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: Let's get it all. How's it going, everybody? Brian Alvarez
Speaker 1: here on Wrestling Observer Live. We are here every day
Speaker 1: Monday through Friday, New Pacific, three Eastern, Sunday three Pacific,
Speaker 1: sixth Eastern. Well, it's Monday here on this show. You
Speaker 1: know that means we got Monday Night Raw coming up tonight,
Speaker 1: and we have a lineup for the show, which is
Speaker 1: it's now. It's now. I could say it every week.
Speaker 1: It ain't gonna be changed because there isn't some bloke
Speaker 1: coming in ripping up the script. Although there may be
Speaker 1: a change, and as of about an hour ago, there
Speaker 1: was expected to be a change. I don't think the
Speaker 1: news is out yet, so I don't want to say
Speaker 1: anything in case things change. But I believe that the
Speaker 1: the Cursed side of the n x T Women's Tag
Speaker 1: Team Championship brack it. I think there's about to be
Speaker 1: yet another change, So we'll talk about that what we
Speaker 1: can here on the show. Today. We also go notes
Speaker 1: on Jeff Jaredy's gone from w w E. He has
Speaker 1: done we'll tell you about that. Biggie talk about day
Speaker 1: to day life with his broken neck, is healing a
Speaker 1: broken neck, and whether or not he is clear to return.
Speaker 1: We've got some g one notes and uh notes for
Speaker 1: some n J p W shows coming up down the road,
Speaker 1: and what Okada has to say about a lot of things.
Speaker 1: Oh boy. Then of course we have the full reviews
Speaker 1: of a Rampage and SmackDown excellent match on SmackDown the
Speaker 1: five Way to determine the number one contender to Gunter's title,
Speaker 1: which is going to be Sammy'sane or it won't be Sammy'sane,
Speaker 1: It's gonna be Shamus. But Sammy Zane was the star
Speaker 1: of that match because they were in uh Montreal. He
Speaker 1: was massively over the baby face and they returned to Canada,
Speaker 1: I guess not return. They remain in Canada for the
Speaker 1: show tonight. Tris Travis will appear on the show and
Speaker 1: we've got a lot of other stuff to talk about
Speaker 1: as well. So big day here in the program if
Speaker 1: you want Texas four to five seven eight zero seven
Speaker 1: five six six at a spot to five seven eight
Speaker 1: zero seven five six six Brian at Wrestling Observer dot
Speaker 1: Com at Brian Alburrows on Twitter back in a moment
Speaker 1: with more Observer Live back in the show, Bright Albarez
Speaker 1: here Wrestling Observer Live, My Summer vib elso Wrestling Observer
Speaker 1: dot Com. A lot to get into today Raw is tonight. Well,
Speaker 1: you've got Alexa Bliss and Oscar versus Dakota Kai and
Speaker 1: EO Sky in a women's tag team at title semifinal
Speaker 1: match and will be facing Damien Priest and we will
Speaker 1: have an appearance by Trish Stratus. That is the lineup
Speaker 1: for the show here tonight, and uh, we'll see what
Speaker 1: more we can talk about later on here in the program.
Speaker 1: But I think there's gonna be yet another change to
Speaker 1: the tournament. Has not been confirmed, but it has absolutely
Speaker 1: been discussed in w w E and I think it's happening,
Speaker 1: but we will find out maybe before the show was
Speaker 1: over here today. But that's the lineup for Raw. More
Speaker 1: of course to be added and hopefully it's a good show,
Speaker 1: because you know what, SmackDown was a really good show
Speaker 1: on Friday. I know some of you still don't want
Speaker 1: to hear this, and in fact I talked to in
Speaker 1: the opening segment of how awesome that that five way
Speaker 1: was in a five way match, winner gets a shot
Speaker 1: at Gunter at the Clash of the Castle and Sammy
Speaker 1: Zane was so incredibly over place, going crazy for him.
Speaker 1: He looked awesome. But then they have Shamus go over
Speaker 1: and I immediately, I immediately had to blow back, nothing's changed,
Speaker 1: guy losing his hometown. Well, first off, he didn't get pinned.
Speaker 1: Someone else got pinned. He was made to look like
Speaker 1: a hero. And on top of that, it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be Sammy's Shamus or Sammy zan and Gunther at the
Speaker 1: pay per view, they didn't want to do that match. Now,
Speaker 1: if you want to argue he shouldn't have been in
Speaker 1: that match, listen, if you want to argue that, you can.
Speaker 1: But I would even argue that this time because he
Speaker 1: was so great in that match and they're clearly doing
Speaker 1: a storyline involving him. Roman reigns the U s O's
Speaker 1: and Drew McIntyre, which is yet to play out. But
Speaker 1: I I would not watch anything that happened in that
Speaker 1: match and go oh, nothing has changed, and that twenty
Speaker 1: two minutes they had a great, great match, And I
Speaker 1: don't care what anyone says. I cannot wait to see
Speaker 1: Shamus and Gunther pound the hell out of each other
Speaker 1: that castle. Hell yeah, for twenty minutes of the pay
Speaker 1: per view, damn right. And my god, that's the problem
Speaker 1: with people that have the ability to respond instantly to
Speaker 1: something without taking everything in, because I can imagine that
Speaker 1: you got bombarded with tweets and texts and such that,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, look what they did. They buried him
Speaker 1: in his home town with all those people around him,
Speaker 1: and it's Quebec and this and that, and it's like,
Speaker 1: just wait till the end of the show. Then you
Speaker 1: could maybe cast your judgment on things. It's not like,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody else getting beaten their hometown. He's tied
Speaker 1: in with Roman Reigns, and we know the usos aren't there.
Speaker 1: We know Drew McIntyre is still left to come. You know.
Speaker 1: That's the problem with instant reactions to things like that.
Speaker 1: There was also an incredible segment with Roman Reigns and
Speaker 1: Sammy Zane. I love this segment with all my heart.
Speaker 1: And then somebody emailed me and uh, and they were right,
Speaker 1: they said, you don't reminded me of it reminded me
Speaker 1: of those skits they used to do in the early
Speaker 1: two thousand's with Kurt Angle and Steve Austin backstage, and
Speaker 1: they're absolutely right. It was exactly like that, these two
Speaker 1: Roman Reigns and Sammy Zane together in this segment. It
Speaker 1: was so great and the best part of it actually
Speaker 1: was Sammy's An's just starts burying Jayus because Jus has
Speaker 1: always mean to him, and he's burying him. He's talking
Speaker 1: about he's yells at him and I can't remember the
Speaker 1: exact line that he said, but as soon as he
Speaker 1: said he realized, oh man, I shouldn't have said that.
Speaker 1: He goes quiet, and then he's about to explain himself,
Speaker 1: but then he realized there's no use. Oh yeah, he's
Speaker 1: not being grateful, and then he realized, oh man, and
Speaker 1: so he's all he gets quiet and he's gonna say
Speaker 1: something he can't say, and he just puts his head down.
Speaker 1: He's just waiting to die. And then Roman Reigns looks
Speaker 1: when he goes you know you're right, And as soon
Speaker 1: as he said that, like Sammy's, I go white, and
Speaker 1: you could just hear the crowd go ah, like they
Speaker 1: couldn't believe it, like oh my god, Roman, Like Sammy,
Speaker 1: this was so great. This segment was awesome. I don't
Speaker 1: know where they're going with it, but it has been
Speaker 1: an ongoing storyline. Roman reigns the USO's and really Sammy's
Speaker 1: A and j U So are the two that have
Speaker 1: been at odds. Jimmy's just kind of hanging around. So
Speaker 1: we'll see, We'll see where it goes. But I like
Speaker 1: SmackDown a lot. I'll review it with Filthy later on today.
Speaker 1: You know, there's there are talents that would be better
Speaker 1: suited in a W there are talents that would be
Speaker 1: better suited in New Japan, and there are talents that
Speaker 1: would be better suited in W W E. And there
Speaker 1: were a lot of people that were really hoping that
Speaker 1: Kevin Owens, when all the news about his contract being up,
Speaker 1: that he would be one of the ones that would
Speaker 1: jump over to a E W and be back with
Speaker 1: the Young Bucks again and be with this person and
Speaker 1: be with that person. And it's like, you know, if
Speaker 1: I'm Kevin Owens for a lot of different reasons, not
Speaker 1: the least of which is I am a hero. When
Speaker 1: I go to one province that my company has got
Speaker 1: a lock on and I know that they just signed
Speaker 1: a deal Dynamite did to be on RDS up in Quebec.
Speaker 1: But they are the two biggest I would assume stars
Speaker 1: in all of Canada, sammy's Ane and Kevin Owens, and
Speaker 1: they walk up there. They are conquering heroes and they
Speaker 1: have been used well by w w E. So you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people who would be betterfits in
Speaker 1: certain places. And after I got done watching on Friday,
Speaker 1: was a reminder to me that not only Kevin Owens,
Speaker 1: but Sammy Zane is actually in the best place he
Speaker 1: really could be in. You know, when Vince, when Vince
Speaker 1: was booted and there was all this talk about, my god,
Speaker 1: who will replace Vince McMahon and Hunter was not in
Speaker 1: the role yet, and people were thinking, oh God, who
Speaker 1: is it gonna be like Pritchard or the name that
Speaker 1: came up was maybe Jeff Jarrett. There was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, how though, how the world of wrestling the
Speaker 1: soap opera, how things, how this great circle of wrestling
Speaker 1: turns well, there's in charge in Jeff Jarret's gone. Jeff
Speaker 1: Jarrets reportedly gone from w w E. P W instance
Speaker 1: reported on Sunday. Jared, who held the position of Senior
Speaker 1: Vice president of Live Events had departed his position. The
Speaker 1: belief was he finished his duties that passed Friday, although
Speaker 1: they were not sure of the specific timeline. He's been
Speaker 1: in and out of w W since nineteen for serving
Speaker 1: as a producer, a member of the creative team extually
Speaker 1: the company during the COVID nineteen pandemic. Returned in his
Speaker 1: current role in May. He appeared at SummerSlam. Remember he
Speaker 1: was a referee of the usas in the Street Profits
Speaker 1: for god only knows what reason. Then he showed up
Speaker 1: for Rick Flair's last match pretty much outworked everybody in
Speaker 1: the ring. I don't know about that, but he was
Speaker 1: very good in that match. And then earlier this year
Speaker 1: in an appearance at GA Change of Wrestlings. First, oh
Speaker 1: my god, this whole thing, this hullabaloo to not do
Speaker 1: a job to Effie. He went through all of this.
Speaker 1: Look how much Jeff Jarrett is a hero of mine
Speaker 1: when he comes to professional wrestling, the ultimate survivor, a
Speaker 1: guy who I always liked too. Yeah, he was pushed
Speaker 1: too hard at certain times in w c W and
Speaker 1: for some people's taste in the WWF, but I've always
Speaker 1: really liked Jeff Jarrett. And talk about the ultimate survivor
Speaker 1: for wrestling. He really is in the fact that he's
Speaker 1: been able to just be everywhere this year is a
Speaker 1: true testament to him. So an amazing worker. I guess
Speaker 1: he's done with whatever he they're doing there. I guess
Speaker 1: he figures maybe it's too much, But yeah, I have
Speaker 1: a feeling we're not probably have heard the last of
Speaker 1: Jeff Jarrett, with something doing with professional wrestling, maybe even
Speaker 1: the w w E down the line. Biggy says Dodger
Speaker 1: is not worried about him leading a normal life. He
Speaker 1: is still not clear to wrest sole. He's been recovering
Speaker 1: from the broken necks suffered on March eleven. He appeared
Speaker 1: on Out of Character recently said, essentially, the issue right
Speaker 1: now is my c one is not completely ossifying, not
Speaker 1: completely forming into bone. It appears to be healing fibrously,
Speaker 1: so it's kind of contained enough. I'm not a medical expert.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna butcher all these terms, but it's good enough
Speaker 1: that they're not worried about me in day to day life.
Speaker 1: I don't need the brace anymore. They took surgery off
Speaker 1: the table, I would be cleared to live a normal life. Man.
Speaker 1: I hope so clear to live a normal life. I'm
Speaker 1: clear to live a normal life, but I'm not clear
Speaker 1: to be taking off anyting suicide spears and taking back
Speaker 1: bumps nature. What we do is very physical, involves your
Speaker 1: neck and your spine. I would like to keep that
Speaker 1: as intact as possible. So they're gonna basically wait and
Speaker 1: at the one year mark, they're gonna do more scans
Speaker 1: and uh find out how things are going. It's got
Speaker 1: no nerve issues, no tingling, no weakness. They told me,
Speaker 1: as long as your neck is in the brace, as
Speaker 1: long as you stay in the brace, are good for that.
Speaker 1: I been working out, I feel great. I am just
Speaker 1: really grateful. So that's the update on Big E. Back
Speaker 1: in them up with more Observer Live back in the
Speaker 1: show Bright now is here, Wrestling Observer Live miximbur Vivy
Speaker 1: also Wrestling Observer dot Com. Well, we got new Japan
Speaker 1: Declaration of power which is not coming up until October.
Speaker 1: Quite a ways. We have got j White Tomatonga for
Speaker 1: the i w d g P World Heavyweight title, Ocada
Speaker 1: versus Jonah, and more matches to be announced. So we
Speaker 1: have two matches the same amount of matches that have
Speaker 1: been announced for All Out for Okada spoke at a
Speaker 1: press conference after winning the G One. Oh yeah, you
Speaker 1: knew this was coming. You knew this was coming, he said, right.
Speaker 1: I want to elevate the prestige of the G One
Speaker 1: Climax tournament, and to elevate the G One, I think
Speaker 1: you have to elevate the status of the contract that
Speaker 1: comes with it. I don't need an answer to this
Speaker 1: right away, but I do feel that for winning this tournament,
Speaker 1: for bringing the energy and the fire all the way
Speaker 1: through the G One, the winner should be in the
Speaker 1: main event at the Tokyo Dome representing as the G
Speaker 1: One champion. That's the stance that I would like to take.
Speaker 1: As I had to wrestle Kingdom. I think the idea
Speaker 1: of being the rights holder is strange. I'm saying I
Speaker 1: will be in the main event against the i W
Speaker 1: g P World Heavyweight Champion. So if you want to
Speaker 1: be in that spot, then rather than come for me,
Speaker 1: you should go for the belt. But if anyone has
Speaker 1: a debt they want repaid or receipt they want to it,
Speaker 1: then they're more than welcome to face me a special
Speaker 1: singles match without the rights on the line. Thank you
Speaker 1: Okada and thank you Ghetto for moving this Tokyo on
Speaker 1: back to one day. Well not his choice, but yeah,
Speaker 1: not his choice. Whoever his choice it was, they made
Speaker 1: the right call. That would be the fans because not
Speaker 1: enough of them have been showing up. And you know what,
Speaker 1: one night, one night is going to be good. It's fact,
Speaker 1: it's probably going to be probably pretty great. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be awesome. You're not gonna split all the great matches
Speaker 1: among two nights. You're not gonna have this deal where
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter who wins the g one. You can
Speaker 1: lose the case, you can win the case. You can
Speaker 1: headline on night to bro the g one and one
Speaker 1: night of the Tokyo Dome. That's the way to do it.
Speaker 1: And that means New Japan Road or what's the the
Speaker 1: show that's right after it on the fifth The odor
Speaker 1: word show like bat makes that show even more pivotal
Speaker 1: now too. It usually is anyway to see some you know,
Speaker 1: changes in the air coming out of the Tokyo Dome,
Speaker 1: but it really actually has some impact and significance now too,
Speaker 1: because any Americans or any foreigners that go over, they're
Speaker 1: gonna probably be on those two shows, if you know,
Speaker 1: and maybe everybody is not on the fifth, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a really important show and maybe setting the
Speaker 1: tone for what we see here in the States, whether
Speaker 1: it be through New Japan Strong or whether it be
Speaker 1: through other outlets. Letn he says, So now the briefcase
Speaker 1: isn't defended, and the title will be barely defended in
Speaker 1: the lead up to the dome. Yes, you're right, you're right.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what's gonna happen. And that's exactly what happened
Speaker 1: for like thirty years, and it worked out fine for
Speaker 1: thirty years, and then they mucked it all up for
Speaker 1: the last four years. Well now and now they're fixing
Speaker 1: it again. Well, look, they're doing the right thing here.
Speaker 1: And this has been the year of Okada channeling all
Speaker 1: of the greats from New Japan past, including not the
Speaker 1: least of which is an Oki and his ability to
Speaker 1: face an evil foreigners, somebody coming over with arrogance and cockiness,
Speaker 1: you know, putting fear in people. J White is the
Speaker 1: one who fills that role. Now to have Okada not
Speaker 1: mess around with anything else, have matches that matter, have
Speaker 1: time with his newborn child. Whenever that happens, perfect lead
Speaker 1: you right into the dome, it means something. There are
Speaker 1: so many title matches, and that was one of the
Speaker 1: things that was going to happen over time with New Japan.
Speaker 1: Huroki Godo was the biggest victim of more id g
Speaker 1: P championship matches because he would win, he would get
Speaker 1: to a certain point and he would lose because they
Speaker 1: were having more of these matches. And I'm four more
Speaker 1: IDB g P title matches, not as many as maybe
Speaker 1: we have here in the States. You know, it's constant
Speaker 1: title flips. Although again with Roman reigns and how it
Speaker 1: has been in a w times have been a little
Speaker 1: bit different. But bottom line, you know these guys and
Speaker 1: that title should mean something, and you have all these
Speaker 1: other title matches throughout the year. You have him here
Speaker 1: in the States, you have him great, but the lead
Speaker 1: into the Dome should mean something, the same way the
Speaker 1: lead into WrestleMania should mean something. And once the Royal
Speaker 1: Rumble is over, the same way once the October show
Speaker 1: is over. Yes, you have the New Japan World Tag
Speaker 1: League in there to fill time, but when it comes
Speaker 1: to the most important things, I think we can have
Speaker 1: a two two and a half month build to a
Speaker 1: major match on a major show, your biggest one of
Speaker 1: the year. That's the way, in my opinion, it should be.
Speaker 1: Let's see if you were Triple H when you put
Speaker 1: the titles on McIntyre to suck the air of the
Speaker 1: room before All Out the next day. What does that mean?
Speaker 1: Are you're trying to tell me you don't think Drew
Speaker 1: mctill would be a good champion. I'd be happy with
Speaker 1: Drew McIntire winning that title a clash of the Castle.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what your question is such a news
Speaker 1: yeah thing that is gonna suck away the attention for
Speaker 1: all like nothing once All Out kicks in on Sunday.
Speaker 1: To me, there's no question it's still going to be
Speaker 1: a big show, and people may compare the two more,
Speaker 1: people may be planning their flags more by the time
Speaker 1: that it's over. But I don't think there's gonna be
Speaker 1: too much. It's going to take the attention away once
Speaker 1: Sunday comes. Person says given, I'm sure he was given
Speaker 1: permission to do it. Do you think w w WE
Speaker 1: let go Double J because he was part of Rick
Speaker 1: Flair's last match? No w W he had a camera
Speaker 1: crew there, Charlotte was there. I mean he and besides,
Speaker 1: his contract allowed him to do that. It's contract allowed
Speaker 1: him to do outside appearances. So I would I would.
Speaker 1: I don't know for sure, but my guess would be
Speaker 1: that had zilch to do with it. The person here
Speaker 1: says uh us unless Brian, you look at it from
Speaker 1: the aspect of he likes that life and maybe he
Speaker 1: doesn't want the responsibility and all that hying down of
Speaker 1: what you would have to deal with from a corporate,
Speaker 1: especially company that maybe in flux right now, as far
Speaker 1: as things moving in the office and things like that
Speaker 1: as people settle in and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: So maybe it's just a matter of Hey, I like
Speaker 1: doing what I'm doing. I can be involved in wrestling
Speaker 1: and do so much and not have to be tied down. Well,
Speaker 1: my point was he can do all of those things
Speaker 1: even with his job, Yeah, and make a lot of
Speaker 1: money from w w A at the same time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But I mean I I again, I don't know what
Speaker 1: the exact nature of his role was, but it was
Speaker 1: about you know, promoting and doing live events, wasn't it.
Speaker 1: So unless it was kind of an ambassadorship role. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's got to be somewhat time consuming to try to
Speaker 1: coordinate and do things and have it be done on
Speaker 1: the regular. Hearing how over Sammy Zane was on Friday
Speaker 1: reminded me of when he was the hottest baby face
Speaker 1: and n x T hoping we see Sammy's aane and
Speaker 1: Kevin Owens versus the US, so well, you know, Kevin,
Speaker 1: Sammy Zane is a He does a great job as
Speaker 1: a hell, but he's never been as great as he
Speaker 1: was when he was baby face in an XT And
Speaker 1: one of the one of the first things that Triple
Speaker 1: H did when he came back was start turning people
Speaker 1: that were miscast, and Becky Lynch was was one of them.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that Sammy is miscast because he
Speaker 1: does a good job as a heel and obviously he
Speaker 1: was super over because he was in Montreal. Who knows
Speaker 1: about the rest, but I mean, the guy is so
Speaker 1: great that he'd be a fantastic baby face. And if
Speaker 1: if Kevin Owen's gonna feed with Roman reigns again, well
Speaker 1: it depends on whether they think that Romans gonna be
Speaker 1: beat boot or not. I mean, he's cheered virtually everywhere
Speaker 1: he goes. He showed up on SmackDown in that car
Speaker 1: and the place just went crazy when he got out.
Speaker 1: So I'd be happy with Sammy's at and Kevin Owens
Speaker 1: versus the us OS, but I don't know what they're
Speaker 1: gonna do. I'd be all right with it. But I
Speaker 1: want Kevin Owens to stand on his own and be
Speaker 1: the only real shade of gray, you know, the only
Speaker 1: guy that's gonna headbut Vince McMahon, and also the only
Speaker 1: guy that's gonna you know, he's the only person that
Speaker 1: could have heat with everybody from a storyline standpoint, on
Speaker 1: that roster. He's perfect as the man on his own,
Speaker 1: and as I can see him obviously with Sammy's aane,
Speaker 1: you want to do one tag match or something like
Speaker 1: that along the way. Cool, But I think as we
Speaker 1: go into fall and we go into the new season
Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff, I like a refreshed, angry,
Speaker 1: competitive Kevin Owens to be again, to not be tied
Speaker 1: down with Sammy'sane and in a team or anything else.
Speaker 1: Not to say I wouldn't want, you know, there could
Speaker 1: be worse things in the world than that team. But
Speaker 1: they need single stars and they need people to stand out,
Speaker 1: and Kevin Owens, to me is that guy. And not
Speaker 1: to say that Kevin Sammy's Ane is gonna weigh him down,
Speaker 1: but you know, to be honest, you know, there's a
Speaker 1: certain level for Zane and I like him tied in
Speaker 1: frankly with Roman reign. So we'll see what happens there.
Speaker 1: But I kind of like that you won't even need
Speaker 1: a briefcase. Didn't winning guarantee a spot in the Yes,
Speaker 1: that's so caughtas point and my point. You win the
Speaker 1: g one, you're in the main event of the Tokyo Dome.
Speaker 1: Just like in the old days you won the Royal Rumble,
Speaker 1: you were guaranteed the main event at WrestleMania. Now, I
Speaker 1: think everybody, like all his old people, we watched the
Speaker 1: Royal Rumble because we always watched it and it's fun.
Speaker 1: But nobody goes into the Royal Rumble and is excited
Speaker 1: like when it begins, when it's over, about who's gonna win,
Speaker 1: because it doesn't matter. It does not matter who wins
Speaker 1: the Royal Rumble, because if you win the Royal Rumble,
Speaker 1: you may headline WrestleMania. You may not headline WrestleMania, and
Speaker 1: we have two days of WrestleMania, so someone's gonna headline
Speaker 1: WrestleMania not having won the Royal Rumble. So it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: It's pro wrestling. You can do nonsense. It's okay to
Speaker 1: do nonsense sometimes even with you know, a briefcase or
Speaker 1: a stipulation or whatever every once in a while. But
Speaker 1: we've gotten away from like you mentioned, there's the Royal
Speaker 1: Rumble mean what it used to mean? No, does winning
Speaker 1: money in the bank mean what it used to me? No?
Speaker 1: Were we getting into territory with Gatto, with the briefcase
Speaker 1: and with the fact that you can defend this right
Speaker 1: that you know, maybe the old thing should be new again,
Speaker 1: which is he wins the big match. I'm going to
Speaker 1: the Dome on the fourth. If somebody wants to try
Speaker 1: to hurt me along the way to take me out,
Speaker 1: that's fine, but I'm gonna be there for that title match.
Speaker 1: I like that, and to me, yeah, it does make
Speaker 1: the g one mean more. And come next year, when
Speaker 1: we have the possibilities of the Andrades, the Brian Danielson's,
Speaker 1: the Claudio's, the whoever j Lefals, whoever you want to say,
Speaker 1: could be possibly in that tournament. Yeah, I kind of
Speaker 1: this is a perfect time. This was the perfect time
Speaker 1: for them, in my opinion, to try something new with
Speaker 1: the blocks and all that stuff. And I wasn't a
Speaker 1: huge fan of it, but I get why they did
Speaker 1: it this year, but come next year. Now it's time
Speaker 1: to bring it back. Backing him on with more Observer Live, well,
Speaker 1: it's time to talk about SmackDown and Rampage. There was
Speaker 1: not a lot to talk about on Rampage Cloud. He
Speaker 1: did a promo open challenge for next week and Dustin accepted,
Speaker 1: so that's gonna be coming up on next week's show.
Speaker 1: It's forming our glory beat Private Party. They retained the
Speaker 1: tag team titles. They yeah, Fis bumped afterwards and that
Speaker 1: was it. They won. It was a good match, but
Speaker 1: it was just a match Hook and old Zach Clayton,
Speaker 1: the reality Zach Clayton. The match started, the bell rang
Speaker 1: Hook choked him out immediately. That was the end of that.
Speaker 1: Then Angelo park Ker demanded a championship match I guess
Speaker 1: for next week, which hopefully we'll go longer than ten seconds. Then,
Speaker 1: because the match went so short, we had Buddy Matthews
Speaker 1: in his first singles match on a w I think
Speaker 1: somebody said, since like February or something like that, he
Speaker 1: beats the Pentago in like ten seconds, killed him, and
Speaker 1: then we had Miro showing up and he absolutely obliterated
Speaker 1: Malachi and uh left him for dead. So he is
Speaker 1: coming after the House of Black. Finally, after all these months,
Speaker 1: he's making his move. I don't know if I like
Speaker 1: that Miro was becoming nineties seven sting. It's like he
Speaker 1: was so incredibly over and you never see him wrestle.
Speaker 1: He just comes out says something. It's amazing and most
Speaker 1: cases I would actually hate a bill to a match
Speaker 1: an involvement like this, but Miro has been so great
Speaker 1: the whole deal with the Pagan all of this stuff,
Speaker 1: always mentioning his wife like it's in some ways appling,
Speaker 1: there's not. You know, if somebody were to walk in
Speaker 1: and you go, I'll explain all this to me and
Speaker 1: how it works in wrestling, it would be kind of
Speaker 1: difficult to with what's going on with him. But it's
Speaker 1: been amazing, and now I actually want to see him
Speaker 1: face off against Malachi Black. And it's got nothing to
Speaker 1: do with professional wrestling at all. It has got a.
Speaker 1: It's the lie. It's got nothing to do within the
Speaker 1: ring at all. It's got a pc to do with
Speaker 1: these characters and how they've been talking to each other
Speaker 1: and what in theory that we're representing Athena b Penelope
Speaker 1: Ford and Uh, it was fine, finish, looked awesome, They
Speaker 1: shot it great, and then afterwards, Uh, Jade Cargile came
Speaker 1: out and destroyed Athena's wings. I don't think I watched
Speaker 1: this show every single week, okay, and apparently she's had
Speaker 1: these wings since day one. This was the first time
Speaker 1: they ever made a big deal about the wings. And
Speaker 1: then the wings get destroyed. Jericho losing it in that
Speaker 1: Jericho worked announcer and so like she, God bless him.
Speaker 1: It was the worst thing in the world. God bless
Speaker 1: him for trying. Oh, come on, God's name, it was
Speaker 1: trying is more made it a mockery, even more than
Speaker 1: it was. He wasn't trying to make it a mockery.
Speaker 1: But I think if somebody probably figured out they're destroying
Speaker 1: the wings this week, what wings? Oh those wings on
Speaker 1: TV once the last time she's been on TV with
Speaker 1: those wings in the ring, displaying them for everybody as
Speaker 1: if it's a big part of her ring gear. Somebody,
Speaker 1: somebody had the stance and it's been a while since
Speaker 1: she's been on TV with the wings anyway. Sometimes they
Speaker 1: do things to do things. Sometimes it works out, like
Speaker 1: they had a Texas death and was it was it?
Speaker 1: The was it the dustin and code. They seemed to
Speaker 1: get to things sometimes quickly, but it's okay when it
Speaker 1: ends up working itself out, like when he comes to
Speaker 1: some of these gimmick matches. I think they've burned through
Speaker 1: a lot of things. This was a great example of
Speaker 1: And there have been several times where something has not
Speaker 1: been driven home on TV enough that was going to matter,
Speaker 1: and then they go with something like this where it's like,
Speaker 1: why should anybody care? Why should I have an a
Speaker 1: invested interest into this thing that these bad guys who
Speaker 1: are kind of cool anyway are doing to this woman.
Speaker 1: And we had the best Friends of meeting the Trustbusters.
Speaker 1: Good made event, best friends, great Trustbusters did a good job,
Speaker 1: even even all Harlan, he does no more than he
Speaker 1: needs to do. He goes in there, he's big, and
Speaker 1: then Aridivary does all the work and slim J. Slim
Speaker 1: J was way better than I expected he fit right,
Speaker 1: and in this match he was totally fine. And of
Speaker 1: course they lost. But slim J is not whining and
Speaker 1: crying about none of his finishing move is working. And
Speaker 1: he's been in this game for just as long as
Speaker 1: you have, and he's out there looking fresh and as
Speaker 1: sharp as ever. Yeah, will you you wait until all
Speaker 1: that weekend, brother, you'll see sharp. And that was ramp Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a blade. Watch out of that g
Speaker 1: c W side of that locker room, stay on the
Speaker 1: BLP side that was the rampage shop. Then, yes, bro,
Speaker 1: I survived Nick Gauge. Brother, I never saw you in
Speaker 1: the ring with Nick Gauge. Wait a second, Wait a second, backstage,
Speaker 1: maybe with Nick Gauge. I wouldn't get in the ring
Speaker 1: with Nick Gauge. I wouldn't be that foolhardy. And let
Speaker 1: me tell you something. The only reason was that brave
Speaker 1: is because he lets you get out of here. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Tom certainly didn't help. It's one of the reasons we're
Speaker 1: having this match. You're really denigrating, Uh I gotta get
Speaker 1: through smack down here bro a Ron arousing to this segment.
Speaker 1: Now she's Steve Austin in she suspended and find but
Speaker 1: she comes out of the ring, place goes crazy for her.
Speaker 1: She beats up more security and they just love to
Speaker 1: run a rowsey she can do. She's apparently gonna be
Speaker 1: feuding with Adam Pierce or something. I guess we'll find out.
Speaker 1: Then we had toxic attraction versus Natty and apologize to
Speaker 1: Zoe for what because you said she and Nikita would
Speaker 1: be far worse to have in there than toxic No.
Speaker 1: I said they should not be seen on the main
Speaker 1: deaf and annoying listen. I said, if you're going to
Speaker 1: have a team from n x T in storyline, it
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense that two random people who have
Speaker 1: never had a match together as a team in their
Speaker 1: lives are in the tournament. Yet the former tag team
Speaker 1: champions can't get into this tournament. That's what I said.
Speaker 1: I've also never never said a negative word about Zoe Stark.
Speaker 1: I'm the one who wanted Zoe start to win the
Speaker 1: women's title, and I said she's one of the best
Speaker 1: workers they've got. So I don't want to hear it.
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear it from you. They because
Speaker 1: they shouldn't be on the main roster. That was the
Speaker 1: whole point of that. They do things where they showcase
Speaker 1: people every once in a while, and that's what they're
Speaker 1: planning on doing when Nikita Lions. Although the incompetence on
Speaker 1: that side of the Ledger heard a lot about a WS,
Speaker 1: but we can't forget some of the incompetent stories we've
Speaker 1: heard about w w E recently, including Nikia Lions not
Speaker 1: being even able to get into Canada when that was
Speaker 1: a planned out thing. That was ridiculous to have Zoe
Speaker 1: Stark there as opposed to Toxic Attraction because they shouldn't
Speaker 1: have been seen on TV. This match was bad and
Speaker 1: g G. Dolan had a horrible night. She was horrible
Speaker 1: in this match. God bless her. But I cannot imagine
Speaker 1: that Nikkia Lions would be better. She would have been
Speaker 1: as bad, or she would have did that big button cannonball.
Speaker 1: She would have been the big butt cannonball. But you
Speaker 1: figure Zoe would have did more of the work, which honestly,
Speaker 1: for an Italia probably would have been kind of nice.
Speaker 1: The point is this match was bad. It was a
Speaker 1: bad match, and uh and then Toxic Traction one. So
Speaker 1: they're allegedly moving on in this tournament. Then we had Sammy,
Speaker 1: Sane and Roman Reigns in a backstage segment. I talked
Speaker 1: about it earlier. Was awesome. We had maximum male models
Speaker 1: in the ring, hit Ro interrupted, beat him up and
Speaker 1: then did a long performance, and I was waiting, what's okay,
Speaker 1: what's this leading to? What's this leading to? What's this
Speaker 1: leading to nothing? They had a long performance. If you
Speaker 1: liked it, great, it's leading to Max dupri probably getting
Speaker 1: slammed around by uh By the Big Man. There a
Speaker 1: j Francis, So that's now, that's a we wanted new
Speaker 1: tag teams. We've got new tag teams, and that certainly
Speaker 1: is a new feud. We had the Five Way Shamus
Speaker 1: beat Sammy's Ain, Happy Corbin, Madcap Moss and Ricochet. Matchell's great,
Speaker 1: it's the best SmackDown match in a long time, and
Speaker 1: Shamus one. So it is Shamus versus Gunther in the
Speaker 1: Battle of the Behemoths. To steal a line from Chris Jericho,
Speaker 1: these two behemoths will be facing off and clash at
Speaker 1: the Castle. Had a Viking funeral for the New Day
Speaker 1: with a cameo from Sarah Logan, which I don't think
Speaker 1: means anything, but she was there. None of this means anything.
Speaker 1: Then we had Live Morrigan beating shot See and when
Speaker 1: it was over, Shana Bazer attacks Morgan and she beats
Speaker 1: her up because they're facing off of the pay per
Speaker 1: view and I actually like this. She goes to break
Speaker 1: her arm, she steps on the wrist, she's about to
Speaker 1: stomp the elbow, and then she says, if I break
Speaker 1: your arm, I can't fight for the title of the Castle.
Speaker 1: So instead instead of stopping her arm, she boots her
Speaker 1: in the head and instead she was awesome. She was
Speaker 1: awesome in this segment that second that Live pulled back
Speaker 1: to look and then she just boots her right side
Speaker 1: the head. But again, Live Morgan is sitting there crying
Speaker 1: for her life if tears coming out of her eyes
Speaker 1: with a body part about to be broken. Again. I
Speaker 1: know you got to do a little of this, but
Speaker 1: is this really the best thing for Live Morgan leading
Speaker 1: into that match? Well, she's gonna win, so I don't
Speaker 1: think it matters. Then we have the Roman reigns Drew
Speaker 1: mcutyre face to face and uh, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the things there's a lot of things that are getting
Speaker 1: better with w w E, but One of the things
Speaker 1: that continues to just mightily mightily suck is there horrible,
Speaker 1: horrible camera work and they're horrible uh directing of these segments.
Speaker 1: So the segment itself, like Roman was good and Drew
Speaker 1: was good, and then we have the big spot at
Speaker 1: the end where they're getting this big brawl and Drew
Speaker 1: mcutyre is gonna go for the claim war and so
Speaker 1: you know, they think we're dumb still even with Vince
Speaker 1: conn and so he's gonna go for the claim war
Speaker 1: and so they human is tight at humanly possible on
Speaker 1: him because they don't want you to know that someone's
Speaker 1: gonna get in the ring. But every time they zoom
Speaker 1: in tight on someone, you know that's because someone's gonna
Speaker 1: get in the rings. So you know Sammy's gonna be there.
Speaker 1: So Drew goes through the kick and of course he
Speaker 1: hits Sammy. Camera totally misses it. So now you know
Speaker 1: Roman Reins decides that he's gonna go for the spear
Speaker 1: on Drew mc attire, and he goes for the spear
Speaker 1: and he gets claymoored and the camera missed it. The
Speaker 1: two spots you missed because you have to try to
Speaker 1: do all of this hocus pocus to fool the marks,
Speaker 1: when in reality, we're not that stupid. We know what's
Speaker 1: going on. Just film the action and bro, listen, listen.
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear this crap that I hear
Speaker 1: from the stand up for I'm sure everyone's all happy
Speaker 1: now that I'm met at w w E again, I
Speaker 1: don't want to hear this crap from the stand up
Speaker 1: from w w E geeks. It's like, oh, well, bro,
Speaker 1: they're gotta cut the camera because it's HD. You're gonna
Speaker 1: see a bro a w s H d Impact is
Speaker 1: HD New Japan is HD, mL W is HD. Dude,
Speaker 1: everybody shoots an HD, and I don't see everybody missing
Speaker 1: everything by a mile those other promotions, you know, I
Speaker 1: see missing stuff by a mile stills people in w
Speaker 1: w E. Bro, stop with the camera cutting. It sucks.
Speaker 1: It absolutely sucks, and it ruins the show. Other than that,
Speaker 1: it was good. But God, I hate, I hate, and
Speaker 1: all I have to hear is I hear from people
Speaker 1: are like, oh, you know this a w They've got
Speaker 1: such amateur production. They will never be as good as
Speaker 1: w w E. It's like, Bro, I know it's bright
Speaker 1: and colorful. Your production sucks. I can't see what's going on.
Speaker 1: You miss the action most of the time. There were
Speaker 1: two big spots in the main events segment. You missed
Speaker 1: them because you're busy switching the cameras. God, And there's
Speaker 1: an easy fix for that, which is, uh, don't do that.
Speaker 1: As you just mentioned, it's really that simple. And I
Speaker 1: always wonder, it's like, are we really in the minority
Speaker 1: on that? Do they have focus groups for w w
Speaker 1: E and for for NBC Universal that brings people in
Speaker 1: and go I like this because I didn't like seeing
Speaker 1: the you know, there was too much light or whatever.
Speaker 1: Somebody would say like, I, maybe we're in the minority here,
Speaker 1: and they really think that that looks great, but it
Speaker 1: looks like crap. And more often than not because of
Speaker 1: all of this manic late nineties style MTVBS cutting that
Speaker 1: was cutting edge then and in this scenario, all it
Speaker 1: does is cause you to miss action. It doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense to me. And when you have a headset
Speaker 1: and people walking watching backstage on HD monitors, if you
Speaker 1: did miss something, tell the rep, tell him to do
Speaker 1: it again, tell him to call an audible, then do it.
Speaker 1: Don't do all the camera cuts back in abzero Live
Speaker 1: back in the show. Brian Albarez here Wrestling Observer Alive,
Speaker 1: Mike simbur Viv also of Wrestling Observer dot Com. One
Speaker 1: thing after another, and some people are mad that Vinnie
Speaker 1: did a lame review of Rampage yesterday, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: I did my best to uh to salvage that review
Speaker 1: and make the show at the review exciting, so don't
Speaker 1: get mad at me about it. But then some of
Speaker 1: the boards like Imagine saying that Rampage was boring, and
Speaker 1: then like in SmackDown, it's like, did you watch SmackDown? Bro?
Speaker 1: If you watch SmackDown, you wouldn't post that. Like, I
Speaker 1: know some of you are angry and you're still upset
Speaker 1: about it, but like if you, I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: it was Penelope for its uncle or something that's expressed
Speaker 1: in this opinion. But look, there's no reason to overblow something.
Speaker 1: There is plenty of conversation to be had, and if
Speaker 1: there's not a lot to review about a show, then
Speaker 1: maybe you just review what really needs to matter about
Speaker 1: a show. You move on to the next one, then
Speaker 1: you move on to questions and other things like that,
Speaker 1: which is I'm sure that you did on the Brian,
Speaker 1: Vinnie and Greig Show. Honestly, have I ever been unfair
Speaker 1: in my reviews about any show? Have I? I watch
Speaker 1: all of these shows. I'm telling you, don't not watch
Speaker 1: the show and then yell at me about it. Look,
Speaker 1: you've had a lot of opinions. Oh this is about
Speaker 1: n x T two point. Oh, just because I like
Speaker 1: some of this stuff on the show. How dare you
Speaker 1: like something on x T two point O'Brien, it's not
Speaker 1: Tiffany Stratton. I don't get it myself, but you know
Speaker 1: it's fine. Disgusted, I never I never thought the day
Speaker 1: would come, but here it is. But you know what, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was another one. And I never thought the day
Speaker 1: would come where people wouldn't want backstage scoops about wrestling,
Speaker 1: But now they just want to. They want to put
Speaker 1: the blinders on and not hear about what's going on.
Speaker 1: They just want to enjoy the shows. Well, anyway, we're
Speaker 1: out of time. I'm an enjoy row tonight, I am,
Speaker 1: and I'll talk about it tomorrow. Wrestling Observer Live. You
Speaker 1: have been listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on
Speaker 1: the eight Side Network