Is WWE RAW heading to TNT & TBS? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #722 – 12/14/23

0:00 It's still welcome. Everybody. Welcome to this week's edition a s Real to Show, episode number seven and twenty two four December fourteenth, twenty twenty three. This is your w NXC deadline recap and review edition of ass R Team. You. I am one after the show. I am Jeff Peck, who joined every single week with my cost the one only doctor trat Franklin, Doctor trait, Did you take out Trick Williams my friend? Uh No, I did not whoop that trick. I swear to God it was not me.

0:48 But uh, I will say this. You guys just realize in seven hundred and twenty two episodes, I have never done the opening for the show never No, I have never done the whole Welko, welcome. I have never done that. I think we have to do that at some point then we have to do that might be there, that might be our surprise for beginning of the year. I don't know. Well, I just told Doctor Trey off air that like there's a strong potential that I'm going to need jaw surgery in twenty twenty four, which is great, great news for me. I'm very excited about that, which would like shut down my voice for two weeks, and of course typical me like afterwards, I'm like, how the hell are we gonna do the podcast? What am I going to do? I was like, I guess we're gonna have to like record, which I could pre record and we would call it like Jeff Getz Jaw Surgery episodes, because that would be like I always loved, like we were talking off air, like getting the holiday programming schedule ready, and I really look forward to the next three shows that we do because they're just conversation and there's obviously structure, but it's not the structure that you'll see in today's podcast. So I was like, maybe we'll go back to our roots and do like our far five favorite wrestlers of today, and when we used to do five favorite team stables, favorite wrestlmining matches. Always loved doing the top five stuff, which was like our special shows as I used to call them. But yeah, I mean, that's coming up on the dock at A spoiler alert for anybody looking for twenty twenty four. Unless my insurance is real pain in the ass, I fully expect that at some point sometime soon, I think I will

2:23 have to go under the knife which is not gonna be a lot of fun. I was kind of hoping to hear, like Jeff try to do the podcast with his jaw wired shut and just kind of mumble wrap his way through the whole podcast. But you know what, we never did our top five managers. We never did our top five valets, So there's a lot We never really did our top five commentary teams or people. So there's a lot of things we've never actually cover. We've done tag teams, we've done wrestlers, we've done I think we did like events one time, or our top five most memorable events that we've ever remember watching things like that, but we never did it, like the any of the ancillary characters are professional wrestling. So if we had to if your if your mouth gets wired shuts, you know, there's a couple of things and we always put the listeners. Hey, you know, give us you know, we could do the high fidelity version, like you give me your top five favorite blah blah blah, throw it out to the fans see what they want to hear. Yeah, yeah, we could do that. I mean it would be like the Jeff had Jeff Jeff's Surgery episodes of SRT where it would be like I don't know.

3:24 I spoke to the doctor. Obviously I don't have full details yet, but I was like, so when can I talk? And it seems like right away, but it wouldn't be anything like strenuous. I mean, how is it. How excited is the life about you having joff surgery? No? No, it'll talk for two weeks, probably very you know, this has been something I've been dealing with for some time, and it was like we weren't getting answers. Then I finally did, like I'll explain it once I have a full grasp of what the hell's going on to get people like, oh, this is Jeff's personal life, personal medical life. So she was relieved to finally realize like, Okay, this is what it is, and this is what we're gonna do, and this is the likelihood of what we're gonna do, and I have to go through all this other testing and whatnot.

4:06 But yeah, it was probably relief, and then once she realizes everything's gonna be okay, probably like more relief and excitement that I'll be at least quiet for a period of time, like at least a week and a half to two weeks, so I'm sure she's probably The downside is it's gonna be after Packer football season and right before Yankees season kicks off, so that time you can't talk. It's not like she's not listening to you drone on and on about you know, Jordan love Jersey or how much you have you're happy that Juan Sodas with the Yankees, Like there's that middle ground. In February, there's like no sports going on, and that's when you won't be able to talk. And so she's just gonna be like he wasn't gonna talk to during this time of the year anyway, there's nothing to talk about. True, true, So I guess say tuned for more of that. But yeah, this is the last quote regular show of SRTU as we we send into the next three weeks of the still Realta Show or I guess we'll you know again just mention our holiday programming schedule. Next Thursday is the first one we look back at our twenty twenty three Bold Predictions and recap professional wrestling in twenty twenty three. That's going to be an interesting one. I'm I'm intrigued on how the discussion goes for like all Elite Wrestling when we look back at their twenty twenty three In two weeks on the twenty eighth of December, we wrap up the year, which is wild to say, with the twenty twenty three SRTU Award Show Special, and then in three weeks on Thursday, January fourth, twenty twenty four, it's the first show of the year. It'll be the twenty twenty four Wrestling preview show. We'll give our five bold predictions and

5:38 our wrestle many forty card predictions, which is our which is traditional here on SRTU and Doctor Train and I did also discuss offline that during this time, while it won't be on the regular shows or the holiday programming schedule that you guys have, Doctor Tran and I are going to record these in advance. Gives us like three weeks to unwine, decompress, and you know, enjoy some time with family and friends during the holidays. However, we will get on here for at least like ten to fifteen minutes, throw out a bonus show where were people aw World, and then we will also do a recap of aw World's n that'll probably happen after the twenty twenty four Wrestling Previews show.

6:19 So lots of cool stuff going on here on SRTU on Pump Filolity program scheduled Dot to Try. Yeah, you know, you and I are are kind of, I don't want to say wrestling savants, but we're we're we have we have a pretty good knowledge of wrestling, and the awards or the bold prediction shows and recap shows are usually as ones that remind us that we are not good at this job at times. But I do love this time of year because with the fantasy booker side of us comes out more. We get to kind of, you know, like how cool would this be? Or how coould this be? The plus, we get to kind of clue people in into what we're watching because I mean obviously sometimes you can hear so we're like, yeah, we really didn't watch Impact T and A that much this year, so let's wing it and see how it goes. And we kind of go off there. So uh, It's it's really one of my favorite times, other than you know, having to listen to my voice back.

7:15 It's I still cringe at those day at those shows. The what do you call yourself about? Like the red neck Cermit the Frog. Yeah, I'm like the redneck Cermit the Frog, which I right now with is congested as my sinuses are. I don't really know. I will say I think the accent has gotten better over the years, and my voice has gotten a little bit deeper. Yeah, yeah, I've noticed that. It's isn't that wild when you like listen back to our old shows and like, wow, my voice has changed. Yeah, and then you don't notice it because like nobody brings it up because otherwise they think that, like, why would you say that to me? It's weird. Hey man, your voice has gotten deeper. It's like, dude, I'm thirty seven. What are you talking about? Yeah, it's like life happens. Like like I've honestly Jeff knows this. I'm one of the uncol people that still smokes occasionally. It's like, yeah, I've been smoking since I was eighteen. Like there's thirty years of smokers coughin me. So it'll that's what happens. I have noticed as times goes on, you're not as you're not coughing as much as you used to. I kind of quit, So I do. I have the vape every now and then and it's helped me. I went from two packs a day down to like maybe five cigarettes a day. Oh so wow, good for you man, chip Away, Chip Away. That that'll be the resolution.

8:28 We'll talk about it more on a couple of weeks here on SRTU. So yeah, this is the last normal regular show. We're gonna get into a lot of fun here over the coming weeks on SRTU. So really looking forward to it. Let's begin. NXC Deadline recap review came to us this past Saturday from the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, right down the road from the headquarters of W and Stanford, Connecticut. The pre show match was Axiom defeating Nathan Fraser. I'd Axiom dot trade Nathan Fraser. It was a strong pre show match Axiom and Nathan and Fraser are very talent, right who I hope you a push up the car here in twenty twenty four Dutch training thoughts on the pre show match. Yeah, I thought it was a good high flying match. I was a little disappointed he's in the Nathan Fraser turn, and I guess maybe it's kind of a slow build to it.

9:11 You know, Axiom is one of those guys that. I don't know if there's a really good pass compared maybe mister j L in the WCW days as far as he's a luchador, that's not a luchador because he's not Hispanic in any kind of way, but it's a I mean, he's gotten some of those matches on SMACKS, so he's one of those guys that you know they can do something with him. And then Nathan Fraser have been coming from the seth rollins Black and Brave or Black and Bold Wrestling School. I mean, he's got you know, he's got the chops based on who trained him to kind of go far w INWWE. So it was a really good match.

9:52 I just I know there was a storyline. I just when I watched him, like, I kind of felt it was kind of high spottish, and then when they got to the finish, it was then they tried to tell the story a little bit. I just I kept waiting for that Nathan Frazier heel turned there at the end. I didn't get it. Yeah, you could definitely tell those two guys had before going out there, like let's go steal the show tonight, because that's certainly what they tried to do sidebar. Mister Jail. You know who that was? Right? Yeah, I've actually met the guy who has actually been to RockA City. It was Jerry Lynn. Yeah, he's been to RockA City. Oh damn, I didn't know he was there. We had Jerry Lynn in like write when he got signed to AW as a producer. One of the last wrestling cause he did is we did the ECW Wrestling Call and we had Saboo and Raven, but Jerry Lynn was there so great. There was actually there's an interview with him that was put out. I think it was, uh, oh, what's the guys the right rj City On his little Hey e W show, Jerry Lynn actually talks about how he got that thing, how he was supposed to be there, supposed to book him as a power ranger, is mister Jail.

10:56 Yeah, mister Jail was gonna be their their attempt to make him into it basically a power ranger, and then it fell off flat on his face. Mister Jail versus Robbie V in WNW Saturday Night or Worldwide. I used to love those shows and it'd be like at two o'clock here on the East Coast on a Sunday Worldwide would be popping on. Next match, here is the main car. Dragon Lee defeats Dirty Dominic Masterio to win the NX North American Championship. We both had Dirty Dom. The finish felt like it came out of nowhere and lack day build up or acknowledge it from the commentators that Dragon Lee hit his finisher on Dirty Dom or that the end was even near. Dirty Dom was a warrior to help elevate the NX brand over the last six months or so, so he should as it should signal the end of his time with the brand. I'm excited to see what dragon Ly accomplishes as a champion in we now, as they are really hyping him up lately. Doctor Tree, your thoughts on the new NX North American Champion, Dragon Lee defeating Dirty Domastereo. Yeah, I was, honestly, I was surprised at the finish. I was surprised at the result anyway, Like, I don't know if this is one of the things where they kind of had Wes Lee booked to do it, and then since he got hurt, they shove Dragon Lee in the spot and just say, hey, we'll just keep the result the same and take the belt off Dom. It is crazy that at this point, I mean a year and a half ago, would we have ever said, like kudos to Dom for elevating a division like it's just a It shows you how much he's progressed over the last eighteen months as well. And I think part of it was, I don't know if they knew what dragon Ly's finisher was, so I kind of got on the commentary about that because a lot of his wins are by roll ups or you know, surprise, you

12:28 know, surprise pins out of nowhere. So the fact that he kind of got a clean win over Dom is really impressive that they're going to that route. So yeah, I'm happy for dragon Lee. It shows that they still have faith in him to be the next Luca Star in WWE and not be the next thing car. Next match here is Blair Davenport defeating Tiffany Stratton, Lash Legend, Kalonie Jordan, and Fallon Henley to win the Women's Irons of Our Challenge and become the number one contender for the NX Women's Championship at New Year's Evil I and Tiffany Stratton, Doctor Trey Blair Davenport the Iron Survivor Challenge match concept is awesome. This match had some ebbs and flows where it was really good and then sometimes where you could tell that some of the participants are still a little bit on the greener side as their wrestling careers continue to blossom.

13:16 I was surprised to see Blair Davenport win, as it looked like she was being molded for a few but the Key to Lions very soon. It still looks that way, especially if you watch Tuesday's NXC. It was also great to see core Jade back in the NXC post match as she attacked Lyra Valkyria Doctor Trey. Your thoughts as Blair Davenport wins the Women's Iron Survivor Challenge Match, Yeah, like, I agree there that you said there, Like the had some spots in there. I'm like, damn, that's really impressive, you know. Metaphor coming out blocking the door was kind of a cool little thing as well, you know, But then there's spots in the where you're like, Okay, yes, some of these girls weren't ready for prime time. I'm also now a big Falon Henry fan. She just reminds me a lot of like a young Mickey James, and it's not just the dress.

13:58 Is the way she read, so is everything else. But you know, Colonie Jordan, she's not ready for the spot yet. I like how they protected lash Legend and only gave her a couple of big spots to hit, but really it was I give a lot of credit to Blair and Tiffany for kind of carrying this match in a lot of ways. But the transition now with Blair and Nikita and Kora Jade and Larry Valkyrise all tied into the World title or the NXT women's title division while you got Fallon and Tiffany on the side, it shows that they're they're building some depth back in that women's division. You still got you know, rox Amperez that we'll see you later on the show. So you got you know, eight to ten solid female wrestlers in NXT that you aren't ready for prime time, but you can see where the future that division is going to be. Next match here is Carmelo Hayes defeating Lexus King. Doctor Tryon I both at Lexus King matches. Okay, I'm not sure that the Lexus King character is really hit with me yet, King does not look great next to one of nix He's best in Carmelo Hayes. In this match, I thought a win would have been really helpful for Lexis and another Carmelo loss would be intriguing, but I guess they did not want to go in that direction. The post match segment where Lexis King revealed that he didn't take out Trick Williams came off a bit awkward as well.

15:16 Brian Pillman looked like a future star when he was in AW. I know Doctor Trey used to talk to about him a lot on the NDE scene before he went to AW. I don't know what's going on with this Lexus King character. Now he's in the Breakout Tournament as well, coming up, but he's performed at a PLA. This whole thing with Carmelo in this match and his character, it was all really strange and weird to me. I gotta be honest, Yeah, the I didn't hate the match because there's just they're two different styles, and sometimes styles make matches and sometimes styles don't mesh well in a match. And this is also pretty much like the first time they've really had a match against each other and they're still younger guys. So I don't hate the match. My issue with it was the storyline ParvE.

16:00 It did get kind of weird and clunky, because like when you get to the end and the Carmelo's music is playing and Lexus is like, hey, thanks for the rub at a ple that's kind of a little inside for casual viewers, and then to play his music in a loss is kind of weird. I will say, like watching him work in the way they they're presenting him, it does feel like they're trying to go the loose cannon Brian Pillman route with it, but he's still learning the WWE system, you know. Guy, Remember like back when Ko and Sammy and Baller came and there was ninety they had a rule it was ninety days to one hundred and twenties before they were ever even allowed to step in a ring for a live television match.

16:42 And I think, you know, sometimes they kind of have faith that these guys are probably a little bit ahead of that curve. And I think this is one of those examples where like, yeah, just because everything lines up pedigree wise and everything else that you know, you got to have the right storytelling and everything else involved as well. Otherwise it just seems weird and just you know, off putting. Next match is Trick Williams defeating Diejack, Josh Briggs, Brodn Breaker and Tyler Bait to win the Men's Eyes a Challenge and become the number one contender for the NFC Championship At NXC New Year's Evil, we both had bron Breaker. This was a great match, entertaining, fast paced and fun. Bron Breaker's three pinfalls was an awesome spot. But then when Trick Williams going from zero falls to four falls and the final ninety seconds was a ton of fun to watch as you could feel the momentum build and the crowd was really into it. Fantastic work by all five men.

17:34 Dout Trey. I love this match a year ago. I love it a year later with the women's and the men the men, this men's match was really really good. Trick Williams said on Tuesday's NXT that he thought it was the match of the year for NXC. I have to agree with him. Great match, great concept. I would love to see this continue a little bit more, but I also know that when there is a really good thing that we're watching play out on television that if it's overdone then it loses its luster. But really enjoy this match. Trick Williams wins the Men's Arms of Arron Challenge. Yeah, I love this match. And there's a couple of things that that kind of said. I mean, like, not only did Trick pull off, you know, the four pinfalls in the last ninety seconds, he also took some pinfalls, So like when he came out, I was like, I did not realize. First of all, I have not washed a ton of Trick Williams. I watched him early on with Carmelo, but I haven't really watched them since they kind of broke out as much.

18:29 And I'm watching him, like I did not realize how over he was with the crowd. Crowd is totally on board with Trick Williams, and I'm watching him and I'm like, he reminds me so much of Booker T when Booker T really first started getting his singles, push size, build, all the energy everything else. So I'm like, yeah, they got to start there in the making. And then to see him basically, you know, keep getting pinned and taking a lot of the pinfalls for a lot of that match, to have that great comeback at the end, and really, I mean you could feel every time he got paid, you can kind of feel the air of the crowd gets sad, you can kind of go, oh, damn, they're not gonna let Trick do it. But to pull it off at the end was great booking and great storytelling as well. So I give a ton of kudos to not just the guys in the match, because I thought all five guys killed it in the ring, but the storytelling and the production in that match as well was fantastic. So those guys did an amazing job and honestly kind of saved this pl from being average at best. It did. It felt like a Seawn Michaels produced match, just by the roller coaster of emotions and grabbing the crowd and just phenomenal work. If you have not seen this match, go out of your way and check it out.

19:40 Next match is Kanu James defeating Roxdane Perez in a steel cage match. I had Keana James Doctor Trey at Roxanne Perez. Good physical match. Had a tough act to follow with that Man's Honor Survivord Challenge match Paranzzy Dame with Kana James makes sense if you've been watching XCV the last couple of weeks. In regards to Roxanne Perez, they need to figure out what to do with her. She has become very stagnant as a character. It's either turn her heel or elevator to raw or smack down and get her out of NXT. I personally would go with the heel turn in NXT, but she's just feeling very flat and stagnant lately. Keanu James gets the big victory Doctor Trey. Yeah, I mean this match to me was wasn't like I don't know if you can say it was an average cage match, Like nothing really stood out to me. Even the finish with Izzy Dame getting involved and trying to slam the cage into Roxanne's head was missed, Like it wasn't clean, So that made it feel weird too. Just I just really did not get into this match at all. And I like Roxanne Perez and I like Yanna James, so I just just didn't do anything for me. I don't know if you can turn her heel, because you kind of like if you go back and look at the Kora Jade stuff like Corey j was a very similar character plucky young babyface that they turned heel. Could you do the same thing with Roxanne.

20:56 I think you can still develop more of the character I come up. But ever since she had that weird injury is she had to relinquish the NXC Women's Championship, Like, it just feels like they don't know how to pull more out of her. And I think that's something that she's gonna have to figure out, you know what, depth to her character. I mean, it's a little bit Bailey. When Bailey first started being the hugger, Like it was a great little gimmick, but it took Bailey. They had to fight an edge and they had to find depth of that character to really make it work. And I think that's where they're kind of stuck with Roxanda right now. And then finally the main event, Elia Dragonoff defeats Baron Corban to retain the NXC champion with that Elie again in the victory. It was a little slow paced for my liking. Dragon Off is a star and the right person to leave the NXC brand right now in my opinion. Parahem with Baron Corbin definitely tested his future star power gets an established talent in we I'm looking forward to seeing how Dragonof's match with Chuck Williams a New Year's Evil plays out, Doctor Trey your thoughts. Elia defeats Baron, I mean I thought it was a solid match. I mean, it's when you have one of these I don't want to say Maine roster star. Baron's been down an XT back in at for a little while. With Ilia, it's it's a little bit like the bron Breaker golfs where stuff we saw, you know, a couple of years ago. It's it's a great solid win for Ilia, but at the end of the day, it was kind of a slightly above average match.

22:22 And then it leads to more questions for me, like, okay, the Ilia you know trick comes out and then Carmelo's out there kind of behind him but not beside him. How does that play into it? And then also just because we're we're you have both are big Baron Corbyn guys, like where does he go from here? Did they find something else from the do on NXT or do you do you bring him back up to the main roster since you've kind of refreshed the character kind of a little bit brought back a little bit of the lone Wolf gimmick. So it's gonna be kind of interesting where those two guys go from here. Sammy is is he did not enjoy the match. No, he did not. He he didn't like he did like Baron Korper's motorcycle. Though he didn't, I don't blame him. Pay review prediction record. Not a good night for either one of us. I went three and four, Doctor Trey went two and five. The NXC shows are really hard to predict, so hat tip to them for that. I watch NXC every single week and it is a hard show to predict each and every time. We have to do it. Twenty twenty three pay per view predictions record. We got one left aw worlds En. I'm at one one hundred and twenty three and forty five Doctor Trey one fourteen and fifty four pay per view event ratings. Match of the night I gave NX Deadline a three point three. My match of the night was the Men's Iron Survivor Challenge match.

23:33 Doctor Trey. Dear Lord, I mean, I'll just to be different. I'll go three point two. Like I said, I thought it was a slightly I literally think at three point three that you said, like, we can't agree on this one, I'll go slightly loer. I'll go three point two because I thought it was a slightly above average show, which literally is the point two being slightly above average, but the men's Iron Man match. Say that because I mean, this could have been if that match had been average, just could have been a two point seven two point I agree with you. I think it would have been the worst WWEPL this year if it was not for that Men's Aren't Surviver Challenge match, it might have been the worst NFC pay per viewear I've ever covered if not for that Men's I Am Survivor. I don't think we've ever had one below of three the two point zero era. Out of the Black and Gold, it's been. It's not like I remember back in the day when we would do takeovers. It was like every single time it was like show the year, Show the year, match of the year they were coming from it. It was such a great time period for NXT. I like what they're doing the brand. I would say this was a very solid wrestling show on a Saturday night, but it was better than Collision or Rampage. I guess to take a shot at aw but I've not been a fan of those two shows lately. But yeah, it was not not a great pl for w I think it was probably from a w standpoint maybe in general, and it wasn't awful god awful, but maybe my least liked pl this year general payer view or PLA in wrestling.

25:02 Yeah, I would agree, Like once again, we always like to have things that stand out that make us remember the show. And outside of tricks ninety seconds and maybe breakers three Spears of the Row, I don't think there's anything else we can remember from the show within a year. No, literally, go out of your way and watch that Men's aren't throughout a challenge match. If you've not seen it, I highly recommend it. Switching gears here a bit. I want to go to Monday Night Raw. Actually, the guy who opened up NXT Deadline, we'd even talk about the segment between cmpunk and Shawn Michaels, which was like awkward as hell. It was, It ended really awkward and music his music came on. I was like, okay, I guess they wrapped it and they both were confused. Cempunk saved himself two nights later on Monday Night Raw, as he officially entered the Royal Rumble and planted seeds potentially for a WrestleMania forty matchup with Seth Freaking Rolls as they went toe to toe on the microphone. I found the segment to be very entertaining and enjoyable and fun. His promo on Friday's SmackDown Cempunk where he was taking aim and everybody and wants the main event wrestlemanting, then following it up on Monday's Raw, both are very strong, and it was the Cmpunk that we know and love, like you tend to forget sometimes, like how good he is on the microphone, and then he does that stuff, really enjoyable stuff, the stuff with Seth Freaking Rollins. It's like, give me this match, give me this match for WrestleMania. We'll be predicting wrestleminging forty card in a couple of weeks. Here on SRTU January the fourth, but I

26:32 was like, man, this is the beginning and I'm stoked for it. Your thoughts here, Punk enters the Rumble and he goes face to face with Seth Freaking Rollins. Ought to try. Yeah, it was a much better a performance than the one on the Deadline because that was literally two grown man that forgot everything they were going to say. Yeah, it is also I love the whole like great nice hoodie, Oh sorry, I forgot my Sean Merch. I'm like all right, there you go. And then everything else over that was just like yeah, we don't know what we're saying right now. But the one out all you could Tell was actually produced and they gave bullet points to hit and he nailed it, Like, I mean, it was great. It was There are very few people in this world that can grab a microphone for four or five minutes and keep you entertained the entire time, and Punk is one of them. And what he's on his game on the mic, there's hardly anybody better. So that was a great promo given the history of Cleveland, even bringing up the Mickey James stuff, which is something I love that WW allows people to do now is reference people who are not in the company. Although Mickey's husband is, so I guess that's why it's okay, But you know the stuff, I mean, even the fact that Adam Pierce reference he had a twenty somebody year plus history with Cmpunk and then you know, the Rollin stuff even made it even better. Just a fantastic job, and it's got me psyched for WrestleMania. I mean, if I get if we end up getting Roman Cody two and Punk Rawlins, I don't know what else you could throw in there that would be bigger unless somehow the Rock showed up and we had rocked in Roman. But outside of that, I don't know what else you can get that'd be two bigger main events than those two guys going or those four guys going at it. So looking

28:04 forward to here towards the rest of mainety forty. My theory on this all Doctor Trey is this was a really good back and forth face to face promo battle between the two. Don't have them interact with one another now until after the Royal Rumble, depending if CM Punk wins that match. Like, keep these guys away from one another, don't overdo it now, spread them apart until late January early February, is my call on this. Yeah, it's kind of like the same thing we talked about with Cody enrollment at times last year, Like you want to keep them apart until you want to increase the intensity. The crazy thing about about this is, you know, up until CM punk came back to w to B seth Rawl's most popular guy in the company, people singing the songs, everything. People were changing CM Punk with seth rawlins and the ring facing them, and we were not in Chicago.

28:52 So makes it interesting to see how if if this is the route they go, which one plays kind of the heel at WrestleMania, because that's typically what they do is one guy plays up the heel, maybe just a little bit more than usual to kind of get the crowd to go to one side or the other. So that would be interesting to see how they work that if this is the route they head for WrestleMania. I did read a post punk joining Dodoi that I guess one of the things is the plan is for Rons and him to feud, and the creative working plan was that they were going to like let the fans acide who they wanted to cheer, which I think that's the right thing to do, And what got Dodoe in trouble ten years ago when Ciampunk walked out on the company was that they were trying to dictate who the fans liked and didn't let the fans dictate who they like. And I think it's also fine if people want to cheer for both guys. In all honesty, you know, face versus face battle is not a bad thing either, So it's not a bad thing. I mean, but really, I mean, in the history of WrestleMania's I mean, I think they've only pulled it off really once with Shawn and Brent. You don't think Warrior Hogan, No, I think at that point people were kind of out on Hogan and wanted to see something new. But then again in Toronto, I mean, it wasn't gonna have it for that matches in Toronto and cans a weird crowd. What about Rock Sina. I thought that was like a clashing of different fan bases and different eras of wrestling. Yeah, but and I guess in a sense, seth and Punk is kind of like a modern day I

30:26 don't say modern day because dear God, that makes me sound really really old, but it is kind of an updated version of Rock and Hogan because there's similar characters but different generations. God, let's get old. But yeah, it's just it's just I think they even planning SE's looking like Seth was, wasn't as flamboyant and not as arrogant as he's been. The playful Seth like, I liked he was. I liked him doctor try yep I did too, I thought because that way it also tells the fans that, hey, if we want Seth to go back to being the heel in this rivalry, we could do it. Plus, he was wearing purple. That's also the colors of the Judgment Day. Maybe he and Our Truth have both joined, which sidebar Our Truth and the Judgment Day stuff has been very fun. Speaking of seth Ron's real quick story here before we get into what's going on with Ross TV deals. According this comes to us from Fightful Select via Wrestling Ink.

31:23 Fightfull Select is reporting that seth Ron's contract with w is set to expire in June of next year. As it stands, there reportably be no conversations about extending his contract. Still, Rollins as well liked and respected by management, and the report notes that an offer will obviously be made some time between now and June, as the company seeds Rollins as a priority. Fightful says Rollins has not responded to a request for comment. Doctor Trey. I can't see him leaving WA. I gotta be honest. I know we've said that before, Like I can't see Cody leaving AW. I really would be shocked if Seth Rollins left WA. No. And I think that promo he cut money and that I also illustrate that point, like he's loyal. I mean in Seth is Seth's one of those guys. He's loyal to the He's loyal to those people who helped him out. And he's even said interviews in the past, you know, Punk's one of the guys who helped him out on the indies when he didn't have to. And Seth takes a lot of pride in being the face of WWE, and and he's mentioned that several some times.

32:19 Plus the other thing is W's known for kind of waiting till like the last month to kind of do these deals. And if I'm not mistaken, I believe Seth's wife's contract comes up before his, and she's kind of a big deal also, So they got to get through one half of the Rawins clam before they get to the other half, I believe. So I just I just can't see Seth leaving I mean, you know, Ambrose was a different character and John Moxy's a different kind of breedy guy, and you know, what he wanted to do as a wrestler did not fit what WW wanted. Seth is a WW guy. His style fits you literally, like we have see him punk in the company. Sean Michaels kind of laid the groundwork for what see him and Seth Rollins were. I just can't see Seth leaving the company just you know, on principle alone, let alone. They have quite a bit of money to pay him. Yeah, No, they certainly do. Yeah, Rollins is a w WEE guy. Next story here, Doctor Trey and CM punk is influencing this, but reportedly WW is met with Warner Brothers Discovery officials about Raw's TV rights. This comes from Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio. I believe it was on Wednesday, excuse me, Thursday of this week. Dave Meltzer was quoted as saying, they're WWE's shopping it Raw TV rights around and WBD Warder Brothers Discovery obviously being one of them, and WBD seems to be dead and it's not dead, seemed to be

33:50 dead and it's not dead. That's the basic thing with cmpunk there and everything like that. It's not dead. It's not like people should go on like, oh my god, this and that. With AW there's no way of knowing any think more other than they did have a meeting and it's not dead. That's all w As far as the raw deal, the talk is that they're finalizing, and belief is that they're finalizing pretty soon. More quotes from Dave seeing Punk open up may have been a shut door with WBD. How open that door is or what is going to transpire. I don't know Punk. He's a significant player, and that's one of the reasons he's going to be at the House show in Los Angeles this week where he'll be wrestling Dirty Domesterio at the key of Forum, because I'm sure that the people who they are courting Everyone's headquarters is in the is in LA. And then the final quote here this past Monday morning, TKO is Mark Shapiro as well as w's Nick Cohn and Paul Levec aka Triple H. We're in New York City at the Warner Brothers Discovery headquarters, meeting with wb D executive Bruce Campbell about potentially moving Raw to WBD. The w contingent meent with Campbell for several hours Monday morning. According to w sources, there are still other suitors, paul Aavek and Nick Connmer and Los Angeles several weeks ago meeting with potential partners. They are seeking a major increase in Raw media rights. Dot You, Trent, this is a mind blowing story here that Punk may have given w W a chance to potentially kick aw off of tn T and TBS, assuming that will be the case. Thoughts you on the story about Raw having conversations with Warner Brothers Discovery Now, it's it's it's funny to me in a lot of ways.

35:22 This is kind of like the Big the Big Fu from Punk to Tony Kanna always because if you go back to when Collision was launched, a lot of that was contingent upon Punk being on Collision and he was the water Burgs. Discovery guys were big Punk fans and they wanted to make sure that they did the second show. Punk was going to be a part of it, and that's how he kind of, you know, got in with those guys so to speak. And to have him being one of the people to help, you know, facilitate this meeting is kind of one of those like big shots across the face of Tony Kann, like you don't think I'm a big enough star that you can just fire me, but look, let me get you. Let me help w B get a deal that could potentially either kick you off the network or even better, let us stay on the network.

36:05 And ww's deal is like three times bigger, Like that would be another thing where it's like, you think you're on equal footing with us, but our TV wrightter three times is what yours are from the same company. So it's it's a really really crazy story. If this, I think actually plays out the way it does. Is kind of like if your favorite player goes you know, like you know, Tom Brady goes to the Buccaneers and takes Rob Garkowski and has the team with him. Like that's kind of what this is is opening that door to to make that move, you know, and you know, it's just it's a crazy situation, but it is kind of a big fu to the owner of another profession, like, hey, talent can help facilitate stuff if you can't get the deal done yourself. So Obviously there's a lot of discussion that maybe there's like these little subtle shots. Obviously Punk is mentioned like in a SmackDown promo like who would punch somebody? Backstage?

36:57 AW ran the Devil Ankle on Wednesday Night with Hangman Page, and people believe that the Devil is potentially Jack Perry. They did a glass spot with Hangman Page. This to me, like shots or subtle shots in promos or in angles, does not speak the same volumes. If somehow Cmpunk was like a huge fu to AW and got them in front of Warner Brothers Discovery executives to shop Monday night raw like that, Like that's absurd to think about three months ago. Oh, it's absolutely not to do you do you have the Max app or any like that? You I do not know. See I have Max, and I actually like the interface better than Peacock, And so for become like, hey, if they moved to if they go to the disc you know, if they started putting some of the other stuff on Discovery, the Discovery app or the Warner Brothers app, like, the interface is better, So I'd be okay with that. But literally to sit there and see, you know how AW is always hurd about how they're relevant and they're on the same level, and they have this happen to where warbuters could potentially kick them off the network for WWE, which I don't think they can do given the contract, but they could easily put w in better prime time slots for their programming and pay them more money than they're paying Tony kN would be the ultimate like middle finger to Tony Khan if this, if this comes to fruition, I do also think it's a little I think it's more leveraging to get

38:29 better deals from either USA or some other network, because at the end of the day, I don't think it's realistic, but it is kind of one of those like eye opening things. And for the report to get leaked out as well during this time with Pugs, you know, reemergence in ww is also another big shot across the bow. I have been so wrong in recent years about like where things are going, which is beautiful in this era of like always wanting to be right and it being very predictable. It's a k to be wrong and and be to be unpredictable. Never thought Cody Roach would be back in wa he came back. Never thought cmpunk would leave AWB fired from AW and then go back to WA. He did. I don't think Adam. Did you ever think Adam Copeland would be an AW No, No, I didn't, And I don't think Raw is airing on d and T and DBS, but it's very well possible in like a week or two weeks.

39:24 I'm they're airing on TBS and T or have a deal with them. Do you remember when WW was on TNN the oh yeah, yeah, the Nashville Network and then it became Spike to me, yeah, and it was awful, Like I hated it. That's that's my fear is that, like USA is, USA is so comfortable, like in my mind with Monday Night Raw that if I do worry that if you switch Raw to a new network, how would that impact the show? Because I think people just kind of intuitively know when Monday Night raws on, in what channel it's on where. I think if you start jumping it around like you do, risk you do risk losing some viewers just off that comfortable level. I agree with you, I don't agree with the fact that maybe Raw gets move off to Mondays as well, which has been a rumor that w W is open to I'm not a SmackDown has been moved around so much, from like Thursdays to Wednesdays, to Tuesdays to Fridays. Actually like Thursdays to Fridays, then to Tuesdays, then back to Thursdays then to Fridays. That it's like, yeah, whatever, whatever you want to do with SmackDown. I don't think Monday Night Raw needs to be off of Monday nights, like Monday Night Football didn't get changed to like Tuesday Night Football. Wednesday Night say Raw just sounds Wednesday Night Raw sounds weird. No, don't want that to happen. Don't want that to happen at all. So, yeah, it's it's crazy times. I remember Raw leaving USA Network. I mean, SmackDown is going to the USA networked

40:57 out to Trey, So there is that. But I hear what you're saying. Do you know even what channel CW is on to watch NXT on when they move When they made the announcement, I have DirecTV stream and I had to take a look to make sure that I had CW, so I do. So I didn't even know. All I knew about CW was that that's the channel. That Arrow and The Flash were on at one point because that's what remember Cody Rose was on Arrow because him was Stephen Emmel and I was like, wait, is that still a network like I had? I had to say the thing. I had to go look it up because I'm like, I guess this is gonna be one thing where I just have to stream it because I don't even like me now, everything I have runs off my Roku, so I don't even have the capabilities to kind of find it unless it's on one of these other apps. I may have to download the CW app just to watch n XT. And I remember like CW would always air like reruns of Family Feud, so I guess, yes, it'll air after Family Feud or before real last thing here. Do you think Aw's in trouble.

42:00 I don't think they're in trouble in the sense of are they going like it's funny off air where you had the conversation about like like for years we always had the is TNA Impact Wrestling going out of business? I don't think they're in trouble in the sense of they're going out of business. I do think that this is kind of a reminder to them that you know, hey, sometimes the big dog will you know, bite you just to remind you that it's their yard. I think this is one of those situations where it's kind of like, WWE's your money them, Like you and I talked I think it was last week a week before about like, I don't know how they're making money, and then I'm going to report the aw's prodicted to lose thirty two million dollars this year. So it's like, well, obviously then they're not making money and the TV deals not helping them make the profit like it does for WWE. The Merchelles isn't doing it. So I think this is one of those this might be one of those moments where they kind of have to reevaluate their business plan for long term because if the company that they've literally been working with since day one is looking at other, you know, another company, it's just reminded that, hey, you're not on their level yet. Yeah, no, that's very true. I'm it's unfortunate. I mean, we need a solid competitor w W because we're getting great wrestling.

43:17 I want AW thrive. I ultimately think RAW doesn't go to T and T and TBS. I think AW stays with Warner Brothers Discovery. I think that relationship is good. We will learn in the coming weeks how good it is. Ultimately, if WWE is coming to TN T and TBS or TBS, then maybe it's not as good. Maybe AW stays. I'm Warner Brothers Discovery. I can't see them wanting to pay for RAW a boatload of money and also keep AW prother say, by the way, do you know you know why I think they said they have been opened that they've opened up the fact that hey, we may well we might be open to not having Raw on Mondays is because that allows ESPN Disney to come into the mix because ESPN is not moving Monday night football. Yeah, you're right, absolutely right. And then the relationship with Endeavor TKO with ESPN has been pretty solid, so hey, that might open up that door that Hey, if Warbur's looking at us, you guys might want to up the ante and also like give us a bit more money to change our branding to move to a Tuesday night instead.

44:21 Twenty twenty four wrestling is going to be really really interesting. I mean, outside of TV deals and free agency, Like it's going to be a wild, wild year. All right, we'll I'm more about to talk about that here in the coming weeks on srt We'll have to make some notes to bring that stuff up. Sammy. Yes, yeah, you know he's here. He's literally like trying to shoot me with an NERF gun right now. Hey, not as well, you know, duck and run, I guess. Update to a story that we cover on last week's episode of SRTU, According to reports, there is some belief that the WWE is reportedly favorites to sign one Kaziska Okada should he leave New Japan Pro Wrestling. This comes to us via Wrestling Inc. The reporting as followed. Kazisko Okadas reportedly open leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling was the current deal expires early next year, and the prevailing belief is that w could be the leading position to acquire his talents. This week's Wrestling Observer newsletter, WWE is long expressed and interest in Okada, but those feelings may not be mutual, as the Rainmaker considers coming stateside. Okada had been feeling out the idea of w with AW full time across his various appearance this year, but may not be but there may be financial motivation to his willingness to consider leaving New Japan at this point in time. Not only are his US suitors capable of offering significant pay raise, but the Japanese yen is also depreciated against the US dollar, meaning that he'd be leaving a lot of money on the table should he opt to stay where he is. Many in WW we believe Okadas accomplished all he can in New Japan, and the

45:51 prospect of meetings of fresh challenges can be appealing. Additionally, o'cata's wife, Suzuko Mamori, an accomplished actress and singer, I guess, could play a major factor in the decision making process, as a move to the United States would allow her to pursue further opportunities in those areas. Okada is penciled in to return to the US that's January, making his return to TNA at these Snake Eyes taping Doctor Trey interesting update there. We could be the favorites to land one. Kazitsko o Kata. Yeah, we talked about this a couple ago. To me, his style fits in better with WW than maybe AW.

46:32 He's a little bit more of I mean, he's a fantastic wrestler. I'm not trying to diminish that, but he's also he understands the value of entertainment. That's why, you know, over the years his interests have gotten bigger and flashier and more wwes and maybe a little bit less New Japan style. Those things factor in. And if you can wrestle maybe a little bit lighter in ring style like ww is and then still be able to to build a brand and help your accomplished actress, singer, wife person, thing that I've never heard of. That Jeff Peck dismissed quickly as that was read, Hey, kudos to you. I do think that you know, he has accomplished. He's arguably top three greatest wrestlers in the history of New Japan.

47:22 So what else is there unless you take that risk, And it's a little bit of like what shins k did. Shins Kate accomplished a lot in New Japan, and he wanted to test himself out against the you know, the the rest of the world. And although sin's Ke's run maybe not what we all thought it would be or as great as it's still been a very very solid run in WWE. So if I was a kata and I was wanting to leave, I would pick WWOAWS because I think it fits my style better than the AW style. Really interesting stuff right now with Ocana. I never thought he would leave it at New Japan. There's a lot of smoke to this story and a lot of fire building that it appears he could be coming stateside in twenty twenty four, which is again once again going to make this upcoming year really really potentially special for professional wrestling fans. So we'll keep an eye on that. Is w a likelihood for Ocada, We will wait and see. With that said, let's close up this week's edition of sr TU and get a couple of plugs and sponsors out of the way. You could download the show every Thursday or Friday at Reealguide Radio dot Com, wrestle chatnett on X and the Still a Real Test Show iTunes feed, don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help us kind of the charts on iTunes.

48:34 You could follow us individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor Trey Franklin at The Doctor Trey And of course don't forget to follow show on X at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what's going on in the one for world of dot Trey Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on x or Twitter or whatever you want to call it this week until Elon Musk decides to rename it into x Y or some other weird name. But you can follow me there at the Doctor Tray. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram. Doctor Tray Franklin, You're on Facebook. Be sure check out rocket City Championship Wrestling. Got a big show coming up this Saturday as we get ready the last show before the return of the Rocket City Rumble, which is one of our biggest shows of the year.

49:15 Last year, I think we had four hundred and twenty five people in attendance, which is incredible for just a small little show. But be sure to go check them out. And you also can check out Spartan Championship Wrestling. Those are the two shows I work with here in Alabama. But go support your look at wrestling because otherwise you'll get a kid like I have that will watch wrestling and try to drop kick you in the face and hit you with the four an objects. So there you go. Support all the great things that support SRTU and spread the word about the still world. This show. Once again, this is the last regular show for the next three weeks. Sammy is very excited for that the upcoming holiday programming schedule. Thursday December twenty first, we look back at our twenty twenty three both predictions and recap professional wrestling in twenty twenty three. In two weeks on the twenty eighth is our twenty three srt Award Show special. Then in three weeks on Thursday January fourth, twenty twenty four, the twenty twenty four wrestling previous show, we'll give our five bolt predictions and our wrestling many forty car predictions as well.

50:12 And then in between there we'll be previewing, predicting, recap, reviewing aw world's end with some bonus shows for y'all. So keep it locked in here on the Stone Rail Show each and every week during the upcoming holiday programming schedule. So with that said, for doctor Trey Franklin, for Sammy Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. Thank you for downloading. Until next week. This is the Star Rowthos Show.