Down The Middle Episode 87: 2025 Wrestling Predictions

[00:00:17] Welcome everyone to a late but still awesome down the middle. As always, Jake, co-host, Hakeem. Hakeem, how are we doing? Pretty good.

[00:00:37] Yeah, finally, right? 2024 is finally over. And as luck would have it, we're gonna be talking about 2025. Yeah, I know. Sorry, just doing the obligatory audio check. Oh, see, I'm glad. I'm glad because they cannot hear you. Oh, really? Really.

[00:01:05] Oh, see, I'm glad I cannot hear you. Oh, that's weird. I wonder why that is. No, you should be. They should be able to hear you. Let's see.

[00:01:41] Yeah, now we can hear you. That was weird. Okay, good, good. Oh, but just letting everybody know this, this podcast is brought to you by our friends at Molly Jewelry. Don't worry, it's not as weird as it sounds. And the RTA podcast, but we'll talk more about those later. For now, what do we think is gonna happen in 2025? With wrestling.

[00:02:08] To be honest, it's like, I like the way AEW is going right now somewhat. I do like the adding a little bit more storylines to it. It is better. I will say it's not, and I'm not naive. It's not going to change overnight, but I like the trajectory. It's not there yet. And there's still, there's still some problematic elements, Moxley.

[00:02:32] Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. I also like the way WWE changed a little bit. I like they brought back the blue maps from the past. I liked that part. Can you raise your audio up some more? Oh, yeah, sure. Because you're, they can hear you now, but you're super low. Oh. Because you're, they can hear you now.

[00:03:08] It's the, it's the same. Really? Yeah. That's weird. I was having the same issue yesterday on a different, but see, now I can't hear you. Technical dividends live to me, pal.

[00:03:59] How about now? I can hear you. It's still super low for some reason. I can hear you. And I even tried turning my gain down to sort of match where you are, but I'm still super loud compared to where you're at. Yeah, for me is that.

[00:04:25] Um, how's your, how's your mic volume on zoom specifically? That's weird.

[00:05:01] Try something else. Let me see what happens when I do this. Okay. How about this? We're even. It's just the whole thing. Super low. So. Max volume everyone, I guess. Yeah.

[00:05:31] I don't know. It's so weird. Super weird. Any who. Um, yeah, like you were saying, I, WWE is on a similar upward trajectory that they've been on, but I think this move to Netflix for raw is first of all, I think it's the first of many changes.

[00:05:54] For example, though, what I didn't realize, and I found this out recently is that they're also uploading. I don't know if it's the complete raw catalog, but basically like the history. And I saw a video on Tik TOK where they're not censoring out the old WWF logo. They're not censoring out when people say WWF, they're not censoring curse words. Yeah.

[00:06:23] I noticed that last, what was it? Friday. Yeah. Friday night. And last Friday night was that one on. Yeah. Yeah. Friday. It was, uh, solo or something. I thought it was in the match. Yeah. I just started. Um, but when it was the first night, what's a, what network is on SmackDown on and what network is SmackDown on again? Oh, it was Netflix. I thought it was SmackDown's on Netflix.

[00:06:53] I thought it was different because it was blue. I could have sworn that was maybe that's, um, I think about Monday night. Yeah. Raw. I know. I know Monday night. Raw was moving to Netflix. Okay. No, it's SmackDown is still on USA. Oh, okay. Okay. Oh, that's going to be real confusing for some of the guys because Netflix being a streaming

[00:07:20] service is not subject to FCC regulations, which is why they're going to be able to curse and swear and all that. Now I'm sure they're still going to try to keep it TV 14. But what this will do is now if they want to do a heated promo or somebody calls somebody else a piece of shit. Yeah. They're not going to bleep out or have to say piece of trash because adult men talk like that. Yeah.

[00:07:49] I know. It's always takes me out of it. It's I, I get it and I don't get it, you know, because this is supposed to be real people talking to each other in a manner in which it should be obvious that they dislike one another. Uh huh. So it's just one of those things. Okay. That's not too bad. Just double checking the old audio levels.

[00:08:18] But yeah, I think this will be the first of the first of many changes for WWE on Netflix or streaming because I, I view this as Netflix wants all the WWE content, but WWE has been pretty good in the past about keeping their programming diverse, diversified because they are a, they're a public company, but they own all their own stuff. So they're not necessarily beholden. They have a good relate more.

[00:08:46] They had a good relationship with the USA network. USA is probably kind of pissed now, but, but I mean, Netflix is bigger. Sorry. Not sorry. Yeah. Of course. It's, and plus it seems like a better change, especially like the two hour raw versus the three hours, you know? So it's more easy to digest. Yeah. So they're, they're back down to two hours. Yeah. It was two hours.

[00:09:16] Oh, thank goodness. Which ironically, ironically, Netflix being three hours wouldn't be as big of a deal because it's, I mean, I know everybody can fast forward through TV these days, but yeah, to be honest, most of the, I do that too. Like I don't watch the full hour, two hours, whatever it is. No, it's too much. I I'm a fan. I'd rather see raw go to two hours, but. Oh yeah.

[00:09:45] I do think they have a more, I don't know, like concrete storyline where not everything's jumble up in those three hours. Well, and again, you can tell all the storylines better because people are less, I'm less inclined to fast forward through a two hour program that I am a three hour program. Not that I ever watched a three hour raw in the first place, but. Cause I don't, I would. Yeah. Yeah. I usually watched the condensed version. Yeah.

[00:10:13] Um, but yeah, I think ultimately this is going to be great for WWE. I think it's going to be great for wrestling fans. I think Ross viewership is going to go up. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think it has to things to reach too. Yeah. Well, I think it's going to be a few different things because now Netflix is for us who maybe aren't necessarily into wrestling are going to, it's going to be presented on their home screen and maybe they're going to see, you know, they're going to see somebody that they

[00:10:43] find physically attractive. They're going to see some cool acrobatic stuff. They're going to see somebody that looks interesting to them and they might check it out. And if they check it out, that's, that's a view, you know? So it's just going to help. It's just going to help WWE. And with the edgier, more adult leaning raw. Now you might even get some lapsed wrestling fans who maybe their last hope was a EW. And then, well, the things happened.

[00:11:12] And so they were like, you know what? I, this wrestling thing can't be, because this is uncharted territory. Not that wrestling has been streaming before. I get that, but this is live, big name, biggest name wrestling on a streaming services as you know what, we're not really interested in having this on traditional television anymore. And that's saying something. And you cannot convince me that raw going to Netflix is not why a EW is finally going to be available on max.

[00:11:42] Oh yeah. They have to like do something. Yeah. I've never understood that from day one. I had never understood why at the very least being a week behind on AEW TV. I never understood why they weren't doing that because it's something they already own. Why not put it on your streaming service? Especially the archive, at least put the archive up there. Absolutely. Which now, now they're doing.

[00:12:09] So you're going to have all, based on what I read, you're going to have the old pay-per-views. Okay. And frankly, they should just, especially with AEW, they should just do the PLE model that WWE does anyway, because like Tony Khan obviously doesn't care about, you know, pay-per-view revenue. So just, just do the PLE model anyway, and just have it all on max. It's easier for everyone. It's cheaper.

[00:12:37] You'll get more eyes on your product and your big events. And since you guys don't really care about attempting to kill wrestlers on regular television anyway, there's really no incentive to hold out for a pay-per-view because you're going to do it on free TV anyhow. Absolutely. So, so just make it easier, right? That that's, that's kind of where I'm at. I'm finally excited though, because watching AEW, if you don't have cable was such a chore. And now, like, that's what I mean.

[00:13:04] Like now you're going to, you're, you're, their viewership is going to go up and it's viewership that they can crack better too. Yeah, exactly. Because like so many people have Netflix now compared to back then, you know, so. Yeah. Compared to the, compared to the Nielsen ratings, which are imprecise at best, you know, like 43,000 homes and whatever percentage of those happen to be watching your show determines whether or not you stay on television. Yeah.

[00:13:34] Surprisingly, I don't have Netflix. Like, like I haven't had it since like they have a free trial. So that was a couple of years ago. Well, and I like to tell people about this. So some people still don't know this. Netflix has a cheaper option with ads. It's $6.99 a month. Okay. It's not bad at all. No. And here's the thing. I don't mind ads. So yeah. Like that's worthwhile. That saves me. I hate ads. I hate ads. We're passionate.

[00:14:03] It saves me like $15 a month. Like I'm okay with it. And they're not, Netflix head amount is not stupid. Like it's tolerable. It's not. Now that's probably going to change and it'll probably be different on raw. I, if I had to imagine. Yeah. But that's okay because we're already has commercials anyway. So it's, it's not a super big adjustment to you. And I've already seen one of the other perks about having ads on Netflix is they put their own ads.

[00:14:33] So like I've seen ads for raw and they're, they're really pushing this and I'm not surprised at all. I think Netflix, Netflix will get some subscribers from just people wanting to watch Monday Night Raw. And that's fine. That's a win-win. Absolutely. Yeah. And especially once people learn that they have that cheaper option, you know, they'll be like, Oh, I don't, I don't mind ads. It's just going to be a net benefit for Netflix.

[00:14:57] I think it's going to be a net benefit for WWE, much like I think it's going to be a benefit for Warner Brothers Discovery to just put AEW on max. And it's going to be a win for both parties because it's going to make, you're going to get some max subscribers that you maybe didn't already have because people want to watch AEW. Now it's still on cable though. So I don't know how much it's going to impact max, but it is easier to watch max. Basically there's going to be less piracy because I know the AEW audience.

[00:15:25] Um, watch it on max. You don't need to pirate it anymore. Yeah. And most people already have max. So they already have it. Yeah. And even if they don't max is great. Max is one of the better streaming services. Like if you have to choose between two or three max should be one of them for sure. Um, and even had Apple for a bit.

[00:15:49] And honestly, it was some shows on Apple TV that were really good that no one really heard of, but they were really good. Yeah. No, Apple TV. I've heard good things. I just, I never, I never cared to. Yeah. I completely understand. Yeah. I just, it's not my, but I have friends who cannot live without their Apple TV. Like they need their Apple TV and that's, that's fine. That's what's great. That's why there's so many.

[00:16:16] Ironically streaming is just becoming more like it's becoming, we're, we're regressing back to the old network model where there's like, yeah. I mean, now there's one issues I'd say. Well, but I mean, back to like ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and, and then it's going to expand into cable, which we're, we're in a hybrid there because I'd say there's a lot of streaming services out there, but of the big ones, I'd say there's probably like five.

[00:16:42] Cause you got, which, and this isn't even fair because technically Hulu and Disney plus are the same ish thing now. Yeah. But even let's, let's pretend like they hadn't. And I think they're merging together too. I think they're going to just be one entity before too long, but so you got Netflix, Hulu. Those are the big two, kind of the first two. And then, uh, then there's Disney plus max and Disney plus is kind of an oddity too, because it's just Disney stuff. Uh huh.

[00:17:11] But we'll count it. Cause it's big. And I said, and then Peacock, which that's NBC's baby. Yeah. Maybe for a while. Then I said max already. And I think that's really the big five and then Apple TV. So that makes six. I guess you can serve, uh, Amazon prime. Oh yeah. That's the seven. Yeah. That's the other big one. Amazon's probably top three. If I had to guess. It's just that honestly, the shows I have Amazon prime. Yeah. For shipping.

[00:17:41] I was going to say, I have Amazon prime. I got Amazon prime for the shipping and it's, it's like a fringe benefit. So it's really cool. The problem is most of the shows. Yeah. I was going to say, like, I honestly, of the years of Amazon prime, maybe like two or three different shows. I'm, I'm watching on the only, the only Amazon prime show that I would say I truly liked is the boys. And I'm yeah, exactly. The boys.

[00:18:10] And it's not like it used to be. I was going to say, and I'll be honest anymore. I haven't watched it in a while. So if I was paying for Amazon prime, just for the video, probably if the movies are a good thing too, because they're actually pretty good movies on Amazon prime that are free to you on any given time. But I mean, if I were paying just for that, I wouldn't be because I don't, I really find it worth it.

[00:18:40] Same here. They do have freebie. I think it's still something. So, and they have ads on it, but usually I rarely get ads on it. So it's well, and then, oh, Paramount, which I don't, I don't really consider Paramount plus one of the big ones. They're kind of on the fringe still, but they're growing. Um, they only have Paramount plus still because we do the final frontier podcast and I need it for star Trek. Oh, okay. Gotcha. I watched Pluto for a star Trek Pluto Pluto's free, right? Yeah.

[00:19:10] It's completely free. Just ads. Do they have all the star Trek? They have, they have the next generation. They have, um, Voyager. I believe enterprise is we're still on the original series. So yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure they have their original, but I know they have a TNG Voyager, maybe enterprise, and they have these space nine. So they got the good ones, except maybe the original series.

[00:19:40] Exactly. I'm not sure the original is still there, but. Yeah. It's, it makes it simple. And plus Paramount, Paramount plus is really cheap. It's like $5.99 a month. And actually I found out you can, you can save $20 a year. Cause they do have an annual option. It's like 50 bucks. That's not bad. No, it's not bad at all. And I mean, in a year it's going to cost you. I did the math. It's like $74 annually. Exactly. If you do the month to month, it's really not, it's really not that big of a deal. Yeah.

[00:20:08] But I'll tell you one little off topic, but I'll tell you, you talk about a streaming service that is still free to this day. But I mean, when it first came out, it was garbage, man. But, and now it's actually pretty good to be. Oh yeah. Absolutely. I watched through B is amazing. It's actually like, I remember when they, they rebranded and I was like, Oh, they have real movies on here now. Mm-hmm . Yeah.

[00:20:38] Yeah. To be, and even Roku is. Yeah. The Roku channels are pretty solid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what we're getting that is I wouldn't be surprised if you, and this might actually be something that is a net positive and helps the wrestling industry grow because. Yeah. Like imagine this, like ring of honors, not a fair example.

[00:21:00] So game changer wrestling, for example, if I were to be, I'd be coming to them and being like, Hey guys. Absolutely. Can we. Just think of it. More eyes on it. That's all you want. Yeah. More eyes, more people for your, your product. But imagine game changer wrestling who doesn't have a, at least as far as I'm aware, doesn't have a TV deal. Yeah. I think it's this YouTube, right? I don't even know, but. Oh. Let's, let's, let's assume.

[00:21:30] Well, and okay. So fair enough. YouTube is actually a decent platform. So, but let's assume, let's assume that they're not on YouTube just for the sake of the example. Is, you know, a lot of people watch Tubi. I mean, a lot of people watch Tubi and you can advertise Tubi. So that's another win win. So, Hey, all you game changer wrestling fans, you want to watch our weekly television program, just download Tubi and best part it's free. Mm-hmm. So. So. Yes.

[00:22:00] All right. Put, put Ring of Honor on there. Cause Ring of Honor is going to be on true TV. Although I think Ring of, it didn't say if Ring of Honor was going to be on max, but it should be. It should. It's, it absolutely should be. If it's not, that's just. I feel so sorry for them. Like the guys and girls who works there. It's like, they're doing amazing work and don't ask you to see them.

[00:22:20] Well, I have a sinking suspicion that part of the problem might, and this is somebody in Tony Khan's ear, but the problem might be, they might, they're, they might be afraid of the NXT effect where if they put Ring of Honor on the same place as AEW is, that it'll pull better ratings. It should. It should. I mean, here's the thing.

[00:22:40] If given enough time and booked properly, so given enough time for people to get into it, if it's booked different from AEW, it might get, it might be a better show. Which that's not fair because NXT never eclipsed the ratings of Rob, but it wasn't fair because back then it was only on the WWE network. Yeah. Yeah. So there were, there are people who to this day still don't know NXT exists. So.

[00:23:07] And there's people like see like, uh, Tommaso and Johnny and see them now compared to when they were like, it's night and day. The black and gold NXT. Oh, it was so good. Um, so I saw another prediction that Pentagon jr. Will debut on WWE. I thought maybe because when's their first episode it's it's oh, it's um, January 6th, right? Or is it on Netflix? Yeah. Yeah. Monday. Monday.

[00:23:37] So I, I read it. I don't know because I know the stuff that's going on with the Ray Phoenix and I figure, I figured they would probably want to debut them together. But if I'm WWE and I got this guy and assuming that he's signed already, I just really, Hey, Penta, I know you want to wait for your brother, man, but how would you like to debut on the first episode of raw on Netflix? That'd be good. Cause I do. Well, I mean, that's one for the record books. Yeah.

[00:24:07] You know, it's through for the history of time, the remaining of human history, Pentagon jr. Will be the first new wrestler to debut on Netflix is Monday night. Raw. I do say it will be maybe more impactful or impact that both of them. They do at the same time. See, I have a bullshit brothers.

[00:24:30] I, I, I'm of two minds on this because, and again, I'm biased, but my favorite. Pentagon was Lucha underground when he was solo. I think he did his best work. Absolutely. I do say they're better. Separate by, I see the package still with them. And I, I get it. I, I definitely. So that's why I say, I'm like, I'm of two minds, but at the same time, yeah. Ray Phoenix is also really good. Ray Phoenix is good period. Yeah.

[00:24:58] Like he can, he can do the tag team, but Penta, I feel is just a better solo act. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Uh, I would say Ray gets lost in the shuffle of looking like the Ray Mysterio's type, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. And Penta is, looks entirely different. He looks built different. That's just it. And I, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but Ray Phoenix looks like a, I don't want

[00:25:26] to say generic, like a, like a fairly typical, very talented, but he looks like a fairly typical luchador until he starts doing stuff. Exactly. Penta is different. From the start. Yeah. From the start. He's, well, he's, he's a bit bulkier than your average luchador. You know, he's, you know, Penta almost, he can, but yeah, even, even when he does Lucha style, he's a bit, I don't mean this. I don't mean this bad. He's a bit stiffer.

[00:25:55] It's a, it's a little bit less gymnasty, you know, it's more slower. Yeah. It feels different. It feels, yeah, it feels different. He can do all that stuff, but yeah, that's what was great about him and Lucha Underground because I'm like, don't get me wrong. It was still Lucha. Right. But he had a style that was a little bit more fight, less gymnast. Absolutely. And I translated really well when he worked with other luchadors because he looked, he looked

[00:26:24] different. Mm-hmm. And I feel like he's gotten a little bit more Lucha as he's been in AEW. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Especially since if you compare like their first match in AEW is different from their last match. Oh, totally. And I, again, this makes me sound like I hate what they've done in AEW. I don't, they've had some great matches, but for me, Penta's best work was what he was doing in Lucha Underground.

[00:26:53] That sort of style when, when he was solo. So I guess if, if I'm booking WWE and they're like, and I would agree with them to be like, Hey, we don't have Ray Phoenix yet, but he's common. So I, we, but we need to debut Penta. Okay. That's easy enough to do. You debut him, you get him in some kind of storyline where he needs a partner and then you debut Ray Phoenix. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it could still work because they can be together or separate. It could still work.

[00:27:22] But you, and you can also constantly, because it's, it's a well-established fact and all you have to do is establish it on TV, you know, not Ray Phoenix, you know, Penta, you know, he's getting ready to do this tag match where he needs a partner and then they're getting ready to ring the bell and he does. Well, he does, you know, the whole, and then he cuts a quick promo being like, you know, I've wrestled all around the world and I've got a lot of friends, but when I was thinking about who I needed for my partner, granted, this is all going to be in Spanish, but it's

[00:27:51] like when I was thinking about who I needed to be my partner, I realized only one person, my best friend, my brother. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then you just go on with the races, you know? But Penta merch is going to move great in WWE. Oh yeah. The mass, skeleton mass, especially like towards like Halloween-ish stuff. Like, you know.

[00:28:19] I, and one of the criminal offenses, one of the criminal offenses that AEW did was they only ever had. Well, they have it, but it sucks. Yeah. Yeah. Like I found, and I bought it. I found one piece of Pentagon gear that I liked and thought looked good. Dude, when he was on the indies, he had better merch. Yeah. That's the part I don't get. Well, a lot of wrestlers don't have really good like merch you want to buy. It looks so simple or plain or just garbage.

[00:28:49] Yeah. It's plain Jane. 30 bucks for a shirt. That's generic. It's like, put some thought into the design, man. Make it look cool. I like wrestling gear that doesn't, that's why Bullet Club was so great. Like their merch, cause it was so different and it wasn't obviously wrestling. I can't tell you how many times I was wearing my Bullet Club shirt and people would sound and be like Bullet Club. One guy started talking to me about shooting cause he assumed I was part of like a, yeah, he assumed I was part of like a, a shooting club.

[00:29:20] Yeah. Yeah. Fortunately, I know a little bit about guns. So he was, cause he came up to, I didn't even realize I was wearing the shirt. He was like, he was like, Oh, what do you, what do you shoot? I'm like, what? He's like, you know, what do you shoot on the range? I'm like, uh, and like, I'm real confused. I'm like, I mean, like various rifles, you know, like I I'm partial, I'm partial to ARs, but just cause they're fun. But I mean, I'm, you know, I've, I've dabbled in high power, not competitively, but I've been like, I've done that, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:29:46] And then we just have this conversation about guns and he never thought the wiser because he started talking to me about that. And I'm like, okay, I know, I know what you're talking about, but, and then I realized I was wearing the bullet clip shirt and I went, ah, but yeah, it was such a unique looking shirt. And to this day, if I wear bullet club gear, even I have one person that don't buy any merch. Oh dude. I hoard those. That was the other genius things. Like all credit, because I know the young bucks had a hand in this.

[00:30:16] Well, they had, they had a big hand in it. I think it was actually their design and it was their idea because every individual wrestler that's in bullet club also got a shirt. So it became a collection sort of thing. It was genius. Absolute genius. I have Kenny, Kenny's bullet club shirt. That's the only one I have. See, I actually hated his. I never bought Kenny's cause I didn't like it, but that's okay because you don't have to like it. Yeah. I can't remember because he had two designs.

[00:30:46] One, I didn't like it all had like a dog on it or something like a robot. I didn't like that one. Yeah. But the one I have is, it's basically playing. It just says Kenny Omega in the back. Oh, I thought you meant his bullet club shirt with like the, the bullet club logo, but the Terminator. I forgot how it looks. I think it's a little different. I'll show you later. Yeah. Right. But yeah, that's another thing. AEW really needs to step it up in the merchandise because people really want to buy it.

[00:31:15] And I'm one of them. I want to buy more AEW merch. Yeah. But it's just, most of it's not good. Mm-hmm. I always wanted to, but I just never pull the trigger on. It's hard to justify. Cause like I was on their store one day and I realized like I was, I wanted to buy a wrestling shirt, but you couldn't find anything. And I said, you know what? It shouldn't be this hard to spend my money. Exactly. That's where I feel.

[00:31:43] It's like, I, I wanted, but I went because of the person who, no name of it, but I want to support them, but I don't like the designs. And like Darby, you would think Darby Allen would have better merch. Nah. Absolutely. Yeah. And their CM Punk merch was just a rip off of the WWE design. So yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the same old one. I'm just a more basic graphic of WWE's iconic shirt.

[00:32:07] So it's like, I just, I just don't care, but I'll tell you what, Hakeem, if you are looking to spend money on high quality merchandise, um, I have a, I have a sponsor for all of you out there. Um, not shirts and apparel, but listen, fellas, if you've got a woman in your life, I guess of a man in your life too, but most, most of their products are aimed at women, but Hey, I mean, they've, they've got stuff, so they don't exclude anyone.

[00:32:35] But listen, fellas, we all know that one of the many ways you can make the woman in your life happy is with buying her nice jewelry. Right. But here's the problem. That shit's expensive, dude. It is. And you don't want to be, you don't want to be the lame dude who buys her like some fake crap. Right. So you know, costume jury. Yeah. No costume jewelry.

[00:32:59] Well, thankfully my new friends at Molly jewelry can help you out. And the best part is you can take my word for it. Now I'm going to give you guys a closeup so you can see this better. I'm sorry. That's my camera. Well, what this is, I'm going to take it out of the blur a bit. So you can't tell because the lighting in here, this is a, this is a little piece I got from my girl.

[00:33:27] This is a 10 carat white gold, not silver, white gold, Oh, Alexander right. And diamond peripheral ring. And I got this ring for under a thousand dollars. This ring elsewhere, because I looked a ring like this elsewhere is probably going to run you close to $4,000, give or take. It depends on where you get it.

[00:33:56] Now I did get some of the upgrades cause you can get less expensive jewelry from them. Like you can get gold plated, which I don't recommend if you're actually going to wear the jewelry out and about. So, but if you want something that looks nice that you're going to wear every now and again, or maybe you're on a budget and you want to get something, it's an alternative. Also I upgraded for the lab grown diamonds on the side. These can be moissanite, which are kind of it. They're not fake diamonds. It's a different stone, but they look like diamonds and they sparkle like diamonds. The center stone is a lab grown Alexandrite.

[00:34:25] But for those of you who know jewels, which you've probably never heard of Alexandrite, that's more expensive than diamonds. Okay. The real stuff. But the cool thing about this, and this is why I love Alexandrite, you can't tell on this light. This stone actually changes colors. So it appears green here, but under candlelight or actual like traditional incandescent light, it turns a red color. Now, lab grown Alexandrite has a little bit different shade of natural.

[00:34:52] Like this has more of a sort of bluish green look. No, not bluish green. It's a little bit deeper green. Whereas natural Alexandrite looks a little bit more emerald and the reds are different shades too. But my point being, you can get your girl an Alexandrite moissanite or you can get diamond rings from them. They also have a nature series that have like a mossy looking stone. It's not as expensive, but they're cool looking. I'm not going to lie. They're very cool looking. They also have a wide selection of moissanite rings, which are getting really popular.

[00:35:21] But the point of all this is you can get this jewelry with our friends at Molly jewelry using the link in the description. But there's a promo code down there too. That'll save you 10% off your purchase. Which that's really good. I was surprised when I was talking to them and they said, yeah, and here's a coupon cone for your viewers. And I was like, Oh cool. I'm expecting like, you know, maybe, you know, it's like a fixed dollar amount, something that's, you know, nice, but not. And they said 10%. I said, really?

[00:35:52] Yeah, that is really good. I was like, can I get like, can I get reimbursed for this? Cause I bought this for my girl. It's like, honestly, for what I paid for this, that's, that's not nothing. But yeah. So visit our friends at Molly jewelry us.com link is in the description. And the best part about this is it is an online store, but I can vouch for them. I bought for them. And so, you know, I'm not blowing smoke up your ass. Molly jewelry us link in the description below, get your girl something nice.

[00:36:21] And then she'll let you watch wrestling whenever you want. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, the selection they have is really vast. It's huge. And there's updated. They don't just have rings too. They've got pendants earrings, all that good stuff. Yeah. So yeah, check them out and they're coming out with new products all the time, but don't forget that promo code in the description. It is down there. Use it. Save 10%. Ah, so yes. Molly jewelry does not have a problem with merchandise. AEW does. Um, I'm sorry.

[00:36:52] I'm actually, I'm re I'm really excited for the pen to merge. So I re I really am truly. I also have a problem. So fun fact about me and jewelry though, is, um, I buy merch for me. I love jewelry. It's a hobby of mine, but I don't wear it. Oh, same. I never wear. Yeah. So if I'm, if I'm single, I'm looking at all this beautiful jewelry and I'm just like, yeah, I have nobody to buy this for.

[00:37:20] But, um, but yeah, I buy wrestling merch for me, which actually you'll appreciate this humor. Speaking of. Oh, that's awesome. It's an oldie, but a goodie. Yeah. No, this year, this year is popular when I wear it out. This shirt's popular. It gets a lot of laughs. Um, but yeah, so do we, I, hopefully this isn't so much a prediction as is a hope. I hope ring of honor, uh, gets a viewership and gross. Uh huh.

[00:37:50] Definitely. Definitely. I just, I wanted to get on max because I know what'll happen is it'll probably, it won't eclipse dynamite, but I think it will eclipse the other shows. And speaking of other shows rampages, is it gone or going? I think it's gone. It is. Oh, wow. I know that they were, they said they weren't, they were getting rid of it and they're replacing it. They're just, it looks like they're just renaming it though. Oh yeah. You're right. You're right.

[00:38:17] They were replacing it, but yeah, it's still the last rampage was, oh yeah. The final rampage was the December 27. Oh yeah. Okay. Now I remember that being like the final rampage. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't remember what the new show is.

[00:38:45] It's not velocity, but it does start with a V I think. Not too sure. I remember there was name in it. I also don't know if it's a two hour or one hour program, but it's a, if it's a one hour program, that's kind of silly because just keep ramping unless rampage is such a toxic name. Now that people see it and they just go, Nope.

[00:39:16] But yeah. Yeah. And AEW as total, I, I kind of predict this year is going to be fairly uneventful for them. I think it'll just slowly, but surely get a little bit better, but never underestimate Tony Khan's ability to take something and screw it up. Cause for a case study. Yeah. For a case study, CCM. It's like, I do like where it's headed, but I'm not too sure. Like I'm still like confused about certain things.

[00:39:46] They're still doing some really good. Like the last time, the last time we did the podcast, I gotta say, I watched AEW and I was like, I actually enjoyed the show for the most part. Yeah. But it also was kind of a nothing burger. Yeah. I liked it. Um, world's in, I saw that. That was pretty okay. Oh, see, I have not watched that yet. So I was curious. It was good. It just that it was some silly parts.

[00:40:12] It's like Tony storm is now back to the old Tony for some reason. I don't know why it's almost like she's back when she was in WWE. She's playing on that. Tony, she's no more of the black and white Tony. So I have no idea what she was. One of the most popular things, which to be fair, I didn't get it, but I recognize that it was popular. It's just gone. It's like, she never did before.

[00:40:41] That's something that's acting like she's brand new. She's like, Oh, thanks for this opportunity. No, that's something that like, like, they didn't even hit her in the head to know that's the thing. I can see like the Mariah may like hair or something hard enough where she forgot. The last like eight months. Something. Yeah. I mean, as silly as it sounds, it's something. Yeah. It was just like, okay, here's Tony storm. She's black in the, she's back in the red and black. She's back in color.

[00:41:11] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's like, I don't agree. Yeah. I just, they're playing like 3D chess. They're not. They're playing standard checkers and they think that they're Tony Khan thinks he's Bobby Fisher, but he's playing checkers. It's like, I really don't get that. It's like, I really don't get that. But overall, it was a good, uh, PIP review.

[00:41:41] It was. That's good. That's good. If it, yeah. If AEW can just get rid of the silly stuff. Yes. Yes. Yes. And like the last, um, match was orange Cassidy versus John Moxley. It threw me out. Like I really didn't care because it's like, okay. It's riddle me this, that we all know who orange Cassidy is. We all know what his deal is. Yeah.

[00:42:07] Why would Moxley even agree to have a competitive match with the human slot? If he's supposed to be this bad-ass, like hell's angel style biker gang, like honestly putting my, you know, theoretical booking hat on. It's like, okay, John Mox. Okay. You want to do the whole bad-ass death writers thing. Okay. The first thing you're going to do is at the main event of world's end, you are going

[00:42:37] to just, you're going to kill orange Cassidy. It would be much better. Like seriously, we're going to have people, we're going to have people legitimately scared that he's dead. That's what we, none of this. Hmm. Hmm. It's like, no, you want your death match? Kill him. Like make them think he's dead. And then orange Cassidy, you get to go on a vacation, a long vacation.

[00:43:03] You're still getting paid, but you're going on a long vacation. You will not be on television for a year. If I have my druthers. At least six months. Yeah. Like you're, you're gone. Cause when you come back, you're going to be brand new and you're going to be legitimate. And you're going to say something to the effect of, you know, I thought I was untouchable. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:43:31] And then you almost took every year. Like you almost killed me in this ring. And I realized I have to stop getting around. Hit the gym, put on weight. You can do it. Yeah. It just, it took me out of the whole show. Like I was actually enjoying the main event. Yeah. Like, did you turn it off or did you finish the match? I saw it. It was okay.

[00:43:57] It was like, it was nothing that good, but it was, it wasn't that long. Cause, um, uh, Adam Copeland came and came back. Oh yeah. I did see that. Yeah. I didn't even realize I, I blanked on that. He was gone. I saw the rated FTR stuff. Yeah. Okay. Great. I'm here for it. Anytime FTR is on screen, I'm there for it. And anytime.

[00:44:24] Well, for the most part, anytime Adam Copeland's on screen, I'm there for it. Unless he's doing something just God awfully stupid, but Hey, like I'll take it. And so here's my other thing that I'll keep asking what's, what's going on with Tony Khan and the bucks. Where did that go? Oh, that's dead. That's that was dead when they started it. They knew they wasn't going to finish.

[00:44:51] They took it somewhere, but so I, I guess I did. I did see something where apparently in some interview, Tony Khan credited the airing of the CM Punk footage with getting them their TV deal. Oh, really? I could be. I geeked him. Don't know one-on-one did a bit, but I'm not. Okay. Okay. I've not seen the, I don't know if that's older, but it seemed to be pretty new. I think I, I think when I watched it, the video was only a week old.

[00:45:18] So I'm assuming he's talking about a more recent interview and I'm just like, bro, tell me that CM Punk lives referee in your head without like, just stop dude. It's pathetic. It's so pathetic. And it's your fault. It's pathetic because if you'd not been stupid, CM Punk would still work at AEW and he'd be drawing

[00:45:46] you million dollar ratings and he would be selling out pay-per-views and he sure as hell wouldn't be wrestling Orange Cassidy. See, he'd do a dark match with Orange Cassidy for sure, but not on television. Yeah. Yeah. It just was, it wouldn't make sense. It, it never makes sense. Right. Cause the only way Orange Cassidy legitimately works is if everybody is in on the joke and agrees to play along. Well, why would a heel do that?

[00:46:16] Yeah. Yeah. It's just like the match they had with, um, it was Mercedes versus Chris at world's end. It was a legitimate good match. It just that it didn't make sense how, uh, Chris was taking so many bumps from Mercedes where she's like half her size. Yeah. That should have. Yeah. It's like, and I don't get it because there are people there that know wrestling psychology.

[00:46:45] They should be like, okay, Chris, you've got a solid, what? 40 pounds at least. Oh yeah. Yeah. If not more. Like she's like probably five, eight. Yeah. It's nine. And it's like, Chris, your game plan, because if this were a legitimate fight, your game plan is to get your hands on Mercedes and throw her around like a rag doll Mercedes. You got to take out the legs for one part. She did one part. And now I was like, yes, finally. And then she made a mistake.

[00:47:15] And then somehow Mercedes got the upper hand. It just certain parts of that match. It didn't make sense. Yeah. Because it was in the script. Yeah, exactly. It felt like it. Yeah. So I don't know. I hope AEW figures it out, but unfortunately it's a good and bad thing because people have talked about this. That company will exist as long as Tony Khan wants to pay for it. It doesn't matter if it makes money. It doesn't. Right.

[00:47:46] But that's also the worst thing about that company because Tony Khan doesn't necessarily have to impress an audience. That's true. Because at the end of the day, it can always turn into Tony Khan pays a television network to have his wrestling TV show on it. Yeah. It's like he's already wealthy. So yeah, he can lose money. Yeah. It's inconsequential. Now, currently it's not so bad that because I mean Warner Brothers Discovery is paying them for the show.

[00:48:15] So, you know, it's not reached that level of disappointment yet, but and they do seem to be on an upward trajectory. So best wishes for 2025, but I just I just hope they continue this trajectory is all is all I'm saying. Yeah, same here. Because WWE is going to continue to spank them. I think it's certainly for the next year if probably forever, but I would say probably

[00:48:45] definitely the next six months. Well, you know what if I'm WWE, I think the best the best troll would be to build TNA up as a legitimate competitor to AEW. Oh, that's kind of messed up. That to me would be the greatest flex ever and just be like hit replace can be like, well, you know, it's not even our company and even they're beating you.

[00:49:14] I wonder what they buy TNA. I don't think so. And here's there's a couple reasons why which again I've never met all of X. So but based on what people have said about him that I've heard and what I've read is first and foremost, he loves the wrestling business and he understands that especially with today's model competition in the marketplace is a good thing. And because like WWE doesn't need to recruit any more fans.

[00:49:44] However, TNA can be a wonderful place to acquire talent from without having to invest a ton of money. Your Joe Hendry's your Jordan Grace's your Moose's, you know? Yeah. And even, you know, Ryan Nemeth is he's doing good stuff there that he just didn't have the opportunity to do.

[00:50:04] And it'll be similar to the Cody Rhodes route, I expect where, you know, if you got a guy who, you know, people like him, but he just he's just not quite there. Yeah. You know, send them over to send them over to TNA. Mm hmm. Like let him let him do or like even if a scene is a bad example. Let me think. Like, frankly, I think Curtis actual should go to TNA.

[00:50:34] Oh, yeah. Or some somewhere. Yeah. You know. All right. They're still wrestling. I think so. Maybe if he's not, he should have gone somewhere. Mm hmm. You know, we're working with a Joe Hendry, do a program with Joe Hendry and then Joe Hendry can come on WWE TV like he's already done and make a splash. And, you know, having at least a working relationship.

[00:51:01] I imagine the TNA thing would kind of be similar to what Vince did with ECW. OK, yeah. Something like that, something where they don't own it because, frankly, they don't need to own it. There's there's no there's no valid reason for WWE to buy TNA. They don't need the talent. They don't need another program. But it's a good relationship to have around. Mm hmm.

[00:51:25] You know, if you need an excitement and a Royal Rumble or an event, you can always just bring, you know, a TNA star over. And it it provides you with a way to if you've got a talent that has some friction with the office and say, look, OK, we understand where there's some friction here. Why don't you continuing making your money like you're still getting paid by us? Yeah. Go help TNA out. Have some fun.

[00:51:55] Work with some different people, you know, put them over. And it gives time for. Tensions to cool if you're doing temporary run with TNA. I don't know they do tour occasionally, but I believe the majority of their tapings are in the same place. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure it's it's it's like it gives some time to breathe, so to speak. Yeah. You know, so it's all it's it's it's all good things.

[00:52:22] And then conversely, like I said, you know, if you want a surprise. Like, don't tell me Moose wouldn't get a pop if he showed up at the Royal Rumble or something. He sure or in the money in the bank ladder match. Think about that. Yeah. It's like you can tease us. That'd be some good TV. You tease a surprise entrant for at least a few weeks. And then everybody's wondering, who is it? Who is it? And then like the week before you drop in, it's like he may not even be.

[00:52:51] A member of the WWE roster. And then everybody's first sensing and be like, oh, somebody from NXT because they play that game all the time. And then for somebody like Moose or Ryan Nemeth. Imagine him back. Yeah. It's like, I wonder, will he be Dolph again or Ryan? Or Nick, not Ryan. Sorry. Yeah. They're brothers. It's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Probably not if I had to guess.

[00:53:19] And that might be the best thing he can do for himself because Dolph Ziggler is kind of, and now granted, he kind of sort of picked it. But Dolph Ziggler is kind of a dumb name. Not going to lie. It always was. I never got it. Yeah. Dolph. I mean, I guess, I guess Dolph Lundgren, but. He's the only Dolph ever heard of. Yeah. And I didn't even get that it was short for Rudolph. I was just like Dolph. I just figured it was like a Scandinavian name. Cause I think Dolph Lundgren is Swedish, isn't he? Or something. Or Hungarian. Something like that.

[00:53:49] He's, he's over, he's on the other side of the ocean. But yeah, so I think, I think that would be the greatest troll ever is that WWE just kind of like lets TNA write its coattails of success to compete with AEW directly. Yeah. I think that'd be funny. And New Japan. And New Japan's kind of been floundering ever since AEW was founded.

[00:54:18] And I think we'll probably see more of the thing, more of the same. What New Japan really needs is they need a star. They need. Yeah. Another Kenny or they needed another. But I mean, gosh, when I always talk about the sweet spot in wrestling for me is like 2014 to 2019. And that's because New Japan and Ring of Honor had legitimate stars, legitimate young talent that brought eyes to the product. And right now they just don't.

[00:54:49] I mean, I guess they got Naito, but Naito is not exactly young anymore. Yeah, sure. I mean, they've got talent, but it's talent that no disrespect. Well, yeah. And no disrespect to Naito, but I've seen Naito. Mm-hmm. You know, they need. I don't know where you pull talent from though, because. Yeah, I'm not sure.

[00:55:16] Do they have like a NXT version over there? That's. Well, I mean, they've got their dojo, but that's mostly. That's mostly Japanese guys, which fine. Yeah, but that big name. Cause like, yeah, they just gotta. They've just gotta get a couple names to.

[00:55:41] Honestly, when they like join with AEW, I thought that was when they was going to have like more AEW talent over there and it was going to like, I don't know, put more eyes on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you know what? And I kind of get why this happened because. I mean. It sounds bad, but if you're making that AEW money and working one, maybe two nights a week, why would you go to Japan? Especially if you've got a family like. Yeah.

[00:56:10] Like, like the Young Bucks did it because they had to. Cause that's, that's where they made the bulk of their money. Yeah. Like, but now they don't have to. So unless they just feel like doing a Tokyo Dome show, like. They just, they just don't have to. And I'd imagine there's some bad blood when you're talking about the Young Bucks. Although I know Kenny did a run there. Yeah. He came back. Yeah. He started first in New Japan. That one that paper do is.

[00:56:41] Yeah. But they need, New Japan needs. And it's not even their fault. That's what's frustrating is because. AEW definitely seemed to be getting more out of that deal than New Japan did. It seems they took away like a lot of their stars and like I'm done now. Yeah. I mean, I mean, kind of. Yeah. That's. They got Kenny, Will, Okada, Shibaru.

[00:57:10] And a few others. No, Takeshita came from DDP. Um. Oh, okay, okay. There's another. There's another one. Yeah. But I guess Ibushi's wrestling again in New Japan. Yeah. Yeah. But, but I mean, even like, even Ibushi's kind of aging out because he's not. They all are. Even Okada is not the same Okada that I've seen like 10 years ago. Yeah.

[00:57:37] They, they need some breakout stars, which I mean, New Japan's gone through similar periods. Like everybody talks about the era of the three Musketeers where you had, you know, Tanahashi, Nakamura and Shibata were essentially the draws and they were carrying the promotion for almost like five plus years. So, it's just a down time, but they'll get there. There's always. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. There's always waves.

[00:58:03] And WWE went through a major down time in the 2010s, which granted that was their fault. Uh huh. That definitely wasn't a lack of talent. It was totally their fault, but it was a downturn. Oh yeah. And AEW, I think just came out of a downturn. Hopefully they're on an upward trajectory, but I mean, there is a hope so because like they're, they're going to be putting some storylines that actually white, like Ricochet.

[00:58:28] I actually kind of care where his story line is going now compared to when he ever, he was in WWE. But after seeing, I'm going to be honest, after seeing a couple of his promos in AEW. I don't know. Those that's trash. I know. I know why they didn't give him a microphone. Yeah, I know. I get it. I get it. He looked legit mad. Like when he's scoring against Swerve.

[00:58:56] So hopefully that brings something out of him, you know? Yeah, for sure. And again, I've kind of, I've gotten better about when something happens on a wrestling show that I disagree with. I've gotten better about being like, okay, I don't know where this is going yet. Let's just see what happens because a lot of the time I'm more than okay with the resolution. And I think, you know what? I wouldn't have even thought of that, but I like it. Exactly.

[00:59:25] I mean, unexpected things happen. You know? Sometimes for good, sometimes for the better. Kind of like how over on the Arte podcast, which is my solo podcast where I have in-depth long conversations with people. YouTube recently removed one of my videos for quote, medical misinformation. Oh yeah, I saw that. Yeah. So fortunately that podcast is on multiple platforms.

[00:59:53] So you can watch that episode in its entirety. I uploaded a video talking about it where you can link directly. But honestly, if you, if you're a fan of the Joe Rogan experience, you honestly should check out the Arte podcast, not to toot my own horn, but it's a similar format. And my interview coming up in February. Yeah. Because the Arte awards are going to be announced in this month in January.

[01:00:18] But in February, I did an interview with a, another fascist stretch mobility coach, and I'm going to have him back on because I also found out he was a certified financial advisor from Dave Ramsey. So we're going to talk about something completely different. Yeah. But you learn stuff. There's fun, but check out that band episode with Natali Shafi, a. A holistic healer, healing practitioner. The way I see it, whenever YouTube removes a video, it means somebody was right.

[01:00:49] Yeah. It's like, it was looking on it that was like, I don't know, bad or bad or anything like that. No, the way, the way they made it sound in their reasoning was they made it sound like, and she did not do this. I want to be crystal clear. She did not do anything of the sort, but they made it sound like she was like, Oh, you have cancer. Take this plant root and it'll fix it. And I'm like, I'm like, that's not, I'm like, that's not at all what she said.

[01:01:15] She was referencing a chart that had holistic and traditional medical methods for various ailments that was created by nurses and health educators. Honestly, who knows? Maybe that herb may work. Well, no, first of all, cancer was only brought up as being on the chart. That's not even what we were talking about. But it's, it's like, I got, I was so mad, not just for me, but I was just like, really? This is so dumb.

[01:01:44] This is just so dumb. But like I said, you can check out the full episode on Spotify. There's a link in the video, but check out the RTA podcast link in the description. You can get all that information and see my interview with a professional Muay Thai fighter who he's retired now, but at the time he was still active rock band again and forever. Also a very good friend of the, the podcast network, just a lot of very interesting conversations and more to come. So check that out.

[01:02:13] Who are what other wrestling companies do we have? Well, stardom. That's I don't watch them much. I'm counting them as part of new Japan now. Yeah, no. Same there. I think the same, which I gotta be honest. I think the higher ups in new Japan are pissed because I think they were going to get more eyes by incorporating stardom. And yeah, I don't think it did all that much. I really don't know. I think they get more views on YouTube.

[01:02:44] What's so seriously? I think you do. Not gonna lie. Probably. Probably. I guess you got NWA, which. Yeah. I mean, kudos to them. They're on the CW. So. I never watched one episode. But so is NXT now. So I'm telling if I were NWA, I'd have been so mad.

[01:03:12] Because yeah, they, they, they got a TV deal with the C art is NWA even still on the CW or they kicked off and God NXT being on the CW is so weird. It is. I mean, NWA being on the CW was weirder, but yeah. Yeah. It was wild. If I, if I were Billy Corgan, I'd have been really upset. Mm hmm. Should we like really CW?

[01:03:42] Really? It's like, no, because my company is not hanging on by a thread or anything. Yeah. To me, they're dirty. Because a lot of people do like them. Yeah. It's just, it's on the CW. Oh, okay. So the CW has two wrestling programs that are competing with each other. Kind of. Yeah. It's a CW X and YouTube.

[01:04:12] Oh, okay. Yeah. If I were Billy Corgan, I'd be pretty upset. It's like you make a deal, host my wrestling show. And then you put another wrestling show on the same network. Yeah. I'd, I'd be, I'd be pretty mad. Especially when it was like their one chance to okay to actually make. They were like, Oh, we're on legit TV now, by the way, we're putting NXT on. Wow. Which is the same color scheme too. Yeah, that's true. Black and gold.

[01:04:41] So yeah, that's not going to be confusing or anything. No. Even has, it starts with the same letter. Oh yeah. Right. NXT NWA. There's going to maybe actually, they'll probably help them. Someone may get confused. Somebody gets confused. I thought I was watching NXT. Oh God. I saw a video on Tik TOK of a wrestling.

[01:05:09] I did wrestling grandma where it's a, it's a grandma that watches wrestling and it's like wrestling or like. And she's like, that Roman reigns is going to get his ass whooped. And then he is the guy filming her is like, grandma, who's your favorite wrestlers? Like stone cold, Steve Austin. I'm like, I love this. Yeah. Yeah. Stone cold, Steve Austin, the undertaker. I'm like, Hey, I'm not going to argue with you. Oh yeah.

[01:05:37] I wish they were still around to wrestle. I don't know. I still, I missed the ad to air. I missed the ruthless aggression era. Well, I think the attitude, I think it's going to become kind of a hybrid of the attitude, ruthless aggression era on Netflix, frankly, because I think raw is going to live up to its name now. Like I'm not, I'm not, I don't think you're going to get bra and panty matches coming back, but I think you will get, I think you will get some pieces of shit thrown around.

[01:06:06] I think you'll get a little bit more blood, but triple H is really good at this stuff. You know what I mean? Like he knows, he knows when it's appropriate to kind of push, but not overdo it, you know? Yeah. Now I don't like the blood matches to me. Some of them are overdone. Like that's just it. It's when it's overdone. I always use like the dusty rule.

[01:06:31] Like, yeah, it seemed like when dusty blood, it always meant something, which I'm sure there are matches where it didn't because some of those were certainly before I was watching wrestling. Some of them were before I was born, but it's like, I think Cody has very much the same mentality though, because when Cody bleeds or somebody bleeds in a Cody match. Yeah. Yeah. It's like more meaningful. Actually.

[01:06:55] I think punk probably has the better attitude towards it because, you know, I get the sense that he really doesn't like, you know, bleeding. Uh huh. I can understand it. I would find it unpleasant, but he'll do it if the match calls for it. So I get it. But just, just go out there and cut yourself for no reason or no, I'm not for no reason, but for no good reason is one.

[01:07:21] One, it's like, first of all, you're causing yourself pain. Like I know it's not permanent damage or anything, although I don't know if some of those guys have plenty of scars, but like, yeah. Like if you're going to do it, at least make it mean something. Because the other thing that happens is that when you do it too often, Moxley, it dilutes it. When people get used to seeing people bleed, it dilutes it when it actually matters, you know? Uh huh.

[01:07:51] And that I think is my biggest problem with it because I, shoot, there was a time where if a wrestler bled in a match, it was like, oh, now it's on. Yeah, now it's just like, every other like, Will Ospreay match, or Moxley match, you know. Eh, it's time to bleed it in brof. Eh, eh. By the way, I cannot, which is not Will Ospreay's fault, but he's not helping. I hate the fact that the word bruv is in the United States now.

[01:08:22] Oh yeah, I never heard it until he came. It's because the English can't speak their own language. Because bruv is short for brother. Because you know in England, the TH sound makes a bruh. Brother. Yeah, I do hate that part. It's... Stop.

[01:08:52] You can't speak English and your country is named England. Stop it. Like, I like him, but I just hate when he's talking. I do. I'm the same way. I really like him. He's one of the few people who are being like, just shut up and wrestle, please. Yeah, yeah. Just stop talking. His match is a phenomenal. Well, the thing is, a lot of people probably don't understand this, but he's dialing it up. Like, don't get me wrong. He's always had an accent, but he's dialing it up.

[01:09:21] Like, go back to... Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. Like, go back to 2015 Will Ospreay. Don't get me wrong. He still has... He still has a thing. He's hamming it up on the mic. Oh, absolutely. And like, he talks more now than he ever did before in the past. Which, too... Which, too... Less of a talker, you know. Like, oh man, I remember early Will Ospreay back when he was a much, much smaller fella. Uh-huh.

[01:09:47] And the fact that he can still do pretty much all that stuff, having been damn near double as big as he was, like... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is really impressive. It is. I mean, Ricochet too, to a point, because he definitely got some size, but... Mm-hmm. I mean, Ricochet's always kind of been fairly ripped, but I mean, he definitely got bigger. Yeah, he did, he did. Like, compared to before when he was like Prince Puma, he's definitely...

[01:10:16] I think that was kind of the start of it, actually. I mean, like, prior to that, like, Indie-rific Ricochet. Oh, okay, okay. He was quite a bit skinnier back then, but he was younger too. So, like, I'm not cutting him up. I'm just saying, like, kudos. Like, that's very impressive. Uh-huh. Yeah. But, uh, yeah. What other... Anybody else? I don't know, do we think the Rhea Ripley train is running its course? Oh, that's what I was gonna say, I forgot about.

[01:10:43] Yeah, like, now, it doesn't... I don't really care about it now. Like, the whole Rhea Dom or Rhea getting back at Liv, to me that whole storyline is kind of like... It should have been, like, ended a while ago. Well, yeah, because my whole thing was just like... Like, cause Rhea Ripley's clearly a babyface. Yeah. And it's just like, when he dumped her for Liv, it's kind of like, okay, why are you fighting over this?

[01:11:12] This is a good thing for you. Yeah, exactly. Your life will be demonstrably better without him around you. I totally get, like, getting revenge after that, but still, like... For the title, I get. Yeah, but... Not for Dom. Not for Dom. No. This isn't about Dom. Actually, that's the best thing she could do in a promo, is she can be like, listen, Rhea, you know, I know you're upset about me going in, and she's like, this isn't about

[01:11:42] you, Dom. Yeah. Yeah. I am happy that she stuck around with Priest, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Cause they're, I mean, they're kind of like a unit in and of themselves, so that's...

[01:12:23] Yeah, that's true. Everybody else is kind of a joke, and, like, Finn Balor's not a joke, but what he does in the stable kind of is. He is now. Yeah, he is now. Yeah. He's nothing like what he used to be. Which, I mean, fair enough. I mean, he's been wrestling for a long time. He deserves to sit back, take a break, and be the leader of a stable, a jobber stable. Uh-huh. Hehehe.

[01:12:48] Now, the fact that Raquel Rodriguez is hanging around with him now is super weird to me. I see it, but... I see it because of Liv, but... Yeah, yeah. It's still kind of weird. The whole thing's kind of weird. It kind of reminds me of, like, they trying to make another LWO. What was it? Yeah, LWO. Yeah, except this was like the goth world version. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Hehehehe.

[01:13:18] Yeah, is the LWO even still doing stuff? Well, they have... Well, yeah. They have... Yeah, I was gonna say, I thought they'd been around. Yeah. Yeah. Not as big, but they still have some stuff, but... Yeah, see, what are they gonna do with Pentagon? Are they gonna try to bring him into that? Because... The unfortunate thing about... Um...

[01:13:46] I would say maybe bring with Andrade, like him and Pentagon as a team until Ray comes in. I mean, maybe. Because the unfortunate side effect of having the LWO is now you're kind of... With all your, you know, Latino wrestlers, you're kind of like... You're either LWO or not. Yeah. And like, don't get me wrong, I get what they were doing. I get it.

[01:14:15] But it created kind of an unintended consequence. Oh, it's kind of like LWO versus all the other Latino wrestlers on the roster. On the roster. And it's kind of like... Yeah. Ooh. I bet they didn't anticipate this. I bet they did. They just didn't know how far it was gonna go. If they did anticipate it, that sounds like a Vince thing. Be like, whoa, we're all gonna fight each other. Best one wins. It'll be like a gang war.

[01:14:45] And they'll all wear bandanas. It's like shit. I'm sure you probably did say that. Yeah. I'm sure this is a conversation that was had. Oh, yeah. I don't know if Big Arm bring them as singles or tag. Because like I said, Andrade, he just lost against Shinsuke. And he keeps losing. I don't know.

[01:15:13] He came to WWE for a change and now he's still losing. Oh, I'm sure it's a positive change because at least he... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. At least he's not getting to fight with Sammy. Oh, no, he did that to try to get fired. You cannot convince me otherwise. Because the way I understand it is he was told not to hit other people. And then he immediately went and punched Sammy Guevara in the face to try to get Sam home. Yeah.

[01:15:43] Because, I mean, it was like the same day. Yeah. And I'm just like, I kind of believe he was like, oh, you don't want me to punch other people? Sammy! He's an easy target. Bring that punchable face over here. And what it did to Sammy is like so messed up. It's like he's so good, but he's now in ROH with Dustin. That could actually be a net positive for him in the long run.

[01:16:12] Oh, yeah. I really do think he'll learn more to dial things back, you know, and not kill himself every single match. Well, because Sammy is another guy who, you know, I'm not saying he was small, but I mean, put on a little bit more size. Oh, yeah. Still be able to do that stuff. You've already got the punchable face. Now learn how to use it. Mm-hmm. And it's like, and then, oh, Ty Mello's back. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[01:16:42] Which I think she went to Japan, but still. Yeah, for a little bit, yeah. Yeah, she's back. Which I mean, I know there's a lot of people that don't like Ty Mello. I always liked her. Oh, I like her. I like Ty. I always liked Ty. I like her versus NST. There were issues. I'll freely admit there were issues, but I always liked Ty. I don't know. And when she was with Sammy, to me, this got better.

[01:17:12] Yeah, see, I actually liked that. I liked that part. And I will fully admit, I'm an asshole. Because, do you guys remember when Sammy proposed to his old fiance on AEW? Yeah, I remember. I was like, that's not gonna work. As soon as. You know how I knew it wasn't gonna work? It wasn't, okay, this is what makes me an asshole. I, I. I know exactly what you're gonna say.

[01:17:41] Yeah, okay. You, you know, it's just kind of like, listen, I'm sure she's, I'm sure she's a wonderful girl. She has a nice personality. She has, she, I'm sure she has a great. Yeah. Now. The thing, the reason I knew it wasn't gonna work though, is because I was like, oh, she's normal. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And he is now no longer a broke wrestler on the indies. Yeah. He has money.

[01:18:08] And more importantly, he's on TV. Honestly, it's like she was, like, she was like, she was like his foundation. Like, yes. Like, the whole turmoil of like, coming up as a wrestler. Yep. And once the guy established, you upgrade. Well, then all of a sudden he's got people like Tymelo, Anna Jay, you know, people around his age that are beautiful and also on TV.

[01:18:36] And it's like, oh, they're talking to you now because they know who you, and even people outside of wrestling. Yeah. I'm sure he had dates with models and I'm sure he had dates with, you know, other, you know, quasi celebrities, influencers. Like you're, you're a person whose name is now known. Yeah. And that carries some, that carries some privilege with it. Mm-hmm. And not to mention, it seems like he and Ty actually have a really good relationship. So kudos to them.

[01:19:06] Um, not only that, bro, Sammy knew what he had because he found a girl that looks like Ty Conti that was just as nerdy as him. Yeah. And then like, they have a kid now, I think. Sammy knows. A little fast. Yeah. Sammy knows. Sammy knew what he had. So kudos to him. Cause yeah, I think they did like a one year birthday party for their baby or not even a year. They did some kind of birthday celebration for their baby and it was Dragon Ball themed.

[01:19:35] And I was like, oh dude, you hit the jackpot. Yeah. You hit the jackpot, my friend. Uh, but yeah, hopefully we see more from, uh, I just want to see more ring of honor on TV. That's what I want. Yeah. It's a shame. It's like, I don't know. I just like, like I said, some things they're doing with, uh, a W is good. You know, this is just, I just want more, I want more better wrestling or overall, even WWE.

[01:20:04] I think we'll get it. Yeah. I hope so. It's like, well, what I hope doesn't happen is that WWE gets racier with raw and then AEW goes, Oh, well now we really got to up it. If they do, I wouldn't mind it so much. If they do it right. But if they just, if they just come out there, like, I think Moxley is one step away from just becoming Sandman. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:20:31] Just coming out and starting the match, smashing a can on his face. Not a beer can though. Cause he's, I know he's sober now, but like a can of sparkling water or something. Like just give him, give him a can of Coke zero and just like, it's coming. Oh, I remember the moment I wanted to talk about, which I saw this as a highlight. Like this is what makes me afraid for a W's future.

[01:21:00] So apparently, although, and on the one hand, I kind of liked it. So this was when Moxley and the death riders are in the ring. And he's like, if anybody has a problem with what we're trying to do, come out to this ring and tell me to my face. And then commander comes out and starts walking to the ring. And then Cesaro, Claudio just shoulder checks him.

[01:21:25] And I'm like, I'm like, I don't even know what to think here because like on the one hand, it seems like you're burying commander, which I'm fine with, but, or at least the idea of commander, because he's under a mask, he can do something else. But on the other hand, this is really stupid to do on television. Like this is just dumb because I was thinking like, Oh, okay. Who are, who's going to, who's going to be Mox's next big opponent?

[01:21:55] Cause that's, who's going to come out and had a problem. Like, honestly, it would never happen. But like if Sina did that, Oh, a W would have had a million rating for weeks. Yeah. They were never going to get John, but somebody, this is the other sad fact who in a W is going to do that. Maybe Dustin. I mean, he would do it, but it wouldn't be, it wouldn't be, it wouldn't make, or maybe Joe, like maybe Samoa Joe, but yeah.

[01:22:25] Joe would be good. There's a handful of people that would maybe even MJF be like, listen, Mox. I think this whole death brighter things real cute and all, but you know. Yeah. But even him is like his stock went down. Like I saw his match with, um, um, Cole. It was okay, but I liked it. Yeah. I, I know exactly what you mean. I liked it, but again, it was, it was okay. The match was good.

[01:22:53] I think the buildup was okay because the buildup was stupid. Yeah. Yeah. And now they're doing this whole like super skinny. Yeah. Now they're doing this whole, like is Adam Cole the bad guy, but now he's not the bad guy, but it's just like, this is dumb. This is so stupid. I'm not a fan of like Hill versus Hill. It can be done good. Just sometimes. I mean, heel versus baby face works.

[01:23:25] It's I mean, case in point, look at every big wrestling match ever. It was heel versus baby. Like the iconic ones. Now, granted they did a switch in the middle of this one, but rock versus Hogan, you know, you know, Rob Van Dam versus Tina. Cause Tina was a heel for one night and one night only. He was.

[01:23:56] I'm really, have you seen the interview where, where John's talking about the plan for his heel turn? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I gotta tell you if somebody ever invents the ability to travel between the multiverse, I'm going to find the universe where John Cena turned heel. I'm watching it. It was so good because as much as people like to crap on Sina, Sina understands the wrestling business.

[01:24:23] Cause he's talking about the things he was going to do for that heel turn. I'm like, he understands, he understands this business. Yeah. Absolutely. Like he would never be like my top five and top 10 wrestlers, but I'd be like, for what he done. And I know he knows the business versus some other people. You know? I also, cause I'm very much the same way in terms of my favorites.

[01:24:48] He's seen us probably not even on my top 10, but he carried the industry on his back for 15 years. Yeah. There's, there's no debate. Mm-hmm. I mean, the ruthless aggression. What he done, you know? Yeah. The ruthless aggression era was John Cena. That's absolutely why it was called. It started with him. That's how I like the, you know? Yeah.

[01:25:14] He, I mean, he was the guy for longer than stone, way longer than stone cold. People forget that. Yeah. I mean, way longer. Stone cold was like on top for what? Three years. I would give it maybe five, three, three, four to five years. Yeah. And Cena solid 15 years of being the guy. And even now still commands the crowd still commands an audience. Yeah. He's just not doing it full time anymore.

[01:25:44] Mm-hmm. So yeah, there's no denying that, but we'll wrap it up here. This one's been a long one, but fun one. Everybody who's watching this, if you made it this far, tell us your wrestling predictions in the comments. Let us know what you think is going to happen in 2025. And be sure to check out our wonderful sponsors. Don't forget that promo code. Get your girl something. Valentine's Day is next month. So yeah, it'll be here in a flash. It will. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I can't believe it's 2020.

[01:26:13] It's 2025. I know. I remember 2005. I don't, but I remember 2008. Oh no. I very much remember 2005. Oh, God, I'm old. Send me here, buddy. Damn.

[01:26:41] I remember when John Cena had a crew cut. I remember when wrestling was, I don't know, I don't know, more special, let's say. It lost its magic over the years for me. To me, it's not as exciting. Like, I'm never like, oh, I gotta watch this match. You know, like, I can watch it anytime. Okay, it's great.

[01:27:07] But to me, it lost a lot of its magic compared to what it used to be. You know what I honestly, you know what I honestly think that is though? I think that has more to do with us and the fact that. Absolutely. It's social media. Like everything's out of the bag. There's no secrets. Everything is just there. Well, not only that, it's the fact that, like again, back during the ruthless aggression era, like the DVR was around, but it wasn't a household item. Absolutely, yeah.

[01:27:34] So it's like, you had to be at home Monday night at eight o'clock, or you were going to miss Raw, and you might miss something huge. And you would have to pray that they showed a highlight. Because. Exactly. If it wasn't around yet. I mean, social media just was not. VCR. VHR or VCR is called. For what? To do the tape? Yeah. I used to do that. That's the only way I ever watched it. Sometimes like I had to set a timer.

[01:28:04] Oh yeah. And then tape it in. Yeah, the old VCR. Yeah. Yeah. So I definitely get what you mean when you say like the magic somewhat gone and then like, oh my gosh, if you didn't get that, like if you didn't get Spike TV and you wanted to watch TNA, you were like, oh, I want to watch TNA so bad. And then you watch TNA and you were like, oh, kind of mad that I paid extra for Spike now. Depending on the year, if you watched in 2006, it was probably pretty good.

[01:28:36] Yeah, yeah, it was. 2009. 2009. That's when I first saw it, I think. 2009. I was like, oh, okay. Oh, okay. Not my thing. Okay. We're doing this now. Speaking of TNA though, and being bad, stay tuned for next week when I'll upload episode two of Weekly Wrestling Wrap Up. That was pretty cool. Which I gotta say, I remember the first episode being a lot more boring.

[01:29:06] Uh huh. And it wasn't as boring as I remembered it. Like, but here's the good news guys. If that was tolerable to you, starting with episode three and onward, it gets a lot funnier. It was good. It was like, it reminded me of what I was doing to that time when Vince was in a limbo and blew up. I was like, oh, is it real? Is it not? Yeah. I don't remember. I don't remember us making fun of it as much as we did.

[01:29:33] We're just like, yeah, this is a thing that they did. Guys, comedy was in a very different place. I want to preface this just so because I'm sure we did some offensive stuff, but you have to understand comedy was in a very different place then. It was better then. It was. It was better. It was way better. Yeah. But I'm sure there's jokes. Actually, I know for a fact. Oh, I forgot about that joke. Oh, well, it's coming.

[01:30:03] There's jokes we made that would, uh, that would not fly in today's climate. Um, but they're there. So enjoy. I don't care. You can't cancel me. I'm not famous yet. It's nothing that bad. It's just stuff that kind of like, if you're our age, you'll, if you're our age, you'll like it. If you're a little bit younger, you either won't get it or you'll be offended.

[01:30:34] Like, how dare they? Yeah. Yeah. Um, I don't know if I should tease it or not. I will. So. So first of all, our friend John is Korean. So just preface with that. There may or may not be a kamikaze joke. Oh, okay. Which I still maintain is funny, especially considering, especially considering it was an ad lib. Like it was made. That's the other thing.

[01:31:05] No episode of that show was ever scripted. Even the parody we do of the office was pretty much all ad lib. Uh huh. We had a basic idea of the story, but it was pretty much ad lib. Uh huh. So. Yeah, that's in season two though. So you got some time, but anyway, uh, unless you've got any other predictions, we'll roll it out.

[01:31:33] Um, not so much, not just yet. I would like to see like how this next, um, for Monday night raw is going to be. I want to see how it is on Netflix. And then after that, maybe I'll have a. As long as Netflix doesn't crash, I think it'll be fine. Oh yeah. Oh, that would be bad. Yeah. Like a Tyson fight. That would be so bad. Oh, could you imagine? That would be horrible.

[01:32:02] I mean, they'll spin it. Be like WWE Monday night raw had so many viewers on debut episode on that. Crash the service servers. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, they might do that on purpose. A little bump rings up a little. We can bring back Solomon crane. I cannot stand him. That's what that's one of the few people in wrestling that I genuinely hate. Like I don't understand how he has a career.

[01:32:31] I don't understand why he's popular. I don't get it. He is not. I think he's dangerous. I think he's unprofessional. And I think he should not have a job in wrestling. There's a few wrestlers over the years that I was like, they're not actually wrestlers. New Jack. New Jack would admit that though. I think that's the difference. Oh yeah. Like. I'm as a person after I got to know him a little later on. Yeah.

[01:33:02] He was pretty okay. But. Okay. I mean. I don't know. But some of the stories he would say like and tell. It's like, wow. Yeah. I did enjoy though when he was like, somebody was asking him like Rob Van Damme. He's like, I never had a problem with Rob. And there's like nobody who had a problem with Rob Van Damme. I'm sure somebody out there has, but. You're wrong.

[01:33:32] I never heard of it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, apparently actually Punk and him. I don't think they ever had a problem, but I saw an interview where Rob talking about and granted this was. Well, no, actually, I take that back. He was telling a story from back when, you know, they were together in EC, the WWE's ECW. But this was shortly after brawl out when this interview took place. And Rob's talking about how like he had come back from a suspension and apparently Punk'd him.

[01:34:00] And he's like, oh, just so you know, I'm calling a, you know, a team meeting. Oh yeah. And he's just like, what? He was like, well, somebody has been stealing gear from the locker room. And I know, I know it's not you, but just letting you know. And I'm just like, I could see how a veteran would hear that and be like, who do you think you are?

[01:34:27] I heard something similar with Kevin Owens. He was like Punk told him to wear like a singlet or something like that. And he was like, I don't feel comfortable wearing a singlet. Yeah. So, so that, yeah, that's a, I think that one was a legitimate misunderstanding because I think they, it's my understanding that they did have a problem.

[01:34:48] But I think it was a big misunderstanding on both parts because I think, I think Punk took that as, because the way Kevin tells the story is he thought Punk was joking about something. Not, not that. Yeah. And maybe he was, but I think Kevin's cause Kevin reacted like it was a joke. And I think Punk took that as like, I don't care what you say. Yeah.

[01:35:16] And I think, I think that caused cause, cause Kevin's still kind of like, I saw that shoot interview and Kevin's still kind of like, I'm still kind of confused about the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, I'm not really sure if we have a problem with each other or not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I don't, those are always the worst ones when somebody like has a problem with you and you're like, I have no, why? What did they do? It's like, what I do.

[01:35:45] Did I make, I don't recall making fun of your mother, but if I did, you know, I stand by what I said, damn it. What, what's, what's that? Well, and on a star tree, what's that? Uh, your mom's so fat that Spock said she outweighs the needs of the many.

[01:36:14] Oh God. That's my favorite. Your mama joke, just because it's so obscure. Yeah. All right, everyone. Well, like I said, leave your wrestling predictions for 2025 in the, in the comments and check out our friends at Molly jewelry and buy your girl something nice for Valentine's day. Just get it out of the way. Yeah. Get a, get a whole year's worth of peace and quiet with our friends at Molly jewelry. Yeah. I was going to sit in the house, but yeah.

[01:36:45] I was going to say you could save money and buy some Molly. Matt too, but we don't have a promo code for that. But TM Hakeem, he knows the guy. Everyone.

[01:37:08] We'll see you guys in a couple of weeks for the down the middle podcast and check out the episode two of weekly wrestling wrap up. That's coming next week. And until then enjoy Monday night raw. Cause we're all going to watch it. Sure. Sure we are just to see.