Are we all elite now?

Reviewing Raw and how Mania is shaping now, but in bigger news we are going to LA to check out AEW!!!!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

We are back with another new story.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Gary, everybody. Gary. Gary. He's here.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

So we have to do talk about Monday Night Raw and everything that's happened and the implosion of the Judgment Day and what WrestleMania is looking like. And we have a big announcement for our podcast listeners. We are going to go on site somewhere. We just got confirmation that we are members of the media and we'll tell you what event we are going to as a trio for the very first time. We sound so fancy. I know. We sound like legit, right? We're going on location, but we're not broadcasting on location, but we will be at this event. We'll get into it in just a little bit. But we got to jump into Monday Night Raw because it is WrestleMania season. Finally, we're kind of starting to see some things come through. Last week we saw the big confrontation between CM Punk and Roman Reigns, where you know he delivered that line, like, I'm gonna bury you right next to your father. Uh, and that kind of carried over. We did kick off the show with Adam Pierce addressing Seth Rollins coming out and attacking the vision. Your thoughts on Seth bringing out all these like 20 uh hooded men, and and I'm I'm assuming there's probably some women in there as well, and that kind of threw off Adam Pierce, and it was like, you know, like why are all these guys out here? Uh your thoughts on them kind of like overdoing it with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

I mean, I think it's just become like a laughing joke, to be honest with you. Like you talk about all the time. It's like this is like the return ensemble, the hoodie, the black jeans, blah, everything. I think they're just taking like a fun jab, fun spin on it. Um I kind of laughed when they all got in the ring and they all kind of like scrambled around, look like a sixth grade like uh school play. Yeah. A little little but stage right, stage the roll. I'm supposed to be here. No, you go here. Puts on the mask and he dips. So I actually think that's it's kind of cool because no one knows who they're talking to. Um, so I like to kind of see where where this goes. Are they just kind of just poking fun at it?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Or I wonder if that's where Brian's been this whole time. Maybe he was there on Raw. Maybe he was one of those guys. He says he's always on location. He's just tell us where interesting. He does he does do wardrobe too. So very interesting. There it is. Convenient, uh convenient. All right. Well, we did see uh, you know, our guy and your guy now, Denhausen. Okay. He had cursed. Yes, you are cursed. He's growing on me. Okay, it's been it's been roughly about like 10, 11 days since the Elimination Chamber, and he is the number one selling merch on WWEShop.com, uh, which is kind of mind-boggling to me as somebody, and I will say this. I was a hater right away, uh, just because I was like, I don't understand and I don't know who he is, because he hasn't been through the machine of the WWE. He's been around for quite some time, you know, the indies, AEW, and other promotions as well. But since this is his first take on the, you know, I would hate to say this, but on the big leagues, the big times, the WWE, um, he has really actually grown on me. And I think the character, now I understand the character, and I kind of get the whole like coriness behind it. So it is like an R-Truth, Kit Wilson, saying, Tina Morella, like those types of characters. And I think this is what the WWE actually really needs during this time, and it kind of proves to it. Like, Gary, would you buy yourself a Denho Den Housen t-shirt? No, I'm broke right now. Okay, well, yeah. So I well, you and I are both broke right now, okay? Let's just make it.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

No, I I mean uh probably not. No, I just won you over. No, I mean it's it's characters great. I mean, I I wouldn't buy a Seth Rollins t-shirt. It's just not one, it's just not who I am. Maybe if it's one of like those um I think like what you got like at WrestleMania, like, or whatever it was, like Sandy or Survivor Series, I mean, like in San Diego, like something one-off, cool like that. I think about it, but I also think their prices, like, I'm not gonna pay$80 for a goddamn is it eighty dollars? It probably is$60,$80. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

I did attend Money Net Raw in Anaheim. I think a shirt was$40. Yeah. So I mean, man. To me, that was a lot. Yeah, and and yeah, and and and you know, I I don't, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

I'd rather wear our own merch, Chris. I want to wear our own merch.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah, towers of power wrestling podcast t-shirt. What should we come out and produce? What do you think? We do have t-shirts, and you know, everybody that went to our very first on-site location did receive uh Towers of Power t-shirt, very limited edition, you know. Um, but what else? What else can we make, Gary? Think about that.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

I mean, uh, you know me, I'm always wearing a hat. I love my I love my little snapback mesh hats. Okay. Um, yeah, I mean, t-shirts are always golden, or even like just like the light long sleeve t-shirt. Um, those those always do pretty well. You know, it's starting to get a little hot here in San Diego. I think it's 92 right now. Yeah, it's skimming for the pool if I do say so myself. Oh, okay. Sitting outside. Um, but no, I mean, we can ask we can ask all of our little loyal listeners. Yes, what do you guys want to see? We'll take it, we'll take it to X.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

We'll take it to X, we'll put it on Instagram. What do you guys want uh to see merch wise from us? Uh we did see Penta in action on Monday Night Raw taking on uh Al Grande Americano, uh, but the second one, not the original.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

No, no, not the original, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

No, yeah, that's what I said. The second one. So he was he was supposed to be in battle against the original one, however, the second one came out. Kaiser, Kaiser came out, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Because the original was cursed.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yes, he was. So uh we saw that Intercontinental Championship title. What did you think of the match?

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Was it one? Penta's amazing. Penta's amazing. Uh he's incredible. Kaiser is he's no he's no slove either. Yeah, uh, very, very good match. The thing, and I think I brought this up last episode, is Penta really hasn't had any rivalries. Well, no, let me let me take that back. He hasn't had like an abundance of different superstars that he's wrestled. When he first came here, it was Gable as Grande Americano, it was Kaiser as Kaiser, then Kaiser as Grande Americano. It was a lot of repeat offenders, if you will. Yes. So now seeing him with this icy time, like, cool, we're gonna see him go after more, you know, quote unquote mid-carters. Yeah, um, but no, boom, who they give him first, grande and then grande. Like, it's it's like what are we doing? We're not we're not really reinventing the wheel here on this one, but yeah, to see those two keep going, they do put on a fucking hell of a match. Not taking that away, but I just want to see Penta wrestle other superstars. Who would you like to see him wrestle? Well, we gotta think about those that are on raw. Who do they want to push? Do they want to push a Javon Evans? Do they want to see Javon versus him? Is it too soon?

SPEAKER_00 7:00

I think I think he's way too green. I'm not green, but I think he's just way too new.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Yeah, you just gotta look at that mid-card and just see who's on there and and who and who would thrive. I can't think of really anyone like right off the top of my head, like maybe an Austin theory, but I think this was before when you know they had a full slate because theory was um he was a United States champion, not the intercontinental champion. Hell, even Logan Paul, but you know, I think they're gonna be going for those tag titles. But somewhere like along those lines where they're trying to beef up the women's intercontinental championship, and they've done a great job there. I think more people are interested in that sometimes than the actual women's world championship. Yes. Um, so to take it back to the men's intercontinental championship, I think they're gonna try to beef that up more. I think it saw something the other day, and I forgive me, I don't remember the numbers, but it's the most offended championship. Sorry, is the women's IC title is the most offended championship on um SmackDown, uh sorry, on Raw in the last however many like the last year or so more than any other title. So wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

That's kind of that's that's a crazy actual stat that they threw out there. Yeah. And it's like when you think about it, it's like you have to you have to look at it too. And I think everyone's afraid of if we go with Penta and let's say it's Penta and I don't know, let's say let's say it is a John Javon Evans, like who wins and how? How does that look for a Javon Evans in the long run as far as his career? But then it's like then you feed Penta somebody, like maybe like even like we saw I'll get into this match too, but uh Omar Femi's brother Oba uh took on Rusev and Rusev was pretty much fed to him. So it's like, do you take somebody like that and feed it to Penta? Like, do we take a Shinsuke Nakamura who we haven't seen some some time? Do we throw even though he's not SmackDown? Maybe he comes over to Raw, we throw it to him. But then it's like, okay, then you know he's gonna win. So it's like maybe give you a challenge that we haven't seen that could be a potential winner in that match.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Yep. So I mean, I think that's kind of where Raw really WWE is lately. It's we we know some of these matches, we don't maybe not know the matches, but we we kind of know the outcome. Right. I mean, throw throw JD McDonough at him. Right. I mean, that's a cool little thing. Like, I mean, we know JD's not gonna win, and and if he does, it's not gonna be anytime soon. Let like let Penta run with this, but don't give him layup matches that people are gonna tune out to go get their popcorn or fast forward to if if you're sitting at home because you're like, I see this matchup, Penta's gonna win. Why do we need to sit through it? Unless like you are there to watch wrestling and to see the match itself.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

That's why I think with him and Dom, like everybody kind of thought that Dom was gonna win, but it was a big surprise when Dom was cursed. You know, or how does he do it? Like Cactus Jag? He's kind of just like he just points. Two fingers? Cursed. Oh, two fingers or one finger?

SPEAKER_02 9:42

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

What I just think is he shooting the guns or is he shooting the peace sign?

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Yeah, yeah, I think we're we're we're uh shooting the bang bang.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Oh, the bang bang, like cactus jag. Okay, yeah. So uh we did see Oba Femi take on Rusev. Your thoughts on this match. I thought that uh personally I didn't not really care about this match. Yeah, we all knew that Oba was gonna win. So for me, I also I felt a little bad for Rusev because it goes back to what we said a couple podcasts ago. He made that jump from AEW back to WWE thinking that something was gonna happen with his career. And even I last week we addressed the whole Rusev day t-shirt that he was wearing, and it kind of led to nothing but nowhere to be found last week.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah, you know. I mean it wasn't it wasn't a full-on squash, which I appreciated. He got some good licks in there. Um, and I think just like it wasn't yeah, it wasn't a full-on squash match, which is what I appreciated. But obviously, in the end, we knew Oba was going to win. Um yeah, it's it's tough when you when you throw you know these big superstars, these monster like superstars up against Oba, and Oba still towers over them. Yeah, where are we going with it? Who who's who's gonna be the first like true true test for Oba? Will it be coming at SummerSlam? Will it be coming at sooner at WrestleMania? Like who knows? I'm gonna keep throwing at him until whenever.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

I did see something where Oba challenges Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, and I heard the way I don't know that I forget again, I'm horrible. I gotta take a screenshot and shout these people out. But somebody had said, like, wouldn't that be great if Oba comes out and challenges Brock Lesnar to that open challenge at WrestleMania? But before Brock Lesnar hits the ring, he runs into backstage. Guess who he would run into? Your guy. Yep, Den Housen, and says something to him, and Den Housen says, You are cursed, and he goes out and he loses the match at WrestleMania. I think that would be a fantastic way to get over everybody, even even Brock to some degree, you know, to make him like, oh, okay, yeah, he's he's cursed for whatever period of time. I don't know how this curse works. I don't know too much. Is it one match?

SPEAKER_02 11:59

It was similar in AEW. Um I just don't think he kind of talked as much as he did on AEW. I think he's just because I guess WWE does this kind of stuff much better than anybody else. So they do.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

What do you think? What do you think it is, in your opinion? What do you think it is?

SPEAKER_02 12:15

Is it because either known for it or like what? I think known for it. I think you know there are some writers in the back that know what they're doing and they know how to take talent that has succeeded maybe elsewhere, um, and kind of just bring it to WWE, but they know how to make it more family friendly, if that makes any sense whatsoever. Like our truth is our truth. Yeah, you go back to him in the you know early 2000s, and it was a little little spicy over there, and you know, oh Two years and years and years, he's like just the funny shit that you're just like, oh my god, he said that it's stupid as fuck, but it's hysterical. So doing this with with Danhausen and the stuff with Kit Wilson and Toxic, and I think they just do these things and they have like these trigger words, and they see what sticks. Yeah, I don't know, but they they've they've got it with Danhausen. I think and he also understands the assignment as well. It's like we're just we're helping help help us help you, and we're gonna do the same in return. We this is your shtick, let's go with it. Let's see. It should work in WWE if it worked everywhere else. So let's see where it goes. So this whole you are curse thing working great. Yeah, took uh took Kit Wilson a couple times to kind of do the you are toxic. And now, like sometimes on SmackDown, you'll hear the crowd yell toxic.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah. So you know that would be an idea for Obafemia at WrestleMania with Brock Lesnar. Apparently, WrestleMania ticket sales are not doing well at all. Uh it is down, I forget how much percentage. I think an all-in ticket is for both nights for two-night combo is still under$400. So I'm just like, wow, or it cost me almost$400 for one one night last year. So yeah, so it's a big difference between day and night and the product of where we're at. Um, we well, speaking about WrestleMania, are we gonna see uh the judgment day? Finn Balor, formerly now of the Judgment Day, Finn Balor take on Dirty Dominic Mysterio. They collided on Monday Night Raw where the judgment day really just imploded, and we didn't know what was gonna happen because you know Dominic did call out Finn Balor and JD McDonald and said, hey, it was because of you guys that cost me the Intercontinental Championship. Your thoughts on how everything happened and like the shock to me, the biggest thing was JD with his alliance towards Dom rather than Finn.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Yeah, that was uh a little surprising, but I think this is better in the long run. So I feel like they're gonna still kind of keep Judgment Day somewhat together. Um this now gives Finn the push towards back towards in that world championship picture. Um maybe hey, maybe he takes a detour on IC title. Maybe I don't know, just to kind of throw him somewhere. But no, so let's um I like it. I like I'm I'm glad it happened. I think this was a long time coming. Um I'm still wondering where Roxanne Perez is. Is she injured? I have no idea. Um, but she hasn't been around, so when she gets back, um I don't know. I saw someone post, and I've kind of think I'm just like you. I'd love to shout out these people. Um, I thought I saw someone post uh an idea that she kind of comes back and she sees kind of like almost like Liv now is like the almost like the puppeteer. Yeah, she's the puppet master, and she sees she's running it and she's like, I'm not dealing with this shit. And Roxanne sides with Finn. Oh, okay. I don't know where maybe that goes or anything. I think it's just a good way of getting Finn.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

I'm gonna tell you where that could go. Think about this. Okay, you you have Liv and Dom team up, yep, taking on Finn and Roxanne, yep, taking on Damien and Rhea with all the judgment day against each other.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

A mixed tag, yeah, tornado match. I feel like the mixed tag for me, they just don't do anything for me at all. I mean, again, that's just me. Like, even like the back in the day, what it was, what Miz and Maurice versus John and Nicky. Yeah, I'm like, there's nothing like what it is what it is, but I also saw again somebody else posted something cool where it's like old judgment day versus new. Put Damien, Finn, and Rhea, the ones that got fucked over versus you know, live, Dom, and JD. I'm like, I wonder where you saw that.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Oh, that's right. At Towers of Power Pod on Instagram. That's where you saw it. Yeah, that's where it was. Yeah, me. He's like, I wonder where it was, but all right, so then we saw uh Bailey. Oh, go going back to that too. We will definitely see the demon Finn Balor back first.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

I think we will. It's just when and WrestleMania. WrestleMania, you pull it out against who will this be against Dom? Will this be against Dom? Okay. So this is kind of like let's let's go versus Dom. Let's go against the judgment day for another month or so, and then let's let him who was do you remember last year's WrestleMania when Dom won the IC championship?

SPEAKER_00 16:54

It was him, Finn, who else was in that match? Do you remember off the top of your head? Not a chance. Because then I was gonna say, what if they do a redo and they throw in, you know, because Penta's a champion, you throw Penta in that match, and then you have the demon, Finn Balor.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

I don't I don't remember, but that'd be cool too. I mean, I think you just need to let this one just run its course. It's been a long time coming. Yeah, um, they've they're they're finally broken up. Well, at least Finn Finn is finally gone. Yeah, so let's I I've been pushing for Finn for a long time. I think his character, whether he's a heel or babyface, he's been great. Um, but as soon as his own music started playing more, I'm like, okay, we're finally gonna get the turn. Um, or he's gonna get kicked out. He got kicked out. Now let's see where it goes month to month. We've got what um little over a month until WrestleMania weekend. So let's see what they do on Raw in the coming weeks and kind of see what they're gonna do. Hype it up. Are we gonna get the demon? Are we gonna get Finn? Is he gonna put it up the mega championship? I don't know. I think there's a triple A event coming up soon where Dom has that on the line.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

So he has that against his career. Yeah. Oh, yeah, in AAA. Yeah. So his triple A career could be done in these coming weeks. We don't know. Uh, you know, we one thing that we do know is that uh Bailey is gonna move on and face uh the Intercontinental Champion, AJ Lee, for that championship. I thought that was a great gauntlet match that that happened on Roth for showcasing all these women. And uh, I mean like Ivy Neal. She got she got some time. Sorry, Ivy Nile. Sorry, Neil. Hi, Niall, Neil. Yes, Ivy got some time.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Gauntlet match. I'm not a fan. Really? I mean, nine times out of ten, the first two people in, you might see one of them at the end. You're probably not, so you kind of already know that one of them's gonna be out. Okay, so I prefer to just kind of see almost like a brief case on top of a ladder match. I think everybody's in there at the same time. Yeah, it's much more chaotic, but obviously it's the match, it's the last one or two people that get in, they have the higher result of or the higher chance of winning.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

So I personally would have loved to have seen um Roxanne, not Roxanne, Raquel, um, when I think this was they kept hinting at her kind of going over or going after the IC title in the last couple of weeks. She missed out on the women's world title. Um, and I thought this was just a nice fit, and I could see that work out. However, they saw bigger with Bailey versus AJ. Unfortunately, this match is taking place on SmackDown, I believe on the 13th, Friday the 13th. Yeah. As we're filming this or recording this on Thursday, March 12th, as Chris likes to say. So we'll see. I don't know when this episode will be out.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

So we'll maybe this episode will be out Friday the 13th. Hey oh, so make sure the table is Thursday. I have to go ahead and edit this and put it out tomorrow. He's gonna do just great.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

So this to me is a WrestleMania match. I do not understand what the hell is going on why this is on SmackDown. Um, sorry, why this is happening next week. Um yeah, SmackDown. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Yeah, on SmackDown. Um there's two nights of WrestleMania. Fill up the card. How how is this how is Bailey versus AJ not a WrestleMania match? So tell me what's going to happen on SmackDown that's gonna force this championship match to then be pushed to WrestleMania.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Well, I think the thing, the reason why it's on SmackDown is because it could be viewerships for SmackDown might be down. So you have to remember, like, okay, what's gonna draw SmackDown?

SPEAKER_02 20:37

What's gonna go ahead and ticket sales for WrestleMania? Yeah, there's a lot of things. What's more important? Maniac, I think right now SmackDown.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Well, because and then on top of that, you throw in uh wait, no, Saturday night's main events happening in May, not March. Sorry, I got on the side.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Yeah, backlash is May 9th after the 23rd they just announced Saturday night's main event.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Oh, I didn't see that. Yeah, so I just saw that I just saw that come through. But you have to think about okay, what is going to help the ratings? Because if the ratings are down, they got that they have to kind of throw some big guns that way. What other way? AJ Lee's first match on SmackDown. So let's go ahead and have her return on SmackDown uh against Bailey, who they they obviously have fought before in the past. Uh I believe it was an NXT very early on.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

I think the clip came out that AJ was visiting NXT, she was the Divas champion, and Bailey came out of nowhere and started hugging her. I'm like, I'm a big fan, I've watched you forever. Just you know, that awkward, creepy shit. Yeah, um, so yeah, we'll we'll see where it goes. I'm I'm excited to see the match. I just think this should have been one of those, and you know, who the winner of the gauntlet match goes to WrestleMania to face AJ.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

You would think, but I think if everything's struggling the way it is, I mean ticket sales aren't moving. Yeah, would that have moved the needle as far as tickets? You don't know. I mean Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Well, I guess you got what, three more, maybe four more episodes of Smackdown before we get to Mania. So who knows? Maybe maybe something happens and People get involved. Maybe Raquel's gonna get involved. I I I don't I don't know. I I I can't keep up anymore. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

So see let's go to CM Punk and the Usos. That promo, your thoughts on that.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Weird. One, okay. One weird because the Usos are the tag champions, but they never have their belts on them. And it annoys the piss out of me. Whether they come out on their own, whether they come out as I don't care. You if you're a champion, you shouldn't have the belt all on you at all times. I don't get it. To the God, the the promo to me almost seemed like people were forgetting their lines or forgetting what was supposed to happen because it was very repetitive.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Who was gonna forget their lines?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Jay. He just keeps pounding at his mic and he keeps apologize. I need to apologize. And then Punk would take you know a good 10-15 seconds of just quiet time and then apologize, Michael. Oh my god. Like, what are we doing here for the last 14 to 15 minutes of the show? Yeah, is it just begging him to apologize? Punk did it great. I mean, I think he maybe realized something was up. Maybe there's nothing up, and that was the whole thing. I'm like, hey guys, keep asking each other to apologize. We got 15 minutes. Work your magic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

I don't know. 15 minutes of apologizing.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Yeah, it felt it felt awkward. I'm interested to see where this goes. Are the Usos going full heel? Um, are they gonna be realigning the bloodline? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. What did you think about it? I have no, I have no, I don't know. It just it just felt off because they are baby faces, but this was very heel-ish. But the crowd, I think, is gonna still be behind them, like how they were as the bloodline. The bloodline was the biggest heel faction ever, and they were so over as babyfa. Well, not babyface, but they were over as heels.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

I think it was great. I thought it was a great promo. Um, especially bringing in the family members. I'm waiting to see if there's anybody else that comes in. We you do have to remember to WrestleMania 40 when uh Cody had that stare down with Roman and the press conference, and and then uh The Rock came in. It's like, don't be talking about my family like that, and slapped them. Uh, do we see the rock return and say the same thing? I think that would be actually really cool, but I doubt that it would happen. You know, I think right now for WrestleMania purposes and TKO as as one of the the heads of the board, I think he has to realize that he needs to step in and help because yes, the ticket sales aren't doing well. Would that help? It'll probably get some more attention, but as far as ticket sales, I don't know. I don't think I don't honestly know if anybody knows what would what's gonna help ticket sales. Um, but I thought punk held his own like always, and I thought it was great.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

The Usos did bring up some of the bloodline, like you were saying that he did bring up some names, like Lance and OI. Like there are names that he was saying that yeah, people in WWE might not really know, yeah, which is kind of cool. Interesting to see.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, when he talked about Samu and Fatu and like do we see Rikishi come in? Because you know, that's the Uso's dad. So that'd be kind of a cool factor to see if you bring in people that weren't brought in for the previous thing with the bloodline back at WrestleMania uh 40. So um yeah, so that's kind of a raw in a nutshell tonight on SmackDown because yes, it is happening tonight. We have uh Cody Rose and Randy Orton are supposed to go ahead and sign the contract for their big title match at WrestleMania. You're shaking your head because we both had did not want Cody to win the championship and he won it on SmackDown against Drew McIntyre last week. Um I and it goes back to and it all goes back to ticket sales. Wouldn't Drew versus Randy Orton draw? Probably, but not as much as Cody would. And the reason why I say this is because there's more history, yes, there's more storytelling. You know, uh Dusty Rhodes, the American Dream, was involved with the two of them. So you do have certain elements that they could play to, and it's teacher versus protege. So there's a little bit more storytelling and develop for this story compared to Drew McIntyre versus Orton. Um, your thoughts on this match happening at WrestleMania and everything just in general on SmackDown with Cody Rhodes.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yeah, it's it's annoying for I think fans like you and I that love storylines and love where things are going, but we hate getting superstars pushed in our face. Yes, and that's what they're doing with Cody. He was on a few podcasts, um, and I keep seeing these clips on X where he was just like, Yeah, someone randomly called me the golden boy or the golden child or the golden something. He's like, I love it. Like, stop, just just stop. He's he loves the QB1 thing, he loves being in charge, he loves yeah, he loved he loved, I think that's why so much he loved being at AEW when they created the company. That he was the head honcho, he was in charge, he was calling the shots. He comes back to WWE, he's not really calling the shots, but he kind of is. He's I feel like there was something, there's some other title he must have, and I'm not talking a championship belt title, I'm saying, you know, on his business card. There he has to be something on some kind of board that gets him so involved with wrestlers that are being signed, um, with with his with his storylines, with his titles. There's just a lot going on for them just to kind of keep shoving him just down our throats. And yes, I understand the storyline with Cody and Orton would be so much better than Drew versus Orton, but Drew is the perfect heel champion, and he has done phenomenally.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Okay. I'm gonna throw this question at you. Yeah. You take out Cody Rhodes, okay, who has been nicknamed all the the golden child, all this other stuff. Who do you put in his place to carry the title and the flagship of WWE? WWE or SmackDown?

SPEAKER_03 27:59

WWE. Who's a name?

SPEAKER_00 28:06

That's the hard yeah. I I don't know. You can't. I mean like do you put it back on Roman? I mean that would that would be that would be the ideal.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

Yeah, Roman, Seth. I mean, fucking push LA Knight. Like this is getting absolutely ridiculous that he's not getting these pushes. Is he the face of the company? No. No. Um Drew, I mean, Drew's done great. Yeah, but I think I I under I understand the question. I just I I I don't know. It's just it's it's it's it's it's frustrating where um there are all these stipulations, and I love how how Drew took to X. He's like, breach of contract. When I won this, I was told. And I think it's great because everyone's thinking the same thing. I'm like, why are we going back on these words? Like, yeah, a lot of the audience are kids. We get that. Yeah, but there's a shit ton more of adults that are watching this that are just like, no, this shouldn't be happening. You said that this is it. If if Cody loses, he's never ever to challenge Drew for the title again. Three months later, oh hey, let's let's have you guys just wrestle each other on SmackDown. As soon as that match was made, and even honestly, as soon as Nick Aldous was talking about it after like on the post show, um, and I was just like, I swear to god, they're gonna put Cody vs Drew for the title, and they're gonna give it back to Cody because it just makes sense for WrestleMania, and that sucks. Yeah, it sucks. It's it took me out. I don't honestly, I think I watched SmackDown that episode where Cody won. I watched it after I got home from work at like 11:30 at night. I think I just hit play and I just kind of let it go until I fell asleep, knowing that Cody was gonna win. I woke up when I kind of heard his the little bell ring and I looked up and he had the belt, and I'm like, cool, predictable. This fucking sucks.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Because they're not gonna have him lose the belt at WrestleMania to Orton after just winning it. I don't think they're gonna take it right off of him in a month. You never know though. Because if I hope they do, I really do. Then in my head, I'm just like, then why? Why why why even give it to Cody for so we can say he's a three-time? Is he a three-time champ now in WWE? Yeah, I think so. He finished the story, then he won it again. Yeah, three time. It's he's a bridge champion right now if they're gonna give it right over to Orton.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

But like it goes it goes back to who's next in line. Who could carry? Because Orton doesn't have that much time, let's be honest. He's he's uh what is he the he's only well he's one of two, actually three still from the class of tw 2002 of OVW because Batista's gone, Cena's gone, yeah, Brock's half in, half out, Brock's almost out, uh Benjamin's still killing it over AEW, AEW, uh, and then you have Orton. So it's like all right, there is gonna be a time where you do need to go ahead and start molding these next superstars into being something big.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Whoop that trick. Whoop, that trick huge.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Did you watch uh NXT? Uh yep. Did you okay? So your thoughts on NXT, uh, what was it? Vengeance?

SPEAKER_02 31:10

Vengeance day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Vengeance Day. Yep. Well, um, I I will say this the only match I saw was Joe Henry and and Ricky Saints. Yep. Um, and Joe still retained the championship, which I think is good. I think that's a good move. Oh, yeah, yeah. I think Ricky does need to make that transition into the actual roster, the main roster.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

Yeah, him and Ethan Page. Uh NXT has been kind of back on fire again, which which has been great. Um, again, if you asked me this last month, I was already bored because they're pulling up Trick Williams, Oba, right, um Javon. They're pulling up all their a lot of the females too. They're pulling them up to the main roster. So again, they're they're in the middle of a reset um with the NXT roster, but they're filling things up quickly. They're adding a lot of these kids from Evolve. Um, and if you don't know, Evolve can be seen on Tubi, I believe, on Wednesday nights. Um, and again, it's tube. Uh I'm sorry, Evolve is a developmental of NXT. So it's almost like the single A if you're if you're a baseball fan. You're single A, do you double A, triple A, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Single A, everybody. One A. Maybe they're double A. One I.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

We'll call them double A. Double A. NXT would be triple A. Okay. And then, you know, the majors would be Ron SmackDown. Oh. Huh? Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Triple A and Lucha? No, no, no. Not no not not that triple A. Okay. Um, no, and NXT they're starting to build up their tag division again. Um, they're building their world, their championship division. Um, you know, Ricky and Ethan Page have been kind of you know best friends, which is weird because they just beat the holy hell out of each other not a couple months ago. Um, so we'll we'll see where it goes, but they're kind of like besties right now, but they're also both kind of like looking at the the men's championship match. Uh sorry, the men's championship belt. Yes. Um, but again, we talked about them as being called up as part of the vision. So yeah. Who knows? I don't know who knows what's gonna happen. Um, but yeah, I mean it's it's taking some time to get used to a lot of these new faces on NXT, and we'll see when these bigger stars on NXT get called up to the main roster and how much more turnover we're gonna have from those that are in LFG. And again, that's that reality TV show that's kind of like creating the new uh the new superstars that would then go on to evolved and or NXT uh to continue their development, and then yeah, we'll see who uh who comes up to the big dance.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

You know, it's funny, as you're as you're talking, I'm looking through the roster of WWE in general, and I'm like, again, there's like nobody I could see coming in and taking that spot from Cody. You know, you do have some contenders, you do have some people, like a trick Williams eventually that would come up and do it, but then you have people that are stuck, like you know, like the Miz. Like he's stuck, you know, he's he might even be cursed. You know, you have uh people then like Shinsuke and Seamus, you know, like uh they're probably not gonna get it.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Alistair Black, like a lot of these I hate to call them mid-carters, but they are because they've never, and I say this, you know, with respect, they just never have been pushed the right way.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

I think Damien was when he won the championship uh at WrestleMania. I thought that was huge. I think that was a great moment for him, and then it just kind of fell flat after the split with the judgment day.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Yeah, I don't think people were behind him and his character. I think if they gave it to him again, you know, we could we could see what he can do, but I just I still don't see him as a top star. Um, in my head, it almost kind of goes back, you know, a couple decades when Jeff Hardy went out on his own and he became a singles champ. Right. In my head, he was always a tag guy, or he was a mid-carter, he was slowly winning the IC title. I'm just like, this just feels weird, and then you just kind of keep seeing him, keep seeing him, and then eventually he's your world champ. You're like, okay, I I get it now, but it takes a while because you see these guys that are tag titles or or tag teams, and or they go on their own and they're or they're or they're just mid-carters, right? Like, it takes a while for them for me to actually see these people as top stars. Like, did we ever see Cody as a person like this back when he was crashing Cody Rhodes? No, it took him a shit ton. I I fucking I wish they would strap the rocket to Matt Cardona as they brought him in for a reason. What the fuck are we doing? See why why is he just being buried? That's and why is he being buried?

SPEAKER_00 35:31

That's what I could see. It's like I could see like a him, even an Alistair Black, like you said, and like uh, you know, I could see I could see even Austin Theory. Yeah. And and but but the thing is when when you think about the bigger landscape of WWE as a whole, you're thinking about all the press and the media and the appearances, and that does fit the mold of a Cody Rhodes. Out of those three, who would it be? Probably Matt Cardona, who could handle the press and the media and stuff like that. Uh fun fact, we did have Matt Cardona in the studio at my old radio station that I worked at, and um, he didn't live up to the hype. And it was very disappointing.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Coming from a former hype bro, he was a hype bro, and he wasn't hype.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Right, because the hype bros were there. It was him and uh reminded, yeah. And and I I came up with a game for them to play. It was uh, I think name the TV show. I think it was like name that TV show, you know, and I had a theme, kind of like, you know, name that wrestler, and and I had theme music of of TV shows, and they had to guess what the TV show was. And I'm like, okay, they're around my age. I'm like, so I I I catered to that, and I knew Macordona like liked certain shows and stuff like that. So I remember playing like the Fresh Prince and playing Full House and like playing uh Boy Meets World and theme songs that I I would expect him to know, and it was all Mojo answering it, and he just kind of looked like dumbfounded and was kind of like smiling about it. And I'm like, bro, like I expected so much out of him that morning. Maybe he wasn't a morning guy, maybe that was the case, or maybe he just he wasn't trained, you know, as as much as he is now, you know, to get to be behind the mic and and to have that entertainer come through the I think getting fired from WWE and cree creating himself, I think really humbled him.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Yeah, but now he's back, he's back at as Matt Cardona, he's not Zach Rider anymore. And being such a big, you know, quote unquote indie god, as he calls himself, and he comes back where he always wants to be, and he wants to be a champ. Yeah, I don't see a path for him right now, which sucks. Yeah, I don't either. Maybe maybe the US title. I think he just had a US title match uh last week. Um, but he should be going after the big belt. He should be going after the big belt in due time. Maybe this is something after WrestleMania. And and I think, you know, as as you said, you're looking through the roster. I almost hate to call them old heads because they're old, and I think we you and I might be either older or close to age of a lot of them, where you almost gotta wait for them to leave. You need or you know, yeah, we are we are younger than Orton, I will tell you that. But like you gotta wait for Orton to leave, you gotta wait for Punk to leave, you gotta wait for all of these these guys that have been there forever, even Roman, Brock, once they're gone, then you're gonna kind of see the next group come up. And I think that's how we were with Cena. Like once um Kurt Engel left and all these other all these people of leaving, then you slowly start to see them come up. But how many years do we have left of watching?

SPEAKER_00 38:28

But you have to remember though that too. It's like those those stars were already in place. Yep. Okay, they were already like in the ring with those legends, like Batista and Engel, and you know, Jericho and Cena and maybe it's Oba. Huh? Maybe it's Oba Femi. He's still a free agent. Who knows? It's maybe, but it's just like, oh, like where are we gonna where are we gonna be in as far as the landscape of WWE when it comes to future WrestleManias where you're pulling out all the big names and legends? You know, the rumor is that they're trying to get Stone Cold Steve Austin to appear on Monday Night Raw for 316. It's like okay, uh, but like what is that gonna do? What does that do? Is is are you trying to just get clickbait? Are you just trying to get like a ratings boost for a one-time thing? Ticket sales, and that's it. But ticket sales should be more focused on WrestleMania, not raw. Right. You know, raw should all always be about the ratings. But it's like if you do pull out that ace up your sleeve, which is a stone cold, what are you gonna produce next week? See, and then the week after. Austin's like that one-time thing where it's like it's appropriate for him to be at WrestleMania, not drinking and driving the ATV, but you know, it'd be great for him to be at and to do something, yeah. But it's just like you know, WrestleMania, they always say is not for the diehard fans, it's more for the casual fans that want to come in and just check it out and be like, oh yeah, I remember this. Yeah, but it sucks.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

It sucks. Um well we'll see. We'll see, we'll see where it all goes.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Uh I sorry about that tangent, ladies and gentlemen. That's just how we feel, you know.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

You know, ruthless aggression.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Uh well, we do have to make the announcement, Gary, of where we've been invited to. Believe it or not, we are gonna be there live this coming Sunday night at the crypto.com arena in Los Angeles for AEW Revolution. Yeah. Yes, we have been invited to be there and partake in the festivities that are happening right there. So make sure you go ahead and follow us on all social media because we will be tweeting, we will be posting on IG. All three of us, even Brian, maybe he'll have his like black mask and hoodie and come running in. Who knows?

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Uh I think we should just tell him just to wear black hoodie, black everything, I think.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

And he probably would. He wouldn't even question it.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Oh, okay, yeah, that sounds good to me, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Um, so that's gonna be exciting for us to actually be at a wrestling event together, let alone you know, the one of the biggest companies out there, AEW, all elite wrestling. So we're gonna see uh MJF, you know, hang Hangman, Adam Page. We're gonna see uh FTR, John Moxley, and so many more. I you know, I saw Orange Cassidy on the card. Who else did I see? I saw a bunch of people, man. This card is Adam Copeland. Are we gonna see Edge? Adam Copeland is not back yet, but you know, he is out filming right now, so you just you never know.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

I was gonna ask him uh I was gonna ask him how he felt when he gets kicked out of the judgment day because apparently everyone's asking everybody else on X how they feel once they've gotten kicked out of the judgment day.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Oh, okay. Well, I wonder how he feels. Yeah. I don't know. We're gonna see uh yeah, uh Andrade is gonna be there. Uh your guy Ricochet will be there as well, Gary. Gary's a big Ricochet fan during that uh 21-man battle royal, that blackjack battle royal. Uh so that's all happening this coming Sunday, AEW. Make sure you go ahead and check it out live on pay-per-view, 5 p.m. Pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern. Make sure you follow us on all social because we are gonna be there live. And apparently we're gonna be in the press conference afterwards. So we will be able to go ahead and throw some questions at maybe Tony Khan. Oh man, we should bring the uh our little mic flags. You should bring it all. What do you think that well when how should we go dressed? That's the other thing, too. Because in the email, hold on, I'll read you the email, but you think about that. Now I'm nervous. You tell me what uh what you think we should dress like. Okay, or were we like cordially invited with like script? And it says, hello. You have been approved for press and media credentials at AEW Revolution on Sunday, March 15th at the crypto.com arena in LA. Um, okay, so it says, please note we ask that media dress in appropriate and professional matter that reflects, respect their colleagues, AEW and the fans of this event they are covering.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

Hmm. What the hell does that mean? I don't know. Does that mean uh we we going to get tuxes? So we are we wearing suits?

SPEAKER_00 43:00

Oh, that'd be hilarious if we show up in Tux. Oh, you guys said uh this is uh representation of the fans. The thing, you know, all of us wrestling fans wear tuxes when we go to these events, you know?

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Yes, and a nice bow tie. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

I mean I I you know, you know me.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

I'm a hat and t-shirt kind of guy. I don't think we're offending anybody if we're wearing our own merch.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

Oh, right. That's what I'm thinking too. So screw it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

Wear some black jeans, you know, some sneakers.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Oh, black jeans? Oh, okay. I I don't think I got black jeans.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

Or jeans, I don't know, whatever. Jeans, I think as long as you're wearing shorts.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Should I wear shorts? Because I'm a shorts kind of guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm kind of like everybody knows me knows that I wear shorts almost every single day. Screw it. Okay, you know what? I'm gonna wear I'm gonna wear shorts.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

I mean, what are they gonna do? Sorry, you're showing too much leg, you can't come into the press conference.

SPEAKER_00 43:44

You're showing too much uh shin right there. That's too much below the kneecap you're showing there, sir.

SPEAKER_02 43:50

I'm I'm pretty sure that they're not gonna kick us out of the press conference for wearing our own logo t shirt and either shorts or jeans or whatever in a hat. I mean Well if they do, I'd be shocked.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:03

Then again, it's a three-hour drive home. So I will happily say thank you very much. We will catch you next time. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

It's gonna be a very long day in LA, but we're excited to be there. And honestly, thank you, AEW, for you know, uh having that invitation sent to us. Yes. So I mean, WWE, I'm waiting on yours. Just saying. Yeah, I throw it out there. Where are you at, WWE? AEW. Hey, you know, towers of power, we're gonna be all elite, you know.

SPEAKER_03 44:27

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

We need that little that little picture of us, you know, hashtag all elite. I'll make it. I'll make it when we're driving. How about that? Yep. Put it up there.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

Get it out there on the photosphere on the Instagrams and everything.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

Like, oh my gosh, you know, Gary Dubin is all elite. Breaking news. Brian is all elite. Who? Yeah. Who? But this is the black is this the black hoodie. Yeah. The black hoodie is all elite. Yeah. Like, that's Brian, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Yep. All right. So that's going to be a lot of fun. So make sure you're following us on Instagram. Gary, go ahead and throw out all the uh socials for us.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

Absolutely. Uh my personal at G Dubs33 on Instagram and Gary underscore Dubin on Twitter X and Towers Power Pod on X as well.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

And of course, mine is at Hollywood Chris and Towers of Power Pod on IG, right? Is that the is that the right one?

SPEAKER_02 45:20

Yeah, Towers of Power Pod.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

Yeah, okay. Good. I'm always confused. Yeah, I hope so. I'm set. If not, we'll go follow me and then I'll go ahead and redirect you. Yeah. You know, like I say at the end of every podcast, we're just in the wrestling community, just like you. So make sure you like, subscribe, go ahead and share this podcast. We just want to grow our reach and make sure you follow us all along on Sunday for AEW's All Elite Revolution. Until then, we'll see you guys later.