Today’s “Wrestling Reality with Justin LaBar” podcast is now available on TribLIVE Radio.
The show opened with my reaction of the CM Punk fight:
I let greed take over. CM Punk’s UFC debut and I couldn’t resist putting a $100 down. My reasoning—if he wins it would be a nice profit. You’ve never seen him fight so it can be hard to prepare for him, that could be an advantage. A great underdog story. How fitting for me to turn baby face on him if he can put some money in my pocket. I even thought, you never know, this could be a big work. There’s more money in him winning and having another fight. Maybe Dana White whispers to Mickey Gall and says make it interesting, get caught in something and a duffle bag of cash might be in your hotel room. I’m not trying to disrespect the MMA community, but hey, shady business is all around in every corner of the world. Ya never know. All that being said, I dropped that $100. Well, that $100 disappeared faster than a bad lap dance to a short song. It was bad. But Brock Lesnar’s first UFC fight wasn’t so great either, but CM Punk isn’t Brock Lesnar. I genuinely respect the courage to step into a cage.
I continue on to talk about what’s next for him and the ridiculousness of those who believe he’s calling WWE for his job back. See the whole opening in the video below:
The podcast continues on…
6:00: Ryback now his legal name:
It’s not a bad decision. Ryback legally changing his name to “Ryback,” nobody has to see what your legal name is daily. To people, he can still introduce himself to people as Ryan. But legally is all he needs to use to the name moving forward. This allows him to continue building a brand around the name Ryback.
9:00: House of Hardcore is coming to Pittsburgh in October
10:40: Rusev returns and the situation with Roman Reigns booking.
16:00: The pop for Dana Brooke when slapping Charlotte and the storyline:
The abusive relationship story, it’s always interesting to see when the servant breaks out. People rally and want to see Dana Brooke speak her mind and have her match with Charlotte. It’s after that, win or lose, you have history showing it can be trouble to follow up with. Once she’s done with Charlotte and the payoff happens, then what’s next? That’s usually when things go bad. The person has been defined so much by someone else. We saw it with Alex Riley and The Miz. Even look at Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels. People rallied behind Marty to see him fight Michaels when Michaels turned on him, it happened and then what was Jannetty after that? Now, he did split away from the most charismatic and greatest performer ever in Janetty’s defense, but I think you get my point.
20:15: How good Chris Jericho is.
21:10 It feels like the last chance for the Bo Dallas gimmick to get over
22:45: Paige has gotten an “Alberto” tattoo
25:30: MMA journalist, Jonathan Snowden joins the show:
Everybody understands the business in that UFC can make some money so they promoted him. I’ve never minded the spectacle. I’ve enjoyed it in Pride, but they never denied it was a spectacle. What really bugs me about this CM Punk fight is the false narrative. First, that he had a chance to compete which he really didn’t. Second, that he’s this courageous guy living his dream. He’s 37 years old, the UFC was there when he was 20, 25 and 30 years old. He had this dream when he lost his seven figure deal with WWE because he couldn’t’ get along with people. I’m not convinced he’s always had this dream. And what’s a dream if it gets handed to you. If you worked hard and went as an amateur, competed at regional level. That’s a dream that matters. Earn you’r way to UFC. He didn’t achieve anything. He’s a rich famous guy who got to live a 2 year fantasy camp pretending to be a fighter.
Snowden goes to break down the fight, the business of it and what’s next for CM Punk.
