Is CM PUNK leaving WWE?!?!

Finally we are back after a couple of weeks off...and we are reviewing if CM Punk is leaving WWE, AEW coming to SD and all the latest rumors and recaps of WWE,

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Alright, here we go, friends. Another episode of the Towers of Hour A Pro Wrestling Podcast on Hollywood Chris, otherwise known as just Chris Martinez. And there's Gary. Hi there. We've been off for like two weeks. Right? It's your fault. It's been your fault. It's been my fault. I've been working way too much. I'm a working man. I am back out there in the world of work.

SPEAKER_05 0:44

That's good.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

I mean we've definitely been off because one of my buddies, shout out my buddy Jake. He texts me and goes, Hey, are you guys done with the podcast? It's been a while and I have notifications set. Yeah, I haven't seen it or heard a new episode come out lately. I'm like, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

We're good. Yes, no, we're good. We're good. Now here's the thing. We recorded an episode last week. Was it last week? Two weeks ago. Two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, we recorded an episode. I didn't have time to put it up, and then I realized it wasn't up. And I was like, Yeah, and so that one was the lead up to clashing pedties. So I do apologize, Gary. Sorry, I keep saying you in right now. I don't know. Well, right now I'm at WrestleMania with the background that I'm at in Vegas. So uh yeah, so we've been off because that has been my fault, and I just did not have time to edit and produce and do all that fun stuff because you know one job it has me one at one time, then the other job has me at another time. It's been a mess as far as my schedule, but I'm glad we are back. It is Wednesday, June 10th, and a lot has happened over the last couple weeks, including the clash in Italy. Let's go ahead and talk about that. Well, and then uh we got some rumors. I'm seeing some stuff coming out about CM Punk. Where has he been? There's a lot of speculation on what's happening, so a little bit more insight on why he hasn't been a part of WWE and why we haven't seen him since the night after WrestleMania on that Monday Night Raw. So let's go ahead and talk about a clash in Italy. Obviously, we all knew the big match was gonna be Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar. We've all seen the memes by now. One plus one equals one uh from Brock. You know, don't know exactly what math he's doing there, but it was it was fun to see. I will say that.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Math was not mathing.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Definitely not. I don't know what he meant. I don't know if he's uh he sh maybe he meant to say, hey, we're one for one. Not one. That's one thing. That's kind of what I take. Yeah, oh god. Yeah, so I don't think I don't think he was a uh strong uh person in math and mathematics, but yes, you know. Uh did you catch any of that? Did you even watch Clash?

SPEAKER_04 2:52

I actually did, and um I liked it better than Backlash. Um liked it a lot better than Backlash. It was entertaining. Um yeah, I mean, nothing else to do on a random Saturday, and I think it was early Sunday. Oh, yeah, I got something like that. So yeah, it was a nice little afternoon killer. Yeah, um, but yeah, that Oba match, man. That was the one I was really looking forward to. Um if you want to get into that match and uh yeah, Brock won.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Yeah, Brock won. We we all kind of knew that Brock was gonna win, Brock was gonna go over because we had heard that rumor that it was gonna go ahead and set up for three matches, and we all knew it was gonna set up for the final match at SummerSlam in Minneapolis. You're not gonna have time to edit it. I'm not gonna have time to edit it at all. I don't know. I don't know what's gonna happen. But uh actually, I will have time to edit this week. This week I'm gonna have time to edit. So uh um, yeah, so we all know that it's probably gonna happen at SummerSlam, the last final match. The the one plus one equals one, and that one match is gonna be at SummerSlam in Minneapolis, Brock Brock's hometown. Um, your thoughts, is this gonna be it for Brock? Because he's referenced himself as the retired superstar.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

Yeah, I I think it is. And again, going back to what we talked about in the last podcast, that I still don't know. Did you actually post the last podcast? No, I didn't. No, okay, no, I didn't. Okay. So what we talked about in the podcast ago, yeah, we'll call it we'll call it the lost tapes. Yes, the lost tapes. What we what we talked about there was our thoughts on why Brock even came back in the first place. And I kind of said that I think that he was under contract, um, and he kind of was just like, no, fuck that, I'm out. Um, and I think legal personally, this is again my thoughts. I think legal came after him and said, no, um, you have X amount of matches left on your contract, and you're gonna fulfill them, or you're gonna get fine. That was my that's my thing. So, yes, I think come SummerSlam, um, he will be facing Oba, and I think that will kind of hinder what we'll probably talk about with this whole King in the Ring thing. Yep. Um, I think he will face Oba. Um, and I think Oba will get over, which I think is what Brock wanted in the first place. So, yes, one plus one equals one, and we'll see them fight one more time.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Yes, at SummerSlam. That's our prediction.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

SummerSlam.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

I know SummerSlam. I need him to start doing every PLE because I think we need the sound sound bite of uh of uh what's his name? Denhousing. Jeez, I can't. I I'm all over the place right now. I know it's been a while since we've done this, so that's why I'm like, oh, who's that guy?

SPEAKER_04 5:18

That's that backlash. Like the vampire guy with the face on.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

At backlash.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

Yeah, that guy. At backlash.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Okay, so now another match that we saw at the Clash was Jacoby 2 taking on Roman Reigns. Uh, we all kind of knew that Roman was gonna go over, no surprise there. Yeah, and then uh now it looks like the the bloodline 2.0 is now happening with Jacoby 2, the Usos, and Roman Reigns.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Your thoughts on all that and how it's leading up to what it is? I don't know yet.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

I don't think anybody knows. I think that's the thing, is uh no nobody knows, but it uh obviously I don't know why they even made that stipulation to begin with. Yes, uh, everyone knew that um he was not gonna win unless, again, there is some contractual obligations or something that Roman's like fuck TKO, I'm out. Um, then yeah, fucking go with uh Zilla and uh not Zilla, um, go with uh Jacob and run it. But yeah, I think we were expecting maybe Zilla Fatu to show up. Um, but he didn't. So yeah, so Roman wins, he retains. Um, obviously Jacob now has fallen in line, but um, as we've seen the last couple weeks, uh since that win for Roman, it basically has been Jacob has said, No, I acknowledged OTC, I did not acknowledge the Usos. So there's already a little bit of friction because Jimmy and Jay are trying to get him to do all these things and kind of a bloodline past where Roman would say, Jay, uh Jay, Jimmy, go get this fool. And then they would, kind of saying that to Jacob, and he's like, Nah, I'm good. Yeah. Like, nah, I'm all right, you guys go do that.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

You know, one other thing too is leading up into that match at Clash, we had heard rumors that that match was gonna be in jeopardy because a lot of people did see Jacob Fatto limping uh away from the ring at a house show uh over there overseas, and it didn't look good. So the rumors were kind of running wild. He's gonna be able to compete. Is this match gonna happen? And of course he was able to and put on a good show. So I don't know, you know, you can never really nowadays believe the internet just because remember, we we all thought that Seth was really hurt, and next thing you know, you know, he's seen in public wearing crutches and had the the the knee brace on, and then you know, he comes. I can't believe anything anymore.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

It's kind of annoying, but I mean I at the same time I kind of like it because I was tired of being like this is gonna happen, then that's gonna happen. We have to figure out the next like two months worth of PLEs, and now it's like, oh shit, is he hurt? Is he actually not? Is he this? Is he that? Keep me on my toes.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

And then we also saw the controversial ending to the uh WWE championship title, Cody Rhodes and Gunther, you know, with Gunther's foot and being underneath the rope and the three count happening, and the crowd was upset, they were livid. Definitely a pro Gunther crowd, yeah, and we kind of knew that too. We we did know that they were going overseas, and he's huge overseas because that's where his character was originally based, Walter. So we thought for sure the crowd was definitely gonna be behind him, and they really were behind him. But obviously, when that call happened, my goodness, it they they just tore the roof off. Um looked strange. I'll tell you that much. It looked weird. Did it look like it was meant to happen, or it looked like it was an accident?

SPEAKER_04 8:19

It looked like it was an accident. Because his foot was under the rope for the first two, and then it's almost like Cody kind of grabbed the leg and lifted it so his shoulders were pinned, or Gunther rolled over so his shoulders were pinned so it didn't look as bad as it did. But it definitely looked weird, and I believe the camera, the original, the camera shot you could see clear as day. So I feel like it was he was not supposed to be pinned. I think either the ref missed the spot, um, got confused, possibly got confused where he was supposed to like see the foot and he didn't. Um, but no, it I definitely believe he was supposed to kick out, which is why I think Cody came right on the post show after and said, I saw what happened. If you want to rematch, you get a rematch. Like, I think it was the quick fix of oh shit, we fucked up this huge match on ESPN. It was the first match of the night. Yes, and I think they had to rectify something super quick.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Yeah, I mean it was that first match, especially with all those people that were hoping to fall in love with WWE, and then that happens.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

Yeah, but again, the good thing is is maybe you're like your run-in-the-mill person that was checking it out, didn't understand it and didn't get it. And they're like, Oh my god, do you see what happened? Blah blah blah. You know, and then there's us to be like, you fucking idiot. There his thing was his foot was under the robe, the ref missed. Like, we we will we will overanalyze, but your your people that are maybe been tuning in for the first time, uh, shout out to them. And if they're like, Oh, that was a cool match, oh this happened, oh cool, there's controversy coming from it.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

So you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Alright, then the other match uh of the night, because there's only uh what five matches? It's always five matches, so always five matches. Another match for the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship. We saw Sol Ruka defeat Becky Lynch in this match, and the match actually lasted a lot a lot longer than what I thought it was going to. And I have the time on here. So apparently this match lasted 14 minutes and two seconds. What were your thoughts on this match?

SPEAKER_04 10:22

I liked that Soul won.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Right.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

Um I think she it's weird. It if she'd only been what in the main roster for what maybe a month, yeah, um, but she had been featured within the year a couple of times on the main roster at some PLEs or Saturday Night Main event. Rumble, John Cena's farewell. Yeah, if I think I was more shocked that she won and she won the title, yeah. Um, but happy that she did. Um, Becky has done an amazing job elevating that title to what it is. I think Soul's gonna do a great job. It's it's a mid-card title.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

But it felt like a heavyweight championship the way that Becky was carrying it.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

It did, and I think that's what they've also done with that belt. I think we also talked about that on the last episode that people will never hear. Um The Lost Apes. Yeah, the Lost Apes is that they are treating they WWE, maybe TKO, is treating the women's IC title like it is the women's because you're seeing that defended and that touted around on TV more than either one of the women's championships, whether it's Rio. Um I don't think Lid's defended once since she won, or maybe once Rhea's defended maybe once or twice. Um, and Jade Cargill. And that's it. I mean, so I think they're really pushing this IC title. I think there's more opportunity for more superstars. You see your Lyra's and Bailey's already always gonna be in the mix. Maybe this is how Roxanne gets in. I mean, look at them, the women that are on Raw. Um, look at those who are called up, who are going to be called up um in the coming months. See where it goes. I think it's a great mid-card. You think about Maxine DuPri who got it. Um, she kind of did a little bit with it and then she lost it so damn quick. Yeah, so we'll see what Soul can do with the title, but shout out to her. Um, no more slipping on the ropes. She's big timer, she's champ now. No more botches.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

And that's the thing, too. Like she she has, you know, um, what's the name of her move? The Soul Stascher. And it's an amazing move when it's done correctly, but like leading up into this PLE, she was botching every single one.

SPEAKER_04 12:27

And it wasn't starting, yeah. I'm starting to think it also could just be the don't tell me the nerves, because that's what you told me on the last tapes. Yes, the last tapes, yes. I did say it could be the yips, which I still think it is, partially it's the yips. However, she's working with talent that she hasn't worked before, worked with before, and maybe they are trying to get used to where to be when this is going to happen. Yes, she's slipping on the ropes, but at the same time, I don't watch in slow-mo, so I don't know if there's kind of like a hand from the opponent kind of like guiding her towards the ropes, or then she kind of backflips onto you. Like, I don't know if her opponent knows where to be when it's going to happen.

SPEAKER_03 13:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:07

Like there could be something there, but again, I still think it's partially the yips.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Yeah, I mean, I guess it could be, but it's like, hey, you're in the big times now, so you gotta go ahead and shake them. Yips. Yep. Like you get rid of them. Um and the last match on the clash in Italy was Ray Ripley defending her championship against Jade Cargill. Uh, also another long match. And you know what's funny is that these two matches uh both went longer than the Cody Gunther match, and obviously longer than the Brock Oba match, which I think anything's longer than that. I think they're interesting.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

I thought it was gonna be squash. I legit thought it was gonna be seven F5s in a row. Oba's done. But I'm glad that we got somewhat of a match out of that.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Six minutes and twenty one seconds for that match. For this match, Rhea and Jade, 16 minutes and 57 seconds. Oh wow, longer than I thought. With Rhea defeating Jade. Um, and it was a strong showing from Jade. That's what I'm hearing on all these reports. I uh you know did not catch it. I did hear that she looked great, that it looked like it was probably her best WWE match that she's had to date. Your thoughts on everything on this match?

SPEAKER_04 14:10

Definitely, I would agree. Um, Jade looked like a totally different superstar. Uh, so kudos for her, whether it's new training, whether it's maybe having um, I don't know, B Fab's wrestling background, but we all know Michin, Mia Yim's um, her background, she's phenomenal. I don't know if she's getting extra training. Um, but yeah, she looked like a totally different person. And yeah, she showed she showed great. I'm glad Rhea won. Now it's kind of where are we gonna go from here? And I think we've started to kind of see that over the last couple of weeks, where where it's going to go, who her next opponent's gonna be. But where does that leave Jade? Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

She's starting to heat up. Well, I think I think the rumor was that she was gonna be uh featured for the US championship and going against uh Tiffany Stratton and to be more into that pitcher than into the world championship. But we'll we'll have to wait and see for that one. Yeah, um, you know, one of the rumors that we have to address is CM Punk and where has he been? So we have not seen CM Punk, like I said, uh since WrestleMania, the Monday night after WrestleMania in Las Vegas. Kind of like didn't say goodbye, but he was just like, all right, you know, he came out and cut a promo, and then that was kind of it. So now there's a lot of rumors coming up saying that it's a lot, uh, a lot of creative issues backstage with him and CM Punk, uh, because we thought for sure we would see him back by now. But what I have the update, quote unquote, the newest update, is that he's been absent from TV. Um, well, they uh everybody thought he was gonna be coming back, you know. But the problem is now we are hearing that it's lack of creative issues that he has been frustrated with and the storyline, including his wife. He's not liking the treatment and booking of AJ Lee with WWE, so he also has pretty much gone home. So we don't know if this is 100% accurate. You know, these are all rumors. Uh, there's no word on you know if anything's gonna happen. Also, don't forget the incident that happened on TMZ right after WrestleMania with the fan that came up to film him in the lobby of uh the MGM Grand in Las Vegas where he slapped the phone out of his hand. You know, there's him for that. There was rumors that like that could have gotten him trouble with TKO. I hope not.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

I hope I hope not. I hope not.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Yeah, but then again, uh, you know, a lot of people are saying online that he did not get any heat for that incident, but I don't know. So a lot of people think that maybe that could have maybe he didn't get heat from WWE, but maybe from the TKO executives. Um, so yeah, we we really don't know. We also heard about, you know, maybe TKO asked him to take a pay cut, and he wasn't happy about that because we also heard that same rumor with Roman Reigns where that's why Roman wasn't gonna be on featured uh appearances on Monday Night Raw, but all of a sudden then he came back and they said, Oh, is uh scheduling glitch or something like that, right? Yep. So I don't know. Your thoughts on how AJ Lee was actually booked overall in her return. Were you a fan of how they booked her, or were you also like me where I thought they could have done a lot more with her? And to me, it also kind of seemed like she said goodbye after WrestleMania.

SPEAKER_04 17:10

I think they did a decent job with her, but I also think they really boxed her in. There, it was the very, you know, you got the nostalgia of it when she returned. It was the surprise return. Um, she did a couple things here and there. I think what the first two or three matches, um, they were tag matches, whether it was with another female or with CM Punk. Um, and then she finally had like her solo run like super quick against Becky for the IC title. Um, she won that. And event eventually she well, she really didn't do anything with the belt, she just kind of carried it around. Um, and then she lost the belt. So I don't think they knew what they wanted to do with her when she came back. Um, I just think that's a huge problem right now with WWE and TKO, more so than anything as a whole, is that they just don't know what to do with all these superstars. But for you know, the past 40 plus years, everything's always been figured out. There's always something going on, no matter where you land on the roster, you know, mid-card, low card, high card, whatever it is. And from what I thought, and I thought what I thought I understood was I that it was going to be AJ was going to be a short deal, so it was like a six-month max deal, which is kind of like what she did, and then she was kind of go away. Um, so I personally thought that was all she wanted to do is she wanted to get back in the ring, see if she can do it. Um they gave her a belt, and then she kind of just went off into um the abyss. Um, as far as punk goes, I personally just thought it's just a long vacation after um after man, yeah, and just yeah, from whenever we last saw him, it was just one of those things where vacation time, you basically carried us for a while because of everything else going on. We appreciate you. Yes, losing the title, take a break. However, yeah, remember he came back, I think, the the day after or the Monday after and kind of said uh not like a goodbye or anything. Yeah, however, he said, I don't know when a title shot's gonna fall out of the sky, and then here comes Cody. So everyone thinks that Punk's going to SmackDown, and then here starts this Cody Punk rivalry, which I still think would be good, but I think since the fuck up with the Gunther match and everything else they had with Gunther, with moving him a smack, I think things just kind of kept piling up and punk just kind of kept dropping down. Whether that's they're fixing their problem first, even though yes, punk is next in line, or yeah, it's just more creative bullshit in the back, and they just don't know what to do. And if I were him, I'd be pissed off too. But enjoy the vacation.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

So, yeah, uh yeah, he did take a vacation. You have to remember WrestleMania was in April, and we are in June 10th already. So pretty much a whole almost uh well over a month for sure, possibly even two before we see him back. If he is going to SmackDown, how do they introduce the storyline with him and him and uh Cody Rhodes? I think he just shows up. You think he shows up?

SPEAKER_04 20:09

Do you think it's uh yeah, he's just punk, he just shows up, he doesn't need anything. Um, I think it could be one of those you interrupted me. Yeah, I'm now interrupting you, let's do this kind of a thing. Um but let's let's get over this whole Gunther thing first, um, and then we'll uh we'll go from there. But yeah, man, what the hell did you just send me?

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Okay, so I just sent you.

SPEAKER_04 20:34

I'm like Yes, all right.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

I forgot Gary does not do well with blood and guts and things of that nature in real life. A hole, a hole, so hit the hole in the head. I just sent him a photo of a WWE superstar who posted a recent injury of themselves, and the caption just simply says Jim Fail. Hashtag FML and I don't even know. Oh it's WWE superstar Sheamus. So Seamus had posted something on his Instagram. You can check it out for yourselves at WWSheamus on IG. Um we can post it, just cover it up. Okay. Oh, you think so? We can post it?

SPEAKER_04 21:17

Cover it up.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

So at Towers of Power Pod, we'll post this up. But he recently shared an injury. So I uh let me rewind. So he actually just came back from surgery. Okay, from WWE. He had surgery on his shoulder uh that began began last May, then he had surgery uh late last year, and so now he is on the return recovery mode. However, he suffered an injury somewhere in his personal gym, it looks like, and he posted this photo. He doesn't really say anything else about it, but the comments in there are kind of funny. You have uh one from uh former Braun Strowman. What the F, dude Peter Rosenberg, what the F uh Bronson Reed lay off. Whiskey before the gym fella because he has a gnarly gash that pretty much is from his forehead to the middle of his skull, right towards the back. It is a it it looks probably like maybe a five-inch gash, you know, from like in length. It looks it looks nasty. Um I'm trying to see who else is saying some stuff uh on uh Seamus's Instagram. It I don't know what happened, like what uh exactly what happened.

SPEAKER_04 22:28

He had to have dropped like a dumbbell or weight how to have fallen on him.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Um with the F. Like, what are you doing? What happened? Just want to know you're okay, what exercise were you doing? No, no, Seamus, shocked emoji phase, somebody wrote ouch. Uh, so that's uh there's a lot of comments on uh it looks pretty nasty. Um I don't know we'll add the comments on it.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

I don't know when we're gonna see him back, but uh yeah, so there we go. Good lord, man. Um, all right, so now we have to jump into the current state of WWE, kicking off the King of the Ring and the Queen of the Ring. So let's go ahead and talk about where we're at with this tournament. We saw Oba Femi and Dominic Mysterio uh on Monday Night Raw. Your thoughts on those two jumping in the ring together.

SPEAKER_04 23:13

I mean, they're gonna face each other in the next round, so we'll see. So um obviously there are what four four four-way matches? One, two, three. Yeah, four four-way matches in the first round. Um, fatal four-ways. And from there, you're seeing one winner from each of the four-ways fair square off in what you will as uh uh conference championship, if you will, to go on to the finals. So with Oba winning his fatal four-way and Dom winning his fatal four-way, those two will now pair up. Uh, they will square off. Uh, winner will go on to Knight of Champions um to face the two winners from or one of the two winners from the other side of the bracket, uh, that we will get into in just a few, to see who will be the king of the ring and go on to face the champion of their choice. Summer slam. It's summer slam. Summer slam.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Uh I definitely think it's gonna be Dominic. Mysterio pulling off the win? No? Uh no, it probably won't, honestly. It's gotta be Oba. But here's the thing can Brock show up and cost Oba the King of the Ring, thus setting up SummerSlam for these two.

SPEAKER_04 24:26

Yes. It's just is it going to happen in this round? Or is it gonna happen in the next round, like a night one thing, and then they battle it on night two? I can see that. You know? So it's kind of like when when and where is Brock gonna show up? That's what we need to figure out.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

Um will he show up uh next week on Raw? Will he show up at Knight of Champions? And then we'll figure out what's gonna happen on um SummerSlam. So yeah, sorry, I missed one week then. Um I got mixed up. So you're good. Um, but yeah, so the other side of things, I think next, well, who won? Uh we got what?

SPEAKER_02 25:03

We're looking at Javon Evans. Thank you. He just won a big one against Rollins, um Ricky Saints, and uh uh Tonga. Um Tala. Tala Tonga, thank you. I was like, what's his name? Tala Tonga.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

And so it's weird that Seth didn't win, but I actually appreciate that he did not win. Tala's not ready. Tala's not ready.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Seth was cost by by Braun, breaker.

SPEAKER_04 25:25

Yep, exactly. Javon's a perfect choice. Um, but now we have one fatal four-way left on the men's side of things coming up Friday on SmackDown.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yep, and it is It's gonna be uh Jimmy Uso, LA Knight, Royce Keys, and Finn Balor. All right there, and that's gonna be a good one. Now, who do you who can actually win that?

SPEAKER_04 25:47

Uh I mean, so LA Knight kind of hinted at this on Monday.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

Saying that we all know Jimmy's gonna win because his family's gonna come down and help him win. Right. So I think that's gonna happen. Probably, but I also think the family will come down. I would love to see LA Knight get over and win. I hope he goes on and wins the entire King of the Ring tournament.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

So that means then it would go. Let's say, let's say this is your theory. If it's LA Knight, he's gonna take on Javon Evans, he'll go over Javon Evans, and then go to Clash. I'm sorry, uh Knight See, look at that, I'm still in Clash. He'll go to Knight of Champions, yeah. He'll go to Knight of Champions to take on Oba Femi. Yeah. Okay, and you're saying that then he would go over Oba Femi. But with Brock's help.

SPEAKER_04 26:33

Not like Brock's help, but I think Brock will cost him LA goes on yes to win.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Yeah. Okay, here's here's my prediction. Okay. It's gonna be Finn Balor. Okay. I don't hate it, but okay. Finn Balor going over Javon Evans, yeah, Dominic Mysterio going over Oba, setting up the final match of being Dominic versus Finn Balor, Knight of Champions for King of the Ring, and Finn going over. Or I mean I give it over or do you give it to Dom because he's calling him himself the king of the luchadors already?

SPEAKER_04 27:11

He's been doing that for a while. He's finally just got he basically just been giving the mic back. Right. He's really not said much in the last couple of months.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

And that's the thing, too. A lot of people are upset because we haven't really seen him or live together. We they haven't really done much, and people are upset. Yeah, because like you know, this is like the biggest heel team or faction, and they're not doing anything with him. So, do you see that happening? Do you see Dom getting he's like, I told you I was the king of the luchadors, now I'm the king of the ring.

SPEAKER_04 27:39

I can see any of those three scenarios that we just came up with. I think we all agree that Oba is going to lose in one of the next two rounds at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Yes, correct. I'm happy with seeing Finn win the whole thing. I'm happier, I think, happier with LA Knight. I'm happy with Dom. I don't think they can go wrong anyway. Yes, because we do need to start setting up for what's to happen when Roman loses or when Cody loses. I think they're just there all the time now. And as much as I love Roman and I'm bored as hell with Cody, yeah, we need a change. We need a change. We do. I mean, I don't think we're ready for Roman to cough it up just yet, but maybe at SummerSlam, because remember, he said, You've got me through the summer.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 28:27

It's kind of over at SummerSlam time, and then does he kind of go away again? So we'll see. Um I don't know. I don't know. I I I don't know. I don't I mean, we haven't seen um Drew McIntyre in a while. Is he gonna pop up?

SPEAKER_03 28:44

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_04 28:45

Um is Jacob Fatou gonna cost Jay by accident to winning? Are we gonna finally see Zilla? So I don't know. There's a lot of and I actually like that I'm saying I don't know, because I would love to be surprised watching WWE product again. And I just think within the last year, maybe two years, everything has just been so like okay, yep, knew that was gonna happen. But to see so many different storylines that could possibly take place, I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

That takes us over to the Queen of the Ring tournament. And on this past Monday night, were you surprised that Liv Morgan advanced into the next round, defeating Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, and Chelsea Green?

SPEAKER_04 29:27

Yep, I think I started to watch the match. I'm like, okay, let me go um, you know, make a little pazookie. Let me go get some uh cookie dough, put it in my my my cast iron, put it in the oven. Um, and I heard the bell ring. I'm like, is it over? And I'm just like, oh crap, let me listen to see. And it said live, and I legit within a second, like, what a fucking waste. You heard the song Double Trouble. Yeah, and it'll trouble. No, I heard and the winner, the women's world, I'm just like, what a fucking waste. Yes. You have Chelsea Green, you have these other talent. More, I think Charlotte's gonna be going another direction. Or was it Charlotte? Charlotte's in the next round. Okay, so um sorry.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

You said uh this is this is Becky, Alexa, and Chelsea.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

Alexa. I don't know what's happening with Alexa. I think she's gonna slowly kind of just do her own thing, but I feel like this was a perfect opportunity to take Chelsea Green. Oh, yeah. Just put her just in the next round. Well, I'm not saying she needs to win the whole damn thing. I think it'd be fucking great if she did. Put her in the next round. Like this whole live thing is I mean, uh the yeah, the whole Liv Morgan thing, it's it's just a waste. She has the belt already. I understand why she's in it, she wants to win it all. Um, but it's just it takes away from other talent. It takes away from other talent. And I think with her own title right now.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

I think you know, kind of going back to WWE Unreal, you know, when when Michael PS had Hayes had said that Chelsea wasn't ready and that she's she's not gonna be, you know, main eventor, or whatever words he said. This could have been a perfect opportunity to correct and and and kind of prove that that point right there to make it right and say, hey, you know what? She is gonna be good. She is actually a really great talent. Let's make her the queen of the ring and have that karaoke because that would have been great to have her win.

SPEAKER_04 31:15

Let her get squashed by Liv or Rhea or whoever's the champion at that time, but at least get her to that spot. So yeah, I just think it was a complete waste of time watching that match, a complete waste to have Liv even in this bracket. Um you have so many other you know talented females in on this roster, and yeah, I just think it was a missed opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Also, another round uh winner, somebody advancing. EOSky, she had defeated Roxanne Perez, Julia, and Lash Legend on Raw as well. Your thoughts, yay or nay on that?

SPEAKER_04 31:47

Nay. I mean, again, love EOSky, but again, I think this is the perfect tournament to um to lift up these quote unquote mid-card superstars. Um, Lash has been great, but she's already been a tag title.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

So I would have loved to have seen her though win.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

Same, same. But I think you know, having having those others in there. Like I'm not saying throw Julia in there. Um, who is that fourth person that was in that match?

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Uh Roxanne.

SPEAKER_04 32:13

Roxanne. Perfect fucking opportunity to have Roxy win something. She you need to remember what she did and what other talent did in NXT. Yes. I believe she in fact checked me, she was the longest reigning women's NXT champion, I believe, of all time. Um, could be wrong a little bit, but um, I think she held it two or three times. Again, regardless of if I'm correct or not, but she was the face of the NXT women's division for a year plus. Um, main inventor of everything. And she comes up to Ross, she gets tossed into the judgment day, yeah, and now she's just kind of like lives side piece, almost almost like a forgotten piece, exactly, and it sucks. And we kind of see her character kind of changing here and there with Finn and Finn's out and having these talks with Liv. But again, another opportunity I would have loved to have seen Roxanne win, just go on to the next round. Like, we're not saying she needs to win and be great if she fucking did to take on Liv, which would have been phenomenal too. Um, for the title. Um, but again, but Liv's lives in this match. I don't know. I think it's just a bunch of bullshit. Um, they're just letting their top stars continue to be top stars and continue to keep winning. Like, EO could have easily lost that match. Yeah, she didn't need it. She let him choose somebody else. Exactly. They don't need it. Let her start another rivalry, let her go have a rivalry with Julia. Yeah, Julia's starting to flip it around again on SmackDown. Like, let them do kind of build something. We need new new rivalries, if you will. I'm getting really tired of the same old bullshit.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Speaking of which, uh Raquel Rodriguez advanced as well. And I thought it would have been it would have been really cool to see, like, let's say the semifinals, you have Liv on one side, don't know who the other point is, but then you have Roxanne on one bracket, and then you have Raquel on the other bracket. That to me would have been more entertaining because who's gonna help who? Who's gonna like what's gonna happen? You know, obviously Raquel and Roxanne best friends. So what happens if they they go at it for the finals, and then let's say let's say Roxanne goes, and Liv goes all the way to the finals. Now you have something again, it's almost like the implosion of the judgment day built around King and Queen of the Ring. You could have done e easily done that.

SPEAKER_04 34:31

But I think you still can, right? With at least potentially Liv and Raquel facing each other in the finals, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Yes, correct. So that could be something because like the next round for Liv, it's gonna be Sol Ruka, uh uh Valkyrie, Valkyrie, uh Flair, and Cardgill. So those are the your options. So who does she take on? It's probably gonna be, in my opinion. Charlotte? It'll be Charlotte.

SPEAKER_04 34:57

I think they're trying to build Charlotte up again, which I think is actually good. I wouldn't I wouldn't hate it if they put Charlotte over. Yeah, I would I would not like it if had they if they had soul win. Um, I mean I'm I'm all for Charlotte. Um, Jade, do you want to try to build her back up? Um, put her back in the mix, that's okay. Yeah, um, but I'm kind of starting to see Charlotte kind of looking at Rhea a little bit, so that could be something too to kind of keep pushing Charlotte. But I mean it it's it's still crazy to me that you and I can sit here for the last five or six minutes and come up with 10 different storylines, yes, and they all have really cool outcomes and what they could have done better. Yeah, but then you've got WWE Creative or TKO Creative that are sitting on their ass making multi-million dollars per paycheck and they can't figure it out. They can't they don't see it from a fan's point of view. So we read the dirt sheets. Hell, we are the fucking dirt sheets at time. We are the dirt sheets. We are, rah, but we can come up with so many better ideas. There it is, so many better ideas than those in in the front office.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

No, not at backlash. No, not at backlash. Oh, okay, we're over backlash. Yeah, summer slam. But yeah, no, there are there are so many great ideas that we could come up with, and yes, we know obviously we're not in charge of creative or have any input, or but you know, that's the thing that's fun about this podcast is that we could go ahead and express these things. And you know, maybe somebody out there will be listening, like, oh wow, you know, that's a really good idea. Or, you know, you have something else and you want to chime in and you want to tell us your ideas, go ahead and shoot us a DM at Towers of PowerPod. That's why we're here. Like I say, we're at the wrestling community, just like you. You know, we're big fans at the end of the day. Um, all right.

SPEAKER_04 36:38

Always give my two cents on X. I'm all I'm all over the I know you are PowerPod on X, and I'm always popping back at some people and some of our followers on there too, and coming up with these cool ideas or just saying my thoughts. So feel free to reach us, uh reach out to the case.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Gary says a lot of his thoughts on that, and I just laugh because like you'll tag me, and then I I'm horrible at X. So I won't I won't see it until like three days later. But oh, Gary said that. Oh, Gary like tagged me in this. Like, oh, okay, cool. Let me see that. So, in case you're ever wondering, like, who runs what account, Gary handles X, I'll handle Instagram and TikTok and yeah, whatever I think.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

And Brian handles Brian, where are you?

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Oh Brian? Yeah. He says he says next week, but I don't know. He was on the Lost Tapes episode, too. So for those people who don't know, you'll never hear Brian because he was on that one. Not on the screen. Um, all right, let's see what else we've got to talk about. AEW coming to town. Are you excited for that? July 1st, WWE. AEW coming into San Diego. So if you're in the SoCal area, you want to check that out. San Diego State.

SPEAKER_04 37:42

Yeah, I hope we're gonna go. Uncle Tony.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

I'm gonna reach out and let's see what happens. You know, that is on a Wednesday night, dynamite. Yeah, uh, our friend Arian. Huh? And collision, that's right. Yeah, both shows. Uh this is this is June 10th, and of course, on the 13th at the Avalon, our friend uh Ariane from one half of the Fronchodactyls we had on the show.

SPEAKER_05 38:02

Yeah, wait, hold on.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

Do I have it? Still keep going, keep going, Doc. It's gonna sound I don't know. No, I have I just have the other one, or do I? Uh okay. Okay. I don't know. My little my little sound effects board's messing up. I did an update today, right before we start taping, and now it's like it's not getting all my stuff again. So god damn. I know, which really sucks. Just return it and get a new one. I'm gonna have to. I know, and I'm like, dude, like right now, I it's stuck. I literally can't push anything. I'm like, I'm trying to get her Funko Dactyl's music. Anyways, she has uh an event happening at the Avalon in LA. If you're around there, is Poundtown Wrestling. Check them out on Instagram. Uh now this is this her?

SPEAKER_05 38:44

Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

So my hold on, hold on, we gotta hit it. Let it roll. Let it go, let it go, come on.

SPEAKER_03 38:55

Anyway, what? Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

David, everybody. Oh no, hold on, it's almost done. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. Let's go. Come on. You know you love it. Yeah. I was waiting for you just to sing it.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

Oh yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_04 39:26

I mean, you hear it enough, you kind of pick up on some of the lyrics.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

Yeah, you should hear it. Uh too often.

SPEAKER_04 39:32

But um, I mean, you go ahead. You go ahead. You do that. Bring it back. Um no, so the other day.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

This turn music. This is working like the game you still love. Um, no. Okay.

unknown 39:57

No.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

Yeah. PowerCon Wrestling.com.

SPEAKER_04 39:59

In uh in my spare time, um, obviously it's been gorgeous here in Sunday San Diego. And I had I had a little pool day the other day. Yeah. Nice backyard, just kind of lounged out and uh was like, I don't know what to watch. I don't want to listen. I wasn't in the mood for like any, you know, I didn't know what I wanted to listen to music-wise. I'm not I'm not in the country mood, I've been listening to a lot of hip-hop lately at the gym, wasn't feeling rock saying, you know what? Put on YouTube, found uh CVV's podcast, listen to a couple of yeah, I listened to about two or three episodes. Um, and one of them um was the LA Knight episode. Really good. If you didn't have an opportunity to listen or watch, uh, really good. Um, and then the next one that popped up was um the one with Maven that he recently did. Um, not not too too long ago. Um, it came out, and it was him and Maven, and they were just kind of talking about how basically how um how YouTube just basically kind of recreated his career, if you will. Um, it was just him and his buddy and said, you know, people are just going on YouTube and they're just talking about their experiences and life and everything. And he started to, and I don't think he realized how much it was going to take off until it like took off. And he's at, I want to say 850,000 followers. I think he's under a million, um, as of whenever that was recorded. Um, but it was cool to listen to, and he kind of talked about some stories and stuff, like from him, you know, back in the day. It wasn't a traditional CVV podcast, you know, of them sitting on the couches. Um, I think it was at um one of the conventions. Um, I don't know, it could have been a Comic-Con or something similar like that. Um, because there was an audience uh and they were just up on stage. But it was it was pretty good. I mean, I'll I'll give them that they were talking about the theme song, and I think even CBV was said the best theme song there is there ever has been in the WWE. Um, so there they that that's for you.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

And what did what did he say about it?

SPEAKER_04 41:54

Did he talk about how much he hated it? Yeah, I think he was just like, I didn't know if it was gonna be that good or I was gonna catch on, but I mean CBV was like, is probably one of the best better songs that ever came out with.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

Hold on, let me see if I can find this clip real quick. You're talking about CVV. Give me one second, everybody. Let's find out. Let's see. Uh CVV. You need like uh time music. Like, no, not his music. Hold on, hold on, let's see. Let's see if my little board will no, my board's not really helping me right now. Let's see. Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

What would that be? You know all the lyrics. I not all of them, but I do know that much. Literally, I'm not kidding, you know, pour water over my head, yeah. You know, getting hype jumping back and forth like all right. And I would hear that music, um and I'm not kidding. I would go, turn your hype like, it's a great song. I do admit it. Like I said in the last time we talked, it wasn't what I heard as an eight-year-old kid. People are so disappointed. When they hear that you don't like your music, they're like, Come on! I get so mad.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

Yeah, I am one of those people that get very mad when I hear that. I've heard that for years, that he did not like his music, that I guess he he wanted it changed at one point too, and they told him no.

SPEAKER_04 43:12

Um, it was just a tough enough theme song. That's all it was.

SPEAKER_02 43:15

Um was it or was it like I don't remember that's what I think.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

If you keep listening, I think I'm almost positive that's what um they say.

SPEAKER_01 43:24

Donald will still screenshot it and say he's working out to it. It just like I said in the last time we talked, it wasn't what I heard as an eight-year-old kid. People are so disappointed. When they hear that you don't like their music, they're like, come on! It's so bad. How many so how many lyrics do you know? Is really good. Sure. After I interviewed last time, I listened to it on repeat for a long time. I'm sorry. See? It's a great song. Listen, I love that it comes back to it, but it's a great song. It's a great song, and I feel bad because like I don't want the band to think that I dislike them or it's it's just it just wasn't what I grew up expecting.

unknown 44:21

I got it.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Hmm. So I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 44:24

Maybe they mentioned something like that, but I can't I can't find it either.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

But well, somebody got to fact-check us on that if Maven's theme music was the original Tough Enough theme music. I don't think it was. I don't think it was like the I don't think it was.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

Some part of it was. I think they added lyrics. I think I I don't know. There was some part of it where they brought it up. Um fact check us. Let us know.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

He did come out to the original theme song of Tough Enough for I believe his first or second match. I wish Brian was on this podcast because Brian does know that stuff. Uh random, random stuff that Brian did.

SPEAKER_04 44:55

He also said that Ken Shamrock was from San Diego and said swore his life on it. But I mean it was.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

But then again, we did end up hearing both versions from Sacramento, California, and then also from San Diego California. Um, but does he does know those random things? But I do believe, if I remember correctly, that the way that the tough enough intro happened was like the stacks of bricks falling down. Yep. The video and with the tough enough, and I remember going like and then going to the theme music.

SPEAKER_04 45:26

Maybe that's what they were referencing then, and I would just say that.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

So he did that was his original theme music, was the tough enough theme. Uh, and then when I think he got actually on the main roster, then he became that one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:42

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I just misheard, but I could have sworn they said that you can this this was your it's basically the tough enough theme song, blah blah blah. But yeah, what you're saying now, I because I remember him coming out to the actual theme song itself.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

Yes, he did. So and uh I do remember that's when he uh like was wrestling with like sweatpants. Yeah, yeah, because I think I don't quote me, but I want to say that this this song debuted I think fall of 2001 because he made that Royal Rumble appearance in 2002 where he eliminated The Undertaker. Got it.

SPEAKER_04 46:16

So he was super close. A lot of like these top top superstars, too. When you so definitely go back and listen to that interview, um, because he just talks about like you know, he's not he's not name-dropping, but you can figure out who he's talking about, and there wasn't a lot of names that you just either never heard of or were like, oh yeah, I remember that guy. These are like top names in the company that he was surrounding himself in, and they they kind of brought him in too. And I think that was just a lot of the the respect that Maven showed when he got to the main roster where you know he's he's he's getting body slammed, you know, by Bob Holly or something like that. And Holly might be just be like, hey, you know, just you know, but basically Maven's not back to make, oh you hurt me, oh, why'd you do this? He's just like, hey, was that good? Could I have done anything better? Like he was very respectful to to those that have been there before, and he tried to try to learn as much as he could, and he just wasn't like your typical rookie, and I think that kind of resonated a lot with uh a lot of the veterans.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

So I found right now on uh YouTube, it says WWE Maven in Ring Debut. This is a debut match against Taz. Uh let's see what song this is, though. I don't know if this is the true debut. Okay, this is Taz. Yeah, no, this is W R. I don't know now.

SPEAKER_04 47:46

Got you thinking.

SPEAKER_02 47:47

I know, I hate it. All right, well, friends, we gotta go. This is this has uh been a good podcast. A uh thing so many things are popping up now on my phone. All right, so just want to say thank you again for listening to a podcast. Gary, what are the socials?

SPEAKER_04 48:03

Man, Towers Powerpod on X. Gary, what am I? Gary underscore Dubin on X at G Dubs33 on Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Sure. There's okay. I'm at Hollywood Chris, and don't forget at Towers of PowerPod on IG. TikTok as well, and uh Brian is coming, I think, down to San Diego eventually. Um we don't know. We don't know where Brian is. He's missing an action. I think we're gonna have to set out an amber alert for that child. So uh so friends, we'll see you again next time. Like I say at the end of every podcast. We are in the Rust community just like Sue, like just like you. So go ahead. Yeah, just like Sue. You know Stu. Sue is a big fan of the show. Thank you so much, Stu, for listening. Uh so go ahead and make sure that you like, share, subscribe, and uh share this podcast. We just want to grow. And we will see you guys again next time.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Later.