Cody's Surprising WM 41 Plans Revealed and WWE Backlash Preview | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #742 – 5/2/24

0:00 It's welcome everybody. Welcome to. This week's edition is Storrealda Show episode number seven and forty two for May two, twenty twenty four. This is your WWE Backlash, Preview and Predictions edition of s R Team You. I am one after the show, I am Jeff Peck joined every single week from my host on only doctor Trey Franklin, Doctor Trey, welcome back, my friend.

0:42 Well, hey, you said joining you every week, joining you ninety eight percent of the weeks. I guess so. Yeah, my apologies. Everybody had had a personal situation that came up that I had attend to sucks because I got I didn't get the cover of the re debut of Jack Perry. I'm I am heartbroken by this. I know, big big fan of Jack Perry. Doctor. Like some would say scared of Jack Perry. I think Jack Perry's right there with Apollo Cruise for me. You interesting, Yeah, it's it's it's it's his squeeze, his main squeeze is Yeah. I mean, but honestly, like I hated missing the show. It drives me nuts, especially coming back from my trip from Atlanta, UH, where I got to go to a Brave's game, Jeff, I got to go to I got to add a ballpark to my my resume of ballparks two be into although it was against the Florida Marlin, so I don't know if that really counts as in Miami, Miami, Marland. No, they're Florida. You're dating, You're dating yourself. Now, big news this week for doctor Trey told me before the air, Doc Tray, you have a huge announcement here my friend. Uh so, yeah, I was on Jeff off air that I've actually been like cigarette free for five days now. I actually know what they actually it's been a week. It's actually been seven last Thursday. This is huge. Yeah. I mean, Jeff's known me for over a decade and I've smoked the entire time I've been smoking since. I didn't start smoking Jeff until I was of legal age, so I wasn't one of those kids that you know, stuck a cigarette when they were teenager. I literally still

2:15 remember the exact day I started smoking. I was like I was right after high school. I was eighteen, got into a fight with my then girlfriend and looked at some friends like somebody give me a cigarette, and they're like, you don't smoke. I'm like, I do. Now give me a cigarette, and I have smoked. Now it was thirty thirty, almost thirty years I smoked. That That is a expensive habit, is it not. Uh, it really wasn't that bad for me because I was never one of those like brand specific cigarette guys, like I wouldn't go for like the cheap stuff that basically is like you know, road gravel wrapped in paper because fair whatever the cheapest name brand was at the time. So now Obama, like you can still get a pack of cigrets for like four bucks. Wow, okay, not like New York and New Jersey Like that was actually I knew people that that was one of their side hustles. They would buy cartons of cigarettes in Alabama or South Carolina and then transported up to New Jersey or New York and sell it because I mean last time I was in New Jersey, I think it was like twelve bucks thirteen bucks for a pack of cigarettes, and it's expensive up here. Yeah, so I mean you're basically quadrupling your money. So you could buy a cart and for like forty bucks and go to Jersey and sell it for four hundred, So you know it was crazy, but uh yeah, it's some other I still have a vaping thing a little bit, but had my first ever had a cigarette on the drive home from Atlanta Wednesday night. I'm like, oh my god, this just tastes horrible and I threw it out. Haven't had one since. So it's it's

3:47 it's different like I had that. I have that moment where I'm like, I'll look for one. I'm like, oh, yeah, I don't do that anymore. Now. This this maybe regionally, but I know, like when when we were growing up, like smoking was definitely a thing that kids did, and like you would see ads for it in magazines, on television. Hell, I mean, NASCAR had a series called the Winston Cup. And then basically the federal government has done everything possible to mitigate smoking. Like you know, when I would go to restaurants, it was smoking non smoking. Now you can't even do that at all, which is like the most when you talk we talk about it, like a couple of times a year.

4:28 I always feel like people my age we talk about it, it's like that's the most insane thing of all time that we thought, like, no, I'm gonna sit in non smoking and like you would be okay, it was just the invisible wall. It was just smoking. And like I remember going to like Burger King or McDonald's and there would be carton you know, things that you could get cigarettes out of, you know, like getting a soda out of a vending machine. I mean it was insane. But I feel like nowadays kids don't smoke cigarettes. They definitely vape, but I think the image coolness factor of cigarettes has kind of waned, and that could be like a North thing. I don't know what it's like down South, actor trap, but I feel like even when I go out to bars every once in a while now like like twice a year, at this point in my life, there's not as many people that go outside to go smoke cigarettes.

5:24 Like, I feel like it's completely dwindled down from when you and I were younger. Yeah, it had. I mean it's still more prevalent in the South. I mean, god knows, when I was traveling it was, you know, I was. I can't say how upset i'd be if I got to a hotel and they're like, yeah, the entire hotel is non smoking. I'm like, this is because I gets to know, like marijuana smoke permeating doorways as I walk down the hall. But god forbid, I had a cigarette. You know, in the South, it's not it's still it's not cool anymore like East me when I was a kid, the vape thing is more the cool thing for people to do when they're younger. But I was telling you, like before we started the shows, like it was funny because I remember when I was younger and people would quit smoking and they'd smell this, and like, most smokers can't smell the Cigarett smoke on them.

6:12 You're just numb to that scent. And I was like, I'll never be one of those guys that starts like gagging or making sounds or something like that when I see somebody else smoking. And Sammy and I and the wife had gone to a little restaurant yesterday and we were walking out there's a lady out front smoking, and that smoke hit me and I was like, oh, like and I didn't get sick to it. It was the tobacco smoke actually smelled good. But then there's like a second layer of smoke that hit me. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's that's not good. Okay, I'm fine with this Now we're good. I'm content. So I know you had commented to me a few weeks back that I sounded a little bit better. I wasn't coughing on air like I used to, and I'm like a lot of it's just because I had slowly dwindled down. I mean it was six months ago, Jeff, I was two packs a day, and now, like I said, I haven't had a cigarette in seven days.

7:06 But I have gotten this weird cough the last two days. So if you do hear me cough, it's literally because of whatever pollen allergy thing going on is around me. Because I have been I have put all my extra resources into redoing my front yard, so I've been planting bushes and plants and planting grass and redoing everything. So I've been outside working in the yard NonStop, which once again, six months ago, I would have said to your nuts if I did that. So if you hear me cough, it's little just because of allergies and not because I have the crew or as my as my kids says tuberculosis. Yeah, I mean we're definitely due for a Jeff Pack allergy episode soon because Paulin is starting to come down here, So I'm happy for you, man, doctor Trey always obviously putting the health first, and you know, hopefully hopefully it stays this way, my friend, hopefully you don't get the urges to go hit a drag here for old time sake.

8:03 If my stress level, my stress level has not decreased, and that was always my cop out. That's why I always said I didn't quit. It's like, oh, it's a stress relief. I haven't had a cigaret in seven days. My stress level has actually gone up okay, and haven't had the urge. So I'm like, I think I'm okay so far. Uh. My biggest thing is just the U I have to do something with my hands, Like I like my hands up so used always having a cigarette nearby that when I'm driving, I'll be like tapping the wheel or fidgeting around, just trying to keep my hands occupied more than anything else. So but yeah, I appreciate it, and I haven't been like you didn't think he posted on Facebook. This is just a random conversation. I don't want to be those people who's like, hey guys, seven day ay me. I'm not that guy. So just something that was brought up off air, and Jeff thought we should bring it to you guys. So two things. We were talking off air, and I was like, I think either your blood pressure goes up or down during this time. The more I think about it, I believe it's your cholesterol will go up a little bit with when you stop smoking cigarettes. And then the second thing, in regards to your hands, I would just start grabbing like your chest, like to start like grabbing your chest and just see and to see what people's reactions are. Oh, that was better when I was bigger, you know, like when you first met me and I was running like two fifty two sixty. I actually had a B cup, So hell yeah, I actually did that at a time.

9:24 But now that I've lost all the weight too, I'm like, I don't really have a chest anymore to play with, So it's gonna be that I start picking my nose in front of it was just a freaking out. Wait, tell us what you think doctor Trey should do. Hit us up on Twitter at SRTU podcast and give us some suggestions on what he should do with his hands. Now getting to some wrestling discussion here, Doctor Dray. The twenty twenty four WE draft was held this past Friday on SmackDown for Night one, Monday on Raw for Night two. I guess the theme of this was and I wish the we did a better job creatively kind of pumping this up to quell the everybody's like confusion. And then theme overall was that a lot of people didn't move, which is funny because when I did the solo show last week, I sat here and I previewed the w draft and I said, I was like, I gotta be honest, I don't want many wrestlers to move at all. Like I felt like the way that the rosters were for Raw and SmackDown were pretty good, and you know, you move a little bit of here, you move a little bit of there to try to make it better. But I did not want these major drastic changes like we've seen in the past, where like Biancle bel Air has gone from Raw to SmackDown or seth Ron's gone from SmackDown to Raw. He always seemed to be one of those guys that went from Raw to SmackDown, SmackDown to Raw instead.

10:52 I think the theme of this draft for me, Doctor Trey was the lack of movement and the wegms and they us that a little bit on commentary keeping their rosters intact. I felt like that should have been the theme. They should have had a segment heading into this we draft, like a week or two before, where all this and Adam Pierce are saying to one another that they're going to do the best they can and keep the rosters that they are because they like the roster so much, and they're going to be more on the defense of rather than trying to steal wrestler A or wrestler B from the opposing general manager's roster. They see it more fit to protect Drew McIntyre on Raw or Jay Usso on Raw, Bianca Belle Aaron SmackDown. I felt like that should have been the theme. That was my major takeaway, Doctor Trey was the lack of traction from the w draft, and I wish that they kind of pumped that up a little bit more creatively heading into it.

11:46 Yeah, see a couple things for me. At For one, I was really glad the USA Network and Fox were not the one remember that year. That's like, Oh, USA Network's drafting for Raw and Fox is drafting for SmackDown. I'm like that would be literally like take a guy out crowd to draft, you know, for your green Bay package. That was when they unfortunately got rid of the general managers. Yeah, so I do like that went back. One thing I wish they would add is, you know, you and I are NFL fans. We we read mock drafts, We read combine reports and things like that. If you're going to bring some people up from NXT, which I think that was kind of a foregone collusion, why not have a combine, you know, and have these guys show off their physical skills. So that would also relay to people how good these guys are.

12:31 So when they when a Keana James gets drafted, most of your audience isn't going, wait, who who is that again? Uh? You know, so like that that's another way to hype up your prospects. But I was moderately happy that the rosters didn't change a whole bunch, you know, But I like stability. But the way they and this year also by protecting the champions and not letting the champions get drafted, I like that as well. Agreed just a couple of things like if you want to make it more like an NFL or an NBA draft, hey throw a combine in there, Throw a scouting report in there, throw some things in there. If you are so convinced that most of your audience doesn't watch NXT, hey throw some scouting in there on those NXT guys and be like, hey, here's bron breaker man. He runs a four four forty and he's bench presents this and you know, you see how athletic he is, or stuff like that, or just some kind of thing to kind of feed because honestly, I had forgotten about Keanu James. And when you got drafted to row the first time, I'm like, it makes no sense, Like I I like this year.

13:33 One thing I did like was the whole Punk McIntyre. Why it was Punk drafted higher than mcintie. I did like that because there were years that, you know, you'd have a guy get drafted like in the third round, and you're like, he's the bottom of the roster, why is he getting picked so high? Like this year that I felt like they tried to put a little more emphasis on that. So so just hold hold the thoughts about the NX stuff and the notable round selections. I want to get to that. So there were there were brand changes over under Doctor Trey twenty brand changes that you can remember from the WE draft. I think this year is under. It was over really twenty three brand changes now was a lot about the non televised brand changes. There were some of those supplemental picks that they ended up putting on w dot com, which I thought was silly because I felt like they do raw talk and talking smack, which they've They've done that in the past, so I thought that was a little bit strange. They should have maybe aired like a YouTube show afterwards or something that had the supplemental picks rather than just the draft continues over on our YouTube channel. Yeah, and they've done that before. They they've they've done that, which is which was strange. So I'm going to run Do you want me to run through these at all? These brand changes? Sure, because it's a good refresher course. So there's Carmelo Hayes from NXC to SmackDown, bron Breaker from SmackDown to Raw, which I thought was silly. It was like two months ago.

15:05 They have written a huge debate of signing him, Naia Jacks from Raw to SmackDown, Seamus from SmackDown to Raw, Andrade from Raw to SmackDown. Keana James from Annixy to Raw, Alba Fire and Eila Dawn from SmackDown to Raw. Baron Corbin from NXC to SmackDown, Damage Control from SmackDown to Raw, Lwo from SmackDown to Raw, Shinskate from Raw to SmackDown, Elie Draggonoff from nix to Raw, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven from Raw to SmackDown, Lyra Valkyria from Nixy to Raw, Candice Lorraine Indy Hartwell from Raw to SmackDown, Final Testament from SmackDown to Raw, DIY from Raw to SmackDown, Blair Davenport from NXC to SmackDown, Apollo Cruise from RAWD to SmackDown, Die Jack from Annixy to Raw, Giovanni Vinci from RAWD to SmackDown, Newcatch Republic from SmackDown Raw, and finally Tigan Knocks from Raw to SmackDown. So twenty three brand changes took place during the WE draft. Doctor Trey, Yeah, and I think like the last the last probably head of those almost probably fifteen of those were ones that were non televised, So it's kind of all that's why you look at the over under You're like, it feels like there wasn't a lot of brand changes, but then when you look at the numbers, you're like, oh, yeah, they shuffled the mid cart deck, they shuffle some stuff around the bottom of the car. You'll try to give the guys some opportunity, but it's just like none of the real I mean, what shins k Maybe the biggest name to change brands out of this, I think Damage Control from SmackDown to Raw. Yeah, but it's nuts. I don't know, and I like them. We all knew it was gonna happen.

16:37 But I liked the Carmelo Hayes jump from nxc's SmackDown because they made him a big star on night one. Being in learning with Cody, I thought that was an old school w draft tactic where you've seen in the past, like Shelton Benjamin gets drafted over to Raw and then he wrestles Triple H that first night and defeats him and they make a new star. Like I thought that they made Carmelo a star in that moment. If you're asking the casual fans, there's still not a lot of like not saying not a lot of people, but people have heard of Carmelo, But I think that was a great way to showcase Carmelo what he can do, because that dude's sold his ass off in that magic Cody. Good for him. But yeah, like I mean, you know the Drew back in Tires, the you know, the like the Bloodline games. Hold those hold hold that thought, hold that thought.

17:22 I want to get to that notable round selections in just a second. NXT call ups, So there were seven of them. We discussed them. Carmelo, Hayes, Keana, James, Baron, Corbyn, Ili Dragonoff, Lyra, Valkyrier, Blair Davenport, die Jack. I had predicted on last week's show that I thought Blair Davenport was going to get the call up because of the way that she was booked. Did not predict any of the others. Which one of those NXT call ups was like a pleasant surprise for you and the most that you're most happy for die Jack like that for me. I love Donna or I love die Jack. Just a good dude. He is gone fell. I mean, you go back to those that feud he had with you know, Keith Lee and NXT. That was some great stuff that got brought up in retribution had to go to the horrible name of key Bone as like T bar, which I don't know what a T bar is.

18:18 Yeah, he says this is a horrible name and Agammick and then he finally gets a chance to go back to see reinvent himself come back. We like the character. He's has some great matches in NXT, which his ind and ring work was never in question, but now it kind of feels like, look, it might take him a little bit to get going, but he's a monster with do that's gonna put great matches. So he's one of those guys that you can put into a good mid card feud with a Sammy Zay or somebody and you're going like, damn, this guy's fantastic. Where's he been? So I was really really happy for that biggest shock that was not called up from NXC Roxane Perez like, and they did this whole thing where she announced that she was gonna be eligible for the draft. So I don't know, if you know, they need to keep her in the brand for a little bit, a little bit longer. I obviously don't think it's like skill wise, it's more character wise. They need her there because she really is turning a corner with a seal character, and I feel like if she did leave NXT, it's potential that she could get lost in the shuffle given the new character change with her. But it's like, then, you don't do that thing where the women's champion is announcing it, and then they do address it because Ava tells her that she should have known that the champions were protected despite both her and Ilia and I know he's no longer the NXC champion announcing that they would be eligible for the draft, which was then okay, well then somebody should have said, listen, that's great that you're doing that, but you're not because you're a champion. So I thought that was I thought that was strange. But it appears to me again it's very hard

19:48 to poke holes creatively in WE lately, but I did feel like there were some holes with this WE draft, and it just kind of seems like they were trying to figure out what the rules should be. This did come up on them to hold the WE draft, and they developed the rules in like the final week and may have creatively like botched a couple of things, like the Ili h the Roxanne Perez announcements, even though Elia got drafted, and then, like I said before, the the GM should have been pumping up like, hey, we want to maintain our rosters, not you know, steal from one another type stuff. But I thought Roxanne Perez was the biggest surprise for not being called up from NXC doctor Trump, And I feel like the way they hedged it was they had a plan for it, and then kind of last minutes that maybe because you remember, she's still only I think twenty one years old, twenty two maybe at the most, Like I mean, she was nineteen when she debuted in the NXC, so you know, maybe things were like, hey, maybe she needs a little bit more time here. Hey maybe we could work on this, or heck, we need we need an anchor for this division because we just had you know, Lyra and Kana and Blair go up. We still need somebody to kind of anchor this division. And Bill p well, because just because she didn't get called in, that doesn't mean she can't get moved up in three or four months.

21:03 Let her let her build somebody else house. So I think they just course corrected and then had to figure out, hey, how do we make this change and make it make sense and they use the whole to me. That's then as you know you're talking about like make the gms try to protect their people. That should have been an AVA thing. We're able when it was my mistake, I went to Bat, I don't want you lead, so I made sure you were protected. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like they should definitely tie it up there. Yeah, that's they might. I say, it's probably those things where like probably all the way up until Thursday, they had planned on moving her, and then Thursday night they were like, no, let's let's leave her an next for a little longer. Let's let her, let's let help her, Let's let her help build up a couple more people before we move her up. I do think that coming out of this what I learned under this new regime of Triple H, I do feel like the wa draft concept needs to be tankered with a little bit.

21:55 I think the first thing that I would immediately change, and I toyed with the idea preparing for the show here, that it should just be strictly NXT based. It should be like just NXC call ups coming to the main roster. Because I got to say, my favorite thing the entire two nights of the draft was when someone was called up from NXT, seeing them all at the performance center, seeing the fans in the stand and seeing like the genuine reaction from the wrestlers themselves who had no idea and the roster who had no idea. Just to see that camaraderie and happiness from the other wrestlers breaking kfabe to celebrate with Keana, James, Lyra, Valkyria, Blair Davenport, whomever that was getting the call up was really genuine and cool and a really fun, natural, organic moment. I was like, they got to do more of this, and it's like, if the concept is is to keep the roster, then maybe the concept needs to change a little bit where instead of two nights, it's just one night and it's just solely focused on NXT.

22:59 Because I thought those genuine, sincere, organic reactions made the draft. Made the draft. Those were the best moments of them all. Those were my favorite moments, was those genuine reactions. Doctor Trey, Yeah, that goes back. They did that a couple of years ago as well. I can't remember who it was that was getting called up. I remember like seeing that emotion. It was Alexa Bless. I remember one. Yeah, it was like, oh wow, that's really really cool to me. How I would fix it is all of your stars are brand exclusive. The night o the draft, the gms can trade players, so you can have if you want to switch brand, Hey we're going to trade Shinske and d I Y to smack down for this person and you know this other and other tag team or whatever. And then that's how the trades happened. That's how you can make people move from brand to brand. And then you have, you know, eight draft picks and you they're all NXT exclusive, and hell you might be like, hey we trade as Shin's Kate to SmackDown for their fourth round selection, you know, just like the NFL draft. So that way to play.

24:07 The wrestlers can still move by gms trading them. Because this whole concept, I've never liked how they slot people and hey, we're gonna because like you said, this year is about protecting you, keeping your roster safe. Years past, it's been like we're gonna try and snipe this guy. Uh. It just it felt it never felt like an actual draft. I agree, So let's make it be like, hey, you know the NBA draft that's when players get traded and moved around, and then we're just going to draft from an XT and then that way you can do those combined numbers. You can make it look like player profiles and things like that and build up interest in some of the people that you may think your audience needs to know about before they make that debut. I agree because the concept of a draft, as we all know as sports fans, right you're like, it's not like with the MLBA Draft, the Cubs can steal Aaron Judge from the Yankees and the Yankees can steal Show the Umina from the Chicago Cubs. Like that's not happening. It's it's people who are looking to get signed. So I think it should definitely be a little bit more NXD base. It's funny that you keep talking about this combine idea, which I love, because they're doing the concept to have the female wrestlers qualify for a tournament for the women's North American Championship in NXT, So it's like, that's kind of funny that they're doing that concept. But I think it should be more NXD base because those reactions are very genuine. Do what you're saying make it more of the trades

25:41 for the rosters that are currently there, and that can make it a lot more fun. Like I think that, and they you call it like a draft and like a trading deadline, right like they have that in sports. Or you can do like in college and called the transfer portal and guys jump and jump into the portal and you can literally be like I like that idea. You can learn say hey, you know, take twenty guys and say hey, shins k nakamuraz into the transfer portal and then as those guys compete to keep it if you want to make it, if you still want to make it a two night thing, there's ways of doing it to tie it into draft fanaticism. Because what they're doing right now, Jeff, for lack of a better thing, is a fancy draft. Yeah, and it's like it's great, but we need, you know, for people like you and I who do fancy draft, we need statistics, We need reasons why why are you drafting? Drew McIntyre number one, And dear God, we don't want to go into the aw wins and losses things because that will drave people nuds. But if you're gonna make it much more like the NFL Draft, which what I mean, going off the ratings and the attendance is what they're trying to do. Make us straight up draft, draft your prospects, trade some players around and do it like that. And to that point, notable round selections, and we always bitch and complain about this because it truly does not make any sense. Yeah, number one. So the first one I have is Bianca Belair going number one overall for some Jay Usa going number one overall for Raw on night one. The Bloodline were selected in round three on Night one. Aj Styles, who is set to face Cody Rhodes this Saturday

27:11 at ww Backlash. Number one contender was selected in the fourth round on Night one. Imperium Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser went number one overall for Raw. Jade Cargill, who has never wrestled a singles match, went number one for SmackDown on Night two. Drew McIntyre, which they did play in the storyline, and Doctor Trey mentioned earlier in the show, was selected in round three on night two, and then the Judgment Day was selected in round four on night two. Hence, yet their their tagline is that they run Monday Night Raw. I mean the notable. The round selections have never made sense for the Dead Wee Draft Doctor Trey because they just don't correlate most of the time for how they are booking the show. Like again, aj Styles is your number one contender, but he goes round four on Night one like that makes no sense to me. Judgment Day going round Fournite two again, that makes no sense to me. That's why I just really think they need to come back a year from now when they do this again, transfer portal, trade deadline, just the WAE Draft for NXC talent. They got to revamp this process because I just think it's it's a little too flawed. From my sports sports fandom, mine wasn't the first. The first draft wasn't like Chris Jericho, and I think at the time he was he was in a few with Triple Agent. He was either the champion or was fighting. Was like a supplemental pick that wasn't shown on air. You're talking about the two thousand and two draft, the very first one. Yeah, I think it was like way back when he was he went like the twenty seventh, the twenty seventh pick,

28:41 and it might have been the night he lost lost the title on Raw. That was so that draft I believe happened after Wrestlemany eighteen, so he would have dropped the title at that point. Yeah. So, but you may be right here. I'm going to quickly scroll while you're talking. So the two thousand and two the very stubby we draft. But there were I mean, there's been years that you and I were saying here going, how is like a like and I don't mean a knock Apollo cruise, I mean, but there's times Apollo has been like a fifth round draft pick and then you know a guy who's in the main event for like a Samy's saying, would be like a ninth round draft pick or Kevin Owens. I think Kevin Owens was like ninth or tenth round, like it was towards the end of the draft last year. You know what I'm like, how how are these guys who everybody knows are bigger stars, better merchandise movers getting drafted in rounds later than Apollo or you know, Dominic when he was still relatively new and things like that, Like it's the way the rounds were set up never made sense. And you know, it's like, okay, well, you know Bianca going first overall is great, but then, like you mentioned Jade Carter going first, it's like she's never been in a match. You're basically drafting off potential here, but you know you could have saved somebody else that you know has wrestled matches and had he's been champions. Like, It's just yeah, the concept is always flawed to be. Like, now, if they came out with like WW fantasy rankings like you and I look at before we

30:11 draft for our SRTU football leagues, and these people are ranked higher, then that can also tie in his storylines, and then it makes sense as to why this person's drafted high and this other person that we don't think is a better wrestlers drafted lower. Really good memory, Doctor Trey so Jericho fought Triple h the night of the WWE draft. He lost, and then was selected onto the SmackDown brand because the Undisputed Champion could not change brands. He ended up going to SmackDown with Where did I just see it? It was like the thirteenth pick or something. Yeah, and it was like supplemental not seen on TV. You had to find out about it on SmackDown later on.

30:52 Yeah, okay, so he went twenty fifth overall. It was a supplemental pick. He went after Stephen Richards who was selected to Raw to Jerry, Bradshaw and Billy Kidman were all selected after Jericho. But you know, it's like, oh crap, Jericho's available. Would he not be your first pick of the supplemental draft? Like I said, it was the main event the shows going out the air, but the very first pick of the supple metal draft should be the guy who is just twenty minutes earlier champion, and it was to Jerry or Bradshaw. Yeah, that could have been the old regime of WUE aka Vince McMahon fucking with Chris Jericho. So yeah, yeah, no, it upset Jericho so bad he put it in his book. Yeah wow, I've read all those books. I forget that now. Yeah.

31:41 I mean, it's just the draft selections don't make sense. I would highly recommend that they reconsidered the concept. They'd make it more NXT focus, and that is when they allow it's like the two nights a year that they allow trades, transfer, portal whatever, you know, player around with a little bit with like the sports fandom in the world where Drew McIntyre, which we will talk about his new contract with WE, but he is signed to RAW for two years and he cannot be traded or he has a no trade clause like they have an MLB or what have you. Like, they can definitely make it better and I think what I learned from this draft is for the first time you know in this new regime that there's an opportunity to make it better, and I think they need to do a little bit more sports fandom.

32:29 I think with the old regime it was always going to be this way and there was going to be no creativity. I think there is creativity that can be had with this current creative team in WWE to make it a lot better. So there you go. The twenty twenty fourt w WE draft is in the books. The big news here Doctor Trey. Despite going in round number three on Night two to Monday Night Raw. In real life, Drew McIntyre signed a massive deal with World rest Entertainment re signed with them. He will be back, reportedly for another three years for a significant amount of money. The news was broken by the Rock of All People, who posted a video of Drew McIntyre receiving a sword a gift from the Rock Board of Directors out to dinner with Nick Cohn. I love the move. I'm happy this has happened. I think Drew McIntyre, since he's been a little bit of a tweeter, which would be around about September time, has been maybe the most entertaining wrestler on Worldwist Entertainment television during that time frame. The character has been really good. You don't know if he's a heel, you don't know if he's a baby face. He comes down to the ring, he slaps hands, kisses babies, but gets on the microphone and rips the fans.

33:45 He's fantastic. I mean, we have loved Drew McIntyre since he returned back to Dowe Wie and even before that when he was working the ND scene always had high opes from him. Despite the three and B stuff that Drew McIntyre career has really been covered this entire time. I'm a BESTRTU, but he is. He's been phenomenal. I'm very very happy for him. I love that he's saying with w W. Your thoughts on the signing for both W and True. McIntyre you know, the crazy thing is there. And I don't know if you've gone through this, but I've gone through this. When you know you're coming up on either at the end of your contractor you feel like, hey, maybe it's about time for me to change roles, you kind of go into like the zero f's given mode. And it's usually when you do your best work. You usually go screw it, I'm gonna go out here. I'm gonna do my thing. If it lines up, great, If not, I'm out the door anyway. Or there's other offers out there for me anyway, and you do your best work. And I feel like, since this contract's been lingering now for about six months, six eight months, Drew's done his best work in WW. I think the work he's done since September is even better than the work he was doing during the pandemic time, which means it's given his character way more depth. He seems like he is just having a ball and had doesn't give a crap, you know, And it's like that's usually when characters are their most refreshing. Is just like you feel like this is almost the real Drew McIntyre we're seeing on TV right now. Yeah, he has an edge and he's you know, he'll

35:17 be mean to the crowd at times as well. But this kind of feels like the first time in what the fifteen year run of Drew McIntyre and WW that we're actually seeing Drew McIntyre the person and I'm here for and I'm really happy he resigned. He just never felt like a guy that would I mean, honestly, if he went to AW he would do fine. It just feels like that he would be just kind of meth after a while, or at least here, I feel like he's really tapped into something and he's shining really brightly right now, which you know, we talked about NFL, we talked about others right here. That was his contract year and he was an all pro leading into his contract being redone, so he got handsomely rewarded for it. So this blends into kind of what you just said their Doctor Trey about Drew McIntyre and AW what have you him signing with WWE. Wrestling Observer Newsletter had posted last week before the announcement was made that Drew McIntyre had resigned with w W. They had said those in w expect drum McIntyre's resigned with w SCENE is enough of a given he's being advertised on shows post contract expiration.

36:21 The feeling was that while he had talked of taking off taking time off if not creatively fulfilled, that he is very much. He very much is now and is seen as one of the company's top full time wrestlers with the Rhodes and Rollins. This is the point I want to discuss now as we blend from onnceroy to another. They wrote, there is also the belief WWE talent is less likely now to opt for AW. I thought that was telling, but I also found it not surprising because the way wrestlers are handled in AEW when they first joined and it is pomp, its circumstance, it's fireworks, and then maybe four to eight to twelve weeks later, the fire, the heat, the excitement has completely fizzled off. And this is coming from a guy who's an AAW fan, But you cannot discredit that. Adam Copeland joins the company at Wrestle Dream with a surprise all EAT wrestling people are excited, and within four to eight weeks completely fizzled off. Now, granted he had a great match with Buddy Matthews on Dynamite on Wednesday night. I loved it. He's been very solid. But Adam Copeland, and he may disagree with me, it's his career and he knows much more about professional wrestling than I do, obviously, but as a fan, I don't believe Adam Copeland should be toying around in the mid card upper mid cards once he joins AAW.

37:50 Mercedes Monette and I know she's injured, but she joins big business. They make a big show about it, and I feel like she's completely ice cold. And you mentioned earlier on in the show about AW and the ranking systems, the ranking systems was back, but now I completely feel like it's gone because Christian Cage was just randomly announced number one contender with Swarp Scott and Mercedes Monet who said she was going to face the winner of the TBS Championship match at Dynasty without ever wrestling a match, So she just leapfrogged everybody else in the ranking system. So I guess it's gone, And you know, I just feel like time and time again, j White is an example that has brought up of who's who's been hit or miss or ice cold and I love j Whye. I don't think he should be toying around with the trios.

38:34 You know landscape as well. This is a surprise, but that it's in writing, but not a surprise. If you're a fan that watches the show, your thoughts here, Doctor Trey of W stars now less likely to opt for AAW and what is the reason behind that? Is it the creative and all elite wrestling with Tony Kahan or is it how well they're doing with the creative undert I think a big part of it is. So you look at the WW roster, most of the people that we see feature, most of them, not all, spent some time in NXT and under the Triple H regime. You already know how Triple H is going to treat you.

39:22 You already have faith in what he's going to do. You already know his temperament. AW for a lot of the guys is an unknown and all you hear are stories, innuendos, things that people have said. You know, there's a few people from AAW have made their way over into WW. Not just the Cod's of the world or the Jade, but the Lexus Kings of the world. You kind of know what to expect if you make the move, and AW has a track record, like you and I have talked about the show, you go back to Brian Danielson starts off red hot, some great matches. Where's he at now? It's kind of like nobody has really gotten better than they were when they came in. So if I'm going to make that jump, it's gonna come down to do I want creative license and feel fulfilled or do I want ease and comfort? And it goes back to you know, the will Ospray conversation we had a few weeks ago about the comments with Triple H. There is a little bit of the grind and maximizing your potential versions where I AW, I do kind of feel like guys get comfortable there and a little bit not lack a days ago because the matches are still fantastic. But outside of the guys who are hungry for the top spot, that's war of strict One's the MJFS. Is anybody really pushing the creative envelope in AW right now? Like I don't. I don't see anything that's like breakthrough TV or must see TV. Do you know what I think is

40:55 the best creative thing in AW right now, what's that Trump Bretta and Cacasidy. It feels real. I mean they've done a great job with that one. But like the Jericho Learning Tree, like it's like I'm starting to come around on that. It's it's but it took him turning kind of heel again for it to kind of work. You know. It's just that's that there's less in a sense, there's less creative stability in AW where I think there's more. You have more faith in the creative in WWE right now. And if I was a wrestler trying to, you know, do what do I want out of my career? It kind of depends. If I'm a younger guy, I'm probably gonna go to WE because they're gonna find something for me to do. Where AW, You're probably you might get lost in the show for a little while. If I'm an older wrestler and I know I'm nearing the you're nearing the end and I don't feel like I've accomplished or I feel like I've accomplished everything I could accomplish in WWE. Yeah, AW makes a ton of sense. You can kind of rest on your coast, on your accolades and get a good paycheck and after wrestler is hard. Yeah, no, I mean it's it's very funny how things have changed. And I think when we go back through the history of our show here, when like AW launched and we were banging the drum of like Triple H needs to come in, people are going to leave the company. It's a lighter schedule, more money, and you could be more creatively fulfilled. And it took them some time, and it eventually through other channels, got to Triple AH to running

42:25 the show, and you're seeing that payoff extremely well. I mean, just create creatively. It seems like there's more creative freedom now in w than there wasn't AW, which is mind boggling. AW has really good, a really good in ring product. But I watched Dynamite the other night and I just thought I was like terribly bored for the most part. Like it you watched Raw for three hours, that doesn't feel like three hours. SmackDown for two hours is really good. NXY as its hits or misses still, but they're doing a good job. It's just AW is getting boring to me. They need a little bit of a creative shakeup. And I just thought it was it was interesting to see this play out like the way that it was.

43:13 We're saying that w stars are now less likely to opt out, and there's some major names that are going to be available. I think Finn Balor confirmed he resigned, Drew McIntyre is now confirmed resigned. Rollins and Becky Lynch their contract's supposed to be coming up. I can't see them leaving. I think Kevin Owens contract maybe up where he may have signed an extension a couple of years ago. Yeah, it's just funny how the ties have changed. And I can't blame the wrestlers because it's playing out to me as if you were at home being like, yeah, I could understand why Star would want to go to AW, but now I totally understand why w Starr would not want to go to AAW. I just think there's a crowded roster and every time you see a big name join, there is a lot of and circumstance and excitement and then it kind of fizzles out. I think some people may say that Will Osprey could be dealing with that soon with the International Championship match, and even though if he wins creatively, he may fizzle out a little bit and he may be one of the hottest stars in the company. You know, this were of strickling stuff. They waited a little bit too long before they finally executed, even though I feel like they kind of booked themselves in a corner, so it's not necessarily their fault in that instance. Nonetheless, interesting, I don't have this down on the rundown here, doctor Trey, but I guess this is a good opportunity to talk about it. You had the big Dynamite angle where the Elite took out the new Elite took out Tony Kahn on Wednesday's Dynamite. They followed it up on Wednesdays this past Wednesdays Dynamite

44:44 by taking out Kenny Omega, cutting the feed, running the intro. What was your thought on the follow up? And obviously we'd get an opportunity to talk to you on last week's show. What are your thoughts on the long term of this angle, because there are obviously people out there that think that this be the rejuvenation of the product, comparing it to the nWo from the aw standpoint, What did you think of everything so far? I don't hate it. I will say, you know, if you go back to when they played the video from you know, all from all out hated that. But one thing we said was if it can lead into something that's compelling, hey, that's great. The stuff with Jack Perry and Tony Kahan, like, for what it was, I thought, I mean, it was obviously to me, I think the worst sell of Like it's almost as bad as when Vince took the first stunner, but selling wise horrible. I did love that Tony Cohn wore the neck break through the NFL draft. I love that that was great. He sold it the entire time. The stuff with Kenny Omega you know this week I thought was really good. Is it nwoesque?

45:54 It's in the ballpark. But the problem is is that anytime you try to do something similar that everyody's gonna shit on it and go, oh, you're just ripping off the nWo. Everything's a rip off nowadays. So I don't hate it. It is kind of reinvigorating the Bucks. I like the Bucks new characters. I think it's really funny and I love that they're just kind of leaning into what people like me were saying. Well, they're EVPs they're gonna get their way. They're leaning into it. I like that the stuff with Jack Perry. I like, I'm not a huge Jack Perry famb but I like that they're bleeding into it. Having Ocada in the group gives them some credibility because otherwise, without Okada, you'd have three guys that weigh one hundred and eighty pounds or less trying to run the company like that would kind of you know, realistically, I would kind of hate that. But it's very funny you just said that Dutch tray. Because I hate to say this because obviously all those guys could beat me up. And I say this all the time about Jack Perry, but I find nothing intimidating about Jack Perry.

46:52 And I thought, now with what we're seeing that video of him being like owned by cmpunk, the all out backstage footage, does not make me think he's some sort of bad ass. No, but it makes me think they they you know, the way the character being, they're not. They're not being portrayed as badasses like Holland Nash was when they came in. Yeah, when Hallan Nash held off the entire w CW lockerom at one point by themselves. They were portrayed as bad asses. They're slimy, sleazy scumboutis and I think they're leaning into that really well. And having Okada in the group gives them a little bit of physical, you know, physical presence. I think they need one more big guy in the group. You throw a Keith Lee into that group and let him have his like crappy mustache and beard, Like I'm good with that. Like have them look like Uncle Philigin, like there's your physical presence in the group, or a ward Blow or somebody like that, if you could, you know, make that move somebody of that ilk to give that little physical presence, because I like, they're not trying to overpower people one on one. It is you know, slimy, sleazy, dirty tactics in that part. I dig because that fits their character and their size. Yeah, yeah, it's it's interesting. It's an interesting Uh.

48:10 They're trying and they gotta get something to the yard. I just felt like I wish I saw a little bit more on Wednesday's Dynamite that kept further this along. Go Okay, this is pretty cool. We're in a real good direction. But I think it was kind of a baby step instead of a big step coming out of the Big Angle on Wednesday's Dynamite and then finally here before we get to backlash doctor Trey uh the report from Wrestling Observer newsletter, there's a chance of The Rock doing a match late this year, but the Cody Rhoads match was tentatively for Wrestmating forty one. Whether Roads is champion or not, is this the direction you want to see for The Rock, the Rock versus Cody Rhoads word for Cody Roads at Wrestlmating forty one, it feels like Roman's going baby face. To me, it depends on can somebody else get hot as a heel? You know, Like that's if you're like, hey, worst case scenario Cody and the Rock WrestleMania forty one. Hey, if that's the worst case scenario for your main event, it's not a bad worst case scenario. But we've seen it before with other wrestlers. They get hot, plans change to capitalize on that. I think if if we talked about a coup weeks ago, if you end up doing like Roman and the original blood Line against Rock and the New blood Line, that's a good angle to run. But right now once again with Roman being out and kind of reshuffling the deck, and now you have you know, Damian Priest is the

49:42 top heel on raw Well, who's the top heel on SmackDown? Is it Solo? Is it aj or do you need another heel to get hot? And I thought Gunther would have been a great move to go to SmackDown because then Cody and Gunther on the same brand. But they didn't make that move. So it's gonna be interesting see who they positioned to be the long term rival for Cody, because right now, between now and next April, right now, it's the Rock and they haven't built up anybody else to take that next level. Yeah, it's I like the direction and it will be interesting how this all plays out, because I think it makes the most sense right now. But I was intrigued to see that they're gonna go Cody Rock for wrestlemaning forty one right now, no matter if he's champion or not, which is kind of peculiar, or the saying if he's champion or not. I made a case on last Week'spot Doctor Trey that I felt like Gunther should be moved to SmackDown feud with Cody, and I could see him winning the title at the Bash and Berlin show when he's a little bit more closer to home they're near Austria, but it seems like that is not the case that they're going to be heading towards. I feel like Cody versus Gunther would be a great WrestleMania match, but I guess maybe that still happens if he should win the Royal Rumble later this or early next year. Yeah, I mean, and you know, you could always I mean, there's a guy who's not in the company right now who was blacklisted for a little while that he's always known to pop up by the name of Brock Lesner. You can always revisit Cody and Brock again at that point. So it's just right now, they're

51:15 trying to build up some new stars to fill the boys left by some guys who are out with injury or taking time off or something like that. And that was part of the issue with when you have a champion like Roman dominate for three years, is it's kind of hard to build death because we've seen Roman beat everybody. Well, now Cody's beat Roman, but everybody else around has been beaten by Roman. So who has the credibility to step up other than a gunther right now? And that's not the rather take. I mean, how many times do we see AJ lose to Roman and now we just puse on paper, go oh, well HEJKB Cody, Well, Cody beat Roman, Roman beat AJ. So where do you go from there? So they have a little bit of depth issue on the heel side on SmackDown right now? All right? Then, finally here, doctor Trey, let's preview and predicta wa backlash. It comes to us this Saturday from the LDLC Arena in Leone, France. It will be taking place one pm East ten am on the Pacific here in the United States, so it'll be an early show for anybody who wants to catch it on a May afternoon. I don't know whether it's been pretty damn awesome lately where I live. Maybe I'll catch it at night or maybe I'll catch it on Sunday. With that said, let's go through the card here, Doctor Trey. Randy warton Kevin Owens taking on the Bloodline and a tag team match. I have the Bloodline winning this one.

52:32 I have Bloodline also, and I'm still trying to figure what MFT stands for. You know, people are saying my family tree, but it's like that that would be lame missl my favorite Tonguan. I like that one. Yeah, they gotta tell us. I mean it's gotta be MF right, m F and Tauma Yeah, MF and Tunga. This is my mother f and tauma. Yeah, I don't know. Strange. The Warriors defend the WA wins to Team championship against Bianca bell Aaron, Jade Cargill, Doctor Trey. Who do you liking this one? I'm taking Bianca and Jay because they were number one overall draft picks for their brands on respective nights, so you can't have number one picks losing to you know, round three, round four people. Yeah, I got Bianca and Jade winning this one as well.

53:16 Bailey defends the WA Women's Championship in a triple threat match against Naomi and Tiffany Stratton. I am tempted to pick Tiffany Stratton here, dotch Trey. I think she is due to get a potential title run, but I could see her taking the l and then maybe becoming the winning the Bank winner in just a couple of months. So I have Bailey retaining. Yeah, I have Bailey Rotaye, but I'm like with you, I kind of picture Tiffy strad winning one of the bank and then Tiffy time as anytime she wants to catch. It makes a lot of sense. Damian Priest defends the World of aweight Championship against jay Uso dtor Tre. Who do you liking this one? Uh? Once again, like when you have brand new champions, it's hard to take somebody to beat the brand new champion as much as as much fun and energy as Jay Juso has, I'm still taking Dabian Priests to retain. I have Damienes as well for nearly the same exact reason, which that takes me to my next match. Cody Roads defending against aj Styles for the n disputed at W Championship. I cannot see Cody Roads dropping the title, so I'm gonna take Cody to retain. I'm taking Cody as well, with maybe maybe a little bit of well you, Cody bay Pace. You can't really have outside interfairs, but I could still see La Night getting into the picture as well. You might get a triple threat batch here next month for the next paper the next pl So there you go, wa Backlash preview and predictions.

54:28 We will recap and interview at all on next week's edition pod. With that said, let's get a couple couple plugs and sponsors out of the way. You could download show every Thursday or Friday at Real Guy Radio dot com, Russell Chatnett on X and the Slerealta Show iTunes feed. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help us calm the charts on iTunes. You could foll individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff, and for Doctor Trey Franklin at The Doctor 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 oneful world of Doctor Trey Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on X at the Doctor Trey. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook Doctor Trey Franklin. When you're on Facebook, checkout Spartan Championship Wrestling and Rocket City Championship Wrestling. As we are only was today May sek We are sixteen days and sixteen from Wrestling Con seven coming up May eighteenth, from Lovely Hazel Green, Alabama. We mentioned it before Super Crazy Books on the show. Sind Body will be there, Action Mike Jackson, Chick Donovan, some other stars from the old Georgia Pro Championship Wrestling making appearances, and the Crown Dull, the Bull Club Chase Owens will be in the building as well, So if you're in the air, come check it out.

55:37 If not, you'll find it up on the YouTube here. At some point, hopefully I can make an appearance, but I am having my foot fusion surgery on May fourteenth, so I don't know if I will be there, which makes me sad. But other than that, go check them all out. Go check out your local favorite independent pro wrestling show because the person you look at now might be a first, second, third, or hey, in Chris Jericho's case, a thirteenth round draft pick of SmackDown at some point in the future. So you go support all the great things at Support SRTU and I mentioned on last week's show, but it is out now for download. Go check me out on the Bragman Breakdown. We posted it up on our Facebook page, Facebook dot COM's Last Star Realtes Show, and over on Twitter at srt podcast. I joined Jackson for about fourty five minutes two an hours to go out there and check out some more wrestling discussion with myself and Jackson Bragman. With that said, until next week when we recap and review w Backlash, Thank you for downloading SRTU for Doctor Tree Franklin. I'm Jeff Pack. This is the Star Real US Show.