Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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.
Yo. Yo. Yo. What is up, people? Welcome back to the no gimmicks podcast here on the DFPN.
Blak Makk:We have a bonus episode for you guys this morning on this lovely Friday morning. It is I, bread like a king, made this coven Kaylee along with my cohost, Frank d, the chosen one. Before we get into the show this morning, we got a really quick hit for you guys this morning. But before we get into the show this morning, Frank d, I wanna let you know that, I got your your your gift, and I tried it on. Fits like a glove.
Blak Makk:We're gonna be ready to rock.
Frank Dee:Well, I'm I'm happy to hear that. That's excellent. I'm I'm I'm finally glad you have joined the the club of cosplay.
Blak Makk:Yes. It
Frank Dee:is it is fabulous to hear that everything went out. Now what about now what about the boots? Have you tried the boots?
Blak Makk:The boots fit well. So I I will I will take pictures later. But yes.
Frank Dee:Yeah. I I told you when you did the shit, you're supposed to take pictures of it. You know? The the this is exactly why a pet a a padawan, you will still be.
Blak Makk:No. I was I was just trying it on just, like, to get the feel of it.
Frank Dee:I was like, oh, shit. This is dope. Right. Right.
Blak Makk:So, oh, this is dope. But yeah. So but yeah, man. Thank you for that. Yeah.
Blak Makk:That's It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be awesome. But That's what's up. Good show this morning. We just have one topic, and it's the one topic.
Frank Dee:You know what's funny? I'll make sure it's up. But what's funny is is is a conversation that we had prior to recording now. See, this is the thing that, like, this is the thing that people don't understand when you're doing a podcast. So we have a general, like, bullet point of what we're gonna do, what we're gonna talk about.
Frank Dee:And then before we do it, we just shoot the shit. And then while we're shooting the shit, we get into these debates where he has a strong opinion about something, and then, frankly, he has a strong opinion about something. And it's just like, damn. Why didn't we record that?
Blak Makk:I know. Every time. Every show. It's like every show we talk about, like, we should really be recording
Frank Dee:right now. Yeah. So that's I don't know. But whatever. I'm I'm glad you, I'm glad you enjoyed the gift.
Frank Dee:You you like I said, man, you gotta take pictures. You gotta, you know, show it off to you because you got plans for that.
Blak Makk:Alright.
Frank Dee:Got plans for that. Got got an event got an event coming up in in Dallas. I'm a talk to you about Okay. Plans for it.
Blak Makk:Right on. Right on. And we have we have more news on that front too. So this will be leading to something else outside of Dallas. But, yeah, man.
Blak Makk:Let's get into it.
Frank Dee:Yep.
Blak Makk:Tony Khan running his mouth again. This time with Eric Bischoff, and it came he made a mistake, and he's going to be paying for it a lot. So let's talk about it. There there was a tweet that went out. What what day was this?
Blak Makk:Yesterday?
Frank Dee:Yeah. It was so it was early. It was
Blak Makk:it was after the show.
Frank Dee:It was after the show. Wednesday. Yeah. Wednesday. I think it was Wednesday.
Frank Dee:Either Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Eric Bischoff put out a tweet. Actually, it's Bischoff's partner, John Alba, who was his cohost on a, the Strictly Business podcast. And he put this tweet out talking about basically how they were gonna be ending that podcast because Eric is busy, doing other stuff, doing conventions, and everything else he's doing. He has a life.
Frank Dee:You know what I'm saying? Plus, he's already doing 83 weeks with Conrad.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:So he decided, okay. Yeah. I'm just gonna I'm I'm spreading myself too thin here. I'm gonna go ahead and just end this podcast and just focus on 83 weeks than the other ventures he's doing. So, of course, Tony Khan has a and I'm pretty do you have to tweet?
Blak Makk:I'm bringing it up now.
Frank Dee:Yeah. Then you can actually read the tweet, you know, and and tell tell the listeners out there who are listening to the No Give Me's podcast right now what he actually said and what Bischoff his response was at the at the end there. And while, you know, the Black Mac is looking for that, don't forget, you can subscribe right now to the Patreon of that film podcast for just $3 a month. Okay? $3 a month will get you all this wonderful content that we have here at the DFPN family.
Frank Dee:I'm talking about the Smoke Pit podcast. I'm talking about the Queens of Nurda, the USDN, the no gimmicks podcast, of course. Very soon, the Rogue Scoundrels podcast. We got a lot of stuff going on here on a VPN, and it will only cost you $3. $3.
Frank Dee:So Yep. Check it out. Patreon.com/athama podcast. I mean, it's it's where it's at. So look it up.
Frank Dee:You know what I'm saying?
Blak Makk:Yeah, man. Goddamn. He's been tweeting a lot. So
Frank Dee:Who's that?
Blak Makk:Eric. He's been going in. Yeah. So so, so the tweet originally was in response to John Alba. He reads he tweeted out that the Strictly Business podcast was indeed gonna be ending.
Blak Makk:And Tony Khan replied to this and said, sunsetting this fraud of a business podcast before the next AW Media deal is a wise choice. Hashtag AWDynamite. That's what he said. To which to which Eric Bischoff replied that he was, he had a got a good idea that he was gonna be starting another podcast called Wise Choices. And then he went on to say, he went out and he tweeted a picture of the, Quebec show with the crowd and attendance.
Blak Makk:He said, a money mark with no talent other than spending daddy's money going all the way to Canada to draw less than 4 k in one of the hottest pro wrestling markets in North America. Talking about wise chart choices. Strap in. It's gonna be a long day. And he went in for the rest of that day.
Frank Dee:So I listened to the podcast last night that Bischoff did. It was Bischoff by himself, which I have to say, Bischoff by himself, that was excellent. He went in. He went straight in on Tony Khan. He went in on Dave Meltzer.
Frank Dee:He went in on just everything that's going wrong in AEW. And I thought it was the greatest shit I have listened to in a long time. It it was great. It it was like, finally, somebody put this guy in his place because you reading that right there. What was the point of Tony Khan even saying anything, even responding to that?
Frank Dee:What what was the point?
Blak Makk:None. None. And he had been doing great. He had he hadn't he hadn't said anything crazy. He hadn't tweeted nothing while.
Blak Makk:He had just been focused on AEW like a lot of people wanted him to be. So this was just like, where the fuck did this even come from? Like, why? So it it's just puzzling to me that he took the opportunity to take a shot at Eric Bischoff.
Frank Dee:Right. And it's like, okay. I can understand if Bischoff was somehow affiliated with WWE, He was running WWE or something like that or or whatever. The guy was announcing that he's ending one of his podcasts. Big fucking deal.
Frank Dee:Right? Okay. Whoopee do. What was first of all, you're up at 4 o'clock in the morning on Twitter, and you see this, and you reply to it. It's like, okay.
Frank Dee:That right there is something wrong to me. Because at 4 o'clock in the morning, I ain't gonna be on our Twitter or x. Alright? Not gonna be doing that. Not gonna be doing that.
Frank Dee:So that's kinda questionable to me. But at the same time, I'm like, dude, you never ever saw Vince McMahon acknowledge anybody. And let's see. Absolutely had to do it. It was how many times throughout the years did you ever hear Vince McMahon mention WCW on his TV show?
Frank Dee:You had never heard it until 1995 came along and Nitro came. When Bishop started giving out the results to Raw, that's when Ben started fighting dirty, especially when Time Warner was about to merge with Turner.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:And they did the billionaire Ted, Ted skits. So that's the only time you ever heard McMahon actually acknowledge WCW on the air somewhat. And then it would it would continue on through the attitude era, but barely. Vince never wanted to give them any kind of a play. Right.
Frank Dee:So my thing is, like, dude, you're supposed to be the owner of a company. Why are you just why are you still going in on Eric Bischoff? That that just doesn't make any sense to me. You should be worried about your product, okay, and worrying about how to draw people to your shows instead of this immature bullshit because that's what it is to me. And I'm not trying to be on the AEW payroll.
Frank Dee:I don't care about wrestling like that. I'm telling you I'm telling you like it is. It's just you shouldn't do that shit because it makes you look really, really dumb. And I know Tony Khan is not a dumb person, but it just makes him look really dumb, and it makes him look very immature that you would have to go there. And all you did was just give Eric Bischoff more ammunition.
Frank Dee:That's all you did.
Blak Makk:Right. Now before the show, I was like, both of them are petty. That's what that was my opinion. Like, they're both petty. And, like, Tony doing that was was extreme.
Blak Makk:It was a petty move. Like, as a petty person, I'm like, I I I see how why he did it. He took the opportunity, take the shot. I don't know why they still have bad blood, but it seems like there's still bad blood there, at least on Tony's end. Eric has said on on numerous occasions that he still roosts for AEW.
Blak Makk:Right? Even said that he tried to reach out after the NXT thing and tried to, you know, give him some advice, but Tony just doesn't wanna hear it. But I don't know where the bad blood is with them. I realistically, as a fan, I want Eric to be involved more with AEW. I I I would love to see it because it's on TNT or it's on the Turner network, and he has history with Turner networks.
Blak Makk:So being on good terms with someone like an Eric Bischoff actually makes AEW look a hell of a lot more credible. You know what I'm saying? Knowing that they have Bischoff in their back pocket even on on a consultual platform. Right? Just as a consultant, you have someone there that has history with that network, knows the inner workings of the business, can give you pointers.
Blak Makk:Right? I would think that's way more valuable than being petty every chance you get and just at least trying to draw attention to what you and him have going on. I don't know if that's what he's trying to do, but it's counterproductive to what AW has been doing. Right? Because let's just face it.
Blak Makk:The fans see it as a negative thing right now. And you've you've done the work to try to bring it to a positive place. You listen to the fans. You do. For Tony is not a dumb person.
Blak Makk:He does listen to the fans. He at least tries to give them what they want. That's that's good, but, also, don't be petty and be beefing with people like Eric Bischoff. Like, you don't need that shit. You really don't.
Blak Makk:It doesn't serve you. It doesn't serve your company. Let it go. Like, I and I know I know it's like you don't have thick skin. And usually in this business, you need it because people are going to piss you off.
Blak Makk:So you have to develop a sense of I don't give a fuck about the other shit and just focus on your product. WWE doesn't focus on what the fuck AEW is doing, and they're better for it. Right? Unless they're making tremendous noise, like, in which AEW when it first came around was a problem because they were giving the fans what they want. That's the one thing that AEW has not ventured away from, and that's giving the fans what they wanna see.
Blak Makk:Right? They listen, which is all you really wanted in the first place out of WWE. Listen to the fans, give the fans what they want. They weren't doing that. Now they are.
Blak Makk:Now what's your backup plan, Tony? It sure as hell shouldn't be feuding with fucking Eric Bischoff. It shouldn't be.
Frank Dee:Well, I think the bad blood, if I remember correctly, the bad blood started between the two parties when Tony Khan made some disrespectful comments about Ted Turner. And Eric is very much a a Ted Turner guy because Ted was the one who gave him opportunity
Blak Makk:at
Frank Dee:at WCW. You know what I mean? Ted was the one who gave him Nitro, you know, TNT 1 hour and then moved it to 2 hours later on. So Eric has Eric has a Eric has respect and love for Ted Turner. And for someone to come along like Tony Khan and disrespect Ted Turner and all the the major contributions that Ted Turner did for the wrestling business, The times that Ted Turner kept people in this business employed.
Frank Dee:The one guy that gave wrestling companies a a a spotlight on his network. I'm talking about, you know, Georgia championship wrestling. I'm talking about, you know, mid south, UWF. Talking about, you know, Jim Crockett Promotions, of course, which will which will later become World Championship Wrestling. So it's alternative a lot for the wrestling business.
Frank Dee:And for someone to come in like a Tony Khan, who, my opinion, hasn't been impactful at all. It it has not been. It it it it not to me. Impactful in this industry is what WCW did. When they took it to the WWF, they did something that had been done before.
Frank Dee:See, all these other territories I've mentioned had tried to fight Vince and could never get anywhere. Look at all the the sabotage that Vince would do to Jim Crockett on pay per view. Look at how they tried to sabotage Starrcade. All the shit that they were trying to do down there. And then when the tide turned as the pendulum swung the other way, when WCW debuted Nitro, Oh, shit.
Frank Dee:Like, you know, we're we're we're we're concerned about this because this could possibly divide the audience, and it divide the audience. But then what happened was is that Vince not listening to to not only the fans, but not listening to his talent, mainly one named Scott Hall, and giving Scott Hall more money or at least let him go work in Japan to go get their money, couldn't do it. So then what happens with that situation? Then what happens is the guy starts talking to WCW. He gets a deal.
Frank Dee:Kevin Nash's contract's. They get a deal. They go down there to WCW and make history as the outsiders, and then we all know the rest is history after that. Right? What have they done in AEW that is on that level?
Frank Dee:And that's a legitimate question. What have they done to move the needle like WCW did? Nothing. You're not on that level. And I'm not gonna even compare the main one because that's what a lot of people have done.
Frank Dee:They can because they're on the Turner Networks, they compare the
Blak Makk:I don't I don't think CW. I don't I don't. I don't.
Frank Dee:That's what they've always done, though. That's what they've always done. Because what did he use to watch when he was a kid? WCW. That was what he wanted.
Blak Makk:Yeah. Then the so them being on TNT, in which we talked about this in, like, the earliest of podcasts that we've done for no gimmicks. Them being on TNT is a nostalgia thing. Right? Because we haven't seen it on TNT in over 20 years prior to it showing up.
Blak Makk:We haven't seen it.
Frank Dee:It it is and and it's because of the the just you you would hear the the bad just just feeling of about professional wrestling at Turner. Right. And that's why you had saw it. You know what I mean? Right.
Frank Dee:You saw it with TNA when they were on Spike, which, you know, but they had previously had wrestling. The only reason they got TNA was because they were pissed with WWE for leaving them going back to USA. But, yeah, it's a nostalgia act to have Tony Chiavani and Jim Ross on the show. It was a nostalgia.
Blak Makk:It was a nostalgia act. But other than that other than that, the own I would say the only impact that they've they've had on on a on a big level is just being there. That's it. Other than that other than that, like, you gave for the for the wrestlers themselves, very impactful. But for the fans, just them being there and, like I said earlier, giving the fans like, listening to the fans, I think was impactful for them because it gave them, like it gave fans, like, another outlet, which, like you said, kinda it split the fans again because
Frank Dee:I'll I'll say this.
Blak Makk:Time around, it's worse, though.
Frank Dee:I'll say this. So yeah. And this is kinda kinda stuff we were talking about off the air. Yeah. Okay.
Frank Dee:As far as making it to where wrestlers have a place to work in the industry, absolutely. Kudos to them for doing that. That's excellent. To have it where, you know, more production people get to get to work. And there's a lot of these indie talents can go and do, you know, security or something at these shows, you know, angles and shit.
Frank Dee:That's that's great if you're gonna do that. Absolutely. Okay? Right. And and what they've done, I will admit the, AW makes money on pay per view.
Frank Dee:They do that. They sell pay per views. Now in saying this, if you are not consistently putting out a great show every single week, then what is the reason why I'm going to spend $60 to watch your pay per view? See, even if the WWE was doing shit shows, they're on Peacock. So it's not gonna really cost me anything to watch this shit show premium live event.
Frank Dee:But when you pay $60 a pop for a pay per view, it's an investment. That's what in today's economy, that's a lot of money. So am I gonna spend $60 to watch this shit? Or am I gonna just sit back and not watch it and then just like, yeah, whatever. That's what a lot of people are doing now.
Frank Dee:They drew the biggest house they've had in a long time because of Sting's last match. I wanna see what they do with Dynasty. I wanna see how the ticket sales go for that one.
Blak Makk:They got about a month, give or take,
Frank Dee:before they get there. And and, you know, I'll say this too real quick. One of the big things. So I'm not a New Japan Pro Wrestling fan like that, but I will say this. Why is it that the first night that you debut Okada in AEW, did this dude not go face to face with Samoa Joe?
Blak Makk:I will and I will tell you from from watching, that would not have made sense.
Frank Dee:Why? Why? Because the the Swerve strict circling program right now?
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:K. So how many more times does Swerve gonna job the Smore, Joe?
Blak Makk:Swerve actually hasn't jobbed to Samoa Joe.
Frank Dee:But he has not
Blak Makk:They haven't had a 1 on 1.
Frank Dee:So So if they have a 1 on 1 and they and he if they have a 1 on 1 match, the dynasty, which I'm assuming that's what's gonna happen. Yes. And it's for let's just say it's for loses the match. Are we not gonna move away from that?
Blak Makk:They should. But I don't think I don't think he's gonna lose that match.
Frank Dee:I don't I would hope not. You you I mean, I would hope not, but just for if if the story see, that's another thing. You bring Okada in with no build up whatsoever. No build. You just bring him in.
Frank Dee:He's out there with the Bucks. That's it. We're we're gonna put you with a a a mid carder championship. Fucking Okada. Does that make any sense?
Blak Makk:Bro, they have that roster.
Frank Dee:Saying. Does that make any sense, though?
Blak Makk:It it doesn't, but that roster is.
Frank Dee:Was this guy not the guy in New Japan for wrestling?
Blak Makk:I think Okada will be the guy. I think he's gonna be the guy in AW.
Frank Dee:I said, was he not the guy?
Blak Makk:He was the guy.
Frank Dee:He was the guy. You so so let me ask you a question. If Ocada had, say, signed with WWE, is this the way they would have bought it, man?
Blak Makk:Let me ask you let me counter that question with a question. If they bring Okada in the WWE, where would he go first?
Frank Dee:I would think he would probably go on raw.
Blak Makk:You think they would bring O'Connor rights in the the main coverage?
Frank Dee:I don't think Vince would have. No. I think Triple H would have. Yeah.
Blak Makk:I don't think so.
Frank Dee:Oh, you think with
Blak Makk:the NXT? Even with even with O'Connor, I don't think I
Frank Dee:don't think so. You think you
Blak Makk:would've went to NXT? Yep.
Frank Dee:I
Blak Makk:don't think so. I think I think you would've went to NXT first. Not had a long stay there. Just long enough to get I think he would've went to NXT, got the NXT championship right off the bat just to get his feet wet like they did with Kevin Owens and then bring him up to to the main roster.
Frank Dee:I don't think so.
Blak Makk:The WWE is smart on that level.
Frank Dee:But they would have brought him out. I I think the time, honestly, if they woulda had him, The time to have brought Okada out probably would have been the Royal Rumble if they had assigned him. If they had assigned him. If they had assigned him.
Blak Makk:Right. But I honestly, the and this is where I give WWE credit. Unless they are like megastar in which you can't put all caught in that in that in that realm. You can't. Unless they're a megastar, they're going to NXT first.
Blak Makk:Like, you have to be you have to be, like, known in America and abroad for you to make the main roster.
Frank Dee:Oh, that's not true because Jay Cargill made the main roster.
Blak Makk:Okay. Fair point. That's a fair point. But but, again, they touted Jade as a star.
Frank Dee:Yeah. But okay. That don't mean shit because how many else people knew who she was when she joined a when she can't make the AWP?
Blak Makk:Here's what I was talking about before that. Like, this is all on the fandom. I'm gonna put this one on the fandom because you like, you have some fans. These motherfuckers will say they don't know who certain people are. They need a fucking buildup.
Blak Makk:Yet you get people like Jay Cargill who's been in AEW, a dominant champion in AEW, and yet people from WWE did not know who the fuck she was until she got there. Now she's some fucking Woah.
Frank Dee:Now now now well, now hold on. Hold on.
Blak Makk:I'm not saying everyone.
Frank Dee:Hold on.
Blak Makk:I'm saying I'm saying she
Frank Dee:works for me. Got a hell of a pop when she came out there at the Royal Rumble.
Blak Makk:Yes. She did. You know why? Because they touted her before then.
Frank Dee:My point exactly, sir.
Blak Makk:They touted her
Frank Dee:before They woulda had they woulda had him out there.
Blak Makk:Now you coulda did that. You coulda did yeah. You coulda did that with Ocana, and it and it probably woulda worked. It probably
Frank Dee:woulda worked. Absolutely woulda worked.
Blak Makk:It probably woulda worked. But, again
Frank Dee:my ass, it woulda worked.
Blak Makk:You would have got a monster pop for for I don't think so.
Frank Dee:I think you would have. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay.
Blak Makk:I could be
Frank Dee:I think I I think you would have gotten a monster pot for O'Connor. That would have built a roof out the place. Because let me tell you something.
Blak Makk:Oh, god. This this is like but this kills me. You know why this kills me?
Frank Dee:What's that?
Blak Makk:Because you have some WWE fans who act like they don't know who the fuck certain people are. But we and let us build
Frank Dee:it act like they don't know.
Blak Makk:But this is the bullshit. Like, this is the tribalism. This is tribalism bullshit.
Frank Dee:I don't think it's tribalism. You know what I think it is, honestly? I I don't think it's tribalism. What I think it is is I I don't really think people necessarily wanted AEW to come around. I just think they wanted I agree with this.
Frank Dee:I just think they wanted WWE to get better.
Blak Makk:I agree with this.
Frank Dee:Yeah. That's what I'm agree with this. I I think they were content with how it used to be. They were content with WCW being around. So when that went away, and then they tried with TNA, That first show TNA did in Huntsville, Alabama.
Frank Dee:It it looked promising, and then it fell off, you know, after a while.
Blak Makk:That's like TMA now. When they when TMA came back, it was like a big fucking deal. Now no one cared. Well, that that was kind of a self inflicted wound. But
Frank Dee:That we that's another podcast.
Blak Makk:That's a whole another podcast.
Frank Dee:Oh, yeah. But but right now, my opinion, when it comes to just watching it, okay, I remember that night when Okada came out there. It made no sense to have him join the Bucks.
Blak Makk:It doesn't, but I you know what? After watching it, I kinda like O'Connor with the Bucks. I actually think I actually I like O'Connor. O'Connor does heal as shit, but he gets a he gets a baby face reaction to it. Oh, god is actually a good heel.
Frank Dee:You know why he get the baby face reaction? Because people don't wanna boo him. Yeah. That's not that's not that's not saying that he's a good heel. It's just because the people don't wanna boo him.
Frank Dee:It's like saying when zone coach Steve Austin turned heel, and he was still getting cheered. No. That's a mistake. And Austin knew it was a mistake. Yeah.
Frank Dee:Because number 1, it was a it was number 1, it was a mistake because he was getting fucking getting cheered. Number 2, it's because all that merch money he was losing because they weren't buying his T shirts anymore. That hurt him bad. Yep. That hurt him big time.
Frank Dee:So when it comes to Ocado, you know what I would've done with Ocado? I'm gonna tell
Blak Makk:you. Yeah. Yeah. I would've built them up. I would've built them up and then debut him as a face.
Frank Dee:Well, I would've I mean, if you wanted to have a a faction here, okay, that the Bucks are having, why not take Okada what's the name? Takeshita? What's his name? What's that his name?
Blak Makk:Takashita.
Frank Dee:Takashita? Yeah. So you have o Okada, Takashita, and the Bucks. You can add the motherfuckers like a Yakuza or some shit.
Blak Makk:I like that idea. And, also, I think Takeshita's a fucking phenomenal talent.
Frank Dee:Yeah. Yes. That's why I'm that's that's what I'm like, when I when I saw him
Blak Makk:phenomenal, bro.
Frank Dee:When I when I saw him and, you know, you coulda had them, man, if you wanna keep it with Don Callas. Yeah. But that's how you bring if the Bucks wanna do something that goes away from the elite shit, it just had this whole other faction. It would have been Takeshita, the Bucks, and Okada as as one as one group. Because I'm sorry.
Frank Dee:The Don Carlos family, I I no.
Blak Makk:No. Even with the Don Carlos family is a is a good faction, but you have people in there that are
Frank Dee:getting really.
Blak Makk:No. It really is, bro. Like
Frank Dee:Really?
Blak Makk:Because you got Osprey, Takasta, Hobbs.
Frank Dee:Osprey and Takasta who were just wrestling for what reason?
Blak Makk:I have no idea. But Yeah.
Frank Dee:See see see what I'm saying?
Blak Makk:But but, again, master of the fucking year. But but I I see where you're going. Like, if they if they need to do anything, they need to break that shit up.
Frank Dee:Let me ask you a question. During the early days during the early days of NWO, how many times did you see and I'm talking about the early I'm talking about 96, right, when they first got started? Yeah. How many times you see Hall and Nash wrestle each other?
Blak Makk:0.
Frank Dee:Exactly. Because it made no fucking sense. So we're all in a faction together. It makes no sense. Kinda like the Bobby Heen family.
Frank Dee:You ever saw them messing each other?
Blak Makk:Yeah. True. You have a point there. It just so happened that show was phenomenal, though. I'm not everything else aside, that match was absolutely great.
Frank Dee:Oh, I've heard I've heard a lot of people say, I mean, it impressed the hell out of Ric Flair and and Ricky dragging a steamboat. Yeah. I I I understand that completely. But I'm just looking at it from a logical standpoint point of view here. It makes no sense to have 2 stable mates fighting each other.
Frank Dee:What what's the point here? One of you gotta do your job.
Blak Makk:Yeah. But, again, I don't think coming out of that match, it's hard to say someone someone didn't go over, though, because they both did. They both
Frank Dee:absolutely did. I understand that. But could we have not just had somebody else in Osprey's first match have him out there with some of Jabron as his first match to show This audience here, what he can do on pay per view?
Blak Makk:You could have been certain anybody.
Frank Dee:Yeah.
Blak Makk:But I think doing that helped cash out a lot. I'm not gonna complain about that shit. I I get where you're coming from. For me, I I it couldn't happen any other way. Okay.
Blak Makk:In hindsight. In hindsight.
Frank Dee:Let me let me let me give you an example of what I mean like this. Right? So there's one debut that's up here in debuts in the wrestling business. It's the Royal Rumble 2000. It's kind of a rookie, Kurt Angle out there.
Frank Dee:In the God Mhmm. Facing the debuting Taz from ECW.
Blak Makk:Mhmm.
Frank Dee:You talk about debuts. You talk about a fucking debut. Look at that.
Blak Makk:That was home court advantage, bro.
Frank Dee:It doesn't matter. I mean, some people knew he was coming. Some people didn't. Unless you wanted to you. If you didn't know if you wanted to dirt sheets, you didn't know he was coming.
Frank Dee:And that's my whole point. They built that up like that. You what I'm saying? They built them in there with somebody who can who can handle it. Now Takeshita and Osprey had this phenomenal match everybody's raving about.
Frank Dee:That's great. Where do you go from there?
Blak Makk:You had options, and I don't know if they're I don't know if they're exactly following through on it right now, but the option was you kick Osprey out. But Takisha's actually catching the match helped Takisha. This is what I'm saying. Takisha has become kind of a crowd favorite because of that match. So the option coming out of it was to have dissension within the Don Carlos family, which it that's how it appeared.
Blak Makk:But after that match, shit changed. I know shit changed because people love to catch it. He's being featured on television more because of that match. So it's hard to say, like, it's hard to say, like, they had a plan and they're just not sticking to it when the crowd fucking loves to catch it. Like, what do you do with that?
Frank Dee:So where is so so where is powerhouse Hobbs?
Blak Makk:Hobbs Hobbs had a match not too long ago. But he he was on the pay per view too. And he had a match he had a match after that.
Frank Dee:Okay. So that that proves my point right there. Not saying that you know it all. You don't remember it all, but we had a match not so long ago after that, but I didn't give a fuck about enough to know who he's wrestling.
Blak Makk:No. We've said this too.
Frank Dee:That's a
Blak Makk:Hobbs is one of those people Hobbs is one of those people I want to win too.
Frank Dee:Yeah. I mean, here's the guy honestly, when I saw Hobbs, I was thinking to myself, this guy could be the first black AEW World Heavyweight Champion. Yep. Had he been pushed correctly. But he hasn't been pushed correctly.
Frank Dee:He's been squandered no different than Wardlow. Wardlow to me is the biggest disappointment, and it's nothing to do with him. Wardlow's phenomenal. It is the way he has been booked is is atrocious.
Blak Makk:And and and people wanna
Frank Dee:come up here people wanna come up here and talk about how good this guy is at booking matches and shit. Are you kidding me? I look at Wardlow for God's sake.
Blak Makk:That's another thing, man. Like, Tony Khan does I I am convinced Tony Khan does not like the big man.
Frank Dee:Then why are they there?
Blak Makk:Make me believe otherwise. You can't make
Frank Dee:me believe otherwise. Then then then why are they there? You got you got some good some some good options there of of why you would think that too because look at powerhouse Hobbs. Look at Wardlow. Look at, Brian Cage.
Frank Dee:Yep. Look at Lance Hoyt.
Blak Makk:Yep. You you have big men there that can fuck like, the butcher. The butcher's a day one that I was like, Jesus Christ, man. This guy is No.
Frank Dee:I don't understand why the butcher gets a lot of hate. I don't understand. I like the butcher.
Blak Makk:I like the butcher too.
Frank Dee:So I was just wanting to wanted to speak to you guys over there that I actually the guy could work.
Blak Makk:Yes. He was on he was on dynamite this past Wednesday.
Frank Dee:You know, I'm like, I'm not sure what that is.
Blak Makk:Blade is a is a great tag team.
Frank Dee:I agree. I agree. Yeah.
Blak Makk:A great tag team.
Frank Dee:I'm a tell you I'm a tell you where the I think the Butcher fits in right now. I think the Butcher would be a very good member for the House of Black.
Blak Makk:I would the butcher and the blade.
Frank Dee:Yeah.
Blak Makk:I agree.
Frank Dee:Uh-huh.
Blak Makk:That they fit. They absolutely fit. But, like, it's stuff like that. Like, man, you had if if we go back to day 1 and the people that they had on day 1, like, you had you had a roster full of fresh talent that you could build. You you had a roster full of people that you could make legitimate stars.
Blak Makk:Right? And you I don't know where they veered off. It I I don't know where they veered off from that. But you had people like the Butcher and the Blade, best friends, private party, Sammy Guevara. Right?
Blak Makk:You have people like that that you could build and and make stars and turn them into household names when people were relatively unknowns. Like, I don't people I don't think people understand, like, that's that's crazy, but you had a roster full of talent that was relatively unknown that you were starting a company with that you had people believing in. Like doctor Britt Baker. You had people like that that no one else knew outside of this company that you could turn into household names. Where did we veer off from that shit?
Blak Makk:Like, because he's building new
Frank Dee:He started he started booking the show for Meltzer's crew trying to get Booker of the Year.
Blak Makk:You didn't need to do that.
Frank Dee:Like, I don't understand. Difference here. You would you would get one show that is booking for the casuals, and you have one show that's booking for the marks.
Blak Makk:Yeah. But when it first started, this shit was so fresh, man. Like,
Frank Dee:I know,
Blak Makk:bro, like, I love this shit. Like, I don't know any of these people. Give me their stories.
Frank Dee:Do you know how many a AEW events I've gone to? I've gone to a lot of AEW events. I got a lot of AEW pay per view purchases that I bought. I got a lot of AEW merch that's in the closet. But somewhere along the way, they lost me.
Frank Dee:And I and I just I don't support the brand anymore.
Blak Makk:I'm still there, but I'm just like, man, when you had when you had, you let go of. And it's it's obvious.
Frank Dee:When you But I'm not but but let's let's put it like this. I'm not gonna sit up here and say that everything is all hunky dory over at the WWE either because it's not.
Blak Makk:It's not.
Frank Dee:It's not. I I watch I I watch segments on YouTube of of of WWE. I thought the best thing that they did on Raw this Monday was the Centimeters Punk, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre promo, and The Rock and Cody. All that should happen there. Okay?
Frank Dee:Other other shit on there, I didn't see any of it. I just pay attention to the old segments because that's what draws me in. That's it. I am what you consider now. For me, a person that's been watching this since 1989, I am now a casual because I don't watch this shit.
Frank Dee:Like like, the I'm not invested in it like that anymore. Okay? I'm more invested in it. I'm I'm more invested in it to to Star Wars now. So it's like a lot of my I I just don't I don't you know what I'm saying?
Frank Dee:I don't like, they come to town now. Yeah. I'll go if I wanna go, but I don't I'm not making my way to say, damn. I gotta go to AW Dynamite this time around. I don't do it anymore.
Frank Dee:I I didn't go anywhere here last time. That's how it is for me now. I'm just I'm not I'm not interested. There's people at at at work that wanna talk to me about wrestling. Sure.
Frank Dee:You can talk to me about wrestling if it's the old shit. Yeah, I'll talk to you about it all day. But don't ask me anything about what's going on in AEW right now because I can't even tell you unless I go on YouTube, and I'm not gonna do it.
Blak Makk:But To me, I'm the opposite.
Frank Dee:Person is Swerve. Swerve and Prince Nana. Those are my favorite people. And then, of course, Samoa Joe. You know?
Frank Dee:And then I got my my selection for you, Ward Rose, and and then Powerhouse Hobbs, and Jake Saint Roberts, and Lance. Well, you know, people like them. You know, I'm a I'm a big Tony Chavani fan as well, Jim Ross, you know, Taz. You know? But the rest of them, you know?
Frank Dee:Yeah.
Blak Makk:Yeah. But that's but that's what I'm saying. Like, they they are trying to get back to where they were and and make shit fresh again, but they got work, man. They really do got work. And Tony needs to not engage in shit like he's doing with Eric Bischoff.
Blak Makk:He really does. Like, just leave the leave the leave that petty shit alone and get to your company because you were doing that. Like, the the the set changes that they went through, they really have taken steps to upgrade their product. They really have. But it's just when you get to doing stuff like feuding with Eric Bischoff and tweeting crazy shit at odd hours of the night.
Blak Makk:Like, that turns people off, man. Stop. It really does turn turn fans off.
Frank Dee:Why would
Blak Makk:I wanna to why would I wanna tune in to your product when I know you're talking to people like that?
Frank Dee:Yeah. I did. That's and that that's my whole point. That's that's why I think it pissed me off the most is because it was listen. Eric Bischoff has the right to say whatever he wants to say on his podcast about AEW.
Frank Dee:No different than any other podcast out there. But as the fan. On any fan. Exactly. But as the owner of a company, you have to learn how to take the criticism.
Frank Dee:Vince McMahon took it for years. He took it and did acknowledge it, and Vince did whatever Vince wanted to do. That's just what it was.
Blak Makk:Right.
Frank Dee:You know? I mean, how much how much shit did Eric Bischoff take? You can see you can see Bischoff out there publicly knocking motherfuckers. He didn't do it. He would knock competition.
Frank Dee:He went knock the competition is what he would knock. Right. But he never he never went after anybody. You never heard Bishaw out there, you know, doing anything like that.
Blak Makk:That's true.
Frank Dee:That's that's that's that's what I'm getting at here. It's like you as a as an owner, you have a certain responsibility. You if you're if you're underlings say say say if say if if if somebody says something, and and and I'll say, you know, Tony, I don't like what this guy said. I'm gonna go out there and tweet his ass. Okay.
Frank Dee:Well, whatever. That's me doing it. That's not the owner doing it. That's me
Blak Makk:doing it.
Frank Dee:But I ain't the owner. Right. But that's the thing that bothered me about it. It was like, dude, you're the owner of a company here that's supposed to be number 2 to the WWF, and you are doing this type of amateur shit. Like, come on, man.
Frank Dee:There's a man. There's there's
Blak Makk:indie companies. Patty. There there there's
Frank Dee:there there's indie companies out here. You know? That should play wrestling. Yep. You know?
Blak Makk:And that's the thing, though. Like They
Frank Dee:don't do shit like that.
Blak Makk:Yeah. You you're supposed to be you're supposed to be, like, the beacon for the up and comer, bro. Like, don't don't do that shit because you're opening up the door. And, again, you won't always be you won't always be that guy. You're not gonna always be that guy.
Blak Makk:And then you're setting the example for somebody else. Like, what if there's another company coming around and they feel like they could talk shit about AEW to get ahead? You open the door for that shit. So who I I don't know, man. It's like, I'd rather you just give me good entertainment and shut the fuck up.
Frank Dee:Yeah. That's kinda like yeah. I mean, what what's the what what did Bitchaw say before? Shut up and wrestle.
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:That's all you can do, man. Shut up and wrestle. And now you're giving Bishop more ammunition to to fight, and he
Blak Makk:That's gonna be filthy work, bro, because you're always looking at your numbers. Like
Frank Dee:Oh, no. He's not no. He had a guy that was gonna come on there last night, but it it was they were having some technical difficulties. But this guy was gonna specifically look at AW's YouTube numbers and how they have declined over time. And this guy specifically focuses on YouTube.
Frank Dee:So, yeah. I'd love for Bishop. I I think he may have had them on before, but I'd love for him to come on.
Blak Makk:That's gonna be nasty work, bro. Yeah.
Frank Dee:I love that. I love some dish off to have, Brandon Thurston come on here. I think he's had Brandon Thurston on before. But I love No.
Blak Makk:I know I know he gets his numbers from. Everybody gets their numbers from Brandon.
Frank Dee:Of course. And that's that's what I like to pay attention to. Once again, like, we talked about on on the show previously on no gimmicks. I like to look at the numbers because I like to look at those segments. And that's what as as a promoter, that's what I'm gonna look at.
Frank Dee:Like, okay. So did they not like the story we're telling here with this here? Did they not like these wrestlers? Switch out those segments. That's what I would do.
Frank Dee:You need to really relegate what you're gonna put on Rampage, what you're gonna put on collision, what you're gonna put on Dynamite.
Blak Makk:They don't do that at all.
Frank Dee:No. I'm a tell you another thing to do. I'm a I'm a tell you another thing that happened too that that kinda hurt AEW a little bit too is when they ended dark and dark.
Blak Makk:Yeah. But I think with that new media deal, they had to.
Frank Dee:I mean
Blak Makk:Which it it hurt it hurt them and it hurt the indie talent.
Frank Dee:Yeah.
Blak Makk:Which that was another good thing about AEW. They featured a lot of indie talent. And dark and dark elevation was the platform for a lot of people to showcase the indie talent and possibly get a lot of people got signed off of dark and dark elevation.
Frank Dee:Yeah. We got a lot of Texas wrestlers that got signed off of that. So Yep. Yeah. But I don't know, man.
Frank Dee:Hopefully, in the future, Tony Khan can make better decisions and not, but he's not going to. He he's gonna keep doing what he's doing. So
Blak Makk:Like, really? Here's what I want out of the next media deal. Get rid of Rampage. Put ROH on Fridays. Give me dynamite and collision as 2 different shows and give me the ROH show on television on Friday.
Blak Makk:I could care less about Rampage.
Frank Dee:Yeah. Nobody watches this shit.
Blak Makk:I could care less about it. I heard it's a good show. I don't even watch Rampage. That's saying something. I don't even I don't even waste my time with Rampage.
Blak Makk:Get rid of it. I'm more invested in ROH. So give me ROH. Actually, ROH is probably their best show. Just give me what you're giving me on on the ROH app on television, and I'm set.
Blak Makk:Because let me tell you something. Athena is doing God's work on on fucking RH. She is she is killing it. She is carrying that show. She is carrying that company on her back.
Frank Dee:You know what's funny? Wouldn't it wouldn't it have been crazy if they would have had AEW Dynamite, AEW Rampage, and on Saturdays, it would have been ROH collision?
Blak Makk:There you go. Yeah.
Frank Dee:The what ifs that I could do on w 2 k 24.
Blak Makk:Oh, man. Final shots, man. What you got?
Frank Dee:Final shots is this. The PG era is not ending in WWE. I know people are thinking that, but it's not ending. Okay? We shall see what happens when we go to Netflix.
Frank Dee:Okay? But other than that, it's not ending, people. Alright? So just, you know, enjoy this ride that The Rock is taking you on.
Blak Makk:Damn it.
Frank Dee:That's all I got to say about that, mate. I'm not gonna I'm I'm not gonna because, you know, because it's it's Friday morning here, I'm not gonna say anything about, you know, help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered. Oh, well, I guess I just said it. So You
Blak Makk:just did. You just
Frank Dee:did. Yeah. Whatever.
Blak Makk:But, anyway, we are a week out from WrestleMania. I'm gonna do I'm gonna do myself and everyone a solid. I'm gonna ramp up the the, the shows here for the week. Probably try to do a show a day next week, leading it leading us into WrestleMania. Just, you know, previewing what we got coming on.
Blak Makk:WrestleMania day 1, day 2. We have a lot a lot of wrestling. We got ROH, Supercard of Honor. There's GCW show. There's mania night 1, night 2, NXT stand and deliver.
Blak Makk:There's a lot to cover next week. So I will try to be on here daily next week to ramp up the coverage into WrestleMania. Also, I will be in the UFL. I will be doing the UFL kickoff tomorrow at 12 central here in Arlington. There's a good chance Dwayne The Rock Johnson will be in attendance because it is the, championship game.
Blak Makk:Not the championship. It is the champions of each conferences. They're gonna be facing off tomorrow. So kickoff of the UFL, and I will be there as a press guest. So, hopefully, I will be able to question mister Johnson if he's in attendance, but let you know how that goes.
Blak Makk:Very excited for that. But we got a lot coming. And, May 24th through 26th, myself and Frank d will be at GalaxyCon possibly in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. So lot of stuff happening. A lot of stuff.
Frank Dee:And in people, if you're wondering exactly how it is that we're getting this done, I'll tell you how it's happening. I don't fucking know.
Blak Makk:So we got a question. What's the UFL? The UFL what's up, Tay, by the way? The UFL is the, the new league that it's a spring football league created by Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Well, not created by Dwayne The Rock Johnson.
Blak Makk:It was originally created by Vince McMahon. Dwayne The Rock Johnson and his wife bought the league, and they are now merging the XFL, which is the league that they bought with the USFL, which is an old football league that they revived for spring and gives players a chance to go to the NFL. Those leagues are now combined and called the United Football League. And, we were lucky enough to be, accepted as press medias of the member, member medias of the members of the media, and we will be there as press tomorrow. So it's awesome.
Blak Makk:Awesome.
Frank Dee:Yeah. That's that's very good. Sir, I have to ask you a question now
Blak Makk:Yeah.
Frank Dee:For you to get this kind of person. I mean, you got you got this going on. You got the obviously kind going on. I just wanna know when did you join the Illuminati?
Blak Makk:I didn't join the Illuminati, man. Come on. It's, it's it's work that is starting to pay off, man, and that's that's a testament to you. That's a testament to to me. That's a testament to the FPN, man.
Frank Dee:What people don't understand about this, honestly, and this is this is gonna be like an issue lesson for you. People don't understand this. Me and Black have been playing this ever since we were in Rosemont, California.
Blak Makk:This is true.
Frank Dee:Long time ago.
Blak Makk:Long time ago.
Frank Dee:Long time ago. We we we were playing all this stuff that that we're doing right now. It it took a while to get there. Yep. It took a while, you know, wrestling with our thoughts, and then that morphed into no gimmicks and, you know, ESPN, all the shit that came after that.
Frank Dee:That's where it all came from. Yep. I mean, just the the the the wrestling with our thoughts podcast actually predates the Smoke Pit podcast. We were the first. Yeah.
Frank Dee:We were the first.
Blak Makk:It actually does. So yeah.
Frank Dee:History lesson.
Blak Makk:A long it's been a long time coming, man.
Frank Dee:Absolutely.
Blak Makk:It's finally starting to roll and and roll in a positive direction. So Yeah. I'm just thankful. I'm thankful that, like, 1, we stuck around. 2, we we worked ourselves into this position.
Blak Makk:And 3, I'm just I'm ready and excited because you know what we talk about, man. And, seeing it happen is fucking dope, but I'm just like, let's kick the doors down. Let's Yeah.
Frank Dee:Yeah. Let's go fucking fucking go and take over. Yeah. And I and I and I will say, you know, because, like I said before, there's people out there who say, oh, you know, the Mark podcast, whatever. I think consistently, the no gimmicks podcast is one of the best professional wrestling podcasts out there, bar none, period.
Frank Dee:Okay? Because you get so much variety on this show. Not only do we talk about wrestling, and then we talk about Star Wars. We talk horror. We talk everything about here.
Frank Dee:We just shoot the shit. It's what we do here. That's why we come out here and and we we are the best. You know? And we want our brand to grow.
Frank Dee:And the way to help our brand grow and to support your boys, $3 a month on Patreon. That's my podcast network. That's how you help us grow, and, hopefully, you share this show. So when you listen here at No Gammix, you can listen to us on Spotify. And everywhere you get your podcast, spread the word out there.
Frank Dee:Also, you can join the podcast fan group on Facebook. Okay? But I'm a be looking here because I see some people out there be trying to spam the group with your your bullshit profiles and trying to trying to send porn.
Blak Makk:We're already on it.
Frank Dee:We're we're already on you, so that shit ain't gonna crack over here.
Blak Makk:We already got you, bro.
Frank Dee:Yeah. But other than that, I think that's probably it, partner.
Blak Makk:Alright, man. So you got nothing? I got nothing. Thank you guys for tuning in to this bonus episode here on the no gimmicks podcast on the DFPN. Until next time.
Blak Makk:You guys enjoy whatever the fuck you wanna enjoy, but come back because we're gonna enjoy that shit some more. Peace.