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're here every day Monday
Speaker 1: through Friday, New Pacific, three Eastern Sunday three Pacific, sixth Eastern. Well,
Speaker 1: it's Friday here on this program, and you know what
Speaker 1: that means. We got a lot of news we'll talk
Speaker 1: about here today, and by the grace of the Good Lord,
Speaker 1: none of it is about Sasha and Naomi. No update
Speaker 1: today whatsoever, So we can talk about other things. And
Speaker 1: there's plenty of things to talk about today. We got news,
Speaker 1: not the least of which obviously, is the departure of
Speaker 1: Stephanie McMahon from w w E. She is taking a
Speaker 1: leave of absence, and we'll give you some details on that.
Speaker 1: And what details we don't give you, well, I guess
Speaker 1: we can ask Dave Meltzer about it, because he will
Speaker 1: be on the show in the second segment of the
Speaker 1: program today talking about all of the biggest news in
Speaker 1: the newst edition of the Wrestlings. A guess probably means
Speaker 1: we will have to talk about Sasha Naomi here today,
Speaker 1: but also in the final segment of the show, we
Speaker 1: will be joined by j Bradley, one half of the
Speaker 1: fixers at Tag Team, along with Wrecking Ball Logurski. I
Speaker 1: believe may have once feud with Bruno Sammartino. But anyway,
Speaker 1: we got a lot of fun stuff to get into today.
Speaker 1: So all the news we got the A W Dynamite
Speaker 1: ratings show did very well. We have got to look
Speaker 1: at who the next likely challengers are for Roman reigns,
Speaker 1: because you know, we ain't got none, but the three
Speaker 1: challengers spoiler here are pretty much the three challengers that
Speaker 1: we've been talking about four weeks now as potential challengers
Speaker 1: for Roman. Rais Rick Flair talked about criticism of his
Speaker 1: scheduled match at Star Cast five or Is. He essentially said,
Speaker 1: it's not about the money, and I'm not sure anybody
Speaker 1: actually I thought he was only doing it for the money.
Speaker 1: I think the criticism was more you have a pacemaker
Speaker 1: and you want to wrestle at seventy three. But anyway,
Speaker 1: he talks about that, we got a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: to get into. Mikes and Pervid join us after the
Speaker 1: break lots of folks joining the program today, O kaick
Speaker 1: it off after the break Observer Live back in the show,
Speaker 1: Bran Albert is here Wrestling Observer Live, Mikes and Burvivi
Speaker 1: also Wrestling Observer dot Com. Thank god, stephan even command
Speaker 1: is taking leave of absence so I don't have to
Speaker 1: open the show talk about Sasha Naomi today. Oh, come on.
Speaker 1: In the new edition of the Wrestling Observer newsletter, Dave
Speaker 1: Meltzer provided an update on Stephanie McMahon's leave of absence
Speaker 1: from w w E, which she announced yesterday and which
Speaker 1: in fact cut most people in the company off guard.
Speaker 1: She announced Thursday she's taking a leave of absence from
Speaker 1: quote the majority of her responsibilities with w w E.
Speaker 1: She wrote she looks forward to returning to the company
Speaker 1: after taking this time away to focus on her family.
Speaker 1: Melts reports he leave of absence was one Stephanie's choice
Speaker 1: and had been coming for some time, even though the
Speaker 1: announcement was a surprise to most, he wrote, this came
Speaker 1: out of nowhere. Most talent and those in the office
Speaker 1: and creative didn't know about it until they heard that
Speaker 1: she tweeted it. There were definitely a few people who
Speaker 1: knew and knew the background, but they weren't saying much past.
Speaker 1: There is more to it, but the basic reason given,
Speaker 1: we're not inaccurate. The part about leaving a focus on
Speaker 1: her family is definitely part of it. Was obviously a
Speaker 1: tough year with Paula Veck being out for so long,
Speaker 1: and she had to pick up a lot of the
Speaker 1: responsibilities and obviously had to deal from a family standpoint
Speaker 1: with his health issues. Is back in the office full
Speaker 1: time now, so he's in the office full time, but
Speaker 1: she's taking a leave of absence. There's no time frame
Speaker 1: for return. We are told she is returning. All kinds
Speaker 1: of speculation has transpired. You know what I need this
Speaker 1: week is more speculation. The only thing we were told
Speaker 1: directly and that this was her choice. This has been
Speaker 1: coming for some time, not something that happened out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: even though it would appear because ovitually nobody knew anything
Speaker 1: except a few who had kept it totally quiet until
Speaker 1: just before she released the info. But she was on
Speaker 1: four store pressure. It was her choice. As far as
Speaker 1: what it means for the future, that at this point
Speaker 1: would be all speculation. She was the public face of
Speaker 1: the company had been pushed by the company to be
Speaker 1: positioned as one of the leading female sports executives in
Speaker 1: the country. Company President Nick con will be taking over
Speaker 1: her duties and those who reported to her will now
Speaker 1: be reporting to him. Stephanie besides being chief brand officer,
Speaker 1: what if Brandy is available to take that job over
Speaker 1: for a while member of the company's board of directors,
Speaker 1: and aside from Vince, was the only original McMahon family
Speaker 1: member still working for the company. She owns two point
Speaker 1: five percent of the company, which would be valued at
Speaker 1: this point. That was yesterday. Yesterday it was a hundred
Speaker 1: sixteen million dollars who knows about today. In a role
Speaker 1: as Chief Brand Officers, she's responsible for ensuring w w
Speaker 1: e's global brand strength and growth. Although let's be honest,
Speaker 1: Stephanie McMahon was not responsible for ensuring the global strength
Speaker 1: and growth of w w E. Many many people are
Speaker 1: responsible for that. But best wishes to her. Hopefully everything
Speaker 1: works out great and she can return soon. At the
Speaker 1: update on Stephanie mc man, it's gonna be a nutty
Speaker 1: day now. It sounds like you gotta beef with the sources. Man,
Speaker 1: What are you talking about? They were they report things.
Speaker 1: That's where the speculation comes in. And now I'm talking
Speaker 1: about speculation from these fans, it runs rampant. I'm turning
Speaker 1: into a w w E heel. These fans are driving
Speaker 1: me out of my mind, you know, maybe out of
Speaker 1: her mind right now. When you have three kids, you know,
Speaker 1: all only a couple of years apart, and she's had
Speaker 1: a long year, and that's something that a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you know, they talked about triple HP and out and everything,
Speaker 1: and Stephanie continuing on and how this affected n XD
Speaker 1: and all this stuff. But it's you know, because we
Speaker 1: sometimes don't put it in, don't think about this of
Speaker 1: this is a family with three young kids twelve, fourteen,
Speaker 1: and sixteen years old, that it's tough and this may
Speaker 1: be the best time to try to take a break,
Speaker 1: because I would assume Stephanie Man, even though she's got
Speaker 1: a lot of options outside w w E, is going
Speaker 1: to be back inside w w E until that company
Speaker 1: is sold and you know, until I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know when you're you're scheduled to take a break again
Speaker 1: in a in a business that's relentless, with a focus
Speaker 1: like her father, that is relentless it is every day,
Speaker 1: every moment, you know, spent thinking about wrestling and trying
Speaker 1: to drive the business forward. When are you going to
Speaker 1: take another break again? So maybe with what happened with
Speaker 1: Triple H it was a stein to stop and go, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, appreciate what you got right now, Slow up,
Speaker 1: he's back to work. Let's ease off the pedal here
Speaker 1: a little bit and take some time before we go
Speaker 1: back and and kick this thing back into year again.
Speaker 1: And you're obviously in safe hands. No matter what anybody
Speaker 1: wants to say about Nick kN being the reaper of
Speaker 1: the McMahon family and forcing people out and all that
Speaker 1: other nonsense. I mean, my god, he's a great businessman.
Speaker 1: He's been fantastic for that company. They obviously worked together
Speaker 1: great to get the TV deals through. They hire them
Speaker 1: from CIA or where William Morris wherever exactly he was from,
Speaker 1: and he's been nothing but a success for them. So
Speaker 1: it's Vince mc ants company. Nikkoon is doing great for them.
Speaker 1: If there's a time to step back, this is certainly
Speaker 1: a good time to do it. You know. I I uh,
Speaker 1: I made a big mistake yesterday. I broke my own rule.
Speaker 1: I I went and I read some of the comments
Speaker 1: on yesterday's Observer live on on YouTube. What a stupid
Speaker 1: thing to do? How was it? Well, you know, normally,
Speaker 1: like you know, I'll argue with people and everything like that,
Speaker 1: but it's rare that I really get irritated. But man,
Speaker 1: somebody on there made some comment about you had mentioned, well,
Speaker 1: how come there's not the fury over Tony Storm? And
Speaker 1: this guy goes, well, it's because she's white, and dude,
Speaker 1: I was like, bro, on the list of differences in
Speaker 1: the two situations, the color of their skin is at
Speaker 1: the bottom. Okay, Like yes, Tony Storm decided she did
Speaker 1: want to do this anymore and she went home. Okay,
Speaker 1: you guys realized that like she was putting. We talked
Speaker 1: about the storyline actually where they wanted to rip her
Speaker 1: shirt off and everything like that, which they didn't do.
Speaker 1: They ended up doing the pie in the face or whatever.
Speaker 1: But like she endured that storyline. She was put in
Speaker 1: a feud with Charlotte Flair for the title. She lost
Speaker 1: a match or she I can't remember what the first
Speaker 1: match was, but they had one match and it was
Speaker 1: d Q ending, and then they built up to a
Speaker 1: championship match on TV where she was gonna go in
Speaker 1: and she was gonna do the job. Okay, now, if
Speaker 1: Tony Storm had showed up in the building and then
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes into the show, when she was told that
Speaker 1: she needed to do a job, she quit and walked out. Well,
Speaker 1: you'd you'd be close to what happened with with Sasha
Speaker 1: and Naomi, but she didn't. She showed up the building,
Speaker 1: she was told she had to do the job, She
Speaker 1: went into the ring, she did the match, she did
Speaker 1: the job. She literally finished out the entire storyline. It
Speaker 1: was done. And then afterwards, when the show was over,
Speaker 1: she went home. And and and so the conclusion you've
Speaker 1: come to, why why there is there is you know,
Speaker 1: a different reaction to what you know Sasha Naomi did
Speaker 1: when they showed up at the building, were given us,
Speaker 1: given a one month storyline. And I don't even get
Speaker 1: into this thing about how you know there were no
Speaker 1: plans after Helen his Cell given it. There are no
Speaker 1: There were no plans for them Monday, and they were
Speaker 1: given plans. But apparently having no plans after Helen his
Speaker 1: Cell is worse than having no plans right now. But anyway,
Speaker 1: they showed up and they were they were Actually they
Speaker 1: weren't even told they were doing a job. Naomi was
Speaker 1: gonna win, and they decided We're gonna walk out at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the show and just leave now. Somehow
Speaker 1: some of you see this as the same thing. How
Speaker 1: and then when it's obviously not the same thing. Literally,
Speaker 1: all you can come up with is to why the
Speaker 1: reaction is different. Is well, Tony Storm is white get out?
Speaker 1: Do you understand though, why people of color, especially women,
Speaker 1: may have a distinct different opinion on some of this
Speaker 1: matter and may factor in other things, uh, to to
Speaker 1: have the reaction that they do. Can you see why
Speaker 1: some people with the history of w W, how people
Speaker 1: are treated, even again, even if Sasha has been up
Speaker 1: strappers in the past, do you see why they may
Speaker 1: be looking at this, seeing Naomi doing this and having
Speaker 1: a certain feeling or feeling a certain way. I I
Speaker 1: find it difficult that you can't understand why there may
Speaker 1: be some cynicism over the reports they came out. Not cynicism,
Speaker 1: This is trolling somebody. Okay, serious, you're battling, You're trying.
Speaker 1: There is disingenuous people out there that will use anything
Speaker 1: that is true. But there are again, two things can
Speaker 1: be true, and how somebody looks at something, I mean
Speaker 1: they there is a reason that some people are looking
Speaker 1: at this in the way that they are, and looking
Speaker 1: at it with a side I with it and not
Speaker 1: just jumping right in and seeing what w W. How
Speaker 1: they responded when they've never responded like that before. They
Speaker 1: built it into their show on Monday when they didn't
Speaker 1: have to. They made the big deal out of this.
Speaker 1: So again, they walked out at the beginning of the show.
Speaker 1: They walked out five minutes into the show. They quit
Speaker 1: in the middle line did you bring this up back
Speaker 1: at a moment? Observer begging the show. Bright alb is
Speaker 1: here Wrestling Observer Live Mix, umber Viv also Wrestling Observer
Speaker 1: dot Com. Day. Let's talk about Stephanie or something. What
Speaker 1: do you want to talk about? Well, what's up? She's
Speaker 1: taking a leap of absence um to spend more time
Speaker 1: with her family and other reasons which I'm not exactly
Speaker 1: fully clear of, but that's the public reason. And she'll
Speaker 1: be back some time, and that's about it. She's not
Speaker 1: gone forever, but I don't but there is no date
Speaker 1: for her return either. But Triple Ah is going to
Speaker 1: continue to work full time in the office. Yes, he's
Speaker 1: still working full time in the office. Yes, well, I
Speaker 1: guess we'll see what happens here. But would would you
Speaker 1: describe what she did as uh more a figurehead rule?
Speaker 1: I mean, how big, how big issues is gonna be
Speaker 1: her leaving and everyone had taken up her in in
Speaker 1: in what's I mean? She was the public face of
Speaker 1: the company in the sense that like if they had
Speaker 1: you know, like uh, um, let's just say like somebody,
Speaker 1: somebody wants a w W person to uh you know,
Speaker 1: do a symposium or something, she would be the one
Speaker 1: that they would send. You know, she would do the
Speaker 1: buzzwords and everything like that. Um, you know, it's very
Speaker 1: you know, public relations with key people and everything, you know,
Speaker 1: keep in touch moves, you know, things like that. I mean,
Speaker 1: creative wise, she had nothing to do with creative at all.
Speaker 1: You know. Sometimes like you know, and obviously you know
Speaker 1: in the past she ran creative, but that's years and
Speaker 1: years ago. Sometimes when people go Stephanie Mcanhn blah blah
Speaker 1: blah creative and it's like that was a very valid
Speaker 1: point ten years ago. But she is I mean, like
Speaker 1: you know, she has like literally nothing to do with
Speaker 1: creative So it's not in that sense. I don't think
Speaker 1: you'll be seeing any changes. But you know, as far
Speaker 1: as if you were, um, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: main sponsors or a media person or something like that,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a it's probably the person in the
Speaker 1: company who may have been your contact point. Yeah, alright,
Speaker 1: so obviously knew she of the observers up. If you
Speaker 1: want to read more about Stephanie, it is in the
Speaker 1: Observer Wrestling Observer at dot com and uh and a
Speaker 1: ton about Sasha Banks and Naomi. We're trying to avoid
Speaker 1: that topic here today. Is there anything new this morning?
Speaker 1: If there's no, just say no and we'll move on. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: there's nothing new this morning on it that that isn't
Speaker 1: in the issue. And I guess if you if you
Speaker 1: haven't read the issue, there's a ton in the issue.
Speaker 1: But but since I wrote the issue, I don't I
Speaker 1: know nothing since since last night. Okay, So the Roman
Speaker 1: reigns needs opponents even though he's not around. Well, he
Speaker 1: doesn't need opponents because he's gonna be working three shows
Speaker 1: this summer. So yeah, he's gonna be working three shows
Speaker 1: this sung. You know, maybe maybe maybe, maybe a TV
Speaker 1: or a house show two but three three big shows? Yeah? Right,
Speaker 1: so who do we got to? The obvious? Riddle? Riddle,
Speaker 1: Orton and Drew McIntyre the leading candidates right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great, great idea to pin Riddle in that six man. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure we're not gonna see him pinning again
Speaker 1: a couple of times. You're probably right about that. So
Speaker 1: what is what is roman schedule for this summer? And
Speaker 1: is there any discussion about splitting these belts up so
Speaker 1: we actually have a champion again, which I never thought
Speaker 1: I would say, because I advocated putting the championships together.
Speaker 1: But I expect the champion to then leave. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: everyone expected, you know, I mean, like the whole thing
Speaker 1: was just they're eventually gonna have two champions. But um,
Speaker 1: I don't know when. But his schedule was July twond
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, he's gonna work TVs to build
Speaker 1: up these shows. But his three big matches July second, Vegas,
Speaker 1: July thirty in Nashville, and September three in Cardiff, you know,
Speaker 1: the three stadium shows. Um. I don't think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be doing any pay per views besides those. Um, he's
Speaker 1: not in Chicago. Um, and after that, you know, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised to people Survivor series and then uh,
Speaker 1: you know, um, we'll see what happens. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: in a world rumble and Wrestleman, he'll be all over.
Speaker 1: We were talking about the XFL and Saudi shows. Help
Speaker 1: he worked the Saudie shows, would you know? Almost for sure? Yes,
Speaker 1: we were talking about the XFL deal, the new TV
Speaker 1: deal and the season kicking off and everything like that,
Speaker 1: and uh, I gotta thinking, I don't know what your
Speaker 1: thoughts are, but you know, Rock's got a very very
Speaker 1: busy filming schedule. Yes he does, but he's also got
Speaker 1: the kickoff of the XFL, so to speak, which is
Speaker 1: going to be very time consuming. Yes, And so my
Speaker 1: my thought was, you know, is it possible that he
Speaker 1: is going to do zero movie commitments for the first
Speaker 1: quarter of which would allow him to do WrestleMania without
Speaker 1: having to worry about movie commitments and also have the
Speaker 1: time to help launch the first season of the XFL.
Speaker 1: So actually, the timing for doing a WrestleMania match would
Speaker 1: be excellent this year because he has two different projects
Speaker 1: which would require him to uh uh, take time off
Speaker 1: from movies. Well, I'm sure at this point he doesn't
Speaker 1: know anyway, you know what I mean. It's like it's
Speaker 1: like ideas will come to him if and you know,
Speaker 1: depending on what the projects are that he has to do.
Speaker 1: I mean, WrestleMania is not going to be number one
Speaker 1: on his priority list. Um, if he's got some big
Speaker 1: blockbuster movie thing coming up for a new TV show,
Speaker 1: he's got a film, he's got young Rock, you know,
Speaker 1: things like that. I mean, um, thankfully the travel isn't
Speaker 1: so bad. I mean, the travel tuation is so bad,
Speaker 1: like last year when you know, he wanted to do
Speaker 1: a show but he was in Australia and he couldn't
Speaker 1: go back and forth. But um, I mean, you know
Speaker 1: it's always you know, until January, it's you know, if
Speaker 1: he's gonna do WrestleMania against Roman Reigns or not, that's
Speaker 1: you know, until January, it's just a hypothetical. You know,
Speaker 1: in January, I'll have a better idea. But now you know,
Speaker 1: it's six months from really knowing if he'll be able
Speaker 1: to do it. I I'm still skeptically he's gonna do
Speaker 1: this match. But if if he if he doesn't What
Speaker 1: in the world do they have for WrestleMania next year? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of times in July they have
Speaker 1: no idea what they're gonna be doing a WrestleMania next year.
Speaker 1: But well, I mean, even if you have no idea,
Speaker 1: what idea could you come up with? You got you
Speaker 1: gotta get somebody. Really, you've crushed everybody. Braun Breaker wins
Speaker 1: the Rumble braun Breaker Gable Steveson. I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, you know, I mean, maybe there's
Speaker 1: another celebrity that we haven't thought about the like, can't
Speaker 1: even come up with a name bad Bunny to push
Speaker 1: this movie and his new action role. Right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: this seems to be a Cody I mean right, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's it's it's more likely Cody than Braun
Speaker 1: I should be um, yeah, yeah, I would say, I
Speaker 1: would say, if it's not Rock, I would say Cody
Speaker 1: is the favorite. Yeah, which means you have to protect
Speaker 1: Cody and make sure that he is untouchable for them
Speaker 1: get out of here. Would be ridiculous. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: it would be. Well, if it was I mean he should,
Speaker 1: but if it was me, I would I would make
Speaker 1: him untouchable, but that's gonna be very challenging for people
Speaker 1: who thrive on booking to do that. I mean, he
Speaker 1: could lose. He could lose if it's done the right
Speaker 1: way a couple of times, you know, but I wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to do Actually, maybe once, but you know, well,
Speaker 1: I mean we've we're gonna find out a lot in
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks because it'll be the third Seth
Speaker 1: rollins Cody match, and Cody has won both of the
Speaker 1: other matches. So in a fifty company, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: either losing or we're gonna get a very rare guy
Speaker 1: wins all three matches against top star, which I think
Speaker 1: they should do. It's like I think Seth I make
Speaker 1: any difference whatsoever for him. I think that there's no
Speaker 1: argument for Seth winning this match. I don't think there's
Speaker 1: an argument. There's no logical argument. But the argument would be, well,
Speaker 1: Cody beat him twice, so he's that's not that's not
Speaker 1: that's not a valid argument. It's not a valid argument.
Speaker 1: Telling you what their argument would be because they're all
Speaker 1: about yeah, but the thing is the thing the thing
Speaker 1: is is that without a doubt, Cody going for the
Speaker 1: championship is something that they're going to do. Okay, so
Speaker 1: until they get there, Seth Rollan shouldn't beating him. I
Speaker 1: mean afterwards, like let's say Cody gets his run whatever, um,
Speaker 1: Seth can beat him then. But now, no, no, I
Speaker 1: mean it doesn't make it. I can't. I cannot come
Speaker 1: with a valid argument to beat before or he gets
Speaker 1: a championship match. Well, if it's just a matter of
Speaker 1: he gets beat by a better man because it's not
Speaker 1: a gimmick match, you don't give Seth and out that way,
Speaker 1: then what do you do with Seth? Then? What Seth?
Speaker 1: Seth's next step on that rock? He works with somebody
Speaker 1: else that's been in that positions, like Kevin Owens. Those
Speaker 1: guys that are kind of recycled, they work with other people,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean Seths not wrestling Roman Cody is.
Speaker 1: So Cody should win. Well, let me ask you this,
Speaker 1: since we're talking about the lack of depth on the roster,
Speaker 1: and they always go back to what they know. A
Speaker 1: guy that they can always go back to that people
Speaker 1: really believe in, is Kevin Owens. Is there a way
Speaker 1: that even though we've seen things a zillion times with
Speaker 1: Kevin Owens and pretty much everybody except for Cody. Is
Speaker 1: there a way to always bring Kevin Owens back like
Speaker 1: Lazarus in case you need him to be a World
Speaker 1: championship contender for a pay per view? They could do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they could eat somebody up. Um. It would be tough,
Speaker 1: but you know, I mean, the brand draws anyway. It
Speaker 1: doesn't even matter the matches that much. If you call
Speaker 1: it WrestleMania, people are gonna buy ticket. So yes, Kevin's
Speaker 1: very talented and they you know, I wouldn't think you
Speaker 1: would be high on the list, but I don't think
Speaker 1: if worse comes to worse, can you put him there?
Speaker 1: Of course you can. Yeah, what the hell happened to this? Uh?
Speaker 1: Women's audience for n XT this week? Good god, what happened?
Speaker 1: What what do you mean? I mean you mean the
Speaker 1: rating being up or no, the women's viewership was like
Speaker 1: all time, all time record lows. Oh, I did not
Speaker 1: see that. I didn't even look closely at the at
Speaker 1: the numbers. I just know that the n XT number
Speaker 1: itself was way up from the week. Yeah, the NXT
Speaker 1: number was way up, but I think it was a
Speaker 1: women eighteen and forty nine was a zero point zero five.
Speaker 1: They've done that before. They've done that before. So all
Speaker 1: the dudes heard it was an all women show and
Speaker 1: decided to come back to the show. And all the
Speaker 1: women said, I heard it was an all women show.
Speaker 1: We hate Tiffany Stratton. We're out of here. Is that
Speaker 1: what happened? Brian? I don't know. I haven't They've done
Speaker 1: They've done Um, they've done lower than that with women before.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I normally, I mean the eighteen to
Speaker 1: thirty four number that they usually do is like you know,
Speaker 1: o point oh seven anyway, and it's more guys than women,
Speaker 1: So that's that's not that unusual really, I mean it's
Speaker 1: just you know, um, yeah, that's not that's not that
Speaker 1: an unusual over number. That is a very low female
Speaker 1: viewership for a program. Yeah, well, listen to New Observer.
Speaker 1: Everybody is available Wrestling observer dot com right now if
Speaker 1: you want to hit up and check it out. Yes,
Speaker 1: if you want to read about Sasha and Naomi, that's
Speaker 1: the top story and Dave's got all of the details
Speaker 1: in there, so you can head up there and check
Speaker 1: it out. Plus all the other news. There's forty words
Speaker 1: of news and information in every Observer and you can
Speaker 1: grab a print copy peel Box one two to eight, Campbell, California,
Speaker 1: zero nine. Back in a moment with more Observer live
Speaker 1: at the show right now is here Wrestling Observer Live
Speaker 1: mixumbur viv also over Wrestling Observer dot Com. Very happy
Speaker 1: today to be joined by j Bradley. When we talked
Speaker 1: some n w A here and really the Boss, the
Speaker 1: Boss o duds. We're we're trying so hard to not
Speaker 1: to talk about the Boss on this show here today,
Speaker 1: but I will allow you to be the Boss. Just
Speaker 1: no talking about Sasha Banks. That's the other rule in
Speaker 1: the show. No swearing and no talking about Sasha Banks today. Man. Anyways,
Speaker 1: that's fine, all right. Listen when I when I, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I was, I was looking at all this
Speaker 1: information everything like that, and you mentioned, uh the Fixers
Speaker 1: tag team Wrecking Ball of gir Sky. Years ago, I
Speaker 1: was approached by somebody to have a match with Larry Sweeney.
Speaker 1: It's about two thousand seven, and at the time I
Speaker 1: didn't know who Larry Sweeney was. And I heard the
Speaker 1: name Larry Sweeney, and I thought, this guy has got
Speaker 1: to be like fifty five years old, like you know,
Speaker 1: he had to start working like the sixties or seventies,
Speaker 1: Larry Sweeney, and it turned out he was younger than
Speaker 1: I was. But wrecking Ball Lagursky. Are we sure that
Speaker 1: he didn't feud with Bruno San Martino. I think he'd
Speaker 1: probably be right up Bruno's alley back of the day.
Speaker 1: You know, little ethnic origin to the name from the Northeast.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure if you know Vince sr. Was around,
Speaker 1: he had his eyes on wrecking Ball Laskey to face
Speaker 1: Bruno in the garden and h Boston and uh the
Speaker 1: big one for his people that don't know Madison Square Guarden.
Speaker 1: You know people know that kind of stuff. Well, Mr
Speaker 1: Mr Bradley, I don't know if if you're if you're
Speaker 1: aware of this boss, but uh, the boss here on
Speaker 1: this Brian Alvarez. He wants Barton stormed around the Ohio
Speaker 1: Valley area, a place that you spent a significant period
Speaker 1: of time and alongside people like Danny Davis and Rip
Speaker 1: Roger Shirley and of course Al Snow, people Brian has
Speaker 1: has run across in the past. What was that like
Speaker 1: for you? Certainly a unique group of men, all three
Speaker 1: of those men are certainly they are throwbacks, much like
Speaker 1: a wrecking ball. Lagursky, name is, what was it like
Speaker 1: for you dealing out there with ov W and what
Speaker 1: did you learn? I learned a lot in O v W.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's probably one of the top end
Speaker 1: places to learn the business of pro wrestling in general. UM.
Speaker 1: I consider Danny Davis and al mentors to this day,
Speaker 1: so you can blame them for all of my antics.
Speaker 1: Uh and then you know, pass up blame to Lagurski
Speaker 1: as well, because it's usually one of them that have
Speaker 1: made me you what I do. UM. You know, it's
Speaker 1: it's a very unique place, unique personalities, but it's very
Speaker 1: old school as far as its approach. UM, as far
Speaker 1: as you know, working uh a territory. They still employ
Speaker 1: that as far as you know, with the live event
Speaker 1: structure they look to have. And then how you place
Speaker 1: it off of television, UM, on a weekly episodic television format,
Speaker 1: so you get that experience on top of you know,
Speaker 1: the standard wrestling training that you're gonna get it just
Speaker 1: about any academy or school out there, so um, you know,
Speaker 1: and I've always dug the Louisville area. It kind of
Speaker 1: reminds me of some places of Chicago and a much
Speaker 1: smaller scale. So always felt at home there. So I
Speaker 1: do try to venture down there here and there. I
Speaker 1: haven't lately, Um, but I was there prior to COVID
Speaker 1: and on and off with some other antics that I
Speaker 1: had going on in my career, and um, I always
Speaker 1: enjoyed my time there. You know, you've you've been around
Speaker 1: for a long time. And uh, you just called? Did
Speaker 1: you just call? I didn't say you were old. I
Speaker 1: said you've been around for a long time. Well, of
Speaker 1: course you're a you're a grizzled young veteran. But yes,
Speaker 1: you when I look at this, you know deep South
Speaker 1: Ohio Valley and uh, you know Florida Championship Wrestling and
Speaker 1: and now in w A and w W and everything
Speaker 1: like that. I mean I did wrestle. Yes, he doesn't
Speaker 1: know about you, and you do your homework. I did. Well. Listen,
Speaker 1: if I rattled off all the places you've been, the
Speaker 1: segment would end. But my point is, as a man
Speaker 1: who who has been to these various places during his career,
Speaker 1: this business has changed so much and I want to
Speaker 1: get your your thoughts on that, because when Mike mentioned
Speaker 1: like the old school O v W and Danny Davis
Speaker 1: and Rip Rogers, and you know, I'm I'm looking at
Speaker 1: these names and I watched the show every single week.
Speaker 1: They would send me the the DVDs of the ov
Speaker 1: W TV show and I watched that every single week.
Speaker 1: Jamin all Events is the champion. I mean. But when
Speaker 1: you look back at it, I mean, that was a
Speaker 1: different business in a lot of ways than it is today.
Speaker 1: So what are your thoughts on on all of the
Speaker 1: changes that you've seen during your career? Oh wow, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a deep question. You you wrote that one
Speaker 1: down earlier in the week, didn't you know it's one
Speaker 1: of my go to use. Oh okay, well it's a
Speaker 1: good go. Do you put that in your pocket for later? Yes?
Speaker 1: I you can't help if you've been in there. I
Speaker 1: know you've been around the business for a while. To Brian,
Speaker 1: you know, as a fan and then you know doing
Speaker 1: your stick here reporting on it and interacting and publicizing. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I got in this business over twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: And you know, even if you put a start point
Speaker 1: where I signed with w B and I was in
Speaker 1: Deep South like that, you know what what happens in
Speaker 1: that ring, you know, has been the same in a
Speaker 1: way since the beginning of time. You know, it's competitors,
Speaker 1: and we're putting in an athletic competition to to to
Speaker 1: an end supposed to mean something that's supposed to you know,
Speaker 1: push a story forward or uh, you know, elevate a talent,
Speaker 1: you know, whatever you want to spin an ads. But
Speaker 1: ultimately it all comes down to selling tickets and putting
Speaker 1: eyes on your product in your match. But you know,
Speaker 1: I said, go back to that start point of Deep South, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, social media wasn't a thing. YouTube I think
Speaker 1: broke right around that time, and that was like taboo,
Speaker 1: you know, Twitter, and you know, I think Facebook and
Speaker 1: MySpace were just in its infancy phases. Tom. So it's
Speaker 1: like Deep South searching for a television outlet when I
Speaker 1: was there, but we were still filming TV to air
Speaker 1: at a later date. Now it's just you know, anybody,
Speaker 1: you know essentially can have some sort of television product
Speaker 1: on YouTube or a streaming service, um, depending on what
Speaker 1: quality you're going to get or the production of values.
Speaker 1: But the opportunity is there and the exposure is there
Speaker 1: for you know, new companies and existing companies, talent and otherwise.
Speaker 1: With with social media. Um so, I would say, like
Speaker 1: all the all the stuff around the businesses altered and
Speaker 1: changed dramatically, but what it does inside the ring or
Speaker 1: inside the arena is still damn you're the same, um
Speaker 1: you know. With that, it's like, you know, how do
Speaker 1: you how do you how do you keep people's attentions?
Speaker 1: How do you keep people watching? You know? What I
Speaker 1: mean is that your character is it you know, me
Speaker 1: and laguers Ky goofing off and and and hosting a
Speaker 1: episode of you know, Power or USA and introducing matches
Speaker 1: or or is it you know thirty second reels and
Speaker 1: clips on social media now? So you know, the way
Speaker 1: fans interact and what they expect from a performer is
Speaker 1: different too. You know, they want to have a lot
Speaker 1: of access to you via those social media's and upfront
Speaker 1: interactions and whatnot. So um but it's for a lot
Speaker 1: of things though too. I think you know, even like
Speaker 1: you know, if you're in a you know, pop culture,
Speaker 1: whether it's music or comics and movies and all of
Speaker 1: that change. It's a whole other layer a business to consider. Well,
Speaker 1: no matter what, experience is the best thing that you
Speaker 1: can have in your arsenal, and you have a massive
Speaker 1: amount of it with a unique number of people, whether
Speaker 1: it be teaming with Madman Pondos or being an O
Speaker 1: v W or so many things up until what you're
Speaker 1: doing now in the n w A and elsewhere. But
Speaker 1: I do have to ask you because it's like a
Speaker 1: fever dream now to me, these old Andocchi Genome shows,
Speaker 1: And am I crazy? Or did you and Bobby Lashly
Speaker 1: make a visit over to Japan for a Anocchi Genome show?
Speaker 1: Am I hallucinating that? Or did that really occur? Because
Speaker 1: it feels like it's forever ago now, Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: probably about it is about ten years ago. I think
Speaker 1: it was about two thousand, twelve thirteen somewhere in there.
Speaker 1: And yeah, talking about a misfit band of Guy Jean,
Speaker 1: it was me, Bobby Lashly, Vladimir cause law Uh Andcera.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, my my pupping is over here going nuts
Speaker 1: like Logursky when there's no food at g Yeah. But yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you had some other pro kickboxers like Peter
Speaker 1: Arts or Arts. I thine he's a he's a Dutchman,
Speaker 1: just lumberjack. Yes, yes, yes, and very Hodgepodge show, but decent,
Speaker 1: decent audience for almost a sellout my first trip to
Speaker 1: Japan and very interesting for me and educational, So yeah,
Speaker 1: you got on. It is a little bit of a
Speaker 1: of a hallucination there, like a bad meth trip of
Speaker 1: pro wrestling and m m A. But it happened. Well,
Speaker 1: how are you tapped for something like that, because it
Speaker 1: seems to be it's a lot easier to make connections now,
Speaker 1: to at least make a connection to get over to Japan.
Speaker 1: I mean, how were you even brought up for something
Speaker 1: like this? Uh So a blip on the radar in
Speaker 1: my career was I had a brief stint at the
Speaker 1: original and Oki Dojo in Los Angeles, um like Santa
Speaker 1: Monica area, Los Angeles and what they termed it as
Speaker 1: when Anochi owned New Japan. Um I was there for
Speaker 1: a few much training and things just going well for
Speaker 1: me personally and wasn't working out for me professionally, but
Speaker 1: I had made some connection obviously with the Anoki family
Speaker 1: and other people um Anti. I first came across Dave
Speaker 1: Marquez from out that way from Championship Wrestling from Hollywood
Speaker 1: and his u W n network. Um, but that's all
Speaker 1: the connection was made, and there's you know, there's a
Speaker 1: good business and you stay connected with people and networking
Speaker 1: and that just became easier with social media, where you know,
Speaker 1: you cook on a button and there's your old buddy
Speaker 1: or an old rival or old promoter, booker, trainer or whatever,
Speaker 1: and you guys can stay connected on you know, the
Speaker 1: interwebs or what I mean. Even the Grocy can do that.
Speaker 1: I mean we watched us at point in quick. He's
Speaker 1: better at Internet than I have. He learned stuff, like
Speaker 1: teaches me stuff like that all the time. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's kind of how it was. You know, I
Speaker 1: still had some contact with the family, particularly Simon, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know you come across my social media and made
Speaker 1: a deal. That is the worst breaking of k fame
Speaker 1: that I've ever heard that King Ball Lagursky is good
Speaker 1: on the internet. Well look a look at I tell you.
Speaker 1: I tell other people about Lagurski. Here's the thing. He's
Speaker 1: not dumb. He just has a very he has a
Speaker 1: very smart single track mind. So like you get him
Speaker 1: going on one track, he's an idiot savant. But if
Speaker 1: you do it, you derail that train. It's it's like
Speaker 1: a nuclear meltdown. It's like a train wreck with a
Speaker 1: with a wrecking Ball with a train Hey, June eleventh,
Speaker 1: All the Way is ready on pay per view the
Speaker 1: n w A and I'm not sure exactly how much
Speaker 1: has been announced yet, but what can you tell us
Speaker 1: about about your participation at this ship? Well, there's there's
Speaker 1: been I think they just announced my uh my beat
Speaker 1: down on Rock and Roll this past week, so it
Speaker 1: would be myself and wrecking Ball Lagurski versus uh the
Speaker 1: old Kentucky waterfall icon himself, Ricky Morton and his entitled
Speaker 1: son carry. I don't know if you saw that recently,
Speaker 1: with Wrecking Ball beating up on Old Old Punky a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago or last week on on n
Speaker 1: w A USA on Saturdays. Um. And then there's a
Speaker 1: third variable that's getting be interesting with I think it's
Speaker 1: George Costanza's son, a J. Costanza uh and a mystery partner.
Speaker 1: So I don't know who this mystery partner is. I
Speaker 1: don't know why he's in the match. I'm not even
Speaker 1: gonna ask Wrecking Ball on that because it might make
Speaker 1: him growing blows wheel starts spinning. It like I said,
Speaker 1: the hamster will fall off the wheel and we're done. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: hold that thought. We got a head to a commercial
Speaker 1: break here in his radio. We'll be back in a
Speaker 1: moment to finish the plugs. Wrestling Uber Live bagging the show.
Speaker 1: Bright nowbre is here, Wrestling Observer Live mixumber VV also
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer dot Com. The Boss joining up today The Boss.
Speaker 1: Bradley rest on that that's right, Jun eleventh, always ready
Speaker 1: on pay per view, the n w A and the
Speaker 1: National Wrestling Alliance. You and the Rocking Ball, I be
Speaker 1: tearing it up on that show, dropping that ball on
Speaker 1: everyone's heads. So let's get some bloods in here. Did
Speaker 1: you Did you just say that you just want me
Speaker 1: to ta dropping the wrecking ball on their heads? Yes,
Speaker 1: holy smokes, Hey tell us about the show. You're on
Speaker 1: social media, whatever's on your mind. So we got a
Speaker 1: big three way tag match. Like I was saying before
Speaker 1: these these ads rudely interrupted. Yes, what I was about
Speaker 1: to say. So you got this guy e Costanza with
Speaker 1: the mystery partner in one corner, and one corner you
Speaker 1: got me, and with Sky another corner, you got nobody.
Speaker 1: Because it's only three way, not four, and in the
Speaker 1: fourth you got Punky Rock and Roll, Ricky Morton and
Speaker 1: that entitled Millennial Bratt Kidd is carry Morton and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a three way. We've got a lot of variables.
Speaker 1: Like I said, there's a it's three if you know,
Speaker 1: you know right after two there's three instead of two.
Speaker 1: And then there's a mystery man and now there's rumored
Speaker 1: to be the winner is going to get a shot
Speaker 1: at the n w A Tag team titles, which are
Speaker 1: also on the line in Knoxville that same night with
Speaker 1: Law Rebellion versus Doug Williams and Harry Smith or also
Speaker 1: known to some as Davey Boy Smith Jr. So that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of tag team shuffling going on
Speaker 1: that match or that night. I don't know about you, Alvarez,
Speaker 1: but I think I got the inside track. Wink wink, nudge, nudge.
Speaker 1: You might want to put some money on me and
Speaker 1: Wrecking Ball, because you know what, we're fixers business, and
Speaker 1: we fix any problem. And I see a lot of
Speaker 1: problems in our run sheet. Well we got a problem
Speaker 1: here and that's we're out of time. But I want
Speaker 1: to thank you so much for doing the show today.
Speaker 1: Everybody for listening. We'll talk to you next time Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer Live. You have been listening to the Wrestling Observer
Speaker 1: Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.