Dave Simon and pro wrestler “Genesis” Johnny North delivered another jam-packed episode of Wrestling Uncensored, breaking down everything from Zack Ryder’s shocking return on SmackDown to John Cena’s first-ever Intercontinental Championship victory and AEW’s ruthless Blood and Guts match that literally set Darby Allin on fire. Episode 757 covered the entire wrestling landscape with the brutally honest analysis fans have come to expect from the Combat Sports Authority.
The hosts didn’t hold back on their opinions, with Dave calling out some questionable WWE booking decisions while praising AEW’s use of legends like Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Meanwhile, Johnny North shared his experiences working alongside Matt Cardona at Project X Wrestling in Sudbury just days before Cardona appeared as Zack Ryder on SmackDown. From War Games team predictions to Jesse Ventura’s shocking release, this episode had everything wrestling fans needed heading into a massive weekend of pay-per-views.
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Johnny North’s Sudbury Success and Matt Cardona Connection
The show kicked off with Dave congratulating Johnny North on another successful weekend at Project X Wrestling in Sudbury, Ontario. Johnny couldn’t contain his appreciation for the Canadian fans who have embraced him wholeheartedly.
“I think Sudbury is becoming like my second home now. Just the love and respect that I get from the Sudbury crowd is just on another level than anything else right now,” Johnny explained with genuine emotion. “I got to see a lot of the fans, people just got mobbed by the fans during the intermission, and hearing their stories, telling me what they remember about my career so far. They pretty much know, from the start to now, what I’ve done in Sudbury. And they’ve actually been looking up my career. This just blows me away. I feel like I’ve had fans, and now I have hardcore fans.”
The timing of Johnny’s weekend appearance proved particularly interesting because Matt Cardona was also on the Project X Wrestling show, wrestling against Marty Scurll in a title match. Just days later, Cardona would appear on SmackDown as his old WWE character, Zack Ryder.
“That’s kind of neat about Cardona. He’s done this in the past, where he’s just on a random show, and then bam, he’s on AEW. Bam, he’s on NXT. And now WWE has got a good gig,” Johnny noted, adding that Cardona’s wife, Chelsea Green, working for WWE likely helps with the connections.
Dave found the timing remarkable: “I think it’s pretty cool that last weekend you were on a show with Matt Cardona, and this Friday night, he’s on SmackDown.”
The conversation briefly touched on Marty Scurll being on the show, with Johnny noting that despite the controversy surrounding the wrestler, “Actually, Marty, I actually get along really well with. So it’s actually very much a pleasure every time I see him.”
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Zack Ryder Returns: WWE’s Surprise SmackDown Booking
The biggest story coming out of Friday night’s SmackDown was unquestionably the return of Zack Ryder. Matt Cardona wrestled under his old WWE name, losing to LA Knight in what appeared to be a one-off appearance.
The hosts found the whole situation perplexing, especially given that Cardona had appeared on NXT as himself just weeks prior. “So weird. Like NXT and SmackDown are two different places. It’s not the same company. And when you appear for one, you have one name; when you appear for another, you have a different name. You’re not the same person,” Dave observed with apparent bewilderment. “What a weird world is wrestling.”
Johnny speculated about the booking decision: “It makes me think that maybe they weren’t a hundred percent sure of who they were going to have, actually, that they had the mystery and like, ‘Well, we’ll find out when we get there’ kind of thing. And then when they got there, like, ‘Oh, we don’t really have maybe who we wanted. So I’ll just go with this because he’s around. We can get him. He’s available.'”
Dave agreed with this assessment, joking, “He is willing to do the job for LA Knight on a Friday night in Albany. Who can we get in Albany on Friday night to lose to LA Knight? How about Zack Ryder?”
Despite the unusual circumstances, Johnny acknowledged the significance: “That was big by WWE, though. They don’t usually do that, where they just bring in a random indie guy. Oh, I mean, he’s a bit more than that, but still, WWE rarely does something like that. So that’s actually a bit of a step forward for them to actually do that.”
Cody Rhodes vs. Bronson Reed and War Games Takes Shape
SmackDown’s main event saw Cody Rhodes defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Bronson Reed in a match that ended in disqualification when Bron Breakker and Logan Paul attacked the champion. The Usos made the save, but then Drew McIntyre showed up to even the odds for the heels.
Johnny had issues with the booking leading up to the match: “Kind of stupid though, because they announced that the match is happening with Bronson Reed. And they said, Oh, Bronson Reed will be in the John Cena tournament. Well, I wonder who’s going to win now. They’re going to be champions in the John Cena tournament. If anything, hold that off till Raw. That was just bad booking right there.”
The segment ended with Drew McIntyre signing a contract with Paul Heyman to be on the War Games team, setting up what could be an explosive Survivor Series.
“The fans were chanting for CM Punk, kind of hoping that Punk would even the odds, but he did not,” Dave noted, with Johnny adding confusion about why Punk wasn’t there: “I guess you didn’t get the memo that everyone from Raw and SmackDown can be on any show now. So I guess, yeah, he didn’t feel like showing up.”
The War Games teams are starting to take shape, with the heel side consisting of Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre, and one more person. Both hosts believe that the fifth member will be Brock Lesnar.
“I mean, it makes the most sense, right? Because it’s all Heyman’s people, whatever, people that Heyman likes, kind of thing. So Brock makes the most, and that’s the last one, so it’ll be the biggest kind of shock thing,” Johnny reasoned. “Plus, you only have to have Brock show up once. Madison Square Garden makes a lot of sense.”
Dave agreed but questioned the timing: “I don’t know if Brock Lesnar shows up in Madison Square Garden. Because I feel like Roman would be the final member of the Babyface team with Cody, Punk, and the Usos.”
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John Cena Makes History: First Intercontinental Championship Win
Perhaps the most surprising development this week was John Cena defeating Dominik Mysterio on Monday Night Raw to capture the Intercontinental Championship for the first time in his legendary career. The match took place in Boston, and while the crowd was into it, the hosts had serious concerns about the quality of the match.
“It was not a good match,” Dave stated bluntly. “And I think it exposed Dom a little bit as being a guy who just is not ready for the big stage. He’s getting over, but he’s not a main eventer.”
The issues were technical and could not be ignored. “The strikes were really off. It was just the backdrop. The attempted backdrop thing looked awful,” Johnny added.
Dave agreed with the assessment: “A lot of that stuff didn’t come close to connecting.”
Johnny compared the match quality to another bout from the week: “I felt like it was very much on par with the Jey Uso Miz match that we saw tonight. It felt very much like that. I’m not saying they were a great match. I’m just saying it felt like that level of wrestling was there.”
Despite concerns about the match quality, Cena now holds the Intercontinental Championship, raising questions about what comes next. Most people expected Cena to win the title at Survivor Series, not on a random Raw. This has left plans up in the air.
“Maybe they do the return match at Survivor Series. But maybe not. Maybe Cena just does something else. I’m not sure what that is,” Dave pondered. “Not a ton of great options either. But like Cena, Dom, too, do we need that? It was not great on Monday.”
Dave also questioned Triple H’s presence at the start of the segment: “Why was Triple H there to introduce Cena? Did we need that?”
Johnny had a simple answer: “I think he wanted to do it. So yeah. That’s it. You’ve got to be part of the moment.”
“He’s got to be part of the moment. He got to get the pop,” Dave responded knowingly.
Women’s War Games: Charlotte Flair’s Uncertain Future
The women’s War Games situation became more complicated after Friday’s SmackDown. Charlotte Flair had a confrontation with Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY, seemingly putting her team membership in jeopardy.
“Charlotte will not be a part of the War Games match,” Johnny stated confidently after watching the segment.
Dave found the booking inconsistent: “That was cool. They started the show cool, and then SmackDown just kind of fell off a cliff.”
The issue extends beyond just Charlotte. When Nia Jax and the Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) attacked Alexa Bliss, IYO SKY, and Rhea Ripley backstage, Charlotte was nowhere to be found.
“I’m not convinced Charlotte’s coming back to the team. Charlotte wasn’t there to help. I’m not sure that she does come back to the team. I think it could be two other people,” Dave speculated.
Johnny mentioned Bianca Belair as a potential option: “Apparently, Bianca Belair, I don’t know if you read about that. Like, I know she’s had a tough, like, injury recovery time right now, but apparently she said her words that she should be back sometime soon. So I wouldn’t be surprised that that’d be huge.”
Dave ran through the ideal scenario: “Rhea, IYO, Bliss, Charlotte, and Bianca would be a pretty great team against Nia, Lash Legend, Asuka, Kairi Sane, and Becky Lynch. That’d be pretty great.”
Johnny agreed on the star power: “We talked about best of the best. That’s really the best you could pretty much get. I think on both sides.”
The conversation also touched on AJ Lee potentially joining the War Games match, with Dave speculating: “Maybe Charlotte isn’t going to be there because they needed a spot for AJ.”
Sami Zayn vs. Solo Sikoa: A Feud Gets Downgraded
One of the more frustrating booking decisions discussed was the Sami Zayn and Solo Sikoa storyline. After Solo cost Sami the United States Championship, Sami called him out on SmackDown. The problem? The resulting match was booked for the night before Survivor Series, not at the actual pay-per-view.
“So Sammy did a promo tonight on SmackDown called out Solo because he’s mad at Solo for some reason,” Dave began, his sarcasm evident.
Johnny explained the storyline logic: “He was the US champion, and Solo pretty much cost him the title.”
But Dave found the whole situation illogical: “Solo cost him the title and he’s mad that Solo cost him the title. But at the same time, the guy who’s champion, Ilja Dragunov, Sammy’s like, ‘You’re the right man to be champion. And I believe in you and congratulations.’ So weird. Not great.”
The bigger issue is where this feud is headed. Nick Aldis announced that Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, Rey Fénix, and the Motor City Machine Guns will face Solo Sikoa and the Bloodline in a traditional five-on-five Survivor Series match the night before Survivor Series on SmackDown.
“So, hey guys, you’re not on Survivor Series. You’re going to wrestle a 10-man elimination tag that no one will care about the night before on SmackDown,” Dave said sarcastically. “Sami Zayn, Rey Fénix, Shinsuke Nakamura and the Motor City Machine Guns against Solo Sikoa and the Bloodline.”
Johnny noted the match length: “It’s a good 40 minutes right there.”
Dave was particularly critical of how Rey Fénix’s dive looked during the segment: “Rey Fénix dove on three guys outside the ring, like three of the Bloodline, and like a spinning dive, and nobody caught him. He just landed with a thud. It was rough. He looked a little shaken up.”
Nikki Bella Turns Heel: San Diego Homecoming Setup
One storyline development that made sense to both hosts was Nikki Bella’s heel turn. After weeks of self-doubt and losing matches, Nikki attacked Stephanie Vaquer, setting up a potential title match at Survivor Series in San Diego.
“I saw it coming,” Dave said matter-of-factly about the turn.
Johnny agreed: “You’ve kind of been seeing it for a while now. I mean, you said last week as well. And like, I mean, you could feel it. The crowd was always kind of against her no matter what. So it just made the most sense to do this.”
The issue Johnny had was with the timing: “I just felt like the timing is kind of weird because if she’s going to get the title shot right away like that, you kind of should have built Nikki up a bit more, but this is where we’re at. We’re just going to go right to the title match. It looks like.”
Dave explained the logic: “But I think, you know, you don’t really have to build it up. It’s just, you know, a little heel run for Nikki and she’s not going to win. It’s just somebody for Stephanie to beat. She needs an opponent.”
Johnny was skeptical of Nikki’s credibility: “She’s not very credible considering she’s lost a bunch of matches. She does this whole, ‘Oh, I doubt myself’ kind of thing. And now she’s going to get a title shot. Hard to believe in that.”
Dave offered a solution: “Give her a couple of wins where she’s cheating to win. Maybe a tag team match where she pins Stephanie, you know, leading into it. You could get her believable pretty quickly. She’s a Hall of Famer. She’s in the Hall of Fame. Say that a few times. Stephanie’s a newcomer. Nikki’s literally in the Hall of Fame. I think you have a believable match.”
The match quality question remains, with Johnny noting: “Will be a good match. So there’ll be a big question.”
Dave was honest: “No, Nikki’s struggling. She’s having trouble.”
Johnny elaborated: “Well, I think she and Becky didn’t really work out too well. And Roxanne, there were some hiccups. We’ll see how well Stephanie can do it, though—Stephanie’s a pretty good wrestler. So we’ll see. I mean, I think Nikki can carry to good matches. So wait and see if Stephanie can do it.”
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Jade Cargill Squashes B-Fab: Power Bomb Problems
In other SmackDown action, Jade Cargill had a dominant squash match over B-Fab, though Johnny had some technical concerns about the execution.
“Jade Cargill squashed B-Fab. Destruction,” Dave summarized.
“B-Fab got a little bit of offense in there, though,” Johnny noted, though he quickly added criticism: “Not too big on the power bombs, though. Jade’s really got to work on her power bombs. They’re kind of sloppy.”
Dave countered: “They seem so violent, though.”
But Johnny wasn’t convinced: “That last one felt like she lost her or something. I don’t know. Or she didn’t know what she was doing. I don’t know if you saw that last power bomb she did. Not like she lost the handle or something, or she was like, whoa. Lost her in the air or something. It was weird.”
Dave joked: “Too much baby oil.”
Johnny had advice for Cargill: “She’s got to watch how Wardlow did it. Like how he did the roll-throughs and all that with the power bombs.”
Jesse Ventura Released: The Body Is Out
Perhaps the most shocking piece of news was the revelation that WWE had released Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Johnny dropped the bombshell during the show.
“Going back to last week, you seemed to wonder about Jesse Ventura. WWE has released Jesse Ventura,” Johnny announced.
Dave was stunned: “Like, why?”
Johnny pointed to the cage match incident and the move away from NBC: “Do you remember the cage match? What happened? I think that was a big part. Well, also, I think they’re not on NBC anymore. So I think they’ve probably just told him to go. They don’t need you anymore. It’s not the same anymore.”
Dave was genuinely disappointed: “Just the possibility of seeing the Body was like half the reason I bought a ticket for Saturday Night’s main event. Come on, brother.”
Johnny pointed out the practical issue: “Yeah, but like you wouldn’t be able to hear him, though. You weren’t able to see him. That’s about it.”
Dave defended his position: “Still seeing.”
“Well, he’s not coming because he doesn’t work there anymore, which sucks,” Dave lamented. “I hope that Saturday Night’s main event show is going to be good. I think it’s cool that it’s Saturday Night’s Main event. Like it’s a unique show. I’ve never attended one of them live. I think that’s fun. I’m excited. I hope it has a nice old school look and feel like that.”
Chris Jericho’s WWE Return: Breaking the Walls Down
The hosts also discussed the increasingly likely return of Chris Jericho to WWE. With his AEW contract reportedly coming to an end, speculation is running wild about where and when he might show up.
“Looks like Jericho’s for sure going back to WWE. Do you think there’s any chance he returns in Canada or it’ll be at the Rumble?” Dave asked.
Johnny saw the financial angle: “I mean, the Rumble, I think, would be a bigger payday. So I’m sure he’s hoping it’s the Rumble. Cause that’ll be fantastic for him financially. I mean, it’d be great for you if you get to see him, but I would think the Rumble just for the more, ‘Who’s it going to be next coming out?’ And then he comes out like, this makes sense. That’s where a lot of people make the big comebacks at the Rumble. Edge did it. Christian did it.”
Dave posed an important question: “I think the bigger question is, does he come back with Judas or Break the Walls Down?”
Both hosts agreed unanimously: “It’s going to be Break the Walls Down.”
AEW Blood and Guts: Darby Allin on Fire, Moxley Taps Out
The conversation shifted to AEW’s Blood and Guts match on Dynamite, which delivered exactly what its name promised: blood, guts, and absolute insanity. The match saw Kyle O’Reilly’s team defeat Jon Moxley’s Death Riders when Moxley tapped out to an ankle lock.
“AEW did their version of War Games this week on Dynamite and it was Blood and Guts. And it was bloody,” Dave began. “I didn’t see any guts. I saw some butts. Blood and butts. I mean the women’s match was blood and butts.”
Johnny noted the damage: “I think some broken faces too, if I’m not mistaken. A bit of blood.”
“A lot of blood. Yeah. A lot of bleeding,” Dave confirmed.
The women’s match featured some brutal spots. “When I think it was Megan Bayne, like threw the chair, Jamie Hayter, who had like the trash can lid over her face,” Johnny recalled.
But the men’s match took the violence to another level. “They had a pulley system to bring up all those chairs for Mark Briscoe to use,” Dave mentioned about one of the creative spots.
The most shocking moment came when PAC and Gabe Kidd set up Darby Allin for an unbelievable stunt. “They set up on top of the entrance tunnel and there PAC is there with Darby and then there’s two tables below and Gabe the evil Gabe Kidd lights the tables on fire and then PAC tosses Darby off the top of the tunnel thing and he goes through two tables on fire and then he’s like on fire for a bit and then they put him out,” Dave described in detail.
“Good God Almighty. I mean, that was the most shocking moment, craziest thing that we saw on AEW. Darby on fire, man. He really got into fire over the past year or two, right? Been a lot of fire stuff with Darby Allin. He had a flamethrower at one point. He was set on fire. Didn’t he try to light Moxley on fire or he did?” Dave continued, noting the recurring theme.
Johnny was amazed by the risks taken: “There’s so much weapon, so much blood, the ropes are just completely almost stained all red. They’re white originally the ropes, but they’re not anymore. It’s absolute insanity. I’m sorry. It’s a true amazement that there aren’t so many injuries off this, because it feels like you just have a bunch of injuries, and I question why you do something like this from the week prior to a pay-per-view. It is very gutsy to do that because you can’t guarantee a lot of people will be available now for the pay-per-view.”
The finish impressed both hosts tremendously. “I have to say that finish the way that all went down with Moxley and O’Reilly. Yeah, I was very impressed by that. I’m like wow. I did not see that coming the way they did the counters back and forth like that, and O’Reilly got the win,” Johnny praised.
Dave elaborated: “They had O’Reilly, you know, kind of managed to get the ankle lock submission there on Moxley. He rolled through a couple times, nice counters, nice mat wrestling there from O’Reilly and we saw the match a couple of weeks ago on Dynamite where Moxley got himself disqualified instead of losing to O’Reilly when he was about to tap and now here in the Blood and Guts where it’s either submission or you know, you say a verbal submission it’s the only way to lose. Moxley gives up here finally when he had nowhere else to go loses to Kyle O’Reilly. So I thought it was a really good story told for the finish really good. I thought the men’s match was pretty damn good. A little crazy but yeah, why not go crazy.”
Johnny added his personal thoughts on the style: “Yeah, I don’t know if I’d ever want to do a match like that. I just seem to think that it takes years off your life, not just your career. But again kudos to them. It’s amazing what they pulled off that match and just to me it just shows you like they really love this because like wow, they put their bodies on the line in that match like every single one of the men and women like that’s incredible to do something like that because that’s rough. That is a rough just on Wednesday to do that.”
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AEW Full Gear Preview: New National Championship Controversy
With Blood and Guts in the books, attention turns to AEW Full Gear. The card is taking shape with some interesting developments.
Dave ran through the announced matches: “Hangman Page versus Samoa Joe for the world title in a steel cage match, which we found out about this week. Bandido and Brody King are defending the tag titles against FTR. Kenny Omega, Jack Perry, and Luchasaurus against the Young Bucks and Josh Alexander. And a casino gauntlet match for the AEW first-ever AEW National Championship because a new belt is definitely what AEW needed.”
Johnny had insight into the new title’s design: “Well, I think they got heat with NWA because they’re clearly just copying NWA by making their own title. That’s pretty much exactly how it looks in the NWA. So I’m not sure why there’s some sort of rivalry now with NWA out of nowhere, but I guess they felt they had to do this.”
Dave looked up the belt design: “Oh, it does look like the NWA national title. Oh, it’s like identical.”
Johnny confirmed: “Exactly. Because there’s some sort of beef for whatever reason.”
The logic of creating a new championship also confused Johnny: “I don’t think you need a new title just because you have beef. And okay, like the international title has been unified but like the unified title could still represent what the international title was. You don’t need to make another title to fill out the void of the international title.”
Mercedes Moné versus Kris Statlander for the women’s title was also mentioned, as both had competed in Blood and Guts just days before.
Ricky Steamboat Segment: How to Use Legends Properly
One segment on Dynamite received universal praise from both hosts: the FTR promo involving Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Dave was effusive in his appreciation for how AEW handled the legendary wrestler.
“Tony Schiavone in the ring in the Greensboro Coliseum says it’s the greatest venue in professional wrestling. His opinion. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, all right and then he announces a guy who made a lot of history in that building Ricky the Dragon Steamboat,” Dave set up the segment.
FTR came out with Stokely Hathaway and proceeded to disrespect the legend. “Stokely gets a lot of boos and he starts talking about FTR’s title shot at Full Gear and he tells Steamboat, you know, I would be honored if my favorite wrestler was there live to see the match. So Ricky do you have Macho Man’s phone number because I haven’t seen him on TikTok in a minute,” Dave recounted.
The humor wasn’t lost on Dave: “Which I find hilarious that Stokely Hathaway is pretending to be so out of touch with wrestling that he thinks Macho Man’s alive and is posting TikTok videos. So I thought that was a funny line saying Macho Man’s his favorite wrestler not Ricky Steamboat and asking him if he has Macho Man’s phone number. Who’s been dead for years?”
But the real heat came from Dax Harwood. “Dax tried to calm things down. He says ‘No Ricky, you know, we’ve been on each other for a long time. You used to train me and I learned nothing from you actually.’ And then he’s like ‘No wait, that’s not true. I did learn one thing. You told me it’s not how much you make but how much you save and unfortunately you and Ric Flair didn’t listen to that and that’s why you have to be here tonight.’ I was like ouch damn,” Dave said with appreciation for the sharp promo.
The segment culminated with FTR attacking Steamboat before Bandido and Brody King made the save.
Dave praised every aspect: “It was really good and it just shows you that there are still really good ways to use the legends of the business while maintaining their legacy and integrity all the while enhancing your current talent by using them on your weekly TV. There are ways to use legends properly and I think AEW did a very good job in this segment of using a legend.”
He continued his analysis: “I don’t think Ricky Steamboat looked bad. I don’t think Ricky Steamboat was embarrassed. I don’t think Ricky Steamboat lost face. I think Ricky Steamboat played a great role. Maybe some new fans were turned on to Ricky Steamboat because they’d never seen him before and they did a good job of talking about the history and why he was important and why he was legendary and they did that in you know very few words in very few minutes.”
“And I thought FTR got a lot of good heat out of attacking Ricky Steamboat in Greensboro. Made them look real mean and Bandido got a real good babyface pop saving Ricky Steamboat,” Dave added.
Johnny was equally impressed: “Well, I find the most impressive, like I don’t know how you felt, like I never thought Ricky Steamboat was that great of a promo and I actually thought like he was very good here and like believable what he was saying. Where I felt he was very dry a lot of times when you used to hear him talk. This was just like that’s the way he’s just talking normally. Like this is the way it should have been more with Ricky instead of trying to be it. I think he was trying to be more of a character and now he’s just being more himself. Like this is better. Like this is the way it should have been with Steamboat.”
Dave summarized: “I thought it was a perfect execution of how to use a legend of the business in a modern day wrestling context. They can’t be too physical but they can take a couple work punches to the gut. You know you can almost pile drive them where you go ‘Oh my god if they pile drive this 73 year old man they might kill him.’ Bandido and Brody King have to come out here or FTR is going to kill him.”
Dave’s Top 5 Wrestlers of All Time
The episode wrapped with an interesting discussion about the greatest wrestlers of all time, sparked by the Steamboat segment and by Ric Flair’s health issues, which prevented him from appearing at the show.
Dave laid out his definitive top five: “Bret, Hogan, Bryan Danielson, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and I would probably say Kurt Angle would be my top five.”
Johnny thought it was solid: “That’s pretty good. It’s very good. Actually.”
Dave elaborated on each choice: “I think I mean no matter what, no matter how great Cena or Roman or Cody are, they’re not Stone Cold Steve Austin. They’re not Hulk Hogan. They’re just not. They’re not as over. They’re not as popular. They’re not as famous.”
He continued his analysis of the greats: “I don’t think there was ever anybody better than Kurt Angle. I don’t think there ever will be. I think Kurt Angle was the best in-ring performer that ever existed. Peak Kurt Angle was unparalleled.”
When comparing Bret Hart and Kurt Angle, Dave offered nuanced analysis: “He did more impressive things in the ring, but Bret was more cerebral. Bret was kind of a wrestling genius as an artist. I think Bret is better, but as an athlete, Angle is better. So who was the better wrestler? It’s kind of hard because Bret I think kind of made you go ‘Oh, that was cool. That was interesting.’ And Kurt Angle made you go ‘Oh my god. How did he do that?’ You know different levels right?”
Johnny appreciated the thought process: “You know what I mean was more flashy.”
Dave concluded: “Yeah, but I’ve always said like Bret and Kurt Angle probably the two greatest ever in my opinion and then Brian Danielson I would put right up there with them because he had a hell of a career. Those guys, and then Hogan and Austin, because of the impact on the business and how awesome they were, and living through their prime, living through their peak years, was, you know, for me, my favorite times in wrestling, and they were the main characters. They were the best.”
Looking Ahead: UFC 322 Watch-Along
Dave reminded viewers about Saturday night’s UFC 322 watch-along on the Ringside Report Network.
“We will be watching the UFC tomorrow night here. Madison Square Garden, Islam Makhachev moving up from 155 to 170 to take on Jack Della Maddalena for the UFC Welterweight Championship. It’s the main event. We’re doing a watch-along here 10 PM Eastern time Saturday night when the pay-per-view starts. Our show will start. We’ll tell you what’s going on and we will have a good time. We’re partying tomorrow night on the Ringside Report Network. It’s a UFC 322 watch-along. Freddie and AJ will be live with me. We’re going to have a good time,” Dave announced.
Johnny confirmed his next wrestling appearance: “As of right now, it’s going to be February 7th. So we’re back in Sudbury again. So 2026 as of right now.”
Dave joked: “I’m sure there’ll be other stuff coming up. You know, somebody’s going to show up and say, ‘Hold on a minute, playa,’ and they’re going to book you in something, a tag team match playa.”
Final Thoughts
Episode 757 of Wrestling Uncensored delivered exactly what fans have come to expect from Dave Simon and Johnny North: honest analysis, insider perspective, and passionate debate about all things professional wrestling. From the surprise return of Zack Ryder to the insanity of AEW’s Blood and Guts, the hosts covered every major storyline heading into a massive weekend of pay-per-views.
The WWE War Games matches are taking shape with intriguing possibilities on both the men’s and women’s sides. John Cena’s historic Intercontinental Championship victory sets up questions for Survivor Series. AEW delivered violence on a level rarely seen on television, while also showing how to properly use legends like Ricky Steamboat.
With Full Gear, Survivor Series, and Saturday Night’s Main Event all on the horizon, wrestling fans have plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks.
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