Hot Take: We may have not got a proper Bloodline storyline start if it was not for the pandemic. It allowed them to cut promos and build the story without the crowd. It might have been rushed or filled with "what chants". It meant that they had to be calculated and express the emotions even more so to the camera.

Steve's reaction to the "long reign" idea was EXACTLY my reaction while reading it. NO. No more long reigns

Shield would be NWA if they were a music group

Not just Rollins turning on The Shield, but The Shield turning face on Corporate Kane o protect King is one my favorite face turns of all time

The shield was Nirvana. Short lived and set the world on fire. The New Day is the Offspring. Successful and long lived but never achieved the same heights of success that Nirvana did

Bret didnt mind a bit of silliness, he celebrated with Santa Claus after winning in survivor series 92, had matches with clowns, pirates who stole his jacket, jerry lawlers dentist.

Darby got hit by a work bus😂

Steve, you seriously made my day by reading my comment. I had a rough day at work, but this totally turned my mood around. I truly appreciate you and Larson for what you do. THANK YOU!!

Luger's bus should have his matches in the VHS machine. Need something to help a person sleep 🤣

Mount Everest takes an average of 2 months to climb and has enough deaths (an estimated 330) where some frozen preserved bodies are used as landmarks. Do NOT underestimate it.

I'd actually argue that Jey vs Roman benefitted from the pandemic era. Hell in a Cell 2020 was what it was because of the acting in the ring. If there was a crowd we wouldn't have gotten that nuanced of storytelling in the ring because the crowd noise would be too much.

Five people have died and three people have gone missing since the beginning of the summer climbing season on Mount Everest.

The Cody hot take is silly. He WAS a midcarder as Dusty's son, went out in the world and made himself, and became a main event talent outside of the WWE. Dusty being his father has proven to be incidental to his career. As much as he harps on it now, it's not what brought him to the dance. Being a self-made man brought him to the dance. If nepotism is all it takes to make it in wrestling, then David Sammartino would be a hall of famer and Ted Jr. would be right there beside Cody.

Seth's turn is an all time great, for sure. I'd put The Rock joining The Corporation and the Mega Powers exploding up there with it.

A friend of mine climbed Mount Kilimanjaro last year and I would assume Everest has similar climbing packages available: They were in a decent sized group and had quite a few guides. You do have to be in shape because it is a couple of hours of hiking every day. They had two trails available (a long route and a short route). There were camp sites already set up along the route and they'd hike from camp to camp. They fly your luggage (clothes, food, laptop, etc) up to the next camp by helicopter. When you get to a camp you have a few hours of "me time" to take photos, hop on the internet, walk around the immediate area... and then they have a big themed dinner and then another couple of hours of your time. When you do get to the end of the climb they give you the option to either climb back down or get picked up by a helicopter and flown back to base camp.. I think of his group of 30 he said almost everybody flew down.

The Monkees are a batter analogy for the shield. In 1967 they out sold the Beetles and Rolling Stones. So like the shield they were white hot for a short time. The Shields light burnt brighter, The New Day's light burnt longer . IMO

Raven was like Kurt Cobain of wrestling, maybe his look was the reason that he never won the World Title.

New day vs Usos was a better feud with better matches than any Shield feud tbf

Idk, Dusty has an actual other son, whose name is closer to his own who peaked at being a midcarder. MAYBE Cody has a bit more going for him than just being a Rhodes

Kenny Omega's AEW title run was the best so far, during the peak of the promotion in the last 5 yrs.

"Damien Priest cashes in or something..." between this and wanting Liv to win mitb before she won at king and queen of the ring, i think Steve just immediately forgets who had money in the bank the second they stop carrying the briefcase.

Christian Cage went to TNA for less money than WWE offered. But he definitely wouldn't have been pushed as hard if he stayed in WWE. (Despite Batista pushing to work with him)

I’m going to put my thread hot take here: Wolf Dogs should’ve continued on the main roster. Yes, Bron has massive potential as a singles star, and I do like what they’re doing with him currently. However, I think the Wolf Dogs tag team had the potential to get him over before he went on a singles run. Also partly because they’re my favourite tag team of the year and I’m sad to see them go

I can get behind the Newsday vs Shield take. I never liked the Shield. They were two talented dudes and a third guy with lots of potential. But the gimmick? They just randomly came out to beat people up. Because they could? It never had any narrative logic behind it Then sometimes they did it for Vince? What were their motives for doing anything? I dunno. They were a teenagers version of cool; all style no substance. At least the Newday were characters. I was glad when the Shield ended. Rollins betrayal was the first bit of plot he was ever given. They all moved on to better stuff

Hot take: Just give me 1-2 month title reigns lol. Ok maybe not that short but yall get the idea

Thumbs up for a 'hot takes' video that ACTUALLY had some hot takes. 95% of the time your hot takes choices are just opinions that most of the IWC agrees with hence why YOU overwhelmingly agree with them. HOT TAKE! Logan Paul is a pretty good Wreslter HOT TAKE! WWE is better since Vince left MOLTEN HOT TAKE! Rhea Ripley might be the best wrestler in her division!

Like that intro transition 👍

The New Day is greater than the sum of all its parts. The Shield is great BECAUSE the sum of all its parts. Both legendary.

It's like the god damn DMV at this point! - my f***ing sides!!😅😂😅😂

After the New Day/Shield question, I thought, what I would think would be a pretty good idea for a tier list video, Trios/Six-Man teams. When you think about it, there are a lot to rank from over the years. From the teams in AEW (Acclaimed/House of Black) and ROH (Kingdom/ Mogul Embassy). You have teams in WWE even though there's never been a six-man title. Teams don't even need to have held a six man title to be on this either. You have teams from WCCW with the Von Erich and of course the creators of the Freebird Rule, The Freebirds. You could take the teams and champs from the 80's/90's NWA as well with Road Warriors and Dusty, etc.. there's a lot out there and it'd be interesting how they would rank. Just a thought. Great videos as always!

re: Long title reigns I think we do need to put those mukti-year runs on hold for a while. The fact we had 3 going at the same time (Gunther, Roman, Rhea) and before that 4 if you count the Uso's last run, it kinda puts you ina creative bind since theoretically speaking the champions have run through their competition leaving them nowhere to go. Extended runs like 4-6 months should be the target for a successful run with a title before dropping it and then fighting to gdt it back for another brief run. Multi-year runs need to be reserved for special circumstances, like every 3-5 years or so.

I think the Jey -Roman matches benefited from having no crown since the audible in-ring dialog added layers we probably wouldn't have gotten othwise

The Shield didn't overstay their welcome. The New Day however has long overstayed there's. Then overstayed that. And then overstayed their overstay. At this point you can find bread that has been sitting out in the hot sun for over a year more fresh than The New Day's act.

Yes do ppl that should've been WCW Champ video

The lawsuit is a catalyst. The same way WCW not wanting wrestling, the steroid scandal, and ECW getting betrayed by their network were catalysts. If we're going to point at anyone on screen, it's Jey AND Sami, just like it was Bret AND Austin.

Who would have thought the hottest take on the video would be that climbing Mt. Everest is easy..

I wonder if Steve's dog watches wrestling with him, and if he reacts to anyone on screen.

I think Roman vs Jey and the start of the tribal chief story benefited strangely from being in the pandemic no crowd era. We got to very clearly hear and see Roman’s new character through his in ring work in a way I’m not sure we would have with crowds.

More outro commentary with Gypsy please

Look at the new day/sheild with the HOF in mind. you inducted New Day as a group but the sheild go in as singles.

Comparing the shield to the new day I like comparing ecw to wwe. While yes they are both wrestling companies that just about where the similarities end. It is apples to oranges as a comparison

Damien Priest winning the MITB is actually a terrible take😭

superkick at the barber shop best turn

New Day vs Cesaro and Tyson Kidd is a match i feel like everyone should go back and watch

The analogy is better than you give it credit. Maybe nirvana vs Pearl Jam?

Damien Priest is a more interesting champion than Cody at the moment. He’s more complexed than straddling between heel and face when comes to certain wrestlers and the whole Judgement Day situation is interesting to see what happens next.

Steve just burying Mt. Everest.

I want whatever David Mitchell-Baker is smoking.

If the Shield were a band,......Nirvana

That New Day over Shield Hot Take was dumb. The New Day never had an angle where they split, in fact I think all three of them turned down being split which is why they have been together for so long. The Shield meanwhile have gone on to change the wrestling business. Moxley is the face of AEW a brand new company that is 5 years old. While Rollins & Reigns run WWE, there is a reason people say Rollins is the MVP of Wrestlemania weekend. You don't see Kofi, Woods or Big E being the face of a new wrestling company, you don't see them doing what Reigns & Rollins have done since the breakup. Horrible hot take.

re: Cody is Cody because he's Dusty's son I always said since his first run in WWE that Cody could have been WWEs version of AJ Styles who at the time was at his peak in TNA. I think regardless of who his family is Cody would have made it on his own.

Lex Express DEFINITELY had cocaine on it.

On the Everest topic, the amount of people going now is actually the problem. It causes a bottleneck effect and is the main reason for the rise in deaths the past few years

Darby Allin is scared of climbing Mount Everest? I don’t think that dude is scared of anything

steve just wanted to say pornography on youtube lol

Hot takes!

Steve: NO MORE LONG REIGNS!!

As a trio/tag team of course New Day is better because they are still a tag team and would still be a trio if Big E was ok, they have won so many tag titles together but the impact the Shield have is second to none. They came in like a storm and made an impact that we still talk about the shield even tho they only lasted for a short period and the fact they made 3 main events when most teams or trios only make 1

Bloodline story still has a ways to go.. Hikuleo and Jacob Fatu debuting, maybe even Zilla Fatu getting hotshot Jimmy's return Jey getting involved Usos reuniting Usos vs GOD, probably in multiple matches Usos recruiting allies Roman coming back to calm everything down New Bloodline turns on OG's, the big reveal with Rocky Roman vs Solo, also probably in 3 matches Elders FINALLY appearing and then Roman vs Rock to end it all

Dislikes long title reigns but wants Gunther to have a title reign that lasts 7 or 8 months depending on if they do mania in march or april.

Very long reigns with top titles should be few and far between. The fact that no one had done it since Hogan in the eighties is what made The Tribal Chief REALLY special! I don't want to see anyone hold a top title for more than a year for a VERY long time.

That wasnt a hot take. In terms of being a trio its New Day > Shield. Dont look at what it turned into look at what is. All of shield turned into big stars but as a group new day is the embodiment of a trio, a team.

#HOTTAKE :: AEW has WAY too many belts and it's hard for anyone who casually comes into watching AEW Wrestling to know the pecking order, never mind the previous history/significance of their belts.

You could compare the Shield to nirvana maybe?

11:59 I don’t think just anyone can do it. I mean there’s dead bodies on the way up the mountain.

doesn’t add nothing to the hot take but all three shield members were world champions this year

Kofimania?

JBL climed Mt Everest. I feel like at this point its just a bucket list type thing

Also Kofimania was a lot worse than Jinder's title run.

in the universe where roman was the john lennon of the shield sadly he would have never returned to become the tribal chief.

The New Day got together out of necessity because they didn't have any creative. They created their own group and storylines. The Shield was put together to call-up 3 singles guys from NXT @ once. The Shield has faired better as for as being singles champs. The New Day has their own accolades. I like the fact they don't turn on one another.

Here's my hot take the new day are cringe and I don't get there hype at all

I don't understand the argument that Cody being Dusty's son has anything to do with his success. There is wrestler after wrestler after wrestler who has wrestling-related bloodlines; Many of these 2nd or 3rd generation wrestlers failed to get over (Manu and Curtis Axel come to mind immediately). That speaks to Cody's ability to use his lineage to get over; whereas others have failed. Others have used their lineage to success, such as Dominik Mysterio or Natalya. Lineage has very little to do with a wrestler's success, other than perhaps getting their foot in the door.

Guntha 😂

Also, the suggestion that Kurt should have a 5 star match just because he's a technical wrestler?? Almost pissed myself, that's so stupid 😂 How many 5 star matches does frickin Dean Malenko have? How many 5 star matches do Shelton Benjamin and Brock Lesnar have? Get the hell out of here with that 😂

New Day being better than The Sheild ain't even a Hot Take. _It's just straight up _*_fact!_* Dave be spitting the truth. 👌

I think for Cody he just had something that kept him going and grabbed the fans attention in skills and personality. We had many offsprings of our favorite wrestlers that couldn't get over and they are not wrestling. I just has to be more than who is your dad in the business..if you don't have some kind of personality or skills in the ring the offspring in question will flop.

Judgement day ...new day .. days of our lives , look... The new day started as a gospel group... They are watered down from the vkm era

havent had time to watch this yet im just here to question thumbnail and title. the new day being the better trio compared to anyone isnt a hot take its just facts.

New Day definitely are the Stones the Shield to the Beatles Comparison doesn't totally work but it still is good enough the Stones and the Beatles both started the same year The Beatles in 62 the Stones not sure but right around there and the the Beatles broke up in 70 the Stones are still Rocking in 2024

15:44 now that's a hot take. Just say you don't like AEW

Oh wow what h out - so so hot these Hot Takes Always blow on the pie

Cody needs to loose to gunther and chase until mania the following year so mania 42

I think drew should loose so Damien can have a better reign

Steve likes silliness in wrestling doesent like Bret because he took himself too serious but still you and Larson still love Gunther when hes just as serious

huh???? the glass spot seems way scarier than climbing everest. yeah, okay, more people die on everest, sure, that's true, but, like, diving through glass? that's still scarier, i don't care.

If danison was that good AEW would be far better STEVE he has tony ear and is his roght hand man I thought?

Hot potato the undisputed championship

That New Day / Shield hot take is the worse hot take I’ve heard in a long time. Not even close. The WWE literally built the entire company around the Shield in the following years after the split. Every member won the World title. All 3 held it in one night. 2 of the 3 have headlined multiple WrestleManias. Love the New Day and it would be awesome if they found a way to get Woods a world title run (Highly unlikely) but this isn’t even close lol

new day is hella cringe

The last te was garbage. The wrestling industry is built on nepotism, even worse then Hollywood. You can make that argument for Rock, Randy, Dom, Rey, etc

dog!

Here’s my hot take, meltzer star ratings are more like Michelin stars. Matches you shouldn’t waste your time on would be like 1-2 stars, okay matches you might want to watch are 3 stars, and 4-5 stars are matches you should watch and 5+ stars are matches you need to go out of your way to watch

Long title reigns are better!! don’t know what you’re talking about Steve

The New Day is no where close to the shield. Not even close.

The Shield didn’t last long. Overrated as a group

Beatles suck. Therefore shield sucks

I think the New Day is stale and not even that funny of a group; my hot take is that whether its the wrestlers themselves or creative; black factions tend not to get or take advantage of the necessary permutations to make the group interesting; they either are happy go lucky goofs or 'we hate whitey' heels, theres no nuance, so the New Day and all the happy go lucky stuff they do is sily and you know they wont ever win any big matches for real stakes or break up with a real heel turn to evolve and elevate the individuals in the group...same with the Street Profits and they will ruin the potential for a Jade and Bianca mega feud because HHH will be afraid to turn one of them into a despicable heel because black characters can have no real depth

Seth Rollins has been one of the worst wrestlers to watch on TV in the last two years or so. Incredibly cringe with the personality of a wet tissue.

The Shield is way better than the new day the new day was more entertaining could sell merch and were great for the kids and the fans and stuff like that but the shield were dominant and they anytime they showed up it was serious