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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, this is Rick Uccino alongside the Hall of Famer World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry. This is the Busted Open Podcast. Is Cody Rhodes slowly starting to turn heel? And did Gunther tell any lies on Friday Night Smackdown? This is the Busted Open Podcast. We heard a little bit ago the closing moments of that promo exchange between Gunther and Cody Rhodes last night where Gunther...
Chapter 2: Is Cody Rhodes slowly starting to turn heel?
laid out everything that he has done over the last several months where he said, look, I promised I was going to retire Bill Goldberg, and I did. I promised that I was going to choke out AJ Styles, and I did. I promised I was going to make John Cena tap out, and I did.
Chapter 3: Did Gunther tell any lies on Friday Night Smackdown?
And now he is promising to leave Cody Rhodes laying like a wet towel in the middle of the ring in Turin, Italy, and walk away with the WWE Championship. And...
That exchange alone and knowing Gunther's track record, boy, he sure as hell, as we're coming down here, the home stretch just jumped in front by a nose as far as I'm concerned because this is such a 50-50, could-go-either-way kind of matchup, which I love. I think those are the best kinds of matchups. I walked away from Friday night...
And I know we'll dive into Cody Rhodes and his attitude towards everything right now. But I definitely walked away. The biggest takeaway for me was like, I think Gunther's winning the WWE championship at Clash of Champions.
Where's the lies? Exactly. Where did he tell a lie? He didn't. The things that he said, some of which I think are over the line. Not all, as we would say, balls on accurate. But still, in his truth, that that's the reality. And I'm thinking that Gunther is kind of like you said. The guy that's going to leave this match as the champion. Cody, you know, we'll get into him in a second.
Cody is, I think... a little scattered. You have to be focused. You gotta be in your truth, in your alignment and to go forward. I think Gunther is more that right now than Cody is.
Yes. I wholeheartedly agree. Cause Gunther he's come in on Friday night SmackDown and he has had one thing in mind And it is, I want the WWE championship that is around the waist of Cody Rhodes. I want it for personal reasons. I want it for business reasons.
We also heard that bit where he believes that he's better suited to be the WWE champion because he's here to protect the industry from people like Cody Rhodes.
When he said like Cody Rhodes, let me explain to you what he was saying. The guys that
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Chapter 4: What are the stakes for Cody Rhodes at Clash in Italy?
people look at and go, man, what a flashy guy. What a guy that, he talks a good talk. A guy that, he hugs the ladies and he fist bumps the kids. Gunther is about dominance, is about war, is about attacking, and is about dominance. And that's what he feels like pro wrestling should be. And I'm not mad at him. I'm not mad at him for that. I mean, what's your opinion on it?
Yeah, I think that's what... if my takeaway from what gunther was saying was that he views cody as a little bit fake like like a politician right like putting on an act he's putting on a show for the people and gunther is all about being set in reality he's not going to apologize for who he is And then Cody swings back and he says, yeah, but you're also putting on an act.
You are also putting on a show.
Chapter 5: How does Gunther's track record influence the match outcome?
You are being fake in and of yourself because you cannot tell me you don't want the adulation and the celebrations and the bells and the whistles and the pomp and circumstance and the media and the spotlight that comes with being the WWE champion. We all want that. That's why we want to be in this spot. It's not just about being the best.
It's about being the top dog, the top star, the top draw, the top moneymaker. Because if you're not those things, you're not going to be WWE champion.
You're going to be employed. Exactly. Why are you in it if you don't want to be the best? Why are you in it if you're not trying to make the most money? That you want to be on every commercial? I don't think that that's important to Gunther. Cody alluded to the fact that, Gunther, that's what you want too. And I don't think so.
I mean, all you got to do is go back to, and I use a lot of movie references. All you got to do is go back to Batman. and the Dark Knight Returns. And he was asking Alfred about his opinion of his life and why people do things. And he said there was a time when he was a soldier and there was a guy that, He robbed, I mean, he pillaged and plundered and it wasn't about money.
It wasn't about things. All he wanted to see was the world burn. And there's some people out there that they're not in it for the spoils. They're not in it for the accolades, the pats on the back. They're in it because they want other men, other women to bow down to them and their greatness. And I think that Gunther is one of those people. It's not about money.
It's not like he's dressing like Cody. It's not like he's pulling up to cars and pulling up to arenas and limos and designer cars. You don't see him Learjet flying. It's not about the money. It's about the wins and the dominance.
And that's been his M.O. since he arrived. He doesn't have any catchphrases. His finishing move primarily has been a powerbomb and a sleeper hold. Those are two of the most...
Basic, old school finishes.
Yes. He's not jumping around and diving around and flying around. He's pummeling people. He is just using brute force and dominance to win matches. And it's like he is such a counter to what pro wrestling has become, which is high octane, flying around, you know, Pacing is just twice as fast as it used to be, maybe three times as fast as it used to be back in your heyday.
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Chapter 6: What is Gunther's perspective on being WWE Champion?
You know, I think a heel turn like that would have to happen naturally. It certainly does feel like they're trending in that direction, to your point.
At some point, there's going to have to be a reckoning. And Cody is trying to get people to accept who he is and the way that he's acting. And That's easily to try to say what you want people to see about you. But in the harsh reality of what I'm looking at with my own eyes, what I'm seeing, the actions that I'm seeing are not becoming of dusty roads. They're not... Shawn Michaels in his head.
They're not the guys that I grew up like Hogan being the, I mean, your traditional good guy that battled for the people. He battled for the kids. He battled for the underdog. Like, Cody is not battling for the underdog. When he was handing out title belts and he was getting face-to-face with kids, I had an emotional connection to that. Damn, look at Cody. What a good guy. Can we go back to that?
It's confusing to me. I almost went through the wind.
We had somebody call into the show on Friday when I was filling in for Coach, who was talking about how he went to a show with his daughter, and she desperately wanted the Cody Rhodes weight belt, and he didn't have one that night, but he made sure to find her in the crowd and took a selfie with her, and that's something that He's never going to forget that Cody did that.
His daughter's never going to forget that Cody did that. Obviously, they have the proof and the fact that they have the photo. But they had the sign up that said, hey, we're here for Cody's weight belt. And he didn't have it, but he made sure to give them something, to give them a memory.
And that is kind of some of the things that, at least on screen, I think we have started to see fall by the wayside.
Yeah, and maybe it just ran its course. Because sometimes Rey Mysterio used to give masks away. Yeah. And Bret Hart used to give glasses. Like there was always some, you know, Santino used to give the Cobra sock to people. You know, like there's always been guys that had a connection via one of their gimmicks. And... If it's played its course, then it's played its course.
But it doesn't mean that you can't go still to the crowd and go head to head with a kid and fist bump him and, all right, I'm doing this for us. Yeah. Like, that just tells me that you're doing this for me. And it looks like Cody's doing it for Cody.
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