Is Okada becoming a free agent soon and NXT Deadline preview | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #721 – 12/7/23

0:00 It's to welcome everybody. Welcome to this week's list of this storeal To show Episoumber seven or twenty one for December seventh, two twenty three. This is your NXC Deadline Preview and Predictions edition of past are t you? I am one? After the show? I am Jeff Peck joined every single week my post onner doct Tray Franklin, doctor Tray. I'm still waiting for the Wan Soto trade to go through. My friend. Oh no, we know you can't have one Soto if I don't get show. Hey, o's honey.

0:50 I also want at least two starting pitchers, uh, and a good setup man for my cup. So my Christmas list for the winter season is the gun. Uh. You got Alex Perdugo. You should be happy with that. You got you gotta. You got a guy from the reds You got the Red Sox that trade you a player. I mean, for crying out loud, that's a that's amazing. Uh. There's a good chance that maybe seventy five percent of our listeners are going, like, what the hell are they talking about? We are talking about baseball? Doctor Trey Chicago Cubs fan Jeff Peck me New York Yankees fan Wait wait, wants not Wan Soto and show Atani are not luchadors nor for wrestling. Really, no, no, no, I don't even think there's a I mean, yeah, sho Hey o Tani. I don't even think there's anybody that's had a similar wrestling name, though it wouldn't shock me that at some point, like a show Hey, becomes a name for professional wrestler because he's so damn popular. But you know what, there was never an each hero No no, and uh, I mean, I'm really surprised that with the amount of young Asian Americans on the independent scenes, that nobody's busting out the uh, show Hey Yakamatsu name or something like that, because saying show hey it really is kind of fun to say at a wrestling the show is. It's a very nice name, and it would be a good chant, like let's go show hey. Sh Anyway, I am sitting here literally refreshing X as I'm recording the podcast and hopes that they want soda trade happens while we record. If not, by the time you download this on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, whatever, hopefully

2:23 the trade has gone through. If it hasn't and Soda was traded somewhere else. Boy, do I have some egg in my face? And stay tuned for the Sports a Minute with Doctor Trey and Jeff Peck on next week's edition. Mass Are to You. But nonetheless, this is a wrestling podcast. We are here to talk about professional wrestling and in the world of MLB. Right now, it's a big free agency season and in twenty twenty four the world of professional wrestling could have a very large free agent pool, one of those names being somebody I did not expect whatsoever would be available for free agency, and that could be arguably now with will Ospray off the board, the number one potential free agent and professional wrestling, and that person, similar to will Ospray, comes from New Japan Pro Wrestling, and that person is the Rainmaker, Kazuchika or Kazuchka, depending on how you pronounce it, Okada.

3:16 According to sports illustrators Justin Bursero. He is reporting this comes to his via Wrestling Inc. As well that former IWGP Worldyweight Champion Kauzichio Okada's contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling expires at the end of January and there's a chance that the current never openweight six man tag champion could hit free agency. Okada appeared on AW Dynamine October, and at the time it was assumed that it was merely to build towards his January fourth match against Brian Danielson, but the trip is reportedly to also give Okada a better sense of how AW operates should he decide to join. His other option is WE, which has made continual overtures. W Vice President of Developmental Creative Sean Michaels believes that Okada would adapt seamously to W style should Okada opt to join the promotion, which is now operated by t K Group Holdings in the wake of w's merger with UFC. There is a lot of speculation as of late that the reason why WW is booked Knockamore as strong has also been an appeal to Okada's camp and an appeal to Japanese wrestlers as they potentially roll off of New Japan Pro Wrestling, that W could be a place that you could go to and be successful. Under Triple H's reign, Knackimore has been booked very very solidly. Under visick Man's reign, it was complete opposite, so My hope is Knackamore, who has been phenomenal the last quarter of a year, really looking forward to his match with Cody Rhads on Monday's Raw, sees more of this type of creative than less.

4:41 But is it a bargaining ship potentially or a way to show the new Japan Pro Wrestling stars, Japanese stars that coming to America you don't have to just go to awww a's an option potentially, but nonetheless, going back to the initial store here, doctor Trey Kazu's Ko Kata potentially a free agent at the end of January. This is a huge deal. Yeah, it's a very huge deal. I mean, he's arguably you know, well they always say he's the John Cena of what New Japan's been over the last decade. It's it's it'd be very similar like if John Cena came open to a free agent betting war and you know some of those promotions over in Japan or in England were trying to sign him. It's like bringing the biggest import from another country over into your brand. So it's gonna draw eyeballs, it's gonna draw attention, and he's arguably maybe one of the few handful of names in New Japan that most wrestling fans know. I would I don't think every single wrestling fan knows who Kazuhio Kinda is, but I would say the beast majority do.

5:39 So. It's not like signing, you know, a Coda Abushi or even Kenta, where you still had the diehards knew who they were, but you still had to introduce him to the American audience a little more. Okata is a guy that you can bring in and people will kind of go, oh, I've heard of him, I've been wanting to see him, and they will tune into that product, regard wordless of the brand, just to get eyes on Ocada. Yeah, this is a big opportunity. Should he hit free agency? And I say should he because we don't really know. There's been an update to report about this all. But looking at the initial onset, I mean, to me, doctor Trey a couple of weeks ago, I said, out of everybody in twenty twenty four potential free agency, the name that I would most want if I was running a breasting promotion would be will Osprey. Does Okada? I mean my opinion, he becomes a number one name on the list should he hit for agency in twenty twenty four.

6:31 But would Ocata be a bigger deal to you than will Ospray would? Like, if you're building a company long term, I think it's still Ospray. But if you're going for a short term, like if we're going for that we're talking about baseball to looking for that impact bat that's gonna get you to the World Series, I would think it'd be Ocata because in the short term he's going to draw more eyes. I do think what o'cada's probably about eight years older than Osprey. He's in his to late thirties now, so maybe he's not a long term pillar building block, but he's definitely gonna get you. If you brought an Ocada in for WrestleMania season or for all In season, it's gonna draw more eyeballs because that Japanese audience is going to gravitate towards it. So, once again, like building a company, I probably take Osprey's short term investment to get the biggest production out of it, I would probably say Ocada. Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer Radio via Wrestling Ink Here put a little bit of water on this story. Although speculations in building that Okada could now end up sign with WI or a W, the situation with his deal is quote overplayed in some ways. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, there's definitely interest from WWI and bringing in o'cad in that promotion, and that the promotion feels there's a better chance of getting him now than ever before. However, it was noted that every wrestler's contract with New Japan par Wrestling expires at the end of January each year. Recent details indicated that o'cada's appearance for AW back in October was in order for him to get a feel for the promotion

8:03 and see how Tony Kahan operates in case he had interest in joining the Rainmaker wrestle on the October twenty fifth edition of AW Dynamite, teaming with Orange Cassidy against members of the Blackpool Combat Club. Additionally, word is making the rounds that Sewn Michaels, w's vice president of Developmental Creative feels that Okata would find it easy. We mentioned that before in the recent focus on pushing Knackamoor and Maving because of the organization's interest in bringing in Ocada. Another part that we mentioned before. I don't know, you know, you got meltzer putting a little bit of water on these flames, Doctor Trey. But if every wrestler in New Japan's contract comes up in January, then why haven't we sat here before and talked about, Hey, Okada maybe up for free agency, or he may be available to the WE or aw or Tana Hashi may be available.

8:54 I mean, that just seems strange to me. I don't think a story like this hits Sports Illustrate if there isn't some smoke to this fire. Yeah, I think if I'm not miss saying, I read this once where every wrestler under New Japan like if they sign, like the company holds almost like a club option type thing where they can kind of renew it with incremental pay raises. But after so many years it does enter just outright free agency renegotiating period. So you're right, like, if this is the thing every single year, every single year you and I was sayingbing like, who's getting a Taanda Hashi, who's getting Okada? Who's getting you know, the insert your favorite New Japan wrestor. The American guys would be up every single year, why wasn't this mentioned last year with will Ospring Like that? To me seems egregious to report that, oh, well, everybody comes up in JA.

9:50 I think there is some kind of option that the promotion holds for so many years and then after that time you can then either leave or renegotiate, because otherwise this would be the same thing every single year, and it'd be it'd be like college football to transfer portal. It'd just be like chaos right now, watching guys jump all over the map from New Japan to the UK, UK to Japan and Japan the US and vice versa. It'd be just just craziness everywhere. So let's talk about February first, twenty twenty four. Right, it's the contract has ran out with New Japan. Ocada is a free agent. Where does he land? Doctor Trey? Is it AW?

10:31 Is it w w A? Is it New Japan Pro Wrestling? Where is he wrestling at the halfway point in twenty twenty four, assuming he signed, I just think he's gonna stay in New Japan. I mean, if he goes to me, it's hard for like, if I'm him and I'm looking like, well, let's see, like I'm not gonna make the jump because of how they booked since they not gonna work for six months. You know, like that's seems crazy. That's crazy to me as well, like or oh my gosh, they booked Oscar, Kyrie and EO right for a few months. Let me jump there. But I also would be caustious about going to AAW because although yeah, Jay White got a push, we assume will Ospray will get a big push, but has everybody got a big pushes came over? Well, there's been other guys. We've had a lot of these crossover matches, and most of the New Japan guys don't win in AW or you know, it's just Minor's Suzuki. I think he's won like one match.

11:28 You know, Shabata got a belt, but then you know that's about it. Like most of the guys from New Japan don't get that big push towards the top of the car. So if I'm Okada, I would probably play safe and stay where I know I'm beloved and welcomed and I don't have to change anything. Yeah, I mean, I think his most likely spot is New Japan and then dabbling in AW from time to time in twenty twenty four. But when it comes to some of the New Japan stars, like especially recently Ja, why will ost Bray all sign of the AW in twenty twenty three, I would just like to see one big name from New Japan go to W and see how it turns out like a current name. I'm not obviously talking about Nakamora people that have been in New Japan in the past, because there's been plenty, but like in this new regime of WWE with Triple H, I would love to see how an Okada would would perform in WA. And I think it is a little bit telling the direction of WA based that Ospray and j White at least entertained W and their free agencies, and I think they're probably doing that obviously for negotiation tactics, but it ultimately went to AW, but at least they're considering W. I would be like if Okada went to AW, I feel like it would be kind of normal.

12:46 But I would love to see Ocada in WW because I think there would be more intrigued for me as a wrestling fan as to how he actually performs in that spot. Yeah, I think out of everybody we've mentioned, Okada does kind of fit the WWE style the best, Like he's a showman, you know, from the entrance to the presentation to you know, he's not a super crazy fast worker, like he works kind of a blend of a New Japan WW sty He works very similar to shins k in a lot of ways, so to me, him and even even tom of Hashi to an extent, those two guys kind of fit the WW style better maybe than some of the guys we've seen sign with AEW and you know, that may be what they're looking at, Like who would actually kind of make that seamless transition, Like Sean Michaels mentioned that we could plug and play into our system and they can make an impact and we don't have to go through and basically kind of retrain them into our style like you may have had to do with a Kinta, which is kind of why hit Deo at Tommy kind of struggled speaking in New Japan for wrestling, speaking of all Elite wrestling, there was a big recent departure from AW last week Doctor Tred that I think you and I both would say was startling from the front office and was actually a really entertaining guy intelligence as well, and that was one qt Marshall. He reportedly will be exiting out Reportedly he confirmed it on his Twitter. He is exiting AW, and it's reportedly happening because they are starting to shift their focus as a

14:18 company. This comes to us from Wrestling Inc. However, there is more to Marshall's decision to resign from AW than just not getting the wrestle as often. He'd like the word out there that he wanted to wrestle more. Marshall referenced AW quote heading in a different direction end quote in his initial statement, and according to has of Wrestling, Marshall didn't see himself fitting with a shift. Sources shared Marshall's belief that AW was operating more in the style of New Japan par Wrestling, putting heavy emphasis on matches and wrestling and far less on storylines and angles as a preferred taste of con That vision no longer aligned with what Marshall thought the company should be doing. So obviously, Marshall comes from the school I thought of still having some good matches, but also focusing on storylines and angles, and we have seen that play out with AW. I would say over the last couple of months on this entire thing. So a recent departure like QT Marshall Doctor Trey opened the door for major changes. Where do you stand on this? Do you stand in line with the current direction of AW if it's more like New Japan Pro Wrestling with a heavy emphasis on matches and wrestling far less on storylines and angles, or are you team QT here where still strong matches but just as equally strong storylines and angles. I mean, as my personal taste, I'm kind of on QT Sidier, Like what got me into wrestling was not just the in ring stuff, but it was the drama behind the scenes, like the storytelling, like why are these

15:48 two guys fighting other than just I want to prove I'm better than you, Like if I want to watch that, I can watch UFC and they do it quote unquote for real as opposed to, you know, a scripted storyline. So I like the storytelling aspect because that's what got me invested as a kid. It was the Von Erickson, the Freebirds, it was Dusty and Flair, it was Hogan and Andrea, Like those storylines were what got me into wrestling. You know. From another aspect of it, it's got to be weird to be running, you know, the Nightmare Factory with its ties to AW when the owner is now in WWE. So that's got to be kind of awkward as well for a guy like QT who's the head trainer at the Nightmare Factory. Yeah, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Going back to the direction of the company, I think when I look at how the show was built heading into Wrestle Dream, AW was built heading into Wrestle Dream that was very standard New Japan pro wrestling, not a lot of storylines, not a lot of angles, but a really strong show from an in ring standpoint professional wrestling. And it was a very solid show. It was not like anything I was excited for going into it, and then looking at Full Gear, there were some good storylines, good angles, good matches, and I enjoyed Full Gear more than I enjoyed Wrestle Dream, and I thought it was a very solid show for All Lee Wrestling. So I'm kind of confused by the story because if you asked me back in mid October that this is the direction that we're going on, be all on board. But here we sit on September or December seventh, and I'm not convinced that AW is

17:22 fully following the model of New Japan. Yeah, I think what they're trying to do is find that ballance. And I think you can use wwe like on Raw kind of an example of what the balance kind of should be where Look, we had a great match a few weeks between American Alpha and the Green Brothers out of Nowhere, and there's no storyline, just hey, this is their debut, their open challenge, let me see what they can do. But we also have great storylines as well, and I think AW is trying to balance the vision of the younger generation focusing on match quality with the focus of like a Jericho or a Mode or some of those older guys that like, no, we need some storylines as well. I think that's why you have a guy like Brian Danielson to help guide it, because Danielson may be the best blend of what we talk about with balancing great in ring work with great storytelling. Over you know his career, he's a model for kind of what you want a good show to be. Right now, Yeah, I could, I could see Danielson being that way, but I don't know.

18:29 I don't know. I mean from a match standpoint, I could see that. I don't know if I would trust Danielson with the entertainment side, Doctor Trey. I gotta be honest, No, no, not completely. But that's also why you have a Jericho there, but like you have those voices in a room where he's kind of like if you take let's say, let's take you know, the Young Bucks, just based on stereotype of what they are. You have the Young Bucks, the newer generation, the flashy moves, the indie style wrestling. Then you have a jericho who's more the old school style of wrestling. Daniel Wilson kind of does land in the middle of those two styles. So that way you can kind of make some match a show where you have the great in ring matches that may not have a build up, but then you can have the storyline matchups as well. And that's kind of like I'm saying, like, that's kind of what we're seeing on Monday Night Raw a lot of times, is hey, we got three or four really good storylines running, but then hey we can throw in a twenty minute match with no build up and still get you invested in it as well. When Danielson is like an entertaining character. He is top notch, I mean one of the best, I mean absolutely amazing team. He'll no I think when it comes to like the way AW is being built right now and where I'd like to see them go. I always remember this line from Jim Ross where it's like I like mistake, but I also like my sizzle.

19:53 And you need a reason why you want to watch a professional arrest match, especially for a pl E a pay per view, like where a conclusion is coming up on a story, and that's where it usually took place, was on the pl pay per view, and it still is that model today. I feel like nowadays match quality is through the roof. You have a show where if it's all the wrestling and there's nine to eleven matches like they typically run out of nine to eleven matches will be high quality and you're gonna find it very difficult to be like this match is flat out stung. They're all very solid, good matches. Same thing with w W. There could be five matches like at Wargames, seven matches like NXC Deadline on Saturday, and it's very hard to find poor match quality. Nowadays, the in ring stuff is amazing, so when you look at the equivalency on both sides of in ring. That's great, But what do American fans Wrestling fans gravitate towards words, Well, they were really behind the Bloodline storyline. They're really entertained by the Judgment Day. They're intrigued as to how CM punk is going to be portrayed on television, Randy Orton returning and sending his sights on the Bloodline.

21:15 They're intrigued by who is behind the Devil mask with MJF storyline right now. I don't like thrown together, no nonsense matches. I like the Continental Classic. There's a reason behind that. There's not an actual storyline other than you've got twelve wrestlers battling it out to be crowned the first champion. I don't like when all the wrestling like this past week's edition of Collision, where there's just a bunch of these matches thrown together. They're standby matches that aw was calling them. It comes off like a shitshell. I like New Japan. I like their style of match quality, but their most popular size sig ever was win The Bullet Club was tearing up stuff with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, and they were doing a great job with merch sales and how was that going on? Well, they were entertaining people on being the elite, they were entertaining people at ROH, they were entertaining people on New Japan shows. There was angles and storylines and feeling towards it. I just think that to not have storylines and angles be a focus as equal to match quality, Doctor Trey is not a strong business model. Yeah. I mean, if you want to watch athletic competitions, you can find sports on any channel and look. I enjoy a good tennis match occasionally, but when John McEnroe was playing, or there's some how about Tiger Woods and golf, Tiger Woods

22:49 in golf, if there's an intrigue into storyline. I always told people like, I'm not a big UFC guy, but I was when Chuck Lendell, Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson were there because those guys could entertain me leading into a fight. So you need that extra layer. Like people forget that. Yes, wrestling is an at it should be athletic endeavor, but it's a television show. You have to still give me a reason to tune in the following week. I mean, I thought the ending to Raw this past week was great because now I want to see what happens next week with the fallout from Drew McIntyre taking out Jay Husso and seth Rawlins. I want to see what Cmpu's gonna say next. I want to see who the next guy to step up to Gunther is. Like those are things I want to see, and those are storylines, and the match quality is great, but it's still the storyline that intrigues me, because, like I said, you can watch tennis, golf, baseball, like, look, you and I love baseball, and I can watch an Astros Twins game and be like, Okay, it's good. It's a good baseball game. But if you give me a reason to watch, like oh, it's actually Game seven of the ALCS, now, there's an extra layer of intrig to it, and you probably good point with the Continental Classic, like I can watch that and I don't need storylines for why these two guys are fighting, because the ultimate prize is why they're fighting. And I think that's one thing AW has done poorly over its four years is the prestige of each title. Now, if you don't have a storyline. At least the title is prestigious because there's just kind of too

24:21 many titles. Yeah, I'm I'm yeah, I mean adding another championship. I mean I thought about this the other day during the Continental Classic because I was watching Collision and I really like what they're doing the Continental Classic. But it's like in WWE, I know what the secondary title is to the World Championship, and that's Inner Continental, that's the United States. I have no fucking clue what is an AW I mean, I thought it was the International Championship. I was I saying, did you know there's a Ring of Ter TV title tournament going on right now? Uh? Is it just on ROH Television? I guess So I saw somebody mentioned there day. I was like, I didn't even they haven't even talked about it on any of the show. I mean, Joe dropped the championship. I would imagine it's just strictly on rh So, I mean again, I can't I can't watch r OH.

25:04 I mean I would, I would be divorced at this point. So, but so, at the end of this tournament, there's going to be a Continental champions So they're the champion of just our continents or all the contents. Yeah, I mean, what's the difference between that championship and the international And then what's the difference between that and TNT title. I mean, I don't know what their second in command title is. I mean, everybody just as a championship, it's it's way too much. And then not only that, but then you're compared. You're adding it along the same lineage as the ROH World Championship and the New Japan Strong open Weight Championship, which to me, the ROH World Title at one time, I mean, this could be a show in itself, was one of the most prestigious championships in all of wrestling in the when they like first launched the first ten years of ROH Like that was a big deal when a title changed hands in ROA. And now it's just being added as a world title as part of a triple crown.

26:04 Like cool, you're bringing it back a triple crown idea, But you're just I don't know, like that's just crazy to me. The ROH World Championship is not on the same level as the Continental title. It's also not on the same level as the New Japan Strong open Weight Championship. But yeah, we're getting off on a little bit of a tangent. But then again, I mean again, if QT Marshall left AW because of the direction that's changing, it's it's not a direction that I would love because I could see great match quality anywhere. You gotta have some sizzles to that stake as well, and getting me involved as to why I want to see this match is big. I mean, take the Hangman Page Swart Strickling match. That feud has been so like Short and Doctor Trey and I in recapping Full Gear, we're literally talking about is this a Feud of the Year candidate? And it's been going on for maybe two and a half months at best. That's how good the feud has been. And why people really involved in that Texas Death match at Full Gear outside of the spots leading into it, it meant something and that's what you want as a professional wrestling fan is you get the great match.

27:10 But it's got to mean something. So we'll see, we'll see what the direction is a big change there in All Elite Wrestling with QT Marshall leaving the company here in the coming weeks or basically wrapping up or he has wrapped up. I think he was closing out in the end of this month from All Lead Wrestling. Where he ends up next is anybody's guests. If I had a guess w W, I know MLW Major League Wrestling is very interesting and well as well. But I think if i'm WW, you go grab QT Marshall and you listen to Cody rhoad is telling you about signing him keeping with All Lait Wrestling, Doctor Trey. There is a report out there that backstage in AW there is negative negativity from those in and around All Lead Wrestling right now. The story comes to us from Has of Wrestling this past Saturday and i AW present in its latest episode of Collision, taking place from the Erie Insurance aren in Eerie, Pennsylvania. According to wrestle Tics, the venue was equipped to seat twenty four hundred and seventy four fans and only fell short of that goal by two hundred and sixteen tickets. The source for all Things Pro Wrestling and Tennis Numbers added later that based on photos they gathered from the event they asked meant they were likely closer to seventeen hundred or eighteen hundred fans on the most recent Wrestling Server Radio this week, Dave Mountser revealed that he has received negative feedback about aw from people in and around the promotion. One of the reasons for the negativity given to him was the poor crowd that he drew for Collision this past weekend. It was noted that the company's currently grossing a lot of money, but many so question how much profit is being made.

28:41 So there's a lot of discussions right now around negativity, around in and around all the wrestling. Doctor Trey, I am watching Collision, but I'm telling you what, it's very hard to I don't know if you are Doctor Trey, but it has went from a show over the summer that I really enjoy and it was a great watch and a great equal to Dynamite, to basically another hour of rampage. They had three strong matches for the Continental Classic on this most recent edition of Collision, and then the rest of the episode was basically filled by what they were calling these standby matches. Whether it was like Kip Sabian versus Lho Delva Kingo, which is a great match but had no meaning behind it at all. It was like a complete felt like a waste of a watch, which is not a good trend. And then for me as a viewer at home, I have noticed on television that the attendance for collision has been very poor. It's very noticeable in certain camera shots.

29:44 To do a good job of hiding it up. I hate to take shots at them for but it is very noticeable. There was a show in Utah, I think Salt Lake City a couple months ago, maybe a month or two ago, now what was Adam Copan was involved, so maybe early October, and it it was very noticeable that there were a lot of empty seats and it was brutal negativity surrounding all elite wrestling right now, Doctor Trey, I guess even with cmpunk gone, people are still being negative behind the scenes. Yeah. I mean I literally thought that see them Punk was the cause of all their problems. That's what I was always told, like, Punk is the reason why they were Everybody was unhappy and negative, and you know, it is one of those things where it feels like an episode of Family Guy sometimes. And when I say that, there's a great reference on South Park back of the day about how the Family Guy writers right, and they basically just kind of let these uh, random thought bubbles populated, So I think it's fish like certain fishes eat that. Yet we're going with that one.

30:45 That one in that one's almost like it's almost like mad lips if you wear mad lips, like throwing that random noun and a verb, and we'll just go with that. Like I think they do put a decent job of trying to focus on their top talent. But if you're not one of the shiny toys and Tony Kahan's toy chests, like you kind of get thrown by to the wayside, and whether it's stand by matches or you know, the final, the final or the zero hour matches on a on a pay per view that don't make sense, but hey, we're paying you, so we gotta have you work a match every so often. It just does kind of feel like it's a little bit all over the place like it it does doesn't feel like it's an organized, cohesive unit. And you know, I tell the reporting, like you know, their wonder gut they're actually making a profit.

31:30 I don't know how they're making money. I really don't. I mean unless they say they are about one hundred and seventy and eighty million in the Green this year. That's what I read, I believe. I mean, unless Warner and that Warner Brothers Discovery Media is paying them really good for their TV rights. I just I don't see it. Like their merchandise is okay. But like when I go out in public, I see LA Night shirts, I'll see your Roman Race shirts. I don't see an MJF shirt. I have never seen anybody wear an MJF shirt out in public. I've never seen anybody wear a Kenny Omega shirt out in public. You know, maybe a couple of Bullet Club shirts, but those kind of came from New Japan.

32:13 Like you just don't see the merchandise out there. Like luckily they have their toy sales, but and they're really pushing that there. There's a season two pass to download for their AEW game, which I didn't even buy, and I buy almost every wrestling game ever. So I just don't know where they're making their money at because it can't be just off. Maybe it's pay per view buys and the numbers are better than you and I think they are, but I just don't know how they say that, Hey, we made one hundred and eighty million dollars with a roster as large as it is and without a huge other stream coming in. I don't know if their international media sales are better than we think as well. Maybe that's where it's coming from, and maybe they just have a bigger overseas market than we think. So all In welln't believe. End of August, as we all know, broke attendance records and then six weeks later in Salt Lake City, they could barely fill an arena for Collision. That is very concerning. I think a lot of people were very excited and hyped up for all In and made a point to go there, and it makes a ton of sense for the first one and to break the record be there aw on this grand stage, and I'm all for it. This upcoming all In in twenty twenty four August twenty twenty four is going to be a very big deal because how many seats do they fill this go around? If they fill sixty thousand seats instead of eighty thousands, is that, you know, is that a loss for them? I

33:44 still at sixty thousand fucking people still be a letdown because that'd be like, you know, that's like we did WrestleMania one year in Arlington and came back a couple years later. If they were like, hey, our attendance is thirty thousand lessons than it was three years ago, huge hit. Well. I saw that the seating chart for all In, and I think they're chalking this up to literally Taylor Swift performing in Wembley like either the next day or a couple days later. It is not the same stage. It's considerably different. Like I think that the way that the chart was released, my investigative work is telling them that they're kind of a bigger stage for this one, rather than the stage where they just kind of like what WWE has been doing laid lately, with a bunch of LEDs on like the side of the stands, and they're coming through the backstage area, so the nobody is being blocked behind them and you could sell as many seats as possible, which is very logical thinking. It seems like this is going to be more of like the normal typical stages that you see at Dynamiter Collision where people behind the stage obviously aren't going to be seated, and I think it's going to be all In, so I would expect as of right now, unless there's like a huge demand for the tickets that it will be less seats. Tony Con said on the first day of sale that they grossed over four million dollars, which is phenomenal. But you know, as an aw fan, I can tell you right now they've done some shows near by me that I haven't been interested in going to, like they've did the first time they brought Dynamite up to my

35:15 neck of the woods for the first time, I immediately went enjoyed the show, was very excited for it. They've come up here since, and there's really nothing that gets me excited for There are a stretch of weeks that I'm really into what they're doing in Ellite Wrestling, and then there's this period of time like with Collision and even Rampage beforehand, I was like, man, what the fuck did I just watch? Like if you get to a point where like this is how I was with w while we were doing this podcast in the early twenty tens. I would watch just raw and I think I even said it on the show, and I would not watch SmackDown because SmackDown was a total waste of time. Obviously it's changed, it has since changed, but Dynamite to me, is not a waste of time. You and I are recording this shortly before Dynamite goes on the air. I'll go sit down and watch Dynamite. It will probably be a phenomenal show. But I will really think to myself at the end of Rampage on Friday night whenever I watch it, and Saturday with Collision, like should I be watching these shows?

36:15 I literally thought that Doctor Trey watching Collision this past week. That was I don't know if you saw it, but it was not a good episode of Collision. Yeah I watched. I didn't watch it live because it just family and every things. I usually watch it when I'm traveling and throw it on the throat on the phone and or throw on the iPad and watch it back that way. But yeah, there are times that reminds me. I won't say the end of w c W bad, but it does remind me of those SmackDown days with like Nathan Jones where you're like, what the why am I? What am I doing? Why am I here? Like Chuck Palumbo's restling brock lesnar in the main event, Like why am I? Why am I watching this? Like this is just ridiculous to me? So yeah, it does have some Like like you said, Dynamite's been a really consistently good show, Like there are episodes, obviously they're a little worse than others, but yeah, like, and I hate saying it, but ever since Punk kind of left the company, Collision has fallen way down. Rampage is just I can't watch Rampage, Like there's nothing redeemable about for me to watch Rampage. I haven't watched a Rampage episode like six months. There's no reason to. Yeah, that's sad. Yeah, and then you're just you know, then it's I'm also like, you're just stealing discoveries of money with Rampage.

37:27 But Collisions started off really, really good, and I've checked it out a couple of times because everybody kept telling me that it was really good, and so I started watching it a little more consistently. And then, like you said, like I have episodes whre, I'm like, well that was a waste, Like the show accomplished nothing in this past week with Collision, Like the three matches of the Condos class, I'm like, hey, these are really good, but then I'm sitting through these other matchs. I'm like, I I can't remember the last time I saw Kip saying it on TV. Yeah, but let alone in a match with you know, this match, if you had a decent cruiserweight or mid card idol that made sense and you're like hel He the KINGO and kids say they are challenging for the aw cruiserweight title. Man, I can I can watch that, But just to have a throwaway match like that, it's just it also diminishes what you think of those people in the eyes of your fan. If you call it, oh, this is just a standby match, well, now the crowd, now your audience goes, oh, these guys aren't even worth beinging a storyline, so now you got to rebuild them back up if you ever want to invest in them again. Is just poor decision making booking process for some of these lower tier guys, and it just makes it just like you said it, Like, if you tell me it's a standby match, it's like me watching a double a baseball game for fun, Like, okay, great, somebody might do something four years from now. Great, I can say I saw Anderson, Oh who's the guy? Blah blah bah bah Jorge Solaire, I saw Jorge Solaire in double A baseball here in Huntsville. Yay, that's

38:59 kind of what it. The equivalent for me is so back to your One of your points you made there earlier was like the roster and not getting enough TV time. Aly Wrestling probably has more wrestlers on a contract. Th wa Is that fair to say? If you count an XT, I would say it's probably the same, but eight you might have a few. I think if you count all everybody, it's about equal. So I think they have a major problem because of the amount of championships they have, the amount of wrestlers that they have that there are a lot of good talent that aren't getting enough TV time. Keep saving bringing him up as an example again is one of them. Miro comes and goes as the storyline is focused on or not.

39:50 It's often confusing. It's it's strange the way that they book things. It I can understand and why there's negativity if I'm a wrestler and I'm back stage and aw and I'm not being used again because it's like just wasting my career. Why I just thought of this. So we watched the last the last pay per view, and they had the really good matching Buddy Murphy and Claudio, and they had previously had the tag Magic with Claudio and Wheeler against Buddy, and I think it was was it Malachi or Brody in that match, but they were teasing, hey, this you know the House of Black and in Blackpool Combat Club they're one and one, and then what do they do coming out of it? Nothing? House of Blacks transitioning to FTR and three members of the Blackpool Combat Club are in the tournament. It's like, are they thinking storylines even more than a month or two ahead or is it that's It's stuff like that that drives me nuts because I thought they were setting up a few between Blackpool Combat Club and House of Black, which signed me up for that. And then they don't go that way. They et and go a completely different direction, and then you have the great rivalry with Swerve and Hangman, but now serves in this tournament where there can be no outside interference. So I think in that instance, I think that Daniel Brian's Brian Danielson eye injury caused that storyline to be shoved because remember they were like coming the A to FTR. Yeah, but couldn't you still do like could you

41:22 take Moxley and Claudia out of this tournament, put two other people in there and still do Moxley, Claudio and the Judah against the House of Black. I think they were trying to get towards Danielson and Alice a Black. Yeah, but then you can have you guys. I know they could have. But yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you on a lot of this there. I mean, how many storylines do we see stop and go? I mean it's been weeks since that whole CJ. Perry storyline with you know, representing your clients with Andrede l Edelo and Miro. I don't know if there was injuries or people not being a television or whatever, but like it was two three weeks ago, and then it was brought back up again that Miro won't touch on Drada and I was like, man, I kind of forgot about this, and that happens often with aw like even with the Golden Jets and the don Kallis family, Like, why is that on pause right now? Well, and then you invest money in CJ. Perry, you align with Ondrade, and then you stick in Drade in a tournament where he can't have a manager at ringside. Yeah, yeah, I know she actually stood by ringside her a little bit too long this past Saturday's collision. Actually the referee to tell her to go to the back. I don't know if she actually knew that. You know, there's been a period of time too where Tony Kahn just another thing they were really booking the hell out of.

42:37 Kyle Fletcher was very extremely talented. He eventually sides with Don Kallis, and Don Kallis had this line of like I want to mentor you you're gonna be my protege, and they've done like nothing to follow up on that, and I don't think that's a line that Don Kallis says on television if it wasn't meant to do something on TV. So I don't know. We can we can go back and forth about this for a long time on the way that they're booking, but there is support reportedly negativity and turmoil again in and around All Lead Wrestling right now. It's a shame because they're getting ready for the five year anniversary, which is insane of their launch. I think was on New Year's Day on Being the Elite that aaw was announced as a promotion and they wrapped up with The Wrestler Kingdom shortly thereafter. Then they had the launch stuff in February in Las Vegas and then had Double or Nothing their first show where Moxley debuted in May twenty nineteen. So it's all coming up on five years, and I think all in all, Doctor Trey as a business I still like AW. I'm an AW fan, but the luster is and the shine has certainly come off a little bit by AW because the way that they booked themselves, and like the confusing nature of their storylines, the confusing nature of why so many titles, the confusing nature of like what the fuck is Ring of on Herd at this point? Like really, like what are we doing? Like what is ro oh all in all like? And who's an RH wrestler, Who's an AW wrestler. It's it's just all confusing, and

44:10 I think that falls at the feet of Tony Kahn. Ultimately, it does fall the feet of Tony kh I think if you graded it as Hey as a wrestling company, how is there a ring product five years in their Their in ring product is great, they have phenomenal matches all the time. But if you look as like, how is it as a wrestling company, I would say, you know, be minus, you know, probably I don't. I think they're above average, but I don't think they're as close to WWE as I think they want to think. I think they're better than what impact TNA wants back in the day, you know, so at least they have that. But really, I mean for a five year old company, they were going to have growing pains. They're going to have issues, They're going to have organizational issues because what happens is the same thing that happens with my company, is they go, we grew too fast and don't have the right infrastructure. Then you'res trying to play catch up with the infrastructure while still growing a brand, and you start falling behind. It's really hard to catch up. I think that's what they're running into right now more than anything else.

45:08 Yeah, it's strange, strange, trained stuff with all the wrestler right now, but again, more negativity surrounding. I read a report tonight going to the show that I guess if wrestlers complain about the company and where they're being booked on social media now. Brian Danielson, as part of the Disciplinary Committee, has the authority to find them, and he has already find multiple people. So I don't know if I agree with that, but I guess you should keep things tight lift in aw but finding people for social media, maybe just teach them to be professional. I guess maybe they have, maybe they have tried. Nonetheless, NXC Deadline preview predictions this Saturday from the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the final WWE show for the Ples in twenty twenty three. Let's get to the pre show match here. Doctor Trey Axim versus Nathan Fraser was supposed to take place on Tuesday's edition of man X Television. It was interrupted by the women involved in the Women's Irons Harber Challenge match. I'm gonna go with the axiom this going around, Doctor Trey.

46:13 I know I'm way behind you, so I gotta play contrarian on a few of these. So I'm gonna take Nathan Fraser because I think this might be a Nathan Fraser heel turn. So I'll take Nathan Fraser. Next match is Carmelo Hayes taken on Lexus King. Uh. If you had told me a year ago this would be a match at XT, I would have told you you're out of your mind. And I love Brian Pilder like he's one of my favorite people I know. So I am taking Lexus King getting the upset win heres because I think you're you've booked him really strong. I think he's got to steal a victory to kind of give that credibility why he's already in the main event picture. So I'll take a Lexus King. We've seen a couple l's lately from Carmelo Hayes. I think that continues as well. I am taking Lexus King on Saturday, uh steel Cage Mac with Roxanne Perez taking on Keana James. This has been a decent feud played out on NXC television.

47:06 I'm interested to see how this match plays out in a steel cage. I'm going to go with Kana James to get the victory or Doctor Trey. Yeah, I would probably there, but once again, I'm an play contrarian just because I'm behind. So I'm gonna take Roxanne because you got her. She's a former NAC Women's champion and they haven't done much since she lost the belt, So I think you gotta give a little bit of love back to the original Prodigy Roxanmperez. Next match year is Dirty Domisterio taking on Dragon Lee for the NXC North American Championship. Unfortunate news as this was supposed to be wes Lee in the match, challenging and I would have him getting the victory. He is out with an injury, a back injury. I guess he needs back surgery and he'll be out for eight to twelve months recordedly. That is a huge bumber because wes Lee has been a really big breakouts on the NXC brand. Doctor Trey, who do you like in this one? In the NXC North American Championhip match? Do you think they just said, oh damn west Lee's out, Can we get Dragon Lee? Because at least then we don't have really change we like they have to change like half the name plate on the introductions. I don't know, it's always possible. This one's tricky for me just because of the stuff going on with Dragon Lee and Santo's Escobar and the LWO and Ray and then there's dom I think the injury changes the plans. I think dom retains. I'll take Dominic Masterira retaining the title right now. Yeah, I like you, Doctor Trey Am taking Dirty Dom to win this one. I think Santos Escobar gets involved to further that storyline with Dragon Lee and Ray Mysterio. Ray Masterio will be in the corner of

48:36 Dragon Lee on Saturday, and I think he helps Dirty Dom retain over Dragon Lee. Next match here. I really enjoyed these matches a year ago, so I'm excited to see them take place again. It's the Men's Iron Survivor Challenge match. You have die Jack, Trick Williams, Josh Briggs, bron Breaker, and Tyler Bate all in this match. The winner just becomes the number one contender to the nc Championship. I'm having a real tough time I'm picking this one. They had Tyler Bait standing tall at the end of NXC this past week. I think de Jack has a feud in place with Eddie Thorpe. Trick Williams has a potential feud with either Carmelo Hayes and or Lexis King. I think Josh Briggs could be a winner here, bron Breaker could be a winner here, Tyler Bait could be a Bringer here. Winner here.

49:20 I'm gonna take bron Breaker to get the victory, though, I think we're gonna go to bron Breaker versus Elia Dragonoff rather soon, Doctor Trice. I'm taking the badass bron Breaker. Yeah. I've gone back and forth because last year Waller won, nobody expected that, so I'm kind of and then I always kind of play off of the the champions at baby Face, So you kind of want to pick a heel just because storyline wise it makes sense. So you know, for me, it came down to it came out of die Jack Breaker and breaks. It is because Briggs was the most odd person thrown into this match. Damn. I want to pick against you, but I think I'm a lean bron Breaker also because you kind of got to re establish braun given like kind you guys ask kick by von Wagner a few weeks ago, so you've got to re establish a broad breaker if you're gonna move him up or whatever we do with him. So I'll take Breaker getting the win as well. Next match here is the Women's Honors and Arbor Challenge to the determined the number one contender for the NXC Women's Championship. You've got Tiffany Stratton, Lash Legend, Blair Davenport, Klannie Jordan and Fallon Henley, Doctor Trey, Who do you likeing this one? This one's hard for me because I really want to pick Tiffany Stratton just because I think Tiffany Stratton and uh William Valkyrie. I can't. I can't say hurt. I can't lie of Valkyrie Lion Valkyrie. Usually I'm the one I have in trouble with names.

50:32 I know, right, I think I'm gonna take Blair Davenport, though I think that she's come along really well, So I'm gonna take Blair getting the surprise he win it this one. I'm gonna take Tiffany Stratton to get the victory here. Another easy pick or safe pick, I should say, But I do feel like they're gonna go in the direction of Tiffany versus Lia Valkyria going forward here in twenty twenty four, and then finally for the NXC Championship of Elia Dragonoff defending again, it's Baron Corbyn, doctor Trey. I'm gonna take Elia dragon Off to retain. I really want to pig Baron Corbin. I really want to thee Baron getna win here. But yeah, I'm with you. I think they're gonna keep the belts on Ilia because I think Ili and Brown's gonna be a great match as well. So I'll tell you Ilia Dragon now getting a win. So there you go. There's our previewing predictions for NXC Deadline pl LEAVI Saturday from Bridgeport, Connecticut. We will recap and review it all on next week's edition of the show on December fourteenth.

51:28 With that being said, let's hit a couple plugs in sponsors out of the way. You can download the show every Thursday or Friday at Real Guide Radio dot com, Wrestle Chatnet on X and the Stoe Rail of the show iTunes feed. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe tell Us Condon Charts on iTunes. You could fallst individually on X for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor Trey Franklin at The Doctor Trey. And of course don't forget the follow show on X at s RTU podcast. With that being said, was going on in the one for world of doct Trey Franklin this week? Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on X at the Doctor Trey. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook. At some time Doctor Trey Franklin when you're on Facebook, checkout Rocket Steed' Wrestling or Rocketaine Championship Wrestling and Spartan Championship Wrestling, the two shows I work with here in Alabama. I actually made my return to Rockets City this past Saturday for the first time in almost four months for our anniversary show. It was our seven year anniversary show.

52:19 Good time, so be sure to go check on the page for all the pictures and look video from the show. But most importantly also go just go check out your local independent wrestling show because you might find Alexus King, or you might find a Kipsaviian, or you might find somebody else that aw pays a lot of money too, and they only let wrestle once every six months. So you so for all the great things that support SRTU and continue to spread the word about the Stie Realta show once again. We'll be back next week on the fourteenth to recap review. NXC Deadline will obviously recap everything that's going on the world professional wrestling on next week's sedition in the show. In two weeks, on the twenty first, we will have our look back at our twenty twenty three Bold Prediction show on Thursday in just three weeks. It's our twenty twenty three SRT Award show. It's the last show of the year, and then we kick off twenty twenty four on January the fourth, without our twenty twenty four wrestling preview show, which will also include our bold predictions and wrestling many forty card predictions. All that and more on tap here in the coming weeks as we are one more show left and then we are in the holiday programming schedule here on the Stone Realta Show. So until next week for doctor Trey Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. This is the Still Real Does Show.