LACE EM UP Sports
Rasslin W/ Ryan Hernandez: BAD BLOOD Review
If you want some Tom get some Oh, this is such good. I am the visionary. I am revolutionary. I am sad Everybody welcome to another edition of rassa with Ryan Hernandez my name is Mike and riding What's going on man. You know, the most super dizzy, you know, we're cool. All right, it's not very muffled. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm here. Okay. There you go. I'm good. Sorry. Yeah, both we are coming off a hot addition of WWE wrestling last night. PLE bad blood Ryan, what do you think of bad blood? You know, I thought bad blood is very very good. I know I was very hyped up for them. You know, I was cuz I told you I was like, Oh, no sportly because I had to go to work so I could live and then I can't miss him. That's all the John Cena came out and thought Goldberg. Yeah, start. Yeah, stop. Stop teasing me like that. But anyway, I thought it was especially the, you know, the opening match the hell itself between punk and Drew and then the main event, the tag match. Exactly. We're gonna get into this. But let's quickly talk about the rest of the Vince McMahon documentary. If you guys haven't seen it already, which you should because you you're not living under a rock. Maybe maybe they are, Mike, who knows? Maybe so. But let's pick back up on the Vince McMahon documentary. What do you think of the Owen stuff? Yeah, I thought the Owen stuff was very interesting, you know, and then hearing other like perspectives of of that night and like how it happened. And they're even the stories of like how Owen just felt kind of off. He kind of felt like, you know, something was up and then even and then even Brett said when he was on on his plane, he said he felt like something was up. Yeah, it's just very sad. You know, it just brings up just emotions of just sadness of how everything was handled that night. One, just first and foremost, the show should have been stopped. In my opinion, the show should not have went on. I don't know how they did it. I really don't know. I mean, if that happened today, obviously the show would be stopped. It would be, you know, there would there would not be any action going on for the rest of the night. It's a crime scene. It's a crime scene. I mean, literally it was a crime scene. Like, you know, just because they we know now nothing happened, but you don't know that. You know, when when things happen. And so a man just, you know, fell to his death in that rain. You I mean, you cannot, anyway, in the right mind, has to know that the show can not have went on. And it's abandoned the wrong thing there. You know, yeah, that's come first, but not not like that. Yeah. That was it. I know that was like the big, like, you know, talking point of like, oh, shit, the show I've gone on or shouldn't have been stopped. And like, you know, it is show business and they always say the show must go on. But I do agree with you in that sense. It's like, someone just died in the ring. Like, right. It's a valid reason to stop the show. The fans will understand. Right. You know, once they get more information and and they know what happened, they'll be like, Oh, okay. You know what? I understand why they stopped the show. Right. Right. Exactly. And so going forward into that and then you go on to the, we have the attitude era and then that's when Vince starts bringing in his family with Shane and Stephanie. What are your thoughts about that? Yeah, you know, it's very, you know, it's very interesting to see how he's like, for all these years prior to the attitude era, he, you know, did it mostly himself. He didn't want like his kid or even his wife seen on, you know, television and then at the start of the attitude era and throughout that, when we start seeing the McMan family and, you know, they're just when things really like take off. There are a lot of interesting stories and, and all that good stuff. Yeah, definitely. There's a lot of weird dynamics that are brought up, you know, especially as time evolves into the attitude era and then to the ruthless aggression era, you know, you have the whole dynamics with, with Shane and I thought it was really well produced in that, in that area, you know, that it really showed that the father's son dynamic, you know, of Shane really wanting to to be in Vince's footsteps and Shane idolizing Vince just the way Vince idolized his own father. So Vince, you know, wanting to get the, just be in the presence of his dad but also hear from his dad that he was proud and the same thing goes for Shane. Vince, sorry, Shane just wanted Vince to tell him that he was proud of him and then he really didn't get that till all these years later. And so you have that dynamic and then you bring in Stephanie and then, you know, Stephanie really wasn't supposed to be a part of it, but man, was she ever a part of it now. You know, I think with, with bringing her in and then developing her into the storyline with Triple H, how that took off until real life, you know, aspects. And so bringing all that together, they talk about Shane not wanting Stephanie to date Triple H heavily against it. Well, look what happened. They got married. Yeah. Yeah. And so who knows, who knows how the business would look now if that never happened, you know? Yeah, true. Like, I feel like that's where we started to see a shift in the dynamic of how WWE was presented in all and when Stephanie Shane got introduced and even Linda, because we saw Linda evolve in some of these storylines. Yeah, exactly. You know, so some of the most pivotal stuff now that you're in now, what 20, 20 years later, we're still seeing the ramifications from, you know, just allowing that one simple aspect now Triple H to Stephanie. Well, Stephanie is not in charge anymore, but I fully believe when they still will be in, you know, in a position again. But yeah, going forward from that. And then all these years later that you had the allegations crazy. What do you think about that? Yeah, the allegations was just, you know, that, and I know that was the talking point of the document. You know, that's why everybody was tuning in because they wanted to, you know, find out more. And then, you know, when the allegations came to light, that's when Vince canceled the remaining of his interviews. And so everything that we heard was prior to the allegations to become Republican. No, I feel like that's when we really started to see a shift because everybody was like, oh, Vince will never retire. He's gonna do this until he's dead. And now it's like, well, is Vince gonna do the unthinkable? Is Vince gonna step down? Yeah, yeah, definitely. It just to me, all this, it took place in the matter of time that it did, it really took place forcing Vince to step out. Because otherwise, if this, if none of the stuff ever happened, Vince would still be in charge. Vince never wanted to leave the seat of authority from in, you know, in position of chairman of WWE. You know, he never wanted to lose that power. And he would still be in the seat of creative. He would still be in the seat of chairman. If all things, you know, happen the way Vince wanted, he would still be there today. And it happened the way it happened. Not a day too soon. It should have happened years ago, really, not the allegations, but like the removal of Vince with the allegations you had, it was just nothing criminal yet. It was just basically allegations and stories coming out through the Wall Street Journal of different stuff from Vince's past. That's that was why Vince was still able to be a part of WWE still. Eventually, he did step down, but then was still creating control, creating a part of the creative team or running the creative team. And then all this stuff coming forward, you know, later in that summer, Vince, what, you know, miraculously just retires. Vince was fed through all this stuff that all this stuff was going to be coming down. So that's why he, you know, just all of a sudden, out of nowhere retired. And so having all that stuff, you know, come down on him, Vince never really wanted to retire. He just wanted to say face, you know, from probably the discretion of other people and kind of take a step back and just probably let all this stuff die out. And his whole plan was to come back, you know, do that a whole, do that whole time period. Then you see Vince come back in 2023, you know, trying, and then they sell the, the company to TKO. That was really a pivotal point for the company because, you know, with all this stuff not happening, who knows if they wouldn't even sold, you know? Yeah, yeah, I know, like, going into the, into the, after the sale, they have like the board vote on, like, if they should let Vince back in, it was unanimous. I think you're unanimously know. Yeah. But he somehow still ended up backing a position of power. Yeah. Yeah. And the, and the crazy thing is Triple H is one of the people that said no. Yeah, no, definitely. And that's why Stephanie, Stephanie, she bounced out. As soon as Vince came back into power, she was like, see, yeah, I don't want him to do anything. And he more with, with this company, if Vince is going to be at the helm. Oh, yeah. Okay. I know, I know that came out as a, as a shock. It's like, wait, Stephanie, man, stepping down. Mm hmm. That's crazy. It was crazy. But going forward into late 2023, the allegations turned into actual criminal investigations. And now you had a case where Vince McMahon had no choice to step down, but also it wasn't just his choice now. It was R.A. Manuel, the, you know, the CEO of TKO, all these other guys, that basically told Vince, you're fired. Because Vince no longer was in a, was at a point where he was just the number one guy, the number guy in charge, you know, he could pretty much decide if he wants to come or leave or anything like that. He was at the discretion of all these other guys in TKO now. So he was basically fired from TKO at that point. They didn't say it like that, but he was. Yeah. Just the way they went about it. It's definitely like him being, you know, really didn't duty to be fired, but they didn't want to make it seem that way, you know, because they probably wanted to avoid like, you know, a potential like it's lawsuit against them for like wrongful termination and stuff like that. So. Yeah. And so, you know, they made it seem more he just stepped down again, or, you know, whatever the case was. But everyone, you know, everyone knew that because of the allegations that were coming out criminal investigations now, that it wasn't the best interest of the company for Vince to basically step down from his position. And now we have a case in point where Triple H is fully in charge of the company. Now then, you get like nights like tonight. Yeah. You know, WWE has really been on a hot, hot city since honestly, really since Triple H took full control and it WWE seems like a whole new product now than even just like two years ago. Exactly. Like it feels like it actually feels like we're watching like professional wrestling. My gosh. And we could segue into bad blood now with that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It just for me, watching watching Bad Blood last night, it really just hit me that it is a new company now. It is a new era. It's everything that the WWE is heading towards the direction that they're going in is a new era. You know, no longer are we stifled from the creative directive of Instagram, where he just wanted to make it all about what his decisions were. Everyone has their input into what they want to see in their match and their creative. And you can't like a hell in the cell match now that just from all points of view, it's just one of the best health hell in the cell matches of all time. Yeah. And it feels good because usually at this time, this is when when the old hell in a cell pay-per-view would take place. But ever since Triple H took power, he got rid of the gimmicky pay-per-views. I mean, you still have money in the bank, but but yeah, but Triple H was never a fan of like the gimmick pay-per-views. And I remember when they had bad blood, that was usually a tradition. You have a hell in a cell match and bad blood and you know, hell in a cell, it's supposed to end a rivalry. And that's what this was between punk and McIntyre and boy, did they deliver this was this was the best match of their trilogy. Oh my gosh, for sure. Bet's match. Honestly, I know AEW fans and New Japan Pro Wrestling fans are gonna jump all over this. But I'm gonna sit here and tell you right now that this was match of the year. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this was definitely, definitely match of the year. Like the spots were were crazy. Like some of the things that we saw in this match are things I never thought I would see. Yeah, well, at least again in WWE. Yeah. Let's talk about the Blading for for a second here. Like my gosh, I don't remember the last time I ever saw Blading like that in WWE. Can you remember? I think maybe the last time we saw was was like just was the John was when John Cena was against JPL in that I quit match. Yeah, you're talking about a match that was close to 20 years ago. Yeah. So it's been a been a long time because usually over the last few years when we have seen playing, they just been like, Oh, you know, just small little little cut that some sense of realism. But this was no, it and we saw both punk and McIntyre. We went the last time we saw to rest on the bleed in the same match. And the crazy thing is June blood was actually legitimate blood. That was his blood. And he had to get 16 stitches to close the wound. Yeah. Yeah, that is, it's insane. Then you saw punk having the oxygen after the match. My gosh, just the little aspects about this match. I mean, just really went a long, long way. Yeah. And I know because people have been criticizing punk like, Oh, he's old, he's washed. Man, punk has really been stepping it up. And he's why he's called the best in the world. Exactly. And all those fans that support the young bucks, Jack Perry, they could suck it because see him punk. He's the man. Yeah. Like, like, like that, that how it's so man was just like crazy from from start to finish. It started off slow. But I did, I did like it because I feel like that's how it's so should be, you know, it starts off slow and slowly starts to get more and more like, you know, crazy and chaotic. And, you know, that's what happened. I know a spot I found crazy was like when they both used, used the wrench and put in their heads, I was like, whoa, that was insane. And then, you know, the table spots out. Oh, man, that was such a great spot. I was good. I thought it was a box at first when they bumped the, the table off of the, the legs off the table. Oh, yeah. But the fact that it's, that's what the intention was like, whoa, that was cool. And then, um, and I'm getting drew with the toolbox. I was not expecting that. And right to the head, dude, that was a banger of a shot. You know, I know, like, when I first thought out, I was like, Oh my God, like, I was not expecting, like, you know, that especially because we don't usually see a head shot. And then, um, another crazy spot was, was the white noise to punk on the field steps. And then you went for a claymore, punk dots. And he hit like the edge of it. Oh my God. I was like, Oh my God. Like, oh my God, my back, my back would have been broken at that point. I know that was just actually like, Oh my God. So, but yeah, those two really went all out and, you know, little, little disappointed that we didn't get thumbtacks out of the, uh, the bag. And it was beats. But it made sense with the story. It made sense with the story, you know, because that's, that's what this was all, all about, you know, the, the bracelet that had AJ Lee's name and were his name on it. So it was the ball like in the case of like, Oh, you know, it's telling the story of like something that meant a lot to punk. And here, here, Drew is just like, kind of be like, Oh, here will be like a few here. Here's all, here's all the beads. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, man, um, outstanding match. I mean, honestly, five, five stars, man, five stars to both these guys. Um, and like I said before, and I know a w and new Japan fans are gonna jump all over it, but this was match of the year. I mean, my gosh, the guys, these two guys went all out and this is what her wrestling is all about. Yeah. And punk lived up to his work as he just recently said in an interview, he's like, you know, I have to put on a classic like I have to and boy, did he ever? Exactly. All right. Then you have, um, the Nia Jackson Bailey match. That was okay. They had a little situation at the end that was that kind of teased you for a bit. But in the end, Nia beats Bailey. What do you think about that match? You know, I definitely thought like that match was actually, you know, pretty, pretty entertaining for, for what it was. And man, like, let me just say Nia Jackson proved so much in the ring. Like there are things she was doing that I never thought I'd see her do before. I didn't realize how strong Bailey was, but actually getting Nia up for like this, I'm all in drop and stuff like that. Like I just, I just thought like, you know, I wasn't the best match on the card. I definitely thought it was an entertaining match between, between the two. So I do have to give credit to the both women for, you know, you know, giving it their all. Exactly. So good one. And now we're going to have a situation where Nia and, um, gosh, I'm looking at her name now. Tiffany Stratton. Yes. Tiffany Stratton. It's Tiffy time. That's what I tell myself when I see her on TV. Um, I'm joking. I'm joking. Um, now you have a situation where they're going to start maybe building up a program between those two. Yeah. And, and it's curious to see because Tiffany Stratton's been a heel in her young career. So the fact that we might see a baby face Tiffany Stratton for the first time is, you know, pretty interesting. It'll be interesting to see how, how they make it work and seeing how they develop the, you know, the Tiffany Stratton character into being a, into being a baby face. Exactly. Yeah. I think she could be a hell of a baby face too. She's very over with the crowd already. So that, that's going to help her out a lot too. Exactly. Then you move on to Damian Priest versus Finn Balor. Yeah. That match was, was okay. But again, just Finn, Finn's losing another big match. I really thought Finn needed this win more because he's always on the receiving end of like, you know, losing the feud, losing feud and, and all that. Um, so, and I did think the match was like a bit, uh, disappointing. And then like when the judgment day came out, I was like, Oh, here we go. The typical judgment day playbook of they're going to come out and try to help their judgment day members. Right. When my math is. Right. Exactly. And so very predictable. Um, and now, yeah, I'm kind of disappointed because I do like Finn Balor as a wrestler. And I wish that he wouldn't just be just labeled in the company as a job. That's essentially what he is. You know, um, and that's kind of sad to see. But, um, David Priest does get the victory now. It's a little interesting to see which direction to go with the priest. But it's interesting to see because you said Finn essentially a jobber. Well, look at Bailey, Bailey was essentially a jobber and she got rewarded and she's being pushed. So maybe, so maybe that's the plan for Finn. Maybe Finn's going to get a push later on. And he did just recently sign an extension with the WWE. Yeah, exactly. Um, I just don't know where it's going to be though. I mean, I don't know where you can put Finn Balor in the program where he's going to be successful right now. I just kind of had all this kind of book with Braun Breaker and Jey Uso at the point. Um, I just don't know. But then yeah, let's go on to, uh, the live and re-match. That was okay. That was pretty good. Yeah, there was some fun, unique spots. The spot that really got me to pop a little bit and a little, a little scared too, was when Dom fell and he was being held only by the chain. I was like, Oh my God. Yeah. And then seeing, seeing mommy whip him like a pinata with the kennel stick, that was fun. Yeah, that was very fun. And then we saw the return of Raquel Rodriguez, which I, which again, I called and I told you I was like, Oh, I wouldn't be surprised to see her tell her. I mean, if it's a turn, but the crowd, the crowd just did not care for it. Like, No, the crowd didn't pop. And you know, that's unfortunate because, you know, Raquel Rodriguez was on for so long. And you know, the, the company has just been red hot. And you know, she's kind of missed out on all the, it's kind of like the the SpongeBob meme where Squidward is looking in and you know, they see, you see SpongeBob and Patrick kind of running out outside. And then he has Squidward inside looking out. That's where Cal Rodriguez, but if she's been out all this time and that she hasn't really been a part of the company the last year. So, and having her come back, it's kind of like, Oh shit, yeah, yeah, you're right. That is where Cal Rodriguez, you know. And I think that ending was boxed because it ended very awkward. Yeah, it did. It did. But for Cal Rodriguez looked good. So, you know, I'm glad she's well from her skin condition. Or she's getting better from that. Yeah, and it'll be, it'll be interesting to see if this eventually leads to a Raquel and lift you. And if it, or if the ria and lift, you're just gonna continue with your Cal and helping a part of it. So, that'll be another interesting dynamic. Exactly. All right, then you have the main event. We've all been waiting for it. Yeah, exactly. Um, decent tag match. Very predictable during the match to the way in which the wrestling was, you know, was held. And but everyone was just climbing for the ending. Everyone kind of knew since this, since the match was put in the main event spot. Everyone was expecting, didn't just waiting for the ending, really, to see who was gonna come out and two surprises. Yes. See, Mr. No Yee himself, Jimmy. So, that, that's the one that actually got me out. Cause you just, I'm like, oh, oh, oh, it's Jimmy. It's Jimmy. It's Jimmy. So, that, that one, I, I did pop for it. Cause, you know, I, I, I missed, I missed Jimmy. Yeah. I did. It's been gone since WrestleMania. So, six months now, seven months. Yeah. Cause he was on the Smackdown after that's when he got kicked out, but then he was dealing with a legitimate injury. I've heard he was fine. They were just waiting for like, you know, the perfect place. Bring him back. I thought, I thought, I thought he didn't, he didn't pass away. Like Riki, she, you know, insinuated on Instagram or Twitter. Yeah. Riki, she's been very acting very weird. Like, and now he's upset that Jayce, I see champion now, like, like, bro, like seriously. Yeah. But, but anyway, anyways, it was good to see, see Jimmy back and, you know, it looks like, and he, and he got a loud pop. Oh, he's got a loud pop. Especially with him and Roman hugged. Yeah. You, you could tell that he, he was happy to be back. And it was very interesting because after the, the match where we, cause we do see, uh, Cody and Roman get the, the win, which to me, I was a little shocked because I thought, I thought the bloodline would win just to show like, oh, you know, this new version of the bloodline really is like, the best version of the bloodline. So, but yeah, you know, the, the ending was, it was great. And then after the map, we saw the bloodline attack Cody. And then Jimmy's like, you gave him your word. And Roman's like, I said, it was a one time thing. And Jimmy's like, I'm with you. What do we want to do? I'm with you. And then Roman taps Jimmy's like, let's go. And pretty much solidifying that Roman's a baby face. Yeah. You know, they help each other. Roman then hands the WV championship to Cody Rhodes, essentially symbolizing like, all right. You know what? You're the champion now here. Here. I give you my, my respect. And then the return to everybody was waiting for it. So that was pretty cool because I was simultaneously watching the Dodger game. And Shohei Yohotani hit a home run to tie the game up at three. And then right as Shohei hit his home run, I was watching the game in the Dodger game in my room. And then I hear the in the living room feel smell. Oh, it was, it was so cool. So like, too, like back to back big moments. I'm like, Oh, shit. Yeah. The final boss comes out, just stares at Roman stairs at the bloodline. And he counts for four fingers. Yeah. And then he does two fingers and just like the the thing across the road. So now it's making me wonder, like, is that a piece for war games? Might be. And who knows? And it's like, because he did say he was coming back for Cody. But you got to think in the rocks line, like, what's he thinking? Like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Roman's team it up with Cody. Like the guy we've been having issues with for the last year, year. Yeah. It'll be curious to see like what the rock feels about all this. And we'll see if he's going to be on SmackDown. But SmackDown is about to become very interesting again. There will be. And then after the show, it wasn't even filmed by WWE cameras or anything. Maybe it was, maybe we'll see on SmackDown, but it was literally just fan footage. People were recording Cody Rhodes coming to his tour bus after the show. And then you see Kevin Owens and him having an argument. And then that leads to Kevin Owens attacking Cody Rhodes, basically turning heel. Yeah, that was that was crazy. Because I don't know if they've ever had a turn like that before. No. So it was very interesting because it's like, wow, it added a sense of realism like, oh, like, oh my God, like, even off the camera, you never know what's going to happen. Right. Exactly. But yeah, all in all, I thought it was a great pay-per-view or PLE, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. I think we both can agree that the health and cell match was match of the night. Imagine that for sure. Definitely. And once again, the rocks still seeing punks. There's a lot like it. As much as they'll say the same. Yeah, I will say, you know, punk and Drew definitely did the MVPs of the show. Right. Definitely. I definitely got to throw Jimmy in there too, because he was a nice, nice surprise. I don't think we were expecting Jimmy. I think people were expecting the rocks, but but in fact, that we got both of them in the same night was, you know, was pretty cool. So yeah, so those are, that was my match of the night. And those are like my MVPs, another solid pay-per-view from top to bottom, especially the opener and the main event. Exactly. But yeah, right. Week of wrestling, it'll be interesting to see what the storylines are going forward for our Survivor Series now. Yeah. And Drew, quickly, Triple H did make an announcement that at Crown Jewel, it'll be, it'll be the World Heavyweight Champion versus the WWE Champion. So presumably, Gunther versus Cody. I'm looking forward to that. And then, and then live versus night, because it's for both the men and the women. Oh, sorry. Yeah. And the winners will be the Crown Jewel Champion. Exactly. It's a beautiful championship, but I don't know. Having that announcement on, on that show, it kind of felt like you could have just saved this for a RAW or a Smackdown. Yeah, and they, they just really saved that for Goldberg. But we are running out of time. Ryan, it's always a pleasure. I mean, yet same, same with, you know, enjoy doing this with you, just being able to talk wrestling, you know, we both, you know, as long as we're both passionate about something we both love. So exactly. A lot of stuff on the horizon. Yeah, a lot of stuff. We're going to be having more reports, Dodgers, UCLA Bruins, you know, of course, let's go Lakers podcast. You're listening to this Ryan, Ryan, we're wrestling with Ryan Hernandez podcast. So there's a lot of stuff. And then the Clippers thing, Clippers are the Clippers first episode three drops Friday night. So be prepared for that. Um, yeah, guys, a lot of exciting stuff on the horizon. Quick thoughts, Ryan? Yeah, you know, overall, I just thought that blood was a great, great show from, you know, um, the Atlanta crowd was hot. There was hot. And then just a quick, just to really, really quick previewing overall, we're going to see two championship matches, we're going to see JU so defending an economy on championship against the gave your woods of the new day. And then we're going to see good third versus Sami Zayn for the World Heavyweight Championship. Yep. All right, guys, we're all out of time. But until next time, we'll see you later. Later. Later. Bye.