2025 Wrestling Preview Special | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #777 – 01/02/25

0:00 It's still real to me, damn it! [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome everybody! Welcome to this week's edition of "Mr. Realta Show" episode number 777 per January 2nd, 2025. Welcome to your 2025 SRTU Wrestling Preview Special.

1:20 I am one app, the show I am Jeff Pack. Every single week, look at my clothes, the one-only Dodge Trail Franklin, Dr. Trey. Happy New Year, my friend! Happy New Year, my friend! I honestly, so it's a weird thing, hitting 2025 because, like, as a kid, that just seemed so far away. I literally never thought I would live to see 2025. Even though I'm only, you know, in my late 40s, I haven't quite hit the 50th market yet, but it just seemed so far away. And yet here we are, thank God this year you let me actually wear clothes this year. I'm thankful for that.

2:04 Well, I, you know, it was in your contract. After the last 10 plus years of you being in a diaper on this episode of SRTU, to celebrate New Year's, we finally got a renewal on your contract and made sure that you, in fact, had to wear clothes for this episode. Thank you! Well, my family thinks you because it became a bit of an eye-sort or record the podcast in the diaper with the sash. For some reason, I always had a bottle of milk with me, so this year though, it's just straight juice cup. See, the thing that always got me is we don't currently do a video podcast, so, like, you never needed to do any of that, but you always insisted.

2:48 I just honor the agreement. I mean, that was part of the, look, when Jeff comes to me, he's like, "Hey, Eric's retiring. We want you to come on the show, take over for Eric." I'm like, "Sure, he's like butt." What we do the first show of the year, you have to be in the Sashin diaper, and that was part of the negotiation process, and I was so eager to join SRTU, I just never forgot to tweak it until this year. Yeah, what people don't know is that was just for the first year, and then the nine, ten years afterwards, Dr. Trey made a tradition, one that we had to break, because all good traditions have to come to an end, right, Dr. Trey? Well, yes, but then again, like, I think I talked to you about, I'm like, "It's amazing that to start the year, it's episode 777."

3:34 Like, we should be in Vegas on the slot machines. Jeff should be entering a casino battle royale, something 777. I was hyped for 666, because I'm a little bit evil and twisted, but 777, good luck numbers across the board. I think that means a great 2025. Yeah, look out folks, this is a big year. I mean, it's not only a big year for us, but maybe a big year for professional wrestling as a whole. We will preview everything that will be going on in the World of Professional Wrestling this year. We'll preview WWE's 2025 as we see it, AWA's 2025 as we see it, and everything else in the World of Professional Wrestling. Stories that were most excited to see are 5 Bull Predictions, and literally the last thing that we're going to cover here, which is I had to stop Dr. Trey because he started giving away free radio.

4:24 We will make our WrestleMania 41 card predictions, and I guess a little bit of a preview here. Dr. Trey started the show to me saying that he hates his WrestleMania 41 card. And I thought about this as I was putting it together, prepping for the show, Dr. Trey, I looked at my card, I'm like, I think there's a good possibility that I hit on like more than half. Like that is how confident I am in my WrestleMania 41 card, which tells you a year from now, or less than a year from now, that show just before the award show, the recap special. I will have nothing right on WrestleMania 41 card, and you will have everything right. See, I went in years past, I would kind of try to predict based on where the storyline seems to be going and where it's kind of trending, and been completely wrong.

5:14 I look at my card right now, I think there's one match I have right. Okay, see that's the thing, when you go back and you listen to it on that show that we did a couple weeks ago, it's like, what the hell were they thinking? Like, why was Bianca Belair tagging with Shotzi? And it's because around the time that we were recording the show, that's who was tagging with one another. Like, that's what was going on, and then in like a split second, it changes. Like, what I've learned in the history of doing the show is, I feel like you could probably predict the four top matches, the rest of the card, like, good luck. Like, basically, good luck, you are trying to shake an eight ball here and get some luck on your side as it's OBS777, like you need some serious luck.

6:02 Because I think the last several years, you and I have correctly predicted at least one of the women's title matches, and the person that we thought was going to win the Royal Rumble, which I think is pretty wild, because when we record this show in January, it's like, how do we really know by the end of this month is someone really got to win the Rumble match? Yeah, usually, I mean, you and I have done it to the point where we've actually kind of predicted like four or five months out. Like, you can kind of feel like somebody's building momentum, somebody's getting hot, and that's the guy. And right now, like, as we record the show, I legitimately have no idea who I'm picking to win the Rumble, like none whatsoever.

6:42 And that's on both sides. I look at it like, unless it's like a return or something crazy out of the wall, I generally don't know. I was putting my WrestleMania card together going, okay, I just need to find opponents for certain people. And then maybe how I would kind of put the card together, but as we've seen, especially from last year when we did the recap, I have no idea how triple H's mind works, which is also why he's the C-O-R-C-C-O. And I'm just a lonely O. That's true. Maybe a podcast, though. That's kind of all that we are. But I guess the rule of thumb on this, Dr. Trey, is if our bold predictions and our WrestleMania 41 card predictions don't hit in early January, the first show of the year, I guess that means that it's a good year for professional wrestling because we don't want it to be too predictable, right?

7:35 Yeah, and it was weird. He mentioned when I was doing my bold predictions, in years past, I was able to come up with some off the wall stuff, like out of less things. Like the Maple Leaf, was it like pancake syrup title? Yeah, that one. That was just fun and silly stuff, but it was just literally like, I'm like, okay, I can see maybe this person doing this, or this person doing this, but hey, T-K-O buying TNA. I was like, okay, well, maybe that's a possibility. It's in the realm. This year, I didn't feel like there's anything too crazy that was going to happen. So I don't think my bold predictions are as bold as years past, but I have way less confidence in my WrestleMania card.

8:17 There's also been years where like a week after this show airs, like some major injury happened, happens and we'd like lose some of the like bold predictions or the WrestleMania 41 card predictions. Like punk through a major monkey wrench, Brock Lesnar being tied into the GDL grant lawsuit that with Vince McMahon and everything, obviously through a loop in there because Dr. Trey and I both had Gunther and Brock Lesnar last year. So yeah, it's interesting. We obviously record this show in advance, so there's always possibilities that the things that we're talking about now may have already come to fruition somehow, because that has happened in years past. We try to get a lot of these shows done so that we can enjoy a little bit of a holiday break. So before warned, if you're thinking Dr. Trey and I are recording this legitimately on January 2nd, we are not, but this is new to you for January 2nd.

9:09 So let's sit back, relax and preview professional wrestling for 2025, Dr. Trey. And let's start with World Wrestling Entertainment. They had a big 2024, we graded them last week. We gave them, or two weeks ago, we gave them really good grades for this year. What is your envision right now for WWE in 2025? Do they take a step forward? Do they continue to kind of ride the wave that they're on or do they even take a step back? See, I am really excited for WWE in 2025. Part of it is, like I said, doing the wrestle many cars. I'm just cursory, just people on top of my head, top matches. I had 16 matches.

9:50 And I know I'm leaving people off this car, so the depth of WWE is fantastic. I think the move to Netflix will reinvigorate the product as well. And then even SmackDown shifting to USA, we've already seen NXT on CW take off a little bit. I think this opens up a lot of handcuffs that might have been on WWE at times because of the rating systems and stuff like that. So I think hopefully the way things are trending, we have a big breakout year in tag team wrestling. Still have, you know, Charlotte Flair coming back from injury, we saw a bet you lent on the house side looking in waiting for a better contract.

10:32 Maybe get us healthy CM Punk, what happens with Rock? Does Brock come back? You know, you have all these new guys coming up that Braun breakers the world, you know, getting ready to ascend to the next level. John Cena on a retirement tour, like there's a lot of really good things to love about WWE in heading into 2025. And based off of how triple age and Nikon have put this together since the Vince debacle. You know, used to be always a say cautiously optimistic or optimistic, dude, I am on board and I am excited for what WWE does in 2025. Yeah, I think that's the easiest way to put it is excitement. I mean, that's where I am right now when it comes to WWE in 2025 is just excited to see what comes.

11:22 I think that this build towards WrestleMania 41 will be the biggest build that they've ever done. Everything that they've been doing creatively has been firing on all cylinders. And I think they have a great plan. I think they have good organization and everything that they do make sense. And that's exciting for a fan. I think the, as Dr. Ray pointed out, the addition of Netflix is very exciting because what type of layers does that add to world wrestling entertainment this year? It can only be a positive and hopefully more eyes are on the product. People are very excited to watch it. And I'm stoked for what things come because this is the best time of the year now. Like following this episode when you and I sit down next week, we are looking towards the road to WrestleMania 41. We are getting ready for the Royal Rumble at nor nearly at the end of this month.

12:07 It's February 1st this year, which is weird for us all time wrestling fans. But this is the exciting time. This is the time where we get to see WrestleMania be crafted and built and get our, at least in the early ideas of who will be in one in both of the main event matches on the men's and women's side. They've done so well since Triple H came over in mid 2022 to now. This has continued to go up and up and up. And I, like I was talking about, recently it's like, I don't remember a last time I watched WWE and I was like, this is shit.

12:48 Like, what the hell did I just do with my life? Like, why did I waste three hours? Why did I waste two hours? The closest thing for 2024 would have been those early couple of months of NXT and then NXT started getting going. And we would talk about in the podcast. I was like, if you're not watching NXT right now, you need to. And you just saw the momentum build and build and build and their viewership improved. Did it improve tenfold? No, but it improved. And it's become a much better product. And that makes things exciting. I feel like they've been building towards these moments. And now you're really to see it come out and play into, you know, it's full potential, Dr. Trey. And I think that's what's amazing of this all is I think WWE is reaching the potential that've been building towards. And I think 2025 is going to be very exciting and fun. And hopefully a banner year.

13:35 And I'm outside of injuries that could deal with it. I don't know how you stop the train right now that is WWE, Dr. Trey. Yeah, short of catastrophic injuries, short of. Catastrophic news, I guess. Yeah, something like that, budget collapse, something crazy happening. It's going to take something from the outside to affect what they've built on the inside. Right now the infrastructure, I was trying to go through contracts just trying to see if there's anybody is going to get any big stars coming up in 2025 and WWE that might jump ship or leave.

14:16 They get through a wrench. Everybody signed everybody. I was in a Becky Lynch is under contract for 2025. Like it's like, okay, well, it's not that we're not losing any of our top stars, AW. You've got a great training system. You've got affiliations, you know, with TNA in other places where you know, hey, we got some people on NXT that aren't going to enough ring time. Hey, let's send them over to TNA and let them work with those guys a little bit. We're seeing them branch out and Shinsuke gets to go wrestle over here and AJ gets to go wrestle over here. You know, there's a lot of stuff going on where you're like, man, their infrastructure is good. The Netflix deal kind of takes the constraints off them.

14:57 You know, we're not, they can't do the folks we're running out of time. We're up against the end of the show. There is no end of the show. They can go two hours, hour 45, three hours if need be. Like there's no, the constraints on raw are kind of off. We know USA doesn't really has never really put a huge cap on WWE except for the Westminster dog show. Like things like that. >> US open. >> Yeah, I mean, really house. >> I'm with you. >> Yeah, no, dear God, don't, I remember that show. But I mean, it just feels like they're prime. Like there's nothing really that's anchoring them down or holding them down other than maybe the Vince lawsuit. But I think they've done a really good job of separating themselves from Vince.

15:45 But maybe there's a little bit of blowback from if that if that whole thing is settled out. But when you look at from top to bottom talent, the producers, the writers, the way this thing's been structured, it's hard to see them slowing down in 2025. Really the only thing they can stop WWE is WWE itself at this point. I mean, that's legitimately it. If they creatively fall off a cliff, if there's something outside their control from a news item that kind of buries the company a little bit and puts a bad aura around it. If there's catastrophic stuff behind the scenes, which there hasn't been. So I think the only way WWE stops itself is by making themselves stop themselves from this momentum.

16:32 Because I think you put it pretty perfectly down to try. They are in their prime right now. This is a prime of an era that is very exciting. And usually these eras have these bursts where I guess like the rock and wrestling probably went from 85 to 91. And a lot of that was hinged on Hogan. And there were some people that were kind of tired of Hogan at that point. And the directed era was like really 97, 2001, 2002-ish when I went in a roof was aggression and then it really hasn't been a prime era in a long time. And that may offend some people that grew up in the John Cena eras. Or Roman Reigns eras, I would say that this era that they've been in really is when Triple H took over mid-2022 granted I will give some credit there was the bloodline storyline was a year and a half prior to that and they were doing a good job.

17:24 And we're kind of living in it right now. So is it a five year burst? Is it a six year burst or is this just how WWE is? It's the longevity got to be a lot longer where it's on a burst and they're just a good solid entertaining company. So I expect a big year ahead for WWE in 2025 and I'm very, very excited for it switching gears to all the wrestling AEW Dr. Trey. This is going to be an interesting year to preview. So let's start with you 2025 preview for AEW. What do you see coming for Tony Counts Company? I was kind of expecting a different segway is like well we go from WWE and trying to be positive. Yeah. That's our old tag line here is trying to be positive but while being honest and truthful at the same time.

18:06 And it's one of those things where like it's almost like for me it's just you know proceed with caution. Like we use always say cautiously optimistic and I but I feel like for me with AEW I've lost the cautious optimism of it. I'm just kind of proceeding with caution like once again and this is something we've talked about for the last month basically the depth and talent on AEW. It's unrivaled in a lot of ways like the in-ring performers are fantastic. It's in a lot of ways I related back I think it was the the 2002 2001 Philadelphia Eagle dream team they talked about 2004 somewhere there when you had Donovan McNabb and Vince Young and you know all just Torello when you just had all this great talent.

18:58 But it just fell apart at times and they never hit their stride and that's kind of how I feel about AEW right now where like they could turn everything around. And then everything around in a second like it just takes somebody going this is how we're going to run things we need to develop long term storytelling. We need to develop a plan for our top guys and then filter down from there like you know just the the herky jerky one week to the next good guy to bad guy back to good guy. And then you know it's like a story telling great feud this you continue on oh no it's not we're going to go in a completely different direction out of nowhere.

19:45 It's just the frustration at times for me W and that literally it's what say like it literally just takes them going we need a wrestling guy we need a guy that has proven he can do long term storytelling somebody who understands how to put stuff together and and to me I know we talked about it last week and maybe the tipping point was you know the stingray time. You know the stingray time match for twenty twenty four to me the tipping point for AEW has been since Cody left. Since Cody left it doesn't feel I can't believe you're saying this because I was thinking this earlier today. Yeah it's literally like since Cody left it feels like a depth has lost structure and that's why it just feels all over the place I mean when you listen to people talk about you and they're like oh yeah basically come out I can say whatever I want to say.

20:32 Or I'm kind of booking my own story lines or things like that's like that's not structure that is the inmates running the asylum and I think that's why it feels all over the place right now and in a lot of ways I kind of feel like that might have been one of the things that kind of push Cody out the door was the lack of a good infrastructure so. Like I said it just takes them kind of like sitting down and going this is what we want moxley to do from now until next December this is what we want Jericho to do this is what we want us for it we want these guys to get from here to here how do we get them there is in that was all that's one thing I think triple H learn from Vince was booking backwards.

21:14 You know I wrestle made of these the matches would be kind of what for next year how do we book this back or just to get to that point I just think a W is doing that they just go kind of week to week month to month and that's why you get all this confusion and contradiction in their booking a lot of the time so. I right now I this is like that that big yellow sign up in the middle of the road when you know you're heading down a really steep incline in the road is really curvy and it's raining you just got a proceed with caution right now yeah it's a little bit so i'm going to answer this to a so let answer it first by because I don't want to lose this but you would mention Cody roads and I was watching a recent episode collision the other day and I'm watching it and I'm like man what what is.

22:00 What is why is the vibe with a W not where was back in 2019 and it's like in 2019 there was so much momentum and good vibes and excitement and it was built around the elite it was built around Kenny the young box Cody hangman. I see you I mean they weren't just people in the elite it was people that were all in that elite metaverse universe whatever you want to call it and I'm like watching the show Mike they're all not on TV anymore Cody's not with the company young bucks are away getting ready for wrestle dynasty new Japan Kenny's coming off of injury his first match back is going to be at wrestle kingdom bizarre right for guy that's in the VP hangman is doing well he's in the world title picture but it's like.

22:46 I like his character but are they doing the baby face again here what's going on most of the members of s.e.u. aren't even around in work his areas in tna Scorpio skies on a most wanted list and Christopher Daniels is a backstage guy who is an authority figure from time to time on the show and I was like man they've just lost their identity I was like when was a W really good night. night 2019 to 2022 and what was the time frame there well Cody was there what the hell happened. Because he's no longer there to was that the glue was that the guy and it's funny because you know we're talking about him being an EVP and then you listen to his interviews when he came over to WWE and he was like I was not ready to be an EVP it's not something I ever want to be maybe later in life it was too early in my career to be doing the office job.

23:40 And it's like I think he may have been a glue because anything after he's left. I mean with a stuff with punk was exciting and they've obviously had some really good feuds and matches and solid times of booking but it's like. Did they lose the governor like he was the governor on the engine to control Tony con because you hear Tony con say that he has new styles of booking from time to time I don't even hear that in interviews anymore he would acknowledge it like the organization creativity was very cluttered. And he was trying to approach us to it and then now he doesn't really talk about interviews anymore so I just wanted to address that point because I was thinking about that going to the show is like what the hell happened AW and I guess that kind of gets to the preview portion of it because this is not a maker break here for AW they they have a contract a new contract with Warner Brothers discovered it takes them for another three four years I think I think like 2022 and 2028.

24:37 So I'm not concerned about them going away anytime soon and I think with the Tony with the cons money they'll be able to stay up even if they lost a TV deal for a period of time so I'm not worried about that. What I am worried about is this is as Dr. Shrey alluded to this kind of goes one or both ways can they reignite the feeling can they rekindle the feeling because we've heard that tagline for a while of restoring the feeling can then restore that feeling of AW when it was at its sites. Or is it going to continue to go down the decline of viewership and attendance or are they going to find a new identity and I don't have an answer for this to be honest.

25:17 I know we're supposed to preview it AW but I think those are the way that they go they either refine it they continue to decline or they pivot and adjust they go to smaller arenas. We just saw them in the hammer sign ballroom a couple weeks ago they hit newer markets or the hit markets where they do well and they get crowds in there that it really care and are excited to see them rather than some of these markets that do not give two shits about them. Even though there's fans in the building it's like hello wake up fly you need some really exciting places to go to I mean that's why ECW was so damn successful is they would go to an audience that wanted them and they were excited why R.O.H. was so successful in the early 2000s and 2010s is they would go to places that were excited to see them.

26:03 That is the key to companies wrestling companies outside of WWE I think AW has lost their chances of being on the same playing field with WWE for now and their home needs to be in like arenas that are a step above what no disrespect but what TNA is doing right now because TNA is playing in smaller arenas but they have a good buzz about them like AW should be seeing what they're doing but they do it at another step. So this is a very telling year for AW Dr. Trey again I don't think it's a make a break but it's one where they need to either they need to define their identity they need to refine their identity and they need to do define that identity as well they need to find themselves again and figure out what type of company they need to find the identity as well.

27:01 What type of company are in 2025 and beyond as they could try to get back to that 2019 2022 stretch. Yeah I mean we've seen the past like we saw when ECW moved you know to the TNA network and they kind of lost their core audience in some ways and then we saw with WCW when they did the whole one night relaunch strip all the titles we're starting over new blood, millionaires club and it kind of taints and then you know for TNA we just saw it like a year ago where they just said we're dropping the impact name we're going back to TNA and it's seemingly work for them and they were smart about it and went to smaller venues like you know AW does not need to be going to like Casper Wyoming.

27:45 AW does not need to be going in a hate saying this like places like Miami or even Los Angeles because the crowds there for the most part are kind of. But doing in smaller venues building that core group or core fan base again which I mean they have their core they have their die hard but you know those people that maybe have you know W doesn't come to Huntsville Alabama very often but AW now is doing another show there like they're they are trying to do it the same thing. They are trying to do it the smart way at times but it's hard to keep your core fan base when you're constantly moving people around as like just when somebody gets hot you flip them to the you know healer baby face or just when something has a great feud you end it and you jump into something else with no real conclusion like the one thing I always said about W. E. is it's it's a soap opera with stunt men.

28:43 And I always related back to you know my grandma got me hooked days of our lives and pro wrestling and I could turn on days I could go a year without watching days of our lives and I knew who the good guys were and I knew who the bad guys were I just had to catch up on a little bit of the story that I might have missed with AW can't do that like WWE you for the most part you know your good guys are you know who your bad guys are there shades of gray at times you'll see guys slowly go from one side to the other but you know for the most part you kind of know who your core group is AEW like outside of what Darby and Orange Cassidy like I don't know I think everybody else has switched allegiances at least once in the five years that we've been watching the show I think everybody else is flipped and in some guys multiple times and it's hard to get that loyalty to a wrestler or a brand when every time you watch it you don't really have an identity to understand.

29:41 You know I've been saying for actually almost since last year that this company right now does not have an identity other than yeah we put on great wrestling matches well that's great but if I want to watch action I can go watch UFC and those guys are fighting for real where technically you're kind of pretend fighting and doing acrobatics I can watch a kung fu movie and get the same vibe and a little bit of the same thing. I'm watching this because of everything I've been ingratiated to in wrestling my entire life and sometimes you don't need to reinvent the wheel.

30:23 Hey put the throw some rims on it make it look nice make it look shiny. Am I right at the end yeah at the end of the day is still a freaking wheel you said I need to know who my good guys are my bad guys are and give me reasons why these guys are fighting other than just. Hey you're really athletic I'm really athletic let's go see who's more athletic there was nothing more frustrating than earlier this year when like Christat lander flip from. He'll to baby face after being a baby face like three months prior or the whole m. Jeff Adam Cole story line where they both flipped like I was like what what are we doing here like that to me was insult in my intelligence as a fan. And show that there was a lack of creative longevity in depth as to what eight of you was doing like what we're just going to go back and forth here everybody is the big show Paul white and they're just going to flip back and forth from he'll baby face baby face to heal.

31:15 To me that just was like so insulting as a fan and it like made no sense at all it was like one minute Christat landers turning on well a night and get who super over the baby face paired up with the chocolate half the way they're doing really terrible things to her all of a sudden without any real reason why stokely half the way in Christat lander part now stokely hasn't even been on television as of late and probably by the time this recording drops he has and has like a major role and Christat landers baby face again and people are cheering for it's like this is stuff that I hate to say but this is what vans would do in WWE and it made me drive myself crazy.

31:55 As when I would watch it as a fan like man why do I watch this shit like that there were so many times on this podcast doctor and I would say when it was just stand alone WWE and even in fact when a w came was like why do I watch this shit because it's not television to time it's not well thought out and it's it's not good and that does not make me feel entertained as a fan at home last thing I want to mention here doctor try and then we'll get into some of the stories that were most excited to see play out this year how much does WWE performing so well influence your viewpoint on how poorly AW is performed as of late.

32:36 That's a really good question I hadn't thought of that way I think it just kind of puts things more in perspective as to what we should be enjoying like there are there have been times on television and movies in in even in baseball like you know like I'm I'm a this is the best comparison I'm a big cups fan right everybody kind of knows that the nationally central is probably been the weakest division in baseball for years. So when you jump up to try to improve you don't really have to improve all that much but meanwhile you look at Jeff's division the New York Yankees and every year the Yankees are reloading the red socks reloading the Orioles get strong the raise always have like you guys really have to fight really really hard just to get into the playoffs in the American East where the central is kind of like basically everybody plays 500 baseball and you're just hoping that you have two more wins than the other guy who's average as well I think at times when we've watched pro wrestling over the last 15 years that if there's no strong competition you can kind of coast you can kind of just get by and I think what happened was when they were in the NBA W came along in caught fire not only did a W the step their game up but it also kind of made them kind of rethink what they're doing and then triple H coming on board and going you know what this you know this other competition they're really good at this they're really good at this what are we great at and let's accelerate points and I think that's where you look at now you go yeah they've just widened the gap because they figured out what they're good at what their identity is and they've leaned into it and the stuff they weren't that great

34:22 for a while they kind of got away from and it might be like the tag team division at some point they might went yeah we got some good tag teams but guys keep getting hurts we don't want to mix match tag teams we'll just lean into like the one or two really good ones we got and kind of you know space it out a little bit but now you look at the roster like okay we got the Raiders are healthy again chop and gargano are our back and you know we we can add in a motor city machine gun we can take a chance and flip new day heal out of nowhere in a lot of ways and just see how that plays out we I mean potentially we have the usos that might get back together like all of a sudden now you're looking at what was a weakness now playing into a strength and now you can capitalize that so you know we've talked about with NXT for years we're like it would kind of go in cycles where the men's division might be strong but the women's division's not tag teams pretty solid and they focus on those two while they build up the third you can say the same thing about wwb or like they look at their roster like hey we're Charlotte being out Becky being gone you know we got a few weak spots in the division hey let's kind of will kind of build up the undercar with these two new titles but we can shift to start focusing on the tag teams in the top guys why we rebuild the women's division and then they just kind of rotates in ships and I think they've found a really successful model for booking their shows that plays on what their their strengths are like they they talk about in football like a great coach will adjust his game plan to the talent on his roster instead of making the roster

35:55 and just his game plan and I think wb is going to do a great job of that whereas a w sometimes they just don't have a game plan they're kind of play ground basketball rules like hey we just got there throw the ball at the basket and see if our athleticism can win us the game but they don't really have a plan offense or plan defense yeah props is w they took all the good parts at a w was doing a little bit more wrestling employee friendly less life event eights which we're seeing wwe doing this year and the a w's point not at all allowing them to do third party stuff and just kind of make it a people, you know, business for people who want to work there. And the parts. As Dr. Trace said, that they added to make themselves a better full rounded promotion is just making their create better, making it a place where people could really sink their teeth into. It was not changing names like the MotorStuting Machine Guns. It was allowing them to do independent resting dates. Like they took all the good parts about AW added into their programming, or their company as a whole, and then where were they got to pull past AW and that was on the creative side of things. Yeah, AW may have some of the best in-ring workers in the world, but if nobody's there to see it or if nobody cares about seeing it, then isn't really the best in-ring wrestling, that's something to think about. So big gear head for both companies as always, and we're excited to see we're both WWE and AW go. And despite it all folks, we may be coming off negative, we may

37:27 be coming off as leaning into more WWE than we are AW. Do not lose sight. Dr. Trace and I want AW to be very successful. We want to see them succeed because that only makes things better for us as wrestling fans. Switching gears to looking at the stores, we are most excited to see play out in 2025, Dr. Trace. I'll start here. I'm excited to see how streaming plays a part in both WWE and AW this year for WWE, RAWs move to Netflix in just a couple of days. For AW, their move, they've officially now moved over to HBO Max or just Max, I should say. I want to see how that plays out for their business models. On the Netflix side of things with RAW, like what type of programming is it going to be with AW? Does this set more eyes to the pay-per-view? Do they sell their pay-per-views at a cost if I have Max that makes me want to watch the pay-per-views or is it still like $59.99? I mean, it's supposed to be reduced rate. We'll see. And in what type of content library AW will have.

38:28 On the WWE side of things, I want to see how Cody Rhodes' storyline plays out in 2025. We were very critical after he won the championship. He was kind of dormant. It was kind of vanilla, kind of boring. And then things started to pick up in the fall once he started tagging with Roman Reigns and it picked up with both Kevin Owens and Randy Orton's inclusion in there. And I think at least on the early onset of 2025, it's going to be an exciting year for Cody Rhodes. The biggest thing that they need to face is I was thinking to myself the other day as well in regards to Cody. I do a lot of thinking about the show to myself often. How do they avoid the John Cena effect with Cody Rhodes to make sure that the fans out start turning on him? Because you're starting to hear people cheer on Kevin Owens.

39:11 And people are saying Kevin is right. And in all honesty, when he like, think about it, that makes a ton of sense why he would be mad. So we want to avoid the John Cena effect if he's a face of the company. And how do they avoid that? And then speaking of John Cena, Dr. Trey, I want to see how this retirement or plays out. Is it just going to be the greatest hits? Is it going to be like farewells? Or is there going to be some substance and storylines that gets us to each one of these matches and gets us to these last couple dates? It's kind of insane that this is happening. But John Cena is finally retiring. It is a sad thing because he's been so involved in professional wrestling for the last 23 years and may have had the greatest run of all time as the face of the company, the most like longevity of all time as well. Carried it out of the attitude era and held on to that torch for a long time until the mid 2010s. So those are the three things I'm at least looking forward to Dr. Trey. I'm looking for Cody's booking, the effect of streaming on WWE and AW and John Cena's retirement or. Yeah, I'm going to echo one of them off top.

40:18 Like I'm really excited to see how streaming effects pro wrestling as a whole, whether it's WWE on Netflix. I want to see like you and I loved the WWE network because of how much content access do we have? Well, now we have, Netflix has part of it. Peacock still technically has part of it for a little while. Like where does all that content go that they were accumulating through the mid, the 2018-15s, through the 2020s? Where does all that content go and what platform does it get? How does Max affect AEW when they're basically rebroadcasting what we're seeing on TNT and TBS?

41:00 But if they want to extend, I saw a story, a couple of years ago where they're talking about maybe doing three hours of dynamite. Well, is that something that goes across TNT or is that something they're going to do like an hour exclusive just for Max subscribers and then the pay-per-view aspect of it? Is it going to be if you're a Max subscriber, it's kind of like Peacock and Netflix where you get the pay-per-views for free or am I paying a premium charge for it? And then how does that affect the content? Do we get a little more blood and guts and a little more attitude to error-esque vibe? Do we see a little more scantily clad females at times? Look, I'm a guy, I'm a red blood American at times. Yeah, those peak my interest. So I'm really curious and excited to see where that goes. When it comes to BB, I'm really interested in what do you do with the bloodlines when they're not fighting each other. At some point, I assume in 2025, this rivalry will end and then where does solo go? Where does Jacob Fattu go? Where does the former girls of Destiny go? What do you do with Roman and the Usos in Sammy? Where do all these guys branch off and go to when this bloodline storyline ends up? Are these guys only great because they're in that storyline and they're with their family? We've seen a little bit, Jay can be successful on his own. Sammy's been successful.

42:29 We know what Roman can do, but the new bloodline, they're kind of in untruthed waters for those guys. We've never really seen these guys on their own outside the bloodline in WWE. So really curious to see where those guys go. And finally, I guess the last thing is kind of me harping on what I talked about earlier. Do we finally get some structure in AW? Do they finally listen to the cursory fans? Not the die-hards who just basically eat up everything they put out, but those people that really, like Jeff and I, really want AW succeed, but here's where you're losing us at. Do they make those adjustments or does Tony Khan stay kind of like Vince and just stay stubborn and do what he thinks is best? And then I also, by the way, do worry that if he keeps getting beat up by the wrestling media and the wrestling fans, does he kind of take his ball and kind of go home and kind of go to the background and let somebody else handle it? So the infrastructure of AW is a really intriguing storyline for me to follow in 2025, especially also with the Ray Phoenix stuff, the HR stuff, all that stuff playing into it as well. So there you go. Those are some of the stories that we are most excited to see play out in 2025. Please share yours as well. Hit us up on X at SRTU podcast or on Facebook.com/thestellrealtosh. Show now Dr. Trey is the time to get to our five bold predictions for

44:00 2025 and our WrestleMania 41 card predictions. I will go through my bold predictions first and then I will send it over to you and then we will go to your WrestleMania 41 card predictions and then we'll go to my WrestleMania 41 card predictions. So, where do you want to go back and forth on this with our bold predictions? I feel like the last couple years we went one through five. Yeah, I missed the back and forth because I always felt like I had to one up whatever yours was in vice versus so let's do the back and forth because I missed that and plus it gives me a chance to deepen my voice so I sound less like I'm up it. Okay fair enough fair enough. My first bold prediction and I think Dr.

44:41 Trey you're going to like this one a lot. Josh Alexander signs with WWE, reforms the North in NXT with Ethan Page and wins the NXT Tag Team Championship. So, literally I'll send you a picture of this. That my number one first bold prediction is very close to yours. It's very close. I love that one by the way. I love it. I honestly though like a side bold prediction. I kind of want to see Ethan Page of the main roster and team with the Miz. I don't know what I kind of dig that. But my number one was Josh Alexander joins NXT and actually wins the NXT Championship. So, I think long time listeners know I mean who's Josh Alexander fan, love the guy, great great great performer, kind of a throwback in a lot of ways. But yeah like the fact that you had that on your list and I had that as my number one thing on my list is pretty awesome and potentially great for a guy like Josh Alexander. All right my second bold prediction is Jordan Grace signs with WWE and wins the NXT Women's Championship. Very nice. I like that one Jordan Grace like I had a couple weeks ago. Honorable mentioned for female wrestler of the year thought she had a great year. She's definitely a triple H kind of gal. So I like that. I'll go. Let's see. We're talking about winning championships.

46:06 I got Kenny Omega returns from injury and wins the AW world championship is one of my bold predictions. Not really that bold, but I think when Kenny comes back they're shooting him right to the top of the card. I have a similar one. Say tune my third bold prediction is John Cena breaks Rick Flair's record and becomes a 17 time world champion by defeating CM Punk at Summer Slam. I really really like that one. I had something similar like on my long list, but that one I kind of dropped off because I heard people say that I think I think I was seen in that said that he didn't have any plans of breaking Flair's record, but I would love to see that happen. My number three, I have Logan Paul winning money in the bank and then cashing in and winning the world championship.

46:54 Wow. Wow. Could you imagine? I'm sure nobody on the internet will get upset about that one. My fourth bold prediction is Kenny Omega defeats Kazitsika O'Cotta to become the AW world champion at all in Texas. See, I literally was like when I put that together I was like, who do I think Kenny we have Kenny B? And I was like, yeah, I'd love to see Kenny B. O'Cotta, but I don't I was like, I don't know if they put O'Cotta in that spot. So, but yeah, no, I do absolutely love that because that was kind of where I was going with mine. My number four, and I don't even know if this is possible at all, is that FTR returns to WWE and wins the WWE Titan Championships. I just, those are triple H guys. They had their best success in NXT, struggled on the main roster.

47:42 If they do a Dallas throwback where their first appearance is them coming out of the showers, that would be awesome. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. Hey, listen, if CM Punk had returned the WWE on short notice, I think FTR could as well. My fifth and final bold prediction is that Paul Hamon turns on Roman Reigns and aligns with the rock to begin the build towards their match at WrestleMania 42. I love that one and in love is because as a wrestling manager myself, it is really hard to be a baby face manager. It's way easier to get over as a heel. It's also a great way that if that breaks off and rock can't be there all the time to lead up to WrestleMania, Hamon could be the intermediary to keep the feud going. So, I do love that one. My fifth and final bold prediction is that Tony Khan actually listens to the fans. He gives a booking control of A.W. to the returning Brian Danielson. Interesting, that would be very, very intriguing and interesting. So, there you go. There are our five bold predictions and now it's time to get our WrestleMania 41 car predictions. Dr. Trade, do you want me to start? Do you want to start where you go through your car for WrestleMania 41? I'm trying to figure out how we want to do this.

49:01 Maybe we can go like, hey, I have this guy wrestling this guy. Do you have him on your car? Who do you have in facing? I think we just typically go through our car now. Let's just try to think of weight because we kind of run through it really quickly. I was just trying to think of way to kind of make it a little more. Do you want to go, I have 16 matches on my car. How many do you have? 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 16. I ended up with 19. 19 matches. Okay. Why don't we go, we'll go back, why don't we just go back and forth here and then you'll get the final three obviously because mathematically it doesn't align. Does that work? Well, when you name a match, I'll piggyback off of it and if it's the same thing, I'll say, yeah, I have the same one or if it's different. All right, so I'll go through my WrestleMania 41 car and then you'll say whether or not you have that match or not.

49:51 Yeah. Okay. So I have Cody Rhodes defending the Undisputed WWE Championship against the Rock who I have down as the Men's Royal Rumble winner. Okay. So I have Cody Rhodes defending the World's Highdoll against Randy Orgney. Now is he Rumble elimination chamber winner? Let's see. I don't I'm going to go with elimination chamber winner. Okay. My next match is Gunther defending the World Heavyweight Championship against CM Punk who I have as the Men's elimination chamber winner. See, I have Gunther defending the World title against Braun Breaker who wins the Royal Rumble. Wow. Okay. I have Naya Jax. So I think this is like working out pretty well here. So Naya Jax defending the WWE Women's Championship against Tiffany Stratton who I have winning the Royal Rumble.

50:36 So I actually think that there's going to be a failed money in the bank cash in. Naya and Candace Alurei are like making fun of Tiffany Stratton and then she ends up winning the Royal Rumble. So I'm going to go Naya Jax defending against Tiffany Stratton who wins the Rumble. I have Naya Jax defending the Women's World title against the returning Charlotte Flair who wins the Royal Rumble. See, I was thinking of that one but there's like this really good momentum for Charlotte Flair right right now or excuse me Tiffany Stratton right now. I think I can see Tiffany caching in on Charlotte. So actually I have Charlotte here on my next map. So I have Rhea Ripley defending the Women's World Championship against Charlotte Flair who I have winning the Women's elimination chamber match.

51:18 See, I have Rhea Ripley defending the women's title against Becky Lynch who wins the elimination chamber. I have Roman Reigns taking on Drew McIntyre. I feel like Drew mentioning like one down, free to go. I think Drew is on a warpath to go after the bloodline. DOG bloodline. I may have the tweak mic because I actually I have Roman and Rocket WrestleMania 41. I have Kevin Owens versus Randy Orton in a no-holds bar match. I have Kevin Owens versus Sammy Zane. Interesting. Hey, all else fails go to that one. I have John Cena taking on Seth Freakin Rawlins. This was a tough one to call. See, I have John Cena versus Solo Sikoa avenging his Summer Slam loss.

52:03 I have Bianca Belair versus Naomi. I think Naomi is the one who took out Jade Cargo. See, I this is where I have Bianca going up against Jade Cargo. Becky Lynch versus Liv Morgan. So I have Liv versus Bayley. Damian Priest and Bad Bunny versus Finn Baller and Dominic Mysterio. Interesting. So I will go with my, the same like judgment day pick, which was judgment day versus the Y6. So I have Finn, Dom and JD against the Y6. I have Brian Breaker defending the Intercontinental Championship against Logan Paul.

52:43 So here's my crazy Logan Paul pick. I have Logan Paul versus Conor McGregor. Really, really. I mean Conor McGregor just recently announced he could be taking on Jake Paul in a boxing match. So why not if with that tie into UFC, like is it? Once again, he's not in UFC, but he's still a fill in UFC. Have Logan face Conor at WrestleMania leading to the Jake Paul Conor or Jake Paul Conor McGregor boxing match, which is happening after WrestleMania. So for full disclosure, I had John Cena versus Logan Paul on my first draft for WrestleMania court. And I'm like, I'm looking at him. I'm like, who's missing? Who's missing? I'm like, freaking Seth freaking Rollins. And I thought, let's go back to that well because I think there's tease in a little bit of a heel turn for Rollins. And I think scene versus Rollins at WrestleMania would be pretty bad bad ass. So like if you're Michael Wiesko, I said, how great would be if you got Seth day, Seth drew in Kevin all working together. And I am like just the last couple weeks. Am I going, yeah, I'm starting to see the C's getting planted for that. Yeah, it's very well possible. It's a lot of conspiracy theorists. I have Shinshey Nakamura, defending the United States Championship against AJ Styles. I like that one because AJ is the one person I don't have on the show.

54:01 You don't know with him though. We don't know the severity of his injury. So I have Shinshey Nakamura, defending the US title against Ray Mysterio. I don't have Ray Mysterio on here. I don't, of course, of course I don't. And he is always someone that you need on the WrestleMania card. Transfer portal, all that stuff. So that's where I got that from. I have the Usos in Sami Zayn versus the bloodline of Solicico Tomatong and Jacob Fatu in a Las Vegas Street fight. Who I like that one? I just have the Usos versus the former girls of Destiny, Tomatong and Tom Gawoa. I have DIY versus the Motorcyle Machine Guns versus the Street Profits in a ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. So I have the same thing, just add in Waller and Grayson for the WWE Tag Team Championship ladder.

54:48 So Fatal Fourway. Fatal Fourway, yes. I have Natalia defending the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship against EO Sky. I think Natalia wins the Intercontinental Championship at the Roger Center at Elimination Chamber in Toronto. So that's why I have her as the Intercontinental champ. So, Fault of Scrooge, I don't have either of the new women's mid-card titles on the show at all. So I will jump over. I have Damage Control versus Lash Legend, Jacora Jackson versus Alwafire and Ila Dawn for the Women's Tag Team Titles. And then my last match, I have Chelsea Green, Defendee, WWE Women's United Championship against Bayley.

55:29 See, I like that one. That's really good again and I think Bayley's in, you gotta find something for Bayley to do. That was my issue on this show is trying to find something for Bayley to do. I also have, so I have Drew McIntyre facing Damian Priest. That's an interesting one. I'd like that one. And then I have Seth Rollins versus CM Punk. For me, that's going to be the conclusion of their rivalry. I think we'll get one, we'll get the January show at Netflix. I think we'll get one more at Rumble and then the WrestleMania match will be the end of their feud. So, I'm trying to see if there's, oh yeah. And then I also have the new day against the war, the war Raiders for the Raw Tag Team Titles. I forgot them too. I wonder if they're like Biggie.

56:17 I just said this feeling like Biggie is making an end-range return. So, I feel like that. I definitely miss that and I miss Rey Mysterio, but it's like they did, I think they did seven matches each night last year. So, I was like, I don't think they're going to do anything bigger than that again. Yeah, and now I was trying because I was also like, do we count the SmackDown show before, because somebody should match his bro probably end up on SmackDown that Friday night show leading into WrestleMania? Like, I know. Absolutely, yeah. No, they're, if we're still doing the battle royals because somebody's matches made up being people who are in the battle royale. I don't have, I don't have final testament on here at all. And you and I got weeks ago just mentioned how Caring Cross maybe one of the most underrated performers in WWE. And I don't have final testament on my car anywhere because I couldn't find anything for you. I had trick Williams, originally on the show. Carmelo Hayes, Andrade, like there's a bunch of people we just don't have spots.

57:10 LA Knight. LA Knight, that will probably end up in a battle royale somewhere. Yeah, it's a tough thing. I do not envy Triple H and the WWE creative team trying to figure this out. But I think they probably have a good idea on where the card is going. So, Dr. Rey had 19 matches, I had 16. Let's recap everything just one more time so everybody can follow along. So, I'm going to go one through five with my bold predictions then you go one through five, Dr. Trey. And then we'll each go through our matches on the WrestleMania 41 card. So, my bold predictions, number one, Josh Alexander signs with WWE, reforms the North and NXT with Ethan Page and wins the NXT tag team championship. Jordan Grace signs with WWE and wins the NXT Women's Championship. John Cena breaks Rick Flair's record and becomes a 17 time world champion by defeating CM Punk at Summer Slam. Kenny Omega defeats Kassichko, Kata, become the WWE World Champion all in Texas. And Paul Heyman turns on Roman Reigns and aligns with the rock to begin the bill towards their match at WrestleMania 42. Dr. Trey, what are your five bold predictions again? So, number one, I have Josh Alexander joins NXT and wins the NXT championship. I have Kenny Omega returns to win the AEW World Championship. I have Logan Paul wins money in the bank and then cashes in to win the WWE World Championship. FTR returns to WWE to win the tag team titles. And finally, number five was Tony Khan gives up book and control over to the returning Brian Danielson. And now our WrestleMania 41 card predictions. I will go

58:45 through my card and then Dr. Trey will go through his. I have Cody Rhodes defending the end-usputed WWE Championship against the rock who I have winning the Men's Royal Rumble. Gunther defending the World-of-a-Way Championship against the Men's elimination chamber winners CM Punk. Nia Jax defending the WWE Women's Championship against the Women's Royal Rumble winner Tiffany Stratton. Rear Ripley defending the Women's Royal Championship against Women's elimination chamber winner Charlotte Flair. Roman Reigns versus Drew McIntyre. Kevin Owens versus Randy Orin and A Noholds Bard Match. John Cena versus Seth Freakin Rollins. Bianca Belair versus Naomi. Becky Lynch versus Liv Morgan. Damien Preys and Bad Bunny versus Finn Balor and Dominic Mysterio.

59:27 Braun Breaker versus Logan Paul for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Schinske and Acomore defense of the WWE United States Championship against AJ Styles. The Usos and Samuzei take on Solicico Tomatana and Jacob Vatu, the new bloodline in a Las Vegas Street fight. DIY defense the WWE tag team Championship in a latter match against the Motor City Machine Guns in the Street Profits. Natalia defends the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship against EO Sky and Chelsea Green defends the WWE Women's Championship against Bayley. So once again I had 16 matches. Now Dr. Trey go through your card my friend. So I have Cody Rose defending the World title against Randy Orin and the Limitian Chamber winner. I have Gunther defending the World title against Braun Breaker who wins the Royal Rumble. I have John Cena versus Solo Sikkoa. The Usos against Tomatanga and Tom Gulloa.

1:00:21 Samuzei versus Kevin Owens. The Rock versus Roman Reigns. Drew McIntyre versus Damien Priest. Seth Brickin Rollins against CM Frickin Punk. Schinske and Acomore versus Rey Mysterio for the US title. I have Grayson Waller Austin Theory versus DIY versus Motor City Machine Guns, versus Street Profits in a latter match for the SmackDown Tag Team titles. The new day versus the war Raiders for the Raw Tag Team titles. Judgement Day of Finn Balor, Dominic Mysterio, and JD McDonough versus the Wyatt Six. Oh that's why I had on here. So I have the Rock versus Roman Reigns on my list twice. So I actually have 18. That's what it was. Live more in versus Bayley, Nia Jax versus Charlotte Flair for the Women's World title. We're Charlotte winning the Rumble Becky Lynch versus Rhea Ripley for the Raw Women's title with Becky Wemann elimination chamber.

1:01:18 Damage control against Lash Legend, Jaccord Jackson and Albufair Aladon for the Women's Tag Team titles. Bianca Belair versus Jade Cargo and Logan Paul versus Conor McGregor. So there you go. There are our bold predictions and WrestleMania 41 car predictions for 2025. We will reopen this in December 18th for our recap edition of 2025 in the World of Fresh and Wrestling. So be on the lookout for that when we recap it back on December 18th, 2025. With that said, Dr. Trey, that will do it for this week's edition of the show. Let's get a couple plugs and sponsors out of the way. You can download the show every Thursday or Friday at realguyeridio.com, Russell Chatnet on X and the Still Realty Show iTunes feed.

1:02:08 Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help us climb the charts on iTunes. You can follow us individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Dr. Trey Franklin at the Dr. Trey. And of course, don't forget to follow the show on X at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what is going on in the wonderful world of Dr. Trey Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you're going to follow me on Twitter at the Dr. Trey. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram and search out Dr. Trey Franklin. When you're on Facebook, be sure to check out Rocketsage Habitat Wrestling as we are really, really close to the Rockets City Rumble. It is my favorite event of the year, typically anywhere from 25 to 40 men participating for a shot at the Rockets City World Highway Championship that comes up at Wrestling Con in August. Looking forward to that show.

1:02:56 But most importantly, look, it's a new year. It's a new day, if you will. But get out there and go watch your local independent wrestling shows so you too can go out and see the next big star who breaks out. In episode 15 or 1454, we will talk about that guy headlining a WrestleMania. So there you go. Support all the great things that support SRTU. That will do it for the holiday programming schedule of SRTU. If you haven't done so yet, go back to two weeks ago, back on December 19th. We had our 2024 Wrestling recap special. If you haven't listened to that, download it, check it out. We go back and listen to our bold predictions and our WrestleMania 40 car predictions from the first show of 2024. Last week, if you didn't download it on the 26th, it was our 2024 SRT award show special. So check that out. Of course, this is the final show of our holiday programming schedule. Regular programming returns next week for episode number 778 on January 9th.

1:03:56 We will recap Raw on Netflix's debut. We will get you ready for the next Saturday nights main event at the end of the month in San Antonio, Texas. Obviously get you ready for the road to the Royal Rumble and we kick off the road to WrestleMania 41 all on next week's edition of SRTU. And of course, anything we miss from the world of professional wrestling during this time. Once again, thank you for downloading, rate, review, subscribe, thank you for making us part of your week. Thank you for raking us part of your wrestling coverage and until next week for Dr. Trif Rankin, I am Jeff Fak. This has been Mr. Robush. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

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1:07:09 [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Woo!