The whole WhatCulture Wrestling gang are back to talk about the things we hate about our favourite wrestlers!
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00:00We all have flaws, Michael Cedric, even your favourites have problems and I'm not afraid to say that my favourite wrestler ever, the reason I got into wrestling, Dwayne The Rock Johnson has flaws and that, Dwayne, I have to tell you face to face, you're too bloody good, that's the problem, too good, better than all your favourites because whenever he comes back, he's too popular and he ruins everything that's gone.
00:30And the figures do kind of support that he's so popular, you have to do something with him at WrestleMania, he's done it before, if he is going to show up and do something, you kind of just scrap all the plans, whether you've built them for two weeks or two years, basically, he's never made a bad film, he's just a generational talent and, yeah, he's too popular and he ruins all the plans that they've actually built, good luck, Cody.
00:57The one thing I hate about my favourite wrestler is nothing to do with my favourite wrestler, Jeff Jarrett, it's to do with the decision makers within AEW, they don't give him enough singles matches, hearing Jeff Jarrett's, hearing Jeff Jarrett's, is a bit like hearing the sting at the start of Natalia's music, you think somebody else is coming, in her case it's Bret Hart, in his case it's him with Jay Lethal, I don't want any more tag matches, that genre of Jeff Jarrett's Jay Lethal tag match was perfected,
01:27Aubrey Edwards, with the acoustic equaliser, done, finito, give that man the television time he deserves and ideally a title to play with as well, he has proven all of his doubters wrong in this AEW wrong, everybody remembers Triple J in TNA, everybody thinks he's like a political succubus and nightmare, he has played up to that reputation with fabulous effect in AEW, he makes so much more sense than half the wrestlers that Tony Khan insists on signing, because we've got enough great wrestlers,
01:57the contrast to the best of the great wrestlers, the proper elite wrestlers, and somebody that kind of has nothing to do with the very nature of the word, I love what Jeff Jarrett can bring, and I genuinely believe, it might be conspiratorially, that there have been some like dark forces at work, that have seen how over he got on television, in a pretty tepid year for the product, and took him out of it, like, I don't understand why, when all he kind of offered on TV was value, on the undercard, I'm not campaigning for him to win the world title or anything,
02:27although he'd give Joe a great match, I've seen them, like, I'm not campaigning for him to win the world title, I'm just saying that, like, he could absolutely figure as a singles act in 2024 and beyond, doing jobs for people, losing to people, getting hit with his own guitar, having fun hitting others with guitar, and instead, we're trapped in this vortex of tag matches, justice for Jeff.
02:47I'm going to cheat for this one, I'm going to pick a stable of wrestlers, because I love me some Brian Danielson, I love me some Claudio Castagnoli, I love me some Jon Moxley, I don't love me some Blackpool Combat Club,
02:57I don't understand it, and I don't really know what they're doing together as a unit anymore, they've been together about two years now at the time of recording, which is a decent amount of time,
03:08and I like when stables actually run for multiple years, it's better than just randomly binning it off, in most cases, but when Regal left, the name didn't make any sense,
03:18and their aim just, what already existed, was already kind of like, I don't really get this, they're just a bunch of guys that like to beat up wrestlers,
03:28and make them feel pain, congratulations, that's most motivation for most wrestling stars, most of the time.
03:35It's a bunch of technical wrestling guys, and then Jon Moxley is like this goon who's attached to it,
03:41because he just loves beating people up in deathmatch style ways, it never really clicked for me, it doesn't make a lot of sense,
03:51I don't really understand what they're doing together as a group, and you know, they've done some, I'm not going to say they've wasted these guys in the last two years,
03:57absolutely not, they've done some wonderful things as a group, and as solo stars while being part of this BCC,
04:03but at this point, I just have to wonder, what else could they be doing with these guys, what other feuds and friendships could they be a part of,
04:10if they weren't part of this kind of arbitrary, grumpy guy stable?
04:16Bryan Danielson, and his absolute lack of ambition, like, you just imagine, like, the wrestling world behind the scenes,
04:24all it talks about is like, the politics behind it, and the kind of people sort of muscling about for position on card,
04:30to, like, get to the top, and grab that, like, brass ring that Vince McMahon always loves people to grasp,
04:35and, but there, Bryan Danielson, to his credit, in a way, just kind of went along with whatever,
04:40kind of did what he wanted to do, did his own little style, and it got him to the top eventually,
04:44but if you imagine Bryan Danielson with the kind of drive and ambition of, like, a Stone Cold or a Cena,
04:50or, like, any one of the, sort of, top stars of the last 50 years,
04:54that have actually, like, fought tooth and nail, clawed for their position on the card,
04:58imagine the amount of incredible storylines, incredible, like, championship runs,
05:04incredible matches, like, at the top of all cards, we could have had from him,
05:08like, he could have, like, muscled his way into, like, probably WWE working with New Japan,
05:13if he, like, actually fought his, like, position on the card, like, it's just,
05:19it could have been so much more than what it is, and to his credit, it's been amazing,
05:23and it almost maybe wouldn't be Bryan Danielson if he wasn't the guy that was willing to, like,
05:28be, like, second on a card and sort of help lift up some lower card guys,
05:33but it's, you just, ah, you just wonder what could have been if he actually had that drive behind him
05:38and the sort of, yeah, the magic that that could have brought.
05:40So, something that I hate about a wrestler that's one of my favourites,
05:44well, one of my favourites just so happens to be the head of the table,
05:47the tribal chief himself, Roman Reigns, and although the character itself is still super enjoyable,
05:54every time he pops up on TV, on Smackdown, a PLE, whatever it is,
05:58he just exudes charisma and he just has an aura around him,
06:01and that's incredible, really, to see where that character has, like, gone in the last couple of years,
06:06it's sensational stuff, and Roman deserves all the props, the smug, entitled,
06:10a little bit crazy when he's worried about his belt perhaps, like, going away from him,
06:14he goes mad, like, this whole character is pretty cool, pretty awesome,
06:19but we've got to talk about the matches, man, because the matches have got stale,
06:24they've become uninspired, it's just the same thing over and over and over again,
06:29it is shenanigans, ref bumps, somebody, like, at the last minute putting Roman's leg on a rope
06:34or knocking out the ref and giving him a steel chair and then he hits somebody with it,
06:38or whatever, just screwy finishes that have completely undermined,
06:42I'd probably say the last year or so of Roman's reign in particular,
06:45because he's not really been shown or depicted as somebody that can do it himself at all,
06:51like, fair enough, every now and again, the heel does need to kind of resort to these tactics,
06:54these underhanded tactics to just get the job done and establish them as a villain within this universe,
07:00I get that, but when you're kind of talking about being the real top dog in all of WWE
07:05and this megastar, this superstar, this person that has just held this title for so long,
07:10nobody can get their hands on it, not being able to get the job done really on your own at all,
07:14currently, in the last, like, couple of months of the last couple of defences in particular,
07:17like LA Knight, Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, like, all these kind of big, high-profile defences,
07:23Jey Uso is a big one as well, I just have to check my notes there for a second,
07:26Jey Uso, the big one at SummerSlam, the tribal combat thing,
07:29where there wasn't even meant to be any interference, there was still interference and shenanigans
07:32because bloodline drama, like, it's just baffling to me that they've stuck to this formula so much
07:38and just kind of thought, oh, we'll get away with it because it's cinema, that's what we do,
07:43but no, I've got to the point now where I'm a bit tired of it,
07:46this has been recorded before the Royal Rumble, so I'm hoping that the Fatal 4-Way madness can just
07:50kind of maybe just dilute that and that doesn't happen this time,
07:54you don't get loads of shenanigans, Jey Uso and Solo don't get involved
07:57and don't cost, like, everyone else in the match and Roman walks out, like, via those methods,
08:01maybe The Rock comes back and just beats those guys up and something else happens,
08:05like, I hope that happens instead and not the same, just tired and boring shenanigans
08:10that have just got Roman all the wins recently and I'm fed up of it.
08:14I want to grab Kenny Omega by the scruff of the neck and tell him to be a star on North American TV
08:19and the thing that annoys me, right, is that in this video, you will hear Phil Chambers say about
08:25Brian Danielson, would he be the same, like, incredibly likeable, irreverent, funny guy Danielson
08:32if he was, like, a bit of a prick and out for himself backstage?
08:36Probably not. In another video, another chatty face, Andy Murray's made the point
08:40that wouldn't CM Punk be CM Punk if he didn't have that drive,
08:43that absolute refusal to be told what to do or how to conduct himself.
08:47What annoys me is that that's not true of Kenny Omega.
08:50I've seen him be a star, like, I know he can do it, I know he can do it.
08:57In 2021, he did it in AEW as the AEW World Champion,
09:01but he kind of did it as, like, this caricature of a heel
09:04and I think maybe that's where he reconciled how to be, like, that present and that up for it on television.
09:12We, in the office, routinely play the promo that aired on the road to All Out on the YouTube series
09:20pre-Dynamite AEW when Jon Moxley had the Mercer infection in his elbow and couldn't do it.
09:26You've got a boo-boo on your elbow.
09:27For four minutes, Kenny Omega is the biggest prick in the world.
09:30He's, like, a complete tosser, so arrogant, and he's just going to say,
09:38you know what, he's just patronised Jon Moxley.
09:42He was a complete arsehole to Jon Moxley, and he basically put himself over as the guy who had to save everything,
09:48the fulcrum of All Elite Wrestling, the guy on which everyone's hopes were pinned for a dream match.
09:54What happened to him?
09:55Why does he not cut a fired-up, vengeful babyface promo against Don Callis?
10:02Why is he happy to just fight whichever pawn Don Callis puts at him without the personal issue drawing money?
10:09How can such a genius, and Kenny Omega is, his matches are so dense,
10:13not just on the physical side, but on the mental side.
10:15I've seen Kenny Omega dabble in subtext in wrestling matches, and his other frauds can do that.
10:20He can.
10:20Why can't he just...
10:22Maybe he considers it, like, luring himself to it?
10:26I don't know.
10:27Why can't he just say,
10:29Don Callis, you've pissed me off, and I'm going to rip your face off?
10:32Just something basic to get people to believe in this character,
10:35because I think too often he appears, like, aloof, like he doesn't seem interested.
10:40Maybe he thinks, like, North American TV and the trappings are, like, beneath him.
10:44They're not.
10:45They're not above any wrestler if they want to be in America and be...
10:48He's done it!
10:49Fucking do it again!
10:50So, something I hate about my favourite wrestler, who, right now, at this moment,
10:54it changes every day, is R-Truth, is that I don't believe he's on television enough.
10:57Like, he doesn't really pop up on SmackDown, we don't see him on NXT,
11:00he could be on Main Event, you could put him on that new WWE speed show that was teased,
11:05he could be on The Bump, he could keep doing this all day long.
11:07I just think we need more R-Truth on television.
11:10Being more serious, though, I think I will jump across to Miro, slash, Rusev, whatever you want to call him,
11:14who has been one of my favourite wrestlers for a while.
11:16And it's just that mostly over the last, what, 12 to 18 months, he hasn't featured on TV enough.
11:21Now, I'm not going to point the finger and blame anybody, because I don't know what the ins and outs of it are.
11:26Maybe there's a real reason, maybe there's not a real reason,
11:28maybe there's stuff that's going to come out in the future that will give us more insight into this.
11:31But, you know, even when he first came into AEW, I don't think that video game character was necessarily the best representation,
11:38or best usage of him, but we came to the Redeemer, and we figured it out, and he cut all those cool promos.
11:43And even when I try and think about it, he had that really short run as TNT champion, which was great.
11:47I enjoyed the mini feud, if you can call it that, with Andrade.
11:50I liked everything with Powerhouse Will Hobbs, I thought we could have done a round two with that, and it kind of teased.
11:54But you really start to struggle to think of anything else he's done in All Elite Wrestling.
11:59And again, I don't want to rag on it too much, because there may be a very justifiable reason.
12:03But even with his absence, if we can call it that, he's still one of my favourite wrestlers,
12:07which kind of sums up how much I obviously do enjoy him, and obviously do like him.
12:11But I really do hope in 2014, as we are recording this in January, that we can just figure out a way to utilise him more.
12:20And I suppose maybe that's just how Tony Khan sees him.
12:23He's like Andre the Giant back in the day, he's a special attraction.
12:26But I think you probably need a bit of a better balance.
12:30And at the moment, yeah, we just don't see him, and he hasn't really had his defining AEW run.
12:35And even if his plan is to go back to WWE, he's totally fine.
12:38You know, he's a human being, he's allowed to make these choices.
12:40I would like it if we just sort of had six months going on a tear,
12:43or just facing a bunch of people that I'd love to see him face.
12:46For example, Miro vs. Kenny Omega.
12:48I don't think we've ever seen like Miro vs. Hangman Adam Page, although I may be wrong about that one.
12:51But again, the fact that I have to kind of go into my brain and just leap out and go,
12:55Oh my gosh, this has happened, I think is a little bit of a shame.
12:58So, let's hope that R-Truth gets featured more on television.
13:01And ironically, let's hope that Miro also gets featured more on television, but for vastly different reasons.
13:07And of course, if Miro does go back to WWE, we can do him, I guess he'd be called Rusev again,
13:12vs. R-Truth.
13:14And then I'll never have to worry about anything ever again, as long as I live.
13:17Then I'll probably lay down and just live out the rest of my days that way, because I will have peaked.
13:22CM Punk will not stop fighting, mother effers.
13:25I kind of go back and forth on this, right?
13:27If you ask me next week, I'd actually love that he fights everyone in the world.
13:31But, you know, this week I've decided that I don't.
13:34Yeah, like CM Punk's wonderful, he's brilliant.
13:36We've just done the absolute best wrestlers in the world list,
13:39where Phil and Michael Hamflit have articulated wonderfully what makes CM Punk so special.
13:44I echo every single part of that.
13:45I actually love that we get so many controversial stupid news stories that we get to cover.
13:50I think that if you stripped, like, the confrontational element of CM Punk away,
13:55CM Punk would not be CM Punk.
13:56He'd be just, like, some 7 out of 10 wrestler who's a little bit sloppy.
14:00And, you know, he cuts a nice promo here and there.
14:03But he's not the lightning rod that he is today that has made him so successful.
14:07But the problem with all of what comes with CM Punk is that he's going to get himself fired from every single company he works for
14:15because he has no issue solving problems with his fist to his detriment.
14:22CM Punk has always struck me as the kind of guy who, if he likes you, if he loves you, he will die for you.
14:27But if you slight him, even in the slightest way, if you order him the wrong flavor of cupcake from Mindy's Bakery,
14:34he is going to do all he can to cut you out of his life and ruin your existence.
14:39So I'm really enjoying the CM Punk WWE run.
14:42I think he cuts through the glossy veneer like nobody else in that company.
14:45But I'm dubious as to whether or not he's going to last 20-24 because someone's going to annoy him and he's probably going to punch them.
14:52Clearly, Bryan Danielson is one of the very best wrestlers on the planet, if not the absolute best.
14:59And the slight moment I've got here, and it is something that's also commendable, so it's a strange argument to have,
15:03is that I just wish sometimes there's an unwillingness there with Bryan to just chill out and calm down.
15:08It's okay. You don't have to be Mr. Everything for everybody.
15:10For instance, Bryan Danielson came back injured, came back hurt when CM Punk left the company
15:14because there was a void there for somebody to do something with Ricky Starks.
15:18And Bryan and Ricky Starks had one of the best matches of 2023.
15:22But you're looking at it and it's like, he's come back early from injury.
15:25There's the broken arm injuries he's recovering from.
15:26There's the orbital bone injury that is just shattered and mashed throughout the rest of the year when that happened.
15:32And you're thinking on the horizon there is Wrestle Kingdom 18 against Kazuchika Okada,
15:36a match that did happen and again was great.
15:38But how do you prepare him for that? How do you make sure that that match happens?
15:42How do you keep Bryan healthy, let him fully recover?
15:44No, you stick him in the Continental Classic against people like Brody King, Eddie Kingston, Claudio Castagnoli,
15:50Andrade El Idolo and even Daniel Garcia.
15:53All matches that were great.
15:54I love that tournament.
15:56I love the Danielson matches.
15:58And then you stick him at ROH Final Battle.
16:00Let's throw him on there.
16:01And AEW World's End.
16:02Let's throw him on there.
16:04And it all came together.
16:06It all worked.
16:06But there's just always that fear of like, are we going to get that match?
16:09Nigel McGuinness always jokingly says a brittle Bryan on commentary.
16:12And I mean, maybe that's part of it because I'm crossing everything that we get.
16:17Bryan Danielson versus Nigel McGuinness at All-In 2024.
16:21A match we were supposed to have at last year's All-In, but it didn't happen because Bryan Danielson was injured.
16:26And it's just this, I don't know.
16:28It's just, I feel like sometimes with Bryan, it's okay.
16:32I know he's in the last year of his full-time career and there's a lot he wants to do, but it's just, it's okay to calm down now and again.
16:40Again, but that's really commendable that he is out there busting his arse, doing all these things.
16:44I don't know.
16:45It's a point I'm making, but not making.
16:47And I'm talking myself around.
16:48So I will just stop there.
16:49But yes, just be careful, Bryan.
16:51That's all I'm asking.
16:52Just be careful.
16:52Just be careful.