Edge is joined on today’s show by his wife, Beth Phoenix. Christian will return to the show next week.
Edge starts the show by sharing his thoughts on last Saturday’s NXT Takeover show. Just like he predicted, the Tag Team Title match opened the show and came close to stealing the show in his opinion, even though the entire card was great.
Edge was also very impressed by Ricochet’s performance on this show. Phoenix agrees, noting that Ricochet’s agility is on another level. Someone his size might have had problems climbing WWE’s ladder in years past, but nowadays it’s nearly impossible to ignore his skill.
Phoenix was blown away by Bianca Belair’s performance, noting that she continues to deliver as NXT continues to put more momentum behind her. Edge agrees, adding that when you put someone in a high pressure situation like that for the first time they either sink or swim, and Belair certainly swam last weekend.
Edge was impressed with the NXT Title match between Aleister Black and Tomasso Ciampa, noting that those two guys did something very difficult in this match; they worked the leg. He notes that laying out a match around working a leg is very hard, and guys like Ric Flair, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were the masters of it. It’s a rarity to see that executed well nowadays, so that was a breath of fresh air for him.
Moving onto the Royal Rumble, Edge liked the story that was told during the Finn Balor/Brock Lesnar Universal Title match. He notes that WWE continues to come up with creative, new ways to have Lesnar sell during his matches, and Lesnar always does a great job making the matches believable. He thought this match did more for Balor than anything else he’s done during his run.
Edge liked the Becky Lynch/Asuka match, but he didn’t quite get the finish at first. He knew something else had to happen once Lynch tapped to Asuka clean, and sure enough, Lynch re-appeared and won the Women’s Rumble later in the night. Edge also notes that by booking Lynch to tap to Asuka, WWE told the story that Lynch can tap, and since Rousey is a submission specialist that’ll probably factor into their WrestleMania storytelling.
Phoenix informs that she got to walk out into the arena and watch the Sasha Banks/Ronda Rousey match live and she was really impressed by it. Edge notes that Banks was clearly calling the shots in that match and she knows her stuff. As for the crowd turning on Rousey, Edge notes that this was still a pro wrestling crowd, and in the end Banks is a pro wrestler to them and Rousey is somewhat of an outsider.
Phoenix admits that it’s very hard calling a Royal Rumble match. She informs that didn’t really know all the competitors prior to the match, as she only knew the ones that were announced. She thought there were a lot of cool moments in the match including a fun cameo from Hornswoggle.
Edge asks Phoenix if she thinks the women will main event WrestleMania this year. Phoenix thinks that’s what fans want, and she’s sure the women won’t disappoint if they’re given that spot.
Edge thinks Seth Rollins was a good choice to win the Men’s Rumble, but notes that Drew McIntyre would have been a good choice too.
A listener writes into the show and asks Phoenix who she’d choose to have one last feud with if she were to return to the ring. She’s also asked who she’d choose as her tag team partner. Phoenix says she’d choose to face Nia Jax because that feels like a natural story, and she’d choose Natalya to be her tag team partner.
Another listener asks Phoenix about the idea of introducing mid-card Titles for the Women’s division. Phoenix doesn’t think there’s enough roster depth to add mid-card Titles yet, but if there’s ever an all-women show, that’d be a good time to debut another Title or two.
Phoenix informs that she was much more nervous commentating the Rumble compared to working in it. If you’re wrestling and you screw up, it’s all on you, but if you screw up on commentary you feel like you’re letting everyone down.
Phoenix comments on working the Men’s Rumble years ago. She informs that she was so nervous prior to the match but all the guys were so good to her and wanted her to have a great showing.
She was so amped up that when it was time for her entrance she ran as fast as she could to the ring even though she planned to walk. She smashed her thigh off the ring as she slid in and thought she tore her quad and when she got to the back she met The Undertaker who said, “Girl I’ve never seen you run like that”.
Another listener writes into the show and asks Edge and Phoenix bout the idea of a mixed tag team. Edge says he’d love to see Pete Dunne and Rhea Ripley team up. Phoenix admits that’d be a fun team, but she just likes seeing the women stand on their own for once.
That sums up this week’s episode of E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
