Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.
Speaker 1: Ready are you ready? Let's get it all. Let's get
Speaker 1: it Mike simper viv back here with you for the
Speaker 1: next hour, talking professional wrestling and mixed martial arts, something
Speaker 1: we do every single day here on Sports Byelines Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 1: And however you're joining me today, tune in, I Heart
Speaker 1: American Forces Radio Broadcast affiliates Sports Byeline dot com, Serius
Speaker 1: x seven podcast. We're streaming on Twitch, We're on YouTube.
Speaker 1: Just want to say thank you for spending a little
Speaker 1: bit of time with us today. Hopefully your Christmas was well.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you're boxing day one is well too. Hopefully went
Speaker 1: better than Brian Alvarez's traveling plans which kind of went sideways.
Speaker 1: In case you're wondering why I'm here again in the
Speaker 1: main hosting chair, that is because Brian Alvarez and his
Speaker 1: family are stuck in Florida, which is a good place
Speaker 1: to be stuck when you're trying to go back to Seattle, Washington,
Speaker 1: and a ton of snow apparently taking place in the
Speaker 1: the Washington state region, apparently north Seattle got about five
Speaker 1: or six inches of snow that was enough to shut
Speaker 1: down the airport and stop Brian and his family from
Speaker 1: coming home. So he is scheduled to return very early
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning. There is the most minuscule chance in the
Speaker 1: world that he will be back for the show tomorrow,
Speaker 1: but I seriously doubt it. Uh and more likely he's
Speaker 1: going to be back on Wednesday, and you will have
Speaker 1: once again myself and filthy Tom Lawler hosting this show
Speaker 1: giving you all of the raw review that you need
Speaker 1: coming up tomorrow on the show. But we got a
Speaker 1: lot to get into today and unfortunately need to start
Speaker 1: it off on a sad note. Marcus Crane thirty three
Speaker 1: years old, passed away independent wrestler, probably best known for
Speaker 1: his work in death matches Game Changer Wrestling, went to
Speaker 1: the g CW tour of Japan. Was trained by Danny
Speaker 1: Daniels and also is very notable for being in the
Speaker 1: Chicago area and the A a W Pro shows. Apparently
Speaker 1: passed away took a nap, did not wake back up again.
Speaker 1: He has had head issues. He was trying to return
Speaker 1: from skull surgery that he had back in two thousand
Speaker 1: and nineteen. When he had a craniotomy after they found
Speaker 1: out there was an affection in his skull that was
Speaker 1: leaking into his brain. So a very sad situation there.
Speaker 1: Marcus Crane passes away at the age of thirty three
Speaker 1: years old. Going to get into a whole lot of
Speaker 1: what's taking place on the wrestling scene when we get
Speaker 1: back Wrestling Observer Live. You are listening to Wrestling Observer
Speaker 1: Live with Brian Alvarez and Mike Semberviv on the Sports
Speaker 1: Byline Broadcasting Network. Back on the show, Mike simber Vv here,
Speaker 1: whether you Wrestling Observer Live. We do this show every
Speaker 1: day for an hour, but if you want us seven
Speaker 1: you might be able to do it on Twitter. That's
Speaker 1: usually the easiest way. I am at semper vv, the
Speaker 1: website for this podcast at w O n F four
Speaker 1: W the broadcaster at Sports Byline USA, the handsome and
Speaker 1: amazing co host at Filthy, Tom Lawler, and uh Brian
Speaker 1: Alvarez is at Brian Alvarez if you if you want
Speaker 1: to talk to him or see pictures of him being
Speaker 1: upset that he's got to go back to snow but
Speaker 1: Filthy with Brian being gone, of course, that gives us
Speaker 1: more than ample chance to get into all of the
Speaker 1: things that actually make us happy, which could be any
Speaker 1: number of things today on a on a Monday afternoon,
Speaker 1: it could be uh going to the Raiders game. It
Speaker 1: could be Christmas, it could be catch wrestling rules, could
Speaker 1: be any number of things filthy. What do you want
Speaker 1: to get into the start? Well, let's talk about Christmas, right.
Speaker 1: We're coming off of the holiday this past weekend. Mike.
Speaker 1: Is there any thing that you received for Christmas that
Speaker 1: you'd like to tell the listeners about. I would love
Speaker 1: to tell the listeners about what I received, but I
Speaker 1: can't do that because of FCC violations. But one of
Speaker 1: the gifts that I gave was a this Sharper image
Speaker 1: uh foot massage or it's got like to to my wife,
Speaker 1: these five different rollers in there and all these heat
Speaker 1: temperatures and everything. So I got her that, which made
Speaker 1: her very happy. Offset the fact that I got a
Speaker 1: Ninja Blender Slash food processor for her her as well too,
Speaker 1: because you know, I like Wacomo Lee, so that's what
Speaker 1: that's about. So you know, I gave that to her
Speaker 1: two so it's something that I can use and plus
Speaker 1: something that she can use. So that went well. The
Speaker 1: boy is happy, so big success in the simper vv family. Awesome.
Speaker 1: I myself, Mike, I gotta. I got a gift that
Speaker 1: I cannot share with virtually anybody, A super super sexy
Speaker 1: calendar my wife gave me, which I can either hang
Speaker 1: up nor show anyone. Uh. I also got this wool
Speaker 1: raizor ramon as a shoot. By the way, h g
Speaker 1: figure here. Did you get that from someone? Or was
Speaker 1: that the gift to yourself from being such a great
Speaker 1: new japan strong open weight champion. That was a gift
Speaker 1: to myself. Uh, and the best gift of all, I
Speaker 1: must say, a gift I'd never thought I would receive.
Speaker 1: Despite crying out on Twitter, I woke up the next
Speaker 1: day over Christmas night, not even Christmas Day. The next day,
Speaker 1: I woke up to five discs of Doink the Clown
Speaker 1: in my box and my email in box, and I've
Speaker 1: been watching Doink lighted up, I guess you could say,
Speaker 1: back in the early nineties for the past day, and
Speaker 1: I'm loving it. Somebody's probably thinking you're lying about this,
Speaker 1: and I can say for sure he is not lying
Speaker 1: about this. We what brought on this whole like we
Speaker 1: gotta rewatch Doink thing. Well, there was a discussion between
Speaker 1: Granny Brian's granny and Vincent ver High Uh the the
Speaker 1: grid the gladsome giant of the gridiron himself. Uh. Speaking
Speaker 1: about Doink the Clown, Granny asked, was he a wrestler?
Speaker 1: And Vinny said, oh, he was a great wrestler. And
Speaker 1: I decided I needed to find out if Doink the
Speaker 1: Clown was indeed a great wrestler. Um, I don't know
Speaker 1: if i'd say that, but I am enjoying the first
Speaker 1: disc of Doink that I've dived into. There. Now is
Speaker 1: there a see Now, there's going to be a break
Speaker 1: in this though. You're gonna have to actually start being
Speaker 1: studious about this, aren't you. Because he goes from Matt
Speaker 1: Bourne to Steve Kern at some point, and then I
Speaker 1: don't know Steve Lombardi and I don't know who the
Speaker 1: hell else belieyed all the Doinks and Dinks and such.
Speaker 1: But uh, I mean, doesn't it go from weren't the current?
Speaker 1: At some point? It does? And you know, Mike, and
Speaker 1: that's I think that's a perfect segue because watching these
Speaker 1: early Doink matches, Matt or Matt Boorne was a tremendous,
Speaker 1: tremendous matt wrestler. He was out there shooting single legs
Speaker 1: ankle picks on typhoon. He was grabbing two holds of
Speaker 1: his uh. He tried to have a dog in a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago before he passed away. They got
Speaker 1: into it on the Nindie show like for Real, for Real. Well,
Speaker 1: watching him in the squared circle as Doink in those
Speaker 1: early matches leads me to believe he would have been
Speaker 1: a great candidate to face Cat's Yours Shabata under these
Speaker 1: Now I guess now that's out there catch wrestling rule
Speaker 1: set that cats Her Shabada will be competing under at
Speaker 1: the Tokyo Dome. Yeah, so New Japan held there Russell
Speaker 1: Kingdom sixteen press conference today in Tokyo, and as Tom mentioned,
Speaker 1: the most relevant thing for this show is the fact
Speaker 1: that CATSI Orady Shabbata uh in his match against the
Speaker 1: mystery opponent now has rules attached to it. Catch wrestling rules.
Speaker 1: Stretches and submissions will be in use as well as throws,
Speaker 1: which is really like a regular wrestling match. Do you
Speaker 1: have the finish is gonna come the same way? You
Speaker 1: could be counted out, disqualify, pen or submission, but no punches,
Speaker 1: no open hand strikes, no fists, no nothing like that.
Speaker 1: So in that way going to be a lot closer
Speaker 1: to what he did with Zach Saber Jr. Uh The
Speaker 1: last time around, Shabbata talked a little bit about what
Speaker 1: he wanted to do during the press conference, and this
Speaker 1: is up on the New Japan site if you wanted
Speaker 1: to take a look at not only this, but several
Speaker 1: videos that took place from throughout the press conference with
Speaker 1: everybody facing off with each other. What Shabbata said was quote,
Speaker 1: he wanted to give this a different name to the
Speaker 1: grappling exhibition match I had was Zach Saber Jr. And
Speaker 1: set it apart as something else. Grappling rules as a
Speaker 1: concept that has already common in mm A were strikes
Speaker 1: for band well, you know, catch wrestling rules is something
Speaker 1: that I think can be specific to pro wrestling, and
Speaker 1: that's why the name changes. Is there to explain those
Speaker 1: differences with grappling rules. More specifically, I think it allows
Speaker 1: for moves using the ropes or more pro wrestling styled
Speaker 1: three dimensional if you will, In expression, victory to a
Speaker 1: pro wrestler comes down to skill and technique in this environment,
Speaker 1: and it strips pro wrestling down to its essentials, to
Speaker 1: go to the roots of wrestling. A bit pro wrestling
Speaker 1: sprung out of what we call the Lancashire style in England,
Speaker 1: and that's something we mustn't lose sight of. I want
Speaker 1: a fusion in New Japan pro wrestling that brings the
Speaker 1: base fundamentals to the fold. This is something that's just beginning,
Speaker 1: and I think these rules, match times and things of
Speaker 1: that nature can change the concept as it evolves. That's it.
Speaker 1: That's all he had to say, and he was done talking.
Speaker 1: Tom Uh. We talked about this a little bit last
Speaker 1: week when we talked about a number of men, including yourself,
Speaker 1: that you know, really bringing matt wrestling back into the
Speaker 1: four front much like a De Malenko and other people.
Speaker 1: You can make this style exciting, you can make the
Speaker 1: essentials of pro wrestling and of wrestling at its core. Uh,
Speaker 1: fun to watch and very interesting to watch. And obviously
Speaker 1: that is something Shabata his entire career has been based
Speaker 1: on from day one, and UH, something that he's obviously
Speaker 1: feeding into his students. What do you think about what
Speaker 1: what he said here, which was basically a long flower
Speaker 1: your way to get around too. We're not gonna have
Speaker 1: strikes in this grappling match, But what do you think
Speaker 1: about this? And can you see anybody if you thought
Speaker 1: about anybody else, they could step in and be a
Speaker 1: good opponent for Shabata. Well, if you've listened to recent
Speaker 1: comments that he's made about the future of wrestling and
Speaker 1: especially in New Japan, it seems as if he is
Speaker 1: uh nonplused. I guess would be a term that could
Speaker 1: use with the style that he currently sees and was
Speaker 1: hoping for a change, you know, some sort of revolution
Speaker 1: when it comes to the style of wrestling in New
Speaker 1: Japan for the future. And you know, obviously he's a
Speaker 1: guy who's deeply rooted in the fundamentals, deeply rooted in
Speaker 1: legitimate techniques that would work in mixed martial arts or
Speaker 1: you know, amateur wrestling contests, and I obviously am a
Speaker 1: mark for that sort of style. And I think there's
Speaker 1: a number of guys, and we talked about this last week.
Speaker 1: As you know, mixed martial arts has kind of become
Speaker 1: more prevalent. I think the audience is a little bit
Speaker 1: more open to submission wrestling, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the workers, UH see a benefit in it. You
Speaker 1: don't need to kill yourself getting dropped on your head repeatedly.
Speaker 1: You can save that for key moments. If you can
Speaker 1: work on the mat, if you can tell a story, uh,
Speaker 1: with your motions and with your holds. And I think
Speaker 1: there's a number of guys who have put in the
Speaker 1: time and the work and have really you know, kind
Speaker 1: of like cult began to cultivate this style. Once again,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it's reached nearer its apex whatsoever. I
Speaker 1: think you know, as time goes by, you're gonna see
Speaker 1: guys like John Gresham, like all of the young lions
Speaker 1: that are coming up out of the New Japan system. Uh,
Speaker 1: really show that Matt Wrestling is the strongest New Japan,
Speaker 1: be strongest, progress the strongest. Since they used to say,
Speaker 1: I still believe it, filthy believes it. You should believe
Speaker 1: it too. Of course you believe it. That's why you're
Speaker 1: listening to this show. It is Wrestling Observer Live. Will
Speaker 1: be right back back on the show, Mike Summer vv
Speaker 1: here with your filthy Tom Lawler, feel me flow. Look
Speaker 1: at that. You know, it's like a nice summertime song,
Speaker 1: except it's not summertime here. It's cold. It was like
Speaker 1: summer on Christmas. It was like sixty degrees. I'm at
Speaker 1: on the del Marvel Peninsula east of the Briscoes. Was beautiful.
Speaker 1: Now it's all rainy and pathetic and sad. How was
Speaker 1: it yesterday at the Raider game? Was it awesome? I
Speaker 1: didn't see any of that Raiders Broncos game. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: game was awesome. I told you before we went on
Speaker 1: the air. I was all pumped up about watching during
Speaker 1: the clown and then I get to the game and
Speaker 1: there's some other clown, Bruce Buffer doing the introductions. It's
Speaker 1: time for the Raiders to go out there and squeak
Speaker 1: out of victory over the Broncos. But it was a
Speaker 1: bunch of fun. I had a blast. Were you sitting
Speaker 1: with the people or were you like up in a box,
Speaker 1: like being pretentious and all that, getting getting the good
Speaker 1: food and whatnot. I was in the eight hundred dollar
Speaker 1: club level seats, Buddy, I look at you. Yeah, where
Speaker 1: you're still sitting neck to neck with some peon and
Speaker 1: paying thirteen dollars for a beer? Well, actually, you know,
Speaker 1: it's that's about average I guess we're an NFL same now.
Speaker 1: It's completely ridiculous. I lived close to the that Redskins
Speaker 1: stadium is the dirt worst and about a zillion different ways.
Speaker 1: Or the Washington football team just the absolute worst, including
Speaker 1: the dirt bag owner and the prices, they're absolutely brutal.
Speaker 1: Obviously a Falcon fan, we have a good owner that
Speaker 1: offers up nice pricing for all the fine people of
Speaker 1: Atlanta who go to the game and then root for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys and other teams. But yesterday was a successful
Speaker 1: day against the Detroit Line, so I will take it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have actually been to that stadium and I rooted
Speaker 1: against the Falcons. You are correct. There were more people
Speaker 1: when I was coming up to and you know, I'm
Speaker 1: glad they were the old uniforms yesterday, like when Dion
Speaker 1: was there and everything, Chris Miller, Jerry Glandville gets there.
Speaker 1: They were like the only team that wore black. They
Speaker 1: could not sell any merchandise whatsoever. And it's like you
Speaker 1: go to games the Redskins and the Cowboys and whoever
Speaker 1: else they play. Those two teams especially would just kill
Speaker 1: Atlanta in their own stadium. Was pathetic. Yeah, there were
Speaker 1: a lot of Broncos fans actually at the game yesterday
Speaker 1: and I was told, I guess they traveled with a
Speaker 1: pretty heavy fan base. But they're not a good football team.
Speaker 1: So those people are wasting their money because I know
Speaker 1: the Raiders are not good. It's very tough to share
Speaker 1: for the Raiders after comments that their owners make after
Speaker 1: you know, well das nefarious, deadly deeds that some of
Speaker 1: the players do. I mean, it's tough being a new
Speaker 1: Raiders fan. But at least the stadium was cool. It's
Speaker 1: still very pro wrestling though, to be a Raiders fan,
Speaker 1: I mean, they still operate. I mean Mark Davis for
Speaker 1: the fact that he's got a crappy hair do. I
Speaker 1: mean he still tries to carry on some of the
Speaker 1: swaggering lags his father, even though it's in a ridiculous way.
Speaker 1: But like Otis is drunk and all the all the
Speaker 1: maniacs that the Raiders have given us over the years,
Speaker 1: it's still better to have them than to be. Imagine
Speaker 1: what could have moved to Vegas. You know, you could
Speaker 1: have got the I don't know, we could have got
Speaker 1: the Vikings. Weren't they like trying to move out of Minnesota?
Speaker 1: There for a while, Birmingham and all these other places
Speaker 1: good and now I'm good at her cousins in Sin City.
Speaker 1: I don't think it would have worked, man, I was
Speaker 1: just hoping for an XFL team. Hey, you know, there's
Speaker 1: there's still time, you know with the rock buying that
Speaker 1: thing again and one thing I guess too, well, how
Speaker 1: what was the crowd like? Were there any COVID scares?
Speaker 1: Was anybody scared to go there as they apparently were
Speaker 1: to Madison Square Garden? Well, interestingly enough, Uh, if you
Speaker 1: are vaccinated, well, you have to be vaccinated to get
Speaker 1: into the stadium. However, if you've only had one of
Speaker 1: the shots, you must wear a mask, so you don't
Speaker 1: have to be fully vaccinated. It to be halfway vaccinated.
Speaker 1: And I'm pretty sure they're not checking throughout the game
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're wearing your masks. So that
Speaker 1: was quite questionable. Um, you know, the guy making you know,
Speaker 1: eleven fifty has already got enough on his plate. I
Speaker 1: don't think he's you know, gonna be there at the
Speaker 1: end of the row like, hey, you know, pull that
Speaker 1: up now to like, you know, the black hole. I
Speaker 1: don't think that's the best idea. It was a little
Speaker 1: bit questionable, much like the match making for Rising, which
Speaker 1: we have upcoming in a few days. Mike, we talked
Speaker 1: about Shabbata earlier, but we also have Shipatar who also
Speaker 1: like catch your shibata, Uh should stay away from the
Speaker 1: striking arts for the foreseeable future as he's he's a
Speaker 1: YouTuber who does m M A and he's fighting the
Speaker 1: utah utah Cobo you Takubo um And we also have
Speaker 1: the biggest fight in Rising history, Tension Nasakawa taking on Takarou.
Speaker 1: That fight will be over the suburb because in a
Speaker 1: couple of days, Tension Nasakawa will face the man who
Speaker 1: showed up to the press conference in a tack room mask,
Speaker 1: and that is Taka Noriri Gomi, the fireball kid who's
Speaker 1: probably in his forties, forty two years old. Forty two
Speaker 1: years old. Takanori Domi, your former deep champion, your former
Speaker 1: rival of b J Penn, your your introduction for a
Speaker 1: lot of people to Pride's Bushito series. When health Grace,
Speaker 1: he ran across the ring with his head down and
Speaker 1: go Me just basically lifted up his knee and delivered
Speaker 1: a ny strike, knocking him dead in six seconds in
Speaker 1: a highlight real knockout for the ages the Fireball Kid,
Speaker 1: who's not a kid anymore. In true Rising Pride Never
Speaker 1: Die fashion, they announced a couple of fights days before
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve, including this one against Tension, who so
Speaker 1: he fights at one he's he fought Mayweather it whatever
Speaker 1: weight it was that went the way that it did.
Speaker 1: What is this What is this going to be at?
Speaker 1: Because Gomi was like walking around like one five or
Speaker 1: something like that the last time he had fought, So like,
Speaker 1: are there even weight requirements to this or is this
Speaker 1: just an open weight deal? I mean, I seriously doubt
Speaker 1: there's some sort of weight requirement. It wouldn't be New
Speaker 1: Year's Eve if there was. I think, yeah, certainly not.
Speaker 1: There's always gonna be some something bizarre going on in
Speaker 1: Japan a New Year's We don't have a I don't
Speaker 1: think we have a Bobby Oligan fight on this show,
Speaker 1: although I'd be trying to capitalize off of his big
Speaker 1: win at the last show. But yeah, we have Tension, Gomi,
Speaker 1: rain of Kubota, uh, most marketable women they have, you know,
Speaker 1: rough fault one time on Bella Tour, ended up losing.
Speaker 1: Got revenge for that fight over in Japan where she
Speaker 1: is a far a star against Seawoo Park. So who
Speaker 1: is a you know, a deep fighter of you know,
Speaker 1: relative repute. So I would assume Koboda is coming out
Speaker 1: of this. Uh, but again just again to fight fights
Speaker 1: thrown up at the last minute, here with no and
Speaker 1: again with no real except for you know, ship Atar.
Speaker 1: There no real freak show fight. I mean they have
Speaker 1: five hours and forty five minutes is apparently what's been
Speaker 1: scheduled on Fuji TV for the New Year's Eve show.
Speaker 1: And I you know, where is the forget about Acabono,
Speaker 1: but where are the only guns or somebody like that
Speaker 1: to bring the mainstream appeal? Well, you have the Osakara brothers,
Speaker 1: who are um, I mean I guess there's I guess
Speaker 1: they're stars in Japan. But yeah you don't, I mean
Speaker 1: you have Shipatar. Uh you've got I mean, go mean
Speaker 1: intention is a freak show fight to a certain degree,
Speaker 1: but I mean they could use they could use a
Speaker 1: super hulk fight. I mean Cozy against yallow Man is
Speaker 1: gonna be the thing. Although I now I want to
Speaker 1: see yah Man to see what that's about. Yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: I should be over there Why aren't I defending that
Speaker 1: strong belt. You should attack him after mask and be
Speaker 1: nah man like whatever he does, you just knock his
Speaker 1: ass out like nah man. They gotta catchphrase and everything.
Speaker 1: If I show up over there, I'm showing up in
Speaker 1: the thong like Takata. Who was that? H oh God
Speaker 1: Aca hera go no with Aca Hero's gonads when they
Speaker 1: did the shot of him in a thong, which I
Speaker 1: was also at the show, and you there was the
Speaker 1: ufc C show in Newark. Somebody wore a thong? Was it?
Speaker 1: Who was it? Joe Riggs? Was Dennis Hallman, Yes, Dennis
Speaker 1: Hollman And he was defeated by Brian Eversoul and Dana
Speaker 1: White gave him a special bonus forgetting the thong off
Speaker 1: of his television. There was at one point I believe
Speaker 1: Brian Eversol his toes got caught in the thong of
Speaker 1: Dennis Harman head expose exposed his Oka Hero gonads to
Speaker 1: the audience. It's like it worse when Gary Goodridge the
Speaker 1: story of him telling using his toes too against J. T.
Speaker 1: Kass and he just said it felt like mush his
Speaker 1: toes into his um crotrio region. He said it felt
Speaker 1: like crunchy peanut butter, which pride never die, kids filthy
Speaker 1: the extension of pride. Uh. Somehow, some way, I have
Speaker 1: no transition away from this back to COVID or anything
Speaker 1: like that, So I'll just I'll just go ahead and
Speaker 1: go to this and the fact that uh, w W E,
Speaker 1: just like everywhere else, has been getting pounded uh by
Speaker 1: COVID Bowl games obviously falling out. The NHL season has
Speaker 1: not restarted yet, It's supposed to be Tuesday. Whether that
Speaker 1: happens or not, who knows what's going to be the
Speaker 1: deal with that. But today just breaking uh. Over the
Speaker 1: weekend there were several wrestlers that have either come down
Speaker 1: with COVID or or or being put in a bubble
Speaker 1: by w W too try to protect them and keep
Speaker 1: them as healthy as possible going into day one, but
Speaker 1: apparently is also going through the producer's ranks, which again
Speaker 1: not a surprise, was something like this. P w I
Speaker 1: Insider is reporting that while a typical raw taping would
Speaker 1: have around a dozen or so producers, the company is
Speaker 1: down to quote about half of that. Now. This now
Speaker 1: makes a story yesterday about Pete Williams having to be
Speaker 1: pulled off a card because WW needed him. That will
Speaker 1: now make some more sense there. That was in the
Speaker 1: update from yesterday, so that probably has something to do
Speaker 1: with this. It's a tough situation because of the producers
Speaker 1: workload that they have on them already. The Raw is
Speaker 1: tonight in Detroit. There's also a SmackDown House show in
Speaker 1: Orlando that they need to worry about as well too.
Speaker 1: They were in Tampa in Madison Square Garden over the weekend.
Speaker 1: The show at Madison Square Garden when all up into
Speaker 1: the air, Kevin Owens and seth Rollins against Biggie was
Speaker 1: changed to Kevin Owens and Edge, who wasn't even supposed
Speaker 1: to be there. They called him up to be on
Speaker 1: the show. They got Natalia up to switch brands to
Speaker 1: be on the show. Becky Lynch Bianca Belair title play
Speaker 1: match didn't take place, so it was just a mess
Speaker 1: over the weekend. We can get into a little bit
Speaker 1: more about that as well as what's coming up on
Speaker 1: Raw tonight and many other things when we get back
Speaker 1: from Break Wrestlings over Alive. Back on the show, Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer Live, a better version of Mike semperviv and Brian
Speaker 1: Albarez is Mike Simperviv and Brian's Chop and Roll Express partner.
Speaker 1: You hear the music of the Midnight Express Filthy, Tom
Speaker 1: Lawler Filthy. We were talking about COVID before the break
Speaker 1: Here Sean ross Sap of fightful dot Com reporting that
Speaker 1: Select has learned that w w E has informed their
Speaker 1: talent that COVID testing is no longer required. So I
Speaker 1: believe it goes like this, like, you know, I can't
Speaker 1: hear you, I can't see you. If I don't know
Speaker 1: that you have COVID, then you don't have it. Maybe
Speaker 1: they just assume everyone has it at this point herd
Speaker 1: immunity within w w E. So there's that. So that
Speaker 1: also breaking on the heels of news about producers being out. Um.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's been a a long weekend for w
Speaker 1: w E as they go into this day one pay
Speaker 1: per view. I did not watch SmackDown filth. He did
Speaker 1: because he's a uh, you know, good at his job,
Speaker 1: I guess, and uh passionate. I didn't think he'd watch it,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, but he did. I watched
Speaker 1: Rampage though. We got that in common. I am professional
Speaker 1: wrestling journalist, Thomas Lawler or as you say that several times,
Speaker 1: by the way, on the Christmas show, which you should
Speaker 1: be uh mettled for because for all of the heat
Speaker 1: that you take about throwing up over Brian's couch, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think you actually, single hand to LEAs
Speaker 1: saved that show and kept it moving along there and
Speaker 1: it's and it's darkest moments, which was most of the show.
Speaker 1: I asked repeatedly Brian, why am I on this show?
Speaker 1: And he said, I need you to hold it together.
Speaker 1: So I tried to do my journalistic best uh to
Speaker 1: do so. Uh But Mike, I watched SmackDown over the weekend,
Speaker 1: and the thing that they pushed the most heavily was
Speaker 1: the idea that Paul Hayman's career is going to be over.
Speaker 1: That he he said that what's he gonna do now?
Speaker 1: It's gonna find a new talent, start over again. He said,
Speaker 1: that's not what's gonna happen. He has to face the
Speaker 1: facts that his career is most likely over. They even
Speaker 1: played a video package with clips from w c W
Speaker 1: and The Dangerous Alliance. They had clips from e c W.
Speaker 1: It was basically a Paul Hayman career retrospective as I
Speaker 1: pushed this idea, so my sad music somewhat triumphant in
Speaker 1: a way. My guess is that he will help Roman
Speaker 1: Reins retain. You know, they usually don't push this hard
Speaker 1: in one direction, uh, without some sort of swerve coming
Speaker 1: at you. Uh. There was also a title match between
Speaker 1: Charlotte Flair and Tony Storm in which Charlotte Flair one
Speaker 1: with a pinfall, she reversed a small package and got
Speaker 1: the three count win. I also have a measure of
Speaker 1: advice for anybody who faces Charlotte Flair in the future
Speaker 1: when she goes up top and she decides she's going
Speaker 1: to do the moon salt roll towards the turn buckle
Speaker 1: because then she cannot do a double moon solve she does, well,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be no one there, so there you go.
Speaker 1: That is the key to defeating Charlotte Flair, which Tony
Speaker 1: Storm did not do on SmackDown. And in the main event,
Speaker 1: we had the Miracle on thirty fourth Street fight between
Speaker 1: Drew Day, which I thought was cute, uh as they
Speaker 1: they took on and defeated the team of the usso's
Speaker 1: and Mad Cap Moss's. Main event, Mad Cap mad Cap
Speaker 1: one of the future pillars of the w w uh
Speaker 1: here eating the pinfall loss to Drew McIntire getting he
Speaker 1: and Happy Corbin getting eggnogged repeatedly by Drew Day leading
Speaker 1: to the finish. Not a bad show, easy to watch,
Speaker 1: easy to digest on that Christmas edition, unlike the Feast
Speaker 1: of Seven Fishes I had that earlier that day. Wow,
Speaker 1: look at you going full Catholic. It's just and not
Speaker 1: even an Italian to be seen in that whole equation there,
Speaker 1: and you still went with the seven fishes. I'm impressed.
Speaker 1: I mean, my wife is Catholic. Well yeah, but you
Speaker 1: know Polish, you know, I didn't know they did that
Speaker 1: in Poland. I thought they had like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like whatever they have in Poland, like a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of fish. We had a lot of like
Speaker 1: pickled herring and you know, uh, whitefish and sauce. It's
Speaker 1: speaking sauce fish, Mike. What do you use most of
Speaker 1: the time on the end of the pole to catch
Speaker 1: a fish? That would be uh, that would be a worm.
Speaker 1: I believe that's the traditional way to do it, correct.
Speaker 1: I was thinking more along the lines of a hook. Uh.
Speaker 1: Look at you when you put the worm on the
Speaker 1: hook and you know what that worm is gonna do,
Speaker 1: sell it unlike Hook, who ain't selling a damn thing.
Speaker 1: And that created a bunch of controversy. And this is
Speaker 1: Rampage apparently that's the name of the show. That's what
Speaker 1: they say and the music. I didn't really notice that before,
Speaker 1: but this is Rampage was on a w or was
Speaker 1: on Saturday night on t n TEA. Wasn't on Friday
Speaker 1: night because they got to re do show Christmas Story
Speaker 1: nine trillion billion times over and over again. But this
Speaker 1: was night too of the Holiday Bash. And all anybody
Speaker 1: is talking about coming out of this thing really is
Speaker 1: the fact that Hook faced Bear Bronson. And from what
Speaker 1: I saw, I don't know. Bear Bronson's got big thighs,
Speaker 1: and apparently that's what it was, big thighs against muscular traps.
Speaker 1: Hooke didn't sell the Rakishi driver gimmick that he did.
Speaker 1: He hits the Northern Lights uh t bone tas Plex
Speaker 1: smacks him around with his dad's forearms and well not
Speaker 1: his real dad's forearms, I mean, you know, just at
Speaker 1: the same time down casts and whatever and and doing
Speaker 1: all that there. But he gets the victory after putting
Speaker 1: him in the Red Rum Tas mission. And that's that
Speaker 1: and all the controversy over should Hook not have sold
Speaker 1: or should he have sold for Bear Bronson? Well, that
Speaker 1: was one of taz his gimmicks, much like Hawk impervious
Speaker 1: to the Pilo driver, you know, So what do you
Speaker 1: think about that? Because Kaz obviously has tweeted about saying
Speaker 1: like was gonna kill the business. He showed a clip
Speaker 1: actually of Brett Hart and Tiger Mask where Heart hits
Speaker 1: Tiger Mass and Mass pops immediately back up kicks him
Speaker 1: in the head, and it's like, you know, you don't
Speaker 1: want to see everybody doing it. And I can take
Speaker 1: the case for why somebody why he should not have
Speaker 1: sold for a Bear bronze or why he should have,
Speaker 1: but it's like, if it happens once in a while,
Speaker 1: it becomes a part of this guy's gimmick and character.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's the end of the world here,
Speaker 1: I mean, is it is this that big of a
Speaker 1: deal here? No one is gonna look at Bear Bronson
Speaker 1: and think any less of him because he hit that
Speaker 1: Pilo driver and Hook popped up, You know what I mean, Guy,
Speaker 1: it's not as if he's a you know, a top
Speaker 1: level contender. He's a part of a tag team which
Speaker 1: is mostly on Dark or Elevation. Uh, and they do
Speaker 1: win matches, but they're not featured, you know. And it's
Speaker 1: obvious that Hook is getting a bigger push that he
Speaker 1: is has the people more behind him than Bear Bronson
Speaker 1: does at this point. So I don't really see the
Speaker 1: big hullabaloo. I don't see a big issue with it. Um.
Speaker 1: There was another bit of controversy, a lot of other
Speaker 1: controversy coming out of the show. Mike as Cody Rhodes
Speaker 1: also retained or I guess regained the TNT Championship over
Speaker 1: Sammy Guavara. He ends the TNT era of Dynamite as
Speaker 1: the champion, much like he carried Dynamite as the champion
Speaker 1: throughout the past few years, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: both online and in the crowd seemed to be unhappy
Speaker 1: with the term of events. As Cody hit, I believe
Speaker 1: it was it was at least three crossroads, three in
Speaker 1: a row and then following it up with a tiger
Speaker 1: driver to get the pinfall, and uh, the Spanish Gods
Speaker 1: title reign has been ended. Yeah, Sammy looked fantastic. Has
Speaker 1: always tried for a six thirty, and Cody got his
Speaker 1: knees up on it and used two crossroads actually and
Speaker 1: went for a third, but then set up look to
Speaker 1: be a pedigree, and the fans as soon as he
Speaker 1: started setting up for it, if they weren't booing before,
Speaker 1: they were certainly cascading down them upon Cody there. But
Speaker 1: he didn't do a pedigree. It was a tiger driver
Speaker 1: of all things, and he gets the victory. David Crockett
Speaker 1: comes into the ring afterwards to present Cody with the
Speaker 1: t NT Championship. Yes, how dare I talked about hook
Speaker 1: coming out of this thing is the biggest deal where
Speaker 1: there are many people very upset over Cody Rose having
Speaker 1: the t NT Championship, but well, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: really surprised by this. I mean also too, I don't
Speaker 1: know what what you're where you're supposed to do with
Speaker 1: Sammy is the TND champion. Yes, he could have a
Speaker 1: lot of great matches, but unless you're gonna have him
Speaker 1: in a feud, I don't know. To me, it's still
Speaker 1: there's advantages to to Cody with that title and bringing
Speaker 1: in different people to work against him. But you know,
Speaker 1: if they didn't have a plan for Sammy here kind
Speaker 1: of what's the big deal? You know, some of those
Speaker 1: belts are gonna have to change hands, you know occasionally.
Speaker 1: You know that's they only have a world title, so
Speaker 1: the other belts and they want to protect that one.
Speaker 1: And I'm fine with, you know, protecting belts to a point,
Speaker 1: but it's not like title changes to take place, you know,
Speaker 1: even if it's a month later, are that big of
Speaker 1: a deal. It's a TV championship, So I don't know
Speaker 1: how long Cody is gonna have this thing. But I
Speaker 1: don't think it's really the end of the world or
Speaker 1: anything either. It's just a good prop for Cody to
Speaker 1: have as people lose their minds over him. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I mean, if you watch the show, what's kind of
Speaker 1: been a bigger story, it's been this deal with Cody,
Speaker 1: you know, with the fans essentially hating him against all odds.
Speaker 1: You know, it hasn't been the story of Sammy Guevara.
Speaker 1: And if you're going to try to capitalize on something
Speaker 1: that the fans are, you know, making uh an important
Speaker 1: part of the show, then now's the time to do it.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, what do they do have
Speaker 1: Sammy beat Cody here and then where does Cody go
Speaker 1: from there? He gets you know, did you get a
Speaker 1: little bit of sympathy? I don't know. I think he's
Speaker 1: better off in this role as a you know, quasi
Speaker 1: heel champion who's gonna get booed against probably anyone face
Speaker 1: or he'll uh seemingly at this point. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's just a better role. I think the
Speaker 1: belt is you know, better used in this situation than
Speaker 1: fuge that they had lined up for Sammy. Maybe I'm
Speaker 1: missing something or forgetting something, but um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think it was a good good change, good change. I
Speaker 1: can't even say her name from Robin hood menut Tits,
Speaker 1: but uh it got changed to Latrine. Good change. That's
Speaker 1: oh God, I gotta watch that movie again. Um. Cody
Speaker 1: is also going to be facing off against Dan Lambert
Speaker 1: and Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky, and I wish I
Speaker 1: wish aw cared about their tag team division more because
Speaker 1: I love the idea of Scorpio and Page as a
Speaker 1: team much more than separately in the environment there right now,
Speaker 1: and they have so many great tag teams. I would
Speaker 1: love to see more action, but that's probably not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: But from what you've seen, you know, Scorpios guy's got
Speaker 1: that thing. He's beaten Chris Jericho twice. Ethan Page is
Speaker 1: probably he keeps winning matches, maybe due for something here.
Speaker 1: Can you see Cody being a transitional guy here? As
Speaker 1: well as just your opinion as a fan, who do
Speaker 1: you think comes out of this getting booed? How do
Speaker 1: you think those matches are gonna go? Do you think Cody, Yes,
Speaker 1: he's the de facto baby face in those matches, but
Speaker 1: do you think they actually end that way? No? I
Speaker 1: actually think the men of the Year would get cheered. Um.
Speaker 1: Ethan Page is very he's hateable, but he's very charismatic,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. He's very he's very charming.
Speaker 1: He's got a punchable face. But yeah, so, um, you
Speaker 1: know I would have I mean, I guess I would
Speaker 1: have be surprised if they use Cody as sort of
Speaker 1: a transitional champion. But I think he'll keep the belt.
Speaker 1: Um after one of these guys get their shot, and
Speaker 1: then we'll see some more baby face challengers coming the way.
Speaker 1: We have had perfect timing going to break. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get no credit for this at all. Producer Dom is
Speaker 1: going to lie about us Brian and he gets back.
Speaker 1: But we have been perfect with these things. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: patting myself on the back like Barry Harrow. It's Tom
Speaker 1: can watch doin? Maybe it's time did I go back
Speaker 1: and watch and Perry Harror's matches from both of the years.
Speaker 1: Mike Semperviv Filthy Tom will be back Wrestling Server Live,
Speaker 1: back on the show. Mike semper Viv here with you,
Speaker 1: Filthy Tom, Lawler, Philamin for Brian Albarez. This is Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer Live and we're about to put a bow on
Speaker 1: this thing. But of course Monday Night means it is
Speaker 1: Raw Night on USA. The Ms and Maurice bringing their
Speaker 1: romance back into the raw ring as they prepare to
Speaker 1: renew their wedding vows live in from the w W
Speaker 1: Universe tonight, plus Randy Orton squares off against Otis, the
Speaker 1: Street Profits, Battle Ray and Dominic Mysterio and the Forgotten
Speaker 1: About r k BRO Tournament Finals and more. That's all
Speaker 1: they got right now. Covid I guess uh uh in
Speaker 1: play tonight for the Raw Show, Tom aj Style is
Speaker 1: supposed to take on Omas. But maybe that's almost not
Speaker 1: gonna happen, not being spoken about. What is though, Dolph Ziegler,
Speaker 1: who has been in a mini feud with Damien Priest
Speaker 1: over the United States Heavyweight Championship. He gets a shot
Speaker 1: at that title tonight with his dirty dog partner somewhere
Speaker 1: Robert Rude around ringside and apparently to Austin Theory, will
Speaker 1: get one more chance to impress the Boston Mince McMahon.
Speaker 1: At this point, Tom, what would you suggest to impress events?
Speaker 1: What I if I was as the theory, I would
Speaker 1: just probably walk around shirtless and flex To be honest,
Speaker 1: I think he tried that. Do you think maybe he
Speaker 1: should go bottomless? You think that might work for Vince? Uh? Mike,
Speaker 1: We've got to go, But you know what, verr Mihn
Speaker 1: is still coming m the Peter north of w W thereright,
Speaker 1: I just had to save your Mohan always coming to raw.
Speaker 1: We'll see if he actually makes his first appearance tonight.
Speaker 1: If maybe possibly, I'll be back tomorrow. Certainly filthy Tom
Speaker 1: Lawler will be And we thank all of you for
Speaker 1: joining us again. This is Wrestling Observer Alive. Talk to
Speaker 1: you after a while, you have been listening to the
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the Eight Side Network