Down The Middle Episode 89: 2025 Royal Rumble Review

[00:00:17] There we are, welcome everybody to Down The Middle. We're a little late, but we can explain. Technically, we're a weekly, but we're just flipping it for you. And you may notice that game looks a little different. It's a little bit. I'm having PC issues. You're having PC nightmares.

[00:00:47] Yeah. This is great though, because the mouth is moving. I know, but it's like my head is moving back to... Yeah, I know. There is kind of this weird... Yeah. It's like... I don't understand why the camera doesn't work on this. It's not that old of a PC. It's maybe... Any, many more though. They get so old so fast. I know. It's like... I built this one in 2013.

[00:01:17] Oh, that's pretty old by today's standards. Like I got a... I literally got a... I don't even remember. I think it's like a Macintosh G5 tower. Oh, okay. It doesn't even turn on anymore. And it sucks. I was having so much issues with this one to even turn on itself. I had to use only eight gigs of RAM. Ooh. That's the one that will work on this thing. That's adorable.

[00:01:44] Yeah. So actually, that's why I thought Weekly Wrestling Wrap Up was lost because it was on that computer. But it turns out I had an external hard drive and that's where I stored them. So I was like, yes. And that's why you're getting... you almost got a new episode of Weekly Wrestling Wrap Up. But instead, we're going to talk about the Royal Rumble because it was awesome. But right before we get into that, this podcast tonight is brought to you by our friends at Pogo and our friends at Stevie Wicks. More on them later.

[00:02:13] But we are... we're here for the Rumble. And we were talking before we went live. Yeah. Pretty good. Pretty good. It was not... It was not... It was not much to complain about. So I would say, honestly, I felt more... I don't know, like disappointed with the lack of surprises. Because I always look forward to the surprise. That's like the number one thing I look forward to when it comes to the Rumble.

[00:02:38] There were some good surprises, but I personally, to me, last year's was better. Not to say this year's was bad. And I mean, it was in my hometown. And you may ask yourself, why were you not there? I said, well, because when tickets were on sale, I didn't really care to go. And then by the time I cared to go, there were no tickets left. So... And it sucks because I'm like less than 10 minutes away from the arena. So...

[00:03:08] Oh, that's cool. Yeah, it would have been... would have been nice. Theoretically, I can walk. It's a... it's a... it's a long walk, but theoretically, I can... I could have walked. Yeah. Or biked. I probably would have biked, but I don't have a bike. So, anyway, Royal Rumble. We started off hot though, with the Women's Royal Rumble match. And we started off with EO Sky, which we're always happy to see EO Sky and Liv Morgan. And I'm always happy to see Liv Morgan. So... Yeah. That was... That was good.

[00:03:35] I was surprised that part, like that they start off first. Them two. They started hot. They started hot. Yeah. And then Roxanne Perez joined them in short order. Yeah. Followed by... followed by Lyra Valkyria, who had wardrobe difficulties. Yeah, I saw that. I was like, oh, oops. I felt... I felt really bad for her. Yeah. But Liv Morgan deserves some credit for... Oh, yeah. She kicked her. Oh, yeah. Pushed her. Pushed her. Pushed her into the corner. And that's one of those things where...

[00:04:05] Kind of like the Snoop Dogg at WrestleMania thing. Like, it's obvious what they're doing. But at the same time, what else you gonna do? Yeah. I was wondering if she told her to do that or she just did it on her own. I think she... I think she did it on her own. I think so, too. Yeah. When she knows she did it. Yeah. I felt so bad for Lyra because that... Yeah. Freak accident. There's nothing about that top that should have come undone. Like, it was a surprise to everyone. Yeah.

[00:04:34] She could not get that thing to reattach. And then... Yeah. I don't know if you saw, but one of the refs actually ran over. Yeah, I saw him. Yeah, yeah. And then the camera guy... The poor camera guy had one of the most awkward angles so that Lyra wasn't on screen. Yeah. But it was so weird. It was so cut off. Yeah. Because they never do a wide shot of the ring that's not centered up like that. So it was just really weird. I'm kind of surprised they didn't just cut to one of the other cameras.

[00:05:03] But hey, I mean, it's on the fly. So kudos. Kudos to Liv and Lyra for figuring that out. We were very soon after that joined by Chelsea Green, which... I mean, I don't... Chelsea's great. I have no problem with Chelsea, but not really much was happening. And then BFAB came in and... Yeah. Things. Yeah. Things. Look, I don't like to...

[00:05:31] I really don't like to critique in-ring work because I'm not a wrestler, but... Yeah, but you can still do it. Like, you know, you can tell when someone's good at something when someone's not. No matter what. It's not to say she won't ever be good. I don't... Which, I mean, and to be fair, the Rumble's kind of a good match to throw somebody in. Because worst case scenario, you just put them in the corner and kick them and then throw them over the rope. Like... But...

[00:05:59] And also, I would say her size is kind of like a disadvantage. She's really tall. Like... She's very tall. Yeah. So, it's kind of like awkward movements because she has to like bend down to like reach the other girls. Yeah. So... But... That's another thing too. Sometimes when you see people on TV, it's really... You don't really get a sense of how big or small they actually are. Exactly.

[00:06:27] And until you see them next to someone who's significantly taller or shorter than them. Yeah. And it's like... Like, I have to remind myself all the time. Like, Zelina Vega's like 4'10", 4'11". She's under 5 feet. Yeah, yeah. Right. You don't... Yeah, you don't necessarily see that unless she's standing next to somebody who's really tall. Like, in her match with Rhea Ripley in Puerto Rico, you got a sense of how the height to spare you there. I don't want to call her short because I like Zelina Vega a lot.

[00:06:57] But... She is vertically challenged. Yeah. It is a fact. And then I feel ashamed because like I should know who this person is, but then Ivy Nile came in. Followed by Zoe Stark and Lash Legend. Oh, she's from NXT. Yeah, Lash Legend. But like I literally... Oh, Ivy Nile! I know who she is. Nevermind. Yeah, she's with Chad Gable. Oh, nevermind. Take back what I said.

[00:07:27] No, I absolutely know who Ivy Nile is and she's awesome. Like... Yeah, I like her a lot. Yeah, she does great. Great heel. Great heel. Because she's... Everyone that can talk shit and back it up. Yeah. Those are my favorite kind of heels because it's like... Don't get me wrong. The cowardly heel has his or her place, but I like a heel that can back up what they're... What they're saying.

[00:07:57] Because it makes it all the more sweeter when the baby face finally triumphs because it's like, no, this means something. As we saw, there was a moment that came later. But then... Bianca Belair comes in, steals the show, except... Ugh, there's one spot... I hate it. I absolutely hate it, hate it, hate it so much when... Okay, what's the... How do I want to say this?

[00:08:24] When they do a spot and then repeat it, two is the maximum. Okay. Two is the maximum before it starts to get stupid. And even then, sometimes it's stupid. Yeah. Bianca Belair did the corner spot like six times? Which means everyone in the ring is a moron. Yeah, yeah. Because they literally just... Yeah, yeah. They just saw this happen to someone else and they somehow...

[00:08:54] And I understand why they do it because they're trying to make Bianca look good, but there's better ways. Bianca really doesn't need help looking good. So, I don't know. If I were an agent, I wouldn't have sanctioned that, but I'm not an agent, so... That's what I was thinking too. It was like... It's too much. I could see doing it once or twice, but when they constantly do it over and over again, it's... That kind of spot, that kind of spot, I could see doing it twice just to make Bianca look tough. Yeah.

[00:09:23] By the time you got to the third, then it felt choreographed. That's what it was. That's what I'm trying to say. It felt more choreographed than it should have. Because everyone has to cooperate. It's the PWG spot where the finger in the butthole thing. Like... Oh yeah, I remember. It's so stupid. Yeah. Like... Not to mention, you all share a locker room and it makes me think about... It makes me think that you're not just getting changed in there. But anyway... Then we are joined by...

[00:09:53] Then we're joined by Shayna Baszler, Bayley, and Sonya Deville. And now there's some team ups happening now because Sonya, as we know, it's Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler, and then who's the other girl in there? Oh, it's Zoe Stark. Zoe Stark. Yeah, who was already in the ring because I knew they were all in there. By the way, I like Zoe Stark. Yeah, she's one of my favorite out of all of them. Yeah, she's got a real... I'm not saying she's not pretty. She's got an interesting look.

[00:10:21] It makes you take notice. It's rough. It's not rough and bad. I know what you mean. Like hardcore badass. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And plus, I mean, she's intense. Like... Places. She's fun to watch. I pay attention to her, man. She's been places. Studded leather may or may not have been involved. But then, Maxine, Maxine with two X's, Dupree, has a few moments.

[00:10:50] Tribute to Otis, which again... Oh yeah, the reverse squirm. Yeah. It was kind of cool seeing her stand up to Ivy Niles. Yeah. Good baby face moment. Then we're joined by Naomi, who's always fun. Mm-hmm. And she and Bianca are... Oh, they're the tag team champs right now. Yeah, they are. Because Jade's not in the picture no more. Yeah, she got injured, didn't she?

[00:11:20] I have no idea. I think so. I think she was injured. I think she got injured, yeah, because she's not been on TV. And then Jada Parker, another NXT personality, joined. And then followed by Piper Niven, who, I mean, she was there. Yeah. And then somebody who is one of the most underutilized, underrated female wrestlers in the history of WWE, Natalya, jumps into the ring.

[00:11:51] And, um... At this point, she's just there to be there. She's happy that they call her and she got to get in the ring for once. I mean, I'm going to go out on a limb, having never met or talked with Natalya. Mm-hmm. I think you're right. I think that around Total Divas time, I think that's what ended up keeping her in the companies. Because it's like, well, at least I'm on a TV show. I absolutely believe it. Also, she does a lot of stuff online, too.

[00:12:21] She has her own YouTube. She does it with her sister sometimes. So... Yeah. I think that kept her in. Yeah. My thing about Natalya, though, she's one of the few people who, even now, I'll be brutally honest, even now, if Natty left WWE and went to either Japan or somewhere like AEW, not TNA, because now they're kind of connected to... Mm-hmm.

[00:12:47] I mean, she could go do some great stuff in TNA, be a little bit rougher, bring back a little bit more of that heart, Nightheart legacy. Yeah. You know? I think AEW, she could really shine if she did, which I get it, because I've come to understand that Natty's a bit of a sweetheart, but we've seen her do this in the ring before. Like, channel some of her dad in a place like AEW for a couple years, get more of a rough and tumble reputation persona.

[00:13:27] Mm-hmm. She got fired. She's in TNA. Oh, is she? Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's Ash by Elegance. Wait, that's Dana Brooke? Yeah, yeah. Stupid name. Ash by Elegance. Wow. Okay, they're not doing any better. But, like... Go... Travel Back in Time in Your Mind. Do you remember when Dana Brooke debuted in NXT? Yeah, yeah. Like, she was spunky. She was good.

[00:13:56] She was a walking badass, and they played up her bodybuilding, they played up her athleticism. Yeah, or even when she was with Charlotte. She was like Charlotte's bodyguard in a way. Yeah. Yeah, she at least had that air about her. Yeah. Why they never teamed her up with Natty long-term and made a tag team, I don't understand. But, hey... Ooh, Ash by Elegance is a terrible name. It is. Oh, that's awful.

[00:14:25] It's like Chanel No. 5 or something. What's... That's at least kinda clever, and then... It is, but I'm like... They named her after a perfume or something. Yeah. And then what's the one, Slamovich? I can't remember the first name. Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that one's funny. That one's fun. That one's fun. But, to me, Natty should be more like... Or if she wants to.

[00:14:54] Like, do what Dolph did. Yeah. Like, he has a... Like, she was like... Or she is like the female Dolph. Where she is great in the ring, but she's been kind of everywhere, so... And did everything. What I would suggest, if I had my druthers, and... Other than removing Tony Khan as Booker of AEW, is I'd offer her a deal to come into AEW, and basically her whole persona is...

[00:15:24] Like, I'm coming from the big leagues, but I just cannot stand watching the nonsense that's coming out of your women's division and you're giving women's wrestling a bad name. And I want her to just throw everyone. Everyone she gets in the ring with, just throw them until they can't stand anymore. Mm-hmm. And then put them in the sharpshooter and watch them scream. Like, that's your match for the first few months. Just come in and squash people.

[00:15:50] And then you put her in a program with some of the heavier hitters. You know, she can have a great program with Naya Rose. Nila Rose, not Naya Rose. Yeah, or even like Britt Baker, if they have like good chemistry. Yeah, but I mean... Somebody wants to sell. Somebody. Boy, would that elevate Britt Baker though. It would. But... Doesn't matter.

[00:16:20] Because Natalia's spotlight got stolen yet again when Jordan Grace entered next. And to be fair, and I've said this before, I'll say it again. I don't really care for Jordan Grace as a person. Mm-hmm. But I cannot deny... I cannot deny her stuff in the ring. My dog is shredding something.

[00:16:48] It sounds like cardboard. What are you doing? Stop me, Frank. Don't trip over that. Ah, you... Come here. Okay, you're still there. Just swaying away. Yeah. This is the wind. Nice breeze.

[00:17:20] That's an awesome skirt. Yeah, I know, right? I've loved this since it... Since old KO came to NXT. Yeah. It's so simple and cool. Um, and it actually looks like duck... It's not duct tape. Okay, I was just gonna ask, is it real? No, it's not, but it looks real, doesn't it? It does. Yeah, that's why I like it. And I love it because it's like, it's not an obvious wrestling shirt.

[00:17:44] Like, if you don't know who Kevin Owens is, and on the back it says, never stop fighting in the duct tape again. But like, it's kind of a cool looking shirt, regardless if you know. Yeah, so... And actually, fun fact, I was wearing this at an... This, not this shirt. I had the original one and then they made the new one that has never stopped fighting, but I got fat, so I had to get a large.

[00:18:08] Um, but the original one I had years ago, I was at an airport and somebody from across the terminal screamed fight Owens fight. And I'm like, that's why being a wrestling fan is awesome. This dude who has no idea who I am, recognized the shirt. Mm-hmm. It was awesome. Uh, Jordan looked great, you know, and they did say she's officially in WWE now.

[00:18:32] So, she, uh, I saw a clip of an interview she was doing with Chris Van Vliet, and she's, she mentioned leaving TNA. So, as we figured, that was only a matter of time. Oh, yeah, she hinted at, uh, well, he asked her about the rumble. Yeah. And she was like, oh, I don't know. Like, you could tell she was obviously lying. So... Oh, I don't know.

[00:18:53] Well, it's funny because they did the same thing with AJ Lee and CM Punk when he was on, um, cause I watched this one after the fact, but he was on, um, Pat McAfee, the Pat McAfee show. Uh-huh. And Pat's like trying to, he's like, so is AJ gonna be there? Punk's like, no. Yeah, yeah, he must always say no. Chip's saying no. She's like, no, she's, she's at home with Larry. And they're like, oh, but it's only three hours away. And he was like, she's not gonna be there.

[00:19:24] And then she, and then people were disappointed when she wasn't there. Yeah. Spoiler alert, AJ Lee was not at the rumble. Uh, Jordan looked good. And then Meechin, and I'm not gonna lie. I actually, I had to pee and I was watching it live. So I, I missed her entrance, but I saw that she came in. But I would say, okay, like, I hate this because I like Meechin or Mia Lim. I'm not gonna call her much. Mia Yim. Yeah. But, uh, it's like, she came out to crickets. It's like, no one knows who her.

[00:19:55] Because. No one cared. Well, unfortunately, that's the problem when you put somebody like Mia Yim, who has never really properly been utilized in WWE. No. When you put her with people like AJ Styles and the Good Brothers. That made no sense. It made no sense. And she doesn't, she doesn't fit. Like, and it does nothing for her. It does absolutely nothing for her.

[00:20:24] Um, and that's a shame because I like her. I think she had better matches than TNA as Jade. She did. You know, like, I don't know what happened. Well, the beautiful thing now is WWE can do what we predicted and said they should do. If you, this is a perfect time. Somebody like Mia Yim, who is kind of lost in the WWE shuffle, send her to TNA. Hey, let her just, you know, just do something different for a bit. You know?

[00:20:54] And now they have an open partnership. Yeah, or not. Yeah. It kind of feels like they're just going to like, take whoever's popular from TNA and move them to WWE versus someone from WWE going to TNA. Well, some of the NXT talent goes down there. Oh, to TNA. Yeah, but I don't, I don't think anybody from the main roster. Actually, I saw something that was great. And I would love to see this frankly is AJ Styles versus Joe Hendry for the TNA title.

[00:21:25] Oh yeah, that'd be really cool. That'd be, could you imagine? This would be great. Okay. It's not going to happen, but it would be awesome. AJ Styles, Joe Hendry for the TNA title at WrestleMania. I don't know about you. I'd watch the shit out of that. I would too. Yeah. That would be awesome. And it would, it would help TNA for sure. But then. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that, that would be great.

[00:21:52] Not to mention, I'd love to see AJ Styles when the TNA belt one more time. That would be really cool to, and to bookend his career on, you know, that I think that would be really cool. How does he feel about TNA? Like, is he like bigger? No. Or like, he may not never want to go back there again. I don't know. Well, that's the beauty of it. Because if they do it at WrestleMania, he's technically not going back there. He's just winning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:18] And I, I, I could see him because AJ Styles said numerous times, he didn't want to leave TNA. They pretty much left him no choice because. Yeah. Why are you going to take a pay cut when you carried a company on your back for 11 years? You know, I, I get it. Yeah. Never. And then he got, he got bigger within six months by going to Japan, you know? So. Yep. And then eventually WWE. So. I don't know. It is what it is.

[00:22:46] But then we got the, probably the biggest return, maybe the second biggest return of the night. Personally, for me, it was the biggest return. Alexa Bliss. Who. It wasn't big because I already knew. Well, yeah, you. Yeah. It wasn't. I did not know. Okay. I don't know. See, it was funny because I was listening to Jim Cornette talk about it.

[00:23:08] And Brian last said something that's like, dude, I don't know what TV settings you had, but he was like, the crowd was silent when she came out. I'm like, bro, what? I don't know what show you're watching. That place was on fire when she came out. Yeah, it was. It's yeah. Like. I don't know if you've got like your audio settings adjusted weird where it like dilutes the crowd sounds. They say that a lot on that show, though. I'm wondering if they do have television settings different because they say all the time.

[00:23:38] It's like, oh, that, you know, the crowd was dead. I'm like, that's not what I heard. Like, I heard plenty of people. And you saw people moving, too. So it's like clearly they were happy to see Alexa. Oh, yeah, I'm pretty. She has like a big following. Yeah. And I get it. I'm kind of tired. She's in that whole Bray Wyatt thing. I wish she was back to her old gimmick. I agree. I would like to see. Well, because she's a baby face now.

[00:24:07] She came back like and the people are cheering. So I think it was just a tribute to Bray Wyatt, though, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, that's true. So I get it. I get it. But then we were followed by Zelina Vega and Candace LeRae. And not that they they didn't do anything wrong, but they just kind of came in and started doing then Stephanie Vacker came in and got got a much bigger pop than I thought she would.

[00:24:35] Not to say that she's bad, but like. No, like they know who she was. Yeah, but she got it. She just kind of came out of nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. Like when she girl Gilia or Julia Julia. Yeah. It was like crickets again. Like, yeah, who are you? She looked at cool. She looked at really cool. But yeah. Trish Stratus got a nice. That was a bit of a surprise for me, even though she he's been back in WWE a couple times. It was nice to see. It's always nice to see Trish Stratus.

[00:25:06] And you could tell she still has that wrestling. Polish of the attitude era. She still has it. Which I like it. I'm sorry. Not sorry. The the divas of the attitude and ruthless aggression era were on another level like and this is something I do agree with. But Jim Cornette was talking about how Trish is out there at four forty nine, which honestly I thought Trish was older. I do too. Yeah.

[00:25:32] Trish is out there at forty nine years old doing this stuff better than a lot of the. A lot of. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is Trish Stratus. Yeah. I mean. It's Trish Stratus. Then Raquel Rodriguez came out. Like I said, I love Raquel, but her hanging around live Morgan just doesn't make sense to me.

[00:25:55] No, to me is kind of hindering her growing, you know, like, I don't know, to me is like the longer she's with our team of live. She's going to be like another henchman jobber. Yeah. And the thing is, she's too big. Like. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's. But then. OK, this might have been the biggest pop of the night was Charlotte Flair. It was a big pop. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:24] It's a big pop till she took the robe off and then everybody went. Huh? Yeah. She has a new face. Or she. Yeah. And I do. I do not blame Charlotte for this. That outfit was. Yeah. That was not a good. That was not a good move. It just that was that was not a good move. I wonder if she's like 100% healthy.

[00:26:53] One reason I think she's like 20 pounds or at least like 10 pounds less than she can. Yeah. She seemed. She seemed. He seems thin and not in a good way. Yeah, absolutely. Like she kind of looked like she. I'm not sure you saw raw this past Monday. Like she looked even smaller. I did a lot. I'm about halfway through it. So I haven't seen her yet. Yeah.

[00:27:21] And I mean, all all due respect and complimentary like she looks like she just got over the flu. Like exactly. Like she looks she had like a really bad sickness or. Yeah. And just now come on a min. I don't know. I mean, hopefully she's good. I would imagine if they let her win the Royal Rumble, she's cleared. So. Yeah. Then we start for her because they. Yeah. Hell of her. Well, I mean, it's Charlotte Flair. She she revels in it.

[00:27:50] But yeah, that outfit was that outfit was not a good. It was not a good move. It bunched up in all the wrong places. Hey, it's like the HBK brown pants. If you know, you know, sometimes sometimes the wardrobe is a mistake. Lyra. I think wasn't super strappy, though. I mean, that was just a fluke accident. Good thing she caught it. Yeah. Then Nia Jax came out.

[00:28:21] And I think she did get booed. Followed by another interesting addition. Nikki Bella. Intraint number 30. I was not expecting that for that. I'll pop for that a little bit. Big one. But, you know, it was kind of like one of these. Like, oh, OK. Yeah. I was hoping for a surprise. Oh, that is a surprise. That's a surprise. Especially since scene is still in the company. I'm just going to say that. I was like, OK, maybe she's back because scene is back. Maybe she's back. Casino's leaving. Oh, that's true.

[00:28:51] No, I don't. No, I don't think they care about you, Sheldon. I don't know. It was cool. It was cool to see her. See, like, unlike a lot of people, I don't hate the Bellas because I like her better than her sister, though. Like, yeah, they have they have their place, though. So the thing of it is, like at that time, it's exactly what WWE was like. The title had a butterfly on it. Yeah. I'm not hating them for that. I'm not hating them for that. It was like Claire's jury.

[00:29:21] The Claire's title. Yeah. Yeah. But that, like we said, Charlotte won the 2025 Women's Royal Rumble. And we'll see who she's going to face. It's going to be her versus Rhea or her versus Tiffy. And I'm going to be honest, I kind of hope she goes for Tiffany. Oh, absolutely. I'm tired of you. Not tired of you. I know. We've seen that. We've seen that match before. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:50] I think I think Charlotte and Tiffany could be really, really interesting, both in from a match perspective and just the storyline. Yeah. It's like they both blondes for his like old school versus new school, you know? So. And I mean, I'm always down for Tiffy time. Oh, yeah. So next we had a tag team match for it was for the tag titles. Yeah. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. Yeah. DIY defending against the Motor Shitting Machine Guns.

[00:30:19] And my first thought was great. It's 15 years too late, but it's great. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know who they are. Like I never saw them before. So my only experience with them is hair right now. Like I never seen before. No, here's the funny thing about the Motor Shitting Machine Guns. And I mean it when I say it's 15 years too late because like they were one of the premier tag teams in TNA for years, for years.

[00:30:49] And then they they were kind of nowhere. And then I hear that they were in WWE. And I'm like what now? Like 10 years ago. Sure. But now not like not that they're bad, but it's just kind of like it would be like, oh, yeah, it would definitely tell they're really good. Yeah, it would. It would kind of be like this is kind of a bad example.

[00:31:15] It would be like WWE signing Frankie Kazarian right now, even though I think I think he'd be a good addition. That's not a good example. I was still pop for that. I like. Yeah, I'd pop for that or and I was going to say Christopher Daniels, too. And I'm like, no, I'd pop for that. Although it kind of it kind of would be like them signing Christopher Daniels now because he's kind of like he's been doing this since 2002. Like he's been doing it a while.

[00:31:43] And it's like, OK, you're signing him now. You didn't sign him before when he was on the. Yeah, I get exactly what you mean. Yeah. I don't get it. Like I get it, but I don't get it. It's like why I actually I understand now because Triple H was probably fighting for that for years. Mm hmm. And then Vince is probably like what machine guns. I don't get it. It's terrible. Where are they from again?

[00:32:12] It's one of them Irish. But I'm not going to lie. I was I was kind of fatigued from the women's Royal Rumble and I don't. It's so sad. I like Tommaso Ciampa. OK, I can't stand Johnny Gargano. I don't I don't get it. I liked him more when he was in his team. I do. Not so much of all. I'm not a fan of Johnny. No face.

[00:32:42] And I understand you're going to hate me in the comments. It's Johnny wrestling. Yeah, well, they called. Oh, God. Now I'm blinking on his name. Johnny football. John Johnny Manziel. They called him the greatest thing ever. And then he went to the NFL and he got the shit kicked out of him. Actually, it's one of the greatest college football moments ever. And it was one of the only few times I've ever rooted for Auburn as a team because Johnny

[00:33:09] Manziel that, you know, pompous ass that he is. Oh, they do the money. Johnny football. Well, you weren't that good. You had receivers that didn't obey the laws of gravity and could catch your crazy ass passes. All right. But there were some Auburn defenders. That one of them clocked him good and he's never played the same sense.

[00:33:38] I was like, finally, to be honest, I have no idea what that means. I never watched football. I don't watch pro football. I watch college football. So big, big dude knocked him down hard. Oh, OK. Yeah. Ran into him very, very hard. But yeah, I feel the same way about Johnny wrestling. I just Johnny no face like he has the same facial expression no matter what he's doing. Like happy.

[00:34:08] Sad. Angry. In pain. And then just to share another funny story, you'll get this one. There was a I was I was dating a girl a few years ago and she'd never seen wrestling. So I was like, I was like, I'm gonna test her. I'm gonna have her watching NXT TakeOver because this is back when the takeovers were like better than mainstream. Yeah.

[00:34:34] And it was it was the grudge match, the lights out match between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. OK. And. Dude, I wish I could have taken a picture of the look on her face when I can't remember who busts. Somebody busted out handcuffs. And then she's like, that was I think I was Johnny. I think I think it was. I think it was. Yeah. And then she's like, what are they about to do? Like, I can't defend this.

[00:35:05] I can't. That was a good match. It was. But you have to admit there's some things that happen in wrestling where our knowledge of wrestling. Of course. Our knowledge of wrestling blinds us to the absurdity and or perceived sexuality of it all. Absolutely.

[00:35:26] But when you consider that it's oiled up men in their underwear and one of them busts out handcuffs in the real world. Something bad is about to go down. Are you? But. Oh, Justin says I have professional wrestling related question. Did Hulk Hogan really get booed because the last time he was there, he was a heel? No, actually, no.

[00:35:55] Um, I'm not 100% sure on this because we didn't see this during the I think what what it was something that happened right before Hulk came out allegedly. But also, I thought it was because he came out for the Trump thing and oh, that you know, that was probably it. Which that that was funny. That that was just that was funny and sad all at the same time. Just Hulk Hogan. It was Hulk Hogan at the Republican.

[00:36:23] National Convention just be what you gonna do, brother, when Trumpomania runs wild on you. And like, regardless of your political affiliation, it was sad to watch. It was just as sad as when Batista like when came. Oh, that was worse. That was worse. That was way worse. It was. Yeah, that was that was worse. I can say.

[00:36:54] Okay. But Hulk selling his beer now is is is kind of sad, too. But oh, yeah, that's what he was doing. He was going around town town selling his new beer. Yes. But DIY reigned victorious. Oh, it was a two out of three falls match. Wow. They had a two out of three. They had a two out of three falls match tag match in 14 minutes. That seems like it was.

[00:37:22] The first fall came really quick within the first like five minutes or so. Yeah, that seems. So you come once you saw that it was like obvious what was going to happen. Yeah. And that's what we call a gimmick match for the sake of having a gimmick match. But next. Thankfully, there was a good match next Cody Rhodes versus Kevin Owens for the the winged eagle and the undisputed.

[00:37:54] I'm sorry, I have to laugh. It was a match for two titles, one of which is the undisputed. WWE championship. So the undisputed title was disputed. And I can't I'll be honest, I kind of hope this is a vehicle to bring the winged eagle belt back and just make that the WWE title. It seems like that's what they're doing. I thought it was because to me, that's the only reason why they bring it back.

[00:38:18] Yeah, because if it wasn't if it wasn't being brought back, then it's like, OK, Kevin, you can keep the fake belt. Everybody knows you're not champion. Like Taz has already done this song and dance, dude. Yeah, it was a really good match, though. It was. I think I actually got hurt or like his eye or something. Oh, he did. Yeah, he I saw that. That was gnarly. I think he's OK, but there were.

[00:38:49] The I guess it wasn't a power. Was it a power bomb? I guess it was technically a power bomb through the ladder. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, oh, that looked like it hurt so bad. I'm sure it did. It had to like I was thinking I was like Kevin is almost like WWE's Darby Allen little bit. He he tastes like swimming crazy bumps in her himself a lot.

[00:39:20] I mean, it. It looked great at one point. I did think he got hurt both of them. Actually, there were moments where I thought but like because at one point Cody's head snapped back really hard and I went, oh, I don't I don't like to see that. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, OK, it looks good, but. Like it's just not worth it. I also I trust them. Those those are two that I trust to have that kind of a match.

[00:39:45] But yeah, there's a couple moments where I thought somebody might be legitimately hurt. But Cody was victorious. And if you haven't watched that match, I highly recommend you do. But I also highly recommend. Listen, we know the economy is a little tough and even a little extra money can go a long way. But thankfully, that's why our friends at Pogo can help you Pogo. I'm sure you've seen them a lot. There's a bunch of these apps where you can scan receipts or, you know, you get location rewards surveys, all this stuff.

[00:40:15] Well, Pogo is an app that I actually recommend because it has all those things, but it makes it way easier because not only does it do all of them, but most of the stuff is automatic. And you actually did like, don't get me wrong, you're not going to get rich off the sack. But every few weeks, an extra 15, 20 bucks, like for doing virtually nothing. I'm a fan.

[00:40:40] And then if you use our link and special promo code in the description, you get a bonus 250 points, which is about a quarter. But hey, it's a quarter you didn't have. Yeah, it's a quarter you didn't have. So and the other thing I really like is cash out is easy with no minimum cash out balance. So if you get a dollar, you can cash it. Well, if you get anything, you can cash it out. But frankly, I usually don't cash out unless it's at least 15 bucks. But that's me personally. And you can cash out to PayPal or directly into your bank account.

[00:41:09] So if you shop and use PayPal a lot, just shovel it in there. You get some free stuff. No harm, no foul. But that's our first link in the description, our friends at Pogo. And then we came to the big one, the big kahuna, as they say. The men's Royal Rumble match. I got to say, big fan of how this match started. I'm glad they're doing it.

[00:41:36] I really don't understand why they're, what am I trying to say? Like, they're kind of giving Penta like a wish list. Oh, okay. That was the first one. I was trying to find it. Yeah. Because it's, it was, I don't know. The problem I had with it was Ludwig. I like him. He's really good, but they make him look like a fool. You know?

[00:42:05] So, well, I never liked seeing that. Funny you mentioned that because the next night on Raw, Ludwig didn't look like a fool. That was actually a really, really, okay. So I have to go on a bit of a Penta rant here. And I, here's the thing. I love Penta. I'm a big Penta fan. Mm-hmm. But every single one of his matches in WWE showcases a weakness of his training.

[00:42:35] And he's, they're, they're working with him. It's pretty clear. There's things that he does that kind of fly more in AEW because everybody does them. But in WWE, the cracks show a little bit more. For example, his spot where he does like the, the handstand on the turnbuckle, it takes way too long. Way too long. Way too long. And it's obvious because in his match with Ludwig, Ludwig is looking up at him, waiting for it.

[00:43:04] And then right before he makes impact, he brings his arms up and. Yeah. I was like, this is so awkward. Like, I could see that. Like from here. Like if you, you can do that spot, you can do that spot faster. And it makes sense because it's like Ludwig looks up. Oh shit. You know, it covers, but if you're just standing there waiting for it. And that happens in AEW with so many people all the time and it's infuriating because it just takes you out of it. And does made a couple, which I get it. I got, I'm not cutting the guy up. I love Penta.

[00:43:34] It's a bigger ring. The ropes are different. I get it. There's been little slip ups here and there, but the biggest slip up by far. And I'm kind of surprised that they did this because Penta is clearly not ready for this level of precision in WWE. Mm hmm. The spot where only one of his feet hits the floor in the Royal Rumble when he very clearly both feet touched the ground. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, sorry, not sorry. It was obvious.

[00:44:04] He ended up not winning the Royal Rumble anyway. So like, it's okay. But I mean, he both feet touched the floor. Mm hmm. I rewound it. I watched it again. I'm like, yeah, that's unfortunate. They can pretend like the refs didn't see it, but there was a referee that was standing right in front of them and could clearly see it. Exactly. Yeah.

[00:44:26] You know, I understand why they didn't just eliminate him, but honestly, I, I, that's a tough spot. It's a tough spot. That being said, I think it was really cool that Penta got started off with Rey Mysterio. That was cool. And you notice too, Penta stopped doing Cero Miedo twice because I'm sure they nipped that in the bud. I think he does it twice on Ross. Thank you.

[00:44:56] Well, he didn't. He didn't this week. Okay. Maybe, maybe he does. I know we did it during his debut and I just like, ooh, and I'm sure, I'm sure they saw the glove thing and I'm sure they were like, yeah, you're not doing the glove thing here. It's not happening. It takes way too long. And it's, it's silly. No, but I mean, Penta looks great in WWE. He fits. He, he really, really fits. He does. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:45:24] Like, I just don't know, like, what would be like a good match for him? Like a good first few. I honestly think Rey was, was really good. It was, but here's what I love that they're doing is they're putting him in the ring with non Lucha guys. And I know, I know, I'm pretty sure I know why they're doing it.

[00:45:42] But it's going to help him learn the style more quickly because he, he does, he does have some bad Lucha habits, which most, most Luchadors do if they had a really long, long story career in Mexico. Um, cause I mean, for you watch, watch a triple a show. It's, it's ridiculous. Yeah. People standing there for 20 seconds, just waiting to catch the guy, like, instead of just moving. But it was like, look, they put them in there with Gable.

[00:46:10] They put them in there with Pete Dunne and they put them in there with Ludwig Kaiser on Monday. Now they planted a seed cause I thought his match with Dunne was great. They were all good, but his match with Dunne was great. Oh, I didn't see that one. Oh yeah. Oh, it was good. Which Pete Dunne's awesome. Oh, it's Pete. Like he's, oh, his, his match with Tyler Bay at NXT. One of the takeovers is still one of my favorite matches of all time. Oh yeah. Yeah. And it's like, they worked a finger and it was awesome.

[00:46:42] But, uh, what was it? So during his match with Ludwig Kaiser, Pete Dunne comes out to the ring. And what I thought initially was they were going to have Pete Dunne stop Ludwig from attacking him after the bell. And I thought, oh, they're going to make a tag team out of this. That could be interesting. Yeah. But instead he didn't interfere, but he also wasn't out there to attack Penta. I think they're going to do a program around these two.

[00:47:10] And I think it's going to be really good. But I feel like it. Yeah. Cause they are playing the seas for it. Yeah. They're definitely Penta. I've said it before. I'll say it again. Penta is a weird Luchador. He's a Lucha. He's definitely Lucha, but it's also really good at just like standard wrestling moves. Like his finish. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like I would say if it was one person to like unlearn like Luchador is him.

[00:47:38] He's like Rey Mysterio. Like Rey sure is a Luchador, but he doesn't do a lot of that typical, you know, Luchador, like Sin Cara type stuff. Well, Penta even less so because like, look at his finishing maneuvers. He does, he does an arm bar. He does a, uh, the Penta driver. And then he's got another finish that I, it's the, it's not a package pile. Oh yeah.

[00:48:08] I guess it is a package pile driver. I don't know. But anyway, they're all of his finishes are non Lucha moves. Yeah. So, and I'll say it again. I miss Lucha underground, but if you want to see how good Penta really is, and he's, he's realistically only gotten better, go back and watch Lucha underground. It's a particular, his match with Vampiro, Ultima Lucha one. It's it.

[00:48:37] He's just so good. Like, it also has a really good match with Eos or I guess it was Eos or I back then, but, and actually what was her name? And, uh, I don't remember what her name was in Lucha underground. I have no idea. I can't remember, but, uh, that was a good match. Great match. So many good matches in Lucha underground, but anyway, they were quickly joined by Chad Gable who Gable showed up pretty good in the rumble. Yeah. Had a few.

[00:49:05] So I did kind of dig the spot where he tried to throw four people over and then they all managed to get back in and they all did the super kick spot. Oh yeah. Yeah. See, the thing is that's a fun spot, but it makes sense. It makes sense. Why these four guys who aren't on the same side would all want to super kick him at the same time because he tried to throw them all over the top rope in rapid succession. Yeah. It kind of was like the cemetery spot, uh, was Chelsea green did when she kind of like

[00:49:34] threw everybody out at first and then they weren't eliminated. Then they came in. Yeah, that is. Yeah. That's actually, that's a good point. I didn't even think of that. But yeah. So they basically did the same spot. Yeah. And then Carmelo Hayes and eventually Santos Escobar joined in. I, I'm not, I'm not hating on the guy. I've just never really been able to get into Carmelo Hayes. No.

[00:50:00] Well, one reason because he says he doesn't miss and he's been, he misses all the time. Yeah. What's the point? Like he came losing, like he came starting the main roster losing. Exactly. And I, I dig Santos. I like what Santos is doing. Loved him as loved him as King Cuerno. He was great. He was better in NXT when he had his like whole posse. Well, I'll be honest. I like him better as a baby face too. Yeah.

[00:50:30] Not gonna lie. Not gonna lie. Then we were joined by Otis and then finally Braun Breaker who just came in and wrecked everything in the best way possible. And also I want to personally take a moment to thank Braun Breaker for what he did to the next entrance. So, okay. I'm ignorant to this. I'm not, I'm not on the internet as much as some people are. Who's I show speed.

[00:51:00] He's, oh, he's just a streamer. But what does he stream? He's a real popper. Yeah. Yeah. Like on Twitch, YouTube, stuff like that. He's into like soccer. Oh, that sounds so lame. It was like, I don't know, a couple of thousand people watches him at a time. I don't know. It could be like 4,000 people watching that once. So that Fortnite stuff.

[00:51:29] Oh, he streams games. Yeah. Games, but also other stuff. Eh, Braun Breaker speared him and it was great. Like, I like it. Honestly, this is what took me out of it. Cause I always feel like it's giving away the spot to someone who really don't need it. Yeah. Akira Tozawa. One of these days he's just going to quit. Yeah.

[00:51:58] Yeah. Yeah. When he came out, I was like, okay, it's not something I'm surprised, but I kind of understand it because Chad was in there and always was in there. You know, so I understand it, but like to like lose against I show speed or get his spot taken away from. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. There's a ton of wrestlers in the back, but I guess it'd be fair. I will give credit where credits do at least they made it make sense because they showed a purple H backstage of me and like speed. You're up.

[00:52:28] It's like, what? I was like, you're in the rumble. Cause he was right there. So I get it. I get it. I don't, I don't love it. And at least he wasn't in there very long. So yeah. So anyway, uh, then Seamus came in followed by Jimmy Uso on grande, Jacob Fatu, Ludwig Kaiser, the Miz. And I'm speed running through them because they, they came in.

[00:52:55] And it was fine, but they didn't really get, we can fought to wreck some people to be fair, but Jacob Fatu always wrecks people. So, yeah, but then they said his name and he appeared Joe Henry. Yeah. Joe Hendry showed up and he, he got a, he got a really good ovation. Yeah. He did. I would say more people know him now than before. He wasn't in very long though.

[00:53:27] Although Ludwig Kaiser, I think for certainly for this year holds the record for shortest time and the rumble at six seconds. It was kind of nice seeing Penta, uh, eliminate him. I think Santino still wins. It was like, I think like one or two seconds. Yeah. Yeah. But to be fair, like I know what you were saying about Ludwig Kaiser, but he, he's finally

[00:53:54] starting to grow on me as a performer and I'm not faulting him. I get it. It was the booking. They needed two generic European wrestlers to be next to Gunther. Yeah. Unfortunately they got rid of the Italian guy. It's funny. So did, so did the Germans. Well, it's, it's following history kind of eerily. Like it's, it's kind of weird. The Austrian dumps the Italians first and then the German, the German is sure to follow.

[00:54:24] Yeah. It's a, I still can't believe man, the imagery of all that. Oh yeah. The red coats, the hand signals and the salutes. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was effective. It was a little too effective. If this is the attitude error, it would have been more. Full blown Elon Musk salute.

[00:54:49] Like, oh, I would have, I'm not even going to do it. Because that, that. I see him here. Yeah. Yeah. You can't, they just can't see you do it. You could be doing it right now. Uh, let's just, let's just say that Imperium's heart went, hearts went out to everyone. Uh, but, uh, Joe Henry got a nice pop and then didn't do much of anything else. And then Roman Reigns.

[00:55:19] I'm not acknowledging him. He's not doing much right now, but. He's on a break. He's on a break. Yeah. Uh, Roman Reigns came out followed by Drew McIntyre and then by Finn Balor, who I think is getting ready to do some stuff. Yep. I think they're building him up. And then Shinsuke Nakamura came out and here's the thing. Unfortunately, I've missed a lot of SmackDown. So I've been missing out on this like ninja gimmick that they're doing with him. Yeah.

[00:55:49] They started a few weeks or at least, uh, two months ago when he came back as like even darker Shinsuke. Shinsuke. Can we just. The makeup. They did before they did. They did like last year or so. But can we just, can we please just let Shinsuke be Shinsuke? Like just let him be the King of Strong style. This is like, oh, the gimmick, the artist, the ninja, the warrior.

[00:56:17] And just let him be Shinsuke. Honestly, I think it may be too late for him. Unfortunately, I think you're right. Like if they started him out that way. But now like. Well, and unfortunately they did an NXT. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I just, they started him out as the artist and I knew man, I'm like, oh, this is so. And to be fair, Shinsuke might've wanted to change up his style because he's, he's not

[00:56:47] young. He's not ancient, but he's not young. And that style will, but interestingly enough, if you want a great match, I forget the year. I think the year was 2008. Um, when he, his match with Brock Lesnar for the IWGP title in new Japan. Okay. Yeah. You see, here's the thing. You wouldn't think that that would be a competitive looking match. Mm-hmm.

[00:57:16] It's rough, dude. Like. It's a really good match. It is. Uh, then. Even with, uh, Sammy, when he did a match with Sammy in NXT, that was. That was really good. Sammy was at that time. I didn't know like up Sammy. That was like, wow. It made me want to watch more. Yep. And then J Uso popped in. I know they're trying to do the main event J Uso thing. I'm not.

[00:57:48] To me, it's just like merch. Oh, I don't get it because okay. Like he gets. So animated with the entrance. Then he cuts a promo where he sounds like he's crying for a bit. And then he's back animated. Like, I don't know. It's like. Emotional like roller coaster. Which. Yeah, I know. I just. I mean, he's clearly popular. So this is one of those things that I'm going to chalk up. Yeah. I'm going to chalk this one up to. I don't get it. But I'm probably wrong.

[00:58:19] I get it. It's just that it doesn't work for me. It's not. It's not my cup of tea. Yeah. Like. They just basically manufacture him in a way. Not that I. Not that I dislike him. I just. He's always been a tag team guy to me. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That. Like that. Kind of like pushing the end of the. The rumble. That's why I kind of was like disappointed too. Yeah. I was kind of the same way. But then AJ Styles came in followed by Braun Strowman.

[00:58:49] And then. Yeah. John Cena. I admit. I kind of did pop for John. Oh, I popped for John. I popped for John. I popped for Cena. See, here's the thing. Like back in the day. It was really hip to shit on John Cena. Yeah. But, but we all knew like there's a reason he had the belt for effectively 10 years. Yeah. It's because they had no, they had nobody else for a long time.

[00:59:19] Yeah. Like that you would put a company behind. I mean. And I mean, he's seen it was a workhorse. Like. Yeah. He was the Hogan of that era. Absolutely. You could put him in the ring with anyone and he'd have, he'd have a decent match. And yeah, the five moves of doom and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But. It works. That's a lot of them. That's. It's four more. It's four more than Hogan had. Like drop. We had to. Yeah.

[00:59:48] Like drop and body slam. And then this. I was going to say. Like drop and go home. Like drop. Go home. But then we actually got a really cool moment after that. Cause CM Punk was the next man out and there it's going to be punk scene at WrestleMania. Somehow, some way. Well, they are in the. The chamber. Elimination chamber. Yeah. See, I think punk's going to win the chamber and then he's going to challenge. See, you know, I think that's, what's going to happen.

[01:00:18] Cause they. They planted. Yeah. They planted the seeds. They know what they're doing. They've, they've already. They've already laid it out and I am here for it. Okay. I want this. I need this. Give it to me, please. Triple H. Take my money. I mean, Peacock's already taken my money, but you effectively take my money. Uh, and then another thing that you'll say, take my money to fellas. Gonna take a quick break and talk about something real serious. Listen guys.

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[01:01:46] So that's not false advertising. They will continue to fall in love with you. And, uh, you don't have to just get the set here. There's more options for your Valentine's day candles, but if you use your promo code down at checkout, our friends at Stevie Wicks give you 10% off your order at checkout. So log on, get your Valentine's day candles. And, um, there's some new products coming out. A little bird told me some new products came out today that might make you feel just a little

[01:02:17] wicked. Hmm. I wonder what that is. What's up, Seth Franklin Rollins. It says Seth freaking Rollins, who by the way, next entrance in the rumble. I would actually die if that was Seth Rollins commenting on our YouTube video. I know it's I'll play along. It's Seth freaking Rollins. I'm kind of surprised they haven't started saying Seth fucking Rollins on that. Oh, they can't cause he's on SmackDown occasionally. Isn't he? Yeah.

[01:02:47] Yeah. That's why. Thanks for joining us. Seth freaking Rollins. You were in the rumble. You did some stuff. You're in there for 17 little over 17 minutes. Uh, unfortunately or fortunately, depending upon how you feel about him. You were followed by dirty Dominic Mysterio. Yeah. CM Punk OTC. Weird face that kind of looks like this. I don't know what I don't know what you're doing here.

[01:03:16] You're one of these. I don't know why. Were you disappointed, sir? You were eliminated by CM Punk, so. That's a good one. Yeah. Telling that story. That's okay though, because Dominic was eliminated by Damien Priest. When did Damien Priest come in? Did I miss it? I was looking at him. I was like, like, he disappeared there. Oh, he wasn't in the rumble. Damien Priest wasn't in the rumble.

[01:03:46] Yeah, he was. Where? When? What? Towards the end. Yeah. Oh, he's not in yet. I get it. I gotcha. Oh yeah. I'm sorry. Sorry viewers. I had a lapse in brain activity. Uh, because Dominic was followed by Sami Zayn. And then by Damien Priest. Who then eliminated Dominic Mysterio. I don't know how Dom's keeping up the heat, but oh my God. It's so good.

[01:04:15] It's so good. I wonder how long it's gonna last. I don't know. He's good at generating that heat. He's like a nuclear heat. Uh, then LA Knight came in after Priest. Yeah. Uh, I don't think he stayed in very long though. No. Yeah, about five minutes. He's really good, but I still feel like they're like trying to drop the ball off him. Oh, they did. For sure. They should have. They should have. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:04:45] They should have put the title on him when he was white hot. Absolutely. I said it was weird at the time. I'm like, why are you doing? Cause like LA Knight can't win now, but you're just going to extinguish. Like, ah, and it turns out we were right. Uh, then Logan Paul came in at the end and was eliminated by Cena. That was pretty cool. Yeah. But ultimately Jay Uso would go on to win the rumble coming in at number 20.

[01:05:15] Um, I, I was a little surprised by that. Not going to lie. When I saw like the ending part, I was like, I had a feeling it was, I was like, okay, this is probably what's the plan from the beginning. Oh, well, I mean, clearly, clearly, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like they scripted it. It's almost like they had the story before they started.

[01:05:47] Uh, yeah. Overall. I, I enjoyed the show. Um, I've been really digging raw on Netflix though. It's, it's been, it's been good watching. I. Well, did I finish? I saw most of it. Of this past raw. Yeah. I'm like, I'm like halfway through it. I need to finish it. I'm trying to do better guys. I'm trying to get caught up on my wrestling. I'm, I'm, I'm working on it. Um, well, my PC broke. So.

[01:06:17] Oh, you watch, you watch it. Yeah. I didn't realize you watched it on your computer. Yeah. Yeah. I'm old school, man. I can't. I really don't like watching stuff on my computer screen. I especially really don't like watching stuff on my phone screen. I like, I like my TV. I'm an old man. I own one. Like I threw away mine years ago. Yeah. But you probably have a big screen though for your 27. I have three 27 inch monitors. There you go. Yeah.

[01:06:47] See that, that, that's acceptable. Actually. It's funny. I might show you guys. My T so. Okay. Few years ago I bought, it was actually the first TV I've ever bought new. I've always bought them used before because I'm, I'm cheapest. I'm cheapest shit. Um, but I, I had, I had a thousand dollars and I said, you know what? This is my TV money. I'm going to go out and buy myself a nice TV. Cause my TV at the time broke. Finally. It just, it couldn't keep going.

[01:07:16] And, uh, so I said, I'm going to go buy myself a nice TV. And I managed to find the one I liked happened to be on sale. So I saved 200 bucks. Uh, that's the, the room I bought it for was a lot bigger than where it is now. And it was, it was kind of obnoxious for that room, but I bought a, uh, how big is it? I think it's a 70. No, I think it's an 82 inch. Oh, that's too big for my eyes. It's a big TV.

[01:07:45] It's in a, it's in a, it's in a, it's in a very small room right now though. Like it takes up, it takes up most of the wall, but that would be cool to watch movies on. I love it, dude. Dude. I love it. It's fun to watch wrestling on. It's great. I love it. It's I love it. It's a, it's a really obnoxious TV and I'm here for it. I dig it. I threw minds away because like I was doing marketing for about seven years or after the

[01:08:12] fifth year, I see the same commercial I'm working on at work. And when I get home, I see the same commercial. I unplugged the TV through the antenna and all of the cable stuff and never looked back. I will say I have, I haven't, I haven't had, I haven't had cable for years. I don't miss it. Cause everything I want to watch, I can stream. Oh yeah. Same here. Like once I have the computers, like that is my TV.

[01:08:41] If I want to see a movie, I could just download it or scream it or whatever. Yeah. What have you? Yeah. It's so easy now. I like, I know some people that still have cable and I'm just like, why? Like you're paying for 1200 channels. You might watch six. Exactly. And there's so many other free channels. Like TV, Pluto. Like hell dude, my, my TV came with an antenna inside it so I can watch locals. If I really want to watch. I never, I never do.

[01:09:11] I don't think I never like, dude, I shit you not. I got so many channels built into that TV. It's an LG. There's a channel that does nothing but play 24 hours of Baywatch. I am not kidding. Found that by accident. Pretty cool. There's another channel that plays Yu-Gi-Oh 24 seven. Oh, that's yeah. Uh, uh, Pluto. Yeah. Basically. Actually, I think if, I think it might be powered by Pluto.

[01:09:37] Now that I think about it, there's some kind of agreement, but like it's obnoxious. Even the commercials are just for Yu-Gi-Oh. There's no other commercials. It's just Yu-Gi-Oh. Who the hell wants to watch that much Yu-Gi-Oh? Actually, I get it now. If you, if you have children, it's probably great because the Yu-Gi-Oh never stops. I used to like be really deep in Yu-Gi-Oh, like not so much now, but newer stuff. But yeah, I liked, I liked that. I liked that. I liked that.

[01:10:06] I liked that. Basically, if it had Yu-Gi in it, I was down for it. But man, because it was funny. I started, I started rewatching it in my thirties. Those kids are dumb. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like they're all, they're all a bunch of idiots. You can just hit the guy. Like, it's like, you know, you can punch him, right? Like, you can just run over to the side of the thing and kick him in the dick. Like, he can't, he can't steal your cards.

[01:10:34] The only time I saw something close to that was like Yu-Gi versus Weevil. And he got so mad, like a dark energy came out of him. Yeah. And he really kept like hit him or something. That's the only time I ever saw that. Or like, kind of really, so yeah. No, and I understand why they did it. Because they got a, ugh. Excuse me. They got to explain the rules of the game in the show in a way that feels organic, but like, it's just so stupid.

[01:11:05] Everybody's so dumb. Like these are allegedly the best players in the world, but they fall for like the most basic stuff. It's, it's, it's wild. Oh no. You've activated my face down trap card that I had to put down on the field that I could use. Cause I totally have a trap card there. Like it's obvious. Oh no. I hate the explaining of like what the card does. Yeah. It tastes terrific. It's, it's monster reborn.

[01:11:32] Like, could you, could you imagine playing playing in a tournament where like, as you're playing with the best players in the world, they explain what the card does as you're doing it. When usually the reaction is just, cause you know, it's like, yeah, it's like you said, monster reborn. It's like, it's in the title. It says it in the name. I love that. It's like monster reborn. Monster reborn. What is that? It allows me to take a monster from my graveyard and put it back onto the field.

[01:12:01] It's like, oh yeah. Monster reborn. So, and it's not like it doesn't say what it does right there on the card. Totally a thing. And then like when I, it's one of the early episodes, like Yuki gives his, his only one series ever made Exodia cards. He just lets some dork he's never met before hold them. Yeah. Hey, Kaiba guy. They look sketchy. Yeah. Angry. Hey, sketchy person. I've never met before. Yes.

[01:12:29] You can totally have my priceless, one of a kind set of cards that will automatically win me any games, which would be very handy going into a tournament in which my grandfather's life is at stake. You know? Yes. Stranger, sketchy stranger I've never met before. And then he acts surprised when he throws them into the ocean. Like, really? And then doesn't Joey jump in after him? If I remember correctly? He might have. It's been so long. I'm sorry, dude. Like, no, you're, you will die.

[01:12:59] That's the open ocean, my friend. You, you have zero chance. You have zero chance of surviving, much less finding five trading cards in the ocean. You, you will die. Out of everybody, my favorite was Bakura. Cause like, he was evil and like, he was the only like, kind of like person who tried to do something. Like everybody else do something stupid or. Yeah. Bakura was like the only smart person in that show. Yeah. Like I liked him a lot.

[01:13:29] Yeah. He was interesting. Cause you never really knew when dark Bakura was going to come and screw everything up. Yeah. It was a legitimate surprise. That's our anime portion. Of the. Of down the middle. Uh, but yes, let us know what you thought about the Royal Rumble. Are you happy with J Uso and Charlotte winning? Are you happy with Cody winning? Are you happy with Cody winning? Did you even watch DIY versus the Motor City machine guns? Let us know in the comments and tune in next week where you'll get the latest episode of

[01:13:59] weekly wrestling wrap up going back in time. And then the week after that, we'll talk about something wrestling related. We'll figure it out. Depends on what happens. Yep. And. I guess my face would be bad. I was going to say, you'll have Hakeem's real face. I don't know what, what this is now. It kind of feels like a mixture between like Kanye and Letty Gaga. I'm kind of digging it. It's the blue. It's the blue. Eyebrows that are doing it for me.

[01:14:30] I had like five minutes to put together. So I was like. That's awesome though. So like, that's the thing that zoom does. You can create that little avatar. Yeah. Like it's under video and says choose avatar. You know what? I'm not going to lie. I kind of dig it. Like. I might do it next week just for fun. Yeah. Docs.

[01:15:01] I got to dig it. Not going to lie. I got to dig it. All right, everyone. Well, thank you for enjoying this episode of down the middle. Make sure to check out Pogo. Get your Valentine's Day candles through Stevie Wicks in time. You still have time and we will see you guys in two weeks. And then you'll see. You'll see my face. Only a little bit in the next episode of weekly wrestling wrap up next week. Until then. See ya. Watch. You just saw that, but I'm sure you've got to check it out. I'm sure you're going to try it.