Is Now The Time To Get The Belt Off Roman Reigns? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #727 – 1/18/24

0:00 It's still welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition The snow Real Doll Show EPISOD number seven and twenty seven for January eighteen, twenty twenty four. Welcome to this week's edition of ass R. She you. I am one after the show, I am Jeff Peck joined every single week with my colors, The One Only, Doctor Tray Franklin, Doctor Trey. How frozen are you? My friends? Uh? You want to build a snowmand You got some snow? No I didn't, but it's we got some in the in the upper part of Alabama, like I got mostly ice, so that which is not good for your location. I mean, are you guys prepared for that?

0:57 Now? Now do you mean you guys as an the state or me personally. Let's start with you personally then the state. Yeah, no, I'm always prepared for this. I mean, you know, I spent so many years traveling that I'm like, Oh it's a blizzard. Oh it's a hurricane. Oh it's an earthquake. I've driven through all these things. It sounds like you just went through like the beginning stages of a hurricane promo. Yeah, basically to stand back, but no, like I'm I've traveled the country, so there's not really a weather system I haven't driven through. So for me, you know, I've been up there the Northeast. I think it was about five years ago, six years ago, pre Sammy, when I was in Boston and we got hit with like three feet of snow and then I had to drive down from Boston all the way down to Atlanta and even drive through Connecticut like you'd be driving down the interstate. I said, Oh, here's a giant snow drift in the middle of this lane. Let me get over. It's kind of like playing Froger. Wasn't that like the last time you and I saw each other in person? Yeah, actually I think it was. Yeah, I felt like it was around December time, several years ago, and yeah, I remember there being like a lot of snow on the ground. Yeah, And for me, like like I'm fly with them. But and then, you know, just the years that I've been with my wife now Matt to teach her a little bit about like, hey, so when you're driving on ice, stay off your break. You really don't want to accelerate through either. You don't want to get to a good speed. And then just kind of coast and keep your wheel kind of straight, like with whichever angle you're going, keep your wheel in that alignment.

2:25 It's it's pretty easier for that. And really down here, like it's been, it's patchy ice. So you'll be cruising along sixty miles an hour that there's a you know, twenty foot section of ice on the road. You don't hit your brakes, you just kind of coast through it. So we've been good. I've been able to get around, but the rest of the states, No'll not do so much. Yeah, I was. I mean, I tried to stay away from the news for the most part. List it's like things that I need to know if they're important, they'll make their way to me. That's kind of I feel about things nowadays. But when I would turn it on to keep it back into wrestling, and I saw that they were at Little Rock, Arkansas this past Monday, and they had like a huge pile of snow. I think in one of the opening shots, I'm like, WHOA, Okay, first off, they've gotten more snow than I have in the Northeast. I know, it's like really cold throughout the country right now, like it for me. I think it's eighteen degrees here right now as I record the show. It's terrible, Doctor Trey.

3:29 You have pets. I have a pet, and trying to get your dog to crap in this type of weather not fun at all, especially when what kind of dog do you have? Now? I have a German shepherd. Okay, so your German shepherds little begger than my. So he can kind of hover a little bit off the ground, like when you have a French bulldog and a basically a Boston tearing English bulldog. Like they're low to the ground anyway, Yeah, it is. Basically they just run outside. Like we have a ram, like a like a basically like a handicap sole ramp coming on to our front porch. They basically yesterday they're basically sliding down the ramp and then doing their business right there at the bott of the rips slightly off the side, thank goodness. And then the fun part was watching them try to come back up the ramp. Now is it still cold there?

4:15 Yeah, we're like today our high was thirty two. Wow, right now it's about nineteen twenty degrees outside. Yesterday the highway seventeen in the lowest three and you guys aren't used to this. No, no, not out here. I mean there's homes that legitimately don't have heat, right, I mean, well even my house totally we don't have We don't have central heating and air in this house. So what are you doing? What are you doing right now? For heat that we have? We have like the no, no, I know you're five minutes ago freakouts. These are not the gas don't tell me the space heaters. They're not the gas space here, but they are the electrical one we haven't been surge protector. We have one on each in each room. Well I think we have three each room connected to the surge protector to minimize the voltage and stuff like that. But that's kind of what we have because we don't really have to use them that much in the winter, like just occasionally knock the chill out of the air because usually our lows are at worst thirty, so we really we rarely get below freezing in this area. No, this is pretty crazy. Is it set to warm up in Alabama this weekend? It's supposed to warm up tomorrow and Friday, then we get another blast of not really freezing weather. It's gonna below freezing a little bit, but it's not supposed to be as bad as this blast one was. But then by Tuesday they said that he should be sixty five again. Wow wow wow. Yeah. I know it's supposed to warm up here like next week, but yeah, I mean, I know.

5:43 This is like the beginning of the wrestling podcast we did see, like Little Rock Arkansas had really bad snow for the start of Ross, so bad that they actually had to change the set for Monday Night R on twenty four hours notice because they didn't want to hang anything off the roof because they were afraid that there could have been potential collapse. I should be laughing, but it's like absurd when you read it. And that's more people are like, wow, did they change the set for RAW? I don't know if I like it, Like that's what people are thinking about. It's like, hey, they did this because there was potential roof collapse with the snow on top of the building. Like this is for those that are outside the United States that are listening to this podcast. For where Doctor Trey lives, for it to be really cold, for it to have ice, for there to be snow and not just like an inch or two of snow, but like six to twelve inches of snow is extremely rare. And this just appears to be those times where it always feels like it's a lead up to the Royal Rumble to tie again back into professional wrestling. That it's like we have like this wild cold snap in the United States. So I hate it, but I live in an area that you're used to it, Doctor Turayon not so much.

6:49 So I hope all of our folks that are down south that listen to the podcast here are doing all right. That seems to be a traditional thing that we talk about this time of the year on the show. Another non wrestling thing, Uh my Boogeyman returns this Saturday night, Doctor Trey, and it isn't the Boogeyman for professional wrestling, But I think we should get this out of the way, uh myself, Green Bay Packers fan slash owner Doctor Trey, San Francisco forty nine Ers fan. As long as we've been doing this podcast, the forty nine Ers and the Packers I think have meant in the playoffs maybe three times and every one I think it's been more than that because it was two times just in the past for years. Uh to the playoffs too. Was it THEUSY Championship game? There was the Auzy Championship game where so you did it at Garoppolo got the Super Bowl? Was that the most or game where he ran for like two hundred yards? Yeah? It was someone saying all right, so hold on, there's so the twenty tens, and I know people that don't care about football are going to be like, what the hell are they doing this for? But we're going to do it. Okay. Twenty twelve playoffs, the forty nine Ers won forty five thirty one at Candlestick. That was the NFC Division Round twenty thirteen. They won at lambo I remember that one. That was a field goal in the game. That was the wild Card Round twenty nineteen NFC Championship game. They

8:20 beat the Packers thirty seven twenty So that was twenty nineteen, so that's three and oh. And then NFC Divisional Round twenty twenty one playoffs they defeated the Packers thirteen ten at Lambeau, so that is four and oh in the playoffs. The forty nine Ers are during the history of the Sorialta Show and they'll be doing it for a fifth time. So I fully expect that this is going to be another fun bug a boot time for me. See, and I'm in the opposite room because I still remember the Brett Farviers where the Packers, oh the Nighters in the playoffs. They did, but they did outside the Steve Young was the Steve Young Terrell Owen's game, which which Jerry Rice fumbled the ball. Yeah, the famous he didn't, He did not fumble.

9:03 That was a nineteen ninety eight playoffs in the wild card round. Yes, the catch two as forty nine ers call it, but Packers fans call it Jerry Rice fumbled the ball, but like far owed the Niners in the playoffs usually. So like I still have those years in my head because I'm like, oh great, this is a new quarterback and he doesn't have that tie at San Francisco, like you know, Aaron Rodgers did. So like Jordan Love is like, oh this, I'm stressing already because are you nervous? Yes? Are you more nervous than any other time that the Niners have played the Packers. Now with Aaron Rodgers, let's just say for that for that sake, because I can understand the mid nineties because yes, the Packers did own the Niners in the playoffs, with the exception of like the catch two game that we talked about, But are you nervous about Saturday twenty twenty nineteen. I was probably more nervous the one that that Garoppolo got Super Bowl with, because I was like, I did not think Garoppolo could now do a Brett Park I mean Aaron Rodgers. I did think that was gonna happen, So I was probably more, but I didn't. I think I take that back. I think part of it is like my expectations are higher this year because we're the number one seed. We're typically you guys were seated higher than us in the playoffs, so we had nothing to lose. So I get more nervous when we're the favorite because I don't like being the favorite.

10:22 I like being the underdog because if we lose, then I don't feel bad we weren't supposed to win. But if we're the favorites and we lose, then it just it's really depressive. Yeah, for nobody who people don't like give a shit about football. Apologies, like we'll get to wrestling here momentarily, but this Green Bay team is playing with some serious house money right now, Like they're dangerous. They are, yeah, but I mean like every time they win, I said to my wife on on Sunday when they were playing the Cowboys, like all day long, like usually high anxiety for the playoff games, and there were certainly there some there, but I said to her at one point, I was like, this is the most non anxiet read and I've ever been for a playoff game and some time for the Packers, because one, I didn't expect him to be there from the start of the season. Two they've been on like this wild ride roller coaster still, like three weeks ago, didn't think they were going to make the playoffs and here we are now. So it's like every time they win, it's like, yeah, I mean this is this is something else. So if they are able to get past San Francisco dout Trey, I will start to get nervous. I'll probably definitely be nervous on Saturday, for sure, But if they are able to get past the Niners, like it's it's like wait a minute, now, they're one went away from the Super Bowl, which is absolutely mind blowing. The pat the forty nine ers making the Super Bowl even right now is not mind blowing to me. Packers getting there is, so I was curious to hear if you were nervous at all for this. Yeah, And the bad thing is I don't have any Like there's no rivalry between this version of the Packers and Irist. There's nobody really on the team that

11:52 I just like immensely. Like Jordan Love I'm like, all right, he's pretty cool. I like him so far, Like Romeo Dobbs see the University of Nevada, which is my mom's hometown at school, so I'm like, hey, Robbo Dob's pretty cool. Christia Watson's pretty cool. Like the only guy I dislike is Aaron Jones is because of you know, he's dug the longest agreed guy left on the team. He's also like one of the nicest human beings, which is wild. So I get it. I don't have that, Like, you know, I don't have that hatred for Mark Shimura, like Fair Fair and Brett Farv and Rogers Deavante goes on even Rogers did. I never really hated him because I knew he was a closet forty Iron fan, so I can't really hate the guy. For him. I never really have had dislike for the Niners in all honesty, which is bizarre because I went to like I had a one of my best friends was a forty nine Ers fan, and when we were growing up, obviously at that point in time, Packers were kicking their ass, but even then, I probably never really hated a Niners team other than maybe those Torell Owens, Jerry Rice, Steve Young days. I mean, that's that's even when they've had Kaepernick and Garoppolo and Alex Smith the last fifteen years, it's just kind of been like tip your cap. They've always been the better team, They've always been better coach, whether it be Kyle Shanahan or Jim Harbaugh, they've had better players most of the time. I guess Garoppolo is the one that I would say I can't believe we lost to them. But defensively, Joey Bosa,

13:24 it's George Kittle, It's like people that are likable. So my expectations for this Saturday are I'm just going to ride the wave. It's probably the lowest confidence I've had in a Packers team to go take on the Niners, and sometime in the playoffs, but this is a dangerous team. I'm excited. I'm excited, Doctor try, I'm excited to but it's that nervous excitement where he's like, yeah, I really good before in this game, but dear, I mean worse. At least I've got the Cowboys. I'm not the Eagle if we now at least we're not one of those two teams. True, true, that is one way to get around. And plus everybody's happy when the Cowboys are eliminated from the playoffs. So the Packers, I guess our America's team right now. Yeah, because you hate the Cowboys more than the Niners. M yeah, I would say I'm more divisional. I don't like a lot of the divisional teams, even though I like Detroit. Yeah, I hate the Cowboys more than Niners. But the Niners have been This is like what the Seahawks were for me for a while, where like the Seahawks just kind of owned us for a little bit and then the Packers finally like overcame that hump and blah blah blah. But like the Niners have like owned the Packers the last fifteen years. So I just want to get this like monkey off my back quite honestly. I mean I can't sit here and like next week prepare for the Rumble and say like, oh, and the Packers lost to the Niners again, that would be five and oh during the history of the Packers are the playoffs here during this podcast that we would be tipping the cap to Doctor Trey as he prepares for another Super Bowl. So yeah, but you got did you get a couple of regular season wins in

14:58 there? So there are, but those those don't count. Come on, they do to me because in my head, like, can't we can't go like nine to zero against a team like there has to be a couple of losses in their big in somewhere, so to balance it out. It's like, Okay, you guys are to the raisings that we just happen to have the upper advantage in the playoffs. Right now, people that have downloaded this podcast are probably pissed. We've spent fifteen minutes talking about the weather in the NFL. But you know what, this is what we're gonna do. It's our podcast kind of slow week and professional wrestling as we gear up towards the Royal Rumble, which we will preview and predict on next week's edition of the podcast. We'll obviously talk about the Rumble match here on this week's system show, the pay per view and what have you, But we're gonna lead with with some folks that are located or started out in California. Maybe one of these three is a Niners fan. I don't know. I know the fourth person this match was born and raised in Seattle, the Washington area, so I'm assuming that they probably are not a Niners fan, but who knows.

15:52 Nowadays it was it appears here Doctor Trey, and you and I are recording this as aw Dynamite is airing live this week as we speak. But the close to last week's edition of the homecoming edition of Dynamite was the Young Bucks making their return, the first time they've been back since full gear, new looks, mustaches galore. They interrupt Sting's promo where it was like, okay, so who is going to be your opponent for your final match at Revolution? They come out, Sting never answers, and all signs are pointing towards that the final match of Sting will be he and Darby Allen taking on the Young Bucks fight. Full Select is reporting that the ending of this last week's edition of Dynamite was the result of a long time plan for Sting's retirement match as a we Hall of Famers, a major saying who his opponents would be, and as of several weeks ago, the Young Bucks with the team, Sting was on board with facing The new look for the Bucks including far less garsh gerrish, garsh clothing, I don't know what that is like, okay whatever, then usual and newly manicured mustaches is said to be part of their long plan shift and presentation. This is written by Wrestling Ink Shout Out There.

17:00 Sting's is reportedly adamant that his last match to be a tag team match, alongside his Meanty Darby and Allen Darby Allen. According to the report, aw has done what it can provide whatever Sting requests on his road of retirement, including fellow w Hall of Famer Nature bory Rick Flair. As for Flair, Fifles reporting that there are no plans for Flair to be an in ring participant in Sting's final match, but the former ww World Await champion has been pushing for more physical interactions during his tenure as Sting and Darby's manager. More This comes to us from Wrestling Observer newsletter via Wrestling Purists on Twitter. When Sting was asked who he wanted to face in his final match, the Young Bucks were his choice as he loved doing the Forbidden Door twenty twenty two match. The Young Bucks were originally going to take more time off before returning, but Sting asked them and they weren't about to turn that down. So doctor Treay, I simply ask you. With everything now painted of this picture Sting Darby Allen taking on the Young Bucks, it appears it will be his final match at Revolution. Is this the right choice? Is it my personal preference?

18:00 Probably not, But then again it's it's you know, it's sticking. If this is who he wants to go with, if that's who he wants to be his final dance partners, and you know, it's not really up to us to to critique that, Like, this is who he wants to wrestle. He wants Darby there, he wants Flair there, Like you know, I'm sure if if if Arn could get involved and be on the Bucks side or something, he'd be okay with that too. So now, if this is what the man wants for his final match, Like I I'm on board with it because that's what he wants. And it's kind of how don't want to say. It's like, you know when somebody's uh making their you know, their will, and they're like, I just want to honor your last wishes. This is kind of Sting's last wishes. And if he's happy with that choice, then you know it's it's awesome And I mean, you're not gonna get a better tag team to work with, and and the Bucks are going to bump their ass off and make them look like a million dollars on his way out the door. So it's a good matchup in that sense because you don't have to worry about somebody making Sting look bad in his last match. The Bucks are going to make sure Sting looks good and take care of Darby and you know they'll probably flop around for some flair chops and it'll be an enjoyable time for all. So you answer, which I figured would be the way right? Is it the right choice? Who is us to pick it out? That's what he wants for his retirement match short, so be it like we're not going to go against a legend like Sting. But let's look at it from what you were hoping it to be. What would be your dream farewell Sting match? Because when I originally thought about it,

19:30 I think we even mentioned it during the podcast when it was first announced that this would be his last match a couple of months ago. I always thought it was going to be Sting versus Darby Allen, and I thought it was going to be a torch passing match. Let it be a single match. He's been riding around with Sting this entire time, you know, Let that be the way that they carry it out. I think it's nice that he wants to have it still have Darby in the match, but from a tag team perspective. But I would have liked to see Sting do one more singles match on his way out Trey. That would have been my dream match scenario for Sting retirement. Yeah, I was thinking, and with all this stuff going on with Sting Derby the Christian Cage group so like that, I was hoping for maybe Sting Christian Cage. Ideally when this is person else, I was hoping the Adam Copeland and Christian Cage thing would have been died off and we could have got maybe Stinging Derby versus Copeland Cage, and I thought that would have been a really cool final match. But you know, I was like I was looking before you get Sting Christian Cage T and T title online, Sting wins, wins a championship in aw and then retires and then Cage invokes some kind of rematched clause and get the belt back, you know, something like that. But yeah, obviously, like the people that you know he has history with are really floating around the building anymore, and there's not a whole lot of guys that you work with. I mean, it would have been maybe cool to maybe get Paul White involved because there is some big show giant stingwo Wolf packed tie in stuff like that like that would be pretty cool, but really, like when you look at the roster that there's not

21:03 a whole lot of guys that he has a ton of history with. So, like you know, fantasy booking, Stinging Edge would have been a cool match. Stinging Christian Kge would be a good match, but you know, on paperwork, like I said a second, the Young Bucks, you know they're gonna make him look fantastic. They're gonna make him look better than maybe Jeff Jared and Jay Lethal did for Rick Flair's final match. So that's just kind of how I'm looking at, Like, those guys are buff machines. They can make anybody look good. So it's still not a bad choice. I don't know necessarily enough that was Jeff jar and Jay Lethal's faught, but yes, yeah, yeah, neither you're there. So looking towards the match, I I mean, we've still got, you know, six seventy eight weeks to talk about this. But is there a scenario where Sting doesn't win this match? Because the Young Bucks coming back early reportedly were set to be some major heels working in There were reports of a stable with Brandon Cutler and Colt Cabana as well, and really playing up how they've ran a lot of people out of the company. What have you? Is? Is there a world that they lose? Because you can make a case like, well, they're going to be around for a while, Darby's going to be around for a while. Torch passing right, the guy that is retiring usually takes the l, should and would and will Sting take the L in this match?

22:27 Should? He? Probably not? I mean there's not there's not a title on the line, there's no there's no rub. I mean unless that stable comes together between now and then, there's no real rub for them retiring sting. I mean you mentioned the other guys. I go back to the Kurt Angle Baron Corbin match. It was supposed to be a big sendoff, and really, I mean, Baron Corbin's done nothing since that match, a Wrestle Media Kurt angle. So you know Rick Flair's her retirement match, I mean he got I mean, the Shawn Michael's was great for Sean, but even then you felt bad that Sean won. You know, it was a good set off for that. But when you look at this match in particular, like, I don't see the upside because not to mention, yeah, they're not in charge of booking, but the Young Bucks are still seen as even though maybe they're not EVPs anymore, they are or what they're still looked at as kind of in that management role. And if management wins a match against a guy in his retirement match, that's indie show booking one on one where the booker goes over. So that's I don't see an upside to the Young Bucks getting the victory in this match, Plus it would just leave a sour taste in people's mouth, much like the current Angle match. If you know, the Bucks get the win and Sting goes out with an L. So I just maybe the only way you do it is if Darby takes the pen and fall, so Sting's not the one getting pinned, and that's how they you hide it a little bit. But really, I just don't see the

23:57 upside and having the Bucks go over this match. I just had this vision of the match ending with Sting and Darby Allen putting both the young Bucks into a scorpion deathlock, and that's how it happens. Both at the same time they're both tapping out. Crowd goes nuts, sending them fans home happy. You do that DIY double submission where the Bucks are like holding each other's hands. Ye, well they won't tap out, and finally that they stinging Darby pull them apart a little bit where they have to tap out, they're biting their fingers stuff like that. They could even go r old school right style and hopefully this resonates with some of the fans. Were like, the wrestlers come out and they're surrounding the rings, slamming the ring, get all excited.

24:38 It's it's gonna be pretty cool, and we've got plenty of time to talk about it. But figuring like that's the direction that they're going, I was really surprised by it, kind of thrown off. Did not see a tag team match coming. Always felt there was gonna be a singles match. Always felt like Darby was number one if it was going to be the singles match. But this is the direction that sing wants to go, and I'm sure they build these next six, seven, eight weeks there are gonna be a lot of fun. So we will see as the Young Bucks prepare themselves to take on Stinging Darby Allen and what will be his retirement match at the aw Revolution pay per view in early March, which can't get here soon enough with this friggin weather looking towards next week's pay per view. So I was watching SmackDown this past Friday and they're hyping up the Fatal four way with Orton aj Styles La Night Roman Reigns. There's a lot of talk right now about Roman Reigns being the champion, potentially taking on the Rock for the title at WrestleMania. People not being happy with that because they feel like it should be cod He taking on Roman Reigns again for the championship. It shouldn't be Rock and Roman with the title on the line. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And I thought to myself, you know, there could be a world where WWE decides to take the title off of Roman Reigns next Saturday at the Royal Rumble fatal four way match. He's protected, he actually doesn't get pinned, and then they could start building towards Roman Reigns versus The Rock with no championship, because I think everybody can agree you don't need a championship involved in this match to make it big and have people excited to see The

26:08 Rock and Roman Reigns battling and out. The head of the table can be enough for the tribal chief position can be enough. And I was like, there's actually a chance here. And if there's a chance, who could they put the title on. Maybe Randy Orton, Maybe Cody Rhodes wins the Rumble, and maybe it's Randy Orton versus Cody Rhoads, which makes a ton of storyline sense at WrestleMania so that Cody Rhodes can finish the story. This is pretty damn intriguing, Doctor Trey. And it's just me with my fantasy book in here. But I was like watching SmackDown, I'm like, I think there's a real possibility. Am I crazy? Or do I have an idea here that could be potentially taking place in about ten days? It's not crazy.

26:57 I think the Rumble is one of those first I don't want to see the test for Triple H. But you know, for years you died to this show. And sometimes the title gets thrown into a match that doesn't need the title, But that was always evinced thing, whether it was you know, Rock seen at two, or they went for some reason a title like Lesnar reigns. A couple of times that belt got thrown into the mix during one of those main events. You're like, what, like, we don't even really need the belts, Like it's it's not as important in this matchup as it could be in another one. And this is one of those times where you're absolutely right, like you could pull the trigger. Have Orton pinned a j Orton wins the title. Roman doesn't get pinned. Roman then goes to wrestlemanting to fight the Rock, and Cody wins The Rumble a game we get Cody Norton, and that way you don't you have Rock in Roman, and that way it makes it more intriguing because if the Rock is fighting Roman for the title, I don't think anybody expects The Rock to win. If Rock's fighting straight up with no title, now that's a different little question as to who gets to win. So I don't think you're crazy in that idea.

28:10 But then we had those other reports where they added AJ and l A. Knight to protect Randy for something down the line. So I don't think it's a far fetched idea, but it is. It would go against WWE precedent for what they usually do heading into WrestleMania season. Yeah, it just got me thinking because there's these reports out there that Roman isn't supposed to be an elimination chamber and that this match at the Rumble will be his last match before WrestleMania. I guess he's not said to be at Backlash either following WrestleMania, and his schedule is starting to resemble a lot less date. More of that, Brock lessner schedule where he's popping up at at certain times throughout the year, wrestling at the big shows, whether it be SummerSlam, WrestleMania, Survivor Series, what have you, and popping up here and there as it's champion, and that's not great. I am all four long title reigns, but give me twenty twenty, twenty twenty one most of twenty twenty two Roman reigns versus what we saw this past year, and I'm still down for this title reign Doctor Trey. I want to see more of those first couple of years he held the title versus this past year, because this past year was not not great because he really was not a round. After Wrestleming, he had the match with jay Usso then he had the stuff with La Night at Saudi Arabia and that was it. I mean, here and there he's on television and he's such a compelling and fun character, entertaining character during this run

29:42 as a tribal chief that one of our favorite storylines, one of our favorite groups, the Bloodline, has completely started to deteriorate from a we television standpoint since August. Really, I mean, I don't have as much compelling interest in them as a storyline, as I did earlier in twenty twenty three when obviously the Samy's Ain stuff was going on, and then later in the year when the Jay Uso stuff was going on and Jimmy USO's stuff. So it's it's kind of ow. Yeah, it's it sucks that he's not on television anymore. And I just think that maybe this is the time that you pull the trigger and allow someone else to run with the championship and move forward with original laid plans of putting the title on Cody at some point would be my guess. Let me ask you this, and this is what I was thinking about as you were answering that question. Do you view Roman's title as being more important than Seth's World headweight title? I do, because of you know, it's Seth's title is still brand new. I mean it doesn't, which is funny because when they bought brought back the World of weweight championship in twenty twenty in two thousand and two to combat the undisputed title when brock Lesard was championed, then they just gave it to Triple H, which was not a great creative way to do it. I did look at it as equal titles, and I looked at those two titles as equal, and I think that was the old school fan of me, because that was the ww Championship.

31:10 This is a new world title on raw that has no history, has no lineage, so they're still building it up. But it's like just a step below the Universal Championship that Roman Reigns is holding, because I look at it as a workhorse title similar to the Intercottinental Championship. Right now, That's what I was trying to figure out, like the sheer fact that Seth has defended this title so many times. I think they said like sixty six times. Yeah, it almost counted. How shows It almost works against the prestige of the title because we see it so often that it's become an expectation of a show as opposed to a special attraction, so to speak. And I don't know if that's the wrestling fan because even though you know, you and I talked about aw Lot, the aw World Championship for a good part that MDF fraud. He have a big match of everything, we wouln't see it for like two weeks, and so it did kind of make it feel like a little more special when he did show up. And with seth situation where he's on Raw all the time and he's de been to this title everywhere all the time, it almost, I don't want to say, depreciates the value, but like you know, if your favorite food truck vendors in the same spot every single day all the time, you just kind of go, oh, well, I don't have to go there today. I can go there tomorrow the next day, whereas you're like, hey, he's only here once every three weeks, I have to go get those tacos today, you know, saying like if that makes sense, like the specialness of it, maybe because it is a workhorse title is lost because we have it all the time,

32:45 or as the Universal Championship is seen as more prestigious because of the infrequency of its appearances. Yeah, it's it's it's a workhorse title. Right now. I think we're on the same page, and it's been defended so much that it kind of loses this of it it's importance in a way, like you respect it that he's doing it, but it's I don't know, it's like lost that prestige, Like I dig that they do World Everyweight Championship matches from time to time unraw, but I feel like they've been doing it very frequently lately, so I think that kind of loose a little bit of luster. You take it for grants, you do, you absolutely do. And I guess while we're talking about there is a seth Rons factor in this all right now because he got hurt on Monday's raw. We don't know as we record this what the severity of the injury is, if it will keep him out for the WrestleMania. There's really no direction of it. They're saying that seth Rons is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. They have no idea of the severity of the injury. It could be really bad, it could be nothing. So that's a bit concerning, and maybe this changes the story on next week's ition the podcast with the direction of everything. But I do think like if there's a time to get the title off of Rains and still protect Rains, it's now Doctor Troy, because if it's not at the Rumble, then we're going to get Roman versus Rock at WrestleMania forty right now for the championship, and then I believe Roman is going to be holding that title even longer in twenty twenty three, to the point where, at best, excuse me, twenty

34:15 twenty four, at best he may drop it at SummerSlam to a Cody Rhodes like that, or he could go around the world again, another way around the earth and be the champion for at Wrestle many forty one, and then we're looking at well over what seventeen hundred days at that point as universal champion. So it's interesting times because I do think, given the direction of Roman reigns right now, I would take the title off of them because it just has not been as enjoyable as it was the last six months. What was Hogan's time was a forty he jeez, I know, uh, I think Hogan. I'll have to look this up here. I thought. I think Cogan may have had like fifteen there was the one where we're and took the title, because I think that was close to fifteen hundred days. And then that's where that's where the tie in comes in, where if they don't pull the trigger at Rumble, he's not losing the title to the Rock because obviously the Rock can't defend the title, and that Rock doesn't have the schedule to really do anything with it, then it probably won't get lost until the next wrestle media because that would have him beat Hogan his record, and then you take the belts off of him because at that point he's now past Hulk in the longest run of the I know they say modern air, but they still count of one of Bruno's runs in there, Like, yeah, I'm looking at it right now. So Rains, where is it? I just had

35:45 it here. I just turned my phone side away so I could see the dates, and of course I lost it. I sound like my dad on the phone. Where was it? My dad says part two? Yes, what the hell is? So? I saw that Rains was at twelve thirty five, and he's two days away from passing a rain that Bruno had, which was twelve thirty seven, and then Hogan was like fourteen seventy four, so he made it all the way to exprestl Meinia. He'd be over fifteen hundred days, so that he would break he would break Hogan's mark. He would break Hogan's mark this year like SummerSlam time. Yeah. So that's that's where that issue comes in. If you don't pull the trigger. Now you can have him break Hogan record, which would then arguably make him the greatest, the greatest heavyweight champion of all of all time, you know, outside of Brute because it's a whole different world. Yeah, so here here it is, sorry doctor Trace. So yeah, Roman right now, Court in Wikipedia is at twelve thirty five. Next on the list is Bruno San Martino with twelve thirty seven, so he would pass that by like Friday's SmackDown.

36:55 Three is Bob Ackland at fourteen seventy. Hogan is number two at fourteen seventy four, and then Bruno San Martino is twenty and three, which is like eight years. So no, that's not happening. But WrestleMania season, you get to two hundreds some of my days is roughly seven months, so that would be around SummerSlam if Summerslam's in August, yep, so you could have him hold the title always SummerSlam. Let Cody beat him. There. At that point, range is jump past Backland and Hogan and is only second to Bruno. So as much as I'd love to see the belt change hands now and just get rolling in the rocks straight up to WrestleMania because then you and I could actually have a debate as to who you have win that match.

37:40 There's a lot of logic WB wise to have him hold the belt all the way to at least SummerSlam, if not Wrestle Media next year and pull the trigger there. It's interesting, It is interesting. So you think if they just get him past number two, I mean, he's not going to reach Bruno. No, no, I mean if they had him go there for the for in our record, he wrestling once every six months, So there we go. I think he's trying to transition slowly into the other stuff now. But I mean, I mean his kids are like in their like their early tens oughts. I think I think, I think they're I think he had some kids during the pandemic. Actually does he like two sets of twins or something weird like that. I think he had, like the older sets, which was the one we saw the reading commercial. I think they're like in their teens now and the other sets like in their threes and fours.

38:30 I know he has a daughter because he was having tea with her in that same commercial. So yeah, it appears he's slowly or I guess kind of fast speeding into that like wrestling at just the big events, and he sells the championship. So we'll see. We'll see if this is the time to get the title off of him. We'll see what the bill is on Friday SmackDown. Obviously, I think they're doing the contract signing. Roman's supposed to be there. But again, I mean, you've got a fatal four way, you've got triple threats. We've talked about this in the past, the Roman reigns in his title reign. If you want to get the title off of them, now's the time to do it. And I don't think anybody would bat an eye against it if they chose to do it at Saturday or next Saturday's Royal Rumble because of the potential direction of the w Universal Championship.

39:15 Speaking of the Royal Rumble, Doctor Trey, as I was watching ROS this past Monday, I could not get over the fact that I don't remember, at least on the men's Royal Rumble side. I think the women's Royal Rumble build has been good as well, but just not as good as the men's Yet Royal Rumble matches that are being built very well creatively, like the men's match. Everybody that is entering the Rumble wants to win it, says they want to win it, has a legitimate reason to win it, and makes you go, oh, you know, now, I won't remember why the Rumble was an important match because there was a period of time where it would be like maybe two to four people Doctor Trey and I thought were going to win the Rumble match each and every year, and this year it's a little bit more of a crapshoot. I certainly have my favorites and picks right now that we'll talk about in the next week the week's edition of the podcast.

40:07 But whether it's Drew, whether it's Cody, whether it's Bobby Lashly, whether it's CM Punk, You've got some people coming out there saying they want to win this match. They're declaring for the match, and it has me hyped and it has me really going and thinking that this could be a very special Royal Rumble match. And they're doing the same thing with the women. It's not as good yet to the level of the men on the build, but they're doing it really well and I'm very much so just really enjoying the build for the Royal Rumble matches taking place in about nine to ten days, Doctor Trey. Yeah, let me like, this is maybe the most show that I've asked you the most questions. Do you have more than let's say, three people that you think can actually win the Men's Rumble? I mean, in realistically, I have three people? Do you want me to share?

40:53 No? No, no, we'll save it. We'll save it. But like I'm at two, Okay, I have at least three. Okay, well, actually now I think I do have three, but one I don't think is much more of a little bit more long shot because I think he'll be in a different match. But I like the build. I don't think it's more about who I think will win. I'm really intrigued by some potential fights bringing out during the Rumble, like I honestly, I mean, of course, you want to see punkin Rows going, You want to see punkin McIntire go at it. There's some Yeah, there's I want to see. I want to see Jay and Drew go at it during the Rumble match because we really haven't had that rivalry kickoff. As much as Drews talked about Jay, we only had really like what one match between those two guys we haven't had the rivalry yet. Like I want to see where Sammy Zaye fits into all this because he was being built up as he was trying to get to the main event picture. Then that's kind of been pushed down a little bit.

41:49 But you know, I want to see Punkin and Kevin Owens fight. I want to see Punkin and a lot of it is the CM punk factor. I just want to see him in the ring fighting different guys. That gives us some compelling match matchups for twenty twenty four. So for me, I think realistically my number of people I think that can win the Rubble this is about maybe the same as years past, but the intrigue with the potential matchups, and I got to get a lot of gred at the booking because we've kept some of these guys apart and haven't seen them square up one on one, like maybe we would have seen in the past where maybe they would have shotgun some stuff. But you know, I want to see if depending on where the placement is, Hey, what if Randy gets in the rubble and all a sudden's Randy and Cody Like that would be great, or Randy and Punk for that matter, like some of those people that we see in the Fatal four Way or some other things that maybe get factors back into the rubble match would have me really intrigued as well. Yeah, it's been a very good build. I like the focus of it as it should be.

42:57 The importance of this match should be is the high level intensity as it it should be receiving. And I think that's something that has been lost over the years. I just I don't remember a time where it's been this much of a focal point as it should be. I mean, it's one of the best matches that they do all year. We talk about every year, maybe my favorite match that we cover probably my favorite match that we watch as wrestling fans, like I love sitting on the couch and the countdown coming and seeing who's gonna come out, what surprise is going to happen, some really fun moments. It's it's a ton of fun all the way around. And the build for the men's and the women's matches have been very good. And I want to do a little bit of a hat tip here because I just don't remember a time where it's been this good Doctor Trey, where it's getting this much play in this much love on we television as much as it has last several weeks. Yeah. I mean usually in years past, you would just see somebody go, hey, you know by the way, I've been this year's royal robo and you're like, okay, great yo, like give me like why there. It was almost like a throwaway and and so and was entering the rubble. Least this year they put a little more focal point on I met her the rumble and this is why I want to win. And then they give a little bit of history to it, like I even this stuff with like Drew and Cody from a from last week or week before last, with you know, mentioning their former tag team and mentioned them last time they went one on one, and you know, things like that were like those diehard fans like us, like we go, oh crap, I remember the dashing Ones, and I remember that little that match, and I remember,

44:30 like that's what really hooks the long tenured people and the newer fans are just like I just want to watch Cody and Drew fight. You know, it links all those all those fandoms together and making this match means something. In years past, you know, I remember you and I sad there. We watched the We watched the forty mand Rubble together at the bar with Bauer when uh, Santino almost won the Rumble, but like nobody was picking Santino to be in the F two with you know, Alberto del Rio. So years past, maybe one or two people we actually thought had a chance to win it, we actually cared about. Who won. This year is like, yeah, there's you know, by the end of this thing, there's probably be seven or eight guys that I can say, Hey, that guy really deserves to win this. I don't think he will, but it would make really great TV if this guy won. Yeah, it's been a really fun build and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it goes on SmackDown this Friday. Monday is raw and of course the SmackDown leading into the Royal Rumble because it deserves to get the bill that it is. And it's kind of funny because we just haven't gotten in over the years and they're given to it now. And it's fun to see because people are declaring, they're saying they want to win, and then they're telling the other opponents like listen, that's great, that this is your plan. But you're not going to mess up my plan because I need to win this match. Drew Mcatire needs to win this match. Cody Rhoades needs to win this match. Seampunk needs to win this match. Bobby lastly needs to win this match. And when people need to do something, you're captivating your audience, You're captivating your viewer, and

46:02 you're making them go, all right, I'm invested in and I want to see them win this match. And this is why so propositificly way for doing what they're doing right now with the robo matches. Final thing I want to talk about here on this week's Just is the podcast Doctor Trey. Usually I set it up with like, you know, I watched, I saw, but quite honestly, like I didn't watch the show this past weekend. I watched clips. Typically, back in the day when we would use to do this podcast, when it was around, we would go to you in this specific genre, and now that it's back, I feel like we have to do it again. But t and A returned this past Saturday with Hard to Kill. Everybody is hyping up this show, said it was a good show.

46:45 I saw clips on Twitter looked a lot of fun or X saw the clips on YouTube. Looked like a lot of fun, some good signings. Nick Neamath is there now, the former Dana brook ashby Elegance is now in TNA. Zion Brookside, who I really enjoyed in an x A UK, now in ten A Wrestling, So dot try. I simply ask you TNA's back. Did you watch the show? And if you did, what were your thoughts? And if you didn't, what did you see? What did you like? You were the TNA guy always on this podcast, So surprisingly enough, I actually did watch this because I had a very very long drive coming home Sunday, so I just threw it on and listened kind of watched and listened to it as I was driving back from North Carolina. It was a really good show. Like you mentioned, I watched the women's Ultimate X match and Zion Brooks I was there, and then oh damn it did Danny Danny Luna sorry like she was in it in the Giselle Shawl And I'm like, oh, so there's some people that I don't I'm not that familiar with the people I knew. Ultimate X Mash was pretty good. It was.

47:51 It wasn't the best Ultimate x match, but then again, the women are still kind of getting used to it. Saw the stuff with PCO. Watched the Madge with the four Way for the men's tag match, which is incredible. Good to see the Grizzled Young Vets being the grizzled Jung Vets and not the Diad but that was really fun. The Triple Threat match with Saban Khusheta and l Heel del Vikingo, which you know I wasn't a huge fan of earlier in his run, like the stuff at AEW with this match Gray Psychology, what he did the match made sense. It was a well structured booth and Alex Shelley, the stuff with Nick Neemath, the Jordan Grace Trinity match was really good. So it was a really really solid show from from top to bottom. I'm not a huge fan of Data Brook in general, but the character at least is maybe a little bit. I know people are already compared to Tony Storm stuff, but you know, it's not a bad thing.

48:46 If you see somebody that seems something that's successful and you do your own version of it, it's not always a bad thing. So I'm willing to give it a little bit of a run with it. But you know, seeing Nick Neemath and TNA is pretty awesome because I know that he's gonna whoever he works, but he's gonna make them like a million dollars if he doesn't cut out on top himself. So, uh, Dan good signing for them of that hit as well. So is this a show I should check out? Doctor try? Would you suggest myself other wrestling fans who did not watch Hard to Kill to sit down and watch the show and they'll be, you know, surprisingly happy with it by the end of it. I would say, yes, it was. It was better than what was the last show we reviewed? Was it the aw show? Yeah? Yeah, World ten and we gave it like a three point four point five. That was not a good show. Yeah, this was probably about a three point seven three point eight. Yeah. I mean it's gonna be a little bit hard for some of for some folks that don't know maybe the backstory leading into the matches, because the matches were really I mean, of course everybody does use Josh Alex interface. His match with Alex Hammerstone was really really good, uh as well, Plus it gave people some exposure to Hammerstone and why he's you know book of t's hyping him up, that w to go sign the guy up.

49:58 So yeah, overall I would say it was better than the last AW paper here at least. So is this something? Is this? Is this? Because the thing right now with the window with TNA, right they this is what I'm having my like nostalgia. Everybody's gonna be excited to see it. Right when ECW came back to w WE, I was so stoked after the second one night stand, I was so happy ECW was back, and then quickly realized like a month in, like, oh damn, this is this is gonna be crap and it was not great. And I just watched because I'm a wrestling fan. But if you're somebody who's been watching Impact Wrestling and now you're tuning and or wasn't watching Impact Wrestling, you're tuning in TNA thinking you're gonna see a nostalgia act and watch TNA and and be happy with it, TNA as a company only has like a very small window to captivate you. Do you think that window is pretty big right now for to captivate the fans or do you think they have like a good month to try to add some new viewers and new eyeballs to their because right now there is a ton of hype out coming out of Hard to Kill. I always say they probably have maybe two to three months they got to capture people, because wasn't it. I mean outside of and I'm gonna say Dolphins, there was just because that's where he knows the man say Nick Nave. It still sounds weird, but outside of you know, the Dolphin Ziggers running this is It's not a company that's going out. It's not like AEW was where like every single week we seem to have a new sighting coming in for a while. I will say for fans of professional wrestling that maybe get a little birth out on

51:31 AWB high spot, high spot, high spot throughout the match with a lot of psychology, these matches made a lot of sense and it was I would say probably the closest thing to a WWE style match matches was Tod Hard to Kill. So if you're a fan of the ww style of wrestling, this is a little bit more up your alley, but it still has elements of the aw sive. I like the show because you have your high flying magics, you had your technical stuff, you had a little bit of comedy stuff and you had your hard hitting stuff. So it gave you kind of smorgus board of a wrestling pay per view that you know, guys like you and I typically like and this is a question of hey, did you find your guy? Or you're a couple of people that you're like, Oh, I really like this guy. This is so many to follow along and see where he goes from here. That's kind of how I see their window. Like if they don't, if you don't find that one or two people that really suits your appetite, you'll probably tune out to me. The rebranding of TNA was more about the fact that even when they're going by Impact Wrestling, people still call them TNA. Yeah, So it just it just kind of made sense to revert back to the name because that's what people were still calling it even though it hadn't been TNA in almost seven eight years. So it makes a lot of sense to go back to the brand that everybody know you buy.

52:54 Because I didn't really watch the show, I didn't really get a nostalgic field, like it's not the six ring. He's still a foresighted to ring. It's not nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia. To me, it's a much more conscious branding choice than anything else, and bringing in people to the company that are good workers that know how to put together a good wrestling match is better for the long term success of this company than anything else. Yeah, it's it's a fresh code of paint on a product that's been around for a long time, and it does tug on the install just heartstrings. But now that that's all out of the way, this is the time that if there are new eyeballs tuning into the product to captivate them. Because I did watch Impact Wrestling a lot from two thousand, I think late twenty nineteen to about mid twenty twenty one, and then I just couldn't do it anymore.

53:45 Was way too much wrestling overload with everything already on my plate. But I got into them during the pandemic, really enjoyed it, and I always thought it was a very, very solid show. So I'm happy for them. I hope it continues to grow. I think we're going to wait a little bit to see if I'll go out there and check them out on a weekly basis. But huge props of TNA. I heard the show was great and based off a Doctor Tray's review, I think it was a pretty damn good show and people should go out there and check it out. I think I'm gonna check it out this weekend now that Doctor Tray is fully recommended. With that said, let's get a couple of plugs and sponsors out of the way before we close up shop on this week's edition of srt you. You can download the show every Thursday or Friday at realguid Radio dot com, Russell Chattennett on X and the star Row of the show iTunes feed, don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help us climent charts on iTunes. You could follow us individually on X for myself at sr t U, Jeff for Doctor Trey Franklin at The Doctor Trey, and of course Je't forget to follow the show on X at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what's going on in one for World of Dot Troy Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on Twitter at the Doctor Trey. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook and search out Doctor Tree Franklin when you're on Facebook. Take out Rockets and Championship Wrestling. They have a big show coming up this Saturday, be at because as of one eighteen, Uh, it is Sammy Franklin's fifth birthday. Hell yeah, so we're gonna be partying it up this weekend before he makes his uh Royal Rubble predictions. Uh that has

55:15 become a staple of the show somehow, But we'll be doing that later this week. But more partly, Sammy turns five. So Sammy, can you say happy birthday to me? Say happy birthday, Hey, birthday? There you go, Happy birthday. So Sammy's birthday is coming up, so we will be in Rocket Hey go to another show once. But we just hit the rubble and you can find the video on their Facebook page. So there you go. We will celebrate young Sammy Franklin's fifth birthday on next week. In the next week's edition of the podcast, he will give his annual prediction for who he thinks will win the both the Men's and Women's Royal Rumble. In years past, Nia Jacks was set to win the Men's Royal Rumble, and uh, I believe Rick Flair one year was supposed to come out of retirement and win. Do I have that right? Talk to Trey. Yeah, and I think last year he picked the Miz in the first and I think Bebop and rock Steady almost won once from the Ninja Turtles. So tune in and all for the annual pick there. We will post that up on our Facebook page and instant Twitter accounts what have you, sobody can check that out as well. So join us on next week's to the podcast, we will preview and predict the Royal Rumble. In two weeks we will recap the show. It's a lot of fun. The Road to WrestleMania forty begins on next week's edition of SRTU. So until next week, thank you for downloading, Thank you for making this part of your week. For doctor Troy Franklin, I'm Jeff Peck. This is this is the real of the show.