What's Going Down - September 12th 2023

What's going down? Hey everybody, welcome to a brand new episode of what's going down here on Patreon, I'd see or without with ads anywhere else. My name is Kenny Macintosh, joined as always by Mester Fenley Martin, her are you just fine Tuesday. Penny, I'm doing all right, yes, it's cooled down, it's very pleasant, we're approaching the end of another deadline on inside the Roops magazine, so that's always a relief. I didn't mention it on the podcast last week, actually the reason I didn't mention it was because I had done the interview at that point, I didn't mention it on Thursday but I didn't leave you last week, and Anderson that you can read in the next issue of inside the Roops magazine, so I'm very excited. Finish writing that up on Saturday, so I hope people will enjoy reading that. How are you doing Kenny? What are you up to? I'm good, I'm good, I'm going away for a couple of days for that kind of work thing to Amsterdam, we should be good, I'm looking forward to it, so just a two day thing, tomorrow, until Friday, so I believe you're all going on a tulip studying mission, right? Yeah, that's exactly what it is. I will just say, I will say this now, I am not someone who is going to go to Amsterdam, be partaken in the things that Amsterdam is famous for, because I'm not good, some people are very relaxed when they are partaken that kind of stuff, and I end up getting very anxious, so I'm not the best at that, so that will not be what I'm doing and I'm there, but many other people are doing good for them. You would just be looking at the tulip, so why are you Kenny? Looking at the tulips, I'll be going to see the Anne Frank Museum, I'll be used to it. Yes, I've never been to Amsterdam, it's somewhere I would like to go. Yeah, I think I've been a couple of times, I've actually not done a lot of the tulips and stuff that you would think you would do, so I think when there is a little bit of downtime, I'm going to try and go and do a couple of tulips and things, yeah, because I think it'd be good to check it out, so. But anyway, before that, we are here to talk obviously about the latest happenings in WWE, if you want to hear the latest happenings in the AEW, you can join us on Patreon, we're Sondor and I review Dynamite, Robert and I review Collision, it never stops that it's wrestling all the time, but we're here to see what WWE have been getting up to in their latest TV shows, so smack down this past Friday, there's some good stuff on it, but I've got to say, Finn, just the overarching thing that I came away with was similar to, do you remember when we were reviewing Smackdown after WrestleMania for about a month when there was no Roman reigns? Yes, and I kind of struggled a bit with that because it was kind of bloodline light, and this actually feels worse for me because we've now got one of the Usos and Solo and Hame and it kind of feels we're buying our time and you've got these other factions who are kind of vying for contention, which is more interesting, but the bloodline stuff for me is just kind of, it doesn't feel that interesting, it doesn't feel that exciting, but I wondered how it's kind of feeling for you watching the episodes because we've kind of got this, there's still a better story going on with Jimmy Usos and Paul Hame and but is it still got a bit of gas in it for you at the moment? Well, we're in the lol at the moment, just as we were after WrestleMania as you correctly noted, and this is what WWE does traditionally after WrestleMania and after Summerslam, and it's just the way it is, I mean Romans on vacation again, it's quite interesting, really obviously Hollywood's been everything slowed down, led you to the right strike and we were all under the impression, what was it about? A year ago now that Reigns would soon be wrapping up and he was going to be a movie star, and maybe, you know, depending on how all that plays out, maybe that's been postponed, I mean, who knows? But yeah, we're definitely in a position at the moment where it feels like be episodes of Smackdown, this is an a list episodes of Smackdown, this is almost like in a rebuilding phase if you might call it or a way of just, you know, spinning things out before the big star returns again, but you are right Kenny, I mean, I found it an entertaining show, it passed by very briskly, you know, I enjoyed it, but it didn't feel momentous, you know, it didn't feel massive, didn't feel blockbuster, didn't feel consequential, you know, and all honesty, if you didn't watch it, you didn't really miss that much. I mean, that's kind of the indictment of it, right, of that, you know, we shouldn't do this, you know, in that way, and I mean, Smackdown has been typically the, the a show for a while, but I mean, there, there, I think also, you know, AJ Styles is a bit as hot as an ice cube as a character. Yeah. So, you know, that, that, that's not exactly helping, you know, the whole Jimmy Uso and him in the main event, I, I, I, because you know, there's a whole thing about that, there was that back, you know, there was obviously the back, the backstage segment with Jimmy approaching Haman initially and sort of saying, you know, he's still in the bloodline, um, and then Haman ends up running into AJ Styles and Haman, of course, has, you know, got his mouth and then Uso shows up and ends up pulling AJ off Haman, because Styles grabs Paul and then Jimmy throws him over some equipment crates and they're going to fight later, and it leads us to a segment with AJ Styles and the good brothers. Yeah. And then they just start fighting for really no reason. Um, well, I mean, Luke Gallows and Calandas and weren't really taking things seriously, they were watching, you know, YouTube videos, maybe funny cat videos or something. But I mean, there was actually, I, I felt like the kind of Mr Trick here, because as we know, AJ and Paul Haman had that big bust up a few years ago, and he blamed Haman, didn't he for Gallows and Anderson? Was it losing the jobs or not being signed, but something like that happened, didn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Basically, AJ still blamed Haman for not going to bat for them and sort of being a bit of a snake. Yes. Um, which, you know, would have been a great thing to bring into the storyline. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Gallows and Anderson are doing nothing. I mean, no one takes them seriously. I mean, AJ Styles had managed them here for not taking them seriously. He's like, did you see what happened with Jimmy? You know, where were you? And they were like, you know, what's the problem? You know, we watch, you know, what you do. Well, we watch videos on YouTube and he smashed the phone or whatever it was. But yeah, there was, there was definitely more they could have done with this here by incorporating that real situation with Haman styles and Anderson and Gallows. And that would have been a hell of a lot more interesting if they'd done that. But you're right about styles. He's been flattened out for a very long time. Um, I'm not sure if he's, I mean, it'd be eight years in January, since he joined the company. And I'm trying to work out when he's contracted spires. Will he be next year or will it be the year after? Do you think? I mean, you would assume it would be a bit of saying three three year deals or or or one three year than one five year. Yes. I mean, I know he resigned. I think was it 2020? I think he resigned. So maybe it was a five year deal. But basically, Styles feels like a spent force. Even though he can still go in the ring, he's just been there so long that there's nothing left room to do. So one does imagine that when his contract comes up, it might be time for him to leave. And I'm sure that will be somebody that AEW would go for. Yeah. I mean, he doesn't feel like, you know, Kevin Owens is an example where Kevin Owens, you know, he may have entered WrestleMania last year with Steve Austin. He may have entered WrestleMania this year with Sammy Newton. So as an Owens is quite good, even when he's involved in more mid card type stuff, he still almost carries some of that main event levelness around with him and still feels like a big name. Whereas AJ, you know, he, I mean, I know it was the performance center wrestler. He was undertaker's last match, but like, sometimes I forget he was involved in that. Yeah. It doesn't seem like he carries a lot of the big stuff he's done around with him in the way he carries himself. Yeah. Plus Owens is more versatile performer. You can do many roles. You know, you can do humour. I mean, AJ is not renowned for his sense of humour. And he just feels kind of bland as a character. I mean, he always has. I mean, to me, he's done very well in his career to become the star, very became. Because I remember in his early days in T&A, people like this guy can't talk to service life. You know, and I don't think on promos, if he's given the right material, he's actually OK. But he can't really do humour. And he's very limited, I think, in the things he can do backstage and on promos. It's got to be the right material for him. Whereas Kevin Owens can make pretty much the success of anything that it's handed to him. Yeah, I would agree. And I think that's, you know, it's because you've kind of got the, I guess to tie all that in, you know, you've got the half pregnant bloodline stuff, where it's kind of just peering along. And then you get AJ styles, who doesn't feel very well, that you put it together, and it doesn't exactly give you, you know, a banquet that you want to feast on. It's like a massive shot of adrenaline, is it? It's more like a, you know, try to try to light a match in the rain. You know, it's like, it's just normal. Exactly. And here in this match in the main event, AJ scored this huge win over Jimmy. But it really felt, you know, kind of blah. And the end of it, you weren't really that interested or that excited about where it was all going to go. Except for when, you know, Damien Priest and Finn Balakemow and attacked AJ from behind. And then basically gifted AJ through AJ into the ring. Saul or Sikoa was out this point. We should mention that during the match, Saul or Sikoa and Paul Hemman were at ringside. And when Jimmy was outside the ring, Saul or turned his back on Jimmy. So there was, you know, a little bit of storyline progression there. And then after the match Priest and Balak, after styles of beating Jimmy and styles was leaving, Priest nailed styles from behind and Priest and Balak grabbed styles, held him into the ring, you know, for Saul or to beaten down and Saul or look to them like what you're doing. So to me, that was the most interesting part of this, even though AJ's styles was in the match and scored this way. Yeah, which is like, which is, you know, a problem that that's kind of what was the most interesting, you know, AJ's when kind of redundant after like a minute. But elsewhere in the show, it was kind of, you know, we mentioned the judgment they they'd been out earlier. They rented up to buy the brawl and bricks and ended up with Balak and Priest getting a win over Regin and Birch and Bobby Lash and the street professor ended up coming out to, you know, face off with them and sort of say that, you know, the bloodline or crumbling that it's not judgment day will be who'll be taking over it's them. So there is this kind of, I guess, bit of gang warfare, you know, you get the brawl and bricks, you get profits and lastly, you get judgment day, you got bloodline, you get AJ and the good brothers. So there's a lot of stuff going on. But, yeah, I think it's just like you say, if you hadn't watched this episode for a Smackdown, you could probably just miss it. Yeah, and we have pretty deadly backstage as well. I mean, they will watch in. Yeah. I think they're pretty close to being, I think, a new in the time when they're ready to return to action. It looks like it. It looks like it from, you know, them getting shown seems like that's, you know, a scenario and later. So hopefully, I'm going to say, you know, Kitten Elton in their absence, look like they've been spending a long time on their hair care. She. Yeah. Fabulous. Her lads. Fabulous. I could only dream, friend. I could only dream. We also had an opener at the show. We had Shotzee and Charlotte against EOS Guy and Bailey. Shotzee and Charlotte got the win here. And then afterwards, Asuka confronted EOS Guy. And you know, they're going to have a match for the title in two weeks, in two weeks on Smackdown. So you know, the EOS guy and Asuka stuff was fairly interesting. I struggled to get into the opening match just because I mean, Charlotte was trying to be a baby face here. Yeah. I mean, I thought this was Charlotte's best match in a long time. I mean, it was possibly because it was in the opening slot. And it was in Boston's Smackdown. The crowd were really into the show. And I thought this match was probably the best thing Charlotte's done since she returned. She teamed with Shotzee. I mean, I thought everyone was on form here. And there's a couple of moments, of course, when well, Shotzee was on form by her standards. There was at least one moment in there where you're like, oh my god, what's going on here. But I mean, everyone sort of had a shaper on there to, you know, the finish and, you know, they got through it. But Charlotte looked like she was interested. And everything, apart from Shotzee's occasional balls, looks okay. And the finish came when Asuka appeared at ringside. And she stole the women's title belt from Dakota Kai and been tasked with looking after it. And he always looking at asking or what you're doing. And like Bailey's distracted and then Shotzee scored a big win on Bailey. So I mean, I think I was, was that two weeks in a row that Shotzee had been Bailey? Can you think he won? Yep. So things are looking up for her. Yeah. So Asuka then had the belt. And then she confronted EO after the match and dropped the belt in front of Sky and then left and be announced later on the show. And that they would, that EO would defend the title against Asuka on Smackdown in two weeks on September 22nd. Yes. And what else were on the show? We did have early night coming up and he was interrupted by the new team of Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. Obviously, you know, talked a little bit before about how this was a potential thing that was going to happen. It led us to early night against Austin Theory with early night got the win. Grayson tried to attack him afterwards. I mean, I do feel like, because we also found that the next week on the Grayson Waller effect, John Cena is going to be the guest. So you know what this means, right? We're going to be getting Grayson Waller and Austin Theory against early night and John Cena at Fastlin. Oh, yes. He was at the direction of travel. And I see someone, someone was watching payback. I can't remember if it was something on Twitter. And they said, they said, I've just finished payback and I think I'm over John Cena's run already. So that's good. He's on night two of two months. But yeah, so would you make an appearance of Grayson Waller and Austin DDN execution? I mean, Cena has this effect on people. He just does. You know, he's just turned up. It's just time to do something else. Yeah, I mean, I like Grayson Waller and Austin Theory as a team. We were gushing about him last week. They've already got a name A Town Down Under. I mean, there could be much worse names that they could have. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, I like that name. I think it's all right. I think I think Waller and Theory as a team look like winners. You know, I think they bounce off each other really well. You know, I think they've, you know, good creature. There's confidence level. I mean, Waller, I mean, they obviously like him. You know, I mean, I've been a fan of his. I was a huge fan of his and NXT after the actually the match with the edge of styles ironically. I mean, after we knocking styles and saying that he's, you know, basically a spent force, he was actually really effective in NXT when he faced Waller. But I mean, yeah, I mean, I don't think he's ever really found his feet on the main roster. He's had, you know, various roles and he's had quite a few matches now. But I think Waller and Theory feels right for both of them. And I think they can become tag champs. I actually think these two can do really well together. And Waller was really a lot of fun on commentary here. And, you know, night ended up winning the match. We bumped for trauma as well. He should have done as well because, you know, night feels like he's going somewhere at the moment. And, as you said, yeah, Grayson's going to have seen her on next week. Good luck, kid. Good luck. And, yeah, imagine Theory will be there. And I just hope Cena doesn't do another theory burial, you know, because for all the reason, where we don't need to go over the reason why. And presumably night will come out. And, you know, this could be a big, not big, you know, big moment for night, you know, it's not a bad spot for him teaming with Cena. I'm always better to be on the side of Cena than off of something. Yes. I imagine the win. And this is all further advancement for night. So, I mean, I can't object to it. I mean, this event doesn't really feel important. And, but it's, you know, it's a match to keep, you know, night going and to keep moving in the right direction. Yeah. And, I mean, in terms of theory and Waller, I think they're definitely better suited together than a part. I think a part they've got a ceiling, a ceiling, but together, they could probably get away with it. You know, they're, I think they could do, they could do pretty well. So, yeah. The, yeah, so we also on on Smackdown had early night bumping into Paul Heyman, because Heyman was trying to get the answers from Adam Pearce's to who's joining Smackdown in exchange for Jay. And then early night interrupts and says he was amazing. I matched next week. And Adam Pearce gives him it. And then early night and Heyman have an exchange, which was pretty interesting. You know, not a, if it's not a bad thing for early night, you know, to be in these kind of settings for Heyman, because you're not putting Heyman in a segment with someone who messes an idea of something. No, not definitely not. I mean, and Heyman at first, you know, we know our disingenuous Paul Heyman is. And at first, Heyman complimented night, but we knew that, you know, this was going in a direction that wasn't going to be complimentary tonight. And Heyman let night know that he wasn't happy that he interrupted his conversation with Adam Pearce. And next time, you know, he should wear outside or bring the doorbell. And so, yeah, I think from that we can, we can assume that we're going to get some, you know, night versus bloodline interaction possibly after they've seen a thing plays out. So I mean, people are already asking, should it be LA nights who dethrones Roman Reigns? Well, no, not you, not ready for that spot yet. But I mean, this is again, you know, you know, encouraging signs for night. And, you know, hopefully they won't rush him into a match with Reigns because he's not ready for that. And but he could do some stuff with the bloodline, which I think people would like to see. And so let's move on to Raw then, because that's kind of everything on this matter. And on Raw, the, the big thing, the big moment was the main event of the show was Raquel Rodriguez challenging Rhea Ripley. And I rematch from their payback encounter. And who would make an appearance when Raquel starts to get an upper hand towards the end, but the returning Anaya Jax, the Anylator, I'd still have a Michael Colton. Who the hell is that? I mean, it's pretty bloody obvious. Who is? So we've got the Anylator and the Eradikator. And what was it? What was it? Was it the Enviserator? The Enviserator, the Anylator. I mean, they love their, they're the describing words, don't they? The nicknames, that's it. Yeah, she's all. And we tell Vence's back. So Naya ends up doing her finisher, her finisher, the ground on the river. Rodriguez shoves her back in. Ripley has the rip tie, gets the win. And then afterwards, Naya Jax comes in, headbutts Rhea Ripley and ends up putting Rhea's neck on the bottom rope and leg drop on her, does the bonsai drop, and then blew a kiss to the crowd. So Naya Jax is back and does the interference. What did you make of the mattress you're carrying on Rhea and talking through your thoughts on Naya's return? Well, I've sensed that this was happening. I'm in fact, I did a little thing in the latest magazine about it. I was like, you know, could this be happening? And she dropped some hints in an interview with, I think it was Bill Apta. And so, you know, I figured that this was coming. I kind of imagined that maybe it was going to be, you know, Naya and Charlotte Flair doing something, or maybe they'll do something, obviously they're on different brands, but maybe they'll do something all day to day, because they're pals, you know, and they could be tag chams or something like that. I mean, it's to give Rhea something to do before she faces Becky Lynch. We know that's going to be the big match, probably at WrestleMania. So, you know, they need people to keep Rhea and to keep Becky Lynch occupied until they have their big match next year. Obviously, Becky Lynch is having the big match tonight with Tiffany Stratton, which is major for Stratton. You know, it's been obvious to me for long before she won the NXT Women's tie all that Stratton was somebody who was going to be a huge deal in NXT. I think she'll do very well in the main roster when they bring her up next year. But I mean, I thought this match was, I thought it was a decent match. I thought the audience got into it by the end. And, you know, we've said it many times about Raquel. She needs, you know, a character reset desperately, something needs to change, because she's sealing down as this character. People are not really going to back her. And, you know, it just stopped me, Kenny, when we're watching, you know, Raw at the beginning of the show. And we just had, you know, all these characters who were so over, didn't we? And it's just a character driven business, isn't it? It was Jay, it was Kevin Owens. And I will get to this in a moment, gaming priest, but every character in that ring was really over. And like, that's Raquel's shot coming as a character. She's not over. So they need to work on that. They just need to start it this week. Don't delay any further. I mean, this little rear-ripply feud's now over, because rear will be moving on to Naya Jacks. And just do something with that character. Try and find a way for people to root for her, because it's just not happening at the moment, even though she's really good. You know, that's the tragedy here, isn't it, Kenny? She's the real talent, you know, but WWE is failing her in the character department. But I mean, as for Naya, I mean, we'll see what happens. I mean, the audience really detests her. So I mean, you know, you always did. She's back. I mean, she looks different. I mean, let's just see if she's ready to work and ready to bring it. We've had this, she's had this another chance with the company. Obviously, the vaccine mandate, things been been off now, so they could bring her back. And, you know, this is, you know, what's she? I think she's 39. So this is a, you know, big gig for this point in her life. And, you know, we're making some more money and, you know, way of also writing some of the, you know, wrongs of a last run. You know, she acquired this reputation for being clumsy and, you know, reckless in the ring, didn't she? Yeah, she did, she did. I mean, you know, because it was funny, I was watching this this morning with Steve Gunn, my other half. And he said, you know, she's not had one match since she got released. So she's not going to have got any better. Which is true. But I mean, it's, it's, we've told us before, there was points where she really had some promise. Now, not as much. But look, you know, she's back. I'll, I'll give it a fresh goal. I mean, it's funny, because I was saying as well that I bet me, and I bet Nia Jackson, I would have a great laugh on a night out, right? I bet we would. I would just need to say to it, I don't want to hear your political opinions. I don't want to, let's not go onto the vaccine. But let's just keep it as a fun night out. And I think we've gone really well. So I hope, the thing is in 2023, if you have a, what is deemed as a controversial opinion, which obviously, her vaccine views were viewed as a controversial opinion, sometimes that's tough for the audience to let that go. I'm not saying all of the audience, because, you know, I have to try to realize that. But, you know, she was very outspoken in how she was. And I think that could go against her if people already weren't that keen on her. You know, if she was popular, if like Rand the Orton had said something like that, I don't really get really a flu because people quite like Rand the Orton, overall, so you can kind of, people make excuses for people they like. Of course, if there's something who's not really that liked, it's a much tougher battle. So we'll see if she can overcome it, or if people care, or, you know, we'll see. But, I mean, I think there's some irony that, you know, as Nia returns, the word is that Kairi sings on her way back as well. I think Kairi was, was sort of the naughty victim, wasn't she, of a few Nia related accidents? Yeah, sure. Well, I think Kairi obviously, and, you know, can I go to Smackdown, just keep me over there? But the thing you said about Raquel, I just wanted to cut to say, I mean, I'm not saying we should replay the attitude era rulebook in any way, but one thing they used to do sometimes in the attitude era that I thought was quite effective was a character that wasn't working, would commit and kind of cut a promo to kind of reset themselves into something else. And I think that, that might be the call for Raquel, you know, have her commit and kind of answer the critics of like, you know, I've come out here, I've tried to smile, be happy, and that's just not getting me anywhere. So I'm going to go back to what brought me to the dance. I'm going to be more vicious. I'm going to be more, you know, aggressive and, and let that be the catalyst to her changing her character into whatever it's going to become. And, you know, this should be like a, you know, there was, there was that funny, that funny, like, a bit of paper that was like spotted backstage at WWE show and it was like, no thigh slaps or whatever. So for Raquel, her locker room door should be no smiling. If you're caught smiling Raquel, you'll be set at home. That's it. Yeah. That's it. I mean, you're early in the show, she, she did a promo backstage and she just sounded so scripted and I know her promos were scripted, right? But again, everything that we've seen movies and TV shows is scripted, but we don't think it's scripted because it's delivered well. And that's the difference between people, you know, a professional actors and people in WWE who are struggling with their scripted promos because it doesn't really fit their character or seem natural. And she kind of turned it around at the end and said, oh, Raquel would receive a testimonial medicine, but the start there, it just felt so forced and strained and, you know, artificial and manufactured and just, oh, who's this person? You know, why is she saying these words? That doesn't sound like her. And yeah, we need a big reset button moment with Raquel and yeah, it needs to just happen this month, you know, immediately. And just funny, we talked about SmackDown about how the bloodline thing was kind of, you know, not that interesting, but you know, Jeyo, so being on Raw seems to be the opposite. You know, things are, things are cooking for him because he's in there with all these people who, you know, he's in there with Kevin Owens at the beginning and Kevin Owens is not ready to put it for given, you know, and Drew McIntyre was the same. So Jeyo's got some kind of meat to the bone of what he can get into and the judgment day came out as you mentioned and they want to fight a KO and obviously Sam he's not here. So Jey offers to fight with him and Owens eventually hesitates, but as I said, let's do it. And that leads us to finning Damian taking on Kevin Owens and Jeyo. So it's all going well for them. And so Jey, when he's trying to super kick Damian priest, priest moves and Owens takes the super kick and then bow and priest get the win. And Owens is not happy about this. And Jey tries to apologize backstage, but Owens killed him to find his new bloodline and then in the judgment day locker room. So this was really good story of development and it feels like the the development she used to get on Smackdown, you're now getting on wrong instead. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Owens even advised Jey to die his hair purple. Absolutely fair in the judgment day. I mean, this was a great segment there with Owens, you know, and Jey out there and then they were joined by the judgment day of Bala priest and Dominic with stereo and Dominic was just masterful here. I mean, now before he even, he holds the mic up and before before he even speaks, people are drowning him out. And then he starts speaking. And it's almost, it's very difficult to understand what Dominic's saying because the booze is allowed and everyone's having so much fun booing him. And you can see Dominic and Bala and priest are just having, you know, the time of their lives with this character. And Dominic's great in this role as this sort of mid-card heel who just takes the beatings and it doesn't matter, doesn't make it lose every week. It wouldn't kill his heat. He would still be as over as he is now if he would say, well, probably if you lost every week, very weeks, he would probably stop caring. But, you know what I mean, he doesn't need to win because the character is just so established and people just love booing him and he's so much fun there. But yeah, this is a fun match. People were really into it. And I think we knew that something would go wrong here. And it did. And Jay accidentally super kicked out ends. He was then pinned by Bala. You know, Owens was furious afterwards. He hobbled off alone. And after backstage Jay said it was a miscue and an accident. And Kevin Owens was having none of it. And he just, you know, stormed off. But I mean, later in the show, you know, other people were upset with Jay. And we drew McIntyre said that he didn't trust him. And they were having a match next week on roll. He drew versus Jay. So that's a big match for both. And also, we had another segment in which Bala approached Jay and said, you know, every member of the judgment there's a big fan of yours, Jay. And he's like, what for real? You know, like he was, what was really funny? Because when he did it, he was like, you know, we're all fans of you. And he was like, I'm a fan of you and freestyle fan of you. And he was just kind of listening to it. And then he said, and he is a fan of you. And when he says via, Jay goes for you. Like, as if like, you know, it's such a good line that you feel like me. I was so funny. It was, but he delivered it really well. Like, you know, still not kind of giving his cargs away of what he's going to do. Yeah, he was like, you really like, you pressed all, wow. Yeah, it's like, fan of mine. I got, you know, I must mean I'm a star. And I mean, you know, wow. So yeah, he didn't, you know, ballast like, you know, leave it with you. You don't have to give us an answer now, but there's a spot waiting for you in the judgment day if you want it. And then when you're in the judgment day clubhouse, you know, the judgment day reveals their dastardly plan. And you know, and that was that they needed to keep the pressure on Jay. So he felt isolated. So we know, of course, they're not doing it for Jay's benefit. I'll do it. They're doing it for the wrong. Oh, yeah, 100%. But there's, there's, there's a lot, what's really good about this is there's like five or six different stories that play at one time. There's the Drew McIntyre stuff where he doesn't trust Jay, but he's also got his own stuff going on with the new day. There's the Kevin Owens in jail. So stuff stemming back from the past bloodline thing. There's judgment day in their own. There's the priest and baller stuff. There's, there's the McDonough's part of judgment day. There's all these different elements in the story. Yeah, all connected. You know, and I tell you what, I mean, I'm sure we'll be talking about this later in the week, Kenny. Yeah, you know, the public talking about the riddle story later in the week. Yeah. You know, I don't want to kick a man when he's down, right? But, but as and Drew benefited from riddles absence from raw. Yeah, because the, yeah, 100% because of, you know, they're trying to get Drew, you know, they're trying to possession him as that's top heel that's coming. You know, we can see it coming. And riddle just isn't sort of diverse enough at this point to play that role with him or to help him get to where he needs to be. So when he was at the way, and you know, I mean, I thought that was sent with with Woods and Drew was great where Woods was like, you know, and you just jail us because coffee won his world title at WrestleMania in front of 82,000 fans and you did it in front of a performance center. Did you know it's as well, Kenny, that they've mentioned 82,000 fans. Yes. Yeah. That's so petty. But, you know, that's right. But there again, AEW has been banging on about this 81,000 forever. They have. I mean, the thing is, the thing about 81,000 is it's a great number. You should be happy about it. But I mean, the domestic US numbers are worrying. 2,136 people for a dynamite in Philadelphia next month and last time it was 5,500,000. Yeah. You know, what are your numbers? Yes, absolutely. And, you know, the whole punk thing leaving will see what effect this has, it has a long term. And, you know, this stuff about what we're talking about. I'm sure Brian Danielson's saying that, you know, he's possibly going to be stepping down, retiring next year. I mean, I don't know what to be serious about that. But we feel like, don't we, Brian Danielson's career? Is it, it's in the late evening, isn't it, of his career, Brian? Yeah, 100% you know, he's getting injured more. Yeah. So I will make a note on Thursday. I think it would be good to first have a little discussion on the AEW main event scene long term. We've got people at Danielson who's winding down, punk is gone. You know, it'd be interesting for us to kind of chat about that when we think it will be in a couple of years because it's going to be different. Yeah, well, even in six months or even three months, you know, or maybe even at the next pay-per-view. Yeah, but I mean, you know, and to, where is, you know, right now, I think to go back to your original point, I think Riddle not being there as a blessing disguise for Drew. And he then got to obviously face off against Xavier and Beaton. And then like you say, he told Jay what he thought of them. They're going to match next week, which is going to be a big match. Sure. So that was really good. I will say the one, the only thing on this show that I kind of think right on the realm was Cody, because Cody committed a promo and I know the judgment they come out and they may end up with a brawl. And I know the fans will answer it, but Cody kind of feels like he's not really doing anything. Well, he's not because they need to work out how they're going to occupy his time. Like we mentioned earlier, we becky. She's doing this stuff in NXT. Now, I'm not suggesting that Cody go to NXT because it's become a bit of a cliche now, although I've got to say I'm really looking forward to Becky Lynch versus Stratton tonight. I think I'm really looking forward to that match. And it'd be interesting to see what the viewing figures for it are because they have made a point of really pushing it on TV. And I've got to say also I thought Tiffany Stratton handled herself really well on the promo there. We're Becky Lynch backstage when they signed the contract for the match on NXT tonight. They were backstage at Raw. And she, I mean, she must have been intimidated, but she didn't seem like she was. And I'm going to say just, just finally, Kenny, I know I've had a lot of I don't do this. I've gone off on. And I thought Lynch was really good as well. She didn't belittle Stratton really or try and steal her thunder. She sort of took a kind of an understated role and allowed Stratton to shine. And I thought that was really big of her to do that and showed a lot of security, a lot of security in her own character and her own star that she didn't feel like she needed to throw away around or make the up and come her feel small. Yeah, I agree, 100%. I think it helps that Becky went through the system. So she's been in Tiffany's position before. Yeah, she's been in that environment. So, you know, Becky can kind of remember what that was like. And it is a big match. She looks a big match. But with Cody thing, you know, he beat Brock at SummerSlam, he has done nothing since. And that's fine for like a month. But we're now approaching, you know, we're past payback. Because I thought maybe we were going to get him in Cena, fast lane that maybe that was going to be set up, but that doesn't seem to be the case. So I just thought with Cody, you can only have him for so long, just be this Mr. Ambaster guy. And you sort of tried to like tonight, but he was hitting those moves. People were going crazy for him. And it's like imagine if you had him in a story. And you know, maybe this is the time where I don't, I don't see code that I don't see anybody, but like I wonder if there's somebody from the past who could come back and do a short program of Cody that he obviously wins, but he could occupy him. And maybe there's something there. But he needs something to do. Yeah, I mean, a sense that, you know, Cody, I think he's going to be coming champ next year. Yeah, probably they're going to do Cody Cena some point next year. So you don't want to do that now because that can be a Cena match in which he puts, puts Cody over. I mean, obviously, Bronb breakers ready to go in NXT. But if they bring him in, then Cody would have to be in because Cody, I just don't seem doing any jobs between now or maybe I'll do the odd job. But there's not going to be, he's not going to lose a big match between now and WrestleMania. I just can't see it. Maybe he will do. I don't know. But I mean, Bronb breaker wouldn't be a bad person to bring in because breaker could do the attack on Cody. He could even have sposed win the first match and then Cody wins a second one. But then, you know, if you see breaker as a future champ, which I'm sure they do, is that a good way to use him? Is that a good way to bring him in? Obviously, there's gun to there. But there again, we seem like Gunter and Chad Gabler are going to have the rematch and you don't want to spoil out because they made music together. Last week on Rome, we know we're going to get a rematch and that's going to be big. So you're right, Kenny. Cody just feels like a little bit lost at the moment. They don't really have any plans for him. We know they've got plans for him next year. But I don't think it really serves any purpose him appearing on the show and doing this. If you don't have anything for him, then do an injury angle. Send him on for a few weeks until you have something for him to do because otherwise he's going to cool off and you don't want to do that with your guy who's going to be your big baby face next year. Yeah, 100%. That's kind of all the time we've got for today. What I'll do is when we open Pirassan and Thursday, I will bring up Seth Rollins because I know obviously he has the thing with Nakamura on this show and I think it'd be worth a wee discussion on what we want to see Rollins do next because he's a world champ. There's a lot of time to fill before rumble when things will heat up again. So we'll have a chat about that on Thursday and yeah, there'll be loads for us to chat about on Thursday. As of now, when there's still two days to go, so you know that there'll be something else for us to tackle as well. Well, well, is that little thing going on as well with WWE and Endeavour, isn't it? Yeah, today as we record, this is the day of the effect, the completion of the sale to Endeavour. So we'll talk about that as well and what that could mean. Lots of stuff for us to talk about. We've got some questions that we're going to tackle from listeners. So loads of stuff. But do keep an eye for Endeavour.com. Obviously, issue 36 is out right now, issue 37. I don't think the pre-order is up now. The pre-order for actually 37 is up now. You can pick that up. It's going to be a special 60... Well, sorry, the pre-order is out now and it comes out on September 28th. It is a 64-page issue. It is a huge issue, but obviously there's so much stuff with Bray Wyatt sadly passing away. All-in, all-out, payback, edge-leaving, teddy-funk passing away. We aren't understanding if it's thin and load loads more, so it's a bunch of issues. The same punk thing. The punk thing. There's so much stuff to even get into. So yeah, we have to make it a bigger issue this month, so hopefully people will enjoy that, and so do what's magazine.com. With the same price, won't it, Kenny? Yeah, same price is not going to be more expensive. This is a special... We could not physically fit all the stuff into a 48-page issue, and I don't think it would have been fair to win them, return them, teddy-funk, for us to short-change them anyway. Indeed, could not agree more, Kenny. But yeah, we will be back on Thursday, obviously, with PowerSlan and the overrun that we'll record as well for Patreon. Patreon is where you can hear more of us, patreon.com, follow us on Instagram, Instagram, and so on. But yeah, then I'm glad that you've got a bit of an retrieve now from magazine jitties. Not yet, Kenny, I've got today and tomorrow first. Okay, well, as of Thursday, there's a free... Not there yet. Not there yet, but you'll be plugging away till then, but then this weekend, don't just have it being wrestling free, doing... Oh, yes. I will do that. Well, it's actually not been such a hectic month for me this month, actually. It's been quite compared to some ones. It's not been too bad. It's actually been quite manageable, and you know, the unanderson interview was, you know, really, I thought, rewarding to do for me, and so it's been a very, you know, the CM Punk story, which I've done in front of the top. I've gotten into a lot of details on that, and you know, a lot of analysis there that we've all written down, rather than the stuff that we've talked about on the podcast, extra bits as well. So, yeah, it's not been a particularly hectic issue for me, but a very interesting issue. Yeah, and long make, continue to be a manageable and enjoyable experience. So yeah, thank you for all your support, everybody. I know I'm a broken record. I say every single week, but I feel like I should, because we really appreciate all the, you know, time and energy and money that you sort of spend an inside the ropes, whether it's through the picture or buying the magazine or coming to a live show, rather than as we appreciate it very much. So thank you for all your support. I will talk to you soon.