Brock Lesnar Returns, AEW TV Rumors & Double or Nothing Predictions | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #849 – 5/21/26 In

0:00 It's still really a big damage in it! [Music] What up, you! Ooh, welcome everybody! Welcome to this week's edition of the Storilla Show. Episode 849 from May 21st, 2026. Welcome to your AWD or nothing. And WWE Saturday's main event preview and predictions edition of SRTU. I am on app to show I am Jetpack joined every single week. My coach is the one only Dr. Trent Franklin.

0:40 Dr. Trey, when you left your gloves and boots in the ring, did you think you'd ever be back, my friend? No, because I don't think I can fit into my gloves and boots anymore. Like usually if I leave clothes behind, it's usually because the husband came home early. Fair enough, fair enough. So, Dr. Trey not retired, but one Brock Lesnar we thought, at least from the WrestleMania standpoint, was retired. Dr. Trey lots to cover this week. Let's get right into it. This past Monday night on RAW, Opa Femi comes out for the open challenge and is interrupted, attacked by the returning beast himself, the one and only Brock Lesnar about five weeks ago.

1:22 We were talking about, do we think Brock is really retired? Following WrestleMania, the vibe was no. We think he has one match left in him. While this isn't surprising, I would say the timing of it is, I did not foresee a potential Brock Lesnar Opa Femi match on the horizon here in less than 10 days or so. When WWE goes overseas for clash in Italy, your thoughts on the Brock Lesnar return and challenge for Opa Femi at Clash in Italy. Yeah, I'm not surprised on the return. Like you said, we all kind of thought Summer Slams in Minnesota this year. We all kind of figured he's going to make an appearance at Summer Slams in Minnesota. That's his old stomping grounds before he decided to go stomp moose in Canada.

2:05 But that's his home. This was surprising, not only because he was so soon after the supposed retirement after WrestleMania, but it's also for a match in Italy. That is a really, I don't see Brock as a spaghetti and meatballs and chicken-free mavera type of guy. Well, venison, how about venison? Yeah, I didn't see him going, "Hey, I want to come back because I really want to go rest." Maybe he does want a wrestling Italy. Maybe that's on his bucket list, but it just kind of seemed odd that the return is for a pay-per-view in Italy so soon after the WrestleMania. I mean, I'm not sure what the next pay-per-view is.

2:46 I know usually we got money in the bank coming up at some point here soon. Also, usually it's in the summer around June or July. I kind of thought that would be when we might see him pop up if it all before Summer Slams, but to have him come back to challenge Oba for clash in Italy, just maybe it's because Brock thinks that since Italy's shaped like a boot, he can get some nice cowboy boots there. I don't know. Just to quickly unpack there. So I believe the next pay-per-view is night of champion Saudi Arabia. We don't know if they're going to be going over there. WWE says they are despite what's going on with the conflict in the Middle East. I don't believe money in the bank right now is until September.

3:29 I want to say Dr. Trey, I feel like it's in New Orleans in September. I thought they changed when it was, which I believe reportedly, or maybe he's even said it, yes, Sunday September 6 in New Orleans. Money in the Bank is, I feel like Triple H said that he's not like the biggest fan of Money in the Bank, because it kind of screws things up. Am I wrong though that typically it was in May June July in New Orleans? Oh yeah, no, you're 100% right. Okay, I just want to make sure I wasn't wrong in my time, because I always kind of remember Money in the Bank being the precursor to Summer Slams, because people would tease about cashing in at Summer Slams or hold until WrestleMania. That's why it's a little weird that's not till September.

4:12 But if you're not a fan of the event, just get rid of it. It is, but I'm great if I'm wrong, but I mean, or what your thoughts are. It is weird for Brock to come back at a B. I don't know where Clash in Italy is kind of like Clash of the Castle in those sense. Where do you, this is a B thing? I have a theory on this, Dr. Trey. So, I think five weeks ago WWE was like 50/50 pessimistic, optimistic, whatever, that they were going to be going to Saudi Arabia in June based on what was going on during that timeline. And they were like, let's run the retirement angle. That way if Brock comes back, let's say after June, come July leading Summer Slams, they can build towards what I believe to be will be a match with Gunther.

4:59 And I'll have more on my feelings on that actually with the next topic we discuss. Once WWE got the vibe that they are probably going to end up going overseas now for Saudi Arabia, they wanted to get like a trifecta series here, free matches in a series. It's kind of like the way WWE does things. I think they did it with Brock and Cody a couple of years back. And I think they're going to do it with Oma and Brock right now. So, Oba gets the big win, WrestleMania. I think at Clash in Italy, Lesnar gets the win over Oba. And then they go to Saudi Arabia for the third and final match where it's Brock versus Oba.

5:40 And then I think you get the quasi, like a mixture of what we saw at WrestleMania this past year with Lesnar. And I'm going to leave the boots and gloves in the ring. But also a mixture of when he gave respect to Cody at Summer Slams several years ago, Shakes Oba's hand, passed the torch, they move on. And I think that's where we come up with the idea that maybe we have like a retirement ceremony or something like that on Raw, where Lesnar is honored and then that's where Gunther comes out. Because this is going to bleed into the next topic a little bit. Heyman's favorite job was to have Gunther sign a contract to join Smackdown and have a title match at Clash in Italy against Cody.

6:23 If you watch Smackdown this past Friday, Gunther did not sign that contract. Adam Pierce comes out says you let that are, excuse me, Nick, all this comes out and says you let the time go by way too fast. Now you're going to have a number one contender's match and you're going to fight Royce Keys. And he ends up winning and he's going to be taking on Cody at Clash in Italy and he didn't need to sign that contract that was guaranteed to him to do so. And that's where I think the doors opened down the line now, some a little bit of foreshadowing or put this kind of this nook and cranny in the back of your brain. Where then the favor is is I want to retire the beast. And that's what leads us in the Summer Slams. So I think all along they wanted to do three matches with Lesnar and Oba and they may have ran that angle because they weren't necessarily sure are we going to get to Saudi Arabia to get Lesnar that one last massive payday from Saudi Arabia.

7:12 I mean he gets a considerable payday for going down there and that's where I think we get the third and final match. So I say he wins at Clash in Italy and we go for the tiebreaker at night of champions. So that is my theory in creative booking or fictional booking however you want to do this. Fan fiction Dr. Tray on the Brock Lesnar path for the next three or four months. The trio of matches makes sense. Mishirai, like definitely he loves trios. They love, they love not as far as tag teams but they do loves three in a row matches. I mean near God I mean Roman during his five year run. I mean he had three in a row with like everybody to try and stretch some of these rivalries out.

7:55 My question that would be this leads into a little bit into what you're saying is does that mean in your mind is Gunther going back to Raw is he staying on Smackdown like what is I am curious to hear your fancy booking for what you do with Gunther to get through Summer Slams for that potential match with Brock. Yeah I think I don't think Gunther wins the title. I mean I would want to put the championship on Gunther right now. I don't think you make it a title match or anything like that. I think Cody's the golden boy. I think the original I mean there's so much that happened after WrestleMania that we believe was supposed to happen. The belief was the Cody and Randy feud was going to continue that it was going to lead to Cody and Jelly Roll versus Pat McAfee and Randy Orton at at Backlash Tampa.

8:41 And then I would figure maybe that spawns off into a match. I would say Clash and Italy with Orton and Cody going at it one more time. They left that feud open ended with a punt of the head to close out WrestleMania. Randy is reportedly back at home, nursing the back injury. I don't think that they're done with that. That or they're kind of an awaiting period where we're back to it unfortunately like Randy or never wrestle again. Or we're just going to give him some rest. We'll pick it back up maybe in at night of champions, carry it over to Summer Slams. I think there's more likely chance in my brain that there's a Randy Orton title run because according reports he was going to win that match at WrestleMania if he wasn't injured.

9:22 Then there is a Gunther championship run right now. So I say he loses Clash and Italy goes back to Raw for a little bit. Yeah, because I was curious because you know with Jacob Fattu being on Raw. This was kind of like a one for one trade Fattu for Gunther. And then but if Gunther goes back to Raw, just Jacob go back to Smackdown. And like there are so many weird moving parts right now post WrestleMania that you're trying to fear where everything's going to land. Because originally I thought Gunther might win in Italy and you get title versus career at Summer Slam that Payman comes in and goes, hey I did you the favor by getting you in line to win this championship now UOMI.

10:03 Rock wants a title match. And Gunther goes well that's fine but he also retires so if he wants title match he's got to put his career on the line so I can end here. So that was kind of my initial thought but you're right like they do have the Horde in the back round and maybe Cody retains Gunther goes back to Raw, Blaine's Hayman for the loss and then that's how he gets to Brock and Gunther at Summer Slam. Yeah maybe who knows maybe the vision gets involved in that match with Cody or something like that right. I will say I was thinking about this before the show as I was prepping tonight. Because I do feel like WWE has some seeds planted for some good long term storylines in WWE that we haven't seen in a little bit of time.

10:45 So maybe they're listening to the feedback of like hey the fans are not really digging these storylines because you are one of the things that I did not enjoy about the Vince McMahon era generation whatever you want to say because it's stretched for 40 plus years was the only time they really listened to the fans was when their backs were up against the wall. They spawned the attitude era if it wasn't for WSW kicking their ass and ECW becoming very popular with a lot of people in the Jerry Springer era of 90s pop culture. I still think TL Hopper and Passion Booker would be on like my television screen. They were not evolving and they went into a really really weird era of PG wrestling in the mid 90s.

11:27 And what I like about what you're seeing right now from WWE is they're taking the criticisms and instead of there is time where they're like hey the fans don't know what we're talking about. I mean Nikon I guess they're in a town hall coming out of WrestleMania like pointed out fans tweets that were complaining about something. Well, you know, it's very easy to find someone complaining about anything on the internet about anything that you're doing. It could be a bright sunny day and someone will still complain. I mean, most recently not to get too sad. >> Only redheads, only redheads complain about bright sunny days, Jeff. >> That is true. I mean, I have to stay inside. But I mean, we just had a nasty winter and we finally had a stretch of days where it was like 80 degrees and above and I had family members that were like, "Ah, it's too hot out, I'm not going outside."

12:11 It's like, "Do you remember we were like locked inside for about four months?" Like, "I'm going out." Even with Dr. Trace saying, "I still put a hat on, a lot of it's a sunblock and I still go outside." It's like, still people will find something wrong with something. But WWE, they're rolling back the ticket prices as they showed. I mean, it costs an arm and a leg to go to WrestleMania this year. They're bringing back house shows to at least a wave of them to help get some of the younger talents trained and keep reps going. They're just listening to the fans more. And that's what I like to see and hopefully that's something that we're seeing with the long-term storytelling right now. There's a lot of seats planted. I think Fat 2 and Reigns, Gunther and Cody, Lesnar and Opa Reignow are some of the big storylines.

12:52 Rollins and Braun Breaker, those are the storylines you could really take a look at. And even some of the ones that are like on the mid-level right now, I think there's some stuff from looking at Saturday Night's main event. Like, the Becky Lynch-Stole Rooka stuff, I think, has the possibility of being a good three to four-month program right now. I think there's a lot of good seats being planted. So it's exciting times. And that's just something I'm noticing right now that at least I'm excited about Dr. Trait. It feels like there's some good storytelling being told or the early stages of it in WWE right now. Yeah, and even some of the Easter eggs. You're seeing the LA night, Jimmy and Jay backstage stuff. You're seeing a different Jay-o's, so this Jay-o's, so it's kind of like an unhinged pit bowl that Jimmy has to control.

13:35 But then you see the interaction of LA night and Seth Rollins. You brought this on yourself. And you're going to need help, but don't come to me. And you're seeing this going like, well, maybe this is foreshadowing LA night turning at some point. Where you see the weird back behind people's stuff, where you see like Maxine Dupri always out with Austin Theory. Like those little subtle things like that. And WWE two years ago was fantastic at this. You and I sat there and you're like, hey, did you see what was going on in the background of that stuff? Even when the riots were coming on, you see rambling rabbits sitting on a shelf somewhere.

14:15 You're like, wait, does that mean something? That stuff was what, for die-hard fans like us, we ate that stuff up. But then you still have the casual storyline going off for your regular fans. And I don't know what happened in the last 18 months where that kind of went away. But now we're starting to see that develop out more and more and more. And you're like, ah, there could be some deeper storytelling in here that keeps us engaged over the next nine months to a year based on how this plays out. I don't know, the idea that Pat Mack, if you'll never be back at WWE again, I think is bullshit. We know Pat's going to be a good soul.

14:56 I agree. You know, Randy being off TV, but I'm still pissed that he punted Cody in the head, which took people out for nine months a decade ago and Cody's back on TV a week later. And I'm like, there's got to be a little bit more to this as well. So like, yeah, I do like their storytelling right now is decently consistent. But we're starting to see them get back to what made them really hot. You know, two years ago with some of this sub story telling these Easter eggs, these little hints that people are picking up on, that's what really made the product two, three years ago really, really enjoyable and engaging.

15:37 Totally great, totally great. And I think we saw some interesting seeds planted with going back to Smackdown from this past Friday. So I want to talk about the Royce Keys Gunther stuff, which we've kind of dabbled in and we're talking about good story lines. You've got some really good story line stuff with Royce Keys and Solusico and the MFTs, the remaining MFTs. Where does Royce Keys sit on this entire thing? What is the relationship of Tamatanga and Shinsuke Nakamura and this entire thing as well? And then it's bleeding into what we're seeing with Gunther. So to me, the big discussion around this is not necessarily story lines, Dr. Trey because as we know now, Gunther is the new number one contender defeated Royce Keys on Friday Night Smackdown after involvement from Solusico, but I thought the point of this match more importantly was this was the first and true WWE test for Royce Keys.

16:30 Could he hang with one of the best wrestlers in WWE in the main event spot? Is this somebody that WWE should be looking at and investing on? And you could just feel that this was the test for Royce Keys. And I thought he brought it, but what did you think? Did Royce Keys pass the test because I think we've always liked Royce Keys powerhouse Hobbs and AEW? There were times that he had great runs with the TNT Championship and then there were times he was kind of a background player, whether it was with Team Taz or even most recently with the Ops as a Trio's Champion. They never felt like they wanted to see him break through that maybe upper mid card at best into the main event picture. Here he is working a main event with one of the best in-ring workers today in Gunther.

17:10 Did Royce Keys pass the test in your mind as being a big player for World Wrestling Entertainment moving forward? Yeah, I mean I think he passed the first test and I say that because we've seen the backstage interactions with Solusico and he sounds comfortable, he sounds good talking, he's not stumbling over words, getting in the way of Gunther and looking like a player, like looking like you belong and I think he passed that test. Now we've seen WWE in years past, move guys up a little bit and then they kind of fall on their face. So I would say the initial test, he's passing, I mean when flying colors, I thought the match was really good, it was hard hitting, those guys brought it, you actually had a couple moments where you're like, man they might let Keys win this thing.

17:58 I don't think, because if Keys wins you get Keys and Cody, well Cody and Royce Keys love each other, that's one of Cody's guys. So we saw what he's saying, it makes sense to put him with a guy that he feels comfortable with for him to get in the ring with Gunther, somebody who's probably never wrestled before his life and have a hard hitting, competitive match, look the part, look believable, I think is a testament to him. And the other thing I love about this whole thing Jeff and I don't know if you've noticed it, but let's look at Royce Keys, Ricky Saints, Saul Rooka, who are all being featured, Ricky Saints, what, has beat Matt Cardona, but lost to Cody, Saul Rooka hasn't won a match yet, and Royce Keys now is I think two in one on the main roster, they're not letting these guys get these big long undefeated streets, they're putting them to the test and seeing how they handle adversity as well.

18:53 So I kind of like their new approach with their NEC call ups, this most recent round of it at least. Yeah, there's really no dominant force unless there's Oba Femme, right? I mean, even Javon Evans, I would say Ethan Page has been on a little bit of a winning streak, we'll cover his match with Penta for the Intercontinental Championship this Saturday, it's Saturday and it's main event in just a little bit, but I agree with you, I think there's some really good tests that are being played out here and they're not making them look too dominant, it books them into a corner because I think you can kind of book them more as underdogs or middle of the pack so that when they do start to break through a little bit and pick up some momentum, and also WWE does these things where they do test them with losses, see how they react, see how the crowd reacts, see how the crowd still behind them.

19:43 It's an interesting test because I think one of the worst things WWE always did with the debut was just like winning tricks, oh there are no winning tricks, winning trick, winning trick, and sometimes people came out of those winning tricks really, really well and sometimes they eventually fell down the ladder and were not in the spot where they were when they first debuted with the company, so yeah, it's something that I've been noticing, I thought Royce Keys passed the test this past Friday night against Gunther, I thought he performed well, would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when you know somebody came up to him, maybe Paul of EctriBlade, right, came up to Gunther and was like, what do you think? Royce Keys, it'd be very interesting to see what Gunther said because I think he's someone that obviously has an amazing amount of talent, find extremely entertaining and ring really a throwback in ring work, I really enjoy watching him work from a methodotical standpoint and would love to hear what he had to say about Royce Keys.

20:33 From a fan standpoint, I thought he did a great job, I thought he passed the flying colors and we'll see if that sticks, we'll see if he continues to stick and that main event spot on Friday nights back down as he got that big test against Gunther for number one container for the WWE Championship at Clash in Paris. Moving forward here to this Saturday, Dr. Trey, a quick little preview of Saturday nights main event from the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, we've got five matches on the card, it'll be airing on Peacock or as Peacock, how does it go? What did Peacock, as Conrad Thompson would say? Five matches we've got Pente Defending Intercontinental Championship against Ethan Page, the Vision, Logan Paul and Austin Therry defending the World Tag Team Championship against the Strait Prophets.

21:17 We've rippedly shot Flare and Alexa Bliss taking on Jade Cargill, Meetion and B-Fab in a six-woman tag team match, Becky Lynch versus Soul Rook and a non-title match, and Page and Bree Bell at a Fend the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against the Interresistible Forces of last legend and Nia Jax. Dr. Trey, your thoughts on the card and what matches to count to you? I mean, it stands out to me that we're having five matches and three of our women's matches. I mean, that just shows once again the faith they have and the women's division to put on not only good matches, but compelling television. I'm also really interested in the Penta, I almost said love Penta. The Penta Ethan Page match because I like how they're presenting Ethan Page.

22:00 I really enjoy it. I love the little sit down in everything Michael Cole. Like I like how they're presenting him because that was always how I envisioned presenting Ethan Page. You go back a year ago, I said man, bring Ethan Page up, pair him with the Miz and then with the Miz retires you have your new Miz. So I'm really intrigued to see where they go at that match. But that's, yeah, like on paper, it's the women's matches in that Ethan Page Penta match that have me really interested. I'm really interested in what they do with Bree Bell in Page because yeah, we know they're friends, but those styles don't really mesh up well and I'm kind of curious like how long do you keep them in the tag team before you break Page off on your own?

22:43 You know, the six woman, the six ones match is interesting because it's like on paper, like how do you beat Ria Charlotte in Alexa? But then if you're trying to get back to Jade and Ria too, you kind of like they have to win that match. And then Becky and Saul's interesting because I don't know if this is a popular opinion. I feel like Becky has owned this verbal rivalry so far. I don't think Saul sounds good on the mic yet. And Becky's trying to carry her a little bit, but Saul's had a couple of missteps in the ring as well. So it's coming to me and Ross for some. This is a chance for her to really shine and I'm afraid if she has a bad match, she's going to get kind of ostracized for it.

23:25 So that was the fit. I already forgot the fifth match. What's the fifth match ever got? You talked about you talk about Paige and Bree Bella. Becky Lynch and Saul Rukko, Ria Ripley, Charlotte, did you not bring up vision? In Street Profits? Yes, that was the one I missed out on. And I'm interested because you saw a little bit of storytelling Monday night where Montez is not happy that Angelo came to Seth's defense. But he still took the... So does that? We've been teasing tension with the Street Profits for I feel like five years. And they're still together. Is that more tension does Montez end up being the one that turns heal? Is this big pop-up-pump Rick Steiner type break up where the company sees so much potential in Montez and not enough in Angelo that you have to break them up?

24:12 Or is this a chance for the profits to jump back to the top of the tag division because dear God, they're one of the best tag teams we've seen in the last five years or last ten years. So I'm really interested where they go with that match as well. Like all five of the matches have compelling stories to them. So it's a solid...if there's not a main event level match on here, it is a very, very solid B plus card. That's interesting that your thing is Street Profits being potentially a break up based on everything that you see right now. That's not something that I'm watching or figured, but it's interesting to point that you make. Did you see that spot on Monday night or like Montez comes to him for the save on Angelo, but then he starts yelling at Angelo.

24:55 I told you this happens when every time people get involved with Seth, and then he took the spear from Rob Breaker. I could see Montez for joining the vision. I'm looking at it more as Dawkins is being the one that's breaking the barriers of anybody that's like anti-Seth Rollins based on everything that he did and is trying to give him a chance while he may be able to turn Montez over. But I'm not knocking it at all. I think that's an interesting point. I think that's a different look that I had on it than I originally thought of with Montez maybe there is a turn because if Vince was still in the chair, I mean Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins would not be attacked him anymore. Who knows where Angelo would be. They were starting to prep Montez Ford.

25:36 They were running a storyline just before Triple H got the book that there's been tension with his free profits. Everybody feels like Montez Ford is a breakout star and then blah, blah, blah, blah. Then it just ceased because Triple H took the book and Vince McMahon abruptly retired. That was always, it looked like the P the plan and maybe it is one day. I like the free profits together more than separate honestly. For me, the matches that I'm looking most forward to is Penta versus Ethan Page for the Intercontinental Championship. I almost think there could be an upset there. I think Ethan Page could walk out of there as the Intercontinental Champion. He reminds me of somebody that could be that mid 90s Intercontinental Champion that I grew up with, that would be a throwback with that championship.

26:17 Then it is Becky Lynch versus Soul Rooka. I think interesting point to me is by you, Dr. Trey, Soul Rooka not well known for the Mike skills. Definitely, Becky is eating her alive on the microphone and there have been some slip-ups in the ring with her interactions. I think she like nearly slipped a couple of times with doing a soul satcher. I think she bounces back this Saturday and we get a great match. I just love this run of Becky Lynch. I love that she's trying to elevate a lot of women along the way, whether it be Maxine to pre, Lyra Valqueria. I think that the one knock is and this maybe you listening at home right now or even Dr. Trey is that Becky does these things where she's elevating new stars, new women to climb the ranks in the women's division and then what does WWE do with them afterwards?

26:59 Not much. Alright, Maxine is probably joining the vision but that's slowly burning out. Lyra Valqueria is in an infrequent tag team with Bailey that gets TV time infrequently right now and I think they should have had a run with the Champion Chep and Lyra was showing in that Becky feud. This is someone that you could put the top women's Champion Chep on in my opinion and let her run until the WrestleMania. And it was unfortunate that they have not done that yet. So big test for Soul Rooka, once again just love that Becky Lynch run. Saturday it's main event this Saturday on Peacock and we will recap it all here on next week's edition of SRTU. Switching gears off of WWE and into a W Dr. Trey, there was a little bit of a story that's been a slow burn over the last couple of weeks in regards to AW's TV deal.

27:49 I saw some stuff online from some sources that were saying that AW already is aware that when their deal expires with Paramount Skydance that they are not returning to TNT TBS, all the Paramount own channels. That had picked up some momentum with obviously a reputable source and Dave Meltzer from the Wrestling Observer who reported earlier this week the following that one person in WWE noted that were to spread in the company among some, if not many, that AW won't be on Paramount's last Skydance when their current deal expires. And question if they can get a viable deal elsewhere saying quote, one person that they're noted that people at the highest levels are talking like AW won't get another deal.

28:33 But those kind of stories spread previously at the last negotiations not that they wouldn't get a deal, but that their deal would be at the same level or perhaps a lower level than the prior deal and said they had a 2.3 times increase. Tonecon addressed this while promoting the ROH Supercar of Honor event saying that he saw the reports not sure why WWE was saying this. He said the old him would have fought back and argued but he's like a man of faith now, it doesn't do all that stuff. Whatever. I mean I liked that approach from Tonecon. I know, I know. It's just the man of faith. To me, WWE is not like openly, there's no Paul the Vec quote that's like, "Hey, AW sucks and not going to be renewed."

29:17 It's just these reports that are circulating and Tonecon addressed it and I like their approach that they're not paying any mind sense to it as they should. Just do your own thing. Stay in your lane and it's worked out very, very well for AW. MJF, I believe, was on aerial Hualani this week and he went a little bit more into it basically saying that those reports are incorrect. They tried to do this the last time. Basically, he said that that was Nikon doing it and went a little bit harder into it than Tonecon did. Nonetheless, there is some smoke to this, Dr. Trey, I have no idea if there's any fire. But if Paramount Sky Dance, if they're not renewing AW to their current TV deal, this is not a good thing for professional wrestling fans. This is not a good thing for professional wrestling.

29:57 We need AW to survive. We need them to stay on Warner Brothers discovery. This Paramount Sky Dance is going to be the new owners of Warner Brothers discovery as my understanding. If it's true, not good. If it's not true, this is, I guess, WWE trying to get people to think that AW is less than, which is weird. Yeah, I mean, two degree. They're going to take their... Everybody takes their little shots over the years. AW has always been kind of a bit more poking the bear. WWE's kind of been like, they're inferior, they don't matter. Type approach. And that's kind of the part of the course. So they're like, yeah, they lose their deal. I don't know if they're going to get another one.

30:39 It's like, dude, TNA got a deal. Right now in the era that we live in, somebody would be like, hey, there's a crap ton of content. We can put out. Amazon, I think Amazon Prime would jump on there trying to get AW if Paramount decided not to redo. And Netflix had interests in bringing AEW on board when the Universal deal was first on there. So I think even if Paramount Skydance decides not to redo AW, there are other entities out there that would jump at the chance. It's not a profession. It's literally a content thing. We just need content. And the fact that AEW can occupy five hours of your network broadcasting every week makes scheduling your other stuff pretty easy.

31:28 So I mean, if you go on Amazon, you go on Road, because there are channels. I mean, they're broadcasting like men's division to baseball. I mean, there are markets for products if there's content. So I am now my brain went to like Tony Khan 316. I just got a TV deal. Like the man of faith line just, it cracked me up. I don't know. What did he say? What religion he found faith in? I'm curious now. I want to know what God Tony Khan has. I don't want to make obviously a joke of faith, but he did.

32:09 He did give a shout out to Jesus. Jesus. So, OK. Yeah, Jay Z. Yeah, so he praised Mark of Philip Reck. He did. He did. So, yeah, it was interesting tidbits and news there with everything going on. I think they're deal expires in 2028. I think they have like an option here. So, 2027, 208. Again, not a good thing if they're coming off of the TNT, TBS platforms. But we'll see where that goes here. But it's definitely gained momentum this past week of that story, which I originally just saw in a song. I was like, ah, this sounds just like the streets on Twitter, just like making up shit. And then like Meltzer reported on it.

32:50 And I was like, oh, maybe there's something to this. Something that caught my eye this past week as well in regards to AW, Dr. Treya, I was watching Saturday night collision. And I don't remember this match being promoted. Maybe, no, it was promoted on Dynamite now that I think about it. For the AW World Championship, in a no count out match, it was Darby Allen defending against Sammy Guevara. And Sammy Guevara, who has not been on AW television in like months, has felt like him. And if he has, it's been sporadic here and there was in a world title match out of nowhere. And if you had just started watching AW, you're like, why the hell is this guy getting a title shot?

33:31 But if you're like me and you've watched AW since day one or like Dr. Treya and you've watched AW since day one, you knew that at one time, Sammy Guevara was one of the biggest stars and names in all lead wrestling and one of the homegrown guys that they were pushing. And he is referred to as a pillar along with MJF Darby Allen, Jack Perry and Sammy Guevara. The three other guys that we just talked about are frequently pushed on television. Jack Perry, MJF and Darby Allen. Sammy Guevara is not. Plenty of reports out there as to why he may or may not be pushed anymore or if this is like he's in time out for, I don't know, three years. I think he was injured for a period of time, but he developed a bad attitude according to reports.

34:17 He's never seen it. We don't have no idea if this is factual or not. But there was a story, I guess in like 2020-21 where he'd quit AW. I think he was working with the inner circle of Chris Jericho and he was supposed to go over to TNA and work there for a little bit and really pushed the angle. And it stopped abruptly because he like no showed or he was an asshole and just ended right there. And then you heard these reports about Sammy doing stuff. He's been suspended before for things that he said online. He's been suspended before for things that he did in matches like I think he still wrestled with the concussion, the got him in trouble and basically AW took the ball out of his hands. And we've seen this with people in the past.

34:57 So I'm not sure to talk about the match itself because I thought the match was good. Sammy had a couple of points where it looked like he could have won the match. He had the four and O record on Darby Allen which was something I think should have been hyped a lot more leading up to that match. And all I could think about is who is your favorite forgotten AW star doctor because we just had Sammy Kavar in an AW World Championship match. To me there are some other names out there. Eddie Kingston right? Eddie was one of the most popular guys. He's working R.O.A. right now with Ortiz I believe. Britt Baker. She had a stroke, came back, wrestled Mercedes, had some attitude. Issue is reportedly was taken off television. She hasn't been on TV in almost like two years.

35:38 He returned from being gone for a while. He filled the American Gladiators last summer. Joins Adolton, John Calis family. And I think tears his bicep like a week or two later and he has been gone this entire time of injury. There's been Camille who is working with Mercedes Monet. She came back recently to wrestle Willow Nightingale but we haven't seen her since. Butcher and the Blade, a tag team that was featured very early in A and A that we haven't seen in years. Naila Rose, R.O.A. these two women were like number one and number two first A.W. women's world champions. I think they wrestled in the finals to crown the first ever A.W. women's world champion. And they like come and go.

36:19 I haven't seen Naila Rose in a long time. Rio pops up occasionally and then goes away for a while. Like to me it's like crazy. If you watched A.W.6 years ago, seven years ago when they first launched the dark order. Dark order is barely on television in A.W.A. Johnny Hungie walked by MJF this past week when they did that bald angle for Dynamite. And then lastly Rick Flair. Like Rick Flair is still signed to A.W. He hasn't been on television for A.W. in months. So we know A.W. shells a lot of folks and they'll still continue to pay them and then it's basically like we're just going to write out your contract at this point. They also do a very shitty job of letting fans know when somebody's injured.

36:59 But with Sammy Guevara in the main event of Dr. Trey, I just list a bunch of names. Who are some of your forgotten A.W. stars that you liked watching, especially those early days of A.W. Jake the snake robberts. I love when good luck. Red debuted. Yeah, I was like, oh God, we couldn't get Jake robbers on TV. Like he could literally, in my head, he could be the answer to Paul Heyman. His promos are fantastic. And then they just kind of let it go and let it slide. Remember he was with LFI? Yeah. Yeah. Well, wasn't there that weird tray where he had Lance Archer and then he traded? He made a tray. Lance Archer, he made a training. That's how he got LFI and then he's not with LFI. So that was a big one.

37:43 There was the Japanese girl in between Rio and Minasura Carr, like the one that had the Kendo stick all the time. He cares, he cares, he cares, she does? He cares, she does. Yeah, she still pops up every now and then. She's on a match on double or nothing. Oh, okay, well, for a while, we hadn't seen her like six months. It is kind of where they push somebody then they disappear. I mean, you can go into the people that have been let go. Like I was never a big Joey Janela fan, but right now, we really haven't seen much from the Kip Sabian, Nick Wayne stuff since that whole, the patriarchy kind of broke apart.

38:28 No, Nick Wayne just lost the ring of honor television title, but we really haven't seen them on AEW tell. We see more, we have seen more Penelope for this year than Kip Sabian really. Yeah. Which is kind of shocking. You know, I can bring out like a Joey Janela. Oh, what was her now? I kept trying to think of the girl, the trans girl with the blonde, the black girl, the blonde hair. The concrete rose. Oh, Naila Rose. No, no, not Naila Rose, the smaller one, smaller black girl, blonde hair. Oh, what's your name? Yeah. No longer with, no longer with AW.

39:10 Yes, I know where you're talking about. There are some of the people that we let go from AW. I mean, you could bring in the Marcos stunts of the world, but really, like to me, like you named off the big ones to me. Like as you were running through your list, I'm like every time you were naming one, like that's one, yep, that's one. I mean, the dark order may, I mean, the Brody Lee's passing kind of killed, sorry, that sounds bad, but kind of ruined the dark order. Like they were on pace to be super huge in AW, then losing Brody Lee, you just kind of way like who's the focal point? Like you never even see Kenny Omega talking to them anymore for a while. I'm not getting a mega hangman page talking to him and that was kind of a thing for a while.

39:51 Yeah, it is weird to me that they do this where they bring somebody up, they push them really hard, then they fall by the wayside and then they just pay them. And that to me is like, if you're not going to use somebody, let them go. You know, like I love Shane Taylor and he's really gay to Ring of Honor, you know, all the time and we never see him on, we've seldom see Ring of Shane Taylor promotions on, you know, dynamite or collision. Like it is like telling Shane Taylor promotions against the Hercinnickit wouldn't be fun. Or the Hercinnickit absorbing Shane Taylor promotions wouldn't be fun.

40:32 But yeah, like it's it is kind of like I'm sitting there thinking about like what action figures thunder rosa we don't, I mean we see her now a little bit more but then she was out injured. But I'm thinking of like all the action figures I see in Walmart or in Target for AW and like half them are people we haven't seen. I've seen war glowing Camille more on American gladiators over the last month than we've seen the last year on AW television. Of course it is also nice to watch Rick letters as the Rick Boog's still being entertaining. Yeah, it's it just got me thinking it's like Sammy Guevara, there's all these forgotten star some of them are on our way to know we don't even know about or they're so infrequently used on AW television and it was just like it's something I've always like man remember like I would never have figured Sammy Guevara and Bert Baker would be bit players in all the wrestling right now like you just think that they would be like first ballot hall of famous for that company.

41:29 Was it it wasn't it Sammy who got it wasn't Sammy was it one of the ones who got into a fight with Andrade? I believe so yeah you're right and that's one of the other things that came up. That was where his bench came from yeah. He's been suspended multiple times. Oh yeah I mean he's his career path early on an AW is very reminiscent of Randy Orton in the early in his early days of WWE whereas like injury and suspension kind of kept killing momentum but they just WWE just kind of kept trusting Randy maybe a little bit more than what and then plus Cody leaving that was Sammy's guy also and Cody always had Sammy's back and when Cody left I don't think there's anybody there who really championed the Sammy Guevara cause.

42:09 Yeah there could be some of that for sure it's it's just odd I mean so many talented people not being really utilized when they were featured so heavily I mean there's you've heard things off the record on the record that basically there's an island of toys that Tony Khan likes to play with and if you watch Dynamite in collision each week you know who those are and I love Tomasso Champa but Champazam TV all the time like you see it Devon Dominion it's there's a group of people he loves to watch the conglomeration Mark Briscoe and those are who is being featured while some get regulated to R.O.H. which I don't watch and then some get regulated to the sidelines whether they're injured or just don't want to be used anymore then their contract runs out so feel free to chime in over at patreon.com/srtupodcast with some of your favorite quote forgotten AW stars under this available downloaded podcast and then lastly here Dr.

43:04 Trey this Sunday from Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens New York we do have AW double or nothing we have Darby Allen defending the AW World Championship in a title versus hair match against MJF Teclid offends the AW Women's World Championship in a four-way match against Akar as she did Jamie Hayder and Chris Stattlander Kazitskyo Khan offends the AW International Championship against Kenosuke Tikeshka FTR offends the AW World Tag Team Championship in an Iquate Street fight against Cop and Cage if Cop and Cage lose they must to span as a team if I never tag ever again John Moxley defense call the AW Continental Championship against Kyle O'Reilly in a no-time women match Swarth Strickland versus Bandino in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament match Willosper versus Smow Jones Owen Hart Foundation tournament match Jericho Jack Perry Kenny Omega Matchax and Nitchaxe in Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin take on Ricochet Bishop Khan Toa Leona Mark Davis and three partners from the Don Calls family in a stadium-stay of Pee match a Thea versus Mina Shirakawa and women's Owen Hart match divine Dominion defend their they have a five-minute tag team eliminate or match against Zeta Steele and Viva Van is stealing Van last five minutes they earn a future AW Women's World Tag Team Championship match Dr. Shrey what matches are you looking most forward to for AW double or nothing?

44:21 I mean off the top of the Darby on MJF match because I was too much of a day like I saw people posting this like Darby's had what like six seven title defenses in his 50 days as champion and then you see Cody Cody's had one in 73 Romans had one in like 16 I'm like yeah but he defended against Sammy Guevara that half of you didn't even know it's still in AEW like it's not always a quantity of a quality so that that makes me wonder like hey are we putting all these title defenses for Darby so that way of MJF wins you can still say Darby had six successful title defenses so I'm interested to see how that goes and then I'm also just like if they shave MJF's head like I am kind of interested to see if that how that plays out uh stadium-stampied matches are always fun I do like this like yeah it's uh the uh oh ricochet you know and his guys Mark Davis and then we don't know who the other couple guys are going to be like we're not sure but they'll be there they'll be two guys from down Calis has 27 people in his family so it's easy to pick two third cousins to be involved in the match. Oh Cotta Tikeshta I'm excited for this match because I think this is where Tikeshta comes down top and then you can move O'Cotta to the top of the card and see how that goes uh Moxley and O'Reilly I'm excited about because I'm just glad they remember that O'Reilly has not or Moxley hasn't defeated Kyle if they were able to bring that back up so except for those um the women's foray match I'm interested in because is this a way for them

45:56 to take the belt off that claw and put it on somebody else without feck maloosing or technical losing so that's interesting to me uh just overall I think it's a really really solid car from top to bottom I mean not even talking about Swarov and Van Dito which I don't I don't get those guys to wrestle any time I don't care what the reason is those guys are health competitors so just overall top to bottom really really solid car and arguably maybe better than Sennheiss main event and clash nearly combined interesting interesting thoughts are Dr. Treyah I'm excited for AW double or nothing this weekend obviously my biggest issue with them and the maybe this is the I could be in the minor in this or maybe it's ADHD Jeff here just way too many matches I mean I don't need to watch a four hour wrestling pay-per-view I mean I think two and a half to three hours a good sweet spot give me six solid matches and I'm locked in um the rest of the stuff you could sprinkle on collision or dine a mic quite honestly so I mean it's uh it's a loaded car that's what AW does that's what they love to do and more power to them and and they have a base that really enjoys that and and cannot come for it not necessarily my cup of tea but when you look at the card it's like they're bringing it and AW has been bringing it all year with the creator really the less six seven eight months have been fantastic Darry versus MJF is a big one can't wait to see that one O'Cottah versus to Kesha is a big one FTR Copen Christian looking forward to Moxley and Kyle Riley again Osprey and Joe again Swerven Van Dito the stadium stampede I mean top down I mean this this this is a great card and I'm

47:29 excited for it so AW double or nothing this Sunday from Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens New York we will recap that show here on next week's edition of SRTU with that said let's get a couple plugs and sponsors out of the way you could download this show at patreon.com/srtupodcast and the still real-thoush show feed on apple spotify wherever you download this podcast don't forget to rate review and subscribe you could fall individually on x for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Dr. Shreve Franklin at the Dr. Trey and of course don't forget the follow show on x at SRTU podcast with that being said what is going on in the what for world of Dr. Shreve Franklin this week well like Jeff said you can follow me on x at the Dr. Trey you can find me on facebook and instagram Dr. Trey Franklin when you're on facebook check out rock and see jameship wrestling we just had another big show this past Saturday next show comes up June 6th so a couple you get a three week break in between shows because of how the calendar fell so when you're checking out facebook get on the rock and city page rock and city facebook dot com slash rock and city championship wrestling or the youtube page youtube dot com slash rock and city championship wrestling where you can go back and check out all the old episodes check out the entire history of rock and city and see look i've aged nine years since doing rock and city just you know look i still look pretty good after these on your time actually lost 30 pounds since we started rock and city so you go on there check out all the past episodes you can go back and look and see when i was a bad guy and come in now and see when i'm a good guy yeah go go there go support everything that supports the great one only Dr. Shreve Franklin

49:02 over rock and city championship wrestling enjoy the weekend great wrestling weekend ahead of us if you're here in the united states enjoy memorial day weekend and until next week when we come back for episode number 850 to recap saturday night's main event and a w double or nothing for doctor tre Franklin i am Jeff peck thank you for downloading this has been this still real us y'all