Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] The Rocking Review Podcast Hosted by J. Rock Rude Foreign welcome everybody to another episode of the Rockin Review Podcast. I'm your host jrock rude and this is episode 20 of the Rocking Review. I want to thank you guys for joining us wherever you are listening to, whether it be Spider, Spotify or Apple Podcast. We got a lot to get into this week. Of course the monumental or game changing announcement that was WrestleMania in 2027 will be going to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and will be held as part of the Riyadh season.
[00:01:22] I again I have a lot of thoughts on this. I don't consider it as deep as other fans would say.
[00:01:32] We also will be talking about Monday Night Raw that happened in Springfield, Massachusetts. This was the go home episode of Raw heading into Wrestle Palooza that will be happening. It will be the first ESPN Premium Live event on Saturday at 7. But that is not the only Premium Live event slash pay per view that will be happening on that Saturday because of course AW will be presenting all out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and that will happen actually at 3pm and of course tonight they will be hosting September to Remember instead of November to Remember.
[00:02:28] That will be happening in London, Ontario, Canada right before all out this Saturday.
[00:02:39] And we will also be going over the shocking announcement that happened on Saturday which was Andrade.
[00:02:49] After having a short year stint in wwe, after making this turn last year as part of the Royal Rumble match, he now has been quietly released and the description and the background of his release is quite interesting, but we will go into that again. Thank you guys so much. This is episode 20 of the podcast.
[00:03:23] I am super excited that we have came this far into having a podcast like this.
[00:03:30] I'm very thankful for WNYO for letting me and allowing me to do this podcast and having it on all the streaming platforms that we have, I have to get caught up into doing stuff on our YouTube channel which is WNYO2 at YouTube if that is correct.
[00:03:55] One correct quick second.
[00:04:00] So of course that YouTube channel that I have to update with all of our podcast that is at WNYO 88.9 FM3. Of course there's only three videos that have been uploaded to that.
[00:04:19] That was episode 14 and 16 of the podcast and of course I just had a lot more time.
[00:04:27] Scheduling issues have really taken me back of doing stuff that I want to do especially for making the premiere versions of this because these are done off of Adobe Audition so to be able to take the mix down and put it into premiere and then put a thing over it with the thumbnail and then having that uploaded to YouTube is quite a process. And quite honestly, I don't have a lot of time to be able to do that. I've also been battling over some sickness over the weekend, so if my voice sounds a little bit nasally, that is the reason why.
[00:05:10] But we are going to get started with of course, the biggest announcement that happened over the weekend.
[00:05:18] WrestleMania is heading overseas for the first time in its history.
[00:05:23] WWE announced that the 2027 showcase of the Immortals will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as part of the Riyadh season festival.
[00:05:34] Since 1985, WrestleMania has only been held in North American cities, making this a major milestone.
[00:05:42] WWE Chief Creative Officer Paul Triple H Levesque emphasized that the move showcases WWE as a global brand capable of exciting fans around the world.
[00:05:57] Now, funny enough, when you hear global brand capable of exciting fans around the world, I'm just saying this, compared to the UK and Saudis, which crowd has been more electric for when wrestling actually ends up coming to their home country?
[00:06:18] I'll tell you, one guess it. Definitely anybody up in Saudi Arabia. Yes, they have been a little bit more alive, but we all know why this is happening and I'll just get this out of the way. They have oil money, they have money that they can do everything with. We just saw over the weekend and I saw a little bit of it, that they were the reason why Canelo and Crawford got taken in to Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium. It was part of Riyadh season and the chairman of Saudi Arabian's General Entertainment Authority, his excellence see Turk a la chic.
[00:07:07] He has basically wanted to take this form of entertainment and basically make it into something because of course they don't have a lot of national sports coming into there, hence something like football. You wonder why football hasn't done anything in Saudi Arabia and why it's only been case to, you know, sports like wrestling and boxing and UFC and you know, even NBA has experimented with that. Baseball. I don't know if they've had any Saudi Arabian games, but you know, like they're trying to make Saudi Arabia now a sports entertainment capital of the world while still dealing with the issues that they have over there based off the territory. So the announcements followed, by the way, I want to say this, that Saudi Arabia announced that WrestleMania was going to take place in Riyadh before WWE could. So WWE as a side of panic on Friday at 3pm had to make the announcement before they did a show.
[00:08:26] I believe they did a show in Toledo. I Think? No, I think the show in Toledo is happening this Friday. But they did a show wherever they were last week. Chicago. No, it wasn't Chicago.
[00:08:41] They did a thing last week and they also had worlds collide which took place later that night. And then the next night was Crawford versus Canelo.
[00:08:55] And also during that world's collide, Dominic Mysterio beat Vikingo for the AAA Mega Champion and now is a double champ, which is just super big for him. We'll. We'll talk a little bit more later during the episode, but to continue on from the announcement, the excessive, let's see. Turkish I. Alashik, chairman of Saudi Arabian's General Entertainment authority, who confirmed WrestleMania would be part of Riyadh season 2027.
[00:09:33] Alashik described it as a chance to elevate WrestleMania to, quote, unprecedented heights. I don't know what heights other than this figure. Listen to us. While WWE highlighted its long running partnership with Saudi Arabia, which began in 2018 with a 1 billion dollar deal for multiple shows over 10 years. So by the way, when this happens, it'll be 2027.
[00:10:08] The rumor, by the way, is that that was a billion dollar deal for multiple shows over 10 years. This could might as well be another billion dollars just on WrestleMania being there alone.
[00:10:25] Next year's Royal Rumble, so this would be January 2026, will also take place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, marking The first big 4W pay per view in Saudi Arabia.
[00:10:40] So this was announced earlier this year and honestly the biggest stand alone thing is that everybody was talking about how we were wondering once this deal was made back in 2018, when Vince was still under, you know, control of WWE, when was it finally going to be announced that hey, WrestleMania is going to come to Saudi Arabia? Or when was the Royal Rumble going to come to Saudi Arabia?
[00:11:10] It has to happen. Like they've been having B level shows and their own shows, like they've been having B level shows and their own shows like Crown Jewel and Night of Champions and Super Showdown and they've been having a whole bunch of success with that. And this is a big figure right here.
[00:11:32] Financially, the deal is expected to be substantial. Saudi Arabia already pays 50 million for events like, as I said, Crown Jewel, but WrestleMania, WWE's flagship show, represents an even higher value proposition.
[00:11:49] While this has drawn criticism from some fans accusing of WWE, quote, selling out, which that was all that you saw during the live feed of when they made this announcement in Las Vegas, is that everybody was immediately like, oh, Triple H, you sold out. And all this other stuff. The promotion argues that it shows have helped push cultural progress in the region over the past decade. I don't know how if you looked at it shows they've had one or two decent matches, but you look at that first two years when they were in there. I mean, what good came from it?
[00:12:29] You had Greatest Royal Rumble which didn't even matter.
[00:12:33] Then you had Crown Jewel which saw the worst match of the decade at that point of taker and Kane vs. DX with bold Shawn Michaels.
[00:12:51] Then a few years later you had Goldberg, a 50 something year old, go over and pin Bray Wyatt to get a month long Universal Championship reign. Which you were going to push Roman and once Coven happened you had to pull him out because of his leukemia. So then you bring in Braun Strowman and. And then he does nothing with the title. And then Roman comes back months later giving him a heel Persona that basically took the business into the stratosphere after they had spent years of shoving Roman down our throats making him as the next Rock the next John Cena.
[00:13:41] The move also raises questions about longistics and tourism as WWE aims to draw both local and international fans for a stadium scale event.
[00:13:55] Speculation is already rifled about potential marquee matches including dream bouts like the Rock versus Roman Reigns or bringing legends like John Cena and the Undertaker out of retirement.
[00:14:11] Despite these changes, a bold yet commercially driven statement with WrestleMania 43 happening in Saudi Arabia. So by the way, that rumor from the Wrestling observer based off of what legends could they bring in? Because if they're already paying 50 mil a show for their, you know, already their shows that they're doing that they, they did a $1 billion deal with back in 2018. Like imagine how much money they would throw at this WrestleMania to become the most star studded WrestleMania of all time. We're talking like people in their 60s that have been retired for the last decade or so could straight up come out of retirement. At the press conference you saw visibly everybody. They had Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Stephanie Vecture, Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair.
[00:15:11] But by the way, that's a whole nother issue to tackle is what are women thinking about this? They're going to have their main show WrestleMania and you got women going over having to be in a match.
[00:15:26] I mean like the best women's match we saw was a Last Women Standing match with Bayley and Bianca a couple years ago at Crown Jewel. That was the same Crown Jewel where they had Logan, Paul and Roman Reigns. That by far that crown Jewel was the best Saudi show next to the One that they think they did the year previous, which was with the first Brock and Roman. After Brock return, this was before all the allegations.
[00:15:56] And it was also when they had Edge and Seth Rollins and the Hell in a Cell.
[00:16:01] I, I think like, there's that one and then the one where it was Roman Logan was like one of the best Saudi shows that they had done in a very, very long time.
[00:16:14] But you know, think about the women going over there. Like, what are the women gonna do?
[00:16:19] Are they legit only gonna have it as one women's match or two women's match because they have two different titles?
[00:16:27] Or are they gonna like by that time in 2027, unify it into one women's championship? So they have one, one woman's match on the entire card.
[00:16:36] Because that's usually what they've done. They've used it on maybe one or two women's match for a Saudi Arabian show.
[00:16:49] Like, I don't know, I don't mind it as much because also what that means is if it happened in Saudi Arabia, that means WrestleMania starts at like 1pm, 3pm for and for like a four or five hour show. Could you imagine getting done with a WrestleMania right around supper, right around dinner time, bro. Like, I don't even know how insane like that would be when people start to realize that. Be like, oh my gosh, it's six o' clock and I just watched WrestleMania. Like, that's ridiculous.
[00:17:24] You'd have to stay up until midnight plus the press conference to know obvious everything that happened at WrestleMania. But that was the big announcement that was made over the weekend on Friday. WWE essentially selling out to Saudi Arabia for Wrestlemania.
[00:17:47] We'll then go into the Raw, heading into Wrestle Palooza and Indianapolis.
[00:17:57] We'll go over the rest of Palooza card towards the end as well as the AEW all out card. But I wanted to go over this Raw because Smackdown really didn't do much. Oh, other than Brock Lesnar ripping his pants and twerking with Rip Pants.
[00:18:16] Yeah, yeah, I, I mean, you can tell.
[00:18:21] I don't know how much ESPN is really caring about this.
[00:18:27] They recently had a couple of cuts happen recently.
[00:18:32] One of the names that got cut from the ESPN network was TV personality Molly Crimson or Karim.
[00:18:49] Sorry about that if I mispronounced it.
[00:18:52] But essentially what happened was recently on this was Monday, it was announced that she had been the host for First Take for over a decade and she immediately left the network, like without a moment's warning. She left the network Tuesday morning.
[00:19:21] And like, I, I haven't read all the way in on why she left, what happened. I think this was her own take. But like, you know, it's insane that she is going to move on after sticking with ESPN this long.
[00:19:42] But you know, you know, with ESPN now, they're having to fight a lot of different, you know, sports networks. And I think that ESPN wants to be the main conglomerate when it comes to sports. Of course they do.
[00:19:57] But then of course ESPN is also owned by Disney. So I think it's also Disney wanting to be the biggest conglomerate to own all the sports brands.
[00:20:08] But we got started off, this was John Cena's first Raw, I want to say, since June when he was in the program with CM Punk heading into Night of Champions in Saudi.
[00:20:29] Fortunately enough, of course, this was in Springfield, Mass.
[00:20:34] I believe he has one show in Boston, Massachusetts.
[00:20:42] So he has one appearance or two appearances that he'll have in between his already announced dates.
[00:20:52] So November 10th and November 17th.
[00:20:58] So this is the lead in into Survivor Series. This year will be his last raw dates. He has no raw dates as far as October goes. So he's gonna have no build up to make appearances in October for Crown Jewel in Perth.
[00:21:16] But he will have two dates in November to build up to Survivor Series and then of course his eventual retirement match, which is rumored to happen in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 13.
[00:21:33] But he came out here in what will be the closest to his hometown. This is in Springfield, Mass.
[00:21:42] He explained how the ring introduction matters to him, especially being called the last real champion.
[00:21:48] I think Lance Storm said something about this now, how he did not like this promo and he did not like how he's still calling himself the last real champion after he lost the championship to Cody.
[00:21:59] Which by the way, we should mention Cody did come back on smackdown. He did challenge Drew McIntyre for wrestle palooza. So we have one one show this Friday that will be the only hype towards that match on Saturday.
[00:22:15] She said that Brock wants to end him. He even called him intimidating and nearly invincible. He admitted he could say no.
[00:22:25] 2 Lesnar challenge and protect his health and protect his future as he goes into retirement. But he refuses to take the easy way out. With only six appearances left, he declared that being the last real champion means never fighting backstage politics. He admitted he's afraid of Lesnar and might fail. But he promised he won't back down.
[00:22:48] He vowed to fight the Beast head on and mock Suplex City and then closed by saying he's ready for the war at Russellpalooza. So of course, you know he's ready for a war. He's done the same shtick, he's done the same promo, but again, this will be the first meeting between Brock and Cena in over 10 years, so at least it's got that going for him. We have not seen Brock Lesnar in the ring in almost one and a half years. His last match, of course, was with Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam in 2023.
[00:23:25] So we do not know what kind of shape Lesnar is going to be in, but we already saw his little promo work that he did. But they have not explained anything on why Brock attacked him. I think that this is pretty much just because they. They think that he's the close second to a very powerful match for Cena, but I guess we'll find out.
[00:23:55] Backstage, Adam Pierce stepped in between La Knight and Jey uso, who are arguing in the parking area. Pierce asked why they were fighting when they should have been more focused on the matches coming up on Saturday.
[00:24:11] Both Knight and Jay shouted each other, but Pierce reminded them that he couldn't let things fall apart on their Go Home show to one of WWE's biggest weeks. Knight said he wanted a piece of the Bronze, but Pierce told him he wouldn't let him go in alone. Knight immediately named Jimmy uso, which Jay immediately hated. Pierce closed the segment by saying that Knight needed to talk to Jimmy if that was his choice.
[00:24:40] There was a couple of matches that happened again. The reason why I do this kind of short in review of Monday Night Raw and like all the other shows that I do is just so that way I talk about the main things that ended up happening.
[00:25:01] So one of the matches that happened in between this segment was Lyra Valkyria. She beat Roxanne Perez in nine minutes and of course that led to a technical return of Bailey.
[00:25:19] And right now she's dealing with this type of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of vibe where she's going through her different personalities and she's basically shifting through all these different characters like the hugger Bailey and the role model Bailey, the ding dong hello. And all these other things. And it's quite entertaining and all the vignettes have been pretty well.
[00:25:49] Later on backstage, Knight approached Jimmy about teaming up. Jimmy immediately pushed back, saying that teaming with a Knight would only cause problems for him and his brother. Knight told Jimmy that despite having plenty of reasons not to trust the family, he chose him because Jimmy said that he had his back last week.
[00:26:12] Jimmy admitted that night was putting him in a tough spot and reminded him that he and Jay already had their chance on Saturday.
[00:26:21] In the end, Jimmy told Knight that he had to find another partner if he wanted to handle business in the main event.
[00:26:31] We then went to a entertaining match between Penta and Kofi Kingston.
[00:26:38] Geez, Penta has been, has been stuck in this like this time warp of like they're not pushing him all the way and this guy should be contending for mid card belts. He should be right now in the top contention for the Intercontinental Championship.
[00:27:00] You know, he, he should be facing Dominic. But I feel like they already used that already so now they're just trying to figure out where do you put Penta And I think now down the line, I think that they are going to try to reunite the Lucha brothers and eventually Rey Fenix will go to smackdown or will go to Raw or Penta goes to smackdown, who knows.
[00:27:29] Kingston started off strong thanks to a distraction from Grayson Waller at ringside while Xavier woods was also out here. Apparently he's been wearing this very big hat.
[00:27:41] At the commercial break, Kingston cut off Penta's comeback and Landon sos. The two traded shots until Penta hit a sharp and scary and set up for the Canadian. Destroyer was trying to distract a referee but Penta super kicked Waller to stop him and chase woods off the apron. Penta then nailed Kingston with a springboard. Canadian Destroyer and Penta then scored pin.
[00:28:08] So short little match but there was a nice little reaction from Kofi that was very, you know, meme oriented. So pretty good.
[00:28:20] Backstage, the Usos were backstage and Jay was pacing back and forth while on his phone and Jimmy walked up and asked who he was talking to.
[00:28:31] Jay quickly brushed him off and immediately told Jimmy that he needed to say no if Lana asked him to team up.
[00:28:39] What Jimmy didn't realize is that Knight had already approached Jimmy earlier and Jimmy had turned him down.
[00:28:46] Jay was still frustrated from last week and he cut his brother off again and started ordering him without listening.
[00:28:55] Jimmy pushed back saying he wasn't going to be told what to do, especially when Jay didn't even hear him out. Jay insisted that it was about family and their big match on Saturday, but Jimmy reminded him that he already said no and didn't appreciate Jay's tone. He told Jay to check himself because last time I checked you ain't wearing no oola fala around your neck.
[00:29:20] Later in the night, Jimmy did go back up to La Knight and told him that despite everything that was said that he did have knights back in the main event against the Bron Bronze.
[00:29:33] So the big thing and we'll get to it in the main is that Jay is going to turn heel on Jimmy. Probably won't happen to Wrestlepalooza. I don't understand why it would.
[00:29:46] I would maybe save that for Honestly what I would do is let that tension build up all the way to War Games.
[00:29:56] Don't let it happen too soon at Crown Jewel in Perth. If Roman comes back, I say that they do a regular six man tag. The USO's enrollment against Rollins and the Vision and have Punk end up doing something else on his way to War Games.
[00:30:18] And then you have at War Games, Jay betrays everybody and goes his own path. He becomes the lone wolf. He cost his family and whoever that they team with the win at War Games. And once again the Vision is victorious.
[00:30:45] Hey everyone, did you know that the rocking review podcast is on both X and Instagram? That's right. For every single episode we end up doing a prelude to that episode on our socials. We are on Twitter NXING review. That's R A W K review. And of course there you can be able to look at all of our previous posts and upcoming posts. Thank you very much. And now back to the episode.
[00:31:26] We then got to the best segment of the night which was Seth Rollins and Becky lynch face to face with CM Punk and AJ Lee.
[00:31:37] Seth Rollins and Becky lynch came out together.
[00:31:40] Seth ripped into the Springfield crowd, saying that he wouldn't even address them. He would only address the people watching from Netflix.
[00:31:48] Becky teased AJ Lee but claimed that she wouldn't talk behind her back.
[00:31:53] Right before AJ Lee came out with CM Punk, both of them were wearing AJ Lee shirts.
[00:32:02] The fans erupted chanting for them both and Punk leaned into it, proudly calling himself AJ's husband and saying that he had no problem being known that way as AJ's husband. He is super excited. You can sell Punk is I, I bet you 100.
[00:32:22] Doing this program definitely is making them or making Punk trust the backstage and creative and everything else that he once struggled with back in the day.
[00:32:34] He's now being, you know, very welcomed in and he's they're letting them do something with aj. And AJ definitely looks comfortable being put into this program with Seth and Becky.
[00:32:46] Punk mock Seth and Becky's look, questioning which of them was the leader of their team and if they could even share the spotlight without their egos getting in the way.
[00:32:57] He said their marriage was more of a fashion show than a partnership.
[00:33:02] Seth cut backed and called Punk selfish. While Becky demanded respect for her husband, Seth sarcastically gave Punk credit for marrying AJ but warning that he would regret it, dragging her down back into this fight.
[00:33:22] AJ countered by saying that Seth had always used Becky as a backup plan, but you can't plan for the unpredictable.
[00:33:32] Seth laughed in her face, saying that he could read Punk like a book and warn AJ that she didn't want to hear the truth about her husband, saying that he had a history of leaving when things get hard. Seth ominously told AJ that after Becky ripped her to shreds on Saturday that she better hope that Punk doesn't walk out on her too.
[00:33:59] AJ immediately slapped Rollins across the face.
[00:34:03] Seth refused to strike her instead quoting what Punk even said saying I know someone who will and gestured for Becky to attack. But of course storyline is is that Becky is afraid of aj.
[00:34:17] So Becky hesitated and started arguing with Seth and then of course Punk and AJ just leaning in seeing the dysfunction from Becky and Seth.
[00:34:29] They were yelling at one another to get back into the ring and prove themselves.
[00:34:34] Seth confronted Punk and then backed away and left the ring.
[00:34:39] Becky then returned and during the mist of chaos of running around the ring she actually hit AJ with the manhandle slam and even slapped Punk before leaving with set.
[00:34:52] So technically AJ Lee took her first bump in 10 years and the storyline is of course the neck issues that she had 10 years ago that took her out of action and made her go into retirement.
[00:35:08] So there is a very good chance we could see something similar what we saw years ago. If you remember the first time when they tried to experiment with Seth and Becky, there is the mixed tag match to happen in 2019 with Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans Cheese. Remember them?
[00:35:28] And I think definitely what should happen is AJ and Punk are going to win but I think that Seth is going to tease or get close to doing something with AJ and maybe AJ will take it, I don't know. But I would say even do a curb stop but who knows. I don't know about standards and practices for ESPN if they want to see that type of intergender battle.
[00:36:03] In an interesting twist we had Dragon Lee and El Grande Americano.
[00:36:12] Boy this thing is dragging out super long. It this was at first Chad Gable's alter ego to solving his problems with the luchadors and then now thanks to injury they have had Ludwig Kaiser of all people.
[00:36:33] They have the the German come in into this position and now he's got a whole posse of Grande's with him.
[00:36:46] Lee opened the match with a leaping hurricanrana over the top rope and sent Grande off the apron.
[00:36:56] Lee then followed up with a flip dive, crashing into Americano and sending them both spilling onto the announce table.
[00:37:04] Americano fought back during the commercial break, tying Lee's mask into the ropes to wear him down.
[00:37:12] Lee then battled through and connected with a thunderous Liger bomb for a two count, and then scaled the post and delivered a big double foot stomp for a near fall. The tide turned when another Mystery man appeared ringside and attacked Dragon Lee behind the ref's back, allowing Americano to capitalize with a leaping blockbuster off the top rope for a near fall.
[00:37:38] At this point, AJ stormed to the ring to even the odds. But then all of a sudden, another Americano pulls up. So you got two Americanos pulling.
[00:37:51] They do the Spider man spot where all of them are pointing at each other.
[00:37:55] And of course the rumor is that this is Pete Dunn and Tyler Bate.
[00:38:01] So the former. I don't even know what they. I don't even remember what their their tag team is called, man.
[00:38:09] The British lads, British strong style, whoever their wherever their thing was, but apparently this is their new direction. There was a picture floating around that Pete Dunn's been working as a producer now, so I don't know if the Pete Dunne project is completely gone. But meanwhile, one of the Americanos blindsided Dragon Lee again. Styles reemerged, throwing one of the attackers into the barricade.
[00:38:43] And with the officials back turn, one of the Americanos yanked Dragon Lee off the top rope. So it was a three on two disadvantage for Dragon Lee. And Ayyjayy Grande then applied a big camel clutch submission hold and applied the pressure, leaving Dragon Lee to attack Violet. So Americano gets the win over Dragon Lee, which is very interesting nonetheless.
[00:39:19] During this, between this and the main event, Stephanie Mercure, who had been seen off of tv, at least off of Raw, beat Kyrie sane in almost 12 minutes. So that was good. Of course, Stephanie McCure will be facing Iyo sky for the vacant Women's championship.
[00:39:42] We then shifted to our main event, which saw LA19 with Jimmy Uso against Breaker and Reed. This went again 12 minutes.
[00:39:53] Coming back from commercial night connected with a swinging net. Breaker on Breaker.
[00:40:00] Oh boy, that was a tongue twister.
[00:40:02] But turned his focus to Reed. Breaker cut him off with a knee strike and tagged Red in. Reed looked to finish with a Death Valley driver, which is now apparently the Jagged Edge on commentary. But Knight slipped free, encountered with a reverse DDT followed by a elbow drop.
[00:40:21] Jimmy tagged himself in and immediately hit the USO splash on Reed, only for Breaker to break up the pin Lot of Breaker and breaks, dude. Boy.
[00:40:30] Knight brawled with Breaker to the floor and clotheslined him out of the ring, while Jimmy dove through the ropes with a suicide dive to wipe out Reed.
[00:40:38] Jimmy then tried a second dive, but Reed crushed him midair with a forearm.
[00:40:43] Knight then attacked Reed on the outside, throwing him back into the ring where Jimmy hit a super kick and then a spear to drop the big man. Huh? I don't know why Jimmy's using the spear. It's Jay's move, Jimmy. They climbed to the top rope for another splash, but Breaker came out of nowhere with a big shoulder tackle and ran through La Knight.
[00:41:05] Jimmy fended off Breaker with a kick that sent him tumbling off the apron, and the distraction allowed Reed to recover and catch Jimmy off the top to deliver the jagged edge for the 1, 2, 3.
[00:41:18] After the bell, Breaker drilled Jimmy with a post match spear, prompting Jay to storm to the ring with a steel chair for the save.
[00:41:27] Jay swung wildy, cracking Reed across back multiple times.
[00:41:32] And the celebration did not last long because La Knight then picked up the same chair and stuck behind Jay, who was waiting for the blindside. But then Jay turned around and the two came face to face. And then Jay said, okay, I understand I was wrong. Let's shake hands, let's make amends, and let's be cool with it.
[00:41:52] So Knight dropped the chair, he shook hands, and just as Jay turned around to tend to his brother, Knight turns him around, kicks him in the gut and delivers the bft. And for the first time in weeks, LA Knight is not left lying in the ring. He stands tall and he gets paid back. After what Jay did last week, I thought this was a good segment. I thought this was a great match. I think that it's quite funny because now you know that Knight's going to be involved with it. And I think Knight is going to be the main reason why Jay ends up going full heel. But I think that as far as everything else, you know, the rumor is that, oh, Knight's going to be in War Games. I don't know if he's actually going to be in War Games again. We just have to wait and see what ends up happening from here. But I think that he will indeed be a part of why they end up losing that match to Bron Breaker and Bronson Reed at Russellpalooza.
[00:43:04] So by the way, I want to report this. This is straight from Post Wrestling.
[00:43:14] This was not planned, but as we know, GCW promoter Brett Lauderndale, he is very good friends with Stephanie McMahon and as we've seen GCW, it's had its share with WWID and even though it's more catered to the hardcore wrestling fans, WWE does have a lot of a lot of sources and a lot of connections with gcw.
[00:43:45] Of course GCW has produced stars such as Nick Gage and Nick Wayne and Joey Janela, but this is the report from Post Wrestling.
[00:43:59] GCW promoter Brett Laudendale, who oversees the collective during WrestleMania week, said that he had been approached by two organizations that stage events in the Middle east region who offered to host GCW.
[00:44:16] He emphasized that with the 2027 WrestleMania 18 months away, it's too early to say whether such plans are realistic. Lauderdale acknowledged that there would likely be restrictions on how their shows are presented if they were held in Saudi Arabia, which which is is quite legit.
[00:44:40] You know, you can't be able to do no Light tube stuff and you can't be able to, you know, do all these things, you know, that GCW is known for when it comes to how they stage their events. But very interesting development.
[00:45:01] GCW in Saudi Arabia, that would be crazy.
[00:45:07] But we will shift to our next piece of news before we go over the papers that will be happening on Saturday now over the weekend. This was the day after the announcement. I this was a sudden shock and honestly if it was not this specific superstar, I believe it would have been almost nothing. It would have been almost like another release.
[00:45:35] But because of the parameters about the release, this is very questionable.
[00:45:44] Andrade was announced to be moved to WWE's alumni section on their website Saturday, which typically listed former talent signaling that he had parted ways with the company. This move was confirmed by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful. The 35 year old had returned to WWE in January of 2024 with a surprise appearance in the men's Royal Rumble match. Most recently he had teamed with Rey Fenix on the Smackdown roster and competed at SummerSlam with on August 3rd in a six way TLC match to the WWE Tag Team Championships. Of course they ended up losing.
[00:46:25] Andrade had originally joined WWE in 2015 as Andrade CN Almas in NXT where he won the NXT Championship of course all time match between him and Johnny Gargano at Takeover Philadelphia after moving to the main roster captioned the United States Championship before requesting and receiving his release in March of 2020.
[00:46:49] Following that he spent two and a half years at All Elite Wrestling, ending his run there with a loss to Miro aka Rusev at the world's end pay per view on December 30, 2023.
[00:47:03] Oh God, we remember that one. That was when CJ Perry, the former Lana, was still on TV.
[00:47:11] And of course, if I remember correctly, that was around the same time when they had a.
[00:47:16] They had a ladder match between him and Buddy Murphy on Collision. I remember that was a pretty memorable one.
[00:47:23] Sources indicated that Andrade's departure from WWE was effective immediately and was not a mutual decision.
[00:47:33] He has been absent from TV tapings for nearly a month and talent were informed that he had been let go.
[00:47:40] The release did not appear to be related to budget cuts and the specifics of the departure remain unclear, including whether Andrade requested his release that time.
[00:47:52] WWE's typical contract lengths are also suggested that this was an unusual situation. Well, it wasn't unusual because further details emerged later from Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling observer radio who reported that Andrade's sudden departure stemmed from a disciplinary thing that occurred at a television taping a couple of weeks prior.
[00:48:17] Meltzer explained that Andrade was told to go home during the taping and had not been used since, emphasizing that the situation was serious.
[00:48:26] He clarified that it was not Andrade's decision to leave and was unrelated to being unhappy with usage. So he was.
[00:48:36] It's not that he was unhappy with how he was being used, it was just something that was also out of his control.
[00:48:45] Meltzer also noted that the disciplinary issue was not drug related, alcohol related or marriage related, and the specific nature of the incident remained unknown.
[00:48:55] Multiple sources indicated to the takedown on Sports Illustrated that Andrade had at least one wellness policy violation during his most recent WWE run. It is not known how exactly he was in violation of the policy or whether or not he faced, or whether or not he tested positive for a banned substance, which usually they would suspend talent and that would be widely known, is also not clear if it led directly to his release, but it was noted that he was suspended without pay as a result of it. So, you know, some shaky situations. And I'm not gonna say like Andrade, you know, is a troublemaker, but like, look at how his career has been since he ended up leaving.
[00:49:47] You know, where he was.
[00:49:49] I don't know exactly where he was before he went to wwe.
[00:49:58] So before he got to wwe, of course he was part of cmll, so he had relations with cmll. So like not to say anything with Andrade and saying that he is a troublemaker just based off of, you know, what he's done in the past and like where he's been, but like Andrade was not used properly. I, I think that when he came back he got put into the Royal Match. He had the, he had the WrestleMania match with Santos and Dominic and that was the whole Jason Kelsey interference and whatever.
[00:50:41] But the whole thing is that Andrade is a major superstar, especially for the Mexican culture.
[00:50:50] And you know, you've seen his work over the past couple of years and it's clear I don't think anybody knows how to use him.
[00:50:59] I, I think Andrade will be another forgotten Mexican luchador wrestler that's going to try to carry on his career.
[00:51:14] And I don't know exactly where he's, he's gonna turn out because of it. It just, you know, I feel bad for him but you know, this is honestly the best thing that could happen to him and he probably will go back and maybe work with AEW one more time. And probably I think the biggest program for him right now would be of course his with Bandito because he's the one of the highest rated luchadors out there, especially for cmlo. So we will finish up today's episode with talking about the ples that will happen for Saturday. The first one being all out AEW Skyder bank arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada before this like I mentioned, September to Remember will be happening as of this recording tonight on tbs.
[00:52:26] It'll be a three hour special event. We'll have Riho versus a random jobber Robin Renegade. Never heard of her. All Bobby Lashley versus To Leona.
[00:52:40] And then we'll talk about this. This will be the first match we'll talk about as far as the all out show goes.
[00:52:49] The tag team title Fatal four way ladder match will be contested between this these six teams. The Bang Bang Gang of Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn against the Young Bucks.
[00:53:10] The Don Callis family of Hitchicero and Josh Alexander against Top Flight and the matriarchy of Kip Sabian and Kill Switch against Jet Speed.
[00:53:23] So if I had a guess, it's probably gonna be Hitchicero and Josh Alexander. Jetspeed and the Young Bucks versus Brodido of Bandido and Brody King.
[00:53:38] I honestly think that this is all just a ploy to get the Young Bucks back the titles. I mean, you know it's the only way that you're going to be able to do stuff, especially with them being demoted from EVPs and all the shots that they've been taking. Also on this September to Remember card we got Queen Aminata versus Thekla in a no holds barred match in one of the AEW Unified Championship. Eliminator qualifiers we have Mascaria Dorada and the Beast Mortos who will be contending for the final spot in the three way match where Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshima.
[00:54:26] We'll be taking on one of these two luchadors in this three way match. I honestly think that is a easy Okada win. And one of these two Beast Mortost or Mascara Dorada is going to take the pin more or less.
[00:54:51] And then we got Roderick Strong and Jon Moxley and then there's a contract signing between Hangman Adam Page and Kyle Fletcher. I, I mean this spot kind of got butchered because this is a board originally supposed to be Wardlow which I think would have been a very more entertaining match.
[00:55:14] We also will have of course what is the main card attraction which is of course Christian Copeland and ftr.
[00:55:25] Whether or not that'll be the main event or that'll be the co main event to the show is the question.
[00:55:33] But, but clearly I fully believe that this Copen Cage run is going to lead to them beating the young bucks at either full gear or, or world end. And then finally I think Cope is going to retire and probably Cage will retire together as the tag champs which I think that's the, that's the most likely reason.
[00:55:58] But of course other matches on this allout card is a coffin match between Jon Moxley and Dorby Allen.
[00:56:10] Of course Darby of favored into this. I, I don't know what they do with Darby. I, I think that if Darby wins the championship now and it's over somebody like Hangman Adam Page. I don't think that Darby is going to be looked at as the dominant champion. Even if he beats Jon Moxley in this of course stipulation match where the whole thing is like you know, the extreme measures that both Moxley and Darby like the death match stuff where like they're mutilating each other. It just shows you like the creative process that is going on with the, the higher forces in aew.
[00:56:54] So of course you know Darby definitely probably gonna take the W on this one. Another stipulation match.
[00:57:02] I don't think there is a single singles. Well there's one singles match but we'll get to that in just a minute.
[00:57:07] We have a tables in tax match with Mark Briscoe at mjf. Of course MJF and Mark Briscoe has been a rivalry during the summer of 2025 and it is all going to cumulate to this and I, I'm interested to see what they do. Because if Briscoe wins, this means that MJF's going off to shoot a movie and is gonna be taking more money out of Tony Khan's paychecks.
[00:57:44] Well, you're gonna be taking more money out of Tony Khan's bank account just to go and produce some Hollywood movie that's going to give him more money that he could be making wrestling.
[00:57:59] So I think that Brisco is probably going to come out of this and it's going to be a very bloody battle. We also have the six man tag team match with Bishop Kong and Tio Leona and Ricochet, Gates of Agony or whatever that you want to say, whatever this trio with Ricochet, just to make Ricochet on TV even more against the Hertz syndicate of Bobby Lashley, MVP and Shelton Benjamin. This is the one thing I will say right now.
[00:58:38] MVP is not walking into that ring and he is not fighting. You want to know who's coming back? It is going to be the og, her syndicate member and that being Cedric Alexander.
[00:58:51] Cedric Alexander, I'm not sure if he signed a deal with tna. I'm not sure if Cedric has gone awol.
[00:59:03] Real quickly I'll look at his matches that he had.
[00:59:14] His last match for TNA was last.
[00:59:22] I believe this was last week.
[00:59:24] This is two weeks ago and it was Cedric Alexander and Leon Slater beat the Rascals again. I, I don't know what is the working relationship right now with Cedric Alexander but honestly it's either Cedric Alexander joins AEW or they have somebody coming in and being a part of the Hurt Syndicate. I don't know. I honestly have no clue who they could bring in. There is no big signing currently at this time that I could imagine coming in and taking MVP spot. If MVP does wrestle in this match, it is going to be sad and depressing and the Hurts syndicate have basically fell rock bottom.
[01:00:21] There is also the AW Women's world title Fatal Four Way.
[01:00:29] Toni Storm versus Jamie Hayter versus Chris Statlander versus Thekla.
[01:00:35] Again. I think that they're throwing anything that they can at the wall. I think Toni Storm, the. The storyline between Toni Storm and trying to fight the triangle of madness and then Jamie Hayter coming back after she lost to.
[01:00:53] Who did she lose to?
[01:00:55] I believe it was.
[01:00:57] It was Mercedes.
[01:00:58] She lost to Mercedes.
[01:01:01] And you know you have Chris Statlander who's been trying to get recruited by the Death Riders the last couple of weeks.
[01:01:10] I, I mean it'll be surprising if they crown a new world champion. I. The only reason why I think that I see that this is a fatal four way match and if they do crown a new world champion is that Toni Storm doesn't want to take the pen. So I would definitely see Statlander pinning Jamie Hayter, become the new world champion and then Toni Storm, you know, being irate, but still raising the hand of Chris Statlander. Because I think that Chris has been working very hard, especially in the last couple of years and you know, she had the TBDS championship for a tiny bit.
[01:01:53] But I do think that if she ends up being the world champion, I think this is a huge step for her and I would definitely love to see Statlander end up being the new world champion. Coming out of all out. We also have another women's match AWTBS title.
[01:02:14] Mercedes Mone against Riho.
[01:02:18] No comment. Mercedes wins with a roll up.
[01:02:22] Here is the big match I wanted to wait and talk about because this is bigger, not bigger than the Adam Cole stuff and this isn't bigger than, you know, any of the injuries going on. But Eddie Kingston, the mad king is coming back and his first match back in a year and a half is going to be against Big Bill.
[01:02:48] Instead of hyping up that he is going to show up unannounced.
[01:02:54] And Big Bill has been poking fun at him, challenging him, and he hasn't shown up, they just announced it.
[01:03:02] So you're telling me that Eddie Kingston, who hasn't had a match since May of 2024, that he is going to wrestle Big Bill and we've seen like vignettes and we've seen things of Eddie Kingston training in the gym. It's hard for him, but like you're telling me you're gonna bring him back and the first thing you're gonna do is with a no build, send him in the ring with Big Bill.
[01:03:36] It makes absolutely no sense. They should have had a one week challenge and then him saying, oh, hey, I guess Eddie Kingston's a counter. And then Eddie Kingston's music hits and he comes out, cuts a promo, beats him and Brian Keith up and then boom, has this match, he returns and then maybe you have Kingston go back in the picture where now he's gonna try and get the title back off of Okada. So that's what my predictions are for All Out.
[01:04:09] Again, I'm not saying I'm not excited.
[01:04:12] Also the biggest thing is, and I think I talked about this on the episode where we talked about the Wardlow stuff or all out or whatever, but the fact that this is going on at 3pm when it was originally gonna go head to head with Wrestlepalooza.
[01:04:35] It just shows you how AEW's response was knowing that WWE was probably going to produce more numbers and more of a viewer count than they would have for tuning into all out at the same time.
[01:04:55] So yeah man, I mean that just shows you that you know, this is what you know WWE is going to do from now on. They're going to push the buttons and they're going to see what they can get out of Tony Khan and all elite wrestling.
[01:05:10] We then shift to Russell Palooza, Indianapolis Indiana at the Gainbridge Field House from espn.
[01:05:21] ESPN has been doing its best to market around Russell Palooza. You've seen ads for it in Monday Night Football. You've seen them talk about it. Our first take.
[01:05:36] So very excited to see what they end up doing here. For their first ESPN PLA. We got the USOs versus the division of Broad Breaker and Bronson Reed. Like I said, I think the Vision ends up picking up the win and La Knight cost the USO's this match for the vacant Women's World Championship. EO sky versus Stephanie Vicure.
[01:06:03] I honestly if they're super scared about the cure and her rumored injury scare that she's had a little bit, I think Vicaire ends up losing and Eros guy ends up winning the title.
[01:06:22] We also have the undisputed WWE title match. I think this will go like middle of the card or something.
[01:06:32] Unless this is the semi made or the semi opening match or whatever. I am very sniffly my apologies of Cody Rhodes a drew back attire.
[01:06:47] My outcome on this is that Cody will most likely end up winning and then this is going to result in a Randy Orton heel turn and we're finally going to get that matched probably at Australia and if I'm quite honest I would see Randy getting the belt and now teasing that you know he will end up surpassing Cena 17 title rings.
[01:07:14] We then also got our two main matches or two feature bouts. AJ Lee and CM Punk against Becky lynch and Seth Rollins.
[01:07:25] I think this is going to be a monumental match especially for AJ Lee being in this match and CM Punk being alongside her and this is going to be an easy win.
[01:07:34] Now the question is is how is this match going to turn out? Brock Lesnar vs John Cena if John Cena wins this is his 100th p ple pay per view victory and I believe the the person in the lead Is taker by 112.
[01:07:54] Of course seen after this only has five appearances left but you know if they are going to continue this heading into the latter months. You know who is his last opponent?
[01:08:10] I honestly could not tell you. I don't know who it is. Could it be Cena vs Gunther?
[01:08:17] Could it be that because Brock has signed a long term deal that that is something that they're going to tease is Brock vs Gunther.
[01:08:26] But overall I think that this pay per view, you know, being a standard five match pay per view with a lot of its big main stars on it is going to show, you know how ESPN is going to take this concept of having WWE as a streaming platform and putting it on the ESPN and the, the the buyers and the consumers that purchase the ESPN Unlimited plan and how they end up doing that successfully. But that is for Russell Palooza on Saturday and we will talk about that next week. I want to thank you guys for listening in to the podcast and as always it's spelled R A W K because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling.
[01:09:26] Thank you everybody.
