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 Rocky Review Podcast hosted by J.
Rock Rood.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Welcome everyone to another exciting edition of the Rocking Review Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. This is episode 17 of the podcast and it is the end of the semester special as I am heading into finals week and pretty much after this episode I will put a disclaimer. I do not know when the next episode of the Rocking Review Podcast will be. I'm going to try my hardest to do do this more during the summer and find a way to record and then to put out the podcast like I have been doing for the last six months. But whether the case may be that or a different circumstance, I want to thank everybody that's been listening to this podcast for the last six months. We have accumulated over 180 streams for the total amount that this podcast has been active. And I very much thank WNYO for giving me the opportunity to do this podcast. But we are not alone today and we actually have a brand new first time guest on the show today for the Rock and Review podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the amazing, wonderful Hamza. Cc Welcome Hamza.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: How you doing? How you doing?
[00:03:08] Speaker A: I am feeling great, man. It is so great to have you on the show. I mean we've been talking about coming onto the show for about a couple weeks now and I am just super glad that you're here. And the more and more I hear about your love of pro wrestling, the more I realize I'm like, wow, we really give off the exact same energy of, you know, what we think about pro wrestling, which is awesome.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so too. I mean like I, I got into it in a pretty funny way, but I was like, I think I was 12 and my friend was watching Cena vs Rusev at Fastlane 2015. I think it was okay.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: And I just thought it was crazy. Like, I was just watching this. I was like, yo, like.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: And did you not know like, what WWE was, what John Cena was, what anything was like at that time?
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Nope. See, it was funny because I was a kid who was like, I was into a lot of stuff that funny enough. Like, I probably shouldn't have been. Like, I played violent games. Like, I played Call of Duty. I played Mortal Kombat like this and that. Like, I love to be in stuff that like, didn't make sense for me to be in. Of course. And wrestling is one of those things because, like, even though wrestling is not like uber violent or whatever, it definitely has its moments, you know, and especially on pay per view and stuff like that.
So as a kid, it was very like, like I was very optimistic and just like excited about it. Like, because the energy brings is something that's like, it feels like it really stretches, like otherworldly almost like the larger than life entrances, like the larger than life characters. Obviously, it's just something that you can really sink your teeth into. And as a kid.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: On this episode, we will be going into a little quick review of the shows that happen. Usually people know that I do have a quite extensive look at the shows that happen during the week, but I feel like I just, I'm gonna tone this one down. This might be be the direction I might do for the rest of the podcast because, you know, looking over a lot of how my reviews go for the show, you know, they get really long. They get really, you know, out of hand. So I think that if it's a quick review and if we watch all the episodes and we watch the shows, then we will fully understand if you're a pro wrestling fan, everything that happened. Right. We will also be looking at a big event that ended up happening on Friday the 2nd when me and Hamza was calling a little bit of baseball that night. Apparently there were some pink slips that were given out that night as well. Another case of the WWE Black Friday. We will go over that and the many releases that ended up happening on that Friday night from last week. We also will go over the brand new report that many Triple A Superstars that are signed with AAA have already signed with wwe, including a former world champion in Alberto Del Rio. That's right, the AAA Mega Champion possibly could be seen in the WWE ring for the first time in over nine years. Before that will also be doing a preview of WB's next PLE. That will happen this Saturday in St. Louis, Missouri for WWE Backlash. And we will go over all the matches which will include the main event one last time, John Cena versus Randy Orton for the undisputed WWE Championship. And then finally, we'll talk about the cat out of the bag. And that is of course, Terry Hulk Hogan, Bellea. Yes, this is a shoot, brother.
Forming the real American Freestyle Wrestling promotion with of course, wrestling confidant for World Championship Wrestling wcw, Eric Bischoff, and of course their business partner, the Third man, which we'll get into when we talk about that. But first, let's get in to the reviews of wrestling this past week.
So first off, we had Friday night smackdown, which resided in Des Moines, Iowa, at the Walls Fargo arena, the Wells Fargo. Excuse me, I.
These three hour shows for smackdown are proving more and more kind of problematic.
I don't know why they wanted to go for a random, you know that why they wanted to go for this three hour show for smackdown. But the fact is, is when you don't have the talent on there to make it an effective show, you basically will fall behind and many people will just want to tune out.
They had an opening match with Damian Priest and La Knight, which had a fiery promo segment which I thought was okay, but ended up in the no contest due to interference.
And then we had a tag team match. This was the one noteworthy match of the night between Fraxiom Axiom and Nathan Frazier against pretty deadly Elton Prince and Kit Wilson. One of the main points in this match was Frazier went for a running standing moonsault onto Elton Prince and ended up busting him open. And that ended up knocking him out loopy so he didn't end up kicking out. So the ref had to play along with the match. But I found out that they did not do this once, they did this twice because pretty deadly, I believe it was. Kit Wilson got a pin on, I believe, Axiom. And the ref, instead of not hitting the mat at the kick out of two, she ended up hitting the mat. And nothing was said pretty much after that. So it looked like it was a two out of three falls, but that went, you know, nine minutes, 30 seconds. But of course, you know, the injury that ended up happening with Elton Prince, probably some sort of nosebleed or some type of fracture with the nose, was, you know, kind of bad.
Then we had Aleister Black in his return match, taking on the Miz, who was accompanied by Carmelo Hayes. They had a halfway decent match. Of course, the finish was kind of cool. They got The Black Mass and Miz went for the skull crushing finale, but Black ended up doing a handspring cartwheel to get out of it, which I thought that was pretty cool.
Hamza, what have you thought about the Alistair Black return and how well the WB has been managing it now that he's back?
[00:09:53] Speaker B: So far it's been a. It's been a good job. I thought Alistair keeping his previous presentation. He still has his previous theme song. His address is still the same with him rising up like it's great.
The crowd seems into him. He looks good.
So far it's been. It's been pretty good.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: I. Yeah. And with, you know, Miz being the first thing up for Alistair on his return, like that's great. I do think that Alistair will move on to bigger and better things. I mean that. I think that's the main question. Like, where do you see Alistair going, like now that he's gotten his little ring rust out being WWE and after his time with aew, like now being just the Miz and probably that's like pretty much done.
They did rumor having Aleister Black feud with Carmelo Hayes. Which man, that would be a star studded performance by both men, especially Carmelo Hayes being as young as he is and you know, with Blacks veteran expertise and the fact that both of them don't really have like the same style of one's more high flying than the other.
But you know, would you be interested in seeing Aleister Black Melo feud on the road?
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I do think it's necessary.
So here's the thing. You. These two guys are kind of put into a spot where it's a little bit nerve wracking because neither one of them can afford to really take the loss.
Alistair Black absolutely can't. Carmelo Hayes can take it, but I don't think he should be taking it.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Yeah, no, no, Melo, no, Melo will definitely take the fall. I think they'll build Black up kind of similar to like how they've done with Penta and they'll basically just, you know, keep him as, you know, grounded as possible where they'll. They'll try to build him up as, you know, much. But then like, they'll finally like end up, you know, slowing him down just, you know, a little bit. But, you know.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: I definitely think that that match would, you know, go pretty hard.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Yeah, the match itself would be great.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
Moving on from that, we had a nine title match between Selena Vega and Piper NIVEN that went 11 minutes, nine seconds. Of course, you know, Vega winning the U.S. women's Championship was really great. We talked about that last week on the pod.
Then your semi main singles match between Ray Phoenix and Santos Escobar. 12 minutes, 27 seconds. This was a close second to the tag team match at the beginning of the night.
I think their presentation of Phoenix has been absolutely fantastic. And he finally got that big match against Santos Escobar, which, you know, Santos, we haven't really seen much in the ring. I feel like they are really not doing him a favor with, you know, having him just constantly in these back round segments with Humberto and Garza, which we'll get into the news around Los Garzas in a second.
But you know, I think Rey Fenix, you know, even though he had that loss and of course it was like an emergency poll that they had to do at WrestleMania. I think Ray Phoenix is pretty much destined for, you know, very good things for his run with wwe and you know, eventually.
And if there was any event that I would probably say have them finally bring back the Lucha brothers, it would have to be that Triple A event.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Yeah, it really seems like to me that Ray Phoenix has gotten the spot that Dragon Lee was supposed to get, in a sense, because obviously he comes in, obviously he wins his first few matches. He already has a WrestleMania match under his belt. It doesn't matter if he lost.
And it was a good showing too.
So it does very much feel like Rey Fenix is what. What people expected Dragon Lee to be, which is like, it's a bit unfortunate.
I don't see a super bright future for Dragon Lee if other luchadors are there because. Not because he's not good in the ring, but I believe that his size and everything, it's just when it comes to it, Rey Mysterio is an anomaly, right. Because he's a very. He's obviously a very tiny guy and he was able to get away with that. And Vince's wwe, which is something that was super rare at the time and something that we still look at and applaud him for now.
And it's just tough for someone of that size to get over today. Obviously we see Chad Gable, I don't think he's El Grande Americano, but it depends on who you ask.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: New Speed Champion, by the way.
We won't go into that, but we'll just say that Dragon Lee, as you mentioned, he was the Speed Champion. Of course, if anybody does not know what speed is, it's kind of like a variation of the main event. But what they do is they have matches where they will have people fight each other in a time limit of under three minutes and then you have to get the win. And that's what El Grande Americano did. He worked his way all the way up and he ended up having a match with Dragon Lee and he won the Speed Championship.
So, you know, that's kind of crazy. I don't know if we'll ever see the Speed Champion on tv. I don't know if we've ever seen the Speed Champion ever really on television, which is insane. I don't know why they don't showcase that off. You know, they showcase the freaking 247 title all.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: I actually believe that is some sort of like legality thing. I saw something about that on Twitter that they like might not actually be allowed to show the title on Raw.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: Which is super weird, but that's interesting. Yeah, that's crazy.
But the main event for Smackdown last week was Jade Cargill and Tiffany Stratton beating Naomi and nia Jaxis went 11 minutes, 29 seconds. The ending of the match was Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill winning and Jade Cargill and Stratton fighting over the title and before Naomi ended up attacking both women. And the end of the night ended with Naomi holding up the women's championship. Do you think kind of similar to like what we saw with the US Title and the match that we're getting at backlash, do you think we'll get a fatal four way with Jade, Tiffany, Naomi and Nia possibly in the future? Because that's what I'm feeling like from this match.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: That makes sense. So I think obviously it's not going to be announced for backlash because we already have the big US Title four way. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So not backlash, but it looks like it's gonna happen in the eventual future and obviously Tiffany will retain.
[00:16:34] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: But yeah, I think it makes sense and it's the right direction. We don't realistically need Nia Jax on TV right now.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: Yes, I was gonna ask you that. Like, how have you thought about Nia Jax being back on tv?
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm really not sure what the call for that was. Like, there's really nothing for her to do right now. She could take her break. Like, obviously Cody's taking his break.
This is the season, it's right after WrestleMania for people to rest. This is the time to rest them. So maybe she just wanted to be back and that's fine too.
But yeah, a four way is definitely the right move. Tiffany, Nia Jax wouldn't have Been great for anyone.
Obviously, I don't think it would have made sense to bury Naomi.
I do believe that she should be the next champion.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: Yes.
When she posed for that championship, I think that already having the feud that they had with Jade and Naomi, I think if Naomi ends up stealing a win and she ends up being the champion, not only is it gonna show like WB is actually believing in her after she came back from being with tna, but also that fuels another reason for now having somebody take the title off of Naomi and it being Jade.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Right. So people saying it's really funny, but Naomi is actually a dark horse for money in the bank. And I see that a lot. Because if, let's say Tiffany Jade happens at SummerSlam and Jade is able to capture the title.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Yes, that's perfect way to end that.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: Feud is Naomi cashing in on Jade and winning the title there. And then you could set up a program for however long you want it to build up to.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: So I don't usually say this much, but shit, you're right, bro.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: And it's funny because, like, as you're saying that I already am imagining freaking Naomi making her own custom money in the bank with the caution tape around it.
That would be tough. So that was Smackdown down. Now we'll move to Monday Night Raw, which happened this past week in Omaha, Nebraska, right at the Chai Health Center.
Penta and. And he was featured as the opening bout. He took on J.D. mcD and he won. Like, he. He's got so many new entrance themes and now he has a brand new entrance theme that features tool guitarist Adam Jones that was in there. But Penta, he always delivers.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Yeah, that was really cool. I saw obviously music critic, all of you know him, Anthony Fontan, you go. He tweeted out the article about that and I thought that was really cool. It's like every time I see pro wrestling go into that mainstream field, it is always the coolest thing, but that's.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Exactly what they want. But then after that, I will say before the Penta match, just because we were talking about it, there was the opening promo, which I thought was really cool. And it was J USO and Paul Heyman. And Paul Heyman basically came out and he tried to, you know, tell Jay uso and this was like his reasoning for like, why he really did it. And the fact is, like, everything was so valid. It was the most valid heel manager response you could say, because it was all legitimately there. Because Roman did not come back for Paul when he got attacked by the bloodline 2.0.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Right?
[00:19:44] Speaker A: He came back because of the representation of the Ulafala that Solo was carrying around all this time and basically posing as the fake tribal chief.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: So this is the good thing about part timers is that when it comes to. When it comes to storylines, things like this make sense. Obviously you paired up Roman for. With Paul Heyman for, I mean, years at this point. Roman actually not being there for him is something that, like, even. Even though we watched it all go down, fans at this point, when. When he turned at Wrestlemania, you go on the. The Internet anywhere and fans were asking themselves, oh, why? Why would he possibly do this? We all saw it unfold on tv, but how quickly they forget, which is why it's very smart that they've hired all these writers who they have to keep track with all these events. It's called long term booking, long term storytelling. They were thinking about this last summer, but it's finally time to put it to play. And when Paul Heyman says these things, you go back and you remember, oh, yeah, how could I forget? I watched this unload on tv. So it was a really good response. He explained everything perfectly. Of course, he still got boot out of the building.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: The biggest cr.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: It's.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: It's one of the biggest crash outs of Paul Heyman's career because it was just like he was not the run the wrong. He's like, I'm always a scumbag and for you to doubt me. Screw you and screw all of you. Like, and the fact is, is, like, it was legitimate. Like, you know, he was just trying to help his best friend live out his dream. But Roman Reigns had to make it all about himself. And he did not really care about Paul Heyman. So Paul Heyman did the one thing that he could. He did not want to side with CM Punk because it hurt so much on Roman Reigns. And then he was abused so much by Roman Reigns that he betrayed him and then sided with Roman Reigns enemy, who really has, like an equal, you know, partnership with Seth Rollins, and then also Bron Breakker, who's now, you know, one of the biggest futures in the company.
But after that, then we got the promo match and then it was also announced that in the main event that USO would be defending the world every title with Seth Rollins. And I was kind of skeptical because it was like, okay, what is really going to happen? Like, are they really going to, like, make him drop the title before backlash? Because again, like, it would be insane because then they would have to do an impromptu rematch, right on backlash, which, which would have been okay, but after the penta match that opened the show, we got Austin Theory having an open challenge. Of course, this Theory Waller dynamic that's been like so teased for like almost the last like half of a year. So just insane.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: I'm actually big on Theory and I'll.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: Say this, everybody is.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, I disagree with that. But I'm gonna say this. I do think Theory will be getting a big push in this upcoming year. Obviously they've been building up the breakup with Grayson Waller for a minute now.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: And will it pay off? That's going to be the question. I think. I think I will say this about WWE in the negatives. I do think they have trouble following through.
You think about Chad Gable and Otis's breakup last year.
Otis was over, man, that clash at the Castle. The entire building wanted him to kick Chad Gable's ass and they ended up not really doing anything with him. And it was unfortunate because the buildup was great.
And I don't fear that the same thing will happen here just because I believe obviously Theory on his own is 10 times the talent that Otis is. No disrespect to Otis, but when the breakup does happen, Theory has all the main event potential. He can.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Already was doing that with the US title and then he ended up culminating all that with a match with John Cena open up night one of Mania 39. And it's just like we're just waiting to see what happens. But yeah, unfortunately Theory did not get the bright side of this match because it was returning Seamus Sheamus having his first match since. Let me check real quick. His first match since March, actually he was in the Rumble.
That was his last televised event. So I believe he ended up getting injured or something ended up happening or they, they wrote him off or whatever.
But yeah, he took a two month hiatus from WWE and now he's back and he came in with a very big win. And you know, it's constantly looked at. Okay, when will Sheamus end up, you know, reaching to that level? And you know, you don't know how many years Sheamus has left. He's 47.
So you know, you look at, you know, in couple years he'll be 50. Like, I think like Seamus is also, you know, kind of similar to like a lot of, you know, a lot of the old timers. Like I really think like he's right at the end of the road for him.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I see what you're saying, but Seamus is actually a guy who, he doesn't He's. I've. Because I've watched Celtic Warrior workouts and I've seen a lot of what he has to say. Chris Van Fleet obviously did an interview with him recently, and it honestly seems.
[00:24:44] Speaker A: That he's.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: He wants to wrestle longer than you would assume. Obviously. You see cnn, his retirement tour, and you see even Punk, Punk, Samoa Joe, all these people being like, like, time is nearly up for me. Sheamus is not one of those guys. He said that he wants to wrestle completely until the wheels are falling off. So I could see him going another 6, 67 years potentially. And I don't think that the, the end of the road is for him yet. I do think there's still a story to tell with the Intercontinental title and Sheamus. So I think he's still, even though at his age, he's still got a bright future ahead of him. And I see, I see a big, a big culmination moment in his career happening with the Intercontinental title sooner than later, bro.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Randy Orton, I mean, he's, he's 45 right now and, you know, he just, he just turned 45 on the 1st of April, and like he said back when he returned over two years ago, like 20, 22, that he's got at least 10 more years. So, like, he would be there.
But also, like, I, I, I, I don't, you know, see the same style as, you know, Seamus and Randy do. So Randy, I feel like he's gonna try to do what he can so that way he can end up being there longer. But like, Seamus, he just goes off and on and, you know, the real rumor and the real speculation is maybe Seamus even finishes up in aew.
Recently that's been the case with, like, people like AJ Styles possibly being in AEW soon.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: I do believe that AJ is WWE lifer just because he's done everything everywhere else and he just wants to make his money and coast by somewhere where he doesn't have to wrestle too hard.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: And I mean, the match that he had with Logan wasn't the best. It was. No, it was, it was okay.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: It was a decent match.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: It was a decent match. And then, like, the payoff all to that has been the promos that we've been getting from Karrion Kross, which have been absolutely, you know, tremendous.
He keeps on getting pops, like, at the local events. And I think, like, he also, like, and they, they showed a clip where, like, he was getting sheared tremendously at main event and then he just loses the Dragon Lee, all of a sudden, it's like, how in the world do you give him that push? Like, when do you actually, like, make him a main event star?
Like you've, you know, kind of promised for, like, the last couple of years. So.
So that's been great.
Moving on. We had a night title match. Roxanne Perez having her first real main roster call up full match.
And I say full match because, like, she had a match with rhea back on 28th April, but before then, like, you know, Tiffany Stratton beat her right before Mania.
So, like, that was okay as well. And she was in a, you know, tag match and then she was in the qualifying match and then she was at Elimination Chamber and whatnot. And that's been, like, great. But again, like, she was still for nxt. Like, she was still going back and forth with NXT and being at, you know, all the different events and whatnot.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: So, you know, Roxanne finally now getting this, you know, Netflix match is just really, really good.
But of course, you know, sky then came in and there was a show of respect for Roxanne, but of course that was all a ruse because Julia, you know, coming in and them doing like some type of super kick double stomp, like attack to Iyo sky, so, you know, the rookies coming in and trying to take over, and of course, Rio was not there.
So. And as we know, the attack from Julia after the match and them doing the combo moves where Ripley wasn't there, but now we know that next week they are going to finally get that tag match with eo sky and Ripley versus Julia and Roxanne Perez, which I actually will believe that that is going to be Julia's first main roster match, which is absolutely tremendous. I think Julia will have a heck of a time having her debut match on the main roster.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: Yes. So I don't know how much you've seen of Julia outside of wwe.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: I saw. I saw. I've seen quite a bit with her, her. Her time in stardom. So.
[00:29:05] Speaker B: And I'm not gonna make any assumptions on how much HPK is seen, but it does seem to me like maybe Triple H gets her a little bit more because she is built and designed to be a heel.
And I'm very glad the main roster's first taste of her is going to be as a heel because she's, like, dangerous. She likes to wrestle dangerously, she likes to be dirty, she fights dirty. This is how she was in Japan and this is how she should be in wwe.
She is not a face in any sense of the Word, word. Very much like Kevin Owens in that sense. So as a heel, I think she's doing. She's going to do really, really great work.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: For the main event, we had Rusev versus Otis and Rusev's return match in WWE in pretty much since 2020.
I thought that this was pretty good.
Making Rusev a killer and absolutely destroy Otis was absolutely amazing. And where they end up going with Rusev after this, maybe just start off in the mid card once again and then build him up for the world title. I don't know if Rusev would ever be that type of world champion talent, but he would make a hell of a challenger for that title.
During this segments, we add another really good promo seg between Gunther and Pat McAfee. Now, last week Pat McAfee had a tremendous promo standing on top of the announced desk defending Michael Cole and then challenging Gunther with which ended up having the match at backlash.
And now with this one basically telling Gunther that he's going to prove to him and the entire world that this version of Gunther post WrestleMania is soft and he is not the person that he once was.
You know, in his own words, back in the Waltering around days, which I thought that was kind of slick. That was really kind of cool. And you can see tell that Pat is so natural when it's not at a commentary desk calling color with Michael Cole, like, he knows how to really cut a promo. Look at his role in NXT back in the Pandemic era when he had those segments with Adam Cole. He was one of the top stars that can cut a promo and he wasn't even signed there.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: And he ended up doing his work in nxt. They brought him over to the main roster. Then he had his first WrestleMania match against Austin Theory. And then he had Happy Corbin, which I believe this would be like his first match since actually Mania 39 with the Miz. So like, he has not stepped in the ring for a while. And of course the reason for that has been protecting him because of ESPN and college game day and everything else.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: So this is building up to Gunther versus Goldberg.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: And yes, I think everybody knows that.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: I think everybody knows that. So obviously that is going to be Goldberg's retirement match. But leading into it, you're not going to lead into it with Gunther losing a match to Pat McAfee. Gunther has to absolutely like murder and kill this guy.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: Which, so obviously Pat is beloved, which is why he's the perfect candidate to be sacrificed. And. And if you know Pat, you know, write him off.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: So that way he can, you know, go off and probably, I would have to say, you know, maybe this is where they end up bringing Corey Graves back to Raw and calling play by play and calling color with Michael Cole.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: Yeah, potentially.
[00:32:45] Speaker A: Because, like, because Graves has straight up said, like, he's upset that he's on NXT and not, you know, no, you know, disrespect to nxt, but, like, he knows, like, he's been calling main roster collar and play by play, you know, for over 10 years now on the main roster. Like, they brought him over and he's been an absolute student, you know, calling all the matches and whatnot. And he's had a lot of amazing calls, you know, during his tenure.
And, you know, again, no disrespect to Vic Joseph. I think out of, you know, everybody. Vic Joseph next to, like, Michael Cole. And people said, like, good things about Joe's Tessator, you know, coming to WWE and him able to manage, like, all his duties that he's also taking, you know, being part of espn. But, like, you know, Joe Tessator, like, it's just so awkward having a person that's not either been in the company for a very long time or a veteran of company like a Wade Barrett or anything like that, or Jerry Lawler like to call the matches. So it's just weird to have, like, another professional come in and meanwhile, like Pat, he's always been a fan, but, like, he's also been in the ring so he understands, like what it is. And people call him annoying, but, you know, he's just very energetic and, you know, so is Booker T. But Booker T. Has no real, you know, he just cannot call any matches. He just, you know, stay. He stays there. He, you know, stays there for the Stephanie Vicure matches. She does the spot and he just does his weird, perverted lines. And he pretty much is the brand new Jerry Lawler of the 2010s.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: I think it's a little far.
Booker T. We had to give him his dues as one of the most accomplished black men in the industry.
[00:34:26] Speaker A: That is. That is true.
[00:34:27] Speaker B: Yeah. He's had his controversy, obviously. You know, he has. He's his thing with Swerve recently, that.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Beef, which was something which we covered on the show. Yeah.
[00:34:36] Speaker B: Which is really something to behold. But even with that being said, yeah, Booker T. Is a bit of a goofball on commentary, but I do believe that there is room for him.
He's. He's an entertainer. He is what he was. It doesn't separate from what he was in his career. Obviously. We know Booker T.
Aside from his ignorant stuff, for being a very comedic character in general, obviously you would think about his segments with Vince and a lot of his backstage stuff and his King Booker gimmick.
We know Booker as being someone who's very outlandish comedic, and the stuff he's doing on commentary doesn't really separate from anything he's doing on tv. But I do like that he brings something different to the table, which Pat McAfee does too. And you got to think about that in the terms of the Internet wrestling community. Pat McAfee is hated, too. A lot of people say, oh, his commentary sucks or this and that, just because he differs from the normal. Booker T. Does that as well. So with that being said, he's not everybody's cup of tea and neither is McAfee. But does that mean that they shouldn't be on commentary?
[00:35:35] Speaker A: No, I don't think so. Then we ended the show with the main event, Seth Rollins vs. Jey USO.
You know, people did not know what they were going to expect. They were immediately like, okay, Sammy comes back and he calls an interference, and that was it. That didn't end up happening because when Sammy cost the interference and Jay hit the USO splash after the spear, Seth Rollins still kicked us. I'm looking at. I'm like, oh, my God.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: So I was actually watching this with great concern on my face because I was like, oh, my God, if Seth Rollins loses right here, that would be an absolute burial.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Yeah, because, like, it's like you have to protect both Jay and Seth, especially Seth, you know, set.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: And.
[00:36:22] Speaker A: And that was that. That was the entire purpose of the opening program. In the opening promo was Paul Heyman basically tricking Jay into giving Seth a title match right then and there. He didn't have to wait after backlash. He didn't have to wait after Money in the Bank. He wanted it right then there that night. And, you know, going into the end with Braun Breaker taking out Sammy, and then Seth looking like he was going to, you know, take advantage of the numbers game. And then all of a sudden, call to personality hits, and nobody expected CM Punk to be there and CM Punk running down and then causing a dq. Like, I was like, okay, they didn't really call for the bell, but, like, you know, in technical terms, Seth won by dq. Like in Jay's first defense, Center Mania.
But, you know, that main event segment and that main event closing with now the numbers game being J, Sammy and Punk. Now you got to look for that third man in, you know, for Breaker and Rollins in that new dangerous alliance with Heyman, I mean, the possibilities now open up of who we're going to, who are we going to get if we get that six man tag with Punk, Sammy and Jay against the dangerous alliance and who will be that third man?
[00:37:44] Speaker B: Yeah, so I've heard theory thrown around and I do believe that even though he would fit it perfectly, he's not, he hasn't been put up in a position where it makes sense.
So.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: Well, they need a young, they need a real good young rookie to basically be like the Randy Orton Carol of like what Evolution was.
[00:38:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: It's just very different because, you know, evolution like Rick still was wrestling during his time.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: Right.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: The difference is now is that Paul Heyman is now the Ric Flair of this new dangerous alliance and he's just a manager.
And now you have Seth who's been the vet, you have Bron, who is another rookie, who's your Batista who's just jacked. And now you need a brand new fresh rookie who's going to come out the gate. And he's only been, you know, in the company for like a little bit. I don't know who they would end up bringing in. Maybe it's a call up, maybe it's somebody else, but like, you know, you got to figure out, you know, who do you make in that group of guys that would be great to be pairing with Bron Breaker and Seth Rollins, but.
[00:38:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: And the one thing that was left out of this Raw was after that scuffle at the main event, Jay went to the outside, he was high fiving all the people on the crowd. And then all of a sudden in a black hoodie, somebody gives him the right hand and it's Logan Paul wasn't even featured on the show. Logan Paul comes up, swings at Jay uso and I believe that will just pretty much set up their match. Probably not at Backlash, but probably at Saturday night's main event in Tampa.
[00:39:28] Speaker B: Mm, yeah, I think that that definitely makes sense. It's gonna. People are upset about this match, but.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: Yes, I've heard many people that been upset with him.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: I'm not. I see, I see the point and I see the purpose.
This is a match that is made for the Internet.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: Yes. It's solely made for Internet. It's made for clicks. It's made for the people that chant yeet. Especially me wearing my yeet hoodie right now.
[00:39:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: And then of course it is the following that Logan Paul brings.
[00:39:58] Speaker B: Exactly. And that Sells. People don't want to admit it, but that sells.
This is not going to be the greatest in ring match ever, but that doesn't matter. It's gonna get views and it's gonna get clicks and that's all they're looking for here. Mania just happened. You wanted your in ring stuff, there it is. Backlash is the show where they get to relax and run some fun matches, build up popularity, have get people back to the product and seeing what's going on. And Logan Paul versus Jey USO is that type of match. It's not going to be an in ring barn burner five star classic, but it's going to have people talking and that's all they need.
[00:40:35] Speaker A: Yeah, speaking of which, clicks and views breaking here. Daniel Cormier, that's right, the multi time UFC champion tweeted this just now. Carrying Cross is awesome. Keep doing your thing.
And of course Carrying Cross responding with apparently Tom Cruise bowing in front of some type of samurai or something like that as an army general. So the fact that Karrion Kross getting some recognition from D.C. is quite insane.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Yeah, Karrion Kross is doing great work right now and it's actually really interesting because if Kross hadn't been on this run, he's been on this past couple months, he could have very well been one of the releases that we would have seen this past Friday. And it's not too shocking because you see Braun Strowman release even though obviously he's got a universal championship under his belt and so many accomplishments.
Karrion Kross is one of those guys who he's been released before and he doesn't have anything near the status of Braun Strowman. So it's hard to believe that if he hadn't been on this tear that he's been on recently, that he wouldn't have been one of those guys who would have gotten his release papers on Friday. So I know he has to be thanking his lucky stars that he's been putting the work in and it's been paying off for him.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: Definitely.
Now that was raw.
Now before we go into those releases, let's real quickly check in with AEW Dynamite, of course, AW on their way to Double or Nothing out in Phoenix.
This happened in Detroit at the, at the Monsonic Temple Theater.
I don't know how I feel about AEW running in these tiny theaters.
Of course it's better for them. You know, they had the issue with the larger venues not being sold out, so now they're moving into the smaller Venues and having their, you know, dynamites and collisions there and then having their ples at the major arenas, which is okay. But the fact is like this was supposed to be the alternative. And the difference is is that with TNA and a lot of the alternatives, like they had their own sound stage, it was the same thing every single time. But then like they're just shifting to different places and like they're taking it on the road and you don't know if they're making good money, but they have like all the stars. So it's just, it's quite skeptical how well they've been doing. But we had a opening match with the women's world title eliminator. These eliminator matches, I don't understand why on earth that they continue to do these eliminate matches just for the champion to just win and just get a quick victory over everybody else. But yeah, Toni Storm, Anna J, Penelope Ford and Thunder Rosa again, three women that have barely gotten any wins whatsoever. So I have no idea why on earth that they were in this match. But you know, you know, just, you know, generally speaking, like, what is your thoughts on this? You know. Now the second, or I should say the third reign of the women's champion.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: With Toni Storm, I do believe that the women's division is in trouble over there. Obviously Mariah Mae's contract is about to expire and a lot of people are assuming that she's going to be WWE bound.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:43:59] Speaker B: And that would be a big problem.
Toni Storm herself is doing fine work right now. I think a lot of the attention is on Mercedes and that's who a lot of people are talking about when it comes to aew.
Tony's character work has been pretty great. Obviously the Hollywood ending at the pay per view a couple months ago was pretty great.
[00:44:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:18] Speaker B: So she's doing good stuff. She's doing good work, but it's not exactly drawing too many people. Yes, she's fun to watch in ring. Obviously her character is great. It's not getting stale or anything like that, but she's just not the focus of his division. She's. Nobody's really tuning in to watch her, but she gets the job done.
I do think that they should be focusing on other talent. Obviously. Megan Bain.
I'm not the biggest fan of her. I don't think they've done a good job explaining who she is necessarily. And it's just besides Toni Storm, there's a lot of the women's division has problem with character work.
The fans just don't seem to care necessarily about their characters. And I do think that's something that the product as a whole needs to improve upon is understanding how to tell stories more. And this is especially in the women's division.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: Yes, I, I completely agree with you. Like Toni Storm, like she's a very strong champion and her gimmick as timeless. Tony has been like absolutely tremendous for the women's division, but like everybody else, like has almost nothing. Like, why is Thunder Rosa being in there? And she has not like, you know, had a, she has not like won a match in like so long. I'm seeing a bunch of these matches like Megan Bain beats Thunder Rosa. Megan Bain. Penelope Ford beats Chris Dantlander. Thunder Rosa, her last win on an AEW event was back in May when she beat Penelope Ford. A ten minute match, like, okay, that's great, but like have you beaten like anybody major to like deserve a eliminate match? And also how does it work with the Eliminator match? Like they, they just pin that not the champion. Like imagine if like Penelope before pins in a J, does that mean Penelope before he gets a. Aw. Women's title match, which would absolutely suck. You know, no offense, but Jesus.
And then this was a pretty decent match, but I didn't even realize how bad this was until I saw the full like lineup here.
Ring of Honor World television title match. Nick Wayne, champion.
He beat a man of Christian Cage's past being Rhino. Rhino has now competed in Ring of Honor. Nwa, tna, I believe, wwe, ecw. He's competed almost everywhere and he lost to Nick Wayne.
20 year old, 19 year old Nick Wayne in 3 minutes and 22 seconds.
[00:46:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's pretty despicable. Ryno is one of those guys where he's very much like his brother, Tommy Dreamer.
He's been everywhere and he's done everything and he's just having fun with it now. Obviously he's not an age where he's competing to win world championships or for anybody to take him seriously. He just, he's gonna show up, have his fun and then leave.
[00:47:16] Speaker A: Pay window, brother.
[00:47:16] Speaker B: The pay window is gonna be the same sin in aew.
Yeah, he's doing his thing completely. Should he be losing 19 year olds? Maybe not. But I think for Rhino, it's all about the money. I don't think he cares who he went to, he loses to. He's just there to have fun.
And that's fine. That's fine too. There's room for that. AEW does have room for that. Obviously. See Jeff Jarrett and a bunch of their Legends. They love their legends. Yeah.
[00:47:38] Speaker A: But the difference is, like, also, the legends haven't been featured, like, as much as they used to. Like, I think somebody got into the ear of Tony Khan, basically said, like, hey, stop booking a lot of these old timers. Keep on just using the people that you have and that are signed to aew.
[00:47:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:52] Speaker A: And then that's the other thing is, like, presence on aew. This is the Ring of Honor world television title, and yet you have Nick Wayne, who is a tremendous talent. And again, the fact that he's, like, pretty much, like, younger, almost the same age as, like, us, is just incredible. Like, how much of the business that he's known for, he's known. And just the fact that he's now under the tutelage of Christian Cage, such a veteran in this business. So I felt like that was good. But to lose, to make Rhino lose in under four minutes is insane.
Especially when we've got, like, people like Rob Van Dam have longer title match or longer. Yeah. Title matches in. Aw.
It is what it is, but I don't. I don't understand it. This is just setting up for blood and guts whenever this happens.
Ricochet and the Young Bucks beat Mark Briscoe, Mike Bailey and swerve Strickland in 14 minutes, 15 seconds. This was by far the longest match of the entire card for Dynamite last night. And really, when you involve a lot of people who are very strong and who were very strong on the indie scene, especially for people like the Young Bucks, Mike Bailey and Swear Strickland, their only purpose right there is to basically choreograph small spots that are basic indie heat and basic indie pops that will get a random standing ovation if people really care about that, and that Detroit crowd did care about that little spot that they had that quick stint. But also when you got Matthew Jackson, of all people, pinning Swerve Strickland to win the match, that's ridiculous because not only are you burying Swerve Strickland, who I already had a rant about back when I reviewed IEW Dynasty, it's ridiculous because you're killing Swerve Strickland's push, and you're killing Swerve Strickland as a top babyface, when you got one of your EVPs pinning him in a match, Swerve.
[00:49:52] Speaker B: Is in a place where obviously he's completely over and everybody would share everything he does. But it's like, despite that, they keep booking him like crap. The decision to have Jon Moxley retained was one that still has me Scratching my head, obviously, like I think about a month later. And I do think Swerve is a victim of some terrible booking right now and we're gonna see where it leads with him. We're patient, but we're not happy.
And we're waiting.
[00:50:20] Speaker A: We got another eliminator tournament or another eliminator match. Kazuchiko gotta beat Kevin Knight.
Nothing much. Okada. Basically we're just waiting for Omega and Okada to be each other at all in and then Omega wins and becomes a double champ. But it is what it is. Main event saw Samoa Joe beat Claudio Castagnoli. 10 minutes, 42 seconds. And of course this is all building up for next week's beach break, which so far will feature Hangman Adam Page and Will Ospreay, which by the way, they had a very decent promo segment in the middle of the ring. And of course the one line was Will Ospreay saying, this is not about your resurrection, this is about my ascension. Which I definitely believe that Will Ospreay will be the winner of that Owen Hart final at double or nothing and will go on to, I believe, take the title off of Jon Moxley. And speaking of Jon Moxley, next week on Dynamite, he will be facing Samoa Joe in a steel cage match. But of course that will have a messed up finish as it always has. And you know, they're trying to build up to double or nothing, which will happen in about, you know, about less than about two weeks or so out in Glendale. I just hope that, you know, they end up delivering. And the fact is that they only have two matches announced and it is basically the finals of the Owen Hart cup tournament, which is Mercedes Monet versus Jamie Hayter and Adam Page and Will Ospreay. And that's the only thing that we have. We don't have anybody.
We're probably going to get another match between Joe and Moxley at double or nothing, right? Either that or we get what I believe we always get, double or nothing, which is, of course, anarchy in the arena. So I'm guessing that we're going to get the OPS against the Death Riders, which, you know, it'll be okay. And I'm guessing that the Deathriders are probably going to side with the Young Bucks and then that becomes five on five. And then you got Swerve and whoever Swerve wants to recruit. Then you have the ops and then you have one more guy that you recruit to make it 5 on 5 for anarchy in the arena, which I think that that would do pretty good. But that is our reviews of the shows. Now let's go into, of course, Black Friday, as you mentioned earlier.
So this was announced on May 2. Of course, this was right before that Friday night smackdown that happened in Iowa. And one of the top releases that ended up happening. We'll start with the main roster first was Braun Strowman. Of course, Braun Strowman. He had the early feud this year with Jacob Fatu and really elevating Fatu. And his last match was The Smackdown before WrestleMania which featured Jake, Braun Strowman and La Knight beating Jacob Fatu and Solo Sokoa. I mean like Braun Strowman probably out of all the releases, kind of is one of the biggest ones. What do you think?
[00:53:36] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely the biggest one. And I, I do think that it is the biggest one in terms of tv, but in terms of the iwc, which does matter, no matter how much anybody tells you it doesn't, was Dakota Kai. Obviously she's extremely popular in general, especially in the Internet wrestling community.
And Kurgani release got over, I believe 60,000 likes and 500,000 views on Twitter alone. And which is pretty insane. She has a lot of pull and a lot of drive. She's been released before.
But these are two releases that Dakota Kai and Braun Strowman are very injury prone.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
I'm just gonna say this, that there was multiple reports from the Wrestling Observer Radio about like why the roster cuts happen.
One of the ones is age and salary are reportedly one of the main reasons. This is a quote from Dave Meltzer. Essentially the cuts are being made because a lot of it has to do with guys and women getting up there in age.
They're looking back at people who they're not going to use well compared to the salary going forward.
Another case which was unbelievable to hear is many of the WWE NXT releases were reportedly people who were perceived as not working hard in training.
Another quote from Dave Meltzer. Many of those cut were perceived as not working hard in training. And if you don't work hard in training, there are so many people who do at this point. If the feeling is that you're not working hard in training, I saw the term lazy. The ones who are lazy are going to be gone and the ones who didn't stand out are going to be gone. So. So quite interesting for the fact that, you know, people are perceived as not working hard or old or there's salary things going on. But, you know, that's unfortunate. You talk about Dakota Kai. Dakota Kai's Last match. And again, how we will count these is televised, matched or main roster WWE matches, you know, so if it's main event, which that was the last match, it was Dakota Kai.
Her last match was on March 20th of this year and she beat Ivy Nile in 4 minutes 54 seconds. And then she also beat Ivy Nile a week before on March 17th in 2 minutes and 47. I believe these were a week apart and these were part of the international shows.
So the 17th one was in Brussels and then the 24th was in Glasgow.
Then we had Shayna Baszler who I'm surprised it took her this long to get released because she probably could have been released way earlier.
[00:56:28] Speaker B: So I actually, I do see why you say this, but I do think that she had the pull of Ronda Rousey for a while.
And after the feud with Ronda was done and Ronda left, I believe that she relied on her previous credibility and background to stay around a little bit longer than she should have.
She did have a nice protective bubble because she was huge in nxt. Triple H was a Shayna Baszler guy in a sense. And it is because of that, I believe, that she was protected for so long.
[00:56:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:56:58] Speaker B: But eventually that obviously the bubble's been popped.
It was only so long she could go on without doing anything. As soon as Sonya deville was released.
[00:57:08] Speaker A: I thought that's when. There you go.
[00:57:09] Speaker B: I thought, yeah, I knew her time was coming. The clock was taking.
[00:57:13] Speaker A: Yes.
Her last technical match for really any wrestling because she was still associated with WWE. She was part of GCW's Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 12, which. Hamza, I know your love for bloodsport. Have you ever seen a GCW bloodsport event?
[00:57:31] Speaker B: I do believe there was the, the carrying cross match, right?
[00:57:34] Speaker A: Yes, there was.
[00:57:35] Speaker B: I have seen that. I have seen that. And that's the only match I saw. But I did enjoy it.
[00:57:40] Speaker A: It was, it was Karrion Kross versus J R Kratos.
And then the main event for that was Gabe Kidd beating Josh Burnett. And the, the, the precursor, the pre match for that was a four and a half star GCW match between Zack Sabre Jr. And Jonathan Gresham that went 17 minutes 34 seconds. A lot of people were actually featured from WWE on this GCW event. Gcw, of course, Brett Laudendale has, well, partners with WWE and the fact that they got like all these people, like Tavion Heights was on this. Charlie Dempsey was on this, Pete Dunn was on this.
So her last official Shayna Baser her last official WWE match.
Oh yeah, this is funny.
Was April 11th.
WWE women's tag title number one contendership gauntlet. I don't know if you saw this one. This was the one where they had all the tag teams and it was Bailey and Lyra, Vicaria B Fab and Meechan, Katana Chance and Kaden Carter, which we'll get into.
And that was also the their last match as well. Kaden Carter and Katana Chance were also released as well, which I believe it's Carter. Kaden Carter is dating Damian Priest, which is kind of crazy.
And then they also had Maxine Pre Natalia and Secret Harvest Without Fire and Piper Niven. And then they were still called Pure Fusion Collective, even though Sonya Deville was released.
And this went 28 minutes, 40 seconds.
The first ones that were eliminated at 3 minutes and 20 seconds in this match was Shayna Baszler and Zoe Stark.
[00:59:31] Speaker B: Right.
[00:59:31] Speaker A: So they got buried instantly. And then basically, believe it or not, for the rest of the match, no one lasted more than about four minutes after the other one was eliminated because Bailey and Lyra were the first ones in there aft along with Pure Fusion Collective, Shayna and Zoe Stark. And somehow Zoey Stark not being fired is insane. So that means that they still are trying to push Zoey Stark.
[00:59:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think it's insane because Zoe's very young and she's a lot younger than Sonia and.
[01:00:02] Speaker A: Exactly.
[01:00:03] Speaker B: So I'll give her that. Is she over? Not in any sense of the word.
Will she be? I couldn't tell you. Yes. I couldn't tell you.
[01:00:10] Speaker A: No promo work. Needs work.
[01:00:12] Speaker B: She needs a lot of work.
[01:00:14] Speaker A: She's the star in the ring.
[01:00:15] Speaker B: Yeah, she sometimes she's still green. A lot of botches, but that happens to everyone. Yeah, she's still. She's a great in ring competitor, so I think she's very young. So I'm not sure if they want to release her yet. She hasn't been injury prone.
There is potential in Zoe, so I can see the benefit of keeping her around, but I'm not sure in 10 years I see her with this company. But yeah, time will tell.
[01:00:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I definitely get that.
Again, we said Kaden Carter, Chance, they're same as Baszler. Now we'll move on to the NXT talent, which nxt.
You know, when people get released in nxt, it's kind of, you know, change up because it's usually the bigger people because, like, NXT knows somewhat how to build up, you know, some of the smaller People that they have on their show and they know how to get all their times in.
But Cora Jade's last official match in WWE was the WWE women's tag team title number one contendership. So this was after the Gauntlet match. They had this in nxt.
Fatal four way elimination match. Gigi Dolan and Tatum Paxley, which we'll get to in a moment. Beat Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez, Fatal Influence, Fallon Henley and J.C. jane and metaphor Jakara Jackson, a Lash legend on the countdown to stand and Deliver.
But Cora Jade, she was featured with TNA a lot recently.
She had the knockouts world title match with Masha Slamovich at Teenage Sacrifice.
That happened right before WrestleMania. And then she was in a tag match with Tessa Blanchard as well for an impact. So that was quite interesting to see her go. And especially for, like, how big that Cora Jade has been with the company and the fact that unfortunately, Jade never ended up, you know, being as big of a superstar as people thought that she was, especially with her partnership with Roxanne Perez. At her only title in WWE was the Women's Tag Team Championship, which got, you know, discontinued after Rhonda and Shayna combined the belts.
And basically, you know, they didn't do much with between Cora Jade and Perez. And then of course, they had the breakup angles between both of them. And then also Cora Jade was just featured in the main event of Vengeance Day back in February with Julia Bailey, Roxanne and herself. Yeah. So it's just, it's insane to see, you know, Cora, you know, leave, you know, with pretty much, you know, she could have just gone to the main roster even though not doing nxt.
[01:03:07] Speaker B: Right. Yeah, it's tough for me. The only reason I think this happened is because Cora Jade is insanely injury.
[01:03:14] Speaker A: Prone and other injury.
[01:03:16] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot of these releases seem to have that recurring theme. A lot of these people seem to be injury prone. Cora Jade was obviously one of the most pricing ones because she's insanely popular, especially among the Internet. Right. She's in NXT and she already has six, almost 700,000 followers on Instagram.
[01:03:34] Speaker A: I think people. I think people freaking, they, they said something about, you know, her, she's like, oh, really? That's what you're starting out with, or whatever.
[01:03:41] Speaker B: So. So I think she's gonna, she's gonna make her money no matter what. If it's pro wrestling, look at Mandy.
[01:03:45] Speaker A: Rose, brother, look at Manny Rose.
[01:03:47] Speaker B: She's gonna make her bread, and there's nothing wrong with that. So I think when I look at it.
It's really just that injury prone. She's very injury prone.
[01:03:57] Speaker A: So. So was this other one. Sorry to cut you off. But Gigi Dolan as well and Gigi at one point it was very similar to of a Roxanne Perez, just like a rookie that I think a lot of people were hoping that she was going to be, you know, a big influence for the company. But the fact is, is that she just got super injury prone and the fact that she got let go just was very upsetting. Her last official match was at TNA Rebellion where there was the knockouts world title match Fatal four Way with Ash by Elegance and Heather by Elegance Speeding metaphor Jakara Jackson last Legend. So also Jakara Jackson was released. No Last Legend, Last Legend is still in contract with NXT and I can understand why. She's an absolute powerhouse and she can actually wrestle. They also had Spitfire which was Danny Luna and Jody Threat that were in that match and of course Gigi Dolan had her tag team with Tatum Paxley as well and they had the formation of the team Chemical X with Shotzi which we'll, we'll get into the at the end because that was a later release that wasn't made officially on that day but they ended up confirming it later on.
As far as main roster for WWE goes, her last official WWWE date was April 22nd in a world title match between the Judgment Day and Raquel Rodriguez and they beat Gigi and Tatum in 11 minutes and 29 seconds.
We also had Eddie Thorp, uh, Eddie Thorp who was on a quick little rise there, had his segment and his promos and programs with Trick Williams and now Trick Williams, you know, going back to that, you know, main event spotlight after losing the title to Obafemi back in December, his last match was NXT North American title match on 15th April against Ethan Page, Eddie Thorp, Lexus King and Wesley.
We also had Riley Osborne, otherwise known as Josh Terry. His last match technically on screen was back in October of 2024 where Akira Tozawa beat him in under 46 minutes in a speed title number one contendership tournament first round match.
Gallus. I don't know how much of like you've ever seen of Gallus, but like I've been following Joe Coffee's career I think all the way back since like 2016. Like Joe Coffee was an absolute superstar and especially like the superstar that he quickly was, you know, kind of quietly made in NXT UK if I'm correct. I do believe that he was the winner of the Heritage cup at one point as well.
His last official match, or I should say Gallus's last official match was actually back on December 17, 2024, where they were beat by Axiom and Nathan Frazier when they were the NXT Attack Champions.
So a big group firing of, you know, three top guys that were perceived as really good workers and they, they, they were making a lot of comments after that Carrying Cross promo where Carrying Cross talked about good soldiers and they were talking about, you know, them being good soldiers and maybe that could have led to a release because, you know, all of them Gallus boys have been veterans on top or a Mensah.
Another small little firing. His last official match was against Mike Santana on TNA impact back on February 20th of this past year. Five minutes, four seconds. Again, he was somebody that not a lot of people kind of knew about and you know what, you know, that's all right.
But like, he did not do much for nxt. His last big on screen match for nxt, he was beat by Josh Briggs back in January of 2024. And then he did receive a world title match from Ethan Page back at Great American Bash of last year. So, you know, that's kind of sad for a young rookie to be down there and. But the one surprising one that ended up coming up towards the end of the releases and this happened like very last minute was Shotzi, otherwise known as Shotzi Black Cart. Her last match was back in February for again Speed. She was beat by ZOE Stark and 2 minutes and 36 seconds. I think Shotzi had also said like recently that, you know, she will be glad that she does not have to wrestle for a max of three minutes now.
[01:09:13] Speaker B: Yeah, at least.
[01:09:15] Speaker A: So with that being said, like, you know, with all these releases, like, do you think that all of them will find a really good place to be after wwe?
[01:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah. So that I will say that there's not one release that I'm necessarily worried that won't find their spot somewhere else.
A lot of them will go to tna, some of them will be liable to go to aw. I think Dakota Kai could find her place in aew.
So it's gonna be really interesting to see how they all go. I don't know if you saw, but Mercedes Monet posted a picture on Twitter of a bunch of the girls who got released, obviously shotzi then that and actually photoshopped Dakota Kai's head on Natalia, which is pretty funny, but hinting to a possible future for her.
[01:10:02] Speaker A: I could see Dakota Kai going to aew. I think the rumor is that she might go to Deadlock Pro Wrestling because she knows she's very well known with the promoters of Deadlock Pro.
So you know, that, that was kind of cool hearing about that. But. But yeah, moving on, I, I do think that a lot of these people will be able to find some work and they will be able to, you know, do some stuff.
But moving on, some more news.
Triple A, as We know, during WrestleMania 41 they announced that they had the acquisition of Lucha Libre aaa.
And now it was noted by this week that it was noted by Ernesto Ocampo of such a lucha of super luchas.com that the AAA wrestlers who have, quote, already been signed a contract with wwe. The big name out of these announcements was Alberto Del Rio, which I don't think anybody was expecting at all. And he's a current AAA Mega Champion.
[01:11:09] Speaker B: So it's not Tuesday surprising to me because obviously WWE does have their strings of working with people who have done controversial things and Alberto's a real, especially among the Internet wrestling community, is a very, very controversial figure. Just because he's gotten in a few scandals, domestic violence allegations.
[01:11:28] Speaker A: The domestic violence, you know, the stuff with Paige, everything like that's been going on like over the last couple years and then like he made his way back and then I believe like recently had a show like he was banned for wrestling like in Tijuana or something like that. He's made a lot of rounds recently, but again he departed in the company in 2016. He's a four time former World champion, which I didn't even realize how many times he had won the world title.
[01:11:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So Vince was very huge on Alberto Del Rio as the next Eddie Guerrero in a sense. Yeah. And I think we all remember during our childhood, even if you weren't around for 2011, you probably were around for the, the League of Nations run.
[01:12:04] Speaker A: Yes, that would, that would be, that would be later after he came back, I believe he was. Yeah, he was released and then he ended up going to TNA for a little bit.
[01:12:15] Speaker B: At the end of that run in 2015, he actually was the one to beat John Cena for the US title, which was.
[01:12:21] Speaker A: That was his return match with Zed Coulter.
[01:12:23] Speaker B: So even, even, even then. Yeah, but even then WWE was still huge on him. So it doesn't necessarily shock me because they've always been big on Del Rio.
Obviously the people haven't, but the company has. So it doesn't necessarily surprise me to see him there or, or would it seem him back on TV, to be honest.
[01:12:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:12:43] Speaker B: WWE's audience in Mexico isn't as huge as you would probably believe it is with all the luchadors that they have signed. Just because the Mexico audience is a very Lucha style. And last time the WWE was in Mexico, Roman Reigns had to go.
Roman Reigns had to go to sell tickets. They don't have the biggest audience there. So this accusation, a lot of people were like, why would they do this? Why would they do this? But it's to boost their audience in Mexico. It's not as big as you would believe. So I believe that it was a strategic business move. And does it make sense? Yes. Will it hurt Tony Khan? Yes.
So I see in every way I think this is positives for them. I see why they did it and I think it could work out well. Will it lead to some backlash because of Del Rio and some certain people? I do think so. But at the end of the day it's probably going to work out well for them. I think it was a good accusation.
[01:13:35] Speaker A: Yeah. So that was one of the bigger news that ended up coming out from this week about aaa. But moving on from that, we got WWE backlash that will happen this weekend in St. Louis.
And I mean one of the, you know, bigger pay per views now coming out of WrestleMania. You know, people are really looking forward to, you know, what's going to happen, you know, after the backlash of WrestleMania and where will WWE be after this pay per view?
But we'll get right into it.
We'll talk about here what I believe the first match would be. This will be from the enterprise center in St. Louis, Missouri. We got Jacob Fatu versus Drew McIntyre versus LA Knight versus Damien Priest in a fatal four way match for the United States title. I think this is going to be an absolute banger. We saw how the four way match at WrestleMania with Dom Finn Braun Breaker and I'm missing one penta, how that went, you know. Who do you got taken out of this match? Me. My mind is on the Samoan werewolf, Jacob Fatsu. I think he gets a very easy pickup win over probably Damian Priest pinning.
[01:15:03] Speaker B: Yeah. So this is a big showcase match in a sense for Fatu.
Obviously we already know he's a beast.
[01:15:09] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:15:10] Speaker B: There's nothing else more for him to prove. But this is a fun match that's gonna get the crowd excited because there's going to be some big crazy bumps, maybe an announce table bumps. All of these guys can go in the ring. They're all big, they're all heavy hitters. It's going to be very fun to watch. And one one of, if not the match on the show, that we will run out of being like, yo, that's the match. I'm going to go back to rewatch because La Knight and Fatou had a banger at Mania, which nobody expected I did, but most people were like, why the hell is this on the WrestleMania card? This, that, well, these two mesh together, blah, blah, blah. They're taking a risk. Well, they took a risk and they went out there and they killed it. So I think this match is going to slam. Easy, easy retain for Fatu.
[01:15:50] Speaker A: There you go.
[01:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah, this is one of those matches that you'll go back and look at his title run and be like, yo, that match was sick.
[01:15:56] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. I definitely see that. Especially with the, the match that we had for night two, which was Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre, you know, no holds barred, Sin City Street Fight. I thought that was absolutely perfect.
Speaking of the mid card, we also got the first title defense for Dominic Mysterio. This is a very big title defense for him. This has been a while since I've ever been this excited for a title defense for anybody, especially for the intercontinental title and especially for Dominic. He will be taking on Penta and of course you know that, that screwy old Judgment Day will come in and interfere. Another easy retention once again for Dominic Mysterio. What is your thoughts here on, you know, how Dominic's reign has gone so far and will this end up being the crack and the straw that breaks Judgment Day and, you know, finally separates Dominic from the group?
[01:16:54] Speaker B: So I do think you're correct. I don't think something that big happens at such a minor show, like backlash, to be honest.
[01:16:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:17:00] Speaker B: But I do think it is going to be an easy retain for Dominik. Jasmine. Day one will get involved. It's going to be a screwy finish. There could. There will be some. I do believe there'll be some controversy. Will the Judgment Day break up while Liv is not there? I don't believe so. I believe that she needs to be a part of something that big and obviously, as we know, she's filming a movie right now, so.
But I could be completely wrong. They could go the other way and have it happen while Liv is not there and make that the reason. So saying that she is the glue of the group right now and the fact that she's missing it would actually be a key move to have that be when Dominic and the Judgment Day break up and they could look up to be like, oh man, it's because Liv wasn't there. So there's a couple ways that they could play it and it's going to be interesting to see, but an easy retention for Dom.
[01:17:46] Speaker A: All right, then we also have the singles match between Pat McAfee and the Ring General Gunther.
[01:17:53] Speaker B: Yeah. So hoping for a bloodbath maybe.
[01:17:55] Speaker A: I'm hoping for a butt black.
[01:17:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Gunther needs to kill him, but.
[01:18:00] Speaker A: But Gunther needs to just beat his ass.
[01:18:03] Speaker B: But Gunther needs to kill this guy. He needs to kill him.
But do we get.
[01:18:08] Speaker A: Now the question is really is do we get the Goldberg reveal there or do we get it like later?
[01:18:15] Speaker B: That's the question.
Pat is beloved, so I am hoping that Gunther chokes him out in his own blood. Mortal Kombat Fatality style. And Goldberg comes out and hopefully interferes. And that's where we get a set up to that match. But we'll see. Can't say for sure. I hope that's what happens. The match itself is going to be good. McAfee can go.
His match was theory was actually good at Mania 38. And yeah, McAfee can go. So it's gonna be a good match.
[01:18:44] Speaker A: You know, but like, I don't know if right at backlash I think that they would be, you know, there to say that, okay, we're going to reveal that it's Goldberg. I think that maybe along the way they maybe, you know, stretch it out a little bit and then they announce that it's Goldberg.
You know, one of the major events that will happen, the international pay per views that will happen during the fall. They just announced that Crown Jewel will not actually be in Saudi Arabia. It'll be in Perth. It'll be in Perth, Australia for the deal that they sign where they're going to have a raw a smackdown and then they're going to have a pl. So that was the pla that they chose for Perth to have for their international ple in October. So I think that's going to be really, really good.
And you know, maybe that's where they end up doing because, you know, international paydays are a lot more better than just a regular old payday. And that's why I feel like if it was a match that I would book Goldberg for and Goldberg would be interested. It has to be a big money international match because, you know that he always comes back for the Saudi shows. And he has had a, you know, very mixed reactions to whenever he's on the Saudi shows. But, you know, that's how. That's what Bill Colberg is.
[01:20:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:20:01] Speaker A: Then we have the what I believe the semi main event, this is a segment and this is a, this, this is a program that I think a lot of people are, you know, very underrated, you know, thinking. But Lyra El Curia and Becky lynch for the women's Intercontinental title match.
[01:20:20] Speaker B: Yeah. So I actually disagree. I think this matches are the best build up of any match on the show so far.
[01:20:25] Speaker A: Yeah, they had a good promo segment also before that Lyra. This is that she hates or Becky saying that, you know, she hates Lyra or Lyra.
You know, they had a really good promo segment this past week on Raw that we didn't touch on where Lywa was saying Becky was jealous of her because she was the first time ever Intercontinental Women's champion.
So now Lyra is trying to, you know, use that to basically say that, you know, we don't need Becky anymore. And you know, Becky had a lot of comments.
[01:21:01] Speaker B: Lyra has been doing a great job on the mic the first week.
She was actually getting what chance, even though she's the face, just simply because obviously she has an accent. You know, wwe, American fans, they're, they're quick to make fun of that. But she turned a chance around and she was doing a great job. She turned a chance around. She comes out the next week obviously for this promo segment that you're talking about. Know what chance she cuts a great promo. She seems very over, like she could be a superstar. I see her being a world champion at some point. Point, especially if she has a great showcase here at Backlash. Future's bright for her.
[01:21:34] Speaker A: Well, remember like Becky did put over Lyra and Lyra did beat her for when Becky had the NXT women's the title after she beat Tiffany Stratton back in her NXT days. So, you know, the fact that Lyra is going to have an opportunity to, you know, duel once again with Becky and I just have a feeling like this is where, you know, maybe even Becky just straight up pushes in politics her way and she becomes the second intercontinental Women's champion.
So, you know, for Becky, that's who I got my money on. Winning that match is Becky will be the new champion heading in to money in the bank in June. Then we have the main event.
This main event has not been really, I don't know, this has just been very weak. I think this is, you know, not a disadvantage for them.
But again, like the history between these two is so rich that the only reason that they're going to have this match is because of the history and it's the two top rivals with each other. They've actually wrestled 21 times over their long and story careers and have a combined 31 world championships. But they have not stepped into a ring together for a singles match in more than 3,000 days, which is incredible to see like how long they have distanced themselves from. And I believe the last time that they did that they were in a match together was when Randy won the Royal rumble back in 2017 when Cena was the champion and then Bray Wyatt took the title off of him at that elimination chamber and then they had the match where Randy beat Bray in a very subpar match.
[01:23:14] Speaker B: Good Lord, I hated that.
[01:23:16] Speaker A: Yes. But again, like you know that problem pretty much Cena is going to win this match. I hope it's a really good match.
I now the real question is, do we see Cody come back here at Backlash?
[01:23:29] Speaker B: I hope not. I do believe it is a bit early. I don't think Cody should come back until SummerSlam. And I know some people think what? But Cody was booed out of the building during the Cena feud a couple times and I don't think it's because the crowd is tired of him. I think it's because he was against John Cena and it's really tough, the adversity right now because obviously Cena's farewell tour, everybody wants to see Cena win no matter what he's saying to them. Cena, for once in his career, Cena can't get the crowd to stop loving him.
And that's the big twist.
But with that being said, yeah, obviously Cody being the guy against Cena, he's, this is the time where he's going to want to take some, some time off and get people missing him and getting people to realize dang, like, like.
[01:24:14] Speaker A: Like Cody was good and Cody was the iron man. And now if you give him the break after Mania and then he comes back, makes the big return pop, I would have to say probably money in the bank. And then that sets up a match with maybe Cena Cody at SummerSlam and then maybe that's where that happens and then it doesn't end up where it's the very last match of Cena's career in December that ends up, you know, being the one where he loses the championship. Maybe this is just when like Cody just wins it back at SummerSlam. Yeah. Or it sets up where people are assuming that they are going to have Cena and Travis Scott against Bad Bunny and Cody Rhodes. I think that they think that that's a possibility of a tag match happening.
You know, more and more matches could end up having title for title where it's, you know, Cena and Joe Henson entry. There's still a chance of getting Cena versus CM Punk, which people are suggesting that'll happen at Saturday night's main event. I think that's too quick. I think that Punk is mostly focused on, you know, helping out Jay and Sammy and trying to, you know, tackle the dangerous alliance of Bront Breaker and Seth Rollins.
But there's that. But yeah, no, I I feel like this is a very decent size match card for W Backlash.
Then finally we'll go into what was the news spreading all from last week?
Because the book's hot, brother. And you know that the Hulkster wants to have one last run to drain every dime of the wrestling business.
[01:25:54] Speaker B: Dude, yeah.
[01:25:55] Speaker A: And this was announced from last week, Pro wrestling legends Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. On Wednesday, the duo officially unveiled Real American Freestyle Wrestling, a new league aimed to take a fresh take on the sport. The first event is scheduled for August 30th in Cleveland, Ohio. According to the report from the Associated Press, Hogan revealed that standout wrestler Kenny Blades will be the centerpiece of the women's division. Not Kenny Blades, Kennedy Blades. On the men's side, former MMA and wrestling star Ben Askren have committed to competing. Hogan also mentioned the talks of ongoing with Wyatt Hendrickson and Olympic gold medalist Gable Stevenson, which of course Gable Stevenson had his run with wwe. He was signed there for a little bit positioning. The league is a competitive alternative to professional wrestling. Hogan expressed his enthusiasm for helping to build a new platform for elite athletes. Eric Bischoff has taken the role of chief Media officer. And that's where we're going to go into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter report so this is what the report said. It says. According to the report, similar ventures were were attempted in the past, most notably in the 1970s where things fell apart after those involved failed to draw. Furthermore, it claimed that Hogan was inspired to undertake the venture after watching Wyatt Hendrickson, who was a graduate from Oklahoma State University.
He beat Gable Stevenson in the 2025 NCAA heavyweight championship. Final quote from Hogan I want to do this in a Hogan impression.
When I saw that happen and I saw our president hug him, I went, okay, we're on point, brother. We're ready to go and instincts have prevailed and I smell victory.
[01:28:00] Speaker B: This new promotion is not going to work for me, brother.
Yeah, so I think Hogan, I don't like him at all and I think that everything he has done past to his his Hollywood run has been terrible.
He's a scumbag and I don't want to see this promotion and I don't really want to see Hulk Hogan anywhere ever again.
I think if it does happen, it'll do mildly successful because he's always going to have his Hulkamaniacs eat your vitamins, you know, and he's going to have his fans. Yeah, but will the promotion really go anywhere unless they get someone like Vince McMahon on board, which that's what people.
[01:28:41] Speaker A: Were expecting for the third man because they had the thing that did not happen and that did not happen, which real quickly. Let's go, let's go right into that.
It said that the note is that with the debut show happening in August, it will feature 12 matches, eight for the men and eight weight classes and four for the women. The promotion will also focus on using both college wrestlers and veteran wrestlers who have competed at the national and international levels. Additionally, Hogan plans to use the RFW to facilitate a rematch between Stevenson and Hendrickson, admitting that it is on the radar despite neither men have been signed with them yet. Izzy Israel Martinez noting how he previously coached Greg Jackson's MMA team, which are guys that were trained, that trained Jon Jones, Holly Holmes and Yar Rodriguez as well as WNCA champion Tony Ramos. Izzy's our Inchpin Wrestling Observer Newsletter claimed Hogan said he's trained all the Olympic athletes, all the NCAA champions, all the college kids. That's really made it dude. And he's our source to pull in all these great athletes and get everybody signed. So they're using this random coach who's apparently been a coach for a lot of MMA guys to basically guarantee or try to guarantee all these wrestlers coming in, which is absolutely insane.
It says when it comes to the future of real American freestyle wrestling, Hulk Hogan has massive aspirations. Our goal is not to compete with Dana White in the UFC or the wwe, but just to be as big or bigger because it is an unserved market, brother, the report asserts. Hogan said whilst the Hulkster has lofty dreams of for rafw, Wrestling Observer Newsletter pointed out that the concept has never worked outside the NCAA Tournament itself. Increasingly, Ring of Honor speculates that both Bischoff and Hogan are likely aware that this project will fail and are simply just trying to make some money. So there you go. The report claim that Bischoff aims to gain short term media deal and is aware that the sport will need time to build a legitimate audience. The report also notes that Hogan wants to take RAFW into major arenas, which Ring of Honor doesn't believe will be a viable long term, but predicts that the promotion might only get some buzz early on before failing to generate enough income for larger venues. Quote the bigger star you become, the more you win your merchandise and everything's going to sell and you're gonna make your money, hogan apparently said. I think it's going to really turn the knob up on the promos and what they have to say. However, Wrestling observer newsletter noted that RAFW could get by through some streaming deals or YouTube, but would need massive numbers to make the money.
But that wasn't the only reason that Hogan got some coverage, because, oh God, he, he appeared on the Pat McAfee show and he also appeared for like a couple of different interviews and oh my gosh, I'll just, I'll just read it. Hulk Hogan is well known for many things including getting facts wrong and exaggerating the truth at times. This was reported by Yahoo Sports, one of the times included saying he was a fan of Benjamin Shelton's work in wwe. Of course Hogan screwed up and meant to say Shelton Benjamin, who now is working with aew.
A news clip showed highlights of Hogan screw ups and has been circulating online. As seen in the video, Hogan recently claimed that he wrestled Brock Lesnar after he came back from ufc, which he didn't, and he called Benjamin the wrong name in multiple interviews.
[01:32:26] Speaker B: Great guys like Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, you know, they're the Benjamin Shelton. There's some really tough guys, really crazy wrestlers.
[01:32:33] Speaker A: Like I got Brock Lesnar right after.
[01:32:36] Speaker B: He left the ufc. I got in first, I got a Kurt Angle when his eyeballs used to roll back like a shark and he'd come after me. Knew Benjamin Shelton, all these different guys that I've had the opportunity.
[01:32:46] Speaker A: He's never worked with Shelton Benjamin and he didn't work with Brock. When he came out of ufc, it was Cena.
And of course this culminated in Shelton Benjamin tweeting out saying, message to Hulk Hogan, you lost me forever with your don't get caught or as you would call it, apology speech, Benjamin wrote. So rather than screw up my name and pretend that we have any sort of camaraderie, which we never had, please do me a favor. And then it plays the clip of Will Smith from the Academy Awards saying, keep my name out of your mouth.
[01:33:27] Speaker B: Mm.
So yeah, like you said, the host is just trying to make some money and he's gonna say whatever he he needs to say to make said money because this is what he does, brother. And yeah, I think obviously this business is not going anywhere.
[01:33:43] Speaker A: And you look at the failed promotion that he started back in 2001 when it was the XW, it was the XP XWF.
When you looked at the XWF and everybody that was brought into that, they had guys like Kurt Henning, Buff Bagwell, they had people like Vampiro and they had brand new stars like, like Ian Harrison and you know, just a whole bunch of these people. And then like Hogan immediately dropped out of it. You know, it just shows like this guy is only in it for the money and his controversy has just built up everything. And of course right now the plans is that Real American Beer, which is of course the company that is owned by Hogan, is basically going to be the funding, the real funding. In case anybody has been wondering, the league has been co founded and led by president Chad Bronstein who is the, the person at Left Lane Capital, which has been known for investing in Gerald Kip's Kings League, Sean White Snow League and League 1 volleyball.
So, so they have some funding going into this and I just, I, I swear, like, I don't understand what Hogan's gonna end up doing. I don't know where this brand new take on amateur wrestling basically being scripted is going to be, but I, you know, I'm here for the fun, I'm here for the ride. And I cannot wait to see the Hulkster and Bischoff end up screwing up.
[01:35:15] Speaker B: But what's she gonna do exactly.
[01:35:18] Speaker A: What's she gonna do when the real American freestyle wrestling once riled on you, brother. And I also take a bunch of the paychecks from these college athletes. I saw what they were doing with the NL contracts. Dude, I need some of that money, man.
[01:35:31] Speaker B: But you guys have been with me through thick and thin, dudes. That's what he said out there on RAW while they booed the shit out of him was amazing.
[01:35:37] Speaker A: It was awesome. But with all that said, that is all for this episode of the Rock and Review podcast. I want to thank everybody for listening. Hamza, thank you so much. I had a blast with you brother. And I really hope that we end up working after we all come back for the fall semester. For anybody who is interested in learning or seeing more about the Rocking Review podcast, remember you can follow us on both Instagram and X at the Rocking Review. We are also now up on the brand new WNYO website, WNYO 88.9 FM3 where you can see the last three episodes episodes of the Rocking Review podcast as well as more podcasts and other projects done from wnyo. Thank you guys so much for listening. And remember, it's spelled R A W K because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling.
Thank you, everybody.
It.
