Not Your Average Mark Wrestling Podcast

Royal Rumble Aftermath: The Road Gets Real

• Guapo, Buddy, Bruss and The Guy • Season 4 • Episode 1

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:36:54

We break down a SmackDown that set the table, a Royal Rumble that elevated new names, and a Raw that hit gas with Braun, Gunther, Oba Femi, and a Punk–Roman promo that sold WrestleMania with one spiteful choice. AEW’s “cinema” gets a reality check as we argue for story that makes sense.

• SmackDown’s four-way claim stakes and eight-man setup
• Carmelo Hayes’ Open Challenge vs Rey Fenix
• Axiom outsmarts Gargano to reclaim the mask
• AJ Styles’ showcase and Gunther’s rise
• Women’s Rumble standouts and Liv Morgan’s win
• Men’s Rumble shocks, Oba Femi’s star turn, mystery mask
• Raw’s Braun Breaker meltdown and Gunther’s troll
• Oba Femi ragdolls War Raiders to build aura
• Philly street fight: Stephanie Vacare retains
• CM Punk vs Roman Reigns promo stakes and hate-as-hook
• Why surprise is seasoning and story is the meal
• Notes from the clown show: what breaks immersion

Click all the things: likes, subscribes, hearts, thumbs up, all the things


Twitter: https://twitter.com/NYAMWPodcast
Twitch.tv: https://www.twitch.tv/notyouraveragemark
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@notyouraveragemarkwpod?lang=en
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP5-3avaKG719zOZ1BmFbCw
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/NotYourAverageMark

Kick: https://kick.com/nyampodcast

Welcome, Shoutouts, Sponsors, Community

SPEAKER_01

What's up, everybody?

SPEAKER_05

Welcome to tonight's episode of the Not Your Average Mark Wrestling Podcast. I am your host, the tutorial boss, the podcast chief. Acknowledge him. I'm Guapo. Here with me is the man who's to show Triple H this is how you'd grow a beard. The one and only Mike Caldwell. Mike, what's happening?

SPEAKER_03

No, man. Doing the thing.

SPEAKER_05

Well, the thing is the thing to do, so far as I know. Well, it's another uh weekly episode of our show, and uh we've got a few people joining us today. We've got Jello in the chat, we've got Aaron Marie in the chat, we've got Janine Wade, we've got J-Rib, we got Eska. What's up, everybody? I'm glad you could join us tonight. Uh, we've also got our TikTok live going on. Heck yeah. Like, that's the thing now. Which I think I'm gonna do the thing like this so that people can see both of us.

SPEAKER_03

There you go.

SPEAKER_05

That's a thing.

SPEAKER_03

That's the thing.

SPEAKER_05

Um so before we get started, I do, of course, need to do some thank yous. Thank you to Ross and the boys from Labor 12 for our intro-outro music. Tracks called Head Rush, albums called Monsters. They are this close to releasing a song off their second album. Ooh. You want to hear it? Head over to labor12.com. That's labor xi.com. You can become part of the street team. You can there's all sorts of stuff you can do on their website. Go check them out. I want to thank say thank you to Joe and American Legacy for the Not Your Average merch. Uh, we have hats, skull caps, beanies. We have new trucker hats coming in. Oh. I just gotta go see Joe and pick them up. Um, we've got t-shirts coming up, but like we got all sorts of good stuff. Uh, thank you to J-Rebs 3D Printing because uh see a little piece of awesome right here. That is a Jreb original right there. Uh, my boy Cameron hooked us up, made us a sign, made us one of them, actually. So if you have a logo that you want in a uh light box like this, LED light box, hit up my boy Cameron, Jrebs3Dprinting.com. Thank you to Blind Ambition Studios for all our graphics, the Wrestling Society.com for including us in their podcast room, and of course, the one who makes everything happen, the one that only the guy, Patrick. Thank you so much for what you do. And what does Patrick do, you might ask?

SPEAKER_03

All kinds of things.

SmackDown Opening: Rumble Stakes Set

SPEAKER_05

All kinds of things. Uh, one of the big things he did was build us a website. If you haven't gone to it yet, www.nautyavagemark.com. You can find bios, you can find calendars, you can find merch, all the good stuff. Not your smart.com, and we have a Discord. For those that are a part of it, you know that we are watching the Royal Rumble on Saturday, watching Raw on Monday, gonna watch SmackDown tomorrow night. If you're not a part of it, go to any of our socials and click on the about, and you can find the link for our Discord. It's always a good time. Love doing the watch alongs and love it when you guys are there to interact with me and watch along with me. So check out our Discord if you haven't already. Now let's get to some wrestling.

SPEAKER_02

Let's do this.

SPEAKER_05

So we'll start off with SmackDown. Cody. Cody Road. No, just not my Cody comes out and he talks about Jacob Fatto, and he doesn't say nice things about Jacob Fatu. And he talks about how Jacob Fatu cost him his match with Drew McIntyre, ergo making Drew McIntyre a champion. Okay. He says, so maybe possibly, potentially, I'll go after CM Punk. Which brings out Randy Orton. Randy Orton says, Cody, you're my guy. You know, we've been friends a long time. We've been friends so long that we've been friends longer than other people have been friends. But I'm going to just need you to know I'm gonna win the rumble because I'm chasing number 15. Sorry about your bad luck, but we still boys. Which then brings out Jey Uso. And the main eventer says, I think that's cool that y'all say that. However, I'm gonna run it back and win a second Royal Rumble in a row, go to WrestleMania, become champion, and that's what it is. And Sammy Zayn says, Yeah, but he comes out to a huge pop because they're inside. And Sammy's like, I love all of you guys. You were my bestest of friends, but you're all crazy in your head because I am gonna be the champion. And if you think you're gonna win a Royal Rumble and come beat me for the belt, you're crazy in your head. It's a good opening. I dug it. So they're all out there and they're going back and forth about who's gonna win what, and out comes the vision with Paul Heyman.

SPEAKER_02

Ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_05

Ladies and gentlemen, I couldn't even hear Paul. That crowd in Saudi so loud.

SPEAKER_03

Once they got once once he stopped, reset everything, and tried again, they got on the same page with him, and you could actually hear what was saying because they were saying it with him.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, something I forgot to mention, new sponsors. SmackDown was brought to you this week by the number 11, which is the number of times that Drew McIntyre has beat Sami Zayn going into the Royal Rumble. Yes. So Nick Aldous does what Nick Aldis does and says, hmm, there's four of you standing here, and there's four of them standing in the ring. Go down, let's do it. Main event tonight. Amen tag, let's go. And everybody's like, bring it, let's go. So good job, Nick Aldis. We have our main event set. We go from that to uh Carmelo Hayes versus Ray Phoenix. Absolutely stellar match.

SPEAKER_03

Very much so.

SPEAKER_05

I love the fact that they're continuing the US Open Challenge, and I think they have the belt on the right person to do it because every time Melo has gone out, the game missed. Seriously, you know, joking aside, Carmelo Hayes as that champion is just killing it. Just absolutely killing it.

SPEAKER_02

Very much so.

SPEAKER_05

And this was no this was no different. Him and Ray Phoenix put on one hell of a show. Um the jumping DDT. Let's talk about that for a second. Okay. Ray Phoenix comes off the top rope, Melo jumps, grabs him, DDTs him, and Ray Phoenix sold that like a champ. Like he was dead dead. And I don't know, I just these guys already have good chemistry, and you put the belt on the line, it's all in all a great match.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05

This takes us to Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss versus the Judgment Day.

SPEAKER_01

Now, I believe we all know how I feel about Alexa Bliss and her wrestling charm. Um this match went about like you thought it would.

SPEAKER_05

Um Charles has got the upper hand. There's a third person because Raquel, you know, Rodriguez is part of Judgment Day, and she interferes, and then out comes Lapta, and she takes that thread out of the way, and then bam! One sister Abigail and lots of cheers later, your winners. Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair.

SPEAKER_01

Yay!

SPEAKER_05

I mean, I I play it off a little bit. It was a good match. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03

Oh. But you put you put those in those at people in the ring, and it's gonna be a great it's gonna be a great showing pretty much every time. And the women's division, the tag division right now is just killing it.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, absolutely it is. And this is just another example of that. And the tag division isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Like they they are one of the big to me anyway, are one of the biggest draws. Um speaking of draws, Axiom versus Johnny Gargano.

SPEAKER_03

This was really interesting. And you know. Cheers, everybody. Johnny Gargano is is the only way I can think of to say it was the was Johnny Gargano is the second coming of the Mist.

SPEAKER_05

I can go with that. He is I can agree with that.

Melo vs Rey Fenix And Women’s Tag Story

SPEAKER_03

He is opening anytime he opens his mouth, we have gold that comes out, and any and at that point, he can get beat and it doesn't lose any steam because he turns right around, opens his mouth, and there's all the heat back. And nobody really it's you know honest honestly, half of the people that were there for the match aren't even gonna gonna register about the whole fact of who wins and who loses. They're just gonna know how they they feel at the end of it and know that Johnny Gargano pissed them off and they were happy whenever whenever Axiom got the upper hand.

SPEAKER_05

No, I agree. And these two are almost as equally matched as uh Fraser and Gargano were last week.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_05

Like move for move. These guys are just really, really good in the ring. Uh we had lots of spots in this one, and might I add, Axiom has the best Spanish fly in the game.

SPEAKER_01

Really? Period. Look, Jeb has a good Spanish fly, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_05

When you put his Spanish fly next to Axiom Spanish flying, he's a little more polished, he kind of jumps up to the raptors when he does it. So you know? Okay. I like Jebs too, though. Don't get don't get it twisted. Uh in the end, Axiom gets the win and gets his mask back.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. That was the beautiful part of this whole situation is Gargano says, Yes, I'm gonna have the upper hand. He rips the mask off of Axiom, and then he goes over and he's selling the fact that he's got the mask, and he's got that look on his face, and then Axiom puts the other mask on, which is complete contrast to colors, by the way. Yeah, but hey, he's still he still hid his identity when doing it and got the upper hand, took the win, and off to the races.

SPEAKER_05

Yep, absolutely. And I while both members of Fraxium now have beat Johnny Gargano, I don't think this is over. I think that they are a good program.

SPEAKER_03

Well honestly, considering Johnny Gargano is short of tag team partner, because uh his tag team partner is on elite. Yes. Um he needs he needs to find himself somebody else to hang out with so that he can have somebody watch his back other than his wife, because that just doesn't seem to work.

SPEAKER_05

Well she hit him in the head the other day.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well I mean, hey, you know what? Marriage counsel is marriage counseling, however you put it.

SPEAKER_05

So Tommaso Chava has made the move to absolute excrement wrestling.

SPEAKER_01

Who do you think Johnny Gargano should be looking towards as a partner? I don't know. Depends on how toxic his masculinity is.

SPEAKER_03

I mean I mean really and truly gar I think I think we should have it it should be a thing where G Johnny Gargano is pitching to everybody, hey, you should be my tag team partner. And that should be a thing for a little while until somebody actually comes up and does this.

SPEAKER_05

Oh I have to stop for a second looking at the chat on our TikTok live. That panda girl says, Hello, guapo, what up? That would be my cousin.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Glad to see you on, glad to see you joining the show. Welcome. Um I think this is gonna go this is gonna go places.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_05

And I think you may be right.

SPEAKER_03

We may see that tag team, but Jello over here in the in the other chat a belt holder in all elite.

SPEAKER_05

Look, look I am a hundred percent that somebody has hobtiged and gagged Tony Khan over the last couple of weeks and took the pencil away from him. Because I will say that the way they brought Tommaso Ciampa into All-Elite wrestling was good. They did a good job of it, and there's no way in hell Tony Khan wrote that. And that's evidenced, which we will talk about later in the show, about how this last week of AEW, he found a way to lose the gag and the hog tie and took the pencil back. And you can tell.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05

So AJ Styles gave what could have been his last WWE promo. And I thought it was a great promo. Like this is the kind of promo you want before the Royal Rumble. And you had the AJ chance, and then out comes Gunther, and he talks trash, and AJ gives it right back to him. I mean, it's exactly what you want to hype a match.

SPEAKER_03

Oh yeah, absolutely. It was it if if it if that wasn't a bot show, people would have been buying tickets because of it.

SPEAKER_05

Oh yeah. Uh there are those Dave Milton's looking at you, who say that uh the match was hyped. You this was this was just unneeded.

SPEAKER_01

Unnecessary. You got as much hype about the match as you're gonna get. I know. I know. Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, we'll talk about that later. Um and girl, we are doing good. Thank you for that. Um this takes us to the Miz versus Ilya Dragonov.

SPEAKER_01

I don't think the Miz knew what he was getting into. You think? Yeah, a little bit. Um Great Mat.

SPEAKER_05

It's Ilya Dragonov in the Miz. How there's no way to not have a good match.

SPEAKER_03

The Miz is gold. Always has been, always will be. I mean if you need so if if you need somebody to get over, you put him in the ring with the Miz.

SPEAKER_05

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Not saying that Dragon wasn't over because he is, but the whole deal of the Miz coming out. The week before on SmackDown and costing him the United States title. That's what got this whole thing going to be.

SPEAKER_05

Well, and I'm looking over at the chat and uh Janine Wade saying, no gloves, no boots left. He ain't done yet. We're gonna get to that. We're gonna talk about that here shortly. Uh, but with this, I love the look on Miz's face whenever he started chopping Ilya. And Ilya's like, ah, and Miz is like, whoa. Like, hey, what the hell's wrong with you? Like, that was that was good. I I enjoyed that. I thought it was funny. Uh, both of these guys absolute show me. And in the end, Ilya dragonoff gets the win, he hits the uh H bomb, and yeah. This match was brutal. Like he beat the hell out of the Miz. But I will say this about the Miz, even though he got his ass whooped, everything he did had a meeting. And that is the genius of the Miz.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. Ilya would get get a little squirrely, start going going a little fast, Miz would slow him down. And all in all, N-ring technician, been in the game for 20 years now. I mean, he's he's a staple.

SPEAKER_05

He is, and I think Jello's got it right over here in the chat. Says the Miz sells, and Elia gives him something to sell. So, how can you not have a good match at that point? Um, that takes us to our main event. The vision versus Sami Zayn, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and main event. Jay Uso. See, I knew you were gonna do that. Eat. You have to get it closer to the camera and some people.

SPEAKER_01

Eat.

SPEAKER_05

Eat.

SPEAKER_01

Um there you go, that's better.

SPEAKER_05

This is a great setup for the rumble. You know, you get the opportunity to let each one of the superstars show out. It happens like you know it's going to. Some one person hits a finisher, then somebody from the other team gets them, and back and forth, and back and forth. Uh it was good. And then Drew came out and it got even better. Like this, it was it went to chaos, which is exactly what you want going into the Royal Rumble. Um Aaron says TNA, like I said, we're gonna talk about we're gonna talk about AJ here shortly. Uh Janine Wade say uh all in all, uh, this was a good go-home show. Like, there wasn't a winner, obviously. But all in all, this was a good go-home show. I'm gonna give it a name. I like it.

SPEAKER_03

I think that we were the winners.

Axiom vs Gargano And Mask Swerve

SPEAKER_05

We were, absolutely. It was a great show. Now, before we get into talking about the Royal Rumble 2026, I want to remind everybody get out there, click all the things, the likes, the the subscribes, the hearts, the thumbs up, the all the things. Click all the things, all of them. Let's us know what you're looking at, what you like, what you don't like. So make sure you're out there clicking all the things.

SPEAKER_03

Well, talk about our sponsors. The Royal Rumble is sponsored by the number four, because that's how many matches there were.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, four matches in the Royal Rumble, two of those matches lasting about an hour apiece.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_05

Um, so let's talk about. We started out with the women's Royal Rumble. Can I just say Sol Ruka, baby?

SPEAKER_03

Very, very much, very much a highlight of the Rumble.

SPEAKER_05

Highlight anywhere she goes. She reminds me so much, especially the way she was dressed for the Rumble, reminds me so much of a modern-day leader. Very much so. I absolutely love it. Uh, before we get too deep into the individual things in each rumble, I do want to say this about both the men and the women trouble. I've heard a whole lot of people saying this was this was, you know, they promised us a bunch of surprises, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We didn't get this, we didn't get that. Let me tell you what you did get. You got the opportunity to let new talent shine. Yes, it was not new talent that won the Rumble, but New Talent's got to earn that. So, but you got the opportunity to see Sol Ruka shine. You got to see uh Jordan Grace. Jordan Grace, Keanu James, um um, I forgot her name.

SPEAKER_03

There's a whole bunch of them. Yeah, there's there was 30 of them. There was believe it or not.

SPEAKER_05

What do we got? Jell O saying, why is she not on the main roster? I don't know. I don't know. They're waiting to put bring somebody up to take our spot at NXT, but so Ruka's doing side quests in NXT right now. So um that, and you don't want to oversaturate the women's division because then you've got people who aren't doing anything, right?

SPEAKER_03

And then we did we did have one legend in the women's royal rule. We absolutely actually we had two, but one one has been seen here recently, and the other one hadn't. That would be Brie Bella.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, Brie Bella returns. We have Twin Magic once again. And I dig it. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The the stop me if I'm wrong here, but the kicks that she was doing looked awfully familiar. Um, Keanu James, let's talk about Keanu James for a second.

SPEAKER_05

She is an absolute powerhouse, and nobody everybody kind of sleeps on that until you see her pick up in some mow and drop Naya Jacks.

SPEAKER_03

It's like, where the hell did you come from?

SPEAKER_05

Yep, and probably my favorite part of it. Um Angelo's correct, Lash Legend. Uh Lash is one of the ones that Lash did show out a lot. Uh-huh. Lash did big things. And this is why I say the rumble, I feel like this year was used to showcase new talent and give them that opportunity. Um, but one of my favorite things was having Charlotte Flair be number one and Alexa Bliss be number two. Like the way they got in the ring and started at each other and went, eh? And then the other one, and then back and forth like that.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I loved it. That is that was the best way to start the Women's Rumble, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, absolutely. It was it was something where, you know, it got got the people's hopes up. And the whole deal where he she went Charlotte went to go catch Alexa, so she didn't fall off the apron. Oh no. And the look that the two exchanged. Well, that that we're going out about dad tomorrow. That picture told so much.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, yeah, just the facial expressions alone. Like they told the entire story with facial expressions. And well, not the entire story, because I feel like there's a couple of young ladies who may be going to get a little catty with each other tomorrow night on SmackDown.

SPEAKER_01

Well, which we'll be doing live with the watch along in our Discord, should you be interested to see. Thank you very much. Um Winner winner chicken dinner.

SPEAKER_03

After it was all said and done, Liv Morgan walks away with the victory.

SPEAKER_05

People kind of sleep on Liv. Like I granted, Jell-O had it figured out that it was going to be Liv, and the uh there was a whole lot of people who said Liv's gonna win it, which I was going for somebody who decided not to show up, Bianca Bel Air. Say it because I thought that would be cool. But uh you can't sleep on Liv Morgan, like she's on a mission and she does things well. Stop phrasing. Never mind. I'm not even getting it. I'm not even getting into it. I'm not even getting into it. I'm not even gonna start.

SPEAKER_01

Guy.

SPEAKER_05

Easy, not even gonna do it. Um, but it really was good to see Liv when and when it went taking Tiffany Stratton, hitting the oblivion off the ring apron to the floor. That was awesome.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So, all in all, I dug it. Soul Ruka, as a matter of fact, you know, I keep talking about Soul Ruca. One of the last three in the rumble. It was her, Liv, and Tiffany Stratton. I guess not at the rumble, it ain't. Oh my god, that was that may be the coolest move in wrestling right now. If you have not seen it, I suggest after the show you go to YouTube and you look up Soul Ruka Soul Snatcher. It is by it's like a backflip into a cutter. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_03

It's like an inverted cutter forward flip. It's a it's a springboard forward flip into a cut into a cutter.

SPEAKER_05

It's it's pretty damn cool, whatever it is. But yeah, I dig the soul snatcher, but congrats to Liv Morgan for being the 2026 Women's Royal Rumble winner.

SPEAKER_03

She's had she's had quite the luck in Saudi.

SPEAKER_05

She has because she was the first ever um, I forget what that one was. The biggest, gaudiest belt I've ever seen in my life. She was the first one to win it. What was that one?

SPEAKER_03

The Crown Jewel change.

SPEAKER_05

Crown Jewel, that's what it was. Thank you. I couldn't remember. I can't want to say king and queen, and I'm like, no, that's not it.

SPEAKER_03

Nope, nope, nope.

SPEAKER_01

So that takes us to AJ versus Gunther. Um, this was the great showcase of who AJ Styles is, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_05

The heart, the determination, the fight, the leave it all in the ring mentality. That's exactly what we saw in this match.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_05

And in the end, Gunther got the win. AJ put him over. And kudos to AJ for that. That is a class act.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. And I've heard some argument about the whole thing with the fact that Gunter's sleeper is so anticlimactic.

SPEAKER_05

Not in this one.

AJ Styles Farewell Vibes And Gunther

SPEAKER_03

And it's it's he's putting they're getting this move over. Pretty much they can they can get it to where if Gunter gets you in the middle of the ring and locks you into that, we know that it's gonna be over.

SPEAKER_05

Uh gentleman the chat saying we all called this, and we did, we all called it, however. Did you not tell whoever that was that they should be watching the Not Travers Mark Wrestling podcast? That's a customer. Oh. Well, they should be watching the Not Travers Mark Wrestling podcast. Um, we did all call this. We knew I we all felt that AJ was going to lose this match, but there were a couple of things that have a lot of people talking regarding this. The fact that he almost put the gloves down and then put them back on, hit the bullet club.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um he said in an interview with Stephanie McMahon after the fact, she asked him why.

SPEAKER_03

And he goes, I don't know. I just did it because those are my gloves. And he said that he doesn't want he never say never. He may want to have he may want to have he wanna whenever if his son decides to end up being being a wrestler, he may want to have he wanna he may want to be a tag team with his son. Which would be cool. So at that at that was that was his explanation for the whole not not leaving the gloves on the ground.

SPEAKER_05

Well, and I don't think he's done anyway. I feel that he is on his way to probably TNA. I think he's gonna take a little bit of a break first, hang out with his family.

SPEAKER_01

And then he's on his way to TNA, the house that AJ Styles built.

SPEAKER_05

Well, and maybe a stop in was it IGWP, IWGP, New Japan. Well, I don't know if he'll do New Japan.

SPEAKER_03

New Japan is IWGP.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, well, then New Japan. Um, I feel like we'll get him there. Uh and then I feel like we get him back at the WWE come Hall of Fame and Mania.

SPEAKER_01

That's what I think we got going. Very much.

SPEAKER_05

Um valid question. Aaron Marie asking in the chat, uh, Brie coming back. Does that mean we get Daniel coming back? I've heard rumors. I'm not gonna lie, I've heard I me personally, I don't think it's gonna happen. But I have heard rumors. Credible source rumors saying that there is conversations. There's nothing saying he is coming back, anything like that, but there have been conversations. Now, were those conversations between him and Bree, were those conversations between him and trips? I don't know who those conversations were with, but I've been reading that there have been conversations.

SPEAKER_01

Well, who knows?

SPEAKER_03

And if we if we go and we read the spoilers on the dirt sheets all the time, then nothing's ever a surprise, and we can't ever get get at our feels for something for the moment.

SPEAKER_05

True. Um Jell O chiming in with a very, very all-cap no.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, missed a no. Uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_05

I don't think there's really any need for Daniel Bryan to come back or Brian Danielson, whatever you want to call him. That guy, Bree's husband, I don't think there's any need really for him to come back. I think he's got his own thing going on with uh with the AEW with Clown Show. See, look at you with the hookups. Tene Wade, I have friends in New Japan.

SPEAKER_01

Wonder if they would know. Mr. Talos can just uh do his thing right now.

SPEAKER_05

Well, I will say that, and I think I said this last week on the podcast. I really feel like we have been seeing AJ Styles' farewell tour the whole time for the last year because he had the final match in New Japan.

SPEAKER_03

It was actually Noah, but was it Noah?

SPEAKER_05

Final match in Japan.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_05

Uh he he had the the love letter with John Cena. Like he's been going through matches that would, to me, be the definition of a retirement tour.

SPEAKER_03

Him and Finn went at it.

SPEAKER_05

Him and Finn, yeah. Oh, Finn. Janine says, Mike, be nice.

SPEAKER_03

Maybe I don't want to.

SPEAKER_05

Do I need to set up a match here?

SPEAKER_03

Don't tell me what to do.

SPEAKER_05

Don't tell me what to do. Look, why see? Why, why, why, why?

SPEAKER_01

That didn't need to happen.

Miz vs Ilja And SmackDown Main Event Chaos

SPEAKER_05

Gunther did go over in this one, and it did make him like, I mean, he's you've got Randy Orton, who is the legend killer, and you've got Gunther now, who is the career killer.

SPEAKER_01

So, and um, as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure like two or three days before Mania, WWE uh copyright licenses for the name the career killer. So you wanna talk championship match? Let's talk championship match. Same as A. Matt, I'm tired. Maybe you should. Main event in March. Mike versus me. See? See? I'm retired. I'm done.

SPEAKER_05

I said he said, I'm retired. Uh by the way, in response to why Jericho was not at the rumble, it was reported he is still under contract to the clown show. I mean, it was a good way to get people talking.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Throwing that out there. I don't know if he did that or if how it went, but it was a good way to get people talking.

SPEAKER_03

Very much so.

SPEAKER_05

So Sammy versus Drew. This one did not at all, even a little tiny piece of a part of a bit happen the way I thought it was going to. Uh this one was brutal. Absolutely. And I have to, I want your opinion. And chat, I want your opinion as well. I feel like Sammy got hurt. I feel like they uh they went, they they improvised on the fly because Sammy got hurt.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. I think Sammy hurt his back early in the match. Be interested to know what you guys think about that.

SPEAKER_03

Well, whether he was or whether we he wasn't, he still put on a hell of a show.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, he did, absolutely. And I enjoyed every bit of this match. Like I said, it didn't end the way I thought it was going to. 100% went into this thinking, Sammy inside, on the way to WrestleMania, this has got to be his time. This is this is the perfect setup for Sami Zayn to get his first victory over Drew McIntyre and his first championship, his big championship, first time at the big built in that place.

SPEAKER_01

Very much so. But no, as uh Jello says, but he was always going to lose, which unfortunately is correct.

SPEAKER_05

Um that takes us to the men's Royal Rumble. Omafemi. Do I need to say anything else?

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_05

Like this dude just marched in there and eliminated five people, including Braun Breaker. Including Braun Breaker, which leads to the question: who was that masked man? And oh, the answers I have heard.

SPEAKER_03

I've heard Jake Paul.

SPEAKER_01

I've heard that one.

SPEAKER_03

I've heard Seth Rollins. I've heard that one. I've heard Adam Pierce. I laughed at that one. I've heard Logan Paul.

SPEAKER_01

I kind of think that's the one.

SPEAKER_02

And I mean the list can go on and on and on.

SPEAKER_05

I think it was Logan Paul. Like people have looked at me like I was crazy when I said that, but I think it was Logan Paul. Uh Serif in the chat on TikTok Live says Logan Paul is my guest. Who's your guess?

SPEAKER_03

I'm thinking Logan because you know I thought it was Seth to begin with because it happened so fast, but then I looked and saw how tall.

SPEAKER_01

How tall this guy was. And who fits that build?

SPEAKER_03

From the way the shoulders were to uh and and it it would he was not necessarily not necessarily muscle bound, but he but he wasn't like scrawny scrawny either.

SPEAKER_01

But he was a it was a I don't know how to explain it.

SPEAKER_03

You could you could tell that it wasn't an Austin theory because Austin Theory is way more broader in the shoulders.

SPEAKER_05

Let's see what we got here. Um Jello said Austin Theory. Um Janine says I've heard rumors Jake's coming to WWE. He's still nursing a broken jaw, though. Which granted he didn't have to talk and he didn't take no shots to the face.

SPEAKER_01

So I mean it's a possibility. Uh Jay Reb saying Joe Henry. You didn't hear me.

SPEAKER_03

Um I don't I I think I think Joe Henry might be a little broader in the shoulders than what was what was necessary for that. And it was somebody who could who can move in a set of loafers.

SPEAKER_05

I heard somebody kind of kind of laughed about it. I said somebody say it was Tes. And I'm like, did you like Look at the mask when it came out. What it was not without giving a reason, it was not Tiz.

SPEAKER_02

No, it was it was it was not Tiz.

SPEAKER_01

No, it wasn't Tiz. Um that was cool, and I think that threw everybody off.

SPEAKER_05

I think that there was a whole lot of people that thought Braunbreaker was winning the wrong rumble, and he was the very first elimination.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And he by the time by the time he got in, the bell rang and he was out. It was three seconds. And he was nine. He was mad-ish, though.

SPEAKER_05

Uh, do you ain't gotta tell me? I already know. Um, talking about Oba Femi, having him having that moment where he and Brock get face to face. Oh, good stuff.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that was exactly what I was wanting. Okay, I've got to talk about a moment, and it just it was one of the things in the Men's Royal Rumble that pumped me. You look on your left and you have Javon Evans. Now exactly what you're talking about. You look in the center, you got Trek Williams. You look on the right, you got Oba Femi. Yep. It is all three evolutions of that Pokemon.

SPEAKER_05

I was gonna say it was a snapshot from NXT because they all stood in the ring in the somewhat same fashion. Wasn't gonna go the Pokemon route, but I'm going with that.

SPEAKER_03

But I mean, they all have the same the the they have they all have the the dread dreadlocks, they all got the facial hair in this in in the same spots. It's just small, medium, large. I dig it. I dig it.

Rumble Format: Women’s Standouts And Liv’s Win

SPEAKER_01

And speaking of large, we got not one, but two grande americanos. Trips. Let me look right at the camera. Trips.

SPEAKER_05

Look at me right here because I know you're watching, because why wouldn't trips be watching? I know you would look at me right here. Finn Balor couldn't be in there because we needed two Grande Americanos. Really? Really? Come on now.

SPEAKER_03

It was it was entertaining to say the least. And oh my god, original Grande Americano comes out, and he looks like he ate the rest of the freaking roster.

SPEAKER_05

Gable America, I mean Grande Americano, like, dude is ripped.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, he was big before, but I think I think he went out to nurse that injury and he lived that gym.

SPEAKER_05

That dude has got muscle in places that people don't have places.

SPEAKER_03

Like I I agree.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, he is jacked. Like it's reminiscent of when Triple H came back after the first quad injury. When he came back and he was just a big old bear of a dude. Same same.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I I really hope, I really hope that the the Grande Americano thing is a little short-term. We get the we get the masks. We get the masks pulled off of all of them. They go back to being who they really are, and we get we get a good run with Chad Gable as this beast that he is.

SPEAKER_05

Like, I would love that. I'd be I'm I'm here for it. But speaking of beasts, ah, yes, the beast incarnate.

SPEAKER_03

No, no, not that beast, not that beast, the former powerhouse Hobbes.

SPEAKER_05

Ah, yes, Royce Keyes. Piece of trivia for you. Do you know where his name came from? Yes. Good. Let's tell the nice people at home where his name came from. Royce is his son's name. Middle name.

SPEAKER_02

And Keys is his mama's maiden name.

SPEAKER_01

Normally, I don't dig it.

SPEAKER_05

Normally I'm like, okay, Royce Keyes, really. But giving that personal touch to it, I like it.

SPEAKER_01

I like it. Yeah. But that guy poops muscle. I like it. Please, I love Mike's idea. Oh.

SPEAKER_05

No, having Royce Key's debut was cool. What's even cooler was seeing him get toe-to-toe with Big Bronson Reed. Because I don't think Bronson Reed knew what to think about it when there was somebody in the ring, he couldn't just bowl over. Like it was it was nice to see. And I see that becoming a thing. I see those two going at it for a while.

SPEAKER_02

So it'd be fun.

SPEAKER_05

Um okay.

SPEAKER_03

Jay Uso comes out.

SPEAKER_05

In fact, he does.

SPEAKER_03

And he eats. He does, he does the whole entrance. Does the whole entrance, gets in the ring, and then he has to run it back. Does the run it back thing, and before the whole run it back thing is over, we get wrong. Roman comes out, stares at Jay Uso right dead in the face, tells him, run it back.

SPEAKER_05

We're gonna run it back. Jay does a turn to do the walk.

SPEAKER_03

Roman does a turn all the way around and punches him right in the damn face.

SPEAKER_05

Now, let's talk about that for just a moment. Mr. Roman Reigns, the OTC title thief.

SPEAKER_01

A lot of people in the internet wrestling community going, why? Why did you bring Roman Reigns in? Why? What do you need him for? Um all the talent on the roster. Why you gotta bring him back out of his uh to win a Royal Rumble? One word. Cinema. Uh agreed.

SPEAKER_03

Roman Reigns has an aura about him that nobody else in this business has at this moment in time.

SPEAKER_05

I agree with that wholeheartedly.

SPEAKER_02

He sweats main event. He sweats money and he sweats it.

SPEAKER_01

You said the first thing, and I was picturing Roman Reigns and little Jay Z shows coming down his face. Stop it.

SPEAKER_03

But honestly, honestly, Roman Reigns has an it factor that nobody else has on the roster.

SPEAKER_04

I have to stop you there because J-Reb ain't wrong. It's not one word, it's two words contractual obligation. Well played, Cameron.

SPEAKER_05

Well played. And that is uh that is correct. Paul Heyman did come out with two people, Braun Breaker and Brock Lesnar. Is this the implosion of the vision? No, it's not the implosion of the vision. That'll be after media.

SPEAKER_03

I think I think we get I think there's some story to be told now on that whole situation. And I think that's maybe one of the reasons why we we had what we we had what we had at Raw.

SPEAKER_01

Which we'll talk about in a moment.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah. Another thing that we have not mentioned yet about the Men's Royal Rumble.

SPEAKER_01

That would be LA Knight. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

LA Knight makes his return. I had him pick to win the Rumble. I did too. However, that was not the case.

SPEAKER_03

You talked me into that. I actually I actually told you Roman was gonna run the win the Rumble, and you said no, and you gave me this whole entire story, and I believed it.

SPEAKER_05

It's because my story was believable. And Trips was Trips forgot to call me. That's what it was. Trips forgot to call me. Like, you know, I I would have told him the whole story, but he didn't call me. And so Trips, that one's on you, bro.

SPEAKER_03

Well. Now we got it where it's going. We do, in fact, have it where it's going.

SPEAKER_05

All in all, I dug the Rumble. As much as people want to downplay it and talk all the trash about it, solid B for me. I dug it. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

I can see your B.

SPEAKER_05

And yes, I I have missed a lot of the chat on the uh on the TikTok live here, but apparently uh Seraph and Dark Side Link having a conversation. A good one, I hope. Um that takes us to Raw. Monday Night Raw, and what an opening. Opening with Braun Breaker being also very upset. Absolute genius. Because he took a page right out of Uncle Scott's book.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Flipped the table, yelled and screamed, pushed people around, said, screw this company. Like that was homage to Scott Steiner.

SPEAKER_03

Oh. It was beautifully done, too. Yes. Would you want to be the one of the security guys that's out there and going, hell no? Going, hey, can you calm down just a little bit?

SPEAKER_05

I would be, I would nick all this the hell out of that. I'd be 20 yards that way, going, hey, stop that.

SPEAKER_03

Just remember that for the future. Yes. The microphone is a weapon. Yes, it is. And that doesn't mean hit people with it.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, you did win our gentleman's bet, Jell O. We had a little side action going on on who's gonna win the Rome award.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

Jell O won. Um, to say that he was perturbed, a slight understatement. The man was and called out Adam Pierce. And Paul Heyman's like, stop it. What are you doing? Stop it. Keep in mind they're in Philly, by the way. And uh Adam Pierce comes out and goes, Aren't you embarrassed? Like, aren't you upset a little bit? Which obviously he was a little bit upset. That you're throwing a fit over number two, number two. That's all I you drew the number. That's on you. You drew the number two. That's your problem. That's a that's a Braun problem, not an Adam problem. And I only deal with Adam problems. That was not an Adam problem.

SPEAKER_01

And then the masked man. Yes. Masked man.

SPEAKER_05

Which I do have to say that Paul Heyman made a point that is uh I mean it's true. Adam Pierce has to pay for everybody's uh visa to go over there. So to say that he doesn't know who it was, that uh that is kind of hard to believe.

SPEAKER_03

Well, what that says is it's somebody uh on the current roster. Logan Paul. Logan Paul.

SPEAKER_05

Um, all in all, great opening. I liked it. I thought it was great. Uh we go from that into uh Javon Evans versus El Grande Americano.

SPEAKER_01

Which one?

SPEAKER_05

We'll get to that. Uh we will call him Gos Americano, you know. Because it's because you live in Kaiser, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So so Ghost is there, Gos. Ghost, that's a Goss. Gos is German for big or large, which grande.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So Gos Americano uh got to show off his lucha skills, and uh we got to showcase the fact that that boy is bouncy.

SPEAKER_03

He bouncy everywhere.

SPEAKER_05

Every time Javon Evans gets in the ring, he surprises me more and more and more. And I'm here for it. I think he is gonna be an absolute superstar.

SPEAKER_01

I learned y'all supposed to use that word, but I'm gonna use it anyway. Indeed. Indeed. Don't win. You don't you don't want tie and tie on me. Indeed.

AJ vs Gunther Result And Future Paths

SPEAKER_05

So it looked like Javon Evans was down and out the until Gable American Grande Americano came out, and the distraction was enough for uh Javon Evans to hit the OG cutter and one, two, three, the winner of the match, Javon Evans. Grande Americano, not happy. Well, one of the Grande Americanos not happy about that. The original Grande Americano said.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, very much so. So I uh go into the next segment. I got a question for you.

SPEAKER_05

Well, before we go into the next segment, we gotta look over here. Um, Janine says Guapo's had enough with the guerrilla militia. He don't want none of breaker. Sister, you ain't never lied. I want zero parts of Braun Breaker. Um had a kid to tend to, so I missed a few minutes. That's okay, as long as you came back. Um, Jill O is saying he bouncy on offense and bouncy when he sells. That boy sells like he's been doing this a while.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Now, ask me your question.

SPEAKER_03

You you brought up a point with the deal.

SPEAKER_01

I'll get to my question here in just a second. But the boy is barely 21.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. Okay. He has three WrestleManias. Yes. Three WrestleManias to beat Randy Orton's world championship, youngest world championship record.

SPEAKER_05

So right. And just to add to that, a little another piece of piece of trivia, uh, debuted in a dark match on AEW. And his thoughts were WWE is not going to want me because I'm 17. And so I'm going to go wherever I can go. And went to AEW and then was invited to the performance center. And one thing leads to another until he's on the main roster now. Talk about a success story.

SPEAKER_03

Sounds like sounds like uh Cody or a punk had to had to have seen this guy.

SPEAKER_05

I'm thinking. I'm thinking that's the case.

SPEAKER_03

Um, but back to my back to my initial question. What is your question? Question me. How do you troll an entire city and a whole bunch of is watching at home?

SPEAKER_05

Oh, oh, pick me. I know. Go ahead. Uh, you come out to AJ Styles music and not beat AJ Styles. Yes. Indeed. You beat Gunther and get booed out of the building. Like, seriously, the heat on Gunther right now, you thought it was bad when Cena tapped that that next raw after Cena was done. Absolutely nuclear heat for Gunther. Yeah. And he came out to AJ Styles' music and did the thing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he he he tried to ham it up as much as he possibly could. And Dragon Leap out of nowhere runs out and kicks this fool in the face.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah, he he was an unhappy young man because the AJ Styles was his tag team partner. They were tag team champions together, and more than tag team partners, they're friends.

SPEAKER_03

Mm-hmm. Gunter wouldn't know what friends are.

SPEAKER_05

No. Oh, we got Reese jumped from uh TikTok to Facebook to join us. Well, welcome into the the big screen because I'm doing the TikTok live on my phone.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, yes, very much so. Um, so Dragon Lee got the upper hand for a minute, for a minute, but what his biggest mistake was is he forgot that Gunther plays dirty.

SPEAKER_05

He forgot that Gunther is Gunther and cracked him with the ring bell. Ugly, by the way. Yeah, I mean when he was swinging for the fences, fail, super fail. Yes, it was bad, and then he uh brings him up to the ropes, puts him in a sleeper, gunter on one side of the rope, inside of the ropes, dragging me on the outside of the ropes.

SPEAKER_03

But how long do you think that was?

SPEAKER_05

That was probably I bet every bit of 20, 25 seconds that he was struggling, trying to and then he was dead dead. Yeah, like dead. Okay, just I know, I know, I don't know where you're going with it. We're gonna talk about it. Please believe we're gonna talk about it. Okay, but yeah, I mean, hung him out to dry, like he was hung out literally because he like went dead weight, and it was it was hard to watch. And then we'd find out we're going to have a match, tag team match with the war raiders, but that's not what we had. We didn't have a tag team match with the war raiders, we had a beatdown.

SPEAKER_03

We had Oba Femi single-handed beatdown come out, pick up Ivar and throw him.

SPEAKER_05

Let that sink in for a minute. He picked up Ivar and threw him like a lawn dart.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, 360-pound man picked him up and threw him, and then Eric, who is a not a little guy. I know I've been face to face with him. He's not a little personal, he's one of the few people I gotta do this to. So he gets he gets that last ride power bomb. Can't call it that. But that's that's exactly what's what it was. Yeah, it he doesn't go just up and down.

SPEAKER_05

He said he extended those arms, and even Taker sitting at home going, damn.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

But we have a question from uh the guy is it any different than Cena picking up Big Show back in the day? It's one of those moments. It's Hogan picking up Andre, it's Cena picking up Big Show, it's it's Oba picking up Eric.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, it's right back picking up three guys at the same time.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it's it's one of those moments. So it's not that it's any different, it's it's a moment.

SPEAKER_01

A big moment.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I mean, let's let's look at the checklist of how to get somebody over. One, have him eliminate the guy that you've had chasing the world title, two have him go toe-to-toe with the guy that's been the guy for domination of the WWE since 2002. Three, go out and roll around 300 plus pound guys, the biggest tag team on the roster, and former world tag team champion, absolutely, and beat them like they stole something.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, and Jade picking up Naya, and uh Keanu James picking up Naya, oh I have to move the puzzle piece.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, we can stay live now because I can put a puzzle piece where the puzzle piece is missing.

SPEAKER_02

Oh it's just making sure you're okay.

SPEAKER_05

So we get through that. We have the Bella Twins. Twin Magic is back in the middle of the ring.

SPEAKER_03

They said they're the original tag team of this division.

Men’s Rumble: Oba Femi, Mystery Mask, Roman

SPEAKER_05

They are the original tag team division, and they're coming after the Bells. Very short segment. But did you notice? Breeze said, Are you ready for us to take those belts? and started doing this, immediately hit their music. Like they didn't let the yes chance happen at all, immediately hit their music.

SPEAKER_01

I said, Time to go, stop that. Yeah, which I thought was funny. They're like, Okay, you did the kicks, you cannot do the no, stop that.

SPEAKER_02

Very much so.

SPEAKER_01

So there's a match that's made.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and the way this match was made is the reason that Raw was brought to you this week by the letters F-A-F-O. Because Paul Heyman gets to uh goes over to Adam Pierce and he gets right here. Adam Pierce is like Paul Heyman says, You're gonna make a match drawing breaker versus LA Nut. No, I'm not. He says I can't do that. He says, You're the GM. You can do anything you want to. Remember that. Yeah, he can do anything he wants to. Um he's like, I can't do that because I've escorted him from the building. He interrupted my show, and whether I like him or I don't, you can't interrupt my show. And he said, What I do suggest is that you get Braun Breaker out of the building and tell Bronson Reed to get ready because he's got a match with Penta. And Paul Haman looks that man in the face and says, Do you know who you're talking to? And in what city? Keep in mind they're in Philly, by the way. One and only time the whole show I heard an EC dub chant. And normally when they're in Philly, especially if Paul's there, it's E C dub all night. So I was kind of surprised at the lack of ECW chance, but we did get one there.

SPEAKER_03

Um right now Paul is getting legitimate heat.

SPEAKER_05

So he is that. And the response from Adam Pierce was F A F O.

SPEAKER_01

And I am happy to see where this goes. I really, really am.

SPEAKER_05

Um so the match that was created, of course, was Pinta versus Bronson Reed. And Bronson Reed beat the hell out of that masked man for about 10 minutes. Um however, Bronson Reed can overcome a lot of things. One of the things he cannot overcome is LA Knight in the BFT outside the ring.

SPEAKER_03

Um while the referee was down.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, while the referee wasn't looking. And so Bronson Reed's getting up and he's trying the referee. One, two, referee gets six, seven, and Paul Heyman's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you do? We can't do what are you doing? He's trying to talk him out of it. And he says, nine, and Bronson Reed goes for it, falls flat on his face. Ten, ding, ding, ding. You're winner by count out.

SPEAKER_03

I'm really glad that they did that the way they did it. Because you don't see very many count out victories anymore.

SPEAKER_05

No, no, you don't. And I thought it was cool that we got the opportunity to see that. Mm-hmm. That brings us to Dirty Down. Shows up. What?

SPEAKER_03

Glorious mustache.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, he had a decent mustache, I'm not gonna lie. But he also has a girlfriend. Yes, he does. Like, he's like the only reason I would come to a city like Philly is to introduce you to my guerita and the winner of the Royal the 2026 Women's Royal Rumble, Liv Morgan. Brings Liv out and Liv's like, you know what? I think the Crown Star chant you deserve it. She's like, I know, I know. And says, I don't know which champion I'm going for. I could go for uh Stephanie Vacare, but I'm gonna be on SmackDown this Friday. See what's going on over there. I may go after Jade Carter. I don't know. I don't know who I'm gonna. But what I do know is that my sister has matched tonight that she's gonna win. Everybody make noise for Raquel Rodriguez. And Raquel shows up and says, Man, I'm excited. I'm so happy that we get to celebrate that you won the Royal Rumble. But eh, question why did you eliminate me? And Liv's like, no, no, no, one like that. No, you've already got a title shot. Now I have a title shot. We both have title shots. And a win for a win by one is a win for the judgment day. And she's like, you're right. And when I win tonight, I need you to stay in the back because I'm gonna win by myself. And lives like bet and got out of the ring, and here comes Stephanie Vacare with new music in my dad. I don't know if you noticed that.

SPEAKER_03

I like the effect of no music sometimes.

SPEAKER_05

No, no, no, she had music, it was new music. It wasn't her original song, which uh I think it was called Bury Me was her original song, original music. This raw was the first time they were using her new music, and it didn't have the same feel, and I'm not sure I liked it.

SPEAKER_01

Go back and watch it, you'll see. What I did like was the way they presented her, though.

SPEAKER_05

Like she was down low and she stood, you know, stood tall, and the camera followed and got in just the right spot where when the you know the horns that she wears that comes out on the tron, it looked like they were attached to her head when it came off the tron. It looked cool. Like I dug it. I uh I'm all for what the cameramen are doing and the effects that they're making happen. Uh J Ran, I'm waiting for Breaker vs. Pierce match. Me too.

SPEAKER_01

I think I think old Pierce could take him. You had to watch the rest of that. I said and I quote, I think old Pierce could take him.

SPEAKER_03

No, I was too busy going, oh my god, did he just say that?

SPEAKER_05

Interwebs dropped for a second. Did you try telling it to stop that? Immediately or immediately, if not sooner. Um getting back to this, we get the Philadelphia street fight for the women's world title. Stephanie Vacare, your champion versus Raquel Rodriguez, and holy hell, what a match!

SPEAKER_03

They beat the out of each other.

SPEAKER_05

They absolutely did. Uh Stephanie Vacare comes to the ring ready to fight and fight. They did. Uh we what do we have? We had tables, we had a multitude of chairs, we had kindlesticks, the ring stairs. I mean, you name it, it was in this match. And it was ugly. There were a couple of spots that didn't go quite as planned, but they did a good job of covering it. And one thing I do love about Stephanie Vicare is we know that she's got a bad ankle. And every time something happens, she sold the ankle. Not just after it happened, but throughout throughout, she sold the ankle. And and I always throw kudos out for that. This whole match was great. Um, in the end, after what was a grueling, yeah, devil's devil's kisses everywhere. I agree with that. We had devil's kissing in the ring, had a devil's kiss on the uh stairs. Like, I mean, we was just devil kissing everywhere.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I'm never saying, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Uh let me leave that alone. Um, Stephanie McCare comes out on top, still your women's champion, and what an awesome match that went into what was maybe the most fire promo I have heard in a very long time. That being one OTC Roman Reigns and one disputed champion world champion. World champion CM Punk. They had the back and forth. I CM Punk came out swinging. Like Roman Reigns is like, you can you interrupted me to talk to Finn Balor? Because early in the night, Finn Balor had put out a thing and says, I don't think I'm a bad guy. But you put me in a spot where I'm I'm gonna do bad things. And CM Punk's like, Do you want to do things? Me and you, we're gonna make that happen. Because I guarantee you, I'm gonna do some bad things.

SPEAKER_03

So Roman Reigns is like and the look and Roman. This is the cinema part that I was talking about. Because Punk is like third fourth wall up there in the camera, like this, and Roman is in the background going, the is wrong with you.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, he was like trying to because he, I mean, he had a pretty good thing going. Like he was like, you know, I I won my first title here, and the last time I lost my title was here, and I won my first Royal Rumble here, so it just kind of made sense that after the day after Royal Rumble, the city I'm in is Philadelphia. So I thought, who better to help me decide who to go against than Philadelphia? Now, I could go after Drew McIntyre, and the crowd went boom. Crowd was not impressed, and started chanting CM Punk, and he's like, So let me get this straight. You think I should go for CM Punk? And place goes nuts, which brings out CM Punk and starts this whole conversation. And so, like we said, Roman Reigns is like, you get in your head or something, you come out here and interrupt me to talk to Finn Balor, and CM Punk you in my show. Boom! He says, I interrupted you. That's funny, seeing as how you're a guest on my show. Whoa! Shots fired. And they go, I mean, Roman calls him Phil. CM Punk talks about the shield. Like they were throwing some stuff in there now. And they go back and forth about, you know, I brought you here. Roman Reigns says, I'm the one after you left for 10 years that said, yeah, go ahead and let him come back. I'm the one that did that. And then you steal my wise man, you steal my belt. And Punk's like, you know, I know you were the champion for 400 and what, 443 days or something like that. And you know, you did that with uh, or no, I was the champion for 443 days with Paul Hammond by my side. Sound familiar? Because I know you were the champion for like 735 years, but just because you did it longer does not mean you did it better. Like they went at each other. And at the end of it, Roman Reigns is like, I could choose you because you're biggest star on the roster. I could choose you because you're the champion and it'd be a hell of a draw. But no, I'm choosing you because I hate you and I've always hated you. Oh like it was a fire promo.

SPEAKER_03

It was if people didn't have their tickets beforehand, I guarantee you they were online trying to find tickets to Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_05

Oh yeah, like this was this was one of those raws that just went by. It was gone. And I enjoyed every minute of it. I think this was the perfect way to end the show. Raw solid A. Maybe borderline A plus.

SPEAKER_01

It was a good show. Um that's gonna bring us to everybody's favorite segment of the show. It's time for notes from the clown show. No, he didn't do the thing. That's okay. He didn't have to do the thing.

SPEAKER_05

Let's talk about notes from the clown show. He did the thing. Yeah, he did. All right, so I would like to say to start this off, Tony Collin, you sir, are a clown. Why do I say that? What the hell? Darby Allen put into a body bag. Yeah, this is nothing new.

SPEAKER_01

No.

LA Knight Hopes, Final Rumble Grades

SPEAKER_05

Putting Darby Allen in a body bag, nothing new. Don't have a problem with it. But then putting him in a trunk and carrying driving him out to the desert and leaving him there. What are we doing? Don't tell me in the movie.

SPEAKER_03

I know this is this is beyond cinema. This is this is bullshit, is what it is. It is silly, it is stupid, and okay. Everybody's got their flavor of ice cream when it comes to wrestling. And I'm gonna tell you my flavor of ice cream real quick. My flavor of ice cream is Neapolitan. You you look like a Neapolitan. Silence. My flavor of ice cream for wrestling is does it make sense? One, does it make sense? Having a crime filmed does not make sense. You know, I don't disagree. My deal is question everything. And if it's lazy, how can we not make it lazy? How can we make it make sense?

SPEAKER_05

But this is what I'm saying about, you know, Tony Khan took the pencil back. And you can tell.

SPEAKER_03

No, he didn't take the pencil back, he found crayons.

SPEAKER_05

Well, and he doesn't even do well with he needs a big chief pad and the fat crayons, and it just it's not working. But you know what's even more clownly than that? You remember way, way, way back like six minutes ago, when we were talking about uh Gunther and Dragon League? Mm-hmm. You remember when we say we thought uh like 20, 25 seconds worth of fighting? Well, there was this thing that happened on Wednesday, you see. See, see, Raw was on Monday.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

That was that was earlier in the week. Well, there was this thing that happened on Wednesday where Brody King was going up against the champion MJF, Maxwell Dick of Friedman, he's better than you, and you know it. Except for a very similar thing happened where Brody King threw him in a headlock. And you would think the champion would fight out of the headline. No, five seconds, five whole seconds of getting a sleeper put on, done, and MJF was dead yet.

SPEAKER_01

Five seconds.

SPEAKER_05

And it's odd to me how that was the same thing that happened on uh and a similar size difference in the in the in the people. That's very true. And before we get into the last thing, I should let you know that uh the notes from the clown show brought to you tonight by the color or by the number of purple.

SPEAKER_01

She knows.

SPEAKER_05

Um now the last thing, which is gonna take us into our last segment. Um there was an F ice chant. I'm trying to keep it somewhat family friendly, so I'm not gonna say the word, but F-ICE chant that went on during AEW. And there was a tweet put out by the referee of that night saying I heard a rumor that the referee held off ringing the bell so that could uh reset you know reverb through the crowd.

SPEAKER_01

Oops, don't do that, don't and and and I'll explain why in just a minute, but there's no play. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

If you're ready, we're gonna go ahead and switch gears. We're getting out of the clown show.

Raw: Braun Breaker Meltdown And Mask Tease

SPEAKER_00

We're we're switching gears, we are grinding gears. And we're gonna take our grinding gears straight off of our last topic of I'm gonna tell you right now.

SPEAKER_05

So talking about the FI chat.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, they everybody's still here in the gears. Thank you. Appreciate you, Patrick.

SPEAKER_05

Okay. Now what I was saying, Royal Rumble haters. I I can't stand them. I don't they there's no surprises. They said there's gonna be surprises, and there was no surprises. Yes, there was. There was a there were Breed Bella, you had Royce Keys, you had uh Brock Lesnar not eliminating eliminating everyone, you had Braun Breaker eliminated first. I mean, you had all sorts of things going on.

SPEAKER_03

Shut up, enjoy the damn show.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly. And there's a lot of people that feel like the Royal Rumble wasn't what it was supposed to be, and it's it's all because their person didn't win, or they thought it should have been like this. I thought LA Knight should have won the Royal Rumble, but do you hear me out here going, I'm not gonna watch the Royal Rumble no more because Jelly Knight didn't win the Royal Rumble? No, it was a good show. It did it go the way I wanted it to? No, but that's the joy of watching wrestling.

SPEAKER_03

To be able to sit back, look at everything, and go, Okay, I didn't see it the way I thought it thought it should have been. Oh well, turn the page.

SPEAKER_05

I thought Bianca Bel Air was gonna win the Women's Royal Rumble, and she didn't even show up. Do you hear me going, that's stupid, triple H this? No. I'm interested to see where they're gonna go with Liv, and I can't wait till Bianca does come back because I know there's gonna be some cool things there. But am I gonna stop watching because she didn't win the rumble? No! As Mike says, sit back, shut up, and watch the show. All of you internet whining community people and finally talking about in internet whining people, Dave Meltzer. You sorry sack of excrement.

SPEAKER_01

I don't like Dave Meltzer, I don't think there's anybody here that doesn't know that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. We uh we refer to Dave Meltzer as John Smith, and if everybody knows John Smith, that guy.

SPEAKER_05

That guy. Exactly. That guy. Uh with the talent they have on these rosters, the era of 10 or 15 legends in the rumble is over. Absolutely, it is like the the have going back to the rumble thing, having all of these you know, surprise legends show up, those days are not there anymore.

unknown

J.

SPEAKER_05

Reb saying if I see if I wanted predictable shows, I'd still watch Days of Our Lives.

SPEAKER_01

Like sand through the hourglass.

SPEAKER_05

Um Dave Meltzer, get so apparently Dave Meltzer was watching Raw and came on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it, to let everybody know he turned off the main event promo segment because and get this the crowd was chanting, and he thought it was ridiculous. They were doing the Roman, Roman Reigns, they were doing that. He thought it was ridiculous, turned it off. The most fire promo of the year thus far. Granted, we're only in February, but thus far, probably the best promo to cut this year, he turned it off because the crowd was chanting.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. One, you can't control what a crowd does. Yes, Roman Reigns is going to stop what he's doing and soak it in for a second and then divert to get back to where he needed to be.

SPEAKER_05

Well, you heard Tony coming. That's what it was. He's like, Oh, I'm gonna turn this in off. Here comes Tony. That's what it was.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. It was like he was texting his girlfriend and it and and his other and his wife was in the other room.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly. Umine Wade said, if you're not on the story team, do you really have anything to complain about? You're right. You're absolutely right.

SPEAKER_01

But Dave Meltzer is a five-star asshole. It is what it is. I've said it, flip it, put it out to the world.

SPEAKER_05

I don't care. Dave Meltzer, I don't there's a whole rant online about what I think about Dave Meltzer.

SPEAKER_03

So Dave Meltzer likes Japanese wrestling. Where the crowd does this. The Japanese wrestling, the crowd will sit on their hands and respectfully just watch.

SPEAKER_05

It is respectful. I mean, you're absolutely right on that.

SPEAKER_03

And that that's one of the flavors of ice cream thing we were talking about earlier, which I'll get to later. But um why why cut something off whenever you're a reporter and you have a duty, regardless if you like a man or not, he has made a living in printing out printing out all kinds of crap, lying to people, but he has a career doing it, he's an alleged reporter, and people people tune in to hear what he has to say.

SPEAKER_05

He is on the same level for me as Vince Russo.

SPEAKER_03

He has a duty to watch shit and to watch shit thoroughly so he can make sure to report on it properly. I agree. I agree. So him doing that is basically having a slap in the face. Yes, Jennifer is correct. You're not wrong. But it's a slap in the face to the people because he's not he's not giving things a chance. I mean, he is not, he's not Jim Cornett. Jim Cornett will fast forward through something because he doesn't like it, you know, but Jim Cornett's not putting out a newsletter every week.

SPEAKER_01

No, he's putting out a podcast and saying bad things about Dave Melter because Jim Cornett's a smart man. But all in all, that's yo, Dave, roll the fuck up. And for Dave, this is for you.

SPEAKER_05

Now, those are the things that grind my gears, and that brings us to our 9:30 hour. So I do want to say thank you to everybody, and since we've come to that part of the show, it is time, Mike Caldwell, for the people listening, the people watching, the people in the chat, and the wrestling world in general. What are your final thoughts? The floor is yours.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I've mentioned flavors of ice cream.

Oba Femi Mauls War Raiders

SPEAKER_03

Flavors of ice cream. You with wrestling, you have something for everybody. You know, AEW is not my thing, New Japan's not my thing, the WWE is my thing, for the most part. Especially, especially it's in the last couple of years. Yeah. Because there are there are ways that they go about things, and they're they're reassessing everything. They're asking, is it lazy? And if it's not, if it's lazy, let's go ahead and try to figure out how to make it not lazy and the how to make it make sense, which is that's my style. That's my flavor of ice cream. Not to, you know, we we on this podcast, we talk about our flavor of ice cream. We do. But if your flavor of ice cream is having people throw imaginary hand grenades in somebody's pants, okay, so be it. It's rest. And that's one of the things that's the beauty about wrestling is it can bring people together one way, shape, or form, or another. Absolutely. No matter, no matter your flavor of ice cream, it's still ice cream. So with that, let's put all the other crap aside and let's all let's all be wrestling fans.

SPEAKER_05

I couldn't agree more. I think we should all be fans of wrestling. I think we should all give the middle finger to Dave Meltzer. And damn you, because now I want to my final thoughts. All joking and everything aside, it is a good time to be a wrestling fan. And I don't care what level of wrestling it is, whether it's WWE or AW or GCW all the way down to your your local independence. It is a wonderful time to be a fan of professional wrestling. And I know that within 50 miles of you, there is wrestling to watch. As a matter of fact, what is today? The 5th? So nine days from today, WWE is gonna be right here in Lubbock, Texas. So it's right that that's right here for us. Then they're gonna go to Dallas, they're gonna San Antonio, they're going all over the place. AW, lots of shows in Dallas. Um, just in our area, we've got BCW, Squared Circle Pro, South Plains Championship Wrestling, Lubbock Pro Wrestling 101, Rampage Wrestling. Like, and that's just this area of West Texas. That's not getting into Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, none of that. That's just our little corner of West Texas. There is always going to be some wrestling to watch. And I suggest anytime you get the opportunity to see it live, 100% do it. Um, it's it's my drug. It's it, I'm I'm always excited to be a part of it and to be at a show. So I can't express enough how important it is to go check out your local independent wrestling, any chance you get. With that, I do want to say, Mike, thank you for being on the show tonight. It's always a pleasure having you on. I want to say thank you to everybody that's been in the chat. Are we gonna see any nine signs on Raw? You just might. Um, thank you to everybody that's in the chat. Thank you to everybody that's watching, everybody that's listening. I do hope to see everybody in the watch along tomorrow night. Guys, thank you so much. You are the reason I do this. You give me a platform to hang out with you guys and talk wrestling. I love each and every one of you for it. And that's about going to do it for us. So until tomorrow night for the watch along, I'm Guapo. That's Mike Collinwell. We're not your average marks. See y'all next time.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

Contributor

Guapo

Host
Contributor

Bruss

Co-host
Contributor

Buddy

Co-host
Contributor

The Guy

Co-host