Was Jey Uso Doomed from the Start? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #801 – 06/19/25

0:00 It's still real to me, damn it! What up, you! Welcome, everybody! Welcome to this week's "This, This, This, This, This" To Real This Show, Episode number 801 for June 19, 2025. Welcome to this week's edition of "SR-T-U." I am one Apple Show, I am Jeff Back to join every single week of my fellow small-ally, Dr. Dre Franklin, Dr. Dre, you are fired up my friend. Oh, the joys of parenthood, marriage, leaving your life in the hands of other people, like, oh, yes, I am just like literally like chopping at the bit.

0:53 I'm looking forward to the show too, but I just got off vacation, and I'm angry. Like, it's crazy, like, four days in New Orleans, I should come back, rested, relaxed, refreshed, and instead I am just like trying not... If I could learn Darth Vader's Force Choke, where you just hold your handouts and pretend like you're strangling them, and they know you're strangling them, and they choked to death, I would have already done that to like three people in the last like 20 minutes. Oh, wow, let me move on to eventually do a video podcast here for SR-T-U. Maybe we'll add it to the Patreon page, Patreon.

1:33 That's the Patreon page, me just, yeah. Patreon to me, it's going to be just me driving around Force Choking people. Yeah, there you go. That would be the entire episode. Stay tuned for that exclusive patreon.com/SRT-U podcast. Yeah, Dr. Dre is fired up, it is coming off vacation, it's funny that you say that like, I obviously love going on vacation. I dread like two days out because I know I have a boatload of work emails, I gotta get to, and then I have a boatload of things that I need to like catch up on in life in general. And it's like, damn man, sometimes... I don't know if it's worth it to go on vacation because of stuff like that. No, like on the drive back, like I'm, you know, like technically today I was not on vacation, I lied in my boss's ass, and I was a worker.

2:19 Hopefully the Patreon subscribers. Yeah, not yet, not yet, down the line. That's my control for it, but... So, but I'm still like, I have my team of people out in the field, so I'm still like handling work calls and handling emails and all that stuff. And at one point my wife looked at me and she goes, "Are you working right now?" And I'm like, "Yeah, somebody's got to pay for the vacation, you're not working right now, so I gotta do some work." But yeah, it was literally on the drive back, it was thinking about work, and then ironically enough, I had to educate her on a wrestling part of the trip because I drove through Pearl River, Mississippi.

3:03 Uh-oh. And for long, for old school wrestling fans, almost everybody for some reason knows the town of Pearl River, Mississippi. And she's like, "Why is that famous?" I'm like, "Well, as a kid, it's Ahmed Johnson's hometown, and I thought this town would be much bigger because most home towns are either really funny sounding, truth or consequences, new Mexico, or they were bigger cities. And then Pearl River is not a big city, it's kind of small, I said, "But I've known about this town since I was roughly 11 years old." I'm like, "But so I got to do a little bit of a wrestling education." And then I got to do some packer education for her too, Jeff, because we stopped in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, which is the college home town of Brett Farff.

3:51 Wow, did you see the things that he put up there with taxpayer dollars? I didn't. There is, by the way, so I don't know if you ever decide you want to go on the Brett Far growing up tour, the Brett Farff life tour, but Hattiesburg, Mississippi might have the best burger place I have ever been to, in my adult life, and you've known me for almost 20 years and how much travel I've done. This burger place, Jeff, is fantastic. Hmm, maybe something will add here to the Patreon page. So stay tuned for that. Maybe we'll do burger cast, finally, on SRTU podcast. So Pearl River, I'm at Johnson.

4:31 I mean, is there anybody in the late 90s who botched being handed a silver platter more than I'm at Johnson did? Oh, the 90s Ludwig Borger? He was, yeah, he was early 90s. I just watched that dark side of the ring with him. I mean, he was supposed to be Vee Heel in that 90s. Yeah, go against Lex Luger. Yeah, like when we did, we talked about the Lexus Express recently. I mean, that was like, that was supposed to be the guy that was going to be the big villain. And we know how much events and even Triple H loves those European villain type characters.

5:14 And that was going to be the guy. But I mean, Amé was supposed to be the black polcoga. I mean, that's the way he was booked. And it just all kind of fell apart. Yeah, he was a fan favorite and he flamed out quick. It was like a year. I think he was on top. He was intercontinental champion for a little bit. Got injured and then ended up with like the nation of domination, then completely went away, then went to WCW and battled Booker T for the letter T in their name. I think he went by big T in WCW. Because, yeah, I mean, the battle for the letter T, Dr. Triving, we haven't seen that type of battle since what, Sesame Street.

5:56 Yeah, I think that would be the big one. I remember people fighting over it. I mean, that was, it's funny. You used the word flamed out because it was kind of the gold dust feud that did on Med Johnson in. Well, the rumor is is that famous raw angle, Dustin Rhodes kisses on Med Johnson. And that's not what he was supposed to do. And that reaction from Ahmed Johnson was like legitimate. Yeah, do you know what I'm talking about where he's like, they're, they're wheeling him out on a stretcher and gold dust as I hold on. I'll revive him. Yes. And then like even when they, when they pan the way you can see the gold paint around Ahmed's face, yes, like around his mouth.

6:37 Yes. It was like, it was supposed to be a work kids turn into like a shoot kids and then Ahmed freaked out. Which is funny because it's like, you don't get really get more cowboy than what Dustin Rhodes really was. And so the fact that Ahmed worked himself into a shoot over that is just goes to show that sometimes you kind of have to love wrestling to be a wrestler. And that was what was in season where you just had to go, it's, it's, it's, it's not real. Like he's not really trying to make out with me. He's not really trying to get me in bed. This is a show. I think Triple H was on a podcast recently and he meant they asked him like who is the most unprofessional person you ever dealt with in professional wrestling and Triple H said Ahmed Johnson.

7:24 So yeah, which is, which is amazing because he also worked with Jim Hellwig and most people hated working with Jim Hell. I don't think he's going to throw warrior under the bus. So does, does Dana still work for the company with the buy whatever she does not. I believe she was let go a couple years ago. She was part of some sort of like office cuts. Yeah, which is a shame because the warrior award was really cool. I, I enjoy that from all of them. What my favorite one was Shad Gaspar. Like I absolutely love that one that they did because he was honored and rightfully so. Let's get into this week's news in the world of professional wrestling. Dr. Trey last week, we didn't get a chance to talk about it, but we I figured we would talk about it now.

8:09 And that is the J. Uso World Heavyweight Championship title run coming to an end about 10 days ago on Monday at raw as he dropped the title to Gunther in a WrestleMania rematch. Gunther, now the world of heavyweight champion. He is a match for Saturday nights main event, which we will get to here momentarily. Was the run that J. Uso had a failure, Dr. Trey. A lot of people are very critical of him winning the Royal Rumble that he's nothing more than an entrance. There were some highs and there were certainly some lows with J. Uso when he had the Royal Heavyweight Championship belt around his waist. One being there was like a promo exchange with Gunther on raw where you could tell that J. was a little bit lost and got there tried to get him back into it or at least that was my interpretation.

8:51 I'm a huge J. Uso fan. He moves merchandise. He's a good worker, great person, very authentic, very likeable. But is this first World title reign complete failure in your eyes? I don't think it's a complete fail. We've talked about, I mean, for those long time listeners, we've discussed first time title runs with guys several times. Whether it was the Jack Swagger runs, the Daniel Bryan runs, the Jeff Hardy's, this is usually what they do. They give a lot of guys a little bit of a test run to see if we need you to become the face.

9:31 Can you step your name up? Can you be the guy? I think J did an admirable job. I mean, this is a guy, I mean, he's really only been a singles competitor for three years maybe, maybe four at the most. I mean, he's, most of his career has been intacting. I mean, this is a guy who's not used to being the focal point of a show. And I think he did an admirable job at OK job. This, it wasn't a set the World on fire World title run, but it wasn't, you know, we, I mentioned Jack Swagger, Jack Swagger's first W, heavyweight title run was horrible. And in love, he was eyes and literally like he never got close to the title again. I mean, it's off Ziggler's first title run.

10:15 I got short change because of injury, but he never really sniffed the World title run after that. I don't think Jay Usos in that category. I think he's an upper main event level guy. Like you can either put him back in the, you know, aircon of title picture. I don't think anybody would, you know, bad and I at that and keep him right there on the top of the card and people I think we found that. And you decide to make that move and put the belt back on him. He's learned he's got some experience now he can have a much longer title run after that. The underrated underdog baby face world champion climb and then ultimately winning the title. I think you can make a case doesn't work in professional wrestling, but it's almost a necessity because if that person finally fulfills the prophecy becomes world champion.

11:06 If they get a second title run, if they get a third title run, that's where you like legitimize them as an actual world champion. And I think names that come to mind to me immediately are Ray Mysterio Brian Daniels and Daniel Brian and CM Punk. Those are guys that stand out to me. Then when they had that first world championship run, it was not great. It was not memorable ups, downs, peaks and valleys, but when they got the title for a second time, third time. Most of the time they did well, I think maybe the only case where it wasn't all that great was Ray Mysterio because I think right only got one more run as a world champion and that was very brief was when after money in the bank 2011 when CM Punk left with the title and air quotes.

11:50 And then I think he won some sort of tournament. Then I want to say he ended up losing the CM Punk and. He lost the John Cena that. Okay, so he won the tournament and then lost a Cena and then Cena. I think lost the title back to Punk. They did like a tiny notification. Yeah, because because they gave Cena New Belt because Punk left with a belt. Yes. So then they had to have the match to. It was almost like the UFC when they had the Interim Champion and then the hurt champion comes back and they have to modify those two titles. How did the same thing? I like I said throw Jeff Hardy and that makes you Jeff Hardy that first title run Jeff already had wasn't great. I would throw Kofi Kingston in there as well.

12:35 Well, Kofi's never got a second shot. I'm not saying so I should preface by saying that on so the point I was making was unless they get a second world title run. It's like legitimize but look back at that like initial punk Brian Danielson. Jeff Hardy Kofi Kingston runs those were awful Ray Mysterio awful. Because even even though they're the champion, they're often winning by school boys or roll ups or outside interference. They're never booked as a strong quality champion. But that's a set is kind of like that test or like how does the crowd react to this person? How does how does the how are the ratings? How are the merchandise and I think in those of the levels.

13:17 J did okay. J I think we've learned that J still needs to work on his promos because you have to be pretty much a great talker to get multiple runs with the belt. So I think that's one thing. J can kind of take away that he needs to work on this. And to that point, I feel like every J Uso promo sounds the same. He's kind of like hunched over and I love J Uso. I truly do. He's like hunched over a little bit. Kind of looking down at the map, which makes you wonder is that just part of his characters. There's like a lack of legitimate confidence in cutting a promo. And he's kind of like quiet and like almost clenches his mouth a little bit. He lost the promo ability had like when they were doing the Uso pen and sensory stuff.

14:03 When his he and his brother Jimmy it was fantastic promos like when he's really into it and passionate. I don't remember stuff with the bloodline being very passionate promo wise, but it's like. I don't know. It's it's kind of all the same and well, right. I would say right when he broke away from the bloodline right when he was leading up that break away with Roman is when he started coming into his own. But then again, he always had like during that time, he always had Jimmy right beside or Jimmy or Roman was in the ring. And it's a different level like when you can promo against somebody that you know. Like you kind of already know what they're going to say back to you. So even if you're kind of winging it.

14:44 You know, okay, if I go here, he's going to go here that I can come back. You can almost map it out in your head. When you're working with somebody that you don't really know that well and you don't have anybody else around you that makes you feel confidence that it'll be okay is when you can kind of stutter or stammer. But you're right like Jace provost and I don't know if it's a it might be his character. It might be kind of you know a little bit. I've seen guys do this when they do rap battles. They kind of look down and they're kind of building themselves up to that big finale in whatever saying. So they're kind of looking down their work themselves up and then boom, there's the big line. It's great if that person's not going to say anything back.

15:26 But if if if you're cutting a single promo by yourself, that works. But when you're in the ring face to face with somebody and you're trying to do that. Yeah, it looks like you have a lack of confidence. And it's always like it's kind of like the Roman reigns and even John Cena early days where it's like it was kind of the same promo every time with with J. It's like it's looking down looking down. Here's that line. Boom. My glasses come off. That means I'm serious. And he just needs to kind of branch that out and kind of build a little bit more around that. And I'm hoping that by having that title run. And now being on the chase again, it kind of builds up that confidence where he's just like his connection to the crowd is unrivaled.

16:10 But it is that like face to face promo about it. It's a lot like John Cena Roman reigns was seen. It was toasting a Roman for a while. And remember that that famous promo we're seen is like it's called a promo big dog. If you want to be the top guy, you got to learn how to do this. And he actually like called them out on the episode of raw. Like you got it. And that's what Roman realized. Oh crap. I got to get better at this. And that's kind of where we're at with Jay right now. Like everything else he does is great. He's just got to get to that point where he can just. You know, the old the old days it was talk a crowd or talk a crowd into the arena. Jay's not there yet. Jake and Jake and get the crowd fired up. But can he make somebody literally go out and buy a pay for you because of what he said.

16:58 And that's not where he's at. It really felt like the minute he put the title around his waist. He lost off his legitimate confidence, not a character confidence legitimate confidence in himself. Like it's almost as if he felt like he didn't belong there or was letting the voices from the internet, the fans that were doubting him get into his head, which, which really sucks because I really enjoyed his run over last like. And six and nine months his time chasing the inner car and all championship in this organic build everything with Jusso has really been authentic and organic. And it just felt like once they put the title on him, he kind of lost that a little bit. So I hope this is a case of a guy that that first title run where to get it out of the way, get to that second one. And it's going to be a lot better.

17:41 It makes you wonder, Dr. Try. I mean, do you think from the WWE creative standpoint, they looked at this title run as a failure or are they putting the title on Gunther so that they give Goldberg a retirement title match. It's out of the United States main event. I think there's more to the Gunther thing than just the Goldberg match. I mean, I have to. I mean, literally, I don't, I mean, it's hard for me to believe that triple age and Bill Goldberg are so tight that triple age would literally book just a, a one month angle, two month angle just for Goldberg and then be done with it.

18:21 Like, it's not, we saw Vince do this with Goldberg, you know, with Goldberg beating the Fiend and having a couple of months with Lesnar. I just, I think I tend to lean on the side that triple age has more planned out than just the Goldberg thing because otherwise this is, to me in a lot of ways, this is just Goldberg beating the Fiend all over again. If, if we took the belt off Jay to put it on Gunther, to have Gunther have one match with Goldberg to put the belt back on Jay at Summerslam, then, then, to me, it's a waste. You can still have a match with Goldberg and Gunther and not have to have the title on and people still kind of want to see it for those people who are Goldberg fans and not break up Jay Uzo's title run.

19:09 So, I, I, I think there has to be a little bit more to this than just Goldberg's back able to have a match and we just flip titles for two months. I just, I think there has to be more. It feels like it's old WWE creative. It feels like Vitserk bands back at the helm the way that they're kind of booking this thing right now where titles off Jay back on Gunther, Gunther versus Goldberg, Saturday night's main event, the belief is Gunther defeats Goldberg. He retirees him. It's because it's in Atlanta. He carries on this World Heavyweight Champion. Goldberg goes on his back, looks up at the lights to pass the torch to Gunther, the next dominant professional wrestler, Aula Goldberg for the last 25 years.

19:50 And then, we move on. But there is this 10, 15% of me that's like, man, imagine if Goldberg wins a title and this goes on for a little bit. And when I mean a little bit like maybe Summerslam, there's a lot of stuff being out there in the press right now. A lot of the media that Goldberg's doing is basically like he just wants to get through this match that he's like performing at 50 to 70% in his mind. I think he has some injuries that he's dealing with people were pointing out about how old he looked and how slow he was and wasn't moving around as well as he used to. Might or might you he is 58 years old, former football player, former freshman wrestler, the guy has been through Helen back. So thank God he wants to do one last thing.

20:33 So there's these different channels. It feels like it's old WWE creative booking right now. And until we get to Saturday night's main event, who knows. But I mean, it will be from the WWE side Gunther versus Goldberg going against all in Texas, AEW, on July the 12th right now. That's that's how they're going into it. The retirement match for Gil Bill Goldberg. And with that said, Dr. Trey, are we okay with the Goldberg retirement match? And I put that in Eric quotes, being for the World Heavyweight Championship. Is it poetic? Is it in just what is it? I think it hey walking the fence Jeff, you know, to me, it is kind of depends on where you fall on the Goldberg line. Are you a Goldberg fan or you a Goldberg or me?

21:22 For most of most of it, I was a Goldberg fan. The Goldberg Fiend match really kind of threw me on the other side. Like I always love Goldberg is intensity, everything else. But that Goldberg Fiend match really kind of blew up for me. So if Goldberg is one of, I mean if you're saying who are the top 10 stars of the Attitude Era, Goldberg is in the top 10. So if he has a chance to kind of go out and do one last match, I'm kind of for it. And they picked the right, as much as I'd love to see them pass the torch to a guy who reminds me of Goldberg, which would be, you know, Ron Breaker, you know, that those characters kind of line up better and then plus the lineage of it being Rick Sun, Scott Sniff, you WCW, Gunther can have a better match with Goldberg than Ron Breaker can right now.

22:19 So if this is the last match or the last or one of two, whatever it is, I'm fine with it. The guy deserves his flowers. I mean, he's ever since the Bret Hart injury, the guys may be one of the most ostracized wrestlers in wrestling history. Like you either hate Goldberg or you love Goldberg, there really isn't a middle ground for most people who comes to build Goldberg. So if WB is going with it and they can make the storyline make sense and work in the long run, then I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt right now. Yeah, it's interesting. I'm like 50/50 on this thing myself. It's, well you, like, oh, yeah, hold on. You're a, you're a Bret guy. I'm a Sean guy.

23:05 I think that's fair to say. Do you blame Goldberg for Bret's injury? I don't. I think Breck takes it too far. Okay, because a lot of guys, the lot of the Bret fans stay with Bret and that's where their hate of Goldberg comes in. And I'm like, dude, should have got your, should have got your hands up better. I don't hate Goldberg. It's an nostalgia thing, right? I remember I remember 97/98 when he was on the rise and being in middle school and people were pumped about him and it was the Monday Night War. His, him and Austin, compared. I mean, Goldberg was a household name for a period of time. I don't think people nowadays like truly remember that because A, they may not have been born or be they forget.

23:47 But I mean, he was, he was an all time great. He is an all time great. His career after like 99 is extremely questionable because he went out on injury with WCW. And then he didn't, he sat home on the A, all time, Warner contract, then that payout rightfully so. And he didn't show up in WWE until 2003. Like the night after WrestleMania 19 when he speeders is the, the Rocky has that match with the rocket backlash to feed them. And then he goes on a year run with the company. And a couple world title runs in there. I want to say one or two drops the title I believe to triple H in elimination chamber match at Summerslam.

24:27 I think from him, but directly. And then there's the debacle of Goldberg Brock Lesnar from WrestleMania 20. One of the worst wrestling matches, cringiest wrestling matches of all time, both on the way out of the company and you could just tell that they did not give a shit. And we don't see Goldberg for like, what, 15 years? I don't think it's, what's the right for series? 2016, 17, something along those lines, maybe an even sooner than that. And the entire time he just completely shit on the WWE, the McMahon family, triple H, the company, whatever. And it was like he is completely gone. And at that point, his career was absolutely like the highs, the highs and the lows, the lows.

25:09 He returns gets that shocking win against Brock Lesnar in Toronto and everybody ate it up because they didn't see it coming. And then they give him runs with the title multiple times. He defeated the Fiend, anti-clamatically in Saudi Arabia in a way that we didn't want to see. He had one of the worst wrestling matches of all time against the Undertaker in Saudi Arabia, nearly killed the Undertaker. Was supposed to face Roman Reigns in WrestleMania 36 before the COVID-19 pandemic in a match that nobody wanted to see. Like legitimately, nobody wanted to see. And I don't know, he, the contract ran out. He trashed WWE because McMahon promised giving a retirement match.

25:51 It seems like the bridges have been mended, obviously, because he's back in the good graces of WWE. And he's getting this opportunity with Gunther. So it's peaks and valleys with him, Dr. Trey. And I feel like sometimes there's a lot more low lights than there is highlights when it comes to Bill Goldberg's career. But the human in me, the longtime fan of me is like he deserves this opportunity. It's just I wish it was it for the World title and I wish it didn't sacrifice potentially sacrifice. J.U. says most recent World title run. Yeah, I'm asking one more question. This is the conspiracy theorist in me. His Goldberg, for as much as he has knocked, he knows how to capitalize on opportunities.

26:33 Whether it's wrestling, outside of wrestling with all the different shows he's hosted, back into wrestling. His son is playing football at Colorado. With Deon Sanders as his head coach. And look, is there a chance that Gage Goldberg might get to the NFL maybe? Well, when you see the success of Braun Breaker and we all know now that his brother has also signed a was the NIL agreement with with WWE as well. Is this who did who signed it in an IL agreement? The brother of Braun Breaker. The others, the other. Oh, I did. Yes, I did see that. Yep.

27:14 Okay, so is this maybe Goldberg's way of backdoring a career opportunity for his son if the NFL doesn't pan out that his son could get an NIL deal or get a contract with NXT or something like that because the name Goldberg is attached to it. There's that conspiracy theorist in me that goes, is this really a retirement match or a way for Bill Goldberg to possibly open his door for his son Gage because we do know WWE loves second generation wrestlers and will give them opportunities if they can just put one foot in front of the other and not kill somebody.

27:56 So that's why I'm like, there's that conspiracy theorist in me that goes, maybe this is Goldberg's way of kind of opening a door for a secondary career for Gage if the football thing doesn't pan out. I do think there's part of that. I think there's also the part that he very much so made in Rhodes and AW. I think it's reported and confirmed by both people that Bill Goldberg spoke spoke to Tony Khan and Goldberg had been hyping up for years and he wanted to have his retirement match in Israel. Obviously, there's a lot going on right now where that just cannot happen for safety reasons.

28:37 And it appeared as time went on that maybe there was no interest in AW from AW's part to have that then that would be completely different from what we tend to see with what AW books that does not fit like the AW mold. And I think also is AW kind of fell down the ladder over the last couple years and they've had a decline rather than an incline back upwards and being a legitimized looked upon top promotion in the United States that Goldberg was like I can't end my career this way. I agree with you on the NIL stuff. I think that's one of the reasons why we saw Mark Henry return back to the WWE families is to get his son who is also part of that most recent group signed why Scott Siner doesn't talk trash about the WWE anymore and boy oh boy if there was was anyone who did it was certainly Scott Siner.

29:28 And yeah I think he's looking out for his future and most importantly and this is no disrespect no slap in the face AW or it's fans I'm a fan of AW Goldberg swear I should end WWE but that's it. That's where the lineage is that's where the history is if the Saturday nights made of an angel I 12 if he takes dependent from to build on Gunther Bill Goldberg does then I'm all for it and it's like you know Siner salute thank you for your service. And we move on and we get ready for summer slam at that point when I know who the king of the ring is and presumably they may be facing Gunther at summer slam but it's the part where it's like could they do this again because there's been plenty of times where we didn't think Bill Berger Goldberg was going to win Survivor Series 2016 in Toronto gets Brock Lesnar I did not have him winning in 90 seconds.

30:19 I did not have him defeat the fend the fiend in Saudi Arabia WWE for whatever reason like taking this powerhouse even at 58 years old and having them have the surprise wins that you did not see coming so it'll be interesting we are weeks away less than a month away Bill Goldberg versus Gunther for the World of Away Championship at Saturday nights made event that we are presuming will be the retirement match. So are we okay with it? I think I'm okay with it Dr. Trey. Yeah I mean if it's the last match I'm okay with it. Not gonna lie Jeff if it's one or two matches because you're absolutely right like every time we kind of know or we think we know this is the last match this is the retirement match they swore of us.

31:06 If it's one or two matches I'm okay with it turns into like four or five then yeah then it's gonna be too much because I mean he's an incredible shape for a guy who's 58 but he's not incredible shape for a guy who should be wrestling multiple times in a year for WWE. Oh he won't do that even if he wins a title he will not be doing that. So we know how they go with the title and Bill Goldberg so feel free to chime in Facebook dot com slash to row this show or patreon dot com slash SRT you podcast. Dr. Trey we mentioned on last week's show we want to talk about a little bit more indefinitely here as well like we did with JU so at the top of the show. And that is the impact of the fans bringing back Ron our truth killings our truth is due to be taken on Johnson on Friday in addition of Smackdown on the USA Network which will be returning back to two hours on July 4th.

31:56 Thank God. What is the impact here because this is the first time in a while where WWE was for their hands were forced by the fan base and even the wrestlers. I love the move it was the right move our truth should not have been released from the company he should always be WWE but what is the impact now moving forward because there are a lot of fans that will not forget this. It's been a long time since we've had a movement in WWE whether it be led by CM Punk whether it be led by Daniel Bryan it has been some time and here we are again I guess maybe the last time was cofimania. So what is the long term impact here for the fans in the reaction to WWE and WWE open up the door and saying yeah we will listen to your voices.

32:40 I think I'll one hand I'm torn on I got it damage if you're making me walk the fence again like on one hand I think it's great for the fans that they can go oh my god they listen to us. This is somebody we are not happy about what you did to them we are going to complain and making known that we're not happy about this and then they listen and they adjusted course. The flip side of that is it gives the gives fans almost a sense to hijack shows again and we had kind of turned a page and kind of gotten away with sometimes when the crowd would hijack shows.

33:20 Now if something bad happens they don't like they kind of feel like they can hijack the show again so I'm a little bit torn I think in for the for the betterment of wrestling it's a good thing because it shows that that WWE has a heart and does listen and if they think they can monetize on something that everybody can be on the same page about they'll do it. I am though a little bit worried about like hey if they release somebody you know or they do a storyline we don't like or they do something we don't like. We're just going to turn against it and knee jerk reaction it and just bash the company all over that has me a little bit nervous but you know when we saw Kofi Mania when we saw the yes movement when we saw those things that were very organic and came out of kind of nowhere for the most part it was really really good I mean eat season or whatever calm this J. Uso timeline has been good for everybody as well.

34:23 And this was kind of organic and out of nowhere I don't think a year ago WWE had plans for J. Uso being a world champion. So they are they are good things but it does lend a little bit of credibility like if we're not happy we're just going to hijack the show and take it all. Well this was a legitimate mistake by WWE I mean people in no disrespect to Carlito and Val Halibut we've mentioned this before people were not like losing their minds at Carlito and Val Halibut were released. I mean they were part of that group which is really sad for them because I love Carlito Val Halibut I think she just had another kid with Eric from the war what Raiders. So I mean that's a bummer that she's now out because that's another salary for a growing family.

35:09 But Carlito I enjoyed a stuff for the judge of the day was he was he worth the money that they were paying them absolutely not but I think the Carlito release was a mistake. I don't think he should have been gone but this archer was absolutely 125% of mistake and it's so bizarre because they just started booking him like if they didn't book him I think there's a world doctor try where if he wasn't on television recently prior to all this like he was. That maybe the fans are like that sucks you know and they still think this is a mistake and they still think it's a bummer but they're not coming around with we want truth chance. Like I think there's a world where if if WWE didn't book themselves into people recognizing and falling in love with our truth again like they did maybe maybe he does go off and it pops up in TNA MLW RaW.

36:02 So they kind of did this to themselves ultimately I think it was a mistake and I don't I think that this was a needle in haystack I don't think we ever see something like this quite ever again unless it's a truly beloved and authentic figure in WWE that is both loved and respected by the fans and the people behind the scenes. I can only think of like a handful of people like Kofi Kingston Natalia like I don't I don't know if anybody would receive this archer of the treatment so I don't think that there's much of an impact I think fans obviously totally help move the creative end of things but like the management side of things.

36:43 I think this was a once in a blue moon moment for professional wrestling. Yeah it is weird it's like if you would tell me when they retired the 24/7 title that they released our truth like two months afterwards I don't think this would have been an issue. I think it was weird that they got into the situation where like oh my god not only is he on TV not only is he made of ending against John Cena not only is he doing interviews with like Chris Van Vleet that gets like you know 1.52 million views where all of a sudden he went from basically kind of being a background character to a top tier guy and then you release him it didn't make sense.

37:28 And I think that's like not only is he like you know I think I refer to a multiple times of the show is like he's a national treasure in a sense of pro wrestling. I mean he's literally like the long like the last link between the Ken Shamrock Jeff Jarrett TNA days to what we are now. I mean that's how long his career is has been. But if he had just been a background character for the last like year I don't think people would have been upset but all of a sudden he gets featured everywhere and then you release him it's like wait we love him like he's you know in a lot of ways the heart and soul of that locker room and you just release him after he made event it against John Cena like that it made no sense.

38:11 So yeah like I think you're absolutely right like they kind of book themselves into this and there are only a handful of people that kind of fit the truth category you name I mean Natalia definitely I mean J. Uso in 10 years. Let's say 10 years from now J. Uso's in his mid you know mid fifties and he's still contributing to the show and they release him the crowd might do the same thing at that point. It just kind of depends on you know where they're at and are there being a feature I mean I mean honestly they could release Natalia and I don't know if they would still have the same kind of backlash is our truth because she hasn't really been on TV all that much lately so a lot of it is from like the die hard fans like us that have watched truth for 20 years.

38:59 But a lot of it was from the younger fans who just found out how good he really is in this whole build up to John Cena stuff. Makes you wonder with some other real releases I was trying to like rack my brain I was like were there any releases where I like lost my mind and felt like the fans could revolt and the only one that comes to mind to me was in 2020 win WWE release break why it and this is like very obviously easy to say because of everything that is tragically happened with the break why it you know passing away almost what two three years ago now. And you know it pulls on your heart strings a little bit more but I legitimately think that a fans were in the seat when they released by why that there would have been we want wide chance like I I think that is one that fans legitimately were were bummed over was the break why release and that's the only one I could truly think of Dr. Trevor I'm like this is this is a major mistake by the company.

39:56 Yeah why is there really like why when he got released he was more like dear God the man has so much potential and was like moving like all the things you look for he was moving merchandise that even when he was out injured he was still outselling most of the top stars in WWE so it didn't make sense. Maybe when Daniel Bryan got fired for the choking incident people were upset yeah that's a good comparison because they brought him back right. Yeah and a lot of it was because of the all the mistake we didn't have the we didn't have the the crowd chanting it but there was the online petitions and online uproar about it but those were the only two I can really think of were fans were like we don't dear God Dolph Ziggler is a beloved treasure for most wrestling fans because of the house.

40:46 He's a really good fan because of the how he sells but he didn't even get this kind of love when he got released so like those are the only ones like why Daniel Bryan and then truth now or the only was I can think of were fans really kind of altered the course of the show based on those releases. And this is all theoretical because of what obviously happened historically dr. Tray but if there was no pipe bomb promo would WWE have extended CM Punk 2 through weeks later because I think he was legitimately out the door everybody that was around back then was like nope this is not a work this is a complete shoot he is leaving the company. Yeah I think yeah that was probably a big I mean the pipe bomb. Rest like the diehard wrestling fans and I hate saying but like kind of like the a W style wrestling fans like the ones who are all about work rate performance in the ring like they all love CM Punk and those of us who kind of knew punk from his promos in ring of honor and other places kind of knew what he could do on the microphone.

41:46 The pipe bomb kind of opened it up for everybody so it made sense that you know at that point he was like well screw you guys you guys don't want me here I'm just going to be out the door I'll just leave what made it weird was them him leaving with the title. Like that one still to this day I don't understand why did they for a guy who got punched in the face and by bread heart for kind of the same thing like why would you let somebody leave with the belt. Like that still to this day doesn't make sense I don't know if we've ever had anybody from management explain the thought process. No no I think I think punk wanted to leave back then I mean that could be a whole podcast in itself and maybe we'll do it on the Patreon page.

42:29 Patreon.com/sortpodcast but you go back then and it was you know if he does a cut that pipe on promo does he stay with the company does he change the company like he did does he become this. Best in the world voice of the voiceless that we saw I mean there are very few moments in history where a promo changes the trajectory of a career. And the only two that immediately come to mind is Stone Cold Steve Austin King the ring 1996 and CM Punk by Pomp promo summer 2011 so. Make sure you wonder about the the impact here of the fans will have now is WWE brings back Ron archer with killings looking for that match with John Cena on Friday night to dish and Smackdown.

43:12 Doctor for the last thing I want to bring up here on this week's this the podcast is someone fortunate news here live Morgan separator shoulder I'm on in a raw in a completely fluke accident during her match with Kyveri Sain it happened within the first 30 seconds of the match. They try to do a was a headlock takeover a drop to hold but she tries to face the arm ringer is the arm like yeah it's kind of like they're trying to like arm ringer where she take a face bump off of it. So yeah it's like you saw Kyrie kind of like put the arm. Because you're falling face force I am I've trying to remember the exact thing is you just use falling face force or wasn't a headlock takeover it wasn't a hip toss I think they're trying to do that arm ringer where they just flip her down really fast.

44:02 Yeah I think you're right yeah where they can have the risk control. Yeah so nonetheless you see the that happened on Monday night's raw shoulder pops out you can see it just devastating news because live has been one of the best in the company. And I was really looking forward to seeing what they were going to be doing with her evolution it was starting to seem like the signs were being pointed to her and Raquel Rodriguez defending the women's tag team champ against the Bellatowans because of the story on on TMZ over the weekend of prebellied was preparing for return in WWE because she didn't like the comments. They live Morgan Maydarner promo on raw that it was all a work folks which was very very smart. And now it makes you wonder where where things go from here so from a storyline standpoint I think the very easy way to go is rocks and slides in holds on to the title now with Raquel they keep the championships they defend against the Bellatowans at evolution.

44:53 I think Russell voted tweeted out that this injury obviously completely scrapped the entire plan for a solution so maybe they're going in a different direction but nonetheless as a performer as a character as a wrestler live has been one of the best in all the professional wrestling. In general men or women this year and this is just like a devastating way to go out in a very very career defining 2025 for her because she had a great 2024 really started to catapult around this time last year and like the 365 maybe there's nobody better from a female standpoint as Liv Morgan. Maybe the other ones that kind of can tell me that would be like Tony Storm in a w but live to me was was one of if not the best so I'm very very bummed about it.

45:42 It requires surgery of the injury so she's going to be out for some time. I think this takes her off television doctorate which really throws a monkey wrench into any type of storyline plans that they were doing with a judgment day with 30 dom with Finn Baller with rocks and Perez. Maybe there's a case where they bring her back while she's rehabbing but none the last doctor tried just to shout out to Liv Morgan my heart broke to see that this past Monday night. Yeah mine too I know the fans get worked up about a lot of times but you're actually right from like over the last 365 days you know her and Tony Storm or neck and neck for just not just overall performance but just workhorse ability like I know Tony had a little bit time off after her loss to Mariah May.

46:26 But for the most part I mean those two and you got to throw Ria in there just like just continuous good work over over 365 days there those three kind of are the game changers in it all. But on the other hand like to me like this is just really easy story writing like you just go we saw it on Smackdown Naomi gets hurt. Bianca takes her or excuse me Naomi takes her place. Jay gets her. Yes Jay gets hurt. Their tag chance she's tagging with Bianca. Naomi slides in and take Jay's spot. You do that run for a while until Jay's healthy blah blah. On this side it makes sense. Liv took out Ria. Ria had a shoulder injury. Liv then stole Dominic took all of her stuff.

47:14 You can now do the same thing with Roxanne stealing everything from Liv unintentionally air quoting your chance see. And then when Liv comes back you can make Liv go to baby face run because Roxanne stole the tag bell she steals Dominic all that stuff. It just writes itself I mean it's it's kind of easy storyline and you can literally have Roxanne come out and cut the promo on Nikki Bell and say oh my god I loved you you're like my you know you're like the same age as my grandma. And run the cut and Liv gave me permission to take her spot because of that injury you can kind of still set that up if you want to go that route. And not to mention tied in with Roxanne, Rockale, Dominic being Hispanic if Liv comes back although she's not European she does have history of Finn Balor you can split the judgment day that way.

48:04 So a lot of stuff can still write itself out you don't have to scrap everything you can still kind of play with it and it still makes sense for the fans who maybe don't know all the behind the scene stuff like guys like you need. Very true very very true it's just unfortunate because I was really looking forward to see more things for going with her storyline with 30 Dom Finn Balor Rox Amperez I think that and of course the stuff with the Bella twins. Yeah I mean that to me Dr. Tray is like a travesty in a way is a wrestling fan. I was I thought you were going on to something else but it is interesting by the way the other thing is you thought was I don't know if you saw the video of Daniel Bryan coming out at the CMLCML show they W cross the R.H.

48:52 Yes and then you have Bree going back to WWE potentially the team with her sister does that not create either tension in the house from husband on one show wife on the other show or does that still open the door for Daniel Bryan to eventually or Brian Danielsson Daniel Bryan Bryan Danielsson go back to WWE. To me it just says that Bree Bella knows where the best promotion is. It's the best thing for her brand I mean it's used here on AW television. Yeah and Nikki kind of Nikki's going through divorce she's got her hard time she needs the sisterly love and support of both them being together. It just makes you want would the Bella twins be accepted in an AW atmosphere I don't think so and the Bella twins were trash in the company about a year ago.

49:39 So and they're brought back in good graces it's typical wrestling one on one it's like they will bring back anybody if it makes sense for money purposes so perhaps it would do we for doing that and the Bella twins deserve to be in WWE they don't. They go to AW would make no sense and I think the AW is is watching their purse strings a little bit more than they're letting on personally that's just my two cents I don't know anything reportedly verbatim any type of stuff that I know about it just feels like there being a little more careful with some of their signings because the return of investment may not be as good as it was once was for AW.

50:19 Oh really real quick really by the way I just another crazy question if Bri and Nikki did go to AW would they go by their maiden names or do you think they be the Daniels and sisters. I think they were going by the Garcia's because they were promoting that for a little bit they were going by is that Bri and Nicole Garcia. But then when people think that Daniel was their little brother. That that brings husband Daniel Garcia I would I would hope not but yeah I'm sure there's somebody I mean there's more money in the Bella brand than what they were trying to do with their real names I think they gave it a shot to like go out there with their real names and it didn't work so.

51:01 Couldn't they have asked any other WWE wrestler who tried to go by their real name somewhere else that that never works. It's difficult look at cope. Yeah enough said I'd I'd still look at him as edge so. Nonetheless with that said let's get a couple plugs and spots of the ways we close up shop on this week's edition of SRT you could support us at the new Patreon page patron dot com slash SRT you broadcast you get the show add free along with so many more exclusive coming soon you get the show immediately when it's done recording you don't have to wait for it to get uploaded over real guy radio dot com outside of that you can down the show every Thursday or Friday real guy media dot com wrestle chat that on X and the still rather show I feed on Apple spot a fire review down on this podcast don't forget to rate review and subscribe as the algorithm is king first to keep playing the charts on those podcasts platforms you could fall individually on X for myself at SRT you Jeff and for that's right for a clean at the doctor tray and of course don't forget to follow show on X at SRT you podcast with that being said what is going on in the world of Dr. Franklin this week. Well like Jeff said you follow me on X at the doctor tray you can find me on Facebook and Instagram Dr.

52:13 Tray Franklin when you're on Facebook check out Rockets a championship wrestling we have a big show coming up this Saturday not to mention all the big shows we have coming up in the next few weeks as well. And so you can get out there and support your own local independent wrestling shows you could find your next Garcia whether it's Daniel Breene, Nicky Jeff, Jose I don't I'm running out of Facebook players in here too I'm just running out Garcia's but get out there and support your local independent wrestling show because those guys not only maybe main eventing a future WrestleMania a future all in those people might be marrying a Bella so you never know. Yeah that you never know that you could be sitting there and you could be watching the future husband of Nikki Bella right there and at Rockets a championship wrestling who knows it could be Dr.

53:04 Tray. That required a divorce and a re-marriage and if I get divorced again there's there's not going to be a re-marriage is Nicky would make me sign a pre-nut. True. Very, very true. Very, very true. With that said once again go to our patreon page patreon.com/srtuprodgas give it a shot, become a member and support this podcast as we can try to continue to grow SRTU now into the next chapter of the still real this show. We will be back next week we will preview and predict WWE night of champions that we'll continue to recap everything into and on the world professional wrestling and so much more so until next week for Dr. Tray for I.M. Jeff Pack. Thank you for joining and thank you for downloading this has been this still real show.