WWE War game worst PLE in 2025

Ever watch two steel cages drop and feel… nothing? That’s the problem we wrestle with as we unpack a star-studded War Games that forgot to earn its violence. We dig into why the women’s match felt like a cage with props, how repeat high spots lose magic without story, and why AEW’s Blood & Guts—overstuffed as it was—still carried more emotional weight after months of feuding. When the build is thin, the bell can’t save you.

We also break down Cena vs Dominik: the scare spot outside, the morality-play refereeing, the interference pile-up, and a return that bumps the grade but not the logic. If this is a legend’s final lap, what does a great retirement arc really look like? We compare WWE’s star-forward booking to Sting’s generous farewell and Tanahashi’s grind, and argue for a path where the last dance makes new names, not just headlines.

Then we zoom out. Stephanie Vakyrie vs Nikki shows how cold challenges smother good work. The men’s War Games plays like the Expendables: all hits, no stakes. Meanwhile, New Japan quietly runs a masterclass—World Tag League preview tags, clear point stakes, champs in the field, and Young Lions learning by losing. AEW’s Continental Classic borrows the bracket, but still leans on workrate over journeys. The truth hurts: WWE still manufactures stars better than anyone, and AEW still needs to. But both companies win when story leads and the match pays it off.

If you want sharper builds, cleaner payoffs, and war that feels like war, hit play. Then tell us: did story or sizzle win your week? Subscribe, share with a fellow fan, and drop your letter grades in the replies.

🎙️ Big Brothaz of Destruction Podcast
The ring is sacred. The questions are real. The destruction? Guaranteed.

💥 Follow the madness, tap in below:
📸 Instagram: @bbodpodcast
🎥 TikTok: @bbodpodcast_
📘 Facebook: Big Brothaz of Destruction Podcast

🔥 New Episodes Drop Every Monday @ 9AM EST
Step in the ring with us. Ask the hard questions. Bring the smoke.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open, Hosts Banter, Set-Up
• 2:20 Week-In-Wrestling: Broad Strokes
• 3:50 AEW Blood & Guts vs WWE War Games
• 8:00 Women’s War Games: Build And Booking
• 12:40 Match Order Logic And Men’s Entry Debate
• 15:30 Why The PLE Felt Flat
• 18:30 Survivor Series Tradition And What’s Missing
• 23:00 Equality Take: When Not To Run Two War Games
• 26:30 AEW Continental Classic: Wrestling Over Story
• 29:00 Eddie Kingston Promo Talk And Presentation
• 33:30 New Japan Tag League: Structure And Purpose
• 39:00 How NJPW Builds Stakes Without Talky Segments
• 44:00 Back To WWE: Women’s War Games Graded
• 49:00 Cena vs Dominik: Spectacle And Finish
• 55:30 On Retirements: Cena, Sting, Tanahashi
• 1:01:00 Stephanie Vakyrie vs Nikki: Why It Didn’t Land
• 1:07:00 Story Makes Bad Matches Tolerable
• 1:12:30 Men’s War Games: Star Power Over Substance
• 1:18:30 AEW’s Star Problem vs WWE’s Star Factory
• 1:23:30 Final Rant, Takeaways, Sign-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Problem with what AEW does, they're just out here just blowing everywhere, bro. So you tell me I'm not gonna make that reference on the air anyway. But A like what we get. What we're getting on A.

SPEAKER_00: 0:28

Welcome to another episode of the Big Brothers of Destruction podcast. It's the Masaku. It's your boy Swag Switch in the building. I don't have a cool catchphrase that uh Mr. Um Mr. McKinnon always went and got yet. We're gonna we're gonna come up with that. Yeah, you need to work on that, bro. Uh I I want to take something I saw from this show uh called um attorney woo, where they'll say their name is Mazzy to the Ozzy to the Whoop. And then they'll say their their own thing and they do this pose like what's uh okay.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05

Oh, but um But I mean, like I thought you had a thing, like the the raging demon, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10

Well not like uh not like a actual essence of uh like a catchphrase. I mean I'm I am the Moscow, I am that entity, but I don't have like a catchphrase. Oh yeah, because the raging demon, that's akuma. I can't rob that. You know what I'm saying? I the reason why I didn't call myself a kuma is because I could call myself Goki, that's devil, no. Um, and then Akuma, that's demons. So I said if I'm gonna call if I'm gonna be somewhat connected to Akuma, obviously with the beads, what's the next best thing of a demon? Oh shit, a masaku. And then hey, it's connected to you, youhaka show. Well, fuck, that's a double whammy. Okay, that works. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:52

Then yeah, you gotta get cracking on that.

SPEAKER_00: 1:54

Uh I'll have about next week. I'll have by next week. Well, what we can say about this week is uh the bullshit week. What is it? Was it really a bullshit week to you? Was it a bullshit week to wrestle? I don't know. I can't really say that. I don't I want to speak too much. I just know the pay-per-view last night was bullshit.

SPEAKER_01: 2:12

Which is the main topic of discussion. I'm going to talk about this week of wrestling in very, very broad strokes here. Okay. Okay. Because if I was to try and sit here and get into the real nitty-gritty of like the ups and downs and the mostly downs of this week, we're not gonna have time to talk about the pay-per-view. But then again, there was only four matches on the pay-build.

SPEAKER_00: 2:42

Oh, we got time, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 2:45

So, like, but listen on the WWE side, they tried to hype up this pay-per-view, they tried in a very short amount of time to give you as much of a reason why to want to see these two uh war games matches. All right, they tried really hard. And I would say on a percentage scale, for the females, they got like maybe like like I would give them a high 60 something percent in in getting enough story over to make you more attached to want to watch, and with the guys, they fall, they they barely touch 50 for me.

SPEAKER_00: 3:43

Okay, what was the match? I mean, there were some spots, but like as we had the conversation before, what is the purpose of this match? You know, I I think it was um who was it? I don't want to say it was Jim Cornet. It was somebody who had made a comment that bro, once AEW said, hey, we're gonna, I know you brought it up too, but like once AEW brought their blood and gust match, which is normally around June, July, and they said, let's count a program and actually do ours first. And he gives them the ability to go fucking insane, and they did. So now, because of that, it fucks war games, it really did. Because, like, oh, we know you're not gonna do that. So why should we care?

SPEAKER_01: 4:33

We've already seen it, and the problem is is the fact that where WWE is usually strong in this area, they failed. So, comparably speaking, right? The build-up for the blood and guts matches were very were meh at best. Very meh at best. For the guys mostly. For the girls, there was there was enough substance in past story that had happened that led to the females blood and guts match that warranted, and it made sense why these five fucked the other two that they tacked in there. Looking at you, Monet in Statlander, but like out of those main five, they had been fighting each other for literally the last six goddamn months, bro. All over collision, spilling into dynamite. They have been at each other's throats. So it made sense why they were in that match and why that match was needed, and why the carnage that we got out of that match was warranted. And I put an asterisk on that because that was it was un it was unnecessary carnage in a but at the same time necessary for them. It made sense why they would be doing that. It made sense why they was doing it, and in the moment, it was it was a lot in the moment, mostly because of the fact like you don't see females doing that, but at the same time, though it was a lot, like when you think back of all the stuff they've been doing to each other at this point, it made sense that all of it was going to boil down here, even with putting in uh Tony Storm and uh Mina Shukara and whatnot, you know, they've been lightly included in this. And then plus, Megan Bain and uh Shafir, you know, are were directly people who they were going to have to face in the tag team. So they got their little story situation kind of mixed in there too. I was able to accept it. Monet had no reason to be in there besides the fact that she sends Tony Khan the feet pics and she has created. Accepting it. He's accepting it. At this point, I have to. There are some things I just can't, you know, I have to bend the knee to. And so, but it's like that's the only reason why she was in there. She was in there because this is the first time the women were in there, and why not have Mercedes Monet be in there? Because she's a very important person. As a matter of fact, she's so important that she gets treated better than the women's champion. But I don't want to talk about that right now because that's a whole nother tangent and a whole nother problem I have with AEW right now. But you look at that, and then you look at the female one for WWE, it was slapstick together. Yeah. There was no real substance. Sure, EL Sky and Rhea are feuding with the Buki Warriors, okay? The Abuki Warriors, okay? Yeah, sure. Like, just because the Abuki Warriors took the tag team tiles from you doesn't mean that you're in a blood feud with them and need to fight them at war games. No. That none of that makes sense. And then, of course, you know, we throw AJ Lee in there because we want to pop and make sure we fill up this big arena because everyone wants to see AJ Lee. And so then that brings Becky into it, which Becky, I have to give Becky her credit. Becky really tried to make this important. The promos that she was cutting and the shit she was talking about and everything, she was really trying and pushing to make to make me feel as if, oh, so that's why the women's are doing this bloody. It didn't work, but I acknowledge anybody else she tried. She I acknowledge the fact that she tried. Sure. I I did like the fact that, you know, the you know, Charlotte and Rhea acknowledged the fact that they have a lot of history. Yeah, that was good. And and that was good, but then it got resolved in a week. And so it's like, oh well, all right, cool, whatever. Yeah. And we're and we're just we're just, I guess we're all we're just friends again.

SPEAKER_00: 9:02

We're friends now. You know, we're no problems.

SPEAKER_01: 9:04

We're ready to we're ready to rock this. Sure. Okay, cool. And so No Kame coexist moment. None. None of them. Not one. Nope. And I'm just like, so then going into this match now, it's like the match happens, and it's like, yeah, I'm gonna pop for AJ Lee, because I'm an AJ Lee stand from the from day one. So of course I'm gonna pop for her.

SPEAKER_00: 9:28

But outside of that, it was like I really didn't pop for anybody, actually. I didn't, I will I will say the only thing when it came to watching these matches is what is the order and what makes sense for these orders. And you know, when I was watching the men's one, and we we can talk more in depth about it, but like one thing I got was like, what? Why would you do that? So when Braun came out first, Drew came out next, I was like, no, Logan Paul should be next. Say Drew, if not for last, you know, or not last, but second to last. Because, you know, I was thinking Brock would be the last one to come out because Brock is, you know, he's this big beast, he's a big beast, and you know, he should not be doing too much in this match because it does not make sense for him to be in this match, because the way you guys are selling him, he should be bodying everybody, and he did, he had his moment of bodying everybody until Roman came. So um Bra, it should have been Braun, it should have been Paul, it should have been the other Braun, Drew, and then um uh Brock. But then some people did also put the fact that since C uh CM Punk went in first, Drew could have gone in first to bring that few back and things of that nature. But again, we'll get into that shortly. So, uh, this woman's War Games match.

SPEAKER_01: 10:57

Well, hold up because still hitting this week of wrestling in broad strokes. Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Because the main thing that I was saying was the fact that like WWE usually are the ones that will give you enough story to make you care about something. Yeah. They dropped the ball heavily on this pay-per-view. None of the story for any of the matches made me fucking care. Not just care, they didn't make me fucking care. And then, with the way that WW's been moving right now, they can't do what AEW does, which is at least really, really wow me with their wrestling. Wow me so much with their wrestling to the point where you know what? Yeah, I'm not gonna forget the fact that there was no story buildup to this match, but shit, match was looking good. There was none of that for this pay-per-view, and for all intents and purposes, the matches that we got throughout this week were better than the pay-per-view. In my humble opinion.

SPEAKER_00: 12:13

Uh, people were actually saying that the traditional um the traditional survivor series match was actually one of the best matches of the week.

SPEAKER_01: 12:20

Sammy Zayn and his squad going up against uh the MFTs. The NFTs. MFTs. Whatever. My family tree. Fucking damn. Like, yes, that match was good. That was a proper Survivor Series match, and with all of the stall time that they had on Survivor Series, we could have had that match on Survivor Series.

SPEAKER_00: 12:48

I mean, legit though.

SPEAKER_01: 12:49

That match could have been on Survivor Series.

SPEAKER_00: 12:51

Legit, though. Actually, yo, that is that is true. Very true.

SPEAKER_01: 12:57

And so the buildup for Survivor Series, just looking at this week, not even looking at the past weeks, because those are past now, but just looking at how this week kind of was, SmackDown and Raw were more entertaining than the pay-per-view. This PLE, as they want to call them. This pay-per-view. If I would have spent money on this pay-per-view, I don't know. I use a VPN to watch my pay-per-views now. He's fancy, y'all. So I guess technically I paid whatever the price is that I pay for uh Netflix. The VPN free, my boy. Listen, Google be doing it for me.

SPEAKER_00: 13:49

Well, not even that, but I got a homie who let me use his. Oh, even better. Yeah. Listen, homie discounts are the best. Yes. So um, but yes, uh, as of a week of build for this, and then having the Survivor Series match. It was a big letter. The whole the whole point of Survivor Series is supposed to be who is the sole survivor? Some of the best matches in Survivor Series history was one person overcoming the odds. Like we can always go back to thinking like Shawn Michaels trying to keep Stone Cold's job and him bleeding bloody, you know, bloody Mary and still not getting the job done. You remember that?

SPEAKER_01: 14:31

Yes. Yeah, can't can't forget that. Back when there were when because it's because the the the original Survivor series stick with, you know, having your five five on five teams, yeah, tag five, five on five, tag team elimination. I don't mind it. Now, granted, I know people talk about how like in the past it was kind of it got old and stuff like that, but that's just because, you know, because it is a tra when it comes to traditions, after a while, unless you like jazz them up, make them fancy, do something with them, you know, traditions will get old and people may not get like them as much. That's why there was like a very good stint where Survivor Series was just a random pay-per-view that just happened after uh Thanksgiving, and there weren't any Survivor Series matches. They didn't bring them back for a good minute until um uh they started doing like you know, SmackDown versus Raw Survivor Series. Yeah, which which those were they weren't bad, but at least there, you know, it was a gimmick and you could at least kind of get behind it, having SmackDown versus Raw type thing. Or, you know, or if it's one of those things like, you know, if because Survivor series coming up, you know, the whole, you know, picking your team and dah-da-da to beat them. And it there were there were things that went into a survivor series that at least held you to wanting to actually see how this is going to end up. And this Survivor series did not have much of that to really outside of just extremely big names. Like, this is probably one of the most star-studd Survivor series since the late 80s. Because I though I'm not I like I haven't done any research research per se, but I'm pretty certain that what I'm hasn't there been a survivor series where like uh like Hulk Hogan was on the same team with like Macho. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:34

I mean those were actually made for like like they were supposed to be just as traditional as a football game on the Thanksgiving. Yeah, right. And I feel like WWE is still they're still robbing people of that nature. Granted, we all understand that some of those play, you know, some of those superstars want to be able to spend time with their their families, but what about the people that's like, yo, actually, I mean my family don't even celebrate, or like, yo, actually, me and my family celebrate on a day or two afterwards. I'm I'm able to come into work. Because I mean that's what the football players do, they they do it weeks in advance or like days in advance, they do their Thanksgiving or after. Why can't WWE do it? And I don't even think that, I don't even think that has much of a play in it. Don't it don't, but the the tradition behind it, if we're going off tradition, uh Vince did it as a way of hey, Thanksgiving. That's where the gobbledygooker came out, bro.

SPEAKER_01: 17:28

I mean, yes, and but I mean I mean as far as what you're saying with tradition, yeah, yeah, I I I see what you're going with that, and I can and I get that piece, and and I, for all intents and purposes, do agree with having a traditional Survivor Series match, maybe at least one on Survivor Series. However, I also don't mind there also being these war games matches, but it's the whole idea of I would I would wish them to not replace regular Survivor Series matches with war games, as more so there be a need and a want for war games.

SPEAKER_00: 18:10

I need I need this equality shit to stop. And I and I know this is gonna be a wild take. This is a serious take, and I'm gonna say it with my chest. Just because the women are doing one, the guys don't need to do one. The guys doing one, the women if there's no story necessary for the match per Hunter, we should not be having the match, but I feel like because of the current times, people are going to complain. Hey, the guys are doing the match. Why aren't the women? Or the women are doing the match. Surely you should make no, like we really did not need the men's war games match. We could have had a title match, for Christ's sakes. Maybe the women's one, okay. There were some seeds, but we damn sure didn't need the one for men. We damn sure didn't need that.

SPEAKER_01: 19:01

Funny enough, I would have said opposite. There was really no need for the women's war games match. Now, for the blood and guts, the women's one was necessary.

SPEAKER_00: 19:10

Oh, yeah, necessary.

SPEAKER_01: 19:11

For the guys' blood and guts, we could have done it. It wasn't needed, but all right. It's like, yeah, it wasn't needed, but it's like, I guess.

SPEAKER_00: 19:23

Yeah, I guess. But we can deal with it.

SPEAKER_01: 19:26

But it's just one of those deals where it's like, I they they put all of this star power in there. They do all this stuff to make it seem like it's gonna be so must see. And this, and this is the exact issue that they have with Russell Palooza. They made this seem as if this is a must-see. You gotta see what's gonna happen on this pay-per-view tonight. They super big, uppity dude, I hyped it for it to be. I don't know what would be less than a fucking dud. You know what I'm saying? Like, because that's what it was. Now, AEW didn't do anything this fucking week either. Like, they're doing the Continental Classic, all right? So you know what that means? AEW's going to do what they do best, and that is give you the best wrestling because AEW is absolutely and truthfully where the best wrestle. Period. It's just where the best wrestle. Yeah, they don't do anything else but wrestle over there on AEW, yeah. Which I guess is fine, but there's a balance. There is a balance that exists in the wrestling world. When I was being trained to be a wrestler, AEW is going exactly against the trainings that I was given as a young student of the wrestling business. My uh my trainer, Frank Yatso, may he rest in peace. He said, What you do in that ring, I don't care how athletic you are, I don't care how many moonsaults and how many flips you can do, none of that means shit unless you put a story behind it. None of that means you can be the most athletic person in the room. But he say, But I'm sure I can go out there and I can wow and pizzazz the crowd and give them a moment that they'll never forget more than that super athletic guy. Why? Because I told a story in that ring. I had a character outside of that ring that they can get behind or hate. And AEW, they're like, they want to skip that part.

SPEAKER_00: 22:02

Boy, does Eddie Kingston need his conversation?

SPEAKER_01: 22:04

Now hold on. I actually, and this is an exclusive, you guys, I have to give Eddie Kingston some props. Okay. Although it's hilarious because nobody's talking about it, but as it happened on Thanksgiving, and nobody was watching Collision on Thanksgiving. Sadly. Unless you're a fucking sicko like Lord Zay.

SPEAKER_00: 22:30

I mean, I'm a bit of a sicko too, but I also was at my people's house, so I'm not gonna pull it up, you know?

SPEAKER_01: 22:35

So it's funny, it was Lord Zay who brought it to my attention. And he uh, so I guess he he had caught word and wind of this thing that people do online where they say uh A Kingston's uh promos go good with boombap rap beats. And he decided that he was going to make his own version. So he put a boombap beat on and put it on top of A Kingston's promo on uh on collision. And not gonna lie, Shikan went hard. You talking about Zay did this? Yes, he gotta pass me this, bro. I have to I'd have to see if I can pull it up because he sent it, he sent it on Snapchat. But if you go on YouTube and I'm not sure what you would have to type, probably type in Eddie Kingston uh promos on Boombap. But like he sent me YouTube videos of Eddie Kingston cutting a promo with the Boombap.

SPEAKER_00: 23:36

Does it kind of remind you of the uh the uh take a look at my life? And it's like the dude said, Um, yeah, yeah, the King Sling mother um I slapped the shit out of you, one of you motherfucks. Remember that?

SPEAKER_01: 23:49

It was kind of on the actually, yeah, it kind of wasn't in that it was in that realm. So the the two promos that he sent me, one of them was emotional use only. I forget what the second one he sent me, which I think one was better, was was the better of the two. Both of them were good. But the first one he sent me, it was a promo that he was cutting against uh uh Elijah Burke on um and in NWA and yeah, in NWA. It was a promo that he cut on Elijah Burke. And so, and I was like, oh, so this is what they mean by A Kingston is a really good promo. It's all he is.

SPEAKER_00: 24:33

I hate the air that you breathe.

SPEAKER_01: 24:36

I can't I can't forget that shit. It's it's all that he it's all he is, and but but he opened my eyes to the fact that all right, so hey, he's a killer promo. And what's funny is the fact that if he would have never sent me that, I would have never watched Collision to watch that promo. Because I only turned collision on so that I'm like, oh well shit, now I gotta watch collisions because I because now I have to see this to truly believe this myself. I need to see it with my own eyes. And he could have promoted talking about how he wants to pretty much go up against some Mojo. Now, granted, I will still say I'm st I still don't like his fighting style. And Eddie Kingston, his overall likeness that he is, I'm just I'm just not a big fan of him.

SPEAKER_00: 25:21

What would you say his overall be if he was on a game? What was what would his who his overall number be?

SPEAKER_01: 25:27

I mean, I would say uh I would say circuit when he won the Continental Classic, I think it was, and he beat uh uh uh Daniel Bryan and got like those two belts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 25:39

Oh, he had all three belts? He had all three belts.

SPEAKER_01: 25:41

Oh, yeah, he had all three. When he had all three of those belts, I'd put him at like an 87.

SPEAKER_00: 25:47

Oh, that's what my nigga. I said 87 was like where it would be, but I was like, he might be 88 because of the belts, just because of that era when he had the belts. 87 was where I first went.

SPEAKER_01: 26:04

He he's that his overall is an 87. Now, after he's left and he's come back, he's probably dropped down to like 83. Yeah, like 83. Like, I would I would give him an 84 at best. Just because I'm nice. Yeah. But like, but beside from that though, like AEW right now, it where WWE was trying to give you story to really hype you up for this uh this this pay-per-view. AEW's like, and a fuck story. We're uh we don't do that here. We're just gonna give you a crazy good match, though. We're just gonna give you a bunch of good, we're just gonna give you a bunch of matches uh uh to for the Continental Classic.

SPEAKER_00: 26:44

Oh, you're talking about the week. Okay, I thought you were talking about the blood and guts situation. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01: 26:47

Oh no, no, no, no. I mean, still, yeah. I mean, it's still complex.

SPEAKER_00: 26:51

Wait, even blood and guts, we had like what, four matches that night, too?

SPEAKER_01: 26:55

Blood and guts, it was yeah, and it was Hangman. Hangman had his match. And I remember it was the men's. Yeah, no, they had three. And it was still better, which is crazy to say. It was still more entertaining. It was still more entertaining.

SPEAKER_02: 27:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 27:11

It was still more entertaining when you because it's like sometimes when it comes to like the way I look at things and when I give you guys this podcast, right? I watch it in two with two different eyes. I watch it as a fan, and then I watch it as someone who is analyzing something and is going to talk about it on a podcast. As a fan, blood and guts was fun. But when you analyze it and you break it down, shit didn't make no sense. And then coming over to this week, because like coming off of all that blood and guts stuff, and then this week it's Continental Classic, it's like night and day. It's night, yeah, it's like night and day. It's like blood and guts didn't fucking happen. It just like it was it was kind of programmed. It's kind of programmed. It was a thing that happened.

SPEAKER_00: 28:04

All right, cool, and we moved on. And honestly, I feel like AEW won in this situation because there's so many people who are pissed at the outcome of war games. I mean, literally, I sent you a meme where somebody said they used the Simpsons meme. It was like, yo, I spent a thousand dollars just to see this ending. You know what I'm saying? So it was like we were on the phone watching war games, and granted, I was high as shit. Um, I like passed out the last 15 minutes of the match because it was just Shaq. It was just to me, Brock oversells too much for Roman, and it just it just throws you off. It just it just really throws you off.

SPEAKER_01: 28:48

So, in a nutshell, as far as this week of wrestling, yeah. This week of wrestling has been well, you haven't gotten New Japan yet, so oh yeah, new new new New Japan is excused from from a lot of this right now. Because New Japan, they kind of they're operating their own in their own spot, right, in their own world. But it's like as far as with the the general wrestling that's on ray on regular American TV, that's been going on all this, it's it is it's no wonder this year is being carded as the absolute worst year of wrestling. It is who said that the universe, bro. Everyone is saying that.

SPEAKER_00: 29:35

This is bro. As a wrestling fan, this is the worst year of wrestling. Hands down, bro.

SPEAKER_01: 29:42

Hands down. This has been the most garbage year of wrestling.

SPEAKER_00: 29:48

A lot of it is social media hype, really, and like they're just trying to monetize one, it's the ticket selling shit, and then two, it's just hey, so you guys like this person, right? We're just gonna Put them in a match, and it's not even like taking in consideration of yes, the story, but like because one star power is so high, we're just gonna keep putting them up here. It's almost like Vince McMahon shit, but like it's it's really how you know how many times we've seen Rhea Ripley in a situation. I was like, you didn't deserve that. Why are you in the title match? Why are you here? Why are you here? Why are you here? And as much as I love Rhea Ripley as a person, as an athlete, there are just times it's like, so because you put her in here because she's the most overwoman in WWE right now. Like you could put her in anything, and then people are like, oh, it's Rhea Ripley, oh my god, blah, blah. And there is sometimes no reason to put her in a situation. No, not none at all.

unknown: 30:52

None.

SPEAKER_00: 30:53

None. Now, I do like the re the re uh and and EO team up shit, you know what I'm saying? Even though I see what you be talking about too, because sometimes they be like, yo, Eo, I care about you. What is this sexual tension going on here?

SPEAKER_01: 31:17

Pam, the tension is palpable. Like, there's times I'm watching, I'm just like, goddamn. Shit.

SPEAKER_00: 31:28

I'm just waiting here to boom, ch doom, doom, d-like.

SPEAKER_01: 31:33

The minute I hear that, I'm like, oh shit. See, the problem is the fact that if you go to the dark, if you go to dark ends of the internet, I'm nah, somebody's already AI'd it.

SPEAKER_00: 31:42

It's it's there. Somebody's already AI'd it. If somebody's AI'd AJ AJ Lee kissing a dude, sadly, there's probably some AI stuff already out there. I mean, I saw a video, somebody AI'd Roman Reigns in a pink tutu and went up to somebody's fucking. This is what happens when you don't uh uh uh uh acknowledge the chief and he takes the candy and run away. I'm like, bro, those those videos are wild, bro. So there's no telling what just probably already out there.

SPEAKER_01: 32:12

It's uh I'm I'm just glad that uh those have stayed on the dark side of the internet. Not because I don't want to see them, but like I don't need to. I don't need to.

SPEAKER_00: 32:25

You don't know what's in my search or tree. Uh you know what? Anyway, so with the rest of the week, AW's kind of a classic, WWE's uh building up of War Games and being a lackluster pay-per-view.

SPEAKER_01: 32:43

Again, before we before we get on to the pay-per-view and whatnot, just since we're you know, because that's my broad strokes on just this week of wrestling on the AEW and WWE side. Can you tell me something good with New Japan?

SPEAKER_00: 33:00

Uh this world this world tag league is literally the only thing that is going on. Now, granted, I have not had the chance to watch um Thursday and Friday, but I have watched so far uh Monday, Monday, Tuesday, and they took a break on Wednesday and I'm back at it. And New Japan apparently is is producing four day four days of uh uh content. Yeah. So Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, bro. How many matches? Uh they're about like six, if not five.

SPEAKER_01: 33:32

Oh, so these are like full yeah, they're the two-hour shows.

SPEAKER_00: 33:36

They're two hour, two-hour 30-minute shows.

SPEAKER_01: 33:38

Ooh, they're pumping them out.

SPEAKER_00: 33:40

Yeah, but it's mostly the tag league stuff. So, like I was telling you before in the message, uh, a lot of what's going on in the tag league is they will preview hey, let's say uh L Feltasmo and um Tanahashi. They're in a team and they may go against uh Shingo and Drilla, but we're gonna add a Youngling or somebody from their faction in there, and they're probably gonna take the pen, if not somebody else. But this is us previewing the possibilities of what this match will be. So a lot of their first three matches are these preview matches, and you have people like from the house of torture, you have uh um Tai Chi, and um can't remember his name right now, but a lot of these teams will have a youngling, and I honestly feel like a young lion, uh, I honestly feel like this is really great opportunities for these young lions to be in the ring with these guys, these these these stars, these athletes who are the well-known people in New Japan. Because outside of Wrestle Kingdom, I don't get to see a lot of young lions in the ring. So I feel like while these are previews, these are kind of just previews for the young lions.

SPEAKER_01: 34:58

Get see see what they see how people react to them and try and get them out.

SPEAKER_00: 35:02

And get moments of like you're with Drilla, you're with Shingo, you're with Tanahashi, you're you're with El Fantasmo, you're with uh Zack Zabra Jr., you're with Sanda, like you're with so many people who have had world titles and you're in the ring with them. Think about that. Like to put that on your resume, and you're technically an NXT. Think about that. And I and I and I feel like to me, that is where the the rich the enhancement for the young lions is is while this is the world tag league and we're doing these preview matches. Granted, these young lions are taking pens from like clotheslines, Boston Crabs, you know, basic shit, but it's like you've been in the ring with them, you've you've seen how they flow. And going more into their philosophy of the Young Lions system, of them, you know, training in New Japan and then going on their excursion. This is like, okay, you've seen how the top people work here, go over there and see how they work, and then come back with the information you have. So going into the rest of this week so far, it's just these preview matches, and then the main events of the week of the uh of the show would be two of the actual matches from the tag league. So it's not just hey, we're just doing these random preview matches, it's three preview matches, two matches from the tag league. And then those people would get points added to depending on who won.

SPEAKER_01: 36:29

So the points that they're is the point system similar to like how they do like the continental classic, where it's like you get this is why five points, one point draw, no points if you lose.

SPEAKER_00: 36:39

And this is why I tell you uh uh Tony Tony Khan is a big fan of New Japan fucking content, because literally tournaments are very well known in Japan. There are so many tournaments for so many things, and the Continental Classic is it's literally just him giving fan service to a new Japan tournament because right after that it's gonna be the G1 because the G1 gives you an opportunity of getting, or I think I don't know if I already passed, but like the G1 is one of the other big tournaments that happens in New Japan where the winner gets a match with the heavyweight title at Wrestle Kingdom.

SPEAKER_01: 37:16

And and and the more you watch and you explain some of these things, the more I can understand the the like with New Japan and the their way of showing wrestling. Because there's not inherently like a initial story per se, but to a certain degree, there is kind of a uh what's the word I'm looking for? There is kind of a um a nuance. Not not that no, not not so much nuance, but like there's not necessarily like a story, but there is like a particular thing that you can follow that will also get you, ooh, or derbs. But there's like a particular that will like that will give you like this uh like there's a reason to want to keep watching and to follow what's happening.

SPEAKER_00: 38:13

Yeah, and and I did mention before, like you will know everybody in this tag league at the end of it because you're gonna see them every episode. I've seen, you know, like I said, Tanahashi, I know who he is. El Phantasmo, you got Chase Owens, you know, you got the the House of Torture. Uh, if for those who are who are not familiar with Bullet Club, you know, Badluck Fale was one of those people. Now he's Don Fale. Um, he he went from being militant to being a Don and he grew out his beard, and he he he's pretty much Godfather, but I murder you. Yeah. Um, but yeah, no, that's been uh what's been going on. So really good matches, but I the only reason why they're good matches is because a lot of times when the finish happens, it's like, oh shit, that was the finish? Well, damn. Okay, I that's a solid finish. Solid power bomb that's like, ooh, that powerbomb, oh, that's a three count.

SPEAKER_01: 39:12

And what and with the way that you describe it, right? With the way that that the way that you describe it and how I'm seeing this, especially since the fact, like, on every episode, you're seeing everyone who is a part of this in some capacity. And building up a story for them too. And so it's like when they say about their being story, there is backstage story, but then there's also telling a story in the ring. There is a bell-to-bell story of what's happening and how things are formulating, kind of thing. And with what it sounds like to me, with how New Japan functions, they they don't necessarily deal a whole lot with like the verbal aspect of storytelling, especially since, you know, they are Japanese, so and they know they have like an audience that is overseas to a certain degree. Yep. And so it's like the best way that they tell their stories is with what is happening in the ring. And so because they're wrestling so much, you're getting behind, you're getting to know this character, you're getting to be behind this character, and then now you're getting invested in this character so much where you're like, I want this character to go all the way and win type thing. And as they continues on, whether you know, there is that emotional investment of like, oh damn, they got beat out by this crew, or they got cheated in this match, or whatever, however, ends up going down at the later end of all of this. And I think that is genius because sure the story's not verbal, but there is a story, and that is what AEW. Ooh, and grapes? Yep, wife is just hooking us up, bro.

SPEAKER_00: 41:06

Hey, yeah, just hooking us up, bro.

SPEAKER_02: 41:10

Doing the thing.

SPEAKER_00: 41:11

Wife knows grapes are my weakness, bro.

SPEAKER_01: 41:14

But so it's just one of those things where with what you're seeing, what you've seen so far, I could probably say that dude Japan is in a process of probably being better than what I've been watching this whole week. Not including TNA, but because I haven't had a chance to watch TNA.

SPEAKER_00: 41:33

Which is why, you know, I would suggest on your way home, just pull it up. Watch Monday, because at least you can see, you know, this week of what's been going on. You got Monday, Tuesday, you got Thursday, Friday. And I think they even did something on Saturday. Because they have to run through this tag league. Because they didn't have to do G1, I believe. So the tag league is whoever wins gets the number one contender for the tag titles. Now, granted, the tag team champions are in this too.

SPEAKER_01: 42:06

So what are they?

SPEAKER_00: 42:07

So what if the tag team champions win? Well, there's two blocks. So whoever wins the specific blocks, say if the tag champions don't get the the highest points, then it's whoever is in block A and block B, they have to face each other. That person becomes the number one contenders. But if the tag team champions are already up here, then it's just then it's just for the title. Oh, okay. Yeah. I was saying, wouldn't it more so then benefit for them? But they want more people to see who this tag the tag team champions are. So think about it, because again, they don't have backstage segments, they don't do anything of that nature. So how can you get behind who the champions are at Wrestle Kingdom if you haven't been seeing them fight to keep their titles?

SPEAKER_01: 42:52

Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00: 42:53

Yeah, especially with Yoto Ice and excuse me, Yoto Ice! Hey, look, the announcer says it like that. I gotta say it like that. So it's which their tag team name are the Knockout Brothers.

SPEAKER_01: 43:07

The Knockout Brothers.

SPEAKER_00: 43:09

Yes. And uh very simple, straightforward. Very simple, yes. And uh, you know, Oscar is his tag team partner and stuff like that. So you have a really interesting tag dynamic. Every tag team is unique in their own ways because you have some tag teams who've been tag teams for years. You have people who are just forming tag teams, you have people who are like, I'll tag with you. You know, we're two odd individuals. Let's see where we go. And then kind of harshy to me, it throws me off because I'm like, bro, you got a match with Okada already as your final match. So what if you win this tournament?

SPEAKER_01: 43:48

You know, you it uh explaining this remind makes me see something where it's all like, man, this is why AEW is sucking. AEW is trying to, you know, take parts of do Japan and and and bring it to and make it be, you know, Western. All right. The part that you just described to me about how the reason why the tag team champions are actually in the tournament in the Continental Classic is throwing everyone way the fuck off. Well, I mean, you got Okada in the in the tournament too. Exactly. And people are, you look online, people are like, what he's the champion? Why the fuck is he in there? And this is everywhere. Everyone's like, why, why, why, he, if he's a champion, why is he fighting for this kind of thing? And it's like it's being completely lost on everyone, which is one of those things where I'm like, man, if they explained it, maybe people would get it a little more and actually like it and and not be turned away because shit doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_00: 44:59

Those are almost like hot Cheetos. Um yeah, but it it's it's it's uh seaweed. Um, but yes, that simple thing just helps. It helps the aspect. But like when Eddie Kingston was champion, he says, yo, every night I'm in the match, I am defending these titles. So people knew that, but like fans were like, well, obviously not Eddie Kingston's not winning the match, because we're so used to as wrestling fans in the West, that title matches, title wins do not change unless it's a pay-per-view, unless it's a big thing. So to see somebody like Okada in this, he's not winning, he's not losing the match, because you know, Western, we're so used to that. But in New Japan, that's possible.

SPEAKER_01: 45:45

It's always possible. Which, funny enough, Okada actually did lose his first match. You see what I'm saying? And so, but like, we'll see what that continual classic. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna have to like find them time to actually I'm gonna make it a thing to try and get me some some new Japan in this week. So that I can get a little uh get get get a little uh previous to it and whatnot. But um I guess now would be a time to go ahead and let's just let's talk about this survivor series, real let's talk about it. Let's uh As uh your boy would say. Yes, which congratulations to him. Married. Fam, you I wait, engaged. I'm sorry, not married. They're getting married. Engaged. And my mom like put a ring on it, all right, they're good, they're married, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 46:38

Pretty much. I mean, that's kind of that's kind of how it was with me and my wife when I first got it.

SPEAKER_01: 46:42

And so, but uh, but yeah, they're getting they are engaged. The ring that was on her hand, fam. Hugh I could only imagine how much that ring cost. That probably cost half of his NXT check. Easy.

SPEAKER_00: 46:58

Easy salary? Oh, probably. Like that ring. We probably went up to Sean said Sean. Bro.

SPEAKER_01: 47:08

That's why he's been working these extra matches, bro. I went did you see the pictures I posted? Which ones? So last weekend, that's a tank on it. Last weekend, NXT was in Sanford. Oh yeah. Now let it be known. NXT at that time was supposed to be in New York. Okay, but they had a house show in Sanford. My man was in New York, flew all the way back down to be in Sanford just after flying all the way back for Tuesday. And he was but he was there for that for for that uh for that show. He's getting his money in.

SPEAKER_00: 47:55

He paid for that ring. But I think the whole reason for tricking they was really for that ring.

SPEAKER_01: 48:01

Oh yeah. Oh yes, man. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 48:06

Anyway, congratulations to the newly wedge, man. Um, bring this over because it looks like I'm selfishly taking all of it. Um but uh yes, so let's talk about this pay-per-view. Ain't really gonna be much to talk about with this because we kind of already briefly talked about it, but as we go into war games, uh, we can talk about the women's one. Now, I believe the two people that started it was um who was it again?

SPEAKER_01: 48:37

I know it was Charlotte Flair.

SPEAKER_00: 48:38

Charlotte Flair and um was it Becky Lynch?

SPEAKER_01: 48:44

Oh Charlotte and uh Oscar.

SPEAKER_00: 48:46

Oh, yeah, yeah, actually, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the next person that came in was Becky Lynch. Okay. So overall, with the match, the pacing, the storytelling, tell me your thoughts. So, to me.

SPEAKER_01: 49:10

Alright, we're not, I'm not even gonna sugarcoat it. Oh shit. We're just gonna I'm gonna just put it out. Oh shit. We alluded to it earlier, and I'm gonna come out and just say the fact that AEW messed up war games for me. AEW messed up war games because war games was not gonna be anywhere close to being the excitement and the thrill of blood and guts. It was as as I've heard some people what uh I was watching the podcast today was talking about today. It was like Sesame Street wrote this. Okay. Like it was to be in such a structure and there be the minimal amount of carnage. I'm not even saying do what AEW did. But give me something. They didn't go to war, they wasn't warring. I mean, they were having a regular match in a cage. Specifically the women. The women were having a regular match in a cage with a few weapons.

SPEAKER_00: 50:28

What are you talking about? EO did the flip off the the the cage with the trash can. What for the second, third time in a row now?

SPEAKER_01: 50:35

Yeah, it's fucking dull now. Like, don't do it anymore. Like, and it's not like we did it any differently, or it had a we had a different trash can, or it ended a different way. Like, it's so it's just like we're it's it's unfortunately it WWE is really showing their WWE right now, and that's the fact that yeah, we're just going to give you moments regardless if, you know, like hey, we're giving you these spots. You know what I'm saying? We're gonna give you these uh these quick uh you know, these quick things like hey, remember this is what we do in this match, right? You know, there was nothing new or innovative about this match.

SPEAKER_00: 51:22

In no way, shape, or form. Can we also talk about the innovativeness of the blood and guts match when the ladies got out the cage? Even that was innovative. I mean, yeah, well, comparably speaking, they didn't have the ceiling on their street. It's on four No, they didn't. No, the women's one they did. No, the the ceiling was on both of them. Not in the war games, but the ceiling was on blood and guts. Yeah, it was a ceiling. But not in um war games.

SPEAKER_01: 51:48

But it's like, for me, blood and guts killed the women's war games match. The women did so much crazy stuff on Blood and Guts, it made the women's war games match look like amateur hour.

SPEAKER_00: 52:06

You know, I wonder how all those women felt when they watched that match. Like, man, y'all ain't shit.

SPEAKER_01: 52:16

Probably. Or just like we did it better. And it's obvious. The crowd was dead the whole time. Or at least they sound very dead to me. I mean, when AJ came out, you know how everybody went off. Of course, I did too. So it but that's just AJ Lee. We're we're going crazy off her name alone. Not because of the match, just for her. Y'all could have had AJ Lee just come out to the ring, and we would have got the same pop. Yes. And it's crazy. And I mean, come out to the ring without the blood and gut, or I'm sorry, without the War Games cage. And this is she could have came out to the ring after the War Games match happened, and everything was done, and then she just came out to the ring and just said hi and the and the attendances, and would have got it would have been just as big of a pop.

SPEAKER_00: 53:16

And this is why we say WWE now is 80% uh entrance, 20% wrestling, which is unfortunate because the amount of wrestling usually isn't the problem.

SPEAKER_01: 53:32

But because of the fact that they're not giving us story or a good or good enough tangible story, it's a problem. Because WWE is not where the best wrestle. WWE is where you go to be entertained. In the land of the giants. You are you go to WE you go to WWE to be entertained, you go to AEW to watch wrestling. However, in AEW, we go here to watch wrestling, but hoping for story. But there needs to be, yeah, we're hoping for it because there needs to be a little bit of story to make the wrestling that much more important. Where in WWE, they're giving us very half-assed story, and it's enough to keep our attention to get to the pay-per-view, and for them to take a shit all over it. No pun intended with Vince McMahon. Mm-hmm. And that's what this women's war games match was. And sure, the glitz and glam of the girls coming out there, and yeah, they did have a couple of women.

SPEAKER_00: 54:45

There were no shark cages. There was rumors that Brock didn't want to be in a cage, so there was no shark cages. You know, I was wondering about the whole shark cage thing. Yep. There's rumors that Brock Brock said, hey yo, bro, I I don't I don't I don't be in no cage.

SPEAKER_01: 55:02

I mean, honestly, it makes sense because Brock would have looked real stupid being in a cage. Because I was wondering about that on the back end myself. I'm like, and then when I start when it clicked to me, when it which goes to show how much I cared about this, it really it didn't dawn to me that there was no cages until Rhea Ripley came out there. I'm like, wait a second. This is weird. Everyone's coming out and doing their full entrance. Yep. Where's the did we just get rid of is the cage gimmick thing over? Or so that was that was me on that piece.

SPEAKER_00: 55:36

And and here's the thing, too, because some of WWE's most watched videos ever are from the viral moments that have happened between it's a cookie. Um, it's the most viral moments that happened between CM Punk and Roman Reigns in the cage. Most viral moments. So people are saying, bro, you missed that opportunity of just like just put a camera in, just put a mic in there and let him talk shit. Because it did tell story. It told story, like with CM Punk and him, just I don't want to team with you. I don't want to team with you either. You gotta get it done. What's that? What's that called again? Uh creative uh creative freedom?

SPEAKER_01: 56:19

No, not creative freedom. Um is it creative freedom?

SPEAKER_00: 56:25

Uh where you where two people are having creative freedom of doing what they want?

SPEAKER_01: 56:29

No, uh uh uh when when you can tell the higher ups, hey, I'm not gonna do it this way, uh, we're doing it this way. Creative freedom. Okay, so it is creative freedom. Yeah, yeah. That's exactly right. That's what that looks like. That's creative freedom. But of but I mean, of course he does. But to wrap it up with this female match, it's like it was I wish there was more to talk about with it. Like, this was Lash Legends' first one. She gave that mean ass big boot, and that's that's the only thing I remember she did.

SPEAKER_00: 57:14

Yeah, that walk down to the ring was stupid. Bro, did you hear her theme song? Yes, it sounded like what what chicken chicken chicken hit. I'm serious, I'm serious.

SPEAKER_01: 57:27

I told you. I kept out the first time I heard I was like, bro, when you hear last legend's theme song, tell me how ass it is. Bro, it was crazy. So which is which to me is I'm like, damn, this is our women's war games match. When she came down to the ring and her music's playing, it was so quiet in that arena, you can hear the song echoing. Yes, you can hear the song. She wasn't getting booed, she wasn't getting yayed, she was getting nothing stale.

SPEAKER_00: 58:05

You just hear that boom. Yeah, I was like, which it reminds me too, because I found out that Trick, his theme, he didn't get it, like influence. Like y'all want it on off a 50 cent song, and then the uh the whoop that you know, whooped that trick. So the fact that he created it. So I want to know if she said, I like this song, Chicken Head, can you make me a beat that sounds similar to that? Because it literally does sound like chicken head. I'm so serious, bro. I thought that's whooped like the I'm like, why the fuck this sound like chicken head?

SPEAKER_01: 58:36

I'm gonna have to talk to my sources because there's no way she picked that and was like, Yeah, I'm cool with this. If she did, you know there is no way she picked this song like, yeah, this me. And what did she do? Well, hey, that's why Trick married her, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00: 58:56

That's why he let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. But yeah, women's uh war games match was a match. It was definitely a match, but I know you're gonna talk about how much you probably hate this match. Let's talk about Cena versus Dominic Mysterio.

SPEAKER_01: 59:21

So first off, only because I had in my mind. The war women's war game match gets a D. Oh, yeah, the right? Okay, same. It gets a D. And the reason why it gets a D is because well my initial want would be to give it an E, but it's not fair for me to give them an E because I'm only human. But I can't help but compare blood and guts to war games. I thought she was about to sing the song, I didn't I'm only human. In my head, I did. But I I was I was doing my best to move past that. I heard it immediately. Same. Any any it doesn't no matter where I'm at, if I say something or I see I'm only human, that if the song's in my head.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:19

Don't put the blame on me.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:21

But I don't want, I don't want to compare them. And people will probably like, you can't compare blood and guts to the war games. But but when you look at them, they're the same fucking match. Yes. As a matter of fact, to even push more towards the reason why they're the same match, look at how the women's once started. When the girls was coming out, just like the women's blood and guts, they came out with weapons. At least at first. Yeah. What was it? Becky didn't come out with weapons. Becky didn't come out with a weapon, but like uh uh EO.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:52

EO did the trash trash can.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:55

No, she had yeah, she had the trash can lid.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:57

Which also, these were sponsored items, by the way. The trash can had a sponsor on it.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:03

Yeah, that that that's a whole nother fucking situation. And I'm not gonna give the time for it. Yeah. But like, yeah, she she had a trash can lid. Uh um, not Asuka, but uh Kyrie. She she had a uh uh a green she had a chain. Yeah, she had a green chain. Uh Rhea Ripley came in there with some stuff. Someone came in there with a kendo stick. No, uh Rhea came in with two black kendo sticks. Oh, that's where the kendo sticks came from. Okay. So it's like they still did they did the same thing as the blood and guts women, as far as that goes. And the match is the same thing. So if I can't help but compare the apples to oranges over here. Or should I like, you know, kind of squishy apples and rotten oranges. They're both not that great, and you probably shouldn't eat them. You know what I'm saying? Because so you're saying that women's blood and ghost masters are okay at least? It was like I said, it was It was like okay, as a fan, it was fun. When you analyze everything, it was too much.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:16

We did say it was a bit poo-doo because of like the story aspect behind it.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:22

And throwing Mercedes-Monet in there just because this was their first one, and we gotta have Mercedes in it because it's the first one.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:28

That was the equivalent of putting Rhea in this match.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:31

No, just to put her in just to put her in there, just to put her in there. No, no, that's the equivalent of putting AJ Lee in this match.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:41

Oh, you mean star power-wise? No, no, no, no, no. Period. Oh, yeah, no, AJ actually had no reason, and Becky really had no reason to take it in.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:47

Becky and AJ Lee had no reason to be in this match outside of the fact of getting the cheap pop. Yep. That was that that's the reason why AJ's in it, and it only made sense for Becky to join in with it because of the fact that AJ's there. Now, some can say that they were trying to tell and and put a little uh a little something something in there about this because of the fact of when the Abuki Warriors came out there and they won the belts, and then uh uh um Becky was leaving, and then like Becky and uh and uh uh Asuka had that little stare-down kind of thing. Everyone's all like, ooh, what's that supposed to be? What'd that mean? And then what, two and a half two weeks later, they're in the set, they're on the war, she's on war games. So, like, maybe if you want to stretch it. Girl, you want to go to war with me?

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:42

I'm looking in your eyes and I see you want me to go to war with you. I will be there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:49

But yeah, it's a D. The next match, John Cena and Dominic. So it's not that I hate it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:01

It's that I don't give a fuck. There's a difference. I mean, I will say it was a very much of a spectacle. I did think Dom was hurt for a while in that spot. So there's a spot where John Cena and Dom are outside, and Dom goes for like a hurricane rana. Uh, but Cena grabs him, and it looks like he's trying to power bomb him and or reverse the hurricane rana, but I don't think he can catch him properly. And Dom just lands really hard on his shoulder.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:33

Yeah, that shit was rough.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:34

And a lot of people were like, oh no, not another Penta situation, because you know, Penta just, you know, got taken out of the tournament for that same shoulder injury, right? So people were really worried at first of like, okay, what's happening in this situation? And for a second, the way he was selling, I was like, oh shit, he might actually be hurt. Oh shit. And then, like, when they were doing the spot where the girls started doing their signature moves on Cena, I thought it was like, okay, let's get the camera off Dom so he can actually get medical help. Let's get the girls to do something to him. And and hopefully it takes the attention away and not ruin the match, right? He can get the attention he needs, he can come back in. Only to find out he and came in after, you know, Shorty did the pot rocks, put him into the 619, he has the 619, goes for the splash, and the ref, instead of doing his fucking job, said, Hey, yo, you lied to me, bro. Your job is to count to three and make sure this is no bullshit else happens in it. So what if I fabricate it for true snackers just to get this moment? Count to three. And you said no. That pissed me the fuck off. I'm sorry, bro. Like, ref, that's your job. Your job is to count to three, make sure a person taps out, call the rope breaks, make sure nobody's DQing, and you chose not to do your job out of moral logic. Get the fuck out of here. In all reality, that should have technically been the end of the match. He would have got three, okay? But no, the ref wanted to eject uh uh uh uh uh the the two ladies of uh judgment day out the ring, and then later on, we get Finn and JD who do their moves on him, and uh caused another moment which led to him finally getting a reuniting moment with Liv Morgan, which to me this only showed that it took six motherfuckers to take out John Cena if you think about it. It's literally all of Judgment Day had to take out Cena in this situation. At first, I was like, they are not bringing Liv back to make her face. That is what you're not doing because Liv is way better as a heel. And for her to slap Dom at that point, I was like, man, okay, then she hugging Cena. I'm like, what the fuck is this? This don't look right, and then she wants to pull the same move Cena did during his heel turn by dropping his face, and it was like, all right, kick him in the dick, and let's go ahead and get this started. Boom, kicks him in the dick, gets the move, does a splash, matches over. So, what about the situation with Liv being pissed off at Dom because Roxanne Paranas was just throwing herself at him? What about you getting mad at him not following up with your text messages and her giving you chicken? What happened to all that? Are you telling me that she just didn't care? Are you telling me that, oh, we just not gonna resolve that? Or oh, actually, it was a part of the plan. What the fuck happened to that story? What happened to that story? I don't know if you acknowledged that or even thought about that in that moment, but I damn sure did. No, because you didn't care.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:34

I didn't care this match, uh. At least live Morgan's back. You know? That that's what made me actually tune into this match. Because for me, if Dom lost, then this would have been stupid. But at the same time, John Cena losing, in my eyes, also is stupid. So what will it be a draw? It didn't need to fucking happen.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09:17

That's what you're doing the head on my shoulder, meme like it didn't need to fucking happen. It didn't you're missing one other person for this meme to happen. This motherfucker goes to the switch.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:40

It bro. You're about to get me activated again on this subject. John Cena does not need to be glazed so much that we have to give him the IC title because other good wrestlers were Grand Slam champions. He doesn't need to be a Grand Slam. We're only doing that because they're slopping up his nists. Alright. So he did not need to fight Dawn. You know who he could what he could have done? I don't know. He could have fought literally anybody fucking else besides fighting Dom for this IC title. Just for him to back to back lose it. It's so obvious that we're only doing this to suck his dick. Alright? That's that's all this is. This is all all we did was give him this icy title so that we can shine his glizzy just a little bit harder. Like, that's all this was.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:40

You want to spit shine, John Cena? I'll give you a spit shine.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:44

Look, bro, that is now it is funny because our friend that main event mindset, he did say something, and I'm he I I'm I I have to kind of agree with him. It's almost as if that what we're getting very well could be like Vince McMahon's dying wish to make sure we send John Cena out on this big ass pedestal. It's just that they fumbled the bag on doing so.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:16

I mean, I even told you earlier in a message, I was like, you're gonna probably roast me for this one, but Tanahashi is even having a little bit of a better run because he's actually wrestling every damn week.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:29

Every week. Off camera, we had a slight conversation about this. And it's like John Cena had what 130-something appearances. Dates. He had 130-something dates. Of that 130-something dates, what, he only fought like 10, 15 of them? 10, 15 of them might have been matches. We could probably sit here and count them, but I'm not gonna waste the time on that because all those dates should have just been matches of some kind. Any kind. There is plenty of story that he could have done from the time he came back till right now. Sure, maybe we couldn't foresee the fact that this John Cena Hill turn was going to be a flop. Cause it was. It was it was, I will agree and say that John Cena's Hill Turn was a very amazing and captivating moment. Alright. And then the follow-up made it seem like this was going to be the greatest thing of all time. And then it wasn't. We got the most ass match on what is it on uh on WrestleMania?

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:48

Yeah, WrestleMania ever, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:49

We got the worst match ever with John Cena on WrestleMania, and then we continue to follow it up with dog water. Straight dog, not even good dog water.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:02

Wait, wait, wait, wait, first off, what is what is good dog water?

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:06

The kind of dog water you would actually let your dog drink out of.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:10

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:10

I was about to say, like, when you were actually drinking dog water, but um let me put it this way. The AJ match wasn't good? Let me put it this way. Normal dog water is at least still clear. This shit murky. Okay? Like you stepped in it, okay. Yeah, like, no. I I don't even like dogs like that, and I'm not gonna let my dog drink this shit. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:33

I used to have a homeboy used to say your breast smell like hot dog water. I don't know where that man is in his name, but I will never forget that one. Shut up, but your breast smell like hot dog water. It was like, what?

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:48

Who the fuck is that?

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:50

And he would do that with just random shit, and it would just throw anybody off who was roasted him, and it was just like everybody in the room would just start bust out laughing.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:59

That's why your breast smell like hot dog water, bro.

SPEAKER_00: 1:14:01

What, bruh? What the fuck? Your breast smell like glizzy's crazy.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:11

Anyway, so so here's the thing. John Cena came back. What was it? What was it, December? Or whatever. Now, one thing to look on with this, right? The whole time he came back, he would they was glazing him. He didn't have to have a match to to qualify for the elimination chamber. He didn't have to have a match to qualify for the Royal Rumble. Like It's Cena, bro. Sting had to.

SPEAKER_00: 1:14:54

It's Cena, bro.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:55

I'm sure Tanahashi is. Tanahashi's literally in a tournament right now. He is also the president of New Japan, too. And he's the president of New Japan, and he's still doing it like. But we're gonna still John Cena's dick. Alright, cool. So I will say when he first showed up, he was like, Yep, this is my last time, nah blah blah blah. Alright, sure, that was cool. However, he didn't have any matches in the very beginning. He would just show up and be like, hey, I'm I'm just I'm showing up here for the last time, but I'm gonna be in whatever.

SPEAKER_00: 1:15:33

We still gotta blame the booking. We can't really blame Cena. We gotta blame the booking. Because I even brought up an idea to you over the phone we were talking. I was saying, look, what would have been really cool is if Cena said, Yo, I got one gear, and I'm gonna face all the opponents that either I don't get the chance, I would never probably get the chance to face after I retire, or maybe bring back up uh recent views I have. But what he would do is he would go out to the ring and he would just pick up the mic and says, Tonight I'm facing, and it says the person's name, but the person doesn't know. So the first time it happens, that person doesn't know, right? And they're in the building, like, what? I'm going against I'm going at John Cena. He goes out to the ring, has master John Cena, they shake hands. Thank you for being one of my final opponents. That's night one. But then night two, he does the same thing, and he just constantly does that from everybody in the roster, but it puts everybody on the roster on notice. It could be anybody from SmackDown, it could be anybody from Raw, NXT, hell, if he wants to dive in even deeper, he can do evolution, uh, evolve. But the whole purpose is hey, let me use the last bit of my name to bring somebody up because everybody else keeps having these story ideas of who should be seen as final opponent and how it would uh elevate them or boost them. Okay, if you want to do that, do that the whole run. Do that the whole run when he just goes out there and says, This is my opponent, and that person comes out. I I feel like that would be the biggest pops in certain situations. Because think about if he said, Yo, I'ma face Dolph Ziggler, and we're like, bro, he's actually I'm here to the fuck?

SPEAKER_01: 1:17:17

Now, see, if you remember, when he first came back, that's kind of sort of how he kind of prefaced thing. He's like, I'm here to fight whoever I can, da da da. Like, he made that, he made it seem like that was his goal in the very, very beginning. Now, all ultimately, yes, this is 100%, this is at least 80% the booking's fault. But at the same time, I feel this is also John Cena John Cena is also at fault for this because he Green and Light too. He Green and Light 2. Not just listen, this is his retirement, right? He's not going to be doing this again, presumably, after all of this. John Cena has enough creative freedom and creative pull to get the retirement that he wanted to. But instead, he opted to not for whatever fucking reason that might be. I feel what once again, I I keep I hate to keep bringing it up, but unfortunately, Sting is the poster child for the perfect retirement. Hold up, now you ain't seen Tanahashi's yet. Now, I can also probably say, I only say Sting because he did it and he's retired and he's done. Oh yeah, Tanahashi will be the same thing because he's fucking president. But it's like with Tanahashi, though, you know, we could go ahead and throw him in there because he's still on his retirement run. But it's like he's and even with him aside being the president, right? He is still out there, you know, doing what he wants, doing his thing, and he is and he has given his retirement run and he's doing it the way that he wants to. Now, maybe it's because WWE is just really bad at granting people their retirements.

SPEAKER_00: 1:19:14

I don't know. Apparently, Chris Jericho is uh being brought back and he has a retirement match plan. Well Matter of fact, fuck that. Kurt Angle had the worst retirement match. Baron Corman.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:30

I mean, yeah. I mean, Goldberg says he had the worst retirement match. Man, he went against Gunther.

SPEAKER_00: 1:19:39

Listen. If I would I I'd rather I'd rather lose to Gunther than Baron Corman. No offense to you, Baron Corbin, but it says Gunther we're talking about here.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:48

I mean, for all intents and purposes, you could probably just say it's just at this point, just going off of those three, just allowing those three to be named, maybe it's just maybe it's just really ass to retire in WWE. Probably.

SPEAKER_00: 1:20:02

But it's like, but but I feel that if John Cedar says, Damn, no, because Undertaker had an ass retirement. If you want to think about it, if you want to think about it, because when he lost to Roman, to me, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01: 1:20:16

I mean, and then I mean, I also agree. To me, John Undertaker retired when he fought against Roman Reigns. That was that's that's where I'm at. I mean, technically, he AJ Styles. That match was technically the retirement, yeah. And so, but but all that aside, you know, when it comes to people who got to choose how they wanted to retire.

SPEAKER_00: 1:20:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:20:41

Because Undertaker, he presumably retired. He never openly said he retired until much later on. He's all like, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna just let that be the one. Kind of thing. It wasn't like this match right here is my retirement match. There was none of that. Yep. And so just going off of something like that, you know, there have been great retirement matches. If Ric Flair actually stuck to it, Rick Flair would have been one of the best ones. That was that was the best one before Sting's retirement run. Yeah. Okay? And even then with Sting's retirement run, he he fought, he went up against younger talent. That motherfucker put him over fucking rails and shit, bro. He put up he put younger talent over, you know what I'm saying? He did his thing, he left his legacy with a nice, shining, pretty bow on the top. John Cena, I feel if there was anybody in WWE who could have his retirement be however the fuck he wants to be, especially with how much they gawk 3,000 him, it would be John Cena. So you cannot tell me that John Cena did not have any kind of say in how this retirement run was going to go. If he wanted it to be different, he could have. They're not sitting here glazing him super hard as the greatest of all time, but then going behind the corners like, all right, so you're gonna bend the knee to me, and this is how you're gonna do this, this, this, this, and this.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:07

The one last real champion. That one does hurt though, because it's like, bro, so after he retires, are there no real champions?

SPEAKER_01: 1:22:23

So that match gets a D from me overall. I could almost bump it to a C because actually I will go ahead and bump it to a C, and the only reason why I'm bumping it to a C is because I was not expecting Liv Morgan to show up again.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:44

So Liv Morgan made it a C.

SPEAKER_01: 1:22:45

Yes, Liv Morgan made it a C and made it at least worth my fucking time. Okay. Because outside of the fact that, number one, I didn't want this match to begin with. I did not care for John Cena getting the IC title. Obviously, he has to drop this IC title because why would he have to fight Gunther and then give him the IC title after Gunther's 666 reign, and he's been already at the level of a world heavyweight champion. Then again, you could also ask, why are we wanting to go with Gunther to fight John Cena at the very end? He doesn't need this push. Someone like Javon Evans or LA Knights, yeah, uh uh Carmelo Hayes, you know, people like people like all those guys would benefit more than why I think you know Gunther would. Having Gunther beat John Cena is like Undertaker losing the streak to Brock Lesnar. It really is the same. It's really the same fucking thing.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23:46

It's really the same.

SPEAKER_01: 1:23:46

They say they're doing it to put over the talent, but it's like Nick is over. Yeah. You can't put him over that.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23:54

You can't put him over any more than what he's over now. And like, so what if he beats Cena now? So, okay, you you elevate him moving forward. So like, and then what? Like, so some people retiring somebody like John Cena in the way they're glazing him is actually better than the actual heavyweight title. You're already a legend right there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24:19

Yeah, who cares about the heavyweight title right now?

SPEAKER_02: 1:24:20

No, you're already a legend in their eyes.

SPEAKER_00: 1:24:22

Who cares about the WWE title? So while you say that match is a C, I'ma say unfortunately, the Stephanie Valkyrie and Nikki Bella match automatically gets a D. Almost E for me. Because I did not give two fucks about this match.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24:42

Unfortunately, it's the same. And the reason why is because I feel like Stephanie Vakir deserves so much more and so much better, and they are refusing to give it to her. Her I was ready for her to lose the title, I'll be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:00

Yo, no, deadass, he went into that bitch thinking Nikki was gonna win, and I was like, What? No!

SPEAKER_01: 1:25:06

In my mind, in a in a in a world of wrestling where you know we take risks and do crazy things.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:15

Yeah, that's the 90s.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25:17

In my mind, I'm thinking the other Bella twin comes up and shows up and interferes and costs Stephanie the match. And now the Bella twins are back. Old girl has the title, and now and now Stephanie Vakir has something to fight for. You can look that you can't touch. Has has a reason to be relevant.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:41

That could have been the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25:43

She has a reason to want to try and go back and get this title, and more reasons for her to be on TV and get over with the crowd and have some kind of storytelling so that she can go on and get the belt back.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:58

Could you imagine her waving the belt in front of her face? Yes. You can look, but you can't touch. It's been gr that that's why in my mind I'm like, because if we back up and look at everything, right?

SPEAKER_01: 1:26:15

Nikki Bella, I think, going into this match, was well, even after this match, has been on a losing streak. She's like lost the last like what three, four matches that she's been in. Which is crazy to me. She's not. The fact that she lost the last three to four matches that she was in, she was granted a chance at a title. Yep. Don't you have to be winning and beating people?

SPEAKER_00: 1:26:47

Not when you're Nikki Bellow.

SPEAKER_01: 1:26:49

Apparently not.

SPEAKER_00: 1:26:50

Not when you formally you used to date John Cena.

SPEAKER_01: 1:26:54

Man, you can't even pin that on her anymore.

SPEAKER_00: 1:26:57

That just Everybody, everybody's doing it. Everybody's Bro, that John Cena worth is so far gone and non-existent. No, because the crowd is actually making taunts saying shit like Cena didn't choose you, or like they were making chants against her about that. And she was like, yo, that's disgusting.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27:14

Sure. But the fact that she dated John Cena doesn't mean that that gets her towel. Oh no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27:22

That was me bullshit.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27:23

But um Yeah, that's where I was. Oh, okay. I mean, yeah, no, I know if the the crowds, you know, being the crowd.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27:31

Internet wrestling.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27:35

I mean, did what she could did what she could for the matches, whatever.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27:40

Moving on, it was a D. Matter of fact, I kind of want to give it an E because it's like I'm not a fan of Nikki Bella. I don't really care for her wrestling. I really don't care for her in this era. She she had an era. She doesn't need to be in this one. Trish Stratus, granted, was an attitude era woman, but her legacy can be brought against any of the talent because she her character was just so good. Nikki Bella definitely was a diva through and through. So to see her wrestling in matches like with a Becky or a Valkyrie, or these people unfortunately will walk laps around her. They have to carry her. Yeah, they will have to carry her.

SPEAKER_01: 1:28:22

And and Stephanie did it in this match. So I, contrary to belief, I was a very big Bella twins fan.

SPEAKER_02: 1:28:34

Alright.

SPEAKER_01: 1:28:35

As a matter of fact, in my uh in my closet right now, I have like the little like uh Brie and Nicki Bella like poly like rubber band like bracelets. Like I fuck with it, I fuck with them. Remember that shit? And so I these two being in a match, I'm not upset per se, about them fighting each other. And I'm more so the problem with this match is they did not give me a reason to care. To care. Alright. Nikki Bell has been on a 3-4, four-match losing streak. Okay. There are women, any of the people who she fought have a better chance or should have been in a position of being able to fight Stephanie Vicare. Well, here's the thing half of the women who would challenge her for were in war games. I guess there is that fact, kind of. Yeah, I mean there is that fact. But at the same time, Nikki Bella once again lost the last three to four matches she was in. Clear as day in 4K. And then for her to attack someone. From behind and then just get a match. That's never how the that's not how this necessarily works. Rewarding bad behavior. And it'd be even more so. It'd be one it'd be one thing if the champion was so mad and so angry and was all like, give me a match winner. I don't care how you do it. She wants to fuck over my title, put it on the line. We didn't get any of that either. It was just, oh, she attacked from behind? Alright, cool. Y'all can fight each other for the belt. If I was Stephanie like care, I'd be like.

SPEAKER_00: 1:30:37

Do you think Hunter on uh GMO would got pissed off?

SPEAKER_01: 1:30:40

Like what?

SPEAKER_00: 1:30:42

Would Hunter have been pissed off at you on GMO if you did that?

SPEAKER_01: 1:30:48

So I don't know what Brie Bella's uh because she is on the game, but I haven't seen like what her uh thing is. Because uh kind of it what comparing it to how GM mode works, it's it's a little more it's a little more convoluted of a discussion. Okay, actually, but uh but I would say uh most likely, yes, because Steph Bakir, just to shed a little light on it, Steph Bakir on that game is considered a uh a cruiserweight as far as like her fighting style or whatever. So Nikki, hers is probably bruiser, okay? Like the bruiser fighting style. Bruiser and cruiserweight fighting styles, they they don't they clash, they they don't go together. Cruiserweights should be going up against people who are considered giants or whatever.

SPEAKER_00: 1:31:46

So like a Nakanaya.

SPEAKER_01: 1:31:48

Exactly. Or Flash Legend. Or you could or well, actually, because she's a powerhouse, so almost like a giant, yeah. So on the game, they have her labeled as a bruiser as well. What? However, if you level her up enough, she also can be, she can switch to giant. Okay. Kind of thing. That's weird. So, but like I'm gonna have to reload. So there's certain synergies with certain uh, you know, things that go together. And so just on that surface, actually, Triple H would yell at me. Because what happens whenever you put like, you know, if you put like a giant up against a fighter, right? Triple and and then and then it would proceed to get a very ass rating match, like like a one and a half star or something or lower. And then then Triple H would be like, hey yo, what was that? You you know a bruiser can't, you know a sh a fighter can't go up against a a cruiser weight, like those clash too hard. Those that's not gonna work. And so so the answer would be yes, Triple H would yell at me for putting those two together. Well, using the math and the mechanics of uh of that game. But in this particular case, it's more so just the fact that they did not give me enough reason to want to care about these two going up against each other. Like Nikki Bella literally turned heel two weeks ago. If you could have built that for at least three, maybe if you could have built that for like a month or something, yeah, yeah. Now I'd care. I would have rated this match probably just slightly better if they would have given me a little bit more reason to actually want to see it and they gave and give me the same wrestling that they gave. Okay. They could have gave me, and that's the problem when it comes to a story. Story can make shitty wrestling tolerable. Prime example. We can go all the way back with it. It's 2025. We all know Andre the Giant versus Hulk Hogan was an ass match. I mean, yeah. The match was ass. Andre the Giant had no reason being, had no business being in that ring with as hurt and broken as he was at that time. But when you look at the buildup and the amount of emotion and amount of stuff they put into that match to make that match be so important, it didn't matter that the match itself sucked balls. Alright? Doesn't matter that the match itself was so garbo. It was the story that led to it, and then what that match meant at the end of the day. And the spectacle of that match. You only remember the the body correct. We remember that, and we remember the reasons why that was so important, you know, and the hype that they did going into it and pushing it. And because it's like there were so many things that they did to make you want to care about that match, and for some reason, wrestling in 2025 has forgotten how to do that, and that's why Survivor Series is ass. No one cares about Stephanie Vacare because no one has done the work to make you want to care about her outside of a devil's kiss in a booty. All right, like I mean, I mean, she's also got I mean, there's actually a lot to really care about.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35:41

I mean, yeah, she's a great wrestler, but like, but the presentation they've already given us in WWE compared to NXT is that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:35:47

Like, there, yeah, there is she's a right now, right now, she to most people, she is a very beautiful, attractive female with amazing assets, and people want to be locked in her devil's kiss. That's all she's got for. Oh, oh, yeah, that's right. She does have the heavyweight title, but that's all that people really care about right now. All right. Damn. That it is what it is. I mean, you know, that's that I care more than that, but that does weigh very heavily because that's also all I'm given right now. If I didn't watch NXT, I would just be infatuated with her, with just like just putting her on the screen. I just want to look at her.

SPEAKER_00: 1:36:26

Like I it's kind of I think what Hunter does. I mean, I I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01: 1:36:34

This is what everyone does. The plot. He can he can the plot. Everyone is watching Steph McCare for the plot. Yeah. Okay. And she's so much more than the plot. I mean, that's what they do with Rhea Ripley. But Rhea Ripley has proven herself to be so much more than the plot. But the memes say otherwise. That's the memes. In wrestling, maybe this year she is. I can't even say this year she's been mostly about the plot. I mean, like, granted, she has not done a whole bunch this year, but like leading up to this year, like from WrestleMania back, Rhea Ripley had a reason for being so front and center and always on the TV because she had something to give, had something to deliver, and it was entertaining, and the story about it what it made sense. She what was her story was her fighting Liv Morgan all last year, right? That was a great story. And then leading into this year, it was her trying to get back on her chase to being the world heavyweight champion again, kind of thing. And that has been great. Now, granted, she's still in story, because now then it because then it transformed to she can't beat EOS guy. EOS Sky has her number. That has been a fantastic story, probably the only best told story in WWE right now. It's kind of why they're starting that a little relationship. And so, but but that's where it went into. Because it went into that whole relationship because, like, you know, they went from being completely at each other's necks. Now they're they're cool with each other, they're friends. And now that's when the kabuki warriors come in, like, oh no, what the fuck is all this? Where are your friends? Fuck this bitch, kind of thing. And that's why we got it. That's all story. All story with great matches between all of them because they're great wrestlers, and that's lead and that's what led into this war games. But the problem is the other people that they threw into this war games means nothing, and that's where they screwed themselves up as far as story in that area. However, Rhea Ripley is still in the right spot where she needs to be. Now, granted, there are some things where they definitely did just kind of throw her in there because we want to have the star power, and Rhea is the star power, and that is very blatantly obvious in a couple of things. But Rhea does have some story going on with what she's been doing and all the things that she's been dealing with. Maybe not the best story, but there's story there. But outside of that, most people right now, story is absolute garbo. Big basuda, complete Pokemon Garbador, trubbish, ass, dog water, poo-doo, whatever you want to call it, wrestling needs to work on their stories in 2026 to make it worth fucking watching. Because as we roll into this last war games match, got me looking like fucking solo. Four letters, one word. Stop.

SPEAKER_00: 1:40:05

Yeah, I like I remember this one thing I saw solo real quick before we go into that. I guess it's this challenge where you have to put a cup of water, a limit in a cup of water, and balance a coin in it. So it shows every other wrestler doing it, and it uh it's a bunch of quarters, right? So solo, when it's solo term, he walks away with the twins. Bro, I kid you not, bro. It's the funniest shit ever. Bro, it's the funniest shit ever. Only solo. And then uh the you saw what he did with the uh uh uh the um with the skeleton on Halloween that uh Halloween, right? And he broke the arm off and shit. Bro. Listen, Solo's a character, he's hilarious. Better character than some people in here.

SPEAKER_01: 1:41:00

It's just they're not booking them right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:41:03

I gotta find that video. But this men's war game match.

SPEAKER_01: 1:41:07

This men's war games match. This was this men's war game match, it felt like um, damn. What was that? What was that movie that had like all of the action uh um what was that movie? The men's war games match felt like the expendables, bro. It's really I'm just one way. I mean, solo guy, right? But but like the the men's war game match was like the expendables, it's just a bunch of old action heroes all together in one movie. It's well, I mean, I won't say it's just a bunch of action heroes. I mean, yes, you could pretty much pretty much is. Yeah, it's pretty much just a bunch of action heroes in one movie doing their signature things that they do in all of their action movies just with each other. Yep. Alright. So it's a bunch of really big names doing what they do on a regular basis, just now, all in the same movie, or in this case, in the cage, with each other, on each other's teams. And people are saying that the masked man is Austin Theory.

SPEAKER_00: 1:42:46

It's totally Austin Theory.

SPEAKER_01: 1:42:49

I love some trolls who are like, it's Dean Ambrose.

SPEAKER_02: 1:42:52

I'll lie to destroy.

SPEAKER_00: 1:42:55

Um yeah, some people said that. Some people said uh It's at least I don't know uh with Seth Rollins. Some people were saying it was Jericho.

SPEAKER_01: 1:43:08

Shut the fuck. It's probably Austin Theory, I think. I think Austin probably is.

SPEAKER_00: 1:43:14

It actually is. Austin Theory makes the most sense in that bit. It's supposed to be Austin Theory because he's supposed to join the vision. And um, he was originally gonna join the vision or be a part of this match, but Brock Lesnar. So yeah. Well, Brock Lesnar was still gonna be in it with Austin Theory, though. It was just Drew. Drew was the added person instead of Theory. Really? Because of more star power.

SPEAKER_01: 1:43:38

Well, I mean, adding Drew McIntyre, adding Drew McIntyre made sense for Cody Rhodes being in it. Yeah. For the most part. Yeah. But like the original. I don't want to beat the dead horse when it comes to talking about the story going into this match.

SPEAKER_02: 1:43:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:43:59

Because I've said it already plenty, and it's the fact, like, you know, this was just the this was one of those cases where for me, this felt like one of those cases where WW is all like, hey, AEW, we're gonna take the dumb shit that you do, and we're going to do it, and we're actually going to make money off of it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:44:23

I mean, yeah, that match was worth$2 million. Maybe even more.

SPEAKER_01: 1:44:28

AEW always be out here like my prime example of a comparison. Tony Storm, Mercedes Monet. Two of the biggest name women in AEW right now. They're gonna face each other. What's the story? They're gonna face each other. Are they gonna interact with each other? Yeah, a little bit, but who cares about what they do when they interact with each other? You know? Mercedes is gonna sit outside the ring and eat a steak while Tony Storm has a match. Tony Storm's gonna eat her steak and drink her wine. They're gonna have a couple of talkie talks back and forth, but like, but it's Tony Storm and Mercedes Monet. Two of the best female fighters in the business right now. Ooh. Look at this bowl. Oh shit. There was a grape left in there.

SPEAKER_00: 1:45:31

That's what? How did he other how'd that that was crazy? I gotta look at that book. Yes, look at the b that's water. Look at the bowl, it holds items. Is it amazing? That's the equivalent of this.

SPEAKER_01: 1:45:50

But WWE literally took that formula and did it for the Survivor Series match. We're gonna put the most popular, highest our high, we're putting all of our probably most highest paid wrestlers, the most star-studded individuals, because I mean, when you really look at it, we have Cody Rhodes, the heavyweight champion, CM Pump, who just so happily has the world heavyweight title right now, the Yeat Man himself. It's just me. Ooh. His brother. Roman fucking reigns.

SPEAKER_00: 1:46:39

Acknowledge me.

SPEAKER_01: 1:46:43

All of those people, not including the brother, main event status. Wait, you talking about Jay or Jimmy? There's the Yeet Man, and then there's the brother. Okay, okay, okay. Gotta listen. Okay, I was making sure. Listen close. Those four people alone, wrestle mania, main eventers, whether we like it or not. Those are they are those four specifically are tippy top of the card. These four people are the ones who sell the merch in this business. They are the most, they are the MVPs of WWE as far as the baby faces go. Actually, I won't even say as far as the baby faces go. I can say period. Because when you look on the other side, they have Barack Lesnar. Period. That's what they had on the other side. Those five men alone is what filled that state of that stadium up. Everyone who was in that stadium came to see those five people. Those five people. Star power. That is those five men. As a matter of fact, those five men are exactly what they're using to sell you on this next coming WrestleMania. Actually, yes. Minus the Eat Man, though. Four. Because he's not in those commercials. I thought Drew was. No, it's not. No.

SPEAKER_00: 1:48:35

Okay. No.

unknown: 1:48:36

No. No.

SPEAKER_00: 1:48:37

It's just those, it's just it's the four of those guys. With Hunter. Wit Hunter, yeah. Which for some reason he has to be in it. Well, because it's triple His gotta whack ass.

SPEAKER_01: 1:48:47

Just gotta do AAA shit. And so it's like they did the AEW forums. Like, hey, we're gonna give you an ass build and just put a whole lot of important people in this match. And you're gonna watch it, and you're gonna like it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:49:03

And boy, did we not like it. So, but we did watch it. Yeah, we had no choice.

SPEAKER_01: 1:49:08

Forty something thousand people in that stadium watched it. Paid good money, paid thousand plus dollars to see a D-rank of a match.

SPEAKER_00: 1:49:22

Some people probably took loans, some people probably didn't pay their mortgage once a week. Sold their children. Whoa. Crazy. That's the thing. But uh regardless, there's not much to talk about this match except the Brock situation. When Brock came in and he came out of the cage to go against Roman, and Roman hit him with three cartoonish ass Superman punch because Brock. Yeah, that, yeah, that dumb shit again. I thought we got rid of that. Because that became a meme. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01: 1:49:57

So then see that you're supposed to have forgotten that meme because it's been put it's been replaced with the roots of I didn't know that was a meme now. Oh bro, you haven't seen that shit?

SPEAKER_00: 1:50:11

No, you gotta show that to me now. I didn't know that was a meme now. Fam, I've been waiting is it like is this is it trying to say he's like blowing somebody back out or some shit?

SPEAKER_01: 1:50:21

No, it's just like it's when he's having it's when he first came back and he had that interview with that one girl, and he just like and they just kind of like keep playing it back and forth where he's like it's so fucking stupid. Oh man, it's so stupid, and it keeps popping up like people constantly reshare it. You're gonna have to post, you're gonna have to send that to me, bro. I ain't seen that shit. That's just not hilarious. I've I've almost shared it on the on the on the Facebook page, but I'm like, I refuse. Is how I feel after watching it. I I will not I will not share such propaganda.

SPEAKER_00: 1:51:08

Anyway. I am not gonna do that. Outside of just giving a quick aspect of the match. Why the actually, why the fuck do we have to have a moment where Jay Uso runs it back and he's riding the cage? Because you have to be sports entertained, bro. But that looked hella wild, though. Like sports. And then CM Punk was air guitaring with a with a steel chair. Entertained. What can we say about this?

SPEAKER_01: 1:51:38

Because they can't do what they do on blood and guts.

SPEAKER_00: 1:51:41

Well, there is a difference between the name of Blood and Guts and You know, in war, you normally see Blood and Guts, but in this war game, it was simply that. It was a game. That's that's what it was.

SPEAKER_01: 1:51:55

I mean, yeah, it definitely was a game.

SPEAKER_00: 1:51:57

You know, video game quality stuff where you know you're not gonna really see blood and guts. You might see some crazy shit, but you ain't gonna see no blood and guts. But that's the thing. In the wrestling game, actually, I now I'm thinking about it. No, I've played I've played a war games match in the new one. They can involve weapons, like the shark cages, which is weird. The shark cages are in the audience. So in in the game, you have the you have the ring, and you have the shark cages where the the the front cam is, and there's like two cages right where the audiences are at, and they're like elevated. So whenever they come out of the cage, they have to go down these steps and then go into the ring. But before you go in, you can grab a weapon. It does give you the option to grab a weapon. Oh, okay. And you can bring the weapon in or whatever. But I think you only get selection of three weapons, and then you can go in. But even with that, trust me, that match was hard as fuck.

SPEAKER_01: 1:52:49

So you so the so there is still the weapons. So it's what I'll say, it's not so much that they can't do what blood and guts does, it's just the fact that WWE does not feel they need to, and all for all intents and purposes, they don't have to, they don't have to, because when you have the five most biggest names in the wrestling universe in one match, real wrestling stars, biggest wrestling stars in the universe in one match, you can skimp out and literally do nothing. You can simulate this match. You'll still get paid just for the just for the games alone.

SPEAKER_00: 1:53:34

And Hunter send you an email afterwards.

SPEAKER_01: 1:53:36

Now, there is something that I've also seen, which is another thing that I feel is the AEW's biggest problem right now. AEW does not have stars. They have three.

SPEAKER_00: 1:53:57

But but who are the three you're saying? Uh Swerve, Osprey, and uh Hangman. But are they stars? I mean, think about it. Like, Hangman is one of the most over characters over there right now, and Swerve, you you, we all, we mean you know why Swerve is that guy. He may be that guy, and then Will Ospreay is definitely one of their stars.

SPEAKER_01: 1:54:28

Now, out of those men that you said, I can make the argument for Will Ospreay, but when you think of a star, a true superstar, the things that WWE creates on a regular basis, someone who you say their name and the crowd loses their mind beyond limits.

SPEAKER_00: 1:54:58

So you so you telling me at the AEW standards, right? You telling me swerve fucking music doesn't hit and people not lose their shit. You telling me hearing hangman come out to the ring or hangman do anything of that nature, people are not losing their shit. There's not a lot of people they would do that for, but they're definitely doing it for those two people.

SPEAKER_01: 1:55:21

Swerve? Possibly will Osprey, I can put him in there, but we've been given hangman this whole time, right? Hangman's not selling out arenas. Off of his name alone, hangman is not putting the butts in seats. He's not, and now I will say, my opinion, the reason why Hangman is not a star, like a real star, is because they don't know how to book him. Now, we'll see what happens because Swerve just came back. And they're forming a tag team now, but like Swerve, he has the potential to be a star, but I don't think AEW knows how to book him to be a star.

SPEAKER_00: 1:56:18

They they they how about this? They may not be stars, but they are legends, they are future legends, but future does not affect the present. It does, it does not. It does not. What I'm saying is, yes, AEW does have an issue with making stars, but again, to be that, you have to tell story.

SPEAKER_01: 1:56:46

That's the point I was about to make.

SPEAKER_00: 1:56:49

AEW right there. Well, but but if you okay, if you're putting that there, hangman and swerve right there, that story alone. Yes, it's big shit. But sorry, I thought you called No.

SPEAKER_01: 1:56:59

But the problem is though, they floundered that. Yeah. Because now, and and and that's and that's the problem. AEW, they don't know how to build the right, they don't know how to build superstars, they don't know how to build true main events. They got when Swerve and Osprey was left and they was doing their surgeries and recovering and everything, hangman Adam Page, he was the heavyweight champion. Why is he in the middle of the card? Why is he not cutting a promo? Hangman, when he was going up against Swerve at the time when he was a heel, best damn shit. That was, they were creating a star at that point, okay? But I'm talking about like right now, when you look at AEW, nobody looks like aside from Swerve right now, since he just came back, but that is TBD, because with what they did on Dynamite, it was like they just showed up a little bit, no words were spoken, but they just showed up and and two dojo guys. Yeah, so it's like but it's like if they had stars, AEW wouldn't be on a decline. When you look at their ratings, less and less people are watching AEW, less and less people are tuning in and caring about AEW. And it's because they don't know how to produce stars. Content you need to watch. MJF at one point was that though. MJ, I'm glad you you brought him up. Because, granted, he's been out of sight, out of mind right now. MJF is the only true superstar AEW has, in my opinion. There's a lot of people who are potential stars, but comparably speaking, they are no close to burning as bright as MJF does. And MJF burns bright, burns brightest as a star when even when he's doing stupid shit like he was doing before he left again. The kangaroo kick and shit. No, actually, no. I dare say that was when he was shining his bright when he was doing the kangaroo kick and stuff like that. When he was doing his like baby face run there, people was eating, they was eating that up. And then when he turned heel, people are still there for MJF. However, the the booking has been dog shit. But even but the thing is, MJF is such a star that even with absolute garbage booking, MJF is important enough that you want to watch him. It is important enough. To make you want to watch AEW. And that is the true difference in my eyes when it comes to WWE in AEW. AEW does not have stars. They got one star. WWE has five. Those five stars alone is the reason why everyone watched that pay-per-view. The pay-per-view was absolute dog shit, but everyone wanted to see what those five stars were going to do. And because they got those five stars, that's why we tune into SmackDown and Raw. Because we want to see a combination of those five stars do something or show up, have a match, progress some kind of story, and all this other stuff. AEW, because they don't have any stars, there's nothing to want to make you pull in to watch any of those things.

SPEAKER_00: 2:00:57

I hate that you write about that shit.

SPEAKER_01: 2:01:00

So because like I haven't been watching Dynamite because I haven't given who was on there that and you haven't watched and you know Swerve is back.

SPEAKER_00: 2:01:13

I mean, I watched that. I mean I watched that, you know, that segment. That's it. I mean, no, no. So he's right. Um, anyway, despite everything we've talked about, we just wanna let it be known. Uh War Games was stupid. It was bad. It was it was pointless. I fell asleep the last 15 minutes. Like literally, when the match actually started, I fell asleep. Complete shack.

SPEAKER_01: 2:01:45

I thought I woke you up at one point. You woke me up at the end. No, no, no, I won't no. See, that's how I know you was gone. I woke up, no, I woke up in between when I saw Brock like in the ring at one point. Because I said something. You were like, yeah, you said something, and and you were but it's funny because you said something in relation to what was going on. I can't remember what exactly you said now. And then I we I continued watching, and and then you I I I heard the cadence of your breath, and I'm like, uh, I'm gonna ex out. And I'm like, I'm gonna see how long he stays out. Let me see if he comes back. Pay-per-views over. I'm like, well, I guess it's time to go ahead. I was I wasn't even gonna bring up the fact that you missed the pay-per-view. I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna let him deal with that on his own. I'm gonna let him.

SPEAKER_00: 2:02:34

I woke up as they're showing the the fucking the we'll be right back. I was like, wait, what? They went be right back in the middle of the match.

SPEAKER_01: 2:02:44

My boy was lost, bro.

SPEAKER_00: 2:02:45

My man was lost. I said, there's no fucking way they did that in the middle of the match. My man was lost. So then I woke up after the we'll be right back, it was for the post show. Uh so that was like, oh damn. Nigga, I fell asleep. I said, Oh shit. I was gonna let you figure it out.

SPEAKER_01: 2:03:02

So then I rewind, and then I was like, oh, I ain't missed nothing. I mean, you really didn't. But but yeah, fam. That well, that was my rant. And that rant is all I got to say. Watch New Japan, nigga. That's all I'm gonna say. WWE got WWE got the one up on everybody because they have star power, unlike AEW. And the problem is, WWE, they know how to make stars. For better or for worse, they at least know how to make stars. AEW can't get a grip on it. But that's because as as one of the people who commented on that video that I made, you know, AEW doesn't do, you know, uh uh 25 minutes, uh I'm sorry, three hours of uh backstage and da da da and only 25 minutes of wrestling when really they probably should. Not so much should, but they what they need to do, honestly, what they need to do, they need to do what New Japan does. Give us these little splurts. Don't blow their fucking load on these things, because then I'm quite I'm cuz I I can bet how you're talking about how like they have like these little like you know showcase matches, yeah. Where they're they're they they show some good wrestling, yeah, but they don't show a whole lot. Yeah, no, but when that pay-per-view comes through, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. When that pay-per-view is gonna come through, I can get I'd throw dollars on it that they are going to show the fuck out on the pay-per-view for the finals of the tournament.

SPEAKER_00: 2:04:34

I mean, Yoto and Tanahashi beat like after their match, the one I recently saw, they're like, okay, Yoto comes up to this face, boom, they just start slapping each other, just going at it again. And then had a moment, get separated. Yoto comes up, elbow, and they just keep going at it. And then there's a moment where Oscar literally has to pull El Phantasmo off of uh Yoto because he's beating up Tanahashi. And then next thing you know, Oscar's off in the corner. Then Yoto, he gets pulled off again. Tanihashi comes up to his face and slaps him, and then I don't going at it again, and then toss him back in the ring, and they just start fighting each other. So then the commentator's like, yeah, ring the bell. Let him go ahead and go at his singles match again. So they're fighting in the ring again. Until they get broken up, and now we they pull up the highlight. This match will happen on November 23rd 28th.

SPEAKER_01: 2:05:26

But once again, they don't, they don't, they're not throwing everything at you. They're not blowing their load on the rinky dink. Probably what AEW does. They're just out here just blowing everywhere, bro. So you tell me that I'm not gonna make that profit talk in the air anyway. But like, what we get, honey. Bro, it's been six years, bro. If they're still fighting themselves, there's a fucking They're still learning their body. I gotta go home. Oh man's sake, Brandon. The questions are real, and it's always guaranteed destruction. This is the Mazaku. I'm swag switching in the building. Trump slam the like button. Don't subscribe. We're done. We're done. Got it. We're done.