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: Are you ready? Are you ready? Let's get it all.
Speaker 1: How's it going everybody? Brian Alvarez here on a Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer Live. But we are here every day Monday through Friday,
Speaker 1: New Pacific three Eastern, Sunday three Pacific, sixth Eastern. Well,
Speaker 1: it's Monday here on the show. You know that means
Speaker 1: we've got a lot to talk about here today Tonight
Speaker 1: Monday Night Raw. See how much Vince rips up today?
Speaker 1: He ripped up a little bit apparently on the SmackDown
Speaker 1: Show on Friday, but the show largely went off as planned,
Speaker 1: and in fact, it was miles miles better than Monday
Speaker 1: Night Raw. I can only hope that maybe Raw was
Speaker 1: an aberration. I won't hold my breath. We'll find out
Speaker 1: more tonight. But in fact, we have got the NXT
Speaker 1: len for tomorrow as well. We've got five segments announced
Speaker 1: for that show, and we've got a lot of news
Speaker 1: from the weekend. What do we have this weekend? Rampage, SmackDown,
Speaker 1: the Battle the Belts Show, Battle the Belt six, New
Speaker 1: Japan it's current genesis with in fact a new IGP
Speaker 1: World Heavyweight Champion in the form of Sonata, and so
Speaker 1: we can talk about all of those shows. Lots of
Speaker 1: review there. Plus we've got Nick Wayne. We have a
Speaker 1: debut date for Nick Wayne in a w and a
Speaker 1: first opponent, although as Swerve noted on Twitter, it will
Speaker 1: not be a championship match. The defied title will not
Speaker 1: be on the line, but they'll be having a match
Speaker 1: coming up for aw Dynamite July twelfth. Well, Osprey wants
Speaker 1: to wrestle on the Wembley Show all in What's tell
Speaker 1: what he has to say about that. Kenny Omega's going
Speaker 1: to be doing what it's gonna be, facing the winner
Speaker 1: of an upcoming at number one it contenders a tournament logan.
Speaker 1: Paul is back under contract with WWE. Why do I
Speaker 1: laugh while I laugh? Because ESPN states he has signed
Speaker 1: a multi year deal, which is funny because the last
Speaker 1: deal he signed was allegedly a multi year deal and
Speaker 1: it expired in a year. So I don't know what
Speaker 1: to make any of this. Well, we got a lot
Speaker 1: to get into today, so stick around. Mike Zimbervivi joins
Speaker 1: us after the break Wrestling Observer Live. Back in the show.
Speaker 1: Brian Alvarez here Wrestling Observer a Live. Mike Zimberviv also
Speaker 1: of Wrestling Observer dot com. What's that face for over there? Mike? God,
Speaker 1: look at you? Look at your face? Happy Eastern to
Speaker 1: you too, Happy East Her. I just started talking and
Speaker 1: you just are like, oh, I started talking. So it's
Speaker 1: usually my reaction. Yeah, you know, what's what do you
Speaker 1: think my job is? My job is to talk. Bu Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I know, so do a lot of talking.
Speaker 1: I'll see you in eight minutes and thirty five seconds.
Speaker 1: I just finished an hour long podcast, so I've been
Speaker 1: talking for an hour already. Now I gotta do this
Speaker 1: show you'll see. But I gotta do the Lance show
Speaker 1: coming up an hour. I gotta do a Dave show
Speaker 1: later on. Thank god. I want to talk about during
Speaker 1: that show. Why do you have to do a land show?
Speaker 1: What do you mean it's Monday? Oh no, it's Tom.
Speaker 1: Tom's Tom. Remember your old partner. I do, remember my
Speaker 1: old my old partner. Yeah, we're talking about New Japan.
Speaker 1: It's corea Genesis. I'd like to talk about that. Tom
Speaker 1: Tom matches on that show. And then uh, SmackDown. I
Speaker 1: just scared the heck out of Lance apparently why. I
Speaker 1: guess he thought the show is today. Anyway, we got
Speaker 1: a lot to get into Raw is tonight. I don't
Speaker 1: know what's on the show. I look for a lineup,
Speaker 1: couldn't find it. Did anybody know what's on Raw? Twitch
Speaker 1: homies to think that people pay for this program here? Well,
Speaker 1: you know what? I can tell you one thing. I
Speaker 1: can tell you one thing, and that is that NXT
Speaker 1: tomorrow has a number of big matches. I got a
Speaker 1: four way to determine the number one contender, Tom Carmelo
Speaker 1: Hayes's NXT title with Dragon, Lee, j D mcdonnaugh and
Speaker 1: two mystery names. Who could those two people be? We
Speaker 1: have Elbow Fire and is La Don against Fallon Henley
Speaker 1: and Keyana James for the NXT women's tag team titles,
Speaker 1: which reminds me by the way I figured out, I
Speaker 1: think why I liked that Keana James so much? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: why's that I got married at the key on a Lodge?
Speaker 1: Do you know that? Yeah? Elia Dragonov versus von Wagner,
Speaker 1: where von Wagner loses, mister Stone will walk away? Oh no, ye,
Speaker 1: Chase um VP ceremony for Duke Hudson and Corey Jade appearance.
Speaker 1: I got a prediction for this Dragonov von Wagner match. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think what's gonna happen is that is that Von
Speaker 1: Wagner is gonna win with help from somebody else who
Speaker 1: is going to replace mister Stone as his manager. So
Speaker 1: Von Wagner is going to get a new manager or
Speaker 1: maybe a partner or something, and he's gonna beat Elia,
Speaker 1: but still they're gonna destroy mister Stone afterwards, so we'll
Speaker 1: get idea. Yeah, that's what I think it's gonna happen here.
Speaker 1: No offense to mister Stone, old Robbie e there, but
Speaker 1: he has lasted a lot longer than I really thought
Speaker 1: he was going to, So God bless him and God's speed.
Speaker 1: Maybe he picks up a new a new client or
Speaker 1: something like that, but I'm all for von Wagner getting
Speaker 1: away from him. Look's a talented guy, but they ain't
Speaker 1: doing much with him, and they even talk about in storyline.
Speaker 1: They're like, yeah, you know, I don't know anything about you, Vaughan,
Speaker 1: just so you're tall and you you grunt or something
Speaker 1: like that. That's what he said and that was enough
Speaker 1: for you know, him to get his name on the
Speaker 1: Dottam line, for him to you know, be his client.
Speaker 1: I mean, what exactly then? What does that say if
Speaker 1: you're von Wagner about the guy who's representing you. I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, didn't you make any effort to know what
Speaker 1: kind of person you're representing? This is why Stokely Hathaway
Speaker 1: with other whatever name he was in WWD far better
Speaker 1: manager and NX Steve than Robert Stone was. That's funny.
Speaker 1: Everyone here angry. I'm talking about the NXT lineup. I
Speaker 1: asked you guys what the raw lineup was, and I
Speaker 1: don't see one person here telling me what the raw
Speaker 1: lineup is. So if you want me to talk about
Speaker 1: something other than that, oh, here we go. Thanks to
Speaker 1: b C. Night, he says, allegedly is Bianca versus EO,
Speaker 1: Judgment Day versus l D f oh Legato del Phantasma.
Speaker 1: The women's tag title match, which is Raquel and Live
Speaker 1: challenging for the titles against Becky and Leda. Cody will
Speaker 1: challenge Brock. I don't remember that. I just remember Cody
Speaker 1: saying he was going to talk about his future and
Speaker 1: the MS and Matt riddle and then it says, here,
Speaker 1: Sammy's ane and solo. Is that right, Sammy's ane and
Speaker 1: solo has been added. M Let see what happens. It's
Speaker 1: pretty good card though, honestly, well that's actually if it
Speaker 1: actually hands out. Yeah, Vince, Vince was not at SmackDown
Speaker 1: in Portland. He can't go to that town. But he
Speaker 1: did rewrite portions of the show, but not a lot.
Speaker 1: And if you watch the SmackDown show, it was it
Speaker 1: was miles miles better than Raw. And of course he
Speaker 1: was at Raw because it was a raw after WrestleMania.
Speaker 1: And so I don't want to I don't want to
Speaker 1: be that guy, but I should at least. You know,
Speaker 1: some people don't like any sort of positivity or potential
Speaker 1: positive thinking at all, but I like to think about
Speaker 1: what could happen. And you know, if if Triple H.
Speaker 1: And I'm skeptical to even say this, but I may
Speaker 1: as well if Triple H is gonna be writing this
Speaker 1: show every week, because he has in the last eight months,
Speaker 1: and Vince is gonna you know, skype in or whatever,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, acts this, acts that, But in
Speaker 1: general it's largely the same show. You know, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: not happy that Vince is back, but I will accept that.
Speaker 1: I don't need Vince ripping up the entire show and
Speaker 1: screwing everything up like you know he has done in
Speaker 1: the past. But you know, if he's if listen, I
Speaker 1: don't trust Vince as far as I could throw him.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what that old saying means, but
Speaker 1: that's how a little I trust him. But he did
Speaker 1: say that he would not be in the Weeds, whatever
Speaker 1: that means, and of course the last time he said that,
Speaker 1: it was a lie. He said that Eric Bischoff and
Speaker 1: Paul Hayman were going to be writing the show and
Speaker 1: he wasn't gonna be in the weeds. And meanwhile, Bischof
Speaker 1: set in catering the entire time, and I'm sure Paul
Speaker 1: was just madly frustrated. Vince just did all of his
Speaker 1: usual stuff. So we'll see what happens this time around.
Speaker 1: Because triple H, you know, is I mean, he's actually
Speaker 1: that's his role, you know, that's his his his contracted role.
Speaker 1: You know, when they send out, oh, Paul Lavec is
Speaker 1: the you know, someone in charge or whatever. I forget
Speaker 1: the exact title they've given him, but that's his job.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'd be okay if he actually did
Speaker 1: that job and then Vince, you know, came out of
Speaker 1: the weeds and changed the thing or two and then
Speaker 1: went back into the weeds again. Let's see what happens tonight.
Speaker 1: I just need to keep a triple H upright, you know,
Speaker 1: keep him healthy, keep him in position, because if he
Speaker 1: decides to go on in an extended vacation or something happens,
Speaker 1: then what now with Vince back in the picture. Is
Speaker 1: it him and Bruce and the old cronies by committee
Speaker 1: or do we go with Adam Pearce and then some
Speaker 1: of the people that have been acting as agents? You know,
Speaker 1: And I don't want to say, look, let's just go
Speaker 1: you're Jason Jordan's and I'm not sure who else is
Speaker 1: doing the agenting right now, but do you at some point,
Speaker 1: you know, do we have a backup plan? Who is
Speaker 1: that backup plan? Is it only Vince or is there
Speaker 1: somebody else? Are there actual new eyes that could possibly
Speaker 1: descend on this product who's not related to a McMahon.
Speaker 1: You know, We'll see. But it's very interesting here going
Speaker 1: forward because this is the back end for Vince at
Speaker 1: some point, you know, even though he's here, even though
Speaker 1: he's going to linger possibly forever. I mean, it's not
Speaker 1: going to be forever. And Triple H also isn't going
Speaker 1: to be forever. It is interesting to see what this
Speaker 1: company could do as it goes along here in endeavor,
Speaker 1: because it's a lot different than it was before. If
Speaker 1: there's no Stephanie, if there's no other McMahon or McMahon said,
Speaker 1: you know Acolyte involved. Well, you know, I always think
Speaker 1: about Tony Khan and how when he was in junior
Speaker 1: high in high school, he was just busy writing wrestling
Speaker 1: storylines all the time, and he ended up getting aw
Speaker 1: and he had no booking, like legitimate with a company
Speaker 1: booking experience, And you know, whatever you want to say
Speaker 1: about Tony's booking, I mean he's done it, and you
Speaker 1: know he's one booker of the Year a few times.
Speaker 1: And you know, Triple H when he took over an XT,
Speaker 1: what booking experience did he have other than being there
Speaker 1: in the room when Vince did all of his his
Speaker 1: wild things. So I'm not saying it's but you know
Speaker 1: what that's it is it is, but he booked totally
Speaker 1: different from Vince when he ran an XT totally different.
Speaker 1: And the fact is that I'm not saying the job
Speaker 1: is easy, but I'm also not I'm also saying it's
Speaker 1: not a job where like there's eight people on earth
Speaker 1: that could do it. Yeah, but there's one hundred people
Speaker 1: on your back in a corporate weird environment like that too.
Speaker 1: Mack in a moment with more Observerer Live back in
Speaker 1: the show, Brian Albarez here Wrestling Observer Live, Mike SEMBERBB
Speaker 1: also Wrestling Observer dot Com. Nick Wayne One that if
Speaker 1: I title this weekend, it'll be making his a W
Speaker 1: debut on the July twelve aw Dynamite, a couple of
Speaker 1: days a first Dynamite after his eighteenth birthday. It will
Speaker 1: be in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and he'll be facing Swerve Strickland.
Speaker 1: Swerves stated he wants his rematch, although he's made it
Speaker 1: clear it as not for the title. Defy title so uh,
Speaker 1: holy smokes, talking about right out of the gate, what
Speaker 1: a summer vacation. This kid's gonna have straight to work
Speaker 1: for a W. Good you have your passport in order.
Speaker 1: I have my passport in the order. But I'm mu sure,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make it to that show. Oh come on,
Speaker 1: when is this kid gonna it ain't gonna happen. You
Speaker 1: don't think I'm gonna see Nick Wayne if I don't
Speaker 1: go to this show? Are you kidding me? You're not
Speaker 1: gonna see Nick Wayne debut for aw against Swerve Strickland
Speaker 1: in Saskatoon. I saw Nick Wayne's debut in the ring
Speaker 1: when he was five, diapered buttocks into the ring. Any
Speaker 1: times that kid beat me in that ballpit. Oh man,
Speaker 1: fantastic genetics with that kid, and a fantastic support system
Speaker 1: around him. And you know, Swerth Strickland is a real
Speaker 1: bastard if anybody knows the history between Swerve and in
Speaker 1: Nick Wayne. So you know, I'm hoping for Nick Wayne's
Speaker 1: sake he has learned from that and does not get
Speaker 1: laid out and slaughtered like the last time there with Swerve,
Speaker 1: you know when he was which just had his head
Speaker 1: there held. Okay, he wins the title from him, but
Speaker 1: now what happens, He's going to be pissed. Nick be careful.
Speaker 1: You'll need more than Brian Alvarez there. Maybe get Filthy, hey, Saskatoon,
Speaker 1: Maybe Brock could be there, watches back. Well, he's a
Speaker 1: Saskatchewan He's a cowboy now and where is brocka living?
Speaker 1: Is it in Saskatoon? I'm sure he spends his time
Speaker 1: in Manitoba's small locales. Well, Osprey wants on the card
Speaker 1: when presents All In from Wembley on August twenty seventh.
Speaker 1: Twenty nine year old told Dark pro Red Flosian recently
Speaker 1: that he is hopeful there will be an opportunity for
Speaker 1: him to perform on the show. Says, I'm a guy
Speaker 1: that pops in all the love in the world to
Speaker 1: all those It's amazing crew. I hope there's an opportunity
Speaker 1: as one of the guys that flies a flag forever
Speaker 1: where I go to do that would finally make my
Speaker 1: dad proud. He has been out of action since a
Speaker 1: shoulder injury caused him to withdraw from the New Japan
Speaker 1: Cup last month. New Japan recently announced he'll participate in
Speaker 1: a four person single elimination tournament to determine Kenny Omega's
Speaker 1: next challenger for the US title. First matching the tournament
Speaker 1: will see Archer and Juice Robinson face off a collision
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia on Sunday. He will then wrestle hiroshutan Ashi
Speaker 1: and Resurgence in Long Beach on May twenty one. Winners
Speaker 1: will wrestle each other in the finals at Dominion Osaka
Speaker 1: Joe Hall Sunday, June four. The winner of that match
Speaker 1: will challenge Omega on a date that is yet to
Speaker 1: be determined. I would think that osprein Omega for the
Speaker 1: United States title in Wembley Field. I'd be a pretty
Speaker 1: damn big match myself. I don't know about the rest
Speaker 1: of you well, and I'd advocate for it. How about this,
Speaker 1: You can still advocate for that, but how about advocating
Speaker 1: that it happens. Oh, I don't know at Forbidden Door first,
Speaker 1: because the way those dates start to move along falls
Speaker 1: right into place. Maybe you could have a match there
Speaker 1: and then have a third match at Wembley. I don't
Speaker 1: think anybody would get sick of seeing those two Russell,
Speaker 1: especially if Osprey, you know, coming home to the UK
Speaker 1: big match with Omega. Maybe you never know, So let's
Speaker 1: see nap. I here's a thing. I mean, you could
Speaker 1: absolutely do that. But what I would do is I
Speaker 1: would announce after he wins a tournament that he will
Speaker 1: be getting a shot in Wembley, and I'd start selling
Speaker 1: tickets and then for been Door, I would do what
Speaker 1: New Japan usually does before a big title match, and
Speaker 1: that is a tag match where it's like Kenny Omega.
Speaker 1: You can even do a six man Kenny Omega and
Speaker 1: the Elite against will Osprey and whoever, and sure, and
Speaker 1: then away you go against uh, go ahead and do
Speaker 1: Davis and Fletcher. You know, they just won the tag.
Speaker 1: Sure they've been They've been fantastic. And we haven't seen
Speaker 1: that one yet, have we? Have we seen the young
Speaker 1: Bucks and Fletcher and Davis? I mean, everybody else who
Speaker 1: Fletcher and Davis's face. It's been a really good match,
Speaker 1: no matter who their competition is. So I'm all for that.
Speaker 1: All right? What else do we have here? A lot,
Speaker 1: by the way, I guess, and after the break we'll
Speaker 1: talk about all these shows. Logan Paul officially back under
Speaker 1: contract with w WE. He has signed a new deal
Speaker 1: after his contract expired at the end of WrestleMania thirty
Speaker 1: nine ESPN No. His new contract is a multi year deal.
Speaker 1: This follows his last multi year deal, which lasted a year.
Speaker 1: You know, I made a joke with Dave about this.
Speaker 1: He didn't fall for it. I said, maybe the multi
Speaker 1: year deal was twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: one year, the rest of twenty twenty one and then
Speaker 1: half of twenty twenty two. That's multi year. That's twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one and twenty twenty two. He said, nah, it'd
Speaker 1: be one year, So I don't know. But he claims
Speaker 1: this is a multi year deal, and Triple H says, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's great. So anyway, Logan Paul's resigned. Everybody any more
Speaker 1: match to come with that guy? All right, well let's
Speaker 1: talk a little bit a bit about this screw at
Speaker 1: Genesis show. So funny the way we're just limping into
Speaker 1: this Monday. I'm not limping into the Monday. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a big Easter hangover going on right now.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I watched a lot of great stuff. Except
Speaker 1: now I can't find my Acura Genesis notes. Why Why
Speaker 1: is that? Because it's Monday. I think it's because I
Speaker 1: did a poor copy and paste. Oh you know what
Speaker 1: it was. It hadn't fully loaded when I did the
Speaker 1: copy thing because I wrote so many words. All right,
Speaker 1: scour Genesis was all the title matches and Mercedes beat
Speaker 1: a Zumi and A Zuki, which I thought was good,
Speaker 1: And U don't want to talk too much about it
Speaker 1: because you know how it goes, Mike, you know it goes.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be people out of the woodwork. I know,
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, but I will say that A Zooming
Speaker 1: and Zuki looked great. And Mercedes she did a good
Speaker 1: job hanging in there with them and like doing all
Speaker 1: the spots and everything like that. But there was a
Speaker 1: sizeable gap I felt between the Stardom women and Mercedes,
Speaker 1: but they they got through it there. Then we had
Speaker 1: a great match, a great match, like from this point
Speaker 1: for all of these matches were great. But I know
Speaker 1: the tag match is probably, like you know, objectively, the
Speaker 1: subjective best match. But I thought Zach Saber Jr. And
Speaker 1: Showed Umino was so great because it's such a simple
Speaker 1: story showed to Umino wants his TV title. He's beating
Speaker 1: Zach but he has not won the title, and they
Speaker 1: go in there and he's just he's getting closer, and
Speaker 1: he's getting closer, and he keeps teasing this death rider,
Speaker 1: and Zach keeps avoiding the death rider, and finally he
Speaker 1: hits his big Tornado DDT. He goes for the death rider,
Speaker 1: Zach kicks out showed and then goes for a cradle.
Speaker 1: DDT tries a death rider again, Zach rovers into a cradle,
Speaker 1: pins him clean places just like ah. But you know
Speaker 1: what's funny about this match that well, I saw this
Speaker 1: match and also saw Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes okay,
Speaker 1: and in both of these matches the person the fans
Speaker 1: wanted to see win didn't. Okay, So in this match
Speaker 1: showed his guinny He's getting closer and closer and he
Speaker 1: gets cradled to people like, ah, dang it, he'll get
Speaker 1: him next time. But the Cody Roman match, Cody's getting
Speaker 1: closer and closer, hits two of the uh. The Gibbicks
Speaker 1: up comes solo next him, Roman spears him and the
Speaker 1: reaction was, ah, like what and they just got out
Speaker 1: of there. Afterwards they were angry, totally totally different reactions
Speaker 1: from the crowd. Won't be the only time you'll be
Speaker 1: able to draw a parallel from that show to a
Speaker 1: you know, a match taking place on Secura Genesis. Well,
Speaker 1: what else do we have on the show. The tag match,
Speaker 1: which was great. Assie opened beat Goto and Yoshi Hashi
Speaker 1: for the tag titles. When Fletcher did a moonsault busted
Speaker 1: open his head that he fights his way back into
Speaker 1: the ring and all of a sudden, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think they were gonna chant for Ossie Opened anyway, but man,
Speaker 1: they were. This Japanese crowd loudly, repeatedly chanting for Ossie
Speaker 1: Opened to win the match, which they finally did with
Speaker 1: the Korelis, they won the titles. This match was awesome.
Speaker 1: Haromo and Robbie Eagles, this match was awesome. Awesome, man,
Speaker 1: Robbie Eagles took ninety of this match, just destroyed this
Speaker 1: poor guy, and and he put him in the Ron
Speaker 1: Miller special at the end, and it was like it's over, dude.
Speaker 1: No can escape, as they say in jiu jitsu. But somehow,
Speaker 1: somehow Haromo got to the ropes. Eagles tried to get
Speaker 1: a Roma rolled through time bomb pinned him. Holy smokes.
Speaker 1: They good. They could have put this title on Rob
Speaker 1: Eagles here and this these fans would add no problem
Speaker 1: with it. I would have no problem with it. I
Speaker 1: love Rob Eagles. Let's see what they have for the
Speaker 1: best of the super juniors. Ye're coming up as far
Speaker 1: as competition for Haromu. But man, I like Rob Eagles
Speaker 1: a lot. Then we had Okada Sonata for the IWGP
Speaker 1: title and it was a great match. O'cada is great.
Speaker 1: It's not a I mean, athletically, he was great. I
Speaker 1: will say that. You know, the criticism of Sonata has
Speaker 1: always been he just doesn't have the charisma of these
Speaker 1: tippy top guys. And here he was in this title match,
Speaker 1: He's gonna win the title, and like, he did a
Speaker 1: great job. But it was the same story that was
Speaker 1: not that. Oh my god, look at this Sonana. He's
Speaker 1: finally I mean, he won the title. It was great
Speaker 1: and all, but not about the charisma. It's about the projection,
Speaker 1: and he was projecting. He did a good job. We'll talk.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you about this after the breakas over
Speaker 1: live pros. Come on now listen. I am not saying.
Speaker 1: I am not saying that Sonata is bereft of charisma.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying. What I said was he does not
Speaker 1: have the charisma of the tippy top guys. Now, if
Speaker 1: you want to argue this with me, let's play a game.
Speaker 1: Hold on, hold on, let's play the game. Let's play
Speaker 1: the game. I will name a top star that I
Speaker 1: have seen in a Japanese wrestling main event of late,
Speaker 1: and I want you to tell me if that person
Speaker 1: or Sonata? Who has more chrismas Sonata or that person? Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: here we go, Yes, Tetsuya, Nito, Nito, okay, Kgi Mutoka. Oh,
Speaker 1: get out of here, Get out of here, Kgi, Muto.
Speaker 1: Let me do some more. Choo Choo choo on commentary,
Speaker 1: Choto on commentary, Chono doing nothing, just sitting there in
Speaker 1: a chair, whearing aeratris stuff looking like Chono. Of course
Speaker 1: it's Chono. Why are you doing this? You know this
Speaker 1: isn't fair. It's of course it's fair. Maki Ito Huh,
Speaker 1: that's what I thought. Who else do you want me
Speaker 1: to go with? Okada? Yeah, Hiroshi, Tonashi, filthy Tom Lawler.
Speaker 1: You want me to make people mad? Great Okahan huh Yeah.
Speaker 1: Look so anyway, everything that you're saying has nothing to
Speaker 1: do with Sonata being a worthwhile in erstwhile IWGP World Heavy.
Speaker 1: I advocated for him to win the title, and he has.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing, he was projecting a lot more
Speaker 1: than he does in some of his other matches. With
Speaker 1: that said, regardless of what you think of him or
Speaker 1: what anybody else thinks of him. He's a lot more
Speaker 1: over and his charisma is a lot more accepted by
Speaker 1: the fans over in Japan. We shall see over the
Speaker 1: span of the next couple of months here whether he's
Speaker 1: able to actually take the ball, run with it, do
Speaker 1: what Okada did with it and elevated, do what Tanahashi
Speaker 1: did with it and elevate it. We'll see what he does.
Speaker 1: If he fails, it's very easy to take it off
Speaker 1: of him and slide him into something else. But you
Speaker 1: making comparisons to some of the biggest, most charismatic superstars
Speaker 1: in all of us, why not just say Dusty Rhodes
Speaker 1: in Sonata, Rick Flair in Sonata. My god, you should
Speaker 1: be ashamed. I mean, he is the IWGP heavyweight champion
Speaker 1: right now, That's what he is right now. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: needs You were the champions Derby City, were the most
Speaker 1: charismatic man there. I was not the champion of Derby City.
Speaker 1: Kidding me, Hey, well, in all of techs arcana, you
Speaker 1: were not the most entertaining man even when you had
Speaker 1: the title. That would have been Larry Sweeney. But you
Speaker 1: know what they put it on. You're sorry, but anyway,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, is that right? I didn't have the charism
Speaker 1: of Larry Sweeney. H No, you didn't do That's beside
Speaker 1: the point. Am I the i WGP heavyweight champion? Nah?
Speaker 1: I didn't think so? Ye champion? Now because you ran
Speaker 1: to the back, you go take a pee, and you
Speaker 1: didn't listen to anybody when they told you the titles
Speaker 1: were on the line. Would you prefer I peed in
Speaker 1: the ring mic, because I don't think anybody would have
Speaker 1: want to see that. Well, didn't we learn anything from
Speaker 1: that XPW show? You certainly crap the bed proverbially now
Speaker 1: that a let's talk about let's talk about rampage in
Speaker 1: Battle of the Belts. There's some good matches on these
Speaker 1: two shows, and honestly, I think the best match of
Speaker 1: the night involved somebody that I heard a lot of
Speaker 1: criticism about when he joined up with Powerhouse Hobbs QT Marshall.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, huh here we go, dude? You tell
Speaker 1: me QT and Powerhouse Hobbs versus the Lucabros was not
Speaker 1: an awesome match. That match was awesome. You tell I've
Speaker 1: watched Qt Marshall for a lot of years. QT Marshall
Speaker 1: was actually the first person Avery ever heckled. Every they
Speaker 1: ran the Future of Honors show out and people were chanting,
Speaker 1: QT sucks. So Avery's little at the time he went
Speaker 1: along QT socks and Qt's looking at him and then
Speaker 1: looking at me saying like, you know, what kind of
Speaker 1: father are you? Then the next day at work, Avery
Speaker 1: actually sent me a text from Jessica's phone that said, remember, daddy,
Speaker 1: QT sucks. That's how good of a time he had
Speaker 1: at the show. So you know, it's funny. You know,
Speaker 1: it's funny as people people like to argue with me
Speaker 1: so much. Then as I read these texts right here,
Speaker 1: QT is great at getting heat q TV forever hold on,
Speaker 1: QT rocks. QT is greater than Hobbes. Who that's the problem,
Speaker 1: that's the problem. Is greater than Roman. This person says, Oh,
Speaker 1: I like the QT vignette. So now here's my question.
Speaker 1: Here's my question. What QTM Marshall or Sonata? Everybody? Huh Sonata?
Speaker 1: Will you stop? Oh? Now, I see now that's Les Taca.
Speaker 1: Is they lost that damn match Brian in Powerhouse Hobbs.
Speaker 1: Look if they have a great long term plant, fine,
Speaker 1: But I saw this dude. Actually everyone's voting, and I
Speaker 1: was voting QT over Sonata. Oh Jesus, because he had
Speaker 1: a bunch of trolls on Monday. He had the Book
Speaker 1: of Hobbes. He didn't need QT, So then they put
Speaker 1: him with QT. And this badass who's talking about getting
Speaker 1: shot at all of these struggles in his life. Then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he's sitting there in a Harvey
Speaker 1: Leven type of TMZ situation with a bunch of goobers
Speaker 1: talking about he used a man's credit card to go
Speaker 1: buy himself a truck. Come on with this nonsense. The
Speaker 1: bottom line is those two lost and Powerhouse Hoops shouldn't
Speaker 1: be a part of no losing on TV. Oh, get
Speaker 1: out of here. I thought this match was great? What
Speaker 1: else was great? You know what else was great? I
Speaker 1: wouldn't call it great, but was actually you know what,
Speaker 1: if you're on the Jade Cargill scale, this was great.
Speaker 1: Jade Cargill and Billy Starks like, dude, this as a
Speaker 1: man and the had any right to be as a match.
Speaker 1: What would you say? Two and three quarter stars? Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe three, But if you look at the career of
Speaker 1: Jade Cargill, I mean this was in the very tippy
Speaker 1: top tier of matches she has had. She's sold a
Speaker 1: ton for Billy Starks. She did beat her, but then
Speaker 1: afterwards Tier ran down, Tya goes for her move and
Speaker 1: Jade Cargiles scadaddled she got out of dodge. So as
Speaker 1: far as like, from the beginning of the match to
Speaker 1: the end of the match and the post match where
Speaker 1: she sold for her next opponent, this may have been
Speaker 1: the best Jade Cargiles segment I ever saw. I agree
Speaker 1: right down to her scattering out of the ring, and
Speaker 1: you know, Jim Ross saying she was smart for doing it.
Speaker 1: I think you were absolutely right. And at some point
Speaker 1: Billy Starts is gonna be all elite to at some
Speaker 1: point down the line for sure. We had Dualistico and
Speaker 1: Orange Cassidy for the aw International title. Though this was
Speaker 1: a very good match, and the story is that Orange
Speaker 1: Cassidy hurt his punching hand last week, he hit the
Speaker 1: punch again this week and now the hand'sn't even worse shape.
Speaker 1: And then he gets challenged by Buddy Matthews, which presumably
Speaker 1: he's going to take place on either Dynamite or Rampage
Speaker 1: coming up here. Very soon and they're teas in that man.
Speaker 1: Now another champion being worn down. Is he going to
Speaker 1: retain or is he not? At this point in your life,
Speaker 1: if you hurt your punch in hand, you'd be pretty
Speaker 1: lonely for quite some time. I'm very interested to see
Speaker 1: if Orange Cassidy holds onto that title because he is
Speaker 1: now replacing Eddie Kingston at the Collision Show in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: and if he goes and he wins this match against Buddy,
Speaker 1: then he'll actually have to put that title up on
Speaker 1: the line against Carl Fredericks. So I'm all for that.
Speaker 1: Carl Fredericks, I mean not Carl Frederick said, who the
Speaker 1: hell is he facing? Damn it, No, you can't remember.
Speaker 1: Let me guess it's Monday. Well maybe it's Sonata, Carl
Speaker 1: Fredericks or Sonata Sonata. All right, you win that one,
Speaker 1: all right. Then we had Hook and ethan Page anything
Speaker 1: goes match, which they got like twelve minutes, and it
Speaker 1: was good. It's probably the best hook match I've ever
Speaker 1: seen as well. Brawled all over the place and look
Speaker 1: at it. Look at you fought all over tables, chairs, crowd,
Speaker 1: super in. The hook hits the red rum gets the submission,
Speaker 1: and they had a table in the corner and they
Speaker 1: didn't break it, so you were thinking, can't be over yet,
Speaker 1: but it was. And then he gave him the exploder
Speaker 1: through the table for good measure, which I like that
Speaker 1: psychology teaching the fans you know what a match can
Speaker 1: end before you break all those tables. That's what we
Speaker 1: learned here, Darby Ellen and Lee Moriarty. Darby Ellen got
Speaker 1: hit by a car. They just tell us this, and like,
Speaker 1: was this news before they announced this on television? Can
Speaker 1: anybody help me with this? Because I was gone all
Speaker 1: day Friday? Was this like we did? Anybody liked what
Speaker 1: he hear about this before they announced it on television? No?
Speaker 1: I did not know, okay, all right because I they
Speaker 1: it was so nonchalant the way they announced it, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, I got hit by a car this afternoon.
Speaker 1: Now he's wrestling. I guess it was a previous afternoon.
Speaker 1: Woke up this morning, you know, fell out of a window.
Speaker 1: Now he's here. But apparently he was like skateboarding in
Speaker 1: a tunnel or something in a fast car like smashed him.
Speaker 1: And then he like he came back and wrestled the
Speaker 1: next night and then took a brutal flying spitting f
Speaker 1: five by Brian Cage on the ramp. Looked like he
Speaker 1: landed right in his head. And so the embassy and
Speaker 1: Mogul affiliates have merged. Prince Nana is out there. They
Speaker 1: need to do more with that. Prince Nanna. That was
Speaker 1: a great time. Get something going with Swerve too while
Speaker 1: you're at it. Perfect combination. Let him go. Forget all
Speaker 1: the other nonsense, forget Trench and all this other you know,
Speaker 1: and forget about what Dave was saying about, well we
Speaker 1: need to have Keith Lee. It's no, we don't. Let
Speaker 1: did it go something new? Let's go with Swerve. Let's go.
Speaker 1: You know. A funny thing about aw Actually there's a
Speaker 1: lot of funny things about AWE and w WB. For
Speaker 1: a long time they even want managers. And when they
Speaker 1: actually had a manager like Paul Hayman, they don't call
Speaker 1: him a manager. He's an advocate or he's the wise man.
Speaker 1: Like they didn't want managers. Aw It's like they have
Speaker 1: all of these managers, but like the idea behind a
Speaker 1: manager is like they do all the talking, and granted
Speaker 1: Swerve can talk and everything like that, but what is
Speaker 1: the point a Prince Nana being there and not talking,
Speaker 1: and it's not just him, It's like they have a
Speaker 1: lot of managers, like Vicky Guerrero was there for a
Speaker 1: while and what did you do two promos? Maybe? I mean,
Speaker 1: they have a lot of managers that don't actually apparently
Speaker 1: do any managing. I want Prince Nana promos or I
Speaker 1: want him to sing We're in the money again because
Speaker 1: that was the highlight of his aw career so far.
Speaker 1: I'm all for it. Can we get mo Green back
Speaker 1: out from movie W two while we're at it? He
Speaker 1: may as well. There's a lot of it. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of great managers out there that are they are underutilized.
Speaker 1: And then Julia Hart and Anna j which was not
Speaker 1: a particularly good match, was the main event. I was
Speaker 1: surprised they put in the main event position, especially because like,
Speaker 1: you know, you can go well, you know, they've been
Speaker 1: kind of feuding and doing angles well, so Hook and
Speaker 1: Ethan Page trying to keep thirsty men late, that's what
Speaker 1: they were doing. Plus it's a it's an anything goes
Speaker 1: match where you could have ended with that and then
Speaker 1: went right into the second show, but you know, they
Speaker 1: opted not to do that and uh, you know why,
Speaker 1: and Julius sprayed missed and won with a cradle and
Speaker 1: then that led directly into the Battle of the Belt show.
Speaker 1: So that was that, and then a quick note on SmackDown.
Speaker 1: Really the most important thing on the show was just
Speaker 1: the main event angle where Sammy was going to wrestle
Speaker 1: Jay Usso, and you know, Paul Hayman essentially told Solo
Speaker 1: either Jay beats Sammy tonight and takes care of the
Speaker 1: Sammy problem, or we take care of our problem teasing.
Speaker 1: They're gonna kill jus So. Jay wins after Solo hit
Speaker 1: the thumber the throat and then Solo goes to thumb
Speaker 1: Sammy and Jay stops him. Man, he says that's enough,
Speaker 1: and so the fans think, oh man, he's gonna see
Speaker 1: the light, but instead he's super kicks. Sammy tell Solo
Speaker 1: to get a chair. They go to kill the guy,
Speaker 1: but Riddle runs down to make the save. So I think,
Speaker 1: if if the chat here is correct, it's Sammy and
Speaker 1: Solo tonight in a tag match coming up on Friday
Speaker 1: would be my guest. But anyway, back in the boat
Speaker 1: with more here on a Monday, observe her live, I
Speaker 1: got the show. Brian Alberez here Wrestling Observer Live, Mike
Speaker 1: sempre bb elsom Wrestling Observer dot Com. So this is funny.
Speaker 1: Fella here works in ticketing and you got this email
Speaker 1: the Ticketmaster client newsletter and they highlight recent successes and
Speaker 1: announced new features, etc. And they got a blurb about
Speaker 1: the success of WrestleMania at Sofi, including using the gimmick
Speaker 1: attendance number. It says here Sofi Stadium and WWE host
Speaker 1: most successful WrestleMania of all time. Ww arrived in LA
Speaker 1: this weekend at WrestleMania thirty nine took place at Sofi
Speaker 1: Stadium in Hollywood Park. The two nights sold out performance
Speaker 1: sent a new live attendance record for the stadium, welcoming
Speaker 1: one hundred sixty one tho eight hundred ninety two fans
Speaker 1: to the event. With it adds one hundred percent of
Speaker 1: fans utilizing mobile for entry. Then has all these other,
Speaker 1: all these other records, viewership, gate, sponsorship, merchandise, social media,
Speaker 1: the most successful WrestleMania ever. I'm not gonna go. They're
Speaker 1: celebrating one hundred percent of fans utilize mobile for entry,
Speaker 1: which is funny for two reasons Number one, Well, of
Speaker 1: course you had to use a mobile. It won't let
Speaker 1: you in otherwise. That's like saying that was like a
Speaker 1: NASA sent at a press release and said one hundred
Speaker 1: percent of astronauts use their rocket to get to the
Speaker 1: moon this year. It's like, no, shoot, are you gonna drive?
Speaker 1: And then the other funny thing, Yes, the other funny
Speaker 1: thing dom is that it's true. It's not true because
Speaker 1: I also got into WrestleMania and I merely went up
Speaker 1: to that that ticket counter and I gave him my
Speaker 1: name and they let me in. I did not utilize
Speaker 1: mobile for entry Ticketmaster. So I demand you change what
Speaker 1: you have written here in this newsletter and make sure
Speaker 1: you get had all the facts next time. And after
Speaker 1: all this talk in the last couple of hours, I
Speaker 1: got to take a break. I may need to take
Speaker 1: a couple of daybreak. But thanks for Mike. As always,
Speaker 1: callers and listeners over the studio, We'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next time. Wrestling Observe Alive. You have been listening to
Speaker 1: the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.