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 Castro's 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 episode 12 of the Rocking Review Podcast. My name is J Rock Rude and today as of this recording was the last stop on the European tour for WWE and it ended in London, England with tonight's Monday Night Raw and what quite possibly could be the best Raw we have gotten all year long. To set up builds that we needed something out of them and we finally got them tonight.
[00:03:16] But we will go over a little bit of last week's Raw that happened in Glasgow, Scotland and we'll talk about the promo battle number two between John Cena and Cody Rhodes. We got a little bit more intake on what Cena meant when he did his first promo back on the first stop of the international tour for Monday Night Raw back in Brussels and he basically was turning his blame towards all of the fans and Cody came out and basically said, try something else. So the next week they went toe to toe again and Cena explained that he is here to ruin pro wrestling and he is going to leave with the title and be the last real champion. We'll go on about that, as well as the incredible turnaround of the J USO Gunter feud that we have been complaining over the last month or so since Jay won the Royal Rumble on When will we get a proper storyline and all it took was a brother and that would be Jimmy USO inserting himself into this rivalry that means so much now because of Jimmy us trying to defend his little brother and now Jay has got to avenge his older brother at the hands of Gunter. We'll go on about that. We'll also talk about the Smackdown that also took place last Friday in London. And it is official that CM punk is a WrestleMania main eventer. He will indeed be main eventing night one of WrestleMania in Las Vegas in three weeks against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. We'll go more into smackdown as well. We'll also be going over AEW Dynamite and the main storyline other than the World Heavyweight Championship match between Jon Moxley and Swear that will be taking place at Dynasty in Philadelphia on April 9th.
[00:05:32] We got the list of people who have announced themselves to be in the Owen Hart Tournament. There is of course the men's and the women's side. We'll go over that. They will be announcing brackets on this week's episode of Dynamite. So after this episode gets out, next week's episode will be breaking down those brackets and basically seeing who could be the winners of those Owen Hart tournaments and go on to all in Texas and face either the World Champion for the women's and of course the men's side. All that and more here on this episode of the Rocking Review podcast. But let's start out with with Monday Night Raw from last week in Glasgow, Scotland.
[00:06:27] So how I'm going to break down this Raw review? Because we're going over two episodes of Raw, we're going over last week's show and then the show that happened almost two hours before this recording. So what I'm basically going to do is for the segments that were last week, if they have any relevance to what happened tonight on the raw of March 31, I will go ahead and blend that in towards the end or in between.
[00:06:59] And for the end of this Raw review, we'll actually take a look at the main event of what was tonight's Monday Night Raw, which was Iyo sky and Rio Ripley, with Bianca Belair as a special guest reverie for the WWE Women's World Championship. But we'll start with John Cena Last week, or I should say a week before in Brussels, John Cena came out and he basically blamed everybody for the last 25 years of being part of an abusive relationship. Well, last week in Glasgow, he came out first. So that is the second time that John Cena has come out to kick off the show. He entered with a massive chorus of booze, and then he turned the focus on them, making sure that it was clear that no one was safe. Cena did not want to, of course, single out anyone in particular because his words. In his words, everyone in the crowd was horrible, and they were going to pay for all the abuse that they put him through. He said for 25 years, he's had to listen to their lies, their noise, their constant judgments. He didn't want to waste time being mean to them like they have. And he said that he's been paying attention. He said that he's been studying and teasing the fans for years and that they have explained themselves without even realizing it. He says, I know more about you than you know about yourselves.
[00:08:38] He talked about how their lives were sad. He claimed that this moment, the chance to actually hate him, was the best it was gonna get for them, because to him, the crowd's been nothing more than an experiment, like rats in a cage. It's funny that he was talking about rats in a cage, because last week, all I was listening to was Bullet with Butterfly Wings by the Smashing Pumpkins, which I just found out that the owner or the person who bought NWA Billy Corgan, was the lead singer of.
[00:09:13] But he said that he can recall any moment in his career and tell them exactly what he learned about them. He says that when he bled, they thought he was tough. When he spoke, they were inspired. When he was edgy, they were excited. When he was vanilla, they were bored. And during this time, they were saying the what chance. And he says, when he spoke in rhymes, they said, what?
[00:09:35] But he said he'll never forget the most important thing they ever told him. And it was back in April of 2005. It was after WrestleMania 21, when he beat John Bradshaw, Layfield, JBL, for the. @ the time, the WWE Undisputed Championship or the WWE Championship. I forgot when they changed from the Undisputed Championship to the WWE Championship.
[00:10:07] But they gave him the belt. He had the OG belts that they had. You know, the same one that Brock had, the same one that Angle had, the same one that JBL had.
[00:10:20] And it was, of course, after WrestleMania, it's when John Cena gave them the Spinner Championship. Now if you remember before this, before he won the championship, he did the same thing with the US Title. And then when Orlando Jordan beat him for it in 04, JBL and them trashed that same title, saying it was nothing but a toy, he blamed them. He talked about how the crowd hated that he turned the secret championship into a toy and disrespected tradition in a way that they could never forgive.
[00:11:05] And he said that was the biggest mistake because they revealed what mattered most to them. And now that he knew that, he said boldly, he said, I am going to ruin professional wrestling.
[00:11:18] I'm going to ruin professional wrestling for every fan, for every wrestler. And he promised, this is what he didn't say in the first heel promo. He says at WrestleMania, he promised to make history by winning his record breaking 17th world championship. And he would force them to forget Ric Flair and erasing the legacy of the Nature Boy so that the only name that we'll ever remember is John Cena.
[00:11:49] But he said he wasn't just going to win the title, he was going to retire with it. He says, I'm taking it home with me. He said he would leave WWE with no choice, with no true champion, forcing the company to make some brand new toy belt while he walked away with the real one.
[00:12:09] He said, I will be the last real champion in WWE history.
[00:12:15] Said revenge is best served cold. And his revenge was ripping the fans hearts and forcing them to watch as he walked away with their memories, their traditions and their dreams. And there was nothing they could do to stop him. And then of course, Cody Rhodes came out.
[00:12:35] As far as this promo, I love this because John Cena when he first came in, same thing like I said, when he cut his first heel promo when he first came into the business, they immediately did not like him. Oh, this blue chip prospect over from Louis though, no one's going to respect him. He was on the chopping block of being fired and then he got brought back because they found out he could rhyme, he could do some gimmicks, and he worked with that. And then they realized that and they gave him a chance. And then it was that first chance in 04 when he beat Big show at MSG for the US Championship. And then he had his year long reign and he had his rivalries with guys like Carlito, guys like Booker T. And then he ended up in a year's time going from the US Championship to the World Championship and he beat jbl.
[00:13:40] And pretty much from there, that's when it skyrocketed.
[00:13:46] John Cena came in as a nobody that everybody disrespected, and he thought he was going to have to walk away. But then he changed and he turned it on a dime. And then once WWE realized his potential, and this is foreshadowing for what was said in tonight's promo in London, they realized that, and they made Cena look like a superhuman. And because of that, people thought that Cena was in the wrong. People thought that Cena was in the wrong when he introduced the spinner belt, which still is really a belt that only looked exclusive for him. Any other peer, any other person that had that spinner belt while it was still active didn't really look like a champion. CM Punk had it for a lengthy amount of time, and they kept the spinner title for them. Edge had it at one point. That looked pretty cool. In fact, you. He had his own version of it that he used while he was champion.
[00:14:58] And of course, if you remember, I believe they had both titles for the Unforgiven 2006 match, the TLC match that happened in Toronto. But other than John Cena, nobody looked kind of cool with that. And then if you remember, when the Rock won it in 2013 and he beat CM Punk for it, he immediately threw it out. He says, this is a toy. You need to bring back tradition. And that's when he basically introduced what is considered one of the modern belts of wwe.
[00:15:32] So he's using that. He says, okay, you got mad at me for turning it into a toy. Well, guess what? Not only am I going to turn it into my last title, but I'm going to walk away with it. And no one's taking it from me when I beat Cody at Mania.
[00:15:49] So Cody came out.
[00:15:52] These international crowds, they're very expressive with their chants. And one of the top chants that they have, if it's not singing along with a theme song like Cody or Randy Orton, it's Cody Rhodes. Cody. Cody Rhodes. So Cody stepped up and he said to Cena that he couldn't take the belt away from the fans because the belt didn't belong to them. It belonged to him. Cody was the one holding it. He pointed out to Cena that Cena should have known how hard Cody had to fight just to hold on to the belt once. Unlike Cena, who's had the privilege of holding it 16 different times. He then laid the championship like a line in the sand between Cena and him. And he said, if you really want it so bad, why don't you try to take it from me right now, then CNA got into a fighting stance. He clinched his fists, and then he backed away. He left the ring without saying another word. And meanwhile, Cody sitting there, his suit's undone, he's ready to fight. And Cena backed off.
[00:17:02] Finally, Cody just said, that is how you will walk away at WrestleMania. That is how I will make you walk away from wwe. That promo. That promo was really good because it is exactly what John Cena talked about when he first talked about going in heel, when he was pitched about going heel back in 2012, 2013, when he was with the Rock.
[00:17:30] He is giving up more. He is backing off more. He's not trying hard enough. He will try hard on the mic, but he won't try hard against his opponent. And then all of their focus gets drained away because of how much they are, you know, putting on John Cena. And meanwhile, John Cena, instead of fighting like he usually would back in the day to prove his point and be, you know, stand up like a man, he's gonna walk away, he's gonna give up. He would ease off. This is exactly what he talked about.
[00:18:04] Now let's talk about tonight's promo from London. So Cena came out just like he had done before.
[00:18:17] He came out and he said nothing because Cody then interrupted him. Cena went into the ring, couldn't say a word, and Cody was right there. And Cody walked into the ring and he says, we've heard you talk for two weeks. And because Cena had not talked now, we knew we were going to get a promo battle between the two. So we were finally going to get a promo battle between John Cena and Cody Rhod. He said, let me do your job for you. He's like, let me point out all the things you're probably going to try and cook me with. He goes, I have a bit of a lisp. I sometimes have troubles with words with the letter S. Like Stardust. He's like, that got bother you, right, that you're facing stardust, your final WrestleMania, you're gonna wrestle Stardust. And he said that he also has an arm tattoo, but it's on his neck. He got booed in a company that he created. He went on and on and on. But he said, here's the thing. Perhaps I'm struggling the idea that Superman is really dead. But that brings me to my next point. He says, I don't think your words match your actions, because I think the last two weeks you've lied to this audience. He goes, I know you used to care about Me and I know you cared about them, so take the opportunity, look at them and tell them really why. And John Cena responded with, I'm not going to reduce myself and be on your level to just protect you.
[00:19:57] He says, cody Rhodes, you've been protected long enough.
[00:20:01] I'm not going to cook you. I'm going to bury you, just like I've buried everyone else. He says that they've been saying for years that John Cena buries talent. And this was the line of the night for John Cena. He says, I don't bury talent. I am talent. I bury mediocrity. He said, I don't care about your lisp or your failures. You have manipulated your way to the top of this business, and your ego outmatches your ability. He says, all you have ever done is rode the coattails of my success.
[00:20:44] I've been so great that the WWE can hand the heartbeat of this organization to my chauffeur.
[00:20:53] He calls Cody his chauffeur.
[00:20:57] And of course, that's because Cody would usually ride with John Cena back in the day. He says that a slimy pickpocket who stole his blueprint thinks he can run the kingdom. That's your why, Cody. Because you with that. That title disgusts me. You sat by my side for years. You stole every secret you need to be undeniable, but you are still underwhelming.
[00:21:33] So basically another, you know, finger point, just like he did with the fans, he finger points at Cody. He finger points at Cody saying, you think you are better than me when I gave you everything you needed to succeed because you were by my side.
[00:21:52] You were, you know, in some ways, you were licking the dirt off my boots. And I gave you everything that you needed to know, but you still haven't achieved that. You. He called Cody egotistical. And he said that he told him he needed to be authentic because they could see through phony. And it shows because you're too perfect. You're too polished, you're too rehearsed. You rely on lazy gimmicks like them seeing your name over and over to get by.
[00:22:24] And then, of course, they started singing, Cody, Cody Rhodes. He said that all he's ever done is find a way to make a catchy tune to trick these people into loving mediocrity.
[00:22:37] Strip away your music and your entrance.
[00:22:40] It's not much to look at except a thick pinstripe suit. But you can walk me out here in silence.
[00:22:50] But bet your last dollar I would body you before your first Breath. Cody Rhodes does not look like me, he does not act like me, and he doesn't work like me.
[00:23:03] Because you don't look like you, you don't act like you and you don't work like you. Because all these years you're still afraid to show who you are.
[00:23:15] He says. Instead, Cody is a generic mix of every superstar he's ever loved or TV he's ever watched in some big blob.
[00:23:27] He said it makes you look like a 16 year old kid taking acting lessons who's afraid of public speaking.
[00:23:35] But he has shown Cena one thing, and that one thing is that someone mediocre wearing something meaningful nowadays is enough to trick these people. He says that he has worked too damn hard to make that a symbol of mastery. The title to be paraded around by a paint the numbers sociopathic Nepo baby who's so into himself he had his wrestling gimmick tattooed for the entire world to see.
[00:24:11] He said it's not where the tattoo is, it's what it does. And it exposes you to the world for who you are. A common fan, just like them. After Wrestlemania, you should go straight to fanatics, buy the toy belt that they buy and call yourself their champion because the last real champion is taking that home forever and exposing who you are. An errand boy that got lucky. So some harsh words back from Cena, basically saying that you have gotten lucky and you have tried to play this part, but you're not you.
[00:24:56] Because you're basically trying to be what everybody thinks you should be as a world champion, but you're not me. Cody responds. And he says that maybe I was chosen, but you know who chose me? They chose me.
[00:25:16] Can you say the same or was it a guy in an office that chose you? That's not here anymore and we don't talk about him. That was a big, big one.
[00:25:29] If any of you are wondering, he's talking about Vince McMahon. And that is also correct. Cody. The only relevance that Vince McMahon has to Cody's name and Cody being back in WWE after his stint in aew. And the reason he's gone from the bottom to the top is that Vince personally went out, saw Cody and brought him back. I will tell you one thing. There's a reason Roman beat Cody at WrestleMania 39.
[00:26:07] That was because Vince did not think that Cody could actually do it. Even though it was looked as if they were finally going to give Cody that chance.
[00:26:19] And people remember the feud that they put Cody the night after Mania with Brock Lesnar, that they Went an entire five months with. With no build, no explanation, but it still culminated at SummerSlam, which ended up being Brock's last big feud before, of course, the allegations came. But Cody was chosen by them.
[00:26:47] He was not chosen by the boss like John Cena was. Because John Cena was marked as the corporate puppet for so many years. Because that's who they wanted you to cheer for. And that's why John Cena had so much, so many haters. He said, okay, strip everything away from me. I don't know who I am. Who the hell knows who they are? But I do know this. I'm a wrestler just like my father before me. And if anybody is a company creation, it's you, John. He goes, everybody is so terrified of you on the mic. But I'm not, because I know you have more down there in your promo than you do in your jorts.
[00:27:36] You want to make fun of me for appearing like I'm 16, talking in public speaking lessons? Well, you're the one who hangs out with Zac Efron, who wishes he was 16. And what a softball.
[00:27:49] By saying that you created all of this. You created me. Here's what you created. You created a lot of disenfranchised fans who made it easy for me to pack up, go somewhere else, and be who I was.
[00:28:05] So basically saying that John is the reason that people were able to move on from what he built in the modern era and why it was so easy for fans who wanted an alternative to go over to AEW and become fans of AEW and basically make a star out of not just aew, but Cody Rhodes himself. He says, don't act like you cleaned up your room before you left and went to Hollywood. Don't act like you left. We better than you. Found it. And while you're at it, there's two of us standing right now in this ring. But here's one question between you and I, which of us sold out to the Rock and then he finished up with John. You're still my hero, but you're also a piece of shit. So basically saying that everything that John Cena is is nothing but corporate. He is exactly the guy that they picked him out years ago.
[00:29:12] But Cody Rhodes has been authentic.
[00:29:16] So basically in response of what John said when he said that he wasn't authentic, he is authentic because he was chosen by the fans, not by a corporate office.
[00:29:29] Well, who could play that game?
[00:29:33] Because John responded with, just like all these people your brain is filled with, he said feces.
[00:29:44] For some reason. He says I have worked a hundred times harder than you and never once in all the time I was protected from the audience or a superstar president, company included, taking their best shot at me.
[00:30:02] As a matter of fact, every time I step onto this canvas, it's a challenge to every arena and every superstar dumb enough to walk down that aisle and take their strongest swing to see if they're worthy of putting me in the ground.
[00:30:17] No one, and I mean no one, has ever been worthy. So he decided to just do it himself. That's why, Cody, I've never left. I've always been here. Because no matter how high the hill is to climb, no matter what garbage they give me, I always find a way to make it great.
[00:30:38] You had to leave because at your best, you couldn't wipe my ass. And then he finished with this line, I make empires for billionaires. All you've ever done is steal money from their kids. If you don't know he's referring to Tony Khan, he's referring to aew.
[00:31:05] And I guess I want to clarify even more. If you don't know who the billionaire in AEW is, it's Shad Khan, owner of Jacksonville Jaguars. And of course, Tony is his kid. So we got a Vince McMahon and a Tony Khan reference in the same promo segment, but Cody was going to have the last word because he said, I just want to remind you, in all the time I've been here and everything I've been through, never once has an audience chanted at me, you can't wrestle.
[00:31:42] So playing off of the fact of people saying that John Cena can't wrestle, I know he is ever going to be, is a lazy part timer who goes off and shoots movies that has a ball spot. Cena then dropped the mic, did the same fighting stance that he did the week before, smirked, brushed off, turn around, went to sucker punch Cody. Cody ducks, gets Cena in for the crossroads and hits it and throws Cena's hat at him. Just like Cena threw the belt at him at Elimination Chamber.
[00:32:30] Exactly.
[00:32:32] Exactly what we needed from that segment.
[00:32:39] Now, as far as right now, John Cena is not scheduled to be at any other events. No Raws, no SmackDowns until after WrestleMania. He's not even scheduled for the Raw or SmackDown before WrestleMania.
[00:33:05] So now this bears the question, are we going to see a surprise appearance by Jon or are we going to get a surprise appearance by the man who has yet to show up, and that is Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Dwayne the Rock Johnson has been MIA for, for the Last four weeks has not said anything, has not done anything to fuel the fire. And you know what he's gonna do if anything? He's gonna show up two weeks before the show and he is gonna cut his crazy promos even longer than this one with two people. He's gonna create by himself and he is going to give Cody one last chance and then Cody is going to be beat in down just like the Rock did last year up to the build of WrestleMania. So that was a fun segment and I am very looking forward to what Cody has to say in the weeks coming and if we do get a surprise appearance from Dwayne Johnson. Going back to last week's Raw, we had a tag match, Jay USO and a mystery partner against a town under.
[00:34:34] So Jay came out, he was alone. So there was a lot of speculations and I even said this last episode that there were speculations that Jay was going to team with Scottish native or Glasgow native. I forget if where, if he's even from Glasgow, but they thought he was going to team with Joe Hendry.
[00:34:57] And I said that that was a dumb idea, but I thought they were gonna do it anyway to get the cheap pop. But no, they actually brought in Jimmy Uso. I was like, okay, good. They brought in the Usos to face a town under.
[00:35:13] So I guess that was okay. It was pretty much a quick match.
[00:35:19] They got some heat on Jimmy. Theory landed a stiff running forearm before the action went to commercial break. Back from break, Waller rolled into a Samoan drop from Jimmy. Jay then tagged in, but then was quickly double teamed by both Waller and theory.
[00:35:40] The USO's then fought back.
[00:35:42] Jimmy hit the blind tag out to Jey.
[00:35:47] Then there was a sequence where Jimmy, as Waller was running towards him, picked Waller up and when Waller came down, Jay speared him. And then finally the USO's delivered the 1D on Austin theory for the 1, 2, 3, postmatch.
[00:36:13] Jimmy and Jay were celebrating. And then as Jimmy was on the top rope, Gunter attacked him, knocking him down.
[00:36:23] He then went after Jay. Jay hit the super kick and set up for a spear. Now when Jay set up for the spear, when he went out from the corner, this played into the botch that he had initially at the Brussels show where he fell over the top rope doing the top rope dive to a town down under.
[00:36:54] So for this one, as he was going to spear Gunter, he slipped, fell face first, tried to stumble back up.
[00:37:05] Gunther countered, hit some back elbows, looked like he was going to finish Jay off. But Jimmy came In saved his brother, ran Gunther off with the steel chair, and all Gunther could do was smile. We later got a backstage segment with Jey USO and Jimmy. Jay was sitting on the stairwell alone.
[00:37:38] Jimmy comes in.
[00:37:40] He asked what's been going on with Jay over the last couple weeks. He brought up the die from the week before and Jimmy said that he was clearly in his own head and last week's mistake had become a meme and a joke. And now people are assuming that Jay is not suitable to be World champion. Jay pointed out that the slip at the spear attempt and if he didn't get his head straight, there was no way he was going to beat Gunter at WrestleMania.
[00:38:17] Jace then said that he's 03 against Gunter and he said that this version of Jay cannot beat Gunter. And Jimmy said that that's true, but you know, what is needed is the right hand man. Jey uso the main event. USO that won the Royal Rumble.
[00:38:40] That is the J that needs to show up and beat Gunther. Then Jimmy heard something.
[00:38:50] He said, I got you. Goes around the corner and there's Gunther listening.
[00:38:55] Jimmy then challenged Gunter for a match next week in London. And Gunter accepted and said, as long as you don't fall and slipped like your brother and not backing down. Jimmy laughs and then slaps the hell out of Gunther. Gunther has received slaps from both Jimmy and Jay.
[00:39:21] And every single time I have seen or heard those slaps, those slaps are horrid. So they did not hold back against Gunther when slapping him.
[00:39:32] Now, shifting from that tag match that we had to what we got tonight, we got Jimmy USO versus Gunther.
[00:39:48] We'll start after the break.
[00:39:50] Jimmy went up for the USO splash, but Gunter got the knees up.
[00:39:58] And then Gunter tried to go to the top rope to deliver his own splash, but Jimmy responded with an uppercut and then gave Gunter a superplex. Jimmy then hit the USO splash. Only had a two count as Jimmy went back up. Gunter chopped him in midair.
[00:40:23] Gunther then hit a belly to back suplex on the apron.
[00:40:29] So we'll pick up after the break. Gunter was toying around with Jimmy. Jimmy then slapped Gunter right in the face.
[00:40:41] Jimmy then hit some kicks to the midsection of Gunter and went for the drop down uppercut.
[00:40:49] He then super kicked Gunter.
[00:40:52] Jimmy hit the German suplex and then another super kick.
[00:40:59] Went for the running hip attack in the corner. But Gunter quickly responded with the shotgun drop kick. He connected for the power bomb as it was going to be three.
[00:41:14] Gunter picked Jimmy's head up, said no, no, no, it's not. It talked some more smack, hit Jimmy with another big boot, then delivered a big lariat, picked him up for the two count again, chopped the back of Jimmy's neck, and then finally put in the rear naked choke. And Jimmy then passed out. There was a bit of some technical difficulties because Jay's Triton Tron then began to play at the top of the ramp. But Gunter's music was on, so they quickly had to change that.
[00:41:54] And Jimmy was passed out and Gunter applied the choke again. Jay then comes out, didn't waste no time dancing, ran right towards the ring, fought off Gunter, and Gunter ran away.
[00:42:15] So all through commercial, after Jay came out to save Jimmy, Jimmy was being checked on.
[00:42:24] Jimmy and Jay were looking to go to the back, but then Gunter, after, except like five, six minutes, rushed both Jay and Jimmy. Jay then was thrown into the ring steps. He slapped Jay in chest. The security guards were trying to separate the situation.
[00:42:50] Gunter just takes one of the security guards, power, bombs him onto the stairs, kicks another security guard, then drove Jay into the steel ring post. And then all of a sudden, Gunter has zip ties and he zip ties Jay's hands to the middle rope. Gunter then said that Jay was not on his level. And Gunter blast Jimmy in the head with the world heavyweight championship and then ask Jay if he can handle the pressure. He kept beating up on Jimmy and Jimmy was busted open and it was a nice little, you know, grays, nice little bit of color.
[00:43:42] Having Jay handcuffed to the ropes, watching his brother get demolished by Gunter added that level of importance and had that fuel to the fire to this build. Gunter then hit Jimmy with another power bomb. He hit Jimmy with some more punches and then wipe the blood all over his own body.
[00:44:11] He threw Jimmy right in front of Jay. Jay still struggling with the zip ties, basically toying with Jey and then pulled Jimmy away and put on the choke. And meanwhile, the entire time, Gunter is still talking smack. Well, Jimmy is just passing out. Almost reminiscent to when Roman reigns in the hell in a cell match with Jay. When Jimmy came out to try to save Jay against Roman. Roman put the guillotine on Jimmy. And when Jay came to, he finally said, I quit. Same moment here, Jay just having to watch his brother get demolished by Gunther. And meanwhile, Jay is saying, I'm gonna kill you and Gunther because of the blood on Jimmy's face. He's got it all over him. So he's talking trash and saying like, stuff like, help me brother, you know, reach farther like. And he's Just bloody the entire time.
[00:45:27] It's absolutely insane. And finally, Gunther, let's go. Poses with the title. He's bloody, and now Gunther is gonna have to pay. So that is one of the big parts that has now rejuvenated this segment and this feud between Jey uso and Gunther. Going back to last week, we had Lyra Valkyria vs. Raquel Rodriguez for the Women's Intercontinental Championship. Pretty nothing match. Just a nice easy women's title defense on a raw. After the commercial break, Rattel then delivered a jackhammer off the ropes to Viola, but only got a two count.
[00:46:23] Lyra then fought back, countering a suplex into a ddt. But Liv interfered by placing Raquel's foot on the ropes to break the pin. Lyra then went outside drop kick Morgan off the apron. Back into the ring, Raquel went for the Tijuana bomb. But Lyra rolled up raquel for the 1, 2, 3, and retained raquel her championship. Now, during these moments before the match, Bailey was talking to Lyra and then Bailey came out to save Lyra and attacked Liv on the outside. She handed the belt to Lyra as they celebrated. So chances of possibly getting Bailey vs. Lyra for the Intercontinental Championship is possible.
[00:47:16] Maybe even a tag team match between Lyra and Bailey against Liv, Morgan and Raquel. I do not know where that tag team championship match is going to come into play for the women, but I do know that Liv Morgan does deserve a spot on WrestleMania for the amount of work that she has put in in this last year. We then had El Grande Americano.
[00:47:46] This was the debut of Chad Gable's brand new Mexican character named El Grande Americano. And they said that he was from the Gulf of America. If any one of you are hurt from that and are discussed at that, it is pro wrestling.
[00:48:10] The gimmick is that he's American made.
[00:48:14] So this is the American luchador.
[00:48:18] So they're gonna try to poke fun at it because it's a gimmick.
[00:48:23] But of course, as we know, this was Chad Gable under the mask.
[00:48:29] And it kicked off hot. Gable hit a exploding suplex off of the apron as they went into commercial. I thought that was incredible. Back from the break, the two landed some stiff chops with Dragon Lee countering a German suplex, followed by a superkick. Dragon Lee then charged, but Gable launched him with an overhead suplex into the corner and started in. Ole, Ole. Ole. Ole. Chant.
[00:49:01] And of course, with the European crowd, those are the strongest words that you can start a chant with. Lee then avoided A moonsault by Americano and followed up with a liger bomb that got a near fall. Towards the end of the match, Lee was setting up for a foot stomp in the corner while Gable was in the tree of Woe. Sorry, Americano.
[00:49:28] And he then went up and reached and grabbed Dragon Lee's masks and ripped it off his face.
[00:49:39] And then of course, Lee, as many luchadors tried to cover up his face with the distraction, Gable quickly, sorry, Americano.
[00:49:52] He went for the ankle. Locked. And of course, Dragonly had no choice but to tap out. So El Grande Americano got his first win with the company. And now this storyline where Gable is quote unquote sick and turns into El Grande Americano really just shows you how much that they are willing to make of this new character and give Gable a chance. So Gable is going to be the list of the many American heroes to wear a luchador mask for a little bit. And now they have repackaged Gable for, you know, I don't even know how many times they've packaged Gable. They've always packaged Gable because of his physique and they've tried to give him the best they can, but they got him with the shorty G gimmick and then they turned back and they had and they had a chance to pull the trigger with the IC title and him and Sami Zayn and with Otis and everything that happened last year and they didn't do that. So now trying to give him another go. We then got a Punk promo. Said he had a match at WrestleMania but what he wanted, he wasn't getting. He talked about how he failed to win the Royal Rumble and he failed winning the elimination chamber. But through it all, nothing has changed. And with a smirk, he said, I work with children, of course. From the iconic media scrum at Brawl out a few years ago, he called Seth Rollins the world champion of being a piss baby, blaming him from screwing him over at the Chamber. But while Rollins and Roman seem to take things personally, Punk it's only business. He claimed that Rollins had been crying since Punk's return because Punk's presence overshadowed everything Rollins has built.
[00:52:05] As for Roman, Punk talked about Reigns. Wise man might not be so loyal. Referencing the favor that's owed to Paul Heyman. He said he was looking forward to the Smackdown contract signing and made it clear that he wasn't just showing up for another formality. He wanted to know if. If this was truly his path to the main event of Wrestlemania or if the powers that be are setting him up for another Disappointment, which we already know that it indeed was exactly that. The main event for the show in Glasgow was Penta versus Brawn Breaker for the Intercontinental Championship. After the break, Penta hit a super kick, a bulldog and a backstabber, but still only got a two count. Braun then countered the Canadian Destroyer and hit a military press gut buster, but only got a near fall after a hurricane Rana off the middle rope in a dive to the outside, Penta finally landed the Canadian Destroyer, but still Breaker kicked out. Braun then answered with his own Frankensteiner and set up for a spear.
[00:53:31] But then all of a sudden, Dominic, Mysterio and Carlito showed up over the Judgment Day and Dominic distracted the ref. Well, Carlito tried to interfere. Breaker then yanked Carlito into the ring, speared him. Dominic then shot, blocked Braun from behind, but the ref caught it.
[00:53:54] Immediately disqualified Penta, which gave Breaker the win by adq.
[00:54:01] Breaker then went after Dominic, but Finn Balor came in and ran with a steel chair. Balor then handed the steel chair to Dominic. Dominic whacked Brawn with it and then passed it to Penta. Now, Penta was trying to be recruited by Dominic to be a part of Judgment Day because for weeks Dom has been saying that they need another person to fill Damien Priest's shoes and also because JD's not there, so they need somebody there. And Dominic was trying to say that Penta should be in the Judgment Day. So Penta had the chairman, they held up Breaker.
[00:54:48] Dominick's trying to reason with Penta and then finally makes the decision. He flings the chair at Dominic and super kicks him furiously. Balor attacks Penta, taking him out with a chair and then hit Breaker with the drop kick and then hit the coup de grace on Penta.
[00:55:14] And at the end of the show in Glasgow, a rare scene, but the Judgment Day stood tall. So continuing on with that, this week we had a tag match between Braun, Breaker and Penta versus Dominic and Finn. Now, after the break, Dominic hit some shoulder blocks and then tagged back in Balor. Balor then hit the foot stomp on Penta. Back and forth. Mysterio went for the three amigos. Penta lands on his feet. Mysterio then sent Penta into the corner.
[00:56:01] Penta dropped Mysterio with a backbreaker. Breaker and Balor were both tagged in. Breaker went for the leaping shoulder tackle, hit some rights and lefts and then hit two overhead belly to bellies on Balor. Breaker then hit a double vertical suplex on both Mysterio and Balor. He kips back up, hits a Lariat on Balor.
[00:56:28] Breaker then tags in Penta and then Breaker lifted, hoisted Dominic up in the air in an electric chair position. And in memoriam to the hall of Fame dad and uncle, the Steiner brothers hit a doomsday reverse sling blade that only got a two count.
[00:56:58] Breaker then dumped Mysterio out of the ring. Penta super kicked Balor.
[00:57:03] The ref got distracted by Carlito. Penta went for the Mexican destroyer, but Mysterio was on the outside, grabbed Penta's leg and then Breaker was looking to spear Balor. Mysterio held Penta back. Mysterio told Balor to get out the way. And Mysterio pushes Penta, who he had held back into Balor's position. And Breaker inadvertently accidentally spears Penta. Mysterio takes Breaker out of the ring.
[00:57:43] Balor goes up, hits the coup de grace, and 1, 2, 3. Penta finally is pinned. Now, of course, this is not in singles action, it's in tag team action. But Penta got pinned by Finn Balor.
[00:58:00] Unbelievable. And the rumor that we are getting is we are possibly getting a fatal four way match between Penta, Dominic Mysterio, Finn Balor and Braun Breaker for the Intercontinental Championship in which I believe Dominic Mysterio should absolutely win. And how he should do it is Finn Balor should take the pin because Mysterio is going to be the slimy heel. And when Breaker or Pensa has Balor beat, Mysterio is going to pull whoever is looking to take the win pull them out of the ring and he is going to pin Balor and it's going to be that power struggle now with Dominic winning the Intercontinental Championship and not Finn. And then finally Dominic is going to turn his back on Finn and we get Babyface Finn.
[00:59:09] So that is my call for Wrestlemania. We then tonight also had a segment between AJ Styles and Logan Paul. And Logan Paul came out, he talked to Shtick and he tried to play down of the attack and the call out that he had a couple weeks ago against AJ Styles. And Logan said that I forgive you because I have had a change of heart. I'm trying to teach my daughter the art of forgiveness. So aj, I forgive you for what you did to me at Madison Square Garden, but I don't forget, so don't pull that again. And AJ responded with, you know what, I forgive you for being the biggest douchebag that has ever stepped foot in wwe. He talked about Logan, bragging about his success, his money, but these fans don't care about that. They care about what you're willing to sacrifice in this ring for them. And you have all the talent in the world, but in this business, talent will only get you so far. The only question is, what are you gonna do with it? And Logan then said, you know what they say, don't take advice from anybody you wouldn't want to trade places with. Styles responded with, you know what else they say?
[01:00:35] Don't let a mouth write a check that your ass can't cash.
[01:00:40] Logan then took that as a threat and Styles wanted to brawl right then and there.
[01:00:50] But Logan said that he does not fight for free. The city can't afford me. Everyone is broke. But how about this? Set your sights higher. Logan then tried to hit Styles with the boot. Stiles blocked it, hit some rights and left into the corner. Logan blocked the Styles clash, rolled to the ring. Styles then avoided the titanium punch and slammed Logan's head on the announce table on the outside. Logan went back into the ring and as Styles was trying to follow him, Logan then kicked the middle rope in between Styles legs and then hit the Pulverizer.
[01:01:36] And man, Logan looked super jacked, I will say that much.
[01:01:42] But that Pulverizer move is so clean that I am surprised that no one else is using that move.
[01:01:54] Sure it does not get as much of a pop because it's Logan Paul and Logan Paul was booed. Very heavenly in this segment with AJ Styles. But it is official that AJ Styles will in fact be facing Logan Paul and at WrestleMania. So we do know that.
[01:02:15] So that'll be a nice little opener I have to say for WrestleMania for one of the nights if they choose to open it with that match. But Styles and Paul is the direction for Mania 41. There was a couple of different matches that did take place on this week's Monday Night Raw. There was the return of Tyler Bates, Tyler Bate is back, and Pete Dunn is now a face once again. And they fought against the New Day and the New Day won after Kofi yanked Tyler Bay off the apron and woods drove Dunn face first into the middle turnbuckle pad that was exposed and New Day connected with Daybreak to pick up the victory. New Day has been saying that they deserve a title shot against the War Raiders. So there's a chance that we see that match at WrestleMania. Kofi Kingston and Xavier woods facing off against the War Raiders for the tag titles, in which I know that the New Day will win those tag straps.
[01:03:39] So the main event for the London Raw was a match that was made official. So we have not yet gotten the Triple Threat officially Between EO sky and Rhea, Ripley and Bianca Belair. Currently it is still Bianca Belair and IYO Sky. So to give Ria the opportunity, Adam Pearce last week said that Rio will get her rematch, but Bianca will be the special guest referee. So after the break, Iyo kicked the legs out from Ria. Ria avoided a roundhouse kick, but sky got a roll through double foot stop. She then ascended to the top turnbuckle, but Ripley stopped Sky on top. Rhea then put sky on her shoulders. Rhea then blocked the reverse hurricane Rana and went for the Samoan drop. But sky countered this beautifully into a big crucifix bomb. She then hit the bullet train attack.
[01:04:50] Ripley shoved sky off the top turnbuckle. Sky then slammed Rhea's head on the top rope. She went for the flying cross body, but Ripley countered it with a headbutt for a two, which was gnarly. Sky came off the top rope and Rhea just hit her in the head for a two count. Sky then denied riptide. Ripley then hit the razor's edge instead.
[01:05:19] She then hit the running knee strike on sky for another two count. Rhea then went to try riptide again, but sky rolled her over for a two back and forth, going around and around each other. They were inching closer and closer. Ripley then hit sky with a back elbow and then went to go hit IO with a big boot, but Rhea ended up missing and accidentally kicked Bianca out the ring. Ripley then hit a roundhouse kick, finally hit riptide on sky, but Belair was outside on the floor. Ripley then told Belair to get into the ring and make the count. She comes in. Sky still kicks out at 2. Rhea then bickered with Bianca, started hitting lefts and rights, ground and pound on IO. Belair pulled Ripley off a Sky and Ripley slapped Bianca in the face and sky inadvertently wiped out Belair. While Belair was talking to Ripley and Belair was hit with a missile drop kick from Sky. Rhea then attacked sky from behind and as Bianca was outside after the missile drop kick, finally said, you know what? Screw this. Double disqualification. Ripley and Belair both start brawling on the outside. Sky then delivers a springboard crossbody on both of them. She rolled Rhea back to the ring. Sky then tried to tee off on Ripley. Bianca comes in, hits IO, Blair went for her own ground to pound and lefts and rights on the floor, but then Rhea headbutt Belair. Ria then hit two riptides and drag Belair to the corner and then hit Belair with an avalanche riptide off the second rope and the show closed out with Rhea holding the Women's World Championship. Pretty good match overall.
[01:07:37] Very good at their letting the women main event and especially with such a big match like this. And of course I know eventually they will let this triple threat match happen but they're egging it on more and more and more. Like Rhea is actually not going to compete at WrestleMania but we know she is. So overall both Raw Tonight and Raw last week from Glasgow were an absolute amazing shows and now we got more build for Jay and Gunter, we got more build for Cena and Cody. We actually got a promo battle between the two of them and lots more is looking forward down the road for WrestleMania. But now let's get into the Smackdown that happened last week also at the O2 arena in London. So on Smackdown last week it kicked off with Cody because of course in case anybody has forgotten, Cody is still the WWE Champion and he represents smackdown.
[01:08:50] So all the smackdown dates that Cena is scheduled for after Mania should show you that when Cena does win the championship that he will solely be on smackdown. Before he could say much though, Randy Orton came out and got another massive pop from the crowd.
[01:09:15] Oren admitted that he's not usually the sentimental type, but for this crowd he'll make an exception. He then turned his attention to Cody and reminisced about Cody when he first knew the one who busted his ass harder than anybody but wasn't treated fairly in wwe. He acknowledged that when Cody left. He acknowledged that when Cody left he changed the wrestling business single handedly. He recalled Cody Cody's Hell in a Cell match against Seth Rollins where he wrestled his torn pec and he admired Cody for fighting through the injury and then talked about finishing his story with Roman Reigns. He said that even the wrestling business has been thriving today 99.9% because of Cody. But he's also not here just to admire Cody. He's here to make his own Goals. Brought up WrestleMania and he said that he's going to kick Kevin Owens so hard in the head that it's going to go off his should. But then he went to Cody and said that you're also going to beat the hell out of Cena all up and down the Vegas strip. But once the dust settles for both men or it is coming for his 15th World Championship or in if he does win another World Championship, is only one away from tying Ric Flair's record and then I need another one. And again he's basically back for probably another 10, eight years.
[01:10:46] So there is lots of time for even Orton to have a chance at tying that record or breaking that record that Cena is so focused on breaking. But he said, unlike the others, he promised that he wouldn't take a cheap shot and he wouldn't kick Cody in the ball as a coward. Instead, he looked him dead in the eye and he will tell him face to face that he is coming for the WWE Championship. And just as they were wrapping up Drew McIntyre, his music hit and there was a big ovation in the uk. But he wasn't in the mood for the pleasantries.
[01:11:22] And this is kind of funny that he said this on the Smackdown before the Cena Cody promo that happened almost three days later.
[01:11:34] He mocked Cody Orton, calling them Nepo babies and saying it made him sick to see them standing together in the ring. He then turned to Orton and questioned what did he done to deserve a WWE Championship match.
[01:11:49] And he said, get in the back of the line. I'm way ahead of you. He then turned his attention to Cody and said he tried to warn him months ago, but instead of listening, Cody attacked him. He also doubled down about his warnings of John Cena, claiming that he had been right all along. He then brought up Damian Priest before walking into the ring and he made his goals clear that he didn't just want the WWE Championship, he wanted to take it from Cody Rhodes. Because it wasn't just about the gold. It was personal and he wanted to teach Cody a lesson. He turned back to Randy and Drew talked about how Orton may look Jack on the outside, but inside his back was still hanging by a thread. McIntyre then stepped towards Cody, only to get a kick in the gut and Orton went for the rko. But Drew then slipped out of the ring just in time and it was set up for a match later on in the night. Drew McIntyre versus Randy Orton. This promo was really good, with Randy now also posing a threat for Cody post Mania if Cody makes it out alive. But Randy most likely will face whoever is champion on that first ple after mania in St. Louis at Backlash.
[01:13:09] So reminder that Randy is coming for the World Championship and then Drew coming out here and setting up more of the feud and you know, giving him something interesting going towards his match that he has officially at WrestleMania against Damian Priest. There was an announcement during this Smackdown where the next hall of Fame member was announced. So the inductees currently have been Triple H, Michelle McCool, Lex Luger, and the Natural Disasters, which is Earthquake and Typhoon.
[01:14:00] So those are the official members pretty much.
[01:14:06] Very, very impressive class. And now the Newest member of the hall of Fame going in this year is not a group, not an individual. They are now doing matches. They are calling them Immortal moments. And the match that they are inducting into the hall of Fame as the immortal moment is Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Bret Hart from WrestleMania 13 in the no disqualification submission match with Ken Shamrock. Now out of all of those people, I would imagine that that name right there, Ken Shamrock should induct this match because he was a part of it.
[01:15:00] So the real question is, who's going to be there to receive it? Is it going to be both Brett and Stone Cold? Brett actually, believe it or not, will be the first ever three time hall of Famer in the WWE because he was inducted, of course, in 2005 he was inducted with the Hart foundation with his tag team partner Jim the Anvil Nightheart. And now he will be inducted a third time with Stone Cold who was inducted in 2009.
[01:15:43] So pretty interesting move for the hall of Fame to now start and inducting matches. But you know, these are moments in time and moments in wrestling history that are are super big in, you know, what would turn out as now the present of pro wrestling. So nice that they're recognizing matches a little bit.
[01:16:10] We then had LA Knight vs Braun Strowman for the United States Championship.
[01:16:18] Early on, the two locked up. Stroman of course overpowered Knight. He tried lifting Stroman multiple times, but Stroman still dominated and delivered a big hip toss and even went for a pin, but only got a two. Knight however, did use speed and technique and landed two sliding drop kicks and a wrecking ball drop kick to the outside and ran a big boot from Strowman. After the commercial break, Knight finally lifted Strowman up for a suplex. I don't know how, but it wasn't like clean. He followed up with an elbow drop and set up for the bft, but Strowman countered and sent Knight over the rope. Stroman then went for the Strowman Express where he races around the ring. But all of a sudden Jacob Fatu appears out of nowhere and hits a big flying elbow to Strowman. And of course another DQ finish. Fatu then wrecked Strowman with a Samoan drop through the announce table and then hit some more headbutts in the ring.
[01:17:20] Knight tried to help. I got taken out with a pop up Samoan drop as well. And Batuu capped off with two moonsaults to Strowman before heading out the ring backstage. Solo came up and basically was questioning Jacob what he was doing. Fatu then yelled about what happened last week when Solo screwed Fatu over and insisted that he didn't need help and that the others shouldn't have interfered with his business.
[01:17:52] Solo demanded that Fatu lower his voice when he's talking to him. Then Jacob made it clear that when it comes to Braun Strowman, he will be the last man standing. He said that he will bring the United States Championship home to the Bloodline, that he'll do it without them or with them. Like I said before, lots of frustrations in factions now recently with Judgment Day and right now with the Bloodline. So a chance that we possibly could see Fatu versus Solo or we get another multi man match for a mid car title.
[01:18:35] So that was pretty good and I am looking forward to when we see Fatu make his WrestleMania debut.
[01:18:43] We then got a promo from Naomi.
[01:18:49] This was a very good promo, one of the top ones she's ever done in wwe. She insisted that she's always wanted to do the right thing and she questioned why so many people have been justified in their actions for claiming what they did, but yet in her case she truly believed she did. She turned her attention to Bianca and asked why her attack on Jade wasn't considered the right move. She questioned how Jade could step in and take her place and challenge Bianca to reflect on who had always been there for her. Was it Jade or was it Naomi? She then made it clear that she was done being overlooked and underappreciated. She declared that the people will learn how to treat you based on what you allow and from this point on she would no longer be pushed aside. She then warned and told Jade that if she continued to stand in her path she would strongly advise to proceed with caution. And of course that's because now her attire is with caution tape. But very good that she is now pursuing this big heel run and it will do lots for her career. Unfortunately it will not do much for her match against Jade Cargill at Mania. In the main event match we got Randy Orton versus Drew McIntyre. Early on Drew looked like he had the upper hand. Orton fought back with some punches in the corner but sent Drew into the ring post.
[01:20:29] Orton then took the fight outside and hit the back suplex onto the commentary table before heading into the commercial break after Drew had control, but Orton fought back and hit a clothesline and a snap power slam as Drew was on the apron or in, then delivered the draping DDT and was fired up hitting the rko. But just as he was about to strike. Kevin Owens comes from the shadows and he comes in distracts or in he does not touch him. But as Orton turned around and started to face towards Drew, Drew hits him with the claymore and Drew clean pins Randy Orton in the main event.
[01:21:15] So adding some more fuel to or in vs Owens at WrestleMania.
[01:21:23] After the match, Owens did try to attack Randy, but Randy got the upper hand and looked to deliver the punt kick again. But Owens quickly ran out of the ring.
[01:21:36] So that punt kick is going to be very special when we get it at WrestleMania. We got a couple of different vignettes. We had a vignette like I talked about last week with Alistair Black. That one said three. Now, it is almost confirmed that on the Smackdown after WrestleMania that we could be looking at the return of Alistair Black. And I noticed there was a snake in this vignette with Alistair Black. Could that mean that we are getting Alistair Black versus Randy as a rivalry post Wrestlemania? I do not know. It's potentially what could be. But until then, until we get more clues on who could Aleister Black be targeting? It definitely looked like that, but we had another vignette and this one was more of a statement rather than a teaser. It was finally revealed that Rey Fenix will be debuting at the Chicago taping of Friday Night smackdown. This will be the first Friday night Smackdown this week and it will be the first smackdown back in the States.
[01:23:06] So Ray Phoenix finally gets announced and he will have his debut. Who he debuts against possibly Miz Carmelo. There's not a lot of people that they can put Penta with.
[01:23:22] Santos Andrade. Andrade was in a segment talking to Legato del Fantasma. So those are some possible choices that we could get for the debut of Rey Fenix. After the vignettes, Drew was on his way out of the building when all of a sudden he opened the door and found Damian Priest was standing there waiting for him.
[01:23:48] Two men slammed each other into a car. All of a sudden a bystander was there and Priests took it out on him and power bombed the bystander through a table. Priest and McIntyre then continue to brawl onto the top of the car.
[01:24:05] Priest then delivered the south of Heaven choke slam onto the hood and completely shattered the windshield. And McIntyre was complaining after that. There was actually glass in his eye.
[01:24:19] And funny enough, immediately after this segment we were seeing CM Punk being escorted into the building by security and looked over at Drew McIntyre. So another reference of real glass for CM Punk. So for this contract signing between Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and CM Punk. Roman came out first. First. And the London crowd erupted and chanted for Roman. He said, London, acknowledge me. And immediately signed the contract. And he declared that he was the biggest star on the planet and the reason why WB had reached its current heights. And there's quite a lovely moment when they were chanting, Roman Reigns. Roman. Roman. Reigns.
[01:25:14] And even Paul Heyman got to sing and Roman called it beautiful. Seth then made his way and the crowd continued to sing his song. Of course. He then shifted the tone and he reflected back on Reigns history inside the O2 arena, acknowledged the highs and the lows of their relationship and argued that Reigns egotistical mindset had always been their biggest dividend. There's more chance of CM Punk. But Reigns dismissed any notion that they had achieved their original mission together and said, we died a long time ago. We did not accomplish our mission. He claimed that it was only through his efforts that WWE has become what it is today. Rollins fired back and blamed Reigns for allowing the biggest snake in the world, CM Punk, to be back in wwe. He accused Reigns of failing to end Punk at Madison Square Garden after Rollins was pulled out by Reigns. Rollins then finally said that he's gonna clean up the mess once again and sign the contract. And then the third name came out.
[01:26:25] Cult of Personality rings through the O2 arena and Punk comes in and he says that he is all out of bubblegum and ready to kick ass. Now. Of course Punk is going through the contract quickly. Reigns tells Paul Heyman because Punk and Heyman are so close.
[01:26:51] He says that he wants Heyman to just tell him what it is. And Heyman kneels beside Punk and he says, I know what you're looking for and it's in that contract. You're going to close the show at Russell WrestleMania. And immediately. And immediately Punk realized what Paul said.
[01:27:10] Paul finally says, UCM Punk are officially a WrestleMania main eventer. And he kisses Punk on the cheek. And there is the yes chance. And meanwhile Roman is hyped up and he goes, one man's dream is another man's favor. Check. And he is just laughing it off. And meanwhile Punk is a little bit emotional, teary eyed. And Rollins immediately loses it. He goes, he doesn't deserve it. The main event of WrestleMania is sacred and it means more to me than anything.
[01:27:44] And he blames Reigns and Heyman for handing Punk the opportunity.
[01:27:49] And finally Punk then looks and says thank you. And Roman asked Punk to acknowledge him. Now I want to mention one quick thing here. If you zoom into Paul Heyman's face when Reigns tells Punk to acknowledge him. You see, very visibly, Heyman says, no, he said he shook. He shakes his head. So people are speculating more so people are speculating more on why Heyman does not want Punk to acknowledge Roman. But he says, thank you, my tribal chief. Thank you for allowing a kid from Chicago to be graced by your presence. It's because of you. I will see you in the main event of WrestleMania.
[01:28:30] And of course there is the chance of you deserve it. Punk signs the contract. But just as the show looks like it's about to end, he turns to Heyman and he goes, but that's not the favor that I am owed. And Heyman just looks distraught and Reigns is visibly confused. Rollins is losing it. And that's how we end the show for smackdown. So now I will mention that there were a couple of matches that did happen to be on this smackdown. We had the Street Profits versus pretty deadly. They retained, we had the Secret Hervis, which is the new tag team and stable of Alba Fire and Piper Niven, with Chelsea Green the Women's United States Champion. And they beat Katana Chance and Kaden Carter. We also had Charlotte Flair beat Meechan.
[01:29:27] There's pretty much nothing that really happened on this episode. It was mostly filled with vignettes and segments because not a match went over eight minutes.
[01:29:40] The main event is now clear that it will be Roman, Reigns, Seth Rollins and CM Punk.
[01:29:51] So we got night one, the Triple Threat and night two, Cena versus Cody. Now I wanted to wait until I got done talking about smackdown and talking about that this was the main event. Now that means that Jay Uso and Gunter will not main event WrestleMania, neither will Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Strat. Now I want to just say this again because I said this in the last episode.
[01:30:22] What if, what if, what if Punk does not cash in that favor? Or what if he does, but it ends up being construed it in some way.
[01:30:34] Now I mentioned this last week. Now here I have a better visualization of what could happen. Night one, main event, WrestleMania in Las Vegas. Ref bump. Roman, Spears, Rollins, Punk and Reigns face up and Punk looks over at Heyman and he says, now's the favor. And Punk turns back to Roman. And meanwhile, Heyman's throwing a fit, going, I don't know what you mean. I don't understand the favorite. I can't do it. And meanwhile, Roman just shrugs it off, hits Punk with his moves. Roman gets in the corner and Heyman pulls Roman's leg out from the corner. Roman looks back at Heyman Heyman gives the devious laugh and the smile. Punk then hits his corner knee, goes to hit gts. Rollins then comes behind Punk. Low blows Punk. Rollins hits both Reigns and Punk with Curb stomps. Rollins pins Punk after the match.
[01:31:45] Paul Heyman goes to lift up Punk trying to, you know, be the friend, right? And immediately Heyman kicks Punk again with another low blow. And Punk grovels at the feet of Heyman. And Heyman turns around and shakes hands with Seth Rollins.
[01:32:13] That is how you book the Night One main event.
[01:32:17] Rollins goes over and Heyman betrays both Reigns and Punk together.
[01:32:23] And now Heyman will team with Rollins and Rollins will be shot as the next contender for the championship and most likely beat Jey uso, which after what we saw from Gunter, absolutely obliterating Jimmy I actually now see and we have to see J beat Gunter. It has to be the exact same way that Sammy beat Gunter a year ago for the IC title. So very looking forward to the Night One main event. And I pray that we get that turn from Paul Heyman and he turns to the dark side and he now sides with Roman Reigns and Punk's number one enemy, Seth Rollins province. So like I said, very mid mostly segments on that Smackdown.
[01:33:26] And finally we'll talk a little bit about AEW Dynamite. This came from St. Paul, Minnesota. The first match was a squash match between Kenny Omega and Blake Christian. Just another, you know, nothing match is what it is. V Trigger. One winning angel. Bam.
[01:33:52] Over less than two minutes, Speedball comes out. He congratulates Omega and says that he's been a inspiration and more than respect. He admires him, but he says that he won't hesitate to to kick Omega's head clean off and take his title. Ricochet then shows up on the Tron and he's wearing all white. And he says that he's not there because he loves getting married to Samantha Irvin, the one thing that has made him popular. And he says that it's one of his best days in his life until he beats Omega in speedball and takes that title.
[01:34:31] Omega then says that it's not about making friends. He has a cat. I don't need anyone. And he says that nobody is comrade. And the only thing that Omega has time for and room for is his title and his legacy. Goodbye and good night, B. So we are still getting that triple threat between Speedball, Mike Bailey, Kenny Omega and Ricochet. And I'm not gonna try and like play this off as like, oh, you know, I do follow aew. It's AEW does not have that same energy as before is not something I am looking into weekly. I am trying to do as much as I can and its most build is when it comes to its go homes and its post shows for pay per views and with the Owen Hart tournament that we are going to get that is one of the biggest things that they are going to lean on as far as build towards the pay per views. We then had a promo segment where Chris Jericho, he told Bandido that if he wanted a chance for the Ring of Honor championship that he would have to put his mask on the line. So it's mask versus title for Bandido and Chris Jericho at Dynasty. So we're getting another nothing Ring of Honor World Championship match at an AW pay per View. We then had Kyle Fletcher versus Brody King.
[01:36:13] This dynamite was solely on the singles matches for this show. I do not know why exactly but they just decided to put a bunch of people in one night and all of a sudden just decided that that's what they were going to do.
[01:36:40] So after the commercial break both of the guys were trading their elbows in the middle of the ring because that's like what AW is. Fletcher hits a super kick on King. Brody then hits the rolling elbow and a lariat and then tries to deliver the gonzo bomb. But Fletcher countered with a kick to the knee and a super kick. Fletcher then hit a tombstone, only got a two count. He then charged at Brody but Brody turned him inside out with a lariat. He then hit a splash in the corner and Brody was barking, hits the cannonball. Mark Davis then came from ringside and pulled Kyle Fletcher outside to safety while Don Callis was distracting the ref. Fletcher then put Brody on the top rope. Fletcher then put Brody on the top rope and gave him the eye gouge before delivering the turnbuckle. Brain buster for the 1, 2, 3.
[01:37:44] So nice little easy match and of course more and more build for Kyle Fletcher, so most likely he will definitely be in the Owen tournament. We also got Mark Davis in a match himself. Powerhouse Hobbs again pretty nothing match. Back body drop by Hobbs, power slam clothesline in the corner. Hobbs muscles Davis down, but both of them fell and then Davis popped back up, hits an insigiri. Davis then hit the rope, ran to a spine buster and that was it. One, two, three. Absolutely nothing. So Hangman was in an interview but Swerve came in and interrupted him saying that if he gets involved with his match against Moxley at Dynasty, he will end him. Now again, Hangman Page did say that he was in the Owen so he is another participant who will be in the tournament.
[01:38:49] There was then a segment where Tony Schiavone was interviewing Cope and FTR and it was mostly about how Dax Hardwood walked out on Cash and Cope at Revolution. Dax then said that FTR took a break from their goal to help Cope out with his twice and it still didn't work and Cope cut him off and said that he came back to help ftr. He did not mean to pull them away from their goal.
[01:39:25] Dexton said that they were Directionalists and had nothing to do with But Cash said that he won't be caught in the middle of this and says that when he was struggling and had nowhere to live, Adam gave him a place to live. Cash wants his best friends to stop fighting and Dax said that he did apologize and he wants the World Tag Team Championships. But Wheeler comes in and says that actually there's still some fight for Rated ftr. So how about this, we get those trios titles instead and they try to do top guys out but Dax walks away.
[01:40:09] So we are getting a matchup between the Deathriders and Rated FTR and probably will be the exact same same outcome. We then had a segment with Swerve Strickland.
[01:40:30] Swerve came out and said that everybody knows why he's here and it's to call out Jon Moxley. Not the Death Riders, but just Moxley. So one on one he wants him in the ring. Moxley comes to the ring through the crowd and in the ring Swerve says that he's allowed things to go on like this for far too long and people have been asking him since October why he hasn't been going after his AEW World Championship. He turned his attention to John and said, look at you. You were once revered here in aew. You and the AEW World Championship used to be synonymous with one another, but now you hide behind Claudio, you behind Wheeler, Yuta, you hide behind Pac. Hell, you even hide behind Marina Shafir. He said that they still had the nerve to say that nobody in the back wants to be AEW Championship, but you're not even worthy enough to be champion yourself. I think the reason that you hide that title in a little briefcase is because you can't even look at it on your shoulder anymore. Because. Because every time you have a championship defense you narrowly escape. And last week you showed the world how weak you were. He asked how's that back doing? Because everything about Jon Moxley that you used to describe yourself as, that's the man looking at you right here, right now. And then all of a sudden, Claudio appears from out of nowhere, and he stands behind Prince Nana. Moxley responds, he said that sounded great, if you believe it. But this isn't about me. This is about you. At Dynasty. It's you versus you. He says, I know. I listen, I watch. I see everything. I hear everything. I know who you are. I know exactly what you are. I know what you could be. He's had high hopes for Swerve, but I've been disappointed before. But you just have to ask yourself one question. How far are you willing to go? Not just tonight, but every day. When it's cold and dark and you're tired, when the world is bearing down on your shoulders, we have no friends. When everyone's gunning for you, when you have the weight of the entire world on your shoulders, will you endure? Will you put one foot in front of the other and keep going? Or will you look for a way out? Will you take others with you? There's a lot of questions that you've got to ask yourself. You're not what you think you are. You haven't suffered enough.
[01:43:11] It's guys like you that give me hope for my future. Guys like you that make me think everything I put my mind and my soul and my body through for a reason.
[01:43:22] But I ain't going to give it to you. I don't care what kind of organization they're running around here. I don't give give handouts. So how far are you willing to go? Me? I'm willing to go the whole way right now. Shouldn't be a problem. You are the most dangerous man in aew. Are you? And then all of a sudden, Shafir walks out, hops on the apron. Willow Nightingale comes out and tells Shafir to get down. So now, realizing that he's got backup, Swerve, then says, what's wrong? You're facing someone. He's smarter than you. And he says, you want to talk about unscripted violence?
[01:44:01] I am violence. You've bled pints. I've bled buckets. You've been in Texas death matches. I've won them. I am the most dangerous man in AEW. And in Philadelphia, in 11 days, I take back the AEW World Championship, and I continue to lead the Dynasty era.
[01:44:21] And while I'm doing that, you can keep playing. Jon Moxley, Leon TV that was a segment that was a callback to a John Cena promo that they had before.
[01:44:34] So that was pretty good. Jay White came in. He said, he was going to be part of the Owen we had type flight versus Alex Finley and Devo Knight. I don't know why we had Mark Brisco vs Takeshna. Again, nothing too serious. Briscoe went for the cutthroat driver. Takeshna lands on feet, rolling elbow and raging fire.
[01:44:59] One, two, three. We had Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm against Megan Bane and Penelope Ford for the main event.
[01:45:12] After the commercial break.
[01:45:14] Some clotheslines after some big elbows and everyone's down. Storm tried to clothesline Bane, but Bane stood tall. Storm then hits a headbutt and Bane heads to the outside.
[01:45:28] She's then sent to the steel steps and Tornado DDT on the floor. Penelope Ford then comes out of a clothesline and hits the Ace crusher on Storm. Rosa comes in with a Death Valley driver. Bane comes back in, hits Faith descent, but Storm is legal. Bane hits a back elbow, but Storm trips Bane into the corner and came back with a running hip attack. Bane immediately pops up, accidentally pump kicks forward.
[01:46:02] Storm rolled her up for two and then hit fate descent onto storm and 1, 2, 3. Megan Bain pins the women's champion looking like Bane is looking very strong going into Dynasty and her match with Toni Storm, the upcoming Dynamite that will take place in Illinois. We will see a mixed Tornado tag match between Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir versus Swerve Strickland and Willow Nightingale. Ospreay will be back. We get Toni Storm versus Penelope Ford. We'll also get Cope versus Claudio Castagnoli and then the brackets will be announced for the Owen Tournament. So the names who are in the men's tournament are Will Ospreay, Hangman Adam Page and Jay White for the women's bracket and we have a full list of these people is Mercedes Monet, Billy Starks, Athena Jamie Hater, Chris Statlander and Thunder Rosa. Ultimately, I believe that we probably could see Monet vs. Athena in the finals with Monet winning and then we could see Monet beat Storm or Storm beat Monet and Storm ends up holding two championships. So those are my predictions for how this Owen will go. Of course there's only three men in the men's bracket, so there could be a lot of people that end up showing up. I have a feeling that we're gonna get something like the Beast, Mortos or Hologram in this tournament for no reason. But definitely looks to be exciting as they are only two weeks away from Dynasty in Philadelphia.
[01:48:09] So that is it for this episode of the Rocking Review podcast. I want to thank you so much and a quick announcement. If you did not know already on my Instagram and or my X page, the Rocking Review is officially on Apple Podcast. That is right. We now have three platforms and much more to come in the future. You can look on Apple Podcasts and shirts for the Rocking review. That's R A W K I n G Review. And you can see all of the past episodes, all of the podcast, as well as the other locations for our podcast, which are Spotify. And of course you can always look at Castros, which is the dash rocking dash review. Castros, that's C a s t o s dot com. But thank you so much for listening to this podcast. And as always, it's spelled R A W K because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling. Thank you everybody.
