
Beyond The Mat with JoshhyWrestling
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Beyond The Mat with JoshhyWrestling
From AEW Forbidden Door to WWE Clash in Paris | Ep 6
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Sometimes life’s biggest moments happen when we least expect them. After an incredible weekend of wrestling, I got engaged to my best friend and partner — a personal milestone I’ll never forget.
This episode covers everything from the wrestling side of the weekend:
- AEW Forbidden Door – incredible match quality, standout moments, and the unique energy of the O2 Arena crowd.
- WWE Liverpool house show – the magic of non-televised events, from CM Punk and LA Knight’s antics to genuine unscripted moments between wrestlers and fans.
- Clash in Paris preview – predictions for John Cena vs. Logan Paul, Seth Rollins’ World Heavyweight Championship fatal four-way, Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed, and more.
- Thoughts on Becky Lynch’s evolving heel run, new entrance themes, and long-term storytelling in modern wrestling.
A weekend of unforgettable wrestling moments and life-changing memories — and I can’t wait to share it all with you.
👉 Subscribe, rate 5 stars, and send your questions in for next week!
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Ladies and gentlemen, it is Wednesday, the 27th of August, and that means that it's time for a brand new episode of the Beyond the Map podcast. I would like to welcome you to episode number six. Man, these things are absolutely flying Six weeks of doing this already. Tuesday night is my favorite night every single week, because I get to sit here and record the podcast, I get to answer the long form questions that you guys send in, and it genuinely is the best time of the week for me, as always. If you've got any questions, if you'd like to talk about the podcast more, then drop a comment. Wherever you are watching or listening whether that be YouTube or Spotify, amazon, even Apple, we are all over the place Leave a comment, leave a nice five-star review, if you could. It really does help push the podcast more to more and more people. It gets us up the rankings. Not that I really understand how any of these rankings work yet, but I'm certain that a five-star review or a good comment, et cetera, et cetera, does help us get the podcast in more places and in front of more people. I appreciate you tuning in every single week. This is episode number six and we have so, so much to talk about today. It has been an incredible week for me. We have got an incredible weekend coming up, that is, with Clash in Paris coming up this weekend, but first we have to go back one week. This week, I'm going to say it, I'm going to say it, it and there is gonna be people watching this this has been the best week of my life. I can't lie to you. Right, we're gonna go, we're gonna kick things off not wrestling related, but we did get engaged, ladies and gentlemen, we did get engaged. I have proposed to my best friend, the, the most beautiful girl in the entire world and I'm sat here on the internet saying that for her to to come back and refer to on a on a regular basis. That is right. We were at AEW Forbidden Door this past weekend and it happened. It happened. I mean, the wrestling was fantastic, but that, by far, was the biggest moment of all of the week.
Speaker 1:So things started, uh, on the Saturday for WWE Liverpool, where the entire family come down, and we attended the WWE Liverpool show. Obviously, this is a part of the Clash in Paris tour and it was just a very, very, very good night. A very star-studded lineup. We had the likes of Jimmy Uso. We had the US champion, solo Sokoa and his whole team out there. We had Tala Tonga. We had Jacob Fatu. We had who else did we have? We had a real range of fantastic advances. Eo Sky, roxanne Perez we had. It was a fantastic night. Fantastic night, lots of great matches. I think we had nine or 10 really good matches. We had CM Punk, we had LA Knight, we had Penta, we had the entirety of the Judgment Day and I absolutely cannot fault how good of a night that house show was.
Speaker 1:And house shows are a lot of fun because if you haven't been to a house show and you're looking and thinking, well, I'd prefer to go to one that's on Netflix or whatever, it being a Friday Night Smackdown or a Monday Night Raw, then honestly take it from me. I feel that house shows are so, so worth it. They have so much more fun with it, and that's solely because there's not a camera on them. You know we're having Penta LA night and CM Punk at the end of the night doing the Penta walk. You're not getting those kinds of things on television. You know you're getting EO Sky taking a fan's sign post or sign from the crowd and she's in the ring, you know, kind of running around with it. You're having Bayley, having fans in the audience, little children singing the hey Bayley chant. You know you don't get this kind of fun on the televised shows and whilst the televised shows are fantastic they really are, because you are on Netflix with Monday Night Raw or Friday Night Smackdown there's just so much pressure taken off on the live shows and that they are honestly a lot more fun, despite the televised shows being very story-driven. You know we're running a television program with all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:I would a hundred percent recommend get to a live show, probably before you go to a televised show, because they're just so much fun. Everything's a lot more relaxed. You know, referees I've seen doing flips and and also it's just a genuinely is a good time If you can get to anything. Get yourself to a live show. Also, televised shows are just so so much more expensive as well. You can pick up live show tickets for a very, very reasonable price, and that's exactly what we did. So I went with my brother, I went with my step-mom and my dad and my now fiance and we had a really, really good time. I'd recommend going. I really, really would.
Speaker 1:The next night we were in London. We traveled to London for AEW Forbidden Door. We had a blast. We had such a blast. It was an absolutely incredible card. If you haven't seen any of that show, I'd 100% recommend it. I believe it's on Amazon or AEW via Triller and it was just a really, really good PLE.
Speaker 1:I've never been to an AEW show before. We haven't had that many opportunities. We obviously have had two all-ins and we've had a couple of dynamites and stuff like that, but I've never been able to go. And this right here was something that is going to set the tone Every time that they come to the UK. Now I'm going to find myself attending AEW shows because the PLE quality is extremely high for AEW and it seems to be super, super consistent. It seems to be like this for a very long time AEW constantly putting on a very high quality consistently on a regular basis, like every month or so they point something on. That's incredible. All Out goes down on the 20th of September. I'm very, very excited for that. But Forbidden Door 2025 was just absolutely incredible. I found it to be very, very predictable. It felt like a lot of the matches were very predictable, except kind of the three-way tag match for the World Championships, but nevertheless they came back to the UK.
Speaker 1:The O2 Arena is a fabulous arena. It has air conditioning, which is absolutely huge, and not a lot of arenas have air conditioning. You wouldn't believe it. If you're an American fan listening to this, you're probably thinking, wow, that's crazy, because I know you guys have got some really nice venues. But yeah, the O2 is one of the only venues I'm pretty certain to have air conditioning.
Speaker 1:The seats were beautiful. We were sat in the first tier but about four or five rows up, so the view was, yeah, I wouldn't change any of it for the world. It's a very, very great view. It was a very good night. We had lots of pyro. We had, obviously Edge Edge was there Adam Copeland, so we got to do the acapella version of Metalingus and that was just a beautiful moment.
Speaker 1:The lights-out steel cage match 5v5, out of this world. Okada. We had Nigel McGuinness versus Zack Sabre Jr for the IWGP title, world Heavyweight title, mercedes Monet in her fatal four-way. We had Tony Storm versus Athena. It was just a fantastic night and if you haven't already seen AEW Forbidden Door, I'd 100% check it out.
Speaker 1:And if you would like to go to a live show when they're in the UK. I'd 100% recommend it because to me, the level of quality in those PLEs by AEW right now is insane. They are on fire right now and I just cannot wait. I'm going to go to AEW All In next year. That's in Wembley Stadium and tickets are going to be quite cheap. For that I mean, tickets for what we got on Sunday were great, very, very reasonably priced. We were, like I said, about five rows up on the first tier and it was about 130 pounds, so you're looking at about 65 pounds per person and, honestly, I could not have asked for better seats. It was an incredible night and the best was still yet to come.
Speaker 1:Now, I know that this is a wrestling podcast, but I'm going to talk about it because lots of people have asked me about it. Lots of people have messaged me about it. When I've put asking for questions for this week's podcast, people want to know, people want to know. So I'm going to talk about the biggest thing that's happened to me this past weekend in my life, by the way and that was the engagement to my beautiful now fiance man. It's going to sound boring, but it was magical. It really was magical.
Speaker 1:So we completed, we finished AW. We got back on the train and the tube about an hour 30. I'm like I knew I was going to do it. I knew I was going to do it. I took the ring with me. I actually took the ring in the camera box, the camera that you are watching me on right now. I told her look, I'm going to take the camera. I took the camera and I put the ring in the camera box because I know she was not going to look in there. Why would she look at the camera box? And she even said to me why did you bring that camera box? She said I was wondering why he brought the camera box. So, anyway, I brought the camera box. She had no idea. We got back.
Speaker 1:There was two kind of stipulations on how I could not do this proposal. Okay, we've been together four years at this point. I, a wasn't allowed to do it in front of people and, b, I was not allowed to do it in Paris, as if people are in Paris every week, but we are in Paris next week, in fact, or this week for Clash in Paris. So I mean, there it was yeah. So we got back you know I'm not going to go too mush about it and I did it in the hotel room and, yeah, it was a beautiful moment, a very, very beautiful moment that we shared and, yeah, I'm incredibly happy, incredibly happy. That's how it was done. It was done in the hotel room. I rang the hotel by the way, I'm not going to call them out, but I rang the hotel asking them if they could do something, and they said, no, can you believe it? Can you believe it? They said no, they would not assist me in the completion of the engagement. Anyway, it was a beautiful moment. It was a moment that I would cherish for the rest of my life and I, yeah, I overwhelmed with happiness, overwhelmed with all the messages of people reaching out and saying we're such a beautiful couple and, yeah, genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, if you message, if you've reached out, then thank you so so much. I really appreciate it. Marriage is not something I always considered, but yeah, this girl changed that man, this girl changed that. So that's enough of the mush stuff.
Speaker 1:This is a wrestling podcast. People have asked how it was done. It was done in a hotel room and it was beautiful, it was magical and that is that. Back to the questions. We've got Keith, my man Keith, who actually did ask me to kind of go into a bit of detail about how I did all the proposal and stuff. But but we're gonna go back to the wrestling stuff. She's had enough emotion now I know she's gonna be watching this bag. She's gonna be critiquing everything. I say, oh, you didn't say this, didn't say this. Um, I love you. I love you. Okay, let's crack on. Keith said what is my mount rushmore of wwe titles? Because he knows that the Mount Rushmore question is one that a lot of people ask on a regular basis. So we're going to this one I thought was quite unique by Keith and I like it. I like it a lot.
Speaker 1:He is asking me what is my Mount Rushmore of WWE titles? Well, the original when I first got into wrestling. It's around like the John Cena Maga days. It's around the Undertaker versus Batista for the world title. It's around like the John Cena Umaga days. It's around the Undertaker versus Batista for the world title. It's around the Triple H. It's around the Shawn Michaels.
Speaker 1:So for me, two straight off the bat, right there are the WWE spinner belt. It's an absolutely beautiful belt. A lot of people hate it. A lot of people really hate that belt not me. I absolutely love that belt and the OG, quite not OG, but the big gold. The big gold is what I'm saying, the one that the Undertaker held, the one that Batista held, triple H. You know, you guys know which World Heavyweight title I'm talking about. The big gold, the one before. We kind of currently already have the WWE spinner, absolutely made by John Cena, made famous by John Cena. Edge then went on to make a different version of it, the rated R one. That was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Black and gold NXT belt as well for me, because I believe that the black and gold NXT era was probably one of my favorite times in wrestling. Yeah, nxt hits so much different during the black and gold days. You know, we're talking your Alistair Blacks, we're talking your Undisputed Era. We're talking, I mean, who else are we talking? A lot of great names during that black and gold days. You know your Tommaso Ciampa, your Johnny Gargano. Yeah, I mean, without a doubt, my favorite period of the NXT days was black and gold Some of the matches. Andrade, I mean, without a doubt, my favorite period of the NXT days was was black and gold. Some of the matches, andrade, um, you know, tomas Ciampa and Johnny Gargano went on forever. Adam Cole, one of my favorite favorite ever. To be fair, you know, his style, um is just one that I've always been drawn to. Absolutely love it, um.
Speaker 1:One thing I forgot to mention before I went into that question I didn't mean to really go into that question that quick, if I'm honest is we've got Clash in Paris this weekend and it is shaping up to what I think is a pretty fun card. A lot of people saying that they dislike the card or they're not doing enough for the card. Joe, I think it's good if we go into a little bit of predictions around Clash in Paris. I am going to be in attendance for Clash in Paris. If you do spot me, if you would like to meet, then please do drop me a message and I would absolutely love to meet people you know, get some pictures and just talk about the show that is coming up Right now. I think it's only right that we talk predictions.
Speaker 1:Kicking off John Cena versus Logan Paul. It is the retirement tour. John Cena has three opponents left after this, 11 dates left after clashing in Paris this weekend, and he's taking on Logan Paul. Now Logan Paul to me feels like a little bit of a letdown in given in the names that we could have seen him against. We've got AJ Styles, we've got Penta I think would be a lot of fun Dominic Mysterio I mean we heard John Cena say the other day on Friday Night Smackdown, a list of the names that people wanted to take on Bron Breaker also on that list, roman Reigns also on that list. There are a lot of names that we would have really loved John Cena to take on in his final, you know, kind of during his calendar year. But Logan Paul wasn't there.
Speaker 1:For me I didn't think. I really didn't think, and I'm not saying that Logan doesn't deserve it. I think Logan is a very, very good natural athletic wrestler. Athletic wrestler. He is very good in the ring. Incredibly his ability to stay calm under pressure. He's great in the big moment spots. He has become very, very good and quite annoying in the sense because a lot of people don't like him as a person. I understand that completely, but I'm talking about Logan Paul the wrestler, not to be confused with Logan Paul the person, obviously. So for Logan to get this opportunity against John, I think is huge for him and not one that I saw coming, but nevertheless these two had a really good back and forth exchange last week on Friday Night Smackdown. We know that Logan Paul hit Cena right at the end of the show when Nick Aldis came in and said I've just heard from Brock Lesnar, I've just heard from Brock Lesnar. And then, just before Nick Aldis says what he had heard from Brock Lesnar, in comes Logan Paul with the right fist. He is out cold For this match.
Speaker 1:I do not see any other outcome than John Cena winning this match. A few people calling for a Brock Lesnar return. I do not think we're going to see Brock Lesnar return in Paris. I don't think we're going to see that. I think they're going to set up their over-the-limit pay-per-view or sorry, not over-the-limit WrestlePalooza on the 20th of September. We know that that's probably going to go one-on-one with AEW All Out, which is obviously a shame.
Speaker 1:I know we touched on that, but I can't see Cena losing. I cannot see Cena losing this match, whilst Logan Paul is all of those great things that I said he is. I just think he is going to have a great match with Cena. I think it's going to be a good match because, with Cena at the helm controlling the match and Logan with that, you know, athletic, athletic, you know, we know how good. I think we'll see something crazy like a five-star frog splash to the outside table, something that makes Cena look absolutely incredible, even if he has to do it a few times to see Super Cena. We want to see Super Cena, and I think we will, in a match against Logan Paul. Look, I'm quite excited for this match. Whether it be Logan Paul or not, I think these two are going to actually cook. I think it will be a good match, but I do feel that the outcome of this match will be a John Cena win.
Speaker 1:What else do we have on the card? We also have the World Heavyweight Championship up for grabs. Seth freaking Rollins to Fens against CM Punk, la Knight and Jey Uso. This is going to be a cracker match as well. Do you know what? I think they're all going to be cracker matches. I think they're all going to be very, very good matches behind a crowd that is going to be absolutely booming. I mean, the crowd is going to be absolutely booming, I'm certain of it. We have seen a backlash last year, aj Styles versus Cody Rhodes. This French crowd is incredible. The French crowd with the phenomenal chant are incredible. The French crowd when there is a two count, one, two sacre mode. I mean that's not great French, I'm certain, but I need to learn it because I'm going to be there this weekend. Yes, I think, predictable. I think Seth retains the belt. You know, first real challenge on a PLE. I can't see him losing the belt. In fairness, the way he won it it's kind of the second best heist of the century. Could be the biggest heist of the century. I just can't see any other result here than a Seth Rollins win.
Speaker 1:We've got Sheamus versus Rusev in a good old-fashioned Donnybrook match. A lot of people call this underwhelming. I get it. I get it. We've seen Sheamus and Rusev definitely more than three times. Kind of the official word on WWE is that this would be the third match or second match. I don't know. They keep calling it the third match, but I feel like we have seen this match go down definitely more than three times. But I would like to see it culminate and end in Clash in Paris.
Speaker 1:A good old fashioned Donnybrook match Sheamus versus Rusev. I think Sheamus takes the win here. I think Sheamus needs needs to get past Rusev and then enter into the talks for the IC title. He has never won an Intercontinental Championship in his life and I think it's only perfect that he goes on from here to take on a particular, a good route towards the IC title. I would have quite liked to see Sheamus versus John Cena. If I'm honest, maybe what we could have really had if I was to kind of re-fantasize this a little bit would be John Cena versus Dominic Mysterio for the IC title. Maybe Cena wins it there and then maybe Sheamus comes in and takes the belt and we're kind of killing two birds with one stone there. I think Sheamus wins this match and then goes on to take on Dom down the road If AJ Styles doesn't take it off him on the Monday coming up, aj Styles versus Sheamus who doesn't want to see that?
Speaker 1:We've also got Bronson Reed versus Roman Reigns. I do think these matches are quite predictable. I'm going to be there, which is exciting. Would I like to see a less predictable lineup? Absolutely, but this is the matchup that we've got, so I'm absolutely going to run with it.
Speaker 1:Roman Reigns versus Bronson Reed We've got the Vision. Who have kind of been beating up Roman Reigns. Every time he's kind of shown his face at Raw and on this instance I can see Roman Reigns absolutely defeating the Shoe of Fala. I love the Bronson Reed stuff. Currently he's taking shoes and showing his dominance, asserting his dominance, and he has become the Shoe of Fala, the tribal thief. I love that. I love the entire arc. It's completely different. I think Roman Reigns wins. The question is does Roman Reigns take back all the shoes that has been stolen? I mean, he's currently got two pairs Bronson Reed currently. Does Roman Reigns take them back after the pin or does he stay as the tribal thief? Quite hard to say. Nevertheless, roman Reigns, I'm certain, will pick up the victory in this match.
Speaker 1:Finally, what we've also now got booked as well Becky Lynch defending the Intercontinental Championship against Nikki Bella. That's an interesting matchup. That's a very, very interesting matchup. I don't think Nikki Bella's going to take the belt Outright. Just do not think Nikki Bella will take the belt. These two have been back and forth for a little while.
Speaker 1:A lot of people and I say a lot of people Kelly Osbourne is very, very upset at Becky Lynch and Becky Lynch was, you know she probably deserved to be upset a little bit about. So this past weekend in Birmingham she was talking about Ozzy and how you know, to be fair to Ozzy, at least he moved to LA so that he didn't stay in Birmingham and something around I can't really remember the exact phrase off my head, but if something, obviously some comments around Ozzy passing, and you know she would too if she lived in Birmingham and all that kind of stuff Kelly Osbourne coming out, she's not happy with that and I saw Becky Lynch reply under what Kelly Osbourne said and said oh, what did she say? Get over yourself. Drama there.
Speaker 1:Becky Lynch versus Kelly Osbourne at WrestleBluza let's book that. Let's book that. Becky Lynch, no doubt, is going to walk out the Women's Intercontinental Champion here. We also have Dominic Mysterio defending the IC title against AJ Styles the night after at Monday Night Raw. I'm very excited for that match, but I would have loved to see it on the Clash in Paris card.
Speaker 1:Do. I think this current card is going to stay at five. I think we could be adding some more matches. In all honesty, I think we could get Randy Orton versus Drew McIntyre. We could quite possibly get Cody Rhodes versus Drew McIntyre. I just feel that we can have one or two matches on this card. I really could. I really really do believe that. I think it's going to be a great card, though, and I'm very, very excited to be there.
Speaker 1:If you do spot me, please do come and say hi. It would be great to meet as many people as possible. We've had that at the shows we've been at this past week AEW Forbidden Door lots of people coming up to me and saying hi, and it's such a great feeling, same as WWE Liverpool as well. A few people up and just saying hi. It's really, really cool. It's really really really a surreal moment when people say hi to me because they recognize me from videos. They say I've seen your videos. It's the coolest thing in the world. It really really is.
Speaker 1:Very excited for Clash in Paris. Very excited for the Monday Night Raw that follows on. We're going to be traveling out this Saturday. We have got everything booked, we're ready to go and, yeah, excited to go on holiday, very excited to go on holiday. We're also going to be doing Disneyland Paris as well. That's going to be very fun, me and my fiance, yeah, it's going to be great. It's going to be a really, really good time. We are very, very much looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Let's roll back to the question, shall we? We have got here. Hannah is asking do you like Becky Lynch's new theme? So when I first heard it, when she debuted it at SummerSlam, I was like, really, what are we really we're losing? This song, Like her previous song, was very, very good. It was very recognizable. People love it, people pop for it and at first I really did not like this song and I think that's solely because I really like the other song is the issue, and therefore it left that thought in my head that no, I don't like it, and I think that was just because of the previous song. When she came out in Dublin last week for Friday Night Smackdown, there really should have been a huge pop for Becky Lynch, but because it was her new theme, I don't think people knew who it was until they saw her standing on the entry. So I think that's what the issue was with this is that they debuted the song, no one knew it. Everyone hated it straight away because they weren't familiar with it. And then this past week in her hometown of Dublin Island, where the crowd should have been absolutely going berserk for Becky Lynch, a hometown hero, they didn't because they didn't know it was until she was stood on the entry. I thought that was quite funny, but I can't lie to you, the theme has grown on me. It really has grown on me, I think.
Speaker 1:When you actually listen to the lyrics they are quite enjoyable. They're well put together and it actually sounds quite good. I'm going to read the lyrics for a minute. So she's got. The man has come around.
Speaker 1:As the words hit, the song hits the sleepless nights, the desperate calls, the empty road. I'm spitting blood, I'm staring down a broken nose. I'm sick to death of standing in the bitter cold. They'll rue the day. They let me hit a new low Cause I'm no one's shadow. And it also goes on to say about there's also a reference to Seth in there as well about burning it down. That's in the next verse and I just think it's actually quite well-written for a heel. I think it's. It's actually quite well written for a for a heel. I think it's a well-written song for a heel. If you listen to the entire song and you read it, read the lyrics, they actually make sense to what she's going for, kind of the angle she's going for as this now heel becky lynch, by the way. I think becky lynch is really killing being a heel. She's getting under people's skin, she's beating people up after matches and she's genuinely playing the heel role quite well. I think we're going to be getting a heel bailey soon and I'm very excited to see that again, but more so on her own and not around a faction. To answer hannah's question though a great question, by the way, hannah yes, I am actually starting to like becky lynch's theme. I'm actually really, really starting to enjoy becky lynch's theme. Actually, it's not her old song, but change is always necessary and her old song wasn't very heel-like, if I'm honest. Like she might bring that back when she does turn back to her face. But as it stands, I think it's a pretty good song and I don't think she's going to need to change it for a little while because I think she's going to be a heel for some time, if I'm honest.
Speaker 1:Mark Moran coming in with a couple of questions as well. Mark is asking with the rumors that Chris Jericho might be returning to WWE, would you prefer a new gimmick or the AEW gimmick? I can't lie to you. I mean, whilst it was enjoyable to see all the learning tree stuff and he was kind of the what was he like? The advisor, the expert, the veteran, in a group of people who are kind of still developing. I liked it. Yeah, I definitely liked it. It was a new concept, I guess, and it was a little bit different. It was enjoyable.
Speaker 1:But if he was to come back to WWE, I'd really like to see a brand new gimmick. If I'm honest, he is someone who has constantly reinvented himself as Chris Jericho and I think he's done it very, very well on a lot of times, if I'm honest, and I think it's just another opportunity for him to show how really good he is. If he comes back as a completely different gimmick once again, it just puts into perspective how good he is at this. You know, I think it could. He's going to need a new gimmick in order to align with the current WWE landscape. He is absolutely going to need a new gimmick, kind of a new role within the company he's coming in as as a severe veteran at this point.
Speaker 1:He has been around forever, chris Jericho, and I would absolutely love to see Chris Jericho back in a WWE ring. Rumor has it that his contract with AEW ends at the end of the year December so there could be some room there for him to return a potential Royal Rumble whether that's January or February, I'm not entirely sure on the date we could see Chris Jericho return in a 2026 Royal Rumble. That would be incredible. I think that's the best time for him to do it. The timing of it is perfect. It's almost like it's been made up. But the fact that he could leave AEW and return on one of WWE's grandest stages on a night where we expect surprises anyway for Y2J to turn up, would be incredible. I would love to see him come back as a brand new gimmick because it shows how good he is at reinventing himself on a consistent basis. So I hope that answers your question. I would love to see him. I would love to see him test new waters, do different things every single time.
Speaker 1:I've enjoyed a lot of Chris Jericho gimmicks. He also asked if I could put two wrestlers in a tag team. Who would I pick? I'm not allowed to put the Usos, obviously, because we all want to see the Usos get back together. A little thought behind this.
Speaker 1:I think I would quite like to see Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair At first. With Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, I'm like what are we doing here? But as they've kind of gone on, they've really grown on me as a parent Like they actually suit each other very, very well. And I get the same sense with Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Fly. You know they're very similar wrestlers. They're very similar in the ring. They're very similar appearance, big talent, big drama. They really could match up very, very well. I think they could be very similar to what the Iconics did back a few years ago the Iconics now actually in TNA they're doing great things again, but they are incredibly athletic. They are both quite arrogant and impeccable fashion sense. There is absolutely something to create out of Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton. They are both big names within WWE. They are both similar in ring and in appearance and I think that they could probably go about it in a similar fashion around kind of the.
Speaker 1:What they did with Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair was have two very separate people. But I think in this instance they could have two very similar people getting under each other's feet a little bit. You know they both want to show how good they are. It could be very, very dramatic, with a lot of tension, because you know who is the A-side of the team. That's what I like. They are both superstars, they are both megastars.
Speaker 1:Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair are now both up there. I mean Charlotte Flair you would say 14 times world champion is definitely up there a lot more, but Tiffany Stratton, in terms of fan base and stuff, is absolutely up there and I really do think that they could make a great pairing. They could have some great matches as well, you know, with the Kabuki Warriors, with Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez. I mean, we're quite low on women tag team at the minute, so it would be hard to say who they would look great against because, honestly, that tag division still needs reviving. It really does. But I think that they could do well and charlotte flair might advocate a little bit for that now as she's kind of closing in on the end of her career. She doesn't have too many years, yes, left, I would guess, still nevertheless in fantastic shape, in fantastic in ring shape as well. I think they could be quite a fun team.
Speaker 1:If I'm honest, who is a superstar? This is Ethan's question, by the way. Ethan is asking who is a superstar that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Who is a current superstar, ethan asks. So he is asking out of the entire roster right now, who is someone who's definitely already going in? Well, there's a few names that I can really think of off the top of my head the Viper Randy Orton. That man is a 14-time world champion. He has won absolutely everything. He is the legend killer, randy Orton man. He's been around forever.
Speaker 1:If there was somebody right now that they could say we need to put them in the Hall of Fame right now, it is that man right there, the 14th time world champion, the Viper Randy Orton. He's a two-time Royal Rumble winner. That's tied for third. He's won it all. He's a Grand Slam champion. You know he has got an incredible legacy, whether that is through tactics like legacy, rated RKO, evolution. The man has done it all in different eras of WWE, in different roles as well. He has absolutely done it all as a face, as a heel. He is goddamn amazing. Randy Orton, one of the best man, one of the absolute best.
Speaker 1:Another that comes to mind, without a doubt, is the Miz. He is a two time Grand Slam champion. He deserves his flowers man. He's not doing much right now. He's kind of in the story with Carmelo Hayes. It's been a few years since we've seen him with a world title on his waist and I really do feel that he needs another one before he kind of goes off in the sunset. He is an incredible athlete. He's an incredible wrestler, a very fantastic wrestler at that. He is someone that I think could go straight into the hall of fame.
Speaker 1:I think natalia is gonna end up going into the hall of fame as well. She has done a lot for the wwe. Whether you like her or not, she has done a lot for the wwe. She also does a lot with the younger talents as well. She, she has the, uh, the heart. What's the? What's the, the heart? Why? Why would the second word not come into my mind? She's got her her own wrestling gym as well. The, the, the, the heart dungeon, something like that. It's. Yeah, they are, they are constantly. Her and CJ are constantly doing great things with the younger generations of wrestlers, the next generation of wrestlers, and she's done a lot for wrestling. She absolutely goes down in the Hall of Fame as well. A lot of great names that could go into the Hall of Fame there really, really is, but I think those three are probably the most deserving right now If we're going to talk about kind of not current as well. Bray Wyatt is definitely going into the Hall of Fame. He has yet to go in there. You know, we lost Bray two years ago to kind of three or four days ago to the day and yeah, that's a man that one of the most clever minds in all of wrestling and he is absolutely someone who deserves to go into the Hall of Fame. You know, the Hall of Fame is a huge thing and it's full of incredible history and I believe that Bray Wyatt is someone who deserves to be up there, without a doubt.
Speaker 1:Grant, my friend, is asking what is your opinion on TNA? Do you know what, grant? Tna is one of the first promotions I ever watched and it's probably one of the reasons that I love wrestling so much. I've got some great memories watching TNA with my granddad, watching TNA with my mom and kind of general family, because we didn't kind of have WWE straight away, because WWE was on Sky Sports at the time, sky Sports 3. Whereas TNA was on Challenge, it was on Dave, it was on a range of free view channels within the UK. So I've always had TNA close to my heart.
Speaker 1:I think my current thoughts on it right now are quite complex. It's got a great history, but it's also got a history full of a lot of lows. A lot of highs, a lot of frustrating lows. A legacy that defined I wrote this down because I thought about this a little bit it's a legacy that is defined by innovative in-ring talent but also hindered by questionable creative and management decisions. I don't know where I got that poetry from, but I genuinely did write that. It's been a home TNA. It's been a home for a lot of stellar, stellar, stellar, stellar talent in the likes of Samoa Joe, aj Styles man, one of the best to ever do it. Um, you know, kurt Angle had a had a huge history in TNA. Christopher Daniels TNA brings a lot of great memories to me. It really really does.
Speaker 1:The Knockouts division, the X division, the resurgence of TNA. Now having this stuff in place with NXT. I think it does great things for them. I mean the whole title stuff I have a bit of a different opinion on, but it's also been through some tough times Poor management, poor creative decisions, the Monday Night War attempt in 2010. Jeff Hardy you know that kind of what happened with him wasn't great. The talent drain and kind of inconsistent product is what I've seen TNA have a lot of recently and I'm on and off with TNA. I'll tune in, I'm like up to date on all of the recent results, but I haven't watched TNA weekly for about three months because it just doesn't feel the same anymore. Unfortunately, I really don't like what's going on with the titles. I hate that NXT are holding titles hostage. I really don't like that. I don't think that's TNA's fault, but I also kind of do because they've approved that. You know They've approved that for the sake of getting a couple more views, because you know Trick Williams is the champion and JC Jane is the champion and I don't know. It just doesn't quite sit well with me.
Speaker 1:If I'm honest, yeet Master, aka Sean, is asking what wrestler or current wrestler would I feel would thrive in the Attitude Era and vice versa. I think the most obvious current superstar that would work in the Attitude Era is LA Knight, and the reason I think that is because LA Knight to me is a mixture of Stone Cold, steve Austin and the Rock. You know, stone Cold in the ring and the Rock on the mic. La Knight's trash talk is very comparable to the people of the Attitude Era In the Rock and Stone Cold, steve Austin. He's cocky, he is very good with his words, you know he just seems like a supernatural fit. In my opinion he could have been a really good top top heel back in the day, I believe, and then, switching that over, someone who I feel could have done more could have kind of been Attitude Era superstar in today's wrestling, I think. Actually while he was already in the Attitude Era and thrived a bit more in kind of the the Ruthless Aggression Era, I think probably Edge, actually I think I think Edge would have been a much better fit back in the day during the Attitude Era if he was in it a lot more. I mean perfect fit for today's project. In my opinion, seeing Coppola this past weekend at AW Forbidden Door was incredible.
Speaker 1:You also followed up to ask let me just scroll back up to that Do I think the long-term storytelling is possible in modern wrestling with today's fast-paced media and fan expectations, or has the industry moved on? That's a really really good question. That is a really really good question. I think that long-term storytelling absolutely has a place in wrestling. Some of the more recent stuff the bloodline, the bloodline did so well at staying relevant for four years. You know it had some great dynamics, some betrayals, some character evolution. You know we saw a lot of people grow and come out much better on the other side. You've also got Cody Rhodes finishing the story by winning the undisputed title at Wrestlemania 40. You know it's uh.
Speaker 1:There is absolutely a place in wrestling for long-term storytelling. I love it. I absolutely love long-term storytelling when I'm watching and I'm like, wait, that's that ties to this and and know, figuring it out as a fan. I guess you know the fan engagement. You know we have a lot of social media. We have a lot of kind of things getting ruined, which is very unfortunate, but unfortunately in 2025, these things are just bound to happen.
Speaker 1:You know, I think we're in a time in wrestling right now where we've got lots of different promotions doing lots of different things A lot of promotions not doing long-term storytelling and then a lot of promotions that are doing long-term storytelling. Sometimes I watch WWE and I'm like is that long-term storytelling here or do we just have nothing to do with that character? And I don't think we've moved on from long-term storytelling, but I do think we are adapting more, adapting more to approach to it, which I think is super, super important. I mean promotions are increasingly building these more complex storylines that unfold more so over months and years than they do weeks. I think that builds for great storytelling. I think the longer term is absolutely thriving in modern wrestling and I am 100% here for it. We're coming from days when it would just be one or two matches and that is classed as storytelling. All of the storytelling is just done in the ring. But I don't think we're there anymore. I don't think we're there anymore. I think we have storytelling in the ring, we have storytelling on the mic and I think we have storytelling in kind of a long-term sense. You know this happened two years ago. This is tied to this. Now, I think it's a fantastic time to be a wrestling fan To answer your question.
Speaker 1:Man, I hope that is enough to answer your question. I want to make sure that I covered all. I think I do have one. Yee is asking if you could be a wrestler, what would your name and nickname be? It's right here, baby. I think Joshy Wrestling is the perfect nickname. I absolutely love that name, joshy Wrestling. It comes from being a huge fan of Johnny Gargano and listening to Johnny Wrestling. Yeah, I love it. I think the nickname would absolutely be Joshy Wrestling. Imagine that you stood in an arena of 20,000 people screaming Joshy Wrestling. That's the dream man. That is the dream. I'm going to end it there, people, I think that has answered all of the questions to the best of my ability.
Speaker 1:I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do for next week's podcast. I will be in Paris on the Wednesday, so it's going to be tough to get one out, if I'm honest. But look, thank you so much for listening to episode number six of the Beyond the Map podcast with Joshi Reston. I appreciate all of the love and the support, as always. Let me know where you're watching. Drop a comment. Did you enjoy the episode? Leave me questions for next episode, episode number seven. Thank you so so much. I will see you all on the next episode of the Beyond the Map podcast. Thank you, goodbye.