Wrestling’s Mid-Year Checkpoint & Night of Champions Fallout! | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #803 – 07/03/25

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,600
It's still real to me, damn it!

2
00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:12,800
What up, you!

3
00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,800
Welcome, everybody!

4
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:18,000
Welcome!

5
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,000
So this week's the "Sto Real" show,

6
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,400
Episode 803 for July 3rd, 2025.

7
00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,800
This is your WWE Night of Champions,

8
00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:31,600
Recap and Review Edition of S-R-T-U.

9
00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,800
I am one after the show "I Am Jeff Macken"

10
00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:36,800
joined every single week,

11
00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:38,800
but I was the one with Dr. Trey Franklin.

12
00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,800
Dr. Trey, you and I were reminiscing about the days

13
00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,800
where you had to buy a CD just to listen to one song, my friend.

14
00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,800
Oh my god, and me, well I'm laughing because I'm like,

15
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,800
I was waiting for you to call this the SATU podcast.

16
00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:53,800
He's still allergic to us podcast.

17
00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:54,800
Tell me about it.

18
00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,800
But yeah, we were talking off air,

19
00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:03,800
like, because my Spotify came on as we started recording the show

20
00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:07,800
and started playing some bad current rock songs in the background.

21
00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:12,800
And I was telling Jeff that, really, all I ever listened to is old WWE music,

22
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,800
like Creed and Limp Biscuit,

23
00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,800
and those guys that he mentioned Kid Rock.

24
00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:20,800
And I said, "Yeah, I said we were in my car there,

25
00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:22,800
and I remember my wife's car,

26
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,800
and it was playing her Spotify list."

27
00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,800
And cocky by Kid Rock came on,

28
00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:29,800
and I looked around and went,

29
00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:32,800
"I bought this album because I heard that song."

30
00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,800
And I'm like, "Oh, it's a good album, this should be a good album."

31
00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:36,800
One song.

32
00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,800
There was only one decent song on that entire album,

33
00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:41,800
and I was like, "Thank God,

34
00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,800
I don't have to buy CDs to hear one song anymore."

35
00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,800
Now, I remember they played cocky by Kid Rock

36
00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:50,800
for I think a Royal Rumble.

37
00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:51,800
Yeah.

38
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,800
Now, I'm going to guess to make it here.

39
00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:55,800
Let's see.

40
00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,800
Oh, one, I would say, "Oh, three, probably."

41
00:01:57,800 --> 00:01:58,800
I'm just guessing.

42
00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,800
It was released November 20th, 2001,

43
00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,800
according to Wikipedia.

44
00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,800
Now, the track listing here.

45
00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:09,800
Now, there's another song on here.

46
00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:13,800
Actually, there's two other songs on here that I like.

47
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,800
One that was also included in wrestling,

48
00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,800
and then another one that I don't work all was in wrestling.

49
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,800
Oh, American bad ass, like American bad ass?

50
00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:25,800
No one on that?

51
00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:26,800
Nope.

52
00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:27,800
Nope.

53
00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,800
So the one that wasn't in wrestling was picture featuring Cheryl Crow.

54
00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:31,800
I like that song.

55
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:33,800
I know that was a good song.

56
00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:34,800
The other one?

57
00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:35,800
Okay.

58
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:37,800
I'll give you one more hint.

59
00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:42,800
It was featured in a WWE Desire video.

60
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:43,800
Was that what they were calling them?

61
00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:44,800
Desire?

62
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,800
I feel it was like the one where they did my sacrifice,

63
00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:49,800
and they used to do it with a bunch of wrestlers.

64
00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:50,800
Yeah.

65
00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:52,800
And I think they did call it Desire.

66
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:54,800
I think Desire is the right term for that.

67
00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:55,800
I think it was too.

68
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:57,800
And the reason why they played this song,

69
00:02:57,800 --> 00:02:59,800
and did this WWE Desire,

70
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:06,800
is because Vince McMahon was going to inject the NWO into the WWE.

71
00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:07,800
Wow.

72
00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:09,800
I don't know the songs on my head.

73
00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,800
Lonely Road of Faith.

74
00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,800
Man, I barely remember that song.

75
00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:16,800
Oh, man.

76
00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:17,800
And honestly, honestly, honestly, honestly.

77
00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,800
I literally just played that video recently

78
00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,800
in that WWE Desire for some reason.

79
00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,800
The only reason I remember cocky is because I was living in North Carolina.

80
00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:32,800
And I think I had just started dating my ex-wife at the time.

81
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,800
And I was feeling kind of proud of myself.

82
00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:36,800
And so that song came on.

83
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:37,800
I was like, yeah.

84
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,800
So, yeah, that's why I remember that song.

85
00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:42,800
Lonely Road of Faith.

86
00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:43,800
It's not a bad song.

87
00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,800
I just haven't thought of it in 20 years.

88
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:48,800
Can you hear it, okay?

89
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:49,800
Yeah.

90
00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,800
So it has a long intro.

91
00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:53,800
It's about a five minute song.

92
00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:55,800
Let me go right into it here.

93
00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:15,800
Does it ring a bell yet?

94
00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:16,800
Yeah, I remember it.

95
00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:18,800
But I remember when I listened to that album,

96
00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,800
and you and I have talked about this at nauseam about,

97
00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,800
like, when it comes to our favorite rock bands

98
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:26,800
and finding them when they're in the small venues

99
00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:28,800
and before they make it big.

100
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,800
That album is when I knew Kid Rock had made it big.

101
00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:34,800
Because every song got kind of mellow.

102
00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,800
It was kind of like a little more on the sappy side.

103
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:39,800
I went, oh, crap.

104
00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:41,800
Kid Rock is not angry anymore.

105
00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,800
And that's rock music is the best when the people are pissed off.

106
00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,800
And when they make their money, they get kind of sappy

107
00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:50,800
and a little reminiscent of the good old days

108
00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:51,800
and all those things.

109
00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:53,800
It's like, man, I don't care about your childhood.

110
00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:55,800
I don't care about this stuff.

111
00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,800
By the way, picture, surprisingly enough,

112
00:04:58,800 --> 00:04:59,800
I'm always amazed.

113
00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,800
Picture is the lesser known of the songs about photos

114
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,800
because Nickelback's photograph is way more well known.

115
00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:10,800
Oh, that's not the original though.

116
00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,800
Yeah, but picture is a better song.

117
00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,800
than Nickelback's photograph.

118
00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:18,800
Not even close. Not even close.

119
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:19,800
I totally agree with you.

120
00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:20,800
So picture is a great song.

121
00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:22,800
So, yeah, I was right there with you.

122
00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,800
To this day, I still have a bunch of...

123
00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,800
If a song is played on WWE television than I like,

124
00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:30,800
it really goes on my Apple Music.

125
00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:32,800
I still do that.

126
00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:35,800
I definitely have WWE songs on my playlist.

127
00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:37,800
But, yeah, reminiscent about the days

128
00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,800
where you'd have to go to, oh, God, where I lived.

129
00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,800
It was the Wiz, Circuit City, later Best Buy,

130
00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,800
to buy one album for like $13.99.

131
00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:50,800
That was the expensive ones.

132
00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,800
Some of the Deluxe Out CDs would be $17.99.

133
00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,800
Rareities? You could get a CD for like $9.99.

134
00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:58,800
It was always in that range.

135
00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,800
You would download an entire album to listen to one song.

136
00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:04,800
But I would say...

137
00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,800
If I was looking at the times where I was like,

138
00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,800
"Oh, man, I did not enjoy that album versus I did."

139
00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,800
I would say like 70% of the time did not enjoy the album, Dr. Trey.

140
00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:19,800
30% of the time I did like the album because I know we were joking off air,

141
00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:24,800
but there was a limp biscuit albums that I've listened to front to back,

142
00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:29,800
speaking to WWE type stuff, plenty of different albums that I've listened to

143
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,800
front to back, that these obscure songs are some of my favorites.

144
00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,800
And you don't get that nowadays by having Spotify or Apple Music.

145
00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:42,800
No, and even then, they have the algorithms and all that stuff.

146
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,800
They're like, "Oh, if you like this song, you might like this song in or nowhere close."

147
00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:48,800
And you're just like, "What?"

148
00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,800
I think my Spotify or Apple Music, I think it's on drugs.

149
00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,800
I think it's crazy, but I have a very serious question for you now

150
00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,800
because you said something that made me really concerned.

151
00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:06,800
You said, "If you hear a song on WWE and immediately goes on to your Spotify or Apple Music,

152
00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,800
how many Travis Scott and Sexy Red, what's the name, Sexy Red?

153
00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:12,800
What's the girl that was shaking her butt on the tour?

154
00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:13,800
Yeah, it was Sexy Red.

155
00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,800
Yeah, how many of their songs have made it onto your playlist now?

156
00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,800
So, do I have any Travis Scott on my, I do not have Sexy Red.

157
00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:22,800
I could tell you that.

158
00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,800
There is nothing recent of Travis Scott.

159
00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,800
I want to say, I want to say, I do have a Travis Scott song on one of my,

160
00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,800
I have Sikha mode on one of my playlist, but that was way before WWE days.

161
00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:41,800
There's not many of recent music, and I think that just kind of shows how old I'm getting.

162
00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:43,800
But there's definitely been some times.

163
00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:51,800
I remember they did a song where it was, someone to do with the WWE network.

164
00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:57,800
And remember they did a video where all the wrestlers were pretending they were singing in an album in a studio?

165
00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,800
I forget what the song was, but you can't get any more Apple Music,

166
00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,800
but that's a song that I added to my playlist.

167
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:09,800
I remember adding the Miz and Morrison back in 2020 when they did "Hey, Yeah!"

168
00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:11,800
That was added.

169
00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,800
I think I still have Bayley's theme song on here.

170
00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:19,800
I had Sasha Banks' theme song on my "Sammy Zayn's Still There, The Usos."

171
00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:24,800
I don't know if that's still available on Apple Music anymore since they don't play it.

172
00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:30,800
Sometimes a pay-per-view or PLA has made it on there.

173
00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,800
It's been a while since that's happened, Dr. Trey.

174
00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:34,800
I got to give credit.

175
00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,800
So, rear-ripply is who got me into motionless and white.

176
00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:40,800
I had never really heard of them before.

177
00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:46,800
Pertality came out, and I'm like, "Oh, they have about four or five songs I really like."

178
00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:51,800
Christian and CM Punker who got me into Kill Switch Engage.

179
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,800
So, I found those guys out from that.

180
00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,800
I'll find stuff from other wrestlers' music tastes,

181
00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,800
but then there's other times, especially on the "Independency."

182
00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,800
For those of you guys who go to love "Independence" shows,

183
00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,800
the theme song kind of makes the wrestler.

184
00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:14,800
If you don't know them, you need that cool intro song,

185
00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:20,800
and then you'll see a guy come out and you're like, "This song does not match this person at all."

186
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:22,800
That's not even close.

187
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,800
We've had some of those times in WWE where you hear a theme song,

188
00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,800
and you're like, "This doesn't really fit that guy."

189
00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,800
And then it'll change it up a little bit down the road.

190
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:36,800
The great story of Glorious was for Shinsuke Nakamura,

191
00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,800
the AJ song was for "Gimme For James" to all of them.

192
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,800
Some of those ones were like, "Yeah, I don't know if that would have worked,

193
00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:46,800
but it ended up working in the right direction down the road."

194
00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,800
Yeah, there's plenty of songs out there from WWE.

195
00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:51,800
I don't know if you'd have that open door.

196
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:55,800
I mean, even living color, I saw a living color play in Disney World.

197
00:09:55,800 --> 00:10:01,800
I just so happened to be down there at the same time that they were performing in Epcot and Disney World

198
00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:03,800
for those who were Disney fans.

199
00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,800
And I was super stoked, and I just wanted to hear "Colta Personality."

200
00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:07,800
And I did.

201
00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:12,800
And I was like, "Well, they have a couple others on that I enjoy."

202
00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:14,800
But that is certainly one, and there were people,

203
00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,800
there was less than five people sitting around in CM Punk T-shirts.

204
00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:20,800
And this is when he was with AEW.

205
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:23,800
So it was a couple of years ago, which I thought was pretty rad.

206
00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:29,800
So yeah, going down memory lane when it comes to music here on SRTU,

207
00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:30,800
we have a lot to cover here.

208
00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:32,800
We'll recap and review night of champions.

209
00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,800
It's the halfway point of 2025, believe it or not.

210
00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,800
So we'll be looking at some of our nominees as we historically do,

211
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:41,800
heading into the 4th of July weekend.

212
00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:44,800
But first, Dr. Trey, I have some huge news for us.

213
00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,800
And this is something that you don't even know about, my friend.

214
00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:49,800
Yay!

215
00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:54,800
I'd like to shout out our very first Patreon member.

216
00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:55,800
Yay!

217
00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:56,800
Someone has--

218
00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:58,800
Nope, it's not me, it's not you.

219
00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,800
Someone has dipped into their own personal finances

220
00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:08,800
to be part of our main event roll call here on patreon patreon.com/SRTUpodcast

221
00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,800
We cannot thank you enough for being part, being the very first member.

222
00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:18,800
Dr. Trey, do you want to take a guess at who this could possibly be?

223
00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,800
Um, there's like two people pop to mind.

224
00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,800
One, we haven't really talked about it on this show in quite a long time,

225
00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:28,800
and one is a person who used to message us quite a bit.

226
00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,800
So it's either dars-- I'm going darsy or letharno.

227
00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:34,800
Like, those are my top two picks.

228
00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,800
Dr. Trey, you are correct.

229
00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:42,800
The very first Patreon member is dirty dog, Eric Darcy.

230
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,800
We get them to come back--

231
00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:47,800
Oh no, we Jeff, we have to do an entire--

232
00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:52,800
We have to do a special Patreon of him singing "Boyfriend Again Now."

233
00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,800
We are definitely going to do something in the month of July here for the exclusives or start--

234
00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:59,800
or definitely got to roll out for the Patreon members.

235
00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,800
So the more people who sign up, the more exclusives we can do.

236
00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:07,800
I saw that come in on, like, Sunday night, I want to say the email,

237
00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:09,800
and I just had the biggest smile on my face.

238
00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:11,800
I was like, "Darsy is still out there."

239
00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:13,800
I cannot believe it.

240
00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:15,800
Huge props to Eric Darcy.

241
00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:17,800
If you are a long-time listener of the show,

242
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,800
you know who exactly Eric Darcy is.

243
00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,800
We challenged him to sing "Boyfriend" by Justin Bieber.

244
00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:27,800
I actually think it's still on YouTube.

245
00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:33,800
And his prize was to do a show with us once he did it.

246
00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:34,800
I'm trying to see here.

247
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:39,800
And I don't remember exactly what we covered because this was like 2013, I feel like.

248
00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:44,800
But, um, yeah, I don't-- God, where is it?

249
00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:49,800
I will say, while you're looking that up, like, if you guys have not checked out Eric's podcast,

250
00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:56,800
Eric does a really strong podcast, like recapping old pay-per-views, PLEs, timelines,

251
00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:57,800
things like that.

252
00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:01,800
He really gets into, like, the history of wrestling.

253
00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:07,800
So, I know we don't go back in our podcast very much as far as, like,

254
00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:12,800
recapping old stuff, but if you're a fan, or you're just a youngster wanting to learn

255
00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:15,800
a little bit more about the history of professional wrestling,

256
00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:17,800
check out Darcy's podcast.

257
00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:19,800
It's really good for that type of stuff.

258
00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:21,800
I don't see it.

259
00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:23,800
I felt like I found it not too long ago.

260
00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:25,800
Where he uploaded it, so now--

261
00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:30,800
Did you have a sad night and you started trying to find the song just to make yourself feel good?

262
00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:35,800
Like, was the wife and kid gone for the weekend and you're just sitting at home with the dog

263
00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:36,800
and you're like, "You know what?"

264
00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:38,800
That's not a happy rotation.

265
00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,800
You don't do that?

266
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:48,800
I just-- I wish I needed to find a way to get the audio off that and I will probably end up turning around at some point

267
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,800
making that my ringtone or, you know, something like that.

268
00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:57,800
The upside of Android is I can just clip stuff and make it into a ringtone.

269
00:13:57,800 --> 00:13:59,800
You got an Apple guy's can do that.

270
00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:01,800
No, no, no, no, that's pirating.

271
00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:03,800
So, at least I won't get arrested, like, Dr. Traywell.

272
00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:09,800
But yeah, Eric Darcy, shout out to our main event roll call here, our first Patreon member.

273
00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:11,800
Thank you, Eric Darcy.

274
00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,800
Stay tuned for some more exclusive content on the Patreon page.

275
00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:20,800
And if you're a listener of this podcast, please, all we do is actually to support the show Patreon.com/SRTUPodcast

276
00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:26,800
and we'll roll out as much exclusive material as we can here in the month of July.

277
00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:32,800
With that said, Dr. Tray, let's recap and review WWE Night of Champions at Air this past Saturday from the Kingdom

278
00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,800
Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

279
00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:36,800
We'll start with the first match here.

280
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,800
Cody Rose defeats Randy Orton to win the King of the Ring tournament final

281
00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,800
and now receives a title shot at Summer Slamming and I both had Cody Rhodes in this one.

282
00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:47,800
Great match between two of the best.

283
00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:52,800
I wonder if we got some foreshadowing as Cody needed to cheat to win and defeat Randy Orton

284
00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:54,800
and Night of Champions with the exposed turnbuckle.

285
00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:58,800
Cody refused to cheat a couple months ago at WrestleMania

286
00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,800
but it did it at Night of Champions whether it was knowingly or unknowingly.

287
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:09,800
I have a feeling we could be in line for a big angle at Summer Slam but the finish felt like a teaser for how this story plays out.

288
00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:13,800
Dr. Tray, your thoughts on this one as Cody Rhodes is our new King of the Ring?

289
00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,800
Yeah, it was a really solid match.

290
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,800
You know this, I'm not a huge fan of Babyface versus Babyface matches.

291
00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:26,800
Like I felt like if somebody kind of played the heel a little bit more, the crowd got a little more.

292
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:32,800
I felt like the crowd was, they were excited about the match but they just didn't know who to cheer for.

293
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:40,800
But it was weird like you alluded to Cody kind of cheating there but then I also had flashbacks to Bash of Berlin last year when

294
00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:48,800
KO couldn't pull the trigger to put his friend Cody Rhodes away and we got a little bit of that in the match as well

295
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:53,800
with Randy deciding not to punt Cody to put him away.

296
00:15:53,800 --> 00:16:08,800
Post match, you saw Randy a little irritated either with himself or with Cody so it's clever story right because you're branching out and leaving yourself open to possibilities out of Summer Slam.

297
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:20,800
So I know I've seen all the conspiracy theories about potential Summer Slam stuff and I'm really excited to see what they end up doing at Summer Slam.

298
00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:25,800
Really well done and we'll talk about some stuff that was really well done here later on the show as well.

299
00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:30,800
Next match here is Rhea Ripley defeating Raquel Rodriguez in a Rhea Boulevard Street fight.

300
00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:34,800
I've always wanted to see one of those. We both had Rhea in this one.

301
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:43,800
Fun physical match. I agreed with the commentary on this one that Raquel Rodriguez broke out some during this match is we were reminded how good she could be after a couple years

302
00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:56,800
where her career had kind of been start stopped due to some medical ailments despite the loss for Kelle's a future role champion on raw or smack down my opinion as for the victory makes sense as she could be in line for the women's world title picture sooner rather than later

303
00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:03,800
and we saw that play out on Monday's raw Dr. Trace she live a world women's championship match against EO sky at evolution now.

304
00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:07,800
Dr. Tray your thoughts on this one is Rhea Ripley defeated Raquel Rodriguez.

305
00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:28,800
Yeah I liked it. Okay like you know it's a it's a it's a women's Street fight they did some good things you're right Raquel broke out again like I don't even want say she broke out she reminded us how good she was because I to me she broke out in NXT like she was you know the next evolution of Rhea Ripley after Rhea left NXT

306
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:45,800
so it was just that good reminder the funny thing to me is watching Roxanne and Rhea interact because I thought Liv and Rhea was a dynamic of size and proportion that was almost suspending disbelief Roxanne smaller than Liv.

307
00:17:45,800 --> 00:18:00,800
She jumped on her back and it looked like she just flipped her off like a backpack so over I would say it was a solid match and just a good setting point for for Rhea to challenge the women's title and then also for Rhea to get kind of back on everybody's radar.

308
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:12,800
Next match here is Sammy Zayn defeating carrying cross I had carrying cross Dr. Trayn Sammy Zayn this was an oddly booked match from the standpoint that I thought we were no longer doing the three arm raises on a submission move anymore.

309
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:25,800
So I thought carrying cross won the match after Sammy's arm dropped the first time I'm in favor of carrying cross gaining some momentum and felt that a win over Sammy and Saudi Rhea would get that ball moving but they decided not to go in that direction gave Sammy the victory.

310
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:42,800
So I think that it will remain that way for a while because I feel like he is my early favorite now Dr. Trayn to win the 2026 Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia where he finally climbs the mountain and become World Champion for the first time in his WWE career.

311
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:54,800
I just have a feeling I saw the promo run during Saturday's PL and I'm like I'm looking for someone to win the Rumble my early favorite right now is Sammy Zayn and hopefully is in line for big 2026.

312
00:18:54,800 --> 00:19:00,800
Your thoughts here as you predicted Sammy Zayn to win and defeat carrying cross at night of Champions.

313
00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:13,800
Yeah I think Sammy might be the new man's sore like if he's booked in Saudi Arabia he's winning like I don't know what it is but I thought it was a good match I thought I really liked the performance of both guys.

314
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:29,800
I love carrying cross talking smack the entire match even if it's storylines smack he's talking all that stuff I thought the finish is good but I'm with you on the choke outline because on one hand they're talking about like she's checking his arm to make sure he's not choking him out.

315
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:47,800
Which I think half the moves in WWE they call it a choke out and then sometimes we just do the whole one arm he's out and then another time we do the three arm raises there's no definitive line anymore when it comes to like choke out submission type stuff.

316
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,800
I was so confused by that doctor.

317
00:19:50,800 --> 00:20:19,800
His straight jacket is a sleeper but when Gunther locks on they're like oh he's choking him out and I'm like you can't choking but if you put your hands on directly on the guy's throat they'll count to five but that part is so confusing now and professional wrestling like what is actually illegal but yeah it threw me off and I know Daphne and I thought we weren't doing the three drops anymore I thought it was just one because when J.B Gunther J got a tap out on his sleep.

318
00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:33,800
Somebody else will get the one arm like when Gunther does it oh he's out and then carrying across it has to be three so I'm confused as to what the rule is on those types of moves now.

319
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:48,800
Yeah I don't get it that's the thing it's I don't think the straight jacket is any different than Gunther's submission the cocaine a clutch from Samoa Joe so I saw the arm go down I'm like oh wow he just won and then there was no reaction and then they did the second one.

320
00:20:48,800 --> 00:21:17,800
I'm like we're back to doing that because that is what I grew up on the one I think at the free arm raises I immediately think of razor or moan the amount of times he would be look like he's going out the arm would drop two times and then it would just about stop and he would come back up and elbow elbow elbow into the gut and you know throw them off the ropes shoulder tackle the clothes line whenever you want to do and that was 1990s air of wrestling so they kind of got away from that but then they did it again I

321
00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:40,800
was confused by that doctor try. Yeah I like we run into them in the independence teams because I've seen guys go oh no just raises our once I'm like that's not how we do it that's not how I was raised it was always it's like getting a three count you know and that's how we've always alluded to because that's always turns into that's like you mentioned it turns into a hope spot whether it was you know you you mentioned razor moan

322
00:21:40,800 --> 00:22:09,800
I remember the guys that would wrestle D. V. O. C. and he do the million dollar dream and if it was you know your big time baby face that third arm it was coming up and he was firing up out of it so I don't like the one arm drop and he's out because I was raised on three and I don't like tap outs on sleepers because that's not really a tap out it's a choke hold that you can get out of so I wish these these journalists that we have in the post in the post show media thing would bring you

323
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:24,800
that up the triple like hey what is the rule on a sleeper so that way fans can know which one we're going with because it does get confusing. Yeah it was it was certainly was next match here so it's a code to feed in Jacob two to win the W.

324
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:33,800
United States championship we both in solos a co in this one it's been a long time coming for solo to finally have a single have singles gold on the main roster and he certainly

325
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:51,800
deserves it tongue below and make his return and Hicklele making his long way to debut was nice the storyline is getting good as solo adds to his army while for two is battling alone or sometimes side by side with big Jim I'm happy for solos to co a doctor tray this is a long time coming as he's the new United

326
00:22:51,800 --> 00:23:02,800
States champion and the first person to pin Jacob hot to in WWE Sony are she is sorry my son just walked in the house and so I trust a solo and said son at the same time

327
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:22,800
so no which basically means you put you to sleep right back into the last conversation solo is my guilty pleasure to watch in WWE because you and I talked about it last year when the bloodline broke up how good solo got the mic and he's gotten kind of almost comically cheesy at times with

328
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:41,800
stuff but it's it's it's fun to watch because once again you can tell he's having fun with it I thought the match was good I thought both guys really stood out it kind of helped elevate solo back up because I think people forgot how good he is in the rain because he has been just kind of like the mouthpiece from a

329
00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:59,800
teo or Jacob earlier this year or whatever my only nitpick Jeff and this is something that's happened a couple times why don't they have a name for the day viewing superstar that they can tell Mac if he and call and bear it and graves about so you know who that is that's

330
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:22,800
what's this name is it's it's it's the brother of so like we should know if it's the brother you should know the guy's name like it's just like they did that with JC Mateo they did it with a Leo now it's like guys can we figure out the name so that way it's not like a weird thing and we can just say the guy's name the fans get used to it like that was my only nitpick on on that

331
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:48,400
I guess I think a Leo is going by Talatonga now go I'm sorry what Talatonga I'm probably announcing pronouncing this incorrectly but Talatonga is what Wikipedia saying right now I thought you said Kamala longa yeah my hope is eventually a bad luck follow makes this way to don't really but yeah I'm with you it's like here we are Jeff

332
00:24:48,400 --> 00:25:09,960
they actually called Jeff cut JC Mateo Jeff Cobb when he debuted that name disappeared which I thought was BS well I mean JC there's a Zra Jeff Cobb or Jesus Christ one of the true true I'm I'm completely against changing these guys names whether be Ricky Saints JC Mateo Mariah Mariah May being Blake Monroe even

333
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:28,280
Ethan pay Ethan page got to be Ethan page is that weird and Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley so have their names it's it really makes no sense Tomatonga and Tungalala I mean it makes no sense I guess it comes down to who owns the name rights like

334
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:47,880
AEW owns the name rights we got change your name but if you own your name rights we can keep it but that's the only that's only logic I can come up with I brought this up on last a couple of weeks ago the show we're like I felt like maybe because AW slipping WWE had kind of tight in the rains a little bit and it's like that be part of it maybe like conspiracy theorist in me is like

335
00:25:47,880 --> 00:26:03,280
could they just be telling people like Ricky starts comes in is like I want to be Ricky starts like no any kind of like S.O.L. at that point because where's he's it can't go back to AW so it's like okay because I thought Mariah May should have came in as Mariah May

336
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:13,080
I don't know it's is I will say as a fan of key and appeal I cannot say Blake Monroe without calling her block A

337
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:24,080
yeah I mean those are the things and I guess there's some other stuff that is concerning with that name as well that I you can take some time out to Google but nonetheless congrats to solos

338
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:35,480
Akawa and winning the United States championship and and Hickaleo having a new name next match here is Jade Cargo defeating Oscar to win the Queen of the ring tournament final and now she receives a title shot at

339
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:44,080
Summer slam you and I both had Jade cargill in this one doctor try I didn't love nor did I hate this match the match was too short and the finish was sloppy

340
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:53,980
unfortunately it also got zero reaction from the Saudi Arabian crowd and that was a crowd that was pretty locked in throughout the entire show ever since Jade began her career has been

341
00:26:53,980 --> 00:27:02,680
difficult to tell if she's a sound wrestler in the ring or not she's had moments where it feels like her in-ring career had improved in this match and then there were moments it felt like it

342
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:14,980
hadn't like the finish nonetheless she has the potential to be a household name with her career in W. E. soon should the in-ring stuff catch up to the looks of persona that she has interested to see how she fairs heading into the title match at some

343
00:27:14,980 --> 00:27:32,080
slam that to me this is a match that has basically summed up Jade cargill's career doctor tray for as long as you and I've been covering her on this podcast when her career started it's like we all can see the vision we could all see Jade cargill is like could be a household name and be a

344
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:52,380
bonafide star has the look has the charisma has everything about her like if if she's in movie star in three to five years of when not surprised me and an all started no do we however you watch the matches and like oh she's getting better and then a couple things happening like oh god she's not this match summed up Jade cargill's career to me doctor tray.

345
00:27:53,680 --> 00:28:08,380
Yeah I was worried about this match anyway as we were as you're talking about like Jade still struggling as much as I love Oscar there are times in her matches it looks like stuff's off and I think it's still her language has gotten better over the years but there have been times the past where.

346
00:28:08,380 --> 00:28:14,480
I feel like the language barrier kind of got in the way a little bit and I think what they did on this one is when.

347
00:28:15,180 --> 00:28:36,300
Let's just really over produce this match and make it as easy for these two as possible and I think that's where people like you and me are like man like these are two potential stars I mean how many times did also an Oscar get mentioned as a hall of famer in that match out of nowhere in a lot of ways and it was like oh we're selling it to ask is if you're all a

348
00:28:36,300 --> 00:29:04,400
famer Jade just beater gives her that credibility but was only a 10 minute match like it was not a great match it was really over produced you can see that they knew when stuff was coming so yeah it just it just felt like the I could not suspend my disbelief in this match because you just tell how over produced it was to make sure everybody came out looking okay and there were still a couple of issues in the match yeah it's it's a shame because I really think she has.

349
00:29:05,100 --> 00:29:35,080
She has almost everything you need except the most important thing and that's the in-ring ability which hurts her and then finally the main event here John seen it if you see I'm punk to retain the undisputed WWE championship you and I both had John seen in this one my response of this an overview of the match are tracing and to do justice how much I enjoyed it this was an awesome match that had it all a scene in punk turn back the clocks good in-ring work great compelling storytelling just the right amount of interfere.

350
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:55,680
And then the first appearance teases and foreshadowing for future character development and ending it all with John seen a rating to prove improving he is the goat by out smarting everyone this is an early favorite for me doctor trade in a match of the year candidate I loved this match doctor trade your thoughts as John seen a retains or see him punk.

351
00:29:56,080 --> 00:30:16,480
What do you think of a see him punk on Smackdown doing punk and I loved it I think they did a really good job hyping this up and listen I am I'm a schlep from nostalgia you know seen and and punk or all time favorites of mine and that feud back in you know 15 years ago was amazing.

352
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:40,080
I wish they had more time to build towards this one and that's kind of been the theme for the entire John seen retirement or so far as like man I wish we had more time to build to this match because two weeks in a row the the pipe on response or a bottle and then the word lie or punk life rap it was very good stuff and then this match was icing on the cake your thoughts on this one doctor try.

353
00:30:40,280 --> 00:31:02,280
Yeah by the way the for me I was like I seven years I mean I would have never thought even five years ago I see see him punk dressing up as John Cena and wrapping but that's also can tell punk is having fun and that's a version of punk we haven't seen in a decade you know maybe longer but this match you're right like they turn back the clock this was everything you kind of wanted in a John Cena.

354
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:24,280
C. I'm punk match up they played the greatest hits they had the right amount of interference like we got to see John Cena pick up Bronson Reed and F you I mean that's you know that's maybe chase John Cena stuff so like that hard to me was just really really cool and awesome to see.

355
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:40,680
And really kind of set that once again a little bit of foreshadowing maybe maybe not the stuff with Rollins wise man like the whole thing was just really well done and to coming out by the way you got to love Penta doing his walk on a run in.

356
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:54,480
That's Jeff Hardy stuff I loved it and then Sammy Zane so you got a lot of foreshadowing you got a lot of the right amount of use of the right amount of your interference some great spots and still seen it does the hug and tries to chief but in the.

357
00:31:54,480 --> 00:32:17,480
That does cheating the wind so I guess to keep a little bit of the heel eat you know going forward as well there's a lot of foreshadowing this one doctor try you're starting to see these little bits and pieces of Cena going back to his old ways and stuff like that and then he kind of switches back and this was the closest it got and the fans were eating it up and I just found an interesting then earlier in the night Cody needed to cheat to win and and.

358
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:46,480
Cena was kind of anti it and the Rollins Wrinkle was really nice this was a really really fundamentally sound in ring match and great compelling story blinds that I mean it like three different things came off of that match and it was very very well done as John Cena retains off of C M punk with that said Dr. Trail let's take a look at the pay per view itself we will give our match of the night and event ratings our pay per view prediction record I went five and one.

359
00:32:46,480 --> 00:33:02,480
Dr. Trail went six and oh I am 37 and 10 on the year Dr. Trail is 36 and 11 for match night event rating I gave night of Champions a solid 4.0 in my match of night no shock here's John Cena and C M punk.

360
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:15,480
Yeah I had it at a 3.9 just a slight notch below you and I had Oscar no didn't have Oscar Jay sorry I had I had C M punk and John Cena by match and I and maybe my match last.

361
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:25,480
Three months five months it was just really really well done yeah this is going to be interesting because now you are going to take a look here at the halfway point of 2025.

362
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:41,480
Here we are 4th July weekend and as we historically do on SRT we take a look at our award categories and we look at some of the early favorites and nominees right now for each one of those awards so we will be doing this show later this year the final show of the year on December 25th.

363
00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:53,480
So Christmas Day 2025 this show will drop for the award show it will probably drop sooner once that is available up on our Patreon page because once we are done recording these shows we put them up rate away for all of you.

364
00:33:53,480 --> 00:34:06,480
So let's go through some of these categories here Dr. Trey new story of the year for me not a lot of candidates are kind of or stories that are sticking out right now other than WWE and TNA and now today formal partnership.

365
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,480
I really can think of any other new stories.

366
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:20,480
No that's about the main one for me right now as well I mean there's still I mean you still have the events stuff in the background link like John Lauren I was basically agreeing to testify for.

367
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:30,480
And now Grant might get in there a little bit you know like we don't know what the timeline on this trial is going to be if it ever actually happens.

368
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:44,480
Just trying to think of anything else really like yeah like right now it's WWE and TNA having a form I mean did you ever think you would hear two TNA guys promoting slam aversary on an NXT show.

369
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:53,480
No that's still blows my mind even and we've been doing this now for a few months so it still just blows me away that's actually happening.

370
00:34:53,480 --> 00:35:00,480
I would never think that there'd be a day that there would be a WWE contract and talent holding a TNA Roll title Dr. Trey.

371
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:11,480
No no I mean it's it's we were seeing a lot more of the crossover stuff with you know the triple A stuff I mean triple WB buying triple A depending on what they do with it.

372
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:21,480
I was just going to say that. Yeah I mean but to see WWE open up all these doors into other promotions that would have never happened in the past.

373
00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:33,480
I mean we may have to combine this into one news for the years WWE's openness they're open policy they're they're willing this to open these doors that usually were normally closed.

374
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:46,480
Yeah I was funny you brought that up because as we were going through I was like WWE purchasing triple A so yeah it's their openness as a company is is definitely a new story out there so that that is something we'll certainly track.

375
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:56,480
Breakout star the year I have three right now I have Joe Henry TNA Stephanie Vaakor and Chelsea Green in WWE those are who immediately came up to mind for me Dr. Trey.

376
00:35:56,480 --> 00:36:00,480
Yeah I mean maybe Mr. Aguana. Wow okay.

377
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:29,480
I don't know I mean it depends I mean they did announce like octagon junior signed a contract with WWE I believe Mr. Aguana has I believe there's somebody else so those three I can't really argue with right now I mean Joe Henry got a WrestleMania moments Stephanie Vaakor like her ascent from in it from you know being in AEW as an opponent to Mercedes Monet at for Bid and Door just like a year and a half ago to where she's at now is incredible.

378
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:38,480
And Chelsea is my other guilty if it's not if I'm not happy to watch solo and you give me Chelsea Green instead I'm happy with that.

379
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:54,480
Moment of the year some candidates I have John Cena turning heel at WWE elimination chamber trick Williams winning the TNA World Championship at WWE Battleground Dominic Mysterio winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 41 I think the early leader in the clubhouse is seen a turning heel though.

380
00:36:54,480 --> 00:37:21,480
Yeah I don't know if we're going to get anything at tops that one this sounds like just like I mean unless we get a crazy thing at Summer Slim Jeff if we get a double turn and we get Superman and Homeland or heading off like heading towards the end of the year where you get Super Cena back and he'll Cody Rose that might be the only thing that can take this away from John Cena right I mean he also did win his 17th World Championship when he did you know at WrestleMania as well.

381
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:33,480
That is a good point. Yeah if we see something like that at Summer Slim I think that'll be insane so John Cena winning his 17th World Championship we will add to the list as well.

382
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:40,480
A event of the year I have WrestleMania 41 the Royal Rumble and elimination chamber some of my favorites.

383
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:58,480
Yeah that's about where I'm at right now like there's been a couple of good AEW, AEW, I just don't know if anything's been on that level yet and honestly in ringwise it may have been but hype wise and emotions I don't think we've really hit that mark yet.

384
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:01,480
So those are my top three as well.

385
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:12,480
Few to the year I have CM Punk versus Seth Rounds and Roman Reigns versus Seth Rounds you could also make a case of Roman Reigns versus CM Punk versus Seth Rounds in this one too.

386
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,480
So anybody's Seth fights?

387
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:19,480
Yeah I mean essentially like what other feud is there maybe Cena versus Cody Rhodes?

388
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:29,480
Yeah but that was still like that was really we never really got we never got the feud we never got the intensity from that heading into Mania.

389
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:34,480
Now once again now that we're on the Rosemar's land that may change.

390
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:58,480
I watching AEW I had no watch the more AEW seeing where they go with this hangman death writers thing has gotten me a little interested as well because a lot of these opponents from Moxley have been one in dunes and we also have the potential return of Darby Allen which is something that we felt like they've been waiting for for awhile so there's a couple things AEW may have cooking up that might jump up towards the end of the year but we just

391
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:11,480
to me I don't feel like we've had that you know like in the six months we haven't had that great feud that's lasted the entire year you know like we just haven't had that long term feud yet for anybody.

392
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:19,480
I totally great and I just want to go back to moment of the year I'm adding our troops returns to WWE after being fired to the list.

393
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,480
I think that was a good moment.

394
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:43,480
Our truth and Santa might be few to the year because I mean that I mean that literally changed the course of WWE programming in some ways so I mean I know they kind of sidestepped into truth and and Alistar black but I mean truth is seen as what got us wrong killing so I mean it literally led to an entire character change.

395
00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:55,480
Match of the year I have John Cena versus CM Punk from night of champions obviously Seth wrong versus CM Punk versus Roman Reigns from WrestleMania 41 and I have Cody Rhodes versus Kevin Owens from the Royal Rumble.

396
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:59,480
Any other matches that you enjoy Dr. Trey?

397
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:03,480
Osprey and hangman from the Owen Cup.

398
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,480
I don't I came out which pay for you that was.

399
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:06,480
Double or nothing right?

400
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:09,480
Double or nothing that was a really really fantastic match also.

401
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:13,480
All right so we will add Will Osprey versus Andrew.

402
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:26,480
Look you can't have a match of the year without having Osprey on the on their somewhere he just does look I'm still 95 I'm about 90% in on Osprey being the future of the company but.

403
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:33,480
100% yeah yeah it's every year he has at least like one milter seven and a half orgasm star match.

404
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:40,480
He's amazing I love Will Osprey he's awesome I love hangman right now too I'm I'm very happy with the character development of hangman.

405
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:48,480
Tag team of the year I have Fraxie M Nathan Frazier and Axie M the Street Profits the new day and Finn Balor and JD McDonough on my list.

406
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:51,480
Why do I feel like the AEW homer right now?

407
00:40:51,480 --> 00:41:01,480
I feel like I'm the AEW guy because I love I love what they're doing with the hurt the hurt syndicate in AEW like all lashley Shelton saying and then throwing MJF in the mix.

408
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:15,480
I got a throw lashley in shelton on once again is harvory not if I see Shelton Benjamin and tag team I don't care who he's tagging with I'm going to pay attention to it and they've been one of the best things in AEW the last few months so.

409
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:28,480
I got their shelton in the lash in that mix lashley and tag team also yeah lashley and lashley and tag teams and anomaly in the sense but when you pair with argument one of the top five greatest tag team wrestlers.

410
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,480
It's it's kind of hard not to pay attention to it.

411
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:33,480
Shelton Benjamin is freaking timeless man.

412
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:35,480
I mean what a timeless wrestler he's in.

413
00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:39,480
He looks he looks better now than he did like 10 years ago.

414
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:49,480
Like I don't I mean in ring look the whole thing once again it's one of these when you see guys having fun their game gets elevated a little bit.

415
00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:56,480
Shelton is one of those guys you talk about the long history of like hitting misses and guys that I really enjoyed watching I thought that could be.

416
00:41:56,480 --> 00:42:02,480
There's you go back if you talk to Jeff Pek 2003 for whenever he defeated triple H.

417
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:12,480
And that draft night shocker I was all in on Shelton Benjamin being a future star and he just kind of plateaued in the upper mid card as I see champion great I see champion.

418
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:18,480
And I'm very happy for success I'm a big selling Benjamin guy so great choice there for tag team.

419
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:29,480
But female wrestler of the year I guess I'm going to sound like the AW homer now that I try I think it starts and potentially even stops the Tony storm from AW I would also throw in Mercedes Monet from AW.

420
00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:38,480
Eo Sky from WWE and Tiffany Stratt from WWE and of course you can have this list without real Ripley as well who else is being missed on this list.

421
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:40,480
I mean you got to have Stephanie on there.

422
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:55,480
I mean first North American NXT champion she's made a pretty solid transition to raw. It just kind of depends I hope she doesn't get lost in the shuffle on raw because right now being slaughtered behind Eo Rhea Becky.

423
00:42:55,480 --> 00:43:02,480
I mean Ross pretty loaded with female talent but Stephanie had a really strong like four and a half five months there in NXT.

424
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,480
So I got I got to throw Stephanie on the list also.

425
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:15,480
Yeah she's been fantastic this year. Male wrestler of the year I got Rollins, Cena, Gunther and Hangman page.

426
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:32,480
Yeah that's about my list also actually because I was waiting to see if we put hangman on the list but hangman's had a great six months so obviously in ring work you want to throw off on the list but it just kind of feels like he's kind of playing sidekick to hangman right now unless he really does something to separate himself.

427
00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:37,480
I feel like this is hangman's year so those are the those are the four guys I have on my list.

428
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:42,480
I mean do you want to throw Jay on the list Jay did with it WrestleMania be Gunther.

429
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:45,480
Yeah you know you got to put them on there yeah.

430
00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:54,480
Merchandise wise he's the one of top three sellers in the company for the first six months so I guess you got through Jay on the list also.

431
00:43:54,480 --> 00:44:00,480
We don't even have Jay Uso's a breakout star would you put Jay Uso's a breakout star of the year?

432
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:26,480
Yeah probably because I guess I guess last year be winning the IC title I don't know if that many broke out or what he's done since that I guess you're ending 2024 and what he's done so far in 2025 if you're looking at that as a year like you may have had the best year from Summer slam last year to now it may be Jay Uso's the big breakout star.

433
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:31,480
Is there's a kind of feels like since he lost the belt he's lost momentum.

434
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:38,480
Yeah yeah no he's getting lost in some of the book in the WWE is doing right now which is unfortunate what about Fat 2.

435
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:40,480
Jay could Fat 2 is a breakout star.

436
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:50,480
I feel like he's still in the mid card though like we need to see him now if he's challenging for the for the undisputed championship by the end of the year.

437
00:44:50,480 --> 00:45:18,480
Yeah absolutely I think you're setting the table and it's the same thing with Braun Breaker like we've had Braun on the we've had Braun those list several times but is is like right now it is there's still mid card guys like do we have somebody who's kind of ascending upwards and Jacobs coming off a loss like he said if he ends up in the mix for the undisputed championship by October then you got look at him being actually being a break out sorry but I feel like he's going to be stuck in this.

438
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:27,480
I don't I don't know what called solos family now but like I think he's going to be tied in with his bloodline 2.03.0 thing for a little while.

439
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:35,480
Wrestling promotion of the year I have raw or NXT as my choices doctor try.

440
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:48,480
Is it weird I want to see a lot of the list because I don't cross over stuff they've done like I'm really enjoying TNA television I don't watch it every single week but when I jump in and watch it it's really entertaining.

441
00:45:48,480 --> 00:46:00,480
But it is a move I don't know if you want to call it TNXT like or something like it's a little bit of the crossover people both shows working together is what's actually elevating both products.

442
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:10,480
Yeah no I don't think it's it's wrong to add them to the list so I will certainly add them as a candidate I have not watched them I'm disappointed that it's been like very difficult.

443
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:18,480
Add another wrestling show to the repertoire and I wish I could so yeah I think adding TNA is certainly on the list.

444
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:36,480
Honestly what happened I was saying one last thing it all depends on what happens from this whole thing with hangman death riders Darby returning AEW could jump back up pretty quickly if everything lines up the way they think it's going to line up.

445
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:50,480
It's only can they've got some really good momentum now so I hope so I think it's it's a better world for us in fans when AEW is neck and neck with WWE or at least breathing down the neck of WWE the gap has not been fun.

446
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:57,480
And then finally the big award here SRT rest of the year you can take any of the candidates that we've announced for male and female rest of the year.

447
00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:09,480
I guess Dr. Tray if we were picking an early horse favorite who would be who would you be selecting to be the SRT rest of the year for the first six months of the year.

448
00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:23,480
John John Cena like he's been the most he's been the most captivating character on like I love Tony Stormish he's probably number two for me right now I love all the stuff she does.

449
00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:29,480
But the scene of heel run for all the knocks people kind of throw on it at times.

450
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:37,480
Like we're living in a world that we never thought is who happened he's actually getting better and more comfortable in this role.

451
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:49,480
And if he if this role plays out for the next six months the way you know the signs are pointing this might be one of the best year long runs anybody's had in a long time just from character arc storyline.

452
00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:59,480
You go from the rumble him losing at the rumble him jumping himself into the chamber winning the chamber you know turning heel that night.

453
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:08,480
WrestleMania the match you just have a punk and going into summer slam it's going to be hard for anybody to take this mantle from him right now.

454
00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:17,480
Yeah for me it's John Cena as well if I'm looking at the first six months of the year I would say Cena won it but I actually I don't think Seth Rollins is too far behind Dr. Dre.

455
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:28,480
If I'm a betting man I would still say John Cena is the favorite but if I'm putting some money down that who could take the mantle from Cena by year and I would say Seth Rollins.

456
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:56,480
If Rollins cashes in at Saturday nights main event like that's going to jump in back up I just don't want to see Seth carry on the briefcase for an entire year like I want to see him strike while the yarns hot and I also think that the tag title change we just saw in raw this past week might foreshadow maybe braunt you know braun braun as somebody called them getting the getting the tag belts and you can end up by summer slam with

457
00:48:56,480 --> 00:49:09,480
Rollins is crew having all the gold. Yeah it's very well possible it would be like like an evolution type ending to a show if they did that with WWE so hey listen I think some things there are some big things coming for

458
00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:24,480
Braun Breaker and Bronson Reed I would not be surprised if we add them to the tag team mix they just gave them a mashup mashup theme song on Monday's Raw so you don't do that unless there's some at least some sort of plans in place and took

459
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:53,480
the time to go back to how we full circle this year with some music I don't think you mash up to theme songs if if they're just tagging here and there so there you go that is how we look at some of our candidates and nominees early nominees for the SRT award show that will be taking place on Christmas day 2025 and it will be here before you know I'm not sure I say I say that all the time when we kick off the award show to end the year I'm like man remember in July when we went over the nominees and here we are in July and we'll be in December quicker than you know.

460
00:49:53,480 --> 00:50:22,480
Quicker than you think with that set let's get a couple plugs and spots of the way as we close up shop on this week's edition of SRT you could support us at patreon dot com slash SRT you podcasts like dirty dog Eric Darcy did you get the show ad free along with so many more exclusives coming soon you get the show immediately available for download once doctor trainer literally done downloading or doing this podcast recording for you it'll be up and available a patron you can download the show every Thursday or Friday at real guy media dot com rest of chat net on and

461
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:33,480
still real show feed on Apple Spotify or wherever you download this podcast don't forget to rate review and subscribe help us climb the charts on all those podcasts platforms you could fall

462
00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:43,480
individually on X for myself at SRT you Jeff and for Dr. Frick and the Dr. Tray and of course don't forget to follow show on X at SRT you podcasts with that being said what is going on the

463
00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:52,480
wonderful world of Dr. Franklin this week well like Jeff said you can follow me on X at the Dr. Tray you can find me on Facebook and Instagram Dr.

464
00:50:52,480 --> 00:51:00,480
Franklin when you're on Facebook be sure to check out Rockets each of you should wrestling we are back this Saturday night July 5 with our next big show

465
00:51:00,480 --> 00:51:07,480
but most importantly get out there support you locally dependent wrestling shows go find those future stars find some crazy music

466
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:18,480
mashups as we get off the show I'm going to go find that old the mashup of Jericho and Big Show that was one of those mashups that I loved so much back that error when they just did mashups of random

467
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:22,480
tag teams the music was actually pretty good so that's what I'm doing we get off the show here today.

468
00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:29,480
So to go out there download anything that you enjoy to download for music like a mashup of the Big Show and Chris Jericho

469
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:35,480
together as soon as you get on list of this podcast enjoy the fourth of July weekend for all those here in the

470
00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:41,480
United States then celebrate the celebrate the holiday everybody else enjoy your weekend and we will be back next week we will

471
00:51:41,480 --> 00:51:50,480
preview and predict WWE evolution we will get you ready for Saturday night's main event and we will get you ready for AEW all in Texas

472
00:51:50,480 --> 00:51:57,480
so until next week for Dr. Franklin I am Jeff Peck this has been the still real a show.