[ Music ] >> Hello, everyone, and welcome to the prediction show here on Fightful. I am Stephanie Chees, and today we are predicting summer slam, and I am joined by the legendary weird killer from the Pro Wrestling Torch. Weird, thank you so much for joining me. How are you? >> I'm doing great, Stephanie. Good to be on with you. It'll be the rules reversed because you've been a guest on my show a few times recently, so this will be fun. >> You know, I don't want to embarrass you, but I was talking to a friend last night and saying that I invited you on my show, and I actually said to him, I'm so nervous to host with Weird. I feel so weird hosting. It's like asking David Bowie to be your backing singer. >> Oh, wow. Okay, well, I'll take that. I'll take that. A little embarrassed, but thank you. >> That's how I feel right now, but I'm so excited to talk to you about summer slam. It is a seven match card, which is a big card for WWE because they usually do like five or six. So we've got some really big matches to go through. The order that we're going to go through them in is completely made up by me because I think as we'll get into, it's quite unclear what the summer slam mean event is, but I'm excited to talk to you about it. Weird, everyone watching, I want to know as well what your predictions are for summer slam. You can send those in in the chat. You can send us a super chat, which helps me out a lot, and I will read it on screen. But before we get into it, let's hear a little word from our overlord, Sean Rossapp, who's going to tell us about our sponsor, BetOnline.au. >> BetOnline.au is the official betting partner of Fightful 100% of the time when you get the odds from Fightful. They are coming from BetOnline.au. And it's not just wrestling, it's not just MMA unboxing, it's football, it's basketball, baseball, hockey. They have the earliest lines, you can bet big with the high limits and rebut functionality. They have the fastest payout for the winnings, paid in minutes, and the industry's best bonuses on every qualifying deposit. They've been trusted for 25 plus years, it's not some fly by night company. BetOnline AG has been there, they've done that. In addition, they're trusted by millions, they've got VIP rewards programs, and a ton of popular games. BetOnline.AG, that's where I go to make my bet, that's where I suggest you go to my friends. Please just bet what you can, and bet responsibly. >> BetOnline.AG, thank you. Now, weird, I'm heading to SummerSlam, actually. Well, I say, hopefully, just because I'm a person from the UK currently living in Canada, crossing the border to the US. So, always a little nerve-wracking, but I am heading there on Friday. It's a show that looks really good to me, what's your excitement level for it? >> Oh, I think this is a really good example of what a good place WWE is in right now. They know who they are, they've got their top wrestlers in place. They've got two separate brands with their own identities, but each contributing to the show. There's a lot of title matches, which is both good and bad. I mean, in a sense, like you mentioned, it's hard to know what the main event's going to be because of match order. But I will say, I don't feel that they're putting the title matches on this show because they're title matches. They're putting them on the show because the wrestlers involved feel like their rivalry merits being included on SummerSlam. And it is more matches than usual, but it's also not nearly as many matches as AEW puts on. There's a lot of good wrestlers in WWE who aren't making this show. But if the goal is to serve the fans and not overstay your welcome, I think they put together a really strong lineup here. Yeah, I think so too. I know I was at Money in the Bank as well that had five or six matches. I think six and I also was at Forbidden Door. And I did say that I thought Forbidden Door was way too many. And then the pushback on WWE is maybe it's way too little. And I think that what they did at Money in the Bank, it was probably too little, but then they didn't do matches that I thought were unnecessary. Like, for example, there was no Liv Morgan match because they were waiting for Rhea to come back and now we're getting the big Liv Morgan match. So I think it's really good. And it's a good example of how Triple H seems to book these paper views where it's not like everyone deserves to be in the card. It's the matches that have been really built up put on the card at the right time. So I think the lineup is great. Yeah, it's proper hard to see what's going to go on last. Do you have a feeling of what they might do last? Yeah, I've been discussing it for a couple of weeks as it's lineup really took shape. I mean, the safe default position is Cody Rhodes versus Solis Coa because Cody is their top baby face. That's their top championship. The tipping point I think for a lot of people, including me is if Paul Heyman or Roman Reigns is going to make an appearance, then that's going to be at the end of the show because that's such a big deal. So my meaning is that way. But I mean, in terms of what the crowd is going to be interested in most, I mean, you can make a case for Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley. This storyline, I mean, for a big segment of the WWE audience is why they're watching Raw every week, what they're most interested in. And it's an opportunity if WWE is looking for it to put a women's championship match in the main event spot on a major show to elevate it. And even more important, Rhea Ripley has been gone for a while. You want to kind of let people know Rhea Ripley is a top top star. She can be a draw for you. She's young. The fans are into her. She had an in-opportune injury. But if you put her in the main event, that's it. But is a soap operi storyline with Liv Morgan enough? So, and then the other argument just is for CM Punk, Drew McIntyre. I think this match happened six weeks ago. You can make a stronger case for it. I think the hype peaked a little bit. But those are my top candidates. Yeah, for sure. Derek says here, if you would have showed me the card four months ago, I think it was weak. The booking and storytelling has created an increasingly interesting and highly anticipated event, epitome of good booking. That's strong praise there from Derek. But I totally get what he means. You can't say that any of these matches have been underdeveloped. Really, there's something with all of them. So, the order I've put together, sorry, we've gone. I was going to ask you, I'm curious what your order is. So, we're on the same page. So, okay, I feel like the thing hanging over it is Roman, whether or not Roman returns. And I can't, I would see that that would end the show. But if he doesn't, I feel like punk McIntyre, just because it won't necessarily be the best match technically. But I think that it's been such a long built story and it's punks first like proper match back other than the rumble. It's his first singles match. So, I think they might want to do that. So, yeah, for me, it hinges on, I feel like if Cody, and because I don't think Triple H has the idea of like the title has to go on last the way that Tony seemed tied to. I feel like if Cody and solo is on last, it will make me think that Roman is coming back. I think a lot of people if Cody and solo goes on last are going to be disappointed if they don't get a Roman return or at least the Paul Heyman return or at the very least like the Uso showing up or Jimmy returning which will feel kind of secondary. So, the problem is, is I just don't think Silas Coa comes across as an actual threat to win the title. No, we could be proven wrong, WWE surprises us now and then but there is sort of not a tell but there's a pattern to WWE's booking where it's just they're not going to spend Cody after his long journey to win the title. They're not going to have him lose the title. They don't need him to lose the title in order to be on the chase again. I think people want him to have successful Ronnie hasn't had top tier opponents yet. So, to me, Cody, keeping the title and facing higher, I say higher members of the bloodline but who is that, you know, unless it's Jacob Fattu and they have a full signal that he's going to be the top guy yet. He could still end up being the crazed sidekick to solo. But I think right now the fans looks at Jacob Fattu as the more intriguing of the two contenders. So, if solo was a stronger, if solo was a stronger contender and people thought he might win. Then I wouldn't even have the asterisk of, well, only if Roman or Haman show up. But again, Cody's their top star, you know, their top full time active babyface and that is a top title. So I still, I think that's the safe, smart pick to go on last. For sure. Well, let's get into the card. The order that I've decided to talk about them in is how interesting I think they are to talk about. So, that's what I went with because they're all pretty interesting but they're levels to this so no offense to any of the performers that are watching. I'm going to start off with Bailey versus Nia Jax, a women's championship match, Nia Jax, Queen of the Ring, Bailey. I think for this one, Bailey's title win at Wrestlemania felt big just because people have like so much respect for Bailey and felt like sometimes that she's kind of more of like the bridesmaid of the four horse women, and they wanted her to get that big moment. But I don't think she's been booked very well as champion. And I think the first time that it seemed she was really getting anything that you could sink your teeth into was with Nia becoming Queen of the Ring and Nia being set up as her challenger. And Nia having this alliance with Tiffany Stratton. So this one I think is pretty hard to predict because Tiffany does loom over it. I'm going to predict Nia wins. I think if anyone is going to make Nia Jax champion it would be Triple H to do it with this story of of Tiffany. But will Tiffany cash in. I'm not sure if they'll want to spend that already but before maybe before we get into that I'll ask you your thoughts weird what do you think about Bailey versus Nia Jax. I think at this stage of the rivalry with Tiffany and Nia Jax they're teasing the cash in I think somewhat clumsily at times or in a forced way. It wasn't really buying that Tiffany would do that at this stage. I think they want that pairing to be together for longer before they actually do a breakup or a cash in. I'm not ruling out the possibility Tiffany cash is in and then Nia is really mad but that would constitute a turn probably or Nia resenting her but still being linked with her. Those don't ring as they don't strike me as the more likely possibilities. I think what we see as a more likely possibility is Bailey winning and keeping the title for a while and Nia Jax getting a title coming up short in this title shot and then Tiffany getting a title shot even with the money in the bank. I'm kind of going back and forth for a while with chasing Bailey I just think it's the beginning of the feud and I think the diet and even more so it's the beginning of the dynamic between Tiffany and Nia. I think they put them together and I could be wrong but I don't think they put them together to have a quick breakup I think there's potential there for them to play off each other. So when you when I think about the finishes to this match the finishes of this match go through the filter of how can they extend the Tiffany Nia Jax dynamic and stretch it out. And if you have Nia Jax win and Tiffany cash in successfully right away. I think spent months of storyline right away so I'm kind of leaning towards Bailey somehow retaining the title and then I'm circling back somehow to a rematch later on. I think the more I think about it the biggest reason I can see for Tiffany not cashing in is probably capitalism and WWE wanting Tiffany to have like the most custom briefcase possible. We haven't seen that yet. Yeah, like tell that little girls you know go for it so that's the main reason I actually think she might keep the briefcase. I could see her interfering though to help Nia. I think there's something interesting about the dynamic of like keeping your enemies closer like Nia being the champion and her best friend being the person that that has the money in the bank briefcase but I think it would also be like an unfortunate end to Bailey's title reign that I just don't think has really lived up to the expectation of the moment. I'm with you on Bailey I've you know ever since she returned I've asked you know is she into this or just sort of in her collect a paycheck mode of her career you know she's accomplished so much and she's had setbacks in her injuries. People say no no she shows up she's enthusiastic and seems into her job and all that so I think she and her fans are on a search for a magical moment for her again where it does feel like she is a centerpiece top attraction in the women's division. Part of it is it's just hard to compete with what Rhea Ripley's been doing in the live Morgan storyline and I get that and she's a little bit in the shadow of Becky Lynch when Becky Lynch is around and when Charlotte's around she's portrayed as a bigger star. So all that works against her but part of it is it Bailey just hasn't really found her groove as a character at this point you know the kind of forced laugh and there's remnants of her prior personas that are just sort of patchwork together right now. I don't think she's found a focus even as champion and it also hurts that there's two women's titles so you know you're always kind of when there's two singles titles that are sort of equal to each other in a company. Whoever has one of the belts you're always imagining okay which one is the real top champion and Bailey's in a way losing that battle right now despite the fact that you know it's not Charlotte or Becky or Sasha Banks who are on top. You know it's Liv Morgan but I think Rhea Ripley and the whole time storyline cast a big shadow over what she's doing but a lot of it's on her she just doesn't seem to have I don't think coming out of the damage control storyline that she had a lot of momentum and she was she seemed a victim of being picked on in a way where you felt sorry for her so then to transition into let's rally behind her because she's a champion as opposed to she's kind of struggling with how things fell apart for her. I think those two things of contradict have been in conflict and it's it's not Bailey's momentum but some of it is she just like I said I go around I go full circle back to she just doesn't have a voice as a character right now that I think is real to find. Yeah I think some have time to problem with Bailey is the on screen presentation like what they give her and her character work almost like contrast what they like internet fan like smart fan like feels I think like what Derek saying here that she's like unselfish in her work. And I think that is true like a lot of the perception of Bailey like we saw in Wrestlemania is what I would say before like she's this like great worker like backbone of the women's division that like deserve something but then yeah they never once she reaches out they never really give her something on screen that makes you as just a fan like really get behind her. Yeah, all right well let's move on to our next match we have LA night versus Logan Paul for the United States Championship. Weird how has this one been built for you are you into LA night going into Logan Paul's home and all that stuff. I've been looking forward to this as a match and hope to that they would do it long before it was announced and they set it up. You know to bombastic personalities big talkers I think Logan Paul has destroyed it destroyed LA night on the microphone or been overly harsh perhaps with LA night on the microphone. It was I think it was last week where it was just he car Logan carved him up and I think probably went further than is prudent to the point that if Logan wins. It seems like he's beating somebody who is this derivative attitude era relic pretender. I don't think LA nights comebacks were great you know what low low T logan or whatever it was it just. So I mean it's not that LA night has been so bad that people are going to turn against him who are his fans. But he didn't rise to the occasion Logan is just had better material. I think there's plenty to pick on Logan about but maybe some things with Logan are off. They are not allowed off limits and with LA night it's sort of like yeah we these are all it's old material but Logan delivered it I think so effectively. And just one after another after another about you know whatever the cosplay attitude era you know derivative of rock and awesome and all that stuff so. LA night still has something to prove in this match Logan Paul is a much more gifted athlete than LA night LA night more experienced in the ranks so from a smoothness of action and exchange standpoint. I'm intrigued not just with personalities but match quality Logan Paul such a good athlete and you know that's been a knock on LA night is you know they're sort of the obligatory botched miss time spot every match that he has he's gotten a little bit better as he's gotten more work in WWE. So there's a lot of things to look for here but crowd reaction is one of them. I don't know if Cleveland is sick of Logan and things stopped saying you're from here you give us a bad name or if they're like yeah he's our guy and we're going to cheer for him. And then how does LA night react to that so there's a lot of moving pieces in this. I think to me I would stick with Logan Paul as US champion unless they have something and they already have moved they've already moved him into a bigger matches so to me I'd rather keep Logan Paul with US title unless he wants to slow down his career or his current schedule. And I think for LA night it's good for his career if he beat somebody of Logan Paul's stature and wins US title so I could see them going, I can see an argument for going that way also but my prediction and my preference is to keep the momentum going with Logan, because I think LA night is more of a challenger at a summer slam level which is good but not somebody you want to spend a Logan loss on and I don't know that LA nights impressed me enough where I want to give him a semi prestigious victory and a run with a second or third title in WWE. I think you're right that Logan has outclassed LA night on the mic I think that LA night he's got a lot of praise for his mic work and he's certainly you know the the catchphrase is really over but for me watching it like I do find him to derivative and to cosplay and Logan like yeah a little one note it's a little, is he really a good promo in like a think on your feet type way like someone that can you know really deliver like an Eddie Kingston say that you know I love like you know he can say stuff that's really you know feels like real and feels like off the top of his head whereas LA night can a little bit feel like just always going through like the motions of the stuff that he knows that works or stuff that he's taken from other people and I think Logan's proven himself to be a pretty good talker I think that there's definitely a big upside to keeping the title on him like he you can't get away from those Paul brothers and him having a WWE belt is I think like very helpful to them especially moving to like the Netflix era and stuff like that but then I also think like with LA night how many times can he lose or just like not get something you know how long has it been that we've been like oh LA night is going to get this or get money in the bank or he and they're obviously high on him and they keep him on TV but yeah how many times can we go through this with him like he has to win something eventually or he just seems like someone that the company's not actually behind but knows that a portion of the fan base really likes so I am tempted to say that LA night wins but that it's a short title ring that Logan ends up getting it back from him quite quickly I think that's a good option to throw into the mix for discussion which is LA night wins it and Logan wins it back and they extend this view that that wouldn't rule that out as a possibility if they think they have more material to work with here I'm just not sure they have more material to work with here I should say that I mean they can do it I don't know if there's a fresh new chapter but they can kind of continue what they've been doing maybe give LA night a little bit better material with maybe help him out a little bit so you know he's not doing some low tea thing that doesn't really catch on but you're right as far as LA night goes I mean at some point for him to keep his the fans who see him as somebody who was a potential headliner at one point I think though to be management creative top brass other wrestlers saw him as a little bit more of a flavor of the month I think that you capitalize on while the fans are reacting to him that way but let's be real there's not enough there in the ring around the microphone to sustain being a top guy so I don't think that would be as in search of a big win for LA night I think they see him as a good summer and then they move LA night to a mid card feud and he's a good upper mid card guy but Logan is a crossover big time star and I just I get the sense that they see LA night as a guy to feed to Logan Paul to give Logan a win but I'm it's not so open and shut that I just my jaw will be dropped if they give LA night a win I think it'll be a boost for LA night fans if that happens because it will like you say give him a statement when that he's been looking for and maybe give fans a reason to stick with him and not see him as somebody who yeah was just a flavor of the month I think that the layout of this match will be really interesting of whether it's good or not because Logan has had some really impressive performances that are impressive because he's not like a train wrestler hasn't been doing this for very long but he's very good at doing like the big spot you know like his moment with ricochet the rumble and stuff like that something that you can almost kind of rehearse and LA night isn't really a guy that there's like a big spectacular spot to do with that I don't want to say boring but boring like mechanical wrestler than we usually see like Logan in with where he can do something that just like wow wow wow Lady B says I still think Logan versus Cina is coming I think they're absolutely going to do that match before Cina retires Sean says LA night cannot lose like yeah like we were saying he's come so close to getting like something anything so often we have a super chat here from Karthik who sends 100 I don't I don't know what that symbol is do you know where I'm really sorry maybe Jan maybe yeah Karthik he says I wasn't thrilled by the card but the bills talk me into the building hot show punk drew is challenging Cody bloodline for food of the year. Yeah the card is awesome as we've said and we will get to the the punk punk drew later on in the show but yeah I'm very excited to talk about that one I think Karthik real quick it makes a good point sorry stuff that wasn't thrilled with the card but the bills have been have talked them into the building. I think that's good way to put it I mean I do think the build has been really good I mean like you said we'll cover it kind of match by match but going back to my original comments on the show every match here deserves to be on the show even though it's a lot of title matches. It isn't just the titles that make these matches feel like you need to tune in and it isn't it isn't just a lack of a clear cut singular main event that leads to ambiguity over which match should or will likely go on last it's also that there's a number of candidates for a match to go on last which is a credit to the bill they've gotten I think I mean when we'll talk about you know punk drew I think peaking a little bit early and feeling maybe a little stale going in but that's you know more of a calendar issue than anything and I think once the bell rings will be fine but overall yeah I think they've done a strong job with the build and we'll get to it but Priest Gunther I think gets points for elevating being elevated on the based on the build to a much higher level and I think people thought when this was first a match we thought would happen so I think Karthik's on to something Yeah you can't really follow the build on any match here I think you know I don't want to I want to just always make everything AEW versus WWE but like last week we had the blood and guts and when you look at that elite storyline I see that as just a massive drop of the ball like What are we doing here from like where this this started and like obviously you know the match was good it was spectacular and everything but I don't think that the time that that they had to build that they actually like use properly I think most of us went into It just completely confused about actually what control of AEW means and that sense and all those things just I wrote a scathing cover story on that match for the cup for the Percy torch newsletter this week that I think might be posted online already and it's being spelled out today to our subscribers Mostly over the finish and the stiff chair shot that Corey Graves even mentioned on social media but I didn't even get into the storyline aspect of it but but I have on podcast which is you're right what is what is at what was at stake why didn't they define what was at stake more What was Jack Perry willing to die for you know so yeah that's yeah but it was a wild match but it did feel like it was booked by a third or fourth grader who got fantasy camp day booking a wrestling match I mean in terms of but I mean I can say that about a lot of matches that are just Over the top violent with one spot after another that just numb you to the action but that's that's a style preference and I did not to digress too much but like it makes me very very suspicious of that time that Tony Khan took the took the power driver and more than that next risk because if it wasn't If it all wasn't going to be something that was in like a proper you know storyline where he lost control and they lead to control like something you know NWA like or whatever I'm kind of like why did we do that why did we do that okay we got a super chat from Will Cooley and he says two pounds hello Will a great friend of mine who could also hear on the torch as well If Steph is Lady Deadpool which Wolverine is weird gosh I don't know the comic books enough to answer that question weird do you know I don't know I was I was I was hoping I was hoping maybe the chat room can can jump in I don't know Yeah give it give us your thoughts on that guys but thank you Will always nice I mean if you call me Hugh Jackman I'm fine with that I don't know Yeah I mean I know that but I know that but I know that but I up next we have Sami Zane versus Blonde Breaker so Blonde Breaker already had his chance at Sami Zane and money in the bank and I was pretty shocked actually that Blonde didn't win over in Toronto because I do think that they've done a pretty good job with bringing him up to the main roster but we saw on well Blonde saying that he maybe didn't take Sami seriously because Sami has a comedy show which he's doing as well in Ohio but now he will take Sami seriously so I think this one for me seems one of the most obvious like I'm just I'm just going to go for Blonde Breaker because I think it's his time to to win this title and I don't think he can lose twice because he's a young guy they're invested in and what about you with I think this is one of the locks I think they wanted to extend it to two matches which is fine they already had Sami and Jay win a tag match which sets up Sami to have something relevant to do after losing the IC title Blonde Breaker is somebody they clearly believe I'm petting my dog after the side he's used to getting a walk in this time so that's why my arm is moving I don't want to come up here you want to say hi the sacrifices we make to talk about WWE I know yep yep if just petting him is the only thing I can do to keep him from getting even more rambunctious Alright so back to your question yeah Blonde Breaker I think they've done a really good job with him and I think he's risen to the occasion he was this patchwork of personalities and NXT they tried different things with him and I think there was some question about how is he going to work on the main roster what persona is he going to take on is he going to have the range of personality when he's at a higher level it's sort of like calling up a pitcher from the minor leaguers you know it's like oh yeah great pitcher in the minor leagues but up against Major League Batter's is he going to do well I think he's done really well I feel like he is going to break somebody in half for real too often like I hope that that isn't actually a problem but watching it it does seem like and part of it is just you know dragging off just takes crazy bumps and you think he dies every time that he takes bumps but those two together so but even on the microphone I think Braun has been measured he hasn't come across as just a guy yelling caveman sentence fragments even though they could go that direction with them if they wanted to this more soft spoken negotiator with that appears and all that there's something there to work with and I don't think it's good for him to have us that back against Sammy again they've they've told the story he underestimated him Sammy gave a nice spirited rebuttal to that how why you know giving his fans hope but based on you know the last ankle they did with those two giving Sammy the upper hand I think Bronbreaker wins and I think he should Yeah and I think freeing Sammy up from this like if we're going towards another bloodline explosion different types of bloodlines he might be someone that's involved with that like given his history with with the bloodline before so yeah I could see I really don't see Sammy winning this I think I think this is the most obvious result of all the ones we want to talk to you we have another super chat I think it'd be a really good match too like I think these two have really I think it will as well yeah I think I think it I thought they're much of money in the bank was good but I think they'll build upon it this time and Sammy I think that was meant to leave something more I'm sorry I think that that was meant to leave something more for them to do in a rematch they knew rematch was coming that first match was good but it felt like winning your appetite for more at summer slam and that's smart to do by the way especially when you know it's a you're not the main event you don't need to you know always try to steal the show sometimes you want to be a good part of a show for sure just Ricardo it sends two dollars and says hi Steph nice to meet you nice to meet you too Ricardo Ricardo that was nice to meet you Wade I don't know why it was dumb to say nice to meet you Stephanie but also on all caps is nice to meet you Wade so maybe that's what Ricardo met either way thank good to meet you Ricardo I think what he means is he met you before and he meant to say wait any type stuff and now he's feeling dumb but he didn't want to do another super chat to draw attention to the correction hey leaving a super chat is never dumb okay let's go on now to Demi and Priest versus Gunther I'll let you take the lead on this one Wade how do you feel about the build of this one so far and what we've seen some Gunther especially you say especially Gunther I think it's been equal I think Gunther is a bigger star I mean no question he's gonna if he doesn't win here to win soon and become world heavyweight champion but Gunther is absolutely been spectacular I mean his persona of this just sort of level headed old school professorial intimidating credible dominant I mean I'm thinking of all these adjectives he's just he's been I think he's exceeded the expectations even of fans of him when he was vault or wrestling internationally I just think he's exceeded that so in the way in one thing W does really well is they take somebody and they say what is the best setting to feature their personality and have them get themselves across and with Gunther it's standing on the stage with a big screen behind him and there's this aura of just supreme confidence that that could lead could cause some fans to cheer for him because wrestling fans historically kind of you know there's been a side of that a side of the fan base that will cheer for that but then he gets arrogance and mean I think in tandem with the stadium pre-story line it's been great because I think priest weirdly turned out to be a perfect opponent for Gunther at this time in Gunther's run because Gunther because priests look like a weak opponent at the beginning but the way that priest has said I was raised in the streets I didn't have any I wasn't given any nothing was handed to me I had to work for everything I've been through hard times that has turned him baby face sort of gradually everyone's sort of been with him every step of the way to like this guy he's putting up with all these I don't know what adjective to use all these goofs in judgment day acting like goofs and he's the adult in the room so you're sort of admiring him and that foundation was built but then to have Gunther just looked down on him because he didn't get to go to the best wrestling school he didn't have people telling him how great he was for the beginning they've I think they've told just a really really effective storyline and Damien priest has risen to the occasion I don't think Damien is a top tier guy perpetually I think you you feed him to Gunther to strengthen Gunther but from a fan interest standpoint I think people are going to be really behind sharing Damien priest in a way that I would not have predicted they could accomplish through storytelling six weeks ago so they get a grade for the build here like you said Stephanie Gunther has been fantastic but Damien priest in his promos has been really good and the story and the contrast of the personalities in their backgrounds has been a strong strong build from WWE's creative team yeah I think this has benefited Damien so much because I think when he won the title because he helped the briefcase for so long that a lot of people thought of him as like a transitional champion that he was just there for the next person that they really wanted to be the champion I think putting him in a few with Gunther where he's really been able to show some of his best attributes has really worked and Gunther to me, there's been a lot of wild things that has happened in WWE over the past couple years with them like getting Gunther is one of the most unexpected things to me like as someone that saw him in Europe before he came to WWE just the idea that I'm gonna present him like that because to me like Gunther is the scariest wrestler on TV you know it's not any of the Wyatt six, it's Gunther because if he doesn't like school you're in the ring he'll say something really horrible and cutting to you or you're just like oh okay with such authority and stuff as well so I love the presentation of Gunther this one to me it's hard to predict because I'm always shocked when Gunther loses you know I was shocked when Sammy beat him but that was the right time And Damien I feel would it be bad to take the title off him now when he's kind of like finding his footing more as champion than he's been when all the Judgment Day stuff is going on and yeah him and Rhea are the adults in the room and I love that that they are the serious ones that can talk to each other And while all this other like massive drama is going on like why is Carlito there you know who knows but then him and Rhea did say on law you know let's focus on Summerslam now and then we'll deal with all this other Judgment Day stuff which makes me wonder What should he lose the title and then we at least have you know a big Judgment Day storyline that he can get into so yeah I don't know but I'm going to predict Gunther but I'll feel quite sad for Damien Priest if it happens Yeah I mean it's a matter of time it's a matter of weeks if he doesn't win Saturday if Gunther doesn't win the title Saturday I think Gunther is going to win I mean I think Gunther is too important and Damien Priest isn't He's done a great job in this build and I'm looking forward to what he does next with the Judgment Day story but I don't think he's a guy that you want Gunther not beating especially with Gunther having lost to Sammy so I think Gunther wins and I think he wins clean and I think the story for Damien afterwards is everyone in Judgment Day looking at him differently because he isn't champion and I think that's enough I don't think you need interference or someone you don't need it up back Like interference backfiring cost increased I think you give Gunther a strong clean win and you move forward from there I think people still be in the Damien Priest he doesn't need to be world champion and I don't think people go well now that they lost clean to Gunther I don't care about him anymore There's no shame in losing clean to Gunther so I think they just do that now maybe at the Berlin show Priest gets a rematch somehow you know maybe you they've got a good story in mind for that maybe they heat up another challenger pretty quickly for him Obviously you can make the case Gunther winning in Berlin makes more sense historically it's more I don't know you don't like a cooler moment for for Gunther to win there but I think then you have to have a screwy finish and you have to have Gunther lose again and I just don't think you want to do that at Summerslam and plus Summerslam's a big brand big branded show and you want historically significant title changes on one of your shows that you market as a big one of your top brands of big events and so when you have an opportunity to do a major title change on your signature shows I think you also want to do that to protect the prestige of the Summerslam title Yeah I think the idea of Gunther winning in Berlin sounds good on paper him winning like in the country that made him famous wrestler but I think him entering this champion would be even cooler I think there's a lot they could do with Gunther as champion like returning to where it all started I think that would be really cool So moving on the next one I've picked because as I said it's how interesting I think they are to talk about Cody versus solo sekoa Talk about feeling sorry for people weird like I feel sorry for solo just with jig of fatu coming in and I feel like a lot of the fan base is like wait if you now have that guy then why is it this guy when it comes to solo I'm not sure that he's the strongest challenger for Cody other than him being part of the bloodline and I feel I think Cody is going to win but the only way I could see solo winning is to further the bloodline story In a way that I actually think would just be counterproductive to put the belt on solo especially with the jig up there so this one I'm going to go for Cody however you felt but the build and the positioning of solo now that the jig of has has come in. Well here in the United States we're talking about vice presidential candidates a lot and you know historically presidents presidential candidates want to pick a VP who won't overshadow them We have a history of sometimes weak younger you know Dan quail comes to mind when George Bush picked him you want somebody who isn't going to from a charisma or standpoint overshadow you even you know Hillary Clinton's pick of He was a leader of the bloodline is overshadowing him it goes it plays into the strategy of if you want someone to be the centerpiece attraction you don't want to bring somebody in who's going to overshadow them and that is what happened Jacob Jacob pattu is amazing people have anticipated him for years coming into WWE and they predicted this would happen so my thinking is it's intentional that WWE wasn't blindsided by Jake pattu being so so good and making such a good strong first impression Solo was protected for a while and then he wasn't and I think that would be C solo as a guy we could get a summer slam main event out of but we're not overly concerned with solo being overshadowed because I think we're moving towards Jacob pattu and rock and Roman Reigns those are the bigger names that are going to be in the mix They're not going to want to make solo look we can inferior to Cody but the build hasn't made me think that they're trying to even convince us that solo is going to become champion like yeah they didn't want to set solo up for failure so they haven't even had solo make like a really big deal out of I need to take this title if I'm going to be the head of the table and if I don't I'm a failure like there's no There's no storyline that makes you think wow they really made it difficult to choose who's going to win this match I just think this match is about the title to a degree but it's about the story of the bloodline and the Cody dynamic and the outcome isn't essential Cody beating solo doesn't unravel whatever else that they want to do. I'm really intrigued with the finish of this match though because you want to give Cody a strong win but you don't want to undercut solo as a head of the table I think he is vulnerable to being defined down with a clean decisive loss in the main event. So if they do that it is a signal that solo is going to be more of a spokesperson the brains behind the operation but the one you know pulling the strings but not stepping up for the biggest fights and maybe that's where they want to go with Cody will learn a lot about how they see solo based on on the match itself the back and forth how many how how vicious he is how dominant he is. And then how they escape making him look too weak if Cody does ultimately beat him which I think will happen. If we talk about the finish and who we might see we have bonkers LFC saying solo wins if the walk into fears but the Cody routines because of Roman Scott says Roman's music hits and distract solo Roman standing in the crowd like the shield Cody wins The big question is do we see Roman or even the walk or maybe Paul Heyman no offense Paul probably the third choice out of those three but do you think that we're going to see a big return at summer time that plays into this finish It's summer slam it make all those make sense so I won't rule any of them out Roman is a distinct possibility but not a given. I would be okay with writing until as we now call it the Netflix era as they call it as we call it or at least later in the year. I don't think they need him to come out at this stage of the game. We'll feel a little let down but if Romans not ready to come back and be a weekly part of the storyline, you can still have him come back because he could come back and get beat up. And then disappear again, you know we talk about. A W needy storyline support for this whole thing about the power structure and the company and EVP's and Tony Khan. We need an explanation and I hope to be has it I have faith that they have it which is why is Roman not returning Paul Heyman's texts or is he really not. Why has he been why has he been silent all this time. And if they're ready to tell that story great but we are at the beginning of August. I just don't know that they want to play their hand on one of their biggest storylines. In August going into a new Berlin pay-per-view title I just to me I don't think the timing is right. I think you want Roman to come back when you're either at the beginning of the Netflix era or just in the fall season. So some of it is just a calendar influencing me thinking it's it's it's that he won't show up. It's possible like Scott George that maybe Roman's music hits but he doesn't come out. Boy I think fans get upset by that. Oh yeah I will be in the building upset. Yeah that's the thing so I mean they could do that but at their own peril I think fans would rebel going you're basically teased us with an appearance that did not happen. So part of part of what's exciting about SummerSlam on Saturday is the fact that WWE's booking is strong right now and their characters are well built up and they have good stories. How do they get us to the next chapter when it does feel like there's a bit of a conundrum in terms of Cody solo and making it feel SummerSlam worthy and that's why this match isn't last. It might be them admitting yeah we don't have that big card to play and we don't want to get your hopes up that we're going to play it so just enjoy this for what it is. If it goes on last and there's no Roman I'm curious what they do to propel the storyline forward I'm not it's you know is it just heating up Jacob Fatu you know Cody beats solo Jacob Fatu attacks Cody. I think one thing worth bringing up in this is Randy Orton because Cody gosh about Randy a couple of rows ago. What a great friend he is there's no better friend he's a friend he was a friend for me didn't have to be and he's a friend friend and a good friend. Okay that's the sign and wrestling someone's about to turn on you or not be a great friend. So I think that's the next factor here that is as we talk about well maybe it's not Roman yet. It seems like it's good timing for Randy to be an integral part of the storyline with Cody and then that gets Cody away from the bloodline until they're ready to bring Roman back so. I think Randy frankly being involved in some way in this finish bumping into Cody maybe saving Cody from the bloodline and but then there's a Cody Randy moment to end the show where people go ooh something just happened there Randy came to Cody's aid. But now it looks like Randy wants the shot now that Cody beats solo. I think they can get away with ending on that note without Randy or without Roman or Haman showing up. Yeah I could see Randy being there for Cody as like a you know an equalizer because solo has the bloodline and then ending with a big tease that Randy is Cody's next opponent. But I agree that like I don't think the timing is right for Roman to come back I think it's too soon and I think the rock is a big factor and I can see that I can see Roman returning in the fall and that being the storyline that gets us through that fall season up until the more lumbel where I then think we'll have the rock and the storyline involves him building up to Wrestlemania I think they kind of do it like that and we're just not really. We don't we're not really there yet where we need it like we're talking about this card where there's so many matches every single match on here we've got something to say about so it's not as if we're in like any kind of a downer period as far as the storylines go there's a lot going on. We've just got Jacob Fatou I would like to have him to have some time like just there to have spotlight on him before there's a Roman or someone like that to be the big thing that we talk about so I don't think Roman is coming back at some of them. But yeah I do like your idea about Randy being the the tease that we got. Yep. Let's move on then to the women's championship match. Liv Morgan versus Rhea Ripley this as you previously described it total soap opera storyline I think it's divided some people I will say my own feeling on it. It's like what we talked about before with the AW elite storyline. Even if this Liv and Rhea is not the best acted storyline or if it's a little cheesy or whatever. At least this is feels like long term booking that they're invested in at least they've done something every week and I commend them for that but we know exactly what's at stake here there's intrigue as well. So I've really liked it. I thought that lives video on law where she was throwing the Dominic stuff in the fire like that just made me laugh and that's not the reaction that they were looking for but you know wrestling has always had these melodrama storylines and especially things involving relationships and just in world class championship wrestling mid 80s and Chris Thaddoms and I mean yeah this it goes it goes way back. It's the easiest thing to get people invested in when you you know when you cut like a love sex whatever dynamic on the screen there so this one to predict. I feel like because it's been so good or captivating that I think Liv is going to win because I don't don't trust Dominic at all and I don't also I also don't trust some of the other men in the judge would they like Finn Balor but I see Rhea not live at this moment because I think there is more juice to this because we are so soon back. And also this is like this is the best thing that Liv Morgan has ever done I think she's one of those people that I feel like every year when I'm like who should win the women to a lumbel there's just a ton of people going to live Morgan. And I'm always like really because I didn't think it worked out for her at all the time that she was like hardcore live or feeding with londeroise but this is this is definitely been the best thing that that she's done that they've really found something for her here so I'm going with Liv what's your pick on this one weird. Yeah me too. I mean, so I think Liv and Dom are in on it together but I'm less convinced than I have been at times. Yeah I mean there's nothing that I don't I was trying to think is there anything that disqualifies Liv and Dom from actually pulling a ruse on people and really being on the same page. And I don't think so then the question is that is Dom always been with her or did he somewhere along the line decide his loyalty was with her. Did it have to do with a lack of communication with Rhea that sort of a go to storyline and pro wrestling which is when I was in the hospital with an injury you didn't visit me and you didn't talk to me and this other person did. So that could play into it. My concern if they go that direction is I think Rhea should have been more suspicious of it should have seen it coming. You know it was critical of Cody in a segment earlier this year on that to you you want you want your with AJ you want your baby faces to be wise to the possibility that maybe the heel isn't being on the up and up. And her you know Michael reading her her love note social media love note was was weird too. I wasn't 100% sure what what to make of what they did on Monday it didn't detract from my anticipation for this match in the payoff to the story but they left me slightly more confused in terms of especially Rhea Ripley and who they want her to be. It seemed like what they wanted is Rhea to fall for dumb because Dom chose her over live. And then she suddenly went from this sort of badass who has sort of a take it or leave it attitude to Dom because you're my sub and I'm your Dom. They switched that up and reassured vulnerability and I understand maybe they wanted to play that hand right before having the rug pulled out from out of her. But I think that's actually risky for her character for her to go as far as it seemed they went with her being so happy you know licking Dom's face and kissing him. So as much as I faith in this staying interesting I have less faith that I'm going to think a couple decisions they made the last couple weeks were the best decisions for Rhea's character. But they've told this story well enough that maybe that has a very distinct purpose and will actually based on the payoff on Saturday have been a necessary ingredient. And so that's why we have to watch things play out that's why we watch the show. I was very shocked when we ended up like taking Dom back. It was one of those, you know, really silly wrestling suspended disbelief thing when she said to him, I think it was a week after she returned. Oh, that he hadn't contacted her in like the three months that they were off and I'm like, oh, I thought you guys were meant to be dating so she takes back from injury and you just don't contact your girlfriend that's on and you're on TV with this other woman. But you know it's wrestling but yeah I think that is certainly something they've planned out so anything that make me kind of feel like oh okay I'm not sure about that like we are taking Dom back I will give them the benefit of the dark because I feel like this is something they're investing in. Bonkers LFC says, Lefertians because of Dom to try and help me out but as a costing her. So fat says live versus we issue code main event summer some if Roman returns, where do you see this on the card, you said before you think it could be an event but you think it. Do you still feel away or I think it could. On the list of possibilities and I'm I'm always looking for chances for tag team titles, especially in a w along the way or the women's title the headline a major show because I think it boosts the prestige of the title to do it so when you have a chance to do it. And it's not going to seem way out of place and like you're pushing it. You know I mean if we're about, if data is about trying to make the men's and women's divisions as equal as possible, look for an opportunity to do what I feel the same way about this the world, the world heavyweight title versus the undisputed title. If you can justify putting what's perceived as a secondary world title in the main event spot do it so that you're softening the perception that it's inferior to the other one. Between that and I think the crowd interest again some of it depends on what the finish is going to be. You know if you want to end with Cody and Randy having a tense stare down and that's the final beat of the that you want on the show for fans to think about. Then that can be the tiebreaker or the or the decisive deciding factor. Great payoff for this lived on Maria storyline and they're thinking live is we want her to be as big of a star as anybody in this company including Cody and go through. Well, she's got a show like summer slam and be standing tall at the end but I think live probably retains the title and so I don't think they want that to be the final moment on summer slam so I'm leaning pretty strongly against it being the last match among the few candidates to be the last match and that makes sense. But but I'm not ruling it out and again if they're going to have rea go over and stand tall and be you can definitely add with this match. Yeah, so yeah it's some of this just depends on what the finish is going to be. I think every chance because Dom turns on real I mean I think that's the most the safest bet if you're betting a substantial amount of your own money food and rent money. That's what you're going to go with right now you're not going to take a chance and try to score big with with longer odds. I like Derek's comment I think the key is when Dom does choose live we are needs to convey anger without conveying any sadness or weakness it needs to be me as wrath and we as revenge. I do think that Dom will probably go with live in the end and I don't want to see real Ripley in any way being like sad or pining or heart broken I just want her to be angry like extremely angry at both of them and yeah I don't want any weakness shown from her in that situation. Scott says clumsy Carlito comes back to me cyclically and about the broken £5 I really hope not I hope we don't have any Carlito at this I think this storyline has been too too much investment in it for the finish to come down to anything about Carlito and a £5. I get a kick out of Carlito as a background side character but not someone who's central to a major title match. I mean to me I think the finish of this match sets up Ria and Ria and Priest against live in Dom. Maybe I don't know if you can get Balor in the mix on that or not it felt like they were teasing Balor and live having a thing for a little while and now it seems like they moved away from that so I don't know if that was up. Yeah, I was about to say red herring like it's just they threw something in there to get us to talk but they don't want us leaning strongly that direction. So to me I mean Priest and Ria against Dom and live feels like an unfair fight but one fans would pay to see. We've got to our final match now and maybe it was controversial decision but I give the spot to CM Punk and Drew McIntyre and I think it's just because I love talking about CM Punk. So I did say I was doing it in order of what I thought was most fun to talk about so punk and Drew everyone knows that I'm openly biased towards punk but I'll just say a few things at the beginning here about this feud. I think it's really into it. I think they've done a tremendous job with it but I do think that Drew has been the star of this feud. I think he's really outclassed punk anytime they've had to go head to head. And it is still so strange for me to see punk in a WWE ring. So good has made punk scene even more awkward than the whole thing already is of him being back and I thought that was quite evident on why when he was very, you know, just putting in those long pauses for people to cheer and it wasn't. It wasn't quite coming as organically as you might have thought it would. But then I also think that Drew is in a good position where there is so much material you can have on CM Punk if you're allowed to go for it. And I wrote about this this week about the stuff that Drew has been saying and I pretty much said that all the stuff that happened with punk in AEW, the ball art stuff and the Wembley thing, all the stuff that were punk proved to everyone that he, you know, he is basically a dickhead that can't get along with people. I feel like WWE is making money out of this in a way that AEW wasn't able to even to the point where we've seen Drew last weekend take a photo with Jack Perry. So a lot of this feud is based on like this, this perception of punk and Drew being able to say these things he's even mentioned called Cabana on social media. So Drew might be like the first guy to make big money out of all the drama that punk caused in AEW. As far as Seth Rollins goes, I wish he wasn't there, like, to be honest, I don't think that it's needed for the feud. I think that punk is trying to do a suburbslam 97 with Shawn Michaels as a referee with Undertaker and Brett. I know that everyone has, like, such reverence for everything that Brett has done and me too, like, I'm in Canada now, but I don't think we need to pay tribute to everything that's ever happened. So I like punk said it's kind of a hat on the hat, which might be what Seth's outfit is at some restaurant, who knows. But a bit of a ramble, but I'm really excited for it. I think Drew has to win because of all this stuff that's that's happened to him, but I'm interested to get your thoughts weird on everything regarding this feud. Yeah, so on our post show that we do on YouTube after raw, we spent a lot of time talking on the PWA show about the Seth Drew punk dynamic and whether Seth has become more of a distraction and I think in a way, he's not adding to this match, but I think he's probably going to be a central finish. Yeah, so Seth is in there to move on to the next thing maybe Seth costs a punk the match and Drew gets the win but then Seth goes after, or excuse me, punk wants revenge on Seth. So, oh yeah, Maria said that in the chat room. Seth was a bit of a clown show. You know, I think there's a serious edge to what Drew and CM Punk are doing. In fact, Rich fans, Rich fans, the one who brought that up were posting a 12 minute hot take as we call it on our YouTube channel on this whether Seth was too goofy, too silly, and hurt the tone of things and we got into the possibility that punk, you know, I mean, yes, as you said, Stephanie, in St Paul, we had two on site correspondence on our live post showing YouTube Monday night who called in and they're like, yeah, the reaction to punk wasn't great. It was, it was positive. It wasn't like rejecting him. But it's sort of that worst kind of middle ground, which is like, well, you know, oh, you want us to change your name? Oh, it took us a few seconds to figure that out. And now that you've explicitly told us that's what we're supposed to do, we'll do it for about five seconds and then we're going to peter out. It just, it didn't come across as CM Punk peaking. And it wasn't just a TV thing around site correspondence who joined Joe said the same thing that this was not a crowd rabbit into CM Punk. And I think part of it is Drew has been so effective in his role. I also think it's tough when you have another baby face sharing the spotlight punk is in an unfortunate position where I think WWE fans set this more of a WWE guy. And he's been a workhorse and he's been loyal to the brand and he's defended him on social media and and wanted to be the guy propping up the brand and standing up for the brand and punk is not an interloper. He's a returning hero in a way, but he's also a guy returning without the cause that defined his character, which was anti corporate and I've been sick man, you know, I think people feel good about the WWE brand. I can't be anti, it was an issue in a w two, you know, it was only a matter of time, I guess, but at first he was very pro a w pro Tony con. I think Tony, I think CM Punk's character feeds off of discontent that fans relate to, and punk doesn't have that to play off of right now so all he has to play off of is Drew McIntyre and injuring him, which the fans that the storyline is playing to are aware that punk was played into the perception of these little brittle. He says he's not injury prone, but there's a track record there that certainly gives that impression to some fans so punk gets hurt in the rumble. They, after the fact, create a storyline that drew prayed for it and caused it to happen and then yes, drew attacked him on Monday and exacerbated the injury but that was the storyline people see it as such. And it's taken punk a long time to come back and in the meantime, punk has ruined a couple title matches. And as much as that was designed to be fans. Oh, yes, screwdriver drew deserves it. He was so mean on the microphone to you, punk. He was so mean in the things he said to you. It totally justifies ruining title matches. I think fans want to see the title match they paid to see play out and not have punk ruin it. So I think there's a lot of things that have worked against him. I'm showing up in the luxury set of face in drew. It's like avoiding a debate because you're scared you're going to lose. And, and punk rolling out of the ring last night and then going well it's not because I'm scared you drew it's I'm scared what I'm going to do to you. And a lot of fans are like, well, that makes sense. You probably believe that but it still looks a little lame. And then says get back in the ring and punks like, yes, sir, you're the ref. I'll do it. Oh, you need me to do this stand here. It's like, I'll send this anti anti corporate guy is being somewhat accurately labeled the corporate guy by Drew McIntyre. And then punks on ESPN wearing a suit, talking, talking about selling summertime. It's just, I just think punk's character is a bit of a mess that is super talented. I think you'll find his way. I just think this hype went on a month too long. And I think punk is ready to move on. And they'll have this match. The crowd will go nuts. It's super intriguing. Hopefully, punk can stay healthy for the duration of it and get a good streak of matches going because I think what fans want to see from him also is him show he still can like claim to be in the best in the world. But that means actually wrestling matches that are really good and staying healthy enough to come back the next month or the next week for more. I love that you mentioned his, his suit like the funniest thing about one of the funniest things about CM Punk is when he can just like it's so easy for him like just to be corporate, you know, like turn up in a suit. There's a great video. And I don't know anything about baseball. So I can't, I can't remember the exact year. But there is a great video. It's when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series and CM Punk is there as an analyst. And he's with my, my favorite actor, John Cusack. And John is dressed like a regular guy and CM Punk turns up full suit like full suit for the baseball match. And I was just like, that's so full because sometimes the C is corporate. Sometimes the C is capitalist. You know, but I think like to me like punk, he, he is the heel on this. I know like he's not meant to be but he has, you know, drew injured him. That happens in wrestling, but he is really messed with this guy's life. And I think another big problem is, as a, as a punk fan, all his best stuff is completely like based on reality, whether it's the pipe bomb or stuff he did with Eddie Kingston and MJF in AEW. And he just, he doesn't have that with Drew. Drew is being CM Punk in this feud. He is saying the stuff where you're shocked by it. And you're worried that they've gone too far. And that is true. He is, he's being the truth teller. Whereas punk, like what can you really say about Drew, you know, the guy got fired once. Okay, he says that all the time. There's not really like a big thing that he has on him. And I think they almost tried to bring in, you know, some more like emotional stuff on punk's end with this whole like bracelet. But it's not as if in AEW, we saw Larry the dog way more than we've done in WWE. I don't think we've ever seen him. AJ has like never come out. So it's not as if we kind of have that, that he's been presented as this kind of like wife and dog family man in a way where like the bracelet really, at the end of the day, I mean, like it is, it is just a bracelet. It's not even like his wedding ring or something, you know. Yeah. So it's been a tough one for for punk. And at some moment, it has been like a tough watch. And I do always worry that Drew has has said the wrong thing that is just going to explode everything for punk, but that you can punk punk. It's almost like that would be a said, we're going to push every button we can possibly imagine with punk. We're going to instruct him to leave the ring and then have an excuse for why we're going to have him stand, you know, like this far two inches from the bracelet and obey Seth's rules not to snatch the bracelet back. It's his damn bracelet. It's his, it's symbolic of taking his family on the road with him. And he is following the rules because he doesn't want to screw up the corporate need to have a profitable summer slam with the attraction. The CM Punk's true core character would say, screw the summer slam match. I'm taking my damn bracelet. If you want to cancel the match cancel it. I know you're not going to, because I'm too big of an attraction and your fans want to see this fight. But instead he said, oh, Seth, Seth and Adam Pierce said I can't touch Drew. So I'm not going to take a chance on grabbing this bracelet. It's like they're booking him in a way to test him to see if he can grit his teeth and not snap. Drew is absolutely getting the better lines on him. He's got better material to work with. And a punk needs to be healthy, have a string of matches. But I'm curious if it's Seth versus punk. Who do fans cheer? How do they book that? I mean, what punk needs is a clear cut heel that he actually wrestles who isn't as good on the microphone as him who punk can can go after. And, you know, is punk is punk sharp enough to go after? Say Logan Paul right now if they were to cross pass. Or would Logan school him? But I mean, I think punk just needs to move on from this situation. It's taken up too much time. But I'm not sure that Seth is the right follow up either to get punk back on track. We'll see. The C in punk, CM Punk also stands for compliant, because yes, he is following all the rules in this feud. I, what was, I feel like this has a real like danger of, and it's another bread heart thing that Drew comes out of it as, as the baby face. And it's a like Austin bread kind of turn thing too, because punk has just done so much stuff to Drew that I can't see the crowd not being in a way like behind him. And let me, I think we've lost with therefore sex. So I'm just got to go through some of your comments. Fernando says, Drew has been killing it and is MVP of this angle completely agree. He also says Drew deserves to win this match. And if you're wondering when the Cubs won the World Series, it was 2016. Thanks, George, and hi to Connor. Fernando says this match ends, they drew in punk feud and a long intense storyline with punk and Seth will begin. Yeah, and just, I think we're definitely heading in the direction of Seth being going down a feud with with punk. And they have a lot of history. And when, you know, punk first came back, they were, it looked like they were setting up a match for them at WrestleMania. And I actually made there's a video on my YouTube channel. If you're interested in like the whole history of CM Punk and Seth Rollins, like actually hitting each other and going back and forth and introducing stuff. So check that out, but I can see Seth being in here to set up an upcoming storyline with CM Punk. Maria says, I think AJ is going to get involved in the match and distract Drew and help punk win. And I was thinking about that if there is a possibility that AJ could get involved just because she's been mentioned, we have the whole bracelet thing. And then Drew has mentioned his wife as well, and we have seen her. We saw her at WrestleMania when he won the title. And I think there is a lot of, since punk has been back in WWE, like there's a lot of support for AJ Lee coming back into the company. Fans would love to see. And if I could see her coming back at any time, it would be for this. But as well, I think that she's such an influential figure in women's wrestling, especially now looking at, you know, people like Roxanne Perez, Corey Jade, and even Sky Blue over in AW. It feels like a lot of the young female wrestlers are doing an AJ Lee imitation. So I would feel like slightly bad if like AJ Lee's kind of big return to wrestling is just to be involved in her husband's storyline, because I feel like there's, you know, better for her, it would be better for her to just do a women's feud. And I'm not even sure if punk would really agree with her being used in that way, but we'll see. Let me just see. Weird. Are you back yet? Oh, I don't think so. We'll just wait for weird to reconnect here. And Maria says Drew and punk has the hottest storyline in WWE. I agree. That's what my newsletter this week was based on. If you want to go to sub stack and check that out. Boris, hopefully not the Boris Ed Johnson says punk is getting cooked both on the mic and on social media. And Scott says, Drew deserves gone there, but I think an USO will get the spot. I think we have weird back. Weird. Are you back? It wouldn't be a show with us if one of us didn't end up with a Wi-Fi issue and have to even come on back. It's where I could see myself in the corner of the screen, but I couldn't see myself on the main screen. So I exited and reentered in a scene to work. Thank you. I was just going through the comments. My dog grabbed the noisiest toy he has while this is all going on. So it's good timing. It's a big plastic jug and I would have had to mute anyway. So good to be back. I did hear most of what you were saying while I was trying to troubleshoot. Well, did you hear as mentioned AJ Lee? Like, do you think there's any chance that we actually actually see AJ Lee back on WWE TV? Interesting. I do, but I don't. I think there's a chance. I wouldn't say I'm over 50% on it, but I'm not like, I don't think it's a long shot. The fact that, you know, he has brought her up works, but it works in favor of her showing up, but I think it wouldn't be in this match. I think there's too many moving parts. I think it would make more sense in a one-on-one match with a little bit more build. So I think the seeds have been planted, but it isn't. It isn't on my radar as a likely. Yeah, I don't. I'm trying to conjure up this scenario where it makes sense for Punk to have. I think they would work against Punk's character at this point to have his wife show up and try to help him or create a distraction. I think he's got enough headwind with how effective Drew has been and being opposite of Seth also and the way he's been booked. I don't know that you want, unless they're trying to turn him heel. I don't think that's where they go. I don't think he'd want that for AJ too. He's a very proud of my wife guy. I'm not sure if he'd want her big return to be as part of his storyline. But if we do see the next step in this as Punk and Seth Rollins, which they were teasing before Punk's injury many months ago when he came back, where do you see Drew's direction being next? Because he has put so much into this feud and been so good at it. The question will be afterwards, like, can he be this great without CM Punk opposite him? So is there anyone you have in mind for Drew to go after next? No. I don't. Do you have anyone who comes to mind? I'm just trying to think of the wrong roster right now and who would make sense? Yeah, Sammy Zane, I don't know. Yeah, I'm thinking, so if do you mean Priest routines the title? I kind of see that going more like Judgment Day, like Balor wanting it. And if Gunther wins, he would have to lose to Gunther. I suppose that could be interesting on the mic, like two European guys going after each other. And it could be something for Bastion Berlin. So I'd be interested to see how he does just given how his persona is now against someone as serious as Gunther. But the only reason that we put off doing that is just like the fact that he has to lose, but there's no one else that really jumps out at me as the person. Oh, I'm, again, it's part of, I have faith in doubt to be that they've thought about it. They've got something planned. Drew is a big star. I think he's got momentum. He's been sharp on the mic. He's been good on the ring. I don't know that having a heel, heel feud for Drew and Gunther is great for either of them. So I would lean more towards a strong babyface. But I mean, when Drew's going after punk in a top feud, it does seem like, I mean, it's always been the case with Drew. I feel like he, if he doesn't have the world title or he's not fighting for it, it feels like he's in a spot lower than he should be in. He's not the type of character that does well and feels natural outside of the world title picture. And so, but I don't know how you get him back in there if they do have Gunther win the title. You know, with Priest as a babyface, maybe you delay Gunther winning the title and we're all thrown a curveball. And, and they go with Drew instead against Priest in Drew and it's Priest's reign. I don't think so, but when they should have something really good for Drew to do and I, it doesn't seem like the unless we're forgetting something obvious. I don't think the, they have, you know, paved the way for something obvious at this point. Hey, final prediction, I'm going with CM Punk wins, thanks to Seth Rollins, where he does something resembling Shawn Michaels, and we get that. But yeah, sorry, did I say punk there? I meant, I meant Drew, I drew wins this one because of Seth, because of Seth, yes, and you win. I'm with you on that. Okay, the, the, when we think about who Drew can wrestle next to him or looking for a babyface. If they want to go somewhere different with punk, then Seth could cause Drew the match give punk the win. And then you have a ready made feud of Drew versus Seth. I mean, is that fresh enough? Can you do that? Well, the dog's making a little appearance in the corner there. He knows we're coming to the end. This is the last match he's been following along. Yep, yep, there he is. Yeah, so really, I mean, I think someone's going to win because Seth does something. I mean, that's why he's in this match, right? So either in a Seth Drew makes sense in a face, he'll dynamic better than Seth Punk. So maybe punk moves on to something completely different and maybe punk goes after goother next. You know, and so, but then I almost need. Yeah, so Seth costs through the match. Punk gets a win. He gets, he earns a title shot against Goon through as a result, and then Seth and Drew go fight for the rest of summer. They're gone through a destroy punk. I'd be really up for it. Punk is an excellent guy. What's Goon through every day? True, true. One that I really hope we don't get Fernando must be messing with us here. He says, Drew versus the Wyatt six, you know, just keep, keep him away from all that. Maria says the fans have been waiting for Seth versus punk on. Yeah, I think so. As I said, they've telegraphed it before. The issue is just is that healthy for punk to be against somebody who might get more cheers and how does punk candle that, especially if Seth, Seth's, you know, very silly and over the top and all that. But when Seth gets serious, he might outdo all punk, but maybe punk's up for it. I mean, obviously punk's a master of the microphone. There's no reason to think he's completely lost, lost it. He's showing more than a glimpse of, of having a real sharp edge to his, his mic works. So maybe, but is punk dressing down Seth for being over the top with a gimmick that fans love to participate in going to resonate? Well, I mean, I just don't know if you're WWE want split allegiance that, you know, that can be bad for punk and also not great for Seth. I just think everyone should just be matched up heel face like fans cheer for not have to choose between two people they like or two people they don't like at this point. I truly worry when punk has to promo against Seth because given them Seth's outfit and everything it sometimes leads punk into coming out with things where I'm watching at home being like, oh no, you didn't just say that. It's very much like when you're watching MJF with any non American, you're like, please. Yes, yes. Well, with what I asked you to do this, I said, it's usually like 30 to 45 minutes and I kept you and emo for an hour and 23 here. So thank God it wasn't an AWP review. Oh God. Yeah. But it's been so amazing to talk with you weird and this card, it's a great card so it was a great show to have you on because every single match like we had a lot to say on and a lot to dissect so thank you very much for your time today. Please tell everyone where they can find you and everything you're doing now with the torch on YouTube. Yeah, so on YouTube it's just search pwtorch or YouTube.com/pwtorch who do live post shows after raw dynamite and smackdown we have onsite correspondence video callers rotation a co host so it's not the same people you're hearing from every week it's a real fun. We're real good just like you do a good a lot of chat room regulars and good interaction with them. So yeah, just we stream live you can find the link at pwtorch.com, my main website in my TV reports during raw dynamite and smackdown I do detailed write ups with analysis. And finally we have tons of podcasts so search wait color on your podcast app and you can download the post shows for listen and podcast format. That's a red logo show when you search wait color we have a blue logo show that's our main flagship along with some cool flashbacks and big name interviews that includes yesterday's flagship with Greg parks we're covered a lot of you know a ww ww topics, and then finally search pwtorch and you got a whole other lineup of shows from a whole variety of hosts with shows dedicated a ww ww 90s past cast is really cool where they review a newsletter from a processing torch in sort of from 30 years ago this week and just go into my reporting and what what our columnists had to say about things and and dissect it so real cool lineup there that's also free search pw torch And finally pwtorch.com/govip if you want to be a VIP member, unlock over 35 years of archives and get every versions of our shows and a ton of VIP exclusive shows like the fix with Todd Martin everything with rich and wait our post paper round tables and more we're on patreon Spotify and more pwtorch.com/govip Well I introduced you as a legend and you are and one of the coolest things that's happened to me over the past couple of months is getting to do things with you getting to be on your dynamite post show is just been really awesome to get to actually talk to you and having you on here was fantastic so thank you so much. Awesome, it's been great doing it June shows with you Stephanie and it's it's been I'm really enjoy conversation with you about wrestling it's it's been a fun addition to the to the rotation to get to talk wrestling with you regularly and it's been fun Having you host and in being thrown to it's a little in some ways more relaxing although you know it's there's something about sort of being in charge of the topics that's relaxing but not having to be in charge of the chat and all that Anyway it's been fun you have a fun a good good group of chatters here too. Yes thank you everyone that has tuned in to watch us it's been really great having so much activity on the chat at the next time you'll see me here on Fightful is going to be at the end of August where I'll be talking about bash in Berlin as well as AW all in God knows how long that one will be Oh man, I know, so stay tuned to my Twitter and I'll tell you who will be joining me for those shows. You can find me on Twitter at Stephanie M Cheese. You can find me here on YouTube at Stephanie Chies Wrestling. I just last week uploaded an interview with Athena from Ring of Honor the Ring of Honor Women's Champion. We have I have a big interview coming tomorrow that I will be putting up as well so make sure you're subscribed. With who? I'm sorry I'm not going to say weird I can't give it away I can't give it away. You got it you got to give them something you know you got to give them anticipation of who it will be. But I promise it won't disappoint guys right it's not it's not an indie worker no offense. And also go find me on sub stack where I've started writing weekly about things in wrestling and this week I will all about CM Punk versus Drew McIntyre and why I like the feud so much and all the punk AW stuff. And I also talk about Wrestlemania in London and that possibility and what I as a party pooper downer person think about the idea of Wrestlemania in London. So go check out that go check that out guys. Thank you so much weird thank you to emo as well who sacrificed his walk I hope you guys have a lovely walk. It's like 90 degrees he won't last long anyway so he's happy. Thank you so much weird and I'll see you all again next time. Bye. Thanks for having me on. [ Silence ]
