Jim Cornette Experience

Episode 630: Does Anyone Know What They're Doing?

178 min
Apr 21, 20267 days ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Jim Cornette and Brian Last analyze WWE and AEW's major events during WrestleMania weekend, including AEW's controversial title change from MJF to Darby Allen just days after losing to Will Ospreay, WWE's underwhelming SmackDown go-home show, and a bloated Hall of Fame ceremony dominated by Stephanie McMahon's 50-minute induction segment.

Insights
  • AEW's hotshot booking decisions (beating Ospreay then immediately switching the title to Darby) undermine long-term storytelling and confuse the audience about championship value and direction
  • WWE's celebrity-heavy WrestleMania build (Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith) alienates core wrestling fans who want wrestling angles and star power, not mainstream crossover gimmicks
  • The Hall of Fame has lost cultural relevance due to late-night scheduling, bloated celebrity segments, and loss of star-studded inductee classes, reducing its prestige as a wrestling honor
  • Talent pay in WWE (15% of revenue) remains disproportionately low compared to other sports, despite doubling from 2020-2022, reflecting the industry's structural undervaluation of performers
  • Rhonda Rousey's authentic, unscripted promos demonstrate what WWE failed to capture during her tenure—genuine passion and credibility that resonates more than manufactured character work
Trends
Wrestling promotions prioritizing short-term buzz and social media engagement over sustainable narrative arcs and fan investmentCelebrity integration in wrestling becoming a liability rather than asset when it overshadows core wrestling storylines and talentDeclining attendance and ticket sales at major wrestling events despite record gate revenue, indicating price-to-value perception problemsHall of Fame ceremonies losing prestige as they become vehicles for corporate/family tributes rather than wrestling legacy celebrationsFighter/wrestler compensation remaining stagnant as percentage of revenue despite massive increases in overall company earningsStreaming and digital-first content strategies reducing the cultural weight of traditional wrestling television eventsAudience fatigue with overbooked, multi-stipulation matches and excessive match lengths as substitutes for compelling storytelling
Topics
AEW Title Change Strategy and Long-Term BookingWWE WrestleMania Ticket Sales and Gate RevenueCelebrity Integration in Professional WrestlingWrestling Hall of Fame Relevance and FormatTalent Compensation in WWE vs. UFCDarby Allen Championship PushWill Ospreay Injury Comeback NarrativeMJF Championship Reign and Booking DecisionsPat McAfee WWE Involvement and Fan ReceptionStephanie McMahon Hall of Fame InductionCM Punk vs. Roman Reigns WrestleMania BuildCody Rhodes Booking and Fan SupportRhonda Rousey vs. Gina Carano MMA FightWWE SmackDown Go-Home Show QualityLas Vegas Tourism Impact on WrestleMania Attendance
Companies
AEW (All Elite Wrestling)
Primary focus of criticism regarding title change from MJF to Darby Allen and poor long-term storytelling decisions
WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)
Analyzed for WrestleMania build, ticket sales decline, talent compensation, and Hall of Fame ceremony execution
TKO Group
Parent company of WWE; discussed regarding debt obligations and impact on creative decisions and talent pay
UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)
Compared to WWE regarding fighter/talent compensation as percentage of revenue; owned by TKO Group
ESPN
Discussed as WWE's media partner and its role in mainstream sports entertainment crossover strategy
Netflix
Platform for Rhonda Rousey vs. Gina Carano MMA fight; represents alternative combat sports media distribution
People
Jim Cornette
Primary host analyzing wrestling business decisions and creative direction across WWE and AEW
Brian Last
Co-host providing analysis and perspective on wrestling booking, talent compensation, and industry trends
Tony Khan
Criticized for controversial title change decision and lack of long-term storytelling strategy at AEW Dynasty
Darby Allen
Won AEW World Championship from MJF in controversial 2.5-minute match on Dynamite in his hometown
MJF (Maxwell Jacob Friedman)
Lost AEW World Championship to Darby Allen days after retaining against Will Ospreay at Dynasty PPV
Will Ospreay
Lost to MJF at Dynasty PPV; storyline undermined by immediate title change, affecting Wembley Stadium build
Cody Rhodes
WrestleMania main event against Randy Orton; discussed regarding fan support erosion and booking decisions
Randy Orton
Cutting strong promos for WrestleMania match against Cody Rhodes; praised for promo quality
CM Punk
Defending WWE Championship at WrestleMania; discussed as having more credibility than Cody Rhodes
Roman Reigns
Rumored to face CM Punk at WrestleMania; discussed regarding potential title change implications
Pat McAfee
Criticized for cringeworthy heel work in Randy Orton feud; alienating core wrestling fans with non-wrestling angles
Stephanie McMahon
Received 50+ minute Hall of Fame induction segment; criticized for overshadowing other inductees and late-night sched...
Rhonda Rousey
Praised for authentic promos at MMA press conference; contrasted with her scripted WWE character work
Gina Carano
Opponent for Rhonda Rousey in Netflix MMA fight; subject of Rousey's passionate press conference promo
Dave Meltzer
Criticized for inflated star ratings at AEW Dynasty PPV; discussed regarding bastardization of rating system
Brandon Thurston
Analyzed WWE talent compensation data from court filings; discussed regarding pay-to-revenue ratios
Jacob Fatu
Praised for strong promo against Drew McIntyre at SmackDown; discussed regarding character authenticity
AJ Styles
Inducted into WWE Hall of Fame; discussed regarding family-focused speech and current career status
Demolition (Barry Darsow, Bill Eadie)
Inducted into WWE Hall of Fame; praised for career impact and emotional induction moment
Quotes
"What the fuck are they doing, Brian? I can't explain it."
Jim CornetteRegarding AEW's decision to change the world title from MJF to Darby Allen four days after Dynasty PPV
"I think it's really important that we raise the ceiling, but also that we raise the floor. The absolute minimum that anybody will walk away with is $40,000."
Rhonda RouseyMMA press conference discussing fighter compensation
"She has the charisma of a wet towel and will always be in me and Dina's shadow."
Rhonda RouseyRegarding Kayla Harrison's criticism of her MMA fight
"I killed myself for this company. I hung posters for the show. I climbed Mount Everest and put the flag on top."
Darby AllenPromo before winning AEW World Championship
"This is a good way to set up a wrestling show. You set up an angle at the beginning for a payoff at the end."
Brian LastRegarding AEW Dynamite's opening segment structure
Full Transcript
Like the midnight and the rock and roll, he's in a fight for wrestling soul using racket and some mind control, like he's Jim Cogniz. The keys to the future held by the past, and with tag team partner, Ryan Last, he sends this message out by podcast, he's Jim Cogniz. Well he's never fake or phony, he never backs down from the fight, he never wins the pony cause his mama raised him right. It's time to prepare your mind. Get the experience, get the experience, get the experience of Jim Cogniz. Hello again everybody and welcome. Today it's the weekend of thunder over Louisville, lightning in Las Vegas and foolishness in Florida. So it's the, does anybody know what they're doing in addition of the Jim Cogniz experience and joining me to discuss these very topics. Hawaiian Brian, the podcasting lion, the king of the Arcadian Vanguard Podcast Network, Mr. Co-host to you. He always knows which way the wind is blowing. Be great Brian Last everybody. Aloha Jim, a pleasure to be here once again as we are recording a big week of non-stop wrestling action. It all starts now. Well what we are going to try to attempt to do our mission here today for the people, the people of Coronet, the listeners out there is to bring you up to that cause we are just 24 hours away a little more from the actual kickoff of the first pyro at the WrestleMania event itself. We're going to bring you in this program by the time we get finished with it, everything through Smackdown and the Hall of Fame weekend and the Hall of Fame weekend, the Hall of Fame ceremony and then we're going to take a couple of days and watch endless amounts of wrestling and then we're going to come back and talk about all that on your program. So it's a fun task we have in front of you. You know what a lot of people are saying and I didn't realize that I knew some people listen to the show because they don't want to watch this shit anymore but they like to listen to us talk about it and in some cases they take the piss out of it as they say. I didn't know how many people that was. They're like Jesus Christ you watch it so we don't have to it's almost like we're throwing our bodies in front of a projectile. See we're heroes Brian. There's a lot of people out there that you suffer for them. And then you report back and they're really grateful for it and you escort them through their daily lives with your reviews of the wrestling shows. It's funny too the people who get the most upset like amongst the AEW fans and what you say. They're upset with you when you like you said take the piss. It's not even the critical reviews it's when you laugh at it and have fun with it and it's like who the hell is the audience of Orange Cassidy and Tony Storm to be upset with someone else laughing. Maybe not at the product maybe more the people behind the product but still it's the same thing. Well what no say it's a very simple little psychological tweak that is very important to that these people laugh at the shows and the foolish but they're laughing with their heroes the guy that sticks his hands in his pockets and the guy that looks like Ricky Steambolt's daughter and the fucking guy to blah blah blah. Oh aren't they great yeah but when we actually laugh at them because they're fucking pathetic then that by by Osmosis transfers over to one they're saying I'm pathetic because I dream of being the guy that can stick my hands in my pockets. I'm just going to go home and take it out on that woman I have in the basement I can't come out. Now come on now that is a small percentage. That's only happened a few times now yeah. And what is it now it's only three or four caught on camera there was the one that had the guy caught on camera right with had like a Sting operation. Yeah yeah and and put the t-shirt and they were there was one that was there was one guy wearing the A.W. t-shirt there was the other guy was watching A.W. in the background. Yeah that's the one I'm thinking of that's the guy I was thinking of. There but that's a very small percentage Brian what you know it what's what's five percent of a million people. What million what is five percent of a million people. What are you using as a million what's the number a million from. I'm just saying if you just said OK here's the dynamite gets six hundred and fifty and the collision gets a couple of hundred just say a million people is there a million A.W. fans what's five percent of that that's all we have to worry about. I would be. What twenty five thousand fucking people the sickest of the sickos. Anyway speaking of sick I'm just I'm just I'm pulling my hair out I'm biting my fingernails Brian I'm on the edge of my seat because I told you a couple days ago they were calling for. Storms and thunderstorms and maybe severe weather and heavy rain. And then we're going to enter over Louisville day which as we sit here right now beginning this episode is tomorrow. And now in the last couple of days they've backed it up to well it's going to rain but it'll be on and off and the problem is the cloud cover now for the air show they do this massive air show where they do the loop de loops and the flips with the jets and the things that comes orville and Wilbur right without fucking know but they're going to have the low clouds they can't do all their maneuvers but the rain which will not be severe it will hopefully be through by the time the fireworks are set to go off. So now we're is it going to happen well they're going to have they're going to blow this shit up one way or the other but is anybody going to see it what's it going to look like. Forgive me if you've answered this before if I've asked it before but when you were with OVW was there ever did you ever think that maybe we could do something with thunder over Louisville there's like some kind of way to attach yourself to it or you know some aggressive event. I mean if we were a food truck or a goddamn something like that but you know that we might have made for money running a wrestling show and there's no it would be insane to try to have a goddamn ring any play every conceivable place that human beings can occupy on a downtown waterfront on both sides of the river Kentucky and Indiana. If it's not blocked off to the public because it's part of the goddamn you know show that it's packed with people and nobody would want to watch wrestling matches while they got a goddamn air show with 50 fighter jets and various fucking people doing stunt work and drones and then it gets dark and they blow off fireworks for 30 fucking minutes straight. The second street bridge has been closed for two days because they load it up and fire a lot of them off of the well most of them off of the bridge and have a waterfall off the thing across the whole Ohio River to the soundtrack of the oddest collection of music you've ever heard in your life from all ages. They appealed all ages. So no, it's trying to a fucking outlaw wrestling show in the middle of that I mean, most people wouldn't notice it was there. I wasn't even there. So yeah, a good idea Brian. I'm sure Anita could have made it work. Oh, he would have had the he would have had him fight onto the bridge right when the fireworks went off and fucking blown up into the river. But anyway, but now the problem is we are in almost in a drought. Last year we had were eight inches of rain heavy for the year already and at 10 feet water downtown and now we're five inches short. And and are heading into a drought with exceptionally warm weather for this time of the year so pick your poison. Anthrax. Well, arsenic for me thank you but. All right, so I said what we're going to do today and of course we have talked about Tony cons latest. I don't know is this part of the most brilliant idea he ever had, or are they just all completely fucking insane. This is what we're going to try to figure out about that but I wanted to make mention of emails for Lee. Who is from Michigan. He says I recently celebrated one year of sobriety. And congratulations Lee. And I wanted to thank you and Brian for providing me with quality entertainment throughout the past year and several before that I was going to say throughout just the past year. He must be new but he's a several before that but Jim once blocked me on Twitter. For wishing him a bad Thanksgiving and that his turkey was dry. What cost that. I don't know it was so unsolicited. But I believe I remember it and that's why you know it. Call attention to this because he says I just want to apologize for that that was before I discovered our common hatred for john moxley fuck that guy. All right well they go bonding over hatred. So Lee but I it's not near Thanksgiving but I hope you're. Hope your Thunderday hot dogs are greasy. How about that. Keep it up Lee. And also another from me. Kind of a member of the cult a daughter of a member of the cult. Lola. Hello. Hi Mr. Cornette this is this of course this came through the official channels was across my desk so she's properly you know respectful here hi Mr. Cornette. My name is Lola my dad has been your biggest fan since he was a teenager. And he listens to both of your podcasts every week he met you many years ago at the fairgrounds I believe and he was stoked. I even got him a signed autograph and copy of your new book last Christmas thank you Lola. We're having a 50th birthday party for him Sunday morning. He would be so excited if you were able to make it so I wanted to see if you get a hold of you if you can. The party will be anytime between 330 and 730. If you can't make it would you mind maybe shouting him out on your drive through his name is Jeremy. It's a happy birthday Jeremy dad of Lola and I'm sorry. Then unfortunately because of prior commitments I will not be able to make it to your birthday party in Louisville Kentucky on Sunday May 17th at the Highland Community Ministries between 330 and 730 P.M. But I'm sure a bunch of other members the cult are going to drop by and say hello and bring you a nice present on Sunday May 17th at the Highland Community Ministries. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Come on, now that you're determined to ruin this party, let's stop for a second. Well, I'm not trying to ruin that party. That's exactly what you're trying to do. You're trying to destroy this man's birthday party. No, no, I'm sure they're going to have food. What kind of party would it be without food and drink and. All that type of stuff in long tall glasses. I know I can dance. I know I can dance. If a listener of this show showed up at that party, do they have to do the cult of Cornette handshake or any sort of sounds or anything to indicate who they are? The outsiders that is crew? No, they should come dressed as one of the cult of Cornette wrestling integrity watchers like Sergeant at Arms, Nick Barrett with the white beret, the white sash, the saber and the shirt and and and do the whoo with each other. And then automatically you can get into Jeremy's 50th birthday party Sunday, May 17th at the Highland Industries. You plug this thing more than you put in your own stuff. Well, I want him to know how loved he is. He's got a big turn out. Just bring in extra KFC. If you would there, nothing says happy birthday, like extra KFC. Well, you're going to have to feed the whole fucking neighborhood. Have you been to that neighborhood? I don't know. That's a hungry fucking neighborhood. All right. Well, happy. They're big fat people over there. Happy birthday, Jeremy. And of course, good decision, Lola. Happy birthday, Jeremy. Happy birthday to you. All righty, I understand that before we get to what Tony's done now, let's talk about what Tony has previously done as seen through the eyes of a child through the eyes of a child. Well, no arms of an angel or whatever the play. Dave Meltzer now goes into hypnotic trances where it takes him far, far away to a land that he only dreams of. Whatever he watches in a W pay-per-view, and he sees different things than we do, Brian. So just to put a button on the AEW Dynasty pay-per-view, I understand you have the official star ratings that everybody clamors and craves to get from Uncle Dave for the AEW Dynasty pay-per-view, where they they just went hours and hours and hours and then followed it up with a cool TV match where they switched to World Title in two minutes. But more on that in a moment. What are these fucking ratings? These stars, these. And again, a lot of the listeners like hearing your take on this because you are one of the co-creators of the star rating system. And I'll quit. People like to hear what you think of the bastardization and I guess turning into a whore of the star rating system. Well, no, by God, the whore of Babylon was Mother Teresa compared to what he's done here. But now I was not even the originator of this. I was the instigator of the application of it. To wrestling. But it was a. Was it who was it that did the movie star rating? Was it Leonard Malton? That's the guidebook that I used to have. Well, up until the time that I was. That I've gotten into wrestling business and started traveling on the road when I lived here at home. I had a copy of the TV guide next to my TV and a copy of Leonard Moulton's, which I've still got around here somewhere. Movie reviews, the big paperback books or whatever, a movie was coming on goddamn TV. You could see what Leonard had to say about it. But did he invent that? When I was a kid, I thought Leonard Moulton was John Landis. Well, they did look similar, but Leonard had him by a few years. But the point is, whoever did that invented this. And then I made a wise ass comment that, you know, well, you ought to do that. And here we go. But Dave. May be there's nothing in your life. Let me just normally. And I know you walk back from this. No, but I'm just because now it's so ludicrous. Norman and I were 17 fucking years old. And now there are people in the business that are actively trying instead of thinking about doing business, they're trying to get validation through multiple stars by a 65 year old fellow like me. I don't even give stars because I'm not 17. Well, let's go to the reviews. Forever 17, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Jim from the pre show, Alex Windsor defeated Marina Shafir, eight minutes, 51 seconds, three and a quarter stars. Well, we didn't see it, so I'm not going to take the I'm not going to just go into detail on why he's crazy for that. But I don't know about Marina Shae for having any kind of three in something star match, but Alex Windsor is not bad, though. But we'll talk about that another time. Camille defeated Big Anne. One minute and 22 seconds, no star rating for this. Jack Perry defeated Mark Davis, eight minutes and 28 seconds, three and a half stars. So, oh, geez, I know you probably said this and I just blocked it out. But I'm just thinking of this small child with the Shirley Temple hairdo beating up Mark Davis and his big fat ass. You know, Tony's whole philosophy that I could bring guys in and anyone can beat them and it doesn't hurt them, which I don't agree with. But that idea, even if you did believe it, I would think it only works to a point, specifically a point of like six foot one. Mark Davis is gigantic. I've not seen him win a match. And I think in every tag match I've seen him in, he's eating the pin. So what the hell is that? He's trying to get it. I mean, you can have it doesn't matter about the size. You can have old slim the hillbilly from fucking Albuquerque or whatever we were talking about. And while he was six foot three and three hundred and twenty pounds with his big flabby fucking gut, then he could work a lick and he could barely flap his arms. But Mark Davis again is was halfway credible and they were pushing him in a top team and his partner gets hurt. So that just keep beating him as a single. And why do you have to have that fucking match if you don't want jungle Jack to do the job for Mark Davis? Don't book the fucking match. You've got a hundred and fifty fucking wrestlers. I'm sorry. I'm bogging us down. No, that's fine. Jack Perry retained the national title and then finally in the pre-show Megan Bain and Lena Cross retain their tag team titles against Maya World and Hyon. And that was two and a half stars. Well now wait a minute. Is that because now are they the world sisters because I've seen it written Hyon and Maya World. So that. Oh, no, it's not what it says here. It says Maya World and Hyon. So I don't know if they're sisters. I don't think they are. Oh, see, I thought they were the world sisters because I saw it the other way around once. They are the stupid name. And Maya World and and welcome to it. Jim, let's get the main car. Oh, go ahead. Yes, that's that's what I was. Where is the main card starting anytime now? The Young Bucks defeated Kenosuke Takeshita and Kazushka Okada. Twenty minutes. Ten seconds. Five star match. Rick is show me. Oh, go ahead. Wait a minute. Hold on. You think that he'd just pull back on it just a little bit just because of the. The the criticism he gets and the people obviously going what the fuck with this over and over with these guys. And you think he pulled back just a little bit. Every one of their matches can't be the best match that's ever been held. And again, I'm not saying anything bad about poor old Takeshita besides fact that he's been floundering in mid cardity and don't know what the fuck he's making funny faces at Okada for. But is he still trying to support Okada as being when people are seeing it now? He's lazy. He's broken down. He has there's no physical charisma to him. He has no motivation. He does the absolute least he can do. And he looks like fucking just some shrub off the street. How is this a five star match because in his mind. He's still the. He's still the the you know the ex before she gained all the weight and fucking got pissy with him and ran off with the fucking plumber or whatever. I can't tell you Dave does a move by move breakdown but he starts off by saying the young bucks after the match called this bout a career highlight all four used their regular moves but there was a lot of new creative stuff in there. This was also the best babyface reaction the young bucks have gotten anywhere in several years. We submit that it was just an incredible performance. Other than the referee standing there not doing anything no DQ fucking tornado rules. Give me a break. Give me a. Yeah. And and again just the there's nobody in the business that is consistently more choreographed or just looking like children playing in the yard than the buckaroos and he can't get over it. All right moving on. Ricochet defeated Chris Jericho 19 minutes 11 seconds I didn't realize it went that long. Wow three and three quarter stars. Actually that's a tribute to Jericho that we didn't really realize it went that long as remember I say he didn't do anything he had to do either didn't have to do either but he covered it well and let the other guy provide a lot of movement. It was smart. I agree with that. I would say three and a half but if we're arguing quarter of a star Brian then we're not really arguing are we. That's right. I would say that was at times a spot show match where Jericho got the most out of the least and the fans ate it up and that's and that used to be half of the goddamn matches that got rated were exactly that kind of match. Jim Darby Allen defeated Andrade in a number one contenders match for the world title. Well a number one contender for the world championship 16 minutes 32 seconds four and a half stars. You know I know you didn't watch this. I got to mention something to you and I saw other people mentioned it too for whatever reason after the match and Rod and Darby shook hands I guess because of the competitive nature and Rod had an erection. What I'm trying to stand that I would have fucking chubby while he's shaking Darby's but they didn't write anything about it. Obviously Dave didn't notice but hey Dave my eyes are up here. Wait after taking bumps and being blowed up after going 20 minutes with that little human ping pong ball and that's admirable I guess on his part. Yeah how many swells will give a couple of stars credit for that so I'll agree with that one. Four and a half stars and three and a half inches. You know FTR retain the tag titles over Adam Copeland and Christian in 21 minutes seven seconds four and a half stars. Okay again that's it's still excessive but he's on the normal scale but he's expanded the scale to the point where until they just went too far and did too much as you'll remember we spoke about it was still there was no furniture there was no bullshit on the normal scale that would be a three and a half star match it wasn't the blowout of all time but on his scale that's probably one of the more legitimate numbers he'd give. Jim Kevin Knight won the casino gauntlet match for the TNT title over Tomaso Ciampa, Roosh Bandito, Speedball Mike Bailey, L. Klon, Pac, Daniel Garcia, Anthony Bowens and Wheeler Yuta 22 minutes 35 seconds four and a half stars. Of course it was. If you don't go 20 minutes and get at least four stars or above then you should just quit and go to NXT. That's what I say. Well and actually I think he ought to start giving it if the match has six people in it they ought to at least give one star each so it becomes a six star match and go from there now if they do better than that maybe he could do seven and a half. Would Dave honor it if one of the AEW wrestlers had a stipulation for a big match like let's say Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay the stipulation is can't be less than six and a half stars. Would Dave honor that and use that as the basis to start the star rating? Now wait a minute now what are you saying help me out here I lost you around a far turn are you if you wanted to make it a stipulation then you'd have to have them come out there and say Kenny and say if this isn't a six star match I will leave AEW forever. Or something like that. And then they'd have the match and then they'd have Dave in a like a plexiglass box at ringside tabulate with one of the like Matt Brock in the old after magazines with the visor on in front of a fucking typewriter tabulating and then they've got an adding machine with the paper coming out and he presses the button and it shows up six and a half stars Kenny can stay Kenny can stay. And in Meltzer keels over of a heart attack from all the excitement boom and they can't get in the plexiglass to better try to get to crowbar to pry him out to get the resuscitation paddles. This went from fantasy booking to snuff film booking let's get back to the star ratings here Jim. And then we have a woman. Tecla. Retain the a w women's title over Jamie Hader 16 minutes 31 seconds three and three quarter stars. So just just almost as good as most of the stuff Kurt angle used to do. Okay, I'm going to be get 20 minutes it really shows you what Tony thinks of the women's division. Yeah, he should have given them at least 30 because they've got a song they got to sing. Foxley sang his song defeating will Osprey to retain the continental title in 18 minutes 13 seconds for and three quarter stars. Oh, good Lord besides the rotten booking and the idea that they would beat poor Mr. Ostrich who is barely sticking his head in the sand over this whole thing. And no, no, no, bro. No, Jim Rodgers strong orange Cassidy and Kyle O'Reilly won the a w trios titles over Clark Connors, Gabe kid and David Finley nine minutes 58 seconds three star match. He had to deduct at least a star and a half because one of the fucking guys didn't make it all the way through the 10 minute match before they were carried out and putting an ambulance. So that that deducts a star. If it's a six man match and it ends as five men, you got to take a star off. Yeah, any, any, you got to take a star off anytime they lose a competitor in the middle of the match. Finally, Jim. MJF defeated Kenny Omega to retain the AW World Championship. 38 minutes, 55 seconds, four and three quarter stars. Oh, boy. So the only ones to get five stars were the young bucks. But just right underneath it was the ridiculous match where the Tony shipped to bed on his top English baby face three months or whatever before a stadium show that's going to have a arena crowd. And then the main event that proved that pretty much nothing in wrestling can hurt anybody is bad enough to put him down for five seconds. And that was the car AW Dynasty 2026. Well, speaking of things that put me down, Brian, almost hit my jaw hit the floor. I did one of the cartoon things. The jaw hit the floor and the eyes went, googly googly googly googly googly googly. When I saw what Tony had done, and not on television, I read about it on the internet first. And I said, if I would watch portions of AEW dynamite that contained, if any of the guys actually had projectile diarrhea in the middle of the ring on live TV, I'd watch it. Well, this was kind of sort of similar in that right after the pay-per-view, the AEW Dynasty, where the MGM goes through 40 minutes and nearly kills Kitty Omega in the prime and almost kills the wrestling business as well in the process, doing every goddamn thing in the world and beats him. And we were just saying, well, goddamn, Osprey, why would you beat Osprey? This is a tailor-made story. Have MJF keep getting heat and be a fucking prick all summer and have Osprey come back from this neck injury and have a road to the title and you can build it and blah, blah, blah. Four days after they beat Osprey, they beat MJF. The new, the new AEW World Champion is now, as of last Wednesday's dynamite on free TV with four days notice that the match was even gonna happen Darby Allen, who won it in approximately two and a half minutes, two and a half minutes. And this is from the work rate promotion that in sig, a goddamn underneath preliminary between Tits McGee and Arnold Fenster has to have 15 minutes to fully develop. What the fuck are they doing, Brian? I can't explain it. Obviously it was Darby's hometown. It seemed like the fans, they were really ready for a big Darby night. It was Darby's home to Everett Washington. They had 3000 people. I think they had like 10,000 people a fucking weekend before and they couldn't, they were gonna do it, done it there, but no, they just, oh, we're gonna add this match to Wednesday and change the title because it's a guy's hometown in front of a rotten crowd. I'm sorry. Other than that, I can't explain it. I would think if there was a time to do it with Darby, I would have pulled the string. I don't know if that's the right term, but I would have done it with Moxley. It would have made sense in their storyline world. It would have been the right guy. It would have all worked perfectly. I would have done Moxley, not Adam Page. And over Moxley, it would have been Darby. But now I think even AEW fans, a lot of them were questioning. There's some that really love this. I saw someone compare this to the UWF episode where Bill Watts had all the title changes, not exactly. But this is puzzling because if business is really moving up, why would you change your world champion? That seems to be the thing working right now. Whatever we think about MJF kind of turning more and more into a guy who just wants to do all the stuff everyone else is doing, it's working. If we're to believe what they've been saying about every metric of their business being up, ratings, ticket sales, everything, why make a title change? I mean, maybe it'll be a quickie. But I don't know, they got Wembley around the corner and a lot of people thought it would be MJF and Osprey because it makes sense. They just beat Osprey. And now they got the belt off MJF? It reminds me of when we complained to Ken Mantell and Dallas because I can't remember if it was Brian Adias and I who somebody, mid-card baby faces and a tag team, we're gonna put them over for some reason. While we were working to program with the Fantastix and the American Tag Team Championship was held up between us two teams. And we said, how are we doing this thing with the Fantastix? How are we losing it in just a match to these guys? And Ken Mantell's answer was, don't worry, the Fantastix aren't winning tonight either. I thought, what, what you have, or what you had was a story that at least you could have got people behind for a long, long-term storytelling. MJF wins the title, okay, that's where we are, things are coming back up. So I'm not saying that, it's just about the business metrics now, which I have been good, like you said, but where are you going? Where's the next place you're going to and you need to start that now? And it was perfect. They've got a stadium show in August in the guy's home country or home nation, UK, wherever the fuck those people are from over there. You know the point I'm trying to make. MJF is the prick champion, he beats Kenny, beats fucking Pete, beats all these people. And meanwhile, Osprey comes back from near career ending neck surgery and you tell the story, is he going to be the same? Yes, you tell that story. And he might have doubts or whatever, but he triumphs over adversity and not beating the other fucking baby faces. He's beating some fuck, he's getting even with people that hurt him and he's then beating fucking other people that you want to see him beat. And then the talking starts between him and MJF and then you put the stumbling blocks in Osprey's path. He's got to prove himself in a match with this guy or this comes up or they do this angle where maybe for the first time, you drop him on his fucking head with something really dangerous after he's been back from surgery, not four in the same match in his return match. This is where you do the angle. I'll flair it to fucking great American bash angle for 89. Then he's fucking jammed up in the neck brace and MJF can crawl about it and then he's got to come back again and that's it Wimbly for his countrymen and the fucking red, well, there's his red, white and blue too but they got God saved the queen and or fuck the queen, God save the sex pistols or whatever their theme is over there. Do you see where I'm going with this, Brian? This is four or five, six months instead of they beat Osprey, then they beat MJF but the world title is now on a baby face. So if they still want to put it on Osprey at Wimbly, now another heel has to come along and either beat him or win it back. If he wins it back and it's MJF, then Osprey has to be the first guy to beat MJF in six weeks. I don't, what the fuck? Now, Tony did get the wrestling world talking the week of WrestleMania, so that was the goal, he... So did the guy that had the fucking beef stroganoff fart in the middle of the goddamn elevator. He got everybody talking. You want those people talking like that? You know, you have to remember too, we're at a point in time where Tony and he's sitting down a few interviews. He's talking about the fact that things are so great right now not because MJF was the champion, not because of any particular person other than him. He says he's listening to himself, he's following his instincts, which he says he's never done before. He's finally doing it and he thinks that's why things are happening like this. So this was a Tony Khan decision. Tony Khan really believed this was the best thing. Well, of course it was. I didn't think, you think MJF said, hey, let me drop it to the kid. What the fuck? What did you think of the way they did it? The idea that it wasn't just a competitive match, it was a squash that had a reason why it happened, but what did you think? This wasn't a squash. In the strictest definition before it was used by everybody in the world just inside the business, this was not a squash match. This was an angle. This was an angle is what it was. To do something else, God knows what, hopefully quickly, but it wasn't a squash match because a squash match is a star versus a fucking nobody who just beats the shit out of the guy and convincingly and beats him with no trouble. This was an angle, as I said again, to lead to who knows what out of the blue. It's like the fans of the WWE, he said, where the fuck did Pat McAfee come from in this whole business? They don't do that in AEW and Tony said, hold my pencil. Where the fuck did Darby Allen get in the middle of this? So they have us believe that Mjav shows up at the building right as they go on the air on live television and he hasn't been answered his texts. He's been out of touch. He's been, what they said in Communicado, they used another phrase also for he's been in hiding, whatever, but he doesn't know what's going on that he's wrestling Darby that night, which is already Brian on the scale of the Belivo meter from the Sunday, their pay-per-view was Sunday. He didn't know he's supposed to defend the world title on Wednesday and also he shows up live at showtime. Where does that come in on the scale? On the logic whole scale? There's a big logic hole there. I knew the match was happening based on the pay-per-view. I knew at the night of the pay-per-view that, well, Mjav's wrestling Darby on Wednesday, they said it. Well, let's get to that next, but just the idea that he, Mjav, a fucking 20-something year old man in today's environment hadn't looked at Twitter or whatever the fuck, he started cutting a big promo where he's obviously trying not to listen to the interviewer, Renee Mawks-Lagood. And he's ignoring what she's trying to, and then Don walks in, old Don Fallis, and tells him, hey, sorry about Andre last week, what do you mean sorry about? Well, he lost on a show that Mjav was at on a match earlier before him, right? Don didn't come to apologize until Wednesday. And then that's when Renee says, Max, Darby is challenging you for the world title right now. And he's like, what the fuck? And Darby's, they're playing the music. Darby's making his entrance. And then they play the challenge now for the A-W world title and Mjav's music. And he comes out, cut the goddamn music. And boy, they won't bleep the crowd chanting fuck, or these guys saying goddamn. I think next we need to have somebody just come out and tell the aristocrats joke for 10 minutes. And he cut for about 10 or 15 seconds, he cut a luller promo on Darby Allen from 1977. It's sad to do like, like you little punk, you little midget. And he refused to wrestle. And then he said, and I recognize this bit also, I'm gonna sue the Skank, Aubrey Edwards, I'm gonna sue you at Pervert, Justin Roberts, I'm gonna sue Tony Khan, I'm gonna sue Warner, but I'm gonna sue all the fans. And I'm my back hurts and I'm not dressed. And he's doing a better job again than almost anybody they got could at all this, but it's just the way they always go into it with some element of logic lacking that you realize that they're all just play act. Anyway, and by the way, did you notice at Everett Washington, the front row of fans across from the hard camera looked like the fucking casting call for a remake of the Hills Have Eyes. What the fuck is going on up there? Did they have free tickets for people from a home or what? I don't know, obviously it looked like Darby knew some of the people in the front row, but that was the other side, I believe. Darby may have been homeless with some of the people from the, but nevertheless, and in M.J.F.'s mic went out, he had to throw that one out and get Roberts's. And he's basically telling Darby off, he's not gonna wrestle, because Darby, you're not ready to be world champion. And Darby snatched the microphone, and I thought he was gonna start dry heaving from nerves and emotion, but again, this is real to him, isn't it? It's still real to Darby, damn it. He was crying. He's like, I killed myself for this company. Monday, I hung posters. He spent so much time on the posters, at first he thought he was having some kind of fucking drug-addled experience, but I hung posters for the show. And I climbed Mount Everest and put the flag on top, and I've killed myself for this, and I love this company. I said I'd never change, and I didn't change myself. And God, if I'm not ready now, never be ready. And ring the bell. And he was broke up about this thing, wasn't he? It was a big emotional night for him. Obviously he knew what was gonna happen, we'll talk about the match, but as soon as he won, he was very emotional right away. Interesting to note that he was putting up posters for the show. I mean, it's nice to stay true to yourself, or to your younger self, but usually you don't see wrestling superstars like M. Harry Smilak putting up posters all over town for rocket wrestling. Well, see, that's part of his appeal, and that he's still the normal guy that will, he'll either go and he'll be on one side or the other of the table at the soup kitchen. He could be serving or he could be fucking eaten. It just depends on circumstance. That he's a person of the people. But, you know, he's not that good a worker. So the kids, the belt is a big deal for the kids these days. However, having said that, he's demanding the belt to be rung and Danielson interrupted and said, wait a minute, wait a minute, and I like the way, Danielson did a great job on this, as far as cadence for the people and revealing the information. He said, Tony Khan agrees with MJF. Boo, he's not prepared, so MJF, go get yourself prepared because you're tonight's main event. Yay! And then they chatted, yes, yes, yes, and if you don't do it, you'll be stripped of the title. So that was, and then Darby jumps in and says, I'm gonna beat you with a headlock takeover. And I must admit, if I hadn't read the result before I went back and watched this, by the time they finished with this, I was like, my God, he's gonna win this fucking thing some way. Because anything else would have buried Darby Allen deeper than the fucking Mariana Trench. So, but that was the way they set it up, Brian, your final thoughts on that segment of the programming. You know, it's a big main event. It's a, in a lot of ways, looking past the finish and the controversy around it and the decision behind it, this is a good way to set up a wrestling show. You set up an angle at the beginning for a payoff at the end. Gives you something to look forward to. There's a lot of AEW shows that just begin with either a match taking place and then you never see any of those people again the rest of the night. Or something else. This was, I mean, though this hooked them great. Yeah, in terms of the format, I think the four, I'm trying to give some compliments here. In terms of the formatting, I think the formatting was good. The Stewie Griffin compliment sandwich, but no, yes. This is the way to hook people for the big match later on. And I had the people in the building jazzed up and it's just what happened after. Well, that's all you were going to say about that. That's all I was going to say about that. I know there's other things on Dynamite you may have seen, but why don't we get right to the main event just because that's what we're talking about here. Well, and just in a related note, no, I didn't watch it, but just the idea of it. Osprey wrestled. So they beat him on pay-per-view flat with Moxley in his comeback redemption match. And now they get a chance to redeem him a little bit. And it took him 18 minutes and everything that he could do to beat old Titsmiggy here by the skin of his teeth. And then Davis hit the ring and they laid him out and stood on him. So by Wimbly, is he going to be goddamn, he'll be Andy Cap. See, now I just popped everybody in the UK. Anyway, then, so it was they won't, what's the reference he's going to come home late to his angry wife? How's he going to go? He's just going to be some fucking drunken schlub on the street. He's nobody. He's nobody. It's just, my God. And anyway, then. In the main event, which they managed to figure out a way to start right in the overrun, so now they just fixated on this overrun thing. We don't get the quarters anymore. I can't imagine it's helping him at this point. But nevertheless, Darby's walking to the ring and there's Renee with him. And they're on the way to the ring and suddenly they see Sting's grandfather. How old is Sting, Brian? Look that up for me, please. While I described that he was in face paint, and he had part of his beard painted black, basically. But otherwise, his hair was as snow white as Colonel Sanders in his 70s. And 67. Oh, he's two years older than me. And he's like it's. If you were going to do TV. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? You know, is there. Is there just an easily washable, out of all hair color so he could be staying instead of grandfather time? Well, you know how much he charges just to paint his face. Imagine how much he charges to hit the just for men. Well, I'm sure Tony'd pay it. But anyway, he gave Darby the big pep talk. You know what to do. Get out there and do it. And Darby said it's showtime. No, Sting says it's your time. And he got Darby all pepped up and off Darby took to the ring. And there's a big close up of Sting looking like a fucking albino raccoon. And then at 10 o'clock, this thing starts and M.J.F. gets his entrance and the in ring introductions and they got the big Darby chance and I mean, with the setup and that it's his hometown and where he started training. I mean, they should have, but they did. The people were into fucking Darby all 3000 up. And Darby Darby and fuck him up Darby fuck him up. And so M.J.F. said, oh, golly, wait, he takes a diamond ring out of his tights and he's going to hand it to Aubrey says here, I forgot. And as he hands it to old Aubrey Ed, who immediately of course turns her back and walks the ring out of the ring. M.J.F. turns her out of kicks Darby Allen square to balls right between the uprights. And then. She turns around and M.J.F. has grabbed a headlock. Darby's just been kicked into balls, Brian, correct? That that's kind of what happened there, wasn't it? That's what started it off. Yeah. M.J.F. gets a headlock as soon as Aubrey turns around Darby is shooting M.J.F. off like he's going to throw him into the ropes, but it's toward Aubrey Ed. So she turns around and covers up and Darby kicks M.J.F. into balls. So. So shouldn't it have been something about Darby taking a goddamn metal frying pan out of the front of his fucking pants or something? He got kicked into balls and just five seconds later, he said, well, here, I'll kick you into balls. And then he gave him the scorpion death drop and then he climbed to all four quarters and gave him the coffin drop. But Max couldn't be in the same place. So he had to cough and drop and drag. It's like a, you know, one of those things on on the computer, Brian, the cutting paste and the dropping dragon drop. This was the drop and drag. It was a classic shimmy and a little shimmy from my sister Kate. And then after the scorpion death drop, drop fucking hell. After the scorpion death drop and the four coffin drops, then he got a headlock and took him over and pinned him one, two, three only actually because the way he was bowing fucking M.J.F.'s head up. He didn't really have the shoulders down, but they counted it anyway. One, two, three. How? I, I, I cannot come up with any rational scenario why that this is happening and why that they still don't have a clear path to Wimbledon Stadium and why that they have neutered Osprey's comeback like this and then suddenly Darby Ellen comes in out of nowhere, send a rally story and wins this thing. And every job guy in the company, although that may have been just their babyface roster, but every job guy in the company came out and confetti and pyro and and Sting came out and hugged him and it looked like he'd just been cryogenically frozen. But help me help me understand why this is a good thing to do. Sting's starting to look like the shroud of Turin. I don't know why it's a good thing to do. I'm not saying it's necessarily going to be a bad thing. We kind of have to see how it plays out. It's interesting that in the middle of this company show, which despite what they think, to the average person, it's just match, match, match, match. They did an angle at the start and they did an angle at the end. It's different than everything else they do. I wouldn't have taken the belt off MJF. I think he's stronger with the belt. We've seen him without it. We've seen it with it. Things are working right now. There's things you could do. There's plenty of ideas you can come up with for guys for him to feud with. I don't know if it'll be a hotshot title change. Title change, if it'll be going back to MJF or someone else next week. And then you get to ask yourself if that does happen. What was the purpose of this? Is Tony going to hotshot the championship? We don't know what the road to Wembley is going to be. And at this point, it may not be a safe bet to think Will Osprey is going to be the main featured thing. Good Lord. But again, the positives are Tony got everyone talking about this. We heard, we saw the most feedback we have seen in quite a while. St. Jim has to see this on dynamite. We have to hear what Jim thinks of this. So that says something. People want to talk about it, but it may not be. And time won't tell. It may not be for the right reasons. Well, I'll tell you what, I think at least somebody in this equation may have woke up the next day, Brian, and regretted what had happened the previous night. Have you ever been in that kind of a situation where you woke up in the morning and you regretted what happened the previous night? And maybe maybe you were a little droopy eyed and little headache, little vibration, a little hungover, that type of thing. 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Just don't use the pot of gold for anything else because it might be just a fucking plant in the corner next morning. With Willie's remedy, Jim, it won't be any of that. It'll just be blue skies shining on me because it's Willie. Well, Brian, you're really going to have to work on your singing. I wasn't planning. We can allow you to do that. It was suddenly out of nowhere that you can't. You got to. Yeah, but you can't be doing that unless you're a professional. I didn't warm up. I didn't get a chance to warm up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know that we were going to go in this direction. Maybe I'm crazy, crazy. Willie's, Willie's is don't let your heroes grow up to be cowboys or whatever. Cowboys or whatever. Is that what is that song? Don't let cowboys be your heroes. Mamas don't fuck cowboys. That's not the song. Why don't we just let Jim? Don't let your co-host grow up to be singers, folks. Hey, Willie's sold out. Let's get on the road again, please. 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DrinkWillys.com, promo code J-C-E, 20% off your first order and free shipping if the order is over $95. That's at DrinkWillys.com. Willie, Willie! So apparently you guys had a nice evening because of Willie. What happened? Did Willie come over and take you away so she could have a quiet evening watching TV? That's not nice. That's not the way things work. Hey, Jim, one last thing before we move completely on from AEW. I just told you about Camille's big return and her big match with Big Ann. They had an angle where she beat up Will O' Nightingale. Wow, they're actually doing something with Camille. She wrestled on Dynamite. Did you get to see any of that? I did. They beat her, didn't they? Right away. Right away. Boom. She hasn't been here in a year and a half. Let's remind everybody she can't beat anyone, except Big Ann, who I'm sorry, I don't know her pedigree. Possibly she's a great champion in another sport. But again, at the same time as I don't know whether, I didn't study the whole match with Will O' and Camille. I looked at some of it briefly and got to the meat of the matter, the result of the thing. But I said, I watched Camille work in the ring when we were doing the movie with some people that worked necessarily that experience. And she did a great job. And I watched her and Will O' I'm like, this is a fucking style clash. And I think it's to the point now that some of the modern indie graduates have trained in such a way that some of the graduates of more traditional methods, it's just a style clash and try to figure out what to do with these fucking people. But nevertheless, so she's, she bit the dust. But well, maybe she's got a clause in her contract. She has to come to work once every year and a half. That might, but there was another segment between the females on the show that I watched because you had me last week, watch the the fec-la promo because there was speculation from people that, oh, if she drunk or oh, they're hot in her, she showed up drunk and it was like the best promo, one of the girls is cut. That we can remember for like a 60 second promo. So this time they had the confrontation between thecla and Alex Mountbatten-Winsor. And again, I'm not completely sold on old thecla's wrestling. I'm not even sold on her as a wrestler, but she is some kind of a fucking personality. I'm just not sure what yet. I think she may be a gray doe. She may be a wrestler for a little while. I just get on TV as, as some personality over in the UK or even even here and just not do wrestling. But this reminded me the, they had her thecla up too many pronouns pal up in the stands and the spotlight owner doing the promo, walking down, talking about how great she was. And then Alex Mountbatten came out and she's answering her and the thecla's got a bit of an accent. You can almost hear a little goonther just but not as much as goonther. And Windsor has the, Windsor has the, you know, pretty stiff accent. But then they go, they do the back and forth where they're, you know, debating each other about their various merits and thecla at one point, the best line was, I didn't get fired from Japan. Well, okay, I did get fired from Japan. See, that's, that's, she's, she's a personality of some kind. She's going to find her niche in entertainment. But the feeling that I was having was not like, oh, this is a wrestling confrontation. I'd like to see these two fight and get resolved. It was like watching a play. They're doing a community theater in the round presentation and the, oh, look, it's cool when they come from the audience. They should have had the wireless headset with the microphone in front of their mouth like the stage folks do in these modern times. But back in my day, they used megaphones and had to project. But you know what I'm saying, Brian? Like the goddamn, the little microphone, like they're on stage with the Broadway plays and they've got the spotlight here and this for the protagonist and the antagonist. It's a fucking play, isn't it? It is. And that's why it stands out when anyone actually delivers anything and it doesn't seem like it's pre-written and pre-planned. I like Tecla's promos. I like to match her to Jamie Hader at the pay-per-view. I want to see her and Alex Windsor, but did they put that on collision? Because if they did, I'm not going to see it. Oh, wait, hold on here. No, it's a challenge for collision. Oh, so am I going to see them out? And then Julia Hart and Blue Sky jumped Alex from behind and she beat them both up, but Tecla took off. So that was that. Well, that was AEW Dynamite. That was AEW blowing its own brains out. I don't know what they fucking done that because I'm not even saying that Darby would never should never be the world champion or didn't deserve it. At one point, we had just finished saying, I think in the last show we did, you don't remember when they had him ready where he could have beat Moxley. But this is just, you're doing nothing but beating all of your baby faces, including Osprey, who should be the focal point of the Wembley Stadium. And I know some people, well, that would be predictable. You think, was it predictable when the British Bulldog was the fucking focal point of God damn Wembley Stadium? Yeah, damn. So instead of trying to, again, as I said before, build Osprey and throw stumbling blocks at his path, but let him slowly overcome those and earn his way to be the only person that might rest the AEW crown from this evil devil like MJF and the biggest stadium in my goddamn, he could sell, burn my boots if I don't fucking win or whatever the fuck. And you've got months to get that instead of just muddying this thing all the fuck up. Well, that was dynamite. Well, Brian, I guess now we ought to talk about this big financial disaster that's about to face the, the WWE this weekend. You know, everybody's to all WrestleMania tickets are down. They're just they're going to shit to bed. I know everybody's been analyzing this and writing this and trying to do the mathematics on this and everything. And we've talked about, yes, they have sold fewer tickets because of the various reasons that we've talked about tourism to Las Vegas being down a second year in a row, the creative, the this and that. There's an all night gas station open down the street, but also last year, basically to summarize all the reams of paper and countless keyboards that have been worn out from people writing about this. Last year, they had about 60,000 people each night. And this year, they're going to have fucking 50,000 people each night, give or take. It's still a ridiculous amount of people to be quite honest with you, but these prices because they're expecting they might not break last year's record, but they'll probably come close to it because the prices are higher. $33 million per night. So that's 66 million bucks together. That's the gate. I wonder how much the fucking hot dogs and the fucking coax are going to bring in. But that's for example, bigger than any UFC gate ever and bigger than any boxing match, apparently, except for Mayweather and Pacquiao. However long ago that was. That's fucking ludicrous. It is. It's incredible that money. A lot of it's going to go right to the TKO debt. But you know, it's like kind of like Wembley. We just talked about it that first year was like, holy shit, look at how many people they got there. And the second year, which I will argue look better on TV, the second year it was down. But if it had been the first one, you would have said, wow, look at how many people they got there. Right. But you notice it's down, but it was still an impressive gate and an impressive house. Same thing with WrestleMania right now. We could say, wow, they're going to do this amazing gate and they're going to have all these people in Vegas and true. And it would be anyone else's record. But it's down off the peak. And it comes at a period of time where people are focusing on that, the downward spiral of the creative of TKO's involvement with the creative. Well, now downward spiral may be dramatic at this point. They haven't fucking hit really hit fucking the bottom of the bowl yet. But it's it's a natural air ban flow. It's it's a natural air ban flow of the wrestling business that you're going to have popularity peaks and popularity valleys. But in some cases, the WWE has been in some cases bulletproof to a lot of that because of just the machine and the numerous ways they have to make money, etc, etc. But some of the modern problems are self inflicted. They've shot themselves in both feet. One side is the ticket prices. And the second side is the creative that they can't just they can't solve that by just getting more publicity. You see what I'm saying? They can't. Okay, well, have Pat McAfee involved. We'll have we'll bring Steven A Smith. I've yet to see him on a television program. I don't watch ESPN, but I hear his name constantly. We'll have him come into a fucking match with somebody will fucking publicity is not going to solve everything. The people that need to know this fucking thing is happening already know. And you might as at this point, and we've been talking about this for in the last week, they've sold a few thousand tickets, that's the people that live in Las Vegas that are waiting maybe to see how cheap they can get in with all the discounts. But it's not like massive amounts of people are going to make a huge difference in the last week or two in a destination like this, etc. But instead of getting more publicity and more crossover mainstream attention, they probably should have concentrated on more the our fans that are going to actually pay money and already know this is happening and really want to see it are going to get pissed off if we just turn this thing into a goddamn sideshow. I've rented and raved, Brian, but you get the point. Look at oba and Brock. I think we could both agree that match has more buzz than anything else at WrestleMania, right? Yes. And that's just two wrestlers and the anticipation of them actually going at it. The match may not even live up to the hype. It may. It may not. But that idea is fueling a lot of desire to see things. No one is saying, oh man, maybe jelly roll can get involved and then Pat McAfee and then Stephen A Smith. I mean, I didn't realize. See, this is another problem. He had done some interviews saying somebody asked him if he was going to do something. He's like, no, I'm not as brave as McAfee. You know, I don't want to do that stuff, but it just it's everybody's talking about it because that's that's they bought ESPN now basically ESPN. Instead of becoming the or the sports network has become the sports entertainment network. And that's part of the issue too, because again, going back to Brock and oba wrestling fans, which is your audience want wrestling angles and wrestling stars. They don't want all these celebrities all over the place. The right celebrity at the right time. Yes, always. But just celebrities up the gizoo is WrestleMania two with Herb and fucking Wendy's. Where's the beef lady? They weren't a lot of power. Yeah, the old fashioned burger lady, because they weren't allowed to associate Wendy's with any of this. But like the B level. C level, like all of that, as opposed to what they were in the corner. It wasn't like the fucking. Where's the beef lady was helping the British Bulldogs because she was taking the place of the injured Matilda. It was just all over. It was just desperately. Let's get anything we can. Cab Callaway and Joan Rivers, like just anyone we could find. Get them here. Elvira, you've got tits. Please come to WrestleMania. How do you know my point is they should get Elvira. No, my point is that wrestling fans want wrestling stuff. When you overload it with all the celebrities the way they are right now, you're not making the wrestling fans happy. But on the other side, you're also pissing off the other person's audience. There's plenty of people don't like ESPN becoming the WWE state media. And that's going to be an issue. That's going to be an issue. Invested with WWE. They have to do that. But if you are a sports fan, you don't want to see wrestling angles in the middle of your sports talk show. You know what I mean? You don't want that. And that's the thing is that it's two groups. Number one, like you just said, a lot of the baseball fans and football fans and the real, you know, stick up the ass type of serious sports fans are going, what the fuck with the pro wrestling? Although it's not like it used to be because now they're going, well, I guess it's fun. But it's the same time you've got that audience that you've also got. What is the one network in history that wrestling fans have never watched, except incidentally to any of their other interests? ESPN. They did world class reruns on weekday afternoons and what the late 80s and the legends of world class championship. That was my introduction to it. Yeah. Yeah. And the, you know, Vern's show in the dying days in the late 80s. But ESPN, the wrestling fans never went there for their wrestling. So it's two completely different worlds that have now been smashed together. Respectfully, though, it wasn't easy. Again, I liked it because I would come home from school and they'd be wrestling on it four p.m. every day, every day, every day. I mean, just think about that every day. Yeah. But it was the GWF. And despite the stars they became like Booker T and JBL and all of these people, it was a rough show to watch. And beyond the production and the lack of fan energy and at times the lack of fans, the darkness of the build just beyond all of that, it had the ESPN crawl the whole time at the bottom. You would get the doodoo and then updates also in the middle of the thing. Yeah. They would cut away from anything back then. ESPN was like the early financial news network with the tickers and everything. And then like anything violent that happened, they would cut away and just show a fan sitting there watching it. They wouldn't show like a steel chair shot or anything. That was too much for ESPN. So if you were a wrestling fan, you watched it, but it was a frustrating watch. Well, but also, and we could do a whole show on the various reasons why that pro wrestling for a few years was on weekday afternoons on ESPN 35 years ago or whatever. But when they showed the old, like in 1990, when I was living in Charlotte, they were showing the world class shows from when we were there at 85. And I was like, oh, I even got some of them because the quality of my picture was better at that point. But see, that's what threw me off too, because I would see, but even before GWF when they had USWA Dallas on there. And then I would see like the legends of world class. It took me a minute to be like, is that the same building? Yeah. Because it was brightly lit and there were fans everywhere and it looked great. And now it looked like a dump. Even if it was one back then, it looked like it now. Well, but nevertheless, now that you've aligned to line the cultural institution in the city of Dallas, we'll move back to WrestleMania and basically say that they're going to malign a cultural institution there in Las Vegas. I'm aligned that they raised it. But at least we know that they're not hurting for money, which brings me to another thing that crossed the news desk here over at the castle. Apparently now that there's court filings, they have to tell the truth about these things. And our boy Thurston Howley, aka Brandon Thurston, stays on top of this stuff. And by extrapolating from numbers that they had to give, he's figured out kind of what the WWE paid the main talent roster guys for the years 2020 through 2023. And obviously not each individual, but like, well, there was 122 main roster guys and they got paid X amount of money so you can figure out an average, but that, you know, at least gives you a ballpark. But basically in 2022, WWE spent $195 million on talent, including the developmental wrestlers, which was about 15% of the company's overall revenue of 1.29 billion. So stopping there for a second, that sounds like a lot of money to most folks. I mean, you know, I could write you a check, Brian, but no, it sounds like a lot of money until you realize that it's only 15% of what they took in, and then it doesn't sound like it's a lot of money. Because isn't it, hasn't that always been the gripe and the bitch, well, the UFC pays the fighters more a percentage of their overall revenue or football, baseball, basketball, the players get a bigger percentage of the overall revenue than wrestling. And that since there's so much revenue that does seem kind of fucking harsh, doesn't it? Yes and no. Because it's a ton of money that they're paying out. But it's also just a fraction of what they take in. Again, they have a lot of debt. And they're planning on WWE financing a lot of that debt or paying off a lot of that debt. It's a ton of money. You said it and then the boys will say, well, is that my fault? No, the boys are gonna say, is that my fault? You're so far in fucking debt, motherfucker. Go ahead. And you said it includes developmental. Those guys, I mean, unless it's like someone they have signed for a good deal, usually that's the people making no money. Yeah, well, and I'm trying to read this goddamn chart here that I've got. But basically, the developmental talent was a small portion of the overall. But here's another statistic that WWE's pay to main roster talent, just the main roster talent also nearly doubled between 2020 and 2022 from about 890,000 to 1.5 million on average. So that means that all the average main roster talent in 2020 was making 890 grand a year. The average in 2022 was 1.5 million. But the high paid guys that make 7 million or whatever the fuck these guys are making, that skews your average, not everybody is making that's on the main roster is making 1.5 million. But the point is between those years coming out of the pandemic and with the billionaire boy child in Jacksonville spending money like a drunken sailor's son, they almost doubled the fucking pay. But it's still 15% of the revenue. And also what may skew it? I mean, not a big amount, but were those also the years that like Vince and Triple H and probably Stephanie to all had performance contracts, even if they appeared on camera like one time the entire year. But they all had like high six figure or maybe even seven figure performance contracts to, you know, Vince would make like one appearance a year on TV and look awful and then you never see him. And then you'd find out he got like $800,000 as annual. Well, yeah, but still, still that would be three or four million dollars out of 129 million or 175 million or 194 million over these various years. It was in 20 and 21, it was pretty diagram steady. What they spent and then suddenly 2022 increased like 50 million and 2023 was up another 20 above that. When did they start going to Saudi Arabia? Shortly before that. But that's a thing as Vince was, it looks to me like Vince may have been hot shotting and making sure guys were signed up and trying to fucking just get revenue, get everything going as hot as he could to sell a dagum thing. And that's what happened. But nevertheless, yeah, Brock Lesnar renewal, four million dollars. A drop in the bucket. But a mere a mere bag of shells there, Brian. Celebrity talent pay three million. And that's only due to the shift of Logan Paul to main roster talent as opposed to celebrity talent. He paid celebrities as much as probably every celebrity in the first 10 WrestleMania's made as a congregation. Well, this has been where does your money go? When you're a publicly traded company. But you know, somebody Brian that is not particularly pleased about fighter pay and talent pay and all the things that are going on in the wrestling business and the fighting business in general, the business of the combat business is our old friend, Rhonda Rousey. And I asked you because I've heard she made the comments, but I haven't heard her say them yet. But people are saying Jesus, H Christ, if she had cut promos like this when she was in the wrestling business, she'd been the biggest star we ever had. What? What is it? What is it? She's usually pissed off about something I've noticed. But what particularly triggered her to be pissed off about pay and opponents and various people in the in the current society? Yeah, I have a couple bits of audio we could play here from the press conference for Rhonda Rousey versus Gina Carano on Netflix. Ariel Hohawani is the emcee of this event. Couple of scantily clad ring girls stand behind him, hands on hips. I don't know why I'm giving on whose hips on their hips, not Ariel's hips. Oh, I was going to say, well, you know, that'd be the story then. You know, this real quick, I just want to say you say she didn't do this kind of promo in WWE. They didn't let her or set her up to do this kind of promo. They tried to make her you hear this and you realize they tried to make her something that she's not, especially when she was the smiling Rhonda Rousey. Jim, this first clip is Rhonda talking about the minimum purse for the upcoming MMA card MVP is the promotion. Here is Rhonda. I think it's really important that we raise the ceiling, but also that we raise the floor. And one thing that I'm really proud of in this fight is the absolute minimum that anybody will walk away with, even if they don't have a big long record, and even if they lose is $40,000. And if you fight three times in a year, that is much more than a living wage. And that is something that the UFC cannot say. And I hope that everybody sitting here today is getting the biggest payday of their career. And well, maybe not for you, maybe you've done better before, but in MMA, hopefully not against her. She's talking to Nate Diaz. And I hope that after this event, we can keep raising that ceiling higher and higher and higher until it is on par with the highest level boxers, because that is really where the Holy Grill, I think, for us is. And this is just the beginning. Well, there it is. That's Rhonda in a good mood during the press conference talking about the base salary. What do you think? Yeah, but you know, she's okay. And again, I'm not an expert in the fight business, but I've read numerous accounts of guys in the UFC, or girls, whatever fighters in the UFC, who had to pay expenses of their camps, had to pay training expense, or had to whatever. If you fight three times a year, you gross 120 grand. If you got to keep much of that past taxes, that might be a living wage. But if you're paying for training camps or your transportation or whatever the fuck, I've not heard it established that now that that's all free to all those fighters. So even that ain't, you know, at the bottom, it's like indie wrestling. But again, you talk about, we just talked about WWE pay. UFC makes a lot of money. They don't pay their fighters a lot of money. Well, no, that's what when they were separate companies, the comparisons were done and they, UFC was lower than, again, difference in terms of individuals versus teams and rosters, et cetera. But percentage of overall revenue was lower than basketball or baseball or football. And in the point was the only thing lower was the WWE. They were lower than UFC. And now they're both owned by the same miserly, scrooge like conglomeration. Well, Jim, the big part of the press conference, everyone wanted to hear your thoughts on what was Rhonda was asked about Kayla Harrison, who is a current fighter, a current champion in the UFC, who Rhonda knows from the past, who did an interview saying that this fight and these fighters, they're both irrelevant. So the fight doesn't matter. They've been way too long. They're irrelevant. Here's Rhonda Rousey's response. Well, Dina is so relevant that she's the whole reason that the 145 pound division even exists. And I am so relevant that the only reason she has a job at the UFC is because of me. And Kayla is so irrelevant that she couldn't even keep the 145 pound division around. And honestly, she's just sour because no matter what she does or what she accomplishes, she can't change the fact that she has the charisma of a wet towel and will always be in me and Dina's shadow. So the next time she wants to talk shit, she should look down at her feet and consider who paved the road that she's walking on. Oh wait, she can't look down at her feet because she's too busy holding onto the belt and the neck brace. And then she goes on and says that I lied about training in Judo in Canada in like 2006. Like what the fuck are you to call me a liar? Okay, I was training there for five months. Bitch, you weren't even there. Okay, over the last decade and a half of being a public figure, I have cultivated a reputation for being unabashedly truthful. This bitch just got here and was already caught in a lie. What did she say after she won the belt? She said, Oh, I'm never gonna say anything bad about Rhonda. She took care of me when I was broke in Japan and bought me groceries. How about you shut the fuck up and eat your groceries? Jesus Christ. Let me stop there. There's more. There's much more. Shut the fuck up and eat your groceries. What do you think of this so far? Well, obviously this has been simmering for some time in her mind. Because immediately she went back in 2005 when I was there. Obviously they've been friends in the past and now there's they're on the outs and there's been some bitter shit for a while because they're going back 20 years already. But that just that delivery and that vehemence and that aggression we would have done great to see that kind of Rhonda Rousey into WWE. But she means this. She's not a great worker, but she's very bluntly honest when she's telling the truth and saying what she means. And as she's doing this as a split screen, Gina Carano is laughing. She's clapping. She's having a great time. But let's go back to Rhonda Rousey. And also you can tell that MMA is still something important to Rhonda Rousey, but she dabbled in the wrestling sector as well that Brian Gerwitz phrased it one time. She did it as a lark because her friends and she used to watch it. But she's keeping up with everything these people are fucking doing and knows exactly where to drill this girl. And her and Hunter trying to act like her next sub coming fight is the biggest women's fight of all time. Then why is it being booked as a comane as a meant for men's interim title fight? Okay, the bitches even bigger than Patty the baddie. No offense to Patty. I think he's got more potential than anybody in the UFC and he should call me when his contract runs out. But here's another contradiction that I think is a fucking kicker is if she thinks that her fight is the biggest women's fight of all time, why is she getting paid less now than I was 10 years ago? Are you overvalued or are you underpaid? And what really pisses me off more than anything else? Yeah, I'm not fucking done is how small she thinks. This is not just the biggest women's fight of all time. This is the biggest MMA fight of all time. It's going to get the most views on the biggest platform on a card with the biggest stars assembled by and will be headlined by two women who dare to dream big. And this dream is going to bring more opportunities and greater revenue share to fighters than they've ever had before because this fight is bigger than just me and Gina and it's bigger than anybody on this stage. It represents an unstoppable force of change in this industry spearheaded by the fighters themselves. But your fucking asses is the biggest MMA fight of all time. Barton Ryan. Jesus Christ. What the hell? Can I hire her to hype my next fight or to just do promos for my promotion? Can you imagine if she had believed in anything in the WWE with that passion or that emotion or was able to channel that kind of rah rah? When she was heelish it worked because she's kind of naturally heelish but when she was a baby face she didn't look like she wanted to be there and she didn't want to emote like that, I guess is what I'm trying to say. The first time they used her I think was WrestleMania, right? The Rock walked over to her at ringside and then her and the Rock confronted Triple H and Stephanie and then the next year she had them. Yes and the mixtape. Yeah. They used her as a badass. They used her as who she was as the celebrity fighter she was. She became a celebrity because she was a fighter not that she was a fighter. And for the younger listeners I thought at the time I reviewed it that was the best debut match in history of pro wrestling. Oh she was incredible. She was incredible. Yeah and well and they put it together incredible too and she she performed it the way that they instructed her because it was her first fucking match. But coming out of that was she ever presented that way as a badass really ever again? Did she get fucking Vince-ized? Vince McMahon got his hands on her and all of a sudden she's smiling. Now wait a minute don't put it like that. You know what I mean though she's smiling she's saying words that she wouldn't naturally say. This is how she naturally talks. Did we ever get this ever? No. And at the start there was still an element of Rhonda Rousey, baddest woman on the planet but then it started being washed and watered down and Vince-ized and then she went away and then she came back and really did not enjoy herself and you could tell and diminishing returns so a short period of a career with a break in the middle. But it went from her first match was still the absolute greatest thing she ever did and what was her last match? I don't remember it. I don't did she was it her and Shayna? Well we may have just made our point without even trying to go any further. I mean she wrestled that Ring of Honor match. Well but I mean not even those because that was just for a hoot but the point is everybody remembers her debut match and you what was her last match? We didn't care by that point that's the moral to this story. Well there it is once again Rhonda Rousey versus Gina Carano coming up on Netflix. I will be watching. Are you going to watch this? When is that again? Mid-May. I want to say like May 18th or something. Well we got we got plenty of time. I may have to see what happens because I don't know about this. I it probably won't go long one way or the other. Let's put it this way but I would have to think that just at this point in both of their lives the younger the younger stallion will win the race. We'll see what happens. So Brian between Rhonda and Gina Caruso I did that last time. Gina Carano. Accidentally and and now I can't I just love to do it. Between Rhonda and Gina Carano who you picking? Oh come on now it has to be Rhonda Rousey. Who you picking? You asked you to be who you picking? It has to be Rhonda Rousey. It has to be quick. I can't imagine it would I can't imagine it's going to go more than a minute and I can't imagine it's not going to be an armbar. That's because you you agree with me that at this point in both of their careers age may play the the most predominant factor and and level of inactivity of one versus level of inactivity of the other. I think at their peak Rhonda was the better fighter than Gina Carano. Not taking anything away from what she was but just Rhonda at her peak. Before but was she a fighter or was she an armbar? Well I mean that's kind of what cost her everything with Holly Home was she had never really taken a punch and she wasn't what if Gina just kicks her in a fucking nose? I mean maybe maybe just boom just lucky kick boom but what if it's over in five seconds boom down she goes kick to the nose down she goes kick to the nose folks who are you picking between these two titans of modern combat sports? I don't know if you can go to our friends at prize picks and pick between these people's picks but you can go right now to prize picks and you can become involved in the NBA finals probably the the regular season is over with that's it's done and now we're getting down to nut cutting time down to the meat of the matter it's the NBA playoffs and prize picks now a preferred partner of the NBA I'll have you know they've made an official arrangement so every bucket every dime see that that's basketball terminology and every win means more when you're playing on prize picks and you can get $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first five dollars and I'm going to tell you what you do here you can do it fuck it we're going to do it live during the 2026 NBA final sweepstakes you pick live squares whatever they may be they're they're living they're living breathing organisms you pick live squares during the NBA playoffs and you could win a trip for two to the NBA finals Brian where are the NBA finals taking place this fine year who will be the who will be in the finals we need to determine that before we know where they'll be taking place well what does that mean that the hometown team gets an advantage it's not like the NCAA where you got to go to play where they've set it up if it's well what kind of fucking home cooking is this going on if it's the nicks and the Lakers it would be in New York and Los Angeles at their arenas for the series no see that when the tko buys the NBA they'll fix that where they'll bid it they'll have the finals wherever will bid highest Las Vegas or Saudi Arabia just like god intended professional sports but folks if you want to cash in on some of this sits all these players and all these promoters are making a fortune you just make a five dollar lineup with at least one live NBA player pick during any part means you can't pick any deceased players one live NBA player pick during any part of the 2026 NBA playoffs and live player picks are picks made after a game is already in progress that's what oh that's what that is and then you're you're you're entering in your thing where you go to the finals in Saudi Arabia that's not I don't believe that's what you're entering let's not well that might be next year that's not no that's not what you're entering but nevertheless folks download the prize picks app pick more or less on two to six player stat projections if you get your picks right you can cash in it doesn't have to be the NBA could be baseball hockey UFC soccer college basketball tennis golf e-sports and more and now Brian none of our followers out there none of the culture corned are excluded prize picks is in all 50 states the the the people that were being discriminated against have now been been allowed to access their prize picks so do it with abandon and download the prize picks app today use the code JCE to get $50 in lineups after you play your first five dollar lineup so it's 10 to 1 10 times what you will get for what you give with the code JCE a fantastic deal for the listeners tis the season to make your picks the NBA playoffs and of course the finals coming up make your picks with prize picks one more time jim that wonderful promo code well you download the prize picks app you use the code JCE you get $50 in lineups after you play your first five dollar lineup at prize picks a preferred partner of the NBA is what they are and a mighty fine one all right back to the underwhelming build to WrestleMania oh i forget now is the time that we are going to talk about SmackDown which is transpired between the time we started this program and the and now and folks you never even knew it you never knew what was going on in the background in life while we were doing this program for you they were in Vegas they're never going to leave Vegas SmackDown in Vegas two nights WrestleMania in Vegas raw in Vegas Hall of Fame in Vegas apparently whoever goes to Vegas stays in Vegas as well right are they ever going to get to fucking leave they have burnt that town to a crisp did they ever did they crack 10 000 on this crowd because that was a topic of contention and is it even last year but traditionally the SmackDown and the raw sells out said they 17 18 000 whatever was last year who knew they were like 8 000 tickets out for raw and SmackDown less than a week out and those are usually the shows where you get the rowdy international fans sometimes they just playful international fans but less international travel to wrestle many of this year well yeah that's why that the whole crowd didn't erupt into fucking song every five seconds because we got to musical furners I see that's that's what we got the furners out of here so we don't have to listen to the crowd saying also also the crowds are half of what they were you ever feel like when you watch some of the crowds when they're silent that the only thing they could be thinking of is like just a cash register and their money flying out of their pocket into the cash register I don't think they're I don't think they're examining it like that until they get home and they have the buyer's remorse after the end of the whole experience I think in the middle of it it's the it's the dusty principle they're sitting there going when will his bullshed be over with why is this bullshit on my fucking TV except it's live did you see any good matches no not really but I got to see Randy Orton do Othello all right well speaking of Randy Orton that he opened the show him and Pat McAfee pull up in their red truck at show time we used to get fine if we didn't get the TV at call time god damn it's a big production and there's nick oldis with the contract for pat who says I've got to read it and of course he never did read it was signing it by the time that this little shot was over with Pat's trying too hard he's an annoying heel and not in the good way he's trying to be so over the top with this he's trying to get his line he called what does he call Aldous foreign Adam Pierce but he did it twice within 30 seconds to just make sure everybody heard it I guess because it's so funny do you see what I'm saying here there's an annoyance he sucks he completely sucks I completely see what you're saying he's like a like a low class Dan Lambert or at least you know the character oh my god the character Dan Lambert played on AEW like just it's awful it's and now Dan Lambert a low class Dan already Dan Lambert is somewhat of a of a bar that's been set for low class and then you've submerged past him I love you Dan if you still listen is Dan Lambert still around I don't even know I believe he is still breathing yes hopefully he's healthy he's we haven't seen him on AEW television I'm sure with the fans I want to remember that stellar run if he came back today and they're oh no I think they may remember it they may remember it but uh the point is the McAfee stuff is pretty cringy it doesn't seem like you said it's getting the right kind of heat people are rejecting it and rejecting him not booing him because he's a heel that they want to see get his ass kicked by the baby face they want they literally want him to go home the chant that Cody Rhodes is trying to get going is the feeling yeah it's just leave TV don't wait for beating leave now yeah and I think it's cringy you know just the whole idea of you know calling the televised wrestling fans marks which is a term that's never been introduced really on this show I mean maybe it really well and that that's that's another thing is that again it just because it's said on the internet doesn't mean that you introduce it into a television show with no explanation that where it's never been said before and and you know I mean again is Mark spreading out into the general populace like K. Fabe has but still it's just it's so trying hard to it sounds like they're venting their fucking own hatred at the marks by marks marks you know you're K. Fabe because you shouldn't most of the fans are not going to really be as like not if you called my mother a whore as if you call him a mark but the the I think the boys in the office hate the marks more than the marks hate being called marks and he keeps going off about the IWC I can't even tell you how small a percentage of wrestling fans even know what that is it almost feels like a wrestling term from another era of internet wrestling talk well I mean up until it was not really a thing anymore I still thought it was some kind of goddamn federation and fucking McKeesport or something but anyway nevertheless here's the point of this is when they have this interaction Orton goes to the ring and lets McAfee stay there and deal with Aldous because if they weren't smart enough to call this ahead of time I would imagine it probably Orton highly suggested it I need to go out there and fucking talk he's doing the best promos of his career and he sounds like he means everything and now they've thrown him this you know fucking unwanted baggage but he's caught it at least he's making the best of it for what he's making the best of it yeah but at the same time when he goes out they're cheering him and but but they put him in a position where when he said I don't need Pat McAfee they're like yeah I want him oh they want to cheer him more than they can because you know now he's saying McAfee's the only straight shooter in the company and tells me what I need to hear and all I needed to do was be me they don't want to hear that and he told the story he knew he could beat Drew for the title but when Cody won it every time he would mention Cody there'd be big booze when he'd mention Cody's name boo they want to ignore the McAfee thing and just cheer Randy and boo Cody and yes these stumbling blocks are being put in their way and he did a great promo about I couldn't hurt Cody I do my you know my friend whatever but then Cody gave me permission to be me who the hell is Cody to give me permission and they're like yeah and he cut the promo where all he ever did was take and all I ever did was give and he gave the back the whole backstory that they're telling without McAfee involved is exactly the fucking story we've been talking about here's another thing when they do this they're gonna tell it right when Cody needed help two years ago he called Seth Rollins but as a friend I helped him against the bloodline and I got put through a table and I he gave a WWE title match to Owens and an Owens turned on Cody and I had his back and Owens piled over me the whole goddamn deal it should have been Owens not McAfee yes it was because McAfee wasn't even there it should have been Owens but he put every time he he told the story and he's again he has a point he's right in his mind and the people are with it but every time he talks about McAfee and puts McAfee over he gets booed and so it's yeah they cheer the heel who's saying I gotta be me yes they boo the babyface but then and when the and when the heel mentions the baby faces name they boo but when the heel mentions the guy that's in his corner they boo worse amazing so that was the opening segment there and then Orton and Pat drove off in their in their truck exceeding Nevada parking lot speed limits of course I didn't watch the eight-man street fight garbage match with trash cans and chairs between the mud line and the riots and then they did a package again on our friend Royce Keys I did his mother overdosed in 2021 that's what it said on the screen I remember they did that was after they told the story briefly once on AEW where his brother got shot or some this guy is cursed but what a story but they're they're doing another package they're again telling this sad dramatic family story and he's emotional and a blah blah blah and it's a great story because it's true and they can show the pictures and it makes him a sympathetic person and I know some Al Coran at he's he here's this big guy he's crying well yes over his mother dying or his brother getting shot or whatever the fuck's going on that's fine but that's why I say when when he gets in a ring he needs to be explosive and as aggressive as possible because this is what he's fighting for to make all of his family proud of him blah blah blah but they've done a better job in two weeks and they did an AEW in five years haven't they yeah I think they've done a great job with the exception of I know I'm in the minority and I know it means something but the name even in the promo I thought about it because one of the women and it called them will yeah his name isn't Royce it's will we know that but even if you're not going to use that powerhouse or something that it just it feels like his name is missing something still and I'm sorry to say that because I know his name was put together by him when they said he got to pick a name but that's the only thing missing so far to me but I think he's obviously someone they're taking care of and they're giving time to they didn't rush it after the royal rumble they shot these videos they gave a lot of attention to the podcast interview we did with Stephanie and now the big Andre the giant memorial battle royal which was introduced several years back as a memory a tribute to Andre that will always be a part of WrestleMania and then they said well why don't we just move it to Smackdown and that's what's happened well originally it was a tribute to Andre and also a way to get everybody else on the fucking show and now that they've got two nights there's multiple ways to get everybody else on the fucking show but they still so then but they still don't there's only like five or six matches or whatever it is each night there's a lot of people not booked if you want to do the battle royal on one of those nights of WrestleMania you could oh please why don't they do it after the Hall of Fame about three in the morning anyway so a cop car pulled in as the Las Vegas police department is known well for doing they have brought in a celebrity escorted him in and limoed him into the arena and obviously Drew McIntyre has been making fun of Jacob Fatou's checkered past his time in prison and so Jacob pops out of the cop car and stands on the top of it at the entranceway to do his promo well the cops guard to make sure that how are they going to explain all those goddamn dance from that 300 pounds Samoan when they get back to the precinct but Jacob again he cut the promo on Drew McIntyre and I don't know if he quite got into it at first but if he got more into it more comfortable I think they're trying to for whatever reason possibly sponsors or corporate involvement as soon as they've revealed his prison background and brushes with the law whatever which I said that's what you know made him real is the Samoan werewolf now they're punching him to say but I don't live that life no more because he got dead in about three or four times so apparently we don't we don't want to I mean just because you saw the Samoan werewolf on wrestling that used to be in jail does that make the young people I want to go out and commit crimes anyway he's a very he's a very clean werewolf but he cut the promo he's and he's got still got oomph to him and intensity and he cut the promo on Drew McIntyre and he's gonna dog walk his ass at WrestleMania but this this was just like a three hour infomercial as as we are starting to see for the eight hours of extravaganza that they expect us to pay for for of of infomercials for the various products they're selling us there but go ahead that's their whole business model now it's an infomercial to sell you on other infomercials that you can spend money on and if you buy preferred access you can spend your money even earlier yeah and take a picture smiling while we collect your money I think this was Jacob's best promo I think it may be actually the highlight of the little feud with Drew even though it's been a lot of action I have not been into it myself it's a little ridiculous the idea that the cops drive them in and then let them stand on top of the car while they are on both sides of it guarding the car yeah I guess they thought it was a cool visual but the promo itself was I think his best promo and WWE at least and we'll see what I would I like both Jacob Fatou and Drew McIntyre and I think they should both be in positions where they're either in you know a money match or able to they both need wins whereas some of these other people you know may not need it as bad but now they're in a position where one of them is going to have to lose something one way or the other anyway speaking of losers next we had Grayson Waller and Kofi Kingston against Priest and Truth and I thought at least theory is away from Waller we got that going for us and then Jade and Rhea Ripley I don't know if it was long it seemed like it on fast forward because I just I don't care again either Rio is in a tag team with EO for so long that I've just you know I've lost the habit but also I'm not particularly interested in Jade here and they talked for a long long time yes they did it was there anything in this that contradicted my opinion of not watching it it's been an awkward build awkward promos awkward energy if coming out of this thing with Jade at some point the next few months Rhea turns heel and attacks EO would that make it a little more worth it for you because at least then we I think it would revitalize Rio a little bit but also obviously it ends the whole thing with her and Rhea Rhea Rio EO all their names together um the team I think I don't want to see Rhea turn heel I don't think people want to boo her I think she does need to get more biked and more edge and be featured more prominently and win some things and hopefully she'll beat Jade and move on to something that would be more interesting and speaking of which the next thing was Tiffany against Jordan Grace and that wasn't any more interesting and to be honest with you the next thing trick Williams came out with no little yachty he came out all by himself and then they like him they love to say whoop that trick then he brought a gingerbread man out a guy in a gingerbread man cookie costume thing and representing Sammy so he could talk to him as if he's yes representing Sammy which of course Sammy's name is already getting booed every time it's mentioned and then Sammy came out and he got booed himself and then this went on and on and I just finally at the end of it Sammy can trick Williams out of the ring in the crowd booed and then Sammy knocked out the gingerbread cookie guy with a kick to his giant over sized sized mascot cookie head which put the fuck and it turned out to be a great hit the knee on Sammy but he didn't then trick didn't go over to check on the cookie man were you hoping I was hoping were you hoping that the cookie the gingerbread cookie man was going to be little yachty well at first it seemed like it but then at the same time when it never happened it seemed less likely the guy did a good job as a mascot he was hamming it up I thought he actually did a really good job he could definitely apply for like a San Diego chicken or Mr. Met it was his big chance but at that point that that took 15 minutes what we just talked about I'm turning my page what happened next Charlotte and Alexa against Bailey and Lyric and then they had the Andre the giant battle royal which featured every job guy in the fucking company I mean they started they only had two entrances Royce Keys and Henry right and then the ring was already it was filled up I don't know how many people were in there did you could you spot a star I mean I knew who some of the wrestlers were but it wasn't a star studded battle royal like some of the ones we've seen in the past but shockingly Royce Keys won Cinderella story out of nowhere nobody was thinking that that it would be him even though they mentioned that it would be him and then ladies and gentlemen boys and girls are you ready for the main event Brian I don't remember what it was what was the main event well the big main event was Cody's interview oh the promo yes yes I didn't know if there was another match we didn't really there weren't really a lot of you know why they don't have very goddamn matches with their these guys have shit to say they have got a song they've got a sing and they're gonna we're gonna let them sing it Cody came out and it was not the overwhelming show of love for the American nightmare of days gone by most recently it's not like they're just fucking throwing shit at him but you know with all this that they have done and of course he said I'm not going to talk about the controversy theories the last three wrestle medias whether somebody's messing with me and he mentioned the rock and Travis Scott and the guy who needs to just go home and the go even though they they can't stand McAfee the go home Pat was not as loud or as long as I might have thought it it would be and of course maybe this is just another one of those it's the most jaded people who are here to see you know moments they're also not as behind Cody as they were and the booking that's true the booking is hurt Cody and so he did the promo about his match with Orton and he says Orton has never taken responsibility even all Randy said all I do is take and take well he's never taken responsibility for anything that he's done and blah blah blah and it sounded like he was going to start to make a pithy comment and suddenly he interrupted Cody and I don't know what he was gonna say cause it's called a personality and here comes one it's CM Punk to save the day because everybody likes the way he played something did not rhyme there but CM Punk came out yes in a suit Punk came out in a suit and now we got a big pop because he's the only one that really hasn't done anything to fucking piss people off and or be involved with goddamn you know any of this and there's he's singing a song and they're singing a song and they chance see him punk see him punk and I wrote down I say he's past Cody you can tell and of course Cody asked Punk well hey if I shake your hands or shake your hands both of them all three of them if I shake your hand or you're gonna kick me into balls and turn on me and no no no punk said there's a lot of guys around here get kicked in the deserve to get kicked in the balls but you're not one of them there's there's one of them like a tourist in this business it's not worth our time and the fact that they're making the pointed comments as inside little shoots indicates that's the way they all really fucking feel but if punk said it was the first time that he'd worn a suit since Teddy long got married I knew Teddy long in 1986 and he had a fucking son that was like 12 years old so I don't know how old punk is must have been a storyline situation it must have been uh yeah something else but punk did a great job here I believe by he's pumping Cody up but he also the promo was geared to kind of get people back on Cody's side and at the same time it's the two champions going into WrestleMania both defending it it looks like now I because punk said hey come with us on this adventure and I don't know what's gonna happen this weekend but we'll still be here on Monday I think they're switching both of them and I don't know that I'm interested in seeing Roman Reigns as a champion I think punk could at this point he's probably got more credibility with that belt than Cody and Orton's so I think point point I think point point I think punk could anoint what I was trying to say you'd you've no good dirty point back a snake feces I think punk could anoint a younger man at this point he's got so much credibility but nevertheless if punk try to get people on Cody's side and hey come with us for the adventure but we'll be there Monday and and then Cody kind of tried to do the same thing pump punk up and put punk over and he got the fans chanting because they want to chant for punk anyway but said punk's the new mr. WrestleMania and he thanked him for everything and dusty would be proud and then they hugged and Cody's music started playing and punk stopped it he got the last word he said and we're here to celebrate with the people oh yeah it maybe Cody should have said that I don't know if punk reminded them whatever the fuck but out in the people they go and well just happy happy just everybody's happy Brian they're all happy they may not be happy on Monday it's looking bad for our side it is this is also just the worst build to a WrestleMania ever I think Roman Reigns did a promo where at least I saw something going around where it was attributed to him where it said that if I don't win the title I'm gonna leave wwe so that would almost telegraph something if that were indeed the case I think they gotta do something with Cody the problem is I have no faith in their creative team understanding how to refresh Cody unless they turn him heel and he's always been resistant to that so who knows but they're gonna do something big you gotta imagine try to tie this together punk losing the belt to Roman I'm okay with listen if it leads the more angry CM punk promos sign me up for it I'll take that but uh they had underwhelming this is a go-home show this is the show the day before night one of WrestleMania well but let's face it no action watch it anybody that's gonna watch it is already is already watching it and and I don't know how you could really talk anybody else into it at this point there was nothing on this show for instance like anyone was like I gotta share this on social media like there was nothing on there there was no big moment there was nothing they didn't even try to get buzz they were just like all right we I guess we sold a bunch of tickets we gotta do a show who can we get out there do you want to talk or wrestle talk yeah that's what everyone's saying you can go talk but it just it feels like it's an under I want to see Brock and oba I want to see punk and Roman because I figure they have to have some sort of interesting storyline I don't want to see the Cody Rhodes Randy Orton match at this point because McAfee is all over it I want to see live in Stephanie what else do I want to see there has to be more uh what am I forgetting I don't you've already named more than I want to see I don't want to see the vision I show speed usos LA night I'm not interested I mean I'm gonna watch it but I don't care I don't care about the women's four-way fatal tag match I don't care about Becky versus AJ Dominic versus Finn actually I do want to see that I guess Finn's going to be the demon again which I don't know if it gives him extra powers but at least it puts makeup on his face and let's him crawl around a little bit and yeah an underwhelming WrestleMania for sure trick and Sammy you know what trick and Sammy I want to see trick and Sammy oh trick and Sammy that sounds like some kind of vaudeville team trick and Sammy I think at at at some point after WrestleMania some some of the individuals involved are gonna have to face the reality that maybe Brian they might need a new line of work you think maybe they just change change their their their marketing strategy and and start selling homegrown apples I mean they're making a lot of money I don't think they're gonna have to necessarily go right into another line of work but maybe they want to increase the time they spend on their hobby and develop a business well see that's the thing though every time you see one of these wrestlers threatened we're getting fired on TV oh my god how am I gonna feed my family so you know they're living hand to mouth one step away from the the poor house and folks that's a bad place to be one step away from the poor house because everybody comes past your front door is either headed to the poor house or just got out of the poor house so you want to live many steps away from the poor house and our friends at Shopify can help you do just that because they they can take the the innocent little sperm of an idea that you have and they can inseminate that sperm into the womb of their massive flywheel operation and then they can spur out all kinds of quintuplets of little baby business opportunities for you this is not the best example that will grow into giant towering basketball player sized businesses that will that will slam dunk you into the into the into the into the the pantheon of immortals in business with Vanderbilt and Morgan and and Roosevelt and all him other belts yeah he wasn't really a titan of industry he was more of a once again he wasn't a titan of industry more of a politician he will let no they were the rusevelt's they were high totan society people they were far true silk from an from an early age when you say Roosevelt I feel like you mean one of the famous ones not the entire family and everyone in it well let's not get bogged down with the rusevelt's that's what the Rockefeller said but nevertheless Shopify can do all day remember we were still talking about Shopify taking that lotus sperm and growing into let's get away from that let's get back to Fifth Avenue in 1910 well Shopify was not invented then and that's why it was so hard you had to do this shit by the sweat of your brow back in those days but now it's easy you can just be a jackoff and be a multi gazillionaire you see that in the news every day and Shopify is your commerce expert with world-class expertise in making you a gazillionaire they will take whatever sperm you have just send it to them and they will create a business for you from whether it's your website or whether it's your media campaign or whether it's managing your inventory or whether it's the award-winning 24-7 customer support they have if you call up in the middle of the night you say I've got sperm here they'll tell you what to do with it again this is not the best example let's say sperm is a is a substitute for a widget in this it's like it's like a flywheel it's a widget on a flywheel that's not how flywheel that's not how flywheel works in any way when the flywheel turns it just flings all the sperm off in in session this is the worst example we already established that let's get away that's how they're gonna spread you all over the country ladies and gentlemen and all of they're gonna spread your widgets no no you have widgets we're talking widgets you're selling you're selling widgets widgets for sale i would Shopify that's right it's a great deal widgets for sale widgets for sale whatever you got exciting brand new widgets for sale you just say sing that as you walk down the street anyway what's happening here what is happening here that's a great way to uh establish things is then you need to go to Shopify.com right now ladies gentlemen where that kid on the bicycle is good just follow him he'll take you the shortcut Shopify.com slash jce and you can sign up for a one dollar a month trial period where Shopify can show you not only what they can do for you and your business and your dream and your entrepreneurial spirit but also they can show you their purple shop pay button they'll take you around the corner and you just gotta look down and they're gonna they're gonna show it to you but you gotta look quick let's stay clean and indoors on the app or on your phone wherever you are well i'm right back in the alley i guess what the hell you can be outside on your phone now people are wherever you are that's right folks Shopify of course we trust them and you can too if you've got goods for sale if you have an online store that needs a little help if you have an online business that needs the right partner Shopify is there for you jim yes you know what that jingle means it's time for the Shopify promo code Shopify.com slash jce for your one dollar a month trial period well now Brian we come to the hall of fame the once mighty hall of fame the hall of the immortals the pantheon of bro wrestling greats has been reduced to well i would say the Rocky Horror picture show at midnight but those crowds are rowdy and the shit gets over this is what you know they just brought Rocky Horror back on Broadway some form of it i haven't completely read up on this but the controversy i saw in the headlines was they want the crowd to kind of simmer down and just relax and not be as involved and not be as involved in certain parts of the movie so even that's starting to change well a point being something needs to change with the hall of fame we'll debate and litigate the Rocky Horror picture show at a later date this was horrible i felt bad for the people involved it the ushers were holding mirrors in front of the fans faces to see if they were still breathing i didn't watch it at midnight eastern time i waited till the next day i had to had a good night's sleep and it put me back to sleep and again they were in the little theater it's been crowded out with all of this other WrestleMania weekend stuff maybe if they moved it to another pay-per-view annually where there was more time but even in 2017 when i was there they were what was it the friday night before the sunday WrestleMania because it was only one night of WrestleMania and they were in the NBA arena that they were doing raw in that weekend also and yes all the boys and the talent was there but they had thousands of fans and but who even if they're on what are the pacific time out there is the time i'm looking for they're starting the thing at nine o'clock at night and for people watching on the east coast they're probably already asleep and it's not the show that it was and it doesn't have the stars that it had it doesn't have the oomph that it had it doesn't have the crowd that it had so would it be fair to move it to another weekend or have they milked what they can milk out of the hall of fame i don't think that's a question i don't think they're gonna give up on the hall of fame i don't think they're gonna just stop doing it it definitely has been better in the past again we were on the east coast i was on the east coast i was dead tired i made it two hours and then i was fed up and the first hour was the stephanie mcman show we'll get there but the energy was kind of missing i like seeing demolition you know i like i like when they reference the old old stuff still because this is kind of the last chance you know the next remaining years of them actually doing that but there was no energy in the room it didn't seem like it used to be you could hear people sometimes that was the worst thing we're just fans yelling but it sounded dead and was late and there was a lot of time focused on one specific person yes and then this was not the way to start the day or the night or the fucking morning or whatever time it was this should have been the end if they were gonna give it this much time and really just make it stephanie's coming out party they should have made this the main of it this should have been the end and it should have built to this it may have been the end this segment right here may have been the end well first of all miss and michael cole were the hosts and god were all missing jerry lawlor because it this is forced martin and louis you know buddy comedy etc they reminded people that miss actually beat john sena at wrestlemania which is should be one of those things it's it's quietly never spoken of so get past this they do the stephanie package and she's the most iconic female in the wwe and we're reminded that she slapped everybody in the world and apparently just potatoed the shit out of them and what are they gonna do about it as we mentioned as a performer she's she was a great healer with great facials she should have never tried to wrestle but they covered that they covered her as a great business woman they cover her as a charitable person that works for pediatric cancer they credited her or blamed her with the fact that now we get women's royal rumbles and women's elimination chambers women's this package was its own show i i i i thought it was a ken burns documentary and then here's the thing another part of the hall of fame and i hate to say this i may be gonna agree with kevin dunne remember when if you were being inducted it was because you were a star but the inductors had to be stars even celebrity stars but some type of level of star remember what would lala wanted lance russell to induct him kevin does that nobody know who he is and he got wiliam shatner but nevertheless so after the stefanie show package her three daughters and linda inducted her and i'm not going to insult her children who are not public figures but they're also not public speakers and i don't want to hear anybody's kids talk about their parents unless the kids are stars too and the kids took 10 minutes and then linda stepped up and my god her face her fucking eyes don't match her eyes are at different level you could put a t-square on that woman's face and she'd be looking up over and on one side and down under on the other side the hell has happened to these people we know how old she is anyway so then linda read from a teleprompter for 10 solid minutes it's i think that's the longest i've ever heard her speak but i had to fast forward through some of this but i would stop just to see if anything was getting a reaction did anyone ever burp while she was speaking it seemed like the room was dead you have to wonder how much of it was the way it was mic'd or how much of it was the room was dead no you heard people actually react in other places briefly when they briefly reacted in other segments but there was just no and then after linda introduced her and steve came out there was two minutes of hugging the the family and then she started putting her kids over and i started to fast forward and again the same thing brief stops she's reading from a teleprompter the speech was not bringing the house down she named 600 people at the end of the speech and then it ended up putting triple h over and then as if someone was demanding it like she was bobby heenan she came out in front and cut a promo as herself as a heel to finish it up like you know she yes of course i deserve it so stand up and welcome me and that was 20 minutes so 20 and two minutes of hug and 10 to 32 and 40 with the package it was over 50 minutes should we move on like they didn't there's no doubt she's a hall of famer for wwe based on her role on their programming should she be in the hall of fame for them sure should she get an hour which was everyone in her family giving a tribute to her just about how she's the greatest mom and how she'll do none of this relates to what it's not an award for the greatest person it's the wwe hall of fame and they turned it into the stefany show for one hour and they have done everything they can to make people like her care about her want her around like for the last couple years showing up in weird places at weird times on wwe tv and with projects that are suddenly wwe priorities but this was the kicker they kicked mr teahawk the stage for less this thing went non-stop didn't they give dorian terry funk 90 seconds seconds second's demolition got a few demolition had three people in duck them they each got like a minute and a half but this thing went almost an hour and then the promo it was almost a shoot because much like what she used to do on raw as a shoot no one could like not get up they had to get up yeah who's gonna be the one i'm not gonna stand up for this she told them to give her a standing ovation that's the perfect way to do it and they had to and it was to me cringy she's deserving of being in the wwe hall of fame but this was like you know you get to sit in on your funeral you get to sit in on everyone giving the speeches about you and then you get to do whatever you want horseshit and then is the beginning of the fucking thing and then we still have all this other stuff i actually want to see and i had to sit through an hour this at midnight to 1 a.m. before i get anyone i care about on this i believe you have discovered brian the uh the general reaction from the fans why the hall of fame ain't a bigger deal these days because they've started stroking themselves a little too hard and too late at night when people if people are they've got to get up and go to work in the morning they're tired they got a headache they're not in the mood for the stroking they should have started with demolition well moving on did you like that big ceremony for bad news alan where he got a brief package and his family waved from the crowd they only referenced him as bad news brown they didn't reference him as if they reference him as bad news alan was briefly but they talked about his career like he did nothing in the day his career in the w w f for what we established what a year or so and nothing of bad news well whatever nothing bad news alan the one calgary clip but they didn't identify it um japanese no whatever they didn't even reference the 1979 run really where he was up for w w f or w that's right i say they had a picture but didn't even talk about that well anyway but now to your precious demolition brian yeah except to be honest the video was not as impressive as most of their videos that they always praise oh my god they edit these masterpieces they had a lot of action footage but it was like the all the modern guys sat there and oh they were my favorites they scared me it was not exactly a deep deep dive into their careers or you know impacts on on the industry but i i think you know they knew well stefanie we need to do that package but these other guys well would just show highlights but anyway you said they had three guy haku arne anderson and the warlord and terry's a warlord is a really nice guy he's very well spoken he kept getting bleeped for saying w w f but the fans were sleeping and haku looks like the president of samoa in a fucking suit doesn't he this fucking wild crazy the toughest man in wrestling advice people's faces off now he's in a suit his hair slicked back he's got glasses he looked like a goddamn prime minister his accent's still too thick but and arne got a reaction because he's the you know the guy that of the three of these folks that people most remember of the modern generation blah blah blah and he can speak and tell a story so of course he got 90 seconds whatever and then they and they introduced debilition barry darsow and bill eddie and i darsow is huge now my god but he still looks and sounds like a big kid i and i've loved barry he was a great guy and he did an okay job but it again it was late he introduced his entire family bill eddie got up there and and he's he's a very intelligent well spoken guy he's very smart and he kind of worded it in a way that he got the you deserve it chant was that the only one of the night because nobody else gave him a spot really for it no the only other chance we didn't even really talk about but you know a lot of people are upset about the thank you vince chant that broke out in the middle of stefany's speech oh i've fucking skipped over that yeah the fans started chanting thank you vince when she mentioned him you know i'm not even trying to build up to that but just mentioned him in her speech yeah the fans went to thank you vince the brainiacs they don't care anyhow um so bill eddie got the you deserve it he thanked gido mongol who trained him and george scott gave him the superstar gimmick andre both vince's and noky and mr fugey and you know and thanked his the fans and his wife and kids and i was skipping through a bit of that at the end also and then i don't any any closing thoughts on demolition taking their place in the pantheon of the immortals they deserve it i mean anything i say will be better than the little video they did for them there it was nice to let them have their moment it seemed to mean a lot to them and to me that's the best benefit of the wwe hall of fame more than anything else is when and guys like that get to have those kind of moments with their families well deserving and obviously they feuded with vince mcman or bill eddie didn't it affected barry darso too over the demolition gimmick they didn't mention randy collie i don't think no but you know there's a lot to be said about the creation of the gimmick and eventually it ended in lawsuits that bill eddie had going with w w f for almost 10 years before they finally settled and obviously he got the rights to the gimmick that he said he created but they were great for a few years there that debuted his heels they got fuji at first they had johnny valiant and that didn't work much like hogan like what this is i was about to say if you notice everybody that ever was managed by johnny valiant became a superstar once they left johnny valiant yeah so they were with luscious johnny v and then they went to mr fuji who started painting his face like them and they were really over his heels beat strike force who were the big babyface tag team had wrestlemania for and then survivor series 88 they did the weird double turn where they were the like leaders of the heel tag team survivor series team and the powers of pain who had been managed by the baron the babyface baron by rash with a hood over just running out with them they were on the babyface team and fuji turned on demolition and what with powers of pain and then they became the most popular baby they may be the most popular babyface tag team i've seen in w w f i'm sure there may be someone else i'm not thinking of but there's a lot of teams i love the siner brothers even the lod there was a period there especially in 89 going into wrestlemania 6 where they were so super over and their feuds and their matches were typically the highlights of these shows if you were watching saturday night's main event the hogan match or the hogan angle whatever it is may get you in the door but demolition and the brainbusters that's the one you're gonna talk about the next day and they were great they were absolutely great go watch the pops they got at wrestlemania 6 in toronto and then vince immediately fucked it up because he had them turn heel and brought the road warriors in immediately his baby faces but few did them with demolition who had just been the most popular babyface tag team and that's towards the end of demolition they mentioned brian adams that was nice crush and uh yeah that's uh i'll get off my soapbox once again the greatness of demolition you know what to be honest with you imagine if it had been reversed if instead of the road warriors ending up going to work for vince down the road when it was 1990 or whatever imagine if demolition had come to wcw to fight the road warriors that would have been the main events on all the cards and probably would have well i probably would have drawn money but wcw would have found a way to fuck that up too but you know what i'm saying but it would have meant more than the other direction nevertheless you know what else the other direction they then took did you give two shits about seeing denis rodman inducted in the wwe hall of fame i did i actually enjoyed this i thought this was kind of an emotional train wreck and it kind of got the room a little bit alive because he was pacing around i thought he could just you know go off at any moment i thought this was one of the highlights of the event denis rodman was obviously very emotional about being inducted into the wwe hall of fame got to see shon waltman and kevin nash that was kind of cool i liked it well that was the thing is that nash and waltman came out i'd like okay nash is gonna do something here say something to you know of an entertaining nature to wake people up a little bit and the first thing you said was well you know my voice is gone i don't talk to people anymore so i i see you can barely talk and then as he starts reading the teleprompter and i guess i guess it's a thing now you have to read the teleprompter because remember as i said from experience when i was there they they kind of wanted to see your speech if you had written one or they gave you a writer you know to help you you know going a producer to go over it or whatever and that's why i said i i got my bullet points i'm just gonna talk and not let it drag but they're all reading so the point i'm making is i swear to you and i love i love him he's a he's a nice young man but shawnd waltman was lip reading nash's words off the teleprompter and i couldn't take my eyes off of him for a second he's like he's saying that that's jesse ventura disease and so nash couldn't talk and it was fucking late and it's denis rodman i saw him come out and i don't give two shits about denis rodman and i did i skipped all of this i just to be honest i don't care i liked it well good i'm i'm glad that it found an audience somewhere and then they inducted the hulk hogan andre the giant match wrestlemania three into the moments hall of what is it the hall of fame moment of the thing of the time great moments in sports whatever the fuck it is i don't remember the exact can you tell i'm losing my fucking patience it was a nice little trophy they gave them or did they give them there was only one i don't know who gets that actually well yeah that's the thing who gets it who's gonna carry that fucking thing home hold on they did a nice package the footage of the match and the build up and everything but the the thing is if the inductors were jimmy hart nick hogan and andre's daughter poor jimmy's 83 he looks younger than nick hogan but this the he's the one that unveiled the trophy in the ring of hogan body slam and andre i'm thinking andre's daughter like what the fuck why is my dad getting beat up but did jimmy ain't gonna carry that fucking thing off it had to be nick hogan that's probably what they paid him to come did you think jimmy would say and now a few words from the kids wrestlers instead of he may have been told not to what did he say he was like hey guys i got something to show you over here yeah come over here away from the microphone hey come over here i got something to show you it's closer to get you off the stage that way but that's the thing is is they never spoke and jimmy spoke briefly i think they were getting a fucking rap it had to be at this point of the night but they played and that's the thing jimmy's entrance music with eat your heart out rick springfield because she's my girl and she always will be the only one for me a no rock and roll singer gonna take her away from me de de de de de de de de de de de de de de should have been we hate school well i don't think they want to give a bad hey they've already said phy 2 ain't living that life no more they don't want to encourage truancy or incrue any truancy truancy whatever the fuck we're talking about here so anyway uh but jimmy heart is 83 years old can you believe that he's timeless and ageless i can see you're stunned no i mean he's looked the same going back to at least the late 80s he doesn't look any i mean if you get up close you could see the wrinkles but you know from a father he had wrinkles when he was when i was working with him in memphis 40 years ago he had wrinkles around his eyes but that's it's the same fucking i'm certain there's probably some hair dye going on but most certainly absolutely has to be of course but but well you never know about these things but jimmy jimmy is always not only but a proponent of the clean living but also he's got so much energy just gets up and goes everywhere so anyway that's the secret he keeps on dancing he keeps on doing the jerk shake it shake it baby show us how you work because now you're in motion oh god i didn't know i was going to trigger this come on well keep on doing the locomotion as we go to the next segment there was a brief seed package i mean about as short as they could get and his family waved from the cheap seats and one of them posed and then did your feed go black for like five minutes through aj's package my feed went black because this is when i went to sleep um well i didn't did it really go what you lost it really no it really went black for about five minutes and came back as most of aj's package was over with this and then because i was i looked down i was looking at my notes and i didn't hear anything i looked up as a black screen i'm like did i miss the finish what the fuck and i'm fast forward and fast forward and through black black black and finally boom they're just in the middle of it but nevertheless aj styles it's the main event induction it's it's two o'clock in the fucking morning for a lot of people or they're going to watch it later but for them it's nearing midnight in goddamn in the in the time these people are in and gallows and anderson inducted him which again is they're very important to him and they're his good friends but he's not really following the star fucking principal that will get people on their feet in the building at night on the midnight but i think they got an eggy too because both of them only went like five minutes together so is a big intro nice response stefanie's daughters went longer than every wrestler yes yes but it was you know it's late and aj did a nice heartfelt speech about his family and his kids were there and his wife and you know how he gets he said this is the one thing though i was like what the fuck he said i missed the soccer games and i missed this and that but now now that i'm not wrestling anymore i get to come home to my family every night he's not wrestling anymore where's he coming home from the fuck is he just leaving for no reason just to come back at night all right mother it's morning i'm gonna leave the house now yes i got his daylight i gotta get out in the field and stand around so again this this speech would have been great if it had been delivered before 10 p.m at the fucking time that it was in the room but since it was midnight there and two o'clock in the morning of eastern time for people watching you know yeah maybe is he is he really secretly we think aj's a family man then he's so devoted to his wife and family but he tells him every morning he's got to go somewhere they don't know where he's going then he gets to come home to him at night and what the fuck's aj doing now that i'm off the road i need a good lunch pail to leave the house for no reason but no aj deserves it and everybody it's a big deal for all these people but god damn it's just a hard show to watch now it could be a fun show it could be a better show it could be a priority it's none of those things they know they're gonna get a dead crowd because the entire floor section are all tired wrestlers well yeah they had to come from fucking smackdown yeah that's why kody had a bow tie on smackdown and and and by the way it's not uh legitimate it is part of the television storyline as they say that guys show up at eight o'clock for the fucking show the guys have to be there like noon noon so what the fuck well i look forward to seeing all the inductees and their families at wrestlemania when they did the big hall of fame introduction of everyone and of course that's later today to anyone upset i didn't watch the aj style speech it ended at 2 a.m and we're recording this the next morning so give me a break yes and and we'll be able to see all these people as you said wave at the fans at wrestlemania when they they told me when i was down there after the hall of fame thing they said now you know you can or you get here at such and such time on fucking sunday or whatever it was and that's what so yeah you can be introduced i said do i have to be introduced they were like no we don't think you have said i'm not going to be introduced then i've done my job here i can't fuck this up anymore i'll uh i'll see you later how would they've even done that they don't usually introduce the inductees or the inductors i should say at wrestlemania i don't oh no you know what they were going to introduce the rock and roll express but they just asked me to come they just tell me now you be here at such and such or there's a bus from the hotel and you can watch the thing i said what am i going to fucking do well just watch the thing is no i'm good hey one last thought about all this or one last question did you hear i don't know how much of stefany's thing you heard because you fast forwarded and who could blame you and again you didn't miss the thank you vince chant but she was saying something there that reminded me of something you've talked about vince saying to you at the hall of fame when you saw him it was kind of like the no matter what any of you think this is home this is all of our homes we're all yes together what do you think of that mic man philosophy yes that's what you well welcome home i'll always knew you would get you to come home he you've heard countless guys say that right didn't he say to cody we need you to come home that's a thing that he one of those verbal tactics that vince would use that i think he did for years and years based on the feeling that it would create in in the boys and and oh you know he he welcomed me home it's like this is my home yeah it's your home if it's a goddamn abusive parental relationship put that jen that's one of those things that that vince would do verbally that stefany has picked up on that would try to warm the cockles of the boys taints or whatever so that he would be they would be in some way beholden to him or grateful to him or you know feel more comfortable with him you know what i'm trying to say it wasn't like glad you came back to work pal or you know whatever is to welcome home oh shit it's my home why am i sleeping in the garage just just shut up bitch and eat your groceries well that was the hall of fame that was the end of friday night and there's a lot of things happening in and outside of the world of wwe it's wrestlemania weekend this is your show but we've covered a lot and we have more to come well and we're going to take a break and we're going to watch this wing dang and then we're going to be back in a couple of days on your program the drive-thru to discuss same and uh in the meantime and in between times folks wake up if you were at the hall of fame it's time to watch more wrestling thank you thank you and bye bye everybody yeah