- 2 days ago
🔥 WWE is throwing three shows at AEW All In—but does it feel desperate? Peter Klein breaks down:
Saturday Night’s Main Event: Goldberg’s retirement match & Seth/LA Knight’s skipped steps.
Great American Bash: NXT’s thin card looks VERY underwhelming
Evolution: The only well-built show (Rhea vs. Iyo, Cargill’s coronation).
The AEW Factor: Why WWE’s counterprogramming feels sloppy (and who it hurts most).
#WWE #GreatAmericanBash #WWEEvolution #SNME #AEWvsWWE #wrestlingnews
🔔 Subscribe for wrestling takes that won’t make you cringe:
💬 “Is WWE overloading to spite AEW—or just burning out fans?” 👇 Comment your take!
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Saturday Night’s Main Event: Goldberg’s retirement match & Seth/LA Knight’s skipped steps.
Great American Bash: NXT’s thin card looks VERY underwhelming
Evolution: The only well-built show (Rhea vs. Iyo, Cargill’s coronation).
The AEW Factor: Why WWE’s counterprogramming feels sloppy (and who it hurts most).
#WWE #GreatAmericanBash #WWEEvolution #SNME #AEWvsWWE #wrestlingnews
🔔 Subscribe for wrestling takes that won’t make you cringe:
💬 “Is WWE overloading to spite AEW—or just burning out fans?” 👇 Comment your take!
🎧 Listen on: Apple https://apple.co/49NGm2L | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM?si=icY7NEBvT7yZadv_JFlT6Q
💬 Follow for live breakdowns: X.com/primetimepk | Twitch.tv/primetimepk | Kick.com/primetimepk
🔗 Support the Show:
- Tip Jar: https://streamelements.com/couchpotatodiary/tip (fuels more content!)
- Partners: C of Dead http://cofdead403.ca/ | Swift Energy https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm PROMO CODE: PKPrimetime for 25% Off!
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SportsTranscript
00:00So, AEW All-In is happening this weekend, and the WWE has decided to go with the approach of quantity over quality.
00:10But we still have to talk about it.
00:12So, let's look ahead now to WWE, their first thing going up against All-In on All-In Weekend.
00:18It is the Great American Bash.
00:30Nostalgia is the name of the game for NXT this weekend, as not only are we hearkening back to a classic WCW pay-per-view,
00:39but we are also going back to a classic WWE model to go against a classic WCW pay-per-view with some good old-fashioned counter-programming.
00:49But that seems to be where the conversation may turn.
00:54Because when WWE was counter-programming WCW way back in the day, when it was Jim Crockett promotions,
01:00they were counter-programming with Royal Rumble, and with Survivor Series,
01:05and sometimes Saturday Night's Main Event, like some big, big marquee events that they were putting on.
01:11Now, now it's this.
01:14And this ain't all that great.
01:16I am very underwhelmed with everything here.
01:20It is so obvious that this is just here entirely to try to fuck with AEW, which is not a great thing.
01:26And it just, it is opening themselves up to a conversation that I don't think they need to be opening themselves up to.
01:32Like, I just, this feels so extra and so over-the-top for me that I just, I genuinely don't understand why they are choosing to try to counter-program with three shows in this way.
01:45And so when you look at the cards here, when we go over Great American Bash, Saturday Night's Main Event, evolution to a certain degree,
01:53this feels every bit like a, oh shit, let's just throw something together and see what happens.
01:57Like this Great American Bash card.
02:00Let's, let's talk about it.
02:02We only have, at the time of this recording, three matches.
02:04One of them is the men's title match with Obafemi taking on Inomora.
02:08I, I am interested in the match.
02:10I do not have much question about the outcome.
02:14Um, when it comes to, is it going to be Inomora?
02:17Is it going to be Obafemi?
02:18I don't know.
02:20Um, or no, I, I do know.
02:22Sorry.
02:23I don't have any question.
02:24It will be Obafemi.
02:25The one question I have is, can Inomora show well enough of himself that NXT gets another main eventer out of this?
02:33That, that is what they need.
02:34On the men's side, we've talked about it so much.
02:37Since we've really started to put a focus back on NXT here, on Couch Potato and Living Room Lariat.
02:43This men's main event scene is severely lacking right now.
02:48And Obafemi's awesome.
02:49But there, like that whole promo that he cut about wanting competition.
02:53That's kind of a shoot because there's just not a lot for him right now.
02:58Um, I don't know if Inomora is that right now.
03:01I'm fairly certain he's not.
03:02The one question is, can he get to that level?
03:05We'll see.
03:06I am a little intrigued by the tag team match.
03:08It's Jordan Grace and Blake Monroe taking on Fatal Influence.
03:11It's a chance to set up some drama in the women's title match at Evolution.
03:15That's the next night.
03:16Like, I wonder if, I would imagine some kind of, like, an injury story to go into that.
03:22Or, even JC Jane gets a win.
03:25And now she has this momentum.
03:26And maybe Jordan Grace, who has had a bit of a rocky start, maybe stops believing in herself a little bit like that.
03:32And you start to play into that momentum thing going into the next day.
03:35So, I think that this provides an interesting storytelling device going into that match.
03:40And so, I think that is a pretty effective way of going about this.
03:43The other match is Sol Ruka taking on Izzy Dame for the North American title.
03:47And I said before, like, I feel like Evolution should have been a spot where you had a real spotlight on a number of great performers from NXT.
03:57Because that women's division is stacked.
04:00That's obviously not going to be the case now.
04:02Or, I guess, I shouldn't say obviously.
04:04Maybe they do.
04:04Like, they set this up and it's a no contest or something like that.
04:08Okay, the only way we can decide this is tomorrow at Evolution in a match.
04:13I think that there is, I guess, a way you could do that.
04:15But it feels like if they weren't trying to shoehorn this into this one, this would be a great, great showcase opportunity for Sol Ruka and Izzy Dame, to a certain degree, at Evolution.
04:25But instead, we get it on here.
04:27Now, there are a few ways this one can go.
04:31I was going to say, I don't think we're far enough in the Sol Ruka-Zarya story yet to, like, fully do this turn.
04:37Like, it feels like there's a little bit of dissension that still needs to be there.
04:40But, thinking about it, like, we have been teasing this for a while.
04:44Like, there was a little bit of it at WrestleMania.
04:47And that was, or WrestleMania weekend, that was April.
04:51You might have heard here, jets flying over.
04:53It's Calgary Stampede, which means it's the first week of July.
04:56So, there's a lot that you can kind of talk about where these two have kind of gone, but it has kind of felt a little stale.
05:03So, maybe there is a bit of freshening up that can jumpstart this and get it going.
05:08So, I'm interested to see if there is a progression in that and what the inclusion of Tatum Paxley is in everything.
05:15After her team, all of them get released.
05:18And so, she is left wandering and into the warm welcoming arms of the Culling with Izzy Dame.
05:23I'm interested to see where she falls in.
05:25So, like, the matches they have aren't bad.
05:29Does it feel like a takeover of days gone by?
05:32I know.
05:32But, there's at least something to watch in all of these matches.
05:37There's just, A, not enough of them.
05:39And, B, the reasoning for it is so, so annoying that it is tough to really look past from a wrestling fan standpoint.
05:48So, that is one part of the WWE calendar.
05:51The developmental one, so to speak.
05:53Then, we get to the main event of Saturday Night, for WWE anyway, and the retirement of an icon.
06:01But, again, it is kind of marred by just everything feeling so thrown together.
06:05Let's talk about it.
06:06WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event will look to play off of nostalgia on a few different levels.
06:24As we get the glitz and glam and the old 80s music of Saturday Night's Main Event.
06:29And then, in the main event, it is Goldberg looking to turn back the clock one more time in his retirement match against Gunther.
06:36But, the whole thing hanging over this, again, is how obvious it is as a counterpunch to AEW going with All In.
06:46And, this was one of the initial ways that Saturday Night's Main Event really got going.
06:52And so, I think that there is, there's just a level of frustration, I think, that is probably coming through in all of this.
07:00And, like, you don't need to do this right now.
07:02AEW is nothing.
07:03Like, this is, it's a really weird time for them to have started to do this to AEW.
07:08Because, it, like, they're getting 3,000 fans to a show if they're lucky.
07:13And, I just talked about in the AEW All In look ahead that it feels like that company is building momentum.
07:20But, they weren't when you were scheduling this shit.
07:22So, I just, I don't understand why this needed to happen in the way that it did for WWE.
07:28And, now you look at it, and, again, we're recording this at 2 o'clock on Monday at Mountain Time.
07:32And, so, we're a few hours away from Raw.
07:34We have three matches scheduled for NBC.
07:37And, I get, network television, not the big draw that it used to be.
07:42But, still, this is supposed to be at least a big showcase type of a thing for you.
07:48And, you have three matches ready because everything has been so goddamn scrambled with everything going on, trying to counter AEW as much as possible, that it just, it feels very sloppy.
07:58But, again, much like with Great American Bash, there's at least things to be intrigued by in all three.
08:03So, let's start.
08:04Gunther against Goldberg.
08:05It is the world title match in Gunther, or, sorry, in Goldberg's retirement match.
08:11I have really enjoyed the buildup to this.
08:13I think Gunther has been spectacular.
08:15I think Goldberg has been very effective at being Goldberg.
08:18I think that there will probably be on Monday some kind of physicality or something to just kind of drive home like,
08:25hey, Goldberg actually doesn't look all that bad.
08:26Unless, maybe he does, and then they don't.
08:28But, I would imagine there will be at least a little bit of a, some kind of a social media thing that you can get going with Goldberg to really try to, like, hey, make sure you tune in to see this guy, maybe Spear and maybe Jackhammer, one more time.
08:44It is not going to be a Matt Classic.
08:46I don't think anyone in their right mind is expecting it to be, but I am fascinated to see how this one goes.
08:52LA Knight against Seth Rollins.
08:53I think it's an interesting one.
08:55It does feel like we've kind of skipped some steps along the way to get to this point.
08:58We just had, yeah, LA Knight got cost in a couple of matches, so he went out after Seth Rollins, and now we're going to have a gigantic match on Saturday Night's main event.
09:07It feels like we've skipped a couple of steps here, and part of it is they're on different brands, for the most part, so you kind of got to speed run through a few of these things.
09:15But, I am, I am interested in this one, because this is one of the better in-ring performers that LA Knight is going to be in the ring with.
09:23And, so, this is, for a guy who has been really bumping up on what they are looking for as a main event guy, it feels like this is a, an opportunity for him to show, look, I just, I can hang with the best wrestlers you've got.
09:42Give me these opportunities now.
09:44So, this is a big match, I think, for him.
09:46Um, storyline purposes, I would be surprised if Rollins loses this bout, but I, I think that there is at least a level of intrigue in this, in just seeing how it looks.
09:54And then Randy Orton against Drew McIntyre.
09:56It is kind of wild that the last time we saw Drew was on a Saturday Night's main event, and he was getting blasted by a chair, as Damian Priest walked out of the ring, much to the dismay of Jesse the Body Ventura.
10:05But, to now have Drew miss all that time and come back ahead of Damian Priest on the card is a little bit interesting.
10:14I hope, like, this is going to be a fun match, and I hope it is just the first of a few.
10:18Because these two would have such a good feud and such a great back and forth.
10:23Um, I, I would be very, very excited to see a longer-term program of Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre.
10:30But again, the fact that we have three matches to talk about on the Monday leading up to Saturday Night's main event,
10:36it shows you how everything is with WWE around this one.
10:41So again, a little bit of frustration.
10:43Not that it's happening, but why it's happening here this weekend.
10:48One more show from the WWE, and it's the one that deserves the attention and the accolades.
10:54For the second time, WWE is showing off its evolution on the women's wrestling side,
10:59as the all-female show is set to close out what is a busy weekend in WWE and in professional wrestling.
11:07So what's ahead for us in what should be a pretty fun and pretty important night?
11:12Let's take a look.
11:18Closing in on 900 of these things.
11:27I'll get them right one day, though.
11:28It is such a busy weekend in wrestling.
11:34And the busyness is one of the reasons why people are a little frustrated.
11:38And I hope that they don't overlook what is happening with evolution.
11:45Because we all have our thoughts about TKO and WWE as a whole.
11:51And the world of professional wrestling's treatment of women in general.
11:55But I will say that it is really great that we are having this type of a showcase again.
11:59And I understand the first one was based largely around Ronda being there and everything like that.
12:03I hope that this is an annual thing now, to really put that spotlight on just how many talented women performers there are in WWE right now.
12:13And how kind of overlooked a lot of them can be.
12:17There have been stretches, and I would argue that we are kind of in that now.
12:21Where, like, there's been some great stuff.
12:24Obviously, creatively, WWE-wise.
12:25And character work-wise.
12:26Over the last little bit.
12:27But you're going to have a tough time convincing me that Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, and EO Sky.
12:34That there's a whole lot that has been definitively better than what those three have done to start this year.
12:40Or that triple threat match at WrestleMania involving EO, Rhea, and Bianca Belair.
12:45You're going to have a tough time showing me that that isn't the match of the year.
12:50Especially from WWE.
12:51WWE, this is the type of a spotlight that these women have deserved.
12:56And I think, okay, it is great to do this.
12:59I do think that there now needs to be a building off of it.
13:02It's been a while since they have put a women's match in the main event on a PLE.
13:07And I think that we have had a few pretty deserving opportunities for that.
13:11And they haven't.
13:12Now, obviously, this one's going to get it.
13:14But I think that this is a chance for them to kind of reset their view on this.
13:19And really dive into what is a strength of this company.
13:22And that is the talent on the women's roster.
13:24And you think of the influx of talent they have had in the last little bit with Stephanie Vaker and with Julia coming in.
13:29They get Kairi Sane back.
13:32Asuka is now back and healthy.
13:33You've had progressions of Tiffany Stratton, who maybe hasn't hit what they wanted her to hit, but is still progressing.
13:40You have Jade now moving into a main event picture.
13:43You have EO, who has really found her character.
13:45And like I said before, Liv Morgan, who has turned into a superstar in the last little bit.
13:49Roxy Perez, we didn't even talk about her.
13:51Like, there are so many talented performers on the women's side.
13:54And so hopefully, this is a nice reminder to the company that this type of a spotlight doesn't need to happen just one time a year with one particular show.
14:04It does feel like, of the weekend though, it does have, like, it has the most matches set up.
14:10It has the most, just like, okay, this is, this is what we're doing here.
14:14So, it's pretty fun to, to see what is all kind of scheduled.
14:18You don't love every way that it has been put together, but I still think it's an interesting way.
14:23And a couple interesting matches.
14:24What I'm fascinated to see now for Monday is, who is the Raw tag team?
14:29I, I can't imagine that Nikki Bella came back to be in this battle royal.
14:35And I get the Liv injury kind of throws things off a little bit, but I, I would guess that they are the Raw tag team.
14:41Nikki and Brie come in as the tag team, win this number one contender thing.
14:44They go into the tag team title match and build it up that way.
14:48So, I think there are going to be some really good matches.
14:51I think this is going to be a really, really good show.
14:54And I am hoping, coming out of this now, there is a renewed focus on this division that is a strength of the WWE right now.
15:02So, once again, for all the pro wrestling talk from Couch Potato Diary, there's still going to be segments on Couch Potato.
15:08That's not going away.
15:09So, if you're here for the sports and the wrestling, keep it locked, because it's all going to be here.
15:13But if you just want the wrestling, it is over on Living Room Lariat with some stuff that you don't hear on the flagship podcast.
15:19So, make sure you subscribe to Living Room Lariat wherever you get your podcasts.
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