John Cena's Time Is...Almost Up | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #752 – 7/11/24

0:00 It's still welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition Mister Realta Show Episod number seven and fifty two for July eleventh, twenty twenty four. Welcome to this week's edition of ass R to You. My name is Jeff Peck. I am joined every single week four. First, when we got Stret Franklin, Doctor Trey, I wish I could get some more sleep, my friend.

0:41 Now you're living in my world where just random things happen and you have to pop up in the middle of iper a feeding, a diaper changing, or just the sheer volume of wrestling is keeping you up all night. So yeah, welcome to my world, Jeff. Yeah, real quick story here before we get into recap interviewing WWE Money, NXC heat Wave, everything that happened in professional wrestling this week. I went into Wednesday night where I had an hour left to watch on NXC Television, and I had the entire episode of aw Dynamite that I needed to watch before recording the podcast, and I had a conflict early Thursday morning. So we're recording this Thursday afternoon, and I was like, I've always prided myself on my ability to like try to watch everything before we sit down and record the podcast, and I was like, I think I'm getting to the point where I can't because of the newborn.

1:34 I mean, the newborn life is definitely keeping me up. And my son, Lord Love them, must have heard that, because instead of going to bed at ten o'clock at night or whatever, trying to watch some of the wrestling and then before dozing off and then trying to watch in the morning, my son decided to stay up until two am on the East Coast, thankfully, and I was able to watch the end of NXT television this week and all of aw Dynamite and Doctor Trey. I still had some time to spare where I could watch Baseball Highlight. Ooh, baseball highight. That's always good. I was just glad my Cubs won over the weekend. But so I had a similar situation except for that my son, Lord love him, We put him to bed around a thirty every night. He's you know, we're gonna try and get him ready, you know, into this. He starts kindergarten in August. Wow, So we're trying to get him into the flow of going to bed, getting up for school, everything else. So he is completely fascinated with YouTube gaming channels, Like he knows how to work his Roku remote to pull him up and he'll sit there and watch him. So last night we put him to bed, you know, around a thirty eight forty five, wife and I start getting ready for bed ourselves. We fall asleep. We don't hear any noise coming out of his room. We're good.

2:57 She gets up this morning at five forty five to get ready to go to work. He is out in the living room watching TV. Did not go to sleep at all, big pile of stuffed animals on the couch, and had managed to poop himself in the process. Oh my god. Yeah, so that's how our morning picked off. So I stayed up make sure he fell back asleep. It's now one o'clock Central time. He's been asleep since like six point thirty, so I don't know when he's waking up at any point. I gotta let him sleep, but I also got to get him back on his sleep schedule. But uh yeah, So I've also realized, like now I have to take YouTube off all of our TVs because he'll stay up all night watching just random videos of stuff. So I have to I have to shut this down to keep him, you know, on track.

3:49 But yeah, so uh, I mean we've even put up the baby gate. He he'll climb over it, he'll climb under it. He's like an American Ninja warrior when it comes to escaping his room. Go out and watch it and if you can't get out, he's figured out how to get it loaded up onto his TV. And he'll stand on top of his bunk bed and try to jump off at times to watch them. He's he's fun and crazy and insane, Like it's like having baby Jeff Hardy in the house right now. What a world. I know he would he didn't he did? Did he do swanton bombs in a video? Once? He did? Coffin drops Okay, that's what he was doing. Yes, okay, yeah, he would stand on the like if anything, he's standing on the railing of the bed and then coffin drop back onto stuffed animals and pillows on the bed. This podcast is, especially at the beginning of the show, probably each week, is gonna start making people really think about if you are a young male or female in the world and you're thinking about starting a family, Doctor Trey and I may be swaying, you too have a family by listening to these stories, or we may not be depending on some of them.

4:55 If if, if you don't want to be up until two am, or find your child on account watching YouTube videos after he trapped himself. We can totally understand each to their own. But I did have a fun moment at one point watching aw Dynamite during the very good Brian Danielson hang man out on page match from Dynamite and me explaining to my son, like the reason why they're doing the s chance. He had no idea what I was saying, but at least I felt like I was doing my part. So there is your moment of parenting for both myself and now doctor Trey as well. So I can join Doctor Trey officially in having those moment of parenting talks here on SRTU. Maybe it'll be a segment each week where we compare in contrasts.

5:38 Even though my son really can't do much right now, Sammy is is way way way way way way way more far advanced than mine, who just kind of sits there and I can't really see anything in front of his face right now, because I guess they can't see until like, I've heard three weeks, I've heard eight weeks. Everything else is just like a blob, which we all kind of look like anyway. Yeah, so there you go. Moment of parenting on SRTU, Doug Trey. Let's get into it. WWE Money in the Bank recap review came to us this past Saturday from the Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the first match here being Drew McIntyre defeating jay Uso, Carmelo Hayes Andrade Chad Gable in La Night in the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder match to win a Men's Championship Match contract. We both had Drew McIntyre in this one. Big Drew winning Money the Bank made so much sense based on his character development over the last year. I really loved the participants they chose for this Money in the Bank match, and I really hope they all get some good run for the rest of twenty twenty four. Very fun Money in the Bank match. That's all you can think of, really was I was watching. I was like, I love that the people they selected this match. This made so much sense a lot of breakout stars, and I hope it's people that they focus on heading into twenty twenty four and twenty five and beyond. But nonetheless, Big Drew walked out with the briefcase Doctor Trey. Yeah. Really fun match. Maybe not on the best money the bank matches, but still, I mean, if you compare this one to some of the recent ladder matches we've had, even like NXC and in AW, like, compare this one to the TV or the TNT Championship match from a couple of weeks ago. This was head and shoulders

7:09 above that. But it's it's weird watching because you're, like, none of these guys are really outside of Big Drew a main event guy. I mean, I know La and I had a couple of main event matches, but none of them are like main event picture guys. But they're all guys that you can go. I could see this guy taking a step up, and that was the only knock I saw people saying online was oh, I wish they would have, you know, let so and so win just because they could build a new star. You don't really the roster's so deep you don't really need to build anybody new, but it's nice to have somebody ready to take that next step. But a good match, good storytelling. That bump that Chad Gable took from hanging from the money in the bank briefcase down to the mat was just that might have been one of the biggest falls I've seen since Jeff Hardy got speared off of it, you know, so just crazy that he took that, but led it right into to finish. So good match and good outcome. I don't know about you, but I kept kind of waiting for the lights to go out when Gable was climbing the ladder.

8:07 I get waiting for Yo the Wyatt six lights to go out and you know, just scare him off the ladder. I would have lost that bet because I thought in my mind as I watched that match, doctor trailer was like, They're gonna get to a moment where it's just Gable and the lights are gonna go off and Nicky Cross will come out and all that stuff. I mean, I would have thought that as a slam dunk. They did obviously did not do that, and I thought that was a missed opportunity. If there was any missed opportunity in this match, which was a very good match, that would have been one because that would have been a nice fun moment and then he like leaves the ring and it's down to whatever five remaining. The money bank Ladder match actually gives up his his title shot, but fun, fun, fun money in the bank Ladder match, there's big Drew wins the briefcase and more on him in a bit. As the next match here was Sammy's ay and defeating bron Breaker to retain the w WE Intercontinental Championship.

8:54 I had samy'se ay and doctray at bron Breaker. Sammy really helped get Braun over even in this match. Breaker is an absolute animal. He will be a big star in we year from now Sammy Zain. I compare him to Sean Michaels. I compare him to mc foley. He is one of the best baby faces in all of wrestling. As always, I think people probably thought myself included that bron Breaker was gonna win this one. I compared him to like the Wes Lee of the main roster. I always predict Sammy matches wrong. I got this one right for once, and keeping the title on him and having Braun chase him like we saw on Monday's Raw is the right thing to do. Is Sammy's ain retained. Yeah, it's another way also to like, the only thing I worry about is how, like how many times do you have Sammy beat Braun if you're gonna keep the belt on Sammy.

9:43 If that was the case, then why not make the switch now because you can't have Sammy win two or three in a row over Braun Breaker. I know, it's nice to have Braun get a clean lock because you don't have to worry about like an undefeated streak or a Goldberg streak or anything like that that you have to protect. But the match itself. I mean, ron Breaker is such a phenomenal athlete. I mean, I love that, you know, Michael Cole throws out how fast he gets in the ring, the miles per hours you know he gets. But you know, you're right, like Sammy is the Wesley of the main roster, like I always pick his matches wrong. And that comparison, like, yeah, i think if Shawn Michaels and mc foley had a kid, it would look like Sammy's name.

10:26 So I'm totally on board that comparison as well. Just had a vision of mcfoley and Shawn Michaels together next match, here. No, no, no, don't put that. I'm just saying, if you took the DNA and put it in a laugh, I'm doing the JBL Randy or in comparison, if you had mcfoley's look and Sewn Michael's charisma, and I mean they both had very, very good connections with the audiences. I mean, that's who he reminds me of so much. Is Seawan and mcfoley the connection to the audience. When Shawn Michaels lost his smile, if he became homeless for four months, true, yeah, I decided that he was going to become a vegan, that would be Samy say. Next match here is Damian Priest defeating Seth Freaking Rollins and Drew McIntyre, who attempted his cash in of the Money the Bank briefcase and failed in a last chance match for the World of Weid Championship. With Priests win, Rowlins will never challenge for the title as long as Priest's champion, but as we saw on Monday's raw, they like rescinded that agreement and should Priest retain at SummerSlam against Gunther, it would be Seth Rollins and Damian Priest back on for that one. Our predictions for this was both Damian Priest getting the victory, and my notes from this match are I would have really loved this match and angle if Rollins didn't actually pin Damian Priest on a three count causing a bunch of confusion before Drew came out to cash in shortly thereafter. I don't know if Drew's music miss its Q which days later that appears to be the report, or if Priest was knocked loopy

12:00 so he never raised his hand before the three count. But that was a tough look. That was a real tough look, and it was something they had to address in the post show as well. That aside, the match was really good, and the angle of Drew's cash and attempt at punk thwarting it and in turn causing Rolinson ever challenge for the title while Priest's champion was really good stuff. Obviously, there was a dark cloud on that three count Doctor Trey because seth Ronin's legitimately pinned Damien Priests should be the new champion today. But if you remove that aside and you look at the angle, this was a really well structured, creative execution during an in ring segment and match. I enjoyed everything, but the part of the pin. Doctor Trey, your thoughts on this one. Yeah, I was literally watching my wife and I went, oh, that's not a good look, because you know, sometimes when you miss the three count, it's because the referees on the wrong side. The ref was right there, I mean his head was looking right at Priest's shoulders. So the fact that he stopped the three count, and you know, I have a lot of old school wrestling friends that are mad because the ref. You're taught to always count it legitimately because of stuff like this. But the upside of this is there's so many different storylines and ways they can go with this because now you have all four guys, you know, storyline wise in this whole title stuff with Luther looming at SummerSlam and the possible implosion of the Judgment day and Finn Ballar and how that he ties into

13:30 it. That's six main event guys that you have fighting for the title. This is really reminiscent in a sense of what we had during the Attune area when you had Taker Stone Cold, Taker's Stone Cold Rock Triple, h mc foley, all those guys are right the top and the title could jump to either guy at any moment and you never knew what was going on, So it's compelling storytelling. It's just that the black Cloud was the mystery cap. Yeah, I completely agree. I actually thought about that during Monday's Raw as I was watching the whole Rollins Punk segment and then stuff with Damian Preeths and Gunther's match. Is the world title picture is so unpredictable right now, which is so good for professional wrestling, And it is that it's that nineteen ninety eight, ninety nine, two thousand, two thousand and one, two thousand and two, even top level talent where it could be anybody. It could have been a Jericho, a Triple H, a kurd Angle, an Undertaker, a Kine, A Rock and Austin. It's it's great, and it's really really good for professional wrestling, and I'm really enjoying the Raw title picture.

14:37 Everything about this match was great, obviously, again except for the dark Cloud, which definitely took a lot away from it. But if you remove that and you just look at everything and how it was executed, very very fun stuff. Next match here is Tiffany Stratton defeating the EO Sky Chelsea Green, Lyra, Valkyria, Naomi and Zoe Stark in then Women's Money the Bank Ladder match to win a women's championship match contract Doctor Trey and I both at Tiffany Stratton. The spots these women executing this match were insane, from Lyra being power bombed onto the ladder, Chelsea Green hitting it on Prettier on Naomi onto a ladder, to Eo hitting a power slam slash front front pile driver on Zoe Stark onto a ladder, and then Chelsea going backwards onto tables set up outside the ring. It was nuts what they put themselves through in this match. There were some timing issues as Zoe and Chelsea had moments in the match where it looked like they could have easily unclipped the money in the bank briefcase, only to wait for their opponents to climb the ladder. But that should not take away how awesome this match was at all. Tiffany Stratton a getting the victory was the right call, as I think she's going to have a breakout second half of twenty twenty four. In twenty twenty five, Doctor Trey, this was a great, great match. Your thoughts to Tiffany Stratton wins Women's Money in the Bank. Outside of a couple of timing issues and you know, a couple of weird kind of botches, this may have been my favorite Money the Bank women's match in a very long time, if ever.

16:00 Like it was, like, the stuff these women put themselves through, like you mentioned earlier, is just incredible. Some of the bumps You're just like, dear, like I thought these people had died almost like that EO Sky like inverted tombstone type piles or I were onto a ladder, Like I'm like, that's just you take that. Nobody comes out of that healthy after that. And for the fact that during the post show news conmerce Replace said basically everybody was still pretty healthy was insane to me. I'm watching this and the entire time I'm going I think Chelsea Green might be what La Knight was two years ago, where just ready to break out. The crowd is so behind her, it's crazy. Now once again it was in Canada. Chelsea's from Canada, maybe that ties in, but I think even to the stay, she's super over and that was the struggle you and I have when we were predicting this match was we really love Chelsea Green, but storyline wise, it makes more sense for Tiffany Stratton to get the belt or get the money that bangs briefcase, and that's where they went. But this was just a fun nomenal Money the Bank Briefcase match for the lady. Yeah. I wanted to say the same thing you said where I think this is my favorite Women's the Money Bank Ladder match ever, But I also feel like I say that every year following these Money the Bank Briefcase matches. But I mean, this was just a really, really good match, and I think when you go into the weekend, I don't think people thought it was going to be that good or on the same level as maybe the other matches on the card, and it exceeded way beyond the expectations, like this was a breakout moment.

17:30 I actually thought that they should have had a No Mercy ninety nine moment on Raw the next night, where the people involved in the match should have been the rain getting a standing ovation, because they were really trying to push that on commentary. They were really trying to push that like everybody's up giving them a standing ovation, and rightfully so, I don't think it transcended on television as well as Corey Graves and Michael Cole were trying to push, but it definitely was standing ovation worthy when that one was all said and done. Next match is the main event as the Bloodline defeats Cody Road, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens in a six man tag team match. We both had the Bloodline. If you're doing Cody versus Solo at SummerSlam, which I assume they are, this was the absolute right call having Solo get to pin on Cody Rhads and the main event heading into that match. I also think WWE wasn't going to have Jacob Flock two lose his in rank debut match. And the stock on FA two is sky high right now. I mean he is being pushed on commentary, you can feel it on television, you can feel it in the crowd. People believe he's going to be a major star, and I'm really excited about it. So ww really hyping him to be a big deal and me being super excited as a fan has me super stoked for this because this is a few and far between where we see these moments and I think it's only a matter of time that maybe Jacoba two starts getting cheered when it comes to the Bloodline stuff. I think it could have that possibility where fans are behind him because of how excited they are for his high upside. This was a solid main event to close a fun show, dot tree your thoughts as the Bloodline and gets a big victory. Yeah, but side note,

19:00 I thought it was really funny the pre show stuff when like Jay Usso made the comment that he was like just impressed that he got into Canada. I said the same thing about Jacob Fatoo because he has an arrest on his record as well. So the fact that they got Jay and Jacob Fattu into Canada for this paper year, good job from ww's legal team to pull that off. But uh no, they're gonna push Jacob Fatu to the moon. I mean, you don't put a guy in a match with Cody Kevin Owens and Randy Orton and have him no sell that draping DDT that Orton does. Uh, if you're not planning on pushing the hell out of the guy. I mean they didn't do it with Manu back in the days of Legacy, So I mean just Scott, I mean he's already kind of jumped over Toma Tonga and Tonga Loa in kind of the hierarchy of the bloodline already in the fan's eyes. So uh, just an incredible debut for him. Getting solo the win makes a ton of sense, like you said as well, especially setting up you know, Cody and him at SummerSlam, and just good as he's solo getting some wins because for while there at the tail in heading into WrestleMania, he was taking all the losses. Now that he's in charge and seeing him get some big victories helps kind of boost up his resume if you're heading that down that route for SummerSlam. So good, solid fun six man tag and at least six man tag where they actually make tag. So I like that as well. That is true, we don't get to see that often professional wrestling nowadays. Pay per view prediction record I went five and oh doct Trey went four and one. Coming out of this paper for you, I was at eighty five and seventeen. Doctor Tray is at seventy five and twenty seven. Match of the night and event rating. I gave the event a

20:34 four point one out of five, and my match of the night was the Women's Money in the Bank Ladder match. I was a little bit under you as a four point zero and I also had the Women's Money in the Bank Ladder match. Yeah, I mean you can't beat that. I think that's definitely a match that from a WWE perspective, you talk about a year end Doctor Trey. Yeah, I mean, going back, it was just it's it's on one hand, this is the sad thing. Diff On one hand, I comment on the spots in that match because they were incredible, but then I'll crap on some other stuff. But in that match, the spots made sense, and then there was a storyline leading out of it. So I can't knock them for doing crazy spots because at least they had a storyline tight end as well. Obviously, there was a major story that came out of that pay per view that will be addressing on its own accord here Following the NXC heat Wave recap review which came to us from this past Sunday again from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The pre show match was Carmen Petrovic and Arionic Grace defeating JC Jane and Jasmin. Next, we both ad jc JY and Jasmine next winning that one. The upside in the NXC women's division is really intriguing and if they keep progressing well, it can be a potential force in late twenty twenty four. In twenty twenty five, I thought turning Arionic Grace babyface briefly was a surprising move despite being a hometown girl along with Petrovic. Obviously, that went away as they had a match on NXC Television's Past Tuesday Doctor. Sure your thoughts on the pre show match?

21:55 Yeah, I literally thought they turned her baby face just to get the crowdage here for issues in Canada. But she, like I don't know how I feel about Ariana Graciat because she's a great talker, but her promos are a little too over the top and a little too cheesy. But just a a good, solid tag match and then you know the fallout on Tuesday, mate sense so a good way to kind of wet the appetite for heat Wave. Agreed, that was a really fun match to kick it off. Then the Maine card here is you had Oba Femi defeating Wesley in a last chance match, retaining the NX North American Championship with EMI's win, Lee can ever challenge for the title for as long as Semi is champion. We both at Obafemi. I thought this was Femi's best match I've seen for him in his young career. I was wondering how he would do in a normal match rather than a near squash match, and he held his own against one of nx's best in ring talents in Wesley. Obviously, there were some big notes from Wesley that we'll talk about here on NXC television following this match, But doctor Trea thoughts, as Obi Obafemi retains, I love, I really really like this match because it showcase both guys. I mean, you saw the power over Femy, some of the some of the stuff he was doing wes Lee.

23:00 Like, once again, like I said earlier about the women's Mind the Bank match, you thought Wesley was dying. I mean that, you know, he f fived him like twelve feet off the ground. I mean, just some crazy stuff he was pulling off of that match. And but then he sold for wes Lee as well, which I hope a lot of the big guys on the independence scene take note that just because the guy's one hundred and seventy five pounds you can sell for him if it makes sense, and how you put your match together. But just really really fun match. I will say I like wes Lee. I know Weslee. Sometimes the whiny character put spot times of him get on my nerves a little bit, but the payoff on Tuesday was well worth it. Yeah, so let me just ask you, doctor tre mean, you and I are both fans of this group.

23:42 You followed him longer than I have. Did you cry when the Rascals were reunited on Tuesday's Nxday? I didn't cry, but I got really excited. I mean, for one, like I've known those guys you know for shoot sixty five years, four or five years now see Wentz back in NXT, given what had happened from you know previously, was great. Just seeing them together and hearing them called the Rascals you know as well, Like that was really fun. But I didn't tear up, but I got really excited and really happy to see all those guys back together. Yeah, that was really really cool and very surreal. I mean, Zachary Wentz was was fired by w then known as what Nash Carter and MSK and then seeing Trey mcguill working in we you know arena. That was pretty cool and you could tell that like he was like looking around. It was a very very cool moment.

24:33 And yeah, we saw some great stuff with the NXCT and a relationship moving forward on Tuesday's NXT television. So that was really really cool and I'm happy to see that they'll be wrestling on Tuesdays NXC against at Gallas, so that'll be a lot of fun. Next match year is Klonie Jordan defeating Soul Ruka to retain the NXC Women's North American Championship. We both had Klonie Jordan. These two up and coming stars had a mission to steal the show and they did a great job making the k for both ladies. Have a very bright future and I'm excited to see where they go as their careers advance. Very fun match and for me personally as a fan, this was one of those cases where two wrestlers came in and I had a perception of them. When the match was done and they came out of that match, my perception changed for the better. This was a fun, unpredictable, unexpected good match.

25:21 Doctor Trey as Klonnie Jordan retains. Yeah, I watched this match, and like, you know, I think I told you like last month, like I didn't. I hadn't really watched a lot of Klonnie Jordan over time. I'm watching this match, I'm like, Okay, I'm really impressed. These two girls have a ton of potential and they hit all their spots. My only knock on this match is it's the in between stuff. It's the footwork, it's the fore arms, it's the punching, it's the little stuff that they really need to tighten up. They can hit. The two girls with great gymnastics backgrounds can do all the moves. You just kind of have to work on the in between stuff. But a really really fun match. If you don't know much about these two, Like if you didn't know anything about them, this would be a showcase match to feature them on. The next match year was Nathan Fraser and Axiom defeating Chase University Andre Chase and du cuts In to retain the NXC Tag Team Championship. I had Chase, you, Doctor Trey had Nathan Fraser and Axiom. Fraser and Axium are a really fun tag team to watch, and I wonder what the longevity of them as a team is since they keep teasing an impending split as of late with Fraser focusing more on his singles career. They are a fun watch and I wouldn't mind if they stay together for some time, despite feeling like a second title reign for Chase You was coming soon, despite the loss at heat Wave and their storyline as well. Fraser and Axiom, to me are like this generation of nxc's version of DIY. This was a fun one Doctor Trey and they retained it once again. Yeah, really really fun match. A lot of near falls, close calls, like I mean really, I mean you get

26:52 towards the last you know, five minutes of that match, you honestly had no clue it's going to win, which is great for television. One of my notes was, like I love Fia Hale, Like her intensity for being so small is great. Just seeing her stuff at ringside, her facials at ringside was really really good as well. Just a really fun match, and like you said, like the impending split between Fraser and Axiom because you saw it teased, you know, earlier in the show, and Fraser just rolls in two hours late, you know something like that. It's good storytelling. I love matches like this where it's a great match and then you have two storylines that actually don't even really involve the two teams fighting each other. It's all internal stuff. Is really good television. Next match here is Roxanne Perez de feeding Lolavice to retain the NC Women's Championship. Dot Trent I both hat Lolavice winning. I really liked the old school approach to this match where Roxanne focus on Lola's injured forearm, as you don't see that as often as we probably should in wrestling nowadays. I also liked how Roxanne took a page out of Cody Rhad's book by hitting consecutive finishers to put away a tough opponent.

27:56 The desperation on Roxanne's face a multiple pop rocks to put away Lola has helped Elva. Lola is an extremely tough opponent. Lola's stock has been on the rise lately, some good momentum, so I'm interested to see where she goes following this match. I thought this match was gonna be good. This succeeded my expectations. Again, Doctor Trey, this was a fun one as Roxanne Perez retains. Yeah, really really solid match, really fun match. Could you didn't know where it was going. The spinning backfist that hit the post. I was like, I don't know. I still have not figured how people do that and not break their hands. Great, I've slapped a post and thought I broke my hand. I mean, how do you get the speed to go and do that? I don't know. Just you know, for Roxanne, every now and then, just take a second because that one botched. Pop Rocks looked really rough in that sequence that she did, but it's weird. I'll say I liked this sequence of finishers to put away a little vice, but I'm going to bitch about something in the next match with the kind of the same situation. Interesting as the next match yere was Ethan Paige defeating Trick Williams, Javion Evans, Sean Spears and if fatal four ROAI match and retain the NXC Championship dot train and I about that Trick Williams winning this match as he did not. This was a great match and a real enjoyable watch from start to finish. The finish of the match is something I don't recall ever seen before, and it was executed very well. Especially with the title online. I think I've seen it before, but not with the title on the line. I really liked the decision of Ethan Page becoming the NXC champion because I felt like Trick Williams as the NXC champion was starting to get a little flat. I think having a heel at the top of NXC

29:27 as the champion will be good for the brand. And I also felt like Javion Evans really broke out in this match. For anyone who hasn't seen his skill set so far, Evans reminds me so much of a young will Osprey and the sky is the absolute limit for the young star. Again, we talked about in the preview podcast last week, Javon Evans has only been on NXC television for three months and he wasn't this name previously that came into the company and you're like, oh, this makes a ton of sense like Sean Spears and Ethan Page were, and he's in that main event match and I did not bet at I I was like, yeah, no, this makes sense, and he was amazing. I really enjoyed this match. Dot Tray, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on what maybe you didn't enjoy about this match, so I like the match as a whole. Like the Jvon Evans, I did not realize how many people we me and him have in common.

30:18 I pulled him up on Facebook. We have like four hundred and fifty mutual friends. Wow, I was like. So I went through. I was like, oh, crap, this is the guy I had heard about in North Carolina and Georgia. I just didn't realize with the same guy because I haven't I didn't watch him on main events and Level Up and all their said that he's been on but watching this match because you were the one that hyped him up to me, I watched it. I said, he reminded me a lot of Jeff Hardy when Jeff Hardy first got to WW his stuff he's doing in the ring and his bill, like he's very tall but lanky, Like he just is Jeff Hardy esque in a lot of ways. And my wife, who had no idea who he was, I was like, he looks like baby, are truth. She was like, yes, that's it. What I didn't like about it was early on you saw Sean Spears hit a C four. There's a kickout. Seawan Spears hits a c four from the top rope and there's a kickout, like you're kind of killing his finisher with those kickouts and not breakups. I also didn't like the foot on the rope breakup because I didn't think a foot on the rope broke things up in a four way because if there's no DQ, how does a foot on the rope break up a pin? So I didn't like that spot. But outside of that, the finish to the match was incredible. Like you said, I'm like, I don't think I've ever seen somebody knocked out and win a title. I know I've seen something similar, but also like the fact that you know he's knocked out, Tricks trying to get the wing and Sean Spears pulls Trick away to not break up the pinfall was great. And then also the camera shot. I don't know if you saw this camera shot, but there's Ethan Page laying there Tricks making a face like he's completely distraught and

31:52 up said Booker. T's face behind that was just jaw drops, so you get for me, I was like, okay, that tells me that he and then the announcers didn't know who was going over in that match. I thought was great camera work, but it was a really really fun match. I just hate when they kill finishers cleanly. Like I don't mind the sequential ones like rock stand hits, but when you hit a top rope version of your finisher on a guy and he kicks out cleanly, that does kind of kill your finisher. No, I can't understand that. I can't understand that what you're trying to say. I think just overall, like for me, like looking back at the show, looking back at that match, it was just very surprising, like how much I enjoyed it, And when the show closed out, I was like, we like that was shocking. I did not think Ethan Page was going to do it. I did not think they were going to take the title off Trick Williams. I did not think they were going to do it in that fashion the way that everybody sold. As you're pointing out here, even Booker t was like, really really well done, and yeah, I put a close to a very fun show here.

32:47 So pay perview prediction record coming to this one, I went to and four. Doctor Trey went three and three on the year. Now heading to our next pay per views, which I think will be you know, SummerSlam. At this point, I'm eighty seven to twenty one, Doctor Trey, seventy eight and thirty match of the night. In event rating, I gave the event rating a three point nine and let me put the caveat here that out of everything we have watched in twenty twenty four, this was the most surprisingly enjoyable show I have seen from any wrestling company. I think everything else, I had an expectation that they would deliver, or I had an excitement or expectation that they would deliver. This was his show. And typically with NXT shows, I hate to say this, but as they're really on a good swing right now, and I'll get to that as well, this show way beyond exceeded expectations, and I was like, oh, I've been feeling this way lately. I was like, oh, crap, Like NXT is on one right now. They are on something and it's exciting to watch and it's exciting to see, and I thought this was a really good show to potentially continue catapulting that this was the most underrated show for me and professional wrestling twenty twenty four thus far, A great, great watch. So I gave NXC Heatwave dots for a three point nine out of five, and my match the night was Ethan Page Trick, Williams, Javon Evans, and Seawan Spears.

34:10 Yeah, I so my raiser might surprise you. I actually gave it a four point one like on its own. I actually enjoyed this show more than Money in the Bank, and I think probably it was because I had lower expectations going into it, and like you said, it exceeded all my expectations, so I had more fun watching it, whereas Money in the Bank kind of hit my expectations and didn't really exceed it didn't really go below it. So I gave it a four point one, and I also had the men's fatal four way to close it out as my match of the night. Yeah, it was a really good show. If you're not watching NXT, if you did not watch heat Wave for whatever reason, go out of your way and check it out. It was. They're really really on a good swing right now, and it's exciting to see as NXT is preparing for some major changes as they head over to I believe the CW network in September. I think it's a start when they make the change. There's a really good run for NXC. I'm excited for them. The big news outside of Money in the Bank and NXC he wave obviously from the weekend was during Money in the Bank. John Cena made a surprise appearance appearance and he announced that he will be retiring from WWE in twenty twenty five. The details on his retirement and this comes to us from Sean Ross SAPA fightful on his Twitter account are as fall and I believe this is what Sina talked about on the post show conference press conference they did following Money in the Bank. Sina it could work between thirty to forty events and plans to work from January twenty twenty five to December

35:45 twenty twenty five. He's still juggling some other things. I believe he is currently filming Peacemaker or will be filming that soon, the second season the show that he was on. He will remain in the wa family after his entering retirement WRESTLEMANI isn't his retirement, it's his last in ring WrestleMania. He said. Royal Rumble and Money the Bank are possible path to the record breaking seventeenth title reign. He wants to contribute and help future generations. So there were some notes in regards to his announcement that he will be retiring in twenty twenty five. If you have read or watched any recent Johnson to interviews, despite this being shocking news and something that you know, we're bringing up really the first time on the show, if you look at some of his recent interviews, read them, whatever, Whenever he talks about his wrestling future, it's his time was coming to an end. I think he wants to be retired by fifty, which he is surprisingly getting closer to. And nonetheless, it's it's a sad thing to see. It's seeing for me, he was a baseball fan, sports fan. It's seeing Derek Jeter retire. It's, you know, part of my childhood. I mean, I was still in high school when John Cena was wrestling, and back in two thousand and two when he made his debut. I was when we were Doctor Try talking about the two thousand and two to two thousand and four era of all professional wrestling before we got on the podcast tonight. So I mean, my love and dislike for John Cena has obviously wane. With probably the most normal male eighteen to

37:15 thirty four wrestling fan over the last twenty five years. I'm in the pro Scena camp. There was a period of time, if you listen back to this podcast, I used to being jammed down our throats and then their period sign that we saw like the best work of John Cena. All in all, I mean, there will never be a bigger workhorse than John Cena was for the company, because really from two thousand and two to twenty seventeen, just before he started doing like a lot of part time stuff. After that, he was doing everything house show loops, raws, smackdowns, headlining pay per views, champion here, champion there, putting guys over here, putting guys over there, maybe depending on your perspective, maybe squashing some people here and there as well. And nobody's ever had that run. Austin didn't have that run for that long. Hogan didn't have that run for that long.

38:01 Rock certainly didn't, Triple h didn't. I mean, these are folks that on top that that were never like this, and he was. He is certainly one of a kind. Doctor Trey, It's it's sad to hear, but I was not surprised by the news. Your thoughts as we prepare ourselves now for the next fifteen months where John Sena retirement tortably kicking off in World Wrestling Entertainment. Yeah, it's losing. It really made me feel old, and I know for you it was like one of the piece of your childood. For me, John Cena and I are a month apart in age, I'm like, oh crap, he's hanging him up. Damn. That means I'm old. Okay, yeah, that's that's legitimized it. But yeah, I'm with you like I was, you know, very pro Sena in his early days in the Eel Run, kind of anti Sena when he was in super Sena mode, and then towards the end of the run back to being pro Sena because he was putting guys over, having incredible matches. I mean, I mean you go back to the US title run when he was doing the Sena Open challenges. I mean, some of those are some of the best matches he ever had. It's going to suck because this is one of those bankable stars that you know, you and I have always come to come to rely on whenever w needed a kind of a shot in the arm over the last few years. Hey, in case of versus he break glass and pull out John Cena, and to know that that's going to be gone at going away is this hard, especially when you say when he says like, I will never be in a WrestleMania match again. I mean, we've seen

39:32 guys wrestle in their fifties, We've seen guys wrestle fifty five, you know, years older wrestle manias just kind of sucks that he's going nope, I'm done, and he's made enough money that he's gonna be one of those guys that when he shuts it down, he's gonna shut it down. So just you know, sad, but happy for the man that he can actually walk away on his own terms and get one final run. It will be interesting to see if they give him title run number seven to break Flair's record, given the love affection Triple H has for Rick Flair, So that's gonna been a kind of an interesting dynamic to see if they go that way. And if that's the case, do they go that with him, does that mean Orton you know, can kind of jump up that list as well, because he's said at fourteen right now, So and if we somehow got a Randy Orton Johnson a WrestleMania match for seen his last WrestleMania. I'm okay with that.

40:24 I'd be fine with that as well. So yeah, just kind of my thoughts on that whole situation. Yeah, there's a lot of exciting things, and we're gonna certainly, I mean, this could be a topic of its own if we want to do some special shows, which we may have to do in a couple months anyway. But you know, I didn't even think about Sena versus Orton at WrestleMania. That would be a ton of fun. You heard Punk on Monday talk about he wants one more match with Sina. He probably went off script there, or maybe it's something they talked about buying the scenes, or it's a couple of pictures of those two guys talking behind it in the backstage area, which is really cool to see seeing him miss I'd love to see again. I mean, that was something that I think a lot of people tend to forget, maybe purposely or not. Would we see seeing a Rock one more time, seeing a Rains one more time?

41:06 When they bring back is Leslner going to be brought back in good graces, depending on the legal situation where you'd get seen a Lesner one more time. I'm yeah, it was. It was sad to see, but again I was not surprised by the news. So a lots of stuff we could see in the next year, and of course, maybe some some dream matches that we've never seen, never seen Drew McIntyre and John Cena, maybe we do Johnsen and Seth Rollins again. Maybe John Cen and Gunther again, or for the first time ever in a dream match scenario, John Cena and Shamus would be good. So I'm happy he's doing it for a full year and it's not like from now until WrestleMania, And yeah, it'll be really really interesting how they close us out who his final opponent is, with the feuds we see, the matches we see, does he get the title run?

41:50 I just heard a new doctor Trey go for it his last matches against Baron Corbyn. Oh god, oh god, and then Damian Sandow. Yeah, I mean, just you know, Baron Corbin is the one who retired Kurt Angle. So Baron Corban retires John Cenah, I thought you were referencing money in the bank, Casina. I stopped that one. I was thinking of Corbyn angle at WrestleMania Corbin and Sena for Seena his last managine Corbyn gets the win. Maybe feel free to chime in. Just hit Doctor Trey up on that one, folks. Yeah, the Doctor Trey switching gears. Uh. There was a shocking we signing that was announced last night, confirmed by Sean Michaels on his ex account Twitter account, and it was. It was gaining momentum all day Wednesday to the point where it was confirmed by the news websites and then firmed up by Sean Michaels later that evening. Stephanie Va Kor, who was holding the New Japan Strong Women's Championship, was the women's champion in CMLL, was a women's tag team champion in CMLL, just performed at Forbidden Door against Mercedes Monet that Mercedes Moone and aw went out for the purpose of that match was to make her a bigger star. Shockingly signed with World Wrestling Entertainment. Completely came out of nowhere. I guess. She announced a CMLL in New Japan that she was leaving the company abruptly. There are reports out there that she was backstage at NX heat Wave this past Sunday talking to w

43:20 officials. I don't even think she dropped the championship she held outside of the obviously we know the New Japan Strong Women's Championship was dropped in Mercedes Monet Forbidden Door, but Vakor is on her way to NXC, so it could be as something as early as next week. I saw some reports that she may be on the tour of Mexico with WE. But this is obviously a very notable and big signing Doctor Trey. There are people that are saying that there's a little bit of a yoke on the face of AW because they went out of their way to make her look really good. But I think a lot of that has to do with their relationship with CML and New Japan as well, which Doctor Trey and I talked about, and Door pay per View was a lot of AW people going over. Nonetheless, Betty Man last week's show, I would say, well, yeah, she'll end up in AW, but here she is a full fledged member of the w WI and soon to be NXC roster. Your thoughts as Stephanie Vakor leaves CMLL New Japan and shockingly signs with WA. Yeah, this is kind of like a middle finger and everybody for them. And this is one of those like signings that WW typically doesn't pull off, like we've seen this, you know, for the last two three years. We see the person come over, works CMLL, work New Japan, you know, work something, work Forbidden Door, work some special tapings and then gets signed to AW. Whether it's you know, Will Osprey or Acado or j White or anybody else we've seen down the list.

44:50 It's kind of a surprising signing. It makes sense. I mean, she's, you know, super talented. We saw you know a little bit of that it Forbidden Door when she actually got a chance to to kind of get in some offense. But you know, for WW to pull this off, it's really really surprising. So it's it's kind of like a big middle finger to everybody. So I give W credit for pulling this one off when all signs pointed to AW and they get their girl here in this situation. Is there egg on the face of AW dot trap? I don't think there is. This was not a slam dunk. She was going to sign with them. I get she just worked for bid in Doors, so you would think that she would make the path from New Japan and CMLLL at some point to AW. But I don't think it's as much of an egg on the face of AW as most people are trying to make it out to be. No, I don't know it's egg on the face, or maybe they just kind of took this one for granted considering their past success. I mean, it's negotiations. I mean, you and I are big, you know, sports fans, and we're NFL fans baseball fans. How many times have the Yankees signed the person they thought they were gonna get? Yeah, ninety five percent time. But there's always that one out of every hundred that there every goes, oh he's with the Yankees, and he ends up going somewhere else.

46:01 You know, same with me of being a Cubs fan the Niners fan. It happens. It's just one of the things that every now and then you take a situation for granted, and you maybe don't put on the full core press because you think it's already kind of in the bag and they slipped through the cracks. But you know, it could be a thing where like, hey, she had an offer and WW just did a better offer, and you know, from what I was red. Also, she was a lifelong WWE fan and that's where she actually wanted to end up. So you can't really fault her. You can't really fault AW. They did their best, but it just, you know, in this situation, the stars aligned for Stephanie fuck Orr and WWE. Yeah, there's a lot of reports out there. I guess she's from Chile and that's what she grew up on. That was sort of dream AW obviously wasn't around then and this is what she was looking to do. There are reports at CMLL in New Japan are not happy with her at all on how this all went down, because she put in her notice like the night before. Then twenty four hours later, Shawn Michael's put out a tweet, you know, confirming that she is now part of the NXC roster and join the w family. So I could totally understand that the again, I mean I talked about it about ten minutes ago. NXC is if you're not watching NXT, you gotta start adding it to your viewing right now as a wrestling fan, because I really think NXC has been good lately and it's going to get better with the influx of the TNA stuff that's going on right now and some of the science that they have. You know, Stephanie vak Kor and Julia are going to be added to the NXC roster here in the next three to six months on the women's division, and that's really exciting, and that women's division is growing up there. The upside of

47:36 them is phenomenal. The amount of great female talent that they're churning out in the PC right now is is phenomenal and it's exciting times for and NXC. So Sephane vak Kor thwarts CML in New Japan and for some AW and is shockingly signing with WA a huge, huge get for Rollers entertainment. And then finally doctor Trey I wanted to go to AW here for some positives. The owen Hart Foundation Tournament for Men and Women was wrapped up on last night's edition at Dynamite, Brian Danielson defeating Hangman Audam Paige Mariam May defeating Willow Nightingale. So at all in it will be Swerve Strickland versus Brian Daniels for the AW World Championship barring any changes or Swerve dropping the title, and then you've got Timeless Tony Storm taken on Mariam May, Swerve and Danielson. That is a dream match for me as a wrestling fans. I'm really really excited about that.

48:32 I did think they were gonna go Swerve Hangman Adam Page to continue that great, great feud over and maybe there is a case that still happens. But the Maria May Tony Storm stuff that closed out AW Dynamite this past Wednesday, back to back weeks for me. In aw Dynamite, they closed out with a really good angle with MGF turning on Daniel Garcia and then the angle of Mariam May turning on timeless Tony Storm. Can came out of nowhere. It was visually gruesome and brutal, and there are people saying that it's one of the best endings to AW Dynamite in their history, and I do not disagree at all with that sentiment. I mean that, I mean Tymelstony Storm was just pouring blood. It was very violent. It was completely shocking.

49:20 I thought if there was going to be a turn, it was going to be building up towards aw all In that takes place in late August. Here we are on July eleventh and The angle was executed July tenth, so they've got five to six weeks to build this up. Maybe Tony Storm is going to be off television selling this for the next couple of weeks, which would make a ton of sense, and then you've got the build heading into the August AW all in. But you know, again, we get often criticized that we are tough on AAW. I want to say the last two episodes of AW Dynamite really good. The angle again of Maria May and Timer Tony Storm was very memorable, one of the best ones that I've seen. I will say, and this is the butt on this the cav on this all, and I think this is a good thing. So bear with me, folks. For those that are like, oh god, here he goes what he is going to say bad about AW? There are some really I think drastic creative changes that they've made based on the way that viewership and attendance is going down. I think the MJF back to heel turn was part of that, and then this angle was obviously part of that as well, And for that I say this is a good thing. So AW is not happy and content with the way that their creative is going right now as they should not be, and in back to back weeks, they left the show closed with an angle that had everybody talking and had the wrestling world exciting. Another solid edition of AW Dynamite. I don't think it was as good as the week prior, but I really love the length of the Brian Danielson Hangman in a Page match, and again that closing angle with Brian mayontimein Tony Storm was great.

50:52 So AW all in main event matches. The owen Hart Foundation Tournament is all wrapped up, Doctor Trey, your thoughts on how AW Dynamite went last night. Yeah, it's amazing when you just add in something like, hey, the winners of the tournament are going to get a shot at the title like they do with King of the Ring. Is really cool because now you have something else these folks are fighting for. So it added some credibility and some storyline, and it's something that typically hasn't had thoryline the last couple of years. So, uh, I'm with you. I I thought Hangman Page would win as well to kind of go into him and Swerve, but you know, this is kind of an injury matchup with Swerve and Brian Danielson at all in because you know, it's the future in the in the past in a sense, it's kind of a changing of the guard. H So it's one of those you know, borderline dream matches that we talk about and you know good and then it led to Hangman joining back up with the Elite to you know, for blood and Guts coming up and led to Swerve captaining Team a W. So it all tied up nice there as well. And then that closing segment, like you said, like maybe the show itself wasn't as good, but that's how you end it. That's how you end a television show. And that's one of the things that you and I have talked about.

52:07 Adem He's always there. Their weak spot has been how do you close out a show to make me have to tune in next week? They did it this week, they close it out toward now I have to see what the payoff is for Mariah May and Tony Storm And how do you reintroduce Tony Storm? Does she come back still as this character she's been doing where some fans are kind of, you know, maybe saying it's kind of plateaued, and she got back to the way she was, or is this the comeback for the actress? You know, how did they go from here? But I did not see the Mariah may turn coming. I think you and I have both assumed to be Tony Storm turning on Mariah Mabe. So to see this side of her come out adds some depth to her character. It's a vicious sight we haven't seen. And Dear god Portan Luther, I mean, poor guy just can't get a win now he's a butler and then he gets thrown off a stage by a girl. I mean poor guy, but just Jojo. He's getting paid pretty well so but just that is great way to close out a television show. You close it out with the cliffhanger. So now we have to tune in to see what's next. A great job by aw this week. Yeah, and this is what we want professional wrestling.

53:15 We want every show that we watched to be really good, Doctor Trey and I do not want to sit here every single week and critique a show negatively. I want to sit there and go man like. That was a really good week of professional wrestling, and from Friday to Wednesday, from in between each episode of SRTU from last week to today. That was a really really good, solid week of professional wrestling from SmackDown, Money the Bank, NX heat Wave, Collision was was solid, Rampage was thrown away as again as always, Raw was really good. We'd even talk about DOM Live, the return of Rhea Ripley. Yet NX Television is really good. Aw Dynamite was really good, Doctor Trey, I mean, this is this is getting to the point where I mean, this is historical life levels with how good professional resting is right now. It's really exciting time to be a professional wrestling fan.

54:05 Yeah, I mean, I don't think the Rock can take credit for all of this, but you know, but you know, it's when all the shows are hitting on all cylinders, you're just like man like. I mean, we didn't mention. I even enjoyed that statement with Jericho and the forklift. You know, I thought that I have never seen somebody drive a forklift through a sheet through sheet rock on wrestling before. So you can pull off stuff that's still new and indifferent and original and just have good television across the board on all platforms, Like you're right, ram Page is a throwaway show. But NXT's been good, you know, TNA with the crossover stuff's been good. You know, AW has been really really good for the last like six weeks, you know, across the board. I mean, Collision has been better, you know, DYNA might's been really really solid the last you know, six eight weeks, and then WWE almost like every show just hits it out of the park. So you're just like, there's not a bad thing to watch right now when it comes to wrestling television. No, it's it's a really really fun time. So I'm very happy to see like n I see an AW really pushing their games up to be on the same level as the entertainment value that I'm watching on Ron SmackDown right now. And it's been a really good couple of weeks of professional wrestling. I just think the only thing is just AW has to cut down those paper views. That's that's all I'm asking, Tony con That's please all I'm asking. With that said, let's close up shop on this week's edition of sr TU and get a couple of plugs and sponsors out of the way. You can down the show every Thursday or Friday at Real Guy Radio dot com. Wrestle Chattnett on X and the store, reil to show iTunes feed, don't forget to rate,

55:37 review and subscribe to help us com the charts on iTunes. You can follows individually on X for myself at sr TU Jeff and for Doctor Trey Franklin at the Doctor Tray. And of course don't forget to follow a show on X at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what is going on in the wonderful world of Dot Tray Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on X at the Doctor Tray. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram Doctor Tray Franklin. When you're on Facebook, check out Rocketsay Championship Wrestling. I was unable to return last week due to my car being vandalized and not able to actually travel anywhere. But coming up not this hour, but next Saturday, the Sewn Shocker Evans Memorial Tournament. It's a big deal for us at Rocket City. Sewn Evans was a huge part of the Pittsburgh wrestling scene, help train you know with best friends with our owner Barry Coleoff. Helped train Kurt Angle in his early days of professional wrestling.

56:28 It's one of our biggest shows of the year. So our tournament coming up next Saturday, so be sure to get on Facebook check them out, and just go check out your local independent wrestling shows because that person you see in the ring might be spurning aaw and signing with ww you in a couple of weeks. So you just never know who you're gonna see out there. You never ever ever know who could be seen on the independent wrestling scene. With that said, we will close up shop here and say goodbye, thank you for downloading this week's edition of SRTU. On next week's edition of the podcast, we'll be looking at our twenty twenty four SRTU Awards at the halfway point of twenty twenty four, so join us all on next week's edition of srt as we look at some of the early candidates and leaders in the clubhouse for each over one of our awards for the last show in twenty twenty four that we do each and every year. With that said, again, thank you for downloading SRTU, thank you for making as part of your week and until next week. For doctor Trey Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. This has been This is a real deus show.