WrestleMania Preview Roundtable: Intro to season 5

Hello everyone! It's Twisted season 5 is finally here!!! We apologize for the cut off in the podcast, there was a huge storm that rolled through as we were recording and the second half cut out; we were unable to re-record the second half as Desario had to beat the storm home. However we are upolading what we have because we believe somethng is better than nothing. You'll notice we are changing somethings going forward one of the main things being the way the description s written. We thank you all for sticking by us and can't wait to see what Season 5 brings us!

The Wrestling Crossroads crew goes live to announce Season 5 additions, including bringing back AEW for a few shows, TNA’s debut, new members Tank and Cursed, and more livestreams for fan interaction. They then make WrestleMania Night 1 predictions, critiquing the lackluster build and discussing a six-man tag featuring The Usos and LA Knight vs The Vision with Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and IShowSpeed; an unsanctioned Jacob Fatu vs Drew McIntyre. Seth Rollins vs Gunther amid a Paul Heyman favor angle, AJ Lee vs Becky Lynch for the Women’s IC title; a women’s fatal four-way tag title match involving Lash Legend & Nia Jax, Bayley & Lyra, the Bella Twins, and Charlotte & Alexa. Liv Morgan vs Stephanie Vaquer for the Women’s World title; and a unanimous pick of Randy Orton over Cody Rhodes in the main event. The episode also previews the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame class, covering Stephanie McMahon, AJ Styles, Demolition, Dennis Rodman, Sid (posthumous), Bad News Brown, and the WrestleMania III Hogan vs Andre legacy moment.

Transcript

Season 5 kickoff

0:00

Then can you dig it? Whoa. Acknowledge me. This is wrestling Crossroads. We are live, so a little bit of things are messed up as we didn't get the recording up and going, brother Pyro. Please repeat what you were saying. Season five comes with a lot of big additions. We are re adding a EW to the, uh, brand for a few, for a few shows. Yes. TNA will now finally make its debut here. Mm-hmm. We are adding two new members of the wrestling Crossword Roads, family, that being tank and uh, cursed. So excited to have them join us larger social media presence here. And as you guys have noticed, we're gonna start doing a lot of live streams and recordings for all of you so you can watch us all, you can watch us all have a lot of fun. Mess up, have our fun. Interact with us just a little more now mm-hmm. Than, uh, you have been able to previously. We look forward to all of y'all's involvement. Mm-hmm. Now let's talk our Super Bowl. Uh, before we get to that, obviously with us missing the recording starting, we do have Desario with us. So he is here for that. So getting us started off is actually going to be Desario. Alright.

Wrestlemaia build concerns

1:50

So for Knight one of WrestleMania, we cannot have picked up. We could have picked several matches to kinda lead off the show a little bit more than this one. I was gonna say, please choose your words carefully, sir, because you know good and well, we could have tove in a lot better. There definitely is. And also, let's just get the cat outta the bag with this whole WrestleMania build. A lot of these matches have not felt WrestleMania worthy. No. No. For the most part, a lot of this build has been very lackluster, to say the least. Yes. And um, a lot of it can be attributed to injuries or whatnot or alleged injuries, so to speak. But we'll get into that one a little bit later on. Uh, so the matchup we got coming on is a six man tag team matchup featuring the USOs and everybody's favorite bega star singing LA nine. Yeah. Taking on now Kmarts version of the vision. Logan Paul. Yeah. And Austin Theory, I show speak. Tell me. Tell me what I'm telling lies. Okay. Okay, punk. Anyway. No, he's not wrong. I promise you, if the vision wasn't so plagued with injuries. They would have a better show spot on this card. I mean, we do have somebody from the vision that has been cleared, but they had no plans for him going forward into this. So yeah, I'm pretty sure that's because by the time that he got cleared, it was just a little too late to insert him anywhere. Yep.

6 man tag breakdown

3:18

Well, let's ski into how we got here for this whole match right here. Yeah, so the USOs were taken on the vision and the TAG team match on RAW for the tag team titles. When, you know, I show speed is sitting out there ringside, he's being, you know, told by la not LA Knight, Logan Paul, Hey, help out, help out. And he's like, no. He grabs something, turns around and decks La Knight causes a distraction, vision, wins the tag team titles, and now the vision. Look at show speed to like, hey, look what you just did. You're now with us and speed's like, uh, no, but kinda like the little hesitant little brother going along with everything right there. So basically that's how you got into this match. I do find a little bit of agl, little bit of a plot hole twist. Doesn't Jay Huso really hate LA Night. But he's willing. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Yes, they have. Yes. As much as he dislikes Knight for getting involved in family business, Jimmy and Knight have a good relationship. And you know, Jimmy is the only one that's gonna be able to talk Jay into doing anything. But let's be real. Jimmy has a good relationship with basically everybody outside of Seapunk and even then, I feel like that's getting a little better. Yeah, for the most part. But for the most part, Jay really realizes Knight isn't necessarily the problem. You're just kind of in my way, is what it boils down to. And right now they have a very common enemy in the vision. Alright. 'cause screw the vision. Agreed. Going into predictions for this match, it is literally. 50 50 on predictions for this one. We have four people going with a vision, four people going on with, you know, USO Knight. I think that's be a nice little card right there. Like here I'm driving my USO Knight. Yeah, well only you. Only you. So anyways, let's see who is all going with. So we got flash going with the vision. Mm-hmm. That's Hex cauldron. Hex cauldron. And then we also have brother pyro over here going with the vision. So talk to me about the vision. What is why are you seeing in them? See what I did there? Word play. Ha. I the dad jokes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it makes sense. I mean, I'm, he's got an 18-year-old sitting at home. I'm so used to KO's, uh, dad jokes on his live stream. That hearing any other dad jokes just kind of blows my mind anyway. I'm not going for the vision because I see anything special in them. One, you know, they have the underhanded tactics. Two. If we've been paying attention to the buildup this week, Jay SSO has definitely gotten himself in some hot water one, doesn't he? Exactly. Further proving the stereotype that Jay Sso is a hot head. He's going to find himself in another hothead situation in which he's not gonna be able to get on the same page as his team. Mm-hmm. Think back a few weeks ago. Okay. The bra, the introduction to the brass knuckles, he calls his team the match. Yep. Because he didn't stop to think about all the possible actions and outcomes that could align with his choices. We're gonna see that at some point in this match, and I know it. And either that's gonna, he's gonna cost the team because he's not thinking straight or because he's gonna get so upset, he's just going to walk away leaving the three on two advantage. And regardless, you are really going, when you really break down the dynamic of this match,

6:52

Jay USO being the unpredictable little sparky that he is, you've kind of left yourself in a two on three handicap match more so than a six man tag. Okay, I could see that. But you could also look at the same on the flip side, as I show, speed is a celebrity that has said multiple times, although he has been in the ring a couple times, he doesn't, he doesn't know what he's doing. He would prefer not to be in the ring. He has been training quite. Quite rigorously. Um, I know they had the training montage for him mm-hmm. With the vision, but like outside of that, working up to getting to this point, he's also been, uh, shown to be trading with guys like Randy Orton. Yes. However, again, two on three. Do I? That's what we're looking at with this. Oh yeah. Do I feel he's ready for the moment? Probably not, but it's gonna get, his performance in this match will truly tell how, how ready he was. This is going to get as big of a pop with him coming out as, oh, I don't know, all of, uh, NXT stand and deliver. It's going to be entirely dead. Oh, that was, that was rough. I wonder if that's why the first hour of mania streams on raw, on espn. On espn those nights, and actually that's where I'm kind of leading into my prediction here, because you do have that first hour going free on, you know, ESPN two I believe it is. For the first one, yes. So ES ESPN two, and of course you got the celebrities on there, which are gonna draw some eyes onto there. But you also wanna kick off WrestleMania with a feel good moment and what better way than sit there and beat the living crap outta Logan Paul, who I'm pretty sure 90 per, 98% of the American audience and maybe worldwide audience hates that guy's guy. Val. Val. But that is why his character works so well as a heel. Oh yeah. Because he's not playing a character. I get that. He is literally naturally himself. He's got such a punchable face and he is so easy to hate. All right. Kevin Owens. I bet I can punch both of you at the same time. Eddie did it. Eddie. He did. And he did it. And that was here in town anyway. But it wasn't Logan Paul. That's the sad part. No, you could've done all three of 'em. No, but it was lost in theory. Austin theory was definitely involved. 'cause it was him and Grace and Wallace. Yep. But no, I think we were alive at that one, weren't. We were, yeah. All three of us. But no, like I said, it was just one of those, it's one of those like you are gonna, I think you put over the celebrity solely because of that hour on ESPN and the more people that are watching because of this moment. Mm-hmm. The more likely people are gonna switch over to the app. It can go either. This is gonna be T K's little money grab right here. Oh, well TKO money grab. No. Oh Lord. Anyway, brother Pirates, next up. Alright.

Unsanctioned bloodbath predictions

9:39

Right. Unsanctioned match. Jacob Fatou and Drew McIntyre. This is about to be a bloodbath. This is this is a war zone. Both men really kind of blaming each other for why they haven't advanced further. Jacob blames Drew for taking him out several months ago. Drew blames Jacob for why he is no longer champion, but that's true. I say this starts in the parking lot, well, beforehand. Oh, this. At this point, I feel like depending on where this place is on the car, it's number two. It's Oh, it is literally. Okay. So this will also be parked Yeah. Part of that first free hour. Yes. Yeah. So, yeah. No. Where were you the last couple weeks? I didn't, I, I, I recognized the first match for each, the opening match for each night. I didn't pay attention to anything else after. Clearly you deserve, that's why I don't care. You're also my sister. Nobody's gonna care. And I barely touched you, but No. Okay, so let's be real then with how much these two hate each other. It's going to be well before cameras start rolling. Mm-hmm. And I think this is going to, uh, overshadow the, uh, the, the match that's supposed to take off the night. I feel like we're gonna get a segment midway through the match of them two brawling, and then they're gonna take it into the arena and they're gonna be like, so we're just gonna scrap the rest of the six man tag match. I would love that. I, and, and we're just going to get started right here. Let's go. Actually, what would be even better than that? Towards the end of the pre-show, while they're talking about the match, you just see the fight each other behind the people talking about the matches, and then they just, by the, we're just gonna cancel the first show, right? The first hour is literally just this. Yeah. These two grown men beating the absolute dog crap out of each other. Prediction wise. Prediction wise, all but. You sir, have gone to Jacob Fa two. Why Drew? Mainly because, again, drew has been screwed. Drew is right. And also you can't prove that he's the one who took out Jacob in that parking lot. 'cause he's even said, say what you want about Drew. He doesn't really out go out there and tell lies. And he said, not out. No, he's, he's been a very honest man and he's also said if I would've taken him out, I'd be out here bragging about it. That, that part like you, let's be real. Drew. Definitely. Is one to, uh, take credit for his work. Yes. And then ever since he finally recaptured that WWE, you know, championship, another side of Drew has come out a more violent side, a more vicious side, a more conniving side. And I just don't, I know Jacob has the ability to take it to the limit. I mean, he is not called the Samaritan Werewolf for no reason. Did you stroke out there on a little second? Sam Moan werewolf there. He Samoan werewolf. Sorry, but no, he's not. I was paying attention to what he's done on the Indies. He's lit, lit up a fan security rep. And the shape that he's in right now is peak. He is looking, oh, I think this is probably the best He's looked his entire career. But I'm going on experience. I'm going on the man who's been there. I'm, I'm, I'm going, uh, with the man that understands what it's like to get his hands dirty. 'cause let's be real, even outside of the world of pro wrestling, that man's rap sheet speaks for itself. Can I just point out something? If you look back at like anytime we've had Desario on here, he always favors Drew. He does? Mm-hmm. Even just in prediction wise, he favors Drew and, and let's call it for what it is. This is, I think Jacob is the one person that's got a hotter head than Jay uso. And that's saying something because that man is definitely dynamite incarnate. Yep. Alright, next match up. DeRio is taking that. Alright. Right.

Rollins vs Gunther set up

13:35

So in kind of a surprise, so to speak on how this match came about. Yes. Or about where the heck did this come from? We have got, uh, returning Seth freaking Rollins and after he, you know, took out Paul Hayman about to be triumphant, gets choked out by the ring general GTA for reasons. To help out. Paul Haman is what he said in an interview he said to help out Paul Haman. If you watched RAW this last week, it was, this is personal. 'cause when I was road heavyweight champion, you did everything to avoid challenging me and waited until I was no longer champion to start chasing the goal together. Fair enough. Which, I mean, I feel like gut got a point in feeling a little disrespected there. How can you disrespect the Ring General? Honestly, but let's be real. We've also pointed bystanding opposite in the ring from him. Fair point. All right. But we've also noticed, let's be real, there's some kind of a secret agreement deal that Hammond has made with Gunther. And I'm glad you said that because that's actually gonna lead a little bit into the predictions when we get to that point right there. So I expect this to be a great match. I mean, these two guys are definitely capable of having a great match with just about anybody. Oh yeah. So going into predictions, oh, sorry for this, you know, highly booked match. Again, we have seven people on one side for Seth freaking Rollins. And then you have myself taking the ring genre. I was, I'm not gonna lie, I was 50 50. I, I mean, it really could go either way. And I personally, personally, I don't think it hurts or helps either one of them. True. And then when it comes to Gunther, from my being on my island of relevancy by myself yet again, as I always am, not always, but, and sir, 90% of the time, wrong person stick anyways, the island of relevancy. Belongs to the man on your shirt. Hold on a second. Haman also sit there and put that comment out there as well. And that's where I'm going with my prediction. He is helping out Paul Haman. He is trying to sit there and solve a problem. And he solves that problem. He gets something from Haman. A favor. What favor could that be, Brock? Summer Slam. Let me retire him. Let me get him. I wanna retire him. I think that's where this is going personally. I feel like if that's exactly where this goes, I will actually kind of be upset. 'cause let's, let's be real. We all know who I feel should be the one to retire the beast, and we'll get into that later. Yes, we will. And if the Beast is gonna be retired anywhere, it needs to be where he kind of made his name. Mm-hmm.

Aj Lee vs Becky Lynch

16:18

So next up we have the Women's IC Championship. AJ Lee takes on Becky Lynch. Now this all started because there was a feud between the husbands, Sam Punk and Seth freaking Rollins. Becky Lynch then inserted herself into the feud, causing AJ Lee to come back after a 10 year hiatus of retirement. I am very happy that my girl is back. Oh dude, you have, I have been on a high the last couple of months with her being back. Previously at elimination Chamber. She did make Becky tap out for a third time to win the Intercontinental Championship. Yes. For a third time. Thus leading us here. Becky is very pissed off. She wants her title back. She believes that she never should have lost it 'cause she's the greatest of all time. It's not just her saying it right? Nope. It that deletes her reports. Say it. ESPN says it. Mind you, this crash out version of Becky is just hilarious. Oh my God. It has been highly entertaining, I'm not gonna lie. I think my favorite promo so far is AJ telling Becky that she's also her daughter's favorite Wrestl. Oh my God. Because then, you know, you really, back in the divas era, you really didn't get to see them be that personal. I mean, you got to see AJ do it a little bit with Kaitlyn, but you couldn't dig deep like that until you got past the divas, you know, evolution of things and into the women's revolution. Yeah. So now with her being like, Hey, I can bring up your daughter and I'm not gonna get, you know, killed in the back for this, I'm gonna do it. Going into predictions, all of us. But you go AJ Lee. I'm noticing a theme so far with WrestleMania right now. Oh really? Alright. Yeah. I'm noticing a very big theme here. I'm feeling very much, you know, singled out by everybody right now, and I don't know why that is. But to go with Becky. To go with Becky, I'm about to get somebody. Exactly. You know? Exactly. Yes. So the way I'm looking at this, AJ's had her number, AJ's had her number three straight times right now, and I'll, I'm only gonna call it two if GR had the tag team match, and even if with it being war games, yeah. She had three, I'm only counting like two survivor series and the singles match right there. Okay. The third, see if, if, if I'm gonna call it, I'm not, if I'm gonna say the two, I'd go with the mixed tag match and, uh, chamber pick and choose. Yeah. Not because Survivor series really, everybody had a hand in it. Yeah. Okay. So I, I, I feel like that one was a little more on the personal side. Yeah. But to kind of go along with this, if we're doing it like a Hollywood movie, act one, act two. That part doesn't really matter. The one that everyone remembers, act three, this part of the match, and Becky has not been able to get her shine back. AJ being champion, great. Feel good moment, great time, great things for her. I'm so happy she was able to come back to the company and actually get a title that she earned and deserved. Yes, but Becky's there and Becky needs that belt. Becky deserves that belt as being the best woman's wrestler on the roster today. AJ Lee's also undefeated at mania. Becky Lynch made invented WrestleMania. AJ Lee went against every woman on the roster when main eventing WrestleMania wasn't a thing for women at the time. Do we not remember the divas? V Vicki Guerrero Diva's Invitational. She beat every single one of them. And I'm sorry, former Women's World champion, Naomi was the one she tapped out and she did it with all without her bodyguard. Tell me what I'm telling lies. Fair enough. Oof. All right. That's good. I like it. Yo. Okay, so the much feed debate between these two. We love it guys. Hey, I'm sorry, but a, a five minute, not even debate between us kind of is water under the bridge when it comes to a 20 minute pyro rant? Mm-hmm. I'm just saying I love the, the back and forth here, guys. It comes, all, you guys are both really trying to solidify why your person should be the one to go over it. Personally, I think I love everything that Becky has done. Calling her the best on the roster right now. Might be a bit of a stretch. Top three for sure. Top two for sure. Oh I think it's gonna be solely because. With AJ as champion, you're going to see a lot more opportunities for a lot of other women. Yeah. Think about it. That's what she big on. Bailey wasn't right. That's, that was her big thing when she was diva's. Champion was giving the women a chance to shine, giving. And so let's be real, AJ laid that groundwork that led to, or helped Lee put together a lot of that groundwork that led to Becky's main event spot. Mm-hmm. Now with that being said again, Becky has also 100% helped paved the way. Yeah. And Yeah. Has done, has picked up a lot of where Becky or AJ has left off in laying a lot of groundwork. Mm-hmm. To set up the next generation of women's stars. Oh. And also helping to set up the current generation. I mean, look what she did with her, work with Maxine. Look at the work she did with Lara, with Tiffany. She actually made you care about Lara. 'cause for the longest time, nobody really cared about ra. Do we still. We care about her a lot more. We care about her a little more than we did about a year ago. I'm still kind of the same. My, the fans primarily do care about her just a little more than we did about a year ago. But yes, with that being said though, think about it, Bailey, since the pandemic really, or what, two years ago when she lost the title to Naya Two years ago? Yes. Yeah. Hasn't been seen or booked in any type of relevancy for a hot minute damage control. The feud with damage control. When she won the title, that was after, so she won the title. She won the titles from damage Control, but then a few months later, she dropped it to NN Summer. Yeah, because N won the ring, the queen of the ring. That's where we're at. Since then, brain had to, she hasn't really been booked in a light in in the best light. Yeah. AJ wins the championship. Bailey has a shot at Gold again for the first time in two years, but Bailey and AJ already went up against each other in, aj won in NXT like 10 plus years ago. No, that was recent. No. Outside of this icy title match, the last time was Diva's. Title Bailey was still in NXT. Okay. Bailey was still hugger. And I am your favorite wrestler's favorite wrestler. So to see the growth there and now, I feel like, again, AJ's just gonna continue to do what she does best. I'm gonna set up the next man behind me and there's so many beautiful matches. Becky isn't going that come with her being champion Becky. Right. And we've seen Becky take out 90% of the roster. There are still so many matches left on the table for aj and putting the title on the line is just gonna make each match that much more special. Mm-hmm. Fair enough. I just always feel that a heel champion is a better one for the chase. That's all I and. For the most part, I don't disagree with you, but legendary ones also do a great job at it. Too true. And again, when was the last time we had a relevant divas champion? 'cause like I know Charlotte was the last official, but even then going into that, nobody really cares for that title ring. Nobody cared for the title ring before that. Nicky's AJ was the last real champion of that era when it came to the women. Mm-hmm. Fair enough. So to see her finally have a full circle moment and be able to recapture that glory, I think we, the fans want to see that just a little longer. Oh yeah, definitely. You wanna hold onto that for as well as we can for as long as we can. 'cause let's be real, because it's no gas. She's getting up there in age. There's no guarantee that she's gonna be around much longer. And I get it. Things happen in wrestling that easily can cut career short. Very true. And we hate it. Yeah, let us have on, let us hold onto this. And I mean, if we go back to even the reason, like part of the reason why the retirement came was because of the bad blood backstage with her husband and former owner of the company. She didn't wanna be caught in that crossfire anymore. Yeah. So I'm gonna go and now that I see that there's this great opportunity, now I'm safe to come back. But all right.

Women's tag titles chaos

25:14

From one Women's Championship match to another Fatal four way tag Team match for Tag Team Gold. You have the irresistible forces is what they are branded as. Lash Legend and Anaya Jacks take Ona. Yep. Bailey and Lyra. Valki and wwe e. Hall of Famers shouldn't be, should be. They got put in way too early though. As of right now. Shouldn't be. Nikki and Bri, the Bella twins. Um, no, this, well, first off, let's just say this build actually has been, had a little bit of juice. This has probably been one of the better builds. I will not lie. Yeah. However, it doesn't mean I want all of these teams involved. Charlotte. Alexa, fine. It makes sense. Bailey Ra finally trying to be taken seriously as a tag team. 'cause they have felt very disrespected for a while. Yes. Also, thank God Bailey gets her WrestleMania moment. Seeing as Becky did attack her last year. Mm-hmm. To take that moment from her. The Bella shouldn't be there. No, I, they had the text. I get why they did it. I get why they did it. They were one of the original women's tag teams. Mm-hmm. They were the original. They were the original. They were women's tag teams. Yeah. These titles came about 10, 15, 20 years to wait. Mm-hmm. In my opinion, like, no, no doubt. Oh, everybody's opinion, honestly, because let's be real. If they would've given this to us during the Bella Twins time, we know the Bellas would definitely have been inaugural champions. Inaugural champions. Longest reigning most, and it would've been, and it would've made a lot more sense than it does now. 'cause you gave us this and now you're just throwing a bunch of random people together. But also there, there it is, a lack of teams in the women's Tag team division. Another thing with the TAG team titles, had they been introduced back then in the Bellins time, it would've been hot potato worse than it is currently? I was gonna say, I think this is the most relevant that they have been in a really long time. Oh yeah. Well that's because the TAG team titles basically spelled disasters for the people who held 'em, whether it be injury or leaving the company. Yep. Getting released? Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Leaving, getting released. Injury. It was, I compare it to the, uh, I think it was the continental title in a EW. Literally every wrestler that had held it and ended up injured during their ring? Yeah. Either during or right at the end. So they had to drop it or they were injured because of the final match. It was injuries happening during the raid, because let's be real, the last time they were really relevant, Naya, or not Naya, Naomi and Sasha. What happened? They win. They walked out of the company. Mm-hmm. Hot potato. Hot potato. Hot potato. Hot potato. Hot potato. Kabuki, warriors kind of. Then we got injuries. Hot potato. Hot potato. Hot potato. And now we're here. No, Charlotte had a good run. Yes. But it still leads into the moment that we are having right now. I know they helped make it relevant. They helped make it, there you go. Yes. They, they helped regain its relevancy. Mm-hmm. Which I love. 'cause think of the names that go into Charlotte. Charlotte Flair. Most women's title runs ever Stop. She hasn't had a title in Fuck Freaking Forever. She hasn't had a single title run in God knows how long, which I'm okay with, but still 14 times is absolutely insane. Me and I have broken down those title ranges before. Yes'. Rio? Yes'. Going into our predictions though, we're a little over the place. So Flash Tank, cursed Bailey and Lyra. Mm-hmm. You, me. Hex Desario. Stand with the Bell. Twins. I pains me to put that down there. Yep. Oh, it paid. It paid me too. 'cause like there was no, but again, there's no point in returning Brie and making the announcement that this is what they're chasing. If you're not gonna do it Exactly, you're not gonna pull the trigger. Even, at least until Summer Slam. Yeah, no, I, I say this, I see this at least going until Summer Slam. If they win the titles now the standalone is Cauldron. Coron with Char. That's mainly 'cause we know how Coron feels about Char. That's really where that comes from. Honestly, it really pains me to put the Bellas like to predict the Bellas to win over three other teams that are significantly more deserting. Yeah, because like honestly, the irresistible forces, I'd love to see them re retained right now. Why they're powerful women. Lash being the youngest one here. Mm-hmm. Definitely having a moment to shine. I say that they get taken out early, like they did with Aya Jax a couple years back. Yeah. In the uh, what? Fatal four way for the title? I think so. Take her out early. Take both the women out early. 'cause they're the biggest threat. Then the Bella twins have more or less their moment. And I don't, I see if anything Lira is the one that eats the pin. And unfortunately that's where I see it happening too. 'cause don't lira eats the pin. Don't, but personally, like I said, I would, you can't kill anything with Char. You No. 'cause that no matter how much you try to kill it with fire, they somehow have made every little situation work in their favor. And Bailey's just, Bailey looks like she needs to chase something else. Honestly, honestly, we need a flip. She needs to go to what? Smack down and chase the US title. That's where I see it. Something. Yeah. The Lord knows they ain't doing nothing with Julia. Nope. Take the title off for her. But like, because Kiana James is barely there at this point and. That's my thing is like I would've even respected Julia and Kiana being involved in this match. Over the Bellas. Over the Bellas. Yeah. Give your young talent a chance to shine. And I think this is taking a moment away from them. That's a lot of matches come this mania. When you look at the ages of like a lot of the champions or a lot of people chasing the championships, they're up there in age. A lot of this is, you know, 40 and up with these matches, unfortunately. Alright, next match up.

Vaquer vs Morgan

31:43

We have the Women's World Championship. Stephanie Valki takes on Lib Morgan. If you don't know this comes because Liv Morgan won the Royal Rumble. She chose Stephanie. It did take her a couple weeks to choose between Stephanie and Jade. She let you think it took her a couple weeks? Yeah, let's be real. She, we knew where it was going. She knew who she wanted. From the very beginning, you saw the writing on the wall even before Rumble. Um, so this now has come to sneak attacks, call talking about each other's families, talking about how they grew up, who has put in more of the work, and it's just gotten insane, I think. Can we talk about that very cringey, Britney Spears esque music media that she No, we're not gonna talk. We're not gonna talk about it. I'm leaving. Just Sorry. We'll get completely outta frame. I'm done. No, I don't blame him because I was very cringey. Like, that's, that's why we're not gonna talk about it. All right. I do this. Well, you say we're not gonna talk about it, but you do realize she's performing her theme song at mania, right? I wonder how much, alright, I'm outta here. I wonder how much Autotune had to work in order to get her voice even somewhat passable for that, the same way that they had to make the do with the Bellas. I'm just saying like mode and fearless can't sing worth a damn, so I'm just saying like, but from one time there to another, seeing. We are going to see her have this as her entrance song Come, mania Come Match Time. And if I read it correctly, I believe she's coming out microphone and all singing her own damn song. Lip-syncing to the own song. Lip-syncing. You know what I see I need there. You're not Chris Jericho bro. I need there to be a police officer squad car at the end of the ra ramp so that uh, hey flush. They can just get taken away 'cause no, yeah, we don't need that. No this like that. That's all I'm saying is we don't need it, my guy. Anyways, this is where we're at. So we have the predictions and they go as followed. Myself. Uh, brother Pyro and Hex are all choosing Liv. Everyone else stands. Stephanie back here. La Premera is gonna come out of this.

Finish scenarios

34:05

I have a feeling if this match would've happened on night two and the dom fin Ballard match happened on night one, I would've had a completely different way of this going with outcome. How the outcome would go. Okay, but, oh, please fill like, like fill in, fill us in, man. I wanted to see Dom kind of screw Liv. Turn Stephanie heel to make her that badass persona right there, because Liv is getting cheered whether we like it or not, with her persona. And this music video is only gonna heighten that type of popularity. So you do a little bit of a double switch. Keep the title on Stephanie. So, so still has his heat, so you're going to do to live what? What they did Toria. Yeah, they're really just gonna copy paste. That's what I said. That's what I thought would've happened if they were gonna be switching 'em for those two nights. Okay. What I'm seeing now is a very specific scene that happened a couple of weeks ago on Monday Night Raw. Hey Roxanne, we kicked out Finn, where do you stand on this? And she was the one that was brought in by Finn Ballor. She screws Liv. Stephanie Retains. That's how I see this one going. See? But I see you're trying to screw Liv and her and Liv taking the title. 'cause it backfires. It's gonna backfire. 'cause let's me know. That's really what we've seen. And when it comes down to it, we all know where this is, go where this story is going. It's going to lead to Raquel live. Summer Slam. Like we have seen that Liv has constantly gotten involved in Raquel's Chase of the world role title screwing her over consistently. No matter how many times she has asked her, yo, step off and let me do this. Let me show I can do this. And as soon as Raquel has, you know, I got the match wood. Liv, I'm gonna come out and help anyway. Okay, I, I see that. But hold on a second with Roxanne, who's to sit there, say that Relle doesn't stand with Roxanne after that point. Thus again, the becoming the good guy judgment based on having that whole thing. But here's Yes, but here's my thing is, you know, this storyline's payoff and the only true payoff is Raquel winning the big one. But you gotta have some layers to go in there. Yes, but it needs to be off of you. Otherwise, what are like, otherwise there's, why have we built this? There's other ways to get the belt off of Stephanie afterwards. Besides right now looking at what we're kind of predicting even of us as a collective. We're going very heel heavy right now. So far you need a face that eventually win something. We've established that. Yeah. So that's why I'm going, Stephanie, winning this one. I mean, AJ's a face, AJ's a face. The bellows are classified as faces. They're not internally, they are classified as faces. Listen to the reaction. Oh, oh, oh. Just everybody hates them. The crowd is over sick and tired of 'em, but they are still classified in the company as baby faces. Fair enough. So are we talking how we the fans feel, or are we talking about how they're actually recorded? Classified. But we're also, we're also seeing examples, especially recently where the crowd reaction and things are actually starting to turn characters from where they're being solidified before. And we'll get into that a little bit later on with another match that's gonna be on the card. Okay. Alright.

Cody and Orton chaos

37:34

But let's go in to our main event of night one a one that, a story that could write itself. I mean, and then you, you jacked it up. Congratulations. Not getting, you have, you have the legacy history, 20 years of history, mentor, mentee, student, teacher. We were like brothers. And you know, Cody brings Randy back to WWE E after all of the big injuries at Survivor series, war games. I mean, you had the classics, you literally, the story wrote itself, but then in walks. Pat McAfee. It had to be Pat. Dude. Of everybody you could've given me, I would've taken Ted Dbi Junior over Pat McAfee. He's still fresh off the lawsuit. I would've taken him over. Pat, you There is so many ways this could have gone. You really Batista. You could have given me Batista. The phone call could have been Rick. I, you know, they couldn't have shown him on TV because he's still under contract with a W. But my God, I get it. So many different directions. So many better direction. And also, let's bring up another point real quick. How many times on the roads to WrestleMania does Cody Rhodes need to get kicked in the junk every year combined? Dude, dude. No. Hold on. I saw the mean. It was like, dude, Cody's peeing Cody's junk. I'm just going back up here. I'm gonna let y'all have at it. I'm just not here anymore. Junk. During the ru somebody said they were bo more beat up. They felt more beat up than Cody's junk on the road to WrestleMania. And I have never felt something so hard, actually. Is that what they really mean by kickoff the road to WrestleMania a parent? Freaking dude. Because I mean, man, since returning dude originally, every, with the exception of his surprise return at 38, mania 39 kicked in the junk mania. 40 kicked in the drunk and caught bloody 41, kicked in the junk 42, kicked in the junk repeatedly and slapped by Stephanie McMahon. Yes. So we're, we're adding layers to what's gonna happen to him next year. We'll, we'll cover that. At that point. A ring gets thrown in his face by his wife. We don't, you keep kicking, kicked, kicked in the junk. He don't work no more. Right. Kicked to the junk. Smacked by somebody else divorced, give divorced, and given his pink. So, because you know what? Let's add to the layers. That really could be, it would be the first time they've done it well, they've done something so stupid. Agreed. And you know, I am still gonna look forward to this match. 'cause the match is gonna be incredible. Both guys know each other. They know how to work. I'm gonna be very leery about how the ending comes about because I want it to hopefully be a certain way. Not going, you know, there's TKO interference, all overdrive route. All good. Hold on. Let's get into our predictions, because this is the first time tonight. It is unanimous. It is unanimous. Because you know what I personally. And I'm sorry to my lovely wife at home. I'm getting sick of Cody Rhodes. I want him to sit there and still repeatedly get kicked in the junk every single time I see him on tv. So everybody is going to sit there and celebrate the 15 time world champion Randy Orton. That's where I'm going with Mr. Randy or Mr. 15, time World Champion c Chubby. So twisted, take me into it. Why are you on the, uh, Randy Orton train? I'm sick of Cody, honestly. Got it. So we're all just bored of the man. There's been nothing with this title. Rain. You gave it to him. Oh, the last one you took it off of Drew to give it to us now because you went Oh. Crap. I, excuse me. I made a mistake. Yeah. I need to point out where the Drew Randy story would have been good. Yes. But the story li again, literally wrote itself, you didn't need, there couldn't been a better story than Cody versus Randy. They have been teasing and building, and we have been clamoring and wanting and calling for this match specifically for about three years since Title run number one. Mm-hmm. I agree. Absolutely. And you finally give it to us, and then you add Jelly Roll and Pat McAfee and make us no longer give a damn about it. It's so the casual fans turn their heads for the sake of this specific story and. Screw the casual fan. Leave the dumb asses in the back. Forget 'em. Forget 'em all. Forget the casual fan for one match. For one moment. This was about the hardcore fans and you screw this over.

Hall of Fame Preview

42:55

With that being said, um, we go into the Hall of Fame at 11 o'clock tonight, folks. Thank you DeRio. So we'll be up till like three no. Triple H is gonna take two hours just to induct Stephanie, and then she's gonna speak for another two hours. No, it's Undertaker That inducts her. Oh, undertaker is inducting her. Surprisingly. Okay. But I 100% thought it was gonna be her husband. Did. No, but we are, did you expect anybody else, maybe her father to show up? I, I, I expected it to be her husband or somehow they mended the fences with her brother. I was about to say, Shane, who should have been the hall? The McMahon in the Hall of Fame Screw Stephanie. Anyways, lemme tell you right now, only two McMahon should be in the Hall of Fame right now, Vince, because of, because without him, the world of her wrestling isn't what it is today. Mm-hmm. Shane, because he actually contributed to the company. Okay. In more ways than sex

Stephanie Career recap

43:52

appeal. Getting into Stephanie's accomplishments. So Stephanie began working with WWE B at 13 modeling merchandise. You know, dude, I wouldn't mind seeing that. What comment on the TikTok said, watch, take her tombstone her during her induction, please. I do that. All right, please. Uh, before regularly appearing in 1999 as part of a storyline with Undertaker. She's a one-time WBF Women's Champion owned ECW. During the invasion the following year, she was the GM of SmackDown that had a lot of feuds and, uh, funny moments with Chris Jericho. She had her final in Ring Match at WrestleMania 34 in 2018. She currently runs a podcast called What Is Your Story? I've actually really enjoyed her podcast. I will not lie. It's

AJ Styles legacy

44:37

been very good. Um, our other Headliner AJ Styles, the phenomenal AJ styles, man, what is there to say about a man who work speaks for itself? WCW small stint with velocity, obviously never really took off with the company in that time, became the face of TNA. Mm-hmm. Got into TNA from the ground floor, really solidified himself in the like six years that he was with the company, became their guy. Him to TNA was cina to wwe. We saw a thing and it was like, all right, so Mr. This company, Mr. That company, whatever, so Mr. WE, John Cena. Yep. At least in the new day in this era, in the current era, of course, it's Cena for a EW, it's Moxley. For New Japan, it was OTA for TNA, it's AJ style. Mm-hmm. Uh, and I think at one point for, I think they had, uh, Mr. Ring Bonner, and I believe it was, uh, Kevin Owens, or, well, Kevin Stein at the time, Christopher Daniels. Christopher Daniels also could have been, but like this, so let's see. We've had the t and a stint where he's captured the ex division title. I think second, only to second most times only to Chris Saban. Sounds real, right. Chris Saban is the only 10 time ex division champion Jesus. He's been tag team champion on numerous occasions. World title runs that we're actually relevant for TNA Feuded with guys like Bully Ray. With Jeff Hardy. With Matt Hardy, with Kurt Eng, Samoa Joe. The list goes on from TNA to Ring of Honor in which he became Ring of Honor champion at one point. Ring of Honor tag and trio's champion with the young box. Went on to New Japan. IWGP World Champion where he has put on some classics with Hinske Nakamura, with Omega, where he led the bullet club post Fin Ballard's departure. Mm-hmm. 2016, the moment fans never thought we'd get in at number three, AJ Styles the debut and the retirement at that one event, his full circle moment, this man's career speaks for itself. And I could go on for about an hour about the man. Yeah, we ain't gonna do that. We're not going to, we, me and Desario were talking before we started getting all of the fun started and we were like, yeah, no, this man like that. Him alone, his resume alone can take about a 45 minute segment. Yeah, definitely. This man's accomplishments, what he has done with out just being a strong representative for every company that he has been attached to. Mm-hmm. Inside and outside the ring. You don't speak pro wrestling without, especially in today's age. Without speaking the name, AJ Styles, the phenomenal one, I don't think is just an in ring moniker anymore. No, absolutely not. Like that is truly how that man has established his career and his lifestyle, and I could not be any happier or more proud to find a more deserving person to headline the 2026 class of the WWE E Hall of Fame.

Demolition Origions

48:20

All right, next up, Desar with demolition. Okay, now taking y'all back to the eighties, y'all fall on. You are the only person on this podcast that would remember that talk. Exactly. So let's take it back to the eighties. Now, back in the eighties, we had legendary tag teams, more so than we have right now. TAG team was a very big staple, and not only WWF at the time, but also the NWA and all throughout the territories. One of the most popular teams before I get into demolition was a tag team that was in the NWA, known as the Road Warriors Hawk and Animal. They ran rough shot. They actually got a term named after a called the Road Warrior Pop, where the roof would basically explode when they came out. Oh dude. If it was a cartoon by. The roof explodes, it come lands right back on the building like so. But WWF needs to have their kind of answer to the Legion. The, at this, we call him Legion Doom at that time, road Warriors. So what do they come up with? They come up with Demolition Acts smash. They give him a manager, Mr. Fuji. They give him one of the most iconic theme songs to ever come out of WWE e. And then had 'em run rough shot over everybody. Their outfits were inspired by Mad Max two, the guy named Lord humongous with spikes and leather all over. They just look so intimidating. They were a team built for you to really hate. So of course what happens, the fans start to love this tag team. They wanna sit there and see more of it. Just like undertaker. He was meant to be scary and intimidating, but because of how dominant he was, people just started to love that you gravitated towards that level of dominance. You gravitated towards that level of I can beat you. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. With ease. He gravitated towards the character. Exactly. And so with this team prior to Turning Face, they got their first, uh, taste of Tag Team Gold by beating Strikeforce, Tito Santana and Rick Martel. Oh my God. And they ended up having one of the longest res with that title at 429 days. Only three teams have lasted longer than that. Can you name those three the new day? That's one. I'm done. That was it. Nope. No. Nope, nope. That's all I need. I'm, I'm the USOs. USOs. I was gonna say, ah Chad, help him out. I was, say Chad, if you know the answer, please go ahead. Comment. We'd love to see it. I'll give you a hint. I was gonna say what era I'm waiting for XTUK. Mustache Mountain Imperium. No mustache Mountain. Mustache Mountain. I did it. Yeah. There you go, girl. Anyways they ended up, Fuji ended up turning on him going with the Legion, newly formed powers of pain turned, demolition face. But then right around this time, the Road Warriors finally made their way into the WWF, and so came the Legion of Dom came in the Legion of Doom, but still being billed as Road Warrior Hawk and Road Warrior Animals. So everybody's still new. Mm-hmm. But you can't have those two teams on the same side. No. Demolition goes back to being evil. And then you get those clashes that go between 'em. They're pairing with othering the road. I feel like being them, being, or demolition, being faced. And then the Roll Warriors, Legion of Doom being healed would've been the better move. But Elle wasn't there at that point. You Elle came in later, so it was just them by themselves. But anyways demolition, um, especially Ax started having some really bad BA problems with his body. So they brought in a third member crush. The chemistry in the, so just wasn't quite the same. And now that you actually have, it's like when they tried to replace Hawk with Legion Doom when he packed his bags and left. Yeah. And what, like, it just, it wasn't the same. It wasn't. And with Legion Doom now being there, the popularity of the demolition just went down and down and down until they dissolved with little to no fanfare mean both guys ended up going out and tried to do their own thing. Uh, smash in particular tried to become Repo Man, which was a hilarious gimmick. Love it. Love the reaction when that car dropped in Super Car. I could have made an entire deck for me, for you, for her, for flash, and for everybody. All of our friends that play, everybody would've had several decks with how many times I pulled that, that bastard off of our draft board. I know. I was ready to score. But you know, with Repo Man, we'll get that later. But demolition, without them, you wouldn't have those tag team styles that you have right now. And they were a team that could work with anybody. Flyers, muscular, as you name it. So for that, they were a good hybrid from don't highlights that I've seen. 'cause obviously I, I wasn't around during their time or during like the Legion of Doom. Yeah. So from what I have seen for highlights or for like my own personal research, they were one of the original hybrid teams of speed and power. Absolutely. They were, they would be able to do anything. And like I said, for that and the World Wars were the same way. Very much, although they were more powerhouse than they were more powerhouse. But you got to see some of that hybrid energy when they needed to. True. So if you're not familiar with that, the Viking Raiders, this was the Viking Raiders before the Viking Raiders. There we go. Very similar. Any who onto an X one because I'm not here. Thank you. Flash. That was flash. Y'all. Yeah, flash.

Dennis Rodman WCW

53:48

Dennis, Rodman, Dennis Rodman, NBA champion turned wrestler for a night or four or five, whatever. He, because like, let's be real, his ain't nobody ever know how to control that man. He was a, he was a beast on the court though. Like that man is gonna pull you like 30 rebounds because he can't, couldn't score. Worth a dime. But pull, pull down plenty boards. He aligned himself with what? The N-W-O-N-W-C-W. Yes. With a, and that field was actually a lot of fun. 'cause it was what Hogan him and first it started off with Hogan and Rodman tag team match Road Wild against DDP and the mailman. Carl Malone, I'm sorry, not at Road Wild bashed at the beach. He was bashed at the beach. Carl Malone brought in that real life tension of the Chicago Bulls at the time having won the, uh, NBA championship over sorry, sorry, sorry. Ah, got it. Okay. Over the Utah Jazz. Over the Utah Jazz brought in that personal animosity per personal beef into the world of pro wrestling. Because what better storylines is there than the ones that blend reality and the world of fiction, as they like to say? Mm-hmm. And this was a match. It existed. All right. It wasn't a bad one. No, it wasn't a bad one. Honestly, if Rod didn't make it as an NBA player, which still surprised he did, he definitely would've had a career in pro wrestling. I'm not gonna lie. Fair point. But into our celebrity wing of the Hall of Fame, which shouldn't exist. You and I have talked about this forever. The celebrity wing needs to be de be abolished until you finally acknowledge Cyndi Lauper, who has done so much for the world of pro wrestling. Y'all pick up the pace. Dennis Robin, congratulations. What? Psycho Sid. Okay, so another name from the eighties, nineties, and leading into the two thousands. A man by the name of Sid Udi. Thank you. Daddy Lizard. Yeah. Yeah. Sid Udi, better known by a few different names, started off in CCW, uh, made a little bit of noise there, but his main stuff started really happening in the USWA, the NWA. And then, then WWF in the USWA. He finally acknowledged the name of Sid Vicious, the name that he took from a Sex Pistols basis had some modern, you know, that doesn't surprise me. He ended up having some good success over there. Became, you know, tag team champions, mid heavyweight champions. A little bit of a footy. NWA comes calling, he makes his name over there becomes one half of a tag team called The Skyscrapers with Dangerous Danny Spivey. And actually, you know, they became also known as like the masters of the power bomb. And that's where Sid really started utilizing the power bomb as his main finisher. He tried to sit there and break the glass ceiling as a single star, but didn't really get there. So WWF came call it. And so he shows up to be a special guest referee in a match between the Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan versus the Triad of Terror, which was Sergeant Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa, who is basically the Iron Sheik and Admiral Adnan, who was, you know, the whole Iraq trio that they were doing at that point in time, which I, well the least said about that, the better. Anyways, going into that match also, Sid changed his name again because if WWE e can't trademark it, they're not gonna want to use it and they can't trademark Sid Vicious. So what did he become? Psycho City Psycho say, Nope, no Sid Justice. No, that's right. Kids Sid Justice. And so he starts, you know, making a little bit of a footing for himself. Uh, going into the 1992 Royal Rumble, the World Heavyweight Championship, uh, the WWF championship, I should say, became vacant. Sid is in that match trying to get it. He actually eliminates Hulk Hogan and Hulk Hogan throws a little bit of a temper tantrum outside of the ring and pulls Sid out, causing Sid to somehow turn heel because of this. You know what, it's W2 B and it's Hulk Hogan's Ego. So what are we surprised by that it leads to the main Veta WrestleMania vii, where it Sid Justice versus Hulk Hogan. Um, if anybody ever wants to talk about one of the worst main events of all time, this is the one that you would need to watch as one of the worst. I'm not gonna get into any more details other than that. But then Sid kind of bounced around back over to WCW, um, had some. We'll say legal trouble that got him out of WC at that point in time. 'Cause obviously some of the things that happened there I can't really describe in good conscious on a podcast. All right. So anyways, not one made for, not made, not one made for families. Anyway, he makes his way back over to WWF as the bodyguard, or Sean Michael's. And this is where he comes really psycho Sid. This is where he starts becoming the unhinged thing. The eyes, the look, the intensity. I mean, when you say, build me a strong professional wrestler, show me what he would look like. You could easily put Sid's image right there. Mm-hmm. Very easily. He ended up becoming WWF Champion at one point in time, later on. Mm-hmm. And then also made his, uh. Way back over to WCW. Want a couple more titles? I mean, this guy just personified what being in the business was all about for having the look, the size, the strength, and also the adaptability in the business activities, sir. Mm-hmm. So for Syd to be in here, even though it's Posthumus, he died back in 2024 due to non-Hodgkin's, the leukemia lymph. Yeah. I mean, sorry to hear that, but Sid, you finally get your place. Good job, bud. Wish they would've done it while he was alive. And he's in the celebrity wing too. So that says law Sid Vicious in the Celebrity Wing. Mm-hmm. That is some bull. That's what it's labeled as. All right. Back news. They're calling in the Legacy Way. Hang on. Yeah. Yeah. Bad news. Brown, uh, started off in Judo where he won the Amateur Athlete Union Judo Championship in 1966. 19 68, 19 69. 1970 and 1975, uh, he debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling in October of 1977. Competing for there for over 15 years. He then made a one-off appearance at WF in February of 1978, defeating a jobber at a live event. He returned in January, 1979, wrestled for WWF for the remainder of the year, and returned back in 1988. Mm-hmm. And then, sorry. And then after 88, he makes his way over to WWF as bad news Brown. He had some great feuds going on, and he also had a reputation of being this really big, you know, bad mother trucker from others at their promotions. I mean, this is a guy who even dynamite kid, said pound for pound was one of the toughest individuals he's ever set there. Been in the ring with. He had great feuds with Macho man, Randy Savage, uh, had a questionable feud with Roddy Roddy Piper at WrestleMania. Where Piper, in order to show he had soul painted himself half black for the Bash. Something you definitely cannot do and I would not do nowadays. Kids that was bad. Oh yeah, please don't. Um, he also had another feud with Jake, the Snake Roberts, where uh, he brought out a, uh, you know, sewer rat or a possum look to the ring to try to eat Jake's snake, Jesus. But he always left a very inevitable memory on people. He was a king of the ring that Brett Hart ended up getting pissed off about and beat, broke up the trophy. Uh, he lasted about three years, left the company due to, uh, disagreements of over how his character was being portrayed, not getting a world title, and also for pay for, uh, Vince, he then bounces around the indies, makes his way back to New Japan for a little while and is just, you know, kind of floating around and doing his thing. But nobody doubted that when it came to being, uh, you know, that intimidating presence, bad news Brown, bad news, Allen, whatever you wanna call him. Was that man, was that okay? The Emoto moment that is being inducted is WrestleMania three, Hulk Hogan versus Andre the Giant. Brother Pyro. Do you wanna take this one? Mm is, this is for me. Did you wanna take it? You can take it. You got It wasn't on me. I'll tell you what, when it comes to, it was Rios, when it comes to Andre the Giant versus Hulk Hogan, WrestleMania three, the Pontiac Silverdome, where depending on who you believe there was either 83,000 or you know, however many were there. It was a moment at that point in time that really solidified the rock and wrestling WWF era going on. Yeah. It was the highest thing that was being viewed, and it was so iconic having the two biggest stars, Andre, who had not.