Thrown together!!!

I think we all fill that this should be the title of WrestleMania this year as well, Thrown Together!  The card is starting to shape up, but it also seems like WWE is struggling on how to creatively put it all together.  We break down WrestleMania and the shocking return of Chris Jericho! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:21

There it is.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Yes, there it is. We are back in another episode of the Towers of Power, a pro wrestling podcast. Hi, everybody. My name is Chris Martinez, otherwise known as Hollywood Chris. And right there is Gary joining me. What's up? You know the road of WrestleMania. The boy Brian. Brian, uh, did you tell him? I thought you were supposed to tell him. I thought you were gonna tell him. Ugh, this is awkward already. Uh Brian's on set. We'll just leave it at that. I don't know where he is, but he's now. Yeah, he's probably thinking like he's probably standing by the computer right now, like, all right, I know they're gonna send me the link any minute now. Any minute now. Sorry about that, uh, about that, Brian.

unknown 0:59

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Next time. Hey, we'll get you next time. Damn it. All right. Well, we do have to talk about the road to WrestleMania because it's finally shaping and it's it's okay so far. But ticket sales are still struggling right now. Apparently, night number one has about like 38,000. Night number two has about 40,000 tickets sold. And keep in mind, you know, when it was back last year, it was probably like 60,000, 70,000 people that were there. So they are struggling, and rightfully so, because storylines are just kind of being thrown together left and right. Tell me about it, man. Did you get your ticket yet, Gary? Hell no.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Hell to the no, he says. Okay, well, I'm I'm gonna stay home. I'm gonna I'm gonna make some extra money on Saturday night. Okay. And then I will probably watch night one at like 10 o'clock at night. Oh, okay. When I get home from work. And then Sunday, I'm just gonna relax in my backyard, just pop it on and see what happens. I mean, I'm excited to watch. I just don't, you know, I don't have the extra cash flow right now that I really want to go to Vegas for it.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

But that's very true. I mean, what about you? Um, you know, I'm still thinking about it and still debating, still a little uh on the fence. Hopefully, very soon I will be saying yes or no if I'm going or not. Okay, but uh yeah, people know. We gotta let people know. We gotta let everybody know. They gotta come find me if I'm gonna be out there in Vegas, you know?

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Rep the merch. We gotta rep the merch, gotta give away some stuff. I don't even know. I mean, what if what would I do if I'm there? What could I give away? I thought about one idea, but let me see if you have anything marketing genius here.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

I mean, I have this this poster that I'm not gonna do anything with that you can give away.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Oh, what do we have right here? Oh, it's a CM Punk and Roman Reigns poster from WrestleMania. It's the official WrestleMania poster of CM Punk and Roman Reigns of night number two. Yeah, where did you where did you get that?

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Uh uh a buddy of mine uh got it from work as they are promoting this to I think it's to watch, um, possibly, so I don't know if it's true, um, to watch at Sequan Casino in El Cahon.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Unsure if it's an actual watching venue, but um one of the promotional companies that do all the UFC fights and everything at Sequan uh sent these to the office. And uh roommate Zach brought it home and I said, That's cool. I don't know what I'm gonna do with it. Um, but maybe uh maybe we can raffle it off or you can give it away or do something with it. Someone will appreciate it probably more than than I will right now.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

You don't want to hang it up on your wall and thumbtack that into your the back of your door? No, I think I'm good. No? Yeah, I'm good. You sure you got room?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

The back of the door. I got a mirror on the other one.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Maybe put it in the bathroom? No, I'm not sure. No, you don't want to hang up when it rains and see them punk in your bathroom? Yeah, like this.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

I don't need to see that.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah. Gary's making a hand gesture right now, and if you can only see it.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

For those that are listening and not watching, you know, we'll get on that too.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

There's a lot we gotta get on still to this day.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

But what thing is we do have the other thing. If you are if you decide to go to WrestleMania, whether it's night one and two, whether if you're gonna go another day early for WWE World, which I've always been very interested to attend, um, but just not in the cards this year. What what what's your plan? What do you want to do? What do you want to give away if you can?

SPEAKER_01 4:22

I think this is what we got to do. So we had some shirts that were made to scan our QR code on the back. Yeah. And it was going to our Instagram so people could go ahead and follow us and know a little bit more about us. I think that the thing I would do would have my friends who are who are gonna go wear some shirts. And I think I dress up as Macho Man Randy Savage because I have an awesome macho man costume and give away Slim Jim. So for people that sign or scan the QR code and show me your following and get a free Slim Gym.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

I think that'll be kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

That's some good gorilla marketing right there.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Yeah, but I then it's like then I have to think about where I can do it, what's approved, and like would I be kicked off? Like if I do it at the T-Mobile arena like for a smackdown, would I be kicked off that property? I think you'd walk me around. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

I think you're just walking around and handing out some snacks. Or do I do it like on the strip?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I do it on the strip right there, yeah. In front of the arena, you know, and and then I don't want to I don't want to be in full costume like if I go to WrestleMania night one and two. I'd like to like actually sit there and enjoy it. Because I will tell you that, you know, I've had that costume for oh good good lord, I think I I made that back in 2009. Jesus. So I've had it for a very long time. It is kind of falling apart. I would have to do some maintenance repairs to that costume, but uh, I don't know, maybe maybe that can be.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

We can post a picture of it on our on social, and then we have a bunch of photos of you in that. So yeah, see what the people say, but I think that's a really good idea. You're attracting people to you. Yes, yes, I am. You're getting people to follow our page and in return, slim gym.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Get a snag, yeah. Get a slim gym. Snack size, of course, because I wouldn't be able to afford the big ones, but yeah, all right. We've got to get on some Monday night raw. It is a busy raw from MSG. It opens with Cody Rhodes and Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie pretty much telling Cody Rhodes, hey, listen, you gotta watch out for the Viper, you gotta watch out for Randy Orton, he's dangerous. And it kind of resulted in Cody saying, You don't know Randy, I know Randy. And then if and then he insults her by saying, Well, you know what, you're not your own your father. And it was that's what the whole crowd was like, oh because I think everyone was kind of waiting.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

I honestly I know I was waiting for something about Vince had to have been said. I know I I guess I felt it. And I'm like, how's the crowd gonna react? Uh and and they were a little a little stunned.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

I was waiting to like maybe even hear the No Chance in Hell music. That's what I thought. I'm like, oh, are we gonna hear it? I mean, Stephanie's music in the crowd went bananas too.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Oh man, it's all queued up. Oh shit. Okay. Could you imagine him? So did you see any pictures of this stuff before Raw on social? There was a mystery person. Hold on, let's see. I gotta lower this. It's not there we go. All right, wait. Is it a mystery person what? So there is a social post, maybe like 30 minutes to 45 minutes before Raw aired about a hooded person in, you know, the return attire in all black being snuck into MSG. Do you think that had to have been Steph? Right? Which which is weird because it's like who cares?

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Yeah, because like nothing else really came of that.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Right, unless it's somebody they're just trying to hide in general that was just gonna be there to do so. I I don't know, or if it's just like, hey, hey, let's just put let's just see how far this goes on the internet, and it's just like one of the you know the backstage nerds.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

I think so, because it's also don't forget, like when they were in San Diego for the Survivor series, that people in the high rises overlooking Pecco Field or Pecco Park took screenshots of them queuing up Edge's music, Stone Cold C Boss's music. So we thought we were gonna get them, but they they trolled us, you know. That's what they did. Yep. So I could kind of see them doing that.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah, it was it was weird, but it was cool to hear Stephanie's music, see her come to the ring. She got a great reception. My only critique is why the fuck are we doing this on Raw? This is a full SmackDown story. Yeah, I don't care. I know it's MSG, it's the world's most famous arena, blah blah blah blah blah. It's a smackdown story. Keep it on SmackDown. There's no need for this to be on Raw.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Well, I think they want the pop. I think they want the pop, and I think they want to satisfy that crowd because that was their home base for so many years. You know, and what Stephanie said, dating back to her grandfather, yeah, and then of course Vince McMahon, and now this is the one.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

You know what they should have done? You know what they should have done? Spend some more money and just have SmackDown at MSG as well, have a whole week takeover in New York City. So they could have. Yeah, it just it felt a little strange at the same time. Maybe they're realizing how bad they messed up with WrestleMania and how they're just throwing everything together and they're like, Well, we have like two weeks left, and if we just do it on SmackDown, that's two shows. But if we expand over to Raw, that's three, maybe four episodes. So I get that side of things. It just felt weird. It's not Punk, it's not um, it's not Cody's show. This is Punk's show.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

I would like to see Punk and Roman go to SmackDown then and do something there.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Yeah. At this point, I guess uh everything's on.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yeah, I mean, but you gotta remember no matter what, Raw is the A show compared to the B show, which is SmackDown. So you gotta get all your A listers out there. Um despite we weren't there. We're A listers. We weren't there. We weren't there. I think they're saving us for mania. So either that or were you in the black hoodie?

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Was it you?

SPEAKER_01 9:41

I don't want to say anything, but um, yeah, I was. Uh but then again, they could be mad at us because we're all elite, you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Hey, you know, when when uh when when Uncle TK comes calling and he invites us places, we're gonna go. That's all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Uncle TK. Yep. Although he dodged our questions, but you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

But he he did a great job circling around that answer. So I'll take it. So that was that was awkward.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

He'll get another bell if I could bring it in. There you go. Another bell for TK. All right, uh, then we saw new tag team champions, uh, the Vision taking on the Usos, Austin There and Logan Paul are brand new tag team champions. All thanks to the help of uh iShow I can't even say his name, but uh speed.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Yep, iShow speed.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yeah, a little weird.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

WrestleMania season yes WrestleMania season, man. Let the celebrities run wild because that's what celebrities is this, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

So is he social YouTuber?

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Yes, I don't know much more than that.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

He's huge on social, he's one of the biggest influencers out there right now.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

But apologies, speed, if you're listening. We'd love to have you on the show. No, not really talking about you.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

No, we don't I really don't, no. Okay, sorry, you're out. No offense, but couple followers here and there. Maybe I would okay, yeah. I would follow curse him and use his his platform to go ahead and get us. Yes, you are cursed. You are cursed.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Uh yeah. I mean, I'm glad. I'm actually kind of glad the vision are champs.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Yes, this is what we we we both talked about that they need some gold on them, and so it's about time.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Yeah, and the Usos coming out to new music. Yeah, a little strange. Crowd was a little confused. I was confused watching this. I'm like, who is this? There was no yeeting in the crowd. Nope. Um, is this is this a potential it's hard to even say heel turn anymore for the Usos. I think it's just because no matter if they're baby faces or heel, people are gonna love them. Oh yeah. So yeah, I think they're gonna get a character change um with this new music. I personally wish they just went back to like their old tag team music and maybe just added an extra like little beat here and there or maybe one video. Yeah, bring that back. Yeah, I mean that still had kind of like that the the the yeeting kind of a thing. It's just yeah, I don't know. So it felt weird, but as soon as that music came out, um I I said to myself, I'm like, self, we're getting new tag champs. So yeah, didn't think it was gonna go the way it did. Um, but um, as far as like iShowSpeeder or anybody getting involved, but no, I'm glad Vision's got the belts or posting in Puerto Rico and on the plane with the belts. I'm like, I do like that. I love it. I mean it they needed something, and we we talked about that before.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

We saw the return of Roxanne Perez as well. Yeah, she came to the aid of Liv Morgan. And I don't I'm just like I'm not invested in the story for the women's championship.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Weird. No, mean me me either, and I think they're trying to push it on us with with Liv and Stephanie, and I think they've gone back and forth. And I I do think that what they've done lately with their characters pushing towards them fighting at WrestleMania. I think they've done a great job. Um, I personally would love to see Liv back on top. Um Stephanie, she's been around, she's done a great job as the champ. Yeah, we're just not seeing as much out of her as I thought that we would. She was doing a hell of a lot better down in NXT as the women's champ. Um, just kind of falling flat up here at the big leagues. Um so we'll we'll see. But yeah, having Roxanne Perez come back, I think it's great. Uh a little weird that she kind of just jumped right in it as you know, helping out Liv where there I think there seemed to be a lot of tension when Liv first came back. Um would have loved to have seen Roxanne kind of stick with Raquel. Or I saw a lot of people on the dirt cheats is saying, you know, maybe you know Roxanne comes back not knowing anything that's going on, and she's like, screw this, I'm signing with Finn because Finn was the one that brought her into judgment day.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I could see that happening. I think that would be the best thing, especially give her a little rivalry with Liv. You know, Liv will probably win the championship at WrestleMania, and then that could be the next person that she takes on is Roxanne Perez.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Yeah, she was huge in NXT. She was like she was one of the longest reigning women's NXT champions. And as soon as she was brought up to uh to run in at Raw, the main roster, it was basically throw her into the judgment day. There's nothing there for her, and it sucks to kind of see someone that was as big as they were in NXT come up and not fall flat on their face, but they just don't have anything for them. Yeah, so they don't see this time and time again, which is very frustrating.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

And it's almost kind of like the next match that I'm gonna talk about, which is a match that I had called, I will say I did call this the four-way tag team championship for the women's tag team championship. So four, yeah, fatal. Is it fit of four?

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Yeah, I think it's fatal four.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Is it fit of four? So last legend, Naya Jax, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, the Bella Twins, uh Bailey, and who am I missing? Uh Valkyrie?

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Yeah. Right? Lyra Valkyrie, Bailey, Charlotte, Alexa, um, Lash. And the Bellas. Jackson Bellas, yeah. Oh, they're not in that little photo I sent you. Weird. Awkward.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Very awkward, but that's why I kind of remember that.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Um, yeah, I don't I don't know what to uh cut off. I bet you the bells were cut off on this one.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

On the picture.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah, on the picture.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Oh, yeah, because it's not really centered at all.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yeah, no. It's alright, but you know, the people know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Yeah, we figured it out. But yeah, what do you what are your thoughts on uh on this match?

SPEAKER_01 15:22

I think the match will be okay. I think it's probably gonna be actually a good match, especially with all all these ladies, all these legends that are in there. Um, I don't see the Bellas winning, but I could see them giving them the titles just to say, like, oh my gosh, the Hall of Famer is our tag team champions. Because you do have to remember this that Bree and Nikki wanted those tag team championships um for a long time. So because the titles were were made after they both retired, so that's why they had said, like, oh, maybe we'll come back and go for that. But I think at this point you have to give it to them to go ahead and uh appease them, and I think maybe the the Bella army.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

I see I get where you're coming from. I also think Naya and Lash have done a great job with these belts. I feel like they've made them more relevant than they have been in many, many, many years. Um posting pictures all over social with them. Whenever they show up with the belts on on TV, it just it just looks right. Yeah, um Charlotte and Alexa great run with them. Um but again, they're I I don't know. Bella's I get it. Give it to them, call it a day. They can say they've done it, yeah, and we can get rid of them. Um just because they've been so awkward uh on TV, and you know we've talked about that in the past too on past episodes. Go back and listen. Um but yeah, I I don't I don't know what to expect. Or do you give Bailey her WrestleMania moment? I don't think so, because then you're giving Lyra hers as well, and I don't think Lyra's there yet. Pick your winner. We're joining Bell Bellas. You want the Bellas. I want uh I want I want Naya and Lash to retain. I th I think their trajectory is is that much more than anybody. Yeah, I think it does make sense. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I guess we just have to wait for WrestleMania and right now number two. Uh all right, then came something that I still don't know how this is like I don't know. Okay, this is what we're just talking about. Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar in the middle of the ring, uh about to go ahead and throw throw hands, but in came Triple H, Paul Ivec, and like why did he have to jump in there? Like, I don't understand. Like, what's the purpose of him running out?

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Wants to be the center of attention.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

And like, for what?

SPEAKER_02 17:44

There's no reason. But so so here's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yes, tell me the thing, Gary.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

You have Adam Pierce. He's tried to stop this before. He can't. I think he I think before that.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Oh yeah, he was there.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Yeah, he was already he was pushed to the side, yeah. He was injured, he got hurt, but he was fine in the end. And there's no other authority figure to come in and help. The refs can't do it, so Layman's not gonna do it. So, and the other wrestlers or superstars in the back, they're not gonna come in and do it. So I understand why, but man, did he get booed when he got in that range? Oh my gosh, yes. So, what do you do you think he was booed one because he's triple H and everyone kind of sees how bad he's messing up everything? Yes, or two, he got booed because you stopped them from fighting.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

I think both. I gotta say both. And and you gotta think about two, when Vince Hookman was in charge, how many times did we see him run out in the middle like this? Hardly ever.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

I feel like Triple H has not obviously been in charge that long, but he's inserted himself in so many different things like this. Yeah, whether it be welcoming the crowd to WrestleMania, you know, welcome to New Words for you, welcome to Netflix, everyone be quiet while I go ahead and welcome you to Netflix, you know. So I I I think it's like uh one of those things. Um yeah, I think he just he he needs to stay in the back. It's either that or you make your character be the authority again with Stephanie. And that could be something because you know the GMs are losing control. So Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. They done lost control a long time ago. Yes, they did, a long time ago. Um so then we also saw Paul Heyman, Seth Rollins, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the career killer Gunther comes out and he attacks Seth, but for what reason? Just to go ahead and throw him a match at WrestleMania because so many people were complaining that here you are building up this guy, and he has nothing, and out of nowhere, he comes in to really now point to the sign up above. Oh you you and me, WrestleMania, like what for? Like at this point, at this point, I would have had him like do something else. I probably would have put him ringside for a match to set up another match. So whether that be maybe maybe he's sitting ringside during Brock and Oba, and he's sitting ringside, and then when Oba wins, he's laughing at Brock, thus sets up the confrontation between him and Brock. The rumor is that's that's gonna be the match at uh SummerSlam. SummerSlam where Brock hangs it up. So why not start building it up? You obviously can't build up WrestleMania, so why not go ahead and build up the second biggest pay-per-view, which is SummerSlam?

SPEAKER_02 20:43

I'm with you. I'm with you. I I I it it's just it made no it made no fucking sense. And I think I was just so angry because I'm just like this the crowd started kind of erupting a little bit. Yeah, okay, here comes Breaker. Here comes Breaker. This makes sense, right? Apparently, Breaker is not ready to go, he will not be ready to go in two weeks, he's not medically cleared, but now we know Rollins is exactly you can't and it and it's so hard when he when Rollins is fully healthy to not have him on the mania card, and then it's hard to not have Gunther on the card after the last year that he's had. Yeah. Does it make sense to have them fight right now? No, no, you put you you give us a segment on Monday where this is Gunther sticking up for Heyman. Yes, and we see Gunther be another Heyman guy. Yeah, whether that means he's part of the vision or not, who the fuck knows?

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

This is Gunther's way of saying, Paul, I got your back as long as you have my back. Give me your beast at SummerSlam. Give me something like that, and I'm sold. Some kind of now. Yeah. I did I?

SPEAKER_01 22:01

What's that? Did I send that in the text? No, no, no, no, no. I said this give me some kind of context behind it. Oh, yeah. Not you, but I mean like WWE. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Right. So now like if you do something like that, I'm sold. Right now it's just two guys that everybody knows they didn't have an opponent, and we were just like, yeah, fuck it. Have them wrestle. Yeah, that's like putting us some story behind it.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

That's like putting uh Grande Americana against the Miz at WrestleMania. Like for what? Like what where where did this come from?

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Yeah. Makes no sense. Nope. But then of course we saw uh CM Punk and Roman Reigns yet again. Somebody goes through a table. It's like it's okay, it's getting a little too repetitive for me. But we fought this time.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Yes, we did fought. There was no there was there wasn't any talking. That's right. That's that's good. That's the one good thing. Yes, there was no more talking. We're over the whatever the fuck's happened. Although the last couple of weeks of the talks, I've actually been pretty entertained by it. But this time was just smash them and be done and move on.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

But the thing is, like, how much more can you talk?

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Well, we got two more weeks of it. So we'll figure out what's else is gonna be talked about or or fought about. It's we know it's gonna happen again.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Yeah, it will happen. It will definitely happen again. Maybe maybe next week it'll be the contract sighting, you know, in the middle of the ring. Like we've seen this. Who's gonna go through the table first? We've seen this. Come on, let's let's get some let's get a little creative.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

And I think that's where they kind of shot themselves in the foot with a lot of storylines going into WrestleMania. Is that we found out a lot of these answers of who's fighting who, especially from the Rumble winners. Really, I think almost too early. Like they, I think it was uh it was Liv that said she's not sure she's gonna take her time. I think it was like the two weeks later. Yeah. So two weeks after the rumble. So I'm picking, I'm picking Stephanie Vacare. I'm like, what the fuck happened? But then Roman did it the following night.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Like, yeah, but the storylines just did not grow correctly. Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

I'm still excited. I'm I'm fired up to see Punk and Roman. Yeah, I think that's gonna be better to see that than the other one. I'm I'm pumped for that one.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

And that is night number two one, actually. Is that one or two?

SPEAKER_02 24:04

So I'm thinking that's gotta be night two.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

So if we're if we're going by I think that's what it was because shop.com, I think, revealed um unintentionally night one and night two by showing you the plaque with the map that you could actually purchase. You know, you know how they do that, and I think they had night one, Cody and and Randy, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

So I'm kind of just going by like that little color scheme that they have going on with where it looks like their uh their marketing team has like four different, you know, I think it's like five. The dark gold one. Five. Oh yeah. I just saw this one.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah, I think it's either four or five.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

I think blue with like the pillars of the new one.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

That look like the old SmackDown. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Then we've got another blue where it says like ladder match down below, kind of like, you know, just you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Like all big.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

And then you've got like this gold dark gold and and black with the the letters kind of going down, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yep. North and then you've got the little cartoonish one.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

And then the car god, yeah. So it's almost like they don't know what they're doing. I think I mentioned this to you. It's like they almost look like it's just like two or three different PLEs. Yeah, it's not, it's not all one thing. It's it's it's just not appealing. I feel like it's just still thrown together. We knew that this was gonna be in Vegas for a year now. Yeah, we knew that it was gonna get moved back to Vegas, but they didn't do anything.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

I can understand next year because next year is supposed to be in Saudi Arabia. Right now, it's up in the air due to the war. So rumor has it, according to Jonathan Coachman, uh, at C I remember this this source. Yeah, there you go. That there's apparently two front runners for next year's WrestleMania if they do move it out of Saudi Arabia, that being LA back at SoFi Stadium, or number two, New Orleans. And I think number two should be New Orleans because remember, New Orleans was supposed to happen this year. But then that remember the rock came out and said, like, here's next year's WrestleMania. And it was New Orleans, and then they ended up getting bought by Las Vegas and Vegas throwing stupid money at them and said, Okay, yeah, we'll come back because they made a shit ton of money.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Yeah, but now they can't sell tickets.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Now they can't sell any tickets. All right, let's run down this uh WrestleMania card real quick. Uh we got Punk Punk and Roman, we have Jade Cargill and uh Re Ripley, we have Brock Lesnar and Obafemi, Omar's brother. Shout out to Omar. Sammy Zayn and what? And Trick Williams.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Don't get me going on this, Chris.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Oh, I know. Don't get me going.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Don't let me don't don't get it.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

I'm not gonna let you get going. The Fatal Four win, uh Fatal Four Way women's tag team championship that we just talked about, and then a thrown together ladder match with people that were left over.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Don't get me going on this one.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

For the Intercontinental Championship, we're talking about uh Dragon League, Javon Evans, uh Frusef for some reason, JD, and Penta. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Um, they they all qualified in a match, you know, well, on whatever Saturday night main event happened in three months ago, and that's how these guys were picked.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

I think they qualified back in November, right before Survivor Series for this.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Yeah, that nobody remembered. And you know what they're doing? They are replaying these matches on main event. I just saw someone post. Yep, I think WWE posted it on WWE main event.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Refresh your memory.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

Yep. This is why because it I think it said, you know, for an opportunity to compete at WrestleMania in the IC title ladder match, and it shows the match. I'm like, and people are commenting. Well, spoiler alert. Yeah, we already know who won. Exactly. This whole thing, it was just so fucking stupid. Like you could have done a legit tournament in two weeks' time to figure this out.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Because I I don't think Dragon League puts on a hell of a show, he doesn't need to be in it. Rusev, I don't understand it. JD is great, I don't understand it. So if we're gonna put people in there, I mean Javon is in there for the for the for the for the craziness. And I get it.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

It's almost it's almost like every ladder match back in the early 2000s had Shelton Benjamin.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

You know, he was in everyone, never won a money in the bank, never won anything, never won the championship.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

So where's LA Knight? There's one person you could have put in there. Apparently, maybe the Miz.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

The rumor is that it's gonna be um the Vision with I Show Speed taking on the Usos with LA Knight.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Oh yeah, because you need your celebrity, you need your celebrity match there, and who knows? I'm sure jelly rolls can roll.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Oh god. Don't get me started. Don't get me started on jelly rolls. Like he does not need to be in anywhere in that ring. Like, oh, you know, I knew somebody that was with him, and I'm just like unbelievable. Like, yeah, I just remember more matches.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

There's more matches than Danhausen.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

He was gonna be a part of uh the Royal Rumble, but I forgot whatever something happened where he didn't end up doing it, and I guess this is what he's doing.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

Just makes them he's part of a he's getting more airtime than some people that have been with the company for years right now on SmackDown. Full full and he's like in three different storylines.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Yeah, and I don't see why.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

God damn, no, yeah, fucking like throw Kit Wilson in this match. It just yeah, what they've done make this this is absolutely makes no sense, and it just shows how lazy, how fucking lazy they're being right now. Two weeks in from or two weeks out from another WrestleMania, which is obviously their bread and butter, their big Super Bowl pay-per-view, PLE, whatever the hell you want to call it, and they're just throwing shit and seeing what sticks. Yeah, and they're not doing it for for the fans like us, they're doing it for the kids who start watching, who want to see you know, Cody win in the game. That's what they always said about WrestleMania.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Yeah, it's just coach Coachman did say that too. He said, like, you know, the the WrestleMania is you know for the casual fan. That's why you don't need the ESP and stuff, you don't need to go ahead and dip into that, like, oh, we got breaking news and Dennis Rodman is gonna be inducted in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, um, you know, things like that.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

It's not fun for it's not fun for me anymore. Like, it's just getting to the point where it's just like I'm excited for WrestleMania season. Let's see what happens. But it's just I it's just falling flat on its face for me.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yeah, you know, so then we'll go back to some more matches at WrestleMania, uh, Gunther and Seth Rollins. We talked about Liv and Stephanie, uh Drew McIntyre taking on uh Jacob Fox 2. That should be actually a really entertaining match.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Becky Lynch and AJ Lee for the women's ice championship. Dirty Dominic Mysterio taking on Finn Balor. I think that'll actually be a decent match.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

Yeah, yep, I'm I'm looking forward to that one.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

And then, of course, Cody and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship title. Um, yeah, uh it's just like I said, thrown together. I think that's gonna be the whole podcast title. Thrown together. Yeah, throw together. Thrown together. Because that's really what WWE is doing right now, and that shows you too, and that's the reason why I truly believe that Chris Jericho did not come back. Chris Jericho broke the internet news in the wrestling world by showing up to AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night and in his hometown of Winnipeg. So crazy. Your thoughts on Chris Jericho showing back up to AEW rather than signing with WWE.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Uh honestly, I think a little bit uh you just said it just that WWE is just kind of like a crapshoot right now where there's a lot of top stars. Um, I still think that with a two and a half hour Raw, a three-hour SmackDown, a two-hour NXT, there's still not enough room for everybody. You're either there's so many mid-carters. Like, I hate to call Matt Cardona a mid-carter in WWE. He is everywhere else, he's top star. So to see him go one-on-one with Orton last week and essentially got squashed, it sucks.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

What are we gonna get coming out of this? Let's say let's say Randy wins and he beats Rhodes, which I I personally hope happens. Team Orton over here. Yes, go Team Orton. Is now Matt Cardona gonna go for the WWE championship that he's never held before? I hope so, because let him be the Matt Cardona that we've seen on the indies. Yeah, um, he's not Zach Ryder anymore. He's not a joke, he's not woo-woo-woo. He is Matt Cardona, the indie god. So let's let's bring that back. And I hope it doesn't flop like it did with Natty by bringing a character that is not born and bred in WWE, it's a totally different personality, and it's fallen flat on her face. Yeah. Because her, neither her, now I bring her up, she's neither her or Maxine, neither one of them have been around in a couple weeks, and they're not even on the mania card.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Well, that's because they kept fighting each other over and over and over again. Yeah. So it's like I think at this point, separate the two. Maybe like a loser leaves or some there's got to be a gimmick now behind this match. And I and I hate to say that because back in the day it was all about the the art of professional wrestling, but nowadays you have to have that gimmick. You have to have something. So I think you know, even Natty, it'd be even cool. I mean, I'd I would love to see Natty in AEW. Yeah, I think that would be great for her. I I would think that would be fantastic. Um, would we get that? Probably not, because I know she is loyal to WWE, and especially with her husband being an agent in the back, so you just never know with that. Um But I think I think I think you're right. I think you're hitting it all on the head because there's so many wrestlers and superstars that are back there that aren't doing anything, but I do think that they're saving them for after WrestleMania because I think they just want to get through the WrestleMania season and then start developing because that's almost like the refresh. This is like the season finale. Yeah, and when it comes time for Raw on Monday night, it needs to knock it out of the park. And the reason why I say this is because the last few RAWs after WrestleMania have been flops. They have, I mean, they've been horrible. And and I think that kind of goes with us as wrestling fans because we have a high expectation and we think that we know what's gonna happen. Because look at how many people thought Jericho was gonna show up at Raw Rumble, that he was gonna be at Elimination Chamber, that he was gonna show up on Raw MSG, and guess what? He shows up at Dynamite in Winnipeg.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

So I think that's the reason why that he is sticking to what he knows and was actually treating him right, yeah, and utilizing him because I could see there was a meme that I saw that said uh it was a picture of Triple H on the phone, and it says, Hey Chris, uh, I got the perfect idea for you. You come back and you have a farewell tour against Gunther. What do you think? And then the pitch on the bottom is Jericho, I'm home, AEW, you know. So it was great, it was great, but yeah, a lot of frustration with WWE leading up to WrestleMania.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Yeah, and like you said on Monday, the Monday after Rainia, there's always a lot of hype.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

And they know that they can get away with doing what they've done for the last few years and give us dog shit. Yep. Because they already know they have us hooked. Yeah, they know that they're gonna have an audience, yeah, whether it's on Netflix or in the arena. They know people are gonna show up and they know that they're gonna watch. Yeah, and we could put fucking Kit Wilson out there for two and a half hours and to entertain the crowd versus jelly roll, and people are gonna tune in because it's the raw aftermania.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

And you know that's the thing. I think they really need to step it up with USA. I think TKO, I think they need to figure it out, come up with a better storyline to come up with something a little bit better. You know, I wish that WWE would actually listen to us, the fans. Yep. And I know that they're supposed to, and I know they kind of have.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

I think they did when when Triple H first took over, I think he did. I think I just think after a while it just got to be a little too in our face and a little too much.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Yeah, because there's another, oh my gosh, Gary, there's somebody behind you with the black hood on and black skin mask. You know, um, I think that the one thing that killed the WWE fans, though, as you look behind yourself, I think the one thing is there is the thing that really I think kind of put the icing on the cake with the fans was the Cody Rock Roman situation at WrestleMania 40. I think if the fans didn't get involved, would we have gotten what we wanted? I think so. And what I mean by that is you would have had the two biggest stars, the Rock and Roman, take on each other at WrestleMania 40, which was a huge WrestleMania. Granted, that we actually got to see The Rock compete in his first match in years, so it was good to see. But how often are we gonna get that again? I mean, Cody could have had something the next year or whatever, but I think they listened to the fans, like, okay, we're gonna do what the fans want, but in retrospect, as a fan, that's not what I wanted. Right, you know, so I think that they have to like kind of give and take. So, but I feel like right now they're not giving anything.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

No, I see I I'm on the opposite end of you on that one. I think WrestleMania 40, I think the fans spoke. They wanted Cody to finish his story, right? And I think it was a long time coming. And I was actually excited that Cody won. So I was really looking forward to that match. I think how everything unfolded, with basically Cody giving up his spot and then Rock going in, and then they're like, oh shit, we kind of fucked up. Let's just do this spin. That really hurt the storyline. But I think people are genuinely happy to see Cody win, he finishes story. After that, everyone's just like, oh fuck, what did we do? We created a monster, we created this QB1 quarterback, number one superstar, like Hulk Hogan-esque. Exactly. And we're like, oh shit. Like, because now it's too much. Like, I I'm so fucking over Cody Rhodes. I hate, I hate when they fucking say QB1. I fucking hate it. He's just he's the champ, yeah, unfortunately. But there are other people that could be the champ. Drew should still be champ. Should be Drew versus Orton. I think they need to stop fucking throwing Cody in our face.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

I think they needed to elevate that and highlight a little bit better. They didn't highlight Drew as champ. No. You know, it was a shock on that Saturday night's main event. Or was it or was it SmackDown? I can't remember when he won. Smackdown. Was it SmackDown? But yeah, but it just didn't, I think it flopped again. And I don't think that's his fault. I think it's I think it's creative at the end of the day. We don't know what Road Dog was pitching back there, but we do know why he left, and that was because of the frustration, apparently, backstage. We just don't know. Uh we know one other thing that the WWE is doing is that they are getting uh they're going back to the well and getting those people that know that could draw money. Like they bringing in John Cena to host WrestleMania. Like the guy just left retired. He just retired.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

It's been what four months and he's already back.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

And it's like, why? Like you don't you don't need that.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

And you need a host, period. You don't. I hate the hosting.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

I hate it. Well, I think if if it's done correctly, it could be good.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

You know, and what do they do? All they do is they welcome everybody to WrestleMania on night one and night two, and then collect the check and see what would you rather see that or Triple H or Stephanie going out there and saying that?

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Give me Stephanie Triple H. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Just give us a welcome and call it a day.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

No, give me a good host. I like a good host. Like we had the Miz a couple years ago of WrestleMania in LA. No. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

I just don't I think it's I just think it's something else that's unnecessary. Just fucking let's let's get the anthem going. Let's start hitting off that pyro and let's just get into match number one. You don't you don't need the whole hoopla. You don't need a host.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see how WrestleMania unfolds in just under 20 days. I got a coupon code. I got another coupon code emailed for tickets. Tickets are on sale for$177. Jesus Christ. So cross my fingers. There you go. If they drop, if they drop a little bit more, how might I just have to go?

SPEAKER_02 39:36

What's your number?

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Okay, so last year I went for 380. Okay, for one night. For one night. Yeah, for one night. So if I can get 350 for both nights, I'm in. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

What do you think? You you go enjoy yourself. I will be right here in the backyard. Eating my Costco pizza and probably my Michelob ultras. Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

That's a wild weekend for you, Gary. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 40:07

Party hard over here.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Party hard. Alright, so before we go, we gotta talk about SmackDown that is happening tonight. Um this is the reveal of who Randy Orton is talking to on the phone. Fingers crossed. Huh? Fingers crossed. I don't know. Well, he said, I'll see you on Friday in St. Louis on the phone. All of all my imitations sound the same. So who do you think it is? Uh we saw on the we kind of saw on social that he had a picture of his his grandfather and father. Yeah, right behind him.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Right behind him. And he kind of like looked at them. Well, yeah, so he he was on the phone. I'm excited. I'll see you Friday, St. Louis, blah blah blah. Home state, home city, sorry, as I should say. So yes. Uh family could attend, but yeah, right right behind Randy was a photo of his grandfather and father. Kind of looked at it, um, and then the the clip kind of ended. From day one, I've been basically saying Cody's talking. It's sorry, not Cody. Orton has been talking to himself. Yeah. He's hearing the voices in his head. The voices in his head are on the phone. Yes. Angel, devil. That's where I'm going with. Well, how about you? I don't know. I don't think anyone's coming out.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

I think he could be talking to Stephanie. Now that we saw Stephanie on Monday night, I think that it could be her. Because remember, she came in and she warned Cody about the possibilities how Randy is. But I think he's the one who's she don't forget, like he aligned himself with the authority as well back in the day when they were in charge. So I could see them kind of reuniting and having her be that voice in his ear, like, hey, don't forget who you are. You know, if I'm a McMahon, you're an Orton. That's a Rhodes.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Not not another royal family. Wrestling has one more more than one royal family. Could it be Shane? Oh, I wouldn't see that a little bit on the Twitter sphere.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Yeah, I would like that.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

I could get behind that.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

I don't know. I mean, I I it's gonna happen on SmackDown. It's gonna happen in the last 10 minutes. I hope it happens at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Can it happen at the beginning so I could just go to sleep? I'll be on Instagram watching it. I'll be by my phone, like okay.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

I will mute everything because you've spoiled more things for us on our Instagram than Towers of PowerPod. At Towers of PowerPods. At Towers of PowerPod, yes, on our Instagram. You spoil things for me, and it's okay. It's your fault. I know. I can't keep I can't put my phone down sometimes when I should.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Yeah, I mean we have breaking news. I'm on top of things. You know, when things happen, I'm gonna go ahead and make sure that people know. You know, and then when Jericho came out, I was like, boom, let me go ahead and let's get this going. When Cena was in my guestos, yeah shit. Okay, cool. And I was like, there's no April Fool's joke. Jericho is back at AEW. It's funny because I have to write the captions. I'm like, I have to think of something witty to say sometimes. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna write I know. Um, all right, but well, I guess we'll have to find out what happens on SmackDown tonight. Uh all right, well, let's go ahead and get out of here. Go ahead and make sure you follow us on Instagram and all socials. Gary, what are they?

SPEAKER_02 43:04

On Twitter, Towers PowerPod or Gary underscore Duban.

SPEAKER_01 43:09

Don't forget Towers of PowerPod on IG and TikTok. Mine is at HollywoodChris. Don't forget that we are in the rescue community just like you. So make sure you go ahead, like, subscribe, share this podcast. We just want to grow. And we will see you guys next time.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

Later.