Who Should Be Sting's Last Opponent? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #715 – 10/26/23

0:00 It's still welcome. Everybody welcome. So this week's edition is no Real, no Show. Epis number seven hundred and fifteen for October twenty six, twenty twenty three. Welcomes. In this week's edition of s R, she you, I am one after the show, I am Jeff pack joined every single week, likes one one doctor Trey Franklin, Doctor Trey. If you were retiring, who would be your last opponent? My friend? Ooh, who would have my last opponent be? Woopy Goldberg? I thought you were gonna go with Tom Arnold. No, I always liked Tom Arnold, but Whoopy's up there? I mean, I like, I like her, but then I could say, hey I beat Goldberg. Hmmm, streak ended. Yeah.

1:03 So I don't do you have any people, like, any celebrities that you just absolutely dislike. That's a tough one, Jackson Mahomes that you use in terms celebrity very very loosely, dude. Anybody with like a phone and a YouTube channel nowadays is being considered celebrities like I don't even know who half of these these people are. So funny, funny side story, So I uh with with my job. I've been constantly hiring people and doing interviews and things like that. And I'm actually having an interview tomorrow with a guy for a part time job with this, and I asked him, Hey, so, uh, you know, are you currently working anywhere? What's your availability?

1:49 Like He's like, oh, no, I'm pretty wide open. I do TikTok. I did not know that was actually I mean, I get that some people make money off of it, but I did not know that you guys, you put that on your resume to impress an employer. Yeah. I guess if the employer was that like YouTube or X or Facebook, maybe they would be impressed. I don't know if content creator for your line of work would be something I'd be like, damn, you are highly qualified, my friend. I mean, I don't even put this on my resume. We've been doing this for you know, twelve years. Yeah. Oh, by the way, I would say, if I'm going off really high end celebrities, I would say probably maybe it's weird. I used to love Jimmy Kimmel and now I can't stand him, So kim would be on my list. See that's surprising because I think Jimmy Kimmel's a very likable guy.

2:38 He's a very likable guy. But I think it's because every time I watch him, like the jokes are always political, and I'm like, all right, can we joke about anybody else, like I don't know or anything else to anything else. So but outside of that, I don't really know. There's anybody else that I just really can't stand. So yeah, I mean any Yeah, but you're rather anybody in the YouTube TikTok twitch where like that's their main source of income. Four years ago, logan Paul would be towards the top of my list, and now not so much. He does other stuff and he takes risks about getting punched in the face repeatedly, so I gotta give him credit for that. Yeah, total hat tip, Tam.

3:21 I mean, he's a freak athlete. I think he is certainly one over wrestling fans based on his performance and care of being a in rank performer in Worldwisy Entertainment as we've seen as of late. We'll be getting ready for him and his next match as we will preview and predict w Crown Jewel on next week's edition of SRTU kicked off the show asking who would be Doctor Trey's last opponent if he were to be retiring. It was announced on last week's AW Dynamite that Sting will be retiring at AW Revolution twenty twenty four. It'll be three years since his initial debut for All Lee Wrestling. He debuted in twenty twenty December twenty twenty at Winters Coming, then had his first entering match at AW Revolution in twenty twenty four, actually be in twenty twenty one, so he's retiring three years later. The run in AW has been really good, a good way to end his career in my opinion, coming off of the initial retirement from his twenty fifteen WWE Hall of Fame speech or twenty sixteen, but it was big news. We are recording this during AW Dynamite from last night, depending on when you're listening to this, if you're listening to it on Thursday. So we have no idea what the gift that Tony Kahan has.

4:42 First thing is, if I had a guess, it's it's a huge plush toy of a penguin, because Sting loves penguins. But you know, obviously the big discussion now Doctor Trey and AW has about four months to really think about this three and a half four months. Who should be Sting's last opponent as we approach AW Revolution February twenty twenty four. Who gets the nod to help end the career of the man called Sting. By the way, does Tony Kahn have a life size Sting slam like slam Buddy or whatever they're called. I would assume so, Yeah, Okay, I mean I just saw them on clearance their day at Walmart. I almost bought Samy Franklin one. But for me, I mean you've got to look on like, hey, can we build on the Sting legacy? Can we help somebody get over even more? And right now I go at Darby. I mean it's the mentor mentee, teachers student type story. AW doesn't always do the traditional bad guy good guy storylines. I just don't really know if there's anybody else in the company that could really benefit from beating Sting in his farewell match. Do they have to beat Sting? No? But I think if getting that NOD in that match could be just as equal to getting the win. Yeah.

6:08 But if I'm not mistaken, I think Sting's undefeated since he came to AW. I don't think they've lost any of these tag matches. So I mean, if you're gonna I would say, if you're going to give the nod to somebody, I would give it to Derby. But once again, Darby was also seeing Punk's first opponent in aw if I'm not mistaken, So I mean, it is a little bit of a nod. But do you do an MJF. Do you give you know, you give Stick a chance to win a championship in his last match before he goes off into the sunset. You know, me personally, I would just do Derby just because the fact that Darby's gonna be kind of continuing the Sting legacy and it's, you know, kind of a passing of the torch, if you will. As Sting rides off into the sunset at age sixty five, holy cow, he looks great. He looks right for his age. Darby Allen is obviously the odds on favorite right now. To receive that nod, it would almost be criminal at this point unless they do the match in the next three and a half four months that after all this time of pairing Darby instinct together that he does not get that nod for the torch passing moment. Of taking Nonstin in his final match. I know some other names that are being thrown out there.

7:20 I saw someone trying to make a case for Rick Flair Lord love him, but Nope, don't want to see that. I love you and h but don't want to see that again. I think from a dream standpoint, Adam Copeland Edge would be pretty cool. I can't really think of many more. Omega, maybe Jericho. I can't. It's a very small list. To me. It's like Darby Allen, then underneath Darby Allen is the one that makes sense. It's like top of the list and then everything else underneath. It would be like the dream match of Adam Copeland, Kenny Omega, what have you to be like taking on Sting in that final match? Stan Jericho cross paths once so far at a wan A tag match, right or he did? Yeah? Yeah, So I mean that's up there. I mean just because yeah, I just don't know if like you also got ever like some of these guys, you also have to kind of go, hey, who can work a match to still help Sting look good? I mean they've been very careful about who they've had Sting in the ring with, you know, and the and the guys that weren't great workers. They did kind of like the cinematic matches to kind of edit a little bit. So my only word about Darby's Darby goes so fast in the ring, like will that make a deep because he wants stings match to be good, a good quality match you don't want to be you know, you don't look and go God that that last match the sting was horrible. But I mean he's got, you

8:52 know, forty year career, but to your god, the last matches back. So he wanted to be somebody that's a good worker, can change the I mean, Orge Cassie would be good just because we've seen him work so many different guys in different styles, and he can change his style to fit his opponent as well. You know, we've seen Orge Cassy have good matches with the younger guys, the older guys ever, you know, I mean he's wrestled with everybody from Jericho at Moxley all the way down to like the govar Is and the Garcias. So you want somebody that can kind of cross those lines. I mean, Edge an sting would be a great Sorry, Adam Copeland, a sting would be a great sendoff match, but it doesn't.

9:35 It does more for a younger guy's career than it does for somebody like Adam Copeland. M. Yeah, now I'm with you. To me, I think it's like a ninety percent chance right now that it's Darby. I mean, I just can't see it being anybody else. It would it makes so much sense, it makes too much sense that if AW didn't do it, I think it would be criminal. Again, like the only way they get away with is if they've run some sort of angle that Darby says, you know, before you retire, I want to face shoot one on one, like I need to know if I can go toe to toe with Sting rather than being the final match, it would be like can I, you know, hang with you in the ring one on one. So it's I don't know, it's a bit sad, but it's also something that you expect.

10:22 You expect that the clock was winding down on Sting at any point during his run in AW, and it's it's been a very I mean, it's not his run in Impact Wrestling TNA towards the end. The run in w WI obviously did not get enough ground. He only had what two three matches in w W you for getting hurt and having to retire. This has been protected by tag team matches, and it seems like they always have to do one major spot where he's jumping off of something very high up in the air. But overall, as a character, the way he's been used, the way he has been lies on the mic in segments and storylines in matches has been pretty perfect. And it's very easy to uh to bust the chops of aw creative, especially as of late, but I think they've done a really good job of protecting his character and ending it the right way. So I'm happy from going out on his terms the way that it should have been six seven years ago with w WIE and unfortunately did not work out. And again it just seems like it's a slam dunk that's gonna be Darby Allen Doctor Trey.

11:30 Yeah. I mean, I'm still trying to think of alterna. I mean there's nobody he has, you know, I mean Jeff Jarrett he has history with from TNA and WCW. But I mean could Jarrett be the Stings last match and Rick Flair's last match, I mean, that's that'd be pretty awesome, Mike. I was thinking about this as you were talking, though, is like, with Sting retiring, does he stay a Philly with AW or does he go, Hey, you know that Legends deal that those guys have other pretty sweet as well. I can still makes some money going for I just don't think Stings they, you know, make some more money kind of guy. No, I don't think he is either, And I think that run in w WE kind of was a little bit of a bitter taste in his mouth. Yeah. My understanding is that he did have a good relationship with them still they he did let his Legends contract run out, and that's why he was going back to AW. I think he's going to be loyal AW ultimately, though, Doctor Truck. I mean, he doesn't owe w wee anything and he doesn't owe the fans anything because he did he did the w W thing for a very very short period of time. He had a match at WRESTLEMANI which we were all dying to see. He got rightfully placed in the Hall of Fame and then got hurt, unfortunately, and they didn't really do much with him after that, and he was still quasi under contract. He was just doing stuff for like network specials or documentaries, which is kind of lame when you have freaking Sting available at your fings as AW

13:01 really really utilize extremely well. So I think he'll remain loyal to AW, and I think ultimately we just need to obviously take these next couple of months and appreciate everything that's going on with Sting. If you weren't appreciating this run all writing AW, shame on you. And now these next couple months totally open arms. Be appreciative of what's going on. And if you have the opportunity to go see Sting live one last time, whether it be Dynamite Collision tapings, live events, or if he is wrestling somehow over the next four months prior to AW Revolution, I think that's something that most fans, if they have the opportunity to go see, should go out there and absolutely do it. So Sting wrapping up his career as announced this last Wednesday night at AW Revolution in February March time, so someone we'll keep an eye on who will be that last opponent for Sting. Speaking of appreciation, Doctor Trey, I was watching SmackDown this past week. John Seen is in the ring and I just thought to myself, man, we have got to be appreciating this time. Like Sena has been on WE television for probably maybe a month longer than I expected. When he initially returned, I thought that the strike was going to end and then he would be back doing the Hollywood thing and we would see him come and go maybe around wrestlming in a summer stam season again or here and there, keep a streak alive of having a match every year in WE. And I mean, he's been working as a regular performer lately and it's been fun to see. It's there's been times where he's been a little bit too cartoony. But I just thought to myself this past Friday,

14:35 as I was watching this back down, I'm like, man, we really need to appreciate what the hell's going on with John Cena right now. So, I mean, I simply ask you, doctor Dray, how much do you appreciate this time of John Cena being back? And how much should wrestling fans be appreciating this time of John Cena being back? You know, the funny thing to me is when you look over all the legends that we've had come through w over the years, and think about when their careers are winding down, where they really helping get the next wave of guys over. And you can look at Scene seem's been good doing this going back to when he had the US title of the US Open US Open Challenge that he understands the business. He understands that it's always a continuance. There is no you know, there's no re you know, no rebuild, you know, like like you know, like your packers are going with with changing quarterbacks like that.

15:28 It's kind of you know, it just continues on and you want to make sure the next guy is in place to take your spot. And that's the proper way to do it. And Scene is in a great job of that. We just saw it, you know, with him helping get l a Night Over even more. And now we're seeing him, you know, working with Solo Socoa. Like the fact that he's still able to go out there. We saw at Wrestle Media getting like letting Austin Theory beat him a Wrestle Media like you know, Santa has creative control. He could have at any point said no, no, no, I'm not letting get beat me and beat me pretty clean. He did it because of the right thing to do. So the guy's just a tremendous like he's a tremendous asset to the world of professional wrestling. By the way, for you and I longtime wrestling fans, how cool is it to see I don't if he's on Facebook, but the the uh Sena Umaga to Sina Solos to CoA stuff. No, it was, it was just kind of it was just somebody was like they did kind of a slow motion like fade in and fade out of Sina being face to face with Umaga. Then you see Omaga fade out and then Solo's face kind of fades into him like man like just you know, like Solo's character was based a lot on what Umaga does, Like that's what Triple Ah's idea for the Solo character was. And now you see a guy like John Cena, who had battles with Umaga, squaring off against you know, his nephew Solo, and it's it's just those comparisons are really really cool. So just the fact that he's out there working with everybody, trying to help the company as best as he can, still doing all the main wish stuff, you

17:00 know, still you know popping up on movies that he did, like, you know, a year ago, Like there's a trailer for something I saw today he popped out, And I'm like, guys on the hardest workers in all of entertainment, and so you gotta give him a ton of credit, Like he could have just taken this time off and set at home and Scrooge McDuck didn't count his money, and no, he's like, I'm gonna go back to wrestling. It's my first love. I'm we go back and I'm gonna help some guys out and then when the actor strikes over, I'll get back to acting like the guy's just a hard worker and a credit to professional wrestling, whether you like the scene of character or not, Like he's just a good dude when it comes to the professional wrestling business. So he's been back for like eight weeks now, maybe at best six seven eight weeks, and I think he's helped push along La Night, Jimmy Usso and Solasakoa and maybe I'm missing anybody else here, but I feel like that has been his focus since returning, and you can tell that him just being involved with those guys has helped elevate the game. So it's really cool to see him giving back and helping elevate some of these stars that they are trying to break out and push up the main event ladder like he has because he does not need to do that. Let me, like we seen has made his money.

18:17 He does not need to be back in professional wrestling right now. We've seen that with plenty of people that have gone to Hollywood, and you know, he's not as successful as maybe Dwayne Johnson right now, but he's been successful and he he doesn't need to come back. And if you look at the entire scope of the year, including Austin theory, same thing. He's really helping elevate people. And it's cool to see and I'm just appreciative it because I don't think we ever get this weekly, multiple months stretch of John Cena on WE Television ever again. Yeah, I mean, unless there's another Reard random strike. So Seena as a movie actor, would you say he's B list, Like, I don't mean I'm a but he's not an A list.

19:03 He's not a IT B. Yeah, maybe I'm not a big movie guy. I know he was involved in the Barbie movie, which obviously was big over the summer. But I think that was at like a small role he actually asked to be in that supposedly. Yeah, I think there was like a weird thing like he just randomly was on set or so there's a weird story about that. I think you're right, But uh yeah, I guess B list. But his name is so recognizable. Like if I tell family members or friends of mine, like, name one professional wrestler from like the last twenty years, they may go Rock or stone Hold, but seen us on that list. If I tell anybody like do you know who Johnson is? They they immediately know. And that's like most Americans in this country.

19:45 Yeah, I mean you think about like he's been the he's been the last two Fast in the Furious movies. He's in a Transformer movie. He's did that was it? Uh? Oh? Was it Friends Vacation or like like like super Core. But the Peacemakers Show is great. So but I I you know, he's not you know, getting twenty five million dollars a picture like The Rock or you know some of those A list guys. But yeah, I would definitely think he's probably like a B list actor. Like if we can't get The Rock, you called John Cena. What do you think of that statistic that they're obviously running with from SmackDown this past week that he has not won a singles match in five years? That's mind blowing, right, I yeah, because I did not realize that it had been that long. But how long was he? He had almost a year where he didn't compete? You lost that like you won that on or we lost it by like one day on your bold prediction one year, like he wrestled on New Year's Eve. I think it was that you said, He's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was uh, I think it was last year, didn't That was the tag match with Owens and him taking on?

20:49 Was it Sammy and Roman? Yeah? Yeah, So yeah, that is crazy that he hasn't won a singles match in five years or so. Obviously, it's it's it's believable because he's been away for most of that time. But I mean, there was even that stat that we talked about during WrestleMania season that his match with Austin Theory was like his first real singles match in like seven or eight WrestleManias, because that match with Bray Wyatt was more of a cinematic match and then did the Undertake was the Undertaking? The Undertaker match was like unannounced because that's the one I was at. It was thirty four. Yeah, yeah, so that was right around the end of his last main singles run. So it is a crazy statistic, uh so, But I mean, hell, you gotta figure get one here. If he's gonna be around for I mean, the Writer's strike, we don't know as hand.

21:45 He's got to get one. Well. I mean, that's the thing is, they're billing him as the greatest of all time right now, and I think in the history of this podcast, especially in the early you know, first half of SRTU, I mean we were still in John Cena being shoved down our throats in professional and the fact that he hasn't been involved in like a world title match in WrestleMania in a really long time. Christ I think that was twenty nine Wrestlemating twenty nine was like his last championship match at WrestleMania, which is mind blowing. And granted, yeah, we get it. He hasn't really been around all that much in the last five years, but his last singles win was in twenty eighteen. I mean, I don't think I would ever say those words when we first started doing this podcast many moons ago. Yeah, but you and I when we started this spot where when you and Eric and then me like started the podcast, we were also in like, I don't think we hate John Cena mode, but we were tired of John Cena. And then when he went away for a limit and came back and that US title run was actually kind of like got us back on the John Cena bandwagon. It was like an after wrestlming in thirty one when he started feuding with Russev. Yeah, run on SmackDown Live in twenty sixteen with A. J. Salles was really good. Yeah. I mean I still every down then say way, we're gonna do they meet up John Ceno. So I still use that line from you know, from Carl Anderston and Luke Gallows. Yeah. Like the last world title match I remember was what him and Roman at SummerSlam two years ago. Yeah, so that's probably

23:15 the last. Well, No, he had world title matches against AJ and obviously had a run as a champion as well. Yeah. The WrestleMania stats like blows my mind because it was what was like a stretch of like nine out of nine WrestleManias he was involved in a world title match. I mean, robots streak is pretty close to that too, because I mean, really yeah, Roman's been the world topics for since thirty, since pretty much since thirty for the most part. Also the Undertaker match. Well they've learned a lot from from Sina though, because Roman is a heel now and obviously Roman is out of the championship for you know, over three plus years, and I mean this could be a topic for another day, but I'm not.

23:56 I'm not tired of his title reign like I was turning John Cena title rain. Yeah, well it's the Superman versus the Joker type cinder, like, who do I do you like? You know, bad people that have redeeming qualities or good guys that don't show weakness. It's kind of hard, you know, or even Superman and Batman's to that degree. But you know, it goes back to one of the things that we are not allowed to talk about in this show, which was why didn't they turn John Cena hill at some point to extend his run like you've seen with Roman or even with Hogan days could have got a lot of mileage out of that too, so but yeah, it's just I mean I'm intrigued to see how how gracious he is through this and helping guys get over because once again, if you're the goat, you got to I mean we talked, We just talking about Sting.

24:42 Sting hasn't lost in aw in three years, although you know limited run, John Cena really hasn't won a singles match in five years, so kind of got get a couple. You know, reminds me these younger kids that you know, scene it can still go and are you show if they have to? Yeah, yeah no, And it's crazy going back on seeing the hill turn stuff. I mean he confirmed that heading in WrestleMania twenty nine. They nearly executed that, Like a theme music was made and like merchandise was made to prepare a heel turn for John Cena and they never executed it. So I think ultimately we just appreciate what's going with John Cena and is if he's on SmackDown or Raw this week, you just appreciate if he's on Crown Jewel, Fast Laying Survivor series, what have you just NXT television, just appreciate what's going on because in a moment's notice scene. It could be gone again and be gone for a period of time where he just pops up heading into WrestleMania or Summer Slam season. So really cool to have John Cena back, and it's been it's been a lot of fun having him back on television regularly in world wrestling entertainment. One name that I did not think would ever end up one television that could end up being WWE bound in twenty twenty four is UK based wrestler Will Osprey. On the latest episode of The Rustling Observer Radio from Dave Meltzer, he spoke about the current IWGP United States Faway and Champions saying the following quote, I know some stuff. I mean, I know

26:14 WWE's absolutely after him, and he's absolutely going to listen to WA I think at the end of the day, there's a lot of different things that could happen, but I think he's going now for the best offer possible. He's got a family, he wants his son to go to a good college. He wants to make money now, and not that he hasn't made money. He's made money with New Japan and on his indie shows, but obviously AWW are a step above money wise. Earlier this past month, Meltzer suggested that Ospbrey would not sign a full time deal with WE due to his reluctance to move away from the United Kingdom. However, it now appears that Osprey would be willing to discuss a possible permanent gig with the Stanford, Connecticut based promotion doctor Trey. Kind of surprising. Do you think Will Osprey could be w bound? Yeah? I really do. I mean, he's got his in the water with you know, a w He was just that balanced for glory, for impact, which I don't know if you saw that match with him and Mike Bailey, but that was a hell of a match. But I mean for a guy that was reluctant to leave the UK, all you gotta do is look over at Gunther and and see how well W's taking care of him. And that was a guy that did not want to leave the United Kingdom. He wants to it is in his area. And you know, hey, if we if we make you a great deal and we promote the hell you we feature on our shows, you can make a lot more money.

27:32 And if I mean seriously, there's not a better place to work if you want to get a kid in college, than WWE because the places have a lot of connections. I mean, hell Seae mcmhon's sons on a football script called scholarship to Indiana University right now. I mean there's a lot of doors that can be opened by being affiliated with the McMahons in a lot of ways when it comes to that stuff. So I mean, I let your kids is a genius and wants to go to Oxford University. I mean, there's no reason to stay in the UK if you come over here and make you know, generational money, and a talent like Will Osprey could make generational money in WWE because the guys, you know, we talked. I talked about this, I think about four or five years. A guy I say, if he had to like thirty pounds muscle, the guy'd be a main event star. And now you see where he's at now and you're like, yeah, this guy could be a main event guy. Great talker, great worker, has a good look, cauldn't do everything he wants he done in a ring. That's the kind of guys that maybe he wants to jump on and maximize the talent stuff. And I'm sure they'll make an offer that he's going to have a hard time saying notes it. So Osprey is contracted to New Japan par Wrestler portally until February twenty twenty four, and then he is the latest name that will add himself into a list of some powerful potential free agents for twenty twenty four. Rumored reported names are MJF, the current AW World champion, obviously, Will Osprey, Seamus Becky Lynch, Drew McIntyre to name a few, could all be coming up with their contracts all next year.

29:00 I just named five names, Doctor Trey. If you are running arrest in promotion tomorrow and these names are presented to you as somebody that you could sign, is the first big name some of those free agents who would be number one on your list right now? MJF because still wow, he can talk people and at least the best talker of the group. And for as much as people hate the promos and they hate Gaga and they hate the bad hat Lady Gaga, well I mean sometimes, I mean she was a meat dress in your vegetarian you're gonna hate her so but you know, it comes down to it, like the best storyline we've seen the last three years of the Bloodline. A lot of that stuff was the story and the promos, you know. I mean some of the matches were great, but a lot of times I can't remember the matches. I just remember the story leading into it. So MJFF and we've seen you know, the guy can wrestle.

29:55 So if you can talk and you can wrestle and put the call, you know, could put on some you know, get some butts in the seats, you know they're gonna sign you up. So and plus he's the youngest of the group, so I could have him for a lot longer in his prime than I could have Drew a Shamus of Becky or will Ospbury. Well, Osprey's like thirty four now thirty five, so he's not the youngest guy the group. Maybe Drew and Seamus are right around forty. And Becky's probably not gonna go anywhere because of you know, her relationship with her husband. So I'd still bank on MGF because that you know, when he comes up fhrazy, he's only gonna be like twenty five, twenty six years old. You could him for a decade and he's still being a sprime I'm a big Will Osprey fan. I think he may be the best in the world right now, and I thought that he was aw bound no matter what next year hearing, especially the reports earlier this month that Osprey did not want to go to w W full time. I love the comparison that you made there with gun through Doctor Tree, because that was the big rumor as well, that Gunthor did not want to go to w W WII because he did not want to leave Germany, he didn't want to leave Europe, was fine working in nxc UK and then look at his career. Now, maybe that's a blueprint for somebody like Will Osprey, but it's very intriguing that it seemed like again a four gun conclusion that Osprey would be aw bound one maybe Impact Wrestling too, and then a far stretch would be WA. I think it speaks volumes at how W is doing right now and their reach as of late creatively and

31:27 with their events. They just announced earlier today Bash in Berlin for August of next year, premium live event in Germany. He's just gonna be a premium live event in France. It appears obviously that Osprey is entertaining WA and that is appealing to him, and I can't blame him, because again, the roller coaster ride of AW is in a unappealing level right now. As a wrestling fan, I still watch it. They still have their bright spots, but it just seems like it's in a lull while w is putting out really good programming each and every week. So should w WE get will Ospra, I mean that to me would be the biggest, shocking, surprising signing that they've had since AJ Styles signed in twenty sixteen. Yeah. Uh, And not to mention, don't forget there's still NXT Europe is still supposed to be either coming back at the end of twenty twenty four or early twenty twenty five.

32:22 So if you could see the process and go, hey, we can build this whole thing around will Osprey so that way he doesn't have to leave Europe starting out until he gets used to us kind of like you mentioned, like they do with Gunther, Why wouldn't you take that risk as well? Like you have a bona fide international star you could build a company around, and you could do that as well. So there's that, you know, little apple seed as well. Speaking of Impact Wrestling, will Osper performed there this past weekend a Bound for Glory twenty twenty three taking on Speedball Mike Bailey. I have not seen the match back at all yet, is Doctor Trey pointing out? A lot of people are raving on it at the end of Bound for Glory, which, Doctor Trey, You're always that Impact wrestling guy.

33:07 I mean Bound for Glory is like their Wrestlmania, right, Yeah, yeah, pretty much. So. It was announced at the end of the pay per view that starting on January thirteenth, twenty twenty four, would be Hard to Kill pay per view, Impact Wrestling will be going back to its original total NonStop action TNA name. I love this move, Doctor Trey, But what say you? You are a bigger TNA Impact Wrestling fan than I am. I've not watched them in the last two three years. I was big on them pre and then Enduring and a little bit post Pandemic, so like twenty nineteen through twenty twenty one, I was watching them pretty regularly and enjoyed their programming each and every week. But you've been a longstanding fan of that product. What are your thoughts here as Impact shifts back to be in TNA Oh, I think it's a great move. I never liked the name Impact Wrestling, Like if you go back to when we first got show, I used to poke fun at TNA for having all their pay per views named after Steven sigall movies Hard to Kill, mountfor Glory, Like they just all saided like bad action movies. And I even thought I thought Impact Wrestling just kind of sounded like a bad name for a show, like Weird Condition as wrestling fans to go with like three letter names for wrestling companies. Uh So when TNA changed the Impact, I'm like, that's gonna throw people off.

34:31 Plus, at that point, you already kind of built a brand. You didn't have to rename the company. I mean, I mean, ww did it. They changed a letter and people lost their freaking minds for like two years over it. So this is a great move. It kind of harkens back to those those early years. You get a little bit of the warm fuzzies. Plus it's just a fun thing to say. I mean, I hear TNA, I think of Eric Bischoff in three minute Warnings. So but TNA is just a fun name, is so I applaud the move. It makes it easier for fans to recognize and you know, like it kind of brings the company back full circle and from an install just standpoint right, like people are down with that. Yeah, I want to, Like I said, like you think of all the great wrestling companies, like the Ring of Honor is probably the exception because most people don't call it ROH. They always kind of went with the Ring of Honor. But you got AWWWWCWECW, TNA, NWA. It's always been for the most part, the successful companies have always been three letter monikers. I mean they're really outside that. There's some great regional territories from the you know, was it a AWA, you know, but you know, the Mid South, the World Class Championship Wrestling, those ones that are kind of more regionalized. But the big ones we're just kind of I mean, even your independent shows, like you know, most of them are still using GCW, Like you know, CZW, they still use that three letter moniker because it's just recognizable the wrestling things. Do you think TNA could be and for a big twenty twenty four I mean you are

36:02 you regularly watching their programming? Obviously you checked out the match between Osprey and Bailey. I mean, yeah, not regularly. I mean I still have you know, Trey Miguel Zach Wentzer friends of mine. I still check out their stuff, Chris Bay and uh uh Aast Austin, Like I know those guys, So I still check out their stuff. Everybody does. I'm a huge Josh Alexander fan as well, Like I still check out their stuff their Their biggest issue is something that we've been saying for a long time. They don't have that. They've never been able to manufacture that breakout star that people go, hey, man, do you check out what so and so is doing or what they're saying or how they're you know, they just have never had that guy to really make them stand out. I mean if it wasn't for the you know, for a guy like Hulk Cogan WWFFA would have never launched the you need that breakout guy, whether you know Hogan Flair, you know, even in aw A with Nick Backwinkles and verne Ganiaz and Kurt Hennings, like, you always had that guy that could break out and stand out in it from a crowd. Just they've never had that guy. And whenever that guy got close, somebody would steal him. I mean, you look at just even recently, the hottest guy in wrestling right now is La Night and he was a world champion in Impact Wrestling. Is he liked Drake?

37:17 You look at your NWA champions EC three Impact guy like these are kind of people that you could have built the company around and got noticed, but because of lack of resources, they lose out to other companies. There's a lot of rumors right now that seempunk. I guess there's reports out there that he was backstage willing to talk to people about for LORI taping Weekend. A Steel is reportedly working as a producer. There now any smoke, any fire, any belief that Sampunk could end up in TNA and help them have a big year in twenty twenty four. Uh, I don't believe it. I think it's leveraging. Yeah, like, hey, you know, if you guys don't want me in WB, I can always go to Impact. And you know, all of a sudden m plus, there'd be a big finger to Tony Kahan because you remember, like how you know how much you and I love the aw invasion angle of TNA or Impact, So it could be a middle finger if you went that route. But you're like we're talking about Coco.

38:20 I don't see why if you're a company, you don't just sign the guy to a one year contract and just put in a crapload of stipulations to you know, like you know, like like I have an in you know, football contracts like a code of conduct. If you break these rules, we can release you. There's no recourse to recoup your money. I don't why would you not take that risk if you feel like you have a good infrastructure. So I mean, if they don't want to sign him, then if I'm Impact, I make him like a bit, I make him a really good one year offer. I pull my resources and see if we can pull it off. I mean, the guy's a draw. I mean, hell, he's such a draw that aj Lee is helping women? Was it? The Women of Wrestling show draw better ratings than Impact? She was, she was helping them. She's no longer there, but you know she was a name. It is you know, by associate with the mpunk. I mean, I don't know if if you asked the average person on the street that, like, hey, do you know who A J Lee is?

39:12 The age person gonna say no. But the other person might have heard of seem Punk and the Guy. The guy can still draw numbers, and we saw that in a the guy can draw numbers better than anybody else in wrestling that's not named Roman Reigns. You know, for the most part, I think I think those are the top two names that are active in pro wrestling among casual fans, at least. If somebody downloaded this podcast today and they had been in a coma for ten years and the last time they remember anything in wrestling was in twenty thirteen, and they were a regular listener of srt and they thankfully came out of that acoma and they downloaded this episode for the very first time they've listened to SRTU, and in ten years from being in a coma, they would think nothing had changed. As we opened up with Sting, talked about John c and wrapped up with TNA Wrestling, what's old is new, What's new is old. It's time is a flat circle, as they say, And here we are in twenty twenty three talking about Sting, John Cena, and TNA Wrestling as regular major news items in professional wrestling.

40:20 So sr TU, you never change, You never change, srt You with that said, let's get a couple of plugs and sponsor out of the way. You can only show every Thursday or Friday at realguid Radio dot com, russ A chat net on X and the so Realta Show iTunes feed don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help us common charts on iTunes. You can follow us individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor Trey Franklin at The Doctor Trey and of course don't for the fallow show on X at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what is going on in the one for world of Doctor Trey Franklin this week? Well, you can follow me on the elon musk platform known as X fully known as Twitter at the Doctor Trey. You can find me on face Book and Instagram, which thankfully have not changed their names back or gone forward or anything else like that.

41:05 You can find me on there doctutory Franklin. When you're on Facebook, checkout Rocket Sat Championship Wrestling and also spart In Championship Wrestling on there. Check out to the best local independing wrestling shows in Alabama. So those importantly go out and check out your local independent wrestling show, because in thirty years, there might be a guy who's been in ww for twenty years that we're still talking about all those years later. So but then again, I would be seventy five in doing this show. Yeah, seventy five years old doing the podcast with Jeff talking about Roman Rains and John Cena still wrestling probably or something like that. Yep. Yeah, time is nothing but a flat circle. So thank you for downloading this week's edition of SRTU. We will be back next week on Thursday, November two, Wow, November already, folks, and we will be preview and predicting we Crown Jewel as we are heading into another premium live event pay per view bus saw that will be going on here with Crown Jewel with full gear. And then before I note Survivor Series, and then before I note, we will be wrapping up the year, so we're just a couple of weeks away from our annual Thanksgiving show. Well, then we announced the holiday programming schedule, which is wild to say out loud for those that are celebrating Halloween, taking their young ones out there, enjoy the Halloween holiday, enjoy your weekend. Spread the word about SRTU and until next week for doc Tray Franklin. I'm Jeff Pack. This is the still WRO with a show