Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the Eighth Side Network.
Speaker 2: By from San Francisco. I'm a Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with your hosts,
Speaker 2: Brian Alvarez and Mike Sempervv. Are you ready? Are you ready?
Speaker 2: Let's get it off.
Speaker 3: Let's get it Mike Sempervv here with you for the
Speaker 3: next hour talking about professional wrestling, which is something we
Speaker 3: do every single day here on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 3: Tune in, iHeart American Forces Radio, Sports Byline dot Com,
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Speaker 3: The Mightier ten ninety. Maybe you're listening on podcast or
Speaker 3: replay on Sirius XM, or maybe you're video streaming on
Speaker 3: Twitch or YouTube. However you're joining me today, I'd just
Speaker 3: like to say thank you. Hopefully wherever you are at
Speaker 3: Sunday outside. If not, hopefully it's sunny inside your mind.
Speaker 3: Beautiful day here on Del Marvel, Little Chili. Last time
Speaker 3: I was on a Friday with you, I was talking
Speaker 3: about how nice it was people in the Pacific Northwest
Speaker 3: were rolling their eyes because the frost has already hit. Well,
Speaker 3: guess what, it finally worked its way over here at
Speaker 3: the first frost of the winter season. It's probably going
Speaker 3: to be a long winter for me. But that's all right,
Speaker 3: got a long way to go before we get there,
Speaker 3: and there's going to be a whole lot of wrestling
Speaker 3: in the process. Look how much is taking place this weekend.
Speaker 3: WWE Crown Jewel is streaming Saturday on Peacock on the
Speaker 3: WWE Network as well, a sports washing tradition every year
Speaker 3: emanating from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The kickoff show
Speaker 3: will begin tomorrow at noon Eastern. One pm is the
Speaker 3: main show. We'll run down that card and I'll give
Speaker 3: you my thoughts on each match in the direction I
Speaker 3: think they'll go. The fact that the show is earlier
Speaker 3: in the day in the States is a blessing for
Speaker 3: aw Collision, which airs as it usually does on Saturday
Speaker 3: at eight pm Eastern. We've seen both NXT and WWEE
Speaker 3: events cause them harm head to head. We'll know on
Speaker 3: Tuesday how everything turns out. There are two pretty big
Speaker 3: college football games that are going to cause them problems.
Speaker 3: I'll note those when we run down the card. Also
Speaker 3: this weekend is the new Japan Pro Wrestling Power Struggle
Speaker 3: event in Osaka, which features appearances by John Moxley and
Speaker 3: Will Ospray. I'll run down that card and give you
Speaker 3: my predictions there too, as well as Vince McMahon eighty
Speaker 3: sixe a deal that would have seen the UFC Air
Speaker 3: on USA, and Rick Blair being signed by aw Wrestling
Speaker 3: Observer Live.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live on the Sports
Speaker 2: Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the show. Mike semper VV here with you.
Speaker 3: We do this show right here for an hour at
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Speaker 3: I am at semper VV. You can follow Filthy Tom
Speaker 3: Lawler at no surprise, Filthy Tom Lawler. He's not here
Speaker 3: with me today because he is currently en route to
Speaker 3: Indiana to fight for Paradigm Pro. Some chump name Ron
Speaker 3: Mathis is going to get beaten up tonight. So if
Speaker 3: you want to follow along and find out if Tom
Speaker 3: breaks both hands or maybe just one on this man's face,
Speaker 3: you can do that at filthy Tom Lawler and of
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Speaker 3: just the Wrestling News. For more information, head on over
Speaker 3: to the Wrestling News dot com and at Wrestling newsav
Speaker 3: on Facebook and Twitter. I'll get this out of the
Speaker 3: way for the ASMR kids. Everybody quiet down. There you go,
Speaker 3: the winter edition, Red Bull, the Paar Cinnamon. I still
Speaker 3: enjoy this right now. I am amazed at what Dana
Speaker 3: White enjoys. He may be a big S and M fan, maybe,
Speaker 3: I guess, because he just loves having somebody dominate him
Speaker 3: and slap him around and like somebody who's got bigger
Speaker 3: gripe fruits than him, you know, just just messing up
Speaker 3: all of his business decisions in the past. Apparently you have.
Speaker 3: C CEO. Dana White revealed that Vince McMahon next a
Speaker 3: past TV deal that would have seen the UFC head
Speaker 3: to NBC and the USA Network. I just saw this.
Speaker 3: It was posted up to the front page of the
Speaker 3: website this afternoon by our own Josh Nason. Dana was
Speaker 3: speaking on the Triggered podcast. I don't know who the
Speaker 3: host starred for that podcast there, but he was asked
Speaker 3: about his relationship with McMahon, a topic that has come
Speaker 3: up frequently with White in recent interviews. Now that everybody
Speaker 3: is under the Endeavor umbrella together, White again spoke about
Speaker 3: how McMahon and the UFC had their battles in the
Speaker 3: past as McMahon saw everyone his competition and that he quote,
Speaker 3: he was one of those guys who would effing stick
Speaker 3: it up to me for whatever reason end quote. White
Speaker 3: then went into specific detail that he had never delved
Speaker 3: into before, saying that the UFC was on the one
Speaker 3: yard line to sign a new deal with NBC to
Speaker 3: air fights on both NBC and the USA Network. However,
Speaker 3: at that point the WWE, the WWE head had the
Speaker 3: final say on whether another combat sports property could come
Speaker 3: onto USA's airwaves. White said that he and then owner
Speaker 3: UFC co owner Lorenzo Fertita flew out to Connecticut to
Speaker 3: meet with McMahon and get his sign off on the deal.
Speaker 3: After some small talk, they got to the point of
Speaker 3: their visit and McMahon sat back in his chair and said.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 3: When they asked why White said that, McMahon said, I'm
Speaker 3: not that interested in it. I don't like the idea
Speaker 3: of you guys on USA network pal I added the
Speaker 3: pal at the end. After the deal blew up, UFC
Speaker 3: then pivoted and eventually signed a seven year deal with
Speaker 3: Fox in August of twenty eleven. While White did not
Speaker 3: specify the timeline of when the McMahon talk happened, it
Speaker 3: is assumed to be in twenty and eleven based on
Speaker 3: the timeline. White said that now he and McMahon, executive
Speaker 3: chairman of TKO Holdings, are in business together. Quote, he
Speaker 3: couldn't be a better partner. He keeps me in the
Speaker 3: loop with everything going on, making sure I'm cool with
Speaker 3: decisions that could affect the UFC end quote. I believe
Speaker 3: this is when the UFC would have signed their deal
Speaker 3: with the Fox Network, And with hindsight being twenty twenty,
Speaker 3: that was probably a better move for UFC and it
Speaker 3: was probably a better move for mixed martial arts on
Speaker 3: network television. I think of all the major networks, we
Speaker 3: saw CBS try it, and immediately the Tiffany Network got
Speaker 3: some very cold feet after the brawl broke out at
Speaker 3: Elite XC or it wasn't strike for us, and I
Speaker 3: guess it was a lead XC where the fight ended
Speaker 3: up breaking out with the Diz brothers and all that.
Speaker 3: Mayhem Miller and all that stuff went down and they
Speaker 3: were done with it real quick. After that, it got
Speaker 3: banished to showtime and that was pretty much it. Honestly,
Speaker 3: I think Fox was the perfect place for the UFC
Speaker 3: to go. I think if it would have went right
Speaker 3: to NBC, sure, USA Network probably would have been good
Speaker 3: with it. They for years Tuesday Night fights on the
Speaker 3: USA Network, Barry Tompkins and Sean O'Grady. That was the
Speaker 3: team I remember the most. Barry Tompkins and Al Michaels,
Speaker 3: you know on Friday Night fights, you know on the
Speaker 3: USA Network, that sort of thing. I think would have
Speaker 3: been no problem airing specials or prelimbs on NBC. I
Speaker 3: don't know. I think the way everything worked out, Fox
Speaker 3: was the right way to go, and now we don't
Speaker 3: really see anybody bat and eye I'm sure somebody at ABC, SLASH,
Speaker 3: ESPN doesn't like to see those fights on in the
Speaker 3: background while they're working or whatever. They'd rather see car
Speaker 3: racing or something else on in its place. But you know,
Speaker 3: when it comes to networks now, it's no big deal
Speaker 3: to see fighting on in the middle of the afternoon,
Speaker 3: which was so something that you know, back in twenty eleven,
Speaker 3: even though it doesn't seem like it's all that long ago.
Speaker 3: You know a lot of people were still horrified at
Speaker 3: the thought of seeing the ufton there. So it is.
Speaker 3: It's interesting. Dana White always seems to have great enjoyment
Speaker 3: talking about how Vince has slapped him down in business
Speaker 3: dealings kind of gives you a glimpse into the mind
Speaker 3: of Dana White. There that Vince again. You know, he
Speaker 3: is the big dog that Dana looks up to. You
Speaker 3: don't hear him talk about Bob Aram with any you know,
Speaker 3: special feeling, Don King, anybody from the boxing world where
Speaker 3: he got his start. It really comes down to Vince
Speaker 3: McMahon as his ideal promoter. WWE SmackDown is tonight from
Speaker 3: the Phizserve form in Milwaukee. This was taped after last
Speaker 3: Friday Night's telecast in order to accommodate travel for this
Speaker 3: Saturday's Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. They announced on
Speaker 3: WWE dot com yesterday that Ridge Holland and Butch of
Speaker 3: the Brawling Brutes will take on Pretty Deadly's Kit Wilson
Speaker 3: and Elton Prince and a Donnie Brook Rules about on
Speaker 3: the show says here that WWE dot com describes a
Speaker 3: Donnybrook rules match as a quote free for all melee
Speaker 3: with lots of weapons at their disposal end quote. There's
Speaker 3: a lot of basic matches now you end up seeing
Speaker 3: all that stuff end up breaking out there. Also added
Speaker 3: to Friday's card for those of you who have remained
Speaker 3: spoiler free, Kevin Owens will go one on one with
Speaker 3: Austin Theory. The match will be a follow up from
Speaker 3: an angle on last week's episode where Owens attack Theory backstage.
Speaker 3: Also on the show will be a United States Championship
Speaker 3: way in between Ray Mistereo and his challenger. On Saturday,
Speaker 3: Logan Paul and Bianca Belair returns to the ring and
Speaker 3: faces Damage Controls Bailey Crown Jewel taking place from the
Speaker 3: Mohammad Abdoh Arena in Riad, Saudi Arabia. Like I said,
Speaker 3: one pm Eastern Time for the main card, noon for
Speaker 3: the pre show. At some point during that pre show,
Speaker 3: we will have a kickoff match between Sammy's Ain and
Speaker 3: JD McDonough and they're not beaten. Sammy's Ain in Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't think now that he is back able to
Speaker 3: go on these tours. Sammy's Ain gets the victory in
Speaker 3: that match. I don't know if this card is in order.
Speaker 3: Looks like it probably is because the way it's listed.
Speaker 3: It is book ended with world title matches, the first
Speaker 3: one being the WWE Women's title match Eo Sky against
Speaker 3: Bianca bel Air. I don't know if Charlotte Flair is
Speaker 3: in Saudi Arabia or if she's going to be a
Speaker 3: part of the house shows coming up this weekend. There
Speaker 3: is one in Rochester, New York, and another in Springfield, Massachusetts,
Speaker 3: on Saturday and Sunday, So I don't know if she
Speaker 3: is going to be a part of those shows. But
Speaker 3: if she is not, I could see her maybe getting
Speaker 3: involved causing Bianca bel Air to possibly lose the match.
Speaker 3: What you could also see, and I'll get in a
Speaker 3: little more detail with this later on is Kyrie sayin
Speaker 3: possibly making an appearance and costing Bianca bel Air the
Speaker 3: match against Eo Sky. I if that doesn't happen and
Speaker 3: there's no interference, I say, okay, go ahead and give
Speaker 3: the belt to Bianca. But I gotta be honest. I
Speaker 3: think there's more chase left for Bianca, and I think
Speaker 3: a to cut Eo Sky at this point in her
Speaker 3: title reign again, unless you have something really good planned
Speaker 3: for Beyonca winning it, I think it's okay to hold
Speaker 3: off on that a little bit. Cody Rhodes faces Damian
Speaker 3: Priest in a singles bout. I have a feeling something
Speaker 3: is going to happen with Damian Priest a little bit
Speaker 3: later on in the show, so I think Cody Rhodes
Speaker 3: is going to get the victory over him. John Sena
Speaker 3: against Solo Socoa. I'm going with John Cena in that match.
Speaker 3: The United States title match between Ray Mysterio and Logan Paul,
Speaker 3: I'm really up in the air on this one. You
Speaker 3: could go either way. I say go ahead and give
Speaker 3: the belt to Logan Paul. He's got no bites planned
Speaker 3: for right now. He can hang around, certainly be a
Speaker 3: thorn in everyone's side leading into the Royal Rumble. I'm
Speaker 3: all for it. Got a couple more matches on that
Speaker 3: show to get into, as well as a whole lot
Speaker 3: more coming up this weekend. We'll be back Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
Speaker 2: and Mike semperviv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting networking back on.
Speaker 3: The show, Mike sepper vb here with you Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 3: Brian Alvarez will be back with me on Monday, taking
Speaker 3: a look at everything that took place over the weekend.
Speaker 3: If you cannot wait that long and you need some
Speaker 3: more Brian Alvarez in your life, well, the Brian and
Speaker 3: Vinnie Show will take place Sunday night, but even before that,
Speaker 3: on Saturday night, I assume overnight, unless something bizarre happens here,
Speaker 3: I would have to assume that Brian Alvarez and Dave
Speaker 3: Meltzer will be back for subscribers for Wrestling Observer Radio
Speaker 3: running down everything that takes place at Crown Jewel. I'm
Speaker 3: running down the rest of that show right now for you.
Speaker 3: WWE Women's World Title Fatal five Way Rhea Ripley against
Speaker 3: Naya Jacks against Zoe Stark, SHANEA Basler, and Raquel Rodriguez.
Speaker 3: Why would you take the title off of Rhea Ripley. Why?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I wouldn't take the title off of
Speaker 3: Riea Ripley, no reason to do that. Just gets five
Speaker 3: women into that match in Saudi Arabia. That's fine. Cool.
Speaker 3: Raya Ripley comes back with the belt WWE World Heavyweight Title.
Speaker 3: Seth Rollins against Drew McIntyre. Okay, this, this is what
Speaker 3: I'm thinking here. Seth Rollins wins this match, but he
Speaker 3: is in bad shape and I'm not sure how this
Speaker 3: is going to happen, but I do know that Drew
Speaker 3: McIntyre will be pissed off when it happens. He'll would
Speaker 3: have gotten screwed. And somehow Seth Rollins holds onto that
Speaker 3: belt and he can complain about it all he wants,
Speaker 3: but out will come Damian Priest to go ahead and
Speaker 3: cash in on Seth Rollins. We have a world title
Speaker 3: change quote unquote In Saudi Arabia, Damian Priest comes back
Speaker 3: with the belt and again the divide between he and
Speaker 3: the rest of the judgment day can continue on. I
Speaker 3: still believe that Drew McIntyre would be the perfect replacement
Speaker 3: for him, much more than a Randy Orton or anybody
Speaker 3: like that. I think Drew McIntyre replacing Damian Priest in
Speaker 3: that unit would be to me the way to do it.
Speaker 3: And then you have Damian Priest going up against Seth Rollins.
Speaker 3: Maybe if Seth Rollins is screwed over by Shins, Kay
Speaker 3: Knackamoor or somebody like that, he can get out of
Speaker 3: the title picture. And right there it is all set
Speaker 3: up Drew McIntyre against Damian Priest. And oh yeah, if
Speaker 3: Cody Rhodes defeats Damian Priest earlier on in the show,
Speaker 3: you can have he and Cody Rhoads, Damian Priest and
Speaker 3: Cody Rhodes do battle for the belt at some point
Speaker 3: as you lead into Rustlemania season. At the beginning of
Speaker 3: the year, Undisputed Universal World Global Planetary Title whatever it
Speaker 3: is held by Roman reigns alongside Paul Hayman against La Knight.
Speaker 3: La Knight has been red hot. He has been no
Speaker 3: signs really of cooling off right now. He seems to
Speaker 3: be consistently right there with what people want. He is
Speaker 3: going to get screwed over somehow in this match against
Speaker 3: Roman Reigns, we may see a very clean three count,
Speaker 3: you know, and when it comes to the visual pitch,
Speaker 3: but something will probably go down. I'm thinking in my mind,
Speaker 3: some sort of distraction, some sort of nonsense because of
Speaker 3: Solo or Jimmy Uso or something like that, where La
Speaker 3: Knight takes the l and we come back to the
Speaker 3: States with Roman Reigns continuing to be the undisputed Universal
Speaker 3: World Heavyweight Champion. There you go, That's what I think
Speaker 3: about Crown Jewel. We still have, you know, a couple
Speaker 3: of shows before we get to Crown Jewel, before I
Speaker 3: get the SmackDown, though, I will say Kyrie saying to
Speaker 3: me is I don't know when she's going to be
Speaker 3: back in WWE officially, but it has been reported that
Speaker 3: she has been added to the internal roster. This was
Speaker 3: posted up on the f forw online dot com front
Speaker 3: page this morning by Ethan Renner. On Thursday, Russell Votes
Speaker 3: first reported the Kyrie Saine has been added to WWE's
Speaker 3: internal roster, signaling her impending return to the company, saying
Speaker 3: a four NXT Women's Champion and WWE Women's Tag Team
Speaker 3: Champion left the company in twenty twenty one and last
Speaker 3: wrestled for WWE in twenty twenty. It was reported in
Speaker 3: August that she was on her way back to WWE
Speaker 3: after fulfilling the remainder of her dates in Japan. Sayane
Speaker 3: finished up with stardom in October. Hmm, so her return
Speaker 3: is uh is coming here and again? Could she make
Speaker 3: her presence felt this weekend in Saudi Arabia? She could
Speaker 3: you know whether EO Sky or Bianca bell Air wins?
Speaker 3: Do you? You could also do something where Kyrie Zane
Speaker 3: is waiting for her for whoever the winner is when
Speaker 3: they get back. Not sure, not even sure she's going
Speaker 3: to be on the SmackDown roster, you know either, So
Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see what she does. Her presence
Speaker 3: is and I'm not saying it's been missed, but her
Speaker 3: re addition to that women's roster just makes it even better. Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, whereas Naya Jackson's didn't you know Kyrie Sayin
Speaker 3: being there mixing it up with Bianca bell Air? You
Speaker 3: know who has gotten so much better since Kyrie was
Speaker 3: there last. The same thing with Rhea Ripley and the
Speaker 3: character that she has become now obviously you still have
Speaker 3: Charlotte Flair there, you still have Eosky, you still have Osca.
Speaker 3: There are a lot of really good women up on
Speaker 3: the women's roster. At some point we're going to see
Speaker 3: Tiffany Stratton up there too, So they do have a
Speaker 3: great core of women's wrestlers up there. So Kyrie sayin
Speaker 3: coming back to add to that, that's cool with me.
Speaker 3: I'll also note here too, speaking of people who will
Speaker 3: be returning soon, that aj Styles is reportedly expected back
Speaker 3: on the main roster soon. P W Insiders reporting the
Speaker 3: Styles is scheduled to return on next week's edition of
Speaker 3: the show on November tenth, and will be back regularly
Speaker 3: from that point on. He's been gone since filming an
Speaker 3: injury angle that aired on the September twenty second SmackDown,
Speaker 3: which basically opened up the door for La Night to
Speaker 3: come along and get the title shot that he's getting
Speaker 3: tomorrow at Crown Jewel. The rest of the OC has
Speaker 3: been gone from WWE programming as well. Carl Anderson and
Speaker 3: his wife just had their fifth child earlier on this week,
Speaker 3: so he is not there. Luke Gallows has been dealing
Speaker 3: with a knee injury, so he has not been there.
Speaker 3: Nishan has been there. She's been wrestling dark matches at
Speaker 3: SmackDown tapings, either teaming with Shatsi or Zelina Vega and
Speaker 3: wrestling Alba Fire and Isla Down. They're another twosome. We
Speaker 3: saw Vignette's airing that they were going to be coming back.
Speaker 3: You know, it seems to be there in a holding
Speaker 3: pattern right now. But if Chelsea Green and Piper Niven
Speaker 3: can go over there and lose those titles to Alba
Speaker 3: Fire and Eila Down, I will be quite happy about that,
Speaker 3: so we can go ahead and maybe actually do something
Speaker 3: with those tag team title belts for the women's division
Speaker 3: coming up on SmackDown tonight. Did I already go through that?
Speaker 3: Did already go through SmackDown? Let me see here? Eh? Yeah,
Speaker 3: let's see. I did at the very beginning of the show.
Speaker 3: But they have Let's see. No, I pretty much said
Speaker 3: it all when it comes to SmackDown. Really nothing else
Speaker 3: on there other than what I said at the beginning
Speaker 3: of the show. Aw Rampage is also tonight as well too.
Speaker 3: That's another tape show, as it usually is. KFC Young Center, Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker 3: After Dynamite, No spoilers here either a three way match
Speaker 3: Eo Del Vikingo against Penta against Commander sky Blue faces
Speaker 3: Marina Shaffir Daniel Garcia against Trent Boretta and Austin and
Speaker 3: Colton Gun against Christopher Daniels and Matt Sidel. So that's
Speaker 3: coming up at ten o'clock Eastern time when SmackDown goes
Speaker 3: off the air. AW Collision will be held live in Wichita,
Speaker 3: Kansas on Saturday from the Intrust Bank Arena, and in
Speaker 3: a promo released on social media Thursday, Prince Nana announced
Speaker 3: that the Gates of Agony will team with the AW
Speaker 3: Tag team champions Ricky Starks and Big Bill against FTR
Speaker 3: Rush and Preston Vance that is going to be taking
Speaker 3: place on Saturday's episode. The match follows up an angle
Speaker 3: from last week's Collision where Rouche To released to Co
Speaker 3: and Preston Vance, along with Jose the Assistant, saved FTR
Speaker 3: from an attack by Starks and Big Bill. Ar Fox
Speaker 3: against Swarf Strickland is also scheduled, as well as Lance
Speaker 3: Archer and Darby Allen and Yes, the National sixty nine
Speaker 3: Day Celebration with the Acclaimed and Billy Gunn on there.
Speaker 3: AW ratings News. We mentioned it as we went off
Speaker 3: the area yesterday. The Wednesday edition of Dynamite drew a
Speaker 3: total audience of eight hundred and thirty two thousand to TBS,
Speaker 3: up from last week's audience of seven hundred and seventy fourth.
Speaker 3: That comes despite the final game of the World Series
Speaker 3: between Texas and Arizona that actually saw no hitter getting
Speaker 3: taken into the seventh inning and the key eighteen to
Speaker 3: forty nine year old demographic. The show drew a point
Speaker 3: to eight rating, up from last week's point to four.
Speaker 3: So really, again, you everybody wants to throw arrows back
Speaker 3: and forth over ratings if you're you're still into doing that.
Speaker 3: The bottom line is it was a good number going
Speaker 3: up against the World Series and up significantly from the
Speaker 3: week before. Now, with what you saw on there, were
Speaker 3: you happy about what took place? Will you be tuning
Speaker 3: in next week? We'll have to see how those numbers go.
Speaker 3: But at least now baseball is out of the way.
Speaker 3: Football is still in the way and will be in
Speaker 3: the way for Collision on Saturday. Obviously, a full slate
Speaker 3: of games across networks, the biggest ones that are going
Speaker 3: to have an effect on Collision or going to be
Speaker 3: number five Washington against number twenty USC seven point thirty
Speaker 3: on the ABC network, and then number fourteen LSU against
Speaker 3: number eight Alabama at seven forty five on CBS. I
Speaker 3: don't know why LSU and USC are ranked to be
Speaker 3: honest at this point, except they wanted the game to
Speaker 3: look shinier when they prop these up there. Neither one
Speaker 3: of those teams should be in the top twenty five.
Speaker 3: USC really shouldn't be in the top twenty five, and
Speaker 3: Michael Pennix is probably going to have like seven touchdowns tomorrow.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm expecting with that USC defense going to
Speaker 3: be terrible. But there's a bunch of other games as well,
Speaker 3: including number three Michigan, who's had a lot of talking
Speaker 3: controversy this week. Whether that helps NBC's numbers for the
Speaker 3: game that goes head up against Collision, we'll find all
Speaker 3: that out on Tuesday. Got a lot more to get
Speaker 3: into and we shall do so when we get back
Speaker 3: from Break Wrestling, Observer Live lamest Rod. It's gonna be
Speaker 3: af the president apartment.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, and again, that's why you are listening to Wrestling
Speaker 5: Observer Live on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 3: You got killer class, you look back on the show.
Speaker 3: Mike seppervv here with you. Wrestling Observer Live flying solo. Today,
Speaker 3: Filthy Tom Lawler and Rude will be fighting for Paradigm
Speaker 3: pro Tonight. You can check that show out again. I'll
Speaker 3: tweet out all the information on that when the show
Speaker 3: is over at Semperviv. You can follow him at Filthy
Speaker 3: Tom Lawler. Big boss Man Brian Alvarez will be back
Speaker 3: with me on Monday in this chair. But as I
Speaker 3: mentioned las segment, if you want him sooner than that,
Speaker 3: he and Dave will be doing a show after Crown
Speaker 3: Jewel on Saturday, as well as the Brian and Vinnie
Speaker 3: Show returning for subscribers over at F FOURW online dot
Speaker 3: Com on Sunday. One of the other things that you
Speaker 3: get when you're a subscriber to F FOURW online dot
Speaker 3: Com is the Wrestling Observer newsletter, and according to that newsletter,
Speaker 3: Dragon Lee has officially signed a main roster deal. For
Speaker 3: those of you who like keeping track of such things,
Speaker 3: Dave wrote, dragon Lee signed his new main roster deal
Speaker 3: last week basically made it worth it to him for
Speaker 3: having signed the NXT deal rather than the offered AW deal.
Speaker 3: As noted, he went to people who knew the US
Speaker 3: scene who told him he'd be lost in the shuffle
Speaker 3: in AW. Previously, people would have said not to go
Speaker 3: to WWE given their track record with all wrestlers who
Speaker 3: came from Mexico besides Alberto del Rio. Lee picked up
Speaker 3: a victory over Centric Alexander on SmackDown last week. He
Speaker 3: signed with WWE in December twenty twenty two and debuted
Speaker 3: for NXT this March. Lee's brothers Rush and Releastico are
Speaker 3: both signed to ae W. It's a big deal for
Speaker 3: Dragonly personally that he was able to get this main
Speaker 3: roster deal. And if you are a fan of Dragon Lee,
Speaker 3: you are happy to hear that news. Why if he
Speaker 3: had an NXT deal already, is it that big of
Speaker 3: a deal, because it's a lot more money, and one
Speaker 3: would have to assume a W offered him more money
Speaker 3: to join them, and he didn't. He decided to take
Speaker 3: an NXT deal, which again it's not like you're crying
Speaker 3: for any of those folks, but it is nothing like
Speaker 3: a main roster deal. And you know, again his ability
Speaker 3: to earn in Mexico and AEW and other places. You know,
Speaker 3: to take a cut like that, you really got to
Speaker 3: believe in yourself and you got to hope that they
Speaker 3: were going to do something with him, and they have.
Speaker 3: He's up on the main roster right now. We'll see
Speaker 3: how they use him now that he is up there.
Speaker 3: They have desperately needed a replacement for Ray Mysterio Junior.
Speaker 3: They have had so many opportunities. They had one with
Speaker 3: Santos Escobar. I don't know what direction they're they're going
Speaker 3: to be going there, but there it is a graveyard
Speaker 3: of littered bodies for somebody who could be the next
Speaker 3: big Mexican star coming over to America or the next
Speaker 3: big luchador, the next big mask figure. I mean, to me,
Speaker 3: that's even more important than anything is the fact that
Speaker 3: you sell masks. You know, the fact that they've just
Speaker 3: been so poor with how they've treated everybody when one
Speaker 3: of the most important things the WWE is merchandise. And again,
Speaker 3: with the exception of Ray Mysterio, what mass have you
Speaker 3: been able to sell. It's not like you got Graham
Speaker 3: Metallic to a level where you could you know, we're
Speaker 3: the rest of the Lucha house party to a point
Speaker 3: where you can sell their mass and anybody would actually
Speaker 3: want them. So hopefully this works out. He's an incredibly
Speaker 3: talented guy. We've seen him in there. He had a
Speaker 3: great match. I mean, look how good he made Dominic
Speaker 3: Mysterio look in that first match. And that's nothing against
Speaker 3: Dominic Mysterio, but we saw Dominic Mysterio against Nathan Fraser
Speaker 3: this past week. Sometimes he's got to be in there
Speaker 3: with the right guy, and Dragon Lee was perfect for him.
Speaker 3: So I hope at some point he truly can somebody
Speaker 3: can take that torch away and carry it for Lucidors
Speaker 3: in the WWE, just because how many more times can
Speaker 3: you try it out, Ray mysterio out there? My god,
Speaker 3: it's amazing that he's even able to move at this point,
Speaker 3: let alone go like he does in the ring. And
Speaker 3: we're going to find that out again tomorrow with Logan
Speaker 3: Paul and what probably is going to be a super
Speaker 3: fun match if nothing else. Rick Flair has signed a
Speaker 3: multi year contract with AW, according to an official press
Speaker 3: release yesterday. I did not hear Rick Flair and his
Speaker 3: agent on with Dave Meltzer and Garret Gonzalez on yesterday's
Speaker 3: Resserver Radio, which is up for subscribers on the site,
Speaker 3: so I can't speak to anything that was said on there,
Speaker 3: but said Tony Khan in a statement quote. Rick cemented
Speaker 3: his legacy as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of
Speaker 3: all time long ago and now his world renowned persona
Speaker 3: and his amazing wrestling mind will be major assets to
Speaker 3: aw's programming and our position globally. Most importantly, it's fitting
Speaker 3: that the final chapter of Sting's iconic career will unfold
Speaker 3: on TBS with Rick Flair by his side. End quote.
Speaker 3: The announcement comes after Flair made his first surprise appearance
Speaker 3: in AEW on last Saturday, Night's collision to show his
Speaker 3: support for his longtime friend and in ring rival Sting,
Speaker 3: who had announced his upcoming retirement in twenty twenty four. Apparently,
Speaker 3: I saw I mentioned somewhere that Flar's woo woo. That's
Speaker 3: just you know, at this point, it doesn't it doesn't
Speaker 3: deserve a Flair in his prime like woo for this.
Speaker 3: You know, just the energy drink is going to be
Speaker 3: offsetting some of the salary, and the Energy Drink will
Speaker 3: become the official beverage of AEW. I'm gonna stick with
Speaker 3: the Red Bull here. You know that's enough. I'll never
Speaker 3: try this in the same way that I've never tried
Speaker 3: prime the Logan Paul drink. But Rick Flair's amazing wrestling
Speaker 3: mind will be a major asset to WAW's programming in
Speaker 3: our position globally, what amazing wrestling mind? Rick Flair is
Speaker 3: one of my greatest pro wrestlers of all time, period,
Speaker 3: point blank. He may be the greatest pro wrestler of
Speaker 3: all time to depending on how you look at things
Speaker 3: growing up, he Ricky Steamboat, Jay Youngblood, Wahoo McDaniel, Dusty Rhodes,
Speaker 3: I mean, all sergeants, slaughter, all those huge influence on
Speaker 3: me was my favorite professional wrestler, Rick Flair. When he
Speaker 3: was the head booker for WCW. He was busy and
Speaker 3: he had a group of people that he put in
Speaker 3: the place. Now he put the right people into place
Speaker 3: when you include Kevin Sullivan and Jim Cornett. And this
Speaker 3: is going back to the time where you know he
Speaker 3: had this Jim Ross, it was Jody Hamilton. I think
Speaker 3: he was well, he was more of a WCW placed person,
Speaker 3: but he knew the people that he wanted and they
Speaker 3: knew the type of wrestling that Rick Flair liked, and
Speaker 3: that's how that worked. And I'm not saying that Rick
Speaker 3: Flair's got no ideas whatsoever. But he's going to be
Speaker 3: seventy five years old next year in February. He's gone
Speaker 3: through a lot, a lot. You know, he has soaked
Speaker 3: his brain pretty well with alcohol. He's almost died. He's
Speaker 3: had a lot on him and you hear him tell
Speaker 3: stories now and he's not to the level of like
Speaker 3: Hulk Hogan, nowhere near that where he's just that nuts,
Speaker 3: but like you know, putting himself in Puerto Rico when
Speaker 3: Bruiser Brody was murdered and stuff, like that. It's like,
Speaker 3: I don't see Rick Flair being an amazing wrestling mind
Speaker 3: that can help that program out. What what can he
Speaker 3: add to the program? What can he add that Arn
Speaker 3: Anderson couldn't add. What could he add that any of
Speaker 3: the other people, the older folks that were brought in
Speaker 3: couldn't add. You know, to me, I don't know. I
Speaker 3: don't know. Jake Roberts has got a better reputation with
Speaker 3: a better wrestling mind, and I don't know if they
Speaker 3: were really able to do anything and get anything out
Speaker 3: of him. I guess if the drink company is paying
Speaker 3: for it, I guess that makes it worth it. But
Speaker 3: to me, I againing and I was a huge, the
Speaker 3: biggest Brick Flair fan for a long time. I don't
Speaker 3: want to see him out there anymore. I don't necessarily
Speaker 3: need to see him tied to Sting. I don't want
Speaker 3: to have I hope this isn't a case where they're
Speaker 3: trying to get Rick Flair one last match, even if
Speaker 3: he's just hanging on the ropes the entire time. Sting
Speaker 3: can have a singles match. We know what Sting can do.
Speaker 3: My god, look at what that dude has done in
Speaker 3: the time that he's been there. I want to see
Speaker 3: Sting go out with a singles match against somebody, and
Speaker 3: I don't want it to be Brick Flair. And you know, yes,
Speaker 3: you know, yeah, when TBS first got rid of WCW,
Speaker 3: you know that last nitro, we had Flair out there
Speaker 3: and the shirt on wrestling Sting because that's how it
Speaker 3: should have been. And I don't know if Tony's got
Speaker 3: that in his mind. I hope that's I can't believe
Speaker 3: that would be the case. I hope it's not. I
Speaker 3: really do, really, and I don't want to see Rick
Speaker 3: Flair turn on Sting one more time for old times
Speaker 3: sake or anything like that either. I just don't I
Speaker 3: guess really, what I'm saying is, I just don't want
Speaker 3: to see Rick Flair involved at all. I'm kind of
Speaker 3: got Rick Flair fatigue after all this time. I gotta
Speaker 3: be honest. I bought the Dames because I'm a big
Speaker 3: fan of Damian Lillard's Adidas, and I gotta be honest.
Speaker 3: I got they had the white pair and the blue pair.
Speaker 3: I did get a pair of the white Ric Flair
Speaker 3: shoes because well, I get most of the Dames to
Speaker 3: come out. It's not that I hate Rick Flair, but
Speaker 3: I look at the chat, I look at the form
Speaker 3: on FW online dot Com, I look at my Twitter feed,
Speaker 3: and I don't think I'm the only one that's got
Speaker 3: Rick Flair fatigue and doesn't want to see him on there,
Speaker 3: not even for anything morally with him. When it comes
Speaker 3: to the plane ride from hal Hell, where it comes
Speaker 3: to people now wanting to relook at how Rick Flair
Speaker 3: ric Flair stories from the seventies and eighties and things
Speaker 3: like that and apply today's eyes onto those things, you
Speaker 3: can throw all of that out. I just don't think
Speaker 3: as a personality, I really need to see him out there.
Speaker 3: But we'll see how what they do with him. I'm
Speaker 3: open to it, I guess because I am a big
Speaker 3: fan of Sting and I want to see him have,
Speaker 3: you know, a proper retirement and a good send off,
Speaker 3: and I believe that Tony Kahan will you know, facilitate that.
Speaker 3: But helping to facilitate Rick Flair and professional wrestling at
Speaker 3: this point, I tapped out on it, tapped out on
Speaker 3: it New Japan Pro Wrestling Power Struggle at the Eddyon
Speaker 3: Arena and Osaker early Saturday morning, for those of us
Speaker 3: here in North America. John Moxley against the Great o'con.
Speaker 3: Just remember, folks, Brian Alvarez hated the Great o'conn, hated
Speaker 3: the thought of him coming back. Was said the same
Speaker 3: thing about Yodasuji. You remember how much he rolled his eyes.
Speaker 3: Was wrong about both of them for different reasons. The
Speaker 3: Great o'conn is a great gimmick. He and John Moxley
Speaker 3: is probably going to be at times a surprisingly fun match.
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be probably a fun match
Speaker 3: anyway because of the pillage and the carnage that can
Speaker 3: happen with those two guys in the ring. But again,
Speaker 3: John Moxley fancying himself a shoot style wrestler in the
Speaker 3: Great O'conn, who is a very very solid college wrestler,
Speaker 3: a very solid shoot style wrestler when he wants to,
Speaker 3: So that ought to be fun. Tangalo against David Finley.
Speaker 3: It was up to me Gabe Kid would be the
Speaker 3: leader of the Bullet Club. But David Finley against TANGALOA
Speaker 3: is the match. I'm gonna go ahead and give David
Speaker 3: Finley the victory there the same way I'm going to
Speaker 3: give the victory to John Moxley against the Great o'conn
Speaker 3: Tetsu and Naito and Yodasuji against Sonata and yuya Uwamura.
Speaker 3: I could see there being a case since yujyo Uamura
Speaker 3: still wants a match against Sonata. He said that when
Speaker 3: he returned and joined up with Sonata in the Just
Speaker 3: five Guy stable that there may be miscommunication and Tetsuyu
Speaker 3: and Naito pins the IWGP champion Sonata, and then we
Speaker 3: get Sanata in Uwamura before we reach the Tokyo Joe
Speaker 3: Joe something like that Super Junior Tagley twenty twenty three
Speaker 3: final Catch to two Francesco Akira and TJP against the
Speaker 3: House of Torture show in Yoshinobu Kenamaro. I am taking
Speaker 3: Akira in TJP in that never opened weight six man
Speaker 3: tag team title, Kazuchko O Kata, tomohiro Ishi and Hiroshi
Speaker 3: Tanahashi against tmdk's Mikey Nichols, Shane Haste and Zach Saber Junior.
Speaker 3: I'm taking TMDK in that one. ISWGP Junior Heavyweight title.
Speaker 3: Horomu Takahashi against Taiji Shimori. My money's on Horomu Takahashi.
Speaker 3: And then the ISWGP United States Heavyweight title. Will Ospre
Speaker 3: can show to man show to Umino getting a upset
Speaker 3: victory here. I think it's still probably a long shot.
Speaker 3: But what I don't think is a long shot is
Speaker 3: that will Osprey is not long for newd fan for wrestling,
Speaker 3: and at some point after the Tokyo Dome we see
Speaker 3: him signed up somewhere else, which is why I think
Speaker 3: Umino has got a shot coming up late late tonight
Speaker 3: early tomorrow morning. We'll be back and put a bow
Speaker 3: on this thing. Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Albarez
Speaker 2: and Mike semper vv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 3: Back on the show, Mike semper Vv, here with you,
Speaker 3: Wrestling Observer Live. Put a bow on this thing. As
Speaker 3: we exit out of here on a Friday. It is Friday,
Speaker 3: so you know there's a m show at Arena Mexico.
Speaker 3: I always like this one every year, the annual Dia
Speaker 3: del Muerto show, the themed show where losers of matches
Speaker 3: are often dragged to hell in front of traditionally garbed
Speaker 3: and made up etikanis. It's always a fun show. The
Speaker 3: main event is going to be Stuca Junior against Babaro
Speaker 3: Cavnario in the final of the raid el Infromundo Tournament,
Speaker 3: Mascaraderada and Mystico against Sobarano Junior and Volador Junior as
Speaker 3: well on the show. This is a little more expensive though.
Speaker 3: This is like last week's show, the Amazones Tournament, which
Speaker 3: was won by Tessa Blanchard over Stephanie Vacare. Usually the
Speaker 3: show is four ninety nine. It is and it's a
Speaker 3: great value usually to watch the CMLO show through their Ticketmaster,
Speaker 3: Belltia service, whatever the name of it is. These past
Speaker 3: two weeks it has been close to twenty bucks, so
Speaker 3: that is one warning if you're gonna check out the
Speaker 3: show tonight. You have before, but I want to see
Speaker 3: all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with this show.
Speaker 3: Just before worn twenty bucks. And also they've had issues
Speaker 3: apparently the last two weeks. I know they definitely did
Speaker 3: two weeks ago. I haven't seen last week's show. The
Speaker 3: VOD was fine on that, but live airings they've had
Speaker 3: a little bit of trouble the last two weeks, so
Speaker 3: you are warned. GCW also running two shows this weekend
Speaker 3: well as well. The first one is going to be
Speaker 3: in Sauget, Illinois tonight at Pops Nightclub, main evented by
Speaker 3: Blake Christian against Warhorst for the GCW World Title, and
Speaker 3: then GCWC or No will take place at Center Stage
Speaker 3: in Atlanta on Saturday night, Jimmy Lloyd against Steph Delander,
Speaker 3: Mike Bailey against Santana Jackson but the GCW World Title,
Speaker 3: Blake Christian against Tank NWA Wildside Memories. There good stuff
Speaker 3: going up and down the rest of that card as well,
Speaker 3: but I got to get out of here. Thanks were
Speaker 3: listening to everybody. Thank you to producer Daniel, thank you
Speaker 3: to producer John, and I shall talk to you again
Speaker 3: after a while.
Speaker 1: You have been listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast
Speaker 1: on the eight Side Network