Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network. Ready,
Speaker 1: let's get it all. How's it going, everybody? Brian Alvarez
Speaker 1: here on Wrestling Observer Live. We are here every day
Speaker 1: Monday through Friday. Now Pacific three Stern Sunday three Pacific,
Speaker 1: six Eastern. It's Thursday on this program. You kind of
Speaker 1: know what that means. Last night we had a e
Speaker 1: W Dynamite. Let's talk about from the Dynamite show last night.
Speaker 1: Kind of a weird show compared to your normal editions
Speaker 1: of Dynamite. Did have a very good main event, bizarre
Speaker 1: match with CM Punk and Wardlow. We'll talk about all
Speaker 1: of that today. And today we have a special guest.
Speaker 1: Mike semper Viv is not here today. He's just too tired,
Speaker 1: and so I thought, simper Viv it's not here. Who
Speaker 1: should I ask to be a co host? I know
Speaker 1: filthies after my job. Can't be him, So land Storm
Speaker 1: is joining us here today as our co host. He'll
Speaker 1: join us after the break and we'll talk about all
Speaker 1: of this news. We've got w W E in the
Speaker 1: elimination chamber. You'll never know where that show has taken
Speaker 1: place from. We have the n x T ratings, g
Speaker 1: CW going to pay per view, Charlie Hass update as noted,
Speaker 1: the a W Dynamite Report, and so much more. Saturday night,
Speaker 1: by the way, is Washington Hall, New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Speaker 1: I will be there, Vinny will be there, and Clarke
Speaker 1: Connors is going to be there, and Clark is going
Speaker 1: to be our guest in the final segment of the show.
Speaker 1: Here today talking that show and pretty much whatever else
Speaker 1: we want to talk about New Japan. Wise, we can
Speaker 1: talk to him about training with Lance Storm here. He's
Speaker 1: gotten very good, very fast. Not to get into here
Speaker 1: today if you want to. Texas. Zero seven six is
Speaker 1: the phone number that is four to five seven eight
Speaker 1: zero seven five six six. Brian at Wrestling Observer dot
Speaker 1: com is the email at Brian Alvarez on Twitter, and
Speaker 1: Lance Storm is at lance Storm on Twitter. Check it
Speaker 1: out and we'll be back in a moment. As you
Speaker 1: were li back in the show, Brian Olber is here
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Alive. Lance Storm is joining us here today.
Speaker 1: Lance pace Storm, who by the way, five years ago
Speaker 1: had a young Clark Connor in his class. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about that with Clarke later on when he joins the
Speaker 1: show here today, and we got news to get into
Speaker 1: here lance before we getting this Dynamite review. In as
Speaker 1: shocking turn of events, w w E is reported looking
Speaker 1: at bringing the Elimination Chamber to Saudi Arabia for their
Speaker 1: Saturday February nineteenth event, because of course they're gonna bring
Speaker 1: the Elimination Chamber to Saudi Arabia and it's going to
Speaker 1: be the greatest elimination Chamber ever. Yeah, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: the most eliminating chamber ever. News were supported unfightful on Thursday.
Speaker 1: It's unknown if the event will be branded as Elimination Chamber.
Speaker 1: It broke last week the show would be taking place
Speaker 1: in February. W w WE will hold the country for
Speaker 1: such Saturday show. By the way, they will behold since
Speaker 1: they holding in that country since their partnership began. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they're really need these Saturday pay per views. And uh
Speaker 1: it's kind of funny. I mean, I they know they
Speaker 1: know better than I, and I mean it really doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: I don't think that much with Peacock. But remember when
Speaker 1: a W was running the occasional Saturday pay per view,
Speaker 1: and they discovered that in fact, Sundays do way better
Speaker 1: than Saturday. So now they're on Sundays for the most part.
Speaker 1: There the w is like, oh, let's do more Saturdays.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what their numbers are on Peacock.
Speaker 1: You know, they claim all sorts of things, but they
Speaker 1: claim all sorts of things about everything, but Saturday again
Speaker 1: for for this show and the Royal rumble, I believe,
Speaker 1: is that right Saturday? I don't know, but I'm curious
Speaker 1: if it's too break fans of the habit that Sundays
Speaker 1: the night and an attempt to hurt a w tweing
Speaker 1: better on Sundays. It's like, we'll move ours around because
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter to us. M hmm, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Dogs dogs having a good time here again, he was
Speaker 1: really good the other night. I think the key is
Speaker 1: to have you on the show at night. Yeah, Royal
Speaker 1: rumbles Saturday, January, So another Saturday pay per view for
Speaker 1: w W E. I should do it first Saturdays. Do
Speaker 1: you prefer Saturday? How come? Because Sunday is like getting
Speaker 1: ready for the week, and it's like late on a
Speaker 1: Sunday night, It's like you got Monday morning to deal with.
Speaker 1: Saturday is like right in the middle of the weekend
Speaker 1: is Saturday night. It's easy art. I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: what do you do during the week You're getting ready
Speaker 1: for well, my wife gets ready for work, so other things,
Speaker 1: and it's just staying normal. I guess I got it.
Speaker 1: I got it, alright. The other quick news note here,
Speaker 1: n XT on Tuesday Night thousand viewers on the USA
Speaker 1: Network down five point five from New Year's Evil, lowest
Speaker 1: audience since December one point one four in eight Cable
Speaker 1: down twelve from New Year's Evil. And this was a
Speaker 1: show where they actually shot an angle on Monday Night
Speaker 1: Raw for the main event of this n x T
Speaker 1: show with Grayson Waller and aj Styles, and as it
Speaker 1: turned out, no one cared. So we're kind of talking
Speaker 1: about this with simper VIV yesterday. It was Bizarre World.
Speaker 1: As w w E says, he was talking about how
Speaker 1: he thinks that n XT could be maybe getting better
Speaker 1: after WrestleMania. I don't know where all this hope came
Speaker 1: from from simper vv but we now have an example
Speaker 1: of an angle being shot on the main roster with
Speaker 1: someone who is undoubtedly a star. This is AJ Styles.
Speaker 1: It's not like they sent down No Fense, but like
Speaker 1: Chad Gable, AJ Styles goes down main event match Grays
Speaker 1: and Waller point one four in eighteen forty nine. So
Speaker 1: I don't know what you do with the show, but
Speaker 1: that's how it that's how it did. I think still
Speaker 1: good enough to not worry about getting canceled anytime soon.
Speaker 1: But more people wrestling in onesies, That's that's the key.
Speaker 1: I've been watching an XT heavy lands No, but I
Speaker 1: saw clips of the Is it Wendy in the in
Speaker 1: the fake slippers? But I mean she worked well, Okay,
Speaker 1: you don't think I don't think it matters when you're
Speaker 1: sleeping and drinking a beverage and then wrestling in your pajamas. Well,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, Lands it's but it's
Speaker 1: it's one of those short term gimmicks that you can
Speaker 1: laugh and go, hey, that's cute, But it's like, is
Speaker 1: anyone going to main event a show in a onesie?
Speaker 1: You know what it reminds me of? Actually I was,
Speaker 1: I was sitting there watching it and I was watching
Speaker 1: Wendy Chow walk through the ring in her pajamas in
Speaker 1: her onesie with her blanket and pillow and I sat.
Speaker 1: You know, I can imagine like, because my wife doesn't
Speaker 1: watch wrestling, and uh, you know, I could imagine if
Speaker 1: I watched wrestling like downstairs and she was in the
Speaker 1: room when this happened, and I can imagine her like
Speaker 1: watching Wendy choose entrance and at first being confused, but
Speaker 1: then like you know, seeing her doing all the high
Speaker 1: flying and every thing like that kind of thing. It
Speaker 1: was sort of cool, but not in a way where
Speaker 1: she would ever watch it again, you know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. Like it's one of those things where I
Speaker 1: can see people thinking it's cool or or funny or
Speaker 1: interesting or different, but not in a way where they're
Speaker 1: gonna like become n x T fans because of it.
Speaker 1: Kind of like, you know, she used to love Santino
Speaker 1: and I'd be watching Raw and you know, Santino would
Speaker 1: come on, and she'd want to watch Santino and doing
Speaker 1: all this goofy comedy and a snake and everything like that.
Speaker 1: But it was never like I'm gonna keep watching after
Speaker 1: Santino goes off the screen because like, I want to
Speaker 1: see Santino, tell me what he's on. And then when
Speaker 1: he's not on anymore. I'm gonna get out of here.
Speaker 1: So I mean, is that good for the future of wrestling,
Speaker 1: or for raw or for building fans. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: Like you need something that's gonna get my wife to go.
Speaker 1: I want to watch this show every week and Wendy
Speaker 1: Chew in her pajamas, and I like Wendy Chew, and
Speaker 1: I thought she was the best worker in the match.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's doing it. No, And the gimmick
Speaker 1: will get very tired very soon, because once you get
Speaker 1: used to the fact that she wrestles in her pajamas,
Speaker 1: who cares. We've got a update on a few things.
Speaker 1: Charlie Hass after a freak accident at Sunday's Impact Wrestling tapings,
Speaker 1: he provided an update. He wants to wrestle more in
Speaker 1: the year ahead. He suffered a concussion as he was
Speaker 1: running into the corner. He slipped and hits hit Alexander's
Speaker 1: knees and the ropes. That's no good, complimented Impact staff
Speaker 1: and the roster. Can't say good enough things about them.
Speaker 1: He says, I look forward to working with him again
Speaker 1: in the near future. On everyone to know, I will
Speaker 1: be just fine. Contrary to some reports, Charlie Hass is
Speaker 1: not dead. I didn't see those reports, but that's good
Speaker 1: to know that he is not dead. And also PCO
Speaker 1: is now under contract with Impact Wrestling. Pet Laprade reported
Speaker 1: on his podcast he signed a contract. The deal allows
Speaker 1: PCO to work indie dates as well. He has to
Speaker 1: prioritiate prioritize dates with Impact. Fifty four year old p
Speaker 1: c O. I feel like you've been fifty four for
Speaker 1: like seven years now. My wrong about that. He's not human.
Speaker 1: He ages at a different rate. Yeah, he he's always
Speaker 1: been fifty four since he came back signed with r
Speaker 1: O H in eighteen, won the r O H Championship
Speaker 1: once during his time with the company. So very good
Speaker 1: for p c O. And finally, Game Changer Wrestling has
Speaker 1: got a high profile show, their biggest in history the
Speaker 1: world on g c W will be available through traditional cable,
Speaker 1: pay per view providers and Fight TV. So if you
Speaker 1: don't have Fight dot TV, but you have a TV,
Speaker 1: if you're one of those people that has a TV
Speaker 1: with pay per view, you can order this. Hammerstein Ballroom,
Speaker 1: New York City, two thousand fans. Uh, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a hall of Fame ceremony the night before with Dave Praise,
Speaker 1: ac Lepisto, Jerry Lynnhumicide Ruckets and Tracy Smothers in the
Speaker 1: inaugural class. Jonathan Gresham versus Blake Christian for the r
Speaker 1: O H title, Ruby Soho and Ali Catch Team Band
Speaker 1: Dedo versus Team Gringo. Eddie Kingston will be appearing in
Speaker 1: his first g c W show since November of opponent
Speaker 1: not yet announced, whoever it is, I'm ready. So that's
Speaker 1: the update. Another another company running pay per views. So
Speaker 1: I'll be curious if companies like a e W and
Speaker 1: perhaps Impact will be as eager to allow their talent
Speaker 1: to work GCW. If they're going to be doing pay
Speaker 1: per view dates, I think that they probably will not
Speaker 1: care too much. I think if GCW got national television
Speaker 1: like Strong national television, it would be a little bit different.
Speaker 1: But I mean, a W let their their guys work
Speaker 1: the Impact pay per views and you know Impact that
Speaker 1: was a specific working relationship at the time. Well sure,
Speaker 1: but we'll see, but that's coming up here very soon. Alright,
Speaker 1: a W. Last night, a lot of stuff happened on
Speaker 1: the show. We're actually gonna head to a break before
Speaker 1: we talk about it, but see him punk Wardlow I
Speaker 1: think is one of the most Would you say that's
Speaker 1: the most noteworthy thing on the show, Lance? Probably? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: talk about that. Lots of other things happened back in
Speaker 1: the month with more Everybody Observer Live, Stock Crack so
Speaker 1: far for the Wall's fallen through the floor because it's
Speaker 1: as well that came in Game Storms Me we'll be
Speaker 1: again an in the tweens and the cool cool morning
Speaker 1: turn the days a slam say, Living Rode is easy.
Speaker 1: Back in the show, Brian Elber is here wrestling Observer Alive,
Speaker 1: Land Storm is joining us here today. Clark Connors coming
Speaker 1: up after the next commercial break. And very very busy
Speaker 1: show last night, Lance, what did you think of Dynamite Um,
Speaker 1: I didn't like it. I thought it was way too
Speaker 1: busy with way too much going on, where all of
Speaker 1: the matches to me, felt like they were just there
Speaker 1: to set up angles afterwards. And I, you know, we've
Speaker 1: raved off and on on our regular show on Friday
Speaker 1: about the winning formula of a really strong opening match,
Speaker 1: that party match with high spots and action in the middle,
Speaker 1: and then a good main event, and they abandoned that formula,
Speaker 1: and I didn't like this one nearly as much. Well.
Speaker 1: I think the most talked about thing is the See
Speaker 1: Him Punk versus Wardlow match, which was bizarre to me.
Speaker 1: I mean, the feud is c HM Punk versus MGF,
Speaker 1: and to be fair, See Him Punk and MGF I
Speaker 1: think can talk their way back into this feud, but
Speaker 1: there's gonna need to be a lot of talking because
Speaker 1: Wardlow absolutely destroyed Shampunk, not even a case where like
Speaker 1: he destroyed him from most of the match, and then
Speaker 1: like see Him Punk caught him and pinned him, which
Speaker 1: is kind of what happened, but Wardlow destroyed him so much.
Speaker 1: Then after like five power bombs, like he's just destroying
Speaker 1: this guy, totally clean, no interference. Five times he power
Speaker 1: bombs this guy. He puts his foot on his chest
Speaker 1: and Punk is done and the ref goes one two
Speaker 1: and MCF says no, no, no, no no, So Warlow
Speaker 1: takes his foot off. The guy's just like Punk was destroyed.
Speaker 1: He was beaten clean in the middle of the ring. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then he gets thrown outside and power bomb through
Speaker 1: a table and like he's dead and Aubrey starts doing
Speaker 1: the count and she's doing a like one two to
Speaker 1: the point where Jared's like, bro, she's counting real slow
Speaker 1: to give this guy she has to get back in
Speaker 1: the ring, so he should have been beating a second time.
Speaker 1: So he finally gets in the ring and h MGF
Speaker 1: tells Wardlow to do another power bomb, and in a
Speaker 1: scene straight out of Brett Hart versus Diesel word logos
Speaker 1: with the power bombs se him, Punk rolls him up
Speaker 1: and pins him and then dies like Punk pins him
Speaker 1: and then he's dead and he rolls outside. He's just
Speaker 1: dead on the outside and he's been killed. And then
Speaker 1: all of the heat shifts to MGF versus Wardlow and
Speaker 1: they get in a shoving match and Wardlow finally grabs
Speaker 1: his wrist. He's gonna and then you know, Spears jumps
Speaker 1: in to to separate him, and like when it was over,
Speaker 1: I want to see MGF in Wardlow, like see him.
Speaker 1: Punk is now an afterthought And I don't think the
Speaker 1: segment was designed to make him an afterthought. Well it
Speaker 1: was designed to which just maybe not have intended to
Speaker 1: intended to yes, And now I mean I think, like
Speaker 1: I said, I'm confident that MGF and c Hampunk and
Speaker 1: talk their way back into this, but I thought that
Speaker 1: it was just this was too much all about Wardlow.
Speaker 1: And granted, Wardlow is about to turn and be a
Speaker 1: huge star, but the timing of it took away from
Speaker 1: interest building and MGF versus Punk. Well, yeah, Punk was
Speaker 1: the afterthought as the entire story was Wardlow. It was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, Wardlow lost. Wardlow is going to be
Speaker 1: angry about this. Wardlow had two visual victories over Punk.
Speaker 1: Wardlow was the rightful winner. And it's like this segment
Speaker 1: damaged Punk a lot. It completely made me not care
Speaker 1: about Punk m JF anymore. Everyone's into m JF Wardlow
Speaker 1: and it's like, yeah, quite probably because they're good promo guys.
Speaker 1: They can dig themselves out of this hole. But I
Speaker 1: don't understand putting them, putting Punk in particular, this deep
Speaker 1: in a hole that they have to talk their way
Speaker 1: out of. This was a very damaging segment. I'm not sure. No, hey,
Speaker 1: listen chat. No one said Punk's careers over. No one
Speaker 1: said that let's not go crazy here at some of
Speaker 1: this last night. It's funny as I'm always accused of
Speaker 1: being paid by a W. But if I have any
Speaker 1: criticism of a W, I intes them like just bombarded
Speaker 1: with anger and fury, so so seldom that they react strong. Yes, everyone,
Speaker 1: Punk will be fine, But that was a really weird
Speaker 1: segment that took away my interest in the Punk match
Speaker 1: with m JF and shifted my interest to a match
Speaker 1: with MGF and Wardlow. Now, maybe, and I don't know
Speaker 1: exactly how they do this unless it was like a
Speaker 1: major injury angle, But I mean maybe Punk and MGF
Speaker 1: is not taking place until the pay per view in March,
Speaker 1: and so they're going to do MGF and Wardlow in
Speaker 1: the meantime. But I mean that would sort of be
Speaker 1: weird too, because you know, MGF should not be losing
Speaker 1: to Wardlow before facing cm Punk, nor should Wardlow be
Speaker 1: losing to MGF right after turning baby face. So I
Speaker 1: don't know what they're gonna do, but will this one
Speaker 1: I'm confident I can say we can wait and see
Speaker 1: because it ain't just gonna be dropped. And I can
Speaker 1: tell you what else do you think of this show? Uh? Again,
Speaker 1: I mentioned that there were too many angles for me
Speaker 1: that to me, the debut of Brodie King was almost forgotten.
Speaker 1: It was forgotten by me like by the end of
Speaker 1: the show, and I think they they really undermined the
Speaker 1: main event in that by the time, like Jericho and
Speaker 1: Kingston did the promo before the match where there was
Speaker 1: big tension between these two big stars, and you know, Jered,
Speaker 1: We'll be out there at ringside, and it's like I
Speaker 1: no longer cared about the main event because I knew
Speaker 1: it's like, we're just waiting until Kingston and Jericho do
Speaker 1: the the Angle afterwards, because every match had the angle afterwards,
Speaker 1: and I was right, and it just there ended up
Speaker 1: being not really a matt like a good match that
Speaker 1: I got into because with all of the post match
Speaker 1: shenanigans after every single match, that's what I was waiting
Speaker 1: for in the main event, was like, just give me
Speaker 1: to the Jericho Kingston thing because that's the big angle.
Speaker 1: And I didn't care about the interim title match. Well,
Speaker 1: the interim title match is also weird. Here's another one.
Speaker 1: We'll left to see how it plays out. But yes, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we we had the champion ms A show,
Speaker 1: and so they created an interim title and when we
Speaker 1: were talking about it a couple of days ago, you know,
Speaker 1: the one thing I keep hearing people say was, well,
Speaker 1: we don't know when Cody is gonna be back. Maybe
Speaker 1: Cody is gonna be out for a month. Maybe Cody's
Speaker 1: gonna be out for two months, and that's what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do a bunch of stuff. Nope, Now he's back
Speaker 1: next week. But it sets a dangerous precedent too in that,
Speaker 1: especially with you know, O macron being such a widely
Speaker 1: spread thing, there's a good chance others will test positive
Speaker 1: and have to sit out a week or two because
Speaker 1: they don't end up really sick, but they test positive.
Speaker 1: And it's like, if any of these people are scheduled
Speaker 1: for a championship match and miss that championship match, if
Speaker 1: they want to follow consistency, they got to do interms
Speaker 1: for you know, like even forbid, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the Jurassic Express guys. Actually it was taped already, so
Speaker 1: that's fine. But or is that next week on on Dynamite?
Speaker 1: I don't remember. But it's like one title match that
Speaker 1: someone tests positive for the champion does and it's like,
Speaker 1: why isn't there an interim? You promised this a title match,
Speaker 1: and I just think it was a poor idea. And yeah,
Speaker 1: Cody is out for like what nine days? Yeah, Dynamite.
Speaker 1: Next week is Adam Cole and Britt Baker versus Orange
Speaker 1: Cassi and Chris stat Lander, Punk versus Spears, Serena Deep
Speaker 1: versus Sky Blue. Let's see what the Serena Deep things
Speaker 1: all about. Cody Rhodes returns and Stinging Darby versus Acclaimed.
Speaker 1: Friday has Adam Cole, Trent Boretta, stat Lander, Red Velvet
Speaker 1: and Layla Hirst versus Nylo, Penelope and the Bunny, Sean
Speaker 1: Spears Andrew Everett and Jurassic Express versus Dark Order. So
Speaker 1: that one has been taped. No interim title. Same thing
Speaker 1: with the interim title that I could at least they
Speaker 1: could at least, but I mean you still could argue
Speaker 1: many different things. Is that it was on the Battle
Speaker 1: of the Belt show. We were committed to having battles
Speaker 1: for belts on this show. Where a random dynamite, well,
Speaker 1: the champions aren't there. They can do it next week
Speaker 1: or whatever. It's not it's not needed for the name
Speaker 1: of the show. I texted you about this. I thought,
Speaker 1: if if you have to do it, I think it
Speaker 1: would have been better for Cody to just do a
Speaker 1: promo that he has to be out because he tested
Speaker 1: positive or makeup an excuse whatever, but that he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to rob the fans of a championship match. So
Speaker 1: he's asked both Tony Kahn if he could allow him
Speaker 1: to pick someone to defend the title form and he
Speaker 1: could pick Dustin to defend the t NT Championship for him,
Speaker 1: and then at least it's the real belt, and then
Speaker 1: there's a reason for Dustin who doesn't have I think
Speaker 1: I don't think he was even ranked why he's in
Speaker 1: the championship match. I think it would have made more
Speaker 1: sense and at least been the real championship rather than
Speaker 1: an interim and you know, it's still you know, why
Speaker 1: is someone else defending the belt for him? But it's
Speaker 1: like why is there an interim title for a week?
Speaker 1: And why is Dustin Rhodes in it? There's there's questions
Speaker 1: either way you go. And then at least Samuy Guavarro
Speaker 1: would be walking around with you know, quote unquote the
Speaker 1: real TNT Championship. I just think that, uh, I don't
Speaker 1: like that idea because yeah, it's the real belt, but
Speaker 1: it's not the real champion. He'll be like if if
Speaker 1: Connor McGregor was the champion and Connor McGregor was scheduled
Speaker 1: to fight on Saturday and he couldn't fight, and they
Speaker 1: were like, well, you know, Connor says that you know
Speaker 1: is that not whoever can defend the belt for him?
Speaker 1: But you have neither guy being the real champion and
Speaker 1: the belt not being real. It's like, again, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying my idea is great, but it's like, if you
Speaker 1: insist on having a TNT championship match, I think at
Speaker 1: least there a reason to justify Dustin being in the
Speaker 1: match and it being the real belt is better than
Speaker 1: a fake belt with two people that you know aren't
Speaker 1: the champion. I think the best idea would have been
Speaker 1: don't do the match and have another championship match on
Speaker 1: Battle of the Belts. I agree completely. That's why I said,
Speaker 1: if you insist on having a t NT championship I
Speaker 1: would have preferred um an explanation with Dustin's defending the
Speaker 1: belt for his brother. Because think about this, everybody, all right,
Speaker 1: I like to think on this show, Cody's back next Wednesday, right, Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: so you very easily could have just done Jurassic Express
Speaker 1: versus the Dark Order on Battle of the Belt and
Speaker 1: then Cody comes back and defends his title against Sammy
Speaker 1: on TV. Right, just switch those two matches, but that's
Speaker 1: not what they did. Now we have an interim title
Speaker 1: in the champions back it's coming Wednesday. The main a
Speaker 1: bet of the show. By the way, it was great.
Speaker 1: I want to get that out there. Sammy Gavar and
Speaker 1: Daniel Garcia. That was a really good match and Samy
Speaker 1: Gavar retained the title. They beat the absolute hell out
Speaker 1: of each other. I liked it a lot and uh
Speaker 1: that's said more on Impact tonight on Briant vide show
Speaker 1: Back to Up with Clarke Connors Observer live back of
Speaker 1: the show. Brian Albert is here wrestling Observer alive. A
Speaker 1: land Storm is joining us here today as well as
Speaker 1: Clark Connors, who's gimmick as that he is the Rhino.
Speaker 1: But my god, look at that mane of hair. What
Speaker 1: are you gonna do? You know? Yeah, I got I
Speaker 1: look too good at it to cut it off. Tell
Speaker 1: you what what I'm gonna do is steal all of
Speaker 1: Lances jokes from during the commercial break. You know what's
Speaker 1: funny is uh, I can't remember what show that I
Speaker 1: was at, but I was at some show and I
Speaker 1: looked when I was like, oh my god, hangman pages here,
Speaker 1: and uh it was you. I was totally confused if
Speaker 1: I had a nickel ferry time I heard that. Man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good, good, he's he's doing he's doing something good
Speaker 1: over there. And uh in a w so you know,
Speaker 1: maybe it's in the in our genes or something. He's
Speaker 1: definitely not doing too bad now I hear. Uh I
Speaker 1: I heard from an inside source that actually was not
Speaker 1: land storm, because I got scoops that you have moved
Speaker 1: to Arizona. Is that right, Yes, sir, I no longer
Speaker 1: a young lion for a little while. Then, as everyone knows,
Speaker 1: so I up and got at the hell out of
Speaker 1: l A and I'm living out here in the Valley
Speaker 1: of the Sun in Arizona. I'm loving every second of it.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, it's good to get out of the city.
Speaker 1: I say, how much, I mean before before l A.
Speaker 1: As I'm sure many people are aware you lived in
Speaker 1: in North Bend, Washington, North Bend, which is absolutely completely
Speaker 1: totally different from Arizona. Well, that's the thing is you
Speaker 1: you grow up someplace and it reigns three hundred days
Speaker 1: a year and Uh, snow, you can used to that.
Speaker 1: It feels a lot better to get the get out
Speaker 1: to somewhere where it's sunny, you know, three and fifty.
Speaker 1: So I, uh, this is more of my speed, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you that much. Yeah. Every now and then I
Speaker 1: go over to uh to Viney's and there's just like
Speaker 1: you're on You're on the pass. There's this gigantic mountain,
Speaker 1: there's snow on the mountains. It's cold and perfect place
Speaker 1: where Vinnie lived by the way, and then uh An
Speaker 1: you think about Arizona is like, wow, you just had
Speaker 1: to get out of that place. Yeah, I know, you're right.
Speaker 1: That's a that's Vinny personified if he was a weather system. Yeah. Yes.
Speaker 1: Now the other the other questions, as you mentioned, no
Speaker 1: longer being a young lion. So I was watching New
Speaker 1: Japan Strong every week religiously, and this was during your
Speaker 1: young lion phase, and every week I was just waiting
Speaker 1: for like the big moment where you had your your
Speaker 1: graduation and I had all these ideas about, you know,
Speaker 1: Shabata can come out and we can do this and that,
Speaker 1: and man, this big moment and also just one day
Speaker 1: you weren't a young lion, anymore, And I was like,
Speaker 1: what happened? So what happened? Well, you know, um, in
Speaker 1: my own personal growth and journey of it all, I
Speaker 1: didn't feel like I was a young Lion for a
Speaker 1: good year before I actually came out with the costume change. Anyways,
Speaker 1: I didn't think of myself as a young Lion. Um.
Speaker 1: So for me, it was more just a I didn't
Speaker 1: want a big reveal or anything anyways. For me, it
Speaker 1: was just like his business as usual, Like yeah, I
Speaker 1: got new trunks, I got myself a new nickname. Uh,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's I'm just gonna go out there and
Speaker 1: kick button the entire time anyways. So um, yeah, I
Speaker 1: didn't need it, and uh, you know, I like the fanfare.
Speaker 1: I didn't need to have a whole big cape. I
Speaker 1: don't need to dress up in a suit like Nito
Speaker 1: or any of that stuff. I'm just there to you know,
Speaker 1: I want to start winning more matches. That's about it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, and here I am now. So so so
Speaker 1: how did it actually happen? Just one day? You just go,
Speaker 1: I get some runks. Well, no, I got the I
Speaker 1: got the okay, you know, like especially for our l
Speaker 1: A do just system, you know, Shibata is the is
Speaker 1: the real deal, is the head guy, and he gives
Speaker 1: you the okay, and it was kind of you know,
Speaker 1: I think for me it was the last match I
Speaker 1: had before the trunks changed over. Was Carl and I
Speaker 1: had we made invented the l a Dojo showcase that week,
Speaker 1: and I think for myself and kind of everyone backstage,
Speaker 1: it was just a it was a culmination of just
Speaker 1: like everything I had learned to that point, um from
Speaker 1: Lance at the start and all the way through Shibata
Speaker 1: and Buddy in between, and all the guys have been
Speaker 1: around in the locker room, and uh, it was it
Speaker 1: was what I could do um at that point. And
Speaker 1: I think I proved to them and myself and hopefully
Speaker 1: the fans that like it's this young Lion gimmick is
Speaker 1: not it was a gimmick at that point. It wasn't
Speaker 1: necessary in my opinion, it was there was a period
Speaker 1: where I was just watching It was like every time
Speaker 1: I saw one of your matches, you would you would
Speaker 1: like gotten twice as good as is the week before,
Speaker 1: and uh, what how would you compare the the training
Speaker 1: that you got from Lance, Buddy and Shabbata. I mean,
Speaker 1: what what did they have in common as trainers? I
Speaker 1: can mute Lance if you once, so you can jump
Speaker 1: in here. And what do they do differently, Well, I
Speaker 1: don't want to get any heat with Lance, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start out there and just say he's the best
Speaker 1: American style trainer I think in the entire world. Um,
Speaker 1: I haven't had a lot of them, but just in
Speaker 1: terms of structure and putting together a good program, it's
Speaker 1: he's the top of the line. So for me, as
Speaker 1: just someone who had never stepped in a ring until
Speaker 1: I had come to Lance of school, um, it was
Speaker 1: the perfect program. Uh, you know, three months intensive um.
Speaker 1: And then so for me, that's kind of the way
Speaker 1: I looked at it was more like it was my
Speaker 1: elementary school, my through my early high school basically of wrestling,
Speaker 1: where it's basic need to learn, we need to learn,
Speaker 1: and which is exactly what I needed. And then going
Speaker 1: to Buddies and I kind of went there and that
Speaker 1: was more of like a they saw that already knew
Speaker 1: what I was doing, and I would assume maybe the
Speaker 1: same thing if I went back for you know, someone
Speaker 1: on one training with with Lands, but it was more
Speaker 1: maybe uh, I could focus in on my character and
Speaker 1: focusing on who I am as a wrestler and uh
Speaker 1: and then then sharpened up actually with matches and then yeah,
Speaker 1: so I called in my college or my doctorate program
Speaker 1: would be coming in with shabada. And don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: we went back to basics. But by the end though,
Speaker 1: it was it's very high level. Even with the language barrier,
Speaker 1: it was it's a very high level training program. I
Speaker 1: would say, Yeah, I was gonna ask, like, when you
Speaker 1: show up to the new Japan dojo, I mean you
Speaker 1: you've been trained by by very very good trainers, and
Speaker 1: and what what did they they tell you when you
Speaker 1: first walked in there, Like, you know, were there things.
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example if you if somebody goes
Speaker 1: to UH to w w E developmental and they work
Speaker 1: a style that's not your w w E style, they're
Speaker 1: gonna basically try to retrain you completely. I would presume
Speaker 1: that Shabata was not like you got to start over
Speaker 1: at zero and be completely retrained. But like, what did
Speaker 1: they say in terms of you know, whatever you did before,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter, or we appreciate what you did before.
Speaker 1: We're gonna, you know, add in some amateur wrestling or whatever.
Speaker 1: What did they say when you walked in? Uh? So
Speaker 1: the biggest thing and uh and I and I he
Speaker 1: lives it. I mean he leaves what he teaches with
Speaker 1: Savada is it's not it was literally didn't. He didn't
Speaker 1: give to you know, two craps about sorry, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to censor myself on the radio. He didn't care at
Speaker 1: all about anybody's level of wrestling acumen. He didn't care
Speaker 1: how you ran the ropes and are how you if
Speaker 1: you could take an arm drag, if you knew how
Speaker 1: to do a Spanish fly or whatever people are doing. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was a d when he tells everybody's it's about
Speaker 1: your heart um. And he we would bust our butts,
Speaker 1: you know, in those big training sessions and anytime he's
Speaker 1: looking for new talent um. And it wasn't about if
Speaker 1: you knew the Japanese style, how to take a judo bump,
Speaker 1: or how to you know, like run the ropes Japanese
Speaker 1: style or headlock or anything. It's it was purely about
Speaker 1: is if you he could tell if you tried and
Speaker 1: did your best, And that was really it. That was
Speaker 1: the baseline of it. So we have guys like Carl's
Speaker 1: been doing it for you know, a little longer than me,
Speaker 1: and and uh and and Jet Kevin. You know, he'd
Speaker 1: been only doing it for a year or so when
Speaker 1: when he got picked up, I was, you know, freshly
Speaker 1: new too. So it didn't matter how much we were
Speaker 1: doing it or not in terms of wrestling acumen. It
Speaker 1: was purely just how much we tried, and it just
Speaker 1: so happened for you know that we're all happened to
Speaker 1: be really good at what we did, um and we
Speaker 1: got better as you know, as the years went on,
Speaker 1: for sure. So that's the biggest thing is it's not
Speaker 1: about you know, what you can do, and then obviously
Speaker 1: there's a relearning process and you take a lot of
Speaker 1: bumps and you do a lot of squats and do
Speaker 1: all that stuff anyways, but yeah, it's all about heart.
Speaker 1: So when Shibata nearly died and then afterwards, it was
Speaker 1: like you will never be wrestling again. And uh, it's
Speaker 1: funny like if that never happened, who even knows what
Speaker 1: the new Japan dojo would be like now. But he
Speaker 1: ended up going to the dojo and and running the program,
Speaker 1: and you know, eventually earlier or last year we saw
Speaker 1: his his exhibition match with the Zack Saber Jr. And
Speaker 1: then of course in the Tokyotomi came out and it
Speaker 1: did a full match. And my question you is what
Speaker 1: I mean, was any of this is a rise or
Speaker 1: or is Shabbada in there like all the time doing
Speaker 1: whatever during training sessions? I mean, was it clear to
Speaker 1: you long ago that this guy was good to go? Yes?
Speaker 1: And no, I would say mentally he never skipped a beat,
Speaker 1: like he treated every training, every practice, uh, with the
Speaker 1: intensity that he is still one of the best professional
Speaker 1: wrestlers in the world, not like he's just a coach
Speaker 1: or anything. He had not I don't think there was
Speaker 1: a single second in his mind that he didn't see
Speaker 1: himself as a pro wrestler still, you know. And yes,
Speaker 1: he the doctors still to me couldn't wrestle, but he
Speaker 1: I don't think I ever thought that. But he was
Speaker 1: obviously always very safe. Um Like he would get in
Speaker 1: there with us, an amateur wrestle, but we'd always you
Speaker 1: know what, he'd wear a helmet, you know, a padded
Speaker 1: rugby helmet, and it was always we were always very
Speaker 1: cognizant of, you know, not trying to take not if
Speaker 1: we take them down, they were not going to his
Speaker 1: head on the ground, you know. And and not to
Speaker 1: say that it's very easy to take him down. It's
Speaker 1: been you know, it's tough. Uh. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: I think for him, it was always without a doubt
Speaker 1: he was gonna come back. As for the actual match
Speaker 1: and even the exhibition, he's did not say a word
Speaker 1: does I had no idea like I had seen him,
Speaker 1: you know, like he'd put it away. He doesn't wear
Speaker 1: the helmet when he rests with us anymore, or he
Speaker 1: hadn't for a little while. But and that was just
Speaker 1: him getting better day by day. But in terms of
Speaker 1: the match or anything, I had no idea like he
Speaker 1: he faged all of us. So good for him, I guess.
Speaker 1: Excited to be back in Washington Hall for the show
Speaker 1: Saturday night. Oh yeah did uh? Yeah, this match coming
Speaker 1: up with t j Um, that's a culmination for me
Speaker 1: of once again, like I told you before, with that match,
Speaker 1: I have a carl. Uh. This is this is now.
Speaker 1: I mean every match is more important and more important,
Speaker 1: but this one to me is uh, the culmination of
Speaker 1: where I am as a wrestler. Right now, I get
Speaker 1: to beat up t J, which is always fun to
Speaker 1: do in front of the best fans in the world
Speaker 1: with the best company in the world. It's very punchable. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's even when like we would team together and you know,
Speaker 1: and and we uh, we have a lot of we
Speaker 1: had a lot of respect for each other. But I'd
Speaker 1: still want to punch him in the face most of
Speaker 1: the time. You know, he's a he's punchable face but
Speaker 1: also punchable personality. So it's I'm trying to let out
Speaker 1: everyone's guitarsist when I beat him down in Washington. So
Speaker 1: has anyone talked to any of you guys about the future?
Speaker 1: At some point, there's not gonna be a two week
Speaker 1: quarantine to get into Japan for New Japan proper. I
Speaker 1: would presume that that most of the top stars of
Speaker 1: New Japan Strong would ultimately be going over there. But
Speaker 1: has there been any discussion about that or are you
Speaker 1: just waiting to hear what you hear? That's really the
Speaker 1: biggest hardest part about this whole thing. And obviously every
Speaker 1: one's gone through these past two years and do differently
Speaker 1: and there's have setbacks, But yeah, it's the hardest part
Speaker 1: for I know for myself, and I know for the
Speaker 1: guys I talked to, you know, almost on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: the other dojo guys, Gabe, Carl, Alex um and and
Speaker 1: it's just about like where we they're just lying in
Speaker 1: wait like it's nothing. It's like a coiled spring. Every
Speaker 1: day that goes by, there's more pressure on it, more
Speaker 1: pressure on it. And uh, we haven't been told anything, um,
Speaker 1: but I know that when the time comes and and
Speaker 1: we're ready to go back, and I know I would
Speaker 1: want it to be in the correct place, the correct
Speaker 1: you know, make it make it impactful, you know, because
Speaker 1: it's because once that happens, once they let the spring go,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be game over for everybody. In my personal opinion,
Speaker 1: huchpan Uh is about to become the company that it
Speaker 1: was in two nineteen uh, and we're going to be
Speaker 1: the best wrestling product, continue to be the best wrestling
Speaker 1: product in the world. But we'll get the respect as
Speaker 1: athletes in myself and as a company as a whole
Speaker 1: once we open things back up, all right, stand by,
Speaker 1: back in the moment, everybody, Observer live back in the show.
Speaker 1: Brian Elber is here Wrestling Observer live Land Storm and
Speaker 1: is a dog joining us here today as well as
Speaker 1: Clark Connors here. Tomorrow is Friday, and the day after
Speaker 1: that is Saturday, and Saturday is the New Japan New
Speaker 1: Beginning USA show at Washington Hall here in Seattle. Tickets
Speaker 1: are I think there's still a few standing room tickets available,
Speaker 1: but I would presume not. Mini, Tom Lawler Taylor Rust
Speaker 1: for the title, the New Japan Open Way Title Newchpan
Speaker 1: Strong open Way Title is the main event. Fred Rosser
Speaker 1: and Gabriel Kid, who had an awesome match on New
Speaker 1: Japan Strong with Eddie Kingston last week. God what a match.
Speaker 1: Carl Frederick's Ethan, HD, Cody Chun and Hitkoleleo and H Clark.
Speaker 1: You're on the show as well here, Buddy, Yeah, man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm taken on t j uh t j P as
Speaker 1: it were. Um yeah, and it's kind of uh, this
Speaker 1: is gonna be the culmination of about actually about a
Speaker 1: two year long story I've had with the guy, so
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I'm ready to I'm ready to close the
Speaker 1: chapter with this guy for sure. Who else is? Who
Speaker 1: else is on your list? We've got about thirty seconds here.
Speaker 1: Who have you not faced on strong that you also
Speaker 1: want to punch in the face like, well, uh, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna make the list short and sweet. It's gotta
Speaker 1: be Tom. Uh. You know I've I've wrestled a lot
Speaker 1: of the other guys, but I don't think I've had
Speaker 1: the chance of one on one with Tom, and especially
Speaker 1: he retains the championship. Um, He's He's who I'm calling
Speaker 1: out next. I know. That's just all I can say.
Speaker 1: That's all I know is I gotta win a championship.
Speaker 1: I gotta proved myself this company. Well, Clark, I want
Speaker 1: to thank you so much for in the show today.
Speaker 1: Best of luck we'll see this weekend, and best of
Speaker 1: luck in your new residents as well. The weather it's
Speaker 1: much stir there than it is right here, so enjoy
Speaker 1: that see here. That's right, And of course thanks lancers always,
Speaker 1: callers and listeners over the studio, Twitch homies, YouTube folks
Speaker 1: will talk to you next time Wrestling Observer Live. You
Speaker 1: have been listening to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on
Speaker 1: the eight Side Network