Maddening Wrestling Takes

Maddening Wrestling Takes (00:01.122)
Hey Madhouse, welcome back to the Maddening Wrestling takes this week. This is your hosts, these are your hosts, Mike and Ace. Hey, how's it going? Also with us this week we have a special guest all the way from Austin, Texas. Good friend of mine many many years, Brandon Zurn is joining us today.

Brandon (00:19.526)
Hello everyone.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (00:19.886)
Hello everyone. So Brandon I know has been a wrestling fan for pretty much as long as I've known him which is way longer I think than at this point either one of us want to admit. But we'll get into our normal stuff. We'll hit some recaps of WWE, some recaps of AEW. Ace gave me a special challenge last week if everybody remembers to throw out an eight card WrestleMania card for next year.

Brandon (00:31.912)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (00:48.972)
I threw that to Brandon too, he'll be joining us on that. On socials this week, I asked you guys to tell me who you thought was gonna defeat Cena, if anybody, to save the WWE, as it were. And we'll hit some hot takes. So we're go ahead and jump right in on our WWE week in rewind. Words are tough sometimes, folks, bear with me.

Alright, so we start out raw with the last real champ, John Cena. Comes out, tells everybody he only has so many days. Doesn't matter, he doesn't have to wrestle. He can take this belt home with him. Nobody back there is going to stop him. Nobody back there can do anything and we get...

little preview of what's going to happen pretty soon with the Viper sneaking out from out of nowhere. And actually one of my favorite moments, I actually laughed out loud at this, seen his end in his promo and turns around and sees Orton and you just hear, Right before the RKO hits. I cackled at that, that was so good. I like the fact that they're leaning into a little more ad-libbing and stuff on their shows.

Brandon (01:46.472)
I cackled at that. That was so good.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:59.022)
Well, that could be just because it's John Cena. And exactly what are they gonna do to him at this point? Right. We had our women's champions that were new champions that were crowned at WrestleMania. Yep. The Irish connection, Lyra Valkyria and the man Becky Lynch instantly losing their titles. Some people I've seen online heard at work referring to her as Becky Hogan. I gotta come back, a spotlight and get a title.

Brandon (02:24.92)
Hahaha

Maddening Wrestling Takes (02:28.738)
And I kind of get it. So we have Charlotte Flair and Becky Hogan, know, the two big ones always trying to steal the titles and ruin it for everybody else. But they lose more like Hollywood, Becky Hogan. Well, that is exactly what happened. That's a good point, especially after the heel turn.

Brandon (02:38.684)
but should be more like Hollywood Becky Hogan.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (02:48.182)
So, Big Bex Hogan there loses the belt with her best friend, somehow blames her best friend and beats the hell out of her and walks away. Well, didn't Lyra get pinned? Lyra did get pinned, but where was Bex to break it up? I suppose. You can't put all the blame on one person. It's a tag team for a reason. Maybe we'll talk at the end of what happened at Raw. Maybe we'll see something else special happen with Becky. Then we get the,

new day saying they're the greatest tag team no one can no one can stop them then the alpha academy comes out

I know you like the comedy stuff and I like it a little bit too. I don't need them to be in the title picture. Well, not only do I not need them be the title picture, but they're trying to put the new day over as the serious new heel thing and the first thing they do is walk out the joke tag team. Right. Well, that was only to set up the return of Rusev, ironically on Rusev Day. It's always Rusev Day. Exactly.

Brandon (03:46.92)
Hahaha

Maddening Wrestling Takes (03:49.132)
Yeah, Rusev's one of those returns like the one we'll get to on SmackDown that's not a surprise to everybody. Anybody who follows this and has an internet connection knows full well he got released from AEW. He's been in talks, he's signed, but it was good to see him. And I will have to give credit to Triple H this year, cuz it used to be in the past, right after WrestleMania was huge.

It was the big thing, was what everybody wanted to watch for surprises. In the last few years, we haven't gotten that. This year, we got returns, we got new champs, we got heel turns. It was a great- New factions. Great Raw after WrestleMania. We did have Dominik Mysterio retaining his title as well. Sure did. With the help of the returning JD McDonough. Another surprising return. did not look super happy about that, but-

I have to admit I'm a little surprised. Me too. I thought when JD came back that that would be the clear cut point for Judgment Day where Finn left. And then it would have been like Finn and JD going off and doing their thing. Which up until... They at the Hall of Fame. So I felt like he was going to come out but...

Brandon (04:59.74)
they showed him at the Hall of Fame and so I felt like he was gonna come out but yeah I think they're gonna do this storyline for a while I'm into it

Maddening Wrestling Takes (05:09.07)
Yeah, I think they're gonna do this storyline for a while. I'm into it. Yeah, it's gotten me a little more intrigued now. They were starting to get little stale for me. But I would have thought when JD came back that Finn and JD were gonna turn face, but after WrestleMania, that Pop Dom got. Right. And as entertaining as Carlito is, I would pull the trigger on turning Dom and Carlito face if we're gonna split it even. Yeah.

Brandon (05:36.968)
Do you feel like Dom will be a good face in other markets? I feel like Las Vegas was a heel market.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (05:37.198)
Do feel like Dom will be a good face in other markets? feel like Las Vegas was a heel market. Vegas did definitely seem like it was a lot behind the heels, but I think if they market him right, mean, I Ace and I have been behind him. I think he's grown a lot as a character. 100%. And I think with the right storyline and the right turn for him, they could get him over pretty good as a face. Yeah.

Brandon (06:06.705)
The most recent WWE shirt I bought was the Dirty Dom shirt, so I'm definitely on board.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (06:06.918)
The most recent WWE shirt I bought was the Dirty Dom shirt, so I'm definitely on board. I love Dom, either way they go. I think he's grown leaps and bounds on the in-ring ability. His mic skills are great. I love everything they're doing with him. And- greatest mysterious. Kudos to him for convincing the writers to pair him up with Rhea Ripley and then Liv Morgan. mean, damn. What a guy. Way to go.

Brandon (06:25.19)
the great greatest Mysterio.

Brandon (06:34.809)
Hahaha

Maddening Wrestling Takes (06:37.998)
We also speak of debuts. One of my favorite debuts and one of the things I had just talked last week about the Stand and Deliver Women's Main Event having equal if not better. I said the Women's Main Event. You got headphones on, I know you can hear me.

So the women's main event was, thought talent wise, was at least equal if not over the women's title matches on Mania. And then they turn around on Raw and bring out Stephanie Valcour to wrestle EO Sky and god damn the day deliver every bit of what I thought they could. It was great match, ruined by interference, but it's whatever. It's going to lead to something a little later down the road, I think though. Right.

Brandon (06:59.464)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (07:26.922)
I had a John at work who is getting more and more into wrestling since we've gotten this podcast and I've been working with him talking to him. Tuesday morning I came in the first thing he said was I saw Stephanie Velcor and watched that match and thought my god she is everything Mike's been saying she is. She is amazing.

Brandon (07:46.76)
She is so good and even with the DQ I thought that was just a stellar match.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (07:51.246)
She is so good and even with the DQ, I thought that was just a stellar match. Yeah, it's good to see her getting introduced because even people I know that watch Raw SmackDown, they don't always watch NXT. Right. So to see her get, even if she's not getting a call up to get a little bit of an introduction and get people going, shit, maybe I should watch that show. That girl was kind of off the charts good. Yeah. We had, yeah.

J U so Sammy Zane kind of kind of teasing maybe Sammy wanting to go after the title maybe I don't even know if it'll be a heel turn is it gonna be a Just hey, you're the underdog you won. I'm the underdog. Let's give me a match. Let's see where we're at type of thing

I guess there was that one point when Sam yeah, Sammy returned right after like two months. Yeah It was one point where Jay was on the ropes and Sammy was just behind him looking at him, right? I think that was yeah, I guess that was kind of a tease for it. Yeah, I Got to be honest of this entire raw. I remember looking at you after this say well, that was a waste of ten minutes 100 % They didn't do anything that intrigued me with Jay. You so coming out. I they came out champion, right?

Brandon (08:56.296)
Thank

Maddening Wrestling Takes (09:08.024)
but it was a love fest between Big Jim, Sammy and Jay, so. You gotta love Big Jim. I they could have I waiting for the turn though. Yeah. That's the thing, it's like I felt they could have maybe, and maybe it's me being impatient. I know I complain a lot about that online with a lot of fans on the Cena storyline.

Brandon (09:14.384)
I kept waiting for the turn though.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (09:29.752)
bitching about how that played out at WrestleMania. It's like guys, they can't feed you the whole story in one show. Let it build, let it cook a little bit. And so this might be just an example of me getting impatient with Jey Uso, Sami Zayn. We'll see if anything plays out or if they just kind of slow burn it cuz I don't know that they 100 % know what they wanted to do with Jey Uso. They just knew they had to put the belt on him cuz it was so red hot they couldn't miss it again.

Give me another Mania match with Big Jim. To make up for that shitfest they had last year? god. That was the worst match. That was the match I was so psyched for. You know, usually when relatives or friends or whatever wrestle each other, it's taken up a notch from what you normally do. So I was super excited for these two and it was so bad.

Brandon (10:06.748)
That was the worst match.

Brandon (10:12.209)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon (10:22.588)
The little promo they cut together was pure fire. But the match was just a boring slugfest.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (10:22.84)
The little promo they cut together was pure fire. But the match was just a boring slugfest. Right. Yeah, was like punch, super kick, punch, super kick. Moment drop. This is great. Right. All right, so elsewhere on Raw, as we're closing this one out pretty quick actually. Gunther.

comes out. yes. I think you you'd gone to bed by this time unfortunately. I had. I get so tired on weekdays. The boy's not a night owl for sure but Gunther came out yelling at Michael Cole and Pat McAfee for being one-sided you know getting up on a table and eating and doing all this and Michael Cole says hey you know fact of the matter is I'm not the one who tapped out.

Brandon (10:51.898)
You

Brandon (11:08.509)
you

Maddening Wrestling Takes (11:09.506)
So Gunther grabs him, puts him in a choke, McAfee comes flying, pops Gunther in the head, gets him all broken up, McAfee's hands are up, hey I'm done, I'm done, walks away, then Gunther grabs him from behind and starts choking him out. And he didn't tap. No, for half a second I thought fans jumped the rail, because the crew from the McAfee show jumped the rail. Yeah, I thought the same. Yeah, the camera was just off enough where it didn't look like it was planned.

Brandon (11:32.272)
Yeah, I thought the same.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (11:39.13)
It looked like he was just catching something on the side and I'm like, shit. But then when you see how easily security's actually holding them back, just putting their hands in their chest and the guy is not going any further forward. So that was a well played camera angle, well played angle. Not sure where this is leading. I'm assuming we're going to get McAfee back in the ring. Gunther McAfee backlash? You don't think maybe McAfee just had an early flight out?

Brandon (12:01.66)
You don't think maybe McAfee just had an early flight out?

Maddening Wrestling Takes (12:05.462)
Now, because he played it up more afterwards, had it been closer to college football season, I might have thought that was the case. Or if he was normally doing commentary on Friday with the draft coming up, maybe they could have written him off so he could be at the draft. But with him only doing Mondays and college football not coming up, think we're going to see him. It might not be till SummerSlam.

Brandon (12:12.296)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (12:32.492)
But, well, I think see him back in the ring. I don't care at this point. He's killed it in the ring every time I've seen him. Exactly. I just don't know how he's gonna do against Gunther. I mean, he's been in the ring against guys the size of Adam Cole and stuff, so he looks like he should be able to fight these guys. Well, right, but... I think their style of match is incredible. Incredibly. Because Gunther's a powerhouse, and, Mac, if he's like a high flyer...

We'll see how works. mean, and there's no question to me, Pat's dedication to everything that he does. He'll be in the ring with Gunther practicing. That's where they go. If they go for a Gunther match, he'll be in the ring with Gunther practicing a lot to get this to look as good as he possibly can. I liked this build up, but like Michael Cole complaining the entire next match.

Brandon (13:18.79)
I liked this build up, but like, Michael Cole complaining the entire next match, didn't care for that.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (13:24.782)
Right. We can't do this. can't. mean, I'm sorry, dude. That's how Samoa Joe got on commentary. know, Brock Lesnar, F5, Dio Madden threw a table. they put it happens. Announcers have been getting beat up by wrestlers for as long as I can remember. And the way Cole played that off was like it was the first time in wrestling history that this has ever happened and it's chaos.

Brandon (13:50.012)
Yeah, maybe miss call golf if that's your calling.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (13:50.22)
Yeah, maybe miss call golf if that's your right. mean, hell, you can go call the NBA and you're going to get somebody falling on you and slamming into you. So then the last and probably biggest thing. To come out of the show was. The visionary, the revolutionary. The architect, he is Seth freaking Ralph.

with his new wise man and or advocate or whatever the hell other manager or title besides manager that paul haman comes up with the label himself this time right he's a disciple no no he has to have something to be an advisor capacity he can't be a disciple

Brandon (14:26.088)
You

Brandon (14:32.134)
Consigliere, that's what it says inside his ring.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (14:32.43)
Consigliere that's what it says inside his ring. does it there you go. There you go. That'll work It's amazing to me that Paul can never just be a manager. I love it It's interesting and it's great that he keeps yeah has a thesaurus beside his bed so he can just keep coming up with another word for it, but They come out and talk about all their plans CM Punk comes out He ends up getting beat

Yeah, and then Roman comes out Spears Seth And is getting ready to he does Superman punch Paul I I'll give Paul credit Paul's taking more abuse in the last year than I've seen him take ever No way back when when he Paul E dangerously Like you he was a standard manager. He was younger, and he took a few pumps. That's why Nick Nellie keeps responding

Brandon (15:20.486)
back when he was dressed up as a ninja.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (15:25.454)
I'm to him as dangerously. Right. Because he keeps saying, Rollins dangerously and Steiner. Right. Which is hilarious. Right. so, but to that point, Roman lines up Paul for the spear and all of a sudden a hooded figure just takes out Roman. With the spear. With the spear and they stand up and it's Bron Breaker. my God. Didn't see this one coming at all. Breaker looks like he's about to spear Rollins, then goes off to hip punk and then Rollins just

Brandon (15:34.694)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (15:56.399)
Embraces yeah that camera that camera angle it 100 % looked like he was when he took his first two steps for that spear 100 % looked like he was gonna cut Rollins in half and then just completely missed him and took out punk. It was beautiful Yeah, they that's as as you know, you know, I'm Pretty good student of the game. I feel that I I see things coming

but that one got me, did not see them bring those two together. So that'll be something else. Go ahead, sorry That jaw dropping moment and I had no idea what they were gonna do with Breaker. Right. Yeah, I figured they were gonna get the belt off him one way or another at Mania and then they were gonna elevate him into, I was assuming maybe they'd keep him heelish and have him go against Jay or something, elevate him into that, but this is just gonna do something completely different.

Brandon (16:26.278)
Yeah, that was a jaw-dropping moment and I had no idea what they were going to do with Breaker.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (16:52.014)
Yeah, feel there. Obviously, Haman doesn't normally just do one or two guys at a time. Right. So well, except for Brock, it was just Brock. You just do Brock. Right. But when he starts to put a group together, it was usually a few guys. So I feel there's going to be at least one or two like we alluded to earlier with Becky Turn and Heel. Maybe she becomes the first official Paul Heyman girl.

Yeah, I saw her. The Paul Heyman man. That's what she's going to call herself. Nice. I saw lots of people saying theory. I've seen a lot of posts online showing the similarity between this group and evolution and putting theory in the order and role. I've seen that. As you and I have been talking about for this entire week about this, I want to see Nathan Frazier.

Brandon (17:24.14)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Maddening Wrestling Takes (17:49.144)
Whether they bring Axiom with them too, and they bring Phraxxiom into it, as a heal tag team or whatever, but Frazier being trained by Rollins, he's not the strongest on the mic, so you give him Polly to be able to talk. I think it would be great. You'd have the brains, the brawn, speed. You have, not the brawn, sorry. So you got the muscle. We have Frazier be able to hit the quick sneak attack.

come in and absolutely just destroy them with strength and then set this up final stop on whatever they do it's just such a good fluid thing and phrase already has that tie to set i think it could be really fun

one other one that I thought of and I think I showed you this picture. Was it Cariann? Yeah, because if you take a picture of Seth in a suit and Bron Breaker and you kind of combine them it looks a whole lot like Cariann Cross when he is wearing a suit.

He's got that big, big body build, the strength and the ferocity that Breaker has, but he's got that demented laugh, I'm gonna control everything that Rollins has. So I think that could be a fun little in-between for both of them. I'd love to see Cross and Heyman together because both of their mic work is impeccable. Right, well that's the thing I always kind of wonder about with Heyman. Rollins doesn't need a mouthpiece. Right. Well, kind of, because sometimes I wish he'd shut up, that little

fake laugh nonsense just get something Roman doesn't need a mouthpiece right but I definitely think breaker does so that could be helpful right you got any ideas on that Brandon who you think may be a fourth coming in well I definitely thought Becky right

Brandon (19:36.316)
well, I've definitely thought, Beggy, I like carrying cross. I think that's a fantastic idea. I really just want them to be called the Dangerous Alliance.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (19:42.304)
I like Karrion Kross. think that's a fantastic idea. I really just want them to be called the Dangerous Alliance. I would love that. I've seen online a couple times where they're putting like Dangerous Alliance 2.0 or something. was like, Dangerous Alliance has been long enough and there's so many fans out there now that have no idea what the hell that is. What's the Dangerous Alliance? That was Arn Anderson, Stunning Steve, Larry Zabisco, and Pauly Dangerously.

Brandon (20:11.75)
Rick Rude was in that.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (20:11.886)
managed yeah recruiters in a for a little bit yeah it was as a great name uh... with him not going by dangerously anymore people may not get that connection so it works right and it sounds like a good faction right and it gives a nice throwback nostalgia throwback for the guys like brandon i remember the stuff

Brandon (20:35.272)
because they've proven they can't come up with good faction names anymore. Pure Fusion Collective? What the hell is that?

Maddening Wrestling Takes (20:36.11)
They can't come up with good faction names anymore right pure fusion collective that's One of my one of my new favorite things right now to do is talk wrestling with chat GPT so we were having a little discussion about this and The name that I came up with

Actually, I wanted this nickname to be used for Frazier, but it ended up being what it started referring to the group as was the vision of the visionary.

Brandon (21:13.734)
That's not bad, it's a mouthful.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (21:13.986)
That's not bad. It's a mouthful. It is. that's the setup I had for it was like Frazier turning heel, hitting a stomp on Axiom, and Paul Heyman basically saying, I'm presenting you, the viewers out there with the vision of the visionary. Basically saying that Frazier was like the future of it. I think you could just leave it at the vision. Right. And that's pretty badass. Right. Yeah.

Brandon (21:34.152)
I think you could just leave it at the vision and that's pretty badass

Maddening Wrestling Takes (21:42.508)
it would work so it would be yeah I'd like to see him play off something if they don't do the dangerous alliance which is my number one pick and has been for a while on this one well you know since Monday but I'd like to see him play off something either the visionary the revolutionary the architect

Something along those lines right all right ready for NXT I sure am we kicked it off with our new well women's tag champs facing the team of Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolan which I told you from the start I can't see Dolan NXT NXT team beat in the Meta girls Yeah, they lost champs retained what

Just South Bay. They lost. The Clamps retain. Then we go on to Lexus King. Lexus King goes to Penn and Teller? Yeah.

He's looking for his heritage cup. They bring it back on one condition. Well, two. Two, he has to say magic is real. And the second condition is that he has to defend it tonight against a mystery opponent. Yeah, I really kind of thought when Penn and Teller made it disappear and then we ended stand and deliver with it not coming back that they were just that's how they were going to write off their heritage cup. No, that would have been pretty funny. I would I'd have been OK with it because it just it's just kind of there. I don't get it. It's.

Brandon (23:04.668)
That would have been pretty funny.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (23:12.206)
It's like AEW having 300 championships. You got this small show that now has a heavyweight title, a mid-card title. Women's mid-card title. Yeah, women's title, women's mid-card title, tag titles, and this goofy trophy that people carry around that I don't get.

Brandon (23:30.362)
At least Lexus King did a good job of making that seem like a desirable trophy. Like he has the fans like kiss it and touch it.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (23:30.56)
At least Lexus King did a good job of making that seem like desirable trophy. Right. Like he has the fans like kiss it and touch it. Yeah. The person who answered the challenge? The returning? Noam Dar. You are a much bigger Noam Dar fan than I am. I think he's good in Ring. He's funny on the mic. I'll give you the good in Ring. I don't enjoy his mic work. Hello, hello! I think that's hilarious.

i think he was probably my least favorite of the metaphor he was definitely number four of the metaphor noem dar wins and is the new heritage cup champion good so they can both just go away and i'll be good what? noem dar in the cup does that mean he goes up against

Brandon (24:15.058)
But does that mean he goes up against saints and then they unify?

Maddening Wrestling Takes (24:20.866)
Saints and then they unify? That would be fine with me because that was supposed to be the thing. Yeah. So, no. Because Lex, it's Lexus. Yeah, it's Lexus going up against Saints. Yeah. Because it was going to be losing. Yeah, was. Yeah, it was Lexus challenging him, necessarily Heritage Cup challenging North American. Right.

Brandon (24:34.0)
Okay, despite losing.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (24:45.262)
Thea Hale beats Fallon Henley because of a backstage altercation. how the match got started, not how she beat her. Oh, right. was like, I don't recall a backstage altercation. Um... Uh, Oba Femi comes out, gloats how he's the best.

Basically undefeated in triple threat matches trick comes out and says blah blah blah never got pinned whatever then Joe Henry comes out and then they say his name and he appeared he sure did He says that trick needs to quit his whining. He's been after this for a year And I think we are going to get Joe Henry versus Elba Femi for a

title versus title match. I don't know if they'll pull the trigger on a title versus title. I think they will. I do. I'd like to see it, but to me, an inter promotional title versus title almost guarantees a screw job ending. Somebody getting interfered and match getting thrown out. I don't know. Not between these two. I don't think. I mean, trick Williams comes in and I was going to say who, but then. Right. Yeah. Trick. Definitely.

Brandon (25:49.924)
mean, Trick Williams comes in and...

Maddening Wrestling Takes (25:56.758)
I could easily see a trick Henry feud coming up. give and maybe that's the thing. Maybe trick gets the TNA title. He's been after the NXT title for so long. He's gonna prove you go after this champion. Yeah. It'd be fun. I'd like to see.

They keep doing this cross promotion, I'd really like to see either way a champion from our guy from NXT be a TNA champion or a guy from TNA be an NXT champion. think the meta girls are going after the TNA Women's Tag Championships. And what's that? Is that the elegance girls hold that? No idea. Okay. I think that's today.

It's all it is. There's a there shows on tonight. Okay. next we have dark state just still proving how incredible they are in ring Beating javon evans and miles born. man. I am loving me some dark state I had big questions when this started. me too. Osiris griffin. That's the name, right? Yeah, right combination. Yeah, I'm loving Osiris griffin I think I think Saquon is still my favorite but Osiris is definitely second. I mean, it's hard to rank these guys, right?

And it's I know I'm giving a whole lot of love for guys I've seen Russell total three matches together right, but their continuity They don't look like they're you know, I don't see much slop in the ring with them Yeah, they're presenting them very strong. Not only are these guys Going very well in the ring, but hats off to Shawn Michaels for the way he's presenting them 100 % In our main event we have Val Care beating Roxanne for the women's championship

Julia made a surprise appearance confronting Val'Kerr and They're gonna make a title match between the rematch. Did you not see Jordan grace in the audience? I did not yeah as they're doing the stare down they took a side shot of Val'Kor Val'Kerr it's Up in the stands standing in the aisle ways Jordan grace staring straight in the ring

Maddening Wrestling Takes (27:57.28)
So I really hope they don't do a triple threat with these three. Why? I want to just see a good one on one match. Every title match doesn't have to be a triple threat or a fatal four way. I really think you need to lean into just, we know I've said it for weeks now, my top two women wrestlers in the world are Julia and Stephanie Vakor. So yeah.

I he was above our character. I told you last week. thought they were those guys were above what he was. So I just need to see those two just go full out in the ring. Right. Right. They have the strongest women's division by far in NXT. So I just really want to see him lean into the two top women they have and just run with it. Yeah. Or move one of them up and just let Jordan Grace go in because Grace is going to be in the title picture before long.

Yeah. So, are we onto SmackDown now? we are onto SmackDown now.

I'm not gonna lie, I really like this moniker. Me too. I like the last real champion. Last real champion. Last real champion. Because Orton came out to talk about him, Orton said he's gonna fill this void in this hole, he's gonna give him kids. He's not going to give him kids. Whoa, whoa, whoa, that phrase. Okay, Brandon heard it. What? The way you put that.

said, he's going to fill the void in his hole and give him kids. I'm going to put a baby in you, I know what's going to solve this. You and me backstage baby match. You do that and I

Brandon (29:34.503)
Hahaha

I'm gonna put a baby in you, Cena.

Brandon (29:42.448)
I was shocked enough.

You do that and I am tuning in.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (29:48.59)
The radians are gonna go up because I guarantee you that is an original storyline Screw Mae Young in the hand or in a pregnant scene is what everybody wants

Brandon (29:55.272)
Yeah.

Brandon (29:59.451)
Ha ha ha ha!

Maddening Wrestling Takes (30:21.23)
Alright so eventually Orton tells Cena he needs to have kids which if anybody follows John Cena is well known he does not want children so Cena much in the vein of society today yells at Orton for child shaming him or parent shaming him

Brandon (30:27.059)
boy.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (30:49.024)
saying that he's raised all these little brats out in the audience for last 20 years and that he doesn't need kids. They go back and forth. Cena hits him, right? Yeah, Cena cheap shots him. We're going to skip over the most beautiful line in this entire thing. He says as soon as he retires with that championship.

He's going to make a new one. They're going to make a new shiny one. But as soon as Orton wins that one, his counter is going to go back down to zero because it is not the WWE Championship. that's right. He said he's going to race him and three generations of his family. Like that's that's cute and all, John, but WWE has made like four different heavyweight championships. That's what I was thinking. So that's that's my only problem with this whole gimmick.

Brandon (31:29.35)
you

Maddening Wrestling Takes (31:40.0)
But I get what he's saying because it's just a title with the big WWE logo on it. Right. I think that's what he's talking about. Well, so was the Universal title. Exactly. That is. Yeah, that is the Universal title. The Universal title is officially retired. Is it? Yes. Quietly. Nobody said anything about it. They just put a retirement date on it on the website. Well, it's because it's the Undisputed Championship now.

Brandon (31:54.343)
You know.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (32:06.892)
Well, that way they can say that Cody was the last Universal Champion or whatever. Roman was. It was still active until last week. think I think they said it was Roman. Yeah, it can't be possible because as soon as Roman hit 1000 days, they unveiled that. I knew I know they I know they did, but on the website it was still active. Like when you looked up dates for the titles and stuff, the active date was still there. Until.

Brandon (32:16.717)
I think they said it was Robin.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (32:36.822)
last week there was just a headline this week on the wrestling websites that they quietly retired. that one out by the way? People, I love wrestling, I do, but I don't have time to just sit and watch everything that happens on. I what title they retired this week. We obviously don't have a staff to do this stuff. Somebody gets paid to sit and just stare at the WWE website and see if anything changes. And I am available for that work if anybody is listening. Just saying.

Brandon (33:03.592)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (33:05.518)
I don't have anything better to do, including my regular job, but that's a whole other story. yeah. ends up dropping Orton again as the end of this whole thing. Yeah. Then Orton, Arceo's Cena. Cena just is getting laid out every time he turns around. Yeah. So, which is, if you...

Follow the build to WrestleMania. Cody laid him out twice and then lost. So the face laying out the heel every time before they face. I think it's whoever just gets laid out. Not a good idea. and so we do get the official match too for Backlash. Yes, it is official. Which I thought was actually kind of cool because Cena said I'm not going to fight you tonight. I want to fight you at Backlash because it's in your hometown. Yeah. I want to make you look like a fool in front of everybody in your hometown. I love that. I love Seal Hina. I don't care what anybody

See you know see ohina. Is that what I said? That's all right. I told you sometimes. I have a speech impediment It is it's verbal dyslexia, but we will talk about that later, okay? So heal Sina I'm I'm loving I keep seeing a bunch of people online complaining about it about how it's

It's not entertaining, it's not blah blah blah blah blah. I think it's great. I think it's everything he wants it to be and the fact that people are talking about it is exactly what he's going for. Right. I do. There was a backstage segment with R-Truth. Just basically saying, John, John, I'm your childhood hero. Whatever. And then he walks away. Big Jim comes up to Truth. Truth goes, when I grow up, I to be just like him. Then Big Jim goes,

But, but you already are grown up. Right, the fact that he's older than Cena and it's his childhood hero makes me laugh so much every time. I think what's gonna happen is truth is gonna tell him that he's...

Maddening Wrestling Takes (34:59.562)
not like this and he's going to revert him back to a face truth is gonna be what truth is gonna save the company superhero Sina that's a bold idea that is a well definitely you might as well save that shit for your hot take my bad all right all right where do go after that first segment Zelina Vega versus Kelsey Green for the US women's title we have a new United States women's champion you United yeah women's United States champion yep absolutely love it i've been a fan of Zelina

Brandon (35:06.418)
That's a bold idea.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (35:29.486)
Vega for quite a long time. First started watching her way, back in TNA when she was coming down with LAX with Hernandez and homicide. Thought she was great in ring then was super thrilled to see her get to WWE.

Cuz at the time I didn't think her size would lend itself very well to what usually looks for even in his women. Cuz even for a woman wrestler, Zelina is small. Very. But I think she's great in ring. And I think it's about time she got some kind of recognition. Yeah.

Brandon (36:10.064)
As much as I love all Canadian heel wrestlers, I was happy to see Zelina Vega witness.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (36:10.175)
bad. As much as I love all Canadian heel wrestlers.

I was happy to see Selena Vega with us. Yeah, it was long overdue. Chelsea got what Chelsea deserved. And I love the fact that she was the first champ. And I like the fact that she had a decent reign that they recognized because for a long time and that that women's division was boring and Chelsea was she was the MVP of that division. Right. So and I knew with the comedic heel work that she was doing, they weren't going to put the main title on her. So to put this on and recognize her for the

that she was doing I loved it but I think it ran its course once I started adding the Secret Service or Hervus because that's another waste of two really good in-ring talents yeah I saw a tweet that said the two US women's champions are not American Zelina's from New York I thought

she was Puerto Rican but that's still a US territory. She's Puerto Rican by ancestry but she's from New York. Just like you're Irish. Right. So were you then. a little backstory, just a side note, really doesn't play into anything in this other than the whole fact that she's from New York. Zelina actually lost her father at 9-11.

He was he was one of the firefighters who had gone into the buildings. So she yeah, she grew up in New York. She's born and raised like Damien Priest is from New York. But but reps Puerto Rico because it's a strong family tie. Yeah.

Brandon (37:50.76)
So I have two comments about this. The US title, women's title, is for women who've been canned and brought back.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (37:50.894)
So I have two comments about this. The US title, women's title, is for women who've been canned and brought back. that's an interesting thing to notice, which is cool because there's a lot of women that I'd like to see that they brought back. Bring them all back. Right. And I had heard that Chelsea has demanded a recount. That's great.

Brandon (38:04.091)
and IL.

Bring them all back And I had heard that Chelsea has demanded a recount

Maddening Wrestling Takes (38:19.52)
I enjoy the character she's playing. I just hate the fact that they're using her bodyguards just as bodyguards and not letting them. Because hell, let the two of them be a tag team. Right. Let them go after the women's tag titles. And they weren't in that gauntlet match. Right. But I mean, I've been a big fan of Piper Niven for a long time.

hated when they first brought her in his dewdrop. I just want to see him unleash Piper. If you guys get a chance, I'll see if I can go back and find some footage too. We now have X, Blue Sky, Instagram, TikTok. So I'll go and see if I can find a little bit of footage put up on our TikTok for people who are listening, some of her.

work outside of WWE, Piper never is just a monster. People need to actually see what she can do. Yeah. Next on the show was Miz hyping up Mello. He was saying, yeah, you had your moment. I'm gonna go make mine. Then Miz starts talking about how he's sick and tired of being overshadowed by these returns or these debuts. And then Aleister Black's music hits. Well.

Brandon (39:29.672)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (39:34.818)
Before that happened, one of my favorite things just personally in watching Wrestling with Ace is Miz says, no, Mello, you stay here. I'm going to go take care of this myself. And I looked at Ace and said, I'm sorry, Miz, because everybody knew that Aleister Black was returning. My favorite part about that whole segment, the crowd popped before his music hit because they saw them setting up the entrance. Right. His entrance is so elaborate, they can't just like surprise him.

interesting note though when he debuted in a w he went up when he first showed up he was against cody cody in an all white suit malachi comes out against miz in an all white suit it's the black versus white that they trying to throw out and i do love how he's still playing the

I didn't like it.

once again completely over space like the he was being affected by just a little bit of a spread across the i thought that was pretty sweet next on the show was

If I remember correctly was Knight and McIntyre for a number one contender, Mack, for the US title. McIntyre wins by disqualification due to interference from Damien Priest. Well, but Solo interfered first. Knight. Ref didn't see it, So you think we're getting a triple threat? Fatal Four Way maybe? We may end up with a Fatal Four Way. Priest, McIntyre and Knight.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (41:33.302)
I mean, realistically, I don't care. I like LA Knight. Right. do. I'm a little tired of him, especially in this scenario. Yeah. And if I'm going to see guys fight and if I'm going to see somebody fight Jacob Fatu, I'd much rather see Drew McIntyre or Damian Priest fight Jacob Fatu than LA Knight. Right. To end our show, it's a five star TLC match.

for the undisputed tag team championships. Yeah, was most definitely a why the hell was this not on WrestleMania, but that other tag team title match was. I'm pretty sure that's what everybody is saying because the crowd last week, the crowd heard TLC match, then they hear, then he goes next week and then they start booing. Because like you want that on a mania.

Well, the only thing I can think is they really wanted to hype up the SmackDown after WrestleMania like they did the Raw after WrestleMania. So they put this match on. So many, so many good spots in this. I was, I don't even know. You knew it's going to be a good match. I mean, the machine guns don't disappoint in this type of match. Ciampa with the shaved beard looks wonky.

Yeah, he definitely does. Johnny Gargano never disappoints in a ladder match. Not at all. Uh, Champa, I don't think I've seen him disappoint in any gimmick match, honestly. I air raid crash through the ladder. Oh my gosh, was, that just looked so nasty. I thought Tess died. looked so nasty. Was that on Tess? Oh, Tess took a couple, yeah, Tess took a couple bad shots that threw the ladder super kick from Gargano. Yeah. That was... Oh, the slow motion shot on that made it look...

even worse but through all this craziness through all this insane through the ladder through the table that all this the spot of the night was a dude in the audience gave tess's prosthetic leg yeah god that was so good i was rolling i'm like my god does he have somebody's leg and he tossed it back to it

Brandon (43:39.748)
God, that was so good.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (43:47.052)
I'm more impressed that the guy caught it. I wouldn't have that type of coordination. It's one of those things that you don't know for 100 % if it's a plant, but I like to think in my heart of hearts that it wasn't. And Tez was just like, shit, yeah, give me that, we'll use it. Well, I don't think it was a plant because they posted a clip on TikTok and you saw Tez pick up a ladder. Then the guy's like, here, take my leg, take my leg, which is a wild thing to say. And Tez was like, yeah.

Take my leg take my leg. Well, and the dude was like in the third row He won first row so that kind of makes me believe that it wasn't a plant too They all led him up to the front row and was like, yeah, you know what? That would be a great spot so It was that was a great smack.

Brandon (44:31.558)
I really hope he hung out and they all like I really hope they all he hung out and they all signed it.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (44:34.924)
I really hope he hung out and they all signed it. that would be so great. I mean, he had to have gotten something. Right. Other than just your leg getting used on TV, you would think that they would have came back and did something with it. Right.

Brandon (44:48.658)
He made an already amazing match. Just A++.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (44:48.792)
He made an already amazing match. Just A++. Right, he took a match that was going to be memorable and then he made probably one of most memorable spots in it just because of the absurdity of it. I Right, we're going to look back and think, how was that on a random SmackDown? Yeah, didn't and Cody wasn't here at all this week, right? He's not been seen since Mania. Right, we're going to get a little Cody absence to build this up? Yeah. Okay. I don't like...

You know, like, I'm saying what I'm saying is I don't I don't like him as the Like give him a different storyline, you know, like he had his yearlong rain I say that and I still protesting that Roman gets his title back right but

Brandon (45:21.938)
Hmm

Maddening Wrestling Takes (45:36.79)
You know what I mean. Yeah, well, I do know what you mean and Daniel Bryan is proud of you for being fickle because dude you've changed who you like and who you don't like so many times. It's crazy. I've kept Roman though. Roman. Except Roman. I'll give you, give you words to. Roman's been my day one-ish. Yeah, because my god, Sincaro was your day one. Was, or Calisto. Calisto, yes. Calisto, my bad. Sorry, was a crappy luchador they had at the time.

Right. I saw him do the flips. Just like anybody that gets introduced to wrestling, a guy with a mask doing incredible flips, you're gonna fall in love. Especially when you're seven getting introduced to wrestling. Right. Alright, looks like a real life superhero at that point. Exactly. But you skipped a Phraxium getting called up. I did! Oh, did skip Phraxium. Ace isn't a huge fan of Phraxium. Well...

Brandon (46:23.164)
but you skipped a fraxium getting called up.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (46:32.11)
I enjoy Fraxiom. I like Fraxiom, I like their backstage stuff. And at this point you can't look at them anymore as two random guys getting put together. At this point they are a tag team. And the best part is their name was just fan given. And then they went along with it because I saw a tweet, Hunter, Triple H posts, welcome to Friday night Fraxiom. Some guy responded to that with, didn't the?

Fraxiom wasn't that a fan made name and then Nathan Frazier response to that with can confirm Yeah, that was not us That was all that was all the audience Which is great because it's I mean obviously the combination of their names, but it sounds good. I like right

Alright, we're pretty good on that, right? We got our WWE out of the way? think that sums it up. See, we should be a little embarrassed now that our special guest had to point out we missed a big moment. Yeah. Sorry, special guest. Alright, let me clear it with you, Brandon. We didn't miss anything else. There's Jade and Tiffany. Yeah, well. Naomi coming down. Ooh, and Nia Jax return. Yeah. Kinda. I guess technically we missed that, but I don't think that.

Brandon (47:29.451)
There's Jade and Tiffany with Naomi coming down

Brandon (47:43.208)
I'm just really excited about Naomi.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (47:43.214)
I love Naomi's heel work. This like I've said this a couple times now Watching Naomi for as long as I have this is the most entertaining I've ever been by Naomi. Yeah See, I actually did like the glow stuff But this is a much-needed turn. Yeah Yeah, and I will say one thing and you know, I know we're

Brandon (47:56.092)
See, I actually did like the glow stuff, but this is a much needed turn.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (48:07.534)
pretty much a family friendly show and everything but the amount of ass that was showing off right in that match was crazy it's it's too good I love the wrestling but I love the ass too can't go wrong with some butt speak of ass let's get to AEW okay that's crazy like that like that cut

Brandon (48:15.656)
It's it's too good. I Just I love the wrestling but I love the ass, too

Brandon (48:28.392)
Ace, chime in it.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (48:36.578)
We we'll start off Wednesday night, Jamie Hader advances in the Owen Cup. Pretty much everybody saw this coming when their brackets were announced. Young Bucks come back in ring with a match over a win over Speedball Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight. Amazing match. If you're into high flying wrestling man, AEW is worth a watch.

And I think AEW this week did an amazing job with trying to compete with the Raw and SmackDown after Mania. Cuz this was a great show. This week in AEW is probably one of the most solid weeks I've Yeah. Which, sorry, I had to lead into it with a speak of ass, but it just lent itself so well. But Young Bucks get the victory over Bayley and Knight. Really, really like Kevin Knight.

Brandon (49:22.888)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (49:30.158)
think I could get into Mike Bailey a little more if he didn't have that haircut, but I don't care about the shoes Jimmy snooker never wore shoes and he ended up being a Hall of Famer and probably killing somebody but we won't go into that Hey, it's called maddening takes for a reason. All right, we don't shy away from stuff here. I mean, I don't celebrate snooker anymore There's a reason that

Brandon (49:42.581)
Jesus.

Brandon (49:52.198)
I mean, I don't celebrate snook anymore.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (49:58.638)
Tamina was just Tamina. They didn't say anything about Tamina Snuka after her point. Don Cal's family comes in. Looks like we might be getting what I talked about last week. We might be getting Takeshita and Josh Alexander as a tag team. kudos to AEW on that, because again, I don't think there's anybody tag wise I can see coming close to the Hurt Syndicate until they put these two together. Josh Alexander is a monster.

Brandon (50:00.936)
Mm-hmm.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (50:29.004)
I watch AEW obviously not as closely as I do WWE so I was a little disappointed that he didn't come to WWE just so could see him on a more regular basis but he may make me tune into AEW a little more. But they defeated Will Ospreay. What's that? Where was he before? He was in TNA. Okay. Yeah, Living Weapon, he's pretty much ran TNA for a while. He left TNA after a killer match with Mike Santana.

Brandon (50:43.057)
Where was he before? Where was he before? Okay.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (50:57.92)
over what over who was the standard bearer in tna anymore that was as a brutal match and a great great match mike santana is another one who i'd like to see crossover into nxt wasn't he in aew just as santana he was yeah he was santana and ortiz yeah they were the new lax and tna originally then they went to aew with jericho

and now he's back so it's our teams or tease I don't know I'm even sure for t's is still wrestling they had a legitimate real life falling out and then they quit tagging and Santana left but Callas family beats Osprey and Brody King which is a weird tag team well I mean it worked it was a good match I love both of them so this is where they go but again

Why is Osprey continually in tag matches? Push this dude already. I get it. Again, doesn't he book himself? No, he has creative control. There's a difference. Okay. He can decides who wins and who... Not necessarily. No. He has creative control. Which means if they put him in something he doesn't like, he can say no. Okay. Without getting in trouble. I see. I see. But he's not a power mad dick.

like somebody else who has creative control, Mercedes Monet. he lets them do what they need to. God. Maybe, maybe my least favorite wrestler. They had to pipe the canton to the theme song. That's how bad it is. I love when you hear the CEO chant and the camera pans and there's like one guy out of 25 actually mouthing the letters. It's great. But.

Brandon (52:24.998)
CEO.

Brandon (52:42.129)
Hahaha

Maddening Wrestling Takes (52:46.414)
Push Osprey, he needs to be on his own. He needs to be at that world title. I know Tony Khan has a hard on for Hangman Adam Page for whatever reason. And maybe 10, 15 years ago when Page and the Elite, the Bullet Club were all in Japan, he looked like he was an up and comer, but God, he's so boring right now. Right? I don't get him. All right, Mark Brisco defeats Ricochet in a match that everybody knew was going to happen.

Kevin Knight saves Briscoe from a chair attack afterwards setting up that ricochet Kevin Knight feud we talking about. We did have a Master P sighting to start this off. We sure did. Now, I'm pretty sure Brandon was still living in Columbus with me when Master P was last in wrestling, weren't you? Yeah, no limit soldiers. Yeah, no limit soldiers with, what the hell did Mysterio call themselves? The filthy animals.

Brandon (53:24.168)
you

Brandon (53:35.686)
Yeah, no limit, soldiers.

Brandon (53:43.164)
Yeah. god.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (53:43.31)
Yeah, but uh, raymosterio and billy kidman and conan That was great just and then master p brings in his no limit soldiers which are just these these huge Rap guys who couldn't wrestle for anything mean looks like they've taken like three days at a wrestling school and they're bringing them in there just because of huge now He brings out the ops right he comes out with the ops Still not a fan of the name him and hearing toady shavani

Brandon (54:07.784)
Like seeing him and hearing Tony Shavani, I'm just watching old WCW

Maddening Wrestling Takes (54:12.686)
I'm just watching old WCW. with Shivani and... yeah. Shivani was the ring announcer. Or was the commentator in WCW. So Death Riders come out. Joe chokes out Moxley. Young Bucks come out. Try and save them. Start to go after Master P. Kenny Omega shows up. Swerve shows up. Joe comes back.

So the good guys end up winning this in the long run. Yeah So Joe does this great thing where he locks his hold in but he turns the guy away from Master P, right? Master P was like definitely going for like some some belly shots. Yes Yeah, and I like the weak ass reach around that Master P is still trying to get in on that one, too He's like no I'm gonna hit this guy Joe. I don't care what you do FTR comes out

Brandon (54:44.488)
So Joe does this great thing where he locks his hold in but he turns the guy away from Master P because Master P was like definitely going for like some some belly shots

Maddening Wrestling Takes (55:11.566)
to apologize for their recent behavior, but they have a new manager. We see Stokely Hathaway brought back. I like Stokely, he's entertaining. Love Stokely. I don't know that FTR needs Stokely. Well, like we said previously in this episode, Roman didn't need Heyman. Seth doesn't need Heyman. Right, and it pushes him farther as a heel for sure. Yeah.

So it solidifies the fact that their heels as if dropping edge on his head and all that didn't solidify it. My only problem with this is I don't think they need him to go over as a heel. And if you're gonna bring Hathaway back, god damn it, would you please give Ricochet a manager?

tired of hearing this guy try and cut a promo you are great in ring you can't talk to save your ass go get samantha ervin we know she can talk right and she's good eye candy people will love ricochet if he comes out with samantha ervin what is she doing is she doing anything she's trying to start her musical career she thought she was starting at like only fans no i haven't heard that but she started something on twitter she's starting a musical career where she performed at an indy show in front of

Brandon (56:14.268)
What is she doing? Is she doing anything?

Maddening Wrestling Takes (56:28.654)
probably just slightly more people than we had our last b1p show performing a concert so you go from you know shouting cody rhodes name at wrestlemania crying crying as he breaks roman's ridiculous streak to singing in front of a hundred and twenty five indy wrestling fans you might not have made the right career decision throwing it out there i look forward to her only fans not necessarily

Brandon (56:50.46)
I look forward to who are OnlyFans.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (56:57.582)
and only fans but something along those lines like what Mandy Rose is doing oh Mandy Rose is 100 % doing an only fans only fans oh really yeah I thought she was on like a different platform but the same kind of that's the reason she had to leave WWE because

Brandon (57:11.58)
What do know about these platforms?

I said, what do know about these platforms?

Maddening Wrestling Takes (57:15.662)
What do know about these platforms? No, then I saw Moving on So yeah, that's the reason she had to leave WWE because the content she wanted to put on her only pants. Oh, I see Yeah, and you can't have my credit card. So just move on with this I Got to do research for the show dad, let me get Mandy Rose's only It's almost a good argument

Brandon (57:33.256)
I'm a real wrestling fan, Dad.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (57:45.817)
but he can't get it past me and that's mostly because I can't get it past my wife so... Yeah, that's the final barrier. MJF comes out with one more attempt to join the Hurt Syndicate. Don't they just drive off? Sheldon gives him the thumbs up, P gives him the thumbs up. Before Bob can give him the thumbs down, he says, hey, you like that car I pulled up in? I'll give you the car if you give me the thumbs up.

Brandon (57:51.228)
Yeah, that's the final barrier.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (58:12.492)
So they go back, check out the car, Bobby and Shelton get in the car, drive away as Bobby puts his hand out with a thumbs down. So let's say on AEW, we've had a dude commit arson on camera. Yep. And a dude commit grand theft auto on camera. Sure has. And nothing happens. This is an entertaining We've seen the same man commit arson on a person.

Brandon (58:29.958)
He he.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (58:41.742)
Hangman burnt Darby as well as Swerve's house. He burnt Darby? I know Darby came out with the flamethrower on the scapegoat a couple times. maybe that's what I'm thinking of. Yeah, Darby came out with a flamethrower and set Jack Perry on fire. That's what I was thinking of. My bad, my bad. So yeah, definitely. They definitely will try and push the limits there. Yeah.

So that would have taken us to our first AEW show? Are we on the collision? Unless Brandon's gonna tell me I missed something in this show too. No, I think that's everything. good. On collision? We... What? Go ahead. Okay. We had... Bandito versus Dralistico? I don't know how say that. Yeah, you said it perfectly, actually. Dralistico? Dralistico. Bandito retains his ROH World Championship.

Brandon (59:18.192)
No, I think that's everything.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (59:38.338)
Then we have an AEW Women's Championship Eliminator. I hate those types of matches. You gotta beat the champ twice to be the champion? that's dumb. Granted, in this match, Tony won. But that's besides the point. Now it's one thing to me if you say this is a non-title match. Right. And then you beat the champion and you're like, hey, look, you beat the champion, maybe you should get a title match sometime. Like Zelina did. Right. But, I don't know. FTR versus the Paragon?

Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong. I'm sure that was a great match Yeah, there's almost no chance it wasn't Daniel Garcia coming out in front in both teams though, so we're not really sure where he's going right Max castor comes out as the best wrestler alive

And this is kind of getting sickening. Not sickening, but tiring. They gotta get a payoff on this gimmick. Yeah, like debut someone huge. Or let him win a match, I don't know. Something crazy. But hologram got like his 27 and 0. Right? Right. Hologram's still coming out with, my god, what female wrestler was he coming out with? No idea. She was wearing a mask. Maybe it was... Haley Graham. Yeah.

Brandon (01:00:39.068)
you

But hologram got like his 27 and O.

Brandon (01:00:54.458)
Haley Graham.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:00:58.314)
I don't know. was Harley Graham, right? was Harley Cameron? Graham, that's right. I don't know. Blatantly obvious, kind of like the Americano thing. What you talking about? Shut up. Where it's blatantly obvious who it is and then her name even. It's Harley Graham instead of hologram. Come on. Swerve Strickland versus a guy named Blake Christian. Vanilla Baby! I saw you mention you were going to make us be fans of the Vanilla Baby. Okay, so I saw this guy.

Brandon (01:01:00.626)
Harley Graham, that's right, that's right.

Brandon (01:01:08.44)
You

Brandon (01:01:18.703)
Vanilla Baby!

Brandon (01:01:25.104)
Okay, so I saw this guy when I went to see AEW recently. He was doing a Ring of Honor taping or whatever. He used to do this little dance thing that you would absolutely hate, Mike. But he is crazy talented. I know he's only counting the lights in AEW, but he's eventually going, I mean, just watch him. He does crazy spots.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:01:27.734)
when I went to see AEW recently, he was doing a ring of honor taping or whatever. He used to do this little dance thing that you would absolutely hate, But he is crazy talented. I know he's only counting the lights in AEW, but he's eventually going, I mean, just watch him. He does crazy spots. Yeah, he put on a pretty good match against Kenny Omega.

For being somebody you knew was going to lose to Omega, it was a pretty good match. I think he's like 0-3 in AEW. And he's just a forgettable vanilla guy. Yeah. But he's got like heel chops. So maybe they'll build this forgettable vanilla guy up to a turn, a big character change that... Don Callis family. Don Callis family, man.

Brandon (01:01:56.625)
Yeah.

Brandon (01:02:00.188)
I think he's like 0-3 in AEW and he's just a forgettable vanilla guy but he's got like heel chops.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:02:21.422)
I don't even want to talk about they're wasting that potential so much. They at least got a win this week. They did. The Young Bucks attempted to interfere. Kenny Omega's kind of stopped them setting up what I think is what we think is going to be a blood and guts match. yeah, where they keep all the heels and faces keep the five of them. So, yeah, the death riders and then the Young Bucks versus the ops, Strickland and Kenny. Yeah, that's that's going to end up being

Brandon (01:02:24.216)
They at least got a win this week.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:02:51.502)
blood and gut match I can never keep track of when their stadium does that stadium stampede is that what they call their match? Yeah, like the falls count anywhere 5v5? Yeah, I'm never sure when that comes up. I think it's always at all in or all out. One of those two matches is gonna end up with these 10 guys. Right. And don't get me wrong. I'd love to see. I'll watch it. I'll watch the hell out of that one.

Crew versus Top Flight in a Tornado Tag Match. Ugh, that had to be crazy everywhere. Crew 1? I love all four these guys. Do- Do I say THE Crew or just Crew? Just Crew. Okay. It's one of the- everything I've seen him ever done. It's just CRU. It's just Crew. Okay. And then, finally we had Roosh- Roosh? Like, just annihilating AR Fox to solidify himself as this beast. Which is a shame because I like AR.

Me too. Yeah, I think he's pretty talented and kind of lost two big matches in a row. Right. He's one of those guys. I know it was never a real big, super popular thing for casual wrestling fans, but go back and find some Lucha Underground. A.R. Fox was in that and he did some really good work in Lucha. You're just going to jump right over the end of J Match.

Brandon (01:03:45.352)
Yeah, I think he's pretty talented and kind of lost two big matches in a row.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:04:08.864)
I'm it was yeah, I would have jumped over to it. It really didn't do a whole lot calling me out for the same thing you do. I did and it's bad because both the ones that we jumped over were women's matches. So it doesn't look good. That's not good. Look on us. Yeah, it's not because it was women. It's because it was bad wrestling. I don't remember the girl's name, but when they announced her, I was like, sorry, right?

Brandon (01:04:24.86)
I don't remember the girl's name, but when they announced her, I was like, sorry. It was such a squash match, just so Anna Jay could get squashed by Megan.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:04:31.214)
It was such a squash match. Yeah. Just so Anna Jay could get squashed by Megan. Right. And I don't think Megan's that good. I mean, I've only seen her four or five times, but she looks very stiff, very almost. And I know Brandon will get this, but almost Christian Hayden Hayden in Star Wars movies. Hayden Christiansen, my bad, got him named backwards. Hayden Christiansen in the Star Wars movie, wooden layer of acting.

Brandon (01:04:53.576)
Yeah.

Brandon (01:05:01.062)
Like I like the outfit, the look is good, but... And the whole like having her wrestle two girls at the same time, that's pretty cool. But I'm not seeing it yet.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:05:01.164)
Like I like the outfit, the look is good, but... And the whole like having her wrestle two girls at the same time, that's pretty cool. But I'm not seeing it yet. I don't even know that she's that much physically larger than everybody. Right. I'd rather get in a ring with her than Jordan Grace. I'd rather get in ring with her than Jordan Grace than Rhea Ripley. Sure.

Brandon (01:05:21.158)
I'd rather get in a ring with her than Jordan Grace.

Brandon (01:05:30.024)
Bianca.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:05:30.702)
Jade Cargill, all look like, Nia Jax for damn sure, they all look like bigger, stronger, more dominant women. if that's what, AEW in general, the wrestlers are smaller. Ace and I talked about that a couple shows ago with Wardlow, if he ends up going to WWE, which there's rumors that he's had talks with WWE now. He's not gonna look like the giant guy he does in AEW.

Mean the guys in WWE will be more It'll be more like breaker like breaker says yeah, he'll be more of an average guy I mean like not quite breakers because breakers not a tall guy right Wardlow is but yeah You got a lot more guys in WWE that are over six six two six three right then you do an AW and yeah nothing against sides I'm not trying to get that across. I'm just saying that

Brandon (01:06:01.072)
Yeah, he'll be more...

like breaker size? Yeah.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:06:25.642)
AEW pushing this lady as their big dominant person when she's not that big as compared to some of the people in WWE. It fits what AEW is and has been doing. Which is great cuz some of the smaller wrestlers are just as good. I mean, I'm never gonna complain when Adam Cole has a title. Adam Cole's a small dude. I'm not gonna complain. Johnny Gargano. Yeah, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Jack. None of them are huge guys, but they're great in rings. Exactly.

whatever. And that very much like the WCW years. Right. And but they're getting away from where they have to keep them separated. That's the thing that I'm really enjoying. Just like if Billy Kidman was around now, he wouldn't have just been a Cruiserweight champion. He'd have been a midcar champion. He'd have been something that people could believe as a wrestler.

Brandon (01:06:56.922)
It's very much like the lightweight WCW years.

Brandon (01:07:23.696)
He got to be squashed by Hogan.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:07:23.842)
He got to be squashed by Hogan. Everybody got to be squashed by Hogan and pretty soon Becky Lynch. So we'll bring it all back full circle. It's all right. So what do you want to go into first days? I laid down a challenge. you're going to go straight into our WrestleMania. We have to save hot takes for last. All right. But we got the who's going to beat Cena one, too. Right. All right. That's fine. I don't have any rhyme or reason for my matches. I just think they're possible matches that could happen.

Brandon (01:07:28.008)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:07:54.242)
Alright, so you want to start this off? Sure. Alright. I'll go for my first match, Alistair Black vs. Karrion Kross. That'd be a very fun match to watch, that's for sure. Alright, are we going just in order or back and forth? Just, go ahead, just do your card and then I'll let Brandon do his card and I'll do my card last. Alright, I got Belair vs. Cargill.

Okay, I think that's they're gonna figure out that Belaire had something to do with attack at summer slam Yeah, she's getting involved in this Naomi J thing as soon as she gets back from messing up her hand, right? Roman versus rock. I mean, it's inevitable at this point. Yeah I have Brown breaker versus Jacob fought to

It's going to happen at some point, there's no question about that. Right, I don't have it for a championship. I didn't put any championships in mine, I just put matches. Okay, I have Punk versus Rollins for a championship. We've seen that match so many times though. Not with this new Rollins. Yeah, okay, go ahead, it's your match, it's your card, you do what you got. Then I have a fatal four-way.

Eoskai vs. Julia vs. Valkyr vs. Asuka. That's a dream match. That would be a great match to watch. I have another women's match with Roxanne Perez vs. Paige. Oh, look at you in return. And then my final match, the Lucia Brothers vs. the Usos.

Brandon (01:09:11.944)
That's a dream match.

Brandon (01:09:23.767)
Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:09:31.298)
Lucha Brothers versus the Usos. could be good. So you got Usos back as a tag team behind the Trussell Mania. I Usos back as a tag team by Max Mania. So Jay is losing the title before. yeah. Jay is not going to have a title, a year long title run? No. Okay. I don't going to drop it at like summer. I don't think anybody believes that's going to happen either.

I think the next DUI takes the title off him one way or the other. Brandon, you said you got in on this little fun for us. What you got for us? I did. So Ace has a good card. I went into this thinking of how storylines advance, how things change, and I get a little speculation going. Alright. I call some champions and I have some gimmicks.

Brandon (01:09:59.056)
So Ace has a good card. I went into this thinking of how storylines advance, how things change, and I get a little speculation going. I call some champions and I have some gimmicks. We're opening with the Women's Champion match with champion Julia versus Rhea Ripley.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:10:17.762)
We're opening with the Women's Champion match with champion Julia versus Rhea Ripley. That'll be a good match. Would love to see it. Julia versus anybody is a good match for me. Then we have a TLC tag fatal four way. This guy. That's not fair. What's that? I said, that's not fair. Hey, you threw in a fatal four way. I don't want to hear it. I didn't put any stipulations. well, you're going to get some. Great.

Brandon (01:10:30.716)
Then we have a TLC tag fatal four way to make a. What's that?

Brandon (01:10:44.002)
well, you're gonna get some. Fraxium. Luchageddon, which is penta and phoenix.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:10:47.896)
Phraxium Luchageddon, which is Penta and Phoenix. Okay, that's my Luchia brothers. Yeah. Yeah. I figured that to change the name. So right up with Bronson and Braun as in Strowman. Bronson Reed and Braun Strowman. Nice. I love to see the big man brought back. I wanted to call them the new natural disasters.

Brandon (01:10:56.744)
I figured they have to change the name so came up with Bronson and Braun as in Stroman and Bronson Reed.

Brandon (01:11:10.694)
I wanted to call them the new natural disasters.

in the Motor City machine goods.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:11:15.04)
and the Motor City machine goods. That would be a fantastic bag.

Brandon (01:11:19.496)
Then we have a dirty Dominic Mysterio with Judgment Day versus LA Night. I think he's taking control.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:11:20.6)
Then we have a dirty Dominic Mysterio with Judgment Day. Still with Judgment Day after here, huh? All right. I think he's taking control. I can definitely see that. Because I tried to imagine Carlito in the depix. It's got to be dirty Dom. Right. So, yes. Carlito in control. Now, I'm pretty proud of this one. No DQ.

Brandon (01:11:32.696)
Because I tried to imagine Carlito, who he picks, it's gotta be Dirty Dom. So, yes.

Brandon (01:11:44.218)
Now I'm pretty proud of this one. No DQ Intercontinental Championship match with champion Ilya Dragunov versus Jacob Fatu.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:11:48.524)
Intercontinental Championship match with champion Ilya Dragunov versus Jacob Fatu. That could be a very violent match. So what do we have with Dirty Dom? I didn't pick who won, but he's up against LA Knight. Okay. Okay. And we'll watch the crowd, who'd see who the crowd pops for. Right.

Brandon (01:12:02.312)
I didn't pick who won, but he's up against LA Knight.

Brandon (01:12:09.092)
and we'll watch the crowd, see who the crowd pops for.

Brandon (01:12:14.77)
We're gonna need a cool down match, a retirement match, the Miz versus R-Truth.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:12:14.808)
We're gonna need a cooldown match, so a retirement match. The Miz versus R-Truth. no! That would be great. That would be amazing. There's probably no better way for R-Truth to go out. Unless Cena did it before he left. Right. I have a result for this one. Okay. Double DQ. so now they both... Are they both retired or do they both keep going? Both retired.

Brandon (01:12:29.68)
Now, I have a result for this one. Double DQ.

Brandon (01:12:40.476)
both retired. Miz takes a break, comes back to do commentary. R-Truth laces his boots and returns to work for the Raw after WrestleMania.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:12:43.308)
Miz takes a break, comes back to do commentary. can work with that. Laces his boots and returns to work for the Raw after WrestleMania. That's great. So in character, so on brand form. That would be absolutely outstanding. That was absolutely my best thing.

Brandon (01:13:02.866)
That was absolutely my best thing. So this is me cramming as many people in. We'll have a fatal four way. No, no, still got a couple of matches. Seth Rollins with the Heyman hustle, which is breaker Heyman and Lynch versus Drew McIntyre versus Oba Femi versus Cody Rhodes.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:13:05.902)
So this is me cramming as many people in a fatal four-way, okay, that's the main event No, no still got a couple matches. Okay Seth Rollins with the Hayman hustle which is breaker Hayman and Lynch versus Drew McIntyre Versus oba Femi versus Cody Rhodes. I interesting throwing Cody in that

Brandon (01:13:34.931)
Yeah, I had to throw him in somewhere.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:13:34.99)
Yeah, I had to throw him in somewhere. Yeah, 100 % had to put Cody. Do you have Cody on your I do not have Cody on mine.

Brandon (01:13:42.226)
Then we got a women's tag team championship, and this is going to require a lot of story. But Stephanie Vacar and Roxanne Perez versus Jordan Grace and Bianca Belair.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:13:42.286)
Then we got a women's tag team championship. And this is going to require a lot of story. Stephanie Vaquere and Roxanne Perez versus Jordan Grace and Bianca Belair. give me the story. I don't have the story. Oh, OK. I see. He's to get there. We're going to need one. Stephanie definitely does a heel turn.

Brandon (01:13:59.152)
I don't have the story.

Brandon (01:14:04.68)
Stephanie definitely does a heel turn and then we have the other two being paced.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:14:08.206)
Then we have the other two, the powerhouse women getting together. Right. Hey, I just bumped into somebody at the gym. Let's form a tag team.

Brandon (01:14:17.0)
Exactly. Classic tag team reason.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:14:17.326)
Exactly. Classic tag team reason.

Brandon (01:14:22.088)
I even have the attendance announced by John Cena.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:14:22.87)
I even have the attendance announced. Got one all out.

Yeah, what you got for us? So yeah, John Cena comes out to tell us who else there. Okay, if he's a face. he will be he's by the time he goes out. I almost guarantee he'll be a face. And then finally, our headliner. The WWE Championship match. The voice of the voiceless CM Punk.

Brandon (01:14:31.078)
So yeah, John Cena comes out to tell us who all's there. If he's a face.

Brandon (01:14:43.526)
And then finally, our headliner, the WWE Championship match, the voice of the voiceless CM Punk versus the tribal chief Roman Reigns with special guest referee, Mr. Money in the Bank, Carmelo Hayes.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:14:54.178)
versus the tribal chief Roman Reigns with special guest referee Mr. Money in the Bank, Carmelo Hayes. so the dude that holding money in the bank is the special guest ref? Yeah. and he has to cash into himself. That's great. Cash into himself. That would be a very interesting story. He counts his own three.

Brandon (01:15:09.904)
Yeah, and he has to cash into himself.

Brandon (01:15:22.118)
Yeah, well, I figure they could either have a referee come down, he definitely cashes in to himself, and they have another ref come down, or he counts for himself.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:15:22.286)
Yeah, I figured they could either have a referee come down right he definitely cashes in him to himself And they have another ref come down or he counts for himself a fast count for himself as The special guest ref with the money in the bank would definitely be something that would be in character never happened before too, right? So that'd be great. I'd love to see it

I'm sure a lot of people would be pissed off at a cheap cheese. Well, that's not fair that WrestleMania ended like that. I'm like, it's great. Are kidding me? I love it. You definitely do it after like a banger match. yeah. yeah.

Brandon (01:15:54.972)
You definitely do it after like a banger match.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:16:00.462)
Yeah, I would be 100 % down to see the guy with the money in the bank being a special guest referee. I'm not sure how we how storyline wise you could even make make GM make that call, but I'm sure it can be figured out. Now, now you're going to learn about it. You're going to make me disappointed when this doesn't happen.

Brandon (01:16:00.604)
But yeah, he still is the win.

Brandon (01:16:15.004)
thought about it and just just

Hahaha

So that's my WrestleMania card.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:16:23.086)
So that's my WrestleMania card. I love it. I think it's great. I'll give it up to you, but way more thought and stipulation and all that stuff into it than I did on mine. I just put eight matches. Right. Ace kind of forgot about his own challenge until recently. All right, so here we go. I'll give you mine. So I've got, and again, I have no champions and only one really big description of it. I just have people versus people.

So I have starting off with the Lucha Brothers versus Motor City Machine Guns. That'll be great, Max. Yeah, nonstop. Love the machine guns. Love to see him get into a match like that, especially in Mania. It's funny that we all have the Lucha Brothers together. Right. yeah, the Lucha Brothers. Within a year, they have to be together. Probably my biggest surprise in this whole thing in my next match is Stephanie Valcour versus

Brandon (01:17:04.888)
It's funny that we all had the Lucha Brothers together.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:17:21.698)
Dr. Britt Baker, DMD. I think we'll see Britt in the WWE before next year and I think that would be a great match. See what I wanted to do with one of my matches was look up some AW contracts and see when they're ending. Right. I don't have that much time. Right. I wanted to put FTR in that match with the Usos and Lucha Brothers.

Brandon (01:17:23.749)
Ooooo

Brandon (01:17:38.757)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:17:45.89)
And I'm not sure if Britt's contract will be up by then, but I have a feeling she's not been used on TV. She's going to go the way of Rey Fenix where even if the contract's not quite up, somebody's just going to be like, Tony, just let it go. Right. Just go. My next match is I don't see this new found group of Rollins lasting until Maynia. So I have Breaker versus Rollins. Hmm.

Brandon (01:18:10.074)
Mmm.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:18:12.354)
I do have big Bronson Reed coming back myself Brandon so I'm glad you threw him in yours. But I have him going up against Jacob Fatu. That'll be a great match. That will kill our match. Probably for a mid card title. Or world. Nah you gotta wait till I get to the top of my thing and understand why it's for a mid card title.

Brandon (01:18:16.988)
good.

Brandon (01:18:22.3)
That's a killer match.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:18:32.238)
Um, and I'll throw this out for either tag team titles, and I'm 100 % positive this isn't going to happen because for some reason Triple H has a personal vendetta against me and will not let this match happen. Is it what I think it is? It is 100 % the Usos versus the Guerrillas of Destiny. There is no goddamn reason you signed the Guerrillas of Destiny and they have not put on the war paint to face the Usos yet. Well, it's because Tonga... Tongalowa's been injured. The true tribal chief, Tongalowa.

Brandon (01:18:45.576)
You

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:19:00.386)
but they brought him in and then they like put a suit on him and they had him standing behind Solo and they never even gave them the chance to be God like they're supposed to be. The Gorillaz of Destiny and New Japan were great. Put on that face paint and let them go to war. It would be such a good match. Yeah. I'll come down off that never gonna happen soapbox now. Women's title match?

Obviously gonna throw this out Julia EO. Okay. I'm just going one on one cuz again, I want to see a good one on one title match Now where we're gonna go in why you see Bronson and Jacob were not for The world title. Okay, is it either WWE or world? I don't care which way we go with these next two matches or World or what is what's it's WWE? Yes world champion or the undisputed champion, right? yeah, I was confused what you were talking

I don't give me that strange look. We have CM Punk versus. Homelander Cody Rhodes. love it. Yes, Cody will turn heel before next WrestleMania. I believe that when he goes heel, like I told you before, Ace and I had this conversation. He doesn't wear that outfit for shits and giggles. You're getting Homelander Cody when he turns right. And the main event, just because it's been.

Brandon (01:20:10.088)
I love it.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:20:29.388)
to so long it's been in the making for so long we're finally gonna see rock versus roman yeah i have that too i mean that was yeah that was the easiest when you said it i'm like that's the one that makes the most sense everybody's calling it so supposed to happen has it though well i think i think for one match yeah it's not even going to be a great match i don't think it's going to be a good match neither one of them are technical experts or anything so it's just going to be a pound on each other type of thing

Brandon (01:20:43.016)
I don't think Rock has it though. He can't do the job.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:20:58.382)
And it was supposed to happen at Mania 39. They wanted it to happen at Mania 40. Then the crowd was like, no, we want Cody. And Rock was not involved in the ending of Mania 41. Which is fine, people. Right. Yeah. So speaking of the ending of Mania 41, we have a new champion in John Cena. The last real champion. Who do you think is going to dethrone? I threw this out on our socials and...

Brandon (01:21:15.257)
Yeah.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:21:27.97)
looks like the popular opinion from what I'm seeing Andy Holler guy work with John Osborne guy used to work with owner a little Hugo's actually well shout out to Hugo's great ice cream go stop and get some you're welcome John both of them and pretty much most of the people that I see responding are telling me they feel Randy Orton is going to dethrone him not yet if they don't like it backlash or later

Brandon (01:21:54.182)
like a backlash or later.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:21:55.872)
I'm guessing they just said Randy Orton. didn't say when but there's zero chance he does it at Backlash. No, no way. And I don't think with them advertising John only having 20 so many days that they're gonna have a long or dates not days. Right. I don't think they're have a long running feud with Orton. Not, not So I don't I don't see Orton as being the guy to to do it. They definitely needed to wrestle. Cena's probably biggest opponent over his entire career was Randy.

Brandon (01:22:00.933)
No, nowhere.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:22:25.87)
They came into OVW at the same time. They've known each other their entire careers their careers have been so intertwined that you had to have them on Right, I get it. But doing it as his first opponent was kind of a surprise to me So I don't see Orton being the guy now Brandon who you think? All right, so I don't really think that anyone's gonna beat him but

Brandon (01:22:43.752)
Alright, so I don't really think that anyone's gonna beat him. But if it is, it almost has to be CM Punk. They have the history, they have assigned importance to that belt that matters to punk. And I think by then Cody probably will be heel.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:22:54.478)
It almost has to be CM Punk. They have the history, have assigned importance to that belt that matters to punk. And I think by then Cody probably will be heel. So I feel like it has to be punk.

Brandon (01:23:14.533)
So I feel like it has to be bugged.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:23:16.278)
Alright, normally when we do these segments I always save mine for last. But since Brandon and I 100 % agree on this. I should have put more thought into this. This is who I've been saying since it happened. The history between the two is great and they can call this back to a long-term storytelling where CM Punk was trying to take the belt and go away and Cena was defending it. You can have...

coming out saying something like you know I realized in my time away that being the voice of the voiceless means more than just dropping pipe bombs and speaking up sometimes you got to stand for the people and you can't take what's theirs and right I had Seth freaking Rollins with this new whole faction type of thing I think he's going to run the if not Cena then Jay I can definitely see him beating Jay

I he's going to win the world championship within this faction as the new Paul Heyman guy. can definitely see that. I mean, thinking about it now, it makes more sense if it's Jay, because him and Cena are on two different brands. Right. And Jay's got history with Paul. Jay and Breaker had a little feud going on little while. But the draft is inevitable at this point. The draft they'd randomly throw out. So I'm never 100 % sure when the draft is going to happen, be honest with you.

Yeah, so that's who I picked. Yeah, the full circle CM Punk taking the belt not taking the belt and It gives Punk his first championship since coming back to WWE. I think that's the biggest biggest I've tried again the biggest build-up and biggest win they could have Cena like helped cost him his first shot at the belt, right?

Brandon (01:24:52.008)
plus.

Brandon (01:24:57.586)
Sina helped cost him his first shot at the belt.

this current belt at least. Yeah, it just it has to go that way.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:25:04.664)
This current belt at least. Yeah, it just it has to go that way. The Cena. Yeah, Cena given the very heavy I'm gonna turn heel vibe when Seth stomped him at the elimination chamber and he still slept on the STF anyway. Yeah. So yeah, it's it's got to be CM Punk and it's I'm thinking it's probably going to be sometime that toward the end of Cena's dates. Yeah. For my hot take. yeah. All right. Get your hot take.

I think this Raw after Mania was better than SmackDown. It was a very good Raw. I think it was better than SmackDown. Because it was a mid SmackDown up until that TLC ladder match. See, I keep saying TLC ladder match. I know you do. The TLC match. And that's what people keep claiming it to be. You can't have a great show because of one good match. Well, I thought the women's US title match was good. It was okay. I thought Aleister Black coming back was great.

Yeah, but then you have on the contrary Rusev's return. Those two don't compare to me. Well, I'm just saying return. Right, right. You had a heel turn for Becky Lynch. You had a build up between Orton and Cena. I think the Raw after Mania was better than the Smackdown after Mania. I think maybe I'll give it to you on an overall. Yeah. But I think the Smackdown was at least

Solid all the way through I can't think of a spot in SmackDown where I was like, yeah Right, but that Jay Sammy Big Jim moment Gave me ten minutes of meh on Raw which hurts raw for me. Yeah, I Mean on a normal night ten minutes of meh on Raw happens, right? But when they had everything else going on, I think that pulled it down for me

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:27:00.238)
So you got a hot take special for us too Brandon? I got a couple. Oh a couple look at this guy coming in out of nowhere gonna throw two at us. what you got? My first hot take is you should all call it maddening takes.

Brandon (01:27:02.92)
I got a couple.

Brandon (01:27:09.222)
My first hot take is, you should all call it maddening takes.

instead of hot takes. You know, it's the name of the show. All right, so my real one. Imagine a character who brings the lewd crudeness of Degeneration X, but also the bombastic excitement of Gold Dust.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:27:15.68)
instead of hot takes. that's a good that might be a good one. Listen, look at him directing our show to Dan. All right. So my real one. Imagine I'm a character who brings the lewd crudeness of Degeneration X, but also the bombastic excitement of gold dust.

Brandon (01:27:44.496)
Ladies and gentlemen, timeless Tony Storm.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:27:44.502)
Ladies and gentlemen, timeless Toni Storm. hate, I hate timeless bro. I love her. I get mad at y'all every time you talk trash about her. She's terrible. Not her and Rain. No, no, no. Her and Rain is amazing. The gimmick is just atrocious. She needs to enunciate a little more and not let people talk over her.

Brandon (01:27:51.226)
I love her. I get mad at you all every time you talk trash about her.

She's so good.

Brandon (01:28:04.518)
She needs to enunciate a little more and not let people talk over her but she is so funny. So good.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:28:09.976)
but she is so funny. could go with it. I could go with it. If it wasn't the whole 30s movie star and they turn in the camera black and white every time. The shit she says is hilarious. I could think of stop at the black and white thing. Just let her be yourself. I mean, as the I like the clam. I could lose the butler. Right. But.

Brandon (01:28:23.302)
I could think a stop at the black and white thing. Just let her be herself. I mean, as the... I like the clam. I could lose the butler. But the problem is they always have like a non-important women's match at the end of AEW. Well, just so she could do commentary after the kids go to bed.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:28:36.11)
The problem is they always have like a non-important women's match at the end of AEW. They do, I don't get that. Well just so she could do commentary after the kids go to bed. Okay, alright, that makes complete sense. I never put together, I'm like, why are they putting these bullshit matches on as their main event?

Brandon (01:28:57.416)
Because she says such funny lewd stuff that you can't have at 8pm and it's always good but you're kind of burying Will Ospreay.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:28:57.422)
Because she says such funny lewd stuff that you can't have at 8 p.m. Yes. And it's always good, but you're kind of burying Will Ospreay. Exactly. And like I said, the character gimmick itself is what needs to lead for me.

That character itself is just so grating to me. I can't fully appreciate everything else she does. In Ring I love Toni Storm, always have. Some of the stuff she says off the cuff is very entertaining, but the whole 30s movie star with the butler thing and all that shit I just can't deal with.

Brandon (01:29:34.012)
But y'all can see you're the minority here, right?

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:29:34.018)
But y'all can see you're the minority here, right? Yeah, 100%. It's not called takes everybody likes. It's called maddening takes. It's not just a clever name play on the last name. It's the fact that I don't agree with a whole lot of wrestling fans. That's fair. And your hot take? My hot takes gonna be a little more specific. Going over some old matches, talking with people and stuff. I'm gonna put out there to anybody who's never watched it. Go and watch it and see if you think that I'm right or wrong.

Brandon (01:29:48.338)
That's fair.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:30:03.662)
But there is a ladder match in early days of TNA between Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Christopher Daniels, which I'm gonna, I'll die on this hill, is the best ladder match that has ever happened in professional wrestling. It's not TLC with Edge Christian, Hardee's and Dudley's. It's not the classic Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels. There's no downtime.

These are three of the best wrestlers, especially at that time, three of the best wrestlers in the world going nonstop through this entire match. It is the best ladder match ever. That's a hot take and I would like to see this match. Me too. Yeah, I'll put up a link to exactly which pay-per-view it was on social so other people can go and watch it too. This match was insane.

Brandon (01:30:45.288)
That's a hot take and I would like to see this match.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:30:58.882)
Couple early ladder matches in AEW or not AEW, my God, I'm sorry. In CNA were really good as they were doing some kind of off the wall stuff. There was another really good one that involved Jerry Lin and AJ Styles. And I can't remember if it was Daniels or Joe. It was one of the two. that match, AJ Styles. AJ Styles, Samojo, Chris Daniels, best ladder match all time.

Brandon (01:31:15.752)
Bustin' out Jerry Lin.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:31:26.222)
That's where we're gonna end. That's where we're gonna end. we're gonna tell everybody have fun, enjoy your week, go watch some wrestling, shoot us some hot takes on all our socials now. We're represented pretty much across the board. Maddening takes everywhere you go except for X which is maddening underscore takes because for some reason somebody already had maddening takes. And now that I say that out loud I realize that Brandon is a hundred percent right and this last segment should be called

Maddening takes since all of our socials Yeah, damn that was staring me in the face and I needed someone to actually say it to get it. So I thought y'all were messing with me All right, so I want to thank Brandon for joining us This is great Brandon's in Austin, Texas if we haven't brought that up. So Stop in and see Brandon. You're still to the comic store, right? Austin books and comics

Brandon (01:32:02.706)
I thought y'all were messing with me.

Brandon (01:32:19.688)
Boston Books and Comics.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:32:20.974)
There you go, stop in and see him. And if you have any comic book questions, hit this guy up. He's iffywizardry. You're on Blue Sky, correct? Yeah, it's Blue Sky, but I'll respond to all socials. All right. Hit him up. If you got any comic book questions, you want to tell him how much we're right and that Tony Storm gimmick is a giant pain in the ass, feel free. So until next week, we'll see everybody later. no, we'll see everybody later. Not until next week. You know what I mean.

Brandon (01:32:29.17)
Pretty much, yeah, it's blue sky, but I'll respond to all socials.

Maddening Wrestling Takes (01:32:50.158)
All right, bye.