0:00

Today on Not Sam Wrestling, pro

0:02

wrestling is back and so is

0:04

the Raw after WrestleMania. We begin

0:07

a new era of the

0:09

WWE and I begin with

0:11

an apology. This is Not

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Sam Wrestling. This

0:17

is Not Sam Wrestling. Introducing

0:23

your host from New York.

0:26

Here is Sam Roberts.

0:30

Welcome here we are. Can

0:34

you believe we've made it? We

0:37

are officially post

0:40

WrestleMania. No

0:42

emergency podcast. No nothing. I told

0:44

you the podcast right after

0:46

WrestleMania immediate reactions emergency podcast.

0:49

Those are podcasts designed to

0:51

get our feelings out to

0:53

tap into the raw emotions

0:55

that if you didn't feel

0:57

leaving WrestleMania 40 you

0:59

may need to check your pulse for. Now

1:03

we're here. We're buttoned up. We're professional.

1:05

Although I don't have a suit on. I am

1:08

out of the dingy hotel room into

1:10

the Not Sam studio and here to

1:12

talk about what is

1:14

a new era in the WWE

1:17

as advertised by both Triple H and

1:19

on night two. Stephanie

1:22

McMahon of all people before

1:25

we get to anything else. I want to tell

1:27

you something. Okay. Not

1:30

to make excuses but I need to

1:32

make an excuse. Sunday was a big

1:34

day for me. Okay. The

1:36

whole weekend this WrestleMania was absolutely

1:39

insane. If you guys follow me

1:41

at Not Sam on social media

1:43

you know this already. The whole weekend

1:46

was absolutely nuts. No sleep.

1:48

A lot of the most amazing

1:50

life experiences you could have in

1:53

any professional capacity. But

1:55

Sunday specifically I wake up not a lot of

1:57

sleep. Of course the night before not a lot.

1:59

a lot of sleep because I woke up early

2:02

to do the stand and deliver the countdown to

2:04

stand and deliver and then head over to the

2:06

stadium, uh, record some stuff

2:08

for the bump behind the scenes, watch

2:10

WrestleMania, come back home, do an emergency

2:12

podcast, get it up online, try to

2:14

get, you know, whatever it is four

2:17

or five hours of sleep, only to

2:19

wake up first thing on

2:21

Sunday morning, head over to WWE world where

2:23

I am of all

2:26

things, a presenter at

2:28

the slammy awards. Do you understand the significance

2:30

of this? Do you understand that

2:32

somewhere young

2:35

Sam Roberts who watched Todd

2:37

Pettengill sing parody songs

2:39

to the WWE superstars before WrestleMania

2:41

12 advertising

2:45

this, the slammy awards is

2:47

here at the

2:49

slammy awards, not only presenting

2:52

a slammy alongside Megan

2:54

Morant, but we're presenting

2:57

the one man gang moment of the

2:59

year. To see em punk. I

3:02

presented a slammy award to CM punk as if

3:04

that wasn't enough. 45

3:07

minutes later, we're back on stage at

3:09

WWE world where it's the elite squad.

3:11

It's me, it's Bill Makena, it's Steve

3:14

Ozer and we welcome CM punk sharing

3:16

the stage with CM punk twice inside

3:18

of like an hour and a half

3:21

so that I can help Bill and Steve

3:23

and the fine folks at Mattel show

3:26

CM punk all the new CM punk action

3:28

figures. That he's getting. And if you know

3:30

anything about me, collecting CM punk

3:32

action figures is a thing that I do

3:35

as if that wasn't enough of a trip.

3:39

After that, Megan

3:42

and I go over to the stadium. We're

3:44

ready for night two now of WrestleMania

3:46

and we're hanging out in the stadium.

3:48

We start watching the show and

3:51

already we got title changes. We got all this

3:53

stuff happening around me and

3:56

in the middle of it all right after

3:58

they announce. Hall

4:00

of Fame class

4:03

of 2024. I'm

4:05

backstage and the

4:07

incredible producers at the bump, I'm talking

4:10

about Ryan and Nash, line

4:12

me up to meet

4:14

Bull Nikano, the icon of all

4:16

icons and get me a picture

4:19

with Bull Nikano. Then I

4:21

go back out to the floor after I just met

4:23

Bull Nikano and

4:25

tell her what a fan I am and she's

4:28

telling me thank you. I go back out to

4:30

the floor and I watch the most incredible WrestleMania

4:32

main event I've ever seen in my life with

4:35

the Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes and

4:37

they're going back and forth and

4:40

there's Jimmy and there's Jay and

4:42

there's Solo and there's John Cena

4:44

and there's The Rock and there's

4:46

The Undertaker, there's Seth Rollins and

4:48

that's the hiccup because I go home after all

4:50

of this and it's

4:53

just a state of exhaustion

4:57

but hyper endorphins fueling me past

5:00

any of that that I might

5:02

be feeling and

5:04

emotions running absolutely

5:06

crazy. I come

5:08

to you on this podcast and

5:11

I give maybe

5:13

the worst analysis that I've

5:15

ever given in 494 weeks. 494 weeks of

5:20

nazam wrestling and you

5:22

come to me and I have the great honor

5:25

of being able to sit here and talk about

5:27

wrestling and have the absolute

5:29

privilege to have people like you put

5:32

your headphones on, flip your

5:34

phone on and watch or listen to

5:36

me do this week after week. This

5:39

is a privilege that I don't take

5:41

lightly and a responsibility that I feel

5:43

that I have and I failed you.

5:46

I come to you and I go I don't

5:50

know why Seth Rollins

5:52

was in the shield outfit. I

5:55

gave the Seth Rollins part of

5:58

the Roman Reigns Cody Rhodes No

6:01

credit whatsoever when in

6:03

actuality it was the most

6:05

important part of the match. And

6:08

I apologize for that. I

6:10

apologize for just hideous,

6:12

hideous analysis of

6:14

that part of the match. The rest of

6:16

the podcast I felt completely comfortable with. I

6:20

had come back home. I had not watched the match back

6:22

on television. I

6:24

watch – I mean I'm standing

6:26

in that stadium. On one side

6:28

it's Megan Moran. On the other

6:30

side it's Lars Fredrickson from Rancid.

6:32

Behind me it's Peter Rosenberg. We're

6:35

all flipping out watching this spectacle,

6:37

and I was in no state to give an analysis. And

6:40

I apologize for that because the

6:42

fact is that what

6:45

we saw in that main

6:47

event at WrestleMania was

6:49

the most awe-inspiring thing

6:52

that I've maybe ever seen at a

6:54

WrestleMania. The main

6:56

event to WrestleMania 40, Night 2,

6:59

was such an

7:02

incredible feat because it

7:04

did what I believe is

7:07

going to be the calling card of

7:09

what this new era is. It celebrates

7:11

the past. It celebrates the history

7:15

of this thing that

7:17

we call sports entertainment or professional

7:19

wrestling, WWE. But

7:21

it does so in such a way that at the

7:23

end of the day it's

7:25

today's heroes that come out

7:28

looking like the stars. This

7:30

is something that we see so

7:32

rarely throughout the history of WWE.

7:36

When I talk about not liking WrestleMania 27,

7:38

much to the Miz-ish chagrin by the way, on

7:42

multiple different media outlets, the

7:44

Miz now apparently hates me because

7:47

I don't like WrestleMania 27. But the reason I

7:49

don't like WrestleMania 27 is because

7:52

when that show ended, The

7:54

Rock, who was not an active member

7:57

of the roster, looked to

7:59

be the winner. be the most unstoppable

8:01

force and better than either John

8:04

Cena or the Miz, the two

8:06

top stars that would

8:08

be tasked with

8:11

fueling the WWE for the next year before

8:13

the Rock came back. I always had a

8:15

problem with it. That's

8:17

not the problem that

8:19

we have anymore. We realize that we

8:22

can celebrate this history, but use this

8:24

history to tell a story that's happening

8:26

in the present. We get everything

8:30

that the bloodline went through and before

8:33

the bloodline went through and that's where

8:35

Seth Rollins comes in. So

8:37

of course, as we talked about on the emergency

8:39

podcast on Sunday, Jimmy

8:43

Uso is the first bloodline

8:45

member to interfere in the match. Jay Uso

8:47

comes out to

8:50

help his partner, to help Cody

8:52

Rhodes. And he spears Jimmy Uso

8:54

off that stage. And

8:56

the match continues. And then Solo

8:58

Seccoa comes out and does the exact same thing to

9:01

Cody Rhodes that he did at WrestleMania 39. And

9:05

we think that he's gonna do everything he needs to do

9:07

to make sure that Roman Reigns gets the win. But

9:10

who comes out? The leader of

9:13

the chain gang soldiers. John Cena comes

9:15

out. The last time we saw John

9:17

Cena, Solo was destroying his larynx. This

9:19

time, he's ready for revenge. He takes

9:22

out Solo Seccoa. That's when the final

9:24

boss comes out. The

9:26

last time we saw the John Cena

9:28

and the final boss together, John

9:31

Cena was beating The Rock. That

9:33

was WrestleMania 29. And

9:36

The Rock comes out, he gets his revenge on

9:38

John Cena, he takes out John Cena. That's when

9:40

Seth Rollins comes out and

9:42

he prepares to do the exact same thing to

9:45

The Rock that he did to Roman Reigns. Hit

9:48

him in the back with a steel

9:50

chair. The Roman Reigns has seen it

9:52

way too many times before. He

9:54

spears the hell out

9:57

of Seth Rollins, doesn't allow. The

10:00

betrayal that happened to him to happen to

10:02

his cousin, the rock. The

10:05

undertaker comes out, takes out the

10:07

rock, disappears. Now

10:10

it's down to Cody Rhodes and Roman

10:12

Reigns with Seth Rollins laid out in

10:14

the ring. Seth

10:18

Rollins told Cody Rhodes, I

10:21

will be your shield. Seth

10:25

Rollins starts to get to his feet

10:27

as Roman Reigns gets to his feet.

10:29

We see Cody Rhodes off

10:32

to the side somewhere. We don't know where he is, he's out of

10:34

frame. Roman

10:38

Reigns picks up that steel chair. What he

10:40

should be doing is beating the stuffing out

10:42

of Cody Rhodes and finishing this match and

10:44

taking his title home. But

10:48

instead he sees Seth Rollins is

10:50

back. Seth Rollins being

10:53

the one person that Roman

10:55

Reigns was never able to beat 1, 2, 3.

11:00

Seth Rollins being the first person who

11:02

betrayed Roman Reigns. If you go down

11:05

the path of Roman Reigns, when

11:07

he loses people, it's because

11:09

they betray him. Now it could

11:12

be his responsibility that it happens.

11:14

It could be the fact that he wasn't treating

11:16

them very well, but ultimately he is

11:19

the one who gets betrayed. It started with the

11:21

shield when Seth Rollins betrayed Roman Reigns

11:23

by hitting him in the back with a steel chair.

11:27

It was the same thing that Sami Zayn did

11:29

at the Royal Rumble in 2023. Then

11:33

it was Jey Uso who betrayed

11:35

Roman Reigns. And

11:38

all of that, all of that

11:40

that started with the initial breakup of

11:42

the shield was

11:44

going through the mind of

11:47

Roman Reigns as

11:49

he realized that Seth Rollins back was to

11:51

him and he was holding a chair. Now

11:54

it was very clear to anybody that was watching,

11:57

it should have been more clear to me. that

12:00

Seth Rollins was feeding

12:02

his back to Roman Reigns,

12:04

that Seth Rollins was putting

12:06

himself in harm's way. Seth

12:09

Rollins was telling the truth the

12:12

whole time. He

12:14

realized that whether he's the

12:16

World Heavyweight Champion or not, that

12:18

whether they won the tag team match on

12:20

night one or not. Seth

12:24

needs to get the WWE

12:26

Undisputed Universal Championship out of the

12:28

hands of Roman Reigns. And

12:34

he may not be able to do that physically.

12:37

He may not be able to do it one

12:39

on one. He may not be able to take

12:41

out Roman Reigns. But

12:43

he knows that the

12:45

potential of Roman Reigns getting

12:48

his revenge on Seth Rollins is

12:51

the one thing to

12:54

distract Roman Reigns from his ultimate

12:56

goal of winning this

13:00

Universal Championship match. And

13:03

so that's what he does. He shows

13:05

his back to Roman Reigns on purpose. This

13:08

is the shield. This

13:10

is what he's doing for

13:13

Cody Rhodes. And Roman Reigns

13:15

levels him across the back

13:17

with that steel chair. And

13:20

when he turns around, it's just

13:22

enough time. It's just the distraction

13:24

that Cody Rhodes needed to

13:27

lock three crossroads onto

13:30

Roman Reigns and pin him one, two,

13:32

three. That

13:34

third hand comes down. And you

13:36

can't believe what you've seen.

13:39

This is the proper

13:41

analysis. As

13:43

after the match, as all

13:45

the heroes of the WWE enter the

13:48

ring to celebrate Cody Rhodes, it's

13:51

Seth Rollins who's on the outside of the ring and

13:53

Cody knows what Seth has done for

13:55

Cody. He's acted for maybe the

13:58

first time in a completely... selfless

14:01

way to accomplish

14:03

the goal of simply separating

14:07

Roman Reigns and that championship.

14:11

And Cody and Seth shake hands and

14:13

Seth looks right in Cody's eyes and

14:16

the two acknowledge what they've done for each

14:18

other. It

14:20

was absolutely beautiful.

14:25

As a matter of fact Seth

14:27

Rollins's contribution to that match was

14:31

for the long-term story for the

14:33

future for the for what's going

14:35

on right now the

14:38

most important contribution

14:41

to that match. This is how

14:45

doing matches like this with

14:47

all these elements with The Undertaker and The Rock

14:49

and and all this stuff going on is

14:52

how we figure out how

14:54

to tell a story that is

14:56

the story of WrestleMania that

14:59

is the story of WWE that is

15:01

a celebration of 40

15:03

years of WrestleMania

15:05

but ultimately is

15:08

also a

15:10

story that we've been watching play out for what we

15:12

thought was three and a half years but

15:15

what was realistically going all the way

15:17

back to the shield. Seth

15:20

Rollins coming out in that shield outfit and

15:23

taking that damage from

15:25

Roman Reigns is the

15:29

quintessential display of

15:34

rule number three. Everything

15:36

counts. Everything

15:39

counts. Whether it's comments

15:41

that people make on an interview,

15:44

whether it's things people post on social media,

15:48

whether it's storyline beats that

15:51

happened years and years and

15:54

years ago before

15:56

the bloodline. Everything

15:59

counts. And everything is brought back

16:01

in to create

16:03

a motivation for

16:05

these characters that we're watching.

16:09

Roman Reigns made a

16:11

mistake. Roman Reigns fought

16:14

emotionally. Cody

16:16

Rhodes beat Roman Reigns

16:18

to become the champion. He's the only guy

16:21

who could do that. But Seth

16:23

Rollins is the one that mentally

16:27

beat Roman Reigns. Seth Rollins is

16:29

the one that got one over

16:31

on Roman Reigns. Seth Rollins outthought

16:34

and outwitted Roman

16:36

Reigns. Ultimately,

16:39

you could argue that Seth Rollins

16:43

is the one that knew Roman Reigns the

16:45

whole time. Roman

16:48

was calling him his little brother. You're my little brother, blah,

16:50

blah, blah. Knew

16:54

exactly where to strike. Struck

16:57

took the damage the way a shield

16:59

does. And

17:01

Cody Rhodes becomes the universal champion.

17:04

It's one

17:06

of the best stories that I've

17:09

ever seen played out. It was as appropriate

17:13

an ending to this chapter in the

17:15

Bloodline story that you could possibly ask

17:17

for. The

17:20

Bloodline story is

17:22

so spectacular that

17:25

on the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania, seven

17:27

years ago, after

17:29

WrestleMania 33,

17:32

Roman Reigns came in after beating

17:34

The Undertaker, only the second man

17:37

to beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania.

17:40

Roman Reigns showed up to Monday Night

17:42

Raw as a babyface, stood

17:44

in the ring and got booed out

17:46

of the building. Seven

17:49

years later, and I mean minutes and minutes

17:51

and minutes, real boos, not

17:54

fun boos, not Dominique Mysterio boos, not the

17:56

boos The Rock got on Raw. I mean,

17:58

real. Booze, booze

18:03

that let Roman and the rest of

18:05

the world and the WWE know that

18:08

Roman can beat the undertaker. Roman

18:10

can beat whoever you want. Roman can

18:12

beat God himself. Roman's not

18:14

our guy. Seven

18:19

years later, Cody

18:22

Rhodes is holding

18:24

the WWE Undisputed Universal

18:27

Championship. And

18:31

even though Roman Reigns has

18:34

just completed a three

18:36

and a half year reign of terror, a

18:39

complete heel who

18:42

held the title hostage, the

18:46

fans already realized the

18:48

contribution that Roman

18:50

Reigns and the Bloodline story made

18:52

to WWE

18:55

as we know it today. And

18:57

instead of booing anyone out of the building, they're

19:01

chanting, thank you, Roman. Roman

19:05

wasn't even in the ring. And

19:07

the fans in Philadelphia, the

19:10

same city where Roman Reigns

19:15

won the Royal Rumble, the same building.

19:17

You understand that Monday Night Raw on

19:20

Monday took place in the same

19:22

building that Roman Reigns won the

19:24

Royal Rumble in 2015 when

19:27

the Rock raised Roman's arm in the air and

19:31

the crowd booed him. I was there. I

19:33

was in the audience. Seven

19:35

years late, that was 2015. So

19:39

nine years later, Roman's

19:43

not even in the ring. And after being

19:45

beat for that world title, fans

19:48

are chanting, thank you, Roman. It is

19:50

a remarkable story that

19:52

this Roman Reigns has told already.

19:55

And I say has told already because,

19:59

you know, it was almost like. It's like you're

20:01

ready to deal

20:04

with the fact that Roman Reigns might be

20:06

gone for a while, might be packing it

20:08

up. Who knows? He made claims on the

20:11

A&E biography that once

20:14

he gets beat, once he loses

20:16

that title, he's going away. Some

20:18

people interpreted that as retirement. I

20:22

interpreted it as he'll probably disappear for

20:24

a while, and at some point, he'll

20:27

just make his presence known again. It's

20:30

not unlike Roman Reigns to disappear after

20:32

WrestleMania anyway. However,

20:36

today, Tuesday, 48 – 36

20:39

hours after losing the

20:41

WWE Championship, Roman

20:43

Reigns posted a tweet. And let me

20:46

tell you something. When the tribal chief

20:48

uses social media, you

20:51

take a look. And

20:54

it was just a video of what appeared to

20:56

be Roman on a treadmill or something like that,

20:59

staring at the camera intensely,

21:03

staring at the camera with

21:06

what appeared to be a look

21:09

of a thirst for

21:11

vengeance plastered across

21:13

his handsome face. And

21:17

the words, Yesterday I Mourned, Today

21:21

is Day One. We're

21:24

written on that

21:26

tweet. Roman

21:29

is letting everybody know. He's

21:32

coming back. He's coming back strong,

21:34

and he's coming back hard. Who's

21:37

to say we won't get another Roman

21:39

Reigns bloodline run before this is

21:41

all over? But the

21:44

way the WWE has in

21:46

two days set

21:49

up what a post-Wrestlemania world looks

21:51

like, you know, we don't

21:53

know what Cody Rhodes is

21:55

doing immediately next. We don't

21:57

know if – Or

22:01

if Cody Rhodes is going to be defending

22:03

the Universal Championship at Backlash and we don't

22:05

know who it would be against yet.

22:08

Watching Raw, we got no hints as

22:10

to who Cody's first opponent might be.

22:12

But what we

22:15

did get was now two things. Roman

22:18

Reigns making that social media

22:20

video, letting the

22:22

world know that from

22:25

today onwards, everything

22:27

that he does is in

22:30

training to give back what's his. And

22:33

I mean, just with the facial expression, you

22:36

go, this guy's going to wreck everyone. You know, you almost

22:39

forget that when the Bloodline

22:41

story started, The

22:44

Bloodline story got to a point where

22:47

there were so many enemies of Roman

22:49

Reigns that every match he won was

22:52

interference. You

22:54

know, every match he won was some –

22:58

it was more survival, right? But

23:00

the original Bloodline Roman Reigns was

23:02

wreck everyone and leave. Stack

23:06

them up, Roman Reigns. That's the Roman

23:08

Reigns that started this Bloodline run. That's

23:11

the Roman Reigns that I want to see returned. And

23:13

it would explain, right? This is something that we were

23:15

asking for. I was asking for. Starting

23:18

with this year, I said at the Royal Rumble,

23:21

I wanted to see Roman Reigns just dominate

23:24

the three other dudes that were in this

23:26

fatal four-way. And he didn't. It was interference

23:28

again. And it was disappointing. Maybe

23:32

the reason all that's done is so

23:34

he can leave after WrestleMania, and when he

23:36

comes back, that's when we get the new

23:38

Roman. That's when we get the

23:40

Roman who wrecks everyone and leaves. That's when we

23:43

get the Roman that needs to now remind the

23:45

world, has something to prove, needs

23:48

to show everybody why

23:50

he's the tribal chief and

23:53

why he's earned

23:55

the right to claim ownership over

23:57

everything we see across the universe.

24:00

that is WWE. So

24:04

we go, what's next? Roman

24:06

Reigns and Cody Rhodes at some point having

24:09

a rematch? Well, that is until last night

24:11

on Monday Night Raw. And I will

24:13

say that I felt like Monday

24:15

Night Raw was a

24:18

real, I don't want to

24:20

say throwback, but it

24:22

was a return to the Raw after WrestleMania. The

24:25

last couple years, the Raw after

24:27

WrestleMania has not been the Raw after WrestleMania that

24:29

we came to know and love. Has

24:31

not been the Raw after WrestleMania where we saw Brock Lesnar

24:33

return. Has not been the

24:36

Raw after WrestleMania where people argue

24:38

whether this might even be better

24:40

than WrestleMania was. I don't think

24:42

anybody's going to make the argument that this

24:44

week's Raw was better than WrestleMania, but that's

24:46

probably because the argument that's being made is

24:48

that WrestleMania 40 Night 2 might

24:51

be the best WrestleMania that anybody's ever seen. Especially

24:54

with that ending. But

24:57

it was absolutely to me a return

25:01

to what the

25:04

Raw after WrestleMania is supposed to be. It was amazing

25:07

appearances, right? You

25:11

had Triple H, The Rock,

25:14

John Cena, and CM Punk

25:17

all making surprise appearances on one

25:19

episode of Raw. You had

25:21

Jade Cargill in a singles. You

25:23

had Iliad Dragunov, NXT Champion

25:26

in a surprise match. You had

25:28

Roxanne Perez, NXT Women's Champion in a

25:30

surprise match. And you end the show

25:33

with, of all people, Jey Uso

25:37

becoming the number one contender and looking

25:39

ahead to the fact that we're going

25:41

to get Damian Priest and Jey Uso

25:45

as your World Heavyweight Championship

25:48

match at some point. And maybe at

25:51

Backlash, maybe before that. As

25:53

well as an announcement of the draft

25:55

letting you know that three weeks from

25:57

now is when we'll get that draft. In

26:00

the meantime, everything is

26:03

on the table. There

26:05

was almost a feeling of, I expected more surprises, because

26:10

we've been getting so much on

26:12

this road to WrestleMania. Like

26:14

the fact that everything that I just described

26:17

could happen, and we're going like, yeah,

26:19

that's what WWE is now, is so

26:21

sick for us wrestling fans.

26:23

We are so incredibly spoiled right

26:26

now. And

26:28

oh yeah, there's two national wrestling promotions

26:31

that we can just fill our cups with. It

26:34

is awesome, absolutely

26:37

incredible. But

26:40

you had The Rock come out and

26:44

interrupt, so Triple H comes out, and

26:47

he thanks the fans in Philly, and the fans in Philly

26:49

thank Triple H. And

26:52

he introduces the fact that this is a new

26:54

era. And

26:57

like I said in some

26:59

of the emergency instant WrestleMania

27:02

reaction podcasts, it

27:04

feels like instead of WrestleMania 40

27:06

being a culmination, WrestleMania 40 is

27:08

a launching point that

27:11

as hot as WWE has been, clearly

27:14

based on sellouts in the last, you

27:16

know, this year. Basically since

27:18

the beginning of this year, it was like they

27:20

decided in 2024, we're

27:23

going to kick this into another gear. And

27:25

this isn't a gear that we're kicking things into

27:28

to hype up WrestleMania. This is a gear

27:30

that we're kicking things into because this is what the product

27:32

is going to be right now. And

27:34

we're kicking things into this gear starting

27:37

with day one. And

27:40

we're going to go all the way to the point

27:42

that WrestleMania becomes the launching pad of what is going

27:44

to be this next era. And

27:46

how better to create a launching pad

27:48

for the next era than to present

27:50

the new leader of the next era,

27:53

a new WWE Universal Champion, the impossible

27:55

happens, Cody Rhodes. Cody Rhodes comes out,

27:57

Triple H plays a piece of pressure.

28:00

production. By the way, it definitely feels

28:02

like production is getting more love, right?

28:04

Couple of shout outs to Brian

28:07

Fadum on television at

28:10

WrestleMania and on Raw. You

28:12

had Triple H pointing

28:15

out the production in Stanford had

28:17

made that video package. And that's a great

28:19

thing to do. People work really,

28:21

really hard behind the scenes and a little

28:23

bit of acknowledgment goes an

28:26

incredibly long way. I mean, when I tell

28:28

you in my personal

28:30

experience, the most awe-inspiring

28:33

part of the WWE

28:35

is what's

28:38

happening behind the scenes. You

28:40

don't understand. The fact that

28:44

we get as much as

28:46

we get, as often as we get, and we

28:48

get it live is

28:51

impossible without

28:54

this incredible behind the scenes team. Go

28:56

back and watch that WrestleMania pre-show

28:59

and look at how fast it's moving. Look

29:01

at how many different elements there are in

29:03

that pre-show. Watch WrestleMania and look at the different

29:06

cameras. Look at everything that's going on. There

29:09

are people behind every single thing that

29:11

you're seeing. And when you're just getting

29:14

bombarded with the whole

29:16

first hour of Monday Night Raw was

29:18

commercial free this

29:20

week. And then after that, we're

29:23

doing Raw Talk where we're able

29:25

to watch Raw and instantly react

29:28

to it, but also watch that

29:30

show. It's full of different production

29:32

elements flying at every time

29:34

you turn around. How is that possible? Because

29:38

a nutso behind the scenes staff.

29:40

It's amazing. So

29:46

Triple H puts on the video package for

29:48

Cody Rhodes and people are loving it and

29:50

Cody Rhodes is getting emotional and it's what

29:52

Cody Rhodes is all about. It's great. And

29:55

then just as Cody Rhodes is thanking

29:57

the fans and taking ownership of this

29:59

episode. If you smell what

30:02

the rock is cooking. The first surprise

30:04

of the night, people go nuts as

30:06

the rock's music hits and the rock

30:08

does what the rock does. He makes

30:11

sure that as excited as the people are to

30:13

see him that they twist and that

30:16

they're booing him. And they boo him to

30:18

the extent that he doesn't even get

30:20

his promo started for minutes on end. But

30:23

I loved the delivery of

30:26

the rock on the raw after

30:28

WrestleMania. It was psychotic. The

30:31

rock with that first

30:34

day of school bully in the

30:36

cafeteria energy. Let's be honest. The

30:38

rock with that jailhouse prison energy.

30:42

Oh, there's some nice shoes you got there. Where'd

30:45

you get those shoes? I love them.

30:48

You mind if I try them on? Staring

30:52

daggers into you. Not

30:54

blinking. Come on. What do you think I'm

30:56

going to do? Why don't you let

30:58

me try those shoes? And

31:01

everything is being said without

31:03

it being said. The

31:06

rock literally goes to Cody Rhodes. Hmm.

31:12

I got a belt, but that's

31:15

a nice belt. Let

31:18

me hold it. I

31:21

mean, anybody that went to public school has

31:24

had some intimidating presence

31:28

asking you to hold something. When

31:32

I was in third grade, we moved

31:34

back to New York and I went

31:36

to public schools right outside Manhattan. And

31:38

I'll never forget the first

31:40

time in the cafeteria when

31:42

they had pretzel sticks, three for

31:44

a quarter. Hey, man,

31:47

you're new here, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey,

31:49

man. I'm trying to meet you. I'm

31:51

trying to get some pretzel sticks. Let

31:54

me hold a quarter. Excuse

31:57

me? I said let me

31:59

hold a quarter. Come on, man. You

32:01

don't think I'm gonna pay you back? I

32:04

let him hold a quarter. He went and got his

32:06

pretzel sticks. Two weeks later, he came back to me.

32:10

Hey, Sam, I'm trying to get some

32:12

pretzel sticks. Let me hold a quarter. I

32:15

said, ah, no, no, no. No, because you didn't pay

32:17

me back the last time. And

32:19

he looked at me, he said, Yes, I did.

32:22

I paid you back. I

32:26

said, All

32:28

right, here's your quarter. And

32:31

I became an ATM. That's what

32:33

happens. That's what the rock,

32:35

that was the rock's full energy. Just

32:38

slow, methodical, intimidating. And

32:40

then the fact that Cody Rhodes said,

32:42

let me hold yours. It

32:44

was like, whoa. I

32:49

thought it was great. I thought Cody Rhodes was gonna

32:51

respond and say, yeah, you can hold this title. If

32:54

you can beat me for this title. Whoa.

32:59

But he didn't need to say that. He let the rock

33:01

hold the title. We got the image. Something

33:05

feels right about this. This just, this

33:07

just feels at home, doesn't it? Doesn't

33:10

this feel good? And it's just

33:12

like, Jesus, Rock, you are a scary man.

33:16

And the rock set it straight up. Cody, congratulations

33:21

on finishing your story with

33:23

Roman Reigns. That story's over. But

33:25

this story between me and you, this

33:28

is just beginning. So

33:30

now Cody is living in this environment

33:32

where the rock, who as he said

33:34

by his own volition, is moving

33:37

off into the sunset. But

33:39

he's looming. He's hanging

33:42

over the head of Cody Rhodes. And

33:44

that is what being the Universal Champion

33:46

is all about. That

33:48

there's gonna be challengers everywhere you

33:50

look. And just when you think

33:52

you know exactly who the

33:54

target is, you Realize

33:57

the rock is still somewhere hanging around up

33:59

here. He's waiting

34:01

at some point. all Dj will

34:03

be back. Raid.

34:06

And not only take that title, but

34:08

do what he promised to do. Split

34:10

your skin, spread it on a weight

34:13

belt and handed over to Mama Rose.

34:16

So between the rocks promo. And

34:18

coat with Cody on wrong. And

34:21

the tweed the symbol tweet. The.

34:23

Roman Reigns sent out. We've

34:26

now got. The.

34:29

Rock vs Cody. Roman.

34:32

Vs Cody. Roman.

34:34

Vs Rock all laid out in all ready to

34:36

go and I don't know when they're going to

34:39

happen. This. Is a new era.

34:41

Baby is wild. Hit.

34:43

The reset button is be and. End

34:45

of The Mud Virgin A draft. If.

34:49

Yeah if he is a Vita guess.

34:54

I mean look, I don't know.

34:57

Because I'm sure they're going to look. I also think

35:00

that at some point we can get Cody versus S.

35:02

At some point we're going to be able to get

35:04

Cody vs. Punk. Maybe.

35:06

Maybe maybe Cody vs. Priest.

35:09

You. Know maybe goes over to Smackdown? Maybe

35:11

we see Cody vs Orton? Maybe.

35:15

Logan Paul loses the title. Maybe maybe

35:17

give his unit United States title? Maybe

35:19

he goes after Cody Rhodes? I don't

35:22

know. and and I think it's tough

35:24

to predict right now, especially because I

35:26

begin so much stuff wrong. Got into

35:28

Wrestlemania. But.

35:31

I would love to see The Rock and Cody

35:33

Rhodes Summer Slam. Boy would

35:35

I loved to see a stadium

35:37

full of people in Cleveland. Ready.

35:41

To see The Final Boss and

35:43

the American Nightmare? What? What? I

35:45

mean? You. Want to make

35:47

summers lay a big as a big match? It

35:49

may not. Maybe it'll be next year's Wrestlemania Main

35:51

Event. But.

35:53

Like I said, He was still

35:55

get. Roman. In the rock that you haven't

35:58

done. You. Can. into

36:00

WrestleMania and have Cody versus

36:03

some huge opponent and then

36:05

do Roman versus the Rock for the

36:07

People's Championship. There's a lot

36:09

you can do and a lot that I

36:11

am looking forward to seeing but

36:14

I said I've been getting a lot wrong lately and

36:16

I got a lot wrong going into WrestleMania you know

36:18

I got night one pretty

36:20

much on the nose but night two was a mess.

36:24

Night two I didn't get right at all. I

36:27

was sure well I

36:29

missed by two but it was two

36:32

that I insisted okay let's be honest.

36:34

I insisted that Roman wasn't losing

36:36

and he lost. But

36:39

that's my bloodline fandom. What can I tell you?

36:42

I said it. I'm a bloodline guy. It's

36:44

who I am. I'm never gonna come on this

36:46

podcast and tell you Roman Reigns is gonna lose.

36:48

It won't happen. So if you're watching this podcast

36:50

going oh I can't wait for the episode where

36:52

Sam says hey Roman Reigns gonna lose this week.

36:55

It's not gonna happen. Don't listen. When

36:58

he'll return one day and he'll beat everybody

37:01

okay. I'm not here to tell

37:03

you Roman Reigns gonna lose. I'm here to tell you

37:05

Roman Reigns gonna win. That's what's gonna happen. But what

37:07

I really messed up on and

37:10

I probably am gonna need to apologize

37:12

to some emailers is

37:14

the fact that like I got to the point where

37:17

I was poo-pooing emails

37:20

that were being sent in talking about Damien

37:22

Priest cashing in on Drew McIntyre. I said

37:24

it doesn't make any sense. I don't like

37:26

it at all. I didn't

37:28

take it all into account. Look my

37:30

problem is and this is my problem.

37:34

I was looking at things the old way. How

37:37

I thought WWE might have done things at

37:39

one point. The

37:42

idea that like Drew McIntyre would just win

37:44

and he'd be kind of beaten up

37:47

and then Damien Priest would just come in. That

37:49

didn't work for me.

37:51

We don't do things the old way. We do

37:54

things the new

37:56

era way. Maybe It's

37:58

the Paul Lavec way according to Stephanie McMansion. got

38:00

the ball avec era. But.

38:04

I in take into account. The.

38:06

Cm Punk other all. The.

38:09

Cm Punk of it All

38:11

changes everything. And

38:14

makes it all makes sense. Drew

38:17

Mcintyre beef ultimately isn't with

38:19

Damian Breezed. Through

38:21

maggots, I was a logical guy. Great.

38:24

I can be mad at Damien Priests. Drew Mcintyre

38:26

knows the Damien Priest is the guy that he's

38:28

gonna have to be to get his title. But.

38:33

The rivalries not with Damian Priest, The rivalries

38:35

with the guy who caused it to happen

38:37

And that Cm Punk? It

38:39

was a reap what you sow scenario. Drew

38:42

Mcintyre live tweeting from ringside.

38:45

Was. The funniest thing I've

38:47

ever seen. Having

38:51

him. Not. Only beat

38:53

Seth Rollins, but they actually

38:55

took the time. To.

38:57

Give him his moments. A

39:00

wasn't just I won the title. Boom here

39:02

we go Remember that years Summer Slam The

39:04

Daniel Bryan won the title and then Randy

39:06

Orton came in and cast in it was

39:09

call him a radio he'll image what Daniel

39:11

Bryan to have his moment again. But.

39:13

They like started his moment right. It

39:16

wasn't really that wasn't the moment. It.

39:18

Kind of felt like for Drew it was

39:20

the moment. He. Was

39:22

in the ring getting to hold the title.

39:25

He was giving Sas a looks set, was

39:27

in tears. Drew Mcintyre had a look of

39:29

almost respect. For. What He

39:31

and Seth Rollins just gone through Drew

39:33

Mcintyre as had is headed lady at

39:35

ringside. Gave. Her

39:37

a hug it. It really happened. And

39:40

then Drew Mcintyre made a choice. Timing

39:45

is. Everything. Drew.

39:48

Mcintyre made this choice. He.

39:51

Slowly. Turns.

39:54

His head. And.

39:56

Realizes that Cm Punk. Is

39:58

still sitting at the commentary. Able. So.

40:01

What does he do? He right

40:03

walks right up to him. The

40:05

guy who's wrestle mania moment that

40:07

he stole. He walked right up.

40:10

To. Cm Punk, And

40:12

puts it right in his face. And

40:15

then he turns his back to Cm Punk. Stanza

40:18

by the table has been Cm Punk able to

40:20

trip him and beat take off. The Braves hit

40:22

him with. The Braves beat him down just enough

40:24

for Damien Priests to realize what's happened. And.

40:27

Cm Punk is left laughing as Damien

40:29

Priests holds the title in the air.

40:31

Now you've got Damien Priest as the

40:33

World Champion who hasn't lost any of

40:36

his heat. Any

40:38

that Drew Mcintyre who we did see

40:40

have the moment have it all snatched

40:43

away from him. And ultimately it was

40:45

Cm Punk. That. Snatched it

40:47

all away from him. It

40:50

really is. After

40:52

Wrestlemania especially night to. Changing.

40:55

The way I look at scenarios, I think it's going

40:57

to change the way we have these conversations while we

40:59

are in an era where this might happen Or that

41:01

might happen. You. Know. I.

41:05

Thought it was awesome and then for Cm

41:07

Punk to make the surprise appearance on Raul.

41:10

Stopping. Drew Mcintyre from becoming

41:12

the number one contender. I

41:14

don't know when we're getting the Cm Punk,

41:16

Drew Mcintyre match. I'm. See.

41:20

I feel like Drew Mcintyre is gonna

41:22

be the champion at some point. So

41:24

when when Cm Punk was on area

41:26

Hawaii show, he said that. He

41:29

wasn't necessary like that. The.

41:31

Timing and him coming back was gonna be

41:34

more based around business than just the injury.

41:36

It's not like as soon as the injuries

41:38

healed Cm Punk is back in he said

41:40

and everything counts the he be back in

41:42

when it made sense for business. Days:

41:45

Backlash: Cm Punk vs Drew Mcintyre is Cm

41:47

Punk shield enough for it? I don't know

41:50

is it makes sense for business for to

41:52

happen a Backlash? Oh no. You.

41:54

Know part of me felt like. They.

41:57

Were going do. Through.

42:00

Though they were going to do, they'll do

42:02

Damien Priest. Vs. J Uso

42:04

A Backlash. And

42:07

then the next. I don't

42:09

know what the I think there's another paper view. I

42:12

don't know. But. Clash.

42:14

At The Castle is in Glasgow,

42:16

Scotland. In June. I. Kind

42:19

of thought they were gonna go with

42:21

Damian Priest. Vs Drew Mcintyre

42:23

in Glasgow, Scotland. Blood.

42:27

On this road with punk? He doesn't. Necessarily.

42:30

Make says the that would have an ill be really

42:32

interesting if you just do. Drew.

42:35

Mcintyre vs. Punk in Glasgow.

42:38

Because. Then.

42:40

Like how are they gonna react as a

42:42

gonna be thrilled to see Cm Punk? Are

42:44

they going to cheer for the hometown boy?

42:47

the Scottish warrior Drew Mcintyre? Either.

42:49

Way. It's. Gonna be really,

42:51

really cool. I'm elsewhere, of

42:54

course. The draft was

42:56

announced is actually a week before

42:58

backlash so to be interesting to

43:00

see. Ah how those two Kind

43:02

of a. Coexist right? Like

43:04

how stories are built, our story going to

43:06

be interrupted by the fact that the draft

43:09

I always hate when they do a draft

43:11

a week before paper view. Unless

43:14

you can build stories where there's no

43:16

tomorrow. J. You cell

43:18

has to win this match or he'll never right

43:20

of Damien Priest has drafted of the Judgment Day

43:22

as a whole. Is drafted to

43:24

smack down. And. Then

43:26

all of a sudden Jay has to

43:28

be Damien Priest. Tonight is Jay use

43:31

or was not drafted Smackdown? So.

43:33

This is one shot at Jamie Briggs. Those

43:35

are stories you can download. Stories I would

43:38

imagine would be told because in this era

43:40

of Ww Ii, Every

43:42

opportunity to tell a story

43:44

it appears. Is.

43:46

Being taken to Dallas story. And.

43:49

Is an awesome awesome thing to

43:51

witness. I want to thank all

43:53

you guys that came out to

43:56

the Helium Comedy Club. I'm in

43:58

Philadelphia on Wednesday. We had

44:00

an amazing house. We had an amazing

44:02

time with Mark Henry, Johnny Guard yeah

44:05

no, Candace, Lorraine are Truth and Meghan

44:07

Moran all their onstage with me. And

44:09

for you guys that were there you

44:11

know that some of the conversations will

44:14

simply never make the air ssssss but

44:16

some of it. well I'll get some

44:18

video up you'll be able is he

44:20

Some highlights? Were you really. You.

44:23

Really want to be their lives. We. Started

44:25

with the show at the Royal Rumble in

44:27

Tampa this year. Ah and that had a

44:30

real Ripley and Samantha Irvin, and then General

44:32

Briscoe, Tommy Dreamer and who kid all coming

44:34

together which was unbelievable. That has it made

44:36

it's way to video yet. And then ah

44:39

we're of course Wrestlemania Week which is the

44:41

show I just described. I

44:44

would save. You're going to Toronto for money

44:46

in the bank Lead Thursday Open. And

44:49

Guy leaves Thursday night open. Is.

44:52

Not Sam Wrestling live is on

44:54

the road. And. We're.

44:57

Going to be there for every

44:59

exciting show that we can possibly

45:01

be there for in this amazing

45:03

Paul Avec era. Of Ww

45:06

Ii. Let's get to these emails. I know

45:08

you guys got a lot to say after

45:10

an amazing. Wrestlemania.

45:12

Weekend. I hope not a new know what?

45:15

Honestly, I don't know because I haven't checked

45:17

emails yet. You know I checked emails live

45:19

on year. But. If.

45:21

I'm getting a bunch of emails there

45:24

are roasting me. Either.

45:26

A. For. The Damien Priests

45:28

take or be. For. The

45:30

worst. Analysis

45:32

that I've ever given. with that Seth

45:35

Rollins saying on the on the Sunday

45:37

Emergency Cast. Ah, deserve it. I

45:39

roast you. If you want to roast me,

45:41

Roast me. Tyler rights in.

45:44

Same. First learnt amazing Wrestlemania it was.

45:46

I was watching with a few my

45:48

friends the did not like Ww Ii

45:50

and even talk negatively about it often.

45:53

And see how you could even maintain friendships

45:55

with people like that? There.

45:57

Are people who think that pro wrestling.

46:01

They're called. Idiots. Ignorant.

46:04

Boobs. Fools.

46:07

Who develop opinions on things they know nothing

46:09

about? because all you have to do is

46:11

watch wrestling for a second. And. You'll

46:14

realize is amazing. Their.

46:17

Eyes were glued to the Tv and now they

46:19

are. Hope that's around talking about few things I

46:22

want your thoughts on. Okay, I'll probably give Lsc.

46:25

We. Obviously should have. Should.

46:28

Have been and should continued to knowledge Roman Reigns

46:30

is the tribal sheath one ones up for the

46:32

tribal chief, ones up for the traveled. For.

46:35

What he has done for the company

46:37

in everyone around him is nothing short

46:39

of the go for sure goaded for

46:41

sure. However, Rollins deserves huge props as

46:43

well. He had a lot to do

46:45

with the success privilege even alluded to

46:47

its rounds made the World Heavyweight Championship

46:49

mean something. Rollins is low key. Up

46:53

here. I'm a big

46:55

Seth Rollins guy. Seth. Rollins

46:57

is probably the most underrated

46:59

star on the roster, and

47:02

he's. The. Former World Heavyweight

47:04

champion so he's highly rated and

47:06

still underrated. M I P. Ah,

47:10

To I felt the alley night Aj Styles

47:12

match should have been more extreme given the

47:14

build up. I see where you're coming from.

47:16

I think they didn't want to take any

47:18

he'd away from the street fight. But.

47:21

You're not wrong. You. Know the

47:23

right I like the earth pull apart

47:25

brawl did they did the media day

47:27

the yeah me I think the you

47:29

know with. The. Main event being

47:31

bloodline rolls with Saturday night having the rock

47:33

now there every we going to get fired

47:36

of be disqualified him with the street fight

47:38

between the profits in the Final Testament. I

47:40

just think there's only so many three matches

47:42

you can do. but it you're not wrong.

47:45

Three. Take Your coming back was a

47:47

better move than Austen. Even though you

47:49

have you, he preferred Austen. That's ah,

47:52

take. I'm not saying it's

47:54

wrong either. I think take

47:56

your coming back was more surprising than Austin.

47:58

I think god the guy. The going

48:01

off is always an

48:03

amazing thing. Ah, I

48:07

wasn't disappointed that taker came out. At

48:10

all. I loved it! And

48:13

for she drew get double booked from

48:15

now on so he is not board.

48:20

The. Good question. I mean. That.

48:22

We cost him now. I take

48:25

your body gave rights and day's

48:27

coming from Aberdeen Scotland. Money in.

48:30

San. Love the Shield references In the

48:32

Wrestlemania Main Event is started a row Rumble Twenty

48:34

Twenty Two and Roman get so frustrated with set

48:37

coming out of the Shield music in their master.

48:39

The ended up getting himself the tude analysis Main

48:41

Event said comes out to the Shield music in

48:43

the Shield year again as he knows it frustrates

48:45

Roman. He made sure to get a chair into

48:48

the rain because he yeah he knows Roman never

48:50

got that betrayal and he was right. Roman with

48:52

the chair in hand to get says instead of

48:54

Cody was causing the that's true said truly was

48:57

Cody Shield brilliant. Loved it Dave hit the nail

48:59

on the head of my opinion. My friend

49:01

wish I'd been. That's a sink on Sunday,

49:03

I hope. The. You forgive me. And

49:05

my analysis today was bar. I

49:07

felt real bad of I mean I'm

49:10

I've literally. For. Days.

49:12

Then. Kicking

49:14

myself. Real mad at

49:16

me. Real mad at me. Derek.

49:20

Rights and what a time to be a

49:22

pro wrestling fan. We all love saying that

49:24

don't we start sports entertainment by the way,

49:26

Still sports entertainment but also progressing. I thought

49:29

I was going to be able to have

49:31

a victory lap as Stone Cold prediction email,

49:33

but the Undertaker is an amazing consolation prize.

49:36

Under the rules. Would. J going after priests

49:38

duty. they will be the first opponent for Cody. I

49:41

mean good question. I didn't answer that right. I mean.

49:46

You gotta look at Raw and Smackdown! A

49:50

Backlash. When. You

49:52

look at what happened at Wrestlemania. to

49:56

be a lot of people Any

50:00

big... There

50:02

weren't a lot... That's the thing about WrestleMania is there weren't

50:04

a lot of big heel wins. And

50:10

that's by design, right? It was, as we said,

50:12

at WrestleMania, good guys win. Except

50:14

for all the years that Roman won. I

50:19

don't know. I'm gonna have my eyes on SmackDown. I

50:22

don't know if Cody will be on SmackDown. I hope he is.

50:24

I wouldn't be surprised if he was. I'll

50:27

bet it'll be somebody from SmackDown. I'm

50:30

just not 100% who yet. And

50:32

by the way, how about R-Truth and

50:34

A-Town Down Under winning tag team championship gold?

50:37

I love it. Riley...

50:42

Rites in. I'll

50:46

admit, I haven't watched wrestling for years. That

50:48

is until last year. I

50:50

love hearing stuff like this. You know I love hearing

50:52

stuff like this. I got the rocks, goosebumps on

50:55

my arm right now. I

50:57

was drawn back in with Sami Zayn and the

50:59

bloodline. Of course you were. I

51:01

continue to commit a cardinal sin and I only

51:04

watch the pay-per-views and never turned into Raw or

51:06

SmackDown. Come on, bro. It's rule

51:08

number one. Watch the product. That

51:10

doesn't mean PLEs. That means the

51:13

product. That all changed today. I

51:15

love this. As I

51:17

was too intrigued not to and thought

51:19

it was time to properly... There, my

51:22

man, Riley, watched the product. Just one

51:24

episode of Raw in and I can't

51:26

stand how these ad breaks destroy any

51:28

momentum the show has. They gave you

51:30

the first hour commercial free. Television

51:34

shows have commercials. Sorry,

51:36

dude. It's

51:39

borderline criminal, in my opinion. It's... Are

51:42

you writing into my podcast to tell me you don't

51:44

like the TV shows to have commercials? Is that where

51:46

we're at right now? Who's gonna pay for the show?

51:51

How long has it been like this? What,

51:53

Raw having commercials? Since

51:56

the dawn of time. And before Raw,

51:58

I'm gonna tell you this is gonna shock... The Riley. Every

52:02

show on television has commercials. I know, I

52:04

know, Ah,

52:07

I can't say I'll be tuning in

52:09

next Monday. Now it's it's let's examine.

52:13

I hope the ads or less dude, I'm

52:15

not finished in the see if you're seriously

52:17

going. I've

52:19

I love Roberts is there's too

52:21

many commercial. It's a television show.

52:24

It got the standard amount of

52:26

breaks, poor television show, and the

52:28

first hour was commercial free. You're.

52:32

A Me. I love you

52:34

for emailing it. I have. You don't

52:36

mind if you're watching on you tube The ad breaks. Richard.

52:40

Wright say and ah. What's.

52:43

In code his hand. We even talk about

52:45

this. Here's my theory: The Rock told Cody

52:47

he was a mistake baby in the death

52:49

of Mistake baby in the Build a Wrestlemania

52:51

Forty One of the Rockingham A kind of

52:53

just a plant. the seed reminders how much

52:55

of it's kind of do. I

52:57

I like it. It's funny. Is that a

52:59

condom? Cody. Obviously an emotional

53:01

reaction. I have no idea what the

53:04

rock handed Cody. Ah,

53:07

I saw theories could have been a hall of fame

53:09

rain good of and I was. Maybe.

53:11

Something gusty had. Maybe that never

53:14

break my heart again. I

53:18

don't know what it was. Maybe. It was

53:20

something Cody once gave the rod that the rock was giving

53:22

back to Cody because he hates and now. I.

53:25

Don't know I'm interested, but it was not a

53:27

condom. Ah,

53:32

Eight in rights in from

53:35

New Zealand Kia Ora Mine

53:37

Man. From New

53:39

Zealand. the Nazi and

53:41

Wrestling podcast is so

53:43

global. My.

53:45

Name's Aid and I started listening. And twenty

53:47

seventeen, my guy. Fun! Fact: I

53:49

started listening view before my daughter

53:52

was do and now she is

53:54

six! Oh My. God. And

53:56

religion you on the right school and she

53:58

loves W W E. There's a

54:00

what her name was Roman tell you ate his

54:02

daughter. You're. The best! That's.

54:05

Awesome! I appreciate that. I

54:07

hope the day you don't mind the daddy listens to

54:09

this. Just. My interpretation and said round

54:11

coming out shield year I looked at it in

54:13

terms of set new the monster he created when

54:15

he betrayed Roman all those years ago and is

54:18

trust said knew he had debate and sacrifice to

54:20

really be cody sealed and I take the hit

54:22

on the chair and ultimately baiting Roman in. Thoughts

54:24

on this or that are far Each night you

54:26

nailed it. Did you nailed it? I was off

54:28

on this one. You are right. I.

54:31

Feel. I don't like the way that feels when someone comes

54:33

into my mouth. I don't like Anna like saying that stuff.

54:35

I really did not like that at all. Ah,

54:39

Dustin Rights and greetings from Toronto.

54:42

To. The God Of Wrestling Podcast Dustin.

54:46

What? Are you doing on the fourth

54:48

of July? Dustin? First.

54:50

Of all I caught will you said quietly into

54:52

the mike on your emergency by guess I need

54:54

to have Wrestlemania as I'm sure most people did

54:57

on be see you in Toronto for the live

54:59

not seem during Money in the Bank Oh did

55:01

I say that? Did I say that. Hope.

55:05

Your for you. Know. I.

55:08

Can express words how excited I am to

55:10

witness your live show. I can express word

55:12

suis as with I express how I wow I'm

55:14

excited to see you Dustin. They're

55:16

going out of the media. The Mailer. Love

55:18

that Almeida the matter. Me: To the mailers

55:21

better. Is the dribble aged look absolutely

55:23

piss to you walking down the ramp into

55:25

the ring. When Cody call them out, you

55:27

were their lives. see main aim: You may

55:29

haven't gotten the right angle. Yeah to get

55:32

it right at all. Watching it last. Year

55:35

the sets up. But. Presuming you've seen

55:37

the televised version, he did not look like a

55:39

happy to oblige at all and least to me

55:41

thought I don't think he was. Angry.

55:44

I'm. I did you. Just you

55:46

know, would Triple H watch the ring? You Just

55:48

intense Triple H. I think that's

55:50

all it was. You know, I don't. I think Triple H. Probably.

55:53

Ask Cody not to do that and Cody did it

55:55

anyway. but I don't think it's everything he would a

55:58

gotten mad at. Ah, Let's

56:00

see. This. Person with no name.

56:02

right in. I'm going to my first

56:05

ever Debbie. I'm you. He showed Detroit

56:07

Friday night Detroit. What Detroit? What? So

56:10

excited! Still trying to digest Roman Reigns Not

56:12

safe anymore. Been hoping to see Cody Friday

56:14

night. I. Hope you enjoy

56:16

your time. At Mania week! Yeah

56:18

dude, you get have a blast or lady, you're

56:20

going to have a blast. Everyone

56:24

on Friday to smackdown you go to a Smackdown

56:26

were Roman Reigns is no longer than a Mac

56:29

and say it almost had travelled from from magazine

56:31

that. Ah, Andrew Rights

56:33

and Sam I am. I rate

56:35

with all the Seth Rollins slander.

56:37

Thank you. I deserve it. Said.

56:41

Losses title because he was focused on the

56:43

bloodline. said a drone drew us is how

56:45

because use focus on Cm Punk. The only

56:47

reason Roman lost the title was due to

56:49

being focused on getting revenge on Seth Rollins

56:51

instead of delivering the finishing blow to Cody.

56:54

It was the Max Wrestlemania and something that

56:56

could only have come to fruition through a

56:58

true visionary acknowledged the architect. Andrew.

57:01

says. Did not deserve an ounce

57:04

of the slander that was given to him

57:06

on this podcast just days ago. If.

57:10

I didn't I have to. it's integrity to

57:12

take the pie guess down but it is

57:14

shameful moment that part of the rest api

57:16

gives great underestimate. I guess that part of

57:19

it. Very. Said above.

57:21

Anybody that knows me, I've talked him it. I

57:23

feel bad about. Andrew

57:25

Rights and Juri emergency pod. thank you. He said

57:27

he didn't understand why Settled in a She'll Gear

57:29

that time I was with you but as I

57:31

think about it more as a good the case

57:33

of Everything counts, August advises some of you also.

57:37

Yeah. I'm just glad it was. Some of us

57:39

were all so caught up in the moment that we

57:42

miss things. I beat myself up over it though. In.

57:44

And Robin chose to does a I chose his

57:47

desire to get revenge on Says over keeping his

57:49

title. That's why I chose the headset and Cody

57:51

and Romans mine. Ah, he has always been in

57:53

the right because that's hard on him. Yet for

57:55

Zola years ago, this eventually creating this monster says.

57:58

Was. in his head of the royal rumble winner Roman

58:00

lost by DQ some beautiful long-term

58:03

storytelling, but let me know if you agree

58:05

or not. I agree agree. You're right I appreciate

58:07

by the way. I appreciate you guys not Destroying

58:10

me because you're bigger people than I

58:12

am. I've been very Impatient

58:16

with some emailers and you emailers should

58:18

have been this was this was me

58:21

like you guys have every right to be

58:23

Avengers to me the way everyone the bloodline

58:25

ever messed with came back for Roman Reigns

58:28

at WrestleMania when

58:30

I my Reaction to the

58:32

Seth Rollins stuff you emailers that

58:34

I've blasted have every right to come back

58:36

on me and blast me now You

58:44

Yoy, yoy, yoy, yoy,

58:46

yola, yola, yoy, yola, yola,

58:49

yola I'll call you a

58:51

yoy, yola stuff for me

58:53

to say but I really appreciate you Many

58:55

thanks for all you're doing and educating and entertaining us

58:57

with your various platforms podcast YouTube videos and even the

58:59

bump Don't forget raw talk what

59:02

and the countdown shows what's your take on

59:04

people being so Tied to contracts

59:07

that even Dustin Rhodes Cody's brother was not able to

59:09

be at ringside to witness an epic moment in the

59:11

life Of his younger brother Cody winning at WrestleMania because

59:13

his aw contract. It could be wrong, but it's such

59:15

a shame I mean, it's business, you know,

59:17

I think you know People

59:19

are under contract. You can't just have if you're

59:22

trying to run a business You

59:24

can't have wrestlers just going show to

59:26

show to your competition, you know,

59:28

I mean And

59:30

when people you could make deals and deals have

59:33

been made before people have made appearances Chris Jericho

59:35

appeared on the stone cold podcast, you know, Billy

59:37

Gunn was at the Hall of Fame that year,

59:39

but like You

59:42

know, there are also times where you're in competition and

59:44

it's like no A

59:46

w's looking at the WWE having one

59:48

of the biggest moments ever and

59:51

they're like, we don't want to add to it What good does

59:53

that do us? You could argue that

59:55

it does because it'll bring the whole industry up or you

59:57

could argue that AWS better just hanging out

59:59

in their own own sandbox, but if it's your sandbox,

1:00:01

you know, why

1:00:03

help the, why help the competition? Um,

1:00:07

unless, you know, there's a business purpose for it.

1:00:11

Okay. Starting in hot Cody one, are we done

1:00:13

seeing the final boss? No. Do

1:00:15

we get Roman in the rock in the near

1:00:17

future? It depends on what your, uh, uh,

1:00:20

take on the near future is, or is it a slow

1:00:22

burn situation? I think it's more of a slow burn. Like

1:00:24

it's not, it's not within the next three

1:00:26

months. If that's what you're asking, I

1:00:28

don't think no one really spoke much about senior

1:00:30

money in the bank. Do you think, uh, the

1:00:33

surprise factor is why they did it? Like

1:00:36

you said, I thought it made zero sense

1:00:38

to have them cash in happen on McIntyre yet here we are.

1:00:40

No, it made sense the way they did it. I thought it

1:00:42

made a lot of sense the way they did it. We have

1:00:44

a new world champion. I thought

1:00:47

coming out of WrestleMania, if you really

1:00:49

watched it, which I finally really watched

1:00:51

it, Rollins looked great. McIntyre looked great.

1:00:55

Damien priest looked great and CM Punk look great. So

1:00:58

that's the goal. Right? Tim

1:01:00

writes in a Sam first time

1:01:03

emailer got to call you out. Good.

1:01:06

Regarding the finish of night two of WrestleMania on

1:01:08

your emergency. But I guess you said Seth didn't

1:01:10

really do anything to help Cody and got taken

1:01:12

out by Roman. Not true. He came out in

1:01:14

the shield gear, knowing it would trigger Roman and

1:01:16

take his attention away from Cody momentarily, which it

1:01:18

did Roman chose to hit Seth in the back

1:01:20

with the chair exactly. I've set that it's Roman

1:01:22

10 years ago. Yes. Roman chose

1:01:24

revenge over keeping the championship. Yes. Seth was

1:01:27

ultimately the downfall and final nail in the

1:01:29

coffin of Romans reign. Yes. He kept this

1:01:31

promise to Cody by being a shield. Perfect

1:01:33

storytelling. It was perfect. Tim, you are right.

1:01:35

I was wrong. A hundred percent. You are

1:01:37

good to email me and call me out. Um,

1:01:41

Michael writes in Sam. What's the Haps?

1:01:43

Uh, I hope all the events in Philly went well

1:01:45

for you. Uh, if you've already spoke about this, forgive

1:01:47

me. But I think after all the events that happened

1:01:50

at WrestleMania last year, Royal Rumble dished you to the

1:01:52

press conference in January to WrestleMania last night, there needs

1:01:54

to be rule number four and that's let them cook.

1:01:56

That's all. I'm not ready to make it an official

1:01:58

rule. It's certainly a theme. Can't wait

1:02:00

to see that YouTube video, the documentary

1:02:03

on everything that went into this year's WrestleMania, by

1:02:05

the way. At

1:02:09

Hill, I don't know if that's your name, right then.

1:02:11

I just wanted to point out Seth Rollins' contribution to

1:02:14

the great saga, as I haven't seen many people acknowledge

1:02:16

it online. Seth won the world title and did everything

1:02:18

in his power to make it relevant, and

1:02:20

prizes, prestigious as the undisputed title, because

1:02:23

he blames himself for the creation of

1:02:25

Roman Reigns. He destroyed his

1:02:27

own body, trying to fix his mistake, and

1:02:29

nearly succeeded as talents like Priest, McIntyre, and

1:02:31

Gunther started to prize the

1:02:33

world title as more prestigious than the undisputed

1:02:35

title. I don't know if more prestigious, but

1:02:38

up there. He definitely elevated it. He

1:02:41

wanted Cody to choose him. No, you're

1:02:43

right. You're 100% right, dude. You're 100% right. It's

1:02:45

a little long. You're 100% right. Corey

1:02:48

is hitting me back, responding tonight to an emergency

1:02:50

pod. I believe that Seth was intended to be

1:02:52

Cody's shield, maybe not as planned, but still. Definitely

1:02:55

right. Not in the traditional

1:02:58

sense, but yes. If

1:03:00

we're going to elevate wrestling, we have to be able

1:03:02

to analyze wrestling. I have to be able to analyze

1:03:04

wrestling. It won't happen again. Listening

1:03:06

to your night two reaction. This is from Michael

1:03:08

in Toronto. Having

1:03:12

Seth come out as the shield made total sense. It

1:03:14

absolutely did. Roman wanted revenge when

1:03:16

Seth got back in. Yes, you're 100% right,

1:03:18

Michael. I appreciate you. Josh

1:03:21

writes in. Thank

1:03:25

you for both emergency pod guests after spending all day

1:03:27

at Mania. Seth showing up at Shield Gear. Shield Gear

1:03:29

did make sense. Yes.

1:03:31

100% right. Seth appeared to need

1:03:34

help from Kevin Owens out of the ring. Seth

1:03:36

was selling the weekend or is he that hurt?

1:03:39

No, I mean, I think he's selling a whole

1:03:41

career. He's selling

1:03:43

everything. Seth being helped out

1:03:45

with the fact that he's destroyed his body defending

1:03:47

the world heavyweight title. He's

1:03:49

destroyed his body throughout his career and the one

1:03:51

last shot he gave to Cody so that Cody

1:03:53

could beat Roman Reigns. That's

1:03:56

100%. One

1:03:59

last thing. I'm so pumped for the CM

1:04:01

Punk pipe bomb defining moments figure announced by ringside

1:04:03

collectibles. A while back I asked you what your

1:04:05

holy grail wrestling figure was and you said the

1:04:08

upcoming CM Punk figures. This is a version I've

1:04:10

always wanted. I've already pre-ordered it. Yeah. Yeah,

1:04:13

I'm with you, dude. I was very psyched to see

1:04:15

it on the panel when we revealed it. Larry

1:04:18

writes in, uh, dear Sammy

1:04:20

brand muffins. I truly hope this

1:04:23

makes the show. It's making it

1:04:25

because this week I've been, uh,

1:04:27

wrestling with these feelings that the

1:04:29

night to main

1:04:32

event didn't deliver how I hoped. Wow.

1:04:35

That's a wild take. I admittedly

1:04:37

wanted Roman to keep the title in

1:04:39

perpetuity. Me you and mr. Wonderful from

1:04:42

shark tank. But I guess

1:04:44

it's just not sitting right with me that

1:04:46

Cody also got to cheat

1:04:48

in a match named bloodline rules. Look, that

1:04:50

was another thing that I will never apologize

1:04:52

for. Because I didn't predict

1:04:55

the bloodline rules meant that nobody

1:04:57

else could interfere. I said

1:04:59

the bloodline rules should mean that

1:05:01

that's all the fact that it

1:05:03

didn't. That's a mistake that the bloodline made. Uh,

1:05:08

yeah. Me thinks a dusty

1:05:10

finishes a foot. Paul and the final boss use

1:05:12

that loophole to strip Cody at the championship. No,

1:05:15

no, you don't have Cody beat

1:05:17

Roman Reigns and do a dusty finish.

1:05:20

It's insane. I know. I'm

1:05:22

trying to be much more sensitive with my emails

1:05:24

because clearly, I mean, if I had been right

1:05:26

about everything at WrestleMania, I would have been a

1:05:28

monster. But now I'm

1:05:30

being a little more sensitive, a little bit more careful.

1:05:34

Uh, let's do two more. Matt

1:05:40

writes in, I think you may

1:05:42

have to introduce a new rule for the NASA,

1:05:44

not Sam universe. Watch the product, speculate wildly. Everything

1:05:46

counts. And we don't fantasy book. Roman Reigns just

1:05:48

thought I have to disagree with you, dude. That

1:05:50

tweet that Roman sent out. I

1:05:53

have to say we are safe

1:05:55

to fantasy book Roman Reigns for at least the

1:05:57

time being that may change, but for at least

1:06:00

the time being, I've got to allow it.

1:06:02

Alright, last one. TJ

1:06:05

writes in, WrestleMania was my

1:06:07

favorite mania. Wow,

1:06:09

WrestleMania was my favorite ever mania. Night

1:06:12

one was really good. The cold weather

1:06:14

definitely had a part in the crowd

1:06:16

coming off as dull, but trust me

1:06:18

there was still energy. Every match delivered.

1:06:20

Oh, except for Jay versus Jimmy, okay.

1:06:22

He says, night two was outstanding. I

1:06:24

loved every match, especially seeing the Avengers stop the

1:06:27

bloodline and Cody finishing the story. This was the

1:06:29

best mania of all time and I'm glad I

1:06:31

could say I was there. I mean,

1:06:37

yeah, WrestleMania 40

1:06:40

was amazing. When

1:06:42

I got home

1:06:44

from Philadelphia, the first thing

1:06:46

that I did, and this is how you know, dude, I

1:06:49

mean, dude, I

1:06:51

went to, I drove to Philadelphia on

1:06:53

Wednesday in the pouring rain, checked

1:06:57

into the hotel, got things

1:06:59

together, went and did a

1:07:01

live not Sam wrestling podcast,

1:07:04

pulled it off. It was great. Couldn't

1:07:07

find food anywhere, was starving, went to

1:07:09

bed hungry, woke up like, you know,

1:07:12

whatever. Five hours later, walked

1:07:14

over to WWE world, did

1:07:16

the bump. That

1:07:18

was Thursday. I don't

1:07:21

even remember what happened the rest of Thursday.

1:07:24

I feel like stuff happened. I'm still in a

1:07:26

days. Friday

1:07:29

woke up again. Oh, Thursday

1:07:33

night was while a mania, of course. So

1:07:37

woke up early, went to the bump,

1:07:39

did the bump, hung out at WWE

1:07:41

world, finally found some food,

1:07:43

then went to Walla mania at night,

1:07:45

which was a scene. Friday,

1:07:48

wake up again, get to go

1:07:50

do the Pat McAfee show sitting at

1:07:52

the desk with Pat McAfee, the

1:07:55

Pat McAfee boys, Boston Connor, the whole group

1:07:57

of them, and Michael Cole. Friday

1:08:02

night, have a great dinner

1:08:04

with some great wrestling fans, including a

1:08:06

wrestling for sale and old, uh, dip

1:08:09

Dipperstein and, uh, get

1:08:12

ready for countdown to

1:08:14

stand and deliver with Megan Marant,

1:08:17

which we woke up at six 30 in the

1:08:19

morning on Saturday to

1:08:22

get to the arena to do so

1:08:24

we could go live at 11 a.m. Then

1:08:27

walked right over to the

1:08:29

stadium so we could take in WrestleMania

1:08:31

night one recorded an

1:08:33

emergency podcast woke

1:08:36

up the next morning gave CM Punk

1:08:38

a slammy presented the new CM Punk

1:08:40

action figures alongside CM Punk and the

1:08:42

boys at Mattel went

1:08:45

over to the stadium to

1:08:48

be a part of WrestleMania night to record

1:08:51

an emergency podcast woke up the next

1:08:53

morning early went

1:08:56

and recorded the bump or recorded

1:08:58

did it live at WWE world

1:09:01

one of the highest watched bumps of

1:09:03

all time I appreciate that more than

1:09:05

you know got

1:09:07

some lunch after the bump drove

1:09:11

home ran out of gas on the

1:09:13

way had to wait by the side of the road

1:09:15

for about 40 minutes got the car going again got some

1:09:17

gas in drove home I had

1:09:20

an hour and a half before I had to drive

1:09:22

to Stanford to do raw

1:09:24

talk live on peacock and

1:09:27

in that hour and a half after that whole weekend you

1:09:29

know what I did I turned

1:09:32

on the main event of WrestleMania 40 to watch it

1:09:34

with my son I

1:09:36

wasn't wrestling doubt I

1:09:38

wasn't just give me an escape just give me a break

1:09:42

I've just had the most intense wrestling weekend of all

1:09:44

time I've got an hour and a half before I

1:09:46

talk about wrestling again what am I gonna do

1:09:49

I grabbed my seven year old son I don't

1:09:51

tell him who won between Cody and Roman Reigns because he

1:09:53

loves him both and

1:09:56

I watch him lose his mind at

1:09:58

seven years old At

1:10:00

the same storytelling that I'm losing my

1:10:03

mind watching at 40 years old that

1:10:05

you're losing your mind watching This

1:10:08

is the magic of professional

1:10:10

wrestling. This is the magic

1:10:12

of WWE WrestleMania

1:10:15

40 fucking ruled Thank

1:10:18

you for listening to not Sam wrestling

1:10:21

subscribe like rating

1:10:23

review comment We'll

1:10:26

see you soon