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If you want a wrestling podcast that keeps it 100% real on all the topics you love, you’ve com to the right place. No Gimmicks is dedicated to bringing you commentary from the worlds of pro wrestling, entertainment and when the moment calls for it, social events. Be warned, don’t come with a closed mind. This isn’t a gimmick show.
Once again, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the No Gimmicks podcast here on the DFPN. This is your boy, Frankie DeChose, the one, the the black Mac. And and what you just heard if you're listening to us right now on Patreon or watching on Patreon, and if you're not, you should be doing that. $3 a month will get you unlimited access to the archives of the DOPN. We just saw the trailer for Star Wars, the acolyte, which is gonna be the new Star Wars show coming to Disney Plus on June 4th.
Frank Dee:Now I saw the trailer previously earlier today when it, you know, when it happened. Mhmm. Black Mac had not seen it. So I said, hey. Listen.
Frank Dee:I got an idea. Why don't we react to the trailer right here on the podcast? And I want your thoughts. And, sir, the floor is yours because I am gonna go in in a few minutes, but I want you to take the floor now, you know, and let the, listeners out there know what you think.
Blak Makk:I I don't know what to think, man. Like I said, it's I don't I don't know what to expect from this show. And I'm what I'm hoping right now is this isn't another book of Boba Fett situation because this is what on the surface, this is what it looks like. We are going to get a story that's supposed to go one way, and it's gonna go a completely different way. And I'm probably not gonna enjoy it.
Blak Makk:But I am going to I am going to I'm always the positive one. I am. I'm going to reserve my thoughts for watching the show because I was excited about the acolyte. This trailer has me a bit confused. I am a bit confused by watching this trailer.
Blak Makk:However, I was confused watching Obi Wan's trailer, ended up liking the show. Ahsoka's trailer was a bit confused by that one, although we kinda knew what that story was. I was just hoping and praying that they they went about it in a decent way. They did. They gave me that.
Blak Makk:I'm going to do the same with this one. I'm gonna hold out my judgment until this show comes out, and I'm gonna give it 2 episodes. Because I always Boba Fett, I gave every every show that came out since then, I give you 2 episodes. If you can't grasp me in 2 episodes, I'm not watching the show no more. So standing rule.
Blak Makk:That is my standing rule. If it's if you don't grasp me within 2 shows, I'm out. So you got 2 episodes, acolyte. Please don't mess this up for me. Please.
Blak Makk:And now I I I I yield. I give you the I give you the floor.
Frank Dee:So here's the thing. When I watched the trailer, and I've watched it a couple of times today, it just doesn't feel like Star Wars for me. There's something off about it. Like, it don't feel like Star Wars. There's way too many humans on the show for my liking.
Frank Dee:Star Wars has always been humans, aliens, all different sorts of creatures all wrapped up in one. I mean, look at the katana. You know what I mean? Right. There it just it don't feel like Star Wars.
Blak Makk:And this is why I say, based on the trailer, I'm confused.
Frank Dee:Well, so the thing about this trailer is that I saw this trailer, like, last year because it leaked out. So I already saw the the the trailer. I already knew Carrie Anne Moss from the Matrix was gonna be in it, and there's rumors that, Keanu Reeves, at some point, might be in the show. He may
Blak Makk:be
Frank Dee:Darth Darth Revan. That's rumor is is what it is. Not sure if that's gonna happen or not. But I don't know. I mean, you know, I I would normally give something a chance, but I'm just not a fan of the showrunner, Leslie Hetman.
Frank Dee:I am not a fan of her at all. She said a lot of disrespectful things about George Lucas. She's done a a lot of, I would call, questionable things in relation to her former boss Harvey Weinstein, who is, I believe, serving a life sentence or lengthy prison sentence for, the assault of women. I'll put it like that. You wanna look read about it, you can Google it.
Frank Dee:So I am not a fan of her at all, and I feel that this show is gonna be a disaster. It's gonna be another Disney Star Wars disaster. So, I'm just not feeling it at all at the moment. And, I believe we have lost mister Blackberry. You're back?
Frank Dee:I believe we lost you.
Blak Makk:Yeah. I'm back.
Frank Dee:Okay. So I'm just not filling it at at at the moment. I I'm like you. I will probably watch episode 1, episode 2. If it doesn't grab me at that point, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna watch it.
Frank Dee:That's just how it's gonna be. I'm a Star Wars fanatic, as you can clearly see. Okay? And this is not a a thing of a, like, oh, I'm gonna hate on something to hate on it. No.
Frank Dee:It's not about that. Right. What it comes down to is I want a a good story, and I want something that it can be brand new, but at the same time, I want it to be familiar. The only thing about this show that's familiar that I get from it is Jedi and Lightsabers. That's what I get from it.
Frank Dee:I don't see anything else about this show that's says, okay. You this is, like, must watch television. I have to see this. When Obi wan Kenobi launched, okay, when that trailer first launched, didn't really show you too much. They didn't really you they didn't even show Vader.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:You they they showed just Obi Wan. They showed Tatooine. That's what they showed. You didn't see Vader. You heard Vader's breathing, and it was you know, they played duel of the fates and all that, and and they they got you in there.
Frank Dee:That's what the trailer was. Right. And then the when you watch the show, the story went into a completely different direction. Now some people like the show, majority didn't like the show, and this is the reason why Disney has not picked up season 2 for this show, and it probably won't because of the amount of backlash that it got. One of the good things about the show was you have to see the return of of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen.
Frank Dee:Basically, coming back to reprise the roles. You also had Jimmy Smits come back as well as Belo Grana, and then you had Ian McDermott, you know, reprise the role of of, Palpatine at the end there. That's just that you know, Obi Wan Kenobi was just it was a missed opportunity. And the same thing goes with Ahsoka. Ahsoka, for the most part, I enjoyed Ahsoka.
Frank Dee:I enjoyed Ahsoka for for, you know, Ray Stevenson's baton skull character. I thought that was a
Blak Makk:very good character.
Frank Dee:And and Shinhatchee is another good character. And I love the cameo with Hayden Christensen coming back. Hey. Shadow shadow warrior episode 5 is my favorite
Blak Makk:episode. The best episodes they've done of any show Absolutely. On on Disney plus.
Frank Dee:Absolutely. Abs absolutely. I I put shadow warrior episode 5 of Ahsoka, episode 3 of Obi Wan Kenobi when you see Hayden and Asgard Vader, when he has a suit on and all that, the that's those are some of the best moments in in Star Wars as far as Disney plus Star Wars. They completely dropped the ball with the Mandalorian in in season 3. I think there's a lot of creative difficulties going on there.
Frank Dee:There's a lot of shit going on right now because of the whole Disney, the proxy war going on right now. So so, you know, George Lucas came out and publicly backed Bob Iger, on the for the Disney board, which, you know, like, Disney George Lucas called Disney, at one point, the white slavers. And then all of a sudden, now you are backing Bob Iger. And you're saying Right. You're saying, I quote, amateurs can't make magic.
Frank Dee:It's even sound like some shit that George Lucas would even say. So I'm kinda wondering what did George Lucas get in return for coming out with these comments? I mean, are they trying to give him some of his legacy back here that they've destroyed? It's characters that they have destroyed the assassination of 1 Luke Skywalker that they're trying to redeem coming up with the Mandalorian and Grogu and other projects that, that are in the in the I'll tell you all fair. I can't talk about, but there's a lot of shit going on that I'm I'm privy to.
Frank Dee:So here's the thing. When it comes to the acolyte, it's divisive once again. You're always gonna have divisiveness because, yeah, a part of the fan base and the like what you do, the other part is not gonna like. But when you have a whole collective here of people saying the same thing, now I tell you something. And people are trashing the acolyte.
Frank Dee:They're trashing it. They've been trashing it. It, it's just gonna be another Disney Star Wars disaster, unfortunately.
Blak Makk:Here here's what I here's what I will say about about that. Me as a fan, I can't trash something if I haven't seen it. That's just me as as a person. I'm not gonna trash it because the show could actually end up being good. The trailer itself doesn't give me enough to bite on, though.
Blak Makk:I will be honest about that. I I don't feel excited about watching it because I get Boba Fett vibes out of out of this trailer. It's interesting. Right? But, again, I there's not enough there for me to be like, I'm gonna trash the show because I haven't seen it.
Blak Makk:So I like I said, I I will give you the benefit of the doubt, but you got 2 episodes of me.
Frank Dee:Yeah. And that's the thing with Boba Fett. You know, they could have done so much with Boba Fett when when, you know, they launched the Boba Fett show. It it had a lot of promise, and there was nothing memorable that happened on their show until Din Jarren showed up or until Luke Skywalker and Grogu showed up. And that just that and and, I mean, and Boba Fett is a kick ass character, man.
Frank Dee:It's like, you know, how can you screw that up? You know what I'm saying?
Blak Makk:One of the better characters in in the original.
Frank Dee:Absolutely. But I and how do you how do you screw that up, though? So and and they they accomplish that. You know? So I don't know, man.
Frank Dee:It's just I I I agree with you. You can't really judge something until you watch it. So listen. I will you know, against my better judgment, because I don't like the showrunner, and and I don't like a lot of stuff that the cast have said because it had nothing to do with Star Wars. It it was all about an agenda that they were were talking about.
Frank Dee:They're all, you know, the first woman to do this, the first woman to do that, and then, you know, blah blah blah blah blah. Listen, people need to solve this horrible first woman to do anything in Star Wars. Marsha Lucas has already done it. Marsha Lucas created one of the best moments in Star Wars history. She was the one who said, kill Obi Wan Kenobi.
Frank Dee:Have Vader kill Obi Wan. That was Marsha Lucas, George Lucas' ex wife. So it's already been done. She did a hell of a I mean, just look at Marsha Lucas on YouTube. They did an interview with her and just all the stuff that she did, how she edited Star Wars.
Frank Dee:George Lucas created yes. Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, all these characters, he created them. Yes. But his wife and other people helped to make that that dream into a reality. And she did tireless work editing that film, coming up with story ideas where George was stuck on some things.
Frank Dee:She came in there and she and she did it. She says, why not just kill everyone? That's what she said. And that's why the moments that people remember is when Vader finally kills his master. And that's, you know, that's that was her.
Frank Dee:She didn't work on the Empire Strikes Back. So when people say, oh, I'm the first dude, this first dude, first of all, you're not. You are not the first to do anything, and it shouldn't even be about that. That's that's my whole point I'm trying to make here. It shouldn't be about that.
Frank Dee:It should be, I'm doing Star Wars. I'm a huge fan of Star Wars. I can't wait to do this project. I can't wait to tell a story, and it galaxy far, far away. That's what it should be about.
Frank Dee:Not, oh, I'm the first, you know, African American to direct the Star Wars stuff. Or I'm the first woman to do this, or I'm the first guy to do it shouldn't be about that, man. And that's that's my whole point.
Blak Makk:I get that. I I get where you're coming from with that. I really do. We should just have we just should be having, debates about Sith. You know what I mean?
Blak Makk:Who's the best Sith?
Frank Dee:Speaking of Sith was the best Jedi. That's what we should be getting to. But I I already know what you're getting at. But, brother, you gotta you gotta get the plugs out the way before we,
Blak Makk:before we go on the show because we haven't even done that. But, yeah, man. Shout out to Conn's Custom Creations. Follow her on IG at Conn's underscore custom creations or on Facebook by searching Khan's Custom Creations. Shout out to everybody.
Blak Makk:The queens are actually finishing up a show right now. So shout out to the queens of Nerd. They're outside the paywall. We're inside the paywall. So shout out to them.
Blak Makk:They got a episode. Should be wrapped up by now. If it's not, then it's very close to being wrapped up. But shout out to them. But to see us come to the pay window, patreon.com/thatfillingpodcast.
Blak Makk:$3 will get you watching this show live and interacting. Then shout out to the family. Bandcamp.dotfelon.bandcamp.com. Go there. Same deal.
Blak Makk:$3 will get you the entire catalog. Welcome to the show. We started out with a with a great monologue, a great, great monologue. But getting into the show, we were talking about Jedi. We were talking let's open this up, man.
Blak Makk:Speaking of Sith, Cody Rhodes is making the turn. He is making the turn. For those who don't know what we're talking about, last night, he went on Raw. He cut a scathing promo of The Rock, used a few choice words on live television, but that's not even what appealed to me. What appealed to me immediately, and let me know your thoughts on this one too, is how he was dressed last night.
Blak Makk:Normally, Cody Rhodes is in a a light colored suit, something that it isn't it isn't menacing. It doesn't make him look too too aholish. You know what I mean? Like, he keeps it light. Kinda kinda light bluish gray.
Blak Makk:He's somewhere around that area. You know what I mean? Every time he he he comes out, cuts promos, if he's not in his ring gear. The last night, it was black suit, red tie. And if you noticed, the hair is starting to is starting to change a little color.
Blak Makk:It's not all blonde. It's it's a little streaky now. So Cody is making the turn, my guy.
Frank Dee:Well, as I have been saying on this podcast for months about Cody Rhodes, and and I have been saying it and saying it and saying it. I know people listen to this show and they say, well, goddamn. What are you talking about? What is Star Wars at this? Cody is a Star Wars fanatic like I am.
Frank Dee:So he is telling the story here that he wanted to tell in AEW. This is what we're seeing here. K?
Blak Makk:Yep.
Frank Dee:Cody Rhodes last night on Raw. Okay? Cut that promo. Very scathing promo. It's something that Cody hasn't done in a while, because Cody usually goes out there and does his promos and uses a lot of big words that the the the audience, you know, don't know what they mean, and and that's fine.
Frank Dee:Yeah. Shows his education. That's great. But he has a very Hayden Christensen, Anakin Skywalker tone to his his monologue when he's out there speaking. I noticed that a while ago.
Frank Dee:Yep. Last night on Raw, he cussed his promo on The Rock, which is basically a receipt from what The Rock said to him on SmackDown. Now Cody was wearing the black suit. He was wearing the, the the burgundy tie he had on. And the background in the arena, if anybody noticed, it was dark.
Frank Dee:They come in. They turned the lights down for COVID to talk. I I noticed this. And it was just a very different environment here, and the
Blak Makk:The feel was different.
Frank Dee:Correct. The aura, everything was different. And then the emotion in his voice, the conviction of the way he was speaking, the anger in which he was speaking, the fire in which he was speaking, I was like, you know what? Cody is believing this shit. He is going with this.
Frank Dee:And the way he put over Seth Rollins last night, the way he basically called out the rock for all the backstage stuff and the TKO board and all that, they're basically blurring the lines here, The 4th wall is being broken. Here's the thing. It's gonna be all so sweet at WrestleMania when Cody makes that turn to the dark side, when Cody Rhodes has to do the unthinkable to finish the story. The unthinkable is I am going to have to sell my soul to the devil, sell my soul to the emperor, sell my soul to the final boss, which is the rock, to become the new undisputed universal champion, which in my opinion will end Roman's reign.
Blak Makk:Yep.
Frank Dee:And if you noticed last night as well, the wise man came out there and he says, you and I have a lot in common, more than what we'll be confident about. That's very telling to me Because he's basically telling you here, they're putting a little seeds out there. Something is gonna happen at WrestleMania. Something is gonna be tragic for somebody, and it's not gonna be tragic for Cody Rhodes. It's gonna be tragic for Roman Reigns.
Frank Dee:It's gonna be tragic for Seth Rollins because Seth Rollins has come out there in defense of of Cody saying, I will be your shield. You couldn't get the job done last year on your own. The bloodline screws you. I'm here to protect you. Fine.
Frank Dee:My tag team partner, I respect him. He's a royalty champion. He's carrying this company on his back. Yep. You should respect him.
Frank Dee:It's gonna be all so sweet when Cody turns. If they do if they do return, I don't it's I don't wanna see Seth Rollins turn. That'd be too obvious.
Blak Makk:I don't think he is.
Frank Dee:Cody is gonna be the one because they're growing they they're putting sympathy on Seth Rollins. So when it happens, when it happens
Blak Makk:hurt. Oh, it's gonna hurt.
Frank Dee:Yeah. It's gonna hurt badly when it happens.
Blak Makk:Oh, it's gonna hurt.
Frank Dee:Just gonna be like, dude, I put myself out there for you, and you're with this guy? And then Roman's gonna look stupid because, like, what the hell happened? The bloodline taken from him. Solo, gone. Jimmy, gone.
Frank Dee:The wise man, gone. Here Roman's redemption will begin because now Roman is going to have to partner up with Seth Rollins. He's gonna have to repartner up with his cousin Jay. He's gonna probably have to repartner up with Sami Zayn to fight this new faction, the zodiacalactic bloodline, pretty much.
Blak Makk:Here is where I think this will go. I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure Cody's turning. And if you look at this this the last week or the last 2 weeks, The Rock says something about Cody's mom. Right? Cody says something about his mom.
Blak Makk:The moment for me in the Star Wars saga where you see Anakin kinda turn is when his mom died. This comes out. We're seeing it now with him. We're seeing that right now. We got this promo.
Blak Makk:It was scathing, and that that was in part because of his mother. I think something has to happen to where I think that tag match is gonna lead us into a direction that we know what's gonna happen on night 2. Because Cody is gonna be filled with hate coming in tonight 2. And I think that is where because Paul Heyman has been the he's been the linchpin in this the whole time. Honestly, I thought Paul Heyman was the emperor at one point, which I'm still I'm still kinda on that, but The Rock is the power piece here.
Blak Makk:He's the final boss. So I'm leaning more rock emperor. But the guy who's been the constant, who's been in Cody's ear this entire time, he's had problems with the bloodline. He's always been that guy to come out and give Cody the understanding. Right?
Blak Makk:Anytime he's had an issue, before he goes up against any member of the bloodline or especially Roman, it's always been Paul Heyman and Cody. You rarely seen exchanges between Cody and Roman. You'll get one this Friday. But other than that, those are very rare. The guy he's interacting with the most is Paul Heyman.
Blak Makk:Paul, for me, is the emperor in this situation because that's what Palpatine was to Anakin. He's, he was in the middle of all the hate and not and whatever else was going on, he had his ear, and he was able to mold him into what he wanted him to be, which is the most powerful Sith Lord. And I think that's what's going on here, but The Rock coming in kinda fucked everything up for me, man. It's like, you know you know who the guy is. You know who he is.
Blak Makk:He's on his Superhill shit, but he is the final boss. Maybe he is the emperor. Maybe that is the guy that takes Cody and flips him to the dark side. And with that being said, with The Rock acknowledging Roman as his as his tribal chief because he is the high chief, he can do that. He set it he set Roman up for the fall.
Blak Makk:So come WrestleMania, the turn is in play.
Frank Dee:And once again, we're just fantasy booking right now.
Blak Makk:Yep. We're
Frank Dee:just speculating on what we think is gonna happen. I think that most likely that's the way that this is gonna go down because it's just it's so reminiscent.
Blak Makk:It's there.
Frank Dee:Stone Cold, Steve Austin
Blak Makk:Yep.
Frank Dee:In 2,001 when he had everything up against him. And he was going into that match with The Rock for the WWF championship at WrestleMania 17. And he said I need to be strong. To be
Blak Makk:that's the only thing Cody hasn't said yet.
Frank Dee:Yeah. I need to be strong to beat you more than you know for that championship, with all due respect, is what he said. Right. And then mister McMahon comes out at the end, and the the the heel turn happens. Same thing here with Cody.
Frank Dee:And The Rock said it'll be bloodline rules or, you know, and our
Blak Makk:Just the fact that that's an in in play right now. Correct. It's like, it's it's coming. Something's coming.
Frank Dee:Right. And and setting that stipulation, which I believe that stipulation will be in play. Somebody who's not a part of the bloodline that we know about will interfere in that match at WrestleMania, and I believe that is could it could be 2 people. It could be either Jacob Jacob Fatu or it could be Tomatonga.
Blak Makk:I believe both.
Frank Dee:Yeah. I believe those are the 2 people and they're not gonna Roman seize them. He he's going to assume that they are there to assist him. They're not there to assist him. They are there to assist Cody.
Frank Dee:They were sent by the emperor, the rock. The wise man knows all about it. And I could I could very well see a situation where Roman is asking the wise man to give him the belt, and the wise man does give the championship. Yep. And you look like, what the hell?
Frank Dee:What what's going on here? Like, what is going on here? He don't give it to him. Cody sinks up behind and gives him, you know, give give some, whatever kind of movie he wants to do, and then he gets the belt from the white. The wise man grab gives the belt to Cody.
Frank Dee:Cody finished the story, but Cody does it in a manner not becoming of the American nightmare. He does it like how, I would say, Hollywood Hogan won the title from the giant. He hit him in the damn head with the belt. Yep. That wasn't becoming of Hollywood Hogan, but that's how he did.
Frank Dee:Same thing's gonna happen here. So point big, WWE has the opportunity here, not on the same level, of course, but they have the opportunity here to do something special, to do something spectacular, to almost do a Hogan 96 heel turn if they do it correctly. And they could turn Cody Rhodes from the biggest baby face into the biggest heel in the
Blak Makk:Oh, man. Oh, man. Can't imagine.
Frank Dee:I can imagine. That's what I'm saying. I can imagine it because it's gonna hurt so bad.
Blak Makk:Oh, man. That Monday morning after that is done. Oh, man.
Frank Dee:It's gonna hurt so bad. And it's like, you see Cody, and he has the wise the wise man will be the one to introduce the new universal champion because here's the deal here's the deal. They're gonna have to have somebody in play to be the heel because The Rock is gonna go away. The Rock has commitments, so he's gonna leave. You gotta have somebody there that's gonna be there to I got The Rock, the the emperor.
Frank Dee:I got the final boss on speed dial. That's the wise man, and that's Cody. This also opens up Roman's redemption. You got a Roman can Roman can disappear for a little while. He don't even have to be there.
Frank Dee:Roman can disappear for a little while after WrestleMania, after the betrayal of the bloodline. He could disappear, and that leaves Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins now to feud. Because now Rollins wants revenge against Cody Rhodes, but you're gonna have to go through the the galactic bloodline and don't get to get to me.
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:That's where it's gonna that's that's the way it's gonna go. So I see that happening. I also kinda at this point, I could see Seth Rollins actually dropping the world title to Drew McIntyre. Although, I don't know if that's gonna happen now to Centimeters Punk is gonna be at WrestleMania. So Punk might cost McIntyre the the match.
Frank Dee:I mean, Punk but Punk doesn't have any the Punk don't have any love for either one them. No. He don't. But but it would make sense if you wanna push the Cody Rhodes versus Seth Rollins match. You Seth Rollins can drop the the world title, and now he can feud with Cody for the WWE Right.
Frank Dee:Wrestle title.
Blak Makk:Because yeah. Betrayal, immediate get back. I I like that better than and I like I like Seth dropping it to Drew because that opens up that title for fresh opportunities too.
Frank Dee:But I also foresee Drew McIntyre being a part also of this faction. Oh. Because it would make perfect it it would make perfect sense to me to put Drew McIntyre in there. Because The Rock said, I'm gonna make sure that title goes away. So I could see Paul Heyman potentially also managing Drew McIntyre at this point as well.
Frank Dee:Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre.
Blak Makk:I like it.
Frank Dee:Have both champions in the same faction. That's the super galactic faction. They control all the main titles in the WWE. It's this group. So that's the direction I would go into.
Frank Dee:But once again, like I said I like it. We are fantasy booking here. This is just creativity coming off the top of our heads, and this is what we do here on Note gimmicks. And and I you know, people out there say, you know, one podcast in particular, oh, you know, you got the Mark Podcasters. Well, you know what?
Frank Dee:The Mark Podcasters actually have better creativity and ideas than you do. So I'll keep it at that.
Blak Makk:Alright. But let's stay let's stay on this on this note because I do wanna I do wanna go back to that promo and then kinda the results of that promo that Cody cut. Right? Scathing promo, like we said, use choice words. The Rock cut a promo outside of the WWE, and then kinda cut that same promo later on that night.
Blak Makk:But it led many to believe, especially after Monday, that we are now exiting the PG era. And that's what I wanna talk about. Is the PG era really dead? I don't think so. I just think there's a lot more there's a lot more creative liberty being taken, but I do think the PGR is still here.
Blak Makk:I don't think we're out of that yet. What about you?
Frank Dee:What makes you think that it's it's over? Just because they give leeway to say, Cody, go out here and say this. First of all, they can get away with a lot more on the USA Network than they can on Fox on broadcast. That is very true. They are really gonna be able to get away with a lot more stuff once Raw goes to Netflix.
Frank Dee:Keep that in mind.
Blak Makk:They have when I will say that that it's dead. Yeah.
Frank Dee:But you can't kill the PGR because the sponsorship that they have with Mattel and all these different brands. So you can't kill it, but you can do certain things because you can take, listen, you can do the attitude era, but you don't have to have all the stuff that went with the edge there. What I mean is you don't have to have have all the degrading shit with the women and all the stuff that just was stupid then and I and I and it's stupid now. You don't have to have all that stuff. But if you wanna come out there and cut a promo and say, okay.
Frank Dee:Well, I'm gonna kick your ass, and and you're a bitch and blah blah blah blah. You could do that stuff because that's people can't relate to that. I don't see the relation. I I never saw the relation of, let's say, a woman having a miscarriage or Mae Young in the hand. I I don't I I I never got the appeal of, like, how how many tickets is that gonna sell?
Frank Dee:How many people is that gonna draw in? So there there's a lot of stuff in the that I did not like. You know what I'm saying? There's a lot of stuff in the ruthless aggression era I didn't like either.
Blak Makk:Yeah. That's honest. That's honest.
Frank Dee:But the person that was doing a lot of that, you know, perverted shit, he ain't around anymore. So, they could do a lot more stuff here, and you could do something like Cody did or like The Rock does, and it's and it could be tasteful. It could be entertaining. It could be fun.
Blak Makk:You could be edgy without being You could
Frank Dee:edgy without being exactly. Edgy without being distasteful. Edgy without being degrading. That's what we're getting out here. So is the PGR dead?
Frank Dee:No. It's never gonna be dead. It's it's never gonna be dead. They they would be stupid to for for the PGR to be dead. They're bringing in a huge variety of of a different breed of audience now.
Frank Dee:It is catered more towards children, but, you know, they're trying to get those males, you know, the the that demographic that they're they're going for. Yeah. They're they're trying to pull those numbers. They're trying to get, you know, more sponsors. They actually have a a a, I believe they have a, what was it, a a vodka sponsor now sponsorship that they have right now.
Frank Dee:So they got a lot of stuff going on. They're trying to mature the audience a lot more, I believe. I think eventually, they're gonna phase now, but it's not gonna be right now. No. They're they're not gonna do it right now.
Frank Dee:But I think when we we'll we'll know more once we see that first episode of Raw when Raw goes to Netflix. That's where we can say, okay, this is the direction that they're gonna go to. Because they don't have the the handcuffs anymore
Blak Makk:Right. Right.
Frank Dee:With Netflix. And that goes to and that and that goes to with Fox, they have so many handcuffs because Fox, you know and this is the same network, by the way, that, you know, they want us to censor everything that The Rock says or they wanna bleep out signs or whatever the situation might be. But this is the same network that had a show called Temptation Island, which they basically you know, it was a very sexual oriented show, and they would
Blak Makk:Oh, most definitely.
Frank Dee:To, you know, cheat on your spouse and all this other bullshit. They were cool with all of that, but you can't say this on on wrestling. It makes no sense. So I, for 1, cannot wait for them to be off of you, off of, Fox and go to USA Network. I don't think they're gonna be shrinking because last night, they didn't restrict anything.
Blak Makk:No. They didn't.
Frank Dee:The only problem that I saw last night with that promo, it was that thunderdome. That thunderdome is killing everything. That artificial sound is crap. You could tell. Yeah.
Frank Dee:It is it is not
Blak Makk:Stop amplifying the reaction.
Frank Dee:Tell. Yeah. You can tell. The it was it was Cody was speaking, but they had the sound of so loud that at some point, you could even barely hear what the guy was saying.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:Because that's how that's how loud the the thunderbolt was. Right. And then and then
Blak Makk:They they do amplify they amplify the reactions. I don't know because they do a mixture sometimes. Sometimes it's a track, and sometimes it's it's the actual audience, but they have it they have the sound of the audience amplified through the television, if that makes sense.
Frank Dee:I I get what you're saying, but this here is is is a is a is a track. It's an audio track. It's definitely audio
Blak Makk:track
Frank Dee:because I'm hearing the same looping sound is what I'm hearing here. So they need to stop doing that. The only genuine reaction they got is when Paul Heyman came out there, and he did his, you know, his usual shit. They got that going, but they need to stop with the crowd sound. You don't have to do that, man.
Frank Dee:If the audience is there and hearing
Blak Makk:Let them feel it.
Frank Dee:Let them feel the audience. You don't have to do that. That's that's just that that part of it took me out of it, to be honest.
Blak Makk:Right. Right. I I I agree with that. I agree with that. Just let let them let them react.
Blak Makk:Give them give them the time to to catch on because and AEW is the same way. Like, you gotta give them time to catch on. Like, they ain't gonna catch everything, and that's fine. But AEW does a really good job of just letting it be. You know what I'm saying?
Blak Makk:Like, the audience is the audience. They they're gonna react when they wanna react, and we'll we'll respect that. So just respect that. I I I definitely agree with that. But speaking speaking on this, do once they move to Netflix, right, I know everybody's on this ratings kick.
Blak Makk:Once once WWE moves to Netflix, for me, I don't think the ratings matter that much as a whole anymore. So do we need to look at the rating system? Because what what does the rating look like on Netflix for Monday Night Raw?
Frank Dee:So
Blak Makk:How do you how do you gouge that? Because Netflix is in Netflix is in over 240,000,000 homes, man. Right? That's how many subscribers they have. So how do you gain what what are you gonna put a number on?
Blak Makk:So People that that log in to Netflix, are you gonna put a a a number on the people that actually click on that show? What if somebody clicks on that shit by accident? Is that a watch? Do we need to change the rating system?
Frank Dee:So the way that would be calculated is by watch hours is how it's done because that's how they do all the streaming shows. So they'll show you how many, you know, or something to launch. Let's say a Disney plus show launches. Alright. And there's a movie or something like that.
Frank Dee:So they'll actually go in there, and they will calculate the watch time hours. So it'll go by how many hours people watch mainnet raw. What was that's that's the way to do the viewership. It's completely different from the the deal scene. Right.
Frank Dee:So they they have a way of doing that. But I don't think the ratings will be as important anymore because you'll you'll only have 2 shows that are on a a Nielsen, you know, network, which would be NXT and SmackDown.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:That that would be it. Raw going over here. I mean I mean, you know, honestly, dude, I'm gonna just put it like this. Okay? A lot of the metrics, w doesn't even use anymore, really.
Frank Dee:They haven't used a pay per view measure for a long time since everything is on the w network. Correct. That doesn't that doesn't matter. The only people that are really concerned with rating is at this point are just people who are trying to make content. That's that's pretty much it.
Frank Dee:And and and, I mean, I don't I I follow the ratings. I I follow the rate I think the ratings aren't important, because it it gives you insight on what the fans are watching. It gives you insight on what segments they are like and what segments they don't like. Right. That shows right there.
Frank Dee:Okay. We had, let's just say we has, you know, wrestler a and wrestler b. And and they this segment here, oh my god. This segment here in the Q1, that's over 2,000,000 viewers that we had this tag team match in. Oh, damn.
Frank Dee:We lost, like, 700,000 people. What happened? That's how you gauge, you know, this situation. So I think that's important for that.
Blak Makk:Right. That's that's where I that's where my that's where my thinking comes in raw. Right? Because what if you have a segment that isn't good, that probably doesn't get a lot of, of views by a lot of people, but we're going by watch hours? Because at that point, you've already watched a significant portion of the program.
Blak Makk:You know what I'm saying? Where do they gauge that segment wasn't good and they lost viewers? Where does that where does that number fall?
Frank Dee:It it I I believe I don't know, But I believe they would have a way of telling if people start not stop, you know, stop watching the show. Right. But you bring up you bring up a good point here. I I I wholeheartedly understand what you're saying. It's just but they have a way of of doing data.
Frank Dee:That's this is the reason why Netflix can come and say, okay. We're canceling this show. We're canceling that show.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:Right. Doing this. We're not doing that. They know. They they they're in a business.
Frank Dee:They they created the streaming model. So they know what they're doing there. And this is the reason why I know, like, with Disney plus, this is the reason why you're never gonna see another She Hulk season or any of that other shit that they do because they didn't draw. That's just that's what it is. They they don't.
Frank Dee:You know what I'm saying? So, but at this point, yeah, people don't really care about ratings. Listen, even though AEW Dynamite gets their core audience base is gonna be about 800,000 people, a little over that, maybe 900,000 tops is what they're gonna draw. I guess the Warner Network is so happy with that. That number is low to us because we're used to how wrestling used to be with the ratings numbers.
Frank Dee:We know how wrestling was, you know, 20 years ago or whatever, what the ratings were in the in the sixes, in the fives, the fours, the threes. We know what it was, and now we have you know, they say, well, it's a good time to be a wrestling fan, but, you know, only, you know, 2,000,000 people are watching SmackDown a week or, you know you know, 1 point something they're watching raw. And then you have 900,000 watching, AEW. That's just you know, and there's different factors of why that's happening. Is the is the wrestling audience smaller?
Frank Dee:Absolutely. It's a lot smaller than what it was. But also, is there a lot of people that don't have cable anymore? That also plays a factor into this situation. And that's why WWE you see, WWE is ahead of the curve here because they know that Netflix has all these hundreds of millions of of subscribers.
Frank Dee:They
Blak Makk:know this.
Frank Dee:So they already know listen. This is a much better deal for us because we don't have the, FCC breathing down our our next when we're on
Blak Makk:Correct.
Frank Dee:Netflix streaming. We could do whatever pretty much whatever we want on that show. It can truly be raw if we want it to be raw. Right. That's that's the difference here.
Frank Dee:So let's they they do it. And and I'm There's
Blak Makk:so much upside for them on that.
Frank Dee:Absolutely. And they know eventually, they're gonna probably SmackDown will probably move to a streaming at at one point. And had the WWE network been more successful, had it been able to sustain itself without have being basically leased out to Peacock, that probably would have been where they would have went. If they would have had enough, you know, a a backer behind it, they would have probably moved all their shows to the WWE Network streaming. You have to stream.
Frank Dee:You have to have a membership to our streaming service
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:In order to watch our shows.
Blak Makk:I think I think the WWE Network was ahead of its time. If it drops today, it's it's massively successful.
Frank Dee:Absolutely. And I and I and I stay, but they they have a lot of problems with network. You know? The lack of classic content being uploaded to the w network, they're not really doing it anymore, and and it hurts. So you know why they're not doing it?
Frank Dee:It's because number 1, you know, they're saying, basically, that, they once again, they go by the watch hours. A lot of people, I guess, are now watching the classic content, which is a bunch of BS because a lot of people were watching the classic content. WWE is always putting up classic content.
Blak Makk:Well, they removed the I think the music and the dubbing and all that shit had a lot to do with it. There was a lot of complaints about that.
Frank Dee:Well, it yeah. It was. It was a it was a yeah. It was a lot of complaints about the w. I I, for 1, was, you know, one of them that was complaining.
Frank Dee:But at the same time, what it came down to is the the, the pandemic hurt a lot of shit because I know a lot of the, they had a whole staff over there that was specifically for the WWE network, and they would go on there. They were the ones responsible for dubbing the music and and blurring and editing videos and all that shit. So they only they they cut the whole team pretty much now. I think they had down to, like, maybe 1 or 2 people.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:And they don't have enough people anymore that's gonna go through all this archive footage. It's already digitized. I mean, it's ready to go. But they stopped at certain seasons. You know?
Frank Dee:We're still on w w Saturday night. We're we haven't even gone into, you know, I don't I think what we're not even there yet at 94. You know? This is this is where we're at here. You know?
Frank Dee:I I and I don't think it's gonna change anytime soon. So that's one of the things that hurts w b network. But I will agree that if they were to launch it again on its own as a single service, I think it would be more successful now because the brand is hot. W b released w network at a point in time where the brand just wasn't hot anymore. But now if the brand is hot, now they're selling out everywhere they go.
Frank Dee:If they were to come out with it now, oh, hell yeah. And they and they the fan base, internationally, the fan base has grown. So, yes, you would have a a huge, you know, population of people that are gonna watch and support that that, endeavor. Not now, because it's, of course, in here to United States is Peacock and all over the other, you know, jurisdictions as well. I believe it's going to Peacock.
Frank Dee:So that's where we're at. But, you know, that contract is up in 2026, so we'll see where it goes. A lot of people are expecting that it's gonna land on Netflix, possibly. I think it stays with with NBC Universal, personally.
Blak Makk:I I would like to see it all uniform. So if it if it moves to Netflix, I would I would like that because I think they're already moving, like, the the, the a and e documentaries. They're moving those over to Netflix as well. So I would like to see it a little more uniform. Like, if you're gonna have it on Netflix, put it all on Netflix.
Frank Dee:The problem with that is it takes a lot of bandwidth to
Blak Makk:That is true.
Frank Dee:Have this kind of a have a service here, and and Peacock already has that infrastructure already there. Netflix does as well. But look how long it took. It took months for them to upload all the files from WWE Network to Peacock. Okay?
Frank Dee:And then they went through changed a lot of stuff, whatever. So So it's just it takes time. It's a lot of bandwidth. It's a lot of money. And it's like, you know, we already have this built in over here on Peacock.
Frank Dee:We we already have it here. We have a good relationship with NBCUniversal. And are you gonna give us more money, or are we gonna keep it at the same rate that we're getting? Okay. We'll just keep it here.
Frank Dee:It works out for both parties. Because that'd be because because at this point, Netflix, they have a a an opt in, opt out clause, I believe, on on the contract with WWE.
Blak Makk:It's showing proof with Netflix.
Frank Dee:Right. So we'll keep it we'll keep it where it's at right now. That's what I would do. You know? We'll keep where it's at.
Frank Dee:We'll see how this relationship goes with Netflix, see if everybody's comfortable with each other, see if we're compatible. And then after that, maybe we'll talk about it. If they sign another another deal with Peacock with, Universal, you know, we'll say, hey. Listen. Let's talk in in 2030 2 about Yep.
Frank Dee:Moving moving it over. You know what I'm saying? We'll we'll see how it goes there. But right now, I think I think it's gonna stay where it's at.
Blak Makk:Okay. I I I would agree with that too. I'm not I'm not against that. So let's move over to, to AEW and something I wanted to talk about too. And I know we we had offline conversation about this one.
Blak Makk:And that is the fumbling of Wardlow. This guy and I I don't know if we talked about this on the show last week, but we both knew him versus Samoa Joe was a big deal. It was, for him, a big deal. He needed to look strong in that match and got choked out. No no no struggle.
Blak Makk:Just out.
Frank Dee:And
Blak Makk:Wardlow's the guy. They built him up. This is the 3rd time they built him up, in which this time I was I was reluctant, but I was like, damn. He got me. And then now I'm like, what are they doing with this guy, man?
Blak Makk:What what are what are they not seeing? And this is the this is the the third talent to me in AEW that I don't know what they're missing because you had Ricky Starks, who should be a massive star by now. You have powerhouse Hobbs, who should be a massive star right now. You have Wardlow, who should be the model for what a modern champion looks like right now, yet he's not. What what are they missing?
Blak Makk:Why are they fumbling this guy?
Frank Dee:You know, I honestly believe that Wardlow was going to be the second coming of Batista.
Blak Makk:Yes.
Frank Dee:That's how hot he was at one point. And I was saying, you know, what's wrong with Wardlow? I was like, well, number 1, I don't like his music. That was the first thing. Second thing was I said the guy needs some pyrotechnics in his entrance.
Frank Dee:That's those are the 2 things he's missing. And and I mean, but he had a connection with the fans. He was over. You know what I mean? The guy had it, you know, with with that feud that he had with MJF and coming out of that, you know, he was on his way to becoming a superstar.
Frank Dee:And then he lost his way for some reason. The the booking became atrocious. I mean, he was over with the power bond symphony, and then something happened here. I don't I don't get it. And then, you know, now he's back with, the undisputed kingdom, and he's back in the same role he was before, the lackey.
Frank Dee:Just no progression at all with the character. He's just back where he started from. Somebody's lackey. And that to me, I'm like, this is the reason why I'm like, as as we talked about this on the last show, I said that this match is gonna do him no favors because we already know he's not Samoa Joe is not dropping the championship at all. You're not dropping the championship to, to to Wardlow and one of 2 ways.
Frank Dee:It's like he's gonna get beat clean, or they could do a D. Q. Smaz finish where he protects him.
Blak Makk:Right. They beat him clean. He didn't I don't know why they did that. I don't know why they did that.
Frank Dee:And it just looks like to me that the guy just doesn't give a shit anymore. Like, he already sees what it is. I think Wardlow and this is up and against him personally. I got no problem with Wardlow at all. I I'm I'm Wardlow.
Frank Dee:I'm I'm being an advocate for you, bro. I'm just telling you like it is. It's obvious to me you're getting played over there, and you're just there to collect the paycheck. You're just doing what they tell you, but you I'm I'm pretty sure you wanna get the hell out of there, and and that's what it is. And I'm pretty sure at this point, Wardlow, if if WWE is not trying to get this guy when his contract expires whenever that is, they will be foolish not to do that.
Blak Makk:Very. The guy is every bit of a star, man. And
Frank Dee:He's a WWE
Blak Makk:man. Like, why
Frank Dee:Just like Hobbs is a WWE guy. But you look at these is a WWE. You look
Blak Makk:at these guys and you're like, dude, you have stardom right. Like, they did the same thing with Jade. You have stardom. You are getting rid of the future of your company. For what reason, bro?
Blak Makk:Like, look at these people. Ricky Starz is an absolute star. Powerhouse Hobbs is an absolute star. Wardlow is an absolute star. Don't let these people Jade.
Blak Makk:What do they all have in common?
Frank Dee:You didn't have
Blak Makk:to do nothing with Jade.
Frank Dee:Just What do they all have in common, my friend? Cody Rhodes. Yeah. No. I'm not saying that there's a
Blak Makk:connection there.
Frank Dee:I'm not saying there's a connection there in all this. I'm just speculating. Because look at all the people that have been in AW that look like superstars. I mean, you got the machine Brian Cage.
Blak Makk:He's another one.
Frank Dee:Powerhouse Hobbs, as you just mentioned. Ricky Starks just mentioned. You have Wardlow that we don't we're talking about here. That's the principle of this conversation. You have all these different guys or this group of talent that can actually work and actually can do their thing, and I'm looking at people like Dick Wayne and his mama on the show.
Blak Makk:When you say it like You
Frank Dee:wonder why I and and you wonder why I can't get I can't get with the brand. You wonder why I can't watch the show. You wonder why I can only watch segments of the show of people that I like because I can't get with it. Because it's like I'm watching that show, and it's amateur hour over there. And it shouldn't be amateur hour.
Frank Dee:You should be amateur hour. We have a lot of on the show. You got Osprey on the show. You got the Bucks on the show. You have the
Blak Makk:I will give them
Frank Dee:this. It's all these guys. I will give them the hour. Go ahead.
Blak Makk:When they when so they the guys you did just name, like, Ocada, Osprey, they featured these guys. The problem with that is, like, you're featuring them now, but you have you have guys like Ricky Hobbs, Wardlow that have been there that you could have built up and, like, by now, these guys should be they should be headlining right now.
Frank Dee:Big Bill.
Blak Makk:Should be the card.
Frank Dee:Big Bill as well?
Blak Makk:Yeah. Big Bill too. He's another one. Like, these guys should be don't that's your company right there. Like, that's your company.
Frank Dee:Look at the way they have squandered the House of Black, Malachi Black.
Blak Makk:Another one. But but there's no reason Brody King should not be I'll give you another one. Lance Archer.
Frank Dee:Oh my god. Dude, Lance Archer.
Blak Makk:Been begging. Like, begging. Please give me, and they have a stable with Lance Archer, the righteous, and Jake the snake. That is absolute money. Why are they not on dynamite?
Frank Dee:They're on Ring of Honor.
Blak Makk:Why are they not on dynamite?
Frank Dee:Because Nick Wayne is on Dynamite. Right. And I'm not picky on Nick Wayne. I just I don't get the appeal of Nick Wayne. He doesn't have charisma out there.
Blak Makk:And don't get me bothered. I'm not
Frank Dee:to the show. Right. That's the thing that killed me with him is they did the predictable heel turn and brought his mom into the show. And it's so different than when they brought and I wasn't a fan of this either when they brought Sheldon Benjamin's mom onto the show. It did nothing for Sean Benjamin.
Frank Dee:I didn't like it then. I don't like it now. Same thing with him. I just it's too much too soon. That's just how it how it is for me.
Frank Dee:When you have established talents here, like the Lance Archers, like the Liches, like, you know, Jake Roberts out there. You have all these different cash. You have, you know, Brian Cage. Brian Cage should have been world champion by now.
Blak Makk:By now.
Frank Dee:I mean, you know what I'm saying?
Blak Makk:Him and him and Ward Knight him Wardlow should have had a few by now. Him and Powerhouse Hobbs should have had a few by now. There's no reason on God's green fucking earth, Jay White should be in the trios championship for ring of honor. I'm sorry.
Frank Dee:No. You know what's you know, another person that that, in my opinion, that they didn't do anything with, and I'm not sure why it was, I Miro.
Blak Makk:He's another one. That's another one. Like, the guy as TNT champion, He's probably I'm I'm gonna say it. He's probably the best TNT champion they've had.
Frank Dee:Dominic. Dominic.
Blak Makk:Was. The redeemer gimmick was fucking money, bro. Fucking money. The theme song was on point. I still I still like that theme song.
Blak Makk:Like, anytime he comes out, I'm like, man, he about to fuck somebody up. I love it. Why are we not doing anything with these guys? And somebody said this on the radio show. I forget who it was, but it's like the big guy for Tony Khan is like the small guy for Vince McMahon, which that that that hit when when I heard it.
Blak Makk:It's like, yeah. You're right. Because the majority of the big men, you don't really see them a lot. And you have on that roster right now some of the greatest big men in the industry.
Frank Dee:What was the WWF built on? It was built on
Blak Makk:The giant. The land of the giants.
Frank Dee:The land of giants. It was built on big man. It was built on characters. Yeah. But the medium size mane, as Scott Hall would say, rest in peace.
Frank Dee:The Macho Mans, the Ricky the Dragon singing boats, the Shawn Michaels, the Brent A. Menards, those guys, mister Perkins, those were your workers, and they broke through. And and it was all a collective here. You don't see that in AEW. You see AEW does one type of match, and they carry to one segment of the audience instead of catering to the entire universe.
Frank Dee:They cater to one segment. They cater to the one segment, and that's the hardcore segment that's gonna watch their show every single week without fail, without any problem. And that is what separates them from the WWE. And that's why the WWE has grown their audience because they are looking past just the hardcore. They go to the the the casuals.
Frank Dee:They want mainstream is what they go for. They, over at AW, are they are just booking the show for whatever Tony Con likes. That's what they're doing. No different than
Blak Makk:what saying that like that, but you got a point. Like, you really do have
Frank Dee:a point. That's no different than what WWE was doing. For how many years was was Vince McMahon booking the show You
Blak Makk:for what you're talking about? All the time. You book for an audience of 1.
Frank Dee:Yep. And they don't do that anymore. They have a variety over at WWE now of of what they're doing, and what they're doing, it works. You know what I'm saying? For the most part.
Frank Dee:I'm not saying that everything that they're doing is like money because it's not. There's a lot of things over here that's wrong. I personally don't like the fact that they turned Bobby Lashley into street profits baby faces. I don't like that because I thought they had I think I heard that.
Blak Makk:Yeah. I think
Frank Dee:I heard that. Hell yeah. I heard heard them bad. Yeah. That was wrong because you're feuding with carrying across in all this pain where nobody gives a shit about.
Frank Dee:You brought the audience of pain back, and you brought back with Paul Ellering. That whole that that that group is back together again, and you're doing nothing with them. They're stuck here in limbo doing the same feud. You look at the LWO. The LWO you know, we had this little discussion over in the in the group today.
Frank Dee:Do you know who means nothing? Okay? It was always gonna mean nothing. It is the the only the only world order faction in the business that matters to this day starts with the n. Okay?
Frank Dee:Yep. It's black and white. That's the that's the only one that matters. Doesn't matter it it doesn't matter. The LWO was never a popular stable to begin with.
Frank Dee:Okay? And people can say, oh, this is bullshit. Go back and watch They
Blak Makk:do that. Yeah.
Frank Dee:Go back and watch in WCW
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:And tell me how popular the LWO was. It made no sense to me for Ray Merciero from a character storyline perspective. It made no sense, and I have been watching this shit since 1989. It made no sense for Ray Mysterio to resurrect the faction that he didn't wanna be a part of when it was originally in the WCW. So what it made no sense for them to bring that back at all.
Frank Dee:If they were gonna bring it back, the person that should have brought it back was Dominic Masseria. That's who should have brought back the OWL.
Blak Makk:Agree.
Frank Dee:Okay. If they were to split it now and and the LWO had focus in a direction, that would be Dominic Masserio would have been leading the LWO. Dominic Masserio would have been the one to have turned Santos against the group. And now you're in this ending this this this going nowhere feud here that no one cares about. No one gives a shit about the LWO anymore.
Frank Dee:You don't see people wearing LWO shirts anymore in the audience like you were. It's back to what it was. NWO everywhere, wolfpack everywhere. That's what you see in the audience, man. And WWE knows this.
Frank Dee:That's why if you go on weshop.com right now, so much in w o merch.
Blak Makk:And it's gonna sell.
Frank Dee:It sell. It sells to this day. That's what people want. I'm sorry.
Blak Makk:I I I guarantee you. WrestleMania weekend, you go to the pop up WWE shop that they normally put up on on on the PLEs. You go to that shop. You go look at the merch that that they have out. They're gonna have a lot of NWO merch out there, and a lot of that shit is gonna sell out.
Frank Dee:Of course. They're gonna have the chalk line, the line there to the the NWO chalk line shit is is massive. I got a couple of those jackets myself and a lot of stuff from them. So I'm just I'm just pointing out the obvious here. Nobody gives a shit about the LWO.
Frank Dee:And it's and it's a shame because your LWO has some talented workers in that faction, but no one cares about it. And, the other guy, when you talk about just squandering talent and and just us making sense, let's talk a little bit here for a second about Carlito and how they are doing nothing with Carlito. And they gave him this whack as fucking garbage music. Crap music. Okay?
Frank Dee:But I will say one positive when it comes to the direction of the music. The great one, The Rock came out on. Oh my god. And it started with the regular If You Smell With the Rock is Cook they played it, and then it was a guitar riff solo. And in there, it says, The Rock Says, The Rock Says, and then it transitioned into the Hollywood rock beat.
Frank Dee:That was cool, but I would get rid of the beginning part, and I will start off with the it's cooking. And then go on.
Blak Makk:Did when he when once he did all the the promo and stuff, they broke it down, and they just let that be that.
Frank Dee:So I
Blak Makk:think that's what it's gonna come out with from now on. But I
Frank Dee:don't think the lightning effect works very good either. I don't I'm not a fan of that.
Blak Makk:Oh, no. I love that.
Frank Dee:I I don't like it because, it's just if they can if they can time it right, if they can sequence it better
Blak Makk:They they they're getting there. They're getting there. And I think the new thing is
Frank Dee:just it's just it's just not not there. But it it could work now because it's a lot slower pace song. And, obviously, the rock is paying attention to rock like, listen, man. We we need a change of music. What's the song we can use?
Frank Dee:Use the one I had when I was Hollywood Rock. Because that's essentially that's what he is now. Because that's what people people already people want.
Blak Makk:Problem. Yeah. Yeah. Correct. You already called me.
Frank Dee:What he's doing.
Blak Makk:Yep. And he's listening.
Frank Dee:Positive. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's listening. That's why I'm positive.
Frank Dee:And and that's funny thing that everybody was talking more about that than they were talking about Mercedes Monet debut on.
Blak Makk:This is true. This is true.
Frank Dee:Not not a Mercedes. Nope. But that should it is what it is.
Blak Makk:Nope. Speaking of which, I wanna I wanna I wanna transition into this last last thing. Right? Speaking of The Rock and, Mercedes, the the headlines. So I was looking at something very interesting today, and I wanna I wanna share the screen so I can show you what I was actually looking at.
Blak Makk:And,
Frank Dee:You can't put porn on a show.
Blak Makk:I'm not putting porn on the show. But, no, I was looking I was looking on ESPN, and, normally, ESPN has a, WWE section. Well, now they have a professional wrestling tab to where it's not it's not just WWE anymore. And that is the effect that The Rock is having on this shit. Because
Frank Dee:That terminology there, that professional wrestling. Yeah. Right.
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:What did Rocky say? Professional wrestling is cool again.
Blak Makk:It's cool again.
Frank Dee:What did Tony Rose say? Wrestler.
Blak Makk:Yep. It's it's now we're referring to it as professional wrestling. It's not just WWE. And if you look on ESPN on the professional wrestling tab, they they've actually added AEW into there, which one of the biggest stories on that tab is the return of Mercedes Monet to AEW.
Frank Dee:I think
Blak Makk:that's great. That is
Frank Dee:great for the entire industry.
Blak Makk:It's it's amazing for the industry.
Frank Dee:Absolutely. It's
Blak Makk:amazing for the industry.
Frank Dee:So when they say the Roc doesn't have listen. Rock has had a huge because The Rock has made it mainstream. When you have The Rock come in from what he's done and and I say about The Rock, people go, people can talk shit about The Rock all damn day long. The Rock to me, The Rock never forgot what got him to where he is, what got him to the dance, and that was professional wrestling. He's come back and says, you know what?
Frank Dee:Fuck this sports entertainment shit. Fuck. We're professional wrestling.
Blak Makk:Yep. Yep. Get it
Frank Dee:right back. What does what does triple h say? Dude, we're wrestlers. We're wrestling. Triple h grew up on Harvey racing Ric Flair.
Frank Dee:Triple h grew up on NWA. That's what triple h watch. Yep. Okay? That that whole sports entertainment thing, that was something Vince McMahon tried for years years years to get over, and it never got over.
Frank Dee:No one called it that. Nobody's walking around here saying, hey. You should see that sports entertainment show? That sports entertainment wrestling? No one saw it.
Frank Dee:It's called wrestling, bro. Professional wrestling. World Wrestling Federation, World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Impact Wrestling.
Blak Makk:Yep.
Frank Dee:Universal Wrestling Federation. Call it what it was. You know what I'm saying? They're no gimmicks podcast of wrestling.
Blak Makk:But, yeah, I call it what it is. But Exactly. That seeing that, I was like, okay. That is a gift that The Rock gave to the entire industry.
Frank Dee:Absolutely. People say, oh, yo. Yo. Rock sound like we take our spots. Bro, Rock made it.
Blak Makk:He just did y'all the biggest song.
Frank Dee:He did. Exactly. He made it better. Because now you got so many people watching. Rock is getting so much traction on his Instagram videos that he's doing related to wrestling and calling it professional wrestling.
Frank Dee:Rockets go out there saying I'm the most of that should buy it, man, in sports entertainment. He's not saying that.
Blak Makk:Wrestling is cool and
Frank Dee:Even say it with Brian Gerrish. He said it. He says the my my evil wrestling writer. He said my evil sports entertainment writer. He says my evil wrestling writer.
Frank Dee:It's wrestling. R Emmanuel, it's wrestling. Netflix, it's wrestling. That's what it is. It's not sports entertainment.
Frank Dee:It is professional wrestling. That's what it is. That's what they call it. That's what I'm gonna call it.
Blak Makk:You know, it's a brand
Frank Dee:when we when we first started doing this podcast. It was where, you know, don't give us where we talk about professional wrestling as far as because we had to differentiate the 2. We were trying to differentiate from AEW to WWE. Now it's an Organics podcast where we talk to professional wrestling. In the case, Star Wars oh, by the way, a lot of people out there listening.
Frank Dee:Coming very soon, here's the d at the end, the rogue scoundrels podcast. And if you like what you heard Yes. In the beginning here, we'll be sorry at this show tonight. That's a little sample of what you're gonna be hearing on the Rogue Scoundrels podcast that's coming soon here to the DFPN. So stay tuned to that.
Blak Makk:Absolutely. Absolutely. And with that, my good sir, final shots and thoughts. What you got?
Frank Dee:Final thoughts are gonna be this, bro. It's actually we're we're going down to the the bottom line here, you know, for WrestleMania. And it's gonna be very, very interesting, the outcome of that main event. I think that's what people are talking about. And I know Jimmy and Jay are gonna wrestle at WrestleMania.
Frank Dee:I think they kinda made that official. But to be honest with you, I'm not really feeling that match at the moment. I don't know why. I'm just I I think the build hasn't been very good. You know?
Frank Dee:And and I compare you saying that I go I always go back in the history books, and I and I compare things. But the the the greatest brother match I ever saw was between Bret Hart and Owen Hart because of the build up to that. And and Absolutely. And the story that started at the 19 93 Survivor Series when Owen, you know, got eliminated for the match, and then him and Brett started that. And then, you know, when they became a tag team champions, and then they went to the Rumble, and they fought the Quebecers.
Frank Dee:And then, you know, they lost the match, and then Owen went in on Brett's knee. And then they had the match of WrestleMania 10. And then later on that night, after Owen now, Owen beat Brett. And then later on that night, Brett wins the WWE championship, and all the wrestlers are in the ring celebrating. And there's one person looking like, oh, and like, look at this motherfucker.
Frank Dee:Like, I just like, I beat him earlier, but it doesn't mean nothing because now he's a WWF champion. Yeah. That's a build up. This here, same been a build up that I have enjoyed. It it it's and I think the brand split kinda hurt it, to be honest.
Frank Dee:Have them on 2 separate brands.
Blak Makk:Yep.
Frank Dee:Yep. It it took a lot. This this feud right here, you would think because it's the first match that you're gonna have between the Usos Brothers and the history of that tag team, and it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't have no heat going into it. No heat whatsoever.
Frank Dee:And a lot of that has hurt it, but, you know, I digress. We'll see where they go with this.
Blak Makk:Yeah. We'll see. We'll see.
Frank Dee:My final thoughts. Go ahead.
Blak Makk:I'm on I'm on the same I'm on the same way, believe, with with you there. I I kinda wanted them to build this earlier and build it, but the brand split obviously hurt them, having Jay on Raw and Jimmy on SmackDown. To make this work, you almost had to cross the lines in which it didn't really hit as hard. So
Frank Dee:No. Because it's been going on since it's been going on since August. Right.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:That's the problem. It's been going on since August. So the interest is just not there anymore. I mean, yeah, you cost him the Intercontinental Championship. Fine.
Frank Dee:You know what I'm saying? You know? And then on top of that, you know but once again, Gunther is is a monster. You know what I'm
Blak Makk:saying? Absolutely.
Frank Dee:Absolutely. They may but at some point, you know, they may have to turn Sami Zayn at some point because the reaction he got. But it but but you don't have to necessarily turn everybody. You don't have to do
Blak Makk:You don't. Only if it makes sense.
Frank Dee:Correct.
Blak Makk:Only if it makes sense. I I agree with that. So
Frank Dee:Other than that, man, I got nothing else other than help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered. And, like what you like out there and watch what you wanna watch. And, people out there that don't like it, they don't give a fuck.
Blak Makk:I wanna, my final shots. I wanna shout out to, MPX wrestling. Shout out to Demo Diamond. We interviewed him on the show last week. He actually won the MPX title this past weekend.
Blak Makk:Tatum Manning, who we also interviewed, he walked out with a win. He went up against TNA star, Trey Miguel. Bangers on this car, man. They had a MPX Destiny this past weekend. A lot of people were there.
Blak Makk:Listen. For the professional wrestling is cool again. Like, this shit is no joke, man. It really is no joke. This venue had about 600 people in it, and this is a Saturday night.
Blak Makk:Like, they they had it was it was filled, and they had to bring out chairs for people that were coming in the venue. So there is something to say about professional wrestling being cool again that an indie show was filling up like like this. You know what I'm saying? We didn't even get to the BloodSport shit, the GCW shit with Shayna Baszler, and WWE allowing her to do that WrestleMania week. Like, there's a lot of cool shit in the industry happening.
Frank Dee:And she's gonna be wrestling with somebody from TNA
Blak Makk:on that. Masha Slamovich. Yeah.
Frank Dee:Yeah. So So, I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on, and it and it's and it's benefiting everybody.
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:And that's the that's the thing about It is. And and let's let's let me bring up something real quick too that we we we, we we need to talk about, but I I wanna set the record straight about something. So, you know, Sting's last match, you know, happened in in in, you know, AW. And Yep. One of the big things that controversies that people had was the fact that they weren't able to show any footage of Cena's career from WCW on on AEW.
Frank Dee:And a lot of people were like, you know, that's bullshit and and yada yada yada. They should have, you know, got the tapes, and that should be able they should be able to show that. Well, here's the thing about this. So number 1, WWE obviously owns the the videos for WCW. They bought it.
Frank Dee:It's their property. Number 2, for what I have heard, nobody from AW ever contacted WWE about using said footage.
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:That's that's what I've heard about that. Real quick, though, before we sign off, I I gotta say this. This year's hall of fame class.
Blak Makk:I know where you're going.
Frank Dee:This class is shit. I'm just being honest. I'm just keeping it 1,000. This this class is this class is shit. Okay?
Frank Dee:No no disrespect to anybody in it, but it's just I I'm not looking forward. I'm because I'm not I'm not the biggest Paul Heyman fan. So it's it's it's crap. And there is no headliners on this.
Blak Makk:There oh, man.
Frank Dee:The rumored Bray Wyatt's induction, most likely. I don't
Blak Makk:I don't think that's happening. I don't think that's happening. But with with that being said, there was so many options that you had that you could've gone with and you didn't. It's it's a letdown for me. It it it is a letdown for me.
Blak Makk:I will agree with you there.
Frank Dee:Yeah. I'm just I'm not feeling it. I I'm just I'm not I'm prob I'm probably gonna gonna skip out on it. And it's okay. I wanna watch it just for just for
Blak Makk:because I know I know Hammond's gonna give gonna have a good speech. If anything, Hammond's speech is gonna be good. Yeah.
Frank Dee:I'm just I'm not I'm not a Hammond fan. I'm not a Haman fan. Let's let's real quick, why don't you let the, listeners out there know because we're running a poll right now on the, the greatest manager.
Blak Makk:Right? The greatest manager
Frank Dee:is a professional. So I want you to let the, let the listeners know what's going on with that poll, man, because it's it's been getting very, very interesting.
Blak Makk:It did. So this one actually this is one of the one of the polls that actually went the way I thought it was gonna go. Normally, these shits just they're they're wild. But this one actually went the way I thought it was gonna go. Everybody that had they were they were mashed up with each other.
Blak Makk:They it went the way I thought it would. People got washed. Some people were a 100% to 0. But, and I will announce it here tonight. The winner of that bracket with 52% of the vote vote, the 48%.
Blak Makk:And our finals was Bobby the brain, Heenan versus Paul Heyman, the winner of that bracket, and dubbed by the no gimmicks podcast fan group as the greatest manager ever is Bobby the brain Heenan
Frank Dee:with Vince. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Blak Makk:Yep. And this was this was close, man.
Frank Dee:This was close. Very close. I I voted, on in the poll, and, I believe I voted for the brain.
Blak Makk:Yeah. I voted for the brain too. Yep.
Frank Dee:Yeah. So did you I I had to go with Bobby. So because it's just, I mean, yeah, I mean, Hammond managed some some people, but Bobby to bring he he managed I mean, Bobby was a part of some some great moments in the business. And, you know, I mean, him managing Andre and that match for Hulk Hogan and then managing Ravish and Rick Rude. Bobby took see, this is what makes Bobby Heenan the biggest the greatest manager of all time.
Frank Dee:Bobby Heenan was not only a great manager, but Bobby Hayden was actually a a a great wrestler as well. And Yep. Fabulous bump taker.
Blak Makk:Yep.
Frank Dee:Great on commentary. Funny. His line still live up to this day. The guy was a total package. Hey, man.
Blak Makk:Never spoke. To me. I take you to the top. You don't listen to me. You never heard from again.
Frank Dee:Right. So and that's and that you know? So it it was cool, the way it went. And that's the thing about it. So if you're not a member of the No Gimmons fan group, you need to go on Facebook right now and look look look it up, No Gimmons, podcast fan group.
Frank Dee:Go on there. We got daily discussions about shit that we talk about. Yep. And, also, just go on there. You can it just become part of that film and podcast network, period, and that will give you links to all of our different podcast groups for the Smoke Pit, for the Queens of NORDAM, for the USDN.
Frank Dee:We're gonna be once again launching the World scoundrels podcast that's gonna be hosted by your boyfriend Dee at the Black Mac here. So we got a lot of things coming out of Popeye here on the, the the DFPN. And, that's pretty much it for tonight, man. I got I got nothing else here in this, soliloquy and puppet.
Blak Makk:That I have nothing else
Frank Dee:to do. Forget to to subscribe to the mothership, which is the Patreon for the no gimmicks and the DFPN. $3 gets you unlimited access to everything in the DFPN catalog, and that means you get the podcast before anybody else. You get the Queen of Subnerto before anybody else. You get the USDA before anybody else.
Frank Dee:Everything that we do here on the DMPN, you can check it out right now for just $3 on patreon.com. So check it out. That's the mother ship, and pretty much I got nothing else to say.
Blak Makk:Absolutely, man. Absolutely.
Frank Dee:Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's gonna be after the no gimmicks podcast here on VPN. It's your boyfriend, Dee, for the black Mac. We're gonna sign out. Like, what you like, and, people don't like it, don't give a fuck. Deuces.
Blak Makk:Absolutely. Peace.