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00:00what's up everyone this is uh new york post pro wrestling columnist joseph staszewski and we're
00:04here to preview and give some predictions for night one and two of summer slam this weekend
00:09saturday and sunday at u.s bank stadium in minneapolis uh it's the second two night
00:14summer slam wwe's done and i think we have a little more variety on this card than than we've
00:18had in past with some six bands and some hell in the cell and ladder match i think it's going
00:23to
00:23be a very interesting weekend here for wwe saturday we got two six person tags obviously starting off
00:30with fatal influence with jc jane fallon henley and laney reed versus nikki and brie bella and page
00:36to me this match has always been about re-establishing nikki nikki obviously just
00:41came back from a a really bad ankle injury to to get involved after a match on on raw i'd
00:49be kind
00:49of shocked if they went with fatal influence here i think we want to get the bellas back on track
00:54to
00:54get that um tag team title run that they had hoped to get when uh brie came back obviously nikki's
01:02injury uh curtailed that and i think we get a a pin out of nikki here and they start going
01:08back to get
01:08the tag titles from uh from henley and reed the second six person tag we got is the usos jimmy
01:14and jay
01:14and jacob fatu to bloodline versus royce keys la knight and solo sakola i think there's a bunch of
01:21ways they can go here obviously the the baby faces and keys and knight are a pretty loose alliance here
01:27going against the bloodline i do think we get a potential turn from somebody here maybe not into
01:33the bloodline but just something to set up uh something down the road i don't it's not going to
01:38be la knight too good of a baby face right now uh solo's kind of thriving as a baby face
01:43so to me it could be keys keys could definitely turn against solo and and and kind of uh you
01:50know side with jacob a little bit here uh i think the the bloodline do end up uh do end
01:56up winning
01:56here and keys kind of plays a role somewhere along the line of kind of turning his back on his
02:03teammates
02:03next up gunther versus nick aldis i think a lot of people are excited for this because this is nick
02:09aldis's return to the ring after about a three-year hiatus uh guy was the nwa world champion
02:15was an impact world champion tna world champion and was obviously been the smackdown general manager
02:20for a while and now he's finally getting to get his boots back on and put him back in the
02:24ring
02:25um this match still is about kind of keeping gunther's momentum going and kind of re-establishing
02:30a little bit after after a whole bunch of losses in title matches which is where we got here because
02:35he blamed all this is kind of decisions and meddling in it from keeping him from the undisputed wwe
02:41championship uh i think we get a fun kind of old old school wrestling match here and and gunther's
02:47going to come out on top just because he's got to keep going you can't have the guy that
02:51in the end you can't have the guy who retired john cena retired aj styles and then retired goldberg
02:57you know lose to what a lot of people know as the gm even though you know all this is
03:01a tremendous
03:01wrestler the women's world championship match between live morgan and eo sky kind of been on
03:06the fence with i'm still going to go with morgan here just because i think they have to pay off
03:11the judgment day's attack on stephanie vaquerre morgan has not defended the title since since she
03:16won it um and sky is coming off a queen of the ring victory over morgan where morgan kind of
03:23lost
03:24because she was cursed by dan hausen they could keep the curse going but i think it would be kind
03:29of
03:29dumb to have a second match and because and have eo win because live is cursed i think to do
03:36it once
03:37is fine to do it twice wouldn't be the best idea maybe uh judgment day has something backstage and
03:43they force dan hausen to to take the curse off of her right before the match just like he put
03:48it on
03:48her right before the match at queen of the ring i know hell in the cell over femi brock lesnar
03:53is one
03:54that that a lot of people are looking forward to and a lot of people think could even be the
03:58main event
03:58of this card if they wanted it to to be on saturday wd obviously pushed this to a trilogy after
04:04after
04:04brock kind of kind of retired at at wrestlemania in a lot of ways you know oba is the kind
04:11of baby
04:11face version of what brock could be just this imposing physical destructive force but just with
04:18a little bit less of the you know viciousness that brock is this is a really about putting the
04:23rocket on oba you know after this because he is going to be the first person to beat brock lesnar
04:28inside hell in a cell there really is no other way this can end when you go to a trilogy
04:33you got
04:34to put the your your big baby face that could be the face of your company at some point down
04:38the line
04:38here over main event undisputed wwe championship champion cm punk versus cody rhodes this is the first
04:45time these guys have had a singles match since 2008 on raw obviously thing a lot has changed
04:51between these two who are who are good friends in real life who are you know kind of feuding
04:56brothers here in this feud after after punk hit cody with the the title strap at msg
05:02they've sold this tension pretty well in promos they've sold it at the summer slam kickoff at
05:08fanatics fest i've kind of gone back and forth on this a lot in a lot of ways but to
05:13me it's always
05:14about what's the most interesting story you can tell the most interesting story you can tell is punk
05:18winning cody getting another title reign another run i don't think people would want that right now
05:24especially as a baby face if punk wins cody's gotta have to make a decision and the cody character's
05:31gotta how to make a decision of how do i do i accept this do i do i turn finally
05:37turn heel because
05:38maybe it's the only way i get that title i i lust for back i think this is our best
05:43chance to get the
05:44cody heel turn uh i think it's the best story they can tell whether it's right after the match whether
05:49it's the next night on uh later in the week on smackdown that that it happens and you and you
05:54kind of milk it a little bit where he's kind of congratulates punk and or raises his hand and then
05:59does the old clothesline or the kick um something i do think there's one way that the cody winning works
06:07is if you can get a randy orton or somehow kevin owens is ready to come back and you can
06:12give him
06:14a fresh heel to to really dig that sink his teeth into um after a win you know cody winning
06:22getting
06:22his hand raised and orton coming out of somewhere with an rko certainly could work but i think you're
06:27just starting this punk and cody story so i think you have to have punk win and and kind of
06:31keep it
06:32going here um i think that's kind of where we go and i think there's a good chance we get
06:37a little
06:37bit of a cody turn you know afterwards night two we got dan hausen versus dominic mysterio in a human
06:43monies on a pole match i can't believe i'm saying that about wwe in 2026 but here we are and
06:50i do think
06:50if there's any character you can do it with it is dan hausen the judgment day and dominic mysterio
06:56upset because they felt like dan hausen stole the hundred thousand dollars they gave him to to put a curse
07:01on someone so we're going to hang that on a pole it gives uh wwe a chance to have dominic
07:08lose
07:08uh without getting pinned by dan hausen obviously he's still the triple a mega champion he was a
07:13former intercontinental champion there is some boundaries of who you maybe want him to lose to
07:18the one thing to keep in mind here is that it seems like wwe is using dan hausen to kind
07:24of prop up
07:25joe henry and kind of get him back in the mix here even though that concert on on monday you
07:31know
07:31didn't quite click and i know a lot of people had not so much good things to say about it
07:35i think
07:36they're still going to keep pushing that they're still in the dan hausen business i think this one
07:40gets fun and we see dan hausen win and hopefully judgment day can go its own way and start getting
07:45out of the comedy business but i do think we're still in the dan hausen business and and he's going
07:50to
07:50end up winning this one penta versus chad gable for the intercontinental championship is is a very
07:55fascinating match because this is two baby faces chad gable is a native of minnesota so it would
08:02kind of behoove them to to have him win this um i don't think other than one other point i
08:09can think
08:09of that he's ever been as over with the audience than he is right now coming out of um his
08:15few his
08:15match with el grande americano and him being el grande americano over in triple a um i think in
08:22your hometown um against another babyface as good as penta i think you have to have chad gable win
08:28this and give him his moment here he's earned it you know after coming back from an injury with with
08:33his work as the og you know grande americano we got united states champion trick williams defending
08:39against baron corbin corbin's back in wwe now after uh not quite a year you know out of the
08:45company you know did a little work at mlw um you know did a nice job there kind of re
08:50-establishing
08:50his character as this you know no nonsense uh kind of almost reality check you know kind of character
08:58and i do think that's what he has to be here uh tricks had a great run as as united
09:03states champion
09:04and i do think the company has tried to get him over a little bit as a baby face because
09:09of how much
09:10the audience loves him and if there's any chance to to kind of ignite that it might be here you
09:14know
09:15you could see a scenario where trick wins and corbin beats him up after the match and they go that
09:19right to keep the title on him but i think the best thing to do is just have corbin beat
09:22him
09:23you know have corbin beat him get the audience some sympathy you know get trick some baby face
09:28reaction and then let him chase corbin for a little bit and you can start a new program there
09:32sammy zayn and finn balor will face off in a number one contenders match for the undisputed wwe
09:37championship what's interesting here is obviously sammy's coming off a that very short reign
09:41is undisputed wwe champion obviously a great moment in saudi arabia for him and he's kind of
09:47in that paranoid mode now of you know the the company's back against me again and what do i need
09:51to do and adam pierce gave him this opportunity for now it's it's the best he's got i don't think
09:58he wins here though balor seems to be in the middle of a push here you know we've re-established
10:03a demon
10:03he is undefeated since coming back to smackdown he has been on a quest to get a world championship goal
10:10for the first time since 2016. you know it's about time he he gets some some championship gold i don't
10:17think he ends up getting the wwe championship but i do think he wins here because you've got to keep
10:21his momentum going and keep sammy kind of uh paranoid and complaining the interim wwe women's
10:26championship uh ladder match uh obviously rhea ripley had an injury had to kind of vacate the title
10:31and now we're gonna get charlotte flair jay cargill chelsea green uh tiffany stratton and either
10:37julia and lash legend in a ladder match i know a lot of people thought we were going to get
10:41charlotte
10:41flair and jade finally you know here uh the injury kind of probably changed that uh tiffany's already
10:48got the u.s championship and obviously she is a native of minnesota too so you could go that way
10:54but i do think this is a way for them to finally get us to charlotte and jade the best
11:01way for that to
11:01happen is for jade to win i know that may not go over well with the fans there i know
11:06some people
11:06would say well why why not just have charlotte win the match um charlotte's obviously in a baby
11:11face position now it would just be a pretty cold way to give her title number 15 that the audience
11:16might not connect with because it's just a random interim title win you want her to be on the other
11:22side of it so that she is the baby face chasing the big heel and if she does end up
11:27beating jade it
11:28means a little more and you're adding more baby case cachet you know to the stuff she's already
11:32built the world heavyweight championship roman reigns versus seth freaking rollins two of the best
11:42histories combined histories anywhere in pro wrestling when you go back and and look at all
11:48of the things and all the pieces that fell into place for these two guys i wrote a column on
11:52it
11:53uh about a week ago kind of highlighting some of those things um rollins is the one dude and a
11:59little bit of cody who can get into roman's head and break that coolness every time in a promo we
12:04did
12:05it by mentioning his family that week that's probably the only guy who would ever be allowed to go and
12:10go that direction you know in a promo with him maybe punk but even punk didn't go didn't quite go
12:16after
12:16his kids and him being a dad so this one is is is about as big as it gets i
12:21don't think wwe can do a
12:23non-finish like they did a dq finish like they did at the royal rumble i think the audience would
12:27be kind
12:27of upset at that like they did at the royal rumble in 2022 this is still roman reigns's company he
12:34is
12:34still the biggest star you know in the company unless there's something you know crazy planned i don't see
12:40a reason why reigns doesn't finally finally exercise those seth rollins demons and beat him
12:47for the first time in a championship match maybe you actually get a moment of respect between those
12:52two when it's over and that would actually probably be a very interesting way to end the night um but
12:57but i think we still see reigns here those are my predictions for summer slam this saturday and sunday
13:01hopefully they work out and they pan out and they work true what are your predictions for this night
13:05you know hit me up on twitter instagram you know i want to hear them put them down in the
13:10comments
13:11of the video before summer slam i was lucky enough to get uh an opportunity to interview nick aldis
13:16before his match with gunther um i think it's really good insights into into what his thinking is
13:21you know going into this match after almost three years away some of the training he's done some of the
13:25nerves he's feeling um i interviewed nick when he was you know nwa world's champion i know a lot of
13:31people are happy that he's getting it i know i'm happy that he's getting it after after knowing
13:36and seeing his work you know coming in there so i hope you guys enjoy my chat with nick
13:42obviously first off just what does this opportunity mean for you to
13:45be able to get your first wwe match and to have it be an event you know as big as
13:50summer slam
13:53uh i i'd be lying if i said uh it wasn't a little overwhelming um you know i think for
14:00me
14:01the the word that seems to keep coming to the front of my mind is validation i always felt like
14:08i met the criteria to get a shot at wwe for whatever reason over the years even though there
14:15were times where i felt like maybe it came close it never happened and i had sort of made peace
14:20with
14:20that and grabbed the bull by the horns in other areas i wasn't really sure you know where things
14:28were going to go but after speaking to a couple of people at wwe and uh and ddp and a
14:37couple other
14:37guys they they encouraged me to just contact paul levec triple h directly you know and said stop
14:45going around gatekeepers right it's like stop you know stop going to these guys who are you know with
14:52their own agendas and just go directly to the man right uh and when that happened obviously then that
14:57that led to you know an opportunity and a foot in the door as far as this you know i'm
15:02not looking at
15:03this as anything other than what's directly in front of me i sort of have the same approach to
15:08this that i had with the first opportunity that was given to me by the company which was to work
15:14behind the scenes and then the next opportunity which was be the gm of smackdown um there have been
15:21no there have been no promises okay you know and i have had no expectations everything happens for a
15:27reason and i think by the time i got to wwe i was a more mature person approached everything with
15:32the sense of gratitude and uh open-mindedness just really from the sense of hey you give me
15:38whatever you want to give me and i will right make the absolute best of it what do you think
15:42it's been
15:43about the nick aldis maybe gm character and your work there that's made him a compelling enough
15:48character to now hey we can put him across gunther and and give him this and give him this opportunity
15:53you know authenticity you know i i have history with some of the some of the guys in the company
16:05quite significant history with some of the most important guys so i think that helps i think
16:14obviously there's obviously i have a physical presence
16:17presence which triple h encouraged me to utilize from the beginning he didn't have me shy away from
16:26it although at the beginning there was some conflicting direction to me about how you know
16:31how i should use my physical presence there were definitely some in the company who were trying to
16:36minimize that and you know i think just they were just sort of still rooted in a previous way of
16:42thinking yeah when it came it's not supposed to look bigger than the wrestlers yeah sure and
16:47eventually i got it from the horse's mouth from hunter that he was like no i don't care like i
16:54want
16:54you to like use your physical presence you are big like you know and i i know that i know
16:59that paul heyman
16:59had had something to do with that as well rio he's sort of he's big what's the what's the you
17:04know
17:04what's the problem what are you gonna do pretend he isn't and it gave a new dynamic to the character
17:10who's to say how they landed on me or or the role or whether it was all just a confluence
17:16of different
17:18timing but i do i will say that i've always enjoyed being you know the sort of non-wrestling
17:27character part of wrestling if that makes sense i i've always enjoyed promos and talking and storylines
17:33and and all things of that nature so it so for me it wasn't it wasn't a huge issue that
17:42i
17:44wasn't going to be wrestling on a regular basis to me as long as i had an opportunity to sort
17:48of
17:48showcase my personality and have and have chances to to do things that were significant and you know
17:55meaningful and deliver like um in that role then then i was happy you haven't had a you know an
18:03entering match in more than you know three years now how have you kept yourself kind of ring ready and
18:08and what emotions do you think you're going to feel when when you head out there well i'll answer the
18:12first part first uh i've always i always i've always stayed in shape but there's a big difference between
18:22physique shape and ring shape um and so to be perfectly honest with you uh
18:30the the last few weeks have been pretty intense um in terms of trying to get my conditioning up
18:38try to try to get in uh you know get in ring shape as best as anyone can after three
18:45years off and with
18:46you know a few weeks to do it so i've given myself the best possible chance you know
18:52i've had a bit of ring time really just more about getting my sea legs back under me and yeah
18:56try to get my rhythm back and my timing and footwork you don't want to do too much because
19:01obviously you don't want to risk getting hurt so it's a sort of i i kind of made the decision
19:07that
19:07yes i was going to do a little bit of ring work to try to get my to you know
19:11to try to get my
19:13skills back my timing uh but i was going to focus on conditioning because at the end of the day
19:19um if you run out of gas nothing else matters you know it's game over as far as emotions you
19:25know to
19:26be honest i i don't know i don't know what i'm going to be feeling it is emotional i'm sure
19:32i'm going to be
19:33incredibly nervous because again it's like it's a muscle that hasn't been worked
19:40for a while and never on this scale yeah you know so it's like yeah uh there have definitely been
19:48a
19:48few times over the last few weeks where i've laid there in bed and thought like what am i doing
19:53like
19:53what like uh and then also times where i found myself wondering like why is why is triple h so
20:02calm about
20:03this or like you know like what like you know he's i've talked to him and he's been very you
20:09know
20:09very cool and just like yeah man you know something great you know and i you know i i choose
20:16to take
20:16that as a huge compliment yeah you all seem to be really uh really cool and collected about the fact
20:24that you're putting a guy who hasn't wrestled in three years and never wrestled in wwe in a match
20:29at summer slam with a top guy i know you said you're not going into this with like any expectations
20:34um in the back of your mind you hope that this leads to some more you know in-ring opportunities
20:40or is it because is the moment so you know kind of important that it's like i can't even
20:46let myself you know get that far ahead exactly i i can't think beyond summer slam i'm not going to
20:53do because ultimately i have to deliver at summer slam i would like to you know may ask me again
21:02after summer slam you know that's that's pretty much how i feel about it because honestly i don't
21:08know how i'm gonna feel after summer slam right like it i i i know how i feel right now
21:17and how i feel
21:18right now is okay you were i i will say i never lobbied for this never once i never never
21:26once
21:26the whole time i've been with the company never never went to triple h or bruce or anyone and said
21:33what you know give me a chance to wrestle well put me in a match with this guy or let
21:36me have a
21:38never ever i've always maintained that i'm going to be a man of my word and i gave my word
21:43to triple h that i
21:44wanted to contribute in whatever way he saw fit he's now decided that the best way i can contribute
21:51is to have a match with one of his top guys at summer slam i take tremendous pride in that
22:01so after that i have to trust his judgment as well ultimately it's not just about ego it's also about
22:09like
22:09putting food on my table right like you know it's it's tough world out there like i said i'm just
22:16focused on summer slam make sure i deliver after that you know it's anybody's guess obviously you're
22:22talking about the deep history you have with some of these guys obviously one of them is cody
22:26you kind of got him at the beginning of that that maybe middle beginning of that big rise you
22:32know to where he is now could you see at that time that this guy had just you know the
22:37elements
22:38and the makings of what could become you know obviously one of the biggest stars in the industry
22:42now yes cody absolutely visualized himself in the role he is in i picked up on that quite quickly
22:51had our rivalry in 2018 i could just i i could just tell that we were in sync mentally like
23:00there was a
23:01lot of that a lot of the stuff we did leading up to those matches we didn't even really require
23:06much
23:07communication we kind of we both had pretty strong instincts on you know the beats of the story i think
23:13we both look at wrestling in the same way overall which is the main event the world title that that
23:19whole deal you know you're doing rocky ultimately you you know somewhere along the way you need like
23:26good versus evil or you need the protagonist has to overcome the you know the this seemingly
23:32you know unclimbable mountain and finally make it and i think in each other we saw perfect
23:40opponents what he was presenting as himself was the perfect protagonist to my antagonist which is
23:49actually where i'm most comfortable you know which is funny because obviously this
23:53it's flipped this saturday it's um you know it's a that's a it's somewhat unusual for me to be in
24:01that
24:01position but i'm looking forward to it i i i could just tell that
24:07he doesn't just look at the match as a sort of uh you know omg this is awesome you know
24:15five stars
24:17he's looking at it as the as a movie a lot of people look at wrestling as just the fight
24:23as just
24:23the fight scene you know whereas the the to me the the the tippy top guys see the whole story
24:32what do you hope people kind of leave this match with on sunday or feel kind of when it's over
24:37respect
24:41like i think this story is resonating because it's real i want every every man who
24:49feels like maybe he didn't live up to his full potential
24:53you know to be able to look at this and go it's not too late stand up to bullies right
24:58yeah like
24:59don't let someone put a finger in your chest and you know tell you that they're better than you
25:03right like you know make them earn it and uh i'm gonna make gunther earn it on saturday i'm sure
25:11you
25:11will nick i appreciate a couple minutes i guess i think we're all who have all of us who have
25:16kind
25:16of followed you at different points in your career are looking forward to this and are very happy for
25:20you i appreciate that joe thank you very much
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