Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] The Rocky Review Podcast hosted by J Rock Rude.
[00:00:40] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode seven of the Rocking Review Podcast. My name is J. Rock Rude and I am the host of the Rocking Review show. And today we have a jammed pack episode. As we just got done watching one of the biggest events and the first stop to WrestleMania being the Royal Rumble, some unpredictable things happened, some OMG and viral moments happened and we will be talking about all of them today here on the podcast. But February 1, 2025 was not only the day that we had the Royal Rumble, but we also had one of the biggest trade deals happen ever, possibly in NBA history. Not just one, but two major deals to send key players over back and forth in some of the conferences. We will go over that at the end of the show, but we're gonna go in chronological order and we are just going to review the Royal Rumble. We'll also talk about John Cena's post match interview proclamation that he had at the end of the Royal Rumble, along with some backstage heat that infuriated one Scottish psychopath, Drew McIntyre. All that and more on this episode of the the Rocking Review podcast.
[00:02:20] So we'll start off the show with the Women's Royal Rumble match. This Women's Royal Rumble possibly was the most insane women's rumble I think I've seen. A recent memory, there was about like 15 women still in the rumble by the time all 30 entrants were out. And in fact, as it did go an hour 10 minutes, the men's rumble actually went 10 minutes longer with a total of 1:20:11. So there was a lot of things that ended up playing out and big spots that ended up happening in both rumbles. But we'll get to that. But we started off the Rumble with Eosky and Liv Morgan. So there was actually a stat bar.
[00:03:16] So what they did for the Royal Rumble this year is because they want to be more professional. Like kind of like how they dealt with, you know, interviews for Netflix and how they did everything else. What they did was they added like a stat bar at the bottom of the screen and that showed like who was active in the Rumble, who had been eliminated, who was coming out next and the times of the people.
[00:03:46] So Liv Morgan's I did not know Liv Morgan in the last two years has been the runner up. She was the runner up last year. She got eliminated by Bailey and then the year before she was the runner up by Rhea Ripley. Her coming in at number two definitely speaks for itself. You know, she's the former Women's champion trying to get it back. They had a little bit of a back and forth between IO and Liv, but the real star was Roxanne Perez.
[00:04:20] She lasted all the way to the final two at number three. So she lasted one hour, 10 minutes.
[00:04:30] Roxanne Perez, she's fresh off of her title loss that she had against Julia at New Year's Evil in Los Angeles.
[00:04:40] And I think that once she gets to the main roster, she will be a very, very key player in the role of the women's division.
[00:04:52] I don't see her as, like, a big deal coming out of nxt, like a Charlotte Flair, like a Becky lynch, like a Bay Lee, but I definitely do see her climbing up the ranks and being one of the top women in that division, but only time will tell. And for her to last over an hour and 10 minutes in a Royal Rumble full of, you know, women from the past and present is such a huge deal for her.
[00:05:24] Up next was Lyra Valkyria, the Eagle Woman, the Bird Woman. She is the current Women's Intercontinental champion.
[00:05:36] At number five, we had Chelsea Green, the United States Women's champion. She was mostly there for the comic relief spot, of course. And next was B Fab, and Chelsea Green got an elimination on B Fab.
[00:05:57] Number seven was American Maids, Ivy Nile.
[00:06:03] And she did end up eliminating Lyra Valkyria out at some point in this match. And it is looking that Ivy Nile will be having a match with Lyra Valkyria for the Women's Intercontinental Champion, in which I do believe that Ivy Nile should win because a little spoiler, because I'm gonna sprinkle a little bit of what happened on this past week's Raw. So the Raw after Royal Rumble, Chad Gable said he is going away to learn the dark arts of lucha libre. We'll talk about him later in the Men's Rumble. But it looks like he wants American made, the Creed brothers and Ivy Nile to win some championships while he's gone.
[00:06:49] So I think that is the perfect position for the Creed brothers to take the belts off of the War Raiders and for Ivy Nile to be the second ever Women's Intercontinental champion. We then had Zoey Stark at number 8, Lash Legend at number 9. Last Legend has been one of the bigger parts of the women's division over in NXT. She's been part of the Mega 4 stable.
[00:07:19] We had Bianca Belair out at number 10. She had some dominant performance in that match.
[00:07:27] Number 11, Shayna Baszler. So we have Zoe Stark and Shayna Baszler. From Pure Fusion Collective. Again, that stable does not sit well with me.
[00:07:39] Number 12, we had Bailey. She had a quick interaction with former Damage Control member IO Sky. And if you remember, last year when Bailey won the Women's Rumble, Iyo sky was the sole reason, as she was the champion at the time, that Bailey got kicked out of Damage Control. So they had a little bit of a tense stare down, and then they went back to their opponents.
[00:08:06] The last member of the Pure Fusion Collective came out at number 13, Sonia Deville.
[00:08:13] And then they had Maxine Dupree at number 14. She was quickly eliminated by the trio of Deville, Baszler and Stark. Naomi came in and alongside Bianca, eliminated Stark.
[00:08:32] We then had our next NXT surprise, Jada Parker. Jada Parker has been in the main storylines for the women's championships over on nxt, both the North American and the NXT women's championship. Number 17, we had Piper Niven, the security of Chelsea Green. So Chelsea Green got a little bit of some help along the way.
[00:09:06] But there was a part in the match where Piper Niven ended up accidentally eliminating Chelsea Green at some point because she missed. I believe it was hitting Bianca and Naomi. So Piper Niven unintentionally eliminated Chelsea Green. Natalia came in at number 18. She's been at every Women's Rumble since the very first one in 2018. And then we got very juicy. We got number 19, Jordan Grace. And it was finally announced after I talked about it last week on the podcast that Jordan Grace has officially signed with wwe. Now, it is unclear what brand she will be on, and if you ask me, she was not announced for either this week's or next week's Raw. So there is a very good chance that Jordynne Grace will be part of the SmackDown roster. Grace ended up eliminating Jada Parker, and then she ended up delivering a rolling Death Valley driver to Piper Niven. Looked absolutely amazing. She's an absolute powerhouse. Absolute powerhouse. And there is a good reason why that WB finally signed her after all these years. She started out in TNA and then she started bodybuilding, and she looked like a freaking beast every single time.
[00:10:42] Meechen, she came out at number 20.
[00:10:46] And number 21, we got another big return here. Alexa Bliss, she came out and she had a Lily doll with her, and she also had a jacket.
[00:11:03] She used the old goddess theme, but she came out with a jacket on the back. It said fiend forever, said friend forever. So I believe that was her first time out in the ring televised on pay per view, that she has Been able to show tribute to Bray Wyatt since his passing. If any of you remember the iconic vignettes and the unlikely partnership of the Fiend and Alexa Bliss in late 2020, then you know how big that character was for both Bliss and Wyatt and what it led to. But finally Bliss is back. Now I do actually have some intel on this. This was meant for another superstar. What ended up happening was Alexa Bliss was a last minute replacement and originally what was supposed to be happening is that at number 21 it was supposed to be Shotzi.
[00:12:01] So recently, if you have seen anything on Shotzi, she has been busy over in NXT with her new stable of Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolan known as Chemical X. She recently challenged for the NXT Women's North American championship and they have been feuding with Fatal Influence, another trio group made of Fallon Henley, who is the NXT Women's North American champion, JC Jane and Jasmine Nicks. So they have been a part of this brand new stable war that has been happening over in nxt. But yeah, Shotzi was supposed to be in this match and then they brought in Alexa Bliss and there is a picture of Jordan Grace with another women superstar and you could see her in the back. So very heartbreaking that she ended up missing out on this opportunity. At number 22, we had Selena Vega. She ended up coming in. She delivered a brutal code red to Jordan Grace off the top rope.
[00:13:09] Number 23 saw Candice Lerae come in. Number 24, we had Stephanie Vacuure. She has been making the waves currently. Right now people would have expected that she would be the NXT women's champion currently, but instead she came in. I'll tell you what, seeing Stephanie Vacuure in this match and seeing her do her signature move where she basically has the opponent in her legs and she basically just like continues to stomp the opponent's head into the mat with her legs going up and down. It's so different. Not hearing Booker T on commentary, just geeked up and just talking a bit like, oh, damn.
[00:13:57] And let's be honest, Booker T is just generations Jerry Lawler, except less creepy because let's be honest, he was doing that years ago when he was doing main roster commentary for Raw and smackdown. But the difference is, I think it was just very different because if anybody remembers old 90s Jerry Lawler on commentary, anytime he could, he got in some type of innuendo. And I think it was just different because like he was older, he had been around in wrestling for that time, you know, he Wasn't like that early, early on. Back in like the early 90s, late 90s attitude era, he was all for it, all for it. He kind of got a little bit better. But you know, here Jerry Lawler do commentary is, you know, something else, especially if you watch him during the early 90s. But. But yeah, so that was fun. So Stephanie Vicure is in the match.
[00:14:48] Trish Stratus came in at number 25.
[00:14:53] Trish Stratus, her first match back since that iconic steel cage match with Becky lynch at Payback 2023. That was her return to full time pro wrestling. That was one of her longest stints that she had had in years. And Trish was back. She ended up taking out Natalia. She had some double Stratus factions going in. She went head to head with Jordan Grace and Piper Niven. But at this point, like I said before, there was over like 15 women still in the match and they still had like four more to go. And I'm like, geez, there are so many women still in this match. This could mean anything.
[00:15:44] Number 26, we had Raquel Rodriguez coming in. Liv Morgan, who was still in the match, finally had some backup.
[00:15:53] Yes. At this point, the first three competitors were still in the match by 26 and then 27.
[00:16:04] Oh boy.
[00:16:06] I had a lot of hate on this because three weeks ago, two weeks ago, we found out in vignettes that Charlotte Flair, the 14 time women's champion, would be returning at the Rumble.
[00:16:29] We did not know how she was gonna look, we did not know what they were gonna do, but they brought her in. She made the big entrance, she got the pyro, she had the robe, she was styling and profiling just like her daddy.
[00:16:48] And she came in with a silver knee brace.
[00:16:54] So I guess in one way or another, you could say she's in her Austin era because she got the knee brace on. Now because she had surgery, now she's back.
[00:17:08] She quickly eliminated Meechan and Piper niven. At number 28, we had Julia, the new NXT women's champion. She came in and she actually eliminated Jordyne Grace with a headbutt and a knee strike on the outside when she was on the apron. So Julia eliminated Jordyne Grace. 29, we had NIA Jax.
[00:17:34] Funny that Liv Morgan has been the runner up and not Nia Jax. I believe the last time Nia Jax was the runner up, it was in fact that 2019 Royal Rumble where Becky won. But as she was making her way down, Selena Vega was over the ropes. She was standing on the apron. And quickly Nia Jax came in and she eliminated Vega. She came in, she tried to powerbomb Tristratish, but she ended up getting a Hurricane Rana. And then we got number 30. Now, number 30 was a very controversial spot in this rumble because a lot of people had some names that were going to go in. People said that Becky was finally going to make her return. And I said, okay, I guess that works.
[00:18:23] They said that AJ Lee was going to possibly come back, and they've been saying that for years now. And I'm just going to put this to bed. AJ Lee will never return to a wrestling ring, ever. She can play a wrestling character on a star show, but I think that AJ Lee, and no matter how many times that her name is chanted, she does not want to get back into the ring. She is fine with her life right now doing what she is doing. And listen, with how much money Punk is making, I would just say, no, Punk's making that good money. She's living great at home. She's got Larry.
[00:19:12] So I think that we probably will never see AJ Lee actually come back into the ring.
[00:19:19] But then it just offers you the fact of, like, even if she doesn't come to the ring, should she be a Hall of Famer?
[00:19:26] And, I mean, I guess, but she doesn't live up to that hall of Fame lifestyle. She was in, you know, wrestling for however long she was, but, you know, it was very, very quick. She was only in wrestling for about less than a few years.
[00:19:42] So it is what it is. But I do not believe that AJ Lee will come back into a WWE ring.
[00:19:51] So instead of all that, at number 30, we got the return of Nikki Bella. Nikki Bella was currently on the debut episode of Raw, and if anybody has been following the news, she recently had a messy divorce.
[00:20:10] Now, granted, it was a abusive husband, so good for her for getting out of that. But, yeah, right when that appearance hit, people were like, huh? Is Nikki Bella actually gonna come back?
[00:20:25] And Nikki Bella did actually post something. Wwe, I should say post something after the Royal Rumble match where Nikki did say that she possibly was going to do another run. So full time Nikki Bella for the first time in years, that would be something.
[00:20:46] So we got to the ending here.
[00:20:49] Nia Jax dominated and she. She had this spot where six different women were like sitting on the outside of the rope. So they had went over the ropes and they were like going over, hanging onto the bottom rope, and it was just this big clump of people.
[00:21:17] So then Nia Jax got this idea and she proceeded to simply run them over like they were bowling pins and just knock them all off the apron.
[00:21:27] And single handedly she eliminated Stephanie Vicure, Iyo Sky, Naomi, Bianca Belair and Raquel Rodriguez all at the same time. So in the final six, we had Nia Jax, Nikki Bella, Charlotte Flair, Roxanne Perez, Bayley and Liv Morgan. Nikki Bella eliminated Bayley, but then Nia Jax eliminated Morgan and Bella. So the final three came down to Perez, Flair and Jax. Perez and Flair teamed up together and they took out Nia Jax and then they had Roxanne Perez in the final two with Flair trying to do the skin the cat. But when she came up, Flair grabbed her legs and basically pushed them off. And just like that.
[00:22:27] Charlotte Flair is the first woman in the women's Royal Rumble history to win the Royal Rumble twice. It's different when Charlotte Flair wins the Royal Rumble than when she's winning the elimination Chamber because as it was reported that Charlotte Flair will most likely be having a program with Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women's Champion. She on smackdown.
[00:23:02] But the way that I see it, I'm looking at it and I'm like, why did she need to win? My current favorite was Iyo Sky. I mentioned that last week, but they gave it to Charlotte because it was Charlotte.
[00:23:23] So now Charlotte is going to have her match.
[00:23:29] And at the elimination Chamber, whoever ends up winning will take on Rhea Ripley, which I don't know who that could be. Iosukay might get a last chance, like Battle Royal victory, I guess, but usually those people never end up winning it.
[00:23:51] So I don't know who else Rhea Ripley could face at WrestleMania other than if my theory is wrong and they end up having elimination chamber matches on smackdown for the Women.
[00:24:08] And Jordyne Grace is either on Raw or smackdown. She ends up getting into the elimination chamber and she wins. And we get Rhea Ripley versus Jordan Grace. Now is that a bit much? Because Jordyn Grace is fresh coming into wwe. Yes. But many people have seen her before on nxt. They know that she's good. And really, when I think of two powerhouses, this is going to challenge Rhea Ripley. This is not like a Nia Jax situation. This is not a Becky lynch situation. This is not a Charlotte Flair. This is a jacked woman bodybuilder who basically is a women's version of Scott Steiner.
[00:24:58] Muscles on muscles on muscles, gains on gains on gains.
[00:25:02] And I think that that would be a very interesting match. And really, I could see it happening both ways because maybe Grace doesn't want to just come in and win the championship. Maybe they want to build a rivalry. I do have a feeling though going back to what I said about Roxanne Perez because she ended up being the final two and she's currently in a program with Bayley.
[00:25:27] So once we get that main roster match and I'm talking main pay per view roster match with Bailey and Roxanne Perez, I think that Roxanne Perez would be the perfect superstar to to end up getting the money in the bank this year if she comes to the main roster, I think that would be perfect. So Flair is your winner and she is the first person ever to win the Women's Royal Rumble twice. So good on her. I'm not a big fan of it, but it works out. We then shifted to our first title match of the night, DIY and Motor City Machine Guns for the WWE World Tag Team Championships for in a two out of three falls match.
[00:26:19] Before we get into this match, I do want to mention that There was over 67,000 people at this Rumble in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The average Indianapolis Colts game, their home games, their average was 65,204 people in attendance. So this outdrew an NFL game which is huge. It also outdrew the biggest attendance in Royal Rumble history. Its previous holder, record holder was the 1997 Royal Rumble that was held at the Alamo Dome like I mentioned last week. So there was a lot of people in attendance for this Rumble. And the fact that these two tag teams of Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa and Alex Shelley and Chris Saban were able to go out and have this match in front of a crowd like that. That's huge. This was Motor City Machine Gun's pay per View debut for WWE and it was in front of 67,000 people in a jam packed NFL stadium. So good for them. The first fall came about when Alex Shelley looked to tag out to Saban but the referee missed it from the distraction from diy. So DIY ended up double teaming Shelly and then what happened was Champa, he faked his tag out to Gargano by slapping his hands together and Gargano like pulled his hand out but Shelly didn't see it. So Shelly proceeded to superkick Gargano and then we turn back around. Ciampa sees the opportunity and executed a running knee to shelly for the first fall. So it was DIY 1, Motor City 0. They took an early advantage and DIY kept up the pressure using some quick tacks. To keep Shelly grounded. But as they fought back, Gargano attempted a slingshot spear, but Shelly countered with a mid air superkick. Sabin was tagged in and hit a fury of strikes including a flying cross body to the outside and a tornado DDT on Gargano. The they came back to the ring, they delivered their apron and Sagiri Halluva kick combo, followed by Skull and Bones.
[00:28:53] And then Motor City got their fall. So it was one fall apiece. Next fall wins with everything on the line. DIY nearly secured the win with a fairy tale ending superkick combo which looked absolutely gnarly. But Sabin kicked out at 2. Motor City ended up targeting Gargano's knee and executed their signature mood alock basement drop kick combo.
[00:29:19] He then followed up with a hesitation drop kick on Champa. Shelly and Gargano were the legal men. When Gargano accidentally super kicked Champa and the Machine Guns were trying to take advantage. And as they were setting up for another Skull and Bones, I believe, all of a sudden in a hoodie, Montez Ford comes up and distracts the ref. And then while Montez is distracting the ref, Angelo Dawkins comes out also wearing a hoodie and he had a crutch and he smacks Shelly off the top rope, allowing DIY to hit meat in the middle to secure the 1, 2, 3 and regain the tag titles.
[00:30:08] Post match, though, the Street Profits weren't done because then as soon as DIY went outside, the Profits continued the attack on diy, hitting them with a crutch and then lifting up the WWE Tag Team Championships and saying that they want it all. So a heel turn for the Street Profits, even though they've been through many heel turns, but they are finally back and they are finally going to take those tag titles away and get the match that they deserve, which I think that Nick Oldest will absolutely do after they've been screwed out. Because you know, Dawkins was selling his injury and he was, you know, using his crutches at local airports. So that was a good thing. He was really kayfabing the injury and then he came out and he ended up hitting Shelly with the crutch off the top. So pretty good match. And you know, this type of attitude for the Street Profits is definitely necessary.
[00:31:15] So there is a good chance that either at elimination chamber or WrestleMania we could possibly get a big triple Threat tag match with the Profits, DIY and the Machine Guns. But overall, very good match. We then shifted to the undisputed WWE Championship ladder match between Cody Rhodes And Kevin Owens.
[00:31:46] This match was absolutely insane and once this match finished up, I think this shows you the direction that they're gonna do with Cody and this is why that I'm trusting the process with Cody, because what we saw at the end of this match is further solidifying that that turn is almost happening and we are in fact almost in the midst of Homelander Cody Rhodes and I am so psyched about it.
[00:32:26] So we'll talk about it and we'll go into pretty much early in the match they took the fight outside as they traded heavy strikes as they fought into the crowd. Owens gained control by slamming Rhodes ribs first into the barricade, followed by a kick to the midsection.
[00:32:49] Owens then introduced a ladder hip tossing Rhodes onto it.
[00:32:54] He then rolled the ladder into the ring and attempted to make the climb, but Rhodes quickly yanked him down and after exchanging some haymakers, Owens quickly tossed Rhodes to the outside.
[00:33:06] Rhodes later countered by smashing Owens face into the ladder, but when Owens dragged him out to the outside, he slammed his head onto the announce table and threw the desk hood at him. So he he took off the desk and threw it at him.
[00:33:21] He then set up a ladder bridge near the outside and then Rhodes slammed Owens into the steel steps. Owens quickly recovered and he used a mini ladder to attack before hitting a belly to back suplex onto it. Rhodes attempted to climb up for the tag titles again but Owens stopped him leading to an exchange on top which led to Rhodes fighting back with kicks, but then Owens countered with a pop up powerbomb off the ladder. Owens then slammed Rhodes head first into the ladder and stomped his midsection some more. Owens ended up climbing again, but Rhodes attempted to bench press the ladder out from under him, but Owens just kicked him down and continued his assault around ringside.
[00:34:15] Cody then hit Owens with a step vertical suplex onto a ladder and McGann using the broken rung as a weapon so he hit the suplex and then he just used that broken part of the ladder and just used as a weapon. Always retaliated with a super kick and some jabs before hurling another mini ladder into Rhodes face.
[00:34:38] He he attempted to deliver the package piledriver. I think this was the biggest story in this ladder match was was there going to be shades of 2013 with Owens and the package piledriver on the ladder, but Rhodes countered with a back body drop.
[00:34:58] Owens then countered again with a powerbomb through the ladder in the corner, so Rhodes bounced off of it.
[00:35:07] Owens had continued his assault and laid Rhodes on top and across the ladder bridge. That was in the ring.
[00:35:16] So Rhodes got up, he climbed to the top, he began fighting with Owens.
[00:35:23] Rhodes went for a superplex off the top, but instead Owens hooked him up and delivered a fisherman buster from the top rope to the ladder bridge. That was between the ladder set up in the middle of the ring and the rope.
[00:35:43] And he just hit this brutal avalanche Fisherman's buster. And it was just both of their necks came down, their backs were on it.
[00:35:54] At this point, medical staff rushed in to check on both men. And out from the shadows, Sami Zayn comes in to check on his best buddy, Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes. I thought for sure that this is where we were finally going to see Zayn's turn. And Zane was going to help Owens win the championship, but he just stayed back.
[00:36:17] Owens got up quickly, he went for a stunner. Rhodes then countered with a crossroads.
[00:36:25] Owens rolled to the outside, but Cody was not stopping there.
[00:36:30] He slammed his head onto the announce table on the still ring post. And this actually busted open Kevin Owens. So once Cody saw the blood, Rhodes just snapped and started just hitting Owens right on the head, hitting right into the wound.
[00:36:52] And he just went nuts, Just nuts. Absolutely going crazy violent. And I was like, yes, this is what I've been waiting for.
[00:37:06] So then Rhodes gets Owens. They climb on top of the announce table. There's a bridge between the apron and the announce table.
[00:37:17] Cody looks like he's probably gonna do some move off of the announce table.
[00:37:24] But Owens counters with a low blow. And then he sets up for another package pile driver. And I'm like, oh God, no way he ends up doing this. Me ends up doing this. It's over. But quickly Cody recovered any, lifted Owens up. So he had Owens in a Alabama slam position because he was between Owens legs. He simply just grabbed Owens legs and lifted up and he just, he had him in this position. He turns, he looks at the ladder bridge and he just throws Kevin Owens off the announce table through the ladder. The ladder collapses and you just see Zayn have the biggest fit and he just screams Kevin.
[00:38:19] And he rushes over and Cody is just exhausted. He looks down. Owens did not move a bit until that match was done. So while Owens was down, medical staff's checking on Owens. Cody goes in, he climbs up, he goes to the friggin tip top rung. And Zane was looking back and forth and you could see it's starting to settle in. Was he going to interfere? No. He lets it happen. And Cody Rhodes grabs both the undisputed championship, or I should say the WWE Championship. And The Winged Eagle Championship. And Cody Rhodes is your winner. And Rose was on the rope. He was on the top rope. He was posing with the belts.
[00:39:11] And they got this good shot of Owens bloodied. Zane is holding him, holding him up, hugging him. And Rhodes is just talking. He's talking crap on the top rope. We get the replays, we see Owens go to the outside. And I think like he was asking, are they okay? And then all of a sudden, Cody, he starts walking back and I'm like, is he going to attack Owens again? He walks back, he climbs on top of the announce table and he poses again. And the camera gets an even better shot of him flexing right over Owens and Zane. And Zayn is just looking up at him and Cody's just talking smack. And I'm like, this is perfect. The camera shot that they got was absolutely perfect. Rhodes just standing on that announce table posing with the belts. And Zayn Owens look on. And Owens is bruised and bloodied. Zayn is looking and distraught. And you can see that this match and this rivalry with Owens turned Cody into a madman. So I think that just raised Cody's stock of like, who is WrestleMania opponent is going to be. And depending on what he ends up doing, a whole lot more. So an absolute amazing match. And of course, props to Kevin Owens. Man, Kevin Owens, every single year in the Royal Rumble always shows up. And I swear, every year he's been challenging for a championship or another. So props to him. We then had the men's Royal Rumble match.
[00:41:06] A lot of people said before this match that this was the most stacked Rumble ever. Not ever, but the biggest stacked Rumble that they had in years. Personally, for me, the most stacked Rumble I think I've ever seen really was the 2008 Royal Rumble and the iconic moments that happened then. I believe Foley was in that match.
[00:41:33] They had Taker and Shawn starting at number one, and number two, they had the John Cena return. Everything in that match was perfect.
[00:41:43] So compared to this year, unpredictable but star studded. And a lot of good highlights in this match. So we started off number one and number two were Rey Mysterio and Penta. Now this is a matchup that a lot of people have been talking about since that Penta has debuted. And actually during the weekend for the Royal Rumble, there's actually a scuffle. Not like real life, like a shoot, but kayfabe of Dominik, Mysterio and Penta. So most likely we are gonna get that match soon, which I think is gonna be amazing if we do get that match, I mean, you saw a little bit of glimpse here with Rey Mysterio and Penta. There's actually a moment when both superstars went over the top rope and like Penta, I don't know what happened, but I think Penta got so low that he had at least like one foot touch the floor. But it definitely looked like his toes. Like, he looked like he had 10 toes down.
[00:42:56] He had 10 toes down on the mat over the top rope. So after like nobody. Nobody said anything, but Ray and Penta both survived, even though Penta looked like he was eliminated.
[00:43:11] Chad Gable then came in. Like I talked about earlier, he's been trying to figure out the dark arts of Lucha libre.
[00:43:20] There was actually a spy here, which I. This is what I was referring to when I was talking about on Raw when he said that he was leaving for a bit.
[00:43:31] So at first, I don't know if this was the reason, but Rey and Penta went for like a tag team move where Rey got basically like catapulted onto Penta shoulders.
[00:43:49] And I think he went for like some type of move, but like, Ray lost his balance and he completely landed back first onto Gable's knees. Now I know that Ray's not a big guy, but like, he landed right on Gable's knees and Gable ended up selling. But I was thinking that when he said the next Raw that he needed to go away, I thought it was because, like, he needed to get like surgery or something because of that spot right there. But people have said that Gable is actually possibly going to go to AAA up in Mexico, which I think that would be hilarious and funny and so interesting if we end up seeing a AAA run with Gable and like, Gable ends up winning like one of the mid card titles over there. I think that would be funny because they already did that with omas, which. That's another person. I was surprised that we did not get a return in the Rumble was Omas, you know, he. He just finished up stuff with Noah and dropped the GHC tag titles. So that has been something that they did recently with cross promotion along with their stuff with TNA Rally.
[00:45:02] At number four, we had Carmelo Hayes.
[00:45:07] He formed a brief alliance with Gable before he ended up being German suplexed. Number five came Santos Escobar.
[00:45:18] He had a 619 on Ray and a Canadian destroyer actually on Penta.
[00:45:25] At number six, we got Otis and Otis immediately ended up coming in and squaring off with Gable. He smacked the crack crap out of chat.
[00:45:40] It was insane.
[00:45:45] At number seven, we finally got Braun Breaker came in. He immediately eliminated Carmelo Hayes. So Carmelo Hayes immediately out of there. He then delivered a suplex to Otis, and then he ended up eliminating Escobar. Number eight was Akira Tozawa. So Tozawa came in, and as he was coming out, Carmelo Hayes was making his way up the aisle. And then all of a sudden, Carmelo Hayes just decks Tozawa in the back, and he just hits Tozawa hard. So then they, they. They usher Tozawa to the backstage area. And you see Gorilla and you see Triple H. He's sitting there as only Triple H could sit. By the way, he did not introduce the show this time. That was Stephanie McMahon. He comes in, he's like, are you good? And they say, okay, he's ineligible, so they need a replacement. He's looking around. And of all people to be sitting backstage in Gorilla. Iconic streamer and YouTuber iShowSpeed is sitting there, and Triple H tells Speed he's in the Rumble. And he pushes Speed out there. Speed comes out. He goes into the Rumble. I show Speed is officially in the Rumble. And he tries to, like, at least he knew what he was doing. He tried to eliminate another person, and then he looked over and he saw Brawn Breaker eliminating Otis. So he comes over and he lifts him and he gets the elimination.
[00:47:15] So officially in the record books, Ishowspeed, other than Logan Paul, is the second ever YouTuber to get an elimination in the Royal Rumble match. I can't believe it. After the elimination, Speed was going nuts. He hit the su. The Ronaldo taunt. He hits a backflip. And meanwhile, while he's hitting the backflip and he's got back on his feet, Bron Breakker is rushing back and forth on the ropes.
[00:47:46] They said this, I think, like 50 times now. His speed when he's going back and forth on the ropes is 23 miles per hour. I was like, there's no freaking wind. He's getting that much acceleration between the ropes. But the minute he came towards Speed, it was like a freaking car wreck. He just bam. He spears Speed out of his shoes. Then he Gorilla pressed Speed over the top rope. Thank God the veteran Otis was still on the outside. Caught him fall away, slam over the announce table, and Speed is eliminated. So that, by the way, has over 3 million views and I think over 1 million likes. So it's most viral clip to date ever, and especially in the Royal Rumble. And it's all because of Ishowspeed. Kai Sinat was there, so Kaisen that. And I Show Speed are like the two big streamers that got invited over. There was rumors of Tyrese Halliburton, the star player for the Indiana Pacers, who earlier that day actually had a game with the Atlanta Hawks and won. That was a rumor that he was going to be in the Rumble, but they only showed him in the crowd, which. Which they did a lot of that also. They. They did a lot of interviews, and they did a lot of, like, crowd shots with celebrities. And some of the people in the crowd were guys like Godfather, rvd, who one bicep looks bigger than the other dog. I was like, geez, man. Look like anchor arms on one side, just like, look like he was not eating his Wheaties on the other, so. Oh, good Lord. That was. That. That was kind of funny to see. And I didn't see it at first, but I'm like, geez. One bicep is looking crazier than the other. But, yeah, they had a whole bunch of legends there. But I show. Speed gets eliminated.
[00:49:42] Sheamus then comes in at number nine, and then Jimmy USO at number ten.
[00:49:49] And Penta nearly eliminated Sheamus, number eleven. We got Andrade coming in, and then all of a sudden, Jacob Fatu, he comes in and Fatu goes crazy.
[00:50:11] Fatu eliminates Gable, he eliminates Ray, and he eliminates Andrade.
[00:50:17] He actually delivered a double Samoan drop to. I think it was Gable and Ray, and he just started eliminating people. Fatu was nuts. Number 13. We saw Ludwig Kaiser.
[00:50:34] He entered. He took his time. Then he entered. I think it was like five seconds. And he immediately got eliminated by Pentza, number 14. We had the Miz and number 15.
[00:50:48] Oh, Lord, I hate to say it.
[00:50:51] Say his name and he appears.
[00:50:55] Joe Hendry is in the Royal Rumble. This guy has been hyping his own hype train for so freaking long, man. He finally comes in. He had a stint with NXT earlier last year, and now he is in the Royal Rumble. He actually delivered a lot of his moves, and he actually delivered the standing ovation to. I believe it was the Miz. And meanwhile, Seamus was in the corner, like, astonished by this. And then Fatou nailed Henry. And there's a funny little moment. Sheamus was like, I was enjoying that. I was like, oh, good Lord. But after Joe at number 15, at number 16, we got Roman Reigns. I was not expecting Roman Reigns to come out only halfway through the match. I thought he was gonna be near the end of the match. I thought he could have been number 30, maybe the late 20s, but no, he's in at number 16. He comes in, he eliminates Sheamus, Miz and Hendry. So then there was a quick little showdown with Bron Breakker and Roman Reigns.
[00:52:07] And Brawn absolutely just speared Reigns out of his shoes like he did with speed. But Reigns quickly got up, Superman punched and he eliminated Bron Breaker. But as there is an alliance for the bloodline, Jimmy Uso quickly gets attacked and Fatu throws Jimmy Uso out.
[00:52:32] Number 17.
[00:52:34] We get Drew McIntyre. More on him later. He enters and he temporarily teams up on Fatu to target Reigns.
[00:52:43] Finn Balor comes in at number 18. We have not seen him in weeks. He came out with very crappy music.
[00:52:51] Number 19, we got Shinsuke Nakamura. At this point in time, Balor ended up eliminating Penta. Penta lasted over 42 minutes in the rumble, so that was pretty good for him. We then got Jey uso. I will say I am wearing yeet merch. I'm wearing the yeet hoodie in the studio today. Recordingless. And Jey Uso comes out. He immediately eliminates Nakamura. Number 21, we get A.J. styles. A.J. styles, he comes back. After he had that return match where it was him and Carmelo Hayes early last year, AJ Styles ended up getting an injury and AJ Style comes back out to. Ain't nobody breaking this redneck. They don't want none. Not the. Not the other stuff that he was playing when he was in France.
[00:53:52] Even though that it was reported that in August they will be having clash in Paris. So they're definitely gonna have to have AJ Styles come back to that. I'm just saying I think that probably for that match, if it does ends up happening, you want to get the crowd really heated up, get Cena and Styles.
[00:54:13] Cena and Styles.
[00:54:15] With Styles having that phenomenal chant, dude, that place will blow the roof off itself. We then add number 22 with Braun Strowman. He immediately came in and he wiped out Jacob Fatu. Jacob Fatu then threw this amazing temper tantrum. He was just throwing everything. He actually picked up one of the announced chairs. It could have gone to the rim. It was insane. So, yeah, Braun Strowman eliminates Jacob Fatou. And then we get 23. Kind of, kind of, kind of funny. Number 23, Michael Jordan Number goat John Cena comes out and he quickly eliminates Stroman. He didn't actually get Strowman up for an AA because I'm guessing it was, you know, too quick. But he ends up eliminating Stroman and then he has Balor and he he a's balor off and I think Strowman was supposed to catch him, but he completely missed him. And you just saw Strowman walk off. Be like son of him.
[00:55:20] He was, he was upset. He didn't get his. He didn't get his spot. But then we had.
[00:55:27] After a staredown reigns, CM Punk comes out in number four. So just like Cena coming out at number 23, 24 Kobe Punk comes out and they don't even do anything for the next two minutes. It is just Punk, Reigns and Cena. I actually saw a post that was kind of, kind of cool. It was reminiscent of the Rumble that I mentioned earlier in 08 with Batista, triple H and John Cena as the final three in the 08 run. So that was kind of cool.
[00:56:06] But then of course you have to have the sneaky fourth guy come in. And there comes in Seth rollins at number 25.
[00:56:14] Incredible. And then all hell breaks loose.
[00:56:20] Punk attacks Rollins. Reigns and Cena exchange blows.
[00:56:26] Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio. He comes in at number 26. He hits a frog smash immediately on Cena. I thought that was perfect. 27 is Sami Zayn. He comes in, delivers halluva kicks to both McIntyre and Rollins.
[00:56:46] Damian Priest enters at number 28 and eliminates Dominic with a chokeslam.
[00:56:52] La Knight comes in at number 29. He has an exchange with Jey Uso and you get the ya and the yeet chants and McIntyre and Zayn end up fighting on the apron.
[00:57:07] And then when McIntyre was trying to eliminate Zayn, McIntyre moves out of the way and Jay accidentally super kicks Sami off the apron and eliminates Sami Zayn.
[00:57:19] So a unintentional elimination by Jay USO to Sami Zayn. His best us.
[00:57:27] We then got Logan Paul at number 30. I totally had forgotten that Logan Paul was in there. I remember it was like at 26 I like Dominic Mysterio. I completely forgot who had been announced for the rumble. And I said then that means that the Rock is coming out in number 30. But no, no Rock surprise, no nothing.
[00:57:54] It was all for nothing. The three held in Atlanta at Bad Blood was just to take away that main event spot from Drew and Punk in that Hell in a Cell match. Because I'll be honest, that tag match would be a perfect co main event, but instead that Hell in a Cell match had to be the opener. It sucked all the life. They tried to bring it back up and they had that tag match with Rhodes and Reigns against Fatu and Solo. Which by the way, that was the other thing that didn't happen, there was no Solo in this Rumble. I thought Solo was going to return in this Rumble, but then I realized Solo never declared for it. So I don't know what Solo has been doing. The rumor is that Solo is going to be facing Fatu at WrestleMania. So we're not going to get Reigns versus Fatu. We might, but we might instead get Solo versus Jacob. And then we get that bloodline dissension match of who's the real leader. And then once everybody was in, Logan Paul ended up hitting Buckshot Lariats to both AJ Styles and CM Punk. I'm sure Punk got some PTSD from that. But the real key point in this ending after we got all 30, is when there was a miscue with La Knight. He was doing some moves and I think what was weird is that I don't know if he backed up into Priest or McIntyre, but Priest, I think turned McIntyre around and he eliminates McIntyre. Now, there was some coverage on this and some explanation on this the day after following on the Wrestling Observer Radio, and this is according to Dave Meltzer, and it was that he reported that there was a guy that had a lot of people pissed in that match. And the idea was he was trying to get himself over and not the match over, but he was doing things.
[00:59:54] And they withheld the name. But then reports from Fightful select and PW Insider confirmed that the name actually was La Knight. And he caused a frustration with multiple talents, including Drew McIntyre being unhappy about how the match played out. And the issue stemmed from several sequences involving Knight that went longer than planned, including one with Roman Reigns. According to the PW Insider, a WWE production member noted that the match probably needed a minute to get back on track due to the disruptions. I don't know if this was at that little glitch where, like, they backed into each other when, like, one person was having an elimination and the other one was, like, doing something else. But they mentioned that one of the problems occurred with McIntyre's elimination, which was supposed to happen before Logan Paul entered the royal rumble at 30. The planned sequence involved McIntyre attempting to eliminate Jey Uso before being thrown out by Damian Priest. That was to set up a potential WrestleMania 41 storyline. So now the rumor is that McIntyre is gonna have a match with Damian Priest, which is okay, you know, special singles matches at Mania, you know, one, a few are kind of decent if they have good story, but if not, then they're kind of lackluster and they just happen for no reason, but they mentioned however, due to timing issues caused by LA Knights extended spots, Logan Paul's entrance was delayed and it delayed McIntyre's elimination. So in the confusion, Knight inadvertently knocked into both McIntyre and Priest, leading to a clunky out of nowhere elimination that was not executed as planned.
[01:01:51] So that was the key right there was that they bumped in to both Magnitude and Priest and it led to a out of nowhere elimination and it was like unceremonious that McIntyre was eliminated after talking all this talk for weeks and being one of the main key players in the road to the Royal Rumble.
[01:02:12] So this was very interesting backstage. McIntyre was reportedly livid and Meltzer described it as he heard that Drew was not the only one unhappy about the situation. According to multiple reports, McIntyre stormed out of Lucas Oil Stadium screaming and cursing at someone having to get their moves in at the expense of other stories in the match.
[01:02:39] His frustration was significant enough and it did play out because he was not present for the Monday night RAW in Cleveland the following night.
[01:02:50] So after all of that, McIntyre did not end up showing up at RAW in Cleveland this past Monday because of that botch spot that ended up happening. So could LA Knight be getting some heat? Possibly.
[01:03:06] Could LA Knight possibly be punished by losing another match?
[01:03:11] Who knows. But man, that was something. I, I didn't expect McIntyre to get eliminated by Damian Priest. I thought McIntyre was gonna at least last and there was gonna be a scuffle between him, Punk, Reigns, Rollins and everybody like that and whoever wants to eliminate him, eliminates him and then boom, you, you know, you form your story, whatever. So that seems to not be the case. That seems like the rumor match is that is going to be Damian Priest versus Drew McIntyre, so we'll see how that goes. But back to the match, Logan Paul survived a shove from LA Knight and he actually jumped from the apron to the announce table which was already cleared off due to Fatu's tantrum earlier.
[01:03:58] So he just box jumped and long jumped to the announce table.
[01:04:05] He grabbed the prime from the crowd like he usually would and he dropped drank that on top of the announce table and then he moved from the barricade over back to the steps and while he was doing that, AJ Styles was setting up for a phenomenal forearm and somehow AJ Styles didn't see him and Logan Paul as soon as AJ hit the ropes immediately pulled out and AJ Styles was eliminated.
[01:04:32] Paul then went back to the match where CM Punk hit him with the gts but then Rollins executed a super to Punk and they pedigree to jey uso, Reigns and Super punched Cena before Rollins stomped out both Cena and Punk.
[01:04:51] And then there was this confrontation between Rollins and Reigns and Reigns and Rollins has been the storyline feud for years and years and years. It is the never ending story. No matter what happens, Rollins and Reigns always will happen and always will have bad blood no matter what.
[01:05:11] And Rollins and Reigns are talking smack.
[01:05:15] Reigns is saying he's gonna get his championship back around like nuh, not on my watch.
[01:05:20] So they start tussling, they start hitting each other, they go up against the ropes trying to eliminate each other.
[01:05:30] And then from behind, like the sneaky man that he is, Punk eliminates both Rollins and Reigns at the same time.
[01:05:39] Boom. But he made a big rookie mistake because he's sitting alongside, he's basically leaning on the ropes and he's looking over at his work of eliminating his two biggest threats in the Rumble being Rollins and Reigns, when all of a sudden, the troll that he is, Logan Paul, gets his biggest elimination and possibly the biggest moment at the Royal Rumble other than the ending. And Paul eliminates Punk.
[01:06:11] So your final three are Logan, Paul, Jay, USO and John Cena.
[01:06:20] So as Punk gets eliminated, him and Reigns are exchanging words because Reigns is still upset that Punk eliminated him.
[01:06:32] And while this is happening, Rollins is getting up and Reigns is on his knees and Reigns is arguing. And then I don't know if this was a botch or what ended up happening here, but Rollins goes for a curb stomp on Reigns on the outside, on the floor.
[01:06:53] I don't know if he slipped because he's so used to doing it on one foot.
[01:06:59] He just hits Reigns two feet into the mat on the outside, Curb stomps, knocks him out cold, and he starts hitting Punk, hitting Punk, hitting Punk. Paul is having a conundrum. Paul Heyman's having a conundrum because he was out there with Reigns and he's like on the floor, Are you kidding me?
[01:07:24] And Rollins then proceeded to flip off Paul Heyman.
[01:07:29] He sees Reigns regaining himself.
[01:07:32] Reigns is near the steps. Rollins rushes over, delivers a much safer curb stomp to Reigns on the steel steps, and continues to fight with Punk before medical staff and other people end up breaking it up. And it was later announced on Raw that for an extended period of time, Roman Reigns is out of action. So I don't know if it was an actual concussion. I think I just saw that he was on a podcast and I don't know if that was before or after, but yeah, Reigns, he looked dazed and confused. Punk meanwhile, was sitting There and he's looking at Paul Heyman. He's just like, you know what the heck happened? Back to the ring, it's Cena USO and Paul. Jey and Logan exchange strikes.
[01:08:21] Cena, he puts both men in the corner and he hoists both men on his shoulders and he tries to execute a double. A very mania 25 like Jay, he ends up slipping out. He hits a super kick to Cena and then Logan Paul is vulnerable. Jay hits a super kick. Cena comes in and eliminates Logan Paul. So we're down to two and it's Cena and Jey uso. Jey uso, the trend superstar coming now, basically moving his hands up and down.
[01:09:04] And meanwhile the 16 time bonafide hall of famer their goat John Cena looking for his 17th world championship. The crowd erupted.
[01:09:18] You know when they deal with this face versus face matchup of who is gonna end up going to WrestleMania, it gets really, really loud.
[01:09:28] Cena hit his signature moves and he delivered the five knuckle shuffle. He then said that this is the last time before connecting with it. He lifted for the attitude adjustment, but then Jay fought side of it, delivers a super kick. Jay ends up hitting a spear on Cena. They end up on the apron and Cena is just going back and forth and he's just got this cartoon like selling where he's like barely holding on with one arm and he's like barely holding on. You see the feet on the outside and Cena and Jay are going back and forth. Cena then gets in position to deliver an AA to Jay, but Jay goes back into the ring.
[01:10:21] Cena's back is towards the ropes and Jay just shoves Cena off the apron. Cena lands on his feet, the bell rings and your 2025 Royal Rumble winner in the men's is Jey Uso.
[01:10:43] The most unpredictable, unprecedented, unlikely person to win the Royal Rumble.
[01:10:53] I don't know any other person who didn't have a major storyline like Jey USO has ever won the Rumble.
[01:11:07] I mean the only one I could think about is most likely Shinsuke Nakamura. I'm not saying that they didn't think that Shinsuke Nakamura was going to win the Royal Rumble. Just like how he ended up winning it and the fact that he outlasted all those stars that were in the Rumble and he eliminated, you know, guys like Cena and then he eliminated Reigns. You weren't, you weren't expecting it, but yeah, Jay uso wins the Royal Rumble. Now I had a lot of heat on This. I was like, there's no way they let Jey USO win the Royal Rumble. Now. Thank goodness. I actually have some merch and I actually have some, like, gear to represent Mr. Yeet himself. But like, again, another pick that I got wrong. Because in the women's I had Eel sky, and in the men's I had CM Punk. I was like, this is perfect for CM Punk. But then again, when somebody is saying that he's gonna win the Rumble, win the Rumble, win the Rumble, win the Rumble week in and week out, you know that that person's also gonna lose the Rumble.
[01:12:15] Because the more he's gonna brag, the more that basically that means, yeah, you're not actually gonna win anything, buddy.
[01:12:23] But the fact that Logan Paul ended up being the final three, and then it was a rumor that he was gonna win the Rumble, I was like, oh, my gosh, you have that Paul rin the Rumble and it's the most hated thing on the Internet. Or you have J win and like, everybody is going crazy, or you have John Cena win and everybody's like, okay, it's John Cena. It's the, you know, main event of WrestleMania. It's whatever. But actually there was a collective of, I believe, 22,000 dislikes between both the Charlotte Flair win and the Jey USO win. So Jey USO had a lot of online heat with the IWC and so did Charlotte because they thought that more deserving people should have won. But it works well because it's unpredictable, it's surprising, it tells story.
[01:13:17] The only other problem I have is we just saw this match between Jey USO and Gunter, which most likely Jay is going to be facing Gunter.
[01:13:26] So I don't know why we did end up getting this match or why we're even getting this match at WrestleMania because we just saw it previously at Saturday night's main event in San Antonio. So very interesting to see where that goes. Jay did come out and confront Gunter.
[01:13:52] And Jay did say that he was going to talk with Cody Rhodes. But I think we all know that Jay is definitely going to go for Gunter for the World heavyweight championship at WrestleMania in Las Vegas.
[01:14:07] But it did not stop there.
[01:14:11] Because one of the biggest things that came out after Royal Rumble and we'll get to the other non wrestling thing after, was that John Cena had a promo in the media scrum, the press conference.
[01:14:36] And this is the most heartfelt Cena promo we have gotten in years. And after everything that he said on that debut episode and the fact that he was there and that was the only appearance that he had in January up to the build up of the Roy Rumble.
[01:15:00] I think John Cena knew that he needed to do this, he needs to do this promo. So he kicked things off and he said, I like to play a little game. It's called who can get the headline out fast enough. Which this wasn't a big headline. It was just like clear that he was going to be in it.
[01:15:16] And he said he's not going to be taking any questions and instead he's going to be making a statement. So no questions, none of that journalistic stuff. He's just like, I'm going to make a statement, I'm going to do this and I'm out.
[01:15:30] Cena then discussed, he said in the past 23 years in WWE, he acknowledged that there are different perspectives about his path. He's never used his opportunities for a spot that he hasn't earned.
[01:15:42] He reflected on the significance of the Royal Rumble and he said that it was his last Royal Rumble and WrestleMania.
[01:15:52] And the last time that he main evented WrestleMania was 2013.
[01:15:58] So almost 12 years ago it's been since he main evented WrestleMania. The last time he won a match at WrestleMania was back in 2017, and that was with his ex wife. That was number 30, Nikki Bella.
[01:16:19] He added that he had always worked in a way that was best for business, regardless of his position on the card. He's been a gimmick. He's been the first match, he's been, he's been in the middle. He shared beers with the fans. Because my truth, my perspective is that I've always done what's best for business.
[01:16:38] When he addressed his plans moving forward, Cena admitted that he wasn't sure how much he had left in the tank.
[01:16:45] And tonight was about doing something nice for everybody. But however, he came to the realization that it's not best for business.
[01:16:55] And he said what's best for business was to be in the main event of WrestleMania and win a 17th championship.
[01:17:04] He said, I will confidently say I'm going to come back and win a 17th championship. So the debut episode, he says, well, there could happen, oh, it's the impossible, this one. He's like, you know what? I need to win the 17th championship? This is what this business needs. I need to win the 17th championship at WrestleMania of all places, as much as he probably could win it. And if he does not go at WrestleMania, maybe he does get a rematch along the line.
[01:17:40] But with him saying this, I'm hoping low Key that it actually is real and he actually does win and he actually does face coding because this was a lot. He proceeded to say that I announced tonight that I will be competing in the elimination chamber.
[01:17:55] He then stated because he declared himself, he said after 23 years of loyal service to this company, I feel that that opportunity is earned. He also stated that he was flying back to Hungary to film a movie, giving his five opponents in the Rumble one month to slander his name and bolster their self confidence.
[01:18:16] So basically saying, hey yeah, I'm going back and I'm filming a movie, but guess what, you guys can slander my name and say whatever that you want about me, but I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna win the elimination chamber.
[01:18:32] He said that I told Toronto when I announced my retirement that I was grateful for the city and I would be back and I would be back to kick ass. And he emphasized that it's time to walk that walk and be who I say I am.
[01:18:45] He declared that he is going to win the elimination Chamber and he was going to main event his final appearance at WrestleMania and win a 17th championship. And he finally said that it was not about getting a 17th for his ego or self interest. He said that he has built his existence here off of hard work, loyalty to this company and respect for all of its branches. He concluded by saying I am going to win 17. Not for me, but to win 17 so I can someday shake the hand of the person who wins 18 and he leaves. Powerful stuff. And that is how you build up a pay per view app. Solutely perfect.
[01:19:29] So after this they did have qualifying matches on the Raw after the Rumble where we got the second ever televised match between CM Punk and Sami Zayn. It's the second televised match for Punk on Raw this year where Punk ended up winning. So now it is CM Punk and Cena in the elimination chamber in Toronto and the rumor is that it is going to be Cena, Punk, Rollins, McIntyre, Logan, Paul and AJ Styles, which AJ Styles was revealed to be coming to Raw.
[01:20:13] And I should also mention another thing that happened with Raw was that Charlotte Flair came out, tried to give this heartfelt speech and got booed entirely like so bad when she tried to come out. So people are not taken well to her return but again that is life. But Punk and Cena are in the elimination Chamber next week they will be having qualifying matches where it will be Logan Paul vs. Rey Mysterio, where Paul most likely will win that match. So Paul is going to be the elimination Chamber. Overall, the Royal Rumble was a spectacular pay per view. I think specifically the title matches did a lot better than the Rumbles because I was very upset with the outcome. But now looking back at it, I think that that is best for business. You have Charlotte, which is the most decorated women's superstar in that locker room currently until Becky lynch comes back. And then you have Jay uso who has basically gotten over with the fans. So, so, so very much. Everybody is doing this and this is basically the next Yeet movement. So we're looking at WrestleMania being Tiffany Stratton versus Charlotte Flair for the Women's championship. And then we have Jey USO and Gunter for the World Heavyweight Championship where Jay will finally win his world champion and there will most likely be celebratory bloodline, you know, celebration between the family. Jimmy, hopefully Roman and maybe they have a lot of the relatives.
[01:21:58] What would be awesome is if Rikishi was there. Rikishi's been pushing his boys to be on the top forever. Solo. Jimmy Jay everybody. So very good stuff, very good pay per view and I'm very much looking forward to elimination chamber on the 1st of March.
[01:22:18] And finally, because we mentioned at the start of the show that February 1st was not the only biggest day. Because immediately 12 minutes after the clock hit midnight, it was released that the biggest NBA trade possible ended up happening.
[01:22:40] Where the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleiber and Markief Morris in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and the Lakers 2029 first round pick. And this news shocked everybody because originally the man who announced it was presumed that it was he was hacked. People could not believe it. So a bunch of people were very, very shocked. And then the ESPN ding came on. And yet it was official.
[01:23:23] So the Lakers got Luka Dodges. And the craziest thing was that Luka or AD or LeBron knew nothing about it. Only the GMs and probably head coaches knew about it, which is insane.
[01:23:40] So unpredictable.
[01:23:43] And all the blame is being placed on this one man here, and that is the Dallas GM Nico Harrison. And he explained that the decision to trade Doncic was that he believed that defense wins championships and getting an all defensive center and an all NBA player with a defensive mindset being I'm guessing either Klay Thompson or Kyrie Irvin would give us a better chance. The Mavericks are betting on Davis's elite defense. So they are really taking their chances with Anthony Davis here. And I'm not saying that he's not good, but like you know, three time all defensive first teams four time, all NBA first teams. He was all NBA second team last year he won the NBA cup with LeBron. So there's a lot, I mean in this year alone he's had one of the highest that he's ever had in his career. 25 points, 11 rebounds per game, nine defensive rebounds per game this season.
[01:24:56] So there's been a lot on Anthony Davis, on if this is the guy that is going to take the Mavericks up to the next level. But again, reminder that without Anthony Davis, the Mavs went all the way to the finals last year. So I was very confused on this, on how are you training one of your best players in Luka to get an all defensive player like Davis, who sure he's great, but still with Luka you were able to get a lot of stuff done. So a lot of people are saying like this is the biggest like fumble that Dallas has ever made. So Dallas is definitely looking like the city of the franchise idiots with Jerry Jones and now Nico Harrison. So a lot of people are wondering what's going to happen now with these big trades. Meanwhile, the Lakers GM Rob Pelinka called Dodges a one of a kind young global superstar who will lead this franchise for years to come. Again, it's insane that not just to mention that they got Luka, but Luka's only 25. He's only 25 and he's in his prime. So the fact that the Lakers have been able to secure this deal, I think that this might also be a ploy for number one LeBron to stay in LA and probably retire as a Laker. But imagine if you get now LeBron and Dodges winning a championship together. That would be huge not only for Doncic, but then again you got LeBron getting another championship. He continued by emphasizing that Luka's killer instincts and commitment to winning championships aligned with the Lakers vision. So like I just said, the team is now focused on building a championship roster around Luka. So they didn't specify around LeBron but they're trying to use Luca. So then there could be another side of if LeBron still ends up retiring with the next two seasons, they can still use Luka and Luka can be their next superstar on this team. And it was revealed that the Mavericks were the ones who initiated the trade discussions with the Lakers, leveraging the long standing relationship between Harrison and Pelinka, who once represented Kobe Bryant.
[01:27:22] The deal sent shockwaves through the NBA with executives stunned and fans reacting wildly across social media. Like I mentioned, there were NBA players being like no way this is real. And again this was like late at night, this was like in the middle of like the early morning. This trade was made. But the trade madness did not stop on that day because it was later announced at 8:29 on February 2 that there was another big trade that ended up happening where the San Antonio spurs landed De'Aaron Fox and Jordan McLaughlin in exchange for a three team trade which involved Zach LaVine, City Sisico, three first round picks, Charlotte's 2025, San Antonio's 2027, Minneapolis 2031 and three second round picks, Chicago's 2025, Denver's 2028 and 2028 own back. The Bulls were involved in this trade and they were sent Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Kevin Herder and their own 2025 pick via the San Antonio Spurs. The spurs manage to keep their young core intact because now Fox will be working with of course Wembanyama and then working with a vet like Chris Paul.
[01:28:50] So the new Big three in San Antonio is Wembanyama, Paul and Fox. Fox was dealing with one year left on his contract with the Kings. He's averaged 25 points per game, 6.1 assists and 5 rebounds.
[01:29:06] He has played an 8 year career in Sacramento and he is ranked 4th in career points in franchise history and helped the Kings end a 16 year playoff drought in 20202023 season and earned an All NBA honors that season. Now Chicago, even though they traded LaVine, they regained control of their 2025 first round pick from San Antonio.
[01:29:31] The spurs, despite landing Fox, they retain young talents like Stephen Castle, Jeremy so Han and Keldon Johnson as well as Harrison Barnes. So it very much looks like the spurs are looking to do an entire rebuild period based off of De'Aaron Fox. So De'Aaron Fox I think is going to be a massive key player in if the spurs end up going to where they're hoping to go, especially when Manyama so that was a big trade that ended up happening also on the same day but it got out shined by the previous trade. But that wasn't the only trade because currently this recording and me recording this podcast is being held on the 6th of February which means that there were more trades that were dealt and I'll do it in chronological order but the Milwaukee Bucks yesterday at the time of this recording traded Chris Middleton, A.J. johnson and a pick swap for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. And a second round compensation Kyle Kuzma. He has been playing the merry go round of teams of the past couple of years he won the championship with LeBron in 2020. And Middleton, who is a three time All Star and a former NBA champion, is now going to an 8 and 41 Washington Wizards team that has guys like Jordan Poole.
[01:31:13] So I could not believe that that was happening. But oh, it got worse. Well, I shouldn't say it got worse. It got even more juicier later on that day because then at 8:47 yesterday we got the massive trade because last week we had talked about the controversy of Jimmy Butler and where he was going to go and the target was the Golden State warriors. And that is exactly what ended up happening because they finalized a deal where they would send Jimmy Butler to the warriors for two years for over $120 million. And it was for Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroeder, Kyle Anderson and a protected first round pick. But there was more on this because this wasn't just the warriors and the Heat. This was a, this was a five team trade that ended up happening because the warriors got Jimmy Butler, the Heat got Andrew Wiggins, P.J. tucker in a protected first round pick.
[01:32:15] The Detroit Piston got Lindy Waters and Josh Richardson, the Utah Jazz got Dennis Schroeder and the Toronto Raptors got Kyle Anderson. But it did not end there. And then another trade ended up happening that happened late at night where it was Brandon Ingram. Toronto Raptors was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans for Bruce Brown Jr. Kelly Olich and a first round pick and one second round pick. So a litany of trades are still going on. Probably by the end of today there probably will still be incredible trades happening. But overall the landscape of the NBA is changing and I am so looking forward to this next couple of months as we're going into April and May as as we're going into the playoffs.
[01:33:12] And right now it is not unpredictable, but it is still very uncommon of who is going to be landing in the playoffs. Because currently on the Eastern Conference we got the Cleveland Cavaliers who finally hit double digits after their loss against Boston the other night on the fourth. But they are still currently in the first seed position. The Boston Celtics are second backed by five games. The Knicks are back by seven and they are number three. The Pacers they are number four. Bucks are number five. Miami Heats number six. The Detroit Pistons, Orlando, Atlanta and Chicago are all currently in the play in spot. The 76ers who previously were kind of sucky in the early season are actually only down by two games against the Bulls. So there is a chance that the Sixers could be able to sneak in their way for a play in spot. But meanwhile over on the West OkC, OkC is now currently the only team to still have a single digit loss. Their last loss actually came at the hands of Golden State warriors even though Gilgis Alexander ended up hitting 52 in that game.
[01:34:48] The Thunder lost the Warriors 116 to 109, so but they are still number one, Grizzlies are number two, Rockets are number three, Nuggets are number four, Lakers number five, Clippers number six. And then the play ins you got Minnesota, Dallas, Sacramento and the Suns.
[01:35:09] It's actually a tie lead at 25 apiece. So 25 wins, 25 losses for the Kings, the Suns and the warriors and the spurs are only back a game. So anything can happen between now and April. So I am much looking forward to that. I'm much looking forward to the playoffs and seeing if these massive trades like dodges over to the Lakers will end up being the catalyst to why some teams will end up going to the playoffs. So that are my thoughts on the recent NBA trades that shook up the world and that is the end of this episode. I want to thank you so much and once again we are on both Instagram and X Twitter. On Instagram and X we are the rocking review and that is where you can see all of our teasers of what we will be talking about on the next show and when we will post out our episodes and our links to where you could find us. All links are found in the bios for both pages, whether that's for our Spotify, our Castro's main page or that is for our Instagram socials or X socials. We also are featured on the 889F m w n y o dot org website. We are in the Podcast tab in which you can see all of our glorious podcasts all recorded here at the WNYO radio station. And once again I want to thank you guys for listening. And as always it's spelled R A W K because we talk about the W's in wrestling. Thank you everybody.
