Charles Richardson | Matt Connarton Unleashed

Welcome to the Matt Connerton Show

0:00 Speaker 1: From the studios of WMNH 95.3 FM in glorious Manchester, New Hampshire. And of course, you can stream the show from anywhere. Go to my website, mattconnerton.com slash unleashed for all your live streaming options, social media links, contact info, show archives, et cetera, et cetera. Today is a Saturday, September 9th. Oh, I'm sorry, September 5th. The month is nine.

Charles Richardson Joins the Show

0:21 Speaker 1: The day is five. september 5 2026 happy labor day weekend everybody and let me bring this up because we have joining us via restream all the way from the great state of florida the host of the charles richardson show charles richardson is here hello charles.

0:38 Speaker 2: Good morning i like to be known as the artist as shinsuke nakamura would say the artist of strong style i am the artist of trust style i'm always the one closing the show and just like jeff ross would say on his uh on his roasts Coffee is for closers.

0:56 Speaker 1: Ah, yes. Yes. Well, welcome, Charles. So a little bit of a backstory. We were supposed to, for listeners who heard the top of the show today, I did explain that. I was supposed to be on your show Wednesday night, Wednesday night at nine. And I, I did, I did. And I hate to do that. I pride myself on being dependable and reliable and I hate canceling. But I, I was very ill. Well, I shouldn't say I was very ill. I mean, I had a really bad cold. It makes us, I didn't have the bubonic plague or something, but, but I was feeling pretty terrible and I was skeptical about, that I was going to even still be conscious by 9 p.m. that night.

1:39 Speaker 1: And I was right. I was definitely in bed by 9. I just felt awful all day. So I had to cancel on you, and I felt badly about that. But then I had a cancellation today, so here we are.

1:54 Speaker 2: Don't worry about it. You and I are boys. You and I, we've gone back, and we fought wars together, so let's put it that way. Um, so it's all good. It's all good. Don't worry about it. The show had to go on and, uh, we made it work. Don't

Catching Up on Recent Shows

2:11 Speaker 2: worry about it.

2:11 Speaker 1: What did, what did you do in my absence? I'm curious.

2:14 Speaker 2: Now we went back to the regular show material. We started covering stories and different things, which, you know, you know, I had, uh, of course, Alyssa, who's always on and, uh, And Ashley, so we all went ahead and we had a good discussion. We actually almost forgot about the time and didn't get Alyssa's good news in like we normally do at the end of the show. So we had to cut it short. But, yeah, it went on without a hitch, man. I mean, not to say it wouldn't have been a pleasure talking something other than current events.

2:46 Speaker 2: I am dying now. not talking about sports on my show, but yeah, uh, I am, I am going to be bringing back the touchdown crew for the football season. So, um, that is, uh, I'm working that out as we speak, to be honest with you. So, uh, I'll be at least, uh, able to get that aggression out eventually.

3:08 Speaker 1: Well, there you go. Uh, we, we should tell people too,

The Charles Richardson Show Details

3:11 Speaker 1: and obviously we'll circle back to it later, but where can people hear and, or watch the Charles Richardson show?

3:18 Speaker 2: Facebook and YouTube is the main two sources, especially if you want to see my fat behind on the video. Facebook, YouTube, just search The Charles Richardson Show. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. It would be great. I'd love to get to 100 subscribers. I know it sounds very minuscule, but still. Would love to get to 100 subscribers. And, of course, sharing the show would be great. But as a lot of people already know, you and I, We're on DARE Media Group in Australia, so I'm the morning show over there on Wednesday.

3:52 Speaker 2: Actually, Thursdays. Excellent. Yeah, so Thursday at 8 a.m. over there, Australia time. And I know you do a show there. I think it's your show here pre-recorded on Thursday, right?

4:07 Speaker 1: And I received a very nice email from General Scotty, as we'll call him.

4:15 Speaker 2: You must do really well. I don't hear from him that much. I have to reach out to him.

4:18 Speaker 1: Well, I don't hear from him that much either, but I got a very nice email from him yesterday about strengthening that, continuing to expand that relationship. So, yes, we love our Australian friends. Absolutely.

4:33 Speaker 2: We do. Yes, yes. We do. Of course, proud to be on IPM Nation, of course. Thank you.

4:37 Speaker 1: Thank you. Absolutely.

4:39 Speaker 2: Absolutely.

4:40 Speaker 1: So we are here today to speak about Sunday night's main event.

4:48 Speaker 2: Well, we got 48, 49 minutes roughly, I'm sure, minus the time that we have to exit in commercials and stuff like that. Yeah. But I have a little bit more than Sunday Night's Main Event. Sunday Night's Main Event is obviously four matches. We could probably cover that in like 10, 15 minutes.

5:03 Speaker 1: True, true.

5:04 Speaker 2: But there's a few storylines that have come up from Raw and SmackDown that I kind of want to get your take on. And it's something that's just very interesting. First, we're definitely going to get to Sunday Night's Main Event because that's obviously– the big take that Sunday. And I think we should cover that at the end.

5:23 Speaker 1: Sure.

5:24 Speaker 2: I kind of want to go over the storylines that are building up for the next main pay-per-view, which I believe is Money in the Bank. And it's really weird. WWE takes this much time between pay-per-views or premium live events. Sunday Night's Main Event's not considered a premium live event. Right. But it's built up really good. It's a strong card. Even though it's four matches, it's still a strong card. So I'm very proud of that. I first want to get,

WWE vs AEW: The New Level Debut

5:54 Speaker 2: side of WWE, what's your take on the new level in AEW?

5:59 Speaker 1: Oh, I'm glad you brought that up because Jenny and I did watch, we haven't watched every match, but we did end up watching, not live, a figured out how to get it for free.

6:11 Speaker 2: Probably a third-party website nobody wants to be touched on.

6:14 Speaker 1: I can't say anything more.

6:15 Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay.

6:17 Speaker 1: But we did go back.

6:19 Speaker 2: You know what? Just be Anthony Fauci. I plead the fifth.

6:22 Speaker 1: We did go back and watch from Wembley Stadium, of course, AEW All In. Yeah, we saw the debut of the new level. I know you're not really an AEW guy, but I just have to ask you, have you seen Will Ospreay versus Kenny Omega? Have you seen that match?

6:38 Speaker 2: I have not. I'll be honest with you.

6:40 Speaker 1: You got to see it, dude. It's incredible. It's so good.

6:44 Speaker 2: I'm not saying there's not talent over there. Oh, my God.

6:47 Speaker 1: It's so good.

6:49 Speaker 2: I'm not saying there's not talent over there. I'm just saying, like, from what I see, when I see promos being cut over there, it does not look organic. That's just me. Again, you probably have a different opinion. It just does not look organic. It looks like it's all forced, like, It kind of looks like a presidential debate, to be honest with you. One person has a minute, 45 seconds. Then they cut to another one, 45 seconds. There's no interruption. There's no banter in between. It's like a debate.

7:24 Speaker 1: If I send you a link, will you at least watch Osprey versus Omega?

7:28 Speaker 2: As long as it's not porn, I'm fine.

7:31 Speaker 1: Listen, Will Ospreay's entrance alone is worth seeing. It's so good. But yes, we did watch The New Level, their big debut in AEW. Very cool. There's reporting now that... I think the latest thing I saw was that they were asked... When New Day was leaving WWE, they were asked to take a 56% pay cut, to be very precise. 56%. And they said no, and they knew their worth, and I have no idea what Tony Khan is paying them. Tony Khan doesn't tell us that, obviously, but I assume it's more than what they were getting.

8:08 Speaker 1: And they'll have a lighter schedule, inevitably, in AEW.

8:13 Speaker 2: See, the problem I have with that is, number one, I'm happy for Kofi and Xavier, Austin Creed, excuse me. I have full respect for them, and I'm happy that they're wrestling again. I know they were done dirty. But you know what? That was done dirty with TKO with everybody. Everybody from top to bottom was asked to take a 50%. I think with the exclusion.

8:37 Speaker 1: Of maybe people that.

8:38 Speaker 2: Are still– deep into title runs.

8:41 Speaker 1: Yeah. Not top people. They certainly didn't go to CM Punk and say, Hey, we want to cut your pay in half. You know what I mean?

8:46 Speaker 2: Yeah. Um, but, but they, they did everybody dirty. And here's the problem I have with how they're, they're represented over there in the EW. You mean to tell me that AEW is tag team division is so bad. Well, maybe not so bad, but just so desperate for, for somebody to hold the title. that not one of their organic ones can hold it. They have to have new level. Take day numero uno.

9:13 Speaker 1: Yeah, but it wasn't the tag team title that they won. It was the trios title.

9:16 Speaker 2: Oh, the trios.

9:16 Speaker 1: Along with Swerve Strickland, because the tag team champs are still Adam Copeland and Christian Cage. Yeah, but I thought it was a good way to bring them in strong. It was fun. I didn't like the match itself. I didn't like this whole trios thing. thing that they're doing. It's, I'm not into it. The match itself, I didn't think was great, but, um, but it was cool to see them, you know, it was kind of the worst kept secret, right? I mean, I think everybody knew they were most likely going to be debuting at all in, uh, but, uh, but I liked it.

9:46 Speaker 1: I liked the debut. I'm very happy for them. And I think they will have more because obviously there are two very creative people, uh, Austin Creed and, uh, which I believe is his real name, which is why he's using that. And, Kofi, for anyone who's not clear, the reason Kofi Kingston is able to still use the name Kofi is because that is his real first name. Um, obviously he can't be Kofi Kingston, but he can just be Kofi and that, that works. Um, so I, I, uh, they're, they're both very creative. So, because I've always had the impression that everybody has a lot more creative freedom in AEW than they do in WWE.

10:21 Speaker 1: And I think with those two guys, I think it makes sense to, you know, I'm, I'm sure they'll, they'll have a lot of running room in terms of what they do creatively. And I'm excited to see what they do. And I think the fans are, and I, I'm sure they are. I'm sure they're very excited.

10:35 Speaker 2: You know, one of the closing interviews I saw, too, is that, well, I like how Austin was the one going ahead and making all the comments and Kofi just agreeing with him. They say it's a complete 180 over there at AEW with the creative and everything. But you know what the problem is, though? There's other people that said the same thing, one of them being Cody. And where is he at now? I'm just saying it's like sometimes the luster doesn't last. CM Punk can attest to that.

11:07 Speaker 1: The grass isn't always greener. Yeah.

11:09 Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. So you know what? They're probably the honeymoon period has started. Yeah. And that's great. And again, I'm glad to see that they found a place to wrestle because again, I do believe they got dirty. They did dirty with TKO. So I'm glad they were able to find, you know, number one, money, get a paycheck. And number two, showcase their talents with other likewise talent, because let's be honest, even though I don't like it really too much, AEW is pretty much tier one right there level with WWE.

11:42 Speaker 1: Oh, listen, I can tell you. I mean, when Jenny and I watched all in, it's like, this is, yeah, this is just as good. I mean, it's, it's very much on par with WWE.

11:57 Speaker 2: The wrestling. Yes, I agree. I'm a storyline guy and a promo guy. Yeah. I just don't see it. But the wrestling, the athleticism over there is just great. I mean, sometimes even more better than WWE sometimes.

12:15 Speaker 1: Yeah, we also watched, from All In, we also watched Nigel McGuinness versus Jon Moxley, which was very good. Nigel McGuinness is interesting. Dude's 50 years old, but he's... I made this comment to Jenny. I said, he's ageless, but it's not that he even necessarily looks young for his age. He just doesn't look like any age. He's just Nigel McGuinness.

12:37 Speaker 2: He's just there.

12:38 Speaker 1: He just always looks the same, but he's incredible. I mean, he's incredible in the ring. He's an incredible commentator. I love Nigel McGuinness, but he really is ageless.

12:49 Speaker 2: You know, Mox isn't that young either. He's turning 41 in December.

12:52 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.

12:54 Speaker 2: So he's getting up there in years, too.

12:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, but that isn't even really, I mean, in 2026, I mean, Eric and I have talked about this, Eric Pilcher, like when we were kids, you know, it's like these guys would get to be 40 and it's like, oh, they're so old, they got to hurry up and retire. But today it's like when they're in their 40s, it's like early 40s, it's like when they're considered in their prime, the primes of their careers, you know, it's really, it's interesting how that's all shifted. But, you know, they take better care of themselves now, so they stay younger longer and, you know, they're not They used to party like rock stars.

13:29 Speaker 1: That's why we used to see a lot of wrestlers die when they were in their mid-40s, and that doesn't really happen anymore.

13:36 Speaker 2: Much better care, to be honest with you.

13:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. But almost all the main eventers are 40-plus now in both companies.

13:44 Speaker 2: They put in their years, definitely.

13:46 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

OTM and WWE's Tag Team Division

13:48 Speaker 2: Taking the reverse step, AEW to WWE, Powerhouse Hobbs, a.k.a. now Royce Keyes, New faction, OTM.

13:57 Speaker 1: I love it.

13:57 Speaker 2: Apparently, yeah, I'm like saying, you know, they have this beast and they're not doing anything. What's going on? And all of a sudden, wham. Now, all of a sudden, it's Crime Time 2.0 with OTM.

14:13 Speaker 1: Oh, I would not use that analogy. Crime Time was a comedy act. I mean.

14:20 Speaker 2: But I'm saying you had a team that was causing all sorts of hell. Yeah. And that's what they're doing.

14:26 Speaker 1: Yeah.

14:27 Speaker 2: They're raising hell. I mean, they are literally the bad guys. They're heels.

14:32 Speaker 1: Yeah.

14:33 Speaker 2: Even though they're making the bloodline look faces. I'm kind of curious how that goes.

14:40 Speaker 1: Well, I think that's kind of why. I think that's kind of part of the motivation, though, for why they've engineered that storyline the way they have. Because really, the bloodline are baby faces. I mean, they look like heels when they're fighting the definite clear babyfaces, Solo Sakoa and LA Knight and stuff. But the bloodline, technically, I mean, they're still considered babyfaces, right? But they're sort of.

15:09 Speaker 2: I don't know.

15:10 Speaker 1: It kind of reinforces if they're... Because the thing is, and we've talked about this, Charles, and I like it personally that these characters are presented in a much more complex way than they used to be.

15:23 Speaker 2: They're in the gray area, right? Yeah.

15:26 Speaker 1: So you can have baby faces that sometimes maybe do the wrong thing or have bad motives. You can have heels that occasionally have a moment of conscience or maybe you can sympathize with them. So it's more complex than it used to be. But I think that bringing in OTM the way that they did and making it clear these are heels, I think helps kind of reinforce that, that yeah, the bloodline, they're baby faces, even though they don't always act like it. you know, but there's, but there are still baby faces.

15:57 Speaker 1: I mean, the crowd pops for Roman. He plays to the crowd. Jey Uso still does the yeeting. I mean, there, there's still baby faces, even though they're jerks, you know what I mean? But, um, but I like it. I like the OTM thing.

16:08 Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm kind of curious to where they go. I mean, they haven't had a lot of screen time yet, so I'm kind of seeing like where, where would they go if, if they have enough camera time? So I'm hoping to see a lot more of them, um, coming Monday. They're going to be on raw. So, Hopefully Monday there will be a little bit more speaking, some promos cut, and more chaos. I'm loving the chaos. I really like that.

16:34 Speaker 1: I haven't seen a lot of OTM because I haven't been watching– we haven't been watching NXT yet. Um, but, uh, but my, yeah, yeah. Uh, which is funny cause 10 years ago I was only watching NXT. I wouldn't even watch anything on the main roster. I only watched NXT. I'd become an NXT snob, but, um, now I don't have time to watch NXT, but, um, but yeah, I, so I don't know a lot about these guys, but obviously they're, uh, they've made a big impression on the main roster already.

17:04 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Um, another new, uh, tag team we got shinsuke's found a partner yes but uh bakai i think it is how do you pronounce.

17:18 Speaker 1: I am not i am not clear on how to pronounce his name.

17:21 Speaker 2: But well no no coyote is as his partner but the tag team name that they're using yeah buga.

17:30 Speaker 1: But i i don't know i don't know either yeah.

17:33 Speaker 2: But But apparently the announcers had a say. And, of course, taking the bumps from Kit Wilson and The Miz, obviously, that was just a perfect opportunity for those two to put over Backeye. So I'm kind of curious. Again, and that was one thing that we talked about last time is WWE's tag team is weak. Their tag team division is weak. So this hopefully pumps it up a little bit. I really hope that it does. And hopefully OTM does the same thing. They'll go ahead and pair off or whatever. Even though they're a threesome, same thing with Fatal Influence, but they have the tag team belts.

18:11 Speaker 2: So hopefully they do the same thing with that. KO goes ahead and returns.

KO's Quick Rise to Contender Status

18:16 Speaker 2: I know last time we talked, he's been back for a little bit, but last time we talked, he wasn't there. But KO makes his return and shot right up to championship contender. So that was the right move? You think putting KO... straight to the top even past the complaining sammy zane uh which i want to talk about that i mean he is nuts but i love him oh me too do you think that was the right move to put him straight to the top.

18:43 Speaker 1: I do i do i i thought it made sense that i like what they did with him and cm punk i really like that dynamic um it played off a real life situation and some real-life animosity, which I thought was good. No, I think it was good, and it did give Sami Zayn another thing to complain about, which I think is helpful in furthering— I think it furthers everyone's storylines in that sense. So, no, I like it.

19:10 Speaker 2: The last real good guy is making so many— You know, it's funny. It's so funny.

19:16 Speaker 1: Oh, it's great. I think we might have talked about this before, but I remember talking about this with Eric and Austin on Tough Bumps because they were both very much like, oh, Sami Zayn, he's got to be a baby face. He's like the ultimate good guy. And it's like, yeah, but he's better. He's just more interesting now. and more entertaining as a heel. And I love this, you know, the last good guy thing, it reminds me a little bit of Brett Hart when Brett was, um, feuding with Steve Austin and Brett's whole vibe was, you know, I'm the real good guy here.

19:53 Speaker 1: He's the real villain, but the American fans were, were rejecting him. It's kind of got a similar vibe and I really like it. And Sammy Zane is, Sammy Zane is just incredible, uh, playing that, that dynamic of his character. And I'm really enjoying this, uh, iteration of Sammy Zane.

20:10 Speaker 2: I like the fact that they have him written in as he is taking over everything. Like he wants justice and nobody gets theirs until he gets his. Yeah. I like that. So every opportunity that there's a number one contender or even a met the match, like with Gargano, we'll get to Johnny in a minute. Apparently he finally woke up from his coma.

20:32 Speaker 1: Yes.

20:33 Speaker 2: So it's like every chance that he gets, he's interfering with the match. He's doing everything. And, Now after Friday Night Smackdown, apparently that's paid off. CM Punk's facing him next week. Yeah. So it pays off to be the good guy, but I guarantee you it ain't going to be clean. I guarantee you Gunther and Balor and KO, they're all going to have out for him.

20:59 Speaker 1: Right.

20:59 Speaker 2: It's not going to be clean. Right. As a matter of fact, I really hope they make it a– No disqualification. I really hope they do that. That'd be great. Chelsea Green,

Chelsea Green's Championship Dilemma

21:13 Speaker 2: as much as we love her, much as we saw her win the championship, suffered an orbital fracture. Apparently, it hasn't been that severe to cut her out of the championship title. At least I hope not. I hope they're not going ahead and cutting corners. But apparently, it's not as bad as they're making it out to be. She's able to wrestle with a mask.

21:34 Speaker 1: Yeah, she's doing the Undertaker gimmick where she's just wrestling with a mask.

21:39 Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm wondering, and this is kind of diving deep, do you think she really is seriously injured and WWE is playing it safe? Or is it really not that severe, do you think?

21:55 Speaker 1: It must not be that severe or they wouldn't let her. I mean, Jenny was commenting, you know, the risk, I mean, assuming her injury is legitimate as described, the risk is that if she takes a bad bump on that broken orbital bone, a piece of bone could end up literally lodged in her brain. That's how risky it is, which makes me think that it's not... quite what, what they've presented. That being said, I don't like the way, I think they've made a mess of this. Um, I don't like the way, you know, I mean, this is her big moment as a, you know, finally as a baby face and, and they, I feel like they're screwing it up.

22:41 Speaker 1: I feel like they're just kind of like, they don't really know where they're going with it. And I have not liked it and it has not done her any favors. Um, And she's probably frustrated.

22:53 Speaker 2: I would be. Well, after 13 years and you finally go ahead and get the nod from creatives to go ahead and take the belt off the top of a ladder, you get it. And all of a sudden it's like, oh, crap, I got injured. I'm going to have to take it off. Kind of like the Finn Balor saga. He's never won a belt since he won it and had to leave it the next day for injury. And that, oh, man, I would be so heartbroken to see that happen to her. Because she did fight. She had to go through a lot. Backstory and front story.

23:25 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.

23:26 Speaker 1: I mean, that's hard enough. But then, like I said, the way they're just kind of flailing with it, it doesn't seem like they have a clear direction of where they're going with her from a storyline perspective. That just compounds it. You know, the injury is bad enough, but I don't know what they're doing.

23:41 Speaker 2: Well, I think they're going to go ahead and at least have somebody from the Irresistible Forces take her on. It sounds like it's going to be Nia Jax since she was put into a match with Tiffany. And that's probably who they're going to probably point to. I think it was, you know, Nick Aldis giving that 30-day clause. Like, you got 30 days to either get healed or figure it out. Otherwise, we're going to take it out. He was about ready to say that. He had somebody posing as a doctor going ahead and saying it.

24:12 Speaker 2: You know, it's not a doctor. It's not a doctor. It's some fan they pulled off. Hey, want to give you 50 bucks? Put on a shirt and come out here and talk.

24:20 Speaker 1: It's not an actor. That's for sure.

24:22 Speaker 2: Yeah.

24:23 Speaker 1: You sure it's not a doctor? Because it's definitely not a professional actor.

24:25 Speaker 2: That ain't a doctor. I mean, who knows? It could be. Yeah. But, you know, as long as she keeps the face mask on, she's good. Now they're saying, oh, the face mask can be ripped off so easily. Isn't that approved? So it's like, you're right. You're right. It is a mess. I just hope they have a mop and broom really quick to clean it up and get her back competing again. You know, I think that's the whole point. I think when she gets back to competing again, mask or no mask, I think it'll be a lot cleaner.

24:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, I hope so.

24:59 Speaker 2: Yeah. By the way, Nikki Bell needs to go away.

Nikki Bella's Current Storyline

25:02 Speaker 2: Paige buried her. I grew up with hustle, loyalty, respect. You only slept with him.

25:10 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.

25:11 Speaker 2: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, that was awesome. She just needs to go away. Nikki needs to go away. So, Paige, I really think they're doing her poor. I think they're booking her so cheap. It's like really putting her with Hall of Famers. I don't like it. She needs to be. She needs to be up there battling for a belt. She needs to be battling like KO is. Singles Bell. It was great that she had the tag team. That's great.

25:36 Speaker 1: But still, she needs the singles. I mean, she hasn't been back that long. She's also still very young, too. I mean, she's only in her early 30s, so she's got a lot of... It's not like she's got to hurry up because she's going to be retiring soon. You know what I mean? I'm not worried, but I'm kind of... As far as the Bellas go, I don't have the sort of antipathy toward them that maybe you do, but I'm kind of indifferent Like, their promos are terrible.

26:03 Speaker 2: Their promos are terrible. Their storyline is terrible. I mean, again, they're terrible. They need to go away. Would you agree on that? Did you?

26:13 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I don't know. I don't, I don't, I don't know. I'm indifferent. I don't care if they go away.

26:16 Speaker 2: You don't want to be the bad guy. You don't want to be the bad guy, Matt. I get it. I'm the last real good guy.

26:22 Speaker 1: I'm the last real good guy. No, I just, I just kind of don't care if they, what they do. I'm just, I'm just sort of indifferent. But did you know they can't even be the Bellas when they're not on WWE television? They can't, they can't use the Bella's name. Did you know that?

26:35 Speaker 2: I did not know that, no.

26:36 Speaker 1: That's probably why they're back, yeah. Because their real last name is Garcia, so they can be Bree and Bella Garcia. They cannot be Bree and Nikki Bella.

26:44 Speaker 2: They can be Nikki and Bree. They can still be that.

26:48 Speaker 1: Right, right.

26:49 Speaker 2: Just like Kofi's being Kofi.

26:51 Speaker 1: Right, that's true.

26:52 Speaker 2: And Cody was Cody for a long time. He didn't use the roads in the AEW.

26:57 Speaker 1: That's true, yeah.

26:58 Speaker 2: He couldn't.

27:00 Speaker 1: No.

27:01 Speaker 2: I don't think that's the problem. I think they could be just as crappy at another company than they are here. That's what I think.

27:08 Speaker 1: Yeah.

27:09 Speaker 2: Johnny finally waking up from his coma.

Johnny Gargano's Return

27:12 Speaker 2: It took a title match for him to do that. So I guess he's really stuck up. But I like the match against Punk.

27:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, I did too.

27:22 Speaker 2: Up until the point of Sammy using the belt to knock out Punk, which, by the way, didn't even work. Two and three quarters of a pin. And then, you know, he hits the GTS and Johnny is like, what the heck is going on? Oh, yeah. But it's good. Oh, I'm so glad. To see Johnny back in wrestling. I don't even know what happened to him. I don't even know why they paid him money to be on TV, passed out like he's in a coma. I don't understand that.

27:50 Speaker 1: I liked it. I thought it was funny, but it just went on so long.

27:55 Speaker 2: It did. I'm not sure. I mean, was he legitimately injured or just because he lost his tag team partner? It's like they're going to put him in a depression.

28:03 Speaker 1: I don't know. It's easy to forget, though. He did come out of it at one point already. He came out of it to go wrestle a match in NXT, actually. And then he just went right back to being catatonic, and everyone sort of forgot about it.

28:21 Speaker 2: Yeah.

28:22 Speaker 1: No, but I liked it. I really liked the match with Punk, but I'm a big Johnny Gargano fan anyway. You know who hates him, who really despises him, and I don't get it, is Jim Cornette. Cornette hates Johnny Gargano, and I don't understand why.

28:37 Speaker 2: Jim Cornette can pounce sand. He hates a lot of things.

28:43 Speaker 1: He does. I like Jim Cornette. I think he's entertaining, but I disagree with him very much on some things. But he hates Johnny Gargano. But I'm a big fan, and I knew the match would be good, and it was. I mean, it delivered. It's too bad it got interrupted, but I really like the match.

29:01 Speaker 2: Now it's time to put creative behind them Figure out what they want to do. Maybe put him in a couple of number one contender matches and see what's going on. Or, heck, I wouldn't even be sorry to say that Johnny goes ahead and joins forces with everybody else and gang up on Sammy. Or, ooh, he joins Sammy.

29:23 Speaker 1: See, I like that. I like that idea, because I like Johnny Gargano as a heel. He's a great babyface, too, but he's kind of a great babyface in the same way that Sammy's a great babyface, in that you can get behind him and he seems like a really genuine good guy, but... just like Sammy, I think he's more entertaining as a heel. I love heel Sammy Gargano all day long.

29:47 Speaker 2: It does make sense because Sammy was over here like, hey, congratulations, go get him. I got your back, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, man, that just makes too much sense to shy away from him. Cause Sammy's already got the numbers against him. He's, he has made so many enemies.

30:05 Speaker 1: Yep.

30:05 Speaker 2: Johnny can go ahead and help out with that.

30:08 Speaker 1: And it keeps Candace Larea heel. Cause she's definitely better as a heel.

30:12 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah. Uh, what else do I have before we get to Sunday? Oh yeah. Yeah. Penta. He is the one that won the, uh, number one contender, uh, that the luchador title. So he is going to be facing Roman, uh, in Mexico city for the title. finally some new blood going up against Roman, even though we know Roman's going to win. Yeah. I mean, I don't think they're going to take the belt off him, but finally somebody new to go ahead and challenge Roman. And hopefully after this mess is all done with, we finally get LA night getting in the, in the ring with Roman and, and doing something.

30:51 Speaker 2: Cause time is running out for LA. Yeah.

30:54 Speaker 1: What is he?

30:54 Speaker 2: What is he? 40, 43.

30:55 Speaker 1: I think now.

30:58 Speaker 2: Well, you said all the top guys are in their 40s.

31:01 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

31:04 Speaker 2: You know what? That's a good question. LA Knight is, yeah, 43. You're right. He's going to be 44 in November.

31:11 Speaker 1: Okay.

31:12 Speaker 2: So, yeah, he's getting up there in years. It's like, push him now or just go back and bring him into Max Dupree or something like that.

31:21 Speaker 1: Oh, God, no. Can't do that.

31:25 Speaker 2: Yeah. You can't go ahead and go backwards after this. He's done too well. At least cut him and let him go to AEW so he can win the title in his first night.

31:35 Speaker 1: Right.

31:36 Speaker 2: Um, but yeah, I'm kind of, I'm kind of interested to see, I know Pence is going to be a phenomenal. He's going to put up with such a great fight. The match is going to go at least 12 to 15 minutes, if not more, which is the limit usually of what Roman can do. Um, But it's definitely going to be something different that Roman hasn't faced in a while. So I'm kind of interested to see that.

31:58 Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're obviously very much behind Penta. And I like the way they got there. I like the way they got to this match. I like the whole setup with the tournament and everything. Because they did the thing where Rey Mysterio approached Roman with the idea of doing the tournament. I like the whole thing because it is something different. It's something fresh. Penta is red hot. I assumed he was going over, but I loved the match against his brother, Ray Phoenix. It was fantastic. I assumed it was going to be fantastic, and it was.

32:37 Speaker 1: It's just amazing. I really like what they're doing there.

32:43 Speaker 2: You know, and I agree. I think Penta was the best person out of the tournament. But you know what? I really, especially if you're the lead in AAA, if you're the lead in AAA, I would have pushed more people in AAA versus, you know, the hometown fan in WWE. Like, okay, you got Ray Phoenix, you got Penta. Well, let's go ahead and get some of the other guys from AAA. Let's stack the card and have most of them go forward and okay, maybe lose to Penta at the end, but at least have the guy that's the clown go ahead and move on and stuff like that.

33:22 Speaker 2: But it just felt too predictable for the tournament. I wish they would do something different where it's all AAA. If you're not wrestling in AAA, you're not in the tournament. And yes, that would suck for Penta and Ray Phoenix and whatever, but still, AAA only. That way, literally... It's one company versus the other.

33:45 Speaker 1: I get what you're saying.

33:46 Speaker 2: I would just like that. I know it probably wouldn't sell tickets.

33:52 Speaker 1: Yeah, they went the safer route.

33:56 Speaker 2: Yeah.

33:57 Speaker 1: They went the safer route.

33:59 Speaker 2: Again, as they call it, it's lazy booking. Lazy creative. I was listening to Busted Open, and that's what they're calling it. They're calling it lazy booking on the part of WWE.

34:12 Speaker 1: Do you like Busted Open?

34:15 Speaker 2: I do. Ever since they came out with the WWE Network on SiriusXM, I can never listen to it live because it's 9 o'clock to 12 Monday through Friday. So I always listen to the replays. But I do like Bully. I like his opinion on it. Mark Henry, I like his opinion on it. They even have Nick Nemeth come on a couple of episodes, and he's funny as hell. I love him. So yeah, Busted Open is a really good show. I enjoy it.

34:46 Speaker 1: Something about it turns me off. Now, I haven't listened to it lately, but I've always been kind of like when I've tried to listen to it, I just feel like the conversations they have are very sort of surface level. I feel like they're designed more... for the casual fan versus the smart fan. I feel like that show is for the, you know, for the guy who's, who says, well, I really liked that CM Punk promo the other night. I wonder what, what Bubba Ray Dudley thought of it. You know, I just, I, I, I just, I, I just felt very bored listening to it.

35:20 Speaker 1: Uh, when I, when I've tried to listen to it, I can.

35:24 Speaker 2: See what you're talking about and in regards to that, but, They also put their own spin on it. Cause you're going to realize all these guys have been in the business. They know the roots of how the business works and they do go in depth detail of They even– man, I wish I could bring up the topic, but there was one storyline, the OTM, the OTM reveal. They had like– well, you have a big guy at Royce Keys. He checks all the boxes. What are you doing putting him with this faction? He should be able to go and do it on his own.

35:59 Speaker 2: That was one of the things they were calling lazy booking. Because they should have something for him by himself. They disagreed with the whole OTM. And they were like, WWE, please tell me I'm wrong. Make me believe something different. So they were so against it. I could see their point because Royce could do it. He's the big guy. He's a good in-ring performer. He does cut good promos on his own. Sure. What's stopping it? That is creative, just dropping the ball. Okay, fine. You want to put some guys behind him?

36:36 Speaker 2: I disagree. Because of the whole thing? You disagree on him being put with OTM?

36:43 Speaker 1: No, I disagree with their take on it. I don't think it's lazy booking at all. I think it makes sense.

36:49 Speaker 2: Okay. But see, that's the thing. You have your own opinions. They have calls come on and they disagree with them, of course. But they take their– listen, just like not everybody is going to disagree with me or– excuse me, agree with me or agree with you. Right. We're not real New Yorkers. So not everybody is going to agree with us. Right. That's right.

37:10 Speaker 1: That's right. We're actually on the radio in Australia. We're not real New Yorkers.

37:17 Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah. We're actually on the radio right now.

37:22 Speaker 1: Hello? That's true.

37:24 Speaker 2: Hello?

37:24 Speaker 1: That's true.

37:25 Speaker 2: Hello? What numbers do you have? Anyway.

37:29 Speaker 1: This is all a little inside, but if you know, you know.

37:31 Speaker 2: If you know, you know. Yeah. All right. Let's get into Sunday Night's Main Event. Yeah, yeah. Four matches. Four matches. The one that I'm focusing on is a big one. Yeah. This one is so big. It's so huge. It's featuring a little guy. Little Yachty versus Baron Corbin.

38:00 Speaker 1: So do you remember?

38:01 Speaker 2: I don't even know this. I don't even know why they put this stupid match in the place to begin with.

38:07 Speaker 1: I'm curious to see where this is going. But do you remember when Little Yachty, who did he give the, he did a people's elbow on somebody once. I don't remember who it was.

38:17 Speaker 2: I don't remember who that was. I don't even remember seeing them do that.

38:19 Speaker 1: For some reason, they had him do a people's elbow on somebody. It was after he and Trick had beat somebody up. And I remember thinking there was something so awkward about Little Yachty. And I remember thinking the way that he runs the ropes, he runs exactly the same way that he talks. And I can't quite explain what I mean by that. But if you get it, you get it. But I am curious. Supposedly, he's been training for the ring. I'm curious to see where they're going with it.

38:51 Speaker 2: Yeah, so he has been in the performance. So hopefully he runs the ropes a lot better now. Or at least he's gotten used to it. So here's the stipulation. It is so dumb. But I get it. I'm assuming Yachty is training to become more than just a guy with a mic and a trick stick. Yeah. So this is a match against Baron Corbin one-on-one. There's a five-minute time limit. Five minutes. That's it. That's all you have to do. It reminds me of Spider-Man, the Tobey Maguire one. Yep. Last two minutes, and they were Macho Man.

39:29 Speaker 2: Yeah. Or whatever. Bone Crusher.

39:31 Speaker 1: Yeah.

39:32 Speaker 2: And then you get $ 5, 000 or something. Right. Five minutes. If you can last five minutes in the ring with Baron Corbin, Trick Williams will receive another chance at the U.S. title.

39:45 Speaker 1: Yeah.

39:46 Speaker 2: You know he's going to last 501. What's he going to do? He's probably going to exit the ring and run around the ring. That's what he's going to do. That's five minutes. Maybe. Exactly. Catch me if you can type of thing. I really hope this goes on first because I want to forget about it soon. Listen, I'm happy for Baron overall. I like the not lone wolf type of deal. They've changed his act. I like that he's going to take an Undertaker liking with the bike. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I like that. He's being a bad behind.

40:25 Speaker 2: I'm not sure if I can say that.

40:27 Speaker 1: You can say badass.

40:28 Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay. Badass. He's doing the badass thing. Yeah. So it's like you put in this stipulation to five minutes. Why not make it a cage match? No escaping. Five minute cage match. Oh, yeah. I would love that.

40:42 Speaker 1: Right.

40:43 Speaker 2: But you know Yachty's going to last. somehow, even with Trick distracting Baron, somehow, in the last five minutes, we're going to have to get a rematch of the U.S.

40:52 Speaker 1: Title.

40:53 Speaker 2: Which, that's the endgame. It's the predictable thing to do.

40:58 Speaker 1: See, to me, though, I'm curious. See, I don't think it's predictable because I think they're going to do something probably fun and pretty entertaining. I'm hoping. Maybe I've got my hopes up. Maybe I'm giving them too much benefit of the doubt. But I have a feeling they've got something fun planned for this. I could be wrong.

41:16 Speaker 2: I hope so. I really do. I hope it's something cool. I hope it's something that, hey, we've practiced this weeks on end, Little Yachty. We're going to have you do some type of soul crusher move or some acrobatic thing to kind of even almost defeat Baron. That would be kind of cool. I'd like to see Little Yachty going ahead and covering Baron for at least a two count. That would be great.

41:38 Speaker 1: Right.

41:40 Speaker 2: Just to kind of get one over on him.

41:42 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.

41:44 Speaker 2: Besides this match, I love the rest of the card. I love the six women tag. I love Tatum Paxley. Oh, yeah. God, what an addition to that group.

41:57 Speaker 1: Can I just say, too, she's got some of the coolest entrance music. I love her entrance music.

42:03 Speaker 2: I agree. I agree. And how Charlotte's like, oh, my God, do I have to do this again? I already did this with Alexa. I was kind of, and then I love her. Now Tatum's coming on, doing the same thing. And after last night, she went on and got the victory with, with some of Charlotte's help. And apparently they're making it closer. So this, this threesome, I wonder if they get their own faction name. I don't know, but, or maybe they just say that them, whatever, but I kind of like this. It's, um, Jade Meacham and B fab, you know, Jaden or two minions versus, uh, Charlotte, Alexa and Tatum.

42:41 Speaker 2: Um, I really want to see Jade go over. The reason why I want to see Jade go over, because we know Charlotte's strong. We know Alexa's strong. And we know Tatum can be strong. She's shown that she's got some great moves.

42:55 Speaker 1: Yeah.

42:55 Speaker 2: But Jade needs a resurgence. Jade needs a reason to not be in a tag team. Jade needs a reason to go off and try again. Because all this time you spent in the ring honing your craft, and you mean to tell me You're nothing better than a trio's tag partner. Come on now. We got to get you back in the limelight somehow. And if you're still green as you were before, got to go.

43:26 Speaker 1: I don't like it that they've never explained why B-Fab and Meechan are with her.

43:32 Speaker 2: That's... Because they couldn't write a storyline with those two. Maybe that's the lazy booking.

43:36 Speaker 1: That's an example of lazy booking. Yeah. They're enemies and then all of a sudden they're friends and they never bother to not even... And it wouldn't even be hard. That's what makes it so lazy. Some sort of a promo. I have one of them cut a promo where they talk about how, you know, we realize, you know, we came to respect Jade or whatever it is or we realize if we couldn't, you know, we couldn't beat her so might as well join her or something. They've given us nothing.

44:01 Speaker 2: Nothing. Yeah.

44:02 Speaker 1: Ever.

44:03 Speaker 2: Not even a hint. They cut promos in the back when they're being interviewed, but it's like nothing to the point of why they're with Jade. Yeah. I mean, they'll, they'll praise Jade, but that's it. Yeah. They're just, you know, kind of riding the coattails.

44:15 Speaker 1: No, right. That, that's what I think we're supposed to get from it, but they don't, they don't explain it. And the promos are terrible because it's like, they all have the same personality. So it's not even interesting. Like I, to me that like it's, it's, uh, I, I kind of zone out when, when the three of them are on screen together, it's like, it's, it's just not interesting.

44:34 Speaker 2: Yeah. But I'm, I'm interesting to see who takes the top one. I mean, If Jade wins, I get it. If they got Meech and a B-Fab doing the cover, I'm thinking, why? What are they going to do? They haven't done anything their whole career. What are they going to do?

44:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's too bad, too.

44:54 Speaker 2: Well, it is. But just some people have it and some people don't. It's really what it comes down to. I'll tell you, two people that have it is Obafemi and Braun Breaker. They have it. Oh, my. Now, Both of these, these next two matches, they've cut the best promos almost ever. Oba basically saying, I'm the one there, Big Bronny, or Orange. You're an orange, angry little man. Right. I love that. It's like a Trump thing. I love it. I never knew Oba could be funny. That's great.

45:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, he's got kind of a dry, understated sense of humor, but it's come through a little bit before, I think.

45:37 Speaker 2: And he also makes an American accent really good. I like that, Oba.

45:41 Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah.

45:43 Speaker 2: Braun doesn't back down, though. Braun does go ahead and chop back at Oba. He goes ahead and brings the real thing. Oh, I got injured. I beat myself because you couldn't beat me. What do you do? You weasel your way in. Hey, okay. I mean, I get it. That's the heel thing to say. You weasel your way in. But guess what? You would have done the same thing if Oba was the top guy and then he got hurt. So It goes both ways, really. That's the nature of the business.

46:11 Speaker 1: And I like the dynamic with Paul Heyman. And there's a little bit of mystery there. Where are they going with that? And I like the way Bron Breaker clearly resents Heyman even acknowledging Oba Femi in any way and giving him credit for anything. I like that whole dynamic. It's very interesting.

46:32 Speaker 2: I think, honestly, if I'm in the back room and creative, I'm thinking, I don't know where I'm going because I got Oba who really doesn't need any representation.

46:40 Speaker 1: Right, right.

46:41 Speaker 2: Braun Breaker, who was in a group or is in a group that I am slash not am a part of. And then I got Cody telling me or telling the world, not a prediction, it's a spoiler. What?

46:56 Speaker 1: That was interesting.

46:57 Speaker 2: Where's that coming from?

46:58 Speaker 1: Yeah, that was interesting.

46:59 Speaker 2: So that leaves more of a dynamic. But in regards to the match of Oba versus Braun, Ooh, I'm torn between these two, where I want to see Braun win just because we get a second match. Because you know that's going to happen regardless, I guess, whatever happens. But I maybe don't want to see Oba win. Maybe Braun's win comes with distraction or something like that, with division. But I see Braun winning this one, but it ain't the end. This is like a three-match series type of thing. Yeah. Yep. I agree.

47:39 Speaker 2: I agree.

47:40 Speaker 1: Yep.

47:41 Speaker 2: So the last one here, because, oh, man, we're right on time. I love it. Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton. Yeah. This dynamic has got where neither one can touch the other one or they can never attempt to have the world title again or some stuff like that. Randy's been the antagonist. I mean, Cody went ahead and did a shot, too, but only after Randy did it. Right. Randy, even last night, interrupted an interview backstage from Corey Graves, said, I want to go ahead and get in there, calling him white trash, talking about his wife.

48:21 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, talking about his wife and his mother. Yeah.

48:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody, just everybody. And Cody doesn't flinch. Yep. And when that bell rings, that's going to be his undoing. He's going to turn into an aggressive, just over-eager SOB, and Randy's going to counter.

48:47 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm very interested to see where that's going, too. That's got me intrigued. I cannot predict what's going to happen there. I will say a lot of this is very unpredictable, which is nice. Obviously as wrestling fans, we like storylines that make sense and are logical, but we also like to be surprised as long as those surprises make sense and are logical. And I think that's what we've got here. I think the creative is pretty strong.

49:17 Speaker 2: Yeah. Like I said, I liken most of the car dealing one, the Baron Yachty one, it's like, you know, you could have just had Trick just go in there and battle.

49:25 Speaker 1: Well, even that, though, I think they're going to surprise us with something.

49:29 Speaker 2: I hope so. I really do.

49:30 Speaker 1: Yeah.

49:31 Speaker 2: I really do. But there you go. There's our wrestling talk for today.

49:35 Speaker 1: Well, very good. Well, Charles, I'm glad this worked out. Before we let you go, please remind people where they can find The Charles Richardson Show.

49:43 Speaker 2: So anywhere on Facebook or YouTube. I can't say anywhere. When you go on Facebook or YouTube, type in the search The Charles Richardson Show. Like my page on Facebook. Like my channel on YouTube. You can listen to it. Now, if you like my page on Facebook, you'll see different articles that I post. A lot of those articles are going to be stuff that we do talk about. We don't get to everything, but a lot of those things we get to go ahead and talk about. So if there's something interesting, hey, make a comment or at least tune in to hear our opinion.

50:17 Speaker 2: You can always go ahead and hear it later on on our YouTube channel pre-recorded. And, of course, we are on IPM Nation, Matt's big station. We're also on IRN broadcast down here in Tampa. We're over there on DARE Media Group in Australia. And I'm on a station in the UK called the Up Yours Network. I mean, it's made for me. That was made for me.

50:40 Speaker 1: There you go.

50:41 Speaker 2: But there you go. 8 to 10 Eastern every Wednesday here in the States. If you're out there, look up your time zone. I have no idea.

50:50 Speaker 1: Right, right.

50:51 Speaker 2: Well, very good.

50:51 Speaker 1: Well, Charles, thank you again so much, my friend. This has been wonderful. I look forward to the next time we get to do this together. And I hope you enjoy tomorrow night, Sunday night's main event.

51:02 Speaker 2: Yep. I think we need to go ahead and book on your show for the Money in the Bank one. I think that's what we got to do.

51:09 Speaker 1: When is it? I don't know.

51:11 Speaker 2: It's at least a month from now.

51:12 Speaker 1: I'll have to look it up. I'll look it up.

51:15 Speaker 2: We'll be in touch. Yeah, yeah.

51:16 Speaker 1: Sounds good. Sounds good.

51:17 Speaker 2: All right, Charles.

51:17 Speaker 1: Thank you, my friend. Take care.

51:19 Speaker 2: That's right. And I'm the winner. You can't beat me.

51:21 Speaker 1: That's right.

51:22 Speaker 2: All right. Bye-bye.