Should Kevin Owens Dethrone CM Punk in Toronto? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #862 – 8/20/26

0:00 It's still really a big damage in it! [Music] What up, you! Ooh, welcome everybody! Welcome to this week's This and This Still Reload Show. Episode 862 for August 20th, 2026. Welcome to this week's edition of AskRTU. I am one after the show. I am Jeff Packen. joined every single week of my close lonely Dr. Trey Franklin. Dr. Trey, if there was a show that was promoted by you and I, my friend, I think this match would be the main event.

0:46 Well, great balls of fire, part two. Samojo versus Buck Lesnar, yeah. I mean, it's summertime. You and I were just talking about how hot it is and one of the old things is hottest balls. So if we're promoting a match in August, it's great balls of fire too. I mean, it might be an inferno match with dodge balls on a pole. I don't know how it works out, but yeah, it's great balls of fire parts. Yeah, that's one of our favorite PLE's, paper views of all time. Obviously, I'm talking about what's going to be taking place tomorrow night. Friday night's Smackdown, main event, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It will be CM Punk defending the Undisputed WWE Championship against Kevin Owens. It is the five year anniversary today, Dr. Trey, as you and I record this, that CM Punk returned to professional wrestling in August 20th, 2021 when he walked into Chicago's United Center at AW rampage the first dance and officially returned to professional wrestling after more than seven years away.

1:43 Five years later, he's the Undisputed WWE Champion preparing to defend that championship against Kevin Owens Friday night in Toronto. If you told us that on August 20th, 2021, would either one of us have believed you and on a personal level, is there a match that better to find the history of this show, Dr. Trey, then CM Punk versus Kevin Owens. So you have Kevin Owens on your hierarchy of SRTU wrestlers. Kevin Owens is above Sanctis eight, right? If there is a Mount Rushmore of people, wrestlers who have defined that show, I think two of the four spots are Kevin Owens and CM Punk because I was going to say, historically, 2010, I was talking about Kevin's team versus Elginarica. We were like nonstop.

2:29 I was going to say because I think, I mean, you and I have been friends now for almost two decades, and I think I could easily say that probably are two of our favorite wrestlers of the past 20 years are CM Punk and Kevin Owens. So this was, I remember us talking about CM Punk versus Stone Cold Steve Austin 15 years ago, that might be a possibility. And that was kind of like our dream match because Kevin Steed had not elevated to this level. Now I think this would be the closest perfect dream match of our favorite wrestlers going at it is tomorrow night on SmackDown. Yeah, this is a match that we've been wanting to see for some time and it's a dream match. It's build as a first time ever match because I don't think they've ever wrestled anywhere. I don't think they've wrestled at R0H. I don't think they've wrestled in mid-South. It's IWA in mid-South. I don't think they've wrestled in CZW. I never ever have I heard these two guys wrestling one another. And I think that if we went down and we were like, what is the Mount Rushmore of 862 episodes of SRTU who are two of the wrestlers that have found that error? I think to me, Kevin Owens and CM Punk.

3:46 So the big question here, right, Owens return from a potentially career ending neck injury at Summer Slam and immediately won the number one contenders match and now gets Punk in Canada. WWE could create an incredible emotional moment by putting the championship on Owens. Kevin Owens has come out in interviews and said that his family will be ringside for this match. But Punk's championship run is still relatively young. So Dr. Tre should Kevin Owens win the WWE championship in Toronto on Friday night? Absolutely. I mean, so I think I've told you this years and years ago, like when I was going to go into wrestling, my character, the way I had perceived my character going is actually what Kevin Owens is. Just chubby bearded, smart ass, good in the ring, great on the mic, good heel, good baby face, like that's who I wanted to be.

4:38 Then when Kevin Owens came on the scene, I'm like, oh, that's my guy. We've had Owens Zane challenge for titles in Canada before they've never pulled a trigger. We've had Sammy Zane won the belt, had a one week title run for CM Punk to basically take the belt off him. It would make just a ton of sense for that title change to happen on SmackDown in Toronto, not to mention title changes don't usually happen on free TV and WWE very often. So I think it makes a ton of sense. Like the booking of this has been a little weird to me in the sense of, yeah, we're feeding into, quote unquote, real life shoot drama, whatever you want to call it. At times they've made always look like a heel, punk look like a heel, which everybody knows I hate shades of gray in pro wrestling. But if you're going to pull the trigger on something like this and kind of shock the world, this would be a great time to do it. Yeah, this is an opportunity to get some ratings here, certainly for Friday nights, SmackDown. Let's look at the argument here for both guys starting with Kevin Owens. He's coming off of one of the biggest comeback stories of his career. There was discussions he may never come back from his neck injury. He's wrestling for the WWE championship in his home country. The audience should be heavily behind him. I'm looking at this as being like

6:08 Breton Shaw 97 where Bret is coming out in Canada as the home, hometown hero, home country hero. And while CM Punk is beloved, I think he's coming in this match as the heel. And this is a guy who loves Bret Hart that I think it's going to be more Shawn Michaels in Canada than Bret Hart certainly is in Canada. Owens winning his first WWE World Championship in years after everything he's gone through would be an incredible moment. Punk doesn't necessarily need a long-champcher brain for this run to matter. A KO victory could actually extend punk, punk and Owens is feud rather than end it. The argument for CM Punk, Punk just got through Cody Road to Summerslam. WWE's finally got punk into that long-awaited run as its top champion. Taking the championship off him has quickly off this quickly could make this Summerslam result feel less significant. Punk still also has an enormous potential championship programs, enormous amount of championship programs ahead of him.

7:09 So some of the big questions here, right? We're talking about how much of an incredible moment this could be. WWE getting caught up in the moment making a short-term decision. I know you say this build feels weird. This build for me in a two-week time frame and I think I'm completely biased in this has felt like a Summerslam build to me because the back and forth they're having in the ring is some of the most feelings of legitimate heat between two wrestlers. Since more CM Punk and Drew McAter than I would say CM Punk and Seth Rollins. This feels real to me damn it. This is it, Dr. Trey, because they legitimately don't like one another. When I did the solo show last week, I talked about that when you watch those segments. Kevin Owens is really into what he's saying, which makes me feel like what he is saying is real. CM Punk is into what he's saying, but if you really watch the television, when they're getting to a good spot, Punk is smirking a little bit because I don't think this is him like antagonizing Kevin Owens in any way. I think he's looking at this going, this shit is gold. Like we've got the fans in the palm of their hands. There is some real animosity here that makes the build for the match, pay-per-view worthy. And again, I'm biased in this, but I mean out of Summerslam, out of All-In, out of Sunday Night, main event that's coming up in a few weeks from WWE, there is no bigger match that I am more excited for to watch. In the month of August, early

8:44 September, maybe in the last eight weeks that I've seen in professional wrestling, then this match and it's airing on SmackDown. This has some serious heat behind it, Dr. Trey. And I feel like this could be something that they could pull off at a WrestleMania. No, I agree. Like this, it's weird, like I was trying to figure out how it phrases. I'm trying to think of it, it's not flare and sting, but this is like, it's a little bit of rock, Cena, in a sense it is generational in the way because punk is about 10 years ahead of Kevin Owens. But these two guys that you and I gravitated towards on the last 15, 20 years because there are personalities on the microphone are so very similar. In Ring Style, a little different, but for the most part, these are two guys that came from that Steve Austin school of just keep running your mouth kid and you'll be good.

9:40 That's what they've done. That's what they've banked their careers off, whether it's pipe bomb promos or whatever. This is out of everything going on between Summerslam, All-In, main event, whatever it is, like this is the match I'm most excited. And the only reason I say the booking for this has been weird because there really is no clear, defying good guy, bad guy. Because as much as I love Kevin Owens, when guys come out and say, you know, when they kind of complain about how somebody treated them years ago in the Indies on the microphone in front of a live crowd, I'm like, I don't like whininess, but it's illustrating a point. And it just kind of shows it's like, I don't know if they, I'm sure they know which direction they're going, but the build leaves people like us confused. Where's like, is, is, could we see Kevin and Sammy get back together in this and you know, where does this go?

10:38 Or is this going to be where Sammy costs Kevin the title and we end up with Sammy and Kevin again? And you know, you and I always said like, you can put those guys in any match at any time and we're going to eat it up. But like, where does this go from here? And plus we all know Kevin's a triple H guy and you know, they just did the Sammy payoff, you know, a month ago and are they going to pull the trigger on a Kevin payoff now? Like, there's a lot of questions without clear definition, which is where I feel like that, that weirdness settles in. But yeah, I mean this, this match, I can't, I don't think I have, I came to the last time I actually said, I'm staying home on a Friday night to watch Macdown. It's been a while. I'm staying home. I'm trying to watch Macdown. You know, this, this has got me more hyped up than, you know, Mercedes-Monaire will a night and go. All right, let's wrap it up here, Dr. Tray, going back to what we originally said here on the, the SRT portion of this match.

11:33 Is there a bigger dream match in your mind? I've shared my thoughts. I don't think there is. Is there a bigger dream match that better represents the Storelas show that punk versus zones? Because I think if you and I did a special show, which we don't do as many of them as we used to anymore, and we're like, that's fantasy book the last 15, 20 years of the SRT you podcast. I think this match is on that pay-per-view. Oh, yeah, I was trying to figure out like in my mind, I know who three of the four are based on my fandom during this time, one of the show, I can't figure out who number four so is Sammy's on there? Sammy's three. Okay. Because I think generic Osteen defined probably the first six to seven years of the show. I mean, even to this day when we reference, you know, right, you know, feud of the year, we always reference generic Osteen. That's the standard. You know, and then even going to NXT and then, you know, I remember when, you know, when Sammy and Cino went out and then it was like three weeks later, there's Owens and Cena and they're ringing you and I were like, holy cow, I can't believe we're seeing Kevin Owens and John Cena in the ring at the same time fighting each other. It's Punk Owens, Zane and Roman Seth. I don't know who number four is.

12:54 Daniel Bryan, what's up? Daniel Bryan, yeah, it's just for the longevity of the show. I mean, no, we love CM Punk so much. We had to ban talking about him when he was away from the show, you know, for all those years. So to me, this for Dream Match is right up there with what we saw with Owens and Steve Austin. But at least that match wasn't hyped. That was a confrontation. This is an actual match between two of our top three guys over the course of the last 15 years. All right, let's wrap it up here. Prediction quick prediction, Dr. Trey next week when you and I are recording this podcast, who is the Undisputed WWE Champion? I'm taking Kevin Owens.

13:38 Say I was going to take it, I was going to, I want, my heart says Owens, my head says Punk. So I'll, I'll, I'll side with you. I'll take Kevin Owens on this one just because my heart, like it's been, we talked about it. It's been a really, really emotional three weeks for me. I'm going to go with my heart on this one. I'm going to take Kevin Owens as well. The only thing I can imagine is if it is in Kevin Owens, like Sammy Zayn's gotten involved somehow. That's, you know, like it's all, all I can think is, you know, Sammy runs in actually the only Lovic Kicks Kevin and Punk is the way. Which sideburn all this stuff? I mean, I watched that final segment there and on Smackdown. And the Sammy Zayn storyline where he's like getting constantly screwed over is one of the most hilarious storylines I've seen in some time. I mean, the fact that Randy Orton cost him the number one of tenors match and you, it's like, you forget about that. Like the Cody Orton stuff is going on in the middle of the ring to close Smackdown. Meanwhile, it's like, oh shit, wait a minute, Sammy got fucked on this. So it's been one of the best underrated storylines right now has been Sammy Zayn because he's so damn entertaining. Moving over. Yeah, go ahead. I was like, and when does this Johnny Gargato pay off happy? Because he seems Sammy talking to Gargato, Pugs talking to Gargato. At some point, Johnny's got to get off the floor, stop planking. I know Edging Co, our Copen cage have their own plank board system. If Johnny doesn't get up soon, they should just have him be the poster boy for it.

15:07 Yeah, maybe he is just going to be planking all the way to AW who knows at this point. Moving over to Monday Night Raw, we had a big angle that took place with Solusikoa, Roman Reigns, the Bud Line Jacob Fatu, LA Knight this past Monday night that closed. A very, very, very solid edition of Monday Night Raw. One of the best pure wrestling editions of Monday Night Raw that I've seen in some time. I mean, there are some really, really good matches out there led by specifically the Chad Gable Ray Mysterio match. That finishing sequence, final five minutes, and I'm going to complete sidebar tangent like that was paperview worthy. I mean, they had the crown on the palm of their hands and it was not a paper you which was amazing. Going back to the Solusikoa Roman Reigns, Bloodline stuff. Just when I thought WWE might be going back down the familiar road of putting everybody together under Roman Reigns again, Solusikoa said, "No, Solo appeared ready to fall back in line with Roman and the Bloodline before ultimately turning on Roman and helping LA and I take out Roman and the Usos." But I keep coming back to Jacob Fatu here, Dr. Trey because Fatu is just standing there and watching everything unfold might right in front of him. And more importantly, he is just watching what Solo did in the ring. WWE's own Raw recap confirmed Solo ultimately turned against Roman rather than rejoining the family. What I liked from the segment, Solo didn't simply become Roman soldier again. That's very important. We watched Solo go from Roman's enforcer to try and replace Roman to lose in his own Bloodline to become increasingly isolated. Going backwards would have erased a lot of that development, especially within being a big baby face right now.

16:38 Instead, Solo essentially told Roman I'm not doing this again. Then there's Jacob Fatu. Roman rewarded Jimmy and Jay. Solo openly rejected him and Jacob watched the facial reaction felt deliberate. Where is this all going? Is Jacob slowly realizing Roman has really changed? Does Fatu eventually leave Roman too? Does he love Solo again? Could Roman's attempt to rebuild the Blumline actually be what destroys it again is Solo now becoming an anti-Bloodline character rather than trying to create another version of the group? Where does LA and I fit in all of this? Is Roman supposed to be someone we're rooting for right now because internally he's being listed as a heal because he's still asked uncontrollably towards his own family. There's the bigger questions. We're now several years into the Blumline saga. There have been points where it felt exhausted, but this week I wanted to know what happens next and that's the entire point of episodic wrestling television. So Dr. Trei asked you has W. We found another genuinely interesting chapter of the Bloodline story after this past Monday night. No they absolutely have. It's in a weird sense. I mean we've got the Royce Keys factor in there but you have almost like the old guard and the young guard and it's a different spin on bloodline and I'm using MFTs because that's what they turn into. But I was telling a friend of my last night. I'm like I don't remember anybody bursting out as much of his enjoyable baby face as I

18:16 have solos lately. Like he is just having so much fun. He has the crowd in the palm of his hands. He's funny. He's engaging. It's like man I just for somebody that two years ago I could have never pictured being a top guy baby face to where he's at right now. Yeah he's there and you have all this dynamic of the Jacob stuff. You have all the dynamics of you know the Usos becoming captains. It's it's really good TV. I mean to me this just shows Roman's a heel again. The Blumline is heels. I mean the way Roman was acting towards solo the disrespect towards Jacob. Roman the bloodlines are heels again which means J and Jimmy are heels again. So it's it's a really kind of organic kind of build out of this too because I don't think WWE thought Solo would get this over as a baby face.

19:11 I think they knew what they had in Jacob and I think they were waiting to pull the trigger on Jacob but the solo thing is just taken off and then you still got the LA knife factor. So to me it's it's really good organic storytelling that I think they just listened to the crowd and I think people they respect Roman but I think they want to boo Roman. I think it's it just kind of feels right to boo Roman because he is so dominant of a champion over the last you know five years like it just makes sense. So I love this it's reminiscent and he our younger audience won't forget this but like the horsemen of the 80s it was always totally armed and Rick and then the fourth guy whoever they brought in within eventually turned baby face and feared with the other three and it's kind of like it feels like that right now at the bloodline with every time we we know we can make baby faces if we put them up against Roman so let's just keep going to the well and doing it and they've done a really good job of it or less last month. One of the things that I noticed during the angle is at one point in the corner I don't know if he was doing this purposely or not I'm going to go with purposely was Jacob Hutton had a little bit of a smile on his face. What exactly do you think Jacob Hutton was thinking while he watched solo reject Roman Reigns?

20:30 I think that for me that look on his face was hey I'm not the captain. You know it was like you tell me what to do you didn't tell me to take him out so I'm just going to stay here until you tell me what to do. It's kind of that like perfect little like smart-ass soldier response where you know for the last two months since he joined the bloodline it's been basically like I do with the travel chief tells me he tells me to do this I do this and then you know he's had that back and forth with Jay over this time where Jay's supposed to be the right hand but you know Jacob's telling him like hey I follow Roman I don't follow you but now Roman came out of Ron and said look if you disrespect my captain you disrespect me which kind of pushes Jacob down or wrong I think like in anywhere like that would be my attitude like if you show me disrespect why am I going to come to your help?

21:24 I think that was the most logical response that situation where if Roman indirectly you know disrespects Jacob why is he going to run out you know why is he going to make the save in that situation? And then the last thing here Dr. Trey do you think Fat 2 ultimately is the next person to walk away from the travel chief right now we've got four on the bloodline the two Usos Roman Fat 2 on the other side you've got Solo and LNite I feel like it's going to be even here at some point we got war games it'll be here before you know it and I think the bloodline is going to be heavily involved in that match. Yeah because I was trying to do the math on this so if Jacob walks away I think that means Bronson Reed ends up with the bloodline I'm trying to do the math on the point let's get to go back to the vision no yeah I mean there is there a still a vision there's no Paul Hayman that yeah I mean there's still a vision they still got Logan Paul awesome theory braw breaker on Monday nights I know I'm just trying I'm trying to do the math like it so Jacob's sides with Solo and L.A.

22:28 then Royce Keys goes with the bloodliners he go back with Jacob because they were just fighting but then they're like there were their brothers you know what they're saying I could see I could see a L.A. night Solo Royce Keys Jacob Fattil and then the other three would be you'd have the bloodline on that side trying to think here would you who would you I don't think who'd you add on the other side there that's why we're not so reek is didn't Bronson Reed side with them a couple years ago and survivors as well that was with that was with Solo's version of the bloodline and then that basically just kind of went away and we did the vision like I wonder if you bring Sammy back into this and then we've seen four on four we've seen five on five as well you know we've seen strange bedfellows with with the bloodline whether they're good or bad in the past I wonder if they did the same stuff yeah or or Romans not in the match and you do the Usos and the MFTs the sons of Haku that could be right the MFTs the both the Tongans they side with the bloodline I don't think they're gonna be turning baby face anytime soon especially with Haku so yeah I you know I did not have on my bingo card the potential of Jacob Fattil turning baby face and turning on the bloodline anytime soon I felt like this was going to be more of a WrestleMania maybe post-Restimating type storyline but it could be sooner than than people think here I think anything that you see with the bloodline right now keep in mind that I a lot of this I feel like is being built towards war games because when you look at war games right now

24:03 and that is a very big deal they're starting to promote the Houston show I think tickets went on sale they're gonna want to put some butts in seats and there is really no faction in the male side that can hold that I mean the vision has really taken a fall down I mean to the point that Dr. Trade didn't think the vision really existed anymore so it's like what else do you do here right now and it's definitely bloodline and you need to start evening up and I think I think you're gonna see some rocket chips being put on LA nights and rocket chips being put on solo maybe some rocket chips on Jacob Fattil and and Royce Kees and you could start developing some brand new single stars out of this entire thing at least here in the last part of 2026 would love to hear everybody starts yep go ahead let's say if you go smack down punk Cody Bauer and one other guy against Sammy KO Orton and Gunther so that's a really I mean I don't even know if KO is a heel right now that's true but I'm saying you could you just kind of depends because I mean that those seem to be your top seven guys on smack down right now you know they're a really good main event level picture I just I think I would put my money right now on August the 20th on the bloodline being in that match that would be my guess yeah who knows no I agree like if I was betting I would lean bloodline solo because out what's again we we've seen them on one hand when somebody gets red haza baby face they just run with it and then we've seen them other times with a red hot baby face like LA night three

25:38 years ago where yeah it's not the right time yet so I it's gonna be interesting I'm really interested how this whole solo booking comes out of this because I mean we couldn't have a solo in Jacob feuding with the loose those with the tag belts or you know just feuding in an tag team I mean with LA night Roman reigns so it's just or do you end up flipping it based on what happened my night and after you know the next paper after what are we doing Roman in LA night I think they're probably gonna do it money in the bank would be my guess so after my in the bank do we get solo in Roman at the next PLA afterwards yeah which would be survivor series I think at that point oh unless they do another Saudi Arabia show like a crown jewel anyway just a chime in at patreon.com/srtupotcast let us know what you think of the storyline and where things are going right now with the bloodline Jacob feitu solo LA night and so much more and a lot of good stuff going on on both main shows right now it seems to be a good creative swing lately um speaking of Monday night Raw sticky with Monday night Raw Dr. Trey I talked about on last week's show WWE and and making us wait a little bit for umover Femi versus Braun Breaker because I think it could be the next John Cena Batista holding of the torch but they're going forward with it with the Sunday night's main event in just a few weeks in Atlanta Georgia um I made the case here I literally asked like why not make open brawn WWE Cena Batista put them as separate paths and let them become massive stars before finally putting them

27:14 together WWE apparently heard that and said nope let's do it immediately because oba Femi versus Braun Breaker is officially happening in September at Sunday night's main event so I ask you W. Dr. Trey is WWE striking while the iron is hot or giving away a WrestleMania level rivalry years too early and when I mean Cena and Batista I felt like put oba on one brand Braun on the other and keep these guys apart for like three or four years I said that when oba was a free agent I was like you got Braun Breaker on Raw put oba on Smackdown but then we had all the injuries in the vision happening now Braun we talked about a couple of weeks ago Braun star is dropped so to me I don't know the upside unless WWE has felt like yeah Braun Breaker can take a step down again I don't understand the upside of this of doing this so soon like this is something you can kind of build to we saw them allude to it at Royal Rumble when you know Braun got taken out by Seth it was supposed to be one and two Braun and oba they held off on it and then now we're circling back you know nine months later to this it does feel like the Braun Breaker star has dropped a little bit and that's why they're pulling trigger unless this is when Braun's in Reed returns to rejoin the vision that I forgot about to help Braun Breaker beat oba femey and then you get oba femey oba femey puning with the vision but it is kind of like you know I'm with you like to

28:47 me it's like you have two young you know just a head like just generational type talents why why have them on the same show now once again if you had put oba on Smackdown knowing you're gonna move punk there knowing you're gonna move Cody there maybe that's why they didn't do it and they saw that hey maybe we can just keep him on raw and eventually get to oba and Roman and that was their plan all along but you know it's just to pull the trigger on it this soon it's to me does feel a little bit early but you know we I'm trying to think of some great rivalries over the past I mean we've had Roman and Seth how many different times the last 10 years and some of those start out you know not too long I mean we went we didn't get Roman and Seth right after the shield broke up we got Seth and Ambrose but we eventually got back to it and those guys have battled I think a dozen times over the past 10 years so does it mean you can't do it it's just different I guess from what you and I are used to with taking your young stars keeping them off the sides until you finally built that big payoff match yeah it seems like that they're treating Sunday Night's main event and I never looked at it this way and we've discussed this several times over the years I mean even going back to the most over last couple months I should say even the most recent one in New York City I look at as just as like as a special television event I don't look at it as a PLE but I think they're really going into this one as a PLE and they're not even up against AW that weekend it's just bizarre to me

30:17 like we're getting Cody and Orton which is a WrestleMania level main event and the we the one in July what was the headliner there before Roman it was really Roman and Jalen Brunson's saying I can't even remember that I was the close was it a tag team it was was it Cody and punk versus again Sammy and Gunther Sammy and Gunther yeah to make it the fatal for way and no disrespect to those four guys but the build and the overall framework of that show didn't scream PLE to me and now you've got Orton and Brods and you've got Open Braun on paper this is really good I mean this is it's very good stuff I mean the creative on the men's side in WWE as a Blade on Ron Smackdown has been very good they've picked it up a lot but it's like let them breathe a little bit like let these guys go and I loved the way that they booked Cena and Batista in 2004 onwards like they had the Royal Rumble interaction where they had the botch and the Batista ended up winning and Vince tore both of his quads but then they went to WrestleMania 21 which was actually 2005 excuse me then those two guys one their title matches that night and then they were the guys on both brands so much so that when Cena who was on Smackdown gets drafted over to Raw him and Batista were on the same brand for like a minute and then the next Smackdown Batista was on and the new face going from Raw to Smackdown and then they carried those brands for a while and then they really didn't get into it until a Summer Slam match which would have been like 0809 I feel like and then they had that WrestleMania 26 match when we first started doing the show that was really good with the title online and then Batista went away for a while and that was the kind of build like that's five years really like four or five years

31:50 where those guys didn't touch and they were carrying the brands and that's what I would have liked to see so instead we're getting it now I think this is more of a test for Braun Breaker than in his oba femey because Braun stock has dropped nothing that he did wrong and now is the time to see like can he be the guy I think Oba is going to be the guy in 2027 I want to see if Braun Breaker could get there I hope he can get there and I think this match is that test doctor try. Yeah I mean you know you were talking about Cena and Batista and then I was thinking about too I was like well then there was also Rain York and Cena and Orton went at it a lot early on and maybe there's a third guy in the mix and they're looking at like hey we're trying to save Oba and this and maybe it's a Gunther you know we're like hey we're going to save Oba and Gunther and let them stand opposite sides for a while and then Oba and Braun can be Cena and Orton and maybe that's how they're kind of viewing it I'm not sure but like to me once again I wish I'd about I would have saved this I would have saved at least for WrestleMania or next summer slam and just let these guys build up and really get a lot of wins under their belts and really get that momentum both guys momentum up and going at the right time because it feels like one guy's peeking and one guy's been sliding down which then makes for weird bedfills on like how do you put this match together where you make both these young guys come out looking like stars.

33:18 All right Dodger try let's switch gears now to all the wrestling we're 10 days away from all in London and this past edition of Dunhamite AW finally makes all in personal with their two main title matches for the men's and the women's side Kenny Omega and Wille Loss Bray and Mercedes Monet and Wille Knight and Egael but did they wait too long let's look at Kenny Omega versus Wille Loss Bray first this is what I wanted from Omega and Osprey not another discussion about Star ratings not simply these are the two of the greatest wrestlers alive so imagine how great that match would be we've seen it twice give me a reason they need to beat each other we always say that as an issue with AEW and on Wednesday night AEW finally did the sit down interview went all the way back to their first meeting in PWG Omega's time in New Japan Osprey trying to replace Kenny as the company's top foreign star their wrestle kingdom match and Osprey's controversial for bed indoor victory with Don Cal's involvement Osprey even admitted that the circumstances surrounding his win over Omega still bother him then Kenny crossed the line he brought Osprey's family into including Osprey's son and after Osprey confronted him later in the night Omega put him through a table with the one wing in angel to close dynamite now we have something Osprey isn't simply trying to win a championship he's trying to prove that he finally surpassed Kenny Omega and Omega seems increasingly offended by the idea that Osprey could ever actually be his equal which brings up an interesting question is Kenny Omega now becoming the he illness thing because Omega was arrogant he belittled Osprey's accomplishments he brought his family into the feud he manipulated Osprey

34:52 to coming back toward the ring then he destroyed him and they're going to Wembley say it in Osprey's home country Kenny is certainly going to get boot in that one so I asked you this doctor try did AW wait too long to get here with Will Osprey and Kenny Omega I'm going to say no because you want to get the feud as hot as you possibly can right before the peel or the paper view in their case so you maximize by-reigns and with the way dynamite went through the entire show with the sit down to the finish I don't know how you top that to get people to buy the show to see what's going to happen so I think they did that angle about I mean you had brought it up a month ago like if this is what you're trying to get to start bringing up their past history a little bit more and maybe slowly burn it up to this level that we got to last Wednesday night but if you're going to if you're going to shotgun the entire history make it personal and then have a big payoff at the end if that was your goal I think they accomplished that on dynamite so now dr. Tray does Osprey have to beat Omega at Wembley yeah I just like you literally punk the guy out on dynamite you brought up his his kids Kenny pulled the get the security card which is a total heel move

36:26 which you know you and I are talking about as if you got to make one guy look a little bit more like a heel just to get that 80% cheering 20% booing ratio then you put him through a table to close out the show like yeah like at this point it like that you and I talked about that for 15 years wrestling booking 101 is whoever ends up on the short end before the pay-per-view usually goes over if Kenny wins in Wembley then I don't know when they're gonna ever put up their group they're gonna put Osprey on top because this would be this this screams Ospreys getting his win in Wembley with you know in the hometown everything else it screams this is the right time to pull the trick I feel like Omega Ospreys one of the most predictable matches in in some time you know a lot of say I mean home country the stuff whether they build an on dynamite which was very very well done on this past Wednesday night and I've talked about it here on the podcast the only way I don't think Osprey wins is if MJF wins the casino got in the battle royal then I think there's a real chance that he catches in to close out the show and we get that finish instead of like the adoring streamers you know confetti in the home country a Brit finally winning in Wembley that whole deal have you watched english soccer games if you pull that I know that's what I'm saying if you're a fan of the World Cup stay tuned

37:57 so oh my gosh I think it's it was the one time I say the one time manchester united and arsenal tied together is Osprey getting screwed by MJF to close out the show let's look at the the women's championship match you got well night and yellow mercenias monee obviously Omega and Osprey wasn't the only all in championship program that got better this past Wednesday well night and yellow mercenias mone finally stopped making this feel like just champion versus challenger now it feels like these two women genuinely dislike each other willow went directly after Mercedes biggest insecurity mercenias can have the money the presentation the celebrity the championship but willow has something mercenias can't simply manufacture the connection with the crowd mercenias fired back by bringing up their history and portraying willow as someone who benefited from mercenias injury then they went looking for each other and had to be separated in a pull apart brawl which was awesome and then there's another wrinkle willow is defending the AW women's world championship against my world on collision before all in AW even acknowledge that technicality could be my heading to wembley to face mercenias instead we all assume where willow mercenias is the destination but at least they're creating some uncertainty which I don't think they should have done I think that was really bad short-sighted and almost like they forgot about it from a storyline standpoint there was no way dr. Shrey and I were gonna be like hey when I went she promised the match to my world I like my world as a person I'm not there yet as a character and professional wrestler the real story I think willow might be actually what mercenias needed mercenias always felt like a major star but sometimes for AW feuds haven't felt as emotionally important answer presentation willow

39:32 is naturally likable enough that mercenias something meaningful to push against so dr. Shrey I ask you this and this paint I'm sure this is going to paint you to answer it especially if it goes in the way that some people are thinking should mercenias mone beat willow at all in yeah I mean she's your top star in the women's division most marketable person in women's division not to mention her best friend might be joining the company and that'd be a great rivalry to build off of coming out of this so if you're going to if you're gonna make them move we talked about it a year ago when she was the the TBS champion I'm like Mercedes made the TBS title feel more important than the women's world title because of her star power so if you're going to do this this once again is the right time to do it plus you know willow for the most part has had the better of Mercedes whether because the injuries or whatever it does feel like if if she's our most bankable star let's put our top title on her and let's see if she can help elevate the division since we don't have Tony Storm right now so with that said would a wb making mistake ending willow's championship brain no because it gives her credible willow still young like it still gives her credibility this is kind of an old wwe thing we talked about the money in the bank winners whether it was Jeff Hardy CM Pong Daniel Bryan they pull the trigger to get that young person a little bit of credibility so when they cycle them back up to

41:03 that main event rivalry they always they already had that credibility built into it so it's a good way to keep willow as one of your top people even though she's at the belt by having her lose to arguably the top woman in the company it doesn't really hurt willow by losing this plus Mercedes is the heo she can cheat to win and nobody's gonna look down on willow for losing in that situation as willow become the opponent Mercedes needed to finally feel like one of aw's biggest attractions yeah because Tony left yeah i don't know if anybody else on the roster has the most organic connection with the audience that willow does like willow is just likable like you just her energy her bubbliness like you need if you're gonna have Mercedes be the top heel the most hated woman in the company you need somebody like willow to play off of and i don't know if anybody else in the women's vision a w is that likable like there's people we feel good about like you just mentioned like you like the myo world's story but you're not there there's a character yet um yeah because i can't you see her crowd reactions nobody cares no no because nobody really in even at this point Jeff nobody still knows who she is like she went from nowhere to number two in the company without any real credibility in the ring i'll put it that way like is she it's a great story house you know the race

42:33 story or coming back from everything outside the ring but in ring she never proved anything Tony storm not being there i think Tony and willow are the two most likable characters in a w and Tony hasn't been around for nine months so it had to be willow everybody else is kind of and when it comes to likability all right final question you're wrapping up both of these big metal matches and we'll predict eight of you all in on next week's edition of SRTU which match currently has a stronger emotional build dodge right omega osprey or willow Mercedes omega osprey just because there's more history and they finally brought it up and then canny can play like you heard i think i don't know if you heard sure viney beret he like oh yeah canny can he still a vp so they can pull that card out as well so i'm going kenny i mean you brought kids into the mix i mean healthy one and two you could bring ospreys you know current wife into the mix that they really wanted to like there's a lot there that they can play with there's still a lot of meat on that bone uh then you have the mjf factor it's to me it's omega and osprey all right there you go feel free to chime in over at patreon.com/srtupodcast just a comment below where you download this podcast each and every week you could join our patreon page for free once again patreon.com/srtupodcast with that said dr. trail it's got a couple plugs and sponsors out of the way you could download

44:03 the show again at patreon.com/srtupodcast and the store will show feed on apple spot if our review download this podcast don't forget to rate review and subscribe you could follow us individually on x for myself at srtu.jf and for dr. trail Franklin at the dr. trail and of course don't forget to follow show on x at srtu podcast with that being said what is going on in the wonderful world of dr. trail Franklin this week well like jf said you can follow me on x at the dr. trail you can follow me on instagram dr. trail Franklin you can find me on facebook dr. trail Franklin and if you're on facebook like most of you people are because there's like millions and millions and millions and almost billions of people on facebook be sure to check out roccas a championship wrestling we have a big show coming up september 5th i am in a storyline i suspended somebody so everybody's all mad and be for suspending somebody but you can also check out roccas city championship wrestling on youtube go pack go there check out all the past episodes see my whole bill from being the evil manager to the good guy general manager and all that stuff but also get out and check out your local independent wrestling show where you too can find a my a world to root for and moderately cheer when she's in the ring so there you go yeah it's it's very very noticeable unfortunately and and i wish her nothing but the best i know she's gone through a lot but yeah it's just not resonating on the television i actually thought they were gonna make a total change on Wednesday night and they did not all right with that said we will be back next week we will once again be previewing and predicting

45:34 a w all in london uh... feel free to continue to support us and share any questions or comments you have about the show over at s r t u podcast uh... on the patreon page patreon dot com slash s r t u podcast follows on all the great uh... spots are out on facebook twitter and more and uh... spread the word about s r t u we appreciate you all making us part of your week and until next week four doctorate Very frank, let I am Jeff Peck. This has been The Still Relay Show.