How is the "2nd coming" of CM Punk going so far? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #701 – 7/20/23

0:00 It's stupid up. Welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition This is No Real DAW Show, Episode number seven hundred and one, July twenty, twenty twenty three. Welcome to this week's edition of at d You. I am one at the show. I am Jeff Jack going every single week to my cost I want only doctor Trey Franklin, Doctor Trey. Are you a collider?

0:43 My friend? I don't even know what that is, like like the the super collider they have in Denmark that I heard about Big Bang Theory where they make Adam's explode? Like, what what is a collider? You didn't hear cm punk refer to the fans of collision to be collider. Oh that means I have to watch the show. Who It's on a Saturday, Jeff may have kids. Is really hard to watch a wrestling show on a Saturday. Whoa, whoa? Okay, we'll stay tuned here, folks, because where about a month in on aw Collision And it's something I wanted to bring up here on this week this show. Did not know that about doctor Trey.

1:25 We'll have to investigate that more here on this week's SRTU Doctor Trey. First thing I want to talk about here is while we're also a month in of AW Collision, we are also a month in of the second coming of one C. M. Punk in All Elite Wrestling. Being that you I guess aren't watching Collision, but I know you've tuned in a little bit to Forbidden Door. I'm sure you're up to stuff on social media and the YouTube out there in regards to Punk's current second coming here, what are your thoughts so far if you have any in regards to see him Punk back in AW.

2:08 I mean it's it's anytime see him Punks in a wrestling ring and in a wrestling business is good, Like he always is a magnet for publicity of any kind. My only critique is, I mean, what has he done? Like he's had some matches, he got screwed over by Ricky Starks, but like outside of that, like we haven't had the we haven't had a feud really kickoff. We really haven't seen him. You know, everybody's everybody today is sitting here waiting for him to start something with the Elite and it's not happening. And you know that they had the great six man tag with Bullet Club Goal. But outside of that, not a lot going on wrestling wise, and he's actually been kind of under the radars. He hasn't really caused any waves. So maybe he's just being a modeling boy right now, and I'm critiquing him for not being or for being a model employee instead of being the jerk that we all know him love. So let's let's mark this here, because very few occasions on SRTU do we disagree, and it could just be the way that you're using the language here, So I'll have to dig a deep into this, Doctor Trey. But I think from a wrestling standpoint, Shimpunk has done a lot. I think he's had three He's had four matches since he's been back, in AW six Man Tag on aw Collision, the debut, the match with Kojima at Forbidden Door, the match with

3:40 Samoa Joe at Collision, and then the match with Ricky Starks on Collisions. So from a wrestling standpoint, pure in ring wrestling standpoint, I think it's been great to see C. Himpunk back. I think overall, he looks rejuvenated, he looks refreshed, and this run of first couple of C. Himpunk match matches in aw during the Second Coming are a lot better than the first run of the first Dance in aw as he was really knocking off the rush after seven eight years away from the company. I think maybe where we will agree is the creative standpoint. There is really no true direction for Punk right now, but we may be starting to come out of that cloud of smoke because of what happened in the Owenhart Foundation tournament finals when Ricky Starks cheated the babyface. Ricky Starks cheated to defeat Sampunk and win the tournament. So I think we're a wrestling standpoint, I think we are seeing a whole lot with Sampunk and again, I feel like he is rejuvenated. From the creative standpoint, I'm with you, it's it's kind of been a slow burn as to what direction we will see Sampunk goes. So I don't know if we're in agreement on my interpretation of Punk Second Coming so far. Yeah, yeah, because it's kind of my thing is like they're like, that's what I'm saying, Like when when he's in wrestling, it's great, Like he's a fantastic wrestler, and even those first few matches he had when he came back up in seventy eight year hiatus. They weren't bad matches. They would maybe

5:13 have been bad by his standards that he set. But this this run that he's on now, the match has been great. It's just like you know, like you were saying, and maybe I poorly would, there's just no creative direction right now. And we have you know, him coming back. We were like, oh, they can do this, and they can do this, and they can do this, and we're hitting Punk and Ricky starts. Maybe like great for Ricky, but is that what's going to get people to the TV, Like that's what that was, is that was gonna get me to cancel my Saturday plans and sit down and watch Collision and be a collider. Um, I don't know if that's the thing that moved the needle for me, Like I'm kind of waiting for a bigger fish to fall into see him punk Slap more so than just Ricky starts. So and that was also my critique of the first run, like matches with Hobbs and things like that, whereas like like you have a money making draw and we're putting them in the ring with mid card guys at best you know, so it is kind of a questionable creative choices they're making for CMPUNK right now. Well, I mean it could be, right. The big thing here is, from the behind the scene standpoint, we aren't having a lot of drama hitting the dirt sheets right now, which is a good thing. That's what we want to hear with AW. We don't want the drama, even though you give us a lot more fodder to talk about here on SRTU. But that's when we go from being SRTU to being like srt Unza, which we don't want to be on a weekly basis. And I think from the wrestling standpoint,

6:45 right, I mean, and well, the creative stuff, excuse me, is it's possible doctor Trey with this kind of weird roster splits of Dynamite and collision, that there's some top names that don't want to work with him still. And we are recording this before Blood and Guts on AW Dynamite this week, so it's very well possible. Maybe something happens, so forgive us. But if there isn't, we're to keep chugging along because I believe Sean rash Sapp from Fightful had a report out there that Punk pitched himself as the fifth man for the Blackpool Combat Club to take on the Golden Elite. So there seems if that is to all be true, and Sean rash Sapp is a phenomenal reporter, so I would believe it to be true. There's a lot out there that makes me think that Punk is willing to make some money off of this perceived feud between real life heat between he and the Elite, makes some money while on the other side they are not interested in that, which I think is bad business. So he may be limited right now creatively doctor Trey and the people that want to work with him. And and I'm not against somebody like Ricky Stark's getting that shine in that rub because it's only got to elevate his game him when he's in the ring with a guy like Sampunk Noll and that sense, That's what I was saying, Like, good for Ricky Starks. But you know, when you have arguably one of the top five I don't want to say pro wrestlers, but one of the top five

8:16 personalities in professional wrestling, you're just kind of limiting him a little bit, like he should be the reason people are tuning in every single week to collision because that's how you positioned it with this perceived roster split. And you know it's maybe if they had just gone in with a straight few with him and Jay White, I'd be more on board or somebody else like that, that maybe he's a little higher on the food chain than Ricky Starks. But you know, it's great for Ricky Starks, but you know, he just had a few with Chris Jericho not too long ago, Like, do we really need this? Does he really need another rub if he's not getting over by getting these rubs me and I understand what you mean and that sense of does he need that rub from CM punk to help out his career? I think he does because I do feel like he fell off a little bit coming out of that Jericho feud. That's one thing that I there's not many things that you could critique Chris Jericho on and it isn't his fault necessarily, but like when guys, these young guys are coming out of feuds with him, nothing is really followed up on, which is going to be very ironic later on the show, and we talk about aw creative because I have some positives to talk about in regard to them, but you could say the same thing about Eddie Kingston, Orange Cassidy and now Ricky Starks as well. Like, really, the only guy that came out of that the feud with Jericho that was a young guy that came out really well was like MJF. So I don't

9:50 know, I think that's more AW Creative's fault than anything. But there's a lot of folks on that small collision roster right now that I think could really benefit from feuding with Sampunk. I would have lost the bet that Ricky Starks would be the first person to begin feuding with Sampunk potentially in AW. But I'm here for it. I'm interested in seeing it. It's similar to when he first returned to the company and he had that match at all out with Darby Allen in twenty twenty one with his first match back. That's the guy that they chose for that, and you know that worked out pretty decent and Darby has always benefited from that early on in his AW career. So, I mean, all in all, outside of everything that we're talking about here, I just want to go back to the point that it does feel like to me, Doctor Trey that Punk is happy to be back. He's happy to be back in aw specifically, he's having fun and he just seems rejuvenated, Like it's just it's coming off the screen that he is motivated and rejuvenated to kind of prove everybody wrong in the narrative that was spun about him since the brawl out of September twenty twenty two and I'm here for We've talked positively about Sampunk plenty times on the show. We've talked negatively about Sampunk, especially over the last couple of months, several times on this show. It's better for professional wrestling fans when you're talking positively about Sampunk and when he's rejuvenated,

11:22 when he's motivated, we are the only ones that benefit from it. And I think, to me, that's the biggest takeaway of this current second coming of Sampunk right now, is that you could just tell on the screen he wants to be there and he's having some fun, which is great for us. I mean, do we think that him just being around the elite during that first run made him so jaded by the end that he just because he did look miserable towards the end of that first run, like, is it all the faults of the elite or was it something else? Because right now, you're right, he looks rejuvenate, he looks happy. He's with people that he you know, trusts. You know, he's being the model employee right now, Like see him. Punk might be aw employee of the month.

12:05 I mean, he might get he might get up from parking space next to Tony Khn's car when he rolls into Jacksonville. But it was it just being around Kenny and the bucks and Hangman Page that just kind of made him that miserable towards the end or was there something else that we don't know about. I think it has a lot to do with the drama behind the scenes. I think in some of the stuff that you've read from Punk since he's returned that it probably wasn't handled correctly behind the scenes like it should have been, and that falls on Tony Kahn and upper management a W two not address those situations. The Hangman Page promo leading into their match at Double or Nothing that basically tongue and cheek talked about workers' rights and then the perceived a notion that Punk had called Cabana demoted. You know, removed whatever, So it just feels like that it probably probably wasn't handled in the separation between the two groups, the two personalities wherever you sit when it comes to that is what's best for there behind the scenes business, which doesn't correlate to what's best for the onscreen business. Because if you did a punk elite feud coming out of blood and Guts and head an into all in and all out, you're going to have like ninety thousand people in Wembley Stadium and want to see that.

13:26 And I think they're up to over seventy seventy five thousand sold right now. You could hit ninety if you're hitting that match, And maybe that's a plan all along, But it just seems like overall this current punk run four weeks in has been good, and I hope it says that way, and I hope at some point we get the benefit of the feuds that we do want to see between CM Punk and folks that belong under the banner of the elite. Keeping with AW, this is gonna be pretty predominantly AW focus here on this week condition of the pod, because we really haven't had a chance to talk about them all that much. Lately. I wanted to ask on the show, and you kind of tipped your your hand here, doctor Trey.

14:09 I wanted to ask, what did we think of aw E Collision so far? Our listeners are asking us what we think so far? We're a month in. I feel like four weeks in was going to be a good spot. And we kick off this podcast and you're saying, you're not really watching the show, So why is that? Have you tuned into parts of the show. What have you seen in the show? Have you seen nothing at all? Where are you standing on an aw Collision right now? So I turned, I tuned into the first episode, watched part of the second one, and that I've missed three and four and a lot of it was just like the hype abo about punk being back. That was great, want to see that. And then it just kind of, I don't want to say it felt like a better rampage, but it just kind of it's it's a good wrestling show. But I mean, once again, when you have a wife and you have kids, like I love pro wresting, but I didn't watch every single Saturday night six oh five on TBS when even when I was grown up, because I had other stuff going on Saturdays. It's kind of a bad time slot for the show. But you know, especially for folks like me that you know, I'm I'm in the independent wrestling business. Guess when shows are usually on Saturday. So it is kind of just a time constraint thing for me. And then once I get past Saturday and into Sunday, it's like, Okay, I can try and watch a Sunday or do stuff with the family Monday, I got Raw, Tuesday, gut NXT Wednesday up dynam Where do I squeeze this episode of Collision back into the mix.

15:39 So I'm just a little bit hamstrung for time right now to kind of fit it back into my routine. You know, I totally get that, as I said on the show, like it's something that we weren't looking forward to. Two hours again another show on especially on a Saturday night. I am catching probably the first hour while I'm watching the first hour on DBR by the time I get home on a Saturday night, and then watching it throughout the day on Sunday, typically Sunday evenings when there's really not a lot on. And that's definitely going to change in the fall. Once there's football back. But I will say what I have watched a couple of things that are standing out to me is it's a different field than Dynamite, which is a good thing. I think one of my biggest drawbacks on we between Rown SmackDown is there's no real difference it feels like between the two other than the rosters.

16:33 It does feel like they've had set Roster Punk, FTR, Bult Club, Gold, Ricky Stark's Powerhouse, Hobbs, Samoa, Joe Scorpio, sky Mero, the House of Black. It seems like that there is a general focus of stars that they are focusing on on Saturday night, and then outside of that, the matches like this most recent edition of Collision was really really good. The FTR, Bullet Club, Gold Stuff Doctor Try the two out of three falls match, very very high pay per view quality. The match prior to that, then eliminator match which which made them the first number one contenders before that a week earlier was another very high quality pay per view match.

17:22 Like some of those matches that we've seen on Collision so far between FTR and Bullet Club, Goal j White and Juice Robinson are matches that will be discussed come the end of the year by a lot of wrestling fans as Match of the Year candidates. I'm enjoying the show a lot. I gotta say a month in, just a month in I'm enjoying Collision more than I am Dynamite and really high props to AW four for making this show worthwhile to tune into, whether it is live or for most of us probably DVR or on a delay. I've been really enjoined aw colligion so far, so I would highly recommend it, Doctor Trey when you can to DVR this show and check it out because it's been phenomenal. So I amen, Look, you're the one that got me into NXTUK, so I will take your word for it.

18:14 I will jump back into watching it. I know mister Liam Kelly reached out to me about it and I didn't have a good answer for him. There's my answer. I just haven't been watching enough. But I will squeeze it back into my routine. I do have mondays where I'm off, so maybe I just sit down with Sammy. Frankly, we watched some of the Collision. We become colliders ourselves. Yeah, FTR Bull Club Gold stuff amazing like I did not think J White Juice Robinson would be two guys I would typically think of as as tag team stars. But it's like I like J White obviously as a single star. I like Juice Robinson, but give me more of those two guys wrestling as a tag team because it's been really, really good. So highly recommend AW Collision and dare I said, if you had to vote an AW show off the Island, I would obviously vote off Rampage, which has improved, and then probably Dynamite, but I would put Collision at least a month in. I would rank Collision one, Dynamite two, Rampage three for AW related programming. So highly recommend again one of my biggest takeaways different field than Dynamite, which which is a good thing. We don't get that a lot in wrestling when when companies have two premier shows during the week, as we see on WWE each and every week. And then lastly, here while we discuss AW doctor Trey, I have a tip of the cap. We are known to point out creative when it's really bad. We are not praised when we Uh, Sirie wants to talk right now. I

19:45 guess Sirie thought I was talking to her. We are not praised when we do acknowledge creative on social media. We are told that we are haters of AW at times that we don't support the company. All this stuff. Well, when it's bad, we pointed out, and when it's good, I'm gonna point it out too, which I'm gonna point out here on this week's This Show. I have felt like lately doctor Trey would love to know your thoughts, but my tip of the cap here is to AW creative, because I feel like it has been really really good lately. Yeah, I mean, I can't knock him, by the way, anybody who calls us a hater in twenty twenty three, I can't think their opinion seriously for using the word hater still and not reputing Jamie Hayter. But like overall, like you look to the stuff like the Jericho don Kalus stuff like that's been entered, that's that's been good. The stuff with Hangman Page in the Dark Order in the Bucks like that's been good. Um, you know, the stuff with Callus and Obega has been good, like and then you over Collision FTR Bullet Club Goal has been good. Like there's just there's a bunch of good stuff going on. Some of the acclaimed in House of Blacks, you know, been interesting, So Jungle Boy Turning Heel. You know. Like, the creative has been pretty solid over the last you know, four to six weeks, So I can't knock aw for anything other than not finding something for CM punk. Tell the m J Adam colt has been really good well, you

21:15 know, but outside out funding for CM punk to do, it's been pretty solid all across the board. Well, perfect segue here. So I have a couple of things that I want to bring up that I feel like I've been great for a w creative so far. Let's start with the one that you just mentioned, mjf Adam Cole storyline. It started with them hating each other, having that great match on Dynamite, they did the blind Eliminator tournament, which I'll talk about here momentarily as well, and then they have this budding friendship. One of the things it's it's like the easiest thing in the world to at least do to me as a wrestling fan. I don't know how you feel about this, Doctor Trey, but if if you want to make me happy as a wrestling fan, you develop a stable. That's always simple. And then the second one is you put two personalities together in a tag team and it makes always phenomenal odd couple pairing entertainment. We've seen it obviously with teamhell Now in the past, and we're kind of seeing it right now. Not to the team Heell no level with MJFF and Adam Cole, but this storyline has been very, very good with mj and Adam Cole.

22:19 I do have one drawback, but I just want to say on the onset here very positively. The MJF Adam Cole storyline has been very entertaining and fun to watch each week on aw Television. Yeah, and it's also allowed them to kind of get Britt Baker away from Adam Cole, which was fine with the Jericho stuff, but you know, let Britt be the focal point of your wizard vision. So no, it's it's been very entertaining. And the weird thing is to me is like it's not even really an odd pairing because when they're heels, they're very similar, Like they're both cocky air and heels, So it's just that one's a baby face that one's a heel, right now, So it is kind of a weird pairing. And you know, you know, outside of Adam called being a gamer, if you had said, you know what, these two get along, I would think yeah, because their personalities are actually pretty similar overall. So but it's been really really fun and entertaining to watch. Like the the episode where m JF had was playing video games like that, I was cracking up. So h yeah, like you said, like, it's been really really good. So here's my drawback. This is reminiscent of MJF about ten months ago when he returned at all out from his you know, time away after double or Nothing, and they started after the whole punk stuff, elite stuff happened, they had to go in a different direction with the firm with m JF, and they started teasing m JF the baby face and he was getting over. He was saying

23:52 devil worshipers, he's high five in the crowd, he's working the crowd. He's being a goofy like corny baby face. And then they did the switch where they kept him as a heel and the way back to that swarmy, chicken shit heel that people fell in love with after he won the aw World championship from John Moxley at full Gear last year. They're doing that again now where he's like this corny, nerdy babyface and he wasn't. He's not that like cool, cocky chicken shit heel that he typically plays, and we're going down that path right now. And to me, despite everything that's going on and how well things have been going, the vibe that I'm having is that this still leads to MJF versus Adam Cole at all in or all out whenever they decided to do it during that week with the two big shows going on, and then MJF gets back to being that chicken shit heel, that would be my drawback right now. I don't think the long term implications here are that MJF and Adam Cole become best friends and they run together and they turn MGF BA be facing. I could be completely wrong. I just feel like that there's this very similar rinse wash repeat booking that they do with MJF that's kind of making him stale, and that is one of my main concerns with this current storyline right now. Yeah, and that's kind of the path I saw them going down too, So it's like I'm kind of taking the MJF

25:22 Adam Cole stuff just kind of week to week and not worrying about the long term right now and just kind of enjoying it for what it is, because, yeah, if they go to the route that we all expect them too, yeah, it's gonna be a little bit like like you said, the wash Rinse repeat. The flip side is you could do a double turn and make Cole the heel at MJF the baby face, and at least that would get people like us like going, oh my god, they pulled this off, because don't forget, he's got Roderick Strong and he's got Kyle O'Reilly as well. You could turn them heel and then MJF goes baby face and then you got a brand new top star baby face to sell merchandise and can get people to follow. And that's what I want to see. I want to see outside the box. I don't want to see the path that I think is going to be happening. I want it to be unpredictable and not predictable.

26:10 And that's always been my biggest beef when it comes to creative in general. Other great aw creative. Lately, the Jericho, Don Callis JS future storyline has been a lot of fun. Jack Perry and Hook storyline has been very good. Jungle Boy was getting very stale. He's been great as a heel lately. I've really enjoyed the Blind Eliminator tournament because it's you know, odd pairing's odd couples that are taken it on and it gives a showcase of the tag team division. Both Owen Heart tournaments have been really great. Very happy for Willow Nightingale, Very happy for Ricky Starks even though it looks like it's going to be heel turn. That was really good. But then Darby Allen Stort of Strickland Nick Wayne's storyline it appears to be going in a really fun direction as well. So those are some things Doctor Trey in AW right now. From a creative standpoint, I know I went through a big list.

27:00 I don't know if there's anything that you think it may be missing or some things that you want to add to the list of creative that has been that I just highlighted. But you know, we talked really bad about the last twelve to eighteen months of AW creative after the creative was really good since the debut until after All Out two twenty one. But right now, I feel like the AW creative has been some of the best it's been in a long time. And of those were some of the things that I wanted to give a tip of the cap two here specifically when it comes to AW creative lately. Yeah, and even Blackpool Combat and the Elite has been really good at it. You know, you tie in the Dark Order stuff with that and Page you know, the return of Poc, the return well the debut of Coda Abushe. You know, we're recording this show, but you know, before Blood and Guts, we don't even know how that play is out yet. But you know, that's great. You know, like you mentioned earlier, FTR Bullet Color Goal, like that's been really good. Orange Cassidys run of Title Defenses have been really good, and so yeah, there's really not a whole lot to knock on AW creative right now. So they've just been doing a fantastic job. Yeah, Lucasaurus and Christian with the TNT Championship has been really good. Um, the QTV, which, out of everything they do creatively in AW, I find to be the most corny. But there's stuff with um the acclaimed has been very fun. Um. I loved the what is is it Hailey Quinn? I believe so yeah, I can't.

28:29 I know she dates Zion Quinn in real life. I don't know if that's if that's so real, I forget now if that's the name. But her stuff with Anthony Bowens, like that thing where it was like I know you want me and will make a great couple and Anthony Bones being like, um, I'm gay was a really really fun moment in Wrestlings and also very historic by the way. Um, but there's it's tough to find anything really bad with AW Creative right now, Doctor Trey. It's it's been, and it's been great. We've heard a lot about the additions that they've made to Creative, whether it be Brian Danielson, whether it be guys like I believe Chris hero Is in the fold. We're hearing that seem Punk Decks, Hardwood are helping out with Creative when it comes to collision, this could be the renaissance that we've wanted to see from AW for some time, Doctor Trey.

29:22 With the way the creatives going presently funny, this was our hope all along that with this much talent, I mean, you can do storylines across the board and hook everybody because you know, some people are just diehard Darby Allen fans, some people are Seeing Punk fans, some are Kenny Obga fans. You know, some are Mirro fans. I mean, it's across the board, like everybody's got their favorite. So if you can do you know, actually we've a story. You can do it throughout the entire car where it's the bottom of the car with you know, the you know, the QT Marshals of the world, all the way up through the mid card into the main event area. You know, like I said, my only knock was the fact that, you know him, they didn't have a plan for what to do with CM Punk other than help him get other people over by, you know, doing the rubber or whatever. But outside of that, like it just feels like everybody's involved in something right now, which is a really good thing when your entire roster feels like they're invested in their in their programs.

30:19 So what's the one thing that's making you watch aw programming? What's the one storyline, creative thing that you're watching that you enjoy each and every week right now, they f JF Adam Cole stuff like they're they're just really really entertaining personalities on top of being good wrestlers. So um, it's and really it's it's just been it's been mostly Adam Cole since he came back, you know, the stuff with Jericho. The stuff now with MJF just is fun and refreshing. And you know, I forgot. I mean, Adam Cole basically was a heel his entire running MXC. It's just okay, cool, this is a little bit different side of Adam Cole that we haven't seen in recent memory. Yeah, no, it's it's probably my favorite as well.

31:00 One of my favorite subtle moments still from this entire thing was when Tony Hivanni announced that they were doing the Blind Liminator tournament and they were going to be paired together, and MJF said, you want me to wrestle each week? What are you kind of some sort of sick pervert? Very subtle. I love that line and it was hilarious. But I agree with you. I think the MJF Adam Cole stuff has been great. I've enjoyed Elite Blackpool Combat Club and the Jericho Don Calli stuff has me really intrigued as well. So everything's been great, it really has. So I hope this is the beginning, Doctor Trey, and not something that a month from now we look back and go, hey, remember when you and I sat down and talked about how good a Tow Creative was, And now it's not that all just crashes after all it and all out. That's that's the expectation. Yes, yeah, I mean I guess if there's room for improvement. As always, it's the women's division stuff. Yeah, I like the outcasts, but you know, less we're going to see Willow start to get into that women's title picture.

32:04 I mean, what have they done with the TBS championship lately as well with Christa Langler And then you also have Atheno with the Ring of Honor with his championship, and it's like she's almost forgotten about in Ring of Honor. You know, It's like and she was. I mean, she's brutal right now, Like I want to see her more on AWTV than some of the people they've been showcasing. But you know, beggars can't be choosers, and they're trying to like Wind all this stuff up and then we're still waiting the return of Jade Cargill here at some point as well and see what they do with her. Yeah, there's been some reports either that she's not due back in wrestling at all for some time and that maybe she's going after Hollywood, but it could also be a swerve as well Doctor Trey as we know, so maybe she's just taking some time off after her first real two year run in professional wrestling. So a lot of great stuff with AW creative lately, lots of positivity going around All EAT Wrestling right now as they head into the biggest show they've ever done with ALL in Wembley Stadium in London. You know that's about six weeks away. And when you have good creative right now heading into the biggest show you've ever done, that's a good thing. So AW has been a lot of fun to watch over the last month they've been.

33:16 It's been building in this direction in some time over the last couple months, and I'm happy to see them turning it around and getting back to doing what they do best, which is good creative, great in ring work, and a lot of fun and entertainment on television. Each and every week. So to everybody who thinks that we don't like aw listen back to the last thirty three minutes of this show, and I don't know, go after yourself. So that is the more you know here on this week's edition of SRTU. Speaking of good creative as well, Doctor Trey, the bloodline storyline that's been going on for the last three years have been some of the best professional wrestling storylines creative that we've seen ever. On July seventh edition of SmackDown from Madison Square Garden in New York City, the first thirty five minutes of the show was about the tribal court that took place, and there was obviously some controversy about that segment because it ran thirty five minutes for two hours show, which then led to a lot of things being either cut or their segments being cut down, and you could tell that vibe throughout the rest of the show for the most part. But all in all, I don't know if you watched the full segment, Doctor Trey. I did. I watched it live.

34:39 I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a great segment. It also made a little bit of history, which we'll touch upon here in just a second, but it is over ten to eleven, twelve days removed from taking place. What was your thought on that tribal court segment that ran pretty long on SmackDown back on seventh Yeah, I didn't even realize it ran that long. That's because I was just I was just in tune with it, like I was kind of I was watching with bated breadth, just wait to see what was going to happen. So I thought it was a fantastic segment. And then in retrospect I see how long it ran. I'm like, yeah, they probably could have shaved a few minutes here and there. But when something's good and your audience has invested, you just run with it. And you know, of all the storylines that have come through ww RED in the last few years, this has been the most enthralling storyline they've had. So, you know, you don't just sacrifice something like that for the sake of a women's match or you know, a mid card match. He's to go, Okay, we just had to adjust in them fly here guys, because the main event guys just showed why their main event guys. Yeah, yeah, I mean it was a great segment. Historical segment, and according to the Wrestling Observer newsletter, it appears that that segment and that edition of SmackDown, it appears to be the first time a pro wrestling show has ever been the top English language show of the week on all television. So Wrestling Observer newsletter is reporting that in the key demo of adults age eighteen to forty nine, SmackDown average a zero point six rating and nine hundred and eighty six thousand

36:12 viewers. Show peaked in the second quarter hour the back half of Tribal courts by averaging three million, seventy thousand viewers overall and one million, two hundred and twenty three thousand viewers in eighteen to forty nine for a zero point nine for rating, described as the quote largest number for a SmackDown quarter in several years. For the initiated, the ratings are there to be the metric by which ad rates are set, so since younger viewers are believed to have more buying power and less brand loyalty, the eighteen to forty nine demographic has become the main one tracked by the TV industry. We've talked about that here many times, especially with aw SO according to Wrestling Observer newsletters. As we're rating from also wrestling in dot Com. The only other time a wrestling show could have conceivably ranked across all television for a given week was during the initial pro wrestling TV boom in the early nineteen fifties, where there was at least one season where one of the network wrestling shows came in tenth place. Wrestling shows have topped the cable ratings pretty much as long as the cable ratings have been a thing, and regional wrestling shows have been the top show on their local march markets, most Family in Memphis, Tennessee. But even the high water marked for viewership of a wrestling show, the February nineteen eighty eight Main Event special airing Primetime with a Hull, Cooke and versus Andre the Giant main Event, averaging thirty three million viewers, place that week thirty second for the week in television, So according to reports, this was the number one ranked thing

37:46 for English speaking television across all platforms. Doctor Trey the Tribal Court edition of SmackDown on July seventh. That is some history, my friend. That is that's insane, especially when you think, yeah, you mentioned the stuff with Hogan and Andrea on Saturdaynight's main event. Also, like you know, the nitro after Hogan was revealed as the third man. You know, it was a huge was a huge ratings thing, the stuff, and then just all that stuff during the Monday night Wars. I mean, those ratings numbers were super high on both sides, and none of those shows, you know, match even Tyson Austin didn't match this, So like that's that's pretty staggering.

38:29 But it also shows the change in how people view television nowadays as well, that there is no real big networks that everybody have to watch like back in the days of just NBCCBS, ABC and thoughts. That's not the way it works now because hell, like I have Hulu Live and I very seldom watch anything on Life TV. I'm usually streaming something from somewhere because there's nothing on TV that really appeals to me right now. And when you go back to that segment, Doctor Trey, We'll have to give it a little bit of time. There's a lot of historical segments that have taken place on wrestling television. Row SmackDown, A, w Impact, Wrestling, Superstars, w f Mania, what have you over the years and some that stick out to me as always, this is your life, Rock. But I mean, you go back to that segment of the Tribal Court for the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, that had a lot of twist and turns, a lot of different elements, and even though it ran thirty to thirty five minutes, like you said, Doctor Trey, it did not disappoint at all. It was a phenomenal, phenomenal segment. It was, it was great. I don't know if we look back at it as the most historical or reminiscent segment of our times.

39:52 I think Steve Austin and Mike Tyson when Steve Auston interrupted Mike Tyson and they pushed and had to be separated as a very um memorable segment. The beer Truck is a memorable segment. I remember Steve Austin losing the Old Stone cold and this is when they were fighting with them the Alliance heading into the invasion pay per view, and he came back and stunned everybody. That was a great segment to save WWF. But I mean, I don't know, I don't know where there's ranks historically right now. I think it's still too early to tell, but from some of the modern era stuff, this is there's some of the best stuff we've seen on WE television. Yeah, no, without a doubt. I mean, you have three years of story I mean, this is reminiscent of whether you do with like The Horseman and Dusty or The Horsemen and Sting, where it'd be you know, years of storytelling and they move people in and out of it seamlessly and transition it. But it was always basically the same kind of core. And this is where right now with the Bloodline stuff, where yeah, you're able you're able to run Samy's through their tie in, Kevin Owens, you know, bring Solo in, you know, tie some other stuff. So it's just been seamless the way they've been able to manage this over over the past three years. Yeah, it's been phenomenal stuff. Some of the best creative and I think overall, Doctor tre I mean, when we look back at everything going on, whether it b W or AW, the fact that creative has been so good for the two prominent organizations wrestling promotions in the United States is great. I

41:29 mean it's I don't know if they're saying there's a wrestling boom right now, but it feels like as a long time wrestling fan, creatively this is this has been a really fun time to watch as a wrestling fan. It's been a very fun time to cover as a wrestling podcaster. Oh yeah, and even even NXT with you know the guys coming in with Baron Corbyn showing up, Dominic Mysterio is going to be on NXT Challenge for the North American Heavyweight Championship. Seeing some of those guys show up and highlight those people there like that. Creative been really good as well. Yeah, everything's been great, It really has been, and it's it's very nitpicky right now when you go when you say, well, you know, I don't know about this, like with the MGF a Adam Cole storyline or what they're doing with CM punk right now. It's kind of nitpicky because everything has been so good and we're so used to it. But the way things are going right now, I mean, it's just been been great. And when you look back at everything that we've talked about here on the show, overall, creative is popping right now and I hope it stays that way. We're heading in the SummerSlam head and all in, head in and all out. We wanted to continue with some of the biggest shows of the summer rate around the corner. So with that set, let's get a couple of plugs and sponsors out of the way.

42:40 You could download show every Thursday or Friday at real Guy rated dot com, Russell Chattanett on Twitter and the Stowrealty Show iTunes feed to rate your view and subscribe to help us call the charts on iTunes. You can follow us individually on Twitter for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor Trey Franklin at d Doctor Trey. And of course don't you to follow show on Twitter at SRTU Podcasts. With that being said, what's going on in the wondful world of Doctor tre Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on Twitter at doctor Drey. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook Doctor Trey Franklin. When you're on Facebook, checkout rocket City Championship Wrestling. We've been on a lot of cross promotional stuff with Spartan Championship Wrestling here in Alabama as well, so it's kind of cool seeing our two shows work together to help elevate the guys on the show. So go check out Rocket City and Spartan Pro on Facebook. So you go support all the support, support all the great things that support SRT you each and every week, and thank you for making us part of everything that you download and tune into when it comes to podcasting each and every week. Two weeks from now, we'll be getting you ready for SummerSlam, and then three weeks will be recap and reviewing SummerSlam, and then we get ready for aw all in and all out towards the end of August. It'll be here before you know it. The summer months for professional wrestling is staying red hot. There is no downtime and professional wrestling, and thank you for making us part of your wrestling coverage each and every week. So until next week. For doctor Trey Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. Thank you for tuning in. This is the story shot better didn't didn't