# Sound Off 971 - Summerslam Gets Its REAL Main Event, Jeff Jarrett And The BATTLE FOR TNA!

An episode of [Solomonster Sounds Off](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/313139609), 12 Jul 2026, 2 h 05 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/35/clrtpod.com/m/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72940205/b063fcbe_7b1b_4de8_9158_1f53abfe36a9.mp3

This is my first time opening with thoughts on TWO DIFFERENT IRISHMEN in Conor McGregor and Sheamus, but at least one of them isn't totally washed... plus, we had TWO MAJOR World championship changes this week in WWE and AEW, both of which will have big implications for their upcoming shows... Summerslam gets a boost and might there be a heel turn in the works for Cody Rhodes or CM Punk... Saturday Night's Main Event PREDICTIONS... the return of Hangman Adam Page on Collision... the WWE Hall of Famer undergoing brain surgery soon... and a DOUBLE DARK SIDE OF THE RING REVIEW on Jeff Jarrett and the battle for TNA Wrestling, including an epic burial of Dixie Carter. Buckle up, this one's a doozy! Support my sponsors this week by using the links below! BETTERHELP ▶ Sign up and get 10 PERCENT OFF your first month at http://www.betterhelp.com/solomonster to start being your best self. Thanks to BetterHelp for sponsoring this week's episode! EXPRESSVPN ▶ Get an extra FOUR MONTHS FREE of the #1 trusted VPN at http://www.expressvpn.com/solomonster *** Follow Solomonster on X (formerly Twitter) for news and opinion: http://x.com/solomonster Subscribe to the Solomonster Sounds Off on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSolomonster?sub_confirmation=1 Become a Solomonster Sounds Off Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jcg7mk93fGNqWPMfl_Aig/join

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: It's business time, baby. You are listening to Solo Monster.
[0:05] Speaker 1: It sounds off. I love you so, mama monster, dude,
[0:11] Speaker 1: I want your soul. Mind a woman.
[0:13] Speaker 2: You got grown ass wrestlers in the back going on Twitter.
[0:16] Speaker 1: Come over here, party? Is that Pet Patterson? You have legs?
[0:21] Speaker 1: The week I was ninety nine percent positive. It was
[0:25] Speaker 1: just chessed up.
[0:25] Speaker 2: Now I have been begging him for a job on
[0:28] Speaker 2: every every platform I can, and I want.
[0:30] Speaker 1: To know the reason why you won't park. This is
[0:34] Speaker 1: episode nine seventy one, The Solomn Monster Sounds Off number
[0:38] Speaker 1: one in wrestling on Apple podcasts in all of the
[0:42] Speaker 1: United States to kick off the week. Last week, it
[0:45] Speaker 1: is Sunday, July twelve, twenty twenty six. I am the Solomonster.
[0:50] Speaker 1: I finished the damn story and now we start a
[0:53] Speaker 1: new one here this week. That was very cool to see.
[0:56] Speaker 1: Thank you all for the support. This was a historic week,
[0:59] Speaker 1: not only when I saw my name above cornets, but
[1:02] Speaker 1: because this was the first time two major world titles
[1:05] Speaker 1: have changed hands on TV in the same week since
[1:09] Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine. That was last century. That was the
[1:14] Speaker 1: week that Mankind's WWF title went over the Rock aired
[1:18] Speaker 1: on Raw and Kevin Nash dropped the WCW World title
[1:21] Speaker 1: to Hollywood Hogan with the fingerpoke of doom on Nitro
[1:25] Speaker 1: Cmpunk is the new WWE Champion and Kenny Omega is
[1:30] Speaker 1: the new AW World Champion. And we got two great
[1:33] Speaker 1: television main events to go along with those title changes,
[1:36] Speaker 1: which is why I said when they were over, or
[1:38] Speaker 1: I said it on Monday. Anyway, I can't hate on
[1:41] Speaker 1: it because the matches we got this week were so good.
[1:44] Speaker 1: I can critique it. I can express my reservations with
[1:48] Speaker 1: certain things or the way that they were done, but
[1:51] Speaker 1: I cannot hate on either of those matches. We got
[1:53] Speaker 1: two of the best TV matches all year within forty
[1:55] Speaker 1: eight hours of each other. And I've got a lot
[1:58] Speaker 1: to say about that night's main event, predictions for the
[2:02] Speaker 1: three matches that we know of so far for next
[2:05] Speaker 1: weekend show, the return of a former AW World champion
[2:10] Speaker 1: on Collision last night, and it is time once again.
[2:16] Speaker 1: You have been waiting for it, you've been asking for it.
[2:20] Speaker 1: A new season of Dark Side of the Ring is
[2:23] Speaker 1: upon us, and they graced us with a double episode
[2:26] Speaker 1: for the season premiere. I watched both episodes on Jeff
[2:31] Speaker 1: Jarrett and the Battle for TNA, and I have much
[2:34] Speaker 1: to say about it, So that's all coming up on
[2:37] Speaker 1: today's show. By the way, this show already lasted longer
[2:41] Speaker 1: than Connor McGregor did in his UFC return last night
[2:46] Speaker 1: Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. They only lasted seventeen seconds
[2:50] Speaker 1: and was still more entertaining than whatever the hell that
[2:52] Speaker 1: was last night. Dude has one win in five losses
[2:56] Speaker 1: in the last nine years with a body made of
[2:58] Speaker 1: paper mache. This guy is washed. I want to know
[3:03] Speaker 1: more about this person who bet nine hundred thousand dollars
[3:06] Speaker 1: on Holloway to win right before the fight started. What
[3:09] Speaker 1: did that guy know? And did his name happen to
[3:12] Speaker 1: be Gregory mcconnor. These are the questions that I have
[3:16] Speaker 1: swirling in my mind. If you would like to support
[3:19] Speaker 1: the podcast, you may do so on the Solemn Monster
[3:21] Speaker 1: dot com. The PayPal link is at the top of
[3:23] Speaker 1: the page. Can't miss it. Ten dollars or more, we'll
[3:26] Speaker 1: get your nickname and a shout out. We had a
[3:28] Speaker 1: big first week on YouTube for the month of July.
[3:32] Speaker 1: All that momentum and support from week one carried on
[3:35] Speaker 1: over into week two. You guys killed it. We had
[3:38] Speaker 1: a bunch of three hour streams. Funny SmackDown goes to
[3:41] Speaker 1: two hours and the Sound Off. The SoundOff streams on
[3:44] Speaker 1: YouTube moved to three but we've been having a lot
[3:46] Speaker 1: of fun on there. I might even bust out the
[3:48] Speaker 1: phone calls as a bonus goal this week. We'll see
[3:51] Speaker 1: maybe a't some point if you guys would like to
[3:53] Speaker 1: see that. But I want to say thank you to
[3:55] Speaker 1: Miss Madness Michelle Mills, always supporting the podcast, has always
[4:00] Speaker 1: much appreciated. The Portland pop Star, Paul Hamilton, Big b Bryant, Bessera,
[4:06] Speaker 1: The Diamond, Dallas Dance Machine, Harrison Soep, Velvet Revolver, Robert Murray,
[4:12] Speaker 1: Big Time, Boris Weinman, the Chicago Slayer Willie Aicherd, speaking
[4:18] Speaker 1: of Chicago, woke up to a flight cancelation this morning
[4:23] Speaker 1: for one of my flights for the next Hog Show.
[4:26] Speaker 1: They canceled by flight. They rescheduled me for five o'clock
[4:29] Speaker 1: in the morning. Fuck off, So now I have to
[4:32] Speaker 1: deal with this, But I will be in Chicago at
[4:35] Speaker 1: the end of September for House of Glory. Q the Destroyer,
[4:38] Speaker 1: Thank you brother, Best in the Game, Trey Porter, Night Stalker,
[4:42] Speaker 1: Ni f Alsafar and Killshot Keith Hart. Now I mentioned
[4:47] Speaker 1: House of Glory before we had a big announcement this week.
[4:50] Speaker 1: We've been getting a lot of questions about where our
[4:52] Speaker 1: next event is going to be streaming because Hog is
[4:56] Speaker 1: no longer going to be streaming on Triller TV. We
[4:59] Speaker 1: have big farewell to Triller and so people have been
[5:02] Speaker 1: wondering where is Hog gonna land and at least for
[5:07] Speaker 1: this next show. This isn't necessarily going to be for
[5:10] Speaker 1: all future shows, although it might be, but that's that's
[5:13] Speaker 1: being worked one as we speak before our next event,
[5:16] Speaker 1: which is our biggest event of the summer, one of
[5:17] Speaker 1: our biggest events all year, High Intensity, coming up on
[5:21] Speaker 1: Friday Night, August seventh, back at the NYC Arena in Jamaica, Queens.
[5:25] Speaker 1: High Intensity is going to have the Hardys defending their
[5:29] Speaker 1: Hog Tag Team titles, the return of the Mad King
[5:33] Speaker 1: Eddie Kingston, The Blackheart Leo Rush is back to challenge
[5:37] Speaker 1: for the Cruiserweight Championship, Bang Bang, Ricky Sosa makes his
[5:41] Speaker 1: NYC debut, The Queen of Spades Shane of Basler will
[5:45] Speaker 1: be in action. Soon to be TNA Hall of Fame
[5:48] Speaker 1: or Amazing Red it's a great mix of aw TNA
[5:53] Speaker 1: Hog and other indie talents, all under one roof, all
[5:57] Speaker 1: streaming live and free on u YouTube. You can watch
[6:02] Speaker 1: the show for free live on the House of Glory
[6:04] Speaker 1: YouTube channel. The handle for the official channel it's at
[6:08] Speaker 1: HG Wrestling. I mean, you'll see it. It's got close
[6:11] Speaker 1: to ninety thousand or so subscribers, a lot of great
[6:14] Speaker 1: content up there, recent matches, historic matches from the promotion.
[6:18] Speaker 1: But for the first time, and this is something that
[6:20] Speaker 1: you know, I've been pushing pretty hard for. It's been
[6:22] Speaker 1: in the works for a while and I think it's
[6:24] Speaker 1: going to be great everybody. Hopefully we'll be able to
[6:28] Speaker 1: congregate there in the live chat and watch along. And
[6:32] Speaker 1: you got permission to ditch SmackDown, that's fine. That day
[6:35] Speaker 1: is a Friday night, or you can go for the
[6:37] Speaker 1: dual screen experience. Whatever floats your boat. But it's going
[6:41] Speaker 1: to be a lot of fun. If you've never caught
[6:42] Speaker 1: a House of Glory show before, there's never been a
[6:45] Speaker 1: better chance than now to do so again. It's one
[6:48] Speaker 1: of our biggest events of the year. Seven pm Eastern
[6:50] Speaker 1: start time at least for this show, as far as
[6:53] Speaker 1: future events, will keep you guys posted. One more Hog
[6:57] Speaker 1: note that I wanted to mention, and it can concerns
[7:00] Speaker 1: one of the ogs of House of Glory who called
[7:03] Speaker 1: it a career this week after thirteen years. He's a
[7:06] Speaker 1: former Crown Jewel Champion. He has wins over Zach Saber, Junior,
[7:11] Speaker 1: Leo Rush, and Ray Phoenix, and even a young Maxwell
[7:14] Speaker 1: Jacob Friedman. In his very first House of Glory match,
[7:18] Speaker 1: this man was part of the first ever ladder match
[7:21] Speaker 1: in HOG history, the first ever no ropes match in HOG,
[7:26] Speaker 1: and the first match that I ever had the chance
[7:28] Speaker 1: to be on commentary for. My very first night in
[7:31] Speaker 1: House of Glory in twenty eighteen was an Impact Wrestling
[7:35] Speaker 1: World Title Open Challenge that was being hosted by Austin
[7:38] Speaker 1: Aires and he defended the belt against the mystery man,
[7:41] Speaker 1: who turned out to be cash Flow Ken Broadway, and
[7:46] Speaker 1: I just wanted to say that it has been my
[7:48] Speaker 1: pleasure to be on the call for so many of
[7:50] Speaker 1: his matches. Ken has always been nothing but kind to
[7:53] Speaker 1: me in every one of our interactions. I wish him
[7:56] Speaker 1: nothing but the best in whatever he pursues in the future,
[8:00] Speaker 1: and hopefully this finds its way back to him. I
[8:02] Speaker 1: just wanted to say thank you. I'll start with this
[8:05] Speaker 1: because this news broke right after I dropped last week's podcast,
[8:09] Speaker 1: because of course it did, literally got the podcast up
[8:13] Speaker 1: and I started getting tweets from people, well, Solo Monster
[8:16] Speaker 1: could work the shamous news into the SoundOff, and I'm like,
[8:19] Speaker 1: you gotta be fucking kidding me. But yes, last Sunday
[8:22] Speaker 1: it was fightful. Select first a report that Seamus had
[8:27] Speaker 1: recently turned down a contract offer to remain with WWE,
[8:31] Speaker 1: and that he would be leaving shortly. The report also
[8:35] Speaker 1: noted that WWE had previously approached him about taking a
[8:38] Speaker 1: restructured deal, not the first time we've heard about this,
[8:41] Speaker 1: which he has said to have swiftly rejected. And if
[8:45] Speaker 1: you check his social media accounts, he is now going
[8:48] Speaker 1: by his real name on there, which is as fairoughly. Yes,
[8:53] Speaker 1: I'm saying it correct now because I misspoke. When I
[8:56] Speaker 1: talked about this on the Uncrowned Wrestling Show on Tuesday,
[8:59] Speaker 1: I called him Farelli and so Q, all of the seamous,
[9:03] Speaker 1: the Irish Italian memes and comments s Farrelly. My apologies
[9:09] Speaker 1: to all of my Irish friends out there. You'll have
[9:12] Speaker 1: to excuse me, but He's also been moved to the
[9:15] Speaker 1: alumni section on WWE dot Com. On Friday, he tweeted
[9:18] Speaker 1: banger after banger after banger after banger, followed by an
[9:22] Speaker 1: Irish message that translated to goodbye my WWE friends, and
[9:28] Speaker 1: it was quite the shock. I was not expecting to
[9:31] Speaker 1: see Seamus on the outs with WWE after being there
[9:34] Speaker 1: for nearly two full decades. He underwent shoulder surgery in December,
[9:39] Speaker 1: a month after his last appearance in the ring, which
[9:42] Speaker 1: was teaming with John Cena and raymus Stereo in a
[9:45] Speaker 1: win over the Judgment Day on Raw at Madison Square Garden.
[9:49] Speaker 1: That was John Cena's last ever Raw match, and as
[9:53] Speaker 1: it turned out, little did we know or did he know,
[9:56] Speaker 1: that it would be Seamus's last match, but that's what
[9:59] Speaker 1: it turned out to be. Now. When the news initially broke,
[10:02] Speaker 1: I was very confused because he himself had confirmed late
[10:06] Speaker 1: twenty twenty four or ely twenty twenty five, he had
[10:09] Speaker 1: sat down at some point in that time period with
[10:11] Speaker 1: Chris van Vliet, who, by the way, Chris has been
[10:13] Speaker 1: killing it lately with all these interviews that he's been doing.
[10:15] Speaker 1: I saw he just drop one with of all people,
[10:17] Speaker 1: the great colleague. This past week, he's getting these interviews
[10:21] Speaker 1: left and right, So congrats to him on that he's
[10:23] Speaker 1: killing it. But he had interviewed Seamus and he was
[10:28] Speaker 1: asked about this because there were reports at that time,
[10:30] Speaker 1: in the fall of twenty four that Seamus had just
[10:33] Speaker 1: resigned a multi year deal with WWE, and he confirmed
[10:36] Speaker 1: it from his own lips, and he said that he
[10:38] Speaker 1: had just resigned not long before that for five years.
[10:42] Speaker 1: Said he even joked with his wife like he'll be
[10:44] Speaker 1: fifty two at the end of his deal or something
[10:46] Speaker 1: like that. So I immediately thought of that, and I said, well,
[10:49] Speaker 1: wait a minute, the math is not mathing here. If
[10:51] Speaker 1: he signed a five year deal in twenty four, then
[10:54] Speaker 1: how is it that you know, they're talking about this
[10:57] Speaker 1: like his deal is coming up, not that he's been
[10:59] Speaker 1: really least or he's requested his release or anything like that. So,
[11:04] Speaker 1: you know, this doesn't make any sense to me. And
[11:06] Speaker 1: what I have to assume, and I don't know the
[11:09] Speaker 1: legalities of it, but what I assume is that they
[11:12] Speaker 1: wanted him to take a pay cut that much. We
[11:14] Speaker 1: know he said no, thank you, and they were not
[11:18] Speaker 1: willing to pay him. I guess or continue paying him
[11:21] Speaker 1: what he was being paid because they felt like he
[11:23] Speaker 1: was not worth the money that they were investing in him,
[11:26] Speaker 1: and so they came to an understanding or maybe in
[11:29] Speaker 1: a situation like that, you have to allow the talent
[11:31] Speaker 1: to walk, you know, because you have this agreement, you
[11:34] Speaker 1: have this signed contract. If you don't want to pay
[11:36] Speaker 1: him that amount of money anymore and you can't come
[11:39] Speaker 1: to terms on this new deal, then I assume that's
[11:41] Speaker 1: his that's his way out effectively, I guess, like an outclause.
[11:45] Speaker 1: I mean, that's how I assume this is all working here.
[11:48] Speaker 1: And we still don't know exactly when he'll officially be
[11:50] Speaker 1: a free man. The fact that he's in the alumni
[11:52] Speaker 1: section already and you see the changeover on his social
[11:56] Speaker 1: media accounts. If he's not already free and clear, it
[11:59] Speaker 1: sounds like you will be very soon. As far as
[12:02] Speaker 1: him being asked to take a pay cut, Dave Melter
[12:04] Speaker 1: talked about this on Wrestling Observer Radio this week. He said,
[12:06] Speaker 1: the TKOH thing from talking to people there on him
[12:10] Speaker 1: and other situations, is that they're very willing to pay
[12:13] Speaker 1: really giant money to people who they perceive as the stars,
[12:17] Speaker 1: like a sports team. But when it's older wrestlers who
[12:20] Speaker 1: they perceive as being on their downside and have big contracts,
[12:24] Speaker 1: they're very much like an NFL team that will go
[12:27] Speaker 1: rather than pay a guy a giant salary who's on
[12:29] Speaker 1: the downside, we would rather spend our resources on somebody
[12:33] Speaker 1: younger who also we can pay less to. That's the
[12:37] Speaker 1: TKO way, and it all comes down to knowing your value.
[12:40] Speaker 1: This is what I talked about on Tuesday when I
[12:42] Speaker 1: first talked about this, and I've talked about this before,
[12:45] Speaker 1: or when we heard about this with the New Day
[12:47] Speaker 1: and the New Day bounced, and that was a big
[12:48] Speaker 1: shock too to a lot of people. Kofi Kingston Xavier
[12:52] Speaker 1: Woods leaving wwee like it was unfathomable. You know, Kofe
[12:58] Speaker 1: alone had been there for about twenty years, and you
[13:00] Speaker 1: would figure that at this point, either he's going to
[13:03] Speaker 1: just when he's good and ready, he'll just retire and
[13:06] Speaker 1: that'll be the end of it, or he'll just be
[13:08] Speaker 1: with WWE, you know, for the rest of his wrestling life.
[13:12] Speaker 1: And that turned out not to be the case. And
[13:14] Speaker 1: now we're just waiting to find out where they're going
[13:15] Speaker 1: to land. I think we know where they're going to land,
[13:17] Speaker 1: but they're going to be free agents in a matter
[13:19] Speaker 1: of weeks, among others including the MotorCity machine Guns. It
[13:23] Speaker 1: there's going to be a lot of moves made in
[13:24] Speaker 1: these next several weeks. But it comes down to just
[13:27] Speaker 1: knowing your worth. I can see it from both sides.
[13:30] Speaker 1: This is not a black or white thing to me.
[13:34] Speaker 1: Like I can see it from Shamus his perspective, I
[13:36] Speaker 1: can see it from the talents perspective in this case,
[13:39] Speaker 1: if they're not using him, I could see it from
[13:41] Speaker 1: TKO's perspective. They're not wrestling people. They're business people who
[13:46] Speaker 1: have this asset and they're looking to, you know, maximize
[13:49] Speaker 1: shareholder value. And they're looking that's why you have high
[13:52] Speaker 1: ticket prices. They're just looking to make as much money
[13:54] Speaker 1: as they can while also cutting and saving as much
[13:57] Speaker 1: money as they can. Don't forget all a debt that
[14:00] Speaker 1: they also have. So I totally understand them looking at
[14:04] Speaker 1: the books and saying, hey, wait a minute, we're paying
[14:06] Speaker 1: this guy a million dollars. Let's just say right, because
[14:08] Speaker 1: I'm sure he's he's got to be clear in seven figures, right,
[14:11] Speaker 1: one million dollars one point two million dollars one point five.
[14:14] Speaker 1: It's got to be somewhere in that range. He's been
[14:16] Speaker 1: there for a long time, he's been a headline performer
[14:19] Speaker 1: or former world champion, and yet we're not doing anything
[14:22] Speaker 1: with him. And he's older, and he's been injured, and
[14:25] Speaker 1: he hasn't even been on television at all in twenty
[14:27] Speaker 1: twenty six so far. So what the hell are we
[14:29] Speaker 1: paying him seven figures for? Right, Let's go to him
[14:31] Speaker 1: and ask for half. Let's just say half that, right,
[14:34] Speaker 1: Half of a million plus is still not a bad
[14:38] Speaker 1: chunk of change. But if you're Shamus and this is
[14:40] Speaker 1: what you sign for, and this is what you agree to,
[14:42] Speaker 1: and this is what you feel like you're worth, You've
[14:44] Speaker 1: you've given your body to this. Every single time Shamus
[14:48] Speaker 1: goes out there, you can rely on him to go
[14:49] Speaker 1: out there and have a killer match every single time.
[14:55] Speaker 1: I can understand him looking at that and going I
[14:57] Speaker 1: can't accept this. This is a slap in the face,
[14:59] Speaker 1: just as a matter pride. Yes, it's still good money,
[15:01] Speaker 1: but it's not the money that I agree to. It's
[15:04] Speaker 1: not the money that maybe he feels he can make
[15:06] Speaker 1: by going somewhere else. And so that was a breaking point,
[15:10] Speaker 1: he said no, and this is where we are now.
[15:13] Speaker 1: You know, he's been with the company for a long time.
[15:16] Speaker 1: I mean he first signed with them. It was six seven,
[15:20] Speaker 1: it was somewhere in that range. And in that time
[15:23] Speaker 1: again three times WWE Champion beat John Cena for his
[15:27] Speaker 1: very first title on pay per view, World Heavyweight Champion,
[15:30] Speaker 1: United States Champion, Tag Team Champion, King of the Ring,
[15:33] Speaker 1: Royal Rumble, money in the Bank, you name it. He
[15:36] Speaker 1: did it all but one. I know there's been other
[15:39] Speaker 1: titles introduced since them, but who cares about those? All
[15:42] Speaker 1: but one? The Intercontinental Championship And how many times have
[15:47] Speaker 1: I come on the podcast and fantasy book different scenarios
[15:50] Speaker 1: where Man, you can get the IC title on Seamus
[15:52] Speaker 1: And what a moment it's gonna be. You could tell
[15:54] Speaker 1: that story. He's always been so vocal in interviews about
[15:58] Speaker 1: what that title meant to him as a kid growing up.
[16:00] Speaker 1: All of his favorites held it and it's the one
[16:02] Speaker 1: championship that has eluded him that haunts him in his dreams.
[16:07] Speaker 1: There's a story, and maybe the only one frankly left
[16:09] Speaker 1: to tell with Seamus, But damn it, there's a story
[16:11] Speaker 1: there to tell and they didn't do it, not that
[16:15] Speaker 1: they didn't have plenty of chances to do so over
[16:17] Speaker 1: the years, but they didn't do it. And that sucks
[16:20] Speaker 1: that he's never going to hold that championship. But you
[16:23] Speaker 1: think back to the body of work this guy put together, Man,
[16:25] Speaker 1: all the great matches he's had over the years. I mean,
[16:27] Speaker 1: he's never going to be that guy that you look
[16:29] Speaker 1: back on and go, man, he was. He was a
[16:31] Speaker 1: difference maker. He was a big draw, He was a
[16:35] Speaker 1: main event talent that stayed in the main event universally,
[16:39] Speaker 1: you know, throughout his entire run. That's not who he was.
[16:41] Speaker 1: He was one of these people, very much like a
[16:43] Speaker 1: Kevin Owens or a Sammy z Ain, who when you
[16:46] Speaker 1: had a need, whether it was in a singles situation
[16:49] Speaker 1: or a tag team situation, whether it was as a babyface,
[16:52] Speaker 1: whether it was as a heel, you can reliably and
[16:55] Speaker 1: safely lean on Shamus to go out there and deliver
[16:59] Speaker 1: what you were looking for each and every single time.
[17:02] Speaker 1: And even as he got older and even as the
[17:04] Speaker 1: injuries piled on, he still knew how to go out
[17:07] Speaker 1: there and have again banger matches. It became a gimmick
[17:10] Speaker 1: for him. But it's true the Clash at the Castle match.
[17:12] Speaker 1: To me, in my opinion, that is his greatest match
[17:16] Speaker 1: in WWE. The match with Gunther in twenty twenty two,
[17:19] Speaker 1: Clash at the Castle. If you wanted to say the
[17:22] Speaker 1: triple Threat at Wrestleminnie of thirty nine with McIntyre and
[17:25] Speaker 1: Gunther and Seamus, I wouldn't argue with you. That was
[17:27] Speaker 1: another great one. You can go down the list. He's
[17:30] Speaker 1: had a lot of really great matches in his career.
[17:32] Speaker 1: He's had a lot of injuries in his career. I've
[17:34] Speaker 1: mentioned the spinal stenosis. That's not something that's going to
[17:37] Speaker 1: get better, right. It gets progressively worse as time goes on.
[17:40] Speaker 1: It shortens careers. Look at Steve Austin Copeland. I mean,
[17:45] Speaker 1: he's getting to close out his career on his own
[17:47] Speaker 1: terms now in aaw but he missed nine years of
[17:49] Speaker 1: his career because of it. And that's not the only
[17:52] Speaker 1: injuries had other neck issues. He's had shoulder issues. That's
[17:55] Speaker 1: what's kept him out of action this year. He's beat up.
[17:58] Speaker 1: He's forty eight years old and beat up up. There's
[18:02] Speaker 1: probably a lot of people listening to this podcast right
[18:03] Speaker 1: now who are relatively healthy forty eight year olds, But
[18:06] Speaker 1: you're not wrestling the matches that Seamus has been wrestling
[18:09] Speaker 1: over the last twenty years. He goes in there, he
[18:11] Speaker 1: doesn't hold back. He goes in there. He's having these stiff,
[18:16] Speaker 1: fucking battles with people and it's great, but it weighs
[18:20] Speaker 1: on you, you know, and the wear and tear. It's
[18:22] Speaker 1: very real. So he's not the same performer maybe that
[18:25] Speaker 1: he was five or ten years ago. But I think
[18:27] Speaker 1: he still absolutely has a lot to offer. He clearly
[18:29] Speaker 1: is not done with his career. We don't know exactly
[18:32] Speaker 1: what the landing spot will be, right, we can speculate
[18:35] Speaker 1: on that, but he's not done. And he told that
[18:38] Speaker 1: to Chris when he interviewed him. He said, I'm going
[18:41] Speaker 1: to go into the wheels fall off. I'm going to
[18:43] Speaker 1: go until life physically cannot do it anymore. Doesn't sound
[18:47] Speaker 1: like a guy who's ready for retirement. I don't think
[18:50] Speaker 1: this is the way he wants to go out either
[18:53] Speaker 1: off an injury. So the question is where does he go. AW. Look,
[18:59] Speaker 1: there's a lot of xw WE guys that end up
[19:01] Speaker 1: finding a home in AAW and I'm sure Tony Khan
[19:05] Speaker 1: would love the idea of bringing Seamus into the company
[19:08] Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's going to happen. Maybe they don't come
[19:10] Speaker 1: to terms. But if Seamus wants to work there, he's
[19:13] Speaker 1: going to work there, because Tony Khan ain't going to
[19:15] Speaker 1: say no. And I guarantee you I don't need you
[19:17] Speaker 1: know news reports online to tell me that this guy
[19:21] Speaker 1: has friends in that company who are going to go
[19:24] Speaker 1: to bat for him and are going to vouch for
[19:26] Speaker 1: him and want him to come in so they could
[19:29] Speaker 1: work together, whether it's across the ring from each other
[19:32] Speaker 1: or on the same side. I'm looking at you, Claudio.
[19:36] Speaker 1: Those two have a lot of history together. I'm sure
[19:38] Speaker 1: the two of them would love to work together again. Evidently,
[19:42] Speaker 1: AW and sources and people within the company had no
[19:46] Speaker 1: idea that Seamus would be leading the company. This is
[19:49] Speaker 1: not something that they had heard rumors about. This came
[19:52] Speaker 1: out of the blue for them as much as it
[19:53] Speaker 1: did for you and me and anybody else. But you know,
[19:58] Speaker 1: as far as Seamus joining AW, Brian Alvarez was talking
[20:01] Speaker 1: about this un Wrestling Observer Live this week and he said, look,
[20:03] Speaker 1: there's a lot of people in AW who like Seamus.
[20:05] Speaker 1: They have nothing against him. Personally. But they are looking
[20:09] Speaker 1: at this and hearing these stories, and they're seeing all
[20:11] Speaker 1: these talents leave and become available, and they're saying, man,
[20:14] Speaker 1: like another one of these guys, you know, another you know,
[20:19] Speaker 1: almost fifty year old, that we're going to bring in
[20:21] Speaker 1: and take spots away from people who already are struggling
[20:24] Speaker 1: to find time on television. I get it, you know
[20:27] Speaker 1: they're not wrong. Tony Khan has a lot of people
[20:30] Speaker 1: under contract and typically only has four hours in a
[20:34] Speaker 1: given week of television to work with. There's only so
[20:37] Speaker 1: many spots to go around. You bring in somebody like Seamus,
[20:40] Speaker 1: you better damn well use them for the money you're
[20:42] Speaker 1: probably paying them. But if you're going to put him
[20:44] Speaker 1: on TV, somebody is off TV. So who is that
[20:48] Speaker 1: going to be? Is it going to be somebody low
[20:49] Speaker 1: on the totem pole, like a Leo Rush or a
[20:52] Speaker 1: Mark Davis who have been getting more opportunities on TV.
[20:58] Speaker 1: Are people like that going to fall off? Are they
[21:01] Speaker 1: going to try to do a better job of rotating
[21:04] Speaker 1: some of the other names in and out. I don't know.
[21:06] Speaker 1: It's a valid concern. I would say if there are
[21:09] Speaker 1: aw talents who feel that way, But at the same time,
[21:12] Speaker 1: like I absolutely believe he would be an asset in
[21:15] Speaker 1: that company. He's not going to move the needle. It's
[21:17] Speaker 1: not going to be one of these like situations where
[21:21] Speaker 1: he comes in and it has some massive effect like
[21:23] Speaker 1: when CM Punk you know, came into aw But he
[21:25] Speaker 1: wasn't that guy in WWE. So I don't know why
[21:29] Speaker 1: anybody would have any expectations that it would lead to
[21:32] Speaker 1: something like that. You're going to bring him in and
[21:35] Speaker 1: he's going to be able to go out there and
[21:36] Speaker 1: give you the match out put that Tony Kahan loves,
[21:38] Speaker 1: Tony kinn loves great wrestling matches. Well, guess what. This
[21:40] Speaker 1: guy could come in and have great wrestling matches with
[21:42] Speaker 1: every single person on that roster, young and old, old
[21:45] Speaker 1: and new. That's where his value is. That and obviously
[21:50] Speaker 1: he has a name from television that people will know.
[21:53] Speaker 1: He brings a certain credibility to the products. This guy's
[21:58] Speaker 1: the real deal. To watch what he does now. One
[22:03] Speaker 1: thing that could be an issue is the fact that
[22:05] Speaker 1: to my knowledge, he is still represent that I believe
[22:07] Speaker 1: by Nick Lapiccolo. He used to work for Paradigm and
[22:10] Speaker 1: no longer does, and he certainly does not have any
[22:13] Speaker 1: liking for Tony Kahan, nor does Tony Khan have a
[22:15] Speaker 1: liking for Nick Lapiccolo. But if he represents Seamus, then
[22:20] Speaker 1: he's going to have to be part of any negotiations
[22:22] Speaker 1: that take place to get him into the company. Yeah.
[22:25] Speaker 1: I said this the other day though, Like if you're
[22:27] Speaker 1: an agent for somebody, if you represent somebody, you represent
[22:30] Speaker 1: the client. If the client wants something, then it's on
[22:32] Speaker 1: you to go ahead and make that happen. So at
[22:34] Speaker 1: the end of the day, if Seamus wants to work
[22:36] Speaker 1: for AAW he's going to work for AW And whoever
[22:39] Speaker 1: is going to have to do the negotiations is going
[22:42] Speaker 1: to do their job. So it's a little weird. It
[22:45] Speaker 1: might be a little awkward if he's involved in all
[22:47] Speaker 1: of this, But if Seamus wants to go, then I
[22:50] Speaker 1: have no doubt in my mind that that's why he'll
[22:52] Speaker 1: end up. But as far as his end in WWE, look,
[22:57] Speaker 1: I mean, he had not been focused on for a
[22:59] Speaker 1: very long forget the injury. He had not been focused
[23:02] Speaker 1: on for a very long time. It was not as
[23:04] Speaker 1: if if Seamus came back to television all of a sudden,
[23:08] Speaker 1: I expected that Triple H was going to have this
[23:09] Speaker 1: big renewed push in mind for him, right, that just
[23:13] Speaker 1: wasn't going to be the case. He would have been
[23:16] Speaker 1: on Raw. He would have been out there to go out,
[23:18] Speaker 1: you know, been able to go out there rather and
[23:19] Speaker 1: have great matches with people who are on the upswing.
[23:23] Speaker 1: Seamus at this point felt like he was going to
[23:24] Speaker 1: be at a certain level. Maybe they didn't have enough
[23:27] Speaker 1: faith in him to stay healthy, whatever it is, and
[23:30] Speaker 1: that's where he was going to be. It's still disappointing
[23:33] Speaker 1: for his run to kind of end the way that
[23:35] Speaker 1: it did without any kind of fanfare or one last
[23:38] Speaker 1: really great match. I do think it is kind of
[23:41] Speaker 1: cool though that, you know, he did end up going
[23:44] Speaker 1: out as part of a kind of a special match.
[23:47] Speaker 1: You know, John seen his last match, and if you
[23:49] Speaker 1: remember the end of that match, I think Ray was
[23:52] Speaker 1: it raymisteria, Like Seamus was like carrying him out on
[23:54] Speaker 1: his shoulders or something, or maybe Ray was unseen his back.
[23:57] Speaker 1: I don't know. They were all like big smiles on
[23:59] Speaker 1: their faces. They were all very happy and they were
[24:02] Speaker 1: all celebrating together and that was kind of a nice moment.
[24:05] Speaker 1: But to go out with a whimper and not even
[24:07] Speaker 1: a comment or a statement from WWE. No, you know,
[24:10] Speaker 1: and that's fine. I mean in a way like obviously
[24:13] Speaker 1: they're not under any obligation to say anything about this,
[24:18] Speaker 1: but it's just like, Okay, he's quietly gone after twenty
[24:22] Speaker 1: years you know, of working for the company, So that
[24:25] Speaker 1: that part of it kind of sucks for him to
[24:26] Speaker 1: go out with a whimper like that. But look, if
[24:30] Speaker 1: he lands in AW or if he goes to TNA,
[24:32] Speaker 1: and I don't know if they could afford to pay him,
[24:34] Speaker 1: it's not like he wouldn't have people to work with
[24:36] Speaker 1: in TNA either. Actually, in TNA, he would automatically be
[24:40] Speaker 1: one of their top guys from day one, automatically day one,
[24:45] Speaker 1: and he would have a lot of really great guys
[24:46] Speaker 1: to work with there too. He'll have more to work
[24:48] Speaker 1: with though in AW and a greater visibility there. I'd
[24:53] Speaker 1: like to see him end up there. But I totally
[24:55] Speaker 1: understand the people who were just sick of all the
[24:57] Speaker 1: WWE cast offs and you know, older, older guys coming
[25:01] Speaker 1: in now to take up spots. I get it, I
[25:04] Speaker 1: get it, But just selfishly, as a fan of his,
[25:07] Speaker 1: I'd like to see him go in there. I'd like
[25:08] Speaker 1: to see him become a free agent early enough to
[25:11] Speaker 1: where he can even pop up as a surprise maybe
[25:13] Speaker 1: in that casino Gauntlet match at Wembley. Right, doesn't have
[25:16] Speaker 1: to win it, but imagine the reaction out there in
[25:19] Speaker 1: Wembley Stadium, and I don't know what music they would
[25:21] Speaker 1: give him, but they hit the music and he comes
[25:23] Speaker 1: out and men, what a moment that would be for
[25:26] Speaker 1: him And selfishly, I would love to see him be
[25:29] Speaker 1: part of a C two as well. You know, the
[25:31] Speaker 1: Continental Classic is coming up at the end of every year,
[25:34] Speaker 1: well around Robin Action going on. Imagine if Seamus was
[25:37] Speaker 1: in this year's Seed too. You get Seamus in there
[25:39] Speaker 1: with Claudio and Brody King and Kevin Knight. I mean,
[25:43] Speaker 1: you can go down the list of all the talents
[25:44] Speaker 1: they have in that company, my god, and have him
[25:47] Speaker 1: in there as part of that. That would be special. Now,
[25:51] Speaker 1: on Monday Night, we got a bait and switch on
[25:54] Speaker 1: Monday Night Raw in the main event, which was supposed
[25:57] Speaker 1: to be Cody Roades challenging Sammy for the WWE Championship.
[26:02] Speaker 1: Sammy's ain only nine days into his title reign. We
[26:06] Speaker 1: knew it wasn't gonna last long, but one would hope
[26:09] Speaker 1: that he would at least be able to get one
[26:11] Speaker 1: successful title defense under his belt before dropping that championship,
[26:15] Speaker 1: but it was not to be, because instead we had
[26:18] Speaker 1: the return of CM Punk. I should think a lot
[26:21] Speaker 1: of us expected on that show. What we didn't expect
[26:24] Speaker 1: was that he would be taking Cody's place in the
[26:26] Speaker 1: main event that night and wrestling for the WWE Championship.
[26:29] Speaker 1: But they were in Chicago, so of course the Chicago
[26:31] Speaker 1: fans didn't seem to mind too much about the bait
[26:33] Speaker 1: and switch. Cody Rose was attacked, he was taken out
[26:36] Speaker 1: by Gunther at the beginning of the show. He was
[26:39] Speaker 1: not medically cleared. They had a void to be filled
[26:42] Speaker 1: and Sammy's ain Honestly, you know what he was saying
[26:45] Speaker 1: backstage made a lot of sense, where it's like, I
[26:47] Speaker 1: don't even know I am defending my championship on Raw
[26:49] Speaker 1: given that I'm the champion representing Smackdowns. So we'll wait
[26:52] Speaker 1: and see where the chips fall on Friday, and we'll
[26:54] Speaker 1: recalibrate and we'll say, and Adam Pearce is like, no,
[26:57] Speaker 1: I don't think so we've promised the fans a championship
[27:00] Speaker 1: match in Chicago and a championship matches what they shall have,
[27:04] Speaker 1: and at that point you had to know what the
[27:06] Speaker 1: end result of this was going to be. And sure enough,
[27:08] Speaker 1: there he was outcome CM Punk, who only a few
[27:11] Speaker 1: months ago told Cody Rhads you never know when a
[27:14] Speaker 1: championship opportunity might fall out of the sky. It wouldn't
[27:18] Speaker 1: you know. It fell right into his lap. And he's
[27:22] Speaker 1: in great shape. He's not out there looking like lou
[27:25] Speaker 1: Faarigno or anything like that, but he's clearly been working out,
[27:29] Speaker 1: you know, in a way that was very different from
[27:31] Speaker 1: the way he was working out before. So good for him.
[27:34] Speaker 1: He's had a couple of months off to recharge the
[27:36] Speaker 1: batteries he went out there and the two of them.
[27:40] Speaker 1: It's kind of funny when you think about it, because
[27:42] Speaker 1: going into the King of the Ring, if you remember,
[27:45] Speaker 1: one of my ideas was, man, you know, we gotta
[27:48] Speaker 1: we can't just do Obafemi and jay Uso, or we
[27:52] Speaker 1: gotta shoot some kind of angle where Oba gets taken
[27:55] Speaker 1: out and then you can always have someone like CM
[27:57] Speaker 1: Punk right take their place at the last second and
[28:01] Speaker 1: then go on to win King of the Ring and
[28:02] Speaker 1: then they have a championship opportunity at Summerslim, and they
[28:06] Speaker 1: basically went with that idea. They just delayed it by
[28:08] Speaker 1: a couple of weeks and instead of getting a championship
[28:11] Speaker 1: opportunity at SummerSlam, Cmpunk just went and got the whole
[28:14] Speaker 1: damn thing. And he's going to be walking into Summerslim
[28:16] Speaker 1: as the defending champion and he wins that title. On
[28:19] Speaker 1: Monday night, almost fifteen years to the day, almost that
[28:24] Speaker 1: he won his first WWE title in Chicago, Cmpunk once
[28:29] Speaker 1: again WWE champion and the two of them went out
[28:33] Speaker 1: there for twenty minutes and they had one of the
[28:35] Speaker 1: best raw television matches of the entire year. I love
[28:38] Speaker 1: that main event on Monday Night. The atmosphere in the
[28:41] Speaker 1: building just added so much to it because these people
[28:43] Speaker 1: had been waiting for Punk, they were hoping for Punk.
[28:46] Speaker 1: What they were not anticipating was Punk being in the
[28:48] Speaker 1: main event. They were very excited and they were hanging
[28:51] Speaker 1: on to every near fall. They were chanting his name.
[28:54] Speaker 1: It was great. It was great. Just all this energy
[28:57] Speaker 1: that you would expect from a big time main of
[29:00] Speaker 1: this could have been on a pl so. I was
[29:02] Speaker 1: a big fan of what they did in the main
[29:04] Speaker 1: event as far as the match itself is concerned, as
[29:06] Speaker 1: far as the outcome is concerned, I couldn't help but
[29:08] Speaker 1: feel torn when it was over. I felt bad that
[29:11] Speaker 1: Sammy's Ain in his first run, didn't even get one
[29:14] Speaker 1: successful title defense. I feel bad that his title run
[29:18] Speaker 1: ended at nine days, didn't even get a full two
[29:22] Speaker 1: weeks out of it. You had Saturday Night's main event
[29:23] Speaker 1: coming up, you had Summer Slim coming up, and they
[29:27] Speaker 1: couldn't even get him there. Am I surprised by it?
[29:30] Speaker 1: I'm not surprised. Surprised, I would say is not the
[29:34] Speaker 1: right word to use here. Disappointed, sure, but torn because
[29:39] Speaker 1: now what this sets up is a major main event
[29:43] Speaker 1: for Summer Slim this year, a match that I've been
[29:45] Speaker 1: waiting a very long time to see, a match that
[29:47] Speaker 1: I'm excited to see, maybe one of the few quite frankly,
[29:50] Speaker 1: that they could still do that would truly get me
[29:52] Speaker 1: excited at this point, and I'm looking forward to it.
[29:57] Speaker 1: I just wish it didn't come at the expense of
[29:59] Speaker 1: Sammy's Ain. He cut this unhinged promo backstage that they
[30:03] Speaker 1: put on their socials, and they showed it on SmackDown
[30:06] Speaker 1: on Friday nat they had a censor it because he
[30:09] Speaker 1: was going off on punk And how is it that
[30:11] Speaker 1: I could work for twenty four years and I can
[30:14] Speaker 1: have this snatched away from me after just nine days.
[30:17] Speaker 1: This guy's gone for two months and he walks in
[30:19] Speaker 1: and he called him a motherfucker, and Sammy was just
[30:22] Speaker 1: beside himself. Natty was on Busted Open Radio because she
[30:27] Speaker 1: has a guest hosting gig on there, and she suggested
[30:32] Speaker 1: that Sammy's short lived run is Champion could very well
[30:35] Speaker 1: spark a new renaissance in his career. This is what
[30:38] Speaker 1: she said. I actually think that Sammy is going to
[30:41] Speaker 1: come out of this thing as a massive, massive babyface.
[30:45] Speaker 1: Remember when the fans were booing him when he was
[30:47] Speaker 1: getting ready to wrestle Trick Williams and everybody was kind
[30:51] Speaker 1: of turning on him. Well, just as soon as our
[30:53] Speaker 1: fans can turn on someone, they could also get behind someone.
[30:56] Speaker 1: People think that Sammy was screwed. You know that he
[30:59] Speaker 1: did have the title for what how long did he
[31:01] Speaker 1: have it for? Ten days? I don't know. It feels
[31:04] Speaker 1: like it could spark something really really cool for Sammy.
[31:08] Speaker 1: She's not wrong. I understand what she's saying. You never know.
[31:11] Speaker 1: You can't predict these things. You can't predict a Daniel
[31:14] Speaker 1: Bryan type of situation, which I'm sure is what she
[31:17] Speaker 1: had on her mind when she was talking about this,
[31:19] Speaker 1: because she was there right through the whole Daniel Brian
[31:22] Speaker 1: thing or KOFE mania. You could find different examples of
[31:25] Speaker 1: this organic fan support that either was not planned or
[31:31] Speaker 1: certainly they had no expectations that it would kind of
[31:34] Speaker 1: bubble up as much as it did. Could that happen
[31:36] Speaker 1: here with Sammy's Ain, Sure, that would be kind of cool.
[31:40] Speaker 1: Actually if it kind of disrupted things and they had
[31:43] Speaker 1: no choice but to run with it. I don't see
[31:46] Speaker 1: it happening here. I don't think Sammy's Ain is all
[31:49] Speaker 1: of a sudden going to get this ground swell of
[31:51] Speaker 1: support the way that a Daniel Brian did. I think
[31:54] Speaker 1: that people are gonna want to see Punk and Cody.
[31:57] Speaker 1: I don't think they're going to hijack the match, for example,
[31:59] Speaker 1: with Chance Sammy. I don't think we're going to see
[32:01] Speaker 1: segments hijacked in the weeks to come. But there could
[32:05] Speaker 1: be more of a groundswell of support that pushes him
[32:07] Speaker 1: into babyfaced territory. That is certainly possible, and it could
[32:11] Speaker 1: end up being a positive for him in the end.
[32:14] Speaker 1: I still am very, very skeptical about him getting that
[32:17] Speaker 1: belt back at any point, certainly any point this year,
[32:21] Speaker 1: maybe even next year. I think that that may have
[32:24] Speaker 1: been it for him, But that doesn't mean that the
[32:26] Speaker 1: fans can't get behind him and he can't get a
[32:28] Speaker 1: big push and hopefully have something to show for it
[32:33] Speaker 1: coming out of this. But the reality is that WWE
[32:36] Speaker 1: wanted to do the biggest match possible at SUMMERSLIM and
[32:39] Speaker 1: now they got it. Seampunk is now officially on the
[32:41] Speaker 1: SmackDown brand. He showed up on Friday night and I
[32:46] Speaker 1: think they were in Oklahoma City, and he was talking
[32:49] Speaker 1: about all the different people who want to come for him.
[32:52] Speaker 1: Sammy's ain like, I heard what you said about me
[32:54] Speaker 1: on social media, and I get it. I understand how
[32:57] Speaker 1: you feel. You want a shot, you think you deserve
[32:59] Speaker 1: a remat you do, I'll give you a shot. Who
[33:02] Speaker 1: else gunther You and me, we're not strangers. We both
[33:07] Speaker 1: remember what happened the last time that we got together.
[33:10] Speaker 1: You think you can beat me, come and try. I
[33:13] Speaker 1: know I can beat you. He mentioned Finn Balor. Right,
[33:16] Speaker 1: we've gone to War twice this year, anytime, any place,
[33:22] Speaker 1: if you think you got what it takes, step up
[33:24] Speaker 1: to the play. He mentioned Royce Keys, he mentioned Damian Priest,
[33:27] Speaker 1: he mentioned Trick Williams. It was notable who he was
[33:30] Speaker 1: not mentioning, which was the man who then came out
[33:33] Speaker 1: Cody Rhodes. And Cody said, he remember Punk talking about
[33:37] Speaker 1: championship opportunities falling out of the sky last time we
[33:40] Speaker 1: were in the ring together. This is what you were
[33:42] Speaker 1: talking about. There are those types of matches where opportunities
[33:46] Speaker 1: just sort of pop out of thin air, and then
[33:49] Speaker 1: there were championship opportunities that had been building for years.
[33:53] Speaker 1: And Punk assumed he was talking about the two of
[33:56] Speaker 1: them facing off, and he said, you know, maybe subconsciously
[34:00] Speaker 1: been avoiding this for a long time because the two
[34:02] Speaker 1: of us are friends, and I don't want to do
[34:04] Speaker 1: anything to jeopardize that. But he always thought when this happened,
[34:08] Speaker 1: it would be in the main event of WrestleMania. But
[34:11] Speaker 1: he doesn't think the two of them can run from
[34:13] Speaker 1: each other anymore, especially not now when they're on the
[34:15] Speaker 1: same brand. And so this all led to Cody Rhoads
[34:20] Speaker 1: saying SummerSlam. Punk got up in his face and said when,
[34:25] Speaker 1: because that's what Cody said to him a few months
[34:28] Speaker 1: ago after WrestleMania when Cody was the champion. He said,
[34:30] Speaker 1: you just say when, just say the word. So Punk
[34:34] Speaker 1: said the word, and Cody said SummerSlam, and Nick All
[34:37] Speaker 1: just made it official right there on the spot, Cody
[34:40] Speaker 1: Roads challenging CM Punk in the main event of SummerSlam
[34:42] Speaker 1: for the WWE Championship. That is a huge match. Now
[34:48] Speaker 1: they can have their obligatory can they coexist tag team match,
[34:53] Speaker 1: because on Saturday Night's Made Event next weekend, it will
[34:55] Speaker 1: be Cody and Punk as tag team partners taking on
[34:58] Speaker 1: Gunther and Sammy's and as Saturday Nights Mad Event shows go.
[35:04] Speaker 1: That's fine. I know it's a trope at this point.
[35:07] Speaker 1: Can they coexist and all that, you know, sometimes I
[35:10] Speaker 1: feel like people forget that, Like even back in the day,
[35:13] Speaker 1: Saturday Night's Main Event was really it was a show
[35:16] Speaker 1: that existed to promote whatever the next big show was.
[35:20] Speaker 1: It was a show that existed to promote the next
[35:21] Speaker 1: big pay per view with the big title match coming
[35:23] Speaker 1: up on the pay per view in and of itself,
[35:26] Speaker 1: like there were a lot of angles that were shot
[35:28] Speaker 1: on that show for the purposes of forwarding things along
[35:31] Speaker 1: to whatever the big match was going to be. So
[35:33] Speaker 1: this is kind of in line, to be honest with you,
[35:35] Speaker 1: with what Saturday Nights main event used to be for
[35:38] Speaker 1: many years. And God, they get some star power on
[35:41] Speaker 1: this show because up until Friday, and frankly it hasn't
[35:45] Speaker 1: been much better. I mean, we still need more matches added.
[35:47] Speaker 1: But up until Friday, what an absolute just dumpster fire
[35:52] Speaker 1: of a card. You book a card like that for
[35:54] Speaker 1: Madison Square Guard. You have two fucking matches on that show.
[35:56] Speaker 1: You had Dan Housen and j D McDonough and you
[35:59] Speaker 1: had Age and Bribella against Fatal Influence, and you're less
[36:04] Speaker 1: than two weeks out from that show. This is before Friday,
[36:06] Speaker 1: and I'm looking at this and I'm going, this is
[36:08] Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden. This is pathetic. What is this card?
[36:14] Speaker 1: And so at least now they have you know, Cody
[36:16] Speaker 1: and Punk and they're gonna be teaming up and what's
[36:19] Speaker 1: gonna happen? And right, you got Sammy and Gunther on
[36:21] Speaker 1: the other side, and you got some names on the show.
[36:23] Speaker 1: The show is still incomplete, but you got some names
[36:26] Speaker 1: now on there. But this all feels, if it all
[36:29] Speaker 1: feels to you as it does to me, very thin
[36:32] Speaker 1: on story. It's because it is. But when you keep
[36:36] Speaker 1: two people apart for so long and on separate brands,
[36:39] Speaker 1: and they rarely interact, and all of a sudden you
[36:43] Speaker 1: pair them off like this, it's gonna feel that way.
[36:47] Speaker 1: It's gonna feel very thin on story because there isn't
[36:49] Speaker 1: a whole lot there to draw from. That's why these
[36:51] Speaker 1: next few weeks of promos are so important, and obviously
[36:55] Speaker 1: the match coming up next weekend. The story, as Punk said,
[36:58] Speaker 1: is that the two of them are fre and they
[37:00] Speaker 1: get along great, and they have a lot of respect
[37:02] Speaker 1: for each other. They've been avoiding each other this entire time,
[37:07] Speaker 1: but with Cody being denied his rematch on Monday now
[37:11] Speaker 1: it became inevitable. And this is only the first and
[37:15] Speaker 1: what should end up being a series of matches between
[37:18] Speaker 1: these two heading into WrestleMania next year. I'm not saying
[37:20] Speaker 1: that they're going to wrestle two three months in a
[37:23] Speaker 1: row on the next two or three pls. This is
[37:25] Speaker 1: only match number one right now. If I had to
[37:29] Speaker 1: put the betting odds on what the big main event's
[37:31] Speaker 1: going to be for WrestleMania next year. Well there's two
[37:33] Speaker 1: of them, Roman and Oba, but Cody and Punk. I
[37:36] Speaker 1: still think Cody and Punk has got to be the
[37:38] Speaker 1: favorite for the WWE Championship and that this is just
[37:42] Speaker 1: part one of what is going to be a longer story.
[37:47] Speaker 1: But the real reason for them wanting to do this
[37:49] Speaker 1: match now is the fact that they've only sold give
[37:52] Speaker 1: or take about twenty five thousand tickets if that, to
[37:56] Speaker 1: Summer Slim for either night so far. Remember it's two
[37:59] Speaker 1: nights in a stadium that fits a hell of a
[38:02] Speaker 1: lot more than that. And the one thing that Trump's
[38:04] Speaker 1: story in today's WWE is star power and celebrity, and
[38:09] Speaker 1: they know that just by announcing Cody Roads against CM Punk,
[38:13] Speaker 1: they're going to sell more tickets. Story or no story.
[38:17] Speaker 1: There was a report on fight Full's Raw Post show
[38:21] Speaker 1: that claimed this was the plan all throughout the I
[38:25] Speaker 1: guess spring really they knew that they were heading into
[38:28] Speaker 1: Cody Roads and CM Punk on this Summer Slam show,
[38:31] Speaker 1: and they always knew that Sammy's name was going to
[38:33] Speaker 1: drop that belt to Punk because they've known when Punk
[38:36] Speaker 1: was going to come back for quite some time. Chicago
[38:38] Speaker 1: always seemed the likeliest return date for him. False Finish
[38:44] Speaker 1: reported that Punk winning the undisputed WWE Championship and heading
[38:47] Speaker 1: into SummerSlam to defend it has been planned for well
[38:50] Speaker 1: over a month. Punk was initially set to challenge Cody
[38:53] Speaker 1: at Wrestlemany of forty three in RhoD But WWE is
[38:57] Speaker 1: preparing for Summer Slim in Minneapolis to be better than
[39:00] Speaker 1: Wrestle Many of forty two. Well, that shouldn't be too difficult, now,
[39:05] Speaker 1: should it, Especially given how awful Night one was. I
[39:08] Speaker 1: would find it hard to believe that this show could
[39:09] Speaker 1: be worse than that. But there's been a lot of
[39:12] Speaker 1: talk and a lot of speculation now that this match
[39:14] Speaker 1: is official about a heel turn. Is somebody gonna go
[39:18] Speaker 1: heal in the build up to the match or you
[39:20] Speaker 1: know at Summer Slim, and I will I will say this,
[39:23] Speaker 1: if there was going to be a heel turn, you
[39:25] Speaker 1: shoot that angle at Summer Slim. You don't do it
[39:26] Speaker 1: on TV. You know you got three weeks to build
[39:29] Speaker 1: up this match. You don't rush a heel turn on
[39:31] Speaker 1: TV right now. If anything, you do it at Summer Slim.
[39:34] Speaker 1: If either man was to go heal anytime soon, Punk
[39:38] Speaker 1: or Cody. I would want it to be Cody, but
[39:41] Speaker 1: if Punk is supposedly getting a long rain, and honestly,
[39:45] Speaker 1: they need to give it a rest for a while.
[39:47] Speaker 1: As far as changing that title, it feels like it's
[39:50] Speaker 1: more likely to be Punk than who would Turn than Cody.
[39:53] Speaker 1: With Cody being the one to chase, you know, it
[39:56] Speaker 1: always makes more sense for the baby face to be
[39:59] Speaker 1: chasing the heel in a situation like this, especially if
[40:01] Speaker 1: you're heading into WrestleMania with a longer story. There's going
[40:04] Speaker 1: to be future matches or a big payoff at the
[40:07] Speaker 1: end for it. Maybe they save it for Mania. Always
[40:10] Speaker 1: better for the babyface to be the one in chase mode.
[40:13] Speaker 1: And if this idea that Punk is going to be
[40:16] Speaker 1: champion for a while, which is something else that was
[40:18] Speaker 1: reported this week, He's gonna have a lengthy run as
[40:21] Speaker 1: the champion supposedly. If that's the case, If that's true,
[40:25] Speaker 1: and they're going to keep the Cody in Punk stuff going,
[40:27] Speaker 1: I just think it would make more sense for Punk
[40:29] Speaker 1: than to be the heel, even though I would rather
[40:31] Speaker 1: it be Cody. That's if anybody was to go heal,
[40:35] Speaker 1: because how many times are you going to do the
[40:36] Speaker 1: baby face against babyface thing. Right after a while, it
[40:40] Speaker 1: ain't gonna work for the purposes of the story and
[40:43] Speaker 1: keeping things fresh and interesting. Somebody is going to have
[40:45] Speaker 1: to turn, and so we'll see if they actually have
[40:49] Speaker 1: the guts to turn. Cody, That's what I would like
[40:51] Speaker 1: to see. But I don't know. Man, If Punk is
[40:54] Speaker 1: going to have that belt into next year, let's say,
[40:57] Speaker 1: and somebody was going into bad guy mode, I just
[41:01] Speaker 1: can't imagine that it would be Cody, you know, in
[41:04] Speaker 1: that case, because then you have to what are you doing?
[41:07] Speaker 1: Then you're holding off months and months to build to
[41:09] Speaker 1: what to build to the heel winning the belt? That
[41:12] Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense to me. If he was going
[41:14] Speaker 1: to win it, he would do it at SummerSlam. But
[41:16] Speaker 1: you're going to change the belt again at SummerSlam. You've
[41:19] Speaker 1: already changed it a whole bunch of times. How many
[41:21] Speaker 1: times are you going to change this thing? By the way,
[41:25] Speaker 1: Cody tweeted yesterday, what's a good song for this moment?
[41:29] Speaker 1: Took a lot to make it happen three weeks away,
[41:32] Speaker 1: so he was asking for input about what song people
[41:35] Speaker 1: think would be appropriate. I guess for like their video
[41:37] Speaker 1: package and the build up to this match at SummerSlam,
[41:41] Speaker 1: So chime in. I would love to know what you
[41:42] Speaker 1: guys think. I posted there's two songs in particular that
[41:46] Speaker 1: I think I really like and I think would work
[41:49] Speaker 1: to really kind of hype up the match. One of
[41:53] Speaker 1: them is actually a poppy song. It's called The Cost
[41:56] Speaker 1: of Giving Up. I think that would be a great choice.
[41:59] Speaker 1: And there's a song from me years ago by this
[42:00] Speaker 1: guy Ryan Starr called this could be the Year, really
[42:05] Speaker 1: really good song. I'll throw one more in there. By
[42:08] Speaker 1: the way, there's a group called Dance with the Dead.
[42:10] Speaker 1: They have a song called I Want Blood. Do you
[42:13] Speaker 1: want the thing that's a little more high? If you
[42:14] Speaker 1: want one that's a little more high energy, that's another
[42:16] Speaker 1: good option. But I don't know, maybe you guys have
[42:19] Speaker 1: some other choices. Let me know what you think. I
[42:22] Speaker 1: mentioned that tag team match that was added to Saturday
[42:25] Speaker 1: night's main event. Gunther was in the closing segment on SmackDown,
[42:30] Speaker 1: hoping and expecting that Nick Aldis, who is officially back.
[42:34] Speaker 1: By the way, he's been reinstated as the general manager
[42:36] Speaker 1: of SmackDown, so his administrative leave did not last very long.
[42:40] Speaker 1: But he had gone to him earlier in the show
[42:42] Speaker 1: and said, you got to make this right. You gotta
[42:43] Speaker 1: give me my championship match. You have until the end
[42:46] Speaker 1: of the show to make up your mind. Gunther came out.
[42:48] Speaker 1: Nick All, this came out. He was expecting him to
[42:50] Speaker 1: get a title match, and then Gunther did not get
[42:52] Speaker 1: his title match. He got a tag team match, which
[42:54] Speaker 1: is very disappointing if you're Gunther. And he said enough
[42:56] Speaker 1: of this shit, and he attacked nick All. This from
[42:59] Speaker 1: behind angle where he was beating him down. He put
[43:01] Speaker 1: him in a sleeper hole. They pulled him off, he
[43:03] Speaker 1: put him back in the sleeper hole. Cody came out
[43:05] Speaker 1: to make the save, and before he even hit the ring,
[43:07] Speaker 1: the show cut off. They went off the air, and
[43:10] Speaker 1: nothing of any great significance happened after that. They showed
[43:13] Speaker 1: it on social media after, but without actually announcing it.
[43:18] Speaker 1: It's very clear that we are in fact heading to
[43:20] Speaker 1: a singles match at SummerSlam. Nick All, this is going
[43:22] Speaker 1: to wrestle, not a doubt in my mind. Now. This
[43:24] Speaker 1: will be his first singles match in WWE, maybe his
[43:28] Speaker 1: only one. Who knows, but he'll be wrestling gun Through
[43:30] Speaker 1: at Summerslim. It is all but official at this point.
[43:34] Speaker 1: The other thing that happened on SmackDown, the only other
[43:36] Speaker 1: thing really worth mentioning, was the return of a former
[43:40] Speaker 1: WWE name, one that many of us were expecting to
[43:42] Speaker 1: come back very soon, but not in this spot that
[43:45] Speaker 1: he did, and that is Baron Corbin. Baron Corbin has
[43:49] Speaker 1: been silent and off indis now for a while, speculation
[43:53] Speaker 1: that he was on his way back to WWE. He
[43:57] Speaker 1: was stripped recently, I believe, of his MLW Tag Team championship,
[44:00] Speaker 1: so the writing was on the wall as far as
[44:02] Speaker 1: where he was headed. But the belief, the assumption, based
[44:06] Speaker 1: on some of these Dan Housen segments and this mysterious
[44:10] Speaker 1: body or person or whatever it is under the white
[44:13] Speaker 1: sheet and his laboratory, is that he was going to
[44:16] Speaker 1: revive Baron Corbin, right, He's going to bring him back
[44:18] Speaker 1: to life like he's been laying there the entire time
[44:20] Speaker 1: that he's been gone from the company for years, and
[44:24] Speaker 1: so On SmackDown, they had a non title match between
[44:28] Speaker 1: Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes. In the middle of this match,
[44:31] Speaker 1: Carmelo Hayes is on the verge of victory. It's on
[44:33] Speaker 1: the top rope and all of a sudden, there's a
[44:35] Speaker 1: commotion and the camera pans over and who's standing on
[44:37] Speaker 1: the apron but Barren fucking Corban. I'm like, what not
[44:42] Speaker 1: the role I was expecting him to be in, but
[44:45] Speaker 1: a much better role than him laying under the sheet
[44:46] Speaker 1: in Dan Housen's laboratory. He laid out Carmelo Hayes with
[44:50] Speaker 1: an end of days. He laid out Trick Williams with
[44:52] Speaker 1: an end of days. He was not siding with one
[44:55] Speaker 1: or the other. He took him both out. He picked
[44:58] Speaker 1: up Trick's new ugly the Furry United States Championship Legacy
[45:03] Speaker 1: title that Lil YACHTI presented him with. This fucking thing
[45:05] Speaker 1: is so ugly, Oh, Mike, I will say this, though
[45:08] Speaker 1: they have I don't think this was the case before.
[45:10] Speaker 1: I think they have blue now behind the stars on
[45:13] Speaker 1: the belt. I don't know if it was blue before that.
[45:16] Speaker 1: I like, the fur has to go. I mean again,
[45:20] Speaker 1: it looks like I mean, the belt looks like fucking
[45:22] Speaker 1: I said, it looks like Gandolf with the white fur
[45:25] Speaker 1: coming off the edges of it, and it's all like
[45:27] Speaker 1: white fur backing. But it just looks it just looks disgusting,
[45:31] Speaker 1: so he held the championship, but made it very clear that
[45:34] Speaker 1: this is what he was after. And now we are
[45:36] Speaker 1: left to wonder what does that mean for SummerSlam, where
[45:39] Speaker 1: it looked like we were headed towards a title match
[45:41] Speaker 1: between Trick and Mellow. How do you not include Corbin
[45:44] Speaker 1: in this if he's kind of staking his claim to
[45:47] Speaker 1: the championship and he just embarrassed these two and attacked
[45:50] Speaker 1: them and laid them out on TV. Meanwhile, they were
[45:53] Speaker 1: showing Ricky Saints in the back watching the match during
[45:56] Speaker 1: the match, So Ricky is not completely out of the
[45:58] Speaker 1: US title scene either. Whatever they do, this is a
[46:01] Speaker 1: much better spot for Baron Corbin to come back, in
[46:04] Speaker 1: a much more serious spot than the one many of
[46:07] Speaker 1: us were envisioning for him. Ww He's already put out
[46:10] Speaker 1: a new merch for him with the Nomad name on
[46:14] Speaker 1: it that says Nomad under the main design. So, and
[46:19] Speaker 1: I think that's something that he started using when he
[46:22] Speaker 1: left the company, because he's been gone since the end
[46:26] Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four. Right, it was around November December
[46:29] Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four. He was with the company for
[46:31] Speaker 1: well over a decade, started working as Bishop Dyer on
[46:34] Speaker 1: the independent scene, had a good run for himself in MLW,
[46:37] Speaker 1: he had a little guest hosting Gig'm Busted Open Radio,
[46:41] Speaker 1: He was working other indies and he was doing well
[46:44] Speaker 1: for himself. And so now they got him back, and
[46:47] Speaker 1: I guess the question is is he back in kind
[46:50] Speaker 1: of a Matt Cardona role or do they actually intend
[46:54] Speaker 1: to do more with him this time, because the last
[46:57] Speaker 1: we saw him, he had been called back up from
[46:59] Speaker 1: NA after a pretty successful rundown there as part of
[47:02] Speaker 1: that Wolfdogs team with bron Breaker. They tried to replicate
[47:06] Speaker 1: it on the main roster with Apollo Cruise that didn't work,
[47:09] Speaker 1: and then they got rid of him at a time
[47:11] Speaker 1: when it actually kind of felt like things are clicking
[47:14] Speaker 1: for him and maybe he can get something going here
[47:16] Speaker 1: and he can kind of wash away the stain and
[47:18] Speaker 1: the stink of some of those awful gimmicks and characters
[47:21] Speaker 1: that he was portraying previously, and then he was gone.
[47:26] Speaker 1: So for his sake, I hope that they can do
[47:28] Speaker 1: more with him this time. I think he could be
[47:29] Speaker 1: a solid middle of the card, kind of a US
[47:33] Speaker 1: title contender addition to the SmackDown roster. He's not going
[47:38] Speaker 1: to be elevated into the main events scene or anything
[47:40] Speaker 1: like that. But for his sake, I would hope it's
[47:43] Speaker 1: in a role that's at least more fruitful than the
[47:45] Speaker 1: one they have Matt Cardona in right now. The Cardona
[47:48] Speaker 1: thing was not a surprise to me at all. I
[47:49] Speaker 1: knew exactly what spot he was going to end up
[47:52] Speaker 1: in as soon as they brought him back. Hopefully, for KORbin,
[47:54] Speaker 1: he'll be able to do a little bit more than that.
[47:57] Speaker 1: One person we did not see on Smack seeing her
[48:00] Speaker 1: on Smack that in many, many weeks and we are
[48:03] Speaker 1: getting very close to SummerSlam, is the WWE Women's Champion,
[48:08] Speaker 1: Rhea Ripley. I cannot remember a period of time where
[48:13] Speaker 1: the women's champion, the women's World Championship scene on both
[48:18] Speaker 1: brands in this company was as dire as it has
[48:21] Speaker 1: been over the last several weeks. Rhea Ripley got hurt
[48:25] Speaker 1: in late May early June. It was when they were
[48:28] Speaker 1: having their Italy shows. There was nothing that was said
[48:32] Speaker 1: about the nature of the injury, how serious it was.
[48:35] Speaker 1: All we were told a few weeks ago. I think
[48:37] Speaker 1: they may have mentioned the need, but all they said
[48:39] Speaker 1: was that she was trying to rehabit and they would
[48:41] Speaker 1: have more information for us, and then nothing has been said.
[48:45] Speaker 1: As we have gotten closer and closer and closer to
[48:47] Speaker 1: their second biggest show of the year, nothing's been mentioned
[48:50] Speaker 1: about Rhea Ripley. So you've had the WWE Women's champion
[48:54] Speaker 1: m i A not even on the shows. We haven't
[48:57] Speaker 1: been told anything about Rhea Ripley, and she's the champion
[49:03] Speaker 1: on Raw. You have Lived Morgan is the women's World champion.
[49:05] Speaker 1: And because Stephanie Vaquier has been gone and they were
[49:09] Speaker 1: clearly going to at least have one more match between
[49:11] Speaker 1: the two of them, they got caught with their pants
[49:14] Speaker 1: down not knowing what to do, so they just chose
[49:17] Speaker 1: to not do anything with her Live. Morgan's been the
[49:19] Speaker 1: champion since Wrestle Manias. She has not defended the title once.
[49:24] Speaker 1: Her first title defense will be at Summer Slim, so
[49:26] Speaker 1: you're going from Mania a Summer Slim with that any
[49:28] Speaker 1: title defense is on a ple or on TV or
[49:31] Speaker 1: or anything. She hasn't really been even doing much on
[49:34] Speaker 1: the show. That's your two women's world titles over the
[49:39] Speaker 1: last month plus. It's pathetic, but now we have an answer,
[49:43] Speaker 1: at least on what's been going on with Rhea Ripley.
[49:45] Speaker 1: Rhea Ripley was a guest at the Power Slap event
[49:49] Speaker 1: the other night, Friday night, I believe, and it was
[49:52] Speaker 1: during the broadcast she revealed that she is dealing with
[49:55] Speaker 1: a slight tear in her meniscus. She said, yeah, I
[49:59] Speaker 1: hurt my I got a slight tear in my miniscus.
[50:02] Speaker 1: So it's healing, it's getting there, it's getting stronger. I
[50:05] Speaker 1: just can't bend it very well. Kind of need to
[50:08] Speaker 1: bend guys. And when she was asked about a potential
[50:12] Speaker 1: timeline for a return, she said, I don't know. I
[50:14] Speaker 1: tore it in a really weird spot, so it's kind
[50:17] Speaker 1: of a little bit up in the air with just
[50:19] Speaker 1: how fast my body recovers. But I've been out for
[50:22] Speaker 1: probably about a month now. I think it's been a month.
[50:24] Speaker 1: In one week, it feels better. It still starts to
[50:28] Speaker 1: hurt and throb. It gets tired. I can't get up
[50:31] Speaker 1: or bend down really or kind of move side to
[50:34] Speaker 1: side what While crouching, she said, all of that sounds awful.
[50:38] Speaker 1: I just take the fucking belt off of her. I mean, clearly,
[50:40] Speaker 1: she's not one hundred percent she's not going to be
[50:43] Speaker 1: one hundred percent for a little while longer, but it
[50:45] Speaker 1: sounds like more than a couple of week thing. So
[50:47] Speaker 1: I mean, at this point, you may as well just
[50:49] Speaker 1: take the belt off of her. I mean, how long
[50:51] Speaker 1: are you going to keep it on her and keep
[50:53] Speaker 1: this charade going? If that's the case, let her heal.
[50:57] Speaker 1: You know, you don't want to rush her back from
[50:59] Speaker 1: something like that. And in the meantime, again, we need
[51:02] Speaker 1: to get something going as far as that championship goes. Now,
[51:04] Speaker 1: they're going to have a match that they're gonna be signing.
[51:06] Speaker 1: It's not official yet, but clearly we're going to get
[51:08] Speaker 1: Charlotte Flair and Jade Cargill at Summer Slim. And some
[51:11] Speaker 1: people may not like this idea, but it would actually
[51:13] Speaker 1: kind of make sense if they wanted to just quickly
[51:16] Speaker 1: get the belt on somebody, because there's not a lot
[51:17] Speaker 1: of time left frankly between now and the pl There's
[51:21] Speaker 1: no time for another tournament or anything like that. You
[51:26] Speaker 1: could put the belt up in the match between Charlotte
[51:28] Speaker 1: and Jade, and you can crown a new champion at
[51:30] Speaker 1: Summerslim that way, and just say the winner of that
[51:32] Speaker 1: match becomes the new champion, you can put the belt
[51:34] Speaker 1: on Charlotte, and when Ria comes back, you've got a
[51:38] Speaker 1: ready made match waiting for you between Riha and Charlotte. Now,
[51:41] Speaker 1: maybe they don't want to go to Ria and Charlotte
[51:43] Speaker 1: again just yet, and maybe they want to save that
[51:47] Speaker 1: for a bigger match down the road, but that would
[51:50] Speaker 1: be one way to at least get the belt on somebody,
[51:52] Speaker 1: get the belt on another name, and let Ria take
[51:56] Speaker 1: as much time as she needs to heal up so
[51:58] Speaker 1: that her knee is not hurting and her knee is
[52:01] Speaker 1: not throbbing, and she can bend and do all the
[52:03] Speaker 1: things that you have to do if you're going to
[52:04] Speaker 1: get in the ring and wrestle. At least now we
[52:06] Speaker 1: have some sense of what's been going on. I wanted
[52:10] Speaker 1: to mention this here. I didn't have another good place
[52:12] Speaker 1: to mention this. But Tiffany Stratton, the women's United States Champion.
[52:17] Speaker 1: I have no idea if she'll be on the Summer
[52:19] Speaker 1: Slam card either. I have to imagine they'll find a
[52:22] Speaker 1: place for her on the Summer Slang. She's from Minnesota.
[52:25] Speaker 1: She's from Minnesota. She has to be on that card.
[52:28] Speaker 1: Like Chad Gable is from Minneapolis, and if these people
[52:33] Speaker 1: have any sense in their fucking brains, he's gonna win
[52:36] Speaker 1: this gauntlet match that they have on Raw tomorrow night
[52:38] Speaker 1: for the right to challenge Penta for the Intercontinental Championship
[52:41] Speaker 1: at SummerSlam. But I'm pretty sure Tiffany is from Minnesota.
[52:45] Speaker 1: But she was talking to kay Fan in Minneapolis to
[52:49] Speaker 1: promote SummerSlam, and she was asked whether she prefers being
[52:53] Speaker 1: cheered as a baby face or does she prefer being
[52:56] Speaker 1: booed as a heel. She said, I think I like both.
[52:59] Speaker 1: I think it comes in waves where being the good
[53:02] Speaker 1: guy kind of gets a little stale. And I do
[53:04] Speaker 1: think naturally I am more of a heel, a natural heel.
[53:08] Speaker 1: That's how I learned wrestling. Fun fact, I learned wrestling
[53:11] Speaker 1: as a heel, so like, I just feel like that's
[53:14] Speaker 1: my roots. So maybe one day we'll go back to that.
[53:16] Speaker 1: You'll have to, you know, keep watching SmackDown to see.
[53:19] Speaker 1: I will say, I do like being heel a little
[53:21] Speaker 1: bit better. It's a lot less pressure and it's a
[53:25] Speaker 1: lot more fun. I've only been saying this for how
[53:29] Speaker 1: long now about this woman, she is completely miscast right now,
[53:33] Speaker 1: as a baby face, like they turned her baby face
[53:36] Speaker 1: because she had been a heel for a while. Fine,
[53:39] Speaker 1: but now it's been so long she's totally miscast in
[53:41] Speaker 1: this role. I'm not saying she's not popular. I'm just
[53:43] Speaker 1: saying I agree with her one hundred percent. I think
[53:46] Speaker 1: the time has come to flip her back to the
[53:50] Speaker 1: other mode, flipper back to being heel, because she just
[53:52] Speaker 1: works so much better as a heel on this show.
[53:54] Speaker 1: She wrestles like one, she clearly is more comfortable as one.
[53:59] Speaker 1: So yes, please please turn Tiffity Stratton heel if the
[54:01] Speaker 1: first opportunity you have Saturday night's main event before we
[54:05] Speaker 1: get to Summer Slam. We have this card next weekend,
[54:08] Speaker 1: which is very thin right now, and obviously they're going
[54:10] Speaker 1: to add at least one more match this week. Two
[54:12] Speaker 1: matches may be asking for too much, but at least
[54:15] Speaker 1: one more I'm sure is going to be tacked onto
[54:16] Speaker 1: this card at some point either tomorrow or Friday. Preferably
[54:21] Speaker 1: tomorrow and not waiting until twenty four hours before the
[54:24] Speaker 1: show would be nice. This is the card as it stands,
[54:27] Speaker 1: and again the card is from Madison Square Garden. This
[54:31] Speaker 1: is the Mecca. This is their home away from home.
[54:33] Speaker 1: This is the world's most famous arena. You put your
[54:35] Speaker 1: best foot forward at your New York crowd. We have
[54:38] Speaker 1: Dan Housen, who doesn't wrestle very often, let alone in
[54:42] Speaker 1: a singles match, but we know Dan Housen is going
[54:44] Speaker 1: to be super over in New York City for obvious reasons,
[54:47] Speaker 1: so of course you have to have him on the show.
[54:50] Speaker 1: He is going to be in action against j D
[54:54] Speaker 1: McDonough representing the judgment day now. According to Wrestle Votes
[54:58] Speaker 1: Radio on Fightful Select, WWE has invited several members of
[55:02] Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six NBA champion New York Knicks to
[55:07] Speaker 1: the show on Saturday. Multiple Knicks players are expected to
[55:10] Speaker 1: be there. Russell Votes noted that WWE had previously looked
[55:14] Speaker 1: into Jalen Brunson having a role on the show with
[55:16] Speaker 1: several creative pitches involving Dan Housen. But Brunton just underwent
[55:20] Speaker 1: surgery on his left wrist after playing through the playoffs
[55:23] Speaker 1: with the injury, and he is expected to be back
[55:26] Speaker 1: on the court later in the summer, so he's not
[55:27] Speaker 1: going to be out for too long, but for the
[55:30] Speaker 1: time being, that takes him out of doing anything physical,
[55:34] Speaker 1: and WWE is still said to be hopeful that Brunson
[55:36] Speaker 1: will at least attend the event and make an on
[55:39] Speaker 1: screen appearance. When they did that segment last week on
[55:42] Speaker 1: Smackdow where Dan Housen was in the back on the
[55:44] Speaker 1: phone with somebody the old candlestick phone from like nineteen thirty,
[55:49] Speaker 1: and Matt Cardona walked in and they were conversing, and
[55:52] Speaker 1: Dan Housen said, oh, you know, he was on the
[55:54] Speaker 1: phone with someone and he's real and he's going to
[55:56] Speaker 1: go meet with him. Basically, he's going to be his
[55:58] Speaker 1: backup at Saturday nights. My first thought was, Okay, it's
[56:02] Speaker 1: going to be Jalen Brunson in that spot. They had
[56:06] Speaker 1: Dominic Mysterios steal his, you know, steal Dan Housen's next
[56:09] Speaker 1: jersey that he was gifted by the team. Everything seemed
[56:12] Speaker 1: to be leading to that, and it still could. Right Obviously,
[56:15] Speaker 1: there's going to be some NIX people. I'm sure they're
[56:18] Speaker 1: going to be in the building, but maybe who he
[56:22] Speaker 1: was referring to is a wrestler and it's not a
[56:25] Speaker 1: celebrity or a Knicks player. And we talked about this
[56:29] Speaker 1: on I think on TNT on two day and JD
[56:31] Speaker 1: brought this up, which is that Cas and Enzo are
[56:35] Speaker 1: on their way back to the company very soon. We
[56:38] Speaker 1: don't know exactly when, but they are on their way back.
[56:42] Speaker 1: Could it be that Dan Housen is going to trot
[56:46] Speaker 1: out Enzo and Moore and Big Cast at Madison Square
[56:49] Speaker 1: Garden Because if you think about it, what a what
[56:50] Speaker 1: a great place for them to make their return and
[56:53] Speaker 1: to get a big reaction, but at MSG. So that
[56:56] Speaker 1: would actually make a lot of sense if we're being honest. Now,
[56:59] Speaker 1: JD McDonough, who's he gonna have in his corner? He'll
[57:01] Speaker 1: have dom in his court. This is the thing with
[57:04] Speaker 1: the Judgment Day. They don't even have enough male members
[57:07] Speaker 1: to where JD McDonough could have like two people in
[57:10] Speaker 1: his corner to counteract let's say Cazenenzo if they were
[57:13] Speaker 1: gonna be in Dan Housen's quarter. They don't even have
[57:15] Speaker 1: enough members to make that happen. That whole fucking group
[57:18] Speaker 1: should just be blown up. But I actually think this
[57:22] Speaker 1: would be a great spot if you were going to
[57:23] Speaker 1: bring those two back to the main roster and not NXT.
[57:26] Speaker 1: You bring them back here. I think that makes a
[57:29] Speaker 1: lot of sense. Whether they show up or not, Dan
[57:31] Speaker 1: Housen is winning this match. There is no chance that
[57:34] Speaker 1: Dan Housen is losing this match. I think we can
[57:36] Speaker 1: all agree on that. But he's gonna be super over
[57:39] Speaker 1: in that building on Saturday. Fatal Influence, Lany Reid and
[57:43] Speaker 1: Fallon Henley are going to be challenging Page in Bribella
[57:47] Speaker 1: for the WWE Women's tag team titles. After previously losing
[57:52] Speaker 1: to the champions in a non title match, they are
[57:55] Speaker 1: getting a title match. Wouldn't make a whole lot of
[57:59] Speaker 1: sense for them to lose it again, now, would it.
[58:02] Speaker 1: This should be a title change, Fatal Influence gets the
[58:05] Speaker 1: belts and then in the main event. This is it.
[58:09] Speaker 1: This is all we have so far. Cody Rhodes and
[58:11] Speaker 1: the new WWE Champion, his Summer Slam opponent sy I'm
[58:14] Speaker 1: Punk are gonna be partners. They're gonna be buddies for
[58:18] Speaker 1: one night wrestling buddies. They're gonna be taking on Gunther
[58:23] Speaker 1: and Sammy's Ain. I'm going with Cody and Punk for
[58:26] Speaker 1: the wind. I just can't imagine either one of them,
[58:29] Speaker 1: frankly taking a loss here in this match. I'd love
[58:32] Speaker 1: to say that Sammy's ain is gonna get the big like,
[58:35] Speaker 1: even if it's a fucking roll up, He's gonna, you know,
[58:37] Speaker 1: roll up Cody Rhodes and get the Wind or something.
[58:40] Speaker 1: And I mean, look, you can't rule it out. I suppose,
[58:43] Speaker 1: but I don't see that happening. I don't see that
[58:46] Speaker 1: happening at all. I don't think they want to beat
[58:48] Speaker 1: either one of these two guys. So I'm going with
[58:51] Speaker 1: Punk and Cody for the Wind. But there's gonna definitely
[58:54] Speaker 1: be some animosity there. There's gonna be some sort of
[58:57] Speaker 1: miscommunication or something is gonna happen, and they're going to
[59:00] Speaker 1: be at each other's threat. We might even get a
[59:02] Speaker 1: pull apart brawl to close out the show on Saturday.
[59:05] Speaker 1: If they actually close with this match, something will happen.
[59:09] Speaker 1: It will not be Hunky Dorry the entire time. But
[59:11] Speaker 1: I just can't I can't vote against them. I can't
[59:14] Speaker 1: predict against them. I'm going with punkin Cody for the win.
[59:18] Speaker 1: As far as what else could be added to the show,
[59:20] Speaker 1: I mean, take your pick any number of stories that
[59:22] Speaker 1: are currently brewing on either side of the aisle. They
[59:26] Speaker 1: could kind of toss that match in there. I mean
[59:27] Speaker 1: I guess if you look at who we have, Dan
[59:32] Speaker 1: Housen kind of floats between the shows, doesn't he I
[59:36] Speaker 1: don't know that is Dan Housen attached to any one brand.
[59:40] Speaker 1: I don't think he is. And McDonough is a raw guy.
[59:42] Speaker 1: We'll call that a raw match, and then the two
[59:44] Speaker 1: tag matches are SmackDown matches, so it would make sense
[59:47] Speaker 1: if they were going to add one more for it
[59:48] Speaker 1: to be a raw match. They're doing a Gauntlet for
[59:52] Speaker 1: the Intercontinental title tomorrow, so it doesn't feel like Penta
[59:56] Speaker 1: is going to be defending his title on Saturday. What
[1:00:00] Speaker 1: else is going on on Raw right now? Where they
[1:00:01] Speaker 1: can put that, you know what? Would be nice? Maybe
[1:00:04] Speaker 1: liv Morgan could defend her championship on Saturday. Wouldn't that
[1:00:07] Speaker 1: be something I don't even know against who, It doesn't matter,
[1:00:10] Speaker 1: Just put her in there with anybody at this point. Anyway,
[1:00:14] Speaker 1: as the card gets updated, well I'm sure I'll talk
[1:00:16] Speaker 1: about it in the Raw post show and throughout the
[1:00:19] Speaker 1: week on the YouTube channel, So make sure you're following
[1:00:23] Speaker 1: over there because we had all the post shows and
[1:00:26] Speaker 1: all the clips and all the good shit going up
[1:00:28] Speaker 1: there during the week on YouTube. Any sort of breaking news.
[1:00:31] Speaker 1: That's where you can find it. Let me flip on
[1:00:34] Speaker 1: over to the aw side here and some concerning news
[1:00:39] Speaker 1: as far as Jim Ross goes now. Jim Ross, who
[1:00:42] Speaker 1: has had a hell of a year, not in a
[1:00:44] Speaker 1: good way. He's been dealing with a lot of health
[1:00:47] Speaker 1: issues that really for several years. But he revealed on
[1:00:50] Speaker 1: his Grilling Jr. Podcast that he is scheduled to undergo
[1:00:55] Speaker 1: brain surgery this week to address a condition that has
[1:00:59] Speaker 1: affected his memory. You know when I said last time
[1:01:03] Speaker 1: that this guy can't catch a break. Who knew that
[1:01:06] Speaker 1: I was actually under selling it? Lord, I mean, it's
[1:01:11] Speaker 1: just one thing after another with this guy. He told Conrad.
[1:01:14] Speaker 1: I feel pretty good. I think it's getting better every day,
[1:01:18] Speaker 1: but still got a ways to go. I can't drive yet,
[1:01:21] Speaker 1: all that stuff. I'm cutting back on my appearances. I
[1:01:24] Speaker 1: got one big one coming up in Minneapolis in a
[1:01:26] Speaker 1: few weeks. But I'm just battling. I'm getting ready to
[1:01:29] Speaker 1: have another surgery, brain surgery. This time. That's going to
[1:01:33] Speaker 1: be an adventure because I don't think they're going to
[1:01:35] Speaker 1: find much in my brain. I'll be in the hospital
[1:01:38] Speaker 1: for a few days. Hopefully nothing will go wrong. I've
[1:01:41] Speaker 1: got a great surgeon. I had to go to the
[1:01:43] Speaker 1: cardiologist today to talk to him about this upcoming procedure.
[1:01:46] Speaker 1: He had to approve it or they wouldn't do it.
[1:01:49] Speaker 1: So he did, and they're going to do it soon.
[1:01:51] Speaker 1: I don't have a confirmed date set, but I think
[1:01:54] Speaker 1: it's going to be in the next week or so.
[1:01:56] Speaker 1: That's what I'm pushing for. It's just an illness and
[1:01:58] Speaker 1: I've got to get it addressed. I couldn't live my
[1:02:01] Speaker 1: life the way it was, you know, I'd forget shit
[1:02:03] Speaker 1: and I just couldn't remember things. It was just horrible.
[1:02:06] Speaker 1: I felt horrible. But it all started with me passing
[1:02:09] Speaker 1: out of my house and being discovered there, which began
[1:02:11] Speaker 1: an almost forty day hospital stay. So now we know
[1:02:15] Speaker 1: what landed him in the hospital recently. All we knew
[1:02:18] Speaker 1: was that he was in the hospital for over a month.
[1:02:19] Speaker 1: We didn't know why. He says this procedure that I'm
[1:02:23] Speaker 1: getting ready to have done, I think it's called a shunt.
[1:02:26] Speaker 1: It'll go from my brain. I don't know where it's
[1:02:28] Speaker 1: all going to go, but it's going someplace to get
[1:02:31] Speaker 1: that fluid off my brain that's making me not remember stuff.
[1:02:35] Speaker 1: It's fairly serious. I always thought that anytime they open
[1:02:38] Speaker 1: your skull up it's a serious piece of business, and
[1:02:41] Speaker 1: this certainly feels that way. So I'll get it done,
[1:02:44] Speaker 1: a short hospital stay, and then back home to heal up. Yeah.
[1:02:49] Speaker 1: I had a friend years ago who had a shunt.
[1:02:54] Speaker 1: It's to drain excess fluid from the brain down into
[1:02:58] Speaker 1: another part of the body because there's just too much
[1:03:01] Speaker 1: pressure building up inside the skull, so they install a
[1:03:04] Speaker 1: tube that transfers the fluid elsewhere in the body. I
[1:03:10] Speaker 1: take this as great news that the doctors didn't find
[1:03:13] Speaker 1: any evidence of him having dementia or Alzheimer's, because remember
[1:03:17] Speaker 1: that was the report a few weeks ago from him
[1:03:20] Speaker 1: on his podcast. He mentioned that the doctors were testing
[1:03:23] Speaker 1: him because there was a fear that he might have
[1:03:25] Speaker 1: and Alzheimer's is a form of dementia, but that he
[1:03:27] Speaker 1: might have some form of dementia, possibly Alzheimer's, which would
[1:03:31] Speaker 1: explain why he's been very forgetful, and that would be awful.
[1:03:35] Speaker 1: Listening to him talk here, it sounds like that may
[1:03:40] Speaker 1: not be the case, and there may be another explanation
[1:03:42] Speaker 1: for it. And if that's the case, that would be
[1:03:45] Speaker 1: great news because a shunt is not going to do
[1:03:47] Speaker 1: much to help with that, but there is a condition
[1:03:51] Speaker 1: that affects the memory that if you have it, a
[1:03:53] Speaker 1: shunt could be used to help treat it. And so
[1:03:55] Speaker 1: I hope that this is a sign that that's what
[1:03:57] Speaker 1: he has, because that's a lot less scared than in
[1:04:00] Speaker 1: Alzheimer's diagnosis. Not that brain surgery isn't serious, but this
[1:04:04] Speaker 1: is a hell of a lot better than the alternative,
[1:04:06] Speaker 1: if that's all it is. Tony con this week announced
[1:04:10] Speaker 1: that AW All Out is returning to Hoffman Estate's Illinois,
[1:04:15] Speaker 1: which is just outside of Chicago, so they're all Out
[1:04:19] Speaker 1: pay per view just coming up on September twenty sixth.
[1:04:23] Speaker 1: It was really a tradition for many years in AW
[1:04:26] Speaker 1: or has been that they would have the All Out
[1:04:28] Speaker 1: Show at Hoffman Estates. Last year though the event took
[1:04:33] Speaker 1: place in Toronto, but outside of that, in the I
[1:04:36] Speaker 1: guess the twenty twenty show because of the pandemic show
[1:04:39] Speaker 1: would have been the Daily's place. Last year was the
[1:04:42] Speaker 1: only time outside the state of Illinois that All Out
[1:04:46] Speaker 1: was hosted somewhere else, So All Out, though not going
[1:04:51] Speaker 1: back to Labor Day weekend Traditionally that was where all
[1:04:54] Speaker 1: Out would take place. Tony Khan explained to Q one
[1:04:57] Speaker 1: oh one Radio. I want to make sure that the
[1:04:59] Speaker 1: fans get the best possible experience at all Out. That
[1:05:02] Speaker 1: means giving four weeks between these pay per views to
[1:05:05] Speaker 1: fully build up and have about a month between all
[1:05:08] Speaker 1: in and all Out. Good good, because for a while
[1:05:14] Speaker 1: there we were getting these two pay per views within
[1:05:17] Speaker 1: like a week or two of each other, and it
[1:05:19] Speaker 1: was ridiculous. So you want to have more time to
[1:05:22] Speaker 1: really build up these stories, build up these matches, whatever
[1:05:24] Speaker 1: it may be. And that makes total sense, That makes
[1:05:28] Speaker 1: absolute sense why you would delay the show until the
[1:05:30] Speaker 1: end of the month. Wressel Votes on Frightful Select reported
[1:05:36] Speaker 1: that WWE had little to no internal discussion regarding the
[1:05:40] Speaker 1: possibility of pursuing AW star Jack Perry in the case
[1:05:45] Speaker 1: that he entered free agency. The prevailing feeling was that
[1:05:48] Speaker 1: he did not fit in WWE's current landscape, and so
[1:05:51] Speaker 1: as such, we had Jack Perry re signing this week
[1:05:55] Speaker 1: with AW and they did something very unusual. They actually
[1:05:58] Speaker 1: addressed it on television and showed himself finding his new
[1:06:00] Speaker 1: contract and shaking hands with Tony Kahan. So we don't
[1:06:03] Speaker 1: know the length of the deal. I'm sure it was
[1:06:05] Speaker 1: multi year, but Jack Perry is not going anywhere, and honestly,
[1:06:09] Speaker 1: I didn't expect anything else. I didn't expect the WWE
[1:06:12] Speaker 1: was going to have a whole lot of interest in him.
[1:06:14] Speaker 1: Even if they brought him in, what were they realistically
[1:06:16] Speaker 1: going to do with him? They would have made him
[1:06:18] Speaker 1: a name on the NXT brand, right, they were not
[1:06:20] Speaker 1: going to bring him in and put him on the
[1:06:22] Speaker 1: main roster and give him any kind of serious push.
[1:06:24] Speaker 1: I mean, come on now, that just wasn't going to happen,
[1:06:27] Speaker 1: and so him staying with AW was always the likely
[1:06:30] Speaker 1: end results here, and that's the right, I think place
[1:06:35] Speaker 1: for him to be. Quite frankly, he talked in this
[1:06:37] Speaker 1: promo on Wednesday about how I have to fulfill my potential.
[1:06:41] Speaker 1: I have to be the AW World Champion, and again
[1:06:44] Speaker 1: I don't see that anytime soon either. But you know what,
[1:06:48] Speaker 1: he's got a hell of a lot better at chance
[1:06:49] Speaker 1: of winning the AW world title than he does winning
[1:06:52] Speaker 1: a world title in WWE. So we finally have the
[1:06:55] Speaker 1: Jack Perry saga come to an end this week and
[1:06:58] Speaker 1: he's staying right where he is. Dynamite on Wednesday was
[1:07:02] Speaker 1: their big Beach Break show, which did very well in
[1:07:04] Speaker 1: the ratings compared to how a lot of their recent
[1:07:06] Speaker 1: shows have done. They built it up as it was
[1:07:08] Speaker 1: almost like this mini pay per view that they had
[1:07:12] Speaker 1: on Wednesday, headlined by an AW World Championship match between
[1:07:15] Speaker 1: Kenny Omega and MJF, with the stipulation that if MJF
[1:07:19] Speaker 1: beat Kenny Omega and Omega lost, he could never again
[1:07:24] Speaker 1: challenge for the AW World title, just like his friend
[1:07:27] Speaker 1: Hangman Adam Page, just like the former EVP, former member
[1:07:32] Speaker 1: of the Elite Cody Rhoades very early on in his
[1:07:34] Speaker 1: run in AAW put that on the line in a match.
[1:07:38] Speaker 1: It must have been the matter of Jericho, I believe,
[1:07:40] Speaker 1: and could never again challenge for the AW World Championship.
[1:07:44] Speaker 1: That was the stipulation. I heard them put this match
[1:07:46] Speaker 1: together for Dynamite last week, and I'm like, Beach Break,
[1:07:52] Speaker 1: you've got Redemption coming up. What better place for redemption
[1:07:57] Speaker 1: for Kenny Omega than at a show called Redemption and
[1:08:00] Speaker 1: making people pay to see it, Because even though we
[1:08:02] Speaker 1: saw it earlier this year, that's still a big fucking match,
[1:08:05] Speaker 1: right That's a pay per view main event right there,
[1:08:07] Speaker 1: especially if he's gonna win the belt Kenny Omega against
[1:08:10] Speaker 1: MJF and they decided to do it on TV for
[1:08:13] Speaker 1: reasons that were confusing to me. Dave Meltzer this week
[1:08:17] Speaker 1: said the match and stipulation was the plan for the
[1:08:22] Speaker 1: Redemption pay per view on July twenty sixth in Montreal.
[1:08:26] Speaker 1: The idea was Canada and the name of the show
[1:08:28] Speaker 1: was Omega getting his last shot after two high profile losses.
[1:08:33] Speaker 1: It was pushed, believed to be by MJF to get
[1:08:38] Speaker 1: it moved to television, and he says he was not
[1:08:41] Speaker 1: given a reason why, but it doesn't matter where the
[1:08:43] Speaker 1: suggestion came from. That's a major change, and Tony Kahan
[1:08:47] Speaker 1: approved it, so it sounds like this may have been
[1:08:52] Speaker 1: an MJF idea. I can only hope that they have
[1:08:55] Speaker 1: something really good cooked up for Redemption then, because Redemption
[1:08:58] Speaker 1: is a brand new pay per view. Last check, how
[1:09:02] Speaker 1: many tickets did they move? Somewhere like five thousand maybe
[1:09:05] Speaker 1: so far for Redemption. I'm sure they'll be a lot
[1:09:08] Speaker 1: closer to ten by the time they get to the
[1:09:10] Speaker 1: pay per view in a few weeks. But it's their
[1:09:13] Speaker 1: first Redemption show. Usually they don't have a pay per
[1:09:17] Speaker 1: view between well, I guess Forbidden Door was a completely
[1:09:21] Speaker 1: different time last year, but in July traditionally in the
[1:09:24] Speaker 1: lead up to All In, unless it was All In
[1:09:27] Speaker 1: in Texas last year. They don't have a pay per view.
[1:09:30] Speaker 1: This is a whole new event they've created, and I
[1:09:34] Speaker 1: would think that ideally you want to have like a
[1:09:35] Speaker 1: major main event for that card. So now Kenny Omega
[1:09:40] Speaker 1: walks into Beach Break on Wednesday, they have this match,
[1:09:43] Speaker 1: which was again an excellent main event, much like the
[1:09:46] Speaker 1: one we saw in Raw Monday night. I sat back
[1:09:48] Speaker 1: to back forty eight hours of each other, these two
[1:09:50] Speaker 1: great television main events with two big title changes. Kenny
[1:09:54] Speaker 1: Omega beats MJF on Wednesday. He is for the second
[1:09:58] Speaker 1: time in his career, in the first time in five years,
[1:10:01] Speaker 1: a world champion in all elite wrestling, and it was
[1:10:04] Speaker 1: this great moment and again what a great match. And
[1:10:07] Speaker 1: so now here we are, Beach Break is over, the
[1:10:09] Speaker 1: title has once again changed hands. MJF is without the
[1:10:13] Speaker 1: Triple B and we are heading into this pay per
[1:10:15] Speaker 1: view and the question I have is what do you
[1:10:17] Speaker 1: do with MJF at Redemption? And I was thinking about this,
[1:10:21] Speaker 1: and you know who they could put him in the
[1:10:23] Speaker 1: ring with and you could do a rematch. You could
[1:10:26] Speaker 1: certainly do that, right. You could put him back in
[1:10:28] Speaker 1: there with Kenny Omega, MJF, he deserves his rematch, and
[1:10:31] Speaker 1: just run the match back again for the third time
[1:10:34] Speaker 1: this year. I think that MJF against Will Ospray should
[1:10:38] Speaker 1: be a real consideration for that pay per view, not
[1:10:41] Speaker 1: for the title shot at Wembley, because that would just
[1:10:44] Speaker 1: be fucking dumb for Will to put that up on
[1:10:46] Speaker 1: the line, but with the stipulation that if MJF wins,
[1:10:50] Speaker 1: he gets added to make it a three way, which
[1:10:52] Speaker 1: he won't be. But I think you tease it. You
[1:10:55] Speaker 1: tease that as a possibility because there's probably a lot
[1:10:57] Speaker 1: of people out there who think, well, that's exactly what's
[1:10:59] Speaker 1: gonna happen. He'll probably be worked into the Wembley main event.
[1:11:02] Speaker 1: I got news for you. I don't think he is.
[1:11:05] Speaker 1: I don't think that's happening. But I think that that
[1:11:08] Speaker 1: stipulation would make sense. Right. But then the thing is,
[1:11:10] Speaker 1: if you do that, if you do MJF and Osprey
[1:11:12] Speaker 1: at Redemption, you need someone for Kenny Omega on that
[1:11:15] Speaker 1: pay per view. Now, I floated a rematch the other night,
[1:11:19] Speaker 1: a rematch from all In last year where Okata beat
[1:11:22] Speaker 1: Kenny on that show. You could do one more Kenny
[1:11:24] Speaker 1: Omega Kazuchka Okata match and Kenny beats him this time
[1:11:28] Speaker 1: to keep the championship. So that's one possibility. Kenny defending
[1:11:32] Speaker 1: against John Moxley would be another possibility, right teasing that
[1:11:37] Speaker 1: maybe Moxley is gonna beat Kenny, and that means that
[1:11:41] Speaker 1: Will Osprey would need to beat John Moxley to win
[1:11:44] Speaker 1: the belt at all In, the man that he's been
[1:11:46] Speaker 1: aligned with now for months and months and the man
[1:11:49] Speaker 1: who last time they wrestled he lost to. But I
[1:11:53] Speaker 1: don't think Moxley should lose, first of all, I don't
[1:11:56] Speaker 1: think that's happening. But if you do Omega and Moxley,
[1:11:59] Speaker 1: Moxley's got to lose that. I don't think Moxley should
[1:12:01] Speaker 1: lose a match to anybody until he wrestles Ospray, then
[1:12:05] Speaker 1: he finally loses. I just don't see him being the
[1:12:07] Speaker 1: one to go in there in the main event at
[1:12:09] Speaker 1: all In. I think they're pretty well locked in now
[1:12:12] Speaker 1: as far as what that all In main event is
[1:12:13] Speaker 1: going to be, I don't think anything's changing that MJF
[1:12:17] Speaker 1: being added to make it a three way at this point. Look,
[1:12:20] Speaker 1: I'm disappointed that he is not going to be in
[1:12:22] Speaker 1: the main event because the output for him all year,
[1:12:25] Speaker 1: the work he's been putting in, the matches he's been having,
[1:12:27] Speaker 1: whether it is against Kenny or if it's against Darby,
[1:12:30] Speaker 1: or if it's against Hangman or whoever it may be,
[1:12:33] Speaker 1: has been fucking great. And so if anybody deserves to
[1:12:36] Speaker 1: be in the main attraction on their biggest show of
[1:12:40] Speaker 1: the year, you would think it would be MJF. The
[1:12:42] Speaker 1: idea of adding him to make it a three way
[1:12:44] Speaker 1: at this point, like, there's no point, there's no point
[1:12:48] Speaker 1: in even doing so. I'm not sure they would even
[1:12:51] Speaker 1: want to make any more changes to their main event
[1:12:53] Speaker 1: When it seems like they've got Omega against Osprey pretty
[1:12:56] Speaker 1: well locked in, they really need to start rolling out
[1:12:58] Speaker 1: the promotion for that match. If there was some other
[1:13:02] Speaker 1: strong babyface that people really wanted to see in the
[1:13:05] Speaker 1: main event at Wembley and they got added let's say
[1:13:08] Speaker 1: a few weeks before the show, like that would be
[1:13:10] Speaker 1: one thing. But to go through the trouble of adding
[1:13:13] Speaker 1: their top heel back into the mix, like, to me,
[1:13:17] Speaker 1: that ship has sailed with him dropping that belt the
[1:13:19] Speaker 1: way he did on Wednesday, that's it. You got to
[1:13:22] Speaker 1: come up with something else for him to do. And
[1:13:24] Speaker 1: whatever MJF is going to be doing on that show,
[1:13:27] Speaker 1: it will not involve the world title. Whether that means
[1:13:29] Speaker 1: a match with Hangman, I'll talk about him in a second,
[1:13:32] Speaker 1: because he just came back a match with Andrade, who
[1:13:35] Speaker 1: he's been beefing with for months, or social media is
[1:13:39] Speaker 1: to be believed. They've convinced themselves that it's going to
[1:13:41] Speaker 1: be a match against Mick Foley. But whatever it is,
[1:13:45] Speaker 1: it will not be wrestling for the aw World Championship.
[1:13:49] Speaker 1: Kyle Fletcher beat Ta Keshta Kenoski Takesha on Wednesday to
[1:13:52] Speaker 1: win the international title. Because Takesha is in the g
[1:13:55] Speaker 1: One Climax this year, which just actually commenced last night.
[1:14:00] Speaker 1: I think he lost to Yotasuji, I believe, but he's
[1:14:03] Speaker 1: going to be And the first show, by the way,
[1:14:05] Speaker 1: was actually at the Now Arena at Hoffman Estates, where
[1:14:08] Speaker 1: all At is going to be this year. It was
[1:14:09] Speaker 1: here in the States, but he's going to be going
[1:14:11] Speaker 1: to Japan. I don't think we're going to be seeing
[1:14:12] Speaker 1: Takeshta on AW television for the next month, so you
[1:14:16] Speaker 1: had to get the belt off of him when he
[1:14:17] Speaker 1: comes back. Assuming that he is back in time for London,
[1:14:20] Speaker 1: you could just run it back between these two and
[1:14:22] Speaker 1: maybe even Tosso caught it in there because he's been
[1:14:24] Speaker 1: in the mix. All three of these men, right, had
[1:14:26] Speaker 1: been interconnected. Now, that would seem to be the all
[1:14:30] Speaker 1: in match to me, but I mentioned Hangman. We had
[1:14:35] Speaker 1: the return of Hangman Adam Page on Collision for the
[1:14:39] Speaker 1: first time since losing to MJF in the Texas Death
[1:14:42] Speaker 1: Match back in March, where he can no longer ever
[1:14:45] Speaker 1: again challenge for the AW World title. The announcement of
[1:14:49] Speaker 1: him being on Collision, by the way, was not mentioned
[1:14:52] Speaker 1: on TV. This came out of nowhere from Tony Kahn
[1:14:54] Speaker 1: on social media two days before the show that Hangman
[1:14:58] Speaker 1: was going to be on Collision in his home state
[1:15:01] Speaker 1: of Virginia. He comes out last night. He's back to
[1:15:05] Speaker 1: the short haired look. By the way. We got short
[1:15:07] Speaker 1: haired Hangman and he talked about his gardening again. I
[1:15:13] Speaker 1: guess that makes him a domestic short hair I'm sorry,
[1:15:19] Speaker 1: but when he came out like on the lower third
[1:15:22] Speaker 1: under his name. It said, recently had a vasectomy man,
[1:15:30] Speaker 1: never again able to challenge for the world title and
[1:15:33] Speaker 1: never again able to have kids. You know, if he
[1:15:37] Speaker 1: was going to do that, MJF totally should have added
[1:15:40] Speaker 1: that stipulation to their Texas deathmatch. Would have made him
[1:15:43] Speaker 1: an even bigger asshole. The good news about both those things, though,
[1:15:47] Speaker 1: is that they can both be reversed. But he comes
[1:15:50] Speaker 1: out to the rank. He talks about his gardening, which
[1:15:53] Speaker 1: led to him talking about planting seeds, which he literally
[1:15:57] Speaker 1: can't do anymore because he got his tubes tied. But
[1:16:00] Speaker 1: he reiterated that by losing to MJF, he can never
[1:16:05] Speaker 1: again challenge for the aw World Championship ever again. And
[1:16:09] Speaker 1: even though that was never actually put down on paper,
[1:16:12] Speaker 1: he is a man of his word and he intends
[1:16:15] Speaker 1: to honor that word, that stipulation he will never again
[1:16:20] Speaker 1: challenge for the world title, which puts the bet any
[1:16:22] Speaker 1: chance of him getting around it by winning that Casino
[1:16:25] Speaker 1: Gauntlet match next month. I had mentioned that as soon
[1:16:29] Speaker 1: as he lost, actually probably even before that, and the
[1:16:31] Speaker 1: lead up to that match at Revolution, I guess it
[1:16:34] Speaker 1: was I said, you know, one way to get around
[1:16:37] Speaker 1: this is that he could pop up in the Casino Gauntlet,
[1:16:40] Speaker 1: and you know he wins a guaranteed world title shot,
[1:16:43] Speaker 1: but it looks like that's out the window. But what
[1:16:46] Speaker 1: he talked about here in this promo was there being
[1:16:48] Speaker 1: other titles to challenge for, and oh there are many.
[1:16:51] Speaker 1: There are many for him to challenge for. He named
[1:16:55] Speaker 1: the TNT title and Kevin Knight, someone he counted as
[1:16:59] Speaker 1: a trio I was partner of his at one time.
[1:17:02] Speaker 1: He mentioned Mark Davis as the national champion who had
[1:17:06] Speaker 1: a hell of a match last night with Speedball Mike Bailey.
[1:17:10] Speaker 1: Next up for Davis, by the way, is Andrede Alidelos,
[1:17:13] Speaker 1: so long as Andrede can get past Jake Doyle on
[1:17:16] Speaker 1: Dynamite this week. And Hangman also mentioned the continental champion,
[1:17:21] Speaker 1: John Moxley, the same John Moxley that he beat to
[1:17:24] Speaker 1: win the world title at all in last year. He said,
[1:17:28] Speaker 1: for seven years, I have defined myself by the one
[1:17:31] Speaker 1: goal that I held above all others, to chase, to win,
[1:17:34] Speaker 1: and to hold the world championship. But now I am
[1:17:37] Speaker 1: faced with the question, who is Hangman without the World Championship?
[1:17:42] Speaker 1: And the honest truth is, I don't know, but we're
[1:17:44] Speaker 1: damn sure going to find out. I'm going to have
[1:17:47] Speaker 1: to find something else to do, and you bet you're
[1:17:49] Speaker 1: asked that I will, and he thanked all the fans
[1:17:52] Speaker 1: the great little Babyface promo. Here, here's the thing about
[1:17:55] Speaker 1: Hangman in the World title Hangman. If we assume that
[1:17:58] Speaker 1: Hangman is going to be a you know, long term
[1:18:01] Speaker 1: member yet of this aw roster, he's going to stick
[1:18:05] Speaker 1: around for another three, four or five years, there is
[1:18:08] Speaker 1: going to come a time where he is going to
[1:18:10] Speaker 1: challenge for the World Championship again, whether it is as
[1:18:13] Speaker 1: a heel or whether it is as a babyface, and
[1:18:15] Speaker 1: he is he is coaxed out of the stipulation. There
[1:18:19] Speaker 1: is there is no chance unless Hangman is going to
[1:18:23] Speaker 1: leave this company, which would shock me honestly, if he
[1:18:25] Speaker 1: was going to leave this company in the next year
[1:18:27] Speaker 1: or two. If we assume that he is, I don't
[1:18:29] Speaker 1: want to say life right, hate throwing that word around,
[1:18:31] Speaker 1: because there's no such a thing in wrestling, But there's
[1:18:35] Speaker 1: no way that he doesn't challenge for that world title again.
[1:18:38] Speaker 1: At some point he has to. But in the meantime,
[1:18:42] Speaker 1: you know what, yes, you can have him challenge for
[1:18:44] Speaker 1: other championships. His story, his story arc. This entire time
[1:18:48] Speaker 1: that he has been part of this company has revolved
[1:18:50] Speaker 1: around that world title, and now this forces them, whether
[1:18:54] Speaker 1: you think it's a good thing or a bad thing,
[1:18:56] Speaker 1: what it does do is it forces them now to
[1:18:58] Speaker 1: pivot away from the world title and come up with
[1:19:00] Speaker 1: something else for this guy to do, something else that's
[1:19:02] Speaker 1: interesting that he can pursue that isn't just the world championship.
[1:19:06] Speaker 1: Because this evil, fucking bastard MJF, you know, was able
[1:19:10] Speaker 1: to go ahead and convince him that this is what
[1:19:12] Speaker 1: he had to do and he lost, and MJF can
[1:19:15] Speaker 1: laugh about it every single he can continue to bring
[1:19:17] Speaker 1: it up every single time, and it just makes MJF
[1:19:20] Speaker 1: into an even bigger dick. But you've got the national title,
[1:19:23] Speaker 1: you've got the International title, you've got the TNT title,
[1:19:25] Speaker 1: you've got the Continental title. I'm sure they'll add two
[1:19:28] Speaker 1: more championships in the next couple of years that he
[1:19:30] Speaker 1: can go after. He's already been a trios champion, a
[1:19:33] Speaker 1: tag team champion. It's not like there aren't other things
[1:19:36] Speaker 1: for him to compete for and to challenge for. The
[1:19:41] Speaker 1: onus is on Tony Kahan to come up with some
[1:19:45] Speaker 1: interesting things. You know for him to do, and the
[1:19:46] Speaker 1: Hangman is kind of the main character of AW. He's
[1:19:50] Speaker 1: a former two time world champion. He's a main event
[1:19:52] Speaker 1: level performer for them. Maybe he could help elevate some
[1:19:57] Speaker 1: of these other titles a little bit higher than they
[1:19:59] Speaker 1: are now because he brings some star power to it, right,
[1:20:03] Speaker 1: they could kind of parlay this into something positive. I'm
[1:20:07] Speaker 1: not against that idea. I mean, they don't have a choice. Obviously,
[1:20:09] Speaker 1: he's not going to challenge for the world title. What
[1:20:11] Speaker 1: else is he going to do. But the idea that
[1:20:13] Speaker 1: he'll never again challenge for the title I don't buy
[1:20:15] Speaker 1: for a second. He will absolutely at some point challenge
[1:20:19] Speaker 1: for the AW World Championship. It just won't be for
[1:20:21] Speaker 1: a very long time. Dark Side of the Ring kicked
[1:20:25] Speaker 1: off its seventh season with a two part episode on
[1:20:28] Speaker 1: Jeff Jarrett and the Battle for TNA, and there's another
[1:20:33] Speaker 1: one this week, Part three three episodes on Jeff Jarrett.
[1:20:38] Speaker 1: Evidently the producers wanted to do a whole season on TNA.
[1:20:41] Speaker 1: They were going to focus not just on the early
[1:20:43] Speaker 1: days and on Double J, but the Scott More years
[1:20:47] Speaker 1: and the Billy Corgan years. But they decided to make
[1:20:50] Speaker 1: Jarrett the focus of the story, and even then, I
[1:20:53] Speaker 1: mean they were shocked that they needed a third hour.
[1:20:55] Speaker 1: They had to beg and plead with Vice TV to
[1:20:58] Speaker 1: give them that third hour, or else there would have
[1:21:00] Speaker 1: been more stuff that they had to leave out than
[1:21:02] Speaker 1: they already did. So you realize very quickly watching this
[1:21:05] Speaker 1: that the focus here is less TNA than it is
[1:21:08] Speaker 1: on Jeff Jarrett, and I think you need to approach
[1:21:10] Speaker 1: them knowing that, or else you'll find yourself disappointed that
[1:21:13] Speaker 1: they don't get into the weeds a little bit more
[1:21:15] Speaker 1: on the history of TNA itself. Jarrett is the main
[1:21:19] Speaker 1: talking head here. They got him to sit down for this,
[1:21:22] Speaker 1: and it's good that they did, because they tried to
[1:21:23] Speaker 1: get Dixie Carter and Kurt Angle and they both declined
[1:21:27] Speaker 1: to take part. Actually, Dixie just never responded at all.
[1:21:32] Speaker 1: The way they bury her six feet under here, it's
[1:21:34] Speaker 1: not hard to see why. You know, Angle and Dixie
[1:21:37] Speaker 1: there are two pretty key figures in the history of
[1:21:39] Speaker 1: TNA and even in Jarrett's career, but there is none
[1:21:43] Speaker 1: bigger than Double J as far as TNA is concerned.
[1:21:46] Speaker 1: He was one of the founding fathers of the promotion
[1:21:49] Speaker 1: without Jeff Jarrett, there is no TNA, although one thing
[1:21:53] Speaker 1: they did not do, and I thought it was pretty
[1:21:55] Speaker 1: egregious not to mention this was credit Bob Ryder as
[1:21:59] Speaker 1: a co founder of TNA. Now. Bob Ryder worked for
[1:22:02] Speaker 1: WCW until the company went under. He also used to
[1:22:05] Speaker 1: run a little wrestling news website called one Wrestling dot Com,
[1:22:09] Speaker 1: which was my go to site for many years, although
[1:22:13] Speaker 1: that was mainly because Mike Johnson wrote for the site
[1:22:16] Speaker 1: and Johnson and Dave Scherer. They eventually quit One Wrestling
[1:22:19] Speaker 1: to start petew Insider, but they came from one Wrestling originally.
[1:22:24] Speaker 1: Bob is the one who came up with the idea
[1:22:26] Speaker 1: of doing a weekly pay per view show for nine
[1:22:28] Speaker 1: to ninety five. He was naive enough to believe that
[1:22:31] Speaker 1: it would do fifty thousand buys a week even without television,
[1:22:34] Speaker 1: which was ludicrous. It did half that, although they were
[1:22:38] Speaker 1: being told otherwise by someone whose name escapes me, who
[1:22:42] Speaker 1: was apparently forging the reports to show some of the
[1:22:44] Speaker 1: shows doing as many as eighty five thousand buys, which
[1:22:47] Speaker 1: was a lie. This is for a brand new company
[1:22:50] Speaker 1: with no TV, mind you, and they bought into it.
[1:22:53] Speaker 1: But as the story goes it was writer who pitched
[1:22:56] Speaker 1: the idea to Jeff. Jeff and Bob then invited Jeff
[1:23:00] Speaker 1: father for a fishing trip on Bob's boat, and that's
[1:23:03] Speaker 1: where they sold Jerry Jarrett on the idea of getting
[1:23:06] Speaker 1: involved against his better judgment, but it was his son,
[1:23:09] Speaker 1: so he went along with it. So while you can say,
[1:23:12] Speaker 1: you know, without Jeff there is no TNA, and that's true,
[1:23:15] Speaker 1: it's just as accurate to say that without Bob Ryder
[1:23:18] Speaker 1: there may very well have been no TNA, and he
[1:23:21] Speaker 1: wasn't even mentioned here. A Ryder worked for TNA for
[1:23:24] Speaker 1: the next eighteen years or so after that, all the
[1:23:27] Speaker 1: way through until he died five years ago from cancer.
[1:23:30] Speaker 1: Eric Young inducted him into their Hall of Fame a
[1:23:32] Speaker 1: couple of years ago. But in this first episode, because
[1:23:35] Speaker 1: again it was a two parter, and I'm not going
[1:23:38] Speaker 1: to go, i mean chapter and verse through everything here.
[1:23:40] Speaker 1: If you've listened to these reviews before him, I'm a
[1:23:43] Speaker 1: little all over the place here, and I like to
[1:23:45] Speaker 1: kind of pitch in with stuff that maybe wasn't covered
[1:23:47] Speaker 1: in the episode and just kind of focus on the
[1:23:49] Speaker 1: highlights of it. But in this first episode, Jarrett said
[1:23:53] Speaker 1: the story of TNA is the story of a thousand
[1:23:56] Speaker 1: what ips And he's not wrong. That was That's probably
[1:24:00] Speaker 1: one of the most honest things I heard anybody say
[1:24:02] Speaker 1: in this episode, because it's so true. It is the
[1:24:05] Speaker 1: story of a thousand what IFPs. What if Vince McMahon
[1:24:09] Speaker 1: did not buy WCW and immediately fire Jeff Jarrett on
[1:24:13] Speaker 1: live TV? And if there was no TNA, what a
[1:24:16] Speaker 1: promotion like Ring of Honor, which started up only a
[1:24:19] Speaker 1: couple of months before TNA did. Would roh have been
[1:24:23] Speaker 1: successful enough to secure television like TNA did, And if so,
[1:24:27] Speaker 1: what would that have looked like? You know, what if
[1:24:30] Speaker 1: Dixie Carter did not have a rich father who agreed
[1:24:32] Speaker 1: to bankroll the promotion and effectively save it. What if
[1:24:36] Speaker 1: Dixie Carter gave Paul Hayman what he wanted years later
[1:24:40] Speaker 1: to come in and run the company? Where would they
[1:24:42] Speaker 1: be today? When brock Lesner decides to come back to wrestling,
[1:24:46] Speaker 1: does he choose to go work for Paul Hayman in TNA?
[1:24:51] Speaker 1: Does Haman build TNA around brock Lesner and Kurt Angle
[1:24:54] Speaker 1: in twenty twelve? You know, is there an aw today?
[1:24:59] Speaker 1: It is very much the story of a thousand what ifs.
[1:25:02] Speaker 1: Jarrett comes off very humble here, very open about his faults.
[1:25:07] Speaker 1: But it's hard to watch this and not think that
[1:25:09] Speaker 1: maybe he comes off a little too well. Maybe that
[1:25:13] Speaker 1: has to do with him being willing to sit down
[1:25:15] Speaker 1: for this when others were not as willing. He can
[1:25:17] Speaker 1: speak his truth as he sees it, as can his
[1:25:20] Speaker 1: wife Karen, who's also interviewed for this, and for the
[1:25:23] Speaker 1: very first time, she sat down and spoke about the
[1:25:26] Speaker 1: real story behind what went down with her and Jeff
[1:25:28] Speaker 1: when they got together, them and Kurt Angle and Dixie
[1:25:32] Speaker 1: when things really blew up with that whole thing. Dixie
[1:25:35] Speaker 1: is the real loser here because through these first two
[1:25:39] Speaker 1: episodes she is painted as the clear villain of this story,
[1:25:43] Speaker 1: and she isn't there to defend herself. I don't doubt
[1:25:47] Speaker 1: that a lot of what's being said about her here
[1:25:49] Speaker 1: is true. She made a power play to get Jeff
[1:25:52] Speaker 1: out of the company, or at least get him off
[1:25:54] Speaker 1: to the side, and she took a liking to being
[1:25:57] Speaker 1: in the spotlight. I can remember years they're being talk
[1:26:01] Speaker 1: of them filming a pilot episode backstage at the Impact
[1:26:04] Speaker 1: tapings for some reality TV series based around Dixie's life
[1:26:09] Speaker 1: as a woman working in a male dominated industry like
[1:26:12] Speaker 1: this woman had stars in her eyes. It's too bad
[1:26:16] Speaker 1: that reality show never got picked up. That would have
[1:26:18] Speaker 1: given me endless material on the podcast. TNA became a
[1:26:23] Speaker 1: vanity project for Dixie Carter, but the reality is without
[1:26:26] Speaker 1: her family's money, TNA would have been dead a long
[1:26:28] Speaker 1: time ago, long before they ever got on Spike TV.
[1:26:31] Speaker 1: Getting on Spike TV in two thousand and five is
[1:26:34] Speaker 1: what took that company to that next level, and they
[1:26:37] Speaker 1: have never been able to get back to that level
[1:26:39] Speaker 1: since the story of TNA has been a frustrating one
[1:26:44] Speaker 1: for anyone who wanted to see another company succeed. Where
[1:26:47] Speaker 1: WWE may have been failing. TNA could have been a
[1:26:49] Speaker 1: true alternative, and they were in some cases they were
[1:26:53] Speaker 1: with the X division. They were with their emphasis on
[1:26:57] Speaker 1: the knockouts at a time when WWA was still living
[1:27:00] Speaker 1: in the Stone Age with their divas, TNA made national
[1:27:04] Speaker 1: names out of people like aj Styles and Samoa Joe.
[1:27:07] Speaker 1: I sometimes wonder you know where Elix Skipper would have
[1:27:11] Speaker 1: ended up had he stuck around the wrestling business. They
[1:27:14] Speaker 1: showed his famous cage walk spot at turning point which
[1:27:18] Speaker 1: still holds up to this day. Even today with all
[1:27:21] Speaker 1: the crazy shit that we see, especially in aaw the
[1:27:25] Speaker 1: cage walk spot is maybe the craziest thing that I've
[1:27:28] Speaker 1: ever seen in a wrestling match. When I think of
[1:27:30] Speaker 1: TNA to this day, if there is one moment above
[1:27:33] Speaker 1: all else that I think of, it is that spot
[1:27:36] Speaker 1: in two thousand and four. Fucking unbelievable. You know, his
[1:27:41] Speaker 1: son was shot and killed in two thousand and nine,
[1:27:43] Speaker 1: and he just didn't want to wrestle anymore. That's why
[1:27:45] Speaker 1: he kind of dropped off the face of the earth there.
[1:27:48] Speaker 1: But he's one of those whatever happened to so and
[1:27:51] Speaker 1: so like whenever I see that spot. But that's the
[1:27:54] Speaker 1: sort of exciting, crazy stuff that you could see in
[1:27:57] Speaker 1: TNA at that time that you could not see WWE,
[1:28:01] Speaker 1: and it was exciting and it was different. There was
[1:28:04] Speaker 1: a lot of good that came out of that company,
[1:28:06] Speaker 1: but also plenty of bad. Loltna is a real thing.
[1:28:11] Speaker 1: It lives on to this day through however, many owners
[1:28:14] Speaker 1: and bookers that have passed through that place, they will
[1:28:17] Speaker 1: never shed the stink of Loltna. It will follow them
[1:28:21] Speaker 1: to the grave, which is where a lot of people
[1:28:23] Speaker 1: figured they would be by now. But yet here we
[1:28:25] Speaker 1: are twenty four years later, and somehow TNA still lives on.
[1:28:30] Speaker 1: You know, it does feel more like WWE's little plaything
[1:28:33] Speaker 1: now that they can just kind of snatch up any
[1:28:35] Speaker 1: time they want. It's different now, you know, times have changed.
[1:28:39] Speaker 1: At one time you couldn't utter those initials on TV
[1:28:42] Speaker 1: without Vince McMahon pitching a fit. Right, That was a
[1:28:45] Speaker 1: no no. They were trying to be real competition to
[1:28:50] Speaker 1: Vince McMahon. Today they're not competition to WWE, right so
[1:28:54] Speaker 1: much as they are a developmental arm for them in
[1:28:57] Speaker 1: many ways, right, not only platforming new talents like Joe
[1:29:01] Speaker 1: Hendry and Leon Slater and Ricky Sosa, but giving new
[1:29:05] Speaker 1: life to names like Mike Santana and Mostafa Ali that
[1:29:09] Speaker 1: had been able to reinvent themselves and have the opportunity
[1:29:13] Speaker 1: now to be top players. Big fishes in a small pond.
[1:29:18] Speaker 1: But for how long it feels like whoever WWE wants,
[1:29:22] Speaker 1: they'll get, which makes it hard for TNA to really
[1:29:25] Speaker 1: build around the nucleus of young talent like they did
[1:29:27] Speaker 1: all those many years ago. It's hard to build around
[1:29:30] Speaker 1: people that you don't have locked into long term deals
[1:29:33] Speaker 1: or whose goal may be to up their value for
[1:29:36] Speaker 1: the eventual jump you know, you know where, such as
[1:29:40] Speaker 1: the state of TNA. Today, they finally have decent television
[1:29:43] Speaker 1: again on AMC, but they still can't seem to generate
[1:29:46] Speaker 1: enough interest to get back to those glory days on Spike.
[1:29:50] Speaker 1: Before all that, though, you had Jeff Jarrett. And that
[1:29:54] Speaker 1: is where the first episode begins. With Jeff's upbringing as
[1:29:57] Speaker 1: the son of a promoter. He wasn't even terrible close
[1:30:00] Speaker 1: with his father as a child. It kind of reminds
[1:30:03] Speaker 1: me of Vince McMahon and his father. They did get close,
[1:30:06] Speaker 1: you know. Later on, they glossed over his early in
[1:30:09] Speaker 1: ring career quickly to skip right to the night that
[1:30:12] Speaker 1: Owen Hart died. Jeff and Owen were tag team partners
[1:30:15] Speaker 1: around that time. They had gotten very close. Owen falls
[1:30:19] Speaker 1: to his death on pay per view and Jeff has
[1:30:22] Speaker 1: to go out there in the very next match because
[1:30:25] Speaker 1: they didn't have enough sense to stop the fucking show
[1:30:27] Speaker 1: after one of their people fell eighty feet to his
[1:30:30] Speaker 1: death in the ring. He didn't die on his way
[1:30:33] Speaker 1: to the hospital, by the way, he died in the
[1:30:34] Speaker 1: ring in front of thousands of people. And all of
[1:30:37] Speaker 1: his coworkers as they wheeled his body through the back,
[1:30:41] Speaker 1: and Jeff had to go out there and wrestle in
[1:30:42] Speaker 1: a ring that he admitted had a dent in it
[1:30:45] Speaker 1: from where his best friend landed. How he did that
[1:30:48] Speaker 1: without completely breaking down, I'll never know. I could barely
[1:30:52] Speaker 1: keep it together watching it live that night once I
[1:30:55] Speaker 1: realized what had happened, and then watching all the local
[1:30:58] Speaker 1: newscasts that night, it was the lead story like here,
[1:31:01] Speaker 1: I'll never forget it here in New York Channel four news,
[1:31:04] Speaker 1: NBC News eleven o'clock lead story. Pro wrestler Owen Hard dies,
[1:31:08] Speaker 1: you know, in Kansas City, and I'm just like, I'm
[1:31:11] Speaker 1: numb to it all. And I wasn't friends with him,
[1:31:15] Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't close with this person the way
[1:31:16] Speaker 1: that someone like Jarrett was. He said he never really
[1:31:20] Speaker 1: grieved Owen's death. It wasn't until many years later. I
[1:31:24] Speaker 1: want to say it was twenty seventeen that he finally
[1:31:27] Speaker 1: was able to do so. But after that, you know,
[1:31:30] Speaker 1: he grew frustrated with his role in WWE. He wanted
[1:31:34] Speaker 1: to be in main events and that just wasn't going
[1:31:36] Speaker 1: to happen. Steve Austin not wanting to work with him
[1:31:39] Speaker 1: didn't help matters. Austin never forgot that crack that Jarrett
[1:31:43] Speaker 1: made when Steve worked for Jeff's dad and he couldn't
[1:31:46] Speaker 1: believe how small his paycheck was. He's like a famous
[1:31:49] Speaker 1: story and here's his little punk son, and maybe he
[1:31:53] Speaker 1: was just cracking jokes whatever, but he walks up to
[1:31:56] Speaker 1: Austin backstage and he sees him staring at this thing,
[1:31:58] Speaker 1: and he just tells him, staring at it isn't gonna
[1:32:00] Speaker 1: making any bigger. I could see why Austin might carry
[1:32:03] Speaker 1: a grudge. But like even in ninety seven when Jeff
[1:32:07] Speaker 1: first came, well not first, but when he came back
[1:32:09] Speaker 1: to the company, he cuts this if you remember this
[1:32:11] Speaker 1: worked shoot promo on TV where he's going off on
[1:32:15] Speaker 1: different people, including Austin, and he's ragging on Austin in
[1:32:19] Speaker 1: that you know, the Austin three sixteen stuff and calls
[1:32:22] Speaker 1: it blasphemous and Austin had no idea that he was
[1:32:26] Speaker 1: going to be doing any of this. Confronted him as
[1:32:28] Speaker 1: soon as Jarreed got to the back, and he was
[1:32:30] Speaker 1: like cussing him out and really laying into him. And
[1:32:33] Speaker 1: so that may have had something to do with it too.
[1:32:35] Speaker 1: I just I don't think he was fond of Jeff
[1:32:38] Speaker 1: Jarrett for a lot of reasons, and he refused to
[1:32:40] Speaker 1: work with him. But here's the deal. Jeff Jarrett at
[1:32:45] Speaker 1: that time was not a main event caliber star in WWE.
[1:32:50] Speaker 1: He just wasn't. You had Steve Austin, you had the
[1:32:53] Speaker 1: Rock on the Rise at that time, you had the Undertaker,
[1:32:56] Speaker 1: you had Caine, you had Triple H on the rise.
[1:32:59] Speaker 1: Kurt was only a few months away from debuting. Where
[1:33:04] Speaker 1: would Jeff Jarrett fit into any of that. Jeff Jarrett
[1:33:08] Speaker 1: does not fit into that conversation of main event talents
[1:33:10] Speaker 1: at that time in WWE. It just doesn't happen. And
[1:33:13] Speaker 1: Vince McMahon was never going to push him as one
[1:33:14] Speaker 1: of his top guys. He was better off leaving because
[1:33:18] Speaker 1: it was the only chance he had of headlining anywhere.
[1:33:22] Speaker 1: So then they get into him holding Vince up for
[1:33:25] Speaker 1: the money that he felt he was owed the night
[1:33:28] Speaker 1: that he was scheduled to drop the Intercontinental title to China,
[1:33:31] Speaker 1: which he had no problem doing, but he wanted all
[1:33:34] Speaker 1: of the money that was owed to him up front
[1:33:37] Speaker 1: because he was leaving. They knew he was clearly out
[1:33:40] Speaker 1: the door. He was going to WCW, and he didn't
[1:33:43] Speaker 1: want to wait and run the risk of not getting
[1:33:45] Speaker 1: the money that was owed to him. He had all
[1:33:46] Speaker 1: the leverage that night. That one night was the only
[1:33:49] Speaker 1: time he was going to have any leverage over these people.
[1:33:52] Speaker 1: As soon as he did the job and walked out
[1:33:54] Speaker 1: the door, he had nothing, and wwe could you know,
[1:33:58] Speaker 1: hold things up in court and not pay you know,
[1:34:00] Speaker 1: whatever money he was owed for the pay per views,
[1:34:02] Speaker 1: and so it's like, this is my only shot. I
[1:34:05] Speaker 1: don't blame him for that at all. By the way,
[1:34:06] Speaker 1: if you're owed money, you hold their feet to the
[1:34:09] Speaker 1: flame and you get what's owed to you. It's not
[1:34:12] Speaker 1: his fault that Jim Ross dropped the ball on getting
[1:34:14] Speaker 1: his contract with you. That's on them. So he goes
[1:34:18] Speaker 1: to WCW. Vince Russo was there. Russo's a fan of Jeff's,
[1:34:22] Speaker 1: they've been friends for many years. So Jeff finally wins
[1:34:25] Speaker 1: a world title, he finally got a friendly face on
[1:34:28] Speaker 1: the booking team, and wouldn't you know, he wins the
[1:34:29] Speaker 1: world championship and less than a year later the company
[1:34:33] Speaker 1: is out of business. So there you go. See what
[1:34:36] Speaker 1: did I tell you. So then they get sold. WCW
[1:34:40] Speaker 1: does to Vince McMahon and they showed the part of
[1:34:43] Speaker 1: the raw Nitro simulcast where Vince is looking at Jarrett
[1:34:46] Speaker 1: footage because he wasn't there that night, but he was
[1:34:48] Speaker 1: looking at Jeff Jarrett highlights on a little TV screen
[1:34:51] Speaker 1: and he says double j is a gubo, double nuble
[1:34:57] Speaker 1: gone fired him right there on. Although Jarrett has said
[1:35:02] Speaker 1: that he was given a heads up in advance, I
[1:35:04] Speaker 1: think maybe Bruce Pritchard, so he wasn't completely blindsided by it.
[1:35:09] Speaker 1: But that was basically Vince's way of saying, you know,
[1:35:12] Speaker 1: fuck you for what you did on your last night here.
[1:35:14] Speaker 1: And with that, Jared had nowhere to work, so he
[1:35:18] Speaker 1: decided to start his own promotion. Again, no mention of
[1:35:21] Speaker 1: Bob Ryder. He did talk about this man, Richard Scrushy,
[1:35:26] Speaker 1: who is the CEO at the time of a company
[1:35:29] Speaker 1: called HealthSouth, who they brought in as an investor so
[1:35:33] Speaker 1: they had the capital they needed beyond what Jeff and
[1:35:36] Speaker 1: his father put into the company of their own money.
[1:35:39] Speaker 1: This turned out to be a disaster because Health South,
[1:35:42] Speaker 1: as it turned out, had been overstating its profits for
[1:35:45] Speaker 1: many years and committing fraud, so they eventually pulled their funding.
[1:35:49] Speaker 1: He got the call one day saying, Jeff, we got
[1:35:52] Speaker 1: some other Richard's got some bigger problems going on here,
[1:35:55] Speaker 1: so we're gonna have to pull that line of credit
[1:35:58] Speaker 1: and pull all of our funding and screwcy By the way,
[1:36:01] Speaker 1: was later acquitted on all charges, but then he got
[1:36:04] Speaker 1: hit with a whole slew of charges related to something
[1:36:07] Speaker 1: completely different, and he ended up going to prison for
[1:36:10] Speaker 1: six years. Vince Russo was interviewed for this, as was
[1:36:14] Speaker 1: Jim Cornett, so we get the usual back and forth
[1:36:17] Speaker 1: between the two of them that's become standard, It's become
[1:36:19] Speaker 1: tradition here on these Dark Side of the Ring episodes.
[1:36:22] Speaker 1: Russo took credit for coming up with the TNA name,
[1:36:25] Speaker 1: as he has for many years. I didn't need Russo
[1:36:28] Speaker 1: to tell me that he came up with the TNA name.
[1:36:29] Speaker 1: All you had to do was tell me that Vince
[1:36:31] Speaker 1: Russo was involved with the company, and I could have
[1:36:34] Speaker 1: guessed straight off that he came up with the TNA name,
[1:36:37] Speaker 1: because of course he did. So we had Tits and
[1:36:39] Speaker 1: Ass Wrestling. Then they showed highlights from their very first show,
[1:36:43] Speaker 1: their very first pay per view and what a show
[1:36:46] Speaker 1: it was. Now. They didn't talk about it here, but
[1:36:50] Speaker 1: it opened with Jarrett, Ken Shamrock, and Scott Hall all
[1:36:55] Speaker 1: agreeing that the Battle Royal that night to crown a
[1:36:58] Speaker 1: new champion was a stupid idea. To be more specific,
[1:37:04] Speaker 1: Ken Shamrock said, it sucks, which is the hell of
[1:37:08] Speaker 1: a way to get people excited for your main event
[1:37:11] Speaker 1: by talking about how stupid it is. What else did
[1:37:13] Speaker 1: we have? We had a tag team on the show
[1:37:15] Speaker 1: that night called the Johnsons who were dressed up like
[1:37:18] Speaker 1: Dix and I was so happy that they included footage
[1:37:24] Speaker 1: of Puppet the Psycho Dwarf. I don't think this aired
[1:37:29] Speaker 1: on the first episode, but it was definitely in those
[1:37:31] Speaker 1: early TNA shows where Puppet was being interviewed by their
[1:37:36] Speaker 1: blonde interviewer named Goldielocks, all while standing inside a trash
[1:37:41] Speaker 1: can masturbating, where he then offered Goldielocks some of his porridge.
[1:37:49] Speaker 1: He also pulled a gun on Jeff Jarrett, but Jeff
[1:37:51] Speaker 1: stopped him with a chair shot to the head and
[1:37:54] Speaker 1: he dropped the gun. You know, they're lucky that gun
[1:37:57] Speaker 1: didn't go off. Poor Grandma in the front row catching
[1:37:59] Speaker 1: a straight of the head would not have been good
[1:38:00] Speaker 1: for business. So after HealthSouth pulled its funding is where
[1:38:06] Speaker 1: Dixie Carter first pops up in this story, because she
[1:38:08] Speaker 1: was one of the contractors that Jeff had to reach
[1:38:11] Speaker 1: out to about their funding being pulled. He was going
[1:38:13] Speaker 1: to give all of them a chance to back out
[1:38:15] Speaker 1: if they wanted to. Look, our funding has been pulled,
[1:38:18] Speaker 1: and we just want to give you the chance that
[1:38:20] Speaker 1: we understand if you want to pull out, So if
[1:38:23] Speaker 1: you feel like you have to, then we understand. Dixie,
[1:38:26] Speaker 1: at the time, was president of a public relations agency
[1:38:29] Speaker 1: that was hired by TNA. Dixie said Jeff should speak
[1:38:32] Speaker 1: with her father, who, as it turned out, was this
[1:38:35] Speaker 1: multi millionaire energy executive who owned a company called Panda Energy,
[1:38:40] Speaker 1: and so Jeff and Dixie they fly to Dallas to
[1:38:43] Speaker 1: meet with him. He agreed to invest, and the rest
[1:38:45] Speaker 1: is history. Were it not for that lifeline offered to
[1:38:49] Speaker 1: them by Bob Carter, TNA would have been dead and
[1:38:53] Speaker 1: buried twenty years ago. This gave them a new lease
[1:38:56] Speaker 1: on life, and in two thousand and five, less than
[1:38:59] Speaker 1: a week after WWE left Spike TV to go back
[1:39:02] Speaker 1: to USA Network, TNA debuted on Spike, which gave them
[1:39:07] Speaker 1: national visibility on a major cable network that had just
[1:39:10] Speaker 1: hosted Monday Night Raw for the last five years. This
[1:39:13] Speaker 1: was a big fucking deal. And they talked about Jeff
[1:39:18] Speaker 1: dominating the main event scene in those early TNA years,
[1:39:22] Speaker 1: five or six times he held the World championship. That's
[1:39:26] Speaker 1: all it was, was Jarrett holding the belt and then
[1:39:30] Speaker 1: dropping it to a baby phase and then winning it
[1:39:32] Speaker 1: back and rinse, repeat. I think Monty Brown. Honestly, Monty
[1:39:36] Speaker 1: Brown never winning the title in two thousand and five
[1:39:38] Speaker 1: was one of their more egregious mistakes, and Jarrett actually
[1:39:42] Speaker 1: talked about this on his podcast a few years ago,
[1:39:44] Speaker 1: and his response to why he did not drop the
[1:39:47] Speaker 1: belt to Monty Brown was, well, who would he have
[1:39:51] Speaker 1: wrestled next? Okay, he wins? Now what we didn't have
[1:39:56] Speaker 1: anyone lined up for him to work with? Well, whose
[1:40:00] Speaker 1: fault is that? It's your company? I actually think Dusty
[1:40:06] Speaker 1: Rhodes was doing the booking at that time. But you're
[1:40:08] Speaker 1: the head guy there. It's on you and the creative
[1:40:12] Speaker 1: team to set guys up for him to work with
[1:40:15] Speaker 1: and plan that out. That would be like Triple H saying, oh,
[1:40:19] Speaker 1: I can't lose the belt to RVD in two thousand
[1:40:21] Speaker 1: and two, because who does he work with next? So
[1:40:24] Speaker 1: we should absolutely keep the belt on me, because if
[1:40:27] Speaker 1: we put it on him, well, then he doesn't have
[1:40:29] Speaker 1: anybody to work with. I wouldn't be the least bit
[1:40:33] Speaker 1: surprised by the way, if that's exactly the argument he
[1:40:35] Speaker 1: made in those creative meetings back in two thousand and two.
[1:40:39] Speaker 1: But Jarrett was basically the Triple H of TNA. Now,
[1:40:43] Speaker 1: they do make a point here in the episode that
[1:40:45] Speaker 1: at least has some validity to it, which is, and
[1:40:48] Speaker 1: this is probably what Jeff would argue, which is that
[1:40:50] Speaker 1: Jeff was the only guy on that roster at the
[1:40:53] Speaker 1: time that he could be sure was not going to
[1:40:55] Speaker 1: leave and go to WWE. So they may have been
[1:40:59] Speaker 1: hesitant to put the belt on anybody else for any
[1:41:01] Speaker 1: length of time out of fear that they may leave. Right,
[1:41:04] Speaker 1: That's what Cornett and Scott Demore were saying in the episode.
[1:41:08] Speaker 1: Jeff couldn't trust anybody but himself in that spot. And
[1:41:11] Speaker 1: I get the logic, but at some point you need
[1:41:14] Speaker 1: to have more faith in your guys. Some of those
[1:41:17] Speaker 1: early TNA main events, as overbooked as they were, or
[1:41:21] Speaker 1: just the drizzling shits. They really were, and it became
[1:41:24] Speaker 1: a punchline. Your typical overbook. Jeff Jarrett TNA main event
[1:41:28] Speaker 1: back then. Now. They also talked about the problems that
[1:41:33] Speaker 1: developed between Jeff and his father. Jerry was not happy
[1:41:36] Speaker 1: about working with the Carters and taking marching orders from them.
[1:41:41] Speaker 1: He was definitely not happy about Vince Russo's writing, and
[1:41:44] Speaker 1: he and Jeff ended up on the outs for many years.
[1:41:47] Speaker 1: When Jerry left TNA, they were not on speaking terms
[1:41:50] Speaker 1: for like a decade. I don't think they reconciled until
[1:41:54] Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, so at least in the later years of
[1:41:58] Speaker 1: his life, the two of them had mended fence before
[1:42:00] Speaker 1: he passed away, So now he's no longer speaking to
[1:42:03] Speaker 1: his father. Then Jeff's first wife, Jill, who was his
[1:42:08] Speaker 1: high school sweetheart and had previously battled breast cancer, her
[1:42:12] Speaker 1: cancer came back more aggressively this time, and they've got
[1:42:16] Speaker 1: three young daughters at home at the time. This was
[1:42:19] Speaker 1: the saddest part of either of these first two episodes.
[1:42:22] Speaker 1: They mentioned Taylor Swift being neighbors with the Jarrett's and
[1:42:25] Speaker 1: she would babysit sometimes for them. She would come over
[1:42:28] Speaker 1: to their house to play songs for their girls, you know,
[1:42:30] Speaker 1: while their mom was sick. Vince Russo could barely speak.
[1:42:35] Speaker 1: He was so broken up when he was talking about
[1:42:37] Speaker 1: Jill and how she used to be this vibrant, energetic,
[1:42:40] Speaker 1: you know, athletic, full of life and zest, and then
[1:42:43] Speaker 1: when he saw her when she was at her weakest
[1:42:45] Speaker 1: and sickest, and he was just again, he was a
[1:42:48] Speaker 1: basket case here because he was so broken up about it.
[1:42:50] Speaker 1: Scott Steiner was also interviewed for these episodes, and when
[1:42:54] Speaker 1: they were asking him about Jill, he had nice things
[1:42:56] Speaker 1: to say about her, but he had to get up
[1:42:57] Speaker 1: and walk away so that he wouldn't break down on camera.
[1:43:02] Speaker 1: Just really sad stuff, and how eerie that his wife
[1:43:07] Speaker 1: died on May twenty third, the same day that Owen
[1:43:10] Speaker 1: Hart died. Owen died in ninety nine. I believe his
[1:43:13] Speaker 1: wife died in two thousand and seven, but on the
[1:43:15] Speaker 1: same day, May twenty third, and neither of Jeff's parents
[1:43:19] Speaker 1: even came to the funeral, even though his father only
[1:43:22] Speaker 1: lived like five miles away. That's how bad that estrangement
[1:43:26] Speaker 1: must have been that they wouldn't even come to his
[1:43:29] Speaker 1: daughter in law's funeral. So that was the end of
[1:43:32] Speaker 1: the first episode. The second one is where they really
[1:43:36] Speaker 1: put the focus on Dixie Carter. They bury the shit
[1:43:40] Speaker 1: out of this woman, talking about what a money mark
[1:43:42] Speaker 1: she was and how she didn't know shit about the
[1:43:44] Speaker 1: wrestling business. All true, by the way, she did not
[1:43:48] Speaker 1: come from a wrestling background. It's not like she had
[1:43:51] Speaker 1: an aptitude for it either, But I can see why
[1:43:54] Speaker 1: she didn't want to return their phone calls to be
[1:43:56] Speaker 1: a part of these episodes. But then Kurt Angle is
[1:43:59] Speaker 1: suddenly available at this point in the story and as
[1:44:03] Speaker 1: the move despite TV was a game changer for TNA
[1:44:07] Speaker 1: and it took them to that next level, so too
[1:44:09] Speaker 1: did the signing of Kurt Angle. And I can understand
[1:44:12] Speaker 1: them wanting to swoop in and sign this man at
[1:44:14] Speaker 1: all costs. Right, multiple time WWE champion, wrestle many, a headliner,
[1:44:18] Speaker 1: Olympic gold medalist, one of the best in the world.
[1:44:23] Speaker 1: Why wouldn't you want Kurt Angle on your team? But
[1:44:26] Speaker 1: Kurt was a fucking mess at that time, which is
[1:44:28] Speaker 1: the entire reason that Vince McMahon gave this man an
[1:44:31] Speaker 1: unconditional release from his contract. Do you know how much
[1:44:36] Speaker 1: of a fucking liability or a time bomb waiting to explode.
[1:44:39] Speaker 1: You need to be for Vince McMahon, and you're a
[1:44:42] Speaker 1: main event caliber talent. You're not some schlob on the
[1:44:46] Speaker 1: bottom of the card to get Vince McMahon to give
[1:44:50] Speaker 1: you an unconditional release from your contract. They didn't want
[1:44:54] Speaker 1: an Olympic gold medalist dying on their watch, plain and simple,
[1:44:59] Speaker 1: so they let them go. TNA wasn't terribly concerned about
[1:45:02] Speaker 1: any of this. They just wanted Kurt Angle to wrestle
[1:45:04] Speaker 1: for them. Looking back at it, the Kurt Angle signing
[1:45:07] Speaker 1: was the most important in the history of that company.
[1:45:10] Speaker 1: It brought a legitimacy that they did not previously have.
[1:45:14] Speaker 1: It put new eyeballs on the product, and it gave
[1:45:16] Speaker 1: him a world class wrestler who can go out there
[1:45:18] Speaker 1: as fucked up as he may have been off camera
[1:45:21] Speaker 1: when the little red light went on. That man was
[1:45:23] Speaker 1: a machine. You would never know anything was wrong unless
[1:45:27] Speaker 1: you met him in person and you saw the glassy
[1:45:28] Speaker 1: eyed look on his face. This is as good a
[1:45:31] Speaker 1: place as any for me to retell my story, which
[1:45:34] Speaker 1: I've shared on the sound off periodically over the years.
[1:45:38] Speaker 1: It is February of two thousand and eight. I had
[1:45:41] Speaker 1: only been doing this podcast for a few months by
[1:45:43] Speaker 1: that point. TNA is coming to New York City for
[1:45:46] Speaker 1: the first time. They're doing a show at Webster Hall,
[1:45:49] Speaker 1: And for those who don't know, Webster Hall's at nightclub
[1:45:51] Speaker 1: slash concert venue in the East Village in Manhattan. When
[1:45:55] Speaker 1: WWE was first doing the old Shotguns Saturday night shows
[1:45:59] Speaker 1: and they were live, we're going to different nightclub venues
[1:46:01] Speaker 1: and these kind of intimate venues. Webster Hall was one
[1:46:04] Speaker 1: of the venues that they ran a show in and
[1:46:07] Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to remember to splice in photos from
[1:46:09] Speaker 1: that night when I put this up on YouTube. I'm
[1:46:12] Speaker 1: waiting in line outside. There's TNA at Webster Hall on
[1:46:15] Speaker 1: the on the marquee outside. I get inside and this
[1:46:19] Speaker 1: is the smallest ring that I have ever seen in
[1:46:22] Speaker 1: my entire life to this day, the smallest ring. And
[1:46:27] Speaker 1: I'm talking independent shows too. This is the smallest ring
[1:46:30] Speaker 1: I've ever seen, and it's the six sides, and these
[1:46:34] Speaker 1: guys can barely do anything in there. Like if Kurt
[1:46:36] Speaker 1: Angle gives Christian Cage a German Suplex because they wrestled
[1:46:41] Speaker 1: in the main event, Christian is probably smacking his head
[1:46:43] Speaker 1: on the fucking ropes, Like that's how little room they
[1:46:45] Speaker 1: had to work within that ring. Anyway, when I initially
[1:46:49] Speaker 1: walk in the building, I have no idea where my
[1:46:50] Speaker 1: seat is. There's this giant like pit area where most
[1:46:53] Speaker 1: people were standing all night, Like picture it if you
[1:46:56] Speaker 1: were there for a concert. Right looking up at the stage,
[1:46:59] Speaker 1: the ring is up on the stage, and on the
[1:47:02] Speaker 1: stage with the ring, they have five rows, five short
[1:47:06] Speaker 1: rows of seats, and I'm lucky enough to be in
[1:47:08] Speaker 1: row five, so at least I have a good view
[1:47:11] Speaker 1: of the ring. But I don't know this yet. So
[1:47:14] Speaker 1: I look over and I see this very pretty woman
[1:47:17] Speaker 1: standing there. She's got jeans on. I thought maybe she
[1:47:21] Speaker 1: was a fan, Like I don't know. I go up
[1:47:23] Speaker 1: to her and I asked her if she can help me,
[1:47:26] Speaker 1: like do you know where this seat is? And she's
[1:47:29] Speaker 1: very nice and she tells me where to go, really
[1:47:31] Speaker 1: sweet lady. Come to find out later that was Dixie Carter.
[1:47:36] Speaker 1: I had no idea she hadn't been on television yet.
[1:47:38] Speaker 1: She didn't debut on TV until the following year. I mean,
[1:47:41] Speaker 1: I had heard the name, like I knew of her,
[1:47:43] Speaker 1: but I didn't have a face to put with the name,
[1:47:46] Speaker 1: so she guides me to my seat. I thank her,
[1:47:48] Speaker 1: and that was my interaction with Dixie. Fast forward to
[1:47:51] Speaker 1: the end of the show, Kurt Angle beats Christian in
[1:47:54] Speaker 1: the main event. Now, back then, TNA did this gimmick
[1:47:56] Speaker 1: on all of their live events, and I'm almost positive
[1:47:59] Speaker 1: this was a Don West IDEA fucking love Don West.
[1:48:02] Speaker 1: It's terrible that he's no longer with us, and I
[1:48:05] Speaker 1: think he's somebody who, frankly, I and probably other people
[1:48:08] Speaker 1: didn't fully appreciate at that time because he also wasn't
[1:48:11] Speaker 1: a wrestling guy. You know. He was the guy on
[1:48:13] Speaker 1: like the Home Shopping Network who would be on hawk
[1:48:16] Speaker 1: and baseball cards and all kinds of like sports memorabilia.
[1:48:19] Speaker 1: But he was always it looked like he was hopped
[1:48:21] Speaker 1: up on fifteen cups of coffee. This guy was full
[1:48:24] Speaker 1: of energy. He was the kind of guy who could
[1:48:26] Speaker 1: sell ice to a fucking Eskimo. Okay, that's how good
[1:48:29] Speaker 1: he was at his job when they brought him into TNA.
[1:48:32] Speaker 1: You know, he would scream on commentary and lose his
[1:48:34] Speaker 1: mind and everything. But I think he must have been
[1:48:36] Speaker 1: in charge of their merch division for a while. Some
[1:48:39] Speaker 1: of the ideas that he came up with the brown
[1:48:41] Speaker 1: bag specials and all that stuff was fucking genius and
[1:48:44] Speaker 1: he probably made them a shit ton of money. This idea,
[1:48:47] Speaker 1: I'm almost sure was his idea. But what they would do,
[1:48:50] Speaker 1: you could come into the ring after the main event
[1:48:52] Speaker 1: and get a polaroid photo for twenty bucks with whoever
[1:48:56] Speaker 1: was in the main event on this night. It was
[1:48:57] Speaker 1: Kurt Angle. And I'm like, of course, I mean, it's
[1:49:00] Speaker 1: twenty bucks to get in the ring and take a
[1:49:02] Speaker 1: picture with the champion. Why not adjusted for TKO inflation today,
[1:49:06] Speaker 1: that photo would cost you five thousand dollars. So I
[1:49:10] Speaker 1: get in the ring and you know, I go in
[1:49:12] Speaker 1: for the handshake and everything, and I'm looking in this
[1:49:14] Speaker 1: man's eyes as he's looking at me, and I don't
[1:49:17] Speaker 1: know where Kurt Angle was. His body was present physically
[1:49:21] Speaker 1: in the ring, his physical vessel was there, the rest
[1:49:24] Speaker 1: of him was on another planet somewhere. He just had
[1:49:27] Speaker 1: this far away look in his eyes, like he just
[1:49:29] Speaker 1: wasn't all there. Like I know, we don't call him
[1:49:32] Speaker 1: perk Angle anymore because he doesn't like that, so we
[1:49:35] Speaker 1: call him Peak Angle. This was definitely Peak Angle on
[1:49:39] Speaker 1: this night. But I got my picture and I went
[1:49:42] Speaker 1: on my way. I don't know how he was able
[1:49:45] Speaker 1: to function in the ring at such a high level
[1:49:47] Speaker 1: back then, but he did it better than anyone, and
[1:49:51] Speaker 1: what he gave that company was more than any other
[1:49:54] Speaker 1: major star that they ever brought in, especially the ones
[1:49:57] Speaker 1: who only came in to collect an easy paycheck and
[1:50:00] Speaker 1: stroke their own egos and sucked that company dry. Kurt
[1:50:05] Speaker 1: beat the shit out of his body for TNA. Kurt
[1:50:09] Speaker 1: did things that he had no business doing, and he
[1:50:12] Speaker 1: helped get guys over as best he could. He spent
[1:50:15] Speaker 1: more time in TNA than he did wrestling for WWE.
[1:50:18] Speaker 1: His TNA career was longer than his WWE career, which
[1:50:22] Speaker 1: is just wild when I stop and think about that,
[1:50:26] Speaker 1: And if you ask Kurt, he ranks his TNA run
[1:50:28] Speaker 1: above his WWE run. That's how highly he felt about
[1:50:32] Speaker 1: that run that he had there. They touched on the
[1:50:36] Speaker 1: success of the Knockouts Division, which was one way they
[1:50:39] Speaker 1: could separate themselves from WWE at that time. Gail Kim,
[1:50:43] Speaker 1: who they never mentioned by name, although there were some
[1:50:46] Speaker 1: clips of her, but Gail Kim in Awesome Kong. They
[1:50:48] Speaker 1: had a great run together. They put that division on
[1:50:52] Speaker 1: the map. They even got Kong to be interviewed for this.
[1:50:55] Speaker 1: They talked about how the Knockouts segments would routinely be
[1:50:58] Speaker 1: the highest rated on the shows. And this is where
[1:51:02] Speaker 1: I really start to sour on Dixie and this whole
[1:51:06] Speaker 1: mother hen image that she had at that time, because
[1:51:09] Speaker 1: I can't think of the Knockouts and not think of
[1:51:12] Speaker 1: TNA paying Johnny fucking fair play from Survivor or whatever
[1:51:17] Speaker 1: the hell he was from three hundred thousand dollars for
[1:51:20] Speaker 1: however many appearances he made. Meanwhile, the Knockouts, who you
[1:51:24] Speaker 1: admit are some of your highest rated draws, are in
[1:51:29] Speaker 1: a lot of cases working multiple jobs just to make
[1:51:32] Speaker 1: a decent wage. They offered Gail Kim, a former Knockouts champion,
[1:51:36] Speaker 1: thirty five thousand dollars to sign a new deal. What
[1:51:40] Speaker 1: do you think she did? She fucking left. I've told
[1:51:44] Speaker 1: the story of Taylor Wilde, who was their champion at
[1:51:47] Speaker 1: the time, I believe, working at the mall at a
[1:51:50] Speaker 1: sunglass hut, making minimum wage to supplement her wrestling income.
[1:51:54] Speaker 1: A customer walks over one day and says, hey, aren't
[1:51:56] Speaker 1: you at the TNA champion. She was so embarrassed quit
[1:52:00] Speaker 1: that same day, Odb had a bartend on the side
[1:52:04] Speaker 1: while working for TNA, just to be able to pay
[1:52:06] Speaker 1: her bills. Kong talked about this in the episode, one
[1:52:09] Speaker 1: of the women working at a bar, but she didn't
[1:52:11] Speaker 1: say who it was. It was Odb. And there's no
[1:52:15] Speaker 1: shame really in any of that. I mean, you do
[1:52:17] Speaker 1: what you have to do to make a living and
[1:52:18] Speaker 1: pay the bills. But you've got a multi millionaire bankrolling
[1:52:22] Speaker 1: this operation, you've got national television, and you're spending all
[1:52:26] Speaker 1: of this money to bring in these big names. You
[1:52:29] Speaker 1: can afford to pay your people a living wage, especially
[1:52:33] Speaker 1: if you expect them to travel to work for your shows,
[1:52:35] Speaker 1: and those travel expenses come out of what little money
[1:52:38] Speaker 1: they're already making. Kong said, the kurd angle was making
[1:52:42] Speaker 1: over a million dollars a year, and he deserved every
[1:52:45] Speaker 1: penny of it. But then you can afford to pay
[1:52:48] Speaker 1: her one tenth of what he's making. That's what she
[1:52:51] Speaker 1: because she went to them one day asking for a raise,
[1:52:53] Speaker 1: and that's how she put it. You know, Kurt's making
[1:52:55] Speaker 1: a million. I think I'm deserving of at least one
[1:52:58] Speaker 1: tenth of what he's getting. And they turned her down.
[1:53:01] Speaker 1: They said no, no pay raise. She said, she was
[1:53:05] Speaker 1: making less than a manager at McDonald's. And don't even
[1:53:08] Speaker 1: get me started on the Daphne stuff and the way
[1:53:10] Speaker 1: they treated her. I've already covered that in a separate
[1:53:13] Speaker 1: dark Side review. But Dixie gained more influence and Jeff
[1:53:18] Speaker 1: could sense that she was trying to push him out
[1:53:21] Speaker 1: and consolidate power, and the Karen Angle stuff is what
[1:53:25] Speaker 1: gave her the opening that she was looking for. Basically,
[1:53:28] Speaker 1: the wrestlers believed that there was something going on there.
[1:53:30] Speaker 1: They would see Jeff and Karen hanging out together, and
[1:53:34] Speaker 1: as far as a lot of people knew, Karen was
[1:53:36] Speaker 1: still married to Kurt Angle and they believed that she
[1:53:39] Speaker 1: was having an affair. But there's no way that Russo
[1:53:42] Speaker 1: and some of these people didn't know the reality of
[1:53:44] Speaker 1: that marriage and what was going on. I'm not buying
[1:53:47] Speaker 1: any of that. But this became a big deal online
[1:53:49] Speaker 1: when it went public. I remember that it got very messy.
[1:53:53] Speaker 1: It became Karen Gate. Karen sat down for the first
[1:53:57] Speaker 1: time here to set the record straight on all of this.
[1:53:59] Speaker 1: She said and Kurt had been legally separated since two
[1:54:02] Speaker 1: thousand and six, which was the year that Kurt came
[1:54:05] Speaker 1: to TNA, she was pregnant, she was living in a
[1:54:08] Speaker 1: townhouse with their daughter. They were put together as an
[1:54:11] Speaker 1: on screen couple with the thought that, you know, she
[1:54:13] Speaker 1: could keep Kurt straight while he was on the road
[1:54:15] Speaker 1: because he was so fucked up from whatever he was
[1:54:17] Speaker 1: doing at the time, you know, to mask all the
[1:54:20] Speaker 1: pain that he was in. And let's not pretend that
[1:54:23] Speaker 1: Kurt was an angel here. I mean, he's admitted to
[1:54:25] Speaker 1: cheating on Karen while they were still married. I remember
[1:54:28] Speaker 1: there was some pilot for a reality show that was
[1:54:31] Speaker 1: filmed around Kurt and his family. I forgot the name
[1:54:34] Speaker 1: of it. God, what was it fucking called The Right
[1:54:38] Speaker 1: Angle maybe or I don't remember, but it leaked online.
[1:54:43] Speaker 1: It was cheesy as shit. It was I think of
[1:54:45] Speaker 1: Hogan knows best. It was kind of in that same vein,
[1:54:47] Speaker 1: clearly very scripted, and it never got picked up, but
[1:54:50] Speaker 1: I think the footage is still floating around out there
[1:54:52] Speaker 1: on YouTube. He admitted it on there, you know that
[1:54:54] Speaker 1: he cheated on her and all this other stuff. But
[1:54:57] Speaker 1: the one person who did not know about the newfound
[1:55:01] Speaker 1: relationship between Jeff and Karen was Dixie Carter, and when
[1:55:06] Speaker 1: she found out, she hit the roof, and they believe
[1:55:11] Speaker 1: Karen believes Jeff believes I think Russo said the same thing.
[1:55:15] Speaker 1: They believe that Dixie saw it as a way to
[1:55:17] Speaker 1: oust Jarrett from power. I remember the story at the
[1:55:21] Speaker 1: time was that Dixie had confronted Jeff about it. He
[1:55:24] Speaker 1: denied that there was anything going on between him and Karen.
[1:55:28] Speaker 1: We're just friends, you know, like single parents. But then
[1:55:33] Speaker 1: when she found out, and I think Russeo tells a
[1:55:35] Speaker 1: story here about there being like a Christmas party and
[1:55:38] Speaker 1: Dixie was invited, and when they opened the door, there's
[1:55:41] Speaker 1: Jeff and Karen, and this took Dixie by surprise, and
[1:55:45] Speaker 1: she was just, you know, furious about the whole thing.
[1:55:49] Speaker 1: And so when she found out the truth, she flipped out.
[1:55:52] Speaker 1: Russo says, she flipped out on him over the phone.
[1:55:55] Speaker 1: She felt embarrassed. How can you not tell me about this?
[1:55:57] Speaker 1: She felt betrayed. And long after Jarrett was removed is
[1:56:02] Speaker 1: the head of Creative and they sent him home with
[1:56:03] Speaker 1: pay Angle's contract, as I recall, was coming up around
[1:56:07] Speaker 1: that same time. And what I believe this all had
[1:56:12] Speaker 1: more to do with Dixie not wanting to lose Kurt Angle.
[1:56:16] Speaker 1: That's what I think this was at least partially about
[1:56:19] Speaker 1: him and wanting to appease her top star because Kurt
[1:56:22] Speaker 1: was pissed. You know, when he found out about Jeff
[1:56:24] Speaker 1: and Karen, he was not happy about that. Even though
[1:56:27] Speaker 1: they were legally separated for a long time and he
[1:56:29] Speaker 1: was probably doing his own carousing, they were still technically married,
[1:56:33] Speaker 1: their divorce was not finalized yet, and sleeping with the
[1:56:36] Speaker 1: top star's wife probably isn't going to go over too
[1:56:39] Speaker 1: well and it's going to make things very awkward at work.
[1:56:44] Speaker 1: None of this was addressed in the episode. As far
[1:56:46] Speaker 1: as Kurt being upset, I'm not saying Dixie didn't have
[1:56:48] Speaker 1: a political motive. I'm sure she did. She even cleaned
[1:56:51] Speaker 1: out a lot of the people who were loyal to
[1:56:53] Speaker 1: Jeff where he was friendly with Dutch Mantell, who was
[1:56:56] Speaker 1: kind of the wrestling brain on the creative team. After
[1:56:58] Speaker 1: Jeff got sent home, you know, Russo was the entertainment
[1:57:02] Speaker 1: guy and Dutch was the wrestling guy. Dixie got rid
[1:57:05] Speaker 1: of Dutch. She put Russo in charge of creative which
[1:57:10] Speaker 1: I mean, you know, Dilo Brown, who talked here, said
[1:57:13] Speaker 1: Russo would have five minutes of wrestling on a two
[1:57:15] Speaker 1: hour show and He's not exaggerating by much when he
[1:57:18] Speaker 1: says that. But I think all of this went beyond
[1:57:22] Speaker 1: just her looking to get Jeff out of power. There
[1:57:24] Speaker 1: were other considerations to be made if they did not
[1:57:27] Speaker 1: want to lose Kurt angle, and things did get smoothed
[1:57:30] Speaker 1: over enough that the two of them ended up wrestling
[1:57:32] Speaker 1: each other and working together later on. They actually had
[1:57:34] Speaker 1: a couple of really good matches together. They mentioned Dixie
[1:57:38] Speaker 1: calling Jeff not long after she sent him home for
[1:57:42] Speaker 1: the two of them to fly down to Tampa together
[1:57:45] Speaker 1: to meet with Hulk Hogan. That must have been one
[1:57:48] Speaker 1: hell of an awkward plane ride. Hogan did not come
[1:57:52] Speaker 1: alone though, to this meeting. Unbeknownst to them. They come
[1:57:54] Speaker 1: in the room and who's sitting there with Hogan. It's
[1:57:57] Speaker 1: Eric Bischoff, his shadow. And you know what comes next.
[1:58:02] Speaker 1: They're going to be getting into the Hogan and Bischoff
[1:58:03] Speaker 1: era of TNA in the third episode this week. But
[1:58:07] Speaker 1: it became very clear to Jeff in this meeting that
[1:58:09] Speaker 1: Hogan did not know a damn thing about TNA. But
[1:58:13] Speaker 1: he figured, you know, if Hogan, with his celebrity status
[1:58:16] Speaker 1: in wrestling, could be an ambassador of sorts for the
[1:58:19] Speaker 1: brand and like a spokesperson for them. What a great
[1:58:22] Speaker 1: way to get eyeballs on TNA, which sounds nice in theory,
[1:58:26] Speaker 1: but it's Hogan, so it's never that easy. Hogan's gonna
[1:58:30] Speaker 1: make it all about Hogan. Dixie didn't know that. She
[1:58:33] Speaker 1: just wanted Hulk Hogan attached to the TNA brand, and
[1:58:36] Speaker 1: Karen said that Jeff was used for that one meeting
[1:58:39] Speaker 1: and then he was sent right back home after that.
[1:58:41] Speaker 1: Dixie got what she wanted out of him being there.
[1:58:44] Speaker 1: James Mitchell is also interviewed for these episodes. He was
[1:58:48] Speaker 1: part of the early years of TNA. The Sinister Minister.
[1:58:51] Speaker 1: He said when he heard Hogan and Bischoff were coming
[1:58:53] Speaker 1: to TNA that Dixie was being manipulated, he said that
[1:58:57] Speaker 1: she was being manipulated by two master Carnies. That's exactly
[1:59:01] Speaker 1: what happened. She was starstruck by Hogan. She thought that
[1:59:04] Speaker 1: this is exactly what TNA needed to really be competitive
[1:59:08] Speaker 1: and really be taken seriously. They had her convinced that
[1:59:11] Speaker 1: TNA was going to end up being the number one
[1:59:13] Speaker 1: brand in pro wrestling, which was never going to happen.
[1:59:17] Speaker 1: And it's nice to say that, but she really believed it.
[1:59:21] Speaker 1: She bought into the hype. I remember the press conference
[1:59:24] Speaker 1: at Madison Square Garden to announce the Hogan signing and
[1:59:27] Speaker 1: Dixie talking about Hogan being that little bit of rocket
[1:59:31] Speaker 1: fuel that they needed. It's needed that little bit of
[1:59:34] Speaker 1: rocket fuel.
[1:59:34] Speaker 2: As he said today, I'm here to tell you I
[1:59:37] Speaker 2: think Hulk Hogan has definitely been that rocket fuel that
[1:59:41] Speaker 2: TNA needed.
[1:59:42] Speaker 1: Ah. Yes, the rocket fuel. They had plenty of fuel,
[1:59:46] Speaker 1: but that fuel doesn't do you much good when the
[1:59:48] Speaker 1: rocket spontaneously combusts into a fireball. Which is not to
[1:59:53] Speaker 1: say that it was all bad. I mean, there were
[1:59:55] Speaker 1: good things to come out of that Hogan and Bischoff era, right,
[1:59:57] Speaker 1: the Bully Ray push, say what you want to about.
[2:00:00] Speaker 1: I know he's not exactly well liked by everybody, but
[2:00:03] Speaker 1: when he was getting that push at that time as
[2:00:04] Speaker 1: a singles heel, there was some really good stuff. There
[2:00:08] Speaker 1: was some really good TV to come out of that.
[2:00:10] Speaker 1: The Bobby Rout heel turn was great. Remember that TNA
[2:00:14] Speaker 1: reaction show that would air after Impact. They did that
[2:00:16] Speaker 1: for a while, like one season or whatever. That was
[2:00:19] Speaker 1: unlike anything that WWE was doing, which is part of
[2:00:22] Speaker 1: what made it great, Right, was for that very reason,
[2:00:25] Speaker 1: no one else in wrestling was doing that gritty reality
[2:00:29] Speaker 1: style documentary style show. Right. It was like half an
[2:00:33] Speaker 1: hour I think after Impact would go off the air,
[2:00:36] Speaker 1: and it's too bad. Not enough people watched it for
[2:00:38] Speaker 1: it to be a success. I believe that was a
[2:00:40] Speaker 1: Bischoff idea. But for whatever good there was, it was
[2:00:43] Speaker 1: outweighed by all the bad and we all know how
[2:00:46] Speaker 1: that turned out. I'll talk more about that next week.
[2:00:49] Speaker 1: And those were the first two episodes. You know, these
[2:00:51] Speaker 1: episodes had some good insight into Jared's career, his personal life,
[2:00:55] Speaker 1: the death of his wife which was very heavy stuff,
[2:00:58] Speaker 1: and the early years of TNA, but paints an incomplete
[2:01:01] Speaker 1: picture without having Jerry Jarrett available for his insights. In
[2:01:05] Speaker 1: Dixie Carter, you know who wasn't there to defend herself,
[2:01:08] Speaker 1: maybe because she had no great defense for a lot
[2:01:11] Speaker 1: of the decisions that she made, or she was just
[2:01:13] Speaker 1: worried that this was going to be a pile on
[2:01:15] Speaker 1: Dixie project, which if you watch it, that's pretty much
[2:01:18] Speaker 1: what it turned out to be. Not a lot of
[2:01:21] Speaker 1: positive comments about Dixie Carter here on these first two episodes,
[2:01:24] Speaker 1: and maybe she deserved it, but you also can't ignore
[2:01:28] Speaker 1: the fact that without Dixie and her daddy's money, you
[2:01:31] Speaker 1: don't have enough material to even do three episodes on Jeff,
[2:01:35] Speaker 1: Jared and TNA. There is no TNA for all intents
[2:01:39] Speaker 1: and purposes. Without that investment from Bob Carter, TNA would
[2:01:42] Speaker 1: have been dead and buried a long time ago. This
[2:01:45] Speaker 1: gave them a lifeline. And just think of all the
[2:01:48] Speaker 1: great LOLTNA moments that we would have been deprived of,
[2:01:53] Speaker 1: all the material that it gave me for my shows
[2:01:55] Speaker 1: over the years. That shit is irreplaceable. Now, let's see
[2:01:59] Speaker 1: if we get any mention of Global Force Gold on
[2:02:02] Speaker 1: the show next week. You have my word. If they
[2:02:05] Speaker 1: don't talk about it, I will. The remaining Dark Side
[2:02:10] Speaker 1: schedule looks like this. Obviously, this week is part three
[2:02:14] Speaker 1: of the Jarrett and TNA stuff. Following that, every Tuesday
[2:02:17] Speaker 1: we got one episode per week. Starting on the twenty first,
[2:02:20] Speaker 1: it's going to be Samoa Joe against Necro Butcher. On
[2:02:23] Speaker 1: the twenty eighth, the Big boss Man episode August fourth, Renegade,
[2:02:28] Speaker 1: August eleventh is the Paul Orndorf episode. August eighteenth is
[2:02:32] Speaker 1: Missy Hyatt and closing out the season on August twenty
[2:02:35] Speaker 1: fifth is the episode on Zach Gowan. You can email
[2:02:41] Speaker 1: me the Solemn Monster at gmail dot com if you
[2:02:44] Speaker 1: have any comments or questions. We'll get back to your
[2:02:46] Speaker 1: mailbag questions next week and next Sunday, I'm going to
[2:02:50] Speaker 1: be back with you for brand new sound of that'll
[2:02:53] Speaker 1: be episode nine to seventy two. But as far as
[2:02:55] Speaker 1: this week goes, all the usual post shows are on tap.
[2:02:58] Speaker 1: We have the Rot post show on Monday nights, we
[2:03:01] Speaker 1: have the Dynamite post show all the fallout from Beach
[2:03:04] Speaker 1: Break coming up on Wednesday, and then twenty four hours
[2:03:07] Speaker 1: before Saturday Night's main event, we have the SmackDown post
[2:03:09] Speaker 1: show on Friday. I will be live on Saturday Night
[2:03:13] Speaker 1: after Saturday Night's main events. You'll get a bonus show
[2:03:15] Speaker 1: from me next weekend, and then of course the sound
[2:03:18] Speaker 1: off the next day. So that doesn't include Tuesday this
[2:03:21] Speaker 1: week a brand new Uncrowned Wrestling show, and then Tuesday
[2:03:24] Speaker 1: Night Live with jd Over on his channel for Tuesday
[2:03:27] Speaker 1: Night Titan. So you're gonna get Solo Monster Overload this week.
[2:03:31] Speaker 1: I said, overlord, I am your overlord. You're gonna get
[2:03:34] Speaker 1: Solo Monster Overload this week. Whether you like it or not.
[2:03:38] Speaker 1: It's like that kid who said the British Bulldog at
[2:03:40] Speaker 1: Wembley all those years ago. He's gonna win whether he
[2:03:43] Speaker 1: wants to or not. You don't have a choice in
[2:03:45] Speaker 1: the matter. So be well, stay safe, have yourselves a
[2:03:49] Speaker 1: great rest of your week. I'm actually going to see
[2:03:51] Speaker 1: The Odyssey this week, which feels like it's gonna be
[2:03:53] Speaker 1: an Odyssey because it's a very long movie. I'm gonna
[2:03:56] Speaker 1: see that later this week and then I'll report back
[2:03:59] Speaker 1: with my thoughts. I'll see you back here next Sunday.
[2:04:02] Speaker 1: Until then, take care, guys. The solom Monster sounds off backstage.
[2:04:07] Speaker 1: We had Fraxi him and the MotorCity machine guns. Holy shit,
[2:04:10] Speaker 1: they live. So they're walking along backstage and Candice Larra
[2:04:13] Speaker 1: approaches that. She said, look at what happened to Johnny,
[2:04:15] Speaker 1: and we see Johnny Gargano. He is lying face down
[2:04:19] Speaker 1: on top of a box that has marked NXT. I
[2:04:21] Speaker 1: want you to imagine flying all the way to work
[2:04:26] Speaker 1: and you get there and you find out, okay, boss,
[2:04:28] Speaker 1: what am I doing tonight? And your job, after flying
[2:04:31] Speaker 1: all the way in here is to lay face down
[2:04:33] Speaker 1: on top of a box for two minutes and say nothing.
[2:04:37] Speaker 1: I don't even think he'd blinked. He looked catatonic as
[2:04:40] Speaker 1: he was laying there. And that's it. That's all he
[2:04:43] Speaker 1: did on this show. That was his only task tonight,
[2:04:45] Speaker 1: fly into work and lay on top of a box.
[2:04:47] Speaker 1: I mean, look, I guess it's not bad work if
[2:04:49] Speaker 1: you can get it.
[2:04:50] Speaker 2: The solom Monster sounds off, bringing you the good, the bad,
[2:04:55] Speaker 2: and the ugly. Check out the weekly live streams bonus
[2:04:58] Speaker 2: content for subscribers, and follow this monster on Facebook, Instagram,
[2:05:01] Speaker 2: and X The Sola Monster.
[2:05:05] Speaker 1: I love you so long.

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