WEBVTT - CM Punk/Cody Injury/Hell In a Cell 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:08.200 of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network. Ready, 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:15.080 let's get it off. How's it going, everybody? Brian Alvarez 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:18.840 here on Wrestling Observer Live. We're here every day Monday 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:25.400 through Friday, New Pacific three Eastern Sunday three Pacific, six Eastern. Oo. Everybody, 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.880 it's Monday here on the program. You know what that means. 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.680 We got lots to talk about here today. Well, let's see, 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.760 we had a rampage on Friday where c M Punk 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.400 and New City's injured, but he's not relinquishing the a 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.440 W title. We're gonna find out who the new interim 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:47.360 a W champion is at Forbidden Door, and that's we'll 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:51.840 tell you all about this whole rigamarole. We had Helen 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.840 Cell last night. We had n x T two point 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:58.680 oh in your house on Saturday. We have Raw tonight 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:02.360 and yes, I guess we got to talk about Cody now, 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:08.840 don't we? Yes? You know, uh, before the show is 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:12.160 sent for VV send me a message and he said, 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:18.280 how did we manage to get the Sasha story, the 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.720 MJF story, and now the Cody story all how could 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:27.840 we be so lucky? And uh And what I said, 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.800 my opinion is that it's not that we got three 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:38.480 stories that people are reacting like, you know whatever to, 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.000 but it's a fact that now we're at a point 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:47.000 in life where people react like that to every major story. 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.920 So this ain't gonna end. Cody is just the latest. 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.600 You know, By the end of this week, something else 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.400 is gonna happen and everybody's gonna have to plant their 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:02.720 flag and and get all passionate about it. But I'm 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.720 gonna try to talk a little bit about Cody in 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.079 a way that maybe everybody won't go crazy ha ha. 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:15.240 I gonna anyway, We'll get going after the break, everybody 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:45.200 Observer Live back in the show. Bran Albert is here 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.839 Wrestling Observer Live Mix, and Bervitti also Wrestling Observer dot Com. 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:51.280 All right, let's let's try not to waste too much 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.760 time on this. Okay, we don't have to talk about 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:59.680 this all day, everybody, you know that, right, So, Cody 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:07.480 suffered a torn peck. It was known Saturday night. Helena 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:12.240 Cell was Sunday and w w E announced the news 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.040 on the pre show, and it was actually a really 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.239 funny part of it. So they announced the news on 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.359 the pre show and then later they have the announcers 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.359 clear up the story and then tell you what the 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:29.960 actual story was. It was. It was totally bizarre. They 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:34.200 were like, uh, you know, the story is out that, uh, 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:37.880 Cody was hurt in a brawl with seth Rawlins on 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:42.600 Monday and Taurus Peck, but that's not true. Cody was 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.560 injured but then tore his peck there like it was 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:49.200 just it was weird. It was like, what anyway, So 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:53.960 Cody torres Peck working out and uh, they acknowledged that 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:56.880 and uh, and then they pushed that he was still 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:01.320 going to do the show. And so Cody comes down 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.200 to the ring and he's got his jacket on and 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.600 you can already see before he even takes his jacket off, 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:08.800 like the middle of his chest it's it's all purple. 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.440 So he takes his jacket off, and uh, this bloke's 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:16.920 got a torn pack. It's purple and blue all over 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.680 his chest, down his arm. I mean, it's it's gruesome. 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:23.279 And like for the first five minutes of the match, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.680 the crowd's almost in stunned silence, like, oh my god, 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.920 how's this guy doing this and why and uh, he 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.240 does the match, and about you know, ten ten minutes in, 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.520 you know, the fans start to realize, you know, his 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.680 his arm hasn't fallen off yet, and they haven't stopped 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:45.560 the match. I feel I can safely get into this now. 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.680 And so they got into it, and uh, you know, 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.479 by the end, I mean torn pack or no torn Peck, 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:56.600 they had a great match. And when you add the 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:02.120 torn Peck story to it, I mean it was just 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.600 I think the word dave Us was compelling and bro 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:10.640 was it ever And this guy he won, and crowd 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:12.680 goes nuts for him, and he's kissing the matt and 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:16.480 he's crying and he's thanking the fans and and this 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.040 dude just comes off as like the biggest baby face 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.440 in the history of mankind. And you know, we talked 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.040 about it on the show and everything like that, and 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:30.480 then the blowback started. I turned the show off as 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.520 soon as I heard one good thing about you guys 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:37.640 said about Cody. We can't be glorifying and and uh, 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.240 he this is a big one. He shouldn't have been 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:45.440 in there. Okay, listen, as a fan and as a 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:49.360 guy who likes Cody. I was grimacing the entire time. 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:56.400 I was so worried about this guy. And uh, and 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.440 obviously I did not think that he should have been 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:05.560 in the ring with that torn peck. Okay, but as 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:10.680 I noted yesterday, they have doctors in w W E, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.040 and no matter what you want to say, these doctors 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:18.640 aren't jokes. Okay, these doctors if if they feel that 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.120 it is a danger for you to get into the ring, 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.039 they will not let you in the ring. They will 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.920 not clear you. There was that incident where, uh, Brian 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.920 Danielson got injured in a match with Triple H and 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.360 they stopped the match and he Brian Danielson was furious. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.800 He was so mad he almost fought Triple H after 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:41.160 the match, but they they stopped the match, they wouldn't 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.360 let him do the match. They have retired people, they 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.880 have they have permanently retired people. And I put that 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.279 in quotes because some of them, like Paige are still 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:54.880 permanently retired. Others like Edge and Daniel Bryan were permanently retired, 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.680 but then you know they ended up being not retired. 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.280 And uh, you know, if you if you follow the 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:04.480 Brian Danielson story, I mean, the w w E doctor 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.000 was the last guy. He was the last holdout. Brian 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.760 Danielson had gone to multiple doctors who were like, bro, 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.560 you can do this again. You don't need to be 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.480 permanently retired. And it was the w w E doctor 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:20.560 that was the final holdout before he was finally allowed 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:25.040 to come back into the ring. Okay, now I realize 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.080 that we live in an age where there's an internet. Okay, 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:33.760 And this accelerated during COVID. Everybody decided that they were 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.400 a doctor. Okay, but you know what, most of you 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:40.920 aren't doctors, all right, And the doctor in w w 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.680 E decided that it was okay for Cody to go 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:49.920 out there and do that match. Now there's another doctor. 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.400 I've actually got his name, and uh, you can go 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.040 up and watch his video on YouTube. His name is 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:59.600 uh and of course it's not right here, but I'm 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.280 gonna get in just a moment. His name is uh 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:09.400 Dr Brian Sutterer, Okay, and he does this for a living. 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.840 And he did a five minute video where he talked 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:18.560 about the injury that Cody suffered and uh, the risks 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.680 of going out there and uh. And it's funny because 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:27.040 this video is is. Uh, it's out there and uh, 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.200 I have already seen people cherry picking what they want 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.880 to hear in his video because he actually was very 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:37.000 balanced about it. But when you're balanced, then what happens 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:38.880 is people can cherry pick what side they want to 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.120 go with. Okay, and uh. And what he said was 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:47.480 the pack was torn off the bone, and you can't 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.480 tear it anymore off the bone. It's not like he's 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:52.599 gonna go in there and do any more damage to 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:56.760 the pack. Okay. He did say that, yes, obviously we 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:01.080 when you have an injury like that, you can overcompensate 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.319 with other parts of your body and suffer another injury. 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:09.199 That can happen. But his conclusion at the end was 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:14.160 that it was probably very painful for Cody. But anybody 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.679 who is saying that, like a doctor, would be negligent 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:22.200 to allow Cody to go into the ring. He does 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.679 not feel that it was negligent to allow Cody to 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.160 go back into the ring. So at the end of 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.199 the day, like dude, I don't think he should have 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:34.959 been in the ring either. Okay, But the doctor in 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:40.679 w w E and another doctor here both believed it 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:44.120 was not negligent to allow Cody Rhodes to go into 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:48.040 the ring. So I don't even know what we're arguing about. 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:55.000 It doesn't matter when you're non medical. Gut tells you Okay, 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.920 the doctor believed that Cody could go into the ring 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.240 and do this match. And then you know other people 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.800 who were like, oh, well, this never happens in real sports. 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:07.760 And then you know people pointed out that actually it 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:09.600 does happen in real sports, and here are a bunch 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:13.000 of examples. But bro, that's not even a fair comparison 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:17.960 because wrestling isn't a real sport. Like the whole point 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:22.120 of wrestling is to go in there and protect your opponent. 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:26.400 That's the point. So Cody wasn't going into a real 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.959 sporting event where seth Rawlins didn't care one way or 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:31.920 the other whether his peck his torn. He's gonna beat 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.160 the crap out of him or or in m m 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.560 A he's gonna target an injury. They went in there 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.200 with the idea to protect Cody Rhodes. That's the whole 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:44.520 point of pro wrestling. So you can't even make a comparison. Well, 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:46.640 oh you know, uh, the Super Bowl this year, this 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.760 guy had a torn peck and he played, that's the 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:55.640 super Bowl, it's real. So anyway, I I understand. I 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.480 I think that he shouldn't have been in there. But 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:00.520 at the end of the day, the doc felt it 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:04.160 was okay. Another doctor felt it was okay. So I 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.200 don't even know why. This is like a big argument 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.920 about the safety and negligence and everything like that. The 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.600 actual medical professionals said it wasn't negligent to let him 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:18.439 go in there, right, yeah. Well, the the visceral reaction 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:22.040 to that, to how it looked, you know, especially for 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.920 a lot of people who are not into sports, saw 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:28.000 that and go, that's a torn pack. We're being told, 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.160 it's for real, a torn pack. It looks like that. 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:32.640 How in the rule can this person go out there? 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:38.199 Because you can and it's not. And again, it looked 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.760 a lot of people immediately it's toxic masculinity, it's meat headedness, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:47.240 it's it's dumb jock nous. It's like, no, it's it's 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.040 actually not. If this person could go and perform, and 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.440 the person he's working with felt comfortable, and a doctor said, look, 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.120 the only thing you can do is if you can 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.520 get through it, go ahead. And I'm and I'm used 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.559 to that from the NFL in the NHL. So there's 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.560 a there's a whole lot of things that could be true. 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:06.640 Should w W E can you have to have the 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.599 opinion that maybe they should have not let him go 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.520 in there at all. Yes, is there's a lot of 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:14.560 what ifs, and there's a lot of things that are 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.120 frankly true about this, including the fact that he was 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.400 cleared to buy a doctor and he was able to 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.360 go out there and perform. And you don't know what 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.840 Cody and w W talked about as far as paying 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.079 for the surgery and all that stuff. So I know 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.400 we're going to break. We'll be back back in a moment. 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:37.400 Observer Live and the show. Brayn Elber is here Wrestling 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:42.240 Observer Live. Mike zumber Viv, also of Wrestling Observer dot Com. Well, 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.120 thankfully we got another injury to talk about. What's up? 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.640 Maybe thankfully it's not the right word. Well, yeah, that's 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:58.160 a little dark. Sam Punk has broken things. Excuse me, thanks, 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.559 he broke some things. He broke some things. That's what 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.280 we know for sure. It is believed that it's a 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:08.120 broken foot, okay, but one way the other things are 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:12.040 broken and so h well, that's a multiple. Did he 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.920 break like? He said? Thing? So, do you know what 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.680 a foot is. There's a bunch of bones in there. 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.800 If you break three little bones in your foot, they 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.320 still say you have a broken foot. He said things. 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.200 So probably he broke a few bones in his foot, 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:34.200 would be my guess. Fine, kill me. He got all 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.719 choked up. Hey, if you keep this up, we'll go 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:41.640 back to talking about Cody. Don't threaten me. So he 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:46.559 came out on rampage and he announced that that he 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.920 broke some things and that he had offered to relinquish 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.959 the a W title, but Tony Conn told him no. 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.680 And so this is what is going to happen. Sam 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.040 Punk is gonna take time off to heal his things, 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:07.199 and in the meantime, this coming Wednesday, there's going to 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:11.960 be a Battle Royal on Dynamite. We don't know how 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.000 many people, we know anything about it. There will be 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:20.240 some people in a Battle Royal. Okay, whichever person wins 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.320 will be having a match with John Moxley in the 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:30.400 main event of Dynamite on Wednesday. That man is gonna 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.360 go to Forbidden Door and face the winner of Hiroshi 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:44.560 Tanahashi and Hiroki go too for the interim a W Championship. Okay, 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.720 now what are they gonna do? I got no idea? 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.280 What would I do? What do I think would be awesome? 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:58.560 I think it would be awesome, so funny, say go 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:03.120 to say go to No. I think it would be 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:10.400 awesome if if John Moxley faced Hiroshi Tonahashi and Hiroshi 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:15.440 Tanahashi beat him and became the a e W champion. 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:20.200 Now let me give you my mindset here, Okay. So 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:24.760 clearly the match they wanted to do was was CM 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:29.200 Punk against Hiroshi Tanahashi. Okay, which actually was a match 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.080 that I I had suggested before they announced it, because 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.160 it has to be like a big new Japan name, 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:36.200 but it also has to be a big new Japan 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.960 name that they don't mind beating that guy, they don't 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.120 mind that guy losing in an a W title match, 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:46.040 and Tanashi's perfect. Okay. But before they announced this, the 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:50.400 match that they have been building forever that everybody wants 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:56.000 to see is John Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi. But they 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.760 didn't do that on this show, and I was thinking why, 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.320 And the answer may simply be that they wanted to 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:04.600 do Punk versus Tanahashi and whatever. But you know, there 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:08.160 was also that thought that, you know, maybe maybe New 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:14.640 Japan what they want to do Tanahashi versus Moxley, but 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:16.680 they want to be on a New Japan show and 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:21.160 they want Tanahashi to win. So maybe that's why it's 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.440 not happening on Forbidden Door maybe, you know. So anyway, 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:27.400 I don't know if any of this is true. All 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.640 I know is that originally it was going to be 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:36.560 CM Punk defending the a W title against Hiroshi Tanahashi. Now, 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.200 obviously the Monkey Wrench of Broken Things was thrown into 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.560 the plan, So why not just have Tanahashi win the 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:46.920 a W title and then two or three months from now, 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.920 when CM Punk is is good to go, you do 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.640 the match that you were planning to do the entire time, 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:57.000 which was Punk versus Tanahashi, which presumably Punk was going 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.680 to win, and Punk beats Tanahashi and he defies the 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.159 a W and interim titles, and then away you go. 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:06.920 Everything is exactly how you had it planned in June. 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:09.840 You're just doing it in August instead. So that's what 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:14.359 I do. But I'm not Tony Khan. If you've ever 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.280 seen one of my press conferences, so we'll see what 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.520 he ends up doing, and there's gonna be an education 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.480 process which would need to happen if you went in 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:27.080 that direction. And I actually like that direction, um because 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:29.560 it adds, you know, from a pro wrestling point of view, 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:31.680 and Tony CON's a big pro wrestling fan. You see 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.200 how he modeled those Owen Heart belts after the Stampede belts, 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:37.520 and he's a big belt mark and that stuff means 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.679 something to him. You know. The fact that you can 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:44.000 add to your lineage by having again one of even 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.120 though there's some people out there who don't know him 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.560 one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, when 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.840 it's certainly one of the best baby faces of all time, Hiroshitanahashi, 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:56.000 who can still perform at a highly entertaining level and 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.600 still have really good matches every once in a while. 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:00.720 You can't do it on a regular base. Is but 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:03.159 the fact that you can have that, I think is 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:07.080 a great idea. Now, obviously he's not going to be 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.679 able to you know, he can emote on as far 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.520 as getting over on American TV because of the way 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.120 he wrestles, because of his personality, because of his style 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.760 is flash. You know, he's brothers in the Three Musketeers 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:23.560 with Shabbata and since kay Nakamura and you saw Nakamara 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.920 got over here Tanahashi, once people see him and take 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:28.640 to him. I don't think there's gonna be a problem 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:30.399 with the American fan base, but there's gonna be a 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:32.200 little bit of education that has to go on. And 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:35.080 this gives you a chance because you don't have a 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.359 guy who's going to be cutting promos and taking up 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.240 that time per se when it comes to, you know, 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.520 a time on the show. It gives other people a 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.560 chance to speak, and it gives you a chance to 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.200 do some things with some other people. And that's what 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.080 this Battle Royal could possibly do is lead to some 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.119 new ideas and lead to some things that you can 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:55.240 do coming out of this thing. And we don't know 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:56.960 who's in it. We don't know how many people are 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.560 in it, but one would assume the entire top ten, 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:01.600 and then I guess a group you know, of ten 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:03.480 extra people that you would have in there, because I 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.000 assume it's not going to be everybody in like two 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.600 rings or something like that doesn't make any sense. It 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:12.000 cheapens it, so only have your best people out there, 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.639 including Wardlow, who maybe gets screwed over by an Ethan 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.160 pagro Scorpio Sky, which leads to him going after Sky 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:22.119 for the the TNT title, which he is alluded to 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.880 in an interview that again, that's fantasy booking, but there's 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:26.200 a lot of things that could come out of this. 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.920 Bottom line is Tanahashi as a choice for Champion, I'm 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.160 all for it. I also want to mention that there 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:40.800 was a story and Business Insider by Claire Atkinson, and 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.760 this from p w D Insider because the actual article 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.159 was behind a paywall, and yes I pay for p 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.240 W Insider, but not Business Insider. In the piece, it 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:52.760 was noted that Stephanie McMahon's leave of absence, which was 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.440 publicly described as McMahon taking a break to tend to 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:59.560 her family, was actually quote executed by her father, Vince 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:04.720 mcmah in the organization seventy six year old CEO. The 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:09.080 article noted responsibilities that fell under Stephanie's umbrella included marketing, brand, 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:13.120 business and creative services, along with community and entertainment relations. 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.080 Company announced a new executive vice president head of Marketing today, 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:20.520 Catherine Newman, noting and responsibility will include marketing, brand, community relations, 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:24.360 entertainment relations, creative services, and photography, much in the same 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:29.520 responsibilities McMahon had article noted, while Stephanie had described the 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:32.439 potential of w w e's growth in sponsorship and marketing 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:34.480 is having the potential to be in the quote hundreds 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:40.359 of millions of dollars range, that wasn't happening under McMahon, Atkinson, 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.719 citing a company source, reported, we are seeing that growth, 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:48.239 said the company insider of Stephanie's tenure. When someone has 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:50.800 moved out of a company, it is usually the result 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:54.040 of something not working. We took stronger control of that 0:20:54.280 --> 0:21:00.480 a few months ago. Now the way this is UH raised, 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:05.360 it sounds like Vince fired Stephanie McMahon. But I don't 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:07.240 believe that that happened. And I think Dave's gonna have 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:09.119 more on that here a little while. But I can 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:15.440 tell you what is undoubtedly true. Okay, So Sephanie stepped 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:18.879 away from her duties, all right, And it had been 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:20.920 a long time coming. She had she had talked to 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:24.640 people about stepping away from her duties, uh, dating back 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:28.200 to when Triple H had is his hard issue. So 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:32.320 this was this was coming for a while, okay, But 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:36.000 the day that it happened, it was made very clear 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:38.440 she is stepping away, She's going to spend time with 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.960 her family. She will be back and in the meantime, 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:48.720 her duties will be split amongst different people. Different people 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:50.720 will be taking on a little bit extra, but we're 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:53.399 gonna spread it out amongst a bunch of people. All right, 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:58.920 that's fine. Well, then a little while later, a week 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:04.919 or two, all of a sudden, like they were hiring 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:09.200 people for her role. That's when I first got a 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:13.480 red flag, like, huh, you're hiring people to take on 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.960 what Stephanie used to do. And uh. And then in fact, 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:20.440 as uh, as we talked about on some of the 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:25.320 shows in in Vegas. Uh, you know, w w E 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:27.679 all of a sudden, for some reason did a one 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:32.440 eighty and they wanted word out that Stephanie was not 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:38.240 very good at her job. Now what happened why, I 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:44.359 have no idea, but clearly the folks that wanted the 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:46.800 word out that Stephanie was not good at her job 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:51.720 contacted Claire Atkinson here of Business Insider, and they in 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:54.760 fact got the story out as well. So I don't 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:59.760 know what happened. I don't know if Stephanie will ever 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:04.840 be back, but something happened and something changed, and uh 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:08.159 and that's the latest as of right now. Do you 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:11.200 know if Katherine is one of Victor's daughters from Genera City, 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:17.440 who don't worry about that. Look, this place is now 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:22.040 getting much much bigger. And I know we, especially old 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:26.160 people like us, we've always had a McMahon family, whether 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:29.520 it be Vince Sr. Giving the company to Vince Jr. 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:33.560 And then seeing Shane and Stephanie come into it. Linda, 0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:37.400 you know, became a featured person. But we see where 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:39.720 Nick Cohn has taken this company and we see some 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:42.239 of the moves that they've made that you know, when 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:44.280 they went with the network idea, then when they got 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:46.159 rid of the people that started the network and went 0:23:46.200 --> 0:23:48.600 in the direction that they're going in. Now you see 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:52.119 the deals that con has landed and it's like, maybe 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:56.320 this thing is actually now at a level where, yeah, 0:23:57.040 --> 0:23:59.440 it's now out of their hands. This time may maybe 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:02.399 do something else for everybody. And this is the way 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:15.080 evolution happens in business. Back in a moment Observer Live, Well, 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:19.920 we did have some shows this weekend, didn't we alright, So, 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:22.440 if you've not seen it yet, watched the Young Bucks 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:27.280 versus h Benton Phoenix match on Rampage. That match was 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:29.639 better anything on the pay per view. It was so 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:37.919 unbelievably awesome. So that was Friday. Uh, you can skip SmackDown, 0:24:38.640 --> 0:24:40.919 I give you permission, but if you want to hear 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:43.280 the report, Tom and I are going to do the 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:46.680 report on that as well as New Japan Strong coming 0:24:46.800 --> 0:24:51.440 up in h two o'clock Pacific five Eastern video on 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:53.960 f W online dot com. And he's gonna talk a 0:24:53.960 --> 0:24:56.919 little g c W turnament to Survival to now Wrestling 0:24:57.000 --> 0:24:59.480 Up dot com as well. Well, did you see it? 0:24:59.520 --> 0:25:01.560 What do you want me do? Well? Was he was 0:25:01.640 --> 0:25:03.760 he wrestling for Black Label this weekend? I have no 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:05.600 idea what he was doing. You should ask him that 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:09.440 I was in quarantine. Noah's Man's schedule, your partner. We 0:25:09.560 --> 0:25:12.480