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, Ready,
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. Now Pacific three Eastern Sunday three Pacific,
Speaker 1: sixth Eastern. It is Monday on this program. You know
Speaker 1: that means it is time to talk about the Royal Rumble.
Speaker 1: What do you think of the show? Everybody? Mixed reviews.
Speaker 1: I heard about the Royal Rumble, but we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about it here today very quickly. The results of the show,
Speaker 1: seth Rawlins beat Roman Reigns in the Universal Championship match
Speaker 1: via disqualification when he refused to break a guillotine after
Speaker 1: seth Rawlins had his hand dropped on the rope by
Speaker 1: the referee, and so seth Rawlins wins v d Q
Speaker 1: and then got absolutely the lies afterwards. So I don't
Speaker 1: even know if they're going to rematch. One would think
Speaker 1: that they would be, but I can't guarantee that Women's
Speaker 1: Royal Rumble won by the returning Ronda Rousey, which will
Speaker 1: be setting up Rhonda Rousey and Charlotte Flair at this
Speaker 1: year's WrestleMania. Can talk about that. Becky Lynch versus Do
Speaker 1: Drop for the Raw title. Becky Lynch One with the
Speaker 1: man Handle slam off the middle rope, Bobby Lashley and
Speaker 1: brock Lesner. Bobby Lashly one the title after Paul Hayman
Speaker 1: turned on brock Lessner gave the championship belt a Roman Reigns,
Speaker 1: who at Lessner with it. Bobby Lashly wins the title.
Speaker 1: Lessner loses the title, but fear not, brock Lessner goes
Speaker 1: on to win the Men's Royal Rumble, eliminating Drew mcautyre.
Speaker 1: Brock Lessner will now be facing Roman Reigns for the
Speaker 1: title at WrestleMania, and in no surprise, Edge and Beth
Speaker 1: Feedings defeated The Maurice them Is the Maurice and them
Speaker 1: Is in the mixed tag match double glam Slam finish.
Speaker 1: It was a very hit and misshow opening match was great,
Speaker 1: finished sucked Women's Battle Royal. Some of it was good,
Speaker 1: some of it was atrocious. Lynch and Dewdrop good wrestling,
Speaker 1: no heat, Lashly and Lessner, w w E booking and
Speaker 1: uh Lessner winning the Rumble's boring Rumble for the most part.
Speaker 1: A couple of notable exceptions, including Drew's return, Bad Bunny
Speaker 1: and more we'll talk about after the break. Observer Live.
Speaker 1: Thank you were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian
Speaker 1: Alvarez and Mike Semper viv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 1: Back in the show right, Albert is here Wrestling Observer
Speaker 1: Alive Miximburviva, also Wrestling Observer dot Com. We got a
Speaker 1: lot to talk about today. I got fifty thousand things
Speaker 1: to discuss, but I wanted to start off. Best wishes
Speaker 1: to Vince McMahon. His mother, Vicky, passed away one hundred
Speaker 1: and one years old. An obituary for Vicky escuwe stated
Speaker 1: she caught passed away quietly of natural causes in her
Speaker 1: sleep at home in the Woodlands, Texas, on January. Funeral
Speaker 1: services were held on January twenty. It will be a
Speaker 1: private burial in Evansburg, Pennsylvania at a later a day
Speaker 1: she died. The one year anniversary of Rod At McMahon's passing,
Speaker 1: who was Vince McMahon's brother. Provided by one son, for grandchildren,
Speaker 1: twelve great grandchildren, her husband, Harold, died in She was
Speaker 1: an avid tennis player. The Evansburg Tennis Center in Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: was dedicated to her after Vince McMahon and the McMahon
Speaker 1: Family Foundation donated two and a half million to build
Speaker 1: the facility. The idea for the tennis center originated from
Speaker 1: Harold Aske calling Vince after being concerned that Vicky had
Speaker 1: to drive twenty two miles in the winter to play
Speaker 1: tennis in Altuna. The center opened in a two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, So it is twenty twenty two minus two
Speaker 1: thousand seven. That was fifteen years ago. She was one
Speaker 1: oh one, so at eighties six years old she was
Speaker 1: driving to play tennis twenty two miles both ways in
Speaker 1: the snow. Eighty six years old, so condolences to Vince,
Speaker 1: but hundred and one years old. Mike, what do you
Speaker 1: think it is? Royal rumble? I thought it existed, you know,
Speaker 1: it certainly existed, and uh interesting that I didn't hear
Speaker 1: you note this, which probably didn't see the pre show,
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure how many people that did since
Speaker 1: there were no wrestling matches on it. Put book or
Speaker 1: t is running down the odds on who could possibly
Speaker 1: win the thing, and he mentions brock Lesner's name and
Speaker 1: mentions that, hey, you know, he'd be one of my
Speaker 1: bets as well too, and it's like, well, wait a second,
Speaker 1: I know there's still spots that are available in this thing,
Speaker 1: but did you really want to mention that brock Lessner
Speaker 1: was going to come out and be the surprise? But
Speaker 1: he he was, and he he won the thing, and
Speaker 1: ron A Rousing obviously won the women's uh side. So
Speaker 1: you know, the night itself, it was okay. You know,
Speaker 1: I was online mostly kind of bantering about and having
Speaker 1: fun with it, so I was in a good mood.
Speaker 1: Uh So a lot of the nonsense just kind of
Speaker 1: you know, went over my head. You know, I wasn't
Speaker 1: even too concerned with it because I figured we'll talk
Speaker 1: about it today and rant about it today. So in
Speaker 1: the moment, I was fine with watching it. But it's like,
Speaker 1: the best match on the show was Roman Rains and
Speaker 1: Seth Rollins, and then they had that type of ending
Speaker 1: for it, which I mean, it's understandable, but I didn't
Speaker 1: think it was very good, and I think it took
Speaker 1: a lot of the steam out of the start of
Speaker 1: the show, and he kind of went on from there.
Speaker 1: I mean with the Rumble, I'm not sure when you
Speaker 1: try to bring back names. And it was nice to
Speaker 1: see Molina in some array, and it was nice to
Speaker 1: see some names that I hadn't seen in a long time.
Speaker 1: But there's no shot of any of these people winning
Speaker 1: if their name wasn't Ronda Rousey. So there's only so
Speaker 1: much drama you can add. And the fact of the
Speaker 1: matter is, unfortunately a lot of these folks they bring
Speaker 1: back they treated as mid cards or jokes or you know,
Speaker 1: whoever it is and whatever it is anyway, so you know,
Speaker 1: how much impact do they really have when you bring
Speaker 1: back somebody from the past and and there's no impact there.
Speaker 1: This isn't like when you know, Kurt Henning and Dustin
Speaker 1: Rhodes is gold dust and that was a big deal
Speaker 1: in two thousand two or whatever it was. When they
Speaker 1: brought those people back, it provided some you know, some
Speaker 1: some surprise where they brought that Kurt Hending, It's like,
Speaker 1: could this guy actually win? There was nobody like that
Speaker 1: in the Unfortunately, in the Rumble, again, nobody angle was winning.
Speaker 1: KURTA hen It was winning that Royal Roam. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: at least they bring him in, but there's only four left.
Speaker 1: They provide some drama their since he was at least
Speaker 1: the main eventor and it was at least a star
Speaker 1: when people were there. Look at some of the names
Speaker 1: that were brought back for these two Royal Rumbles, and
Speaker 1: it's like they're not even stars, you know, And that's
Speaker 1: that's unfortunate. And that's what they're gonna have to deal with.
Speaker 1: Two is they go down the line here when they
Speaker 1: continue to bring names back ten years from now, it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, what are you going to be bringing back
Speaker 1: at that point. Here's the thing with book Or t
Speaker 1: everybody years and years and years ago, this would have
Speaker 1: been around I think it was actually the ninety seven Rumble.
Speaker 1: Bret Hart was scheduled to win the Rumble and they
Speaker 1: did this this deal with Vince Russo and and Vince
Speaker 1: Russo predicted that Bret Hart would win the Royal Rumble
Speaker 1: because Vince Russo knew and he wanted to get himself over. Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't believe for one second the book Or actually
Speaker 1: knew who was going to win the Royal Rumble this year.
Speaker 1: And apparently the the segment he actually was looking through
Speaker 1: what the odds makers had predicted as the winner of
Speaker 1: the Royal Rumble, and the odds makers had brock Lesner
Speaker 1: as one of the favorites for the Royal Rumble during
Speaker 1: the pre show, which was the main reason he brought
Speaker 1: that up. But here's the thing with this show. His
Speaker 1: job to go ahead and do that. Is that what
Speaker 1: exactly they wanted? And is that the hand that they
Speaker 1: wanted to tip? I don't know. I uh. I thought
Speaker 1: the show was all right, and I've gotten criticism for that.
Speaker 1: But you know, somebody actually made a point Ada when
Speaker 1: when you know, people make a good point about me,
Speaker 1: I didn't think about. But the point was, it is
Speaker 1: true most of you listening to this right now. I
Speaker 1: shouldn't say mostly, because I don't know how many, but
Speaker 1: there's a fair amount of you that you don't watch
Speaker 1: Raw and you don't watch SmackDown, but you watch the
Speaker 1: Royal Rumble and you were disappointed. Okay, bro I watched
Speaker 1: Raw and I watched SmackDown. Okay, and uh, given the Raw,
Speaker 1: the three hour raws and Smackdowns that I watched on
Speaker 1: a weekly basis, the show is alright. Okay. If you
Speaker 1: don't watch those shows and you watched this one and
Speaker 1: you're like, cow Lee, bro, you don't know what you're missing. Clearly,
Speaker 1: was this show great? No, this show wasn't great. The
Speaker 1: men watching Men's No, No, you knew what you didn't
Speaker 1: like when you stopped watching, but you don't know what
Speaker 1: you're missing now. The Men's Rumble listen, it was boring, okay.
Speaker 1: The highlights were the return of Drew mcattire, bad Bunny
Speaker 1: doing a bunch of flips, Johnny Knoxville out working, you know,
Speaker 1: half the outsiders, and uh, that was it. That was
Speaker 1: That was the men's Rumble. It wasn't horrible. There wasn't
Speaker 1: like bad work. But it's like Bobby Rude comes out,
Speaker 1: Bobby Roode, ain't gonna win, he does some spots, he
Speaker 1: gets thrown out. Whoever, Dolph Ziggler comes out, he ain't
Speaker 1: gonna win. He does some didn't even do that. You're like, oh,
Speaker 1: Bobby Ruder and wild and then you got a limit.
Speaker 1: Nothing like that. It's just like they did some moves
Speaker 1: and then got thrown out. The Women's Rumble. Listen. The
Speaker 1: Women's Rumble. There was some bad wrestling, okay, but you
Speaker 1: know what I I was, I'll have me put it
Speaker 1: this way. I was never bored, not for one second,
Speaker 1: and that women's rumble was I bored. There was Molina
Speaker 1: coming out and just like the worst elimination you ever saw.
Speaker 1: And then she responds by just bouncing in the splits
Speaker 1: on the outside. She's so mad, she's gonna do the splits.
Speaker 1: There's Alicia Fox hit in the ring and like shooting
Speaker 1: on everybody. She injured like three people in the span
Speaker 1: of three seconds, which you know that should be in
Speaker 1: the Guinness bookle World records how many legitimate injuries have
Speaker 1: occurred in the w w E ring in the shortest
Speaker 1: amount of time. She kicks live Morgan straight in the face.
Speaker 1: She acts kicks I can't remember. It looked like she
Speaker 1: almost killed her. She like, I think headbutted or something.
Speaker 1: Natty Natty has got a haymatomo like this big. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: somebody get the fire department in there, get her out
Speaker 1: of there, the baby lee and you know, then whoever
Speaker 1: comes out and whatever. I mean, it wasn't boring and
Speaker 1: there was some decent stuff in there, and you know
Speaker 1: Ivory and by the way, by the way, I don't
Speaker 1: know this for sure, Okay. I don't know this for sure,
Speaker 1: but there is I would I would go as so
Speaker 1: far as to say, from what I was told, a
Speaker 1: pretty good possibility. Did you remember when Ivory came out
Speaker 1: and just look great and I tweeted that she was
Speaker 1: sixty and everybody was like out of their minds and
Speaker 1: they couldn't believe it. In there's no way in blah
Speaker 1: blah blah, she actually maybe sixty three. Dude, I'm not kidding.
Speaker 1: On my Twitter, I sent out shots of from her
Speaker 1: from Glow as Tina Ferrari in five eighties six. Whatever
Speaker 1: it is, she looks pretty much exactly the same. You
Speaker 1: look at her body, and I don't know what it
Speaker 1: looks like underneath that right to sense her gear that
Speaker 1: she had on, but I could bet you she could
Speaker 1: throw still probably throw some gear on and do a
Speaker 1: fine ten minute job in the ring without breaking a
Speaker 1: sweat with any of the women on the main roster.
Speaker 1: She's an amazing, amazing woman. And listen Brock and Lashly.
Speaker 1: I mean, was it a one of the better Brock
Speaker 1: five minutes sprints? No? But I mean they supplex each
Speaker 1: other all over, and you know, Lashly took some bad
Speaker 1: bumps because you want to land on his head for
Speaker 1: the eighth time. And you know it was a w
Speaker 1: e finish. I got a big reaction when Haymond gave
Speaker 1: the guy the belt, Like that's the point, right to
Speaker 1: get the big reaction for the big spot in the
Speaker 1: match Becky and and do drop. The wrestling was good,
Speaker 1: I mean not there. I mean it's Becky's fault. Nobody
Speaker 1: cares because she is determined to be a heel. But
Speaker 1: I mean I thought the show was all right. Talk
Speaker 1: more after the breakups over live back in the show
Speaker 1: right nowver is here Wrestling Observer Live Mix, super viv
Speaker 1: also Wrestling Observe dot Com. So uh bad. Apparently the
Speaker 1: spot with Natty was they did the deal where her
Speaker 1: Alicia running each other Gonnay grab each other's hair and
Speaker 1: helicopter in midair and clonged heads, which actually, when you
Speaker 1: think about it, is like this is no joke. Like
Speaker 1: Natty's lucky she didn't get shabbatted because that clunking headbuts
Speaker 1: what did him in? And uh dude, that lump on
Speaker 1: her head if you go and look on her social media,
Speaker 1: I swear to god, the lumps that big right on
Speaker 1: her head. Well you're you're right. Look, we gotta always
Speaker 1: be careful about they see him boxing all the time
Speaker 1: though where I mean, Hassin Rockman had that famous shot
Speaker 1: where he had such a hematoma his head looked like
Speaker 1: it was growing another head. So you gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: watch that at all times. But you know, it happens.
Speaker 1: It happens more than a lot of people think, because
Speaker 1: sometimes these things aren't visual because somebody's got an egg
Speaker 1: on the back of their head that's grown and it's
Speaker 1: not as pronounced as what Natalia has got. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a it was a nasty thing. Look look
Speaker 1: at how Kelly Kelly you know, hit the matt and
Speaker 1: Sasha you know, pushed her out and she basically fell
Speaker 1: off the apron and went like flat faced and just
Speaker 1: splatted on the uh on the mats outside. So you know,
Speaker 1: there's there's always a risk, especially when you bring back
Speaker 1: people that have not worked for a long time, who unfortunately,
Speaker 1: we're not exactly the best workers in the world kind
Speaker 1: of going in there, but two people who are good workers,
Speaker 1: Becky Lynch and and do Drop Piper niven I viper
Speaker 1: I thought that match was really good and unfortunately it
Speaker 1: didn't mean anything, as you you know, as you kind
Speaker 1: of mentioned as well too, you know, because of the
Speaker 1: crowd heat, because of a lot of disadvantages that they
Speaker 1: have built in for themselves for that. But you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta give it to do drop. She I think
Speaker 1: did the best she could verbally leading into the thing.
Speaker 1: I thought the attack on Becky, you know, it was
Speaker 1: probably too little, too late as far as trying to
Speaker 1: bring the thing up. And you know, it was all
Speaker 1: like homicide and Moxley, where I don't think anybody there,
Speaker 1: even if you were the biggest fan in the world,
Speaker 1: thought on the side was gonna win that match. This
Speaker 1: was kind of the same way would do a drop
Speaker 1: in Becky Lynch, except he had even less he going
Speaker 1: into it because he had no drama at all. Because
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody, not one person thought Becky was
Speaker 1: gonna lose that match, And unfortunately, you know, for the
Speaker 1: situations that they're in, character wise, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people who thought Becky was the big baby face in
Speaker 1: that match. Alright, So if you have not seen the
Speaker 1: new article I have written for Sports Illustrated, so on
Speaker 1: my Twitter right now at Brian Alvarez. So the point
Speaker 1: of it is where we going for WrestleMania. Well, it
Speaker 1: is Brock lessner Roman reigns for the title. And my
Speaker 1: presumption is that the story will be Brock must choose
Speaker 1: once and for all who he's going to go with,
Speaker 1: since uh, you know, he was with Brock forever, then
Speaker 1: he went with Roman, then he allegedly left Roman for
Speaker 1: Brock again, and then it was a swerve and now
Speaker 1: he's back with Roman. So will he make a final
Speaker 1: decision WrestleMania. That is the that's the main event. The
Speaker 1: women's match is at this point. Plans could change, but
Speaker 1: I don't think they're going to Rhonda Rousey and Charlotte Flair.
Speaker 1: Do you guys remember? Of course you remember because I
Speaker 1: had to hear about it for three years. Now do
Speaker 1: you guys remember WrestleMania? I do because I was there
Speaker 1: at twelve fifteen when the show ended a m and
Speaker 1: that took me five hours to get home. Anyway, So
Speaker 1: the main event was a three way. It was Rhonda
Speaker 1: and Charlotte and uh Becky and uh oh Man. Those
Speaker 1: fans wanted that one on one match, but w w's
Speaker 1: decision was, well, it is the main event. It's closing WrestleMania,
Speaker 1: and let's get two seasoned great workers in there with Rhonda,
Speaker 1: and the match is going to be better. That's what
Speaker 1: they thought, and I also thought it would be better
Speaker 1: as a three way and looks like I'll find out
Speaker 1: eventually anyway, So, uh, they did the match, and what
Speaker 1: happened was Becky didn't pin Ronda for the wind because
Speaker 1: Ronda's shoulder came up, but Becky was given the pin
Speaker 1: and the two titles. Anyway, it was a botch okay,
Speaker 1: and that was the last thing we saw of Rhonda.
Speaker 1: So knowing that Rhonda comes back here and she wins
Speaker 1: the Royal Rumble, and to me and everyone else with
Speaker 1: you know, two functioning brain cells, there's exactly one obvious
Speaker 1: match and that is Rhonda Rousey versus Becky Lynch. Because
Speaker 1: Becky took her title but her shoulder wasn't down. You
Speaker 1: can't even argue that he wants she wants Charlotte because
Speaker 1: she held the other She didn't hold the other title.
Speaker 1: She held the title that Becky has right now. So
Speaker 1: there's like no logical scenario that anyone can come up
Speaker 1: with for why Rhonda which use Charlotte, especially because she
Speaker 1: just eliminated Charlotte from the rumble, but I'm sure they've
Speaker 1: got some plan and it will be Ronda versus Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Now in real life, why are they doing this match
Speaker 1: and not Rondon Becky? Well, because Ronda is here through
Speaker 1: at least next year's WrestleMania and perhaps from there she'll
Speaker 1: continue on. But she's signed from now through next year's WrestleMania.
Speaker 1: And so clearly the idea is the two biggest matches
Speaker 1: that we can do with Ronda Rousey are Ronda versus
Speaker 1: Charlotte and Ronda versus Becky. And Ronda versus Becky is
Speaker 1: the bigger match, and so Ronda will I'm sure, beat
Speaker 1: Charlotte and WrestleMania this year to take the title, and
Speaker 1: then we'll go on to next year's WrestleMania and it
Speaker 1: will be Ronda Rowsy versus Becky Lynch for either both
Speaker 1: titles or whatever title or whatever, and that will be
Speaker 1: the big match a year from now. So that appears
Speaker 1: to be where they're going. And now I can hear
Speaker 1: everyone complain about it for the next eighteen months or whatever,
Speaker 1: and they probably will because I'll have reason to complain
Speaker 1: about it. It's, uh, you know, for me, I hope
Speaker 1: at some point during this run, because why do you
Speaker 1: bring in a round a rousing. You bring her in
Speaker 1: to take advantage of her name and her hype and
Speaker 1: her appeal. But you're eventually you want to use somebody
Speaker 1: from the outside to make stars and to put over
Speaker 1: people into elevate folks who are on the cusp. And
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see how it goes. But there's all
Speaker 1: those matches that we've already seen. The one I'm really
Speaker 1: interested in down the line is Rhonda and Bianca bell
Speaker 1: Air because Ronda's name could do a lot for Bianca
Speaker 1: bell Air. Bianca is obviously a athlete that's incredibly special.
Speaker 1: There she's got again for they haven't ruined her anything
Speaker 1: like that. Have they been perfect with her? No? You
Speaker 1: know what I have had her lose the belt to
Speaker 1: Becky in the way that she did and lead to
Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff. No, but that's what they
Speaker 1: do and you have to suffer through it. So for me,
Speaker 1: that's the one because Sasha is already a star, you know,
Speaker 1: Charlotte's already a star, Becky Lynch is already a star.
Speaker 1: Now where they're how brightly their stars are shining. All
Speaker 1: depends on the moment in time with w w E.
Speaker 1: But they're all stars already beyond as the star too.
Speaker 1: But you know, she hasn't, to me, hit that crossover
Speaker 1: level yet. They haven't put that rocket behind her, that
Speaker 1: push behind her to kind of make her, you know,
Speaker 1: bigger than than anyone else. And I think Ronda Rousing
Speaker 1: can really do that physically. With these two working with
Speaker 1: each other, you know, it's an exciting prop you know,
Speaker 1: proposition there. So we're gonna have what we're having going
Speaker 1: through WrestleMania. But I think the big news is that
Speaker 1: Ronda is gonna be around. And if Ronda is going
Speaker 1: to be around, there's a lot of people that you know,
Speaker 1: she can work with and in Bianca is a big
Speaker 1: glowing person on that list. Here listen to everybody. First off,
Speaker 1: the idea that to Ronda and Charlotte, fans are gonna
Speaker 1: hate both of them. Maybe maybe the fans will, But
Speaker 1: if you didn't see the Rumble last night, run Rousy
Speaker 1: got a massive baby face pop when she came out
Speaker 1: in the Rumble, and she got a massive baby face
Speaker 1: pop when she eliminated Charlotte Flair. I realized that she
Speaker 1: was booed three years ago, but it's three years later.
Speaker 1: You know what else I remember from three years ago,
Speaker 1: fans absolutely never wanted to see a Roman rains Brock
Speaker 1: Listener match again, And now I don't know about how
Speaker 1: they maybe not, you know, after what happened there, but
Speaker 1: they were totally into that match when it was gonna
Speaker 1: take place at day one, So like things can change,
Speaker 1: and Charlotte, I'm I'm pretty sure it's going to be
Speaker 1: an effective, dislikable heel, so I don't think there's any
Speaker 1: guarantee whatsoever that Ronda is gonna be booed facing Charlotte
Speaker 1: at WrestleMania. Furthermore, if you're also unhappy about the fact
Speaker 1: that it's not round Ronda Rousey versus Becky Lynch, this
Speaker 1: does open the door for Becky Lynch versus Bianca be
Speaker 1: Lair and Bianca Bell are getting her revenge and WrestleMania
Speaker 1: and beating Becky for that title, which I actually think
Speaker 1: is what they're going to do, but we will. I
Speaker 1: don't want to say, well, it's like what else would
Speaker 1: you do? Because on page of course I would do
Speaker 1: that whole thing. It's like, what else are you going
Speaker 1: to do, so, I mean, I'm you know, unfortunately for
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see what they do. But you know,
Speaker 1: there's on paper, there's that's a no brainer. So alright,
Speaker 1: let's see what else we have got here. I think
Speaker 1: it's pretty much all of the biggest news coming out
Speaker 1: of the rumble. Ronda is gonna be on Raw tonight,
Speaker 1: Rock is gonna be on Raw tonight. Ronda is going
Speaker 1: to be a SmackDown talent, although she'll be on Raw
Speaker 1: here and there because you know, it's Mania season, so
Speaker 1: I'm sure people are gonna go back and forth. But
Speaker 1: the Fox deal expires next year, which means uh somewhat soon,
Speaker 1: being its two, they're going to be working on a
Speaker 1: renewal and so let's get run to Rousy, Rock, Lessner, Roman,
Speaker 1: Reigns and everybody that we can get on that SmackDown
Speaker 1: show to boost those numbers during the because I don't
Speaker 1: know if you guys remember these or not, but uh
Speaker 1: w w e s ratings were going like this and
Speaker 1: then like right during the period where it was time
Speaker 1: to renew in eighteen, they went like this, they got
Speaker 1: a huge deal and they went back down like this again.
Speaker 1: So can you can you tell me how the USA
Speaker 1: Nextwork executives feel about Ronda being a Fox talent. Since
Speaker 1: all of this stuff about Fox executives being happy and
Speaker 1: that all drove your nuts, can you can you let
Speaker 1: me know what the USA executives being an exclusive for Fox.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, Here's the thing. I'm sure that they
Speaker 1: would love to have to have run to Rousing, But
Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is this, w w E
Speaker 1: has deals with Fox and they have deals with US.
Speaker 1: A Fox and USA are not equals and USA needs
Speaker 1: w w E way more than Fox does. So Fox
Speaker 1: is getting priorities back in them all with more blokes
Speaker 1: Observer Live back in the show. Bright Nowber is here
Speaker 1: wrestling Observer Alive. Mike SIMPERVB also wrestling Observer at dot com.
Speaker 1: The former Mojo Rawley will be making his return to
Speaker 1: pro wrestling. Posted an Instagram video on Monday revealing that
Speaker 1: after a scary battle with COVID nineteen, he's feeling good
Speaker 1: enough to announce that he's coming back to pro wrestling.
Speaker 1: He spoke about almost dying while battling an extremely bad
Speaker 1: case of COVID about nineteen months ago. He couldn't have
Speaker 1: any extra pressure on his lungs in the beginning or
Speaker 1: it would suffocate him. He couldn't speak for days on
Speaker 1: end because he couldn't get enough air into talk. He said,
Speaker 1: he isn't quite yet eighteen months ago he had this,
Speaker 1: but he's feeling good enough to announce his return. So
Speaker 1: best wishes to him. You know, let me throw this
Speaker 1: out there too, just because you get the sadness out
Speaker 1: of the way here, hopefully. But Massashi Takeda, who a
Speaker 1: lot of people may have seen in g c W,
Speaker 1: a wrestler who's been wrestling in Freedoms for a long time,
Speaker 1: in a Japanese deathmatch star for a long long time.
Speaker 1: It has come out that his wife, Yuki Takeda, passed
Speaker 1: away on January seventh, suddenly. Uh, they could not have
Speaker 1: a funeral or any type of get together until the fourteenth,
Speaker 1: and then the news came out over the weekend they're
Speaker 1: going to be selling portraits of Takada on March three
Speaker 1: of the show that they're having a quirk in Hall
Speaker 1: with a percent of the proceeds going to that. And
Speaker 1: there's also I believe going to be some people doing
Speaker 1: things here in the States as well too to raise
Speaker 1: money for Takeda the same way that a lot of
Speaker 1: people raise money for Yoshiro Takai Yama and others and
Speaker 1: have that money I actually sent over there in its
Speaker 1: uh in its entirety as well too though, so best
Speaker 1: wishes go out to him as well too. We've also
Speaker 1: got Riho out of action. She tweeted an image of
Speaker 1: herself in a sling. She has suffered a broken right
Speaker 1: collar bone. Let me tell you about an injury that sucks,
Speaker 1: and she is in Japan to treat the injury. Unknown
Speaker 1: how long she's going to be out of action. We
Speaker 1: have also got a lot of other news. They announced
Speaker 1: the first inductees into the Ring of Honor Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: and it is in fact the Briscoes, first of four
Speaker 1: acts who will be part of the class sort of
Speaker 1: the Ring of Honor when the promotion launched in two
Speaker 1: thousand two, been there since day one and UH twelve
Speaker 1: time Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions J Brisco two
Speaker 1: time Ring of Honor World Champion. They're gonna be doing
Speaker 1: a television episode this coming weekend which will focus on
Speaker 1: their careers, and a special on them will premiere on
Speaker 1: the YouTube channel Monday, February seven. They have a Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame episode of Ring of Honor TV which will
Speaker 1: premiere the weekend of Saturday in March five. I put
Speaker 1: this up on Twitter, but when we were discussing potential
Speaker 1: members of the Ring of Honor Hall of Fame, because
Speaker 1: they're gonna be four in the initial class, they will
Speaker 1: all be wrestlers. No founders, back office bookers, anybody of
Speaker 1: that nature. All will be wrestlers. I don't know who
Speaker 1: they are. I just know they're all gonna be wrestlers.
Speaker 1: So the brisc goes very deserving of that Ring of
Speaker 1: Honor Hall of Fame induction. Dude, whatever the class is
Speaker 1: going to be, it's gonna be awesome. You figure, whatever
Speaker 1: whoever they don't do this year, who did they do
Speaker 1: next year? If they stick with four acts, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be incredible as well too. And it's you know, obviously
Speaker 1: Brian Danielson's out there, see him, Punk is out there,
Speaker 1: Samoa Joe is out there, Chris Heroes out there. The
Speaker 1: Brisco's obviously are going in. Then you start thinking about names,
Speaker 1: you know that were a little further from the past.
Speaker 1: You know, you could honor Jimmy Rave, you know, would
Speaker 1: be a person that you can honor. Xavier would be
Speaker 1: a person that you can honor. You look at all
Speaker 1: of the names that went through their claudio. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I mean they could go on for they could have
Speaker 1: that Hall of Fame, could be something really cool and
Speaker 1: really special for a long time. And the TV that
Speaker 1: leads into it as well too, because they have all
Speaker 1: of this footage my Evans. I mean you go back
Speaker 1: to the dragon Gate days of coming over on Mania
Speaker 1: and all the Noah guys, and it's just there's so
Speaker 1: many names that have passed through our o h. It's
Speaker 1: just a it's a really good idea and I am
Speaker 1: you know, two years ago I was kind of getting
Speaker 1: into I wasn't sure how it was going to go.
Speaker 1: When they announce they are bringing back that pure championship,
Speaker 1: but it was like, you know what, at least they
Speaker 1: see I think where they are, you know, losing stock
Speaker 1: to New Japan in the States, obviously a w blowing
Speaker 1: a mile of the water. They seem to have an
Speaker 1: idea to go, Okay, we're gonna reset and this is
Speaker 1: what we want to be, and unfortunately that was taken
Speaker 1: all away from them because of COVID and everything. Else
Speaker 1: had happened. Looking at the way things are going for April,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I'm incredibly bullish, but I'm as bullish
Speaker 1: on Ring of Honor in this current incarnation before it's
Speaker 1: ever happened. Obviously, then I have been in a long
Speaker 1: time since, at least I was two years ago, because
Speaker 1: again not being saddled by contracts, not having to worry
Speaker 1: about that, if they spend just a little bit of
Speaker 1: money on paper, to me, they dominate every weekend. You
Speaker 1: got shows taking place in four different parts of the
Speaker 1: country and Ring of Honors running Baltimore or Philly an
Speaker 1: easy place to get to. Man, they have a lot
Speaker 1: of money that they can spend at their disposal to
Speaker 1: get the names that they need in for that week
Speaker 1: and to make it a big special weekend. So I
Speaker 1: don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know what their
Speaker 1: plan is going to be. I don't know how much
Speaker 1: Sinclair is behind them, but it is really a fascinating
Speaker 1: thing where they could actually get the Ring of Honor
Speaker 1: name back to maybe some of the prominence that the
Speaker 1: n w A and that impact and that other groups
Speaker 1: that have tried to hang on and tried to make
Speaker 1: a go of it and reinvent themselves. Have not been
Speaker 1: able to do. We'll see, all right. We also got this.
Speaker 1: Leo Rush was taken to the e er after suffering
Speaker 1: an injury at last night's pub DG Battle of l
Speaker 1: a event in a second round match. Ruge Ruge actually
Speaker 1: knows Rush. It was Leo Rush. Damn it. Wait a
Speaker 1: seconds again, Leo Rush. Now you gotta roll v L
Speaker 1: to know. Taking the hospital. Leo Rush defeated Buddy Matthews.
Speaker 1: That's a body, Buddy Matthews. Shake your body, body, Matthews. Yes,
Speaker 1: might get out of here. In the second round, Rush
Speaker 1: defeated Buddy Matthews by disqualification, a rarity in p w G.
Speaker 1: The finish had Matthews laying out Rush with a curb stump,
Speaker 1: and as the referee checked on Rush, Matthews continued to
Speaker 1: attack until the match was called off. Rush rood on
Speaker 1: Twitter that he wasn't good right now, but we'll be back.
Speaker 1: Just being honest with you guys, I'm not good, but
Speaker 1: I will be good, and when I'm back, I will
Speaker 1: be dangerous Man of the Hour hashtag. Later in the show,
Speaker 1: Matthews arrived for the semifinal, told the crowd that Rush
Speaker 1: was taken to the yard and was unable to compete
Speaker 1: in the tournament, and that he would be taking Russia's place.
Speaker 1: He quickly lost to speedball Mike Bailey. You advanced to
Speaker 1: the finals before losing to this year's tournament winner, the
Speaker 1: winner of the twenty twenty two Bowl Battle of Los
Speaker 1: Angeles tournament, Daniel Garcia. He was a popular pick going
Speaker 1: into the thing. Hopefully Leo rush Is is all right,
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, they should have just uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, things happened, but I guess the disqualification had
Speaker 1: to happen. I guess they could have just called it
Speaker 1: a no contest or whatever. But anyway, that's here's the
Speaker 1: thing too, you know, they and it's only apparently the
Speaker 1: third disqualification that they've done in like the last twenty
Speaker 1: years or something like that. Some some crazy stats. So
Speaker 1: it shows too, you know, when you are in a
Speaker 1: situation where you need to to pull an audible that
Speaker 1: you know, somebody gets disqualified. When you don't bastardize those
Speaker 1: things over and over again, it can actually have a
Speaker 1: little bit impact. Now to the idiot that apparently threw
Speaker 1: the beers into the ring because they were so drunk
Speaker 1: and worked by Buddy Matthews because apparently he was the
Speaker 1: heel of heels this weekend. You know you're an idiot
Speaker 1: because apparently the story goes as of now that you
Speaker 1: know Blake Christian or Blake Christian, uh, Buddy Matthews may
Speaker 1: have slipped while giving Leo the curb stopper or whatever
Speaker 1: bottom line is, you know, I don't know, just just
Speaker 1: a a surprise again, A sad situation there because Leo
Speaker 1: Rush got hurt. But again Bowlah, I wish this is
Speaker 1: a show too. In two thousand and twenty two. I
Speaker 1: know they're going to stick to their t V D ways,
Speaker 1: but I saw that Jack cart we old Blake Christian spot,
Speaker 1: you know, from out of the bat balconies. That was
Speaker 1: an amazing thing, and it's like, there has got to
Speaker 1: be away. Even if you make it a hundred bucks,
Speaker 1: because that's who you want to maximize your profits. Somebody
Speaker 1: will pay for this show if you can just upload
Speaker 1: it within twenty four to forty eight hours. I just
Speaker 1: I don't I get why they do it, because it's
Speaker 1: it's they're stuck in their ways and they feel as
Speaker 1: though they can maximize money off those DVDs and add
Speaker 1: things to those, but it just man in this day
Speaker 1: and age. It's too bad because you just miss out
Speaker 1: on all the buzz LEO rush row clean dislocation of
Speaker 1: my left shoulder. I'm alright. In two to three weeks,
Speaker 1: topefully find that there's no severe ligament damage or tear.
Speaker 1: To all the boys in the back crew at p
Speaker 1: w G last night, they were super attentive and extremely helpful.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much more frustration disappointment than anything else
Speaker 1: in the way last night ended to all my fans
Speaker 1: and supporters. Thank you for the outpouring of love and
Speaker 1: support send by the hate speech, racial slurs and throwing
Speaker 1: of objects in the ring by the quote of fans
Speaker 1: who attended night to of Bola. But nothing will dimension
Speaker 1: my love for this to stop me from performing for
Speaker 1: those who appreciate my craft. I will be back so
Speaker 1: you soon. It's too bad that there's not a way
Speaker 1: to uh when you sell tickets. Let's say I buy
Speaker 1: a ticket and uh, I buy it online and then
Speaker 1: I am a signed seat, you know, like in an
Speaker 1: airplane four B or whatever, and then uh if I
Speaker 1: am an idiot and I get kicked out because apparently
Speaker 1: there was some media's last night. Uh they can then
Speaker 1: you know, trace who you are and then you never
Speaker 1: get in again. That'd be like the way to do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: really well, although you know you would think so, but
Speaker 1: like gonna sell that seat that you can no longer
Speaker 1: buy ever again. That's what gets me about some of
Speaker 1: the stuff that takes place in indie shows where it's
Speaker 1: like a lot of people know who everybody is, and
Speaker 1: it's like there's not a lot of people here and
Speaker 1: you're throwing something. I mean again, I people can be
Speaker 1: worked into a lot of things, but I mean, you're
Speaker 1: not worked into being a racist. You know, you're not
Speaker 1: worked into to being saying whatever it is that was said.
Speaker 1: You know that that's absolutely ridiculous. So those people just
Speaker 1: need to be beaten down and out. But I mean,
Speaker 1: look at w w E in the state of New
Speaker 1: York where they had one of their wrestlers attacked. That
Speaker 1: same person is showing up at other shows in the area,
Speaker 1: in fact, in the same building. Didn't he go back
Speaker 1: to MSG and he was there? That was the thing.
Speaker 1: It's not like he would bet to Nassau or to
Speaker 1: to Barclays or the Rock or whatever. I mean, he
Speaker 1: was right back there in Madison Square Garden and he
Speaker 1: got back in So yeah, I mean, this stuff it's
Speaker 1: just it's crazy, It's crazy. Shane McMahon is back. According
Speaker 1: to Dave Meltzer, Shane McMahon booked for the Elimination Chamber
Speaker 1: and WrestleMania thirty eight. He has a match on the books,
Speaker 1: but it was said to not have been finalized a
Speaker 1: few days ago, which is evident because they did to
Speaker 1: an angle for him at the Rumble. So yeah, Shane
Speaker 1: McMahon's back doing matches. Bro here comes telling you thinking
Speaker 1: end well on Thomas. No one likes to listen to me,
Speaker 1: but thinking end well in celebration that need that the
Speaker 1: man is purple when he gets out there for five minutes.
Speaker 1: Celebration of the promotions fiftieth anniversary. New Japan has announced
Speaker 1: the return of another tour. Hyper Battle twenty two is
Speaker 1: a four show tour taking place April three through April nine,
Speaker 1: first time the tour has been held in eighteen years.
Speaker 1: So uh, I hope these shows take place because we've
Speaker 1: had a lot of New Japan shows canceled lately. And yes,
Speaker 1: for those of you asking in one hour and eight
Speaker 1: minutes video dot fw online dot com. Actually they did
Speaker 1: myself and filthy Tom Lawler will be joining you our
Speaker 1: lovely top tier YouTube subscribers. You must be a subscriber
Speaker 1: to watch live. We'll be talking. I don't even know why,
Speaker 1: but SmackDown this lame duck SmackDown as well as New
Speaker 1: Japan Strong and uh start them the starting pay per
Speaker 1: view from this past weekend. So if you're a big
Speaker 1: fan of those, have I got a show for you
Speaker 1: the adding my big audio nightmare. Listen to before you
Speaker 1: listen to Don't Steal My Heat to Tom and Brian
Speaker 1: talk about this. You know, they're also talking about the
Speaker 1: fact that you are very freshly shaved. You want to
Speaker 1: lift up the can there and show off that sideburn.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I like those. Look at look at you? Man?
Speaker 1: If I got my aviators out, so I was. I
Speaker 1: was thinking of shaving for a while, but my my
Speaker 1: five year old kept saying, Daddy, I love your beard.
Speaker 1: I love your beard. So every time I was gonna shave,
Speaker 1: she would guilt me. But Daddy, your beard. I love
Speaker 1: your beard. Daddy, you're beard. And so I snuck up
Speaker 1: stairs and I shaved it all off. I went down.
Speaker 1: I went downstairs, and I looked at it and I go,
Speaker 1: are you doing pays? She looked at me. She kept playing.
Speaker 1: I didn't even notice. So that solved that problem. Back
Speaker 1: in a moment, is there alive? Back in the show?
Speaker 1: Bright Over is here Wrestling Observer Live, Mike Simper Phoebe
Speaker 1: also Wrestling Observer dot com. The n w A Crockett
Speaker 1: Cup Tag Team Tournament will be returning this March to
Speaker 1: night pay per view Saturday, March nineteen, Sunday March from
Speaker 1: the Nashville, Tennessee Fairgrounds, single elimination tournament featuring sixteen teams
Speaker 1: current A Tag Team Champions Law Rebellion from a Ring
Speaker 1: of Honor, g Simpilly TA Team Champions A Briscoe is
Speaker 1: a British invasion. Nick Eldison, Doug Williams and Strictly Business
Speaker 1: Tom Lattimer and Chris and Donnis were announced as the
Speaker 1: first four teams. I note no Choppin' Roll Express announced yet.
Speaker 1: Billy Corrigan. I'm sorry, William Corrigan. Maybe they can sign
Speaker 1: William Morrissita work for this Cup revived in Brody King
Speaker 1: and pco if he did a Latimer and Royce. Isaac's
Speaker 1: in the finals to win the then vacant tag team
Speaker 1: titles was Central Return April. But there was this thing
Speaker 1: called the Global Pandemic and it was it didn't happen,
Speaker 1: so it'll be fun. Well, you know, they let the
Speaker 1: Maulkes in, they might as well let the Choppin' Roll
Speaker 1: Express in. Tom and I could have a match with
Speaker 1: the Mulkes. Bro Please, I may come back to that.
Speaker 1: Please think about it. Please. George South and Mike Jackson
Speaker 1: are out there just saying I gotta watch FDR versus
Speaker 1: the Rock and Roll Express to find out if they
Speaker 1: had a better match with the Rock and Rolls and
Speaker 1: Tom and I, because I find that hard to believe.
Speaker 1: They had more heat but bigger building right at time.
Speaker 1: One of think Mike has always colors and listeners over
Speaker 1: the studio. Talk to your YouTube subscribers, Twitch Holmies. We'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next time. Rustling Observe Live. You've been
Speaker 1: listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight
Speaker 1: Side Network.