WWE Great Balls of Fire and Battleground Review

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conditions apply Ladies and gentlemen, welcome

to the podcast arena. Coming to the ring at this

time. Welcome to Mayhem Mikes. This is episode

25 of Mayhem Mikes here on the GeekCaster network.

And this week in Geek, I'm of course, TfMike.

Joining me is Ryan Fulmerclay. Hello, sir. Yo.

Yo. So it's been a while. There have been three

pay -per -views at this point, which we're going

to catch up on all of them. And there's been

a lot of Raw and SmackDown and everything else

since... Lame rules of payback or whatever it

was that we did last and yeah This may or may

not be the last episode of may and Mike's. I'm

not sure just yet because honestly I'm get like

before summer slam. I was getting like ready

like ready to just kick WWE the curb it just

Week in and week out both shows have not been

that great before summer The post shows weren't

half bad. They weren't great either. No, yeah,

I'm talking about like Raw and Smackdown in general.

It's like, they've not been what Shane and Stephanie

originally promised when they did the whole brand

split and yadda yadda yadda. I get it things

change storyline changes injuries yada yada yada

and all that you know we've already said multiple

times on the show we don't want to see anybody

get injured but it's like if an injury happens

and then they have to scramble well when they

scramble they burn the eggs because sometimes

they come up with storylines that just make no

damn sense some of the storylines are actually

going to be helped by injury we'll get into it

with the pay -per -view reviews but I didn't,

you know, certainly don't want to see Cass injured,

but the whole thing with Enzo's run way too long

and been terrible. And the segments on Raw have

been long and pointless. And Enzo is good on

the mic, but much like Bray Wyatt, that doesn't

mean you give him a microphone and tell him to

fill up five minutes of rambling. You know, you

still need a destination or something to work

to and he hasn't had it. So that's been awful.

Then anytime there's a match, you know, Cass

just throws him around like a rag, though, because

Enzo's not a particularly good wrestler in real

life. Not trying to knock the guy, but he's just

not great. And Cass is on his way up is the other

reason. Oh, and you know, see the obvious one,

Cass is like three feet taller than he is. So

there's that. But it just hasn't been entertaining.

So that's one I'm kind of glad's been kiboshed.

Yeah. And some of the other stuff, we'll get

into the setup of it. But things like Strom and

Brock are definitely intriguing. Sina. Rains

is intriguing At least I think it's interesting.

I do too. Yeah, I mean But like the lead -up

to great balls of fire the lead -up to the battleground.

It just didn't know they weren't good Rocket

League presents WWE great balls of fire Great

Balls of Fire, just getting straight into it,

yeah. Opened with and we're gonna skip the pre

-shows for these unless something really important

happened With great balls of fire though. The

pre -show was probably the best match of the

night and it wasn't on the main card So that

was kind of a mistake and that was to Zola versus

Neville. They've always put on entertaining matches

So anyway, we opened with Rollins versus Wyatt

which oh So I mean this Feud was not good Was

very short -lived. Thank God. Yeah, and these

two guys just didn't gel I hate to say it but

Rollins really ever since they turned him face

when he came back It feels like he's been kind

of searching for some footing or figuring out

what his character is. I'll find it soon Oh,

yeah, he's a talented guy and I think he's helped

a lot by being paired up with Dean now which

we'll get into but Why it's not a guy to you

know have in Against somebody who's trying to

search for who they are and why it's super rudderless

slash without direction He wins which was surprising

here, but it really doesn't help him. He doesn't

seem important. He doesn't You know, we he always

gets comparisons to the undertaker Think of how

important it always felt anytime the undertaker

showed up even before he was a part -timer When

he showed up and it was weekly, you still knew

some shit was gonna happen. Right. And... Bray

shows up and you turn the channel. Yeah, exactly.

I mean, you know, it's like, oh, Bray Wyatt shows

up and it's, you know, it's bathroom break time

or it's let's go get a pizza or let's, you know,

come back to it, you know. They've run him into

the ground by having him just talk or fill up

time way too often because he's good at it. And

that's not... his fault that's the fault of being

on a three hour show yeah and having so much

time to fill and not knowing what to do with

certain guys there's so many guys that don't

even show up on a week -to -week basis yeah yeah

i mean and you've got yeah and you've got guys

who are just sent out there with hey philip 20

minutes okay that's one of the reasons why enzo

keeps doing We'll get into that but it's one

of those things with Bray. It's like yeah, you're

right when the undertaker even you know, I Think

there was only one phase in the undertaker's

career that he talked more than he should have

And that was the American badass years because

that was kind of a point changing the character

and whatever else but undertaker You knew shit

was gonna go down with just one look in that

guy's eye. He didn't need to talk He could say

two words and scare the living shit out of you

Bray Wyatt just It's like watching an episode

of Jerry Springer all his little flock and whatever

else have left him and yeah And the flock of

pretty much, you know, I don't know what Harper

and Rowan are doing right now Nothing. Yeah.

Yeah, but but I'm saying when they've tried there.

Yeah, well what I'm saying Anyway, we'll get

into that but it's one of those things where

when they did pull them apart originally they

did try to push Rowan and Harper they should

have pushed them I think as a tag team like separate

from the Wyatt family that that would have worked

instead of having them face each other or whatever

else and you look at strong like I don't even

remember who the third big guy was before Stroman

Wasn't there another one that they or was Strowman

the one Strowman's yeah the one that they brought

in yeah, and I mean look at him. He's you know

He's turned out okay seemingly yeah, I mean he's

essentially taken the the monster role he's essentially

you know Undertaker and Big Show all in one we'll

get into it at the end of this show, but They

have he's been booked really well and they've

protected him and that kind of thing the way

they should and Probably the way they should

have with other guys like Roman. I mean Strowman

can still get knocked around and Lose and that

kind of thing, but they always make him look

strong in doing it But they haven't made him

look like a superhero the way they kind of with

rains Although, to be fair, putting him up against

Reigns essentially instantly turned him into

a big star and somebody the audience loved. So,

oops. Oops. So, the next match was Enzo versus

Cass for the first time. We made our feelings

on that pretty clear early on. The only other

thing I'll say is the big problem with this whole

feud has been the fact that Cass is right. I

mean, Cass should be the good guy here. He's

not wrong. you know the whole point of this was

Enzo talks big and then I have to back it up

because all he does is get his ass whooped in

every match and he just gets us into trouble

and he's the weak link none of that seemed accurate

I mean so anyway Cas won this one unsurprisingly

Next was the 30 minutes iron man match for the

tag team titles, which was a great match and

I'm impressed at how well they managed to time

everything out. I don't that can't be easy to

time it out so that Jeff Gets the pin just as

the clock is running out And the Hardys have

been well used since they've come back I've been

really impressed with Cesaro and Seamus who've

become one of the best more most entertaining

tag teams period and the raw tag team group even

with the unfortunate injury to One of the revival

is really good. You've got Cesaro Seamus. You

stole the Hardys and they've got the shield reunion

Yeah, and you know, I enjoyed this match. I wasn't

sure how they were going to fit a 30 -minute

Iron Man match into a two -hour paper because,

you know, that's a lot of time. I mean, you know,

I'm glad they did it, but it was a really, really

good match and it really showed off both teams

very well. One of my notes from that was, how

many damn announce teams do they need? Like,

I get it. The other language teams for other

countries, I understand that. But like, it just

feels like everybody's running over each other

now at this point. Yeah, they shouldn't have

the three and it's frustrating for me because

I watch NXT and how much better it's done and

for example takeover which was uh takeover brooklyn

3 was the day before summer slam and was just

it's not fair to compare them because the nxt

shows are two hours and they're just they're

run so much tighter just because the storylines

are very simplistic but they make sense from

a sport standpoint the storylines in nxt are

basically Want to move up? I think I'm better

than you. We're gonna fight or I want your title

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. By the

way when when you're making a sport out to be

competitive as in, you know, you're pretending

that The outcomes are not predetermined. That's

the way you do it. Yeah, I Don't know why that's

been lost in WWE because it's the simplest thing

in the world You're not everything has to be

about Whatever, you know a girl or jealousy or

whatever it can just be I want to be number one

I got into this to be the best Like you look

at the Joe Brock build up That culminates at

the end of this Joe's whole thing was I want

what you want. I want your easier schedule I

want your belt and I want your money. Yep, and

people latched on to it because there's nothing

wrong with that That's the whole point of competition.

It's something I've been saying about Brock ever

since he came back. Brock is essentially the

Undertaker at this point. Deservedly so. I'm

not saying anything against the guy, but I've

said this before on the show. Brock is not there

week in and week out. Brock is there. When he

has something to do or when he wants to be there

when he you know, whatever his deal is and Joe's

right, you know that's Something to strive for

because at this point is a super legacy character

Yeah, but getting back to the announced team.

So I watched the NXT stuff on the weekend and

What they had done because they still have a

three -man booth And they had guests come in.

They actually had Corey Graves come in and call

a match, which was enjoyable. They had JR come

in and call a match, which is obviously enjoyable.

But there's so much better at getting out of

each other's way. And I think a lot of it is

because they're not there just to push stuff.

They don't have to hype other matches in the

middle of the match that's going on. They don't

have to hype an app. They don't have to hype

a network. They're there to call what's going

on and because of that they're much better for

it and the WWE stuff is just everybody's there

to Hype something or talk about someone or something

else that's not going on it seems And then you

get the third man who just seems to be there

to randomly interject with pointless Banter Yeah,

and we'll get to this during the Sasha Alexa

match in a minute, but like I don't mind that

Michael Cole and Tom Phillips I don't mind that

they promote stuff like as soon as a commercial

break ends or going to a commercial break or

Most of the time the two of them don't do it

in like during a damn match like maybe Michael

Cole will say something Yeah, kind of will. I

find Phillips is better, but yeah But I mean,

maybe Michael Cole will say something during

the match, but he doesn't do it to the point

where it breaks up his play by play of the match.

I felt, I didn't, I don't know. But you know,

it is what it is. So we got Sasha and Alexa.

This is the first or second or I don't even know

how many times they've fought each other at this

point. To the few for the raw title. Yeah, right

So Sasha wins this one via count out to prolong

the feud. There's solid matches and they get

Sasha gets more out of Lexa wins this I have

a note that I said I wanted Sasha to win Lexa

wins this one Nope, no, she gets herself counted

out. Oh, that's right. She leaves so You might

want Sasha to win the title. Yeah, but she does

the Sasha tends to get the best out of bliss

in the ring, which is not surprising because

she's one of the better ones at that. Bliss is

still on her way up. She has a lot of talent

and it's very raw and she's improving. I'm not

intended about the raw, by the way. She's improved

so much so quickly and there's definitely some

real -life animosity between them Apparently

that they're kind of feed off of in the ring

and it works really well. So yeah, I like seeing

these two work Two very talented women fighting

each other absolutely The only thing that I wrote

down for this match that Please Had never thought

I'd say this please bring back David Otunga.

Oh my god Booker T Shut up when Cole is trying

to call it like There was a point in this match

that Michael Cole was trying to tell us What

the hell was going on in the match and Booker

T wouldn't shut up about whatever that he wasn't

even plugging anything He was trying to make

some stupid reference about some other Legacy

team. Oh, yeah. Now. I know I remember what you

mean now. Yes He's become the worst. It's funny

because Graves isn't earned a Graves cheese.

Sorry Let's try that again Saxton's actually

not half bad. Yeah, it's kind of helps him That

he's away from Graves who tended to rip on him

so much it made him look back. Yeah Honestly,

Ra only needs Michael Cole and Corey Graves.

Ra does not need a third I don't even know why

and when this three -man booth stuff started

up. I don't understand the point of it. I don't

get it either. Um, but yeah, Sasha versus Alexa.

Absolutely awesome. Love that. Then we have Miz

versus Dean for the IC title. No offense to Ambrose,

who I think is exceptionally title, uh, titled,

talented, but insert pretty much everything I

said about Bray. onto Ambrose who not all his

fault obviously but another guy who's kind of

floundered and they didn't have a direction and

so pairing him up with Seth who to a certain

extent is in that same same sort of realm slash

area not a bad idea it worked out well as for

this match I mean it's enjoyable but I just I've

had enough or at that point had had enough of

Miz versus Ambrose. Miz seems like he's being

wasted lately too. I mean he's doing some of

the best heal work and some of the best work

in general of his entire career. I really think

they should attach the rocket boosters to him

for a while but we'll see. And I should mention

Miz retains with the help of the Miztourage.

And I like the Miztourage thing more than Mizdow.

Mizdow was just a little too long the tooth for

that, I think, but the Miztourage kind of works.

And again, you've got two guys in there that,

you know, on their own most of the time their

gimmicks didn't really work. It's Bo Dallas.

Yeah. Is this the first you're thinking of? Yes,

I know. Bo Dallas on his own, I was ready to

just strangle that guy. It's not because of him.

It's because of the storyline. It's because of

what kind of character they were trying to make

him be. But honestly, I almost didn't recognize

him when he came back for the Mistrash. Seriously,

something happened. Maybe it's the wardrobe change

or whatever the hell it was. I'm like... Really?

That's Bo Dallas? That does not look like Bo

Dallas at all. And Curtis Axel has just been

saddled with crappy gimmick after crappy gimmick

and they've never really had him stick with anything

and given him a shot. It's too bad Ravac isn't

around anymore because I kind of like Rav Axel.

I thought that was kind of cool. But it is what

it is. Roman Strowman. Ambulance match. terrific

match a really good finish with Braun charging

or sorry Braun being charged at by Roman gets

out of the way it really did a great job of making

both of them look quite strong so at the end

you know Braun shuts the ambulance off and Roman

By the way, this is a bad guy move. So it's really

weird that they had Roman do this But Roman,

you know beats him up throws him in the back

of the ambulance It drives around backstage.

He attempts to murder Stroman. Yeah There was

one of those shows I listened to I can't remember

which one but they had a lawyer who wrote in

and said something like there were nine federal

charges that should have been filed against Roman

from I just think it's funny and obviously, you

know, I know wrestling is not real and he didn't

actually try to murder him. I just find it hilarious

when wrestlers commit blatant crimes. Well, here's

the thing about this match. We've known this

for a while now with Roman. Everybody hates Roman.

Roman has not been able to do anything since

the days of the shield that didn't piss every

single WWE Universe fan off. Just like because

they're trying to put a round, you know hole

in a square peg or square Jesus square peg in

a round hole He is being written and booked just

like all of the other guys that they've wanted

to push to the top For the past five or six years

and it doesn't work because that's not who he

is especially if you if you ever listen to an

interview with him when he's just actually allowed

to be himself there's a genuine charisma about

the guy and you really want to like him the problem

is it doesn't come across because they write

all the stuff for him they want him to be this

kind of aloof guy basically they want him to

fit into the Sina role Yeah, and the rock roll,

but he's neither of those guys And that's not

a knock against him He can be great, but they

need to let him actually be himself like Austin

was great because he was just like himself But

he was completely different than everybody that

came before and that's why between Hogan and

Austin. There was nobody really big You know,

there was Brett, who was completely unlike Hogan,

and so is Sean, and the two of them were unlike

each other. And then you get to Austin, who's

unlike all of them. Like, there is a direct correlation

here that the next big guy is always different

from the last one, so stop trying to make him

be somebody he's not. You know, Cena was huge

just by being himself, really. It's the same

idea. Just let him be himself. Don't try to make

him be John Cena or Rocky or whoever. Yeah, and

Cena has had gimmicks over the years. I mean,

you know, he said he's the doctor of thuganomics.

That was the first part of his character. And,

you know, even the Rock pointed this out. Oh,

you know, you're eating three pebbles over there

and Power Rangers shirts. He's kind of the big,

you know, hero kind of guy for WWE. Like I said

Roman to me is I don't know what kind of character

you can turn him into I didn't mind them trying

to turn him heel I mean, and I think the whole

this whole ending to the ambulance match I think

the reason why they did that is because they

wanted to really push him being heel and wanted

to really shock the audience But then but they

didn't stick with it. No, it is then he goes

out and he starts doing the Face stuff and giving

the face interviews again, and that's Been the

problem. They have him do heal stuff and you

can do that scene has done stuff that Normally,

it's the bad guys that do it and rocky, you know,

for example He was actually a heel but I mean

even when he was a good guy He would mock the

other good guys that kind of thing. You can get

away with it. I think for Reigns the best thing

they could do was just when they booked him as

a more sort of silent badass. And man, stop writing

the guy's speeches and stuff for him. Just let

him talk as himself. Let him, you know, be frustrated

about things on occasion. Just stop with the,

I'm always aloof. I don't care what anybody thinks

kind of thing. Because that's sort of Cena's

niche. Yeah, I mean, you know, this is a guy

who his gimmick has been for a while, you know.

This is my yard now. I defeated the Undertaker.

Well, you know, that's great and all, and that's

fine. But you also have to evolve with that.

If this is your yard now, either talk some good

smack or shut the hell up. You know, Undertaker

never... very rarely in his entire career as

I said outside of American badass you know very

rarely talked he talked when he needed to say

something and like you said let him be himself

don't let him whatever way you want to push Roman's

character heel face whatever make up your damn

minds and stop doing the flip -flop with him

because it's just hurting him more than it is

anything else it's not yeah and you look at his

opponents in this one too Stroman Is essentially

he's become what the undertaker was he only says

words once in a while aside from that He just

goes out and beats people up He's got kind of

the easiest job in the world, but he's so good

at it. Everybody's kind of falling in love with

the guy Absolutely So to cap this one off it

was Brock versus Joe and is it me because of

the 30 -man Ironman match that this match seemed

kind of short Yeah, I would have liked it if

Joe had gotten a little more offense in. I don't

think it's just it. I think you could have cut

some from Enzo and Cass, which was just a prolonged

meeting. Yeah. And some of the other stuff, I

think you could have shortened you to really

long. So long, they inserted the Curt Hawkins

Heath Slater match into the break after the ambulance

match. You could have sped. You could have sped

that up, especially considering the fact that

the ambulance stuff was presumably pre -taped.

Yeah. I mean, just hit fast forward or something

on that and skip some time here, guys. Come on.

And yeah, this one was it wasn't a squash. I

mean, Joe definitely got some offense in, but

it would have been nice to. Let him have a little

more. I gotta say I was really pulling for Joe

in that a if anyone's heard him talk He's generally

a nice guy Although he's scary and you wouldn't

want to get him angry. Yeah, but he's also hilarious

in real life and He's been doing this forever.

I really wanted to see him win the title I just

it's one of those things where it should almost

be sort of a lifetime achievement award for the

guy worked in WWE didn't want him and he worked

in TNA and Ring of Honor and all these places

he would carry those brands he carried everywhere

he went but WWE just didn't like his look he

didn't fit in with them until recently finally

and it's just unfortunate his best years were

spent in the minor leagues essentially And it's

just kind of sad I Just want to see him with

the WWE title. He certainly deserves it If the

stupid fans ever want to do one of those you

deserve it chance for anybody he's Near the top

of the list, but yeah, he's chance are getting

bad That's better than beach balls Which literally

ruins They didn't do so much damage to summer

slam, but the raw and smackdown shows You know,

I mentioned it on the opener that the post shows

were pretty good The problem is the crowd was

awful on both of them which hurt both of them

and the stupid beach ball stuff And I'm not sure

what Cena was thinking encouraging them Feel

like that was a big mistake. He really shouldn't

have But he's kind of part -time now, so maybe

it doesn't bother him as much or whatever But

it definitely annoys a lot of the others as it

should yeah Anywho, that was the end of great

balls of fire. Sorry Great balls of fire. I'd

probably give it a Three out of five maybe yeah,

I'm with you the ambulance match was quite good

The post stuff lasted a bit a long bit too long.

I enjoyed Joe Brock and The rest I mean the 30

man Tag match was good. But for the most part

the rest was kind of there. I mean it was solid

and nothing too spectacular And then I'd still

argue the best match was on the pre -show. So

I'm not even really gonna count it It's a stupid

name and it had some real down points the backstage

stuff which we never bring up some of that was

not good so yeah yeah to the girl who hates those

hot dog leg selfies and just wants to snap up

a hot deal oh there's another one hashtag rest

assured at summer girl 38 message received Enter

the working man who hasn't had a vacay of what

feels like forever. It's just be so busy. Rest

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10 euro at MaldrinHotels .com. Terms and conditions

apply. And now WWE Network presents Battleground.

Yeah, enjoyable They had a much better match

in the pre -show summer slam just get that out

of the way That was the easily the best nights

or best match of summer slam aside from the main

event This one was solid saw the new day win

the tag titles back and Yeah, it was good one

of the lone bright spots in the worst paper you

look here so far Then we had Shinsuke versus

Corbin Corbin wins via DQ for the low blow This

was bad these two just didn't gel Corbin Corbin's

gotten better, but man is he floundering especially

since apparently pretty clearly something's happened

to him backstage because he wasted the money

in the bank foolishly on a smackdown and then

cita cita flat -out embarrassed him in the match

which i'm not trying to this isn't a cena thing

he was i would say pretty clearly told to play

it up and make him look bad so Don't know what's

going on ever since this match in particular

though, like I say something must have happened

to him because he's just been Yeah, Harry since

then yeah, there was no real like Shinsuke versus

Corbin there was no real like I don't remember

a storyline The two of them feuded a fair amount

just matches matching up against each other on

smackdown that kind of thing But there was never

an end to it and pretty clearly There was to

be something more out of this, but then plans

changed Especially considering I mean Corbin

lays him out here Yeah, and yeah, we've never

had any real resolution to this feud, but you

probably won't it looks like And yeah, they just

did not gel this was not a great match Then there

was the five -way women's match. Elimination

match? And this was not good either because there's

a lot of stupid stuff. So Tamina in particular,

although Lana did this a couple times, it's an

elimination match. Why do you save people and

break up pins and submissions? That was dumb.

It didn't make any sense. There was no reason

for it and it's poor logic. And poor logic is

not good, even in wrestling. Also, to be blunt,

I mean, this was helped a lot by the fact that

Lynch and Flair can wrestle. Naomi got eliminated

fairly, I believe, yeah, she was fairly early

on. So they ended up being saved by the fact

that Lynch and Flair could wrestle, but the others

not. so much And it's not Naomi. Sorry. It's

Natalia. Natalia was there. She She was alright,

but yeah putting Lana and Tamina in who definitely

needs some work Was not the best call Natalia

wins, by the way even even not necessarily more

so than the men's stuff but just some of these

women's storylines are just they have all these

women they don't know what to do with them it's

the same thing that they do with the poor cruiserweights

they just dump them into multi -people matches

and don't bother writing a storyline or really

trying to up next we had Owens versus Stiles

for the US title Yeah, good match solid match

don't know Why these two haven't put on any amazing

matches But it's always solid entertaining. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I like this one. I thought it was pretty

good And as I've said before I like seeing the

two of them work together Then there was as much

as I love him C nation repetition because Rusev

versus Sina flag match and it's like Can we get

over this whole US Russia thing, please or Bulgaria

or whatever the hell? I don't yeah this I'm getting

sick of these one -dimensional characters like

Jinder mall and this version of Rusev and this

version of Sina It's boring to me Nobody thought

that Rusev was gonna win this match So it made

the ending boring and then this match was way

too long It just took forever also by the way,

it's a really stupid Stipulation Yeah, I don't

know what it is, but the last few months They

just keep having dumb stipulation match after

dumb stipulation match usually involving Orton,

but this was a really bad one And, you know,

the prison match at the end was putrid, so...

Yeah, because Mike Kanellis versus Sami Zayn.

Well, I do enjoy Sami Zayn. That was bathroom

break material. Yeah, it felt like a... It just

felt like a SmackDown match. And, man, do they

not know what to do with Zayn, which is really

frustrating because he's good. People clearly

enjoy the guy. Yeah, I thought, and we'll get

to this after SummerSlam, I thought they were

actually going to do something with him after

SummerSlam, but... Nope. Yeah, just get to appear

backstage for a couple minutes. Although I do

like that Kevin made fun of him for not doing

anything, which is, it's harsh, but it was funny.

And he just goes, you know, ah, you're not really

doing anything on SmackDown anyway, you may as

well be my referee. The Punjabi prison match

between Jinder and Orton. The most exciting part

of this is holy hell Kali showed up like serious

I was gonna say the poor sing brother whichever

one it was that too, but yeah gets tossed off

the cage I mean talk about a bad bump to take

in a shitty match This was a bad. It was a bad

idea and it was a bad match There's no more that

I can say that everybody else hasn't already

said it just the camera Listen, if you have trouble

getting a good camera angle to your match or

your fight, don't do it. If the camera can't

find them, I assume the audience can't either.

Exactly. And then I talked about logic problems

in the five way match. I got to bring one up

here. So near the end of the match, Jinder's

climbing up and Randy was trapped in the first

cage. right and all the doors are closed so he's

got to climb up the cages were close enough together

that he climbs up the first cage and he just

walks over to the second cage as jinders climbing

up it so he could have just climbed out yep then

to keep the action going randy has to climb down

to attack jinder which again he could have just

kept climbing up and won Yeah. This is a terrible

match. Retire the stupid, this is the best Punjabi

prison match yet and it was still crappy. Yeah.

See, when Kali came out, I thought that, because

I've said for months now, I don't like gender.

I've never liked gender. Whatever, I think he's

one of the worst champions we've had. He's still

one dimensional and I feel bad for the guy because

I honestly feel like he's doing the best he can,

but it's a silly character. Yeah, it's. In a

lot of ways, I find it insulting to the American

fans, too, because they kind of go out there

and go. I'm from another country than you. Yeah.

The celebration after this was really bad by

the way So they brought out these dancers and

this almost grandmotherly lady to sing the national

anthem because it was I can't remember the day

sorry, but it was a big day in India in real

life and These poor people who are just tired

These people are probably performers and they

probably actually do what was shown in real life

as their career perhaps assume so and They just

get booed out of the building especially this

woman who was just tired to sing the anthem She

probably thinks oh, this is a really good gig

it pays. Well. I'll just go out there. She walks

out You're not you're not from America you suck

I just, I found it borderline offensive, especially

since it came on the weekend after Charlottesville.

That was not a good look for WWE or for the fans.

Boo gender, that's fine. But he wasn't even there.

Yeah. Why are you booing these people? It's the

equivalent of you're not supposed to boo during

the national anthem at a different sporting events.

And I realized that, you know, wrestling is different

than that. Yeah, but this just if There's nothing.

I don't know how to describe it. Nothing was

super wrong with it It just felt kind of tone

-deaf. The other problem is they've done this

so many times We had the hearts and the you know,

Canada versus American feud They had the un -American

stable in the early 2000s or mid 2000 whenever

the hell that was we've had Rusev we've had There

have been so many. I could go on for hours, cause,

falls, you know. We even have... I love Kevin

Ohm. I think he's a great performer, great character,

whatever, great guy. We even have him as when

he was the U .S. champion saying, oh, I'm from

Canada and I'm just here to take this away from

America. We even have him doing the anti -American

thing because he's Canadian. Which by the way,

i'm kind of glad that it looks like he's gonna

feud with shane now and we're gonna get the We're

getting the nxt style owens where he's angry,

but he's got kind of got a point And he thinks

he's right about everything and that's My favorite

version of him versus he's been the whiny one

when he was the champ and the cowardly heel That

kind of thing. He's been the i hate america and

now he's they're finally gonna let him kind of

seemingly they're gonna let him be himself finally

so that is improvement the one thing with gender

you don't have to remind me who was who is Kali's

ring guy oh oh geez who was Kali's version of

the Singh brothers oh god yeah or his manager

whatever yeah I can't remember the guy's name

but anyway like what I thought was gonna happen

here because Kali came out Now, am I expecting

Kali to show up every week on the show? No, not

at all. What I was hoping would happen was that

Jinder would get rid of the Singh brothers, Kali

would come in, Kali would kind of be like his

silent trainer kind of thing. Or even keep the

Singhs so you've got somebody behind him who

can still talk. Yeah, I would have kept I would

have tried to keep gender there, but on the other

hand of that again in real life gender is not

the healthiest of people at this point unfortunately,

so Battlegrounds one star I hated it. Really?

Wow. I hated it. Okay, let me go back up here

and I mean I enjoyed I enjoyed Owen's and styles.

I always enjoyed them. I enjoyed the tag match

to a certain extent. That's about it. The others

were kind of mediocre matches. And then we get

the crap matches. Yeah, battleground. Yeah, one

out of five. I agree. Anyway. You're gonna say

the flag match? Yeah, I was gonna say the flag

match was awful. The finale was just terrible.

as in the Pujabi Prison. Zane Canales is just

a throwaway. Could have been on any episode of

Smackdown. I'm done. Yeah, so one out of five

from both of us on Battleground. It's sad that

Great Balls of Fire was a better one. We'll be

back with SummerSlam after this. Great SummerSlam.

Yeah, I can't believe we got out of the cage.

Hey, hey, let me call you back. How you doing?

Hey, Kurt. How's your first SummerSlam as the

Raw GM? It's been great, Daniel. You got sharp

cages and title changes. And you got to see your

son wrestle? It's okay. You know, you learn more

from your failures. I know I did. Yeah. And it's

tough dealing with the Miz. He can be pretty

chatty. You're telling me. Yeah. But I hate to

say it, I think the SmackDown Live brand It's

gonna steal the show tonight. Our WWE Championship

match has Jinder Mahal against Shinsuke Nakamura.

It's got international appeal. It certainly does,

but it doesn't have universal appeal like my

fatal four way match for the Universal Championship.

It's gonna be epic. Not as epic as what SmackDown

Live is gonna present. And you know that that's

true. It's damn true. But will it have the better

matches like Raw? Yes. Yes. Yes. No. Yes. No.

Yes. No. Yes. We are back and it is time for

the coolest party of the summer, Summer Slam.

Yeah, I mean it was better than the other two,

but I ain't gonna rate it any higher. I think

this is a little bit better than a one. Not much,

but it was better than a one. Listen, it's still

gonna get a three, and it's better than Great

Balls of Fire was, but not much. I mentioned

the pre -show already, but I'll mention again

Neville Tazawa fought again, another solid match.

I mentioned the Usos of the New Day, it was probably

the best match of all of SummerSlam, and that

was on the pre -show for some reason, but whatever.

We open with Cena Corbin. Mentioned it already,

Cena just tapped. No offense to Cena. I don't

think this is his fault, but I mean he absolutely

embarrasses Corbin again I assume he was told

to he's just kind of messing around Yeah, Corbin

gets no offense and he hits him with the deep

six and that's it. Yeah, other than that it was

all Cena I mean, like I said, I like Corbin and

obviously I'm a Cena fan, but it's one of those

things where Don't know if they told Cena to

go after the fact that Corbin lost the briefcase

or I was watching NXT the night before and Corbin

at one point on the pre -show was We're talking

about bad chance talk about a good one here He

was on the free show and the fans were chanting.

Where's your briefcase? I thought that was funny.

So yeah, I figure maybe that John picked up on

that because he's really good. It's understanding

what the fans are saying and doing. So maybe

there's that, but I also think for whatever reason

they've decided to embarrass Corbin. They've

decided to embarrass him and they decided to

use Cena to do it and look Cena I like I said,

I love the guy I love most of the stuff that's

either that either he does on his own or that

is written for him to do like If they give him

an idea and Cena at this point in his career

He can pretty much go to them and say, okay,

this is gonna work. This isn't gonna work You

know, he'll pick and choose and whatever else

This is the most he's ever talked during of like

every Camera angle every microphone angle was

him Making fun of Corbin and that's what I didn't

like about it and not necessarily what the fact

that it was done The fact that it was done. Yeah,

I didn't like that But it's like it seemed like

oh we have to get every single angle on this

to show that scene is you know distracting Corbin

with talking too much like normally John Corbin

was talking to the audience a lot too. Yeah,

and again, I just I I have no idea. I'm not privy

to any info just feels like They were trying

to make Corbin look bad. I mean they had the

terrible cash in on Smackdown earlier that week

or before and So few guys have lost their cash

in Sandow Zach Ryder Corbin Don't know if there's

any others. I can't think of them off the top

of my head. Yeah, there's only like very rarely

do guys lose the cash. I mean, so rarely. Yeah,

and never do they do the cash in at kind of a

stupid point. It's just weird. Whatever. That

was weird as hell. Natalia versus Naomi. I like

this. Liked it and I'm kind of sad to see Naomi

because it feel lose the title because I feel

like she was finally Finding herself and found

her legs opposite side of that though It's really

nice to see Natalia win a belt in an era when

they seem to care about Women's wrestling to

a certain extent, you know The other time she

had it was just during the stupid divas era and

she was never taken seriously They gave her the

dumb friggin farting gimmick and all these other

just stupid things It's nice to see her able

to be taken seriously and and go ahead with this

and who knows you know i mean we all know that

you know there's a um a uh rematch clause and

things like that so they're probably gonna set

up a a feud with um with Naomi and Natalia at

some point i guess yeah probably or they're gonna

have Carmella interject and that kind of thing

any of that's fine Carmella's been Well used

since She got the briefcase I think she's over

as a heel she keeps doing She does scumbaggy

things, but they're smart things like the smackdown

match trying to get Natalia beat up when she's

on her side. I thought was pretty smart and enjoyable

some stuff like that works You know what doesn't

work Actually, wait before we get to that There's

well. Oh, no. Yeah, actually know that that's

effort. Yeah, and what doesn't work is cast and

Yeah, yeah, so first of all, this is another

shitty gimmick match. Let's throw that out there

Yeah, the shark cage apparently doesn't even

matter. So I thought it was I thought it was

absolutely funny that they did not check him

before he It got in there. Apparently. Bad ref

work. Yeah, I like that. I like, honestly, I

like seeing Cass and Sho work together, because

again, they're the two seven footers of the WWE

right now. You know, I like seeing them work,

but honestly, this whole match, I was more entertained

by whatever Enzo was doing. I don't know. I thought

they were... It seems like at point Sho was annoyed

by... All of the yelling and stuff like that.

The only show was injured. Yeah, well that was

the angle they took. I also thought this match

was a little too long and Enzo gets out of the

cage just to get beat up again. Now to finish

this off Enzo and Cass had a street fight on

Monday night that Inevitably was probably supposed

to be the blow -off of this with Cass again dominating

Enzo But Enzo ended up winning after Cass got

hurt in real life and this The feud is basically

kind of in a disaster. It slowed down the show.

It's it seems to have worked for Cass just because

people Seem to be booing him really heavily So

they got what they wanted there, but it just

hadn't been great. And then before we get to

Randy and Rusev, there was what I feel is the

best backstage moment in a long time. Kurt and

Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan, yes

and no. Oh God, that was hilarious to basically

put Daniel back on the no track. That was awesome,

I love that. Angle and Kurt, uh, Angle and Kurt.

Wow. Angle and Brian. It's fun to see them together.

One thing I do want to note, so Brian recently

did a stint on Edge and Christian's podcast,

which was excellent, but there's a couple things

I really disliked about it, and the thing I dislike

the most... is it is 100 % clear that as soon

as Bryan's contract is up with WWE, he's leaving

and he's going to resume his wrestling career

somewhere. I loved watching the guy wrestle,

but I realized, you know, he commented that he

thinks that the tests were not accurate to his

concussion levels, et cetera, et cetera. But

I just I he's a father now. I don't want to see

him Die in the ring or suffer some sort of debilitating

brain injury. There's a lot of guys like that

already and Yeah, I don't know where he's gonna

go. Oh, there's the watch the question is would

anyone take him? with the risk of something terrible

happening. ROH, ring of honor, ROH would definitely

love to have him back. And he was always a huge

draw for them. But you want to risk it with a

guy who, you know, one of his last matches, his

left side of his body, I think it was the left

side, was paralyzed. That's terrible. And I know

guys get stingers and that kind of thing. Frequently,

but we're talking about somebody who's literally

been banned by one Federation from wrestling

again and I look at somebody like who he was

talking to in that interview which is edge Edge's

career got cut short because he was told by a

doctor if you wrestle one more time They're gonna

die. Well, well he was told you know, the best

outcome is that he's paralyzed for life. Yeah

That's the best but in all likelihood. Yes, he

would just die. I Don't want you know, I just

I don't want anybody for his own safety to let

Brian back in if it's as bad as it seems like

but WWE and there's been a lot said about their

doctors and the tasks. I mean CM Punk absolutely

buried them etc, etc but They're not you know,

they're not a cheap company and then wouldn't

willfully pass up Money on somebody that can

draw like Brian if there was a chance that he

could compete Yeah, and I don't I honestly at

this yes his career was kind of cut short due

to injury and all that But I like him in the

GM role. I like him Like I said, I like this

angle, Brian, like this whole little feud thing,

like the feuding GMs. I thought that was great.

I thought that was interesting. I wouldn't mind

seeing them do just the verbal feuding type stuff,

whatever. It's obviously not going to happen

a lot because there's only what? Two times four

times a year that the two brands actually meet

up or whatever it is or whatever Yeah, and I

and I wouldn't want to see them do it weekly

or anything either But I think it's fine to dedicate

a couple, you know segments to this every once

in a while. Yeah, absolutely and you know Yeah,

like you said the guys father now, you know,

I'm pretty sure as the GM of Smackdown He's not

just making you know Crap money. I'm pretty sure

they pay him fairly. Well, I would assume so,

too He may he may also be on his original contract

as a wrestler But he's still appearing weekly

that kind of thing He can make money outside

the business certainly by doing stuff like He

could do commercials obviously he could definitely

do shows in terms of comic cons and conventions,

that sort of thing. Speaking of shows, and I

know you don't like this, but you know, I saw

an ad during this about Total Bellas coming back

and the whole storyline of Bree being pregnant

with their kid and whatever else. So, I mean,

he's got to have money from that because he's

probably most likely going to appear on that

as well. I don't know. Yeah, I just don't want

to see anything bad happen to him. Yeah, same

here. We're going to mention a long time wrestler

who's in the news. That'll be at the very end

of the show. Yeah, exactly. But he's had a long

life. Yeah. And certainly I don't want to see

anything happen to him. Brian has not and the

last thing I want for him or his kids is something

really terrible to happen to the guy Because

he came back into wrestling. Anyway, that was

a really long tangent Well, and and I know that

just from watching various episodes of Total

Divas over the years that Bree and Brian have

been trying to have kids for a long time and

it finally did happen. So it's like yeah keep

him as the GM of Smackdown and just Keep going.

So, up next we got Randy versus Rusev. Where

are the Rusev? Please get... They buried Corbin

earlier and then they bury Rusev. Great. So none

of the heals on Smackdown at this point in the

show look good. Wonderful. Yep. Nope. And then

we got... Sasha versus Alexa for the championship.

Yay! And this time Sasha does win and wins the

belt, so this time you're right. Yeah. I love

the two of them working together. I just think

it's so cool. Yeah, I don't mind if this continues,

and it seems to be, so they've also kind of inserted

Naya into it, which should keep it fresh, so.

Yeah. Yay. The Sasha Charlotte feud from a while

ago that was cool at first and then it just kind

of staled out I don't think this is gonna stale

out because like you said you've got Naya and

in the wings there kind of you know adding a

third a Third entity to it to see if anything

will happen come out of it, but I Really really

like this. I thought this was a great match Then

there's the demons The demons fighting each other,

Rey and Valor. This was not great because A,

you knew Valor was going to win because they

had Wyatt win clean the week before. B, this

feud is, well, I mean, it's more of Wyatt rambling

on. And C, well, there is no C. I mean, this

was fairly good. It was a decent match, but everybody

and their brother knew Wyatt was going to lose.

Yeah. Because, you know, I mean, Finn Balor is

way more popular than Bray Wyatt right now. Yeah,

and Balor's on his way up, so I think this helps

him, at least it gives him something to do, but

now they've got to find something else for Finn

to do to keep moving upwards, and they haven't

yet. I'm trying to think, who could they... I

mean assuming they weren't in involved in other

stuff right now. I would probably put him with

somebody like Joe or Roman somebody further up

the card and Have him involved in that maybe

even involve him in the main event picture, but

right now They're all with different people a

fin versus John Cena sort of thing kind of the

passing of the torch might also work although

it seems like they want to do that with Roman

I guess we'll see we'll see what happens there

we'll also see how much it's obvious they're

gonna have Cena break the record I think they

probably should considering where he's at but

if they keep involving him in stuff that doesn't

involve the title it's gonna be tough yeah we'll

talk about John here in a little bit because

yeah well yeah we'll talk about John in the aftermath

because i'm not really that impressed with the

agency for John um so we have Dean and Seth versus

Seamus and Cesaro yay the shield are back finally

what the hell well these two of them but anyway

yeah this was a good match i like let's face

it they they've pushed Roman so far down an alley

They pushed him off a cliff so much that, I mean,

really, there is no real coming back for Roman

to be the third leg of the sheet. So having Dean

and Seth, you know, be it, I don't mind it. It

was good. I enjoyed this match, though. If you're

going to have Seamus and Cesaro lose the belts,

this is a good team to do it with because they

obviously have credibility. So I was happy with

this. It was a good match. And yeah, I'm happy

to see. I think it gives Rollins and Ambrose

a little bit more direction and it gives them

some stability. And they'll each have somebody

to work off of that they're comfortable with.

So just smart all around. Absolutely. Absolutely.

And then we had AJ Owens for the title. Was Shane

as the special guest referee? say J wins would

make sense because they seem to be pushing a

Owens V Shane sort of thing which I'm okay with

and They it was interesting that Owens had two

instances where essentially won the match off

of the power bomb and in one, you know Shane

Had or got his leg on the road And the earlier

one Shane just wasn't in position in time which

by the way led to the Outstanding Owens line

of you jump off of buildings and you can't be

up in time to get in position. Yeah This this

and in the Dean Seth match honestly my three

favorite matches outside of the universal match

my three favorite matches for this for this favor

is Sasha Alexa Dean and Seth versus James Zazzaro

and then AJ versus Owens um because the match

after this is another bathroom break this was

this read so Jinder Nakamura Yeah, it's basically

the two international guys from two different

countries. It just completely dragged the whole

thing down. This should have been a match on

SmackDown, and the two of them didn't work together

all that well, and I do not feel good about saying

this, but whatever. Mahal has not had good matches

since he won the title. Nope. So I hate to say

it but between the two of them you kind of got

to look at him as the weak link here and then

lastly Ginger just wins the same way he wins

every match The Singh brothers come in distract

some distracts whoever it is this case Nakamura

and You know ginger hits his finisher and wins.

That's the way he finished every other match.

There's always some sighted some sort of distraction

And he hits his finisher, match over. Like, they

can't even come up with a different finisher,

the guy? Yeah. I don't know who it was. I don't

know if it was JBL, if it was Tom, or whoever

the third wheel is on the... Saxton. I don't

know which one of them said it. I think it was

either JBL or Saxton. The line was, Jinder hasn't

had a chance to cement his legacy yet, or something.

I'm like... Jinder hasn't been around long enough

to be a legacy refer him as a legacy wrestler.

Like seriously, he's been around what a year

or less Well, yeah counting the I mean, yeah

I'm saying like before he beat Randy in total

he's been around a year year and a half maybe

in WWE like on the main roster here and What

has it been six months? Whatever paper it was

where he wanted off Randy. He hasn't been a champion

long and I'm thinking why the hell are you fuckers

saying that he needs to cement his legacy? He

hasn't been around long enough to build a legacy.

His character sucks. His other runs he was a

jobber. I mean he was part of 3MB. He came back.

He didn't win a match forever. Then suddenly

they throw him into a what was it like a four

-way or four corners where he beats guys Who

have been around forever and who are much more

well -known, but supposedly WWE can make money

off of India which Yeah, I don't know if that's

working or not, but they're sure not making money

off of North America with a mess jam I mean That's

why I said this was, you know, the two international

guys going against each other, because you have

India in one corner and Japan in the other corner.

Yeah. The problem is, one of them, by the way,

is credible, and it's not gender. It's not gender,

yeah, exactly. And not to mention, one of them

is over, and it's not gender. And it's not Tinder.

That's right. And then, a fatal four -way. I

was really hoping for a ring crash. I I don't

know that's tough because it hasn't been that

long since they did it again, but yeah Yeah,

you gotta be careful with that because you overuse

it and it's just oh no, I I Agree, I'm just saying

I remember Michael Cole saying something about

you have like a thousand yeah of guys Yeah, the

start of the match. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm like,

okay But yeah, this was so everybody looked good

and i mean we talked about roman earlier say

what you want about him his pay -per -view matches

are all pretty much always really entertaining

so has he had any really dud pay -per -view matches

i don't think so which is kind of the opposites

of gender if that tells you anything so But everybody

looked good here Joe looks a couple times like

he was gonna win and obviously who the Strowman

Lesnar stuff That was crazy. So say what you

want about Lesnar being a part -timer as well

But man, did he take a beating in this match?

He goes through two tables and then they throw

the third on him on top of him Yeah, like I was

look like I said, you know, I understand He's

to the point in his career now and he can you

know have Heyman you know distinguish what he

is and isn't going to do and whatever else I

understand that and I get that and I'm fine with

that now I wasn't fine with it when he first

came back, but I'm fine with it now and Just

seeing that third tail. Oh I'm like did you see

a look on Heyman's face? I mean Paul Heyman's

had some crazy crazy looks over the years, but

oh my god that oh Yeah, he was great with facial

expressions. Yeah, he was. And I mean, in the

end, Lesnar retains when he beats and pins Reigns

in the middle of the ring. So it was a surprising

ending that he took the pin and they seem to

be setting up now Braun versus Brock, which if

they do it soon, as in the next pay -per -view

or so, I think it's a mistake. Or if they do

it they should end it with a double knockout

or something like that that they haven't used

double knockouts where both guys can't answer

a ten count I would I think they should save

that for WrestleMania because there's big money

in that match They've got a couple that they're

setting up that I don't understand why they're

not saving the WrestleMania Cena reigns is the

other clear one that that's a WrestleMania match

not a whatever the hell the next pay -per -view

is which is i can't remember now is it bad blood

or something like that i don't know bad blood

was what battle what three balls of fire was

originally gonna be oh geez so they came up with

a worse name somehow uh the next one i don't

know what the next one is for raw but the next

one for smackdown is no mercy oh that's right

yeah because they've got alexa um back on that

Oh, that's a good coffee now, that is. Welcome

home, Tom! This is a great show. Tom, why aren't

you getting off? I'm sorry, love. It's not you.

It's the train. I'm too comfy here. Where are

you even going? Ah, the train. It's so good.

You might not want to get off. For great fares,

log on to irishrail .ie. Yeah, but anyway, I'm

just I would delay this big time because those

are two big money to me big money matches two

exciting matches You know, I'd be excited to

see a Stroman Lesnar match at any pay -per -view,

but I definitely think it would work really well

for WrestleMania And then if you want to do the

passing of the torch kind of thing with Roman

and John Geez, I mean do it at a big pay -per

-view. Don't do it at, you know, whatever the

hell's after you. Well, I've got it. Here's what's

coming up, okay? We got, for the rest of this

year, No Mercy is Raw, Hell in a Cell is SmackDown,

TLC is Raw, and that's through October. November

is Survivor Series, so that's the next big thing.

And then in December is Clash of Champions, which

is at TD garden in Boston. So if John if you're

gonna do any kind of push with free agent John

Cena, I Mean having him win the 17th Championship

in his own that would be awesome to do that then

and then do Roman Cena for WrestleMania if you

want to anoint Roman because if they do a third

year where they're anointing Roman in a main

event involving Lesnar or... Just stop trying

to repeat it with the guy. Yeah. Absolutely.

Oh! Helen Ocell is at Little Caesar's Arena in

Detroit, Michigan. I happen to serve as the advocate.

You're lucky it's a PG show. It's not a PG show.

No, I can call a stupid motherfucking cocksucker.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Jersey right? video

circling around Twitter. I think this was right

before SummerSlam. About Heyman at some sort

of club. Like, I don't know, he was at some sort

of comedy club thing. And I love Paul Heyman.

I really do. Because he's doing his, you know...

Raining defending in the crowd just screws like

one guy in the crowd screws it up and Haman just

hahaha Look at this guy over. I'll have to see

if I can find it, but absolutely love that Lesnar

retained like I as much as I liked the storyline

of Haman bringing up if Brock doesn't win he's

leaving WWE I'm glad he's still here because

I want to see him go up against like a Joe or

somebody like that because we want to see Joe

get that belt So I would rather it be Lesnar

versus Joe for the feud for the belt than anybody

else. In real life that the idea of Lesnar leaving

to do UFC is pretty much finished now with John

Jones testing positive again because there's

nobody left for him to fight. That's big money.

Yeah. No, I saw that. I was like, yeah, you're

not leaving. Yeah. And then Raw after SummerSlam.

My favorite part was shield versus hearties.

That's so awesome. I love that That was good

and they let the shields win again, which you

know losing doesn't hurt the hearties at this

point They are they're bona fide Hall of Famers.

So it was the right call and they still looked

good in it, too It's not as though, you know,

it's not as though they got squashed in Two seconds

or anything like that. They didn't get Rusev

in nine seconds And then SmackDown... SmackDown

is floundering and that sucks because I really

wanted to see Shane succeed. I liked the Shane

-Kevin stuff. Yeah, that was good. I definitely

really liked the debut of Bobby Roode who's really

good. But after that, yeah, it hasn't been great

and... You had Nakamura squash the two Singh

brothers which To be fair. I enjoy I enjoy the

Singh brothers. They're great They're another

pair of guys that are just great with expressions

and that sort of thing Yeah But yeah, it doesn't

seem to be a lot of direction Summer slam I will

give it a three and a half out of five It was

slightly better than Great Balls of Fire. Not

by much, but slightly. Now you give it the other

three, and it was still better than Great Balls

of Fire, but not enough to start giving it extra

points. What was that, half a point? Obviously,

it was better than Battlegrounds. I just did

not like Battleground at all. No, Battleground

was horrible. I'll say this to a certain extent,

I mentioned it before, that if you have a really

good finale or main event, it just makes the

whole thing feel better. I think that helped

Summerslam a ton. And then you look at Battleground

that had the friggin' Pujami prison match, which...

You finished that and you're just left with a

bad taste in your mouth. Yeah Yeah, I mean Pay

-per -views for me as long as it has a good,

you know starting match and a good finishing

match Whatever is in the middle some may be good

some may be bad But if you start off a pay -per

-view with something that is not that great and

you end it with something that is even worse

then Yeah, no, there's I think you said this

last time, there's a reason why the Pajami Prison

is not used a hell of a lot, if ever. Yeah, it's

a terrible match. I still have no idea why they

decided it would be a good idea to bring it back.

I think the only reason why is because Jinder

is from India and maybe they had already booked

Kali to appear. Who knows? I don't know. We're

going to take one final break and come back to...

close the show and talk about a Hall of Famer

that his legacy will live on forever. So we'll

be back after this. They like long limousines.

They like fine clothes. They like lovely ladies.

And in studio 54 a week ago, I tore them all

down. The best looking man. The best dressed

man. Long limousines. Jet airplanes. Custom made

clothes. And any woman in the world I want. Just

like that. This arena, honoring the great Dean

Smith here at the University of North Carolina.

After what Hollywood Hogan said earlier tonight,

all of the drama and drama you have gone through

with your son David, Rick Player, let's lay it

on the line. How are you holding up under all

of this pressure? And especially a remark like

that from Hogan that you might be retiring. I

don't give up. They love him. Listen to this

ovation. Don't worry. Don't worry. I'm gonna

let this one build before I crank it up for you,

okay? I've been home for two weeks, and God only

knows I've had to listen to my best friend Arne.

and tell me one to beat up my son. I've had to

walk around Charlotte, North Carolina. I've had

to walk around North Carolina, period. And everybody

say, how could your son jump on the Hollywood

NWO red and black bad wagon? And I say, you know

what? I don't get it either. I know they got

big sexy. Lex Luger, I know they got Buff, and

I know they've got David Fleer. But David, I

sat down one night and I said to myself, let's

really put this in perspective. Because 20 years

ago, pal, in Raleigh, North Carolina... In Raleigh,

North Carolina... out the door and brother she

changed my life whoo for a long time the difference

is I got up that next day pal and I had to start

paying the price and the price was big however

that blind is in Charlotte waiting for daddy

to come home right now talk to me nature boy

Alright, we are back here on Man Mikes episode

25 News has come out that Ric Flair not doing

so well yeah he is uh at this point he is reportedly

awake and things are improving but he has quote

a long road ahead of him unquote and rick's not

a young man not to mention he wrestled for decades

which tends to take a lot out of you of course

Mean and he's also drank for decades I'm sure

he's not you know He's not there He's not doing

he hasn't done that in a while, but that's obviously

What you know I? Mean reportedly anyway that

was part of part of yeah well part of the art

part of the articles I read is He has suffered

from kidney failure or almost suffered from kidney

failure or something. I hope the guy pulls through.

I wish nothing but the best for him and his family,

but I mean. Yeah, and I hate to put it in this

perspective, but we've talked about it before

that there's so many guys who have died young.

At least Rick's had a long life. Yeah, that family

unfortunately suffered a lot of tragedy over

the years, but I mean again at least you know

Rick Rick said the opportunity to see his daughter

succeed on exceptionally high level so there's

that he's He's outlived. I mean so many guys

from our youth That were some of whom started

wrestling well after he did so it's just It's

still sad, but at least to put it in perspective,

he's led a good life and he's gotten to do, you

know, he's had a ridiculous career. He's always

going to be known as one of the greatest of all

time. Oh yeah, most definitely. When you think

of classic WWF wrestling, you think Ric Flair,

you think, you know, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan,

Andre the Giant. And it's WCW stuff too, but

yeah. Well, yeah. And NWA, and he carried so

many companies. He did a lot of work for TNA

in his older years as well. Yep. Absolutely.

As far as the future of the podcast, folks, I

don't know. Maybe we're going to switch it up.

Maybe we're not going to do every single pay

-per -view every year now. I'm not sure. We've

been doing this for two years now. I don't know

what Dodd, I don't know what Mike, I don't know

if he's lost interest or what the deal is with

him. So we'll have to figure that out. We may

start going back to classic stuff on WWE Network.

I just don't know yet, so it's gonna be a while.

I mean, the next one we may do might just be

Survivor Series. I don't know yet. I'm just not

sure, because I'm... I mean, after SummerSlam,

my interest is renewed slightly with Seth and

Dean reuniting for Shield and things like that,

but I mean... I'm just not sure at all where

my fandom lies with WWE right now, cuz it's just

been so bad. This summer, I would say from April

to now, it's just been, ugh. So, anything you

wanna say before we get out of here? Nope. Nope?

Alright. Join us next time for whatever whenever

we do it. You can find me on Twitter at TFG1

Mike. Where can we find you? At nightbeat on

Twitter That's right. Go to GeekCastRadio .com

and this week at Geek to check out this and all

of our other content as well We will catch you

next time here on AM Mike's So, please welcome

John Cena of John Cena's matches, his big matches

in his career. But I'll tell you this, Cena versus

Reigns at No Mercy is a massive matchup, WrestleMania

type match. Well, you're right about that. I

mean, I'm just thinking that before John even

came out here, what am I gonna say? I'm gonna

say this is a guy who is absolutely no stranger

to big matches, and he's looking at another one.

There's no denying the feeling when both John

Cena or Roman Reigns step into an arena. You

need to be here to experience it. It is powerful.

John Cena versus Roman Reigns, this is WrestleMania

worthy. But Kurt Angle, I like your swag, man.

You're ready to do it. I'm ready to do it. They're

ready to see it. We're gonna do it at No Mercy

live on the WWE Network. This, this is the reason

I came to Monday Night Raw to be in this ring

face to face with a man who says he runs the

yard. With the big dog With the guy and if you

don't believe that just ask him he'll tell you

And why not because ever since Roman Reigns has

stepped foot in a ring. He hasn't just been the

blue chip prospect Roman Reigns has been the

blue chip prospect that has been protected Against

anyone and everyone that steps in his path And

then there's me. And we've been through a whole

heck of a lot together and you know me and I

know you and you know I got zero F's to give

and I'm the one dude ain't no protection from.

And that is why I want to fight Roman Reigns

because I know That Roman Reigns don't want to

fight me. John Cena, a free agent, could go where

he wants here at WWE. He came to Monday Night

Raw last week and he said, I came here for one

man. And that man is Roman Reigns. And if you're

Roman Reigns, Corey, what do you think of that?

I think this is exactly what Roman Reigns lives

for, the big fight, the opportunity to call yourself

the undisputed best. But King, if you're Roman

Reigns, what are you thinking about John Cena

saying to him? I don't think you wanna fight

me. I don't believe that Roman Reigns believes

that. I think Roman Reigns for a long time has

felt that he is the heir apparent to John Cena,

but it hasn't happened. And it hasn't happened

because he hasn't fought John Cena and proven

that he is the heir apparent. Here's his chance.

John Cena casts a very, very big shadow. And

Roman Reigns will never be able to step out of

that shadow without defeating John Cena. Let

me get this right. It's all good, Memphis. I'm

just trying to check my facts here. So I'm scared

to fight you? I don't want to fight you. That's

what's in your head. You may not understand this,

because probably no one's ever told you this

before, John. But you're not as big of a deal

as you think you are And this is the fact I don't

care what you've done or what you plan to do

I've done something You'll never do I Retired

the Undertaker at WrestleMania So maybe it's

not that I don't wanna fight you. Maybe I just

don't need to. You're right. No, he's right.

He's right. You don't need to fight me. You are

the high exalted Roman Reigns. You are the big

dog. Everybody back there knows it. Everybody

out here still kinda trying to figure it out.

You see, Roman, I'm what you would call a polarizing

figure every week. There are people that cheer

because they stand for what I believe in, and

then there are people that boo because they don't.

And then every single week, you can audibly hear

those people so desperately wanting me to change

the content of my character. Maybe a little heel

turn. But with you, it's different. I don't know

if anyone's ever told you this. They go back

and forth with you because when they look at

you, they see what I see. A cheap ass corporately

created John Cena bootleg. This chump right here,

he ain't the guy. Dude, you're just a guy. A

guy trying so desperately to fill shoes that

you never will. Listen carefully, young man.

I'm not the Undertaker. I'm not a battered veteran

at the end of his career with a bad hip. I am

the fastest, strongest. hungriest that I have

ever been in my entire life. And the reason you

won't sign that is because you know if you do,

you're Roman Empire. He did it again. He's the

king of this. He can take anything and spin it.

That's what he does. But it blows my mind that

he stands out here and he runs his mouth and

he's talking about y 'all boo him because y 'all

want him to be a bad guy? They boo you because

first of all, you suck. Hey, according to them,

so does he, but that's okay. He won a gold medal.

Just shut up for a while. How about that? And

second of all... Go ahead, find it. Go ahead.

Oh, wait. It's called a promo. Shut your mouth.

You want to be the big dog. You're gonna have

to learn how to do it. So go ahead See you fourth

wall The reason why they blew you is because

they see right through you you're a phony You're

a yes, man who can learn how to do anything or

be anything So if you wrap all that up You're

just a fake bitch. Oh, we're talking now, ain't

we? Yeah, you're hearing me now, ain't you? Not

only that, he's a part -timing fake ass. And

I'll be damned if I don't bust my ass Friday,

Saturday, Sunday, Monday every single week so

you can hang out on The Today Show. Then jump

on his big old bus, and hell, maybe I'll come

to a WWE show if they paid me enough. But what

are you really gonna do, John? What are you gonna

do, huh? You're gonna jump off that bus with

that big ass shuffle. That big shovel, that's

what you're gonna do, and you're gonna bury as

much young talent as you can. Because that's

what you do, right? That's how you stay on top

of the mountain. You'll do anything. You're just

a backstabbing shark. But the thing is, the reason

why you don't like me, what irritates you about

me, you can't bury me, John. You can't touch

me. Hell, I think this is fitting. I'm the one

guy in the WWE. that John Cena can't see. So

now tell me this, why would I want to lessen

myself, my legacy, my bloodline to be the next

John Cena when I can be the one and only Roman

Reigns? You done? You done? You see, you see,

because Roman Reigns is a fool. Roman Reigns

is a damn fool. There's an old saying, it's better

to keep your mouth shut and have people think

you're stupid than to open and prove them right.

You, of all people, you. Waltz down here and

use the same pathetic excuse that every other

single person before you has done. You, with

all your gifts and all your opportunities, you

have the gall to blame me. That's fine. That's

fine, big dog. Congratulations. It took you five

years to cut a halfway decent promo, but now

I'm about to shrink you down to size. So everybody

back there thinks I got this mythical golden

shovel that I got these magical powers that I

can Control everything and keep everybody's feet,

dude. I can't tell if you're blind or stupid

Look and listen, they hold the keys. They always

have they always will But You gotta blame me

fine. I've been hearing that racket for ten years

and I ain't tired yet I'm strong enough, I've

been called a lot worse by a lot tougher. But

you actually believe that I'm a shark, that I

hold everybody down, that I swim to the top and

keep them underwater at any and all costs. I'm

a level with you, homie. I haven't main evented

WrestleMania in five years. I was the opening

match at SummerSlam. I was honored and privileged

to earn the United States title at this stage

in my career and use it as a beacon of opportunity

to introduce new superstars to the WWE like Kevin

Owens and AJ Styles, just to name a few. You

took the US title as a demotion. And you stand

there and blame me. Fine, I blame you. I'm still

here because you can't do your job. When it comes

to this yard, you probably haven't learned it

yet. There's only one rule, step up or step aside.

And over the years, there's been a few to step

up, but nobody to ever keep up. And then I finally

hear about this one guy, the guy, the Roman Reigns,

the one that can keep up. And now I look at you

and I listen to you. You should be ashamed I'm

a part timer, because I can do this part time

better than you could ever do it full time. You

just made the list! All clear.