The 800th Episode – Thank You, John Cena (And What’s Next!) | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #800 – 06/12/25

0:00 It's still real to me, damn it! What up, you! Welcome everybody! Welcome to this week's edition of this total real-est show, episode number 800 for June 12, 2025. Welcome to this week's edition of SRTU. I am one-half of the show, I am Jeff Beck, joined every single week of my course, the one-only doctor, Frank Lynn, Dr. Tray, welcome to 800 episodes of SRTU, my friend.

0:46 Yeah, that's an insane number. It's weird when you do the podcast world and you do a weekly, you're like the numbers that up, but then if you're in the real world, you're like, "Hey, 100, that's not bad, but then you do the math on it." And you're like, "Well, there's 52 weeks in a year, so two years is 100, we're at 800, I just had a child graduate high school, that when we started this show was two. That shows you how long we have been doing this show. It is crazy to see that we're at 800, not just 800 episodes, 800 straight weeks of new content for all our folks out there.

1:29 I don't know if I want to say congratulations to us or God bless us or we're gladdens for punishments. I don't know which the correct route is, but a very horrible self-pad on the back, congratulations does for making 800 episodes in. Yeah, 800 episodes strong to put in perspective here, we have 800 episodes. Let's just say it's at one hour is the average episode that we have. So 800 hours divided by 24 hours in a day. If you stayed up for a little over 33 straight days and listened to an episode every single hour, you can listen to all 800 episodes of SRT. So if you want to get caught up in everything that we've done over the last near 16 years of doing this podcast, you could just do that and if you just say up for 33 straight days, Dr. Trey.

2:25 Yeah, shout out to all of our crackhead fans out there who probably have tried that at least once, I don't know. Yes. I don't know, I don't know, we were joking off air about getting older. Yeah, back in the day, we could go 24, maybe 48 hours straight with no sleep, and now I can do about 14 hours no sleep. Yeah, it's very few in far between and I can do that. So the older we get, nearly 15 and a half years of doing this podcast, nearly 16 years, this upcoming February, 2026, what started as just like a whim to do my own podcast and do it in the wrestling genre that got me into podcasting, got me in a radio from Eric Ardullo, who was the first cohost on the podcast to Dr. Trey stepping in two years into the show and being the podcast host cohost ever since this is this has been surreal.

3:17 This has been insane. This has been fun. We've gone through children being born marriages, triums, tribulations, tragedies all here on SRTU, personally, professionally, the whole nine yards. We've been through it all here for well over 15 years, 800 straight weeks of doing the show, and that is something that we take great pride in ever since the very first episode. This show has been made available to you each and every week from a show that started on Saturdays, move to Thursdays, casually lands on Fridays, nowadays, even each and every week. We've been here starting from WrestleMania 26 to WrestleMania 42.

3:59 It's been insane. It's something that we take great pride in and we're just fans and there's been ebbs and flows of professional wrestling throughout this entire time. There's been years where wrestling has been really bad and wrestling has been really good. I think we're in a good upswing of professional wrestling right now and people are all in unprofessional wrestling. As a podcast, we've covered having wrestlers on this show via my days from the Bauer show on 97.90, Espianna and Hartford, Connecticut. We would air clips of CM Punk, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, many, many wrestlers have been on this podcast from clips of interviews that I was able to do and be part of and it's something that we're extremely, extremely proud of.

4:48 So thank you all. If you've been here since episode one, huge thanks to all of you. If you've been here for a long time, a short time, thank you so much for all the support that you've given us over a hundred episodes and we have a pretty huge announcement. So with 800 episodes, we are making some changes. New logo out there on our Facebook and X accounts today. But we've also opened up a Patreon account, patreon.com/srtupodcast. There will be multiple membership tiers. You can get this podcast at the very basic level of $2 a month and it will be ad free.

5:29 The minute Dr. Trey and I are done with this podcast, it'll be up there. As we navigate the waters of Patreon and the different membership tiers, there will be some exclusive content. Maybe some content where Dr. Trey talks about something on his own, maybe covers the independent wrestling world in Alabama. I may be doing some stuff on my own and bringing on some wrestling friends. We haven't discussed it. We don't know where it's going to go. But this is just the next step in the progression of the Storialta show. So support our community. We hope to expand the community. We hope to grow the community. We hope to keep it positive. We hope to keep it light. We hope to keep it talking professional wrestling. So, you know, very early stages. I hope someday real soon when we record these podcasts, people could join us live.

6:16 I'm hopeful that we could do exclusive podcasts where it doesn't get dropped on the main podcast feeds. And it's just for the people who are Patreon members and it could be ask us anything. You guys can be part of the conversation. It could be a happy hour of sorts of just talking professional wrestling as a community. So, some huge news for us today. We're taking the next step forward 800 episodes in, nearly 15 and a half years of doing this show. And it's a little nerve-wracking, Dr. Trey, but I'm excited for it. Yeah, shout out to us for being the old guys venturing into new technology, which is new for us. It's not new for a lot of people. Patreons have been around for a little while, but anytime you venture into something new, not everybody likes change, but once it becomes the norm, then you don't have to worry about change.

7:09 So, it's a little bit nerve-wracking, making the decision to kind of go this route. But at the same time, I believe that our fans appreciate 800 episodes of free content. We've never made a dime off this show in 15 years. And not that we don't appreciate our fans, but hey, this is an opportunity for us to get more involved with our fans, more involved with our community, do some different things. It's just kind of a way to, you know, we're taking time out from our wives and our kids to entertain all of you and for a nominal fee.

7:52 I mean, you can sponsor us for less than you can a hungry child. Or it costs less for this than it does to spay a newter your pets, things like that. It's a good route for us to go down to kind of help us out, help the community out, get you guys more content, and then when our wives go, but you guys do it for free. We get $2 a subscriber, so there, eat that lady. Yeah, it's really, it's the next step of progression here. I mean, a little bit of a forks stuck in the road. A lot of things are changing and the world of podcasting. And this is something we want to see.

8:33 And we really want to test it out. We want to see if we're able to grow this thing and take it to the next step. We've been doing this for a long time. And I'm hopeful. Really hopeful that this could be the next steps in the progression of the store real though, show at least given us an opportunity to show case what we have and and and give people something new and fun that they can do as as wrestling fans. And like Dr. Chris said, it's just a small little fee. By the way, if you've been listening to show for any length of time, Jeff and I always have the running gag to begin the show about like, Oh, you would catch that our next, you know, the dad's clout, you know, dad's yelling at clouds podcast or weather podcast guys.

9:17 This actually gives us a chance to do those shows. Yeah, finally, allergy podcast. Yeah, they may be gag shows, but your guy like let me and Jeff tell you guys what marriage really is like. Let me and Jeff tell you what's like raising an infant, a toddler and a teenager all at the same time. Like these are like ways that we can kind of broad not just the show itself, but also like you can kind of get into seeing like what really goes into mine and Jeff's head, which could be kind of frightening actually where we go some of this stuff. But like I'm excited to explore some of the options out there because Jeff and I have both talked about doing little offshoot programs of our own.

10:00 You know, and delving like, you know, for sports fans, Jeff and I are die hard baseball fans were die hard NFL fans like we can do some of the other content that people have kind of asked us about over the years that we just, you know, didn't have time or for honestly a lot of times the energy to do it. This allows us the opportunity to kind of delve into some of those things that look, you may not be you may be a wrestling fan, but heck, you may be. You know, a fan of another program that Jeff or I or a fan of that we can delve into that stuff as well. So it kind of allows us all to brighten the horizons of the SRT you community. Yeah, if anybody is is, you know, they can pay for a membership, no sweat. We still appreciate you guys downloading this podcast is still going to be available on all the platforms.

10:43 So we appreciate all the support, but yeah, we're hoping to expand this thing take it to the next level here probably a little bit behind on it, but this wasn't something that we were kind of aiming for to do. But I think the way that the industry is kind of changing and people developing their own content communities and stuff like that and it's really cool thing. I figure no place better than now on the end of the episode to kind of launch that and give it a shot. So support us patreon.com/srtupodcast with that said, Dr. Trey, let's get into the end of episode. We will be covering John Cena in the show, but we do have some news from this past week. Let's start with just some quick thoughts here on WWE World's Collide AAA and WWE bringing us a combined PL Lee on YouTube for free.

11:32 Dr. Trey, did you check it out and what were your thoughts on the show? So didn't check it out live because I was traveling, watched it Sunday. I mean, I don't, because I didn't know what I was going to get involved with here. I didn't know who was going to be the commentators. So to get Corey Graves and Conan on commentary, I thought was really cool. That was not the commentary team I was expecting, but I thought Graves did a really admiral job of covering a promotion. He knows he has some affiliation with his brother has worked for Triple A, so he knows some of the content. But to be able to carry a show with the guy who runs it in Conan, I thought he did a great job.

12:17 Some of the characters and some of the wrestling, you know, Lucheliebrace not always my cup of tea, but there were some really entertaining characters on the show. I thought the WWE stall works a good job. I thought overall for their first time out doing a little bit of a crossover promotion with Triple A. I thought they did a really fantastic job of kind of laying the groundwork for what they're going to do going forward. Yeah, it was a really cool show. It was unique. It was different. It did not feel like a WWE show, which is a good thing because sometimes when they branch off where it's like a quasi, is this WWE is it not? And I immediately think of NXT UK type stuff. It still feels like a WWE show. This did not have that WWE feel completely like 100% it felt more like a triple A.

13:02 The way that the stage was set up, the lighting was, the stuff in the ring. It was really well done and it was enjoyable. It was an opportunity to check out some wrestlers that I have seen and some wrestlers I haven't seen. So really enjoyable show and I'm excited to see where things go with Triple A and WWE moving forward and how they integrate Triple A into WWE's universe. So that was World's Collide great show. I didn't watch it live as well, but I did watch it on demand shortly after and highly recommend the show. Very fun wrestling show this past Saturday afternoon. Let's talk about WWE Monday the Bank recapping review this past Saturday from the Intuit dome in Englewood, California, Dr. Trey. Naomi defeats Alexa Bliss, Roxanne Presbury, Ripley, Julian, Stephanie Vaakor to win the Women's Money the Bank ladder match to earn a Women's Championship match contract.

13:48 Naomi, Julia, Naomi, Karen, the Money the Bank briefcase moving forward will add some nice depth to her new character. This was a fun match to help get over all the participants. The only thing I could think of is I wish WWE Creative gave, gave it a week's worth of programming at least one Raw and once Mac down to let all the participants interact some more to build a match up. I feel like the old school versus new school from this particular matchup would have been able to get people more hype for this one as well. Your thoughts as Naomi is now the new, mismanning the bank. Don't you like that rear Ripley is now considered old school. She's like in between. She's in between. Yeah, I'm watching. There's Alexa. There's Naomi. There's Ria Square Gawd with Stephanie, Julian Roxanne. I'm like, and they're like, it's old school versus new school.

14:29 Like, Ria is like 29. I don't know if she's really old school yet, but yeah, it was it was a pretty fun match. Some really good spots. Not my favorite women's money in the bank match of all time, but you know, it wasn't bad either. It was a very solid women's money to bank match. I will say we did our predictions on Thursday and then I watched Smackdown on Friday and then I was pissed because if I had seen the Julia Zalina Vega stuff, I wouldn't have picked Julia. I would have picked Naomi. So it kind of irritated me that there was that one extra show they wouldn't they would have different booking her out. You know, for the US women's championship. So I'm like, all right, but find out overall like you're right. Like Naomi getting the win gives her some more depth gives her a little more credibility because she kind of got her ass handed to her in that Jade Cardio food, which looks like it may be just kind of evolving into something else with those.

15:27 But yeah, overall good match, good quality. And I know everybody talks about the devil's kiss on Rhea on the ladder, which I saw Jordan Grace's comments after a world collide about now she needs to get a Brazilian but left apparently I will change her life. But yeah, it was it was a fun little match, but you know, maybe not disappointing, but just maybe not up to some levels from the previous money in the bank matches for the women's. Next match here is Dominic Mysterio defeating octagon junior to retain the WWE and our little championship. We did not predict this one. This was set up during World's Collide. I really don't know what the point of this match was since it was so quick unless they are running a Dominic Mysterio triple A feud heading into triple maniases in triple mani is supposed to be taking place this weekend in Monterey, Mexico.

16:12 Then they have the second show I want to say in Tijuana in early August. So I don't understand the the point of this one unless this is leading to something big. Dr. Tranny thoughts yours, Dominic retains. Yeah, I saw this match, but get announced right before my in the bank and I thought that personally mistyped it and it was supposed to be Pentagon. I was like, no, he goes by pencil now, not what that it just threw me off a little bit. It was weird in the sense of a when you watch World's Collide leading in the money of bank and it's Dominic calling out octagon for the match. Dominic putting the title on the line, that's not a normal Dominic Mysterio move. So that's why this match was kind of weird and out of left field and it was a little short for my liking, but if it leads into, you know, maybe we get Dominic and Chad Gabel against triple A.

16:59 And that leads into something something big coming out of it that we're good, but on the surface just kind of a filler match. We're triple H by said, Oh crap, I need five matches, not four. We need one more in the car does do this. Next match is Becky Lynch to feeding Lyra Valcurri in a last chance match to win the WWE Women's Intercom. We both had Becky Lynch in this one. Becky and Lyra have had some seriously good organic chemistry between the two of them, another fun match and storytelling from both ladies. This few doesn't seem to be over anytime soon following Lyra having to raise Becky's hand after cheated after she cheated to win the Intercom little championship. On Raw, we saw Bailey return to take out Becky Lynch or attack Becky Lynch, clearly a Lyra Valcurri realized her former tag team partner was not going to be there based on her facial reactions.

17:48 Really over the last six weeks, Lyra Valcurri has gone from like a mid card to somebody that I could really see becoming a top player on the women's division in the next several years, which is really excited for her. And Becky is doing her job trying to get her over and is successfully doing it. Dr. Trader thoughts as we have a new Women's Intercom now champion. Yeah, I enjoyed the match. I thought it was maybe not as good as the previous one, but I thought it was still a really good match. The finish is good, the roll up with the tights lead into making Lyra raise her hand gives the fans reasons to cheer Lyra on some more because Becky wins by evil shenanigans. Getting Bailey back into the picture also makes me wonder like does that mean Becky gets somebody to help her out down the line because right now it's kind of two on one, but then again Bailey could come out and say that Lyra ban and her and then we get like a, you know, it's a legitimate triple threat type thing.

18:45 So they'll be as you see where they go the programming is typically when you have a heel champion, they usually get some kind of backup in these rivalries when there's two good guys going against them. So you know, they just keep this straight one on one on one or if we also get somebody else added to the mix as well. Next match here is Seth Rollins defeating solos, the coa LA Knight, Penta, Andrade and El Grande and Maricano to win the Money the Bank ladder match to earn a men's championship match contract with both its Seth Rollins in this one strong Money the Bank match really enjoy the medley of people going up and down a ladder to try and retrieve the briefcase at one point. Jacob I too turning on solo was a nice added layer in this match, but I think it unfortunately dampened down Rollins winning the match because I think fans expected someone anyone to stop him from retrieving the briefcase, but nobody did.

19:33 It still was an overall good money the bank match, but if I had to make one little nitpick here, Dr. Tray that finish wasn't what I was looking for as a fan watching at home. Yeah, I might have saved the Jacob turn thing force back down because it did kind of take away. I mean when we got when you know, Bronn and Bronson are out there and then Jacob and Casey come out and you get those four guys going at it and you get the crash to the barrier and everything else. You're like, man, this is awesome and then Jacob turning is kind of like well, then why the hell did he even come out like it was it's weird and it says I know he was basically trying to screw solo over, but you could save that for a different time and get a little more impact of Seth retrieving the briefcase, but you know, it still was really entertaining really good.

20:23 Solo is so entertained is almost like he's so entertaining. It's almost cheesy at times create which is kind of like a good thing like he's almost gone into like, dorky mode at times, but his little, you know, his little strut with panting you're doing the little pentastrah and everything that little square off into the beginning when he throws Seth out and then there's, you know, that's a LA night and a camera with the other person was and they all draw day and they all take turns hitting them like that was fun. It just makes him more of that despicable heel without having to be the tough guy I guess, but once again losing Jacob probably Jacob and Jimmy against JC and solo at some point, but solo's got Tom Atanga and Tonga Lois on the background when they get healthy.

21:13 You know, he's still got a four, you know, a strong four person group to do Jacob and Jimmy at some point gets the people to help them out to make another bloodline versus bloodline, even though they're not the bloodline view. As we record this, there's some rumblings that up for Fridays edition of SmackDown, Hickaleo is due to being the arena and I would imagine make his debut finally in WWE after being under contract for a year, never showing up on NXT. And potentially being part of the storyline, I would imagine him aligning himself with JC Mateo and Solosco will be the path that they would go to go after Jacob Fatus. So something to keep an eye on for Friday's edition of SmackDown. I then finally then made a man of out here, Dr. Trace Cody Rhodes and J.U. So to feed John, Sinan, Logan Paul, we both had Cody Rhodes and J.U. So in this one, the big stories here is our truth, make it as WWE return before he actually left the company.

22:03 Cody pinning Sinan in some tension between Sinan and Logan Paul. The storyline is all very intriguing to see how it plays out in which direction WWE tends to take it. Logan Paul's moonsault onto the table was an insane spot. And overall, this was a solid tag team match, Dr. Trace, your thoughts on this one? Yeah, solid tag team match from four guys who usually don't team up together. Love the storytelling of the match, love the tension between John, Sinan, and Logan Paul. Because I fully expect at some point with, and we'll probably talk about here some, but with a he/o world champion on Raw and a Seth Rawl into the briefcase, Logan may have turned baby face at some point.

22:44 And if they go that route, we might get Logan Paul and John Cena, which would be kind of like the past and future of WWE clashing in some way. I love that line where he's like, I'm trying to teach you something, teach me something. I love that little back and forth that was really entertaining, but I don't know. I got so excited seeing truth back at the company. Even though he technically wasn't really gone, but just between the outpouring of support from not only the fans, but the fellow WWE community, the wrestlers involved. And I'm sure agents backstage catering for anybody, our true's ever interacted with, like them kind of making the WWE second guess themselves and bring them back.

23:28 Like that was beautiful. And I'm also excited about him losing our truth and just being in Raw and the truth, because for old school fans like us, that's how we knew him coming up. I'm hoping we get to see a little bit more of the serious side of Ron Killings, but still keeping some of that entertainment factor as well. Yeah, I saw an interview earlier on Thursday at Busset Open Radio with our truth, Ron Killings. And it was seemed to me it was more of the Raw and the truth Killings character that was in TNA, more than the our truth character, where he is not a clown, he's not a gimmick anymore. So that seems to be the direction that they're going with that, which is going to be interesting because people wanted our truth back because of the way that our truth was performing.

24:11 So it's kind of like a yin and a yang. We love our truth, the character, we support Ron Killings. We want to see him be successful and it seems like he's going to get a pretty serious run here. One last go of it before he retires, and I think the reports are that he would be serving in some sort of ambassador role. So we talked about on last week's show, 50/50 chance, he would be back. That was a massive mistake to let him go. I think he's a WWE life where I think he's a first ballot, WWE Hall of Famer. And I'm excited for the direction of Ron our truth, Ron the truth Killings moving forward here in WWE. And Dr. Trey, you pointed out we have a new world every way champion has gone through to feed to J.U. So shockingly on Raw this past Monday night.

24:52 So many directions here, obviously we have a very loaded show. I just simply ask you, did the J.U. So World title run fail? I don't think you fail. You and I have talked about this a lot of times, especially when guys usually have somebody winning money in the bank for the first time. And then they cash in whether it was Bryan Danielson in the past, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy. A lot of your first runs are kind of test runs. Can you carry the brand? Do the ratings stay strong? Does your merchandise sales stay up? Do all those things still factor in because today we can plan for a longer run down the road. I thought it was the right move to make in the sense of you have to keep going through strong. You have to keep him up. And if you, I mean, since he lost J.U. So we saw him beat up Pat McAfee and Michael Cole. And that's been about it.

25:45 So J.U. So right now does not need the title. He's super over with it or without it guys like goon third kind of need the belt to keep that credibility up. So I thought it was a smart move. And I give J.Kretta he he performed better as World J.U. than I thought he was. He was still booked pretty strong still you know came out and the fans stayed up for it. So I thought overall for your first title run iteration. I thought J.Kretta pretty well. Yeah, I feel like this is definitely a topic that will probably dig a little bit deeper into in the weeks to come here. Being that we do have a very big topic here on this week's to this show. I would love to hear people's thoughts. Tell us your thoughts did J.U. So this world title run fail.

26:31 Being that Gunther's now the World of the way champion what two months three months later J.U. So is no no longer the World of the way champion loses clean on Monday night. Monday night raw this past week something to keep an eye on as we move forward here. Paper View prediction record coming out of Monday the bank. I went 4 and 0. Dr. 3 and 1 we are now I'm at 32 and 9 on the year. Dr. Shra is at 30 and 11 match of the night in event rating. I gave Monday the bank. I saw 3.8 and I gave the match that I do the men's Monday the bank ladder match. Dr. Yeah, I went a little bit less I went 3.7 and I gave it to Cody J.U. So John Cena Logan Paul and a lot was missing because of the return of our truth which made my own soul kind of happy for the night.

27:17 Yeah, overall it just didn't feel like you know a top show but it was nothing that I was upset about. Now it felt it was a solid show. I mean it just once you only have 4 matches, 5 matches it just doesn't have the big paper view feel to it like it felt like a B level paper view which was solid. But once you like like the two money the bank matches I really don't outside of the devil's kiss on the ladder and El Grande Americano's ladder climb into the trust fall on the second left. There wasn't really just a ton of like oh my god moments in either match so it's not going to stand on the long run and then to me the one standout moment from the show is not be the return of our truth to take out John Cena.

28:07 Yeah, interesting show it wasn't great it wasn't terrible was just kind of like that's a solid wrestling show which has kind of been WWE lately. It's been just been right in the current doctor trade they're just kind of trending waters it's not up it's not down it's just kind of in the middle which which is I guess isn't a bad thing. Yeah, I mean we're not like you know we've had years where we've sat here and just bash the show non stop like oh my god this horrible. Like it doesn't feel super creative but it doesn't feel bad. It is kind of like they're just you know treading water riding the way whatever analogy you want to use they're not being pushed so they don't have to do anything outside the box right now everything's kind of check and boxes and move on to the next show.

28:54 Yeah, that's really what it is so there you go WWE money bank feel free to chime in at SRT podcast on X or Facebook dot com slash the real though show. So doctor trades now time to talk about our eight out of the so I I there are a very small group of wrestlers that when you look at the grand scheme and history of the still real the show that go on the entire test of time since 2010 February 2010 to when we launched and now there are very few group of wrestlers that have been tried and true there's been brandy or in there's been CM Punk for a period time and he disappeared there's been Daniel Brian. You can make a case for several other wrestlers AJ styles even on the TNA side of things maybe even a Samoa Joe Kenny Omega but for me when you really think about it Seth wrong Roman Reigns John Moxley Dean Amber says you got to throw them in there as well but when I think of the one name that really stood out and when we first started this podcast he was he was on top and he was on top for a long time.

29:59 We watched them settle down into us open challenges and then we saw him kind of slowly fade away into the world of Hollywood and pop popping back and up in and out of WWE throughout the years until he finally announced that he would be retiring at the end of this year and that is one chance in the current WWE Undisputed World WWE Champion when you look at his impact and legacy Dr. Trey is it safe to say that if you're doing a Mount Rushmore if you're doing a top five the impact and legacy of John Cena's career will be most definitely on that list and dare I say maybe a top two or three.

30:39 Man that's a good question because yeah I mean for the totality of everything I think you have to put them up there. A lot of ways these the modern day Rick Flair where you know Flair I don't know if you get it Flair changed the business but a lot of it was Flair's longevity as well. Flair was around from I mean the early 80s all the way up into the early to mid 2000s as an active competitor some of the other people that people always want to throw up there whether it's the stone calls the rocks in a lot of ways they were kind of shooting stars they burned really really bright and they were gone.

31:21 Flair people like Dusty people like Undertaker people like Cena where they're just around forever like I don't know if you can really measured their impact in a lot of ways because it was such a steady stabilizing character on a show whereas some of the other people are just like they burned really bright and they're gone may stand out more to people's minds like you know the Austin's in the Rocks World they had so many moments in a short amount of time. You feel about them a little bit differently than maybe a Flair or a Dusty or a taker or a John Cena or even a whole Kogan a lot of ways. Yeah for me this guy picked up the torch of the company in a period of time where they were looking for a new star so if you go back to 2002 at that point I think Austin walked out on the company when he didn't want a job to Lesnar like a qualifying match for the the King of the Ring tournament.

32:17 Lesnar's running on top for a while Rock has gone off to Hollywood Undertaker and Triple H still around Shawn Michaels back in the fold but they needed someone that was the guy and Lesnar was the guy from 2002 to 2004 then Lesnar leaves the company shockingly at WrestleMania 20 and they're looking for somebody new to become the face of the company and it's. It's a weird period of time for WWE and then fast forwarded to about early 2005 John Cena's winning an tournament to win a shot at the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21. At that prior month he was in the finals of the Royal Rumble and a very famous Royal Rumble where he and Batista both landed at the same time A la Lex Lever and Brett Hart in 1994 Royal Rumble but with the exception being that that was not supposed to happen and it was a real blunder and snafu that took place in that Royal Rumble which is a while straighter here.

33:13 The same night I always bring up on the history of this podcast that WrestleMania 21 to me was one of the biggest impactful WrestleMania of all time because on one side you had John Cena carrying the torch on the other you had Batista and at the same WrestleMania you had Randy Orton wrestling the Undertaker in a loss and I always felt like Cena Batista and Orton were earmarked as the next crew of guys to carry the company moving forward. And from that point forward at WrestleMania 21 onwards Cena was the guy he is the most comparable guy to the Hogan run of the late 80s early 90s. It's not very comparable to let's say Austin Hart, Shawn Michaels, Rock because as Dr. Traypp pointed out it was not as long.

33:55 Those were not as long as Cena was and when you really think of it from like 2005 onwards the guy kind of carried the company on his back from like 2005 to 2017-18 and he ran hard. There were some injuries that were put in there every now and again the 2008 Royal Rumble comes to mind where he returned after tearing his pack in like three months and became superhuman. He's been in almost it felt like every main event WrestleMania match in the 20s era of WrestleMania's. What was funny was the last time up until this WrestleMania 41 that he had been in a main event World Championship match of WrestleMania was actually WrestleMania 29 against the Rock.

34:37 And then he was in a bit of a renaissance Dr. Tray in those the last couple years like I mentioned before the US Open Challenge. He wasn't buying for championships at WrestleMania as he was working matches in either an attack team with his former fiance in a very quick match against the Undertaker that the the Dr. Traypp was honored to to win this. I'd say that's arcasically or he was helping try to get some new stars over with the B Austin theory wrestling Rusev. It was a new change of pace for Johnson as he went into the twilight of his career entering Hollywood and then sporadically coming up every now and again. He's had some brief runs like when the writer strikes and I mentioned on this podcast is like just everybody that's watching just enjoy this.

35:22 I mentioned it pretty recently when the Randy Orton and John Cena match of backlash took place. It's like just enjoy this. I'm going to say it again in a couple weeks and I had a Champions in Saudi Arabia when it's John Cena and CM Punk going out again. Because that's something as a wrestling fan I didn't get a chance to do. Tail end of Hogan spirit time period. I really wasn't able to enjoy it as a fan that I was too young as I was living through Brett Hart, Shawn Michael Steve Austin the rock those guys that really sit out in my time periods of pressure wrestling fandom. I never really chance to just kind of like take a step back and enjoy it and that's what I'm kind of doing right now with John Cena and to me that's the legacy Dr. Traypp. That's the impact is he brought the company out of some very dark times. He was a leader for some really good times.

36:07 He was a leader for some bad times. He was leaders for transitions. He was leader for change and he's been a constant and there's been nobody else that's ever done it like him. So when people make the argument of goat greatest of all time and he's in that discussion will have that greater discussion later on. He's definitely something that should be in that discussion. So it's amazing what his career is and the impact in legacy that he's had Dr. Traypp. It's very hard to say is that the most is that the greatest impact and legacy of all time because there's been so many. I just think it's one of the greatest impacts and legacy is professional wrestling history ultimately. Yeah, when you like before we do the show, you're kind of going back and looking even at him coming up like I know you were like me like I would read you know pro wrestling illustrator whatever you used to check in on the independence for those guys.

36:56 And I remember seeing him out in California was I think it was UCW. You're like you're like the prototype and you look at this guy and you're like man, okay, he's got the look. He's got everything else. And then you know that he comes into OVW and always talk about that great class with him and Lesnar Matista and Orden and even Shelton Benjamin. But you know in a lot of ways he was never really earmarked to be the guy. It was Lesnar and then a lot of ways it was Matista and then it was Orden. And you know is something I teach to my employees like sometimes dependability in availability or the best abilities to have.

37:38 And Cena was always there even when it was ruthless aggression. He was out there in his little tight tights in in the bad haircut, you know slapping angle and doing the other stuff. And then into you know hip hop, John Cena, which I'm sure Jeff bought the album like I did. You know, I'm like, but he was always there. You know he didn't get suspended. He wasn't getting injured. He was always there. And when you're there and you're dependable, they give you more and they give you more and they give you more even in that early in that. And that we talk about the Lesnar the Lesnar time it was angle after Lesnar, you know there was always it was always going to be somebody else until Cena made them make it him. And then when they gave in the ball, he ran with it. He ran with it longer and harder than anybody else I've ever seen.

38:30 You know and when you tear a peck we just saw what Cody Rose a couple years of tourist peck was out six months eight months. Cena did it in three. You know this was like the guy would get hurt and he would outwork and out hustle everybody else to get back. And a lot of that was just he was always a lifelong pro wrestling fan. Some people when they have that love and that passion for just the business, they're going to get ahead. I mean, this is a guy who went out and learned Mandarin Chinese for the company. Like who else is doing stuff like that? I you know that we we we always talk about all the make-a-wish things you know the make-a-wish is he's granted.

39:10 You think about all the TV spots he did all the late night shows he was the epitome of what you want a world champion to be he was the guy that wasn't going to get in trouble he was going to do everything the company asked he was going to bust his ass and the company reward him for it. So when you look at that longevity like it's like yes it's hard to argue against him being on a Mount Rushmore list is just one of the things is like did he change the business. I don't know if he ever changed the business, but he definitely elevated the business and in a lot of ways he did it on his own in a time period where we were looking for we were looking for that wrestling savior.

39:52 And a lot of us were reluctant to say it was seen until it was at the end and you're like damn he really did save us. And he was the guy in a time of wrestling when Jeff and I were contemplating ending the show and in a lot of ways it was seen who kind of carried it until we got more depth and more quality and better characters and better storylines and everything else that guys like me and Jeff were clamoring. Yeah it's funny because you know even myself I can't begin there I was fully behind them bought the album somewhere I have the football jersey the white jersey with the 54 in camouflage really like Johnson it was the time period and it hit and I really liked his story that he was a guy that was nearly cut and then he just decided to start rapping for you styling on a bus and then that led to him cutting a promo at a Halloween's vignette.

40:47 That I don't think they would do in today's WWE where they would do these Halloween costume parties in the back and that led to him becoming more and more popular mean that word life doctor of the economics Johnson was a lot of fun and then it's time went on and it was super scene and he was being jammed out of the roads yeah I was like tired of it I wanted to see somebody new and that may have led to the rise of a lot of guys whether it be Randy Orton edge or even CM Punk that you know those guys became more popular because they we wanted to see somebody new. And then what was cool over the last couple years and I the US open challenge on Cena is probably one of my favorites because you got a new appreciation for him he was able to kind of relax a little bit didn't have to worry about the main event and his job was just like put on a good performance with the United States championship it was that title and I don't say this lightly it was beneath him like there was no need for hold that championship but he brought some new light to it matches that we saw with him in AJ styles was really good.

41:45 And you just came to appreciate him over his last like let's say 10 years of professional wrestling which was really cool because there was a period time I don't think fans would be doing that. And I think even right now him working a heal is an ideal no but I think we're appreciate everything that he's doing as a character and we're intrigued to see where the story is going right now so yeah the legacy of Johnson is extremely important he's probably one of the most important people we ever covered in history of this podcast and will definitely be one of the most important people in the history of professional wrestling especially over the last 30 years. When it comes to WWE favorite career moments favorite feuds favorite matches Dr. Trey some that stand out for me favorite career moments WrestleMania 21 defeating JBL.

42:27 The Iron Man match with Shawn Michaels on Monday night Raw in the UK stands out 2008 Royal Rumble when he made his return in Madison Square Garden. His match is built up with the Rock for WrestleMania 28 it was some of the best off that I've seen in the show. Favorite feuds Randy Orton edge CM Punk favorite matches is a tough one I love the match at Royal Rumble with AJ styles. I love the match with CM Punk at money the bank 2011 but that's probably more of a CM Punk match. John Cena versus Batista at I think summer slam 2005 I want to say was one that I enjoyed his matches at 20 WrestleMania 22 against Shawn Michaels and then WrestleMania 23 against Triple H were a lot of fun as well.

43:25 What are some of your favorite career moments feuds and matches from Johnson and Dr. Trey? Favorite moments from Johnson anything during the Dr. Thugonomics era like even having bulb you cannon be squared as his sidekick like that was always kind of funny to me and you know this is a guy who's a member got stabbed by Carlito at one point returning from the torn peck at Royal Rumble. Like the ECW one night stand him and Rob Van Dam the way the crowd reacted to him and him just kind of walking silently to the ring but him him throwing the shirt into the crowd and then getting thrown back to him like some of that was great.

44:12 The build up with the rock and the fruity pebbles and all that and you know rock right his right his promos on his wrist tape like some of the stuff man was so good and the stuff of John I actually like the stuff he did with John Lauren Knightis like the power of the people and the back and forth between those guys. Him and Nikki against Miz and Maurice for some reason like stuff like that it was the times that he didn't take himself seriously is when I really enjoyed him the most. Favorite feud for me is still him an edge the stuff when when edge first cashed in money that are cashed in money the bank on him and then the stuff with him and lead and that that was one my favorite feuds of all time.

44:59 The organ was great feuds see him punk you mentioned what he when he went against the Hollywood version of Batista in which caused Batista to retire like that was great. Like I said I mentioned the Carlito feud I thought that was underrated. Anytime he worked a program with big show I always got intrigued by that because there weren't a lot of guys that could just pick up big show and F you him or attitude adjustment whatever you want to call it. So he's got some great few favorite moments honestly one of them is the return of Brock Lesnar that that was that lezzers first night back in the company in that in that fight that little brawl him and Cena like that really blurred the lines of work and shoot in a lot of ways because we were always kind of told they didn't like each other.

45:46 So that kind of stands out let me see traffic like other favorite matches the when the US open the claw the match was a sorrow like that was really good. I know there's a bunch more but just on the top of my head I don't remember matches as much as I remember moments that makes sense like there are things I can picture my head but then I'm like where'd that come from? I don't remember the mind of the bank when you mentioned earlier seeing punk when seeing punk won the title and left even though that's kind of more of a punk moment that was a scene of match like Cena put that together the brain why John Cena WrestleMania 38 match 39 like the one in the COVID.

46:34 Yes that was 36th house man 36 sorry Amazon even 6 years geez yeah but that match like Cena as I said like that was the first match he put together from beginning to finish with the help of Bray Wyatt but getting to explore the different fans fantasy booking angles all in one match was kind of a trippy experience to go through so a lot times it was when Cena was relaxed and not taking himself seriously. Are the ones that kind of stand out the most like I don't remember a whole lot from the super scene or it's litter the stuff he did when he wasn't being shoved down our throws when I enjoyed it the most.

47:16 I mentioned a match with the T said summer slam it was actually summer slam 2008 talking about the stuff with edge can forget the match and unforgiven 2006 the TLC match against edge where he actually legitimately. Choked out edge which was insane you mentioned the match at ECW one night stand with Rob and damn at the hammer sign that is a great one a moment that I loved from John Cena how about John Cena announcing to the live crowd that WWE WWE the United States had caught and permanently compromise one of some of been London that was one. That is a moment in the history on the forget but the moment from a WWE side of things I'll never forget.

48:00 I love that the the phrasing on alive had not come to fruition yet because apparently my kid watches stuff on YouTube and they can't say dead or kill they say unalived and so yeah permanently compromise. It's like wait do we catch him do we catch us on a been lying doing a sex tape in a cave like I did understand originally what that was but you kind of figured out later like oh okay we can't say we killed him we as a permanently compromise okay I got that makes sense but yeah I mean even even the moments that when we lost somebody and you have all the wrestlers on stage seen as always at the front line.

48:41 Like he took so much pride in being the guy and being the quarterback and being the leader like in good times and in bad times like he was the guy at the front when anything happened good or bad. And that's the kind of guy you want on your team that's going to be like I'll be there for the good times but I'm also there for the bad times I'm the guy that I want people to come to me when they need a strong you. A strong shoulder to lean on he wanted to be that guy as well. Yeah I think he's the epitome of leader I think anybody that worked in WWE will tell you that highly respected.

49:22 I think from personal standpoint Sino was on his rise in WWE when I was still in high school so to see what's going on here towards the end of his career is like another closing of a chapter. It's like the only things that are left from those days at this point was John Cena wrestling Randiorn as well and basically LeBron James playing basketball. I don't think there's anything else sports entertainment wise sports in general that I can kind of hang my hat on so closing the chapter there. I got to add one more thing so he is Sammy Franklin's favorite wrestler. Wow. Like Sammy doesn't watch a lot of wrestling with me but when Cena is on TV even as a bad guy he doesn't understand that John Cena is a bad guy.

50:06 And so when you tell him you know he cheated to win no he didn't he won. Like watching Sammy kind of have this fandom for John Cena and a lot of it came from action figures and you can't see me that was one that I taught. If able to show when my daughter was little the one of the first things I taught her was the phrase you can't see me. I taught Sammy that phrase because the little hand motion is cute and funny and now he he sees a John Cena action figure if he sees a movie. He'll go dad there's John Cena like he is legitimately Sammy Franklin's favorite wrestler and I don't know if I told you but a couple of months ago when we had the Randi Orton matchup, Randi Orton is my wife's favorite wrestler.

50:50 So I'm laying in bed I have these two people in the bed with me watching this match Sammy is cheering his heart out for John Cena every time Cena is winning. It's punch him punch him kick him yeah and when he's losing it's no stop hitting him no stop doing that you're hurting him stop and I'm watching these two get really into this match and as a dad and somebody who brought both of them into the world of professional wrestling. Watching them actually have emotions in this match was was really kind of beautiful in a lot of ways and on one hand I'm really looking forward to if they do turn Cena face at some point before the end of this run because Sammy has not gotten to cheer for John Cena as a good guy really since you know since the rumble.

51:42 So he wants he doesn't understand this he was a bad guy because that's his hero so he's just along for the ride he just wants John Cena to win however he possibly can. Yeah that's awesome man that's kind of like what brings wrestling and families together and where you can kind of just leave the world for 30 minutes even though you know that this is all stage and just have some fun with stuff like that. So those are moments as a family that that you'll tend to never forget when you're watching professional wrestling as Dr. Trade just pointed out there is John Cena versus Randy Orton most recently at recent backlash pay-per-view PLE last month. Dr. Trade let's get to our final question here when is we look at the career of one John Cena I simply ask you is he one of if not the greatest of all time.

52:33 I would put him in I'm ranking them in my head right now so one two three four I would probably have him fit on my list of greatest professional wrestlers of all time and that's in that sense because I have a couple of guys in there who are personal favorites of mine who are not ahead of John Cena like I have in my and I love it is also just because of the time period where I grew up. For me it's Hogan Flair Austin Rock Cena like those were those were the four standard bears before John Cena and I think he slots in right with him now in a in a few years when we get post John Cena retirement stage and we get about five years out and we're coming back at the end of the season. Episode one thousand and fifty. Cena might move up to the second or third or first but since he's still actively wrestling in some ways he's still permanent where the other four I'm kind of.

53:36 Retired and moved away I haven't fit I think to me Hogan and Flair redefined professional wrestling from what it was in the 50s and 60s and moved it into the era where now Austin and Rock redefined it for what it could be pop culture wise and then seen it was kind of a blend of what Austin and Rock was doing from a popularly standpoint but then also had the career stability of Flair and Hogan so right now he's fifth but like I said in a few years in easily slide up to top one two three. Yeah I don't think he is the greatest of all time I think he is one of the greatest of all time I think he carried the weight of professional wrestling on his shoulders and he carried the weight of WWE in a period of time that took kind of a boom period and carried them for a very very long time to continue to be successful and to grow and and you know the seeds that he planted as helped lead WWE and professional wrestling as a whole to where it is today so I feel like he's retiring at the right time I think him going out like this the way that the atmosphere professional wrestling is the environment for us wrestling going out like this calling a shot saying he's never going to wrestle again and I sincerely hope he doesn't because that's what make these retirement runs very special is it's pretty cool so yeah I fence walking a little bit here for the both of us I don't think he is the greatest of all time I definitely think he is one of the greatest of all time and I'm with you Dr. Trey maybe

55:11 years from now 10 2015 25 30 35 40 years from now when we look back at John Cena's career we go man he is one of the greatest because of everything that he did his longevity is is unmatched it's untouched especially in this day and age so there's a lot of things to do here so you can see that there's a lot of things to do here so we look back and pay homage to his career is his fair will towards going on as we speak and as we celebrate 800 episodes of sRTU with that said let's get a couple plugs and sponsors out of the way you could support us at patreon.com/srtupodcast you can download the show every Thursday or Friday at realguymedia.com you can also download the show feed on apple spotifier wherever you download this podcast don't forget to rate review subscribe is the algorithm is kingfroast to keep climbing the charts on those podcast platforms you can fall individually on X for myself at sRTU Jeff ever Dr. Franklin at the Dr. Trey and of course don't forget the fall show on X at sRTU podcast would that be in said what is going on the wonderful world of Dr. Franklin this week.

56:15 well like Jeff said you can follow me on X at the Dr. Trey you can find me on facebook and instagram Dr. Trey Franklin when you're on facebook check out rock and see championship wrestling they said a big show this past Saturday which I missed because my beautiful wife just had to have next surgery so being Jeff I was a good husband I didn't go to wrestling show two days after her surgery I actually waited a little bit but we got to be showing coming up the 21st check out Spartan championship wrestling the other show I work with here in Alabama but more importantly even in my shows go check out your own local shows go find the next John Cena he might be called John Chena or one Cena you never know I mean they do these weird little things like that but I was going to go out there check out your local independent wrestling shows a lot of good local independent wrestling going on right now especially with all the releases guys those guys getting in the independence scene you can go check out some really cool matches and things like that your local show so just literally just get on facebook type in independent wrestling near me and there you'll find out what's going on here you.

57:18 So there you go support all the great things that support this still real touch show and once again huge news we've lost a patreon page you can out in the show add free now you could support us and exclusives will be coming very soon to the patreon page and more importantly here we are celebrating 800 episodes I never thought when I first started this podcast I would be doing this for 800 straight weeks I didn't think I'd be doing this for 800 episodes literally maybe just a hundred at one point in time for a long time listen to this podcast you can't repair the time in the going after goalberg streak and we surpass that tenfold so for everybody that's been part of this journey for 800 episodes thank you for supporting the podcast thank you for for being there to support us and we look forward to the next chapter so until next week for episode 801 for Dr. Frankl and I am Jeff Pek this has been the still with us show.