And hello everybody and welcome back to another
episode of Finishes and Factions does Monday
Night Raw. This week we are in Glasgow, Scotland
in the OVO Hydra Arena and well this is one of
the ones a lot closer to home for myself and
for my co -host Adam as well. Adam, one of the
home European legs of the tour. So this one was
right up our street watching it live. Oh, 100%.
We've well and truly hit home ground. No longer
touring around the US. No longer are WWE touring
around the US and mainland Europe. They have
hit the British Isles and hit it hard in Glasgow,
Scotland. And yeah, just an absolute, I mean...
Just an absolutely like phenomenal crowd response
again from a homeland from for us a homeland
territory Yes Glasgow had just shy of 11 ,000
people in attendance and they sold out over hydro
arena and that was just under 11 ,000 people
who were chanting John Cena sucks as Cena's music
hit and he begrudgingly made his way down the
ramp to start off this week's programming in
RIC. Yeah, so it's nice to see Cena making a
little bit more of an appearance on this farewell
tour. I thought he'd already done the tour and
said farewell. Yeah, pretty much But yeah, very
much a very sort of detached John Cena this week
coming down into into the OVO hydro and The Glasgow
crowd really let him have it Well, like they
did not hold back at all. I mean, we know a few
Scottish people We've played some Call of Duty
over the years against quite a few Scottish people
When have we ever known the Scots to hold back
Adam? No, I know but still They have levels and
they even surpassed their own levels this week
with the the amount of noise they gave mr. Mr.
Cena Yeah, very much so which only fed into his
tyrain to be fair Well 100 % I definitely felt
like he was taunting the Glasgow crowd to begin
with It's a case that he didn't wait anywhere
near as long as he did the first time round When
we saw him last week on Raw it was a case that
we got He very much let the crowd react this
week none of that keeping it sort of trying to
keep it very short and sweet but Yeah I mean
this entire promo I think took up at least a
good quarter of the time that Raw had. It was
a very very long promo and it was an awful lot
more of what we got last time of just seeing
it berating the WWE Universe and just playing
them off against themselves. Working them like
a little bit of a stress putty in his fingers
and that's pretty much all the crowd were translate
Yeah, you worked each and every single one of
them. So so easily got the the reaction that
he's so You know so Wanted so badly That uh,
yeah to him like and he tells us all the way
through this this promo. You're just making this
easy for me Like there is nothing about this
heel turn, and he's walked straight into it,
and he's doing it so well, and you look at him
and think he's been doing it for 20 years, when
he hasn't. No, this is - I don't even think he's
been a heel for 20 days yet. I think he, no.
Elimination chamber. No, I think it's been more
than 20 days. But yeah, he's very much putting
the crowd Firmly in his crosshair and reminding
them Almost within every sentence that this is
all about them not about him. It's about them
and He's very careful with what he can do. I
mean he brings up By now any wrestling fan worth
their salt will have seen all of the the memes
the clips I mean, WWE posted it themselves of
the kid in Brussels last week. It got absolutely
ripped to shreds. That was a stand -up comedy
show. That guy would have been crying. Yet he
stood there and took that tirade from Cena. And
yeah, the only thing he had to do was kind of
pick his jaw up off the floor like, is that really
happening? Did he just say that to me? This is
John Cena. Oh my God, how can he say that? But
he did. Yeah. Oh, 100%. We all heard him loud
and clear. And for once, we actually all saw
him too. Yeah. Oh, but we can't make jokes like
that. He doesn't like it anymore. He's a Karen.
He's Karen Cena. He is Karen Cena. And after
he sort of... spends a good five, six, maybe
seven minutes just ripping into the crowd, basically
saying, yeah, I know you better than you know
yourselves at this point, because every time
you give a reaction to anything I've done over
the last 25 years, I've listened, I've learned,
and I know how you think and feel. He's been
studying the WWE Universe. To him, this has all
just been one big experiment, along with, you
know, the WWE throwing in code. childish, curse
-ridden nursery rhymes to quote John Cena on
that one. Yeah, he didn't like the fact that
the Glasgow crowd were using quite a lot of profanity
as well, and that seemed to really bother Cena.
A Scotsman using a swear word? I don't fucking
believe it, Adam, I really don't. Well, I was
about to say something similar, to be quite honest.
I mean, they're Scottish, I don't know what exactly
you expect. All drunk people swear all the time
Yeah, then he starts going over some of his part
some of the things that have happened in the
past and one of the first points he sort of comes
to is the world famous spinner belt they bought
in in 2005 I believe April 2005 when we got the
famous spinning title and a lot of us i quite
enjoyed it i liked it i thought it was fresh
and i thought it worked yeah 100 i loved the
spinner belt but a lot of the hardcore gatekeeping
wrestling fans they did not like that it was
just a toy how could you make the most prestigious
thing in pro wrestling a toy Well it's a toy
that people are still buying replicas of 20 years
later. Let me just throw that out there. 20 years
later people are going to these shows and buying
replica spinner belts. So did John Cena make
some serious cheese off that? Yes he did. Is
John Cena still making some serious cheese off
that? Yes he is. Those belts, they're not cheap.
Yeah, not those replica belts are not cheap at
all No, definitely not now the next thing that
he says and this is a like even for John Cena
This is a bold claim to make but he says that
he or he claims to be able to ruin wrestling
for Everybody not just fans but superstars everyone
Well, and he's got a plan of doing this. Now,
do you not think that this plan of his, and I'll
go into it in a second, is very CM Punk -y 2013?
Yes, very much so. The irony of it is. I've seen
it threatened to run away and retire with the
world title in his hands, which is exactly the
same. As CM Punk did when he beat John Cena at
SummerSlam in I believe it was 2013 and walked
out and threw the crowd with that title, walked
home, threw the belt in the fridge and left it
there. He just discarded it. He threw it in the
fucking fridge of all places. Like, really? At
least if you throw it in the bin, you know it's
done with, right? Now it's gone. Fuck it. Trash
goes out on Tuesday. He put it in the fridge
bro every time he made a coffee Yeah, very much
so so To be more precise CM Punk on January 27th
in 2014 After a final match at the Royal Rumble
I'm double -checking myself now, just to make
sure. He left WWE after the Royal Rumble, citing
unhappiness for the company and broken promises.
No, never mind. I think Google has done me dirty
there, to be quite honest. CM Punk controversially
walked out of WWE and the WWE Championship on
January 27th 2014 after a final match Yeah, and
then he came back about a month and a half later
or something like that Yeah, it was something
like that I'm pretty sure like if you look at
his wedding His wedding day that was when he
was issued his his papers to leave Yeah very
much so that would give you the the date of when
the rest of his championship ran end but we digressed
with that one masina goes on to say that you
know after we all ate him alive for that spinning
championship he's going to ruin wrestling for
everyone by winning his 17th title at wrestlemania
and then we can all get the name of rick flair
out of our minds Because the only name in professional
wrestling that we'll need to worry about will
be John Cena because he'll be known as the greatest
and with that he's gonna retire with the championship
take it with him and He'll be the last real champion
in WWE and he says that revenge is best served
cold and he's paying us back by ripping out our
hearts while everyone and Buddy walks away with
with it and no one can stop him At which point
the only person who feels who can stop him Comes
as So he comes running out to the ring It's more
of a fast -paced walk with a little bit of crowd
interaction on the way, but Cody Rhodes music's
hit We get to hear from a member of the only
royal family of wrestling He comes out and basically
just asked Cena, you know why he thinks he's
gonna be allowed to do that and The really cheeky
comment it goes he goes you've come out here
You told told all these people that you're gonna
take this title from them. You gotta take it
from me first Like yeah, and that was a beautiful
sort of way of wording it like yeah, you're coming
out here making all these promises dickhead,
but I'm still walking around with the title No,
we haven't even got to WrestleMania yet. So you
can sit down and watch your neck Well, he sort
of wrote Cody Rhodes very much claims that John
Cena made a big mistake by making these claims
with Rhodes in the building Yeah, I mean Obviously
these these statements were made to bait Cody
out into the ring whether it was so they could
have a bit of Brawl or whether they could have
an exchange of words Yet to be seen I Mean I
find it a little bit odd that Cody Rhodes for
all intent and purpose is the heavyweight champion
for Smackdown yet all of their Interactions between
him and his challenger a challenger at WrestleMania
John Cena are all taking place on raw John Cena
is a Raw roster wrestler. So I'm guessing it's
because it's his tour. It's all been done on
Raw, which is his show. Is he a Raw wrestler?
I'm not sure. Oh, fair enough. I mean, after
taking whatever it is the Rocks got to offer
him, I'm pretty sure he probably is Raw. Yeah,
but basically Rhodes Rhodes then goes on to call
Cena vain and then basically offers Cena out
in the ring and says do you know what? Why wait
for WrestleMania if you want to try and take
the title off me and retire with it fucking have
at it. I'll throw down here and that here and
now and and Cena for the most part at least for
a good one to two minutes looks to be sort of
getting ready to go and then ducks and dips.
Skinner isn't actually assigned to Rost at currently.
It doesn't say whether he's SmackDown or Raw.
So it just says up until the November 4th 2023
he was SmackDown. From the 5th November 2023
to present it just doesn't have him listed as
a... a roster, specifically. Oh, fair enough.
Yeah, so Cena's making his way back up the entrance
ramp, heading towards the back, and Rhodes just
shouts after him. It's just like, Cena! And Cena
pretty much turns on his heel and starts... and
starts marching with purpose back towards the
ring which I thought meant we were going to get
a fight, I'm not going to lie I thought we were
getting a fight I think part of the psychology
here is that Cena heard himself being called
out and the thought process behind it is that
he's turned on his heel almost out of instinct
to go back to the ring and to have this fight
but then sort of remembers where he is, what
he's doing, and like, no, I'm supposed to be
heel. I'm gonna turn round and fuck off instead.
Oh, that's fair enough. Do the opposite to what
everyone wants you to do. It's the perfect heel
move. Yeah, I mean, he's very much taking...
He's made claims of wanting to punish the WWE
Universe for all the dishonesty that they've
given him over the years and everything along
those lines. So he isn't gonna give them anything
that they want Unless he absolutely has to so
Looks like at least for the moment. We're gonna
have to wait until Wait for Las Vegas Wait for
Las Vegas to to basically Get these two in a
ring together to actually do anything more than
just chat shit to one another We don't have too
long to wait to be fair. It is less than 30 days
away. So we are in the last couple of shows where
everything's going to be finalized. We'll get
contract signings. We'll get all the fun stuff.
There might even be a bit of a rumble in the
jungle at that contract signing. A little bit
of a brawl. Maybe. Maybe. But yeah, Rhodes' last
words on the subject was that... John is going
to be walking away from John is not going to
be allowed to walk away from WWE and take see
and take Rhodes his title with him Cena will
be walking out of mania and out of WWE empty
-handed We'll be honest it's I Wouldn't put it
past WWE storyline writers to have John Cena
not necessary. I don't think he'll ill If they
do go down the route of allowing him to retire
with the title. I don't think they'll lift it
off Cody at WrestleMania and have Cena hold it
concurrently for the next nine months or so.
I just don't think that's how that's going to
work, because that means that Cena's got to put
in the time to be able to have that title run.
Well, he's currently filming in, I want to say
Hungary, but once that show is finished, he is
meant to be back full -time week in, week out.
I mean, he's doing all right so far. Yeah, but
he's in Europe. It's a couple of hours on a plane
rather than 14 18 each way back and then having
to go, you know, Hungary to New York to Florida
to Wisconsin to Chicago to Hungary to Washington.
Yeah, this is a lot of miles there. A lot of
miles. Talking about mileage though, our next
segment. was a recap on Bron Breakers war against
the Judgment Day the last few weeks where he's
had matches against Finn Balor. We've seen him
have multiple attacks when it comes to Dirty
Domus Stereo, Carlito. It's been a massive war,
but I say you can go through each and every one
of those recaps. from our previous episodes to
find out what's been going on. This VT is basically
promoting the main event. Which is Brunt Breaker
versus Penta for the Intercontinental Championship.
Which is a match I was really looking forward
to, I will be honest, but we're going to keep
you in suspense just for a little while longer.
So that we can talk about the rest of raw rather
than just get into the good bit. So this next
bit was also a bit of a good bit. So we were
told last week that Jimmy Uso would be sorry,
J Uso would be having a match against a town
down under this week in a tag match with a mystery
tag partner. I did just completely fuck it for
everyone this week. we got to see the Usos reunited
in a tag match as Jimmy came to help his brother
Jay out in this match. Now this is the first
time we've seen the Usos in a tag match in 18
months with just a standard tag match outside
of the bloodline stuff and that's when they beat
Raymond Reigns and Solo Sokoa. So yeah, but once
I'd realised we were getting... My notes were
reasonable, but the fan in me was just like,
yeah, Usos. I've been a big Usos fan for years.
I'd love watching the Usos, but this was one
of those. It was like, yes, we get a little bit
of nostalgia back. It's like giving me the hardies
on Monday Night Raw. Yeah, pretty much. The only
other bit of research that didn't come with Monday
Night Raw that I did have my own back, and there
are bits of this interspersed within this episode
today. So I'll either take the praise or apologize
now, depending on how you want to look at it.
But Usos have, in total in their career as tag
team wrestlers, have won 13 tag titles. in their
WWE career. It's an insane amount of titles.
That's a Hall of Fame style career tag team there.
And even they know it. 100%. 100%. And they're
not anywhere close to being done just yet. Oh
hell no they're not. But yeah, I got a few spots
from this match that I really... Really, really
rather enjoyed. One of the earliest spots was
Big Jim's hellacious chop to Grayson Waller in
the corner. I mean, I felt that damn thing when
it came off. Yeah, that was a very, very powerful
chop. I would not like to have received that
myself. I will give you that. No, and in fairness
Austin Theory did get his own back shortly afterwards
with a huge forearm to Big Jim's face, basically
There was a few big moves in this match that
were really really good I couldn't pick out Where
to start to be fair. I think if I had to I think
it'd be where Grayson Waller tried to to take
on a Sling blade on Big Jim, but Big Jim reverses
it into a Samoan drop and Grayson Waller Yeah,
it's it's that was the next one I was going to
be talking about in fairness because Not we've
seen Grayson Waller do this on a number of different
occasions in the past where he'll dive in from
the outside through the ropes and Forward roll
and hit that swing blade flush But the reversal,
even commentary on Monday Night Raw, we're not
100 % certain about whether that was a successful
move or whether it was a reversal, but it was
a very subtle reversal. Oh, and it was beautiful
as well. I mean, both of those guys played that
one off. I had a little bit later on... Jay got
some super kicks out of his system on both Grace
and Warner on Austin Theory and tried to cover
Austin Theory for a two count. The one thing
I did really enjoy about this match, and I really
don't want to say this to be fair, was Atown
Down Under had a really sneaky sort of chemistry
with them tonight. A lot of sneaky hidden tags
that the referee didn't see. So the commentary
did and we did that meant that... the guy in
the ring that was doing a lot of the wrestling
wasn't actually the active wrestler for that
team. So the other guy was getting some really
good cheap shots in the active wrestler that
wasn't actually wrestling. Yeah, very much so.
I just thought it was really cool the way that
Atown Down Under were doing that. I was quite
impressed, I'm not gonna lie. Think it did really
well to protect a town down under as a tag team
I mean, they don't have much of a reputation
other than being cannon fodder anyway, but It
helped them attain a level of The world I'm looking
for it helped them attain a level of Credibility.
Yes I mean to be fair Grayson wall has got a
lot of credibility It's Austin Theory that holds
Blackhay Town down under. Personally. You think?
Yeah. Well, Austin Theory got a really, really
big push. And then they've just shit on him.
Like, he's done nothing since Hunter came into
WWE, really. Like, in charge. But Grace Waller,
I think, is probably the better one of the two.
It's more charismatic. Austin Theory's a bit
boring. For me personally. I'm not a huge fan
of either of them. I respect what they've achieved
and all the rest of it, but Yeah, I'm just not
a not a huge fan of either of them So never really
sort of paid that much attention unless they're
actively sort of put in front of me It might
feel like a bit of a stretch on the comparison,
but to me they compare a little bit to Enzo Big
Cass They are brilliant to that they're all right
together but you split them up and neither of
them can do nothing oh yeah no they what they
produce apart is hail is a weak imitation yes
of anything realistically um but we also secure
the wall with some really super smooth like silky
smooth double team moves to secure the victory
in the end. As they were celebrating up on the
turnbuckle, we got to see our favourite interruptee
when it comes to Jay. So at the moment Gunther
pulls Jim off the top rope and then jumps in.
and starts trying to get funky with Jay. I mean,
Jay can hold his own to begin with, but... He
does need a bit of help from Big Brother at the
end. Yeah, this is it. Jimmy does end up coming
in with the chair and sort of chasing... Chasing
Gunther off a little bit like a scolded cat.
Who would have thought Gunther would be afraid
of a steel chair? I mean this guy portrays himself
as the maximum professional. Well any professional
knows how to take a chair shot properly surely.
Well he knows how to take one, he just doesn't
want to take it. I suppose yeah, they still hurt.
I was going to say, I can't say I blame him.
It's not going to be fun by any measure. Definitely
not, definitely not. So yeah, Gunther does one
and we end up going backstage into Judgment Day's
little hidey hole for the week. Adam, did you
spot any cool little bits in Judgment Day's hidey
hole that we need to know about this week? No,
nothing. Oh, I thought they might have had a
little tidbit for us. No, I didn't, I didn't.
But I know you're pretty good at picking up the
smaller details. I thought you might have had
a bit of information for us today. No, I'll be
honest. I felt a little bit against the crunch
this week. So some of the background details
might have escaped me, I'm afraid. But yeah,
we come to a backstage promo where Liv and Raquel
are discussing Raquel's match later on in the
card, which is for the Women's Intercontinental
Championship. Which, yeah, it comes in a very
little bit. They are then joined by Dom and Carlito,
where it's revealed that Dom's had a chat earlier
in the evening with Finn, which apparently didn't
go well. Any conversation between Finn and Dom
at the moment isn't going well. No, I think Finn's
still smarting from from basically not being
able to secure a victory over Bron Breaker last
week. Well yeah and to be fair he wasn't all
over Bron Breaker but he had a very very good
chance compared to some of the other people we've
seen Bron defend his title against up until Dom
and Carlito got involved. Yeah this is it and
Liv's basically there giving Dom A pep talk.
I love the fact that Carlito makes it I'm I think
it was a semi -serious suggestion that he goes
and challenges for the IC title now the last
time He is literally just there to take a bump
and make everyone else look good the fact that
he thinks he's got a chance the IC title is brilliant
Well in fairness Carlito has had one run with
the IC title before, back in 2005. He defeated
Shelton Benjamin for the IC title. He then had
a run with that for 90 days, where he ends up
losing it then to Ric Flair. Let me guess, Ric
Flair had been off injured, came back and wanted
a title. Sorry, that's Charlotte. didn't look
that deep into it but yeah Liv's pep talk basically
ends up telling Dom to trust his instincts and
continue trying to recruit Penta which is who
the Judgement Day well some of the Judgement
Day have had their eye on to recruit recruit
into their ranks sort of thing it'll be interesting
to see how when he eventually returns JD McDonner
ends up sort of figuring into all of this because
it's been a very long it feels like it's been
a very long time since the last time we saw Mr.
McDonner obviously off last time we saw JD McDonner
we saw him giving himself a punctured lung and
some fractured ribs off the announce table Well,
I thought he'd stopped his neck and ripped his
head off and shit down his own neck, but um Yeah,
Jesus You got a little bit too close to her too
close to God that day. Oh 100 % I think he saw
the big guy probably most likely Yeah, very much
very much we when went from that backstage promo
into a VT promo, which I'm going to be honest,
I wasn't sure what to make of this to begin with
until I realised what it was. This was the cheesiest
Lucha Libre history in VT in the world. So it
was basically saying that Lucha Libre had had
some quality guys in this history. It mentioned
Blue Demon, the Guerrero family. But it also
said that one star shines brighter than all of
them and that was El Grande Americano from the
Gulf of America and he rose basically up through
the ranks to become a top face of Lucha Libre
But he he got blackballed by his enemies and
disappeared and now he's back to bring honor
and To the to the lucha style again I mean This
was a bit fucking weird. We know at this point
El Grande Americano is Chad Gable in a costume,
right? We've surely got to know this. I think
we're being pushed in a direction where we're
being told that's who we need to think it is.
But I can't think of anyone off the top of my
head that it could be that isn't Chad Gable.
I know it's not Aleister Black because Alistair
black has an awful lot of tattoos and la grande
americano has Fuck all in the way of tattoo line
Yeah, Alistair black also has about three -quarters
of a foot on Chad gable so and But yeah, that's
I I'm very much sort of believing what WWE are
feeding us at the moment at that is The Al Grande
Americano is Chad Gable basically. Last week
backstage wasn't the real Al Grande Americano.
It was just a stitch up to shut up the interviewer.
I think so. Now we transition from this VT into
the GM's office where Adam Pearce is sort of
watching that vignette with Rey Mysterio and
Dragon Lee who are quite literally just stood
there like What the fuck is that? They must be
insulted by that vignette. That was terrible
Well, yeah, it's I mean Rey Mysterio one of the
most one of one of if not the most famous lucha
libre professional in the industry today is stood
there basically watching a vignette that says
that there's somebody that is basically a Lucha
God, but nobody's ever heard of him. Right, a
bit like Chad Gable. Yeah. Outside of WWE, no
one's got a fucking clue who Chad Gable is. Well
speaking of Chad Gable he then comes in to basically
corroborate to say that yeah El Grande Americano
is It's not just a large cup of black coffee
it's a he is the one of the greatest lucha libre
stars in the world and It's something that I've
only just tweaked in fairness it was something
I literally I was just sat thinking I was like
Where have I heard that phrase before? At the
point that we're recording this in fairness,
I've only finished watching it about an hour.
I only finished watching raw maybe an hour Hour
an hour and a half ago. So yeah, this is all
still sort of ruminating in my head But yeah,
I'll grande ca - I'll grande americano large
black large black covered. Oh That is some Vince
McMahon level bullshit that is Anyway Speaking
of Chad Gable, he comes in, corroborates it,
and also hands a doctor's note to Adam Pearce,
excusing him from his match as he should have
been competing against Dragon Lee later on in
the card. Basically says that he's got too much
of the sniffles to work, which is a pretty weak
excuse, really. Now there was one bit in the
one bit right at the very end of this promo that
I Feel like there was some significance to it,
but I just don't know what it is Adam Pierce
Adam Pierce turns to Chad Gable about this doctor's
note, and he's already verified. It's legit,
but he mentions the doctor's name And the doctor's
name was dr. Snow Now I feel like there's some
significance to that name And I'm not sure if
I'm right What's your theory? I don't have a
theory that's that I'm genuinely clueless as
to it feels like it is It feels like it's It
means more than It probably does but maybe that's
me I'm looking for something where there isn't
anything digress with that one before we digress
too far we'll move into our next segment which
was actually match number two of the evening
yes second match of the evening was the women's
intercontinental title match which sees Lyra
Valkyria defending her title against Raquel Rodriguez
Yeah, joined at ringside by her tag team partner
Liv Morgan. We also got a little bit of a promotional
VT here for the fact that WWE is in Tampa Bay
for Memorial Day weekend in May, letting us know
which dates and which programs are where in Tampa.
If you're living in Florida or near Tampa and
off to one of those shows, then send us an email.
Let us know how excited you are. Let us know
how much the tickets cost. Yeah, it'd be nice
to be in comparison for something like that compared
to the extortionate price of two kidneys they
wanted for two tickets over here. Yeah, true
that. Yeah, this match, did this not feel a little
bit reminiscent of the Piper Niven -Zelina Vega
match on Friday Night SmackDown just gone? Yes,
because Raquel Rodriguez ragged old Lyra Valkyria
for pretty much the entire goddamn match. But
unlike the Piper Niven match the other night,
Lyra Valkyria did not get a news full of Raquel
Rodriguez ring piece No, she didn't but she did
get a chest She did get a chest full of Raquel
Rodriguez's boot I've seen I've seen shotguns
in video games with less stopping power than
that boot that was delivered to Lyra Valkyrie.
I mean she stopped dead yeah you definitely know
that um Raquel Rodriguez uses uh marathon and
stopping power and her loadouts on the war zone
she absolutely stopped Vakira a few times and
it did not seem to matter what Lyra did to to
try and drop her down a peg a tube or what direction
she came out of from or what style she came out
with Raquel Rodriguez had Lyra Vakira's number
this evening like all through this launch, Raquel
Rodriguez was in charge. Pretty much. There wasn't
many, there were a few spots where Lyra did seem
to have the upper hand, but it didn't seem to
last very long. I mean, Lyra did manage to send
Raquel Rodriguez careening into the announce
desk with a Huracan Rana, which I actually quite
enjoyed to the point that I think I may have
rewound it two or three times to watch it back.
the I've also got Valkyria had a Massive leg
drop onto the back of the neck of Rodriguez at
one point It was one of the spots I picked up
on That leg drop was fantastic. I had the Wasn't
a spot. It was more of a fact. This was the recall
Rodriguez's first time going for a singles championship
And if she was to win this match should be the
second ever women's intercontinental title holder
So Raquel Rodriguez hits a corkscrew elbow for
a two count at one point I really I don't know
how she does it. She's a big girl, but she pulls
off some really interesting moves and that corkscrew
Elbow is really really nice Yeah, I mean they
were Solid wrestling during this match not not
gonna lie. I mean even from Laura Valkyrie who
was obviously at a disadvantage here based on
saw but based on size and strength of Raquel
Rodriguez going into this match, but Yeah, I
mean still manages to pull off some big moves.
I've got the Liv Morgan at one point interferes,
hooking Rodriguez's leg on the bottom rope after
an absolutely astounding DDT from Lyra Valkyria,
but only obviously ends in a two count for it.
The only other bit that I've got for this match
within the match itself is the Valkyria does
end up retaining her championship after countering
a Tohuna bomb with a small package pin, which
I know you're not normally a fan of the sneaking
pins and things like that, but was this something
to change your opinion or still not a fan? I
quite enjoyed this one purely for the fact that
I really like Valkyria, but yeah, it worked for
me today. We'll let them have it. Well done,
WW. You haven't abused it too much this week,
so far. Speaking of abused... But Laura Valkyria,
I think, after the match's end, ends up getting
royally abused by Liv and Raquel, who very much
seem to take their frustrations out on poor Laura
Valkyria in the ring after the bell goes sort
of thing. They beat the absolute shit out of
us. That was until, of course, we had Big Booty
Bailey come out. Or as Rich pointed out to me
before I had a chance to watch it. It's big boobies
Bailey and Yeah, she comes running out to to
Lyra's aid and we did actually spot in Quite
a big top was that? Pop. Oh, sorry. Quite a big
pop from the crowd Not a big pop and a top mean
it could have been anyway so yeah baby comes
out and and evens the odds against Liv and Raquel
and the minute that Liv and Raquel sort of lose
their advantage they again run off like a couple
like like a couple of chastised children basically,
where we go from that match into a VT promo which
sees a raw recap from, it starts off two weeks
previous and then sort of jumps forward halfway
through, basically recapping the run -up with
IoSky, Bianca Bella and Chria Ripley. obviously
real ripply lost her women's title to EO Sky
Bianca Belair at ringside yep and Bianca Belair
won elimination chamber which gives her a match
opportunity at WrestleMania against the women's
title holder which at the moment is EO Sky Yeah,
Rhea Ripley is not happy at the fact that she
lost her title to EO Sky Because she feels that
Bianca Belair interfered in the match Yeah, and
It was all a little bit Bianca basically Yeah,
she didn't interfere into fear, but she she distracted
Rhea which gave EO an opportunity to counter
the move that she was popping for a three count.
So Rhea's pissed at the fact that Bianca was
there and she was stupid enough to let Io get
the better of her. Io's pissed because they keep
both putting their hands on her face whenever
she's trying to say something and she feels that
as the women's champion she should be respected
more, and being to be fair, last week she did
manage to lay off two. incredible slaps on both
Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair in the middle of
the ring. It might have been a week before actually,
but yeah. She hit them both very hard. The reason
that this is brought to our attention, at a contract
signing last week, we saw Rhea Ripley sign her
name on the WrestleMania contract as if that
sort of... Basically as if that means something
as if that means that she's then in the match
Which I think in the past and we've seen other
we've seen other people do this and it does end
up with them being involved in the match itself
But we're being told that Adam Pierce is going
to come out to the ring Clarify the position
that WWE are taking on this specific incident
for it and that's coming up very very very soon
However, we've got another promo to get to before
this happens, and I've got to admit, out of all
the promos they did within this week's Raw, this
one was probably one of my favourites. So we
see this promo involves Jimmy and Jay basically
having a bit of a heart -to -heart in somewhere
backstage where Obviously we've seen over the
last few weeks Jay has been getting jumped by
Gunther at pretty much every opportunity Gunther
can possibly make for himself and it's causing
Jay to have a real sort of like confidence crisis
which for somebody like WrestleMania main event
Jay Uso to have a crisis of confidence is pretty
much catastrophic for him and Basically Jimmy's
there saying look at this point you're not gonna
win that match at WrestleMania because this version
of J Isn't gonna win fuck all we need the enforcer
J. We need the one that became main event when
he first Done that name of main event J. You
so we need that J back That J can win at WrestleMania
this J is gonna have his ass handed to him by
an Austrian with a freaking bell Yes, I thought
you were going somewhere completely different
then I was like no Adam, please No, I'm not I'm
not here to bury anyone But yeah, and after this
after this little pep talk where basically Jimmy's
telling his brother get your fucking act together
pull your head out your ass he then he must have
spotted Gunther walk past the stairwell where
they were as he literally rounds the corner on
Gunther to basically say right you and me next
week you've been bullying my brother i'm gonna
fucking have you and Gunther accepts but warns
him not to slip like his brother did which is
actually something i don't think we covered from
that original match in the commentary we gave
so to give it a little bit more context around
that at one point towards the end of the attack
from Gunther Gunther is in a vulnerable position.
We've got Jay in the corner getting ready to
hit hit the best spear of his life when Jay ends
up his feet just fall from under him Which is
a Huge mistake you'd never expect anybody in
WWE to make let alone Somebody has experienced
as Jey Uso They'd have got rid of something like
that before they even made it into WWE realistically
But yeah Gunther basically warns him not to slip
like his brother did and When I tell you that
big Jim slaps the fucking taste out of Gunther's
mouth. Like I'm pretty sure I saw every last
taste bud that Gunther has within his mouth fly
out from between his lips with that freaking
slap. If that wasn't the case, if Gunther ate
chicken and it tasted like chicken before the
slap, if he ate chicken afterwards it'd be tasting
like prawns. That's how much his mouth was rearranged
by the slap. Big Jim I'm well expecting that
when next week rolls around Gunther's gonna turn
up to raw with a jet with a big Jim handprint
on the side of his face from that freaking slap
Yes very well could do I mean we've seen Gunther
struggling more and more week in week out to
pull off these sneak attacks now whether that's
just because Jay is expecting it more and knowing
how to counter it or whether Gunther is just
losing his edge but I'm sticking with my initial
prediction Jay you so to win at WrestleMania
You've got Jay to win, you've got Jay to win.
Yeah, so I'm not even sure what I want to do
in that situation at the moment. I'm definitely
not putting any money on it. It's too close to
call. I think that will be match of the night
by any stretch of the imagination, no matter
which way it goes, it'll be match of the night.
I think both Gunther and Jay are going to put
on the show of shows at the show of shows. Yeah.
very much so but we're going to cut back to in
-ring at this point as we have Adam Pearce stood
in the middle of the ring not somewhere we see
him very often but it seems to be happening more
and more regularly and he's basically come out
to clarify if Rhea Ripley has managed to insert
herself in the match or whether she has whether
it's all been for naught basically So basically
Adam Pearce comes out to basically say, Ria Ripley,
the fact that you've signed this contract means
absolutely sweet FA because you're not in the
match. It doesn't get you anything and you're
not getting anything. It's a case that Adam Pearce
has been trying to pin her down for her for her
contracted rematch from when she lost her title
initially and she's been evading not wanting
to sort of commit or anything along those lines
and yeah. This is when we see EO Sky come out
and Yeah, I don't think this was invited nor
expected by Adam Pearce as he seems to get a
touch eye rate at the fact that he's been interrupted.
And Eos Guy basically comes out to say, do you
know what? I don't care who I have to take on.
I'll take them both on at the same time at WrestleMania.
I really don't care. I'll take Bianca Bella and
Rhea Ripley on. And yeah, because I'm the women's
champion. And... Adam Pearce basically tries
to set the record straight with EO, gets about
maybe one and a half to two words out. When Bianca
Beller's music hits, more frustration from Adam
Pearce. He's pissed at this point as well, isn't
he? Oh, 100%. I mean, Adam Pearce is not normally
the one we see to lose their cool. And he well
and truly have lost. He's off the deep end at
this point. But Bianca Belair comes out, her
music hits, she comes out and basically says,
no, my elimination chamber tells me, or my elimination
chamber win. Puts me at number one contender.
Yes, you have a rematch, but I'm first. You've
waited three weeks. Wait another three weeks
and you can face me instead. And yeah, so she
comes out and says, My Elimination Chamber win
entitles me to a one -on -one match with the
champion that wasn't selected by the Royal Rumble
winner. Adding another person in is completely
unfair. Even though, again, this has been done
in the past. But again, Adam Pearce goes to set
the record straight with Bianca Beller and EO
Sky for... Rhea Ripley's music to hit as well.
And yeah, this is like the straw that broke But
it's the straw that broke the camel's back at
the end of the day And you now understand why
Adam Pierce has the haircut he has Because with
this woman he would have tore it all out Yeah,
very much so and I mean Rhea Ripley mommy comes
out basically just to say do you know what? I
just want my title back. I don't care what I've
got to do to do it. Book the match, whatever
match it is that I need. And I just want to be
able to get my title back. She doesn't care if
it's WrestleMania or next week. She wants her
title back. Yeah, pretty much. Bianca Belair
and Rhea Ripley get into a back and forth, which
we've started to see over the last few weeks.
they really get sort of zeroed in on one another
and last week it was Bianca Belair that put her
hands on the women's champion EO Sky this week
it was Rhea Ripley who got her hand put it in
EO's face and properly mugged her off and that
was it that was the that was very much the The
straw that broke the camel's back The match and
the couch and the powder keg, that blew the entire
situation well up and out of proportion Well
it blew Adam Pearce up as he basically well and
truly loses his shit like right I've had enough
Seriously, Rhea and EO title bout next week as
Rhea's contracted rematch and the winner of that
goes on to face Bianca Belair at WrestleMania
and he leaves the ring incensed he's furious
at this point and a brawl between Bianca Rhea
and Io erupts in the match where yeah it's they're
all at each other's necks And in the end, once
all the dust settles, Bianca Bella is the one
who's left in the ring standing on her own two
feet. It's just complete and utter freaking chaos
at this point. Now we go from in -ring to backstage
where we see Penta preparing for the main event.
as Dom basically comes along obviously inspired
by his chat with Liv earlier on following his
instinct and basically says it basically makes
an offer that judgment day if he joins the judgment
day they'll help him win tonight sort of thing
I mean that's definitely signing on for him to
join the judgment day and get the intercontinental
title that's definitely a hell of a check that
I'm surprised Dom's had the authority to write
that sort of check Yeah, very much so but Yeah,
I mean that was a very short promo in of itself
We then went to a not to it It's a familiar segment,
but not one that we get very regularly. And this
is WWE facts from the city that we're in at the
moment, which obviously we've mentioned. Glasgow,
Scotland. This was the second time Raw had been
broadcast from Glasgow. First time for Netflix.
It's the 13th TV broadcast from Glasgow. The
last time. The last broadcast from Glasgow was
on the 8th of November 2000 and at 2016 I've
got down here and it was a it was an episode
of smackdown live Oh No, I went a step further
The main event from that smackdown was a six
-man tag team match and this saw Randy Orton
Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper versus Dean Ambrose
Kane and A name that you may well remember James
Ellsworth the chinless wonder the chinless wonder
and and Yeah, it was that and It was Orton Wyatt
and Harper that ended up going on to win that
match now. This is when This was when Orton was
In sort of indentured servitude to the Wyatt
family at this point But the sombre in fact that
I find in that is out of the three men that won
that match only one of them is still alive and
That is a really sad thing to think about that
it wasn't that long ago I mean nine years ago
give or take nine years ago and only one of only
one of those men is still alive obviously we
lost Bray Wyatt recently Luke Harper went on
the 26th of December in 2020 I believe so he's
been he's been gone about been gone coming up
to four and a half years because Luke Harper
was known as Brody Lee in AEW and he was actively
wrestling for AEW when he passed away at home
with family. A shock to the wrestling world that
was the same as when Bray Wyatt passed as well.
A hell of a shock to the wrestling world. A shock
that is still felt to this day, especially with
the likes of Bray Wyatt more so. Definitely,
he knew them all to be. He did, he did. Anyway...
Turning things around we went into a a War Raiders
vignette at that point we did yes showing them
destroying every tag team in the division Yeah,
and I mean they are the smackdown tag team champions.
We don't see them compete nearly as often as
maybe the Smackdown tag team titles are defended,
but they are still Raw's tag team champions and
after that vignette we switched to backstage
where we can very obviously see the stress is
really getting to Adam Pearce as he has Kofi
Kingston and Xavier Woods come in and demand
a tag title match at WrestleMania to which Adam
Pearce basically comes back and says do you know
what most people would have come in and said
that I want an opportunity to compete for a match
at WrestleMania. You've come in and demanded
it. So the answer is no, until you can come back
and tell me that you want to compete in a match
next week for a chance to go to WrestleMania
in a tag team match. And they're basically told
to go fuck themselves. No, definitely not It's
and it doesn't stop there because the next person
in is Bianca Belair who comes in and Again, it's
this word. It's she demands to know who her opponent
is at WrestleMania and Considering Bianca Belair
is part of the reason for Adam Pearce's stress,
I can sort of understand why the guy sees red
and basically says, do you know what? Your opponent
at WrestleMania, whoever wins out of next week's
match between Rhea and Io, and I'm adding a stipulation
to it that you're going to be the special guest
referee. That's going to screw both Io and...
Well, it actually turns out that Bianca Belair
has absolutely no clue by her own admission how
to be a referee So she's got a week to learn
And it actually makes a lot of sense for a sit
a I've seen a social media post Bianca basically
begging one of the referees I'm guessing to teach
her how to be a referee but now that makes sense
when at the time when I saw it it really didn't
3 of the evening. This one was a men's singles
match between Dragon Lee and El Grande and Maricano
or the large black coffee as that translates
to with the new member of LWO. This is fucked
up. It's not LWO, that's the thing. It's not.
I can't even think what the group's called because
I'm too busy laughing at the fact that, yeah,
no. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't particularly enamoured
by this match. The ending, 100%, loved that,
loved sort of... I loved how they ended it. It
wasn't great. It wasn't like a showstopper or
anything like that, but it was a really interesting
match. But... What we got was actually a really
competitive match between the two. For anybody
just sort of just coming into this storyline,
Chad Gable of American Made has recently come
back from a pilgrimage to learn the ways of lucha
or has struggled with the wrestling style in
the past. And since he's come back he seems to
have bought back with him Who we now know as
El Grande Americano There are quite a few people
myself included Chad Gable in cosplay and There
were a few Mitigating factors that would suggest
it. They are a similar height build skin tone
both like to do the the german suplex in slow
motion it's uh yeah there's a few different hints
and clues there but chad gable is adamant that
he is not the large black coffee he is chad gable
not el grande americano and uh the office is
taking the piss with that one that is fucking
brilliant As I said, I'm pretty sure I said this
before but if I haven't it is some Vince McMahon
level Bullshittery that we've ended up with a
wrestler the wrestlers name that basically translates
into large black coffee Yeah, just but a few
nice little bits here, I mean El Grande at German
suplexes dragging Lee off the apron at one stage
which actually I wasn't expecting but again it
gives us that definite thought that it's Chad
Gable as we've again got something that he's
quite proficient at using the German suplex.
Yeah it's basically his go -to move. Everything
in this about this Lucha screams Chad Gable I
just need I want to see this this guy have a
match against Chad Gable just to prove it's not
Chad Gable But we all know that's not going to
happen Well, yeah, this is WWE we're not gonna
get things we want things going on here No, John
Cena's gone heel we're not getting anything we
want But yeah We have a point in the match where
both superstars literally narrowly and I'm narrowly
avoid Narrowly avoids a double count out they
literally get to about nine and three quarters
and Managed to dive back into the ring Nice little
bit of tension builder Yeah, it was it was some
added flavor that this match seriously lacked
otherwise But as I said the really really interesting
part about this match for me was the ending and
by that I mean Oh Grande manages to Dmask Dragon
Lee, which ironically is something that Dragon
Lee tried doing to El Grande earlier on in the
match. But El Grande Americano was slightly more
successful in ripping Dragon Lee's mask off.
He basically, Dragon Lee sat on the top turnbuckle
and El Grande Americano grabs his mask and pulls
him forward. so he ends up kind of like as the
mask comes off he ends up front flipping down
onto his stomach pretty much trying to hide his
face el grande americano goes for an ankle lock
where we've only ever seen two people try that
submission move more than once well i disagree
i disagree with michael cole on that because
that's where we got that information from He
says there were only two people that ever use
it, and he said it's Kurt Angle and Chad Gable.
Whereas Jack Swagger also used the ankle lock,
as did Michael Cole himself, which he does later
admit to. So there are lots of people that use
the ankle lock. Well, we know the mass luchador
isn't Jack Swagger because he's currently in
AEW still, I believe. Under a different name.
Michael Cole was on commentary, so it certainly
wasn't him. No, the person in the mask wasn't
overweight enough. No, exactly. But yeah, so
I disagree with Michael Cole's analysis on that
one, but. Then again, I tend to disagree with
Michael Cole quite a lot generally. I feel we
have to fact check Michael Cole quite a lot because
he's a rather poor source of information. He
can be. He did want to tell us there was a PLE
that had held six, there was a city that had
held six PLEs and for days me and Adam could
only find five. No, I think we did actually manage
to find six in the end. Did we cover all six?
God damn it. Yeah, we didn't. We didn't take
into when we did when we tried going through
it we didn't We didn't take into consideration
NXT PLEs We were looking at main roster PLEs.
Well when we took into consideration the NXT
ones we did manage to find all six Yes But yes
digressing away Um, yeah, so In his ww in this
character's wwe debut, uh, he walks out of it
with with a win over a rather disgraced dragon
lee as uh Any loot any lucha fan worth their
salt knows that you don't remove the mask No,
and uh ray mysterio got into a lot of trouble
With it when he was in triple a um Lucha because
he got de -masked or he took his mask off and
he had to get permission from the Lucha authorities
to use a mask when he went to WWE under a different
name. Oh right. He used to wrestle as Rey Mysterio
Junior whichever one he is and then when he moved
to WWE he lost the bit on the end because in
one of the One of the matches he'd had at Lucha
Libre, he ended up taking his mask off or unmasking
himself and to be able to reuse the mask he had
to have permission, but some people still don't
agree with Rey using a mask again. You basically
have to change your character. If you unmask
the character you can't keep that character.
You have to have a different Lucha character.
That's what watching Chris Van Vliet gets you.
I watch a lot of the stuff that he puts out on
social media, but yeah, even I was in the dark
on that one. He did an interview with Rey Mysterio.
I love Rey Mysterio. I think he's brilliant.
I've watched some of his indie stuff as well
when he wasn't working with WWE. Rey Mysterio
had a match against Will Ospreay, who is now
BW Talent at the Pro Wrestling World Cup, and
it was an absolutely phenomenal, phenomenal match.
If you don't get an opportunity to watch it just
on YouTube Will Ospreay, Rey Mysterio, Pro Wrestling
World Cup I think it was like Maybe 2017 or so
like between 2017 and COVID but it was it was
Amazing one of the best indie matches I've ever
watched on YouTube Fair enough But yeah moving
on from moving on from Dragon Lee and We'll start
to get to the meat and veg of our storylines
with this next segment. This next segment is
a recap slash promo from the storyline between
Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and CM Punk. So as
we've seen recently, there has been quite a lot
of animosity between the three. It tends to be
a lot more between Roman and Seth, but Punk's
been dragged in because of Seth's hatred of Punk
and in fact, Punk wants Roman's wise man and
Roman's wise man owes CM Punk a favour. So we
get a recap on what's happened so far. So the
eliminations from Royal Rumble, the kickoff after
they were all eliminated from Royal Rumble between
the three of them on the outside, bits elimination
chamber between Rollins and Punk then when Roman
returned when Rollins and Punk were in a cage
match and Roman basically was like you know I've
been screwed by Seth enough times so I was coming
out here to screw him and I've been screwed by
Punk enough times so I was coming out here to
screw him too and like we had this conversation
a little bit earlier in the episode and we've
had it more Like a few times in the previous
episodes The Roman Reigns pop when they talk
about him is incredible when you see him It's
even more incredible for someone that was pushed
so much down our throats For a few years that
we were so sick of seeing Roman I think that
break we've had between especially the end of
the bloodline stuff between WrestleMania last
year and then when he returned and stuff with
solo and those guys and then he's had a bit of
a break and you know it's it's been nice it's
nice to see Roman coming back after a break where
beforehand it was like fuck's sake just send
him on holiday for a few weeks no one wants to
see him yeah there are always those die -hard
fans of Roman Reigns who think the guy walks
on water i will be honest i do think he's he's
played a good part over the last few years with
tribal chief stuff and Everything along those
lines really enjoyed all bloodline all majority
of the bloodline stuff But yes, it did get to
a point at one stage where we were seeing him
Way too often. He's like he never Changed things
up. He never did anything any differently. He
just kept rolling out He found something that
worked and kept going back to the well and for
me it just got really old really quickly So I
am a Roman Reigns fan in moderation. I'm not
ever going to sit here and call myself a die
-hard fan that would simply watch two hours of
Roman Reigns in a ring, because yeah, that's
fucking boring. I mean, I'd watch two hours of
Roman Reigns in ring, but in the ring with a
microphone, you can fuck right off. See there's
a part of me that doesn't think again. I go back
to my original statement I think Roman Reigns
is overrated to a certain point I don't think
he's as good as everybody makes him out to be
even in ring I mean, I'll watch him in ring purely
for the fact that he's a an entertaining entertainer
but you know if someone said to me two hours
of Roman Reigns or two hours of CM Punk or two
hours of the hardies or you know, like whoever
Roman would be very much bottom of my list if
I had to watch two hours of constant wrestling
from someone Yeah Shit, I'd rather watch two
hours of bad news Wade Barrett But yes, we go
from like the the recap of last week and everything
to do with what's going on. And we have actually
CM Punk in Ring for a promo completely on his
own. Well, this isn't really a promo. This is
just more of an extended pipe bomb. Remember
watching this and then messaging Adam who was
a little bit behind me just going pipe bomb incoming
I knew he'd look at it and go oh Okay, I know
how I know where he is So when he got to that
bit he knew to be excited and it was I don't
know if it works But I thought it was a great
great little promo we cut Especially when he
comes to the ring and he gets a hell of a pop
right punk is one of those wrestlers when he
comes out whether you love punk or hate punk,
he gets the noise. And he comes out to a hell
of a good sort of standing, considering a lot
of people dislike what he's done for professional
wrestling. And he comes out and says he's in
a bit of a bad mood, but it's not because of
where he is or why he's there. He's just tired.
He's jet lagged. He's uncertain of his road to
WrestleMania and he isn't getting what he wants.
Where is he? You know, like he's... He knows
he's got that favour from Paul Heyman. We know
he's still got that favour from Paul Heyman.
I want to know what that favour from Paul Heyman
is going to be like everyone else does and I
don't think we're going to find out until after
the match at WrestleMania. No, definitely not.
I don't think it's... I think we'll get the match
and then we'll get the favour rather than the
favour before the match. It's not going to be
something that... Punk calls in on a whim sort
of thing. I am gonna backtrack slightly nothing
to do with the actual promo But more so to do
with the fact that you said that you said to
obviously you said a few ago the yes I was a
few I was about 20 minutes behind you terms in
terms of watching raw this week And you sent
me a message saying high bomb incoming That just
explains how yesterday went. So, yeah, you didn't
say... I now know what he was trying to say,
but at the time I just got a message going, pie
-bombing coming. I was like, is this motherfucker
sending me pie? Yeah, no. As long as he's not
sending me strudel. I'd had some pie, but yeah.
Actually the same flavor that both Kane and Undertaker
like Oh Right, but yeah It's a case that We've
now had it confirmed that the triple threat between
Seth Rollins Roman Reigns and CM Punk is officially
happening at WrestleMania Punk actually makes
a comment on the The graphic that they use for
it. I mean, it's very lucky graphic. I'll give
them that it's uh It's very understated It's
not big. It's not flashy. It's understated Which
is what that matches that match isn't going to
be big and flashy. It's gonna be all Sort of
like cheap shots and low blows and dirty maneuvers
that matches a match. It's gonna be one on on
cheap on on cheating Yeah Pretty much. Especially
when the second C -sync comes out on top. Punk
makes an interesting reference to Seth Rollins
calling him the world heavyweight champion of
being a pissy diaper baby. Yep. Or some sort
of words to that effect. Oh no, you pretty much
got that word for word. Alright, okay. I wasn't
100 % sure if I had or not. He was a black belt
being a pissy diaper, baby And Yeah makes it
makes a bit of a Tongue -in -cheek comment about
the fact that Romans wise man is not just his
wise man Well goes on to say that for the other
two people in this much. It's personal They have
a personal vendetta against each other For and
they have had four years since Seth stuck the
chair in the middle of Romans back when they
were all part of the shield So for those two
it is personal but punk says for him. It's business
You know, he's there because he needs to be there
but he knows that It starts getting a little
bit confusing between Like towards the end with
my notes because my spelling at this point meant
absolute crap But they he does basically say
that next week in London. We have a contract
signing For this match at WrestleMania and Punk's
gonna make sure that he He reads all the fine
print to see if he's getting what he wants or
if the rug is being pulled out from underneath
him yet again Because obviously CM Punk and WrestleMania
appearances Never quite work out the way they're
supposed to at CM Punk No And to close out this
segment Punk makes two final points One of them
is that he sort of reiterates that Neither one
of his two of WrestleMania opponents have ever
beaten him without the help from the other and
makes a point of saying that he bought them both
into WWE and it seems only fitting that he take
both out of WWE. I mean, I do not think that
they are going anywhere specifically if Punk
wins. You know, you're not going to see Seth
Rollins up, pack his bag and go to AEW. You'll
certainly never see Romans Romans the WWE guy
you won't ever see him go anywhere either He
might end up doing what the Rock does and disappears
for six months and then comes back and goes finally
The original tribal chief is back in wherever
he is, you know, but Yeah, that neither of them
are going anywhere specifically. They're both
definitely WWE guys And there's rumours going
that Seth's only got a few more years left in
and apparently he's stated that he's retiring
when he's 45 and he's only 39 so he's only got
another 6 years left of Seth if that's true.
Well by then he might have run out of stupid
outfits to wear. Fuck off that guy is never going
to run out of stupid outfits. I'm pretty sure
the reason we don't see Becky Lynch anymore is
because she's currently running around America
running to charity shops looking for the most
hideous outfits you can find. Mean quite possibly
Seth Rollins has committed several fashion crimes
against humanity with those outfits And that's
just this month right that's without going over
the last 10 years Yeah, this is it Going from
there we actually have I call it a social media
promo as It's a a video taken from what I can
only assume Instagram page where he's basically
calling out AJ Styles AJ Styles to be in to be
at Raw next week where where he's gonna be at
least I think it was raw and Logan Paul ends
up rehashing an old a very old soul sir was thrown
AJ Styles AJ Styles as well Oh, the old soccer
mum haircut. The old soccer mum haircut. I mean,
I think AJ's thick enough to not worry too much
about being called a soccer mum. Yeah, I don't
think that's going to get to him somehow. I think
he's been in the industry too long now to let
little comments like that get to him. This is
the guy who joined aces and eights for one night
just to turn on them and give them a kick in.
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, so we went from this
social media promo into a backstage segment with
Cathy Kelly talking to Bron Breaker about what
he feels about the Penta possibly joining Judgment
Day and Bron Breaker basically just tells Cathy
Kelly he's not getting involved in any of that
what Penta does is up to Penta he's just concentrating
on retaining his title because the and to quote
the dogs are barking in glasgow that's gotta
be one of the cheesiest corniest lines ever like
dude it doesn't work over here i get like i get
in georgia it works right that's the home of
the bulldogs it's gonna but it don't work over
here like that Changer the thing about it is
is that he made that comment and it was just
you could hear that they sort of tried piping
they tried piping into that that little promo
the the expected crowd noise that just never
came But yeah, so we went from that little little
backstage promo to What it was the main event
of the evening It was we went into our main event
of the evening, which was Bron breaker Defending
his intercontinental title against penta. So
this was Panters first Shot at a singles title
in WWE since he joined Not that long ago, but
it feels like he's been here for ages. He's already
had some some seriously good matches with Ludwig
Kaiser and Pete Dunne the series with Was it
Don Mysterio he had a couple of matches against
he's had I think he's had one match against Don
Mysterio. The majority of his matches have been
against Ludwig Kaiser and Pete Dunne. Which,
as you said, have been phenomenal matches, realistically.
But this is the first one that we've had. very
first attempt at a title belt in WWE and curiously
as Brom Breaker is making his entrance into the
ring Michael Cole makes an announcement that
the Slammy Awards are just around the corner
and apparently Brom Breaker is up for at least
two of them One of them being the OMG moment
of the year when he hit that spear on iShow Speed.
Yeah, he hit iShow Speed hard. I actually, ironically,
as you bring this up about five minutes ago on
social media, I came across a video clip of iShow
Speed doing a backflip on the Great Wall of China.
It's the same backflip he did seconds before
he got launched into oblivion by Bron Breaker.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure when he was on the Great
Wall of China, he wasn't looking around for Bron
Breaker coming charging his way. No, he probably
was not at all. He should have been looking out
for that in the Royal Rumble though, because
like we like to mention, it isn't every man for
himself. You know as Roman got this wrong in
in his promo last week where he reckons punk
screwed him, but nope Can't screw a man when
it's every man for himself No, this is it and
Yeah, I mean this was this was probably one of
the most competitive matches I've seen in a while
because Both of these men had each other incredibly
well scouted. They did they certainly did Like
they there was very little between both of them
that They didn't have an answer for I mean we
know penta has a Absolute wealth of experience
outside of WWE and he has zero fear Yeah, that's
it and And Brom breaker is I mean he comes from
the he comes from the same family as I mean this
guy is not fearful of anything and I mean he's
adopted he's adopted some some things from his
uncle and his father that yeah this guy is just
an absolute animal I mean you only have to see
you only have to see the devastating clothesline
he hits on Penta after Running the ropes I mean
it's always impressive when you have to see how
much speed that Bronbreaker can build up when
bounce in between those ropes I'm pretty sure
that when Bronbreaker hit that clothesline a
Little bit of poo that came out of Penta when
he stood up It was still in the same spot in
the air when Penta hit the floor. That's how
hard and fast he went down Like he took that
back bump with everything Oh, 100%. There was,
uh, there was, uh, maybe with how violent he
hit the floor. But then he still needs to get
up and put off a hurricane runner. Like Panto
wasn't trying to hide from Bronbreaker at all.
He was trying to, he was willing to go toe to
toe with the, with the big man and pretty much
did, you know, like. We sit here and think about
how athletic Penta is for the fact that he's
not a huge guy But he's bigger than your standard
guy He's a he's quite a tall bloke But then when
you see Brom Breaker when he jumps from the ring
apron on to the front like across the announce
table for that crossbody Just absolutely wiping
himself and Penta out and you're like Fuck man.
How are you supposed to hide from a guy who can
jump six seven eight? nine meters in front of
him with ease. Yeah, there is, I mean, nobody's
really hiding from Bronte Breaker. If you're
in a ring with him, you're gonna commit 100%.
Oh yeah, definitely. Quite early on in this match
we see Dom, Mysterio and Carlito of the Judgment
Day make their appearance and sort of make their
way down the entrance ramp. They're not necessarily
at this stage coming in to interfere but they
are very much making their presence known as
we know. Earlier in the evening Dom made an offer
to Penta about joining the Judgment Day and basically
said, look we're happy to help you win the title.
Long as you commit to the judgment day will be
will be all sound Yeah I mean for a new person
to WWE if I was in penta shoes at that point
I'd probably gone You know fuck it. I've got
a lot of friends here. You guys speak Spanish
Dom does anyway, I'm sure Carlito probably knows
a little bit and uh, Raquel Rodriguez will know
some as well You know so he can fit in He's got
a little bit of extra protection. He gets some
help at ringside to defend his title. That's
not really a bad little deal. Unfortunately,
you have to deal with dickhead Don Mysterio and
the slightly, slightly neurotic Finn Balor. Slightly.
I was trying to be polite to the guy. You know,
he's he's doing more than I am, but he's still
an asshole. Oh, 100 percent. Yeah, so there were
a few other spots that I did take a Did take
some some notes around I mean break Penta hit
a Backstabber for a two count on bra breaker
and then manages also to hit an absolutely stunning
The Mexican destroyer made Bron Breaker's eyes
roll into the back of his head. I thought he
was out out at that point. It was beautiful.
Yeah, this is it. I mean, the the reversal that
Panda put in so Bron Breaker went to go for a
spear a little bit earlier on in the match and
Panda reverses it with a super kick and then
hits him with a sling blade as well. Yeah, this
is what I meant earlier on when I said about
the fact that they've got an answer for everything.
The only thing that I did not see Penta have
an answer for, and Bron Breaker is an absolute
animal for doing this, that Frankensteiner at
the end. As Pat McAfee is taking to calling it
the Breikensteiner. Pretty much, because... It
breaks people but yeah, he just box jumps from
the floor to the top rope and flips them out
like fuck you, dude He pretty much flipped Penta
best part of the three quarters of the way across
the ring like Yeah, this is it and it just speaks
again to the Athleticism behind Bronbreaker.
There's a reason that he's held that title as
long as he has I'm looking at it though going
they built him into such a strong powerful character
That only another strong powerful character is
going to be able to relieve him of that title
belt Who is it? Well, this is what this is it
is that you look at the guys that Brombreaker
is defended against Penta, Fen 'Bala, Seamus
you know like I'm sure there's probably even
more over the last three months since we've been
doing Finishes and Factions. It's incredible.
So we've done almost 50 episodes. I think this
one's 43, 44, something along those lines. Yeah,
he's held that IC title for pretty much the entire
time that we've been doing this podcast and he's
had some massive matches defending that belt
So who's yeah, I can't think of anyone at the
moment that's big enough to take him down Unless
they throw him against Braun Strowman who's also
another big animal and that would be a great
match Braun Strowman and Braun Breaker for an
IC title or if they fed him to Jacob Fatu But
I really don't want to see him get done that
way that would be a dirty doing if you get me
No, this is it and I don't I don't think we're
we're gonna get him getting sort of buried in
quite that way realistically, it's No, it's it
would be one surefire way of being able to kill
his character in about zero seconds flat and
And his character would never recover from that
rig listing. Yeah, pretty much. But yeah, so
like I said with this one, Bronbreaker hit the
Frankensteiner for the two count and then we
get the fun from Dirty Dom Mysterio as he comes
running into the ring and starts beating down
on Bronbreaker. This then gets the match stopped
due to a disqualification. Which means that Bron
Breaker wins and retains his intercontinental
title now At this point I did really sort of
feel sorry for Penta because I don't think he
was 100 % he got screwed harder than Bonnie Blue
But he does get a little bit of comeuppance for
that screwing so during the beatdown by Dominic
Mysterio. Finn Balor arrives in the ring with
a steel chair and gives Bronn a beating with
that from behind. He then gives the chair to
Dom and instructs Dom to beat down on Bronn Breaker,
which he does. To kind of prove, you know, I'm
still part of this. I'm Judgment Day through
and through. Then they hand the chair to Penta.
Well before that, Dom's even got the chair Bala
looks as though he's gonna take us Dom with it
Could we blame him? No, I'm pretty sure if I
was holding a chair in front of Dominic Mysterio
I'd probably take a swing at him for it and he
didn't don't fuck all the mate I mean to be fair
Dom got himself in a match that he didn't need
to get involved in without the permission of
Finn Bala We are led to believe by WWE that Finn
is the leader of Judgment Day as much as everyone
else congregates more towards Dom than Finn Finn
still is shown to us as the ringleader of Judgment
Day and if Dom's gone behind Finn's back and
offered Penta that slot and then gone down there
to interfere in Penta's match then yeah, Finn's
got every right to want to stick a steel chair
across Dom's face That and Finn still blames
Dom for Costing him his intercontinental match
a week previously I mean I blame him there either
because he did hang Finn up by his nuts on the
top apron And that is not a nice place for you
want to be squashing your gingang gullies No,
definitely not and but in fairness, it wasn't
I don't think it was necessarily intentional
to Finn take a plum shot a plum shot from the
top turnbuckle. I don't think it was intentional
but accidents don't you can't always blame it
on a blame it on the buggy and it was an accident
sometimes you have to own up to your own your
own mistakes and say well actually maybe I shouldn't
have got involved it wouldn't have happened you
look like you had it sorted. Yeah this is it
but as you were saying The chair is handed to
Dom. Dom delivers a few stiff shots to the breaker.
Dom then gives the chair to Penta and basically
says, your turn. Look, this is your opportunity.
Take a swing at him and you're as good as in
the judge day by. But this is what I like to
see. A nice little bit of spine from a man who
feels like he doesn't have one because he is
completely flexible beyond all points of recognition.
Penta throws the chair back at Dom and then super
kicks Dom through the chair Which was yeah, it
was beautiful Watching Dom Mysterio take a kick
to the face is always always gonna be one of
my favorite things to do Up there with watching
Logan Paul get dicked on in any way shape or
form and ends up a moray getting hit in the balls
No one knows he's taking a leaf out of Bonnie
Blue's book and getting dicked more than a thousand
times in a ten -minute match Fair enough, but
yeah, no So Dom gives the chair to Penta and
Penta uses the chair on Dom basically saying
no to the judgment day and then Bala takes out
Penta and Breaker and Finishes it up delivering
a coup de grace to Penta himself. And the episode
ends with Judgement Day standing tall over Penta's
broken little body. With Bron Breaker lying broken
on the outside. Yeah, very much so. And that
very much brings me to the end of my notes for
SmackDown. Mine are very much done as well, to
be fair. The only thing I'm going to throw into
there is I couldn't pick a match of the night,
you know, after the first watch through and stuff,
after recording this and having a conversation
between it all. I think for me, if you take out
the interference, I think the Dom, not the Dom,
the Panther Brawnbreaker match was probably one
of the better ones of the night, to be fair.
But I will also say that the Dragon Lee versus
the large black coffee was also a half decent
match for what it was see if i had to choose
one out of the because this was a very promo
heavy episode of it was this was a big storytelling
episode of raw realistically we weren't here
for action we were here for story um but yeah
i probably go actually with the uh The opening
match who shows versus a town down on Okay Even
with the ending and everything like that I've
always enjoyed watching the USOs do business
they do business like only the USOs can But yes,
um, I suppose the only thing to say is that that
is finishes and factions does Monday night over
and done with for another week. We hope you've
enjoyed listening to it. Any feedback is welcome.
And we will see you back again for Finishes and
Factions Does NXT from the Performance Center.
So yeah, lots to look forward to there. I'll
see you on NXT, Adam. Peace out. See you in a
bit.