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Welcome to the ring, it's rich and adam.

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Breaking down the fights with flair and passion.

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Tag teams grappling, belts are clashing.

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Finishes and factions catching action.

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Hi, I'm rich and hey, I'm Adam.

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Welcome to this week's episode of

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finishes and factions smackdown edition

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available on all your favorite podcast platforms as an audible

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or here on YouTube where you get to hang out with us as well.

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So without further ado, let's crack in a smackdown.

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We have got an opportunity to sit and discuss this week's smackdown

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which was in Portland, Oregon and the first one on Netflix as well.

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Yeah, and we started off smackdown with a raw recap,

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a rather comprehensive raw recap.

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Yeah, it took up quite a bit of time.

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I don't think necessarily we needed to go into that level of detail with raw

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to sort of recap what had happened but creative choices I suppose.

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It could have been worse, we could have had another promo from The Rock.

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We could have, that is the one thing that was missing from the, from smackdown.

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He could have gone full house and decided not to.

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We did however start the night off with an in-ring Paul Heyman promo.

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We did and as normal Paul Heyman manages to grab a crowd at the start of an event

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and really hook them in and yeah, this promo was no different.

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Especially with the contents of it as well,

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the celebration of Roman Reigns winning his tribal combat against Solo Sikoa

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getting the Oolah Fahla back.

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Yeah, I mean his unequivocal delight at the fact that he no longer has to answer

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to Solo Sikoa

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I mean can you blame the guy?

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No, not really.

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Well, it's almost like picking the bad boss based on sort of how they treat,

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how their tenure as tribal chief went.

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I mean yes, Roman Reigns spent like an unholy amount of days as WWE champion

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in his initial tenure as tribal chief.

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It's just over a thousand.

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Yeah, Solo Sikoa just generally tended to treat everybody that little bit better

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but just didn't have the, didn't have the strap out to be able to keep up with his run.

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Yeah, but no, it was nice to see that, you know, Heyman bought out Cody Rhodes

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to basically rub it in his face that Roman was entering the Royal Rumble

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just to steal his title at WrestleMania.

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But it started off at least as a, it was a very respectful conversation in fairness.

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I mean, it definitely was.

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But then that's normally Heyman's style.

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Not really.

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My experience of Heyman's style is that he can be quite sort of brass balls about it.

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He will, he will find those little sensitive spots and just give him a good poke.

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He does give him a poke but he's never over the top with it.

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And he's never overly disrespectful with it.

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He's normally pretty, he toes a line.

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Yeah, fair play.

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But yeah, as I think you alluded to, we had Roman Reigns,

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Paul Heyman announced that Roman Reigns intends to enter the Rumble.

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So we know at least two entrants now for the Royal Rumble being Roman Reigns and John Cena.

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And yeah, this was a quite an action-packed promo for the beginning of the match

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because not only did Cody Rhodes come out, but Kevin Owens interrupts and

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Where you get one, you get the other at the moment.

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They are very much sort of joined at the hip.

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It's, yeah, they are pushing this story to the nth degree.

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But they've got a ladder match at Rumble.

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Maybe that will be the end of that little rivalry.

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Well, that one's for both titles, isn't it?

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You've got the winged eagle that Kevin Owens is currently running around with.

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And then you've got the...

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Right, so obviously you've got Cody in the ring with Paul Heyman.

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And then Kevin Owens decides he's coming out.

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He's got a bit of an issue with the bloodline.

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He's building heat for his ladder match at Rumble with Cody.

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And those two just go ham.

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I mean, with Kevin Owens on a bloodline crusade and Drew McIntyre on a bloodline crusade,

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are we heading towards not necessarily a rivalry, but are we heading towards like,

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either a partnership or a faction of some kind?

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Suggesting we could end up with Drew and Kevin Owens in a tag team, so to speak.

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Potentially.

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It's been an interesting perspective of it.

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It's not one that I personally thought of, but it's definitely an interesting perspective coming up that way.

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I mean, it leaves the door wide open for it as far as I'm concerned.

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And it would give you something to start off with a 5v5 match somewhere,

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or quite a big sort of...

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I think I'm not necessarily like a Bat Royale, but if you get quite a high team, one fall in it.

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I was going to say they could end up depending on how solo Sokoa returns

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and what happens with Tonga and Fatu.

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It could turn into something a little bit more that way,

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but it's difficult to know how that one would play out.

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But speaking of Tonga and Fatu, we saw those during this promo as well.

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They seem to slide in the ring unnoticed to confront Heyman, the wise man.

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There are a lot of things for Heyman at the moment.

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Well, he's out there rubbing it in solo Sikoa's face essentially, that, haha, you lost.

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They were his bodyguards, I suppose, so they were his enforcers.

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But the commentary team made a big thing about saying throughout the night that they are without a master at the moment

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because of solo Sikoa's absence.

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Since he lost the Ula Fala, he's gone off licking his wounds a little bit, hasn't he?

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Yeah, he has. And I don't think anybody can really blame him.

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But then we saw Jimmy Uso run in, Uso coming in to save the wise man.

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And then we just had a, there was loads of people in the ring by the end of that promo.

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That was just an allowable rule.

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And Cody coming back to the ring, it just, yeah, complete chaos to start smackdown.

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Any people you didn't have in that promo were security. No security at all.

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But that's because all the security was backstage for the next promo we saw,

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which was basically Tonga and Fatou battling against backstage security for everybody's favourite Canadian wrestler at the moment.

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L.A. Knight to come barrelling in, boot them out.

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He made a remark, and I can't remember what it is off the top of my head.

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I think it was something like, he wasn't using his inside voice, so I kicked him outside as he walked off.

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That was precisely what he said.

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And I must admit, it made me laugh. I chuckled.

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Oh, 100%. It was pure community value.

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Oh, yeah. But...

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It's like a big target on his back doing that though.

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Oh, 100%. I mean, it was never going to go any other way, but Sunday really was it.

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No, it was not.

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But then we moved into the first match, which was a women's US Championship match,

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which was Mishin versus Chelsea Green as the current champion who came out with the...

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He was bought by Piper Nevin.

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Piper Nevin, that's right, yeah.

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Looked very security-esque.

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Very sort of glam security.

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Very much so.

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Only the way that WWE can honestly do that.

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Pretty sure we saw Mae Young wear something very similar, but obviously a different size many times.

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Oh, 100%.

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But, yeah.

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What can we say about this match really?

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I mean, it's...

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Chelsea Green to me was coming off.

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I mean, Chelsea Green in that story, Chelsea Green is taking on a lot of heel characteristics.

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I took a note of the fact that there was a lot of what good old JR used to refer to as chicken-shit heel moves.

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It was a lot of in and out of the ring, a lot of ducking and diving for opportunity and all that stuff.

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Whereas Mishin was doing some actually really solid technical wrestling when she could get Chelsea Green to stay in the ring long enough.

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I mean, I was actually quite impressed with an early on over-the-top rope submission.

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I don't know if you would have caught that as well, but...

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I'm going to be brutally honest with you.

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I struggled with this one and not too long into the match, I actually fell asleep.

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So this is probably one of the few of the actual program that really couldn't get me enough to keep me up.

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So, yeah, no, I definitely didn't see that one.

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I was snoozing for that one.

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Fair enough.

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I mean, we finished that one with Chelsea Green retaining with another famous chicken-shit heel move,

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which was gaining some extra leverage with a handful of Mishin's tights.

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And yeah, that was all she wrote with that one.

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Very every which way but loose way of doing it.

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Yeah.

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And I mean, if she is playing a heel character, then we're getting what we pay for, essentially.

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Yeah.

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And then it was a pre-recorded promo from earlier in the night with a SmackDown general manager, Nick Aldous.

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The Motor City machine guns, pretty dangerous.

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And a town downtown.

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There was another team there as well, but I will be completely honest, my notes do not tell me who they are.

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I believe was it not Legardo del Fantasma?

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Possibly.

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Because they faced off with pretty deadly in the next match.

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They did.

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And it was all about the pre-recorded promo was basically just setting up the back story for the next couple of matches that we see,

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the first one, as you've just mentioned, was Los Garza versus Pretty Deadly.

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I mean, not a bad match, but it was...

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I mean, it started before the bell with a sort of brawl in the ring and sort of in and out with a lot of early sort of pin falls and kick outs.

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Quite a high octane start.

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It was a very sort of predictable match outcome, though.

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We got one tag team, Los Garza came out with Electra and Legardo del Fantasma, who was running interference on the outside.

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It went the only way it was ever going to, which was a win for Los Garza.

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Yeah.

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Then we moved into the third match, which was a men's US title match.

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Did you notice anything different with the entrance for LA Night with the US title match?

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No, I will be honest.

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If you get an opportunity, go back.

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They have actually started trying to rebrand LA Night in the middle of his run.

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So when they introduce LA Night now, he is known as LA Night Yeah.

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And the artwork on the screen that comes up and with his entrance on the big screens as well shows him as LA Night Yeah.

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Oh, right. OK.

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I know that Lily and Garcia, in-ring and out, had a bit of fun with LA Night.

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We've had an attempt at a Yeah.

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Yeah. We'll say that's now how he's introduced to the ring is LA Night Yeah.

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Fair enough. OK. Yeah. No, I didn't really sort of pick up on that myself.

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Go back and have a look. Tell me if I'm wrong.

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Definitely go back and have a look at some stage.

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But we've, yeah, LA Night versus Shinsuke Nakamura for a Men's US title.

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This was a rematch as LA Night recently lost this title.

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But I've got a bias on this one. I will be completely honest.

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I'm not a huge fan of Shinsuke Nakamura.

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He's a very, he's wrestling wise in general. He's pretty good. He's pretty good.

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I'm not a credit given where credit's due.

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He used to be a Jiu Jitsu specialist in MMA before he became a sports entertainer.

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So the technicality, you can kind of see where he gets it from.

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My issue with Nakamura has always been his lack of ability.

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He's the lack of ability to cut a promo and yeah, he is, he's dull.

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There we go.

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I can't say that if I was booking his matches, I can't say that I'd be able to justify strongly enough the pushes that he gets.

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All the title runs he has.

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No, it's...

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I don't get it personally.

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Somebody somewhere sees something that I don't.

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And do you know what? Fair play.

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He's obviously doing something right because he keeps getting all these pushes.

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I think as we said earlier, it's one of those cases that he was really, really good in other promotions.

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But he's come to WWE and not really been able to use that same gimmick that he's had elsewhere in the same way.

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And it's affected his ability to do so.

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Yeah.

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And I think it's very much, he runs that same sort of gimmick.

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It's not much of a change when he rebrands.

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No, this is it.

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And the minute he's doing some kind of samurai shinobi...

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Yeah, with the face mask.

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The face mask, the face paint, which is a very striking image on its own. Don't get me wrong.

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It looks cool.

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Yeah, it's not enough to make him interesting.

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No, he's not Jeff Hardy.

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No, definitely not.

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But yeah, I mean, there was a few spots in this match that I took note of.

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I thought sort of the back and forth between L.A. Knight and Nakamura was believable.

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There wasn't anything that was out of place.

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We sort of returned to form of Raw rather than NXT, where we had, in NXT, we had quite a few matches where there were bits and pieces that just weren't believable enough to be true.

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I mean, the exposed middle turnbuckle that we had partway through the map, the one that just went fly.

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I don't remember seeing that being loosened.

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It must have just pinged.

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The commentary team tried to play it off like it had been loosened earlier in the match.

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And I don't know if it was just I wasn't paying enough attention, but that thing went.

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I mean, it went.

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It was funny.

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And blew off.

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At first, I thought somebody had lost a boot or something.

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We'll be completely honest.

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But yeah.

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Yeah.

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We are.

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We had another running by Jacob Fatou and Tamat Tonga getting a bit of a payback on L.A. Knight for.

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Which I think we knew was going to happen at some point.

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Like I said, you painted a target on his back when he threw them out of the building in the first promo at the start of the run.

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Yeah. And it's just sort of broke down into more and more chaos because we had, I think we had Cody and Cody Rhodes and Jimmy Uso come out and restore some order.

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And then Nick Aldis and a few other and a few refs and a few other guys came out which we had Cody shouting at Nick.

228
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,000
Come on. You know, we're here.

229
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:47,000
They're here.

230
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,000
We want to fight.

231
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:49,000
They want to fight.

232
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,000
Let's fucking fight.

233
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,000
Pretty much.

234
00:18:52,000 --> 00:19:01,000
And that's how we ended up with the main event of the main event of the paper, that's the paper view, the main event of the, the episode.

235
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:06,000
It just sort of naturally evolved from there, I suppose.

236
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Which is nice to see they're bringing back the off the cuff main events, you know, and then working it from that angle.

237
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If you remember sort of 10 years ago where you'd have like an interference and then they'd have that match.

238
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It was there.

239
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,000
It was then there was no like we're going to wait until this paper view or wait until that paper view.

240
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:33,000
We're fighting this week or next week at the latest.

241
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:34,000
Yeah, this is it.

242
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:38,000
It's it's a bit of instant gratification really.

243
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:52,000
Yeah, they built a lot of instant heat in this match and try to build it maybe a little bit too quickly.

244
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,000
It did.

245
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,000
It did work partly.

246
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,000
I mean, the crowd in Portland were loving it.

247
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:02,000
There was lots of lots of lots of chance going around that were very positive.

248
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:10,000
Lots of holy shits and this is amazing and this is awesome and with the standard things you get from a wrestling show.

249
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,000
Yeah, this is it.

250
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:17,000
But we had to wait a little bit for the main event to come around.

251
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:28,000
So in the meantime, we were treated to a VT promo of how Tiffany Stratton became became women's champion.

252
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:36,000
Well, that was after she cashed in her money in the bank 11 months after signing with Smackdown.

253
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,000
Yeah.

254
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:48,000
And yeah, kind of waited for Naomi and Naya to pretty much have as much fun as they could and then came in and finished the job.

255
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,000
I mean, how the money in the bank contract should be used.

256
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,000
Let's face it.

257
00:20:52,000 --> 00:21:03,000
We've had we had a massive run when money in the bank was first introduced God God knows how many years ago where it was it was always done that way.

258
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:09,000
And don't get me wrong, they tease the hell out of the money in the bank cash in for Tiffany Stratton.

259
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:16,000
She was carrying that thing around like it was life itself and nearly cashed it in on several occasions.

260
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,000
And yeah, she played it well, though.

261
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,000
It was well presented because anytime you use it, you know, you can't really tell what's going on.

262
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:27,000
Because anytime you see that suitcase and that suitcase nearer someone else's match anything.

263
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,000
Oh, is that going to be are we going to get it now?

264
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:36,000
And there's so many times you think it's going to be handed in and then they go, actually, no, this is mine.

265
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,000
I'm keeping this.

266
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:47,000
Yeah, it plays into the psychology and we had a few instances where she was running into matches and everything running into matches with Naya Jackson.

267
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:51,000
And it was a case that she was, oh, yeah, no, no, I'm going to cash in.

268
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,000
I'm going to catch. Oh, no, no, no, not just yet.

269
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:56,000
Not today.

270
00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:00,000
Yeah, not today. Good sir.

271
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,000
But yeah, I mean, the VT spoke for itself.

272
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:16,000
We know now if you didn't if you didn't catch the Smackdown the week before which Ed on YouTube for anybody outside of the US.

273
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:22,000
Which I've now found is actually on has been added into Netflix.

274
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,000
So if you did miss it, you've got the opportunity to go back and watch it.

275
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,000
So I found that out a little bit too late as well.

276
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:34,000
I watched the first half of that one really thinking it was this week's episode and it was like, whoops, my bad.

277
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,000
Better go back and rewatch the proper one.

278
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,000
I did it in the opposite order.

279
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:48,000
And it was a case that I finished watching this week's Smackdown for then Netflix to do its normal thing of, oh, we've got something else for you to watch.

280
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:53,000
Me thinking it was just a trailer and then all of a sudden this next episode starts and I was like, what?

281
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,000
There's two episodes. What did I miss?

282
00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:00,000
And then I go back to realize, oh, wait, no, this was the one that Ed on YouTube.

283
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:01,000
Yeah.

284
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,000
But yeah, rolling on.

285
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,000
We've got fourth match.

286
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:21,000
Already. This was the second of the tag team matches, which was the Motor City machine guns, Chris Saban, Alex Shelley and 18 down under, which was, yeah.

287
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,000
Austin Theory and Grayson Waller.

288
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:24,000
Yeah.

289
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:29,000
Previously as far as I'm concerned used for comic value more than anything else, but I'm going to be honest.

290
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,000
I'm not. I didn't hate the match.

291
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,000
It wasn't bad to be fair.

292
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:41,000
It started off with a bit of a push for for down under. They were quite quite dominant.

293
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:46,000
But then after the first five minutes, it seemed to even out.

294
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:51,000
I think it served as a good reminder to remind everybody that.

295
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:59,000
Austin Theory and Grayson Waller are actually professional wrestlers. They're not just muppets with mouths.

296
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,000
It's a case that there can be both.

297
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:12,000
But it's a more it's a case that no, because Austin Theory and Grayson Waller can actually wrestle.

298
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,000
Oh, right. You've got me on that one.

299
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:23,000
Yeah. So eight, eight and down under a really solid showing. I mean, they didn't come out of it with the win.

300
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:28,000
I mean, Motor City machine guns are an established tag team. They've got a 20 year tenure.

301
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,000
Theory and Waller really didn't stand a chance with it.

302
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:38,000
I remember watching Motor City machine guns when they were in TNA and Impact Wrestling.

303
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:45,000
Yeah, a slightly different promotion, different presentation, but they were so dominant.

304
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,000
And the only thing that I'm a little bit I'm a little bit sad for them.

305
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:55,000
Have they done with them as they do with every other tag team they pull from other promotions,

306
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,000
like give them a little bit of a push and just completely destroy them.

307
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:05,000
No, that's not what I'm sad for them for that. They will do that because it's what WWE do.

308
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:16,000
But I'm sad for them, the Motor City machine guns, because I feel like they would have had so much more of a push.

309
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:21,000
Had they been had they made it to WWE sooner? Yeah.

310
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:30,000
These guys have been wrestling together for 20 years. If they'd have gotten 10 years ago, even five years ago,

311
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:36,000
they'd have had such a run because they were they were hot shit and they still are.

312
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:41,000
Don't get me wrong, they are a phenomenal tag team and have fantastic wing presence.

313
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:53,000
But it just, yeah, I just feel like they're not too old to wrestle, but I think they're they get into a point where they may be.

314
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:59,000
Not worth pushing, getting the push because they're on the more veteran side.

315
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:10,000
They'll get a championship reign. Don't get me wrong. I mean, the previous this match and the previous tag team match were a championship qualifiers.

316
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:18,000
Yeah, so you've got the number one contenders. I'm guessing will be next week, which will end up being Motor City machine guns.

317
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:25,000
And that's my prediction. I'm thinking, I mean, Los Garza, Los Garza won on the base.

318
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:30,000
They they had a solid match, but they won on the basis of outside interference.

319
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:38,000
Whereas Shelly and Saban, I just think they're going to come out of that with a big they're going to come out of that with a victory.

320
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:52,000
They're going to go to Royal Rumble, Royal Rumble, possibly elimination chamber to all of you in just a weekly episode challenge the tag champs and pick up the straps.

321
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:59,000
It's how that's going to work in my view. Yeah, I can't agree more with your number.

322
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaking of the tag champs, they were featured straight afterwards in a promo between them and pretty deadly.

323
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:19,000
And I wasn't fantastically up on the storylines for this. So my understanding of what happened here was that pretty deep, pretty deadly seem to expect like DIY to

324
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,000
Yes, in their match or sort of guarantee a victory for them.

325
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:42,000
Something happened last week with pretty deadly given DIY a bit of help and they were expecting a back scratch back when they went in against their match and it didn't it didn't come that way.

326
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:50,000
And they were a little bit annoyed with it, which is fair enough, but you shouldn't do a favor to ask for a favor, you know.

327
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:56,000
But I think DIY have come out of this promo looking like the heel.

328
00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:01,000
They come out of it looking smart dam site smarter than pretty deadly.

329
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:02,000
Oh, yeah.

330
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:07,000
But then if you look at pretty deadly's outfits, they don't look particularly smart.

331
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,000
No, but you can't always judge a book by its cover.

332
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,000
You can.

333
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:23,000
I think they I think I think even Apollo crews sort of popped onto the fact that DIY were even something pulling their pulling their pitter as it goes.

334
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,000
It's it wasn't.

335
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,000
Yeah, it's one of them.

336
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,000
It was strange.

337
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,000
It's going to degrade down eventually.

338
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:43,000
But yeah, then we're building back into back into the ring, but not with the next.

339
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:49,000
We went straight to a promo with an obviously upset Nia Jax and Candice Loray.

340
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,000
She was pulling Nia Jax's purse from that one trying to upset the apple cart.

341
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,000
So.

342
00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:02,000
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it would have taken much realistically what we know of Nia Jax's.

343
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:03,000
Nia Jax's personality.

344
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,000
She's not one to lose and doesn't like it.

345
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,000
Nobody likes to lose.

346
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:14,000
But I have a little bit more than the most people dislikes losing.

347
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:21,000
Yeah, Nia Jax is not going to take losing lying down and definitely not to Tiffy.

348
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:26,000
Yeah, then well, funny we mentioned funny we mentioned Tiffy.

349
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000
We had in ring Tiffy time.

350
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,000
Yeah, that was fun.

351
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,000
I am.

352
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:36,000
Yeah.

353
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:45,000
She plays the character really well and it's just a hard character to watch.

354
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:51,000
I can't say what I was going to say because yeah, we've got to have certain limits on what we can say.

355
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,000
But.

356
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,000
Me, I voiced is my did my tree.

357
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:04,000
Yeah, the over the top Barbie sort of style gimmicks a little bit close to the knuckle for me.

358
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,000
I can work with it for a little while.

359
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:13,000
She went overboard with the sweet to the point that I felt like I might get diabetes.

360
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,000
Yeah.

361
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:20,000
And a little bit too overboardy with screechy as well.

362
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,000
That was a little bit like, oh, come on, we don't need quite as much as that.

363
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,000
But fair play.

364
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:34,000
Yeah, but yeah, I mean, Tiffy's running her mouth basically until Nia Jax, the.

365
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,000
And runs hers a little bit.

366
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,000
No, she's not.

367
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:40,000
No, not the immovable.

368
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,000
She's the irresistible force.

369
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,000
That's that that's Nia Jax.

370
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:45,000
Sorry.

371
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,000
Wrong nickname.

372
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,000
Who's the moveable object?

373
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,000
I don't know.

374
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,000
I might have to think about that one, but never mind.

375
00:30:53,000 --> 00:31:00,000
And yeah, so Jax is basically saying, yeah, you're going to give me my title back.

376
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,000
Or I'm going to kick seven bells of shit out of you.

377
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:07,000
That's a which Tiffy didn't really respond.

378
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,000
But Bailey did.

379
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:22,000
I was going to say, I don't think she really had time to respond realistically because we had Bailey who took great pleasure in calling them both stupid, which.

380
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,000
Yeah, I'm not going to lie.

381
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:30,000
My personal stock in Bailey went up just with that part of that promo alone.

382
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,000
I am going to pull up.

383
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:45,000
So I just had a quick Google about the irresistible force and we have just managed to mistake Nia Jax Andre the giant.

384
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:49,000
No, it's different.

385
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,000
I dare you to say that to her face.

386
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,000
Yeah, I'm not that stupid.

387
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:57,000
Yeah, carry on. Sorry.

388
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:02,000
But yeah, no, so Bailey walks out calls them both stupid.

389
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:06,000
Which yeah, I mean, she think I think she makes completely valid points.

390
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,000
She does need to explain don't need to explain why Tiffany Stratton is coming across as stupid.

391
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:12,000
Nope.

392
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:18,000
And Nia being led astray by Tiffany just.

393
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,000
Yeah, makes it look stupid.

394
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,000
Stupid is a stupid does exactly.

395
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:29,000
But yeah, Bailey throwing her hat in the ring for the title shot.

396
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:34,000
And which is a valid shell because she was the champion before Nia held it.

397
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:41,000
So after beating the ice sky and WrestleMania for it.

398
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:43,000
Yeah.

399
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:49,000
And then we've got Naomi and Bianca Bella coming out the current women's tag champs.

400
00:32:49,000 --> 00:33:02,000
Naomi was pissed for the fact that she had Nia pretty much beat until Tiffany came and cashed in.

401
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:09,000
So the fact that for the most part Bianca Bella managed to insert as she came out.

402
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,000
To my view, she came out in support of Naomi.

403
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,000
Yeah, as the tag champion with a with a tag team.

404
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:22,000
And then got into a match for a number one contender.

405
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,000
Without saying a word.

406
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:25,000
Yes.

407
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,000
She didn't say anything.

408
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:38,000
Although in fairness Nia tried having a quick start in some beef with Bella and yeah, just breaks out into a ball where we've got Nick Aldous who comes out right.

409
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,000
Okay, fair play.

410
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,000
You've all got a stake to a claim.

411
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:48,000
Yeah, go and fight it out and the winner can have their shot.

412
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:55,000
So yeah, we had another incident decision by SmackDown GM, Nick Aldous.

413
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,000
And that literally was the next match.

414
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:05,000
Yeah, we put them all into a fatal four way right now.

415
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:09,000
Where it basically turned into another brawl.

416
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,000
And all on Nia Jax occasion to be fair.

417
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,000
Yeah, Nia Jax got well in fairness.

418
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:23,000
It happens every time we've got a bigger superstar in the ring is that it makes sense to get rid of the biggest threat first.

419
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,000
Yeah, which they tried to do.

420
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:37,000
But then they kind of Bailey felt a little bit like a spare part in this sometimes because you had the tag champions in that Bailey and Nia Jax.

421
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:43,000
At one point there was always a three on one.

422
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:47,000
In fairness, this match fell really flat for me.

423
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:54,000
And it's sort of the same thing that we said about the NXT Fatal Four Way is that it could have quite easily been a triple threat.

424
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,000
Yeah, it's been a lot more competitive.

425
00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:02,000
And in this case, it was Bianca Belair that just didn't seem to make any impact.

426
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:08,000
Because she got you got Nia Jax outside drags Belair outside with her after that.

427
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,000
You don't really see much.

428
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:14,000
You don't I'm not going to sit here and say that you didn't say anything from Belair.

429
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:19,000
It wasn't a huge amount and there was no highlights from her time in that match.

430
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:22,000
There's no one point that stands out for me.

431
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:32,000
Apart from maybe later on in the match where she hit Naomi with a hair on accident that was really a.

432
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:40,000
How has that not been designated a weapon yet considering she is a lot of hair.

433
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,000
I mean, it's all extensions.

434
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,000
I believe she's got that much hair.

435
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:47,000
I mean, it's possible.

436
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,000
But yeah, no.

437
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,000
But yeah, it's got to be heavy.

438
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:56,000
I mean, it's just going to be it's just going to be the density of it really isn't it.

439
00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:00,000
It's it's especially as it's all wrapped up as well.

440
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:09,000
I was going to say that thing she could she could probably mean it hurt like fuck but she could probably tell her car with it.

441
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,000
Wrap it around the front bumper.

442
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:15,000
Break someone's kneecaps as she used it as a baseball bat.

443
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,000
This long and tough.

444
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:21,000
Yeah, this is it, but how is it not being classed as a weapon?

445
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:26,000
I mean, I can only assume it's because it is attached to her.

446
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,000
I mean.

447
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:40,000
Yeah, I've often thought this is the she often she often resorts to using it as a weapon which do you know what I'd probably do exactly the same in her position.

448
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,000
She can use it as a weapon.

449
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,000
It should be classed as a weapon.

450
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:47,000
So therefore, you know, she should be able to get away with it.

451
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,000
But then I suppose that works a little bit with a gimmick.

452
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:53,000
It's a little bit of a same as having a low blow, I suppose.

453
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:59,000
You know, hair with will hurt will take your eye off the game for a second, especially if you get with with that thing.

454
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:04,000
Yeah, differences is that low blows are normally done where the ref can't see them.

455
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,000
That layer doesn't give a shit.

456
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:14,000
I think fucking whip someone with that hair. But yeah, digressing from that.

457
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:23,000
I had a small showing from Candice Loret running interference outside, but yeah, she pulled pulled the hair of Bianca Belair.

458
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:29,000
Didn't she just kind of put her off really?

459
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:39,000
Well, it was Candice Loret that held the hair, Bianca Belair yanks it back and ends up smacking the only in the stomach for it, but ended up Bailey getting the win.

460
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,000
Yeah.

461
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:47,000
So Bailey is number one contender for the women's World Championship, which is next week.

462
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:48,000
Yeah.

463
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,000
So we don't have to wait too long for that.

464
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:57,000
No, it's there's we're getting the action thick and fast.

465
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:01,000
Then we go into promo with

466
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:04,000
the Indian Jimmy you said.

467
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:09,000
Holy Rhodes Jimmy you so just sort of reaffirming before the main.

468
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:13,000
It's it is what it is.

469
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:20,000
Cody to leave and Carmelo Hayes to come in talking is normal useless crap.

470
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:21,000
Yeah.

471
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:26,000
And Jimmy you so basically put him in this place and then it with a

472
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,000
you.

473
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,000
That is so over right now.

474
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:31,000
It's unreal.

475
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:40,000
Oh, 100% like the fact that at the end of how shows you see him and he's just listed in the middle and he's got like a couple of people and they're all doing it in the entire stadium.

476
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:41,000
It's moving.

477
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:42,000
It's brilliant.

478
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,000
Let's face it.

479
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,000
It's always the simple bits.

480
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,000
I mean, Daniel Bryan with the yes movement.

481
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:48,000
Yeah.

482
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,000
And most of them are accidental.

483
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,000
I mean, a yeet is not an accidental thing.

484
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,000
That is 100% intentional.

485
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,000
Oh, yeah, that was intended and it worked.

486
00:38:58,000 --> 00:38:59,000
It worked.

487
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:04,000
But sometimes accidental is the best way to look at the people's elbow.

488
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:12,000
That was just the rock trying to get someone to break character and he's been using it for 20 odd years since you know, so it works.

489
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:13,000
Yeah.

490
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,000
But next up on the card was a promo.

491
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:23,000
Basically discussing something we've already said, which was Bailey's title shot coming up on next week's SmackDown.

492
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:31,000
The fact that Tiffy's never beaten Bailey, which suggests we could either have an upset or a title change again.

493
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,000
I don't think they'll take it off her too soon.

494
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:40,000
It seems a bit of a waste of a cash in to let rabbit for two weeks and then take it off her.

495
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:46,000
Let's look at the coffee king.

496
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:47,000
Pretty sure.

497
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,000
I'm pretty sure.

498
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:51,000
Yeah.

499
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,000
I forget his name.

500
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,000
What the person?

501
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:58,000
Who was in the Rumble for precisely about three seconds.

502
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:00,000
Wasn't it Santino Morelle?

503
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:01,000
Santino Morelle.

504
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,000
I kept wanting to say Alberto Del Rio, but it's not.

505
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:10,000
No, yeah, he came running down, didn't he? He went through the rope and someone closed lined him.

506
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,000
It came and closed lined him like three seconds later.

507
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:19,000
He basically took him straight out and he's out on the outside of the ring going, I wasn't ready.

508
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,000
Oh, what comedic value Santino Morelle actually has.

509
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:30,000
With there only being three weeks left to the Royal Rumble, I wonder how Kofi will escape elimination this year.

510
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,000
That's the one thing that happens every year.

511
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,000
Kofi has become a yearly tradition.

512
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:47,000
Kofi has never won, to my knowledge, Kofi has never won the Royal Rumble, but he always features in it because he always comes up with a rather interesting way of being able to save himself from elimination.

513
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,000
My favourite one was him body hopping the chair.

514
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,000
Pogo hopping the chair.

515
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:57,000
We've seen him hardcore in across the barriers.

516
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,000
The guardrail.

517
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:02,000
Handstand walking.

518
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:05,000
We've seen him hop on one leg, handstand walking.

519
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,000
Biggie catching the one year as well.

520
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:19,000
Yep. Doesn't have that option then anymore, but then we got to the main event of the evening.

521
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:25,000
The tag team match made earlier in the night between Cody Rhodes and Jimmy.

522
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:30,000
With Tamatanga and Jacob Fatou.

523
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:49,000
It was interesting to see Fatou cut a slight promo as they came out of the locker room before they went on to talk a little bit more about the Royal Rumble with their next production credits.

524
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:55,000
In fact, we've only got 22 days left until the Royal Rumble.

525
00:41:55,000 --> 00:42:05,000
This is true. It helped build Fatou's character a little bit, which means that they may be looking at separating him from the bloodline a little bit.

526
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:09,000
Maybe just popping them as a tag team themselves.

527
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:14,000
Tamatanga and Jacob Fatou, they seem reasonably strong as a duo.

528
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:18,000
They've wrestled as a duo before together, haven't they?

529
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:23,000
As a duo, they work really well together.

530
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,000
Tamatanga's quirky.

531
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:31,000
That is one way of putting it, I suppose.

532
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:38,000
What are we saying about the main event? What were your takeaways from it?

533
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:43,000
I didn't make many notes for the main event because I got too engrossed in watching it.

534
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:52,000
I actually really enjoyed it. It was nice for me personally to find an opportunity to watch Tamatanga and Jacob Fatou wrestle properly.

535
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:57,000
For me, that was the first time I've really seen clips for the last couple of months.

536
00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:02,000
Rather than having access to the network and YouTube and stuff like that.

537
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:06,000
I've not really been able to watch a lot of it, mainly through social media.

538
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:11,000
It's the first four matches that I've got to watch and I did really enjoy it.

539
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:19,000
I will say though that I was a little bit miffed by having Kevin Owens out again.

540
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:25,000
Kevin Owens, this episode of SmackDown, felt a little bit like Ava did on NXT this week.

541
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:29,000
Every time you saw Cody, you saw Kevin.

542
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:37,000
I think it might start to ruin the story eventually if they keep pushing it as hard as they are with him being attached at the hip with him.

543
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:43,000
But we've only got a couple of weeks left to wait until they fight it out for that championship.

544
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:55,000
Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with you. I think it took away some valuable sort of prove yourself time to Tonga and Fatou.

545
00:43:55,000 --> 00:44:00,000
Jimmy Uso and Cody Rhoads, they're established. We know what to expect when they're...

546
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:08,000
Jimmy Uso is one half of the most decorated tag team of all time. Pretty sure they are now.

547
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,000
So it's one of those like he's definitely established.

548
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:16,000
Cody Rhoads wouldn't be wearing the strap of years if he wasn't.

549
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:22,000
He's had some brilliant feuds with Roman over the last few years building his character and building Romans at the same time.

550
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:33,000
So yeah, this is definitely for Tamatonga and Jacob Fatou and Fatou they went over was nice in a way, but probably not the best way to do it.

551
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:46,000
I would have liked to have seen them wrestle to a finish with Rhoads and Jimmy Uso rather than it felt repetitive having Kevin Owens come out again.

552
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:58,000
The distraction again. Jimmy Uso just left to fend for himself. I did feel for Jimmy. I'm not going to lie.

553
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:06,000
Fatou's animal, but I loved it. They don't call him the Samoan werewolf for no reason. Let's face it.

554
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:10,000
No, absolutely loved it. It was a great match.

555
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:19,000
But overall SmackDown first one. First one I've watched in a very long time and yeah, I feel like you were very much the same.

556
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:23,000
Any overall thoughts?

557
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:31,000
If I was to put it into comparison between the other two weekly shows this week, SmackDown's probably the second out of the three.

558
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:44,000
I think Rhoads was the best one this week. SmackDown was definitely in the middle there and NXT was by hands down the worst programming this week.

559
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:46,000
Well, that's it from me.

560
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:49,000
And from me too. Thank you all for watching.

561
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:55,000
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562
00:45:55,000 --> 00:46:00,000
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563
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:06,000
Remember, like the video and leave any feedback you have in the comments.

564
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:10,000
And we'll see you next time on Finishers and Factions.

565
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:34,000
Goodbye.