Episode 363

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Hello again, friends.

And you are our friends, and I still don't sound exactly great, but welcome to another edition of Jim Cornett's drive-thru right here, where we discover how bad we sound live on the air.

I'm your host, the great Brian Last, and joining me, of course, the star of the drive-thru, Mr.

Jim Cornet.

God damn you.

You're right.

That was just to perk Brian up, folks.

And so the host is already apologizing

for the

performance that he's going to give here today.

Has this become a running theme with you and possibly I lately?

See, now I'm not warmed up either.

You just jumped right into that.

You expect me to take the handoff, catch the pass, run with it, score the touchdown.

I'm not even warmed.

It's cold here in town.

Of course, it could be worse.

We could have been in the middle of another hurricane.

You know, Brian, from what I've heard, that

they can control the weather now.

So why don't they stop these things?

Jon Stewart had the best line.

He said, if Jews could control the weather, why would there be humidity in Florida?

It's the funniest thing ever.

There would be...

There would potentially be a dome over like, you know, Fort Lauderdale or whatever.

The villages.

That's one of the retirement communities down there, the villages.

It's got got its own exit off the interstate.

How do I get involved in that business, the controlling the weather business?

It seems like it would be pretty lucrative.

Well, but one would think that, you know, you could basically take custom orders for a specific area of the country.

Like everybody in Jefferson County, Kentucky, get together and say, hey, we'd like some snow for Christmas.

Okay, it'll be $5 million.

And everybody chips in.

$1.74.

And there you go.

What about when you could really isolate like a specific location?

Like, you know, my ex-girlfriend's getting married.

Tornado.

I think that

would probably be on the dark weather web

where you could be punitive with everything rather than a straight business transaction.

But yeah, it was cold this morning.

And now I went out to the store and

I had to put my jacket on because it was in the 40s.

And I haven't had my jacket on in a while.

But then by the time I got out of the store, store, the sun was shining.

It warmed up to the 60s.

Then I was fucking sweating.

And I've just remembered I got my long, warm pants on still because I've been in the house where it's still kind of chilly.

And these are the ones that bind me up in my crotch.

I don't usually podcast in these.

So if I'm talking a little higher today,

that's what the problem is.

That's certainly one of the problems, yes.

One of the many problems.

I've watched a lot of wrestling.

I'm surprised that I haven't been committed to some institution for further study.

We've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the outhouse to the penthouse.

We've seen one of the best matches we've seen in who knows how long at Bad Blood.

And then we have seen

some

real pips, as Gleason might say.

Mew, that's bad television.

You know what it is?

We're going to talk about it.

I took a break in the middle of the wrestling and I watched Jeff Bowdron recommended it to me.

The four-part Pete Rose documentary on HBO, or Max, whatever it should be, whatever it is, whatever I'm saying.

This sucks.

I saw some of that.

I saw some of that.

Actually, I saw some of it in real time because Louisville's close enough to Cincinnati and I used to go visit Aunt Lola and Uncle Tommy

that I saw some of it actually happen and then I saw some of the other stuff.

But Goy, do continue.

Are you able to appreciate when someone outside of wrestling i i know he had some involvement with wwe but you know he wasn't he didn't give a he wasn't involved even having a payday right i mean he wasn't anything with wrestling but when someone outside of wrestling is just a complete worker

do you appreciate that yeah

you know while i wish that he hadn't i don't see why the offense was so fucking great that he's one of the greatest players of all time he didn't physically you know commit assault crimes, you know, horrible, felonious occurrences.

He said the one thing they say they'll ban you for doing, he did.

But he was, but in

today's world,

if he announced, I'm going to Gamblers Anonymous because I have a gambler problem

and, or Grapplers Anonymous, whichever one he wanted to go to.

And he would be the sympathetic figure because everybody, and see, he was the most popular motherfucker in Cincinnati and possibly in the state of Ohio.

And, you know, amongst baseball fans and blah, blah, blah, one of the great players of all time.

Today he would say, Mia Culpa, I'm sorry.

I can't stop doing it.

Because when he got one of the,

what was it, WrestleMania 98, Kane tombstoned him, right?

The one in Boston.

Yes.

Yeah.

He got his 10 grand in cash and got in his car service, what in a a limo, I don't think, and immediately went to what is that, Mohegan Sun or whatever casino is close up there.

Yeah, in Connecticut, Mohegan Sun.

That's, you know, that's what he did it for, so it's a shame, but he didn't do anything horribly heinous that you shouldn't be able to say,

again, in today's climate, yeah, you know, I

really am sorry that I fucking took a shillale and beaned that 87-year-old woman in the head.

I've got old woman B B-nitis, and I'm going to rehab or whatever.

Well, he did try that rehab thing.

And again, he's accused of other things now outside of the gambling, but we'll leave that for a separate conversation.

What did

they say now?

There's statutory rape accusations that he had women.

What?

According to this documentary, he was running cocaine.

I mean, it's like, what?

You need to watch this thing.

Well, I didn't say, like I said, I saw a little bit of it.

But remember, he went when he first got, when he first

accepted, when he signed what MLB offered him, which was a lifetime ban,

he went to Gamblers Anonymous.

He went to some like place where you have to go to meetings.

Because in the documentary, he said, he goes, I couldn't relate to any of these people.

They're all sitting there like, I lost everything.

I gambled away everything.

He's like, I didn't.

I expect you couldn't.

But that's the thing.

It's the one thing because it compromises the game.

And that's what the Black Sox scandal in 1919 is all about, shoeless Joe Jackson and all those other players.

And actually,

Tim Hornbaker wrote a book about shoeless Joe Jackson.

Hornbaker

wrote the book on the subject, literally.

But that was, they were actively on the field throwing the fucking game.

Now, that's...

Pete Rhodes was in the clubhouse.

making bets on his own team's games.

But did he bet on them to win or lose?

He says he bet on him to win

well he said a lot of different things

again he said he never gambled on baseball then he said he gambled on baseball but never his own team then he said he gambled on his team but only to win then he died

so who knows where he was going

well but we we know how he was getting there in cash uh just drop me on my head and give me my money well here's the question someone like that who does not get into the Hall of Fame because of ineligibility, because they did something that was a grave offense to baseball, and then the Hall of Fame literally changed their rules to prevent someone banned from baseball from being in the Hall of Fame.

Now that he's dead, should he go into the Hall of Fame or should he not go into the Hall of Fame?

What's the goddamn harm again?

Well, unless, you know, running cocaine and underage people, I didn't hear about this, but.

And he had this like little assistant going on there you have to watch this he had this assistant who actually seems like a nice guy who got loaded on steroids because he was hanging out at gold's gym and he was like the assistant who took the wrap and went to prison for pete rose

and steroids made him go crazy he said he was a nice guy and then he started taking the steroids and next thing you know he's driving drugs from ohio to fort lauderdale or the other way around excuse me from fort lauderdale to oio well he'd have to come back wouldn't he One way or the other.

So technically, you know, unless he was just moving there and staying.

So I took a break from the wrestling workers to watch a real-life worker, Pete Rose.

Well, but he

has much of my support on the baseball thing, and we'll find out more about, is everybody going to goddamn eventually?

Well, fuck the fucking.

Well, I was about to say fuck the Pope, but they've already said that.

Not the Pope specifically.

We haven't got any

scoops on the Pope himself, have we?

Just his

administration and underlings.

It's definitely an era of kill your idols, or at least people just trying to destroy icons or anything that's held up or holy by anyone.

Just someone ready to tear it down for their own personal satisfaction and the glory of feeling like they won something.

Not to say Pete Rose doesn't deserve Pete Rose.

I mean, you watch this thing.

He's just a complete fucking lying sex shit.

I mean, he's a great ball player.

You want him on your team, of course.

But what a fucking piece of shit the guy is.

You got to watch this.

Okay, so what year was the height of the betting scandal with Pete Rose?

Do you remember?

I do remember because the Reds won the World Series in 1990.

He got suspended in 89.

He was the manager of the Reds.

He had retired by that point.

He retired in 86, and then he was just the manager.

And it was while that period of time as manager, apparently he was betting on all sorts of stuff, including baseball before then, but they got him

at least for the period of time he was manager, 87, 88.

Well,

where I was going with that was suspended in 89.

That year, Randy Savage was on, I can't remember, some talk show, some mainstream show, I believe.

And

the host, you know, just asked him about, was it he plugging WrestleMania coming up or some, who knows what the fuck?

But they said to you, you think you're going to win the match, Macho Man?

And he said, oh, Pete Rose is betting on me.

It was just the greatest delivery.

It popped the fucking audience.

That was all that anybody was talking about at that point in time.

And then, you know what?

He became not that he became more famous, but,

you know, almost not getting into the Hall of Fame became bigger than getting into the Hall of Fame.

You know what I mean?

The Susan Lucci syndrome.

Yeah.

Well, it is, that's a little different.

I don't want to compare Pete Rose to Susan Lucci.

Well, no.

His boobs were bigger when he was older.

She wasn't ineligible.

That's the difference.

Well, no, but the thing is, she was known for not winning an Emmy more than for when she finally, after 40 years or whatever, won a fucking Emmy.

So it's the same.

He's known more for not being in the Hall of Fame for 40 years.

And

if they'd put him in the Hall of Fame, then he'd be dusty and forgotten, consigned to the trash bin of history up on a shelf somewhere in a dusty room.

But since he couldn't get in there, he was out in front of everybody, shitting all over everything.

You know what Susan Lucci's problem was?

She should have gone into local news because you could just go into local news and win all sorts of Emmys nonstop.

Like for all sorts of things, like crazy shit, like that isn't even good wins Emmys.

Well, I heard about not too many years ago, heard about the local TV Emmys.

I didn't know that was a thing for quite a while.

And then I started talking to people that had won Emmys.

And I'm like, goddamn, if this guy can win a fucking Emmy.

A friend of mine a few years ago, all of a sudden his Emmy Award went.

I'm like, what did you win an Emmy?

It's like, well, I was the cameraman.

I'm like, what the fuck?

They're giving to everybody.

Well, but they may have won an Emmy, but I won a Slammy.

Huh.

Yeah.

Well, we'll have more of Emmy later on during the AEW.

Yeah, yes.

Oh, Emmy.

Boy, she's not going to win an Emmy, a Tony, a Grammy, a

fucking commie.

She's not going to win it.

All right.

Anyway, I've got something came over the news desk, Brian.

I know this is your show, but you may want to say I got the report right here.

It came over the teletype.

You may want to weigh in on this because this is business related and you've got the business mind here.

I'm just a small town bird lawyer, a layman in these things.

But it's come out recently now

in court documentation documentation as a result of Kevin Kelly's lawsuit that has been filed and the other plaintiffs similarly situated, as they say,

against AEW.

Stephen P.

New,

of course, is

handling the charge on that one.

But apparently AEW is owned by Maynard G.

Krebs.

No,

Maynard G.

Krebs got lost on an island and he was never seen again.

Oh, so somebody else is running the company now.

What an idiot.

The guy took on an alias and then he went on a boat and he never came back.

Fooled no one.

Well, you know what the thing is, is the Social Security Administration couldn't find him because he didn't have a full name.

But anyway, what I'm talking about, for those of you uninitiated.

For those of you who don't watch Dobie Gillis.

Well, who among us doesn't watch Dobie Gillis?

Seriously.

Dwayne Hickman was a goddamn sex symbol.

Okay, now you're going crazy.

But anyway,

well, he was the best-looking young man on television in 1959.

But Maynard G.

Krebs stole a show anyway.

Ed Cookie Burns.

Lend me your comb.

Ed Burns.

Yes, Ed Cookie Burns, K-O-O-K-I-E

on 77 Sunset Strip.

Yeah.

But anyway, did you hear my finger snaps?

I think my sound audio muting is on again, filter.

I kind of heard it a little bit.

In my head, I heard it.

Yeah, see,

folks, he's trying to filter me because he said I sounded loud.

So we're playing with this thing.

Anyway, what I'm saying is,

in this here lawsuit, in this documentation that's been filed in court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania,

AEW

All-Elite Wrestling LLC states that its parent corporation

is Beatnik Investments LLC.

And

do we have to ask the kids to Google the word beatnik?

And this is spelled B-E-A-T.

Yeah, Daddy O.

Yeah, N-I-C-K, but actually the way you spell beatnik, I believe,

is just N-I-K.

The true beatniks.

But nevertheless, kids Google the word beatnik, but they were the hippies of the 50s.

And, and, or watch Little Shop of Horrors.

What?

The original.

No, seriously.

That came out of nowhere.

Well,

it's set in the beatnik world.

I guess if that's the best example you could think of on film.

Well,

I like it.

Anyway, why are they beatniks, Brian?

Who in the Khan family are beatniks to own not beatnik enterprises, beatnik investments LLC?

Well, it's an interesting thing here, and I'm trying to pull up an article or two or three.

I'm trying to see what I could pull up.

There's all sorts of things to pull up here.

Why don't you pull on up?

And

let me just say this.

It also revealed, here's another detail while you're pulling on whatever you're pulling on.

It says the parent company of all elite wrestling is Beatnik Investments, and no publicly held corporation owns 10% or more of its stock.

That's not a

revelation in terms of,

you know,

we were wondering about

Turner Broadcasting or WBD's involvement,

but if they get

a percentage of

revenue through their deals, that wouldn't necessarily mean they own stock, but you're the business guy.

Help me out.

That's what I'm trying to figure out.

Well, I have here WrestleNomics did a pretty good write-up of the lawsuit.

Again, we've talked about it in previous clips.

They're on YouTube.

For instance, right here, a Jacksonville local media report from 2022 indicated that beatnik investments was used by Shad Khan,

the billionaire owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and father of Tony and Shanna

to invest over $76 million in the black news channel.

Beatnik owned the majority of the.

Now, what?

Well, let me finish this.

Beatnik owned the majority of the channel until it was sold to media businessman Byron Allen following Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

So there was a black news channel.

Either he started it or Shad Khan was an investor in it.

But actually the investor was Beatnik Investments.

And according to what WrestleNomics has here, Florida Public Records confirmed that Beatnik Investments is an active limited liability company in Florida established in 2017.

The authorized members are Tony Kahn and his sister Shanna Khan.

While Thomas Clarkson is listed as an authorized representative, though his exact role remains unclear, He may be a financial manager.

Also, Chris Jericho just trademarked Thomas Clarkson.

AEW

LLC, all wrestling LLC, actually, to be exact, is also incorporated in Delaware and recognizes Beatnik Investments LLC as its parent company.

So less than 10%.

So they don't have to disclose, again, they don't have to disclose anything with that.

But But it's a company that's in the name of Tony and his sister that's been used by their father, who in the past has admitted his whole thing is just to give the kids all the money right now, let them have their inheritance and have their fun and buy their wrestlers or whatever it may be.

It was used for their benefit.

So they spent $76 million.

Why I gasp is I thought you were going to say Black Entertainment Television, B-E-T, or I've never heard of Black News Channel.

So apparently, there's a reason they went bankrupt after spending $76 million?

Well, I'm pulling up something right now.

Black News Channel BNC was an American pay television news channel targeting the African-American demographic.

The channel was based in Tallahassee, Florida, and launched on February 10th, 2020.

The station was co-founded by television executive Bob Brillante and former Congressman J.C.

Watts, who is also the network's chairman.

The network filed for bankruptcy in March of 2022 and was purchased by Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios.

It was merged into the Grio.

Trying to see where Shad Khan or Beatnik,

is he the beatnik?

Or are they the beatniks?

I'm not.

Well, they are too young to be beatniks, but I didn't know if Shad didn't appear to be a beatnik when he had the goddamn

flourishy mustache and everything he appeared to be a very well-groomed fellow

should they bring in nick nemeth as beatnik and confuder hologram or something

uh well now here's a good good good job guy uh fucking knocked by the way but the launch of wait one more thing the launch of the network was announced in november 2018 for 2019 the launch date was pushed from november 15th 2019 to january 6 2020, before being pushed again to its eventual launch date, February 10th, 2020.

One of the chief investors in the network is Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan.

In July 2020, former CNN executive Princel Hare

was named president and CEO of Black News Channel.

In March 2021,

BNC reached an agreement with CBS Media Ventures to handle advertising sales.

That same month, they launched a revamp.

And then between December 2021 and March 2022, over 120 members of the network staff were either dismissed

or voluntarily departed from BNC.

During the network's first two years of operation, BNC suffered persistently low viewership, according to Nielsen estimates.

In 2021, oh my god, in 2021, the network ranked 123rd out of 124 cable originated.

Oh, good God.

Wow.

But who was 124?

An average viewership of 4,000 viewers per program.

In the entire country?

In the entire world, I guess.

In the entire world,

who owned by cable, the entire country.

Well,

so...

But nevertheless, what I was about to go with there, before we found out how much money they lost on shit before

was that

some people are saying this implies that WBD

might not, it doesn't have,

has less than 10%

of AEW if it has some, and we've pretty well figured out it has some arrangement, some deal, some piece of, as they used to say in wrestling.

But would there be an exchange of stock or would it be

the agreements of splitting advertising revenue, pay-per-view revenue, whatever the fuck, because we talked about that as if they're more involved in the pay-per-views and they're going to be given

discounts for those and et cetera.

Is it just as simple as, yeah, we get like...

In the old days, if you went to the TV station in Pittsburgh and said, I'm going to run a civic arena, and if you'll put my TV show on,

then I'll give you 10% of the gate.

Because that was a deal that was done in wrestling for years and years on a much larger and more complicated scale.

Would there necessarily be ownership of the company itself?

Because would then would that

introduce Warner Brothers Discovery into liability if they ever get sued because somebody breaks their neck or they land on some fan?

Without ownership, they would

be much less tied legally

to

an upstart wrestling promotion started by a bunch of beatniks.

You see where I'm going with this?

Yeah, and again, their interest could also just be

whatever you do while you're working with us, we have a piece of.

And that's significant.

And that's, you know, not, they own AEW.

AEW, according to this,

you know, at a minimum, 90% is owned by the Beatniks,

Beatnik Investments LLC.

What else is Beatnik Investments invested in?

That's what I'd like to know.

What does Tony think about being partners with his sister?

There's an angle we've never heard before.

Shad Khan doesn't actually, isn't listed as one of the people

in charge of Beatnik or a beneficiary of Beatnik.

He has just supplied it with capital.

It's all about Tony and his sister and, you know, whoever this financial advisor is or financial, whatever he is.

Well, maybe he's Cadbury.

Keep an eye on the kids.

Please keep an eye on the kids, Thomas.

But here's the thing.

Maybe it's just here this entity,

Beatnik Enterprises or Beatnik Investments LLC is the

entity that we've got set up.

And here's my corporate bean counter, old Thomas Clarkson over here.

He's going going to make sure y'all don't do anything fucking too illegal or insane and too far.

And I'll put the money in it for, oh,

what's his sister's name, Shana?

You want to invest in the news channel?

Or, you know, Tony, you want to do the wrestling.

I'll put the money in there and you can Thomas will,

you know, make sure it all works.

Is that the deal?

I don't know.

That's the question.

Well,

maybe this suit will be bringing more of that to light in a public fashion like this in filings from the court when they delve into the

independent contractor status of versus employee and working conditions.

And

I've been made to understand,

I still don't understand it, but I've been...

made aware that most people think that the working conditions in a wrestling promotion today

are somewhat behind the times barbaric or technically illegal with the laws of the land.

And they weren't even around 40 or 50 years ago, their heads would have burst into flames.

So I would like to see with that old Carlin routine, I want to see mayhem and chaos and disaster and catastrophe.

I want to see people running down the street.

with their heads on fire and being hit by buses.

I want to see a bunch of this shit come out in court so we can talk about it and have some fun

instead of goddamn watching all these TV shows.

Hey, I just looked it up.

Flexingate, the Shad Con company, the patent that makes them all the money.

Yeah,

the bumper.

He's the bumper magnate.

Well, Tony's done a few bumps in his life, from what I understand, but Flexingate Plastics Corporation.

The officers listed here are ShadCon and Thomas Clarkson.

Son of, I'm telling you.

The secretary for the company.

Not his secretary, like an assistant, but and the corporate secretary.

Like the corporate secretary or secretary of the, yes.

Well, there you go.

Thomas E.

Clarkson.

No, D, it's a D.

No, not anymore.

It's not.

So Thomas E.

Clarkson, he's the guy that if anything ever goes down, he's the one that knows where all of the money is buried.

Is he the beatnik?

He's the beatnik.

He is the beatnik.

Cuckoo-kachoo.

Listen, Tony, you've spit money out of pocket all these years.

Now we're approaching bankruptcy real quick.

For whatever reason, you've sang I am the walrus in various forms, like on at least three or four episodes recently.

Well, that's that's because I'm, you know, listening to the Beatles?

You listening to the magical mystery tour?

No, somebody's got to take care of the walrus, the walruses, the walrie.

It's they're a very under.

When's the last time you saw a commercial on TV urging people to give money to take care of the walruses, I?

You know, they're an underappreciated species that's approaching bankruptcy.

All right.

Where were we going with that?

But no, so the point is to no, it's not.

That's the thing about it.

It's completely your fault.

But to put a period on all this, we got to keep track of all this and see what comes out in court and the inner workings of all these things.

And what did Thomas Clarkson have to do with Pete Rose?

That's another question that has not been asked yet or answered.

No.

And we need to get somebody under oath

and possibly get Stephen P.

New on the case.

If Stephen P.

New gets to depose Thomas E.

Clarkson about the Pete Rose scandal, a lot of things will be brought to light.

And by the way, folks, just in case you wondered, you can contact

the incomparable Stephen P.

New at newlawoffice.com, 87750-STEVE, because when he's not busy slapping weasels around sideways and shaking them for change and deposing corporate secretaries about where Pete Rose hid all that money, that he is actively working to bring justice to your situation, whatever it may, as long as you're on the right side.

If you're guilty,

he's going to tell you to fuck off because he's that kind of attorney, the rare breed.

Stephen P.

New, 877-50 Steve.

But go ahead, Brian.

It's your show.

That's right.

The rare breed, Stephen P.

New,

newlawoffice.com.

Jim, a lot to go over, a lot of wrestling to review.

We're going to get some questions in and who knows what else.

Why don't you ask you a quick question here to start?

You know, right now the Mets.

Oh, Jesus.

Listen, hear me out.

The Mets, the wonderful Miracle Mets, are in the playoffs.

They're about to go to the Championship Series.

This has all been great for us, Mets fans.

If they win the Championship Series, they go to the World Series.

If they win that,

they're the champions.

They go to the moon, Alice.

They're the champions.

The season's over.

That's it.

Now we have to wait for next season, hope that the team could do something again.

We're waiting for, like, we're waiting.

We're hoping that that's how it works out.

That's what I'm doing.

I'm waiting and hoping this works out.

AEW's talent, Tony, their fan-based, their, you know, most hardcore fans,

were hoping that this media rights deal would come and it would be a big increase and it'd be able to show something.

And they got a lot of what they wanted.

Yes.

Now, a lot of us acknowledge they were going to get a renewal, but they want to pretend like we were, you know, they're going to be canceled tomorrow.

As I said, I think on the last show, we've pretty much established the bar is set low enough that even this programming can find a home on television when its owner is rich enough.

Go ahead.

Well, how low things are going to go is kind of my question.

Their World Series was getting that media rights deal.

And now they got it.

And the spirit just, I mean, again, it was a weird show.

And we'll get to reviewing the whole show, but just talking about everything overall right now.

You know, it was was a dynamite on a Tuesday at a weird hour, and the lineup was fucking bizarre for a go-home show.

Oh, it was a show encouraging people to go home, all right.

But now that you got the media rights deal,

are there going to be a lot of big wins in the near future?

Are there going to be a lot of big things to rally behind?

Are there going to be a lot of things that,

you know, because there hasn't been any media rights deal coincided with everything

going down, everything,

and that hasn't stopped.

There aren't signs that it will stop yet.

And Tony's booking hasn't shown any signs that it will ever improve.

Are there going to be a lot of big moments for AEW to cheer over the next year or two as they have their media rights deal and as things continue to transpire?

Okay, and I know some people are going to say, oh, and they say they're going to get a show on Fox.

And I think they're on Fox, by the way, for a shoot.

Have you heard AEW is on Fox Fox in Mexico?

In Mexico.

Yes.

Watch out, Paco Alonso.

And they're coming for you, baby.

Well, they've got, you know, most of the same style of talent, but nevertheless,

I'm saying, you know, as we've talked about FS1

or whatever, if they've got another show, but then they have to produce another show.

Yes, they're dropping Rampage, but

somebody should have long before now.

Even they have quit caring about Rampage.

So, how much programming can they produce?

But the point is, this is the big rights deal.

Wherever they go from here, I don't believe

is going to be as big or bigger than this.

So, that news has

been given.

What they're going to be doing

now, pretty much to me, to

anytime they make one of their major,

in their world, major news

breaks is signing somebody.

And now that he's been willing to spend this much money up until this point, right?

So now that they're going to give him more money, he knows he's going to, and you've been saying this, he's going to turn around and spend more money on signing people for however much he needs to pay them to get them.

And so then it's going to be

the big news, the big event.

And then, of course, as we've seen, anybody from

Mercedes Moon to Okody to whoever they've signed that remember when Soraya was going to be the turnaround of the women's division

and that everybody turned around and said, Fuck you.

But they only last a week or two, or three, or four.

Osprey stayed pretty good because he's a wonderful

young, you know, tousle-haired fellow.

But most of them,

after, so

I think that's what they're going to make news with their fans with is big signings from here on out.

But what's going to happen to all those people?

And he's already got all these people.

And you don't ever see half of these people.

Again, 290 people over two years.

Yeah, from the other court documentation.

That's a lot of people.

There's a lot of wrestlers to pay, mouths to feed.

But the the and the and the point is,

when you're getting a deal like that,

you know that there's times, do you see any of these guys going out and working a lot of independence?

And I'm not talking about the

main event guys who shouldn't be, that shouldn't be risking their health and their

at this stage of the game or with their age or because of their importance to the company, but I'm talking about the middle card and under guys that you don't see

wrestling on these television shows ever.

They hide them on rampage or just, they don't work for long stretches.

I know some are injured or whatever,

but a lot of other ones have to be just sitting around going, well, I'm just, I'm getting paid an exorbitant amount of money.

Why fucking bother?

See, WWE fans know right now they have a bunch of things to look forward to.

The Cena retirement tour, WrestleMania, the build-up to that.

Rock has two natural feuds.

Either they're going to each get a separate run or they're going to jam everyone together in a three-way match to give Rock a chance to breathe.

He's very, very muscular for his age.

AEW, that's what I'm saying.

You were going to say he's very, very short of breath.

AEW, that's the problem.

They could sign WWE guys, and I hate to say it, I mean, it sounds crazy, but at this point, the best thing for them is kind of the Eric Bischoff nitro philosophy.

Sign everyone you can.

Just bring all of their stars over here.

The trick is you got to develop your own stars at some point.

They never can.

They never do.

We'll talk about Daniel Garcia later.

Boy, if that's what they're developing, there isn't a lot to look forward to in the future for an audience that if you just go on live attendance keeps going down.

Very rarely.

I think Pittsburgh was the only market they went up in.

Everything else is just down, down, down, down, down.

They're about to go to max.

They have the chance

to reach new people.

But again, once you get people in the door, you have to hope that they'll want to come back.

You have to give them something they want.

With AEW, so much of it from the beginning has been fans willing it to be.

They rooted for the concept, the idea.

They're against Vince.

WWE's the enemy.

Things changed since then.

What do they really have to root for now?

Well, here's another thing that they've got working against them that Bischoff didn't have was Vince is not in charge anymore.

And

in 1997, 98, Vince was just figuring out, he would start talking to guys about contracts, you know, three months, right?

And if that, and sometimes

believe people, whatever.

These people,

if you're a a year and a half away from being done, I believe in some cases they talk to people.

They're not going to let that many people that they give two shits, whether they have or not,

become available because the fewer that

they give them, unless they just don't want somebody at all, the less chance that Tony has to raise the salary structure by trying to offer so-and-so and such and such, you know, $15 million or whatever.

It's also the legends.

I think that's one of those things at the big events where we've seen them have, you know, legends playing musical chairs that are there and then they disappear.

We don't know where they go.

You know, if they're signing legends deals or whatever they're doing with WWE,

that means these are people that AEW, not that they're really using legends, but it just takes more people off the board.

Women, not that they're using legends.

Geez, Jake came out and stood there.

Let's talk about Jake when we get to the diamond.

I know, but I'm just...

Kevin said, Kevin, have you ever seen a more legendary guy standing there?

That's the point.

They didn't use a legend.

They had a legend stand there.

That's different than using him or having him do anything.

But I saw him stand in there.

Well, Jake looked at me and I couldn't believe.

that they paid him to show up and do this.

You know, even the Goldberg thing with gunther if it goes nowhere

you know they did something with goldberg that stood out on that event there's another guy just off the board for tony

yes and and yes the the new

regime established a little relationship with goldberg i'm sure they had conversations again i don't believe we're going to be seeing gunther and goldberg but we might see more of goldberg

whether it's a match or not.

And that's just, again,

they're trying to get all of the names,

not only people that were big names for the WWE, but also that are names in the catalogs that they own.

WCW and ECW and

whatever the fuck.

More to come.

If you're a celebrity right now and you just want really great tickets and the ability to maybe even do an angle, just say you're a big wrestling fan.

Yes.

And they'll use you to the best of their abilities.

Or AEW will use you to the worst of their abilities, but you still get on the wrestling show.

Good lord.

We'll talk about the TV shows in a little while and the state of AEW and NXT, both of WWE's developmental territories.

But Jim,

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with all this baseball on, the exciting run of the Mets continues, there's lots of reasons to want to call somebody.

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Hey, Ernie, is that King Kong Bundy in the corner?

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All right.

Well, speaking of details, Jim, let's get to some of the details of wrestling this past week.

Raw,

only two hours.

God has been listening to my prayers this time of year around the high holy days.

Thank you.

Two hours of Raw.

I got to see a lot of it.

Unfortunately, I had a DVR issue and I did not get to see anything after the point where I actually watched it live.

But let's talk about

Raw.

That is perfectly as clear as mud, but don't just kid.

Just

you start and when you fuck it up bad enough, tag me in and I'll straighten it out.

That's what Murdoch used to tell people when they were his tag team partner.

Anyway,

no, I'll tell you,

first of all, I've got to say they were in St.

Louis, Missouri two nights in a row.

We've been talking about they were going to be in St.

Louis for NXT, but they had the

big building in St.

Louis for Raw and then did the

factory, which is a, we'll talk about the look, but a smaller place there in St.

Louis on Tuesday for NXT.

And now in retrospect, since I've seen both programs, I know that we were graced on both of those episodes with the presence

of someone referred to as sexy red.

And there was some false advertising involved in the sexy part of that

at the very least.

And this

individual was

a recording artist of apparently some

repute, possibly some ill repute.

I know that at least what she did on NXT, she makes Mercedes Moon look like Meryl Streep.

But is she?

I can understand

if she's a St.

Louis personality, right?

Because there's some

various odd personalities all over the country and various Judge Otto Dealer.

They knew who he was in Knoxville because of the TV commercials, but you wouldn't put Judge Otto Dealer

on Raw, even if it was being shot in Knoxville, would you?

Are we supposed to know who this individual

sexy red is?

Has she accomplished something?

A large part of the audience, I guess, does.

I'm guessing maybe she's local, like you said,

was neither sexy nor red.

But,

yeah, WWE,

you know, this is what they've been doing now.

This is what they do.

If what?

The average person off the street, because they are from St.

Louis, now gets to walk into the ring and just, I am on TV.

All you need is some fans from outside of wrestling.

If you put sexy red in the middle of Times Square trying to hail a taxi, would anybody turn their head and look and know, ah, sexy red?

Well, it's hard to get any taxis in Times Square.

They really limit traffic now with all the places for people to walk around and be harassed by OMO.

You got me there.

Alrighty, so anyway, Sexy Red, it was quick.

There's more of her on NXT.

We'll come back to her.

And quickly, they went into a cold open recap of Bad Blood, ending up with the Hell in a Cell classic that we have referred to already on the previous program.

And then,

Alaka Mussolini.

God.

Oh, God.

Yeah, you've never sounded worse.

You never sounded worse than you just did.

I was really on the note there.

On the note.

What note?

What note?

That note of like a Mussolini.

Jesus.

Eating an emos.

I said, I got to talk about emo's pizza.

They were in St.

Louis.

No,

here came Punk and he limped out to the entranceway.

His arm was was bandaged up and his hand was bandaged up and his head had a bandage on it and there was a cut on his cheek with the butterfly gimmick and

if i i would have blacked his eye if i'd have been back there

not i'm not talking about makeup for your face no well would not and not don't say makeup that's like so demeaning i would designers would punch each other in the eye well no i would have special effect a special affected his eye and you wouldn't have been able to tell but anyway

he got a big cm Punk chant,

and he's standing there and he ain't going to the ring.

And he's got the game face on.

And his opening line: is it good to be not dead in St.

Louis on a Monday night or what?

But he's not happy.

He's not over the top.

He's selling this shit.

And did you see the random pyro fucking deal go off or some spot

light burned out or something?

Did you say that ain't referred to it?

yeah well right off it they had a close-up

probably handheld camera shot of him as he's doing the interview but right to the right of the screen you see a flash and i think either some misdirected pyro went off or maybe a

one of those spot can spotlights they got whatever flamed out

And it went off.

And he joked.

He said, yeah, after what I've been through, if you were going to set me on fire, now's the time.

But anyway,

he did the fucking promo that he should have done

after a match like that to sell it.

And that's what was so refreshing because

for a lot of these nitwits,

you know,

they get run over by a steamroller or crashed into by a fucking city bus and the next week they're on TV doing have a corona's off the top row.

And so he he looked like he had had the shit beat out of him.

And he was talking seriously, and the whole tone

of

the promo was: I don't know what the future holds.

It hurts to smile, but I just, I had to come here and see you guys.

I'm alive, but I don't feel like it.

And, you know, he'd bring up again how banged up he was.

It's, I just, I don't know.

He's teasing the end, right?

But he thanked three groups of people.

He thanked his fans, the people that love him.

He thanked his peers, most of them,

and he thanked the people who hate him for whatever reason, jealousy or resentment, because he turned their hate into cash.

And now he's heading home and he doesn't know when he's going to be back.

And that was a very straightforward babyface thing.

Again,

we know John Wayne is a fucking actor.

He didn't really shoot all them Indians,

but he didn't

get up and pat him on the back and dust them off on screen, right?

For the television product and for what they promised and what they performed and what they were selling and the whole nine yards, this is the kind of shit you ought to fucking do.

Am I wrong?

They never do this.

You've said that a lot, or you.

We've all said that a lot during this punk run.

Here's something they never do that they should, and he did it, and it made sense.

This was great.

We didn't even see Drew, you know, here.

Well, yeah, because he's the heel.

See, if he's out of sight for a little while, licking his wounds, and because he lost, but he comes back and does something, remember, off in another direction.

But one of the great things about the way things are right now under Triple H.

And the way things have been and the way things seem to be going,

someone like Punk, who's a major star and someone who moves merch and causes people to be interested in everything he's doing,

you can kind of give him time off.

Yeah.

You're not going to be hurt as a company right now if CM Punk took a couple of months until the Royal Rumble or something and then came back fresh again.

If he left before he was stale, I'm not saying this is what they're going to do, but It's one of the benefits of WWE right now.

There's no one,

there's really no one who who can't be slotted out to have time to refresh their blood and then brought back in.

And it makes sense for wrestling to have that.

It's an unofficial offseason.

It's an offseason because it makes sense.

But it can rotate so everybody's not off at the same time.

And

Rollins was just off for what, three months, two months?

I figured.

Yeah.

Not even that long.

Yeah.

But

that's the thing is some of the top guys are not as young as they used to be.

That's why they've had time to become top guys.

So and also you don't want if

your main event fucking guy, if the top guy in a company was 25 years old, still you don't want him wrestling on TV every week.

And you don't want him talking on TV every week because then they become more one of the boys or you're just putting them out there because you have to.

It's the opposite of with Tony Khan, where people are there intermittently here and gone before they get over, or they're pushed down your throat, and then you don't see them for six months or whatever.

They're weaving these people like an Eddie Graham type of situation.

And Dusty used to do in the Carolinas, where

there are multiple opponents that a lot of these top guys could have.

When the Midnight Express were World Tag Team Champions, you could advertise us against the Road Warriors, us against the Rock and Roll Express, us against Dusty and Magnum,

and us against

Ronnie Garvin and Wahoo McDaniel in 1986, and there was all television to back it up.

And so, and what they did with this interview is as soon as Punk said that, I'm going home, buy flowers for my wife, don't know when I'll be back.

Boom, Seth Franklin Rollins' music hits, and out he comes and they come face to face because they're both babyfaces, but they still have an issue.

And

so now, but now Seth has been gone, but now Punk is gone.

So there's another match they can come back to in six fucking months if they wanted to.

That could be WrestleMania, those two.

You know, but that's what I'm saying is that everybody

that is established

doesn't have to be on TV every week because there's so many of them.

Whether it's roman reigns and cody rhodes and cm punk and drew mcintyre and seth rollins and gunther and orton and jey uso and yeet

and i mean it's on and on and logan paul wherever the he may be

uh i mean and more more more and here comes cena so Yeah, they're in a wonderful place where they can just cycle these guys in and out because they don't even need all these stars on the same show

or

for a pay-per-view or on the,

you know, the two shows where they have split rosters, but people are back and forth anyway.

And Owens, I forgot about.

And Jimmy Uso's back.

Anyway.

And Seth was more serious here, too.

When he came to the ring,

he was wearing pleather pants and a bulletproof vest, vest, but he was all in black.

And

the snide remarked to Punk, get well soon so I can end your career once and for all.

And then the gist of his promo was that he's back to destroy Bronson Reed,

who there's another guy that they've gotten over tremendously.

But Bronson Reed wasn't here tonight, or wasn't here tonight, wasn't there.

He said, Bronson Reed is not here tonight.

I dangled my participle,

but he did a serious promo on Reed,

and it was good because he wasn't going, he was still doing his

whatever it is he does, the revolutionary,

reactionary,

imaginary, I don't know what the fuck, but it was more serious.

He looked in the camera, and he's good when he does that.

And then he challenged Reed one-on-one.

Anytime any playthrough, baby.

and then that was his little skit before we move on what did you think of our friend seth franklin this week i thought it was good when he was serious like you said it stood out when he stared into the camera because that's the way he should be treating the bronson reed situation not coming out there and telling jose

no that that has to go uh especially in this kind of situation And there you have something for Survivor Series, I guess.

Him and Bronson Reed?

I'm interested in that now.

Got me interested in Bronson Reed.

Well, see, that's the thing.

Now, that's what I want to see is Bronson Reed, the human bowling ball against the fucking athletic guy that he can also fling far in the air instead of the,

you know, the fucking Volkswagen against the goddamn bus or whatever.

But anyway, but then

at that point, as soon as he did that, here Jey Uzo's music plays and here he yeets, and there's the waving and the yeeting about.

And Seth is just staring at him.

And when Jay gets to the ring, Seth looks at him and walks out.

And Jay continues yeeting, and everybody yeets at him.

But I'm like, fuck, they play the music, here comes Punk, and then they play the music, here comes Rollins, and they play the music, here comes Yeet.

I'm like, Jesus Christ, we're fixing to be like 25 minutes into the wrestling show.

They're in the goddamn liquor wrestling, right?

And it's better that

And then, did you watch the first match for the Intercontinental Championship belt title?

I couldn't.

I hate Jey Uso.

I mean, well, I shouldn't say I hate him, but he's become so annoying to me.

As he's gotten over to everyone else with his catchphrase and everything else, he's become really annoying to me.

So I didn't watch it.

Well,

and also, it was a,

I will fill you in briefly because at least we don't have three hours on this one.

But Jey Uso and Xavier Woods for the Intercontinental title, and they've been doing a deal where Xavier is a young man with a very, very bad attitude.

His attitude has been very bad.

And he was mad about Odyssey Jones until they got mad at Odyssey Jones.

And then Odyssey Jones went on his Odyssey, never to be heard from again.

But he's still somewhat prickly about

his partner, Kofi, and these other people that he's interacting with is Xavier Woods.

You know, did we ever hear anything else about Odyssey Jones, about what happened?

No.

I think there's been a gag order.

Every time people started talking about him, other people started gagging.

So they just quit.

So.

But what they did here was right.

They yeeted to break after Yeat's entrance.

And then when they yeeted back,

they had Xavier Woods' entrance and the ring introductions, and they ring the bell to start to match, and they went to break in like 45 fucking seconds.

And what you were talking about,

I've mentioned this, but I'm not against

a preposterous gimmick getting over

with the yeet or whatever.

What's bugging me is Jay Uso's work has gotten sloppier and sloppier and sloppier in the ring.

It doesn't have to be sloppy.

He can hot dog and not

make the doggery

look fucking stupid and make the heel feel, you know, like an idiot.

And yes, certain things are over.

Dusty's fucking triple elbow, atomic elbow to the head of the horseman

was over.

But he would do it quick enough where they didn't have to just stand there and stare at him, going into convulsions and doing a shimmy and looking like a goddamn snake coming out of the fucking thing over in India with the

there may have been a couple of times where Dusty took his time with well then sometimes it was that they were pissed about it the heels were because I remember I visualize in my head Arn just kind of bent over selling waiting for it to go but this

is this is just all of attention on this one guy you have to stand there I mean it's

The point is with the punches, which are blah looking,

you could throw the first three, boom, boom, boom, so the guy can sell, sell, sell, and then do your wind up and swing, boom.

But he goes, boom, and then he'll look at his hand and he'll spit on it and he'll go up and then boom.

And the guy is in between boom and boom.

The fucking poor opponent is standing there going, don't know whether to wind his ass or scratch his watch.

And it just looks okey.

But nevertheless, that's, you know,

Jey Uso is remarkably over,

but he needs to work on

getting

not only being a hot dog, but also the quality of his matches where when he's selling,

it's like you've got legitimate sympathy rather than, oh, I just want him to get up and start yeeting again.

And to take the people on the whole fucking excursion,

you know, you need to be able to hook them in a little better than just,

you know,

tighten that shit up, son.

That's what the old-timers would have told him.

You got a, you got a bird's nest on the ground here.

You're over.

You're farting through silk.

Archie Bounty drones.

Yeah, keep up with the goddamn, you know, the rest of the roster is really.

There's not a lot of stinkers at the upper echelon in this company as there has sometimes been in the past.

You know, the thing that Jey Uso, I thought, was excelling at, and he did excel at, were the dramatic segments in the bloodline where he sold things with his face, with his emotion, with his body language, everything he did.

He was great in those.

Yeah.

We don't have that anymore.

Now we have the same work.

You say it's sloppier.

I mean,

you know, again, it's always been.

It's always been what it is.

But now we don't have those amazing dramatic.

Now we just have, you know, him leading the crowd sing-along.

And there's a place for that.

And WWE is probably smart for riding this as long as they can.

But eventually, hopefully, he does something else.

Well, and see, that's what I'm saying: is I want him to,

and also, he doesn't seem,

he doesn't seem comfortable with the interviews with him as a solo guy.

That's why he's got the yeet so he can just say a couple of words real quick and they'll, you know, fan interaction with him.

But he,

he's, he's breathing like that.

You can tell he's tense when he goes out there now.

Because before he was an ensemble player, now the spotlight is on him as he does the one-man show.

And I think the

sunglasses with Yeet across them and the fucking haircut and the goddamn outfit and he's trying to gimmick himself up because I think

that spotlight's bright on him right now.

He's a little nervous about it.

I don't know.

That's just what I'm attempting to see from television.

But he won.

And what happened with Xavier Woods?

Anything?

Yes, he won.

Oh, he won?

No, no, Jey Uso won.

I was going to say, that's it.

What happened with Xavier Woods?

Jey Uso won.

One, two, three with a splash off the top.

And then he shook his hand or shook Kofi's hand and hugged Kofi.

And then he tried to shake Xavier's hand.

And Xavier, as the announcer said, cold-shouldered him and walked right off on him, right?

And so there goes Xavier and Kofi, and Kofi's like, hey, man,

and then all of a sudden, here come Braun Breaker.

And Braun Breaker came in there and speared the fuck out of fucking Jay Uso.

And last week, and I can't remember if we even talked about this, but Braun Breaker had come out

in the ring with Uso

and had given this somber speech about,

I just want you to know I respect you.

You know, you were the better man that night.

He shook his hand and he walked out without attacking him.

And

I was like, what the, now they're going to fuck Braun Breaker up.

But it was all a ruse, a charade,

as they say.

Because how do he speared Uso?

And then

Kofi was like, we got to help.

And Kofi goes in and he gets speared.

And then Woods is still out on the floor.

Like, I'm not helping the fucking guy.

And

Braun ran around the floor and speared Woods on the floor.

And then got in the ring and speared Uso

again.

And then held Intercontinental title belt up.

And then threw it on top of Jey Uso.

And I say again,

Braun Breaker is the future of wrestling.

This guy is fucking tremendous.

And if he beats Jey Uso now,

how much more over will he be as a heel?

Well, and, you know, because I was kind of upset that they took it off him

that quick as they did, but this is set up where is he going to win it back?

We're asking questions.

We've got to find out now.

But what a fucking

superstar.

That's why I wanted to see seven to ten more of them in NXT is what I wanted to see.

Where are you supposed to get them from?

Where are you supposed to get them?

The Braun Breakers.

Well,

the Steiners were virile people.

Can we just do some random DNA tests around the southeast?

See if we can net, you know, between the two of them, six or eight more.

You know, I just saw a picture actually of Scott Steiner's son.

I guess he's playing college football, but he was wearing his dad's metal headgear, whatever it was, when he was Big Big Papa Pump.

He's a big kid.

He's a big motherfucker.

And, you know, what are you going to do after football?

You got to go into the family business.

There you go.

So anyway.

Oh.

I think that

at the very least, open up Bob Evans.

Well, Jim, before we move on, you know, after watching the Jey Uso segments, I've just, you know, I get exhausted almost.

I'm just tired of it.

I need something to ease my mind, something to cause me to lay down and relax, something to make me feel good about my day and all the aches and pains I have.

Helps me with those as well.

Many, many, many more benefits that could be talked about by you, Mr.

Jim Cornette.

Yes, let me talk about anything at this point.

Like a bridge over troubled water is what you're trying to say, where you can ease your worried mind, lay down and get a good night's sleep, recover from physical pain more quickly after the physical activity that prefaces the physical pain.

It's all a part of being physical, folks.

So let's get physical.

Are you tired of not being physical?

I'll tell you how to get more physical and

get your bridge over troubled water at the same time, all with our friends over at CB Distillery.

Brian,

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Well, back to Raw.

Raw rolls on.

Well, I'm going to combine a couple of things here because they happened

on either side of the next match, but they had pertinent implications toward each other.

The deal with Cody and Kevin Owens getting a fight in a parking lot after Bad Blood that they shot with the fan cameras and, you know, let go viral and et cetera.

And we talked about this on the last show.

This could never have been done before.

And I love it.

It's great, but now everybody is their own TV station.

so what they're they're doing they acknowledge they had the announcers oh uh

joe peppetone

and

no joe tessatori that's it that's it joe that's a mori and uh wade barrett huh was it wade barrett is he the one is it wade barrett sure is it the well i think it is but anyway

He's a good-looking young man.

They acknowledged the incident.

And basically, they had no other comments.

They're like playing it straight in case there's, you know, they didn't say this, but it sounded like in case there's some kind of legal shit out of this.

But

they acknowledged the comments that Triple H made on Twitter.

We are aware of the incident and the matter will be dealt with internally.

And so they didn't even show the footage.

So they're letting

people, you know,

perceive at least for a little while, hey, this is something we didn't plan and we're not promoting it.

And then when Cody later on

is in the back being interviewed, he's like, well, I'm sure you're going to hear more about what happened at Bad Blood on SmackDown.

I'm just here to see about this crown jewel thing.

So he's not, you know, he's playing off the thing with Kevin Owens and not even mentioning his name and not talking about it.

What do you think about that?

I think since they don't have to now every everything they've got again is so over

that they don't have to hot shot this angle they can let people start talking about it and then reveal pieces as they go

it's been done really well it was all teased with the kevin owens stuff for a few weeks on smackdown

and then it just kind of happened off air and it's been done perfectly it reminds me of something you did although you didn't have the benefits of twitter or technology or fans with smartphones i don't know if you can say benefit and twitter in the same sentence go ahead when you did the thrill seekers getting jumped by the masked men who were the heavenly bodies and it was actually fan footage now you couldn't have real fans there doing it because there was no twitter to send the footage to and there was no smartphones but you try to utilize something like this

Yeah, and

I like the security camera footage thing also that, you know, started becoming a thing in the early 90s, you know, when cops and all that type of thing.

And that's a way to,

because before you had to justify

if this was real, why would a camera be there?

But now

there's a fucking camera everywhere, whether it's cell phone cameras, security cameras, traffic cameras.

fucking doorbell cameras.

So it's easier now to kind of change up the way you present things, but it's the same

gist, the same flavor, trying to make it legitimate.

But anyway, so Cody was back there saying that, but then Sammy walks in, and

you know, he's, hey, we got to talk

because him and Owen's right.

They kind of blew that off real quick.

But he tells Cody that I just want you to know I'm going to be the one

that you're going to be facing at Crown Jewel, the champion versus champion for the new championship deal.

But like I said, you know, if he, if you want to talk about what happened and Cody cut him off, we don't have to do that here.

And he wished, it wished Sammy good luck in a genuine fashion against Gunther.

I'm going to look forward to it, old friend.

Sounded like the Lone Ranger there.

So

again, you know,

they had to have Sammy try to say something because of their involvement, him and Owens,

and they tied it up real

succinctly without having to reveal anything.

But anyway,

in the middle of that, they had the old-fashioned Donnie Brook match between Seamus and Pete Dunn.

And right now, I don't know which I liked better when he was the little Dickensian street urchin asking for more gruel

Or now that he's,

you know, five foot six, working with a guy that's a foot taller and fucking 80 pounds heavier and is the, you know, indestructible bruiser, Pete Dunn.

But

what part of the stage dressing did you like about this match?

The whiskey barrels that surrounded the ring, the shillale that one guy had, the cricket bat that the other guy had, the

bar set up over next to the announcers.

And boy, if I'd have been one of the announcers, I could have used a drink about this point.

Why do they have

everything

is so

made to look so campy when they do sets like this, right?

We just saw a hell in a cell match that they

pulled out toolboxes and shit that you would have underneath a goddamn steel structure, and they whacked each other with wrenches.

But here, this looks like

a game show set.

Remember, what was it?

Treasure Island?

In the 70s, they used to put these fucking goofy marks that were contestants on the show in a boat and float them around a goddamn river apparatus to see if they could grab the

treasure and they'd fall in the water.

I never saw this.

Oh, it was goddamn,

some, I don't know if that was it, Treasure Island, but there was one of the fans, the cult of Cornet, can give us more information.

But the point is, it looks so ridiculous, doesn't it?

That they, that it's so obviously,

they're not real barrels.

We have constructed all of this for this set

of this thing where these contestants are going to go through a simulated fucking combat for your entertainment.

It's just too over-the-top free to be able to get lost in it and take it seriously.

It's just visually ridiculous.

Have I made my point?

So you liked it.

Oh, yeah, I loved it.

I thought it was the best match of the night.

It's always weird when a feud you don't care about suddenly gets elevated to street fight stratus.

Stratus?

Street fight status.

She was the referee, I'll have you know.

I would have watched maybe.

No,

I didn't see this match.

Well, I'm not a big Pete Dunne fan.

I know there's people that really are the bruiserweight.

I liked him as butch.

I feel weird saying it because everyone thinks that's like a vince mcmahon thing that sucks but it kind of worked i see him as

you know on the from the set of oliver or something well i think it's just too late to unsee it i don't know he has it he he has an odd off-putting face his face is oddly put together somewhat like a ransom note

and

Jesus.

He just it just has a look that it's

is that the human species or is there some missing chromosome along the wave is he possibly the piltdown man's descendant you think he's missing a chromosome i don't know what's going on but

what about his hair what do you think of his hair his hair is not very well kemped and if i was him i would get some conditioner how do you like his gear

gear looks all right but you'd need to have a better body to put in it or a larger body a bigger body

All right, we'll find other things to talk about next.

His accent is somewhat.

I did see pictures on social media of Seamus' back after the match, and he looks like he

got the Michael Faye treatment.

Well, yeah, and that's another thing is, you know, I don't know if I

would, well, I guess Seamus is trying to do anything he can to stay over because, boy, the upper echelon has gotten more crowded.

And I know he's always been a Triple H favorite, it seems, but.

And that's another thing.

He's just so oddly translucent that I just, I don't.

Drew McIntyre ditched the sword and the cutting of the fake ropes and the

bagpipes, bagpipes too, and all that is, and has become

great.

Can Seamus do something else besides have bangers and hoist a pint in the pub?

the old fart and dragon or the old bell and whistle or the old frog and enema or whatever the fuck pub he's in?

just these are just thoughts at random can sheamus do something like drew has done to see the problem is i see him on the show as like a crazy cab driver

i mean like the way he dresses and acts backstage i just see him as like come on buddy get in my cab and you know tries to get you to kennedy airport or something

i don't buy him as anything else uh with drew and the sword maybe that's a that's a weekly tv segment seamus on the way to kennedy and they've got the fucking dash cam and yeah i watch that maybe and with drew the sword thing, it was lame, but at least it'll pay off one day when he stabs his opponent right in the middle of the chest in the ring.

Big, oh, yeah, he has a sword.

I forgot all about that.

On Netflix.

On Netflix.

Well, you can get away with that.

It's the standards are more open.

It's an adult situation.

But Seamus won after he was zip-tied.

His hands were zip-tied behind his back.

Oh, zip tied through traffic.

That's what I see his character as.

Like, he's the cab driver.

And there's Joe Tortellini pitching to,

let's go to Seamus.

He's approaching the

Kennedy Bridge or whatever the fuck is goddamn landmark up there.

Well, there's lots of landmarks.

There's no Kennedy Bridge.

Yeah, well, we got a Kennedy Bridge.

See, you got a Kennedy Airport.

We got a Kennedy Bridge.

Our bridge is more important than your airport.

You got a bunch of airports.

When was it named the bridge?

It was named the bridge as soon as they built it.

Well, Well, there's a bridge we've built.

So it wasn't renamed?

Like, Kennedy Airport obviously wasn't the original name of the airport.

They renamed it that after John F.

Kennedy was assassinated.

Well, I can't.

It's just always been the Kennedy Bridgeport.

Within a month, right?

But now they built a new bridge next to it, and it's the Lincoln Bridge.

Because Kennedy died November 63.

The Beatles were there in January 64.

It was already Kennedy Airport.

Well, boy, that didn't take them a long time, did it?

But it was idle wild before that.

That's right.

Now, let's not get too idle and wild here talking about this Seamus P.

Dunn thing.

What else was on Raw?

All righty.

Well, let's just skip over the

10-woman tag team match that they had.

And as well, Ethan Page and Ava were in the back bothering Adam Pierce, and Ava was hugging Sexy Red.

And boy, right there, they could put pictures of both of them in prison to cure the sex offenders.

Does Ava have the least amount of charisma or

just anything that would make you think that she should be in an on-air speaking role in a wrestling show?

It's contest winner level status here.

But anyway, the main event, because here's the thing, I,

when this match was going to the ring, I realized, oh, shit, it's only two hours tonight.

This son of a bitch is going to be over only two hours.

I was so overjoyed to remember that that I was jazzed up for this match.

And Sammy and Gunther for the world title, and Sammy's been bugging him about.

And they told the story, Great.

It's very simple.

The only time that Gunther has been pinned since April 2022,

since he came to the main roster, was at WrestleMania by Sami Zayn.

That's right.

Yeah.

And so is Sammy Gunther's Kryptonite.

And I love these two together because Sammy can sell his, he may be the Ricky Mortonist

person in the game today.

And Gunther is perfect in every, and especially as a big bully and beating on a guy that has to fight from underneath.

And that's what they did.

They, you know, again.

They both know what they're supposed to be doing based on what they look like.

I'm sure that Gunther is agile enough and Sammy is strong enough that Sammy could be goddamn suplexing and brainbuster and Gunther all over the goddamn ring.

They could perform those moves, but it would look fucking stupid.

So they both work

how they look and

how their gimmick comes off.

Sammy's the

feisty, never say die underdog that'll surprise you and Gunther's this big ass fucking heavy-handed bully

and they worked this to where it was

plausible if sammy would be doing something you know he got a blue thunderbomb out of a sleeper he hooked him up boom out of nowhere

and you know at some point gunther would take sammy a little lightly and Sammy'd be selling and suddenly he'd double-leg Gunther and he'd fight back.

And Sammy gave him a suplex on the floor and a suplex into the barrier.

Or not a suit, but a backdrop on the floor and a suplex into the barrier.

Barrier.

Barrier.

Kevin?

Well, the barrier.

It was the barrier.

Eddie hit him on the haluba kick on the rail and tried to roll him in, but couldn't.

So he broke the count himself and went back to Gunther and got him in the ring and hit him with another kick.

And as he tried the all-or-nothing third one, he ran right into Gunther's clothesline and Gunther got a two-count.

And then they would trade shit

for two counts that said they'd set up plausibly, that was,

you know, each other's shit.

Sammy with a jackknife got a two count, but Gunther with a power bomb.

And the fans were chanting, Sammy, Sammy.

And then

Gunther hit him with a fucking clothesline and a power bomb.

And Sammy kicked out at a one count,

like came out of it, like, oh, fucking tried to fire himself up.

And Gunther was shocked.

And then grabbed a sleeper on him and stayed on him

and was

trying to hold him down.

And they're milking Sammy, getting the ropes, and he's reaching and he's reaching.

And the answers are only just a couple of more inches.

And then Gunther pulled him back, and the referee had to ring the bell.

And normally, I hate the stationary finishes where they just,

but the stationary finishes are when they're in the middle of the fucking ring and they've just had the hold forever or the blah, blah, blah.

There was drama to this.

They milked it.

You thought he was going to get to the ropes.

And at the last second, he got cinched back in.

And it was great timing because you could feel the people's anticipation.

And then when it didn't happen, they were, uh,

but I love these two guys

in a, in a manly way.

Where do you think they go with Sammy?

Um, it was that's the thing.

You can still go anywhere with Sammy because the fans like him as a person and they don't expect to see him win all the time.

They're happy and surprised when he does win the big one every now and then.

Because he's not supposed to be Superman.

He's supposed to be every man

so this upcoming match with Gunther and Cody

which

is for a belt but I guess technically it's not a championship you defend it's just more like a trophy

what do you think I mean the idea one of these guys has to do the job

if Cody does a job to Gunther

what does that mean and if Gunther does the job for Cody what does that mean It's certainly, I think it would hurt Gunther more than it would hurt Cody probably to lose.

Well,

I don't think at this point, I don't think it would hurt.

I wouldn't do it just for nothing or just for a regular show.

For $50 million,

I may take the chance.

But I think that Cody has to win that one.

And you know how big of a fan of Gunther I am.

But I think also they can probably

do it in such a way to give Gunther an out

that it's worth the $50 million.

Does that set up things well for the future at some point?

The idea that Gunther lost one match, the title wasn't on the line.

It's only the second match he's lost.

We just established that here.

He only lost to Sammy.

If the second match he loses is to Cody for this, you know, champion versus champion new title, does that hurt Gunther at all, or does it set up things well for the future?

I think, again, it can set up then

Gunther wanting a rematch, but they can't defend the crown jewel title.

So, you know, he can,

they could actually do a fucking rematch with neither title on the line, just Gunther's bragging rights, and let Gunther slip over Cody on a television angle or whatever

and get his win back without it meaning anything in the overall scheme of things for the title.

But nevertheless,

you know, they've backed themselves in a corner.

We figure

that

Cody will, I think, will probably still be champion

in a year from now, the way things are going.

But what if they end up with they have to do

rematches of this champion versus champion thing the next year with the same people?

Then do they just flip-flop the finish?

Or

what if that fucks up their booking?

It remains to be seen.

It's an awkward thing to have to do every year

because you've said you're going to do it.

But it's $50 million.

Hopefully, one day an American billionaire will give them lots of money to stay here and let them book their own shows and not have to put together matches that will please the Prince.

But that was Raw.

And Jim, we still have two more shows to review.

I guess in order, although they both aired on Tuesday, NXT started before AEW.

Week two

on the CW,

as we talk about NXT on the CW,

first question I had, what did you think of the look?

Small venue?

What did you think?

Well, that's what I was going to bring up.

This is more,

it looked different than normal WWE.

It had its own identity.

I know they're not going to be in this building every

week, nor could they run St.

Louis every week.

And they don't have a building like this in a lot of towns, but

I would look for similar facilities.

And

I likened it to the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

A lot of people know the Manhattan Center was the smaller ballroom.

in that complex that the first raw and USA emanated from.

And Ring of Honor would run

that room several times a year.

But in the bigger shows, or when we got on that little run there where we were selling more tickets than we could fit into the Manhattan Center, the Hammerstein Ballroom was upstairs.

And

yes, it only held 1,800, 2,000 people,

depending on your seating setup.

But it had those balconies.

It looked like one of those old silent movie palaces, the grand and glorious

backdrop.

Brian, help me.

You're a New Yorker.

Can you be more prescriptive, more descriptive to people who might not have seen the Hammerstein Ballroom?

It has a cool look.

If you had a budget to shoot the thing for television.

Like they did MTV Music Awards there, right?

And other award shows.

But they did ECW there, and they had no budget, and they made it look good because it had a really cool look.

It was almost like it was made the, you know, it was a theater.

I mean, that's really what it was.

It was an old theater that was later who bought it the moonies

yeah

they're they're some nuts they were assholes 12 years ago i don't know what the's going on with them now well the moonies bought this old boy i forgot about the moonies until i yeah i hadn't even thought about them in years and if and for our listeners in alabama that's not people to pull their pants down in public It's a religion.

Well, for some people in Alabama, it's a religion to pull your pants down in public.

But nevertheless.

The Manhattan Center, too, when Ross started running there and they used that red curtain in the background, it created a distinct look and it worked.

It really was a cool room.

And although you only had 1,200 fans maybe in there,

it worked and it rocked at the right times.

And, you know, we've said this about AEW with them running all these big buildings.

They should be running small rooms and making them look and feel cool.

This is exactly what we're talking about right here.

Yeah.

And there were a lot of NXT chants.

You could tell that overall, this was a more hardcore audience.

Maybe it was two nights in a row.

Some people came in from out of town, but

they were up to date on who the NXT folks were.

But again, for the arena, it looked different than normal WWE.

It had its own kind of identity, more wrestling arena-like.

And

I got to think for AEW, instead of having to shoot the ceiling on cover pitches because you can't find a crowd shot,

if you're going to draw 2,500, 3,000 people, run buildings that seat 2,500, 3,000 people

and they're full and they're rowdy at what?

No, run buildings that seat 1,500 people.

Let there be a demand.

Just pack them.

Turn them away.

Just pack what you can pack and then make that work.

It's not like they need the money from the gate when they've got.

beatnik enterprises behind them.

That

beatnik video game divisions still turning dividends.

So anyway, on NXT

from St.

Louis, here came Trick Williams and he got a big ovation.

These were the people.

There were what, a couple thousand, I think they were set up for.

These are the people that are with NXT and understand what's going on and know all the talent.

And they whoop that trick and blah, blah, blah.

And Trick Williams can talk.

He can talk.

He's glib.

He was rolling.

He was moving and grooving.

A lot of charisma.

Yes.

And he looks good physically in a whole nine yards.

And then

he was interrupted by some guy up in the stands.

And

I kept, I knew it was one of the guys that was in a tag team that broke up.

And last week they had a match and they've got prison tattoos and bad haircuts.

I couldn't remember what his name was.

And they never said it.

They referred to it later on in the program, I think, as Wes Lee, right?

Wes Lee, one of the worst names anyone has.

Yeah.

Well, and that's the thing is he was standing there in baggy pants and a fucking droopy sweatshirt and unnamed and unidentified.

And they started having the conversation.

But Trick has some oomph, but the other guy was a guy in the stands wearing baggy pants.

And then

suddenly Jey Uso's music played and here he yeeted.

And the people went nuts, and they started yeetin.

And Jay and Trick yeeted at each other.

And the fans chanted Yeet.

And the guy in the stands was just forgotten and never heard from again.

It was just like they were going back and forth, like, I'm going to fight you, I'm going to fight you, or whatever the fuck.

And then suddenly, here comes Yeet.

And that guy just sat back down in his seat.

Because he wasn't with the Yeet.

So he had, he couldn't,

he had to be beat.

I was.

This was the moment where I was just like, I really, really hate the yeet shit.

This specific segment right here.

This was unbearable.

You don't have the appetite for the yeet.

Trick Williams has a good look and he seems to have some size.

You know, you got to wonder how much longer he's going to be in NXT.

He's been there a while.

I mean, we talked about him a couple of years ago with Carmelo Hayes, right?

Well, that's when Carmelo Hayes was the big deal, and it was just, and my friend Trick.

Who do you think is more upside now?

Trick.

I think he might do the trick.

I don't know what the fuck was going on with that high draft pick for Carmelo Hayes, but

yeah.

Obviously, you got to fire one of these GMs.

It was a high draft pick a couple of years in a row for Odyssey Jones.

Look how that worked out.

Boy, I'll tell you.

Seems like that.

Who was it back then?

It wasn't Pierce.

I don't want to get Pierce fired.

Aldous is new.

Somebody didn't do the background checks.

His name on the indies will be Venture Williams.

Venture Capital.

But anyway, we're not out of this segment yet because the guy in the stands is forgotten and not heard from again.

But suddenly as Jay and Trick were yeeting, then here came Kalani and Bianca and Jade, and they just did an entrance and just they all just posed in the ring.

Well, this was funny, too, because they come out there and they get a big reaction or, you know, a big entrance.

They each individually get their entrance.

And then Jey Uso

and Trick Williams are just in the background dancing with.

Yeah.

And when we came back from the break, it was a six-girl tag team match with Bianca and Jade and Kalani against Fallon Henley, Jasmine Minks, and Jane Wayne Gacy.

And I'm sorry to report to you that I was called away on an urgent matter.

I had to remove a cat's spleen.

And when I came back, the babyfaces had won the match, and we were half an hour into this show

from just what we've described.

Would you like me to go on?

Yes.

Yes.

Well,

would you like me to talk about Orton trying to give the puts tag team champions some

advice or support?

And he asked him about Javon Evans,

who apparently is where i don't know how they came up with we're gonna have randy orton in his hometown we're gonna have him work with javon evans

but nevertheless there was some interaction there and

these two guys if they're the tag team champions if any new audience is gonna

tune in for the new network television and you know try to grasp some new people they're available in more places now whatever the fuck the strategy was.

Would you want these two fucking schlubs to be your tag team champions?

You know, so far, I don't see anything too offensive considering some of the other tag team champions we've seen on WWE shows and of course AEW shows.

Well, anyway,

they will

talk about them more here in a moment because Roxanne Perez

came out to do the

in-ring promo

and she brought out her friend, Cora Jade.

And while they were discussing things, here came Julia.

And she, before she got to the ring, brought out her friend, Stephanie Vacker.

And I'm like, what is this open mic night on Glow?

And they

all got in the ring, and suddenly a fight broke out at a bachelorette party.

And

I don't know if some of these young women are old enough to buy alcohol.

We were 42 minutes into the program by the time this thing was over.

Yes, we were.

Yes, we were.

I'll continue on.

I can see you're chomping at the bit to discuss these things.

The problem is,

I'm of the belief that there's too much women's wrestling and there's too many women,

not even to go into whatever Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade could do in the ring, but it just felt like Sasha Banks amateur hour, them on the mic.

Yes.

And they're getting time on TV to stand there, no interviewer, and just deliver these practiced speeches.

And it felt Sasha Banks-ish.

And

I don't know.

I'm not entertained.

Again, I always wonder who the core audience for this is.

I guess a lot of it are really horny guys that want to give Sean Michaels credit.

I really don't know, but this ain't for me.

The female talent that we had in OVW,

with a few exceptions, was generally

older, more experienced, more mature.

And I'm not saying they were in their 40s or even in their

mid to late 30s, but they were more experienced.

They were more, they had already,

many of them been wrestlers, and then they were signed and further developed.

Or we didn't put them on television until they had more,

except when I was forced to, Linda Miles,

until they had more comfort.

And we didn't throw them out there on their own, once again, in the spotlight.

You know, all by themselves, holding their own microphone, expecting to be, to hold a national television audience's attention.

They had an interviewer that could help facilitate the transitions and keep things focused.

And

it's just not, you know, what the fuck?

It's just not fair to these people.

It just doesn't, you know, it just feels like they're doing a little act.

Yes, because they're doing a little act.

Yeah, because they're doing a little act.

And I don't know.

Do a little act.

Get a little juice.

I'm sorry.

And if you know what?

And again, I love the top flight women wrestlers like Rhea Ripley.

I love the Rhea Ripley Liv Morgan stuff.

That's That's a classic wrestling feud and it's working well.

Yes.

But if WWE really believes in this so much, create an all-women show

and let's see how it works and treat it seriously and load it up with all your talent.

But NXT now, this is, I mean, two weeks in a row, and I guess this is exactly how it's been previously on USA.

There's just a lot of women with fake names

just out there doing a talent show performance.

And it's not what I like as a wrestling fan.

And I felt like

I felt like that was going on here.

And it wasn't Julie and Stephanie, Stephanie Vacour, because they didn't even get on the mic.

They just came out there and had at least an aura.

The other two were doing a WWE

under Vince McMahon style performance.

And,

you know, I think there's some talent in NXT, but the people who rave about Shawn Michaels booking and how he, I don't know.

I don't get it.

I don't get it.

You say the other two had an aura we used to have a sponsor that you could could get rid of that it could get rid of any kind of aura you had in your pits and your crotch and

anything

stature instead of aura but I mean it was just at least they gave you know what I mean like they didn't have to say anything if they said anything it probably would have ruined it but enough of these segments uh well speaking of these segments we went to the back where a pretty girl and three random guys two of which were dressed like bums with bad bad haircuts, were talking to each other.

And then they walked down the hallway and interacted with Brian Pillman Jr., a.k.a.

Lexis King in a highly scripted way.

They're getting to be polished script material deliverers.

You know, they're not like fum for in every third word, but it's just...

it's written.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

And

the hair is what you were going to say?

Well, the whole look, the facial hair and everything, but I believe one of the guys, the main guy of the three guys and a girl walking down the hall was William Regal's son.

Oh, I wonder which was he one of the bums or was he the guy that was actually dressed somewhat like you would be dressed if you were on television?

He kind of had a foppish look, like kind of like Moxley's old hair, but with William Regal's face.

I think since they've become a publicly traded company, you get in trouble if you fop in the locker room.

Well, what other foppish dandies were on this show, Jim?

Well, the okay, your big match that you told me, the North American title, Tony D'Angelo, the Mafia Fellow versus Oba Femi,

the fuddy name fellow.

For the North American title, did I say that?

And you said, let's watch Oba Femi.

And

I like Oba Femi now.

I'm not knocking Oma Femi, Oma Femi, Oba Femi.

If I'm knocking him, I'll just never call him his name ever.

Well, no,

I'm trying to.

It's Oba Femi.

Oba darling.

Oma darling.

Oma darlin.

Oba Femi.

So, but I have observations here.

As this thing went on, I have questions to ask.

D'Angelo's gimmick, we've established is horrible.

It's 1995 Vince.

He's a

mafia light, Tony Soprano, if he was a cartoon character without any type of blood or whacking.

He went to Vince's table right after Abe Knuckleball Schwartz did.

That outfit that he's wrestling with.

What is that?

There you go.

I mean, it's.

And the thing is, he's been around for a while.

So he was the veteran in this, and

he was calling it.

But it's not his fault that they made him have this goofy gimmick.

I guess he just is Stockholm Syndrome and he's embraced it or whatever.

Had the ring announcer this week.

Remember last week he had the...

Goofy hair.

This week he had his sleeves rolled up, no jacket and tattooed arms.

He looks worse than if he was a Beavis and Butthead character.

They're trying to make the show young and hip.

He looks like some kind of goddamn bartender at a place that flunked the fucking health inspection.

My favorite is still Ron Martinez for the IWA tapings in the 70s where he had like a tuxedo and sunglasses.

Well, those TV lights are bright.

Anyway, so they rang the bell for the first men's match on a program 52 minutes in.

And so anyway, I'm watching Oba Fimi.

He's not a natural,

but it seems like he's grasping things.

He can move and he can bump.

If you can't figure out a way to make money with this guy, I don't know what your problem is with the way that he looks and the size and the

aura and the whole nine yards.

But I don't, he's not ready

at this point to be thrown to the way.

He's already on national TV, but he doesn't need to be on Raw or SmackDown right now with the

competition he'd be facing in the ring.

Having said that, there wasn't much of a match here.

And

probably Tony D'Angelo was trying to highlight whatever Oba Femi could do.

And maybe there's not that much variety in it yet.

I don't know.

But

they got the thing in.

the body of the match.

And then

Tony D'Angelo is the heel, right?

He's got Stooges at Ringside.

They're mafia henchmen.

Obafemi is the babyface.

That's the fucking impressive, physically dominant, great-looking fucking guy, right?

Well, they were in Tony D'Angelo's hometown.

Well, but still for the program.

And now Capone was a babyface in Chicago.

Well, not to the not fucking

Elliot Ness, he wasn't.

No, just to the people who lived in his neighborhood.

The friends at Ringside.

But what I'm saying is, this is the whole world that's watching this, not just St.

Louis.

So they can say, yes, Tony D'Angelo is from St.

Louis.

But what they did in this match, as far as the booking,

that's what I'm, it was like a double turn.

At one point, D'Angelo Stooge slides a crowbar in for him to use,

an actual goddamn crowbar, and D'Angelo looks at it and slides it it back to the guy, which is a babyface move.

And then Oba Femi hits him with a clothesline.

They both take a bump over the top to the floor.

And there's the three stooges of D'Angelo, two guys and a girl.

And he shoves them.

And they knock the girl down with him.

And suddenly, because of that, D'Angelo comes up fucking freaking out mad and tackles him.

I'm like, well, is this a double turn?

Because now the guy's coming to the rescue of his girl that went down and he

sees her on the floor and doesn't know what the fuck happened.

Did you see the camera angle?

Like they immediately zoomed in on his face before he even reacted like they were waiting for it.

Well, yeah, well, because they were.

That was he just

he reacted late.

But

D'Angelo beats the shit out of Oba Femi and suplexes him on the ramp and spears him.

He's making a babyface comeback.

And then Oba Femi

catches D'Angelo with a choke slab.

And I mean, the crowd is into this now.

They've got him.

But now they've switched places.

We're now, again,

the mafia guy is an

abuser of women.

And I'm sorry, the mafia guy is.

No, I'm trying to say it right.

The mafia guy

is the babyface that is defending the the

the baby face that's now a heel that's the abuser of women and the heel mafia guy is making a comeback

on the and then it makes

any women

well he shoved the guys down and the the woman went down

the woman is down

and then d'Angelo gives the giant Oba Femi babyface gives him two German suplexes he's 310 pounds so the heel is German suplexing the giant baby face.

And then,

did you see Oba Femi bealed

fucking, what you call it, D'Angelo across the ring and then swooned and fell down?

Did you see the swoon?

I saw that, yes.

So then

they go to the desk and Oba's going to try the powerbomb, but D'Angelo spinebusters him through the desk and then rolls him in and spinebusters him again and gets a two count.

And then Oba Femi goes for the choke slam.

D'Angelo goes up and over him.

Sunset flips him.

One, two, three.

So again,

Oba Femi switches heel, is abusing women.

The mafia guy becomes the babyface, makes the comebacks, and wins clean.

Was this a double turn?

What the fuck was going on here?

I have no idea.

I don't know if it was just a hometown thing and him and his goons and their lady friend.

I don't know what's happening over there.

They'll all go back to being heels next week, wherever they are, Des Moines.

What if Oba Femi had been from Des Moines?

You know, these were the things that turned me off to NXT that are still there.

I thought Tony D'Angelo looked all right in the ring, but it's the gimmick.

It's the promo in the gimmick, and then it's him having goons in the gimmick.

You know, that Andre Chase thing, that was another thing.

When that started popping up on that TV show,

it chased me off.

But they're going after something,

it's almost like WWE

in the 90s, early 90s, mid-90s-ish

developmental mix with young, good-looking people.

I don't particularly see the great booking or even really a great wrestling show, but there are people who rave about this show.

It's to me WWE's answer to AEW.

It started as, NXT started as WWE's answer to Ring of Honor.

What happened when Vince took it over and spat it back out, what we see now?

It's become WWE's answer to AEW.

How do we make a young hip property where we develop stars

and it looks good and we make money with it?

And that's what they've done.

They're only getting 25 million a year from CW for the record, though.

But this is WWE's AEW.

Well,

no further proof needs to be given than the next match for the tag team title, where the tag team champions of this organization look like a meth head and a Mexican mini.

Oh, come on.

How did he look like a meth head?

I'll give you the mini.

How did he look like a meth head?

Okay, well, so the mini is already over here in the bank.

I'll jot that down.

This fucking guy with his

overly dry,

blah hair looks like if he had three teeth missing in the front, he'd look like he just got lined up against the wall on cops.

You know who that is?

Do you remember

who that is at all?

Who?

Who is who?

He was a guy that made a couple appearances for AEW.

His name was Ben Carter, and people raved about him.

And then like the next week, WWE signed.

So that's who this guy is.

He was a guy that appeared in AEW and everyone went crazy and they wanted him.

And then he immediately signed with WWE.

And now he's, what's his name?

Nathan Frazier.

Nathan Frazier.

Well,

I mean, there's just, he looks, put him in any type of street clothes and put him on a street corner and tell me if anybody would turn their fucking head.

He's just normal as fuck.

Oh, he's fast.

Well, yeah, because he's tiny.

And he flips.

You can turn a Maserati quicker than you can turn a Greyhound.

And I mean, they look like two of Mike Jackson's jobbers back in the TBS studio days.

And as I mentioned on my notes, they work like they should be in AEW.

How did Tony Kahn miss these two?

Apparently, he didn't.

But they had to work with Grace, or they had to work with Grayson Waller and Austin Theory

had to work with them for the tag team title.

And the only

reason the indignity could have been worse, but they beat Waller instead of having to beat our boy Theory.

How long can they tease the Waller theory?

Do you even call it dissension, just bumbling friendship?

How long can they tease this thing breaking up?

They're almost not even teasing it anymore, are they?

I guess not.

I guess now it's just they have moments where they always bumble and cost each other big moments, and then their friendship continues.

Because they're loyal.

They're loyal to a fault.

But, you know, I'm sorry.

And I know that

what's his name?

Nathan

Gizmo Nathan Carter.

Frazier.

Plowboy Frazier, whatever his name is.

He looked like he had a nice arm drag.

But that's, again, the problem is when just some schlub that looks like,

you know, he ought to be working at the post office can get in and do these wrestling moves with great alacrity and skill, he kind of devalues the whole goddamn deal.

And this, again, the venue, it's not the territory days.

You know, a guy might have.

It might have been great for TV in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, but maybe not New York or Chicago.

That That was the beauty of the territories.

But I just, I don't see how they could put these guys on national TV in these spots looking as they do.

Well, again, I think with them specifically, it's about the style that they're wrestling and it's their way of cop, not copying, but it's their version of AEW, having these guys.

At the same time, this match was on on Dynamite was Commander versus.

I was about to say Commander versus Hurricane, I feel.

Not Hurricane.

Hologram.

Hologram.

You know, so you had two masked guys who look like they're the size of children on one channel.

This one looked, at least they're in shape on this channel.

But this was.

And the poor wrestling fan had no alternative, no place to get no safe port in a storm.

Well, Jim, I mean, there's no time to waste.

We got to keep moving with this thing.

Yeah, now you don't want to tell the people that you had to take a break because they delivered your chicken Big Mac.

I had to take a break because it was break time

and it just so happened my meal was here during your meal was

break time today and it was delicious.

A man of your means calling a chicken Big Mac a meal.

It's a big thing.

It's a big moment.

They brought this over stateside.

It's a Big Mac.

It's a Big Mac.

Now with chicken.

What did they brought it over stateside?

What did they import it from goddamn

from Nigeria or fucking Pakistan somewhere that the chicken came from a special overseas supplier.

I think it came from Europe.

I don't know if the chicken came from there, but the idea of the chicken big mac.

Did the chicken have an accent?

No,

it's delicious.

It's delicious, though.

Very, very,

well, and that was paid for by the McDonald's Corporation.

All right, continuing on with NXT, Sexy Red.

Let's continue on with NXT.

We saw her on Raw, but this was longer.

Where, again, she's apparently from St.

Louis.

We've established that Sexy Red, there's false advertising on at least the sexy part.

She tried to dance and made Mercedes Moan Stripper Shimmy look like a

Nuriev performance.

And then she started...

Was she imitating a cat being disemboweled to music?

That's the best description I could come up.

Was it in English?

I couldn't tell.

I couldn't understand any of the words.

What was going on here?

You know, sometimes you just have to be honest with things and say, like I am right now, this wasn't for me.

This isn't for me.

I'm not the audience for this.

It didn't look like the audience there was the audience for this.

Were they cheering like it was fucking 81-year-old Mick Jagger Jagger hopping into satisfaction?

No, and you need to be that to get cheered because for the most part, I think people go to wrestling to see wrestling.

They don't really want music interludes or musicians.

Well, they didn't get any musical interlude here.

Unless you consider a goddamn

flamingo being tortured.

Music to your ears.

And then Ethan Page has become my hero because he came out and interrupted this thing and canceled the concert

and cut a promo on everybody.

And this

woman apparently felt like she needed to continue speaking during his interview.

But finally, they played music and out came Javon Evans,

who looks like if he turned sideways and stuck his tongue out, he'd look like a zipper.

No, you're thinking of Leon Ruff.

Remember him?

Oh, he was even thinner.

That was NXT.

Remember that?

Yeah, boy.

Well, Javon's still

a little on a thin side, a little on the emaciated side, but

Paige tried to sucker punch him, and Javon Evans hit him with some of the worst punches I've ever seen, and Paige bailed out.

So Sexy Red's honor was saved.

Possibly in a jar somewhere.

I don't know.

I don't know where she put her honor.

Now, the sexy red contention is going to be after me.

Look her up.

Google Sexy Red.

She probably got more money than you, me, and the fucking county, and it's goddamn ridiculous.

Remember when you used to have to be good at something?

Well, you just have to be popular.

Janae

Nera Werry, professionally known as Sexy Red,

is an American rapper.

She rose to prominence with the release of her 2023 single, Pound Town.

Her follow-up single, How Ski,

was met with similar success.

Both songs were included on her second mixtape, Hood Hottest Princess.

Her 2024 single, Get It Sexy, peaked within the top 20 of the chart and led her third mixtape in Sexy We Trust.

26 years old, St.

Louis, Missouri.

Mixtape.

So she

we're not talking Arista Records here.

She's not on the

Columbia label or anything.

She's on.

It has three labels listed here.

Gamma, Open Shift, and J-Rebel.

Open Shift?

Yeah, but actually, look, the labels don't mean shit anymore.

That's the problem.

The labels are trying to survive in an era when they mean absolutely nothing.

And if you have your shit together at all and you have any sort of buzz, you can just do it all yourself without having to really get too many big players involved.

So she's a uh what is it?

What does it take?

The TV ratings are so far down.

What does it take?

I want her to be a best-selling recording artist these days.

You sell 16 CDs out of the trunk of your car, you hit the charts.

I don't know if they sell CDs really a lot of these people, everything's just streaming and downloads.

Well,

there you have it.

Well, there you have it.

Anyway, the main event is here.

Randy Orton's going to wrestle.

And he comes out and gets a standing ovation.

And he's going to wrestle Javon Evans.

And I don't know why they made this match because apparently old Javon is a babyface.

And Randy Orton, obviously, in St.

Louis, is fairly well thought of.

So it's babyface versus babyface.

And

I didn't catch it.

I forgot to go back and look and see what they introduced Javon

at weight-wise.

But

would you say 185, 190?

Maybe he's a tall fellow.

Maybe let's put him at 200.

Yeah, I was going to say he seemed a little tall.

I would say 190, 195.

Okay, they introduced Randy Orton at 290.

And I believe it.

He's massive now.

And

so he's 90 pounds bigger than this fucking guy.

But think about this.

In 2002,

Randy Orton, because he's tall, probably weighed about 225 pounds and Batista weighed 325.

And now,

22 years later, Orton weighs 290 and Batista looks like he weighs 225.

That's just an interesting factoid.

I can see you're fucking blown away.

It's really interesting when you think about what this is.

This is Randy working with developmental on TV to give some some guy experience, whatever this was.

Did that happen to him on OVW-TV?

What happened to him?

He missed the goddamn diamond or the diamond cutter or the Cody cutter or whatever.

When I was saying, did anyone come in and try and help him or elevate him on TV?

But then again, no one was, he wasn't as sloppy as the guy in this match.

Well, yeah, well,

and yes, a bunch of guys came in and worked with the various young fellows, but again, not on national television.

So

the one thing that Orton is so smart, remember I've talked about

working to somebody's level.

In other words, yes, you don't want to,

you don't want to just beat the shit out of Javon Evans, the NXT guy, when you're the visiting star.

You want to give him something, but at the same time, Randy Orton's one of the biggest stars in the business, and he's got to be in a position to draw money in main event pay-per-view matches.

So he comes in and he works the match where a lot of times he's physically dominating the guy.

He's a veteran.

He's kind of toying with him.

But then he takes him a little bit too lightly and the guy comes with a surprise foot to the face or the fucking boot or the move or the thing or whatever that gets Orton off balance.

Then the other guy gets the flurry.

But he's not just working with the guy like this has to be a WrestleMania main event match.

We got to go 30 minutes.

It's got to take me everything I know and have learned in life to beat this fucking guy.

That's what the difference is between the people that know what the fuck they're doing

and not only how to keep their standing in wrestling, but also

how to benefit the company they're working for by not devaluing themselves, by having a shit kicked out of them by a guy that's obviously green and not ready.

And there's levels to this.

So

Randy, you know, at one point, Javon foiled the table drop that Randy tried and did a dive, but he missed.

I think he missed doing whatever they were trying to do, but Orton grabbed him and dropped him on the desk four times in a row.

The people are fucking going crazy.

And Orton is a master having a match without taking a bump, right?

And they're chanting Randy.

And Javon Evans is another guy who has great leaping ability.

He hit the nice cross body.

He's doing some super kicks and some,

you know, fancy jumping, but he can't take a regular turnbuckle when you shot him across the corner.

Either that or he was thinking about the next move to the point where you could have had an egg taped to the turnbuckle.

He wouldn't have broken it.

It's that he needs more time yet.

He's not a natural at in-ring stuff.

He's a natural at athletic stuff.

But anyway,

so Orton milked the RKO, but Javon caught him with a super kick and did a springboard Cody cutter off the top rope that he flew 20 feet in the air and boom and got a two count

and then went to flip off the top rope and Orton was waiting for him.

And in the mid-flip, Orton with the finish was going to be, he was going to catch him in the RKO.

And as Orton went up, Evans came short and kept spinning and they just fell next to each other.

And I felt bad for the guy, right?

Because he's like probably nervous, shaking like a dog shitting peach seeds anyway, being in there with Orton.

And then Orton picked him up and RKO'd him anyway to get the people to see it.

One, two, three.

And then.

In a departure from what Randy probably would have done 20 years ago, he picked the guy up and you could see him saying, that's okay.

Cause the guy's, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

No, you're the you're the fucking man, right?

So it

and I believe maybe somebody else might have

a heel that

nobody would have cared if he fucked anything up or if he got beat might have been a better thing to do, but nevertheless.

And that was NXT.

The

what you remember back when they were crowing that AEW won the Wednesday night war, Brian?

Yeah.

When the WWE developmental program got slightly edged out by the ratings of AEW's flagship show?

In a couple of years, the worm has turned.

But we'll talk about that here shortly.

Well, that was NXT week two.

Of course, this week, due to the MLB playoffs, AEW Dynamite aired on Tuesday instead of Wednesday and aired at 9 p.m.

instead of 8 p.m.

So one hour head-to-head with NXT.

Let's talk about AEW Dynamite.

Well, that's right.

NXT went 8 to 10.

AEW went 9 to 11,

08, or whatever the overrun was.

So it legged tries.

So we'll...

We'll see when we analyze it.

But theoretically, one would have thought they'd have picked up a few thousand stray wrestling fans at 10 o'clock that were already watching television.

One would think

you'd have to know they were airing on a Tuesday night.

That's a problem.

From what I saw based on social media reaction, they did a really bad job of letting the fans know that they were going to be on a Tuesday night.

But then again, all these AEW fans live on the social media.

Wouldn't they, and isn't it their responsibility, just like when they're supposed to record the program after the program, to make sure they see the program, that's their responsibility.

They ought to know, but shouldn't they check these TV schedules?

As the announcers used to say, check your local listings.

I think it's their responsibility, but I think the fans have dropped the ball here, Brian.

Well, there was a lot of ball on, that's no transition at all, but there was a lot of things happening on Dynamite.

Why don't we get to that?

A few of these guys look like their balls haven't dropped yet.

But anyway, so the show started as they've been doing before they would just jump into a goddamn match.

Ring the bell, here we go, right?

Now they're going to the garage with the ominous music so that the plumber can talk to us.

Old Plumber Moxley

can give his

weekly audition for an indie film contract of some description.

What the fuck is he saying?

He was cutting a promo on Brian Danielson, and apparently his point was, it's got to be this way.

What way and why?

What is he saying, Brian?

Do you understand any?

It's great.

It's great acting if you knew what movie you were watching.

I mean, it's great acting in the sense that he clearly memorized a bunch of lines and learned a bunch of big words and really wanted to find a way to use them in this wrestling promo, but it goes nowhere.

It doesn't really work for Moxley.

Moxley shouldn't be using big words that go nowhere.

It's this guy fillating himself and Tony allowing it.

You have to wonder if he does want to go to Hollywood.

This is all just bad acting.

And again, why is Moxley the badass?

What is he even talking about?

He goes on for a minute

and he never, it's always the Riddler act.

He never says anything.

I have to do this.

Why?

Why?

Explain anything.

It's like, seriously, if you went to one of these fancy damn modern day space age multiplex cinemas and they got 18 theaters and you just bought a ticket and just wandered into a theater, you don't know what the fucking movie is

or that you're seeing and you're already in the middle of it.

And this guy's saying this shit and you're like, oh, I

and then

Brian Danielson was in another back

with video that looked like it was shot on somebody's old VHS camcorder, and he cut a promo in return on Claudio and the plumber and the whole nine yards.

And we'll get to them later on.

So then Darby Allen's entrance was the first thing live that the people saw.

And he came out and he was pissed off.

And without any further ado, he calls Brody King out right now.

And I guess Saturday night on the show that nobody else watches that

Brody King jumped him or whatever, right?

He's answered the remember Darby.

What?

No?

The footage they showed, everything was from 2022.

Well, I saw that they were showing stuff from years ago, but I thought they said something about

this guy, because Darby issued an open challenge.

Or did Brody King just answer the open challenge, but he didn't jump him except for what he jumped him two years ago?

Why didn't Darby bother to get even in this amount of time?

Was he lulling him into a false sense of security?

The more Darby talks and gives this weird, homeless, inspirational speech,

the more I don't like him.

Yeah.

But well, here's that.

This was another double turn

because

he called Brody King out.

They showed Brody King, you know, fucking him up a couple of years ago, and Brody King came out.

And Darby starts doing the promo about how they used to be friends.

They were on the indies.

They stayed in crackhead motels.

On the this guy is so proud of being a fucking shiftless, irresponsible, homeless bum all his life.

But can't they act like anybody's a star?

Does it, did everybody have to exist in cesspools and

fucking flop houses with this guy?

So

Darby's upset because after a bunch of talk of the indies and how Darby's the one that told Tony Khan to hire Brody King.

So the

noted heel in the House of Black got hired due to a babyface telling the boss, yeah, he's a great guy.

That's the problem.

The whole thing is we used to fight on the indies and then we would hang you at the hotel.

Yes.

And then I told him to hire you.

It's all inside bullshit that it does not pertain in any way to any of the stories they tell on the TV show until they come out and do one of these inside promos.

And Darby has actually said he is the face of AEW

and he's got to be the face.

He's got the responsibility.

He's getting these people hired.

He's dead.

Brody King comes out and answers his challenge or whatever he did to him.

And Brody King

calmly

and normally, instead of having this fucking mental breakdown that Darby is having,

yelling and pissed and pacing, Brody says, you want to be the face of AEW, but what's going to happen to AEW if you kill yourself on Mount Everest?

Or you get hit by

then, the AEW's face is dead.

You've got a death wish and you'll fuck it all up.

Calmly and matter of factly, the heel becomes the voice of reason.

I was going to say, what a reasonable, thoughtful guy.

You almost wonder if he's speaking for the office.

Yes, and he actually said you need somebody to save you from yourself.

The heel becomes the calm voice of reason while the baby face is having a meltdown.

So then Darby throws a hissy fit.

Well, then let's go right now.

Go ahead, you want to take my spot?

Take my spot, put me out of my misery.

The heel is calm and rational.

The face is a hysterical, whiny bitch.

And then Darby said, said, go ahead.

He starts barking at Brody King.

And he's sitting in the corner barking at the fucking guy.

And Brody King says, get up.

And Darby gets up and slaps him in the face.

And this guy is twice his weight and a foot taller.

So

Brody King just knocks him goofy with one shot.

and turns babyface.

It was a double turn.

Darby the babyface

is a hysterical, irrational, screaming lunatic here.

And the heel

makes perfect sense and is calm until he gets slapped in the face.

Then he knocks Darby goofy.

And then Darby pulls out a rock.

Just a rock and hits.

I'm never sure he got in wrestling.

And hits

Brody Heel.

It's Brody King in the mouth with it, and he spits up the blood.

He's bleeding from the mouth, and security comes in.

So the final act was the alleged babyface hitting the alleged heel in the face with a rock, despite the fact that the heel was barehanded and unarmed.

So that was that.

Tony D'Angelo, the double switch there, it was his hometown.

So at least you had that.

This was Darby's hometown, wasn't it?

This is Washington.

Well,

so that's why he decided to show his ass?

What I don't.

One of the wrestlers, just, I wish they can curse.

Who the fuck are you to lecture me about anything, Darby?

Yeah.

What success has this guy had in his life past a billionaire giving him a job, making a ton of money suddenly that before he was sleeping in his car in an irresponsible fucking juvenile delinquent?

Get Brody.

He made so much sense.

Yeah, you know, I don't want to see you do this to yourself and you'll let the company down.

Oh, you motherfucker.

How selfish are you?

You're the face of the company.

You're going to go die on Mount Earth.

Yeah.

He just said we'll have to come up there with an ice pick and chip your ass out.

This could be his new thing after the House of Black, the thoughtful giant.

But I'm, but seriously, I don't.

These guys obviously don't know how to portray themselves.

They They don't know how they come off to normal people on television.

People,

the

small subgroup of the audience out there that is predisposed to like these people no matter what, past that,

none of them have a clear picture of how they look and how they should be presented, and there's nobody telling them any different.

And speaking of how people should be presented, so let me get this straight.

Renee Moxley Good was in the back with Lance Archer and Jake Roberts, who we have not seen.

We've seen Lance Archer

in the last year, I guess, right?

A time or two.

Have we seen Jake Roberts with him in two years?

No, we saw Lance Archer pop up randomly.

I think had a couple matches.

No Jake.

We heard Jake renewed his contract, and then we never saw Jake again.

But it seems now he's a player.

There they are, and Don Fallus walks in and does the promo for him.

And they've concluded a talent exchange, and Lance Archer is now a member of Don's family.

And they walk off, and Renee asks who Jake got, and Jake won't say who Jake got.

Or what he's got.

Don could have just come out and signed Lance Archer, and nobody would have given a shit because it's been so long since we have seen them together.

Well, obviously, based on what happened later in the show, they're using this as a chance for Jake to elevate a group of young wrestlers that they see a lot.

Are you fucking right?

Wait a minute, wait a minute, hear who that group is, folks.

More on that in a minute.

And by the way, the announcers for the show were Sock Face, Tony Schiavone, Schiavone, and Jeff Jarrett because Taz had knee surgery and is part of the Metsaron again.

The Mets are on again against AEW.

That's what it is.

Well, I think he, you know, probably said, hey, it might be a good time now for me to get some body parts replaced.

So I don't have to be on this show because it's getting stinky.

But we don't doubt the legitimacy of his surgery.

But they were.

This is Vince McMahon wearing a neck brace to court.

The Mets are in the playoffs.

He wants to stay home.

I'll get my knee surgery surgery now.

Well,

if it was eyeball surgery, then that would shoot your theory straight to hell because he wouldn't be able to watch.

But since it's knee surgery, he doesn't need to be able to walk to watch baseball.

So you might have something.

But you know what they didn't have, Brian?

An audience.

No, any common fucking sense because the next match was

the long-awaited showdown between Hologram and Commander.

And I wrote at this point so they know that nobody's going to watch this show.

And they're just trying to fill the time.

Can I stop you right there?

Yes, and then I'll go on.

AEW's had an issue getting new people in the door that really hasn't happened, retaining the audience they have throughout a show.

And in this case, maybe even announcing that the show would be on another night efficiently enough that people knew.

If you knew you're on

a different night, a different time slot, up against strong competition, the playoffs, and of course NXT,

and it's the go-home show for your pay-per-view,

do you put stuff that doesn't matter on the show because you're out of your normal time slot?

Or do you try to load it up with stuff for the pay-per-view, even though you're out of your normal time slot?

And there can be a third option because I've...

I have never, any TV that I ever wrote or helped write or whatever, you never want to just do TV that doesn't matter.

And

there's got to be something that you can do to justify putting something on that will help an individual talent or build something for later or whatever.

But at the same time, if you know that because of circumstances beyond your control, a switch in time or preemptions on many stations or a switch in day, whatever,

that your audience is going to be down.

That's, you don't turn on Dusty on that show.

You don't do the big goddamn angle on that show, but you still,

because

you're going to be back in your regular time the next week, and you can do stuff in this program that you can show back the highlights of the next week, or now you can put on YouTube.

or you can put out on social media.

So

there's not a reason to totally just give up and,

you know,

you've jumped overboard, just take a big breath and go with it, right?

Try to swim and tread water at least until you get back in the boat and then you can make some progress.

And

to put hologram against Commander

on what is allegedly your flagship show, even though it's on a different night in time,

who the fuck,

the smallest,

smallest group of AEW fans would give a shit that these two guys that nobody cares about,

nobody knows what they fucking look like,

are going to have a lucha match

and do a bunch of fucking cartwheels, except for Tony because hologram is his gimmick idea.

So

if you're on a new night, then you might accidentally get some new eyeballs on the show and maybe they might see something.

But when anybody looks at perception,

and as Vince McMahon used to say, perception is reality.

If you're looking at the difference in the two

wrestling programs or wrestling companies, WWE and or AEW,

And NXT had some crummy looking people on it too, but when you tune into this show with an empty building, the arena is so dark you can see lightning bugs flying around.

And they're doing cover pitches with the announcer shooting the ceiling because they can't pan a crowd that ain't there.

And they've got two guys in the ring that look like children in Halloween masks doing

stuff they worked out on their trampoline.

It just looks

fucking low,

low rent, low budget,

low class, low

secondary.

Does that make any sense to you?

It does.

And even for the people that I think

will just look at what you say and think you're being too harsh, I think even if you're a fan of these two guys and their style, you need to be able to recognize how low rent it looks.

And also, I mean, just when I say it,

both of their looks, but they're both tiny.

They're tiny.

What are they?

5'7 at the most?

At the most, and they're skinny.

They're really skinny.

And they're just doing moves to each other for no reason.

There is a fan base for this stuff,

but they don't watch TV.

And they didn't watch for this.

Not to play spoiler.

I don't know that anybody's going to be shocked by that spoiler, but basically, after a long, long time where Tony was, I'm sure, watching with bated breath on the monitor in the back, Hologram won because he apparently also has the longest active winning streak in AEW.

I think I saw that graphic.

And it's his dynamite debut.

Basically, Tony's got a new pockets.

It's a new little pet thing because he thinks the gimmick is great for his internet friends.

But then...

It's his gimmick.

That's the other thing.

Pockets.

Well, that's something he invented.

This is something he invented.

Oh, he wishes he had invented pockets, though.

It's that childish.

But nevertheless,

then here comes Jake Roberts out to the stage, to the entranceway,

and he stood there and watched Rush and Rigger Mortis and another Mexican fellow jump both of these guys and clear the ring out.

And the announcers kind of sort of worked out verbally on their own that now Jake is their manager.

That's the LaFuckers and Goobers group, right?

Is that what they call themselves?

Well, Roosh was.

Were the other two in that?

I'm not sure.

I don't know.

Were they ever managed by Don Callas?

No, that's another thing.

Said it was a talent exchange.

Yeah, yeah.

But

so anyway, now Jake Roberts is the manager of three random luchadors

because Jake is noted for being a master of that style.

And the fans are just sitting there going, what the fuck is this going on?

And Jake didn't even walk to the ring.

He may not have had a long enough tube on his oxygen tank.

But that's.

Okay.

Anyway, is that enough on hologram and commander?

I mean, it's enough on the match.

I'm intrigued by the idea of Jake Roberts managing a team he's going to tower over, Roosh, the Beast Mortis, and Drolistico.

Whose idea was this and why?

Well, I think so Jake can teach him psychology as soon as he learns Spanish.

Let's get Jake Roberts when he is the hardest to listen to that he's ever been and have him do promos for the Latino wrestlers who can't can't do promos.

But no, but he didn't do a promo.

He didn't even fucking speak.

Don Callis did most of the promo

earlier.

So he's going to, I think it's a coaching type of thing where as soon as Jake

learns Spanish so he can communicate with these guys, and as long as he brings his oxygen, so he's got enough voice to tell them the things that they're going to ignore,

then he'll be able to teach them something.

I was so intrigued by the idea behind this.

it'll be a talent swap oh is jake gonna manage takesa that's that's interesting okay or fletcher i don't really see it no he's managing three guys don talas has never managed before it makes no sense what about hobbs well if he what did they do to him did they goddamn remove his fucking

kidneys or something?

What kind of injury could he have had?

Did you hear the rumor with Ray Phoenix?

Because we heard that Ray Phoenix and Pento were going to sign with WWE, the Lucha brothers.

The story is, or at least people are thinking it, that because he was injured so often, Tony's going to extend his contract to prevent him from being able to sign with WWE.

Yes.

Fair game or any problem with that?

Well, no, the money that he's paying a lot of these guys and they're off for months at a time.

And he's still paying them.

God damn, if you sign for three years, work for me for three fucking years.

Don't work for me for a year and a half over a three-year period.

I think that's perfectly fair.

Now, if you're fucking with a guy over two months or something, then that's a little

dodgy.

But

anyway.

Well, you know, Jim, Jake Roberts didn't have too much to say.

He kind of just did a thumbs up or whatever the hell he did from the stage.

Jake Roberts, known for his Fonzie mannerisms.

Perhaps he just woke up.

Perhaps Jake had a good night's sleep.

Well, you know, he did look like he was still in the land of somnambulism.

He did look like he had a little crustiness around his eyes, or maybe it was his nostrils.

But I'll tell you what, you won't have anything crusty on your Helix sleep mattress, folks, because they come to you in a box brand new.

And we have been talking about our friends at Helix for so long now.

Everybody

in the cult of Cornette, most of them, I should say, are right now laying on, sitting on, eating on, or getting down on a helix mattress because they'll stand up to any kind of wear and tear.

Even if you're corpulently fat, or even if you're bony and skinny and you've got sharp elbows and knees and collarbones that make holes in normal mattresses, the helix mattress will hold up underneath your abnormal geometry and

skeletal figuring.

you know

geometry it should be geology or maybe it's biology well nevertheless if you'd like to go through many of the bodily habits that you normally do every day there's no place better than on a helix mattress brian i think you can agree that well the helix whether it's the helix for kids or the helix for fat people or the helix for people who like to sleep on their face or the helix for people who sweat profusely or ones who shiver, shaking like a dog, shitting peach seeds.

Just helix for everyone.

And yes, we have a few in the house.

We love them.

And some of the listeners just recently on Twitter sending photos of their helix sleep mattress boxes arriving.

Yes.

And then later on, I think you should send photos of your wife or girlfriend laying on the helix sleep mattress so that we know that they're being put to good use.

potentially in a variety of negligence or lingerie.

Spread eagle.

Well,

what you do with birds is your own business, but I will tell you that the bald eagle is a protected species.

And I think that means that you can't have carnal knowledge either.

But folks, whether you got night sweats because you're feeling guilty about something or you're afraid somebody's going to catch you, well, these mattresses will cool you down.

They'll make your conscience feel better.

And if you got back pain, They'll slide you one of these stiff ones where your

spine will be aligned and your liver won't won't quiver and

all the other variety of the the lux collect the deluxe collection or the elite collection or whatever all you do is go to helixleep.com

and you take the little quiz how you like to sleep who you like to sleep with give them the phone numbers of the people that are most likely to agree to sleep with you

And then they'll send you the mattress.

Now, you had to do that too, Brian.

You had to go through your whole little black book and give them all those numbers.

You don't have to do that.

I didn't have to do that.

You won't have to do that, but you will have to get a good night's sleep with Helix Sleep.

Yes, and then your mattress comes in a box and you just open it up and you just it goes poof right onto the mattress or the bed frame there, and then you fall into a cloud of comfort.

And

if you go to helixleep.com/slash JCE, you got to use that code, then you're going to get 20%

off all mattress orders in the month of October.

20%

off.

All the mattress orders at helixleep.com slash JCE.

And then when you finish your dinner and you finish feeding the dog and you finish putting the garbage out and you're ready to turn in for the night and the sun has dropped below the horizon, then you'll lay your head down on this beautiful helix, your whole body actually.

You can use the whole thing.

You paid for it.

And you'll lay that body down and you'll go, go to sleep.

And good night, cause my helix is right.

I'm so comfy, I could shit.

Boy, Helix is really it.

Once again, helixleep.com slash JCE.

Yes.

Great mattresses.

You don't need the shit.

You just need to sit or lay.

And let's lay our way onto the rest of Dynamite Helix Sleep Dough.

A wonderful mattress.

Yes, yes.

Well,

you know who needs a mattress to

hang out in his house and just sleep and just enjoy all the money that he's making now for no apparent reason?

Our friend old Danny Garcia.

Daniel Garcia came out.

Great Brian last on dynamite and answered

question of the ages, averted a crisis, disaster is not going to take place.

Daniel Garcia is staying with AEW, baby.

Aren't you relieved?

You know, watching this, I'd be relieved if I didn't see him on TV for a while.

This was cringy to me.

He can't talk.

He doesn't have the voice.

He can't pull it off.

And everything's just rah-rah bullshit.

i'm staying with aew why do you disclose how much tony's paying you you want to make it sound like you're doing some charity work yes i'll have you know i'm not gonna forget the children in the streets of calcutta i'm right here with you in this fight

i'll be making seven million dollars with it you know he came out there in mom jeans dressed like you know george michael in the faith video or something well that's what he it ain't working it ain't working this ain't gonna work a white t-shirt a black leather vest and blue jeans.

He looked like anybody showing up for work to pump somebody's septic tank.

It was kind of like the Ed Norton look, wasn't it?

All he needs is the floppy hat.

You know, I hadn't thought of that.

A lot of people compared him to some like bootleg Steve Austin or Stone Cold.

But Ed Norton works.

Yeah, the vest.

Yeah.

Hey, you're LP boy.

Hey, hey, Tony.

He looks like he just climbed up out of a manhole.

So as,

again, the big entrance where he walks, Danny jumps off the ramp so that he can shake some hands on the way out.

And what will he say?

That whole thing.

What will he say?

We have no idea what this guy we're giving a live mic to who hasn't been on the show in a couple months will say right now.

You know, I hate that shit.

I hate that.

Well,

that's the thing is, what was he supposed to be going to say?

Because

we didn't know why he's been gone.

That's the whole thing.

As Buddy Landell would say, this this nothing happening guy walks out,

just dressed like any fucking body and starts trying to talk.

And his opening line was, how you guys doing tonight?

He thanks Tony Khan for giving him time on television.

When's the last time a major star thanked the promoter for giving them time on television?

It should be, it's your pleasure that I'm on your fucking show.

But he's, he's, his whole promo was, I sat at home thinking about what's best for me.

I didn't want to be a guy that disappears with no explanation.

I'm going to look you in the eye and tell you what I'm going to do.

And you know what?

I'm Daniel Garcia.

I can do what I want to do because I'm one of the best wrestlers in the world.

He said that with a straight face.

So

he's both a humble and braggadocious baby face.

He's not in the top 50.

No disrespect, but

don't call yourself the best wrestler in the world if you're not even remotely in the conversation.

It's not disrespect to acknowledge reality.

And is he a better professional wrestler than you or me are as we sit here right now?

Probably.

But

not as the field goes overall.

And the point is, it was another inside.

promo that talked in circles because Brian,

right as he builds up and says, so I've decided I'm going to stay where the best wrestle in AEW.

And people go, well, yay.

But they didn't know he was gone.

They have never said a word on this television program about Daniel Garcia's contract being up or contract being renewed or him staying or going.

or made any reference.

And apparently,

MJF narrowly escaped having to do a job on the pay-per-view for this tin can.

And now we see in retrospect the reason why that Daniel Garcia didn't beat MJF

was because his contract was coming up and they didn't know if he was staying.

So MJF gets a win and then this fucking idiot,

double tombstone pile, drives him off the top rope or whatever, and MJF is gone.

We haven't seen him yet, but we haven't seen Garcia since then because his contract was coming up, but he hadn't signed again.

So he couldn't come out and crow about beating MJF, the most important guy in the company,

on television.

So what the fuck?

If you follow

our programs and or the social media.

You would know that they've been talking about whether he's going to go to the WWE or stay there.

Yeah.

And I believe I i said the wwe if they made an offer for him it'd be just to bid tony up because what are they going to do with this

guy

but the point is they've never

they've never set this up he's talking to people assuming that they know when it's never been on the television show and they do that all the time

and then

He goes on a tirade that he's a new Daniel Garcia that AEW can build a future on.

And I'll carry the company on my, and he's raving delusionally about beating everybody and being the champion and getting over.

And I'm afraid that this is a young man that is setting himself up for potential disappointment in the future.

Is my comment on that?

The fuck.

You may comment if you like.

You know,

they have to grab whatever talent they can.

They have to keep whoever they can.

Obviously, he

obviously feels empowered by the contract.

He fits the definition of whoever they can.

But you're right.

It's something we talked about.

And yeah, we have a lot of listeners, but you can't book your show for the podcasts.

Why was he doing this promo at all?

Why wasn't he just out there?

You haven't seen me since I kicked this shit out of MJF.

I've been thinking about who I want to kick the shit out of next.

Nothing.

Instead, it's this drama that wasn't needed on the show, or he could have told explanation that wasn't needed.

Should have signed the contract and continue on.

He could have told the story instead of talking in circles

and assuming that everybody already knew what he was talking about.

Yeah, because he can't talk in a straight line.

No, and he sounds, it just doesn't.

It's a young person that needs to be on local TV if that or whatever.

But the point is, he could have said,

I haven't been here since I beat him.

He didn't even remind everybody.

I beat MJF.

That didn't come out.

You haven't seen me since I beat MJF at whatever pay-per-view.

And the reason for that is because my contract was coming up for renewal and I had to make serious life decisions about where I wanted to go.

And then just tell everybody what the fuck,

instead of the circles and the assuming that everybody is smart and knows.

I don't think a lot of these people ain't smarter.

They wouldn't be watching this show.

All right.

Can we skip Mercedes and Camille with Renee Moxley Good?

Yeah, I mean, Renee did the Mercedes intro, which upset Mercedes.

And Mercedes had the usual awful Mercedes promo promo.

Promo?

The usual awful Mercedes promo well we're gonna see more awful Mercedes later on but uh

and then they showed by the way they showed Garcia getting back to Garcia for a minute they showed him walking down the fucking hallway in the back after he's made this big pronouncement and all the people clapping for him and high fiving him were jobbers that never get on including Cole Cabana his face actually got on television and then Shapoopy walks up

another baby face and tells Garcia, or his phone

tells Garcia he's glad he's staying in AEW, and apparently they're going to wrestle.

So again, two more babyfaces are going to wrestle

for a championship that I can't even remember which the fuck one it is.

Neither one of them are champions.

That's if Shabadi beats Jack Perry.

Oh, that's Shapupi has to win the title first, and then he'll defend against the Sabada.

That's right.

Oh, Christ on a cracker.

Clearly.

All right.

I'm sorry.

I'll keep these things straight.

I've only got a giant pad of paper, and I've run through all my pins trying to figure out.

And you ought to see the Venn diagram and the chart on the wall with the strings and the pins in it.

What did you think about Willow versus Soraya versus Nyla Rose versus Jamie Hayter?

Ooh.

I only watched a little bit of it.

With Harley Cameron in the corner and Maria Mae on color.

And apparently this is because it was going to be Britt Baker against someone with the winner getting a title shot at the pay-per-view.

And then Britt Baker, they said, got sick and couldn't make it to TV.

Or she found out she wasn't winning at the pay-per-view.

One or the other.

I forget what it was.

So they decided to throw in a four-way because how can just one person take her place?

You know, I always say it, I'll say it again.

And I thought it also during the promo afterwards.

Willow Nightingale's really good.

I wish she was in WWE.

Yeah, well, I watched a bit of this because they were using the tables and the chairs too, by the way, in the girls match.

And in the middle of the thing, for apparently no good reason, Penelope Ford interfered.

Remember Penelope Pit Stop?

She's back, or she's still there, apparently.

She's still there.

She never left.

Have they been paying this girl for the past two or three years just to hang out at home home and wait on future instructions?

I could be wrong, but I believe she's someone who may have gone back to school,

continue her education on AEW's dime.

I could be wrong, though, but I think she's one of the names I heard.

Alrighty.

Well, anyway, she got in a fight with one of the girls and off they went.

And then Soraya and her stooge, Harley Cameron, were trying to slide a table in the ring and they couldn't get the table in the ring.

Well, that was Harley Cameron's fault.

That was all.

Well, yeah, but because the leg, the leg dropped out and she's trying to push the table into the ring underneath the bottom rope with the legs folded out where it's bumping up against the apron.

And they

finally, the cameras had to get off of it.

They shot everything else.

They shot people laying on the ground out of the ring.

They shot

fucking the concession stand.

And finally, they pulled it back out to the floor.

And then Harley folded it up and got it slid in.

And then this thing fell apart i don't

willow came first and and harley by the way wasn't really in the match but she's in the ring because it's anything goes no de cute lazy booking

so

willow goes to double clothesline soraya and harley but soraya just ignored the clothesline it didn't go down didn't do anything and stood there while Willow ran and grabbed Harley and ran Harley towards Soria.

And then Soriah took a couple steps to run into Harley on purpose.

And then Willow powerbombed Harley.

But then Soria was trying to school girl, not school boy, but school girl.

Willow, but she couldn't figure out how to do it.

She almost did it from the wrong side, and Willow had to spin around and fall over her to count.

And then Willow Death Valley driver Soria through a table

and put Soraya on top of Harley

and pinned both of them, even though Harley wasn't a participant in the match.

And then Willow went up to the stage, but Maria May met her and they had

a face-off of some description.

And then

Maria swung, but Willow blocked it.

So Maria just head-butted Willow and knocked her out and whipped her with the title belt.

What a fucking mess.

When did Willow get potatoed?

Was it in a match or with the belt?

Who could tell?

I mean,

it may have been a double clothesline that she gave when they didn't know whether they were supposed to take it or not take it.

Who knows what the fuck was going on?

Anyway, that was that.

Did you love the debut of Cody Shun?

He got a little more in than I thought he would have.

I was surprised by that.

C-H-H-U-N.

Boy, back in the old days when they took out newspaper ads, he'd be begging to be fucking misspelled, wouldn't he?

Cody Chun

versus Light Switch Jay White with Juice Robinson in his corner.

And yeah, old Cody got a little bit in, and then Jay White won,

and then he got the microphone.

And what did this last, Brian?

About 12, 15 minutes, or did it just seem like it?

Every time he talks, he just starts marching around and oi, oi, will do, oh, yeah, he just keeps talking about himself.

Here's Robin Leach on Nitrous.

It's not good.

Juice was great at ringside.

Everything he did, whenever there was a slow moment early on, Juice would all of a sudden be up on the apron.

I thought he was really good here.

The only time we get to see Juice do anything is when Jay White is gone.

So, I wish Jay White would leave again.

Why are they convinced that Jay, that Juice is the sidekick and Jay is the top guy?

Because Jay was the bigger star in New Japan.

Who gives a shit?

Tony Khan.

See, guys, got you there.

Hell, that's true.

So,

again, Juice.

Um, Antonio Kanoki, that's who.

At least somebody would want to watch or listen to Juice Robinson because of his natural, quirky charisma, as opposed to

Jay White

against Adam Page.

So now Jay White's the babyface,

right?

Well, I guess.

So

then apparently Hook now is, he was in the back and he was demanding that whoever jumped my father reveal yourself to me

so I can smite you.

And he's doing that promo.

And then old Pip Sabian comes into the shot like he's running or backing up from somebody and bumps into Hook.

And Hook snatches him and says, is it you?

Or whatever.

And Pip's like, I know nothing.

I know nothing.

And he runs off.

And then you see

that he's been running away from Christian Cage and

Mama Wayne and Nick Plain.

And they establish that Hook won't snitch.

Because Christian says, did you see Pip Sabian?

And it said, nope.

Yeah, yeah.

But.

Why, if Pip Sabian is running from Christian Cage, then if he's on the wrong side of Christian Cage, that would make him a babyface.

But babyfaces don't run like scared little pussies.

So what is this guy?

They're just having Pip

run from Christian in a variety of ways.

And this has been going on for a while, too.

A while.

And it goes nowhere.

They just keep running.

So Cage at this point

says that they're looking for Pip Sabian.

Have you seen him?

No, and I haven't seen him because he's not a snitch.

But then Cage says, well, we've lost

dino douche to a serious medical situation so i can sympathize with you for losing your father and they walked off

and the only newsworthy thing in this is apparently that the lizard is really sick

yeah i'm not exactly sure what happened but we heard that luchasaurus or kill switch had, I think, pneumonia, and it's caused a series of issues where he's on oxygen.

I read something, I want to say Brian Alvarez wrote it, and I may be getting it wrong, or maybe he said it and I read the quote, but it was,

you know, he had to stop wrestling because he has to get over this, and he won't be wrestling anytime soon.

He just returned to the gym, and he won't be returning to the gym anytime soon.

So when you hear that, you think it sounds really bad.

And, you know, get well soon.

Geez, that's a good.

This company is

remarkable for serious and or possibly communicable illnesses also, as well as the injury situation.

Sounds like a scary situation.

So so far, nobody understands what's going on in this show.

You can't.

Unless you not only watch this show, but every other show they do and every goddamn tweet they put out and everything they say on YouTube.

And if you're on Tony's message board,

then you would still have a hard time keeping track of what's going on.

That's the problem.

Tony books for what he likes and he also books for message board approval, not realizing that as such a small minority of the wrestling audience, that doesn't matter.

When it comes to things to help a company or grow a company, Ring of Honor had plenty of message board approval and they didn't draw anyone.

Exactly.

And the people on the message board were pretty much the ones keeping them from drawing anybody.

They didn't want anybody to join their private club.

And then the funny thing was half the people on the message board were the wrestlers.

Yeah, yeah, under assumed name.

That's right.

But anyway, so you talked about Willow Nightingale.

We like Willow, but nobody is producing poor Willow.

Because if this was a live shot, I would never let these people on live again if this was pre-taped.

My God, that they didn't redo it.

But there's Renee Moxley Good in the back with Maria May,

who doesn't have time to open her mouth before Willow comes in from off-screen and gives her the big shoulder tackle

and knocks her ass over tea kettle out of the frame

and then turns and looks at the camera and says, Maria,

Maria is down on the floor to your left.

But she cut the promo to the camera about Maria while Maria was at her feet on the floor,

neither moving nor talking.

It was like the shoulder tackle was a fatal blow.

And

but at least she'll see the tape so she gets to hear what Willow had to say.

Yes, as soon as Maria watches TV again, you know, and she, when she sees the program played back, she'll know what.

Did you catch that or were you zoned out by this point?

No, I watched it.

I thought it was a good promo from Willow, all things considered.

It was a good promo if the woman was on in TV land watching instead of laying at your fucking feet.

Now that I've got you down at my feet and helpless, I'm going to put you on notice that I will thrash you at a later date.

You may have a point.

You may have a point.

That's the thing with AEW.

Even when they get like a part of it right, everything around it is completely wrong.

Well, speaking of if

if this next shit was right, then I want to be wrong more often.

For

some one of the women's titles that they have here, Mercedes Moon with Camille against Emmy Sakura.

Emi Sakura.

It's good to see that Margaret Cho found work.

Oh, stop it.

What the fuck?

Mercedes looks like Mildred Burke all of a sudden next to Emmy Sakura.

She's not dressed like Freddie Mercury anymore, but it seemed like she had like piano keys on her skirt.

So she's still involved with music.

Good to see.

You know what Emi Sakura would have

if she had nuts on her chest?

Chestnuts.

You know what Emmy Sakura would have if she had nuts on the wall?

Walnuts.

You know what Emmy Sakura would have if she had nuts on her chin?

Taton Teleton.

That's exactly right.

Why do these idiots think that this Japanese outlaw girl bullshit should be on national television?

They all look like they're doing a Saturday night live sketch.

The funny faces they make and the poses and the sloppy work and the ridiculous outfits.

And usually there's a size issue that they're five foot nothing and weigh 62 pounds.

That's not the case here

with the

Japanese, you know, Rosie O'Donnell.

Hey, are

international wrestlers who are not living in the States, who come to the States, work for AEW, and then go back home,

are they part of the putative class for the potential class action lawsuit where we were figuring out the other day the salaries and who's included, who's not?

Like an Emmy Sakura.

If she lives in Japan and comes to AEW and works a few times a year and goes home, is she part of of 290?

No, because she would be an independent contractor

unless there was some exclusivity here in this country on her contract or agreement that violated across some line.

But yeah, so they're paying these people.

They're not even figured into those tens of millions of dollars they paid the other people.

But it's just ridiculous.

And they've been doing this for five years.

Who wants to see these

clown show pretend wrestlers?

I can understand when old Twinkle Toes was around.

Kenny loved them.

They're all his personal friends, but he's not there anymore.

Can't we get a little relief?

Is this a sign Kenny's about to come back?

Good lord, what is

these?

If Riho shows up on AEW TV within next month, do you think Kenny Omega is absolutely coming back?

It would be a good indication.

It's like she's the canary in the coal mine.

And here comes the other fucking tweety bird.

But so did you see where Mercedes tried to run old Emmy Sakura's head into the turnbuckle and she missed the turnbuckle by a foot with her own head.

I did see that.

Her own fucking head.

She could not run into a stationary target.

She sold it.

The thing was not moving.

It was not on a fucking swivel.

It was her head.

The head is connected to her body.

She should have been able to flung her fucking head into a goddamn immovable object.

I would have to think flinging your head into the turnbuckle is like one of the early things you would learn after learning how to do the basic stuff in wrestling school.

Well,

they claim she's a trainer.

The announcers say she trains, and I can believe it from seeing all these other fucking half-priced fucking discount great value

outlaw fucking women.

This screaming Pillsbury dough girl,

fat fucking bowl of Japanese pudding, at one point she came up behind Camille and gave Camille five fake head rams into the railing.

So now Camille's aura is ruined because she was selling obviously fake shit

before she's ever been physically challenged.

And

especially by this middle-aged Ozempic patient.

And then...

I don't know if she's on Ozempic.

Well, maybe it's the opposite of that that makes you gain weight.

What's that?

Lard injected directly into her veins, I guess.

And then suddenly out of basically nowhere, Camille tripped.

Emmy and Mercedes got a half-assed chin lock with no leverage that looked fake as fuck because

the fat girl could have just turned right out of it and she tapped out.

So then the heels went to beat her up further, but music played.

And here comes Chris Statlander.

And she had a brief flurry with Camille.

And then Camille took a great bump over the top rope.

And again,

especially because they were going to do, they knew they were going to knew.

They knew they were going to do this finish.

If anybody here knew what they were doing,

Emmy Sakura would have never touched Camille.

Because why would you let, again, this fat, dumpy,

underneath, sloppy, fake-looking fucking girl have offense on Camille, who is the bodyguard of your big investment, and you know you're going to do something with your other big girl, Chris Statlander.

What the fuck?

And Chris Statlander and Camille could be a great deal, not in this company,

because nobody knows what they're doing or how to build anything,

and not to start it after one of the worst women's wrestling matches that's ever been televised.

So they got that going for them.

I don't,

did you like it?

No, of course I didn't like it.

What kind of question is that?

Well, I'm trying to make sure I'm not the only one.

You know, Mercedes-Monet is dead in the water.

And then you add Emi Sakura.

Tony's got the big TV money what is the first thing he who's the first person he brings into tv emi sakura

and now that i know mercedes is bald i can't not look for it no she's not bald it's just she has her hair like she's wearing a wig over her own hair

well if you're wearing a wig you're bald if you're wearing a wig you're either bald or close to it well no she just wants

she wants to look flashy she needs to you know not everyone could be a sexy red

Anyway, I'm, I keep waiting for her fucking hair to fall off.

See, that's what makes the matches good now.

And why doesn't one of the,

I was about to say one of the heels, but she's the heel.

Emmy Sakura was the baby face here.

Now that I think about it, I didn't even realize.

Well, that's it.

I'm just telling you.

All right, you want to talk about the Osprey interview?

Yeah, I guess this is one of the big things on the show.

Okay, so Tony Schiavone's Schiavone's in the ring with Will Osprey.

Last week,

our friend Take-A-Shit had jumped Osprey and Ricochet and ruined their match.

It was double disqualification, thrown out, whatever.

The question Tony's asking Osprey, do you think was Don Fallus behind this?

Did he send Take in there?

And Osprey said, yeah, you know, we thought we'd get this settled, but now me and Ricochet are equal because of

the interference.

No, they should have never said that because you're equal with a fucking underneath guy.

Jesus Christ, know how to be a main event guy.

Say we could have settled things and I was on the way to winning when whatever, but nevertheless.

Osprey says,

I want answers from Don.

Get Don out here.

And Don comes out to the horrible one chord music again.

So

is he back to being a heel now?

Because he's been a jovial, beneficent color commentator.

For some of the matches we've seen recently, he hasn't been heelish or done anything.

He gets in the ring and he goes to hug Osprey, and Osprey refuses the hug.

And then Don starts trying to talk, and the AEW audience has picked up the Dominic Mysterio thing and they boo over him.

So he has to yell over him.

But Osprey's trying to badger it it out of him.

Did you send take a shit?

Yes or no?

And Don's like, you don't need to know.

You need to know this.

And no, no, no.

Did you send him?

And they go back and forth.

And finally, Don says, yes.

Yes, I sent him

because you wouldn't have listened.

So I showed you who makes the decisions in the family.

Brian, didn't he just let Osprey out of the family a couple months ago when Osprey went up and said, Hey, Don, I'd like to be out of the family?

Yeah, that's what happened.

And then he was out of the family, but then Don asked him to team with Felcher

for the tag team tournament.

But since they didn't win the tag team titles,

they no longer team.

So why

does Osprey need to listen to Don to begin with?

He doesn't.

It's ridiculous.

And

the whole thing doesn't make any sense.

Who's the babyface?

Who's the heel?

Why is this guy on this guy's side?

Why are these people teaming against these other people when they don't like each other?

It has been

incoherent.

And so then Don said he was mad that Osprey wouldn't use the screwdriver.

And Osprey was pissed at Don, and they continued breaking up.

And then finally,

Don slapped Osprey, and Osprey gave Don a flying beal across the ring.

And then there's take a shit.

And he jumps Osprey.

But Osprey starts fighting back.

And then here comes Felcher.

But Felcher is friends with Osprey, so Osprey won't hit him.

But as he turns,

take Suplex's Osprey.

And then Don

tells Kyle to stab Osprey with a screwdriver.

Boy, I wonder if he took that flying beetle across the ring with a screwdriver in his pocket.

Can you imagine if he'd have stood up and had impaled his fucking heart?

So.

Kyle refuses to stab Osprey with the screwdriver because even though Don is his manager and he's a heel, he's friends with Osprey, who's the babyface that's getting the shit kicked out of him by his other friend in the family, Take-A-Shit, who's a heel.

And then Take-A-Shit just knocks the shit out of Osprey.

And then Ricochet comes out

and take a shit bails out, and Ricochet gives the belt to Osprey, who is back up and apparently in possession of his faculties.

What the fuck is going on here?

The Callis family coming apart, and you have to wonder if Fletcher will eventually turn on Osprey, as they've been teasing for a while, or if he'll also leave the Callis family, who apparently is members we don't even know about.

He sold several to Jake Roberts earlier this episode that we've never seen him with.

Well, he had those people just hanging out in the warehouse.

He put them on clearance.

I don't know why anyone who watches AEW would take Don Calla seriously.

He's a heel, he's a face, he's on commentary, he's just telling jokes with the other commentators,

but he is a screwdriver.

You know, all of this would have been a lot more tolerable if it was like anything else.

You know, if it was a brick, if it was a rock like Darby used,

that would be more tolerable than a screw, something that could kill the person right away.

It's bad.

The Don Calla stuff has always been poorly thought out.

Well, let's go to our main event.

We had a little bit more conversation in the back with people that we don't care about.

And then came

the big match, the tag match, Brian Danielson and Wheeler Useless against Claudio Castignoli and his friend Pac.

So, two of the six-man tag team champions are teaming up against one of the other six-man champion

and their ex-friend Brian Danielson.

And

same kind of match that you see

here from these people all the time now with Useless, who they again is another guy.

Even Garcia looks like Lex Luger next to Wheeler here.

But another guy that because he can do some moves that you could train a chimpanzee to do, suddenly

He's going to be a pillar of the community and the promotion.

And they are are trying to jam him and shoehorn him

down everybody's throats and into

our hearts.

And it ain't never going to work, but it doesn't have to because

they don't need to make any money.

They just get paid the money and they already have the money.

But

this degenerated into

another thing with the plumber and this whole fucking whatever

Tarantino film he's writing in his head.

Danielson makes comeback on Claudio

and suddenly sees the plumber and Marina Schaefer at ringside, and that causes him to run into Claudio's uppercut.

But that's a two count.

And then Pack

gives him the 450 splash and that's a two count.

And then everything grinds to a halt because at that point,

Marina Schaefer jumps up and draws the corpse referee.

They had to have Knox involved in this.

And Pack gets a hammer and goes into the ring and backs right up

way far away from the guy that he was going to hit with the hammer and draws the hammer back over his shoulder so he telegraphed a mile away that Wheeler standing there can grab it.

And then they stared at each other.

And while they were staring at each other, Danielson got the LaBelle lock on pack and he tapped.

And then Danielson is the one that jumped Moxley

out on the floor and they fought to the back and the camera was following them.

So you were in the ring, you were treated to either Marina Schaefer beating up useless or Claudio

giving him fake gut shots with a hammer while they were cutting to the back in the parking area with Danielson and Moxley doing another one of the many fights that they all do in the back of the arena.

And then Danielson and Moxley fight back into the arena

so that they can get in the ring and Danielson can clear the ring and stand there leading the people in

finger-pointing yes chance while poor Wheeler that's been beaten in the stomach with a hammer is laying behind him and he ain't noticing a goddamn like

he doesn't know that wheeler is living on this earth right at that point

and then right as before they go off the air he turns around oh wheeler you okay yeah i'm just puking up blood

but what

that's what that was did i miss any of the fine points i don't think so and you know there's been a real problem and i thought about it during the promo earlier in the show and i've thought about it for a while now brian danielson's devaluation,

which is only partly Tony Khan's fault.

A lot of it's Brian Danielson's fault,

continues.

And there's a fucking record of it now.

Look at the ratings.

When he's in the overrun or any of his segments, no one is excited to see him or anything he's doing right now.

His matches have become long, plotting, boring things for the most part.

Some people really still dig them, but it's a diminishing audience.

He's got this feud with Moxley.

No one cares.

This is the only thing they've been doing on this show that's that's a real feud.

Had no buzz.

No one was going to watch to see it.

Yuda is another one of these guys they're spending all this time on.

It just isn't going to happen.

Claudio, no one cares about.

Marina Shafir is interesting because they've really not established what her role in any of this is.

And then Moxley and Danielson brawling in, brawling out.

Moxley and Danielson were in the same group for years, it seemed like.

And then

he he puts a plastic bag over Danielson's head and doesn't bother to come out and tell us exactly why he did that.

He confuses us with all his blah, blah, blah.

So there's no focus on

why did this happen?

What could Danielson have done to allegedly deserve this?

Why did Moxley make this decision?

Whose side was everybody on?

We know that Wheeler was left in the dark.

It's just, it's indie movie,

you know, acting

auditions for Moxley, who delivers these incoherent statements very convincingly.

If you had a clue what he was talking about, it might be good.

Instead, he just speaks in riddles and nothing ever goes anywhere.

At least he sold a little bit for Danielson.

I don't know if he sold too much for other people, but

the gardeners are here, and that's a perfect way to end this.

That's

the go-home show

for the pay-per-view.

Where everybody went home.

All right, that's the time travel today, ladies and gentlemen.

Well, that sounds like music of some sort.

Sounded like an old man with a tin leg.

I guess it depends how you sort it, And if that's the category you put it in, it doesn't sound really appealing.

But, Jim, speaking of appealing,

let's find out how appealing this week's ratings are.

Now, it's a big ratings story because, again, it's week two of NXT versus AEW in terms of the overall picture, but AEW is actually head-to-head with the second hour of NXT.

And AEW had a few other things ratings-wise.

Well, now, let's put it all out there.

To be fair, it was their

new night for them, Tuesday night instead of Wednesday.

So that hurts.

And

we had hurricanes going on as well as, you know, other things.

So that could hurt everybody.

But then again, they did this last year and they had a titty Tuesday on Dynamite or Title Tuesday or whatever it was.

And

they still did a pretty sizable audience.

So there's things working positively positively and negatively, and we're going to see how this shook out.

But apparently,

it was a real shaky shakeout this week for our friends over in Jacksonville.

Well, why don't we start with our well, your friends in Connecticut?

They're not my friends.

But WWE NXT.

Hey, who, who, who's, I like Adam Pierce.

After that, you know, things go downhill.

Well, this is WWE NXT on CW week two, October 8th, 2024.

Jim, on average, from 8 to 10 p.m.,

874,000 viewers.

Oh, boy, howdy.

That's a pretty good number.

And now, you know, we said that, well, AEW was on an unfamiliar night,

but nobody's been bringing up that, yeah, NXT's only been on this station for two weeks.

So there's a little disruption there.

What night was the vice presidential debate?

Obviously,

there's been a lot of competition, so you didn't know what to think.

Week one is usually a big number.

Week one, for the record, was

895,000 viewers, according to WrestleNomics, down 2% this week.

So they only lost 21,000 people, which is kind of at those numbers and a margin of error.

Quarter one, 8 to 8:15 p.m., a recap of previous events, Trick Williams and Jay Uso's live angle.

If we are going to call that, these were compiled by WrestleNomics.

And an ad break,

941 000 viewers oh

and i i would have said this is network television if you can call cw a network and

that means that the their lead-in is basically local programming 730 to 8 it's primetime adjacency so you know what the lead-in was here what big bang theory

I swear to God, I don't know.

Was that everywhere?

Is that because they don't have...

No, no, that's a local thing, it's New York.

Well, see, that's what I'm saying.

It might not be the Big Bang theory everywhere, it might be anything the local station is programming at 7:30 or 6:30 Central or whatever, everywhere.

Well, we go to quarter two, 8:15, 8:30 p.m.

The Bianca Belair, Jay Cargill, and Kaylani Jordan versus Fatal Influence Match

with

no pictures in pictures, just through ad break,

940,000 viewers

okay so again they're departing heavily from the pattern of AEW big bang theory or no where they only lost a thousand people in the first 15 minutes or first 30 and they gained in the key demo they started at 318 they went to 337

we go to quarter three 830 to 845

the axiom nathan frasier randy orton backstage angle angle they were they were they were conversing in a mild manner.

Julia's backstage promo.

An ad break.

The Roxanne Perez, Cora J.

Julia, Stephanie Vacour live angle.

The No Quarter Catch Crew Lexis King backstage angle.

Oh, that's what those people's names were.

No quarter catch crew.

All right.

927,000 viewers.

Good God, that's a gift from the gods.

They only lost lost 13,000 for that

stew.

By the way, high point in the key demo, 351.

Good lord.

Quarter 4, 8.45 to 9 p.m.

began with an ad break.

And then the start of Oba Femi versus Tony DiAngelo with another ad break in the middle of the match.

891,000 viewers.

Okay, so it took them 45 minutes just to lose 50,000 people and drop below 900.

So they're retaining much of the audience that they started with.

And I assume

from the average that it's not going to go too much farther down from here.

Well, we go to 9 o'clock, the big 9 o'clock hour, quarter five, 9 to 9.15 p.m.

The continuation of Femi versus D'Angelo.

The Lola Weiss Jada Parker backstage angle.

Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.

The Lola Weiss Ava Nikita Lyons backstage angle.

Wasn't there a 70s girl wrestler on the Outlaws she won with Moolah named Lola Kiss?

I don't know.

I never heard that name.

Seems like I remember that, but go ahead.

Nikita Lyons returns and then backstage angles.

Yes.

And then Bel Air Cargill Jordan have a confrontation with Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson.

858,000 viewers.

Okay, a lot of girls on the program.

They're suffering like AEW does.

Too many girls.

Quarter six, 9.15, and 9.30 p.m.

Axiom and Nathan Frazier versus A-Town Down Under

through an ad break and then another ad break.

Good lord.

811,000 viewers.

Boy,

when you read it out just flat like that, I know we took the piss out of it going over it, but it sounds even worse when you just read the bare statistics.

So now they've lost 130,000 people

and

47,000 just in that 15 minutes.

Now

at quarter five and at the top of the hour,

not NXT, but AEW was on.

So did they lose

70 or 80,000 people tuning over to the opposite direction?

We will find out when we go through the quarters on it, or did they just leave and do something else with their life?

Well, we go to the

quarter.

We go to quarter seven, 9:30 to 9:45 p.m.

A chase you video

that chased me off.

The Ridge Holland Chase You backstage angle.

Yeah, I was zoning out on all this shit.

A recap

and the sexy red Ethan Page Javon Evans live angle.

Good lord.

Followed by an ad break.

784,000 viewers.

Okay, and I'm not surprised.

So now,

now they're getting into AEW territory.

116, 157,000 people down from the start of the show.

And finally, quarter eight, 9.45 to 10 p.m.

Network TV.

There ain't going to be any more overtimes.

Overtimes, overruns.

Randy Orton versus Javon Evans

there's an ad break and the Ethan Page Ava Wesley backstage angle

838,000 viewers

the power of Randy Orton he 38 48 54 000 people came back so they started

At 941 they ended at 838 and they only had one quarter below 800

which was very late in the show.

So there wasn't the attrition

that the AEW programs get most of the time, but still they lost, what, 103,000 or about,

what is that, doing math in my head, 12, 13% of the audience they started with.

So it's not 25 or 30, but they lost some.

They picked up some at the end.

Obviously, they had Randy Orton, but when you're on network TV or on, you know, broadcast,

how much of the gain at the end of the show is because of what's on or is because because people are waiting for the 10 o'clock news?

On the CW stations?

On the CW stations.

I wouldn't imagine there's a clamoring for the local news on the CW affiliates.

That's just my

experience as a television person.

They got Kai Di Tong on the weekends, but yeah, that was the NXT.

In all honesty, I don't think that our CW station, and I'd have to check

the

cable guide, I don't think they have news because it is a subsidiary of one of the other major stations in town that has news.

So the only way they would have news is if they're putting the other station's news on

their feed.

Well, Jim, let's talk about the AEW

week of ratings.

Of course, last week, as Dynamite was getting ready to air, they announced the deal, the media rights deal, the extension for three years and a fourth-year option, I believe,

$555 million or so.

Thereabouts.

Who's counting?

I bet they wish they had one Bill Phil right now, but 550 million or so.

And then

what were the viewers going to watch the rest of the week, or did they watch, I guess, is the question.

AEW Rampage

on TNT,

Friday, October 4th, 2024, 10 to 11 p.m.

I believe that's the normal time slot.

Yes.

On average,

216,000 viewers.

Oh, Jesus Christ.

It is the lowest overall number and the lowest in the key demo since August 2nd.

Just so you know, the lineup here:

Shibata and Private Party versus the Elite from 10 to 10.15 p.m.

to 242,000 viewers.

10.15 to 10.30.

Continuation of that.

Statlander and Camille do an angle, an ad break, Harley Cameron does a promo.

Zoe Lynn versus Camille.

Post-match with Mercedes-Monet.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

They brought Camille in to be the bodyguard of their high-priced acquisition, Mercedes.

And not only is Camille getting beat up by some pudgy Japanese doe girl on

Dynamite, but she's already wrestling and on the least important

television program of the company.

What the fuck is the matter with these people?

Well, again, the post-match with Mercedes-Monet, an Anna J promo, a Deanna Perrazzo and Taya Valkyrie promo, 210,000 viewers, below 100,000 now in the key demo at 95.

Quarter three, Queen Almanata versus Harley Cameron.

Oh, she's picture-in-picture and full-screen ads.

The post-match with Serena Deeb and Britt Baker, and then the acclaimed and Billy Gunn did a promo in the back, followed by another ad break, 194,000 viewers, 83,000 in the key demo.

And finally,

10:45 to 11 p.m.,

Big Bill and Brian Keith versus Kyle O'Reilly and Orange Cassidy, picture in picture, post-match with Chris Jericho and Rocky Romero, 219,000 viewers, 88,000 in the key demo.

Thoughts on that Friday Night Rampage?

You were the booker when there was a Friday night show on Turner television and you had other established shows.

Well, now, wait a minute.

Don't say I was the booker.

It's all you're the booker.

I was working on

the creative team.

And yes, and the Friday night, and I was the co-host, along with Jim Ross, of the Friday Night Power Hour.

And

the commercials that we aired did five times these amount of viewers so it's not just friday night

well that was aew rampage

aew collision saturday october 5th 2024 8 to 10 o'clock or 10 p.m as we uh should say here yeah regular time regular time

269 000 viewers on average Good lord.

A new low in the key demo for a non-preemption collision and the lowest number since September 14th and the second lowest ever.

Non-preemption, excuse me.

Now they went head-to-head with Bad Blood on Peacock, as well as college football and baseball and DoorDash and everything else.

At all-night gas station.

Real quick, let's go through these quarters so you can see what was booked on this show.

Quarter one, 8 to 8:15 p.m.

Johnny TV versus Darby Allen, post-match with Brodie King, and then an Outrunners FTR video, 284,000, 83,000 in the key demo.

That's how they opened.

Grizzle young veterans vs.

Outrunners, picture-in-picture, recap, 254.

Quarter three, 8.38.45 p.m., an ad break.

Willow and the conglomeration promo.

Willow and the conglomeration.

That sounds like a 60s fucking

religious band.

Well, then Willow versus Trisha Dora with picture-in-picture and a post-match with Mariah Mae, 249.

Quarter four, 8.45 to 9 p.m.

Wheeler Yuda, Pack, and Claudio's backstage angle.

An ad break, Mariah Mae and Christopher Daniels' backstage angle.

Wheeler Yuda.

I don't know who this is.

Wheeler Yuda versus Beef.

Beef.

All in caps.

Do they have beef with beef now?

All in caps, beef.

Beef.

And following beef is Hook with a backstage promo, followed by a recap, 259.

Oh, the meat hook brought 10,000 people back to the show.

And then they kind of rest into a pretty steady place.

The premier athletes versus the conglomeration, picture-in-picture, post-match with Rocky Romero and Mark Sterling, Lance Archer, and Don Callis angle and ad break, 275 at 9 o'clock.

9.15, they go to 277 for Mercedes, Statlander, Camille's angle.

Hologram versus Commander versus Nick Wayne versus Action Andretti.

Why, he's still there?

With picture and picture.

9.30 to 9.45.

The match continues.

The Beast Mordos, Undisputed Kingdom angle.

Zoe Lynn versus Chris Statlander.

Post-match Mercedes, Camille, Darby.

No, excuse me.

Darby has a promo and an ad break 279.

They close at 272 for top flight versus private party versus the house of black with picture and picture.

So before we get to dynamite.

Well, now say what you want, but that's the most consistent

program that they have aired.

They started at 240.

or 284.

The lowest they got was 249, and then they finished up at 272.

So

all they need to do is start out with nobody watching to begin with, and they won't lose any viewers.

If you have a show that you know doesn't have viewers, and it's tough to get them back in the door of the ones that were there before,

what do you do?

Because obviously, from reading these lineups, especially Collision, it's a lot of stuff that ended up referenced on Dynamite.

or comes off Dynamite.

And Dynamite spends a lot of time promoting Rampage and collision it doesn't seem to help

what do you do i mean you have this b show

should you have dynamite kind of exist on its own like what would you do if you have a b show that people don't watch

well they've got a c show that people don't watch and a b show that a lot of people don't watch

And they're at least getting rid of Rampage, and that's a good idea.

And if they,

what do they think they're going to do if they sell somebody else a new program?

How is it going to be better than Rampage?

With Saturday and Wednesday,

they had an idea of making different talents.

So if you like,

you know, the house of black,

then you got to watch on Saturday night or whatever.

But obviously, they're not deep enough in talent.

They've got plenty of guys.

And girls, but nobody's over because of Tony's insistence on booking to the smallest common denominator and throwing everything out there.

Slow it fucking down.

Because nobody,

you're just wasting your time having Sockface rattle off a bunch of endless matches with a graphic on Wednesday that you're going to see on Saturday.

Because who can keep track of all this shit anyway?

The smallest group that's going to even take more notes than I do.

So slow down, calm down,

concentrate on getting

your top talent on both shows

and have things that happen on Wednesday continue on Saturday and then branch off to the next Wednesday where they're going to be resolved potentially.

Fewer guys that people can focus on

in shit that matters and that interests them interacting with the other talent.

And then, you know, eliminate the fucking bottom 75 fucking goofs that nobody gives a shit about that pop up every once in a while.

And focus

on who you think might draw you some ratings or some interest.

And

don't have them all hitting each other with sledgehammers and cricket bats every goddamn week.

Because it's just endless.

It's repetition over and over

with angles and chaos.

And every match ends in the heels, whether they win or lose, they're going to jump the baby faces.

Every interview, somebody's going to run out and get in a fight.

Every backstage interview, somebody's going to run from six feet away that the person being interviewed never saw and blindside them.

How many people have been run over with cars in this company?

It's just, you can't, it means nothing because it's just miscellaneous chaos.

So that's the problem.

It's not the time slots or even the roster.

The roster is too big, but the people that mean something don't mean anything.

What do you think of anything?

And again, we'll talk dynamite ratings in a second.

What can be done to freshen up the show?

You have a reality there that you're not going to draw a lot of fans to a dynamite.

For the most part, every now and then you'll get one that you get like 4,000 people or 6,000 people.

But the crowds are going down, especially when they return to a market.

The crowds go down.

We just saw in NXT, there are small rooms you can get and make them look good.

But the biggest thing that happened to WWE was Lee Fitting coming on as executive producer.

And everyone who raved for years about WWE production realized how behind the times the

top end of the production was.

Yeah.

Everything looked good, but it could look a whole lot better and connect a whole lot better.

Feel just live all the time.

AEW looks the same,

even though they have a different Michael Mansuri came in after the fact, right?

It opened with Keith Mitchell in charge directing it, I think, right?

Yeah,

and Keith retired from what I understand, and whoever this

other fellow is that was working for Kevin Dunn.

So now WWE's moved away from Kevin Dunn.

They look like Steven Spielberg.

And

I mean, you know, the show looks

professional, AEW, but

it doesn't.

I mean, they make some puzzling production errors at times.

Well, yeah, but there's only so much you can do with

a 10 or 12 or 15 or 20,000 seat building with 2 or 3 or 4,000 people in it.

And otherwise, as you mentioned, you know, maybe this guy is

good for government work, as they they say, but maybe they need somebody else with a more...

You know, if you're making an independent film and you know you haven't got a $100 million Hollywood blockbuster budget,

don't put a scene in your movie where you're trying to part the Red Sea unless you can pay for it.

Their indie movies can be artful.

and can look

fucking great and can,

you know, change the game or whatever.

But, you know,

if you don't have the budget for the multi-million dollar CGI special effects or whatever, don't try to make that movie.

If you're not able to put 20,000 people in a 20,000-seat building, don't try to do that.

Try to give your thing a look that fits either your budget or your resources or your

ability to draw people.

So, yeah, smaller buildings with an underground look and

some cool avant-garde cinematographer that may can

give them a different look, that could help out.

I don't even think it has to be underground.

It just has to look like there's energy.

Well, I say underground, like, you know,

the Dabocato.

No, I'm not talking about raw underground.

I'm talking about like a fucking underground indie record label that does really good music or, you know,

Dolph Ramser or somebody like that or whatever.

Dabocato.

That

makes it look different, but you've still got to have the content, the substance.

You can't just have a bunch of miscellaneous guys in Halloween masks running around doing cartwheels.

You have to have something that people really want to watch because it's that person.

It's that star.

It's that angle.

It's that program between two guys or whatever.

And the booking is not going to to change because Tony can't change.

And they still have fans that love them.

And you know that the ticket sales really don't matter.

If they mattered, maybe they would care more and pay closer attention to marketing, promoting, selling tickets, promoting shows that sell tickets.

They care how many people buy tickets for the pay-per-view.

But Dynamite.

Like you said, they're running these big buildings.

Why not own it?

You know, we're doing an AEW theater tour for the next 12 weeks.

Small buildings, exclusive tickets, the most exclusive ticket in wrestling.

And every building has a different look.

And customize it.

If you get 750 or your most vocal fans in there, and it's a small building, you can make it look good and make it look cool, just something,

instead of just these giant dead buildings.

And everything feels dead.

And there are some fans there that really like it.

But when you're like the lone person screaming in a big empty building,

it doesn't help the broadcast at all.

It's no, when the announcers have to go to the golf voice because they don't want to be heard over the silent crowd.

And even Uncle Dave this week wrote a

an open letter to Tony Khan in The Observer and disguised it as reporting on the situation.

But it's a a letter to Tony

about he, Tony needs to, it's it's not Dave, it's Tony.

Tony needs to do some things in this relationship for it to be able to work

because even Uncle Dave is admitting the things that we have been saying.

Of course, he'll still for a while, he'll put a paragraph in there like now.

Tony has still made more money than God, and he's a genius, but

and then he goes four more paragraphs about everything that's wrong, that we've been talking about is wrong, that they can't make stars, that their ticket

buying patrons are dwindling.

Hey, can I ask you about that?

The idea that throughout wrestling history, what are your thoughts on the first sign that, and obviously it's a different world now because of ratings, but the first sign that there's a problem is always ticket sales.

Yeah.

And it's been clear that AEW

has a company-wide problem for a while.

Again, I think sometimes they're able to pretend it's not there.

Not everything's Wembley, but they're about to get like 7,000 people for their pay-per-view in Washington.

That's a pretty good crowd.

Maybe it'll be 8,000.

But then they're going to go back to like 1,500.

And who knows how many of those are comps for dynamite in a big NBA arena.

So they kind of like lie to themselves that, look, we're doing great.

Wembley.

And then, like, the rest of the year, all those crowds together equal Wembley.

Maybe.

Maybe.

52.

Well, no,

this year, this year, they'll more than equal Wembley.

Yeah, this year they will.

Well, that's the thing.

It is true.

Ticket sales were always, before pay-per-view was even a thing,

ticket sales were your lifeblood because that's how you made your money.

But you could tell when interest in the product was going down because

the most dedicated fans, the ones who usually came.

and bought tickets every week or every two weeks or every month, whatever the schedule was, they started slacking off.

Nobody paid attention to the ratings because it was all local ratings anyway, as long as your local station was happy.

But

the ratings usually, even till the end of a territory, were still massive by today's numbers, especially, but even massive by those numbers because,

as Teeny Jarrett used to say, Wrestling fans are creatures of habit.

So

they would continue to watch the TV show because it's what they did every week and they had for years and years.

And they wanted to see who was going to be coming to the Mid South Coliseum Monday night or whatever.

But there were periods where either the talent or the angles or whatever would cool off and your houses would be down until you could find a new guy to come in, a new angle to shoot, a new program to start with your top guys that would turn things around.

You didn't really lose the TV audience until the place was ready to go under.

And that didn't happen all that much.

Think about how many territories actually,

without being in a war or whatever, just suddenly went out of business in the territory days.

Not that fucking many.

Not too many.

And usually it was because Sheik and Bruiser got too old and all their friends got too old or something like that.

So the fans always watch the TV.

But

that's the thing.

They can't keep these people watching the TV.

But the ticket sales are the first indication because if you can't get your most dedicated fans to go and see you live, then the average person that has a life and kids and don't really care and don't have time ain't going to sit down and stop everything to watch the TV show.

See, that's their biggest problem.

There are a lot of fans who were dismissed, who didn't really like AEW, who really spoke for a larger fan base, who don't talk to wrestling fans online or anything.

People ignored a lot of the things.

And the first thing that happened was they burned off, whatever you want to call them, casual fans, WWE fans willing to check out something else.

Because WWE sucked for a while and they were ready to see something new.

And even with a few familiar names, they'd give it a chance.

That started things.

The company drama, which didn't look good for AEW.

I mean, look at the trajectory of the company since they aired the CM Punk Jack Perry footage.

It's astounding.

The crowds, the shadings, everything went down.

And again, there was two possible reactions from the people who knew what the whole story was and were on the internet and knew what was going on.

They just thought, well, this is the stupidest thing they've ever done to show this.

And for the people who didn't know,

they didn't do anything to explain it, and it was equally as stupid.

And now they started losing some of their fans, some of the people who really loved the company, and stole by a pay-per-view.

They started saying, you know, there are other things I could do on this night.

And even their YouTube numbers aren't as strong as they used to be.

It's the same thing.

It's not wrestling, it's this brand of wrestling and the booking.

There's only so much of an audience for big matchups, not based around feuds or titles or

reason.

Well, besides that, can we say something out loud here that nobody else is saying?

Because Dave will say it, even when he's saying, well, they need to create stars and they need to promote the towns better and they did this and that.

They have great madness.

No, they don't have great matches.

Then nobody, even the WWE right now, they ain't having a ton of great matches.

It's there and the stars are over and

you know, they're on a roll.

But the idea that AEW is just putting together great matches, but that alone won't,

that is assuming that any knucklehead thinks that hologram and the cosmic commander, what's his name?

Whoever, the general, Lazad, whatever his fucking name is.

He was the cosmic commander of wrestling.

He was a manager in the Indies, Cosmo.

Okay, well, Kramer, whoever, the point is, these, these ain't great matches.

These are not great wrestling matches.

These are goddamn indyrific clown show goddamn matches.

And that's a big thing also, because most people,

even that watch wrestling programs, don't want to see two miscellaneous children doing gymnastics.

It's just not a thing that a lot of people are going to want to look at.

So these are not great wrestling matches.

They're great

exhibitions of tumbling or whatever the fuck they are.

Or they call great matches where the guy stuck the fucking hypodermic needle in the other guy's face.

Sorry, that's not a great match.

You know, we don't have an answer to this, just thinking out loud as Swami barks at the mailman.

But Ricochet comes over here and he has that match with Osprey.

And it's a rematch of matches they had on the indies that fans went crazy for.

We saw the memes.

You remember the clips that were going around, whatever, eight years ago, nine years ago?

Yeah, it stunk then, and it was worse when they're eight years older, but go ahead.

But I guess the AEW core audience is the fan that went crazy for that and wanted more of that style of wrestling.

If you're a WWE fan who only knows Ricochet from WWE or NXT,

and all of a sudden you're watching this and he's not having a match that in any way is competitive, it's more just, it's my turn to do something, now you do something.

I could do what you do, you do what I do.

It's a show.

And again, it's not a dream match to an audience that doesn't give a shit about what happens on the Indies or or what happened eight years ago.

Yeah, no, the Rock versus Roman Reigns is a dream match, right?

These are nightmare matches.

So that's the point

is that they're saying, well, great matches alone.

Well, no, a lot of these are not great matches.

You just think they are because this is the kind of wrestling you've been watching and you've apparently never seen the good shit.

And that's a small group of people.

So I wish everybody would quit saying great matches alone.

Some great matches would help.

They had Punk and MJF.

They had FTR and Robinson and

Switchblade or Light Switch or whatever is, I can't even remember what I call him now.

Bing Bang.

Bing Bang.

Walla, walla, bing bang.

You know, they, yes, they have some great matches, but the people or the matches that most of these people say are great matches are not great fucking matches.

They're rotten, goddamn bullshit, indie matches.

Well, look at the Bucks.

And that's what's keeping them from growing.

Look at the Bucs is the greatest example of that because those are the matches that Dave's love more than anything.

They have, you know, five-star matches up the gazoo for matches that were just average.

The 13-time tag team of the year in the Wrestling Observer newsletter.

But you could talk about how great you think their matches are.

The crowds now are getting to the level Ring of Honor was when they left Ring of Honor and took everyone and started AEW with Tony Khan.

So how great are their matches?

No one's paying to see them.

Besides that, I've always used this example going back 25 years because

it's always been true.

And I used it with the WWF, say, okay, when we were in the NWA trying to fight the war in the 80s, okay, we're the Boston Celtics.

They're the Harlem Globetrotters.

We're serious about this.

This is sport to us.

It's a show up there.

It's entertainment wrestling.

That was the delineation.

But the same thing is true.

If the Harlem Globetrotters were still a goddamn major deal today, Metal Arc Lemon and Curly Neal were still alive,

you still wouldn't go to see them if they were in town 45 times, right?

Because it's a show.

You laugh.

You like the wizardry of the passes, the dribbling routine, the bucket, is it going to be water or confetti?

But the basketball fans that are in love with their team and want to see basketball as a sport,

in Boston, they'll go 45 times a year or however many home games they play.

Because it's always different and you don't know what's going to happen and you want to see your guy win.

It's not just about watching people put on a fucking performance of gymnastics or simulated violence or

how many times can you watch somebody go through a fucking table?

Well, there's the thing, too.

We just saw Punk v.

McIntyre.

If something like that happened in AEW, it more than likely wouldn't be the only match on the show that was that violent.

Exactly.

This took months to get to this match.

And I think with AEW, there's a lot of matches that are thrown together, and there's never a road to get there that people invest in or care about.

And you can't have any more feuds about friendship or hugging or you're my friend.

I thought you were my friend.

What happened?

It's a continuing problem that doesn't get better and it's not going to.

And by the way, you know, I'll throw this out there, throw this at you and then we'll move on with the ratings.

In terms of goodwill,

At what point does it become good for Tony Khan to announce that he's stepping down as head of creative?

Oh, boy, I'd love to hear that next week because our job would be a lot easier.

At what point will something like that cause more people to check out the show?

Because he's training the audience to not care.

And it's now affecting his most hardcore base.

And

they're starting to hemorrhage the key demo.

See, here's the thing.

I think.

I don't think that would really help at any point because for the people who are most dedicated to the company and are going to watch a whatever, I think they still like Tony.

And I think they still think that, oh, yeah, he's a great booker.

I'd do the exact same thing, which is the problem.

All the fucking marks on the internet would do the exact same thing.

But for

the fans who either are like, this show sucks, or we don't know what's going on, or we're not going to watch anymore, or we've lost our enthusiasm.

If Tony Khan said, well, I'm just going to, I'm going to quit and I'm going to let somebody else book, would it make any difference to them?

Because

do they really understand

why the show is not appealing to them anymore?

Why they don't understand anything?

Do they think it's the wrestler's fault?

Or it just we don't like those wrestlers?

Or whatever?

Or do they, are they smart enough to the business to know, no, this is Tony Khan telling these people to do this shit or letting them do whatever the fuck they come up with for an idea without bothering to, you know, edit it or make sure it's any good.

So

would it really make any difference if Tony said, I'm getting somebody else?

And then who would he get?

Well, that's a separate problem.

Who would he get?

Will Wheaton?

Jennifer Pepperday?

Who's he going to get?

I don't think those would be good suggestions.

Jim, let's talk about AEW Dynamite's ratings this past week on TBS Tuesday, October 8th.

So Tuesday night dynamite.

Title Tuesday,

9 to 11:10 p.m.

A preempted airing, it says here from WrestleNomics.

Well, and also that is somewhat like Jumbo Shrimp and government intelligence.

If it's preempted, it didn't air at all.

It's an airing outside the normal time slot.

On average, watched by 329,000 viewers.

They are down 52% from last week, which was Jesus, which was 680,000 viewers.

According to WrestleNomics, this is the new low for the overall number and the key demo for any Dynamite episode, preempted or not.

See, again, when he uses preempted there, that means the blank screen got a higher ratio.

Yeah, that's possible.

So, Rampage 216, collision 269 and dynamite 329 if you add those up you get 814 000 they were still

60 000 below the nxt program on tuesday night on a second week on its new station because people knew that it was going to be there because of promotion

Well, let's go to these numbers here.

And I don't know what the lead-in was.

I'm not sure.

Possibly footage of the evacuation.

Everybody, leave your homes.

Get the fuck out now.

Even if you're in Idaho, just get the fuck out of your homes.

Well, quarter one, 9 to 9:15 p.m.

The Jon Moxley backstage speech, the Brian Danielson promo that was shot on a camcorder,

the Darby Allen Brody King live angle, Jake Roberts negotiating with Lance Archer and Don Callis backstage, and an ad break,

450,000 viewers.

Okay, and at the same time,

NXT was doing 858,000 for their quarter five, and that was a drop of

33,000 people.

So we were asking, we wonder if some of the NXT people went over to AEW.

We may be about to find out.

Quarter two, 9:15 to 9:30 p.m.

The Daniel Garcia live promo and the start of hologram versus commander with picture in picture

292,000 viewers.

Oh, wait a minute.

I'm going to quote Percy Pringle.

Oh, sweet Jesus.

103,000 in the key demo.

They lost

158,000 people out of 450,000.

They lost 33% of their audience from quarter one to quarter two.

How the fuck does that work?

Well, we go to quarter three, 9.30 to 9.45 p.m., the end of Hologram versus Commander with the Postmaster.

So wait a minute.

We forgot to compare.

Oh, quarter two did 811,000 people.

For NXT.

For NXT, as opposed to, well, the quarter six, which was opposite quarter two.

The point is,

at nine o'clock, NXT had 858,000

and AEW had 450,000.

And we asked the question: when NXT dropped to 811 in the next quarter, did 40-something thousand

go over to AEW?

And the answer is no.

At AEW land, 158,000 people said fuck it and left.

Well, we go to quarter three,

930 to 945 p.m the end of hologram versus commander the post-match with jake roberts and lfi

helifino

the mark briscoe backstage promo the daniel garcia live promo i guess the other thing wasn't the promo that was just him arriving

the ej

EJ duca

uh forgive me I missed this E.J.

Naduka Swerve Strickland backstage angle

I don't remember that either.

That's what it says here.

I don't know who is E.J.

Nuka Naduka.

N-D-U-K-A.

I don't know.

I missed that.

I've seen his name in writing, but I've never seen him.

And then MVP and Shelton Benjamin's backstage angle and an ad break.

296,000 viewers.

Okay, and that's opposite 784,000 for NXT, and NXT had lost also.

That was sexy red.

That was sexy red.

Yeah.

That was the lowest rated quarter of NXT because of Red and her lack of sexiness.

But they still didn't show up over at AEW.

They just went somewhere else.

Well, we go to quarter four, 9.45 to 10 p.m.

The Mercedes-Monet Camille Backstage promo.

Daniel Garcia being congratulated by Wrestlers Backstage

for deciding to sign a contract.

And the start of Soraya versus Nyla Rose versus Willow Nightingale versus Jamie Hayter.

286,000 viewers.

Ooh.

And

that was opposite 838,000

for

Randy Orton and

the fellow who couldn't hit the RKO.

Well, we now go to quarter five.

Now they're unopposed.

They're unopposed.

The big 10 o'clock hour.

Do you know where your children are?

They continue.

They're wrestling on AEW.

The continuation of the four-way women's match, the post-match with Mariah May,

the Learning Trees confrontation with Rocky Romero,

Jay White versus Cody Chun,

Hook and Kip Sabian, and the Patriarchy's backstage angle.

And an ad break,

334,000 viewers.

Well, so

they picked that 14,

48,000 people at the top of the 10 o'clock hour.

Maybe some of the NXT folks did come over to see some more

wrestling to see how the other half lived.

Quarter six, 10.15 to 10.30 p.m.

The Willow Nightingale Mariah May backstage angle.

Mercedes-Monet versus Emmy Sakuro with picture-in-picture and the post-match with Camille and Chris Statlander.

323,000 viewers.

And Samore said, well, that's enough of that.

11,000 to be exact.

So

they're struggling.

Where are they going for the big finish?

We now go to quarter seven, 10.30 to 10.45 p.m.

The private party confrontation with Stokely Hathaway.

The Will Ospreay Don Callis family angle.

The action and ready confrontation with Top Flight and Layla Gray.

Was that who that I forgot who the fuck that was.

I knew Top Flight.

Didn't recognize the girl, but I'd forgotten what Action Andretti looked like.

Layla Gray.

How could you ever forget what she looks like?

Fine.

Because I don't care.

Well, we go now to quarter eight.

I remind you, there's an overrun.

10:45 to 11 p.m.

An ad break.

The Jack Perry promo.

And the start of Brian Danielson and Wheeler Utah versus Claudio and Pac with Picture and Picture.

296,000 viewers.

10-minute overrun, 11 to 11, 10 p.m.

Continuation of the match, post-match with Moxley and Marina Shafir,

328,000 viewers.

The lowest dynamite in history.

And I'm surprised, honestly, that the overrun picked up because what do they normally have at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday night?

Movies for guys who like movies.

Well, that used to do big.

Yeah.

So they started at 450,000.

At the end of regulation, they were at 296,000.

That means they had lost 154,000 people or just over

one-third of the audience they started with.

And then they made a slight comeback to 328,000 in the overrun.

Now, again, though, this isn't the only time they'd gone against NXT

or that they had to move to a Tuesday night.

It's never been this result.

It's never been this result, though.

A couple of years ago, they were making a big deal.

We won the Wednesday night war because they were doing like,

what was it, 100,000 people more than NXT?

And

then the network moved NXT and they, oh, we declare victory.

Well,

the worm has turned and the shoe is on the other.

I don't know if they've even got shoes on their feet now.

You know, the victory lap everyone in that company who does the public rah-rah for them was taking because of the media rights deal.

It's like the Young Bucks victory lap after Punk was fired.

You know, you're doing it in empty buildings.

No one's paying to go to see these shows.

Less and less people are watching these shows.

And it's all Tony.

Who's only getting busier, who's only getting busier.

Oh, and that's Uncle Dave also mentioned the 19-hour days that Tony is putting in, not only with the wrestling, but also with the football and the analytics and the statistics and whatever else he's doing.

And as you said, it's only going to get worse.

And,

you know, everybody's talking about, well, they're going to be profitable and they're getting guaranteed money from a television network on the theory that they will bring eyeballs.

And it's kind of a fucking embarrassing situation that the very week that they announce this thing, they do the lowest ratings in the history of their shows.

And

I'm saying, you know,

whether they're profitable or

we do not doubt and we fully admit they are taking in a shit ton of money.

And they already had a shit ton of money.

But the problem is, as we've established, they're also spending a shit ton of money.

And whether you are profitable or not,

if nobody wants to look at the stuff you're doing

and nobody's watching it,

then at some point, they just canceled SmackDown on Fox, and it was drawing 2 million people.

Well, it's not worth it to us what we're paying.

Are Are these numbers or anything like them

worth what they're being paid?

And is

WBD in three years going to go, what the fuck were we thinking?

They are doing this to themselves.

It's not like there's a goddamn pandemic and they can't have crowds in the buildings or there's some

horrible fucking financial crisis and nobody can afford to go and do anything.

That won't happen again unless Trump gets elected.

It's not exterior forces that are at work to hold AEW down.

It's the shit they've done to themselves because Tony has viewed this thing from the start as his plaything

instead of a goddamn way to make money.

And because of his billionaire father and the fact that they've already owned pro football teams and

all the other things that they own or have invested in, minus the black news channel, it didn't work out.

They know the people that will give them more money.

But at some point, you've got to do something to justify the money that people are paying you to do something.

And again, that company...

has a lot of trouble right now and a lot of debt.

If the AEW numbers, they're not going to be 300,000 every week right now for dynamite, but if they continue to go down, if the key demo number continues to go down,

if AEW, as it has, continues to go down in every single metric,

it's going to look really bad.

And then it'll be a story.

Look at what they spent their money on when they were having all these problems.

And for all these wise ass that go, well, they just, they're haters.

They want, they love the WWE, so they want AEW to go out of business.

I don't love the WWE either.

Honestly, it actually, my opinion is all this fucking wrestling sucks.

There is occasionally a goddamn bright spot like Punk and McIntyre in a hell of a cell or what FTR used to do as tag team.

But otherwise, I think all this shit sucks.

I'm not pulling for anybody.

I'm pulling for somebody to pull their head out of their ass and do this shit right,

which is why I'm especially offended at these knuckleheads over here blowing their opportunities.

Nobody's ever been willing to spend

a quarter of a billion dollars just to start a fucking wrestling company that will perform at

20 or 30% of the goddamn industry leader.

Nobody has ever been willing to do that because nobody's ever been goddamn insane before.

But now that they've done it, I'd like for it to have worked.

Well, there's still time.

Tony Tony may turn into a booking genius.

You never know.

I think Eddie Graham.

Maybe

it'll just strike him one night.

Eddie Graham will rise from the grave before Tony figures out what he's doing.

Hey, with the flooding in Tampa, maybe the grave will come up.

You never know.

Oh, you know, good point there.

All right.

Well, let's end on that really good point or bad point, depending on what kind of taste you have.

Well, you've got a point there, but if you comb your hair right, nobody will notice it.

Jim,

let's get a song or two before I go to the Calimba.

play that funky music white boy this was sent to corneady drivethrough gmail.com

he has submitted songs in the past aaron donato aka captain quorum

and i believe we called him captain scrotum and uh yeah he referenced it here from wilmington delaware yes let's go to this he said you requested an omnibus theme song and here it is there's a lot of ball sacks up in uh delaware

Jim Cornett and Brian Last bring you the Somnibus.

An extra long best of their podcast right here on this omnibus.

So join your fellow cult members riding on the bus.

And hear what you missed or what you remember on this omnibus.

You'll know you've been hit when you get hit by an omnibus.

When that happens, call Stephen P.

New.

Now here's the omnibus.

Your host should be talking by now.

Riding on the bus.

So by the time this seems done, it's all faded out.

Now here's the omnibus.

All right.

Felt like I was at Newport.

I was about to say, very folky.

Maybe get the Carter family to come in here with a mandolin.

Very good, very good, Captain Scrotum.

I would play my sound effect, but I don't think you could hear it.

Well, that's very good.

Because I'm on the filter again.

Well, there we go.

You are on the filter, just like

some of these songs should probably be, but let's get at least one more, Jim.

This was...

By the way, we're smart to some of you cheaters out there that are doing the AI thing.

Everybody can sound like goddamn Elton John if they got the AI behind them.

We want the real stuff,

the organic stuff, the stuff that smells like manure.

All right, well, let's go to this next one.

I don't know what the smell will be.

This was sent by Sean,

and it is a song called Driving to the Castle.

Let's go to this.

Let me stop it right there.

It has to be AI.

That's got to be AI.

It's It's got in hire a fucking band.

I packed up my car.

Leave

in Virginia Beach.

Drove up to Castle Cornette Green.

It's just in my reach.

Little Bismo on a mission.

To meet my hero Jim.

I thought we'd share some stories.

Maybe even a burger burger with extra cheese.

A road stretched out before me.

Wander in the air.

Jim will be so happy

to meet me.

Let me stop it.

Nothing has rhymed yet, has it?

No, but

his twang does.

What do you think of the idea this is not a real person singing this?

Well, it sounds better than the real people.

So

can AI give blowjobs?

I don't.

Then there'd be no reason for women, would there?

See, I just did that so everybody will think I'm sexy.

So there's an AI machine that would be giving you this blowjob?

Well, I don't know.

AI or BJ or some type of machine.

All right.

Shall we play more or shall we call it for the AI song from Sean?

It's up to you.

It's your show.

All right.

We're going to call it because it's AI.

Once we discover your AI, you never know what will happen.

Yeah.

There goes that one.

Well, it's like Popping these people for being on steroids.

Once we find out you're cheating, your records have to be expunged.

All right, here's one.

I don't think we played this.

If we did, I apologize, but he has sent songs in the past.

I am the Pelican in London, UK.

Everything is sung, spoke, played, and produced by me.

Hope you like it.

Let's go to this.

Ladies and gentlemen, you are now tuned in to Mr.

Jim Cornette.

Let's that time begin.

There's a big old dose of wrestling to review.

I know it's sometimes bleak The things you see from week to week Don't it displease you

If you're really sick and tired of tiny indirect mind Goofing off on your TV screen Getting paid to fulfill the millionaire's dream There's just one man you got to know To save you from these awful shows If the muck shows to a fed, then you are our friends Oh, then God

good.

Yeah.

Forget today's malaise.

Jim's got stories of the good old days to tell you

Yeah, and stories from the castle, Cars on Fences, Wildlife Castle and the Munro Cool

Got questions you'd like to ask Send them to Greg Ryan Lash via email or the Facebook group if you can get it, I'm still trying to Yeah, bad boys got you down Tune yourself into the sound Of of the greatest wrestling mind.

Thank you, fuck you, bye.

If you've been mistreated or been deceived,

call 877-50 Steve

Just come on down, jump in your car.

We'll welcome you in with a great big

Yeah, fuck AI.

How about that?

Wow.

Woo, must say.

How about that organization?

Yeah, that's some rock and roll.

Great stuff.

I got it.

Can you hear me clapping?

No, thank God.

Holy shit.

Well, we're going to try to work on this noise filter.

I'd make all kinds of noises and applauses if that was not the case, but that was great.

Excellent job.

You can't replace the human being.

Now, see if you could just get human beings to give as good a blowjob as

he just made a human being record.

You wouldn't need AI blowjob machines.

I don't know what you just said, but you just said I'm not sure either.

I don't think we're going to top that.

So, with that, the drive-through is closed.

All right.

No AI involved in the music coming out of Last Matter.

It just says.

Well, we can certainly tell that.

Well, we could tell you more on the experience in a few days.

And of course, the drive-through next week, wherever you find your favorite podcast, go through the archives, patreon.com/slash Cornette.

$5 a month goes back to 2013, patreon.com slash Cornette.

The official Jim Cornette YouTube channel, the one and only official home of Jim Cornette on YouTube.

Subscribe today.

Full episodes, clips of the episodes, Omnibus Collections, the official Jim Cornette YouTube channel, Cornettes Collectibles at JimCornet.com.

What's going on, Jim?

Our sale is going on.

It's going on right now.

Go to JimCornet.com, the brand new and final action figure variant, the thank you fuck you buy t-shirts are back.

And if you have ordered over the last week that the sale has been going on, your purchases are going to be headed out starting this week.

I'm signing a bunch of shit and we're going to get this thing rolling.

At jimcornet.com.

Of course, the drive-thru is brought to you by the law office of Stephen PNU, 877-50 Steve.

Get even with Stephen at newlawoffice.com.

For Jim Cornette, I'm the great Brian Last.

We'll see you on the experience next week, right back here on the drive-thru.

Tally-ho!

Tip-top titty-to-to-