Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.
Speaker 1: Let's get it all. How's it going, everybody? Brian Alvarez
Speaker 1: here on or Wrestling of Serper Live. We are here
Speaker 1: every day Monday through Friday, New Pacific, three Eastern, Sundays
Speaker 1: three Pacific, sixth Eastern. Well Tuesday, you're on this show.
Speaker 1: You know that means last night, Monday Night Raw, which
Speaker 1: was the go home episode for the Money in the
Speaker 1: Bank pay per view just Saturday. I keep getting caught
Speaker 1: off guard by the Saturday pay per views. I don't
Speaker 1: like Saturday pay per views, but it's Saturday, and so
Speaker 1: such as life. So we'll go over the Raw show
Speaker 1: from last night, line up for Saturday, and so much more.
Speaker 1: N x T two point oh is tonight. Gotta line
Speaker 1: up for that show. A lot of segments announced for
Speaker 1: that show. Seven segments announced. We have got Blood Guts
Speaker 1: coming up on Wednesday. We have got a w Rampage
Speaker 1: SmackDown viewership. And also this the domestic violence case against
Speaker 1: former w w E n x T and a w
Speaker 1: wrestler Jake Atlas has been dropped. T M zero Tuesday,
Speaker 1: Orange County officials canceled a Tuesday hearing following an investigation,
Speaker 1: which quote, it is the opinion of the writer that
Speaker 1: this case is not suitable for prosecution. The aforementioned documents
Speaker 1: were filed last week. The matter is closed. Twenty seven
Speaker 1: year old Atlas arrested May domestic violence charges after attacking
Speaker 1: his boyfriend in an incident that began at an Orlando,
Speaker 1: Florida bar and continued at a friend's house. Released by
Speaker 1: police that day, Tuesday was said to be his arraignment.
Speaker 1: He is recovering from surgery to repair a torn a
Speaker 1: c L suffered in an early January rampage match against
Speaker 1: Adam Cole. Reported earlier this month, he has not expected
Speaker 1: back in a w where he had just signed before
Speaker 1: getting hurt. He was not under contract with them, was
Speaker 1: working on a per appearance schedule, as reported here on
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Live. I might add, so anyway, we've got
Speaker 1: more news coming up. I love a lot of time
Speaker 1: for feedback. I think here today, So text us four
Speaker 1: to five seven eight zero seven five six six. That
Speaker 1: is four to five seven eight zero seven five six six,
Speaker 1: what's on your mind? Back in a moment Observer Live.
Speaker 1: We saw the boys strike Nobody and the competing it
Speaker 1: back in the show. Brian Elber is here Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 1: Mike's umber Bev, also of Wrestling Observer dot Com. Well,
Speaker 1: we're back on the show. I'm gonna wait till the
Speaker 1: next segment go over raw because I like a lot
Speaker 1: of time to really go into detail on these raw shows.
Speaker 1: It was fine John Cena twent anniversary show. We'll get
Speaker 1: into that here in a moment. Well, we got a
Speaker 1: lot of big shows coming up, including everybody's favorite show,
Speaker 1: n x T two point oh, which this is interesting everybody.
Speaker 1: I know you guys don't like talk about it, but
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why. It's interesting because I think most
Speaker 1: of us who actually watched this show would agree that
Speaker 1: the last three episodes of n x T we're much
Speaker 1: better than usual. I think we can all agree on that.
Speaker 1: You don't have to say they were great, but they
Speaker 1: were much better than usual. The last last three weeks.
Speaker 1: Were they all timers? No? Oh? You know it's funny,
Speaker 1: as I could have sworn on Observer Radio last night, Dave,
Speaker 1: he said it was an all time great show. That
Speaker 1: get you said that they didn't they want to text
Speaker 1: him and yell him about it. I can't believe it.
Speaker 1: But anyway, so yes, uh, they were better than usual,
Speaker 1: which is not an all timer, because I would say
Speaker 1: that Forbidden Door was closer to an all timer than
Speaker 1: better than usual. But anyway, the question is is the
Speaker 1: show gonna be a better than usual tonight because it's
Speaker 1: back to being live the last three weeks the show
Speaker 1: was taped. Is better than usual? Was that because it's
Speaker 1: been better than usual or because it was taped and
Speaker 1: they did what they had to do? This show was live.
Speaker 1: We have got Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade versus Cayden
Speaker 1: Carter and cut a chance. Oh god, I hope there's
Speaker 1: no promos for this. Oh God, Indie Heartwell versus Kana James.
Speaker 1: Can you see how excited I am for the show tonight?
Speaker 1: Song will be fair. I gotta review it tomorrow and
Speaker 1: with video, I gotta review it twice. Bro There Sanga
Speaker 1: will face Zion Quinn, Giovanni, Vinci will face Ickaman Gio
Speaker 1: t Keita, Lions returns. Braun Breaker will go face to
Speaker 1: face with Cameron Grimes and uh Josh Briggs and l
Speaker 1: Vergino will be addressing their n x T U K
Speaker 1: Tag Team title win. So that's coming up tonight on
Speaker 1: n x T two point oh. And then tomorrow we
Speaker 1: have got a w Blood and Guts with Chris Jericho,
Speaker 1: Sammy Gavara, Matt and Angelo, Daniel Garcia and Jake Hager
Speaker 1: facing John Maxley, Claudio Castanioli, Wheeler Universe, I like call
Speaker 1: him Claudio Casanioli, Santana Ortiz, and Eddie Kingston. Plus we
Speaker 1: will have another promo if you didn't get enough last week, everybody,
Speaker 1: another promo from Christian Cage. There's a lot of fun
Speaker 1: stuff coming up. Wrestling has been sure fun lately, hasn't
Speaker 1: it been, Mike, It has been. Actually, there is enough
Speaker 1: fun out there. Yeah. I mean, look, regardless of any
Speaker 1: of the fights and the tribalism and the flag planting
Speaker 1: and all that sort of thing, if you look hard
Speaker 1: enough and for right now, you don't have to search
Speaker 1: high and low. It's pretty much delivered right to your
Speaker 1: computer screen with a few clicks. No matter where you
Speaker 1: want it, there's something out there for you, whether that
Speaker 1: be w w E, whether that be New Japan and
Speaker 1: New Japan World, whether that be Wrestle Universe because you
Speaker 1: really like Makido, so you gotta watch Tokyo Joshi Pro
Speaker 1: and D D T and Noah, everybody's got a streaming service.
Speaker 1: Everybody's got something going on right now. It's a summertime
Speaker 1: for Heaven's sakes. Warrior Wrestling a w g c W
Speaker 1: defy the I mean the groups in California that are
Speaker 1: are hot right now. I mean there's something out or
Speaker 1: if you want it. You can spend every day online
Speaker 1: fighting and and bashing people and looking to be offended
Speaker 1: about things, but when it comes to the end of
Speaker 1: the day, you can turn this show off. You can
Speaker 1: turn a lot of things off and just turn your
Speaker 1: social media off and enjoy the wrestling that you want
Speaker 1: to enjoy. Why are you telling people to turn our
Speaker 1: show off? Like sometime the worst promoter. Sometimes you need
Speaker 1: to as long as they turn it back on again,
Speaker 1: and I know you have the ability to turn people
Speaker 1: back on again. You know it's not doing well right
Speaker 1: now as a Rampage well Forbidden Door Go Home show
Speaker 1: thousand viewers and a point one to man this matches
Speaker 1: Rampages series low in its regular time slot, so this
Speaker 1: show is still suffering those preemptions. Dude, you guys realize
Speaker 1: that a W was moved because the pre Emptions killed
Speaker 1: them last year, and the same thing is happening here.
Speaker 1: I think that, uh, you know, Rampages the B Show
Speaker 1: I love, I love the Matches. I watch it every week.
Speaker 1: I devote a show to it on Sunday. I like Rampage,
Speaker 1: but it's absolutely the B Show. And when you have
Speaker 1: a B show and then the thing gets preempted over
Speaker 1: and over and over again, what happens is people get
Speaker 1: out listen to me, Mike, they get out of the habit,
Speaker 1: and once you get out of the habit, it's hard
Speaker 1: to come back. That's why I don't recommend people stop
Speaker 1: listening to this show ever. Get it into a habit
Speaker 1: where every day, no matter what, you listen to this
Speaker 1: show on Sports Byline on the Mighty or ten ninety
Speaker 1: on Twitch, on YouTube, on the American Forces Network, on
Speaker 1: the Cable Radio Network. If that still exists, wherever you're
Speaker 1: listening to this show, wherever you're listening Apple music sometimes
Speaker 1: never never, never, no. And if you're a commentator, never
Speaker 1: take a week off. You will be replaced. You understand, everybody, now,
Speaker 1: SmackDown smack Wally. Who you know that is? I know
Speaker 1: who it is, But what does that have to do
Speaker 1: with my show? Well, you know, you never a guest
Speaker 1: today or something. You decide to step out for a minute,
Speaker 1: and you know, if somebody becomes Lou Garrick and please
Speaker 1: in two thousand one d thirty consecutive games and takes
Speaker 1: over your spot, there's another reason not to take off
Speaker 1: when you don't need to. Friday Night SmackDown did two
Speaker 1: point to three one million viewers, which is up six
Speaker 1: point six percent from the previous week, the second best
Speaker 1: audience for smack instance April one, although the show did
Speaker 1: finish second to last among the major networks in terms
Speaker 1: of total viewers. So you know those people that go,
Speaker 1: why do you guys talk about the demo all the time?
Speaker 1: Why you talk about a WS demo and just talk
Speaker 1: about the viewership. Well, if you want to the showed
Speaker 1: it horrible. If you want to talk about the demo,
Speaker 1: it did great, So maybe we should talk about both, right,
Speaker 1: it seems like that'd be fair. So anyway, that's the deal,
Speaker 1: and uh up year over year. So we say this
Speaker 1: every single time there's there's a renewal coming up if
Speaker 1: you blow think that this thing ain't gonna make mountains
Speaker 1: of money on the next television renewal deal. Think again, kids,
Speaker 1: Think again. I like all the people saying, who are
Speaker 1: maybe I guess on Vince's side, where it's like there's
Speaker 1: a knee jerk reaction. You know, wrestling will never work,
Speaker 1: you know, publicly owned and even though it's been working
Speaker 1: for a long time in its own way, in WWS way,
Speaker 1: and they should really take the company back private again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like those billion dollar deals just fall out of the sky,
Speaker 1: like you know, I mean that sort of stuff. You
Speaker 1: can not like the product that w w E produces,
Speaker 1: but them as a machine, as a company. Sure, if
Speaker 1: you don't like big business, you can point out all
Speaker 1: of the flaws that are inside of it, including how
Speaker 1: they decide to regulate and view their independent contractors as
Speaker 1: opposed to employees. But it's such a machine, and and
Speaker 1: any of the hand waving and all that stuff that
Speaker 1: goes on, it's silly, and it's the a w is
Speaker 1: never going to be able to catch up. I shouldn't
Speaker 1: say never, but it is going to take them a
Speaker 1: ridiculous amount of time to get the footing to even
Speaker 1: get remotely close to the level of where WWS at.
Speaker 1: And it's just one of those things. It's gonna take time.
Speaker 1: But the monster that ww E is this New New
Speaker 1: Yorker story from the guy that's writing his autobiography, you know,
Speaker 1: drudging back up the readA Chatterton story, you know, the
Speaker 1: same way. It doesn't look like it's making a move
Speaker 1: on anything right now, so strong w w E. Well,
Speaker 1: we also have to UH find out what's going on
Speaker 1: with old Triple H who uh last week at a
Speaker 1: meeting at the uh AN n x T and and
Speaker 1: used the term I'm back, but no one knew what
Speaker 1: that meant. And Uh, I can tell you by the
Speaker 1: way that what happened actually last week was he was
Speaker 1: in he was in town for a birthday party and
Speaker 1: stopped by. So it was never like I don't think
Speaker 1: it was like a plan meeting for him to be
Speaker 1: there and make an announcement. I think he was there
Speaker 1: for a birthday, gave the speech and then made the
Speaker 1: line about I'm back, and then he said he couldn't
Speaker 1: tell anybody what that meant. So I guess we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens back at the moment with more observer lives.
Speaker 1: You geeks telling me you can't hear me over the music,
Speaker 1: tell me you're complaining about all right. So what I
Speaker 1: was trying to say these people say they couldn't hear
Speaker 1: me because the music was playing. I find cut the
Speaker 1: music down, thank you. So what I was saying was
Speaker 1: last week, that Triple Ate story, It's possible it was
Speaker 1: much a do about nothing because it wasn't a scheduled meeting,
Speaker 1: like Triple H was in town for a birthday or
Speaker 1: something like that. He stopped by and talked everybody. He
Speaker 1: dropped the line about how he was back, and then
Speaker 1: when he was like I guess, he said he couldn't
Speaker 1: say why he was back or win or any details.
Speaker 1: So that was it. And apparently he's done similar speeches
Speaker 1: to this in the past, and uh, you know, everything
Speaker 1: is just pretty much like it's like Moxy's concussion line.
Speaker 1: I guess kind of. But I mean, who knows, Maybe
Speaker 1: he'll be there running the show tonight. But the impression
Speaker 1: I was given was, you know, he said something and
Speaker 1: nothing has changed, so I guess we'll like he literally
Speaker 1: popped in the door like at the place he used
Speaker 1: to work, like, hey, guys, I'm back, and then somebody, yeah,
Speaker 1: somebody ran that he didn't show up with a cake.
Speaker 1: If you report, then he shot up with a cake.
Speaker 1: You know what you should report. Actually what you should
Speaker 1: report is he went walking in and he busted open
Speaker 1: the doors. And much like Ted Dbasi at that jeweler
Speaker 1: when he was looking for his million dollar belt, that's
Speaker 1: how he said I'm back. He came in and busted in.
Speaker 1: Instead of saying I'm here, he said I'm back. He
Speaker 1: had a folk, he had a cape on, and he
Speaker 1: had Virgil behind him and everything. It was crazy. All right, brother,
Speaker 1: let me get through this raw report time for that
Speaker 1: and uh shout up with John Cena showing up and
Speaker 1: he said, hid everybody in the back, including Drake Maverick,
Speaker 1: who I believe is now on the creative team for
Speaker 1: those of you asking. And then we had a qualifying
Speaker 1: money in the bank qualifying Battle Royal for the last
Speaker 1: spot called last chance, and so like after all of
Speaker 1: these losses, you get one more chance at the end,
Speaker 1: and after failing, Riddle ended up winning the Battle Royal.
Speaker 1: So he is in money in the bank. And most
Speaker 1: of it was your usual nothing happening, boring Battle Royal,
Speaker 1: but the last few minutes with a j and riddle,
Speaker 1: and uh, even even the miss and riddle at the
Speaker 1: end had a decent little segment. And then finally miss
Speaker 1: eliminated or got eliminated, and Little is going to money
Speaker 1: in the bank to potentially win the briefcase, and then
Speaker 1: he could get another shot at Roman reigns, and given
Speaker 1: how many people are injured and how few main inventors
Speaker 1: they have, the probably should win money in the bank.
Speaker 1: They announced just out of the blue, Kevin Owens Ezekiel
Speaker 1: not taking place here tonight. Ezekiel was on the show,
Speaker 1: and uh, talk to John Cena. So whatever it was,
Speaker 1: it was something involving Kevin Owens, and apparently he's fine
Speaker 1: and we'll be back very soon, maybe even by SmackDown Friday.
Speaker 1: I guess we shall find out. We had a single
Speaker 1: Sina and the street profits and then uh, the strangest
Speaker 1: thing we should talk about the next segment. There were
Speaker 1: videos from a number of individuals, including The Big Show,
Speaker 1: Chris Jericho and Brian Danielson, all on raw and these
Speaker 1: were not archive interviews, were new putting over John Cena's
Speaker 1: twenty years So we can talk more about that after
Speaker 1: the break. Montez Ford beat Jay Usso so literally we
Speaker 1: talked about this weeks ago. They have a tag match.
Speaker 1: Can you just beat the USOS to set up a
Speaker 1: tag title match? No, they gotta eke out count out victory.
Speaker 1: Then they gotta do a singles match and lose, like
Speaker 1: nobody believes the Street Profits can win. Well, now all
Speaker 1: of a sudden they figured out that no one believes
Speaker 1: the Street Profits can win, and now it's a storyline.
Speaker 1: The Three Profits are all sad with John Cena, we
Speaker 1: just can't get any wins over these guys. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: you finally threw this out, you idiots. So anyway, they
Speaker 1: finally got a singles match, and now Montez has gotten
Speaker 1: to win, and last week Dawkins got to win, so
Speaker 1: they gave him something and route to them losing had
Speaker 1: money in the bank. We had a Finnbalor Damian Priest
Speaker 1: segment with Ray and Dominic where they belittle Ray for
Speaker 1: being a legend, but his son is a geek and
Speaker 1: Ray got mad and now we're gonna have a tag
Speaker 1: match in San Diego next week, and I just have
Speaker 1: this feeling just like Christian Cagen Jungle Boy, Old Dom's
Speaker 1: jumping ship. He's gonna join whatever their group is called.
Speaker 1: What are they called the Evolution? What's the name of
Speaker 1: the judgment? I remember it like it's a pay per view,
Speaker 1: so basically in this case, is dominic there Julia Hart. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean at some point they got to pull the
Speaker 1: trigger on this bloke. We had a missinterview in the ring,
Speaker 1: and uh, he said he was gonna team with Logan
Speaker 1: Paul and actually acknowledge other They're gonna drop it, but
Speaker 1: they acknowledged Miss laying him out at WrestleMania, and Mrs excuses, Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I just teach him a lesson. We're gonna
Speaker 1: win the tag team titles. We're gonna be a team,
Speaker 1: which may very well happen, which tells you how much
Speaker 1: you know. I don't know why they laid out Logan
Speaker 1: Paul at WrestleMania. Was stupid at the time and it's
Speaker 1: stupid now. Then we had a j Styles versus the Miss. Oh,
Speaker 1: what a fun time. We had an Observer radio talking
Speaker 1: about this one last night. I thought this match was
Speaker 1: boring as all hell for about ten minutes, but I
Speaker 1: thought the last three minutes was pretty good. They thought
Speaker 1: it was horrible. Like from start to finish, but anyway,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. They had a match and uh a
Speaker 1: j hits Miss. I'm not even making this up with
Speaker 1: a high angle brain buster. He lifted this bloke up
Speaker 1: and dropped the Miss on his head and at that
Speaker 1: point MS was like, bro, I'm out of here, and
Speaker 1: he walked to the back and got counted out. Styles
Speaker 1: bleeding all over. Apparently I have another match, I guess,
Speaker 1: but I thought the last few minutes were okay. J
Speaker 1: was great and what we're all surprised at. Miss wasn't
Speaker 1: very good in the match. That's news now, and we
Speaker 1: had It's funny. There was some guy on the board
Speaker 1: and uh and he goes, man, I watched Raw and
Speaker 1: when that show was over, to me, there's no way
Speaker 1: it's John Cena and Theory at SummerSlam. It's like, wait
Speaker 1: a second, you watched the show and that's the conclusion
Speaker 1: you came to. Dude. They had a Theory John Cena confrontation.
Speaker 1: The crowd actually popped for it. Theory runs down John Cena.
Speaker 1: John Cena just sits there and listens to him and
Speaker 1: does these funny facial expressions, and then Theory goes for uh,
Speaker 1: selfie and seen it disappears and then theories furious about it.
Speaker 1: How does that not lead to a match? Now, I
Speaker 1: will say that it was weird because John Cena later
Speaker 1: comes out for his big speech and literally a speech
Speaker 1: is well, I you fans are all awesome. Someday I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be back. I don't know when, but when I
Speaker 1: do come back, it will be for more than one match.
Speaker 1: That was his entire comeback speech that he stretched out
Speaker 1: over ten minutes. That was weird. We had a segment
Speaker 1: with Bianca and and Carmela. Hold on, I'll get to
Speaker 1: you in a middle. Let me get through this. Bianca
Speaker 1: and Carmela have a segment and Bianca's DNA promo. Carmela
Speaker 1: comes down to the ring. She has zero credibility as
Speaker 1: a challenger. She tries to jump Bianca. Bianca sensor packing
Speaker 1: that's your go home angle. I was just whatever. I mean,
Speaker 1: she was never supposed to be in the match, but
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is worse than the street profits.
Speaker 1: We had Alexa Bliss promo with Live Morrigan. The dialogue was,
Speaker 1: I mean, literally, you can't even say the bottom of
Speaker 1: the barrel's like the barrel had no bottom, and then
Speaker 1: then they dug a hole and they dropped the dialogue
Speaker 1: down there. Essentially, Alexa said that she's gonna beat Live tonight,
Speaker 1: and or No Lives said she'd beat Alexa. Alexa didn't believer,
Speaker 1: and then Live beat her. Live Morgan beat Alexa Bliss
Speaker 1: with a cradle and just, oh my god, this whole segment,
Speaker 1: and it was not Live Morrigan's fault, and I wasn't
Speaker 1: really all his fault. They just give Alexa the worst
Speaker 1: dialogue imaginable and she tries to deliver it, but it's
Speaker 1: just it's just horrible. Do you have to hear from
Speaker 1: the Alexa geeks? Now, get out of here, go listen
Speaker 1: to another show. I don't want to hear from you.
Speaker 1: We have the John Cena promo. Then we had a
Speaker 1: two on one handicap match Bobby Lashly versus both of
Speaker 1: Alpha Academy with Theory as the as a special enforcer.
Speaker 1: Bobby beat him both submitted. Uh, I guess it was
Speaker 1: Gable with a hurt lock, and then Theory tried to
Speaker 1: attack him afterwards and lastly beat him up three and one.
Speaker 1: So they're doing a hell of a job with Lashly
Speaker 1: and quite frankly. I mean, I wouldn't be the least
Speaker 1: bit surprised if if Lashly one. Because John Cena is
Speaker 1: not gonna win the US title. I guess it's possible
Speaker 1: that their idea is that Theory beats John Cena, which
Speaker 1: if that's the case, you may as well leave the
Speaker 1: title on Austin Theory. And I honestly wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 1: if that was the idea, that Theory is gonna beat Sena.
Speaker 1: But there's also you know, it's w W E, so
Speaker 1: you know Theory can get the rub losing to John Cena.
Speaker 1: But anyway, Cody Rhodes interview in the gym, he's board senseless,
Speaker 1: having to do all this rehab, but he talked about
Speaker 1: money in the bank. He talked about all the wrestlers,
Speaker 1: and he said, you know what if U if Seth
Speaker 1: wins that money in the bank briefcase and wins the title,
Speaker 1: I'll be the first to congratulate him. The story is
Speaker 1: that he might have been able to do money in
Speaker 1: the bank with a torn pack, but because Seth rollings
Speaker 1: hit him with a crowbar or a sledgehammer, now he's
Speaker 1: out nine months. So they're putting all the heat on
Speaker 1: seth Rawlins for for that injury, and then the main
Speaker 1: of it. It was a money the Bank qualifying elimination
Speaker 1: match Becky Lynch, Anziale, Nikki, Shana Tomina and do Drop.
Speaker 1: This is the main event a Raw. Becky's eliminating blowcats
Speaker 1: right and left and just getting the biggest baby face
Speaker 1: reaction because you know she should be a baby face,
Speaker 1: but like they just have to have her be a
Speaker 1: heel and they have to have seth Rawlins and his
Speaker 1: stupid laugh be a heel. But man, she's just beating
Speaker 1: all of them, crowds going nuts. She finally wins the match,
Speaker 1: the crowd goes nuts cheering. They're just cheering like crazy,
Speaker 1: Rebecky Lynch. So I guess next week we'll have to
Speaker 1: have that healed promo where she says, you fans turned
Speaker 1: on me and so I don't like you in anyway.
Speaker 1: Show was fine. I mean, it was nothing. There's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with the show. Certainly was nothing like blow Away
Speaker 1: about it. It was like your average edition of Raw.
Speaker 1: But we could talk about whatever Mike wants to talk
Speaker 1: about after the break, as well as the a W
Speaker 1: stars on w w E television Back in a moment,
Speaker 1: Observer like notes thinking that there's nothing that I won't try.
Speaker 1: But I'm imagine all the show Bright never is here,
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Live. Yeah, Mike Simper vv is here. I
Speaker 1: don't allow him say some words in a minute. But
Speaker 1: first I have two things I gotta say very quickly.
Speaker 1: Number One, they're really in a lot to say about
Speaker 1: Jericho and Big Show and Daniel Bryant on Raw because
Speaker 1: you know they am sure cleared it with Tony con
Speaker 1: he said, whatever, he's not a wrestling I mean, he's
Speaker 1: a wrestling guy, but he came from sports and uh
Speaker 1: he apparently was fine with that. Now what Here's the
Speaker 1: most interesting thing is it relates to this show. About that.
Speaker 1: Somebody messaged me and they said, it looks like I'm
Speaker 1: winning the prediction contest because I predicted A W Stars
Speaker 1: on Raw. Well, those guys are a W Stars and
Speaker 1: they are on Raw. So oh, I mean, if nobody
Speaker 1: else comes close, that is the winner of this year's
Speaker 1: prediction contest. Is these a W Stars on Raw? Now
Speaker 1: the only only thing I want to say is somebody
Speaker 1: asked a question, who do you think is winning money
Speaker 1: in the bank, And uh my, my, knee jerk reaction
Speaker 1: was who cares. It doesn't matter because what we have
Speaker 1: learned is they pick a winner the day of the
Speaker 1: show and they have like no plan and then you
Speaker 1: know later it's either like a cash in and they
Speaker 1: win whatever, or it's a failure or like in the
Speaker 1: case of Otis, it's like, what did we put the
Speaker 1: title on Otis for? Well, let's do a stupid storyline
Speaker 1: to you know, get the get the thing off him
Speaker 1: and give to somebody else, or like miscashed in twice
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago or whatever. He lost it
Speaker 1: then he got it back, So it doesn't Honestly, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. There's no like foresight for the most part.
Speaker 1: But but there should be foresight as it pertains to Cody,
Speaker 1: because they have like one storyline, one long term, easy storyline,
Speaker 1: which is Cody has never won the title. He cannot
Speaker 1: win it for his father, but he wants to win
Speaker 1: it and give it to his mother. This is idiot proof.
Speaker 1: So I feel that like whatever they do with the
Speaker 1: men's money in the bank should somehow tie into that story.
Speaker 1: It could be Seth wins, and then you could do, uh,
Speaker 1: Cody and Seth doing a match for the briefcase right
Speaker 1: before us. There are things that you can do, or
Speaker 1: you know, it could just be Riddle Winds and then
Speaker 1: Riddle goes on and loses to Roman Reigns again when
Speaker 1: they don't have a main eventor for whatever big stadium
Speaker 1: show they're not selling tickets for, or selling tickets for.
Speaker 1: Don't want to make people man, but anyway, Uh, don't
Speaker 1: overthink this. This money in the bank because they they
Speaker 1: just do whatever they're gonna do on the day and
Speaker 1: then they quote fix it later. So that's my money
Speaker 1: in the bank. Thoughts, Or to not screw up the
Speaker 1: briefcase and making it weak, you could have Cody win
Speaker 1: the rumble and then say I want to tie up
Speaker 1: loose ends before I get to WrestleMania, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to get you out of the way with a sledgehammer
Speaker 1: at whatever it's called road bomber or whatever the hell
Speaker 1: that the paper roadblock, and then we're gonna go on
Speaker 1: to Mania and I'm going to defeat Roman. But who
Speaker 1: knows and is Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns. Looks like
Speaker 1: that's gonna be September or are we any closer to
Speaker 1: seeing announced that? As the Castle, Okay, because that's why
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure where Tyson Fury was at with that,
Speaker 1: because if the way they are playing things up with
Speaker 1: Roman reigns being vulnerable and look they the stipulations that
Speaker 1: they added to riddles seemed to help that situation with
Speaker 1: Randy Orton and he wasn't gonna get a crack again
Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff. So you know, Drew
Speaker 1: winning and winning the title on Saturday, you know, wiping
Speaker 1: after Roman and Brocco at it. That's not the worst
Speaker 1: idea in the world to me because then there's a
Speaker 1: reason for Roman to be piste and off of TV.
Speaker 1: I know it breaks up the title reign, but you
Speaker 1: could go in that direction at least one more thing
Speaker 1: on the Jericho Big Show. And Daniel Brian deal, Um,
Speaker 1: what does this mean for uh, for potential resignings in etcetera.
Speaker 1: I don't want to read too much into this obviously. Okay,
Speaker 1: the Daniel Brian story, we already know that Daniel Brian story.
Speaker 1: He very much waffled back and forth about whether to
Speaker 1: go to a W or whether to stay with w.
Speaker 1: W is a very very difficult decision for him. So
Speaker 1: when the time comes and his deal is up, He's
Speaker 1: probably gonna have a very very difficult decision to make
Speaker 1: again because he is fine doing sports entertainment. He loves
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon. Obviously, he's having also the time of his
Speaker 1: life in a W. So he'll have to make a decision.
Speaker 1: But he's not one of those eyes where you could say, well,
Speaker 1: for sure, this guy is never going to even consider
Speaker 1: going back to w w E. Jericho, I mean constantly
Speaker 1: attempting to reinvent himself, and I think that if they
Speaker 1: you know, there was a bidding war with Chris Jericho
Speaker 1: w w E in a W, I think that he
Speaker 1: would consider both sides. I don't think Jericho is one
Speaker 1: of those guys. It's absolutely and clearly by the fact
Speaker 1: that he sent in a video. I think that he
Speaker 1: would be open to the idea of returning to w
Speaker 1: w E if they made him a huge offer and
Speaker 1: he felt that they would use him. Right. So there's that.
Speaker 1: The one that was most interesting to me is is
Speaker 1: UH is the big show? And Uh. It's just interesting
Speaker 1: because I don't I don't know if he's ever gone
Speaker 1: public as to why he left, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to put words into his mouth. But I mean he
Speaker 1: left w w E very shortly after they had that
Speaker 1: Legends Night deal or whatever, and uh, and they absolutely
Speaker 1: humiliated him. They made him look like the biggest geek
Speaker 1: and loser on that show. They called him old, they
Speaker 1: called him washed up, the heels made fun of him.
Speaker 1: He got no comeback, he didn't get to do It
Speaker 1: was like, man, I watched that, and then later it
Speaker 1: turns out he went to a W and I was like, well,
Speaker 1: of course he did. Of course he did. So it's
Speaker 1: interesting that he wasn't disrespected enough that he didn't want
Speaker 1: to send in a video here. So listen, I don't
Speaker 1: write stories about I'm saying these guys are gonna go
Speaker 1: back to debit. I don't have any idea what they're
Speaker 1: going to do, but I do think it's it's pretty
Speaker 1: clear from the fact that they sent in videos that
Speaker 1: they're on decent. They're they're clearly on good terms with
Speaker 1: Vince and w w E. And Uh. I guess it'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see what happens when they're a W
Speaker 1: contracts come up, because there there are you know, when
Speaker 1: a W started, I heard from so many people and
Speaker 1: they were like, man, I'm never I will never go
Speaker 1: back to w w E. There is zero chance. It's
Speaker 1: absolutely not happening. And uh, you know now I think
Speaker 1: that there are more people that are open and Cody
Speaker 1: is a large part of that open to going to
Speaker 1: w w E. And uh, if the money is right
Speaker 1: and if they think they can be put in the
Speaker 1: main event position because w w is hurting for main eventors,
Speaker 1: you know, there are people that are gonna be willing
Speaker 1: to go there. So just interesting, oh on anybody they
Speaker 1: can use it as a negotiating ploy. Should There's only
Speaker 1: so many places you can work. There's only one bigger
Speaker 1: than the one you are working at if you're a
Speaker 1: w So if there could possibly be interested, you do
Speaker 1: want to kind of leave those doors kicked open a
Speaker 1: little bit. Just makes sense for your career. One thing
Speaker 1: I didn't really I was confused by what you said
Speaker 1: about John Cena being saying that it was so weird
Speaker 1: his promo. I thought it was the opposite. I thought
Speaker 1: it was a very stock John Cena promo where he
Speaker 1: thanked all the fans. You know, this is about you
Speaker 1: and me. Every time I succeed, every time I do
Speaker 1: a new movie, it's us doing it together and there's
Speaker 1: gonna be one more time where it's about us, and
Speaker 1: they started chanting one more time. It's not like he said, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm coming back for one more, but you know what
Speaker 1: it's gonna be, It's gonna be more than that. It's
Speaker 1: because they were chanting one more time and he cut off.
Speaker 1: He said, yeah, there's gonna be one more and then
Speaker 1: said whatever. You know it's but it's gonna be more
Speaker 1: than that. The Angle, they didn't angle whip theory where
Speaker 1: he walks away. They don't want to overshadow what's coming up,
Speaker 1: so I didn't. I don't know why you thought it
Speaker 1: was strange. I may miss something there, but I thought
Speaker 1: it was very paid by numbers. Well, it was strange
Speaker 1: because John Cena is scheduled to work SummerSlam, and so
Speaker 1: you don't have to shoot the Angle, you don't have
Speaker 1: to do the theory full whatever that night. But I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a big show. They advertised it forever. It's I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's gonna probably do a really big number. I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought he would at least come out and say,
Speaker 1: you know, Summer Slam. I don't know who I'm gonna face,
Speaker 1: but I'll be there instead it was like, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: one of these days I'll be back. I don't know when,
Speaker 1: I don't know where. It'll be more than one match,
Speaker 1: but you know, hey see you see guys later. And
Speaker 1: he just left. That was not what I was expecting.
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, I mean I didn't really take it.
Speaker 1: Is that once they did the angle with Theory in
Speaker 1: the back where it was okay, now these two are
Speaker 1: finally face to face for the first time, and Theory
Speaker 1: is obviously laying it into him and seen it just
Speaker 1: walks away from him and you could say, what you know,
Speaker 1: what you want about how they produced that and if
Speaker 1: that was the right thing to do or not. But
Speaker 1: I thought it was fine because you do have money
Speaker 1: in the bank coming up. That's this Saturday, so come Monday,
Speaker 1: I can see once the deal with Lashley is out
Speaker 1: of the way, whatever happens with it, that's when we're
Speaker 1: gonna see this thing amped up and see Theory. You know,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be obviously more Theory even seen on these shows,
Speaker 1: but having him pouring it on as much as he
Speaker 1: can to lead into whenever scene it comes back, because
Speaker 1: who knows when Seen is going to be back on
Speaker 1: raw again to lead into that for it says, maybe
Speaker 1: a stupid question, but how do you feel about them
Speaker 1: A hug? No? I don't consider that unprofessional. If if
Speaker 1: you do, that's that's your thing. But all right, who
Speaker 1: dropped me? Am? I out of here? Hey? I am
Speaker 1: you are? Do you hear me? I can hear you?
Speaker 1: Can you hear me? I hear you? Why can't the
Speaker 1: chat here's anymore? Can you hear us? No? We're back,
Speaker 1: We're back. That was weird. I don't know what happened
Speaker 1: right there? Anyway? Did I answer everybody's question? Maybe the
Speaker 1: question was so ridiculous of the thing muted? All right,
Speaker 1: what else do we get? I could be wrong, but
Speaker 1: I was hearing there are still one more spot in
Speaker 1: the men's ladder matches that correct? If so it really
Speaker 1: wasn't the last Chance Battle Royal. If that's the case,
Speaker 1: well it was a last Chance Battle Royal because when
Speaker 1: the show was booked, it was the last chance for
Speaker 1: those guys, and they had the match scheduled for the
Speaker 1: other spot, but that match had to be pulled because
Speaker 1: whatever happened with Kevin Owens happened. But yeah, it was
Speaker 1: still a last chance Battle Royal for the people in it,
Speaker 1: it was their last chance. And yes, I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised at all if Kevin Owens can come back. I
Speaker 1: would presume they're doing Kevin Owens and Elias and whatever
Speaker 1: they were gonna do on SmackDown this week, because there isn't.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know whatever. Remember when I uh
Speaker 1: was talking about how the brand extension is like, you know,
Speaker 1: essentially done, and then uh, you know, everyone did stories
Speaker 1: on it or whatever, and then I can't remember who
Speaker 1: it was, but you know, somebody said, well, what's actually
Speaker 1: going on is uh, the brand extension isn't dead, but
Speaker 1: you know everyone's gonna be going back and forth. That's
Speaker 1: what I said. So anyway, yes, people are just going
Speaker 1: back and forth on all the shows. I'm sure technically
Speaker 1: there's still a brand extension on paper and still there,
Speaker 1: but people on every show it's essentially done. Come on,
Speaker 1: Everything have to be about semantics in this world, that's
Speaker 1: what they say. It's about the networks. The networks wanted
Speaker 1: separate people so they can still say that this person
Speaker 1: is exclusive to you. That's why you're paying us all
Speaker 1: this money. Yeah, how funny is it? By the way,
Speaker 1: how funny is it that things aren't exclusive anymore? And
Speaker 1: look at these SmackDown numbers through the stratosphere, and these
Speaker 1: Raw numbers are huge, And granted there are other reasons
Speaker 1: for it, but my point is, it's not like it
Speaker 1: hurts your numbers because Roman Reigns is gonna be on SmackDown,
Speaker 1: but he can't be on Raw and vice versa. It's
Speaker 1: almost like having everybody available for both shows makes both
Speaker 1: shows like better. And you know, uh yeah, everyone's always
Speaker 1: got some theory, you know what I'm saying, there's always
Speaker 1: a theory. Well in theory this, in theory that well,
Speaker 1: as it turns out, wrestling fans like to see more
Speaker 1: stars on the show than less. Gee, who could have
Speaker 1: thought a town down that you keep talking not that theory.
Speaker 1: But the problem is the thing is he could be
Speaker 1: a star right now in a brand extension could work,
Speaker 1: even though it's a pain in the ass. But the
Speaker 1: bottom line is, you haven't created enough stars. Do you
Speaker 1: have a brand split? You barely have enough stars to
Speaker 1: have one show. So while that is the case, actually
Speaker 1: it's funny, Mike, It's funny. You're right and you're wrong.
Speaker 1: They have more than enough people to do a brand split,
Speaker 1: but on those people, they have no stars because they
Speaker 1: don't make a star. So therefore your brand split is
Speaker 1: causing more harm than good. Have I yelled enough today?
Speaker 1: Back in a moment Observer Live, I'm totally calm dude.
Speaker 1: You know, DJ here made up point. I'm gonna try
Speaker 1: and make an analogy out of it. I'm sure I'm
Speaker 1: gonna mess it up. Let's say, let's say that you
Speaker 1: got you got two local buffet restaurants and uh, and
Speaker 1: you know they're maybe they're uh, they the same, you know,
Speaker 1: truck brings them all the food and uh, and one
Speaker 1: of them is like, do we only want steak here?
Speaker 1: No fish? And then like the other ones like we
Speaker 1: only want fish, no steak. So like, if you like fish,
Speaker 1: you ain't ever going to the place it has no fish.
Speaker 1: And if you like steak, you're never going to the
Speaker 1: place it has no steak. So the two buffets, you know,
Speaker 1: they they're limiting the number of people that are gonna
Speaker 1: come into their buffet. Whereas if they both features stake
Speaker 1: and fish, then if you live in the town, well,
Speaker 1: whichever one's closer, whichever one year, buddy, you'll go to
Speaker 1: both of them, that's the stupid brand split. Oh well,
Speaker 1: we want an exclusive roster of half year stars. Oh wow,
Speaker 1: what a great idea, and exclusive roster of half the
Speaker 1: stars so you see the same matches over and over again.
Speaker 1: You never get to see half of the big stars.
Speaker 1: Has a great idea. And then here we are, and
Speaker 1: now you know everyone's on every show and lo and behold,
Speaker 1: w w E is doing significantly better than they've been
Speaker 1: doing for a while. Let me guess, Oh, it's because
Speaker 1: of this or that. Well, I'm sure there are other
Speaker 1: factors at work as well, but what I can tell
Speaker 1: you is it certainly has not hurt Fox to have
Speaker 1: their guys go to Raw and have the Raw guys
Speaker 1: go to Fox. And it certainly hasn't hurt Raw in
Speaker 1: the USA network for the Fox guys to go to
Speaker 1: Row and vice versa. But in theory, Mike solo tomorrow,
Speaker 1: he's had enough of me. I'm sure y'all have as well.
Speaker 1: But too bad. If you're a subscriber to Wrestling Observer
Speaker 1: dot com, I'm back tonight, I'm back tomorrow. You'll never
Speaker 1: get rid of me. I'll never retire. I'll talk to
Speaker 1: you next time. Wrestling Observe Alive. You have been listening
Speaker 1: to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the Eight Side Network.