Is Gunther the Right Choice for Cena’s Final Opponent? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #826 – 12/11/25

0:00 It's still real to be damaged! What up, you! Ooh, welcome everybody! Welcome to this week's Inquisitive Sister Real The Show, episode of our 826th for December 11, 2025. Welcome to this week's edition of SRTU. I am one after the show, I am Jeff Pack, joining every single week for my close to the one of only Dr. Trey Franklin, Dr. Trey. Last time is now my friend.

0:41 Oh, the last time? The last time. In the wrestling world? It's really the last time. Last time. Oh man, I better buy it. I better buy it all my John Cena merchandise because I don't think they'll ever sell John Cena merchandise after this week. I better, I gotta stock up and load up now. No more fruity pebbles, shirts, ever again, Jeff. No more action figures, no more plushies, no more anything like that. Just last time is now and it's against Gunther. Yay! Yeah, let's get into it. So this is obviously a huge week of professional wrestling. This is going to be the main focus of this week's edition of SRTU.

1:22 This past Friday, Gunther winning the last time is now tournament by defeating LA Knight in the main event on SmackDown, Dr. Trey. I know we talked about it last week. We all felt it was going to be Gunther, but we were hoping that it would be LA Knight. Gunther versus John Cena is his final match. Gunther is promoting the hell out of this, rightfully so. He is saying in interviews that this is a torched passing match in a way. I'm a fan of Gunther. I love his in-ring work. I would love to see John Cena versus Gunther at some point during the farewell tour. I don't love that it's the final match and I don't see this as a torched passing either.

2:03 So your thoughts as Gunther will have the right to be the person that has the final match with John Cena in a WWE ring in his wrestling career. So I don't hate it on face value. Like Gunther is positioned to either be the top heel in the company or like he's going to be one of the top guys for the next 10 years. Like he's still young enough. He's arguably one of the best in-ring wrestlers. Maybe the most believable in-ring wrestler going today. Like we watch his matches and I don't think you can watch a Gunther match without at least one moment where you're like, oh dear God, that looks like that hurt.

2:48 Like he's the most believable guy around. You brought up a great point last week when you're like, this is going to be the man that basically has Goldberg's last match and John Cena's last match on his resume going forward. I kind of wish we could spread the wealth around a little bit. I'm actually surprised that John Cena said, hey for my last match, I want to get the shit kicked out of me because that's what's going to happen like physically. Like I'm good with the peripherals of it. I don't like how we got here. I really did not like the finish to the Gunther LA night match.

3:35 Those things will probably drift away over time. In 10 years when we're like, hey Gunther's the guy that we, you know, retired Goldberg retired John Cena and we're looking at every the totality of Gunther's career at that point. I think we'll say that they made the right decision to go with him. I just right now, like I said, the way we got here, I'm not at huge fan. See I think that's the right point that you have because that's how I feel. This could be a move that like five years from now, 10 years from now, whatever. We look back and we're like, yeah, that was the right call. Now we can look back and go, okay, that was the right move to do that. But in the moment, it doesn't because they are polar opposites.

4:16 I don't know if a case could be made that this is basically like taking one error of WWE, which was sports entertainment, you know, a little bit of the dabble of that late 80s, early 90s, hoagin type stuff of how Cena was as a sports entertainer versus the future and the present of WWE were you to a little bit more focused on in-ring skill and ability than you were under the banner of Vince McMahon, basically, of that sports entertainment mindset. It's sports entertainment versus wrestling and I don't know quite yet in the moment if that's what WWE is looking for. Overall, if this is a torch passing moment, I felt LA Knight is a very formidable foe to be across the ring from John Cena in that final match versus Gunther.

5:03 That to me is there's less polar opposites between LA Knight and John Cena as there are with John Cena and Gunther when you're talking about torch passing. There's other things that you could have made the case for should they have held off for Cody Rhodes at some point of being that person that has that final match with John Cena. Do you go the nostalgic route and do a Randy Orton or a CM Punk? Does John Cena flat out tell WWE like this is who I want? According to reports, it was like however you want to do this basically. There's so many different avenues they could have done and it felt like this was the direction since I feel like the late summer when the reports were coming out and I think you've brought this up as well, Dr. Trey.

5:50 The thing that kind of muddies the water a little bit is that Gunther was responsible for retiring Goldberg earlier this year on Saturday Night's Main event. So I do feel like that's a little bit of cloudy stuff. So part of me is wondering if this is part of a bigger storyline moving forward where if AJ Styles is retiring next year is AJ Styles eventual last match against Gunther. Now Gunther has this thing where he is retiring our heroes like that's part of his character. You know if Randy Orton decides to hang up the boots is it Gunther who does the final match there as well? Is this going to be a person of his that is quasi storyline, quasi organic similar to how they added the layer of legend killer to Randy Orton in the early parts of his career?

6:37 Part of me is wondering it that way. I would have liked to go on a different direction but I wonder if there is more if there's more to this from a business standpoint of the past versus the present and we just don't realize it now or if this is also part of like Gunther's eventual persona that they're trying to portray on him moving forward in WWE. Yeah and you know we've thought about that adding that you know career killer type moniker to him which sounds really negative but sounds like he's crippling people but you know there is that element they get added to it and then you know you go back eight months ago almost a year ago with when Netflix first debut or raw debut on Netflix and there was talk of Gunther going baby face and maybe this is also you know and when they say passing of the torch maybe this is a way of hey Gunther's seen you know the light so to speak and later on whenever he does the baby face turn he can point back to this moment and that be the reason why he changes his his maniacal ways.

7:49 It's on one hand like I the Gunther thing to me is cool because he is in a lot of ways like the villain of an action movie like he's the kind of guy that you was seeing a die hard and you're like yeah like I really hope you know Bruce Willis kicks his ass and that's kind of where we're at now with with Gunther and Jocena where you're just like I really hope Jocena has got enough in the chamber to to beat down this guy so he is the prototypical villain that you want in a wrestling company he's a little bit of like the 80s you know throwback evil uh foreigner type character mixed in with this great professional wrestler attitude to it.

8:29 So in a lot of ways he is the perfect foil for the sports entertainer that Jocena is uh but we've also seen Jocena go out and have some really great matches during this retirement run so I think this match will be good but like I was saying earlier and it wasn't even the fact that he won the tournament like LA nights a great choice we talk about CM Punk Randy Orden LA nights in his 40s it's it's it would be great but I mean LA night probably only has really four to five really you know top years left and then he'll start slowing down I you know guys like me like if you're gonna pass a torch you kind of want a younger guy whether it's and you know we're seeing Oba Femme and Cody Rose this had a main event whether it was a broad break or somebody else that you can go hey this might be our torch carrying baby face for the next few years even though he might be a heel now you can go this route um my biggest issue with the LA night Gunther match was having LA night tap out like I hated that like that's not what good guys do good guys don't give up especially if you're in the John Cena tournament you shouldn't be giving up because that's exactly the opposite of the John Cena character so I had a big issue with that but like I said on paper if we look at this 10 years from now and Gunther's had a Hall of Fame career and he's ended the careers of you know he was the last guy for Goldberg Cena AJ Punk Orden whoever it is that's gonna reach higher in the next 10 years

10:00 like that's just gonna be another feather in his cap for whatever career he builds out of this so you bring up an interesting point because that's kind of what the the seeds are being planted right Gunther wants to tap out John Cena he said it on raw he said in interviews right now I think I saw it on on first take for ESPN and Clip yesterday um what do you think about that because I think everybody is expecting Gunther to win right like that's what you do someone on the way out and Cena said this recently in an interview I forget who it was with maybe Chris Van Ville where the question was asked like why did you get squashed by Brock and was like well I'm on my way out let's like build him up and that is probably the same line of thought for John Cena versus Gunther right I mean that is historically what you always hear when your career's sunsetting your on your way out you do the job you pass it on to the next person but what about that impact right um John Cena's always been hustle loyalty respect he's never given up uh I have him something in my mind right now that's telling me that Gunther wins with a choke out but Cena never gives up uh that appears to be the foreshadowing the seeds being planted the Easter egg that's being discussed how do you foresee this match happening or ending on Saturday night's main event doctor right do you think John Cena actually taps out and that's how the final moment of his in-ring career that we see or could there be a shocking moment where John Cena does super Cena one last time

11:34 and he goes out as a as a winner and as a champion by defeating you know one of the best in the world in Gunther and and that's how he ends it like how do you foresee this match taking place I there there's a big part of the thing Cena's gonna tap and and that being you know kind of the the visual for the fans of like yeah I can't keep up with this current class um I'm trying to remember it was there a time has Cena passed out in a submission hold I don't think he's ever tapped I can't remember I don't think he ever tapped occurred angle he might have passed out wife and I feel like Cena tapped out when he was a heel before the 2004 run I feel like that has been discussed yeah I almost want to think that was against the undertaker like in Hell's Gate but yeah I I don't remember many times of him actually physically tapping out because I don't think the pass out really works and if you're trying to get Gunther over as this mega heel um and you're also trying to reestablish some credibility because don't forget he tapped out to Jay Uso from the sleeper joke like really quickly just what six months ago so like if you're trying to reestablish him as you know a top level villain I think you need seen it actually tap out and basically that's the way he's wavic acknowledging that not only is is Gunther better in this match but

13:09 physically that's why he's stepping away because he can't keep up at the same level that that John Cena normally could so I'm kind of leaning tap out and didn't we see Gunther use a version of the STF recently as well wasn't that against LA night that's that's what he did but he did kind of like this back like choke instead like he was pulling up on the chin rather than the forearm underneath because the forearm underneath does not look good folks well no because technically it's a chokehold and that's I love this interesting right now where it's like you'll see a guy they're going he's blatantly choking him and that's illegal but then they'll call a chokehold and they're like he's tapping out to a chokehold I'm like you shouldn't that be if putting my hands around your throat is considered an illegal choke shouldn't a forearm around the throat be an illegal choke as well like I just I'm always questioning that that's I get onto the young wrestlers about that stuff I'm like make it make sense but yeah like what if Cena taps out and then that's to me that would be the most logical way to really not only see the guy who ended John Cena's career but he's the guy who tapped out hustle loyalty respect never give up like that yeah that goes on the resume and that you can you can like just like you know Brock Lesnar being the one in 21 and one this is the guy who made John Cena give up yeah that's probably do you think what is more impactful okay or what what is more

14:45 I think I know the answer I think this is a very easy answer what is more impactful but what do you more want to see I mean we're we're both expecting Gunther to win right does Gunther make do you what what is more impactful Gunther making Cena tap out or Gunther passing out John Cena and then what do you want to see do you want to see Cena tap out is that a big deal to you or would you prefer to see him pass out and that's how his career ends I mean as as a John Cena fan like and I say that like John Cena has never been my favorite guy but he's you know we respect the hell out of John Cena I want to see him tap out I think that is more impactful for somebody's career because then you can go holy choked out John Cena or John Cena passed out but he didn't quit he never gave up and so he held on to that so if you're going for something that is more impactful it would be Cena actually tapping out as opposed to just passing out from from the sleeper home yeah I mean I totally agree that's what I said I said I think this is a very easy question to answer so the tap out more impactful what do I want to see I want to see him pass out I don't want to you know Gunther made him you know Gunther won but he didn't give up like that's like going out on your sword and it's like kind of like a poetic way for Cena to to go out so it's it's it's gonna be a wild time doctor I don't know if you're aware of

16:19 this yet but that match is actually opening Saturn and it's made a bet did you know that which is weird for me because I'm like are we doing the boots in the ring send off like that's typically what guys do when they retire they take the boots off they leave them in the ring you know and then they walk off on under their own power if you're doing that in the beginning of the show like how do you how do you go from here yeah like I mean because looking at the card it's mostly you know main roster NXT like yeah I we all want to see Cody and Oba go at it I think we're I think you and I probably don't say about like we're super excited for that match just because it's like dear God that's just incredible in a lot of ways but there's not as much emotional investment in some of these other matches then you have in this one and and maybe that's where that that like I'm 80% sure Gunther's winning this match but that's 20% maybe that's that 20% where Cena wins in the opening match and we don't get that emotional send off at the end um and maybe the emotional send off as Cena's in the building and Cena comes out to save somebody at the end of the show and then that's how we end Saturday's made event staying didn't lose his last match which he wanted to he wanted to lose yeah like that young box and Tony Khan was like no you're winning yeah I mean

17:51 and that's one of those things right now or it's like maybe there is that that the new thing is to have the guy go out winning and Cena can win the match on on you know a fluke AA123 and I don't think people would hate it but you know it's it's to open the show I mean most of your people are tuning in to see that match what happens when that match is over do they tune out and you go go somewhere else like that's that AEW thing where they you put the world title match on first and then why do I need to watch the rest of the show this is what I wanted to see well this is like Cena's request which is which is kind of odd right I I'm actually I love the concept of the show I think it's really cool yeah maybe not my favorite matchups that I would have said if I was doing an NXT versus WWE like Dream Card like you know Newstar versus Youngstar I think probably Oba Cody could potentially be on there but maybe I go like a different direction and you know I'd prefer to see like Oba versus Roman or Oba versus Brock or Oba Oba versus a Braun Breaker or whatever but that part intrigues me the opening up the show I'm with you I expect I you know boots in the ring and I don't know if you remember this at all Dr. Trey but when Rick Flair retired from WWE after WrestleMania 24 the next time on Raw they closed out the show with like this massive show of appreciation of love or the entire roster came out I fully expect that I know I know

19:23 they're saying right now according to reports there's no runtime on the show but yeah I mean the emotional roller coaster that I think fans are going to be on whether you loved Cena like Cena respected Cena hated Cena you know there is a part of nostalgia that'll end on Saturday where it's a chapter closing it's you know even when there's athletes that I I'm not fans of it's like man that's that's a chapter closing and that to me is how I'm going to be looking at it I mean I think that first the match probably 20 25 minutes and then the stuff afterwards I mean you could be looking at the entire first hour of Saturday Night's main event beat plus being just dedicated to John Cena and then the three other matches will get the rest of the show yeah I don't know I just feel like I hope that there is a huge celebration post match because if there's anyone that deserves it it is John Cena. Plus who the hell wants to follow that match like if you're Bailey and Saul Ruka do you want to be the match after that emotion like how the hell are you gonna get the fans even to pay attention to your match after they just saw John Cena's last match like I mean the sting Darby Youngbuck's thing is a good comparison because didn't that one didn't that one close out the show for AEW that night I believe it did it did yeah yeah but like in uh you know takers final match I don't think we really knew that was the final match because he did the

20:58 boot thing once before and then came back later on down the line um but something like this I mean you want your biggest emotional attraction tip of the close out the show and this is where WW kind of needed to step in and go that this is John Cena being humble and going I don't want to be the focal point of the show I don't want to be the main event like Cena's been really really humble during this year long run when it comes to making sure guys are taking care of but this is where WW should say should said John this is your last match we're closing the show with you because hey you're the biggest star in the last 20 years in this company and be who the hell wants to go after you like who wants to be in there because the crowd is going to be so emotionally invested in that match whether they want to admit it or not that by the time that match is over it's going to be really hard to get the crowd back up for the next three matches so it's it's it's going to be interesting see if they can I kind of expect them to do something kind of crazy on this show towards the end just to kind of get the crowd back up for the end of the show I just don't know what to be but by the way and I was going to ask is it will probably get into the little bit but um open Cody was kind of surprising I kind of thought it'd be Ricky and Cody yeah yeah I thought so too I think I'll probably pause on that because we're talking so much about Cena right now because we've got deadline and we'll talk about Saturday and it's been about to definitely address that

22:28 but I'm I'm certainly with you on that one um yeah the the scene is I kind of you know the more I think about it I kind of like it dr. Trey because it's like a chapter closes at the beginning and then you are looking at the future afterwards it's going to be different than what we're used to but it's again I always use this word but it's like poetic in a sense that it's like this is the chapter closing and this is what we're um we're doing you know moving forward so with with the company it's um it's an interesting time it's it's it's it's going to be strange how do you feel going into this dr. Trey knowing that John Cena's in-ring career is over like what do you expect for yourself as you you know either you watch the show live or you watch it on demand like what what are your fields right now knowing that we're just days away from the John Cena era of a formerly closing and roll the ass entertainment it's it's surreal in a lot of ways because typically we don't get these announcements that hey well we've never had you know a rolling stones type retirement tour for somebody before so that's new but you know and typically if we knew somebody was about to retire like whether like Goldberg earlier this year we knew that this was coming that he was going to have a last match it is a sense of surrealism especially because we've seen John Cena pretty regularly over this year it's not like years past where we'd see him once a year or you know four times a year like he's been

24:01 semi-regular during this retirement tour so I don't know if it's it's really sunk in and it may not actually sink in until the close of that match I mean you know we were joking to start the show about no more Cena merch and no more Cena plushees and all that's like I literally bought Sammy Franklin the old John Cena 8 gig t-shirt that looks like a super Nintendo game yeah that's a bottom that shirt I bought him that shirt for Christmas this year because John Cena is Sammy Franklin's favorite wrestler and it's a little sad that you know he's six years old and this guy's retiring and you know he's not going to get to see him in the ring anymore going forward but does he know what's going on no no concept of it are you gonna tell him like it's his last match like how do you or just still too young to understand that and and honestly if if I feel like I know he gets really emotional during John Cena matches like he is if Cena's winning he is talking smack to everybody else in the house the entire time and when Cena's on the defense he's screaming at the TV that the other guy is cheating whether he's cheating or not he just tell you that if John Cena's losing is because somebody else is cheating so I don't even know if I'm going to let him watch that match yet live until he can put in plus it it's also depending on the time it might be it

25:33 might be a little bit after his bedtime also but it's just he doesn't understand retirement so I can't really tell him hey this is the last time John Cena's going to wrestle because that'll just flip him out to the core yeah so it may just be one of those things where like he becomes aware of it later more than anything else I do think I'll probably let him watch the match and then because I'm trying to teach him also like he is the worst loser of anything in the world like he absolutely comes unglued if you beat him at some point and when Cena lost to Cody he was just livid during that match that Cena actually lost that's why didn't let him watch the Brock Lesnar match because I kind of thought it might go the way it went but I'm trying to teach him that it's okay to lose as long as you're doing your best and so I may let him watch that match just to kind of reemphasize that point that it's not always winning and losing it really is about putting forth your best effort.

26:44 All right well Dr. Trey with that being said John Cena's final match this Saturday in Washington DC Saturday and it's main event John Cena's final match we will look towards that show here momentarily but first because there is some stuff that happened at the the NXT show this past Saturday that affects Saturday and it's a main event let's get into it NXT deadline recap so this was from this past Saturday from the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio Texas we had Oba Femi defeating Ricky Saints to win back the NXT Championship he's now a two time champion Javon Evans defeated Leon Slater Joe Hendry, Dion Lannix and Miles Bourne to win the men's Iron Survivor Challenge match for an NXT Championship match against Oba Femi was supposed to be at New Year's Evil he cashed in on that this past Tuesday on NXT losing to Oba Femi thanks to interference from now I guess the heel absolute Ricky Saints Kendall Gray shocked the world by defeating sole Rooka Lola vice Kalani Jordan Jordan Gray's to win the women's Iron Survivor Challenge match for NXT Women's Championship match at New Year's Evil I've become a very quick fan of Kendall Gray what an amazing talent she is is he damned defeated Tane and Paxley Ethan Page defeated Mr. Guana to retain the NXT North American Championship Dr. Trey what were your thoughts and takeaways from NXT deadline this past Saturday my friend I mean I mentioned a little bit earlier I was I was kind of surprised that Oba Femi regained the NXT Championship because I was kind of looking forward to seeing a a Ricky Saints Cody Rose Saturday night main event matchup they have some good matches in

28:22 AEW so I was kind of wanting to see that their co-girl this one but Oba Femi and Cody's kind of dream I imagine then the fallout with with you know Ricky Saints quasi turning heel I don't know if we're there yet but he did cause Javon Evans to not win that match is interesting as well but that's kind of we talked about it like that's kind of what they do at NXT like if you're a baby face and you win the championship they come back and make you a heel just to kind of see which side you seem to do better always seem to with you know a number of talents the the men's iron survivor match I don't know I don't know if I could get really get into it it was a fantastic match it was fun to watch I just didn't get into it as much as I did previous iron survivor matchups but it was good on Javon to get the win because he almost won it last year and then getting the cash in at least is building a storyline for him and I'm with you the women's iris of Iron Match like yeah Kendall Gray just really stood out in that match the the other women in the match we've all kind of seen before we saw the Saul Rook and Andrew Angle they love to do but yeah it's just she's a fantastic like she's got this sounds weird and and and maybe I'm off the transition from her amateur experience into where she's at and wrestling is one of the quickest transitions I've ever seen like she looks naturally fluid in the rain and you don't see that very often I won't use the Kurt Angle comparison

29:59 because that's elite level but she's like up there on just how fast she's transition from her amateur wrestling background and other athletics into pro wrestling like she could be a big time star here in the near future she's got the look she's got the talent she's got the Mike skills already like she's gonna be you want on the fast track kind of like what we saw with Saul Rook at this past year and Saul getting her center nice main event matchup at Bailey I mean I think we can see the same thing with Kendall Gray here before long yeah there's the Kendall Gray part I'll start there I think they're beating the comparison to Kurt Angle a little too to death yeah honestly on on NXT television I get it the thing with her is so I know you probably did not watch this doctor tray I would watch level up I am not watching evolve so I watched level up when Kendall Gray was on there and she tagged a lot with I believe Cali Bright I think that's the name that she has an NXT and she was okay nothing that stood out I've watched her the last let's say month on NXT television and you heard some whispers like she's the real deal and and she is backing it up I also heard the same thing about Cali Armstrong which I've seen very few matches of hers but Kendall Gray is legit like you I'm watching this right now and I'm like a year two years three years Kendall Gray could very well be in a WrestleMania match for championship either as the champion or

31:33 as a challenger like she is that good it reminds me of the build of Tiffany Stratton honestly because I watched Tiffany Stratton go from that level up to NXT television to just obviously ascend to where her career is today Kendall Gray is is really really good both iron survivor challenge matches so as long as they've been doing it I have loved this match I've talked about how much I've gushed all over I think it's like a very similar to the casino battle royal matches that they do now in a w I have felt like or is that the casino gauntlet match they call it now not the battle royal I feel like it's like one of those underrated match gimmicks that is really really good I gotta say I was let down by both matches this year I thought both matches were carbon copies layouts of how each one went I mean the last second pin like yeah that gets a great pop but we've seen that already with like trick Williams and then I saw it earlier in the night with the women's match and then I'm seeing it in the later of the night with the men's match I felt like they needed to get a little bit more creative than basically do a blueprint of the same exact match to a degree in those final five minutes so I thought both matches were were let down I still think it's a great match concept I'd like to see it integrated more in NXT quite honestly rather than once a year I don't think it over does it all that much so I was let down by that over defeating Ricky St. was a surprise that kind of carry is over to some conversation about the match with Cody Rhodes Saturday nights main event but Ricky turning heel on Tuesday on NXT by costing Javon Evans the match I thought was a nice touch I would

33:09 have liked to see this wait a little bit but clearly they wanted to go forward with the Ricky St. Seale run I would prefer save it for NXT New Year's evil quite honestly is he day in Tainempaxi good entertaining match good storyline match like that Ethan Page has been a great character on NXT television all year long the Mr. Guana stuff I feel like his popularity has really kind of gone downhill I thought that match was not necessary to be needed on this show quite honestly and it was just like an add on but it was a fine show doctor try I thought NXT deadline was you know a step up from a normal episode of NXT honestly yeah I didn't even bring up the Ethan Page Mr. Guana match because I would like the Mr. Guana gimmick is exactly that like it's entertaining like you kind of have to make it special if you see it all the time like there's only so much you can do now that mind you Mr. Guana is actually a good wrestler but the gimmick itself is a little bit like yeah you you kind of runs for it's an Ethan Page and the Ethan Page Chelsea pairing maybe if we ever do a category for the favorite thing you saw in wrestling on our award show this year it might be Chelsea and Ethan Page because they've just been phenomenal all year long um is he in Tainempa I left that just because it kind of slipped my mind but that was storyline wise was good and solid as well but yeah like the thing we're saying by the iron iron survivor challenge is almost the same

34:40 thing we said a couple weeks ago about survivors series war games like they were almost carbon copies of each other and that just shows a little bit of lazy producing and and maybe also like there are times that you just can't come up with a something fresh and innovative that we haven't seen before because after a while you know all the cool stuff's already been taken it's just that you just have the kind of present stuff in different ways but I don't know if I could handle seeing it more if if if we're seeing the trajectory of the match quality kind of go down I don't know if we want to see it more so it was kind of a let down match but overall the like you said it was like a really really good episode of NXT uh like I'm just glad I didn't have to pay any extra money true true um and I guess it kind of carries over to Saturday and to be in a van I mean we've beaten the John Cena got their stuff already we've we've already discussed that so looking at the three other matches you've got undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes versus NXT champion Oba Femi um you know you brought up some points there Dr. Trey early on in the show so so what are your thoughts going in this one with with Cody and Oba rather than Cody taking on his protege Ricky Saints I mean I'm excited for the match like I've been wanting to see Oba on on a bigger stage for a while I think the shock value for those you know casual WWE fans who don't really watch NXT I think finally seeing Oba Femi in his size and you know in the ring with Cody I mean I think people are gonna really get taken

36:14 to back by it um I was surprised because it shows their faith in Elbe like the safe pick would have been Ricky Saints because you know him and Cody would have put together a good match because a like you said Ricky's kind of Cody's protege and plus they've had matches so I'm happy to see Oba get the spotlight I know you've been hammering about it for a little while I we were hoping to see it at war games or or have him join the vision I still think there has to be some kind of big payoff for this match to lead into rumble something happening to Cody to kind of trend towards the rumble but I'm excited to see it and I'm excited for Ricky Saints because I think Ricky Saints is a better heel than he is a baby face so I'm hoping he takes this opportunity and really just runs with yeah I'm with you I think Ricky Saints is much better than a heel than a baby face it's been he was very watered down as a baby face just did not enjoy it whatsoever I was definitely concerned for him coming out of deadline it's like well that was a quick title run one thing I'd do with Ricky now some very good foreshadowing then I got pick on in the moment with the backstage stuff later on the show with Javon Evans and and Ricky Saints that was obviously replayed at the start of NXT this past week which then carried itself to the final segment that I thought was really good but yeah I'm really looking forward to Oba Femi for Cody Rhodes I think this is a test this is the test for Oba if we see Oba get on the main roster and let's say 46 8 12 months it could very well be because

37:48 this match I hope he does well I hope he performs well I think the long term stuff for Oba is very intriguing and part of me wonders like would they would they do a shock of the world and have Oba defeat Cody Rhodes I don't think that's out of the rumble possibility I'd put it like at a 40 percent chance right now Dr. Trey so I'm intrigued by that one AJ Styles and Dragon Lee I guess are defending I can't get clarity on this the defending the World Tag Team Chip Gains Javon Evans and Leon Slater the TNA X Division Champion how about that for TNA I mean they are getting one of their guys on the final match show of John Cena's career I mean that is huge for TNA and I expect this match to be very very fun to watch Bailey versus Sol Ruka I like this one I think Sol Ruka is the future as well someone how I was gushing about Kennel Gray I would do the same for Sol Ruka I think being paired with the measuring stick of the women's division in Bailey is the right call here so those are the four matches including Cena and Gunther obviously that have been announced Dr. Trey I think it's gonna be a fun show on Saturday night I like the the different look that the show is getting based off of what John Cena wanted to close out his career yeah I really didn't cover that two matches but I'm excited for AJ and Dragon Lee against Slater and Evans and it's mainly because I get to see AJ Styles in the ring against somebody holding an exhibition championship yeah like that that's really cool so it's cool for TNA it's cool for AJ Leon Slater has quickly

39:25 become one of my favorite people and it's mainly because of his promos because I can't understand half the stuff he says with that Cockney British accent but it's super fun to listen to it's a little bit like when Shaymus first came on the main roster and his Irish accent was so heavy you almost needed close captioning to understand it but I'm accepting that match and and Sol Ruka like this may be the one match where I pick an NXT person to get the win a little bit because of the Bailey multiple personality storyline in the background but also like if Saul wins I don't think anybody can be shocked about it because she probably is the future of the women's division on the main roster here in the next couple years and I actually would not be surprised if Opah Femi wins because hey Cody needs a challenger for Rumble and if Drew McIntyre shows up and costs Cody to match Opah gets a big win and then we get a Cody Drew match at Royal Rumble yeah that would be that would be good I I feel like there's a big moment outside of Cena that takes place on the show Dr. Trey do you think it's I mean I think I could see them like it could be any of these things it could be a new tag team champions it could be Sol Ruka shocking the world and defeating Bailey but I feel like if you want to make an imprint on this show outside of Cena like Opah defeating Cody does that yeah I mean to me especially with Cena in the opening match like I said earlier

40:58 like you need something else big to happen otherwise you're gonna have fans feeling a little bit let down by having Cena on first and then the rest of the show just being you know I like a souped up smack down in a lot of ways you know so it's like you need something else to kind of make people go crap I can't miss the Saturday night main event thing ends yeah no this is on peacock this on peacock yet exclusive so this also I think the contract runs through March I believe with this but I'm not entirely sure but yeah you definitely need something big to kind of you know kick us off into Royal Rumble season as well and not just wait to go raw smack down because I think after this we only have about five weeks until the Royal Rumble I think it's a little bit more than that no I mean the less I think it's it's in between it's not when they're doing the championship games I think it's like the 31st okay so then we got about six weeks yeah yeah yeah two more weeks just two more weeks in December than four in January so usually this is about the time they start really setting up the Rumble storylines because I'm pretty sure people will start announcing on the first Netflix or the next first Raw the new year on Netflix that they're announcing for the Royal Rumble so you

42:32 got just a couple weeks really start kicking off Royal Rumble season yeah it's gonna be fun time it's wild we're heading heading to the holiday season and yeah speaking of that the holiday schedule kicks off next week on the show so dr. Trin and I will be back here on the 18th for episode 827 we'll be recapping professional wrestling the year 2025 we'll listen back to our our predictions at the start of the year we'll also recap obviously John Cena's final match from Saturday night to main event and anything else that comes out of that show and everything anything else that comes out to earn the week on Christmas Day it'll be our 2025 SRT award show special and then on New Year's day it'll be the wrestling preview special for 2026 all over the next three weeks here on SRT you and don't forget go to patreon it is listener appreciation month the entire month of December is free the minute we're done recording this show it'll be up on patreon so go there sign up be a free member and support us that is how we're engaging our community at large here for the for the so real does show so we're not asking anybody to pay for anything just go there sign up as a free account so we could see who is supporting us and so that we can grow community here in 2026 with that being said let's get a couple plugs and sponsor the way you could support us at patreon.com/srtupodcasts as I just said you get the show ad free with it so many more exclusives up there or you could download us every Thursday or Friday at realguymedia.com russle chat and then on x and the store that show feed on apple spot if ever you've download this podcast don't forget to rate review and subscribe

44:03 on those podcast platforms to help us out you can follow us individually on x from myself at srt ujf and for dr. jr franklin at the dr. tray and of course don't forget to follow show on x at srt podcast with that being said what is going on the wonderful world of dr. jr franklin this week well like jf said you can follow me on x at the dr. tray you can sign me on instagram and facebook dr. jr franklin uh when you're on facebook be sure to check out rock and see championship wrestling we just had our nine year anniversary show this past Saturday we're about a month out from the rockest city rumble which is typically our biggest show of the year so really excited about that really excited about the work i'm doing with Spartan championship wrestling as well so you can go check those guys out on facebook uh like jf said check out the patreon page and i'm only bringing this up because i'm old and i was a little intimidated by going to a new platform and checking it out it's really easy so for our older fans it's really easy and simple you can just go there and subscribe and it's really cool and easy but uh check out the rockest city like i said on the facebook and check out your local independent wrestling shows where you two can go uh find out who the next breakout star is i did not really know who the person was that i had told jeff about months ago that was training at Spartan championship wrestling uh it was actually Laney Reed she was the one who was trained by my friend Joshua Agan uh and she'll be actually down uh at Spartan rolling around uh here the next few weeks

45:35 when they go into krisis break so your local independent wrestling shows i mean that's that's where the uh the grass grows that uh blossoms into these lush full lawns that is a w and w w e there you go support all the great things that support s r t u enjoy john cnus final match this saturday whether you loved them hated them were indifferent on them this is a huge deal for professional wrestling enjoy enjoy this moment as a chapter is coming to a close uh with that being said we will recap it all for you on next week's edition of s r t u uh until then for dr tre franklin i am jeff pack thank you for downloading this has been the Stora La Shell.