- 3 months ago
In this episode, we discuss WWE Raw, a new WWE signing turning heel, WWE interest in a CMLL Star, Evolution 2 discussion, and the rest of the day's news and rumors!
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00:53Oh, and it kicked out.
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02:57Hello everybody.
02:58Welcome to this episode of the Fro Wrestling Podcast.
03:00If you've got questions, comments, something you want me to touch on in a future episode.
03:04Drop us a line.
03:05Call us.
03:05Fro Wrestling Sound Offline.
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03:09And we will get to those questions or comments in a future episode.
03:13Lots of stuff to get to.
03:14You've got to start where it makes the most sense.
03:16WWE Raw last night on Netflix.
03:19July 7th episode.
03:21Good show top to bottom if you ask me.
03:22A lot of stuff covered.
03:23A lot of ground.
03:25Really trying to build some excitement for the weekend shows.
03:28Which are going to be jam-packed.
03:30I love the fact that they start the show with the whole Seth Rollins, Bronson Reed,
03:33Braun Breaker, Paul Heyman segment.
03:35Where as Rollins goes to take the microphone, Braun Breaker just snags it from in front of him.
03:41And goes into business for himself.
03:43Obviously, we all know somewhere down the line, Braun Breaker is going to turn on Seth Rollins.
03:48I don't think we're anywhere close to it yet.
03:50What I think we had last night was the seeds.
03:53And we need those seeds.
03:54We need to sprinkle those over the next several months.
03:56Because we have a lot of things to get to in the next several months.
03:59They're going to be very, very relevant.
04:00I do think that whenever that does happen, because it's very clear to me it will,
04:05that when Braun Breaker breaks away from Seth Rollins, Braun becomes the heel and keeps Paul Heyman.
04:12I think that is essential for the growth of his character.
04:16Seth Rollins never really needed a speaking piece anyways.
04:19He cuts a great promo on his own.
04:21Bronson Reed, he actually does a pretty good promo himself.
04:24Not that Braun does not.
04:26I just think that Heyman adds a layer to Braun that he doesn't necessarily bring quite yet.
04:31At some point, I'm sure he will, but not quite yet.
04:34They basically go through, all three of them are in action on the show.
04:38And we're going to see how they supposedly are going to eliminate various people from contention as the show continues.
04:45The first match of the night, we get Roxanne Perez versus Kairi Sane.
04:48This is on the heels of a backstage segment where we have a whole shrine to Liv Morgan, who it almost looks like she died, which is not the case.
04:59And then we have a really corny part where Dominic Mysterio is thanking the Judgment Day Finn Balor and JD McDonough for a cake,
05:07which was not given to him by them.
05:09It was given by AJ Styles, who does that finger-eye thing that I do with my students in my classroom.
05:14And it leads to the match leading up to Roxanne Perez versus Kairi Sane with Raquel Rodriguez at ringside.
05:22The match itself, pretty solid.
05:23Love that Kairi Sane's been picking up a lot of wins lately.
05:26I feel like that's something she didn't get for a very long time and now is starting to get some of that.
05:30The match was solid, back and forth, constant action.
05:33But that's not the important part about the match.
05:36The important part is after, you know, I hear Simon Miller online, whether it's on WhatCulture on his own channel all the time,
05:42saying the most powerful move in all of wrestling, the small package or the quick roll-up.
05:46It's exactly how it goes here.
05:48We get the quick roll-up win.
05:49Kairi Sane wins.
05:51But then after the match, there's the beatdown from Perez and Rodriguez leading to what I think most people saw coming,
05:57Asuka's return to help her friend, the Kabuki Warriors reuniting, taking out Raquel and Roxanne,
06:04and them eventually going in the back and talking to Adam Pearce about being added to the Women's Tag Team Championship match
06:12as the Kabuki Warriors at Evolution 2, which I think is fantastic.
06:16We don't have to have another meaningless match on Raw.
06:18I was just saying on the SmackDown review how much it frustrates me that you did the Charlotte Flair-Alexa Bliss match
06:24when you put them against the Her Service and you knew they weren't going to win,
06:28and against a makeshift team of B-Fab and Meechan.
06:32I don't need that.
06:33I like straight storytelling.
06:35Don't waste my time, and that's what I felt like this was.
06:38They go into a whole storyline of what's going on with Sami Zayn carrying Kross.
06:41He ends up getting, as Zayn is walking to the ring with his taped-up ribs,
06:45Karrion Kross again attacks him, blindsides him, hits him with the pipe in the ribs again.
06:50Pierce comes out acting like he can't stop these things from happening.
06:54There's this awkward moment where they're talking to Sami Zayn about whether he can or cannot wrestle.
06:58I don't know about you guys, but one of the things that really drives me insane about WWE
07:01is how their stories just don't make sense from one storyline in one pairing to another or even across time.
07:09Any general manager in the past when they have an injured wrestler can say,
07:13you're not cleared to compete, this match is not going to happen, and they bring somebody else out.
07:17They don't do this.
07:17It's very obvious from the taped ribs beforehand, then the pipe hit, that he was not going to be able to go.
07:23It was difficult for him to go when he's at full health against Braun Breaker.
07:26Now he's going to have double rib injuries and somehow be able to compete.
07:29It doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about how matches have been booked historically in WWE.
07:34Braun Breaker, this is a glorified squash match.
07:37A couple of high spots for Sami Zayn.
07:39Nothing to write home about.
07:40There was a cool move off the turnbuckle, which was cool.
07:42But otherwise, just not a lot of offense from Sami Zayn.
07:47And in storyline, they talk about how he's going to be out for the foreseeable future, which is good.
07:52Take him off TV.
07:53It's leading to what I think is going to happen, or you could go with what some of the other media outlets are talking about.
07:58I've seen some networks, What Culture Today, hypothesizing we're going to see Sami Zayn and Jey Uso against the bronze.
08:05I've seen other conversations about what they're going to do and how they're going to lead into other matches.
08:10Later on in the episode, I will get into what I think they should do going forward, but for now, we'll keep it moving.
08:16We do get to a segment where we get to hear from Becky Lynch.
08:18Eventually, we have Bayley start to walk out, and Lyra Valkyria walks by and just kind of blows past Bayley to get in the ring.
08:26Look, I don't know who the babyface is supposed to be in this match.
08:29I guess maybe Bayley and Lyra are supposed to be, but they clearly are both treading on heelish waters and heelish tendencies.
08:37And the fact that Lyra is still complaining about her belt and everything else after she was beaten and had to raise Becky's hand,
08:43it's almost coming off as a whining, complaining character, which I'm not a big fan of.
08:47But I do think that the two megastars here, being Bayley and Becky, have put Lyra on the map as being a legitimate threat to the championship
08:55and someone who belongs in the ring with them.
08:57So I do like that.
08:59The Bayley line where she doesn't need friends, she doesn't need this, that, and the other, all she needs is the belt.
09:04I thought it was interesting to hear Lyra then come back at her about that's all that matters to her and that she sounds a lot like Becky.
09:11It kind of gave Bayley a heelish side to what she's doing.
09:14And I like it. I like the interplay. I thought it was a little clunky.
09:19The swing by Valkyria, missing Bayley, hitting Becky.
09:22I thought that was a little clunky, but I did like that Lyra stood tall at the end.
09:26I thought that was exactly what they need to do ahead of the pay-per-view.
09:29But oftentimes in WWE booking, it makes it seem as though that's the person who's going to take the fall at the pay-per-view.
09:35So we're going to have to wait and see. I'm not sure how that's going to play.
09:37I'm not sure what their plan is going forward all the way to SummerSlam.
09:40I'm a little surprised. They rushed this for Evolution, but when you don't announce any other matches, it kind of makes sense.
09:45So we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.
09:47Then we get to Jey Uso, Bronson Reed. I don't care champion or not champion.
09:50Jey Uso's entrance is still the best in the business right now.
09:53Everybody loves the guy. He really does have his place.
09:56He's earned the name main event Jey Uso.
09:59Getting in there with Bronson Reed, who made it clear earlier in the night he didn't care about the wins and losses.
10:02He cared about hurting Jey Uso and taking him out.
10:05So that's kind of exactly what we got.
10:07We got the back and forth, superkicks, all that kind of fun stuff,
10:11but leading to a moment where Bronson Reed picks up an office chair outside the ring
10:16and just throws it at Jey Uso, leading to a disqualification,
10:19which I find interesting also because if that happened in certain other matches,
10:22that wouldn't be a disqualification.
10:24That's what I mean.
10:24It's hard to keep up sometimes with what is and what isn't and why WWE does what they do.
10:28And it makes it so there's no continuity.
10:31So that being said, it's a disqualification.
10:33He hits a couple tsunamis, which, again, is probably designed to write Jey Uso off of TV.
10:41At the very, well, I'll get to that later.
10:44I have some reactions to that, but it kind of goes along with the third match.
10:48So we'll get to that a little bit later.
10:49We get the hilarious moment with El Grande Americano versus Dragon Lee.
10:53Earlier in the show, American Alpha shocked that they're booking El Grande Americano in a match
10:59because, as one of them says, I think it's Brutus.
11:02I always mix the two up, says, that's not possible because Chad Gable's not here.
11:06And, like, acting like he doesn't realize what he's saying.
11:10And then, as we all can tell and knew ahead of time,
11:13this is going to be Livvy Kaiser under the El Grande Americano mask.
11:17I thought it was hilarious that they kept referencing and implying things on commentary,
11:21which, it almost comes off cartoonish.
11:26We all know what's going on.
11:27I don't need them to play into it like they're that oblivious.
11:30It makes them seem less knowledgeable than I think at this point they've earned being.
11:36I do like that they didn't clean beat Dragon Lee.
11:39I think he needed to be, you know, held in his current position.
11:43And by beating him clean, that would have been a problem.
11:44Using the loaded mask, that works to keep furthering things.
11:48I have no idea where that whole story is supposed to go.
11:52But I'm anxious to see.
11:53And who's going to be the good guy eventually?
11:55Chad Gable or Ludwig Kaiser?
11:57Or neither?
11:57Or both?
11:58Or I don't even know.
11:59It should be interesting.
12:00We get what I think is the big highlight of the night.
12:04Gunther comes out to cut his promo, talking trash about how Goldberg is.
12:07He's been trash talking him for two weeks.
12:09He hasn't shown up because he's scared.
12:10And that brings the sound of a screeching car tires.
12:14We see a muscle car.
12:15And I'm horrible with cars.
12:17I apologize.
12:17But a beautiful orange muscle car rolls in in the back, spinning its tires.
12:21The only thing I have a problem with this is, it's like, and I heard this on Simon Miller again.
12:27Was talking about this earlier today.
12:28Like, what was he doing?
12:29Was he just cruising around the arena in his car and was, like, listening to it on his phone and was like,
12:35Hey, he's talking about me.
12:36And then pulled into the parking lot.
12:37It doesn't make a lot of sense.
12:40I don't think we need the pulling up in the car.
12:42I think if he's going to be on the show, advertise it.
12:45And we don't need the car part.
12:46It's really, it makes it seem nonsensical.
12:49But on the flip side, for all the people out there, and I've just got to be honest here.
12:53I've heard so many people talk about how they don't want to see Goldberg wrestle anymore and all this other stuff.
12:57You cannot deny that the reaction to Goldberg pulling up was awesome.
13:02Him stepping out of the car was awesome.
13:05And when the music hit, that place erupted.
13:08And the Goldberg, Goldberg chants were just awesome.
13:13And then when he comes out, doesn't do his normal kicking, punching, and all that stuff coming through the fireworks.
13:18He just walks straight to the ring, straight into Gunther's face.
13:21He points in his face, tells him they're going to do this right now.
13:25He offers for him to take a shot.
13:27Well, Gunther actually holds up the microphone.
13:28He smacks that out of his hand, tells him to take a shot.
13:30Gunther tries.
13:31He blocks it, retaliates with a shot of his own, taking Gunther down.
13:34The only physicality we've really had from Goldberg so far in this feud.
13:38Almost sets him up for a spear, and he rolls out of the ring.
13:41This is exactly what it needed to be.
13:42Now, I am so tired of hearing people complain about how Goldberg was heavy breathing already just from coming out and throwing one punch.
13:50If you haven't stepped in a ring, if you haven't heard that ovation, you don't know what it does to your adrenaline.
13:57Look, I'm not a seasoned pro, but I've had wrestling matches myself.
14:00And I'm telling you right now, you sweat like a stuck pig when that adrenaline kicks in because those people want to see you so bad.
14:06And I've only done that on a local level at my school that I teach in.
14:10And those kids, the emotion I felt when they do that, yes, you start sweating like you wouldn't believe.
14:15And you know what?
14:16I don't care.
14:17The reaction from the fans tells me the chance of, this is awesome and holy S and everything else, that's real.
14:25So all the online people who want to complain about this whole Goldberg situation, look, I get it.
14:29I don't really want them in the world title picture either.
14:31I would have rather Seth Rollins cashed in on Jey Uso after he beat Gunther and retained his title.
14:37I would have rather that would have been your way of getting the belt off of Jey
14:39and had Gunther and Goldberg with no title on the line.
14:41I've said that a million times because then you could have led to, I'm not sure who's going to win.
14:46As I've said before, when you have this as a world championship match and it's a retirement match,
14:50unless he's going to turn into a heel like John Cena and take the championship with him when he retires,
14:56then this match makes no sense to be a world championship match.
15:00He cannot possibly win.
15:02I like how they tried to cover that with the whole Michael Cole angle with, you know, it makes an interesting quandary.
15:08No, it doesn't.
15:09It's blaringly obvious.
15:10This is going to be a relatively short match, I believe, and Goldberg's going to probably end up tapping out,
15:15which makes a lot of sense, protects his character a bit.
15:17You could even have some shenanigans go on.
15:20I would love to see Goldberg after he, I think he'll lose the match at Saturday Night's Main Event,
15:25but afterwards, Gunther talks some trash, not want to shake his hand, disrespect him,
15:29have Goldberg hit two, three, four spears, maybe a jackhammer if he can get him up,
15:34and then when he leaves the ring, Seth cash in right then and there on Gunther.
15:39That would be money to me because you could set up a situation where Gunther wants a rematch,
15:43Punk still wants Seth, and Gunther and CM Punk could face off at SummerSlam.
15:48Seth Rollins, I'll get to a little bit later, has something else in my mind planned for SummerSlam,
15:53and that way, the winner there could go on to face Seth Rollins later,
15:56which would probably be CM Punk, because you need Gunther for something else I'll get into later.
16:01I just think it makes a lot of sense.
16:03We'll get back to why in just a moment.
16:05So, back to the action, Seth Rollins comes out, he's going to face Penta in our main event.
16:12Honestly, this is one I never had on my bingo card, maybe two, three years ago now.
16:16Loving the fact that we're getting to see it, I just wish they had more time.
16:19I get it, it's a television show, and you had to keep it short,
16:22but I would have loved to see these two get 25 minutes to really tell a story.
16:26Seth Rollins, an awkward spot at the end where Penta's about to pick him up for a finishing hold,
16:31and he brings his head up into his groin and then turns it into a stomp for the win.
16:35I'm fine with all that.
16:37I love the LA Knight interference at the end coming out and hitting his move on Seth Rollins
16:42and then escaping through the crowd.
16:43I love all of that.
16:44For me, I think the LA Knight thing is a detour for Seth just to get him to the next pay-per-view,
16:50and if I was booking, now I'm going to bring all my plans together for you
16:54so you understand my mad scientist ways for why I'm doing everything I'm doing.
16:58If you lay things out the way I just did, I think SummerSlam, you see Gunther versus Punk
17:05to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.
17:08I love that idea.
17:09I don't really want to beat either one.
17:12I don't want it to be obvious one of them has to lose,
17:14and with no belt on the line, we won't know who's going to win.
17:16I like that.
17:17When it comes to Seth Rollins, Seth Rollins should pair with the bronze
17:23to take on Sami Zayn, NJ Uso, and the returning OTC Roman Reigns.
17:29It should be a six-man match.
17:30Their faction against the Bloodline, that's what they should do at SummerSlam.
17:35And the reason I'm fantasy booking all of that is to say that I believe at the end of the year,
17:41what would be phenomenal, wrapping up this Rawls concepts and everything else,
17:45what ties into that is the news that came out today that during an interview with Gunther,
17:53they had a conversation and asked him about whether or not he would be interested in facing
17:57John Cena on this retirement tour.
17:59On the Masked Man show, he discussed the possibility, and he would like the match.
18:05Now, follow me on this.
18:06If we are indeed going to turn Cena back to being babyface at some point,
18:10and if Cody is not taking the title from him at SummerSlam, you could go into the end of the year.
18:16John Cena's final match has the opportunity to catapult somebody into the stratosphere.
18:21Could you do it with Jey Uso?
18:22Absolutely.
18:22I've mentioned before they have the history of the Royal Rumble pushing him out.
18:26Could you do it with Cody?
18:27Yes, you could use it as the opportunity to double turn and turn Cody heel.
18:30I like that too, but I never really thought about it until I saw this put out there.
18:35His exact quote says,
18:36Yeah, like if the opportunity would be there, it would be great.
18:39I think he's very busy with what he's doing now.
18:40Maybe towards the end of the year, if he finds his old self or something,
18:44if it's going to happen this year, I don't know.
18:47I think it will be a very exciting matchup.
18:48One of the purest babyfaces there are.
18:51And yeah, I would love the scenario of like me being me and the struggling pure babyface John Cena.
18:56And you know what? After hearing that, I love that idea too.
19:00Let John Cena turn face again.
19:02Let him face Gunther in his final match and put Gunther over going out as a good guy,
19:07getting the last hurrah and really solidifying Gunther at the top of the card.
19:13That being said, let's get into all the other news for today.
19:15They announced on the show Nikki Bella had a vignette where she's entering the Battle Royal at Evolution 2.
19:21Look, I got people who are upset because some of these premium stars aren't in bigger matches.
19:25You know how Triple H has been booking all the pay-per-views, not just Evolution 2.
19:29People keep acting like it's just a they don't care about Evolution thing.
19:32That's not the case.
19:33In all of the pay-per-views lately, they were about five matches long.
19:36Last night, they announced many things for the card.
19:38I think they bobbled one, but they announced many things for the card.
19:42Nikki Bella was supposed to be in a premium program with Liv Morgan.
19:44Maybe a tag match, maybe singles, don't know, doesn't matter.
19:47At this point, you've got to do something of substance with her.
19:49And the word is, she's not leaving WWE anytime soon.
19:52So, if that's the case, she legitimately could win this thing.
19:55Now, I think it's going to be Stephanie Vecure.
19:57I really do.
19:58They also announced she'll be in the Battle Royal.
20:00And many other people will be in that Battle Royal.
20:02But I think this is exactly what you needed to do to give her something of substance.
20:06She'll probably be one of the last people in the ring, which makes sense.
20:09And then maybe we see her, you know, take on a different feud with whoever she's in.
20:13You know, if she goes out second to last, maybe third to last, we'll have to wait and see.
20:16But I will be anxious to see how that all plays out because I think it is a great opportunity
20:22to kind of put a band-aid on everything they've done with this pay-per-view because they've
20:26botched it quite a bit.
20:27Let's be honest.
20:27Think about the Rhea Ripley, EO Sky situation.
20:30I love the video package.
20:31I think that was fantastic.
20:32I just don't understand why your women's world champion hasn't been on TV more.
20:37Why Rhea Ripley wasn't actually on the show in a major, you know, situation.
20:43That should have been a go-to thing on a go-home episode, but it wasn't.
20:48That to me is a problem.
20:49You're heading into the women's only pay-per-view and your women's champion's not even on the
20:53show.
20:53Absolutely messed up.
20:55Throw in the, when you think about all that, then think about the fact that you also have
20:59the tag team match where you have NXT literally the next night.
21:04And instead of waiting until NXT to talk about anything to do with the girls who are going
21:08to be participating from NXT, you have Michael Cole kind of give away that Sol Roka,
21:13and Felka are going to be the ones who battle, I'm sorry, Zarya, I always mix those two up,
21:20that they're going to be the one battling for NXT.
21:22Why?
21:23That should have been an angle on NXT.
21:25Instead, you've kind of cut your nose off to spite your face.
21:27I just, I don't like the way they've handled the pay-per-view.
21:30It's like they went into it with no plans whatsoever.
21:32I think that's a terrible, terrible, terrible idea.
21:34But, you know, it is what it is.
21:37Let's get into some other lady stuff.
21:39Tamina Snuka has been in the news lately.
21:41People wondering what her status is.
21:42Apparently, she is still under contract.
21:44We haven't seen her since 2023.
21:47But there's no plans for her.
21:49She's not on any of the active roster lists.
21:51She did post some stuff a few, about a week ago on social media.
21:55So, she's obviously still out there with a pulse, but just has not done anything with WWE since.
22:00And that, like, look, I don't know whether, if she's done, that's fine.
22:05I get it.
22:07But you've got to figure out what you're doing with people.
22:09You're paying a paycheck.
22:10And a company that promised that they don't sign people just to bench people,
22:14and they have people like her or Tyler Bate.
22:17I saw WhatCulture was talking about Tyler Bate is essentially benched.
22:20He's been posting on Instagram that he's healthy and he's just waiting.
22:24You know, why?
22:25Why is somebody that talented?
22:26When you have such a horrible tag team division,
22:29why are he and Pete Dunne not featured all the time on the main roster
22:33as challengers for the World Tag Team Championship to give them something of substance to do?
22:36Instead, we're going to recycle the New Day and the War Raiders
22:39who've been battling for the last four months.
22:40It's boring.
22:41This could be a different team, but we don't do that.
22:44So, yeah, I just don't know.
22:45I think if Tamina still is on the roster, use her.
22:48If not, move on.
22:50You know, make an official announcement, move on.
22:52But definitely not a big fan of how they're handling that particular situation.
22:57Also related to, obviously, the women's side of things, but also related to Evolution 2,
23:03Michelle McCool posting on X that her phone hasn't rang.
23:06Talk about somebody who's ready to go, actively helping with LFG,
23:10who's clearly in great shape and could go, not even being approached.
23:13That's kind of shocking to me because it seems like such an easy one.
23:18You know what I mean?
23:19It's a no-brainer.
23:20We'll have to wait and see if she may be a surprise entrant in that same Battle Royal.
23:24Can't fit everybody on the card.
23:25I suspect some NXT talent and obviously Raw and SmackDown talent.
23:29Do we see something from maybe Evolve or from LFG?
23:32One of those stars show up in the Battle Royal.
23:33We'll have to wait and see.
23:34I did want to give a shout-out to a tweet from Booker T talking about Natty,
23:40who, if you haven't paid attention, even though she's still on the main roster for WWE,
23:44she's also, she was at the Crockett Cup for the NWA.
23:47She was at Bloodsport earlier in the year.
23:49And now she's been down at Reality of Wrestling with Booker T,
23:52had her first match for him.
23:54And he said it's his first five-star match in his promotion, her match there.
23:59And you've got to love that.
24:00Absolutely love that.
24:01And the fact that WWE is letting her go off and do some other things,
24:06trying to really, you know, I don't want to say maximize her time she has left in the ring,
24:10but there's some things she probably wanted to check off her bucket list
24:12and hasn't really been able to do that as much.
24:15It's exciting to see that she is starting to get some of that.
24:19I think our last tidbit of women's news, Charlotte Flair in the news,
24:23she was having an interview.
24:26Let me think, I'm trying to think who the heck the interview was with.
24:28Players Tribune.
24:29She was with Players Tribune having a conversation about the women's four horsemen.
24:33And she said,
24:34We've definitely had our ups and downs over the years.
24:36I won't pretend we're best friends or that we're all even friends at the moment.
24:39I won't pretend there's a four horsewomen group chat I'll send this article to when it publishes.
24:45And think about it that way.
24:47It does make me sad sometimes, but I also think it's part of life, you know,
24:50especially at the highest levels of professional competition.
24:52She goes on to say,
24:54And on a professional level, the respect between the four of us is absolute,
24:57and the bonds that we share are effing indestructible.
25:00There's not another person alive who knows what we went through as a group
25:04or what it's taken for all of us to still be active and to still be at the top of our games.
25:07As women working in the business, that's still learning how to treat women.
25:11And I love the fact that she didn't trash anybody.
25:14She made it seem like she actually genuinely would really love to be, you know, closer to them.
25:20It's just not in the cards right now.
25:23But it is nice to see that there was some conversation about the four horsewomen.
25:28And at least there's, I see that as an opportunity for down the line,
25:31for maybe there to be some reconciliation.
25:33Maybe they get to do something.
25:35Obviously not right now with Mercedes-Monnaie over in AEW,
25:38but who knows down the line what happens.
25:41Other WWE news.
25:42Let's get into that.
25:42Triple A in the news.
25:44There's been some question as to what the status of Chavo Guerrero has been.
25:49He was a part of WWE Triple A Worlds Collide.
25:53And apparently he has been very clear, Fightful Select reporting,
25:56that he has been telling people that he is a part of WWE.
26:00That he is helping with production of some kind.
26:03That he is signed to a contract.
26:06So we'll have to see how that plays out.
26:10But he has been active.
26:12He was in it.
26:14In Triple A, he partnered with Magno and Matt Riddle to take on Alberto El Patron,
26:18Sinta De Oro, and Samurai Del Sol, which used to be Kalisto in WWE, last August.
26:24Before that, he was at a couple shows in 2016.
26:27So he doesn't do as much active wrestling.
26:28But he does do a lot of the backstage planning stuff.
26:33Not keeping in mind, he also has a career in Hollywood where he does stunts and things of that nature.
26:37So, but according to Fightful, his appearance at Worlds Collide may not be a simple one-off.
26:45You know, they're told that sources say that he is back in WWE in an official capacity.
26:50They didn't say how, but they had not.
26:52And they also hadn't received confirmation from Chavo Guerrero's team.
26:55But that would be a huge gift for WWE because I think he has a lot more to offer than what he has ever given credit for.
27:01I think he really is fantastic at everything he does in terms of planning matches, the psychology, the stuff he's done with GLOW and other productions and promotions, AAA, any of that stuff.
27:12Fantastic.
27:14Mariah May, you know, now that she's moved over and become Blake Monroe in NXT, apparently, according to Fightful Select, she is already being discussed for a heel turn within NXT.
27:24I find that shocking.
27:25If you're going to do that, you should have just debuted her as a heel.
27:27I don't understand bringing her in as a face, flipping her heel so quickly.
27:29Maybe it's down the line a couple months, but clearly Fightful Select reporting again that they feel that this is going to be the path forward, that she's going to turn at some point.
27:39Not a big fan of the idea, really not.
27:40I actually think she should be in the Battle Royal at Evolution.
27:44You want to showcase all of your biggest, brightest, and best stars in the female division across all your brands.
27:51How could you not put her in there after being such a big signing recently?
27:54But, you know, no word on that yet.
27:56Maybe we'll get that tonight when we go to the NXT show.
28:01Another word coming out today.
28:02WWE is interested in a top CMLL star.
28:05Even though they're purchasing AAA and that partnership and whatnot.
28:09They have their eyes on Mascara Dorada, a longtime luchador in Mexico.
28:15Fantastic in-ring work.
28:16Even though you would think they would focus their energies on retaining these AAA talents and really honing that brand, it sounds like they've already had not anything overly official, but certainly have had internal discussions about people they would want to bring in.
28:33And that's a name that has come up.
28:34So, not right now.
28:36Don't know when the contract comes due.
28:38But at least putting this into the news, sneaking this out to reporters is a great way for them to get the word out there to him that they're interested.
28:45So that when his contract is coming due, maybe he gets the wheels turning about, hey, maybe I need to talk to those guys.
28:49See what they have to offer me.
28:51Not sure what will happen in the near future, but we'll have to wait and see.
28:55Dave Meltzer.
28:56Let's shift gears from WWE a little bit.
28:58Dave Meltzer put out on the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter conversation that the paid attendance for All In Texas is on course to being the largest gate and highest paid attendance in North American history for a non-WWE show.
29:13It's technically accurate.
29:15Right now they're looking at $2.5 million has been generated.
29:18They have paid tickets for $20,799 sold, which breaks the 1999 WCW Slamboree attendance figure, which was $20,516.
29:31But the odd thing about that is that about a third of them were paid to get there.
29:35But the gate that everybody was praying for was a $3 million gate for this pay-per-view.
29:41Meltzer does not believe that's going to happen.
29:43And the reason that number is such a big deal, back in 1911, in his report, they talk about this, Wrestling Inc. also does the same conversation.
29:51The Frank Gotch versus George Hackenschmidt match.
29:54If you don't know those names, look them up.
29:56Super important match in the history of wrestling.
29:591911, when you adjust for inflation, the gate for that show, they generated between $2.94 and $3.33 million.
30:07So, I think AEW is really hoping to exceed that $3.33 just to, you know, take away any question.
30:16But keeping in mind, I said technically, that's adjusted for inflation.
30:19The actual dollars are obviously significantly less because money was worth less back in 1911.
30:23But I think they really wanted to get the equivalency thing out of the way and just be the top-drawing show in a significant amount of time.
30:31And, you know, I don't think they're going to get there either, but this is still a huge win for them.
30:37Huge gate.
30:38Congrats to AEW.
30:39IWGP champion, Zack Sabre Jr.
30:42People have speculated that maybe the injury to Hiroki Goto is why he won the IWGP championship.
30:47And now, if you go in and you, Dave Meltzer has a report on the newsletter talking about how he was scheduled to win the belt from Goto for quite a long time now, regardless of the injury to Goto.
30:57It turns out that the Tanahashi Jam show was chosen for the title change for a couple reasons.
31:03One, it was at the Dolphins Arena, which is the second most famous wrestling venue in Japan outside of Tokyo.
31:08And it's going to be shutting down in a couple weeks.
31:11It's going to be replaced by the, I believe it's the IG Arena, which will become the main arena in Nagoya.
31:16So they wanted to do something really impactful there.
31:18And they wanted to do something big for their TV special.
31:22Remember, this was a show that you could not get in North America.
31:24So it makes it very special for them.
31:26So this is not just because Goto got hurt.
31:28This is something they've had planned for quite a while.
31:31And it sounds like it was a colossal success.
31:34Over 4,500 tickets were sold, which is a great win for them.
31:37So we'll have to see how, if they do any more of those in the future, these exclusive events, similar to what some other companies have done.
31:44WWE, jumping to them for, again, for one last thing for them for the day.
31:48I love that word is that they're finally getting the message from the fans who are upset with Def Rebel producing music for their superstars.
31:55Let's be honest.
31:56Their stuff sounds like it comes out of Suno AI.
31:58And I know that because I use Suno AI.
32:00It's exactly what their songs sound like.
32:02And a lot of people are upset with that.
32:03But now it sounds like they are making a concerted effort to do two things.
32:07One, partner with much more mainstream musicians to produce music for their talent.
32:12And to make music with those individuals that they are able to copyright and retain the ownership of, which, you know, that's a big part of why Jordan Grace's music had to be changed and Brom Breaker.
32:24So it's interesting that they're finally listening.
32:27The fans have hated the Def Rebel stuff for quite a long time.
32:29And we'll have to see how that plays out over the next several years of how these mainstream artists come in and get an opportunity to work with WWE and create some of that entrance music for the wrestlers.
32:39And the last thing for today, Tony Khan having a conversation about Ring of Honor and whether or not it would be advantageous to rebrand the company while they're trying to find a media rights deal.
32:50Tony Khan, his exact quote says, I still think there's a great chance to develop Ring of Honor.
32:54And we really have done a lot of work to develop Ring of Honor.
32:57They're AEW and Ring of Honor unique companies structurally.
33:01I think that does make a lot of sense.
33:03I still think there's merit to that.
33:05But there's a lot of reasons why I've positioned it that the way I have.
33:08Ring of Honor, I still think we have a chance to strike at great opportunities.
33:13It says, AEW has made huge media rights deals that have changed the landscape for all the wrestling companies, including Ring of Honor.
33:18And any deal we do, it's got to make really good sense for everyone involved, including us at Ring of Honor, but also AEW.
33:25So that's something I've considered right now.
33:27And here's the key part.
33:29I think we've done a great job positioning the company as the leaders and leading champions like Athena and Bandito.
33:35So it sounds like he wants to keep the branding of Ring of Honor pretty much as it is now, as he doesn't see a need to rebrand.
33:44Which is great, because if you're a classic Ring of Honor fan, you don't really want to see them change much, but you do want to see them get the distribution deal.
33:50And right now, you've got to go to YouTube to watch that kind of stuff.
33:53It'd be great to see them on a network.
33:55That's all the time we have for this episode.
33:57Check back with us next episode.
33:58We'll run down the latest wrestling news and rumors.
34:00Special thanks, as always, to Suno AI for generating the music in our shows.
34:03Today's podcast, sponsored in part by Beezle Games.
34:06Bring a new friend to Family Game Night.
34:07It's easy with sketchy people.
34:09Showcase your artistic side of this game from Beezle Games by going to thegamecrafter.com and pick up your copy today.
34:15If you're looking for your next career move, maybe you're considering college or university life, maybe you just need some formal training for your next career decision.
34:22Go to our website, frolifeplanning.com, for all your higher education needs, as Fro Life Educational Planning is for today, for tomorrow, and for life with Fro Life.
34:32I'm Fred Froelich, better known as Dr. Fro.
34:33I want to thank you for taking some time with us today.
34:35Until next time, take care, everybody.
34:37Have a good one.
34:39We'll see you next time.
35:09We'll see you next time.
35:10We'll see you next time.
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