WRITTEN PODCAST RECAP: Cheap Heat w/ Matt Hardy on the changing culture of WWE, when he knew he was was returning, favorite storylines from his first run

Show Name: Cheap Heat

Episode Title: Matt Hardy on his WWE return and the Worth of Ells

Release Date: 6/23/2017

Guest: Matt Hardy

Recap by: Jason Young

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Newsworthy Items:

  • Rosenberg feels the controversy of a man grabbing the briefcase is kind of good booking because everyone was so outraged by it.
  • SGG likes they are still building Samoa Joe up as a destroyer and that he is a threat to Brock Lesnar and everybody else on the roster.
  • Rosenberg reveals he’ll be on the kickoff show for Great Balls of Fire and will also be recording a new episode of Bring it to the Table that night to be aired in the near future.
  • SGG feels The Miz is doing some of his best work and at the end of his career he will be in the Hall of Fame.
  • Matt Hardy felt the timing of their WWE return worked out great and their return at WrestleMania was one of the highlights of his career.
  • Matt only knew for three weeks that they were going to be returning to WWE at WrestleMania.
  • Matt said when he started with the company there was a Wild West atmosphere. Since it is now so mainstream and a publicly traded company, they really take care of their talent.
  • In his original WWE run, Matt says he really enjoyed the feud with MVP and that WWE gave them a lot of creative freedom.

Subjects Covered (with timestamps):

7:46 – Money in the Bank review
26:37 – Monday Night Raw recap
41:57 – Smackdown discussion / Carmella’s promo
43:11 – Cass and Enzo breakup discussion
58:40 – Matt Hardy Interview

Show Highlights/Rundown:

The guys kick off this week’s show talking about the Mauro Ranallo situation and how they are happy that he is now back with WWE as the lead voice of NXT. Rosenberg feels that he was the voice of reason during the whole situation and thinks that NXT is the perfect fit for Mauro. They then talk about the Mae Young Classic and mention that Tessa Blanchard is one of the competitors in the event this summer. SGG thinks she is the front-runner to win and then could immediately feud with Charlotte due to the history between their fathers. They also talk about GLOW being released on Netflix. They have been hearing rave reviews about it.

The guys segue into discussing Money in the Bank from this past Sunday. Overall, SGG felt it was a very good show. He thought all the matches delivered and he really liked the tag title match. He just could not get behind the finishes of the two ladder matches. Rosenberg brags that he predicted Carmella would win the briefcase. Rosenberg feels the controversy of a man grabbing the briefcase is kind of good booking because everyone was so outraged by it. SGG feels that those criticisms are valid. We are being worked, but a man still should not have grabbed the briefcase in the first women’s Money in the Bank match. This was built up as historical by WWE.

Rosenberg thinks that is the perfect way to get Carmella the most heat and the most over. SGG feels there was a way to tell the story, but this just wasn’t it. He also doesn’t like that they are redoing the match next week. The only point SGG gives to Rosenberg is that Carmella has been using Ellsworth this whole time and it works well with her character development. In the women’s championship match, both guys were happy Naomi held onto the title, and they felt Lana held her own.

Both guys also enjoyed the men’s Money in the Bank match, but SGG didn’t like that Baron Corbin won. Rosenberg thinks Corbin is getting a really big push and this is another step in that. Rosenberg compares the push to that of Roman Reigns and SGG takes offense. Rosenberg says SGG is just a Roman Reigns fanboy and he always comes to his defense. Rosenberg also didn’t love Corbin winning the match. SGG thinks they had five of the greatest wrestlers in the company in the match and then Corbin wins, which gives him great heel heat. Both guys loved the moment during the match when Nakamura and Styles faced off. They wonder when the match will happen and hope it’s a slow build to WrestleMania.

They move into discussing Monday Night Raw from this past week. They both felt it was better than last week’s awful episode. SGG likes they are still building Samoa Joe up as a destroyer and how he is a threat to Brock Lesnar and everybody else on the roster. He really doesn’t like that we’re getting Rollins vs. Bray. He feels it would have been better to have Bray take on Finn Balor.

Rosenberg is happy that Braun Strowman is back. He was also excited to see the return of Bo Dallas in his match against Finn Balor and as one of the bears in the Miz storyline. He really likes that Miz now has an entourage, and believes there is a lot of opportunity there to do some great things in that storyline. Both Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel are talented and they could be great with The Miz. Rosenberg felt Maryse played her anger with the Miz really well. SGG feels Miz is on his way towards a Hall of Fame career.

They move onto discussing how impressive Carmella’s promo was at the beginning of Smackdown on Tuesday. SGG felt it was a flawless promo and Rosenberg really wanted to give her props. SGG felt she addressed every issue, including how people have always interfered in Money in the Bank matches in the past.

The guys jump back to Raw to talk about the break-up of Cass and Enzo, including Cass’s great promo. SGG felt it was bittersweet. He has really enjoyed Cass and Enzo together and he thinks it’s too bad they never won the tag titles in NXT or WWE. He thinks people were just wrong in believing Cass was not good on the microphone. They both felt Cass was great during his promo on Monday, and in saying nothing with a single tear rolling down his face, both guys thought Enzo was tremendous as well. Rosenberg didn’t like how the actual reveal was done with Cass just saying it in the ring, as it wasn’t really surprising to the audience. Rosenberg wonders if Enzo will eventually get some muscle to back him up, potentially for a SummerSlam program.

They guys wrap up the main show with a brief, random, but classic discussion about the dress code, including a call to verify the meaning of “smart casual.”

Rosenberg moves on to his pre-recorded interview with Matt Hardy. He begins by mentioning the house show at Madison Square Garden coming up. Matt says how excited he is to be returning to MSG. They talk briefly about Matt’s kids, including his two week old.

Rosenberg asks Matt how sure he was they would return to WWE. Matt felt that the timing worked out great and their return at WrestleMania was one of the highlights of his career. Matt mentioned he knew they were going to be at WrestleMania for three weeks. They arrived after the show started and hid out in a bus until it was time for their match.

Once they went down the ramp it was humbling. All the stress of the last three weeks was let out and he felt like he was glowing after the match. Rosenberg thought by keeping the tailgate party as scheduled, that was the thing that enabled them to keep their return a secret. Matt has enjoyed crowds in many of the cities since their return. WWE has been so good to them since they have come back.

Matt said the company has changed a lot for the better since they returned. When they first started, there was a “Wild West” atmosphere, but now since it is so mainstream, and a publicly traded company, they really take care of their talent. He mentioned how strict the testing was since they came back and that they really care about the health of their talent. Back in the day it was a badge of honor to tough through injuries. Times have changed for the better.

Next up, Rosenberg asks about the current climate in WWE. He mentions the lack of locker room leadership today and asks Matt if he is interested in being a leader. Matt says he’s up for giving back, but says that really isn’t Jeff’s thing. Especially at the point in his life right now, Matt is up for helping out anyone that might need it. Rosenberg mentions how excited people are to see the emergence of ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy. Matt thinks the secret to the success of ‘Broken’ Matt was social media and how it was used to get it viewed by casual fans.

They wrap up the discussion talking about Matt’s first WWE run. Rosenberg mentions how much he enjoyed the MVP storyline. He asks Matt what he enjoyed most about that run. Matt says he really enjoyed the feud with MVP and that WWE gave them a lot of creative freedom. He also really liked his Version 1 storyline and looking back now, enjoyed the feud with Edge, but it was tough at the time. He thinks he’s learned from his mistakes in the past.

Rosenberg says that storyline with Edge was one of the most unique scenarios in the history of the WWE. He wraps it up mentioning how much he has appreciated the character arch of Matt and the Hardy Boyz. Matt says that MSG has a very special place in his heart and it’s going to be an extremely special show.

Review (9/10)

This week was a great show, which featured a great Matt Hardy interview and recaps of Money in the Bank, Monday Night Raw, and Smackdown. They had a back and forth discussion about the Carmella and Ellsworth controversial decision. The highlight for me, though, was the random discussion of dress code at Tavern on the Green, including a live call on the show to determine the meaning of “smart casual” attire.

About the Author:

Jason Young is a lifelong WWE fan since his dad introduced him to the product in the mid ‘80s. He grew up outside of Boston and now lives in Norfolk, MA. Throughout his WWE fandom, he was a huge fan of Austin in the Attitude Era and his current favorites include Kevin Owens, Sasha Banks and Finn Balor. He’s been a listener of the PWTorch Livecast since 2014.

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