Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey everybody, Jrockrude here. And before the start of this episode just a quick little reminder that if you would like to see more of WNYO 88.9 FM and its content then head on over to our brand new YouTube channel at WNYO 88.9 FM3. You cannot search up the old WNYO website because that website has been discontinued. It is now to the brand new YouTube channel WNYO 88.9 FM3 where we will be showing off as many of our content from us wego student ran radio station. Just another reminder that that YouTube channel username wnyo88.9fm3. Thank you very much for listening and if spelled R A W K because we're talking about the W's in pro wrestling. Now on with the show.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: The Rocking Review Podcast hosted by J Rock Root.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting, exciting edition of the Rocking Review Podcast. Thank you very much for listening to episode 16 of the podcast. We are at the close of April and you know what they say, April flowers bring May showers and we are showering down as much of the recent pro wrestling news coming out of WrestleMania 41. We talked a little bit about the Raw after Mania. Now today we're going to be talking about the Smackdown after Mania which saw the return of another former AEW star that being the Black Mass Master himself. Aleister Black has returned to wwe. We and somebody very close to Aleister Black won her first singles title that night. We will go over that match as well as the rest of Smackdown that took place in Texas. We will also be talking about the recent Monday Night Raw that took place in Kansas City where we saw Sami Zayn who returned last week be given an ultimatum to the new dangerous alliance of Seth Rollins and Braun Breaker with their wise man, their manager Paul Heyman. We will go over that episode but I do want to start out that if you are listening to this on either Spotify or Apple podcasts or even our brand new YouTube channel for WNYO, then make sure that you are clicking that follow button and clicking that notification bell so that way you are notified every single time that the Rockin Review drops a brand new episode. Now before we begin to talk about pro wrestling, I haven't done this in a while but I remember at the start of 2025 I wanted to introduce brand new segments where I reintroduced the talk of sports and not just pro wrestling, but sports that I am very infatuated with. And this past weekend we had the NFL draft happen and the NFL Draft every year is like next to like the playoffs and the super bowl and you know, the opening day and everything like that. It is one of the most anticipated events in football. When I say that people were hyped up on this 2025 NFL Draft and I think a lot of people were expecting a lot of major stars to come out of this NFL draft, which I consider a very successful season for the football college world. But the biggest story coming out was not even number one overall pick. It wasn't about, you know, the trades that were made. It was about one man and one man only. And that man's name is Shador Sanders, son of the legendary defensive back Deion Sanders. And when I say that people were gung ho on Shador being drafted at least top five, I honestly would have agreed with them because there was a lot of teams in this draft that had a lot of QB problems which led to them either missing or not doing well in the playoffs.
Some of the obvious choices that people were looking at were teams specifically in the AFC north, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers who just signed away Justin Fields, who started only about six games for them last season before Russell Wilson took over and led them to yes, a over 500 season, but still did not manage to do well in the playoffs against the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson. So they sent away Wilson to the New York Giants and they got Justin Fields over to the New York Jets.
So now with both of who were your starting quarterbacks last season out, you would assume that they need people in the QB room for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The other one was the Cleveland Browns. Now the Cleveland Browns more or less have a decent QB room. They have Joe Flacco who they signed off of free agency. They have desean Watson who we knew they gave up the farm with and has not been very successful. And they also ended up getting Kenny Pickett, who just won a Super bowl as a backup to the Philadelphia Eagles.
So now you're looking at Chador Sanders who was considered one of the top QBs in the draft and you're thinking, okay, who's going to take him first? Right? Is it going to be Cleveland? It's going to be Pittsburgh. A couple of the other wild card options was possibly it being New Orleans. The recent news coming out about Derek Carr shoulder injury has come about. So you know their QB room and we saw when Carr was out and they had Spencer Rattler and the other third string quarterback, which I totally forgot about. I'll be fully honest with you, I knew that he was like a Pretty boy, you know, type mentality and, you know, he had that image, but he absolutely sucked. And, you know, the fact that the Saints were able to be good for those first couple of weeks last season, so they weren't ending up as one of the worst teams in the NFL draft was quite surprising to me. But New Orleans Saints possibly probably needed some qb.
And the Giants, I mean, they have Russell Wilson, they have Jameis Winston, and they also had Tommy DeVito, who they kept Jones, he went over to the Indianapolis Colts. So they don't have those options now. Right.
So first round comes up and the first overall pick is the quarterback out of Miami in Cam Ward. I think that everybody was super obvious on this pick. Cam Ward is an excellent talent, and even though he didn't show a lot for his last year in Miami, I think that he will be a great QB for Tennessee to kind of build around. And again, you can pick it up where, you know, you can see the failures that they made in Will Levis. But I think that that was still a good pick and everybody knew that.
So the second pick, this was the biggest one, was the Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Browns had the second pick in the draft because of course they ended up sucking. And unfortunately this has been due to several things. Injuries, coaching problems, managerial problems, player problems, everything.
So the Browns have the second pick. Now, of course, they were projected to get Travis Hunter, which is like, okay, you know, a big receiver for them is really good.
But they did not do that. Instead, they traded up three spots, got a bunch of picks in compensation, and they gave that number two pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who I believe, if I'm correct, were the fifth overall in that draft.
And I swear that this marks like the, what, fifth time in the last six years that Jacksonville has had a top three overall pick in the draft.
So Jacksonville went out and got Travis Hunter. So now you got Travis Hunter working with Trevor Lawrence, which I think that that's going to be an absolute amazing pairing, but we will just have to see how well Travis does in the professional. And then you had the Giants. Giants did not choose qb. They actually choose Abdul Carter out of Penn State, which was really, really good.
And then you had the Cleveland Browns at number five, right?
And you're thinking, okay, what are the Cleveland Browns going to do at pick number five? Well, they didn't end up getting their qb. They built the tackles, they built the defense. They've chose Mason Graham out of Michigan. And I thought about it, I said, okay, very interesting. Okay, very interesting. They didn't Go with Shador. So it's okay. First five picks, no Shador. Only QB selected was Cam Ward, right?
Number six, Las Vegas Raiders. They choose Aston Genty. Of course, we all know the amazing season that he just had up in Boise State. Now, unfortunately, they came short in the playoffs, but we know how well Genty did this year, coming close to the legendary Barry Sanders, so we could expect that pick.
And then we got to number nine, which was the New Orleans Saints.
They didn't choose the QB either. They went the trenches and they got Kelvin Banks Jr. From Texas. So Saints don't go for Shadore. Cleveland doesn't go for Shadore. The Bears, they actually did not choose Tyler Warren, who was projected to be the first tight end to be off the board. They chose Colston Lovehand Loveland out of Michigan. So now you shift down and you see, like, some of the teams getting picks and. And really, they had solid QB rooms.
The only other ones that I possibly thought that could not or did not have really a decent QB room that was not the ones I projected was Atlanta. Atlanta had number 15. They choose Jalen Walker from Georgia, the linebacker.
Then we got to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I thought, okay, Shadora slipped all the way to the 21st pick.
What can they do now, right?
So they end up not choosing qb, and they choose Derek Harmon out of Oregon. Defensive tackle. And we know the story about Harmon's mother and her passing away the day after the draft, which is very sorrowful. You know, prayers up to him and his family for, you know, having to deal with that after what should have been, like, the biggest day for that young man's career. But, you know, again, Pittsburgh don't choose that Green Bay packers in which the draft was hosted in. They choose Matthew golden out of Texas, and it was their first wide receiver in the draft since 2002. So that was big.
And then there was a bit of a trade that happened.
You see, the 25th pick was supposed to be for the Los Angeles Rams. And what ended up happening was the Giants traded back up and they got back into the first round after they got Abdul Carter with the third overall pick.
So I'm thinking, okay, Giants just saw Shador still on the board. He's going to be taken off the board. Giants are going to have Shador. Shore is going to have a litany of veterans to help him out. He's got Wilson, he's got Winston.
Okay, good.
They don't go for Shador. Shador was not the first QB to be picked off of The NFL draft, it was Jackson Dart from Ole Miss.
This was quite shocking to me.
He had a 39 overall rank. His grade was 87. His timing and touch were impressive on passes thrown 10 to 19 yards from the pocket.
He rushed for 1500 yards and 12 touchdowns in his three seasons. So his comparison was something of a bone. Knicks.
But now he's going to be under the watchful eye of Brian De Bole, who's been trying to get the Giants out of the hole for the last couple of years. After his first successful season where they went to the playoffs, they upset the Minnesota Vikings, who were hot at that time because that was the Cousins Jefferson connection.
So, okay, Shador doesn't get picked. All right, then there's another trade. Atlanta moves up 26. They don't go QB, they get James Pierce out of Tennessee. And as far as my Buffalo Bills, we got the ultimate hype man. And Maxwell Harrison from Kentucky, which is just an absolute amazing player.
Just a complete hype man. He was the fastest 40 yard dash at 4.28 of his position.
And then it ends at 32 with the Kansas City Chiefs getting Josh Simmons out of Ohio State.
So that is now first round. No Shador. I'm thinking, okay, what's next? Right?
So then we move on to the second round the next night. So second night you're thinking, always got better option, right?
The Saints get pick number 40.
Can they possibly choose Shador now that he's been taken off in the first round?
No, the second QB to be drafted is Tyler Schutt from Louisville.
I'm like, are you kidding me?
And if you've seen that infamous clip where he just completely under threw a pass at the combine, you're thinking like, that's who they chose over Shador. I'm like, okay, it can't get worse, right?
You know, it can't get worse. Okay, two QBs off, not a big deal, right?
Rest of the draft, not a single person took Shador Sanders.
And that was the real pattern. And then it went Jalen Milroe to the Seattle Seahawks. Then it went Dylan Gabriel to the Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Browns took Dylan Gabriel, who was a Heisman nominee, against Shador's teammate Travis Hunter, who was the second overall pick and the Heisman winner. And what ended up happening was Shadore was not even picked until the fifth round. That's right, they passed him on. Not one, not two, not three, but, but four rounds they passed on him. And he was finally picked at the 144th pick in the draft 143 different players went over Shedor Sanders who was ranked so much higher than everybody else.
It was just the most embarrassing fall you had ever seen ever in the history. He was second, second in his position.
So I was shocked like this. And then what's even crazier is I talked about the QB room for the Cleveland Browns. Their QB room now is Joe Flacco, 17 year vet Deshaun Watson who's been dealing with a torn Achilles. Kenny Pickett who we saw how his career went in Pittsburgh, didn't do so well. They got him to the Philadelphia Eagles. He, he only played for a couple of snaps towards the end because they were absolutely pushed thanks to Saquon Barkley. And now their two brand new rookie QBs are Dylan Gabriel out of Oregon and Shador Sanders out of Colorado. And you gotta think about this, why did he fall? Well, we have three different reasons why. Number one, lack of elite physical traits. Despite impressive college statistics, NFL scouts expressed concerns about Sanders physical attributes. He was perceived as lacking the elite arm strength, athleticism and quick decision making typically desired in a top tier quarterback. As noted by the Guardian quote, he lacks high arm talent, holds onto the ball too long and can be slow to read coverages and played in a wonky offense at Colorado and did so well throwing to the best player in the country which was Travis Hunter. The second was the perceived attitude of Shador and this is the common case that we heard all weekend long. Shador's interactions during the pre draft process raised red flags for several teams. Reports indicated that he did not do well in interviews and some teams perceived him as entitled or brash. An assistant coach and this was the one that kicked it off all of the speculation. An assistant coach described his interview as the worst formal interview I have ever been in my life and then this is the reason I personally believe he didn't do so well and why he kept on falling. His father Deion Sanders publicly stated that Shador would only play for certain teams, potentially limiting team interest. This approach may have been seen as over playing their hand and further impacting his draft stock. Why on earth Shador did not have his own agent helping him in this draft process is ridiculous. The only person that was so much as helping him in this draft process was his father who has and again this word is tossed around and it's in the negative effect but let's just say quote groomed him since he started playing for him at Jackson State. Then when they moved to the Pac 12 and they moved to Colorado and Deion ended up getting the biggest contract extension in collegiate history. Deion Sanders is going to tell his son whatever that he wants to make him feel like he is unstoppable and he is going to get drafted at the top.
And this is a not good look for Shador. And finally, concerns over the competition level and playstyle. Some evaluators question the level of competition Shedeur faced during his college career, which is true. And you know, being in the Big 12 after he moved from the Pac 12 because that was discontinued, you know, was a major difference. Urban Meyer highlighted concerns about Sanders ability to make tight window throws, crucial skill at professional level.
Furthermore, his play style, which relied heavy on strong supporting casts, led teams to doubt his ability to succeed independently at that next level. And I honestly agree with that.
I believe that things are very different. We saw this happen with Caleb Williams. Caleb Williams, first overall by the Chicago Bears last year, was shown to be okay. He should be doing really good. He took too long in the pocket. He took too long in his throws because he thought that this was still his time at usc. That did not end up happening. And we saw where the Bears landed. Now, were they a little bit better? Quite possibly. They built up their defense in offensive line very much in this offseason. So now you look at statistics. Now let's talk about statistics. Shedeur in his tenure with The Buffaloes was 13 and 12. This was a 4 and 8 season next to a 9 and 4 season where he did finish out his last season as a AP top 25. But he did fail in his win at the Alamo Bowl.
His passing stats, by the way, 616 out of 901 completions for 6,983 yards, 70 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. He also, on top of that, had 157 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns. So it's like, okay, you see that he's a very good quarterback who has been able to throw. Then you look at who did he throw to the most. Who was the most influential person that helped Shador get the fame that he did? Travis Hunter, second overall pick.
Their stats together in Colorado in 2023.
Hunter had 57 receptions for 721 yards and five touchdowns. The second season was a major upgrade, going for 96 receptions for 1258 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns.
So you kind of line that up a bit.
You got pretty much almost 2,000 yards from Travis Hunter, along with 20 of the 70 touchdowns that was thrown by Shador Sanders. You're talking about probably a fifth of the Reason why Shadore Sanders was seen as that great was thanks to Travis Hunter. Where this leaves Shador now being in the QB room with one another rookie and two with two veterans and a guy who's only in his third, fourth season, I don't know where Shador will be able to sit on that bench and whether or not they will just start him in the regular season preseason, he definitely has a good chance. I'm sure that that game, when he actually starts or he takes the first couple of snaps, I think that they are going to definitely put the eyes glued to that match when that ends up happening. But until then, we have no idea.
The second thing I want to talk about is on April 30th we heard for months after the Luka Doncic trade, we thought that the Lakers had rejuvenated itself to its former glory and they were going to end up being successful like they were before. And Bronnie James, LeBron's son, finally got to the NBA and since then he's been shifting along the starting lineups and the bench for the Lakers. And then he's also been working for the G League for the Lakers.
So unfortunately we do not know how long LeBron James is going to be playing.
And we could have seen the last of LeBron James because the LA Lakers got completely mollywopped by the Minnesota Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards, who was one of the top players right now in that Western Conference.
And it's incredible because I wanted to look at the comparison, right?
So this was a game on February 27th and in this game the Lakers secured a 111 to 102 victory over the Timberwolves. In that game, LeBron had 33 points and 17 rebounds.
Luka contributed with 21 points of 13 rebounds, a Reeves had 23 points. The team shot 41.5% from the field and got a 26.83 point percentage.
And they out rebounded Minnesota 52 to 41.
And in that game, Anthony Edwards, he scored 18 points before being ejected in the third quarter.
Terrence Shannon came off the bench to score 25 and the team shot 41.7% from the field and only had a 29.3% from the three point range. So you look at it back in February, once the trade had been made official, you could see that the Lakers were riding high, right?
They were doing very, very good.
And now you look at it now, almost two months after the Lakers got completely destroyed by the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, 4 to 1.
Game 1, Timberwolves win 117 to 95.
Game 2, a little bit of a less intensive game. Lakers win 94 to 85.
Timberwolves come back in game three goes 116 to 104. Game four Timberwolves win a very close game. 116, 113. And then finally game five, Timberwolves eliminate the Lakers from the playoffs 103 to 96.
The biggest performances from the series and the biggest reason why they won Game 5, Rudy Gobert, 27 points, 24 rebounds, had a new postseason team record.
Luca did score 28 points, but was limited due to a back injury.
And in the previous games, game three, LeBron had game three with 38 points of 10 rebounds and game four.
And the reason why that game was so close as it was, Anthony Edwards came back with a 43 point game.
So you look at the difference there.
In February, the Lakers dominated with strong team play and a balanced scoring and rebounded. They used everybody from the team, but because of injuries and inconstant performances, but because of injuries and inconsistent performances, they have another playoff elimination early in the playoff series. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves, they had challenges with player ejection and bench resilience.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves, February, they faced challenges with player ejections and bench reliance. They didn't have a very strong bench this time. They showed improved cohesion and resilience and they ended up getting the easy series win over the LA Lakers.
And you look at how LeBron has been in the last few years.
In the last three playoff series for LeBron, he has gone 2 and 12. 2 and 12. LeBron has been eliminated in five games or less in the last three playoffs.
I seriously do not understand how on earth LeBron continues to seamlessly fall off every single year when he is always dubbed as being the goat because he's got the score.
Like, like the amount of stats that, you know, I, I, me looking back and seeing what was the most abysmal things I, I've ever thought about, he has in the last seven years in the west, he missed the playoffs in 2019.
He went and won the championship in the bubble in 2020. Eliminated in the first round, 2021, missed the playoffs. In 2022, he got swept in the Western Conference finals to the Nuggets.
Then the last two years he's been eliminated in the first round.
I don't know how on earth that the Lakers have falled this much. And, and you know, the biggest thing now circling around it is Was Nico Harrison the GM for the Dallas Mavericks? Was he right for trading Luka?
Did they get anything because of the trade with Luka? And it seems like even with Luka coming in and having a strong presence for the first few games and having that big revenge game that he had against Dallas, it still wasn't good enough.
And now Lakers have to sit back and figure out what they're gonna do. And number two, if LeBron is still going to continue to play for them, is LeBron going to retire? Is he going to go retire with a different team? After failing his first seven years to capture more than one championship in the seven years before he went over to the west, his seven years in the east with either Miami or Cleveland, he. He made the finals every single time.
It is incredible to see that the downfall of LeBron James, who has been quoted as the goat, has done so poorly every single year in the playoffs. But yet people will still have the conversation that Michael Jordan's not the goat. We're not even going to bring in the stats.
Jordan was more dominant in Chicago and having his championship wins then LeBron has been in the last seven years going over to the bright lights of LA and trying to win them more than one championship.
In all honesty, the bubble might as well be seen as an asterisk.
So take that what you will, but enough about those sports. It's time to talk about the main reason why everybody's here, and that is, of course, professional wrestling.
We will start off with smackdown here.
So as far as anything lingering from Raw to smackdown, one of the biggest storylines is that now Randy Orton, after completely jobbing the TNA World champion, which we'll talk about a little bit later, after jobbing him out at WrestleMania in less than three minutes, Orton now is trying to capture his 15th championship and is now going after his old rival mate, John Cena, who's now the bad guy. So now the roles are quite literally reversed in a very rare occasion. And John Cena kicked off the show. He had the old school Dallas Mavericks green on.
I swear, TKO is making so much money off of the John Cena merch and making different merch for every single appearance that he makes. Has to revolve around, you know, the colors of the team over there or whatever. It's a D. It's a very genius concept, and it's definitely getting them a bunch of money. He once again pulled the ring announcer Mork Nash into doing the routine of giving the reintroduction there was. Let's go, Cena. Cena sucked Chance.
And just as he was talking to the rest of the crowd, Randy Orton came out and he came out and said that Cena had changed because he had no kids of his own, accusing him of abandoning the fans he once uplifted.
Cena then proclaimed, he said that T had spent the last 25 years raising everybody else's kids and apparently he, he picked on a child out in the front row and he, he very much singled this kid out.
And then the kid ended up flipping him off and he says, oh, he just flipped me off. How classy.
And he said, let me teach you a lesson kid. Don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
And then he ended up talking some smack to his dad as well. He then mocked the fans again and Orton tried to remind him of his legacy and fan support and basically saying that without the fans, Cena would not be in either Hollywood nor be in wwe.
Cena then went on to mention that when he retires with the belts, he will take it and the reign number for Randy Orton will start back over at one. He then says that after he retires with the belt, then not only will he erase Randy's number, but he will also plan to erase the three generations of Orton's family legacy.
Or and then demanded a title match right then and there. But CN refused and instead he insisted on having the fight in front of orton's hometown of St. Louis at Backlash.
He claims he wanted Orton as his best, so there is no excuses when he failed to win his 15th title. And and he said this is what the real last WWE Champion looks like and this is the closest that you will ever get to seeing this championship again. He then threw the title at or in and blindsiding him and began stomping him out and went to strike him with the belt. But just like almost every single promo segment sends Cody flattened Cena with a crossroads or induct and then landed the or KO just like he had did on Raw. And Orton stood tall hoisting up the title above his head, which low key looked absolutely amazing.
So it is official, we are getting John Cena versus Randy Orton one last time at Backlash in St. Louis on May 10th.
And again it's very obvious John Cena is going to win. But again it will be great to see the rivalry renewed.
We then shifted to a call up on smackdown. Fraxiom Axiom and Nathan Frazier, who had lost their NXT tag titles to Hank and Tank at Stand and Deliver, finally have made it to the main roster before then Axiom, he had A one on one match with Gunther in the international tour at Barcelona. And then Nathan Frazier. He was brought in to be the debut partner with Rey Fenix, who of course went on to WrestleMania and he ended up losing to El Grande Americano.
They ended up making their debut against Los Garza. They started off with quick strike. Frazier then was tagged in and landed a big sharp kick.
Angel entered and dumped outside before Fraxiom hit stereo dives to the floor. That got a big pop. Axiom followed with a moonsault that floored both angel and Humberto.
Back in the ring, Axiom control things until angel pulled the rope down and made Axiom crash out to the outside afterwards. After the break, angel grounded Axiom until a big desperate kick let him tag in Frazier. The place exploded when Frazier hit the sling blade along with the moon Sulphur 2. Angel then cut him off mid springboard and Los Garza nearly ended it with the second rope power slam. But Axiom made the save in the final sequence. Angel went up top, but Axiom met him there, allowing Frazier to get the blind tag. Spanish fly from Axiom set up for a big Phoenix splash from Fraser to get the 1, 2, 3. So Fraxiom gets the win in their Smackdown debut. I thought this was a very strong debut for for Fraxium. As we know, their work in NXT was an absolute gem and their tag title reign, their two tag title reigns that they had were something of not legend, but it was one of the top tag reigns as far as the tag titles and NXT goes.
So I'm very much looking forward to what they do now on the main roster and we finally see the breakup of Fraxium along the way.
We then had Tiffany Stratton. Tiffy Time came out and she was hyping up her Big Mania win over Charlotte Flair, asserting her status as the only Tiffany Stratton. And then of course, just like I had predicted, Jade Cargill came out and started telling Tiffany that she had a target on her back.
And she tried to talk around Stratton's win, saying that her win over Naomi was better. But she ended up trying to challenge Tiffany to a match on the spot and they ended up getting that match.
Jade then hit a back breaker early. Tiffany responded with a hip attack and a spine buster.
Jade then caught Tiffany mid cartwheel and this was like one of the cool spots of the match. She did the cartwheel to Jade, but Jade caught Tiffany and then got her with a big sit out power bomb that only ended up getting a 2. A big old superplex was done, but before the match could end up getting towards the end, Naomi ran in and attacked Jade, causing the disqualification.
She. She did this very bad ground and pound. I don't know what it was, but this was just completely awful compared to her work that she had done all the way up to Mania.
So of course Jade and Naomi battled outside the ring and Stratton was left inside the ring only to be pummeled through by a returning Nya Jax.
Why on earth Nia Jax is back, I have no idea. She lay Stratton out with a leg drop and then finally the Annihilator and stood tall with the title.
I.
I don't know how I feel about having Nia return and having Nia already being put back into the women's championship match, but it can only go up from here.
But you know, we already had this. Stratton already did her stuff with Nia and it seems like once again I think Charlotte is just going to be completely out for, you know, who knows how long, probably till SummerSlam, maybe till Money in the bank and she'll qualify to be in the Money in the bank ladder match. But again, that's like where I'm wondering is where Charlotte still. Why is Charlotte not coming back? Was she completely pushed out because she realized that she was not the top woman in the industry right now?
No clue. But again, we're probably looking at Nia Jax and Tiffany Stratton once again.
We then got a nice little promo segment with Jacob Fatu, the brand new United States title.
We then got a very nice promo segment with Jacob Fatu and Solo Soa Fatu of course beating LA Knight at WrestleMania on night one for the United States Championship. And of course Fatu came in with the US title draped around his neck. Very umaga like Sola Sikoa spoke first, demanding respect for Fatu and claiming that he was the only one who believed in him.
But of course Fatu cut Solo off and he said, let's not get it twisted.
He said that he would promise to bring the title back to the family and of course that was going to be with or without Solo and the bloodline.
Now, by the way, if you're wondering where has Mr. Yeah yeah Tama Tonga been?
Well, apparently he has also been injured as well as his brother Tagaloa. So both of the Gorillas of Destiny didn't even make a full year to where they were actively competing. Of course, Dongoloa, his injury happened back at War Games and then we had Tamatanga now. So now it's back to only Solo and Jacob Fatu.
Jacob Fatu said that he knew that with that championship he was America's most wanted, but he said that you better get in where you fit in before hitting his catch for days. Yeah, now. And I mean Fatu all gas, no breaks.
LA Knight then interrupted, reminding everybody that he nearly beat Fatsu at WrestleMania, needing only a rope grab to escape. He wanted his rematch right now. But before he could finish, Drew McIntyre's music hit.
And as soon as Drew got up to the ring, he talked about his own WrestleMania match that he had with Damen Priest. And he mocked the idea of WB becoming Nepo Wrestling Entertainment. After Orton got his title shot over him, he then turned to Fatu, calling him the baddest dog in the yard, stepping up onto the apron for a big face off. But of course, Knight lounging on the ropes, he mocked Drew, who fired back saying that Knight's last title run was forgettable.
But of course Knight clapped back and said Drew's was even less memorable for how long it was.
And before things could get out of hand, GM Nick Aldis made it official saying that McIntyre and Knight would face later to decide the US title number one contender.
So I knew McNair was going to probably go for some type of mid car title.
I did not know if he was going to be probably moved up to raw. I think that the draft will probably be coming up a little bit after backlash, but it's good to see that McIntyre is now in this feud with Jacob Fatu. This is the one bloodline member which he has not really faced that much since because of course he's been on his heel run ever since Fatou came into the company. So now we can possibly get McIntyre versus Fatu. I think I'd totally be up for that match.
We then had the Women's United States Championship match between Selena Vega and Chelsea Green.
You know, a couple weeks ago when I had Mike neckers and Lucas McGarry on the podcast, we talked about the exclusion of Chelsea green on the WrestleMania card and we thought that out of the two mid card title reigns, even though Lyra Valkyria, the Intercontinental Women's Championship has been putting in a lot more work and been given a lot more opportunities on screen, Chelsea's been resorted to this comedy character who basically has not really done much with the Women's United States Championship. So this was a quick and easy seven minute match for no reason.
Green charged straight at Vega the moment that the bell rang, but Vega quickly reversed The Tide with a flurry of offense and grounding the champion before we went to commercial. During the break, Alba Fire ambushed Vega at ringside, ruthlessly launching her into the led board as the ref was distracted.
Piper Niven also added to the damage with a big crushing senton on the floor. By the time that they came back from commercial, Vega was battling uphill, fighting both her opponents and the sneak attack from Niven and Elba Fire.
She fought back from the second rope and nailed Green with a big German suplex for the fiery comeback. She then followed up with two clotheslines and a devastating back elbow before connecting with the Meteora from the middle rope for a knee fall.
Fire tried to get involved again, hopping up on the apron, but Vega decked her with a big punch that sent her to the floor. She then put her focus back on Green, only to be tripped up by Piper Niven as she lined up for the 61 9.
This time the referee saw everything and had enough and ejected both Piper Niven and Elba Fire from ringside. With the chaos still swirling, Green rushed in for the kill. But Vega reversed the momentum with a big code red and secured the second victory after the countout victory that she had had a couple of weeks ago. And now Zelina Vega is the brand new and the second only Women's United States champion.
You know this is a very teary eyed moment which you know, I was super happy for Vega to finally win her title, but again this just shows that like I don't know how much of build this really had, but again to me this was almost kind of nothingness. But it's good to see Vega still win her very first singles title after she's been resorted to lower card and mid card status. So you know that's a big deal.
And recently I was looking at the amount of champions and who are the champions currently at the time. And really one thing comes to mind and that's hard work pays off. People like Jey, uso, Iyo, Sky, Fatu, Vega, the New Day, Street Profits, Dominik Mysterio, you even look at people like nxt, Obafemi, Sol Ruka, Stephanie Vacuur, Hank and Tank, you look at all those people, even Ricky Saints, it is all about hard work paying off in the end and ending up doing the most and they will finally be rewarded in the end. We then had a little promo segment with the Miz. The Miz was backstage, he gave a chain to Carmelo Hayes coming off of a successful win in the Andre the Giant Battle Memorial.
So Miz cut a promo. He said that he was wounded after being left off of the WrestleMania card. He vented his frustration Ryan in the crowd that he's been a staple of WrestleMania since 2007 including a main event win over John Cena. Again, how many times are we ever going to hear about that?
He mocked Cody Rhodes failing to do the same, throwing jabs at Cena and Rhodes of having the worst mania main event while also somehow handing opportunities to joke memes like Joe Hendry. He said he probably even needed to wear a Lucha mask and renamed himself Ray to get attention. He also called out the hypocriticy of Randy Orton needing an opponent and he overlooked the A lister and chose instead a viral star.
And he still said that he was the most C.
Sorry, he was the most must see Superstar of all time.
And then as soon as he started to go into his catchphrase and go into his slapstick, the lights cut out, we see smoke fill up the stage and candles are flickering down the ramp and we hear the old NXT theme and once again rising is not Tommy End, not Malachi Black, but Alistair Black. Alistair Black has finally come back home to the wwe. Of course we know about Black, the former NXT champion. He had his stints with WWE on the main roster, had some memorable feuds with AJ Styles and Buddy Murphy, but pretty much once the pandemic came in it was absolutely nothing for Black. And then Black went over to aew.
He of course had his program with Cody Rhodes which was kind of similar here with Miz dressed up in all white, kind of like how Cody was.
And now Aleister Black is back and of course there was no Tony fumble chance like there were back at NXT stand of the liver between Ethan Page and Ricky Saints. But of course Black landed the Black mass and sat cross legged next to Miss.
Where does Alistair Blatt go from here?
It's still a mystery, but I am just glad to see Aleister Black back in the fold here in wwe.
And of course this coming after the Vega win. So they are finally back in the same company and according to Vega, Black came back to Gorilla and Triple H embraced him and said welcome home.
So again Triple H still loving all of his good old NXT Black and Gold friends. We then got the match between Drew McIntyre and LA Knight. This came a little bit after a nice little segment with John Cena and R Truth. Of course John Cena is R. Truth's childhood hero, but of course Jon walked away from him. The match was was kind of mid. Of course, I think we knew where this was going.
Right from the jump, Drew McIntyre opened up with a big kick to LA Knight's midsection, but Duck. But Knight ducked a follow up in the corner and answered back with some scrappy offense. After reversing a suplex attempt, Knight stunned McIntyre with a big suplex of his own, which only got a two Night mounted momentum with a string of his signature moves. Flying clothesline side Russian leg sweep, and then the jumping net breaker for a big near fall. McIntyre responded with a big Glasgow kiss and locked to hit the Future Shock DDT until Knight escaped and nailed the elbow off the ropes. But as soon as McIntyre retreated to the outside of regroup, Knight hit a wrecking ball drop kick and pounded Drew's head repeatedly into the announce tables with the crowd screaming, yeah. But just as Knight seemed to be taking full control behind the ref's back, Solo came in and hit Knight with the Samoan spike and rolled Knight back into the ring, leaving McIntyre to stare down Solo, wondering if he should be able to make the COVID or not. As soon as that happened, Damian Priest came running down and ripped McIntyre off of his feet, planning him through the announce table with a big south of Heaven. And just like it seemed like it was over, Jacob Fatu coming through and whipped out both Knight and Priest in seconds. He then landed big hip attacks to both men before nailing each of them with his moonsaults.
So no match, no finish, just wreckage, all gas, no breaks. Who knows who Jacob Fatu will be facing, possibly either backlash or in the weeks to come.
But regardless, Jacob Fatsu is a bad man and that US title picture now is definitely looking a lot better than it was almost a couple months beforehand.
We then got our main event for the night. Again, why this match was not Featured on the WrestleMania card, I do not understand why.
But then again, new day and the Viking Raiders.
Sorry, the War Raiders, they needed to promote Clash of Clans, of course, to all the dweebs and geeks, we got a Triple threat tag team TTLC match between DIY Motor City, Machine Guns and the Street Profits with the Champions. A real quick note in case anybody missed it. Over WrestleMania weekend, Tommaso Ciampa actually took a bit of a fall on the concrete and what ended up happening was he ended up getting a gash right under his chin that ended up having him completely shaving off of his beard.
So this was a clean shaven Tommaso Ciampa, which looked completely different.
But regardless, Ciampa is an absolute star from the opening bell. Of course, this match was going to be spot fest no matter what. DIY made the first move bring in the ladder to cut off by the Motor City Machine Guns, who ended up getting a double drop kick as the guns turned their attention to the street profits. DIY return and it turned into an all out war.
Chris Steven attempted a early dive towards the titles, but Gargano intercepted mid air with a brutal chair shot. Angelo Dawkins then laid out Gargano with a headshot into the post. But Saban and Shelley worked tandem, breaking Dawkins down with of course their tag team expertise.
Dawkins then nailed a big splash. Sabian countered with a missile drop kick. Shelley began to definitely be nursing his arm during the match. DIY then rammed a ladder into the head of Dawkins.
And just as they look to have the advantage, Montez Ford leaped over the ring post and hit diy. Gargano then hit a flatliner off of one ladder to another. Gargano tried to climb but immediately got pulled down. At this point, this is when all the spots ended up coming in.
Gargano was superplexed onto two bridge chairs in the ring. Dawkins delivered a big double arm DDT through the chairs tables, then came out. Ford hit a blockbuster to the outside. And then in some way, either it was a plant or it was something. Ford then takes somebody's actual prosthetic leg and is straight up hitting Gargano over and over with the prosthetic leg. So whether that not that, whether or not that spot was planted or not is up for decision.
But I thought that was a really good spot. Of course, reference to Diesel and other people have used like old prosthetic legs as weapons.
And then these were the following spots that hit the most. Saban ended up hitting skull and bones on Dawkins through a table the long way. I thought that was incredible.
Ford then launched a senton through a table onto Champa. Champa delivered white noise on Ford through a ladder on the outside. I thought that was pretty cool.
The guns then crushed Gargano with another skull and bones. Finally, Champa ascended the ladder and tried to grab the titles only for the guns to yank the ladder away, leaving him dangled. Now this was the spot of the night. They set up a table underneath where Champa was.
Dawkins on one ladder started climbing up and the rest of the guns are telling Dawkins to jump and spear Champa while He's dangling almost 15ft in the air.
Dawkins spears Champa midair And they go crashing through the table. And of course, this got holy bleep chants all over the arena.
Finally, it was one member of each team. Sabin, Gargano and Ford were all scrambling to the top. Ford ended up knocking them both down and finally unhooked the titles to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships.
I thought that this was really good. I thought that this match certainly should have been on the card. And why it was not on the WrestleMania card, I have no idea. But overall, this was a semi good smackdown. A little bit better than the normal ones. And of course, you know, you can contribute that to, you know, the title change going on. John Cena coming in with his feud with Randy Orton, and then of course, this big tag team TLC match that ended up main eventing the show. But overall, again, very good episode of smackdown. Now, let's get into this past week's Raw.
Before we move on, I want to play this clip because we didn't really talk about it much, but the night after WrestleMania, there was one thing going on almost in everybody's head.
All they were thinking about is why on earth was the Rock not included?
The Rock was included in what was the reason for the John Cena heel turn.
Why was the Rock not included for the night after Mania?
More or less. Why was the Rock not included for Wrestlemania? Well, the day after the Raw, after Mania, the Rock, Dwayne Johnson decides, you know what? I'm going to go on the podcast on the show with the guy who we have hired as the announcer and the color commentator to sit by one of the greatest of all time, Michael Cole, which we'll get to during this, during this current episode of Raw.
And we're wondering, okay, what is the Rock gonna say?
This was Rock's response.
[01:06:58] Speaker B: And I lay this out and I say, hey, here's how I really feel it should go. We can insert final boss in the end of this finish, but then where do we go?
There's other commitments that I have, and I want to also be careful that we're not overstepping and leading over our skis too much here. Can get involved in the finish. And I said, but why get involved in that finish when the spotlight should just be on, in my opinion, John 17 heel champion, what does 2025 look like? If this man is saying he's going to ruin professional wrestling, that, to me, is the anchoring storyline. It's not soul right now. Right now it's not. But by the way, we'll go back to it.
Look, I. I can't take the. The text that I got and from the guys that I got, who are these top guys who are saying, you know, one in particular who. Who I love is my guy. You know, I call him the Superman of the company. He's like, listen, my soul's for sale when it's time.
I said, I love.
[01:08:02] Speaker A: So right there, the Rock basically said to not overstep his boundaries. Don't overstep Dwayne Johnson's boundaries. Don't overstep Dwayne Johnson's schedule for what he needs to go do. But yet, why did you include yourself in the storyline anyways? You were the one that said you were coming to smackdown in February, and you announced in New Orleans that they would have wrestlemania a year in advance. You were telling them a year in advance that WrestleMania was going to be in the Caesar Superdome. Okay, great.
But then you called out Cody and said, listen, you're a mighty fine champion. You're a great champion for them, but I want you to be my champion.
And meanwhile, I'm thinking to myself, oh, my gosh, why in the world did the Rock insert himself in this storyline if he straight up said, listen, I can't be there every week. Listen, I can't show up. Even though he was backstage at WrestleMania, it is absolutely inexcusable.
But I wanted to play that clip just so that way anybody listening knows the exact reason why the Rock did not show up at WrestleMania. It is solely because he said, oh, the focus needs to be on John Cena. No, the focus could be on John Cena and not have you a part of it, but because you were behind and you were the person that gave him the throat slash to toll John Cena to end Cody Rhodes, then bam. That is a reason why people are very fed up with the reason that you did not show up when your time was there to support John Cena, who specifically you called upon to end Cody Rhodes reign.
So there's that.
We started off the show, of course, the dangerous alliance of Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman and Bron Breakker Breaker. And Paul Heyman apparently are tanned to the gills. I do not understand this tanning thing, but Braun came out. Nice suit. This is very much reminiscent of the start of evolution back in 02.
So I thought that this was kind of cool.
So he came in. Sing along, Pop.
Rollins leaned into that discomfort, claiming that the future of this business wasn't Punk, it wasn't Reigns, it wasn't Cena, it wasn't Cody or even Jay. It was him, Paul. Heyman, and Bron Breakker. The crowd's reaction told the story. Booze at the mention of punk and OTC chants for Roman and then all of a sudden Sami Zayn comes out.
Zane called out the insecurity underneath Rollins vision asking the question no one else was dared. Was Seth really a visionary or just jealous? And of course he was saying was he jealous of Roman's success? And he basically said that you are starting another bloodline right here and it's quite similar. You have the wise man and you have the breaker as your little dog. And of course Zane warned him that it would not be backing down and he told him that he'd kick him straight in the face if he didn't quit staring at him.
Rollins then tried to de escalate things and then he offered Sammy a favor. He said transfer over to smackdown because if you're not with us then you're against us and I love you too much for that Sammy. So please consider transferring over to smackdown. He gave him to the end of the night to make a decision.
The heat here for possibly getting Sami to turn to the dark side the exact same way that he did for Roman in the OG bloodline coming into play here and Seth trying to play into Sammy's emotions.
But of course we knew what probably Sammy's decision was going to be by the end of the night. We then shifted to the women's match where we got Roxanne Perez in technical terms making what seems to be her official main roster debut and she went one on one with the eradicator Rhea Ripley.
Perez stayed focus, working on the leg and trying to neutralize rea size advantage.
Ripley sold the damage well, grimacing through a sliding knee and muscling Perez up for a razor's edge that got a near fall.
Midway through the match all of a sudden Julia showed up. So Julia is another superstar who has been presumed to be called up from nxt, which is quite odd because I swear Julia was pretty much what, less than nine months and had a rivalry with Roxanne in which Roxanne Pinter so quite interesting to see both of them be tagging together.
Ripley then regained control and went for Riptide. But then finally Julia came in and shot blocked Rhea from behind causing the dq. Julia and Perez were double teaming on Ripley before finally the Women's World champion IO sky came out and got the big saved, finally won the numbers game and Rhea got back up limping it angrily and was help back up. But then of course Ria and IO were standing side by side. But still, Ria wants her title back.
So nice little, nice little match there, of course, you know, ended in dq, but again, probably we'll be seeing something along the lines of having a tag match between Roxanne Perez and Julia versus Rhea Ripley and Eos Guy.
Then we went into Logan Paul. Of course, Logan Paul coming off of a very big victory over AJ Styles.
Of course the crowd booed him. He called them victims of circumstance and are too dumb to recognize greatness.
He played into the cheap heat and the smirk that nobody believes in him, but he will be something. And then of course, he turned his sights to Jey uso, mocking the idea that the guy was anybody's idea of champion. He basically told Jey that he was not a glorified champion and the champion that Raw really needed was somebody like Logan Paul. And then of course, Jay Uso comes out and he told Logan that after 15 years of scratching and clawing, he wasn't about to hand over the prize to some punk ass youtuber. He reminded everybody of Guter's attack on Jimmy and how that pain turned into motivation. He then laid down the line. He says, if you want this title, I invite you to come take it from me.
And then of course, he called Jay stupid and he said that when he would fight Jay for the title, that he would show just like he did when he lost the IC title. And then of course, Jay dropped him with the superkick standing tall.
Now, later in the evening, Jay was backstage trying to give some words of wisdom to Sami Zayn. This was after this segment up next, but of course Jay was preoccupied and he was talking to Sammy. Sammy walked off, was heading to the ring, and Logan Paul blindsided Jay, hit him with the right hand punch. And now is official that J USO will most likely be facing Logan Paul for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash.
I do not know how I feel about the first defense after Mania being Logan Paul, but then again, they need some decent star power for Jay's first defense and everybody else seems to be very preoccupied.
So I think the best bet really is to give him and Logan about 15 minutes at best and Jay comes out winning. But everybody is completely against this idea and saying that it's going to be absolutely horrible. But again, the match that he had with Styles is actually really, really good. So will this go for the same here against Jey USO at Backlash?
Backstage, Sami Zayn was talking to Otis, but of course Otis didn't have much to say. All of a sudden, Paul Heyman arrived In the locker room, he dismissed Otis and told Otis to get out. He didn't scold Sammy for betraying the bloodline. He reminded him the Sammy didn't betray anybody. Heyman claimed that Zayn didn't destroy the bloodline, they did. That was of course, the textbook Heyman trying to be the siren to Sami Zayn. He told him that Rollins had another message to give Zayn.
He says that Breakker wanted Zayn that night and unfortunately he said that the offer was out of the table, that Rollins could do nothing. Bron Breakker wanted to face Zayn, but he did offer a way out.
He said that if Zayn agrees to the smackdown trade, not only will he avoid Breakker tonight, but he also will get the first world title shot against the winner of Cena vs. Oren. After backlash, he told Zayn to think of his future, think of his wife, think of his kids, think of. And he said that you can live in the future or die with the past.
So another motive to try to get Zayn off the show and try to get some sympathy for Zane.
Basically telling Zayn that if you leave now, we will give you a world title shot. We will pull the strings and give you a world title shot. Or on smackdown, we then had, I guess, another ginger come into play. Becky Lynch.
She turned on Lyra Valeria last week after they failed to regain the Women's Tag Team championships. And of course, Becky laid out Lyra after three manhandle slams.
So Becky came out and of course she revealed that she was the one responsible for taking Bailey out before WrestleMania. She claimed that Bailey had been attacking her since 2019, making the attack at WrestleMania some sort of long awaited receipt.
And really, I don't know where this all came from, but again, it's. It's kind of like Becky saying that Bailey has been stealing her spotlight for so long, even though technically speaking, like, Becky's been one of the bigger superstars next to Bailey. So that was quite confusing. She then accused Lyra of being a traitor by association, simply saying that she sided with Bailey instead of her. She basically made the reference of the friend of my enemy is my enemy.
She claimed that Lyra wouldn't even be in the spotlight without her.
And of course she wasn't offering mentorship or guidance. She was dismissing Lyra's journey and accomplishments.
But then of course, Lyra came out. She didn't let Becky continue with her words.
She said that people in the locker room had warned her about Becky, specifically Bailey, who had been the first to point out Becky's true nature. Lyra admitted that at the time, she didn't want to believe it. But after the brutal assault that she had suffered at the hands of Becky lynch last week, the truth has become undeniable. Lyra then called Becky out, challenging her to a match at Backlash for the Intercontinental Championship. Lyra used Becky's ego to her advantage, knowing that Becky would accept the challenge.
Becky said that she was finally going to make that title relevant, just like she had made Lyra relevant. But quickly Lyra shot back and she told Becky that she knows that she is going to be a better person and more importantly, a better wrestler than Becky Lynch.
This of course fueled Becky to want to retaliate. But quickly Lyra attacked Becky on the outside and sent Becky all the way up the ramp with Lyra posing in the ring with the title.
So we're getting Becky versus Lyra for the Women's Intercontinental Championship. Of course, the real question is, does Becky put over Lyra or do we see a return of Becky Hogan? There is a quite literal possibility that Becky does walk out of St. Louis with the Women's Intercontinental Championship. So that was quite interesting. But I, but I liked that little bit of a war of words before, you know, with Lyra and Becky.
We then had a pre tape with the returning Rusev, the former Miro. As we talked about last week during a impromptu tag match with Alpha Academy and the new day, Rusev came back, attacked both Tozawa and Otis.
And this promo was very much what Rusev needed for coming back.
He stated that he recalled his former glory, having the US title reign in his rookie year, the Rusev Day chance, and then of course the tank at WrestleMania. But he said that he had it all, but he lost himself. He said that when he left wwe, he spent years in an Abyss. Now of course, this could mean that, you know, his time in AEW wasn't much received as something important. Of course he had the reign as the TNT champion, which was semi okay, but then pretty much after that title reign, he was just dropped down from any type of popularity in that already loaded roster.
So the fact that we got Rusev coming back and saying that he was in an Abyss for so long because he lost himself when he went back to Bulgaria was. Was really, really good.
He said that it was in the Abyss where he found himself healed and redeemed. Ultimately he was fixed. He wasn't returning as the same man who had worn the Rusev Day gimmick or had been a pawn in somebody else's storyline.
He Came back with no allegiances. He said that he would no longer fight for a woman who wasn't his and a flag that wasn't truly representing him. He was there to redeem everybody, so he is now the redeemer.
He said that he would crush people, not because he was told to, but because he wanted to. He pledged to purge the arrogant, the complacent, and the underachieved. He was righteous and he was ready. That he would hunt the flawed and perfect them through pain.
And he told everybody else to choose your next steps wisely. Because for a righteous man, saving you will be no hardship ending you, there will be no loss.
This was very good.
This was very good. I was super happy to see this promo and this much drive behind Rusev coming back in his character. And I think that it will be something completely different now in his second tenure with the company. So where Rusev goes from here, I am very much looking forward to it. Does it end up being a world title match? Does it end up being a mid card? Does it end up being a mid card title run again, possibly with the Intercontinental Championship? He never had the Intercontinental Championship. He only really had the U.S. championship. And that was it.
Before we got to the main event, before we got to the main event, we got a nice little promo from an unexpected guest, and that was the man who was sitting at commentary. And his name was Pat McAfee, of course, the week before Gunther, after losing to Jay at WrestleMania, he came out after Jay segment with Sammy and his brother Jimmy.
He came out questioning Michael Cole and McAfee's bias towards Jey USO, of course, that being the biggest fans doing the yeet with them.
And it ended up getting to the point where Gunther actually locked Michael Cole into a choke and Pat McAfee had to run over and save Cole, only for him to get choked out himself, but in a very much different way. He began tightening on that choke and basically did not let McAfee breathe.
So, of course, Gunther in kayfabe was suspended for an indefinite amount of time.
And Pat McAfee knew that he had to address the situation.
He told the crowd that they maybe had forgotten who he was.
He spoke about his humble beginnings, and he talked about being the dog from the East Hills of Pittsburgh to becoming a household name. He talked about his past and how he wasn't given much, but he was a lucky and blessed man. He talked about how when his time comes, he didn't want to be remembered for the fame and the fortune. He wanted to be remembered for how hard that he worked and how much he gave back to his community and how much he left the world better than when he found it. He talked about his charitable work with children, hospitals, military foundations, homeless shelters, LGBTQ plus organizations. And then of course, he said that he was one loyal sob. Well, he didn't say sob, but he said something else.
He then turned to Michael Cole and he said that he has been blessed and he has been lucky to have worked with the legendary Michael Cole. And he talked about how if anybody picks a fight with Michael Cole, they pick a fight with him.
And they told him to stay away from Gunther, but he said screw that and that Austrian needs to be taught a lesson.
So he told smackdown's version of Adam Pierce to come down and lift Gunther's suspension. But Nick Aldis was there and he said that both McAfee and Gunther were too much of valuable people to have been given up to and just let out to fight.
So he proclaimed and reasoned with McAfee and told him, we can do a sanction match and we will give you Gunther at backlash. And immediately McAfee did not hesitate and he accepted. So McAfee and Gunther will now be facing at backlash. And in my own personal opinion, this should be a bloodbath. McAfee should not get more than about 20% of offense and Gunther should choke McAfee out just like he did beforehand. And even though it's going to be in St. Louis from one football star to another, I think McAfee is going to call on the old school master of the streak and that being the one and only Bill Goldberg setting up for possibly his retirement match. That is where I think that this McAfee Gunther storyline is going to go from. We then had, like I said before, Sami Zayn coming out and Rollins then came out as well before him.
He addressed the elephant in the room and it was of course, Zayn's hesitation to trust Paul Heyman and Bron Breaker. But Rollins reminded the audience that this wasn't about them. It was about them, Rollins and Zayn.
He talked about their deep friendship and Rollins wasted no time with letting Zayn know how much it hurt him that Sami hadn't receptioned his belief in him the same way that Rollins had always supported Sammy. He said it hurts. It hurts that with our shared history, victories, sacrifices. He reflected on the unforgiving nature of WWE and how the business with its endless competition often tears friendships apart.
He told how many true friends did you ever have in this business?
Rollins then shared something deeply personal to emphasize just how much Zayn meant to him. He said when Rollins and Becky had their baby girl, it was Sami Zayn who was the first person Rollins called, seeking advice and comfort in his moment of fear.
And then, of course, Rollins again offered Sammy to take himself out of the equation and take the deal that A had presented to him. He said take the out. Rollins urged. He pleaded with Zayn and he warned that if Zayn didn't take the offer, then there would be major consequences.
Samuel's response was equally as emotional.
He apologized for the hurt that he's caused Seth, but he wasn't going to let Rollins use their past against him. Sammy knew Rollins was playing on their shared history and used his vulnerabilities that they had both been exposed to each other over the years to get what he wanted. But Sammy was not falling for it. He said that he admitted that Rollins was better than this and that he knew exactly how to push Zayn's buttons. But Rollins did know one thing.
He always gnawed at Sammy Soul becoming WWE Champion. And Zayn said he was not going to take the bait. He was not going to take the easy way out, that he was going to win the WWE Championship the right way, the actually good way.
He says, I will be world Champion, but on my terms, but not because of this favor. And then finally he ended it with saying, so buddy, as a friend, I respect you, I love you, but this is me telling you go to hell. And immediately after that you hear the sirens and Bron Breaker through the puff of smoke with Haman by his side, walks down to the ring. Zane did not look like he was dressed to fight. Breaker showed no hesitations whatsoever, sending Zayn flying over the announce table. After launching himself from the apron with a clothesline, Zayn tried to mount a comeback, showing resilience with a sunset flip power bomb off the top rope in a tornado ddt which both got near falls.
He quickly regained control with a frankensteiner and just as it seemed like Zane might gained an edge, Breaker intercepted a helluva kick and attempted a big devastating spear and immediately got the 1, 2, 3.
After the match, Rollins stood ringside and he told Zayn to take the deal, go to smackdown, become world champion. But it was clear that Rollins was trying to break Zayn mentally and physically. But it did not work.
Zane refused to be broken, defiant and answering, he looked at Rollins dead in the eye and once again told him to go to hell.
Rollins then ordered Breaker to deliver another spear and another as well. So he hit him with Three total Spears. Breaker circled in the ring and he sprung up to deliver a spear to Zayn again on the ramp.
Of course, the crowd was so bloodthirsty. They chanted one more time again.
Zayn was thrown back into the ring.
And of course, Rollins knew that he needed to teach a lesson to Zayn. And Rollins ended everything with a final Curb Stomp to Sami. Zayn and all three members of the Dangerous Alliance. Rollins, Heyman and Breaker all stood over Zayn's broken body to end the show.
I thought this was really, really good.
Bron Breaker is always going to be an absolute badass. Every single time I see Bron Breaker and I see how much that he has grown since his time in NXT and after he had the IC title run, now seeing him do this new big group and now being paired with Paul Heyman, this is only going to send him even more into the stratosphere than he is already.
As far as Sami Zayn goes, could he possibly be facing Rollins at Backlash? Possibly.
I mean, I don't know who Rollins ends up facing at backlash or even if he makes it to the backlash card, but overall I thought that this Raw was somewhat decent. It lacked in a few things.
The main event was, you know, it did what it was supposed to do. Middle card, the promo segments between Becky and lyra and Pat McAfee, and then of course the promo package with Rusev and his return. I thought that did very, very well. But overall, you know, it took like the first couple of minutes, you know, it's kind of like, yeah, mid, but then it finally rose up to the occasion and it was finally good in the last, you know, hour or so. So overall, I thought that was a really good episode of Raw. Meanwhile, outside wwe, TNA had its TNA Rebellion pay per view. It was a very well received pay per view. Um, I really liked it. I thought that TNA is growing day by day in the wrestling business and is growing even more than people thought that it would. This took place at the Gallon center, home of the USC Trojans.
They started off with the TNA X Division Ultimate X match, which featured Moose and Vikingo, Casey Navarro and Leon Slater, Matt Cardona and Sydney Akeem. Of course, the big spot in this match was Leon Slater on top of the Ultimate X structure the beam doing his signature Swan 450 bomb on everybody.
But ultimately Moose ended up regaining his champion after spearing Leon Slater when he got the title.
They had the Knockouts World Tag team title match with Ash by Elegance and Heather by Elegance.
And they defeated Metaphor Spitfire and Gigi Dolan and Tatum Paxley of course metaphor and Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolan being from nxt. So you know, that being something that, you know, the the partnership with NXT and TNA doing really well.
We then had a six man tag match with Ace Dawson teaming with the Rascals who had Sean Waltman X Pac returning to TNA and they beat the system of Brian Myers, Eddie Edwards and Moose. So Moose actually ended up being in the pay per view twice again. I do not know where JDC was for this match, but as Austin and the Rascals did get the win. We then had one of the first defenses of the TNA International Champion between Steve Macklin and Eric young. This went 9 minutes and 24 seconds and of course Steve Macklin retained the title. We had a false count anywhere match between Mike Santana and Mustafa Ali went 19 minutes 26 seconds seconds. This was received as the match of the night. We then had a TNA Knockouts world title match between Masha Slamovich and Tessa Blanchard, where Slamovich did Overcome Blanchard in 13 minutes 57 seconds. So I'm quite surprised by that. I thought that they would strap the Rock into Tessa Blanchard on her return since she completely sent Jordan Grace Pack into NXT in your semi. Main this was considered one of not the worst matches of the night, but this was, you know, not as great. The TNA World Tag Team Championship match between the Hardy Boys, Matt and Jeff against the Nemeths, Nick Nemeth and Ryan Nemeth of course, Nick Nemeth being the former TNA World Champion. And in almost 12 minutes the Nemeths beat the Hardys to become the brand new TNA World Tag Team Champions.
So Ryan Nemeth, despite all of his accusations and all of the news that has been coming out about him trying to sue AEW basically being a leech off of the success of people like Punk and Tony Khan. Ryan Nemeth is a champion in TNA with his older brother.
And then we had the main event Triple Threat match between Joe Hendry, Ethan Page and Frankie Kazarian. Joe Hendry ended up beating Ethan Page, but that was not all. I mean Joe Hendry has been dealing with his shoulder injury that he apparently has had.
But the main story about this was Joe Hendry was on NXT that previous week and he was completely putting down Trick Williams for being an entitled prick.
So Trick Williams ended up finally crossing the line and he attacked Joe Hendry after the match.
And currently there is going to be a battle Royal to determine who will be the new number one contender for the NXT title. And of course there is multiple names in this match, names like Charlie Dempsey, Wesley, Josh Briggs, Trick Williams, Lexis King, Rich Holland, Javon Evans.
But there are a few mystery players that will be in this. There are a few surprising people that are in this Battle Royal. Specifically Timothy Thatcher.
Timothy Thatcher has not wrestled for wwe. He's wrestled for Evolve, but they have come at the hands of defeats against Sean Legacy and Bryce Donovan in Evolve.
But as far as an actual match, as far as Timothy Thatcher, Timothy Thatcher's last match was against Ridge Holland, and that was on August 23rd in 2021. So this is going to be his first match on NXT television in over four years, which is incredible. We got Shiloh Hill, who's been currently making the rounds on lfg, Brad Baylor, and we also got some people like Ethan Page and Miles Bourne, Ricky Smokes.
So who ends up coming out of this Battle Royal? I have a very good chance that it's gonna come down to Trick Williams being one of the final competitors and Joe Henry coming in and screwing Williams over. And then maybe that's the match that we get at the next TNA Pay per View which will get Joe Hendry versus Trick Williams.
Some other matches that will end up happening is a number one contendership match between Jordan Grace and Julia. So probably going to have some type of interference between Rhea Ripley on Julia and costing Julia the match. So we're probably going to get Stephanie Vicure versus Jordan Grace at WWE Battleground in Tampa. But other than that, that is all for this week's episode of the Rocking Review podcast. I want to thank you so much for listening and tuning in. A reminder, like I said at the top of the episode, we are on YouTube. That is right. The Rockin Review is on YouTube officially at the new WNYO 88.9 FM YouTube channel. The username is WNYO 88.9 FM3. You cannot search up regular W N Y O because we have not promoted the YouTube channel to have enough subscribers to where it is showed up regularly on the feed. So you have to search it up by the username itself and you will see the username and you will see the channel and then you can find our last two episodes, Part 1 and Part 2, Episode 14 and 15 of our WrestleMania 41 review of course with my host and my guests Lucas McGarry and Mike Neckers. With all that said, thank you so much for listening and as always, it's belt R A W K because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling. Thank you, everybody.
