WWE-TNA Shocker, AEW Stars Rethink WWE & Is It Jey Uso's Time? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #780 – 01/23/25

0:00 It's still real to me, damn it! What up, you! Welcome everybody! Welcome to this week's "CDISONUSTORILDUS" show, episode number 7 or 90 for January 23rd, and welcome to this week's edition of the S-R-T-U. I am one after the show, I am Jeff Beck, like every single week of my co-host along with Dr. Trey Franklin, Dr. Trey, a groundbreaking announcement that I never thought we would see coming in the history of this show, my friend.

0:44 Oh, that break is a cancer in the locker room, and Tony Cotton is not going to book her anymore? And until next week, this has been for Dr. Trey Franklin, I'm Jeff Beck. This has been Mr. Rochelle. Yeah. Dr. Trey, Dr. Trey, what? Oh, you're going there, huh? I'm just saying, like, there was a groundbreaking, and that was like the crown princess of AEW, so that's groundbreaking. We may or may not be talking about her. I'm going to lean into, we will be talking about her. Dr. Trey, the groundbreaking partnership that I thought we would never see come in the history of S-R-T-U.

1:27 Go back to 2010. If you and I were sitting down and we were doing a podcast, and I was saying, "T-R, let's look at the dumbass, Dixie Carter, "Tween of the Week," which was the segment we used to do in the early days of the show. Do you think there would ever be a day that there would be a formal announcement between World Wrestling Entertainment and TNA, announcing that they've joined forces in a historic multi-year deal? Not like this, but if you go back to my ball predictions from last year, I did say that WWE was by TNA and make them another developed mental brand. So, not quite exactly what happened, but that's kind of where I feel like this is trending, is that TNA and NXT are going to be like a supplemental kind of a partnership where I mean, we're going to see it this week. We got the TNA or the NXT Tag Champs going to TNA to defend the title.

2:24 So, it's a complete shift in a lot of ways from what we are accustomed to seeing with WWE like, you know, for years. We weren't allowed to talk about other companies. We weren't allowed to talk about champions in other places. But now we're in this, you know, a Malgatby universe. We're in WWE. Yeah, we'll work with anybody. We'll work with someone if it's good for us and good for our product and good for our superstars. Yeah, let's jump on board. I did not think it would come to this formal of an agreement, but like we've seen in the past with WWE, especially over the last five years, if AEW does something, WWE goes, hey, let's try that, but do it better.

3:07 So, we saw the AEW TNA crossover a couple years ago, and I feel like WWE is just going, hey, let's just do that and just make it a little bit better and make it more beneficial for everybody involved. Yeah, this is obviously this is something that we thought was going to happen. And we actually kind of thought that it did happen because TNA has been working with WWE since about last year's Royal Rumble when Jordan Grace entered the Women's Royal Rumble. She did a couple of shows with them. Joe Hantry took on Trick Williams. Excuse me, Ethan Page for the NXT Championship at a couple of the PLEs for NXT. He had a rum with them for a little bit. I think, Freaky Kizarian. Alexander Hammerstone, Rosemary, Masha Slamovich, most recently, people have been showing up on WWE Television from TNA for some time.

3:51 And then some of the NXT stars were crossing over, crossing the line, going over TNA, I think Soul Rooka did. Tane and Paxley. Tane and Paxley, Ariana Grace did, Wesley, while we saw the Rascals in both in WWE as well, Tramie Gale and Zachary Wentz. So this has been ongoing, but to see the formal announcement come out and they're like, alright, this is a multi-year deal. It basically some mence what we can expect from WWE and TNA going forward because the relationship had been a little bit dormant the last couple of months to close out the year. And now they ramped it back up just in time with TNA Genesis this past weekend, the live TNA impact wrestling episode that will air on Thursday night.

4:37 So it's a pretty exciting time and to the AEW point, Dr. Troy, what is interesting, and I agree with you, this is like WWE sees what AEW does and they're like we could do it better. And for the most part they have, and if there is a slight on AEW, I think it's fair to say that the AEW partnerships don't really look great for the other companies. AEW had a partnership with TNA, Kenny Omega was the TNA, we're live away with Jeremy for a period of time and they had Kenny on the pay per views like that benefited TNA. But there was never anybody from the TNA side that came over outside of a few that jumped in and got the good rub from AEW being on AEW television.

5:25 Like the only times they did it, maybe it was either Moose or Sammy Callahan, may have had a match on like a rampage or something I feel like. So I never felt like that relationship benefited well, 14A when they were with AEW. It was like an immediate buzz and we liked it and we were very engaged but as it went on it was like this is definitely leaning towards AEW. AEW knew Japan relationship, I would say is kind of the same way. I think AEW benefits a lot more than the New Japan folks. You had John Moxley as the New Japan, IWGP World of the Way champion for a period of time.

6:05 You had Chris Charlton bashing AEW during Russell Dynasty, Colin Tony caught on money market and then getting suspended. It just always feels like that AEW benefits from their partnerships while the other companies really don't. And I know they have a partnership with CMLL, you get the CMLL guys on AEW television for a little bit. But back to CMLL it's like maybe one or two, three AEW guys. So the way that the WWE TNA partnership has played out so far Dr. Shry, I think both companies are benefiting and that's how it should be. It should be like WWE is one sided or even TNA is one sided. It should be something that benefits both companies and that's my take on it so far.

6:51 The WWE TNA partnership has worked out well. I feel like in comparison the AEW partnerships have not. I mean you just look at on paper, you look at the TNA people that have been featured. And then when they first crossed over Joe Henry is a much bigger star now than he was, you know, a year ago, Jordan Grace, a bigger star than she was a year ago. The rascals are probably a little bit bigger now than they were a year ago to a degree. So it has benefited both brands. I mean it's kind of in a way the inverse where I think the TNA people have benefited more from the WWE NXT crossover than the NXT guys have going to TNA.

7:33 Whereas AEW has been completely one sided. It's all been AEW. I mean we sat here at multiple, multiple events and we're like what is New Japan's record on AEW pay per views? I mean it was a trotious. I mean it's like two in 40 or some crazy stuff like that. Like they just didn't win unless it was like the undercard or you know preshow matches. And the new Japan guys weren't getting over and even when the TNA or the CW guys went to do Japan, you saw a Moxie beat not just IWGP champion but US champion. Jack Perry's has some his success. Hell the young bucks are the current IWGP tag team champions. You know it's really one side. I don't see the benefits for the other companies when they work with AEW as opposed to TNA working with WWE because I think the guys that have made that crossover.

8:26 For the most part our bigger stars now than they were when this before this whole thing started. Yeah that's the thing is it's it needs to play out well for both companies and I have to say. I don't watch TNA every week but ever since they changed back to TNA and then Scott to more left and everything there's been a really good buzz around TNA. It was helped fed for me as a guy who just watches WWE and AW and some new Japan here and there that I was like alright I'm sorry to get interested I just don't have the time to watch the shows or really follow it. And as the year went on it's like TNA had like this really good momentum and there was such good buzz leading into this announcement and then the Genesis paper view.

9:17 So I'm just going to start recording this before the Thursday live episode air start to try. I'm considering willing to start watching TNA again and give them a chance to like see what's going on there because across the board with what the fans are saying and people that enjoy wrestling is they're enjoying watching TNA wrestling right now. And then I just say the same thing about AW is a complete product currently so in my mind I'm like man should I be potentially removing AW programming and watching TNA and that's kind of like what the goal here is with this partnership. You're a guy who was for the most part the entire for the first half of the history of the show. I was the WWE guy you were the TNA guy.

10:04 I was nominated by WWE talk and we would periodically check in it's like what's going on in TNA wrestling and it's time goes on you have fallen out of TNA. You're the TNA guy on the show doctor try how has this partnership affected you wanting to watch TNA again or prior to even that have you started to watch TNA again or will you start watching TNA again. I mean I don't know I haven't watched anything live like a lot of stuff I've watched I've watched through YouTube or you know other nefarious streaming methods I guess is a good way of putting it. But like you know I have friends in TNA I have friends in AW I have friends in NXC so I try to watch what my friends are doing if it's somebody I know or somebody that I you know I have a history with.

10:54 I've watched other stuff and a lot of this stuff with TNA has got me interested in and I have scaled back my AW viewing heads like I don't watch collision or rampage I haven't watched that stuff in probably good year year and a half when it comes to those who shows I'll still watch dynamite I'll still watch the paper views but collision or rampage just weren't that great for me especially when when punk left the company so I had kind of supplemented TNA in a lot of ways into that Friday Saturday night. Stuff like if I'm home there's nothing really to do I'll pull up TNA and start checking it out the crossover stuff has me excited I mean literally and Genesis I'm watching man Jeff Hardy two guys that I've I've met years and years ago take on treatment gallon Zach wins two guys that I know from rock star pro and here comes Nathan Frazier and axiom and Nathan Frazier has been to rock a city so I'm watching this I'm like I know somebody involved in on every team is matches.

11:52 This is really cool so I still check it out Josh Alexander like everybody this you know he's my one of my favorite wrestlers to watch I love checking his stuff out the match you have a Santana was really good so yeah I like it's got me excited because I like the crossover stuff it is kind of like another little circle develop metal territory for W2B they can look at people and go hey this is somebody we might be interested in bringing into NXT and kind of giving them you know a little more attention a little more Rob and see how well they do and you know it's a way for our our people who aren't you know on regular NXB programming to go somewhere else and still get TV time and work on their craft it just seems to be working out great for both sides I got love I'm not a big Masha Masha slam a fish person but the stuff with her and cord jade's going to be interesting you know seeing JBL and Genesis and then show up at raw which they didn't mention what he did in Genesis but was still kind of cool and then the fact that you might get Nick Nemeth or Brian Myers or the hearties to cross over in NXT like some people that have some great legacy with W actually maybe make that cross over in is a really cool possibility as well so on paper it's it sounds great but then like we saw a WT and I like we were excited to see a lot of the W guys or TNA guys that have history with the show to those crossovers and no one really did so as long as WB's you on board and they make an announcement and john cnus retweeting it people saw that that we are like oh crap what the hell is tn a thing john cnus talking about that aren't die hard wrestling fans might check it out like it's really good for both companies

13:38 yeah could you imagine if it was 15 years ago john cnus retweeting tna and i would break the internet back then i i does not have the same oomph as it would have when we first started this podcast but i you know i put my mind back in 2010 even prior to all that before we ever did the show and i'm like it's it is very surreal to see those two logos next one another and being willing to work with one another i think a lot of anti a w people out there are probably saying well now tna is like the legit number two in the united states that's not the case a w still the legit number two but what i will say is the trajectory in the momentum and if you're buying stock of tna rising up in the United States or resting as a whole is definitely going up right now because if they can get to continue to capitalize on their own programming and get some buzz and they continue to capitalize when they're on nxt programming and get some buzz this is going to be very beneficial for tna wrestling obviously and it's going to be very beneficial for w as well the watchdog in me while it has been pretty even so far like a good 50 50 and i know probably people are probably yelling out well jordan grace lost to roxan paraz and joe henry lost to eath and page and it's like you're absolutely right that did happen however i felt like jordan grace became a bigger star i felt like joe henry became a bigger star and then went back to tna they were able to capitalize on that those two major losses aside i want to see tna stars get some very solid wins against the nxt stars

15:11 like we could be living in the world where the rascals are defeating fraxiom on the live tna impact wrestling episode maybe if you're listening to the show afterwards you obviously know the result and that would be pretty earth shattering and i think that would be a big message that would be sent that's like okay w and tna they're they're trying to make this work like this is legit this is going to be fun we don't need an alliance angle we don't need a pay per view where they face one another and w we get the win like we've been down that road i just want to see a partnership where both sides benefit from this and i think that is what's most important because ultimately dr trit this is a blueprint for other future partnerships for world-rass entertainment because who's to know right maybe new japan and a w their relationship gets sour and new japan reaches out to w we and they're like well they did really well with tna the tna really benefited and they could show the metrics they could show um revenue and stuff like that from the partnership and how w we impact a tna positively you may be able to see this with other companies i mean w we has a loose partnership with um uh... pro wrestling noah right now and they have a loose partnership with uh what is the off-shoot uh merry gold where julie came from that was the off-shoot of start them uh the women's wrestling promotion over in japan so they're already there i mean could they be doing stuff with triple a now that cmail al's tied with a w it's very well possible and it's exciting times for world-rass entertainment right now anti an wrestling dr tray

16:48 um i i i just think in two thousand twenty five like there's blood in the water with a w right now and i feel like w in tna or partnering with one another with the hopes of them being one two and that is a partnership i think tna is okay with knowing that they will not overtake w we anymore and they just need to be a legit profitable wrestling promotion that is one of the top in the in the country and i think this partnership has the opportunity to do it again a w is struggling in my opinion and uh... there's some blood in the water so this is this is a very interesting time for united states wrestling promotions yeah i've also think that they've seen that there is depth in the marketplace like you can have w in a w running and you can still be attracting viewers and they were doing that pre-partnership here now they're looking away if we can get a little bit of the w_p_ production a little bit of marketing team behind us we could be a solid number three and be a profitable number three because they're not paying any of those guys a ton of money there's a few guys making a good living but for the most part you know tna people are still working independent gigs and stuff like that to kind of help supplement the income so if they can get a little bit of that rub from w_e_ to steal an insider term uh... in boost their market ability up i mean they've seen like a w_n_a launch i mean we saw their product in hot topics their action figures are in all

18:21 the major retail stores there's still room for tna to kind of jump in and take a share uh... and using w w to kind of ascend to that strong number three is is a fine thing i mean we we've seen it in you know other sports i mean the mba's you know killing it you know numbers wise cause we're but how many these little three on three leagues are popping up and you know making a little bit of money we've seen you know the u_f_l uh... and there was a u_s_f_l and the world football league or whatever the other breath except except for xf_l_ in the u_s_f_l merge to become a viable number two because there's still a niche marketplace for it tna is just kind of looking going look we can be a strong number three in it for some reason a w does somehow fall by the wayside at some point a really you know a really solid number two and be profitable then let's you know you're absolutely right they're not going for number one but two and three can still make you some really good money yeah it's uh... it's a really fun time to be arrested for right now and see this become official is is big deal so i hope it benefits both companies i think it will um it's something we'll certainly keep an eye because once it starts to the pendulum swings to one promotion over the other and and typically when you think of it from the w_s_f_s_ perspective that's for criticisms come in like if w_s_ is dominating tna then we'll sit here and go all this is ridiculous but right now i feel like if you look at it over the last year from the royal rumble to twenty four to now it i think it's been a slam dunk partnership doctor

19:54 if i if i had a great it i'd i'd give it an a i mean i think there's so much buzz around tna wrestling and and it's partially contributed to their relationship with w_i_ right now that that's really cool and it has me interested and excited to check out their products if i'm grading the partnerships so far very early one year before it was ever announced that there's the official partnership i would give it a day and there's also here's the other thing if you want to like you know w_s_ still has their p_o_s_ on p_coc for right now but when all that goes away p_coc might be looking for somebody else's stream and since they still have a semi working relationship with w_b_ considering that smacked down is on us a hey maybe tna can slide into the p_coc slot and get some more eyes on the product and make a little more money as well i'm just waiting to see which company to size be balls of your hair just does a w throw up a Thursday night show against tna live just to see how they stack up or does tna decide to throw up a Wednesday night live show up against dynamite and see how they stack up and hopefully not cannibalize each other i i hope that doesn't happen because i just think that's pointless when they do shit like that is tna learned back in two thousand ten when one of those first couple of uh... shows that we were doing was talking about the monday at worst returning and that was i mean that monday night wars to it was very very short i think it was like three or four months between w_b_ and tna basically ended tna up until recently i mean there were some good bus in twenty twenty i was watching it pretty regularly lost lost it again and then around two thousand twenty

21:25 two twenty three i felt like they were starting to get a buzz again i'm i'm digging what they're doing i think it's great to see tna addressing performing that the way that they are um switching gears your doctor try we did not talk about our last week's show but there was a massive debut talking from a w two w jump on last week's edition of monday at raw with penta el saro mieto now known as just penta and w_e making his debut in the company the long-awaited debut that was as micro co co put it the worst kept secret in professional wrestling well a report came out from lucri libra online and this comes to us via restful ops on twitter saying the following uh lucri libra online reports that there are several a w talent who do not feel comfortable with the role in the company these talents do not consider nor dare to explore w_e is real alternative uh... due to the feeling of uncertainty of getting lost in the monster system that is w_e others because they did not have a tv time in prominence in the roster that they would have wanted within their past staying w_e however after seeing pentas debut in w_e the feeling of certainty is gone it those talent understand that having the a w brand on the resume becomes a strength and go she should ship that they can use to their advantage with two of said talent confirm they were way would explore free agency in two thousand twenty five specifically with w_e talent now feel more secure and confident achieving success the w_e due to triple eight taking over the change in culture and the range of opportunities presented to talent who left a w for w_e i saw this story dr. train i just go back to our

22:58 two thousand nineteen two thousand twenty two thousand twenty one discussions about w_e at the time that's a man at the helm a w was kicking ass people were loving working for the tonicon people were leaving w_e going to a w and just seem like there's a world of momentum with a w_e when it was like what is the way that w_e can counter this and the thing that you and i always said was they need to put triple h at the helm because what we saw from his time running nxt from two thousand fourteen when the w_e network launch i know he was running before then till his hard issues in two thousand twenty one when they made the absolutely shitty decision to make it n_x_e two point o like it's a nineteen ninety nine brand um... it clearly showed that he knew what resting fans wanted um... and here he is he's now in charge and it's playing out the way that we thought it was thoughts your dr. train were a w talent now see w_e is a legitimate option based on pence's debut and will now consider leaving a leaving a w two go to w_e i like that they say is because of pence and i'm like well i mean kody roads has had quite a bit of success himself since jade card girl you know they they've all had some successes making that jump but uh... it does it the biggest thing though was w_e had to change their business model in you know talked about that would aid to be launched and the people they were signing in were like look if you if you get great benefit and you're getting a guaranteed salary and you're working much fewer dates why wouldn't you make the jump it makes more sense you can do work your television tapings

24:31 and then still do some independent gigs at your choosing and you're not have to work you know three hundred seventy days a year and doing all the house shows and everything else triple h takes over and along with the u_f_c_ partnership they actually made that adjustment they're like you know it makes more sense we're a television product we're not a house show product really anymore it helps to get the house shows done every so often but really we can make more money off revenue from advertising and everything else just being a television product and the guys don't have to work as much we haven't seen nearly the number of catastrophic injuries over the last year year and a half that we saw you know in years past you know it's a great you know business model that they've kind of adjusted once again taking a w's model and kind of fitting it to their system and making it a little better and you know seeing guys like kody and jade card girl and now impenetra coming in and having success and you know looking at it going oh if we come in and we have a little bit of a name then we can actually make some headways here it does make a ton of sense because hey you have leverage and if you want to leave you can leave and b you have leverage with a w negotiating saying hey if you don't meet my demands i can make the jump and be a bigger star in wwe than i am here it's that was the whole point of having two strong companies is to leverage themselves against each other if you're an employee or if you're a worker so there's a couple of names right now on the sidelines of the w and the report came out earlier today as you and i

26:06 record this on Wednesday night that rickie starcks has requested his release from a w the belief is that a w will not grant it will remain on the roster will get paid and perform on the indie dates he joins the list of people like ray phoenix which is obviously very well known injury time tacked to his contract once a w felt that the lucha brothers pent up and ray phoenix are going to wwe they completely took them off television did not put the titles on death triangle at all in those supposed to be happening this past year so ray phoenix is on on an a w contract until people say like late 2025 you posted a photo recently of him in a straight jacket he's been passionate w here and there on social media malachi black is on that list as well of people that are looking late leave a w for wwe reportedly his contract is up if not will be up soon and the belief is that he'll go to wwe there's pitches in creative team for malachi black the former alice black and wwe so it appears his time in a w done and you see that play out in storyline with birdie king king and buddy math is julia heart right now uh mirror has a port of the astral request to be released and his belief is that we're turning wwe so he's just sitting on the sidelines right now dr tre it's it's funny because years ago there was a mass exodus from wwe into a w and now there feels like i want to say mass exodus but there is an exodus of people leaving a w for wwe which is

27:42 just it's it's just crazy how the pendulum is swung that right right now and people see the pen today view and i like maybe there's a there is hope for me in wwe and if there are decent name in a w i think there's a decent chance that they'll show up in wwe and potentially be successful yeah i just i the lot of these guys some of these guys we talk about like the you know the guys that were kind of in the mid card that made the jump from wwe to wwe you know you know the malachai black mirror and rade uh Keith leez of the world like they they really didn't up their game in a w so even if they come back hey it's great that they're back but i just don't ever see them jumping way back up to the top of the car because they didn't elevate themselves they didn't really make themselves or of a commodity in a w where you know who are the guys that did right well i mean i don't have swerve swerves about the only one Tony storm yes and no good i felt like to come on you're gonna say potentially not i mean Tony storm was viewed by most i mean i don't think we did i know i certainly did it but i mean they were looking at her as the female wrestler of the year last year no no i agree with that by saying like i think if she had if wb burner out but i mean she was on smackdown challenging for the smackdown women's title right before she left i mean she had that match with charlotte i think Tony was going to break through but yeah she is a bigger star now than she was in wwe uh but a lot

29:14 of the other ones they're still kind of in the middle i mean uh moxley copeland jericho they're established right danielson was established he didn't and once again i don't think any of those guys now are bigger stars than they were in wwe no not at all as claw well as Claudio for okay so i don't think that there's anybody in a w that is a bigger star now than they were in wwe other than like swirif and tony storm but it's from a wrestling standpoint is Claudio in a better position and he wasn't a w then he would be in wwe uh in the sense that he's wrestling more yes i don't think he's a bigger star now than he was in wwe i think i think he's you see him more say what uh same with pach we see pach more i don't think he's a bigger star now i think you go back to that uh the wrestle media match he had with was it austin harries or was it yeah i think it was austin like that match was on the like right here right begin the show or on the pre show that was a fantastic match and and people were talking about him you know getting moved up the carton just never came to fruition but i mean these are all people though by the way then ending up in a w we're all disgruntled employees of wwe for the most part are cut because they were triple h guys like like keyflee um i don't know if i would consider swerve as a triple h guy but like Adam Cole let his contract run out Kyle Riley let his contract run out roger strong let his contract run out

30:47 i mean i think these are guys that would have been more successful in wwe and triple h and then would have been a w right now you look at key you mean looking keyflee keyflee if if triple h should not have the heart issues and has to keyflee would not have been barecat keyflee i'm dedicated that shit. Marian Cross would not have been a roman gladiator on Monday night raw there's a gizdaibu match to Jeff Hardy. Well that's just vince fucking with people yes and that's the thing i think a lot of times vince would purposely hold people down that he felt like he wasn't making into a star. You know the famous story about Adam Cole right? Oh it was going to be the manager for keyflee? Yeah and then we're going to give him like a different name wasn't that like always a joke on being the elite? Yeah yeah i mean well when you look at the LA night look at him. Yeah i mean but like you look at people like like ricochet ricochet i don't think is a bigger star and i think he's actually proved people right about why he never got to meet event level wwb it was the promo stuff since you brought that up though i will say his character change over the last six weeks has been really good.

31:57 Yes i mean seeing a different side of it i don't know if it's good or just different that's i think it's both can it be both? Yeah it can be i just i to me it's a little bit like kind of what they're doing with the Ethan Pages direction is kind of like this weird dexter type character you know type thing but no it's good but his promo still aren't great even as a heal they're not great. Well it's a lot better than ricochet is out of this world i was like holy shit Yeah that was uh Tony Kong got a nine year old to come up with the slogan for it. Yeah Oh i mean it could be worse you could be like ricochet watch him bounce all over the place true true so it's just interesting right the pendulum is swung um aw stars cw is a viable option after the penta debut i grew the oj cardgill and kody road should have been examples as well and i think you can make it on a smaller scale i think you could even say Ethan page lexas king and sean spears could be if you're a lower to mid card guy in a w that may or may not have been to w we name in the past that there is an opportunity for you as well because there's been some good buzz around nxt um before we get to the next story since we brought them up the mirrors ray phoenix ricky starcks malachai black these people that are on the sidelines because the belief is that they'll eventually jump to wwe what do you think about what w a w is doing right now because you could look at it different ways

33:28 right the a w perspective as well they're not gonna they're not a team player anymore they're gonna go to wwe why would i use them to their tv to you know it's wasting tv time i'll give it to somebody else but there is a perspective where and this guy i would feel the same way if wwe was doing it's like why do you keep him on the contract like the careers and professional wrestling can be so short because of how much damage that they do to their bodies like why are you potentially wasting not potentially you are wasting the prime of ricky starcks the prime of ray phoenix all because you don't think they're gonna return like there's part of me that's like just release them like what what's who cares they go to wwe put the 90 days on them i think not having the montelivision for 10 months to over a year is damn near criminal even though i can understand where w is coming from dr. tray yeah i mean it's it's kind of the same thing in profession in i say in the term professional sports but you know you have the guy who's gonna be a free agent he's bad mounting the team he's already running to leave you see the team put him on the bench but they won't release them well i don't want to release the guy because you might go to the other team and help them when it's super bowl or whatever the people that they're doing this too i don't think those i don't think any of the guys are talking about our game changing type performers i mean we've seen the mirrors and the malachais in wwe and and although they were solid i don't think they were really moving the needle i love ricky starcks but ricky starcks makes the jump right now he's not moving the needle right now potential down the road is there but you know for me like just as a person

35:02 who kind of runs his own business so to speak um sitting him down and just eating the money sucks as well like you're paying these guys and they're not contributing anything to you um that's got it i mean we saw right you know he's like you know they're struggling they're struggling i mean are they really struggling they got this many people sitting on the bench not being used and they're paying out these contracts anyway like you people forget tonne con had more money than bids big man so he's got money to burn and money to play with and it's kind of like i think he feels like he's setting may or he's making an example of these people like if you don't want to be here you can just sit at home and i'll just pay you to sit at home it's like well on one hand i'm resting my body up and i'm not taking any damage for the you know if it's two or three years that's ridiculous but you know hey if i can sit at home for a year it just workout and still work a few independent days to keep the ring rost of ring rust off man i'm gonna do it and then just when i jump i'm gonna jump like a house of fire and go you know balls of the wall to make it work i i just don't understand it from a financial aspect for a w like true at the point just let him go and reinvest your money into building a developmental territory or something else to kind of start supplement like we see all these moves w's making not just within xt but the ww i d program and how big at xt has gotten like start investing in your infrastructure so you can have you know grow like consistent growth you're always growing your talent they're in your system they know how you want matches to go they know how you

36:37 want your tv production to go start making those moves i mean how much money are they paying like between malachite, marrow, rickie, stars, ray, phoenix and bread, baker you could damn near go buy a building and start your own training school just with those salaries along yeah i mean you make a great point there it's like in a way it's like admirable you're still paying these people because you're giving them a job giving them a check whatever but in the same way it's like what a waste of money i mean you're not gonna benefit from them ever again just let them go go let them live their lives and you live yours and you allocate the funds somewhere else you you put it towards citing more young stars developing your own talent it's like it's just it's very odd and i just i feel like tonnecon has been painted the way now that people viewed fnsick man sands like outside of wrestling stuff you know they're horrible things aside just from a wrestling standpoint it's like it feels like tonnecon creatively out of touch tonnecon as an owner it's like some of his practices are questionable and people don't like them as fans and then like the way that he behaves and tweets and stuff like that it's like he's tearing down everything that they've built in a w just by the way that he's acting and it's kind of catching up right now on on various different aspects dr. tre you mentioned dr. burt baker dmd there's some reports out right there reports out there right now that are saying that a w's resident role model could be moving on this was brought up

38:12 on a recent episode of wrestling observer radio dav milter dressed in rumors about former a w women's world champion dr. burt baker possibly leaving a wf reports surface claiming that people in the company are frustrated working with her milter confirmed that while there is some truth to the situation the story has been exaggerated he assured his listeners that burt baker is not leaving a w anytime soon brian alvarez milsars co-host also added that while bakers pull out and figure in the lockermans untrue that no one likes her the main issue seems to be that baker is it being used currently and the reason behind this is unclear ultimately a w president tonicon to decides her entry involvement baker was last seen in November 2024 sending up a feud with serene deeb after their match on the october second episode of a w dynamite the 2024 for dr.

38:59 burt baker has been up and down she'd battled some health issues um she i think she had like a tia a the like a stroke like symptoms that she was dealing with and obviously you know was able to recover had the match with all in with um recities one a that i we both felt was not good she was the face of women's the women's division a w for a long time since really the launch of the company up until recently and then the support earlier this week that her time in a w maybe done dr. b it was um pretty pretty damaging and then no one likes her they want her gone to ns going to be booking her anymore and then melter poured a little bit of water on the fire but there is some smoke to that story still thoughts on this i i never thought we would see the day where burt baker was not the focal point of the a w women's division i did not think that there would be a day that she may be potentially leaving a w and that tonicon may not be booking her these reports were were pretty surprised in here dr. try yeah i mean once again it's it's surprising from where we started to where we're at i mean we've seen some smoke over the last year or so the stuff with mjf you know the last stuff there it's it's been a little bit out there a little bit smoke but it to me it's still weird like she's arguably still the most popular female on your roster like when she when the whole programmer cities kicked off the crowd with nuts for the return of bread baker um to have what are those

40:30 popular people sitting on the sideline right now not helping elevate you know your women's division is a shame and it is one a little bit of you know kind of the shiny toy syndrome that we talk about tonicon having and i was going to make the elu we were mentioning tonicon and vents week man uh comparisons that vents had the same thing vents would bring somebody in and push them and then shove them down to see if they could swim or not tonicon kind of does the same thing and you see this influx of you know women coming in whether it's you know mercedes mone or sarayah or you know you know even moriah may and tony storm and everybody else has come in and they get that big push and then they kind of get pushed down a little bit mercedes being the exception but everybody else got the big push push back down and then it's like hey can you get back up to the top um and and maybe brit felt like she didn't deserve to be treated like that and that's why she kind of is a little bit of an attitude issue right now from you know most reports so it's surprising from when we launched a w five years ago six years ago almost to where we're right now to see her not being used uh but once again it kind of falls back on the leverage i'm early is a good business to have somebody who's healthy and popular and sell a ton of merchandise not being used on your show to try and elevate even if you don't like the person you can still do business with people you don't like if it's good for your business as a whole um and that's where they're right now is she good for their business as a whole or is she too much of a detriment and

42:04 that's why she's sitting on the signline has brit baker wrestled her last a w match i don't think so i mean they brought jade back in for a couple more matches before she left i think was she gonna drop the title yeah but i mean i still like i mean the tonny storm mariah may stuff's interesting but could you have brit come in and lose to mariah to help get mariah over more before she leaves uh probably if if she's willing to do business if not she's just sitting there on the signlines i it's it's a weird thing in the sense of since we don't know really what's going on behind the scenes is it an injury is it just attitude is she not wanting to do business is kind of hard to say you know what you can do with her if it's an injury it's an injury and you can't do anything with that but if it's an attitude thing shoot i'd make her show up for work and put everybody over on the roster that i want to get elevated off the rub of brit baker i'd be elevating people that i mean willow nightingales the the christ statlanders all these women that we've seen for a jay help put her back in the re jamey hater jamey back up the ladder julio heart you all these people that we've seen help put her in the air j get in a j back over like i don't have her got their job to everybody just to help get the rest of the talent over knowing that one her contracts up i'm kicking her out the door it's very interesting dr. a it's uh it's it's surprising i never thought we would see the day because i felt like she was a favor of to any cons and

43:34 and here we are where um maybe she's on her way out maybe she's not but i feel like she's not after the story from melter because i think melter is a little bit of a sounding board by what's actually going on minus scenes a w i definitely think that there is some strain and disdain for her in a w but i don't i don't think she's rest a little last match um last thing i want to bring up here on this week's edition the podcast dr. tre is heading into setter nights main event we have gunther defending the world of away championship against j uso this saturday night on nbc i watch the promo that open up monday night raw and as it was going on and the excitement and all the stuff and we talked about last week's show it's like why are they doing this with with j uso declaring for the royal rumble this makes no sense the vibe and the feeling is is that gunther is just going to be steam rolling going on to um WrestleMania then it's another opportunity at a world championship loss for j uso after having so much momentum and being a fan favorite and then i was like wait a second and we've talked about this for a time and time so i always kind of reference this pay-per-view this year as a reason to potentially change up stuff around ronslamany season and i was like i wonder if wwe would be so bold to pull an any garero at no way out 2004 move and put the title on j uso this saturday i think that there's a case to be made that the gunther title run so far has been

45:05 okay at best i don't think it's been amazing i'm a big gunther fan i think it could be better but it's been okay i would say it maybe like b level type if i'm giving it a letter grade but j uso is so over with the fans he gets some of the best reactions every time he comes out the people love him and i'm like this is eddie garero in late 2023 excuse me 2003 early 2004 and deputy will be made the decision because brock was leaving the company to put the title on him and go with eddie versus curd angle ronslamany 2020 i'm like man this is there was a time to put the title on j uso get it off got there then put the gunther in the rumble now's the time to do it dr. tri do you think this saturday could be j uso's moment to shine and become the world levy way champion i love the comparison eddie garero to me it also reminds you a lot the brine danielson yes movement because yeah j is so over with the crowd he's one of the top three merchant i sellers in the company from last thing i had the last report i saw on that like he's super over the audience it's and you but you can't just keep feeding him to your top heels and then not have him come out on top i think he's had the the one i see title win that last of what a week two weeks and that was it and it was done it does make a lot of sense to you know make a move because like you're actually giving a the gunther on a little bit better grade than i am because i felt like it's been a c i don't feel like he's been elevated i don't really think he's elevated anybody else around him i

46:39 think i'll admit i'm being very kind i agree with you i think i'm being kind damian priest title run was better than gunther's so i feel like both of them kind of not had expectations yeah i'm not i'm not i won't say it wasn't wildly above gunther's maybe just a little bit a smidge above but i think the gunther why i think the thing with the gunther gunther was kind of expected to eventually get the belt where damian was kind of still a little surprise even though he had money the bank is still a little bit surprising um but then if if you make the move and you put jayusso on top heading into wrestle media like who's the guy you put him in the ring with i mean the only thing i thought was like what'd it be cool if the rock won the rumble and challenge jayusso and then you make jayusso a bigger star and then we get you know instead of roman rock we get rock isso instead and then rakeeshie comes out and takes out jay and says he did it for the rock well could you see another druj match um you know carrying cross was in the background during the Seth wrong sami zain segment on raw and then sami accidentally hit Seth could you see Seth wrongs challenge challenging jay like i'm it's it's it's what you're saying like if you remove the wrestlemania element from this entire thing dr. tray if this is june july august september october i'm like i think you and i are both sitting here going i think jay is going to win the championship because how can they keep feeding him to these world champions only for him to continue to lose because he is so over with the crowd like now is the time to do it and that's the thought i'm like

48:14 i really don't know if they know the direction of wrestle i mean obviously they do but i think the way that they're booking things is there's so many different things that could be the wrestle mania main events for the championship like does does so and so need to actually be in a title match this roman reigns need to be in a title match to see him punk need to be in a title match like does it benefit putting the championship on jay uso so that when he comes out at wrestlemane 41 in los vegas and he is champion and he's got the crowd bumping like he's got to earn that spot like he is earned the love and respect and admiration from the fans i think his merchandise sales are really good like you look around ringside it's a ton of yeat shirts like it's what was so popular about la night years a couple of year and a half ago but i think jay is on a whole nother level like the fans are really behind him i i mean i think i've talked myself into thinking that jay uso could become the world of the way champion at saturday night's main event and i'll week ago dr. tre i didn't think there was a shot in hell but as i saw the reaction on raw i'm like how do they how can they not put the championship on him right now i feel like based on his popularity and his abilities like they're they're booking themselves into having to put the championship on them yeah it's i had this i had this thought there day now i was gonna bring it up to you we should be might be a show on this later on is like a pair of current stars to like their 80s or 90s

49:45 predecessors into me jay uso's kind of what matcha man oh my god i can't believe you just said that i was thinking the same exact thing on monday's raw i think it's i think it's the glasses also it is writing on it but besides that he is like on the raw brand like the one b for the top star i mean he he they put the championship on him dr. tre i fully believe he becomes so much more popular i it's amazing to see the growth of jay uso from 2020 to now yeah and i was thinking like gunther's kind of what under the giant was in a sense it like just when he loses it's so shocking and out of left field i mean obviously he's not as big as andrei moves way better than andrei but that to me like his win lost record is on that kind of level right now for the most part because he's only been pinned like what three times in the last like four years is crazy so it's it's one of those things were like do you buy into the fact that like we have to put that's does the title make the wrestler or does the wrestler make the title this jay need it to stay this popular and this hot or are they afraid they might make the ellie night mistake where hey this guy super hot we don't capitalize on it right away and then he's gonna lose steam and that's just it's kind of like where what faith do you have in jay to stay this popular not just now but in a year from now two years from now because obviously we've seen ellie night drop

51:16 you know a good bit from where he was a year and a half ago um i to me i think jay's energy level is so infectious that he could sustain this even with a loss to gunther but it does make a ton of sense you know merchandise wise establishing new star wise that i mean that's what that title has become it's the what the what the old with the smackdown title was during the pond jeff hearty you know brine you know daniel brine days that's what this raw title has become is kind of like the hey this is only our cement for the next you know breakout star that we get eventually see putting into a feud with kody down the line it'll be interesting this saturday saturday night's main event jay uses versus gunther a week from today doctor trey and i will preview predict the royal rumble pay per view ple who is the world everway in champion i'm still going gunther because i still see gunther and joss in it wrestlemania i'm going to go gunther as well but i hope we're pleasantly surprised um with that said we will close up shop on this week's this show but before we do doctor trey it's want to give a shout out um this past saturday on collision hangman adam page defeated Christopher Daniels in a texas death match and then after that match concluded it came out that that was Christopher Daniels retirement match after 31 years as professional wrestler the fallen age old Christopher Daniels reportedly retiring his time spanning the former king of the indies or

52:47 present king of the indies however you want to look at him ring of honor tna wrestling um he a w obviously he has been all over the place throughout his entire career he is somebody that when i first started following independent wrestling in the early 2000s whose name was everywhere and he was one of the first rwh titan champions and what a just a illustrious career doctoray is moving permanently into his behind the scenes role but i just wanted to take a time just to kind of of a shout out to an amazing career for Christopher Daniels a true first ballot hall favor for the world professional wrestling yeah like what i'm with you like when i first really got a nip in a wrestling especially when i was living in the carolina's it was it was Christopher Daniels Steve korea no those guys were everywhere um and it just so happened that you know uh steves sister and christ dated for a while as well so like those guys were everywhere those are guys with the coolest guys in wrestling because they weren't inside any box they weren't conforming to the man they were out there doing their own thing and they made you know really great careers out of kind of doing things their own way and and christopher Daniels i mean there's all the rumors that he was supposed to be the leader of the ministry at some point and not vents and all that stuff the the higher power and all that stuff but he was so ahead of his time in the 90s and early 2000s um not just character wise but in ring wise promo wise just you know a tremendous asset to the world professional wrestling and

54:21 you know he's an asset behind the scenes he's one of those guys that you never hear anybody say anything bad about Christopher Daniels and then when you're working in management and nobody says anything bad about you that means you're doing your job really well so hats off to the fall in angel for a tremendous career and many more years to come behind the scenes because this is a guy that you could put on a booking team talent relations producing whatever you want to do he can do it all and be a great asset to any company yeah i had an opportunity a couple times to watch him in the late 2010s early 2010s worked for rwh after he left tna wrestling so that was pretty cool seeing him in person perform and just a great illustrious career so shout out to christopher Daniels who reportedly retired after 31 years in the world professional wrestling this past Saturday night on collision and they lost a hangman and anem page uh well that's uh let's say a couple plugs and sponsors out of the way you could download the show every Thursday or Friday at realgodready.com wrestlechatneton.x and the still real to show itunes feed don't forget to rate review and subscribe to help with climate charts on itunes you can fall individually on x for myself at srq ujf and for dot trade for aching at the dotter trade and of course don't forget to follow show on x at srq podcast with that being said what is going on in the wonderful world of dr. franklin this week well i just said you can follow me on x at the dr trade by the way i missed an invitation for you and i to be in a you tournament uh for best theme songs of all time for like picking our thing like i missed that and it's my fault because i hadn't been on x that much uh so my apologies to the guys

55:55 uh at the at the podcast is not to me my apologies to you guys wait we were both invited yes i have no idea what you're talking about i know i just i hadn't been on x in like a week or so but uh there was some podcast that invited us to be on it uh and i completely missed it uh they said they didn't reach out to me i have no idea what you're talking about they said it to me they said oh if you and jef and they didn't tag your x handle on it they just said it to me and i'm like dammit jefs on x more than i am i think so uh but uh do whoever that is feel free to hit us up again yeah uh we i apologize for missing it um i don't have my x alerts turned on because uh otherwise they go off all the time and it drives me nuts um so i'll i'll make sure to be more active on x but you can check me out there uh check me out facebook and instagram dr. franklin on balfe when you're on facebook check out rock and city championship wrestling we just had a really big show this past saturday shout out to those guys for letting me uh play dad for a night with sammy franklin because it was his birthday saturday so we got uh got to do an official ring introduction for sammy and then also get the whole crowd of saying happy birthday to him so thank you to rogacy for let me do that uh some you sure check them out facebook the youtube shows up and going as well so that way you can check out our commentary on there uh but most importantly just go out and check out your local independent wrestling look it is freezing ass cold throughout the entire united states if you trick your butt out to a

57:26 wrestling show i want to see pictures i will give you a shout out on the show for getting out in the cold on the weekends to go check out your local independent wrestling shows so that way you can go find your next star that tonicon will pay to seven the sidelines and not do anything for a year so there you go support all the great things that support srtio i saw the video of dovetray getting everybody in the crowd of saying happy birthday to sammy franklin uh it was awesome if you haven't seen it yet go out of your way and check it out it was very very cool uh next week speaking of sammy franklin we will preview and predict the 2025 wwe royal rumble pl a and uh sammy franklin returns to pick his winner for both the women's and men's edition of the royal rumble i'm looking forward to that time to try i actually would have to go out and buy a few more figures for cuz he know sammy did not get a single wrestling figure for christmas or his birthday uh so that means dad has to go out this weekend and buy a few more just that way he can he might pick the winner i mean i think the last two years in the men's rumble he's picked the first guy out so hopefully we can we can buck that trend a little bit um and maybe he'll actually we always do the for those who haven't seen it samm able to uh the men's winner the women's winner and then he takes all of his action figures puts him in the ring and then that's where you get spider man winning the rumble the royal rumble okay so there it goes stay stay tuned it could be superman for all we know too uh and until so until next week it's it's one of my favorite PLEs that we get to preview and predict on

58:57 the next week's edition the show royal rumble preview and predictions join us it's going to be a lot of fun uh rate reviews subscribe srt use spread the word about the still real does show and until next week when the road to russamayne 41 begins for dot stri franklin i am Jeff Beck this is This has been the Stauroira Shell.