Is This The End of AEW Coverage on SRTU? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #773 – 12/05/24

0:00 It's still. Welcome. Everybody. Welcome to this week's edition in the Stow Real Does Show episode number seven or seventy three for December fifth, twenty twenty four. This year WWE Survivor Series, War Games Recap and NXT Deadline Review and Predictions edition of past Our Team You. I am one half the show. I am Jeff Beck who joined every single week up by my Coast. I want to lead Doctor Trey. Franklin, Doctor Trey, we have a very serious discussion have later on on this show.

0:47 My friend, is it about the possibility of me teaming with cmpunk or being bullied by CM Punk? Because both of those things are not true. So I don't need any lawsuits or sneak attacks by Drew Mack and tire because of this. I have no affiliation in any way with Seeing Punk. If anybody does, it's you, So I would watch out for somebody coming and kicking your face in because you actually have talked to see him Punk before. I think three times now, and it's not because like the cops were like, all right, leave him alone, get him out of here. Career highlights for me Doctor Trey was the ability to not only interview but meet cempunk in my brief time in sports radio back in now, which seems very very long time ago twenty twelve, which we did air on the show. At one time, I had the opportunity to interview and meet cmpunk and it was a career highlight. I have never been more nervous in my life. I don't know if I've ever shared that on this podcast, but I like remember taking a shower heading into getting ready to go into work and like, I'm like, I am fucking shaking. I'm so nervous, And if anybody knew it was because of a wrestler, they would be like, what the fuck is wrong with you?

2:01 But it was legitimate. I mean, I've been fortunate enough to interview a lot of really cool people, and the number one person I was most nervous about was him, And I think it had everything to do with just being like extremely intimidated. What so like you you interviewed see him Punk? And it was also there was one like in person as. Well, right, So I did two on the phone, yeah, and one in person, which I think somewhere on the internet, like if you type in the Bower Show see I'm Punk into YouTube, like it's still like a pretty high or decently like viewed video. Because he told a story. We were like, we asked him, like, what is his best vincick Man story, And he talked about a time they went over to Baghdad or something some war torn area when they were, you know, going to the locations overseas for the troops, and he and it must have been Iraq because I remember him saying it was like Saddam one of Saddam Hussein's mansions, and it was like him, vincick Man and one other person that's escaping mir right now.

3:05 And he actually brought up that edge told this story during his Hall of Fame speech, but did not mention Punk was there, and like I remember being in the studio in Punk like rolled his eyes. So there was some definitely some heat there between those two. And he said he was just asleep and all of a sudden he heard vincick Man rip a major fart and he just heard then Vince just laugh, just go ha ha ha. And that got so much publicity that you would have no idea. Like the radio station I worked for, so there was a cluster of them. There was a sports radio station that I worked for there was a like eighties nineties type alternative music station. There was a country station, a pop station, and Punk would go around and make the rounds. And everybody was against having see him Punk there because it was like, what are we gonna talk to two wrestler about. And I remember Bauer, a friend of both Doctor Trey and I. He was like, Jeff, you got to be there for this.

4:08 I was. I was interning at the time, and we did it. We had the interview, ran the interview. Punk tweeted it out when he was still on Twitter at the time and got us a whole bunch of people to tune in on the on the online version of the show that was streaming at the time in the infancy stages of streaming, and he gave us some love. And I sent it out to like pw insider, dot Com, Wrestling nanc all these wrestling news websites to be like, hey, Punk was on our show, this is what we talked about, this is what he said. Here's a link to it. And I send it out and the next morning I get an email forward to me from Bauer saying like, holy shit, dude, check this out. And I worked for iHeartRadio music or radio which has million, you know, millions of stations across the country coast to coast, north, south east.

4:59 We it's all over the place. And it was the top like twenty five most listened to shows for the day across the country, and we were number three. And I remember like number two was let's say, like Elvis Duran at Z Morning Zoo, and number one was fucking Ryan Seacrest. We were number three. It had like over five hundred thousand listens. It was insane. It just took off. And it was because of the stuff that he said about Vince at the time, and everybody was like laughing about it, and it was a really good interview and it was a career highlight obviously for me to be like we were number three in the entire country for that, and then after that, everybody was like, we need to get more wrestlers on, Like they were actually talking about like could we get a wrestler on once a week from WWE and type stuff. They wanted to like get either Bauer or Eye when they were doing a house show at the Exile Center to like be in the rain and get hit with this chair. I was like absolutely not, but I kind of want to do it.

6:03 But yeah, I mean I interviewed Punk three times. Punk was very standoffish and defensive, and then once he kind of he opened up as the interview went on, he opened up to it and I've always I think I've always talked about this and afterwards he was like, that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed like having time with you guys, you know, let me know. And every other time after that we would have him on. I think we had him on to promote the Best in the World DVD. He remembered us, which obviously made my heart explode. When they were promoting w W two K twelve, he remembered us and that was just like the coolest shit in the world for me. That like we kind of won his trust over and he was like, really really cool and he was like off microphone, He's like, I really appreciate you guys. Always have a very fun time, you know, thanks so much, and he was great, and yeah, it was it was a career highlight. It's stuff that I it's it's that part of stuff that I miss about that job because it did not pay well at all, had to move out completely out of it, but I got an opportun interview him multiple times, Dolph Siegler, Dean Ambrose, John Moxley, I interviewed people from ROH back in the day, Terry Funk. It was. It was a blessing and I am a lot of people throw that word around a lot, Doctor Trey, but I was absolutely blessed to have that opportunity to interview people that I looked up to and people that I you know, regularly, you know, watched on television because punk was a god to me back then.

7:28 So it was a really really cool moment. The reason why I asked about the in person is because I remember telling me how nervous you were, and so in my head and going, Okay, what were the times in my life where I was most nervous for something And how did I act before I went into that situation, Because it's only so much. You can't obviously, especially being professional, you can't show your nerves. You have to act like you're calm, cool and collective. But I'm like, I wonder if Jeff shaved extra that morning, did he put on cologne, like did he go all out like just like the first date with a with a girl, that you know is outside your league, Like, did you over do you? Looking back, do you think you overdid the reaction to your nerves by you know, overindulging in those things, or did you just go all right, I'm nervous.

8:16 Fuck it, I'm gonna go in and be me and just see how it plays out. Oh no, one hundred percent overdid it? Really? I was told I was going to get one question with Punk, so I was Bauer had started in March twenty twelve, and he was like, you know, angling to get me on. It couldn't get paid. I'd have to do an internship. Meanwhile, I'm not in college and I'm in my mid twenties, so I'm basically I'm just doing it for free, just to like prove my worth, which is like an insane thing to say out loud. But like doctor Trenon were talking about this off air like that was kind of our generation. I don't necessarily know if people will do that nowadays, honestly. So yeah, I mean I, I, you know, did that where I I thought like crazy about the question I would ask him, and I remembered seeing on Twitter, and this is a thing that I've always wanted to do in my life is I've always wanted to go to the WWE warehouse and he had just gone to it, and I was like, I'm gonna ask him about that, like what was the coolest thing he ever saw? And he basically just regurgitated what he had tweeted. He was like, I saw a bunch of lockers that the headbangers had like spray painted on.

9:26 I'm like, fuck, I had one question to ask him that day in person, and that's what the fuck I picked. I also did not want to be like over Fanny, like like like being too weird where he would like want to do a uh uh a restraining order against me type stuff. I remember I took and I think I texted it to you, doctor Trey. I think I took a picture of him and it was like all blurry and shit of him sitting at the microphone and me sitting at the mic like from a distance from him. And reason why it was so blurry is because not because the poor camera quality back then twelve years ago, but my fucking hand was shaking. And I also didn't want him to like catch me taking a picture of him, because I think he would have been like, you know, what what is with this fucking freak? So, yeah, it was.

10:16 It was a career highlight. Man, I will never forget it. I definitely overdid it. I wish I had calmed myself afterwards after that, once it was like done. You know, it's funny because it was so early in that phase of my radio career. After that, I never you know, there would be times where I'd be like, I can't believe I'm doing this, Like I'm looking at my right and I'm interviewing fucking Marcus Allen or a Madrashad, which like I would watch NBA inside stuff like religiously as a kid. There were definitely times where I'm like, I can't believe this is happening. But once I did the Punk, it was like you can only go up from here at this point. I mean, there's coen times where you interview people that you've looked up to seeing your whole life, and yeah, it was. Uh, it was definitely a really cool learning experience and one that I'm like truly honored and blessed to have in my life because obviously at this point, unless you know, I wake up tomorrow and this is like a show that is just completely taken off.

11:13 I can't foresee w W wanting to talk to Doctor Tran and I anytime soon, especially for the ship that we say. Maybe Tony Kahn. But yeah, but it was just the reason because I was thinking back to like, you know, me breaking into wrestling. I remember like one of the very first shows I did, we did a big show in whatever our colliseums. It was like we're like, we're gonna bring in like three thousand people because Devon Dudley was on the show. I remember that he had they had his kids with him, right. He was that was his thing. He was trying to get his kids over and get people look at them. So he was bringing them in and I was super nervous because this is the show that we did live commentary on the microphone during the matches, and so I was super nervous. But I was also like really like, hey, man, if I do a great job, you know, he might throw a rewarding for me somewhere.

11:58 This might be that thing that takes me, you know, takes me somewhere. And it was like two matches before his the owner of the show comes by and he's like, hey, Devon doesn't want you doing live commentary during his kids match because he doesn't want to throw them off, and I was like, I got mad. But the best thing about. That was it put me on that thing of like, Okay, these are just regular guys that have a job. And from then on, I never really got nervous when a big name was coming into one of our shows, Like I mean, you know, we've had Conrad Thompson at our show, and for two guys that do a podcast like that would be a nerve wrecking moment. I'm like, no, if he likes as he likes, and he does and he doesn't like, So from then.

12:42 On, I was always kind of cool with it. The most nervous I've got since that time was when The Rock and Roll Express came in, because like I've been watching those guys since I was seven years old, like thirty five forty years I've been watching the Rock ro Express and Super Cool and they like literally I had to open the show with the promo and so like the first image, They're gonna get a Rocket City Championshire Wrestling is what I'm saying on the microphone. And I went. Out there and cut a promo and a guy and I got to the back and the and. Barry call off. The owner of Rocket City came by and goes, hey, Robert Gibson said, you killed it out there on the microphone, said what a great job you did. I was like, okay, I'm I'm good at this, and so from the from then on, I was super cool. But there they were one of the first people that I also threw out that hole. You know, don't be a mark, don't take pictures with wrestlers if you're working the show. I was like, I have to get a picture of the Rock Roll Express.

13:32 Like there's no way around it. I have to get this done because of like not just my fandom form, but my family grew up on the Rock Roll Express as well. So from then on, I've also I don't have an issue with taking pictures with somebody because of of doing with that. But I also remember, like that divon thing, Dude, I shaved, I made sure my suit was pressed, I made sure my tie was good, I made I double checked, you know, did the armpit check just to make sure I smell good. Thought a whole nine yards. But from then on, I'm like, no, I'm just gonna do I'm gonna be me and if I'm good, great, and if I suck, I suck. It's just kind of is what it is after that point. Yeah, I think once you get in that industry, right, you kind of like change a little bit and you look at everybody as strange as it is, and whether they've been more successful than you or not, as like we're peers. Because I did the ESPN thing, working at the Mothership there and working in Bristol, Connecticut, and you know, walking by people that I watched on television my entire life.

14:32 You know, I had the honor and privilege to work with Stuart Scott for a project that he did and that was like I could not put into words how much that guy meant to me when I was growing up. So yeah, we're very blessed to be able to do a lot of these things and have these types of stories, because at the end of the day, you like, you only go one way in this life, and to be able to say that you interview these people and share the ring with these people is pretty cool. Yeahbsolutely. So yeah, speaking of wit, we should we should. After you have your little coughing fit there, we should be Yeah. No, no, I'm I'm I'm doing much better here, Doctor Trey. So as much as it doesn't sound like it, why don't we get into it? WWE Survivor Series Wargames recap and review this past Saturday from the Rodgers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The first thing here read Ripley, Bianca bell Air, Naomi, Eo Sky and Bailey defeat Live Morgan, Rakel, Rodriguez, Nia Jack, Tiffany Stratton, Andy Canniel Ray and the Women's War Games match. I Team Ripley, Doctor Trade Team Live.

15:34 My thoughts on this one. This match in the beginning looked like it was destined for a potential train wreck, as there were some spots with Nia Jacks that did not go well at all. However's the match went on, it felt like all ten women got into the groove and the match got better as it progressed. Hitting the top rope Riptide on Live Morgan through the table for the win was a nice way to continue this feud forward, and there's some good spots in this match, like Tiffany Stratton debating doing a cash in, which would have been absolutely eptic epic on our team, and the tension between Loray and Stratton as they vuy for Jack's affection. My only issue with this match was wish. I wish they played on the build up of the history between Bailey and Eosky that resulted in some sort of burying the hatchet rather than ignoring it throughout the short build up because of I guess Jade carr Gill's injury. The fact that WWA did not really touch that story heading into this one makes me think that car Gill got legit injured, which I know is a debated topic right now online because if it was storyline, they would have been prepared for it and they never touched it. Overall, a good but not great War Games match, Doctor Trey.

16:35 Yeah, I'm not even the good category because for me, like that first eight minutes of the match I thought was just atrocious, just so bad. And I don't like blaming NYA Jacks for everything, because you could audibly hear Bailey calling spots during that match as well, So I mean it was just rough. And you know, even the spot with the trash can and the moon salt, you know, with with Tiffany and EO going, it. Just felt so well, I mean, so scripted. I mean it was like, I mean, you're watching Eo climb the ring climb up there with the trash can, You're like, all right, that's cool. And then because you don't get the spot, but then just watching everybody stand around and wait for them to jump, like it just I don't know, and then just the chair shots were bad.

17:21 Like the the ending of the match is the only thing that kind of made me go from really bad to passable. Like the spot with the handcuffs was cool, a little bit of magic trickery because you see the the fire extinguisher goes off and you can't see what's going on. All of a sudden, you know where Keul's handcuffed, and then you get the rea with the rip tied through the table. Like the ending was pretty good, but I mean there there were some just really bad moments of like maybe we should just not let the women have chairs in matches, because nobody swung a chair with anything other than just like, I mean, the only thing I can think that was softer is when the boys come out with Dalton Castle and they had the little feathers flapping around around daland Castle.

18:06 I mean they were just so bad looking. I mean it was aw fake punching Dustin Rhodes, you know, dark order type stuff bad at times in that match. So I enjoyed the finish, but really for about the first eight minutes was bad. The first fifteen was in and then the ending is the only thing that pulled it up for me. Going to the next matchery of Shinsky and Kockamore defeeding in La Night to win in w United States Championship. We both at LA Night and this one. I love the new change of direction of Shinsky and Nackimore and I'm happy that he is back on WE Television. It has been way too long putting the US title on Knockamore and makes so much sense as it would set his new correct character back had he lost in the title match on PLA. We do need another top heel on the SmackDown brand, and this version of knackamoor and may just be the next new heel we need on the Blue brand. I also liked that we saw a different version of La and Knight in this one, one that was trepidacious and I'm sure of himself all on the black miss from Knockamore the night before on SmackDown.

19:01 Thought it was a good match in strong character development in this one for both stars. Your thoughts not to try it. Was surprising the sense of like La Knight. Really it felt like Shinskey just dominated the match, like he had very few moments of hope spots or whatever you want to call him the business. It just it felt very one sighted, very dominant for Knackamor, which is a refreshing change from what we've seen from Knakamura in his booking over the past five years, you know, going all the way back to WrestleMania thirty seven against with a thirty seven against aj for the world title, Like that was the last time I felt like Knackamora was actually built kind of strong. Since then, it's been very very flat and at best. So the new character's cool.

19:45 I haven't figured out if I dig the new theme song then you know the new more Samurai take on his theme song, because it might take me a little bit to get used to because we all love the old theme song. But the character looks good. The presentation looks good though it is. He's adapted some new moves into his arsenal that look far more vicious, So I like the new direction. I'm glad I was wrong in my prediction on this one, because you're absolutely right, like we need some more stronger, some heels that aren't in the bloodline on SmackDown. It takes away a little bit the luster. Vlli I which because I felt like, I think we turn on the show a few weeks ago, I felt like it had kind of plateaued and been a little flat lately, so hey, this might tweak a few things as well, So shaking some things up with these characters is good.

20:30 I think it also shows you how the creative is different nowadays, because I think it was Vince led. We don't have a title change here, so I like that they're They're like, all right, we were invested in this, and we want to see him succeed as a heel because we need heels just like we do babyfaces as well. Next match here is bron Breaker defeating Seamus and Ludwig Kaiser in a triple threat match, retaining the w United w W Intercontinental Championship. We both had Seamus in this one. The fans are really behind Seamus finally becoming the Intercontinental chair up, and I think WWE really needs to start revving this up to capitalize on it. If I'm fantasy booking this, I think I would run this match back for either Saturday Nights main event or the raw Netflix debut, and I have Seamus win the Intercutital Championship. I don't think they're doing Saturday Night's main event now based on what we saw on Monday with Kaiser and a Breaker behind the scenes on the backstage area. I would then either have Shamus drop the title Leuwig Kaiser at the Royal Rumble or wait until rest Mainty forty one is I think Kaiser is the next young start to break out and this for a big twenty twenty five, while I would start teasing brown Breaker for some bigger main event level type matches in fews with some are already established top stars as he's to do for a big twenty twenty five, as well as for the match itself, this was a really good triple threat match. Not to tray your thoughts on this one.

21:42 Yeah, I really enjoyed this match, and this goes to show you, like we talked about a weeks ago, this whole idea of booking bron Breaker as a tweeterer because his promos and his interests kind of baby Face, but he still wrestles kind of heal, Like this is the perfect spot to fit him in where you have a super over baby phase Seamus and a a spies heel like Kaiser. This fits in really well. And you know, I love that you brought up, you know, potentially putting the belts on Kaiser because you kept hearing Corey Graves on commentary talk about how he's the next breakout star, like he's poised for a huge breakout and how underrated he is. But you know, for me, like I agree, like to me, like you do a match with Seamus and Breaker where you know, Seamus, if he loses, can never challenge for.

22:27 The Inner Continental title. Again. WW loves those kind of stipulations that way Seamus finally goes over. We saw Breaker and Gunther teased a couple of months ago when we thought Breaker was going pure baby face when he shook hands with Jay Husso so there's that kind of back burner storytelling you can lay into. But I absolutely loved this match. I thought it was phenomenal. I thought it was hard hitting. So this right there that kind of made up for that first Woman's War Games match. Next match here is gun Through defeating Damien priestser retained the World of aweight championship. We both had gun Through in this one. I like the technical, old school approach of this match by having gun Through focus on Damian priests injured shoulder, which is his m as someone who likes to pick apart their opponents. It seemed like Gunther started regaining his confidence throughout this match once the world champ noticed Damien Priese was injured, as there was blood in the water at that point. Finn's interference and guth Through taking him out and made me think there's a possibility for a triple threat match here and down the line, or even testing some of the waters with gun Through being a potential baby face. So we saw that carried over on Monday's Raw. It'll be Gunther versus Finn at Saturday night's main event for the Heavyweight Championship, and Guntherro's interactions with Dominic were gold like the crowd was laughing and having a good time. I enjoyed this one, Doctor Trey, your thoughts as gun Through retains.

23:39 Yeah, I thought it was a really good match. I mean it wasn't you know, It's not a five stars not match to year quality, but you know, anytime you get Gunther and Priests in the ring, they're gonna have a good quality match. I like how both these guys work. I love the old school storytelling of you know, the old Anderson thing of finding a body part and working it and it paid off because you got that fan sympathy of time. Damien would sell the shoulder, that spot where Damie fell off the top to the floor leading to Finn coming out. I love that. It was so good the crowd thought he botched it, you know, and you saw that chance you know, you met, you f't up or whatever, But yeah, good storytelling. Gunther has surprisingly good comedic timing for a guy who's never shown that.

24:22 So yeah, there is that. Possibility that he can go babyface. But I also do think that at some point Dom becomes a babyface and the crowd will eat it up because I think he's just you know, any anybody who comes out there with a mullet talking about chicken nuggets is going to be a fan favorite at some point. We saw it with The New Day and Pancakes for a long time, so yeah, it's it's it's laying the foundation kind of testing the waters on some things. It's also potential for you know, Finn to get a good singles push if they run that route as well, so. It'd be interesting where they go. But I thought it was a really really solid world title match, and we're gonna get more priests involved with Judgment Day, which you know, could be some good storytelling too, because for how many times we're gonna hear the name Edge mentioned ever since they got the trademark, you know, reinvigorated.

25:06 I guess, yeah, I thought too on the whole Dom stuff, the backstage segment where Finn confronted gone through backstage. Did you see that on Raw Doctor Trey? Yeah? Yeah, where Dom kept doing the two fingers, Yeah, and Gunthro would look at him. He would he would do the two on the side, and he would look at him and then eventually swatted the fingers and the crowd ate it up, and all I thought to myself, and then it carried over to the match. I was like, there's some natural chemistry between these guys that we should like potentially harp on. Then there's such polar opposites the characters. I mean, Don's kind of Dom's kind of a goofy, heel in a lot of ways and gun throughs so straight laced. I mean, this would be one of those weird pairings that if they put him together, it's you know, you could do you know, is Daniel Bryan and Kin in a lot of ways and you can see, you know, one person bring out a little bit more of the other person.

25:59 So I think you even if you paired them up and did a weird reunification of the United or the League of Nations, oh god, I know it was a bad given, but they do like pairing weird. You know, it's like, oh, we're gonna have all these all these black guys together, We're gonna have all these foreign guys. No anyway, gunther Dom working together would be hilarious. I've heard that Gunther is a very funny guy find the scenes and has a very good personality, which is not the same thing that you see on the television obviously, So I would not be shocked if these two guys are buddies behind the scenes, because it was really good comedic timing by both of them. So that's suff that people like when it's natural and like, holy shit, there's something here. And then finally, the main event Roman, Range, ju So, Jimmy us So, Samy's and and Seampunk defeats Soloska, Jacobato, Tamatunga, Tunga, Low and Bronson read in the men's war Games match, and both Dot Trey and I had the o G Bloodline winning this one. The storytelling this match was a masterclass, with a ton of moving parts and participants. The evolution and growth of the chapters from the Bloodline story or some of the best stuff I've ever seen in wrestling.

27:04 The end with the OG Bloodline and Cmpunk surrounding Solo Sako before they finish the match, and Roman stretching out his arms to embrace Solo, only for Solo to have one last defiant moment before first considering the gesture was really well done and reminded me of something you would see like during a Star Wars movie. The Roman raids Cempunk interactions and what the favor is now has me really intrigued with where things are going. You would think the storyline reached its climax, but Michael Cole finished off the pl by mentioning that Solo is still in possession of the Ulafalla, which makes him the tribal chief. Still, I'm really interested to see where all of this goes, especially with where Jay Us, Sammy z Ay and Bronson read Cempunk and all the folks on the outside of the storyline go from here. This is a fun match, Doctor Trey. Your thoughts on this one, Yeah.

27:46 Really really fun. I love that they get the storyline going, just the intricacies of the moving parts inside the cage that they would show where like one guy goes a step out, no no no not you him, no no no not. I love that stuff where the favor falls in because, especially like Punk's promo on Monday Night, kind of he already kind of knows where he's going. So like, all that. Stuff was so good, just really good storytelling, a really fun war games match. I don't know about you. I don't know if I put this above last year's, but it's really really close because this bloodline story is still so damn good. Oh it's amazing. I absolutely love it, and it just reminds me of stuff that you see in movies. So really enjoyable stuff, fun, fun, fun show. I'm getting emotional thinking about it. Pay per View Prediction Records. I went three and two. Doctor Trey went two and three. I'm one forty two and forty one. Doctor Trey is one twenty eight and fifty five. Match of the night and event rating. I gave Wargames a solid four point zero and my match the night was Men's Wargames match Doctor Trey.

28:54 I went three point eight in Men's Wargame for me as well. By the way, on the predictions, I think at this point, like we don't have much left in the year, and you're smoking me, I think I just I'll let you go first, and all these predictions coming out for the rest of the year, and I'm just gonna pick the opposite. So either you're gonna completely smoke me by the end of the year or that's my That's gonna be my methodology for trying to catch up. You just don't want to have fun. You don't want to have fun with it. If you want to, I will come up. Look, I will fantasy book this to where you guys are believing that I'm gonna that I my prediction is actually true. So what's roll my friend? With that said, feel free to chime in at Estra to You podcast on x or Facebook dot com. Slash stile routa show keeping with the we Doctor Trey. There was a very what I think will go down as a memorable moment here on this past Monday's edition of Raw, we had the New Day celebrating ten years one of the most established and decorated tag teams and professional wrestling history in the modern era.

29:49 And during that segment where they've been teasing dissension between Biggie and excuse me, excuse Koche Kingston and Xavier Woods, Biggie makes a return. They kicked Biggie out and now they are aligned together e Xavier and Kofe at kinkson as heels. What did you think of the segment and is there hope that maybe Biggie's career is not over yet? So a couple of things for me on this one. The segment is self. The ring segment I thought was really good and it got emotional, it got a little touching. I mean, just the acting from all three of these guys was really well done. I don't like that they kind of shot gunned it into one segment though. If we had seen some Biggie interaction the last week or two trying to keep the peace to lead up to Biggie coming out saying, hey, I will be with you guys, side by side, and then that led into it. I probably would have ate it up little bit more, but this is the most logical way to get Kofe over as a heel. Xavier Woods could be a heel, and I think the people would eat that up. Kofe is so well liked I really outside of what when A New Day first got together, is the only time I could think of Kofe being a heel on the main roster, Like, that's the only way you could probably get Kofe over as a heal is for him to side with Woods and turn their back on an injured Biggie. And look, I love the fact that they referenced all the previous neck injuries. I love the fact that, you know, Woods brought up his his achilles injury and all these things, and Biggie's still not back. I didn't realize it'd been four years since

31:21 Biggie had been back. I mean, that was I didn't realize it's been that long. But yeah, I'm hopeful that it's not the end of Biggie's career because Biggie on the mic in that ring was so good, Like you forget how just entertaining and naturally charismatic he is at times because we don't get to see it that often anymore, it does lend hope that we might get Biggie back. And by the way, the stuff on social media as well has been really entertaining, with Woods taking shots at Biggie's girlfriend as well in her cooking. So just really really good storytelling. I just wish it had been stretched out just a little bit to lead into that. So where do we go from here? In your mind? Is what is your thoughts? Is this just something that they were able to get rid of Biggie and now they're going to be heels, or do we think Biggie makes an n ring return here sooner rather than later.

32:10 Is this something we could look at for a WrestleMania match. Possibly, But then, like I mean, I don't know, it is one of these things. It's it's kind of like, you know, and Shawn Michaels came back, like, if you're going to come back, you want to be in the ring with somebody you love and trust, you know, And we've seen that with other guys when they've come back, like their first match back as usually with somebody that they know is going to take care of them in the Ring, I we really have never gotten any clarity recently on Biggie's injury. We heard Biggie talk about he's been getting X rays and scans and tests and everything else done. Right now, I just think that this was the only way to get the New Day over as heels. So I think it's kind of a one off for now and just kind of pending if Biggie can come back, because, like I said, I don't know else you make Kofi a heel other than to turn his back on Biggie. He's so well liked and people still remember Kofe Madia and all the feel good stuff there.

33:06 It's he was one of the hardest. Guys I could picture turning heel, and I think they pulled it off with this angle because of how sympathetic big Eie situation is. Yeah, it's interesting. It's definitely one or both ways, right. I think it's something that leads to Biggie coming back, or this was their way of kind of putting an end to the New Day chapter, which is interesting because they in interviews would be similar to like the guys in the Shield that were like, we never wanted to break up, We didn't want to change characters. Then they did it. I think it's a move that they needed to do for their careers at this point, Doctor Dre. Yeah, I mean they've I mean Woods has talked about like wanting to be heal, like he's talked about it, but Koffee's always just been kind of like, hey, whatever they need me to do, like I'm happy doing this. Plus, you guys got to look at it if when you go heal, you're gonna lose money because your merch sales are going to go down. So you have to have if you're gonna do something like this for especially for a team like The New Day that basically baby faces the last nine and a half years or nine years out of this whole run, Like you're gonna take a little bit of a financial hit by doing this, So you gotta have some promises that, hey, if we do this and we do go heal and we do fresh of the characters, you know, we got to get a push out of me. If the New Day goes heal and they just keep getting they start they continue losing what was the purpose the purpose of them turning.

34:23 So I'm sure they have some assurances. I'm looking just to see how refreshed this is. Because Xavier's so good on the microphone, and you know we've talked about on the show years ago with having multiple PhDs. He's so fantastic he. Can he can lure somebody in with such a good story on the microphone that he's the perfect kind of heal in this sense, it was just kind of getting KOFE to go along with it and get the crowd to boom both of them, which is why I think the tension they had teased for so long was kind of working and putting them at a crossroads. Switching gears here, Doctor Trey with potentially losing money and feel friend of chime me on your thoughts in regards to the new hit us up on Twitter at SRT podcast is AW. I feel like we need to have a discussion here about how we approach AW coverage in twenty twenty five. And I have a whole bunch of data that I want to bring up. And I saw the viewership for last night's Dynamite and like this either even furthers it more for me. Last Night's Dynamite got five hundred and eighty six thousand viewers. It was a solid episode, was a fine episode, but that is I mean, they are tanking right now. I don't even know if there was anything on that would like steer people away from not watching AW. I mean, this is something that was generally getting eight hundred thousand views and now is getting five hundred eighty six thousand. This is also coming off and granted it was Saturday at four pm Eastern and also Saturday night at six o'clock, you're going up

35:53 against NXT excuse me, WRS series Wargames, and they got like one hundred forty four thousand viewers for Collision and like one hundred and twenty four thousand viewers for Rampage. I'm like, this is this is bad. This is really bad. But what it all started with was an interview that Bill Simmons did with Matt Beloney back in November twenty second for the Bill Simmons Podcast, and they were talking about Warner Brothers, Discovery Sports, Right Values, and Brandon Thurston, who is who's huge on X he has Russell Nomis shared it pointed out how they mentioned in the interview of the arrow has been pointing down for AAW, which Bill Simmons referred to as the discount WWE, and they talk about AW and their struggles and the Warner Brothers getting all the stuff with the sports right media rights that they had, you know, the lost NBA and getting AW and what have you. And Thurston shares this data to back it up. And in twenty twenty four year to date, which was November twenty second versus twenty twenty three as of the same week for Dynamite, there were been a seventeen percent drop in viewership, nineteen percent drop in demo. He went through cord cutting to address that argument, and he went through the filings for MVPDs and estimated others traditional PATV is down about five percent to six percent lar largely offset by alternatives like YouTube TV. But even if we just go with traditional carriers negative twelve percent,

37:24 less negative than the Delta's above. In the previous statistic that I shared, he showed from wrestle Tics average tickets outs twenty twenty four year today versus twenty twenty three, Dynamite was down twenty six percent thirty seven hundred from five thousand the year previous collision, down thirty eight percent twenty six hundred from forty two hundred to the year previous. And I have been thinking about this for some time Doctor Trey and I don't expect an answer potentially on this podcast, but we're gonna have a production meeting on the air. I mean, this is getting close to the point where it's like, do we really want to cover AW as regularly as we want to or do presently versus what WWE is doing right now. And I think anybody's been a long time listener would say, well, you didn't give up one so easy, why would you do it for AW? And that is a very very fair point.

38:18 But WWE is still getting one point five one point seven million viewers people on their YouTube page. It is usually between like two hundred thousand viewers two a million viewers AW. I went on their YouTube page, it's like sixty seven thousand viewers here, twenty thousand viewers there, and it's like, well, this is not good. And it reminds me of how I would look at TNA. I think as a wrestling fan. I've talked about this on the show. If I didn't do a wrestling podcast, I don't think I would watch AW as regularly as I do, or as frequently, as I do. I would watch it on DVR and like when I had nothing else to do, or I would watch the YouTube recap videos. AW is is sinking right now, and I'm very saddened by this because there was a period of time where I remember, coming out of All Out twenty twenty one, I'm like, I don't think I can cover WE anymore. I just want to cover AW and it's they've completely reversed course.

39:11 I watched WE, we watched the og bloodline, blood Line two point zero, and it's riveting. You watch AW and it's boring. That Death Writer's storyline is boring. Mercedes mone is boring right now. There is intrigue there. I'm intrigued by the Hangman page J White, Orange Cassidy against the Death Riders stuff. I like the Continental Classic. I like the innering work, but it's like boring. And somebody pointed out that will Osprey came out for Collision and got like barely reaction, and eight months ago he was the loudest pop in the building, and I thought I was crazy. People were talking about how good they were from a storyline perspective, from like the beginning of the year, like Revolution time to all in, all out and it's completely fallen off a cliff since And it couldn't be more true.

40:01 It's like they lack direction, they lack build. The matches are good, storylines are boring. Viewership is diminishing. And this is from a podcast perspective here, folks, like, if people are not tuning into AW, is it worth Doctor Trey's time, my time to talk about it regularly? Here? Like? Are people tuning out when we preview and predict AW World's n in a couple of weeks? Are they tuning out when we do a recap on that pay per view? Do we look into twenty twenty five and just cover WWE pay per views and the occasional AW pay per view? This year, counting NXT deadline, Doctor Trey and I will have covered twenty eight pay per views. World's end will make it twenty nine. That is a record that's nearly one every episode of the year we're doing a preview, prediction or a recap of a pay per view. So it's a roundabout way of saying Doctor Trey is AW falling off a map where our listeners don't give a shit anymore, falling off the map where you and I don't give a shit anymore, and is it a sustainable wrestling promotion that we should be covering this regular this we do your thoughts.

41:10 That's a lot to unpack in those data. So so I you know, the comparison to. What we did back in the day when TNA when they went to the Monday Night Wars for a little bit or you know, and they went live head to head and we were covering both shows and it kind of fell off a cliff shortly thereafter and we kind of stopped watching and it kind of dissipated us, and we got a lot of flak. I mean, you remember, we got a lot of flak for a little while about fans coming out like why aren't you covering TNA. It's like, well, there's nothing to cover. The show's awful and nobody's watching it, so why are we covering it? In a lot of way, you remember, like they were bragging that, like people were giving them crap because they drew a million viewers. Oh they only got a million.

41:53 We're talking about a show it's only drawing five hundred thousand. So it is kind of in that weird realm. But the difference is there's so much money in this product, is kind of hard not to cover it because they're always going to make news. There's always gonna be something coming out about them, So it's it's a little bit different than TA Like when I watched the show, it just reminds me of playing a video game. Like the matches are fun to watch, but there's no depth, there's nothing behind it. It's all it's all just uh sizzle. It's all sizzle and no steak. You know. It's It's great to watch if I if you like watching, if you're one of those people that love watching people play video games on YouTube, aw's for you. But for people like me and Jeff that like good television, it's not a great product to watch as a television show because I need a little more substance. I need the fact that, like The Death Writer, Angle should be really fun.

42:46 But they like the people they are up against them is hang Man, Jay White and Orange Cassie. Well, hang Man and Jay White just been feuding for a while and there's no real reason, viable reason I watching this to see why they can be potentially up in this situation other than the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Like, I mean, there could be more depth to you. And once again it's also the top guys are not involved in the storyline to go up against the top eel faction, So why should I care? And if these are your top guys, they haven't been booked like top guys for a long time. Like's it's this is not like you know, Sina Orton and Batisa teaming up to take on the Shield, Like it's not on that level. This is like you know, Zach Ryder Kofi and you know Evan Bourne taking on the Shield in a lot of ways based on how the booking's been. So I am torn because no matter no matter what happens, because they're a billion dollar company, and because up until the merger they had more money than Vince, they're always gonna make news. There's always gonna be something out there about them. And we like we, you know, kind of comment off air about the whole you know, Ryan Nemeth stuff. I mean that made new Like they're going to make news, and if they make news, we kind of have to cover it. The great thing about TNA was once Hogan and Bischoff were gone, there was no news.

44:09 About them really out there. Other than just the wrestling product. So I think almost just because of the noise that they make and the noise that their diehards make, were almost obligated to cover it. But it's going to be like when your mom made liver and she told you you had to eat it or you wouldn't get a dessert. That's kind of how I feel about it right now. I feel like, AW is that liver that I have to eat in order for me to do a podcast talk about how great WWE is. Yeah, I think you know, it's like, would you want to cover the pay per views as extensive? At least we do in twenty twenty five, right, there's still always going to be AW news. And the other thing that I'm having trouble with is, you know, say AW catches fire again, which they've done plenty of times, and it's like, do we not want to be covering the pay per views because they've been shit the last fourth five months?

45:01 I don't know. It's I feel like it's something that I want to throw out there with you, and I want our listeners to respond as well, like do you want to see THEAW coverage lesson? Do you want it to say the same do you want it to be more like where are we at with this? I mean, for us, one issue is the gd pay per views are so damn long. You know, we just covered a pay per view for WWE that we gave that. You gave a four to that. I gave it three point a two that had five matches, yeah, in and out, two and a half hours, three hours tops aw, fourteen matches, five hour shows like that. I mean that's not even count sometimes that's not even counting the pre show, Like, dear God, guys, like tone it down a little bit, but you know, you're right. And that's the other thing. Like we always comment though that typically their pay per views are really good. It's all the stuff getting to the pay per view that is kind of garbage. And it's like, if do I have to watch three shows that I'm going to dread watching each week to get to a pretty decent pay per view.

46:05 If they just put on a little bit better television during the week, we wouldn't have a problem cover the pay per view. It's just all the garbage you have to sift through to get to a compelling pay per view is what kind of feels like a drain you know so, and you're right, like they could catch fire any moment. It just takes and I've talked about this for four years with this brand, it just takes one guy to catch fire and awlb be right back. They just they can't figure out who's the guy. Like there's no Austin, there's no scene it, there's no Kode, there's nobody that they're going that's our guy. This whole show is built around this guy, and we're gonna make the fans either love this guy or hate this guy, no ambivalence, pick one side or the other. And we're gonna, for lack of a return, show him down your throat like the other company did with their top guys. They haven't done that, and that's one of the reasons they're in that situation they're in now.

47:00 I guess we're kind of in the same boat right now, doctor Trey, where I think we may be leaning towards potentially not covering them as extensively as we did in twenty twenty five when it comes to like the pay per views and recaps and what have you. I mean, maybe we just cut the predictions down, like we just kind of decide on like what six matches on the show, we're going to do predictions on instead of doing fourteen. I mean, I don't I don't really know how to that's the issue. I don't really know how to cut it back. Well, I don't think you ignore the the riview happen, but maybe you like, hey, did you watch Full Gear? Like what were the things that set out to you? And that's the conversation rather than match by match. I haven't watched the episode Dynamite in like two months. See that's what I'm saying, Like, I think it's getting to the point where, you know, outside of them maybe being noteworthy of the Ryan nemmath stuff for this week, right, that's a big story, but like being extensive on the same level as WW right now for pay per views and stuff like that. Pls. It's mean in twenty twenty five, it's it's different. Maybe this this World's end is is potentially the end of pay per for your coverage for AW on our show.

48:03 I mean maybe in twenty twenty five, starting in January, we just put them on a prove it scale, Like look, if you guys, if it turns around, we'll go back to covering it as much as we do, but until you guys show us something like once the end, Like why am I gonna waste my time with something that's always gonna disappoint me? You know? That's the thing is, It's like we could be doing so much other stuff right than watching aw product. I mean, ramp Page is boring, Collision is boring. Dynamite and has had is always a show that we have felt like delivers. Collision has their moments. It's just look, I love I love this. You've been my site, You've been my partner for a decade and a half. I give you all the props in the world for actually watching Collision at Rampage.

48:48 I'll do it, man. I was like, I admire you and respect you for getting I tuned out of those two shows a year ago, like I was literally just watching Dynamite, And then the last two months I've had to give up on Dynamite and I've just been watching YouTube highlights in recaps and then just trying to get to the pay per views. And my week would be a little bit more free if we didn't cover it as extensively. So and you can't blame Luke guys, guys, I know you guys are listening going, oh, Jeff has a kid. No, it's not Luke. It literally is the product. No, the product sucks, it really does it. It's not good. It's really not good. And it's unlike, this is boring. It's it has its moments, but overall it's boring.

49:30 It really is. Feel free to check man. We definitely want to hear from you guys at Assart to You podcast on xor Facebook dot com, slash a Realta show. Let's get to this Saturday's pay per view Doctor Trey NX Deadline preview predictions from the Minneapolis Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Doctor Tray has asked me to go first for every single one because he will do the opposite. So I will start here. NXC Underground Match. I've got Lolavice, Doctor Trey. I've got the other person, Jada Parker low of Ice versus Jada Parker. Nathan Frazer and Axiom defending against the North No Quarter Ketch Crew Miles Bourne and Tavion Heights for the NXC Tag Team Championship. I'm going to go with No Quarter Catch Crew. However, if Nathan Fraser an Axiom win, Doctor Trey, I actually think they may be one of the top favorites for Tag Team of the Year for End of the Year show.

50:14 And see this one here. I love this because Party really wants to pick the No Quarter Catch Crew, because you got Charlie Demse, you got the William Regal factor lingering in the background. I would really want to pick them, but actually Nathan Fraser. Every time I have picked against them, they have won, So I'm going to pick them plus Nathan Fraser Rocket City Alumni. Next match year is Trick Williams defending the NXC Championship against Ridge Holland. I'm going with Trick Williams. I'm gonna go with Ridge Holland because as much as I like Trick, he's still very green and I don't think this win has elevated him at all. I think putting the title on Ridge would actually really help establish another top heel on the brand, and then you kind of even it out with between Heath and Page, Ridge Holland and the soon to returning Obafemi. Uh kind of evens things out. So I'm gonna take rich Holland because you can't take down a university and not win the title.

51:10 Next match here, Sol Rukas, Stephanie vak Kor, Zaria Julian ren Sinclair, and the Women's aront Survivor Challenge match the term of the number one contender for the NXC Women's Championship at New Year's Evil. I have Julia in this one, Doctor Trey. I'm gonna take Stephanie Vacor. Then is that she's She's in the mattress, She's in the match. She is have a lot of names there. I do like Julia, I love her energy and everything else. But I just like how rugged and tough Stephanie Vakor is, and I think she's kind of the forgotten person out of these new recruits coming in. I think everybody's focusing on Julia. I think Stephanie va Kor is a great pick to go with here. And then you stay save Julia for whard you get closer to Rumble or WrestleMania.

51:50 And then finally, the Men's I Survivor Challenge matches determined the number one contender for the NXC Men's Championship at New Year's Evil. It's wes Lee, Javian Evans, Nathan Fraser, Ethan Page, and Eddie Thorpe. For now, I guess Eddie Thorpe. For now, I am gonna take wes Lee, Doctor Trey. Is this because every time you pick against wes Lee he wins. That is that you're reasoning every time I pick against him he loses. Yeah, So, well, since I picked Ridge Holland to win the nixtys title, I gotta pick a baby face to win this. So I'm gonna take Jabon Evans because once again local guy, A lot of my friends know him, and then b he would be a great first challenger for Ridge Hanks. I don't think anybody thinks he's ready to win the Sea Championship, but he could be very similar baby face for Ridge to get his first victory over.

52:37 So I'll take Jamie on Evans. There you go. There's our preview predictions for NXC Deadline this Saturday on Peacock. With that said, yes, doctor Trey, I. Said, I'm going oh for the entire show. But you imagine if you go five and h like you are never again picking the same person as me. Yeah, well that would that would require That would means that you went probably like two because at least the Iron Survivoran Challenge, there's the possibility that neither of us get those matches correct, true, so, but everything else we might go like you know, split there. So I might go oh and three, you go three and oh, but then we miss those. But yeah, if I go five and oh, just by being an a hole and picking against you, I will get a T shirt made saying that I am the brown eyed bastard.

53:17 There you go, stay tuned, folks, and then let's see a couple of plugs and sponsors out of the way. You can do only show every Thursday or Friday at Real Guy Radio dot com, Wrestle chattinget on X and a still Real to Show iTunes feed. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help us con charts on iTunes. You can follo us individual on X for myself at srt you Jeff, and for Doctor Trey Franklin The Doctor Trey And of course don't for follow a show on X at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what is going on the one for World of doct Trey Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on X at the Doctor Trey. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram. Just be look up Doctor Trey Franklin. When you're on Facebook, sure check out Rockety Championship Wrestling. We have a big show coming up this Saturday. It's our nine year anniversary show. It also puts us about a month out from the Rocket City Rumble, which is usually our second biggest show of the year. Uh so we're gonna have a bunch of people coming in for that. Also, go check out my boy Chase Owens. He's over in Japan again right now, so that's one of my one He's actually becoming a really good friend of mine.

54:15 By the way, Jeff, did you check out the other show I did, the Rejects podcast I did. I did. It was very good man, Thank you, thank you. I got some good feedback on it, other than people going. You look like I was in a cave. I looked like I was doing like a an Isis video because the graininess of my camera at times. But that's just when you have real internet access that sometimes those things don't work. Out very well. No, no, no, not at all. So I know you had some you had some issues there and for a little bit, right. Yeah, it's just when you're when you're having to work kind of off either like a hot spot or like a you know, a five G signal with the camera and you have four connections running in at one time, it can get a little sketchy at best. But but Chris the host of that show, great friend of mine, he actually just had surgery, Like he had surgery like three days after we.

55:01 Did that show. More powerful best pushes to him like he had a gastric sleeve surgery. Because I love the guy, but he got to three hundred and eighty pounds, so you looking. Out for himself. He's got kids and a great wife and just one of my good one of my really really good friends. He's actually one of the first people in the wrestling business that it took a liking to good old doctor Trey because I could run my mouth pretty good. So you go go out there, support all the great stuff that supports SRTU and let us know your thoughts on the aw coverage. We want to hear from you at sr srt podcast, on Twitter or Facebook dot com. Slash Style Real Test Show a friendly reminder. Our holiday programming special starts on December nineteenth. For our twenty twenty four wrestling recap special on December twenty six will be the SRTU Award Show special to wrap up the year, and on January second, twenty twenty five, it is our wrestling preview special. With that said, thank you for downloading, thank you for making us part of your week once again, rate review, subscribe, and until next week for Doctor Trey Frank and I am Jeff Pack, this has been This is a World Show