The CM Punk Rollercoaster and 2023 WWE Draft Preview | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #689 – 4/27/23

0:00 It's stupid up. Well, welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition. It's the Real Flow Show. Episode numbers six hundred eighty nine for Hope point shout two thousand point three. Welcome to his Steek's edition of half a year. I am one after show. I am Jeff Peck joined it every single week in my coach one only doctor Trey Franklin and doctor Trey. What is up, my friend? All right? Just my road Warrior week. I just got I was in Charlotte for a couple of days, got home last night. Now I'm setting up for a Honda Indie Grand Prix raise, and I got another like three fifteen hour days in the row. I feel like it's WrestleMania week, but in the real world, like I just have life happening a lot for the next few days. Do you know what day of the week it is? I mean, I guess you should, right because it's sr to you. But did you know actually what day of the week it was? Today? Yeah? I did, because I was literally in Charlotte. I was counting down the days to get home. Fair. I was like, I'm gonna get home late Wednesday night, and then Thursday, I have this and Friday I have this, so I'm aware of it that I literally when you texted me, I was like, oh crap, I forgot. We weren't on vacation any mode. I gotta get back into recording the show mode. So what are your thoughts? Where do you stand on

1:30 Charlotte as a city. Um, it's not bad. I mean, for it's it's a weird city in the sense of, you know, it had its boom in the nineties, went through a little bit of money trouble early two thousands. The part I was in downtown Charlotte was really nice. Um, it's not a bad city. And then there's a lot of stuff to do. Actually, there's amusement parks and all the little fun our Hall of Fame. Yeah, so's it's a pretty good city for entertainment and things to do. Maybe not the best bar scene or things like that, but like if you're a family person, there's a bunch of stuff for families to get into down there, So it says it's a really good family town. Yeah.

2:17 I actually really enjoy Charlotte is a city. I used to travel back and forth there maybe like five six, seven years ago now and always enjoyed the food, a lot of decent nightlife going on down there. Very not hustle and bustle like what we typically see from a New York city. It was it was my kind of my kind of city. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed going to going to Charlotte and visiting it. And then I always remember, like there's just like two streets that basically run through it all the time. Was it Tyron? Tyron and Sardists, I think are the two main ones. Like I lose right because I haven't. I hadn't been there, like you know, all the use I spend North Caroline, I hadn't been there in like five or six years. So I was like, oh, yeah, there's Tyron, there's Sardness is another one. But they put a toll road out on eighty five. Now that threw me off. So I'll be getting tolls in the mail that I have to pay here at some point in the next few months. The reason about Charlotte is really Charlotte and Nashville you'd be kind of boomed at the same time, and they're about the same size, but they're completely kind of opposite cities, Like like Nashville's known now for its music scene. It's far life, it's nightlife, but when you take the kids up there, there's not a whole lot really to do for a family, Whereas Charlotte may not have the music scene, but it does have the family friendly stuff to keep your kids or tape. But Nashville

3:49 is known as more of a destination vacation town than Charlotte is. Yeah, it's it's nice. It's a nice city. And that is your Travel Report with Doctor Trey Franklin and Jeff Peck on this week's edition of SRTU, which we did not do back in the days when I was actually traveling. No, No, it's crazy, well because rarely did you go to a city like I'm not as much of a worldly traveler as you are, Like you went to a city Charlotte that which has a lot of wrestling history. To tie it all back to the reason for this podcast. You would be everywhere around the world, and there were very few times that you and I could like relate unless you like visited in the Northeast, where I've stamped my traveling the most would be in the northeast of the United States. So this is rare. Yeah, now I will say in Charlotte, I met the guys who run the Northeastern part of my company up there, so it was kind of nice as they thought of guys from like the New England area, the Jersey guys, the Philly guys, and I'm like, yeah, it's been a long time since I've been to the Northeast. But there was this old joke of my company that they booked me anywhere between Baltimore in Boston. I was gonna be pissed, Like I don't like that ninety five corridor up there.

5:04 I'm like, north side of Boston going up the Main fantastic, like you know, DC back down to Florida. I'm good there, but that Philly, Jersey, New York, Connecticut part of ninety five, I just the traffic was atrocious. So that's I was like, I just tried to avoid it. Those guys are like, yeah, we do too, so yeah, yeah, Charlotte. That is that more in Doctor Trey's travel block as well, Traveling with Doctor Trey dot WordPress dot com. There you go, Doctor Trey. Let's get into the world the professional wrestling. Obviously, Charlotte is such a big town for professional wrestling, but there is a lot going on since since we last talked. We've been having a different type of shows these last several weeks, coming out of WrestleMania Weekend, everything that went on there, and since then, Doctor Trey, there is a huge amount of new swirling around in regards to one c M Punk. Let's start with the awnd of things. So, Cmpunk reportedly is returning to Alili Wrestling on the debut episode of aw's new Saturday show on June the seventeenth at the United Center in Chicago. It's believed the new show show will be called AW Collision.

6:27 Warner Brothers Discovery was reportedly told that Punk was returning as well, and a potential roster split may happen between the Saturday show and Dynamite. Lots to unpacked here first, Doctor Trey, Let's start with the CM punk stuff. It looks like he's on his way back to Alili Wrestling. I don't know if I'm totally surprised about that. I think we talked about this, you know, back when we had the brawl, and my thing was always kind of like, if there's a way for guys to make money off something like this, the smart guys will try to figure out a way to make money. And Punk is definitely one of the smarter guys when it comes to doing business the old wrestling's term, you know, and even you know Tony Kahn, for as much crap as we give him at times, you know, he's also a businessman at heart. And the fact that they can look at something like this and go, hey, we could split the roster, which makes a ton of sense and have one show dedicated to Dynamite, one for Collision, and then RAMPAHB like the middle show, like a combined show or something. If that's the route they take, it makes a ton of sense.

7:42 And they can do that. Guys get more TV time, guys get a chance to actually get their characters out there. It makes sense. So I'm not and you need to have an anchor and have a draw, and Punk is that polarizing draw kind of guy. So people who hate him are going to watch that show, and the folks who still love them are going to watch that show. So I expect it to be a pretty successful launch if that is indeed the route they end up taking. So Doctor Trey, let's we'll start with the cmpunk end of things. Yes, not surprised that he's returning to all ELI wrestling. Will unpack that a little bit more as the conversation goes on, but being that, we won't discuss this spot in the story again in regards to unpacking everything with cmpunk. So the Saturday show now, so now you're gonna have a two hour show on Saturday. Reportedly there will be a two hour show on Wednesdays a one hour show on Friday, so five hours a week of ALI wrestling on Warner Brothers Discovery Television.

8:41 I believe Dark Elevation is winding down, and I think Dark and the Roh stuff will continue before some of the Dynamites. I think Roh is doing another taping down in Universal soon as well. But I like this is it's kind of scary to me because as a wrestling fan who watches everything WWE and everything I'll Eat wrestling, I know that there's we hate to talk about tribalism in professional wrestling, but I feel like with some of the moves that AW is doing now like you're kind of testing the waters to see can we keep this fan base that watches both shows going. Because Monday Raw, Tuesday, NXT Wednesday, Dynamite Thursday. Nothing unless you're a fan of Impact Wrestling in New Japan, Friday SmackDown and Rampage Saturday, Collision Sunday nothing. I mean, that's that's a lot of wrestling, and you and I are diehard wrestling fans.

9:46 I'm a little bit scared about this because it could be too much and too much over satirization. And I know that there's issues with the roster that will address you a little bit as well with this potential ter split, But I don't know if I totally am down with this move, because it's like, why are we adding another aw show when you actually have a second brand. If you are doing a roster split with Ring of Honor Wrestling, no that I agree with, Like you bought the library now, it could be a situation. It's confusing to me because you're still celebrating the Ring of Honor, because you still have a Ring of Honor World Champion, you still have Ring of Honor Television Champion, Women's Champion, tag team Champions, six man Tag Champions, but yet this new show is not the Ring of Honor show.

10:41 In my head, I was trying to figure out if they were trying to do something similar to like what ws WE did when they bought out WCW, which is test the waters to see if it's a brand worth trying to save or just incorporate the talent in it. It is a little confusing for me on how they want to do this. I think the biggest thing for me as I think they looked at their rosters say look we got you know, actually probably more people on our roster than WWE, and they have five hours of prime time television. We only have three. They have two hours of developmental TV, and we have the YouTube shows. I think for them it was kind of like, hey, if we can get money and make money from Turner to put up another show and get more of our guys on TV, increases their value as well. I just I honestly like since they bought a Ring of Honor, have not figured out what they're doing for You of Honter. I don't know if anybody actually like, we're running pay per views off a YouTube brand is what it we're basically doing right now? Well in a paid service, yeah, you know. It's like, I mean, they're following the MLW plan for a Ring of Honor. I don't really know what they're trying to accomplish with Ring of Honor. I think that's for those guys like us who have been fans for years, Like it's like, no, it's it's a it's a good, solid brand. You could run with this because it was never oversaturated, like you know, it's always kind of like the Underground Underground Show. So you could do something with this and brand the Saturday show as aw Ring of Honor and have a Ring of Honor

12:16 brand and then still have you know, dynamite and then rampage B like the Filler brand. I mean, you could have done it that way. But one thing, I'm not a billionaire, I guess, and I don't get to make those decisions. So the roster split. The roster split portion of this story is because some parts of the locker room don't get along with the other parts of the locker room. Let's just say the cmpunk FTR side and the Elite and Chris Jericho side are are probably the two separate factions of of what we're seeing, and for what it's worth, we obviously are not there and from everything that we're reading. And there's another addition to this, another chapter to this story that well we'll talk about here as well. It seems like most of these parties are trying to work towards the betterment of the promotion first and foremost. So with that said, I feel like that the way that they currently utilize the roster is not great. Like there are folks that are favorites of Tony Khan, Like I love the Orange Cassidy title defenses, but I also watched Dynamite and I love Orange Cassidy matches. But I'm wondering where the hell hero is. I'm wondering why more wrestlers are not getting TV time, Why did it take this long for Bandino to come on AW television?

13:39 Where is Ruche? And I know that ROH is featuring a lot of these folks, but I don't watch ROH. I'm not going to pay nine ninety nine a month to watch four episodes of Roah television plus all the old you know shows that they used to do, Like that's just not I don't have the time for that. So I am skeptical about this roster split time to Trey. I don't think that they're utilizing the roster all that well presently, and I'm concerned because I know that you need to take people off television from time to time to refresh them. But I feel like what goes on in AW is the wrong type of refresh quite honestly. Yeah. And then if you're if you're doing two separate brands, what then are you going to do with the Ring of Honor titles? Like are you going to make actually make a third brand out of it? And that's filler somewhere else. I mean, if you have a Dynamite brand and you have a Collision brand, and oh dear god, Jeff, what if they do multiple like they add even more titles? Um, that would My brain just exploded on that thought, Like if we have a Dynamite champion and a Collision champion. See, I don't think it. I don't think it reaches that level. I don't think they're going to do rons back down stuff. I think that this is still a e W. But it's like, okay, but if there's gonna be this weird soft roster split, why not just make AW Dynamite and ROH

15:11 Collision on Saturday and two separate brands, or at least ends up calling a collision, just call it AW Ring of Honor. Yeah whatever, Yeah, you know this because for me is this. I look at it and like, if you're going to do a brand, if you're going to do a soft brand split, are you going to have your champions travel back and forth or you have dedicated titles? Now, you could do a TNT title on one show obviously, and then the I'm sorry, what are they what? They rebrand the mid and Lander the International champions could so you could do the International on one show, the t and T on one show. You could do stuff like that and then have a champion that travels back and forth between the two shows. But once again, it just feels like they're over complicating what should be a simple solution. Obviously, if you did a Ring of Honor style show, you could put a punk on Ring of Honor, he's got history. You could put FTR because of who they are and how they compete on that show. It would make a ton of sense. You could split the roster that way, it would it would make a lot of sense for folks. But I just to me, I once again, I feel like they're trying. They're not They think they have a simple answer because but in reality there it's way too complicated for the casual person to even makes sense of it at times. All right, So the next chapter here CM, Punk and Chris Jericho supposedly have met with Tony Con and FTR, who were also in attendance. Meeting was reported to be quote unremarkable and quote having gone

16:41 well, Punk and Jericho maybe open or working with one another one's Punk returns. There was a ton of heat between the two since brawl Out twenty twenty two, and Punk refern of Jericho is a stooge. In a now deleted Instagram post, reportedly Chris Jericho shortly after the brawl Out two thousand what to do like pops his head into punks locker room. Were confronted, punkin said that he was a I believe it cancer to the locker room. So a ton of heat there. Jericho is someone that does not mince words. You have a ton of respect for that. It's also unknown if a similar meeting between Punk and the Elite have taken place, but Punk was reportedly told not to reach out to them in the past, so some bridges are being rebuilt.

17:26 It seems to be positive, Doctor Trey, It's I don't know, it's the right thing to do for the brand. Ultimately right and in reality, if they could ever get passes, it's the right thing for the pocket books, you know, for the sake of the brand. Yes, the absolute thing. Because the brawl divided this roster even more and it created fissures not just in between the punk side and the elite side, but then we started hearing about the young guys versus the old guys. They kind of frack or the entire roster. So if they can start mending this back together, you know, it'll never be a one hundred percent. There's gonna be scars.

18:07 And you know, if if you ever had a scar, they're pretty easy to open back up. You know, they have to hit just the right spot. But you know, you mentioned in Chris Jericho we talk about cmpunks. What do we know about these guys? They do business. They understand that, like sometimes you make hate somebody, but it's still good box office and good business to work together. I mean, like we talked about like Seth Rollins and UH and Locan Paul, there's a little bit of legitimate beef. Seth Rollins and Cody Rose a little bit of legitimate beef. Guess what those matches were fantastic and people are talking about them. So it is a way to create interest because that real life blending into the wrestling life creates intrigue among fans, and people are don't talk about it. And you know, if when Collision finally gets announced and it's gonna be in Chicago, guess what's gonna happen. People are going to it in because if Punk's on TV, there's going to be a portion that thinks the elite's gonna show up, whether it's true or not, just to confront of him and where are we dialed in? Because the one thing aw has more than anybody else is legitimate, like non scripting of promos, and that's kind of where some of this stuff came from. So it's going to be really interesting to see what happens when that show finally is announced and finally debuts. So the last couple of chapters here of this story are not shocking, pretty much expected, but this part is something that is completely unexpected because the report that came out Monday night

19:40 reportedly saving that Sampunk reportedly visited this past Mondays of Raw in Chicago, where he was in the Common area for about twenty minutes. Reportedly, Punk had had conversations with Triple H and the Miss. The convo with the Miss was supposedly them clear in the air after having heat with one another. The overall impression was that people we're happy to see Punk, and many greeted him positively. The reports that are kind of conflicting here that w security did ask Punk to leave, which he did respectfully, and it's believed that this came from Vince mcmahn. PW Inside reported that this visit was to clear the air with people in Dave Melton reported that the folks in aw feel Punk could be angling for a WWE return. This is the bizarre angle, Doctor Trey, Because I don't know what this is about. I guess Sampunk was on a flight back to Chicago with a bunch of WWE stars. Let's presumably assume that this is the from Tampa, Florida, where he was in to talk to Chris Jericho along with reportedly FTR and Tony Kahan to smooth things over. He's on a flight to Chicago with a lot of WWE talents. What happens on this flight, or what happens in Sampunk's mind that thinks that visiting ww ron Chicago and that nobody will know about it, and he's just gonna go and men some fences and clear the air is like beyond me. He has every right

21:10 to be there. And I know that Bully Ray and Mark Henry on their Bustet Open show on Serious like, Sam, We're not trying to make a big deal about it. Mark Henry said that when w was in Texas, and I love this story that I guess Vince called Mark Henry to come to the arena just so he could give him a hug. Which you know, that's what normal men do, right, we all just call each other up, be like hey, are you in town? Yeah? Can you swing by and hug me? And we're all, yeah, absolutely, dude, long time no see. But this is the part that is strange. It's like he has so much of these presumed drama going on right now and he decides to add another layer of drama to it and go to the show and say hi to everybody. Well, he did not leave UI ceremoniously. He did not go to court with WWE or WWS doctors because they just wanted to give each other money and feel better about their relationship and make their friendship stronger.

22:15 He did not say terrible things in interviews and podcasts and promos about his former employer because he loves them. This is the weird part, Doctor Trey. I can't make sense of this. I guess as a guessing person here, I would assume that, yeah, he's potentially angling for a return. I don't think he went there to clear the air. They could do that privately. He could call up Triple H. He could go to a mediary, Like what the fuck is he doing? You guys forget that sometimes you forget that this guy is like, you know, we've been CM punk fans, but Punk is one of the best workers slash politicians. Like he's like people don't put him in the jericho class, but he's up there, like he knows how to play the system and play these games. And whether it's you know, leaving WWE, going to do the UFC stuff, he was staying in the limelight and you know, just like the Goldbergs are like bash wrestling but still love wrestling, and you know it's he understands leveraging. It is like, look, they're they're talking about bringing me back in, but if Craft goes sideways, what's my backup plan? Would there be interest in me jumping to our company. And if AW knows that WW might have interest

23:47 with me, and I'm clearing the air with the people I had the most heat with, would it make sense for right? Do you say, hey, we'd rather have him here than WW using him in a Wrestling Mania spot. Like he understands the maneuverings maybe better than just about anybody else when it comes to wrestling and how to play both sides and hate one side when you know you're good here, but then when the other side's like, oh, maybe not so good, let me back penal play the other way. I mean Jericho has done it too. I mean Jericho is the one who would say w And he kept tellingbout how much of Vince gave him the blessing to go do the new Japan stuff, and when he cited his contrary to aw Oh, Vince called me to try to see if if I get back out of the deal. Like these guys are carnival workers, like they're barkers.

24:36 I mean, this is what they do is know how to put stuff out there. I mean the elite do it. All these guys do it, and it just kind of depends on who we feel it's in the right who we feel into the wrong way. It comes to that stuff, But that's what it is. It's all movements, and it's playing chess and moving the board around to where you make sure you're the most envial position when it's time to play your surry. And I think that's what Punk was doing this, you know, past weekend, more than anything else was I'm gonna deal with AW, I'll talk to WWE, and we'll just kind of go from there and see who actually really wants me and wants you back. And that I think he did a great job of it. Yeah, it makes you wonder if maybe on his end of everything right now is not smooth with AW, and maybe he is potentially on his way out of all ELI wrestling. Maybe there's a layer to this story that we don't know about where it just seems like the working relationship is not going to be beneficial to all parties and he needs to go elsewhere, you know, pure speculation on our part. I just thought for him to be out in the open in at w E raw visiting was a shock. I mean, there's that video of him talking to men to Snooka in the parking lot and fancy or yelling for him like he did not hide. And this is a guy who's been had a very checker in controversial pass with we. It's been a very rocky relationship between both.

26:00 So with all that said, doctor Try, I simply ask you this question, does a EW need CM Punk? Um M, I'll say I'll lean yes because I still don't feel like they have the star power to draw. I mean, even though it's a it's a three year old company, they are still wrestling fans who maybe haven't watched it yet, haven't really got invested in yet. And you gotta say when when Punk's there, it feels like the rings are up, the pay per view buys are up. People do seem to be the casual he will seem to be more interested in it, and they just don't have that guy that transcends wrestling over into and not in this a pop culture but more like the from the diehards to the casuals.

26:56 They don't have that guy. I mean air Coo to a degree, but I mean Punk's fan base is so rabid they will follow him anywhere, and you need that guy that fans are like, yeah, I don't care where he goes, I don't have loyalty the brand. I have loyalty to this guy, and they just don't have that guy on their roster right now. I believe AW does need Sampunk. There are tons of talented wrestlers male and female, great acts, highly entertaining stuff that I enjoy on a week, week to week basis, but they are missing that, you know, guy that's recognized as a recognizable name that is part controversial, part relatable, part legendary performer like Sampunk. I mean, he is someone in the last decade that people have been clamoring for the return. And I think more importantly with them doing all In and Wembley Stadium and whether they fill it up to forty fifty thousand and sixty thousand and seventy thousand, eighty thousand or full capacity in ninety thousand, they need Sampunk on that marquee, and they need Sampunk versus the elite on that marquee, or they need Sampunk versus Chris Jericho. Drama sells, controversy creates cash and this is a big controversial topic, a very controversial person, and they need him back in AW. But does cmpunk need

28:30 AW? Doctor Trey does he need AW to continue his wrestling career, because from all that we're hearing is he wants to return and wrestling, but does he need to do it in AW? I think that's what he was trying to figure out. Yeah, I'm going to say right now yes, because I mean, if the Curious asking you to leave the building because Vince said told him to do it in order you to pay to A, yeah, you probably need AW right now. So yeah, I think right now you do. But just like we've see in WW in years past, whether it's Brett Hart, Ultimate Warrior, Bruno, they can get past some stuff if the money's right and they can capitalize on it. So yeah, right now, Punk needs AW. But nine months a year from now, well nine months heading into WrestleMania season, that might change. So then the last question, do we want see him Punk back in AW? Yes? Because we love the drama. I know we talk about like seriously, guys like telling the drama down, but oh my gosh, Jeff, like if he comes back and like, oh you know what we might get. We might get punk Obega, we might get Punking Jericho, we might get punking FDR against the elites. I'm gonna watch that. I'm gonna see if somebody decides, yeah, screw this works stuff, I'm going I'm going to shoot style in this match. There's part of me that wants although I know it won't happen

30:03 because these guys at the end of the day are professionals and they would ruin their reputation if they went into business for themselves. There's that part of me that's like once in rest of these there's part of me the ones that Jerry Springer aspect to AW because it's gonna you know, tingle, tingle, the fancies events, and I gotta see what happened. Yeah, I want to see c him punk back in AW because I want to see a feud between seampunk Chris Jericho and see him punk in the elite. There's a lot of money there, there's a lot of intrigue, there's real heat, there's real drama, and this brawl Out twenty twenty two still is this legendary folklore tale. We know something happened, but we don't necessarily know what, and maybe AW has been playing this from a creative standpoint that since our time. I tend to think this is a little bit more legal standpoy and I think it's time. I think it's time we see cm Punk back in AW you and I'm excited for it. I think the brand needs him. I think c Himpunk needs AW and I want to see him back in AW. So it's been a wild ride, Doctor Trey recapping everything that's happening here over the last couple of weeks with cmpunk, It's it's insane. I mean, the w layer to this entire thing is just like what, like, dude, what are you doing? Because you know that did not make people happy in AW, Like, what what are you trying to If you're trying to get back in the good races of all lead wrestling, then why are you trying to get back in the good graces of Tide? Did like something happened? Did

31:33 a switch happen? We had like this coming of Jesus conversation with himself and maybe he has maybe he's realizing, like it's not worth it to have all these issues between certain individuals. I mean that could be. We've all experienced that in our lives where it's like, man, this that bullshit is just not worth it. Maybe that's it. I don't know, but just a Wild Wild couple of weeks here for one cmpunk, which you know it's not over yet, Dutch rights. It's April twenty seventh. We have a lot of time before June seventeenth, that first Saturday show reportedly, so there's plenty of time, plenty of time here for things to either firm up or go haywire. So we don't really know what Aw's reaction is. Fully Tim going to Tirah to say hi and bury the hatchet with people, So who knows?

32:24 Who knows right now? Because this is insane. It really is insane. It's the most insane thing that we've experienced since Montreal Right Survivor Series ninety seven. Yeah, Plane Run, That's why I was just from Hell. Yeah, because in my head, I'm like, you know, plane right from Hell. We had a dark side of the ring about it, but then still like there's still like, yeah, that wasn't the entire truth and there's still you know, there's elements in there whatever. I kind of feel like brawl like the brawl out thing is this generation's Plane right from Hell, and the whole thing with punk in AW and WW kind of feels like the woman who left her husband but then she's like, maybe we should get back together. But on the other side, there's this other guy that I used to date before you, and that's like my high school crush, and I kind of want to work things out. It's just so weird, like this whole like dance and maybe at the other day punk Punk just wants to feel wanted by somebody, and he's like the dog that couslely bites you. But then we'll like be really sweet and like rub you himself against your leg to remind you how cute he can be at times as well. You gotta love the analogy there, and with that, that's how we'll close this out with Sampunk. Let's switch gears to w W E. The same night that Sampunk visited w RAW in Chicago, Triple Hed did not announce the return of Sampunk.

33:45 However, he did announce the return of the w W World Everyweight Championship. A new champion will be crowned at Night of champions in Saudi Arabia. King and Queen of the Rings is on hold for now. I was very excited to see a pay review focusing on the King and Queen of the Ring when this got changed the night of champions. The report was it'll make sense soon, so you'll you'll understand, and this is why it's happening, doctor Trey, as we will have a new world away champion. Maybe it's a one night tournament, maybe it's just a match, but I don't know. I know people are talking online saying that this feels like the consolidation prize for the undisputed w Universal Championship that is being owned by Roman Reigns right now.

34:30 It does not look like he will be giving that up anytime soon. What do you think, Doctor Trey? The WORLDWAD Championship is back. Is this the right move to have two world champions on the raw and then on the SmackDown brand? Yeah? I mean, if you're going back to absolute brand split, is the right thing to do? You know, For the better part of the last six months, it's kind of been as soft brand split with guys kind of floating back and forth. And we saw them try to elevate the U S and IC titles into filling that void for missing a world championship, and yeah, I think they did a decent job of elevating those belts, but I just don't think it like, you know, those US title matches were never really main event matches. Icy Tom matches, for as great as they were with Gunther, weren't made event matches because Roman reins casts a large shadow over both brands, and until you can start to elevate somebody up to that level, He's going to be that shadow that kind of you know, causes the flowers not to bloom because right now nobody viewsed that anybody on his level. So maybe if I bringing that title back and making it look different than the one that Roman's been carrying, it's kind of a you know, rebirth for you know whatever brand romans not on to start to elevate somebody else because here and I've been talking about the better part of a year, Roman's not going to be around forever. You've got to start getting ready for the next guy, and getting into their world title gives you that opportunity.

36:04 I liked the move. I think it's the right move for W I did not like when they merged both championships. However, Doctor Trey, the old school fan in me, is sad that we're not seeing the WWWE championship return. So I'm assuming that eventually the undisputed title will be merged off of the Universal Championship, so we'll have the w Universal Champion, which is a terrible name for world title um and the w W World Wweight Championship. So the old school fan and he's like, oh man, but we're not gonna have the w E Champion anymore, Like what the frig are we doing? UM? I love the design of the belt, it's it's obviously an o to the big gold belt that was in w W and NWA for a long time, to which Triple H also held when it was on the on the w E brand as the World waweight Championship UM following the retirement of the w c W Championship UM. When it comes to who I think should be the first champion, A lot of people are pointing towards Cody Rhodes, but I kind of disagree with that, Doctor Trey. I think it's like a three headed race. I think it's Cody. I think it's Seth. I think it's Bobby. I hope that Brock Lessner does not fall into this as well.

37:20 But being that they're in Saudi Arabia, you've got to figure that Brock is gonna have a match on the card and God, I hope he doesn't walk out with the World aweight championship because then people are really going to lose their mind and think that Vince's back. But I would almost pick I think i'd picked Bobby Lastly to be the first champion Doctor Trey, Yeah, I agree with that if Bobby's a heel, if Bobby's still in baby face, but like the Almighty, when he was a heel of MVP was fantastic, one of the better runs we've had in a while for a world heavyweight champion, especially in WWE. Bobby is a baby face, it is not bad, but the mystique when he was a heel was just so much better. UM. I would go with Bobby as well, because as physically imposing as he is, one of the things we talked about with Cody was Cody needs obstacles to overcome, and there are not very many obstacles bigger than Roman Rains, Brock Lesser and then Bobby Lastly for a baby face to overcome. So I think that would be good positioning if you're building Cody to be that next guy. UM. By the way, do we still will put the word heavyweight in for a world champion because we've had several champions who have been basically cruiserweight level in weight. Um, So I really don't like just call the w W world champion. I mean, you're seeing that ran out in aw right, Like, I'm pretty sure I weigh more than at least three out of the four guys potentially in that double or nothing match. I think Jade has you beat though, Jade Cargill, Yeah, oh yeah, but absolutely

38:52 because it's just muscle. Um, I mean I would, Yeah, we're gonna go down a rabbit hole there, um. And nonetheless, World Championship is back. I like the move, I like the design. The eventual first champion is going to be very interesting on the direction of where they go and where they go from here. It's the right call with the w brands because just Roman as the undisputed universal champion, it just it was not It wasn't working like they shouldn't have done in the first place. I get why they did it to add more intrigue to that match, but at some point they should have figured out a way to split this back up, and I guess this is the right way to do it. I think creatively, you're kind of like what do you do, Like, hey, Roman, you're going to keep the universal title, give me that one back the championship, and we're going to crown a new champion. I guess you could have done that, But the w W World aweight Championship is back and we'll have a new champion by the end of next month with the new world title real quick.

39:52 Ironically enough, the last time I believe this happened, it actually did involve you ple age with Brock being the undisputed champion and then trip or Bischoff recreating a belt he just gave it to him. Yeah, it was the worst thing possible. Well, why don't just come out and just hand the belt to somebody and then we just go full circle. So the storyline on that was a triple h won some sort of match to become the new number one contender to Brock's undisputed championship. And then at that same episode, I believe Brock went to a lima with Stephanie and Stephanie, who was feuding with Eric Bischoff because they were both the general manager. Stephanie SmackDown Eric Bischoff with raw was like, we have now signed m Brock lesser exclusively to our brand, so you are without a world champion. And then like the next week on Raw, Eric Bischof just opened up either a briefcase, a Deuffel bag, whatever and handed Triple H to the Big Gold Belt, which I thought was the lamest way possible to do it. I think Vince comes out and just hands the belt to Austin Theory. Hey, we know he's been doing some rewrites, so it's always possible. Actually, he just does some sort of like AI generation and the United States Championship becomes the w Whorleyweight Championship.

41:07 We come to find out that his match with Sina at Rustamenty thirty nine was actually for that title, and nobody knew it, not even the competitors. So congratulations Austin Theory. And then finally Doctor Trey. The big news here started on Friday night on SmackDown. Monday on Raw is the twenty twenty three W draft. Who should be moved, which tag teams need to be split up, Which NX call ups could we expect? It's all things that we're thinking about going into Friday and Monday. Some moves that I'm thinking about here, Doctor Trey has moved gun through an Imperium to Raw, move Austin Theory to SmackDown, have rear Ripley and Bianca bel Air switch brands. I don't know if you need to do that lame title switch again. I would keep Judgment Day in LWO on Raw or move LWO to Raw, just so that they get some more time. I would split up the Street Profits amlicably so that there's not some weird little tension and split up Chad Gable the smack Down otis to Raw. Start pushing Chad Gable and montes Ford now on SmackDown's mid card Guys Vine for the US title and then for NXC. I would call it pretty deadly to Raw, which they were written off of NXC this past Tuesday, so it seems like a foregn conclusion. Finally make Cameron Guyme Grimes appear on television for the first time in months. I would move Zoe Start to Raw, and I would move Grayson Waller to Raw from NXT. There's reports out there that Broun Breaker and core Jade are going to be backstage on SmackDown on Friday. Not known if that will be for main event tapings or if they're going to be drafted who core Jade's name has been reportedly been thrown

42:39 around as a potential call up from NXT doctor. I'm excited for the draft on Friday and Monday. Those are some things that I'm thinking about. What are you thinking about heading into Raw and Smackdowns versions of the draft? I really like there are some things I want to see, but like in reality, I don't expect all those things that happen. I just want to see some switching up of things. I want to see some freshness to it. You know, you mentioned Braun and Cora. They're actually dating in real life, so the fact that you know, maybe they get paired up, maybe they hit him in the same brand. You know, they like to keep them married couples together. So wherever Becky goes, Seth goes, wherever Montes goes, Bianca goes. I think you do have to do if they switch brands, that they do have to do the town switch because you can't have Ria on Raw as a SmackDown Women's champion and Bianca on SmackDown as the Raw Women's champion. That's just weird. So like, I think they do have to do the awkward title exchange type thing. Like we all know Montes need to be a breakout single star. But you know, I just don't want Dawkins to be tuckered, if that makes sense. Like I mean, Ohis and Tucker broke up and then Tucker turned heel for like what like a month and was gone. Yeah, j I think Dawkins is very very talented, by the way, Yeah, but I also thought Tucker was pretty good.

44:00 He was very talented as well, good talker. Yeah, and it was kind of weird that it was just Okay, we like Otis and Tucker's gone. So I just don't want Dakas to get tuckered or janettied because I do think Dawkins is a fantastic talent and can talk and can wrestle. He's kind of like, to me, he's like a bigger de lo If, Like I don't know if that's a good comparison not, but he's agile, big, strong and can talk and is Um, I just don't I think he's the kind of guy that you don't want to make him a heal, but he could be a good mid level baby face. Um. I do I really want to see Otis with maximum mail bottles and yeah, that means you man to move Chad away. But Chad's a fantastic wrestler and you can put him in anything and he's gonna be good. Um. So I'm just really looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. Like I don't know if I'm a fan of the LWO being baby faces, but I think flipping Judgment Day and Imperium makes sense. So that way the LW can fee with Imperium and Judgment Day. Can you know, battle Bloodline or somebody else on SmackDown and move stuff around. So those those makes some sense to me. But I'm just excited seas and freshness and changes. I'm really looking forward to seeing pretty Deadly on either Raw or SmackDown because we've talked about the lots of it.

45:16 They're they're They're arguably my favorite act in WWS not named Kevin owns the Samy's name, so whatever they do, I'm always intrigued by. So looking forward to seeing them on the main roster. So what I've come to learn is that I think SmackDown as a two hour show should be utilized as a show where there's folks that are established wrestlers, um, while Raw has established wrestlers on their brand. Um. I also like when people are able to develop their character a little bit more on Raw than they would be on SmackDown, like when when we when we saw them not being written out by Vince Damage Controls of the World, Candice La Rays meech in like those the female stars are getting a little bit more time than they would on a RAW.

46:07 I think talents that could use a little bit more shine, like gun Throne Imperium could be great on Raw. Lwo on Raw. I think the Judgment Day has very much benefited from elevating their game over the last year by being on Raw and having a little bit more time than if they were on SmackDown. Like you see folks that go to SmackDown, they kind of get lost in the shuffle and aren't utilized as much. So that's how I think about things. It's like, Okay, Raw is a brand that has established stars, but also stars that are you know, getting a little bit more time. SmackDown is the established stars. So maybe Austin theory to SmackDown works, Maybe Cody to SmackDown works. It's going to be interesting how these two rosters look in a week's time. Doctor Trey and I'm excited for it. I think this is really cool and fun time time because things that you don't expect typically happened during the draft, So I'm excited to see where things shake up on Friday SmackDown and then Monday's Raw. No. Absolutely, I mean like we talked about, like I've been literally here watching the NFL Draft talking about the w w E Draft, and I'm like, yeah, like I've been playing Madden the last two months just because of NFL drafting, and I've been playing SmackDown or I've been playing two K twenty three for WB because of the GM mode and the drafting and things like that and trying different things out.

47:34 And so it's always that that element of the unknown and a little bit of like we used to do with your kids, of dream matchups, weird tag teams that you could put together out of nowhere. And the draft in ww has always been kind of fun. I mean the original draft back in the day with like Vince and Flair and all those stuff, those were really fun. The last few years has kind of been like, yeah, these guys are gonna well, we kind of knew what was going to happen, but since we haven't had it done in eighteen months, almost two years. It kind of feels fresh and different. It's like it's a good way to kind of once again use raw and build the new stars because you can flash out the characters, like Jeff was talking about, you SmackDown to build you know, main event, top level money drawing guys. Because they're on Fox.

48:21 There's supposing more people. If you go into the draft with that mindset, you might come out thinking that, hey, Raw got the worse of the deal, but nine months from now, because you've been able to flesh out characters, that Raw roster gets really fun, really quick. And we saw that with you know, Kevin and Sammy and everybody in you know, Judgment Day and Dominic and everybody else because they had more time to present themselves on Raw than they typically do on SmackDown. So there go Draft Preview. Will recap and review it on next week's edition. The podcast had into the lovely, lovely month of May. Doctor Trey, it's been fun recapping CM Punk the World hay Way Championship in Draft on this week edition of the pod.

49:02 Before we close up shop, let's get a couple of plugs and sponsors out of the Way Down the show every Thursday at Real Guy Radio dot com, Russell chatting at on Twitter, and the So Realtive Show iTunes feed. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help Colum charts on iTunes because fill us individual on Twitter for myself at SRTU Jeff and for doctor Trey Franklin at The Doctor Trey. And of course don't forget to follow show on Twitter at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what's going on in the wonderful world of Ductor Trey Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on Twitter at the Doctor Trey, find me on Instagram, Facebook, Doctor Trey Franklin when you're on Facebook, the Church. I got Rocket City Championship Wrestling and we are just two shows from wrestling con May twentieth from Beautiful Hazel Green, Alabama, headline by Dalton Castle and the Boys being in the building. We've had some matchups announced in Body Taken on Verry coll Off of the rocket City TV Championship, Travis Locke against Chase Owens. I'm not sure who Dalton Castle's performing against, but looking forward to that one as well.

50:02 Uh. And then I have a football question, in a football wrestling question to Jeff Back. Okay, uh Luke van Metz any relation to Hot Mess Laurel van Ness No, I don't believe so, but I will have to check that out on wikip all right. I just I didn't know if like we're gonna see Luke Luke, the Lucas Vondez and like hanging out with Matt cardonus nowhere. Hey, you never know, maybe GCW, maybe Disney. He's a he's a handsome man. Jeff, You've got a very good looking defensive and I will say that dude's got a great haircut and like he he looks like one of those next in line prospects we see popping up down the PC. Hey, that's the criteria. If if you look like you're handsome and could potentially be a w W star, that's what we want you in Green Bay. So um, lots of good stuff going on the world profession around saying month of May is gonna be very very busy with double or nothing, um backlash, which will recap we'll previ and predict on next week's addition to the podcast, along with the Draft, UM the Night of Champions NXT Battleground. Lots of things changing here in the world of professional wrestling that will basically shape and mold everything that goes on the next eight weeks will shape and mold the rest of professional wrestling, in my opinion, for the next year, and we'll have it all here for you each and every week on the Still Real Though Show. So until next week, thank you for downloading.

51:19 For Dr Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. This is the show. It didn't better, didn't didn't