Botches, Controversy & Tribal Combat Chaos - Clash in Italy Review

Wrestling Crossroads reviews WWE Clash in Italy, calling it a strong setup show for the summer while discussing the new King & Queen of the Ring Fatal 4-Way format, bracket changes, and Finn Bálor’s trade to SmackDown. They break down Cody Rhodes retaining over Gunther in a controversial rope-assisted pin and argue the feud should continue to SummerSlam. Rhea Ripley retains over Jade Cargill in a botch-filled match with Charlotte and 'The Baddies' involvement, which they say best sets up Charlotte vs Jade while ending Rhea/Jade. Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi II earns high praise for storytelling and sets up a likely trilogy. Sol Ruca beats Becky Lynch for the Women’s IC title, though they criticize the lack of buildup. In the main event, Roman Reigns retains against Jacob Fatu in Tribal Combat, advancing Bloodline/MFT storylines into Raw and beyond.

Transcript

0:14

What is up, guys? Welcome back to Wrestling Crossroads. As always, I am one half Dynamic Duo twis- sitting alongside Brother Pyro. What's up, y'all? Uh, if you're new, welcome, and, uh, if you've been listening to us forever, thank you, and welcome back. We are talking Clash in Italy. Overall, with this being just kind of rematch mania, what do you f- like, what did you think of it? I thought it was overall a really good show. Okay. Oh, I think it did the job it needed to do going into the summer.

King and Queen Format

0:48

'Cause think about it, the summer, King and Queen of the Ring starts. Yep. Uh, Night of Champions, bigger storyline, bigger picture, Summer Slam. Yes. Yes. So we have all of that coming up. And because we are recording on a Wednesday, we already did have the start to the King and Queen of the Ring. Yes. Um- I very much do not like the f- new format, 'cause I feel like- It's rushed? No, I don't even feel like it's rushed. I feel like you're not giving everybody a chance to shine in the best possible light. But we'll continue, we'll... But I do like that it's a lot of... 'Cause it's, you know, Fatal 4-Way, Fatal 4-Way, Fatal 4-Way, Fatal 4-Way. Yeah. It's all cross promotion, so it's- Yes two SmackDown, two Raw, two SmackDown, two Raw, two SmackDown, two Raw. Mm-hmm. Like, for every Fatal 4-Way- Yeah so, like, you get a lot of potential match-ups that you wouldn't normally see otherwise. Mm-hmm. Like, we got the Fatal 4-Way of Carmelo Hayes, Solo Sikoa, Oba Femi, and Penta. Let's be real, without a tournament like this, we're not, we'll almost never see the Oba-Solo, uh, connection. Yeah. We won't see the Melo-Penta connection. The, you know- Yeah, unless the trade comes in and they get switched. Like the trade, the switch off. Speaking of trades, um, as announced when they did the brackets and then a little later on in the night, Finn Bálor has been traded to- SmackDown, yes SmackDown for literally next to nothing. What is Adam Pearce's issue with Finn Bálor? I don't know. Think about it. Think about it. Roster's full, so they trade him to SmackDown. Earlier this year, Rumble's full, so you no longer get your spot back. What is your beef with Bálor about? I don't know. Let's have them fight. Bálor versus... Okay. But, like, I'm, I'm thoroughly enjoying. I know the brackets were set up a certain way, and if you remember, I know I put this in our group chat. Yeah. Uh, Tala Tonga and Ricky Saints were supposed to be original members of the, uh, bracket. They were swapped out for now Drew McIntyre, a returning Drew McIntyre, which we haven't seen in a while. Yeah. And now Sami Zayn. Yes. That's strange, because literally everything I've seen since that came into the group chat is saying that they're still in it. Well, they, uh, well, as I s- and I've been, I've been listening to Busted Open, Off the Ropes, not Sam wrestling, you know, w- uh, SiriusXM Fight Nation, channel 156. Yeah. Go listen to it, 'cause when I'm out of the loop, that's exactly how I get caught up. Mm-hmm. They've been talking about it pretty much all week. Okay. We'll, we'll have to see when it comes to it, but- Um, I believe I saw an updated bracket somewhere. I'll have to re-look for it. Yeah. I know- As long as we know one thing, it was announced, 'cause the tournaments were announced on the Clash in Italy pre-show. Mm-hmm. We saw, you know, they had an interaction with Liv Morgan. Liv Morgan announced that she was gonna be in it. Why? She- I don't know a fan tweeted her about this- Yeah by the way. Mm-hmm. And she said And it makes sense for her character of "I want it all," essentially, but it was basically, she could have dumbed it down of, "That's the one thing I haven't accomplished. I want to accomplish it," shit. But it turned into this long-winded, to sum it up- "I want it all" "I'm the best and I want it all." Yeah. Um, so if you guys don't pay attention to our socials, please jump in to paying attention to them. They are linked in the description. We will be posting up our own brackets as to what we think the winner will be of the king and queen of the ring. So we have, do we have everybody's brackets? Yes, I just have to formally write out yours and Desario's, that is it. Okay, cool. And then I literally have everybody from Wrestling Crossroads. All right, cool. All right, so- With that being said now that that's all been acknowledged and taken care of, 'cause that's gonna play into a lot of how we talk about- Yes uh, in the aftermath.

Cody vs Gunther

4:53

Clash in Italy, Italy opened up three hour on ESPN, if you are here in the States. Cody Rhodes defends his WWE undisputed title against the Ring General, the Career Killer, Gunther. Gunther, Gunther. However you want to pronounce it. Guntha- no, this was actually a, a funny thing on Off the Ropes, uh, I think it was Friday, they were debating, 'cause WWE doesn't even know how to pronounce the man's name. They- Half the time it's Guntha, Gunther, Gunther. Nobody knows how to say it. Guntha, the man. So, th- it's funny to hear that rant, but um, overall, this was actually a really good technical match, a good, a decent back and forth. Um, one thing that I know I listened to, and I believe this came from the words of Dave LaGreca, and I agreed with it, is a lot of the... Like, you knew Cody was gonna go over. Yeah. Like, so new- spoiler alert, Cody retained his title Uh, and it was, are we really, with them being on ESP- that free hour on ESPN, you want people to tune in to buy the bundle to, you know- Mm-hmm watch. So of course you're gonna have him go over. And Cody, in all three of his reigns now as WWE Champion- Is it three? This is now his third. Oh, Lord. He beat Roman. Yeah. Lost it to Cena. Beat Cena. Mm. Lost it to Drew. Lost it to Drew. Beat Drew. Beat Drew. And now we're here. Oh, no. This is the second time- Oh he has defended outside of the US, by the way. The first time was to Drew, and he lost. But- Anyways um- Back to Roman we've never really been, Cody hasn't been in a position where you think he might actually lose his title. Yeah, that's true. Like, when you watch his, his reigns- Yeah at no point in the three reigns have you ever thought outside of now Cena, Cena and now his feud with Gunther, hopefully, it's never been a, "Oh, he might actually drop the title." And I think that is one thing that Roman, even with the minimal defenses that he had in his four-year championship reign, did well. Honestly, even- He gave you the, the illusion that he could be beat. Did he get beaten? No, but he made you think it was possible. That's what he, Cody Rhodes, take some notes. That's honestly, with this World Heavyweight Championship and his Backlash match with Jacob- Yeah he's made you think Jacob could actually be the guy. Let's talk about that when we get to that later. I'm, I'm, I'm just, you know- Yeah comparing championship notes right now. Okay. Obviously we haven't gotten that far. That w- Yes that was our main event. But, uh, Cody wins in very controversial fashion. Yes. Cro- uh, after a clothesline and a crossroads, Gunther's legs are actually under the bottom rope. Mm-hmm. The ref in the match is not in position to see it and counts the three-count. Gunther's legs were under that rope for at least a two-count. The pin never should've started. Nope. 'Cause if you don't know wrestling-wise, if a foot is under or above touching the ropes, that- If it is in the ropes at any capacity- Mm it is an illegal pin. Um, so I'm gonna go into the grade real quick. Yes. They gave it a C. It was a decent opening match. Mm-hmm. Um, but again, the ref being out of position, it was kind of a quick match for them. Yeah. And honestly, the wrong person went over. It really should have been Gunther Give something fresh Give, give us something fresh, give us something that we kind of wanna see, 'cause we're already tired of Cody. But- When haven't we been tired of Cody? I guess post-show, Cody did acknowledge it and said, "Hey, Gunther, if you want a rematch, I got you." Bully and Dave Lagreca talked about this on Busted Open. Yep talking about how Gunther needs to do not go to Otis, do not go to the referee. You get in Cody's face, and you tell him he knows he didn't win that match. Not to say that he wouldn't have won the match, but in that moment- You didn't you didn't beat me. No. And I need to see that play out. I need Gunther/Cody II with Gunther go- righting the wrong and going over. Yeah. Gunther, you call him out. I want to watch SmackDown on Friday. Mm-hmm. And the opening segment- Is a pissed off Gunther is a pissed off Gunther. He calls him out to the middle of the ring, and he's like, "I want you in here 'cause I wanna speak to you face to face." And he's like, "You didn't beat me. You know you're wrong. Is that really how you wanna go about your championship reign?" And another thing they brought in is we've seen the shift in Sammy. Yeah. Sammy then later tells Cody, 'cause Cody's stewing on it, stewing on it. Mm-hmm. He runs into him in the back, "You know he's right. You don't wanna hear it, but you know Gunther's right. And is that how you as a Rhodes- Yeah, 'cause they've been throwing that in his face a lot want to g- conduct business?" Yeah. "You didn't win. If that's how you wanna claim your win, fine, be it that way." Mm-hmm. "But you know it's not the right way to go about business. And you as a Rhodes, and Dusty and Cody ho- were guys of honor and prestige and, you know-" Yeah, really play into the dad character. You know, they really held themselves with a higher pride in doing things the right way You set up Cody, Gunther to SummerSlam Yeah 'Cause let's be real, that's where this needs to culminate. I agree. Doesn't need culminatin' anywhere else, like, leave it there. But let's see how this plays out. Uh, so your initial grade for it, I don't think you actually gave- I did. I said a C. Okay. I said a C- I just wanna make sure and then I broke down why it was a C. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that, you know, I, I didn't hear it, that's why. I, I kinda went, "Hey, let's get the grade out there," before I jump into our next one. Jump into the next match.

Rhea vs Jade Rematch

11:30

Next match, WWE Women's Championship, Rhea Ripley defends against Jade Cargill in a rematch from their WrestleMania 42 bout. Um, starting off, Jade was really dominant in a majority of this match. Right. Really had Rhea on her toes. I don't think it's something that Rhea's very used to 'cause- No not many women are going to out-muscle- Yeah or out-power Rhea Ripley. No, especially with her having to lose the, a lot of the muscle due to, uh, medical reasonings. There were a lot of botches throughout this entire match, one being, uh, a flip that Rhea normally does as, like, a semi-cannonball on the outside of the ring. Jade caught her very awkwardly, and the landing onto two feet was very sloppy. Um, getting back into the ring, Rhea attempted a Razor's Edge. Cargill countered on a very sloppy move, again. Um, back and forth for a bit, but Cargill did go into a different arsenal, where she actually hit a Blue Thunder Bomb, um, before B-Fab and Michin made their way out to try and save a pinfall for Cargill. Uh, that was sloppy on B-Fab's end 'cause continuing to grab her- Oh, B-Fab got caught And they were told to ejecto from the side of the ring. Charlotte comes out and- Yep. They turn around, Charlotte Flair is there. Um, I never thought I'd like that pairing as much as I currently have. Oh my God, I don't know what it is, but it has been- But I do- beautiful I will say that I love that they're setting up for Charlotte-Jade. Oh, yeah. And you know what? That is something that no- you don't need a title- No to be involved, and it's still going to be a draw. But you know what I wanna see? They teased it a little bit- They, they, they teased it little bit. If you remember what... Did you watch Smackdown? No, I did not. Okay. Did you catch any of the clips? I don't believe so. I'm gonna be a 1000%. Oh, okay. Okay. So- What did they tease? They, they kind of reminded us of how good Alexa Bliss can really be. Oh, yep. I, I saw the, her calling them out. They... 'Cause there was the moment with B-Fab, Michin, Jade, and Rhea, and then out come Charlotte and- Alexa Alexa. Yep. Man, she has been such a, a background- Player character for so long with Bray and now with Charlotte. You forget just how good she is on the mic and in the ring when left to her own devices. 'Cause when she told Jade, "Listen, I'm going... I give every rookie a courtesy warning." Mm-hmm. "I've been in the ring physically and on the mic with people that are better than you." Yep. "So watch yourself before I embarrass you before your career can start." Yeah, I, I, I did see that clip. I, I didn't watch Smackdown. Yes. But I was listening to Tommy Dreamer on Busted Open the fo- that Saturday morning. Okay. And they were talking about it, and they played the clip. And I saw it on Instagram, and I saw it on TikTok. Mm-hmm. And I was like, "Holy crap, dude." Yeah. Just a little bit of a reminder of Alexa can really be top dog. Oh, yeah, and she needs to. She needs to be on top again. Like, I, I would lo- I love the pairing of Alexa and Charlotte. Like, it's- I love Charlotte, so it's been great. It's been fun. The friends of convenience turned best friends Char Alexa, whatever you wanna call 'em, split 'em. Yeah. Like, and I'm not saying, you know, you have to have one turn, just mutual, "Hey, I need to- And y- remember who I am- Yeah as an individual. You need to focus. You have a lot of other stuff that you are focused on." Peaceful split. Keep 'em both babyfaces, 'cause they have been money as babyfaces. Mm-hmm. But give me Charlotte as a single stars again, 'cause later that night she had an amazing, amazing match with Jade. She made- Are you talking about Alexa or Charlotte? Alexa. 'Cause you said, you said Charlotte at first. No. Now I'm making sure. Alexa had a match later on- Yeah after that promo. An amazing ma- She may have taken the L, but again, she reminded you just- She can go how good Little Miss Bliss can be when you let her be Alexa freakin' Bliss. All right. All right. And I need to see this again. I know you wanna see this again. I do. The fans deserve to see this again. Give me The Goddess. Give me The Goddess. I- I, it doesn't even have to be that, just give me no spooky, which I know she did retire. Uh, she, she's 100% stated that- Which I did know she retired with Bray's passing- So- that, that gimmick is retired. So that would leave to a different version of The Goddess. Give me- But give me The Goddess. I'm okay with something that she's got going, with whatever she's got going now- Mm that I feel like that would work for her regardless. 'Cause she's still kind of, like, with her attire and such, she still plays into that, like, little spooky role, but she, like, but you can tell she's broken free from it- Mm in every other aspect, but, like, that little nod. I just like- Dude, if she made Jade look like- I loved her as a heel there. Honestly, she can, she's one of few, 'cause not everybody can play both worlds. Yeah. No, I know. And there are a lot of guys that we have stated that we, like, guys and girls that we have stated, "This i- this is what works better for you." There's a lot of guys that, like, "This is what I prefer to be anyway." Like, Rollins has stated he prefers to be the heel. Yeah. He feels he does a lot better as a heel. He can be a lot more believable as the character 'cause he's not, uh, 'cause when he's in his babyface role, he's trying to play himself, which is difficult in and of- Yeah. Colby Lopez does not need to be in a wrestling ring as Colby Lopez. No Whereas his wife, I think actually- Is a better face Yeah, she's a better- She's a, Becky Lynch is significantly a better face She's a better face with just that little tip to heel, like she, when she was The Man. Best gimmick she's done. When she first brought in The Man- Yes I would- Best, best gimmick if we can get a, a retro night where everybody brings back a retro gimmick, I need her to bring back for a night, The Lass Kicker. Oh my goodness. Dude, The Lass Kicker was, the steampunk vibe was always- Was beautiful, yeah my favorite, but yes, it did run its course. It, it did, and it, it was- But yeah main roster-wise, it did not work. It did. It did at first. It got really stale really quickly though. It did 'cause when, if you go back to, what is it, WrestleMania 30 they were on? Or was it 31? Nope, 32. 32 they were on, that's when they changed the Divas title, 32. Yeah. Okay. When you go back to WrestleMania 32, and it's in video clips, and I, I, I swear we'll get back to the match in just a second When you go, when you go back to WrestleMania 32 with them- That's how you know this match wasn't nothing- Mm-hmm 'cause look at what we're talking about right now. N- uh, I'm getting there. Right, we shouldn't be discussing- I'm getting there dissecting this. Okay. Anyways, go back to WrestleMania 32. Who were the two Mattel dolls made out of that match? Charlotte and Sasha. But who were the three in that match? Charlotte, Sasha, Becky. Because Becky was stale. Because the steampunk beyond her coming up in PCB was gone. And they didn't know what to do with her after. No. So they let her- Once PCB broke- run- That was it they let her run that course a little too long. Mm-hmm. But once they were able to s- find that shift, it was beautiful. It was great. It was fantastic. Oh, yeah. Once- I- once The Man came, I think that was her best. And honestly, if we can revert back to The Man, not Big Time Becks, 'cause it was a great heel gimmick, but it became... It didn't become stale, it became a lot. It was overdone. Yeah. Whereas, uh, Steampunk Irish Laska- s- Kicker was underdone. I think- The Man was that perfect medium- I think- and could work as both face and a heel that Big Time Becks is the equivalent to Thank You Trish. Totally overdone, overplayed, overblown. But- Done so, love that. Back into this match real quick, um, so that we can get just at least through the end of it.

Match wrap and critique

20:14

Uh, Charlotte Flair did make her appearance as we had said. She took out Michin and B-Fab, and then there was a point where, uh, Rhea had picked up the upper hand, uh, or Jade had picked up the upper hand on Rhea. She saved Rhea, put the foot on the ropes. To, uh- Turned out Flair, fair play. Yep. Rhea then capitalized, hitting Jade with a Rip Tide, one, two, three, Rhea retains. I wanna point out two things with this match before we jump into the next one. All right, cool, 'cause I did not grade it. That's fine. I- It did not do a any jo- good job of holding my interest. Yeah, it had- I, it, it, it got real bleh- Bleh real quick. All right. So number one, Rhea made Jade look like a million bucks in this match. Alexa did a better job of it on Friday. That's fine. However, in this match she was the one that carried everything, especially with the botches. Number two- 'Cause she's the vet. Yeah. Number two, why did Rhea struggle with every single Rip Tide she did? If you go back, I know you don't like it- Oh, geez but watch the ending, like 10 minutes of the match, barely 10 minutes. Every single rip tide she did with Jade, Jade sandbagged her. She struggled on every single one, and it's ridiculous. Because how are you, how am I gonna make sure you're safe if you're sandbagging me? And why are you sitting here and not even reacting to anything I'm doing? You're no selling, and that's ridiculous.

Corey Graves praise

21:43

I- Take us into the next match before I get into that Before, before I go into the next match, I need to sh- quick shout-out, quick, um, praise, moment of praise for Corey. Corey Graves is a true professional. Yeah. He did a fantastic job on the pre-show, did a fantastic job calling match after match after match alongside Michael Cole. Yeah. Really glad that that's a pairing we have back on our TVs on a regular basis. Mm-hmm. But also the fact that he real life, Saturday night- In Mexico- Yeah called Triple A, mask versus mask. Great match, by the way. To then fly to Turin, Italy to make sure he was there to call the action alongside Michael Cole for Clash in Italy. My guy. I need to give him his flower- I needed to give him his flowers before we moved on, 'cause nobody talks about that kind of stuff- The commentators enough. No. Everybody pays attention to what's going on in the ring. Nobody pays attention to the voices calling the action, and the, uh, the amount of work that they put in. 'Cause they put in just as much, if not more work, than the guys that are in the ring trying to tell that story. They are just as big a part- They are of this. They're just as, you know, wiped out, beaten out as the, as- They do just as much traveling to make sure this happens. If not more sometimes, like Corey. So, uh- 'Cause he's on two shows. He's, he's on two shows, and I wanna point out, he's in two different countries 90% of the time. Like, they're currently- I feel for his wife, man. Dude, I wanna point out, like, again. So we went Mexico to Italy. Now he's gotta fly back to Mexico for Saturday show- Mm-hmm in Triple A, to then fly to France 'cause they're in Paris for Raw on Monday. Jeez. If that man does not get a raise, y'all messed up. Y'all did something wrong. 'Cause I don't know when the European tour ends- Uh-huh but I know later this month, on a Saturday, if they have him there, he's there for Clash, or for Night of Champions, to then have to fly to Mexico to call Triple A. We'll get into all that stuff in a bit. I'm just saying, like- Yeah think about d- No, no, I know. I know what you're saying. Y- He's in, like, four countries in the span of, like, three weeks. Mm-hmm, that's a lot. That is insane for him.

Brock vs Oba 2

24:23

But to- Takes us into our next match going into our next match, another rematch, and probably the biggest match to come out of this show, and the only match that doesn't have a title on the line. Yep. Brock- Didn't need it Oba. Two. Two. Now everybody, you know, "Oh, they're setting up for number three. They're setting up for number three." And yes, yes they are. I truly loved how well this ma- how well this match was done. Both men were still insanely powerful. They showed off that strength. They still played really well off of each other Her match wasn't very long. No. I looked at the breakdown of all the matches, by the way. Yeah. Uh, your longest match was your main event. Well, no, yeah. It, uh, Cody Gunther was only about 11 minutes. Okay. Jade Rio was about seven. Brock- or no, Brock Oba was about seven, Jade Rio was nine, and I wanna say, uh, Sol Becky was, like, another 10, 11 minutes. Okay. So, like, decent, decent. Decent amount of, uh, match times actually. Okay. But man, did you watch these men struggle in a way that made sense. Picking up the win after seven. I need you to point out, like, Brock, he- Brock was really red, man. Brock was red, Brock was ripe, Brock really def- Oba definitely m- did a good job of making Brock look good, and Brock did the same thing. Clearly there was a sign of respect there 'cause Brock don't sell for nobody. No. Brock don't ever try to put nobody over if he doesn't respect you. Punk has talked about that o- o- on, on a few occasions. Yeah. Of how if, in his program with Brock way back when going into Summer Slam, i- if he's not, he doesn't respect you, he's not gonna- Yeah, he's not gonna sell. He's not gonna sell, he's gonna sandbag, he's, he's just straight up gonna make you look like you are an incompetent tool. He didn't, he hasn't done that in either match for, against Oba. No. Seven. Seven. It took seven, and one of them through a table. You know, it's table, yep. To get Oba down, I need to point out Brock was happy taking that count out he, after he put him through the table. Yep, got right back in the ring. When Oba got up, if, th- if you saw his face in the corner of straight shock and disbelief of, "What the hell is this man made of?" Well, th- you, when you think about it, the way Oba got up, it was like, I don't wanna say it was a no sell, 'cause it wasn't a no sell, but the way he got up was just, "Was that supposed to hurt?" I was napping for those seven seconds. Nah, like, you can tell though, he, he took each one. He sold the damage. Oh, no, I'm talking more, um- I, I'm more or less talking just going through the table Yes That, that's strictly it But like he definitely, he got up. He definitely, he let it know- Just sold everything, yeah. Beautiful He, he sold it to the point like, "Yeah, that hurt, but clearly it wasn't enough to keep me down." Yep Gets back in the ring. He's selling the Kimura. Oh my God. That is something I haven't seen in forever, and then they nod back to when Lesnar broke Triple H's arm- Yep with the Kimura way back when, too. Mm-hmm. Like, yeah. Do- Before their match, yeah. Mm. I think it was Mania. Yeah, that was- Yeah, before their match at Mania. Was it Mania? I thought it was Summer Slam. Either or. Either way. It was a Big Four. Either way, we got, we got that. Like- That's when you know he's digging down deep and he's- 'Cause it was, "What do I gotta do to put, put it away?" Brock eventually picks up the win. Yep. Uh, match got a B- by the way. One, it was quick, quick, and you, I think you could've done a little more, but you still, you still built the young star even in defeat. I would've, personally me, I would've given it an A-. And personally, I feel like the finish was wrong. I don't, I'm not saying Oba should've won. Yeah. A, a concept that I heard, though, would've been great. Oba wins. Lesnar's trying to figure out what to do, what to do, what to do, so he's like, "All right. Give me one more chance at redemption, Summer Slam. I'll put my career on the line if I still cannot beat you, if I cannot beat you this third time." Now, I wanted, you know, and when they went to the outside, I was kind of hoping for it, that F5 through the table, through the announce table. Mm-hmm. Right? You see it. Lesnar's still unhinged. He's on top of him just berating him, beating him down. They don't hear the count. Double count out, no finish. Lesnar's so beside himself 'cause he can't figure out how to... Or, you know, after- Yeah Oba got up from the table, Lesnar out the ring and they're brawling on the outside. Don't hear the count, no finish. Lesnar's beside himself 'cause he still can't put this guy down- Yeah and just loses all types of control 'cause we've seen Lesnar do it. Oh, yeah. L- But I think that's more Lesnar of old. But this is one of those where he should've tapped into that. It would've furthered that story even more. It would've made it that much more intriguing. Well- Now, I'm, I'm even more sold than I was before. I am locked in on probably the biggest story going into this summer Because of this Well, I, I, see there, there's a way I can go about this, because both men sat there afterwards, and they went, "One. One. I have one, you have one. Now we need to see who gets two" Well, as they're bringing in kinda Steiner math, one plus one equals you're done, I left. I left the photo. But h- here's what I'm going for, and I, I don't know if you want me to talk bracket-wise. Oh. Because my br- what I have in my bracket, specifically written, ties into this

Tournament Aftermath

30:42

match. Okay. There's a lot of breakdowns on how this... But we're gonna go into the bracket, 'cause now I wanna talk about some of the aftermath that came from this, starting with that first Fatal 4-Way. Okay. Oba, Solo- Melo Pel- Penta, Melo. Fantastic match. They realize this guy's a threat. He's not as huh, huh- Yep huh, you know, he's not really strutting the way Oba struts. Hmm. They realize this. They try to take him out on the entrance. He, he gains his bearings, shot puts Oba. Shot puts the hell out of, uh, Solo. It's the funniest... I'm sorry, but this is why I could never be a pro wrestler. What you mean I gotta match with Oba Femi? I'm not coming out. I forfeit. I'm not, I'm not getting tossed like I'm a sack of potatoes. You are a sack of potatoes, though. Shut up. But anyway. Anywho. No. So he w- he goes on, he wins the match, he advances in the bracket. Yeah. Cuts the promo that makes you believe he's still in there. He addressed his loss at Lesnar, gave Lesnar his flowers. Yeah. And he's like, "It took you seven F5s." And I wanna point out, it took Oba one fall from grace and a choke slam- Yep to put Lesnar down, but it took Lesnar seven- F F5s- F5s and two Kimuras to put down the ruler. Mm-hmm. Oba addressed it. "You want to know how I respond to your loss? By winning King of the Ring." That, that did so much to sell me on Oba and his presence. Now wherever he goes, I'm not saying you have him win the th- the damn thing. Mm-hmm. 'Cause t- try to have him do double duty at Summer Slam is gonna be a lot, and nobody wants to see that. Yes, a lot of people are predicting that. You have no clue what I'm predicting. I, I see your little dance. I see your little dance. I know you well enough. You've been my s- my best friend and my sister for, like, 20 years. Shut your face Let's say, I ain't even shown you my bracket But anyway, everybody- and if you do have him win, he doesn't go after Roman, he goes- Nope. Okay I don't have him win. Okay. No. But a lot of things that I want, that a lot of fans are seeing, and even I'm on this train, is he loses either in the semifinal or in the final 'cause of a Brock Lesnar interference. That's what I have. Or if he does win the whole thing, either Lesnar costs him the match at Summer Slam against the world heavyweight or the WWE champion, and say he does win. Mm-hmm. Lesnar comes out at the end of Summer Slam, and now you set up something for- Survivor Series Survivor Series. See, I have- But- in my bracket- I- specifically written that in the semi- Lesnar costs Oba the tournament Yep, in the finals. Especially 'cause the ne- on the same side of the, Oba's bracket- Mm-hmm Breakker is in the next match. So we might be gearing a af- the post, the main event of Raw, Rollins, or Corey calling Rollins can now put the vision behind him after he beat Bron Breakker in the main event. Mm. Rollins and Breakker are still on the, so either the finals is Rollins, Breakker or Rollins, Oba, and I can see this playing out. Breakker, Oba, Lesnar gets involved. Why? One, he has a score to settle with Oba. He wants to be the one to win the trilogy. Two, he's also a Paul Heyman guy. Breakker and Lesnar both being Paul Heyman guys, you know he's gonna do whatever Heyman wants him to do, whatever Heyman asks him to do because of that mutual love and respect. So do you want me to give- I'm gonna help protect- Do you want me to give mine? my fellow Heyman guy. Do you want me to give my f- my finals? Do it. My finals, Oba, Bron. Oba loses because of Lesnar. You're not gonna get that in the final. That would be a semifinal match 'cause they're on the same side of the bracket. Well, the bracket I looked at was different, so- If you look at the bracket the way it stands now, and you can go on wwe.com to look at this bracket, Oba and Bron are on the same side of the bracket. Okay. So that'd be a semifinal match. So my, mine initially went, I, I can't remember if it's semifinal or if it's final, but I believe it was semifinal now that I think of it. Bron goes on and advances in that semifinal. You have either, if, if Drew is the one, either Rollins or Drew in that semifinal, Bron takes the whole cake. I, I see it. I see them strapping the rocket to him more than anything Because, only because Lesnar costs him, but I don't see anybody else in the other brackets going above Braun Rollins. Rollins would be the only believable outcome, especially because if you watched Monday Night Raw or caught any of the glimpses, he beat him. Oh, I- He's already beat him, and he beat him clean I watched it So- But there's still more that could come against Rollins when it comes to Braun And with a very busted up vision, 'cause God damn if they're not cursed Mund just got in a car accident Of course he did It's one that's trying to return that's got in a car accident Bronson Reed? Yep Of course Nobody's hurt, though Good. You get a- Also, P- Logan Paul finally acknowledging that a torn tricep ain't no joke 'cause if you remember back when Punk was, uh, tore his tricep, he made a comment about, "Oh, how is... Oh, you tore your little tricep and now you're gonna be out forever? Like, what kind of stuff is that?" And now he's realizing, oh, he, he admitted it on his Impulsive w- uh, podcast today, and, um, issued an apology to Punk for making fun of him 'cause now he realizes the severity of it. Okay. Let's w- beyond this, give us the grade you did. I already did. Let's jump into the next match- You're welcome 'cause we are going so many extra roads that we need, don't need to Uh, we went the King of the Ring road, which definitely directly played into this Yes and no 'cause you get- 'Cause it was literally, we talked about Oba's play into this, like the way he sold that left arm- Yep and, like, the fact that, you know, and again, that promo of, "This is how I'm gonna respond to the loss, is I'm gonna go on to be, to show that I am still a badass dude" Mm-hmm All right, take us into our next one though. All right.

Becky vs Sol recap

37:32

Next match we have Becky Lynch defending her Women's Intercontinental Championship against Sol Ruca. This is Sol's second time fighting for a title on the main roster Uh, yeah, I know, I know how you feel about this. We'll get into it. Um, so pretty even match-up between these two women. Nobody could really honestly get the upper hand. You did get to see a lot of times throughout this match Becky really pulling Jessika Carr into the middle of this fight- Oh and using her in ways of knocking Sol off the top rope by pushing her into it, pulling her into the way. I'm gonna, I'm gonna point out, she didn't actually push Jessika Carr into the rope. If you paid attention to that, she's trying to pull her over and as Jess is trying to pull back- Mm she kind of, it's not, when you're playing tug-of-war- Yeah and then you let go and then the person falls backwards. That's what- I mean- happened there same difference. Same difference in a wa- in a way. But she didn't, like, like, to actively shove someone, that's a shove. You trying to break my grip is not. Either way, she did something that affected the ref- Yes falling into the ropes. Um, there was a moment where Sol attempted a Sol Snatcher, but Lynch in a beautiful fashion grabbed her and was able to put in an armbar. Oh my God, the, dude, that, that was probably one of the cleanest Sol Snatchers I had seen her deliver in her call-up. Since, yep, since, since the call-up. But Sol Ruca did reverse the armbar. Um, Becky Lynch- That was a nice little segment. Yes. Becky Lynch failed at hitting the Manhandle Slam and allowing, uh, Ruca to land a diving X-Factor instead, which if you don't know what a diving X-Factor is, it's the Bella Buster, essentially, more or less, for people who know, like, former just names of it. Uh, when, uh, there was a moment later where Sol snatch a, Sol, I'm reading, I'm reading two different words at the same time. Um, Lynch attempted Sol Ruca's Sol Snatcher at one point, leading Sol to take the Manhandle Slam from Becky, trying to get the pinfall on that one. Afterwards, Sol did hit a clean and beautiful Sol Snatcher. One, two, three, Becky Lynch puts over Sol Ruca, giving her the Intercontinental Championship. Making her the first Black woman to hold that title. Yay. Well, yay, because, yes, that's, that's a huge thing. That, no, that's a hu- that's a huge accomplishment. It is. I'm not trying to take anything away. I wasn't- I know how you- I'm not trying to- I know how you feel about the race thing uh, 'cause, like, it has nothing to do with race on how I feel. Yes. 'Cause I, you know me, I have been a Sol Ruca fan since day one. Mm-hmm. Since NXT day one. She's got the look, she's got the athleticism, she's got the cr- like she has- You're how- all the tools you're about as behind Sol Ruca as you were Naomi when she first broke onto the scene, 'cause you loved the hell out of Naomi, too. I'm loving- I love Heel Naomi, okay? I just mean Naomi- Heel Naomi in general, whichever Naomi's out. She's got the great talent. She does. She, well, I'm not even going into the Heel world. But the character is what didn't sell me on her completely- No early on. Soul, Soul's got a great gimmick. She's got the athleticism, she's got like, she's gorgeous. Yeah. Like, not like, there is no- she has everything to be top woman. However. However, I'm gonna give the grade to the match, 'cause my explanations for the grade also are going to tie into- The grade all of this. Okay. So, I gave it a B. Okay. One, you furthered the storyline, which is what we needed between Becky and J- Jess. You know we're going to see this culminate at some point. It needs to be at Summer Slam. But like, there's a lot of moments where Becky was taking her eyes off the prize to argue with Jess, and Jess is like, "Dude, worry about your title, don't worry about me. You do your job and I'll do mine." This has costed her the title against Maxine, this has costed her the title against AJ, and now Soul. I'm, I'm just saying. Yeah. Listen, if you, like Jess, putting her in her place of, "You are worried for, ab- about the wrong thing. I know how to do my job. You need to focus on yours. You're in the middle of a title match and you're arguing with me." Yes. "Focus up." Two, both women got to shine beautifully. Wrong finish, the wrong winner. And again, it is nothing, it is everything to do with you're really gonna sit here, and Corey even said it, you're gonna really sit here and tell me that the woman, in being called up at, about a month and a half ago, right after Mania- Yeah hasn't won a single match on the main roster- Yes This is her first one? Yeah, for a title What have you done to build enough credibility to p- put this title on her? What have you done to make me believe she should be champion? Absolutely nothing. I agree. Yes. Did Becky cheat at M- Man- Saturday night's main event? Yes, 'cause it's what Becky does. Yeah. She's doing some great heel work. But you talk about, oh, yeah, she took, you know, Michael Cole brought it up, "Oh, she took IYO to the li- to her limit. She took Liv to her limit in the, her debut match. You know, she, she performed really well against this person and that person." Corey Graves said it best, "Horseshoes only come in one." Or, uh, almost only comes in what? Horseshoes and hand grenades. Thank you. Taking someone to the limit and actually holding a victory over them are two completely different things. Mm-hmm. If you were going to build her to win this title, she should've beat IYO. I'm not saying she should've beat, beat Li- she should have beaten Liv. Liv was coming fresh off of a win- Yeah, I mean- holding world, the world championship gold. Liv needed to win that match. Yeah. But she should've beaten IYO. If you're going to build somebody to, who be in the title picture of any title, tag, mid-card, world, I don't care, you need to give them some credibility to make it believable and justifiable, and this just wasn't it. Wasn't it, no. It is too soon for Sol Ruca All right. Sir? Main event World Heavyweight Championship defended in Tribal Combat. Cousin versus cousin, Jacob Fatu challenging the Head of the Table, the OTC, the World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns. And this match is about as personal as it got because of it. It, it- and I loved Michael Cole and Corey's commentary throughout the whole match, A+, thank you. Everything about this, we didn't get to the level of brutality that I thought, you know. There was no bloodshed in this match. Yeah, no. But it got brutal enough that it still delivered the, the story, and it was still just as impactful, which is great. 'Cause I hear the use of blood, uh, William Da- Dave McGregor talked about it when talking mask versus mask. The use of blood can help a storyline as long as it is necessary, if it actually has

Tribal Combat Breakdown

45:30

a point. Don't just bleed to bleed. Yeah. Unlike- And I love that people in AEW. Oh, they, they definitely took a shot at Moxley, without saying that they were taking the shot at Moxley. But anyway. Yeah, anywho. Anywho. Uh, we got a chance to spill to the outside. Yes. And they're argu- or, you know, they're going through the crowd. There was a moment where I think it was, like, Jacob threw popcorn at Roman or something like that. And I love, uh, Michael Cole talking about, "Oh, well, I guess the crowd, crowd in that section gets to eat for free tonight." Job of a h- human being Absolutely loved it But as they make their way a- back around, you know, they're trying to set up the tables Mm-hmm And it's a lot of Roman talk and smack, though, throughout this match I did notice that But it was all smart. Mm It wasn't un- needed. It was, "You think I needed..." Like, one of them was, "I, you think I needed anybody? You say I had to cheat to win. I didn't beat you with any help." Yeah The, the, the biggest focus was Roman ripped the turnbuckle pad off of the- Yeah at Backlash. So what did he do? He proceeded to do it on three of the four turnbuckles here. But it was, "I didn't need anybody. I can beat you on my own. I'm doing this because I love you." And it was con- and it went, and it went. You know, Jacob had his hand wrapped up. Why? To further the, uh, damage that he can cause- With- with the Tongan death grip- Mm-hmm taught to him by Haku. Bad man. Bad, bad, man. Bad. But so we saw one of my favorite moments in this match. Mm-hmm Pop, I think, I don't know if he would pop a power bomb or if he was going for the pop-ups moment drop. But as he did the pop-up, Roman is a, Roman reverses it with that Superman punch. Yep, that was, uh- Such a smooth transition Yeah Jacob and Roman work so well with each other. They do And I'm loving every second of this rivalry. But as the match went on, you know, we got the spear through, or we got the spear, Jacob kicked out. Mm-hmm. Uh, Tongan death grip, Roman is able to break free. Roman is realizing, "I have no way to stop this, so I'm gonna continue to cause damage to that right hand," and he's like... And he made it- Talks- a point to talk about it. It, as well, like, "You can't do nothing with a messed up hand. You know, you can't do nothing with the mouth. Lock in that thing now," as he's, you know, messing his hand up. Mm. Chair with it, trapped in the stairs, attacking it with the steel cha- announce table. Toolbox The toolbox Slammed it on the announce table with the- Slammed it on the... Uh, in the ring, he, he goes out of his way to make sure he, like, stomps on it And he, they're just, they're going at it. They are true combatants for this one. Mm-hmm. Roman hit two more Superman punches, and, uh, Jacob- He did took them. Not only did he no sell, but he used it to fuel himself. Mm-hmm. He took it. He did the little shimmy. Oh, I love that shimmy. Honestly- Oh my God I didn't think Jacob Fatu was gonna be one that I really got behind, but I absolutely love everything about him. I told you you were gonna get behind him. Yeah, and- And you, you're like, you're like my buddy, um, uh, you're, you're like one of my buddies that, like, we'll talk wrestling. Like, he comes to the bar. Mm-hmm. We'll talk wrestling. He wasn't sold on Jacob. "All right. Cool. Go back and watch his work." 'Cause I... He's like, "Yeah, who is this guy?" All right, 'cause he's very mainstream wrestling. Mm. He doesn't pay attention to the, like, the MLWs, the New Japans, whatever. Like, if he can't easily access it, he'll come to me. And one of the people, he's like, "I'm not completely sold on Jacob. I don't know who he is." Go back and watch his work. No, see- I pro- I was like, "Dude, you're gonna like him. You're gonna love him." See, my thing with you- That's probably one of his favorite guys right now on the roster my favorite, my, my thing with you was I looked at you and I said, "I don't know how sold I'm going to be on him," because it was just a num- another member of The Bloodline. And by that time, The Bloodline was really get- the, what they were doing with it was just really stale. And I just wanted it to end, you know? Now you're bringing in- No, it's like, 'cause he came into Solo's Bloodline. Yeah. 'Cause now what you're doing is you're bringing in this ex-convict in, uh, Tama Tonga, and you're bringing in this e- ex-convict in Tonga Loa. Oh, now here's the worst of the worst. Here's Jacob Fatu, this ex, ex, ex-convict, and it's like- And it's funny, 'cause Jacob is the only one that's actually got an arrest record. But you remember when they were bringing them in, it's like, "Oh my God, this guy's bad news, and this guy's bad news. Oh my God, now they have Jacob Fatu." And it's like, bro, these guys are gonna be, like, hugging plushies in a fucking month But let it do Honest God, and- And what- But that didn't happen with him like I said, no. Jacob, they realize what they had in Jacob, and I have been saying it since day one, the, since they, his debut, Jacob is everything they wanted Solo to be. Solo to be. Yes. And what is going on? He is everything Solo should have been. Thank you. Thank you. I- I, I never disagreed with you on that. I said, "Let's, let's see how they build him," is what I said. Yes. Did, did I not? And, and did I not tell you that regard- he was... Did I not give you the warning that he's going to force their hand- Yep to book Jacob to be Jacob? Yep. That, like, he wasn't gonna let them confine him. No, and that's good. And he is not. For the most part, Jacob i- 'cause he's, one thing that I know Bully talked about is cutting promos. Yeah. In WWE, it's a memoriz- you're handed a script, it's a memorization game. Mm-hmm. Versus, like, in MLW or, you know, circling the independent scene- It's all freehand "Here's a microphone. Have fun." Yeah, it's all freehand. So, like, he's, you could tell he's still kind of adjusting to that aspect of the game. But he's doing great at it, though. He's doing very well compared to where he was about a year ago. Mm-hmm. And I love that there is growth. Well, yeah, 'cause all they gave him was four words. "I love you, Solo." "I love you, Solo." But as the match goes, continued- Yeah Broken Time, death grip, Roman spears Jacob through a table. Jacob gets up, gets hit with another spear to finally have the match be put away. I wa- I thought you were gonna mention the spear through the, uh, barricade. Oh, yeah. No, I brought that up, too. I already brought that up. I thought I did. No, you said, you said table- Yes twice. Well, yeah. There- Yeah th- there was a spear through the barricade while they were fighting on the outside. Yes. And that was right before he started- The hand, yeah attacking the r- right hand with the toolbox and- Yep. There we go in the stairs, and the... Yeah. So. So through the table set up in the corner. Roman retains. Roman retains, and now, and out come Jimmy and Jey to celebrate. Jacob's in the, in the corner kinda just, "Damn, I lost." Mm-hmm. Like, the realization that now- "Now where do I go?" "Where do I go?" But the ru- the game was, or the agreement was he now has to follow, fall in line to Roman. Yeah. So after placing the Ua faala, they get ready to leave- The MFT shows up in the crowd Looks like it Dude, dude, TKO, you know what? You already dropped an F-bomb. 'Cause you were- Yeah, yeah, I dropped- You really did just drop an F-bomb like 30 seconds ago. Fuck you guys. Fuck you, TKO. Hey, you dropped two. I dropped one. I bleeped it that second time Halfway But man, forget y'all But anyway. No He got three of the MFTs left. Tala Tonga, Tama Tonga- Solo Sikoa Solo Sikoa. Bring back Tanga Loa- Loa and give me back JC Mateo, but not as JC Mateo. Bring me back Jeff Cobb. Anywho. Anyway, that, the releases are, are... But Roman- Unlucky looks at Jimmy and Jey, and he's like, "Yeah, they're family, but I got something for them, too." Mm-hmm. As they're making their way up the ring, Jacob finally gets ready to leave the ring. He's s- having a kinda staredown with, uh, with, uh, Solo. Yeah. And he's realizing, "Man, maybe-" "Maybe I should've asked for him here" Jey, Jey, being that guy that, "Come on, bring your, bring your behind. Come on. You falling behind. I, I know you'll do it." I would sit here and laugh and, and clap at him, as if he couldn't just knock him out himself. No, bro, he'd, he'd easily. So now we're... You know, we get to the back. Yep. We, like Jacob finally, like reluctantly, he joined. He's keeping his word- Mm-hmm up to this point. Match just ended, that's like- Yeah. So we get to the backstage segment. He, Roman is asked, you know, what's next for him, and he's like, "What do you mean, what's next for me? Ain't nothing next for me. I hear all this chatter online, so anybody that wants to step up," and he br- he mentions LA Knight and he mentions Royce Dawkins by name. Okay. I would actually really love to see that collision course. Roman and Royce? Beautiful. I would love to see that collision course. That would be beautiful. Oh, hell yeah. But, so he brings that up. They disappear.

RAW Bloodline promo

55:02

They walk away. Now fast-forward to Monday Night Raw. Mm-hmm. We open with The Bloodline in the ring. Yep, exactly. Dude, Roman having the type of money that he does, um, I'm, like I understand if you don't wanna carry the title through security or whatever, but he has a guy to just hand him at, to, to, to just hand him the title when he gets it to the arena. And it's not like you were flying to the s- to a different country. You were in the same arena that you were 24 hours ago. See, I, I've seen- I, no, I love that a lot of people have controversy on that. I, you know what? It's Roman being Roman, 'cause like I'm not mad at it. No, but the controversy that I have seen with it is like, oh Ro- Roman thinks so low of this title that he won't even bring it home. No, no, no, that's not the case. That he has to get it handed to him. I, that's like just the controversy of back and forth I've seen online. That's the, that's the big energy that he is ra- It is energy that he is radiating right now. This is one of those, "I don't think less of the title. I just know I got it like that" I don't need to carry this. I choose to carry this. Yeah. Think about it. First version of The Bloodline, he chose when he, when he carried his title, otherwise Heyman carried that title. Mm-hmm. This time it's, I get to the arena, I got somebody here. By the way, Sam Roberts, you f- you talked about possibly wanting to build generational wealth and getting paid to be his title boy. You and I are gonna have to go at it, 'cause I want that job, too I'm just saying, I want that job, too. Anyways. Travel the world, and all I gotta do is hand this man the title when he gets into the arena? Say less. Easiest money ever. Right. Best money ever. What? Protect the title with your life. You bet. If there's a little blood, just know I fought with it. I, I fought for this, so nobody rob me. Anyway. Anywho. But we get to the, we get to Monday Night Raw. Yeah. Roman is so goddamn over. Like, this version of The Bloodline, and one thing I heard via my wrestling talk, the, it's, this is the first pure version of The Bloodline. Look at. Okay. It's literally all family. No, no honorary Uce. Mm-hmm. No Wise Man. Literally everybody that is currently involved with The Bloodline story- Is- is in The Bloodline. True, yeah. They are part of the Fatu, Maiavia, Anoa'i family. Yeah. In some which way or form. It is no outsiders. No Sami Zayn, no Paul Heyman, no... This is where we're at. I love it. Okay. So- Jacob gets to the ring, you know, J- Jay being- Jay being Jay. By the way, by the way, I give the grade A- A- A+ for this match. Okay. Like, Roman continued to build credibility by winning on his own. Okay. Good. Jacob, even in defeat, still looked good, and the post-match stare-downs definitely, definitely continued to further storylines. A+. But Jacob comes out. Mm-hmm. Never did I think I would see Jacob in a button-down shirt, but that's what we got. He drop- You know, he admits his loss. He drops to his knees. He's like- "I acknowledge you" he, he acknowledges Roman. He's like, "I lost to you, but I ain't lose to Jay's punk ass." That one had me ri- Dead right like, I tackled hearing that, 'cause Jay's being that... You know, Jay was in the Jacob position four years ago, when this whole thing started. Yeah. So instead of having sympathy, now he's treating him like he's the little brother, "Come on," like, you know, that embarrassing big brother.

King of the Ring Stakes

58:59

And speaking of Jay, he's all- direct ties to this Bloodline story. Mm. He's in the King of the Ring. Yeah. I need to know two things. One thing. One thing. When did King of the Ring become you can pick your champion? Yeah. 'Cause it used to be you got the title for your respective brand, and now J- Roman's over here telling Jay, "You're in King of the Ring t- the King of the Ring. Win, and go after Cody." Right. "Go take that other title." 'Cause now, instead of there only being one head, he is acknowledging there were two heads to the table. So one champion on one, one champ. Conquer it all. They wanna- Yeah conquer it all. I'm waiting for the day he fails, 'cause I need to see this storyline play out. You, you have siblings. I have siblings. Mm-hmm. Flash, uh, like, Flash has siblings. Oh, yeah. That big brother messing with his little brother, embarrassing his little bro- whatever. Mm-hmm. I need to see Jay not get the job done. Yeah. 'Cause that would be the equivalent of the big brother picking on the little brother, and then the big brother gets embarrassed in front of the little brother. Now you can't tell me nothing, 'cause I just watched this happen to you. Yep. I just watched you fail to be a good big... Like, whatever. Yeah. Fail to be the bearer. And Jacob is there, there to see it, and now he's like, "Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna clock this loss. We're gonna, we're gonna remind you consistently how you failed Roman." Mm-hmm. "How you failed to get the job done." So you can no longer give me any of the bull crap that you were giving me, right? No. 'Cause, like, the hesitation in Jacob standing, and then he didn't stand behind Jimmy, he didn't stand be- he stood directly behind- Roman Roman, and he hesitated. He hesitated to give the one-up. To... Yeah. I noticed that. You know there's gonna be an unfolding here. I need this story, though, to last. I need it to last a while. Yeah, it- 'Cause I need- They have the tools to do it 'cause you know what, what would be an org- there's a couple organic stories you can tell. Mm-hmm. You need, go get through Summer Slam. Yeah. I wanna see long-term booking into Survivor Series. Okay. Organic build, Bloodline, MFT, Survivor Series. We should've had that already. Oh, yeah. Well, we kinda did. We didn't. We had, we had OG Bloodline versus Bloodline 2.0. We had that a couple years ago. F- Yeah, we did. We did. Trust me. I don't remember ha- I don't remember that happening in War Games. That did happen in War Games. So I'm gonna have to go back and look. You, you keep talking. I'm'll, I'm'll, I'ma look it up. But- 'Cause I know, I know what you- You had... Or, or you, you know, LA Knight has been warning everybody about, and then everybody's ears that'll listen, that we need to stop, uh, we need to stop the Roman from getting this higher power whatever, whatever, since he's c- he's come back, since they've started to reform the Bloodline. Bloodline, OG versus Bloodline 2.0. No, no, I mean- That's how they did it true Bloodline. But that's how they did it. So, like, I, I, I'm not, I'm gonna only kinda semi-count that, but I'm not gonna count it completely. Um, so we got a version of it that wasn't the version we needed. Okay. But, you know, I wanna see- Yeah, 'cause this was the ending pose that you loved we want Jacob, Salt, Jimmy, Jey, Roman, and then, you know, MFTs. But the other one I can see- Yeah everybody that has a problem with, that ha- has or has had a problem with The Bloodline. And somebody, I saw this on- online. Mm-hmm. You give me Rollins, who's had his pro- Think about it. Roman still has never beaten Rollins. No. Which is why I wanna see Rollins win King of the Ring. Yeah. Rollins, Roman, Summer Slam. Roman, you still haven't beaten him Punk, 'cause you know that, b- Yeah a returning Punk at some point. But I swear to God, if LA Knight is not on that team- Oh my God what is you doing? 'Cause LA Knight, since the reforming of The Bloodline, has been in everybody's ear Trying to give Horny 'Cause you know what he been through. He was through the OG OG bloodline. Exactly. He, the- And you know what? And- LA Knight doesn't have the best stories LA Knight needs without the bloodline And you know what? Give me Montez 'cause they've been teasing that little- I'll say tell me I'm wrong. No, you're not. Thank you. But, like, there's so much now going into the summer because of Clash in Italy. They, they can do- So much with the bloodline, so much ro- with, uh, Becky, with Brock Oba, with Gunther Cody. Yep. I think the only one that you can't really, that you can't continue a story out of here- Mm out of the match round that we had, was Rhea and Jade. Yeah, no, that needs to be done. And I'm okay with that. And I'm okay with that. Yeah. 'Cause what's next for Sol? Right? How do we see... 'Cause she's in, she's in the Queen of the Ring Tournament. Yeah. She's not gonna win it. No. I'm saying sh- No. Like, but you need to figure out what to do with her as IC Champion. Don't just put the title on her bec- to put the title on her. Mm-hmm. Just think about it. Giving somebody a championship with no direction has led to a lot of discourse- Mm amongst the fans. Tiffany was able to 180 that. They put the title on her with no sense of d- They put the title on Julia with no sense of direction. Mm. They put the title on Tiffany with no sense of, sense of direction, and what did we get? We now got the US Women's Open Champion. Challenge, yep. Which I love for her. Mm-hmm. I do too. But, like, you put the title on Myra. They really didn't give her m- They had no sense of direction except for Becky. Liv right now has the title, no sense of direction, so now she's in the Queen of the Ring Tournament. Like, I need to see Liv- I find that special. I need to see Raquel advance and Liv get dropped. Raquel, Liv finally get further along with that storyline, please. Yeah. But, like, if you're really just... If this was just a way to get the title off of Stephanie- Mm so she can heal up from injury and now she's gotta wait, no, I wanna see her in the ring. You know, I wanna see her ha- make something of this title. Yeah. No, I get it. So what's next for Sol? What's next for Rhea? Mm-hmm. You gotta find those, those competitors. Right now Roman and Cody are waiting out King of the Ring. Gunther needs, you know, that get back. You set up Brock Oba 3. Yeah, for Summer Slam. Clash in Italy surprisingly did a better job of telling s- some stories- For the next line for the next line than Backlash did, and definitely furthered a lot more stories that- From Mania and helped further stories that started at Mania. Yeah.

Wrap up and Next shows

1:05:46

All right. With that being said, I know this was a longer one. We went into a lot of different roads, a lot of different rants. It was beautiful. And this time it wasn't just me. No. No, it was not. Uh, that does conclude Clash in Italy. Again, if you guys don't follow our socials, please go back and, uh, look in the description to follow them 'cause we will be posting up the brackets tonight. Uh, we come back- Lord have mercy The- At the end of the month Uh, we got a lot to come for you guys. So we'll come back, what? Uh- The 24th we will cover, we will be covering at least two shows. Uh, that will be Night of Champions and you said- Great American Bash Great American Bash. And then that Saturday, or that Friday- That Friday or Saturday we will be coming back for Slammiversary and Forbidden Door. We are covering WWE main roster, NXT, AEW- We are literally covering- and TNA we are literally covering all four, four of the five brands we cover here. 'Cause if you think in September I'm not about to pull Desario on this damn podcast to cover TripleMania and AAA- Hey, have at it like- I'll even let that- But- be a specialty. That'll be you two. I bet. But like- Open door we have a whole lot going on at the end of the month, and on top of that we're gonna need to see what kind of state of mind I am in because that also la- that is also birthday week for Brother Pyro. Yes, yes, that is. Um, and if you guys have looked on our YouTube social or the other show, so- socials as well, Forbidden Door is a live event for us. So we will also be going live on our TikTok and on our YouTube page for those. You know what al- you know what other, what else is a live event that weekend? Oh. Slammiversary. Oh, so we have two back-to-back lives. I love this. At that point I think I'm just gonna keep it if I wanna continue with live. Yes. Yes. At, at least on TikTok, like- That'll be fine. Yeah, on TikTok that'll be- We could separate it on YouTube done from one day another, but- All right, with that being said, we are out. Clash in Italy, thank you so much-