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Monday, July 29: Wrestling Spotlight -Weekly Champions With Post Blood And Guts
(upbeat music) Welcome in to wrestling spotlight. Hey, I just wanted to take a close up look at a couple of big cards that one just happened to AEW flooding gots happened. And then summer slam is coming up. We got our frequent contributor here, former Jim Crockett promotions wrestler, trained by the Russian bearer himself. I'm a go up, Sonny the man, Eagle Kane, and Sonny, thanks for joining us here. It's a big time in pro wrestling as we're winding down the road to summer slam. That's coming up on August 3rd. And we just have blood and guts from AEW, their version of War Games, which means all in in Wembley Stadium is right around the corner. So let me ask you, what do you think of the extreme matches like blood and guts, a double cage, 10 competitors. The match doesn't really start until all 10 guys are in. And it's always some crazy actions. It's easily one of the most violent matches in pro wrestling today. What do you feel about that being a long time observer in a traditional pro wrestler, I guess you'd say? - Well, I think it's fantastic. I think it brings out the enthusiasm and the workers and the guys. And I think they are, I think the corporations are getting back to where they used to be in terms of pleasing the fans and putting forth a better match. - Yeah. And then what they did really well last night, I thought is they set up multiple stories, multiple follow up that's going to come because I know Swerve is gonna be going up against Brian Danielson at Wembley Stadium, but man, they're playing up the Hangman Adam Page against Swerve so hard. I gotta think that that's coming up right down the road because right after all in is all out. So I don't think Brian Danielson's winning at all in and I think Swerve and Hangman is already penciled in for all out when that comes to Chicago, just right after all in. It's like two weeks after. - Yes, sir. I agree with you on that. And I think Swerve is gonna maintain his stance. I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon. - No, but it's good to have that rival, right? Because we had Rick Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Rick Flair and Dusty. It's good to have that heated rival, that blood-fued rival. I mean, that's a real old-school wrestling. - And I think that's where the leagues are finally getting back to. They seem to be writing better scripts and they seem to be matching up people better than they were, say, three to five years ago when Matt was in charge of the WWE and so forth. - Yeah. (indistinct) - Absolutely, because they're continuing too. Jungle Boy Jack Perry, now the scapegoat. He was really, I mean, he was, I mean, legitimately, there's some truth to it, right? He was signaled out in the CM Punk fight last year at All In, really kind of got banished. As it turns out, he was essentially assigned to New Japan for six months. Come back, different character, part of the elite now. So the bad guys, the heel management, right? The heel executives, which is playing off a truth as well because the young bucks are EVP. So they are legitimately executives and they're trying to set the table for their guy Jack Perry to have an easy glide path as a champion. Well, blood and guts, the end of it was Jack Perry handcuffed and doused with gasoline and Darby Allen saying, "I'm gonna light you on fire "if I don't get a championship match." And Darby's played such a maniac of, okay. I didn't think they were gonna burn someone alive on network TV, but it was-- - Well, I don't know if you saw him on stage. But they showed Dusty Rose when he got almost set on fire too today. I don't know if you had anything to do with each other, but anyway, that's been played in time or two. And I think he's gonna get his title match. I think he proved his point. - Oh, he's getting it. Yeah, it's gonna be at Wembley Stadium. And Jack Perry didn't quit. The box quit on his behalf because they believe that Darby was gonna use his flame starter and set the gas on fire, which would have been quite crazy. I mean, it was crazy enough. Darby did a climb to cross the top of the cage and did a coffin drop in the middle of the ring. They threw a guy off the Max Castor actually, went off the top of the cage through a couple of tables. I mean, it was a crazy match. - I saw that. I saw it to have that on Twitter, it was fantastic. - Yeah, I mean, just a different level. And then they did build another match that they just announced today. Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, she's getting back into the big high-profile matches. She's gone up against your CEO, Mercedes Monet, going after that TBS title. And Mercedes, in the spirit of a heel champion, brought her enforcer with her, the Brick House Camille former NWA women's champion. She's in EWA now, made her debut. She's been signed with the EWA for a while, but she showed up and she is a difference maker. That is an intimidating wrestler. If you have watched her in the NWA, she would get in there with Nick Aldous. She got in there with Matt Cardona and was Nick Aldous's enforcer when Nick Aldous is insurance policy, is what he called her, when he was the NWA heavyweight champion. - Well, she's got the look and she's got the attitude and I think she's gonna be around for a long time. I think eventually she'll be rivaling Charlotte Flair one day. - She's an impressive athlete. She matches up physically with the Jade Carville. You know, that kind of athletic ability, trained by Bubba Ray Dudley and Deepon Dudley in the Team 3D Academy. And in the spirit, in the tradition of big enforcers, because Patista was one of those guys when he came in, Kevin Nash, when he was diesel, he was the enforcer for Shawn Michaels. So it's a tried and true wrestling formula. And maybe it sets up the return of Britt Baker's former enforcer, Jamie Hader, who's been out with injuries for almost a year now, but we're coming up on the show in her home country at Wembley Stadium. So it would be a good time for Jamie Hader to show back up. - I agree. They take the time off to rehab and then the guys come back and show up for another example. I'll step back there in SummerSlam, they said today, the news outlets did and I'm looking forward to that. So, you know, your body can't take us so much. I've got aches and pains today from years and years ago. - Sure. Now, hey, let me ask you about SummerSlam, because CM Punk made news, he is medically cleared and he's finally going to get his match against Drew McIntyre. This will be CM Punk's third match since he's been back in the WWE. I mean, it's crazy, but that's all he's had. He had a match against Dominic Mysterio at the Christmas House show at Madison Square Garden. He was in the Royal Rumble. And then tore that tendon in his arm. Just now getting back, he's been menacing Drew McIntyre. The whole time he's been injured though, including costing him the title at WrestleMania, costing him the cash in on Money in the Bank. What do you think? You get CM Punk against Drew McIntyre. Seth Rollins is the special guest referee. Do you think CM Punk pulls a win off here at SummerSlam? - I think it's possible. It depends on how healed his shoulder is at this point, and it depends on his will to do so. I'm a CM Punk fan, so I've been watching him for a few years now, and he's always done the unthinkable. (laughs) - Yeah, I mean, I think he wins. I don't know what the future holds though. How many matches he has in him, because it's been really hit and missed the last few years. - Yes, sir. And sometimes the anger is such that they play in tonight, but I saw the day he was signed with WWE until 2025. - Yeah. - So, you know, you have to consider that too, and how well his match does work out for him in terms of getting the win. I'm sure a win would change his contract at the end of 2020. - Now, to be fair, he can do a lot with a little, because he is one of the most prominent players on WWE TV over the last year, and he's literally had at this point two matches, one of which he left injured. I mean, that's a testament to his ability right there, to be that over, that you can be that prominent of a character, and only had, what? I mean, 15 minutes of wrestling on TV, and over a year, and people are still cheering for him, they still wanna see him. That's a real statement to the ability, and the draw right there. - I agree, and I think the front office is gonna be taking the hard look at that, because even today on Twitter, he blew up Twitter a little bit with his new talents and stuff, and saying what he had going on, and he's very charismatic and has to look, and I think the front office is gonna capitalize on that, as I always do. I don't see him going anywhere after 2025, depending on his entries status. - Well, I mean, he can always slide right over to the commentator. Now, the other championship, not championship match, Sam Fung Drew McIntyre is just a garage match, but the championship match, the World Heavyweight title, that's gonna be on at SummerSlam. Gunther, the ring general, caches in his championship opportunity, who you won at King of the Ring, going up against Damian Priest, and what I've liked about this buildup, because you knew it was coming, you knew the match was coming, but they didn't really make a big deal out of it until Gunther came out last week, and just coldly and calculatingly said to Damian Priest, this championship is above you. I'm gonna take the weight of the title off of you. Just give it to me. You don't even need to have the match. Just give me the title, that way the pressure is removed. I'll carry it, because you can't. It was such a condescending jerk from promo, but two degree because of how this ring is gone, I think some people actually probably agreed with Gunther. - I like both athletes in this one, but Guthrie may have his day coming up, and we'll see how he does in this match. The champion's been there a minute, and I don't think he's gonna just hand it over to him. - No, you won't hand him over, but what do you like better? Do you think it's better to have a face champion or a heel champion, and then the face has have to chase him? - So you don't need to understand the champion? - I played the face most in my career, except for when I won the Triangle Wrestling Federation Heavyweight title. I was the heel that night and was the heel of some during my two year reign as champion, but I really like the heels a little better than the face, and they seem to have more depth, they seem to be able to get the job done more over time. - And if you notice, I think we have more heel champions, band face champions most of the time. You get a guy that's got baby face looking back in my heel. - Yeah, which Damien Priest has kind of gone the opposite because he was a heel champion. He was a heel, won the championship, and now he's being more on the face side. He doesn't want help, he doesn't want outside interference. He's talking about how he's fought his way up to earn the championship. So it's definitely trending to where it's obvious, hey, this is the guy they want you to root for. And Gunther, to be fair, he earned the respect with that reign he had as the Intercontinental Champion. Really elevated that title up significantly. - Yes, sir, it did. And, you know, Gunther is starting to show, maybe he can go either by now as a heel or a face. And I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't end up a heel, the way he went. - Well, he's definitely, I mean, saying I'll take the weight of the title off of you, just give it to me, I think that is, that is like incredibly disrespectful. I mean, he's not leaving any illusions. But, you know what, he's not winning by cheating. He's winning by being a ring general. Now, he lost the Intercontinental title of the Sami Zayn because of being overconfident and trying to show Sami Zayn up to his wife at WrestleMania, which maybe he's learned a lesson from that. He's gonna be more more calculating and more precise as he works now. - Well, you know, it's about pairing too. And you never know how all the promoters are gonna pair you with somebody. But that's the angle that the guys like to play sometimes. The hand promoter is to see how long they can melt the enthusiasm of two people. - Sure. - And that's what makes the money at the door. - Well, hey, let's stay on that and let's go to another match that I think is gonna push the limit of that, what you just said, milking the enthusiasm of a matchup. Hell, a night, yeah, he's back in the ring and he's going up against Logan Paul in Logan Paul's hometown at Cleveland, Ohio, challenging for that United States heavyweight title, which Logan's defended, I believe, two times. So he's not by any means a workhorse champion. LA Knight has been super popular. The mega star's been one of the key parts of WWE programming, especially at SmackDown, for a year now, but he's had multiple championship opportunities and come up short every time. Does he need to win this one to stay at that level? I mean, can you always be chasing and never win and still stay, still stay super popular? Or at some point, you gotta win a title. - I think at some point you have to win to maintain your status and your ability to continue to perform. Now, when that comes, that's anybody's guess. But I'm an out of night person, so I'd like to see what he can do when he's in there. And this has been an interesting matchup to see if he can pull it up. - Yeah, I think he's gonna win because the person I was thinking of to tell me back as I was thinking of, okay, let's see somebody from the The Little Jim Crockett promotion days who was always chasing and a true baby face and the name that popped in my mind was Ricky Morton. His Ricky Morton was always chasing the individual titles. I can't recall him ever winning one. He always was a legitimate champion contender though because of the rock and roll express. He won those tag titles. L.A. Knight doesn't have that to fall back on. He's an individual wrestler. So I mean, I think he needs to win, but Ricky Morton, you know, personified that always fighting, always chasing guy. - Yes, sir, and I'm a Ricky Morton fan. I know Ricky and, you know, his money came from being a tag champion and so forth even though he did win a few singles. That's how people remember him, I think, as I was a tag champion. And, but at some point, if you don't have that legacy, you need to win. And I think that's where Knight's out at this point in time. He needs to win. And he needs to start building a repertoire of things to come to show he's got one to take. - Yeah, yeah. I mean, just stay at the top of the card. At some point, you gotta win. Jey Uso in that same, really in that same position. Just to wrap it up here, I did want to highlight a guy that we've talked about because he had a big week, the finals of the Crockett Cup, the NWA Tag Team Championship happened this week on NWA TV and the winner, it was the Southern Six, Kerry Morton, part of the winning team. What do you think about the progress in Kerry Morton's career and where he has to go? 'Cause he has, how does the NWA roster, I think he has the most upside? - I think he's the greatest independent reps for going today. I think we're gonna be hearing a lot more noise from him in months to come. He has talked about Wontman, W.A. World title. And it does make good to see that Kerry can stand on his own, even when he's a single wrestler as well as the Tag. That to me shows his ambition and his determination. He doesn't get down over the losses, he just looks forward to where he's at and talks about the wins. So that's his style and I like it. - Now how much of his dad do you see in him? - How much of his dad do I see in him? Well, quite a bit, he's in his youth, like his dad was when he started and he's hungry. He's eager to please. And I think he's probably a smoked worker in the ring from what I can tell. Sometimes I look at guys in the ring and I could tell he might be stiff because I worked in all stiff toward the end, but he's smoked a silk in the ring from everything I can tell. - Yeah, well it's a big win for him and his tag team partner, Alex Taylor. They also have a spot in NWA 76, which is happening in Philadelphia at the 2300 arena, the old ECW arena. They're gonna be going up against the previous Crockett Cup champions of two years ago. Trevor Murdoch and Mike Knox, so big high profile spot for Kerry Morton. - That'll be a good spot. - Yeah. - Anytime you can get guys in there that bend down December road, this is gonna be a good match up, so. - Yeah, well, and hey, Sonny, just as we wrap it up here, we're coming at you at Wrestling Spotlight TV. You can also see it on the fired-up network. Best place to get it is that for TV plus app. Where can people follow you if they wanna get some of your takes on the world you're wrapped? - Following me on YouTube, people can follow me on Spotify and Apple. People can also follow me on Rose and Dad's podcast and on "Real Son and King" at Twitter. - There you go, and we'll talk with you here after SummerSlam, see if our predictions came true, and then we'll be on the road to all in and coming up in the wet-blowing stadium, as we're gonna be going out there for Wrestling Spotlight cover in the event. Sonny, thanks again for joining us, like always, I appreciate it. - All right, sir.