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Matt Connarton
  • 5 months ago
Transcript
00:00:00Hey everybody, welcome to Tough Bumps, episode 14.
00:00:03My name is, my name, that's the second time in a week I've stumbled over my name.
00:00:07My name is Matt Connerton.
00:00:09Are we sure about that?
00:00:11With me, I know, it could be Connington, it could be Connerton, it could be Cornington,
00:00:17it could be anything really, depends who you ask.
00:00:19Ratso, could be Ratso, Matso, Ratso, Fatso, something, yeah.
00:00:23And of course, joining me all the way from the great state of Iowa, Eric Pilcher is here.
00:00:27Hello, Eric.
00:00:28Hello, Matt.
00:00:29Or you have variations of your name, too, like Eric Pilcher.
00:00:32Yeah, I've been accused of having certain appendages in my mouth.
00:00:38Sure.
00:00:39That, I mean, unless he has video from my party days in college where I didn't recall, I don't,
00:00:46that's not, I've never done that.
00:00:48Okay.
00:00:49So, I'll clear that up.
00:00:51Fair enough, fair enough.
00:00:52So, in our main event this week, we're going to be talking about AEW, but we have a few things
00:00:56in the undercard.
00:00:57Before we go any further, too, I have just a brief announcement.
00:01:00I don't know, you might know this already, Eric.
00:01:02I don't know.
00:01:03I don't know if you've spoken with Charles.
00:01:05Oh, I see Rocky is making a cameo.
00:01:07Rocky the dog.
00:01:08Beautiful dog.
00:01:09This coming Saturday, August 23rd, Charles Richardson, of course, host of the Charles Richardson
00:01:13show, will be making an appearance on Matt Connerton Unleashed, the version that we do on Saturday
00:01:18mornings on WMNH.
00:01:20He's going to come on and talk about wrestling.
00:01:23So, you're welcome to join us if you want to.
00:01:25I don't know if that works with your schedule at all, but if you'd like to.
00:01:28Let's stay tuned.
00:01:29Yeah, yeah.
00:01:29Let's stay tuned.
00:01:30And that'll give you time to run it by Charles as well.
00:01:34So...
00:01:35Yeah.
00:01:35Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't mind at all.
00:01:36But no, it'd be cool.
00:01:38Like I said, if you want to, there's no pressure.
00:01:40If it works with your schedule and you'd like to join us, you're welcome to.
00:01:42But yeah, Charles is going to come on.
00:01:44I know he's not a fan of AEW, so it'll be interesting to hear what he has to say.
00:01:48Charles and I might agree with more than what we think, then.
00:01:51Right.
00:01:51Yeah, that may very well be the case.
00:01:54But yeah, so a quick announcement there.
00:01:56But so that'll be the main event this week is some AEW discussion.
00:02:00But in the undercard, so what are we going to talk about first, Naomi?
00:02:04Yeah, yeah.
00:02:07Naomi was conspicuous by her absence recently on...
00:02:11She was pulled, and she seemed to be pulled at the last minute, right?
00:02:15On Monday Night Raw last week?
00:02:17Yes, and without explanation backstage.
00:02:20Right.
00:02:21Yeah, they didn't really explain it much at all.
00:02:23I think the first time I heard anything during the show about it was when...
00:02:29I think there was a moment with the Judgment Day.
00:02:32Dom or somebody made a reference to,
00:02:35hey, did you hear the news about Naomi or something?
00:02:37And then that was kind of it.
00:02:39It was like, wow, what's the news?
00:02:41Right.
00:02:41So that was odd.
00:02:43But now you said, so there's still no explanation, but you said you have a theory?
00:02:48Well, there's a rumor.
00:02:49And the rumor is, is that she is pregnant.
00:02:53Okay.
00:02:53And she is married to Jimmy Uso.
00:02:56So if that is the case, congratulations to both of them.
00:03:00Yes.
00:03:01I mean, not, this is going to sound bad, and I don't want it to.
00:03:06But it's going to.
00:03:07Okay.
00:03:07That's the risk of women's athletes.
00:03:11Sure.
00:03:12Is that they can, is that they carry children.
00:03:16And you can try various forms of contraceptive, and if they don't work, or you...
00:03:23Would it be fair to say, Eric, in terms of contraception, would it be fair to say that
00:03:27Naomi should have proceeded with caution?
00:03:30That was awful, Matt.
00:03:31Had to do it.
00:03:32It was right there.
00:03:33Yeah, I had to do it.
00:03:34Totally agree with you.
00:03:36Nonetheless, bad pun.
00:03:38Jimmy Uso maybe should have not yeeted.
00:03:41Mmm, yes.
00:03:42No yeet.
00:03:43No yeet.
00:03:48So, but yeah, it's unfortunate.
00:03:52Again, I don't want to say unfortunate.
00:03:55Career-wise, it's not the best time for this to happen for her.
00:04:00But, I mean, I think it looks like she was going to get a lengthy run, and a deserved
00:04:07lengthy run.
00:04:09Yeah.
00:04:09But, again, having a child is a blessing.
00:04:14And, you know, and hopefully, hopefully she sees it that way.
00:04:21I have no reason to believe she wouldn't.
00:04:24Right.
00:04:24Um, and if it is that, uh, tomorrow, uh, Monday night on Raw, we're going to learn more.
00:04:30Yeah, so has that been announced that she is, in fact, making an announcement?
00:04:34She is making an announcement on Raw, and it's already been said that she's making an announcement
00:04:39and it will be in regards to the future of the women's title.
00:04:43Okay.
00:04:44So there's definitely something up.
00:04:46Yeah, there is.
00:04:47Whatever that may be.
00:04:49But.
00:04:49Becky Lynch is up in the air.
00:04:51It is heavily rumored and speculated that it's pregnancy.
00:04:56Uh, I remember, uh, we saw something like that happen.
00:04:58It was, uh, actually during the pandemic, uh, when Becky Lynch was, she was, uh, champion,
00:05:02right?
00:05:02She was women's champion, and she had to give up the title because, uh, she was pregnant.
00:05:06Yeah, I mean, and again, you know, Becky Lynch has come back.
00:05:09And, you know, it's up to the woman, honestly, in the, in these cases.
00:05:17I mean, some women decide they just love motherhood and take that time to step away and more power
00:05:25to them.
00:05:26You know, I'm going to assume that Naomi has taken care of her money.
00:05:32She's been at this for over a decade in WWE.
00:05:35This isn't as if she's, you know, this isn't as if she just got, I mean, she just got a
00:05:45run at the top, but this isn't as if she's a Johnny come lately, so to speak.
00:05:50Right.
00:05:50She's had a long, successful career already.
00:05:54I know she's in her late thirties now.
00:05:55She's already been, yeah, she's, but this is, but you're right though, in terms of timing,
00:05:59I mean, you know, after winning the money in the bank and then cashing that in successfully,
00:06:03now she's the champion and, and I'm really enjoying her as a heel.
00:06:07I think she's a great heel.
00:06:08I think she's very entertaining.
00:06:09So yeah, the timing is a bummer.
00:06:12The timing is because you bring up a good point.
00:06:14Her being a very good heel coming back from childbirth.
00:06:18If it is pregnancy again, we don't know.
00:06:21It's rumor and speculation.
00:06:23If it is childbirth, she's going to be a face.
00:06:29I mean, you're not going to come back from birth and people boo you.
00:06:34I don't know.
00:06:34Depends on how they bring her back.
00:06:36I don't know about that.
00:06:37I don't think you can, again, wrestling fans are, have mystified me before.
00:06:44So you can be a heel and have a baby.
00:06:47Yeah.
00:06:48I don't know.
00:06:48We'll see.
00:06:49Well, we'll, we'll know for sure.
00:06:51All right.
00:06:51I wouldn't know.
00:06:52I think biologically, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't have a baby.
00:06:58Right.
00:06:59You know, right.
00:07:01Yeah.
00:07:01Something about wrong plumbing, biology, science, you know, but science is fake news.
00:07:08Well, to a lot of people, it is.
00:07:10Yes.
00:07:11Fun fact about me.
00:07:13I actually was born with fallopian tubes.
00:07:16A lot of people don't know that about me.
00:07:17Well, Hank Hill was born with a narrow urethra.
00:07:20There you go.
00:07:21That can happen.
00:07:22I mean, you know, wonders of the world.
00:07:24Mm hmm.
00:07:24Mm hmm.
00:07:25All right.
00:07:26This one's gotten way off the rails here.
00:07:28Well, yes.
00:07:29And I ended up revealing something about myself.
00:07:31Shall we move on to Karrion Kross?
00:07:33Yes, absolutely.
00:07:35Let's let's get this back on track here.
00:07:38Yes.
00:07:39So did you watch Karrion Kross, his interview with Ariel?
00:07:44Hello.
00:07:44I'm going to share a secret here.
00:07:46Not it.
00:07:46Not as big.
00:07:48Not as big as mine.
00:07:49Right.
00:07:49Yeah.
00:07:50Yeah.
00:07:50Yeah.
00:07:50I'm not going to top that in this episode.
00:07:53Sure.
00:07:53I might not top that ever.
00:07:55Right.
00:07:55Yes.
00:07:56Yes.
00:07:57I hate Ariel Hawane.
00:07:59Do you?
00:08:00Yes.
00:08:00And look, here's the thing.
00:08:04Here's.
00:08:04That's right.
00:08:05I remember now.
00:08:06This is coming back to me.
00:08:07Yes.
00:08:07Why I Dislike the Man.
00:08:09Yes.
00:08:10You spoiled the surprise for UFC 200.
00:08:15Yeah.
00:08:15You spoiled it.
00:08:17And then you went on air and cried when you lost your press credentials.
00:08:22Mm-hmm.
00:08:22No, you should have lost your press credentials.
00:08:25Again, the chain of timing in that has always been a bit iffy.
00:08:32And for those that don't know, basically, the big reveal for UFC 200 was Brock Lesnar's
00:08:38coming back.
00:08:39Mm-hmm.
00:08:40The day they were going to do the reveal, which was another UFC pay-per-view, Ariel Hawane,
00:08:46the afternoon of the pay-per-view, drops the bombshell on Twitter, now known as X, that
00:08:52Brock Lesnar is returning, expected to be revealed tonight.
00:08:57Was it?
00:08:58I'm remembering this a little bit differently, but I'll defer to you if I have this wrong.
00:09:03I could have it wrong as well, because it was-
00:09:06I didn't think it was that afternoon.
00:09:08I thought it was during the event, but it was right before it was happening.
00:09:11It was a few minutes before it was happening, thus ruining the story.
00:09:14I don't know, but basically, Dana White revoked Ariel Hawane's press credentials, which, for
00:09:23those of you that don't know, in journalism, if you lose your press credentials, and it would
00:09:28be, like, a political beat writer losing their White House press room credentials, like Jim
00:09:34Acosta.
00:09:35Yeah.
00:09:36It's a career killer.
00:09:38But Dana, in my opinion, rightfully so, was like, you could have cost us millions with this.
00:09:46Yeah.
00:09:46And him and Ariel had, to that point, had a contentious, at best, relationship.
00:09:54Now, it's eventually, like, a few days later, his press credentials were given back.
00:10:00But it's been very contentious with him and Dana ever since, to the point that I think
00:10:05Ariel is very anti-UFC, just because he's anti-Dana White, which, for me, as a journalist,
00:10:13that's wrong.
00:10:14Like, on this show, we discuss pro wrestling.
00:10:17For us to have a bias is okay, to a degree.
00:10:22But Ariel Hawane's is just disgusting.
00:10:26During the pandemic, he bashed Dana for Fight Island and everything else.
00:10:31And it's like, well, no, this man's trying to return a sense of normalcy.
00:10:37And he's actually taking major precautions to ensure the safety of his athletes.
00:10:43Yeah, I thought the whole Fight Island thing was a little weird myself.
00:10:46But I don't want to get, that's a whole other sidetrack.
00:10:50But yeah, it's like, Dana White can do no right.
00:10:54And I guarantee you, this White House card that is coming July 4th, 2026.
00:11:01Yeah.
00:11:02I'm intrigued now.
00:11:04The chuckle.
00:11:05You know how, I don't want to bring politics into this show, if I can help it.
00:11:08But you know how I just generally feel about, hey, I'm in a weird place now because Kiss
00:11:13is being inducted by you-know-who into the Kennedy Center.
00:11:17Kiss is my favorite band.
00:11:18I'm thrilled for them.
00:11:19But then it's like, my God, how am I supposed to feel about this under these circumstances?
00:11:23It's crazy, right?
00:11:24So I guess it's impossible to avoid politics.
00:11:27I love the idea of a UFC fight card at the White House.
00:11:30I think it's amazing.
00:11:31Yeah.
00:11:31Look, as someone that's loved the sport, to remember back when senators were putting it
00:11:41on its deathbed.
00:11:42Oh yeah, John McCain was very anti-USA.
00:11:44John McCain, to now we're talking about having a card at the White House.
00:11:50Yeah.
00:11:51Like, this is amazing.
00:11:52I'm all for it, as long as the right security measures are taken.
00:11:57Sure.
00:11:58All right.
00:11:58But you hate Ariel Helwani.
00:12:01I'm a journalist.
00:12:03I have a degree in journalism.
00:12:05As a journalist, he acted like an idiot, crying on air about losing his credentials.
00:12:11I'm not going away.
00:12:13I'm gonna fight.
00:12:14No, you're crying like a bitch.
00:12:16That ain't fighting.
00:12:17You fucked up.
00:12:20Own it.
00:12:20You knew what you were doing is wrong.
00:12:23You knew.
00:12:25You knew that you were gonna piss off Dana White.
00:12:27And if you didn't know, you're a jack-dick moron to begin with.
00:12:33And you already knew you had a bad relationship with Dana.
00:12:36So why rock the boat and play the victim card?
00:12:41I have had press credentials for three UFC events.
00:12:44Three actual UFC events.
00:12:46In all three of them.
00:12:48I've actually talked to Dana personally.
00:12:50Albeit for five to ten minutes.
00:12:53One of the nicest guys ever.
00:12:57The UFC is great to the press.
00:13:01Like, keep in mind, one time I went, I wrote for a community college newspaper.
00:13:05The other two times I went, I wrote for a magazine called Taekwondo Times.
00:13:10That was a quarterly regional magazine publication out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
00:13:16I was treated as if I was Kevin Aioli from Yahoo Sports.
00:13:21All three times.
00:13:23Yeah.
00:13:23Like, by the fighters.
00:13:25By Dana.
00:13:27By Jennifer Wink, who at the time was their media coordinator.
00:13:31So, they run it.
00:13:33It's first class.
00:13:34The whole way.
00:13:36Yeah.
00:13:36And their requirements, it is listed that you may learn some information that we do not really want released to the public until a certain time.
00:13:49Yeah.
00:13:49I'm guessing that that did not change.
00:13:52Right.
00:13:52So, Ariel Hawani was in violation of that.
00:13:56When you accept your credentials, you are told a violation of Zufa's rules could lead to revocation of press credentials.
00:14:05Okay.
00:14:05So, he knew.
00:14:06And knowing that you don't have the best relationship with Dana White.
00:14:11Again, why do it?
00:14:12Just, he's a dumbass.
00:14:14And people love him.
00:14:16And more power to him.
00:14:18He, I did love his interview with CM Punk.
00:14:22Oh, yeah.
00:14:22He returned.
00:14:24There are interviews I like of him.
00:14:26But anything, just, I think sometimes he's a clout chaser.
00:14:31Okay.
00:14:32And there it is.
00:14:33All right.
00:14:33So, does that mean you did not watch?
00:14:36A 10-minute answer to a two-minute question.
00:14:38No, I did not.
00:14:39I read the highlights.
00:14:41Oh, okay.
00:14:42It was very good.
00:14:43It was very good.
00:14:43But the thing I've always said about Karrion Kross, I remember saying this to you once.
00:14:47Any kind of interview I've ever seen him in, like, he just comes across, no pun intended, really well.
00:14:56Like, he's very intelligent and well-spoken, very articulate, and just seems like a really good guy.
00:15:02And so, and he comes across that way, too, in the interview with Ariel Helwani.
00:15:06Now, did you watch the documentary that's on YouTube, Killer Part 2 slash My Contract Ended Today?
00:15:14Did you watch that?
00:15:15I did not.
00:15:16Also very good.
00:15:17I recommend it.
00:15:18It's on my list.
00:15:19Okay.
00:15:20Jenny and I watched it.
00:15:21We really enjoyed it.
00:15:22The thing that...
00:15:23Man, I'm torn on this.
00:15:25Again, because it's a tough thing to say.
00:15:28Okay.
00:15:29My understanding is the crux in all of this, the breakdown, if you will, if you will, is that they offered Karrion Kross, but not Scarlet.
00:15:41Yeah.
00:15:42She's a key part of the act.
00:15:43And look, I get why he rejected that.
00:15:48She is a key part of the act.
00:15:49They are married in real life.
00:15:51That is his wife.
00:15:52And I, people have told me about Scarlet, and she is as beautiful as she is.
00:15:58She's a nicer person.
00:16:01Like, you can't, like, like, just, she's a doll.
00:16:05And just so nice, so giving, even when she was on the indies.
00:16:10Like, for, there are promotions that she's done free shots for.
00:16:14While she was with TNA.
00:16:16That doesn't surprise me, because she comes across very well in the documentary.
00:16:21You know, obviously, it focuses more on Karrion Kross, but in the documentary, she comes across as a really nice.
00:16:27They both do.
00:16:28They come across as both really nice, genuine people.
00:16:30I believe Karrion Kross's book has just been released as well.
00:16:34Yes.
00:16:35And number one on the sports listing of the New York Times online or something, or Amazon or something.
00:16:43Apparently doing very well.
00:16:44Doing very well.
00:16:45Now, in Life is Fighting by Kevin Robert Kieser, WWE superstar Karrion Kross.
00:16:52Yeah.
00:16:53And apparently the book ends with, because this book was a long time in the making, it actually ends with him coming back.
00:17:02His previous return to WWE in 2022?
00:17:07I think.
00:17:08Yes.
00:17:08Yeah.
00:17:09And that's where the book ends.
00:17:11It is called Life is Fighting.
00:17:13So, yeah.
00:17:14He, and look, Karrion Kross is a guy that he did it the hard way.
00:17:19He came up through the indies.
00:17:22He, you know, he didn't go, I mean, he went through NXT, but he didn't have an in.
00:17:28Right.
00:17:28I mean, he did a couple Ring of Honor shows, because WWE has traditionally poached Ring of Honor.
00:17:35If you don't believe me, Seth Rollins, CM Punk.
00:17:39Yeah.
00:17:40Sammy Zane.
00:17:42Oh, yeah.
00:17:43Kevin Owens.
00:17:44You know, Cody Rhodes.
00:17:46I mean, you don't have the American Nightmare if it isn't for Cody Rhodes' Ring of Honor and JPW run.
00:17:52Mm-hmm.
00:17:53Because then you don't have the subject of this week's episode, AEW.
00:17:57Right.
00:17:58The point is, is that I think Kross, by WWE management, was always viewed as an outsider.
00:18:06Not as someone that they groomed or they created.
00:18:11And the problem with WWE is they have, I think, their backstage people and the guys at the top have a heavy sense of tribalism, whether they intend to or not.
00:18:23That if we did not create you, you're going to have a tougher road unless you just blow us away.
00:18:29And I think that that's what happened to Kross.
00:18:32The fans got behind him after that promo.
00:18:35My understanding is Hunter was not happy with the promo.
00:18:39Yeah, that's covered in the, yeah, he talks about that in the Ariel Helwani interview that, you know, he, because he, actually, the way he explains it, and I think they touch on this in the documentary too, the way he explains it is after the promo, because that was all planned with writers, just Hunter wasn't in on it.
00:18:55So after the promo, he told everybody, he said, okay, by the way, let's just make sure everybody internally in the company knows that that was a work and that I'm not really upset and that I love being here.
00:19:05And, you know, let's make sure everyone knows that because he was concerned.
00:19:08And then it turned out, he found out later that Triple H, in fact, was not aware and that he was bothered by it.
00:19:15Well, yeah.
00:19:16And that's not on Kross, but he's going to take the heat for it.
00:19:21And if that's a part of Scarlet not getting a deal, shame on Hunter.
00:19:27Shame on Hunter.
00:19:28Because, Hunter, I remember a time where you were a part of a work.
00:19:34It wasn't a work, but you were a part of something that was seen as detrimental to the business.
00:19:39And because you were the only guy that could be punished for it, you were.
00:19:45Because, the curtain call.
00:19:46You're not going to punish Kevin Nash.
00:19:49You're not going to punish Scott Hall.
00:19:50They're off the door.
00:19:51I mean, you could fine them, take money out of their last payout, I suppose.
00:19:56Sean's the champion.
00:19:57Who are you going to punish?
00:19:58And he had to, his own words, eat shit and like it.
00:20:03And he lost winning the 96th King of the Ring.
00:20:08That went to Stone Cold Steve Austin.
00:20:10He won it a year later, in 97.
00:20:15But it just, his career was set back by that.
00:20:19Because he was on the fast track.
00:20:21He was an Intercontinental Champion.
00:20:24He had had Mr. Perfect as his manager.
00:20:28I mean, it was up, up, uppity up for Hunter Hearst Helmsley before that happened.
00:20:36And so, it just reeks of hypocrisy.
00:20:41If you're going to sit there and try to punish Cross for something like that, when you have long carried this chip on your shoulder for you having to take the brunt of the curtain call, then what the hell?
00:20:57Yeah, it's just all very strange.
00:20:59Because, you know, in the waning days of Cross's contract, you know, the book comes out and, you know, he's doing these book signings.
00:21:08There's a lot of that in the documentary.
00:21:09And I guess his merch numbers went way, way up.
00:21:13People were, you know, people wanted to see more Carrie and Cross, you know.
00:21:16And apparently, they did offer him a deal.
00:21:18But like you said, they didn't offer it to Scarlett.
00:21:19And Cross was questioning the money.
00:21:21And, you know, how did you get to this number?
00:21:23Let's continue this dialogue.
00:21:25And he explains in the Ariel Helwani interview that he was offered, you know, he was offered a deal.
00:21:31A new deal did not include Scarlett.
00:21:32And when he asked, well, how did we arrive at this number?
00:21:36I'd like to see some analytics because, you know, he knows, you know, he's selling a lot of merch.
00:21:41He was told he had to accept the offer within 24 hours or it would be rescinded.
00:21:46He wanted to continue the conversation.
00:21:4824 hours passed and the offer was rescinded and that was it.
00:21:51Well, and also, here's the other thing is he was he didn't have direct conversation with Hunter.
00:21:58Right.
00:21:58It was a go between.
00:22:00Yeah, a rep that was appointed by the company to handle the negotiation is what he said.
00:22:05In regards to your merch, I'm looking at Pro Wrestling Tees right now.
00:22:10Two of the top three sellers of the week.
00:22:13Number one is Karrion is Killer Cross's new shirt, Good Soldier.
00:22:19Number three is Scarlett Bordeaux's Hex Appeal t-shirt.
00:22:24Good.
00:22:24Good.
00:22:24I'm glad to see that.
00:22:26I'm glad to hear that.
00:22:27That's good for them.
00:22:28And what's in between?
00:22:30A signed limited edition deathmatch print drawn by Rob Schaumburg, signed by Mick Foley.
00:22:37Okay.
00:22:38So in the end, I mean, they're going to be fine.
00:22:41Like, I wouldn't be surprised if they land in AEW, right?
00:22:44Or something.
00:22:44Well, AEW hasn't called.
00:22:46Well, that came up, too, during the interview with Ariel Helwani.
00:22:50I think a lot of people, a lot of organizations think it's a word.
00:22:54Exactly.
00:22:55And that's what Karrion Kross said.
00:22:56Yep.
00:22:57I mean, and this is the drawback when creative wants to work the sheets constantly.
00:23:06They did it with the Seth injury.
00:23:08They've done it many times.
00:23:10They did it with CM Punk's return.
00:23:12When you do that, you can hurt your talent.
00:23:16And that's what's happening with Kross.
00:23:17Also, he's asking for an astronomical appearance fee.
00:23:21Yeah, apparently.
00:23:22That can be dangerous.
00:23:25Yeah.
00:23:25I mean, look, if there is, and let's keep in mind that TNA Wrestling probably is off
00:23:32the table because of their partnership with WWE, that more we hear may not be a partnership.
00:23:39They may be a secondary developmental.
00:23:42Mm-hmm.
00:23:42Because WWE is doing some really underhanded stuff with TNA in regards to our subject this
00:23:50week, AEW.
00:23:52TNA might not be an option for him.
00:23:54Think it, I mean, think for him, I would love to see him in New Japan.
00:24:00Hmm.
00:24:02I think him in New Japan would be amazing.
00:24:07He goes and works shows, and I guarantee you he would get an AEW deal.
00:24:12Oh, yeah.
00:24:13Yeah, absolutely.
00:24:14Also, you know, hopefully whatever happens for him, you know, I think we're all rooting
00:24:19for him, and I hope good things happen quickly.
00:24:23Because the other factor in this, and, you know, this isn't as much of a factor as it would
00:24:28have been at one time, certainly, but he is 40.
00:24:31So it's not like he's a young guy who, you know, he's not a 25-year-old dude who, you
00:24:37know, had his big break and it didn't work out.
00:24:39So now he's got to go hit the Indies for a while, and then he'll eventually get back
00:24:42to WWE.
00:24:43We don't know, you know, at his age.
00:24:46He's in incredible shape.
00:24:47I'm sure he's got another decade in him, but we don't know.
00:24:51So I hope whatever does happen for him, not only do I hope it's positive, but I hope it's
00:24:56relatively quick.
00:24:57Yeah.
00:24:57I, you know, just one of the genuine good guys, and Scarlett, as I said, genuine good
00:25:04women or good persons in this business.
00:25:07Yeah.
00:25:08Look, I felt the writing was on the wall with the way the SummerSlam match went.
00:25:16Yeah.
00:25:16Because let's be real, Sami Zayn won in a quasi-squash.
00:25:21People keep calling it a squash.
00:25:23I don't, I don't think it was quite a squash.
00:25:24I don't know.
00:25:25I said quasi.
00:25:26Quasi, yeah.
00:25:27Yeah.
00:25:28I didn't think it was a squash.
00:25:29It wasn't, it wasn't necessarily endearing.
00:25:33But you weren't, but, but you weren't going to have a, it wasn't going to be a five-star
00:25:36Meltzer match either.
00:25:37Because one thing about Karrion Kross, I will say again, I, I say this gently because I like
00:25:42him very much.
00:25:43His ring work isn't great.
00:25:45I can't imagine him going, you don't hear a, this is awesome chant during a Karrion Kross match.
00:25:49Right.
00:25:50He's okay.
00:25:50He, he, he, he isn't going to give you a 40 minute clinic with L'Ospry.
00:25:55Right.
00:25:56Right.
00:25:57Wrestling needs those guys.
00:25:59Right.
00:26:00And he, what he does, what he can do, he does very well.
00:26:04Right.
00:26:06I mean, I agree.
00:26:08He's, he's really, he's a throwback big man.
00:26:12And I think that's also a detriment to him with WWE because WWE is going more towards
00:26:20this traditional work style, this shoot Japan style in some cases.
00:26:26And that comes with the guys that they brought in again, Rollins, Zayn, Punk that came up
00:26:33through Ring of Honor in the Indies.
00:26:35And that's what you work.
00:26:37You work snug.
00:26:39You work tight.
00:26:39You want it to look like a shoe.
00:26:43Yeah.
00:26:44So I think, I, I hope the best for him.
00:26:48I, I'm very shocked Tony Khan has not made the call because I think, you know, there, there
00:26:54is so many opportunities there in AEW for him.
00:26:59I mean, one, you mentioned being 40, reduce schedule for a, um, I mean, even if you just
00:27:07had him on Ring of Honor for a while and built him up, that could work.
00:27:12There are so many things you can do with a guy like Karrion Kross and a girl like Scarlett.
00:27:17Yeah.
00:27:18Those two.
00:27:18You can do so.
00:27:19Absolutely.
00:27:20All right.
00:27:20Well, we, we, uh, we hope for good things.
00:27:23Shall we move on to our next item on the undercard?
00:27:26The final item.
00:27:27Final item on the undercard?
00:27:28The undercard.
00:27:29Yeah.
00:27:29Yes.
00:27:30Yes.
00:27:30The, uh, WWE, uh, this is, uh, this is, um, that didn't fit as well as I thought.
00:27:35This is a little bit old news, but you know, cause well, the news cycle moves so fast now,
00:27:39even not, not only in just news generally, but in professional wrestling, of course.
00:27:42But, uh, yes, uh, WWE is deal with ESPN.
00:27:46So this starts in when sometime in 2026, right?
00:27:49With WrestleMania 2026.
00:27:52And the deal will officially begin.
00:27:54So PLEs, premium live events once upon a time known as pay-per-views, although they're
00:27:59starting to feel more like pay-per, well, no, not really, but they will be available
00:28:03on ESPN's streaming service, I guess.
00:28:06This, sir, the service ESPN offers is $29.99 a month and you get access to live streams for
00:28:13all of ESPN's channels and ESPN plus, which includes event online only events.
00:28:20Okay.
00:28:21Now there's a lot of people are angry because this is expensive and 30 debt.
00:28:27If you're someone like Jenny and I, you know, we don't have ESPN.
00:28:30We don't want it.
00:28:31We don't want to spend another $30 a month to see these events.
00:28:35So the position that we're in, we're some of the, an example of people who are not happy
00:28:39about this, I assume like you'll be able to get the, where, where are the PLEs going
00:28:44to be internationally?
00:28:45Will they be on Netflix or do you know?
00:28:47So what'll end up happening is we'll get a VPN for $10 a month.
00:28:51And because, you know, the whole point of having a VPN, at least in a situation like this
00:28:56is they can't tell where you're accessing the content from.
00:29:00So we can get a, we can spend $10 a month for a VPN that lets us access Netflix and, uh,
00:29:06doesn't matter where we're watching from and get the, uh, get these, uh, events, uh, that
00:29:10way.
00:29:11Yeah.
00:29:12Couple of things here.
00:29:13Yes.
00:29:14I I'm speaking.
00:29:15I didn't discuss this with you.
00:29:17I'm anti-piracy.
00:29:21Me too.
00:29:22I don't think it's, I don't think it's piracy what I'm talking about, but, but if you do
00:29:25I'm saying in general, because I think I even said, I even said that.
00:29:30In our tough bumps group chat, which I was sort of getting, I was sort of getting, and
00:29:35I get it.
00:29:35I get the knee jerk reaction on it.
00:29:38Don't get me wrong.
00:29:39Yeah.
00:29:39But even when the UFC pay-per-views were 89, 99 a month, I didn't pirate that.
00:29:44That much.
00:29:45Yes.
00:29:46I had no idea.
00:29:47Yeah.
00:29:48They were that much.
00:29:49Yes.
00:29:50Wow.
00:29:50Crazy.
00:29:51Even when they were that much, I didn't pirate that.
00:29:55Yeah.
00:29:55If there was a fight I wanted to see, I would see if some buddies were getting it and throw
00:29:59in on it and, you know, whatever.
00:30:02I mean, call me weird.
00:30:04I just, I don't see the appeal in it.
00:30:06I, I mean, because eventually it takes money away from the competitors.
00:30:11Can you define, because the word piracy in this case might mean different things.
00:30:17Going to a website that offers the stream for free.
00:30:21Okay.
00:30:21Now, what about going to a website that offers, because for example, so some of the AEW, if
00:30:27like, if there's an AEW match that I want to see, that's on a pay-per-view that, that
00:30:32inevitably ends up on a website called Toki video.com.
00:30:36And if it's after the event, fine.
00:30:39I don't have an issue with that because the event has already happened.
00:30:42My issue is as the event is happening live, people have paid for the event.
00:30:49You are stealing it and it doesn't affect using the UFC as example, Dana White.
00:30:55It affects the union workers that are there that do the electrical, that do the production,
00:31:02that do all of that.
00:31:04It affects their pay and eventually the competitors because they're, they get bonuses based on pay-per-view
00:31:12numbers or pay-per-view buys.
00:31:15Yeah.
00:31:16And if you're not paying the, and you know, your buddy, you have 10 buddies who aren't paying,
00:31:24that's 10 less people that count against that number.
00:31:27Yeah.
00:31:29So yeah, it's just kind of like, look, you can read the lives round by round on ESPN, MMA
00:31:38Junkie, MMA News, SureDog.
00:31:41There are ways out there.
00:31:43Like, and then I, you know, seeing that deal, I'm a sports fan.
00:31:49I have YouTube TV.
00:31:50So if you have a participating cable provider, you get the ESPN service for free.
00:31:56Yeah.
00:31:57Um, so you don't pay the $29.99 a month.
00:32:00Oh, so, so yeah, you really just, and I think back to a time when we had, and Matt, you and
00:32:11I would have to pay $19.99 to $39.99 for a WWE event every month or wait four to five months
00:32:21for the Coliseum video release.
00:32:23So, it's not that bad, people.
00:32:26Really isn't.
00:32:28I had people, I know buddies that ordered it every month.
00:32:32Yeah.
00:32:32I mean, and we would all chip in on it.
00:32:35Then when I was an adult, I would buy, I would buy pay-per-views and the TNA pay-per-views
00:32:41every month.
00:32:42Yeah.
00:32:43How expensive that got.
00:32:45Part of the problem though, and where I think the fan backlash comes from is we've been conditioned
00:32:50over the past several years that we don't have to spend an exorbitant amount of money
00:32:55for these things.
00:32:56And now it's like.
00:32:57I think it's, uh, and I want to piggyback on that statement.
00:33:01I think it's a straw that broke the camel's back type deal.
00:33:05Ticket prices are astronomical.
00:33:08Merchandise prices are astronomical.
00:33:11It's like, where's the break for the fans?
00:33:13Where's the financial break?
00:33:16Wrestling used to be a family endeavor.
00:33:18However, now it's like a major sporting event where if you want to take your family to a
00:33:24PLE, you almost have to take out a second mortgage.
00:33:27Yeah.
00:33:28I, on my bucket list, WrestleMania was on it.
00:33:32I probably ain't going to happen.
00:33:34I was looking at VPN prices anyway.
00:33:37Uh, yeah, but that's, uh, yeah.
00:33:39So that's what's now.
00:33:40Do you think that's piracy?
00:33:40Because I don't, we pay for Netflix.
00:33:42Look, I use VPNs.
00:33:45Yeah.
00:33:45Um, I use it for video game purposes, gaming purposes.
00:33:49I've never tried it for streaming.
00:33:51Why do you, why do you, I'm curious and I'm not a gamer, so forgive my ignorance.
00:33:55Why, why do you use a VPN for gaming?
00:33:57Because some games have bonus content that's only available in international releases.
00:34:03Okay.
00:34:04Well, that makes sense.
00:34:04Yeah.
00:34:05I don't use it for cheating online purposes.
00:34:07I use it because like, if there's DLC, that's only available on the European version.
00:34:13And then I want to trick my, want to trick my console or my ROG ally into thinking I'm
00:34:20in Europe.
00:34:21Right.
00:34:21Right.
00:34:22Anything to add on, on that subject or, or should we get to the, I know you're excited
00:34:26to talk about aid.
00:34:27Yeah.
00:34:28Did you have, did you have something else?
00:34:29I just think I get, get the outcry.
00:34:32Yeah.
00:34:32I get why people are upset.
00:34:34Yeah.
00:34:34I'm just, I'm not there.
00:34:37I'm not at that level of pissed offness.
00:34:40Yeah.
00:34:40But you're also a sports fan, right?
00:34:42So for you, like for some, like for someone who doesn't give a shit about sports, no, no
00:34:47one who doesn't care about sports wants to be told they got to shell out $30 a month for
00:34:51ESPN just to watch this one thing when they probably don't care about anything else that's
00:34:55going on on ESPN.
00:34:56I mean, if you're, if you're a wrestling fan though, and I'm going to counter that, if you're
00:35:01a wrestling fan, a majority of wrestling fans have one of those live TV cable services,
00:35:08because you almost have to, if you want to keep tabs on AEW, if you want to watch SmackDown,
00:35:16if you want to watch, if your antenna doesn't pick up the CW and you want to watch NXT, if
00:35:22you want to watch TNA, if you want to watch all of it, you almost have to have a YouTube
00:35:26TV, Hulu live, direct TV stream.
00:35:28Well, NXT, so you can watch NXT for free on, unless this has changed.
00:35:33Cause we haven't, we haven't watched it really recently, but, um, CW on their website, they
00:35:38were showing NXT for free, totally.
00:35:41Right, right.
00:35:42I'm saying in general, if you want to watch all pro wrestling and SmackDown, do you want
00:35:47to know how Jenny and I watch SmackDown?
00:35:49Cause we don't have, cause we don't have a cable service provider.
00:35:52So Friday nights, we can't watch it live anyway, because Friday nights I'm on the radio on
00:35:57WMH.
00:35:58They put it on the next day on Hulu.
00:36:01Well, no, not anymore.
00:36:02Unless they started that again, they were like a month behind on Hulu at one point.
00:36:07No, where we've been watching it is on daily motion, dailymotion.com.
00:36:11There's people who just post the show there.
00:36:13So we watch it on Saturday after the radio show, we come home and watch SmackDown via dailymotion.com.
00:36:18And by the way, for anyone who doesn't know what daily motion is, it's kind of like YouTube.
00:36:22It's like they tried to compete with YouTube for the past, I don't know, however many years,
00:36:27but yeah, it's just dailymotion.com.
00:36:29That's how we watch SmackDown.
00:36:30Okay.
00:36:31Well, but we, we wouldn't be able to watch it live.
00:36:33Like, even if I were home on a Friday night, we wouldn't be able to watch it live.
00:36:36You're right.
00:36:36Yeah, that's what I'm saying is, and that's the, I mean, a majority, I used to work before
00:36:42I started at the, at my current job, I was at a cable company, Mediacom, and a lot of
00:36:48people, sports and pro wrestling are the reason they still have cable.
00:36:52Yeah.
00:36:53Those are the two saving things.
00:36:55And this ESPN app, it could very well kill terrestrial cable.
00:37:01Who knows?
00:37:01I mean, we've been, we've been predicting the death of, of terrestrial cable for a long
00:37:06time now.
00:37:06Somehow it keeps thriving.
00:37:08This might be the Jack Kevorkian.
00:37:11Yeah.
00:37:12This, no.
00:37:13And a lot of people say, sorry, I had to adjust my computer screen there.
00:37:18A lot of people say that I, I have it just because of sports.
00:37:22Well now, boy.
00:37:25Well, we, we shall see.
00:37:27All right.
00:37:28Well, should we get to the main event?
00:37:29Yeah.
00:37:30The main event, our discussion about, uh, AEW and we, we've talked about AEW before.
00:37:37What was it that we were talking about before with AEW?
00:37:40CM Punk.
00:37:41Well, that's right.
00:37:41Right.
00:37:42And it's also come up because of our Cody Rhodes conversation, but, uh, yeah, there it is.
00:37:47I had such high hopes for AEW.
00:37:49Well, I mean, they seem to have rebounded somewhat.
00:37:52Their ratings, I think have been creeping back up, you know, and they just did, I mean, to
00:37:55do all in, in Texas, that was pretty successful.
00:37:58So they do have some, you know, they've had some, some good days, some good, some good
00:38:02numbers.
00:38:03I mean, the, the show that they did in Wembley, of course it was ill fated in some ways because
00:38:07of CM Punk, but I think, um, AEW.
00:38:10Don't fuck it up.
00:38:10Well, yeah.
00:38:11Don't fuck it up.
00:38:12Don't give them time.
00:38:14I think, I think AEW is a net positive because, uh, you know, it gives these wrestlers more,
00:38:19like we were just talking about Karrion Kross, potentially ending up there.
00:38:23It gives wrestlers more places to work.
00:38:26It's competition.
00:38:27One of the worst things that happened to AEW is Vince McMahon's sex scandal.
00:38:33Yeah.
00:38:33Oh, 100% agreed.
00:38:35Yes.
00:38:35Because what happened is AEW was promoting themselves as this monumental shift in pro wrestling.
00:38:43Yeah.
00:38:43They were going to give us what they wanted.
00:38:45Yeah.
00:38:45And then Vince McMahon's sex scandal hit.
00:38:49Yep.
00:38:49And what ended up happening is you now have guys in charge that are tuned into the fans
00:38:57and listen to the fans and give a damn what the fans think.
00:39:01And that, and then it comes down when you have two products that are the same, what it like
00:39:09really close.
00:39:10Now, what it comes down to is business acumen, execution, and, and just overall ability to
00:39:21put yourself above the competitor.
00:39:24Yeah.
00:39:25And AEW is Wile E. Coyote and WWE is the road runner.
00:39:31WWE from a business standpoint is always one step ahead of Tony Khan.
00:39:35Oh yeah.
00:39:36Well, I would say more than one step.
00:39:37I mean, AEW is a Goliath, you know, and, and Tony Khan is a, you know, AEW is a challenger
00:39:43brand as we, as we say.
00:39:45But no, what I'm saying is Tony Khan just hasn't figured out how to take on WWE.
00:39:54Like it, look, what he does is, we does counter-programming to his major events with Saturday night's main event.
00:40:03And okay, Tony, Saturday night's main event is locked into a specific time slot.
00:40:09You could go to the venue and be like, hey, how about we start an hour earlier?
00:40:17They can't do that because Saturday night's main event is on network television.
00:40:22Right.
00:40:22You can with enough notice.
00:40:25That would be one way.
00:40:26Or you can sit there and say, okay, what we're going to do is we are going to give you the first hour of our event for free.
00:40:36So my, my thought about all that is, yeah, you can do all that.
00:40:40But I think the, the single best thing that Tony Khan could have, should have been doing all along is not worry so much about competing with WWE and not, not getting into the strategies of trying to compete and all that goes with that.
00:40:55But instead just find somebody who can book your shows like the way Triple H books WWE, because if the product is strong, if the product is strong and people are invested, then gets, you got to worry about the other shit a hell of a lot less.
00:41:12If you're putting on consistent, compelling television week after week.
00:41:16Matt, you talk about consistent, compelling television and having backstage people.
00:41:20He rejected Bret Hart for a producer role.
00:41:24Yeah.
00:41:24Yeah.
00:41:25Well, that's what I'm saying.
00:41:26Jake rejected Jake to Snake Roberts in a producer role.
00:41:30Well, I can have that.
00:41:31Yeah.
00:41:32No, stop.
00:41:32You want to depend on him though.
00:41:33You can depend on Jake now.
00:41:35Maybe.
00:41:36I don't know.
00:41:36Two of the greatest minds for this business.
00:41:41And you're like, no, we'd want you as an on-screen manager.
00:41:44No, that is the dumbest damn thing I have ever heard.
00:41:48What are you doing?
00:41:50But yeah, you know, when, because like, like you said, when, when Vince was suddenly out, because when Vince was in charge of creative, obviously, I mean, I, you know, I told you, I went years without even sitting through a full episode of Raw or SmackDown.
00:42:04I didn't even want to bother with it anymore.
00:42:06I was so bored with it, you know?
00:42:07So then Vince goes and Triple H is in.
00:42:09And I knew, I knew right then what was going to happen because I had been watching NXT because when Triple H was running NXT and I first started watching NXT, I was like, oh, holy shit.
00:42:20This is what it should be.
00:42:22Long-term logical storytelling with fully developed characters.
00:42:25Oh my God, here's wrestling I can actually enjoy.
00:42:28And that's what AEW was supposed to be.
00:42:30And I think it kind of was in the beginning.
00:42:32But, but then once, once Vince was out and Triple H was taken over, created on the big shows, I was like, yeah, you're right.
00:42:39I agree with you.
00:42:39That is the worst thing that could have happened to AEW.
00:42:42And, and Tony Khan, he should have found somebody who could get in there and really, or a team of people, because I guess he, this might be something he and Vince have in common.
00:42:52In fact, is it sounds like Tony Khan wants to be in control of everything.
00:42:57And, and he's like, you know, but he's got a lot to do, you know, not only AEW, but he's got the Jacksonville Jaguars and whatever else, you know, he needs to delegate some of the creative, right?
00:43:09He doesn't have the Jaguars.
00:43:11He is a, a, a corporate analyst for the Jaguars.
00:43:16His father has the Jacksonville Jaguars.
00:43:20Oh, I know, but I, I don't mean he literally owns the team or anything, but I just mean, but that's one of his responsibilities.
00:43:24I wanted to make that abundantly clear.
00:43:26Oh, sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:27But, uh, but, but he's got a lot on his plate at the point being, and yet he seems to want to be in control of creative, just like Vince always wanted to be in control of creative.
00:43:38I'm going to disagree with you to an extent.
00:43:41Tony Khan is a Mark.
00:43:43Tony Khan is a fan boy.
00:43:46Tony Khan is what happens when you give a spastic kid, BWE 2K26 and say, and give him the power to book his pro wrestling.
00:43:57That's what Tony Khan is.
00:43:59And that's what Tony Khan is always going to be.
00:44:01Now, the, now I've seen people compare Tony Khan to Paul Heyman.
00:44:06Really?
00:44:06The difference is if you gave Tony Khan, Paul Heyman's mind and gave Paul Heyman, Tony Khan's money, ECW would have won the Monday Night Wars without a doubt.
00:44:18Hands down.
00:44:20ECW.
00:44:20I can't say they would have won, but, but BWE would not have bought them for pennies on the dollar.
00:44:27They would not have gotten the Dudley boys.
00:44:29They would not have gotten Taz.
00:44:31They would not.
00:44:33Mike Awesome wouldn't have left at ECW.
00:44:35Rob Van Dam wouldn't be making sporadic appearances because he's owed money.
00:44:39Right.
00:44:40So there are many, many, many, many, many things that you can sit here and point to why AEW struggles.
00:44:48And believe me, we're going to touch on some of them.
00:44:51The biggest reason AEW struggles is you cannot run an organization as a fan.
00:45:00You have to run it as a businessman and you have to have an understanding of how the business of professional wrestling works.
00:45:11Not just how, how I think it should work.
00:45:14No, how you think it should work doesn't make it successful.
00:45:18You, yeah, Tony, Tony is a glorified fan boy.
00:45:22So that's the problem with AEW.
00:45:24AEW in every hot idea he thinks he has, I would say 70% of the time blows up in his face.
00:45:35Some things have, um, some things have worked out well.
00:45:40I think probably not many.
00:45:42I don't watch it enough to, I don't watch AEW enough to know for sure, but Christian Cage has been a success in my view.
00:45:47I like the whole patriarchy.
00:45:49How much of that is Christian Cage though?
00:45:53Right.
00:45:53Like we have heard from so many people talking about AEW, how the wrestlers basically booked themselves.
00:46:01Yeah.
00:46:01Justin Michaels, by the way, in the chat says, uh, not to, not to backtrack, but he's, he's a pretty loyal follower of the show.
00:46:08So I do want to read this.
00:46:09He says, uh, Kevin Killer cross and the smoke show should go back to TNA wrestling and be like he was on the podcast.
00:46:17Replace TNA wrestling with our subject for today, AEW.
00:46:21And that's a very good point.
00:46:24TNA wrestling isn't going to work for him because of the WWE partnership.
00:46:28I don't think, I mean, if that were an option, WWE would have done it.
00:46:34Yeah.
00:46:34Like that would make no sense.
00:46:36That wouldn't make sense to me.
00:46:37I would love to see him in TNA.
00:46:39I think that's what WWE should have done because in TNA, he's a star.
00:46:46Mm-hmm.
00:46:47Yeah.
00:46:47And I mean, WWE, he's, he's a big fish with a lot of bigger fishes.
00:46:54So he gets lost in the shuffle because you can only serve so many masters.
00:47:00I think, uh, now, obviously we've been critical of, of AEW.
00:47:05I also think though, UWE, I don't know that they necessarily need to go out of, uh, go out of their way to, you know, because they do a lot of, they try to counter program.
00:47:16Um, and we'll talk about the, the TNA, the thing that they're doing with TNA, speaking of TNA in a minute, but I think that it might make sense, more sense for WWE to be, look, they don't have to worry about AEW being a threat to their business.
00:47:29But I do think that having AEW present, first of all, a high tide raises all ships, I think.
00:47:35And we've talked about that before, how in wrestling, you need to have competitive forces.
00:47:39Everybody does better when there's competitive forces involved.
00:47:42I also think UWE should maybe just kind of let, you know, unofficially, obviously they're never going to, I don't think they're ever going to have a direct working relationship with AEW, but kind of let AEW be, um, a little bit of, uh, an unofficial sort of developmental territory, right?
00:48:00Because UWE is so far ahead on a business level, they don't have to worry about AEW, but yeah.
00:48:05So let somebody, you know, if WWE releases somebody and they go to AWA and maybe they go to AWA and they, they build themselves up and, you know, and then when their contract is up there, you grab them right back, you know, you know, just let, let, you know, who cares if people go to AEW.
00:48:21Because if you remember when AEW first launched, UWE, they kind of went into this panic mode in the very beginning.
00:48:28You remember this when they were trying to lock down all these contracts and these five-year deals with everybody, even people they ended up not even using.
00:48:35It was kind of weird.
00:48:36It was even NXT, they like tried to sign like everybody just so AEW couldn't get them.
00:48:42And I thought that was a mistake at the time.
00:48:44And, you know, let these people get over in AEW.
00:48:46So what?
00:48:47And then you just grab them and offer them a better deal when they become available.
00:48:50Well, here, there's a problem with that.
00:48:54One, I agree with you.
00:48:55But the problem with that logic is that AEW's media rights deal, Warner Brothers Discovery isn't going to just let AEW kind of do that.
00:49:08They're going to want stars with the amount of money they're paying.
00:49:12Yeah.
00:49:13So they're not going to want, let's, let's let them, let's let them go.
00:49:22Let's let them, let's let them do this.
00:49:25No, they're going to want to lock top talent in.
00:49:29Of course.
00:49:29Which is good for the talent because that's where the big money deals come from.
00:49:33But I also think a drawback to AEW is their EVPs.
00:49:39And you cannot, you cannot have a, in overall booking as an active talent.
00:49:46You cannot because your greed will come into play.
00:49:51Well, it's a conflict of interest.
00:49:52Yeah.
00:49:52You're going to get your buddies over.
00:49:55You're going to get yourself over and screw everyone else.
00:49:59Right.
00:49:59Yeah, of course.
00:50:01And that I think has what, that's something that really has hurt AEW.
00:50:07While the Bucs, Cody and Kenny didn't necessarily put themselves over it.
00:50:12It happened organically within AEW.
00:50:15There are guys that did get pushes that you can argue shouldn't have.
00:50:21And at a detriment of others, MJF notably.
00:50:25That's the other thing is AEW misuses a lot of the talent they have.
00:50:33MJF should be your top guy.
00:50:35Absolutely.
00:50:36100%.
00:50:37And people are like, well, he is.
00:50:39No.
00:50:40MJF should be the guy that every pay-per-view or PLE or whatever the hell you want to call
00:50:46him is either the co-main event or the main event.
00:50:51I agree with you.
00:50:51But that guy is a generational talent in this business.
00:50:58And the way he has been booked is dog shit.
00:51:02Dog shit.
00:51:03I think at times it's been good from what I've seen, but at other times it has not.
00:51:08And it's like, what are they doing?
00:51:09They're just wasting them.
00:51:10Yeah.
00:51:11Like, it's a shit.
00:51:12I want, when he was up to leave AEW, I was torn on it.
00:51:17You should have.
00:51:17Like, there was a lot of me that was like, go.
00:51:21I bet he feels that way now.
00:51:23Oh.
00:51:23But then there was some of me that I was like, if he goes, what's that do to AEW?
00:51:31Mm-hmm.
00:51:31That could be a death blow.
00:51:33Yeah.
00:51:33Because who do you have?
00:51:34Darby Allen, who takes time off to climb fucking mountains?
00:51:38Well.
00:51:38I mean, aging guys that are holding back people, like Chris Jericho.
00:51:46I don't want to see 50-plus-year-old Chris Jericho wearing a banana hammock on air every
00:51:52week.
00:51:52Yeah.
00:51:53Well, the other thing, too, is because you mentioned time off.
00:51:55So, the other weird thing that has gone on, and I don't know why Tony Khan does this,
00:52:02but he puts people on the bench and continues to pay them, but doesn't use them.
00:52:07Well, because they're guaranteed contracts.
00:52:09They have no downside guarantee in AEW.
00:52:12Yeah.
00:52:12So, because their merch is not controlled by AEW.
00:52:17Right.
00:52:17It's pro wrestling tees.
00:52:18Yeah.
00:52:19Yeah.
00:52:20So, that's another business flaw.
00:52:23Well, yeah.
00:52:23I mean, people will point and say, well, WWE, their merchandise is done by fanatics.
00:52:29Okay.
00:52:30Who are you going to trust to give you in-depth numbers?
00:52:35Pro wrestling tees are a global titan in the sports apparel business, fanatics.
00:52:44Well, not only that, but if you go, so just as an example, and this demonstrates what you're
00:52:48saying, if you go to WWE.com to buy something, you're buying it from WWE.com.
00:52:53If you go to, not anymore.
00:52:56Oh, is that true?
00:52:57You have to go to, when you click shop, it takes you to WWE shop, which when you go to
00:53:03WWE shop, it says on the webpage of fanatics experience.
00:53:07I didn't know that.
00:53:08I didn't know that.
00:53:09It is 100% fanatics.
00:53:12I did not realize that.
00:53:13That is good for WWE, because all they have to do is design the apparel.
00:53:20Right.
00:53:21And fanatics handles the rest.
00:53:23AEW has on-demand printing.
00:53:28And that's the other thing.
00:53:29You go to an AEW show, the merch there is just so minimal, because they're using an on-demand
00:53:36print shop for their apparel.
00:53:38Right.
00:53:39And it's like, well, you have this program on TNT.
00:53:46You're on primetime network cable, but you're having a mom and pop joint run your merchandise.
00:53:53Yeah, that's very strange to me.
00:53:55Like, I get it.
00:53:56Pro wrestling tees, you know, probably one of the seeds that led to AEW with the popularity
00:54:03of the Bullet Club shirt.
00:54:04Bullet Club gets over like Rover, back up the Brinks truck, print money.
00:54:09But yeah, I get it.
00:54:11But at the end of the day, a mom and pop joint is only going to hold you back in that essence.
00:54:17When people go to a live show, they go to see their favorite wrestlers live.
00:54:22But secondary to that, they go to buy merchandise.
00:54:25It's exactly like the concert business that way.
00:54:28It's the same thing.
00:54:29Without merch, you're dead in the water.
00:54:30You have to have merch.
00:54:32Yeah.
00:54:32Like they have like Austin went to their Saturday night show.
00:54:38They had it here in St. Rapids, Iowa.
00:54:40Collision.
00:54:40Yes.
00:54:41And he said they have like, I think he said 10 different t-shirts.
00:54:45That's it?
00:54:46That is it.
00:54:47Wow.
00:54:48And like they didn't even have a Swerve Strickland shirt.
00:54:52Wow.
00:54:52Again, one of your top guys.
00:54:55What are you doing with him right now?
00:54:57Yeah.
00:54:57He's in a storyline with the EVPs.
00:55:01Okay.
00:55:02EVPs want to be in the mix.
00:55:07So work with Swerve.
00:55:10Okay.
00:55:11I mean, and one of their buddies is the world champ right now.
00:55:15Hangman Adam Page.
00:55:16A guy that he's good in the ring.
00:55:19Yes.
00:55:20Does anyone look at Hangman Adam Page and say, by God, that's the guy.
00:55:26I think his promos are a little weak.
00:55:29At least the last time I saw.
00:55:31His promos are just the same regurgitated crap.
00:55:35Yeah, he's not.
00:55:37Crazy cowboy.
00:55:39I mean, it's the syndrome with a lot of wrestlers these days where they get to the top and they just coast.
00:55:48And Hangman Adam Page has been coasting for years in AEW.
00:55:52Yeah.
00:55:52Because it used to be Hangman Adam Page would wow you in the ring.
00:55:58And now it's just like, okay, wow, Hangman's wrestling.
00:56:01Okay, I've seen this match 50 times already.
00:56:04Yeah.
00:56:04It's kind of bad that Logan Paul does the buckshot lariat better than Adam Page does now.
00:56:10Well, Logan Paul does a lot of things better than almost anybody.
00:56:13It's pretty amazing.
00:56:13But, yeah, I don't tell.
00:56:16But, yeah, that's my point is there are so many moments in booking where people act like you just did.
00:56:25Yeah, I don't.
00:56:26So, booking pro wrestling is not hard.
00:56:29Listen to the fans.
00:56:31Put the guys that are top guys at the top.
00:56:35Wash, rinse, repeat, print money.
00:56:37That's the pro wrestling business.
00:56:39Tony Khan and his dipshit EVPs, the Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson, have somehow desecrated this idea to the point where it's like rocket science, where it's a dissertation on war and peace to get your masters.
00:56:57And it's not.
00:56:59Well, yeah, I mean, I don't know.
00:57:01I don't know.
00:57:01And I don't watch AEW consistently anyway, so I don't know.
00:57:06I mean, they've got a lot of very talented people there, I'll tell you.
00:57:08I mean, Will Ospreay, my God, I'll watch any Will Ospreay match.
00:57:12Swerve Strickland, you mentioned, is incredible.
00:57:14What's that?
00:57:15They do.
00:57:15The problem is, is that you don't have wrestling minds or enough of them to be like, Tony, you spastic little bastard.
00:57:26Listen, this is not working.
00:57:29Yeah.
00:57:30Well, our ratings and our clicks and Tony, the fans don't give a shit about that.
00:57:36Long term storytelling is the key.
00:57:38They don't care.
00:57:40They want to see the top guys at the top.
00:57:43They want to see Swerve Strickland versus MJF.
00:57:46They want to see.
00:57:48Have we ever seen that?
00:57:49Have they ever been in one or the other?
00:57:50Not once.
00:57:52I'd like to see that.
00:57:53Once or twice.
00:57:53But not a long term feud, you know, that whole long term storytelling thing.
00:57:57I'd like to see that.
00:57:59Yeah.
00:57:59I mean, that's the thing.
00:58:00I mean, that I think is really the key.
00:58:01I really do.
00:58:02And don't give your, if you're going to have guys at the top or near the top, don't give
00:58:07them three months off to go climb a fucking mountain.
00:58:10Yeah.
00:58:10What the fuck could you even fathom?
00:58:15Not just Vincent Kennedy McMahon, but Paul Triple H Levesque giving talent time off to
00:58:23go climb Mount Everest.
00:58:24No, not really.
00:58:26I, you, you want to see how Triple H would respond to that?
00:58:30Go watch how he treated the tough enough kids back in 2000.
00:58:34I remember that.
00:58:35Yeah.
00:58:36Yeah.
00:58:36What about Sean?
00:58:37Go to Sean Michaels and be like, Hey, Sean, I know you're putting me near the top of this
00:58:42NXT card.
00:58:43I really appreciate it.
00:58:44But by God, I want to climb a fucking.
00:58:46Yeah.
00:58:47So we should talk about, because we referred to it a couple of times, we should talk about
00:58:51WWE once because they have this partnership with TNA, which I like.
00:58:55I think it's a good thing for everybody.
00:58:57And again, to me, it's a matter of a high tide raises all ships.
00:59:00I think it's TNA is doing actually much better these days.
00:59:04They seem to really have their shit together.
00:59:06And so I like the whole thing.
00:59:07I think it's good for everybody.
00:59:09But WWE, they want to, and I don't know if there's an update on this, and I don't know
00:59:13if anyone has said this publicly or if this is all conjecture, but they want to get TNA
00:59:18into a situation where they're in primetime cable directly competing with AEW and use TNA
00:59:24to hurt AEW, which again, I think is, I don't think they should be trying to hurt AEW.
00:59:31I think they should leave him alone, let him be an unofficial developmental, but that's
00:59:35just my opinion.
00:59:36But I think this is an interesting dynamic, what's happening right now.
00:59:39I think the, the, it isn't, it comes down to fighting for talent.
00:59:45That's what all this boils down to.
00:59:48Um, and trying, I mean, WWE has been trying to hurt AEW from day, from the very beginning.
00:59:57They're just doing things, the things they did before were covert, like the WWE ID, where
01:00:03there would be wrestling schools and independent promotions tied to WWE.
01:00:08I forgot all about that.
01:00:09I forgot all about that.
01:00:10That was even a thing.
01:00:11Because that's where AEW was getting a lot of their talent.
01:00:15Yeah.
01:00:15It's the indie scene.
01:00:16Now you have that in their major indie promotions.
01:00:19So with that, sorry, I had to cough with that, with that, you're taking away some of the
01:00:25breeding ground, so to speak for AEW.
01:00:28Right.
01:00:28Now you're saying, okay, we're not going to put our programming against you.
01:00:33We're going to try to get TNA against you, which is more of an equal playing ground.
01:00:38Because now what you're doing is, I said this earlier, you're forcing the fans to vote on
01:00:44an even, to choose on an even playing field.
01:00:48Yeah.
01:00:48Because AEW is more even with TNA than they are far away from WWE.
01:00:54Right.
01:00:55So, I think the talent, if used correctly with AEW, would win out.
01:01:02Yeah.
01:01:02And yeah, I think that that's really, really the key thing.
01:01:07I think MJF, Swerve Strickland, Will Ospreay, if they can ever get him healthy and back working,
01:01:14Jay White, same with Adam Cole.
01:01:16I think those guys, you know, you need to be your pillars.
01:01:21And I mean, their women's division is the drizzling shits.
01:01:27You know, you know.
01:01:29Let's be honest.
01:01:30No one wants to see Mercedes Monet with 12.
01:01:33No.
01:01:34I mean, one, you're diminishing independent wrestling by doing that.
01:01:38That one woman that was, that walked out on WWE could come in and just take over independent
01:01:45women's wrestling.
01:01:47Right.
01:01:47It's almost as bad as TNA if they try to book Tessa Blanchard at the top of the knockouts
01:01:53division.
01:01:54You, I don't like it.
01:01:55I think, you know, there are better women.
01:01:58I think they missed the boat on Britt Baker.
01:02:01Yeah.
01:02:01Yeah.
01:02:02I don't understand what happened there.
01:02:03They missed the boat on so many women.
01:02:07Taya Mello on down the line.
01:02:09The Bunny.
01:02:11Oh, yeah.
01:02:12Just great women's athletes that they just didn't know how to book because they didn't
01:02:18have the women's wrestling mind.
01:02:21I see Scoops, by the way, has a story that there may even be a possibility of WWE buying
01:02:26TNA.
01:02:27I mean, I think it's if they do.
01:02:29I think if I'm AEW, I'm I need to reevaluate how I'm doing things.
01:02:35Right.
01:02:35Because that isn't going to work.
01:02:38Yeah.
01:02:40It'll be interesting to see what happens there, because whatever happens there is going to
01:02:44happen soon, I think.
01:02:47I think TNA's deal is up in about six months or less.
01:02:54Yeah.
01:02:54All right.
01:02:55I don't know.
01:02:56So what do you what do you think is the long term prognosis for AEW?
01:02:59Well, their media rights deal is saving them right now.
01:03:05Yeah.
01:03:05I mean, they have a very good media rights deal.
01:03:08Yeah.
01:03:08Eric Bischoff has alluded to that.
01:03:10If you have a good media rights deal, you can survive right now.
01:03:15Do they do they survive past this media rights deal?
01:03:20That's the larger question.
01:03:21They can.
01:03:22They have the talent.
01:03:24They just got to get the wrestling minds in there to kind of just be like, Tony, sign
01:03:29the checks, make big business decisions.
01:03:32But you cannot be creative because you can't separate Tony, the businessman from Tony, the
01:03:40fan.
01:03:40I really think turning that I think I really think doing that would turn everything around
01:03:44for them.
01:03:44I really do.
01:03:45There's so much potential.
01:03:46There are so much talent, so much great talent, as you mentioned, that should be at the top.
01:03:50And listen, you know, being able to do those big crowds like in Texas at All In, that's
01:03:55not nothing.
01:03:56That's that's not the sign of a dying promotion.
01:03:58So they people people want to see this.
01:04:01Well, yeah, I want to see them succeed.
01:04:03Yeah, they want to see it in the right conditions.
01:04:06Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:04:07And the right conditions are not hang me an Adam page at the top.
01:04:12Right.
01:04:12But, you know, MJF is winning all these stupid rings and battle royals and what's come of
01:04:20it?
01:04:20One title reign?
01:04:22Really?
01:04:22Yeah.
01:04:22John Moxley's had John Moxley has had more title reigns than MJF.
01:04:28Yeah.
01:04:29Yeah.
01:04:30Justin said if TNA Wrestling gets on Paramount or NCW.
01:04:34Yeah.
01:04:34I mean, it would be, you know, and again, TNA, I think they would.
01:04:39I don't know how much of an audience they'll draw if they're in a slot like that.
01:04:42But but they're kind of I mean, I think the big talk is USA.
01:04:48That's yeah, that's kind of the implication is USA Network.
01:04:53USA would make sense because USA, of course, is a part of NBC Universal, as is Peacock.
01:04:57And and and that's that's been part of the reporting is that the WWE is trying to leverage
01:05:02their relationship with NBC Universal to to get them get them on there.
01:05:07Yeah.
01:05:07So, yes.
01:05:08All right.
01:05:09Well, do we have anything else to say about AEW or have we exhausted the subject?
01:05:14I mean, their mistakes have been bigger than their successes.
01:05:18And that's a problem with the pro wrestling business.
01:05:22Yeah.
01:05:22Is if your mistakes, how they handled the CM Punk situation, horrible, horrible.
01:05:29Let me say this.
01:05:31And I said it during the CM Punk episode.
01:05:33CM Punk's words after all out in their press conference, non-defensible should not happen.
01:05:40I agree.
01:05:40That's also on Tony Khan to nip that in the bud right when it's happening.
01:05:45Not sit there and say, I should have addressed it.
01:05:48I'm sorry.
01:05:49Yeah, that was pretty bad.
01:05:51And then you go on TV and say your life, you felt like your life was in danger and you
01:05:56release the tape when the tape vindicates CM Punk.
01:06:01It's just like, what are you doing?
01:06:04So, yeah.
01:06:05And then there's their just, yeah.
01:06:08I don't know.
01:06:10They're just a love affair with Chris Jericho.
01:06:12And yes, Chris Jericho is giving a lot to AEW.
01:06:16Yeah.
01:06:16Cool.
01:06:17He's the first champion.
01:06:18But at some point, and that was a major mistake in my opinion.
01:06:21Making Jericho the first champion.
01:06:23Yeah.
01:06:23They should have gone with someone younger and fresher.
01:06:25It should have been Kenny Omega.
01:06:27Yeah.
01:06:27That would have been perfect.
01:06:28Actually.
01:06:29I agree with you.
01:06:30I agree with you.
01:06:30Like people, people will, people sit there and they're like, oh, well, that you, you're
01:06:35bashing EVPs getting over.
01:06:37I'm not bashing the EVPs getting over.
01:06:39I'm bashing the EVPs putting themselves over when it doesn't make sense.
01:06:44Right.
01:06:45Kenny Omega.
01:06:48Kenny Omega was the hottest talent in pro wrestling at that point.
01:06:53It would have been a bigger statement if he had, if it had been him.
01:06:56Yeah.
01:06:56Why wouldn't you do Kenny Omega?
01:07:01Although, now, if they hadn't gone with Jericho, though, we might have gotten, we might have
01:07:04been deprived by one of the great backstage moments in wrestling history.
01:07:10You know what I'm talking about?
01:07:11God, don't say it.
01:07:12Don't do it.
01:07:13Matt, don't, don't, don't do it.
01:07:15A little bit of the bubbly.
01:07:17We might have been deprived of that.
01:07:19Hey, I could have pulled up the video and played it.
01:07:21But I chose not to.
01:07:22Am I not benevolent?
01:07:23I, no, because I still had to endure hearing it.
01:07:27I mean, that went viral at the time, which did bring AEW some attention, right?
01:07:31Because they had a viral.
01:07:32It did, and it was funny that he was pouring champagne on himself.
01:07:37And I did love the Spinal Tap reference, too, with the food.
01:07:42He's like, oh, there's a little guy in there.
01:07:43That was funny, because Spinal Tap is my favorite movie.
01:07:46So I did appreciate the Spinal Tap reference.
01:07:48Yeah, I've never seen it.
01:07:50You've never seen this as Spinal Tap?
01:07:51Well, you must.
01:07:52You would definitely enjoy it.
01:07:54You would love it.
01:07:55I have not.
01:07:57Mainly, because I'm not, I really have, I really don't care for Rob Reiner.
01:08:02I think you could get past it and enjoy the movie, though.
01:08:05I mean, I, I do, I did enjoy, I do enjoy Princess Bride.
01:08:11Yeah.
01:08:12And aren't you, aren't you an All in the Family fan?
01:08:14I thought you liked All in the Family.
01:08:15I'm Team Archie.
01:08:16Okay.
01:08:17Yeah, I'm Team Archie.
01:08:18I often find myself outside of the bigotry, agreeing with Archie on a lot of things.
01:08:25Okay.
01:08:26Outside of the bigotry.
01:08:27You want to make that clear, though?
01:08:28Yeah, outside of the bigotry.
01:08:30Well, I, although some of his bigoted comments I do chuckle at.
01:08:35Well, of course, it's funny.
01:08:36But to me, All in the Family is the greatest sitcom in the history of television.
01:08:40I have it, I have it behind Seinfeld.
01:08:43I think Seinfeld really kind of changed what a sitcom was.
01:08:47Seinfeld would be probably my number two, actually.
01:08:50I actually have All in the Family number three.
01:08:53Okay.
01:08:53What's your number two?
01:08:54Number two, personal favorite, Married with Children.
01:08:59Oh, okay.
01:08:59I could take it or leave it.
01:09:01It was funny, but I would never.
01:09:02In my high school yearbook, when they asked that age-old question, where do you want to
01:09:06be at our 20-year reunion, I said I wanted to be the human Al Bundy.
01:09:12I wanted to sell women's shoes and just have a miserable life, but it was all made better
01:09:19by trips to the nudie bar.
01:09:20Okay.
01:09:21And, you know, I did end up selling shoes for a while.
01:09:25I was a manager at Trade Home Shoes in Mason City, Iowa.
01:09:29Well, you did it.
01:09:30I did it.
01:09:30There were days I'd wear, I would wear my Al Bundy No Ma'am shirt under my-
01:09:36Oh, yeah.
01:09:37No Ma'am.
01:09:37I remember that.
01:09:38I remember that.
01:09:39All right.
01:09:40So, anything we didn't cover on AEW that you wanted to-
01:09:44I don't want people to misconstrued.
01:09:49I do want AEW to be successful.
01:09:51Yeah.
01:09:52Because you hit it perfectly.
01:09:55Rising Tide, you know, that line.
01:09:57Sorry.
01:09:58Rising Tide raises all ships.
01:10:00There we go.
01:10:01Bada boom.
01:10:01Yes.
01:10:02I do agree with that.
01:10:03I think it's accurate.
01:10:05And AEW has all the tools to succeed.
01:10:08They gotta make some major changes with how things work behind the scenes.
01:10:14Yeah.
01:10:14And if they can do that, fine.
01:10:16I mean, shit.
01:10:18Bring Jim Cornette on.
01:10:20Yeah, you're gonna piss off a lot of people.
01:10:22I remember him talking about that, though.
01:10:24Like, I think someone had asked him, a listener of his podcast had asked him, you know, because
01:10:27they read, what's his name?
01:10:29Brian Lass reads questions from listeners.
01:10:31Somebody asked him about that, if he would ever do it.
01:10:33And he said, no, he has no interest in going back to actively working in the rest.
01:10:37But he makes so much money with that show and his Cornette's collectibles.
01:10:39He doesn't need to go back.
01:10:40Well, he's made so much money over the years.
01:10:44I mean, keep in mind, Jim Cornette came from money.
01:10:48His family was wealthy.
01:10:50That's true.
01:10:50Cornette really could pave his own way.
01:10:53Yeah, that's true.
01:10:55And the money he's made over the years, he's lived from, if you listen to something to wrestle
01:11:01with Bruce Prichard, he lives quite frugally.
01:11:05Yeah.
01:11:05So he doesn't need the money, so if he's going to sit there and just say, hey, I have no desire
01:11:13to return to the business, more power to him.
01:11:16Can't blame him.
01:11:17Yeah.
01:11:17No.
01:11:20Someone like Jim Cornette needs to be in...
01:11:25That would fix someone who understands long-term storytelling, like Triple H does, and you know
01:11:32these guys are in the business, or these girls are in the business, or a team of people, whatever.
01:11:36That one thing would turn everything around for them.
01:11:40They're never going to catch up to WWE.
01:11:41That's impossible.
01:11:43But they could do much more consistent and just be in a much better place within the market
01:11:47if they made that one change.
01:11:49And they have totally devalued their championship.
01:11:53Yeah.
01:11:54Hot-shotting it back and forth, and like, what's your belt, what's your title even mean?
01:12:01There are PLEs where their championship match hasn't been the main event.
01:12:06Yeah.
01:12:07What the hell are you saying?
01:12:09You know, the other thing that occurs to me, too, is I can't think of anything that WWE
01:12:12has done that has in any way directly benefited AEW, but I can...
01:12:17But there are definitely things that where AEW, I think, has unwittingly benefited WWE.
01:12:22CM Punk's return started with AEW, and his showing up, his surprise appearance that night
01:12:29at Survivor Series when he came back meant more because of AEW, his experience there,
01:12:35in my opinion.
01:12:36Otherwise, it might not have even happened.
01:12:37Same with Cody Rhodes.
01:12:38We had that conversation.
01:12:39Now, you did sway me, my opinion about that, about, you know, would Cody Rhodes, would he
01:12:45have returned in the fashion that he did to WWE had it not been for AEW?
01:12:49You did sway me a bit, but it's still, it meant even more, though.
01:12:53It meant even more than it would have otherwise because of AEW.
01:12:56And then WWE got to actually steal one of the EVPs from AEW.
01:13:02That ended up being a part of the whole thing.
01:13:03So there are, you know, you can point to ways where AEW has been a direct benefit to WWE.
01:13:09Stephanie Vaquer.
01:13:10That's right.
01:13:11Yes.
01:13:12You book her on one of your pay-per-views, but she doesn't have a deal.
01:13:16Right.
01:13:17Yeah.
01:13:17And she tears the house down.
01:13:19Yeah.
01:13:20Because she's, she's incredible.
01:13:21She's incredible.
01:13:22Good work.
01:13:23And I think that was one of their cross-promotional shows, too.
01:13:26They did with, like, CMLL or something.
01:13:29It might have been Forbidden Door.
01:13:31I was going to say one of their Forbidden Door shows.
01:13:34Yeah.
01:13:34So, so, yeah.
01:13:36I mean, they even have great international partnerships.
01:13:39Yeah, they do.
01:13:40They have a partnership with New Japan.
01:13:43Like, why aren't they using that more?
01:13:46Right.
01:13:46That's a good question.
01:13:47Like, you're giving talents off.
01:13:49You're giving talents time off to climb fucking mountains, but not go over for one of the
01:13:54greatest pro wrestling events, the G1 Climax.
01:13:59Yeah.
01:13:59The hell are we doing?
01:14:00Yeah.
01:14:01Yeah.
01:14:01And dipshit Darby over there.
01:14:04I like Darby Allin, although the coffin drop scares me.
01:14:06I do not.
01:14:07No, I like, I like him.
01:14:08I like him.
01:14:09He's a spot monkey.
01:14:10But that, that move, the coffin drop, terrifies me when I see it.
01:14:14Good Lord.
01:14:16Terrifies me.
01:14:17I think he's dangerous in the ring.
01:14:19I think he's a step above Sammy Callahan with a little more ability.
01:14:24Wow.
01:14:24Okay.
01:14:25A shit show, mud show, flea market pro wrestler that likes his flippy-doo, dipsy-doo, dunkaroo
01:14:34spots that make no damn sense, endangering fans by being thrown through a giant pane of
01:14:41glass that isn't candy glass.
01:14:44Oh, that's not good.
01:14:46No.
01:14:46And shards bounce up and hit fans in the face, and then he gets sued.
01:14:51Yeah.
01:14:52No, that's not good.
01:14:53Yeah.
01:14:53No.
01:14:54And, and, and, yeah, guy's a dipshit.
01:14:57Well, he's young.
01:14:58Perhaps he'll, he'll mature.
01:14:59No.
01:15:00He's a young guy, isn't he?
01:15:01Isn't he like in his early twenties?
01:15:03I think he's in near 30.
01:15:04Well, still.
01:15:06Yeah.
01:15:07That makes him a bigger dipshit.
01:15:08There's nothing more, there's nothing more sad and pathetic than an aging extreme, extreme.
01:15:15Right.
01:15:15All right.
01:15:17So have we exhausted the subject of AEW, All Elite Wrestling?
01:15:20Thank God.
01:15:21So what are we doing for the main event next week?
01:15:23I don't think we discussed it, but did we?
01:15:25I think, you know, we're going to, you know, I've been, I mentioned this to you a couple
01:15:30times.
01:15:31I want to do a Gone Too Soon episode.
01:15:34Gone But Not Forgotten.
01:15:35Talk about some legends that left us too soon or left us, you know, and we still, you know,
01:15:43we still talk about them today.
01:15:44Rick Rude.
01:15:45I think that's a great idea.
01:15:47Kurt Henning.
01:15:48Owen Hart.
01:15:49You know, guys that, man, that means I will get to tell my amazing Rick Rude story.
01:15:54Yeah, I do want to hear that.
01:15:56Yes.
01:15:56Jake the Snake Roberts.
01:15:58Okay.
01:15:58Okay.
01:15:59Good.
01:16:00So should we do that next week?
01:16:01Yes.
01:16:01Macho Man Randy Savage.
01:16:03Yeah, of course.
01:16:04My favorite.
01:16:05I also think maybe two next week we should talk just, we don't have to spend a lot of
01:16:09time on it, but WWE Unreal, which I really enjoyed.
01:16:13Jenny and I watched that and really enjoyed it.
01:16:15But maybe we should touch on that next week too.
01:16:18We're going to get clicks, Matt.
01:16:19Good.
01:16:20Good.
01:16:20Okay.
01:16:21We're going to get clicks.
01:16:22All I'm going to say is poor Chris Spark.
01:16:24Poor guy.
01:16:25Put the mask back on.
01:16:29Goodness gracious.
01:16:31All right.
01:16:31So I guess that'll do it.
01:16:32We'll put episode 14 in the books.
01:16:35Yes.
01:16:35Yeah.
01:16:36Yeah.
01:16:37It was a good episode.
01:16:40All right.
01:16:41Yeah.
01:16:41AEW.
01:16:42Fix your shit.
01:16:43Well, very good.
01:16:43Thank you to everyone who joined us on the live stream.
01:16:46And of course, thank you to everyone who gets this on the, remember to subscribe if you
01:16:50have not already to tough bumps on your favorite podcasting platform of choice.
01:16:56Eric, where should people go online to keep up with everything that you're doing?
01:16:59They can visit on, let's see here.
01:17:03I'm a little tired today.
01:17:04So yeah, it's been a rough week at work.
01:17:07Instagram, ePilcher611x, eRPilcher319, Facebook, Eric, E-R-I-C-H, Pilcher, P-I-L-C-H-E-R.
01:17:17All right.
01:17:18Very good.
01:17:18And you can follow me, mattconnerton.com is the easiest way to find me.
01:17:22And you can find the show there too.
01:17:23So the archive of the show.
01:17:25And you know, damn the farmer's almanac.
01:17:28Yeah.
01:17:28Farmer's almanac.
01:17:29Why do people believe in that?
01:17:30It's never right because they just make it up.
01:17:32They do.
01:17:33They just make it up.
01:17:34They have some secret formula.
01:17:35It's reputed to involve astrology.
01:17:37It's all just made up and it's never right.
01:17:39Matt, there are people that still believe in the MAGA movement.
01:17:43That's true.
01:17:43That's true.
01:17:44Can't help some people.
01:17:47All right.
01:17:47We're out of here.
01:17:48Thanks, Eric.
01:17:48Thanks, everybody.
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