Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey everybody. Jrockroot here just before this upcoming episode of the Rocking Review podcast. Just a quick little note that if you are interested in looking more into the podcast and where to follow. We are both on Instagram and X Twitter. That's right, the Rocking Review is social. We are on Instagram and X at username. The Rocking Review, that's R a W k I n G review. Also on our Spotify and Castro's page which is located in the bio of each social media page. For our Castro's page it is the dash r a w k I n g that's rocking-review.castros that c a s t o s dot com and of course that is where you can find this episode and of course the rest of our episodes of this podcast. And of course when you hit that notification button on Spotify and the follow button, you will be notified every single time we have a brand new episode pop up. You don't have Spotify. Don't worry. By following our Instagram and or X page we will give you notifications and posts on upcoming teasers and when our episode drops. So that way you're the first one to hear it. Once again, we are on X and Instagram at the Rocking Review that's R a W K I n G and on Castros at the Rocking Review. Castro C a s t o s dot com. Thank you very much. And of course it's spelled R a W K because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling. Now on with the show, the Rocking Review Podcast hosted by Jeff Rock Rude.
[00:02:27] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Rocking Review Podcast. I am your host, J. Rock Rude and this is episode 11. And after a brief hiatus we are back on track and talking about the wonderful world that is pro wrestling. And we had historic week during that time. We had John Cena, the C Nation man himself. His first heel promo in over 20 plus years since his debut back in 2002.
[00:03:10] We finally get the explanation of John Cena's actions that happened at Elimination Chamber in Toronto against the WWE champion Cody Rhodes. They were both in the same building in Brussels, Belgium. We'll also take a look at this past Friday night Smackdown in Bologna, Italy. It was the third stop on this international televised Europe tour that WWE is doing. Got some more Wrestlemania matches that actually became official, including what could be the Night one May event. Of course, in my opinion it should be the Night one main event. We'll go over that. It was a pretty nothing episode. I will be honest with you. But those storylines that proceeded into WrestleMania matches we will talk about. We will also talk about the recent AEW Dynamite that happened in Omaha, Nebraska and had the main match of the night, which was the street fight between Jon Moxley and Adam Cope Copeland for the 80W World Championship and the spot that has got to be the most brutal spot probably seen produced on American television in the art of pro wrestling. We will talk about that in a quick little review of what I thought of AEW Revolution that happened as well during this break. We also will talk about some brand new signees that occurred in both promotions and how will the effect of these signings do for the future of each company? We'll go more into that, but first let's talk about Raw in Brussels.
[00:05:11] So we had Monday Night Raw on Netflix occurring in Brussels, Belgium this past Monday and this was a huge show. It was the first international Raw on this upcoming Europe tour that they have been doing the last week or so. Their first stop was Barcelona, Spain for Friday night. Spain smackdown where we probably heard the largest crowd singing of voices for Randy Orton. We also got brand new tag team champions in the street profits. They beat DIY to take home the tag straps and they are the tag champions for the Smackdown brand heading in to WrestleMania. But the main point of this show was John Cena.
[00:06:11] John Cena made his heel turn at Elimination Chamber and everybody was waiting for when Cena was going to show up.
[00:06:26] And John Cena showed up in Brussels and he came out with the same music, with the same look. There was no change, there was no difference.
[00:06:43] The only difference was there was no running to the ring. He wasn't high fiving everybody. This was a very different John Cena and reasonably so.
[00:06:57] So we got to the ring and mind you, by the way, these crowds for these international tours because they happen to be at places where, you know, probably the biggest stadium that they have is a soccer stadium and trying to get a normal arena for these televised shows, they are very minuscule. So you know, you don't have your typical 14,000, 15,000 people like you would in a msg or the intuit Dome. So I believe the total was around 9,000, maybe less. But these, but this crowd was exceptionally loud when Cena came out. Crosses of boos and Cena sucks and let's go. Cena chants rung through the arena and there were times when John Cena dropped the mic, was beginning to walk away. He milked the crowd and then finally picked up in the mic and he goes when someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn't have to look outside of themselves for approval. Said, you're making this easy for me. You see, for 25 years, I've been the victim of an abusive relationship.
[00:08:21] And the crowd began to boo, and he said, take the floor. And what do you do with it? All you do is to be hurtful. All of you are abusive. All you've ever done is bully me into being your damn puppet and expecting me to do it with a smile on my face.
[00:08:37] So no more.
[00:08:40] And he said this line, which is crazy. He said, I'm not a baby face, I'm not a heel, I'm a human being. And each and every one of you has been awful to me.
[00:08:50] And it's been the same noise for 25 years. Because when he first got in WWE, they let him know very loud how much they hated him. Because, of course, when he showed up, he was one of the hot new prospects out of ovw, along with Randy Orton, Batista, and of course, Brock Lesnar. And Brock Lesnar was the first to get that big push out of everybody in that class. So many moments of embarrassment and moments of shame, just like this. You let me know that I wasn't worthy of your attention.
[00:09:26] So what did I do? I went out and I changed myself, hoping that you would like me a little bit. And it worked for a second, but it wasn't enough. Of course, he was talking about his basic thuganomics.
[00:09:36] So then what did he do? Then he worked hard, like he always does, and he wins and he wins and he wins and he wins and he wins. And of course, that birthed the Cena wins, LOL chant. This was, of course, a very constant presence, very Hogan, like, very Steve Austin, like, where he would continue to win and win and win. This would go on from like, 2006 all the way up to probably, I'd have to say, like 2013, 2014. I mean, like, all the people that he. That people thought he should have put over, people like Edge, people like Ryback, people like Punk, people like Bray Wyatt, he. They thought that he should have put them over. And when he continued to win, it was pretty much getting annoying and they got tired of it. And he states that he says, I won a lot, and you hated it. It wasn't enough. So then what did I do? I spent the next 10 years of my life trying to give away everything that I could, but it still wasn't enough. Into my final moments was the only thing I can do. I can go away. Up to this point, it Was almost like a clear you people type of promo where basically he was blaming the people. But then when you understand it, you understand of why people have hated that he's done so much that they think that he is just always going to be that new Hogan where he's just going to stick around and nobody wants him there because he's already chosen the other life that he promised he would never do. But he turned to it anyway, being Mr. Hollywood said, so I announced my retirement in a move that's never been done before. I'm actually walking away at the end of this year. I tried one last time to get along with you guys. I tried one last time to do something nice for you, and you ruined it. Just like you've ruined everything else. Because just like right here tonight, for two seconds, it's never enough. He said that each of you idiots are proving me right with every breath. No matter what I do, it's never enough. And y'all should be ashamed of yourselves. All you ever do is take. You take, you take, and you only care about yourselves.
[00:11:54] He said he put his values on the line to make a very important choice in his life. And all they could think of is, what do we get?
[00:12:03] My story change. What do we get? John Cena's coming to my town. What do we get? This is trending. What do we get? He said, none of you sons of bitches ever asked me how I feel. And that's basically a turn on empathetic John.
[00:12:19] And now basically him saying that he wants to be considered as a human being and considered about what's his feelings like, you know what? Like being the empathetic person of, you know, what are my thoughts on this? My thoughts is I don't want to have to step away, but the fact is you all want me to step away. So I'm gonna do it finally. But I am not gonna let you get the last laugh. He said, it's just, what do we get? What do we get? What do we get? And you get nothing. You get what you have earned, and you have earned nothing. You don't get a new look because you dress like me. You don't get new music because my voice is on that song. And your time is finally up, and my time is finally now. The only thing you get to do is take a long look in the mirror to see how awful each and every one of you have been for the past 25 years to me. And then of course, we got the Cody chant because Cody Rhodes was in the building.
[00:13:19] He goes oh, you're chanting for Cody, of course, your brand new shiny toy, because you're about to put this one out to pasture. But like I said, with every breath, you prove my point that you're awful people. That's every single one of you in this room. No one is safe. No one can hide. Especially the people I could pick from the crowd. I can identify you very easily. The people that are cheering and wearing my stuff. You're the let's go Cena people. Yeah. You're the people that are like, man, I support you. And then there was the dueling let's go Cena. Cena sucks chance. And he says, the cena sucks jack offs. They've already proved themselves to be awful people. I'm about to tell you why the let's go Cena people are just as awful. You claim you support me.
[00:14:05] What have you ever done? You, you, and you. And he picks out everybody wearing his brand new shirt that they have. And they always print out the shirts that you know where he's gonna be. He says, what have you ever done to support me? All you ever do is steal from me. You steal. You steal my personal moments. You steal my time. You have made me into your toy. I am an object to you. You have made me a butt of a stupid, invisible joke for 15 years. And you think it's funny and it's not. It's pathetic. And of course, the crowd starts to boo, and he goes, oh, you're not ready to lean into an uncomfortable conversation now, are you? The truth is, you don't wear my shirts for support. You wear them to feel good. You wear words like hustle, loyalty, and respect. I live them every day. You think you can buy words like never give up. I am the definition of perseverance. And everyone in here knows that. You do not support me. He continued, you do not support me. He says, what you do is use me as a excuse for your pathetic failure of a life because all you've ever done for 25 years is sit on your ass and watch me be great. But no more this. Everybody, including. And he points at one kid who at first, five seconds before he said this, said, I love you, John. Wearing his merch. He says, including this kid right here is a toxic, dysfunctional relationship.
[00:15:28] And more booing starts to, you know, rise. And then he's like, oh, you don't want to hear it. It's too tough for you. Well, listen to this. He says, I'm breaking up with you. Every single one of you. I'm done. Whether you like me or you don't, you're dumped. I don't need you anymore. I don't care about you, and you don't matter to me. And here's the thing. There is no noise you can make. There's nothing you can do because you know I'm right and you know you're wrong. And then, of course, that's when we get Cody Rhodes.
[00:16:02] He comes out.
[00:16:04] These international crowds, man, you put Randy or Cody, they're going to sing their hearts out like they're part of a choir. So Cody comes out, and we finally get the first face to face of Cody Rhods and John Cena before WrestleMania. Cody comes out. He says, I think everybody was willing to hear you, even myself.
[00:16:24] And if I understood correctly from what you said, you said that they've given you their worst. Sure, they might have given you their worst, but they've also given you their best for 25 years. And they did that because you were special. They did that because you could take it, because they knew that you could carry it. And immediately, Jon, being the vet, he goes, listen, kid. And immediately Cody snaps and he goes, enough. It's not kid anymore. It's WWE Champion. And he goes, let me ask you something. Who the hell are you?
[00:16:58] I don't know what you did. I was excited at the prospect of going week to week face to face with John Cena, but instead, I got this.
[00:17:07] Well, this better not show up at WrestleMania, because if it does, I run it over. I run it out because I already took its best shot and it wasn't enough. I'll retire it early. So go find John Cena, because I want to wrestle him at WrestleMania 41. Not this whiny. And then he exits. No music, no. No nothing. Crowd exits.
[00:17:35] And meanwhile, John Cena is just sitting there in the ring, speechless. He drops the mic, he walks right out. The crowd is singing, hey, hey, hey, goodbye. And that is how we end the first segment between John Cena and Cody Rhodes for WrestleMania. Now, I could say that this promo could have been better, but when looking at it from hindsight, this is the perfect start for John Cena to start building up this heel Persona of you people never care about me, so I'm never going to care about you. And this brand new guy that you think is going to be your new toy, I'm saving him because I'm going to take that title. I'm going to run with it for my last year of being a wrestler, and I am going to make sure it is the most memorable run I have ever had in the last 25 years.
[00:18:39] And it probably will be, because in all honesty, after that promo and what we will probably get come wrestlemania, I have a very good feeling we are going to see John Cena as the WWE Champion. And I am so looking forward to what we are going to see with this title run.
[00:19:12] And more importantly, you look at the dates of how much John Cena is going to be in this upcoming schedule. He's upcoming for Raw at Glasgow, which will happen on the 24th. He'll also be in London next week at the O2 Arena. And then his next appearance is The Smackdown before WrestleMania. And then he will also be on the Smackdown before Backlash, which is May 9, and Backlash will be May 10, and that will be at St. Louis. And then his next date will be May 24 for Saturday night's main event in Kansas City. Then you have May 30, June 13 and June 20. So. So you're talking pretty much the entire month of May, and then the first half of June, you're going to have John Cena most likely on screen. And whether this is going to be him doing a match or him doing a promo, most likely always is promos.
[00:20:32] This is going to be the right way. Because if he shows up more like he said that he would, because when this retirement tour originated, he said he was looking at 30 to 40 dates. Well, currently he's only worked about, what, four.
[00:20:51] He had the Raw debut, he had Royal Rumble, he had Elimination Chamber, and then he had this appearance. Now you look at the rest of those and you're thinking, he's not gonna end up as champion. And here's the other part. Where does the Rock sit in this? And that is the thing that I think a lot of people are excited about, is that when will the Rock come back? When is the Rock gonna have his input? When is the Rock gonna have his input in why he chose Cena? Why did Cena choose the Rock? That is that. That's the main story that they're trying to tell here. They haven't revealed that they could reveal that in Glasgow, but until then, we have no idea why. But whenever we get that opportunity, we will find that out. So very good opening segment from this Raw and the fact that this was also at 3pm eastern time. And thank goodness that WWE has the deal with Netflix for both Raw and smackdown, because anybody internationally can be able to watch it when it is happening.
[00:22:02] So that's very fun. We then got Penta vs Ludwig Kaiser in A no holds barred match. This was a nice little bout for the opening match of the night. We'll go towards the end of the match. Some shots were exchanged between Penta and Kaiser before a series of forearms were landed by Penta. Penta went for a tilt of War Head Scissors Takeover. But it was blocked by Kaiser who countered with a sliding forearm to the back of Penta's neck for a near fall. Kaiser hit a right hand before delivering a brutal chair shot to the back of Penta. Penta was then choked in the corner with the chair and shouted 0miro. Before getting an eye raked and attempted to use the cheer. Penta then fought back with super kicks and then hit Kaiser with a Mexican destroyer which then landed on the chair. And the finish came when Penta hit the Penta driver for the 1, 2, 3 on the chair. So it was a good little spot fest on the outside and inside, but nice little match.
[00:23:15] After the match they had a interview up the ramp with Kathy Kelly in which Penta shouted out brussels.
[00:23:24] And he said that the new Penta era would end up reaching every continent in the world.
[00:23:33] And then he was asked what is his plans now that Wrestlemania is on the way. And he said that he is looking to become the Intercontinental champion.
[00:23:46] And the main event we'll go over was Bron Breaker versus Finn Balor. So Penta already declaring that he is going after the IC title is a very good fit for him. And after we talk about the main event, I'll discuss my part on where do we actually see Penta, especially with a brand new signing currently on the way. The next big part of the Monday night Raw in Brussels took place when we had the women's championship signing between Bianca Belair and Iyo Sky. Now, of course, Iyo is kind of feeling like a third wheel because even though people want Iyo to be the World champion, they know that their big superstars are in people like Bianca and Ria. So I. I don't know exactly where IO stands as far as Wrestlemania, but this is very, very good for her, entering in with this much hype and a lot more than she did in damage control last year when facing Bayley. So they both come out to the ring and Iyo speaks first and she said, bianca, you will not disrespect me again. Ryo will not disrespect me again and no one will disrespect me again because I am the women's World champion and after Wrestlemania, I will still be the women's World champion. So again Iyo's never really good on promos. Let's be honest here. Bianca then responded by saying, iyo, I have all the respect in the world for you. I really do. But last week, I gave you a pass because, low key, it was on me. And I'll tell you like I told Ria, if you think I'm gonna let you put your hands on me again and I just stand here and do nothing about it, then EO, you don't know me at all.
[00:25:44] So at WrestleMania, you're gonna find out exactly who I am. I am Bianca Belair, the est of wwe, and I will be your new women's World Champion. Now, of course, I should mention that the week before on smackdown, Naomi confessed that it was her that was responsible for Jade being pushed onto the car and being out for several months.
[00:26:17] And Jade, who then lashed out, attacked Naomi, and hit her with jaded. And now we are seamlessly getting Naomi versus Jade, with Naomi being the heel. So originally, I thought that Bianca would be the person who would be like, yeah, it was totally Naomi. And then Naomi would be framed because Bianca did it. Because I think a lot of people, including myself, really want to see a Bianca Hilton. And maybe we do get that at WrestleMania. Maybe we get that on the way here to WrestleMania, where Rhea and Bianca end up going heel. So that is the hope I have for everything going on. And speaking of Rhea, Ripley, when both women, sky and Belair, signed the contract, Rhea then hit the ring.
[00:27:15] The arena went crazy over the eradicator, and she was steering a hole right through IO and Bianca. She grabbed the mic and said, because you, meaning Bianca, eo slapped me in the face last week, and I don't know who you think you are, but I am not gonna sit back and do nothing about it like Bianca over here. And then she looked at Bianca, she said, how the hell are you standing acting like nothing happened? And Bianca shook her head and she goes, I'm out here because I had to sign my contract for WrestleMania. That's what I'm doing out here.
[00:27:52] And poking fun at Ria. Ria responded with, that's real funny coming from you, because you had no business being out here during my championship match last week. But there you were. So I'm taking a page out of your book, and I'm here to watch.
[00:28:07] Bianca did not like that and responded with, you're here to watch. Well, guess what, Ria? I guess you're also going to be watching WrestleMania because since you want to be in my business, maybe I shouldn't make you my business right now.
[00:28:22] And before Ria could react, Iyo was trying to place Peacemaker again, because I don't know. Does she not have a clue?
[00:28:32] But Bianca Pie faces Iyo, shoves her around, Iyo stumbles back, and then Rhea headbutts Bianca in the face. Bianca staggers back, Ria looks at Iyo, kicks Iyo in the gut, and then puts her up for a powerbomb and powerbomb her and Iyo straight through the table. And as the referees are rushing in to check on Bianca and Iyo, Ria picks up the contract that sky and Belair already signed their names in and signs her own and then continues to take the contract. And both women are left in the ring.
[00:29:17] So this confirms that at WrestleMania they haven't made it official. We are going to get this triple threat match between Iyo, Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley.
[00:29:29] Now, I feel like we all knew about this, but now that it's official, now the question is, who wins that match?
[00:29:39] And currently I personally would be like, give EO sky your flowers and let her retain the title because she walked into WrestleMania last year with the SmackDown Women's Championship and she lost it to Bayley, and that championship run basically went nowhere.
[00:30:03] And it was just left for Naya to win the championship at SummerSlam. I have a feeling that we're mostly gonna get Rhea and Bianca and Iyo is going to continue to be the man, or I should say the woman in the middle, and she is going to be the underdog, and she's going to overcome both Rhea and Bianca and she is going to walk out of Allegiant Stadium with the women's World champion. So that is my take on the triple threat match for WrestleMania. And of course, this definitely can change within the occurring weeks.
[00:30:47] Jay USO versus Austin theory.
[00:30:52] Oh, boy.
[00:30:54] This is where a lot of people are stemming this conversation of does Jay really belong in the feud that he is in with Gunter? And more importantly, does he really belong in a championship match for the World heavyweight championship at WrestleMania? And I'll be fully honest with you, I don't know.
[00:31:24] And I'll be fully honest with you, I don't really know.
[00:31:28] Because when. When you look at how he. He basically has been booked that, I mean, less than two months ago, he got beat by Gunter.
[00:31:43] He is.03 against Gunter. What makes this storyline of being the ultimate underdog mean to Jey USO being the one to seamlessly end up as the world champion? And more importantly, is J really going to Be a world champion caliber superstar. And sure, you could say, like, oh, you know, he's beat a couple of these people.
[00:32:14] He won the Royal Rumble.
[00:32:17] You know, you. You can put that in perspective. But still, this guy has been known as not being the greatest singles competitor in his breakout singles run. And he has one title, one title that lasted 28 days.
[00:32:37] They pulled the title from him solely because they knew that Brawn was too big of a player to not be used as the IC champion. So now Jey USO is in this random feud with Grayson Waller and Austin Theory, and it's still gonna continue.
[00:33:04] And meanwhile, what has Gunter done? Gunter has had amazing matchups.
[00:33:11] He had an amazing match with Axiom of Fraxiom, the NXT tag Team champions in Axiom's home country, and had a hell of a match on Smackdown. Meanwhile, Jay squashes Austin Theory in 29 seconds.
[00:33:33] He entered the ring, he did his normal shtick.
[00:33:36] He said it hasn't been himself lately, that his mind has been playing tricks on him. And he explains that the trip halfway across the world was taken to settle things. And the person he has chosen for the fight tonight is Austin Theory. And just like at WrestleMania, it's me and you, Gunter, when I shock the world to become the new world heavyweight champion.
[00:33:58] And as soon as Waller and Theory are in the ring, Grayson immediately distracts Jay.
[00:34:07] Theory gets a couple of punches, whips Jay into the corner. Jay dives over, they go back and forth. Jay ducks two clotheslines by Theory, and then he hits Theory with what is supposedly a spear, but it looks like a cross body because he doesn't know how to properly hit the spear. And 1, 2, 3. He's done.
[00:34:31] And after the match, Waller gets on the apron. Jay super kicks him, Theory goes outside, and Jay proceeds to pull a top dollar AJ Francis by trying to do a somersault plancha over the ropes, but he hits the top rope and just crumbles right to the floor. And like the last three weeks, Gunter comes up, puts him in the sleeper. This time, Jay refuses to go down. He drives Gunter face first into the middle turnbuckle.
[00:35:08] He throws some punches at Gunter before grabbing the world title and then sending Gunter to the floor. And then Jay poses with the title on the ropes and then throws it back down to Gunter. That has been the main storyline that has been the main thing for Jay uso. Jay USO the last two weeks, the last three weeks deals with Grayson, Waller and Austin Theory beats one of them. And then Gunter comes up and puts him in a sleeper. And knocks him out. This one, he did not do that.
[00:35:47] I do not understand why on earth that this match was needed.
[00:35:54] I do not know why on earth that they continue to have him just feud with Waller and Theory when they're not detrimental to anything of the feud going on between him and Gunter. And it's making me lose confidence in wanting to see Jay end up as a world champion. That was that.
[00:36:14] The other parts of Raw we had Dakota Kai beating ivy Nile in 2 minutes and 40, 47 seconds. And we had a tag team match. And we had a tag team match between the LWO beating American Made.
[00:36:27] And the only thing coming out of American Made is Chad Gable is back on TV and basically has become the American Luchador who puts on this type of mask with American Made on it and then runs around and acts like he is not that guy in the ring even though he's wearing the exact same clothes and they find somebody else to basically be that person. So Chad Gable has found a way to defeat the luchadors and that could lead to a match between the LWO and American made at WrestleMania. But who will be the tag partners going in? Seeing as you need a third luchador, we'll go into that when we talk about smackdown. So on the upcoming Raw we got Lyra Valkyria against Raquel Rodriguez for the Women's Intercontinental Championship.
[00:37:34] We also got CM Punk who will be there.
[00:37:38] Jey USO will have a mystery partner against a town down under. Now the presumed person who is going to be the tag partner for Jey USO is hands down 150% going to be Joe Hendry.
[00:38:01] Joe Hendry is going to have a match on Monday Night Raw and I've had my comments on Joe Hendry in the past and they still stand.
[00:38:11] Joe Hendry is a hack and Joe Hendry is now going to be seen by millions on Netflix in this random match against Waller. In theory, we also are going to have Cody Rhodes and John Cena. Once again they will have another promo battle.
[00:38:35] We then got our main event, Braun Breaker versus Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Championship. This went 12 minutes and 32 seconds. We'll pick up after the break. Balor countered bronze offense, but a tilt world side Russian leg sweep for a near fall fired up. Breaker unleashed a flurry of rights and lefts on Balor. Bella then reversed an Irish whip, but Breaker caught him for a flying elbow strike and a northern light suplex. Valerie then fought back with a kick to the chest, but Breaker ducked the clothesline and power slammed him as Breaker was building momentum inside the ring. Judgment Day. Carlito and Dominic Mysterio allowed Balor to roll him up for a two count.
[00:39:22] Breaker attempted a press slam, but Balor countered with a reverse DDT for another near fall.
[00:39:30] Balor then stomped Breaker's chest repeatedly and then delivered a chop before sending him across the ring.
[00:39:37] Braun avoided two clotheslines and leveled Balor with an inside out lariat and he followed up with a lariat over the announce table. Back inside the ring, Baker exchanged words outside with Dominic and Carlito. He set up for a crisscross lariat, but Balor countered with a sling bait and a shotgun drop kick as Balor climbed to the top rope to hit the coup de grace. Breaker rolled away and when Balor came down, he dodged the spear. Balor then attempted to roll up Breaker, but Breaker powered out and delivered a press power slam that only got a 2. Towards the end of the match, Balor landed a knee lift and a kick to the face before climbing up to the ropes again. Breaker swept Balor's legs out on top and they traded shots. And as Breaker was climbing to deliver a superplex or whatever he was doing up there, Caro distracts the reft and Dominic comes over. He yanks Breaker off the ropes, but at the same time, Balor, who's standing on the ropes, he crotches Balor on the top turnbuckle. Breaker knocks Dom and Carlito off the apron and runs up to deliver the Frankensteiner and then finally delivers the spear for the 1, 2, 3. So Dominic, who earlier in the night was called a snake for wanting people like Penta in the Judgment Day, basically cost Finn Balor the match.
[00:41:17] After the match, Carlito, Balor and Dominic swarmed Breaker beating him down. And Dominic actually went over to the Intercontinental Championship and he actually held it in his hands and it was so reminiscent of his uncle Eddie Guerrero holding that Intercontinental Championship.
[00:41:41] And as he went back into the ring, out comes Penta to save Ron Breaker. He lays out Judgment Day with super kicks while Breaker hits a spear to Carlito in the ring. As Judgment Day retreated, Penta picked up the IC title and handed it back to Breaker. And the show closed with a stare down between both Penta and Braun Breaker. And now it was announced officially that we will get that match actually between Bron Breaker and Penta for the Intercontinental Championship in Glasgow. Now of course, knowing the product, we are definitely getting a run in between Kaiser and or Gable.
[00:42:30] So the real question is what is going to happen with the IC title comp WrestleMania well, the projected plan is we are going to see a multi man ladder match for the Intercontinental championship.
[00:42:49] My thoughts, Kaiser, Penta Braun, Finn and Dominic and then maybe one other person. So that is the projected end goal probably for the IC title is we're going to get a multi man intercontinental championship. Ladder match is an iconic stable of the WrestleMania card for the ladder match of the Intercontinental Championship. And preferably I want to see Dominick get it. I think that if Dominic got that championship at WrestleMania that would mean so much. And another person that has been considered is possibly Sheamus finally winning the title that he's always wanted his entire career.
[00:43:39] I think that is a decent fit. But if Dominic wins it, I will be overjoyed to see him finally get that main roster singles title. And also proving more of Balor not being able to be the real leader. And now Dominic, who at that point would be the only singles title holder in the Judgment Day, he basically becomes from the Prince to the king and he overthrows the person who thinks he's in charge, which is Finn Balor. And now Balor goes back to being the prince and that means that he gets to kick the crap out of Dom and then he can go for that IC title reign and probably will see face Finn. So I think that is, that is the plan currently going into WrestleMania. Other plans for the Raw brand is probably seeing a rematch between Lyra Valkyria and Dakota Kai. We also have Logan Paul vs. AJ Styles, which I'm sure that'll be a fantastic match, but I wish AJ was doing a whole hell of a lot more. But overall, that was Raw in Brussels and the next one will be Raw in Glasgow, Scotland.
[00:45:06] Moving on, we'll talk about Friday night Smackdown. It originated from Bologna, Baloney, Italy.
[00:45:19] And you know, I could say a lot about this show.
[00:45:25] This show was very mid. This show had nothing really.
[00:45:33] It, it had nothing interesting.
[00:45:36] It has nothing to do with like the people that were in it, but there was so much that they didn't need to have. And also they need to go back to having a two hour Smackdown Raw. The last couple of weeks has been two and a half hours.
[00:45:56] That's the thing. I think people thought when they got these new deals from Netflix, they thought, oh my gosh, we're going to get these like amazing shows where it's just going to be, you know, piled with superstars. And now when you don't have those big superstars, it makes it very lackluster. And also when you don't have a good enough program to Produce a three hour show.
[00:46:20] Then that also speaks of, you know, what you need to do to make a very good wrestling television show and make it consistent. So we opened up Smackdown with Randy Orton. He came out once again, Randy. In international crowds, they blend so well. Everybody knows voices, everybody sings their heart out. And he comes to the ring. Before he can say anything, out comes Kevin Owens.
[00:46:54] And Kevin Owens began to say at the top of the ramp, he goes, I was wrong. I shouldn't have attacked you. I shouldn't have hit you with that pile driver. You didn't deserve that. Cody Rhodes deserve everything I did to him. Sami Zayn deserve everything I did to him. But you didn't. You picked Cody's side over mine. And it made me angry. I let my anger control me and now I regret it. And if anybody understands letting that anger make them do stupid things, it's you. You've done it before, you've talked about it. So I messed up. He continued by saying that when he pulled Carmelo out of the ring last week, before you could punt him, it was because I was trying to save you from yourself. I didn't want you to go back to that Randy Orton. They used to kick people in the head. That's not who you are anymore. You've changed, you've grown. I respect that. But now it's time to look forward to Wrestlemania. You and me going for the tag Team championships. We were so close before. Let's make it happen. So very much a Weasley move, trying to get Randy back on the side of Kevin because Kevin is afraid to face Randy. And Randy replied by saying, what I should do right now is roll out of this ring, run down that aisle and beat your ass all over this arena. But what you said, it's interesting because I never thought I'd hear Kevin Owens admit that he was wrong. So he goes, let me think for a second. And he goes, nah, screw that. You could take your half heart apology and shove it. He said that. Where was this fight Owens fight mentality that you used to have? Because I don't think that you have it anymore because now all it is is Owens.
[00:48:37] He said that you were trying to save me from myself. What's to save? I'm glad you dropped me on my head because now I can hear the voices in my head. They understand me and they say that whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But not for you, owens. Because at WrestleMania, I'm gonna kick your head clean off your shoulders.
[00:48:57] So we did get that official. It will be Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton and now Randy Orton is about to be in his oh God, it's gotta be his 20, his 21st WrestleMania.
[00:49:18] He he has not missed a Wrestlemania I don't think since 2004 and he has had some amazing matches and some underrated matches during that time.
[00:49:36] So the fact that Randy will get to have a match with Kevin and presumably be in the main event of Backlash in his hometown of St. Louis is going to be something to see. And more importantly, we will get Cena vs. Orton at Backlash. Already calling it our first match that we had it was Drew McIntyre and Shinsuke Nakamura against Jay Uso and Damien Priest. We'll hit from after the break. Jimmy hit a spinning in Saguri and tagged in Priest. Priest then knocked McIntyre off the apron and ducked clothesline from Nakamura and followed up with a back elbow in the corner. He then dumped Nakamura face first onto the canvas before a shoulder block. Priest then hit the old school punishment and played to the crowd. Nakamura blocked the rebound lariat from Priest and countered it with a spinning heel kick.
[00:50:42] Nakamura attempted the kinshasa but Priest countered with a inside out lariat for two. McIntyre stomped on priest hand and drove him shoulder first into the steel ring post.
[00:50:55] USO came in and responded with a super kick to McIntyre and a diving drop kick through the ropes.
[00:51:03] Nakamura then hit the kinshasa to the back of Jimmy's head and Priest take advantage and hit the south of Heaven choke slam on Nakamura to get the 1, 2, 3. So pretty simple opening for Friday night Smackdown.
[00:51:21] After the match McIntyre attacked Priest from behind and hit a bunch of left and rights in a ground of pounds. He reminded Priest that it was always on site and continue to hit him before delivering the claymore into the ropes. And McIntyre continued to blame Priest for costing him his world title and he vowed to keep putting him down every single time Priest got back to his feet. So definitely getting Drew McIntyre versus Damien Priest. I mean this is kind of reminiscent you look a year ago Drew McIntyre being screwed out of his WrestleMania moment by Damien Priest with the cash in and Now Priest and McIntyre will get their hands on each other again.
[00:52:14] And now one of the highlights of the night.
[00:52:18] This and the end of the show.
[00:52:22] We had an interview with Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton and backstage Joe Tessatore asked Tiffany Stratton about her mindset heading into WrestleMania but Charlotte quickly interrupted and said that the Queen speaks first and he said that Tiffany finally looked like a star last week because of what I did to her. Tiffany shot back by Saying that if you couldn't see the hype, Charlotte, then why did you pick me for WrestleMania? Charlotte replied with, I felt sorry for you. You came out with a sob story about how you're compared to me and you have not earned that yet.
[00:53:07] And this was basically a back and forth type of interview. This is what like a lot of the backstage interviews really are like, where basically it's like, you know, I'm better. No, I'm better. And, you know, back and forth banter.
[00:53:22] Tiffany defended herself by saying that, I feel pretty special. I got the title on my shoulders and it's not on yours. And I earned this title. And immediately Charlotte berries her by saying via cash in week after week, delusional, like I said. And I will mention that Charlotte owned Tiffy in this segment because it's that age old conflict of the new versus the old, the past versus the future.
[00:53:54] And this is why this match is going to be so good. And people are downplaying it because they think that it doesn't matter because Charlotte's gonna win. But the fact is, is that maybe Charlotte does not win. Maybe she puts Tiffany Stratton over more than even Becky did when she was facing off with her. Tiffany responded by saying that, do you remember the beginning of my career? You were one of my biggest supporters. And then I saw the real you.
[00:54:26] And Charlotte dismissed them by saying, I'm not here to give you a hug, Tiffany. I'm here for real competition.
[00:54:33] Tiffany responded by saying that you find the hottest thing and you throw water on it. It worked in the past, but not for me, Charlotte. And then Charlotte responded, this is. This is the line that absolutely ended everything in this segment for Tiffany. She goes, you're not even the hottest thing on smackdown. Other less the entire company. You've never been across from me or on the level. You always been underneath me.
[00:55:02] And then Tiffany tries to come back. She goes, the one struggling here is you. You're trying to keep up with the fans that don't want you back. And Charlotte just goes, they're either booing or they're wooing. You pick.
[00:55:17] Tiffany tried to come back and she tried to say that she has her entire career to accomplish all of her accolades. And Charlotte responds with, you'll be lucky if you even have a job at my age. And it absolutely is true that Charlotte has been one of the top competitors day one.
[00:55:45] She has done so much with the women's world championship.
[00:55:54] All in all, this segment, Charlotte really owned it. And it proves that this is the future meets the Past.
[00:56:02] And the past looks so much tougher than what she initially thought that she could handle.
[00:56:08] And this is going to help Tiffany in the long run because there's a few different ways to look at this. Either one, you look at Charlotte not putting Tiffany over or Tiffany has Charlotte be her. And then this is the other part that nobody has talked about when Charlotte wins. Do you know the first person I'm having her feud with if it's not a rematch with Tiffany is Jade Cargill.
[00:56:35] If they are wanting to make Jade Cargill a main event Superstar and they don't just want to give her another mid card women's championship like they did over in aew, a program between Charlotte Flair and Jade Cargill would make money because both are incredibly gifted, both are very athletic, both are very well in their craft. And yes, Jade looks like she's a bit shifty, but there's a reason why she was gone for so long. It's because she wants to get better. This is the big leagues. This is where she wants to make her stay. And she is going to do that by possibly having a feud with Charlotte Flair.
[00:57:15] So very much looking forward to Wrestlemania. We did get announced that next week on Smackdown this will be in London. The street profits will put their WB Tag Team Championships on the line against Pretty Deadly. And La Knight will defend the United States Championship against Braun Strowman. Now I should mention that there were a couple of matches in the night.
[00:57:42] They were very mid matches. We had Braun Strowman beating Jacob Fatu by dq and that was the number one contendership for the US title. And Solo came in and interfered and caused the DQ for Jacob to get DQ'd and Braun to end up as the victor. And now Braun will face La Knight in probably what will be another DQ finish with Jacob Fatu attacking Braun Strowman.
[00:58:13] And then we also had Piper Niven defeating Zelina Vega.
[00:58:19] Okay, I will be honest. For two women's superstars, they did not need 12 minutes and 14 seconds. They needed at max eight.
[00:58:31] They were the second longest match on the entire card and that is insane.
[00:58:39] We also had Liv Morgan vs. Jade Cargill in which Naomi came in distracted Cargill and Liv handed Jade her first singles loss in the company.
[00:58:54] And Naomi as a heel looks pretty good on paper, but we know that Jade will destroy her at Mania. We also got a non title tag team match between the Street Profits and and Los Garza, angel and Birdo. So part of Lingado del Fantasma with of course no Electra Lopez because she got the pink slip. But the closing moments of the show came of course, from the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.
[00:59:26] This and Madison Square Garden were his first appearances since losing the Royal Rumble.
[00:59:37] And he came out and he said that your OTC loves you, so he's gonna take his time and tell you what's on his mind. He then blamed Punk for screwing him at the Royal Rumble. And he said that last week at the Garden, I screwed CM Punk in his Steel Cate match.
[00:59:57] And then he addressed Seth Rollins, claiming that last month at the Rumble, Seth Rollins tried to kill me. So I tried to kill Seth Rollins. Rollins. And he declared that he will take his time. And he invited anybody to come and confront him. And of course, immediately as he said that, Seth Rollins came out, he walked to the ring. He said, roman, you messed up. You don't understand how dangerous Punk is. You should have let me finish him when I had a chance. But it's really not about him. It's about me and you. There is no you without me, and there's no me without you. We can't coexist.
[01:00:33] And he suggested that it's time to add another chapter to their story. But before anything can happen, CM Punk comes out. And this has got to be the biggest and the loudest I have ever heard a crowd seeing. Cult of personality. Punk absolutely owned this crowd. And before then, Roman came out. And when everybody rushed to the barricade in the middle of the aisle and Roman held up the one, my goodness. And it proves he doesn't need no bloodline. Because Roman made himself a star during his Tribal Chief run as champion. CM Punk came out and he actually said hi to Paul now. In the steel cage match at Madison Square Garden against Seth Rollins and CM Punk. At the end, after Rollins was dragged out of the cage by Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman went into the ring to check on Punk. And as he was doing that, Roman realized this and went straight into the cage and speared CM Punk.
[01:01:55] So clearly some still loose ends between Punk and Heyman.
[01:02:03] He says that there's one thing that's not right here, that neither of you have ever beaten me without the other one's help. Punk continued by saying, roman, I didn't screw you in the Rumble. It's every man for himself. Your wise man should include you in. And he reminded Roman that you wouldn't have made it to the Rumble if I didn't save your family at war games.
[01:02:31] And then he also made notion about the favor that he still is owed by Paul Haman.
[01:02:39] And he said, thank you for delivering your tribal chief on a silver platter for me tonight.
[01:02:45] And Roman, he turns, he looks at Heyman and then Punk hits him from behind with the mic and there's a brawl back and forth. Punk climbed the announce table as the brawl reached outside and he points at the WrestleMania sign and he looked at Heyman.
[01:03:04] Rollins then pulled Roman out of the ring and landed a suicide dive on everybody before Rollins then pointed at the sign and then finally Roman got some stairs and hit both Rollins and Punk and he set the stairs down and he pointed at the WrestleMania sign. So all three men pointed at the WrestleMania sign. And the chaos ensued as the chance of WrestleMania and holy erupted through the crowd as SmackDown ended. So I'll just say this SmackDown was, it was very mid.
[01:03:47] It was okay at best.
[01:03:53] But at some point in time I think you have to really look at, you know, what does it matter?
[01:04:04] Because so smackdown was okay at best.
[01:04:11] It was not the absolute amazing show like we are so used to seeing of early 2022, 2023 with Roman and the bloodline drama and whatnot and Punk. But the main closing of the show did finally get us. Roman Reigns versus Seth Rollins versus CM Punk at an probably night one main event of WrestleMania.
[01:04:45] And now the question is, is that what's the favor between Paul Heyman and Punk?
[01:04:53] Now the favor that everybody is assuming is that basically Roman is going to trust Heyman so much that he's not going to realize that Punk is Heyman's best friend. Heyman is going to turn on Roman.
[01:05:14] Now there has been recent speculations of what if neither of those outcomes happen and what if the wise man doesn't sign with either Roman or Punk? That's right. What if Paul Heyman, the wise man, goes to Seth Rollins and. And you think about it, when Seth was in the Shield, he sold out to the Authority. He sold out to Triple H.
[01:05:45] Imagine if Rollins sold out to the most closest person of his enemy, which is Paul Heyman. Imagine if Paul Heyman turns his back on Roman.
[01:05:59] Because let's be honest here, Paulie is a bad guy manager. So if Seth Rollins turns and he goes full heel, Paul Heyman turns on Roman, he turns on Punk, and Heyman sides with the visionary and Seth Rollins is brought up with this new Persona, this new edge to him being paired with Paul Heyman the same way that Roman was paired with Paul heyman back in 2020.
[01:06:38] If this happens to be the case, I think that that's how you get Seth Rollins to be a world champion again or just a champion in general. So now is the time that if you turn Rollins heel again, Rollins is going to come back and Rollins is going to be a full time heel. He is going to have Heyman in his corner and Heyman to do his bidding. And the same way that Roman was brought up, now the other Shield member, the former Shield member will get his star rise in the company. So a very, very good but very mid episode of Friday Night smackdown.
[01:07:26] Now something else happened, I should say two things happened in this episode.
[01:07:33] There was another teaser which involved Alistair Black potentially coming back.
[01:07:42] So there was the first teaser which appeared last week in Barcelona where it was the smoke and there was a Black four.
[01:07:55] Now the only way I can describe this is that in three weeks now, because the same vignette showed up and now there was the three, which means that this upcoming Smackdown will be two and then the next Smackdown will be one.
[01:08:18] And that Smackdown will, will be Friday, April 4th and that will be at the Allstate arena in Chicago, Illinois.
[01:08:31] So now the question is what are they going to do with Aleister Black? And I'll be fully honest, there is potential that he might even show up on Raw. Now remember, after Wrestlemania we can get that brand shake up, the Superstar shake up and maybe will he send Aleister Black over to the Judgment Day and he becomes the new leader. He has a brand new cult now and maybe we finally get that push that we thought that Alistair was going to get back in the days of when he was doing black masses to everybody in black and gold nxt.
[01:09:15] But there was a second person speaking of gold that was also in a vignette the last two weeks and that person is of course the other half of Penta and that is his brother Ray Phoenix. Now Rey Phoenix. And as we talked about, Rey Phoenix got released from AEW so we now know he is definitely 100% WWE bound.
[01:09:44] And we were waiting for it and we finally got confirmation off of Fightful select and fightful Espanol on March 21 that Rey Phoenix is officially signed to WWE and the plan as of now is to debute him on the smackdown brand, though it has not been said when and Phoenix was getting his medicals done in recent weeks. So it is official that Phoenix is going to be signed and is signed with wwe.
[01:10:25] It is absolutely wild now that Rey Fenix is going to be a part of WWE and we will have the Lucha brothers on WWE television. I am very much looking forward to us potentially getting Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee and Penta against American made at WrestleMania. And if it does not happen, then maybe we do see Penta and Rey Ferrari Phoenix together. Because I understand that both of them definitely are not opposed from tagging with each other. But again, when was the last time you saw Penta on a singles run that he has right now? Probably since Lucha Underground, tna possibly. And Ray Phoenix also has had his rise in the singles competition for years and years and years. Once again also on TNA and Lucha Underground.
[01:11:32] So where Ray Phoenix and Alistair Black end up when they finally come to WWE and they show up on WWE television? Who exactly knows? But you know, just a reminder, Aleister Black's last big feud and last big match was at WrestleMania 36, the COVID era. And it was that crazy and weird match against Bobby Lashley. I remember he came back, he was projected to be in a feud with Big E when he was the Intercontinental Champion or Apollo Crews.
[01:12:13] And that never happened because he then got released pretty much moments after that. And then he debuted for Ali Wrestling and he did nothing since then.
[01:12:26] Speaking of Ali Wrestling, we had Dynamite which resided from Omaha, Nebraska in the middle of a random blizzard. I could not believe that there was still snow going around somehow at the Liberty First Credit Union Arena.
[01:12:53] So we kicked off Dynamite with a AEW International Title Eliminator Tournament Final four way match between Ricochet Mark Davis, Orange Cassidy and the brand new signee Mike Speedball Bailey.
[01:13:18] And I I'll give some credit that if you do not know who Speedball Mike Bailey is.
[01:13:27] He has been one of the top indie talents in the indie market. His main roster splash was for total non stop action TNA Wrestling where he was the TNA X Division Champion. And he recently just had his contract expired there. And his first choice of course was AEW where he can fly and you know, do whatever type of crazy stuff that he wants. He is if Bruce Lee went and did pro wrestling, so very good for Mike Bailey. And this was a big spot fest match between all of the four competitors. But for some background for Revolution, Kenny Omega beat Kazuchika okada for the AW International title. This went 28 minutes 30 seconds and five stars.
[01:14:33] This actually was the middle match in a five star three match card. That was Revolution and we'll talk about those matches.
[01:14:43] But as far as the match between Omega and Takeshna, I knew that Omega was going to win. I think a lot of people knew Omega was going to win. But just like some of the stuff that they did in this match, like there was a table spot in there that made no sense. I don't know why they had to include a table spot in a regular singles match but it was a spot fest and Omega rolled up Takeshina for the win. No.1 ring and angle jewel no V trigger. It was just back and forth hard hitting moves and Takeshna finally lost and now he is back to being nothing with Don Callis and Don Callis has nothing going for them them. So I don't know why they're holding all these people into a stable like certain AEW fashion but we'll pick up a little bit after the break. Cassidy and Davis traded suplex attempts with Cassidy finally getting the upper hand. Hit the deja vu on Ricochet followed by satellite ddt. Ricochet then countered with a Northern light suplex and then went for a suplex of his own. But Cassidy countered with a Slumdog Millionaire speedball, then took Davis off the apron and not Cassidy out with a high kicked and only got a two.
[01:16:07] Bailey then delivered the short falcon arrow and a devastating shooting star press to Cassidy but Ricochet pulled Speedball off the COVID and I'm telling you when, when Mike Bailey is doing his moves, he's doing his moveset. It is absolutely star struck how well he connects with these moves. Ricochet then hit a twisting plancha to the outside on both Mark Davis and Mike Bailey followed by another shooting star press to Cassidy. But Cassidy kicked out of two so there was two. So there was two shooting star presses that was hit on orange Cassidy but he still kicked out. I don't know why.
[01:16:52] Rigs a then hit a cartwheel kick to Mark Davis before hitting a lariat to Speedball. He then powerbombed Speedball into a Death Valley driver but Speedball kicked out at 2. Cassie hit another DDT on Ricochet followed by beach break to Bailey. Cassidy then delivered the orange punch to Mark Davis but Ricochet immediately got the springboard clothesline in towards the end. Mark Davis hit lariats to Mike Bailey and Ricochet followed by a one armed powerbomb to Mike Bailey and another pop up powerbomb to Ricochet. He then hit a pop up pile driver on Cassidy but Mike Bailey broke up the pin. Bailey then hit a high kick and a shooting star knee drop and then another kick to the back of Davis. As this happened, Bailey went for the backslide pin onto Mark Davis and Ricochet jumped on top. So there was two people pinning Mark Davis and 1, 2, 3. Both pins count. So at the end I thought that we were just going to get, you know, oh it's being announced that the finals will be next week on Dynamite Mike Bailey versus Ricochet. And the winner faces Kenny Omega at Dynasty. But no, both Mike Bailey and Ricochet will face Kenny Omega in a triple threat match.
[01:18:26] And now this sparks the question.
[01:18:29] After the match that we got with Sword Strickland and Ricochet, which was a number one contenders match for the AW World and Heavyweight Championship, why does Ricochet then basically go into what is being considered the second best title on the roster?
[01:18:51] And I get it that it's so that way. Ricochet is being on the card, but it makes zero sense. There's no reason for Ricochet to have this championship opportunity after he just lost his other one against Swerve, which, by the way, was another big match of the night that happened at Revolution, where Swerve was the victor and Swerve will be taking on the world champion at Dynasty in Philadelphia.
[01:19:26] So, interesting little finish, but, you know, it was something.
[01:19:32] We then got an AEW TBS championship match between Mercedes Monet and Billy Starks. So for those who do not know who Billy Starks is, Billy Starks is of course one of the many people in the faction or is in the company of Athena, AKA Ember Moon, who currently has been the ROH Women's world champion for 835 days.
[01:20:12] 835 days.
[01:20:19] It is absolutely incredible.
[01:20:23] She's had a total of, believe it or not, 28 defenses in the last two years in her reign as women's world champion in ROH in a type of fashion that has not been seen in women's wrestling in a very long time, which I highly respect it.
[01:20:54] So this opportunity just came up because I think now they are wanting to see Mercedes versus Athena. And now will that iconic title reign end? I'm hoping it doesn't. It probably will, because when you got Mercedes, who is already holding four different championships now it's like, oh, you know, we gotta make big bank on her that she's gonna hold all these championships, but it makes no sense. So we'll pick up after the break that both women traded tombstone temps.
[01:21:30] Monet then countered by turning one of the tombstones into a double knee gut buster.
[01:21:38] Monat looked for the Three Amigos, but Starks countered the last superplex and turned it into a brain buster on Mercedes knee. Starks then followed up with a knee and hook kick, but Monet quickly responded with a lariat. Starks then went for a Lucha Cradle, but Monet countered with one of her own, leading to a suit count. Starks then hit the Crucifix But Monet kicked out at two again. Starks delivered the John Woo drop kick into the corner and then followed up with an Alabama slam into the turnbuckle. And then as Starks put Mercedes on her shoulders, she was super close to the ropes, which you know, Monet was able to have her foot on the rope when she executed this, but it looked like a one wicked angel. But the way that Mercedes came down on her neck, it was just no give, no cushion, just complete back of the neck exposed of Mercedes onto the canvas. That's also on the, on the end part of the ring. So it's got to hurt more than anything. But Mercedes was able to manage to get her foot on the roped rigged pen. Monet rolled to the apron, she was halfway sticking out. Starks went for a senton on the apron, but Mercedes pulled herself back in. Starks hit the apron, she pulled her in with a crucifix, got a two count and immediately when Starks rolled over, locked in the statement maker and forced Starks to tap out. So one of the rare occurrences that Mercedes Monet makes somebody tap out to the statement maker but she wins and she retains her TBS championship later in the night. She did say that Billy had a bunch of fight, but she wondered who trained her and wanted to know where she can meet her.
[01:23:52] So more and more confidence and confirming that possibly at Dynasty we will get Athena versus Mercedes, probably for title, for title, but probably just going to be for the TBS title because I don't know if Athena wants to have the burden of carrying all four of those titles that Mercedes has.
[01:24:17] And as far as Mercedes at Revolution, she did beat Momo Watanabe in 18 minutes 18 seconds with a four and a half, four and a quarter star. We then got to the middle of the program and we got this match between Jon Moxley versus Cope for the 80W World Championship.
[01:24:51] I'm going to say this, the main event that we got at Revolution was so trash.
[01:24:58] It was two old men going at it, hitting forearms.
[01:25:07] That wasn't enough and it was just interference after interference. It's the same stuff you've seen in the last, I don't know how many matches that night. It was absolutely unbelievable how much they had to sit through. And meanwhile, like Also the last three matches of the night went 28 minutes 30 seconds, 28 minutes 56 seconds and 26 minutes and 32 seconds. That is almost an hour and a half of insane wrestling when you got people like Omega Takeshna, Osprey, Fletcher Moxley and Cope.
[01:25:54] You got a big steel cage match. You got who is considered your biggest bout machine.
[01:26:01] And then you have the main event, which is your world championship.
[01:26:06] Just absolutely ridiculous. And then the finish was even worse. The finish was even worse because you. You had everybody eliminated from the situation.
[01:26:19] Cope looked to have it in check. And then Christian Cage comes out, and it looked perfect. Christian Cage was going to screw Cope again.
[01:26:28] He cashes in his one chance he has at winning a world title. He comes in, he hits Cope with a spear.
[01:26:38] Edge kicks out, hits the kill switch on Cope, goes for the COVID and Moxley, after being taken out from three spears by Cope, comes right back in, just hooks on a crappy little choke, and Christian Cage passes out, and Moxley runs away with the title again.
[01:27:06] And it was even worse before Christian Cage got involved. So the fact that they made it into this match, which is a street fight where anything goes, makes no sense whatsoever.
[01:27:21] So it came out already at the entrance when Cope blasted Moxley in the back, and then Cope sent Moxley crashing into the garage door with a drop kick. And then they went into the back of this truck where they hit each other with a guitar to the leg for no reason. And then the brawl spilled the crowd. Cope hit Moxley in the face with a mic before suplexing him onto the floor. Cope then delivered a running boot to Mox in the corner by the guardrail. So this, this matchup mostly consisted outside the ring, before it even got into the ring.
[01:28:08] Moxley then ducked and he slammed his head into the LED board.
[01:28:15] Moxley then grabbed a kendo stick and cracked Cope over the back and then choked him with it.
[01:28:22] Moxley tried to escape from the crowd once. Cope was coming back, but he tossed a garbage can right to his face. The two traded elbows in the crowd before finally making their way to the announce desk. And Mox gouged at Cope's eyes and bit his nose, indie style. They got on top of the announce desk, and Mox hits the paradigm shift. No budge, no nothing.
[01:28:53] These tables are pretty. Probably not as hard, but they are pretty much the exact same as the ones on Raw, which I don't even have. I've never even seen one of those tables collapse coming out of commercial. Moxley was hitting chair shots on Cope to the back in the ring. Both men climbed to the top rope, where Cope scratched Moxley's back and then superplexed him. He hits some clotheslines, and then he goes to the apron, and he's looking, and he pulls out Spike. Now, if those who remember Spike he was involved in the feud between Christian Cage and Adam Copeland at the time when Adam finally won the TNT title, and then, of course, had a meaningless reign with it. And then his biggest match came from a dumb spot that ended up landing him to the hospital, where he broke his fibula and tibula in a barbed wire steel cage match, which was also Malachi Black's last impressive run with AEW. So Cope has this random 2x4 that has little mini spikes, little mini nails. They're not real.
[01:30:16] So he brings it into the ring and then Moxley immediately hits the rko and that gets a two count. Moxley then grabbed a table from underneath the ring and set it up in the corner. So as Moxley's distracted setting up the table in the corner, Cope grabs spike, the 2x4 with the spikes on it. He hits Moxley in the stomach, hits him on the back, and then he gets Moxley into a suplex and then delivers a superplex onto the bat with the spikes sticking up.
[01:30:58] And these spikes, whatever it was made of, they were so deep into Moxley's skin somehow that when Moxley sat up and he stood up, they were sticking to his back.
[01:31:15] So basically, imagine you've seen thumbtack spots where the thumbtacks will be in the person's back.
[01:31:23] Now you got a entire 2x4 with fake metal spikes in the back and with. And it's hard to pull off because you're trying to sell the illusion that it's real nails and into the skin of another human being. It was by far one of the most gruesome and unbelievable spots, and it shows you that they are only in it to get a cheap pop.
[01:31:50] And that's the thing that pisses me off more, is that you, this is a world championship match.
[01:31:59] Why do you have to succumb to these types of situations and spots where it's crappy death match wrestling and it's all because your world champion happened to come from that type of background.
[01:32:17] Absolutely ridiculous. Wheeler. Yuta comes in, hits the brsycho knee to Cope, and Yuta comes over to Moxley and Moxley selling this like crazy.
[01:32:31] And they finally get the two by four bat out of Moxley's back. You see some blood on the back of his back. Yuta then is powerbombed through a table. Then Pac and Claudio come in, they attack Cope. Pac then sets up a chair spot where the chair is on Cope's head. But FTR comes in. Dax hits a pile driver to Moxley and clotheslines Pac over The top rope kind of butchered it. Cash then delivers a suicide dive on the Claudio. He hits his head on the announce table.
[01:33:14] Back in the ring, Cope then spears Moxley through the table in the corner. But still Moxley kicked out. And the way that Moxley and these spears that are being hit into the corner through a table, I don't know if there's a problem with people like lifting them up when they're delivering the spear to the corner. But like some of these spots when they hit these corners and they basically hit the top turnbuckle behind the table that's set up is nasty. And that was the same here. Just as things were picking up, Marina Shafir comes in, breaks the pin. Nightingale comes out, hits a cannonball off the apron to Shafir. Cope then finally hits a spear to Moxley. But then Kip Sabian of the Patriarchy comes out and distracts Cope. Cope hits a spear on Kip and then Nick Wayne, the person who was standing up to Christian Cage last week, hits Wayne's World. Moxley then tries to get the COVID Cope still kicks out. As soon as Cope turns over, Moxley hits the bulldog choke and Cope passes out again. A nothing match. And now it is official. We will get Swerve Strickland versus Jon Moxley for the AW World Championship at AEW Dynasty. And in all honesty, I hope Swerve wins because Swerve is the only saving grace for this company. So with all that said, pretty nothing street fight for no reason, none whatsoever.
[01:35:04] This was solely here because they wanted to get ratings that they never end up doing and it makes zero sense.
[01:35:16] So take that what you will. Now the other matches that ended up happening was Will Ospreay versus AR Fox. That went nothing.
[01:35:29] Seven minute match, three and a half stars.
[01:35:34] I don't get it. So we know that Ospreay and Hangman Adam Page been announced as part of the Owen Hart tournament which will lead to the winner getting a world title match at all in so good for Hangman and Ospreay we probably will have them in the finals.
[01:36:02] And then the other interesting piece that happened during the night is MJF will be at Dynamite this upcoming Wednesday and basically will announce that he is going to be partnering up with the Hurt Syndicate and is going to try to get back up to possibly get a match out of Jon Moxley which if that does happen, I definitely could see that for double or nothing in Arizona. But again, there's still a question of does Swerve win the title and then who will be the number one contender after currently MJF with the Hurt Syndicate will give him a bit of that backup that he's been needing, especially after he got beat by Hangman Adam Page at Revolution and he got hit with a gnarly, gnarly Angel's Wings where basically I don't know what happened if there was sandbagging involved, but he basically dropped MJF right on his face for this Angels wings. So that was a very good, interesting open match as well for Revolution.
[01:37:25] We then had a rare women's main event. Megan Bain with Penelope Ford and Chris Statlander. This one, 12 minutes and 47 seconds. We'll pick up a little bit after the break. Both women were exchanging overhead strikes until Statlander fired back with a Pele kick. Ford then tripped some Statlander which led to the referee tossing her out of the match.
[01:37:53] Statlander then hit a big kick which Bane responded with a huge thrux kicked. Bane tried to land a big boot but Statlander dropped to a knee and squatted and powered Bane into a power bomb that only got a 2. Statlander then hit a leg trapped Michinoku driver which also got a near fall. Back and forth continued with Bane hitting a German suplex, followed by Statlander responding with another German suplex and when Bane went for the second suplex, Statlander bounced right back up and hit the lariat. Statlander rolled to the outside but Bane followed her with a suicide dive. That's the one cool thing about this Megan Bane character is as much as she looks like a powerhouse, she's also incredibly athletic.
[01:38:48] Bane then delivered a stalling Falcon arrow but Statlander still kicked out too. Bane tried to rush towards Statlander, but Statlander countered with a DDT from the apron through the middle rope. She then delivered a cannonball off the apron, but Bane ducked and threw Statlander into Tony Storm who was at ringside. Bane then hit fate's descent aka the F5 on the floor and then hit another one in the ring for the victory. Fired up after the match, Toni ran into the ring and taping up her hands she attacked Bane security then quickly broke them up, but Storm clothesline Bane over the top rope and Storm then shouted that she was big and the bigger they are, the harder they come and challenged her for a match. So currently for the card which will happen in Philadelphia, we have Toni Storm versus Megan Bane, Kenny Omega versus Ricochet and Mike Bailey in a three way for the international title and then the world title between John Moxley. Ants were Strickland so looking like a okay card, there still is nothing between Adam Cole and Daniel Garcia, which went a time limit draw by the way on AEW Collision.
[01:40:27] So.
[01:40:28] So I have basically lost any hope in Daniel Garcia possibly having any good progression in this company. And I don't know what they're doing with the TNT Championship anymore. But it's absolutely ridiculous to see this title which at once prime was a big mid card championship. I mean, I mean, I mean you look at the lineage of Brodie Lee and Cody and Darby and Samoa Joe and all these people and meanwhile it's been treated as this like third rate title for no apparent reason.
[01:41:09] So you know, and the biggest one recently being Christian Cage. So this TNT title has felt meaningless over and over and over again. And now with Garcia as champion, it makes zero sense. So I, I'm, I'm looking forward. I mean he wasn't even on the Revolution card, he was on the pre show and that was even ridiculous. But for the other matchups that happened on Revolution, we had Kazuchiko Okada beating Brody King, 10 minutes 56 seconds, continental title. We had the AW World Tag Team Championships between, between the Hurt Syndicate and the Outrunners. Of course her syndicate won that match. Pretty nothing match.
[01:41:56] But I will mention this Hollywood ending match between Toni Storm and Mariah May. The most bloodiest women's match ever and by far one of the top women's match all year long. Probably it's Omania, but these two went out and had an absolute amazing match. They were bloodier than a stuffed pig. They just were absolutely insane with both of these women. And they definitely will receive their flowers. And then of course, what was that match of the night Will? Osprey versus Kyle Fletcher. It was a bit much, but you gotta understand the complex of how the friendship turn rivalry was between Fletcher and Ospreay. And that closing sequence of the Spanish fly off of the top of the cage, which absolutely looked gnarly. Fletcher landing completely on his side and then finally getting hit with the Tiger driver and then the Hidden Blade was just everything you needed to do to write this off.
[01:43:10] Now one of the most interesting pieces actually on this upcoming episode of Dynamite, this is episode 286.
[01:43:21] That's right, 286 episodes of AEW Dynamite. If you want to know what that number is so significant to. Because that is the exact amount of episodes that WCW Monday Night Nitro ended up happening before they were immediately bought by WWE and Vince McMahon. And the fact that once this episode airs, this will be longer than WCW's tenure is absolutely incredible and funny enough at the Mall of America in Minneapolis was the very first episode of Nitrogen. So the fact that now their record breaking 286 show is going to be happening in Minnesota and they have been able to continue this long shows you that this is why the alternative was needed. And just saying it's not like tna, it's not like wcw.
[01:44:23] They happen to play their cards right and they had this visionary who is still messed up like Tony Khan and made this company what it is now. So very impressed and very excited that AEW has lasted this long.
[01:44:42] And that is it for this episode of the Rocking Review Podcast. I want to thank you so much for listening. Next week we will hear about the feedback of John Cena and his response to Cody Rhodes's comments as well as more upcoming pro wrestling news where you can all catch it here on the Rocking Review Podcast. And remember, it's belt or a WK because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling. Thank you everybody.
