Justin is the regular WrestleZone Daily guest on Mondays and this week he chatted candidly about:
- His latest Pittsburgh Tribune article about Triple H’s Royal Rumble win
- What he thought about AJ Styles’ debut in the Royal Rumble
- How he thinks Sasha Banks and Charlotte’s feud will play out
- More…
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You can find some of transcribed quotes and the full audio from Justin’s appearance below. Justin’s appearance begins at the 25:45 minute mark in the embedded audio player:
On what he thinks of the possibility that Triple H defends the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania:
JL: Triple H versus Roman Reigns is a fine title match. It won’t be the only main event match but it’s a fine title match for Mania. I add in the other pieces that were kind of foreshadowed at last year’s WrestleMania. The factor of Ronda Rousey’s schedule being pushed back and leading some to believe she has open time to do some Mania. It has a lot of potential. I am baffled at people so mad that the Rumble is predictable. That AJ Styles didn’t win the title or somebody crazy didn’t come back. I’m like, “Guys, you’re not ten years old anymore. Yes, you sit on the internet as much as you do and we read and think and talk this stuff out. Things are going to be predictable.” It’s part of being logical. What logic is it for some of these crazy ass sharp left turns that people want to be constantly surprised and swerved? You set yourself up not to be surprised and swerved because they have to stay in the realm of what’s best for business. I don’t mean that as a pun. I mean that as legit. You aren’t just going to cancel all of the work that you’ve put in to Roman Reigns. It’s been too much time and investment. You aren’t going to cancel it now because there’s a bubble of fans that don’t like him.
On if he was happy with how WWE debuted AJ Styles:
JL: I was saying all of the lead up to Royal Rumble that I did not want AJ to appear. I said let a hype video run and hold off on his actual appearance for RAW. My reasoning being we’ve seen Mania get highjacked off of fan favorites like him and Daniel Bryan being the case the last few years. I said let’s just leave him out. They put him in there. He got a great pop. I was happy for him. They handled it as well as they could in the reasoning that they put him in at number three. He got to come in early so it was a great way for him to get a quick pop and have some momentum from the beginning. He got to last for a decent amount of time but obviously he was eliminated early enough in the match to where the longer he went… the closer he gets to the final six or five or four… you’re teasing people. You’re dangling it in front of that Orlando crowd like a carrot to make them more distracted from the finish of Triple H. They put him in early enough. They got him out early enough. They protected his finisher. He teased it a couple of times but never hit it. That’s a key thing I thought. They’ve got merch already flying off the shelves. I think they handled it as well as they could.
On the way Ric Flair has been portrayed in his latest WWE TV run alongside his daughter Charlotte:
JL: We will always respect Ric. Arguably the greatest performer ever in the ring. He’s just becoming a parody of himself. The way he comes out… he used to always do his ridiculous dancing and everything. That was always part of the Nature Boy shtick. That playboy shtick. Now he’s doing this gyration to Charlotte’s music. He comes out, he’s patting his biceps and shoulders. His bumps are fine. He’s just becoming a parody of himself. It pains me. I’d rather it just go away. I think Charlotte can get her own heat. We don’t need to have Ric out there doing forty seven, “Wooooos!!!”
Justin will be back next Monday, and every Monday, on the WrestleZone Daily at 12:30 pm EST right here on WrestleZone.com
The full archives of WrestleZone Daily can also be listened to in the embedded audio player below:
