Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.
Speaker 1: Right you ready, when you're ready, let's.
Speaker 2: Get it off.
Speaker 1: How's it going, everybody? Brian Alvarez here on Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 1: We are here every day Monday through Friday, New Pacific
Speaker 1: Threeastern a Sunday three Pacific, six Eastern. I haven't been
Speaker 1: doing a lot of talking today, but as I begin
Speaker 1: the show, I realize I have no high notes for
Speaker 1: those of you that tune in for my high pitched voice. Golly,
Speaker 1: maybe I should be sick more often. But it is
Speaker 1: Tuesday on this show, and you know what that means.
Speaker 1: We've got a lot to get into here today. Hopefully
Speaker 1: not a run in with the FCC, but yes, last night,
Speaker 1: Monday Night Raw, we got a week and a half
Speaker 1: until Summer Slam and h and we got a lineup
Speaker 1: for Summer Slam so far, pretty much the entire cards
Speaker 1: all ready to go. And so we'll tell you what
Speaker 1: they did last night on Raw to lead to the show,
Speaker 1: and of course also tonight is NXT and on the
Speaker 1: heels all Dirty dumb exploding the rating. Last week we've
Speaker 1: got Rhea Ripley in action. Rihea Ripley will be facing
Speaker 1: Lyra Valcira on the show. Dominic will be there as well.
Speaker 1: They're gonna kick off the show celebrating his title win.
Speaker 1: So a lot to talk about in the lineup for
Speaker 1: NXT tonight. Also some ratings notes. SmackDown on FS one
Speaker 1: did his best number ever on FS one and as usual,
Speaker 1: the Bloodline segment was what spiked it. And then we've
Speaker 1: got collision notes and rampage as well, which was up
Speaker 1: with the Royal rampage. We have injuries in WWE to
Speaker 1: talk about. Kevin Owens is injured, liv Morgan is injured.
Speaker 1: Both of these they did injury angles on the show,
Speaker 1: but they are actually hurt. And Cody Rhodes talking about
Speaker 1: his WrestleMania moment which was not what a lot of
Speaker 1: people expected. And the New Day, according to Xavier Woods,
Speaker 1: should be back in due time. So a lot to
Speaker 1: get into here today. You'd like to Texas four two
Speaker 1: five seven eight zero seven five sixty six and is
Speaker 1: four two five seven eight zero seven five sixty six.
Speaker 1: Brian at Wrestling Observer dot com, on threads, Instagram and
Speaker 1: cameo get a cameo everybody at four w online and
Speaker 1: at Brian Alvarez on X Moment Observer Live some time
Speaker 1: again the show. Brian Elbarez here Wrestling Observer Live, Mike
Speaker 1: SIMBERBB also Wrestling Observer dot Com, and take our time
Speaker 1: to this show today. Ain't no rush right exactly, and
Speaker 1: there ain't no rush in either because he resigned with aw.
Speaker 2: Now can you you can't do it with your condition?
Speaker 2: Can you? You can't roll the arc?
Speaker 1: I can't. I could not say, Max Dupe. Actually I
Speaker 1: kind of did. Actually, Hey, I guess I'm healing.
Speaker 2: Don't strain anything though.
Speaker 1: Anyway. The update the line up for NXT Rhea Ripley
Speaker 1: and Lyra Valcaira Carmelo Trick and Elia Dragnaw versus Joe
Speaker 1: Gacy and the diad Coora Jade and Dana Brook In
Speaker 1: a kendo stick match, and Dominic will kick off the
Speaker 1: show with Aria to celebrate his North American title win.
Speaker 1: The show's gonna do a big number again, everybody, It's
Speaker 1: gonna do a big number because, honestly, as we were
Speaker 1: talking about last night, and it was patently obvious watching
Speaker 1: Ra as well, with the exception of Roman reigns in
Speaker 1: the Bloodline. The hottest act in WWE is the Judgment Day.
Speaker 1: I don't even think there's like a close third. Like,
Speaker 1: the Judgment Day is so over right now. Rhea is
Speaker 1: super over. Finn Balor should win the title. Dom is
Speaker 1: doing great, Damian Priest is awesome. I mean this act
Speaker 1: is hot, Yeah it is. And they're gonna be all
Speaker 1: over NXT tonight. So I think the show is going
Speaker 1: to do probably the biggest NXT number in forever, probably
Speaker 1: beat that seth Rawlins show.
Speaker 2: And you know what the good part about the Judgment
Speaker 2: Day right now is to me, it's the fact that
Speaker 2: once they inevitably break up, unless they really fumble something
Speaker 2: going along the line, Like Rhea Ripley is going to
Speaker 2: be she already is a major star. She's a star
Speaker 2: period point playing. People want to get behind Damian Priest,
Speaker 2: whether he's a babyface or a heel, a big guy
Speaker 2: who can kick ass. He's very experienced, like he's a
Speaker 2: guy that like they really seem to like they should
Speaker 2: like him. And after this is over, no matter how
Speaker 2: it goes, he's probably going to be more over Finn Valor.
Speaker 2: To me, you know, I don't want to say he's unsinkable,
Speaker 2: you know, to the level of like Kevin Owens in
Speaker 2: that company, but like people are always going to rally
Speaker 2: around him. The only question is with Dom, is Dom
Speaker 2: going to be able to maintain after this, especially if
Speaker 2: he's not with Rhea Ripley or has some sort of
Speaker 2: alignment that way, can he continue to keep this heat?
Speaker 2: So he's the one you'd have to worry about the most,
Speaker 2: and they're investing seemingly a lot right now into him,
Speaker 2: so we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1: Now. The hottest singing WWE remains The Bloodline SmackDown. Friday
Speaker 1: on FS one did one point two three million viewers
Speaker 1: and a point three six and eighteen to forty nine,
Speaker 1: so the last time they aired on FS one, they're
Speaker 1: up forty four percent. And obviously the Bloodline segment with
Speaker 1: the Rules of Engagement was the highest rated thing on
Speaker 1: the show, and it did one point five million viewers.
Speaker 1: And I forget what Dave said the demo was for it,
Speaker 1: but it was like really high, Like what did he say?
Speaker 2: It was?
Speaker 1: See if you can find it? I thought he said
Speaker 1: like zero point five or point six and I can't
Speaker 1: possibly be right, But that was on FS one on Friday,
Speaker 1: so they did very very well. The Rampage Show did
Speaker 1: better than usual based on the Royal Rampage four hundred
Speaker 1: and fifteen thousand viewers, which was up thirty three percent,
Speaker 1: and it did a point one one in eighteen forty nine,
Speaker 1: although that is not a great demo at all. But obviously,
Speaker 1: if you looked at the quarters for the Rampage Show,
Speaker 1: I mean it was a Royal Rampage. People wanted to
Speaker 1: see the Royal Rampage. They stuck around mostly for that.
Speaker 1: And then you know, the Collision number is interesting because
Speaker 1: you know, viewership wise, it did well six hundred and
Speaker 1: eighteen thousand, which is well for Collision. Demo wise, it
Speaker 1: didn't do as well point one point eight, which is
Speaker 1: down quite a bit. And you know the interesting thing
Speaker 1: about it is, it's like, so obviously the show is
Speaker 1: supposed to be the cmpunk Show. It's built around cmpunk.
Speaker 1: So if you go online now because the ratings are out,
Speaker 1: you know, all the people that don't like cmpunk are
Speaker 1: talking about no mill Phil and this whole deal. But
Speaker 1: if you look at the quarters for this show, this
Speaker 1: show is totally propped up by cmpunk. He was in
Speaker 1: three segments on the show. He was in the opening
Speaker 1: segment where they set up the tag match, and he
Speaker 1: was in the two final segments with the tag match,
Speaker 1: and those were the highest rated segments on the show.
Speaker 1: So cmpunk is a draw for Collision. He's consistently the
Speaker 1: thing that people want to see more than anything else
Speaker 1: on the show. But he's not going to do a
Speaker 1: million viewers on Collision. He's just not. I don't even
Speaker 1: know why that's I mean, I know it's a mean
Speaker 1: because he had to go out there and call himself
Speaker 1: one bill Phil and I mean he basically was asking
Speaker 1: for it with that promo troll wise. But anyway, that
Speaker 1: is the number there. And I would like to come
Speaker 1: on here and just rail on the fact that I said,
Speaker 1: you need to advertise more for the show, but this
Speaker 1: is not a number where you know, you can say
Speaker 1: that's the whole problem. But I do think as a
Speaker 1: general rule, they need to advertise more for the show.
Speaker 1: I think if they advertise more for the show, it
Speaker 1: would have done probably better, especially in the demo. But
Speaker 1: you know they did. They did the thing where we've
Speaker 1: got a main event. We've got a main event featuring
Speaker 1: CM punk, but we're gonna shoot the angle on the show,
Speaker 1: and so we can't tell you what the main event is.
Speaker 1: So obviously there's there's two things that you can do.
Speaker 1: You can do what WWE has done before, which is
Speaker 1: you announce the match and then shoot the angle for
Speaker 1: the match. That's kind of whacky. Or your other option
Speaker 1: is you shoot the angle on the previous week's Collision,
Speaker 1: or you know, you could argue you could shoot the
Speaker 1: angle on Wednesday's Dynamite, but we've got the split deal
Speaker 1: that they're doing and so that wasn't going to work.
Speaker 1: So this is what they came up with, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, point eighteen. So I think that I think
Speaker 1: that you could safely say in the future, we need
Speaker 1: more than one match announced on Dynamite for Collision.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do. Indeed, they need again a better string
Speaker 2: throughout all three shows, advertising things for all three shows.
Speaker 2: I think they need to make sure that they hammer
Speaker 2: that stuff home better. The rating is down eighteen to
Speaker 2: forty nine from the point two to zero it had
Speaker 2: last week. But Russell Kovis pointed something out and it
Speaker 2: makes sense because I was thinking when it came to
Speaker 2: all of the competition that you have on Saturday, from
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball to soccer to any sort of car
Speaker 2: racing to you know, football in the fall. The DVR
Speaker 2: three number, I thought was going to be the most
Speaker 2: important because they want to see Okay, yeah, maybe you
Speaker 2: watch something else live and you're decided to wait on
Speaker 2: watching Collision, But did you watch it within forty eight
Speaker 2: or seventy two hours? Did you watch it in a
Speaker 2: way where there were embedded commercials that you couldn't skip through?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: I thought that was going to be important. But they
Speaker 2: did point out the fact that their movies that they
Speaker 2: would usually do, you know, in this timeframe would do
Speaker 2: like a point one three, a point one five, a
Speaker 2: point one eight. Yes, during Christmas Story, you know, and
Speaker 2: they run that for twenty four hours, and TVs and
Speaker 2: TNT that does like a point two toy one. But
Speaker 2: as long as the show does you know, north of
Speaker 2: six hundred thousand overall and gets a point two zero
Speaker 2: or at least near it every week, that's going to
Speaker 2: be the most important thing that WBD is going to
Speaker 2: be worried about, especially as it moves into football season.
Speaker 2: That makes sense to me.
Speaker 1: All right, we've got injuries, and that is live Morgan
Speaker 1: and Kevin Owens, and they did injury angles for both
Speaker 1: of them last night. And Live Morgan, I am told
Speaker 1: has a shoulder injury, and I was told it was
Speaker 1: not the same shoulder. So she had that shoulder injury
Speaker 1: when she got the drop kick in the corner. I
Speaker 1: think it was a separation or something like that. And
Speaker 1: then she came back and now she has injured her
Speaker 1: other shoulder and may need surgery, may not need surgery,
Speaker 1: but she's out of action. And so they shot an
Speaker 1: angle where Rhea absolutely obliterated her and pilmonized her arm twice,
Speaker 1: and so she is out of action, not on summer Slam,
Speaker 1: and who knows when she's going to be back. And
Speaker 1: then Kevin Owens has a fractured rib, and he has
Speaker 1: had a fractured rib for a while, but it was
Speaker 1: working on it, and they were waiting for an opportunity
Speaker 1: to do an angle to get him out of action.
Speaker 1: And I don't know this for sure, but I believe
Speaker 1: he is off Summer Slam as well. So they did
Speaker 1: injury angles to write both of them off. Rhea with
Speaker 1: Live and Kevin Owens was attacked by the judgment day
Speaker 1: and so both legitimate injuries, set up stuff on wrong
Speaker 1: back in the mouth with more observer live, so stop it. So, Mike,
Speaker 1: what was that quarter for the Bloodline on FS one?
Speaker 2: I believe it was a point four six got a
Speaker 2: point four six point four six.
Speaker 1: Eighteen to forty nine on FS one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that equates to what was it here? Six
Speaker 2: hundred and six thousand people on average? It was up
Speaker 2: twenty three percent from the quarter before. And the segment
Speaker 2: overall did a one did one point four eight two
Speaker 2: million people by far leaps and bounds the top thing
Speaker 2: on that show. So there you go. Oh, by the way,
Speaker 2: the second biggest thing on the show, although it happened
Speaker 2: to be at the top of the hour, was Eo
Speaker 2: Sky against Charlotte Flair.
Speaker 1: Wait a second, you're telling me women did a great quarter.
Speaker 1: You mean you're telling me outside of the Bloodline, the
Speaker 1: women did a great quarter on SmackDown, Just throwing that
Speaker 1: out there, How about that? How about that?
Speaker 2: Just wait until you have a situation where it's Ria Ripley,
Speaker 2: you know, face to face with Bianca for some reason,
Speaker 2: or you have that deal with Charlotte Flair, And again
Speaker 2: they're very loaded up on the SmackDown side of the
Speaker 2: equation when it comes to the women. But again, at
Speaker 2: some point, Rarea Ripley is going to have have face
Speaker 2: offs with these women, And can you continue to keep
Speaker 2: her hot? You know, Becky Lynch, you know there were
Speaker 2: ebbs and flows and she lost some stuff and she's
Speaker 2: not at the same level she was before. You know,
Speaker 2: can you keep Ria Ripley, you know, pumped up and going,
Speaker 2: and can keep those other women going? Because Bianca, Charlotte,
Speaker 2: Eo Sky, they've all been great.
Speaker 1: So if you've seen the Raw quarter hours yet, I
Speaker 1: need to get those I can find out how Raw
Speaker 1: did if the women were the highest rated segment on
Speaker 1: the show. Actually we don't ever all ratings what we're
Speaker 1: talking about, yet they come out today. I got it. Okay,
Speaker 1: this would be four straight weeks if the women are
Speaker 1: in the highest rated quarter on Raw.
Speaker 2: Now, if it happens to be a situation like Dom
Speaker 2: and Sammy's, ay, do you give Ria Ripley the credit?
Speaker 1: Only if they are these they have to be the
Speaker 1: centerpiece of the deal. So like Ria Ripley destroying Live Morgan,
Speaker 1: that would count. But that was very, very quick. It
Speaker 1: wasn't even a full quarter so.
Speaker 2: What about what about Becky Lynch against uh against Zoe's.
Speaker 1: Stars the Mecky versus Zoe of course would count.
Speaker 2: Tricia's tattoo on the line. I wonder how that did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was surprised they put that on first with
Speaker 1: the given what the stipulations were. Yeah, there's really only there.
Speaker 2: Riquel Rodriguez in that mix too. As far as women
Speaker 2: and she there's still a lot to be determined with her,
Speaker 2: you know, on her own right now, we know she
Speaker 2: can flex her back and you know, she is impressive,
Speaker 2: but like it'll be interesting to see, like, can you
Speaker 2: as you're trying to keep the momentum with these other women,
Speaker 2: like make sure you build her because she can be
Speaker 2: a threat, or at least right now, she looks like
Speaker 2: she could be one. I do.
Speaker 1: Like in the in the chat, like everyone's all excited
Speaker 1: that Eosky is such a huge ratings draw. You know
Speaker 1: there were two people in that match, right, well, we
Speaker 1: don't like Charlotte, so she doesn't count, Okay, just making
Speaker 1: sure we got that right now. Just I mean that's
Speaker 1: what's going on here, right.
Speaker 2: She has that effect on it.
Speaker 1: I mean she was in the match.
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, well, does the referee deserve some credit?
Speaker 1: Then to Brian, I don't know who the ref was.
Speaker 1: Was it the female ref or was it some Cone?
Speaker 1: John Cone? That guy's an NXT ref. He's actually not
Speaker 1: what he should be.
Speaker 2: He's one of the only refs whose name I even
Speaker 2: know anymore. Back in the day, even if you were
Speaker 2: making fun of the referees, Guerrilla monsoon would kill the referees.
Speaker 2: At least you knew Tommy Young and Earl Hebner and
Speaker 2: these guys. We should know who the referees are. They
Speaker 2: put more shine on the announcers and God bless you know.
Speaker 2: Samantha Irvin is a beautiful looking woman and all of
Speaker 2: the other they put more attention on them than they
Speaker 2: do the referee who's actually the third person in the ring.
Speaker 1: Or says she'd been featured for years? Where were these
Speaker 1: numbers in prior years? They just started pushing io Dude,
Speaker 1: Charlotte's done good numbers for years. I mean, there's so
Speaker 1: much cherry picking lately. Goll Lee Gee, I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to give you a foy. There are two people in
Speaker 1: that match and a referee. You can't just say it
Speaker 1: was all one person. Clearly here come on, now, here's SummerSlam.
Speaker 1: We got Cody Rhoads and brock Lessner. They have not
Speaker 1: announced a stipulation. My understanding is there is still going
Speaker 1: to be a stipulation. They have one more show in
Speaker 1: which to announce.
Speaker 2: It a fight without honor.
Speaker 1: We've got Gunther versus Drew McIntyre for the intercontinental title. Now,
Speaker 1: Gunther is I think like fifty days maybe forty days
Speaker 1: away from breaking the Honky Tonk Man's record. Do we
Speaker 1: want the Honky Tonk Man to remain the greatest Intercontinental
Speaker 1: champion of all time? No, because if we don't, then
Speaker 1: then Drew's losing here.
Speaker 2: He's got to. Now, look, are you gonna bring Honky
Speaker 2: out to hit Walter where I'm sorry to hit Gunther
Speaker 2: with a guitar? You could do that, but he's got
Speaker 2: to shake it off. He can't. He can't not break
Speaker 2: the Honky Tonk Man's record. They've broken all the other ones,
Speaker 2: or at least they're trying to. They're gonna do Honky
Speaker 2: dirty watch.
Speaker 1: Well. I mean, here's the thing. Drew has not re signed,
Speaker 1: and they made a big deal about the fact that
Speaker 1: he failed at Clash of the Castle like when I
Speaker 1: watched when I watched The Deal on Monday, I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, Drew might win this match, but there's there's
Speaker 1: extenuating circumstances where he might not. Now we got Shana
Speaker 1: Basler and Ronda Rousey.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you a question before you move on there. Yes,
Speaker 2: much like La Park in Mexico. You know who's holding
Speaker 2: onto that mask no matter what because the price it
Speaker 2: just the price has never been right quite yet. Honky
Speaker 2: talk Man would never let somebody just take a shot
Speaker 2: from the guitar and take the shake, rattle and roll
Speaker 2: and just just walk away from it. You know, he's
Speaker 2: still probably wrestling out in the indie scene. He's got
Speaker 2: he's got something to protect. Can is there enough money
Speaker 2: to pay the Honky talk Man off to do that?
Speaker 2: Would he actually smash Gunther with the guitar, but let
Speaker 2: him shake it off and then beat him up?
Speaker 1: No, No, Honkey wasn't even taking bumps twenty years ago. Bro,
Speaker 1: I mean, what are you gonna do? The guy?
Speaker 2: I know?
Speaker 1: And we have Ronda and Shana in a fight, which
Speaker 1: I think Ronda Rousey's hat here after Summer Slam so
Speaker 1: kind of tells you just winning this fight, but I
Speaker 1: presume it's going to be some MMA rules type deal.
Speaker 1: That's the way they kind of promoted it. Ricochet and
Speaker 1: Logan Paul in a singles match. We have got Oscar,
Speaker 1: Charlotte and Bianca least said about this the better. And
Speaker 1: then of course we've got Roman Reigns and jay Usso
Speaker 1: in tribal combat for the n disputed Universal title and
Speaker 1: the designation of the Tribal Chief, which of course jay
Speaker 1: Uso will be losing here, but this is also part
Speaker 1: of a longer story. And then we have seth Rawlins
Speaker 1: and Finn Balor and I will die on this hill.
Speaker 1: F needs to win this match. He needs to win
Speaker 1: back the title that it was stolen from him by
Speaker 1: this singing preposterously dressed geek. And furthermore, I mean, they
Speaker 1: got so many things they can do with Finn Balor's
Speaker 1: champion and his best buddy with that briefcase, so title
Speaker 1: needs to change. There is my that is my. In fact,
Speaker 1: I would say it's a demand, So let Vince know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm demanding this one, much like I'm demanding that FDR
Speaker 1: dropped those tag team titles to Adam Cole and MJF
Speaker 1: and they do not break up. These are demands, do
Speaker 1: you understand.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Do we have to do that? I
Speaker 2: wouldn't mind saying Jay White and Juice Robinson with those belts.
Speaker 1: Bro dude, they got years on their contracts. There's plenty
Speaker 1: of time for them to win those titles. But if
Speaker 1: Adam Cole and MGF lose, then they're breaking up and
Speaker 1: they're wrestling at Wembley. I don't want that now.
Speaker 2: You just want more dancing, don't you?
Speaker 1: No? I want I want the fans to get what
Speaker 1: they want in a fake sport.
Speaker 2: You want you where the whole manipulate planet. That's what
Speaker 2: you want? Do you want? Just this is what you
Speaker 2: really want. And in your mind you're trying to repress this.
Speaker 2: But you it's about Adam Cole. You don't care what
Speaker 2: happens with Adam Cole during this feud, whether he turns dirty,
Speaker 2: whether mj After all you want is MJF to come
Speaker 2: out of this thing. Is the biggest baby face in
Speaker 2: the whole wide world. And for him to remain that
Speaker 2: way rather number one good guy that if I were single,
Speaker 2: devil turned himself in.
Speaker 1: If I were single, I'd marry Adam Cole, you're telling
Speaker 1: me I don't care nothing about this guy. Now, obviously, MJF.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, should be top babyface. I'm not gonna make
Speaker 1: the argument again, but if it's not gonna happen, at
Speaker 1: the very least, you need to run with this one
Speaker 1: for a while because it's what yet, What do they
Speaker 1: say when the best friends? So maybe drop an f
Speaker 1: bom again? What do they say when those best friends
Speaker 1: are the ring? You got to give the people what they.
Speaker 2: Want, Give me what I want to crew this up again?
Speaker 2: Listen to me, turn on them. Who cares that the
Speaker 2: fans boow you? They'll still do the boom thing anyway.
Speaker 2: Look at Jericho, they sing like idiots even though he's
Speaker 2: throwing fireballs at people. He's a wizard. You're Adam Cole.
Speaker 2: Damn it. Turn on MJF. Give Brian what he wants,
Speaker 2: but make sure you make him pay for it.
Speaker 1: I don't want I don't want them to break up now,
Speaker 1: that's my point. I want them to stay together. I
Speaker 1: want them to entertain the people. I want them to
Speaker 1: go further with this storyline. And listen, well, I had
Speaker 1: an endgame, and right now you know the endgame is
Speaker 1: they they win the tag team titles, and hey, if
Speaker 1: you want to, if you want Jame Juice in there,
Speaker 1: you can do a three weight Wembley. I don't care.
Speaker 1: But they defend the tag team titles at Wembley, they
Speaker 1: lose there, they split up, and they wrestle the following
Speaker 1: week in Chicago for the title at It All In,
Speaker 1: or you know, they don't. I guess I we're gonna
Speaker 1: do CEM Punk and MGF. You can have them lose
Speaker 1: that match and then you know, lead to MGF defending
Speaker 1: against cm Punk and then go from there to whatever.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know, du you haven't thought about.
Speaker 1: All I know is I watched the show and it's
Speaker 1: too early to break him up on Saturday.
Speaker 2: What's really nice about this whole thing is any mention
Speaker 2: of MJF leaving in twenty twenty four has gone right
Speaker 2: down the drain.
Speaker 1: He leaving in twenty twenty four guys come.
Speaker 2: A gimmick that they're going to bring back, especially if
Speaker 2: he turns dirty again after all of this. But it
Speaker 2: is nice to not have that swinging over our heads constantly.
Speaker 1: Back in a moment with the Robs, They're alive, better
Speaker 1: in the show, Brain Elber is here Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 1: Mike SIMBERVB also Wrestling Observer dot Com. Raw open with
Speaker 1: the Judgment Day and the ring priest Finn Rhea. They
Speaker 1: had a big speech video of dominning the North American title.
Speaker 1: They called him out. My god, this guy got heat.
Speaker 1: These people hated this bro or enjoyed hating him. And
Speaker 1: then he's out there. They got another video package. He
Speaker 1: declares he's a North American champion. Kevin and Sammy interrupt
Speaker 1: and they've been through this before. I don't like Dom.
Speaker 1: Tom says, I'm the champion. Sammy says, well, listen, these
Speaker 1: fans don't respect you, but they might respect you if
Speaker 1: you wrestle me tonight. Tom says you're on, and then
Speaker 1: Sammy says, you know, last week we were going to
Speaker 1: wrestle you guys, and you demanded we put the tag
Speaker 1: team titles on the line, and we did so. I
Speaker 1: think it's only fair that tonight you put the North
Speaker 1: American title on the line. And Dom is not down
Speaker 1: with this, but Rhea grabs the mic and says he accepts.
Speaker 1: Dom was not happy about that. Then we had Becky
Speaker 1: and Zoe Stark The stipulation is if Becky wins, she
Speaker 1: gets a match with Trish. If she loses, she must
Speaker 1: get thank you. Trish tattooed on her chest. So had
Speaker 1: a good match and Trish headbutted her with the face
Speaker 1: mask for the heat. Then she threw the mask in
Speaker 1: for distraction. But eventually Zoe tried a springboard Becky cotter
Speaker 1: in midair manhandle slam pinder, So no tattoo for Becky Lynch,
Speaker 1: huge pop at the finish, Becky is getting her match
Speaker 1: with Trish.
Speaker 2: You know, in another era, mainly the Attitude era, Zoe
Speaker 2: Stark would have won, and then we would have had
Speaker 2: long segments about what counted as part of the chess.
Speaker 2: Did it have to be like right in front? You know?
Speaker 2: Could Becky tried to get out of it by doing
Speaker 2: under boob? That's what would have happened back in the day.
Speaker 2: Not all that Attitude era stuff was good.
Speaker 1: Then we had Cody coming out. He's very ginger with
Speaker 1: his arm. I don't know if that's a word, but
Speaker 1: he was holding it gingerly jurely. Yes, ever thought about
Speaker 1: how weird that is. So anyway, he doesn't have a cast,
Speaker 1: but it's it's not one hundred percent, and he says,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not surprised by what you did last week.
Speaker 1: I'm quite impressed. But someone who was not impressed was
Speaker 1: my mother, Michelle Rynolds. She was there when Terry Funk
Speaker 1: threw fireballs at my father. She used to drink with
Speaker 1: Gordon solely at the Columbia and she'd tell me what
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, you made a big mistake. You left
Speaker 1: me breathing. He vows to end all of this at SummerSlam.
Speaker 2: Drinking with Gordon, which probably wasn't too hard since slowly
Speaker 2: was drinking pretty much all the time.
Speaker 1: Had a Ricksha promo challenging Old Logan, and then we
Speaker 1: had Sammy and Dirty Domb for the North American title. Man.
Speaker 1: They had a really good match. Sammy Zay was great.
Speaker 1: Dom did a great job. They did a spot where
Speaker 1: Rhea took the ref and priest shoved Sammy off the
Speaker 1: top for the heat and Kevin jumps up on the
Speaker 1: apron and the referee says, I saw you on the apron.
Speaker 1: He jecks him for being on the apron. How much
Speaker 1: if people are on the apron all the time. So
Speaker 1: of course the fans boo, but then the ref goes
Speaker 1: reap Priest, you're out of here as well, and he
Speaker 1: gets rid of him stress, so it's one on one.
Speaker 1: The announcer started plugging X I can't even say it. No,
Speaker 1: Dom hits the three Migos, goes for the frog splash,
Speaker 1: knees up, Sammy hits the exploder. He's going for the boot,
Speaker 1: but Ree and Priest are shown beating up Kevin and
Speaker 1: the rampway and of course Sammy's distracted, rolled up and
Speaker 1: pinned by Dom. This was a horrible finish to a
Speaker 1: very good match, and in fact, that happened too in
Speaker 1: a row. Now, listen, I know they do these stupid
Speaker 1: finishes sometime. I've seen these finishes. I've seen these exact
Speaker 1: same finishes on AW. I don't inherently hate them. It's
Speaker 1: okay to do it every now and then, don't do
Speaker 1: it two matches in a row. That's what the agents
Speaker 1: are for.
Speaker 2: But god, that's what they do.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's not what they do because it stuck out
Speaker 1: here because they don't always do it too in a row,
Speaker 1: and they did here. It was irritating lazy. So we
Speaker 1: had Bronson, Reid and Champa. It was the same thing
Speaker 1: this match. This was a great match, and it started
Speaker 1: out with a crowd it was like, ah, Bronson, Champa, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's fine, whatever, But these guys were like, they beat
Speaker 1: the crap out of each other, and they're doing all
Speaker 1: sorts of things that you don't see. Like Bronson did
Speaker 1: a like it wasn't quite a rain maker, but it
Speaker 1: was like he was going for a short arm clothes line,
Speaker 1: but then he turned it into a power slam that
Speaker 1: was awesome, like a fast power slam. And then there
Speaker 1: was an air raid crash off the middle rope and
Speaker 1: Yo Kazunas sit down splash after Chompa tried the fairy
Speaker 1: tale ending. So the crowd's going nuts for this by
Speaker 1: the end because they're just working their buttocks off, and
Speaker 1: then Knakamura walked to ringside. Chomp has distracted. At least
Speaker 1: this time. Bronston hit him with a move off the apron,
Speaker 1: then threw him in and hit his finish and pinned him.
Speaker 1: But still, I didn't need two in a row. You
Speaker 1: could have done this later on in the show, and
Speaker 1: I actually probably wouldn't find with it.
Speaker 2: Very disappointing with Chompo, but you know what, at this point,
Speaker 2: in his career. You know, you don't expect a lot
Speaker 2: out of pushing him. But Bronson Reid I do worry
Speaker 2: about because of his height, and it's like he can
Speaker 2: do so many unique things that I don't ever need
Speaker 2: him to be the world heavyweight champion. They shouldn't look
Speaker 2: at him that way. But because he's so unique and
Speaker 2: can work with different guys and do such different things
Speaker 2: compared to a lot of other people, They're like, that's
Speaker 2: why you have a mid card and an upper mid card,
Speaker 2: so you can he can be that guy in the
Speaker 2: mid card. He can hold the secondary titles and every
Speaker 2: once in a while you can pull him up if
Speaker 2: you need to. I do. And again, I just I
Speaker 2: know the triple H sees something in. I don't know
Speaker 2: if everybody else does.
Speaker 1: Well right now the guy that needs to see something
Speaker 1: in with his Triple H, and you know what I
Speaker 1: want to see. I don't mind Chompa losing because I
Speaker 1: want him to lose and lose and lose, and then
Speaker 1: Johnny Gargana returns and Diy no diy reunites, we get
Speaker 1: some awesome tag matches. Lived in a promo. I saw
Speaker 1: this coming three weeks ago when she was backstage and
Speaker 1: Rhea showed up, and Rhea is the baddest woman in
Speaker 1: all wrestling, and she's standing there like just looking like
Speaker 1: whatever and live all smiling and have he goes we
Speaker 1: are I don't know if you get it or not.
Speaker 1: We're not scared of you, and I thought you're And
Speaker 1: then she did the same thing last week and she
Speaker 1: tried again here and uh Ria gave her a warning
Speaker 1: so they were gonna have a match. Ria jumped her
Speaker 1: and she destroyed her, and she absolutely destroyed her to
Speaker 1: death and she pilmanized her shoulder twice. Somebody on the
Speaker 1: board was like, I watch horror movies and people get
Speaker 1: lit on fire and don't sell like this. Well she's
Speaker 1: out and maybe for a long long time.
Speaker 2: Didn't you see her get killed by Chucky? She she
Speaker 2: loves moments like this.
Speaker 1: Well, she was absolutely killed. And this will lead to
Speaker 1: uh Riha Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez at summerset.
Speaker 2: No no, no, no, no the title. No, it may
Speaker 2: be Raquel Rodriguez challenging Lyra Valkyria.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: You should have seen the digital promo. Brian had gotten
Speaker 2: you all fired up to getting ready.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they'll show it tonight. Oh my god, I
Speaker 1: can't wait.
Speaker 2: The range of lyra Vel is amazing.
Speaker 1: Alpha Academy did a promo, so they had a Viking
Speaker 1: Rules match last week, which was like a really fun match.
Speaker 1: It actually turned into a great match by the end,
Speaker 1: but the Alpha Academy lost, and so this week they
Speaker 1: have now challenged the Viking Raiders to an Alpha Academy
Speaker 1: Rules match. I hope I can contain my excitement for this.
Speaker 1: And then then Maxine steps into frame and she challenged
Speaker 1: Valhalla to a one on one match.
Speaker 2: Give it to me, give me all of it, please, please, Yes.
Speaker 1: It's happening next week, thank you, Yes it is. Rick
Speaker 1: j comes out calls Logan down to the ring. This Rickochet.
Speaker 1: He's actually doing for a guy that they never let talk.
Speaker 1: He's actually doing pretty decent promos. But you know the
Speaker 1: problem is, you know, you can do a decent promo,
Speaker 1: but like you can't be completely totally full of it.
Speaker 1: And what he's trying to say is, we wrestlers were
Speaker 1: on the road all the time we trained, you know,
Speaker 1: some of us went through the indies, we like, you know,
Speaker 1: did the grind and you just walk in off YouTube
Speaker 1: and you're getting main events. So he's angry about that,
Speaker 1: but he actually goes, We've missed time. We've missed months.
Speaker 1: We've had months away from our families, months away from
Speaker 1: your families. What are you talking about. Who in the
Speaker 1: world has months away from their families because of this business? Nobody,
Speaker 1: especially in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: So you forget the COVID time. I mean a lot
Speaker 2: of people that spend a lot more time with their
Speaker 2: families and not do as much.
Speaker 1: Come on, there were people that couldn't wait to get
Speaker 1: back on the road. But anyway, Logan flew in out
Speaker 1: of nowhere, jumped in from behind, got on his phone,
Speaker 1: accepted the match. But then Rick She made a comeback,
Speaker 1: super kicked him standing shooting Star Press gave a hell
Speaker 1: o to Logan's followers. I checked his social media last
Speaker 1: I didn't see this video, but maybe he forgot to
Speaker 1: hit record. Have you ever done that? God? I saw
Speaker 1: Bigfoot the other day. Shana Basler had the promo I'm
Speaker 1: gonna fight Ron to Rousey and then Logan does a
Speaker 1: promo backstage and he's interviewed by Byron, and you know,
Speaker 1: Byron goes, you know what happened out there and Logan goes,
Speaker 1: that was unprofessional as hell would happen out there. I
Speaker 1: was victimized, but none of that matters. I'm coming for
Speaker 1: Ricochet next week and I'm gonna pop him in his
Speaker 1: stupid bald head. And then looks at Byron. He goes,
Speaker 1: no offense. They passed him on the head and leaves.
Speaker 1: He was so polite. He felt so.
Speaker 2: Bad because Byron was bald, or because he was bald.
Speaker 1: Well. I mean, it might have been a lot of things.
Speaker 1: Damian Priest squashed Apollo cruise two minutes south. Heven Becky Lynch.
Speaker 2: Apollo's eye didn't see that one coming.
Speaker 1: He didn't see it coming. Well, maybe he did, but
Speaker 1: he was all right with it. Valhalla accepts Maxine's challenge.
Speaker 1: We had a gun through Drew McIntyre face to face,
Speaker 1: and and uh, it was a good face to face.
Speaker 1: I thought Gunther was good. Drew was good. You know,
Speaker 1: Gunther is a fighting champion. He goes, you want to
Speaker 1: ride my coattails. I accept, I will humiliate you at
Speaker 1: Summer Slam. I humiliated you with Mania, and Drew says, well,
Speaker 1: you know it was a three way mania. Seamus and
Speaker 1: I were so intent on beating each other up. That
Speaker 1: you snuck in in one, so good for you, you deserved it.
Speaker 1: But it is a one on one match at Summer Slam,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna beat your butt. And then Ludwig Kaiser
Speaker 1: steps up. How dare you speak to the ring general
Speaker 1: like that? Drew says, I like.
Speaker 2: You, you should voice to actually do what he did.
Speaker 1: I can't turn and so anyway, this leads to Drew
Speaker 1: versus Kaiser and they had a really good match, and
Speaker 1: the highlight of this match actually was Corey Graves doing
Speaker 1: a Ludwig Kaiser personation. This guy was so unbelievably good that, like,
Speaker 1: I couldn't figure out what was going on because I
Speaker 1: didn't hear him start, Like I was kind of zone
Speaker 1: a little bit because I don't listen to the commentators much,
Speaker 1: and also I'm watching Kaiser and I'm also hearing him,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, is he wrestling in a headset? What's
Speaker 1: going on? It was Corey. He did a great, incredible job,
Speaker 1: and then Kaiser avoided the Claymore hit a kick, but
Speaker 1: then hit the Ropes eight a Claymore got pinned, and
Speaker 1: then they beat the heck out of Drew afterwards, poor
Speaker 1: Yl ran down this poor bloke he got killed and
Speaker 1: they laid him out, but then Drew fought back and
Speaker 1: power bomb gun through through a table gun through landa
Speaker 1: right in his head. Thought he was dead, but he
Speaker 1: appears to be okay. But uh, good segment. That match
Speaker 1: is gonna be awesome. That might be the best match
Speaker 1: on SummerSlam, and it will be unless Roman and Jay
Speaker 1: just have like some incredible match. And then we had
Speaker 1: the contract signing with Seth and Finn Balor and Seth
Speaker 1: does this promo about how Finn knows he has no chance.
Speaker 1: You have no chance here. You are going to lose
Speaker 1: at SummerSlam, and in fact, you're either gonna lose or
Speaker 1: if you win, your boy is gonna cash in on
Speaker 1: you and you're gonna lose. So no matter what happens,
Speaker 1: you're gonna lose. And Finn's all angry, but then he
Speaker 1: laughs and he signs, and he says, you think you
Speaker 1: have this figured out, but you don't. We run this
Speaker 1: place right now. I've been losing for seven years. It's
Speaker 1: been driving me insane. And he said some stuff. I
Speaker 1: can't stay here on the air because you know I
Speaker 1: don't swear, and then Seth tries to you know, jump him,
Speaker 1: because the Judgment Day is round of the ring. He
Speaker 1: tries to get a jump on them, but he fails
Speaker 1: and they absolutely destroy Seth rawlins. They hit him with
Speaker 1: all their finishes and pre sits the edge, dom hits
Speaker 1: the frog splash, fin hits the foot stomp. They leave
Speaker 1: him for dead. They celebrate his show ends, and yes,
Speaker 1: Judgment Day is the hottest act outside of the Bloodline
Speaker 1: on this whole show. And it was patently obvious watching
Speaker 1: this show here. So anyway, back in the hole with
Speaker 1: more obserbilve, Well, somehow I made it through.
Speaker 2: This show today, and a fine job you did too.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: You did such a good job boss man that I
Speaker 2: think you don't even need me tomorrow. So what I'm
Speaker 2: going to do is not be here so you can
Speaker 2: go ahead and do the show yourself. And the guy
Speaker 2: with all the letters in the in your forum there
Speaker 2: who sounded a lot like he'd wanted to hear much
Speaker 2: more Brian Alvarez solo on this show. I guess he's
Speaker 2: going to get his wish.
Speaker 1: To don't be Dax, don't get gotten to. Hey, you
Speaker 1: know what, that's fine I'll find someone to replace you.
Speaker 1: I'll find a very intelligent man.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, where you gonna find one of those? You
Speaker 2: will find one of the United States, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: You'll see, you'll see. But tonight I will be back,
Speaker 1: barring a horrible turn of events in my illness, which
Speaker 1: could occur because I'm watching NWAT and A from twenty
Speaker 1: one years ago this week and on a half hour
Speaker 1: in and so far it is better. But like everyone's going,
Speaker 1: they ain't gonna make it. They're gonna quit, They're not
Speaker 1: gonna last on hundred and five more episodes. Last week's
Speaker 1: show was so ungodly, ungodly horrible. But I didn't quit.
Speaker 1: But I actually am closer to quitting because of the
Speaker 1: unprotected chair shots to the head than anything booking wise.
Speaker 1: Bro dude, every single show, and it's always Jeff Jarrett.
Speaker 1: He's just swinging these chairs like a baseball bat. Wow,
Speaker 1: just waffling these people in the head. And you know
Speaker 1: he was there in WCW when like Brett Hart suffered
Speaker 1: multiple concussions and had to retire. Like, don't give me this.
Speaker 1: We didn't know.
Speaker 2: That.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, he's just killing dudes.
Speaker 2: I know, Mabe, wait till you get to the Abyss
Speaker 2: portion of the proceedings, what they do to him, and
Speaker 2: week after week after week.
Speaker 1: I gotta go. I'm gonna go make some chicken. We'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next time, Wrestling Observer. You have been
Speaker 1: listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight
Speaker 1: Side Network