Was WWE Backlash better than WrestleMania 39? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #691 – 5/11/23

0:00 It's still welcome, everybody. Welcome to this week's NESI in the So Real Dust Show, episode number six hundred ninety one, eleven twenty three. This your w backlashing week cap and review edition of ass Us two weeks. I am one after Shelfer. I am going to every single week to I oh so oly, Doctor Trey Franklin, Doctor Trey. Everybody wants to know from last week, how are you doing after Sammy threw a bullet your head?

0:45 My friend? So? Uh, concussion number four crap? I don't, I don't. I don't really know if it was an actual concussion, but you know, the uh, you know, the old school football symptoms are there, like the bell was wrong. I saw tweedy birds flapping around. Vince McMahon's mustache haunted my dreams that night, So I don't really know if there's a concussion or a wrestling concussion or just uh, just all the stress from being a toddler parents and doing a podcast for almost gosh started almost a decade and a half. Now, it feels like just kind of rolled into one thing. But luckily I was already bald, so I didn't lose any hair from it. So no shaving going into it and uh. Sammy later put out a written apology on his Twitter feed say sorry he was How old is Sammy again? Pour? Okay, okay um, And just so everybody's aware, out of all the six hundred ninety one episodes we've recorded SRTU, you've been on probably, geez, maybe five hundred ninety six hundred episodes at this point, somewhere around those. And in the history of the show, you've been and hit, beat up, slapped, bull thrown at you twice by Sammy. A slap it was a couple of months ago, a bull throw last week. I was going through the records because you know me, I'd like to keep track of all of our records. I don't recall anyone

2:17 else hitting you during a recording. Can you Can you confirm or deny not during a recording. I have been hit pre and post okay recordings, but that's also why I have an X wife. Fair never been allegedly allegedly. Uh. We had the one police altercation yes or moments, one of my favorite sound bites of all time, and I recorded in unsavory locations where I feared for my life at times as well that's that's been a while, right, thank god? Yes, Okay, I mean it's been I mean it says I mean basic since I'd stopped traveling for the most part, like the last few years, you know, being more of a regional podcaster, some not on the road as much. But yeah, there were some times that we I recorded. We recorded like the middle of the night, and I'd be like in the middle of a shopping center at a really bad area of town, with like the back door to the business open and just going, yeah, if there's any weird noise, I don't think. I think we did a show once and then I was inside of the store. I ended, We ended the podcast in thirty five minutes later, I nearly peed myself because two police officers came walking in the back door of the store because they were just curious as to why the lights were on, and I didn't see them walk in, and Auxteria was turned around and saw dark clothes and hinting

3:49 guns and nearly peed myself over. Yeah. I don't think you've ever told that story. That's the first time hearing on it. Um. Yeah, that was that was quite and it was, like I said, it was just one of those weird thing so there's like life happens and like, oh yeah, it kind of goes into the background, Like I hadn't thought about that in ten years probably, And we've recorded this podcast nearly at every hour, like midnight, one am. There was a period of time we were doing it like at four and five am, like legitimately, like I was coming off of work and you were getting up four work and we were doing that run there from like four to five am. Like we've I think we've probably recorded this podcast nearly every hour in a twenty four hour time period.

4:29 Yeah, I don't think we've ever done like nine am, like like first thing in the morning, but from about noon until about four am, like we've hit almost every I think pretty much every time slot in there at some point. Yeah, there's been times where it's been like one am, two am, and I have no idea what we're talking about and what we're even saying. And I think you probably would feel the same way, Like it's the closest thing to do in a podcast drunk, would be like doing it at the two am, which we've done in the past. Yeah, So the leaderboard still Sammy has the lead two oh in beating up Doctor Trey durn the recording of the podcast. So I guess congratulations to him, small big.

5:10 I think when he gets old enough, when he gets ready for his first job and it says like special skills, it will say elder abuse. Okay, and there's recordings now, Yeah, caregiver is out of the mix for his first job. But I'm pretty sure you know McDonald's still in the mix. Okay, good, good, good, Yeah, more on that. We'll keep an eye on it here in the coming years of Sammy's LinkedIn profile. Let's get into a Doctor Trey. Doctor Trey W Backlash this past Saturday from Colosso del Puerto Rico and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Two nights SmackDown and Backlash on Saturday night. Let's get to the first match on the card here, Bianco bell Air defeats Eo Sky to retain the dew Raw Women's Championship. You and I both had Bianco bell Air as the victor. What a match, breakout main roster performance for Eo Sky back and forth was so good. I loved, loved, loved this match, barely costing Eo the match when the field interference could be leading towards the Damn Control split soon and I think that this is a match that should be in contention and in discussion for a Match of the Year candidate. The crowd, the match itself, loved this match. Doctor try Bianca Belair defeating EO Sky. Yeah, and so a couple of my notes on this one. This was you know, we read those reports about this was the first true triple H pay per view since taking over coming Wrenst. For me, there were already some plans in place. This was kind of the first true pay per view, and then

6:43 this match kind of showcase it because EO is one of his projects in NXT. She gets the bump kind of out of nowhere to become the number one contender and has a tremendous match in showcase what makes EO great. I don't know about you, but like listening to the crowd, it wasn't ECW One Night Stand and Sena van Dam but it kind of it was in that vein. It was almost like the old Bret Hart in Canada type matches when he was a heel, because I mean that was almost John Cena getting booed out of the building for Bianco Bellair type moment and she handled it very well.

7:24 But yeah, it was a fantastic match. I just will you matchical that year? Kid? Do you put this above Riha and Charlotte at WrestleMania though, So, I'm having a tough time with that. It's funny that you say that, and maybe this will lead it to more discussion later on regards to backlash. But people are comparing this to like a wrestle Mania type card up and down show, up and down matches up and down. I don't know, to be honest with you as it stands right now, Like Riah, Ripley, Charlotte, gun Through, Shamis, Drew McIntyre, Bianco, Bellair, EO Sky are some of my favorite matches this year? Those the ones that I've earmarked, And I don't know out of those three right now, which one I would say is my match to the year right now?

8:07 And I know this is like a total radio like teaser for the last show of the year, But like legitimately Doctor Trey, I don't know of those three matches because right I mean all three of those matches were phenomenal. I mean they were so much fun to watch, great storytelling, great crowd, great back and forth. Loved every second of those matches. I don't think you could go wrong with picking either one. But right now I'm having a tough time with at least those three matches. Yeah, I think all three of those matches are great matches. I think I might. It's weird. I don't know about you, but I have Charlotte and Bianca in my mind like position in the same role, where like they have great matches with whoever they're working with. I just don't know if I truly love them where I think with in both those cases, it was like star making performances, you know, one for Rhea, one for EO. And maybe that's why I just think the physicality of rein Charlotte might give it the nods. Same with you know, Gunther, Shamus and Drew. But yeah, to kick off this show and that crowd and once again, the crowd really helped because I mean from the start of that I mean from the start of that match, that crowd was on fire and they kept their energy all the way through the show. So having a great crowd also helps, you know, bump up some really great matches as well. You said a lot of things there, the first being like Bianca Belair and Charlotte being the match you know, the people that helped make people. Um, I would argue that heading into WrestleMania

9:39 this year, I mean Riha was already a made talent, right, Like she was already a women's champion, had already won a championship at WrestleMania, defended a championship at WrestleMania like she was there, and the Charlotte match like put her in that upper tier echelon with with very few women wrestlers in all professional wrestling. The Bianca Eo match, like anybody who watched NXC during the Black and Gold era when Eo Sky was there knew what she was capable of doing and where she should be. But for the most part, for since she came up on the main roster and at Summer Slam twenty twenty two, she's been regulated to behind the scenes type character with a supporting character with Bailey and a tag team, and you've forgot how good she was as a main roster star, and that was like, okay, so he she's we don't understand why she's in this match, right, I mean, she she's breaking out a little bits leading to a storyline, it's it's it's interesting. Then you watched the match and you're like, oh, okay, she's for anybody who did not know EO Sky and nxc oh, she's got something and this is someone that can be a women's champion in three to six months, which if you asked me that three months ago, three days ago, three weeks ago, I wouldn't think she would be a women's champion in twenty twenty three by the way that she was being booked and handled on the main roster.

11:01 So I think it's different there the crowds. I think this is going to be a theme throughout, but I mean, let's get out of the way now, doctor Trey. This crowd on Friday night on Saturday Night was amazing. One of the best crowds I have seen during a wrestling show in sometime. These places that don't get w w WEE live shows all that much are knocking it out of the park. This shows you how like spoiled wrestling fans are. Because yeah, there's the normal territories in the US that do really well. New York, Boston, LA does well at times as Chicago, but we all know. But I mean, look at Friday and Saturday, amazing crowd. Monday's Raw one of the worst crowds I've ever seen that.

11:50 And coming off of Friday and Saturday and watching what I watched on Raw, it was like, are these people awake? Jacksonville, Like you're supposed to be the home of aw Like, I get it, it's a show, but man, they stunk. They were terrible. It was bad. But San Juan, Puerto Rico, I read a report that WWE talents want backlash in San Juan every year. I could not agree more. I mean, wow, this is like we saw it with San Juan over the weekend. We saw it back at Clash at the Castle in the UK back in September. I fully expect we'll see the same thing at all in in August for a WUS debut in the UK. Like these places that normally don't get WWE shows are just completely like beating w US fans right now. Wow, what a great crowd that was. Yeah, And I love what people ask when people talk about like, well, I don't know why w t B is trying to go into other markets, It's like because the crowds are rabid.

12:52 I mean, I mean, I don't even I'm waiting to see what the reports are on the actual merch sales from backlash, because he was like, I mean the crush, I mean, seventeen to eighteen thousand people, not a huge crowd by WW typical pay per view standards, because you know Summer Slams with fifty sixty eighty thousand people, you know, the big events. But for seventeen thousand people's that, rabbid And I don't know why you like. For me, one of the little idiosyncrasy things I enjoyed the most was the crowd counting in Spanish. Yeah, yeah, like the near falls, oh you know, or the corner punches, like little stuff like that.

13:33 I'm like, this is fantastic, and they even I don't. And even the entry ramp. The way the interest was set up, it had a very old school kind of ECW vibe, like it didn't have the big like the way it was positioned, the smoke and the lighting, it just looked a little bit throwback. And then you still had kind of the long interest way like you have at the bigger shows. Like it was just a really cool setup vibe. And yeah, if they go back to Puerto Rico, every I like like, I loved it that. It was just it was just great And I just hope they don't like oversat treate A Market and go, hey, so like once a year, we'll do it. I mean, anytime you do it, anytime you wait eighteen years or fifteen years or twelve years to get to a blaze, the crowd's gonna be hot. Uh, just don't blow up a barket, I guess yeah, no, hey, I think I think San Juan earned the right to be like a regular like show. I mean, that was one of the best SmackDown vibes I've had a long time watching the show. I mean, I mean, it just felt like it was a two night premium live event type show SmackDown and obviously backlash. I loved it. Great job, Thank you, San Juan.

14:43 Um Talking about star making matches, Seth Freaking Rollins defeats Omas, we both had Seth Freakin Rollins win this match. Omas in this match really showcase that he's becoming a good quote big man wrestler. It's the best match I've seen out him in his wrestling career. The top Rope Stop was a really cool, finish, solid match for little to no build up and meaning that led to led to it happening in the first place. Reports are out there that the W officials felt the same way. What a great performance by Omas. I mean, his gear looked very Kevin Nash esque. I don't know if he's been watching Kevin Nash esque matches. There were some Kevin Nash type spots in there. I think he did a snake eyes. Um. Great match, Great match by Omas, doctor try. I really enjoyed it.

15:28 Seth freak and Rollins getting the victory. He actually did the undertaker spot with the snake eyes into the boot and that's that's true. Yeah. Wow, that's a great point. So um and I got that vibe as well. And you know, a triple agent charge. Oh dear lord, never mind, my assault is back in the room now. UM. So if you hear me crying, you know why UM tapped the mike. If you need assistance or anybody, call the cops. Don't forgret me like that kid anyway. So, you know, a triple being charged, I mean, maybe he is watching Kevin Nash because maybe he's getting one on one you know, advice from a guy like Kevin Nash taker. You know, it would be there to help him out. But he worked that match like there's been times in the past when he's thrown like the shoulder tackles or the clotheslines, and he seems very timid, like he's afraid of hurting the person he's wrestling.

16:23 He didn't have that in saying it was very very much deliberate, meticulous and looked impactful. Um. And then the way he sold like that top row stop, he sold it on his head like he really front bumped for it and and it looked killer And I love the way and the fact that he kicked out of a couple of curb stomps to lead to that stop was fantastic as well because it just showed how much it takes him. Now, there's a much better performance for for this match than it was at wrestle Mania. Yeah, I mean this is a much better Did did you just get kidnapped?

17:03 We lost you there for a second. No, He's just like literally like he wanted to say hi to you. Oh hey, Sammy, what's up? Man? You say hi? Yeah? Say hi? Sr tu Okay, all right, let's go find like I'm gonna put you on mute so you talk about the show Jeff, I'm gonna take him back to his ball. Okay, Yeah, I didn't know what was going on there. We had lost Doctor Trey for a second. He was he was like rolling with Omas and then I didn't know if he got kidnapped again. You know what just happened, folks. So um, but yeah, great breakout performance for Omas. Really enjoyed seeing him become a bigger and better big man wrestler. And I was kind of on the fence about him because we've seen this happen for whether it be great Collie, Um. You know, these big men don't really pan out and and Omas looks like he he will and can, and that's pretty exciting because he had a really good match with Seth freaking Rollins and nobody will. We'll have credit to Seth, but Omas was just an equal dance parts partner as well and did his job in the ring.

18:06 Would love to see those two go out again. It was a great match. Next match here is Austin Theory defeating Bobby Lashly and Bronze Reading a trouble threat match to retain the debitu United States Championship. I had Bobby Lashly, Doctor Trede, Austin Theory. The match was a little too short for my liking, but still good. The finish is really good for a quote chicken shit heel finish for Austin Theories character, though doctor Trey Austin Theory retains. Yeah, you know, it was a solid match. I'm with you. I wish it had a little bit more, a little bit of meat on the bone, so I speaking, especially when you got a guy like Bronson read that you're still trying to build up. I mean, Lash is already kind of established against Theory at this point is also well established. I Kin always bronze and had a little bit more dominance during the match. But there was some really cool like transition moments. I know, there was the excud, the spot where Brown three hit the splash after a Theory hit a move like some of these was really cool. But you know, after you're going from bianc AEO and how good Seth and O Moss was. I was kind of hoping this would have a little bit more, but the finish worked really well for the Theory character moving forward, and uh, you know, to see what they do on SmackDown is Friday with two of these guys being in the title tournament to kind of see who's going to come out and challenge, you know, for the world championship. Here at a couple or nine a champion. That's true. I tweeted this out on Wednesday, but let me say this again, speaking of that title tournament. On Friday nights, SmackDown, Edge Versus AJ Styles Versus Ray Mysterio in a triple threat match is taking

19:37 place on SmackDown. Like I threw it out there, I was like, this is one of the most promoted, like the biggest, one of the biggest promoted matches of all time. So I don't know when we'll talk about it again, but I mean again, Edge Versus AJ Styles Versus Ray Mysterio is taking place on SmackDown for free television. Yeah, I mean it's what two Hall of aimers and a guy that should be I mean, if we're if we're inducting Curb performers in the Hall of Fames, AJ's on that list as well. So and we've seen AJ and Edge before, we've seen Edge and Ray. We really have never got a good AJ Ray matchup. So really looking forward to seeing how that one goes, because on paper, it should it should be fantastic. It's just that it's also on free TV SID I hope they don't like do like a ten minute match and then they'll finish hey and make a commercial free for the first three minutes. So that's my thoughts. Getting back to Backlash, re Ripley defeats Selena Vega to retain the debt we SmackDown One's Championship. We both had regain the victory. I was so genuinely happy for the highly emotional Selena Vega getting the opportunity to perform in Puerto Rico. I did like the offense line was able to get in before Rea took over and finish her off that pop that like just overall love that she was getting was so wild. I mean, I've never felt so good for a wrestler like that, and so like you could just feel it through the television stream Like that was so cool for Zelina Vega, even in a loss, came out as a bigger superstar than she was going into it.

21:07 Re Ripley gets the victory and retains Doctor Trey. Yeah. I thought it was a really good performance for Zelina because on paper, this should have been, you know, a five minute squash match. Because we've seen these two square from the past and that's what's been and for Zelina to get that reaction and the genuine emotion, I mean, it was really goosebump type moment just watching it through TV. And you know, we talked about this show a lot that emotion is transferable, not just through a crowd, but through a television. We know when somebody's happy, we can tell when somebody's really feeling it. We can tell when somebody's genuinely moved and touched by an audience reaction. We saw that at back, like with Zelina, I saw some people say that Zelina should have won the match, and I'm like, yep, those are why not everybody can be a booker, because like you said, she came out of the match like a bigger star than what she was going into it. And you're also not going to short change a rereally title run one month in, so I thought the way that was put together was the best for both ladies to be out of that match. Next matches, Bad Bunny defeated Damien Precine San Juan Street Fight. We both had Bad Bunny gain the victory. Enjoyable and a very entertaining match, the spots and chances Bad Bunny will take his a major musical act is pretty insane. He almost forget it times that he's an actual not an actual wrestler. Loved the cameo spots with Savio Vega and Carlito. Those were really well done and fun. With the match goo like twenty thirty minutes and it was just a fun and entertaining match. Props a Bad Bunny. I had no idea who he was when

22:40 he got into involved with wrestling. I think he sang the Booker t song at Survivor Series twenty twenty, and then that led to him doing some suffer wrestling Aney thirty seven. I know the name, no clue about his music. Still, I went and sit there and say that, yeah, I've been downloading his music afterwards, but ton of respect for the guy. What a fun, entertaining match as Bad Bunny defeats Damien Priest, I think the crowd was singing his song more than they sang Seth Rollins true like. And I had never heard that song, and I had read that he was going to debut a new song for Backlash, and I'm like, all right, I like the beat it's got some sing along parts. All right, even though I don't understand I don't speak Spanish, the the is it was catchy and I'm good with it. Um. By the way, I did call the Carlito spot last week, did you I forgot about that? That's awesome.

23:29 Yeah, um so I just figured, hey, if their important, I said, subway for the Cologne family, whether it's primo epico, you did say that. I do remember that now, yep, props, props. Yeah, but um no, it was. It was a great match and really really fun and and I'm like with you, I didn't know who Bad Bunny was. All I had seen him was like, who's this guy doing these Corona commercials with snoogog And all of a sudden, now he's on WTV and I'm like, all right, this this can't be a great But I mean, just like Logan Paul, I'm not shocked at anything thing he does now, like he's shown that he can be in the spotlight and perform up to the level it needs to be performed at. So I saw some people on Twitter telling me like, oh, I hate how Damian Priest takes kendo shots because he was like wincing before it got there and I'm like, yeah, you've never been hit the kendo stick. Like, if you have, you know how bad it hurts. So yeah, you're especially if somebody who quote unquote is maybe not fully trained. Uh it's swinging the kendo stick.

24:26 Yeah, it's gonna hurts and you're gonna feel them for days. But yeah, like the whole match was great, the ending was great. Like I really that was one of those like those matches where like it's up there with for gimmick matches of recent memory for some celebrities, it's up there with the Johnny Knox will Sami. He's a match from WrestleMania thirty eight. Yeah, that's a good comparison there. So yeah, that was really really good. Yeah, very entertaining, very entertaining STUFFI bad Bunny defeated Damien Priest cinemost instances. I don't like to see a guy who's a world championship content ender take an owl to an outsider, which I don't love that fact, but it makes sense even given the dynamic of the match in the street fight.

25:10 But again, similar to Omas's performance with Seth Rollins, reports came out the next day that is now looking at Damian Priest as a main eleven, main event level talent and I could not disagree more. I mean, what a performance from from Damian Priest to make him look good. Next match, here's the Bloodline defeeding Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens, the Sammy Zane and a six man tag team match. I had Riddle, Owens and Zane dot Trey the Bloodline. Great six man tag match, lots of great in ring action for the storyline development, The Jay Uso solo Skoo stuff was great and I can't wait to see where the story goes with The Romans return on Friday Night SmackDown tomorrow night, so that should be a lot of fun. Bloodline gets the victory Doctor Trey. This was another solid match. Yeah, it was really solid. The solo Jay sounds pretty good. I like that Riddles the fall guys, so it doesn't hurt Sammy and Kevin. Although I always feel bad for Riddle of times because like, all right, could he win a match against anybody in the Bloodline at any point on a big stage, because we see him lose the Roman. Now this one is like all right, I get it, but you know, the fans love Matt Riddle I'm still pretty positive about him, but you know, it is what it is. But for a six man tag, it was a really really good match, and this also gave us some really good ebbs and flows because you needed that dip.

26:26 You couldn't go from Bad Buddy Damian Priest right into the main events, so you needed that drop down moment to kind of get the crowd reamped back up for the actual main event, although they kept saying Bad Bunny and Damian Priests is the main event, even though it was next to next to last. Yeah, it was a double main event, which you know, these matches in the middle, right, they usually have a tough act to follow, especially after a really fun match with Bad Bunny and Damian Priests. But I mean, great point by you. I think this is one of those very few instances where it did not feel like the show missed a step, Like there was like that dead time, which is pretty cool. Rarely do you see that, I mean, And honestly, anytime you put Samy's Sammy's I kind of thought, as much as I love seeing him and Kevin together, I kind of thought Sammy zane popularity might dip a little bit. But once again, since that music again, that crowd was super behind him, and then also the fact that he came out last on his team shows you where wid still views him in their becking order. Yeah. No, great, great overall. I mean it's it's weird because now the storyline is perpetually over with Kevin and Sammy and Matt Riddle because they're all on different brands.

27:30 But maybe we saw the next chapter of it during this match with Solo and jay Usso, which as the match went on, Doctrey, I don't know if you feel this way, but I'm like, man, jay Usso could be this year's Sammy Zane, like a guy that fans want to see turn on the bloodline and could be I can't you know, three or four years ago you would never think this, but could be a main event level star as a singles wrestler. I mean main event jay Usso, right, he had that wild run in the late part of twenty twenty, feuding with Roman and being in the main event match after being nowhere to be found for like four or five months after Jimmy got hurt at I think it was at Wresselmany thirty six in the performance center of the pandemic one. I mean, like maybe that's the next layer here. I was watching the match and I'm like, man, Jay Usso could be a really huge baby face, which is just wild to think for a guy who was or is a tag team star.

28:26 Yeah, I think when you get wet. We talked about a little bit a couple weeks ago where for twin brothers, Jay seems to have I don't want to say the it factor out of the two, but like Jimmy's good on the mic, but Jay can tell a story on the mike. There's more layers to Jay right now. Yeah. And then the fact that you saw it in the match where like, you know, he's calling out so like I'm your big brother. You know, whose side are you on? Who are you with? Yeah? I'm him? Yeah? Yeah, this could be really good story side because literally could do a whole thing where Jay loses everything, has to pick up the baby face to regain himself, Like he could lose his family, his brothers, you know, the whole nine yards. And then they're Sammy there to boost him back up, you know, reinstore his you know, Juana ve So to speak, and then Jay then goes after Roman and Solo and everybody else, and it could be except for Solo. Eventually he's taking the crown from Roman as the leader of the Bloodline, and you know Jay not wanting to fall in line behind his little brother, where Jimmy's fine with it. So, I mean, there's a lot of different layers you can go with this for storytelling, it that's the route they choose to take. Yeah, And if that's the route they take, the stuff that we saw during the match and the Sammy Kevin Riddle chapters over, if you thought that the storyline was going to be biting a lull could not be maybe as entertaining as the Sammy's Ain stuff. I think what we saw during Backlash as me really optimistic and excited to see where things go from here and even more excited for Friday SmackDown with Roman rains where earning

30:00 and continuing from whatever we saw at Backlash furthering on Friday night. So it does not seem like the Bloodline storyline, we'll take a step back at all, which is great for us rossing fans. And then finally the main event here, Cody Rhodes defeats brock Lesner. I had Cody doctor trade Brock Lesner good match, standard Brock Lesner match. The bustet open spot for Brock was a pretty sick gash, but of course it want to be a big Cody Rhodes match without some blood, and according to reports, Brock out the okay, which he's like one of the only talents that we could get away with that because we don't see blood in w matches for like the last five plus years. I did like the pin as it helped get Cody the big win over there after the ressumating defeat defeat at the hands of Roman Rains, and it also protected Brock as well with a Kumara pin by Cody. Cody needed this win and continuous establishing himself as a top level WE talent. And now it looks like we'll be getting the rematch of nine A Champions in a couple of weeks and Arabia good matched out to Trey Cody defeats Brock. Yeah, really good match. Actually probably would have Brock's better matches in a great a while. So, I mean, I don't know about you, but I kept checking my watch. I was like, wait, we're ten minutes in and the match is still going. I was kind of amazing. Then you know the blood spot. Instantly I thought about the fact that we talked about like in Puerto Rico, like the WWC back then, like the Carlos Cologne era, Like those are some bloody battles, and it's like maybe the kind of figure like, hey, we're not I mean, we're on American soil,

31:30 but it's not really American soil. And you know, the poort riding crowd is very bloodthirsty, so I mean, this is the home I mean, Puerto Ricos, the home of abdul To, Butcher, Bruiser, Brody, Carlos Cologne. So if you don't have blood, I mean, that crowd may riot at some point. But it was it was an interesting finish because it wasn't that long ago that we were kind of complaining about the Lashly Lesner finish where Lashly had the hurt lock locked in on Brock and bra rolled them up with that, and we didn't like that finish. But Cody rolling up Rock while he's in the Camura is cool. So like, but I guess it's a physical it's a physical standpoint, like Cody's so much smaller than Brock. It makes sense where with Brock, and lastly it was kind of a weaker finish. So it's just an interesting dynamic that Brock wins by rolling up somebody while in a submission, but then loses while he has a submission on somebody else and they roll him up. So just an interesting choice of finishes for brock Leser. Concerning the last ego last five months of the brock Leser run this time around in WWE, so there's actually been some explanation about that. What was that elimination chamber match with Bobby Lashly, So the reports aren't there that he they had that weird finish with Bobby Lashly and Brock because that was supposed to be the beginning of the Seeds being planted that Brock was actually a heel and it was similar to Win Brock when it get in the ring with Omas and like retreated, which was strange on an episode of Monday Night Rawn mid March. I still think that's bad because at that point Brock was a huge baby face and I didn't see any seeds beforehand where I'm like,

33:06 hm, I wonder if he's a heel. I just thought it was like a weird thing to do with the baby Face, So yeah, being at that, I just recently heard some explanation about that, which is like the official word why we did what they did over the last couple of months with Brock. But Cody gets the victory. We're gonna get the rematch in a couple of weeks at Night of Champions and we'll see where there's feud goes from here. But a much need to win for Cody Rhodes. At WWE Backlash paper view prediction record, I went five and two, Doctor Trey went six and one. I'm thirty six and fifteen on the year. Duct Tray is thirty three and eighteen event ratings Match of the night. I gave Backlash a four point two out of five and Bianco bell Air and Eo Sky is my match of the night Doctor Trey, what say you? I also and this is we don't talk about this before the show. I literally was like, oh, four point two, so I have a four point two as well. Just be contrarian. I'll go with a Bad Bunny and Damien Preece because it was probably the most fun match to watch on this show. Like Bianca and Eo is probably a match of the year Canadian, but just like that WrestleMania one. Like that that Bad Bunny Damian Priest match I remember for a while isn't because low expectations for Bad Bunny, but guy killed it and they had a great match. I'm very surprised by that, mine, Gio, I really am. I mean, that's a very enjoyable match. I'm surprised you chose it those match of the Night I gotta be honest, but yeah, I mean, that's that's a fun one. You can't go wrong with this card. I feel like a couple of these matches were Match of

34:37 the Year candidates. I definitely felt like Bianca eo Is isn't that match of the year candidacy, But Bad Bunny and Damian Priest was very highly entertaining as well. Something we'll talk about by the end of the year. Yeah, I think the Bailey, I think Bailey ruined the match, not ruined it, but I think Bailey would finish as the Bailey getting, which I think is great for storytelling. But I agree, I think just for me, just like, look, we we come back in December, we're talking about match with your kids. The Bad Bundy Damien Preeson one won't be in my top five or tend to choose from, but just from I like comedy and I like nostalgia. In that moment, I got Savio Vega, Carlito, Bad Bunny, Raymondsteria and Judgment Day like that was just really fun and in the moment I got that as a match of the night. But then when you look at the totality, yeah, Bianca and Io will be up there for Match of the year. That's trude. Something that's being debated post Backlash was whether or not Backlash was a better show than WrestleMania. So by our rating standards, I gave WrestleMania Saturday four point eight out of five, Sunday at four point four. You gave Saturday four point seven. You gave WrestleMania Sunday at four point two. We both gave Backlash at four point two.

35:49 So Sunday was higher ranked for me, but it was even with your Sunday. Backlash was your rating ratings aside? Do you feel like Backlash should be in the same discussion as as as entertaining as Rustlemania was a couple of weeks ago. Overall, I would say a notch below. But if you segment WrestleMania and you do WrestleMania Saturday WrestleMania Sunday as separate entities. I think Backlash might beat WrestleMania Sunday. Like if cars is entertainment, crowd, everything else involved. There's really no booking finishes that were just like, oh my god, that was awful. You know, there's arguments to be said that that happened at WrestleMania Sunday, so I could say that Backlash if I was ranking them, you know, I would go WrestleMania Saturday, Backlash, WrestleMania Sunday.

36:52 Yeah, I don't know. I still think I would go Saturday, WrestleMania Sunday Backlash. Right now, Backlash will definitely be one of my favorite shows. It's actually pretty funny because I even look at the ratings here and this is just you know how it is. Right after the show, I have Royal Rumble a point higher than Backlash was, and I feel like Backlash at the end of the year will be a more memorable show for me than Royal Rumble was. I think there are more moments that will stand out from Backlash, and even then, like it depends on what they do with EO Sky coming out of this do they do something with Selena coming out of this? Are these are these literal breakout moments or were they just feel good moments?

37:37 You know? And I think that's how it looks. I mean, if I mean Selena's entrance is a feel good moment, you know, the match was solid. But if Selena goes back to just being a manager and is not in the SmackDown Women's title picture doesn't mean anything. If EO and Damage Control don't break up and EO doesn't become a standalone star, does this mean anything? And you know the Rock, you know Cody Bloody War match will still be a fun match, and you know we'll still remember bad Bunny Damien pre Street five was remember that. But well, any of the other things stand out more than what happened at Rumble. So that's I think that's where it just kind has to see how it plays out over the next few months. Just looking here at the year so far twenty twenty three w events, not counting an NXT Royal rumbell I gave it a four point three Doctors Tray at four point two Elimination Chamber. We both gave a four point two rustle Mania Saturday for me four point eight, Doctor Trey four point seven, Rustlemania Sunday four point four for me, four point two for Doctor Trey, and likely we've said w backlash four point two through on both from both of us. There has not We've not rated a show below four point two for the w QUOTE main roster, and so far this year Doctor Trey for PLS, apparently all I do is pick four point two about to four point two.

38:51 So yeah, he loves four point two, which is weird because three is actually my favorite number. I haven't think the four point three yet. So stay tuned Night of Champions and stay tuned. Once again, though, this is the consistency that we used to give from NXC Black and Gold when putting shows together. We're not getting outside of wrestlemaning, we're not getting thirteen matches shoved together. We're getting six seven matches tops. And that was kind of the NX tam mold were less matches but more time. And I feel like that's kind of translating better to the audience where it's like, hey, we're not doing crazy finishes, we're not doing short squash matches, we're not doing it's we're giving these guys time to build a story during the match, so then the finish actually does kind of make sense. Yeah, it's a great, great run for Triple H and w Right now so far in two thou twenty three. Lots of pressure now for Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, switching gears but keeping with WWE. Dout tree. There's reports out there that w former w champion Drew mcadar's contract will be expiring sometime this year.

39:59 I've also heard some things that maybe early next year. According to Dave melts or The Wrestling Observer, McIntyre believes there's a good chance he won't be resigning with w wins contract expires, he could be on his way out of the company, which to me would be a massive mistake. He has been off w programming since WrestleMania. He was pulled from a SmackDown show due to a health issue. He is expected back to return in a few weeks. He was just recently drafted. I think in like the third round for Night two for Monday Night Raw. I don't think there's any way that w W should let Drew McIntyre leave, and I don't think that there's a company that can really capitalize on how good Drew McIntyre is. Like WWE thoughts on this Doctor Trey. Could we be seeing a former WWE World Champion and pandemic MVP leaving World Wrestling Entertainment soon? Yeah? I kid, I mean unless Endeavor just says no. I mean that's literally the only way. I mean, if you're looking at actual from what he brings the company, what he's done for the company. I mean, hell, it was Triple H that brought him back to NXT. Like, I just don't see them going, Hey, here's a six foot six, good looking Scottish guy that can either be a baby faced warrior or a heel psychopath and be believable in either role, and we're just gonna let him wah Like. It just doesn't make sense to me.

41:29 And even for Drew, like he's been an Impact, he's seen what goes on an could he make more money to AW and maybe would he be happier there? No, I think you get bored at some point. He's not gonna make more money an Impact. He's not gonna make more money traveling. It just doesn't make sense on either side for them to break up unless it's a mandate from the Dark Overlord that is in Denver. Yeah, and that's one of the big things about this story is folks don't know how Endeavor is gonna be handling contracts, and it's possible that Drew mcutar is one of the big names. I saw Becky Lynch out there as well, as her contract may be expiring in twenty twenty four as well. There were a lot of five year deals that were signed in twenty nineteen when AW was launching.

42:16 Drew and Becky may be one of them, maybe a few more. But it's shaping like twenty twenty four's free agent class for professional wrestling is gonna be pretty massive, and you got to expect that one big name from AW at least come to WWE, and one big name from w will at least go to AW. So could it be Drew mckutar. I don't know, but I don't think w should let this guy leave. You have a new championship now, the World Everyweight Championship, and he's a guy that went discussing this championship. We immediately said, as someone who is a top title contender, give me gunther Drew mcutar feuding for that title on Raw, and you've got mussy television going forward. So interresting times here for one of the pandemic MVPs and professional wrestling Drew Mcutar as he may be on his way out of the company, we'll see, we'll see what the current contract here. Switching over to AW to wrap up this week's edition the show Doctor Trey, the AW Double or Nothing main event is set. It'll be a four pillars four way match for the AW World Championship. MJF will defend against Sammy Gavara, Jungle Boy, and Darby Allen. We've talked about this when the feud started being built. I think in early March that it was really well done and still maintains that way. From a storyline perspective, I would still say that this storyline has been really good and enjoyable to watch on television. The big drawback still is, and I hate to say this, but it's the size of these guys right Like MJF. It looks like a world champion. I'm fans

43:49 of all four of these guys, but Darby, Sammy Jungle Boy don't come off as guys that you would think could be your world champion. That doesn't mean they're not creating wrestlers. It's just the image and things that we've talked about as well, which I think is more important than me. The looks is the way that they've been booked heading into this match and feud has been not the greatest from a creative standpoint, which it just makes you wonder, like is AW sacrificing the best possible main event for double or nothing? Or are they just looking for a match to make a statement with with having the four pillars right? These are the four pillars on the mail side of AW that Tony Kahn has said are the foundation of the company. They are the four pillars, Like, is he just doing this to be like a Stubbard vincerc Man move, which I'm sure he would eight to hear and say, I'm gonna give I'm gonna have this match happened. And whether the fans want to see it or not, I mean, do the fans want to even see this? Like to me, I gotta be honest, I don't.

45:00 Sammy and Derby have been booked as guys that could contend for the World Championship. Jungle Boy is not just gonna be honest here I don't want to see this match as a fan. That doesn't mean Creative has been good for it. That doesn't mean that I don't think the match will be good at double or nothing. But I just feel like AW is trying to make a statement in sacrificing their main event rather than giving the fans what is the best possible main of an outcome. Yeah, so let's compare the most To me, I guess maybe the most famous four way match in my history, which was was a stone called Rock Big Show and who is the full resuming two thousand?

45:42 Those are pillars of that era, right, I mean those are all bankable stars. This match feels like a mid If you took the world title off MJF and just said where would you slot this on an AW card, I'd have it like upper middle card. Like it just doesn't feel like a world title match to me. And a lot of it is like who is Darby Allen really beat? Like, I mean he's never beaten Moxley, He's never beaten Jericho. They're beating Hangman as they're being Kenny right, Like, none of those guys have really beaten any of those guys, as you know, Sammy's got I think Sammy's got to win over j that it just never felt like none of these guys have been established outside of MJF as a main event star, and yet this is gonna be the main event's arguably the biggest show that you've done. So it's it just seems like to me, I guess if he took the world title out of the picture, this would be a damn good upper mid card match. But it just they haven't built these guys up enough in my eyes, to be, you know, a reason to buy the pay per view, Like are you going to spend would you spend fifty bucks sixty bucks to see this match if it was this match on its own, because that's how you have to build paperviews, have to build paberview's like UFC stuff, so that it just doesn't seem to fit for me.

47:15 So you know, the big story from last week two was that aw had sold like sixty thousand tickets for aw all in and Wemley Stadium in the UK, which is great, like that we should be all championing that, Like that's what we want to see where we want to see AWB successful. We want to see another company really content with w WE. We want to see them going to a new market and break attendance records. We want to see that happen. And then there's like this. It was a really small story, but it's concerning in regards to AW double or nothing in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. As of right now, sixty one percent of tickets have been sold, and that number may have gone up at this point, but it's it's been sold, and it they only sold it was something like strange where it was maybe like two hundred tickets in like the last month.

48:05 Like I'm not even kidding when I say that, it was like between two hundred and five hundred tickets that were sold in the last month. Like that's not great. If I wanted to spend my money to go to Las Vegas for the show, I wouldn't be happy with the main event. If I'm someone that wants to sit on Memorial Day weekend and watch this show, this main event isn't doing it for me. It's just like so strange from contrast here, like AW should be selling out the United States in seconds if they're doing what they're doing in the UK right now. In my opinion, but double or nothing sixty one, Like that's not great. And I just feel like AW made a very selfish decision by giving us this match and now as a statement match rather than the best possible outcome. And you said it best, right, like Sammy Darby, they've been booked well, but they haven't been booked where it's like these are guys that could be world champion material, like they should have gotten some victories over Moxley or Jericho Samoa, Joe Wardlow whoever at this point to help get them over. Jungle Boy has been in a feud for what's felt like the last year with Christian Cage, who is a part time retired wrestler who didn't wrestle for like eight years and Lucasaurus, who infrequently is on my television, and that feud was not great at all. Yeah, I just I don't like the decision making it from AW.

49:29 I know this is like something you commonly see on social media right now, people piling on. I saw stuff about obviously their size and what have you. But I mean some of the fans, without the stupid language that they're using, are not wrong in the sense that like this is not a main event level match for one of their biggest shows the year, Double or Nothing. We've always argued that, Doctor Trey. We've always debated it, like what is their WrestleMania. I've always felt like double or Nothing because that was a show that launched AW in a way. You could also make a case for all out Out as well. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. It just it seems like I don't want to see it, and I just feel like Tony conn is just trying to make a statement that doesn't need to be made now, like maybe do it, maybe set yourself up from a year from now to make this statement and give everyone the booking now to do that. Maybe Tony's doing that because he feel likes m jaff won't be coming back. I don't know, but yeah, strange moved by AW creative that this is the decision they made for double or Nothing to me an event, Doctor Try. Yeah, it's it's odd, and yeah it's funny because I remember when we were saying these exact things six months ago, nine months ago, we were getting roasted online for saying these things, and now maybe we were just ahead of the curve. Yeah, But like there are times I've said that AW feels like a super indie show, Like if you go to your super indie shows, you see a lot of these guys that are Sammy Gavara, Darby Allen jungle Boy size, And you can if

51:04 you listen to this show and you go back four years ago, five years ago, when I was talking about well Osprey, he was under sized and for and I said for him to be taken seriously, he'd have to get put on some more size. And what has happened. Ospreys put on more size and now he's the guy that you can see being, you know, IWGB champion and does there is an image to it, even going back to when see him punk, remember the whole physic Man's story where you know he didn't want to see see him punkin street clothes because he looked like the guy that everybody could beat up in a bar. There is some truth to that that your world champion needs to be a little bit larger than life. If they don't have to be huge, but either charisma standpoints or size wise, they have to stand out. And MJF obviously charisma wise stands out, But does any one of these other three guys stand out? If you take away Darby's face paint, they just look like every other guy you would see walking through a ball that was actually open and not closed down because I don't know if they even have those things anymore. Yeah, it's it's a trainer move MJF. And also we should point that MGF has put out in size and he wasn't someone that it was under size. Um, I really I like all four of these guys. I don't know if you're watching A Wall Access Doctor Trey, but for like the last year, Sammy Cavara from behind the scenes and even before that too, was not getting a lot of great stories about him. Um I've watched a Wall Access and it's like a complete one eighty, Like I think he I know this show is being built around like Adam Cole's return in a way, but I feel like Samy Cavara has been a breakout start. Like really respect that guy and everything that he's gone through

52:37 to become a wrestler at this point. Darby Allen, I'm a fan of, like enjoy his work and stuff like that, but again, the booking's not there. He looks like somebody that could be working at like could check me out at Target for all I know, but I don't know. It's just I think you said it best. It's like, this is an indie show. It's it's it's an indie main event, and I just think that timing is really off for AW to be making this type of statement. They may never be the visual size that we may want to see in our champion, and some folks would argue that they don't care about the size overall, but even okay, we can debate that, But I think the biggest thing that I think all wrestling fans can agree upon is the creative for at least these three contenders, Sammy, Darby and Jungle Boy, does not make sense to being a world Championship match at double or nothing. Like. They don't have those big match resume wins, they don't have those big match resume feuds.

53:37 I just think it's really poor creative by w and it's just more of a statement than it is a fact of why these four folks should be in the main event. At least the three challengers should be in the main event challenging MJF for the AW World Championship. So kind of a controversial thing, I'm sure we'll be talking about it here for the next couple of weeks heading into double or nothing. If you agree or disagree, hit us up on Twitter at SRTU podcast or Facebook dot com slash us to a real show. With that said, let's get a couple of plug plugs and sponsors out of the way. You can downlow Show every Thursday at Real Guy Radio dot com, Russell Chatting and on Twitter and the store Realty Show iTunes, feed to rate, review and subscribe to helps coming charts on iTunes. You can follow us individually on Twitter for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor tre 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 the waderful world of Duct tre Franklin this week? Well, like Jeffson, you can follow me on Twitter at the Doctor Tree. You can find me on Instagram at Facebook Doctor tre Franklin. When you're on Facebook, I got rockets me kvv Ship Wrestling. We are nine days away from Wrestling Con six featuring the Crown Jewel, The Bullet Club, Jays, Owens, Send Body, Dunk Castle and the Boys Active Mike Jackson plus all the start of Rockets, Kvhop Wrestling.

54:52 Crazy to think that this is our sixth incarnation of Wrestling Con and I'm just glad that I get to be a part of this year because I literally asked for the day, y'all from Warren. It's fun if you go work an indie show, So for me bagging on Superrandy shows, Resident cost six Superandy Show and I'll be there. So if you're in the Alabama area, come out, check us out. You can find it out. If not, check it out on Facebook. Once we're supposed to show up, but nine days out a week after my birthday. Really looking forward to wrestling condition. So there you go, support all the great things that support the Still Real to Us show and check us out next week. Coming back here and enjoy it. Next week's shows we get you ready for Double or Nothing Neither Champions and n XT Battleground all coming up here in Memorial Day weekend. So until next week for Little Sammy Franklin, for Doctor Trey Franklin. I'm Jeff Peck.

55:43 This is the Still Real Show that didn't didn't I didn't be better