Ben and Bash: Tag Team Talk
Welcome to the Ben and Bash: Tag Team Talk, where two generations of wrestling fans come together to share their love for the sport in a unique father-son dynamic. Join hosts Ben and Bash as they dive into the exhilarating world of professional wrestling, offering insightful commentary, engaging discussions, and entertaining banter that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Ben and Bash: Tag Team Talk
The Ben & Bash Breakdown: Tag Team Talk Takes on Night of Champions
We break down WWE's Night of Champions event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with match-by-match predictions and analysis of potential storyline directions.
• Karrion Kross needs to show his wrestling ability against Sami Zayn, who desperately needs a PLE win
• Rhea Ripley vs Raquel Rodriguez street fight could see Roxanne Perez involvement, potentially setting up Evolution matches
• Jacob Fatu vs Solo Sikoa might end in disqualification or transform into a tag team match with JC and Big Jim involvement
• Asuka winning Queen of the Ring could create tension with fellow Damage CTRL member Iyo Sky
• Cody Rhodes likely defeats Randy Orton to face John Cena at SummerSlam
• John Cena expected to retain against CM Punk, continuing his retirement tour with the championship
Welcome to the Benny Bash Podcast Tag Team Talk. I'm Ben. I'm Bash. It's time to lace up your boots and hit the mat with the Benny Bash Podcast Tag Team Talk.
Speaker 2:All right, here we are for another one. Another one in Riyadh, saudi Arabia. So we're going to be doing our predictions spoilers. All that good stuff for Nia the Champion, so, yeah, let's get to it.
Speaker 1:All right for the first match on the card. It's Sami Zayn versus Karrion Kross in a normal one-on-one match, and for this one I'm surprised for Karrion to even be on the card. But some Karrion Kross fans think that him losing will ruin the show for them.
Speaker 2:No, I mean him being on the show in general should be good for them. I mean he's been not on the show, he's been backstage mostly doing the little promos with different various wrestlers and stuff. And him being on the PLE I mean okay, if he wins or loses you can't be mad. If you're a carrying cost man, he's there.
Speaker 1:Like his match with AJ Styles. I didn't realize it at the time, but people pointed out that it was his Raw and Netflix debut with the match against AJ.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying and so, like people used to see the crowds cheering for him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that happened all of a sudden.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's like when that happens, he needs to be in a feud, he needs to be doing something, he needs to be backstage the whole time.
Speaker 1:But, yeah. So for my prediction, I have Sami Zayn winning. Sami Zayn, I think it'll be an okay match. I'm not really familiar with Karrion Kross wrestling, so I don't know.
Speaker 2:He doesn't wrestle that much, but he was Killer Kross in independent wrestling.
Speaker 1:Oh, that was actually his name. Yeah, this is yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, because this is YouTube name, I think yeah, I think it's. Yeah, this is wrestling. I think his real name is, like Kevin Kross, I think Kevin. I think, so he doesn't look like a Kevin yeah, I think it's his real name, but uh yeah, killer Kross was his name in most everywhere I've seen him at, anyways, except for he was in Lucha Underground too. I think he was the White Rabbit or something like that yeah, that's the first time I really saw him.
Speaker 3:I started seeing him a little bit on Independent Wrestling before he came to NXT and then you know, but um so who you got for that match?
Speaker 1:Sami Zayn you got Sami. I'm just trying to go with the safe option.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean Sami's a good option Because I mean he needs to win. When was the last time?
Speaker 1:you won a PLE. What a PLE.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to think of PLEs. The last time you won was when the Kevin Owens and him yeah Tag team match.
Speaker 1:No, kevin Owens and him yeah 13 match. No, it had to be.
Speaker 2:They had one out there. They had 13 match after that, didn't they.
Speaker 1:We're talking about pay-per-views.
Speaker 2:PLE, yeah PLE. When was the last PLE semis that he won you?
Speaker 1:know what I'm saying. When was the last one he?
Speaker 2:was at Exactly. He had to be in another Harley and he hasn't won any Harley.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he hasn't been on one since, like Elimination Chamber, I think. Yeah, I think he's just been backstage with Karrion Kross.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. He may have been on Brawl helping out Jay doing all that. But yeah, he hasn't been on PLE that much. He hasn't won on the PLE, that much. So both of these guys need a win, mm-hmm, both of these guys need a win, mm-hmm, but I think Sami may need one more and Karrion Kross needs to show out. Exactly, karrion Kross needs to have a good. So here's the thing Sami Zayn needs to win, karrion Kross needs a good match.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's what they need. Karrion Kross needs to show that he can wrestle with the best. I mean, I think he can, but he has to show it, you know. Then he may get more matches, you know, but he needs to have a good match and Sami needs to get a win. So, yeah, I'm with you. I'm going to go with Sami Zayn as well with that, but also, it's going to be a pretty good match, though, I believe.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's all you're going to see for that.
Speaker 2:That's all I got for now. I just want to see a good match between them two.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, but the next match on the card is Rhea Ripley versus Raquel Rodriguez in a street fight, and this one, I mean, I really want Raquel to win and I feel like I don't know why. I just have that feeling that Roxanne Perez is going to get involved, like she did on Monday, to help Raquel, but instead of just putting Rhea Ripley to the table, she's going to put Rhea Ripley to the table and finish.
Speaker 2:But who's gonna have a rear? Rip it, it's gonna be, does it start. I'm sorry she's gonna have out for kale yes, so then they could beat this.
Speaker 1:So then rocks. I guess we'll find out Monday if who's gonna help out real so then Roxanne could help Raquel and then they could be a tag team champions together, because Liv Morgan's first. That's what they always do with tag team championships.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like you did Bianca and Jake, but that was storyline purpose. Yeah, but still it's the same thing. You can do the same thing, but yeah. So this is a hard one, unless they have something else brewing. As far as evolution goes, this could have been an evolution match easily. Could have been an evolution match with Rhea Ripley and Raquel.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean they were best friends. No, they still are not. They were best friends in NXT Mm-hmm. They're two of the biggest, strongest women in WWE Outside like Bianca and Jade, you know, but they're up there with them, Like you said, maybe lead them to like a tag team match. But then where do you put Nikki Bella at? Because it looked like Nikki was going to either wrestle Liv or do a tag team with her sister against Liv and Raquel.
Speaker 1:I think it was going to raquel. No, I think it's gonna be real. I think it's gonna be real with nikki yeah, and not her. Earlier I heard her twin sisters I know, but I feel like that's just what they were gonna go to maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I don't know what they're, what they're thinking about doing. So if that's the case, you can still do that. Then just replace live with rick, or did it with uh, roxanne, and you can still have that then Just replace Liv with Roxanne. And you can still have Rhea, ripley and Raquel, you know, feeding each other. And then you can have Nikki come out and help Rhea Ripley, either on Night of Champions or on Monday Night.
Speaker 2:Raw, but they have to build a card up quick because I mean Evolution is in two weeks, so I mean you got four Raw's left.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Two Raw's are two Raw's and two Smackdown's, not including the one Friday, so you have two Raw's and two. Smackdown's left before Evolution, so you only got two shows to build Rhea Ripley, Unless you're going to be on SmackDown too- Mm-hmm. But yeah, who did you pick?
Speaker 1:I picked no Rhea Ripley, you picked Rhea Ripley Actually.
Speaker 2:No, you picked Raquel because of Roxanne. Roxanne, yeah, so I'm going to go the opposite. I'm going to pick Rhea Ripley.
Speaker 1:They do go into the safe option.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm going to say that Roxanne helps out Raquel but it doesn't help her win. I don't think, but I don't know. It's hard because, like you say, if Raquel wins it helps out, with her and Rhea wrestling each other still, Because Rhea's going to want that get back.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But if Rhea pins Raquel, she'll want a title shot of a tag team title match because she pinned one of the champions. You know what? I don't want to vote the same way you're doing, but I think, raquel, you can if you want to. I think Raquel needs it more than Rhea does and it works out better for Evolution if Raquel wins with the help of Roxanne but, like it's WWE booking, I don't think Raquel is going to win.
Speaker 2:But like I said, though, if Raquel wins, with the help of Roxanne, but like it's WWE Buki, I don't think Raquel's gonna win. Well I'm saying, but like I said, though, if Raquel wins with the help of Roxanne, it helps Raquel trust her because she helped her beat Rhea Ripley. Yeah, and then they let her become a tag team champion with.
Speaker 3:Raquel Yep, and so then they were could wrestle against Rhea and probably Nikki Bella, the way it looks.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Nikki Bella had been on TV since she got attacked by Liv Morgan. She wasn't, no, she was supposed to be on TV. I think she was supposed to show up in the match where Liv got hurt in Mm-hmm, supposedly. I don't know if they. I have no idea if that was supposed to be the case or not, but we never found out, because we got hurt in the beginning of the match.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was like two seconds into the match. That's why I meant two minutes.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so that's, I'm going to go with Raquel. I mean, obviously Rhea Ripley is one of my favorites, but I'm going to go with Raquel for the purpose of evolution match because it makes a better match if she wins, if Raquel wins, but that's what you're going to say. That's it for that one Alright.
Speaker 1:And the next match on the card is Jacob Batu versus Sol Sacco for the WWE United States Championship. And for this one, I mean, I feel like they should have done this at SummerSlam, but they picked it right when the feud was fresh, not letting the feud dry out, you know.
Speaker 2:Unless they got something else planned for Jacob and Solo at SummerSlam you could have, so this is what I would have done at SummerSlam you could have. So this is what I would have done. You could have saved Jacob versus Solo for SummerSlam and you could have had a tag team match at. Nia Champions with Jacob and Big Jim versus.
Speaker 2:JC and Solo Right there, they've both been a few. Jimmy wrestled JC on SmackDown, solo and Jacob got into it. There you go, tag team match. Then you can say Solo and Jacob for SummerSlam, if that's somebody else that's going to come and interfere in the match or show up on SmackDown next week or something like that. I don't see this feud ending off of one match, you know, unless they do turn into a tag team match. But yeah, who'd you pick to win this?
Speaker 1:I haven't picked yet, but I would say Jacob.
Speaker 3:Jacob, jacob.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say I know it's going to be controversial right here I'm going to say no one wins. That's not bad, no one wins or it turns to a tag team match, like I said before. So either disqualification and they can't finish the match, or it turns to a tag team match, like I said before. So either disqualification and they can't finish the match, or it turns to a tag team match because JC and Big Jim both get involved.
Speaker 1:That's a losing bet.
Speaker 2:No, it's only a losing bet if Jacob or Solo wins one-on-one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's like a 99% chance of happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why I'm picking something different.
Speaker 1:You're going to lose.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I might lose then, but that's what I think is going to happen. I think there's still going to be a SummerSlam match. At least that's what I want anyway SummerSlam match, either a tag team match between Big Jim and. Jacob versus JC and Solo or Solo and Jacob ends up in disqualification because JC and Big Jim gets involved.
Speaker 3:Either way, Big Jim and JC's going to get involved in the match.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, that's my thing for it.
Speaker 1:But uh, so you're saying no contest.
Speaker 2:Either disqualification or a return to a tag team match.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Because JC and Big Jim will get involved in the match. This is gonna be qualification and no match, or it's gonna be so hectic that they call this when somebody comes out make the tag team match instead, you're asking to lose we'll see what happens. That's the fun of it. We'll see.
Speaker 1:Prediction man, it's prediction show all right, but anyways, that's what he's gonna say. That's it for that one that you're gonna lose yeah, we'll see anyways, for the fourth match on the card, it's oscar versus jade.
Speaker 1:Cargill for uh, for the queen of the ring, for the queen of the ring, um. So, or to be uh to be the queen of the ring. So for this one, I really want Asuka to win, but I can just sniff out the path they're going. They're going to have Jade with Tiffany Stratton and then, either after the match or during the match, naomi's going to cash in and win.
Speaker 2:I can just tell you think Jay's going to beat Tiffany Stratton though, and then Naomi's going to cash in on Jade. No, no, no, yes, yes, yes, yes yes, you think Jay's going to beat Asuka.
Speaker 1:No, tiffany Stewart. Yeah, I know what I'm saying, but you think Jay's going to beat Asuka. I think she's going to beat Asuka. Yes.
Speaker 2:And then she's going to turn around and beat Tiffany at SummerSlam yes, and then, and make that a feud. Yeah, it's not a bad one but. I'm going to go with. I'm going to go with Asuka winning and then getting the title match.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want Asuka to win, to be fair.
Speaker 2:Because I wonder, because answer this question for me. Have you seen Asuka?
Speaker 3:and.
Speaker 2:Io interact since Asuka went back well, I saw this thing well, I'm saying have you seen them? I'm saying on raw or smackdown have you seen oscar and eo interact with each other?
Speaker 1:uh like during commercial break. It happened during commercial break, since oscar came back yeah, it was during commercial break.
Speaker 2:The one on netflix they don't show. Yeah, what? What happened?
Speaker 1:they just looked at each other.
Speaker 2:I think they don't show up. Yeah, what happened?
Speaker 1:They just looked at each other, I think.
Speaker 2:They didn't say anything though?
Speaker 1:No, I don't think so. I don't think so. Anyways, there you go. Yeah, I didn't see the signal.
Speaker 2:There you go, summerslam match.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:So just no talking Like they don't talk.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, Did Oscar get jealous of EO because she won a belt when Oscar wasn't there?
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:You see what I'm saying. Like, is she going to be jealous? I mean, you got to think. Dakota left.
Speaker 1:Dakota's gone. She's not done to be anymore. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:I forgot she got released.
Speaker 2:That's crazy so she's not there anymore, so you're down one. Well, bayley first.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Then then Dakota just left. Now you got Io and Kairi. Io won the belt. Kairi's been getting beat up on TV, except when she beat Liv but she's usually that counted as a win for her oh, yeah, she did beat Liv.
Speaker 1:No, she beat Liv before that too that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:And so is Asuka going to be jealous that Io has won a championship while Asuka was on the sideline too? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And so is Oscar going to be jealous that EO has won a championship while Oscar was on the sideline. Yeah, that could be a good summer summer match right there too. Eo versus Oscar Mm-hmm, you know.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:Well, like you said especially, with those two great performers versus Tiffany.
Speaker 1:That can be a good one. I guess, Wait a minute.
Speaker 2:Do you want two newer wrestlers wrestling each other in one of the biggest PLEs in WWE?
Speaker 1:The reality here is no matter if Oscar or Jade wins. I feel like their prospective matches are going to happen anyway.
Speaker 2:Good, that's what I'm saying. What we're talking about is who's going to be in the ring though. I think Oscar's going to win in order to then have a storyline where Io works better. Because she's Queen of the Ring, io tries to get Asuka to not challenge her for the belt.
Speaker 1:She has to.
Speaker 2:Exactly. That's the point. She tries to get her not to challenge her because she gets a top match against Io. She can. Exactly that's the point she tries to get her not to challenge her Because she gets a tie against Io. And I think what happens is Oscar wins the Queen of the Ring and then she realizes she has to wrestle Io, and Io realizes it too and tries to get her to not wrestle her. Yeah, like go against Tiffany or somebody else. United States champion or whoever Somebody else wrestle her.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like go against Tiffany or you know somebody else United States champion or whoever you know somebody else besides her. Yeah, I think that starts a feud between them two.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, that's kind of a heelish move though it is.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying that's what I'm going with, because I haven't seen them interact with each other. They're in the same group.
Speaker 1:I don't even think they're in the same group anymore. That's what I'm saying so.
Speaker 2:If they were in the same group, you would see them. You would see them interact with each other. At some point in time, oscar would be back. He'd be back two weeks already and Kyrie hadn't even been on TV with her. Except for the course we were talking about when they saw each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Other than, and go against, eos SummerSlam. This is what I want to happen anyways. Yeah, but, yeah. But the next match on the card is Randy Orton and Cody Rose for the King of the Ring or the King and the King of the Ring final. And for this one, they're both on SmackDown, so they'll be facing John Cena or John Cena or CM Punk. So for this one, so they'll be facing John Cena or John Cena or Sam Punk. So for this one, I think Cody Rose will win, because he's Cody Rose and I think they're going to really, I think they really want to run back Cody Rose and John Cena.
Speaker 2:At SummerSlam, or Cody Rose versus Gunther no, they can't do that remember. Goldberg's not winning.
Speaker 1:Goldberg's not winning no, I'm saying I'm not. That's not what I'm saying. They have to do it on their respective champions is that what they said? Yeah, it's literally, it's literally in the description of the but what do we know where brand cody's on he's done, smack them so we know that for a fact he's on smackdown yeah, he's been. Yeah, he's not, because his render is blue, which means he's on smackdown okay, so that.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, so that made. If that's the case, then okay yeah, that'd be him versus john cena at summer slamlam, Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess I don't know if we'll see that again. Yeah, it should be John Cena wrestling somebody different every time. That way he can get his last match against this guy, last match against that.
Speaker 1:Because either what.
Speaker 2:Is he going to wrestle Roman Reigns John Cena before he retires?
Speaker 1:He has to.
Speaker 2:Roman Reigns sent me back to.
Speaker 1:WrestleMania.
Speaker 2:The day after WrestleMania. The Monday after WrestleMania, he came back to the thing yeah, so is he coming back?
Speaker 1:He should have wrestled Roman Reigns on this pay-per-view since Saudi Arabia. He always comes back at Saudi Arabia shows.
Speaker 2:There you go. Cm Punk was there. Cm Punk showed up in Chicago or something. That's what I thought, but it is what it is, though, so I got, so who you got for?
Speaker 1:Cody Rose.
Speaker 2:Cody Rose. I'm gonna go with Cody as well, just because Gunther and Randy as far as it was a good match, but I wanna see Gunther versus somebody else at SummerSlam yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean him, and Randy was a good match last year for King of the Ring, but I but I think, like you said before, cody's gonna win, so him and John Cena can go back at it again, even though I don't know why they should have somebody else. But SummerSlam what's second biggest? Second or third, depending on how you view Royal Rumble you got. Wrestlemania, then either Royal Rumble or SummerSlam.
Speaker 1:I can guarantee you're going to lose because the solo jacob match.
Speaker 2:You're not winning unless I'm if I win. That was a wrap for you, though let's.
Speaker 1:Let's say this if you get that match right, I'll let you win, no matter what. Anyway, no, no, if you, if you win that match, you win the whole thing.
Speaker 2:Okay, because you're not getting that okay, okay, but yeah, I'm going to bet 20 bucks on them, I won't but. But yeah. So I'm going to go with Cody winning and wrestling John Cena again at SummerSlam and we'll see if Roman or somebody comes out before SummerSlam.
Speaker 1:I mean, you see how, the month before SummerSlam roughly it's in August, I think.
Speaker 2:So you still got a month before SummerSlam roughly it's in August, I think. So you still got a full. You still got the whole month of July for Rumorings to come back. So you still got four Raw's four. Smackdown's at least you know at minimum.
Speaker 1:So but yeah, I'm gonna go with as well. But anyways, for the main event, it's John Cena versus CM Punk for the Undisputed WWE Championship and for this one um, for this one I would say John Cena because he hit the pipe bomb on Friday Night Smackdown.
Speaker 2:But then CM Punk came back with the Thuganomics.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, so they've been going back and forth with each other, using each other's stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so but yeah, but um yeah, so I would say John Cena.
Speaker 2:I mean I'm not going to say obviously John Cena.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it kind of is obvious.
Speaker 2:I'm expecting John Cena to not lose, yeah, the championship. I think he's been talking about it so much Retiring with the belt, retiring with the belt, retiring with the belt, the last real champion, and all that. I just don't see anybody beating him. You know, like I told you before, I can give them a good reason to get rid of the Universal belt and make it a new belt, another world. I don't think they will. But what's it going to be? The?
Speaker 1:World Championship. Yeah, he has the World Heavyweight Championship.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can make the Universal back to the WWE Championship. I agree you don't got to put Universal in there anymore.
Speaker 1:So they're going to go back to the old WWE Championship.
Speaker 2:Or just make a new belt, just, or just make a new belt, just make another belt, or you can get the same belt. Just call it a WWE championship or a WWE world championship Instead of a WWE universal championship. Just call it a WWE world championship.
Speaker 2:And then you can have the world heavyweight championship. And there you go. Like I said before, you can't be undisputed and not have all the belts in boxing. The undisputed guy has all the belts in the weight class. That's why he's the undisputed champion. That's why there's only been so many of undisputed champions. You can't call yourself undisputed when someone else has a championship. So you can't call yourself the WWE Undisputed Champion when somebody else has a World Heavyweight Championship.
Speaker 2:And you don't have both of them. Like Roman Reigns had both and he became the WWE Universal or the Undisputed Universal Champion. Whatever it was, that's because he had both belts. You can call someone Undisputed because he had both heavyweights, both championships. You can't do that. You know, when Chris Jericho beat Stone Cold and the Rock in the same night became the first undisputed champion, mhm had both belts did he beat them in the same night? Yeah, he won the same night, oh I thought it was a triple threat match.
Speaker 2:No, I think it was. He wrestled one for one, then I think he beat the other one it might have been triple threat and became the university undisputed champion.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:So I think that I think it's gonna be. It's gonna be a good way for them to get rid of the undisputed champion, until having John Cena retire with that belt and just retire and then make a brand new belt.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:You know, but anyways, is that what you're gonna say for that?
Speaker 2:match. Uh, yeah, gonna say for them. Uh, yeah, I'm gonna go with john cena, I'm not gonna say no, no brainer but I'm gonna go with john cena beating cm punk. Just because I don't see anybody beating john cena this year, I think he's gonna retire at the bill but anyways, is that what I want to talk about for this show? Yeah, that's it man all right so that's uh, I'm ben I'm bash for the episode of tag team talk.