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What's going down?
Im
batterieschwaltern.
Amen.
Hey, everybody.
Willkommen zu BRAN-USF, so was wie kann man einmal engithalten.
Fighting Tuesday.
Henny, I'm good.
Yeah, really good.
Yeah, really, really doing alright.
Yeah, doing alright.
How were you after your weekend with Gangrel?
I'm good.
I'm good.
We did the show with Gangrel on Sunday in Glasgow.
It was very good fun.
He was a big hit with people.
People were commenting that his facial expression
didn't change in all the photos.
And I think that's kind of by design, because he knows the photo
that everybody wants with him.
So he was quite funny.
He was quite nervous about doing the talk, because he said
he's not much of a talker.
And then we ended up going two hours and I had to sort of like
I thought a little bit early because we can't need to finish up.
So I mean, that's a good sign.
So he had a good time.
And yeah, I think people got good stuff out of it.
So the idea of doing these kind of intimate shows with, you know,
smaller names or more obscure names, I think might be something
we do in a bit of a regular basis, since people seem to enjoy it.
Did you ask him about the Takamishinoku match?
You know, I was going to try, but I didn't know how to ask
getting away that didn't make me sound like I was saying,
so you know, you're not very good.
But we thought you were once.
But it's funny, he did say that when he got hired by WS in 1998,
finally, and he, the reason he got to debut,
the reason he got to start as Gangrel, not on TV, but on a house show.
Oh, no, no, not as Gangrel.
When he got hired in 1998, it was off the back of.
He was with Luna at a house show.
They were doing California and Brian Christopher missed his flight.
So he was backstage and they asked him,
do you have your gear?
And he did.
So he stepped in and faced Takamishinoku.
And he said that in the match,
Takamishin remembered him from when he did Japan as the black hearts
like in the early 90s.
So they had a pretty decent rapport with each other.
And he did the Impaler DDT.
And there was a big pop.
And then he asked who that was.
They said that's Dave Heath.
And then said, yeah, send him down to the dojo.
And that was how he.
So Takamishin was involved in his journey to get hired.
So there you go.
I mean, I first said about him when he was in the black hearts.
Yeah.
And they were briefly in Stampede Wrestling.
And from what I was told,
and this was from somebody in Florida who knew Dave Heath.
And apparently the British Bulldogs just made their lives help.
Just made their lives hell backstage.
That was my,
I didn't even really know Dave Heath was at the time.
Oh, it's in the black hearts.
Oh, really?
And he was like vampire warrior.
He was in Memphis for a bit.
And I remember there was loads of,
he had loads of photos taken when he was there.
And they were distributed to all the magazines.
And they were really good photos.
And suddenly because there's always really great photos of him.
All the magazines wanted to do stories on him.
That's how magazines work back in the 90s kids.
Those are the days.
But you know,
it's a very, very fun.
And I'm looking forward to Eddie Bischoff in September.
So it's your text.com if you want to come and see.
I was with Eric in September.
It should be a fun bunch of shows.
But the, the wrestling continues for WWE.
We're going to talk about last week's Smackdown.
Overall, we end up having the,
the opening segment with the,
the anchor billionaire coming out.
She was facing Asuka later on.
And she does this promo.
But Charlotte ends up coming out.
I'm Charlotte wants to challenge the winner at SummerSlam.
And,
and Asuka was pretty annoyed that this was all,
you know, this whole situation was basically getting made
without her even being involved.
Which was a pretty good plot point for Asuka,
given that she was going to,
she has the champion and she was going to be facing
Bianca in the main event.
And then we got the main event,
which didn't really go that long.
It kind of reminded me a bit of the London match
with Charlotte and Asuka,
with, you know,
kind of,
it didn't go too long.
And there's this kind of screwy finish.
If she's Charlotte,
it caused the DQ here.
Afterwards, EO attempts to sort of cash in.
But Asuka recovers.
What did you make of how they,
how does all played out with Asuka,
Charlotte and Bianca?
And I mean,
it feels to me like a bit of a slow build.
It doesn't feel like rushing anything.
When we know this is going to lead to SummerSlam,
either three way or possibly a four way match.
Well, actually probably three weeks.
It looks like it's going to be baily versus shots.
He doesn't it.
And so yeah,
I thought Bianca did well here.
And she said you wanted to rematch.
She said tonight was going to be a night.
Fensions would be sweet.
And then Charlotte Flair arrived.
And she said that she thought
that the Bel Air would become the next champion.
And Charlotte said to Bianca,
once you win that belt,
I'm first in line, right?
So they seem to have a little bit of an understanding there.
And that was that.
Yeah.
So I mean,
it just seemed all,
you know, rather plight and civil, didn't it?
It's a cordial and agreeable.
And everyone was compliant.
It's like you're going to win.
And then you can give me the title shots.
Okay, then.
And we know progress.
It doesn't work like that.
We know it's not like that for real.
So it was a hypothetical wasn't it?
When you win, then you can give me that.
Okay.
And then that led to the men event.
And as you said,
it was a short match.
Yeah.
I was a better match than,
you know, Charlotte versus Asuka in London,
which I thought was a big disappointment on the night.
And we had, you know,
the interference from Bailey and your sky.
Yeah.
I mean, who are they getting these tickets from?
Bailey and your sky just rocked up during the match.
They have tickets.
Then Charlotte turned up.
She had tickets for the front row.
I mean, where are they getting these tickets from Kenny?
I just don't understand.
Well, it's definitely,
it's definitely not on ticket master or stuff.
They've got good connections.
Maybe, maybe Bruno Harvey Wippelman.
Maybe he's always got a spare ticket to sell.
To any restaurant.
I mean, we know these people can afford it.
They're very well paid.
So yeah, Bailey and Eur came out to watch.
Then followed by Charlotte Flair.
And we knew at that point that this match was not going to go
to a finish.
There was going to be interference.
And sure enough, it was a DQ when Flair accidentally
speared Bella.
She didn't mean to.
It was an accident.
That was your DQ finish.
And after that, it seemed that Eur was going to attempt
to cash in the money in the bank contract on Asker,
who was a ringside.
She'd take the pace as well in the post match.
You know, aggro.
And before that could happen, Asker blew the mist at Bailey.
And then Asker fled with her championship belts.
So yeah, it's,
you know, it felt like things are moving along.
And I think it's going to be a three-way to Somerslan.
What do you think, Kenny?
Asker versus Bella versus Charlotte Flair?
Yeah.
I think it's going to be a three-way.
I think obviously with Eur, you kind of want to leave her
not involved because then you've got the cash in drama potentially.
So I feel like that's not the only part.
And yeah, I think it'll be good.
I think these, the London match and this match were both
just to set up what we're going to get at Somerslan.
So hopefully the three-way Somerslan is the one that, you know,
is a big hitter.
And I think it will be on the night.
I'm sure they're all very talented women.
I'm sure they'll get it done.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it was pretty, pretty decent.
And we also found out that we're going to have two,
we have two four ways to help determine who's going to face Austin
Deere for the US title.
So this week's four-way was Grayson Waller, AJ Styles,
butch and Santos Escobar with Austin Deere on commentary.
And Santos Escobar was the one to get the win here.
Yes.
What did you think in the match?
And the decision to put Escobar forward?
Well, I mean, presumably, I mean, we know next week it's going to be,
or this Friday, rather it's going to be Cameron Grimes versus
Sheamus versus Remisterio versus L.A. Knight,
the other four-way.
And the winner of that will then face Escobar.
So, you know, one assumes it's going to be Knight who wins,
could be wrong about that, could be Mysterio.
Maybe we could have the Mysterio Escobar split.
I don't know, but I think it's going to be Knight.
And so it's, you know, it's a win for him.
It's a fairly obvious win for Knight if he does face Escobar.
And we know Escobar is an all-threat tonight's popularity.
So it's going to be a win, win for Knight,
winning terms of winning the match and winning terms of boost in his popularity.
So that feels like the direction it's going to go in.
And I thought Butch versus Styles versus Escobar versus Waller
was much, it was a really good four-way match,
you know, really exciting.
Fans got into it.
Austin Theory was on commentary.
Did you get the sense, Kenny, that, you know,
the wind has been knocked from theory's sales?
Did you detect that from his commentary?
Yes, I did.
I think once, I think the fact that he beat John Cena at WrestleMania
and as, I mean, as we probably thought,
after Cena's burial of him in the pre-match promo,
the win meant pretty much nothing for theory
and has not contributed anything to his post WrestleMania run,
which is another reason not to chant thank you, Cena,
because we're still, we're even today in July 2023,
we're seeing finger prints of his burial that he does.
And I guess for theory, it's like what,
I guess in his mind, it's like, well, I beat Cena
and I don't really, I don't really,
I actually feel probably less of a star than I did before that, feud.
So what's left?
Well, what I find out about it is that
there was a huge amount of emphasis on theory
at various points over the last 15, 16 months.
Yeah.
And it just feels like post WrestleMania,
they've lost interest in pushing him,
which is really odd,
because he scored the win on Cena at WrestleMania.
So it's like they've lost interest in him.
It's like, as if, yeah, it's as if that Cena promo
they thought, well, Cena's right.
That guy's not a star.
You know, let's just depush him,
depushed him for size.
And it's as if they've all,
they've all taken that Cena promo from the early match Raw
to highlight and think, well,
he's not really a big deal.
He's a Cena-buried him.
So, yeah, well, that's not bothered pushing him anymore.
So it's just been, it's just odd, isn't it?
It's just the whole thing's just been weird.
It's just been so Cena.
And, you know, and Cena obviously,
21, 22 was usually quite productive.
I thought you actually did a pretty good job
with theory at WrestleMania.
You know, we've talked endlessly about our promo.
We don't need to go over it again.
But it's just very weird that
theory has just been deemphasized by the company Sincs.
And you could just tell from the way it was commentating.
You know, it was saying the right things,
but he wasn't really saying them with any conviction.
Was he? That was the problem.
Yeah, well, I mean, it's not the same thing,
but I feel like with Cena,
it's a little bit like Chris Jericho or an A.W.
Like, if you're going to beat Jericho,
it should mean something.
Because he's a big name.
So if somebody's going to beat him,
there should be a push forth coming for that person
that's going to warrant him getting that big win.
You know, because otherwise,
if you keep beating Jericho,
it doesn't mean anything,
then you're just kind of near at the point.
And with Cena,
if Cena's going to do the job for somebody,
it's like when Roman Reigns beat him.
That was another thing that Roman Reigns
could add to his arsenal
that I've beat John Cena as well.
You know, and now he can be even more omnipotent
that he was before.
But with theory, it was just like,
yeah, if you're not going to,
if you do have big plans for Austin,
then it's just kind of wasted Cena defeat
that you could have used on somebody
who could have bragged about it.
I mean, because theory doesn't even really
brag about it that often.
He should be bragging about it all the time.
He beat John Cena.
Well, he did mention it quite a lot on the commentary here.
But he doesn't like,
he's not in the ring doing promos,
talking to, you know, big names going,
you know, I want a world title shot
because I've beat John Cena.
It's just he mentions it's something like on commentary here
in passing.
But like, it doesn't feel like it means anything.
No.
It shouldn't, it shouldn't mean something like,
like you said, but he did,
the one definitely felt out of the sales here.
Because he probably knows that he has,
has run with that belt,
is going to come to an end soon.
And then early night,
actually made an appearance to a monster reaction
from the crowd,
saying he's coming from the US title.
So, I mean,
we are straight.
We demand, we demand it.
And here we go.
WWE is, you know,
well, we don't know for sure.
Yeah, but we think it's going to be night versus
this theory at Somersam.
You know, this could be really good for night
and for theory as well.
So, you know,
that's not right theory off.
Yeah, he needs a big program,
doesn't he?
He does need something to do.
He needs something to do.
Basically move on from the scene
a thing and kind of try and reestablish
himself as a player again,
because he doesn't really,
he just feels like,
yeah, he's really sort of faded a bit.
And, you know,
there's still time,
he's still very young,
and there's still time for him to turn it around.
Yeah, for sure.
For sure.
Just one more thing about the four-way match
that was quite concerning to me,
and I'm sure to many others.
It looked like AJ Styles had the match won,
and then carrying Cross appeared on the big screen,
attacking the OC backstage,
and Styles was distracted,
so he didn't win the match.
So that was his excuse for not winning the four-way,
and Cross said it's not over.
Oh, no.
So this feud must continue.
What have we ever done, Fenn, to deserve this?
Who did we hurt in a past life?
This Tuesday is our Jackpot Tag.
This Tuesday in Jackpot,
76 million euros.
Our Jackpot,
the chance of your dream,
in every motto-anami-stelle
and on Lotto Bayern.
Lotto Bayern.
Nimm dein Glück in die Hand.
Spielteilnahme ab 18,
Chance auf den Höchstgewinn 1-140 millionen.
Glückspiel kann süchtig machen,
Hilfe unter RZG-A.D.E.
To make us have to deserve this.
I don't know.
I mean, I did pull out some pretty crappy issues
of superstar's wrestling in Palestine.
You know, there were some pretty bad issues
in the early days there.
Maybe it's just like, you know,
my cummer puts for that.
So, hopefully I had torn over the years.
I did actually mention actually on Facebook yesterday.
It was nine years yesterday, Kenny,
since the final issue of power-slam
came out nine years.
Did it feel like nine years?
It feels like longer.
It just feels like longer.
I suppose, because I have done quite a bit since,
you know, closed up shop.
So, it does feel like longer.
It feels like a completely different lifestyle,
which it was running that magazine.
So, but yeah.
You know, now you get to enjoy the...
You get to enjoy your life a little bit more.
Rather than being chained to a desk for her...
What was it?
What was a rough power-slam working week?
Oh, I don't know.
It was a lot of hours.
Something I, you know,
I've spent enough time banging on about many hours.
I used to work.
So, there's a lot of hours.
I don't work as many anymore.
And that's really good.
The last thing I wanted to bring up from SmackDown, though,
was we had a promo with Jato,
so Paul Haven and Solos Sakura.
Obviously, they didn't have Roman here this week.
So, it was the rest of the bloodline,
Sam's Gemini and Roman left to,
you know, keep it going.
Obviously, you know, we saw Paul Haven,
take some physicality here.
We saw Solos speaking, which he rarely does,
you know, saying that what happened to Gemini is all on J.
And he's never going to forgive him either.
And we get a Haven superkick to the face, which was great.
And, you know, Solos and Haven,
escape at the end.
J's just sort of fired up.
How did J do here?
Because obviously the order here is J's got to try and convey to the crowd
and the people at home that he is, you know,
were they challenger for Roman?
Roman's not there.
How did he do?
I thought he did well.
I mean, he was working with the Wat Chants.
So, that actually,
at first, you think, oh, no.
But he actually enhanced the promo.
And at the right time, the Wat Chants stopped.
And then he kept on speaking,
so we didn't have that an annoyance.
Actually, you know, it was as if he was seeking that reaction
from the audience.
I thought that was really good.
I like the thrust of what the bloodline members were saying about the Solo
and Haven was saying that, you know,
Jimmy was in hospital because of J.
You know, Haven said that J's mother and father would never forgive him.
Then Solo stepped forward in the green and said,
he would never forgive J either.
And we know that was going to lead to a big scrap between J and Solo.
Haven was nailed, Solo came back in.
And it was the right time for J, you know, to stand tall,
to take down Solo, take down Heyman,
because we assume it's going to be J versus Roman Renz at Somerslam.
So J needs to look strong before he faces the tribal chief
for the big belts on August 5th.
So, yeah, I thought he did well here.
Although it was just the right amount of, you know, concern,
you know, regret over what happened to Jimmy.
I thought he expressed that very well.
You know, also there was, you know, vengeance in mind as well.
And, you know, I think it was the right mixture of emotions there
to convey what he was going through
and what he was, you know, seeking to do.
And he finally clashed with Roman.
Look, I have a, is it calling it the rules of engagement?
So there's going to be some sort of meeting this week
isn't there between Rains and J on Friday?
Yes, confrontation between them this Friday.
So we assume that that's where the Somerslam challenge
is going to be made official.
So, yes, just a couple of other things I'd like to mention.
I thought pretty deadly did really well against Rich Holland and Sheamus.
I thought, you know, Sheamus and it was what a contrast
at the end of the match.
Pretty deadly worn.
Elmprinz pin Ridge after Ridge and run throughout first
into an exposed turnbuckle.
I thought the finish looked tremendous.
The contrast afterwards, Sheamus and Holler, Sheamus and Hollander
were in the ring all sweaty and dishevelled.
And deadly were at ringside rather than the aisle.
And they were looking cool, calm and confident.
They've now got a glitter ball as part of their entrance.
After Bailey defeated Zellina Vega,
we saw Shotzi on the big screen.
She caught her own hair off.
So that got a lot of social media attention at the time.
Didn't it Kenny on Friday night?
It did, yeah.
It's committed.
The reason that she has done that is because her sister is battling cancer.
It's a very, you know, noble thing for her to kind of do that.
To, you know, show some allegiance to her sister.
So, you know, fair play to her for doing that.
Yeah.
And I think the only other thing that really warrants adventure was
the street profits were backstage and or outside.
They ran into Bobby Lashley.
You made his first appearance in a number of weeks.
And they left together in a large vehicle.
So maybe there's going to be some sort of Lashley street profits alliance.
I think I can say with absolute confidence
that the street profits getting into a limo with Bobby Lashley
can only mean things are going up for them.
Yes.
Then compared to what they've been done otherwise.
And then obviously Elton Prince has come out.
He has had some form of shoulder separation
from one of the moves he got from Ridge on Friday.
Hopefully it's not too bad.
And it's not completely sort of torn.
We'll probably know more this week on how he's doing.
Yeah.
I mean, that's tough for Prince.
And, you know, it's tough for Ridge as well.
Because I mean, it felt to me like, you know,
Ridge in this match was getting his confidence back.
And it's come out that he's suffered an injury.
You know, that's going to be a tough one for Holland.
To, you know, to rationalize.
For obvious reasons.
And what happened last year with Biggie.
I think it was very difficult when you were a wrestler.
And when you, when you injure an opponent.
And the hope it was an accident and not something that Ridge did.
Obviously it would have been an accident.
But hopefully it wasn't something that people could point to
and say, Ridge, you made a mistake there.
Just, you know, something, you know, these things do happen from time to time.
But, yeah, hopefully it's all right.
Let's move on to Raw.
So we had opened the show was Cody Rhodes coming out.
They were going to answer his home.
His mom was in the crowd.
And he basically was broke.
Lesnar's music plays.
But he doesn't come out.
So Cody's just like, you know, really.
And Cody's sort of ready for him.
And eventually, you know, Cody goes to the entrance out.
And he's sort of saying, come on.
And then he goes towards the stage turns and waves.
Again, Lesnar's music plays.
And then Cody walks to the back.
And then we just see a chair fly into the sort of area.
And then Lesnar and Cody are fighting.
They're just like giving it to each other.
And then Brock ends up putting Cody in a commuda in front of his mom.
And his family.
And it threw him back in the ring.
And says challenge accepted.
I'll see you at SummerSlam.
Bitch was his words.
So, I mean, this, I mean, this was a strong angle.
I thought I thought it would be good to do it in Cody's hometown.
And yeah, I think this is going to be good.
Do you think we're still getting a stipulations for this match?
I do think they're going to go with a clean one on one.
And I'm not sure really.
I mean, there's still obviously still a few weeks to go yet.
So we still got one to what we got.
We've got two more episodes of raw.
Yeah.
So maybe they'll add something on.
Yeah, I hope they do.
Because I mean, we've seen it twice already on premium live event.
So I think it does.
It probably doesn't need a stipulation.
I'm sure it's big enough without it.
But I think that would add some spice to it.
And we need a definite, you know, outcome, a definite finish needs to be.
I think no DQ maybe.
I think that would just cover all bases.
Cody brought the, you know, the hard times interview.
The famous Dusty Promo from 86, I think it was.
And he said, the Lesnar will be facing hard times.
And, you know, when Cody's mother Michelle was there, family members,
he didn't get the sense that this would be the outcome.
The Lesnar was going to appear and destroy Cody in front of the family members.
And that's what happened.
You know, Lesnar, I mean, he needed the, he needed a comeback after.
Cody had nailed him with the Cody Cutser two weeks earlier on the post money in the bank raw.
So I think, you know, Lesnar needed to show a force here.
And I think he brought it.
We'll see what happens with them.
With Rose's arm.
Is he going to sell it again?
Is he going to put a cast on?
Is it going to be all taped up?
I mean, we've already been down that row.
I don't wait.
So I'm not sure if they have the same impact if they were to do that again.
So I'll be curious to see what happens next week.
I can't imagine Lesnar will be there next week.
But I imagine he'll be there the week after.
And it was here.
We got some more build towards the rear rep.
Raquel Rodriguez thing because basically again.
Raquel says she's not scared of Ria.
And then Ria.
Headbutts are they start fighting.
Ripley ends up kicking.
Raquel's left knee.
And then obviously later Raquel and Lev are going to be facing Sonja and Chelsea for the titles.
We find that the Raquel is cleared.
But the trainer does want her to go for some scans.
But I don't think he says as long as his lawyer says she's cleared.
And she wants to go.
The scans can wait.
Exactly.
It doesn't matter if her legs dropping off.
Of course she's cleared.
Which obviously her leg was a big part of the match.
But in the end it was Lev Morgan who ended up taking the loss here.
After Sonja devils running knee and Sonja devils Chelsea green and become the new women's tag team champions.
Are you happy to see this title change?
I don't know.
I mean who cares about the women's tag team belts at the moment.
I mean, they just.
It's just a clown show really isn't it?
So I mean Sonja and Chelsea it's not much of a team.
I want to believe that they could be good.
And maybe.
But I mean they're not going to be good.
The juice just not going to get any better.
Let's be honest.
The thing is it's if they actually did a bunch of vignettes and played up Chelsea greens.
They didn't think more and got them over more.
It wouldn't be as bad.
But it's because they're not really over his characters and they're not that great in the ring.
So it's a kind of double whammy of.
You know, dumbness.
Yeah, it is.
And it's just another title change.
I mean the belts had only changed hands at money in the bank.
I mean, no one was ready for that title change because that came after Shayna Bayesle turned on.
Ronda Rousey.
So no one saw that coming and then we had this title change here.
And we know why it's happened because Raquel Rodriguez is going to challenge Rio Ripley at Summerslam,
which could actually be a really good match and could be the best thing possible for Raquel at this point in her career.
Because she's been on the main roster now for about a year.
That's it she can.
It's about that.
And she came in last summer.
So she's really, you know, been underwhelming.
I mean, a lot of that has been due to the way in which she's been used.
She hasn't really been pushed as a star.
She's been this sort of second match filler player and she's had this, you know, an off team with Liv Morgan that hasn't been very exciting.
I mean, I'm not sure what Liv's going to do, but, you know, they've given the liver chance.
She's won the tag belts.
She was singles champion last year.
And, you know, I feel like she's reached her career ceiling.
So I'm not really that concerned about Liv.
I think she's done all she's going to Raquel on the other hand.
I think can be a much bigger deal than she's been allowed to be so fast.
She needs a character change.
We talk about this nearly every week.
And I think, you know, Rodriguez versus Ripley could be a big match, could be really good for both of them.
And as for Sonja and Chelsea, I just hope they give some other teams a chance.
I mean, you know,
Caden Carter, you know, Katana Chan, so a good team.
I think they could probably do something fun with Deville and green.
If they give them a program and get them doing angles and promos and give it time.
I think that could have potential because I think, you know, chance and character are a really good team.
I think they could work with these two and probably have decent matches.
And I think Deville and green also, because as women's tags champs,
they can wrestle on any brown, can't they Kenny?
Yes, and couldn't NXT know that the titles are merged.
That's it.
So I mean, you know, I'd like to see him do something with Albert Feier.
And I had a dawn because we've seen nothing of those two since they lost the belts in that title.
Unification match to Sherebezlou and Ronda Rousey just over a week before money in the bank coming.
They've just, they're just doing nothing on TV from what I,
well, they're not doing anything on TV unless all main events, you know, they may be on main event.
We just don't know it because that's this, you know, sort of wilderness that we very rarely check out.
And so when there are teams for them to work with, Deville and green.
And I just hope, yeah, I just hope they start doing something with the belts.
And I think even though I'm not a fan of Deville and green as a tank team,
I think they need to be champs for a while.
Please no more towel changes for at least two months, make that three months.
And let's see if these two can do something with these belts and try and have some, you know,
programs with people and, you know, create some entertainment and try and get some people over.
It was made official that we're going to get Finn Balor and Seth Rollins again for the World Heavyweight title at Somerslam.
We had a sit-down interview with Rollins.
We're Finn interrupted it and things got quite heated and, and, you know,
this was the big sale of putting them back together again.
Did they do a good enough job here?
Do you think of convincing people that this is worth another PLE?
Well, I think so.
And the fact that the match was quite short at Money in the Bank indicated that there would be a rematch.
And, I mean, will Ballad defeat Rollins?
I mean, that would be an outcome that no one is really expecting.
I don't think anyone thinks that Jay is going to defeat Roman Reigns.
But maybe if Finn Balor became champ, even if it was for a short time,
that creates tension between Balor and Damien Priest in the Judgment Day,
even though the Judgment Day told us earlier on the program,
but everything's just peachy again.
Everything's wonderful.
You know, there's no tension at all within the ranks.
I think Balor is champ with Damien Priest as Money in the Bank contract holder.
I think there's a lot they can do with that.
And, you know, Rollins, you can say, well, we need to leave the belt on Rollins
or they need to leave the belt on Rollins for a while to really establish it.
I think Balor could do a lot with the belt as well.
So, if I was running things, I think I'd probably say,
let's put the belt on Balor for six to eight weeks,
because there's good storyline material in you're with various people.
You know, and he can then perhaps defend against someone else,
not against Rollins.
And, you know, I think they can bring that back again.
You know, so yeah, I actually think, you know,
there's actually some great mileage as well, Kenny.
And, like, Balor and Rhea Ripley versus Rollins and Becky Lynch.
That's the match they could do.
Yeah, I think you're on tour.
When I did, I think that the given Balor the title,
he's been on a really good run with this judgment day run.
And if he loses again, he's just kind of a nothing guy.
Whereas if he wins, there's all these possibilities with Damien Priest
that you can do with Balor as champ, Priest is the briefcase holder.
I'll never cash in on you, but you know, Willie,
there's some good stuff there.
So I hope that they do that because the thing is Seth will not lose anything
to lose the title, you know, because he'll win it back
in a few months, I'm sure.
But yeah, I hope that's what they do.
And a couple of other things.
I do want to give, I thought the Viking rules match
with Viking Raiders and Alpha Academy was really fun.
Yes.
Chad Gable is just...
I don't understand how he is able to lift Ivar from the ground
and German suplex him.
It's just...
It's wild.
How are you able to do this stuff?
Yeah, I mean, an Otis when he had the big comeback at the end,
he was really over as well.
Well, wasn't it?
Yeah, the Alpha Academy or just, you know, just...
There's still got...
Balhalla had a speed of Maxine through a table
and Otis was there.
This is terrible.
He absolutely appears and is wanting to revenge
for what's just happened.
And I remember they did a matter, one of these matches
with the new day with Kofi and Xavier Woods last year.
And that was really good as well.
That went down, you know, with a long bore
and all the shields there and all props.
And I remember that being a big hit as well.
And you don't think of, you know, the Viking Raiders
as being this team that can have a good match.
Obviously, when we knew them in NXT,
they had good matches all the time.
But on the main roster, you don't really think
of them as being that good in the ring.
And then they give them a match like this
and they give them some minutes, they give them some props.
You know, they lay it out in a way that's bound to entertain.
And to me, they saw the delivered.
That was really good.
And I thought the Vikings needed a win.
They both pinned Otis at the same time.
I was, yeah, really good match
and, you know, furthered the storyline.
Not sure what they're going to do at Summerslam.
You would think, in some ways, man,
you maybe they couldn't really get the long bore thing set up
at Summerslam.
Maybe this is more of a TV thing to get everything in place.
Although, you know, I mean, it wouldn't be,
I'm not advocating that we make shows longer.
But see for Summerslam,
I wouldn't be against the Viking Raiders
and also Academy doing some sort of pre-show match,
you know, for that show.
Because if Summerslam is only three and a half hours,
I don't have a problem putting one more thing on it.
Yeah.
As an example, I mean, we,
it used to be six months ago,
we would struggle to get 20 minutes of conversation
out of raw of things that happen.
And now, there's so much that happens on an episode of raw.
You're struggling to talk about all of that.
Yeah.
So, speaking of which,
I've got three other things I'm going to ask you about.
We've got a set up for the main event,
which was Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn,
defending the tag titles against Damien Priest and Dominik Mysterio.
The main event this week,
I didn't see that they were all in the same page this time.
You know, those rumors last week of unhappiness from the wrestlers,
because some of the spots didn't go to plan.
But, you know, this was another main event
that the crowd really went into.
And I mean, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn,
what's next for them, do you think?
In terms of, do you,
for Summerslam, where do you see for them?
Yeah, it's a good question.
They don't seem to have any obvious opponents, do they?
I mean, another over three brands and everything.
So, I mean, you know, you could even sort of say,
right, let's give someone from NXT a shot.
Like, you're not going to show like Summerslam,
but you could do that.
You could send them down there and like, right,
we're going to pit them against these two guys.
I'm not really sure.
There isn't really anyone that's obvious, is there?
I mean, it's too soon for the Street Profits.
I mean, I'd like to see them receive a title match with Kevin.
And Sami, but they need to be rebuilt
before they can be put in a town-match scenario.
No one's going to accept it at the moment,
plus their baby faces as well, so that doesn't really work.
I mean, Priest and in some ways, Priest and Dominic
would have been a really good match,
but they've done it on TV, haven't they?
And we had to finish as well.
Sami Zayn pinned Dominic, didn't he?
Yeah.
I mean, they gave him a lot of time, super-heated match.
I mean, there's some really good near-falls here.
I mean, Owens had Dominic pinned with the pop-up power bomb,
but Priest made the save.
Rhea Ripley was involved and Liv Morgan came out
and took out Ripley and in the end, Zen pinned Mysterio.
Like really heated, energetic acceleration towards the finish.
And it was all, everything was just like motoring at the end there.
And it all just came together pretty much perfectly.
So I'm not sure if you can do that again for Summerslam,
which is a shame, because that would have been a really good Summerslam match, wouldn't it?
Yeah, it would have been.
And in some ways, the shame that Alfa Academy,
if they weren't in such a kind of comedy moment,
you could have up them to something like that.
But I mean, at the moment, I think it would probably just feel too low for Zen and Owens to go.
Well, yeah, and plus they've just lost the Vikings.
So you know, by rights, Eric and I,
I should be challenging Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
I know that's not going to happen, but by rights,
you should be, because they just won that big match on Raw this week.
Yeah, don't put that out into the etherfin.
Don't give them ideas.
Last two things, Shayna Basel and Ronda Roses
have been made official for Summerslam.
Shayna had defeated Nikki Cross in 22 seconds,
and then Ronda caught a promo where...
I mean, what was going on with that promo, Kenny?
She wasn't just giving her opportunity, then.
She took it.
I mean, sure.
I mean, Basel has seen that the babyface again this week, you know,
she was, you know, because Ronda kind of threatened her, you know,
like, you know, come up here and shut me up or whatever.
And then Basel leaves the ring and runs up the steps, trying to get her.
And I mean, the fans were into that.
So if anything, at least, hopefully Ronda will go out,
losing to Basel and Basel will have gained something to sort of take forward.
That's the optimism.
That's the hope and the optimism that is there.
But...
Yes, it is.
Yeah, I mean, I felt sorry for Nikki Cross.
I mean, it just seems like her time's pretty much up in WWE.
I mean, I still think there's mileage in this, you know,
love triangle storyline with Dexter Loomis and Indy Howell.
I think that would be loads of fun.
If they're ever going to use Johnny Gargano again,
I think Nikki Cross could be revived in that scenario there.
I think that would actually be a lot of fun for all of them.
But as far as Shane and Ronda went, Ronda was speaking too quickly again.
You couldn't understand what she was saying.
She was raised through a promo, just raised through it.
And it's just excruciating Kenny to listen to.
I mean, obviously they just thought, you know what?
She's going next month.
You know, let's just, she can just get on with it.
Just let her do what she wants to do.
She isn't going to be here much longer.
She's volunteered to put a friend over.
They're probably going to have a really good match.
Hopefully people will respond to it.
I hope it's in a good spot on the show, Kenny.
Now, they don't put them on after some like 25 minute classic.
Otherwise, people are so worn out that they will not respond
to Basel versus Ronda.
I mean, I think they should put the match on first.
I think that would be a really good slot for them to go on first,
but yeah, I mean, I'm glad they're having the match.
I think Ronda's the heel.
She said, and the crowd goes mild.
She insulted Shane, saying that the audience is not into her.
So I think Ronda's supposed to be the villain,
but I mean, it's tough to know for sure.
And we're getting the match.
And yeah, it's time for Ronda to move on.
Let's be honest, isn't it Kenny?
Yeah, 100%.
And then last thing is we had a misTV where we found out that Becky Lynch will
get another short Trish Trash, if she can, you know,
there's a few conditions to it.
First, she's got a beat, Zoe Stark next week, which Lynch agreed to.
Trish then said, if Stark wins, Becky has the honor of knees.
And thank her, which Lynch agreed to.
And then finally, Trish said,
Lynch, we need to tattoo.
Thank you, Trish, across her chest.
And then Lynch also agreed to that.
Then they attacked Becky, she fought back.
She managed to get Trish's face shield off and then she ended up punching Trish,
punching Stark.
I mean, do you remember how we were,
we were really trying around WrestleMania time to be enthused
about the return of Trish Trash and, you know,
what she was doing with Becky and we just couldn't really get it.
And now they're just, they're, they're a highlight of the show.
Like it's so much better than it was.
Trish is just putting in such a better level of performance.
I know you said this last week and we've said it a few times.
But I mean, you look at Ronda,
how much money she's getting paid in the interest level.
And then you look at Trish.
Could phone it if she wanted to and just do the nostalgia run.
But it looks that she's really,
there's an effort there for her to be doing really good work.
And yeah, I'm very, very interested in the summer slam match with Becky and Trish.
I think it could be very good.
Yeah, I think so as well.
And I mean, Trish is definitely having a lot of fun playing the heel.
I mean, if you remember,
she was a heel in 2005.
And she did really well in the role then.
And that was the point where you could tell that she was finally getting pro wrestling.
And she was just the whole sort of package.
She sort of grasped it and could do it.
And she was really good as a heel in 2005.
She left in 2006.
Didn't she September 2006?
She was.
Yes, I'm for going.
That's it.
So, um,
and I think she's having a real laugh with this and Becky Lynch is taking it seriously as well.
And that was the view of the problem with Trish earlier in that it seemed like Lynch
resented having to work with Trish because he just felt like a step down for it and didn't feel big time.
And he just felt kind of blah, didn't it?
And just weakened.
It's like no one was really committing to it.
And now because Trish has done the heel turn and Lynch is, you know,
this strong face he wants revenge.
You have some good results as well with Trish defeating Lynch.
And then Zoe started defeating Lynch as well,
which were obviously the right outcomes because it's built this heat.
And it's made, you know, Lynch, you know, desperate for revenge that she'd agreed to these conditions.
You know, the, you know, for the rematch to take place.
So yeah, I think I think on the night they're going to they're going to go all out to really deliver and deliver the highlight of their feud and what we presume will be the last match of their feud at Somerslam.
So yeah, I thought it was well done.
I thought both of them really brought it and hope Zoe stack and Lynch have a good match next week on raw.
And I thought they did well last week, hopefully they can build on that and have a better match next week.
And beat will listen, that's all the time we've got for today.
And if you want to get your AEW fix, you can get that over on Patreon with Robert and I talking about collisions.
So I'm going to talk about dynamite, Ben and I doing over and over there.
Patreon is the best way to support us.
Patreon.com forward slash inside the ropes.
And as always, you can preorder the next issue of the mag and say the ropes magazine.com.
And yeah, loads of stuff going on as always.
Eric Bischoff come in September.
If you are tech.com for that.
Clugs, plugs, plugs.
So yeah, anyway, it's been thank you as always for your time, your wisdom and your knowledge.
Well, thank you for having me and thank you everyone for listening.
So we will be back later this week with the personal podcast and we'll talk to you soon everybody.
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