Was WWE Backlash in France Historic? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #743 – 5/9/24

0:00 It's still welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's edition The Surreal The Show, Episode number seven and forty three ver May ninth, twenty twenty four. This year WWE Backlash Recap and Review edition of ass RT You I am one alf the Show. I am Jeff Peck joined every single week when my co host on only Doctor Trey Franklin. Doctor Trey, do you want to go to France? My friend, well, a wise man once told me there's a place in France where the women wear no pants and then there's a hole in the wall where the men can sea at all. But I will say, based on that crowd in France, it's it's now jumped way up on my list of future travel destinations. Never in my wildest dreams what I think I would want to go to France. I watched Backlash and that was a pretty good way to sell France to wrestling fans. So let's get into it here, Doctor Trey w Backlash Recap and Review. We'll get right into it right away here, right at the jump. It came to us this past Saturday from the l dlc Arena and Leone, France. We'll run through the card and then we'll go through our matches and moments. We want to discuss the

1:30 Bloodline defeat Randy Orton Kevin Owens. We both had the Bloodline. Bailey defeats Naomi and Tiffany Stratton to in a triple threat match to retain the w Women's Championship. We both had Bailey. Damian Priese retains the World Heavyweight Championship over j Usa. We both had Damien Priese. Bianca bell Aar and Jade Cargill defeat the Kabuki Warriors to win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. We both had Bianca and Jade, and Cody Rhods defeats aj Styles retain the Undisputed w Championship. We both had Cody Rhodes. We both went five and oh over our prediction records here now and dating back to aw Dynasty, Doctor Trey and I are fifteen and oh over the last two shows that takes our pay per view prediction records. I'm at fifty and eight. Doctor Trey is at forty five and thirteen. Pretty good there, Doctor Trey. I guess we should try to make this a thing with like DraftKings or Fan Duel ever picks up these wrestling picks. I'm we're on a Goldberg Oscar streak right now. I guess we just got to run with it. So yeah, overall, I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I mean ten and oh for AAW then a five and oh here, I don't know if that's actually a good thing for us or a bad thing, because does that mean wrestling's a little predictable right now? I don't really know, Like we like the uncertainty of stuff. But although this card was very, very kind of predictable, it was it actually was a decent show. Yeah, we'll see what the ratings are here from both of us. I mean we did give aw dynasty. I gave it a four point oh doct Trey gave it a four point two and it was easily predicted show. And we'll see where backlash lands

3:02 as well. So matches and moments I want to discuss here, we want to discuss here, Doctor Trey on this week's ditition of sr TU. I think the first thing for me the France international crowds, by far and away, they are, without it, doubt the best France was a legendary crowd. The crowd for Clash at the Castle a couple of years ago, legendary crowd, the backlash from last year in Puerto Rico, legendary crowd. I mean that those crowds make the shows that much more fun. I don't know how, you know, maybe if you take that crowd element out of it, is it is that of an entertaining show that we watch on Saturday.

3:47 I could not get over how much fun the France crowd and international crowds overall are, especially as we've seen the last couple of years in w W A Are we spoiled as America wrestling consumers? Is that? Is that what it is? We're just spoiled and they're just so much more appreciative of the fact that they're there. Now. Yes, one to answer your question, this show is in Leon, France. It's not in Paris. It's in Leon, and Michael Cole had to bring it up. That's two hours away. So maybe it's because they weren't in Paris and they were Leone. I don't know, but the I mean, and you go at in the you know, the Wembley Stadium show, that crowd was really good too. I mean, I don't know if it was as good, but it's eighty thousand people versus twelve thousand people or fifteen thousand people. Smaller crowds in an area like this are really really passionate. But the Wembley the London crowd was was really good too. But this was one of the most fun shows I've watched, just off crowd interaction that I can remember at a qual x time. The fun part for me, Jeff, I don't know if you went through this, was trying to decipher what they were chanting, because literally the entire show they chanted this is awesome, but with the accent it sounded like this is awkward. At so I was like, fair, I think they're saying awesome, but the accidents were I still do not know what they were chanting.

5:06 At AJ Styles they were singing a song about him being phenomenal because I actually looked it up after SmackDown, So the big chants were the phenomenal ones every time phenomenal was said in that segment from AJ Styles and Cody wrote. And if you actually go back to that SmackDown, the fans like clearly hijacked that segment so much so that I think Cody and AJ Styles were a little bit thrown off because it was kind of an awkward segment if you go back and watch that. And then the second one was they would chant in France that is two or this is two or whatever it was. Every single time there was a two count, which was a nod to the French commentators for we who got like this massive reaction from the crowd. So those were the two that were going out. But they were singing a song about aj styles being phenomenal. It's like some sort of pop cultury eighties nineties song. And then they had the that is two that they were counting. But in French.

6:11 Do you remember nxc UK when Zach Gibson was there, Oh yeah, that was a great helpe Zach Gibson off. Yeah, I love that and and stuff like that where I'm like, man like, I feel like as Americas we just you know, you and I talk about it. It's like the tribalism and everybody wants to point out the botches or this and this and this. It's like, man like these shows Puerto Rico, France, England, you know, Scotland, uttuse be car If was in Wales. Actually they just have fun. They're just there to have fun and party and have a good time, and like it does it makes you go, Damn, I just really want to go to a show now overseas somewhere and just be a part of that environment. But I mean that that alone, if this show was done in Indianapolis, you and I have price here and be like, yeah, it was an okay show, But that crowd actually just amped it up and just made it that. I mean, the Jay Uso entrance was fantastic, you know, like just things like that, you know, hearing the French people sing the Bailey song. Yeah, the crowd singing Randy Orton song on SmackDown and again at Backlash, like stuff like that just made the show even more memorable. And it's like, yeah, I mean outside like Backlash last year. I remember Zelina Vega, I remember bad Buddy Dan Priesze.

7:31 I don't remember the much of the show. I remember the crowd, and I wonder if we'll feel the same way next year about man Backlash in France was so fun. I don't really remember like any of the matches standing out is like fantastic matches, but damn, that crowd was into it. Yeah, they were really into it. I think it's just international crowds as a whole, because you see it during soccer football matches, how amp they are. I know, every time like Major League Baseball goes to an international place, like the crowd is hyped, they're excited for it. I just think American crowds are boring in all honesty, right, I mean we sit there and we're like, oh, New York, Philly, Boston. There's some other spots that have popped up over the last couple of years where you're like, that was a really good US crowd and they go back and it's a lot of fun. But then you compare it to Puerto Rico and France.

8:22 I expect that Glasgow, Scotland is gonna be awesome for Clash to the Castle next month. They just always seem to bring it and they deliver and they have a great time. And yeah, I mean to that point, I you know, crowds play a huge role into it, and that was such a hot, fun crowd that the performers were like really excited and into it. There was a couple of times where usually like when the moments happened postmatch, you'll you could like kind of read the lips of the wrestlers and see what they're saying. But you could audibly hear Bailey saying like, you guys were amazing, like thank you so much, and it was some sort of like character thing, like it was one hundred percent legitimate response to how they were treating her during the match, or just receptive of the match as a whole, and they just were having a fun time. You could tell the performers, we're having a fun time, and it just resonated on the screen because me, as a viewer at home, was having a fun time.

9:20 So amazing crowd there. We'll talk a little bit more about the French backlash crowd in just a moment or two. A couple more news and notes from me here, Doctor Trey Paul Hayman's reactions to this new Rogue edition of the Bloodline is incredible and this chapter of the Bloodline storyline is really good with the shocking edition of Tongaloya. I mean, we've been hearing about Jacob Fatu from MLW now that he's a free agent and he's reportedly signed with nothing about Tom Atungua's tag team partner from Guerrilla's of Destiny Toangaloa being signed to WEE. He's actually back in we People may not remember him as Camacho along with Huniko in that ill fated uh gimmick from the post Sinkara era of Huniko in late twenty tens early twenty tens. Excuse me, but Hayman in the background, I mean, he looks like he's a prisoner of war right now, like he has been kidnapped. And then they had that interaction leading into the jay Uso Damien priestmatch behind the scenes where like the bloodline goes past jay Uso, Hayman stops, stares at jay us and kind of is like help me in a way. I mean, that is awesome. And those are speaking volumes, and that is a moment where emotions and reactions and facial expressions are telling more of a story than the words that I'm saying, the responses to what I believe Paul Hayman is going through right now. Yeah, Paul Hayman's everybody

10:56 knows that I've been in the rest of the visits for I've stolen so much, and the big part of it is the facials and the expressing of emotion without saying a word, and a lot of stuff he's doing now, Like even postmatch when Solo and Tongala and Toma tong are standing over Kevin Owens and there's Paul Hayman protecting Kevin Owens. This is the guy that's not Roman, like four or five times over the last three years, was involved in the Samy zay and s with the USOS in Wrestlmania two years ago, and Paul's protecting Kevin Owens like that just shows you like he has no control or his character has no control over what Solo and the Gorillas are are doing are going to be doing. It's telling in that sense. And even like you mentioned the slow walk past Jay. You know, even Jay like looking shocked like he sees his brother, but then he sees I guess his cousins. I don't. I don't know how the family. I didn't and study this part of the family treat But and then you see Paul like slowly walking by, and like you said, that helped me look or the I'm surprised you're still because I have no controling what these guys do. Right now, I think, like is so telling him? So good? But yeah, I mean Tonga Low was showing up, and honestly, there was a part of me that just kept wanting him to ride the bicycle to the ring afterwards. If you don't know what I'm referring, to go back and watch Camacho. But

12:31 yeah, like, and then even hearing Corey and Michael allude to the name Gorillas of Destiny postmatch without saying it is in you know, the commentary, even like when they're talking about Tonga or Toma Tonga and mentioning his wins in New Japan and who he defeated, you know, matches with Evil, Like did you ever think you would hear them mention Evil on a WW broadcast? Like it was stuff like that just kind of blew me away, And I'm like, damn, Like that's really good. But it lends credibility to characters that the American audience may not know. So Paul Hayman, the commentary crew on this whole thing was it was fantastic. The other point I want to make from this show here, there was a confusion of who was legal during the women's tag team match that slowed down the pace to match some but you could ultimately see the long term storyline starting to play out for bel Air and Cargill, which is exciting. I think Jade is still a ways away for being able to handle a one on one encounter with Bianca Belair in ring wise, but there's a lot of promise there. She gets more reps in.

13:37 I would like to see this thing play out, Doctor Trey the belief in this one. It was like the Bloodline always with Sammy's ain involved, that somebody was going to turn on who my feeling would be the Jade car Gill turns on Bianca at some point. I would like to see this just play out and end up at a WrestleMania match. And it's very funny because coming out of the Royal Rumbolt earlier this year, they did the tease of Bianca versus Jade, and I think even back in December when we were predicting the WRESTLEMANI card for one of the last shows of the year, we were thinking Bianca and Jade would be the match on WrestleMania, and that was under the old guard of we that would most likely happen under this new guard. And I've said this before in the podcast with Paul Levec Triple H. They're letting it breathe a little bit more and have some emotion behind it, rather than saying, yeah, we know you want to see this. This is a dream match we're going to execute. Now, there is that dream match.

14:26 We want to see this, but we're going to give you a storyline and some emotion behind it and build these two to have a personal conflict at some point, and that makes things exciting. So a little bit too fold here. The tag team match did not live up to any type of potential because of the weird legal slowing it down, referee saying they weren't legal, then letting I think Oscar stay in the ring. It was very confusing. But what's exciting of all this This is the catapult to what we would lead to believe, hopefully a long storyline between Jade Cargill and Bianca Bilaire. All right, so a couple things are that match. I'll bring up one. I'm a big Oscar fan, but there are times I watch Oscar wrestle that the communications off and it looks clunky. I'm not a Kyrie Saint fan. I know there's a lot of people that love watching Kyrie Saint wrestle. Every time I watch her in a match, and it's somebody that she really hasn't wrestled that often. You get these and I saw people like trying to blame Jade for stuff in this match, and I was like, you have three veterans and a person who's green. The three veterans should be walking this person through the match so that way she doesn't look bad. And I thought that the times where things look clunky and off, it was the fault of Oscar and Kyrie and not Jay. So go back and watch the match and have that kind of mindset. The other thing is I want you to go back and check the tapes because I remember distinctly my WRESTLEMANI card was Biyanka and Jade against the Kamuki Warriors, and you were like, no, I want Bianca and

15:56 Jade one on one a wrestle Manie. I was like, if you give it time, it'll it'll, it'll play itself out. So you've come full circle. Then you come around to my point of view, because that was what I had at WrestleMania, was Jada Biyaki against the Kabuki Warriors then leading to an eventual split between them to get to that WrestleMania match. I want to see Beyonca turn on Jade. I want to see jb the baby face because she is greener, she is clunkier in the ring than Bianca, and we haven't had heel Bianca in quite some time. So for me, it would be that Jade gets popular, Beyonca gets jealous, and Beyonca turns on Jade head against the WrestleMania season. So that's how I would That's how I would book it because we haven't seen that version of Bianca in w W shis she's come to the main roster, So that's that's how I would let it play out. Haygaen say next to yours WrestleMania. I think Jade is just so damn good as a heel that I'd like to see that play out on w WILLI and Beyonca is so damn good as a baby face, but Beyonca and NXT as a heel was really good also, And Jade could be your female superman, like you know, like we talked about with John seen it back in the day or the Roman Reigns, where like she's just invincible.

17:06 It's hard to book monsters and giants sometimes, as you know, villains because when they lose. It makes them look bad. I think you know, we've seen Bianca be the superwoman of this roster for three four years. Now you can let somebody else come in and be the superwoman for a while. Let Bianca flesh out her character somewhere, because hell she's I'm not that Bianca's all because think Bianca's like twenty nine. But as a heel, it gives her a little bit of depth, and then you know she can always revert back, you know, save the day and come back as a babyface, and you flip j back the other way. I just sometimes it's to take the unconventional route is actually the best course of action. So doctor Trey wanted me to pull the tapes and back in December, there as Russell Manni forty Car predictions. He had Oscar and Kyrie saying defending the WE Women's Tag Team Championship against Chelsea Green and Piper Nivin Alba Faire and Islad Dawn and Italian Teaganox.

18:04 And you did have Jade versus Bianca maybe later on, maybe later on coming out of the rumbles, when you felt that way, Yeah, I think I flipped. It was at the rumble, So yeah, I know at the Rumble, I went to the tag team match, so there you go. There you go. I actually had Bianca, bel Air, and Chatzi tagging with one another against Oscar and Kyrie, saying for the woman's tag team Championship. So there you go. There's some thoughts there on that tag team match. And the last thing I want to say here from the backlash pl Doctor Trey is I love seeing aj Styles back in the World Championship main event match. I felt like he was the perfect first opponent for Cody's Championship reign. Yeah, and I think how we posted it there is the first time we haven't had we've had a World title match in cleanly since Riddle and Roman reigns. Wow. But just a really really good match. I love my bouse back where A says just two Georgia boys going at it. I love that stuff. It was so good. I mean, it's just a really really damn good match. I do question this thing where Cody has to put away certain guys with three crossroads but Aj only takes one. I'm like, what we hid him too? At least I mean, at least maybe better. But just a really really solid World title match. That didn't have a bunch of outside in affairs, just kind of shows that you know, you don't always have to do the chicanery to make somebody look good. I still thought AJ looked good. I mean it came out where he basically missed the forearm and that led to the finish, and AJ still comes out looking

19:37 strong because it was a really strong match, showcasing both their talents. Yeah, I felt like for a long time that they were misusing AJ styles, like the last three years really, I mean there's been very little things in note and I know he's had some injuries, but I mean it's felt like three or four ever since, like the Boneyard match in twenty twenty when he was paired up with Omas for a while, and then kind of just period was injuries OC was back then they're not. So Yeah, it was just I felt like misuse, mismanagement of AJ styles. You were saying something doctor Trey, did you like the purple and black gear? I did that was a nod to Nwat and I yeah, and it was to me. It was also not the Boneyard match with the Undertaker, because that was always doing for the black and purple, So you kind of go a couple different ways with it. I was like, man, it looked really clean, and so the first thing my wife said what she saw, She's like, man, that purple looks really good on a jem. I'm like, yeah, it's the kickpads and the gloves, which is literally the same purple that Undertaker had back in the day. Any other news and notes from the paper pl e. Doctor Trey that I missed that you'd like to bring up on the podcast. Is Jay Husso the new Brian Daniel or the new Daniel Brian?

20:41 Like the crowd was so into the eat and the entrance and everything else, Like he's super over as a baby face, Like they just ate that up. Yeah, And I'm sure knowing w W they have a long term plan with him on where they want to go. I mean, I would not be surprised if at some point if Roman returns his babyface, the USOS realigned together and join Roman to take on the new edition of the Bloodline. But yeah, I mean, it's getting to the point where his popularity is super over. They did the right thing by putting him in a champion match. I did not think that Damien pre should be dropping the title to him, but it's getting there where it's like, Okay, we got to do something with him, And I mean, do you put him in the Intercontinal Championship rain here. I think his involvement in the King of the Ring tournament is going to be something to keep an eye on here the next couple of weeks.

21:32 Yeah, I agree. I was looking. I'm looking at this. He's got a little bit of I think I made this joke with a friend of mine there and asser. You know, Cody Roads is the perfect babyface in a sense because he literally took all the big babyfaces from the eighties and kind of combined him into one. Like he's got a little bit of Hogan, he's got a little bit of flare with the blonde hair, but he's had like the stings old school surfacing style jackets as well. Jay Uso is kind of the same thing. He's like, Okay, I I got a chance, I got the macho man looking glasses like you kind of got a little bit of that eighties throveback vibe as well. And then on the Triple Threat Batch, I was impressed how much control they gave Tiffany Stratton in that match. That to me was telling that, Hey, she's gonna be our one of our future stars in this division, so we want her to look really really good in this and Bailey wins with kind of a roll up.

22:22 It wasn't Bailey getting a clean, decisive victory, it was that roll up win on Naomi. So Tiffany doesn't take the loss. Naomi got rolled up. So Bailey wins, and everybody came out looking pretty good in that match, but I think Tiffany came out looking the best out of the three of the girls in that match. Two moments from the weekend that actually it felt like WI kind of misread how the crowd would react involves both those people you just talked about, jay Uso and Tiffany Stratt. I think w WI you thought that Tiffany Stratt was going to get a similar reaction as she did in Australia, and it did not feel like the French crowd was into Tiffy Time at all. And I almost as I was watching SmackDown and then the pl on Saturday, I was thinking to myself, like, maybe she's doing this too much, where now it's starting to feel like it's forced the Tiffy Time because the fans were not relating to it, and then they tried to recreate the Fireflies moment with jay Uso on Monday's Ron Hartford. I mean they dimmed the lights and the Hartford crowd did not do their job at all. Going back to like the US crowds being bad, they I mean they literally the old shot previous to Backlash was you could see the crowd and they would be moving their hands up and down with jay Uso. They dim the lights in hopes that they would pick up on what happened two days prior to Backlash with the phones, and they barely did it at all. So I thought that was kind of funny. I don't know if you picked up on that.

23:48 I just think the Hertford crowd was still where that cmpunk was trapped in Titan towers. Hey, you can't blame him. I reached out to him. I reached out to him to see if he wanted to hang out. It's not that far of a drive. So there you go. Matt of the Night and event rating from W Backlash. I gave W Backlash a four point three out of five, and my match of the night was the Bloodline versus Randy Orton, Kevin Owens, Doctor Trey. I went three point nine and my match at night was Cody and AJ. Wow, I'm surprised that there's a big difference there between the both of us. I just the crowd was great, but really, like I said, like I said earlier, like the matches themselves, I don't know if anything jumped out, like the most memorable thing from the show is going to be Tongalowe's debut, you know, and and the rebirth of this now three person bloodline. But the AJ Cody match was a great match. The bloodline, Orton Owens match was fantastic, but then the other stuff was like it was good, but I just don't know if it's nothing's match at the year quality on the show. So the crowd for me probably said it for me at three point five interesting and interesting.

24:52 I thought the matches were all very solid outside the tag team match. Yeah, I mean, like I said, they were solid matches. But I mean, if I'm off match, if I'm go off solid matches, I guess I can flip on a w Yeah. I mean I don't think that that was a three point five show without the crowd. I mean, I thought that was a solid wrestling show, So it's surprising how much of a difference there. Gonna be honest, what did you have Dynasty at I had another four point zero? So this show backlash overall. Now, now if you put this crowd up, let's look at this, if you took the crowd out, is this show a better show than Dynasty? Uh? In ring wise? Yeah? Probably not? But to me, you know, I always will rate my shows. The problem that I'm having with AW lately, it's funny that you bring this up is and I said it last week. I just think it's it's starting to get boring. There's there's not a lot of entertainment in the beginning or the you know, in the middle of the matches. There's nothing storyline, creative segments, promos, vignettes in between the matches at AW that is making me go, this is an entertaining show. It's it's something. It's getting to the point where I feel like AW I could watch the matches on YouTube and forget the rest of the show at this point, Yeah, all the crowd, the crowd energy at adw's dip down, which is really hurting the show a lot. But like for me, this one Like I said, I think match quality wise, Dynasty

26:23 was better, but the crowd helped it out. But I think I still enjoyed Dynasty slightly better than this one. Yeah yeah, I mean you had an other four point two, so you know, for me again, I take a new account the crowd. I think they play a huge role into it, the stuff in between the matches, the creative that's going on in the matches. And I really liked the stuff that came out of the Bloodline. I liked the behind the scenes stuff. I I liked it all encompassing. I thought it was like a really solid wrestling show overall. That's how I typically great things. It's not just like the N ring stuff. It's I'm getting point where at the end of the night, it's like, was I entertained? And I was more entertained with Backlash than I was Dynasty.

27:04 I think if I look at it from a raw to smack down to the pl I would probably bump it up because that whole week was good leading into it, where if you do dynamite rampage collision Dynasty, I actually probably would have dropped the grade a little bit because everything I say was kind of crap. Right, That's kind of how I feel right now, like I'm having to grade pay per view ples on their own. But even though, but like if you watch SmackDown and it went right into Backlash, that's it was five hours of damn good entertainment. And if I would have bumped my score up a little bit more so, that's I kind of I'm almost trying to grade it and take out the crap around it and try to get fair grades just based on the show itself, I guess. And how I'm kind of a phrasing thing right now. Yeah, no, I hear you. You know, it's funny that when we talked about Dynasty, I was like, listen, Like if I was giving anyone advice right now, I would tell someone, don't you don't have to watch Dynamite, Collision Rampage. If you just watch the pay per views with their airing Revolution and Dynasty the last couple of months, you will be satisfied as a wrestling fan. Getting there is lacking and the follow up is lacking. You know, you kind of saw a little bit of that with And I hate to kind of complain about this because I want these tied up. Because I was thinking on last week's Dynamite, like why didn't the Mogul Embassy come to the aid of Swerve Strickland,

28:38 But then they did the angle where they turned on him on Wednesdays Dynamite. But the old school wrestling fan and me would have liked to see and okay, they didn't come out on last Wednesday's Dynamite. Turns out they were like locked in their locker room by the Young Bucks or something like that. Then there's a segment where Cage and the Gates of Aggy are telling Swort of Strickling like we'll have your back now next time, and you kind of build up to that moment rather than just completely out of nowhere executed because we had not seen Swerve of Strickling with a local embassy in like eight weeks. Well, yeah, I think a few weeks. I mentioned I'm like, so not as a babyface where he's with Swerve, but he's a healed when he's with the rest of the group. And then you don't even see Nana in the ring when they do this turn. And I actually thought, sorry to interrupt you, I thought that they did a bad job on commentary not selling the fact that Nana was selling his injuries from the week before, like they should have re showed that segment to refresh everybody's memory, Like, wait, where's Princeton? Nah? Yeah, because I missed that. And so when I'm watching what happens, I'm going, now, this could be great television, a sense of where does Nana's loyalties lie into it, because dear God, I really don't. I don't know if I want to see Nana join the patriarchy. No, no, as with Christian kings. But you know I'm watching this going for one, we really haven't seen the mogleimascy on Dynamite all that much the last six months. They've been ring of honor, a little

30:11 bit of collision, a little bit of rampage here and there, but we really haven't seen it all that much. But now all of a sudden, it's like, oh, I forgot that, Like you almost forgot that Swerve was in the group with them, and they didn't do enough selling of it to lead into it making a compelling turn. And I'm like, but this is I mean, if we're gonna go down the dynamite ramp, the dynamite route right now, like I can still go back and bitch and complain about the stuff with the Elite and FDR and Brian Dangelsson and Eddie Haston as well. So like the show itself, and you're right, like getting to the paytent views for one show is really really hard and difficult and the other one is seeless. And I think that you're absolutely right. You can watch AW pay per views on their own freestanding. You like, man, it's a damn good show. But then if you watch the other three stuff with the other three shows leading into and you're like, ah, just it's almost painful at times. So whereas you do the same thing with the RAW, You're like, man, this Monday was a good show. SmackDown Corral was super hype. I was excited at adding into Backlager based on the week of programming leading into it. Yeah, yeah, I think you know. I've started to like dread the WE shows, like all encompassing, like the way that the build has happened, the show itself, the execution. You feel satisfied as a wrestling fan, and you feel satisfied as a wrestling fan watching the AW show. But I feel like, just from an N ring standpoint, it's the dynamite and rampage collisions that you're like, it's almost like, get a the point where they're insulting your intelligence or they're executing. They're executing the

31:45 storyline not to the way that makes the most sense I think overall, And that's what you kind of saw play out with Sort Strickland the mobile Embassy on Wednesday's Dynamite switching back to the Backlass crowd. So we had w Backlash this past Saturday in Leon, France. We hyped up the crowd, talked about how great the crowd was, the international crowds overall. I mean, doctor Trey, let's throw it out there, was that French backlash crowd one of the greatest of all time? Yeah, I mean really, when you think about it and you start analyzing, you know, some of the top crowds that you remember, like a lot of them were like the Monday after Rock crowds always really good, the fun done going the Dolphin, sigular crowds, things like that. And then this crowd, I mean, I think I put it slightly above last year's Puerto Rico crowd and probably ahead of Clash at the Castle. So a little bit knee jerk because it's still fresh, but man from the energy level, I mean the energy level and a triple threat match between Naomi Bailey and Tiffany was as high as some other pay per view's main events. Like they were into it every single match and it never wavered throughout the entire show. And even the backstage segments you're hearing the crowd pop for you know, solo in the in the bloodline, walking past Jay or whatever else is going on. They're super into it. Like that's that's fantastic

33:15 energy to maintain for an entire pay per view. So, I mean, I still remember the crowd singing Fondango's song leaving the building. The it was that. It was after Reestumate of twenty nine, uh in New York, New Jersey. Yeah, so like that one there, the night that Dolph Ziggler cashed in his money in the bank briefcase, that crowd was fantastic. That's the same crowd Zigler did that rate after the match with Alberto del Rio Restume twenty nine. That was the same crowd, doctor try. Yeah, so that crowd is right up there. It's one of my top five crowds. Uh. But this crowd is it's it's hard to if you sit down and map it out, it's probably in the top ten at least, but just off knee jerk memory top two or three. For me, yeah, I was thinking. I was like, this is one of the greatest crowds of all time. I don't know if it's the greatest. There's never been like crowd rankings out there, but yeah, I mean it's a very very memorable crowd. I mean that crowd from Wrestleman twenty nine that was very well put by you because I think at one point they started chanting, we are awesome instead of this is awesome. So the French Backlash crowd definitely goes down in history is one of the best crowds wrestling crowds we've seen in a long time. Keeping with the Backlash show, Doctor Trey, We've been talking about this for some time now, and I think they basically cemented it again with Backlash. For me as a viewer, they are taking the approach with these pls similar to the way that they used to build NX takeovers under Triple H's

34:52 reign, where you're seeing more quality over quantity for their ple So this show had only five matches and the show was about three under three hours long, and I found that to be very refreshing, fun entertaining. I enjoy that approach the most, as compared to in a couple of weeks when we sit down and watch double or Nothing, that will be like a five and a half to six hour show of just like NonStop ten plus matches, and it's like one match after another after another after another, and there's no real break of entertainment, whether it be a backstage segment vignette or a creative storyline being furthered. I think me as a wrestling fan, what I've learned from watching WE and NXC from years ago is that I like this takeover quality over quantity approach for PLS, and I think it's the best approach for wrestling pay per views PLS moving forward in my opinion. Yeah, I mean, we had that debate even in Rocket City when we started doing rocket When we first launched Rocket City, we were running eight or nine matches and people were kind of burnt out. And then there's been times we ran four matches, And the thing is is that when you do quality matches, you shorter less matches and give them more time. You better make sure you have the people in the ring that can do a twenty minute match and not you know, have it fall apart and look awful. Because there's been some times at NAC where we watch some of the matches and you're like, yeah, they just weren't ready

36:22 for that one, and you could say it like leaven a lit bit with backlaves like that Osca. You know, Bianca tag match probably wasn't the best match they could have put on there. But what it does is it gives people a chance to see how good these these wrestlers and performers are. Plus it also gives the rest of the roster a breather, like you can, you know, take a weekend off that you don't have to travel to France and stay home with your family and recover and refresh to head into the next batch of shows leading the next poe. There is also the argument like you're comparing Backlash to double or Nothing, which is when of you have these biggest shows, and that I mean double or nothing. They could do two nights like WrestleMania because it's one of their bigger shows. Now Dynasty, I think we had ten ten matches at Dynasty. Could they have done seven and given some more backstage stuff and make it a little bit more of an entertaining show since it's kind of one of their B level pay per views. Probably so, but like you know, Wrestle Meani was fifteen matches, you know, so there is a little bit of like when which show it is, are you going all out? Or if it's a B level pay per view, can you just make it look good and have less matches? I mean, I'm sure when we get to what's the next paper for WB Like we got back line King Queen of the Ring in Saudi Arabia same weekend as double or Nothing. Yeah, and then that one, I mean, but that's kind of like the relaunch of King Queen of the Ring, so it's a Saudi show. Also, then we have the Saudi shows have been solid lately.

37:54 We used to like chastise them because it would be like this random Japanese sumo wrestler was in there, and they thought because the Saudi prince wanted yokazuna, which is not possible. Yeah, but I mean, and then after this one, we had what Money of the Bank in July? No Clash at the Castle is in June, so I mean Clash at the Castle. I don't think Clash of the Castle will be a ten match cardoba six. No, I don't think that they're doing. You go back and in like the last couple of months, like from fast Lane, Survivor Series, war Games and forward, outside of WrestleMania, they have not had more than like six matches on a pl E man so, but yeah, I mean again, you have the Rumble. In each Rumble match, he's going to take an hour. No, No, I get that, but even well, I mean, but you could say the same thing for Survivor Series and Elimination Chamber.

38:52 I think this is one that we saw where it was just matches and no gimmicks that they ran with five and we'll see what they're gonna do in what two weeks time with King and Queen of the Ring. Well and that one, it's yeah, it's gonna be a good I think we're just doing the finals of each tournaments. And then you know we got sammy' z aims if any Heir coneal title. I think there was another title of match now is it I think he's doing? Is he doing the Bronson Reid and and Chad Gable match on Monday's Raw? I thought I read that they were that they had lined up a title defense for him for the Saudi Show to check that out. Yeah, I'm confused right now when they're doing that, because we saw last year he's beloved in Saudi arabi You can't have Sammy not go to Saudi Arabia based on his last appearance. So yeah, it's gonna be interesting because they're like especially if they've changed, because remember for a long time, they guys got their bonuses off appearances at the pay per views, and I think they've gone away from that, and it's just you know, everybody's got a guaranteed contract or something like that, so you don't have to appear.

39:59 But you know, do you not put the raw tag team titles on a pay per viewer? Like that'd be two in a row that that one hasn't shown up. You know, US title has got to be you know, Logan Paul's not gonna probably not gonna be in Saudi Arabia, So you got in the back down, like you got to put some of the title holders back on the card as well. So it's gonna be interesting how many matches they have. And then do you not have Damien and Cody there, like you've got to kind of pick and choose who you feature at times when you do less matches, and then if you're not featuring somebody for two or three pay per views in a row, does that hurt the integrity of that title they're holding. They do have Logan Paul, Cody Road, samy'se A and Becky Lynch, Shade Cargill and Bianca bel Air on the promotional poster.

40:45 They do have four matches according to Wikipedia right now. Obviously the two the King and Queen of the Ring tournament finals, Becky Lynchin Live Morgan's official for King and Queen of the Ring as is that samy'se A and Chad Gable Bronson Reid match. So I think, by the looks of it, you got four matches right now that Wikipedia is showing there could at least be two to three more. I think they are starting to tease a Cody Rhodes La Night match. I could see Cody Roads and Logan Paul on the card and obviously maybe be Uncle bell Aarr and Jade Cargoes since I'm on the promotional poster, So this could reach seven Dot Trey, I think you know it depends. I think it depends on like the pay per view. I think, you know, anything, if it's a B level, like if it's a fast Lane five or six is fine, this one's five, or you know, backlashes five or six is fine. You know, you get some of the bigger shows that are probably gonna draw larger gates. You're gonna want to have a couple more matches because A it's also gonna be I mean that, you know this backlash crowd was eleven thousand people? How much merger? No?

41:42 No, no, they had more than that. I thought it was like eleven No, No, I thought it was well because I know it was the highest gate, and I thought I read it was a little bit more. Maybe you're right, maybe it's eleven thousand is here? Eleven or eighteen? I can't remember. But when you get to like, you know, summer Slams in Vegas, it's gonna to be seventy sixty thousand people. No, you're right, six d and twenty eight. Yeah. So if you're gonna run like Allegiance Stadium in summertime with sixty thousand people, you're gonna want as many people that show as possible because that's all that merch you can sell on top of it. So yeah, I think depends on the size of the venue and the crowd and what they're expecting is going to be contingent on or the match. The number of matches will be contingent upon the venue and the hierarchy of the show, so to speak, the pecking order of the shows where I think Backlash last year I think was like six matches as well, six or seven. It wasn't that many on that show. I guess the approach that WWE's going with here more importantly is they're trying to get a decent amount under like three hours, which I think is a sweet spot for wrestling shows. Most AW shows go main card under four hours with the pre show where they've been adding like three matches, it's a good five and a half hours of wrestling, which is which is tough. Oh yeah, you and I we did that last year. We were like, okay, over under five hours on this AW pay per view, and a lot of times end up being the over, you know. And there's been times in WWE where like the old school WrestleMania. I hate saying old school because it's only

43:13 been a couple of years, but we do one night at WrestleMania. It. I know when WrestleMania New Orleans, for me, like it was between the pre shows everything else going on, it was eight eight and a half hours of wrestling content that was like, it's just exhausting. So I know, from the indie show's perspective, our our goal is two and a half hours. I remember coming out of wrestl Mainia thirty five, it was like sixteen matches and you and I sat here were like, you got to do two nights, and then COVID nineteen happened and they ended up doing two nights. Yeah, So but I know, like I said, like the indie shows, two and a half hours is about the sweet spot for us because the crowd still has energy within two and a half hours. When you get past three hours, you start seeing those lulls in the crowd and they're just like, I'm not going to cheer for this match. I don't care about this match. I just want to get to blah blah blah match, because that's the one I care. People get exhausted. It can be exhausting to watch the aw shows. I hate to say it, but it's like Sunday night at eight o'clock Eastern, and I'm trying to watch the show, I'm like, holy crap, I'm fall asleep. So I do like the quantity over the quality over quantity approach that they're doing for PLS, and I would love to see that happen all throughout Wrestler now because I think the aw pay per views, while they've been highly rated by US as of late, that could lend credence to making it a better show a little bit more focused, and they're not trying to like throw in these matches that have less than three days of match build to it, which always drove me nuts. I'm like, why bother showing this match? Like, use it for something else to

44:44 get people over. So lastly, Doctor Trey, you mentioned it there in your response. Resumting forty nine location has been announced. It was heavily delayed. The expectation was before Wrestumating forty that it would be announced and it didn't happen. Then the expectation was that would happen during Rests Mania forty weekend, and it did not. All we had heard for months and months and months was Minnesota. Up until recently. I actually think The Undertaker spoiled it on his podcast that Las Vegas started to see a swing up and it's official. It will be taking place in Las Vegas during Easter weekend April nineteenth and twentieth. That should not be a surprise since the UFC is heavily into the Las Vegas area with their UFC shows their partner there in endeavor TKO group holdings during Easter weekend is a while to move by we because I know, for me who celebrates Easter most Easter evenings, we have a dinner at five or six o'clock with family and some friends, and that goes on until eight o'clock at night. So I am gonna have a tough time watching Night Too Live for wrestum Aia so Resumet forty one goes to Las Vegas. I think that's a great location. I'm excited for that because I think there's gonna be a lot of cool things that are gonna be in and around WrestleMania, and it's taken place here in eastern weekend. Your thoughts are the big news from the weekend, Doctor Trey Well, location is fantastic because you know, much like the

46:15 Super Bowl, WrestleMania is a destination trip. And you know, I've joked in the past like I remember the WrestleMania at MetLife Stadium where I was driving past, and I'm like, yeah, April in uh, WrestleMania in the North can be kind of sketchy at times. We saw a little bit of that this year with Night one being kind of cold. WrestleMania in April and Minnesota at Target Field would be probably be kind of chilly and cold, and you run that risk. So doing well that that is it's indoors. It's indoors. What the travel like ling on around it? Of course, it's not always conducive to travel. And it's also like just the average person, would you rather go to Minneapolis, Minnesota or Las Vegas? Oh, most people are gonna pick Vegas. Most people Minneapolis'm not I'm not crapping on Minnesota.

47:07 I love Minneapolis. It's a wonderful city. But in April, I think I'd rather go to Vegas. So it makes sense. Now. The Eastern thing is weird in a sense of like we our family's always done in Eastern lunch, like right after church, so you would go to church, you would come home, have a big lunch with the family because most kids still to go back to school on Monday, so we wouldn't stay out too late. So I think it kind of is regional when stuff like that comes up. So I'll probably be able to watch it because by the time we get down to dinner and everybody goes home, it's five o'clock and so we have the rest of the evening free to watch it. But I do understand in other areas where they do, you know, like you have a supper or a dinner that can kind of walk into it. Plus they typically try not to do stuff on religious holidays. I mean, I know, for they stop doing the Christmas shows because people are complained about it, So it is kind of weird that they've they've gone this route with it. I will say the Vegas thing that I did see pictures of UFC doing a show inside the Sphere in Vegas, like raw would look really really cool that side the sphere. I mean, you can almost bring back to thunderdelt h maybe a decent idea there. I like it. There was some discussion Doctor Trey of Wrestlemantia and being moved to may really may like the first weekend in May, which I think was some of the weekend discussions. There was like Easter weekend and the first week of May weekend in May that was being talked about.

48:35 It's funny, you know, you point to Philadelphia the two nights, like night one was like really cold and they made a big deal about that on the broadcast, and then night too, very Northeast weather was warm. I think it was like in this high sixties and it was, you know, very nice and pleasant out there as compared to the night before. I remember being at Wrestumate at twenty nine outdoors MetLife Stadium and being cold. It was not enjoyable. I know that they had heaters at rest May twenty nine for the talent. I think they did in Philadelphia as well above and then the ring posts themselves were also throwing out some heat. But yeah, I mean I would be in a residency in in May WrestleMania. I mean, everybody's like, no, traditionally it's been April. Well, I'm old enough to know that RESTMANI used to take place in mid March, So I mean, is it really tradition anymore if it moved from mid March to early April to May. At this point, I think that'd be intriguing. But then again, there are times in the Northeast still in May where it can be cold in early May. We're not experiencing that right now, thank god, but I think tomorrow in the Northeast it's supposed to be like high fifties, which is typical for this region. So there you go. Resume Maty forty one in Las Vegas April nineteenth and twentieth. Obviously, more on that as it gets closer, but the road to Restu Maty forty one is now a FI and it heads all to Las Vegas, Nevada. With that said, we're

50:06 going to close up shop here in just a moment, but I want to do a little bit of a teaser. Last week, following the recording of last week's podcast, Doctor Trey and I had a discussion about the future of SRTU and we will address that all on next week's edition of The Still Real Do Show. I know this is like a Tony Kahn major announcement, but this is pretty big, folks. We will be discussing the future of the Still Real Does Show podcast all on next week's edition of the show, and of course, everything else is going on the world Professional Wrestling. With that said, let's get a couple of plugs and sponsors are the way you can down the show every Thursday or Friday at riograyu dot com, Russell chattennead on X and the Still Reela Show iTunes feed. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help us climb the charts on iTunes. You can follow us individually on X for myself at SRTU, Jeff Ever, Doctor Trey Franklin at The Doctor Trey, and of course don't forget to follow a show on at SRTU podcast without being said, what is going on the one for World of dot Trey Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on X at the Doctor Trey. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram Doctor Trey Franklin. When you're on Facebook, be sure to check out Rocket City Championship Wrestling as we are less than two weeks away from Wrestling Con seven coming up May eighteen from Lovely Hazel Green, Alabama, Action Mike Jackson, Chase Owen, Sin Body, Chick Donovan just Super Crazy. You know, it's one of our big events that we do every single year, So really looking forward to the show, so be able to check it out on

51:38 the Facebook page. Also, I am going to ask a favor of the SRTU U universe. I am going to be incapacitated. This has nothing to do with the announcement. This is just my personal thing having surgery, going to be incapacitated for a little bit. Any recommendations on shows that I have missed out on because wrestling has up my time, send it to the Twitter feed or the xve whatever they call it. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna be on a couch for like two months, Jeff. Any things to watch that's not wrestling related, so I don't just completely go insane. Dot Sure are you a fan of Star Wars? I am a fan of Star Wars. I actually my son last Saturday. I actually had a friend come over and they watched all nine episodes Wow, of Star Wars in a row four May to fourth. Isn't that like a twenty four No? No, they're like two hours each of those, so that's like eighteen hours. He ran a little bit over into May fifth, so I just figured that's because he wanted to celebrate Sincodmayo. Also, so have you watched The Mandalorian? I have watched. I watched season one of The Mandalorian in parts of season two.

52:46 Okay, that's one I would recommend. I My wife and I enjoy the Mandalorian show and Book of Boba Fat as well. So there you go. Hit him up on Twitter at the Doctor Trey and let him know some shows that you should check out there as Doctor Trey will be laid up and looking for things to watch. And don't say like we this is awesome on Peacock. He just told you no wrestling shows, so it's a little bit more outside of the wrestling fandom that we know and love. You're on SRTU. So once again, next week's show, big announcement, Huge announcement on the future of the Still Real Does Show podcast. Check that out all on next week's show, download, rate, review, and subscribe, spread the word about the Still Rail Do Show and until next week. For Doctor Trey Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. This is the Sturrealers Show.