Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: The Rocky Review Podcast hosted by J. Rock Rude.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode eight of the Rocking Review Podcast. And today we have a very special episode because we have a returning the one and only Lucas McGarry. Welcome back.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be back. It's. It's been a little bit. I tried to be on one. Like, was it last week?
[00:01:04] Speaker B: It was last week. We were gonna try to do the Roy Roll.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: I had to miss it. But yeah, I'm here now. I'm glad. And we've got some good stuff to talk about.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Yeah, Upset stummies from the Juan Zones here in Oswego. Man, of all weeks to have you on the show. This was an absolute fire of a week for not only pro wrestling, but for major sports. We got the super bowl happening this week that happened Sunday where the Eagles completely trampled the Kansas City Chiefs. We also had Kendrick Lamar and the halftime show. We'll go over a little bit of both of those later in the episode. But wrestling also had some heat going through it because Ricky Starks, the hottest free agent, the absolute superstar making his surprise debut on nxt, sending shockwaves throughout the Internet wrestling community. We'll talk more on that. The elimination chamber is coming up on March 1st in Toronto. We have a couple of qualifying matches from Smackdown and RAW from this past week. We will go over who won those and who do we think is still going to be in the chamber. We also got other WWE releases that happened during this week with a couple of lower card stars. We'll think about where they end up going. Will they go to aew? Will they go to tna? Who knows? And finally this Saturday in Brisbane, Australia, AEW Grand Slam Australia. Was it a pay per view? Was it a TV event? We'll have to find out and all that and more on this episode of the Rocking Review podcast.
So first up, we got to talk about a revolution that was televised on Tuesday night because on February 10, FIFO select reported that Ricky Starks, Miro and Malachi Black were all released from AEW after seeking exits for a while. Their departures were reflected when they were removed from the AEW's roster page. So, Lucas, how do you feel about the fact that finally Starks, Miro and Black, who did get technically written off TV a couple weeks ago from the House of Black. And now there's the Hounds of Hell with Brody King, Buddy Matthews and Julia Hart. How do you feel about these releases pieces?
[00:03:46] Speaker A: I mean, it's unfortunate for all of them that they weren't utilized the way they should have been in aw, but they also weren't utilized the way they should have been in wwe. So it's a really odd situation of like, you just asked the question of where they're gonna go. That's a really good question. Like there's a good chance that Black doesn't go back to WWE because he was just not used. Right. A phenomenal talent and they didn't do anything with him. And honestly, if I'm a guy that wants to be in the main event, going and looking at different companies, there's too much main event talent in WWE right now.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: That I don't know if I'd be confident that I can outperform CM Punk, John Cena, Jay uso, Cody Rhodes. Like, I can keep going. There's too many stars that like Ricky Starks in NXT is perfect. That, like, that's perfect. He can, he can develop down there in the WWE system. That's good. But Miro and Black have already been on the main roster. Alistair Black, or when it was when he was Alistair Black was in NXT and had a fantastic NXT run.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Andrade and Aleister Black, I believe that was take over Orlando.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: I watched that live. Yeah, yeah. I watched every episode of Black and Gold. I, I had the WWE Network subscription I asked for for my birthday and I watched every episode of nxt and I'm so glad I did because that's where you saw guys like Black produce some of his best work ever. And I just don't know if he'd want to come back to his place where he might not get an opportunity regardless.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I was talking to one of our colleagues, Mike Neckers, and he was talking about old Roh with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, and I asked him the question, I said, would you rather choose ROH or pwg? Because PWG really did produce a lot of the main talent stars that NXT did have. And if you remember that Takeover, but they had that six man ladder match where it was Ricochet Valve, Team Dream, Lars Sullivan, Killian Dane, Adam Cole, and again, you look at that roster of talent, most of those people were produced in pwg, even guys like the Young Bucks, but were mostly in pwg. They were in the California territories for a long while and then they went to Japan. But yeah, like, that's the thing with like growing from there and then moving up to somewhere like nxt. Black really did shine when he was part of Black and Gold and then when they brought him up, I don't think that they really had a vision. I remember that he had the door gimmick where he was, like, wondering who was going to walk through the door and try to challenge him. And then, like, they gave him a return. And then it was the mass releases in 2020 post WrestleMania, and basically they said that he was done. And then he had the feud with Cody. And then since then, he did form House of Black. And House of Black was a very good tag team. And, you know, you look at their work, they're former trios champions. And, you know, Black, I don't know exactly where he might end up. If he does end up going to wwe, then, you know what, he can definitely produce some bangers and be able to produce himself, even on a larger scale, like Raw on Netflix.
But the other one is Miro. Miro, I feel like he's probably going to retire from wrestling. I don't know if he has anything left in him.
Formerly known as Rusev.
I don't think that he really enjoys wrestling anymore. I mean, you know, he had the recent divorce with C.J. perry, aka Lana. And, you know, since then, there was actually a picture last night that surfaced of him and Seamus having a couple of pints. And, you know, you realize that Miro, you know, was brought up in the business and people did not know how big he was gonna get. And they brought him in. They did the thing with John Cena, then they had Rusev Day with Aiden English. And then he went to aew and yeah, he got the TNT Championship. But then it was like, post that nothing happened. I mean, like, he just had no storylines whatsoever. And again, that was very poor creative from aew. But we do know where one superstar didn't end up going, as you mentioned, because immediately the day after. So February 10th, they were eliminated from the roster page.
February 11th, Ricky Stark showed up right before the main event Steel cage match on nxt. He appeared in the crowd and cut a promo. And he said, if NXT is the future of professional wrestling, well, guess what? You need an absolute superstar of the future. He said, if this is the hottest brand, well, you need the hottest free agent right now, baby. And everyone's been asking, when is the revolution televised? Well, I'm right here, aren't I? And he hit his post. And according to Fightful Select, WWE intentionally did not mention his name on tv, expecting the crowd to chant it organically, which they did. So they did chant Ricky Starks. But if you remember watching that clip, they did not whatsoever refer to him as Ricky Starks. So that also ponders the question. Does he get a name change for going up to WWE or does he stay as Ricky Starks?
[00:09:51] Speaker A: No, he's gonna stay as Ricky Starks. He owns it. He owns the rights to his name. It's. It's definitely gonna.
There's no reason to change his name. Like Lexus King when. When Lexus King. I was just about to bring him up. When Lexus King got his name changed, that was for a specific reason that had to do with his character. And he wasn't a big star in aw. He had one feud with mjf and then he was never on another episode of Dynamite again. So he could get away with changing his name From Brian Pillman Jr. To now Lexus King. Insanely random, but it works. When he went, the character that he came back with was, I don't want to be anything like my father and I'm changing my gimmick. And he, like, said, I'm changing my gimmick. Ricky Starks is actually a star, and people know his name regardless of, like, whether or not they change it. They're going to be like, oh, that's Ricky Starks.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: And he can cut and he can cut absolute amazing promos. You go back and look at the promos he's gotten. Mjf, CM Punk, anybody, when he was in aw.
Like, that guy can definitely carry himself. And that man is young, he's strong, he's basically in his prime right now. And if WWE capitalize it, they got another great superstar in his hands. But. But yeah, Ricky Starks making that NXT debut literally the day after, you know that it was either Triple H, Cody or Sean that immediately called him.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Oh, I'm sure it was Cody. Him and Cody are, like, really, really good friends.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Oh, we know. We've known that.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: So, I mean, I'm sure it was all three of them, honestly. But that for that, no way. There's no way. They hadn't been talking for a while before this being like, yes.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: There was several reports just basically asking.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: How soon do you want to do this? And Ricky Starks, like, immediately. Which is awesome. I like. I love that.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Yeah. The fact that it was legit overnight, like, hype of like, oh, he's released. And I'm like, oh, this is perfect. All right. Can't wait to see when he shows up this Saturday. Also, the same day as AW Grand Slam is NXT's Vengeance Day, which will take place in Washington. D see the main event for that match, I don't know how much of nxt you've been watching lately.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Watch every week.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Oh, you still do on cw. All right, well, the main event, as you know, is Obafemi versus Austin Theory versus Grayson Waller.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it's gonna be a good one.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: Yeah. The main hype behind that is of course the Waller and, uh, uh, theory, uh, breakup tease, which they've been needing for a while.
Also, they're having a new stable made up of rookies show up on the show, possibly and possibly wreak some havoc. But that's where people thought that when this news broke out that that's where Ricky, if he did go to nxt, was going to debut. And the fact that it was the night after that the news got released is insane. But looking forward to seeing Ricky Starks on the NXT brand.
So, shifting gears, we'll talk about what was the biggest game of the weekend. The Philadelphia Eagles versus the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs, making the super bowl for a third year in a row, was trying to be the first three peat team since the 2000-2002 Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe and Shaq to make a 3P championship run. That did not go so well.
The first half ended up being an opening scoring drive for Philly with the patented tush push play from one yard out in the first quarter.
And then the second quarter, Patrick Mahomes cannot get anything done. He got two picks, one of them being to rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean. He returned interception for 38 yards for a score. And then late in the second quarter, Hurts found A.J. brown with a 12 yard scoring pass that would give the Eagles a shutout lead at halftime being 24, 0 now. Did you end up watching the Super Bowl?
[00:14:22] Speaker A: Not really. I watched the beginning. I saw how badly the Chiefs were getting beat in and I kind of just went, yeah, this game is over. And I stopped watching. And it never was even close.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: It really wasn't. They ended up not scoring until the third quarter actually did the Chiefs, I was just so surprised. They were trying to play on the Chiefs defense by acting like they were going to do the rushing game. And I think that's where they fooled them because if they know that they got Saquon, they're like, oh, we just have to, you know, black Saquon Hertz doesn't really throw. And then he ended up doing that and he had the first big pass that was called back and that was a flag. It shouldn't have been offensive interference. But anyways, when that first score happened, it's like, okay, tush push. It's what it was. That amazing pass to Jhan Dodson was really, really good. And then they scored that pick six. And I was like, wow, already? That's crazy. And then getting another pick, like, not even, like, 10 yards out from the red zone. So I was like, that's crazy. And then they got another score, and then it was 240 at halftime. I'm like a shutout for a reigning champion like the Kansas City Chiefs, especially for how their games have been going. Yeah, you know, it makes people, you know, think that, how did you know they not beat the Chiefs? And rightfully so. You look at a lot of those Chiefs games this regular season, and most of them were all within three points of each other. You know, blocked field goals, missed calls, you know, pass interferences, whatever. You know, you can say that the ref's bias was there, but they made up for it in this game. So after the second quarter, we got the halftime show with Kendrick Lamar.
Now, Kendrick Lamar had a week before this halftime performance because at the Grammys, he won five Grammys. But not just, you know, for him being, you know, Kendrick Lamar, but because he won five Grammys for one song that was a diss track that was a iconic beef in the summer, in late spring of 2024 with iconic rapper Drake.
And he came in, his set list was Bodies, which was the opening to GNX, squabble up, humble DNA, euphoria, man @ the Garden, and Peekaboo. So after this, he said that he wanted to perform their favorite song, but they know that they love to sue. So basically, he kept on teasing that he was gonna play not like us. And he. That's, like, you know, in wrestling, that's perfect, like, teasing, character wise, because, you know, he's, like, always considered the felon over on that side. And that's exactly what, you know, most of the baby faces to guys who like the bad guys are, you know, they hate that the baby face always goes over. And the fact is that Lamar is really that baby face. And Drake was the heel at the time. Again, like, you can always squash beefs and whatever, but the fact that, like, this has been going on still almost after a year, after the initial beef started, instead of doing that, he transitioned to Luther, which then brought up Sza Sza. Definitely an amazing performer, an amazing artist. She's been going at it for the last couple years now, winning some Grammys and some other awards and number ones on Billboards, and she's very, very talented.
And after they did all the stars, Uncle Sam came on and Uncle Sam was Samuel Jackson. And basically the biggest thing with this halftime show was that it was the symbolism that counted. Because apparently, from reports. I don't know if you read, but the reports were that they did not do anything for the halftime show. It was complete crowd noise that they produced from the whole thing. So it. So they were not cheering. They were not singing along to the songs, only at some certain parts, it was completely dead. And of course, the reason for this was, I believe that people wanted to see Lil Wayne, who was the hometown favorite, perform, and he did not. He did not even get brought up for a feature, and instead, he's actually working on an album right now. So, you know, I can understand, like, why. But apparently that crowd was dead, and most of them were Philly fans. So that's. That. That's what I could assess from it. So after that, Not Like Us, which got a huge pop, and basically at the end, he did not use the. The P word in the. In the performance, but he specifically looked right at the camera and just went sage, right? And just smiled. And it. You knew, like, that was, like, the ultimate power move. And to be able to have that song nominated and win five Grammys, not only to, like, sweep all the rap categories except for a rap album which was won by Dochi, but the fact that it also won a popular Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and it was against major pop influences, like a Taylor Swift, like a Sabrina Carpenter. So after the halftime performance, which a lot of people said was, like, the greatest halftime performance, but then again, like, I just say, it was the symbolism. How much of the halftime performance did you actually see?
[00:20:14] Speaker A: I watched the whole thing. I was just.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: It was.
[00:20:17] Speaker A: It was cool. I mean, I. I thought it was really hilarious that he actually just straight up dissed Drake in front of the whole world on live television, that was just so funny, because he knew he.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: Could get away with it.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: I mean, yeah, it was. It was a good afternoon performance. It wasn't, like, fantastic or, like, oh, my God, it was generational. I mean, it was fine. I didn't have, like, a really bad opinion on it.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: Now, as much as you're not a big, like, football fan and all that, what do you believe is the greatest halftime show possibly?
[00:20:46] Speaker A: I don't really remember too many halftime shows. Like, I watched the super bowl every single year, but I usually kind of turn my brain off. Katy Perry's was really good. I'm not gonna lie. I don't know why. I don't know why I remember hers But I like Katy Perry's a lot. Hers was fun.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Do you remember? I believe it. I believe if it was either Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. Do you remember when it was the cape area, Lady Gaga and they jumped off the roof, rappel down to the field to the stage.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: That sounds like something Lady Gaga would do.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it was. I. I think it was. I'd have to look it up. But I remember they like had her standing on the roof and then she had like the support, whatever it was on her and she just completely jumped and then she like flew down, like with the, the cables. And then she like performed the rest of the performance. But that was like. That was pretty good one. I think the top one really was Dr. Dre from a couple years back. That was an absolute gem. That was the first time actually Kendrick Lamar was in the Super Bowl. He did a little snippet in there. And I think both that and his success that he had with the Beef this past year really got him the selection to be in the Super Bowl. And it's ironic because of the lot of the stuff that was foreshadowed with, you know, the initial part of Drake's beef and first person shooter, there's a line of big is the super bowl and Kendrick got selected for the Super Bowl. And then there was another lyric that was used in Family Matters for Drake, where it was, Kendrick just opened his mouth, somebody go hand him a Grammy right now. And did it five times for the song, dissed him. And you know, people consider that that one song was the final song of the Beef. And it really was because even though Drake released Heart Part 6, it was absolute trash because it was basically saying like, you know, refusing the allegations, the false allegations that they had against him. And then like, no, they just like brought up the proof. But he's still going strong. He's still going great. Still is old Drizzy. So after the halftime show, the Eagles widened their lead 340 in the third quarter thanks to a 46 yard throw to the Vonte Smith. And then the Eagles finally got onto the board. The Eagles actually held Mahomes just 6 of 14 passing for 33 yards in the first half. That was insane for as many. I think it was like for the longest time, like he kept getting incompletions or they would rush the ball and he wouldn't throw it. I think it was like before the end of the first half, Mahomes had as many passing yards as the Eagles had points. Yeah, that was insane.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: No, the game, it Wasn't close. Like, the Eagles completely shut down Mahomes. Mahomes looked panicked the entire time that the fact that they got like six sacks and they did not blitz an entire time. They had four guys rushing the whole game and they were just pressuring Mahomes in seconds. It was really, really impressive.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Yes. They actually became, I have here the first NFL team to sack Mahomes as many as three times and intercept him twice in the first half of any regular season or playoff game ever. And the final score was 40:22 and Jalen Hurts won Super Bowl MVP. So Philly, the Birds, they get their second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history, and they are the reigning champs heading into the 2025 season. And speaking of the 2025 season, after the super bowl, the biggest thing in the NFL is of course, the draft. And right here we have the first 10 picks and the mock draft picks, players that possibly could go to these teams. So the number one overall is the Tennessee Titans. And they say that the Titans will draft Cameron Ward from the University of Miami. Ward, he did not end up making the playoffs with the Miami Hurricanes, but he is a very strong favorite because apparently they favor Ward more than they favored Shador Sanders, who is quarterback for Colorado. But we'll get to him in just a minute. The Browns, their mock player as the second pick is Abdul Carter for the defensive end position for Penn State. Penn State did make a strong drive into the playoffs this year. I believe they did get stopped by Notre Dame. The Giants, the number three. Now this is kind of funny because one of the biggest things were the Giants at one point had the number one pick, I believe, because they had lost so many games and they were about to win that number one pick. But then they ended up beating the Indianapolis Colts and they actually kicked them out the plate playoffs. And the Giants lost their number one spot. And then they gave it to, I believe it was the Patriots. And then the Patriots won their last game against the Buffalo Bills and then the pick went to the Titans. So the fact that the Titans have now the number one pick is going to be super huge for them.
So at the draft pick for number three for the Giants, they have Shador Sanders being picked number three for the New England Patriots. At number four, their mock player is Travis Hunter. He is a dual position, the Heisman winner for cornerback and wide receiver position for Colorado. Number five, the Jacksonville Jaguars, they have Mason Graham, who is a defensive lineman for Michigan. The Raiders, number six, they have Will Johnson, cornerback from Michigan. The New York jets at number seven they have Terratoa McMillan, wide receiver, Arizona. Number eight. We got the Carolina Panthers. Glad that they're farther up on this role because they did actually pretty well this season despite the, you know, little bit of a messy start for Bryce Young. Bryce Young really held his own in the last couple of games in the season and I think he's going to have a really good future as far as being the starting QB for the Carolina Panthers. They have mocked that they are going to get Tyler Warren, the tight end from Penn State. The Saints, they're my player. At number nine is Will Campbell, an old lineman from lsu. And then finally the Chicago Bears. Surprisingly enough at number 10. It's probably because they traded all their picks away to the Panthers. They have Kevin Banks, offensive tackle from Texas. So those are the top 10 picks currently for the NFL Draft. Is there any franchise that you think will benefit from this draft coming up to this season?
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Well, I actually have slightly different Vermeers but I mean any team can benefit from a draft if you pick the right guy. I also think Cam Ward's probably going to go to 1. He's the most sure fire quarterback and the Titans and the need sure fire. But I think Travis Hunter is going to go to the Browns. They just need talent on their roster right now. It doesn't matter where like they, they just need talent and I think they're going to rock with Jameis for another year and just try see it because.
[00:28:44] Speaker B: I mean they're going to rock with famous Jameis.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: I, I, I think they're going to rock with famous Jameis just because he can throw touchdowns like he had a 30 for 30 season by 30 touchdowns, 30 picks. But it's still enough that like Travis Hunter's a generational player and I think they need just a generational player like that and they might even play on both sides of the ball, which sounds ridiculous in the NFL.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: I don't know if that would ever.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Be, I don't know. I don't know if it would be but he would definitely want to.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Oh, because they, well, because they do end up having, I know that they have like a couple of cornerbacks. There was a name for one of them, it was for the Patriots a couple of years ago.
They had a cornerback that was a punt returner and he did a couple of return punts for touchdowns and you know, sometimes they would actually put him on the wide receiver slot there. But yeah, the fact of if Travis Hunter does end up going to somewhere like the Browns, I hope that it's not like what we got with Johnny Football years ago with Menzel, where basically it's just like a bad team. And the fact of you got the rumors of Miles Garrett, you know, trying to look for trades, which, you know, you never know where he's going to show up. But overall, that's what they have for the mock draft for the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
Moving back over to wrestling, the elimination chamber gonna happen March 1st from Toronto, Canada.
And we had a couple of qualifying matches. We had a women's qualified matches. From smackdown, we have Bianca Belair versus Piper Niven. During the match, Niven controlled early, slamming Belair's head on the apron, applying a rear chin lock after using her braid against her. Belair fought back with forearm strikes and drop kick, but Niven responded with shoulder tackle and a boss man slammed for a near fall. As match progressed, Niven attempted a Vader bomb, but Belair moved and countered with a spear for a two count. Niven landed a running cannonball and nearly won with a Uranagi slam followed by another Vader bomb. However, Belair escaped a Piper driver attempt and sent Niven into the turnbuckles and hit KOD to secure the victory. So Bianca Belair was the first woman to be qualified for for the women's elimination chamber. On the Smackdown side, we had LA Knight versus Jimmy Uso versus Drew McIntyre for the men's.
This was match of the night for that smackdown. I don't know how much of this match that you saw, but before the match there was a back and forth with Jimmy and Drew which showed that Jimmy USO definitely has some. Yeah, he's got some good promo skills, you know, Big Bruh, Big Jim La Knight came out and he basically said that he's got no love for Jimmy because it was clear that he was a reason that cost La Knight the WWE Championship almost a year ago.
But he shifted into a really good message, you know, shows you why they consider him as, like, not the biggest face of the company because currently that belongs to Jay uso, but they consider him as like one of the big favorites as far as popularity wise and why they chose him to deliver this type of message. He said that if something arises in your life and it hits you in the feels and you have to cry, let it out, it's good for your mental health and it doesn't make you less of a man. Which I just think that was like really, really good for him to like do that because, you know, for, you know, men's mental health and for, you Know boys, young men and their mental health. For a superstar like that to talk about that on national television, especially in a promo, it's just like, super, super helpful.
[00:32:48] Speaker A: Yeah, it was super random, but it was. It was. No, it was really impactful and I really liked that. It was just. It came out of nowhere, which is kind of how you have to do those things to just do it when you can. And he did it right there and then he's like, you know what? I'm doing it. And I love that. He also is still La Knight, and he just turned it into, like, yes. Sometimes there isn't okay when you're crying like a baby, like Drew McIntyre, like, that was awesome. It was a perfect transition.
[00:33:12] Speaker B: Drew McCryer.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: Before he ended the promo, he said, you two will be meeting a three count. Just like that, all your WrestleMania hopes getting dashed. And so it goes. And he mentioned, wait, I forgot to get my stuff in. Tell him who game this is. La Knight. Yeah.
Did you listen about the heat that La Knight got Backstage from Drew McIntyre Tire from the Rumble?
[00:33:40] Speaker A: I know Drew McIntyre was really pissed and he had like, an actual, like, crash out.
[00:33:44] Speaker B: Yes. So he had a crash out. I talked about it last week that Drew McIntyre, apparently there was a part in the match where he was supposed to get eliminated before Logan Paul was supposed to come out. And La Knight reportedly had to get his stuff in or he wanted to get his stuff in. So he ended up doing more moves and basically made the timing wrong. So if you remember from the elimination, Drew is going to eliminate Jay.
Damian Priest came up behind him.
They bumped into La Knight, who was wrestling with somebody else. So La Knight backed up into Damian Priest and Drew, and Drew let go of Jay and Damian just tumped Drew out of the Rumble. And it was very unceremonious. And apparently it led to a lot of screaming and shouting from McIntyre backstage, which, again, like, we've heard of this before. He did it with Survivor Series a couple years ago when Punk came back.
You know, it's unaware if it was because of the Punk thing, if he knew or not or whatever it was, but yeah, it was just absolutely crazy. But I like. I like that little jab there. And this Ellen Knight, he's always going to be great at the promos, no matter what happens. During the match, McIntyre headbutted Knight and delivered two vertical tosses. Jimmy Uso responded by dumping McIntyre out of the ring and landing a suicide dive. Knight hit a wrecking ball drop kick and slam both men's heads on the announce table McIntyre went for a lawn dart but Knight countered with a net breaker for a two count. The match reset boiling point with a chop exchange between the competitors. McIntyre hit a pop up boot on Jimmy for a near fall and tossed Knight outside of the ring. McIntyre then put Uso on the top turnbuckle and delivered another chop before trying to deliver a suplex which Jimmy blocked. McIntyre was tied up in the Tree of Woe and Knight hit a punch to Jimmy and that resulted in Knight ending up trying to get a superplex and Drew coming up out of the Tree of Woe delivering a German to Knight as Jimmy was in Knight's shoulders. Both men continue to Exchange offense until McIntyre hit a spine buster after he blocked Knight's BFT attempt. The end of the match saw Jimmy hit a super kick and try to hit a USO splash on LA Knight but Knight got the knees up and after trying to hit a BFT, McIntyre came in and hit a claymore on night and pinned Jimmy USO to score the victory. So at that point it was Cena, Punk and Drew in the men's chamber match. The last chamber match for Smackdown saw the returning Alexa Bliss taking on Candice LeRae. What was your thoughts on the Alexa Bliss return back then the Rumble?
[00:36:46] Speaker A: I love it. She's been gone for way too long. She's a fantastic wrestler and I'm really glad she's back and she's like, still hasn't really done anything character wise but I think that's okay. They're just kind of getting her back and used to the way it is. So I think we'll start seeing some actual story stuff from her now that she's in the chamber match? Yes and I'm excited for it, but no, she's been gone for way too long. So excited she's back.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: During the match, Laray attacked Bliss's midsection and stopped her chest. Bliss countered with a trop toe hold and a top rope move. Laray responded with a flatliner on the apron and took control during the commercial break. Bliss brought back with a jawbreaker followed by shoulder tackles and a luth as press and a ground pound. She landed a big right hand drop kick and running midor and a blockbuster for some near falls. The Ray then hit a neck breaker in the ropes and hit a missile drop kick. They got another near fall during the end of the match. I don't know if you saw this, but Wyatt's six graphics ended up flashing onto the screen. Do you think that Alexa Bliss will end up going back and being a part of the Wyatt six, it's hard.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: To say because she had that Wyatt shirt on when she came back.
So it would make sense for her to join the Wyatt six. But I have.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: Especially with a finish. Especially with the finish.
[00:38:11] Speaker A: Yeah. I have a feeling that she's going to at least have a story with them where at least she asks or no, no, at least they ask her if she wants to join and she might like resist.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: Probably.
[00:38:26] Speaker A: That's what I'm thinking happens. I don't know then. I don't know for sure what will happen, but I feel like something to do with the wide six is most definitely in her future and I wouldn't be surprised if they like screw her at the chamber or something like that. That could be a possibility, but there's.
[00:38:46] Speaker B: A lot of possibilities. Well, remember, remember who's the women in the Wyatt six group already? Nikki Cross.
Which of course, if you know, Nikki Cross and Bliss definitely have some, you know, background and history with each other. But the match ended up finishing up when Bliss hit the Abigail ddt. So again she's still using the Abigail name because she went for the Abigail setup and she had a DDT move to score at the win.
And Bliss is also part of the elimination chamber for the women's I will mention that at the end of SmackDown after a tag match with Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga against Cody Rhodes and Mr. Yeet himself, Jay Uso Solo Sooa ended up returning.
Do you think at Elimination Chamber we get another match between Solo and Cody and do you think they pull off the upset and this time now Solo wins the championship? Or as I mentioned last week because I was wondering where Solo was in the Rumble. Do we get a leadership divide between Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa which leads to a match at WrestleMania?
[00:40:10] Speaker A: Solo winning the title would be really, really stupid a month out from WrestleMania because you have a storyline reset. Like that's now a reset of a storyline called the WWE title and what that entails. So I don't really agree with that. I feel like that would be the wrong decision. I don't think Solo is getting a title shot off Rip. I mean, yeah, they attacked him, but I think it's going to be more about they're 100% pushing Batu. He is going to be like a top guy in WWE and I am hoping for him to go out on his own and maybe face Bron Breaker at WrestleMania. That's my dream. It's probably not going to happen.
[00:40:51] Speaker B: Did you hear the other rumor match.
[00:40:52] Speaker A: That he's probably just doing some bloodline stuff at Mania and that's fine, but I really want him to just be like purely on his own. That would be really awesome and I think it can happen, but he's probably just going to be doing.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: Now, now, you said Brown Breaker. Did you hear the other rumored match of Bron Breaker at Mania?
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Maybe I did.
[00:41:18] Speaker B: Bron Breaker versus AJ Styles.
[00:41:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it's good too.
[00:41:24] Speaker B: They had.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: I'm cool with either they had.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: They had adding Sheamus to it, which I think if that ends up happening.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: Seamus has had way too many title shots or shots of the IC title. I'm sorry. If they're gonna give it to him, give it to him. But if it's that many, if they're just gonna keep.
They're just gonna keep giving it to him and giving title shots to him and not have him win. It's just disrespectful to him at this point. Like he's had so many shots and so many losses. It's just sad.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: Well, it's the. Well, it's the way if you see it, if he comes out and they build a story for the IC title, which they really haven't done. I feel like they really haven't done a store a proper storyline for the IC title since Gable and Zane, which again, hate that they did not pull the trigger because Gable would have been amazing as the IC champ then, you know, that would have been great. And then he would have had the match with Breaker and then Breaker could have won and then Breaker could stay face. But he is does. He does do a lot better.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: Worker's a fantastic heel.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: He's.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: He is too mean and too powerful and violent to be a face that's just. That can't work. He is a giant man that cuts you in half and just beats you down to no end. That needs to be a heel that can't be a face.
[00:42:42] Speaker B: Yes, but that was smackdown. And then we got to RAW this past Monday.
The first qualifying match for the elimination chamber we had was for the women's. We had Bailey versus Lyra Valkyria. I haven't actually asked you since they introduced it, what are your thoughts on the showcase of the US and Intercontinental Women's Championships?
[00:43:11] Speaker A: Chelsea is doing a fantastic job. I think she is getting it a lot of attention and I really like what she's doing with it. She deserves to win it. Like when I was talking about with my friends beforehand, be like, oh, women's mid card title. Chelsea Green has to be one of them. Did I think the other one was.
[00:43:31] Speaker B: Going to be live with Alkaria?
[00:43:32] Speaker A: No, but good for her. They seem to really, really like her. She has gotten so many pushes and then just off rip First IC title winner. I do. I agree with it necessarily. Probably not. I'd say there's a lot more better people for it because she just. She really doesn't get anywhere. She doesn't get any. Any crowd momentum right now. It's just kind of.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: Because it's mostly on Piper Niven. Because it's mostly on Piper Niven for Chelsea Green. Because Piper Niven's the security for.
[00:44:04] Speaker A: Yeah, which is fine. But I think on Raw, Lyra just hasn't tapped in with that audience yet, which is unfortunate because she does get some good chance sometimes. But I think just there's better options for the title, and I'm just curious to see who beats her for it. Probably, like, someone in damage control.
[00:44:26] Speaker B: Like, if it's Dakota, then I'll be okay with that. I said Ivy Nile. I think next. Next Raw would prefer it not be Ivy Nile. Well, because if you remember what Gable said before he went away and the rumors is that he's gonna be in Triple A.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: He is. Yeah. He's learning the dark arts of lucha libre.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: Yes.
But, yeah, he said that when I come back, you all should have championships. They had a tag team championship match on this Raw.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: I really thought they were gonna win it for a second.
[00:45:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Them holding up the championships look.
[00:45:02] Speaker A: I don't know. Perfect.
[00:45:03] Speaker B: They look perfect.
[00:45:04] Speaker A: I don't know why they just. I don't know why they DQ themselves. That was such a dumb ending. That was. That was so stupid. They had them on the ropes and. Okay, let's hit them with the title DQ ourselves.
[00:45:13] Speaker B: Like, well, what are we doing? Well, if you. You can see the similarities of when it was, like, back in Team Angle or, like, any type of Angle.
[00:45:22] Speaker A: Like, no, I love what they're doing with the storyline. That. That's. Gable is.
I'm not going to say becoming Angle, because I don't want to say that to disrespect Angle or Gable, but he is becoming that type of character. Just like a cocky Olympian, tough American heel guy. And I like it. It's. It's fun. He's getting the you suck chance. And his group is good. Like Brutus the Brute. Brutus and Julius are great actors. I think they both have really solid characters. Brutus is hilarious.
I really find him funny. And I just. I don't know Ivy Niles. Fine. I guess I just don't really see anything with a character. And then she's like. She's just tough. She's a tough woman.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:46:07] Speaker A: Which I just, I haven't really heard her talk. She just kind of sits.
[00:46:11] Speaker B: Oh yeah. She's not good on the promos. No, she's not going to the promos. But as far as like if she's.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: A good wrestler and she's like an absolute unit, like she can do tons of physical, like physically gifted stuff, but yeah, it's just she's not really doing it for me. So I wouldn't want to see her as I see champion necessarily.
[00:46:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Going back to the Bailey Valkyria match. After some back and forth action, Lyra hit a spinning heel kick for a two count. Both women continue to trade high impact moves including a sunset flip power bomb and a tornado ddt.
The match came to a close when Valkyria hit a fisherman's superplex on the floor, followed by another near fall. Valkyria attempted a guillotine leg drop and a nightwing, but Bailey countered with a Bailey to belly attempt. After Valkyria blocked the rose plant, Bailey reversed Valkyria's la mystical to score the pin.
So Bailey, the other woman in the women's elimination chamber match. Because this was the last chamber match for the women's. We'll talk about who do you think wins the chamber match because we are not going to get Iyo sky, which I wanted to win the rumble and Iyo sky is going to have a championship shot on the Raw after elimination chamber, I do believe.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: Which I'll actually be going to.
[00:47:44] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:47:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: Is that in Buffalo? Oh my God. I totally forgot.
Wow. Okay, so that'll be okay. I'm sure that when it's. When that show ends up happening, that will be super huge because that will be. It'll show you. You might end up seeing Cena.
[00:48:06] Speaker A: I would really, really like to see that. That would be awesome.
[00:48:09] Speaker B: I. If he ends up winning the elimination chamber, I guarantee you because I think he's gonna finish up whatever movies do and out in Hungary for the next couple of weeks. And I know and I think he knows that for that Bill to Mania he needs to be there every week and he talks about having 30, 40 dates and as much as like that could happen like later summer whenever it is, I think he knows that this year he now needs to be 20, 24 rock because yeah, he needs to.
[00:48:46] Speaker A: Be shown up consistently.
[00:48:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:48] Speaker A: And I think he will at some Point, like maybe when he gets his title feud.
[00:48:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:48:53] Speaker A: But yeah, I mean, who knows?
[00:48:55] Speaker B: Yes. The last men's qualifier match that we had on raw, Logan Paul versus Rey Mysterio. We'll cover this more, a little bit more than the other ones since this was the main event. And also if you saw this was Rey's 1500th match in WWE.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: It was against Logan Paul.
[00:49:20] Speaker B: It was against Logan Paul. He debuted a cool looking finisher. Not gonna lie.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that finisher was cold. I cannot lie. That was really, really cool.
[00:49:30] Speaker B: After the bell, Paul shoved Mysterio. He responded by slapping Paul in the face. Mysterio dominated with stops, but Paul regrouped, using his shoulder to target Mysterio's midsection.
Mysterio avoided Paul's buckshot lariat and Mysterio took down Paul with a single leg takedown. They exchange offensive moves with Paul landing a tilt a world back breaker and launching Mysterio into the corner, landing heavy body strikes. Paul controlled the match. During the commercial break, Mysterio turned the tide with a corkscrew plancha. But Paul quickly retaliated with a moonsault fall away slam, which he does really, really good. That fall away standard he does off.
[00:50:15] Speaker A: The roof, really, really good.
[00:50:17] Speaker B: I and it's surprising. And you don't expect it. You don't expect it because he's a freak athlete.
[00:50:24] Speaker A: He's also a great actor. Yes. Him getting booed by the crowd isn't like, oh, we don't want you here. It's real.
[00:50:32] Speaker B: He.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: It's unfortunate, I hate admitting it, but he's just really, really good at his job.
[00:50:36] Speaker B: You know what's an interesting comparison? Because I was watching some old cornet tapes last night because I saw like an animated short from like a Q and A they had in 2009. Do you know what it kind of reminds me of a little bit because of how well he does it.
When Brock Lesnar went to the mma, when Brock went to the mma, it was like he was looked as a phony wrestler and he didn't know how to do it. Then he came in and he freaking dominated everybody for like what, three, four years, Won the heavyweight championship and he was just a dominant force. Now you look at Logan and Logan can do everything, promos, in ring, out of the ring, perfectly. And despite what anybody says, he's a damn good wrestler, which is incredible.
[00:51:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:26] Speaker B: And it works for his Persona. Towards the end of the match, Mysterio hit a spinning DDT, followed up by a 619. Paul counter with a big Boot. Mysterio hit a set out power bomb, then connected619 again. But when Mysterio came down, Paul got the knees up. He nailed Mysterio with the titanium punch before delivering the pulverizer for the 1, 2, 3. Post match New Day. They faded away. It was ridiculous. It just shows you how this gimmick of New Day is just very underwhelming and I'm excited to see where it goes. And it's not unfortunately. It's not looking like Big E might come back for Mania.
[00:52:14] Speaker A: No, I don't think think he is.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: I thought I totally had forgotten about that story.
[00:52:18] Speaker A: I really just think they used E for that one segment to turn the New Day heel. I don't think he's coming back. Geez. I think he's done like for real.
[00:52:26] Speaker B: Geez. That, that just sucks.
[00:52:27] Speaker A: Which yeah, that's unfortunate.
[00:52:29] Speaker B: But, but, but yeah, this, this, this pulverizer finishing move. This is the right finishing move for Paul. Not a punch. Not.
[00:52:38] Speaker A: You know, I like that the punch is now a set up into that move.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: Move. Yes.
[00:52:42] Speaker A: The signature into the finisher staggers them and then they stumble into him and he hits it.
[00:52:48] Speaker B: But yeah, so Paul is in the match. So we currently have CM Punk, John Cena, Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul. Who do you think will end up winning the men's chamber match?
[00:53:00] Speaker A: I need to know everyone who's in it for certain before I make my pick.
But just based on who's in it right now.
[00:53:12] Speaker B: Probably Cena.
[00:53:14] Speaker A: I mean that's the, that's the best case scenario, right? Cena versus Cody. So I, I just.
If, if that, if it's Cena Cody, then there's not a doubt in my mind that Roman Seth Punk is a match.
[00:53:30] Speaker B: That's what I was about to say. That's what I was about to say is if, if, if Cena does not win and, or no if Cena does win, which again if I wanted to flop and Cena doesn't win, it's Punk pinning Cena as all time sake to send his ticket to WrestleMania to face Cody. Which is still a big freaking money match. Especially after that pay per view before Royal Rumble. But if Cena ends up winning, could we get Punk, Rollins and Reigns in a massive triple threat?
[00:54:03] Speaker A: I totally see that happening.
[00:54:05] Speaker B: Yes. Unfortunately probably this year will not be the year that Punk did end up main eventing WrestleMania. Now I think, I think that it could main event.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: That match could easily main event and no one would bet.
[00:54:19] Speaker B: And I wonder. Well and, and, and then the Real question is, is that, you know, people, because again, like, the tag match that main evented last year, and, like, the women's, you know, Rumble, that was not even, like, the main event. That was like, the second to third last match on the WrestleMania card for, like, night two with, you know, sky and Bailey. But again, it just, like, shows you that not everything needs to be the, you know, championship needs to be the main event. So then it ponders the question, okay, Cena Cody, that main events mania. And then does Jay versus Gunter.
[00:55:03] Speaker A: No.
[00:55:04] Speaker B: Main event.
[00:55:04] Speaker A: No.
[00:55:05] Speaker B: And then it's also the question of.
[00:55:08] Speaker A: Jay Gunther will not main event either night of WrestleMania.
[00:55:11] Speaker B: That. And isn't that saying. Isn't that crazy? Yep.
We've never had that.
[00:55:16] Speaker A: They act like it's crazy. People are like, oh, my God, there's no way to main event. Shinsuke Nakamura won the royal rumble. Him versus AJ did not main event WrestleMania 34. Yes, like, that. They do that literally all the time. Like, when they also say, like, didn't.
[00:55:32] Speaker B: Even main event at WrestleMania that year, too. And that was the first women's Rumble.
[00:55:36] Speaker A: No, Charlotte is, like, talking about main eventing this year because she won the Rumble. She is not main eventing WrestleMania either. Either year.
[00:55:43] Speaker B: Which, by the way, I don't think that Charlotte has determined who she.
[00:55:51] Speaker A: No, she hasn't picked yet. But. But know for a fact, whoever she does pick is not going to be the main event.
[00:55:56] Speaker B: Who do you think is gonna. Who do you think she's gonna pick?
[00:55:58] Speaker A: Tiffany.
[00:55:59] Speaker B: Oh, I. Yes. Yes. Tiffany versus Flair. Like, that will be great. And I think that that is where people are gonna start again. I've told you, I hated the fact that Charlotte won. I wanted EO so bad to win that match. But Flair and Stratton and the fact of, like, if Stratton. Do you think Stratton wins that match, or do you think Flair just, like, pulls the trump card and she wins?
[00:56:26] Speaker A: It's so hard to tell with Charlotte because she easily could just take it from Tiffany, and I'd be really disappointed if that happened.
[00:56:32] Speaker B: Yeah. That's the only downside. The not downside is if Flair wins the Rumble, but loses and gains the respect or Tiffany gains the respect of Flair. That would be the ultimate scenario, what I want to happen. And then I just.
[00:56:47] Speaker A: I don't think we need to see Ripley vs Flair Part A million.
[00:56:51] Speaker B: Even though they're matching. Even though they're matching.
[00:56:53] Speaker A: Julia literally just got here. She does not need to be at WrestleMania.
[00:56:58] Speaker B: Now. Did you hear the other person? I said now. They did say that she is going to nxt, but there's another new signing that just got to wwe that if they faced Rhea, I think that would be an awesome match. And that's Jordan Grace. As much as they want to build her up, NXT knows who she is. The main roster knows who she is. She signed to a main WWE main roster contract if she faces Rhea. Ripley now granted the elimination chamber. Currently we have Bailey, we have Alexa, we have Bianca, we have Liv Morgan, whoever wins that match or. And then we have Roxanne Perez versus Raquel Rodriguez. So Roxanne Perez is getting a main roster push and most likely they could lead to a match. Whereas Roxanne Perez vs Bailey at Mania, which that could be super huge for.
[00:58:01] Speaker A: Perez is going to be a main eventer. She's great. She's. She's just so good on the talented.
[00:58:07] Speaker B: She's got it all.
[00:58:09] Speaker A: But I just don't know why Bailey's showing up everywhere. B's kind of been pissing me off recently. She just keeps showing up everywhere.
[00:58:15] Speaker B: She's in the Fatal Four way this Saturday at Vengeance Day with Julia, Cora Jade and Bren.
[00:58:20] Speaker A: She's got beat by Cora Jade. Like, you know how bad that looks for her.
[00:58:23] Speaker B: Corgi's not bad.
[00:58:25] Speaker A: No, but she just got beat by an NXT person. She's been in wrestling for 15 years.
[00:58:30] Speaker B: Okay. But the storyline with her and Perez is great. Yeah, like Perez came out and got the hugger gimmick.
[00:58:36] Speaker A: I just don't want Bailey in nxt.
[00:58:38] Speaker B: Yes. No, I. No, she's not gonna be in nxt. I think they just sent Bailey down so that way she could bring up Roxanne and.
[00:58:45] Speaker A: Well, no, yeah, I know that's exactly what they were doing. They were using. They're giving Roxanne a reason to be on the main roster. That's totally fine.
[00:58:53] Speaker B: Yes. So that is the predictions and that is the qualifiers that happened this past week for the Elimination Chamber.
We did have some other releases so upon from Miro, Starks and Black. There were some WWE releases that ended up happening also, I believe on the same day or a couple of days before.
And the list was Cedric Alexander. His last match was on nxt. It was a loss against Ethan Page.
Huge loss. Really?
[00:59:27] Speaker A: That's really disappointing to hear from you, I'm not gonna lie. But, but, but he's really good.
[00:59:31] Speaker B: But now with Alexander gone, does he go and join his brethren in aew?
[00:59:39] Speaker A: I mean, he easily could, but I just. He doesn't need to.
He could go to tna. Yeah, work there.
[00:59:49] Speaker B: They've been pushing. They've been pushing a match between him and Mustafa Ali for about a couple of times now. But then again, like, TNA has that relationship with nxt, so, like, why would they release Alexander?
[01:00:02] Speaker A: If you could just go sign Bully with TNA and then maybe just have an occasional match against the NXT star.
[01:00:09] Speaker B: But yeah, maybe it's just to like give Alexander some freedom because, like, they did bring him back. He did have like a little bit of, you know, tag team run with Javon Evans.
[01:00:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. It was great. He looked fantastic. He's. He's a really, really good wrestler.
[01:00:25] Speaker B: Sony deville, you mentioned this before we started that she was just in the Rumble, which is insane. And she's in Pure Fusion collection.
[01:00:36] Speaker A: Pure Fusion Collective.
[01:00:37] Speaker B: Just two people now, I'm guessing.
[01:00:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's just Shane and Zoe.
[01:00:41] Speaker B: I. I'm done. I'm guessing it is going to explain, so. And just being gone, I though they'll write her off or something like that. Maybe. I don't know. But her last technical televised match was a loss against Natalia, of all people.
[01:00:56] Speaker A: That was so funny.
[01:00:57] Speaker B: On February 3rd.
[01:00:58] Speaker A: I do not like Pure Fusion Collective.
[01:00:59] Speaker B: I think nobody does.
[01:01:01] Speaker A: Nobody does. Yeah.
[01:01:02] Speaker B: Blair Davenport, a call up. That again, really got. Not utilized.
[01:01:09] Speaker A: Do anything with her. I can't. I don't unders. I can't believe that that's. Or I refuse to believe that that's in any way on her. They didn't. They didn't do a single thing with her. Yeah. Like at all.
[01:01:19] Speaker B: I. I don't know if she was injured or not, but it says that her last televised match was November 22 and it was a loss in a triple threat. And that was for the U.S. yeah.
[01:01:30] Speaker A: I was gonna say that was. The only thing she was in was a US qualifier match and then she was gone again.
[01:01:34] Speaker B: And then she had. That. She also had a little tiny mini feud with Naomi. Yeah, that's what turned into nothing and turned to nothing.
Authors of Pain, Ankam and Rezar, along with Paul Ellering, they got released.
[01:01:48] Speaker A: So no more Carrying Cross group, I guess.
[01:01:50] Speaker B: Hey, listen, carrying Cross, he might have a year 2025.
[01:01:54] Speaker A: Been doing some great character work. I just don't know what his squad is. It's just him and Scarlet again.
[01:01:59] Speaker B: Yeah, listen, that's what I would do. And guess what? He could go on either his socials or on the main roster and basically be like, I sent the final Testament away because they were no good lackeys and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever that he needs to do. And again, you still see his change that he does, he ends up doing where, like he will change people. He will basically change their perspectives. He's done it with aj. He did it with A New Day. He did it with Miss. And the thing right now is that he's going to do it with Sammy because Sammy's been on like the heels and right now he's going to bring out the thing in, you know, beating up Kevin at Mania Do Sammy versus.
[01:02:44] Speaker A: Kevin is going to be so good.
[01:02:45] Speaker B: Oh, God, it is going to be so good. Like, if Kevin continues, if Kevin comes out wearing an old Ro. Kevin Steen shirt, I'mma blow my mind. Like, it's gonna blow my mind if he comes out with wearing the old Kevin Ste shirt where it has like, when it has like the. The other. The words on the back of it in the. The red and the blue or whatever. You know what he used to do, fight one's fight and all that other stuff. And he ends up doing it used.
[01:03:11] Speaker A: To be kill, Steam, kill.
[01:03:13] Speaker B: So, yeah. Authors of Pain. Their last televised match was a win. They're the only people from the release list that ended the win and their win was against the lwo.
Ilia dawn now granted her tag partner Alba Fire, formerly known as Kaylee Ray. If you remember, up in NXT uk, she got released. Her last otherwise match technically was Speed on X on February 7 in a loss against Shotzi.
[01:03:48] Speaker A: Does that even count as televised if it was on Twitter?
[01:03:51] Speaker B: Yes, I do count it as televised because the difference between the televised dark and a social match is that how many times do you see a social match? It's right there. So it's always going to pop up on your Twitter feed, which means that it's filmed. It's all that dark matches, they're rarely filmed and you barely get to see them unless you're in the left crowd.
[01:04:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:04:14] Speaker B: The good brothers, Luke Gallows and Carl Anderson.
[01:04:18] Speaker A: That's unfortunate.
[01:04:19] Speaker B: They were the latest released.
They have not performed or not wrestled since September 24th when they lost against Hank and Tank.
Tag team and nxt. They brought them down for nxt.
[01:04:36] Speaker A: And yeah, they weren't.
[01:04:37] Speaker B: They weren't terrible.
[01:04:38] Speaker A: They had a feud with Fraxi and then I thought, wasn't bad.
[01:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah. What are your thoughts on Fraxium? We have never really talked to the.
[01:04:44] Speaker A: Best tag team in the world.
[01:04:45] Speaker B: That. And isn't that insane? Like. And you know what? I think a lot of people would agree that they're kind of shades of London and Kendrick. London and Kendrick in Ruthless Aggression Smackdown.
[01:04:57] Speaker A: Way better.
[01:04:58] Speaker B: What do you think? Way better. Way better than Kendrick in London.
[01:05:00] Speaker A: Way better. Oh, they're so talented. Like, what's his face? Oh, my gosh.
[01:05:04] Speaker B: Nathan Frazier.
[01:05:05] Speaker A: Frazier was literally, like, personally trained by Seth Rollins. Rollins. I see Seth Rollins when I watch Nathan Frazier.
[01:05:12] Speaker B: Wrestler. What do you think about Axiom?
[01:05:13] Speaker A: And Axiom is just stupid good. He's one of the best luchadors in the world.
[01:05:18] Speaker B: Do you wait.
[01:05:19] Speaker A: Well, I love his Golden Ratio finisher. It's so quick and clean.
[01:05:22] Speaker B: Do you, do you remember what his gimmick was back in NXT uk?
[01:05:26] Speaker A: No, I kind of stopped watching NXT UK after Gunther left.
[01:05:30] Speaker B: He was known as. He was just known as a kid.
[01:05:34] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Okay.
[01:05:35] Speaker B: And I believe you said that.
[01:05:36] Speaker A: I do actually remember that.
[01:05:37] Speaker B: But he did get a NXT UK championship match against Gunter and he also did win the. The Heritage Cup.
[01:05:46] Speaker A: Yep.
[01:05:47] Speaker B: Then these two releases were insane. Giovanni Vinci, he got released his last technical televised match because he's been wrestling dark Message. He's been wrestling dark matches for the last couple of months. His last televised one was Speed on X on October 11 and a loss against Sheamus. Yeah, dude, they, they said let it play out and they brought him.
[01:06:11] Speaker A: Well, I watched him live when he was on smackdown. He went against Apollo Crews and that.
[01:06:15] Speaker B: Lost in four minutes or lost in four seconds.
[01:06:17] Speaker A: Completely useless feud.
[01:06:20] Speaker B: Goodness gracious, man. You know, you feel bad, but the guy's got character. He's got the body, he's got the agility.
[01:06:28] Speaker A: So much better than him. And l like, it's not Vinci's fault that Ludwig completely outshined him.
[01:06:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And also he just. I again, he does promos really well. I love whenever I get a promo from Ludwig, like, he's so good. And then the latest one, the last one that ended up happening upon of other different white writers and whatnot. Electro Lopez, part of Lingado, Delpha and Tasmo. Her last televised match was also in a Triple Threat qualifying match on October 6th on Smackdown.
[01:07:00] Speaker A: Good thing she never did anything of substance besides just be in Legato del Fantasma.
[01:07:05] Speaker B: Yeah, she.
[01:07:06] Speaker A: Which sucks because I saw her in nxt and she was good. She's a good talent.
[01:07:09] Speaker B: Yeah, she was a good talent. And the talent over in nxt, the women's roster is always going to be stacked. Lola Vice, Jada Parker, you could just.
[01:07:18] Speaker A: Say every woman in the roster.
[01:07:19] Speaker B: Every single freaking woman. Stephanie Cure, they're all.
[01:07:22] Speaker A: They're all great.
[01:07:23] Speaker B: It's.
[01:07:24] Speaker A: It's the best women's it's the best women's wrestling world. They like, they say it every week, but this is true.
[01:07:29] Speaker B: It's insane. It's insane and it's insane. And people will be like, oh, they shouldn't be on freaking Defendamental. But I'm like, a lot of these women, like Julian Vikir, they never have.
[01:07:39] Speaker A: They need to be in developmental because.
[01:07:41] Speaker B: They need to have that American audience.
[01:07:43] Speaker A: They need to learn how to be in wwe.
And also there's just nothing for them to do right now.
[01:07:49] Speaker B: Exactly.
[01:07:50] Speaker A: On the main roster. And that's fine. That's why they're in NXT doing what they need to do. And they're looking great.
[01:07:55] Speaker B: Exactly.
Last but not least, Saturday, February 15, will be AEW Grand Slam Australia.
Now, this was announced back in August of 2024 for all in. So when they did all in in London at Wembley, they announced that they would have forbidden door in London for, I believe, August still. But instead of all in in London, they would have all in in Texas, which that is the biggest show that they always promote. You always see the banner up in the corner for that July show for all in, which again, like, I don't even know, like, if that's gonna be a big show. It's a big stadium show.
[01:08:41] Speaker A: They're not selling that place out.
[01:08:43] Speaker B: Which, which, speaking of which, we'll get to the reason why there's been so much controversy with this Grand Slam Australia thing. So it was marked as the first event in Australia for 80W. If you remember when AEW did that Dynamite and Cardiff before they went to All In. That was a huge one. That promo between Osprey and MJF Y was awesome. But the event was originally planned to take place at the Sun Corp Stadium, which has the capacity over 52,500.
[01:09:18] Speaker A: They weren't even close. Right.
[01:09:20] Speaker B: But AW shifted the venue to the Brisbane Entertainment center due to disappointing ticket sales. So, yeah, I'm guessing ticket sales did not fly off the shelves and fly off the market as you know, they would expect it. So they changed from a 52,000 seating venue to a 13,000 CD venue.
[01:09:41] Speaker A: I don't even think they're going to get that.
[01:09:43] Speaker B: But then the controversy was in just about that because the event was confirmed to be aired at 8pm Eastern Standard Time on February 15. But it was Tape Delayed special. It was marked as a Tape delayed special of AW's regular collision programming that happens on Saturday night on TNT due to the TNT NBA All Star weekend coverage. This will be Saturday night. This will be the Skill stuff. So this will be the dunk contest, this will be the three pointer, this will be all those other stuff. The actual All Star game will happen on Sunday night, which should look pretty, really should look pretty cool. The celebrity game will be Friday night, which, which Bailey will be Bailey's in. Bailey Ballin, Big basketball lover, you know, BBL Bailey. So instead, because the All Star weekend is happening, Grand Slam Australia would instead air after the All Star coverage ends around 10:30pm Eastern Standard Time. Now by the way, do you know what that is in live Australian time?
[01:10:51] Speaker A: Probably like 8 in the morning or.
[01:10:52] Speaker B: Something in Australia at 10:30pm on February 15, it would be Sunday, February 16 at 1:30 in the morning.
[01:11:03] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[01:11:04] Speaker B: Yep, they. So because of that, the adjustment was made after Warner Brothers discovery at&T's partner company offered AW opportunity to broadcast it in this time slot. So post. So they have to wait for the All Star Game to finish, which, which that's not, not the All Star Game with all the superstars, but the, you know, the skill stuff for the dunk contest, that three point and all the other stuff. So they have to wait for that to get done Saturday night for them to produce that. Now there was a lot of confusion amongst fans because they did not know whether Grand Slam Australia was going to be a pay per view like it was presented as when they first announced it. And since then Tony Khan has clarified that it was always intended to be a television special for he said that the challenges of producing a pay per view event in Brisbane, especially considering the time zone difference with the show being filmed at 5.30pm local time. So at 5:30 in Australia pm they will be filming that show.
[01:12:05] Speaker A: So they're tape. They're taping it and then showing it later.
[01:12:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm like, oh, a tape show. Like it's okay, but like, why would you do that? And at that point it would be 2:30am so like, I wish that, like, because Japan's done this for years. They've done it with Wrestle Kingdom, they did it with Wrestle Dynasty if they had the licenses. And they could be able to stream it on Max, which I think that's the difficult thing. Nobody knows when the actual first ever pay per view that will be streamed on Max for AW will be. And I think that's like one of the biggest problems that they have and this is why it has led to like this much confusion is because they thought that, okay, this is going to be live and we're going to watch it, but then it's like, no, this will happen. Like the time zone will be different by a few hours. So it's like, damn, you know, then they have to like film this, they have to tape it, then they have to show it like five hours later, you know, and everybody's already going to know throughout the day what will happen on the card. And that's going to be. That's going to be crazy. Like there's always. Look at your phone. Yeah, exactly. Just look at your phone. And yet, yeah, they could freaking spoil all of these matches. We'll. Let's talk about. And that could be insane. Like, and then it eliminates from the thing, like you can get reports, you can get pictures, anything whatsoever. The change of plan sparked frustration among fans who felt misled, particularly those who travel to Australia. Some felt that they were promised a major pay per view event only to find out that it was a television special. Also, fans expressed their dissatisfaction with the venue change, which led to travel cost and lack of refund options for tickets to the original venue. So like imagine buying a ticket for a major stadium show and you now have to go to this little 13,000 seat venue which you're basically going to see a standard collision. The announced matches happening for this major television special. Up in Australia, we have Mariah May taking on timeless Toni Storm for the AW Women's World Championship match. I think they've done a decent build to this with the amnesia storyline with Toni Storm like I've talked about and then they revealed that it was all an act and Tony Storm is still timeless and she is going to try and beat Mariah May. But for these two and the match that they had it all in, I think Tony does end up getting back the women's championship from Mariah.
[01:14:38] Speaker A: I think they can drag this feud out more, if I'm being honest.
[01:14:41] Speaker B: Do you think they dragged.
[01:14:42] Speaker A: So if just Tony returns and immediately gets back the title that Mariah beat her for, the storyline's kind of done well.
[01:14:49] Speaker B: You look at Mariah's title range, she's had an okay title range. She's had defenses against Statlander Thunder Rosa, but.
[01:14:56] Speaker A: But the main rematch that see she needs on her belt before she's like a champ is against the person who she took it from. And if Tony just beats her, it's kind of just like, oh, you beat Tony once, which defeats the purpose, which he cheated to. And it kind of just looks like she. She took the belt for Tony while Tony took a break.
[01:15:15] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. She really did. Tony did. I'm taking a break after she was gonna come back. We have Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega tagging together against the Don Callis family of Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takesh. Now, you're probably one of, like, the biggest Takeshita fans I know, really, to date. How do you feel about this match with Osprey and Omega tagging each other?
[01:15:40] Speaker A: I like every single guy in that match. I. Omega is top 15 wrestler of all time, like, regardless of company or brand.
[01:15:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:15:52] Speaker A: Osprey is well on his way to becoming one. And watching them wrestle together, it's going to be awesome. And then the other side is just two of the best young and upcoming stars. Like, Fletcher is so good and he's so young too. And Takesha is just a freak of nature. Like, he is just an absolute freak athlete who can do. He can do stuff that, like, pretty much no one else can. His moveset is so diverse. And yeah, I'm really excited for this match.
[01:16:18] Speaker B: Yes. I have Osprey and Omega.
[01:16:22] Speaker A: I would assume they pick up the win.
[01:16:24] Speaker B: There's no way now. Now the question is, is that do Osprey and Omega go back to feuding with each other and we get Osprey and Omega at no Revolution.
[01:16:33] Speaker A: I think we get Omega Verse or Omega versus Okada.
[01:16:38] Speaker B: Omega versus Okada.
[01:16:40] Speaker A: I don't think Osprey and Omega are gonna feud.
[01:16:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I think they're gonna settle it with a handshake and that's it.
[01:16:46] Speaker A: I would. I would love for them to feud, but it's just there's a lot of other things they can do, especially when they're both faces. You can't really have them feud unless Omega just. No, because, yeah, Mike is not even in the elite anymore, so he can't just join them and be a heel again. So unless one of them turns heel, I don't think they need to go against each other.
[01:17:08] Speaker B: We then got another Australian favorite, Bunny Matthews. He'll be taking on Kazuchi Okada for the AEW Continental Championship.
I. I think this is a pretty decent match. Of course Okada is gonna beat Buddy Matthews, but you know Buddy Matthews, he's never really had a major event up in Australia.
And if you remember years ago, super showdown with Cedric and when he won that in Melbourne. Yeah, that was us. Yeah, that was. That was freaking awesome. So, yeah, Okada definitely be in Matthews here. But nice little, nice little showcase singles match for Buddy Matthews. We got a Briz Bane brawl between Jay White and Copeland. Or Cope versus the Death Riders, John Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli.
Last night.
Oh, boy. So the best way I can describe it was Marina Shafir and Jon Moxley went through a door. And immediately after Moxley went through the door, Edge attacked him with a chair and apparently didn't see him.
You're telling me that Cope just like, stood there and like, Moxley didn't see him and then they stole the briefcase for the night. They lured them out to the ring at the end of the show, then Cope beat the briefcase with the barbed wire nail bat. Or as I say, Timu Janice, if you remember, TNA with Abyss.
And yeah, that was it. But, yeah, Jay White and Adam Copeland are Cope.
Who do you think you got in this one?
[01:18:59] Speaker A: Probably there's no titles in the line, so it'll be Cope and Jay just for the face pop.
[01:19:05] Speaker B: And do you think Cope gets the pin over Moxley or do you think Claudio. Claudio's taking the fan Now. It was announced last night on Dynamite that it was made official. I believe it's March 9th. So it's the Sunday after elimination chamber that Moxley will take on Cope for the AEW World Championship. Do you think that the end of the Death Riders will be there in Los Angeles and Cope freaking. I. I haven't even asked you, what do you think about that name change for Coke?
[01:19:43] Speaker A: That's stupid, dude.
[01:19:44] Speaker B: I'm like. And he said, like, in interviews he's always wanted to be called Cope because it just like, shortens up his last name. But come on, Adam Copeland is still a badass name and it's still great the rate they're still using the rated R superstar. And you can still hear in the clips they're referring to him as Adam Copeland.
Like, to say that, you know, his name is just straight up Cope, as in, like, coping mechanism, is like, insane. Like, I'm like, why did you shorten it down that much? But yeah, I definitely see Jay White and Cope just getting this standard street fight brawl where they end up getting the win. And, you know, we'll look forward to Mox and Cope at Revolution.
Finally, Mercedes Monet versus Harley Cameron in the singles match for the AW TBS championship.
I don't like this Harley Cameron character. I. I really don't. I. It's. It's like just a thing with me of, like, she's a person who does not win. And that's the gimmick. She does not win, but she makes up it. She makes it up with, you know, funny gimmicks with the puppet and the singing.
And now she's getting a title shot. Against the girl who has also four title belts, which is insane. But what. What is your. What, what is your take on this? On this feud with between Mercedes and Car and Harley Cameron?
[01:21:16] Speaker A: I just think it would be hilarious.
[01:21:17] Speaker B: Of Cameron 1, if Cameron wins, I say they do something where they have somebody attack Mercedes and then Harley pins Mercedes. I believe they did this back in the day where it was Jericho and Triple H or Jeff Hardy and Triple H and Jeff beat Triple H or Jericho beat Triple H because the ref fast count. How cool would it be if Aubrey Edwards ends up fast counting and Cameron is the champion and then they come out and they say you have to restart the match and Mercedes wins it back?
[01:21:58] Speaker A: That'd be weird.
[01:21:59] Speaker B: It would be weird, but I think that it would work in my own little mind. But that is for Grand Slam Australia.
I really don't know how to feel about the show. The show will be very interesting down the line. I definitely know that throughout that day on Saturday, I'm gonna be hearing about a bunch of spoilers for that show. But I. I really do hope that they do well with that show. I hope that it gets sold out. I hope that, you know, there's great fanfare and it's, you know, their first event in the Land down under. And I think that with the match Car that they got, it's a solidified collision, like television special. But because it's in Australia, because it has a lot of the hometown talent, which they always tend to do. Like, I think AEW has used that build of like, if it's in their hometown, they always have to have a match and they can either go over or not go over. With wwe, it's like they'll do maybe one or two, not a full, like three different matches where they're like guys from like New Zealand and Australia. For an Australia show, it's like insane. So, you know, very controversial show happening for Saturday, but I'm looking forward to it. And that is it for the Rocking Review podcast. I want to thank you again, Lucas, for coming onto the show and giving your amazing opinions on pro wrestling. Again, reminder that we have socials on Instagram and X at the Rocking Review. That's the R A W K I N G review for both X and Instagram. We are also on the 889WNYO.org web page in which that you can see all of our amazing podcasts, including this one, and where they are produced. And as always, it's spelled R A W K because we talk about the W's in pro wrestling. Thank you, everybody.
