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. Ready,
Speaker 1: let's get it all. How's going everybody? Brian Alvarez here
Speaker 1: on Wrestling Observer Live. We are here every day Monday
Speaker 1: through Friday. Now Pacific three Eastern, Sunday three Pacific, sixth Eastern. Well,
Speaker 1: it's Wednesday here on this program. You know what that means.
Speaker 1: We've got a lot to get into today. A w
Speaker 1: Dynamite coming up tonight. Got some big matches kid for
Speaker 1: that show. Apparently it's Shark Week. We've got a shark
Speaker 1: cage where the Jericho Appreciation Society will be spending. Is
Speaker 1: it one giant shark cage? Is it multiple small shark cages?
Speaker 1: Are we gonna jam a bunch of them into a
Speaker 1: four foot five five ft box? What are we gonna
Speaker 1: do here? Tonight? We'll find out what is they barbed
Speaker 1: wire death match Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho. There will
Speaker 1: be blood tonight. So you don't like that, I don't
Speaker 1: know what to tell you. There's gonna be blood tonight
Speaker 1: and a bunch of other matches as well, which we
Speaker 1: will get into We've also got some notes on Rick
Speaker 1: Flair and of course having his last match, but he's
Speaker 1: also the interview talking about being removed from the w
Speaker 1: w E Open and then being put back in, which
Speaker 1: is interesting, probably not for the reasons that you're thinking
Speaker 1: what I'll talk to you about that. Today. We've got
Speaker 1: the raw ratings from Monday night. Rod did much better
Speaker 1: than expected, going head to head with the home run
Speaker 1: derby a shockingly good number and as it pertains w
Speaker 1: W and shocking that n x T Women's Battle Royal.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna win a single vote for Match of
Speaker 1: the Year, don't get me wrong, but that was so
Speaker 1: much better than I expected it to be, and we
Speaker 1: had a surprise winner and the crowd loved it and
Speaker 1: nobody got hurt, which is the most important thing. So
Speaker 1: we'll tell you about that as well as the n
Speaker 1: x T two point out review today, So a lot
Speaker 1: to get into. You can Texas four to five seven
Speaker 1: zero seven five six six back in a moment with
Speaker 1: more Wrestling Observer Live back in the show. Bran Elbert
Speaker 1: is here Wrestling Observer Live, MAXI for bb also Wrestling Observer,
Speaker 1: and we got a lot of news to get into
Speaker 1: here today. But I am gonna start with a note
Speaker 1: on n x T two point out. I realized I
Speaker 1: say it's my favorite show, It's really not my favorite show.
Speaker 1: But I think it's are to say that I enjoy
Speaker 1: the show more than most. Would that be fair? I
Speaker 1: think I enjoy the show more than most. But listen, Okay,
Speaker 1: there's there's there's being a gimmick, and there's being honest. Okay,
Speaker 1: And I don't want to hear anybody try to tell
Speaker 1: me that that Battle Royal was bad? Okay? Was it
Speaker 1: the match of the year? Absolutely not. You know what,
Speaker 1: I've been ridiculing the idea of this Battle Royal for
Speaker 1: a week now. Okay, there's absolutely no reason that this
Speaker 1: thing should be any good at all. They have a
Speaker 1: whole they have twenty women. Probably i'd have to look
Speaker 1: at the whole lineup, but I mean probably half of
Speaker 1: them shouldn't even be on TV right now. And they're
Speaker 1: all in a chaotic match, which you really I mean,
Speaker 1: you could practice to a degree, but it's not like
Speaker 1: practicing a one on one singles match you can choreograph.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's just things everywhere. It's it's chaotic.
Speaker 1: They have to be thrown over the top rope to
Speaker 1: the floor. This was a recipe, a recipe for quite
Speaker 1: frankly a lot of material. Okay, but was it Sarah
Speaker 1: Matto who put this together? Whoever put this together needs
Speaker 1: a raise immediately, Okay. So they had twenty one women,
Speaker 1: actually because Zoe Start comes out as a surprise number
Speaker 1: twenty one. She hasn't been around since November when she
Speaker 1: tore something in her knee. I can't remember which which
Speaker 1: ligament it was, but she's been out for eight months
Speaker 1: and she comes back as the big surprise final person
Speaker 1: to enter this Battle Royal. So they do this Battle
Speaker 1: Royal and it is impossibly booked where the women that
Speaker 1: should not be on TV. I mean they're lifted over
Speaker 1: the top, that they're helped the entire way. They got
Speaker 1: him out of the thing as quickly as possible, and
Speaker 1: then all of the women who are capable of doing
Speaker 1: a Battle Royal. They had some very clever spots with
Speaker 1: all of the women that could actually competently work this
Speaker 1: Battle Royal. So I'm watching it, I'm going to holy smokes,
Speaker 1: it's like way better than I expected. And then you know,
Speaker 1: it comes down to the final four or whatever, and uh,
Speaker 1: then we've got we've got Tiffany Stratton and Zoe Stark.
Speaker 1: They're the last two in there. And it wasn't perfect.
Speaker 1: And the funny thing actually, is it. Tiffany Stratton was
Speaker 1: like an excellent high level gymnast and she's so tired
Speaker 1: she can't do a skin the cat at the end.
Speaker 1: That was something to see. But then she immediately does
Speaker 1: a round off two back hand springs into the corner.
Speaker 1: She could pull that off somehow. But anyway, they're going
Speaker 1: back and forth and they're throwing each other and there
Speaker 1: were some dumb spots, like you know, Wendy che gets
Speaker 1: thrown over the top, but she lands on her own pillow,
Speaker 1: but they don't count that as being on the floor,
Speaker 1: which I've argued this so many times. It's preposterous. I mean, so, yay,
Speaker 1: she gets back in the ring and then she gets
Speaker 1: thrown out again. So Tiffany Stratton, she gets thrown up,
Speaker 1: but only one foot touches. They're doing the you know,
Speaker 1: back and forth and whatever, and finally she gets tossed
Speaker 1: out and Zoe starts and everyone starts cheering She's the winner,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah, and then she's cheering. Just like in
Speaker 1: every Battle Royal you see the diabolical Cora j who
Speaker 1: just turned. He'll sneak into the ring and she's down
Speaker 1: in the corner and she's ready to pounce, and I
Speaker 1: was like no, And she runs at Zoe Start and
Speaker 1: Zoe ducks boom and she throws her over the top
Speaker 1: of the floor and eliminates her. It was so good.
Speaker 1: And then the fans like going crazy because they like
Speaker 1: saw this miracle Battle Royal and then you know, everyone's
Speaker 1: cheering for Zoe Start and Zoe Starts. She goes her
Speaker 1: and she points at Mandy Rose who's on the whatever,
Speaker 1: and they point out Mandy Rose and Toxic Attraction are
Speaker 1: the ones that jumped and injured Zoe Stark eight months ago.
Speaker 1: Now Zoe Stark has won this Battle Rose, she gets
Speaker 1: a shot at Manny Rose for the title. I was like,
Speaker 1: what the heck? How did they pull this off? How?
Speaker 1: But I am a man who's only to say I
Speaker 1: was wrong. I was wrong. I thought this was gonna
Speaker 1: be horrible. I was just I was so excited to
Speaker 1: watch this match. I was just I was more giddy
Speaker 1: than I am right now. I'm like, oh, man, let's
Speaker 1: see what's gonna happen. I can't just wait to see
Speaker 1: what you'll listen to aone does in this match, and dude,
Speaker 1: they pulled it off. It's like if they would have
Speaker 1: done this Battle Roylla hundred times, I'm not sure any
Speaker 1: of them would have been better than this one. It
Speaker 1: was good. So anyway, that was a main event of
Speaker 1: n x T two point oh and they did it
Speaker 1: so good for them. I am nothing if not a
Speaker 1: fair man. Oh yeah, I am, And I was not
Speaker 1: looking forward to that, but that's a lie. I was
Speaker 1: looking forward to the Battle Royal because I thought it
Speaker 1: was going to be a bunch of knees and elbows
Speaker 1: and fist flying backfists in people's faces and a foot
Speaker 1: catching somebody in the nose as they get tossed over
Speaker 1: the top rope. But we didn't get that, and the
Speaker 1: build up to it we only heard from a handful
Speaker 1: of people, the people you would expect to hear from Nikita,
Speaker 1: lions Lash Legend, those types of people leading into a
Speaker 1: Tiffany Stratton, So you knew it was going to be
Speaker 1: about the bigger names when it all shook out, and
Speaker 1: it was Zoe Stark makes her Redbut and I know
Speaker 1: probably there are people that have their favorites in n
Speaker 1: x D, and Zoe Stark may not be one of them.
Speaker 1: I would say, give me anybody on that roster and
Speaker 1: forget about who's got the most w w E potential
Speaker 1: a year to three years down the road. Whatever Vince likes.
Speaker 1: But I'd argue I put Zoe Stark against anybody else
Speaker 1: on that roster for the most part. Yeah, put her
Speaker 1: against Mandy Rose. I'm taking Mandy Rose. Put her against
Speaker 1: Cora Jade. I'm taking Zoe Stark, not because Rose Zoe starts.
Speaker 1: I'm taking over Mandy Rose, Zoe Stark, I'm taking over
Speaker 1: Cora Jade all over a lot of people right now.
Speaker 1: So I don't know she's going to be the perfect
Speaker 1: person that actually ends dethroning Mandy Rose, and maybe Roxy
Speaker 1: will have to see. But I like the fact that
Speaker 1: there's another threat to Mandy. And I like the fact
Speaker 1: that Zoe's back because she is good. We're not gonna
Speaker 1: get Eo back. So Zoe the next best thing. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but with her experience level and the fact
Speaker 1: that she can work with everybody, it's a plus for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got one of the thing I gotta say about
Speaker 1: this Battle Royal. They We'll talk about the rest of
Speaker 1: the news. We'll do the full review of the show later.
Speaker 1: But what was amazing is they they did simplify a
Speaker 1: lot of things to make sure that nothing went wrong,
Speaker 1: but there were a couple of things that they didn't
Speaker 1: idiot proof and and they still managed to pull them off.
Speaker 1: That I think was what was the most impressive, because
Speaker 1: they did a spot with Alba Fire and Lash Legend.
Speaker 1: Albi Fire goes up, Lash Legends got in power bomb position,
Speaker 1: Joe starts as a hurricane Rana on Lash Legend over
Speaker 1: the top rope and they both tumbled to the floor.
Speaker 1: If they tried that a hundred times, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: they would hit it times. But and they hit it,
Speaker 1: and it was so good. I thought they messed it up.
Speaker 1: Honest to god, I'm like, was that supposed to happen?
Speaker 1: That was exactly what was supposed to happen. And once
Speaker 1: it sinks in for a second, it's like, well, that
Speaker 1: spot one perfectly, and it's like it sounds like an
Speaker 1: insult to lash Legend, but let's be honest here, it's
Speaker 1: not her fault. She went out there with no experience whatsoever.
Speaker 1: And yes, Alba Fire has got a lot of it.
Speaker 1: But it is very difficult to work with somebody, especially
Speaker 1: somebody the size of lash Legend. You know that you're
Speaker 1: not used to throwing around and getting in there and
Speaker 1: in messing with and you're supposed to be doing spots
Speaker 1: with that person who's inexperience. It's very difficult. We have
Speaker 1: a w Dynamite tonight, and we have more added to
Speaker 1: this show. We've got the barbed wire death match obviously
Speaker 1: Eddie Kingston Chris Jericho with Jericho Appreciation Society suspended above
Speaker 1: the ring in a sharp cage. You've got Lucasaurus and
Speaker 1: Christian Cage versus the Varsity Blonde. Brodie king will be
Speaker 1: facing Darby Allen, John Moxley and Wheeler. You to take
Speaker 1: on the best Friends. Is it true? I think they
Speaker 1: said the best Friends have never lost on Dynamite in
Speaker 1: a tag team match? Is that right? I find that
Speaker 1: hard to believe. That's I could be wrong about that.
Speaker 1: Jade Cargill, Kiara Hogan and Layla Gray will face Athena
Speaker 1: Christad Lander and Willow Nightingale, and we will have the
Speaker 1: swerve in our Glory championship celebration. So that is the
Speaker 1: lineup for Dynamite tonight, and I guess we'll find out
Speaker 1: who the next challengers will be. I'd presume for swerving
Speaker 1: our glory because something. I mean, maybe those come on
Speaker 1: and celebrate. That'd be new. They celebrate they dropped the
Speaker 1: comfetti in the balloons. They go, we did it, and
Speaker 1: then they go to the back. Then we go to
Speaker 1: another segment. Oh yeah, confetti skeptical. That's that's exactly what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen right there. Hey, Brian, are you now Comfy Kingston?
Speaker 1: Are you stealing that nickname from Wendy chu That. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's because like Kofi Kingston always had the spots in
Speaker 1: the Royal Rumble, That's what it was for Wendy Choya.
Speaker 1: Hey have you been tanning? Dude? I've been out in
Speaker 1: the sun NonStop. Is baking outside. I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: I mentioned it here on the show, but my daughter
Speaker 1: as COVID. My wife has had symptoms for days but
Speaker 1: refuses to test positive. So we're just hanging out here
Speaker 1: in the sun all day. It's been worse, I can
Speaker 1: tell you. Back in a moment Observer Live hack in
Speaker 1: the show. Bright Albert is here wrestling Observer Live. Mike
Speaker 1: simper Viv also wrestling Observer at dot com. Do you
Speaker 1: remember a long time ago Stephanie McMahon was doing some
Speaker 1: something and she made the comment, I don't remember what
Speaker 1: the comment was. It was something like charity work is
Speaker 1: uh the new marketing or whatever you whatever, something like
Speaker 1: that new ad. Yeah, can you remember exactly what she said?
Speaker 1: Someone find it for me and put it here on
Speaker 1: the chat, because yeah, that was that was an interesting statement.
Speaker 1: We don't need charity work, like, you know, to be nice.
Speaker 1: I mean we do to a degree, but mostly it's
Speaker 1: for you know, marketing and for publicity. And look, she
Speaker 1: said the quiet part out loud. I mean, let's let's
Speaker 1: be honest about this. Yes, anybody, any major corporation it
Speaker 1: does charity. They have more money at their disposal to
Speaker 1: give out, to donate, to do things with. But every
Speaker 1: single last one of them. That's why every single ribbon
Speaker 1: has got a color attached to it. There is a
Speaker 1: marketing campaign attached to charity and depending on the size
Speaker 1: of it, like a Susan G. Coleman, and depending on
Speaker 1: what they do with that money. That's where it starts
Speaker 1: to really, you know, come into play on what are
Speaker 1: you really doing this for? But she even though it
Speaker 1: was maybe nasty for people to hear, that's that's everything
Speaker 1: here is, every single one of them. Philanthropy is the
Speaker 1: future of marketing. It's the way brands are going to win. Yeah. Yeah, Hey, Look,
Speaker 1: we always talk about the battle for public opinion and
Speaker 1: how you look in the public eye and all that
Speaker 1: sort of stuff. I mean, we see it on Twitter
Speaker 1: every day with companies making the right choice wrong choice
Speaker 1: on how to advertise or how to celebrate something or
Speaker 1: how to my point is, I always thought that philanthropy
Speaker 1: should kind of just be about philanthropy, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, really is That's what I mean. But here's
Speaker 1: my point. The first place you actually have a point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what you got? Well? Rick Flair says he met with
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon because there's nobody he was more charitable you Ane,
Speaker 1: can I finish? Rick Flair said he met with Vince
Speaker 1: McMahon recently and thanked him for putting his woo back
Speaker 1: into the w w E signature opening. It had been
Speaker 1: removed from the video last September following the airing of
Speaker 1: a Dark Side of the Ring episode on Playing or
Speaker 1: two twos Playing Right from Hell two weeks ago, the
Speaker 1: WOU was added back again. Flair spoke about what this
Speaker 1: meant to him on Tuesday's edition of Busted Open Radio.
Speaker 1: He also mentioned having visited with McMahon on Monday when
Speaker 1: w w E was in Tampa. I went and saw
Speaker 1: Vince yesterday to personally thank him because they were in Tampa.
Speaker 1: Flair said, it made me feel like my world had
Speaker 1: changed again. It made me feel a lot better than
Speaker 1: when they took me off. I can tell you that
Speaker 1: everything Vince McMahon has ever said to me is in
Speaker 1: in his entire life, has come true. And he said, quote,
Speaker 1: I promise that I will put you back on it.
Speaker 1: So when he took him out, he took him out
Speaker 1: soul Lee because of the controversy controversy and not because
Speaker 1: of any like. You know, he shouldn't be in here.
Speaker 1: What he did was wrong. We should remove him. It
Speaker 1: was all, well, we're gonna take him out because you
Speaker 1: know people are mad, so we'll take him out. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna promise him at the time, don't worry, I'll
Speaker 1: put you back in whatever of course he did. So anyway,
Speaker 1: you wasted our time with that. I didn't waste everyone's time.
Speaker 1: I'm pointing out the way this company operated. How does
Speaker 1: this tied end with Stephanie by the way, Well, when
Speaker 1: he comes to legitimate giving money to charity, you know,
Speaker 1: they do their good deeds, but they do their good
Speaker 1: deeds because it's good marketing. And uh, he did his
Speaker 1: good deed of taking Flair out while promising him don't worry,
Speaker 1: I'll put you back in. I'm only taking you out
Speaker 1: because you know, other people are mad about it. Look
Speaker 1: how people will donate to go fund means and things
Speaker 1: like that. Some people don't donate anonymously. Some people have
Speaker 1: got to have their name there. Thank you. I'm pointing
Speaker 1: out that all of these things are performative. Thank you, dude.
Speaker 1: Come on, what that's a revelation now all of a
Speaker 1: sudden that everything that a revelation for everybody I said
Speaker 1: for that matter is performance art. I mean every corporation
Speaker 1: does this there, that's all performance art in the same
Speaker 1: w W is just an extra special layer of it.
Speaker 1: And to do anything with Rick Flair, who was so
Speaker 1: his his professional career was placed into question, into his
Speaker 1: mind when Vince took him out of the opening, spend
Speaker 1: more time with your family, folks. It is important for
Speaker 1: him to be in the opening. It is it is
Speaker 1: very important for Ricky. And you know what opening. I
Speaker 1: can't even tell you one of the person in it
Speaker 1: right now except Rick Flair because he just mentioned it.
Speaker 1: Probably girl a monsoon, I mean, and that's still in there.
Speaker 1: Possibly possibly unless they throw a fit and take him
Speaker 1: out for some reason or something like that. I mean,
Speaker 1: my god, it's just it's it's craziness to me, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: This is all crazy. Rick Flair his nuts, absolutely bat
Speaker 1: s nuts. Well, yeah, now you're talking talking about revelations.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, Raw against the Home Run at
Speaker 1: Derby one point seven seven million viewers point four six
Speaker 1: at eight to forty nine. This is a shockingly good number.
Speaker 1: Why did they take Rick Flair out in the first place.
Speaker 1: You want to remind everybody that because of the plane
Speaker 1: ride from hell or whatever is swinging around on the
Speaker 1: plane and the how do we get back to this
Speaker 1: allegations made by that woman? I well, you know, Vincent,
Speaker 1: Rick probably had a lot to talk about. And look,
Speaker 1: Rick Flair probably is absolutely telling the truth. When he
Speaker 1: says Vince has never lied to him, because to Rick,
Speaker 1: when Vince said I'm gonna pay your taxes for you,
Speaker 1: and he did it. And there's lots of things where,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm not throwing shade on Ric Flair for,
Speaker 1: you know, saying that Vince has always kept his word
Speaker 1: to him. I can absolutely believe that. It's just look
Speaker 1: at the two people who are in on the conversation.
Speaker 1: What good guys. Well, anyway, these ratings, and I was
Speaker 1: talking about here, the show against the Home Run Derby
Speaker 1: did a good good number one point seven eight million,
Speaker 1: first hour one point eight one million, third hour one
Speaker 1: point seven million. In the third hour. You know that means?
Speaker 1: What's that mean? I hate to tell you this Austin
Speaker 1: theory people want to see. It absolutely had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with Austin theory. But people tuned in to see
Speaker 1: Logan Paul Oh come on, no, they did. I'm positive,
Speaker 1: Oh man, that was that was an incredibly strong third hour.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to see. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I believe this. Now we know what I watched a show, brother,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't because anything else in that hour, I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, do you think people actually stayed at the
Speaker 1: very end of it with those two going back and
Speaker 1: forth with each other. Well, if it did one point
Speaker 1: seven oh million, yeah, I don't know. Bro. The show
Speaker 1: open at one point seven eight million, they ended at
Speaker 1: one point seven oh million, so they lost virtually nobody
Speaker 1: during the show and gained people in the second hour.
Speaker 1: So that's that's a that's a shockingly good number for raw.
Speaker 1: But they didn't stick around for missing mrs this time.
Speaker 1: I guess in mass like they usually do. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: they've seen one sleb, they've seen miss once. How many
Speaker 1: times we need to see that guy during the day,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you how many zero, but we're forced to
Speaker 1: see him at least once. Oh. Home Run Derby six
Speaker 1: point oh two million viewers, So don't think that shouldn't
Speaker 1: have taken a chunk out of this one point seven
Speaker 1: two and eighteen and forty nine on ESPN Kid Loves
Speaker 1: the Big Bats pre show for Home Run Derby, the
Speaker 1: pre show the pre show for the Home Run Derby
Speaker 1: four million viewers and a one point one three And
Speaker 1: they did a Derek Jeter documentary which did one point
Speaker 1: eight four million at a point five seven. So the
Speaker 1: Derek Jeter documentary beat Raw in viewership and eighteen forty.
Speaker 1: Maybe they need to bring that guy in. Maybe he
Speaker 1: needs to do a seleb match coming up here at SummerSlam.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he'll be first in line to do that. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, money talks, brother John Kroc, you know. So
Speaker 1: there you go. I'm saving my full n x T
Speaker 1: review for the next segment. It wasn't all perfect, though
Speaker 1: it was. The thing was not like the Battle Royal.
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't say that at all. No, I
Speaker 1: didn't say that. You said that. I'm just saying that
Speaker 1: to the people that they believe that you may have
Speaker 1: said that earlier, even though you didn't say that. People
Speaker 1: people don't ever misquote me. Amos Here says I'm in
Speaker 1: the same boat as you. Brian expected the n XT
Speaker 1: Female Battle Royal to be a car crash, which he
Speaker 1: wrote in one word in all caps. But I ended
Speaker 1: up being just fine, in fact, enjoyable. The finish was
Speaker 1: smart despite the usual w W E trope finish. Cora
Speaker 1: Jade got hers in the end. She sure did, Yeah,
Speaker 1: she sure did. She got dumped over the top of
Speaker 1: rope like she dumped those tag belts into the garbage age.
Speaker 1: They have to just be getting rid of the tag titles.
Speaker 1: Let's hope. So, I mean, there's no there's no other
Speaker 1: reason to crown new champions, break them up a week
Speaker 1: later and then have one half of the champions throw
Speaker 1: her belt in the garbage can Sasha Banks And if
Speaker 1: the plan is to keep the belts, oh, Man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think Sasha is going in
Speaker 1: x T tell you that much. You see those cheese
Speaker 1: I can report Sasha Banks not going to n x T,
Speaker 1: as reported by Brian Alvarez. Man, I think that's the
Speaker 1: true one. But you see the cheese crisps in the
Speaker 1: trash can there? Do you ever have those? Do you
Speaker 1: ever have the it's just cheese that they hide rate
Speaker 1: And it literally is taste like you chopped off a
Speaker 1: block of cheese and just put it in your mouth.
Speaker 1: It's the most disgusting thing I've ever had in my life.
Speaker 1: It absolutely is. What are the odds? I'm trying to
Speaker 1: move on from cheese Kords? If you had cheese it
Speaker 1: that would be perfect. What are the odds? Cheese Edge
Speaker 1: rejoined Judgment Day and praises them that they were ruthless
Speaker 1: enough to overthrow him. That at Angle smells like cheese crisps.
Speaker 1: I would be honest with Mike. Please, can I get
Speaker 1: moving here? One of the odd Edge rejoins Judgment Day
Speaker 1: edges Uh. I think they've already got rated our superstar merch,
Speaker 1: so I'm pretty sure that he's returning as the rated
Speaker 1: art supers are now what that means as a baby
Speaker 1: face a heel, I don't know, but I don't think
Speaker 1: he's coming back to Judgment Day, especially because he left
Speaker 1: Judgment Day, which is ironic. He left because he don't
Speaker 1: want to be involved anything spooky, But then they haven't
Speaker 1: done anything spooky, so I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: Aren't they doing spooky time vignettes to lead to his return,
Speaker 1: Like there's a flannel over here, there's a rated r
Speaker 1: KO shirt over here. Are they doing some some some
Speaker 1: mystical things that probably play wild in the minds of
Speaker 1: Finn Balor and the and and Damien Priest. I don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on, but I do know we'll be
Speaker 1: back in a moment with more Observer Live again the
Speaker 1: show Bright Albert is here Wrestling Observer Live Wrestling com
Speaker 1: sad to see nobody given x T two point o
Speaker 1: a chase. It has improved. It was miles better than
Speaker 1: Ron SmackDown this week. Who are you talking about? And
Speaker 1: you don't know if people are are taking well, You've
Speaker 1: been talking to Dom during the break. I've been reading
Speaker 1: the chat. Now, man, let's talk about this show. It
Speaker 1: opened up with j D mcdonnaugh and Cameron Grimes, which
Speaker 1: was a good match because, in fact, Cameron Grimes is
Speaker 1: a great worker. J D mcdonne actually did not look
Speaker 1: particularly good in this match. I think he's I think
Speaker 1: this is his second match in three months. He had
Speaker 1: one match on the House show with Brum Breaker, and
Speaker 1: then he's he's in here doing this and uh uh
Speaker 1: looked like actually one he took like some move. I
Speaker 1: think it was like a kind of a Ura Nagi
Speaker 1: spinning yar Nagi. Looked like he smashed his head on
Speaker 1: the mat. So he ends up hitting his uh Saito
Speaker 1: suplex or whatever and pins Grimes. I will get more
Speaker 1: into this in a bit, but Grimes loses. We had
Speaker 1: a Nikkia Lions promo and then we had Cora Jade's promo. Listen,
Speaker 1: I heard from a lot of people that Cora Jade's
Speaker 1: promo was at atrocity. Okay, it wasn't good. I would
Speaker 1: not go as far as it was an atrocity. She does.
Speaker 1: She at least explained everything, which was that, you know,
Speaker 1: she's jealous of Roxanne Perez. She brought roxand here Roxanne
Speaker 1: wins the tag titles. She was all excited to defend them.
Speaker 1: But the first thing rock Sand wants to do is
Speaker 1: fight for the singles title. She's upset about that, and
Speaker 1: so she had to take her out. She called herselfish
Speaker 1: and worse, and so she uh beis her makes fun
Speaker 1: of her and says, this is what I think these
Speaker 1: tag belts now. It throws a tag belt in the garbage. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, I presume this is the end of
Speaker 1: the women's tag team titles because they're worthless at this point.
Speaker 1: But and I don't I don't know how long the
Speaker 1: promo was for, but that's exactly what she's going to
Speaker 1: be doing on the main roster, which is regurgitating words
Speaker 1: that are not her own, and I thought she did
Speaker 1: a solid job with it. I think the inflection of
Speaker 1: her voice is the most heel thing about her, because
Speaker 1: she's able to say things and make it sound like
Speaker 1: fingernails on a chalkboard. But you know, it was a
Speaker 1: long promo and it was drawn out for quite some
Speaker 1: time because she's trying to remember all of the verbiage.
Speaker 1: But she did a good job repeating all of it
Speaker 1: without any mess ups. But man, you could tell it
Speaker 1: was all on a piece of paper for her. We
Speaker 1: had Zion Quinn doing a promo saying that Apollo Cruz
Speaker 1: couldn't cut it in the big leagues and they will
Speaker 1: be having a match next week on ed X. T
Speaker 1: any Heartwell did a pro momo and uh actually made
Speaker 1: fun of herself without directly doing it, but she said
Speaker 1: there's been ups and downs and slips and slides because
Speaker 1: of course she slipped off the ropes and fell down
Speaker 1: last week, and she vowed to win the Battle Royal
Speaker 1: tonight and turn the ship around. We need Dexter back,
Speaker 1: yes please. We had Roderick Strong and Damon Camp and
Speaker 1: this match was fine. It was not like a great
Speaker 1: match because it was essentially Roderick Strong doing a very
Speaker 1: simple grappling basic style match with Damon Camp, but everything
Speaker 1: they did look good. Damon kemp Is is totally fine
Speaker 1: in the ring, and Uh what happened at the end
Speaker 1: is the the they cut backstage and the Creed Brothers
Speaker 1: have been beat up, and Roderick Strong and Damon Camp,
Speaker 1: who are part of Diamond Mine, they're obviously they're both
Speaker 1: distracted by the video wall, and what should happen is
Speaker 1: our buddies are getting beat up. We need to stop
Speaker 1: this match and run back and help him. Instead, as
Speaker 1: they're both distracted, Roderick does a jumping knee to his
Speaker 1: own partner and pins him. Then he runs to the back,
Speaker 1: and then Damon's like selling his his chin because he's
Speaker 1: all rattled from getting hit with the guys finished, and
Speaker 1: he stumbles backstage and Roderick's bearing him for taking too
Speaker 1: long to get back there to help everybody. So the
Speaker 1: Diamond Mind storyline is a good storyline. They're they're doing
Speaker 1: a good job with with Roderick Strong. You just want
Speaker 1: to see all of Diamond Mind turn on him and
Speaker 1: beat him up. I'm sure he's hoping that happens too,
Speaker 1: so he can just get out of here. But uh,
Speaker 1: this was this was pretty good. Rhyme's people A lot
Speaker 1: of you. Roderick Strong, I believe pretty deadly. My one
Speaker 1: of my honest to god, one of my favorite teams
Speaker 1: against Josh Briggs and Brooke Jensen and uh the match
Speaker 1: was longer than it needed to be, but they're trying
Speaker 1: to teach people how to work, and they got the
Speaker 1: heat on Briggs and actually got the heat on the
Speaker 1: Virgin I think for a long time. And then he
Speaker 1: gave the hot tag to uh to j B because
Speaker 1: now I remember their names because the other one's never
Speaker 1: getting any brooks Anson. So anyway, he makes a big comeback,
Speaker 1: crowd goes crazy for it, and then uh, uh there's
Speaker 1: a tug of war with uh, what's her name? I
Speaker 1: can never remember her name because Alon Henley, That's right,
Speaker 1: I remember because she she's she's like got a farm,
Speaker 1: so she works with hens. That's how I'm trying to
Speaker 1: remember Fallon Henley. So anyway, she's got a tug of
Speaker 1: war and uh ends up with Briggs school boying uh
Speaker 1: kit Wilson or whatever his name is, pinning him. Actually
Speaker 1: know they hit the high low and pin him. But
Speaker 1: this is fine. Thank god you remembered his name because
Speaker 1: I hate to say this because they're both Prince and
Speaker 1: kit Wilson. It's Elton Prince. And then the other guy,
Speaker 1: but it's Elton Prince who really stands out. I know
Speaker 1: you need, you need both of these guys to make
Speaker 1: it work, but my god, Elton, Elton Prince and Kits Wilson,
Speaker 1: they're the greatest Timberland mixed with like what was the
Speaker 1: Lances guy from a team of Foundango, Oh, Tyler Breeze.
Speaker 1: He's got like he's like this weird mix of people.
Speaker 1: He's amazing. List of all of the people that I've
Speaker 1: ever said are can't miss on the main roster, literally
Speaker 1: pretty deadly. They have to be at the very top
Speaker 1: because there's nothing. There's nothing that Vince could want to change.
Speaker 1: I guess maybe he could want to be a little
Speaker 1: bit bigger. But they're tall, they have great hair, they're
Speaker 1: good looking. They've got a total sports entertainment gimmick. They work,
Speaker 1: they work his total up his alley style, just every
Speaker 1: basic pro wrestling, old school tag and Vince is a
Speaker 1: tag team fan. There perfect for Vince McMahon. I don't
Speaker 1: know what they're doing stuck here. Oh my god, can
Speaker 1: you imagine bringing them up? They'd be immediately be maximum
Speaker 1: male models. Then we've got that's fine. That might actually
Speaker 1: turn that act around that might save maximum male models.
Speaker 1: Let's get Ginny in there first, or whoever it's going
Speaker 1: to be, Maxine. Joe Gazy reveals the former grizzled young
Speaker 1: vets as Jagger read and Rip Fowler. Jagger read and
Speaker 1: Rip Fowler and they got one contact or something, and
Speaker 1: they got new haircuts, like one with long hairs like
Speaker 1: a priest. And then the ball guys like a zombie
Speaker 1: or something light or something with the blue eye or cyborg. Okay,
Speaker 1: so then we had braun Breaker in the ring and
Speaker 1: j D McDonagh shows up on the screen and he's
Speaker 1: got a mannequin behind him, and if Broun breakers in
Speaker 1: the ring, He's like, what's going on? And I can't
Speaker 1: even say this is a straight face. J D mcdone
Speaker 1: apparently is like a surgeon. That's news to me. And
Speaker 1: so he gets his marker and he says, it isn't
Speaker 1: exactly what he said, it's it's essentially what he said.
Speaker 1: He goes, braun Breaker, are you aware there's eight muscles
Speaker 1: and tendons in the shoulder girdle and braun Breaker looks
Speaker 1: like he actually didn't know. And not only did he
Speaker 1: not know, he doesn't care and he's looking at the
Speaker 1: fans like what and McDonald starts drawing on the shoulder
Speaker 1: of this mannequin showing up he's going to dissect the
Speaker 1: shoulder of braun Breaker and Brown Breakers, like, dude, just
Speaker 1: come down, you're gonna beat your ass and j D
Speaker 1: McDonald refuses, and so they're gonna have a match. But
Speaker 1: I know this is gonna be like a title program.
Speaker 1: But dude, j D mcdonnaugh is tiny and braun Breaker
Speaker 1: is huge. I realized they're doing the bad shoulder and
Speaker 1: gimmick with a braun Breaker. But bro, if you can
Speaker 1: sell me on this match, good luck. I don't buy
Speaker 1: it for a second. That promo and that interchange what
Speaker 1: it was almost so bad. It was good because Braun
Speaker 1: was looking like you would think somebody would look hearing
Speaker 1: all of this slow motion nonsense come out of the
Speaker 1: face of Jamie mcdonnaugh, But like the way it was
Speaker 1: juxtaposed with Braun being in the arena and then barking
Speaker 1: back at this very slow talking JD McDonagh who says
Speaker 1: he's going to do this to you, Braun, and you're
Speaker 1: a meathead and I know exactly what you're good and
Speaker 1: Braun's losing it and absolutely losing it. It's exactly what
Speaker 1: you would expect. But boy was it long and not good? Yeah,
Speaker 1: thing too is Uh, it's one thing. Listen, everybody, everybody
Speaker 1: does these suplexes, everybody and every match. I guess it's
Speaker 1: one thing. If if Carrie and Cross is going to
Speaker 1: use that sup plexes is finished or whatever, he's a big,
Speaker 1: jacked up dude or whatever. But j D mcdonnaugh, this
Speaker 1: tiny little dude. His finish is a suplex. Axiom debut
Speaker 1: the former a kid, and uh they debut and gets
Speaker 1: Dante Chen and it was fine, but Axiom needed a
Speaker 1: way different opponent to have, like a big boom boom boom,
Speaker 1: high spot, flip whatever to get himself over. This is
Speaker 1: just a basic match with a couple of high spots.
Speaker 1: Didn't get the guy over. He now has a mask
Speaker 1: like Luchador, and I know people are upset about that,
Speaker 1: but listen, the whole point of this n x T
Speaker 1: is to get people ready for the main roster. Okay,
Speaker 1: Vince takes one look at a kid. I don't care
Speaker 1: what he can do. He's even smaller and he's not
Speaker 1: nearly as big as Ricochet and look where Ricochet is. Okay,
Speaker 1: so if you want to mask this guy up and
Speaker 1: put him in a costume and hope that he can
Speaker 1: be like another ray Masterio, fine, because it's not gonna
Speaker 1: work as a kid, it's just not. But he does
Speaker 1: need better opponents to showcase what he can do, and
Speaker 1: this was not that. Then we have like nineties segments
Speaker 1: in a row Lash legend, Giovanni Vinci's man at Chase You,
Speaker 1: Trick Williams in the barbershop, and uh god, they were
Speaker 1: Wait a second, you do know where they're going with
Speaker 1: some of these feuds because they just right in your face.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, here we go. It's Chase You, Giovanni Vinci.
Speaker 1: Why because the buses balking Vinci in the parking lot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Cameron Grutt or Trick Williams are talking about whatever they're
Speaker 1: the barbershop segmentory's good, but I don't know what they're
Speaker 1: talking about. Toxic Attraction does an interview and then one
Speaker 1: by one women from the Battle Royal show up, and
Speaker 1: then uh and that leads us to the Battle Royal.
Speaker 1: The only other segment we didn't talk about is they're
Speaker 1: doing a story with Cameron Grimes where he keeps losing
Speaker 1: and he's lost it and he's sick of it, and
Speaker 1: he's leaving and he's just gonna go home. He's done
Speaker 1: with this. But he gets stopped by, of all people,
Speaker 1: Joe Gays, who's trying to recruit him for his group.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if they're actually gonna recruit him
Speaker 1: for the group or if you're gonna do a Cameron
Speaker 1: Grimes Joe Gacy feud, which at least in the ring
Speaker 1: would be good because because Joe Gacy can work. God,
Speaker 1: that Joe Gaze character is television death death m so
Speaker 1: that's an X to everybody. Ah, So he's got like
Speaker 1: a cult thing going on. He's trying to recruit people.
Speaker 1: You see what he's done to the Grizzle young veterans.
Speaker 1: Maybe because Grimes is still so rich. I I assumed
Speaker 1: that he is some of his investments have panned out
Speaker 1: because he's obviously not taking home the winner's share of
Speaker 1: the purses. Maybe Joe Gacey just wants to use him
Speaker 1: for his money and try to drain him of that. However,
Speaker 1: this works, like you mentioned, the work and the ring
Speaker 1: is gonna be really good because those guys are really
Speaker 1: good inside the ring, but my god, everything else about
Speaker 1: this whole deal, including seeing the new grizzled young Schism
Speaker 1: be involved in it, no, thank you. I mean, trevorle
Speaker 1: is gonna get bounced around like a basketball trying to
Speaker 1: get those guys over and trying to make this thing work.
Speaker 1: And even though he'll probably be the conquering hero in
Speaker 1: the end, it's gonna be a long way to get there.
Speaker 1: I have a feeling. So that was that and uh
Speaker 1: an x T two boy. No, I do think the
Speaker 1: Dynamite is gonna be better tonight. That is my prediction.
Speaker 1: I think it's safe bet. I think it's probably a
Speaker 1: safe bet. Mandy Hubert says if Brody Lee could see
Speaker 1: his son perform as negative one, he would be quote
Speaker 1: just bubbling over the moon. Did an interview, Brody Jr.
Speaker 1: Spoke about the tribute show held in honor of his father,
Speaker 1: holding the belt that my dad held it just to
Speaker 1: be in the moment was definitely. It's very hard. I
Speaker 1: want to be just like him, he said. He also
Speaker 1: knows that when he's older he wants to grow a big,
Speaker 1: bushy beard just like his father as well. Use Moisturizer Kid,
Speaker 1: a man of fireback of critics who accused a debilt
Speaker 1: exploiting Rody, I personally don't feel they've exploited him or
Speaker 1: taken advantage of us. Everything's always felt to me like
Speaker 1: it's done with nothing but love. I think people are
Speaker 1: skeptical and pessimistic and assume it's a lot more sinister
Speaker 1: than it is. Back him up with more Observer Live
Speaker 1: on the show. Ran Olbert is here, Rusting Observer Live,
Speaker 1: Mike Simber, Vivi Elso, Wrestling Observer dot Com. A lot
Speaker 1: of shows up for subscribers. Yeah, Brian Vinnie show last
Speaker 1: night where we did a Rick Flair's Last Match poetry contest. Boy,
Speaker 1: did people just burry Rick Flair? And then I asked
Speaker 1: Granny about watching the show. I don't think she's going to.
Speaker 1: But Rick Flair's Last Match dot Com you can check
Speaker 1: it out. End of this month in Nashville and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff going on that weekend. There's star
Speaker 1: Cast star Cast five, Got the Panels, Bryan Daniels and
Speaker 1: Claudia Cascan, Joli Horseman Reunion, Brett Hart talking Summer Slam
Speaker 1: ninety two. The Former Page Foley, Nash Hardy, the roast
Speaker 1: of Rick Flair. You have all those people entered the
Speaker 1: poetry contest, show up with that roast for Rick Flair.
Speaker 1: She just read all that poetry. Got Black Label pro
Speaker 1: g c W on Friday, you go to that, Mike.
Speaker 1: If I was there, I would be. I got New
Speaker 1: Japan Saturday, be going to that too. Flair's Last Match
Speaker 1: at the Municipal Auditorium thirty nine dollar tickets at Rick
Speaker 1: Flair's Last Match dot com. And if you don't want
Speaker 1: to watch Rick Flair's Last Match, well you can watch
Speaker 1: a lot of other stuff because they got matches from
Speaker 1: the n W, a MLW, Triple A Impact, New Japan,
Speaker 1: Ring of Honor, a W and Yes, believe it or not,
Speaker 1: the main event with Rick Flair's Last Match has a
Speaker 1: w w E executive on one side and an a
Speaker 1: w wrestler on the other side. That would have been
Speaker 1: unheard of, I mean last week. Actually, Jared is a hero.
Speaker 1: That's what they're doing, Jeff, Jared. This guy is all
Speaker 1: over the place. SummerSlam, Rick Flair's Last Match, Everywhere, story Way,
Speaker 1: pay per view, cable, satellite fight, Rick Flare's Last Match,
Speaker 1: dot Com and we are at a time. Everybody, What's
Speaker 1: today Wednesday? I'll be back later on tonight with Dave
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Radio for subscribers to Wrestling Observer dot com.
Speaker 1: We'll talk a w Dynamite and so much more and
Speaker 1: all the news. The g one. I gotta watch Day three,
Speaker 1: I gotta watch Filthy check it out, everybody. We'll talk
Speaker 1: to you next time Wrestling Observer Live. You have been
Speaker 1: listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight
Speaker 1: Side Network