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Speaker 1: Welcome back to our three Rolling along ESBN fifteen thirty

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati Sports Station. This is becoming a tradition here for

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Speaker 1: us on since he three to sixty. I've long been

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Speaker 1: made it known that I am a wrestling fan, WWEAEW

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Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. I partake and consume

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Speaker 1: as much as possible. And we've had multiple wrestling segments

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Speaker 1: on this show with our guy Ricky Ringside, rick Yuccino,

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Speaker 1: the man, the myth, the legend, covering wrestling from every

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Speaker 1: conceivable angle. Joining us now to talk about this weekend's

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Speaker 1: Royal Rumble, Rick, what's going on?

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Speaker 2: You know? To m I'm happy to be here.

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Speaker 3: I'm always appreciative to be on the air, ready and

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Speaker 3: rare to go to talk about professional wrestling, especially with

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Speaker 3: the Royal Rumble this weekend. It's my favorite event of

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Speaker 3: the entire year. It's the kickoff to WrestleMania season. But

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Speaker 3: it's kind of bittersweet the fact that we're doing this interview.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not, you know, boots on the ground.

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Speaker 1: King Abdullah Financial Distinct in Saudi Arabia.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not in Saudi Arabia. Not in Saudi Arabia

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Speaker 3: for the event. This is one of those ones that

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Speaker 3: I always tried to go to every single year, and unfortunately,

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Speaker 3: for obvious reasons, I'm not able to go. But I'm

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Speaker 3: happy to be here in person talking with you.

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Speaker 1: They essentially built this from the ground up for this

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Speaker 1: event in Saudi Arabia.

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Speaker 3: They built it out of like a dirt parking lot. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: they literally built this. They started construction on the fifth

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Speaker 3: of this month, and it's done, and it's done unbelievable.

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Speaker 3: That just goes to show you how much money they

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Speaker 3: got over there.

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Speaker 2: It can be done.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: I do want to preface this. We did this segment

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Speaker 1: last year and you incorrectly predicted the winner of the

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Speaker 1: Royal Rumble. You you you failed to see John cenas

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Speaker 1: I did.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Jay Usso pulled off the upset last year.

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Speaker 3: I got so blinded by the quote unquote obvious choice,

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Speaker 3: as many did.

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Speaker 2: By the way.

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Speaker 3: Look, it was just it seemed like such a foregone

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Speaker 3: conclusion that John Cena would be wrestling for the world

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Speaker 3: title at his final WrestleMania, which he did and he

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Speaker 3: won it last year. We all knew that match was

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Speaker 3: going to be taking place. It just seemed like the

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Speaker 3: Royal Rumble would be, you know, a great place for

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Speaker 3: him to make a little bit more history last year

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Speaker 3: becoming a three time Royal Rumble winner. There's only been

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Speaker 3: one of those ever in Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now

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Speaker 3: Cody Rhodes has the opportunity to become a three time

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Speaker 3: Royal Rumble winner this weekend, as does brock Lesner. So

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Speaker 3: maybe one of those two guys ties Austin for the

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Speaker 3: most wins ever. But yeah, I was so blinded by

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Speaker 3: the obvious choice in John Cena that I did not

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Speaker 3: see the setup that was Jay Uso. Shout out Joe

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Speaker 3: Danman that you know he was. He was kind of

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Speaker 3: the obvious choice of what they were building up last year,

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Speaker 3: and they did a really really good job of hiding that.

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Speaker 2: And I'm wondering if maybe there's something similar for this year.

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Speaker 1: I feel like there's been a lot of hiding from

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Speaker 1: the WW in the last year, the seth Rolins situation,

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Speaker 1: many others. I can't help, but wonder, are you on

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Speaker 1: the take now as an insider? Are you are you

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Speaker 1: just here trying to direct the audience in a different way?

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Speaker 2: I am? Is that is there an ulterior motive at stake?

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Speaker 3: Here. No, are you still on our side? I am

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Speaker 3: still on your side as far as you know. But geez,

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Speaker 3: I am having a to Mike trouble over.

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Speaker 2: Here to welcome to the fifteen thirty studio.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just gonna hold this thing up, you know,

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Speaker 3: like I'm about to. This doesn't happen it or something? No,

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Speaker 3: it doesn't. But yeah, no, look, I am I am

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Speaker 3: not a quote unquote insider for those exact reasons that

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Speaker 3: you would imagine, because unlike the NFL or Major League

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Speaker 3: Baseball or anything like, you can report something that is

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Speaker 3: factually accurate at the time that you reported it, and

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Speaker 3: then a day later it is completely wrong. So it's

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Speaker 3: it's just one of those things where I just don't

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Speaker 3: want to deal with the scrutiny of being wrong about

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Speaker 3: anything that I knew was was accurate. But I'm I'm yeah,

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Speaker 3: it's just so much changes on a constant basis. I

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Speaker 3: would rather do what I do for Sports Illustrated, which

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Speaker 3: is talk to the talent themselves. I got a big

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Speaker 3: interview I'm going to be dropping later this evening, but

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Speaker 3: for the takedown on s side, But yeah, I would

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Speaker 3: I would rather just get the get the information on

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Speaker 3: the record than trying to rely on sources in an

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Speaker 3: industry where everything is constantly changing.

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Speaker 1: Outside of the Men's and Women's Royal Rumble, also get

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Speaker 1: a chance for the WW Championship. Drew McIntyre, who just

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Speaker 1: wanted off Cody Roads Sammy's Ay and it feels like

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Speaker 1: everyone keeps wanting to sam'sein ever gonna get over the hump?

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Speaker 2: Is he ever gonna do it?

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Speaker 1: I just have a hard time believing that, as new

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Speaker 1: as it is for Drew McIntyre being the champion, that

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Speaker 1: they would take that title off him this quick.

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Speaker 2: How do you see that one going? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: No, this is the slam dunk of the of the night. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 3: for Samy's Ay and fans, he's not. He's not winning

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Speaker 3: the ww Championship this weekend. This is why I didn't

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Speaker 3: want him to win the Fatal four Way of Saturday

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Speaker 3: Nights made event last weekend in his hometown to Montreal,

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Speaker 3: because he was just going to lose to Drew McIntyre

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Speaker 3: again this weekend in Saudi Arabia. I understand why they

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Speaker 3: gave him this match. First Off, he wins in Montreal,

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Speaker 3: gets a big pop. He's beloved in Saudi Arabia. He's

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Speaker 3: going to get a huge pop there, but he's not

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Speaker 3: going to win the WWE Championship. They're just not going

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Speaker 3: to take the title off of Drew McIntyre in his

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Speaker 3: first defense. I have been shocked before by WWE. This

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Speaker 3: would be an all time shocker for me to have Drew,

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Speaker 3: who has chased this title for five years, lose it

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Speaker 3: in his very first defense ahead of WrestleMania season. It

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Speaker 3: was shocking enough that they took the title off of

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Speaker 3: Cody Roads ahead of WrestleMania season, and that was something

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Speaker 3: that Cody himself, behind the scenes reportedly pushed for because

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Speaker 3: he felt like it would be fresher for him to

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Speaker 3: be in the chase. So I still think it's going

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Speaker 3: to be some form of Cody, maybe Jacob Fattou, Drew

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Speaker 3: McIntyre WrestleMania that kind of situation. I don't know what

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Speaker 3: Sammy Zain is doing unless Tony, unless it's.

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Speaker 2: A new year but a different ginger.

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Speaker 3: Maybe they pulled what they did with Becky Lynch in

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Speaker 3: twenty nineteen with Sammy Zain this year, where he loses

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Speaker 3: his WWEE Championship match and then turns around and wins

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Speaker 3: the Royal Rumble at the end of the night and

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Speaker 3: goes on maybe to face some punk for the title

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Speaker 3: at WrestleMania. That's a direction they could go. I'm not

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Speaker 3: sure who's facing CM Punk right now for the world

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Speaker 3: title at mess WrestleMania. It could be Sammy Zay.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You also, you also have the lose and you retire

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Speaker 1: match essentially for AJ Styles against Gunter, who is now

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Speaker 1: become this legend killer across WWE.

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Speaker 3: He's retiring Oldberg and John Cena, right, and now here's

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Speaker 3: AJ Styles?

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Speaker 1: Is this the end for AJ Styles? And Gunter kind

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Speaker 1: of retains and not retains, but he continues this run?

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Speaker 1: Or does AJ Styles get this one?

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Speaker 3: Man? The WWE really wants you to think that AJ

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Speaker 3: Styles is retiring this weekend, the way that they have

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Speaker 3: set this up, the way that he's all of a

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Speaker 3: sudden he's wrestling shins Ky Nakamora, one of his longtime rivals,

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Speaker 3: at Saturday Night's main event. Out of nowhere, he's wrestling

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Speaker 3: CM Punk. First time they've gone one on one in

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Speaker 3: a WWE ring, first time they've gone one on one

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Speaker 3: in since two thousand and four on Monday Night Raw

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Speaker 3: for the world title, which was ruined by Finn Balor,

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Speaker 3: who will talk about here shortly. But you know, shins

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Speaker 3: K Nakamora is putting out this post on social media

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Speaker 3: that's now been deleted that oh yeah, aj Styles told

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Speaker 3: me he was retiring at the Royal Rumble. They are

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Speaker 3: setting this up so much. They really want you to

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Speaker 3: think that this is going to be his final match,

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Speaker 3: which is smart marketing because that's going to get more

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Speaker 3: people to tune in. Sure, but there is just this

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Speaker 3: I don't know, there's this cloud that's hanging over this,

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Speaker 3: and it goes back to SummerSlam with the faked injury

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Speaker 3: by Seth Rollins, which was I think done largely for

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Speaker 3: WWE Unreal Season two, which is now on Netflix. They

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Speaker 3: documented that whole thing. A lot of people look at

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Speaker 3: that show and go, man, it's killing k Fabe. I

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Speaker 3: think what that thing has done is added another layer

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Speaker 3: of nuance to k Fabe where it would not surprise

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Speaker 3: me at all if WWE told Shinske to put that

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Speaker 3: post out there to create this belief that aj Styles

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Speaker 3: is going to walk away and then he beats Gunther

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Speaker 3: on Saturday to continue his career.

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Speaker 2: It's such a fifty to fifty.

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Speaker 3: Thing for me, Like, just this morning, a report came

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Speaker 3: out that Styles has trademarked his name and his A

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Speaker 3: one logo. Look he's talking about on screen like, this

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Speaker 3: could be the end of my WWE career. There's a

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Speaker 3: lot of people think maybe he wrestles for TNA a

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Speaker 3: couple more times. Maybe he goes and wrestles somebody like

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Speaker 3: a Will Osprey and aew. He did say that this

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Speaker 3: was going to be his final year in professional wrestling.

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Speaker 3: Maybe he has a few more left in him elsewhere.

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Speaker 3: Could be the end of his run. It just seems

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Speaker 3: so weird that his WWE career would end on a

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Speaker 3: pay per view in Saudi Arabia on a Saturday afternoon

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Speaker 3: here in the United States. But at the same time,

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Speaker 3: he debuted at the Royal rum ten years ago, so

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Speaker 3: there's kind of a full circleness to this. Sure, I'm

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Speaker 3: so fifty to fifty on it right now. There's just

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Speaker 3: something that doesn't pass the smell test to me on

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Speaker 3: this one. So I am picking aj Styles to win,

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Speaker 3: but I could be firmly wrong on.

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Speaker 2: That Women's Royal Rumble.

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Speaker 1: The two main events, obviously of the card, you have

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Speaker 1: the confirmed entrance Rhea Ripley's Charlotte Flair. Liv Morgan is

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Speaker 1: going to be in this match, along with many others.

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Speaker 1: One of the best things about the Royal Rumble for

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Speaker 1: me is just the unknown. You know, how you get

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Speaker 1: legends or people you're not expecting to show up as

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Speaker 1: one of the thirty entrants that come out, but from

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Speaker 1: a from a card that we know standpoint and who

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Speaker 1: you think has the edge. What do you think of

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Speaker 1: the women's side.

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Speaker 3: It's a really stacked Royal Rumble this year with there's

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Speaker 3: seventeen names that have been announced. You didn't bring up

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Speaker 3: Becky Lynch, who is the greatest female wrestler of all time,

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Speaker 3: not just her saying it us. It's a Sports Illustrated

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Speaker 3: have said it. You may have heard that a few

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Speaker 3: times on WWE programming with him last year. But to me,

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Speaker 3: re and creative decisions have narrowed this feel down to

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Speaker 3: a two horse race for me, and I don't even

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Speaker 3: know if one of them is going to be competing

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Speaker 3: on Saturday. I think it boils down to a potential

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Speaker 3: returning Biyonca bell Air.

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Speaker 2: That's my pick for the win.

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Speaker 3: Here's what I want you to the next time you

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Speaker 3: have Bob Man gene On, do me a favor and

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Speaker 3: ask him how a broken knuckle can keep somebody out.

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Speaker 3: For nine months, she has not wrestled since she broke

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Speaker 3: her knuckle at WrestleMania forty one last April. There has

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Speaker 3: not been a whiff of a report about her possibly

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Speaker 3: being back this weekend. If she shows up, I think

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Speaker 3: she has to be an instant favorite. But for me,

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Speaker 3: it just feels like it's Live Morgan's here. She has

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Speaker 3: always been the bride's mate, never the bride in this match.

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Speaker 3: She's competed in all eight Women's Royal Rumbles. She's been

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Speaker 3: a runner up twice. The first thing that they did

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Speaker 3: when she came back from her shoulder injury in December

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Speaker 3: was tease her and Stephanie Vickaerr for the women's World Championship.

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Speaker 3: At some point, I think that's the match we're going

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Speaker 3: to get at WrestleMania. I would say Rhea Ripley would

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Speaker 3: be a favorite. I would say Eo Sky would be

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Speaker 3: a favorite, and I would say Becky Lynch would be

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Speaker 3: a favorite. But they all three one separate championships within

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Speaker 3: the last month, which makes me think they have different

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Speaker 3: plans WWE does in place for them at WrestleMania this year,

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Speaker 3: So it comes down to Live Morgan and Biancabella.

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Speaker 2: The men's side. I think this is loaded with talent.

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Speaker 1: We just found out yesterday I saw the McAfee show

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Speaker 1: that brock Lesner is going to be in the Royal Rumble.

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Speaker 1: Roman Reigns is going to be in the Royal Rumble,

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Speaker 1: Cody Rhodes, Jay Usso Gunter will be in the Royal Rumble.

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Speaker 1: Penta some young up and coming Yeah, raymus here Oba

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Speaker 1: Femi is going.

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Speaker 2: To be in it. That's his debut.

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Speaker 3: That's a dark horse candidate. I'm not picking him to win,

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Speaker 3: but what a statement it would be if he comes

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Speaker 3: in and he wins it.

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Speaker 1: You obviously have the vision with Logan, Paul Bronson, Reed,

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Speaker 1: bron Breaker Austin theory will seth Rawland magically returned early

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Speaker 1: from an injury and be a part of this. Our

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Speaker 1: Truth is going to be in the Royal Rumble. But

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Speaker 1: this is it's star stacked, and who knows what other

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Speaker 1: surprises they have. My pick for this year's Royal Rumble

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Speaker 1: is bron Breaker. I think bron Breaker is on a

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Speaker 1: upward trajectory. To the Moon right now in WWE, how

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Speaker 1: do you see this one playing out?

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Speaker 3: I don't mind the bron Breaker pick, but again, I

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Speaker 3: just have this gut feeling that it's not going to

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Speaker 3: be him. He had his title opportunity against CM Punk

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Speaker 3: on the January fifth episode of ron Netflix, the big

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Speaker 3: one year anniversary show. He came up short. I just

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Speaker 3: feel like they're hoping that Seth. I don't think he's

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Speaker 3: going to be at the Rumble. He just separated his

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Speaker 3: shoulder or torres rotator cuff in October and had to

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Speaker 3: have surgery, so he's not even going to be able

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Speaker 3: to rehab until February, so we're just coming up on that.

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Speaker 3: I don't think he'll be there this weekend, but I

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Speaker 3: think there is a hope that he is going to

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Speaker 3: be ready to compete at WrestleMania, and if that's the case,

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Speaker 3: bron Breaker is clearly the opponent because bron Breaker is

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Speaker 3: the one who turned on Seth and was the real

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Speaker 3: cause of his injury and storyline. So that's I think

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Speaker 3: they're what they're setting up there. Again, I feel like

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Speaker 3: they want you to think it's going to be Cody Rhodes.

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Speaker 3: They want you to think it's going to be Roman

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Speaker 3: Reigns or brock Lesner or one of these guys. But again,

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Speaker 3: I go back to last year. I did not see

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Speaker 3: Jay Usso coming. What am I not seeing coming this

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Speaker 3: year or maybe somebody else? What are they not seeing

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Speaker 3: that they should be paying attention to possibility? I think

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Speaker 3: he'll be in the match. I think that's a surproject. Yes,

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Speaker 3: I do think Chris Jericho will be there. That's not

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Speaker 3: me reporting anything that's got feeling no, But I do

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Speaker 3: think there is something to what they're doing with Finn

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Speaker 3: Balor right now. They remember they film that segment on

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Speaker 3: Monday Night Raw where he tried to enter into the

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Speaker 3: Royal Rumble and Adam Pierce said sorry, we're full up,

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Speaker 3: And then later in the night he's beating up CM

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Speaker 3: Punk and ruining the main event between him and aj Styles,

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Speaker 3: which one showed me that the Punk Balor rivalry is

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Speaker 3: just getting started. And I think he is going to

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Speaker 3: find a way, somehow, some way to get into the

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Speaker 3: Royal Rumbel match, and if he does, he is my

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Speaker 3: instant pick to win it. I think the WWE's finally

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Speaker 3: setting up Finn for this long awaited singles run that

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Speaker 3: so many of us have been clamoring for do we.

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Speaker 2: Get the demon again. I think you get it at WrestleMania.

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Speaker 3: I think you get a I think you get a

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Speaker 3: Judgment Day Demon Finn Balor at WrestleMania, potentially against CM punk.

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Speaker 3: If that's the way that they go, sign me a

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Speaker 3: hell up. Because remember, at the end of Survivor series

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Speaker 3: war games in November, it was clear that we were

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Speaker 3: heading towards Roman reigns and CM Punk sure or Roman

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Speaker 3: reigns and Cody Rhodes, excuse me, and they blew that

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Speaker 3: up because reportedly Triple H didn't want to give us

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Speaker 3: something that we had seen before. So I'm supposed to

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Speaker 3: think that they blew up Cody Rhodes versus and Rains

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Speaker 3: to give us Roman reigns against CM Punk, which we

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Speaker 3: just saw last year. That doesn't make any sense to me.

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Speaker 3: I'm something is not passing the smell test. I think

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Speaker 3: we're going to get another shock win this year, a

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Speaker 3: la jay Usso I am right now. I am picking

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Speaker 3: Finn Balor to win the Royal Rumble.

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Speaker 2: I like this real quick.

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Speaker 1: Adam Pierce, the general manager of Monday Night Row, recently

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Speaker 1: has been there's been these phone calls coming in from

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Speaker 1: someone that's clearly in a power position, a high up

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Speaker 1: people obviously are going to wonder who this is. Is

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Speaker 1: it the Rock, Is it Vince McMahon, Is it someone

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Speaker 1: who is obviously striking fear and Adam Pierce to make

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Speaker 1: the decisions.

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Speaker 2: That he is.

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Speaker 1: Do you have any guess as to who's on the

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Speaker 1: other end of these phone calls?

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Speaker 2: I don't know if we're ever gonna find out this

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Speaker 2: This to me, who.

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Speaker 1: Wasn't years ago that had like the he came to

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Speaker 1: the ring with like the animal in a cage covered

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Speaker 1: up and we never really found out what the animal was.

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Speaker 2: Was Dereck Rowan, Yes, Yeah, it was just kind of like,

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Speaker 2: there it is.

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Speaker 3: They finally after months they finally revealed it and it

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Speaker 3: was a giant animatronic fake spider is what it turned

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Speaker 3: out to be.

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Speaker 2: And then two weeks later somebody killed it and that

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Speaker 2: was it. That was it.

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Speaker 3: There was that was that was back in the day

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Speaker 3: of the Vince McMahon creative.

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Speaker 2: Who's on the other end of the line, Rick, I have.

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Speaker 3: No idea, but if I tell us, I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I don't know if we ever find out. I feel

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Speaker 3: like this is gonna be one of those things where

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Speaker 3: it's like the Men in Black neuralizer, then just go,

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Speaker 3: what are you talking about? Phone call happened, Never happened.

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Speaker 3: I don't know what you're talking about. We're just going

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Speaker 3: to move forward. But to have some fun. Could be

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Speaker 3: the Rock, Okay, you know, somebody could be obviously if

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Speaker 3: it's not Triple H or somebody like that, somebody somebody

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Speaker 3: higher up Ari Emmanuel, somebody like that, somebody in the

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Speaker 3: TKO Board of Directors area. But the Rock would make

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Speaker 3: the most sense if he was going to come back

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Speaker 3: and do something creatively. But as we saw last year,

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Speaker 3: that's a gamble if you're just disappeared as well. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 3: Forget that that John Cena heel turn Ahea a summer slave.

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Speaker 3: Forget it ever happens, baby John. The rest of the way,

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Speaker 3: baby uh.

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Speaker 1: That is a rick Uchino getting you set for all

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Speaker 1: things Royal Rumble on Saturday. I'll forget two pms TAM

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Speaker 1: to start, which is great because you see at Houston

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Speaker 1: is noon. That'll parlay right into the Royal runbre game

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Speaker 1: for a great Saturday afternoon. You see goes and wins

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Speaker 1: on the road and then Drawn Breaker wins.

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Speaker 2: The Royal Rumble if Man returns.

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Speaker 1: If Man, what do you got Rick for for folks

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Speaker 1: to follow along with all your coverage?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, just follow me on X at Rick Uccino R

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Speaker 3: I C k U C c h I n O.

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Speaker 3: That's a one stop shot for all my work at

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Speaker 3: the takedown on SI I will have, assuming everything goes

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Speaker 3: according to plan, this afternoon, I will have a conversation

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Speaker 3: with Tamaso Chomping I who debuted for a ew just

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Speaker 3: last night, So that conversation should be out this evening

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Speaker 3: in written form and video form tomorrow. I'm taking a

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Speaker 3: risk by announcing that ahead of times, so hopefully, hopefully

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Speaker 3: something doesn't go wrong this afternoon and I have that

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Speaker 3: out for you again at Rick Uccino R I C

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Speaker 3: K U C C h I n oh.

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Speaker 2: You're the best, Rick, appreciate your time.

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Speaker 3: Man.

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Speaker 1: We'll do it again soon. That is Rick Ucino. This

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Speaker 1: is Sincy three to sixty going along still. ESPN fifteen

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Speaker 1: thirty Cincinnati Sports Station

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Speaker 3: C KY Cincinnati and iHeartRadio Station Guaranteed Human ESPN fifteen

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Speaker 3: thirty iHeartRadio running