SummerSlam's Biggest Matches, AEW's Death Riders Problem & All In | #WWE #AEW

This is GKW. Welcome to another edition of Good Karma Wrestling. I'm Gabe Knitza from ESPN, Milwaukee. He's Brian Rhodes from ESPN West Palm. No Jay Hood, but you can catch him. He's a part of WWE Radio now on Sunday mornings from 9 a.m. until noon Eastern. Might have some fun things to talk about. Maybe tune in this Sunday after night one of SummerSlam, which is where we begin today. SummerSlam, two nights. Up in Minneapolis, the card is set. We know the six matches for night one. Live versus EO. Brock versus Oba in hell and a cell. LA and I, Solisikoa and Royce Keys taking on the bloodline. Gunther versus Aldous. The Bellas and Page taking on fatal influence. Punk versus Cody is night one. Night two for the U.S. title, we've got, or excuse me, the Intercontinental title. We've got Penta versus Gable. We've got Tiffy versus Jade versus Chelsea versus Charlotte versus an opponent who will be decided tomorrow night in Green. May for the interim women's championship in a ladder match. Danhausen versus Dom and a human money is on a pole match. Sammy versus Finn in a number one contenders match, Trick versus Jeremy Corbyn in a U.S. title match, and then Roman versus Seth to close it all out on Sunday night for that world heavyweight championship. All right, pick them, three of them. Three matches that you are interested in, your top three, sir. I guess we can go one by one for me. I think I'm going hell in a cell. Oba and Brock to see which way they go. I think they'll do the right thing, and Ova wins the series 2-1, and Brock goes away for a few months, then comes back in WrestleMania and does Brock things. Oh, you don't think Brock's done, done? No. I just assume that this was going to be it for Brock. You will see him in Saudi for WrestleMania 43. I just didn't assume once they announced that the men's championship matches were going to main event each night, I just assumed that hell in the cell is going to open it up. I agree with that, and I do think he'll lose, hopefully, but I just think the intrigue there and what those two are going to do now within the confines of the cell, because they've done great things, their first two matches. That, to me, is the most interesting thing of the weekend. Yeah, and I guess I'm of the belief that this is actually it for Brock, that he's going to retire in a place where he had a lot of success as an amateur wrestler at the University of Minnesota. And it just made sense that this is going to be the retirement spot for him. I guess what I'm most interested in this match is, okay, if Brock isn't main eventing, Brock goes first. And that means Brock loses. Uh-huh. And usually it's a pretty quick match. It's not like a squash, like rarely is it? Like, but it's, it is a Goldberg-esque length of a match, right? It isn't happening for long. But if this indeed is his last match, it's the end of the trilogy, and Triple H has said that Brock is mentoring Oba, right? So that just makes me think that that Ob is definitely going over here because Brock... As much as him coming back, like, he is really smart in the business. Right. He gets it. There are plenty of videos I'm sure you've seen out there in social media of him like yelling at people to do things. You know, hey, grab the belt, stand up. You know, he's like yelling out instructions for them to go over him and look like they're more powerful. So he gets it. And it's a good thing, I think, that he's mentoring Oba. But again, usually he ends up when he loses these matches, they're quick.

But if we're going hell to sell, man, this can't be quick. Like, you can't, if we're going through the trouble of actually putting that thing down, like, it can't take more time to put it down and pull it back up than the match would take. And I think they actually have to have a match length of some significance in order to put Oba over. The first hour will be on ESPN television both nights. Is there a world? Is it not? I thought I saw something where Dave was talking like they stopped doing that because they feel like it was hurting. Oh. Like actual subscriptions. I don't think it's, I don't think the first night's on ESPN. Oh, well, that definitely changes thing. Like I was going to say, is there a world where it gets a full hour between everything? Entrances, exits, the match, the cell, the this, the that. Not a full hour. But I would say close to 40 minutes, maybe 45. It feels lengthy. You are correct. Countdown to SummerSlam 3 to 6, and 6 o'clock, E60, the Life and Legacy of Jim Greg Abbott, if you're interested on ESPN television. Sure. Hey, look, that's a Brewer's legend. Dude, dude got base hits in the major league with one hand. Like, that's, oh, yeah, great guy. Is this not, like, I'm not, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want this show to be dismissing Jim Greg Abbott, all right? That's why I'm letting everyone know they want to watch that Saturday night instead of the first hour of SummerSlam. More power to you. But, yeah, I mean, I think they're, because solo L.A. in Keys versus Bloodline doesn't have to go that long. No. Same thing with, the only things I think on night one that need to take time is probably Oba versus Brock, Liv versus EO, Punk versus Cody. I hope that Gunther versus Aldous gets a lot of time just because, like, I'm aware of what Nick Aldous can do, and I'm excited to see what he can do. But, yeah, I'm curious to see how that all plays out. But, yes, Oba versus Brock was also on my list of three that I'm intrigued by. Yeah, my second, you mentioned just that, is Goethe and Alder? Yeah, also on my list. I want to see what Nick Alde's in 2020 looks like. And we talk about the DVD crowd and the fact that they know their DVD product. To them, it's, oh, look, the GM's getting in the room with Goethe. Nick Alder's former NWA world champion. We know he can go. We've seen that. But it's been a long time since Nick Aldous has done that. which they obviously went out of their way on friday night for good through to mention oh i'm not taking him lightly i know he's a former n w a world champion but that's when i think of that that little resurgence that n w a had you know, right before AEW started and the Indies were on fire, right? Like, New Japan was just pumping out great pay-per-views and matches. NWA was hot. The Indies were hot. I think of Nick Aldous, and I think of the 10 pounds of gold, like little mini-series thing that they did. That was...

I guess, akin to 24-7 that HBO was doing before their big boxing matches back when HBO had boxing. And that's what I associate all this with, is the 10 pounds of gold, like little mini-series thing that they did when NWA was having their resurgence in the late 2010s. Yeah, I remember him on Busted Open, talking about the NWA title and getting me invested and wanting to watch. And then, you know, we eventually got him and Cody. at all in like that was a big moment of that and now looking at cage match october of 23 is the last time all this wrestled it was an indie show But that was a long time ago. Yeah, three years ago. And you could go, man. Like, I remember being there, and him versus Cody was a great match in Chicago. So, you know he can go. But again, three years is a long time. And I know he's, he did the interview with Chris Van Blink this week, talking about how nervous he is about this and understandably so. He got emotional talking about it. He literally crying with Van Bleet talking about it. Which makes sense. Like, I get it. You got this on-screen role, and you can't say no to a WWE, but at his core, he's a pro wrestler. Yeah. And now he's getting a pro wrestling match at the second biggest show of the year. And... It's his first match in WWE, and I'm sure he doesn't want it to be his last. I don't know. I don't even know if WWE knows, but they stripped him of his general manager responsibilities. I don't know if he goes back to being GM the second this match is over. But if the match goes well, who knows? Maybe he's got more matches for him in the future. Yeah, and that's why I'm hopeful also. I think part of me is. And let's be honest, his age is right there in the meaty part of this roster. He's actually a younger guy for a lot of the men. He's one of the youngest on the card this weekend. And I don't know if it's wishful thinking when it comes to Gunther, like this feels like a step down. We thought he could have been in a title match. He could have been the one retiring Brock. But if he gets a great match out of all this, I'll feel a little bit better about what Goethe is in terms of like situation-wise right now. And I agree, like, no matter what, they still kind of, they burned through whatever equity they had with Gunther after the retirement matches. Because this is more we're excited about all this. And now Gunther's just basically being asked to be the good and. And Gunther still ultimately is going to go over. Right. Like this isn't, this isn't like, you know, K.O. being asked to to shepherd. uh stone cold through a match right and and you know that stone cold's going to go over in that match or sammy being asked to shepherd the jackass guys through a match right it's it's it's a little different from that but you're still having goonther kind of help and and i think good there's going to do a great job with that because goonther is it's a different style but he's really good in the right now

you know, say a prayer for Nick Aldous's chest because he's going to be eating some chops. Like this is going to be a little stiffer, you know, maybe than Nick remembers it being. But if he does get a good, then hopefully he can go back to doing bigger and better things because we've got two main events with no real heel for SummerSlam. Like Punk versus Cody is Babyface versus Babyface. Bromid versus Seth, Babyface versus Babyface. I just don't know to do it. Like, you even look at Oba and Brock and like, yes, on paper, Brock's a heel, but like, he's not. But at least he's doing heel things, right? Like, he's associated with Paul Heyman. That's it. Well, yeah, but like locking, you know, locking the cage and not doing the way in. Like those are heel tendencies, right? Like those are, that's doing some healish stuff for Brock. I mean, he's still going to get cheers because it's Brock and everybody. I guess you would be in the minority assuming he's not on his way out the door. Right. But, you know, that. I mean, so, okay, let's quickly. So, live versus EO, okay, you've got, you've got baby first versus heel. Oba versus Brock, I think that's Babyface versus Heal. LA Solo and Keyes versus Bloodline, that's like Babyface versus Babyface, right? Because Bloodline's not, they're not heels. Yeah, I guess you're right. They're not. Yeah, I mean, everyone's going to be eating. You're right. Yeah, there's no heels there. Goethe versus Alas, okay. And then Bell isn't been fatal influences. Yeah. So half the matches, night one have a heel. Good. Night two, Penta versus Gable. It's baby face versus baby face. Dan Houss versus Dom. Well, Dom's. Dom is a heel, right? Yes, technically, yeah. Because he still gets booted. Even though everyone has fun doing it, like that's part of the gimmick, they boom, whatever. Sammy versus Finn. Sammy's heel-ish. Yeah, heel-adjacent? Yeah. Trick versus Jeremy Corbyn. I think Jeremy Corbyn's a heel. But if Sammy is heel-ish, so is Trick, isn't he? Oh, yeah. I know we love yelling whoop that trick, and he's like over, but he kind of has some heel tendencies about the character. Yeah, I guess we never actually have had that, like, official turn-off page. Like, hey, you're a baby face now. Yeah. But Trick is pretty much a baby face. Yeah, I mean, he gets baby-face reactions. And then Roman versus Seth. I mean, obviously, you've got some. I guess you only have one. I mean, Jade's the only heel in the way. Yeah, Jay's the only, I thought there were more. I honestly thought there were more heels sitting in the latter match. No, it's just Jade, because Tippy's baby face, Chelsea's Super Over, Charleston Super, yeah, okay. Okay, so it's roughly half the matches have, have heels in them right now. That is so weird.

So, yeah, like, Gunther hopefully goes on to bigger and better things because this company right now is lacking heels. Yes, 100%. And then sort of the spring off of that, my third match is because I'm hoping it eventually leads to a heel turn is Punk and Cody to where we might see heel Cody come out of this. And I don't know if that's just wishful thinking on my part. I think that's wishful thinking on your part. Okay, great. Because, because, Punk's not going to turn heel anytime soon. No. Because so that, and I don't think Cody is either. Like I think Cody enjoys going on the late night TV shows and dressing up in a suit and being QB1 and doing all those different things that would probably go away if he became. I think he looks at himself as the new John Cena. But just you have other guys that can do that. Let Rawlins do it. Roman will show up on stuff here and there. Punk reluctantly will show up on some shows. Like, you got other people to do that. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, Olba could do that. Oh, exactly. Cody of the heel is best for business to use their term. Well, but it's not best for Cody's business. No. But I just, I just to me that match like I don't have the logical booking of like, oh, this will make the most sense. I think punk winning makes the most sense. And that's a question that we're going to answer later in the show. But the third one I had was Penta versus Gable, just because I think that's going to be match of the weekend. Okay. But I think that's so in terms of what I'm interested in, like I've enjoyed the face turn for Gable. Penta's been great. You know, Mike Pence has been kind of hinting maybe he gets back into the tag team scene with his brother and some of the, you know, interviews that he's done on different podcasts and shows and whatnot. And it just feels like Gable's going to win that match because that kind of completes the baby face turn, kind of the whole story for him, being able to win in Minneapolis and do all those things. But. It was honestly a toss-up between this and the women's ladder match, because I think Chelsea's going to do something crazy again. Yeah, she is. You know, she's going to get the Shane Linda McMahon Memorial Award of doing something insane that you probably shouldn't do in a match. Thoughts and prayers already with Chelsea for this weekend. But I'm really excited, because I think Penta versus Gable is going to be a banger of a match because Pentas still... He works at WWE-ish style, but there's still a lot in him that works that AEW indie style that he just has kind of brought to WWE during the Intercontinental Championship run he's had. Yeah, I think all that's fair, and I think it will be a great match. I guess my only concern is I hope we didn't wait too long to pull the trigger on Gable winning the title and getting that moment. I'm sure the Minnesota crowd will help with that. But like Monday, and it was one of my matches the weekend, but Raquel finally getting a title, should have been a big moment. And it felt a little off. It felt like it was missing something. Even going back to this weekend, like Willow winning the title, as special as it was, Wednesday actually redeemed it. But it felt a little off because of the timing and stuff. So I hope that didn't happen with Gable with the IC title. Yeah, Wednesday was fantastic for Willow. Last night was fantastic for Willow. She couldn't even get through her promo. I know. And shout out to her mom.

All right, we do have other things we do need to talk about today. We call it the three count, the other top three stories in the world in professional wrestling. Brian, what is number one this week? Well, Somersday will be this weekend. The end of August, all eyes will be on Wembley for AEW All In. We've had some matches announced already, but take out your pencil and add a match at EW All In. All right, so we've got four. Omega versus Osprey, Mercedes versus Willow, Cajun Cope versus Young Bucks, and a casino gauntlet match that has been announced. And only one participant so far, because he won his match last night. And that is everybody's favorite, Andrade. How do you know? That's the most over freight. I was really wondering how he was going to get it in during the interview with Chabon after he won last night. They have an arena of people chanting. Like, bro wrestling is so dumb, and I love it so much. Like, the things that get over, like, literally, how you know. How you know is so over right now. It's ridiculous. And I love it. You can put him on the main event and give him the world title now because of those three words. Yes. Absolutely could. You make it a triple threat. I don't care. Give them the sorry, Osprey, especially after the way things ended on Sunday night. I got questions about you right now, pal. So let's give it to the over guy, how you know. So obviously, they're going to add a lot to this card. I just. I mean, MJF's going to be on this card somewhere. I just don't know where or how they're going to add MJF. So the one I had written down was MJF and how you know Andrade. Like figuring out a difference. Yeah. I think so. Like MJF screws him over and then he gets in the match or. Because we talked about it in the buildup to possibly MJF and Osprey, like how great of a build out would have been the ultimate face. Andrade is that ultimate face now. So why not put him on the opposite side of the ring as MJF? Yeah, I mean, for the national title, that's one that MGAF hasn't won, right? Or that is the one he won that he. No, because he won the international championship. Oh, my mistake. That he turned into the U.S. sort of. Yeah. Sorry, how could I get those two confused? Yeah, how on earth could you be, again, too many titles in AEW? Which is, by the way, which is what I kind of hope. Why am I playing? I'm hoping that. That Adam Cage, not Adam Cage. Hangman, Adam Page, there we go. Okay. Dude Lord. I'm hoping what he does is starting to go hunting after all the championships. And maybe we can condense some of these and kind of combine some of them since he can't go after the AEW World Championship. And he makes the appearance on Dynamite last night. Yeah, what's his plan for Wembley?

Like, last night sort of gave me the vibes that I don't want it again is him in Mox. Yeah, if he's going to be like standing up for, but we don't, we just, we, I guess it's different because the part of the reason why they don't want to do Osprey and be MJF is because they already did that at all in, but they did it at Wembley all in versus like last year we already had that match. We don't need to run it back again. Yeah, it's a weird path. And even the way they booked Hangman, like he came back two weeks ago on a random collision because it was in his hometown. Mm-hmm. Cut the promo, then they don't acknowledge it anymore. Then now he's back again. And then he shows up back again, right? And kind of gets that pop, like, oh, he's back. Yeah. I think he's been back. I'm not sure. He just hasn't been on TV. It's fine. Ugh. But again, I don't want to add that match. But I also don't know with the direction that they've decided to take the death riders in. I don't know what match that would be for Mox, who obviously would be on the card, the Continental Championship. Yeah, because you did a dance partner for Mox because they're doing the Osprey stuff will get the blow off before Wembley. But then where does he go? Yeah, I don't know how he fits in currently with Wembley. Unfortunately, it does feel like Hangman, like saying, hey, I'll take care of Mox to earn your trust. Kind of seems like the way they're going to go because Osprey doesn't have any other friends. Because I don't think Mark Davis is defecting from the Don Callis family anytime soon. Doesn't feel like that's going to happen. So what do we want to do with Kyle Fletcher? Yes, it feels, and it's still the show, him and Okada? Yeah. They're dropping those nuggets or the other one would be him and Kevin Knight and maybe unify some titles. I mean, in the universe, yes. I mean, sign me up, yes. Yeah. Like I was, when I started doing this exercise earlier today, getting ready for the show, I'm like, okay, who can I put, letcher with, so he'll steal the show, and he's got some more momentum coming out of the show after he has just, you know, a match that you're going, holy crap. And you could do like a ladder match with those guys, hang on championships up. Like, yeah, I could see that. So the other thing, though, to answer that question that you ask yourself. I don't think there's a wrong answer at this point with Fletcher. Like, he's in that Osprey category that you can put a broomstick on the other side of the ring and Fletcher's going to steal the show. Yeah. Like, it's insane what he does. Yeah. I mean, you could do something like him versus Orange Bill Cassidy. You could like, you know, baby face versus heel if you want to do that. And that would deliver. Yeah. I don't see a better. So the other one I'd add, it's a little tinkering of one that's already announced, is can we add new day to Copen Cage versus the bucks? I don't think so. No? Well, because like you're building up this like finally.

Tag team of this generation, tag team of that generation, like let them go at it. I mean, the New Day have. Correct. They can make that claim. They were in a different world. They haven't crossed fast. It feels like we should do. And I know the timing just doesn't work out. But like if we could do Buck's New Day, winner gets Cajun coat. You know, like, hell, do that, have both those matches on this car. I don't care. Why not? It wouldn't be the first time guys pulled double duty because. Coaklin, why do I keep my Adams, keep my Adams. Cole and MJF, yes. Cole and MJF pulled double duty a couple years ago. If you can add them there, and I don't know if you saw the social media video, but go look at Apollo's Twitter. If you don't want to get emotional watching unicorns run through a circus, they've got a video for you.

I can't put me in. It was so good. They had no right making that that good. No right. What are you doing? Making grown men cry at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Because one unicorn has a broken horn and it gives the nod of approval. Like, bravo. And everybody knows who that unicorn is. Everybody knows. Because that unicorn's staying behind with this broken horn. Yes. So good. So get them on the Wembley card. Like, let's go. Because I don't know what else you would do there with those two. I guess the alternative is you run the match as is and they show up after. Yeah, but I want them on the card. I agree. Like, if they're going to show up, I want them to show up and be a part of it. Because the way AW will be is that match will then be Wednesday. Like the winners of the tag title versus new day will be Wednesday on Dynamites. Yeah. Oh, 100%. Uh-huh. Yeah. Then you're just getting Cage versus Copp. Yeah. Versus the new day. There you go. Here's 20 minutes, guys. Don't get up. That's exactly how it's going to go. Uh-huh. Unless you, like, put them both in the casino gauntlet. Yeah, I guess that's an option. You get double surprise. And you do always expect a surprise in that match. Because I just don't know, I don't know what other tag match you can throw together to put them in. That would feel like, that would feel as big as it should. Correct. I mean, FDR's taking time off. They're gone. Doncalis family, like. Davis and Doyle doesn't feel like a big deal. No. Does not feel like a big deal. The tag division is surprisingly thin right now without FTR because, well, and then you've got. You know, the last night you had Ricochet and his crew won the Trio's title. So that kind of eliminates that group. And there's not like a third that I would want to see with the new day. I want to see the new day or whatever they're going to be called. The Colomerate guys feel like Trio's guys at this point. The rascals are stuck to collision. The dogs, I guess. Even though it feels like all they do is lose on TV. Well, they're losing this one. I mean, whoever's in this match is losing. Yeah. Just might as well throw them in there with somebody that, you know, I mean, private party. They, I think, still work there, right? I think so. I mean, they showed up randomly like a month ago, and we haven't seen them since. Their booking is very odd. Yeah. Death riders like a Pock and Claudio? Yeah, you could probably do that. You could probably do a Death Rider thing. You know, they love Claudio, so you have that aspect. Huh.

But I think it's really hard to get that. I don't know how to get them on the card right now outside of adding them to that match. But I also, I kind of just want to see that match. I don't want to see the triple threat. I'm kind of in on Cajun Coke versus the Young Bucks. And they did a great job selling it last night. We didn't really need to be sold on it. Like it was one of those dream matches. It is two generations coming together. But that promo last night with them sit down with Renee, I thought was an awesome way to sell it even more. Is there any chance we somehow get the good doctor onto the show? And the reason why I ask is because they have the special Rebel episode coming up. Oh. And it... If we don't get Britt Baker, I understand this is a fool's errand, right? As a fan of Britt Baker, I just want to see her on my television, and it's been so damn long since we've seen her on TV. I will stop bringing it up if she does not appear on that episode. because they were they are very close right yeah if she's not on that episode then then i'll give up and whenever her contract expires is when we're going to see her again on television but there has there has to be away right and break into the fold britt did post one of the ice bucket challenges with rebel yes uh but when is that so that shows september night so it will be after wembley okay i thought it was before that's on yeah looks like i thought it was one of the runups yeah But I feel like that might make it more likely. You can have her show up for this show and then you don't feel obligated to put her at Wembley. Yeah. Like it's a one-off in that situation. But yeah, because women's division were set on the women's title. The TBS title, curious to the direction that they go there with Maya World. Yeah, because, I mean, Maya World, yeah, that was kind of a shocker. Yeah. But, I mean, you've got a number of different challengers you could line up for Maya. Hell, last night's match could have been a pay-per-view match. Yeah, just against Persephone. Yeah. Again, that's just what they do, Brian. They put pay-per-view matches on television on Wednesday and Saturday. That's what they do. Or in tonight's instance, you know, like a half hour from now. Collision, because they don't want to go head to head with SummerSlam. But, I mean, you've got a number of different people. I mean, Tecla could get back involved in that. The women's tag titles will be on the line. We'll have that match set. And yeah, God, it's going to be such a good show. And during the day, we've got a Saturday nights to our show. Yeah, be able to do, watch, do whatever we want during the day. So, yeah, they've got a lot of different options. But some of the big players that we're used to sing, Mox, MJF, hangman, like, I'm not quite sure how all those pieces quite come together. What do we got number two this week? We talked about Mox. We saw a lot of death riders last night on Dynamite. Does AEW have a death writer's problem?

Kind of, the ending of redemption on Sunday was about as disappointing as it could have been. It was just straight up bad. It was bad. It took too long. I'm talking about the post-match stuff, right? Like, it just dragged out too long. But then, I mean, they kind of hooked me at the beginning of last night because then you've got Mock's, they've got the video of Mock's backstage, who's then still cheering. for hey i'm trying to teach you kid get him before he gets you get him before he gets you and then obviously they show the replay of of osprey eating the one winged angel so then you're thinking okay maybe he's still going to be aligned with the death riders he realizes he still needs them but then he blows him off and it's like okay so what the bleep have we been doing for the last handful of months because you still need that edge and then the promo saved it a little bit but I think the promo, the promo in the ending gave Omega more of an edge, I think, in terms of character. I'm not talking about who's winning the match or whatever. And somebody needed a little bit of something. Instead, again, we've got another 80 face versus baby face main events coming up. That's what we do in 2026. But. I just thought having Mox involved kind of helped give Osprey a little bit of that edge of, hey, he got me back. And he gave a little bit of props to Mox in his promo last night. I don't want to do it the way that he does it. Like, You got to have a little bit of a killer instinct and it just kind of Sunday felt meandering. They saved it a little bit last night, but not really that much, which is a bummer because I should be over the mood excited for Osprey versus Omega. Yeah, and that's the thing. That promo battle was awesome last night in the back and forth and I loved every part of it. But like it was a year or so ago, everyone was over the death rider who finally got the belt off of Mox. And now there's still all over our TV. There were three segments last night. Like they get that opening thing. Moxen has a match. And like there was a lot of them on TV that just didn't feel necessary. And I think you could have still told the same story of, hey, Osprey didn't have that killer instinct. And that's why Kenny took him out postmats. Like something happens there. It could be the Don Callis family. Like, you know, hey, take them out. I don't. One wing the angle, whatever. That didn't need the death riders. Like I get the angle of what they're doing, but it just feels unnecessary at this point to have them involved. Well, but they, they end, what they were going for, they ended prematurely. Okay. Right. So that's where now I'm confused about everything. So, okay, you're going this way. I probably enjoyed it more than most. I'll admit that. Okay, you're building Osprey back up and maybe it was even a little much at times, but I got what they were going for. But.

For then Osprey to just, like, bail a month before the biggest show of the year, like, just even in pro wrestling logic, like, again, I guess he's a baby face, and baby faces always make the dumbest decisions that can possibly make. So I guess it tracks that way. But, like, if you were going to do this, like, see it out to the end, and it just felt like it kind of ended prematurely. And what I don't love about that aspect is... Well, Kenny's going to be there. It feels like the next month is now going to be Osprey going through the death riders. Yeah. Week by week, facing all of them. And then I can- Is it tonight? Is he wrestling Garcia tonight? Or is that next Wednesday? I think that's Wednesday. Okay. So you'll have that. And then I feel like you'll still get some sort of interference in the main event, which I want no part of. Like, I just want some one-on-one. Yes. A hundred percent. And like, if you would have written it to the end. You know, you could have Osprey tell, hey, I appreciate everything you've done for me. I've got to do this on my own. If you want to make sure nobody else comes out interferes, cool, but don't interfere on my behalf tonight. Just make sure your guys' job tonight is to make sure me and Kenny go one-on-one to see if I can get this done. And again, by ending it now, I think it's worse that they ended it now, especially if you're someone like, I know Jay Hood doesn't like it either. Yeah. But by ending it now, it just makes it worse because like you said, now Osprey's got like a battle on two fronts. Right. With no cavalry coming because somebody extended the hand last night and he threw it away. And it feels like the end of Wembley now is Osprey raising the title and out come the death riders. And like that's one of the last scenes where I can even see them being the one to stand tall over him. Like he's in the middle of ring with the belt or the bag over his head. Like we don't need that anymore. Like they took the title. Hangman won the title. I thought we were done with the death riders. Yeah. And they're still hanging out. And I guess that's... And the weird part also like as great as Mox is like Daniel Garcia, Yuda, like those guys have taken a significant step back over the last year or so. Like Garcia joining was a big deal. Yuda was a massive heel when he first started being part of the Death Riders. And now they're just there. I think that's because Brian Danielson was the one like putting you over by cutting. He's a little shit, but we love him. You know, like doing that stuff with, with Yuda. And yet they just haven't, if the point of a group is to get as many people over as possible. Which, again, not everybody is always going to be. Yeah. I mean, the hostess person in that group that's gotten to getting is Marina, is Shafir. Yeah. But even that, like, we haven't pulled the trigger and put a belt on her. No, no. And they've even gone away. For like two or three weeks, she was having consistent matches, and now she doesn't have those anymore. And losing those matches. Yeah, well, that was the thing. Like they just decided to throw in there and then lose those matches. So it's like, oh, I guess we don't have anything. Yeah, because you didn't let her win. So we couldn't see if there was anything there, get her, you know, a little bit of traction. Right. So I, I, the.

As much as I love Mach's to Death Rogers need to go away and then he reboot. Yeah. Because it just doesn't, right now, nothing makes sense. Nothing makes sense within the group. And yet Moxel has a belt around his way, so I assume that'll be on the line at the pay-per-view at some point. Well, yeah, because it's the Continental, which again, he doesn't need to be its own championship because then it gets confusing. It's the end of the year when they have the C-2 and you've got a champion and the champion loses, but he doesn't lose the battle. It just another championship that doesn't need to exist. But he put on a good match last night with Commander. That was fun, you know? But storyline-wise, To pull the plug when they did just does not make sense. And that, to me, exacerbates the death rider's problem that AW currently has. Yep. But we got to number three this week. All right, going back to this weekend in Minnesota, SummerSlam, two world title matches, punk versus Cody, Roman versus Rollins. Which world champ could tell the best stories post-Somerslam? Okay, so to arrive at my answer, I think we just kind of go by process of elimination. If I were to rank them one through four. I think you tell the both stories. Cody's number four in the list. Yeah. Unless we get a heel turn. Okay. If we're, then, then we're talking something different. But I don't think that heel turn's coming. And Cody hasn't, once the last time Cody told an interesting story. WrestleMania 40? Yeah. Run enough to try to finish his story. Yep. Like he hasn't, there have been movements here and there, but there just haven't been a ton of really good things. I think that as a fan, you can grab onto other than chanting, whoa, when his music plays. So in terms of that, I would rank Cody four out of the four that are currently going. I don't disagree with that. So then... Then it gets a little tricker because I think it's four by a long shot. Yeah. Because Roman's got the bloodline. Roman had a new date announced today. He's going to be at Money in the Bank in October. So like isn't going to way just that. So he's sticking around. So that's, you know, Seth. Okay, I think Roman has planted the seed of, you know, during the promo, was that two weeks ago, three weeks ago, whatever it was, when he's like, oh, well, what's going to happen if you win? You're just going to try to put the company on your back and get hurt again because it happens every single time. So, okay, can Seth do it? Can Seth actually put together a long championship run? So I think that's interesting. I think Roman and the bloodline and they're continuing growing. We know he's going to be around can be interesting. My ultimate answer is punk. because i feel like punk has done some really good things in his return to to wwe and a lot of the stories that he's told have been really good they've gotten me invested um

You know, him versus Roman was, again, far and away the best thing that we had at WrestleMania weekend. And I give a lot of that credit to CM Punk for a lot of the work that he did. So I think punk, as somebody who just gets the business and can do these little things to make stories even more interesting and because he's been around long enough, but he was gone for a decade. He can add these little intricacies. to different matchups, you know, whether it is against Finn Baller again, whether Dom gets a crack at him, whether, you know, he gets a chance against Gunther again. Like, there's a lot of, I think, interesting things that can happen with Punk, assuming he comes out of night warm. Yeah, and that's it. Punk's always going to talk you into a story. I think you can always lean on that. For me personally, I lean Rollins, because I feel like there's more intrigued there in terms of we haven't seen it. Because of the fact that these title runs have been cut short, like a baby-faced Seth Rollins as the champion as the face of a show, I want to see what that looks like for an extended period of time. Yeah. I'm trying to think of his title runs. I mean, his most memorable ones are as a heel, and I'm sure he's probably had one as a baby face at some point that just doesn't stand out off the top of my head right now. But, yeah, but I also... Do you think he's going over, Roman? Or because Roman's sticking around, do you think Roman finally gets his one-up on Seth? I think they made too big a deal of the fact that Roman doesn't beat Seth, that Roman has to win this weekend. And then we, I don't know where we go from there. Like, that's the other thing. Like, do you have an obvious path for any of these four out of SummerSlam? Punk versus Gunther? Okay. I mean, I think that's probably eventually. I don't think that's the first one out of the Bill Gates. Right. Sammy or Finn will be the number one contender, but like... Yeah, so you've got Sammy or Finn at Money in the Bank. The other option throughout that is if Orton comes back, I don't know where he is. Okay, okay. Yeah, he kind of faded into the background after everything that happened there with... Because you're talking about interest. I'd be intrigued. Roman and babyface Orton, I'd be in, too. Yeah. If we can get one more title run for. And Orton's been gone long enough, and the McAfee stuff's blown over so much. Like, Orton can't. And whenever Orton comes back, he's going to be a baby face. Yes. I would love to see him get one more run with the belt. Well, they kind of felt like that's the direction we were trending until. Right. We just decided to blow it up for no fucking reason. Like, I can't believe that happened. Just decided to blow it up. What the hell do we do with Oba coming out? In the year 2026, Oba will not be the world champion. I think we just need to accept that at this point. Where is that going to happen? That makes sense for them.

They don't value Survivor Series. They're not going to give it to us on free television. Saturday night's made event or just house shows. So Oba's winning the Rumble. Yeah, either he wins the Rumble or you're giving him the title that night. Because I think they want Oba versus Roman. Yeah. And I think they got to. So that means Roman's got to stay champion in Telmania. And honestly, they're booking. I could very easily see a Roman Oba this year that Roman wins to help tell that story. Like, oh, you're not ready yet, kid. I don't tell that story at all. Got to finish the story. They know what they were. They work with the same pages. Like, hey, let's go back to this chapter. That's just a man, like, I. And I have this fear, like, I don't know how over Oba is going to be in Saudi. I agree. I mean, he could be. I have no idea. I'm just legitimately saying I have no idea, like, how over he's going to be in Saudi Arabia. Maybe he is. Maybe they love doing the, just as much as everybody else does. I, it's just, it's a different place because they just hold on to the legends a little bit more. And obviously, Sammy and. Who Sammy is, like that resonates over there, which is why he just won a championship over there. But the crazy part is like that next wave of guys. Look at the last year or so, the Oba, the Braun Breaker, the Dom, the Javon Evans. And now here is their second biggest show of the year. Oba's in a featured match. It's not the main event. Dom is not as much of a heels as he was before and is basically in a comedy match. Javon Evans is not on the card. Braun Breaker is not on the card. Trick is a weird trick. Okay, you're building something there. But even that's against someone that isn't good. But still, like it just feels like a waste. So you're all the way out on the Baron Jeremy Corbyn return. I'm so out. We did not need that. Like. He has never connected for me. I don't get it. What if he's happy, Jeremy Corbyn? Nope. What if he's happy, Jeremy Corbyn? Is that kind of? I did see pointed out, I think this is his fourth SummerSlam match. It has been a different gimmick every time. Every time. Every time. Good for him. That's like, that's some Chris Jericho level stuff, man. Like, different gimmick all the time. It's, I just, I have so many questions coming out of SummerSlam because, And they blew the SummerSlam. We talked about it running up to it. You had an opportunity to reset the decks and come out with some new champions. And instead you decided to run these main events back with three of the four participants from the main events from WrestleMania. And you've got guys that are ready to go. And by not showing some belief and trust in them to see, you know, let them fail. Yes. Give them a championship run and see what happens. Unfortunately, they're just not willing to do that because they only want to crown their first time, you know, the big championships ever at WrestleMania, unless you're a guy that's like Sammy Zane, then they'll put you over for nine days before they put it back on punk. And the weird part is that like the Brocks of the world, the Orton's of the world that are still over 20 plus years after their debut, they took shots on them as youngsters, like Rocky, like things like that.

Toward these guys, you're also hurting your future. Like, Oba coming back as a 50-year-old, if he's in a multiple-time world champion by then, it's just like, okay, like, cool, I remember that guy, and that's it. You're not still having them in the main event. And I just don't know what you're going to do with Oba. Like, you're just going to go back to him having squashed people and beat up fake security guards for the next six months. I guess. Like, we've got a long-ass time to get to just the rumble. Yeah. Like, much less WrestleMania. Yeah. I don't know how you have him tread water. Like there's no one else for him to go through. He won King of the Ring. He beat Brock Lesner. That means a world championship opportunity has to be coming. Like there's nothing else. Anything else is a step backwards. And makes him look like a huge dumbass, by the way, for punting away a world championship opportunity. But they don't care about that. Like, Goethe is someone that I feel like you can tell a story with. Yeah, if Gunther's the world champ. Oh, no, there'd be no actual stakes involved. I'm trying to think who else could even do something. It is rough. And that's just unfortunately where we are. You know, again, I don't see Oba versus any of the four that are in the main event right now, other than Roman. But if it's, Oba versus Roman is very so obviously WWE main event of WrestleMania. Because heaven forbid we pulled the trigger before that. Tune in big, two nights. Second biggest show of the year this weekend. And honestly, the card came together better than I thought it would. I agree. I don't think it needs to be two nights, but yes. Oh, yeah, yes. Yeah, he didn't need to. Yeah, Bella's page, fatal influence, that doesn't need to be on the card. Like the two six men tags that made their way into the card. That is, that is main events of Raw and Smackdown, written all over it. You can cut those out pretty easily. Dan Housen versus Dom doesn't need to be on pay-per-view. Like, you could trim this thing down to seven really good matches. Yeah, it'd be great. Again. Really easily. But you put yourself like, oh, we got to do two knights? Like, here we go. Yeah, because I mean, Lit versus EO, Oba versus Brock, Guinther versus All This, Punk versus Cody, Roman versus Seth, and then take your pick of a couple between Penta Gable, Sammy Finn. And the ladder match. Yeah, oh, the ladder match, yes. The ladder match absolutely, yeah, because they're not putting, that's not just a television match. That is going to be, I mean, night two is pretty significantly better, I think, than night one, given that you have the ladder match and Mike Pence versus Gable. Yes, I feel like there's less skippable stuff on Sunday. Like you have both six-man tags on Saturday. Yeah. I mean, although, again, Oba versus Bach, hell and a cell should. Right. And Liversea will deliver. Yes. Lives first title match. After a hundred days as champion. Unbelievable. And I. I do want to say I appreciate them doing the interim champion. I'm surprised it took them. I know because I liked it when AEW did it because it gives it a more real feel. And it makes sense saying as how TKL owns both UFC and WWE. And that's what UFC does when there is an injured champion unable to compete. You have the interim champion. And then that just gives you an automatic match that you can look forward to of whenever this person gets healthy, they got to face the interim champ. Yeah. I am curious.

Jade or Charlotte, I guess, win and then run it with Ria? Yeah, it's one of those two, without a doubt. I'm good with that. Yeah, because I think tomorrow night, yeah, tomorrow night is Julia and... Meachin? Making that up? Yeah, I can't remember who, but it's Julia versus someone. Yeah. And the reason why I say Julia versus someone, because it seemed pretty obvious to hear that Julia was wrong. Right. Julia, oh, last legend. So Julia is going to be the final participants in this match. Uh-huh. And we're going to be doing some live shows, by the way. Yep, we got to. We're going to do some main event shows. We'll bring this up at the end of the show as well. But main event shows. So right around the main event, you want to watch along with us. We did this during the Royal Rumble when we were at Pottawanate Casino Hotel. We did it during WrestleMania, so we're going to do it again. So Pump versus Coney, Roman versus Seth. We're going to be reacting and then have a little post-show reaction as well on Saturday and Sunday of SummerSlam. Where we got news and notes this week? All right. We've talked about dream matches and things like that. Well, The Undertaker on a six feet under pod said, obviously, people have been clambering for that match for a long time, and it seems like a no-brainer talking about taker versus Sting. But quote, why on earth would you not do that? But for whatever reason, Vince did not see it. Didn't like it, didn't like it, didn't want it. I was like, man, this is the home run. An easy main event for a pay-per-view. I don't really have an answer. So Vince apparently didn't see anything, a taker versus Sting. Obviously, just thought that just held the grudge over WCW for way too long. Golly, so bad. Elsewhere in the WWE, another Mysterio is headed that way. Aaliyah Mysterio, the daughter of Ray, posted on social media that she is making her way to the WWE Performance Center to add another Mysterio name to the WWE brand. Is Ria going to be upset and attack her given Aaliyah's history with Buddy? It's possible. You never know. Just a question. Just a question I'm going to put out there. Just going to throw it out there. Remember how terrible that was and how creepy that was? That was... Poor buddy. I feel bad that he had to do that, man. They've done some stuff there. Finally, news and notes. Coming up shortly, TNA wrestling tonight in Philadelphia, Nick Nemeth defends the TNA title against Jeff Hardy, the event in Philadelphia. So TNA has done their part. They've gone to social media and they've invited a special guest. They want new Sixer, LeBron James, to be in the house to be the, quote, title holder for the main event. I don't quite know what that means. I don't think LeBron's going to be there. No, he doesn't want to sit there and hold the TNA title. Really don't think that that fits LeBron's. He's probably got a T-Pam somewhere, if we're being honest, all right? He's out there working on the game. Good on them to get in the headlines, I guess. But yeah. Sure. Congrats.

What did you have for your matches of the week? Oh, there were a lot this weekend, even though the paper view was, you know, had some misses. But I'll go with our guy, Fletcher, Kyle Fletcher versus Bandito, because Bravo. Yeah, Fletcher versus Bandito was really good. There was nothing for WWE this week. So the one I put, I didn't love the finish, but Raquel and Sol Ruka wasn't bad. Okay. It had to be WWE at the end, and I don't get the Sol Ruka title run. I feel like she's not better because of it. Raquel was at her peak back in January, and they waited too long to pull the trigger there, but I'm glad she got a title. Yeah, and I saw someone post this on social media. Like, if I were Becky Lynch, I would say, screw it. Because she has put over so much young talent that they squander those runs afterwards. Like she puts over Soluka, and then they just have her booze a month later. She put over Lyra, who took a while to get to this Bailey payoff. Like, it just makes no sense. Makes absolutely. No sense. Although Chelsea versus Keanu James was probably the best match of Smackdown. Anything else from redemption? I think both title matches were really good. Willow versus Tecla and Kenny versus Kevin Knight. I mean, Willow versus Tecla, man. Tekla's so underrated. She is. And she had an underappreciated title run. Yeah. Like she's so good as the villainous heel has got the stable behind her to make it, you know, even more dangerous with a couple of people that hopefully continue to grow, Argo SkyBlue, who were big fans of here on GKW. So hopefully like that trio continues to rise. But yeah, Tecla. This was the way we kind of thought this could go because, again, Mercedes versus Willow seems, unfortunately, for Tecla, like the money match at all in. But I feel like Tecla had a really good run as champion. Didn't always have the best most and best stuff to work with, but I feel like she always made the best of the situation she was in. So I will say that, and it was a great match. Yeah, and that's right. To your point, I feel like she does need to be rewarded and be on that Wembley card. Just figuring out where, I guess you mentioned earlier, maybe Maya World, they give her the TBS title and do something with that, but she needs to be on that show at Wembley at the end of the month. Yeah, because she was absolutely fantastic. I'm trying to think last night, what match, what did they lead off with on? Nothing amazing. I'm blanking on the card also, like a bunch of promo stuff. It was good post-show stuff. We had that Six-Man was decent. The conglomeration, right? Yeah, yeah, that was decent. But they had a long match to kick off last night. Oh, the triple threat match, you're right, Andrade, Nick Wayne and Jungle. Yes, Andrade, yes, And that was, that was classic AEW triple threat with those three. And yes, Andrade, we were just singing the praise of Andrade at the beginning of the show. And now somehow we forget about his. By the world, Persepani is one of those wrestlers now that, like, anytime she's in the ring, I'm invested.

Yeah, yeah. And I'm waiting for WWE to try and scoop her up because it feels like that's the path we're going. I guess it depends upon how loyal she is to CMLO. Yeah, because I don't know if she's all elite. I don't think she's all elite. I think she's just CML. Okay. Especially as the world champ. Like, and then appears from time to time. Yeah. And delivers every damn time. Yeah. But yeah, good times. If you happen to miss any of today's show, make sure you're checking us out on YouTube. Subscribe, comment, have a good time. YouTube.com slash at Good Karma Wrestling, and that's where you need to be as well. Saturday night, Sunday night, special shows, watchalongs. For the main event, we're going to be reacting right along with you so you can watch with us, react with us, send some questions in the chat, and we're more than happy to talk all throughout the main events of SummerSlam on night one and night two. The show starts five Eastern, five Eastern, right? Six Eastern, five Central. Five Central. Okay, so six Eastern, five Central. Not too late of a night. No, shouldn't be, especially with just six matches on the card. You know, I would say stay up late with this, but you don't have to do it. It's not an AEW paper. Get to bed at a reasonable time. So join us. And then, of course, the following week, we'll have all the reaction, build up in AEW as well. We're talking about it right here on JKW.