AEW All In delivers & WWE Sunday Night's Main Event preview | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #864 – 9/3/26

0:00 It's still really a big damage in it! [Music] What up, ee-e-e-e! [Music] Welcome, everybody! Welcome to this week's a Disney Sto Rola show. Episode 864 for September 3rd, 2026. This is your AW All-In and NXT Feedwave, Recap and Review Edition of SRTU. I am on app to show I am Jeff Peck, joined every single week in my post along with Dr. Craig Franklin, Dr. Trey.

0:42 Did we just see the changing of the guard in London in professional wrestling, my friend? Ooh, yeah, look, because I actually had a match with Mercedes-Monaid that I actually liked. I don't know where you're going with the whole changing of the guard, but, you know, it was... Jeff, it's going to be really hard for us to pick a pay-per-view PLE that is not an AW show this year for our event of the year. It's going to be really, really difficult because WWE's going to have to step there. I mean, Summer Slam was great, Russell Manie was okay, but that show was really hard, going to be pretty hard at the top.

1:26 So, at the end of the year. We will preview, we'll recap and review AW All-In here in just a few moments. We will also preview and predict WWE Sunday night main event this Sunday on Peckock in Atlanta, GA. But let's get into a Dr. Trey. Let's talk about AW All-In, recap and review this past Sunday from Wembley Stadium in London, England. Let's go through the match results here. You had Swarth Strickland and the debuting new level, more on them in a bit. Kofi Kingston and Austin Creed defeating Hangman at a Page Bandito in Brody King, the Bang Bang Gang, the demand, the dogs, the deathwriters and the conglomeration in the AW Trios were let Royal.

2:07 They now have won the AW World Trios Championship. Andrade El Ilo won the Casino Gauntlet match for a future AW World Championship opportunity. The Brawling Birds defeated Divine Dominion to win the AW Women's World Triathlon Championship. Darby Allen defeated Kevin Knight in a false count anywhere in match to win the TNT Championship. Cus it's go-cotted. If he had to call a Fletcher in Cunosca, Tikesh, you're going to triple-threat match to win the AW International Championship. John Moxley defeated Nigel McGinnis in the Continental Challenge Cup Final to retain the AW Championship. Adam Copeland, Christian Cage defeated Young Bucks to retain the AW World Triathlon Championship. Mercedes Monet defeated the WL-9 Gale to win the AW Women's World Championship. Joe Laspert defeated Kenny Omega to win the AW World Championship.

2:49 And then some other all-in notes that came out from the buy-in, Persephone defeated Maya World on the buy-in to win the TBS Championship after a mass Brit Baker interfered. Brit Baker revealing herself and made her AW return for the first time in nearly two years. Dr. Trey, last week I wasn't sold on the AW Go Home Show on Dynamite. I thought the all-in card looked great, but Dynamite didn't make AW's biggest show of the year, fearless, urgent as it should have. And then, as you pointed out, Sunday happened. And the actual event delivered a lot of the moments the building was missing. The build was missing. Will Osprey finally surpass Kenny Omega became AW World Champion in his home country. Mercedes Monet finally captured the AW Women's World Championship.

3:32 Kofi Kingston and Osprey made their AW debut as the new level and immediately won championships along, I guess. Big S, Worf Strickland. And I mentioned before, Brit Baker returning to our reality regain the TNT Championship. There's a lot of change coming out of Wembley. But the biggest stories. Will Osprey finally does it. We spent weeks talking about this rivalry being about more than who could have the better match. Osprey needed to prove he had finally surpassed Kenny and at Wembley stating with his family in his home country behind him, he finally did exactly that. Now, Dynamite immediately moved him forward. Osprey declared himself the newest standard NAW now. He's bringing his own version of United Empire to the company and already has John Moxley waiting for him at all out in Chicago.

4:16 That feels like AW clearly saying, "This is Will Osprey's company now." Then there's the other huge story, the new level. Kofi Kingston and Osprey showing up as Worf Strickland's mystery partners was a legitimate surprise they say that the contract took place and signed in less than 24 hours. Then AW didn't ease them in. They won the trio's titles immediately and just days later on Dynamite they successfully defended the championships against the Rascals. After spending essentially their entire career as the associate with WWE, this is going to take some getting used to, especially by calling them the new level. Their AW run immediately feels like something worth following. So the big questions coming out of all in Dr. Trey, I start with this one. Did all in successfully overcome the disappointing build and feel like AW's biggest show of the year?

5:05 Yeah, I must say absolutely. There was not a bad match on that card. Even the buy-in show, I would say maybe the Myo World Persephone match was the worst one, but you got the Brit Baker reappearance even though I don't really know why Brit Baker hates Myo World. Maybe she just doesn't fit a family member? I don't know. But outside of that, I thought every match was good, every match told a story, every match had reason. Right now, this is my event of the year. So even with a lackluster dynamite heading into it, I think it overcame that obstacle and surpassed my expectations, which were pretty high going in.

5:55 So I thought they delivered on all levels and a new level as well. So I really, really psyched about what AEW pulled off. Do you like that they kind of kept the move the show along because there was that, what was it, the curfew that they had in London? I think they needed to wrap it up around 10 o'clock, a London time. I mean, the show was just absolutely moving and there's been a lot of times that that show. I mean, the one in Texas went, I think, it's still going on. It feels like something's. Yes. Did they say why there was a curfew? I missed that part. I just say why? I'm not sure. I got to be honest with you. We looked at opposite to what the London hasn't.

6:36 Good news. This can hear that when London's calling, they have a bedtime. Yeah. A bite by bite. Bloody hell. I need to sleep. Yeah. Like, oh, blind me. I'm bloody tired. I just put a head down or British accents ever. You know, I felt like the pacing of the show was really, really well done. I mean, even the transition from buying to main show kicking off with right at the time that, you know, Swerve and the new level are coming out, made sense. Nothing really felt, you know, I mean, maybe Moxley McGinnis at times felt like it was, you know, going a little longer dragging, but that's more they were telling the story of, you know, Nigel trying to overcome the ankle injury more than anything else.

7:24 I mean, I thought the show flowed really well. It ended on a good note. Thank God because otherwise I still think that crowd would have rioted if Osprey had not one or somebody cashed in. But then again, if the show, if there was a riot, they immediately would have had to go to bed. So, I mean, the pacing of the show itself was really well done. And that has not been AEW's strong suit. I will say the last, about the last year, I feel like most of the pay-per-views have had a good flow to them and haven't had that law. This one just, I mean, it almost felt, this was how we're Jeff, it felt like a WWE production when it came to timing stuff out.

8:07 Yeah, no, I totally agree with you. It certainly felt that way. I did a little bit of quick research here. Wembley Stadium has a standard 10, 30 PM curfew policy for Sundays and bank holidays. Organizers can request special extensions if event runs past the limits. So, you know, I mean, we were joking around about the length of all in, especially coming out of Texas last year, being a little bit of a concern. But that certainly wasn't the case. It had a very good pace to it. And I think if AEW is going to do four hour PLEs, pay-per-views, whatever they want to call them, then I think the pace that they found is reasonable. And that's been always something that's been my issue with the AEW shows. When they do the pay-per-views, is they stuffed a lot of stuff in there and there were times.

8:52 And there's a lot of this on the buy-in stuff of matches that didn't need to be there at all. Just filler at that point and doesn't really do much for anyone or if it takes like a little minor storyline and just moves it a little bit further. I mean, I guess the biggest one to me is Persephone, defeating Maya World. There's a title change for Bakers in there from the buy-in standpoint. But I felt like the main card had a very, very good flow to it that I think it's just something that they could keep building off of. And I was thinking to myself last night when I was watching Dynamite, that it amazes me that there was this stretch for like two years ago where almost every big name was out and there was really no one marketable.

9:38 And we've gone through this point in time in the past where Hangman Page was championed last year. I think this happened a lot during Swerves Championship run and maybe even Bryan Danielson Championship run, whether it was like no true contenders because everybody was out hurt. They've got everybody running right now. And I think that's one of the main reasons why AW has been so successful in 2026 is just overall health. No, absolutely. I mean, that run, and if you go back into history of our show back in like, I think it was like 2012, we had that same issue with WWE. We're like, everybody was hurt, the show was awful. I mean, right now, I mean Chris Jericho is about to feud with Nick Wayne.

10:20 That's how much depth they have on the roster where you can take Chris Jericho who arguably should be upper mid card, mid event. And he's wrestling Nick Wayne, feud right now. I mean, having everybody available, we've talked about a show. At times you can look at AW's roster compared to WPEs, you're like, AW has more depth when everybody's helping. The problem was, you know, two years ago, everybody was hurt and that's why they played the Samoa Joe card or the John Moxley card or things like that. Just to get somebody on top that had name recognition to try to help elevate everybody else and it just didn't really work.

11:00 Right now, you can take a chance on a first time world champion like Will Osprey knowing that the depth of challengers around him can help elevate his level too. So they're in a really, really good position right now. Yeah, they're in a very, very good position and it's exciting to see and it's great for wrestling fans. And I think the way that AW is performing as of late is helped elevate the WWE game just to throw that in there. But I want to keep the focus here still on AW. Next question I have for you, Dr. Trey, is Will Osprey now unquestionably the guy AW should build the company around moving forward because this is something we've seen with some of these champions. You could point to Swarth Strickland. You could point to Hangman Page.

11:41 You could even point to MJF here on the heel side of things where these guys get the title finally after waiting for a long time for them to be crown champion, almost an uncrowned champion in the eyes of the fans. And then their runs kind of fall short a little bit like I think both Hangman Page's runs were not the best. I think MJF's run as like a heel into a baby face was not one of my favorites but as other runs as the heel champion were fantastic. And then we're kind of start stops with Swarth Strickland as well when he was champion and I always feel like Will Osprey falls into this bucket of guys that due to the AW launch have their stock has risen because of AW being another company in the United States.

12:22 Yeah, I think the question is, you know, can AW book a baby face champion? And that's been one of those discussions you and I have had for the entirety of the show is that sometimes it's really hard to book a baby face champion and keep them a baby face and not have the crowd turn against them. You look at, you know, John Cena's run when he was on top and he's the champion and then the crowd starts turning against him because, oh, you're forcing him down our throat or, you know, even Cody in recent years like, oh, you're starting to force him down our throat. We want the heel turn to come up. You know, sometimes the chase is more fun than the capture.

13:03 And we like seeing the baby faces overcome obstacles to achieve their goal to to finish the story, whatever you want to call it. But then what's the next chapter? What's the next evolution? You know, MJ, or excuse me, with Osprey right now, he has a lit me of challengers around him. But can you keep him as the centerpiece and keep fans interested? And sometimes that's going to rely on how good you book your challengers coming up. He on paper, he has all the tools to build a company around like he's young. He's athletic. He's well spoken. He has, he's great in the ring. You can do all those things with him.

13:44 It's just, you know, can you build up credible threats to where it looks like he still might lose at any moment. Boom, he overcomes his odds and he keeps him fresh and he keeps him cutting edge and he keeps them the crowd buying into him and not turning against him down the line. And I think that's what kind of what happened to hangman in his runs is we'd love the hangman chase, but then once he was on top, it's kind of like, all right, now what? Swarve is the exception. Swarve, I think we all wanted more out of Swarves run than we got. But that might have been when those like, you know, test runs like, hey, can he be the top guy? It is going to be a question of like, is this a will Osprey test run to become the long term answer?

14:29 Or are they already buying in that he is the long term answer? Talk a bit about Mercedes Monet. You mentioned at the top of the show. I mean, you have been, uh, unquivvally in this history of this podcast, someone who is not been the biggest Mercedes Monet fan, but you were kind of given her semi flowers here. So this is the opportunity full discussion on that match. Her now expected run as AW world women's champion. Your thoughts on how everything took place at all in. And I guess any apologies you want to make. All apologizing. Well, I'll say this. One thing I've always said about Mercedes and Sasha is if she's in the ring with somebody she trusts or somebody she respects or, you know, is a friend.

15:14 You know, she never had a bad match with Bailey. She never had a bad match with back to your Charlotte. It was always the other people like she would go down to their level. And we saw it in the TV S run like some of those matches against lesser quality opponents gave us bad matches. I think she loves Willow. I mean, she's never had a bad match with Willow so far. How could you not? How could you not, right? I mean, yeah. She's been on the line. I mean, Willow's fantastic. And it just sucks that, you know, her aunt's legit broken or whatever. Um, so I, I, I will say this. It was a great match. I'll give her a flowers for having a good match. I will give AW flowers because I think this is the better role for her is being on top of the division.

15:59 I've said it the entire T of her time in AW like her being TBS champion made the TBS title feel more important than the women's title. And now when you have, you know, fecla jumping into the into the Friday to get her title back, you're like, oh, this can help elevate fecla even more as well. It is going to be interesting to see like how Mercedes is booked coming out of this because dynamite. It's going to be in book like a heel, but fecla is she becoming the anti hero or are they going to switch roles in there? But this is the right position for her to be in to actually elevate people because I mean, most fans, I think they care about the TBS title, but you're supposed to care more about the world title than the mid card title.

16:46 So this is the best spot for her to be in to help elevate the rest of the division. Well, it's just funny because they, you know, they pointed out that the big three signings for 2024 in a W was will us break. Does it go caught him or say these Monet and at least two of the three of them were crowned world champions for the first time in a W on Sunday night and because it's go caught, I got a second run now as the international champion. So it's, I mean, certainly a W did not go and shotgun anything by by putting titles on these folks or world titles. I should say on these folks right away. I mean, I was making a case you got to put the world championship on will us break like right now and they did not do that. I would have figured what Sasha Banks Mercedes Monet was going to have a championship, the world champion to put on her waist within months of joining and that didn't happen.

17:32 They put the TBS title on her and she helped elevate what's considered the quote secondary championship of the AW women's division. So from a looking standpoint, I mean, it was definitely slow burn. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I think all three wrestlers are well established in the eyes of AWF a four. I would be surprised of AWF fans. I'm sure there is some. I would say maybe let's say 15 to 25% of them have no clue what new Japan is and did not pay a lick of attention. I guess a WWE over the last several years when Mercedes Monet was there. But yeah, I mean, that was something that was certainly pointed out coming out of all in was like, hey, the three big signings in 2024 and now champions here in 2026.

18:15 The last thing that I'll bring up here, Dr. Trey, the new level Austin Creed, Austin Creed, Kofi Kingston, Kofi, debuting at AW. What do you think of everything? I mean, they certainly looked refreshed. They looked rejuvenated. They look happy. What were some of your takeaways to their debut at all in and then the match on Wednesday and also against the Rascals, the first title offense? Love. I love the name. At first, I was a little worried, or I recall a brand new morning or something. I didn't know where they were going to go. But I tied in to their gaming history with the new level and the press star thing.

18:58 I thought the entrance was really well done. Kind of an homage to Double Dragon, throw a throwback video game. The music was great. Austin Creed looks fantastic. Like, that's the best I've ever seen him look. I've been following him since his TN eight days. Kofi looked happy and refreshed. Swarve looked like he was having fun. You can tell these guys are super tight. You know, off screen as well as on. I was a little surprised that not so much that none of them got eliminated, but like how quickly maybe the hangman, Brodito got eliminated, but maybe that's setting up for hangman in the box against them at some point, because that arguably is a dream match as well.

19:48 But overall, and then getting their flowers later in the show when they came out and got in the ring with the other four tag teams, you're like, wow, this, this, I mean, I don't know if they can actually bring this up, but I go back to in the new day confronted edge and threaten to break his neck on Smackdown. I mean, that's, there's history there. And that's another potential dream match that fans never thought would happen would be co-op and cage against the new against the new level. I mean, that's a dream match. The bucks in the new level, if getting FTR and the new level in the ring, I mean, it's amazing how we can sometimes complain about eight of you for getting about tag team wrestling.

20:29 And then all of a sudden they're like, nope, we got you covered, bro. I mean, the motor scene machine guns in the new day. I mean, these are all fantastic matchups that can happen. So right place, right time, right energy equals dollars for, for, you know, pay-per-view bikes. What do you think of the pair with Swarth overall? Right move, wrong move. I would like to see him just debut as a tag team, honestly. Yeah, I mean, to pay off the history of, I mean, if you can get me swarve in the new level against Hangman in the Box for the Trio's title, that might make me care about the Trio's titles. You know, that's an angle to play, but I think they're showing that like, hey, they're, they're friends, but they're not a group because you saw that later when, when creating coffee came out on their own to get in there with, in the ring with, you know, with the box and MCMG and FTR and everybody else.

21:23 So I like the pairing because there is a natural connection. I mean, that was always the comparison with, um, hit row. Oh, god, I can't believe I remember the name hit row with hit row. They were supposed to be the next version of the new day and you get that payoff now where you got swarve with the new day or the new level. So it shows that there's history. There's a friendship there. Not everybody has to be a stable in a W, but if you're like, hey, this tag team is my friend and we want to win the titles. Hey, and then they can branch off and do their own thing individually as well or, you know, and or, you know, Kofi and Austin can go off and do the tag thing and swarve can do singles and then cycle back, cycle back up much like they've done with Omega and the box or hang man in the box.

22:10 You can do the same thing here and it's always going to be fresh when it comes back up. Absolutely. Yeah. No, um, I just think probably my only takeaway was just a little like to see him just come in as a tag team rather than a trio's for the time being. So we'll see how that pays plays out with Swarth because now you went from the most dangerous man and AW to the most dangerous dancer in AW like dangerous swain of the hips and AW. So there you go. AW all in recap interview. Feel free to chime in over at patreon.com/srtupodcasts. Moving on here, NXT Heat Wave, recap, review this past Sunday from the Bert Ogden Arena in Innsburg, Texas at follow the Triple A show.

22:53 Jada Parker defeated Nadian submission match, the Vanity Project, defeated Miles Borne and Tavion Heights to win the NXT Titan Championship. Sorry, defeated Rentson Claire and Collie Armstrong and a winner take all match to win the WWE Women's Speed Championship and to unify it with her NXT Women's North American Championship that she retained. She later dropped on Tuesday's edition of NXT, the Speed Championship which also just randomly dropped the men's title as well. Jackson Drake defeated in just a backstage segment. Jackson Drake defeated Miles Borne to win the NXT North American Championship. Miles Borne takes out Tavion Heights post match. Clonnie Jordan Feet's Ken Elgrey to win the NXT Women's Championship, Grace and Waller defeats Tony D'Angelo, Cruz Montana and Zillow Fattu in a fatal four away match to win the NXT Championship which then takes us into our question from last week was whether WWE was already ready to put the NXT Championship on Zillow Fattu.

23:49 Obviously they weren't but that didn't keep it on. They didn't keep it on Tony D'Angelo either. Grace and Waller walked out of Heat Wave as the NXT Champion and honestly that might have been the smartest option for WWE Dr. Trey. Why does Waller make sense? Because he gives NXT an established personality at the top while WWE continues developing Zillow without immediately putting the entire brand on his shoulder. He was protecting that fatal four away match, Zillow Fattu. Then he came back on Tuesday, won his first NXT singles match against Tristan Angels and rejected birthrights attempt to recruit him. So he's clearly still being positioned as something important. Then you've got Miles Bourne losing everything. He entered Heat Wave holding two championships, he left with zero.

24:31 The fan needed a project took the tag titles Jackson Drake took the North American Championship. And then Bourne's frustration boiled over when he attacked Tavion Heights afterward. That's probably the other major story worth watching coming out of Heat Wave is now how do they book Miles Bourne moving forward. So some of the big questions coming out of Heat Wave Dr. Trey was putting the NXT Championship on Grayson Waller the right move instead of immediately going with Zillow Fattu? >> Yeah, because it gives Zillow something to chase. If you're trying to make Zillow Fattu a baby face, then the chase is where people get invested. We were just talking about earlier with Will Osprey. People love watching baby faces chase down the slimy heel.

25:13 And even the way Grayson won the badge is that slimy heel character. I don't know about you. I feel like their positioning Grayson is their answer in NXT to MJF. >> He's always been that way. >> Yeah. >> But they're really leaning into it now. It's a smart move because here's a guy with main, he's been main roster level talent. He knows how to work a crowd, he knows how to work an audience. He's a guy that you can kind of build baby faces off of especially young baby faces. So it's the right move especially if you're trying to get the belt off Tony D. Because I like Tony D. I think Tony D's what we call the business a good hand.

25:54 I just don't know if Tony D's a main event guy because the entire men's division has kind of felt flat with Tony D on top. And maybe Grayson is that spark to kind of light a fire under the men's division. So I think it was a smart move on their part to move the title over Grayson. >> The I totally agree and I think Grayson Wallars comparisons to MJF has been going on. To for me, at least as a fan since 2021 when he debuted in NXT and started having more of a heel character and it was very much straight from the hip. Believes what he says, controversial and what he says, pushes the envelope. And it's the type of heel that I love. And it was surprising when they ended up pairing him with a new day and he would a little bit more comedy is like big G.

26:35 Because I just didn't think that fit him. I do believe Grayson Wallars can be a guy in the main roster. And according to reports right now, I think Russell Votes said reported today that this is like being left that is a little bit of a reset. And that he can be serviceable and be successful on the main roster in the current role it is being given to him. You brought up Tony D'Angelo and that's interesting thing because there were some conflicting reports that there was a potential call up for him following heat wave. So he appeared on Tuesday's edition of heat wave that doesn't appear to be the case. And when you really take a step back when it comes to Tony D, Dr. Trey, he's been in NXT for five years now. He's got to be one of the longest tenured NXT wrestlers ever.

27:17 He was in the 2.0 air, he had the gimmick of the dawn, he's completely shed to that away. I did to feel like if they were going to make a move, they were going to do it coming out of heat wave. That at least on the short term may not be the case. He's a guy to me that the only place I could see him fitting on the main roster right now is if you call them up and put him in the vision. I think he fits that mold of the vision. He's reportedly very, very good friends with Braun Breaker. That is the only place I could see him right now. Outside of that I have no idea because I think that they had a gimmick as the dawn of NXT where they could have easily elevated him to the main roster. So yeah, I mean it's kind of clouded for a guy that's very talented. He cuts good promos.

27:58 I think he's a very strong in-ring worker, but he's just kind of dull at this point. They took a character that was really, really popular and I totally understand why they got rid of it because it was so cartoony at times. But they made him dull and boring, which I is sad to say because he gets in the ring and I don't find that whatsoever. I kind of liked the crow sting that he was rocking for a period of time when he made his return and the second incarnation on NXT. I thought that was something they could have worked on as well. So where he goes from here is a big one. And then the other one is Zillow Fought 2, Doctor Trey. Where does Zillow fit into the NXT Championship picture? He wasn't in that triple, that three on three match.

28:40 They're going to be setting up for next week's, or this coming weeks NXT with a winning three member team then fights each other in triple threat to face Grayson Walters' next opponent. Zillow looks like he's going to be wrestling the birth right. There's some rumblings that he may be called up to the main roster sooner rather than later. I mean, does he fit into the NXT Championship picture at all? I mean, I think he does, but I think it's one of those things where like, hey, let's get his feet wet. Let's get him out here. Let the fans know he has a big deal. And in a sense, they actually listened to the crowd because he came out and he was saying he earned his spot. But then Robert Stone immediately puts him in a main event title match and everybody's like, look at the nepotism.

29:23 Now he's literally fighting nepotism. So in a sense, it's a good spot for him to be in because they can always cycle in. And maybe in reality is they're trying to figure out who they want to move up and who they want to keep. I mean, you're looking at a roster now in NXT with Cruz Montana, former TNA World Champion, Nauraku, former New Japan World Champion, you got Zilla, you got Tony D, you got Grayson, you got a pretty stack and that's not even counting the young guys like Kiyano, Carver, some of the other ones we've seen. You've got a pretty stacked men's division, so maybe there are some call ups and that's kind of a Zilla, maybe in a holding pattern until they make some roster changes, I guess.

30:10 But I think he got the credibility from being in the main event match and then putting him with a slimy, he-o-like Lexus King, who apparently is the worst negotiator in the history of wrestling where they, the one girl, Zarya, she gets to retire the belt and unifying all the way down in the one. And Robert Stone goes, hey, Lexus, by the way, we're retiring that belt, sorry about your luck yet. >> Zarya, you need to get socializing. >> Your future as well. >> Yeah, yeah, like Zarya retired his belt. You know what I'm saying? Like, he didn't get a title match out, instead he got super kicked in the face by Zilla Fah, too. Like horrible negotiating skills there, kid.

30:50 But yeah, I think Zilla's one of those guys that you can kind of not temper him down, but slow it down a little bit, let him build up some in-ring work. I mean, the birthright for what you want to say about anybody in that group, they're all damn good in-ring wrestlers, every single one of the guys. Even stacks has gotten way better than he was early in his NXT career. But Charlie, Dems, he Lexus King, stacks, he's got some good people in the ring to work with, and develop his character more before either the back to the main event picture or up to the main roster. >> Yeah, it's an interesting time in NXT right now.

31:32 There's so much change over that, at least on the men's side, that there's times I get really excited about it, and then there's times where I'm like, where the hell is this going? And that's kind of where it is right now. It's like where the hell is this going? It certainly did not see Grease and Waller being at the top of the chain, but we'll see where things go after Tuesday's edition of NXT. From one potential member in the bloodline in Zilla Fah, two Dr. Trey, we do switch gears now to a former member of the bloodline, and that is being once again, Sammy Zayn, who was potentially hijacked, CM Punk's title picture, because I want to know, is it getting better or messier coming out of another edition of SmackDown where Sammy Zayn is like losing his mind?

32:12 So last week, Sammy Zayn snapped, this week he basically decided nobody gets CM Punk until he says so. You had Kevin Owens, gone through Finn Balor, they were supposed to determine Punk's next challenger on SmackDown. Instead, Sammy interfered, he pulled Balor out, he took out one referee, then another referee, Punk ended up coming down, Owens got involved, and by the end, Sammy was standing over everybody holding WWE Championship, as the triple threat ended without a winner. So instead of answering who Punk's next challenger is, WWE made the situation even more complicated. But I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing, because why is this working? Sammy's character now feels obsessed with the idea that Punk is something that belongs to him. Owens still wants another opportunity, gone through Balor, robbed of theirs.

32:53 Suddenly, Punk has an entire group of challengers circling him, and Sammy feels less like another challenger, more like the person creating chaos around the entire championship picture on SmackDown. So my question for you, Dr. Trey, is Sammy Zayn making CM Punk's championship brain more compelling? Or is WWE starting to over complicate the title picture on SmackDown? >> No, I think it's making a way more compelling because the great thing about the Sammy character right now is, what his character is doing is completely believable and understandable. So we've sat here for months now, I'm like, man, Sammy's getting screwed left and right. And as a fan, you go, dude, I get that. I get his frustration, I get why he's so pissed off, I get his anger.

33:37 And it almost makes you still want to root for him even though he's the villain in all of this, in a sense. So I think it makes it more compelling. And plus, it creates a title picture that is not involved, Cody Rhodes or Randy Orton, or the soon to be returning Drew McIntyre. So there's still three more guys, so in a sense, you're elevating the rest of the division by doing this storyline. So then when you cycle those three guys back into the picture, you've got eight guys who are legitimate world title getters. And that's not even counting Dave McIntyre because we don't know where his character's going yet. So you have eight to nine credible world title challengers on the SmackDown brand right now, because of the way the storylines being played out.

34:22 So I asked this question last week, what's the biggest match coming out of this? Is it Punk versus Sammy, Punk versus Owens, Punk versus Sammy versus Owens? But we're going to take the same question for the last week and now we're going to throw in Gunther and Finn Balor as well, Dr. Trey. What's the best match coming out of this for CM Punk? Is it Punk versus one of these individuals in a triple threat, or is it all five? >> I'm still going to go back to the triple threat of Sammy Kevin and CM Punk. And that just be an honestly Jeff that is literally the bias of SRTU. Like those are my three favorite guys from the time we've been doing this show. And if we can get them all sprinkled into one match, I'm on board with it. I still think as much as I like Finn Balor, he still needs a little bit more credibility built.

35:07 Because we saw him getting his ass kicked in Judgment Day for quite a long time. He's got to get over the hump and we haven't seen him get over the hump on the SmackDown brand. Maybe a feud with Gunther does that for him. And then coming out of that feud is who goes for Punk after Sammy and Kevin. I just think Balor needs a little more. And Gunther, as much as I love Gunther, I don't know what it is. He just feels flat to me. >> Hmm. >> I don't know what it is. I don't think it's been, it's this start and stop booking of Gunther over the last year, where I just kind of feel like right now he's flat. And I don't know if he needs a Kevin Owens or he needs a Damian or somebody else to really light a fire on him.

35:53 It just right now Gunther feels flat. So I'm still going to go back to what I said last week. Sammy, Kevin and Punk would be the match I want to see as a Triple Threat match. >> You took my follow question there by your answer, but that's fine. Because I just feel like WWE is really setting themselves up right now for fatal five way. Because I agree with you. I would have loved to see him just a Triple Threat. But what would we do? How do we get there? I mean, if you remove Gunther and Baller from it, those two guys are going to feud with one another. So something needs to happen in this current build where why they would separate from one another. It feels like to me that the safe is bet. And I wonder if this is more protection because Kevin's coming back from injury.

36:35 Sammy is currently injured with a broken hand, which took out Willow Knight and Galen A.W. Gunther and Baller for all we know is healthy. I wonder if this is just kind of setting up for a little bit of protection right now. Before we get to an eventual punk versus Owens versus Zayn match, because maybe Owens is still rehabbing coming back from his time on the show for 18 months and Sammy's not fully healthy back. >> Well, I mean, they're not playing it safe with Kevin. I mean, he's already had, he came back, had the match at Summerslam or not Summerslam, whatever. >> Yeah, Summerslam. >> Yeah, Summerslam. He's already had the match. This is like, he's already had four matches. Three matches has he been back from? Can I interrupt on that?

37:16 >> Can I interrupt on that? >> Because you would know this being in the wrestling business. So my understanding is when you're in a multi-person match like Kevin Owens has been in, right? The only one on one match that he's been in was with against Punk on SmackDown. And I'm not counting any of the house show stuff because I'm not fully aware of what he's been doing on the house show. But he's been protected in these fatal four ways, tag team matches, multi-person matches, whatever. My understanding as a fan is the reason why you do that is to protect someone who may be a little bit banged up, needs a little bit of a rest, a little bit of a break, isn't fully back in the swing of things because I thought that's the reason why like Paige has been. And even the pelas themselves have been protected in some of these tag team matches due to some of their long-term injury history. And in Orin for a period of time, was doing the same thing with Matt Reddle.

37:57 >> Yes, to a degree that you're trying to protect the long-term investment of it by doing multi-man matches. But I mean, when you got there and maybe wrestling CM Punk, who's arguably one of the best in-ring wrestlers of all time and one of the safest guys is also protecting him. But it's also a lot of times it's also just protecting him against cardio. And maybe they're still trying to get his cardio back up as your dog told me I'm wrong. >> Yes. >> Somebody must be nearby. >> But yeah, multi-man matches is either A, you're protecting storyline investment, where you don't want a certain person to take a loss, or you're trying to protect a returning person more of their cardio than the injury side of it.

38:41 Because it gives them breathers in the match to kind of go a full 20 or 30 minutes or maybe one on one, they couldn't do it. So it is a little bit of protection, but like in that situation, these multi-man matches, it doesn't hurt the momentum of your returning guy. If they're not the one getting the victory in the multi-man match because they're also not the one taking the loss. >> Interesting, interesting. I'd love to hear everybody's thoughts on what matches or matches you'd like to see over at patreon.com/sr2podcastcomment on this downloadable episode over at the Patreon page. Dr. Trace switching gears over to the red brand.

39:22 We had Penta beading Ray Phoenix. He will now be taking on Roman Reigns in a World Heavyweight Championship match in Mexico City in less than two weeks. And the question I have here is, is can WWE make him against Roman Reigns feel bigger than a predictable title fence? And the reason behind this in the background on this is because last week we asked which lucha brother should win. WWE chose Penta. We, you and I, were leaning towards Penta. And Penta and Ray Phoenix delivered an instant classic on Raw before Penta earned the biggest singles opportunity with WWE career. Roman Reigns World Heavyweight Championship Mexico City on September 14th. But here's the real opportunity. We all know Roman is going to be the favorite. That's not really the interesting part. The interesting part is whether WWE can use this match to move Penta permanently up the card.

40:06 Wrestling is filled with title challenger. Everyone knows probably aren't winning and Penta certainly is one of them. The best version of those matches leave the challenger feeling like a bigger star afterward anyway. The example I use, Bret Hart versus 1-2-3 Kid, July 11th, 1994 edition of Monday Night Raw. Go watch if you've never seen it. That is an example of this. This feels like that opportunity for Penta. So my question for you, Dr. Dre, is can Penta lose to Roman Reigns in Mexico City and still come out of the match feeling like a legitimate WWE main event player? Yeah. You also have to play into a little more getting people to know who Penta is. His story.

40:49 You want to get people emotionally invested in Penta. The person and not just the cool mask and the cool moves and the Sierra Madden. No, Sierra M-Sero Miao, though, couldn't say it for a second. Like, being a cool looking guy with some cool moves and a cool catchphrase is great. It'll get you over. But to get that long-term investment in somebody, you kind of got to know their story, you kind of got to feel like this is a guy I can root for. And the great thing about this WWE has been looking for this type of person for the better part of 20 years. They've been looking for that Rey Mysterio replacement who can be the guy that fans can gravitate towards from the Hispanic culture and be that face of that demographic.

41:35 So if you invest in it right, then yeah, Penta can take off and be that guy for this division and always be an upper mid card main event level kind of guy that in a pinch, you can pull the trigger. We saw, I mean, we saw years ago when punk left the company and they had the one night tournament to crown a champion. It was Rey. They pulled the trigger with it. Rey hadn't been doing a whole lot right before that. I mean, you can always go to it as long as you have that long-term emotional investment in your character. >> Yeah, it's going to be a very, I have high hopes for this match. I really think this could be a massive breakthrough moment for Penta. I think the crowd is going to be phenomenal.

42:17 I think the match is going to be really good and I think Roman Reigns is going to make a star that night. I certainly hope so. I hope we come out of here in two, three weeks time after that Monday night, Rodrigo. Well, did that Penta match like live up to the expectations we've been building over these last several weeks? And it's rare that we get this opportunity to really hype up a raw match like this. But here we are. And this is the same blueprint I wish they did with Kevin Owens on the Smackdown side. Give me a couple weeks to build towards that big match with CM Punk on Smackdown for the World of the Witch or WWE Championship. I should say in Toronto, Canada. I think that a lot more to do with the calendar than what was the flexibility here. But maybe WWE learned from that in future.

42:57 It's just because Penta is going to be the home country boy against Roman Reigns on Monday, September 14th. And that was a great match against Rey Phoenix. And I think they've got something with both guys. For me, I love that Rey Phoenix, even in a loss, has become someone that is living up to the potential that I had for him as a fan watching in the last several years in TNA and A.W. As someone that I enjoy watching wrestling and think WWE could really capitalize on. And I think he has upped his game and his viewing in WWE in both the fan's eyes as well as the creative eyes. And that's what's really exciting to see right now in Roll of the City Entertainment. Lastly here Dr. Trey, let's preview and predict WWE Sunday Night's Main event.

43:37 It comes to us this Sunday from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta GA. We've got an interesting card here because two matches are doing most of the heavy lifting for me. We've got Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton has 20 years of history behind it. It's a rematch of a Russell medium main event. And then you've got Oba Femme and Braun Breaker. That's literally the match up we spent weeks debating whether WWE should even be giving us this soon. Now we're getting both on the same show. So what am I most interested in? Oba vs Braun is the match I'm most fascinated by. We've talked about these two potential becoming WWE's scene and batiss of the next generation. We've talked about keeping them apart. We've talked about letting them build separate legacies. Instead, WWE is putting them together now. So if you're doing it, make it matter.

44:19 The biggest booking challenge is finding a finish that doesn't make either guy feel smaller coming out of Sunday. So before we get into the card itself, Dr. Trey, who could afford the loss more? Oba Femme or Braun Breaker? Oba can afford the loss more. He's got the credibility of the Brock Lesnar feud. He's super over with the audience. If you get the vision involved or it takes three guys to put him down, he can afford the loss. I don't think Braun Breaker can afford the loss. Unless you're going to go in a completely different direction with him and break him away from the vision. As long as he's part of the vision, he can't afford that loss right now.

45:02 Just because you know what I'm talking about. His career has kind of, he was super hyped. And then over the last six months, it's cooled down dramatically. He really needs a big victory. You know, he lost in the rivalry with Seth. He needs something to kind of put his stamp on himself as being that 1B to Oba's 1A going forward in the future. So I think Braun needs the win. Oba can afford the loss. Yeah, Braun certainly needs the win. I totally agree with you on that. I just don't see them doing it. It could be one of those instances where a loss is what causes him to snap and that makes him more compelling as a character.

45:44 Or we get Paul Heyman involved and that's how Braun Breaker wins in his feet. Oba Femi. But yeah, I'm with you. I think Braun can, Oba can afford the loss more. Braun needs the win more, right? Is that we're both in agreement on that? Yeah, and plus doing it on a Sunday night heat. Or CB Sunday night main event. Black back. They should have called it so it's not. But doing it on a Sunday night main event. It's not a giant PLEA. It's not Summerslam. It's not WrestleMania. You know, it's probably it's on Pekock and I think most of us canceled our subscription to Pekock. Hand up. Yeah, when it went when everything moved out.

46:28 There's not going to be as many eyes on this match as it would be if it was survivor series. You know, so I think in that instance you can actually have Oba take the loss. It doesn't hurt him that much. But if Oba wins and Braun loses, loses cleanly, people are going to start, you know, second guessing, you know, what are you doing with Braun Breaker? Yeah, no, absolutely. So I mean, WWE obviously sees these two as the future. I think we can agree on this. We believe that this match should have a definitive winner. I mean, I don't I think even if the bad guys cheat to win, it's still a definitive.

47:09 That's what I'm saying. Yeah, we need a definitive winner. We cannot have a double count out, you know, DQ, any of that BS. Yeah. Okay, yes, absolutely. You need a winner in this match because if you do something like, oh, it's the match got thrown out or it's a double disqualification or a double count out, it's just going to piss people off. And if the bad guys cheat to win, it's still you need one person to kind of get that upper hand. So when you cycle this rivalry back up, you can go, oh, well, Braun, Braun, the only guy that has a winning record against Oba. Now there's another obstacle for Oba to overcome for his, when he comes for his come-up ends. There you go. It'll be this Sunday, Peacock, Peacock, Braun Breaker versus Oba Femme.

47:53 Let's get into the car, Dr. Trey with our predictions. Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley would be taking on Jade Cargo, Meetion and BFAB in a six woman tag team match. I'll go first here. I'm going to take Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley in this one. Yeah, I am too because I mean, dear God, it's Meetion and BFAB. So you can have either one of them take the loss. It doesn't hurt Jade. So yeah, it takes Charlotte, Alexa and Tatum as well. You got Baron Corbin versus Little Yachty. If Little Yachty lasts five minutes, Trick William earns a United States championship reader match later that night. I start with you. How do you predict this one? So right now, is there only the four matches listed on the car?

48:37 How many? Only four matches announced. Okay, so I will take Little Yachty lasting the five minutes to get Trick William's the match later in the show. Is that how we're predicting this? Yeah, that's how we have to. I'm going to take Baron Corbin. I know Storyline Sense tells me that it should be Little Yachty because we'll get that match. But I can't see the way I look at it. So it's the five minutes. I look at it like they do it. You have 30 minutes here, 30 minutes. It's a two hour show, roughly around two hours, 30, 30, 30, 30. All right, I'm with you.

49:18 I'm going to take Little Yachty as well. I think it's just five minutes. Then you got enough time for the rest of the United States championship match. It's in Atlanta, which I think Yachty is from Georgia. Yeah, he's like a Georgia kid. So I will take Little Yachty as well. Oba Femi versus Braun Breaker. There must be a winner. Man, this is a tough one. I am going to take... I'm going to take Braun Breaker. He needs this one a lot. I'm going to take Braun Braun. Yeah, I'm leaning into my wrestling book or card that if I want both these guys to maintain upward trajectory. Braun needs it more.

50:00 Yeah, we're going to have like 37 viewers on Peacock. So I don't have the fans won't. And not many people will miss it. So I'll take Braun winning as well. And then lastly, Dr. Trayk Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton. Who do you got? This is the hard one. This is actually for me harder to pick than Oba and Braun. It's almost like picking against Super Cena in a lot of ways. My brain says Cody, my heart says Randy. So I'm going to go my heart on this one. I'm going to go with Randy getting some kind of win, even though it isn't Atlanta, which is Cody's adopted hometown. But if Yachty is going to win in Atlanta, then Cody's got to lose in Atlanta.

50:41 I'll take Randy getting the win. That's the balance point. Little Yachty is somehow affecting Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton. I'm going to take Randy Orton in this one as well. I think Randy needs a victory to keep this feud nice and spicy for a while because Cody is not going to be in it. I feel like Cody and Randy won't be in the title picture for the short term at least. All right, there you go. We will recap and review Sunday Night's Mid event all on next week's edition of SRTU. With that said, let's get a couple plugs and spots. This is out of the way you can download the show at patreon.com/srtupodcast. And the store will show feed on Apple's Spotify, where we download this podcast. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe. You could fall individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff.

51:22 And for Dr. Dre Franklin, if you'd like to see Dr. Dre, and of course don't forget to fall show on X at SRTU podcast. With that being said, what is going on in the one full world of Dr. Dre Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can find me on X at the Dr. Dre. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook, Dr. Dre Franklin. When you're on Facebook, be sure to check out Rocketsy, Championship Wrestling. We have a big show coming up this Saturday, the fifth from the luxurious Hazel Green, Alabama. But if you want to go out and check out past episodes, you can go to youtube.com/rocketsy. Championship Wrestling. See the entire video catalog of all the Rocketsy shows. See some of your favorite stars that you see pop up in NXT and TN or AW that have all the trick you'll get through the Rocketsy.

52:07 Including the previously mentioned Lexus King, who's actually been featured in Rocketsy a few times. But most importantly, get out there, support your local independent wrestling shows, where you too can also go out there and find your next show that tries to copy the Fuzzy United States Championship, title the UGS United States. I don't know. Is that sponsored yet? Can you buy that on W on shopw.com? I've not looked for it. I would assume it will be up there soon. I mean, talk about, I mean, that's not good. I mean, I'm just like, I would take any of the Canadian or I think, the Spinner Bells.

52:48 Spinner Bells. The Spinner Bells, even though like when I think, what was the guy's name that was back, he was Japanese, Smackdown, United States Champion, like in the early 2010s. Was supposed to be a big star and then they pair him in law, resistance for a little bit. Oh, like, Hedekko Suzuki or something, Hedekko Suzuki? Yes, yes. Didn't he have like a Japanese version of the U.S. title as well at one point? I got a sworn union. I'll have to take a look at that. Because the Canadian gimmick that Kevin O'Hase did and even Ethan Page there was not new. No, not Hedekko, Hedekko. We have this. Oh, who was that now? It was something Suzuki though. Yeah. But this may be the ugliest championship belt I have ever seen.

53:33 I don't know. It just reminds me of that. Kenzo Suzuki. Kenzo Suzuki, yes. It just reminds me of that flow rise all of the boots with the fur. This is the belt with the fur. So yeah, that this is, it's, it's got awful. But some show will try to copy it if you're out there, it's sports locally, the pen and wrestling show. There you go. Support all the great things that support SRT if you would be so inclined. If you would like to gift that championship to Dr. Troy Franklin, we could start a nice little run here, a little go for me. Go for me page. Go for me. Go for me. There you go. That'll do it for this week's edition of SRTU. Thank you for making us part of your week.

54:15 Enjoy the weekend. Another weekend filled with professional wrestling. Enjoy the Liberty holiday for those here in the United States that tune in and listen to SRTU. Once again, we'll be back next week on September the 10th over at patreon.com/srtupodcast. We will recap and review Sunday nights main event and everything that has gone on in the world of professional wrestling. With that said, for Dr. Troy Franklin, I am Jeff Peck. This has been The Still Relays Show.