Memphis or governor of Tennessee? I thought he was the mayor of Memphis. Oh, no, he's like colloquially the mayor of Memphis. He's like the Duke of Memphis. But the, but yeah, I mean, if.

you, if you can, if we live in a world where you can just take, like, pull your character out of thin air, basically, right? I mean, it doesn't matter what a politician says, specifically Trump, but really anybody. You can change your positions under like a, you know, candidacy by candidacy basis. Which is, and the crowd, the crowd knows you're full of it, but they still cheer you or boo you accordingly. It's exactly like pro wrestling. We're like, the fans will cheer a baby face, even though three, you.

weeks ago, they were just like making fun of the local sports team. Because they made the face turn, now we can cheer. And this is why wrestlers are the master of it. I mean, they're, they're constantly going from heel to baby. And, and that's what, I mean, who wouldn't vote for Stone Cold? Who wouldn't vote for the rock? These guys, if they wanted to, politicians would be in big trouble. Yeah, I asked at some point who the best, on this show, who, who, like, the best wrestler would be. And I forgot what the end. I mean, the best wrestler turned politician would be. Mick Foley, clearly. You think McFoly?

McFoly I feel like really genuinely cares He's super lovable He's been the commissioner He's been the general manager Although Kane The demon Kane

As said he wants to run I believe in I'm going to disappoint a lot of people A lot of listeners of the show And I say that, you know, libertarianism is not a governing philosophy I think he's going to have some difficulty Even if he got elected

But it hasn't worked well for the McMahon Shockingly No No I think you have to I mean I think it does I think it's, the McMans are actually too grounded in reality. Like they're, I mean, Trump, I guess, to a certain extent is too. But like, they're like just business people who now want to go to politics.

That's, that's the opposite of what you're talking about. Like, we want, we want actors. It's like, you know, we just want people who look the sort of looked apart and can talk the part. And that's what we want in this country. Right. And take a bump. Yeah. Maybe that was Linda's flaw.

Like. She never really bumped. Yeah. Yeah. That's why Teddy Long will never be president. really well yeah rhino uh yeah one one a republican primary he's uh and we'll see if he wins in november i think i'm just trying to think of like the old timers who were back like arn anderson who by the way got marty lund was shouted out on smackdown this week i don't know if you noticed

that but there was like an easter egg where who was it where like uh was it heath slater who referred to like jump in marty lund and that's anyway long story that's uh that's uh arn andersen's real name but the uh but yeah i feel like arn anderson could be could be a senator You know, but these, I think a lot of... Always an underrated talker. I mean, has that deep south, yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, yeah. I'm surprised no one has pushed Rick Flair.

Rick Flair doesn't. Well, he's tried to, he threatened to run for governor of North Carolina too, but it was, he was, he was, maybe that was in an era where it was less acceptable. It wasn't that long ago, but he's got some, you know, he's got some, some skeleton, yeah. It's not skeleton. It's not that people don't know, but just the things that normally, you know, financial and familial stuff that normally rule out candidates, although Trump is, put the light all that stuff too. So, man, do you think, I mean, this might be the biggest problem that WWE has in the years ahead is that they're just not going to have a roster.

Everybody's going to leave to go run for public office. But how exciting would that be? You would have a career. Wrestlers do need a career after wrestling. It's sad. It's like the performance center leads to the main roster. And the main roster is just a platform for public office. Like everybody is running for public office in their home state after their wrestling career.

But would you get a liberal wrestler? That's the question. I think it's been a pretty strong run. Daniel Bryan would be a – I mean, he's got to be a liberal guy, right? He would think. And he'd have a beautiful First Lady on his arm. For like the – yeah. I mean, who's not going to vote for Daniel Bryan?

He looks – and he looks great in a suit these days too. And you would probably have to leave this show and be a campaign manager. writing promos. I would like to think I wouldn't, but, you know, some things are more important than wrestling commentary and art direction for a website. You know, when your country calls you, you have to go. Well.

Anyway, that was a long digression about Rhino winning. Congrats. Good for Rhino, man. Big week. It's weird that he won on the same, basically at the exact same time, that he, like, got his, like, got called back into the majors to be a wrestler. Smackdown is already reaping the benefits. He was the number one, the best free agent available, according to Shane, Rhino.

Really weird moniker to put on him when it's like, clearly there are better free agents available. I thought that was a little strange. Like, it would be one thing if he appeared out of the ether, but he's been in NXT where there are better free agency. Like, if we're considering NXT free agency. Yeah. Like, no one's making the case that he's a better free agent than Samoa Joe, right?

I mean, Shane, are you? Nakamura. Nakamura was on like every single one of our top 10 lists when we took those things, and he's still sitting down there. Shane's draft board needs some work. Maybe he, he's like the Cleveland Browns of the SmackDown. Just the worst drafter of all time.

The number one free agent. Yeah. Yeah, well, anyway, there's a lot. I mean, he got Shelton Benjamin, which is a huge get. Already a better free agent. So. And the rumors around Shelton Benjamin was like, I think MVP got offered a contract too.

but, man, this is real rumor territory, but couldn't pass the medical. But, like, so maybe he'll come at some point. I mean, it's funny that, like, Shelton and MVP, back on Chee Pete, which, by the way, you just told me that Rosenberg cut a big promo on me this week. I'm ready to get to that when you're ready to get to that.

We'll take one second, but back on Cheapet, we used to always lump Shelton and MVP and Carlito together as guys we wanted to see back. They're all from the same era, and we feel like they all left some, you know, left a lot of opportunity on the table when they walked away. I mean, not, not, it wasn't a good choice, but WWE could have done a lot more with them, you know?

Oh, yeah. So it'll be interesting to see if there are any other people that pop up like Shelton. I'm, I'm excited for the return of Shelton Benjamin, man. He is, um, it gives you a reason to turn into Smackdown too. You know, these, these, maybe someone will show up trying to make a difference, whereas, you know, on, on, on Raw, maybe it was just, uh, it's a little bit of a letdown, but on Smackdown, maybe, oh, wow, this guy showed up. They definitely, we'll get into the show breakdown in a minute.

They definitely got to do a little bit of something to differentiate Smackdown because it's already, we'll get into that later. But yeah, I think that Shelton is going to be really fun to watch too because I don't know if you've seen him wrestle at all in Ring of Honor or anything like that, but he's like he is the quintessent. He's the NBA player who, like he's the NBA Power Forward who's like 6-8, but just becomes a sinner at like the second act of his career because he's just kind of old and less mobile.

but it works, you know? He's like the Sam Perkins of pro wrestling. Also, it's really, it actually, it's a great parallel to this era of basketball because the size has come, like everybody's a little bit shorter than they were, right? There's not, there's not, like every team doesn't have a seven foot six guys starting for him anymore. So Shelton Benjamin, who was just a high flyer in his first act, obviously he's a little bit older. He's not quite the athlete that he once was, although he's still better than 90% of the guys out there. But he's also the size of, like, he's probably bigger than just,

about anybody on the roster who's not being booked as a giant. You know, he's, you know, six feet tall and jacked. Like, he's a big, big guy. So, yeah, I can't, I can't wait to see him. Well, yeah, no, it would certainly be exciting and he's been off TV for a long time. And who he'll feud with. Like, that's, the good thing about the last couple weeks, you're, you know, again, we'll talk about Ron Smackdown.

We're seeing different feuds, which at least that I like. Like, not the same, at least not the same. Except for, you know, Sina A.J. Still finishing there. But I'm happy for that. That's like, Sina and A.J. is great just in terms of, I mean, it's just like you're excited to have Sina on SmackDown. It's a little bit of stability, you know?

It's a little bit of that feeling that like, like, it's still big time. Anyway, tell me about what Peter Rosenberg said about me, because this is, this is news to me. I love all wrestling podcasts. You know, I, I try not to play favorites. All right, all right, all two of them. All right. So Summer Slam is coming up in Brooklyn. There may be a big cheap heat event coming up.

Oh, yeah, right. We're in L.A. now. We get news late. It's tough to find out about these things. West Coast time is just a bitch. It is a bitch. But apparently Mr. Rosenberg, who I know also, put a call into you. And now he's saying you're not returning his calls.

No, he did. That's true, actually. He called me yesterday. He called me when I was commuting to work yesterday, which is the worst, it does nothing to do with him. but just because of my personal psychoses. Like, it's the worst time you could possibly get in touch with me. Because when I get, like, when I'm commuting to work, I've already been working for three hours.

You know, like I wake up on, you know, 7 a.m. And work and then generally come into the office around 10. So, like, those, my commute is 20 or 30 minutes that, like, I don't really have to give away by the time I get here. I'm rushing to my desk so that I can just catch up on the stuff I haven't done over, you know, while I was driving in. And so if you, like, text me or call me during that, span of time, I'll just forget it never happened. This is not a work. I want to make sure this is not a work or you genuinely just need to call him back. Oh, I just need to call him back. It's probably also everything's a work. This is 2016. Donald Trump might be our president. Everything's a work.

So as Peter Rosenberg would say, you're not refusing to kiss his ass. Is that, I was worried that you, you know, might be, might have, you know, come out here to L.A. Things are happening. Well, you've noticed that I've started dressing a lot differently. I'm wearing these $5,000 shirts. Right. The sunglasses all the time, indoors are out. And, yeah, it's a, it's, I have changed a little bit, but I'm excited to, I'm excited to, to, uh, to be back in Brooklyn.

I think I'll probably be there. Also, who calls anymore? Just, he should text you. He said he was driving. That's why he calling you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, right.

When you have a car phone? When your friend, when someone, when like a friend calls you, yeah, it's, you're either, you're either, like, like, something terrible has happened. Right. Or it's actually worse than a text message. You probably just want to tell you that Rhino was back. Yeah, and he's like, I got really important news. Rhino is back.

Hopefully I will see that guy soon. He's a good friend of mine. Listen, I'm going to run through some news of the week, and you can tell me how important this stuff is or if you have any particular reaction to it. Wait, did you see the Cruiserweight, any of the Cruiserweight classic stuff this week? You watched the beginning, right?

I watched the beginning, but already two nights of live wrestling is, that's, we're already, that's already a lot to start with. Cruiserweight Classic's a good one to throw on while you're doing something else because it'll get your attention. And it's a lot of, it's a lot of straight wrestling. I buried the lead this week. Too much important stuff happened between, you know, rhino winning and, well, rhino winning. But the, I went to PWG for the first time this weekend. Congratulations. I'm going to talk, thank you.

It's an honor. I'm going to talk about it a little bit more next week. But it was everything I hoped it would be. I saw some really great, I mean, top to bottom, great matches. And they do, I think the most important thing they do is, well, serve beer by the pitcher, but also. That's important. Yeah, but also just like, it matches are just straight back to back. Like the only, there was like one match that had a little, like Chris Hero cut a promo, which involved him actually getting into it with a crowd member, like physical, like in a wonderful, wonderful exchange.

But, like, you know, it was pretty much like a match would be over and like two minutes later, the next match will start it. There's none of this like, you know, just interminable weight between stuff or long promos or whatever. And, you know, some of these indie shows, this was actually a pretty short card for them, but indie shows can sometimes run really late, you know. A lot of people there? It was full. It's always full. They don't need to do anything else. They sell like, it's in like an Elks Lodge or whatever.

It's not really that. But it's a, you know, like a something, you know, an old, an old, whatever space in, and recede of California. And a few hundred people get in there and people start lining up hours before the event. There's like, you can get like front row seats or just general admission seats or there's a few standing room seats. And it's just three separate lines. And, I mean, it's, it's a. What was the weirdest device or a piece of equipment that was used in ring or out?

Ooh, they're really, I don't. I mean, there were a spot, just maybe your favorite spot. I mean, listen, there's nothing like seeing the young bucks live. They always just make something, they, you know, it was young bucks versus death by elbow, and they, and they just, there were, there were a couple of spots where, you know, the size difference between the bucks and Chris Hero is so, it's so incredible that, like, it's just inherently amazing to watch them do kind of pre-planned spots together. There are some cool stuff in there.

I don't know, man, it was, it was definitely worth. But, you know, highlight of the night, and the reason why I brought this whole thing was the performance of Zach Sabre Jr., who's also been, who was also competed last week on the Cruiserweight Classic. Zach Saber is an amazing wrestler. And I will say, one more aside about PWG, but like if you ever get the chance to go, the coolest thing is that the wrestlers just sell their merch. They're them selling the merch.

They are the merch guy. They sit on the edge of the ring before the, before the show and during intermission, and they just like hang up t-shirts on hangers on the ropes, and you just walk up to them, and you're like, hey, I want one of those shirts in large or whatever,

and they, like, we'll sell it to you. Like, that's what you buy your Chris Hero shirt from Chris Hero. You buy your Zach Sabre Jr. shirt from Zach Sabre Jr. Like that, the bucks kind of stand in the ring

because they're heels and they want to get a little, you know, uh, distance, cognitive dissonance distance. But the, um, you were dangerous,

by the way, at these merch tables. See, this is where I, I, I fear, you, you are just,

marking out buying buying and I literally bought nothing and the reason was because if I bought one shirt I would have bought 20 shirts It's dangerous Yeah This is why I don't go to those shows Where guys are signing

And selling their stuff because you You can't get autograph And stuff from Tito Santana And then go to Superfly Snooka And not get him and then not get Volkov I just can't go to these things Um Superfly Snugga is still doing legend shows

despite the fact that he was declared incompetent to stand trial. I mean by who, really, other than himself? Well, anyway, I'm glad to know that you'd still be getting his autograph, though, standing strong, standing with snooka. He didn't do anything wrong. That's so untrue. All right. Anyway, so yeah, so Zach Sabre Jr., a lot of rumors before the crew,

before his first appearance on the Cruiserweight Classic that WW had offered him a contract. So I was excited to see him. I thought it was going to be his farewell show, but apparently he's, well, I was going to say apparently, like I know for a fact that he is not taking the WWB contract. Wow. I think he just wants, I think he's, I don't know this part. This isn't reporting, but it seems like he's happy to be, he's happy to work for another year on the Indies or something and, you know, kind of prepare himself before he goes.

I mean, listen, he's got to be, he's got to put on some weight. You know, he's got, he's got, like, if he went down to Orlando, So he would be, he's not like he's going to get called up in two weeks or something like that, right? So like he might, if he wants to keep going to Japan, traveling the world, being the champion of places like PWG, he can keep doing that, you know. But as we've seen on Monday, Natura, pretty good time to get a push. If you're a new up-and-coming kind of, I mean, they're pushing. This is now a time. I mean, if you've done well at NXT, you're like no other time in WWE history.

Yeah, I want to talk about this. We'll wrap up the show. We'll save this for last, but I want to talk about these, the three big NXT stars that are kind of taking over Raw right now. Because it is an interesting, it is an interesting question.

Now, you know, at PWG, I thought it was going to be Zach Sabre's last match. It turns out it was not, it was his opponent, Roddy Strong's last match. Or not an opponent, but they did a thing. They had a little back and forth.

um Zach was a Sabre Jr. fought Kyle Riley, who is my, my all-time favorite indie, indie dude. I hope I mean, he's just amazing.

But anyway, uh, so yeah, I mean, I think that it's legit. I think it's, whatever, it's a,

Finn Baller spent a lot longer in NXT than, then WWE told him he was going to spend there, which is fine. NXT turned out that was an, it helped index, the NXT brand. It helped Finn's career, but it's not exactly

I mean but like you know Zach Sabre Jr. still got some growth and it's totally legitimate for him to not do for him to do it on his own you know

anyway but where do you think the money is better? There's better money kind of being a top guy elsewhere or get it taken up? 100%

okay well then he can make more he can definitely make more money doing what he's doing now now to listen it depends on the contract he would sign with WWE

but you know I mean in Orlando there's no like you know there's don't guarantee that you're making, I mean, there are people down there making $30,000, you know. I mean, but there's, but a lot of people are making more. I mean, it depends on the contract you sign.

You know, Samoa Joe got, from what I understand, had, you know, he had like an NXT contract. And there's like, page two is the, is the main roster contact. He got bumped up to the main roster right after he signed so that he, to prohibit him from working from other TV shows. So he's making like his main roster check in NXT. Right. But like, there's a huge variation. I mean, it can be 10, you can make.

10 times more money easily on the main roster. So yeah, it just depends on what you do. So anyway, let's go back through the actual shows of the week, not just the wonderful pro wrestling guerrilla shows that I attended in real life. There's nothing wrong with that, though. I'm glad when you're excited. Yeah, I mean, listen, a lot of things to be excited about. Let's go chronologically.

Monday night. Monday night. The red, team red, I guess. So the opening section, this is what I want to get back to later. but the opening segment was that kind of Sasha promo that became a Jericho, Jericho, Sasha promo that then became an Enzo. An E-Harmony date or something? Yeah, it was very, very strange.

Like, I think that with the exception of, with the exception of gimmicks like Rusef and Lana, okay. We got to use, like, on-screen flirting really sparingly. That was, it was all going so well, too. I don't think it was all going so well. Sasha Banks starting the show. Oh, wow, this is great. And then Jericho comes out.

Now we're a little bit losing control. Then Enzo comes out. And this weird, how are you doing? I mean, I'm not even going to try to do that. But it was just so weak. So weak. Yeah. That's what I want to get to later on.

So let's hit pause on that for one second. Ron Stroman had another great squash match. against the jobber and and stroman's i like that the neckline is just getting lower and lower that he's maybe he's outgrowing the shirt he's outgrowing the shirt that is a that's a hell of a of a v neck now it's not a v neck that's a that's a that's that's that's something else it's a low scoop that's like transitioning into suspenders it will soon it will soon not be a shirt at all right um yeah golden truth versus the shining stars like i literally don't remember that match happening did I'm reading a recap right now, but I don't know.

Yeah. Okay, so now we get into really interesting stuff. Rusef and Mark Henry had a match, which is... Mark Henry is the W.W. Ambassador to the Olympics now? That actually didn't know. That was the key to, like, the backstage promo. Do you think... I mean, they kept saying it the same way.

Like, I don't know that the Olympics needs a WW ambassador, but Mark Henry is obviously the guy if you... I think Mark Henry has, like, this Bobby Bonilla contract that he is, hey, we got to, we got to, we're paying them. We're paying them. You got to let him do something. Do you think the WWE ambassador to the Olympics is more significant than the universal championship?

Oof. Oof. I do want to know what that title is going to look like. And yes, you're right. At least, at least the Olympic ambassador sounds like a real thing. Yeah. Universal title. When rains came out.

Right. That was the big part. I actually thought Mark Henry was going to get a, was going to win the match. For some reason, he was, he powered out of the accolade and I was just like, oh, wait, this is what I've been waiting for him to do the last time they feuded. You know, it was going to be great. But yeah, he lost. And then, you know, I have no problem at all with Roman Raines versus Rousseff. I like this.

This is now we're going somewhere. This is, and it's also, it's a mid card. Yeah. We've taken reins out of, you know. the mix for, we've just put him here against Rousseff, this, this looks right. It feels right. And you say mid-card, I mean, I'm not going to dispute like whatever the definition of that is, but the, but like Roman Raines versus Rousseff is a legit like 1A match on any pay-per-view, right?

I mean, it's, it is no offense to anybody else involved, but like as far as just like, you know, five years from now, if you look back and just saw the flyer, like you would probably assume that was a much bigger deal than Dean Ambrose versus Dolph Ziegler. You know, I mean, like, it's, it's comparable. It could be, yeah, it certainly could be. So, I mean, it's a real, I'm excited about, I'm excited about that match. And it's a good spot for, it's a good spot for Roman Raines to sort of, you know, be able to work a good match, build himself back up a little bit. It's a great spot for Rusef because he's needed a real feud with someone with, you know, some talent.

I'm not talent, with some star power for a while. I'm not looking forward to the inevitable Roman Raines, like, you know, misogynist promos on Lana. I think that that's sort of a given. He's related to the rock. And, you know, I always expect the worst on that front. Well, it's also Rousse's wife now. So I think you're right. Let's steer clear of that.

Let's be respectful of Rusef's wife. Roman Rains is a family, man. If anyone would understand. It would be, it would be Roman Day. I like that Roussef just tries to get out of the way. Like, you're not worth my time. That is like the first, I don't know, not the first, but a big guy that's just like, no.

Yeah. Step aside. You're not even worth my time. Rousseff is great. Rune Rousseff's just so much fun. And I mean, I will eat little crow because I remember saying, you know, six months into his first run that he was going to be a baby face before the year was out. Like, he was just so great, you know.

But I still think, I mean, he's just got. That's so much there. There's just so much untapped potential. And I don't think they're doing the wrong thing with them. Let him keep doing this for a little while. But when he gets a lot of it, when he gets camera time, the crowd just goes nuts for him. You know, they boo, but it's a respectful boo. It's like he's playing a really good character.

And finally, Raines is now in the ring with a guy. He might not have to use the mic because really Lana would be doing the talking. And this might work. We found something now on Monday nights that we're both excited about. Yeah. Because there might not be much else. I mean, yeah, no, I mean, there's a lot of good stuff. I mean, the next thing that happened was Titus O'Neill defeating Darren Young, which was, I kind of like this Darren Young thing.

It's a very low-fi, like Darren Young, make American, I mean, make Darren Young great again thing. But it seems to be occurring from, I don't have not, I don't know any backstage info on this, but it seems to be occurring at a deliberate pace with minimal interference from, you know, the day, the Monday rewriting crew. It seems like this is a, you know, this was pitched as like a two-month, three-month storyline, and it's happening as it was supposed to happen. Yeah, let it breathe, let it see how it plays out, which is, yeah, again, rare. Naya Jax, another squash. Now, my biggest hang up with Naya Jax and, and Bronzhroman is that it evokes the debut of Ryeback and Tinsai. And it was right around the same time that Sincara debuted, but he doesn't really count here.

but like there was when they were just trying to debut all these people at once and a couple of them are doing squashes but you got to make the squash is different and so you know ryback was wrestling multiple people i just think that i love bringing the jobbers back is amazing having a different jobber every week basically doing the same routine to sort of establish a thing like that was important in 1988 or 1985 because like you or i were giant wrestling fans back then but we didn't necessarily watch every week you know sometimes your dad might have made you like go rake the yard during wrestling or something like that and you needed for you needed to have the same idea reinforced over and over again you needed to have the finishing move used really clearly and define you know so so that you would when you watch when you watch the next match you would understand when the ddt was coming or whatever um now you just watch youtube you don't need to see the same squash match play out week after week you know it's very clear what happened they show you the highlight packages but what else are these local jobers going to do this is a big I would rather see last week's jobber keep, like, make a comeback.

It's try week after week, you know, do a little one, two, three kid thing with them or something. Just give it a little bit of, give it just one other layer. But I love, I love the job. I love the jobbers are back. If they're used appropriately, uh, they, they, it could be really great. All right. Well, then missed opportunity to find some kind of. Maybe it's still going to happen.

It's just week two. It's just, it's fine. I mean, Ania Jack's a little bit more forgivable because there's just not that many. They don't have nearly as many, you know, uh, uh, women on the roster. So, like, they got to figure this thing. I mean, they got to do what they got to do. Anyway.

Do you want to talk about the biggest finishing move, though, since we're on raw? The biggest finishing move? The biggest, I mean, what else could take out Brock Lesnar and one finishing? Oh, man. I mean, let's, first of all, let's give credit to that director that absolutely nailed it. Directors, especially now. Kevin Dunn, are you giving credit to Kevin Dunn right now? Whoever was in the truck calling the shots that went tired.

I just want to pause because this might be the nicest thing that anybody on any podcast has ever said about Kevin Dunn. Go ahead. Pushing in perfectly on Lesnar as Heyman was saying no one will, he will, Orden will never land an RKO. I didn't even see that coming. Yeah, no. And listen, we all knew it was probably coming, but I legitimately popped. I did not see that coming. And yeah, what happened after, I mean, you can talk about it if an RKO should really talk take out Brock, but

I think an RKO out of nowhere would take anybody out. Certainly it would take me out, but... I mean, it really is, say what you will about Randy Orton. I think he's doing great work right now, but like, the RKO is just the best move. And that shirt now is tremendous.

Yeah. The hashtag out of nowhere. Randy Orton's got a little swagger. There's a little something going on. Yeah. He exited through the crowd on Monday night, uh, took his shirt off at the top of,

with the stairs. That part was a little bit weird to me. I think like... Well, you had to show new tattoos, probably. Does he have new tattoos to show? He probably, yeah, I'm sure there's something that that we weren't getting. I'm just saying that like, when there's lots of fans all over me, like, cheering and stuff, that I would rather have my shirt on at that point and maybe my shirt off when I'm applying the RKO. Now, I know it's not as easy as I make it sound to transition from shirtlessness to shirtedness, but you take my point. So how do you feel about this, Brock Orton, I think they're doing a wonderful job with it. They let Orton get a little bit shooty last week with the chemical enhancement or whatever, the enhancement joke.

I've never used. Yeah, right. Even though like the wellness policy is like has something that's actually referred to as the Orton rule as part of it. Because they, they let him wrestle after his like third strike or whatever. But yeah, I mean, listen, I'm excited to see this match. And when they announced it, I was like, low water. I was like a like a one excited out a one to ten scale of excitement. Now I'm like like I'm a solid seven seven and a half and I could see myself like the day of SummerSlam getting up to

it nine. And I know one has nothing to do with the other but it just seems to me Brock has a little bit of a shine off him now that from the UFC stuff and that he you know maybe it shouldn't count but that I don't and maybe it's the way Randy's kind of back and looks good that you kind of think like Randy's not intimidated

he's just like I don't even yeah well I mean ringer editor and chief Sean Finacy texted me that the on Monday night um to point out that how skinny Brock Lesnar looked now there's a lot of Brock Lesnar

physique Zepruder filming even before the UFC the UFC uh the UFC you know drug test or whatever but uh you know he did look a little bit and although that's sort of been the Brock Lesnar setting aside whatever he's ingesting uh that's sort of been the Brock Lesnar M.O is that like you know he he gets into shape for his matches you know I mean he had he like when he made his when he made that first big comeback to WWE remember he wore like his track pants and sleeveless shirt for a month um because you know

he was I think he was so working his way back into shape but uh but anyway I there does seem to be a sort of he does seem beatable now and I think it's because there's like you were alluding to this meta-narrative has taken hold that he's not quite the beast that he was, you know, they were, they were leading us to believe that he was. My question for you, and I've like thought about this, do you think Randy Orton is, should he be bigger than he is, or is he properly kind of rated? Is, should, Randy Orton through whatever, the last decade, no one's gotten more title. shots. No one's gotten bigger pushes. And Randy Orton has been phenomenal for the company,

kind of up there with Sina. But just either Randy Orton thinks he's bigger than he is or that he just can't break through. Because that RKO meme thing on the internet was like the biggest thing for him. Sometimes, sometimes something has to happen that you have no control over to really, to really take you to the next level, right? And the RKO meme was one of those things, you know? I mean, it was you know, Daniel Bryan was helped immeasurably by the fact that the yes chant took off became bigger than him and bigger than wrestling. Viperville will not do that for Randy Orton. Viperville is a, Viperville is a place you don't want to go.

A place of Randy Orton should never go again. Although I remember reacting to that really poorly when he said it, but it was, that led into the chemical enhancement. That led into another thing that made me, that sort of redeemed it in my eyes. But, I mean, Randy Orden got the big. push. He was the one that left Evolution. He won the title. Oh, no, no, Randy Orden, so you're thinking, so what is your point of view? I think that Randy Orden at this point is being used completely appropriately by WWE. He's very, very good at doing a very certain set of things and

and not so great at almost everything else. Agreed. You could throw anything at him and I think he could be immediately, it would work. He's one of the few guys. But I think as part of like the WWE legacy, one of these, he should be on a higher pedestal of possibly one of the all-time grades. I don't think he's recognized as. Oh, you think he's being undersold at this point? Because I don't know. Has he had that moment?

He should be, has he taken full advantage of what the WWV is given him? That's what I'm asking you. Oh, that's a good question. Like Edge, Edge outplayed his coverage. Edge did it. 100% Was used all of his ability and more. He,

he stole the show. I wish Edge was still, could still compete. Randy Orton still can. I'm just, where do you, where do you rank Orton as far as, do you think he's made the most of the opportunities?

Yeah. I mean, I don't know, not the most. He's done fine with them. I mean, I don't know what the, I don't know what the real sports comparison is.

I mean, he's an immeasurably good player that is, exactly what you think he is. You know, I mean, he's not, there's not going to be any, there's no, like, he's not going to transcend at any point. He's not going to surprise you at any point, you know. Sometimes he's a lot better than other times when he's being used correctly.

His run with the championship, you know, when he joined, the beginning of the authority angle was just great because he was allowed to be a sort of like, just prickish dim bulb. And that was the perfect role for him. He's actually, this is, he's doing great right now. and this sort of pseudo-cocky baby-face thing. I mean, I think that Randy Orton just needs to be playing Randy Orton to some degree, and that doesn't leave you a whole lot of latitude.

But I feel like right now they're finding the right baby-face look for Randy Orton. All of that is to say, I think he's, I think he's appropriately acclaimed. He's achieved exactly what he was, like, he's done what has been asked of him. And it's just not, he's not going to be John Cena. not going to be Hulk Hogan. He's not going to be Sean Michaels. But like, there's a lot of value in Randy Orton. And there will continue to be for a long time. Maybe as he gets older, maybe he's going to be, maybe that's the real, maybe it's the sort of later career triple H or like Harley Race looked like is really going to make Randy Orton, you know, really submit Randy Orton's

legacy because, no pun intended, because there's, he's just, I feel like he's getting better with age. All right. This is, that was the answer I was looking for. So, um, so at the end of I'll jump ahead, but the end of Smackdown, we got the reversal of that, that confrontation, when Brock Lesnar showed up on Randy's show to RKO the hell out of him. I mean, to, sorry, F5, the hell out of him. Man, I really miss when wrestling moves were like, you know, just like had the wrestler's name in it. I guess the RKO does technically have part of Randy's name in it, but go ahead. Also, F5 is like on your keyboard.

that's like a, I think you hit F5 for something. Well, yeah, it's one of the top buttons, yeah. Yeah. So is that make it good or bad? That's bad, right? It's bad. You don't think of an airplane. You think of a, or is that, you think of a keyboard.

Like, well, you are a computer nerd. Oh, he just hit command shift on them. Oh, yeah. But yeah, I mean, that, but this is kind of what you want out of Ron Smackdown, Shane saying, get off of our show, you're not supposed to be here. I just want to say from a K-Fabe point of view, Shane and Stephanie are both kind of, and Shane more so than Stephanie,

but they're terrible bookers, because if there weren't run-ins in either of those segments, then why the hell were you putting that on in the main event spot? You know what I mean? Like, if you're, I get Brock Lesner. Like, we've had Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar promos in the main event spot before, but like, man, if you're Shane,

are you really putting just Randy Orton out there with a microphone for your main event? But now you've just cracked it, unfortunately. What? Wrestling is not real? Is this what you're going to tell me now? Now we know it's coming. But yeah, I think, yeah, I mean, you would have thought Sina or AJ or...

Oh, wait, I'm wrong. That's not even what... It wasn't the end of the show. It was halfway through the Smackdown. Ah, well, who cares? Still, still, I maintain my terrible opinion of Shane McMahon. Well, but the Bray, Wyatt, that happened.

Bray Wyatt twisted his ankle. Did we know that? Wait, let's finish up with Rawr really quickly first. We've totally skipped over Cesarro defeating Seamus in one of the greatest matches of all time. It was actually a good match. The New Day defeated the club. And Seth Rollins defeated Sammy Zane.

It was a clean win. That was a fun match, man. It's nice to have this sort of like fresh blood. on Raw getting pushed up in the main event spot so that you can you know you can we have like you know Seth Rollins versus Sammy Zane is an exciting new match yeah and that's part of the great thing I think you know we're saying you will see new matches and kind of just by default you know some guys aren't there and uh but but Seth Rollins Finn Baller kind of that was another I mean, my gosh, Seth Rollins can certainly cut a promo.

I mean, there's a reason I think he's still on raw. It's almost like the vocal guys, at least in my opinion, you're giving me a strange look. No, no, I'm interested to see what you're going to say. It's almost like they left the guys that could work a mic on raw. Yeah. Except I guess, yeah, I think, I think, I don't know who. I have to look at the Smackdown roster, but it's kind of. John Cena is on Smackdown.

Well, we could get to that too, but I think the, it seems like, the raw. Yeah, it's like, it's like the, like when they've done this sort of, it's not even a brand, I guess when they do the brands, they've done the brand split in the past, but also just the way they booked the two shows. Yeah, raw is the, raw is live. Raw is, you know, in living color. You put your guys who can really go on the mic there on Raw.

And then with SmackDown, you can like, re-tap stuff, try a couple of times to make sure it's, to make sure it goes over as well as you want it to go. Although Smackdown at this point is live. so that doesn't really hold true. Although, as you were telling me before the show, it's like a live show that doesn't feel live. It doesn't particularly feel life. It's week two, we're two short weeks into the brand split.

And I enjoyed Smackdown this week. I enjoyed Smackdown last week, but it does not feel, it doesn't feel as significant or it doesn't feel. The audio is off? It's just like, is there a crowd there? Does it feel a little bit like the video is like a little bit more low-fi? Like, I feel like they're deliberately making it look different. For sure.

I mean, some of those camera angles are cool, and they're certainly trying new things and the backstage interview area. But it's just, you know, you can tell they're throwing a lot of things trying to make it look different. Also, yeah, when they're making their entrance, these graphics that pop up with the weird stats, like, and it's just, why don't, make it. I like that stuff. You do, you do like it. Yeah, yeah. I like the way to set it apart. Yeah, no, yeah.

And it makes it feel, it makes it gives it a little bit of a. I like that it's different than raw and different than what we were used to. But also, yeah, just a little bit of legitimacy, a little bit of character. Like that kind of stuff is good. They're also starting the show. I think they started for the second week in a row with Shane and Daniel Bryan backstage. Just kind of a live. Loose, yeah.

Yeah. I mean, last week they did the walk out into the arena. But I think, yeah, just having kind of the cold open with those two guys is fun. They do look like a natural comedy duo, Shane and DB. You know? Yeah, neither of them exactly knows what they're doing and we're just rolling with this. No. Yeah.

That's, I mean, it might be a future presidential ticket, those two guys. If your theories about wrestlers and politics comes true. The other way to Shane, do you think Shane will be, will run for the presidency as a Republican or a Democrat? He could be independent, Shane. It's a hard road, but I, but if anyone can do it, it's Shane McMahon. He's a man of the people, too. He's certainly got a Trump We talked about this last couple weeks ago

But he definitely got the The Trump family-esque tan Going on right now Big tan HD another I mean HD also HG is like gone It makes the tans look crazy

Tans look a little crazy Another thing SmackDan Ann announced two new titles What? Yeah There will be tag team titles And a women's title On SmackDown?

I totally miss this This is happening And yeah I was watching the show. Like, I'm not, this wasn't even one of those. I missed that on Hulu. Like, I watched the show live. This is on the internet.

And I'm going to, I'm going to take time while you Google it because this is kind of what, Raw and SmackDown, when there was a brand split, very exciting that, you know, the title could bounce around. And there was this one title that everyone was chasing. Now they're diluting the titles, especially with this universal title that, wait, what's going on? I liked, I liked your universal. Universal title rant anyway, but this is the, but this makes it even worse. Now, you don't, you don't like the universal title, correct? You're anti-universal title? It's a bad name. It's a, it's

sort of pointless. It's out of nowhere. Do you think, would you rather there be just one title that they kind of, that goes between shows, or do you think you just hate the name universal title? There's, is, there should be one champion. It, it's diluting the brand. Why, why do I care about the universal title or just call it the raw belt? Call it, but a universal title. raw belt. What is this? I mean, I'd like, yeah, it would just be meat, I guess. Yeah.

It's a sushi relay. It's basically like a raw fish concept. This belt either should look. I would, actually, I don't even know what it should look like. But is it, is it now more important than? Yes. The rumors, the rumor that I read this week, I said yes. Like I actually know.

The rumor this week was that, was that universal, where is this from, cage side seats. The Universal Belt will be the top prize in the company with the WMACTA with the WW World title losing some luster. I think that regardless of whether or not that report is true and KHAC Z it's usually, you know, I'm sure it's sourced, but like it's called the universal title. That's bigger than a world. The universe is bigger than the world.

Well, it's like the Intercontinental title or the U.S. title. Like we do it by, we do it spatially, you know, like. But now you're hurting the other belt. I think you heard it when you send it to SmackDown. But that... If you're... If you wanted to be a real dick about it, you heard it when you put it on Dean Ambrose

and shipped him off to Smackdown. Well, you heard everything that goes to Smackdown. I think you're hurting John Cena by him being on Smackdown. You can't hurt John Cena, man. He's unstoppable. All right. Do you think John Cena took the Tuesday show just to give him more time to do like...

A hundred percent. Host things on the weekends? And in case there's more Sunday night awards shows, he has more time to get back. Why, you like the Teen Choice? awards? Yeah, I think, I mean, I think he's now done, he's hosted award shows like twice in that past month.

I'm sure there's going to be more. Yeah, I think, I think that definitely had something to do with it. And also, you know, carry, carry, what's their left to do? This is, yeah, help Smackdown all they can. What, so, yeah, so I'm looking at this online. It says that, according to F4W online, word backstage in WW is that Smackdown Live will soon be debuting a new tag team titles and a new woman's title. But even that, you've come so far with a woman's title?

Sometime after SummerSlam. Okay, I'm sorry, so sometime after SummerSlam. So, but even with the women's title, that meant so much. Why, who else would be deserving of a, that's, that's even just confusing to me. Who's the woman's champion? To have just established. Really? About this.

I think you're legit. I think it's legit, man. This is ridiculous. I think that to. To have just established the women's championship. And then to have another women's champion. Like you can't, what are they going to call it? Are they going to bring back the divas belt?

Well, we already said Carmela would get that. Oh, she is a diva. She, one giant step back for women's wrestling. Yeah, I don't understand. I get the lot of other, I don't understand the Carmela thing right now. She's definitely got a little bit of that it factor. And we know that she can work. work. A lot of people don't like Natty. Nattie's taking some heat, but I think people now should

give Nattie credit. That's probably the best thing she's done in years was just knock out Carmela and just. Yeah. Yeah, listen, I mean, the credit where credit's doing. I like where the Smackdown Women's Division is right now, but it's still just understaffed. And I think that they should wait for both the tag and the women's division. Let's wait until like the division sort of of like earn the belts. It just seemed, right, I agree.

It just seems very quick, super quick. Like make, I don't know. I mean, just like, why don't we do like a tag team tournament before we're crowned champions or something?

You know, like, or just get some storylines going. You want American Alpha to want new days belts. Like you want that to happen. Exactly. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. I mean, American Alpha. Like, you want it to see how it'll play out, make it happen. American Alpha are great, but man if they get if they just get put in if they just give them the belts in a month like that doesn't

help them in any way shape or form and and and it's not even the belt you care about yeah it just it just seems strange um well speaking of belts uh apollo cruz is now wrestling for the intercontinental title that makes me happy i don't really care what you think about that because that that makes me happy i think apollo cruz versus miss and will be a good little program uh for summer slam and Again, like we said, now that's like the fifth match on the card, top six, seventh match on the card. That could be in the pre-show. Paul O'Cruz would be a great intercan-o champ, I think. He's really, really good.

I think that he just, again, needs some time to cook. Like, he just needs a good, there's a couple of good feuds. And SmackDown is a good spot for him for that. So, you know, not as good of a spot for the vaudevillans who are just basically jobbers on Thursday night. Or Tuesday night. I'm just never going to stop saying. I'm never, yeah, look, I mean. The Smackdown tag team division are American Alpha, the Uso's, the Vod Villains, Brezongo, I'm probably missing a couple.

But like, it's not like it's that deep. Winning that, besides for outside of the Uso's and American Alpha, like what is the, the ascension. The ascension is also on SmackDown. But that's what SmackDown could have tried. This clearly probably wouldn't have happened. But maybe they introduced the mixed tag belts, anything just different. Like, I'm not right. I don't think that would happen.

Yeah, I don't know. Give it just any, don't just replicate the belts. I mean, listen, man, I mean, the indie wrestling, there's intergender matches that are big time draws in indie wrestling right now. I mean, I don't think that, I mean, Lucho Underground has obviously done some stuff with that. I think that there's, I don't know that that's the best look for WWE, but I don't, I mean, yes, I think, I think, you know, I mean, another thing they could do is just have an open invitation tag team tournament and actually have some new tag teams. But their roster is still so thin compared to Raw. But, man, if they were going to crown a new tag team champions and you're like Apollo Cruz or whoever, if you're like a, you know, a guy who's just outside of the heavyweight, the main title picture on SmackDown, wouldn't you just find a partner and go after the tag belt? Like, why not?

For sure. Why is it so walled off? That's what's so weird about it. And also then if we just go back to Raw Smackdown, whatever it was, 8.000. years ago, then eventually isn't there going to be a joining of the belts where it's belt for belt? And then now a guy has both belts. Like it's just, oh, it's inevitable. Like, why wouldn't I just want the universal title? Well, and why are we talking about this so seriously? I'm not sure I have this is, this has gotten, this has really gotten into a serious conversation. I do want to

have one serious conversation before we get out of here. And you were talking about intergender matches, so congrats on the segue. Um, on Monday night raw, we opened the show, well, with those promos that we talked about, but it led to the Inzo and Sasha versus Charlotte and Jericho tag team match. I did love quiet, quiet, quiet. Jericho is firing on all cylinders right now. You know, we'll be talking crap about them in a couple of weeks, I'm sure. But like, this is, I love this Chris Jericho.

The scarf on just wearing scarf. And later on Raw, my, you know, everybody's favorite, Finn Baller, got a, had a nice little interaction with Seth Rollins. But I got to tell you, like I got some text messages and emails and DMs or whatever and tweets. Let's not even talk about tweets about those three, about Finn Baller, Sasha Banks and Inzoa Moray. Okay. Special emphasis on Sasha Banks. But I think, I think the, I think I got, I got, the messages I got were commiserate with how beloved each of those three people is.

And in every one of them, it was, what do they do? doing with them. They're going to mess this up. What is WW doing? They're going to mess it up. My question to you is, is there, is it possible that they're going to get too much too soon and hurt their, and hurt their careers, hurt the characters, hurt our perception of Sasha Inzo and Finn? It's, I mean, that is a great question. First, started with, NXT helps that you've seen them, but also you've grown with these guys, but also how desperate fans were for just new fresh talent.

Let's start with that. I did like that Finn Baller, this new approach, let's just give him the biggest debut ever. Let's just, let's just. And the rumors are, and spoiler alert for the next, this is not a spoiler. I don't know this, but I read online, skip ahead 30 seconds, it's going to be brief, is that he's going to win it. Commercelam. Wow.

That they're just going, that Vince is all in on him. See that, I don't think that you can screw it up if, if you just like let, we know, because now you're actually giving the fans what they want. So let's,

you know, you instead of waiting with the Dan, the Daniel Bryan model that took, my gosh, a year to get to, now you're like, this is what you want. You love these guys.

Then here you go. And you're giving them, if they fail. Yeah, somebody said, and it might have been on the show and it might have been online. it might have been in a private conversation.

My brain is mush. Too many chair shots. But somebody said, I can't remember the last time there were like two championship matches and I don't care who wins. And I'll be happy either way, sort of. And it's totally true. But to me, that's, they would have failed had you milked it and then it just never happened, which is, unfortunately, sometimes what I think happened with Bray Wyatt that maybe

the points past. And the other thing is that Bray Wyatt is a quintessential monster heel that you expect him to come in and dominate. and then be humanized. Bray was humanized before he ever got it really a chance at a belt or even a real headline feud. Anyway, I'm concerned about, I'm reluctant to say this. I can see your word.

You care very much about these three names. As much as, I'll just speak in the general. As much as I and people like me, you, fans around the world and around the internet most significantly have begged for the return of basically like unscripted promos and live mics and also simultaneously begged for them to push these people that we love so much. People like Enzo and Sasha and Finn in particular. And let's toss Inzo out of this part of the conversation.

But like that doesn't mean that like Sasha and Finn just need to get on, just need to get, you know, jump into unscripted promos live on Raw every week. Now I'm not saying they were clearly not unscripted, but it sort of has. that vibe of like low they let's just see what they can do for sure and also when you've three hours to fill you're going to have to like yeah you could feel that segment just yeah we need two more minutes we need three more minutes yeah it was a weird i mean it's sort of this weird tension where i'm so happy to see you know i was so excited to see sasha and enzo basically start open a show like like they're so over and wb's listening they're like we're going to give you fans what you want

but you're also putting them it's a big jump from being the highlight of hour two to being like the biggest star on the show and putting in the position to carry the opening segment i don't disagree but there's only one way to find out and that's having them do it yeah i know i agree and i and i say this all i'm i cautioned everyone listening to this to not like not form an opinion too soon i mean that's what i said to everybody that we that asked me about it this week. There's still lots of room for them to grow into this role, but we shouldn't expect people to be that good right off the bat. But we're, but, but that's our temptation. That's my temptation. You know what's also very funny about, about these three in particular? Possibly

three of the most exciting entrances. Oh yeah. Going right now. So I, I even, I think just with that, it's a win. I mean, the fact that I love the fans already know when to pop for Finn Baller, when the, when the lights hit. Amazing, right? Yeah, it's so amazing. that even on that alone, before you even get to the mic, like, you've already won over this crowd so much. I mean, you know, sometimes that's why, like, as much as music's important, and, you know, Sina, Orton, these guys haven't changed it, but maybe they should have. Maybe sometimes that is kind of what it takes, just something new to kind of excite the fans. By the way, does Bray Wyatt now with these dreads look like Jonathan Davis from Corn or Sunny from POD?

Do you listen to any music that's not in like the rap rock genre? No. And Christian rock. That's it. Oh, really? From the 90s. But yeah, he looks super creepy. He's looking.

By the way, like I interviewed this dude at WrestleMania. How long ago was WrestleMania? Not that long. April, April, May, June, just like five months? Okay. I guess I was just going to say how quickly can white guys grow dreadlocks, but I guess five months is a long time. It's a good look. I kind of like it.

It is. It does look like in front, a 90s or late 2000, early 2000 TRL kind of angst rock band. Yeah. He's just an awesome dude, man. I like every fashion decision he makes, I think, is pretty much spot on. I like that he's a little bit more, he's a little bit more rock and roll, a little bit more biker and less, you know, less West Palm Beach at this point. It's a subtle shift, but it's a real one. I'm not sure how I feel about Eric Rowan being back in the posse.

Yeah. I just think that, I don't know. I was just sort of hoping he was going to leave that. But then where else where'd you put him? Well, it's a question. For Eric Rowan, that's a real question. For Bray Wyatt, I think maybe a little bit of time away from the family would do his character good. I'm certainly with you.

Maybe get Andrew W.K. in the mix. That's what Bray Wyatt needs. So, and Bray twisted his ankle, I think everything's going to be okay there. He seems to be working this weekend. But I don't know. Got people who are listening to this, tweet me. Tell me what you think. Inzo, after the biggest breakout week, Inzo and Finn and Sasha had the last week, no wrestlers

have had weeks that big in such a long time, right? Inzo's... And Anzo getting a solo, even they're already... That's it. For him to go from that... Quickly. that from from where he was two weeks ago to the promo that he cut that like at the pay-per-view that like basically was the equivalent of you know savage savage steamboat at russomania three like it was such a legendary pay-per-view performance that he got elevated to opening the show on the mic you know we're just going to let that happen sasha who you know it was a long time coming or a longer time than the other two for her but to win the title and then to go to open the title and then to go to open opening the show the next week.

Clean got Charlotte to tap. Yeah. Yeah, after a long rain. And then for Finn to go, you know, to, I mean, basically a one week push to, and now he's doing toe-to-to-to-in promos with Seth Rolins, which is not, also, how do you feel about briefs and a leather jacket? Not just for the entrance to the match, but he was like in a pro, like, in the, doing his promo in this outfit.

It's working. It's working. Yeah, the camera's got to zoom in on a, crotch during his entrance and it makes more sense if he's in if he's in spandex tight so it's yeah it's slightly uncomfortable for me but i'll go with it um but yeah i just think that enzo we were worried about enzo getting over exposed a month ago or less and now he's in now he's basically a headline talker and as funny as he is he and sasha together i don't think that either one was done a favor by that segment yeah and there was a little bit of the attitude era vibe where like i said in

weeks past, it's, you know, like having fewer people around, just like you put people together and see what happens. Give them some time. And I think that that's fine. But so, so for everyone listening to this, my official verdict is don't freak out. But, you know, my advice for WWE is like, let's, let's not over it. It's turn it down a little bit. Slow it down a little bit.

Yeah. I do like the tag team members can come out to the ring separately. That's really reaffirming. That's how real life works. So it's nice that occasionally wrestling hues to real life, as opposed to the normal, the traditional situation right now, which is real life hewing and conforming to professional wrestling. Anyway, let's get back to your plans to go into wrestling and then run for public office.

Well, wait, are you just going to skip, are you going to skip wrestling and just go right to public office or would you actually try to go to wrestling be a wrestler first take your own advice i i think i think my both careers have just passed me by really is yeah this is it's a lot of both a lot of pressure by the way i'm reading this i'm reading the smackdown i have the smackdown recap up on my screen to make sure i didn't miss anything and i did i did i did hilariously get that that uh that orton promo thing wrong so i blame you computer page i'm looking at it's nbcc sports how long has nbc been posting smackdown recaps Is there still an NBC sports?

NBC sports, or? Well, USA, I guess. This is weirdly the website. The URL here is sports.nbcports.com. I don't know. Oh, guys. Get your URLs together. I listen to the Writers Room podcast on Channel 33 this week.

It was very good. You had quite a nice rant. We're trying to bring the heat. Not cheap, just real heat. And yeah, Channel 33. tons of good podcast. And yeah, the writer's room. We did our first one.

And good stuff on there. How was the show going? How was any given Wednesday? Caitlin Jenner was on this week. Really interesting to see her and Bill kind of go toe to toe and exciting stuff. Yeah. All right, man. Well, thanks for coming on.

Good stuff. I'll get you back here next week. Do you have anything? Any updates on the, on the WW relationship front before we get off? There was one that you missed. I did. Did we talk about, you mentioned Page and Del Rio. right? Lesnar Sable.

Lesnar Sable's big. Emma O'Zachrider Emma? That could just be an internet rumor. I don't know. That could be a pure creation of Tumblr. Is Paige? And the internet chatter this week. I think this is like an unintentional Meltzer bomb where he was just like he said he kind

of trailed off and everybody read way too much into it. But the rumors going around now is that WWE is deliberately split Del Rio and Page put them on different brands to try to like separate them. Wow. See, I believe that. That's a great rumor. Also, Eva Marie, badly injured. What?

Doing nothing. Oh, you're talking about in K-Fabe. It was hilarious. It was great. That was tremendous. Her entrance is the best thing happening right now. Hey, we want you to make the entrance. We don't want you to wrestle.

It's so good. See, they're doing little things right. You can tell they're listening, which is really big. You can only watch one show next week. Which one would it be? Raw or Smackdown? Yeah. I'm putting you on a spot.

If I could literally only watch one and not read online, and just like that was it. You only get one show to watch next week. I'm going to be honest with you. That's a tough call. In SmackDown's favor, they will show most of what happened on Raw in the recap segments.

Also, two hours is better than three hours. Two points for Smackdown. Raw, though, is Raw. Raw is obviously going to be more important because you're right. SmackDown already feels like SmackDown. So you're choosing Raw? Yeah.

Nah, you know what? I don't know. I honestly can't pick. I think I would, I think I'm going to pick Smackdown just to be contrary. Also, I honestly think that, I think that,

I think that, I think that Dahl Ziegler is going to turn heel and I'm excited. And I, and I really want to, like, experience all of that in real time. Interesting. Yeah, Delv Ziegler,

name we didn't even talk about and very much in the mix on Smackdown. He's like, he's gonna, he's got a title match it, well, a match for the, for the less important world title. He went to his first,

match at five years old in Ohio and now it could be destiny. Like LeBron. Yeah. Ohio's coming up roses these days, man. They had a great convention. They won a... The Cavs won. You were ranting about the Indians on the

writers' room podcast. The first place Indians? See, look, you did listen. Yeah. You are a company, man. Yeah, listen, man. I do what I can. I like to listen to podcast in my car. That's about as much as I can guarantee anybody. All right, man. Well, I hope everything goes well for Sasha and Finn and Enzo. And I hope everything goes well for everyone listening to this.

Thanks for checking us out. And we'll see you back here next week. Humanoids.