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00:00Ah, 2025. It's been a year for WWE, hasn't it? But the story, the story coming out of 2025 when it comes to this company, it's the heel turn, isn't it?
00:12The John Cena heel turn and the lessons that must be learned from that heel turn because what should have been one of the most exciting, compelling developments, maybe of the last 10 years, it just, what was it?
00:26It became a waste of time. It was limp. It was lazy. And the key thing for me, the prevailing thought that I have coming out of it now, because we are near enough, well, we're past the heel turn, but we're nearly at the end of the retirement tour at time of recording, is this entire thing could have still been amazing had there just been an actual plan.
00:46And it feels like the angle itself was done to shock and really well-crafted in its own right.
00:53But from that moment on, they were perhaps relying on people that aren't that reliable, looking at you, Travis Scott, looking at you, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, to be key factors of the Cena character, let's say, for those months leading up to WrestleMania, maybe the months after it.
01:08But that didn't prove to be the case. They weren't there, and it was left to Cena and Cody to really carry that whole feud, the whole angle, whatever it was, in the weeks that followed.
01:18And they couldn't. They suffered. It was clear that there wasn't really a direction. It was just, here, we're going to do a shocking thing that you've always wanted, and then we're just going to kind of make it up as we go along from there on out.
01:30And, well, the proof was in the pudding. The results were not great. We had that terrible WrestleMania match. We had the R-Truth stuff. The Randy Orton stuff was okay.
01:39But throughout all of this, it was clear that Cena wasn't really that motivated by it all, really, or at least he didn't have very clear motivations for what he was doing.
01:48He didn't believe in that character. You could tell it was just an exercising, can I be a heel? And that's what it felt like. It felt like an exercise.
01:54It didn't feel like a person who was fully believing in the material that they were being given. And it just created this really dull product at times to watch whenever Cena was on screen, which is a bit shocking.
02:07If you would have said a couple of years ago, we're finally going to get a heel Cena, and it was just there. It was just bland. It was very...
02:14It felt impulsive. It felt like week to week they were just making stuff up and seeing what stuck.
02:18And for what is his last ever year in wrestling, in WWE, it feels like a bit of a waste of time, really.
02:25I think the lesson going forward, the key thing that we're taking away from all this, is that when it comes to these retirement tours or just the handling of these big moments going forward, it can't just be for the moment.
02:38And there was a couple of years there when Triple H took over where it seemed like you'd have these things, these catalysts for change, huge change in WWE creatively.
02:46And then there'd be a plan further down the line. This is going to happen, that's one event, and then a couple of months down the line, we're leading to this.
02:52And we can improvise a little bit in between, but we need to hit these key events.
02:56It feels like that's been lost a little bit, specifically with this big story, this big John Cena story.
03:00So I think going forward, with the likes of AJ Styles, with the likes of maybe people like Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho if he ends up back in WWE,
03:08or just any of these big stories, these big moments, like the Brom Breaker thing right now that's just happened.
03:12Like, that's a big event, but there has to be something now down the line where it's like, right, we're going to crown Brom Breaker as World Heavyweight Champion at some point.
03:19That's where we get into, that is the long game. We can kind of make our way up as we go along, but we need that plan to be in place.
03:26We can't just do things and go, eh, we'll make it up as we go from here on out, because we've proven here that that just does not work.
03:32People get bored, people get frustrated by it. Like, if you're not interested, we're not interested.
03:35That was the key feeling, and it was a shame. It felt like we were very much back in the Vince McMahon era of WWE, where stuff just happened.
03:43And it was like, eh, and you forgot week to week, and the continuity wasn't really there.
03:47And we're more intelligent, we're more cultured as a fan base nowadays, and we just won't take that, really.
03:53We'll just reject it, we'll hijack the show, all that kind of stuff.
03:57So, a big lesson that must be learned. We thought it had been learned already, but it needs to be relearned.
04:02Coming into 2026, have a plan, stick to the plan, and deliver. Deliver after the big moments.
04:09Don't just do a big moment for the sake of social media and then not do anything else after it, because, I don't know, we don't like this stuff.
04:16I don't like this stuff in particular, and yeah, it upset me. So, learn the lesson, WWE.
04:20I think everyone universally wants WWE to have its redemption in 2026, when it returns to Las Vegas for WrestleMania.
04:28Everyone thinks that, right? And I think the part of that is, you have to learn from this year,
04:34that the build to WrestleMania is crucial, arguably to shape your whole year.
04:37This ill will towards WWE is kind of centred about how people felt about what happened at WrestleMania.
04:43Now, this isn't me saying that Charlotte Flair or Jey Uso shouldn't win the Rumbles or anything like that.
04:48I've got no issue with that. Having said that, Sami Zayn should win the Rumble and CM Punk should win the Chamber.
04:52But we're not talking about that right now. What I'm talking about is having an idea from January or from the moment that you decide
05:00so-and-so is going to be fighting for, whether it be a title match or a grudge feud or whatever, and plotting that out to WrestleMania.
05:06So many of these things felt like something happened, and then they went, and then it's WrestleMania.
05:11And people go like, right, we've got six weeks of telly. What are we going to do in the interim?
05:15Like, don't get me wrong, some things kind of came off all right on the night.
05:19A lot of people told me triple threats were bad, and yet at Cross WrestleMania weekend, we had three of the best triple threats of the year.
05:23But we're not going to need to talk about that.
05:25What we're here to talk about is what on earth they were doing with that whole Io, Rhea, Bianca story.
05:30Because it was a sensational women's match on the night, but even beforehand, even I could book it better.
05:38All you needed to do was have Io say, sod it, I'm hardcore, I'll take both of you, right?
05:43But she was sort of pushed, literally pushed to the side, and then they just went, ah, triple threat or whatever.
05:49The triple threat with Punk getting his WrestleMania main event was just kind of, yeah, he's got it.
05:55Like, there was no real story or struggle aside from just Paul Heyman, you know, being a Punk guy all of a sudden.
06:02And I think, you know, we all enjoyed what happened with Charlotte and Tiffany, but maybe if you're going to have that match, think, how are we going to plot it out?
06:11And what are they going to say to each other on the road to WrestleMania?
06:15Look, I think next year's WrestleMania is huge because it's the last WrestleMania in the US for a while.
06:20And I think with them returning to Las Vegas, thanks guys, it is a chance for a bit of redemption, but they have to get it right from the get-go.
06:29I'd say from, maybe not start of January, but the bare minimum, from the Royal Rumble onwards, know what you're going to do.
06:35So if I was going to give one lesson to WWE from the 2025 list of booking mistakes, like I know, not every match needs to end in a distraction or have interference or there be some kind of confusion.
06:49It is a technique we can use.
06:50There's nothing wrong with wrestling tropes.
06:52You can lean into wrestling tropes.
06:53But there was a period sort of July, August, September, June-ish time.
06:57Every single match, every single match, somebody came out.
07:00Every main event, we just had the same tag team main event for like 72 years.
07:03It's just distraction, distraction, distraction.
07:05And it would have been fine if we'd reserved it for the Vision, who were trying to get themselves over his heels.
07:09But babyfaces were doing it, and they'd do it on SmackDown, they'd do it down in NXT.
07:12If you watch everything like I do because I'm a geek, it just was so frustrating.
07:16It'd be like watching a television show, and every single thing ends with the same guy dying.
07:21Not even a different character dying, so Bill gets shot, episode one.
07:24Bill gets shot, episode two.
07:25Bill gets shot, episode three.
07:26How do they keep coming back to life?
07:28Why aren't peripheral characters doing anything about this?
07:30And what the flub is that with Bill, man?
07:32And how does he manage to keep coming back onto this earth?
07:36So it's not the end of the world, because I think we expect it.
07:39And towards the end of the year, WUW is far more balanced with it.
07:42But it's like anything.
07:43If I give you a hug on a Monday, and I don't give you another hug until a Friday,
07:45you're going to appreciate way more.
07:46If I'm just hugging you all the time, like, all right, I get it, man.
07:49You know, there's enough with the hug.
07:50So less distractions.
07:52I guess let's be more creative with finishes.
07:53We did see some great ones.
07:55Ironically, a lot in the women's tag team division.
07:57It doesn't sort of get featured enough either.
07:59But sometimes people can lose as well.
08:01Maybe that's something else I would say.
08:03Losing isn't a death knell.
08:04Losing doesn't mean you're buried.
08:05Give somebody a promo.
08:06Give somebody a story.
08:08I don't think people should have losing streaks unless it's really going to work.
08:11But somebody can come out and say, I'm sad.
08:12I lost.
08:13What do I do?
08:13I'm completely, you know, directionless now.
08:17That's a story.
08:18And if it gets people to connect with that person,
08:20they can be sympathetic or maybe even empathetic towards them,
08:22then it's going to work and it doesn't matter.
08:24Now, of course, if you're trying to build someone, they have to win,
08:26because it still does have a sports-like presentation.
08:28But not everyone needs to come out and say, oh, well, I got dicked over.
08:32Because if everyone gets dicked over, nobody gets dicked over,
08:34and we don't need people getting dicked over.
08:36I don't even know what I'm saying now.
08:37But yes, if we could do less than that in 2026,
08:40this bald guy would really appreciate it.
08:41At the same time, I understand you don't have to book things for me,
08:44because I'm not insane.
08:45I think they need to realise that storylines should drive Unreal
08:50and not the other way around.
08:52I'm somebody that likes the existence of WWE Unreal and shows like it.
08:56The 24 specials that used to wear on the network,
08:58the 365 profile pieces on Superstars,
09:02where it's as much about what's happening in the background of a scene
09:04as what you're watching in the foreground.
09:05But nonetheless, I think we're in this post-KFA era
09:07where those two things are fine to comfortably coexist.
09:10But the unrealification of the on-screen product
09:14to the point where, as you were watching Season 1,
09:16you could see decisions being taken on air
09:18that were there to drive Season 2
09:20made it even more difficult to drop in to the fiction.
09:24I'm somebody that wants, you know,
09:26in that right, fed heads, to drop in to WWE in this era.
09:29I would happily surrender to the fiction
09:31if it's entertaining, if it's fun.
09:34And yet, with the examples such as the Seth Rollins worked injury,
09:38as we were watching it,
09:39it felt like it was a plot for Unreal Season 2.
09:43The kind of infamous now Becky Lynch video backstage
09:46where she was kind of like laughing at the camera
09:48and you could see them all doing the high-fives and stuff.
09:50You know a version of that scene
09:52is going to make its way into Season 2 of Unreal.
09:54And it's like changed my brain chemistry
09:56for the second half of 2025.
09:58It's made me look at things that are happening on air
09:59and wonder just how Triple H is going to call himself a genius
10:03on Netflix Unreal Season 2.
10:05This sort of stuff, as we head into 2026,
10:07could have, like, legitimate ramifications
10:09into the build to WrestleMania, you know.
10:11They have, you know, turned John Cena heel
10:13based on some fairly reliable reporting
10:16that The Rock wanted Cody Rhodes and didn't get his way.
10:18So John Cena, the ever-the-good soldier,
10:20became the compromise,
10:21and that's one of the many reasons
10:22why the follow-up was terrible.
10:23And then you would think, based on Unreal,
10:27that it was some Ocean's Eleven heist moment
10:29to get Big Matt's John to go bad.
10:32Like, no, just because The Rock didn't get his way.
10:34But they can't say that, Unreal.
10:35It's got to be framed in another way.
10:37And it just feels as though, like,
10:39because especially now,
10:40if, like, WWE want to keep Netflix as sweet as possible,
10:43and based on some numbers we read,
10:44there's very good motivation to do that,
10:46they will market and promote Unreal
10:48as, like, where the real action goes down.
10:50No, there are 52 roars a year
10:53where the real action needs to go down.
10:55And then tell that on Unreal.
10:57I hated this idea that at some point across the year,
10:59like, Sidgwick will talk on this very video
11:01about WWE Arrogance,
11:02and I think that bled through Unreal as well.
11:04Every single talking head.
11:06Like, at no point said,
11:07you know what, we didn't quite nail that storyline.
11:09It was like, no, that was genius,
11:11that was brilliant.
11:11You know, you had the dual double act of Michael Hayes
11:14and God working on the finish
11:16to the WrestleMania Night One triple threat.
11:18Everybody just did a brilliant bang-up job
11:20and nothing went wrong.
11:22Travis Scott was, like, congratulated backstage.
11:25Nothing we're seeing on Unreal is actually real.
11:27So for God's sake, at least,
11:28don't, like, have it infect the product as well.
11:30I love it.
11:30I want the show to exist,
11:31but I would rather it follow the storylines
11:34rather than the storylines follow it.
11:35You're going to price people out
11:38with these price hikes, man,
11:39these ticket hikes.
11:40You're going to run your core audience off.
11:42You're going to run families off.
11:43You're going to run people
11:45who build their entire year
11:46around their WrestleMania vacations.
11:49You're going to price people out
11:50who a lot of house shows come into town.
11:52I'd love to take my whole family.
11:54Cool, it's £700.
11:56You're going to run off
11:57your core wrestling audience,
11:58and you're going to be left
11:59with a bunch of people
12:01who do not give a damn
12:02about anything you're doing creatively.
12:03Now, I caveat this a little bit, right?
12:06Because so far,
12:07we have seen no decrease in demand
12:09from these WWE ticket hikes, right?
12:10People go online and complain about them,
12:12and then they still buy them anyway.
12:13And then it comes to the show,
12:15and Triple H or Stephanie McMahon
12:16comes out and goes,
12:17we have sold a dude
12:1920 million ticket sales for this event.
12:22And people sit there and go,
12:23yeah, thanks for ripping me off, TKO.
12:25This is awesome.
12:26I paid £5,000 to sit on the roof.
12:30But you're going to get
12:32to be a breaking point eventually, right?
12:34You are going to get to a point
12:36where people say,
12:37no, that's enough.
12:37Because tickets for a WWE show
12:40are now a luxury item.
12:41This is a problem
12:42that we have seen in concerts as well,
12:44and like, you know,
12:45Taylor Swift, $400,
12:47whatever, whatever,
12:48but nowhere near to this extreme.
12:51And it has more than doubled.
12:53We ran this story on the news
12:54just a few weeks ago,
12:56thanks to some good work
12:57from Brandon Fursten.
12:58Ticket prices in WWE
12:59have more than doubled
13:00since TKO took over.
13:01It's only going to keep getting worse,
13:03but they're going to hit
13:04a breaking point at some point.
13:05They're going to reach a thing
13:07where there's no more money
13:08to squeeze out of these poor people.
13:10One of,
13:11and I say poor
13:12as in sympathetic,
13:13not having no money.
13:14Although if you go to lots of WWE shows,
13:16you will also have no money.
13:19It's a real shame
13:20that that's how this has panned out,
13:23but it's how WWE
13:25has presented itself
13:26since TKO took over.
13:27It has become even more corporatized
13:30than it was before.
13:31The company is now run
13:32by absolute sharks.
13:34People who see a big green number
13:36and nothing else.
13:37They don't care about coming to your town
13:40and pleasing the fans.
13:42Maybe the wrestlers do.
13:43Maybe the wrestlers do,
13:45but the guy who's got his big spreadsheet
13:47at the end of the year
13:48where he releases
13:48all your favorite wrestlers
13:49because they were earning $5,000 too much,
13:52even for John from Ohio
13:54just spent $5,000 to sit in a bin.
13:56They don't care ultimately
13:58at the end of this.
13:59The only way they will care
14:00is when tickets still start dwindling
14:01and the number starts going down
14:03and I think 2026 might be the year
14:05that bubble finally bursts.
14:07Don't get cocky.
14:09Do not get cocky.
14:10That has been the theme of this year
14:12and the tone for this year
14:13was set on January 5th.
14:15Was that the Netflix
14:16or January 6th?
14:176th, yeah.
14:17January 6th, 2025.
14:20The Raw and Netflix debut
14:22was the most kind of revolting,
14:25off-putting,
14:26tell, don't show how big we are event.
14:29It was a masturbatory,
14:31awful nightmare
14:32in terms of this company.
14:34Like The Rock, Dwayne Johnson,
14:36and for the apparent auteurs
14:38over at WWE,
14:40they did effectively
14:42a curtain call
14:43thanking everyone for coming
14:45and how great was the show
14:46at the beginning.
14:49They got it in the complete wrong order
14:51and that set the tone
14:52for what I think
14:53has been the definitive theme trend
14:55of the year
14:56in which they just seem to get high
14:59off their own supply,
15:00putting themselves over
15:02and just making harebrained decisions
15:05that seem based on the idea
15:07of like,
15:08oh, we're really working the fans with this
15:10or we're really telling bold,
15:12shock and great stories
15:13because we are on fire
15:14and red hot
15:15without any real plan
15:18to execute it properly.
15:20The John Cena heel turn
15:21just felt like something to do
15:24to shock people
15:25and into thinking
15:27that they are this bold
15:28storytelling machine.
15:30Well, the wires have fallen out
15:31because the follow-up was putrid.
15:33The R-Truth fiasco
15:35where he was the central story,
15:39the headline,
15:40coming out of money in the bank
15:41and within two months
15:42he was putting his phone
15:43in a toaster.
15:46How's that funny?
15:47I don't understand.
15:49In addition to that,
15:51you have the Seth Rollins knee injury
15:53where literally John Pollock
15:57within minutes said,
15:59oh yeah, yeah, it's a work
16:00or at the very least
16:01it's embellished.
16:03It's a storyline
16:04and then they were all giddy
16:07backstage thinking
16:09they'd worked people
16:09and everyone sniffed it out
16:11pretty damn quickly.
16:12Hamflot was one of the first
16:13to really suspect
16:14and doubt this thing
16:15ain't legitimate at all.
16:17And just generally
16:18this smug, off-putting,
16:20it's what we do.
16:21It's what we do tone.
16:23It's when you present yourself
16:27as this absolutely incredible,
16:29manipulative storytelling machine
16:31and then produce slop.
16:34And I think I lean
16:35sensibility-wise
16:37in the direction
16:38of other promotions
16:39and styles
16:40and what have you.
16:40But I think the core audience
16:42has been absolutely thrilled
16:43by WWE's 2025 output.
16:45Neither.
16:46Just get your head down.
16:48Stay humbler.
16:49Stay humbler
16:50because you're being arrogant
16:52and it's awful
16:53and you're failing creatively
16:55and a little bit joy
16:57to derive from that
16:58because people want to see
16:59people get knocked
17:00off their perch.
17:01It's a classic sporting story,
17:03right?
17:04You don't want to see
17:04dynasties succeed forever
17:06and be really arrogant with it.
17:07Like, massive, massive,
17:09massive sporting moments
17:11have been premised
17:12on that exact idea
17:13and Triple H
17:15and Tony Khan,
17:16Nick Khan
17:17are sat on that perch
17:19right now
17:19enjoying themselves
17:20way too much
17:21and they're not backing it up
17:22neither.
17:23So just get your head down
17:24and stay on,
17:25stay on.