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College football on ESPN kicks off August 28th. Witness the Wild on ABC ESPN and the ESPN app. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another Wednesday episode of the No Contest Wrestling Podcast. I am the heel that you love to hate, O Shea Jackson Jr. Hey, yo, it's me, it's me.
It's the T-double-O, the J-I-G-G, 2G-G, TJ Jefferson, and uh. You you were not here. You were not here today. I don't know. Wow, that was a terrible piece of steak.
I am in. Orlando, Florida.
Okay. Because I am hosting a screening. For some of the Superstars of WWE.
Okay. At least NXT. Because I'm all the way in Orlando. But yeah, I got a screening that I'm hosting for them. Uh tomorrow night, you know, how that came about.
Oh, yeah. I uh, because you know, your boy's an executive producer on NES, you know. And so, like, I gotta be thinking like executive producer stuff, you know? And so, I was like, what's one way to get some positive publicity while also? Thanking the WWE for things like the way that they be hooking us up with tickets, and you know, maybe I'm not beating the allegations all the way, but.
I don't know if you want to beat the allegations, though. That's the thing. Yeah, you know, hey, Coca-Cola is Coca-Cola. Anyway, so I uh. I hit up uh Paul.
My buddy Paul. And I was like, hey. You know, my name is Hunter. Oh, that triple. No, no, you're not.
Yeah, yeah, you know, I hit him up and I was like, yeah, I want to do something, you know, for the guys and girls in the back. Um so I want to show them idiots before it hits theaters. and you know we set it up you know performance centers right here just made sense And as of now, we got about 40 RSVPs. Oh, word. And the numbers increasing.
Yeah, it's going to be thick in there. The whole thing is going to smell like muscle milk and up after tonight. And when is that tonight? I'm sorry, I missed that. Is that tonight?
That's tomorrow. That's tomorrow. Yeah, that's tomorrow. Um and you know I did have a flight From New York to Orlando, scheduled for 3 p.m. But then I was like, hey, guys.
That's going to cut into my NCW time.
So, your boy had to get up and make sure some changes happen.
So, I'm here for the NCW Faithful. And also. Uh while I was on that plane, TJ. I got some news. Oh, and I'm out.
Yeah, I'm just gonna I'm sorry for the for the listeners. We're gonna tell you what it is as soon as I show the viewers, but Let's just uh I don't know if you can see that. Denothes three, written by Christian God. I don't know. Yes, I don't you know, it's uh So it's done, or is it?
Is the script done? Or is that just what he's giving you? Because let me tell you, we spoke about this. We had his dad, legendary soap opera actor, Eric Braden, aka Victor Newman, come on the Rich Eisen Show a few weeks ago, where he was just. Heaping praise on you.
And he said that Christian, very happy with the script. He's almost done with it. And now it looks like it's done.
So, all right. I'd like that. As soon as I'm done, we're here. Hit my feet up. You know, No, sir.
Oh, nice, man. All right. Yes, sir. I told you, this is right off the plane. Nice.
I love it. Right off the plane.
Now you know. I had to borrow out the title. You see me borrow out the title. This is your first rodeo, my guy. It's not your first drama.
But yeah, so as you walk, as you're going through, I'm going to turn in the Johnny Drama here. You know, as you're going through, you see any new parts in there for me, Vince? Zah. I'm saying all I need is one or two lines, baby. Let me get through it.
Let me get through it. I'll go with the highlighter. Leo could do this. TJ could do this. TJ could do this.
His timing is excellent. Oh, Omos could play this part. Oh, this could be Oba. I see. Come on now.
Fingers crossed. But yeah, man.
So congratulations on that. That is really dope, man. And as we know, the movie making business, it could be a year from now before you even really start this. But. You got the script, and that's always step number one, right?
So, let's talk about last week's episode, man, because last week we had. We had awesome oh yeah, and by the way, for everyone, we we we do have a guest. Today. Oh, yeah. Let them know that coming up later in a few minutes.
Going to have Cruz Montana. NXT star is he is Cruz Montana. He's going to talk to us all about NXT, his... You know, his move over to NXT, and then also, you know, NXT Heat Wave, which is. about to happen this weekend is he is going to challenge for the NXT Heavyweight Championship.
Why don't you tell them who's in that match? Bro, look at that. You see our buddy Tony D, friend of the show. Grayson Waller, friend of the show. Formerly known as Mike, but now he's Cruise Montana.
Spreading of the show. Zilla. Zilla, we got to get you on, man. But it is a Fatal 4-way for the NAC Championship, and it ain't going down. It's going up.
It's going up, bro. These four have developed such a quick Quick little beef, like a quick, a real sense of like.
Okay. You know, they're fighting for who's alpha right now. Zilla kind of came in like he's supposed to be the man. And these three have already established themselves. We've seen Grayson Waller when he came in and kind of slapped the helmet off.
You know, what are we doing over here? He was coming to the Tony Dean. Yeah, Tony D. Tony D has been out for since, you know, since the big, you know, since Oba got up out of there. Tony D is really who you got to go through.
He is the mountain that you have to climb. And then. He was Montana as a former world champion. He's been there. He's been to the top of the mountain on a few companies.
So now he's coming attack with WWE because we know that is the end-all-be-all.
So it's going to go down, bro. And it's going to go up. It's going to be a heat wave. It's going to be hot. Yes.
So we got cruise coming up in a few minutes, but I want to just briefly talk about last week's episode. You know, you and I. because of the movie Idiots, we we we got to meet legendary wrestler Awesome Kong. And uh you and I had no idea, I guess, what we personally meant to Awesome Kong until we started to talk to her. But Last week's episode was probably the most emotional episode that we've had here at NX at NCW, and you know, really got to know Kia Stevens and Awesome Kong.
Just, you know, I know people say don't read the comments, but man, the comments have been. I don't know. that I've seen More positive comments under any video, maybe that I've ever seen in my life. Like. People just loved to see her come back out to, you know, get.
I guess she's not really in the wrestling game, but at least, like she said, there was no wrestling in her bubble. You know, she had to heal. And then watching us helped her get back into wrestling. And man, just like I said, the biggest honor we've had. Yeah, without a question.
To have somebody tell you that.
Something, a word that came out of your mouth changed their life. Like, bro, that's the most humbling thing on earth. And, but, yeah, everyone, man, just so happy to see her, you know. People wishing for her to come back. And you had to leave early last week, but I told her, I think our greatest hope for her is now that this leads to a few things.
Royal Rumble next year, man. Can you just imagine hearing that her theme song and her come walking down that ramp? I think everybody wants to see that. And then also for her to get her flowers. We gave them to her here.
Hopefully, this leads in the next year or two to a Hall of Fame induction. I know she's in the TNA Hall of Fame, but hopefully, this can lead to her getting into the WWE Hall of Fame. But yeah, just being able to kind of share her story, man, literally her life story from beginning to her sitting in this chair was amazing. It was humbling. It was super cool.
The fact that you had the foresight to reach out to some, some of her peers, Mickey James, Nia Jax, AJ Styles, R-Truth, and had them send her video messages. You could just, we watched her, the breakdown. Because it's weird sometimes, Shay.
Sometimes people... Don't realize how much they're loved or how great people think they are. And I think, in terms of Kia, she may have forgotten or she didn't realize that so many people loved her, so many people were in awe of her. I'll be honest with you. Back when I first saw Awesome Kong, I was afraid of her.
Like, I was like, this woman is no. That's how good she was, dog. She is no joke. And. Yeah, so It was really awesome for us to get to be a part of that and kind of welcome her back into the wrestling world.
And I know all the other pods want to get her on and all that. But, like Ric Flair said, you can never be first, but you can always be next. Woo! Woo! Yeah, man, and boy, if I hear that music, if I hear that music during a Rumble TJ, they're gonna have to escort me out the building.
Where's the Rumble TJ? I forget. Is it overseas or is it here? Listen, bro, I'll just be thinking everything is in Saudi now. I'd be like, it's not in Saudi.
Because let me tell you something. If it's, by the way, she left you a micro brawler here. I still have it for you over there. She bought you. You know what?
When I was in the car, I was like. We didn't get to get our picture.
So I got one with her, which I don't even have the pop up because I didn't send it home. But yeah, I'll have D'Lo pop it in right here. Nice. I just got word from Don Bowie. The man in the back.
The next year's Royal Rumble is in Glendale, Arizona.
So you know what? Oh, man. That's a couple hours. Oh, we there. Come on now.
Are you kidding? Especially out there. Because, how, at this point, the response that we got to this episode has been so amazing. You know, the people in the company in the front office have seen this. I just don't see how any there's any way that you don't, especially when she said all she needs is a few months, get back in a little shape and how she's now willing and able.
I don't see how they don't put her in. The Royal Rumble is that's where people come back, right? That's where you have these returns. That I just remember when Alexa Bliss came back, I didn't know how much you liked Alexa Bliss until she came back to the Rumble that year, and you lost your mind, bro.
So, yeah, just thinking the fact that look. You call your boy Paul, your boy's Paul's, multiple Paul's that you know. We gotta see Awesome Kong in the Rumble, dog. We gotta see her in the Rumble. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy.
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Oh, I know who to send the interview to. Yeah, you got people. I know who to send it to. I'm going to tell you off camera, but I know who to send the interview to, bro. But yeah, so that was that was awesome.
I want to say uh Tia I'm sorry if we made you cry right now while you folding clothes. We know you're listening. Shout out to Kiel. We just uh it was such an amazing episode. And uh yeah, you know, when it comes to Reaching out to Mickey.
Reaching out to, you know, AJ and Naya and Truth and. My dad, when we did straight out of Compton, He said how good it felt to get his flowers while he could still smell 'em. I'm always about that. We always want to, when it's, when you can't. See that you've gotten them or smell them, and then that's when people.
Want to give them to you. And so I see what you're saying. And I was happy with that. Not on our watch. Yeah.
And speaking of flowers, dog, let's let let's give some flowers, sadly. The Great Dolly Parton. passed away. Yesterday, man. That one, I think, hit everybody because if you didn't like Dolly Parton, if you had a problem with her, I think that was a you problem, right?
That was, she was someone who was so amazing in every facet of life, how generous she was, how welcoming she was, just. you know, 80 years old and it just still doesn't seem like it was enough time. But man, I think that hit everybody a lot. You know, Dolly Parton has been, you know, a star my entire life. Like, I've never known a day without Dolly Parton, you know?
And so, yeah, it was, she was awesome. from all accounts and it really sad to see But you know, what an incredible life she lived, and she inspired so many people. Yes, and also today, rest in peace to Tim Curry. Tim Curry passed away, also 80 years old, man.
So. Yeah. Tough, tough. Yeah, they say it comes in threes, and you know, I can't remember. Who the three were around the time that Sam Neal died?
You know, rest in peace, Dr. Grant, you know, Jurassic Park.
So I think that might be the three right there, but like you never know, man. Life comes at you fast. We're here for a good time, you know, not a long time.
Well, you know, humans' perspective, 80 is a long time, but like in the grand scheme of things, bro. It still doesn't seem like. Rest in peace and sending much love to the friends, family, fans of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. Yeah, as my buddies over at Mason in Ireland would say, Uh hellfella well met. I still don't know what that shit mean, but like, it's what they be saying.
Okay. All right. So getting back into the wrestling, you know, like I said, we got cruise month. You know what? Why even make the people wait?
Yeah, man. Let's get to him. Let's get to it. All this talking. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the No Contest Wrestling Podcast.
Cruise, Montana. You're so big. What's good? What's good? You tell me.
I'm in right, man. You got new turf now, man. Yo, I feel honestly, boys, I feel like the last thirty days have been like A whirlwind, bro. Like it's been like. The last thirty days I've just looked back on the last twenty years.
It's been quite the ride. It's been quite the journey. And The main thing that that just comes to me at the end of everything is how blessed and how thankful and how like God works in amazing ways, man. Like, that's the truth. And I'm just, I feel good.
I'm feeling better than ever, you know. You know, there was a point a few months ago when you popped out with OTM. You remember this shay? And we came and we did the pod the next week. And I was like, did you hear the pop that Mike saying Dana got?
I said, He's gonna be over there sooner than later. A little foreshadowing, definitely. Because the crowd definitely popped for you, bro. Yeah, it was it was cool. It was a good moment.
It was uh An emotional moment, of course, you know, being there, being and my city and and just like The last time that my father Got to see me wrestle live before he passed away was in that same building. Oh man. Yeah, so just to be back there and be in that moment. And just like everything that happened from losing my father to that moment. Hitting rock bottom, all like everything, bro.
Everything just came to me in that, in that night. And, uh, That that I feel like I showed all that. power and emotion and energy and Just everything came out, man. It was a good night.
Now, there's certain guests that we have on the show that their story just seems to always have. right place, right time, or You know, coincidence is that, you know, there's no such thing as coincidence. It's like the story is being. written so clear. With moments just like that.
So talk to us a little bit about, because you know, because we. We did talk to Mike.
Now we're talking to Cruise. Talk to us about. Finally putting That pen to paper. What was that feeling like? It's funny going back to my dad, man, like I signed my contract so In my living room, I have a small little table in the corner of my living room, and on that table, I have my dad's urn.
that holds his ashes. And I have little mementos and little pictures and stuff like that, all of my dad and me and stuff like that. It's pretty much a tribute table. And I signed my contract. Standing right next to that table.
And I remember signing it and just like. I did it. I did it, Pops, and uh I hope you're proud and You know, it was a great moment. My daughter was there. My daughter's mother was there.
Like, it was just a very intimate moment. And, um, I got like really emotional, and I was just like, man, like, this is it. Everything that I've worked for, everything that I've sacrificed, every, you know, every sleepless night. every moment on the road, um grinding like Everything was for that, you know, and uh I think Everything happened the way it was supposed to. I wouldn't change a thing.
That's dope. When um You know, when he was alive, I spoke to the late, great Kobe Bryant. Because I had reached a point in my career where I kind of felt like Like I was happy, you know, but I felt stagnant. I felt like. I wanted more and part of me felt like you know am i wrong for saying that like i want more And you know, I spoke to him and he said that that feeling that You know, maybe I haven't done enough yet.
Or that like Even with all my accomplishments, there's still more to give. He told me to hold on to it. Because that's the only thing that pushes him forward. And he, you know, championships, won an Oscar, and still got up to do it again. We remember.
The story that you told us when you won that TNA title.
Now that you In WWE, it's almost like a reset. to go after something else. What pushes you to keep going as many times as you've gone to new promotions and had to reset? What fuels Cruise Montana? Oh, well, one of the things, obviously, my daughter is my biggest motivation, right?
She's, I mean, she fuels me every day. Also, my pops used to always tell me the top of one mountain is the bottom of another.
So there's always more time. There's always more to climb, there's always more to do. I'm just very goal-oriented as a person, and I always feel like there's more to accomplish. That fuels me. And also, I'm still a New York City boy.
I'm still in the BX. You know, I'm in the thick of things, bro. Like, so seeing, still being like, I live in a nice place, right? I live in a nice apartment. I live in a nice building, but two blocks away, I'm in the gutter.
I'm in the hood. You know what I mean?
So just being immersed in that and still being able to walk the same streets that I've walked since I was a kid, still being able to. You know, see that struggle, see that grind, and still be immersed in that. That's what keeps me going. That keeps me hungry because I feel like. I come to work every day.
And I approach every match like my fridge is still empty. And we're here to work. My daughter's always gonna eat. You know what I mean?
So I think for me, it's just like. Those are the things that I always tell myself. Also, when I'm getting ready for a match and I'm standing wherever I'm standing before my entrance, I think of everything that I've gone through. Whether it's good, bad, it doesn't matter. I think of all that, and that's what fuels me.
You know what I mean?
And I stay hungry. I feel like me. leaving New York City and leaving that. That concrete jungle and that environment. I'm scared because I feel like I'm going to lose my edge, and I don't want to lose my edge.
You know what I mean?
So Cruz, take us through your schedule, right? Because we know everyone, the majority of people, NXTs in Orlando, majority of people, they relocate.
Now, you're saying you're still in New York.
So just give us an idea of what your weekly schedule is like.
So I hit the road on Mondays. Monday morning. I get to Orlando.
Sometimes I'll Go to training.
Sometimes I have, you know, pre-tapes or media or whatever it is they need me to do. Then Tuesday, we have TVs. We're at TVs all day. We get that done. Wednesday, I go back to the PC.
I train. I get in the mix with everybody. I try to build that camaraderie with the group. You know what I mean?
And learn as much as possible. Because that's one thing about the professional wrestling business is that we're always learning, right? That's the beauty of it. And I love to continue learning because wrestling is always changing.
So, and plus, there's amazing minds here. If you're not taking, if you're here and you're not taking advantage of the minds that are at that PC, then you. You ain't doing it right. And so, yeah, Wednesdays I do that. And then Wednesday late afternoon, I fly back home.
And I'm dad. And I'm Boppy. When I get home, you know, and I got my schedule and my routine when I get home. I'm constantly in the gym. I'm constantly eating right.
I'm, you know, I'm studying tape if I need to, when I need to, and then it's right back at it. You know, I try to juggle being who I am on the road and being who I am at home as much as I could. Keep it going. Like, I feel like I've Been doing this for so long. I've found like a groove.
Yeah, I found a routine and a groove that it just works for me. You know, like. I don't sleep too too much, but I'll sleep when when the time comes, you know what I mean? Oh. Yeah, TJ, that's the one thing about sleep.
It'll make your ass get in the car. And plus, and you guys both, as you know, like, you know, you're girl dads.
So you both understand I don't have kids, unfortunately.
Well,. But You know, so my time is kind of my time, but I understand that you guys, you know, in addition to your careers, you have to put that time aside because you've got this little one who's looking up to you and, you know, and you got to make sure that you're feeding her, you know, not just the food-wise, but you know, the mentals and everything else that comes with. being a great father.
So I, you know, I admire both of you for. You know, making sure that both sides of manhood right there are taken care of, if that makes sense. Yeah, and I mean, I take a lot of pride in that, man. Like, I've been thankful, I've said this before, I've been so blessed in my career that I've been able to do this full-time at a high level for so long, but also still be a full-time dad and still be present and still be there to watch my daughter grow up. Because that was one of my biggest fears when I became a father: how am I going to.
Juggle. Of these things because obviously, as you know, like this business is so demanding of you, and it could be very selfish at times, right? Um, but thankfully, I've been blessed to be able to do both, and thankfully, I have a very supportive family as well. Um you know, we all it's it's a team, right? But I I pull my weight and I do my work and um We make it happen.
That's what's up. Yeah man, one band, one south.
Now uh Talk to us about what really Is the difference, you know, the WWE difference on this side? Have you been, have you experienced it yet where you're like, oh man, they, you know, how they do things over here is a new program for you at all?
Well, I think Know, I started coming to NXT I think last year, right? Like, I started coming last year, so right away, the very first day, I'm very observant of my surroundings, right?
So, I like to. Uh I guess sit outside of the setting and just observe everything that's moving around me. And uh yeah, I've always been that way. And um that very first day, it was May 25th, I think, and we were uh it was Battleground. It was like their big show.
And I remember sitting in the stands and just watching how the machine runs. And it was that moment that I made the realization, like, yo, this is the WWE for a reason. Everything is super structured. Everything is very. To the T.
you know um and i love that i love routine and i love structure That's one of the biggest things about the WWE, aside from everywhere else that I've been. There's a lot of structure here. Everything. We it's a TV show. Right, so it's treated as such, and we got to make sure that all the cameras see everything, and we're trying to convey that emotion through the screens and just everything, and I and I love that, and just me in general, I love a new learning experience, right?
But for me, as far as what I've observed during my time before and even now being immersed in it, is structure. It's it's a well-oiled machine for a reason. And uh I love it, man. And I love to adapt. That's just how it is, too.
You know what I mean?
You want to be able to work anywhere, and I love it. Let's see. I've been telling my dad, I've been telling my dad, sorry, TJ, but while the match is going on, What people don't know is that It is a NASCAR crew happening around the ring constantly, you know, and they are on it, they are, you know, a well-oiled machine to make sure they get every angle that there's not. A spot missed that there is not, you know, it's in timing and everything like that. It is a big.
And then my body actually cuts off. There's a constant communication. I feel like everyone has an earpiece. Everyone's talking. Everyone is talking.
Everyone's communicating. Everybody's making. And then it's beautiful. It's great. Communication is key, right?
Especially when you're doing something like that, 'cause you know god forbid someone gets hurt Boom. You know, everyone's on it, right? You know, if there's something. Yeah, so communication, especially when you're making a TV show, is vital. The cord guy, the cord guy who'll be holding the cord for the cameras, that's the MVP, bro.
My man's wrangling, wrangling cords, like you know, that ass, that ass. Let's talk about the name, though, you know, because that was something that was different. You know, the overall presentation, I feel like you're the guy that I've come to know and come to watch. But the only thing really that seemed to change so much is the name. We obviously know that when you move companies, that tends to happen.
So I know you probably talked about it, but not with us.
So let's talk about how Cruz Montana came into play.
So I had I had made it known that Cruise Montana was pretty much a name that I put together to honor my father. One of the things that my father and I we connected with and bonded with was music and movies.
Okay. That was our thing. Like every time we chilled, every time we hung out, we listened to music, we watched movies. And one of our very favorite movies to watch together that I watched. He showed it to me when I was like 10 years old.
And I remember sitting, he was like, You're not supposed to watch this movie, but you're going to watch this movie because there's a lot of things you can learn from it. And the movie was Blood In, Blood Out. Oh, okay. Right? Oh, good classic.
Yep. It's a whole classic, right?
So, I should have been watching it at 10 years old, better. But yeah, you know, we Puerto Rican, we get busy differently, anyways. Uh, so uh, yeah, you know, in that movie, there's two characters: there's Crucito Cruz, which is one of the cousins, and then there's Montana, which is one of the high, like, he's pretty much the shot collar OG for the Mexican gang in the jail, right? And San Quentin. And the reason why I chose these names.
specifically was cruise If you remember, throughout the movie, you know, he gets hurt, he gets addicted to drugs, he loses everything, he loses his family, everyone turns their back on him, he loses a lot of his art opportunities and stuff like that. And then throughout the movie, he starts little by little gaining those things back. Right, and he starts getting his family back, he starts, you know, getting back into his art. uh you know and things like that so I almost had a connection to that with my own life, right? I dealt with the addiction thing, I dealt with, you know.
Possibly losing my family, possibly, you know, and I could have lost my career. And little by little, I did the work, I went to rehab, I got myself right, and I gained all those things back. And then Montana, Montana was the shot caller in the jail, and he was. Uh very like Inspirational and always wanting the betterment of his people and wanting to change perception of Latinos in the jail system and wanting us to get educated and get out of jail and do better for ourselves and things like that. Yeah, so I in that I feel like Is what I represent.
You know what I mean?
And I put those two characters that I connected with on a personal level together. Here we are, Cruise Montana. Yeah, man, that uh I definitely saw that movie when I shouldn't have either. You know, shout out to the homie Chris Parr and the homie Chris Parr showed me that one. Them dropping that dude on that fire hydrant.
Anyway. That's a crazy scene. Dude, I was like, oh man, like, this is wild. That reminded me, like, years ago, waking up in the middle of the night when I was a kid. My dad was in the living room watching a movie, and I can remember, you know, going out there.
I was probably like four or five. I don't know why I could still remember this, but I remember he's watching this movie, and I saw this dude get his nose cut, and it stuck with me my entire adult life until about. 10, 15 years ago, where I actually Googled it and found out that the movie that we were watching was Chinatown. And that was the part where Jack Nicholson got his nose slit. And And I didn't know Jack Nicholson at that time.
I didn't know Chinatown, but that one thing stuck in my brain.
So, yeah, I was like, I probably shouldn't be watching this. Yeah, trauma will do that to you. 100%. Yeah. But yeah, but it also reminded me in um in Juice when Rodaman's cut.
Pac, and he was like, You remember Chinatown when he had the knuckle? Remember that? And when they caught him in the alley, and he was like, You remember Chinatown? Yeah, so got you, got you.
Now, you know, you you obviously uh We've made some waves coming in. Came in a little hot. Uh for NXT. Uh is there anybody that you kinda have felt some great chemistry with in the squared circle so far where you like Aw man, we'll We gonna have some history after all this is said and done. Here at while being at NXT?
Yeah, it's just a feeling. Yeah, so definitely Grayson Waller. Like, I feel like we had that one match and. There was instant chemistry there. I think because we both have son to prove constantly, and we're both, you know, we're both pretty much fighting for the same thing.
We're fighting for ourselves, and we, you know, we're here to represent, you know, and. And we both like to hit hard. Cause I remember like I was like, yo, I'm. I'm gonna come at you as hard as possible and I expect nothing less in return.
So Uh, and I'm glad that's that's what we delivered, and um, yeah, so the chemistry was there, we had a good one, um. Also I think Tony D and I, like, we definitely gonna have some history for sure. We did a road loop of house shows recently, and we all got to work with each other, and there was definitely instant chemistry there. But yeah, so far, those are the main two that I've gotten to work with, and that I feel some kind of chemistry with. But again, like.
I've always said like I I like to adapt right with whoever I'm working with.
So I like to challenge myself and whoever I get in there with, like You better come as hard as I'm gonna come at you. You know what I mean?
So. Uh yeah. You know, speaking of Grayson, the word, the phrase pipe bomb, I don't know. I don't want to get to the point where it gets overused. But when Grayson came back to NXT, he dropped a bomb and it got a lot of people caught in their feelings in that NXT locker room, bro.
So tell me, what was your response when he came out? Hey, he ain't talking about me. I just died here, man. Nah, I was, like, like you said, a lot of people got in their feelings, and I was like, good. That was the purpose.
If that didn't light a fire under your ass, then I don't know what you're going to do, babe. You know what I mean?
Like, there was a lot of dudes that were, you know, snickering and talking or whatever. And I approached them myself, and I was like, so what are you going to do about it? Are you going to prove them wrong? Are you going to prove them right? Right.
So and for me personally, I was like I don't like to talk. I'm always going to do my talking out there.
So, you already know, like, you know, it is what it is. My history and my accolades and all these things, you know, I'm a humble dude, but they all speak for themselves, man. I've been doing this a long time and I've been blessed to do some amazing things and accomplish amazing things. And, um, Yeah, I'm here now. You know?
Bro, them Aussie's them Aussies, bro, they like to hit, bro. Oh, yeah. No, it's all nah, but I said like him coming in, and it was like a combination. I feel like everyone is talking about NXT right now. Because the combination of me coming in, like you said, lit a fire, him coming in, dropping that verbiage.
caught fire, then you had Zilla come in. Boom. It was like I felt like we just created a perfect storm. right now and um Yeah, we're gonna hit. We're gonna hit.
I'm excited. I'm looking forward to Sunday. Heat wave is gonna be crazy. Like, I feel like heat wave. For me personally is the start of a new era for NXT.
Yeah, it does seem like NXT every few years has that changing of the guard almost that the new NXT and NXT heat wave. This is Sunday, August the 30th, out of Edinburgh, Texas. And you will be challenging for the NXT Championship against the champion, Tony D'Angelo. The man we just spoke about, Grayson Waller, and the newcomer, 10XT, Zillafa2, who claims he's the main one, but I got a feeling that you don't think he's the main one. I think you're going to go out there and try to prove that you're the main one.
Whoops some ass. I mean, you know, like. Again, I've always done my talking in the ring. Like I said, even last night, I said it. I was like, everybody here to talk.
I'm here to throw hands. Yeah, I want to bring that up. I want to bring that up. That was security guards didn't do nothing to you, man. Yo, they were in the way.
Listen, I said it. Like, when I said throw hand. I was talking about whoever's in front of me. It didn't matter. It's on site.
But again, like going back to HeatWave, man, like HeatWave is definitely going to be the... The start of a new era for NXT. And the fact that I'm one of the guys on the forefront, and one of the guys that, like, I'm gonna take a lot of pride in putting this brand on my back. The same thing that I did with TNA. is the same kind of work, if not more, that I'm going to put in here.
And I'm excited. And, you know, again, you got three other guys who are hungry, who are passionate, and who are coming to work. And you can't ask for anything better than that. The difference I I think, you know. not to downplay any of them, but When I look at things, I feel like I'm the guy coming in with the most experience.
I've been, you know, wrestling on television for the last 10 years. I got almost 20 years in the game as a whole. You know, I've I feel like I'm coming in, and not and not to say that that's something that I'm. I'm resting on if anything is making me work even harder. You know what I mean?
And like, I'm excited, and it's going to be good. And Everybody needs to, and not just that match, the whole card, bro. Like the whole day. I feel like the whole day, right? But heat wave, I think we're gonna we're gonna.
knock the b the ball out the park and w we're gonna kill everybody. You talked a little bit about Grayson already. Let's talk about the other two guys in the match. Like. Let's talk about the champ, Tony D'Angelo, man.
What are your thoughts on him? As he's had the belt for a few months, and he's another guy who's a friend of the show here. We're friends and fans of Tony, man. What are your thoughts about him professionally? I think he's done a great job at carrying the brand.
I think he's done a great job. I mean, he's been here at NXT for a while. He said it last night. He's the only in. First ever Grand Slam champion.
Like Those are accolades that. You have to give props to. Right.
And there's a man on the main roster that people are looking at as the next. big thing and Tony's got to win over that man. I think he also pointed out in Rhino Buffemi.
So. Right, right. And, you know, he's done great for himself, and he's going to continue to do great. I have no doubt about that. And uh as far as Zilla goes, He made a heck of an entrance.
100%. But he's definitely an interesting one, right? Because a lot of people are looking at him and they're like, oh, you know, he's privileged, right? He's got a last name. He's got this.
He's got that. And I hope he's he's taken that. as something to to recognize as something that like you better put in work. And represent yourself. Don't coast on the name, don't coast on your background, none of that.
Like, this is a fresh start, and I hope he. He keeps that in mind, you know what I mean. But do you guys think he does know that? Because look, he could have. Sign with a big Company years ago, right?
Because of the name. But it seemed like, you know, he did his due diligence. He grinded on the indies. You know, he put in the work. And I think that that's.
I know something that you have to tip your hat to Zillow because he could have just tried to jump in to NXT or WWE right off the bat, but he put in the work. And I was on the indies with him. I was watching him on the indies. We did a lot of the same shows, and I was, you know, I always keep my ear to the ground.
So I definitely saw him out there grinding, and he was paying his dues, and he was putting in work. And I hope he continues to do that. I hope he doesn't think that just coming here is anything different. And and I think you know Zilla's a smart dude. And I think he's gonna do really well.
But Again, we There's four guys in there that are just as equally as hungry. And I mean We we coming at each other harder than ever, man. Like, it's it's it's gonna be crazy.
Now In CW, all right, no contest wrestling. We have been. Especially early in our podcast year. We were the hub for NST. And I tell people a lot: you know, when you start to feel.
Raw and SmackDown are kind of going into the same groove every week. That's when you need to start paying attention to NXT because they're trying to steal the torch from the main roster. When you're going into. A fatal four-way. First of all, what's that like?
But when you all know. We gotta shut it down. We gotta not only prove. Ourselves But Show people that the new class of NXT is here. What goes into your mind?
Is there communication amongst each other? Or is it kind of like a nod of just like, you know, I'm about to go hard? Like, what what where's the mindset? I think for me Again, I'm I'm not a man of many words, man. For me, you just want to, yeah, for me, it definitely is definitely a nod.
And that's me telling you everything that I need to tell you. You know what I mean?
Like, again, there's four guys going in there with Son and Proof. And at the end of the day, Yes. We are going to make sure with everything in our power that this is the match that's talked about. coming out of Sunday and for the whole weekend and going forward. We want this match.
to be the springboard and catalyst to why people start All right, now NXT is appointment television. Like, we need to tune in every Tuesday to see what's going to pop off and who's going to show up and what matches are going to happen. And we got the talent to do it. You know what I mean?
Like there's there's a a whole roster full of Hungry guys and girls that are ready and willing to shut it down. And I'm gonna say this. I'm going into Sunday with everything that I've got. Everybody else coming after that, or everybody else that That is behind us, or whatever, they better step it up. They better step it up.
This whole place. And that and I think that we're all going in there with that purpose for sure. I was going to say, talk to us about what the headlines are going to read. after heat wave and also Talk to us about what the NXT Championship with symbolized for Cruise Montane. For me, the NXT Championship, man, just.
You guys know you guys are wrestling guys, man. Like, has a lot of history. Oh yeah. It holds a lot of weight.
Some of the greatest names You know, today, yesterday, whatever, some of the greatest names have held that title. Absolutely. Me personally, I have the experience of being a world champion with a company and holding a title that has that same kind of lineage.
So Again The same fire and the same fight and the same motivation that brought me to the TNA title. is what I'm going to use to bring me to the NXT title. And that for me is going to symbolize the true beginning of that Cruz Montana era for sure. And remember, you can watch NXT through CW Sports on the ESPN app, which is where you find us. And, you know, really good, some really good matches on this card cruise.
We got, if we could just go down them real quick, we got a submission match between Natty and Jada Parker. We got a unification match, the Women's North American and Speed Championship, where we have Zarya against Ren Sinclair, against Callie Armstrong. North American Championship, Miles Bourne is taking on Jackson Drake. NXT Tag Team Championships. Miles is going to have double duty.
Yes, he is. He and Tavion Heights taking on a vanity project. And then we have your NXT Championship match and then the NXT Women's Championship between Kendall Gray and Kalani Jordan.
So just to take your match out, like, What are some of the matches you're looking for as a fan to seeing? on heat. Like who are you looking forward to seeing get busy in that ring? Yo, Kendo and Kalani are going to shut it down. We already know that.
Man, who are you telling? Yeah, they already had one. They've been throwing daggers at each other.
So that's definitely going to be good. Also, that triple threat for the unification. Happy Wednesday. Yep. Wren and Daria and Callie, they're going to kill it.
That is going to be amazing. Yo, Callie has improved so much from what I've seen. Inglewood. Inglewood always looks so good. And.
Man, I'm interested to see Miles Bourne pull that double duty. I think that's going to be a true test for him. And getting through that, I hope that. He looks at it as an accomplishment and something that he proves to himself: like, all right, I'm ready to go. Yeah.
Yeah, looking forward to it. Hey, hey, we've seen Vacare do double duty, man. You can do it, bro. Go ahead and get out there, dog. Also, Cruz, one thing, man.
You're up in the Bronx, you're up in New York. What was it like to have the New York Knickerbockers win the NBA champion? I'm assuming you're a Knicks fan. I'm assuming you are.
So, we've been 53 years.
So, I. Haven't seen the city that hype. Ever And that crazy in a long time. I think the last time that I could remember being alive and seeing the city that crazy was. I think Subway Series 2000.
Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yankees. I remember thick. I remember my father went to that game. We were living at the time, we were living in Harlem.
We were right across the 145th Bridge. And I remember walking with him to game. I forgot what game it was, but walking with him to the and it was insane. Like the streets were so packed. And that was one of the game, like one of the series where all the celebrities were there.
It was just big for the city. And it was just wild. But that's the last time I could remember the city being that hype and that crazy. And there you go, man. Like, what an amazing moment.
But the way the city showed up and showed out for these Knicks the entire playoffs, it was like, you know, I'm a Sixers fan, right?
So, but even so, I was still caught up because, you know, the thing about New York is we love LA. I love New York. I love LA. But, you know, LA's had its championships, baseball, basketball more recently. Yeah, we have.
But, you know, Lakers super fan of it. But there's something when New York City, man, when New York City is winning and people are feeling themselves, there's nothing like it. And that's, you know, respect to any other city, even Los Angeles. But what I witnessed. From the New York fans in that city throughout that entire run.
And then when you actually won it in that parade, I mean, there's no other place on earth that could have. had this type of uh of response. To their team winning. And I thought it was just amazing, man. I can't imagine what it felt like to be there.
No better story could have been written, man. Like... They so nice, you say it twice: New York, New York, baby. You know what I mean?
Like, it was, it was, it was crazy, and uh, I avoided going to the city at all costs. I stood my ass uptown, yeah, probably smart. Yo, there was no, there was no way, babe. Like, I was like, yo, wilding ain't the worst, babe. Like, I so every Sunday, I drive down to the LES to look, you know, to check on my grandparents and spend time with them or whatever.
And Yo, during that game time, there were some Sundays that I was like.
Something like FaceTime, Grandpa and Grandpa. I tried to think of all the other routes that I could take to get down there because traffic was crazy, all the streets were crazy. Nah, but it was a beautiful thing to see. And again, just winning and having the city come together like that, man, is a beautiful thing. Nice.
My man Cruz, bro, we gotta let you go, man. It's always great talking. Oh, oh, one more, one more. What's it like? Because the NXT crowd is a very intimate crowd.
And when they, it's just certain ones that they choose to kind of add a little bit more flavor to their entrance that cruise Montana. Tell me what's that. How did that feel first time hearing that? Yo, it was it was dope, obviously, because everybody was, I feel like. They were a little skeptic of the name at first, right?
And everybody was trying to come at the name, and then I was like, Yo, y'all gotta be easy a little bit. All right, first when they find out the backstory, right? Until they find out the backstory, everybody's like pushing back, and it was like, Oh, I didn't mean you know, yo, shut up, yeah, yeah, first of all, that name is dope anyway, man. Who's Montana? That's hard as hell.
I appreciate it. Nah, but then when the crowd started like singing it, I think it was like a week or two ago, or whatever. I was like, it caught me off guard. I was like, oh, all right. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So, I mean, you know, s I again, like. Wrestling fans are great, man. Like, you know, whether you cheer, you boo, you, that's what you're there for, right? But. Since I started coming over to NXT, man, they've showed me love since day one.
And that's something that like That's I I wasn't even from here. You know what I mean?
And the fact that I came here in that very first match, I came out and had that match with Tavion. Um, the crowd was lit. The crowd was lit, and I was like, it caught me by surprise. I was like, damn, man, like, I ain't even. One of your people's, and you treated me like I was one of yours, you know what I mean?
And they just welcomed me, and I think that's just a testament to the passion that I put in and that I give out and that energy, and they just. Gave it right back. And I'm thankful, man. Like, it's pretty cool. You most definitely are one of their peoples, my brother.
Don't get that twisted. Absolutely. And you're definitely one of ours. No doubt. Back for the second time, but technically the first cruise from Montana, man.
Appreciate it. Remember, man. This Sunday, August the 30th, Edinburgh, Texas, NXT Heat Wave. Our man Cruz Montana will take on Grayson Waller, Zillafod 2, and... The NXT champion Tony D'Angelo in a big title match.
Failure is not an option. Failure is not. Let's go. Yo, I'm walking on NXT Champ. I'm calling it right now.
It's a rap. That's what's up. Bruce Montana. Cruise Montana, man. Cruise Montana.
The name is, I'm mad because I know that movie. I know that movie. It never made that connection. I didn't either. But he made me want to re-watch.
So at some point before our next episode, I think I'm going to re-watch Blood In, Blood Out because I haven't seen it. Yeah, bro. It's like somebody coming out named Smokey Craig. And you're like, why is your name Smokey Craig? And then he's like, duh.
Yeah, man. Damn. Ezeldibo. What? Yeah.
Yeah, man. And it pisses me off that I didn't put that together. That's yeah, when they dropped old boy on that fire hydrant, I was like, yo. I never looked at him the same again. Simmons look that fire like So let's get caught up a little bit on some of the wrestling because we don't want to keep everybody late long today, but.
SmackDown! Last week, man, there was some big things happened. The MFTs defeated Truth and Priest in the Tag Team Championship rematch. Let's just talk about are they still the MFTs? Yeah, they still call them that, which I thought was weird.
But yeah, as far as I'm aware, yeah. But let's talk about this. 54 years young, our truth is still out there moving like a man half of his age. You know, I know a few, I guess it was a year ago now when the word came through that truth wasn't, his contract wasn't going to get renegotiated or whatever. But I think I may mention this one or two episodes ago.
Like, everyone loves to talk about who's not defending championships instead of who is. I mentioned Penta before Chad Gable beat him, and then also R-Truth and Priest, man. They've been defending those tag team championships. Um, lost them to the MFTs and then My point being, though, our truth, right? I started to say this and I got away.
I don't know how you don't keep our truth around because he's someone that everyone loves. I can't imagine them. Losing our truth is what I'm saying. Even if. You think from an in-ring perspective, like the work has gone down, which I don't think it has.
If you've watched in the last few weeks, first of all, no one, our truth ages differently than I think anyone else on earth. Like, with all that spirit, whatever it is, dog. But, like, that is our truth, is still cut, shredded, ripped, can still do the things, you know, doing dives out of the ring and things.
So. I just don't see how, if I'm running that company, I don't ever want to lose our truth because one, the comedic sensibility, the fact that everyone loves him, the fact that he can. Help these up-and-coming superstars. He just seems like the type of person that you would want in the fold. Am I off?
With this, no, absolutely not. And then when you got when you got wrong having Danhausen. And then you can have SmackDown having truth. You got comedy covered on both shows. And we know that that's whether you like it or not, that is a big part of the wrestling.
And it's always good to give them a little bit of time, a little bit of shine. I think maybe Dan Hausen, I think a lot of people are like, he's just everywhere too much, but it is what it is. If you're hot right now, then you've got to play that hot hand. WWE, stop making money. Like, just human money.
It's not gonna, yeah, it's not gonna happen, dog. And when you got both of them, uh, you know, maybe eventually at a survivor series or something, we can get a little bit of truth housing. Yeah, you know, some R housing. That's really necessary, right? But they gotta, they gotta cross paths one time.
Got to, maybe even more than once. But then, you know, the other thing is having the great Haku back in the mix, right? Because if you've watched the No Contest Wrestling Podcast, you know. If we've had Hawk question. Yeah, if we've had a hundred, and which we haven't yet, but if we've asked a hundred people who's in their bar fight crew, I think Haku's been named at least 85% of the time.
So. There's a lot of group of people who probably never even saw Haku, right?
So now to see him come out with his sons kind of adds that legitimacy to this team. Look, man, you got a seven-foot-tall a tonguea, bro. Like, I've said this before, you got to do something with the man. And I think they're on the right path right now. Um, so yeah, the NFTs, we're going to see where them and Haku can go.
We almost had a Blake Monroe match between her and Julia, but uh, she attacked her before the Blake still doesn't have a match. And I tell you what, I could spend about an hour here wondering why that is and what are we doing here with Blake Monroe, but I digress. But I think everyone gets it. Last legend defeated Tiffany Stratton. And then the main event, we had CM Punk and Kevin Owens.
And I think that match gave us everything that we wanted, right? Listen, man, there is... You know, there's Def Taxes and Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, right? Like those two are just like. How I used to feel about Bailey and Sasha.
Like, it's just like. How long are we going to get along? Before we not getting along no more. Yeah, it ain't gonna be a good time. It ain't gonna be a long time, and you know that.
Yes, wrestling soulmates. And everybody has something to say about the finish. But like, this is what I be talking about when. If it was up to some wrestling fans, boy, that title would be such a hot potato. It's like, oh, he's from this city.
He should win it. Oh, it's funny you say that, though. Yeah, but like, I mean like, come on, dog. I know the I know punk just Literally got it. in Chicago That does not mean that KO is watching get it just because it's in Toronto.
Right.
Like, we can't do that. Like, that. What's a better, what's a deader giveaway than that? Dead giveaway. Yeah, so now it can cook into something more KO with his wrestling soulmate who's gonna put on great matches and at the same time not hurt his friend.
It's going to be okay. And it looked like Owens was getting 20 years of frustration out on Punk in the beginning of that match. The way he pie-faced him at the beginning, those two looked like they were really going at it, though. Again, I was here. I was like, yo, Phil is a.
Hmm. Let him get a lot off. This feels very personal, man. But they did, man. You know, you got two of the greats of all time, Owens and Punk, and they went out there and put on a great match, strong performance.
Um I don't think that I don't know if that have they really had a singles match against each other? I'm gonna have to go back and look at that, but like their styles worked. They complemented each other. Um And then Sammy shows up, tries to help KO. KO doesn't want to help, to which Sammy, you know.
Hits him in the head with the title. Costs him. And then everyone's booing Sammy. But let's not forget: how many times has Kevin Owens turned on Sammy Zayn? Like, come on.
So, the one time Sammy decides to get some get back. But, yeah. But yeah, it helped to protect Owens. You know, Punk is still the champion.
Now we're going to see, we're probably going to get a fatal through. The uh A three-way match? There is no fatal three-way. I don't know what I was just talking about. A triple threat.
I can think of a few. But yeah, that was a great match. I thought it was a great match. And it was awesome. And, you know, and also whenever you try to do a shot, wherever you put a sharpshooter on in Canada, that's a cheat code right there.
Of course, everyone's going to pop for you.
So, yeah, so that was SmackDown. And then also, I want to bring up, Haku for sure dropped the MF bomb. Didn't it seem like he said that? I'm good. And they didn't beep him, right?
I'm right. I heard him say mother because I now that you bring it up, I was like, did he and then I went, nah, he didn't say that because they would have beefed it. But I'm glad you said it because now, yeah, we both heard the same thing, didn't we? He dropped an MF bomb on the USA network. But yeah, so look, like I said, having Haku in the mix is great.
And that's one thing that I've always kind of said. I wish the WWE would do a better job of honoring their legends, you know, bringing them. You got all this TV time, man. And if you're going to have three hours of TV and only three or four matches, then why not? Give me Haku.
Give me some of these other legends that are still around that, especially like for the older fans, we can look at and say, yeah, that guy right there. And for the knowledge that they can pass along to the next generation. I don't really know how Haku could pass. It's like this. Larry Fitzgerald was doing his Hall of Fame introduction speech and he talked about Randy Moss.
And someone asked him, you know, because Larry used to be a ball boy for the Vikings when he was a teenager. And they said, what did you learn from Randy Moss? And he goes, nothing. He goes, What could Randy Moss teach me? I can't do anything that Randy Moss does, you know.
And that's true. Randy Moss was the freak.
So you can't, yeah, what did I do?
Well, I just ran down there and I jumped over four guys and caught the ball with one hand. Like, nobody can do that. Same thing with Haku. I was like, you can pass some type of knowledge, but really, when you're like. One of the, if not the toughest man of all time in wrestling.
Really, can you teach? You can't teach somebody to be able to take a punch in the jaw and just smile at somebody. You know what I mean?
Yeah, like, man.
So when you want to rip a throat out, but when you dig somebody's eye out, Haku, when you bite somebody's nose, yeah, yeah, so yeah, but it's good, like I said, it's great to see because especially for fans of this show, friends of this show, because his name gets mentioned so much that I'm sure, like I said, a lot of people probably never saw Haku. how they get to see him and That's awesome. And then, you know, wouldn't it be funny if when we finally have Haku on and we ask him the bar-fight question and we say, you know, pick a team of four other superstars to get you to the car. And he would just be like, I don't know. I'll be all right.
I'm good, brother. And then Monday, Raw came around and I immediately, I forgot the Raw started at three, so I didn't start watching until later, but I immediately tweeted out Stephanie against Roxanne. Leave me alone. Like, nobody bother me. All right.
Yeah. Stephanie the You had just brought up that same match to me. In the DMs, you were like, oh, right, you know, yeah, and then bam, raw had it. That was crazy. That was serendipitous on your part.
So good to see Stephanie back, you know. Um. Her and Roxanne and and you know I've for months and months said don't worry Roxanne's gonna be fine. She's gonna be fine. Roxanne, I just saw a stat is like two and twenty-one her last twenty four matches.
Listen. What's going on? I don't. I don't. You know we're Roxanne Perez fans here.
I don't like this. And I think the only way to make this right Is when that contract is placed in a Halliburton briefcase, and that Halliburton briefcase is hooked up to a rope and it gets raised, I don't know. 20 feet above a ring, and then six women get in the ring and all try to climb a ladder and fight for it. I think the only thing right is. having Roxanne Perez be the one who grabs that.
That briefcase is all I'm saying. Tyrese Halliburton be making the briefcases? That's what they used to call them: Halliburton briefcases. Regardless of him, because what else? What are we?
Roxanne is far too talented, and I get it. You got to look at it from two ways. One way is: okay, she's on TV every single week, right? And she's got a match. That helps with the paychecks, right?
But as wrestling fans, as Roxanne fans, it's just like, I can't keep seeing her. Take do the job for everybody.
Now, this is Stephanie McCare. This is, there's no shame in losing to La Primera. And it was good to see the devil's kiss again after so long. But Stephanie's going to be fine for sure. We know that.
I always said Roxanne's going to be fine, but we really need. We need to change some things up here with Roxanne. How you feel about Roxanne is how I feel about Julio.
Okay. She was United States champion. And now she can't get a dub?
Well, at least she got a ta well, Roxanne was tag team champion too, so. Yeah, it's just, I don't know, man. And then you got other people coming out, injuring superstars. I'm like, you know, I don't want to start nothing. Yeah, man.
But yeah, we'll see. But anyway, let's keep going on. Ray Phoenix against Dragon Lee. Hello. Come on now, man.
Come on. That was a banger, right? That was a fun, fun, fun match. Um Bro, it was so, like, it was so. First of all, I was like, about time they had these two go at it because, like, I've always just felt like.
Like they're they're Ken and Ryu. Like I'm sure there's some fan You're talking street fighter. Street fighter. Right, right, right. Yeah, you know, Kennon right here.
You know, Kennen right here. Almost got the same gear, almost got the same moves, but it's a little tweaked. And like, you know. I've just been waiting for these two to scrap and boy. Man, I was on Twitter like, yo, they're going crazy on Raw right now, bro.
They was hooping. Like, it was good. It was insane and for Ottawa to be so into it. It was undeniable, TJ. It was undeniable.
That was a hell of a match. And uh yeah. We want more of it. Yeah, so what else we got here? And then Oba Femi and Braun Breaker had their contract signing.
You know, we we didn't talk about Oba kind of code switching last week when he imitated Braun. And then this week he called him an orange man. And The funny thing is, Braun looked less orange. Braun looked less orange this week than he ever. And so, you know, but yeah, they got a little brawl going on.
And so that was interesting to see. And so we're going to get those two at Saturday/slash Sunday night's main event coming up. Where I'm just going to go out and say it, I think. Maybe Braun's gotta go over? First time maybe?
Kinda has to. Kind of? Because if he doesn't, kinda has to. He kinda has to. Because then what the hell is the point of it?
Right.
But yeah, we know he's been obsessed with Oba the last few weeks. He, like you famously said, you're Gabby Douglas. Um Comparison Gabby Douglas to Simone Biles, but yeah, Braun's still going to be that guy, but I Feel like maybe he's got to get that dub over Oba. If Oba gets that dub, and obviously, it'll probably be. you know, some some tomfoolery.
going on but it's gotta be tomfoolery Cause like Where do you go? Like the future versus the future. of the past. Like it is. I don't know, man.
But I love what you said. I love what you said right there. I don't know. That's the great thing, right?
So many times things get ruined, or we can kind of see we have a clear eye view of what's going to happen here. We don't. And that's. Yeah, that's a good idea. I'm fine with that.
Yeah, I'm fine with that. Big Cass defeat Javon Evans. Look, big cash. has looked Physically imposing, look like he's in great shape. He's, you know, he's been doing this thing.
Javon's getting a little bit nastier, which I like, right? He's getting a little bit meaner. He's getting a little bit more ornery. These are all the things that need to help the evolution of this Javon Evans character.
So I like the route Javon's taking. You know, he's seven feet tall. Hard to beat a seven-foot-tall man.
So. But Javon is doing his thing, but yeah, I do like him a little grittier. I hate to say. But it's not it's not about what you say, it's about how you say it. Um Maybe.
If Kevin Nash would have just said, I wish he was a little grittier. and not call the man Mr. Bojangles, it wouldn't seem so bad. But like, I do like the grittier Javon, but maybe don't say shit like that. I will give, based upon what I know about Nash, I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say that that was just a, you know.
That was a misspeaking. I don't even know if that's. He was just the happiest black guy I knew. But I'll say, I don't think Nash meant it that way. He said it, but I don't think he meant it that way.
But regardless, Penta. defeated La Parka. And we're finally going to get it. We're finally going to see them in the ring together. The World Heavyweight Title number one contenders tournament is now going to be.
Hmm. Brother versus brother. We've never seen them in the ring again, not even at Rumbles.
Well, they have gone one-on-one before in other places, just not here. Yeah, that don't count. You know how WWE is.
Well, that does count. It does count. Black Santana don't even exist before. But yeah, man.
And you know, you mentioned something, Shay, and I'm going to give a creative liberty here, right? You mentioned something about someone doesn't always have to win a title in their hometown, but what if? Because I think Penta's gonna beat his little brother. And is going to set up the title match on Raw against Roman Reign in Mexico City. What if?
Would they? Could they? Could you imagine? It'll pop. If Penta In Mexico.
or the feet Or to defeat Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship. Wrestling is about moment, Shay, right? We all know this. We've seen people win title matches in their own cities, but imagine doing it in a country, an entire country behind you. This wouldn't hurt Roman Reigns.
This wouldn't hurt the bloodline. If you want to be like, all right, we'll flip it back to him next week, whatever. But just imagine the sounds and what it would mean in Mexico. If Penta were to get that three and win that belt. I'm gonna say it like this.
It would be a long gone for If he was going for the if for Punks belt. I think about it as a possibility. Not to say that, like, Punk can just be beaten by Pinto more than Roman. I'm just saying Phil would agree to that more than Joe. I don't know, dog.
I'm just saying, just imagine, imagine if you will. The scene is in Mexico. It would be crazy. It would be one of the biggest moments in the history, Shay, of professional, not just WWE, the history of professional wrestling. Dog, they would make a Pixar animated movie about it.
All right. Crazy. I'm not saying it's gonna happen, but I'm just saying imagine possibilities. If that were to happen, Mexico. Oh my goodness, man.
Like I'm almost talking myself into wanting it to happen. Because again, Romans on the plane. Like we talked about, Mike, if you thought that Cruz Montana didn't want to travel down to the lower east side, imagine trying to get anywhere in Mexico after Penta won the title. Oh my god. And this is Roman Reigns, right?
His spot is secure. Never gonna hurt Roman at this point. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but I'm just saying if I'm writing a fairy tale story. But what but what I do know about Roman, Whoever wins, whether it be Rey or Penta, and we both feel like it's going to be Penta just because just the size matchup just kind of looks better. And Penta so hot.
Bro, he about to make Pent he gonna make sure Pinta look good. But Shay, think about it too. Think about Penta's entrance. The man has two pinwheels of... Fireworks.
He's got. Two spinning pinwheels. He's got fireworks. He's smoke. You know, like they've invested a lot into Penta since day one.
I don't know, bro. Like I said, is it going to happen? Probably not, but imagine if it does. Like I said, maybe the greatest story ever in wrestling to have this tournament and have him win this belt, bro.
So, just something to think about, just something to think about. Um, and then. You know, we got LA Night and and First of all, Solo Sokoa might be the number one babyface in WWE right now, right? Like, I know they're still pushing LA Knight. He's coming out first, but like.
Solo was the one who touched Roman first. Remember back in the day when... The Usos finally turned on Roman. It was Jimmy who super kicked Roman first. He was the one who touched Roman first.
I thought Jimmy would get the push, and it turned out Jay got the push. He got moved over the raw.
Solo. Hits Roman first and then LA comes out and yet it still seems like They're propping up LA Night for this one. It was Solo who was the first one. To kind of put hands on Roman, right? But Solo's doing great work.
The crowd's loving him. We saw those two against the Usos, but most importantly, we saw the return of. Royce Keys and he did not come alone. He brought OTM with him, and those brothers are looking. Jack, man, and a lot of people don't.
There's so many people, I guess, don't watch NXT that like people come and are so surprised. Like, I don't understand, but man, OTM. Come out, they look great, they just laid waste to everybody. And people are like, Well, Royce Keys was just tag teaming. He gave the answer, nobody came to help.
He left me for dead.
So, because of that, everyone's got to pay. I only got two friends, and they're Bronco and Lucian right now.
So now the ring about the ledger. I'm just saying. I'm thinking of Lucian by a tribe called Price. Lucian Price. Yeah, so.
Right.
Yeah, now it looked like the Source Award is in.
Now it looked like. We on Saints Row all of a sudden. All right, and it's going down. And I love seeing. Royce, the leader of a crew, you know, it looks great, honie.
It is a new force to be reckoned with around here on Raw, you know, an actual tag team. How about that? And then people were complaining again about, like, people were going to complain. It's like Pac said, many rules of the game, I'm going to share with you two. No, people are going to hate you for whatever you do.
How could you not be excited about something like this? This is how the Shield debuted. Not to say that these guys are going to be the Shield, because that would mean that they are the greatest faction of all time and you got three future world champions. But man, how could you not be excited about these guys just coming in and just laying waste? To four of the top stars on the show.
It's like, let's go. Everyone wants change. Everybody wants something different.
Well, this is something different.
So get behind it. Let's see what's happening. Absolutely. I mean, I'm with you. If you with it.
I'm with it. All right then.
So yeah, I think exciting stuff coming up in the next few months months and weeks, but. Yeah, just keep your mind on that man. Whoever Penta and look, we're saying all this. Watch, it'll be Ray Phoenix that ends up winning the matches, right? After all that, hey, hey, hey, Shay and TJ think Penta go wins.
Let's uh switch it. Let's make a friend. It's like, okay. Yeah. And before we go, man, let's touch on this.
All in, London. I'll touch on whatever I want. It's coming up this week in AEW's. For people who don't know, it's AEW's WrestleMania all-in. And it's a...
This is a card, man. Sunday, August 30th, it's going down to Wembley State. And let's talk about this since you brought her up, some of the matches. Willow Nightingale, the AEW women's champion, she's taking on Mercedes Monet in the singles match for the AEW Women's Championship. Boy, oh boy, that alone should be worth the price of admission right there.
Am I wrong? Yeah. Then we're going to have a singles match for the AEW men's world champion is Kenny Omega. Takes on bruv Will Ospreay, who's wrestling in front of his home crowd. Remember what I just said about Penta winning a world title in front of his home?
Yeah, the same thing applies here. Will Ospreay in London going for the AEW Men's World Championship? I got a feeling. And it would make so much sense for us to hear and knew, but this is Kenny Omega. This is Kenny God Omega.
So I don't know, man. My, my, my, My heads. I think my heart's saying. Osprey goes over at home, but my head's like, yo, this is Kenny Omega, Joe. Like, Jill.
My mind's telling me no. What's your body telling you? Watch out though. Oh. And then we get a tag, we got a tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Champions, Cage and Coke.
Christian Cage and Adam Copeland against the Young Bucks. The guys who are without them, AEW probably would not exist.
So. We got that much. And I know you're not a Young Buck fan, man, but... I got to be honest, I do appreciate, I do enjoy the Young Bucks. And of course, Edge and Christian, two of my all-time favorites, I'm really, really interested in seeing this match.
I don't know who comes out on top in this one, though, dog. I really don't. It's gonna be the Bucks. You think so? I mean, I would prefer to be Edmund Christian just because you know this is it.
You know, you know, this is like the road being in front of them is much shorter than the road behind them. Yeah, and so, like, as many more times I could see them. Get some doves And then, you know, hearing the crowd sing, you know.
Song, like every time, you know, and I love that song, Metalingus, man. Chance to be, a chance to be alive. And when the crowd hits that, my man gets so fired up, I love it. And then they bring Christian out, and he just kind of takes the air out of the room. Yeah, you're damn right.
So then we got a casino gauntlet match for a future world championship match: Andrade Eligalo versus MJF versus Tommaso Champia. Versus there's some participants, there's still a battle roar going on, so we don't know who's going to finish that. But, you know, whenever you hear AEW championship matches and you see MJF in the mix, you kind of have to always assume that he's going to go over. you know Because that's his standing in AEW, you know. And Continental Challenge Cup final, Moxley versus Claudio Castanoli versus Kyle O'Reilly or Nigel McGinnis.
I should say Moxley or Claudio, because those two are battling. And then we have O'Reilly against McGinnis. It's great to see Nigel McGinnis come back. You know, his career was kind of stopped by, I believe it was concussions back in the day. You know, when Daniel Bryan, Brian Danielson was signed to WWE years ago, I remember the story, it was he and Nigel McGinnis who were.
the two people they were looking at. And I think that You know, I should have looked this up. I didn't expect to talk about it, but I feel like Nigel had, there were some issues, kind of like. Passing medical that didn't allow him to have that opportunity that Brian had.
So it's really cool to see Nigel McGinnis, who truly was one of the great scientific wrestlers of his era. It's good to see him back out, and he and Kyle O'Reilly are going to go at it. And then, you know, we're going to have a Continental Cup final match there at all in. Divine Dominion. Taking on the brawling birds for the AEW Women's Tag Team Championships men.
Yeah. Rolling Birds is such a crazy name. Come on, man. I am all for that. You know, What can I say that Hell of a w there's some hell of a women.
Wasn't that What Tony said about Seth Landers, she goes, that's a hell of a woman. Yeah. Tony Storm said that. There's four of them. There's four of them in that match.
And then we got Kevin Knight against Darby Allen. False count anywhere for the AWTNT Championship. Darby Allen, man, it's we know He is willing to do any and everything in a match, right?
So I can't even imagine. What is going to happen? He and Kevin Knight, I think low-key, this could be the match of the night because those two, you know, Darby don't give a damn. His stock Is rising higher and higher and higher as he goes, right?
So, man, I think this has match of the night possibilities, Shay. Bro, if I could see Darby Allen versus a prime Shane McMahon, that was one of your matches too, right? And it's like to this day haunts me, but I'll never see that. You will never see it, McMahon. And then a three-way match for the AEW International Championship.
There's a three guys that I know I personally love. Kyle Fletcher, the champion. To cat. Konosuke Takesha. Yeah.
Okada. Boy, if you could say that shit three times fast, see if I would. All three of them? Let's see if I can. Kyle Raleigh versus Konosuke Takesha versus Kazusha Okada.
Kyle Rally vs. Konosuke Takesha vs. Kazushka Okada. Kyle Rowley vs. Konosuke Takesha vs.
Kazushka Okada. I don't know if I did it, but I did it on my best. You almost drowned back there. But yeah, and now, speaking of match of the night, there's another one. This one probably.
This one probably will be matching tonight. I don't know. They're all some good matches. They're all going for it, too. Yeah, dog.
And I'm looking forward to that. And then we have a multi-trios match for the AEW World Trios Championship. Hangman Page and Brodito. Their opponents haven't been selected or chosen yet. I think that'll happen tonight on Dynamite.
We'll get to know who those guys are going to defend the Trios championship against. But again, Hangman, Brodito, Bandito, and Brody King, man. Like, Bandito, something I realized about Bandito, he's not that big, but man, he's strong. He's solid.
Solid, my boy's my boy's sturdy. He's kind of got that Joe, that Joe Hendry thing where, like, you don't expect, you look at him, you don't think he's that strong, and then you realize, oh, this dude's stronger than I imagined.
So, yeah, man, I'm definitely looking forward to a great, great weekend of wrestling, man. Heat wave all in. You know, we like to celebrate and support all wrestling. I got two TVs, so I'm going to be tuned into both. And I'm just looking for a great weekend of professional wrestling action.
Yeah, man. I mean, if AEW didn't leave me so. Mentally exhausted after all the pay-per-views. We got to do like a live or something to react to those, man. We'll do that.
We have to figure that out. We got to do that soon because you know, there is a I know there's a group of people that want us to you know concentrate more, talk about it more, and we're getting to that, we're getting to that. But um, yeah, I think if we do, if we like have a schedule live too, the views will be there, like the numbers will be there because like we set in a time and when you know people to show up. I think we can work that out. Plus, we can record it.
And then, like, post it, yeah.
So, a lot of things, you know, we're still in the new in the game, folks. You know, we haven't even been doing this for two years, we haven't even been doing this for a hundred episodes, and I know that because today, this is our 99th episode. Ah, man, we're talking congratulations, we're talking Wayne Gretzky, we're talking Aaron Donald, we're talking Aaron Judge, you know, agent 99, like you know, 99 is all over.
So, But 99, man. Before we go, hey, that used to be Michael Jordan on NBA Live before you could be Michael Jordan. Oh, you number 99 player. Right.
So we got to give a shout out to our guy Cruz Montana. Thank him so much for joining us. This is episode 99. And Brother, I got to say, man, for us to get to 99 episodes, like I said, we haven't even, it hasn't been two full years yet, which is crazy. The things that we've gotten to do, the friendships that we've gotten to make, the places that wrestling has taken us, it's really awesome, man.
And I couldn't have picked a better person to do it with. And I'm happy we're tackling this together, my brother. Oh, damn. I thought you were going to say it. Yeah, man, it's been great.
Yeah, I know. That's fine. But it's been great. Oh, great. I'll wait.
But We do have our 100th episode coming up next Wednesday. And we wanted to make sure we had a. Let's be serious, we wanted to make sure we had a really just awesome guest, someone who. meant something in in the world of professional wrestling.
So we put some feelers out. And then you and I kind of came to a conclusion based upon a conversation I had on the Bridge Eisen show, there was somebody that we really thought would be dope. to have as our 100th Episode as our guest to come on our 100th episode. And so, you know what? I'll leave that to you.
How about we share with the people who we got next week?
So For episode 100. of the no contest wrestling podcast for the very first time In the studio. in studio for the very first time. I mean, like the accolade, she's legendary. You know, another trailblazer, somebody who didn't just go with the flow of things and decided to be the straw that stirs the drink.
And TJ, I mean, she is one of, if not the greatest of all time. And it's not just me saying that. Bleacher Report said it. Sports Illustrator. Sports Illustrator ESPN says it.
Bruce said it. I mean, Bruce said it. Yeah. And here on No Contest, we say it as well. We will be joined by the man, Becky Lynch.
Yes, sir. Oh, I'm so excited. Joining us in studio, we will have the man Becky Lynch, former WrestleMania main eventer, the first woman to ever win the main event of WrestleMania. And she will be with us and we'll talk about her storied career, her days as a flight attendant, the infamous punch. The fans really, the fans say that sometimes their voices aren't heard.
Where there was definitely a point where the fans had enough and wanted Becky Lynch to be placed on a path that would lead her to greatness. And the fans' voices were heard. There's so much to talk about her being. Part of maybe the top power couple in all of professional wrestling with her husband Seth Freaking Rollins. But yeah, it's really dope.
It's going to be really cool. And Really looking forward to having Becky join us next week for our 100th episode of What a Milestone, man! What a milestone! Yeah, Van Vleet told us that we wouldn't know what type of show we were until you're 100 episodes in.
So take that man believe. We know who we are. Yes, indeed. But so for everyone else, you know, I'll let you know where to find us. You know, if you want to listen for your ear gates, you can find us on the ESPN app, as well as Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, anywhere you listen to podcasts on.
YouTube, if you want to watch this, go to the YouTube Rich Eisen Show page and just type in no contest wrestling. You'll be able to watch every episode from one to today's episode 99. And as always, you know, I guess I have to stress this. Make sure that you like, subscribe, download, tell a friend, because I. Especially after the awesome Kong episode last week, I'm never going to sit here and claim we're the greatest wrestling podcast on earth because I feel like that's a little.
Mm-hmm. Corny to say. But I went in Apple and I saw we were ranked 35. And I'm like, got to be honest with you, man, especially after that emotional episode last week, I don't think that there are 34 better wrestling podcasts than us. I'm not saying we're number one, but man, I don't believe we're number 35.
So, like I said, for all the fans, all the friends, make sure you like, subscribe, download, leave a comment, tell somebody, and let's get us up to at least in the top. 15. I feel like we deserve that. Boy, ain't nobody doing it like us. Ain't nobody making it as much of a conversation, as interactive as us.
And, you know, it's all right. Like you said, for now, the right people are seeing us. And that's important. But boy, when we get to the top I'm changing my number on a lot of y'all. What's it matter?
You're going to answer calls or texts anyway. Am I right, Dawn?
So it doesn't matter if you change your number. But anyway, that's it. Story for now. I feel attacked. But I want to show, you know, I'd like to show you my t-shirts.
And it's Wednesday, and it's Wednesday. You know what that means. Shout out to the late, great John Hubert, aka Brody Lee. Just want to show. Oh my God.
That's a great shirt, dude. it all in here. Rest in peace to a real one right there. He was amazing. Like, I told you, man, before we were talking, and I was such a big Brodie Lee.
You know, a fan. But yeah, so I just wanted to show the shirt because it's Wednesday and you know what that means.
Well Happy Wednesday. Happy Wren's Day. Wren's Day. By the way, I got some things about Wren too, but we'll save that for another day. Yeah, bro.
Settled down. Anyway, on behalf of me and my podcast partner, make sure you guys have a good day, but not too good.
So who the hell do you think you are? We'll see y'all on the 100th episode, baby. No doubt. You know, her and Naddy have a submission match coming up, and I got a feeling Jada might be on her way up to the main roster with OTM and Royce Keys. How do you feel about that?
Get on.
