WWE Road to WrestleMania 35 Preview

Here's a spoiler alert. Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the podcast arena. Coming to the ring

at this time... Oh, you didn't know? You're gonna

have to call somebody! First, representing this

week at Geek, and from hearts unknown, he is

Mike the Birdman. radio network, and hailing

from the outer reaches of your mind, he is Mike

TFG -1 Blanchard. I got four words for you. Check

out my ass. And from the Great White North, here

is your special guest referee, Ryan Hello and

welcome to Mayhem Mikes this is episode 49 and

we got sucked into a black hole folks we haven't

had an episode well we had an episode in like

what December or something to be fair the black

hole was one of the worst raws of all time followed

another by another really bad one so we our last

episode was November 26 2018 where we talked

about smackdown 1000 we thought. The last pay

-per -view we did was Hell in a Cell from 2018.

We are not going to be recapping any of the pay

-per -views from that point on until now. I didn't

even watch... What was the last one before Fastlane?

I didn't even watch Fastlane. Oh really? Fastlane

is... So we'll say this. This was probably the

best Fastlane I think they've done. That's not

saying a lot, but it was... It was entertaining.

It's not that I didn't want to... got a lot of

stuff going on but it's one of those things where

I knew it was coming and I knew it was here and

I'm like okay sure I'll get to it because we

weren't gonna record any time soon at that point

whatever I'm like whatever I'll just watch raw

and watch the recap and I never actually watch

fast and to its credit the shows have been pretty

good especially since what I mentioned that kind

of disastrous episode right around the beginning

of the new year. It was not good. And it's been

much better since then. SmackDown's been good

for almost a year now. It's crazy to me how much

better it's been, but we'll get into how that

may change in the near future. It's been some

good and some bad as usual. I mean, it's WrestleMania

season. We're on the road to WrestleMania. I

did watch, like I said, Royal Rumble and Elimination

Chamber. I thought they were good. They weren't

gone awful. Some of the screw jobs that are happening

in WWE though are like, oh, come on, really?

So, yeah, we'll get into it when we get to WrestleMania

card, I think. Yeah. Sort of some positive stuff,

though, because I wanted to talk about the Hall

of Fame inductees. Yes, the Hall of Fame! So

the list, you know, the Warrior Award, which

I've been critical of mostly because the Ultimate

Warrior was a terrible human being in real life.

Nothing to do with the wrestling, but anyway,

it finally goes to... Sue Acheson, who is a WWE

executive who does an awful lot with the Make

-A -Wish Foundation. And it's nice that's somebody

who should be recognized, so that's an improvement.

In terms of actual sort of wrestlers going in,

we have the Hart Foundation, Harlem Heat, and

DX as a group. Then we have Bruce the Barber

Beefcake, Torrie Wilson, and the Honky Tonk Man

as individuals. Sweet. And I have no problem

with any of these. So some people have had an

issue with Torrie Wilson, which I disagree. She

was just, she was a female performer and wrestler

during a time when they weren't taken seriously,

just to be blunt. And WWE wasn't. interested

in using them as wrestlers or as the way they're

shown now which is unfortunate and there's been

others you know I couldn't be happier that Beth

Phoenix is back because she was somebody she

was a great wrestler she was amazing but she

was there in a time where they weren't interesting

and interested in the wrestling yeah you know

bra and panties and the women models and that

kind of thing and so I'm so happy she gets another

chance now. Even if it's temporary or whatever

it is, it's cool to see her actually get to wrestle

against wrestlers. Wait, is she actually wrestling?

Yeah, she's there full time and has a WrestleMania

match that we'll get into. She looked great this

week as well. So it's nice that... Like I said,

she gets the chance to work against people that

are also wrestlers. It's not joke stuff with,

you know, no disrespect meant to Santina Marella

or some of the people she worked with. But it's,

it's cool to get her to see her get the chance

to do what she's always wanted to do. The Honky

Tonk Man, what more can you say about him? He's

the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion

ever and say what you want about his wrestling

that kind of thing but he was good and man I

hated him as a kid. He did his job real well.

I love that Harlem Heat's getting in because

isn't Book already a Hall of Famer? Yeah and

Steve Ray does a lot of stuff behind the scenes

but their tag team as a whole was one of the

best. Yeah absolutely. Heart Foundation, I mean

Jim Neinhart individually, it'd be tough to put

him in, but he deserves it. He was great. It's

unfortunate he had all the issues with addiction.

And he's gone now partially because of it as

well. It's sad that some of these people get

inducted after they're gone. He wasn't already

inducted on his own, though, right? No. Brett

is, but Jim wasn't. Yeah. Okay. Honestly, and

this might be sad to say, but I think inducting

the Hart Foundation as a whole might be the only

way he could get in. Yeah, I tend to agree, unfortunately,

and that's why I think it's a good move. Also,

I mean, the Hart Foundation, like... Harlem,

he's kind of paved the way for a lot of other

tech teams and everybody remembers them. You

know, and Rudy's beefcake as well. I've heard

some people say, well, he didn't do a lot on

his own. He was a big part. I mean, the barber

shop was a huge part of Shawn Michaels career

though. Everybody remembers that. And the last

one I wanted to get to is DX. China should be

in on her own, flat out. But if this is one of

the ways to get her in, it's definitely worth

it. Yeah, it is. I always like DX. I always see

my... I don't want to say exposure, but it's

the only word I can think of to... D -Generation

X honestly was just Triple H and Sean. It was

hardly, like, when I first recognized DX and

everything else, it was them doing all their

stunts and everything else, all the, like, Sean

working in a cafeteria and Triple H having to

go get in kind of a thing, having to reunite,

you know, the whole X -ing of the thing and the

suck it and the this and the that and whatever

else. Yeah. I think you've watched the Monday

Night War documentary series, whatever you want

to call it, which they kind of pumped up DX's

role in that a little more than they were at

the time. But they were still really big. part

of it all and as well, each of the people have

gone on to do a lot of things behind the scenes.

You know, Road Dogg is still with the company,

does an awful lot of work. Xbox was responsible

for a lot of the younger talent when they would

come into WWE. Billy Gunn was a trainer forever

until recently and you know. There's not too

much else to say about Sean and Hunter at this

point. I mean, there's so many things that have

been said about Sean and Hunter. They're Hall

of Famers about 12 times over, so there's no

point in saying anything about that. Correct

me if I'm wrong. I think it was on the original

Tough Enough. Wasn't Billy one of the trainers?

Or am I misremembering that? I know there was

an older guy on the original Tough Enough named

Billy that was one of the trainers, but I don't

know. I'm sure he was a trainer on one of them.

I cannot for the life of me remember which seasons

but yeah by the way they one thing I'll note

they filed for the trademark for Tough Enough.

I wonder if that means it'll come back. I always

enjoyed it except for I wasn't a big fan of the

last one. I can't remember, I thought it had

another title or something to it too, but as

much as I like Jericho, it was weird. My favorite

season was, we've talked about this before, but

anyway, I loved the Stone Cold season. Yeah,

the Stone Cold season was amazing. Bill DeMott

was the one. Also, jeez, talk about some talent

on that. The Patrick who would become Velveteen

Dream. was slated he was probably he had a good

shot at winning it and then broke his ankle.

It's nice that he got some closure and has gotten

a good story because he's huge in NXT now. Just

don't get called up apparently because you're

called up from NXT and you lose your title for

no reason to Charlotte's on anyway. I mean, we'll

have to do. episode just on toughen up itself

i just pulled up the general toughen up the thing

has had like five seasons yeah overall uh the

stone cold season was i believe the fifth season

no fourth the fifth one was the last the hulk

hogan page and who was the third judge i can't

remember and then jericho the sort of by committee

didn't uh did not i don't know I thought you

said there was only five seasons, though. Oh,

okay. but yeah, you're right, there is six. Sorry,

no, I was just basing it on that it had to be

the second last one, because that was... Billy

Gunn was a coach on season six with Booker and

Lita, and then Hulk, Miz, and Paige, and Dan,

and Brian were judges. Very, very cool, yeah.

I've always enjoyed the type of game. Way back

when on the first Toughen Off, I got so pissed

they never actually did anything with Maven.

I don't remember if he got hurt or... what happened

to him, but when Maven won the very first off

and off, I was like, ooh, cool, very cool. So

anyway, what else you got? Well, let's cover

some of the bad. So that's, but that's all good.

And I'm, you know, hopefully China goes in on

her own someday and it's really good to see her.

She deserves, she needs to be in the Hall of

Fame. She's a huge part of women's wrestling

and a huge part of why it's now main eventing

WrestleMania. Negative stuff to talk about. Let's

just get it out of the way. Hell with it. Smackdown

maybe going to three hours when it hits Fox.

Please don't. One of the reasons SmackDown has

been good is because it's shorter. Yeah, exactly.

I said this to one of my own high school buddies

on Facebook when the story broke. I said, please

know, I love SmackDown, I love WWE, but that's

Raw's problem is that it's three hours and they

have to fill time and they have to do this and

they have to do that. We do not need a weekly

version of WrestleMania on two different nights.

It's basically you have a full on WrestleMania

pay -per -view each week once this one SmackDown

goes three hours because Raw is three hours,

SmackDown might end up being three hours. That's

six hours of wrestling television per week, not

counting any of the reality shows, not counting

any tough enough stuff that might be happening,

not counting 205 Live or whatever else. NXT,

NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT,

NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT,

NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT,

NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT,

NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT,

NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT,

NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT,

NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT, NXT,

NXT if they bring the Facebook stuff back. It's

too much stuff for them to write. Yeah, absolutely.

They're just shooting themselves in the foot.

And hey, let's segue into my other negative because

this is part of the same problem. It's also too

much stuff for the guys to work. And segue straight

into if you haven't seen it already, check out

John Oliver's last week tonight did nearly the

entire show. So as long as segment was on the

WWE, the wrestlers status as independent contractors

with I think we've talked about it before in

the show. I know I talk about it a lot and just

sort of the mistreatment of talent. They need

an off season. They need fewer shows, not more

shows. It's we've talked about it a lot on this

show and we just touched on it with the Hall

of Fame stuff. You know, we talk and say it all

the time. How many of the wrestlers that we grew

up with are gone or have health issues or other

problems? It's one after the other. And yet the

WWE continues to just make billions and billions

of dollars. And it's crazy. People say, you know,

it's unfair. Why do people always pick on the

WWE for this? Well, they're the ones that can

afford it. They're one of the only ones. And

keep in mind that the people who work in their

offices have better health care and more days

off and sick leave and everything else and none

of their wrestlers too. It's ridiculous to me.

And there are people who will say, well, they

get paid well or, you know, well, that's what

they sign up for. I don't care. I don't understand

how you can be that callous about it. I don't

care if it's they get paid well. I don't care

if that's what they signed up for. No. Any job,

whether you love it or not, any job, especially

WWE, a sports job, whatever you want to call

it, entertainment job, if you absolutely love

it, like the John Cena's of the world puts in

all this work at all this time. It's not just

what we see on TV that they're getting paid for.

John's getting paid for promotions, the this,

the that, any of the commercials. I mean, obviously

the... Merchandise. Like the merchandise things,

like when he does, you know, when he... Our perfect

example, not John, but only because I remember

it was this person's commercial, not John's.

When Savage did... When Macho Man did... Step

into a Slim Jim. Yes, Slim Jim and whomever is

behind that is paying him, but I'm sure also

WWE is paying him because they have him in his

WWE persona kind of thing. But going back to

John Cena, he's there working on his character.

He's there telling the script people to... My

character would do this. My character would do

that. Let me work on this. Let me work on that.

I have to sign all of this stuff and it's not,

I have to sign all this stuff. It's he wants

to be there. Like go back and watch that original.

It was a purple shirt, John Cena DVD case. The

very first John Cena deep back in WWE was I'm

marketing DVDs. The John Cena story or whatever

it was. Watch that. And the man was doing work

for WWE for at least a full week, at least 12

hours a day. Not just what we see on Raw, on

SmackDown, on pay -per -views. They still do

non -filmed house shows. How about we do this?

How about you take the non -filmed house shows

away and give them those days off? Like, instead

of doing a Saturday night non -televised event,

like... That's part of the problem though is

that that's one of the ways WWE make money and

when we're talking about the talent being overworked

Ambrose who we'll talk about in a little bit

when it gets a WrestleMania, but Dean Ambrose

for example Two years ago was the guy who worked

the most matches and he had over 300 matches

in the year Owens was second and had over 300

as well That's too much You look at the NFL which

is also a very physical sports and There's a

lot of contact. There's a lot of contact in wrestling

too, even though it's you know supposed to be

Again, if you ever seen it live, it's ridiculously

well choreographed and well done but it's still

not easy and you still hurt after it and the

NFL though they get an entire off season and

you at least get some consideration and time

to kind of heal up your body. Not to mention

one game a week, not, hey, you have to go out

and wrestle seven days this week. It's ridiculous

to me that there's, I'm trying to answer around

it, but I mean, I feel like the wrestlers need

to unionize. It's, I don't, they have goods and

bans, God knows. I've experienced that. But anyway,

they they need to be protected. And it's really

it's really callous to me for people who just

say, oh, they knew what they signed up for. Like,

no, they should be able to spend time with their

kids and not be crippled for life. Exactly. You

look at you said earlier, you look at NFL, NBA,

NHL and MLB, all four of the major American sports.

They all have players unions. Whoa whoa NHL,

totally Canadian, come on man. Anyway, sorry.

That's CH whatever the hell you guys have up

there. Anyway, but it's one of those things I'm

saying like the NHL in general, yes there are

Canadian hockey teams. I'm not saying there isn't,

but I'm saying NHL headquarters is in Toronto

as far as I know. It's somewhere here in the

States. I don't know, whatever. It's in Toronto,

but anyway. The point is is that all of these

four major sporting things, leagues, whatever

you want to call them, they all have players

unions. You look at the baseball strike, what

was it, in the 90s? When was that? The strike

in 93 or 94? Somewhere in the 90s there was a

baseball strike and we didn't have baseball for

almost a whole season or two. I don't think it

was 93. I think it was like 94, 95, or 96, because

I know the 93 World Series was whatever. But

the point is... At least you didn't say they

expose. But the point is, if all of these four

major leagues can have players unions and players

can go on strike if they're not being treated

fairly or if they're not getting paid enough

or whatever, then WWE needs a wrestlers union.

Also to be one, all of those that you just listed.

get paid more money and work fewer days. Exactly.

It's baffling to me. The John Oliver thing, it

was a really good segment. I was impressed with

the fact that he's clearly a fan and it was well

put together. Yeah, I'll probably embed that

in the post so people can see it. I did watch

it. Well, if you could find it, because WWE has

tried real hard to get it pulled seemingly, it

is one of the only segments that's not available

on his official site. Or sorry, official YouTube

channel, I should say. Oh, it's not on YouTube

anymore? Nope. Damn. Yeah, it's like some multi

-billion dollar corporation doesn't want it available.

wait a second I wonder who that could be it's

available but it's not it's not available from

his channel unless it's gone back up again sorry

folks yes yeah i got it it's on the last week

tonight uh published on march 31st 2019 yeah

it's on the last week tonight uh channel so i

don't know if that's his actual channel i assume

obviously that's his show channel but it's right

there i'm on it and it's not that whatever uh

in any case it's right there uh it'll be in the

show notes folks uh yeah i mean who are you with

this software now It's just one of those things

that like part of other than life stuff happening

to both of us. It's like. I'm just watching it

to keep up at this point. I guess I enjoy certain

moments and certain bits and things like that,

but I'm not watching WWE for doing a podcast

at this point. I'm not watching W I like I said,

I enjoy certain moments, but. Overall both programs

I fast forward and this is on the condensed versions

like I'm watching both of these next day on Hulu

Smackdown is not condensed. It is still two full

hours, but raw that's condensed to like an hour

and 30 minutes I still fast forward the bits

that I don't care about You just watch it. I've

still been enjoying it. I enjoyed the pay -per

-views It's been significantly improved since

the start of the year overall and speaking of

which let's roll into WrestleMania. Yes, WrestleMania

35 So we're likely to open apparently with the

two battle world I don't want to talk too much

about them because to be honest, I don't care

I think the biggest point here that we have to

talk about is the fact that They're actually

giving away content for free Because the kickoff

show will air on USA. Yeah, the kickoff show

is likely to be those two Battle Royals and then

they'll probably dump one of the matches there,

but I just I don't know The Women's Battle Royal,

I'm glad they're doing it. So touch on this just

for a second. There are too many wrestlers in

WWE. They've signed too many of the people from

the independents and it goes for both genders.

But when we're talking about the women, there's

a lot of talent in the Battle Royal that don't

have WrestleMania matches, notably Asuka, who

has absolutely got the short end of the stick.

However, so is Naomi. The one I wanted to point

out though is somebody we haven't talked about

in a while because she hasn't been on TV and

that's Dana Brooke who she finally showed up

to face Ronda Rousey on RAW. I don't know if

you saw the segment. Yeah I saw the segment.

So she cut I thought her best promo I think she's

ever done. Then you know got beat up by Rousey

in three seconds and then they had a match where

she lost and about the same time next week But

she looks pretty good and she's an example to

me of somebody that we talked about this when

she first came up I thought she came up a little

too early and she didn't necessarily make the

impact I think they were hoping for and then

she just kind of got buried and disappeared.

It hasn't been on How are you supposed to get

any better if you don't have any time and they

don't give you any matches? Yeah, with Naomi...

Yeah, Naomi's somebody that's already there,

but I'm talking about somebody that's young and

they apparently thought something of and, okay,

fine, it didn't go as you hoped originally. That

doesn't mean she doesn't deserve another chance

or shouldn't. you know how she's supposed to

grow as a wrestler though if you just don't have

her on television or have her do anything and

then you go down the list Carmela disappeared

after having the title for a while whether you

like her or not but she was a title holder and

she just completely disappeared uh well she didn't

disappear she um well they do occasional dance

breaks but they had entire weeks where she wasn't

on yeah well like from her championship run to

now like she's not on nearly as much though and

then i mean i'm a i'm a you know mandy rose and

sony de vil they were doing something with well

they disappeared off tv suddenly and that got

axed uh the riot squad show up every week to

get beat up by becky charlotte and ronda and

ronda and but at least they're on tv Mickey James

shows up once in a while. Selena Vega only shows

up to accompany Andrade. So they have all this

talent and I've listed all those people. A few

of them are not only former title holders, but

I look at somebody like Asuka or Naomi who should

have titles now. They are very good and they

don't have anything to do. They all get dumped

into this battle royal. Then you look at the

men's one. You've got the Hardy boys. You've

got Braun Strowman who has nothing to do except

they've been doing the stuff with the SNL. Oh

god. I just, yeah, anyway, I don't care about

that. Owens doesn't have a match. Like Ali, Mustafa

Ali, who they've been pushing and who has been

absolutely fantastic. No match. I just, and the...

I don't know. There's too many people. And then

you've got Dean Ambrose we wanted to talk about.

It looks like he's leaving and he's another guy.

He's got quite a bit of talent. People like him,

but he's just lost in the shuffle because they've

so many bloody people right now. Well, what needs

to happen, and I do and I don't want this to

happen, but what needs to happen is if hopefully

Seth beats that dumbass. Yeah, Brock needs to

leave. We'll get to that when we talk about the

match. But my point here is, if Seth beats him,

great. Absolutely. Kick Brock out. Also, dumbass.

That's not very nice. It's not Brock's fault

that, you know, McMahon lets him show up and

I would do the exact same thing if they offered

me money. I don't blame him for it at all. It's

not his fault. It's just... I think it's poor

planning and I think the WWE, it's just not a

good idea to have them around, but - So my point

is, if Seth wins, great. Absolutely want Seth

as Universal Champion. Champion that way will

have actual Universal Championship matches on

the shows. If Seth loses, just get the fucking

shield back together. Roman's not - Roman's what?

Fighting Drew? Roman's not in any championship

chase right now. No, but I think that's a good,

it's a good program for him and it's a good way

to kind of get him back in. Like, uh, I'm not,

I don't want to knock his health or anything

like that, but you know, is he a hundred percent

and that kind of thing. It's a good program for

him. And Drew's definitely somebody who can A,

work and B, he looks strong and believable. Absolutely.

I'm not saying that the Drew McIntyre match isn't

going to be good for Roman, whatever. I'm saying

that - I just think it's pretty high profile

still though. I don't think it's a big - No,

I'm not saying it's a pre -show match. I'm saying

that Roman currently is not in any championship

chase. If Seth loses, Dean's not really doing

anything. What? the shield back together, you

bastards. If he's employed. Okay, but that's

what I'm saying in order to get him to stay.

Put the shield back together. Let them do what

they're supposed to do. Let them be what they're

supposed to be. By the way, if he stays, by the

way, what I would do is, personally, just me

playing fantasy poker. Rollins wins the title.

McIntyre beats Reigns and says... I beat up two

of the Shields. I should fight you now, Seth.

I'm gonna take you out for the title. And then

Roman moves on to, you know what, Dean, I'm not

happy with the stuff you said about me while

I was gone. And they have a high profile thing.

You can get them back together after that. Yeah,

yeah, that's fine. I think it would be good stuff

for all of them. And they'd be at the top of

all the cards. Anyway, so. Yeah, from high profile

stuff to not high profile stuff. How about something

else that doesn't excite me? Kurt Angle's final

batch versus Baron Corbin on WrestleMania. Okay,

talk about too many people at this point with

them changing the whole thing and essentially

the McMahon family being the new version of the

Authority or the same version of the Authority

just including Vince Moore kind of a thing. uh

Baron Corbin well he is a great athlete and he

has done some interesting things he's lost a

lot of shit in the last year and a half he hasn't

done much he was a piss poor general manager

he got fired because he lost a match from being

general manager put this guy on 205 library instead

of burying ray mysterio or kevin owens i know

kevin's currently injured or something you know

whatever i don't think baron's in the weight

class for two of five life. Okay but I'm saying

like put him on main event and just don't put

like get him off frog. Corbin's got talent. My

issue with this is just it makes sense for the

storyline that Kurt would want revenge but it's

just it's final match it should be something

it feels like it should be something more high

profile. He's one of the best wrestlers they've

ever seen. The general consensus is that most

people want Cena to come back because that would

bookend his career. Get out of my head because

that's exactly what I was going to say. No, that's

exactly what I was going to say. I'm like, okay,

so get Corbin out of there. Get Baron out of

there. Put Cena versus Angle Ruthless Aggression

Part 2 or something or other. Kind of a thing,

like a final send -off farewell. But of course,

the big question, unfortunately, is, is Cena

available? True. Yeah. Because he's busy doing

a lot of films, and good for him, by the way,

that he's getting all these chances. Yeah. Okay,

I'm a dumb white boy from dumb white boy America

here, but even I got offended with what character

direction they took with Carmela, with pairing

her up with Naomi. and basically making her tan

herself to look a certain way, let's say. So

about that, quick note, that is actually her

skin. No, it's not. She's actually white. Yeah,

no, she is, but that is essentially her skin

now. She's been tanning too much. Okay, but point

is, is that... Also, where the hell did this

come from? Because we were talking about the

women's stuff earlier, and I didn't get to bring

it up. But it's one of those things where it's

like, you talk about things that disappear and

then reappear. It's like her and truth with the

dance breaks. Yeah, sure, great, fine. And now

her, formerly her and Naomi doing their thing

or whatever. I don't get this at all. I just

don't understand it. But you know, it is what

it is. So Shane McMahon versus The Miz. Can we

just get this over with? My issue is that Shane's

another kind of part -timer, much like Brock,

and I'm not a big fan of him being on TV when

they've already got so many wrestlers who don't

have programs. My other issue is trying to make

Miz look tough. They've completely buried poor

sanity. who Sanity lost a three -on -one handicap

match to The Miz on SmackDown and it was the

second time Sanity have A, been beat up by The

Miz, B, the second time they've appeared in about

three months. So that's not good. Whatever. You

know why they keep putting The Miz out there,

right? Because they hate us. Because what? Because

they hate us. No, I know it's because of its

show. It's because Miz and Mrs. Season 2. Also,

I just think Miz works better as a heal. He's

a great bad guy. Yeah, he talks really well.

I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Yep. Next,

Orton versus Stiles, which, holy cow, I was not

interested in this at all. And then the last

few weeks, the build's been fantastic with the

two of them just... roasting each other. Stiles

brought up Orton's suspension for drug use from

years ago. Orton repeatedly brings up Stiles

not being a big star until now. I suspect they

get along really well in real life because they've

done a really good job of building this up and

making it surprisingly interesting. And it should

actually be a good match, so good for both of

them. You know, I bring up somebody from 10 minutes

ago. I just usually that's my thing. I'm just

surprised. All right, fine. The next match, which,

by the way, I will also put into the holy cow.

Why am I interested in this when I wasn't expecting

to be? Batista versus Triple H in a no -holds

-barred match, which, wow. So this week, again,

they just had Batista came out. He showed a package

of him beating Triple H up on different occasions

and just said kiss my ass on her and left. The

build for it has been really good and unsurprisingly,

Triple H delivered some really good promos But

the one thing I wanted to touch on I wish I'd

mentioned this with angle I don't know if you

watched any of Ra or the highlights this week,

but if you can track down the vignette they did

for angle showing his career and The vignette

they did for this feud Batista Triple H The WWE

vignette people, the people who put together

these little highlight packages always do such

a great job. I honestly wish that they would

get a chance to do some of the writing if they

don't already, because they do such a good job

of just encapsulating everything so quickly and

you get hyped for it. I know they're going to

do it during WrestleMania as well. They love

showing the vignettes right before the match.

And we talked about it last year, if you remember

how good they were. Now the vignette for Hunter

and Batista, was that the one where, is that

when he showed, before he showed up and said

kiss my ass, the one before it where he just

pointed to the screen and it started? Yeah, he

didn't say anything, which I thought was good.

And then I liked that. I feel like Batista's,

Batista, both of them have played their roles

really well. And they've done it in a way that

they're not overshadowing anything else, but

you're still interested in it. I'm really impressed

with both of them. Yeah, it's done really, really

well. And you're right, these vignette video

people need to be doing part of the writing or

part of the whatever kind of thing. I want to

talk about really quickly, and this is like,

they need to come up with some new moves. Specifically,

Brock and Batista. For a while now, WWE has not

used pyro. They stopped using pyro. Because it

costs money. Obviously. If you can't afford health

insurance, you can't afford pyro. Exactly. Between

Brock and Batista, they both had specific beats

within their entrance. Batista specifically,

there was a point in his theme song, which is

one of the songs by Saliva. I walk alone. In

that, the song kind of stops. The pyro goes off

like a gun or whatever he's doing kind of a thing.

Like he's doing the machine, like he's on his,

he's like squatted down and doing the machine

gun kind of thing. Well, obviously they stopped

doing the pyro. So they need to find a way to

where it's more prevalent with Brock's because

Brock has that one like... big giant step kind

of thing where he's like crushing somebody's

face off or something but it's only with those

two but seriously people work on the entrances

yeah they also probably don't want to do it for

Batista right now because he's supposed to be

the bad guy so well true but yeah with Brock

it would make sense because he's just flat out

supposed to be a spectacle that's been the whole

thing right That's why he doesn't show up often,

it's supposed to be a big deal. It's a disappointment

every fucking time. At this point, anyway. I

mean, did you not, I'm sure you knew that, I

read this, I think it was on Cage Side Seats,

that the Seth Brock thing from the Go Home show

to WrestleMania for Raw was actually supposed

to go the other way, where Seth got his crap

out of... Yeah, it was changed. Yeah, it was

changed. Thank God it was changed. Yeah, but

now I'm worried because usually when you win

on the show beforehand, you lose. We'll see.

So Roman Reigns versus Drew McIntyre. Another

one. Solid match. I feel like Drew should probably

win to kind of keep his to keep him going, especially

if Brock finally leaves because he need a good,

strong bad guy. You know, feels like Drew can

do that. I would like that. uh reigns uh oh we

haven't really talked about this uh it's really

good seeing him back it is yeah that is a flat

out feel good story no negatives or anything

it's great that he's recovered and will hopefully

inspire other people who have you know leukemia

or other forms of cancer that hey you can win

you can go back to what you were doing And the

build for it has been good, although I'm not

sure why. As I was about to say, I'm not sure

why they had Drew beat up poor Dean Ambrose two

weeks in a row in basically the same match. But

if Ambrose is leaving, they have a tendency to

do that where guys just kind of lose. Like Gallos

and Anderson who got beat up in about four seconds.

Yeah, talk about a team that has basically gone

away. Yeah. Sucks because they're really good.

Yeah. Whatever. Anyway, next we have the Cruiserweight

Championship match, Buddy Murphy versus Tony

Nese. It's going to be fantastic. has potential

to steal the show. Buddy Murphy has been a revelation

and been fantastic, but unfortunately he's relegated

to 205 life. I don't know if the audience is

going to respond and that kind of sucks. Women's

tag team championship match. Well, we're getting

into the multi -person matches now We've got

Banks and Bailey who hold the title versus Nia

Jax and Tamina Snuka Versus Beth Phoenix and

Natalia versus the IIconics Okay, this is what

I was gonna say earlier about Naomi More Naomi

than Carmella because Carmella would just be

there for a distraction. I'm sorry the IIconics

like I have zero interest in their gimmick, in

their characters. Take them out of there and

put Naomi in, just to get her in with her and

Carmela, because, like, I'd rather see Naomi

go up against the Divas of Doom, which is Beth

and Natalia. It would be nice to, like, Ruby

Riots and the Riot Squad, for example, give them

something after getting beat up week after week.

Um, but yeah, I mean, I don't mind the iconics.

They're supposed to be annoying, but yeah, and

Phoenix and Natalia is interesting. Two people

who, Natalia at least, has been around, uh, and

stayed around for this period of women's wrestling

being significantly improved and focused on.

But she's another one, you know, she was from

the same time as Phoenix when they weren't interested

in actually having them wrestle and so it's nice

that yeah that both of them are together and

get the chance to do this. Also, they're essentially

best friends in real life. So that's cool. Tamina,

unfortunately, is still with a charisma vacuum

and... She sucks lots is what he's trying to

say, folks. I don't like saying that. Well, you

didn't say it, I said it. Whatever. Next is another

multi -person tag match. The Usos, Ricochet,

Aleister Black, Bbar, and Shinsuke and Rusev.

Shinskev. That's what it should be called. Or

Ruskev. Ruskay, there you go, Ruskay, hey you,

Ruskay! Honestly, I know you used to, I think

you still do, like Ricochet and Alistair Black,

but honestly... They're great, but they've just,

much like everybody else, just been called up.

They're just kind of there. They're just kind

of there, yeah. Honestly, I want the Usos to

retain. Yeah, I do too. The Usos are one of the...

They're one of the most underrated tag teams

I think ever. They're consistently terrific and

just, yeah, they don't seem to get the recognition

as some of the others. But yeah, I'd be fine

with that. At the very least, this should be

a really good match because everybody involved

can wrestle. Yep. Next we have, speaking of two

people who can wrestle, geez, Samoa Joe versus

Rey Mysterio. This has to be the most uneven

match I've ever seen. What? What do you mean?

Look at Simone with Joe and then look at Rey

Mysterio. What about when Braun Strowman was

feuding with Kalisto, remember? That's true.

But yeah, this would be a really good match.

Joe is still fantastic. Mysterio has entered

some sort of time machine. and it remains just

amazing. He did apparently get injured on Monday.

Hopefully it doesn't affect Sunday, but we'll

see. But yeah, this is another match that could

steal the show. Two guys that are just great.

And it's nice to see Joe have a title. The build

for it has not been great, but whatever. These

are two people that can work really well. I think

fans will be into it just because they're really

terrific. Next, Intercontinental title match.

Finn Balor vs Bobby Lashley. Why did they spoil

that Balor is going to be the demon? Wouldn't

it have been way cooler if he surprised everybody?

Uh, yeah. Maybe don't mention it all, but this

is what WWE does. They ruin any type of surprise.

They spoil everything more than trailers do.

It's like you and I were talking about this earlier.

Wouldn't it be amazing if Corbin comes down the

ramp? and Cena suddenly hits him from behind

and it's Kurt Angle versus Corbin. It's almost

as if they're spoiling that. It would be cool

if you've got Bobby Lashley and Leo Rush come

out and they're in the ring and Bobby Lashley's

real confident, everything's great. And then

Baller comes out as the demon and suddenly he's

worried, that kind of thing. It would have been

so much more interesting, but now let's ruin

it in the friggin' raw. Let's make Finn yell

weird in a vignette. I like Finn. And I like

Bobby, but I don't like what they're doing with

Bobby. Part of it's because the two of them too,

they've wrestled against each other about 12

times in the last... Well, like, the main part

I don't like about Bobby is, this is kind of

what I guess Vince is allowing again, is these

promoters or managers or whatever you want to

call them. I'm sorry. I loved it when Bobby and

Leo were fighting and Bobby just threw him across

the room. Like, I want to see Bobby Lashley basically

Hulk -a -fied. I feel like that should have been

their split. Instead of them just yeah back together

for no reason. It was weird that suddenly they

decided like not so good Yeah, that's what I'm

saying. Like that should have been the split

Bobby should be doing his own thing his own story

kind of thing Whatever Bobby versus Finn has

made less than enthused but also kind of stinks

for rush who is really good and in the the chances

they've given him to actually wrestle he's a

fantastic wrestler unsurprisingly, but He doesn't

get to do it, and it's weird to me, but whatever.

Alright, uh... Do we really need to talk too

much about Brock vs Seth? We both just want...

It's no offence to him, and I really hope, by

the way, they find a way to keep Paul Heyman

around, because good god, he's... Paul's great.

Paul Heyman's some sort of national treasure.

He could read the phone book and make it just

entertaining and terrific. He needs to be First

of all, he needs to be a voice actor. What can

we not get him on some show? Could you imagine

as Paul Heyman as a villain on Batman the animated

series or something? Yes, I could actually. That

would be amazing. Yeah Or make him like speak

for Bane or something in an episode. Anyway,

according to my information There's 15 total

WrestleMania matches out of the 15 matches three

of them are pre -show matches So we have 12 matches.

Yeah on the WrestleMania card Yep, is that to

12 is that like two or three or four too many?

Why do you think why do you think I'm going through

this so quickly? Yeah, I know and there's no

too many multi -person matches That's what I

was complaining about earlier and just and it's

it sucks because we're like I said earlier they

have to many talented people because they have

all these matches and all these people and look

at all the people who are not, who have nothing

to do. Owens is a former world champion. Mustafa

Ali has been dumped into the Battle Royale and

he's a terrific up and coming guy. And same thing

with the women. You've got Nikki Cross, who they

haven't been able to find anything to do. She's

terrific. Again, I mentioned Dana Brooke. She's

somebody who How are you going to get better

if you're young and, you know, you haven't worked

if you don't get the chance to work? Like, whatever.

And speaking of which, actually, hey, it kind

of segues into the next match. Deidre O 'Brien

versus Kofi Kingston. Kofi been there for 11

years. I'm very happy for him. And it's it's

kind of sad that it came at the cost of Mustafa

Ali, who got injured. and Kingston replaced him

and seemingly this is all because of that so

kind of sad for Ali but really good news for

Kingston who he's been very good for a long time.

Kofi whether he's on his own or whether he's

in the new day slinging waffles or pancakes or

whatever the power of positivity has always been

really really good. And the bill for this has

let him be fantastic too. The build for this

has basically improved Xavier and Biggie's mic

skills because most of the time, Kofi says a

few things, at least the stuff that I've seen,

but he hasn't said much. Every time a new day

comes out, it's always Xavier and Biggie talking

about it. Yeah, which I also like and I also

feel like that might be something for the future,

right? There might be a reason for that. Absolutely,

but here's my problem with it. I hate Vince McMahon.

I know you're supposed to hate him, but I'm sorry.

This whole thing of you're a B -plus player,

you're a this -plus player, you're a this, you're

a that, you're whatever. So the reason for all

that though, and I like this, is they reversed

roles in that that's exactly what Hunter had

told Daniel Bryan all those years ago, and now

Daniel Bryan's the bad guy telling somebody else

that. Yeah, I understand that, but I'm saying

like... Why is it that the right that the storyline

part of the writing head that like Kofi won that

whatever it was Yeah, you won the gauntlet match

in order to go to WrestleMania that should be

it Yeah, that was a bit much that they had and

then they kept taking in a row, but having said

that Well, it's too bad I want to get to that

one to get to that when we get to the main events

in a minute, but uh they had too many weeks it

feels like of build up for all these matches

yeah like there was too much contact and everything

else having said that though i liked the tag

team gauntlet thing and i loved the usos in it

i liked the idea that they came out and they

said you know we respect them he's proved himself

we forfeit oh that was a cool moment yeah it

was that that was a very cool moment It was neat

and it helped everybody involved. Daniel Bryan's

been amazing in this too. I love the whole...

he just talks down to Kofi the entire time and

he's doing the exact same thing everybody did

to him and it's just fun. It's got to be fun

for him because he gets to be on the other side

and he gets to play with what he went through.

Oh absolutely that has to be amazing. As much

as I love... Please split the two of them up

like Daniel Bryan does not need Rowan like I

get it I guess it's part of his heel character.

Yeah, it's a little weird to also Rowan doesn't

get to say anything Exactly like I mean Rowan's

just kind of there in the background. Yeah, I

mean like Rowan had more to say when he was a

Wyatt family member Hey speaking of people who

haven't been on TV Whatever anyway, so then we

get to the Main match which the build has been

amazing for it But it seems like the build has

been going on forever and there's just been so

much contact It's lasted way too long. Yeah,

it's like it's been a little too much, but whatever

I think it did its job. I mean people want to

see it now I mean Thing this week leading up

into WrestleMania. I'm sorry the police car thing

that just took the cake me I was like, okay.

Yes. I want to see the match but like you're

doing too much Yeah, I think it was it was goofy,

but I thought it was still goofy in a fun way

But I understand I know a lot of people complained

about it and I think it's fair also by the way

total side note I feel like we you and I talked

about this on on a movie review years ago, but

throw it out here. Let's say you're the police.

Why do you let WWE make you look so dumb? I realize

that these guys are actors or wrestlers that

they hired and they're not real police officers,

but it's the same thing that... you know wwe

or somebody will always go like yeah and we'd

like to thank the police officers for letting

us do this it's the same thing as when you watch

a movie that makes the cia look stupid you know

you watch a bond movie where the cia can't do

anything confidently and one dude is able to

unravel and fix everything or something like

that i mean this why would you then go like oh

i think i'm glad we took part in this no it made

you look dumb come on yeah this this go -home

thing with ronda charlotte and becky these are

the worst props ever once they were handcuffed

i was like oh my god and then they got out into

the back with the cars and the kicking in the

kicking in or out of the window exactly and then

you know what's gonna happen like okay so a couple

of things yes i know this is also part creative

and yes i know this was also partially planned

i'm sorry The police car that Ronda was in, and

the police car that they tried to put Becky in,

which is the same car as Ronda's, did not have

a cage. Ronda ended up in the front seat. That's

not a real, that's not a true police car kind

of thing. And the thing of it is, is by the end

of it, when they tried... Tried to do a Dean

move and have her drive off in it or whatever

or crash into the other police car. I'm like

I Would rather see Braun Strowman with with the

with the hydraulic whatever Flip over the truck

on Roman again or whatever it was, you know that

big stupid ridiculous over -the -top WWE moment

that they did with with Braun and Roman truck

thing I thought it was over the top enough, but

I'll say this. It was an ambulance. My favorite

thing of the entire thing, though, was the fact

that you've got Rhonda and Charlotte who are

screaming like bloody murder and are upset and

everything else. My favorite thing in the whole

thing was Becky, who her reaction is kind of

like, really? Again? All right. Yeah. because

I mean she just got arrested a couple weeks ago

she she was by far the calmest out of all of

them she was just and she literally said that

at one point she just said oh come on again yeah

I just I got a kick out of that I thought that

was funny yeah I'm very excited to see the the

triple threat match and the fact that it's for

both championships Yeah, so I wonder if this

means the brand splits done because that's been

a rumor for a while Also, we keep having people

show up on both shows lately Yeah, I mean, I'm

fairly sure the brand split is done simply because

they stop Yeah, they just have too many people

to do really do it too like Smackdown is only

two hours and you have all these people that

can't show up So I mean they had that extra hour.

No, shut up. No, I'm just saying I'm saying it's

it's the truth if they add that extra hour and

make it three hours long then I also like so

I think uh I can't remember if it was last year

maybe two years ago but in any case that's probably

last year in any case they've set up kind of

a feel -good possibility at the end of this like

I feel like if you have kofi Seth and Becky win

people are going to be really happy Like there's

the possibility that they might actually have

a WrestleMania where the fans are happy. That's

how it used to be. I'm not saying it's entirely

realistic or anything like that. But remember

the old ones. It ends with Hogan hits the leg

drop and everybody goes home. All the good guys

won and people are happy. I don't think there's

anything wrong with that. So it might be kind

of cool if they do that. They've set it up, but

it's gonna be for me. It's just gonna be a huge

downer if Brock retains and we're stuck with

another year of If they would just okay. Yes,

I get it. He's a he's a circus freak He's a this

he's a that he's a whatever. He's only there

He's being paid to not be there whatever it is

if they would just give him or make him do, or

pay him to do, two matches every six months on

Raw where he potentially loses. I'm not saying

it needs to be a Brock Lesnar open challenge.

It never will be, obviously, but I do not want

another year, another long line of years of Brock

holding up that you... What the fuck was the

point in creating the Universal Championship

if it's only universally belonging to one guy?

I mean, essentially. Well, true. But I mean,

like essentially Brock Lesnar is the Thanos of

the WWE snap his fingers and he won't do shit.

They will see what happens. But I also feel like

so the Undertaker is. an old school guy obviously

and yep one of the things he did before he left

was make sure that Reigns who's a younger guy

who's still there you know he put him over is

the term and let him win it would be nice if

Brock kind of sticks around to do the same like

my hope is that so my hope is Roland wins and

that's kind of one of the things off I don't

mind if Lesnar comes back to put over somebody

else. Like maybe that Finn or Kevin or one of

the younger guys have a program with him. I'd

be okay with that. I just don't like that the

belt never shows up because it feels like it's

not even a part of the show. The problem with

having Brock put anybody over at this point right

now today is that number one, he's too big of

a... I don't give a shit kind of a guy. He's

got too big of an ego. Like he wants that recognition.

He wants that belt. There was a whole story last

year where he was like, I'm gonna win it back

and I'm taking it away. I mean, let me say that.

We don't know him behind the scenes. Right, exactly.

I'm just gonna pretend that... You know, he has

the same respect for the business that somebody

like the undertaker has to kind of, you know,

no, I, I don't think he does. I don't think he

does either. I don't think he does. He did. I

don't know. I don't think he does go, go back

and watch, uh, uh, the stone cold podcast or

whatever. Well, not only that, but we talked

about Dean Ambrose, right? Right. I personally

feel like the beginning of the end for Ambrose

was the Lesnar thing where he just didn't want

to work with him. Yeah. I feel like that kind

of burns poor Dean out and I don't blame him

for it. Like it's got to suck. You get you get

put into this big profile against their biggest

guy and you just don't get to do anything. Yeah.

It's nuts. It really is nuts. It's just super

silly. Was there anything else you wanted to

bring up? No, I mean, overall, I hope we haven't

seen super negative, but this is one of the better.

This feels like a good card. I'm legitimately

interested in seeing a lot of these matches,

and I don't know who's going to win all of them

for once. It seems like a really good card. I

just have not. Like I said at the beginning of

the podcast. I didn't even watch Fastlane. Like,

I was going to. I had planned to watch it because

whether we're recording or not, I still watched

to keep up and whatever. I just didn't. I mean,

you've had other stuff to do. There's a certain

point where, you know, you gotta find time and

take care of important things versus spend time

watching the 47 hours a week of pro wrestling

that WWE Cranks have. And it's one of those things

where like, yes, you're right. Now that we've

talked about it, I'm a little bit more excited

about the card. I'm a little bit more excited

about one match or the other match. I don't think

there are too many bad matches on the card for

WrestleMania 35. I think that, like you said

earlier, there are too, too many of the multi

-person matches. I think that's really where

it hurts. Like have the... Andre the Giant Battle

Royal thing like they always do have the the

the women's and the men's tag team things, but

I don't know it just I Wasn't X other than like

I said the certain matches I was not fully excited

to watch WrestleMania 35 this year. It's just

I just wasn't Now, one of the things I feel like

they really have to do going forward is find

something for the women who don't hold belts

to do. They always have storylines and stuff

for other people who don't have belts. There's

a bunch of those matches on this card. The women

really don't have any, and that's a downer, especially

considering that right now, they are probably

the harder act. Yeah. It's probably pretty close

and I definitely think that Kofi, people are

super interested in him and his story, deservedly

so. But yeah, I really feel like the women, like

Becky Lynch is just, man, we could do like a

whole sort of show or something on her meteoric

kind of rise. Yeah, absolutely. It feels like

it was only yesterday that... They just never

had anything for her to do, and she would only

kind of show up once in a while. Yep. I... I

know that the final Raw before WrestleMania was

on April Fools, but I am sorry. As much as I

love Steph, that was the dumbest April Fools

joke ever. Like, why would you want to ins...

haven't you had enough Armbar staff? Yeah, well

also, the other problem is I don't think it makes

that as great a joke when it's something people

legitimately are afraid of and don't want to

see. Exactly. Because they've done that enough.

Hey, let's insert the Authority or the McMahon

family into everything. Yep, that's crazy. Alright

folks, um... I'm hoping. I've been told by a

certain person that he will return for our WrestleMania

episode. I'm not sure if he will. I said I'll

be there. Not you. Oh, you don't even care. Fine.

You'll always be here. You're never going away.

But Mike the Birdman Dodd may make an appearance

on WrestleMania 35 for Mayhem Mike's. He said

he's going to. I don't know. I've been trying

to get some of our other wrestling cohorts to

join us like TV's Mr. Neil or Optimus Solo or

the guys from simplistic reviews or any of those

but every time I say hey you guys want to record

a ketchup podcast or something other than Ryan

who I already know is gonna be there anyway yeah

meanwhile me who so like my wife doesn't here

isn't interested in wrestling or anything so

it's the only time I necessarily get to talk

about it except for I got one other friend so

I'm always excited to do it so I guess this is

huge news, because the last time we recorded

you were not married. When did you get married?

What? We're talking about this. Whatever. I don't

feel like this is podcast material. Sure it is.

It's our personal lives. Why not? I knew you

guys were dating, but I didn't realize you got

married. No, it's been a while ago. Whatever.

We just don't bother updating Facebook or anything.

It's neither of us uses it. Alright, you can

catch man mics on geekcastradio .com I'm still

at night being on Twitter after I tried to delete

it a number of times and it just keeps logging

me back in so just I am at TF2 and Mike, you

can follow at this week at Geek and Geekcast

Radio for the perspective networks. We will catch

you next time here on Mayhem Mikes for WrestleMania.

You just made the list! All clear.