X-Pac opens today’s show by addressing a recent question sent by a fan to Cody Rhodes. The fan asked Rhodes if AEW might run a show during WrestleMania weekend next year. Rhodes responded by saying that AEW will never run a show during WrestleMania weekend because that’s WWE’s weekend.
X-Pac loved Rhodes’ response. He notes that if you run a show during ‘Mania weekend you’re piggy-backing off of WWE, and AEW clearly doesn’t want to piggy-back off of anyone. This was a strong statement by Rhodes and AEW and it’s the right thing to do. This solidifies AEW’s own identity and their own space within the industry.
Lucha Underground has been in a battle with some of their talent recently, and this past week they essentially settled with a few of their talents including Joey Ryan. X-Pac thinks this is good, noting that it’s kind of pathetic that these talents had to take Lucha Underground to court to get this settled.
While Lucha Underground executives ponder whether they want to produce another season or not, these talents need to make a living. Some people might say that these performers should have been more careful with what kind of contract they were signing, but sometimes when you’re desperate you’ll sign anything and hope that it just works out.
X-Pac adds that Lucha Underground never really gained any traction with him. There are long gaps in their production and he never really knew when the show was airing. There also always seemed to be uncertainty about the show’s future.
X-Pac ponders whether we might see Conor McGregor or Rob Gronkowski at WrestleMania this year. He notes that part of him is happy for McGregor since he has a lot of money and can retire from a physical sport at his age, but another part of him wonders if McGregor will regret his retirement later in life. He notes that a year can result in a big drop-off in an MMA fighter’s performance so maybe McGregor feels that now’s his time to leave.
If the WrestleMania payment is good enough and McGregor feels it’s worth it for him to get on a plane and fly to New York then there’s always a chance he could appear at ‘Mania. The same goes for Gronkowski in X-Pac’s opinion.
There have been some rumours that McGregor could accompany Becky Lynch to the ring during the main event, and X-Pac notes that the publicity this would give the company would likely be too hard for them to turn down. There are additional rumours circulating that McGregor will sign with WWE prior to the launch of Smackdown on FOX as the brand’s authority figure.
He says he wouldn’t mind seeing Gronkowski try his hand at professional wrestling. Gronk clearly has a world-class work ethic and if he can pick up the art of wrestling quick then the sky’s the limit.
X-Pac congratulates Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart on their WWE Hall of Fame inductions. He notes that Danny Davis deserved some consideration for induction as well. There are some people questioning why Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith weren’t inducted, but it’s clear that WWE wanted to induct the tag-team Hart Foundation and not the Hart Foundation from the attitude era.
X-Pac talks about the first ever Women’s main event at WrestleMania. He says he saw this coming a year ago, and even told Rousey that she’d be main evening this year when he saw her backstage at the RAW after ‘Mania last year. He likes a lot of what Rousey is doing with her character right now.
X-Pac thinks Charlotte versus Rousey was the match but Becky Lynch strolled in and said, “F*** all that”. At least this time WWE listened to their fans and brought Lynch into the Title picture as well. He doesn’t even want to predict a winner and he doesn’t really care who wins. He thinks they’re all winners for forcing their way into the main event.
He’s curious to see what WWE has in store for us next week to continue the momentum to ‘Mania. He notes that he’s excited to see Joan Jett perform Rousey’s theme at ‘Mania, but adds that no performance will ever beat Motorhead’s performance of Triple H’s theme at ‘Mania.
Jim Cornette and Eric Bischoff were at each other’s throats a bit this week on Twitter and X-Pac thought that was unfortunate. He notes that everyone is doing their own thing and it makes him sad to see two guys go at it like that. It all comes down to “S*** stirrers” on Twitter trying to cause friction, and it’s unfortunate that it worked in this case.
X-Pac thought Triple H delivered a great in-ring promo on RAW this week. He thought the Spice Girls joke was great, and notes that if that wasn’t delivered perfect it could have been really bad. He jokes that even if Triple H’s career wasn’t on the line he’d be favoured to win “…because he’s the boss!” He adds that maybe DX will come out to help Triple H.
X-Pac is excited about the Women’s Tag Team match. He notes that Beth Phoenix has looked great. Some people might be critical of it being a multi-team match but he points out that these performers work hard all year long and ‘Mania is the big payoff so WWE tries to do whatever they can to get as many people involved as possible.
He says he doesn’t have a problem with Colin Jost or Michael Che being involved in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He wasn’t a big fan of the segment on RAW but that doesn’t mean he hates their involvement all together.
X-Pac likes how WWE has “heated up” Drew McIntyre so quickly heading into his match with Roman Reigns. He thinks people are really invested in this match. He liked Reigns’ response to McIntyre on RAW this week, as Reigns was quite believable talking about his family.
He’s not sure who’s going to lose this match because both men kind of need a win. He notes that a loss to Reigns won’t hurt McIntyre but the path McIntyre has been on usually culminates with a win at ‘Mania, so this match is quite interesting.
It’s been 18 years since WCW’s last episode of Monday Nitro and X-Pac says he’s not sentimental about that at all because he had already moved back to WWE and the winning side by that point. He notes that there were mixed feelings backstage when Vince McMahon bought WCW because they were happy to see McMahon win, but they knew that it mightn’t be the best thing for business or for their peers who were looking for work.
He adds that there was so much ridiculous behaviour when WCW guys made their way to WWE. WWE performers were looking for any reason to attack the WCW guys.
That sums up today’s episode of X-Pac 1, 2, 360. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
