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
AJ Lee’s Return as ESPN debuts WrestlePalooza
Wrestling history unfolds as WWE's first-ever ESPN exclusive event takes center stage. Ben and Bash podcast delivers a breakdown of WrestlePalooza, marking the beginning of WWE's partnership with ESPN after moving from Peacock.
Subscribe to our channel and join us for our first-ever live stream of the event on Twitch as we experience this groundbreaking show together!
Welcome to the Ben and Bash podcast tag team talk.
Speaker 2:I'm Ben.
Speaker 1:I'm Bash. It's time to lace up your boots and hit the mat with the Ben and Bash podcast tag team talk.
Speaker 2:All right, here we are for another one. We're going to be doing the first ever WrestlePalooza WWE's. I don't know if it's the first event, but first official event with ESPN signed with them. I think they might have had some stuff back in the day, but yeah, it's the first contract, so they're no longer on Peacock Going to be on ESPN going forward for the next few years. Unless you're internationally, then you can watch it on Netflix still. But for us in the US we got to watch on ESPN, yeah, but for us in the US we got to watch all ESPN. But yeah, so let's get to it.
Speaker 1:All right, For the first match on the card is John Cena versus Brock Lesnar, so for this one I'm not really sure. But also a side note there's only two championship matches on this card.
Speaker 2:I wonder if they're going to have like some appearances or something like that, though, or is it going to be like the? Is it going to be like the WrestleMania type of thing, or is it going to be like a just a regular PLE type of thing?
Speaker 2:just on ESPN, pat McAfee definitely coming out pretty sure Pat Mc is going to be there after what happened to Corey Graves on SmackDown, and it's in Indianapolis where he lives and he played there for the Colts for years. He's not from the thing, from Pittsburgh, I think, or Pennsylvania, somewhere out there.
Speaker 1:But yeah, for this one I think it could go either way, but it is his retirement tour, so I might say John Cena when, like, overcomes the arm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got John Cena, Yep. Well, there's no belt on the line now, so anything can happen now With that. I'm going to go with Brock to win. It's going to be hard to beat Brock man. I know John Cena is John Cena, but Brock is Brock, I mean. I mean, did you not see what they were talking about the other day, the SummerSlam? What Brock did to him? I? Mean all of that officially started at Suplex City, but that's when people started talking about it.
Speaker 1:But that was like 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:You know okay.
Speaker 1:That was like 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:You know, you know you know, okay, that was like 10 years ago, yeah, and it doesn't matter, brock's still in tip-top shape. You know John Cena's been no more acting, brock's just been on his farm working getting stronger. So so Brock, you know he hadn't probably wrestled in a little while. He's been working out and still been in shape. John Cena's. I mean John Cena's in shape too, but he's been more acting and doing movie roles and stuff recently. So, like I said, I'm going to go with Brock on this one. Just, I don't know, it just looks like Brock's going to not to say he's going to destroy him like he did at SummerSlam that year, but but I'm not going to say it should be a good match, but maybe John Cena put up a better fight than he did at SummerSlam when he got super plays.
Speaker 1:What 16, 17 times at. Real Ones Nah, he's going to win. Nah, I'm different when he's not. Nah, nah, nah.
Speaker 2:Brock Lesnar going to win that one. But yeah, I got Brock Lesnar winning that one.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I said Cena, you said Brock, I'm definitely going to win that one. Okay, but for our next match on the card it's the Usos versus the Vision, so for this one they're both.
Speaker 2:I mean, we haven't seen much of Brown Breaker, bronson Reed, but we know the Usos, you know, but Usos haven't been attacking in a while either.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they were last time we been attacking in a while either. Yeah, and they were last time we saw them on a major PLA. They were fighting each other, wasn't they?
Speaker 1:yeah, but like the Miz, how did the Miz join?
Speaker 2:war games. War games, that's right, war games. But but then at WrestleMania they arrested each other. Yeah, so it's, are they back together? And then you see what's happening on Raw, with what Jay's been doing and Demi's kind of being like you know what are you doing? So it's like are they going to be on the same foot? You know, I mean, we know what the runs are, you know from the vision, we know what they're going to be doing. They're cohesive. Right now they're working together perfectly. Can we say the same thing about the Usos right now? You know they may be one of the greatest tag teams of all time, but right now are they still that same tag team?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, but yeah, so you're going to say the division. I'm saying the Usos because they're just one of the, if not the best tag teams ever.
Speaker 2:I am going to say, because here's the X-Factor in the match what is Eliac going to do? Because him and Jay have been going at it the last couple weeks. Jay attacked him by spearing him, he attacked Jay by getting him a BTE.
Speaker 1:BTE. What is it? Blood Forged Trauma, that's.
Speaker 2:BFT, bft, yeah, bft. And so now, what are they going to be doing? You know so. So now, what are they going to be doing? You know so. Is he going to interfere in the match and cost him that match?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or is it going to be a straight-up match? You see what I'm saying. Like we know, seth's not going to get involved because he got his hands full with the match. We don't talk about it a little bit, yeah, but let's see Paul Hennig's back, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:You know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's a hard one. So you say you picked the Usos. Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and pick the vision with that one.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's just too much going on with the Usos right now for them to—and then, who was Jay talking to the other day on the phone? Who did he call the other day? And Jay Walton. I'm saying who was that? He got on the phone remember. Yeah, who was that? Was that Roman? Was it Paul? Who was it?
Speaker 1:It's probably Roman.
Speaker 2:You know Like who was it. You know Like who was it that he called.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I don't know, man, I'm going to go with Division, though I mean, this is a tough one right here, but I'm going to go with Division on that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so her next match on the card is CM Punk and AJ Lee versus their finals in Becky Lynch and AJ Lee's return to the Division League, or?
Speaker 2:return match After 10 years. Yeah, first match in 10 years.
Speaker 1:I've never seen, like I've seen little bits of her match, but I've never seen her match you were. I've never seen like I've seen little bits of her much, but I've never seen a lot of her.
Speaker 2:Well, you were, you were one when she retired Originally.
Speaker 1:She retired.
Speaker 2:When she left WWE originally oh.
Speaker 1:I didn't know. She left then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she didn't rest like that oh yeah she left when CM Punk left. Right after it he left to be working there with Dwayce and Punk and her, still for the same company. So she ended up leaving too. I'm not sure that's the main reason or I'm sure there's other reasons too. She left too, but that was one of the reasons I think she left too. But yeah, this is her first match back. Let's see if she has any ring rest, as they call it, because she won against.
Speaker 1:Seth Rollins and Becky. Lynch arguably the best couple in WWE history.
Speaker 2:Debatable. But yes, as of right now, yes, but we'll see after this match if that will be the case. Yeah, but yeah, go ahead with George, I'm not going to mind it.
Speaker 1:So I mean AJ Lee. I don't think she loses here, she definitely doesn't take the pin. So I'm probably going to say CM Punk and AJ Lee, especially with Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins, kind of not being on the same page on the round.
Speaker 2:Was that real, though? Because she saw what happened. They kind of fake and then. So we don't know if they're fake or not. You can't really I mean you can't never say with Seth Rollins no, he faked the whole knee injury.
Speaker 1:No endemic. It might be a fake.
Speaker 2:Exactly that's what I'm saying. So Seth Rollins faked the whole knee injury and cashed in on CM Punk. Yeah, you know. So who do you have?
Speaker 1:I have CM Punk and AJ Lee Because I don't think AJ Lee is losing in the return match.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to go the same way, only because, if you want CM Punk to challenge Seth and AJ to challenge Becky the way it's looking they can't lose their first match.
Speaker 1:Because how are CM Punk and AJ Lee just going to go back after a title that they just lost to both of the people? And even if they were to lose, who takes the pin?
Speaker 2:Exactly that's what I'm saying. So you have to look strong. To lose who takes the pin? Exactly that's what I'm saying. So you have to look strong. So if they want to make aj uh a challenger for becky's championship, they have to have her win.
Speaker 2:If she has a win, she can't take a pin and cn punk can't take a pin from self or he's out of the picture. So they have to win. Yeah, you know, I mean now, granted, it looks, if you didn't know anybody, you would think becky was a world champion. I mean she's been. Was it Intercontinental Championship? Is that what she is? Intercontinental Champion. So I mean, or US, was it US? Or?
Speaker 1:no, it's Intercontinental and then.
Speaker 2:Julia's US yeah, okay, so yeah. So it looks like, if you don't know anybody, you would think Baker was a world champion. Yeah, but she's the intercontinental, but she's been elevated to world championship status.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just by her heel work being with Sif, him being a world champion, both of them had belts on their shoulders. I mean her heel work has been amazing so far. Yeah, I mean she's been selling it. You know she was big, bad. All kinds of AJ Lee comes and the thing about it too. I don't know if you don't remember this, but Becky was brought up for AJ Lee. Now yeah.
Speaker 2:They brought Becky, they brought Sasha Mercedes now, but Sasha's back in some time. Then Charlotte's up. All three of them came up when Nikki with the Bellas and AJ Lee was all you know, was all doing. Good you know, but yeah, so it should be a good match. We'll see how much AJ Lee has, how much ring rush he has. I'm sure it won't take much to knock it off. I'm sure she's been training for a while. The last time I saw her she was on a TV show. Was it called Heels? I've never seen that before. It's about wrestling.
Speaker 2:I've never seen it, but I've seen clips of it, yeah she played a little role in that where she didn't live in wrestling. Yeah, she played a little role in that where she didn't live in a wrestling. Yeah, you know. And uh, so yeah, she's been wrestling, not in the like, not in front of you know, 20,000 people and millions on TV live, but she has, you know, she has a little. She had a little um a little gig on um Women's Wrestling. She had a little gig on that. I think she was a commentator or something like that.
Speaker 1:Commentator.
Speaker 2:Something like that. Yeah, but she was on for like one season and that was it, and she lived up to that.
Speaker 1:There's seasons on that show. Oh.
Speaker 2:But yeah. So she's been around wrestling since she left. She hasn't been completely out of it. You know she's been doing it, but I like seeing Punk. I was seeing Punk with AEW have a few matches there and there that came down to me. She hasn't won anywhere. This is her first match back period.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and so we'll see how her ring rest stuff holds up. But it should be a good match. I mean, becky and Steph are two of the best workers in business, female and males by far. Mm-hmm, you know, according to Becky she's the greatest female ever. According to Sports Illustrated yeah.
Speaker 2:You the greatest female ever, according to Sports Illustrated. Yeah, you know, she says it all the time and Steph is up there too. It's one of the greatest, you know. But yeah, it should be a good match regardless. So, yeah, I'm excited to see AJ Lee back in the ring now. Seeing Punk back in the ring I wish they had done more promo work for both of them. Against them too. Yeah, you know, but you got to do a slow burn. You know you got to start back slow and getting back into it slowly, but yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I got Sam Pup and AJ Lita to win that.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, yep. But for the next match on the card it's Eos Kyra and Stephanie Viqueira for the vacant Women's World Championship, because Naomi, she was out for pregnancy, yep, so she's not the champion anymore.
Speaker 2:She's going to be out at least a year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the title is vacant now. And then it's Io versus Stephanie, which Io was the champion a couple months ago. She lost it. Oh, at Evolution to Naomi, yeah, and Naomi cashed in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Naomi cashed in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, but yeah, so knowing that, and she just lost.
Speaker 2:And Stimpy posted a wrestling. She posted a wrestling only at Clash in Paris, anyways, mm-hmm. So, but yeah, they moved the match.
Speaker 1:They could have just done this match at Clash in Paris.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but now you have a match on Resoluplusa.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's like, well, like, there's a big tag.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you got four women champions. One of them's in that match with CM Punk. Julia's not wrestling right now for some reason. She's wrestling a little bit. She's in a tag team with.
Speaker 1:Keanu James.
Speaker 2:Yeah, keanu James against you know.
Speaker 1:Meechan at B-Fab yeah Meechan and B-Fab yeah Meechan. And.
Speaker 2:B-Fab. So they got a tag team match first and then I'm sure Meechan is going to get a title match, which they can't do that right now because they're in the air, so they're going to get something else right now yeah. And then and it looks like Tiffany had a a little slight head injury, maybe concussion or something like that, so that's why she wasn't on NXT yeah, and also why she, why she didn't get physical on Smackdown and why it's moved to the next Smackdown, not on this card exactly, which is why she didn't get involved in doing too much because the way it was set it up, it was definitely going to be on this card.
Speaker 2:The way it looks, the triple threat match was probably going to be on this card more than it looks.
Speaker 1:What's a triple, especially of that big superstars. Why would they put a triple threat on a random episode of SmackDown?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it definitely probably be on this card the way it looks, but because she had her, it looks like. I'm not sure if it was a concussion or whatever it was, but whatever it was, she wasn't able to wrestle on NXT at homecoming and she didn't do too much on Smackdown. She not gonna be at Razzle Palooza at least not wrestling anyways, and it was saved until next week. So you have to, you have to get them, you have to put the match on this. I mean, you know. So that's where you at least they got a women's match on here. There was a lot of times back in the day where there was no women's matches on there, or if there was, there were five minutes and that was it.
Speaker 1:But so who are you going to pick? I'm picking Stephanie to win because she hasn't had the title yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not going to say it's too early because Stephanie is a veteran. She's been wrestling for a while. She's not like a new person to wrestling. She's new to WWE and if people hadn't watched her in AEW or Stardom or New Japan or whatever down in Mexico, whatever AAA, if they hadn't watched her in there, they're not going to be familiar with her too much, since she's been WWE NXT and now main roster. But if you watch her for a while you know she's been a solid wrestler all the way across.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know. So we can't say she's new, it's too early for her. No, it's not, she's been wrestling for a while.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, she's not. She's not new to wrestling. She's new to WWE, but not wrestling Right. So, with that being said, I'm going to also pick Stephanie McHare to win Mm-hmm. Like I said, she's a fan favorite and this is this is, when you pull, give her the belt. You know, I mean, io's a fan favorite too, but Io just had the belt earlier this year. You know, let's see Stephanie get it for a while and let her hold it for a minute and see what she can do with it. You know, not sure who her next few to be, maybe Rhea Ripley or somebody, but Io or Stephanie.
Speaker 1:I mean Rhea Ripley, Definitely Rhea Ripley. And when Liv Morgan comes back, it's probably going to be Liv Morgan. They're probably going to put her right back in that division.
Speaker 2:She should be coming back soon. She should be about healed from her injury.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:She's been out for a few months because she missed Evolution, so she should be getting ready to come back in the next month or two, depending on how good she's healing.
Speaker 2:Mm so and how bad the injury was originally yeah so, yeah, yeah, I got Stephanie winning that one. It should be a pretty good match. Though this may be the best match on the card, I would say we got two two of the best female wrestlers in the world period yeah so it should be a pretty good match right here, if not a match, a match on the card, a match at night rather at your night rather yeah so, but yeah, so, that's what you're going to say for that.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's it. And for the main event, it's Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Speaker 2:Grudge match.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so which Cody Rhodes said on SmackDown? They tagged him. When did that happen? I?
Speaker 2:Cody Rhodes said on SmackDown they tagged him. When did that happen? I can't remember. I know I heard too it was in WWE. I don't know. They were in TNA around the same time. It could have been TNA, it could have been WWE. I'm not sure If it had been years ago when he said that it would have been WWE.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But because now they acknowledge other wrestling companies, now it could have been WWE or it could have been TNA or it could have been any other independent wrestling company. It wasn't AEW, because Drew McIntyre never went to AEW, but he did go to TNA around the same time. Cody was there, I think he was there around the same time, anyways, I think. But anyways, maybe it was early WWE when they were both younger Could they have run the same major thing anyways.
Speaker 1:But if this was what it was like, if he was deep into his reign, I would say Drew McIntyre honestly, because the way that the feud has been built, I think it favors Drew McIntyre honestly. But also there is a factor in this match Randy Orton. Is he going to get involved for Cody Rose or Drew McIntyre?
Speaker 2:Yeah, true.
Speaker 1:Because he could turn on Cody honestly. But I don't know, I don't see that, so I'm going to say Cody Rose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it was, it was. Drew had to hold himself together on SmackDown because he wanted to play more back into the table again.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But he knew, if he did that last time he did that Cody Rose was out for a few weeks before he came back, and so he stopped himself because he knew if he did that there's no match.
Speaker 1:There was a loser.
Speaker 2:So he stopped himself, composed himself, didn't do it. Um, with that being said, drew McIntyre's going to win.
Speaker 1:Because of.
Speaker 2:I mean for one. We know Cody's not going to be on TV for a while. He's from Street Fighter. Yeah, I'm surprised he even came back for this match. But not just that. Drew McIntyre is there so he can hold the belt for a little bit. I mean, I like when belts change hands, you don't have a belt for two, three, four, five years, you know, or a year or so. Like change belts every now and then, you know, like make it to where you know a guy has a belt for a little bit of time. Okay, then somebody else gets it, because after a while people get bored of the same champion, unless they're doing something different with their character yeah, like every single title, reign doesn't have to be roman reigns or gunther level title yeah, but that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Like he became more interested when he changed himself to the tribal chief yeah you know, when he got with paul hayman and all that you know, then he aligned himself with paul hayman, he changed his character up and then he had paul hayman out. Then he started, he had the bloodline and changed his character from the big dog to tribal chief, which people started liking that. I mean they started they didn't like him, but then they started liking that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know Gunther, he's just a solid wrestler period. You know young guy like him, but when he gets in that ring you know what he can do. You know Drew same way. You get in that ring. You don't have to like him, but you got to respect him for what he does in that ring. Seth Rollins same way. You know all those guys like that who are heels. You get respect for people because, especially real wrestling fans, you get respect for them because they're good wrestlers. You know what I mean. Yeah, and so with that, like I said, that's why I got Drew winning, because he's hungry for it. He needs that belt right now. You know I mean that's why I got Drew winning, because he's hungry for it. He needs that belt right now. You know I mean the way he lost it. What he wanted to see in Punk. Let him get his redemption.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean seeing Punk came, not him losing to Punk, but you know, seeing Punk cause him to lose it. Yeah, because he, you know he caused it and they cashed in on him. But yeah, so now this is the time to get his redemption and get his title back and see what he can do with it. Now, you know, Because now you have other people he can wrestle against. You know, at least while Cody's not on TV right now. Yeah, so, but yeah.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so you're going to say Drew McIntyre, drew McIntyre, yeah, yeah, I going to say Drew McIntyre.
Speaker 2:Drew McIntyre, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm saying Cody Rose, I don't know, I just think he's going to retain Because it's his first defense. You think he would lose in his first defense. I get he's going to Street Fighter, but you think he's going to lose in his first defense.
Speaker 2:It's a dress with Drew McIntyre, though. So your thing is that he came back just to lose to Drew McIntyre. No, not just came back just to lose to him, but Drew McIntyre kicked him through the, through the table yeah he had to come back and get his gig back. It's not gonna work cause Drew McIntyre gonna come out on top, but yeah, he had to come back and get his gig back, though, just to you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep.
Speaker 2:You just answer that.
Speaker 1:Not really. It's going to be a good card, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to be a good card. We also are going to try to live stream as well, our first live stream, going to try to see how it works out with it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think we're going to try to do it on twitch and youtube possibly yeah we'll see how it goes, though I know I know twitch for sure, and we'll see if we can try to get on youtube too. But, um, yeah, twitch for sure. Maybe youtube just depends on how that works first time doing it. So we'll see how it works the first go around. But, yeah, uh, kind of see what this card's about, you know, see what the whole rest of it looks, looks like, see how ESPN production does. Or if you got Netflix, internationally, watch it on Netflix. But, yeah, anything to add to it? Nope, all right. So, that being said, I'm Ben, I'm Ben.
Speaker 2:And this has been an episode of Tag Team Talk.