Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network. Ready,
Speaker 1: let's get it all, let's get on. We will Mike
Speaker 1: Semper vv here with you for the next hour talking
Speaker 1: professional wrestling and Nick's martial Arts. Don't worry about that
Speaker 1: echo you heard in the background, that that doesn't really exist.
Speaker 1: But even though we make mistakes here sometimes audio wise,
Speaker 1: we are here with you every single day on the
Speaker 1: Sports Pinline Broadcasting Network. And however you're joining me today,
Speaker 1: tune and I heart American Forces Radio over the area.
Speaker 1: Affiliate's like the Mighty Er ten ninety Serious X podcast
Speaker 1: streaming video on Twitter, on YouTube. I'd just like to
Speaker 1: say thank you for spending a little bit of time
Speaker 1: with me today. Once again, as you already know, Brian
Speaker 1: Alvarez out on the ocean with Oreo and his family,
Speaker 1: enjoying some time away from all of this nonsense that's
Speaker 1: got to do with profession wrestling. And as a result,
Speaker 1: for all of you a S m R kids out there,
Speaker 1: I get to bring back this for you. You ready,
Speaker 1: quiet down there, you go now you can get excited.
Speaker 1: You can also get excited over the fact that one
Speaker 1: more time, joining me today as the co host on
Speaker 1: this program, your new Japan strong open weight champion, Filthy
Speaker 1: Tom Lawler is going to be here. You can find
Speaker 1: him on Twitter at Filthy Tom Lawler. You can find
Speaker 1: me at Semper viv, and you can find this show
Speaker 1: at w O n F four W the broadcaster at
Speaker 1: Sports Byline USA, And we're gonna have plenty to get
Speaker 1: into today. Rawl was last night. Now. I don't know
Speaker 1: if Filthy has been reviewing old Brian Alvarez shows on
Speaker 1: Tuesday's of this show too, to try to gather up
Speaker 1: the same type of of energy that Brian has to
Speaker 1: to study his technique when he goes deep in and
Speaker 1: bitches and moans and and and cuts these big rants
Speaker 1: on RAW. Hopefully he has, because I don't have that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. It actually really wasn't all that kind
Speaker 1: of a show last night. The worst thing I can
Speaker 1: say about that show was it was three hours long.
Speaker 1: But there were some good moments to it. There were
Speaker 1: some very questionable and confusing moments as well, sometimes in
Speaker 1: the very same segment, but we'll get all into that.
Speaker 1: Plenty of other things taking place as well too. Across
Speaker 1: the the wrestling landscape that we're going to get into
Speaker 1: the road to New Japan, and the Tokyo Dome is
Speaker 1: well on its way, and we're gonna get into that too,
Speaker 1: as well as many other things. Possibly your phone calls.
Speaker 1: I would tend to doubt it, but maybe if so,
Speaker 1: we'll open those up for You'll give you that and
Speaker 1: we'll be back. Rustin's over Alive. You need an accurate
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Speaker 1: were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez and
Speaker 1: Mike semper viv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network. Back
Speaker 1: on the show Wresting Observer Live, Mike semper viv here,
Speaker 1: whether you're sitting in the big Boy hosting chair for
Speaker 1: Brian Alvarez this week filling in my spot, somebody who
Speaker 1: can do that far better than I can. Filthy Tom
Speaker 1: Lawler once again back on the show today, filthy, what's
Speaker 1: going on? Thanks for the introduction, Mike. You can blame
Speaker 1: that very early audio mishap on myself, your co host,
Speaker 1: but although you're not gonna do that because we unlike
Speaker 1: your usual cost you and I get along, but you
Speaker 1: can blame that on me. As I am not used
Speaker 1: to these terrestrial airwaves. I should say I'm more used
Speaker 1: to the extra terrestrial side of the radio airwaves on
Speaker 1: Figure four daily. But thank you once again. I'm here
Speaker 1: on Rusting Observer Live, the flagship, the mothership of the Empire. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you know, and we're gonna get into Raw. Last night.
Speaker 1: I do have a drop from from yesterday's show that
Speaker 1: we may be playing a little bit later on. It
Speaker 1: was from from Raw and it was, believe it or not,
Speaker 1: Maurice talking about her husband and how obnoxious he is.
Speaker 1: And I tell you what, I don't know full plate
Speaker 1: or not, but they were It sounded very familiar. It
Speaker 1: kind of sounded like what it was like what it
Speaker 1: is like doing a show with Brian Alvarez. So that's
Speaker 1: maybe maybe we'll go ahead and play that, but we
Speaker 1: do have Raw to get into. But before we do that,
Speaker 1: there are some other things taking place inside the world
Speaker 1: of wrestling, not the least of which is New Japan
Speaker 1: who at home in Japan, they are readying themselves for
Speaker 1: three days of the Russell Kingdom Experience two at the
Speaker 1: Tokyo Dome one, facing off against Noah but but Tom.
Speaker 1: They did actually announced yesterday that Sunday, March St. Petersburg, Florida,
Speaker 1: the Greater Tampa area, tickets are going to go on
Speaker 1: sale January three for New Japan Strong Style Evolved. No
Speaker 1: talent has been announced on the show yet. But going
Speaker 1: back to Florida, A, when's the last time you were
Speaker 1: there stomping around? I haven't been there in a few years. Actually,
Speaker 1: the last time I was there was without to kill
Speaker 1: k feb too much. It was filthy Island actually, uh
Speaker 1: so whenever that was a year or two ago. Um,
Speaker 1: there has been no talent announced, But it's what fighting
Speaker 1: What is it fighting spirit of Strong Style Evolved? But
Speaker 1: they keep mentioning someone being unchained fighting spirit unchained, which
Speaker 1: the only unchained man I can think of is Maca
Speaker 1: Bay chained guerrilla who has not been over here in
Speaker 1: a long time. But I don't know if there that's
Speaker 1: a reference to something I don't know if maybe are
Speaker 1: the chains gonna be off that gigantic beast jonah by
Speaker 1: then who knows what what it's a reference to. And
Speaker 1: A Strong is already been announced to be returning to
Speaker 1: the Vermont Hollywood in l A in February as well too,
Speaker 1: for a a strong taping New Japan Strong Rivals that's
Speaker 1: gonna take place on Thursday, February seventeen. Uh. You obviously
Speaker 1: as champion of the entire darn thing and the greatest
Speaker 1: man they have going there is going to be on
Speaker 1: that show. The man you just vanquished, Fred Rosser also there,
Speaker 1: j White, Juice Robinson, David Finley, as well as others.
Speaker 1: But we've seen Tom here, Rashi come over. Obviously, Shabbata
Speaker 1: has been over here doing what he does. We've had
Speaker 1: Minora Szuki come over on excursions. We have had a
Speaker 1: handful of guys come over. You brought up maccabee's name,
Speaker 1: and obviously for men of our age, people that have
Speaker 1: been watching New Japan for a few generations now, of
Speaker 1: young talent that has gone through their Maco Bay, we
Speaker 1: have watched basically come up as a skinny guy named
Speaker 1: Shinya and then develop into what became the im g
Speaker 1: P heavyweight champion, and he certainly has got a following
Speaker 1: and a style, and uh, he's a guy that a
Speaker 1: lot of American fans really appreciate. He was one of
Speaker 1: the big guys coming up with you know, Tanahashi and
Speaker 1: nakam Wara and guys at that time. You know, Shinya Macabay,
Speaker 1: Toky Macabey was always is right there. Have you ever
Speaker 1: had any you know, what have your interactions if you've
Speaker 1: had any, been with him? And who would you like
Speaker 1: to see him over here? You know, not only Marcobay,
Speaker 1: but some other names that you may want to see
Speaker 1: him over here that you'd like to roll around with
Speaker 1: and learn something from. I've had zero interaction with Maco
Speaker 1: Bay aside from watching him dump people on their heads
Speaker 1: with Spider German suplexes and then King Kong knee drops. Uh.
Speaker 1: But that's a guy that I would like to see
Speaker 1: come over here. I think that's somebody who the American
Speaker 1: fans would appreciate as uh having some sort of legendary status.
Speaker 1: He's a former i w g P heavyweight champion. Uh.
Speaker 1: I myself would love to russell Zack Saber Jr. Obviously,
Speaker 1: and now that Shabbata is back in the ring seemingly
Speaker 1: that is undoubtedly somebody that I would like to get
Speaker 1: my hands on. I would have liked to fight Shabbata
Speaker 1: back in his dream days, uh Big Math Aloud days,
Speaker 1: kind of his mixed martial arts days. So this is
Speaker 1: kind of a a fight fifteen years in the making.
Speaker 1: The way I look at it, did you ever did
Speaker 1: you care that member that? Because look there for a
Speaker 1: lot of people really they don't understand, you know, they
Speaker 1: Choo and Hashimoto in in Muda. You know, people think
Speaker 1: about those guys together, but a lot of American fans
Speaker 1: really don't understand like how big Hashimoto was in relation
Speaker 1: to Chono in Muda in Japan, and when it comes
Speaker 1: to Catsiori Shibata, he was one of the three Musketeers
Speaker 1: alongside Nakamura and Tanahashi. But because of the landscape of
Speaker 1: Japanese wrestling, because of what Shabata wanted to do both
Speaker 1: shoot style and you know it fights, you know, real
Speaker 1: actual mm A fights. You know, he obviously left the
Speaker 1: nest and decided to go with y Station and and
Speaker 1: try to do Big math Aloud and try to do
Speaker 1: some other things what did you think about Shabbata then?
Speaker 1: Obviously being involved in mixed martial arts, being involved in
Speaker 1: wrestling and starting your fight career, were you able to
Speaker 1: keep track of him and then and we're promotions like that,
Speaker 1: something that we're on your radar, you know, other or
Speaker 1: was it just pretty much Rings and things like that
Speaker 1: and you didn't worry about those other groups? Well, I
Speaker 1: mean by then Rings that kind of fallen, you know,
Speaker 1: largely by the wayside. Most of the good talent that
Speaker 1: Rings had, like fad Or and Minnotoro who they kind
Speaker 1: of developed through the King of Kings tournaments, had moved
Speaker 1: on to pride Um. But yeah, I was well aware
Speaker 1: of what was going on in New Japan at the time.
Speaker 1: I was well aware of what was looked to be
Speaker 1: a huge future, a huge push for Shabbata and then
Speaker 1: you know, the kind of the turn that his career
Speaker 1: took um to me, I looked at it at that
Speaker 1: time as a huge risk. Obviously, you know, uh, his
Speaker 1: status um and you know, his father's status in New
Speaker 1: Japan previously kind of helped elevate him, you know, right
Speaker 1: off the bat to a certain a certain level, and
Speaker 1: that kind of carried on into m m A. Because
Speaker 1: he has some big fights right off the bat, if
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, who do you knock out Yamamoto? Very qui? Yeah? Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: uh he was given, you know, some good opportunities right
Speaker 1: off the bat and um, you know, I think that
Speaker 1: both New Japan at the time and you know later
Speaker 1: on dream uh try really you know kind of to
Speaker 1: give him these opportunities. And um, it's interesting the way
Speaker 1: obviously that it ended up turning out. And this story
Speaker 1: is far far from done seemingly, you know, everybody thought
Speaker 1: that this book was closed, and instead it's just a
Speaker 1: chapter that ended. And now Shabbata is back. So uh,
Speaker 1: he's overcome I guess adversity in a lot of ways, uh,
Speaker 1: throughout his career, and I don't think this is gonna
Speaker 1: be any different. You know, a lot of fans looked
Speaker 1: at him. He's a different style and coming back to
Speaker 1: kind of what New Japan had done. Uh, he had
Speaker 1: to earn his way back into their good graces and
Speaker 1: he's definitely done that. He has. And I want you
Speaker 1: to ponder something as we go to break. How do
Speaker 1: you bring Shabbata back? What should his match be? Should
Speaker 1: there be any limitations? Who should he face. That's what
Speaker 1: I want to know from filthy Tom Lawler when we
Speaker 1: get back on this edition of Wrestling Observer Live. Go
Speaker 1: back into the show, Mike Samber VV here whether your
Speaker 1: filthy Tom Lawler completely professional radio here Today Sports Piline
Speaker 1: Broadcasting Network Wrestling Observer Live. Tom, I put you in
Speaker 1: a an enviable position before the break, having you call
Speaker 1: out what match Shabbata San should be in. Should there
Speaker 1: be differing rules like he had against Zack Saber Jr.
Speaker 1: Just grappling only he says his head is ready. What
Speaker 1: do you do if it was up to you and
Speaker 1: it can't be you, because I know that's who you
Speaker 1: would take if it was up to you. What do
Speaker 1: you do with with the catsy or Shabbata or or
Speaker 1: do you even try to do what he thing with
Speaker 1: Shabbata and just let him go out there and do
Speaker 1: what he wants. Well, I don't really have much inside
Speaker 1: information despite being the reigning defending New Japan Strong open
Speaker 1: Weight Champion of the world, but including the title win
Speaker 1: which over Broder kings like seven wins and title matches,
Speaker 1: but who's counting? Uh. It appears to me that on
Speaker 1: the first night when Shabbata is stepping back into the ring.
Speaker 1: Suzuki does not have a matchup, so has been theorized
Speaker 1: that it will be Minoru Suzuki against Shabbata, which who
Speaker 1: in their right mind would turn that down? But I
Speaker 1: actually would go in a different direction, and I would
Speaker 1: pick someone a little bit closer to home. I guess
Speaker 1: I would say, uh, someone who has assumed the form
Speaker 1: of Shabada in many ways, and I would have run
Speaker 1: Narita step in against Catsy or Shabbata. As it is
Speaker 1: kind of clear if you follow to Japan that he
Speaker 1: is set up to be the at least spiritual successor
Speaker 1: of Shabbata in many ways. It sounds like a great idea,
Speaker 1: sounds like a fantastic idea. Now again, you're not in
Speaker 1: a position to kind of is there an actually you
Speaker 1: know what? Yes, I will press you what is there?
Speaker 1: Are there any tidbits that you can give people as
Speaker 1: far as Shabbata goes, because he has talked about the
Speaker 1: fact that you know what my head has, you know,
Speaker 1: my skull healed, it is stronger than ever. Yes, there
Speaker 1: are concerns about me taking punches. That's why I was
Speaker 1: not in there was Zax Saber Jr. Doing that. But
Speaker 1: from what you have seen of Shabbata, as hard as
Speaker 1: he works, I mean, does it look like there's any
Speaker 1: limitations to him at all? And obviously we can't see
Speaker 1: inside of his head. We're not neurologist or any of
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But when you see him training,
Speaker 1: is there any pause? Is there any thought that this
Speaker 1: person is not you know, turning back time and is
Speaker 1: just the super athlete that he always was. I mean,
Speaker 1: you have to take what I'm going to say with,
Speaker 1: you know, a grain of salt, because I've been around
Speaker 1: Shabbata on and off, you know, at shows and stuff
Speaker 1: for a few years now, and I did have the
Speaker 1: fortune of going to the dojo, but it's not as
Speaker 1: if I'm there all the time. I you know, when
Speaker 1: I was there and everybody was training, he was in
Speaker 1: the ring training, he was doing everything that the other
Speaker 1: wrestlers were doing. He went through the training session, then
Speaker 1: he lifted weights afterwards just as hard as everybody else was.
Speaker 1: And when you see the guy, he's in phenomenal shape.
Speaker 1: He's in, you know, just as good as shape as
Speaker 1: any of the other guys that are in that dojo.
Speaker 1: So I don't think that he's gonna show much in
Speaker 1: the way of slowing down or signs of slowing down.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be similar to what we kind
Speaker 1: of saw against Zach Saber Jr. Perhaps his style is
Speaker 1: a little bit more tailored to grappling and a little
Speaker 1: bit less based upon very hard strikes. But I can't
Speaker 1: say that with any sort of certainty. I mean, if
Speaker 1: you've watched upon his career, and I think you could
Speaker 1: say that with any sort of certainty, so um, it'll be.
Speaker 1: It'll be wild to see. But I'm looking forward to,
Speaker 1: you know, either just being an innocent bystander and watching
Speaker 1: him come back and apply his craft, or if I
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to get in there and fight him,
Speaker 1: like I said, obviously, i'd love too. Did you ever
Speaker 1: think that for a guy that did like rings, for
Speaker 1: a guy that did like Amberateh for wrestling, for a
Speaker 1: guy that loves matt Work, appreciates that understands these transitions,
Speaker 1: understands all of that sort of stuff, and loves this,
Speaker 1: did you ever think that we would see in America
Speaker 1: kind of where we're at right now in the landscape,
Speaker 1: Because I know I didn't when it came to guys
Speaker 1: like Lee Moriarty, Jonathan Greesha and fred Ya hi Uh
Speaker 1: you know, Josh Alexander, men like this that for so long,
Speaker 1: you know, I never thought would really truly get their due.
Speaker 1: They seem to be getting their due now. And it's
Speaker 1: because of men like you. It's because of promotions like
Speaker 1: New Japan Strong, It's because of just seemingly a I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is. I never thought that this
Speaker 1: would make it to the level where we're at. We're
Speaker 1: like legitimate, real pro wrestling that makes sense and is
Speaker 1: still entertaining, you know, is at the forefront, and it's
Speaker 1: it's almost amazing. And I take a big l on
Speaker 1: that because I never thought that we would be able
Speaker 1: to to talk about it and appreciate it in the
Speaker 1: way that we are. Did you ever have any of
Speaker 1: those concerns? Did you ever care about any of that
Speaker 1: sort of stuff, or did you just always know you
Speaker 1: were going to do your thing and the rest of
Speaker 1: the world was going to catch up. I think that
Speaker 1: we can give a lot of the credit to the
Speaker 1: rise of mixed martial arts. I mean, it's very very simple,
Speaker 1: because remember miss Martial Arts was gonna kill everything. That's
Speaker 1: what everybody, you know, everybody interview would start with, well
Speaker 1: if if if M M A was around when you started,
Speaker 1: what would you be doing? I mean it's like everything
Speaker 1: was starting like that. Think about little simple things like
Speaker 1: the strikes that we see now in American wrestling compared
Speaker 1: to the strikes that we saw before the rise of
Speaker 1: mixed martial arts. Think about the inventing, inventing I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's even the correct term, but the invention
Speaker 1: of tapping out what was it before you cry? Uncle?
Speaker 1: You'd be screaming. Guys would be beating the matt repeatedly,
Speaker 1: and that just that simple. You know, change in the
Speaker 1: rule set added a whole new dynamic to it and
Speaker 1: made it more of a you know, really more of
Speaker 1: a sporting uh contest. But it allows people to work
Speaker 1: differently when they were in submission holes as opposed before,
Speaker 1: and it added a level of drama that wasn't there before. Um.
Speaker 1: I myself loved, love, loved the w c W Cruiserweight division.
Speaker 1: You want to know what if you watched me wrestle,
Speaker 1: but I absolutely loved it because it was something different
Speaker 1: and you know who my favorite guy was in that
Speaker 1: cruiseweight division. When I first saw Mike, it was Dean
Speaker 1: ma Lincoln because he not only was he doing something
Speaker 1: in not only just by being in the cruiseweight division
Speaker 1: was he doing something different, but he was doing something
Speaker 1: different than all of the other cruiserweights we're doing. And
Speaker 1: he was doing matt wrestling, and he was doing submissions
Speaker 1: and they were dynamic. They were, you know, similar to
Speaker 1: moves that the heavy weights were doing, but you know
Speaker 1: they were just he was just that much better than
Speaker 1: everybody else because that's just that much more fluid and
Speaker 1: wrestlers like that. Um, you know, I think that's kind
Speaker 1: of timeless. Bret Hart. Right, look at the quote that
Speaker 1: Brett Hart just had. He said, guys don't wrestle like
Speaker 1: whole Cogan anymore. They wrestle like Bret Hart. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely right. And you know we're seeing more and more
Speaker 1: promotions pop. I just saw the deal with Jonathan Gresham
Speaker 1: and you know, starting up his promotion a Terminus, you know,
Speaker 1: and with Baron Black and now it's gonna be lethal
Speaker 1: and more. He Harney, It's like that's gonna debut their
Speaker 1: first show, that's gonna be taking place in Atlanta. In
Speaker 1: in January and also announced for that show. You know
Speaker 1: we've got uh you know, Kara Hogan is gonna face
Speaker 1: Jordan Grace, but you know they've already announced. Alex Coglan
Speaker 1: is going to be there, Daniel Garcia is going to
Speaker 1: be there, Freddy Ahi is gonna be there, Tracy Williams
Speaker 1: is going to be here. Here's another guy that that
Speaker 1: obviously fits into that as well too. And like you,
Speaker 1: for me, Dean Milenko, he was a you know, a
Speaker 1: huge revelation for me. You know, you saw the name,
Speaker 1: but I didn't have access to all Japan tapes. I
Speaker 1: didn't see small indies where Joe and Dean Milenko were on.
Speaker 1: So to see Dean Milenko the first time you saw him,
Speaker 1: at least for me, doing what he was doing in
Speaker 1: the ring and being able to work with everybody, whether
Speaker 1: it was Ultimo Dragon, where it was Hooven to whether
Speaker 1: it was Ben Wah or Jericho or whoever. He was great.
Speaker 1: And the crazy part is it may kind of sound
Speaker 1: like a joke, but Adam and Somers and I talked
Speaker 1: about this. When it comes up on the Big Audio Nightmare,
Speaker 1: It's like Dean Milenko was over like Dean Milenko got
Speaker 1: over with that w c W crowd by being a
Speaker 1: wrestler and by being who he was. And yes, he
Speaker 1: was a great foil for these high flying characters and
Speaker 1: some of these cool personalities like the Jericho's and the Mysterios.
Speaker 1: You know, he was a perfect foil for those type
Speaker 1: of guys. But he was out standing and got over
Speaker 1: because of his work, and I don't think people really
Speaker 1: give him enough credit for that at a time where
Speaker 1: I mean it was really difficult in the Land of
Speaker 1: the Giants and in the land where on both sides
Speaker 1: of the ledger he had that going on, he had
Speaker 1: e c W, it was very hard to stand out.
Speaker 1: Did it didn't really go win the p W I
Speaker 1: five and people thought it was crazy. But it's like
Speaker 1: he's the best wrestler period. Yeah, and I think that.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you watch him, you could transport him
Speaker 1: into today's wrestling and he wouldn't skip a beat at all.
Speaker 1: Uh And and you know, to go back to your
Speaker 1: earlier question, I just kind of always thought that that's
Speaker 1: what wrestling should be like. And it's you know, refreshing
Speaker 1: to kind of see professional wrestling where people are trying
Speaker 1: to win a sporting contest coming back to the forefront.
Speaker 1: Do you think professional wrestling should be more about that?
Speaker 1: And we're about attacking people with several camera angles when
Speaker 1: you break into their dojo and having doppel gangers. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm all about Red Arta being the Shabaa doppel ganger.
Speaker 1: Uh So perhaps I should I should be careful what
Speaker 1: I wish for because you're referencing Becky Lynch having a
Speaker 1: fake Becky Lynch waiting expecting Live More into unexpectedly attack her. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: We we made it about thirty five minutes, but it's time.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to get into this raw show, which look,
Speaker 1: that was a great example of the segment where there
Speaker 1: were some really high highs and some unfortunate lows and
Speaker 1: something they gotta work out here. But we'll get into
Speaker 1: all of that sort of stuff. There's well as some
Speaker 1: other news as well. When we get back from Break Filthy,
Speaker 1: Tom Lawler, Mike Semper, VIV Wrestling Serve Alive back on
Speaker 1: this show. Mixcept for Baby Filthy, Tom Lawler Wrestling ms
Speaker 1: ever Live Sensor is getting nervous right there west side.
Speaker 1: Going to begin things here, we have a should have
Speaker 1: two producers right now in the stream, there's actually four
Speaker 1: because Jared's doing the video and Tony is making sure
Speaker 1: that Jared is is not going to let anything out
Speaker 1: over the air that's going to make Brian angry. And
Speaker 1: then in the studio we have both both Brian and
Speaker 1: uh and uh Dom in there. So just in case anything, Daniel,
Speaker 1: what did I say Brian? I think producer Rob is
Speaker 1: probably just at Brian's house. He's just hanging out outside
Speaker 1: waiting for Brian to let him back in. Daniel, I apologize,
Speaker 1: but you know, if you've heard this show and you've
Speaker 1: surely been paying attention to it, there's really no excuse
Speaker 1: for me. So, hey, Monday Night Raw was last night.
Speaker 1: No excuse for this either of why we have waited
Speaker 1: this long to talk about other than I just didn't
Speaker 1: really want to talk about it for the whole show,
Speaker 1: but at least to be the main chair on a
Speaker 1: RAW review, it could have been a lot worse for me.
Speaker 1: I did not think this was a bad show. I think, honestly,
Speaker 1: the worst thing you can say about this show was
Speaker 1: it was three hours long, and if it was two
Speaker 1: hours long, it would have been a hell of a
Speaker 1: lot tighter, but I did like some of the stories
Speaker 1: that they were telling throughout the thing. Although in the
Speaker 1: land of w w E, whether you are baby face
Speaker 1: partners with each other or whether you are heels, you
Speaker 1: are not going to like the person you are standing
Speaker 1: next to or traveling with or anything else is we
Speaker 1: have seen some seeds of discontent, uh now get dropped
Speaker 1: between Bobby Lashley and m v P. So we can
Speaker 1: add them to the pile of people who don't trust
Speaker 1: each other inside w w E. But I guess is
Speaker 1: that's taking place filthy. Uh, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins
Speaker 1: are starting to fortify their relationship a little bit more
Speaker 1: as they all lead into going into Day one to
Speaker 1: face off for Big Ease World Heavyweight Championship. And that's
Speaker 1: how this show started and that's how it ended. Yes, Mike,
Speaker 1: against all odds, it appears that Kevin Owens and Seth
Speaker 1: Rollins can indeed coexist. As you mentioned, they fortified their relationship,
Speaker 1: uh despite losing in the main event in kind of
Speaker 1: embarrassing fashion. Bobby Lashly just he was teaming with Biggie,
Speaker 1: but he basically beat up both the guys. He ran
Speaker 1: through Biggie with a spear. He then ran through Kevin
Speaker 1: Owens with a spear and won the match essentially single handedly.
Speaker 1: But afterwards Seth Rawlins and Big E I'm sorry, Seth
Speaker 1: Rollins and Kevin Owens were able to lay out both
Speaker 1: Biggie and lastly with the steel steps. Uh. You mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier seeds of discontent between Bobby Lashley and m v P,
Speaker 1: and that was what opened up the show and led
Speaker 1: to the main event which I just mentioned, um and
Speaker 1: was you know kind of alluded to throughout the show
Speaker 1: as Lashly through m v P to the Wolves in
Speaker 1: the opening segment or you know Big E. Yeah, that was.
Speaker 1: That was a interesting way that the show opened because
Speaker 1: lastly an m v P come out and obviously they
Speaker 1: are back together now an m v P is was
Speaker 1: coming off of injury. They put him back together again
Speaker 1: and m v P was out there. He was basically
Speaker 1: over selling Bobby's accomplishments of facing off against everybody last
Speaker 1: week compared facing Kevin Owen, Seth ronson, Big E two,
Speaker 1: running and winning the Boston Marathon, scoring a triple double
Speaker 1: in the NBA finals and then going five rounds with
Speaker 1: Francis and Ghanu and then knocking him out. What in
Speaker 1: the in the post fight press conference, like, how does
Speaker 1: that work? Exactly? But draw? I believe that they could
Speaker 1: then go to the extra round oun as if as
Speaker 1: if they're in the Uh? Is that how it worked
Speaker 1: in the wh that Ultimate Fighter. That's how that one worked.
Speaker 1: Would you know anything about that show and how that works? Well,
Speaker 1: that's how it worked in the elimination fight between Demetri
Speaker 1: Johnson and Ian McCall like ten years ago for the
Speaker 1: flyweight title, when they had a draw and we're supposed
Speaker 1: to go to the extra round and the judges screwed
Speaker 1: up on the adding the scorecards and instead gave the
Speaker 1: decision to Mighty Mouse on the spot and they had
Speaker 1: to go back and declared a draw. It is amazing
Speaker 1: how many times that has happened in boxing and mix's
Speaker 1: martial arts over the years, and how nobody gets strung
Speaker 1: up or beaten or sued or anything for that. It's
Speaker 1: just amazing. But that's a different story for a different day.
Speaker 1: But Biggie of course at that point comes out says
Speaker 1: hats off and cheese curds to you. I'm still I
Speaker 1: mean it's Milwaukee. I mean, I know it's a lot
Speaker 1: of cheese and everything. But like Wisconsin, wouldn't that be
Speaker 1: kind of where you'd want to use that joke. Maybe
Speaker 1: he was just really hungry for putaine. I don't know
Speaker 1: what exactly it was, but Biggie called m v P
Speaker 1: Iceberg Slim tried to dog him for hitting him in
Speaker 1: the knee with the cane last week, and Lashly grabbed
Speaker 1: him Mike and said, well, you know, he did hit
Speaker 1: you with the cane, but I didn't need him to
Speaker 1: do that, And in fact, you know I don't need
Speaker 1: him at all. I can beat him myself and and
Speaker 1: m v P can beat you too, because that's what
Speaker 1: he said. So, Pe, why don't you get in there
Speaker 1: with the cane and why don't you face off against
Speaker 1: Bobby Lashley? And as he does that, or face off
Speaker 1: against Biggie, as Lashly says that he leaves the ring,
Speaker 1: he backs up the cameras at his back. M VP's
Speaker 1: got the cane. He's feeling good about himself. And then
Speaker 1: probably the highlight comedy point of the night for me
Speaker 1: is when Seth rollins in a like yellow in brown
Speaker 1: plaid suit out of nowhere, Screenwright comes diving out and
Speaker 1: jumps on Bobby Lashley's back with Kevin Owens right behind him.
Speaker 1: They start beating him down. Uh, Biggie comes out to
Speaker 1: try to help. He gets into it with everybody to
Speaker 1: everybody starts fighting Lashly in Big East and the other
Speaker 1: two packing. That's how the segment closes, and ultimately that's
Speaker 1: what sets up the tag match main event. From there,
Speaker 1: we got a Bianca promo before her match against Due Drop.
Speaker 1: She's the e S team. She's gonna end this thing
Speaker 1: between the two of them. So that took place back
Speaker 1: from a break Owens and Rollins they are back. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know what was left off of the Hulu version
Speaker 1: that I watched? What's that Bianca and Due Drop? Are
Speaker 1: you serious? Out of all the things? Because I did
Speaker 1: see that finish, I should have thought about that. I
Speaker 1: saw the finish, which was hot, and I would have
Speaker 1: loved to see the rest of the match because the
Speaker 1: crowd was up with their feet going crazy for the
Speaker 1: kod That was the hot I mean, so okay, So
Speaker 1: after she cuts that promo, Owens and Rollins are arguing backstage.
Speaker 1: This is when Adam here Sincenny here and and they said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna make the biggest tag match in raw history,
Speaker 1: all the people that have been on Robert this this
Speaker 1: is gonna be one of the biggest matches in history.
Speaker 1: So they make the match for later on. Owens and
Speaker 1: Rollins aren't happy about that. But then we go to
Speaker 1: the ring for that Bianca bel Air Do Drop match,
Speaker 1: which went about twelve minutes. It went through a commercial break,
Speaker 1: and those two are not Bailey and Sasha together, but
Speaker 1: they work really well with each other and can accent
Speaker 1: each other really really well. And the spot that I
Speaker 1: thought everybody had seen that they would want to show
Speaker 1: off was do drop. Had missed a splash off the
Speaker 1: second rope, and then Bianca picked her up, hoisted her
Speaker 1: up on her shoulders, walked her into the middle of
Speaker 1: the ring and delivered the ko D. And as soon
Speaker 1: as she started getting her off on her shoulders and
Speaker 1: started to move, the fans started getting their feet They
Speaker 1: started to pop. This was not just the overlay of
Speaker 1: audio that w w E will put over something that
Speaker 1: the track of the fans cheering. You can actually see
Speaker 1: fans getting up, throwing their hands in the air and
Speaker 1: cheering as she hits this ko D. Crazy impressive finish
Speaker 1: that everybody was into and they got the pin. I
Speaker 1: cannot believe actually they left that off. That's insane. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it could been using for error on my part,
Speaker 1: but I don't remember seeing it. I did remember hit
Speaker 1: her fast forward, go back. I did remember seeing Austin Theory,
Speaker 1: you know, theorized that Vincukman's love of him is because
Speaker 1: of all these great selfies that he's taken so far. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He he was in there next against Finn Valor, and
Speaker 1: this was another one that went through one of the
Speaker 1: commercial breaks, and ultimately Theory hit a I'll say this,
Speaker 1: he hit a really sweet uh seated springboard Spanish fly
Speaker 1: on Finn Valor and then tried to take a selfie
Speaker 1: as he pinned him, which led to a reversal in
Speaker 1: a two count for Balor. Bellor then reversed the t
Speaker 1: k Oh had a shotgun dropkick, and then to Kuda
Speaker 1: Gras for the victory in about nine minutes. And even
Speaker 1: though Finnvalor got his shine got to celebrate at the end,
Speaker 1: it was very much uh noted that Austin Theory had
Speaker 1: screwed up again. And there's a point a little bit
Speaker 1: later on where he's about to go into Vince McMahon's office,
Speaker 1: but he's disappointed and he decides he's not going to
Speaker 1: do that. So that's where we get that. Then we
Speaker 1: get a we get a video package, uh from his
Speaker 1: TV last week where Miss thanks to almost for. We
Speaker 1: see that, and then we see Miss thinking Almost for
Speaker 1: talking to m j Omas. Aj Styles walks up and
Speaker 1: and uh, he's very excited about his future with Omas,
Speaker 1: but uh, Omas still seems to be acting a little
Speaker 1: bit shady towards a j. Uh. Mrs just happy because
Speaker 1: he wants something that's going to be better than his
Speaker 1: wife on the cutting edge. So long story short, MS
Speaker 1: got in a dig against urban Meyer, but a J
Speaker 1: was praising Almost. MS basically cuts Almost as promo for him,
Speaker 1: or Omas's promo for him that he can't cut, basically
Speaker 1: saying that, you know, a J is is kind of
Speaker 1: in his way and he's he's holding him back and
Speaker 1: he's he's holding him down. And when Styles went to
Speaker 1: question Omas for some reason, the Mysterios music hits and
Speaker 1: they come out. Why if these two guys who're about
Speaker 1: to have a match with are about to kill each other,
Speaker 1: why did you decide to come out then? And if
Speaker 1: you did, why didn't you just come out with some
Speaker 1: popcorn as if you were the street prophets to to
Speaker 1: see what happened. Didn't really get that there, Tom Well,
Speaker 1: I will give the Mysterios a better for the doubt,
Speaker 1: because perhaps if they had waited for Omas, who you
Speaker 1: almost said, O Moss but you said almost, if they
Speaker 1: had waited for Oh Moss to beat up a J
Speaker 1: perhaps they wouldn't have had a match in the first place.
Speaker 1: So they at least waited until Omas was almost at
Speaker 1: his wits end to then come out, which led to
Speaker 1: them picking up the win when a J almost tagged
Speaker 1: in Omas, but Omas refused the tag and he was
Speaker 1: a J was rolled up by Ray Mysterio, and then
Speaker 1: Omas laid out AJ Styles after the match. It said
Speaker 1: the next time he sees him, it'll be in a match,
Speaker 1: which I Mike, I seriously can wait for that because
Speaker 1: I do not want to see a J. Styles lose
Speaker 1: to Omas, and I have a feeling that's exactly where
Speaker 1: this is headed. Hey, you won't be waiting very long.
Speaker 1: Brother man is gonna be next week. And one thing
Speaker 1: they noted during this match was a J. Styles is
Speaker 1: getting played down online by Grayson Waller of n x
Speaker 1: D two point oh, and aj is going to show
Speaker 1: up there tonight to face off against Grace and Waller.
Speaker 1: I have a feeling that Omas is going to be
Speaker 1: there too, and maybe Styles and Omas can can work
Speaker 1: on some things before their match coming up next week.
Speaker 1: As you noted, Omas walked away from him, threw down
Speaker 1: the microphone on him, called him a trash ass, and
Speaker 1: and that was that. He was out of there. We
Speaker 1: at least got one great still shot of his face. Also,
Speaker 1: as we're getting close on time here to Randy or
Speaker 1: defeated Chad Gable went about three minutes, Otis went after
Speaker 1: Randy Orton somehow evaded three Orton archaos. How did that happen?
Speaker 1: It's because he's got no neck, which led to the
Speaker 1: line no neck, no wreck. So if you're gonna see
Speaker 1: a new T shirt from Gable and Otis, it's probably
Speaker 1: gonna look like that. One of the key things that
Speaker 1: happened here to his m v P questioned Lashly in
Speaker 1: the locker room about, you know, hey man, were you
Speaker 1: gonna help me out? You know? In that deal with Lashy,
Speaker 1: we meet and the Kane and everything, and Lashly blew
Speaker 1: them off, and that was notable, and that's going to
Speaker 1: be a storyline that's going to continue on as we
Speaker 1: keep going with this feud. Damian Priest counted out against
Speaker 1: Dolph Ziggler beat up Bobby Rude on the floor. That
Speaker 1: sets up Damian Priests and Dolph Ziggler next week as
Speaker 1: well to beer. Mahan is still coming to raw Ria
Speaker 1: Ripley with a quick win over Queens Elena. And then
Speaker 1: we get back in the short little saying that we
Speaker 1: will get Tom's thoughts on Live Morgan and Becky Lynch
Speaker 1: and all of how all that went down movie back,
Speaker 1: Russians are alive, m and as your voice sounded good
Speaker 1: over that beat there, so look live more and everybody
Speaker 1: has seen this thing by now Live Morgan went to
Speaker 1: the Black and Brave Academy. Uh supposedly thought she was
Speaker 1: attacking Becky Lynch, but apparently it was a doppelganger. This
Speaker 1: was one of those things where Tom great concept. I
Speaker 1: like what they did. I like doing something like that
Speaker 1: out of the ordinary, but they had to make it
Speaker 1: to w W E where they had multiple camera angles
Speaker 1: and things that didn't make any sense, and I thought
Speaker 1: they got too cute with it, and they're letting Live
Speaker 1: Morgan talk way too much with too much verbiage written
Speaker 1: out for What do you think about that? What do
Speaker 1: you think about her and Becky Lynch? Well, I thought
Speaker 1: after viewing this segment that everyone else in this promotion
Speaker 1: is playing checkers and these two, these two are playing
Speaker 1: chess at the level of caspar off and deep blue.
Speaker 1: Becky Lynch set Live Morgan up to attack her unexpectedly
Speaker 1: and had a doppelganger in the ring waiting, and then
Speaker 1: Live Morgan like magically appears inside the ring and none
Speaker 1: of the trainees saw her or stopped her. This was
Speaker 1: just too much for me. Uh, I Like you said,
Speaker 1: I like stuff that's outside the box, but hey, it's
Speaker 1: Christmas season. Maybe this one should go back in the
Speaker 1: box underneath the tree. Hey, I like watching both of
Speaker 1: them in the ring. I think Becky Lynch is an
Speaker 1: awesome promo, one of the best promos in wrestling, but
Speaker 1: this just didn't do it for me. It was too cute.
Speaker 1: I still like it because I like who involved, who's involved.
Speaker 1: I think Live Morgan can be a star. I think
Speaker 1: she's somebody people can really get behind. But the problem
Speaker 1: is stop at the long promo. Stop giving her so much,
Speaker 1: give her what she can do, let her be a
Speaker 1: little more on her own, and let Becky take care
Speaker 1: of the rest of it, because she can certainly carry
Speaker 1: the rest of that load. And thank god I had
Speaker 1: some handles on my back today for filthy Tom Lawler
Speaker 1: to carry my as Tom you've done for this week
Speaker 1: or what, man, Mike, We'll see. I'm just gonna let
Speaker 1: everybody know, live Morgan, Becky Lynch bo leave in yourself.
Speaker 1: You talking again, everybody after a while. You have been
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