Towers of Power

Preview of Night of Champions

• Chris Martinez • Season 1 • Episode 43

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We not only preview the upcoming PLE but we also discuss how we would've really booked King and Queen of the ring, AEW coming to San Diego and the Smackdown leaks! 

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SPEAKER_03

Alright, friends, we are back with another episode of the Towers of Power, a Pro Wrestling podcast. I am loving friends. And that is Gary at G dubs33. There it is on Instagram. Oh, all the horns today. Alright, so let's go ahead and jump into it. It's been a while. We gotta make up for all the horns that exist. No, we gotta we gotta talk about Raw. We gotta talk about SmackDown, the leaks that are happening right now because SmackDown is taped. Uh, have you seen any of those things that are coming out about it?

SPEAKER_02

I think I did here and there, but I'm just like, I might watch, I might not watch, and I realize I think I have plans on Friday night, so I might not watch. I'm like, eh, whatever.

SPEAKER_03

So we are taping this episode on Wednesday, June uh 24th. Meh, huh? Meh. Meh. And uh so yeah, so Smackdown is overseas right now in the UK, and they taped it last night. Uh so Tuesday night, they taped it. Everything has been leaked and everything's coming out, so we could jump into that. We got uh I do want to recap Triple A because I finally saw the mass versus mass. Well, I saw most of it. I did have to step out of it for a second. Yes, I I know, I know I'm late to the party, but still, what what an amazing match. Let's just start right there. Triple A, grande versus grande. Um, it was it was great, just the storytelling behind it, and who okay, so I I did see that Taker is running things over there, right at Triple A with Rey Mysterio and Jeremy Borash, who uh used to be a part of uh TNA and WCW. So apparently he was the producer on that match, and what an outstanding match. I mean, that match had everything.

SPEAKER_02

I think I heard Pete Dunn was also in on that as a product, too. I mean, I feel like they're all just down there helping each other out and the product like amazing. I just said like off the air, miss like I look forward to AAA now more, sometimes more than SmackDown, to be honest with you. Like, if I have nothing else to watch on a Saturday night, I'm gonna tune in. I mean, it it's so fucking entertaining. Yeah, shout out to uh Taker and everybody else down there. It's what a product.

SPEAKER_03

What a what product is so great. I mean, that storytelling. If you haven't watched The Mask versus Mask, uh highly recommended. It is probably I I don't want to say it yet, but I will probably say match of the year so far. I mean I knew we're in the middle of the middle of that year.

SPEAKER_02

Shut down the rest of the year. You're not gonna see down the rest of the year he says. You're not gonna see anything better.

SPEAKER_03

So it is uh, you know, uh Kaiser and Gable, you know, spoiler alert. I know. What it's Kaiser? But just the just the idea that Kaiser could do these things that we never got to see him do under this mask. I mean, just everything from the top ropes, you know, to doing all these crazy moves. I'm like, wow, I'm like, that's that's really that's really cool to see somebody taking it.

SPEAKER_02

Do you think he was being held back on the main roster? And then he kind of like let him like taker's kind of letting him flourish and do whatever he wants and in triple A and it's going over, or like what what are we thinking here? I think it's a little bit of both.

SPEAKER_03

I think I think you know he was held back on the main roster, as a lot of wrestlers are, and I feel that he probably did have to learn some new things, and I and I think he's a quick, fast learner, and you know, just like Gable, you know, Gable could do a lot of things, and uh obviously like they did hold him back for a long time, and now he's kind of doing his own thing. I just I feel like that with a lot of the luchadors too, you know. Andrade was one who I'm like, dude, you you let him go, and I know he could go ahead and deliver five star, you know, according to Dave Meltzer, 10 star matches, whatever.

SPEAKER_01

Dave Dave Meltzer, blah.

SPEAKER_03

Um 55 stars. Yeah, 55 stars, man. And you know, the same thing go with goes with like Penta, Phoenix, you know, anybody that really has that triple A background or that luchador background because I feel that uh that the US fans aren't really accustomed to seeing things like that. And in Mexico and uh, you know, even in Japan, you know, those fans are used to seeing these things, and so I think it's something brand new for the US audience, which is great, you know. I think it's ultimately a great thing. But I I do think that uh Kaiser was held back a little bit in WWE, you know. Oh yeah, but now as this new character, uh he man, he's definitely flourishing in that.

SPEAKER_02

It's cool, it's it's cool, also weird. Like I like how they're incorporating a lot of the top rosters. Like we saw Natty down there for a while. Now we're starting to see more of Bailey has been down there. Um Lola Vice has been popping up, our NXT women's champion. Um, and then I mean, I don't know how how up to speed you are on everything AAA recently, but they just revived um what is it, Pedos de Mal? I guess that was a faction way back in the Triple A. And it's um one of the original members, and I'm totally blanking on his name. Again, I don't watch the real time.

SPEAKER_03

However, I thought you were gonna try it, but yeah, go ahead. I don't even know.

SPEAKER_02

But yeah, I mean, I think I could say it. I mean, I remember reading it. I'm like, oh, okay, but I didn't know who it was. Yeah, um, and then uh Petrovic from um NXT, super smoke show blonde, and a couple NXT guys. Um sorry, uh Los Garzas. One NXT guy, and then yeah, exactly exactly. So and they're trying to rebuild that faction. I don't think I realized Los Garzas, like how how much they were in involved with Triple A through their family. Oh, yeah. So back in the day, you had you know they had that scar on their chest. I'm like, what the hell is this thing now? Yeah, now it all makes sense because that is one of the logos for this for this faction, and they've been wearing it for a long time, two years probably. Yeah, so now it's all kind of coming full circle.

SPEAKER_03

But I believe that faction ran its course until 2000, I want to say 15. I think that's what I read. It could have been a lot of people. Yeah, it's almost like evolved over the year. Yep. It's it's almost I don't want to say bullet club esque, but it's more like NWO style.

SPEAKER_02

I I've heard, yeah, I've heard them people compare it to Bullet Club as it is, you know, ever changing, but I think it's really cool to bring it back now with all of these different pieces, and then watching NXT last night, they kind of hinted at them like, hey, I saw you at triple A last week. Hey, I saw you at AAA. Are we still a tag team? Are we good? He goes, everything triple A or is triple A and NXT is NXT. So it's it's weird to kind of see those character shifts. I wish they would overlap them more, yeah. Um, between those two programmings because I feel they're almost turning triple A into not a developmental, but another place for these young talent to really get over. Um, and I think it's it's a great, great thing to have. So we'll see where it goes. But I mean, hell, I'm I'm ready to watch again on Saturday or the next show.

SPEAKER_03

Well, the latest person to join the triple A roster and go down there is Damian Paris. I don't know if you saw that.

SPEAKER_02

That's what I heard. I don't know how how old or how new that that image or video was. I have no idea, but I think that was the rumor, and maybe it's taking. I have no I have no clue.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because he kind of looked like uh the Undertaker version of American Badass. Yeah, that's what he kind of looked like.

SPEAKER_00

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

So it's like this this poor guy can't get away from the taker stuff because they had thought that uh that he was uh revence of the uh of the Undertaker, but like a gay Undertaker, yeah, metrosexual taker. Yes. Uh so poor poor guy can't get away from the stereotypical Undertaker gimmick. So uh you know, I don't know. But uh maybe maybe he'll do something new in there. But uh is he no, he's not still with R-Truth anymore, right? Yeah, there's still tag champs down. So that's what I'm trying to say. I don't want SmackDown that much. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I mean I will if there's nothing else. Like, I think I watched the other week just because, but again, like if they're gonna have everybody kind of switch it up and jump from show to show or brand to brand, if you will, I would love to then see it cross over on brand to brand. I don't want Damien Priest a tag champion on SmackDown, and then I don't want this completely different Damien Priest on triple A. I want him to still be the same tag champion, but maybe he has other things to do at triple A. But come out with that triple with the with the tag team belt, maybe have truth come down there with him. I don't know how all of that works, but have NXT people cross over, have have them wear the the the um peros de mal t-shirt on NXT if you've got NXT superstars, like start doing more of that kind of crossover, and I think you're gonna get even more people to tune into triple A because your average fan who's watching NXT, which I think has slowly gone downhill in the last time, I couldn't even, I could barely watch last night. Um, but um shit, what was my point? What was my point? Um, wear like the stuff like more of a crossover. If if you're an NXT person and you hear them talking about, hey, I saw you in triple A, like, wait, what the hell are they talking about? Like, what the hell's triple A? I now need to find what AAA is, but then they might get there and they might not see them. So wear the triple A stuff on NXT, vice versa, Raw, SmackDown, whatever, keep those characters alive. Keep try to keep some storylines alive, but also integrate new storylines to make these uh the crossovers work.

SPEAKER_03

See, I disagree with that, and the reason why it's because I feel like that AEW, yeah, here that's Gary's answers. I and the reason why I say that is because uh with AEW, I felt it just got so uh oversaturated. And what I mean by that is because they had New Japan, and New Japan has like 15 titles, and all of a sudden there's this new Japan person, and then there's this one, and the CMLL, and then there's this, and there's like like so all these random titles are coming up. And it's like as a as a non-watcher of AEW consistently, yeah. I'm thinking, is that a new title? Is that something new that I don't know about? So it's like, you know, there's so many different titles, and that's the one thing that AEW does get a lot of criticism for, is that there's so many titles out there, so it's like you're bringing even more titles into the picture that shouldn't even be there because it's not your company. So it's like for for me, like I understand like Dom Mysterio having that title on there. That's great. That's great. But now if you start introducing the other triple A champions, it's like uh what's that? Because I remember I I do remember this when AEW launched they had the big conference in press conference in uh Las Vegas at the MGM to announce um their first uh pay-per-view, and Sammy Guevaro walked up and he had a triple A championship. And I'm like, what is it? What is what title is this? Like, I don't I don't know. And it kind of like, okay, you know, all right, well, that's cool that he's a champion somewhere, but at the same time, it's like, well, why bring this up if it's not being defended or if it's not gonna kind of if if there's no storyline process to it, then I don't think you should have it. I even still kind of think that with Dom Mysterio to some degree that he shouldn't have it all the time, but it got it does give him more to his character, and it makes sense for him to have that, especially with that. We saw on Monday Night Raw the interaction with him and Gable when he said that he's a King of Ludors.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I I get that. I'm not saying maybe I'm not saying defend the tag team champions or anything like they do that. I guess they did it on SmackDown last week with the triple A cruiserweight title with um with Phoenix. Um but it yeah, I'm not it's more like this is who Damian Priest is, this is his character, and he actually is a champion, right? Have it just on his shoulder, they don't need to write. I mean, you can reference it saying, Oh, the tag team champion, Damien Priest in the house, blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

He's not defending it, but I'm like, that that kind of helps with this crossover because honestly, there might still be some people who watch AAA who don't watch WWE, they might not be able to get that programming. So to help along, to help this partnership along, I think just to have that that show, um, the whether it's the t-shirt crossover, whether it's titles, whether it's more than a quick four-second thing on NXT. Hey, I saw you on AAA the other night.

SPEAKER_03

Right, that's all we really got. It was weird. All right, cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, great. Thanks for hinting at it. But if she walked in with like with the shirt that she's been wearing, and then in the background um was Bronco, who's also part of Peros Demal. Um, but he was just chatting it up with his tag team champ, being like, bro, are we still you know champs? But he didn't wasn't in anything. Like that said his new faction. So if he had that shirt on, and then Carmen's walking past with her shirt on, everyone's like, fucking tie it all in together.

SPEAKER_03

If they if if they were actually to use that, that's a thing.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I think they are. They got the thumbs up to use it. And I mean, WWE owns from what I know, triple A, NXT, and then two big shows. And so whether that's like NIL type shit, but like, is it their likeness? Is it their product? Is it their they got the thumbs up from the original members of Pedros de Mal to wear the shirt, the logo, the everything, which is why they start why that's why they w wore it the other night on.

SPEAKER_03

If you're if you're if you're WWE and you need to go ahead and sign this deal with those members of saying, like, hey, sign over your sign over the rights, or pretty much essentially that's what they did. Or let us borrow them. Who do you send into negotiations? Is that a rey Mysterio? Is that an Undertaker?

SPEAKER_02

Like who that's probably both. I mean, Taker's doing great things down there, and he I'm sure he has the respect across the globe. Yeah, because I was gonna say right as well. Same, same, same thing. Not because he's the the GM, which I think is a fake title, but I mean he is Rey Mysterio.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think I think that would be great. I mean, because I mean imagine if you know Triple H shows up, like, oh, get the hell out of here. You know, get out of here, guy. Yeah, uh, we want to go ahead and uh make some t-shirts. Like, nah, man, just kick rocks. Uh, speaking about SmackDown and Damien Priest and everything that's happening on SmackDown, the links that have come out for this Friday night. So if you don't want to know what's happening, even though uh this podcast is coming out and you probably listen to it on Saturday. Um we're gonna go ahead and tell you anyways. Um, the big storyline out of SmackDown is that uh we need to do raw first that leads up to SmackDown?

SPEAKER_02

Do we need to go in chronological? No.

SPEAKER_03

No, no, I just want to read the story because this is the big story. All right, no, Gary, get out of here with your orders. Is uh Solo Sakoa is now get this, everybody.

SPEAKER_02

Wait, do I know that? Oh, I don't think I know what happened.

SPEAKER_03

You don't know this about Solo? Whatever, just go for it. He's now he's now he's now ready, he's now riding Solo.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, the other two members of the MFT have walked away on SmackDown and said that they're they're done. And so now this this leads a lot of things to Solo's character. Does he join the bloodline because you saw he started seeing him on Raw? You saw him jump in here and there with the storyline with Jacob. So do you see him going back to the bloodline?

SPEAKER_02

Um, I don't think right out the gate. Nope. I think uh Solo's never run solo before. Right. He's always been part of a faction. So to see him kind of be on his own for a little bit. Um maybe yeah, maybe he's on his own for a little bit, gets his ass kicked a few times, and realizes like shit. I actually need help and I I want to be back with my brothers, I want to be back with my cousin. Um yeah, so I don't I don't think immediately. But maybe we'll see what happens that night of champions over the weekend, maybe something else happened.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and that's the other thing too. It's like I don't I don't feel like that's a good move for Tama and Tala Tonga. Because I feel like the writing's on the wall for them, and they're gonna be probably pushed out in the next cuts. Yeah, or something, yeah. You know, maybe they will be in triple A soon. But there's something like that where it's like, uh, like why did you just break up this faction that had, you know, a decent storyline uh like a year ago, and now all of a sudden, like, okay, now they're breaking up. I'm like, oh I don't know about that, guys. When there's nothing left. Yes, all right. So that's that's the big uh the big league coming out of uh SmackDown. Oh, the other thing is that I had heard was that uh the attendance for SmackDown was horrible.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I heard that. Yeah, 4K. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

They said, well, they said raw now, they say 6K. So Raw had about like 13k uh in the in the O2 arena, which is what probably holds 15 to 17k, but you know, figure the stage and all that shit. Yeah, but this one what they did was since they taped it last night, um, the World Cup is happening, and so that's why a lot of a lot of the members of the audience did not attend because they attended the game or watch parties or whatever. I don't even know where that game happened last night, but uh they it was it was I think it was actually in Boston.

SPEAKER_02

Was it in Boston? It was either Boston or LA. I don't I think it wasn't Boston.

SPEAKER_03

I don't think it's LA. I think it was Boston. It was Boston, you say that?

SPEAKER_02

Yep, it was yeah, it definitely was. So all the French, yeah, they're all taking over that city. So yeah, but I mean it makes it make sense. People are going nuts for the World Cup. So World Cup or a random smackdown. Uh right.

SPEAKER_03

A random taped smackdown, yeah, might I add. And on top of that, they there's images showing uh from social media, I don't know how true this is, is that WWE decided to go ahead and play the World Cup game during commercial breaks. Did you see that on the Tron? Which is which is good because it's like that's how you have to keep your audience, but at the same time, don't you know about the schedule in advance? That's what I don't understand. Like, why did they schedule it like this and not try to maneuver at last minute? Like, oh, you know what? Hey, just kidding. But I do understand like other things and other dates, you know, other conflicts. Um, so scheduling issues, I totally get it, but still at the same time, I was like, come on, uh who is the show.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, uh yeah, hey, come on in, watch the game, and then you see all the players running down, it's about to be a goal, and then yeah, forever. Yeah, yeah, welcome to SmackDown.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, dude, imagine that. No, I'd be so pissed. I'd be like, I'm out, I'm out.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, like what the fuck? I would hate that shit, but yep.

SPEAKER_03

All right, so now so now we're all over the place, like always. You know me, let's yeah, per usual. Let's go ahead and talk about Monday Night Raw. Uh, we were all wrong about the king and queen of the ring brackets that you and I had. We had thought, well, I had thought it was gonna be Dominic Mysterio versus Finn Balor in the finals. Uh totally nope, that's not the case. I think I said what LA Knight probably Knight and Dom, I think, didn't you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh probably. Because I said that Rock was gonna take out Oba.

SPEAKER_03

Oba, yeah. So we were both wrong. It's uh Oba versus Jay Uso in the finals of the King of the Ring champion. And uh then for the Queen of the Ring, it's uh Eosky and Liv Morgan. And who did we say? We said I said Liv and Raquel.

SPEAKER_02

I think I said Charlotte and Eo?

SPEAKER_03

Did you okay?

SPEAKER_02

It works out. I don't think so. I remember I know I know I didn't say live. I think I said Charlotte to win. I don't remember who she was gonna go up against, but I'm pretty sure I said Charlotte to win. Hey, fact check us, everybody. Go back and listen to an old episode if Chris uploaded it.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, thanks for listening to last week's episode there, Gary. So he didn't even listen to it. Oh, Gary. I didn't know if it I didn't know if you posted it, so how would you not know? That's what you get now. Boring. God turn it up. What, Gary? Alright, in case you don't know, that's Maven's thing.

SPEAKER_02

You could have had a month on the show if you went to Vegas a day early.

SPEAKER_03

You know, that's the thing. I could not go to Vegas a day early. The my ride that I took uh did not leave until the next day. So that's why I could not attend CVV and Maven's um interview. Anyways, alright, so Monday Night Raw, we saw the oh the best part I think of Monday Night Raw for me was uh Danhausen and his and his uh human monies that he is. Oh, so great with Dom and JD.

SPEAKER_02

So over.

SPEAKER_03

So great. Are you gonna buy any Danhausen merch?

SPEAKER_02

No, it's because he's aligned with the New York Knicks, so he can go F himself.

SPEAKER_03

So why not? Oh well. Maybe he could uncurse the Boston Celtics if you pay him some human monies. Nah, we're alright. We'll be okay we'll be okay. I don't know. They weren't already. We'll be okay. Better than the Lakers. We'll be okay. Oh, yeah. I don't know about all that. Gary, everybody, Gary, you can follow him on Instagram at G Dubs33. Yep. Send all your complaints to him. Please do.

SPEAKER_02

I love I love the banter. I love interacting with people and tell them to fuck off after a while.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Block them.

SPEAKER_02

I don't want to listen to you anymore.

SPEAKER_03

I'm blocking you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, come back when you know what the hell you're talking about. G-Dub's out.

SPEAKER_03

Um so one thing that we do have to talk about is the new tag team champions. We are talking about the Street Prophets. And they are defeated.

SPEAKER_02

And we want the smoke. I love it.

SPEAKER_03

I was trying to find something else, but yeah, that'll work. Um so they defeated the Vision, Austin Theri, and Braun Breaker with the help and assist of Seth Rollins. And Joe Henry. No, I don't I don't have that music.

SPEAKER_01

He appears. I believe in Joe Henry. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Okay. So uh your thoughts on the Street Prophets gaining the championship right there on Monday Raw.

SPEAKER_02

Um, questioning it a little bit.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Kind of wondering why they took it off the vision. Um, I personally I feel Logan might not be back for as long, uh for you know longer than they think. Might be a little bit more time to heal. Austin Theres doing his thing, but they don't, but now they're just pulling Breaker in to basically fill in as a tag when they want to do more with Breaker. So fuck it. Let's take him off. Um nice to have Seth there to help as he really wasn't part of the show at all. Um, Joe Hendry was there. We haven't seen Joe Hendry on WWE TV in a while. Rumors have it. Him and others are having visa issues or something like that.

SPEAKER_03

So we oh, I didn't even hear about that.

SPEAKER_02

That's what I heard about two a couple weeks ago. Because if you look back, him, Ilya, Stephanie Vacay. There's a lot of people that we have not seen that are not, from my knowledge, full US citizens. Um I think I heard that he was one of them. So, you know, being overseas, it was easy for him to uh make the trip um over to London. We'll see if um him and others are back in the mix coming up on Rob when we're back in the States or SmackDown. Um I digress anyway. Um, but yeah, to see the Street Profits get it again. I love it. Um crowd seemed to me hell behind them. Um first ever, I believe, first ever five four-time champs. So SmackDown, Raw. Um, and now whatever this is, the world. I don't know. The the round the new round circle belts.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, the new uh the new penny ones.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, can't figure it out. They had like the they had the SmackDown ones, they had the red ones from Raw, NXT, the red ones from Raw, the blue ones, then like the newer square ones from SmackDown, the old school looking ones, and now these round ones on Raw. So yeah, good for them.

SPEAKER_03

Good for them.

SPEAKER_02

I like that way for six months, get their uh get their wives pregnant, come back, win the titles.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, yes. That's the that's the slogan of the championship now, apparently. Yep. Um, let's see. What else did we see on Like get laid, get the belts. Oh, yep, there it is. Put it on t-shirt. Put it on t-shirt, Gary. Start selling them.

SPEAKER_04

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

Visit Towers of PowerShop.com, too, by the way. Now we really don't have that. If you want a t-shirt, you could deal with it.

SPEAKER_02

If you want them, we'll go, we'll go do them.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, if you want those shirts, we'll go make them and we'll sell them to you. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

$19.99 plus shipping.

SPEAKER_03

A little bit more than that, but yeah, that's okay.

SPEAKER_02

$24.99 plus shipping.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, sure. We're losing the dollar now. Um, all right. So we do have to talk about what else on When and Era that happened. Uh, I'm trying to think off the top of my head, I just watched it too.

SPEAKER_02

Oba confronted Jay.

SPEAKER_03

That was a big yawn fest to me.

SPEAKER_02

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03

Yep. That uh I'm I'm not buying it. I'm not buying the hype.

SPEAKER_02

I think uh everyone's turned on Jay.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I think the other thing is that the best line that Oba delivered was like, uh, you know, you're not the one family member I'm worried about.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

I thought that was like the best line of the night, but I'm like, other than that, I'm like, I'm not I'm not buying it. I'm like, whatever. It's it's gonna be Oba. We all know it's gonna be Oba.

SPEAKER_02

Um do we think so okay? So you think it's gonna be Oba that's gonna win? Yeah, that means no Brock.

SPEAKER_04

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02

Or are we gonna fucking get Jay pushed down our throats even more? And we get what I discussed and thought of, and then really start to see a lot of people also jump on the bandwagon where he wins and goes after Roman.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So there's a couple things. We got that, we got Jay winning, he goes after Roman, or maybe this goes after Cody, and we'll see what happens over there. Um, but then something happens with Brock, and then you've got Oba Brock night one, Brock Roman on night two. I'm sorry, uh Oba Roman on night two. I mean, there's a lot of different things they can do. Um, I feel like we always have fun, and you know, all of us fans, we'd have fun coming up with these cool ideas, and then nothing happens, and then nothing happens. So um I will not be watching Knight of Champions live, but I will probably watch later in that day. But I'll be staying off social media, but excited to see kind of what happens. Um yeah, I mean, six matches. We got six matches.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, let's uh let's go to this. Let me pull the card.

SPEAKER_02

I don't think anything else happened on Raw. We even need to hit on that.

SPEAKER_03

No, not really. I mean, like it was a lot of I mean, we got to see the women's tag team champions. Yeah, uh, we saw uh uh Lyra turn on Bailey, or we don't know, you know, she busted out and full of emotions. It's all weird, man. It's all all right. Well, let's go ahead and run down the card for night of champions. I mean, that's kind of money in a nutshell. There's really nothing else that happened, I believe. Let me see, let me see, besides believing in Joe Henry. Um didn't think there was anything else, really. I mean, let's sit down with Seth.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, and like you said, Danhausen. I mean, he zapped, he zapped Cardona, yeah, which was funny. He goes, Oh, exactly. No, it's Matt. He zapped him.

SPEAKER_00

He goes, Oh, woo, woo, woo, woo.

SPEAKER_02

And he goes, Oh, yeah, he goes, Yeah, you know it, and walks off. I'm like, I mean, he's just zapping everybody back to like factory settings, as LA Knight would say, which is hysterical, yeah. Uh zapped J D and now he's walking around not knowing where he is, introducing himself to everybody. I mean, maybe there's a breakdown with the judgment day, we can hit on that.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I think I think so. I mean, like, you know, live Liv being the leader really kind of pushed Roxanne out of the picture on Monday. And Raquel and Raquel a little bit, you know, but she did come come back and say, Oh, Raquel, you know, you're gonna become the women's uh IC champion for the judgment day, so don't even worry. And then that's when Roxanne's like, well, what about me? Well, uh, we gotta get JD to the medical.

SPEAKER_02

So just kind of Raquel, Raquel was just like, I don't want to be IC champ, I want to be women's champ. So there's gonna be a lot more unfold. I think that this is the slow roll as they get through Knight of Champions and slow roll even through SummerSlam.

SPEAKER_03

So well, that's why I thought Knight of Champions would have been great to have that implosion of the judgment day with with you know Dom and Finn, and then on the other side having it live Raquel or Liv and Roxanne for Queen of the Ring. I thought that would have been great, but you know. Yeah, I'm not a writer, neither are you. No, nope. But let's go ahead and talk about Knight of Champions. Speaking of which, it's happening on Saturday. Uh on ESPN for the first match, and then going to the PLE format. But the very first match that's gonna be on there is gonna be for the world heavyweight uh not the world heavyweight championship, but the WWE championship. Cody Rhodes taking on Gunther and Sami Zayn triple threat match to kick it off. Oh, the first match? That's the very first match. That's what they said in live from Riyadh. Um on ESPN. On ESPN, the Ocho. Uh just kidding, just on regular ESPN. What do you think of that?

SPEAKER_01

Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

It it eh it's Cody. Yeah, I mean, that's I think that's why it's the first match. That's why it's gonna be on um on on ESPN, it's gonna be on first. So it's one of those like meh. I I don't know. I don't know. I mean, when you look at the card, I mean it makes sense. Um maybe maybe Seth and Braun, but I feel like they already had that as one of their live their ESPN ones on a couple pay-per-views ago or PLEs ago. Um yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_03

You know what's funny is that I'm looking at the card right now, and it just looks like a glorified SmackDown. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That's what all the PLEs are have become a glorified Raw or SmackDown.

SPEAKER_03

You know, and I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's just the lack of development with New Talent. Oh, yeah, that's the other thing on SmackDown, uh, that you probably saw uh or maybe you read about is that we finally got to see the debut of Blake Monroe.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03

So Blake will be there finally live on the blue brand on a tape show with half empty arena. So kudos to her on that. Um Trick Williams. Oh, by the way, congratulations, Trick Williams and Last Legend, who tie the knots over the weekend.

SPEAKER_01

Yep, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03

He's gonna be defending the U.S. champion against Ricky Starks I don't want to say Saints, Saints, yeah, Saints. I was gonna say Starks. I forget which one it is, man. So close to it, it should be Ricky.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

Uh who's going over? Trick. Trick, definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, not even not even a question. Because there's no other storylines for him right now. If he uh if he drops that to Ricky, what's he gonna do? He's gonna what? Well, now chase it, maybe feud with Melo.

SPEAKER_03

Melo, I mean well, on this point, he just got married, so maybe he drops it that way. He takes a honeymoon to take time off.

SPEAKER_02

Maybe, you know, maybe what is it?

SPEAKER_03

You rest up late, and what is it?

SPEAKER_02

I just don't, but I also just don't see him strapping this belt on Ricky Saints. I don't think he's done enough yet, and the crowd's not even there's no pop. There's no pop at all. Like, okay, let me go. That that's that's their popcorn break. That's your bathroom break. Yeah, and he's coming on. I mean, he was huge in AEW, huge on independence. Um, pretty big on NXT, big pop when he came on. As soon as he got called up, it's just like, yeah, okay. Who's he facing?

SPEAKER_03

Yep. All right. Well, we're gonna see the women's US Championship on the line. Tiffany Stratton taking on Jade Cargill. Your thoughts on this match, who's gonna win? Um, I could see either that's the other thing, too, on SmackDown that's leaked out is that her she got like zero crowd reaction. I'm talking about Tiffany Stratton as she came out. Yeah, all right. Carry on.

SPEAKER_02

Your thoughts. I don't know. I'm good with either one winning, to be honest with you. Um, Jade wins, there's another belt for her. Um she looks fine with a belt on. Um Tiffany, if she loses, now she can go into this tag um with Chelsea Green and maybe go after those belts. Uh or she keeps it, or she keeps the U.S. title. I don't I don't know. I'm good either way. But uh I would like to see personally go Tiff.

SPEAKER_03

Go Tiff. Okay. In a Steel Cage match, Seth Rollins taking on Braun Breaker. Oh, I think this one's gonna be probably I think this is gonna be the main event.

SPEAKER_02

I don't uh I think I think Oba's the main event.

SPEAKER_03

Really? You would put Oba and on the main event?

SPEAKER_02

Yep. I think if you're starting with Cody, and I'm looking at the image too. Yeah, you're starting with that match. I think your your co-main event will be Seth Breaker, followed by Oba and Jay, with something happening.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, if something happens, like a Brock, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

If something happens, if if Seth and Braun are before or like the second to last match, something big is happening. If Oba and Jay are the second to last match, then we'll see what happens. Is what it is.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and then nothing really will happen. But no, you're right. If if it is Oba and Jay closing the show, I'm sure Riyadh, I'm sure you know they pay Brock a lot of money to show up and do something there. So I can totally.

SPEAKER_02

Here's a couple million, and here's a plane ticket. See you there. Yep, five minutes of pay. Must be nice.

SPEAKER_03

Yep. Queen of the Ring will be determined between Liv Morgan and Eo Sky. I personally think it's gonna be EO, but I know the fans kind of want Liv.

SPEAKER_02

It's so stupid.

SPEAKER_03

I mean should have been somebody else, though. Yep. We all said that this that these people don't need the crowns because they're already established stars. Yep, you needed an established new stars.

SPEAKER_02

Even if they lose at SummerSlam to the champ, at least they're getting their flowers. They came out of this whole tournament, they get to Markey on SummerSlam. Like uh I think they did this whole tournament dirty, to be honest. There's so many better more so on the women's side. I think they fucked up, yeah. Um, and that's not saying, I mean, if Charlotte was uh was in place of EO, I think is this more storytelling, but again, she's had her flowers, she's been what a 14-time champ. Yeah, um 13 or 14. Honestly, Eo would go up against Liv again, I think at SummerSlam. I don't think she would go after Rhea. Um, but if Liv wins, I think there's more it's more of a fun story, it's title for title. Um, and then are you unifying? Like, are they gonna start bringing back these unification titles again? I don't think so. I don't think so. So I I don't I don't know. I mean, if Liv challenges Rhea, let's say, if Rhea wins, is she double champ? Yes, yeah, it's the winner, the winner gets both belts. So I I don't I don't know what they would what what what's the point in doing it unless they're just like, yep, cool, okay, Rhea, give us one of those belts back. We're gonna do a whole other tournament to decide a winner.

SPEAKER_03

So yeah, in in a couple months.

SPEAKER_02

Right. So yeah, I I guess I mean what happened is two belt. Yeah, I mean, I I guess Eo. But I mean, is that too predictable?

SPEAKER_03

Probably. So Yeah, really. I mean I'm just very disappointed in this card. Okay, and then the last match, Oba and Jay for King of the Ring. Yeah, we're are we both saying Oba if if things don't happen? Yeah, oh god, yeah. So what I remember Knight of the Champions being when they first developed this pay-per-view, because that's what it was, was that every major title was on the line. In this one, there's no tag, there's no IC. There's there's missing elements to this. There's no women's championship. There's no, yeah, solo women's championship. It's the US. Right.

SPEAKER_02

Like you have three of your what, eight belts?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and there's no world. You know? So it's like, what are we doing here? Why why that's what I think I I struggle with seeing this card, like visually looking at it. I'm like, man, that's why I'm like saying it's a SmackDown or it's a RAW.

SPEAKER_02

I don't mind having the tournament finals, which I think is cool because you're leading into some sort of a championship match. But it really should be every single belt plus these two um qualifiers for the finals of um the King of the Ring final matches. That's all that should be on here. So there really should be what eight eight matches, maybe.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, but I I loved, yeah, I loved King of the Ring back in the day where it was like one night, here's a tournament bracket, and you go. And you have the the world heavyweight championship in there too, the WWE championship, whatever it was. That was great. You know, this is like meh, you know, like okay, who can we put on the card like right now? God, it's just yeah, very disappointing, very, very extremely disappointing.

SPEAKER_02

Again, I don't I'm trying to like remember the last time we had like a decent pay-per-view of PLE that we were super looking excited, like super excited for WrestleMania 40. Yeah, that's going to be popping up. Like that's that's it. Everything else has been like there's just nothing that's sticking out to me as hell yeah, I cannot wait to sit down for the next two and a half hours and just relax and watch. I'm like, ugh, okay. I can jump in the pool at this time, I can go have lunch during this one. Like, maybe we'll take my dog for a walk during this match, and I'll come back and check this one out in the end.

SPEAKER_03

Like, and the next thing you know, you're gone for two hours and you're like, oh, it's already over. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02

But hey, I got two hours of post-show and two hours of pre-show. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Ugh. That's what we think of that. Yeah. All right. Uh, you know, one thing that we do have to talk about is NXT is also having their first PLE on the CW. Yep. The Great American Bash is happening. Don't know when. I don't remember. I just remember hearing about it. This this Sunday. Is it this Sunday?

SPEAKER_02

4 p.m. Pacific, seven east.

SPEAKER_03

There you go, Gary. Get it.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hire me.

SPEAKER_03

Well, um, let's go ahead and talk about AEW real quickly. You know, we did talk kind of talk about it. Um, but AEW is coming to town. San Diego, this is where we're based. They're coming here July 1st. Get your tickets right now at ticketmaster.com. I was just on the website. There are still some great seats available. Uh, this is not a pay to ad from AEW, but I will say, uh, for a week, if you could visually see Allegiant Stadium and maybe the top section of Allegiant Stadium out of WrestleMania was like $300 and something dollars. I think it was like $380, $350, like way up here. And for $100 less, for $225, you could sit way down here in the front row at AEW. So there still are some tickets available at ticketmaster.com. I don't know if we'll be there or not. Um, so yeah, we will cross our fingers. If I can if I can't go, maybe Gary could go represent.

SPEAKER_02

No, you're coming with me.

SPEAKER_03

We'll see. We might have to wait and see. Scheduling might be some issues for me on my end. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Um, we'll make it work. I'll make you proud if I'm there by myself.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Okay. Put him in a I got a couple I can think of. Good. Ryan? Ryan? Ryan.

SPEAKER_01

Ryan!

SPEAKER_03

Brian, Brian, Ryan. No, okay. Brian, hold on, hold on, Brian, Brian. I don't think he's over there either. No, is he over here? Oh no. Damn. No, I guess not. I can't even hit this button. I want to do my echo effect. Hold on, hold on. I'm gonna see you. No, no, no, no, it's not going for me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Damn.

unknown

Damn.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, pretty much. That's more like it.

SPEAKER_03

There we go. Perfect. Um, so yeah, so what we can see, and you want to talk about TNA Slamiversary happening in Boston?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, this weekend. Uh one of their bigger shows of the year. Um, I believe it's Mike Santana, Dolph Ziggo has called him out. So that will be um the championship match of the night. And I've heard a lot of other matches, great matches that will be happening as well. Again, I think there's also a couple of surprises, uh, people that will be showing up as well. So, I mean, check it out. If you're on the East Coast listening in, as I know some of my buddies are, um, I'm pretty sure they're gonna be going to the show as well.

SPEAKER_03

Who is it? Who is James Stern's tag team? What was that called? Beer Money? There was a couple that there was Beer Money, and what was it?

SPEAKER_02

And then there was another one with him and um Wildcat Chris Harris, America's Most Wanted.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, dang, I don't know. Remember, but I just saw a video on social with him coming out with somebody, and he brought out beer. So I'm I don't know who it was.

SPEAKER_02

So I think I saw that video. That was America's Most Wanted. He did um the other one with Bobby Roode. Yes, that's right. That's why I yeah, he wouldn't be out TBL.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so they came out and they you know, they kind of cheers. I thought he was gonna come out and say, Hey, at Slamaversary, we're gonna jump in one more time. That would have been great.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, because what you got Edging Christian, um, or Copen Cage, or the fucking Copen Cage.

SPEAKER_03

Stupid sounds like an old TV show, huh? After a brand new family matters, we got Copen Cage.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, exactly. Fucking stupid, but whatever. But yeah, so anniversary of this weekend, Aganis Arena, uh, Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_03

Everything's Boston, huh? Boston, Boston, Boston. Do it. Um, one other rumor that I do want to talk about. I don't know if you had heard this that uh allegedly motor city machine guns have reached a deal with AEW.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, good for them.

SPEAKER_03

And also the new day. Awesome. That's what I'm thinking is gonna happen come Wednesday in San Diego. I'm saying it right now because it's a taping. It's Forbidden Door, by the way. It's collision dynamite and the forbidden door. Um we need to go. I'm gonna figure it out. I need to figure out my schedule. Let's I'm just gonna be honest. I'm scheduled at work that night. Okay, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. Um, I'm gonna go. Can I get an early shift so that way I can attend everything? Because I can't I really can't miss out on things. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. It is an early start. What time does it start?

SPEAKER_02

Probably three or four. Oh, yeah. If I can get off like at two, yeah, maybe two o'clock. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Start switching up.

SPEAKER_03

I'm trying, I'm trying, but nobody, nobody's biting over here.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, Jesus.

SPEAKER_03

So I know. So that's how I'm like, uh, but we'll wait and see what happens. Uh, you never know. We might we might be there, we might not. I don't know. But uh, yeah, you know, one thing that we got to do is wrap it up right now, and let's go ahead and Gary give everybody our socials.

SPEAKER_02

Uh at G Dubs33 on Instagram, at Gary underscore Dubin on Twitter, and at Towers PowerPod. Towers PowerPod on Twitter.

SPEAKER_03

At on Instagram. We are at Towers of PowerPod, also on TikTok as well. Don't forget to go ahead and like, subscribe, share this podcast. Like I say at the end of each and every podcast, we are in the wrist community just like you. We want to go ahead and grow, develop, share. If you have ideas, if you have comments, DM us. You can go ahead and DM me directly at Hollywood Chris as well. And we will see you guys again next time.

SPEAKER_04

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Contributor

Chris Martinez - Hollywood Chris

Host