Down The Middle Episode 88: Raw is Netflix (and awesome)

[00:00:20] Yep, I got a notification. Same here. Oh really? I had the same problem like last week, or last time.

[00:01:14] Okay, how about now?

[00:01:19] Is it good? Yep, yep. I had to restart my PC. Oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've done that many times.

[00:01:55] Initial problem was, but okay. And now I'm probably super loud. No, I sound good. All right, everybody. Sorry about that. But now you know how if you're ever using OBS to stream and your microphone stops working randomly, now you know what to do.

[00:02:20] Welcome to Down The Middle. As always, I am your co-host Jake, joined by my partner in crime, my tag team partner, Hakeem. How are you doing, Hakeem? I'm pretty good. Yeah, it's been an interesting week for wrestling. It's been an interesting day for wrestling. A lot of, a lot happened today, frankly. A lot happened this week. But before we get into it, just want to let everybody know here that this podcast is brought to you tonight by the RTA Podcast and RTA Media.

[00:02:50] Specifically, if you want to start a podcast, we'll talk a little bit more about that. But let's talk about the luchador in the room. We were right, and we were only off by a week. Yeah, I know. I was kind of shocked.

[00:03:06] We were off by one week, and you know what? I kind of get what, after watching the first episode of Raw on Netflix, I kind of get why they didn't lead with them. Because they had a lot. And I'll say this much. I know why they're doing it. They're pulling out all the stops for Netflix. Because those two shows have been stacked, dude. I mean, some of them, like this past week, honestly, kind of felt more like a pay-per-view than an episode of Raw, in a way.

[00:03:36] Oh yeah, I totally get that. Because it had not just, and trust me, we're going to go deep into the Penta debut because some things happened. But Match of the Night for me should be no surprise, Lyra Valkyria versus Dakota Kai. Oh, absolutely. That was awesome. I liked it so much. It was awesome. Yeah.

[00:04:01] And plus, not that Lyra Valkyria was not getting a push, but I mean, inaugural Women's Intercontinental Champion. And that tracks, that jives. Yeah, because like, obviously she was getting a good push in NXT, but now like the main roster knows who she is. Well, that's because now Triple H is in China. Triple H is out of hand in both now. So the transitions will be smoother. Uh-huh.

[00:04:31] But I think Shawn Michaels is technically still heading up in NXT, right? That's what they say. Yeah, I believe. Which I mean, I mean, other than Dusty, did you get anyone better? Yeah. Him, Dusty, and William Regal. Oh yeah, William. Okay, I take that back. Yeah. But William Regal's back in WWE. I can't remember what he's doing now though. Yes. He said he was going to try to help out his son more now. Yeah.

[00:05:01] That's why he left AEW. No, that's why he says he left. But I swear the longer that company's in existence, and it's funny, we said this about a year after the Open, it's like, there's already cracks. Hopefully it doesn't. Hopefully the castle doesn't fall down. But every year there's just more. There's more cracks. Yeah. I'll put it this way.

[00:05:29] Like AEW lit my fire for wrestling again. But. But. Credit where credits do. Yes. But like, Riho took it out. Oh. Yeah. Riho took the win. Actually, you know what? I will actually, I will actually take that back. What really rekindled my love for wrestling was a combination of NXT and Lucha Underground, but. Oh yeah, absolutely.

[00:05:54] After, but there, and then I got into New Japan, but AEW gave me hope. Yeah. That, that wrestling might come out of the fringes. Yeah. There might be something mainstream that was different because as big as New Japan got, it was never. It. In the United States, New Japan is unfortunately never just going to be a household name like WWE. It's just not. Yeah.

[00:06:19] It lacks the polish to the camera work, everything lacks versus like WWE TV. It's a different presentation. No one does it better. Yeah. Although I'll, I'll be honest. I think. I'll be honest. I think if New Japan tweets their, like you said, tweet their polish. Cause like not, not that it looks bad. It's just different. Yeah. It's different. Yeah. They do it on purpose though. Cause it's supposed to look more sport. I get it. Like I'm not, I'm not necessarily knocking it, but if they made it a little bit more like WWE, I think it might get over.

[00:06:49] But frankly, there's just, there's too many Americans that just can't get over the Japanese names. And it's unfortunate, but true. It's true. It's the same reason why Lucha Libre is well, I say that Lucha underground was always going to be a fringe program, even though it was a very good one. You know? Yeah. I do say brought in like both crowds, like, like the Spanish crowds and American crowds together. And that was their, that was their goal too.

[00:07:18] And they avoided they do it. I mean, obviously it was to get Lucha Libre into the market in the United States outside of the fringe. And it did it. And I kind of, I really wish they hadn't have been such shitty people because it could, it could still be around if, if they had not been such horrible people. But that's true. And it's a real shame, but a lot of those people are now famous and on television. So I'll be at under different names.

[00:07:46] I would say at least 70% of the people who was in there. At least 70. But yeah, a lot of them are in WWE, either a lot of them are either in WWE or AEW or have been in AEW. Because like even, even King Cuerno, for those who don't know that's Santos Escobar. Uh huh. Yeah. I keep like figuring out like who was who. Yeah. Yeah. And then Cobra Moon was Thunder Rosa. Yeah. Yeah. And we know Lutasaurus was Vibra because he was basically wearing the same mask, but same.

[00:08:16] And then, and then our boy Penta, our boy Penta finally, he made it. Ah, it was funny. It was, I'm not going to say it was a mixed bag because overall it was good. I thought it was a great match. There were issues, but I don't want to get into those because it was such a good moment. That was the ropes. There was a moment where, and actually I couldn't figure out why it happened. And then I heard Jim Cornette talking about it.

[00:08:44] He said, well, he's used to working with cables and those ropes don't have as much spring. So that's probably what happened. That's the main issue. I, well, I dislike about the match just because like you first come in and you come into like a leg injury type angle. You know, like I was okay with it. Yeah. It was, I was okay with it. Hey, Penta sold a man. Oh yeah. Absolutely. Have we ever seen him sell a leg before?

[00:09:16] Not that good thing. I can't remember one. So, and here's the thing. So I've heard, granted, none of this is coming from a primary source, but I had heard through friends of friends of friends, people talking about that. The Lucha Brothers had an issue with selling in AEW. Oh, and the thing of it is, is Penta will not have a choice in WWE because his agents will tell him you need to sell.

[00:09:45] And if you don't sell, we won't put you on TV, but he sold in his first match. So it's not that he doesn't know how I've seen him do it. Right. But that Lucha style, I think you're going to see the best version you've ever seen of Penta in WWE because he's finally going to slow down just a bit, just enough. Case in point when he did the Mexican destroyer and massive credit to Chad Gable, because he made Penta look like a million bucks. Yeah.

[00:10:13] That Canadian destroyer, I'm sorry, that Mexican destroyer looked more devastating than I've hardly ever seen it before. And people brought up a good point. They don't see that move in WWE. So they got a really big pop. And yeah, absolutely. That's why, because you don't see it every match. Yeah. And it seemed like it hurt not him more, but it actually looked like devastating versus like times they do it.

[00:10:41] It was like, you could tell they working with each other. Well, and they took a beat. They took a beat to let it sink in. And Chad looked like he got dropped on his head. Yeah. And they took a minute and Penta sold. And it was great. But I think even more than the match, the there was only one beef I had with the intro and hopefully they knit this in the bud. Listen, I love Ciero Miedo as much as anybody.

[00:11:11] Do it once. Oh, they're going to do it like one time. Well, here's my issue with it. Here's my issue with it. No, no. I, I love it. I love it. I'm just talking about and he didn't do the glove thing. Thank God. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I hate that part. Cause I can, I can tolerate a few different. The only thing that got me with the entrance was, and he should have just left it alone, but I get it. You're milking the crowd. And he probably just couldn't hear them.

[00:11:39] He did the Ciero Miedo once. Oh yeah. But a lot of people in that crowd don't. I mean, don't get me wrong. There was a, there's a lot of people that like they were pentamask when they opened the show. It was, they even said it was the worst kept secret in pro wrestling. Mm-hmm. But as I read about it a week before, a week before the first episode of raw that Penta was going to debut on the second episode. So it was horribly kept secret, but not everybody in that audience knows Penta.

[00:12:09] So you can take time to condition them, but, but then he did it again because he didn't get as big of a reaction or at least he didn't hear one. Yeah. And I was like, no, that felt desperate. Yeah. That I felt that throughout the match, like him trying to like milk the crowd, trying to like, I don't know. I kind of want him more as a hill and less as like baby face type moves. Like, like, I agree. I agree.

[00:12:39] Except they're moving. So another prediction that we made was I said Penta to WWE. They're going to sell a metric shit ton of merch and they've already got it out. They've already got it out. Masks, gloves, shirts, a pair. They've got it all out already. So yeah, he needs to be a baby face at least for a bit to, to move that merch. That's true. And plus it's such a feel good story. That promo was incredible.

[00:13:07] Like, because it was real. Yeah. And. Oh yeah. You would tell you he was talking from the heart. He was, it was his passion for wrestling. Yeah. Yeah. Well, not only that, his daughter in the crowd, that was like, yeah, yeah. You can't make it. You can't make him a heel. Not after that, at least not for a while. You can't eventually. But yeah, right now he's going to be the feel good luchador who finally made it. And here's the other thing too. A lot of people didn't realize this.

[00:13:36] So after the fact is Netflix has captions automatically. So. Oh yeah. Unlike broadcast television, where if you have a wrestler doing a promo in Spanish and you're like, and you don't speak Spanish, you're like, I mean, I was proud because I understood what he said and I was like, wow, this is great. I actually understand what he's saying, but, but now if you're going to watch wrong and

[00:14:02] you know, they have like luchadors or the Japanese wrestlers just have captions on and then you'll know what they're saying. So it's beautiful. What was the thing Pat McAfee said? He's like, he don't know what he said, but it was passionate. Yeah. I mean, but it's true. So basically I'll give you the gist for those of you who don't the Spanish part, which actually his English was better than I've ever heard English. Yeah.

[00:14:29] Well, I mean, that's, that's a relatively new development then because he used to not. So I'm, he probably rehearsed it if I had to guess, or I know he's been working on it. Like even when he did, he used to do interviews with, um, an AW, but RJ say like he does on the Sundays, like he spoke pretty decent English. Okay, good. So I know he's been working on it because at least in the beginning there, it was not. And I knew Phoenix was Phoenix was even before that. Like, I get it.

[00:14:57] It's, it's hard for Spanish speakers, especially it's really hard to learn English because it's so different, but he kind of has, if you want to work in the States in show business, you, you kind of have to, but it was cool that he gave the promo in English, but then the promo in Spanish is where the heart was. And long story short, it was kind of the condensed version was like, now, now I'm forgetting, but it was basically like, he's thanking everybody that followed him on the path.

[00:15:26] And, you know, this is the culmination, you know, he said, this is what happens when a Mexican who wants to make it, you know, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. And to the people in Mexico and Latin America, it was a really good, feel good moment. Chad Gable deserves a raise. Yeah. And that's one other thing I dislike about is having Chad Gable lose at this point when

[00:15:52] he's trying to build some momentum to win. I'm okay with it because, and this is something Jim Cornette brought up and he said, no other company does this part as well as WWE does is the psychology of a debut. Right. Because it's not just putting him in the ring. They had a story there because Chad Gable, the week prior went to Adam Pearson was like, you give me the best luchador you can find because he's doing the whole.

[00:16:22] Oh, okay. I'm fine with it then. I didn't realize that happened. But that's what I'm saying. There's a story there. And obviously Penta has got to win his debut because he's not coming in as a job. Like, yeah. Yeah. But yeah. See, I like, and I'm sorry, man. I mean, I'm not sorry, but like, sorry, not sorry. Seeing Penta in a WWE ring, man. It felt right. I, oh yeah. Um, for me, I kind of want all of them to be in WWE only because I like the video games.

[00:16:52] So it gives me a chance of, so that's the only reason why. Well, so, and here's the other, and to look bigger on a WWE camera. He did. Yeah. It was more close shots. Yeah. You're right. I mean, he looked bigger and it's a bigger ring too. So figure that out. Mm-hmm. I can't explain it. It's magic. It's witchcraft. Yeah.

[00:17:19] Honestly, there's no other company that I like the camera work other than WWE. I'm so used to it, I guess. Yeah. And I mean, I don't, I don't hate AEW. Well. I don't. I hate it sometimes. There's issues. There's issues sometimes, but yeah, it never looks bad. There are just some questionable shot choices. I.e. watching Moxley cut his own forehead in the middle of the ring. Yeah. You know, or CM Punk, like poke him something that had on the table. Yeah. There's. Yeah.

[00:17:50] Nobody's perfect. You know, unless they work for it. Fine. I'll let you up here. Brad. Anyway. The other thing that this one made me raise my eyebrows is during the pentas entrance, the commentary team mentioned by name, TNA, Lucha underground. And I think that might've been it. I can't remember if they mentioned triple a or not. Okay.

[00:18:16] But they mentioned by name, TNA didn't really surprise me, but Lucha underground really surprised me. Absolutely. Yeah. I think WWE should buy the rights and bring it back. I at least want them to like bring like the tapes and everything. Yeah. Bring the library, which I mean, you can buy it on Amazon, but like, yeah, I want to, I want a streaming library. Exactly. Yeah. Buy it, buy it, buy it, please buy it.

[00:18:43] Do special events just because man, the feel of that show was so great, which I guess actually they integrated a lot of it into MLW, but, but I'm sorry. Nobody watches MLW. So I tried it. It's not, it's not, it's not a horrendously bad because I mean like Jacob fought two was there. Penta was their first and NJF came from MLW. So yeah, it's not. Yeah. I did see some interviews about that. Yeah. Yeah. It's not bad.

[00:19:11] It just, they just need a bigger audience is that's, that's it. That's the only fault it has. And obviously more money. If they had a little bit more money, they could up the production and get to bigger arenas. I get it. I get it. But, um, I think court Bauer owns it. Right. I think I have no idea. I believe it's court Bauer, but, um, yeah, that, that shocked me to hear them mention Lucha underground by name.

[00:19:34] But speaking of TNA, a little birdie called Facebook told me today, WWE and TNA have another prediction. We made WWE and TNA have entered an official talent sharing partnership. Oh yeah. It was like, well, but now it's now it's official and it's, and it's specifically, it makes it sound like it's pretty well, specifically NXT and TNA, but they have not ruled out WWE as an entity. Uh huh.

[00:20:04] And what you guys have to understand is this is a much bigger deal than it sounds like, because this is two giant companies. This is Anthem sports and TKO making an agreement. Mm hmm. And that's, that's wild to me to, to make an official agreement. And you know, it's just to stick it to AEW. Oh, it has to be. Yeah. Yeah. Like TNA is going to take whatever deal they can get. Like obviously, but WWE is probably just doing this to troll Tony Khan. Yeah.

[00:20:32] I wonder in the end, will TNA be more of like a household name? Um, hopefully more, I hope so too. Hopefully. But I also believe that triple H might be in it and like, not inadvertently, but indirectly trying to recreate the territory system, obviously with WWE at, as the umbrella. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But I mean, I do. I can see that. It makes sense, right?

[00:21:00] Because I mean, it's not going to be like the territory, cause there's not going to be exclusivity, but multiple places to watch wrestling, multiple places for people to work multiple places for people to learn different styles and just learn how to be better in the ring. The more you can work because I think triple H during the dark times at WWE was probably sitting back there. Actually, we know this because that's what led to the creation of NXT was the fact that

[00:21:29] we got nobody to recruit from now because, you know, we, we put everybody out of business, you know, for the most part. I heard that even like taking over, like some schools, wrestling schools where it's like officially WWE schools. So you go there like your official. Yeah. But I mean, even then it's like, I would just like to see more wrestling companies open up.

[00:21:57] And I, I don't think triple H will go out of his way to put competition out of business. And in fact, I think like if they can, maybe they'll orchestrate an invasion angle with TNA and MLW, something, something like that, you know, it could be anything, but help broker that to put everybody else on the map with the exception of AEW. I don't think WWE would really care if AEW went out of business, but they know they're probably not going to though, because let's face it, as long as Tony

[00:22:26] Khan has money, AEW will be there, but they're also, they're also no longer afraid of AEW as, as competition. So, and I mean, it's great, but believe you me, WWE is just out there waiting for Tony Khan to piss somebody off. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like I honestly think if it's like a scandal or something, that's like the one thing that had to take them down.

[00:22:51] Oh, Rusev's coming back, dude. Like Rusev's going to come back to WWE. It's happening. That's going to happen. That's cool. And, but by the same token, totally understand why Bobby Lashley left. Yeah, I totally understand. I understand why Ricochet left. I think it was a mistake, but I understand it. Oh yeah. He was like, I'm only in the mid card and like, I'm always losing.

[00:23:18] So, I mean, don't get it wrong. I get it. It doesn't mean I think it was a good idea, but I get it. I understand the thought process. But what I think Triple H understands is that this movement between companies, because he lived through the attitude era, the Monday Night Wars. He lived through, he knows what intrigue that can spark just by having somebody come from company A to company B and vice versa. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:23:44] You don't even have to build them up. The news itself. I'm Penta. Penta is a great example. He just showed up. And people liked it. Yeah. And when Ray Phoenix shows up. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I just hope if they do have a deal together, hopefully they can be separate just for a little bit. Well, I think they're going to have to be, but I think they're going to do exactly the way I laid out is where Penta is going to do some single stuff for a while.

[00:24:13] He's going to get over, you know, and then he's going to be maybe with Gable. Honestly, he's going to get in a situation where he needs a tag team partner. And he does the whole bit where it's like, you know, I thought for a long time, I'm not going to do the accent, but he's like, you know, I thought for a long time who I was going to ask to be my partner.

[00:24:31] He's like, I could have gone with the king of luchadors, Ray Mysterio. And then the audience cheers. And he's like, yeah, but I could, you know, I just, I kept thinking, build it up. He's like, maybe. And then finally I realized I don't need a friend. I don't need a partner. I need a brother. And then boom.

[00:24:54] Boom. Yeah. Ray Phoenix's music hits and ta-da. Like it's, it wrote, it writes itself. Yeah. Oh yeah. Also was Malachi black. I think he's coming back too, but I think he left. I'm not too sure.

[00:25:19] I, I think he's, yeah, I think he's coming back. Come on. Here's the other part. I think buddy Matthews, buddy. Yeah. Buddy Matthews. Well, I mean, both of them have wives in WWE. Like, so. That's true. I mean, that's what Andrade did. Yeah. I haven't seen Charlotte in a year, I think. No, I can't remember. Has she been injured or? I think she just took some time off.

[00:25:45] I think, I mean, fair enough. Fair enough. Cause I know Becky took time off too, for baby reasons, which, Hey, whatever, because they were speculating. She might not come back, but I'm pretty sure she's still there was, there was speculation that she was going to AEW. And I'm like, listen, I love a rumor as much as the next person, but there's no way in hell. There's no way. Sasha Banks.

[00:26:10] Well, she's still Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks was like this too. So it's, it's a little bit of an anomaly, but both Becky and Charlotte, excuse me, Becky and Charlotte are at a point now where they can, they can be gone for a year and just show up and they're in the main. Oh yeah. And still be just as big. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. They've, they've gotten to that point. Yeah. Rhea, Rhea has gotten to that point now too, frankly.

[00:26:38] Yeah. Yeah. Cause Rhea, Rhea could be gone for a year. Although I don't see her taking, cause she, I mean, her iron is so hot right now. It doesn't matter what they do. So like Rhea Ripley sells tickets. So I'm blank. So it doesn't, doesn't even matter. Although I did enjoy her match with Liv. I thought that was fun. Yeah. It was nice to see everybody in like judgment day kind of, um, they're bigger now than they were before.

[00:27:06] Yeah. And it's funny. Cause that's the whole point of doing a stable like that, you know, you get it. Cause that's what the nation domination did for. I mean, it did it for everybody, but mainly the rock, but yeah. Yeah. But that's the whole point of doing a faction is it raises everybody up until it gets so big that it has to split apart because then it's going to get old and it's beautiful.

[00:27:29] And now they're using it with Finn to elevate more people. Although Raquel feels random, but I know that it feels a lot of place almost. Yeah. Cause I know she and Liv tagged before, but they were baby faces when they tagged. So I don't know. It feels a little weird.

[00:27:48] I also got a kick out of this last Monday when, uh, punk was in the ring and then Rollins music hit. He's talking to Pat, but you can still kind of hear what he's saying. He's like, why can't I be interrupted by people? I like, why can't it be Rhea? Why can't it be Rhea Ripley? Punk's having a lot of fun with those problems. Cause I can't, when he first got there basically. And he was, I think he was doing a promo with Seth or it was either Seth or drew. And they're like, you want to know my opinion? He goes, Nope. Oh yeah.

[00:28:19] That's good stuff. It's, it's really good stuff, but you know what else is good stuff, folks? If you enjoy listening to people blather on about random topics, then the RTA podcast is right up your alley. I most recently did an episode with, uh, Natali Shafi, a holistic healer and spiritual healer. And, um, the episode was taken down by YouTube, but you can still watch the whole thing in its entirety on Spotify. That's why we diversify. Uh, but on that one, it's a real Joe Rogan-esque podcast.

[00:28:48] I just talked to people and look out for the January episode because the winners of the RD awards are going to be announced. Oh, cool. So yeah. Stay tuned for that. Check it out. First link in the description. Um, try to think of what else, but yeah, I want to, I want to touch a bit on the Lyra Valkyria Dakota Kai match because it was glorious.

[00:29:09] Yeah. They both are two good workers and Dakota Kai's been there more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dakota's been there for a while. So I'm, I'm really glad to see her getting more screen time, but I, I've been a fan of her. She did. I'm trying to remember who she worked with. Who did she work with? She had a program in NXT where she was basically like abused and convincingly had PTSD with this opponent. I'm trying to remember who it was.

[00:29:36] Fox wasn't taking. No, I don't think so. I think it was somebody bigger. I think it was somebody bigger than her. Oh no, it was Shayna Baszler. Oh yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah. She was like being her up. Yeah. I mean, that was, there's no show. She was beating her up, but it was, it did feel a little high school except it was helped. It was aided by the fact that Shayna Baszler's legitimate. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but yeah, it did feel a little like high

[00:30:06] school, but you felt for it. Yeah. And then, um, I mean, I can't say enough about it. It was a great match. If you haven't seen it yet, go watch it. It's on Netflix. You can find it. Yeah. I was, it was the match of the night. Oh, hush. And I never thought I would enjoy a match between. I always mess up his name. Ludwig Kaiser. I always call him Kaiser Wilhelm. And I know that's wrong.

[00:30:38] He's, he's, he's very German, but, um, Ludwig Kaiser and Seamus. And I'm watching this match. And I'm watching this match. I'm like, why am I enjoying this? This should be the most boring thing ever. But I always forget how good Seamus is until I see him do a good match. And then I'm like, ah, okay. Yeah. I remember. Yeah. Yeah. I remember why he's been there for so long. I was going to say, I remember why he's been there now for God. How long has he been? 20 years, 20 ish years.

[00:31:08] It has to be. I know it's like more than 15. Yeah. Cause I remember, I remember seeing him debut and I was just like, this is the most obnoxiously Vince McMahon thing ever. He just gets out there and he's like, every Irish stereotype you can think of. Yeah. It says since, uh, 2007.

[00:31:38] Okay. So I wasn't that far off. So yeah. So 18 years. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it'll be 20 years in 20, 27. That's so basically 20 years. That's like forever in wrestling is. And I don't think he's ever been released. Has he? Now, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe he has. I know it was like breaks from me. Yeah. There's like gone for like a year or two. Yeah. Maybe he did.

[00:32:07] I'm not sure he was technically released, but I know he was like gone for a year or two when he came back with a different haircut. He used to have like the spiky hair. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, Oh, I'm different. And then I remember, I remember, um, a few years back, they paired him and Cesaro out of nowhere and it was very random. And then they were like, no, this is great. The bar. Yeah, that's right. It's a great tag team name.

[00:32:33] It was really good. At first I was like, Oh, I'm tired. This was like the best of seven. I was like, Oh, I'm tired of this. Oh, see, I liked it. I love, I love best of seven series. I love them. I think it's a great, I think it's a great way to book television. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's really, really good. I enjoy them when they're done well. Cause obviously you can do them horribly. And, but generally it's kind of hard to screw up, you know, WWE, I mean, I'm AEW.

[00:33:03] Well, AEW puts a Reho against awesome Kong and has, and has competitive where they get to three and three. Like, you know, it's so that's how you don't do it. But James and Cesaro. Yeah. And then they make it, then they turn into a tag team. They're like, you know what, fella, you can really fight. It's like you punch pretty hard too.

[00:33:33] We should punch other people. That was really good. I miss that. The bar. And plus their entrance was a Dragon Ball Z reference, which I always dig. Oh yeah. That's always fun. Yeah. Except they didn't, they didn't touch tips though. That was the only thing I didn't like. You fellas, you fellas didn't commit to the tip touching. And that's unfortunate, but I get it. It's dark. So it's, they'd always be like this. You can't even see. Yeah. It's like, no, we'll touch fists.

[00:34:03] But yeah, that was good. That was that. That was the time in wrestling too, where there wasn't really much great stuff going on in WWE. And that was one of the few highlights. That's true. So that was, that was fun to watch. Of course, my problem now is the opposite I had back then. I don't have time to watch all the wrestling. Yeah. It's like so overwhelming. Like there's so many shows. Too little time to watch all of them.

[00:34:31] Well, especially when you're an idiot and you agree to handle production in like 12 of your 14 podcasts. But, you know, if somebody did that, they'd be really, really stupid. Things happen anyway. Yeah. But yeah, I'm just trying to think of like, I mean, the TV shows are just good. Like the first two episodes. And I know they're pulling out all the stops. They're really going to gear up for the Royal Rumble.

[00:35:01] It's going to be big this year. And I think we're going to get Cena Punk at WrestleMania in the main event. I was thinking Randy and Cena. Punk planted the seed last night. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's what we're going to get. Punk, Cena, WrestleMania. And I am there for it. Oh, yeah.

[00:35:30] It'll still be a good match no matter what. Oh, yeah. I just can't get over how much better Punk's attitude is now. Like you can tell. Oh, yeah. He does seem like he's more calm, happy, less stress. Well, but the company is clearly in a better place now. You know, say what you will about WWE. But I mean, who's at the helm?

[00:35:54] And plus, they're being run by, like, frankly, they're being run by a legitimate corporation. Not a maniacal, crazy billionaire who likes to defecate in places he shouldn't. Like on people. Like on people. That's good shit. That phrase takes on a whole new meaning now. I know. It comes full circle now. Unfortunately.

[00:36:23] I just, I like when Punk was telling a story on when he was being interviewed by Ariel Helwani. Yeah. And he was like, have you talked to Vince? He was like, yeah. I ran into him in the gym. And he was like, let's connect. And I was like, okay. And then I never spoke to him again. You know, okay. Can't believe I'm going to say this. But if Vince had anything to do with Punk coming back.

[00:36:52] I'll say thank you for that. Just like I'll say thank you for Cody. That's it. That's all you get. But. Well, I'll put this. I'll say thank you for making WWE what it is. Yeah. Thank you for. Thank you for. Thank you for everything prior to the creepy. Yeah. Yeah. That stuff. Like. Yeah. That was. That was a surreal news story to read. That was weird.

[00:37:22] And yet so many things in the past now make much more sense. But I always heard like. Creepy things about him. You know. Yeah. And I mean. I think Punk said it best. He's like when you read it and you're like, huh. Well. This is a first show. I'm not. But. But you're not that alarmed. It's just like, oh no, he could never. You're like, oh yeah, you're just. Yeah. You're just like, huh. I guess that was true. And then you start thinking about.

[00:37:51] Then you start thinking about all the other stories that you heard. And you're like, huh. That's probably true too. Yeah. Hmm. That's wild. Anyway. What are we doing on TV tonight? You know. The show must go on. Thankfully without him. Like the company is so much better without him there now. Like I know Vince was instrumental back in the day. But. Let's be real. He's been out of touch for. At least a decade. At least. Yeah. Like. Probably 15 years.

[00:38:21] Wrestling stopped being. That good. After. The. Roofless. Roofless aggression era. It started in 2010. It really. That. Well. I don't even. I'm not even going to say it started in 2010. But that I think is when it hit the peak of the PG era. Where it was like. It was when they renamed. The FU to the attitude adjustment. That's when I knew. Oh yeah. And. And the STF you just became the STF. It's like no.

[00:38:51] Mm-hmm. This is. This is done for a while. Like. Because WWE is never going to go out of business. It's too big. But. Yeah. The good days are behind us for a while. It's. It's going to be rough for about five years. Yeah. I would say that in general. Just. Wrestling in general. To me. It's not. It lost its spark. Like somewhere. Yeah. But back then. Back then. WWE was it. For the most part. I mean like. TNA was basically dead. And. Yeah. You know. Like.

[00:39:21] I think AEW is going through that rough patch too. So. Hopefully it gets better. They just gotta. Because the answers are right in front of them. And yet they just don't do it. Like we know what works in wrestling. Yeah. Just. Just. Just do that. And a lot of their choices. It seems like. Odd. For their audience. Like pushing certain people that. Honestly should have never been there. Well no. It's not odd for.

[00:39:50] It's not odd for their audience. But that's their problem. Their audience is going to watch. No matter what they do. That's not who you cater to. Because. He's in point with WWE. And I will say this much. When they first announced it. I hated it. And then I learned. Because. You have to condition your audience. When they announced that. They were going to have Logan Paul. In a wrestling ring. I went. Oh my god. This is the dumbest thing. They could possibly do. And then I watched him wrestle. And I went. You know what?

[00:40:20] That was incredible. And I've now learned. To just trust the process. With WWE. Uh huh. Yeah. Because especially lately. They don't really screw it up. Yeah. Um. Yeah. I think. Yeah. I think you're right. Like the next. Big thing will be probably. The Royal Rumble. So. I'm waiting for that. To see. Who's going to be there. Probably Rusev. Oh. That'll be good. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:40:50] That'll be good. Um. Um. I think you might see Nick Nemeth. I was thinking about that too. Wait. Wait. You mean. Dolph? Yeah. But as Nick Nemeth. Oh. Okay. Yeah. I was like. I forgot his brother's name. But yeah. I was like. Oh. Maybe his brother would be in WWE. That'd be funny. I doubt that. But yeah. I wouldn't be surprised. I would not be surprised. If you see Dolph. Dolph. I would not be surprised. If you see Nick Nemeth. At the Royal Rumble.

[00:41:21] Um. I would hope so. I hope so. I think that'd be really cool. Yeah. Because to me. He made a better name for himself. Like. He's not just Dolph. Yeah. You know. Anymore. Yeah. Also. I do think you might see Rusev. I don't know when his deal's up. I would imagine. It's gotta be soon though. Oh. I thought he already was like. Oh. Maybe. Maybe he is already out. Yeah. But yeah. That'd be really cool. To see Rusev. Come back.

[00:41:49] It's sad that I forgot all about him. Like. He was one of my favorite wrestlers. For like a long time. Well. And he was. Well. No. His. His. His entry into AEW. Was lame as hell. But. For a minute there. He was doing really good stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Even when he. Like. Came back for like the second time. He was like the. I don't know. Some. God. Guy. Whoever. Yeah. Well. He came in as the best man. And I think whoever wrote that idea.

[00:42:17] Should be fired immediately. If they're not already. And I'm over here like. Does he even know Kip Sabian? Yeah. Like. This is really weird. I think. This just. Feels wrong. Like. They play video games together. They probably. They probably. Or on stream or something. Yeah. They probably do. But here's the thing. Yeah. Your audience is bigger than nerds that watch Twitch. Exactly. Exactly. Like. And I'm not hating. I'm not hating on the nerds that watch Twitch. I'm just saying the audience is bigger.

[00:42:48] Mm-hmm. Like. You didn't even tease it. Just. Yeah. That's all I can say about it. It's. Is it. I mean. Exhibit A. Scoreboard. I think. He's. Soon as. Yeah. He requested his release.

[00:43:18] Yeah. I knew he requested it. Is out in. 2026. Ooh. Okay. Well. He's not going to be at the Royal Rumble. Yeah. That's unfortunate. Maybe they'll change something. But. Why. Why not release it? It was like. Here's the thing with Ray Phoenix too. It's like. Just release him. Yeah. That's the same thing I always said. Like. When. In WWE. Like. This. When Vince was in charge. I was like. Just release the guys who wants to leave. Yeah. Don't. Well. Especially.

[00:43:48] Especially if you're not using. If you're using them on television for a program. I understand. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But. If you're using them on program for a television. If you're using them on television for a program. They probably don't want to be released. Yeah. You know. But it's like. You're just delaying the inevitable. Because he's going to WWE. Yeah. That's just it. Why pay them? Why pay them to sit at home? Mm-hmm. You can save the money. And play more in your product.

[00:44:17] Instead of paying someone who doesn't want to be there. Well. Because Tony doesn't want to give up his toy. Of course. That's how they are. Like. Phoenix is my toy. My toy. It's my toy. And I don't want to share it. Dad. They're trying to take my toy. I'm going to put on the neck brace again. He just gets out there. Punches the brace.

[00:44:46] I am so glad that's over with. But I'm also frustrated that it's like. Listen. If you're going to do it. Steer into the skid. You got to finish it. Yeah. Yeah. I heard he's not that good of a boss. In like. Football either. Yeah. There's kind of some horrendous stories. Coming from some of the players. Yeah. Like. The worst in the league. Or something. I've heard that. I've heard that. Yeah. Yeah. You know what?

[00:45:16] I will say this. I've seen this happen a lot of times. Sometimes people are just into too much stuff. And they have this compulsion. To have control over everything. And you just can't do that. You can diversify. But you have to have an appropriate staff. To handle everything. You know. Because otherwise. These things suffer. Because. A person's. Stamina and resources. Are always finite. Everyone has. I know Tony doesn't sleep. But he should. Yeah.

[00:45:47] The espresso is eventually going to stop your heart. Tony. Just go to sleep. It'll be fine. Your toys will be there. When you get back. Could you imagine. If he signed cocaine. The jokes we could have. He can't do that. Oh. He'd get sued. So fast. Oh. Speaking of. The cane variants. I saw a yellow one. Yeah. What's his deal? The yellow one. Was. I.

[00:46:16] I believe it was. The. Red one. Or pink one. And they got like a cease and desist. From WWE. So they changed it to yellow. It's like. Pink was too close to like. Normal cane. So. It's like. It's just. Yellow cane. Or is it. It's just. Yellow cane. I don't think it's like. Variant. In the multiverse.

[00:46:50] And. Gain is still out there too. Gain is still out there. He's raising hell. That's funny stuff man. It's good stuff. So. Listen. I might. I might get annoyed by it sometimes. But independent wrestling gives us. The cane variants. So. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I never had a problem with like. Independent wrestling. Because I always say. It was like. You could try new ideas.

[00:47:20] To get out there. And. No. I saw. Yeah. There's a quasi. Regional. Local indie. Called strong style wrestling. And I went to one of their shows. That was in South Bend, Indiana. And they had a tag team at the time. That were the police. Dude. They were hilarious. They. They. They. They. They went around the ring. With caution tape. Uh huh. And then. Like. One. The.

[00:47:49] The dude with the mustache. The smaller guy. When his partner was in wrestling. Every time he would execute. A move successfully. He just turned to the audience. And goes. Winning. And then he would. Fun show to go to. Oh. It was. It was a blast. And then. And then when the opponents. Would get offense off. He'd blow his whistle. To like. Tell him to stop. It was good. It was good stuff. Yeah. It was good. I went to see. Uh. The main event match. Was ricochet. Versus. Matt cross.

[00:48:20] Okay. It was good. It was really good. I never actually been to like a live wrestling event. Oh. They're fun. They're fun. I've seen some. Like. Not live. Obviously. But I've seen some like through like. Someone's regular. Camera. Or phone. Whatever. To me. I don't know. It loses. It's a pill for me. When I see it live. Versus. No. It's. So you've never even gotten to like. One of the big ones. Like a TV taping. No. Dude. Dude.

[00:48:50] It's a whole. It's a whole new level of energy. It's. It's tons of fun. Is it? Yeah. It's. It's so much fun. I've been to. I kind of think. No. All in was my first one. But I've been to. God. This is going back a ways. I've been to a couple raws. I've been to. A couple smackdowns. I went to one ECW. Back when it was still on. I've been to. What pay-per-view was that? At least one pay-per-view. A WWE pay-per-view. But for some reason. I think two.

[00:49:20] But no. I think only one. I got to see if I can get a ticket to the Royal Rumble. Because that's in Indianapolis this year. Oh, cool. Got to see how much those are running. Probably can't afford it. Because you people need to like, share, and subscribe. And just patronize our sponsors. So I can. So I can afford to go to wrestling events. But. Been to a few AEW shows. I went to all in. The first one. Not the. The pre AEW one. And then. Yeah.

[00:49:49] The most recent one I went to. Was an AEW. But prior to that. I went to a SmackDown. Which was. Eh. It was kind of cool though. I'd seen Roman Reigns. And I got to see CM Punk live. So I got to cross that off the list. That's cool. Yep. I always want to see Taker live. Like. I saw Taker live. It's wild. I'm so jealous. I forget what. I forget what pay-per-view it was. But I want. It was the cage match with him and Edge. I forget what year it was too. Uh huh. I think it was. It wasn't Survivor Series. Maybe it was Survivor Series.

[00:50:20] No. SummerSlam. It was SummerSlam. Okay. Yeah. I had a friend whose mom used to work for the Fieldhouse. So. We'd always get seat filler seats. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So, I mean. We had. The seats were okay. But actually. The ECW and SmackDown one that we went to. We were ringside. Oh, that's awesome. So that was a lot of fun. So you can actually see us on that episode of TV. Young Jake.

[00:50:48] Weekly Wrestling Wrap-Up Jake. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Tickets are not that high. They're like 300 bucks. That's a maybe. It's not too bad. That's not awful. Yeah. That's not awful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Especially for like a big event. You know. Yeah. Oh, but yeah. But fun fact though. Don't mind my boxes. But that poster.

[00:51:17] That poster was seen on ECW television. I dream of. That's awesome. And Tommy Dreamer pointed at it. That's cool. You can see me freak out on camera. I turn my phone and I'm like. That's awesome. It's fun. Try to get him to sign it. I wasn't that close. Yeah. If I ever do. Actually, you know what? I really should. I should look out and see if he's going to any conventions. And if he is, I'll have him sign it.

[00:51:46] That would be really cool. Yeah. And I'll be like. A tape of it. Yeah. Oh, no. I've got. I've got the episode. Oh, cool. Oh, yeah. I've got it. It was actually a really decent episode. It was the. I think it was the second. I think it was the second week. They did the limit. The. ECW championship scram. Eliminators and elimination scramble. Oh, whatever. And it was the one where he. Tommy Dreamer faced Elijah Burke. Oh, okay. I know.

[00:52:16] Yeah. Yeah. If you've been watching wrestling for a long time, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But that was. CM Punk on that show. I want to say he was. Yes, he was. Yes, he was. Because my buddy Nick had made. He actually made two signs. He made a tab sign and an RC Cola sign. They took the tab sign immediately. And then by the time he got. Yeah. Then by the time.

[00:52:45] And then he busted out the RC Cola sign. And then the guy came right up to him. He's just like. Okay. Here. Okay. Did not make air. Unfortunately. I thought that. I thought the tab sign was quite clever, but. Some obscure 90s reference. Top is good back in the day. It really was, man. I missed the 90s for so many reasons. Oh, yeah. Yeah. To me, that was the best era or best decade. It wasn't. Yeah.

[00:53:15] And I'm really thankful for so many reasons because I bring this up a lot. It's like our generation is the only generation that grew up with. I mean, obviously it's advanced some, but we grew up with like high speed internet and digital everything. But we were old enough to remember what it was like before that. Because like I remember what not having internet was like. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Like I grew up with the tech. Like as it grew up.

[00:53:45] Yeah. We grew up with it. You know, I remember when people didn't have cell phones and just beepers. I remember. Hey, we had a fax machine in the house. That's awesome. That's where you have time. And the stupid thing would kick us off the dial up when somebody sent a fax. Yeah. That was the thing that used to happen. You'd be on the internet and somebody would make a phone call and kick you off. Yeah. And then DSL. Remember DSL? DSL. Yeah.

[00:54:15] I had DSL. Yeah. We had DSL for a bit. And I remember when my dad. Yeah. I remember my dad got DSL and then got Able Internet. Yeah. And dude, that might as well have been light speed. It really was. Like I had DSL like late, real late. Like I mean like past the 90s. And like the late 2000s, I still had DSL. Yeah. And then when I moved to fiber, it's like, oh my God.

[00:54:45] Oh. See, I'm on fiber now. And I. Oh, okay. I love fiber. I. Yeah. There was a period where I couldn't get it because of where I lived. And I was like. Oh. Yeah. Same here. Same here. Same here. It was real sad. But here's one. My dad had the caller ID box when it first came out. Oh, I did too. Yeah. I did too. The separate piece of hardware. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was. But you had to put your phone line into it. Yeah.

[00:55:12] You bought the device itself because it wasn't part of your service. You just bought the thing. Absolutely. Ah. Back. Good times. That thing was really good back then. It was. It was more like, I don't know, exciting, new. You believe it more. Yeah. You know. Yeah. And then Mae Young gave birth to a hand and it ruined everything. That was terrible. But speaking of back in the day, I mean, we did.

[00:55:42] That was purely thereafter because we started doing weekly wrestling wrap up in 2007, which by the way, hopefully you guys that subscribe have been enjoying those because I know I have. First of all, they're way shorter than I remember. They're way shorter than I remember. Three minutes about. Not even like 20 some odd. I remember them being like an hour. Okay. Yeah. So those have been fun and there's, there's more coming. And I think I said, I think I made a mistake because I think I said there were like one

[00:56:11] or two episodes that I couldn't recover. I think they were just improperly named because I think I have them all because when I, when I went to upload the second episode, it was labeled as season two, episode two. And I'm like, wait a minute. No, this doesn't make sense because I know, I know for a fact that the third episode starts with the spoof we did about the don't try this at home segment. I know for a fact that was episode three. And then I opened the video and I'm like, wait a minute. This isn't, this isn't season two. This is season one.

[00:56:42] Oh, okay. So I think I have them. Great.

[00:57:13] I made these up for my friends at the time. DVDs. Yeah. DVD box. DVD box sets. That is awesome. Yeah. So season one and season two. Oh, this, this will take me and then check it out. We used to, cause I actually used to do this as a business. So, so it's all, I mean, Nick, our buddy, yeah.

[00:57:41] Our buddy, our buddy, Nick did the case design. So that that's Nick right there. Okay. He did the case designs, but I printed them out and I made the discs and this old, this will take you back. See if you remember this technology. I just brought a DVD burner. Like, oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Light scribe. You remember light scribe? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Oh man. I used to put like MP3s on them. Oh yeah.

[00:58:10] Oh yeah. 100 songs on one CD. But yeah, we made them all up on light scribe. That is really cool. It's rad, dude. I'm, I, this, I love this. Yeah. I miss old tech. Like everything's digital now. Oh, and then there's that, there's the ECW episode. I have it on digital too, but. Uh huh. But yeah. What is it? I'll read you the synopsis. I think it's the same on both. Yeah. Okay.

[00:58:40] From the brilliant mind of Joe Lawson and the in the toilet production staff, it's weekly wrestling wrap up. The once barely famous internet web series is now immortalized in the glory that is DVD. Once upon a time in 2007, two young men set forth on a mission to inform the world of current events in the world of professional wrestling, as well as personal opinions. What started as a video camera in a closet formed into a magical world of exciting characters and vulgar language.

[00:59:10] See all your favorite WWW personalities. Hot stuff. Joey Holmes, Jake Russell, Nick Nami, Big Bear, Mark Stenson, Asian intern, Horndog Cara. Asian intern. Is that episode five? No, I think that's actually season two. Okay.

[00:59:41] Horndog Cara, Johnny Charismo, the Canadian brothers, and Louis Black. Oh, Louis Black, the cookie monster, and quite possibly a special appearance by Miley Cyrus. And then in very, very small print next to that, it says Miley Cyrus does not appear in this DVD. Yeah. Nick is a funny dude. Nick is a funny dude to this day. Yeah.

[01:00:09] Once he, once he comes onto the show, it becomes significantly funnier, which that's the next episode. So next week, you get the introduction of Nick Nami. You also get to see me take a pan to the face. So stay tuned for that. That's cool. Yeah, it was fun. I've been watching. Definitely watching that one. But speaking of starting projects, if you've been watching us for a while, or you're watching us now for the first time, and you're like, hey, I can do that. Guess what? You can.

[01:00:38] But maybe you don't know exactly how to do all of it. Well, that's where RTA Media comes in. If you've got an idea for a podcast, no matter how silly you may think it is, trust me, there's an audience for it. There is. There's an audience for everything. The internet's a wild place. We used to make this shit. And we had fans. So there's hope for you. But if you want some help getting started, just use the second link in the description and contact RTA Media.

[01:01:08] You'll send an email directly to me and we can help you get started. That's rtamedia.org. Join our podcasting family today and let your stupid ideas shine. Because if we can do it, let your stupid ideas shine. Unleash your stupidity. No, they're not stupid. People have hopes and dreams.

[01:01:35] And sometimes they just have the guts of, wow, I look so young. It was 19. Actually, I think I might have been 20 there because I think this was the second year. But it's weird looking back and seeing yourself. Yeah, yeah. That young. Where did the time go? 18 years ago. It was friggin' wild. I'll tell you where the time went. It went to my hair and my gut. That's exactly where the time went.

[01:02:06] That's weird. It's not seeing any gray hairs in your hair. I know. So funny thing about my haircut on that show, though. It was super long. And a lot of people thought I was doing it on purpose. My hairstyle was popular. The skater bowl thing. Yeah. Here's the thing. I didn't do it on purpose. I was just lazy. I just didn't. I just wasn't. I couldn't be bothered to go get my hair cut. And everybody was like, oh, your hair is awesome. I'm like, thanks. I woke up this way.

[01:02:35] And Eric was super jealous of it because it didn't curl. It just went straight down. Yeah, yeah. I could have been a hell of an emo if I'd wanted. Yeah, I was going to say, you would hang out at Hot Topic. You were the most popular kid. I was the nerdy kid that went to Hot Topic, though, who bought skater wristbands when I didn't skate just because they were Zelda. Yes, that happened. I did, too. Yes, that is a thing that happened. Yeah. It looked so cool, man. Like, totally.

[01:03:06] Then I didn't set foot in the Hot Topic for a very long time until Bullet Club t-shirts were available there. And then I was like, I can't believe I'm going back to Hot Topic and I'm not in high school. That was weird. Same here. No, in fact, I didn't even go to the store. I had them, like, deliver it. Because I was like, I can't go to a Hot Topic. I can't be seen in Hot Topic. I'm an adult, damn it. Now, every now and again, you'll find some stuff there. But yeah, it is kind of weird going in there.

[01:03:36] Not going to lie. Yeah. It's like, well, I always thought it was like overpriced, I don't know, golf, golf, emo, beer, that's four yards for a pair of pants that has holes in it. I mean, yeah, you're not wrong. There's two things that always frustrate me about Hot Topic, though, is the fact that they're always too small at stores. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you're in America.

[01:04:05] You need bigger aisles. Yeah, it's like a hole in the wall. Yeah. And second, they never have what you're looking for at the time. That's true. Ever. They never have what you're looking for. I might have brought, like, some, like, Funko Pops. Oh, yeah, they sell Funko Pops, too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's the main name to buy from. And drinks. Energy drinks. Yeah. FYE is...

[01:04:35] has the opposite problem. They're always too big. Oh, I've never been there. I was going to say, I was just going to ask, do you have FY4-year entertainment? No, no. We had some... No, the closest thing to that was, like, F... Yeah. What? Yeah, it was FYE. But it was, like, super massive. Yeah, they're big. They're big stores. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:04:59] Yeah, yeah. They still existed. I think, like... There's very few. There's very few. Tell you what, speaking of old school stuff, do you remember Sam Goody? Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, Sam Goody was the shit, dude. I remember there. Circuit City. Oh, I remember Circuit City. No, man, I just remember Sam Goody.

[01:05:28] Sam Goody was the place that you would go for, like, your obscure videotapes. Yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. Because, like, back in the day, I was buying Star Trek on VHS, and that was the only place you could get them. It was the only place that sold them, at least where I lived. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Because, like, that's not something you would find in Walmart, you know? At least not here. I rarely went there, but... Not rarely went there, but I didn't remember. Yeah. Oh, no, I rarely went there because it was at a mall far, far away, which is really...

[01:05:57] Here's the ironic thing. This tells you how much it changes. For those of you in the Indianapolis area, you'll know what I'm talking about. But we had a Sam Goody in Circle Center Mall. And Circle Center used to be, like... It was so nice, dude. It was so nice and so big. Their movie theater was out of this world. They had an amazing arcade. And it's like... Oh. I would never go there now. I would be afraid. I'd be afraid for my light. Like, it's... Oh, really? I mean, I'm not... It's not like there's roving gangs of... I know, I know, I know.

[01:06:27] It's not like there's roving gangs of hoodlums, but... I mean, some days there are. But... You know, it is... You're not guaranteed to get shot, but... It's a chance. There's a chance. And is the movie really worth it? Yeah. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. It's a real shame, because it used to be so nice. But, like... Like, about a year ago, I had to go downtown for something. It just so happened to park in their parking lot.

[01:06:56] And when I got back, the sun was down. And I'm like, I gotta get the fuck out of here. I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. It's like, I gotta go. It's like... I remember how nice it was. Like, beautiful it was. And, like, now it's like, oh, what the hell? Yeah. It's just like... Yeah. But the irony is that I now live in the area that used to be considered, like, the hood. Because it's just slowly shifting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Same here. Yeah. It's wild that that happens.

[01:07:26] But, um... Given that wonderful rambling, any other thoughts about Raw on Netflix? The only other thing is the mat, to me, has too many ads. That's the only thing I dislike. It's too many ads in the mat. Yeah, that's different. You know, I'm trying to... I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it. Because, like, it never bothered me in New Japan, for example. Uh-huh. But New Japan's mat is white.

[01:07:56] So... Yeah. To me, it sticks out more now. Like, because... I guess maybe because I know the brands. Snickers and... And... Yeah, that's... You know, like, I know them. Yeah, that is... Like... That's a good point. Yeah, I mean, WWE... Um... Advertising candy has always been a little weird. Except for Skittles. I always enjoyed Skittles when JR was there. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Juicy! Brownie! Delicious! Skittles!

[01:08:28] Hey! Stop accosting the cat. Come here. What did he do to you? Yeah, I don't know. The ring is... It's different. And the way they shoot it feels a little bit more sporty. It feels more boxing. Which I like. That was the other thing I was going to say about NXT. It feels more like Fight Night. Yeah. Black and white. It does. I like it. I like it.

[01:08:58] But I just... I hate that they keep changing it. You know? Okay. So I have a question. You're watching SmackDown, yes? Yeah. Is the canvas always blue? Or was that just a weird thing? No, no. That's new. That's new. Okay. That's new. No, I know it's not always been... I mean, going forward. Yeah. I don't know how I feel about that. Yeah. I don't know how I feel about that. Yeah. I don't know. Some of the changes I don't care for so much. I guess I'll get used to it.

[01:09:26] I actually kind of dig the new vibe on NXT compared to what we had. I still like the black and gold days. Oh, there doesn't be stat. Yeah. But stop moving the camera. It does feel like Fight Night. It does. I still think of the game Fight Night. No, I dig it. And overall, I like the look. I know what you mean about the logos on the canvas. But personally, it doesn't bug me that much. It kind of makes it feel more legitimate, honestly.

[01:09:57] But if they got rid of them, I wouldn't. That's not a hill I would die on. I like it better than Prime. Figures is better than Prime. It's a horrible drink. I'm not sure. I've never had one. Oh, don't. Would you quit it? Did you have Prime? Probably like once. Probably.

[01:10:26] Did you drink your Prime? Love that. Don't. It's really nasty. It's like coconut water with some other stuff. See, I don't like coconut. So that's not going to fly for me. Would you stop it? You've never annoyed the cat like that before. Did he make fun of your mother or something?

[01:10:56] What's going on here? You've never. This is not something you do. Don't pick a fight you win. Yeah, a hundred pound pit bull gets bullied by a six pound cat. And now she's picking a fight. This is going to be good. I might record this for a bonus episode for you. Oh, I forgot. There is a moment in the wrestling wrap up where we have a wrestling match between kittens. That is a thing that happens. So I'm looking forward to that.

[01:11:26] I look forward to that. Would you stop it? Quit it. Oh, yeah. No, I do. I do like the look of NXT. I think it needed a bit of an overhaul after the tie dye era. Yeah, that was like. That was rough. I think that was the. Yeah, it was the worst. That was the worst. That was the worst. Well, that's when Vince McMahon took over. Yeah, it was like make everything tie dye. We're going to make it. We're going to make it. Tie dye.

[01:11:56] Like the hippies. It's going to be. It's going to be free love. Shit. I do like it better. Yeah, it's better. I don't know that you'll ever be able to get back to the glory of the black and gold days. But it's a step in the right direction. And I'm OK. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:12:24] Because again, back then, I guess also they had like different people there that could pull it off. They had like a double team dream. He was good. Who I miss, man. I don't know. Yeah. So many people that had his his match. Velveteen dreams match with Ricochet for the North American. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's that's on my top list of top matches. Absolutely. Even him and I think Dijak.

[01:12:53] Dominic Dijakovic. That's what he was in NXT. Yeah. Yeah. That was good. And another guy he used to like wrestle with. Oh, Aleister Black. That was really. Oh, I forgot about that. Yeah, I forgot about that. That was really good. Yeah. Yeah, that was good. That was good stuff. That was really good stuff. Yeah, I miss Velveteen Dream. He was really underrated. Like for some reason, people didn't like him.

[01:13:23] I was like. What are you talking about? This guy's great. He was phenomenal in the ring and the mic. At first, I get it. I didn't. Well, but he's supposed to be. He's supposed to be off putting. That's his character. Yeah. But once I got used to it and once I saw he could do. I was like, yeah, this is really good. Like imagine if he. I mean, he works so well as a heel. Oh, yeah. He has to be a heel. Yeah. I don't think he could ever be a truly baby face.

[01:13:53] Well, no, he'll be a baby. He'll be a baby face in June. Other than that, he's a heel. They tried everybody out for June. Yeah. I think Sonya Deville was a baby face for like three weeks in June. She's like, I'm the heel authority figure in the company. But June rolls around and I'm a baby face. Oh, yeah. For reasons. You're right.

[01:14:24] For reasons. I mean, it's fine. But it is kind of silly when you think about it. I was going to make. Never mind. I was going to talk about Bobby Lassie. Bobby Lassie. Oh, did they debut in June? That would have been funny. Yeah. The Hurt Business. Ooh. They went from the Pride to the Hurt Business. I think somebody got. But hurt.

[01:14:54] Somebody. Somebody got bent over a barrel. But they're doing much better now. But MVP and. The other guy. Shelton. Oh, Shelton. Yeah. I'm glad because. I always felt that Shelton Benjamin never really got to the level that he should have. And unfortunately. No, not at all. Yeah. Unfortunately, I think it's a little too late. It's way too late to have the run he should have had. But.

[01:15:23] We can still get the AEW championship on him. I. This needs to happen. First of all, I say like it's still a chance. But. They sure have been like. I don't understand how Shelton Benjamin never won the WWE title. I. I can think of no reason. He's not too small. He's not a small man. No. He can certainly work. He had the character. He could cut a promo. What. What. What gives. What was the deal? Yeah.

[01:15:52] A great match with Shawn Michaels. Yeah. Well, a lot. A lot of people. A lot of people were saying at the time that it was because he was black. But it's just like. That's not. That's not really. No. I just. Well, no. I don't think so. Because didn't Junkyard Dog have the title at one point? I mean, that's going back. That's going back. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. But I want to say Junkyard Dog was WWE champion at one point. It's a possibility. And then obviously Bobby. Bobby eventually. This would have been after Sheldon.

[01:16:22] But Bobby Lashley. You know, would win it. Honestly, it does feel like he rubbed someone the wrong way. That's why he. Yeah. And I just. Or something. But I mean, he was always on. He was always on TV there for a while until he left. I mean, he was always around. It's just weird that he only got to like the IC title. And tag team. It was like someone was like actively keep him in the mid cart. Like he can never break that ceiling. Now, maybe.

[01:16:50] Maybe at the time. He would have been considered smaller in WWE. But I don't. I can't really say that. He's not small though. Kurt was doing that during that time. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It just doesn't. It doesn't click to me. I don't understand. So, yeah. He must have pissed somebody off. I really do think so. It was like. It's got to be. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Or something else backstage. Because there is no reason.

[01:17:16] There is no legitimate reason why he has not been WWE champion. Yeah. I can say about it. Yeah. I feel like. Oh, The Rock. Yeah. The Rock. Yeah. Maybe he pissed off The Rock. Probably. Have you seen him lately? The Rock. He's got. Oh, yeah. He was. Well, he was on. He was on the debut episode. Yeah. Got everybody revved up. Yeah.

[01:17:46] He's on something. Kind of. Yeah. Yeah. I guess. I didn't move. I guess he and Cody are cool now. Yeah. That was weird. Because. That was weird. He. I know they want to go like the Rock versus Roman. But it seems like that's not going to happen again. Maybe. I just. I mean, fortunately, we have two main events in WrestleMania now.

[01:18:15] So Punk can get his main event. And if they still want to do Rock versus Roman, they can. And. So, yeah. I guess. I guess legitimately. The Rock. Dwayne Johnson was given the. Rank. Title. Title. He was given the title of High Chief. So that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. So that's cool. Like, congratulations. I know that's probably a very big deal for him, I would imagine. I doubt it. I truly do.

[01:18:47] Yeah. I'm trying to be culturally aware. He's just like. Nah. He paid for it. He bought it. Like, come on. It's kind of like. It's kind of like being knighted now. It's just whoever can pay for it. Yeah. Like. It's probably the reason why his daughter is in the GM. Well, we know that. Like. Yeah. Like. She doesn't deserve that. Like. It's like. It's why he. It's why he has the. It's why he has the BS belt. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He carries it around.

[01:19:17] Yeah. The Rock belt. The Rock belt. By the way, that's not the bullshit belt. That's the butt sniffing belt. Kind of. Yeah. That was the line. That was the line on the negotiating table. That sealed the deal. He's like. The money's not a problem. But I just. I just don't know. It's like. Well, we'll give you a. Tiebreaking boat on the board. Oh, you know. That's just. The Rock likes it. But there's just something. We'll give you a belt.

[01:19:51] Where's the Rock's sign? They're not dropping. They're not dropping. They're not dropping as much cursing as I thought on Netflix, but they are dropping some. Because, I mean, the Rock's opening promo. He was like. He was like. No, bullshit. That's not real one. I'm like, OK. Yeah. But I think only he could do that. No, they're. They're walking. Not running. I know. I know what they're doing. Because, I mean. Somebody still said piece of trash.

[01:20:21] And I'm just like. We're. Slowly but surely. We'll get away from this. We will. I hope so. Like. Yeah. It's not so much. Like, I don't want them dropping F-bombs left, right, and center. It's just that when people. People don't talk like that. Like, I've never been. I've never been in the heat of the moment and called somebody a piece of trash. It's kind of like when, like. When, like, really conservative parents start yelling and they're just like. The.

[01:20:51] What do they say in the sound? The dadgum flippin. It's just. You just laugh at it because they sound so ridiculous. Yeah. It's like they sing everything, but they. What they. Meant to say. You know. Yeah. It's like. And at that point, isn't it in the same spirit? Just say the. Just say the word. Yeah. Turn around. Then I get it. But even then, it's kind of like. Like, they say Seth freaking Rollins, but we know what they mean.

[01:21:21] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Burning down. Yeah, I know. It got to me when I first heard it. I was like, why are they saying that? Freaking. I've never liked it. I've never cared for it. Yeah. So I'm always thankful that Jim Cornette refers to him as Seth Franklin Rollins. I do like it. And I knew it, man. I saw the clip after I saw Penta's debut to tie it all. To bring it all full circle. I saw the clip of Jim Cornette and I'm like, oh.

[01:21:52] He's going to talk about. He's going to. Because he calls Penta Penthouse. He was like, well, Brian, you want to talk about the debut of Penthouse? I'm like. There's Jim. Calls him Penthouse and Felix. I didn't know he debuted until I saw her on YouTube. That's how I was. I did. I did. I did see it on social media first. Yeah. But that's just because. I got to watch. I hadn't.

[01:22:20] I hadn't gotten to Netflix yet to watch, but I was like, oh, well. Definitely not missing raw. Definitely watching that. By the way, Cena did a real bait and switch on the first episode because he made it sound like he was retiring tonight. And I'm like, wait, what? I'm like, oh, no, you're doing a whole year. OK. Yeah. It was like a big tour. So all these matches. He's lying bastard. Yeah. He's going to milk it.

[01:22:50] Well, yeah. And they should. I mean, milk that machine. I honestly think he's going to still be back like the Undertaker. He's going to be like Taker. Yeah. He's going to be doing this till he's 90. That was a pretty cool moment. Speaking of Taker, that was a pretty cool moment that Rhea had with Taker. It made no sense, but. Oh, I was going to say. It was like, oh, he did play. They went around in a circle. It didn't make a bit of sense, but I mean, it was cool.

[01:23:20] Like, you want to earn $10,000 in five minutes? Just go around in a circle. OK. Yeah. I give a fist bump and that's it. OK. I guess he gave her the rub. And poor Hulk Hogan. So I actually read that there was something to that, something that happened before he came out that was kind of the result of the booing. But I don't know what that thing is because I wasn't able to finish it.

[01:23:50] But I don't think it was anything that Hulk did. Oh, I thought it was just because he did the thing with Trump where he like he was in character and Trump took off his shirt. And like, I thought that was like. Maybe, but I don't. I don't know. Maybe. I thought that was like, OK, these people are going like that. So they're like, ooh, ooh. I mean, it was in California. So that's valid. That might be the reason.

[01:24:19] But come on, guys. Hulk Hogan at the RNC was hilarious. That was so funny. What you going to do in Trump-a-mania? Like, it was so bad. And I'm sitting here watching as a wrestling fan. I'm like, I'm the wrestling fan. And I'm watching this. I'm going, oh, my God. Oh, they've resulted in the Hulkster. I was like, it was kind of sad to see. Come on. I hope he got paid.

[01:24:49] Oh, he had to. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because he's pushing his like beer or something. That's right. I forgot about the beer. Yeah. So he's going around like state to state pushing this beer. I don't know if it's any good. I'm going to give it to anyone that'll drink it, brother. I wish you could push those ice cream bars again. Speaking of which, I was at an AEW event where they had those ice cream bars.

[01:25:19] Oh, really? Oh. They were the shits. They were not good. Oh, sad. I was like, I paid $8 for this. $8? It was. And it was mediocre. It was not good. You can go to Dairy Queen and get something far superior for significantly less. Coldstone or anything. Oh, Coldstone. You're getting fancy with me now. That's what they have over here. Oh, we've got Coldstone.

[01:25:48] I really go there because, I don't know, they waste my time. Oh, like the. Look at the ice cream. They waste my time. Hakeem, you need to just do a podcast about everyday life. You need to do a slice of life podcast because your commentary is second to none. You're just like, you can just start off. You know what really annoys me about Coldstone?

[01:26:18] They waste my time. I guess because I watched from a sign film. Well, we'll call it Hakeem Ruins Everything. Exactly. It's like, you know what sucks about McDonald's? Oh, really? Wendy's. Like, no, no, no, seriously. I had gotten a kid's mill and like, it's like this plastic cheap tour.

[01:26:46] I remember back in the day, this would be really good. Like. Legitimately though, the toy, the, the, the toys and kid's mills used to be significantly better. Yeah. Yeah. Like I've seen at McDonald's, they've got the Sonic things. I'm like, this isn't even a toy. This is a figurine. Like it doesn't do anything. This is lame. Back in my day. We had the actual Transformers. Like. McDonald's toys used to be on par. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:27:16] You could like transform the entire box. The boot buckets came back. They're not as good. They're not as good as they used to be, but. Of course not. I mean, it's, it's whatever. I mean, that was a great, that was a great kid's meal toy. Cause it was cool and practical. Cause the parents loved them. Cause they're like, okay, now I don't have to go buy something or lug a bag around. Like just give them a bucket and they're good to go.

[01:27:44] The last great toy I ever got was like the Pokeballs with like the golden. Okay. Those were. Yeah. That's the last. Do you remember the random, the random time when Burger King had those like gold Dragon Ball Z figures in their kids meal? For some reason they were, they were cool, but it was very random. Like you gotta admit it was very random. Do you think those were like rejects from a factory or something?

[01:28:15] I was thinking that like, they have to be like, got them at wholesale. Yeah. Cause they, they, they weren't around for a while. They were pretty limited. So maybe they just like had the molds. Right. And then they were like not painted. So they're like, screw it. Just exactly. Paint them. Just paint them gold. Yep. I, between me and my friend, Eric, we used to have an entire set and now they're gone. And I really wish we'd hung onto those. Yeah. I still have some things.

[01:28:45] I have the Pokeballs with the Polygon. Yeah. I remember those. Those are fun. I do. I'm, I'm, I'm not joking. We need the Hakeem slice of life podcast. Just get on there and be like, you know what really sucks about this? It's me complaining. I want to watch this show. I want to watch this show.

[01:29:13] It's like, oh yeah. The Costco situation. I'm no more. A part of Costco. Oh, so you told them where, you told them where he can shove it. Yeah. I got a refund for the membership. Amen. I'm serious, but I'm, I'm not joking. I want the Hakeem complaint hour. You know what really sucks about.

[01:29:43] I love it. And with that, everybody in the comments, if you want Hakeem's complaint podcast, put it in the comments. Unless you have any other thoughts about Monday Night Raw on Netflix. Nah, that was pretty much everything. I think, well, Liv's, I was going to say Liv Morgan's going to get in trouble, but it's on Netflix now, so. Oh yeah. She made it spicier. Bruh. I'm not trying, I'm not, I'm not trying to be like crude or anything here, but.

[01:30:14] Yeah. I totally get it. Oh my God. And like, she, some of the ring gear she's come out in over the years, I'm just like, how are they? Oh yeah. Like, don't get me wrong. Yeah. Like, don't get me wrong. I'm, I'm enjoying this, but I also don't know how they're getting away with this. Yeah. Oh yeah. Closing on that very controversial topic.

[01:30:44] Next week, you can tell us what sucks about low rise jeans. I don't know. But thank you everybody for enjoying this episode of Down the Middle. Be sure to check out our sponsors and check us out next week for the next episode of Weekly Wrestling Wrap Up. And then the week after that, we'll talk about something else. If you want us to talk about something in wrestling, just let us know in the comments and we'll probably discuss it unless it's really stupid. And if it's really stupid, Hakeem will debut his podcast telling you how stupid it is.

[01:31:15] That's a deal. That's a deal. All right, everybody. Well, have a good night. Enjoy wrestling and enjoy Raw. Enjoy everything that's happening.