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 or Wrestling Observer Live. We are here every
Speaker 1: day Monday through Friday, New Pacific, three Eastern, Sunday three Pacific,
Speaker 1: sixth Eastern. Well it's Tuesday here on this show. And
Speaker 1: the good news, dare I've got five hours of sleep
Speaker 1: last night, so that's a big improvement over four the
Speaker 1: other night. But still you have all been warned and
Speaker 1: I probably should get a good night's sleep before I
Speaker 1: before I make decisions next time. But anyway, we got
Speaker 1: a lot to get into here today. Last night was raw.
Speaker 1: What's in the raw show? There are slow and steady changes.
Speaker 1: It was a it was a three hour show. I
Speaker 1: would not say it was a great show. I would
Speaker 1: not say it was a bad show. It was a
Speaker 1: three hour raw show. Although the the good things we've
Speaker 1: noted is nothing is being ripped up and torn up
Speaker 1: and changed. Everything that they built up last week and
Speaker 1: advertised for this week they actually delivered and they are
Speaker 1: doing a I don't know how long term, but they
Speaker 1: are doing a long term storyline with Ray and Dominic.
Speaker 1: They're actually getting the balls in motion as I sneeze ready, Hello, Anyway,
Speaker 1: they got a I got a storyline plan with those guys.
Speaker 1: So we'll tell you about the raw show from Monday night.
Speaker 1: We have also got j White off too new Japan
Speaker 1: shows due to heat stroke symptoms. And uh, it's been hot.
Speaker 1: It's been very hot over there, and a lot of
Speaker 1: people have been complaining about the heat, so that one
Speaker 1: doesn't surprise me. Sometimes you see somebody being pulled off
Speaker 1: shows and he gives some sort of excuse and you're
Speaker 1: kind of like, oh, yeah, really, I don't doubt this
Speaker 1: one at all. It's hot over there doing these shows.
Speaker 1: We have also got n x T tonight, a w
Speaker 1: Quake of the Lake tomorrow. We've got ratings for Battle
Speaker 1: of the Belts, Rampage, and SmackDown this week and plenty
Speaker 1: more so if you'd like to give us your thoughts
Speaker 1: here today four to seven zero seven five six six
Speaker 1: four to five seven eight zero seven five six six
Speaker 1: Back in the Moment, Observerer Live, Back in the Show,
Speaker 1: Bright Albert is here Wrestling Observer Live, Mike and burviv
Speaker 1: also Wrestling Observe dot com. Is that you furiously typing
Speaker 1: over there? Mike? It was what's going on over there?
Speaker 1: Are you writing a book? If I did? Do you
Speaker 1: think it when the Wrestling Observer newsletter Book of the
Speaker 1: Year world only if I were the co author? Quite frankly,
Speaker 1: only if you know what's you know? It's funny about
Speaker 1: being as famous as me? What's up? Well? I like
Speaker 1: when when people tag me on the Internet to alert
Speaker 1: me that I got a match coming up, Like I
Speaker 1: didn't know, Hey, Brian, did you hear you're wrestling? Damn right,
Speaker 1: I'm wrestling. It's a game changer. I didn't even know
Speaker 1: it was a g c W that was all black
Speaker 1: label pro. But it's a g c W black label
Speaker 1: show just coming up on September two, Grand Sports Arena
Speaker 1: and Hoffman Estates, Illinois. So if you're going all out weekend,
Speaker 1: even if you're going to Rampage on Friday night, Rampage
Speaker 1: ends at ten Central. This show starts at eleventh Central
Speaker 1: and ain't that far away. So you have your opportunity
Speaker 1: two come see me and Filthy. Oh yeah, that's right,
Speaker 1: you have me and Filthy. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: have those times right. But no, I did ten nine
Speaker 1: central be a bad time had by you, It's not
Speaker 1: gonna be a bad time had by me. You know what,
Speaker 1: I will admit. I will admit that yesterday I only
Speaker 1: got four hours of sleep and so probably wasn't the
Speaker 1: best stay to negotiate a wrestling match with Tom. I
Speaker 1: probably should have waited still have a full night's sleep,
Speaker 1: and I was in a you know, a competent state
Speaker 1: of mind, not all hiked up on five hour energy,
Speaker 1: but too late. What's done is done. But the fact
Speaker 1: of the matter is the second, the second, and I'm
Speaker 1: I am not I am not too proud to admit this.
Speaker 1: The second Jonah dumped that dude on that barricade, I
Speaker 1: was like, now's my chance, dude, that guy is gonna
Speaker 1: come back from Japan a wreck, a wreck, and uh
Speaker 1: I am not above taking advantage of that. So uh
Speaker 1: it was like, oh, I hope Bright put CDs in
Speaker 1: his pants. Do this at a comedy match, you dorks.
Speaker 1: You know what happened. You know what happened years ago,
Speaker 1: years ago, Filthy and I were training together when when
Speaker 1: I was down in Vegas at whatever syndicate, or whatever,
Speaker 1: and uh, it was me. It was filthy, and I
Speaker 1: brought Wang okay, because Wang was also training and he
Speaker 1: was Wang, so it was like, I gotta bring this
Speaker 1: guy and he was really excited to go roll with Tom. Okay.
Speaker 1: So Tom just ruined Wang. Okay, he ruined him, but
Speaker 1: he didn't ruin me. Okay. Now, to be fair, I
Speaker 1: didn't ruin him either. Okay. But this guy goes on
Speaker 1: the show yesterday and you know, there's there's two rules.
Speaker 1: It sounds like comedy, but these are real rules. What
Speaker 1: happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and what happens in
Speaker 1: the gym stays in the gym. This was a gym
Speaker 1: in Vegas. And not only that, he goes on the
Speaker 1: early lies. He said he tapped me out, So dude,
Speaker 1: I'm not happy about that, and even admitted he lied later.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I'd already open my mouth. But the
Speaker 1: fact of the matter is that made me mad. You
Speaker 1: want to know how to push my buttons, well, that's
Speaker 1: a good one. And also calling me lazy, those are
Speaker 1: the two things. So you see some lazy match, some
Speaker 1: lazy comedy match with Tom, think again, it ain't gonna happen.
Speaker 1: What about a loof to wreck this guy? What about
Speaker 1: that one? Does that apply to you? To me? Yeah, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm a lot of things. I ain't know loof, terrible friend.
Speaker 1: I'm not a terrible friend. A terrible friend? Was Tom
Speaker 1: lying on the show yesterday. No, you're not. You just
Speaker 1: admitted that you want to take advantage of a guy
Speaker 1: who won't be a hundred percent coming back from Japan,
Speaker 1: instead of like if you were really this guy's friend
Speaker 1: and you actually had that much, you know, belief in
Speaker 1: your own skill and talent at this point in your life.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Let's let's be honest here.
Speaker 1: They we're gonna move on actual news. Let me ask
Speaker 1: you a serious question. Okay, yes, do you think that
Speaker 1: in a fair fight, a two hundred pound filthy Tom
Speaker 1: Lawler versus a one hundred and forty five pound Brian Alvarez,
Speaker 1: do you think I got much of a chance? No? Okay,
Speaker 1: So he's injured and he's coming off a tournament. So
Speaker 1: if anything, this makes it a fair fight. Right, Who
Speaker 1: wants to see me go in there and just get slaughtered? Nobody?
Speaker 1: Don't even open your mouth. Hey, we got other news.
Speaker 1: Here I've talked about J White. J White has been
Speaker 1: removed from two up here's another one. J White removed
Speaker 1: from two upcoming New Japan events due to heat stroke symptoms.
Speaker 1: Guess who else is wrestling in Japan in the heat
Speaker 1: Filthy Tom J White was scheduled. And actually this was
Speaker 1: weird because last night I saw for some reason, I
Speaker 1: went to UM I went to the New Japan website
Speaker 1: for something. It was in the middle of the Dave Show.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what, you know what. I was
Speaker 1: going up there to find out when Filthy Is match
Speaker 1: with Kada was. But anyway, I'm looking around on uh,
Speaker 1: the New Japan website and I just I fell into
Speaker 1: a rabbit hole. I don't know what Dave was talking about.
Speaker 1: So hopefully I didn't miss anything last night, but I'm
Speaker 1: gonna read some of this a little bit later. There's
Speaker 1: the bio of Filthy Tom is incredible. But anyway, I
Speaker 1: was up there and there was a page and sithing
Speaker 1: like it was like J White pulled from g one
Speaker 1: shows and I clicked on it and then it had
Speaker 1: been removed, and I was like, that's weird. And then
Speaker 1: I looked online and there was nothing about it, so
Speaker 1: they must have put it up and then pulled it
Speaker 1: and then put it up again. But he's out with
Speaker 1: these heat stroke symptoms. He will be off the August
Speaker 1: nine and ten card due to an abundance of caution.
Speaker 1: He's also going to be taking a COVID test, although
Speaker 1: that the first one he took came back negative. And
Speaker 1: his next tournament match is August sixteen, so he has
Speaker 1: a while. He has almost a week before he needs
Speaker 1: to be in the tournament, so this is not going
Speaker 1: to script the g one at this point, but he
Speaker 1: is in the lead in the b B Block four zero.
Speaker 1: So all the best to J White. That sounds like
Speaker 1: no fun? Should I read part of this bio? All right?
Speaker 1: So first off, they had all of the wrestlers and uh,
Speaker 1: you know they have they have the lineup for the matches,
Speaker 1: and uh, it's Tom Lawler teaming with Lois Isaacs l
Speaker 1: O I s MA it was Lois Isaac. Something got
Speaker 1: lost in translation for that one. Then we've got the
Speaker 1: bio of Filthy Tom. Are you ready for this? Okay
Speaker 1: teams by the way, with Lois Isaac's Okay h belonging
Speaker 1: Unit Team Filthy signature move rear naked choke pek major
Speaker 1: title wins. It says here first New Japan Strong indiscriminate champion.
Speaker 1: You know what I don't describe tom as it is indiscriminate.
Speaker 1: The leader of Okay, this is bio ready, I couldn't
Speaker 1: have written a better one. The leader and whoever wrote
Speaker 1: this niece to write a book, Maybe he's your co author.
Speaker 1: The leader of Team Filthy, who mows down opponents with
Speaker 1: joints and sharp blows. He debuted as a professional mixed
Speaker 1: martial artists in two thousand seven, active in UFC since
Speaker 1: two thousand eight. At the same time, he joined the
Speaker 1: American professional wrestling organization m l M. In seventeen. He
Speaker 1: won the m l M I Hope Courts not Listening
Speaker 1: World Heavyweight Championship in twenty nine. He must have been
Speaker 1: an excellent multi level marketer. When he appeared in New
Speaker 1: Japan Strong in June two thousand eight, this was off
Speaker 1: by ten years. He formed Team Filthy in April two
Speaker 1: thousand nine, also ten years off. He won the New
Speaker 1: Japan Cup USA and reigned as the first New Japan
Speaker 1: Strong open weight champion. Remember he first entered his head
Speaker 1: by the way this is all this coming to fruition
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight. In his mind, he he
Speaker 1: really did know the UFC was not going to be
Speaker 1: the answer for him. He had this all planned out.
Speaker 1: Do you know that long rain that he had his
Speaker 1: new Japan Strong open weight champion and he just destroyed
Speaker 1: everybody week after week. Well they describe it here. He
Speaker 1: defeated Satoshi Kojima and others to hold the title for
Speaker 1: over a year. That is the story everybody of filthy
Speaker 1: Tom Lawler. You know that guy writes a bio for
Speaker 1: me before that match. You're gonna get beat by Killer Kelly.
Speaker 1: You know that, right? Men versus men, women versus women.
Speaker 1: All Right? Hey, by the way, did you see Billy
Speaker 1: Stark's take that bump from the top rope to the floor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna uh suggest you don't do that anymore. Can
Speaker 1: you talk to her about that stuff? Bro dude? You
Speaker 1: know the people that have been around here that I've
Speaker 1: tried to talk sense in two over the years. It's
Speaker 1: it's a it's it's a it's a pointless endeavors. You know,
Speaker 1: with it being a joint show, the idea that you
Speaker 1: could actually get skewers in your forehead. Not happening, bro Stop,
Speaker 1: this is a mixed tag match. Filthy and I are
Speaker 1: going to grapple. Yes back in a moment it was
Speaker 1: over live. Well, we got an x T two point out. Tonight,
Speaker 1: everybody's favorite show, Tony D'Angelo and Santo Escobar will have
Speaker 1: their final accord. The heck is that? So we start
Speaker 1: versus Cora Jade. We've got realms match, West Leave versus
Speaker 1: Trick Williams. Huh yeah, it was just this has got
Speaker 1: something to do with the boxing Globe. I assume not.
Speaker 1: You know, World of Sport, I don't know. I guess
Speaker 1: we'll find out. And Nikita Lions versus Kanada James. Oh boy, man,
Speaker 1: oh man. I can't wait for that one. I think
Speaker 1: Kiana James needs to beat her because Nikita Lions is
Speaker 1: moving up to SmackDown for that women's tag team tournament.
Speaker 1: As they called up Nikita Lions and zoeyst Of all
Speaker 1: of the people in n XD tow boyo, Nikita Lions
Speaker 1: and Zoe Stark is a team. I get it. Here's
Speaker 1: why I get in what way? It gives them a
Speaker 1: taste both to be on the main roster, they will
Speaker 1: probably lose. Who are they facing. Yeah, regardless, it gets
Speaker 1: him up there and he gets people a chance the
Speaker 1: rest of the universe to see Nikita Lions. They are
Speaker 1: going to rush her and lash legend. They have been
Speaker 1: way too fast. That is going to continue, so to
Speaker 1: dip their toe in the water to see how the
Speaker 1: main audience reacts. Plus to see Zoe Stark in a main,
Speaker 1: big stage, main ring. You know, we know she's a
Speaker 1: good worker, we know she's one of the better ones there,
Speaker 1: but can't she translate on a bigger stage, you know,
Speaker 1: personality wise? The look of Nikita Lions, it's gonna get her,
Speaker 1: you know, a certain way. But we'll see her in
Speaker 1: the ring on w w E show, main show. And
Speaker 1: I'm okay with that because if they're just gonna go
Speaker 1: up for that live match, because if they're just okay.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing of all the women on the roster,
Speaker 1: at least half of that team. When he comes to
Speaker 1: Zoe Stark, are you find with them having a live match,
Speaker 1: would you be Zoe Stark? Course, So you know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen in that match, Then she's gonna end up
Speaker 1: being the word horse Nikita Liance comes in, gets the
Speaker 1: big spot of like the big roundhouse kick and all
Speaker 1: that sort of stuff, and hope they try to protect
Speaker 1: their weaknesses the best they can. Well we'll see now
Speaker 1: because of look, who else is gonna go up? Brian
Speaker 1: g G and j C. Who would actually be a
Speaker 1: worse scenario there? They are a main roster act. They
Speaker 1: absolutely are. They can't go certainly not the way that's
Speaker 1: always Starky in. Yet who else is there? Wait a second,
Speaker 1: you're telling me that you think that a match with
Speaker 1: those two would be worse than a match where one
Speaker 1: half of the team is Nikita Lyons. I think here's
Speaker 1: the here's the thing. So first off, I got I
Speaker 1: got a couple of questions. But who are they facing?
Speaker 1: As you should know that too. Who are they face?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'll find it here. But like the
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to make you work wrestling man, the point is,
Speaker 1: well I didn't have it, and you're you're, you're, you're.
Speaker 1: I gotta do this when I'm trying to be telling
Speaker 1: some story here whatever, I got no hours of sleep,
Speaker 1: I still fish. All right, here's your stupid brackets, bro,
Speaker 1: Thank you. We got Tamina and Dana versus Eo Sky
Speaker 1: Dakota Kai. We already did that one, Alexa Bliss and
Speaker 1: Oscar versus Nikki and Dewdrop, Raquel and Aaliyah versus Really
Speaker 1: and SHOTSI so it's not them, it's Natty and Sonja
Speaker 1: versus Zoe and Nikita. Okay, so let Natty and Zoe
Speaker 1: do a bulk of the work. I mean the point god,
Speaker 1: actual looking Monday. We'll get to it on the show.
Speaker 1: But how good as good as Dakota Kai and in
Speaker 1: Eo Sharai are? How good was that match? The which
Speaker 1: match Monday? Yeah, it wasn't very good against Mena and Dana.
Speaker 1: It wasn't. No, so this looks far worse. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't agree. I don't know. I could be dead
Speaker 1: wrong about it, but it doesn't really Why don't we argue?
Speaker 1: Who else? Are you gonna bring up? Who else? The
Speaker 1: point is it's a tournament for the the w w
Speaker 1: E Women's Tag Team Championships, So bring up an actual
Speaker 1: tag team from n XD to be in the tournament?
Speaker 1: Who the former champions? Toxic Attraction? Okay, dude, they were
Speaker 1: appience forever. How did they not get in this tournament?
Speaker 1: I get it. But you know what, this is something
Speaker 1: that I'm probably talking about later on when it comes
Speaker 1: to people's reactions to carry and Cross and to Dexter
Speaker 1: Loomis being back. We'll find out about Dexter Louis. I'll
Speaker 1: get to them later. Bron Breaker could be on the
Speaker 1: main roster right now, Carmelo could be on the main
Speaker 1: roster right now. I would like to actually get them
Speaker 1: see more and better seasoning where they're at, and I
Speaker 1: don't think there's a need to put them up there,
Speaker 1: even though those are two guys who are the future
Speaker 1: of your company. They are, they absolutely are, at least
Speaker 1: on paper right now. They are. So to bring in
Speaker 1: and bring back a carrying Cross that's going to be
Speaker 1: a body in that mix as you develop these other
Speaker 1: people and bring them up and bring them up carefully,
Speaker 1: because that's the other thing too. People want to see
Speaker 1: a bunch of names up there, but don't just bring
Speaker 1: names up and do nothing with them and have them flounder.
Speaker 1: I want to see them up with impact. I want
Speaker 1: to see them up with force. And if you can
Speaker 1: kind of muddy the waters right now by bringing back
Speaker 1: a loop misseeing what you can get out of them,
Speaker 1: big guy maybe do something. I'm okay with that, and
Speaker 1: the same kind of goes with this thing. I don't
Speaker 1: need to see toxic attraction on the main roster yet,
Speaker 1: especially not in the match with again that I don't
Speaker 1: think it is going to be that much better if
Speaker 1: you do it the right way, which is have Zoe
Speaker 1: and to tell you do the work and leave the
Speaker 1: other two outside the ring. For the most part, the problem,
Speaker 1: bro is a toxic attraction have been on n x
Speaker 1: T forever. We've seen them champions multiple times. There's literally
Speaker 1: nothing else we can do with them there. But that's
Speaker 1: not true. Take Mandy Rose out of that mix and
Speaker 1: just stick with those two, and you're telling me those
Speaker 1: two don't need more experience and couldn't use more experience,
Speaker 1: Because if you're gonna do that, then there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people that you can let the floodgates down and
Speaker 1: let come into that that door. And if you're gonna
Speaker 1: do that, I guess that's okay. But Mandy Rose is
Speaker 1: the weakest part of that group. Mandy Rose is the
Speaker 1: one that you've exhausted pretty much all options whatsoever on
Speaker 1: so and there's the other thing too, she goes up there.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. If you're gonna bring Toxic
Speaker 1: Attraction up to wrestle in that match, then I want
Speaker 1: to see Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville somehow do something together,
Speaker 1: because that's the only saving grace you continue to have
Speaker 1: with Mandy Rose. Otherwise, what are you supposed to do
Speaker 1: with her? They have been they have been there doing
Speaker 1: tag team matches for uh one year now, and Gi
Speaker 1: Dolan has been in n x T since she's been
Speaker 1: there for a year and a half. How many good
Speaker 1: matches has she had down there? Well, listen, then then
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do. It's like at some
Speaker 1: point she has to be called up to the main roster.
Speaker 1: How how long you want to give her down. There's
Speaker 1: gonna be like a Leo where she's there for six years,
Speaker 1: because that was two damn long dude, either, Alica shouldn't
Speaker 1: even be on the main roster. She was there for
Speaker 1: so long. They brought her up because they didn't know
Speaker 1: what else to do with her, and then she she's
Speaker 1: in the position she's on on the main roster. She
Speaker 1: should be gone too. And look, if you want to
Speaker 1: open up those floodgates and let Toxic attraction, and then
Speaker 1: you have to let bron breaker and you have to
Speaker 1: let well hold on, not call them up. Dude, I'm saying,
Speaker 1: have one n x T team, an actual n XT
Speaker 1: team in the tournament. If they lose, fine, they don't
Speaker 1: go back up to the main roster. They're just there
Speaker 1: for the one match in the title tournament instead of
Speaker 1: a total random hodgepodge team of of two people that
Speaker 1: have never interacted a single time on n x T.
Speaker 1: Is that too much to ask? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: All Right, Hey, you got the whatever they call it,
Speaker 1: Quake of the Lake, John Moxley Chris Jericho for the
Speaker 1: interim a W World title, And dude, we gotta figure
Speaker 1: out what's going on with this this all out because
Speaker 1: we're now like three weeks away from all out, and
Speaker 1: uh if if John Moxley wins, is it punk? Is
Speaker 1: Jericho winning? If Jericho wins, he was he gonna wrestle?
Speaker 1: What is the plan? We're three weeks away, we don't
Speaker 1: have a main event yet. Jake Cardgill versus Madison Rain
Speaker 1: for the TBS title, dar Yellin versus Brody King in
Speaker 1: a coffin match, Luca Brothers versus Andrade and Rush in
Speaker 1: a Tornado tag team match, Ricky Starks versus Aaron Solo,
Speaker 1: and an appearance by FTR that is coming up on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: And we've also got all of the ratings Battle of
Speaker 1: the Belts four thirty seven thousand viewers and a point
Speaker 1: one two. It ranked twelve in the cable rankings on
Speaker 1: Saturday and was down almost from the last Battle of
Speaker 1: the Belts. So you know, I loved that, I love
Speaker 1: that tokesh the match with Claudio, But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day a w Battle of Belts was headlined
Speaker 1: by a Ring of Honor championship match, and uh, I
Speaker 1: didn't do a great number. So I don't know what
Speaker 1: that means, but it seems, you know, we've been want
Speaker 1: to tune in for an our WAG match, meuse they're
Speaker 1: cold and their shoulder programming no matter what it is,
Speaker 1: isn't popping right now. And us it's a pay per view.
Speaker 1: That's just flat out that's the way it goes. Because
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the front page, it's like, well, the
Speaker 1: audience re tension from the previous nights Rampage, which aired
Speaker 1: on the same station, was percent of total viewers, and
Speaker 1: the key down. They put on a show that nobody
Speaker 1: really wanted to see. Half of their main fan base
Speaker 1: on Dynamite wanted to see it, and that's unfortunate for
Speaker 1: them because they are cold right now and it was
Speaker 1: a solid show. Nobody could should complain about the names
Speaker 1: that were on there and the the match that was
Speaker 1: on there. Again, for die hards, they were excited to
Speaker 1: see Claudio and text you to go at it, but
Speaker 1: unfortunately not enough people did. And I don't know what
Speaker 1: the competition was like for him. I know the NBA
Speaker 1: playoffs are going around, you know last time around when
Speaker 1: they did almost a hundred thousand people. More. So, this
Speaker 1: is a greater problem than just this show. It is
Speaker 1: a weekly problem on Friday nights. They have got to
Speaker 1: figure out a way to mobilize and get the buzz
Speaker 1: going and get the buzz better. And again, they are
Speaker 1: a busy program and unfortunately sometimes they have so much
Speaker 1: going on they trip over themselves in the builds to
Speaker 1: things and how they go about things. And like Brian mentioned,
Speaker 1: we're come closing and close here and it's like, what
Speaker 1: is the status of CM punk. You know, that better
Speaker 1: be determined tonight, you know, And to try to figure
Speaker 1: out where we're at here. Rampage did four hundred sixty
Speaker 1: eight thousand, which was up from the week prior point
Speaker 1: one five and eighteen to forty nine, which was also
Speaker 1: up thirty six, So pretty good number for Rampage, although
Speaker 1: still it's four hundred sixty eight thousand and a point
Speaker 1: one five so it's not that great. And then SmackDown
Speaker 1: two point one million and a point of four nine,
Speaker 1: down slightly. It was number one in all of television
Speaker 1: in eighteen to forty nine. Back in them with Everyone's
Speaker 1: Favorite Raw Report, I was ever live. Well, let's talk
Speaker 1: about this raw report here from Monday night, Everybody's favorite
Speaker 1: segment here on the show. So we did have an
Speaker 1: announcement of the Take Team Tournament with brackets, so that
Speaker 1: is a that is an improvement that we had brackets.
Speaker 1: Now all those brackets were that's another matter entirely because
Speaker 1: forget the fact that we have some random Hodgepodge team
Speaker 1: from n x T in the tournament. One side of
Speaker 1: the bracket, we've got EO Ski in Dakota Kai and
Speaker 1: uh Alexa Bliss and Oscar, which to me that would
Speaker 1: be a great final, but they're both on the same
Speaker 1: side of the bracket, so I presume EO and Dakota
Speaker 1: are going to the finals. So the finals of this
Speaker 1: tournament and Clash at the cast Soul will be EO
Speaker 1: and Dakota versus either Raquel and Aaliyah, Zai Lee and Shotzi,
Speaker 1: Nikita and Zoe, or Natty and Sonja. None of those
Speaker 1: matches feel bigger than EO and Dakota versus Alexa and Oscar,
Speaker 1: And actually, I guess the now that I think about it,
Speaker 1: I guess that match. The finals aren't at Clash of
Speaker 1: the Castle because they did an angle at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the show where Alexa, Oscar and Bianca came out
Speaker 1: and Bailey and her crew came out and they agreed
Speaker 1: to have a six woman match at at Clash of
Speaker 1: the Castle. So I guess that works if both teams
Speaker 1: were eliminated from the tournament and we just got a spoiler,
Speaker 1: But otherwise, I guess the finals wind up on on
Speaker 1: Raw or something like that. So anyway, that was the
Speaker 1: opening segment. The only funny thing is a mistake that
Speaker 1: apparently I made, a mistake that Mike made, and now
Speaker 1: a mistake that Bailey made, calling them EO and Dakota Sky.
Speaker 1: Then she had to correct herself. This Dakota Kai and
Speaker 1: EO Sky. Maybe that Io Sky wasn't a good idea
Speaker 1: after all. So that was the opening segment, and we
Speaker 1: had a brawl, by the way, which you know was
Speaker 1: the sooner they can get rid of whoever is responsible
Speaker 1: for those I don't ever just uh flat out says
Speaker 1: it's Kevin Dunn, and I'm sure that you know he's
Speaker 1: part of this, but I was told there are other
Speaker 1: people there that like the shaking and the zooming and
Speaker 1: the cuts, and that you shouldn't expect that if Kevin
Speaker 1: Dunn left tomorrow, then it would suddenly we wouldn't have
Speaker 1: that anymore. People there like it. I have no idea why.
Speaker 1: It's absolutely horrible. It's vomit inducing. You have no idea.
Speaker 1: You can't even see what's going on. It's like, what
Speaker 1: are you are you trying to cover for people missing
Speaker 1: punches or whatever? Okay, well, then maybe don't even have
Speaker 1: brawl because I can't even see the brawl. You cut
Speaker 1: the cameras so many times, so why even bother came
Speaker 1: so many times that you end up catch sing you know,
Speaker 1: huge whips and a bunch of you know, light good
Speaker 1: comes through punches and kicks, because they just randomly cut
Speaker 1: back and forth, so that happens anyway. It's ridiculous. And
Speaker 1: we had seth Rawlins and Angelo Dawkins. Last week, seth
Speaker 1: Rawlins beat Montez Ford. This week, seth Rawlins beat Angelo Dawkins.
Speaker 1: He beat both of them on successive weeks, so I
Speaker 1: don't listen. I shouldn't presume anything, but obviously seth is
Speaker 1: being built up for the match with Riddle. Riddle returns
Speaker 1: next week. They'll do Clash to the Castle and maybe
Speaker 1: maybe the storyline is that Angelo and Montez have tried
Speaker 1: going out on their own and they didn't do well,
Speaker 1: so they've determined they'll redouble their efforts as a team.
Speaker 1: Because I don't want these guys to break up yet,
Speaker 1: I think they got a waste to go as a team.
Speaker 1: So I watched it. I saw the finish, I thought,
Speaker 1: there's a reason for this. I don't know what it
Speaker 1: is yet, we'll we'll find out. Match is pretty good.
Speaker 1: We had Edge and the mysterios backstage. Edge was a
Speaker 1: apologizing for accidentally spearing Dominic. Dominic wanted to hear none
Speaker 1: of it and he shoves Edge and uh It storms
Speaker 1: off and Ray says, I'll go talk to my son.
Speaker 1: Kevin Owens destroyed Ezekiel. He beat him up, He power
Speaker 1: bombed him on the ring apron Ezekiels sold it like
Speaker 1: his legs didn't work anymore. They brought out the the
Speaker 1: stretcher neck brace stretchered him off. Owens did a promo
Speaker 1: afterwards saying he wanted to remind people who he was.
Speaker 1: So it looks like this Ezekiel thing may be done.
Speaker 1: Things don't look good for this guy, but things do
Speaker 1: look good for all Kevin Owens, which is good because
Speaker 1: a strong, badass Kevin Owens is a good thing every
Speaker 1: once in a while doing the comedy. The stuff he
Speaker 1: did with Ezekiel shows off how good he can be.
Speaker 1: But him cutting hard promos again with Triple H coming
Speaker 1: on board right now. For a guy like Kevin Owens
Speaker 1: perfect this is the best you can do with him
Speaker 1: is make him serious and him make him a threat.
Speaker 1: We had a promo with the Judgment Day and this
Speaker 1: led to Ray telling Edge, I can't get ahold of
Speaker 1: Dominic I'm gonna go out there, and he says, well,
Speaker 1: if you need me, I'll be there. So it's Finn
Speaker 1: Baler versus Ray mystereo. They got fourteen minutes and it
Speaker 1: was good early, it was great at the end. They
Speaker 1: got a bunch of really cool spots and uh, finally,
Speaker 1: Priest keeps trying to interfere. Edge runs down. He chases
Speaker 1: Priests through the crowd. Ray and Balor in the ring together,
Speaker 1: and Balor ends up. He tried six one nine or
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. He tries to Kuda. Ray avoids that. He
Speaker 1: goes for the six one nine. Ria drags Dominic's bloody body.
Speaker 1: They got makeup on him. It looks like he's bleeding.
Speaker 1: They dragged him out on the ramp. Rays distracted, Finn
Speaker 1: hits the nineteen sixteen, the Kuda gras for the wind.
Speaker 1: We never saw Dominic actually getting beaten up. We only
Speaker 1: saw it Ria dragging him out there. So it looks
Speaker 1: like they are actually finally going to pull this trigger
Speaker 1: on the Dominic turn and uh, and we'll see what
Speaker 1: they're doing. Dude, it's the same thing. It's like, what
Speaker 1: more can we do with the Mysterious as a tag team?
Speaker 1: What's left? It's time to do something Dominic. I mean honest,
Speaker 1: I try to do what I mean, you better put
Speaker 1: a mask on him, cover them up, because going out
Speaker 1: there and getting yanked up by your hair in front
Speaker 1: of your family and getting yanked out of a room
Speaker 1: by Rhea Ripley. And I know that's a big woman
Speaker 1: and she's strong and she can beat up a lot
Speaker 1: of dudes, but I mean, come on, and then you
Speaker 1: go out there and you get dragged out there again.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna go another story with this guy being
Speaker 1: an acolyte for these people, and then Ray will probably
Speaker 1: end up saving him. I just I am not interested
Speaker 1: in dominic mysterio in the least, and by putting him
Speaker 1: in this storyline, sure maybe it'll work. Well. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you if you're not interested in the least, we gotta
Speaker 1: try something. You want to just see the same thing
Speaker 1: you don't care about over the down next day, you
Speaker 1: want to bring up people from that next there's a
Speaker 1: guy who could probably use to go down there, because
Speaker 1: what are else hee going to do on the main roster.
Speaker 1: So he's a flunkey on the heel side, So what well,
Speaker 1: let's see what happens. Maybe it'll be good, Maybe he'll
Speaker 1: be a great heal. You know what, we gotta try.
Speaker 1: I'd rather try making him a heel with this group
Speaker 1: than just send him down to n x T without
Speaker 1: even trying. Maybe he'll be a great heel. Who knows.
Speaker 1: We had Sarah if youwing Tamina and Dana. My god,
Speaker 1: this promo Holy smokes Dana. This led to EO and
Speaker 1: Dakota versus Temina and Dana, and it is not very good.
Speaker 1: They are trying to have Tamina work like more stiff
Speaker 1: and and mean, and uh it was what it was
Speaker 1: for what They did have a spot where EO was
Speaker 1: going to try a the palm thrust and bro I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened, but she did about this fast
Speaker 1: and they just kept going like what was that? So anyway,
Speaker 1: she finally EO hit the moon salt. They win. They
Speaker 1: go on and face the winner of Oscar versus Dewdrop
Speaker 1: and Nikki. We had a No One's promo and you
Speaker 1: could see in the background a car had crashed backstage,
Speaker 1: but to their credit, they didn't call any attention to it.
Speaker 1: You had to be paying attention and Nikki and Dewdrop
Speaker 1: were checking on this car. I don't know why them.
Speaker 1: I guess she's a superhero. We had this happened to
Speaker 1: be there at the time Bobby Lashly versus chomp On.
Speaker 1: So that afternoon, Chompa did this tweet and he said
Speaker 1: he was dedicating his match to Harley Race. So of
Speaker 1: course Triple h is a huge idolized Harley Race, as
Speaker 1: he could tell by his facial hair for a few years,
Speaker 1: which looked fine on Harley Race and horrible on Triple Asia.
Speaker 1: And uh they so they did that, and then you
Speaker 1: know when he dedicated it to Harley Race and came
Speaker 1: out in a Harley racist robe, I mean, I thought
Speaker 1: he was winning. And that was the ida they wanted
Speaker 1: you to think that this is not just gonna be
Speaker 1: the old Chomper, the old main roster chomper just coming
Speaker 1: in here and doing the job or whatever, he's gonna win.
Speaker 1: And so watching it was very clever, like they did
Speaker 1: all of these spots, and you know, Lastly would do this,
Speaker 1: and then chomp It was his NXT finishers and the
Speaker 1: red and lastally kicks out of the last second, and
Speaker 1: then they do a couple of other things and Lastly
Speaker 1: goes something to chomp it kicks out. You're like, okay,
Speaker 1: here it is chump It's another one. Lashly kicks out
Speaker 1: and even at the very end when finally there was
Speaker 1: another reversal and Lashly got him in the hurt lock,
Speaker 1: they still had chomp A dancer on the ring and
Speaker 1: his his foot skulled like this, it's about to get
Speaker 1: on the rope. Then he tapped. I thought they did
Speaker 1: a great job because this entire match, I I had
Speaker 1: no idea who was gonna win, and I thought it
Speaker 1: was gonna be Chompa. But it was good and it
Speaker 1: was the best thing they've ever done with chomp on
Speaker 1: the main roster. Match was good. Give him a win
Speaker 1: next week, give him. That's all I want. Look, you know,
Speaker 1: have them you know, faced Lashly again, but give this
Speaker 1: guy some credibility. Back him a big dub back, you know,
Speaker 1: coming off that loss, that you should do it. And
Speaker 1: I think they did do a good job that way,
Speaker 1: because I was kind of convinced to you're gonna do
Speaker 1: all this dedication to Harley Race. But the triple h
Speaker 1: his credit, you know, good, use it for the heat.
Speaker 1: But so your your hero didn't actually you know that
Speaker 1: the sire of your hero didn't actually end up winning
Speaker 1: the match. I thought that whole thing would turn out
Speaker 1: to be really good, and we had Omas meeting two dudes.
Speaker 1: It was whatever. I mean, this has something to do
Speaker 1: with Hunter, but he was a little better here. He
Speaker 1: did a he did a fine two on one handicap match,
Speaker 1: which three six months ago he couldn't do. So I
Speaker 1: still don't want to see him wrestle like real match progress.
Speaker 1: It is progress. I don't know la gainst progress. Progress
Speaker 1: only counts if it's like, give me a progress of Moss,
Speaker 1: that's what you're gonna you know. I can't believe he is.
Speaker 1: He's gotten a little bit better. Dude shouldn't be there, Brian,
Speaker 1: I know he shouldn't be there, but he got a
Speaker 1: little bit better. Why is everyone so annoyed at the
Speaker 1: idea of getting a little bit better pitching and moaning
Speaker 1: about the possibility the Nikita Lions and and Zoe Starr
Speaker 1: could stand out, And then you go well on the
Speaker 1: same side and you want to see new people come up,
Speaker 1: and it's like, well, man, hopefully this works with Dominick.
Speaker 1: You gotta do something, you most, you gotta do something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't have to call him up from the n
Speaker 1: x T in a hunch. Don't have a big man
Speaker 1: Hollywood match for AMAS that can get on ESPN or
Speaker 1: something like that. Then he doesn't need to be there period.
Speaker 1: M v P needs some new guys period. Okay, fine,
Speaker 1: but like they hired him, they're paying him a lot
Speaker 1: of money. They're gonna do something with him. I want
Speaker 1: to see him get better. I don't want to see
Speaker 1: the Omas from six months ago on my TV every week.
Speaker 1: I'm happy that he's getting a little bit better because
Speaker 1: I gotta watch him every week. Dolph Ziggler Chad Gable
Speaker 1: six minutes match was great for six minutes. They all
Speaker 1: amateur wrestling early, then it turned into a pro wrestling match.
Speaker 1: And then in his home town dolve Ziggro slipped behind
Speaker 1: on the angle slam and he superciate the duty pined
Speaker 1: him in the middle of the ring, and then Otis
Speaker 1: tried to get to him and he got away. This
Speaker 1: was good. Then we had a j Styles versus the
Speaker 1: Miss and uh, it just was great and MS was
Speaker 1: he was better than usual. Am I allowed to say
Speaker 1: that MS is better than usual? Or might gonna get
Speaker 1: yelled at for that one. I don't even like the guy,
Speaker 1: but he was better than usual in this match. And uh,
Speaker 1: in all sorts of stuff, and finally he goes for
Speaker 1: the figure four and had a skull crushing finale, and
Speaker 1: he goes for the Kendlestick shot figure four. Styles Uh
Speaker 1: kicks him into a chair in the corner, hits the
Speaker 1: styles clash pins him and then I watched this on
Speaker 1: the West Coast, so all I heard all day was
Speaker 1: how subtle w W E was about the debut of
Speaker 1: Dexter Loomas. So I'm watching it waiting for this subtlety.
Speaker 1: And granted there was subtlety earlier. The car crash was subtle.
Speaker 1: They did an angle back stage. Also, some cops run by.
Speaker 1: That was that was fairly subtle. Bro this was not subtle.
Speaker 1: There's a brawl in the crowd. A j stops celebrating
Speaker 1: to rubber Neck. He's staring out, oh what's going on here?
Speaker 1: And then they grabbed Dexter Loomis and Dexter's got the
Speaker 1: giant Dexter faces. He being pulled away and he as
Speaker 1: to go, is that dex Dexter Loomis. I think it
Speaker 1: was Dexter Loomis. That was subtle. Brody hit me over
Speaker 1: the head with a cement block, But yes, Dexter Loomis
Speaker 1: is back and speaking again. Hit over the head. I'm
Speaker 1: getting hit over the head with his music all right
Speaker 1: right here, back in a moment, Observer Live back on
Speaker 1: the show. Bright now bre is here Wrestling Observer Alive
Speaker 1: Mixember Viv also of Wrestling Observer dot com. So, uh,
Speaker 1: we had a note here. I always tell you, guys,
Speaker 1: sign up for Wrestling Observer dot com so you can
Speaker 1: hear all the shows and read all the newsletters and
Speaker 1: grab all the archives. But this person here and others
Speaker 1: have noted. I'm a subscriber mainly for the purpose of
Speaker 1: listening to the archives of the Brian and Vinney show.
Speaker 1: But with the site's recon update, it doesn't let you
Speaker 1: sort by date anymore. And the idea if this can
Speaker 1: be fixed so I can listen to old episodes at
Speaker 1: the moment, there's really no way besides searching for a
Speaker 1: date and hoping for the best. Well, there is a way,
Speaker 1: and I have no idea why this way isn't up yet,
Speaker 1: because I've asked multiple times. But if you go to
Speaker 1: uh archive dot f w online dot com, all of
Speaker 1: the audio shows are up there and you can sort
Speaker 1: them by date, year whatever. Archive dot f w online
Speaker 1: dot com. If you go to the newsletters area, there's
Speaker 1: a button here that says newsletter archive, which takes you there.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, on the radio show area, that
Speaker 1: button is not there and I don't know why, and
Speaker 1: it air takes me. One thing we can also make
Speaker 1: easier too, if you're wondering how to subscribe to podcasts,
Speaker 1: whether you are a subscriber or not, you can search
Speaker 1: in the little thing with the magnifying glass. You can
Speaker 1: go ahead and search how to do that. That's something
Speaker 1: we probably should make a little bit easier for everybody
Speaker 1: as well too. Goes to the main site, but yes,
Speaker 1: archive got w one dot com and you can search
Speaker 1: the radio archives dating back to uh look at this
Speaker 1: here also as a number of shows we've done two
Speaker 1: thousand three and five Brian of any shows two thousand
Speaker 1: three or ninety six figure four dailies, Wrestling Observer Live,
Speaker 1: thirty seven sixteen, Wrestling Observer Radio. We've been a lot
Speaker 1: more than lives and will ever be up on that
Speaker 1: site tests for sure, And you can also see how
Speaker 1: many shows and your subscriber in one you had you
Speaker 1: got one thousand four shows for you a month, got
Speaker 1: one thousand, sixty four hundred, and you get all of
Speaker 1: them if you sign up over thousand. Anyway, we gotta go, everybody,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to you next time Wrestling Observer Live. Yea,
Speaker 1: you have been listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast
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