Dave Simon and Johnny North break down Gunther’s tournament victory, WrestleMania plans, and Netflix’s Warner Bros. acquisition on Wrestling Uncensored Episode 760
Gunther ending John Cena’s career isn’t just the right call — it’s the smartest booking decision WWE has made in years. When the Ring General pinned LA Knight clean on SmackDown to earn the WrestleMania match, some fans wanted Cody Rhodes or Randy Orton in that spot. They’re missing the point entirely. Cena doesn’t need a nostalgia match against someone he’s already beaten. He needs to put over the future of the company on the way out, and Gunther is exactly that guy.
The conversation unfolded on this week’s Wrestling Uncensored, where Dave Simon and Johnny North dissected everything from WWE’s WrestleMania trajectory to the future of combat sports broadcasting amid streaming consolidation.
Gunther’s Predictable Path to Cena’s Final Match
The tournament result felt inevitable from the start. Dave Simon explained the issue: “Gunther hadn’t even returned to WWE. He’d been gone for a couple of months. And already they’re saying, yep, there’s going to be a tournament. Gunther is going to come back in it, and he’s going to win.”
The conventional booking follows a familiar WWE pattern. “It’s very prototypical foreign heel going up against John Cena, all-American in Washington, DC, Cena’s final match,” Dave noted. “It’s the Rusev match. It’s a match against Sheamus. Cena has gone up against foreign heels a lot in his career. He’s played this role. It’s a very typical WWE thing to do. Captain America versus somebody from another country. It’s very wrestling. It’s old school.”
Johnny North agreed with the predictability assessment: “There was never really any doubt, though Gunther was going to win. And it’s nice LA Knight had the opportunity, but I never had any belief LA Knight was ever going to win the match.”
The promos telegraph the finish. “LA Knight had a typical babyface promo saying that he’s going to do it,” Johnny observed. “And then Gunther was saying, You’ve got to watch what I’m going to do to him. Watch how I end it. He called his shot in a sense. He said he was going to make him tap; he did. And that’s what he’s going to do to John Cena.”
Will Cena Win His Final Match?
Dave believes Cena wins on the way out. “I think they want to put him out on top. I think they also want to leave the door open for it not being his final match, so he can go out looking strong and maybe come back for a big Saudi payoff or whatever in the future. I think Cena does beat Gunther on the way out.”
The booking makes sense from WWE’s perspective, even if it temporarily weakens Gunther. “I‘d prefer to see him lose because Gunther’s the one who’s going to be on Raw on Monday night. Cena will not be. You want a strong character. You want whoever is on your show to look strong, but I don’t think losing to Cena kills Gunther. He’s won this tournament. We’ve seen him win a bunch of matches against a bunch of top stars leading up to this, and then he’ll lose to the great John Cena on Cena’s final night. Cena will shake his hand and put his arm up and put him over on the way out.”
The historical precedent provides some comfort: “I don’t think it kills anybody’s momentum as a pro wrestler to lose to John Cena. I do think it’s kind of crazy that Dominic Mysterio might be the last guy to beat John Cena. That’s a little weird, but Baron Corbin was the last guy to beat Kurt Angle. So who cares?”
Johnny offered a different perspective on the significance of Cena’s Survivor Series loss to Dominic: “I think Cena losing his last PLE was a bigger deal than losing his last match. How many PLE pay-per-views have you seen Cena in? He was always the star of the show. So for him to lose his last one to Dom, that’s even bigger than the last match. Saturday Night’s Main Event is kind of a throwaway show. That was the last Survivor Series Cena does, last ever PLE, last championship match he’s ever a part of. That was bigger.”
That loss adds doubt to the outcome on Saturday. “He already lost the big one in a sense,” Johnny reasoned. “You can at least give him a win on the way out.”
War Games Results Point to Roman vs. Cody III
The real WrestleMania news emerged from Survivor Series. Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes appear headed for a third consecutive WrestleMania main-event showdown, a prospect Dave finds underwhelming, despite understanding the logic.
“Roman kind of looked at Cody, looked at Punk, and seemed to gesture towards Cody as in, I’m coming after you,” Dave explained. “It wasn’t clear, but the word is, after War Games, that WWE is planning to do Roman versus Cody again, which is not exciting.”
The story’s evolution makes sense on paper. “The first time it was Roman, the tribal chief, Cody is trying to win the title for his daddy. He goes up against Roman, and he fails. Second time, he’s got to finish the story. He’s got to take out Roman, his super-long title run. Cody’s got to try again, and he succeeds. Third time around, Cody’s the man. He’s the champion. He’s kind of taken Roman’s spot as the top guy in WWE as the quarterback. He thinks it’s his team at Survivor Series. Roman thinks it’s his team. They’re kind of fighting over who is the number one guy in the WWE, and what better way to settle it than a WWE championship match in the main event of WrestleMania.”
The narrative justification doesn’t eliminate the concern about repetition. “It’s a different story. There are different parts. It’s an evolution of it. But at the end of the day, I think a lot of people will just see Cody versus Roman again. Haven’t we seen this already?”
Dave reluctantly accepts the booking: “Watching the product, you kind of understand why they would go there. And it does make sense. And it’s not terrible. Given the options for Cody Rhodes as well for the WWE championship at WrestleMania, if he is going to hold the belt until then, who’s going to take it from him? Drew McIntyre? The other options for Cody are not great. So Cody Roman kind of makes sense. I don’t love it. It doesn’t excite me. I don’t think match-wise, it’s really that cool. I don’t know what else they can do.”
Johnny sees the Austin/Rock parallel WWE is chasing. “I feel Austin and The Rock only did three WrestleManias where they faced each other. I feel they’re trying to put Cody and Roman up on that status. They’re the two biggest guys facing off once again. And because the story is a little bit different now and Cody’s kind of beaten everybody in his path, you kind of need Roman because now that throws in doubt finally that maybe Roman’s going to do it and Cody wins.”
Both hosts agreed Roman should win. “I hope he does, to be honest,” Johnny said. “I think we’re done with Cody. I think we need something else. I think we need to change it up.”
“Roman hasn’t been champion in a couple of years,” Dave added. “Babyface champion Roman, tribal chief babyface. We’ve seen him as a babyface champion before, but it wasn’t great. Tribal Chief Babyface Champion could be magnificent.”
War Games Delivered Surprises, Not Quality
Dave’s 0-4 prediction record at War Games highlighted WWE’s current unpredictability. “I was zero for four on my War Games predictions. Johnny North was four for four. We disagreed. We never disagree. I don’t know why we did this time, and I was totally wrong. I just didn’t see War Games coming for some reason, but I think that’s good. I’m not mad about it. I’m actually happy because I don’t want it to be predictable. I don’t want to know what’s going to happen.”
The surprises didn’t translate to quality matches. Johnny assessed the execution: “Not a very creative War Games match for both the men and women. They felt like a repeat, almost. I felt we’ve done this from before with both these matches, and they just kind of repeated the classics in terms of what they did in the matches.”
The cage dive spot has become obligatory. “Nia has to jump off the cage with a garbage can on her head every War Games now,” Dave observed. “It’s a yearly thing. It’s always bad, too, because they just stand there forever, and it looks bad. They’re just standing there.”
WWE Women’s Division: Tag Teams Dominate
The post-War Games landscape shows WWE prioritizing tag team wrestling over singles competition in the women’s division. The return of Liv Morgan at Survivor Series, costing Cena his final PLE match, created immediate questions about the Judgment Day dynamic.
“Liv Morgan coming back was a bit of a surprise,” Dave noted. “Interesting to see her back on Raw and the role that she’s playing in the group.”
Johnny found the follow-up disappointing: “As Survivor Series, that was a fantastic moment for her. I thought the promo on Raw didn’t really capitalize on everything they had. That should have been a big, monumental moment for the group, for Liv Morgan. And it just felt like another typical blah promo. It wasn’t anything great. It just gloated. That was it. I was very disappointed with that promo, to be honest, for the return of Liv Morgan after all that time and how much focus they put on her.”
The tag division’s strength comes at a cost. Dave explained the roster allocation issue: “They’ve made the tag division extremely strong by taking all their top singles talent and putting them in tags. They put Rhea Ripley and Io Sky in a tag. They put Charlotte in a tag. They put Bayley in a tag. Everybody else has been stuck in the tag division right now. All their best single stars have been put in the tag division. So yeah, tag division’s firm because Rhea, Charlotte, and Iyo Sky are all in it. But the other divisions are so weak.”
The mid-card titles suffer most. “Chelsea Green with the US title and Maxine Dupree with the intercontinental title, they don’t have opponents. They have no opposition,” Dave said. When Johnny mentioned Ivy Nile challenging Maxine, Dave’s response captured the enthusiasm gap: “I don’t care.”
Even the world titles lack depth. “Stephanie Vaquer has Liv Morgan. Thankfully, Liv is back. That’s something. And Jade Cargill has Meachin. You’re talking about the midcard titles. What about the world titles that they have for the women? There’s really not much there because you look at, well, what’s past Meachin for Jade Cargill? Nothing. What’s past Liv Morgan for Stephanie Vaquer? Becky, I guess.”
Best Match of the Week: AJ Styles and Dragon Lee vs. New Day
Both hosts agreed Raw delivered the best WWE match of the week. The tag team championship bout between AJ Styles and Dragon Lee against Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods featured a spectacular finish that overshadowed even Gunther’s tournament victory.
“What a match against the new day this week,” Dave exclaimed. “That finish was nuts. The way Kofi bounced off the double stomp and then Kofi had to fly his body through the air, and AJ caught him to hit the Styles Clash. Crazy. If you haven’t seen it, it’s an unbelievable finish between Kofi Kingston, AJ Styles, and Dragon Lee. Nuts.”
Johnny initially rated it higher than the Gunther/LA Knight match: “It was probably the match in WWE this week.”
Dave agreed with the assessment: “I thought LA Knight and Gunther had a pretty good match tonight. The tag match on Raw was incredible.”
The finish prompted fan complaints about stealing, which Johnny dismissed: “People are complaining about how AJ stole it. And then AJ is saying, ” It doesn’t matter. It’s wrestling. There’s no stealing. The Usos kind of do a very similar kind of thing.”
Jey Uso’s Never-Ending Heel Turn Tease
Jey Uso’s post-match tantrum after losing to LA Knight continues a months-long pattern of heel turn teases that never materialize. Dave’s frustration was evident: “Is he turning heel? What is this? It’s a slow heel turn for Jey Uso that never seems to materialize. Feel we’ve been talking about Jey Uso’s heel turn for months now, and it just never quite comes to fruition. I’ve grown tired of this, the mood swings of Jey Uso. It’s do it or don’t do it.”
Johnny offered a different interpretation: “I don’t know if it’s a heel turn or maybe it’s him becoming more Roman, possibly. A different attitude, a different edge to him. Might dress a bit differently.”
Dave questioned the direction: “Maybe it’s leading to him screwing Roman out of something or helping Roman do something. Roman seems to be going up.”
CM Punk, Braun Breaker, and the Road to WrestleMania
The War Games finish featuring a masked attacker (reportedly Austin Theory doing Seth Rollins’ moves) sets up the Raw World Championship picture. Dave outlined the trajectory: “CM Punk, Braun Breaker seems Punk will just hold it until Braun gets his crowning achievement.”
The first Raw of 2025 on January 5th features CM Punk versus Braun Breaker for the World Heavyweight Championship, but that doesn’t preclude a WrestleMania rematch. Johnny noted the precedent: “Seth and Punk, January 5th on Raw and then also WrestleMania the same year. It was a triple threat, but yes, with Roman.”
Multiple scenarios remain possible. “They could do a triple threat with Seth if Seth is ready for Mania,” Dave suggested. “Maybe outside chance that Braun captures the championship and it’s Punk who has to win the chamber or the rumble.”
“I could see that happening. Punk has to fight his way back. I can see Punk winning the rumble,” Dave added, before Johnny corrected the venue logic: “The rumble’s in Saudi Arabia, chamber’s in Chicago.”
The Royal Rumble winner remains unclear if the championship picture is set. “We said Sami Zayn was an extreme possibility,” Johnny recalled. But with the outlined WrestleMania plans, “It doesn’t work now, sadly,” as Dave noted, Sami wasn’t part of either championship scenario.
Bayley’s WWE Frustration and Potential AEW Interest
Recent interviews suggest Bayley may be unhappy with her current WWE booking. Dave addressed the quotes circulating: “I don’t know. I just saw quotes from Bayley, and that made it look maybe she was not so happy in WWE.”
Johnny agreed with some of her concerns: “I agree with a lot of her statements about how she was surprised and somewhat upset about talent leaving early from shows. To me, that’s sacrilegious. You weren’t supposed to do that ever. You’re there until the show ends. The fact that people are allowed to leave before the show is over is very surprising.”
Dave sees a potential AEW fit: “I don’t know when her contract expires in WWE, but I could see her wanting to try AEW at some point. I’m not sure she will, but I feel she doesn’t really fit in WWE these days. They’re just not doing as much with her as they should. And maybe an AEW run is what she needs. Go with her buddy Mercedes.”
The timing works. “Apparently reported to end sometime mid to late next year,” Dave said of her contract. “So at some point next year, her contract will be up with WWE, and maybe she’ll renew or maybe she won’t.”
Johnny acknowledged the pull of WWE money: “I think you’re right about that. That’s intriguing, what she could do in AEW. I just feel they are going to give her a lot of money to stay. So it’s up to her. Do you want the money or do you want to go?”
Dave framed it as a roster depth issue: “It just seems in WWE right now, they’re just not doing as much as they should with a talent like Bayley, and they have so many talented people. It’s hard to blame them, but at the same time, you’d think you’d be able to find space. Her and Lyra aren’t really a tag team. Bayley could be in the singles division doing more, but they’re not doing that.”
AEW Continental Classic: Claudio Beats Moxley
This week’s Dynamite featured significant Continental Classic action, with Claudio Castagnoli defeating Jon Moxley in the main event. The booking surprised Dave: “Claudio beating Jon Moxley in the main event of Dynamite was interesting to see. That was kind of an interesting booking choice there with Claudio getting the win over Moxley in the main event.”
Johnny focused on the blood: “The main thing I was surprised about was Moxley bleeding. And he bled a lot. I did not expect that whatsoever for this kind of match.”
Dave’s response was perfect: “Did you just say the main thing I was surprised about was Moxley bleeding? Moxley bleeds no matter what. Friend, foe, nothing. He’s bleeding. It’s what he does. He’s Abdullah the Butcher.”
The blood served a purpose beyond spectacle. “He was losing too. He might want it to make it look good,” Dave noted.
Bryan Danielson’s commentary elevated the moment. “Bryan said on commentary that he could never beat John Moxley and no one else in the Blackpool Combat Club could. But Claudio did,” Johnny recalled.
Dave appreciated the storytelling: “Bryan’s commentary was really good. He was saying, I could never beat Moxley. And that’s why Moxley was kind of seen as the leader because he could beat us. But now that Claudio has beaten Moxley, will there be a power struggle in the Blackpool Combat Club or the Death Riders? What are they called now?”
The group’s identity remains unclear. “They are actually the Death Riders now. They aren’t so much Shoot Fighters anymore,” Johnny confirmed. “The group is named after John Moxley’s finishing move. So you would think Moxley has to be the leader.”
Current standings show Kyle Fletcher and Claudio Castagnoli tied atop their respective groups with six points each.
The Dark Order’s Random Return
Dave expressed frustration with AEW’s use of undercard talent. “Where did the Dark Order come from? All of a sudden, they’re on Dynamite. I haven’t seen Johnny Hungry in years. All of a sudden, Hangman needs some friends because the OPs need opponents. And Hangman needs to do a post-match fight against them. Where did these guys come from?”
The absence makes the title shot feel unearned. “Have they been in Ring of Honor or whatever? It’s just annoying when you bring these guys out for a title shot for the Trios titlesm and we literally have not seen them on AEW TV in years. What? The Dark Order still there?”
Johnny confirmed: “Yeah, they’re still there. And I think you’re right. Ring of Honor, Collision, but pretty much Ring of Honor.”
John Cena on Joe Rogan: Staying in His Lane
Dave watched the Joe Rogan podcast specifically because of Cena’s disciplined approach to avoiding politics. “I did listen to it because I know that John Cena is so apolitical, and he will not give a political opinion, and he will not delve into political talk. Even if Joe Rogan tries to bring him in, he is so good at staying out, and he will not take a side, and he will not say one thing or another about Trump or about politics, about anything. And he will just stick to John Cena’s business, which I do appreciate about John Cena.”
The contrast with Rogan’s usual content matters. “I used to listen to him a lot, and then things happened to Joe Rogan, and he got way more political. He was never political. He was just kind of a dumb guy talking about Bigfoot in the UFC. And I was, this is fun. Aliens. I can get behind aliens. That’s fun. Tell me more about these aliens, Joe Rogan. Tell me more about these UFC fighters. He’d have cool UFC fighters on. They’d talk about inside UFC info. It was good stuff. And then he started talking about other stuff, and I lost interest.”
The political shift ruined even the fight content. “Once in a while, he’d have fighters on, and then he started talking about that other stuff with the fighters. And I was, even the stuff that you do that I want to hear isn’t what it is because it’s about the other stuff. I don’t want to hear you getting all political with the fighters. We’re doing that with the fighters now, too. Can we just stick to fighting? It’s more interesting.”
Dave’s criticism went deeper. “No disrespect, but not everybody needs to be talking politics. They know everything. You fight in a cage. You’re not a political science philosopher. Let’s chill. Why do you have to be on a podcast for three hours talking about your political views and how you think this should go and that should go when you’re an expert in Muay Thai and jujitsu? That’s your field of expertise. Tell me about that. I’m interested in that.”
The factual errors about Canada particularly bothered him. “Joe Rogan saying Canada is a communist country. It’s not. It’s a capitalist country. It’s capitalism in Canada, big time. It’s not a communist country. He said things about Canada where I go, well, that’s just not true. That’s not how we live here. And he says it as total fact. And I’m, well, that’s just not the case. That’s wrong. That kind of stuff where you tell me about my own country, and I’m, you don’t live here. What are you talking about? I can tell you that a lot of these things that you’re saying are untrue.”
Cena’s discipline impressed Dave. “I appreciate that about him. Stays in his lane. He may have opinions, but he keeps them to himself because people don’t need to know. And he probably doesn’t know that much. And he doesn’t want to have his opinions poked around with. I will watch the end of it because I trust in John Cena not to let Rogan bring him into one of the Rogan vortexes.”
The only risk: “Wait till they start talking about vintage muscle cars. That’ll probably be the whole podcast. I’ll tune out completely. I know Cena’s cars. Rogan cars. I wonder if they found out that they both have cars, because if they did, the podcast is going to be over for me. Two guys with millions and millions of dollars talking about the fancy cars they have. Fascinating. Not really.”
Netflix Buys Warner Bros.: AEW’s Future and the Death of Art
The biggest news of the week—Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s content assets—dominated social media with speculation about AEW’s future. Dave pushed back against the panic.
“My timeline was flooded with the news that Netflix bought Warner Bros. today. It was. What does this mean for AEW? What does this mean for AEW? And I go, first of all, it means nothing for AEW right now. And it may mean nothing for AEW at all.”
The economics favor AEW finding a home. “Netflix is the home for everything pro wrestling. You want to watch WWE? We got it. You want to watch AEW? That’s us too. Why couldn’t they do that? It’s not that AEW is a big price tag. They can afford to get WWE and AEW. If they can afford WWE, they can definitely afford AEW because they can get a deal with them for a fraction of the price.”
The Coke and Pepsi analogy explained the business logic. “If I buy Coca-Cola, I’m Netflix. I bought a Coke. WWE is a Coke. I just bought the WWE. It’s a Coke. But I also want to go to the store and put a Pepsi in my fridge. Coke doesn’t it. When people come to my house, I say, ” Do you want a Coke or a Pepsi. You can have both. You can try both. You could watch WWE or AEW on my streaming platform in my fridge. I have Coke and Pepsi because I bought those things. I own those products. And if I want to buy them both, I can.”
The multiple content model works across Netflix. “They have multiple comedians doing multiple comedy specials on Netflix. Are you to tell me that comedians aren’t in competition with each other for ticket sales, for revenue, for streams, for all that stuff? Of course they are. When you’re in the entertainment business, and you’re offering a similar product, I do comedy, he does comedy, I’m doing a show here, he’s doing a show there. Whose ticket are you going to buy? Netflix has no problems having multiple comedy specials on. They have movies. Why couldn’t they have two different wrestling companies on the streaming platform? No reason why.”
The media narrative frustrated Dave. “Everybody, I think, is looking for reasons to attack AEW and to go, Oh, this is the thing that’s going to sink them. This is it. They’re done now. They’re screwed because Warner Bros. and that’s their TV deal. So any change in the corporate structure is going to kill AEW business because we want AEW business to die.”
The realistic assessment offers hope. “If you’re a realist and if you see things clearly, you go, well, this might make things weird. This might make it so that their next TV deal isn’t a slam dunk, where you go, well, they’ve been with Warner Bros. They’ve been on TNT, TBS since the beginning. They signed a new deal. Everybody seems happy. It’s not status quo anymore. So when their next deal is up, when they’re trying to get a new rights deal, it won’t be the same. It’ll be different for them. But it’s not there’s no chance that Discovery goes, yeah, we’re going to sign you on TNT TBS, and we got the streaming service, and we’re going to do that.”
AEW has options and time. “There’s a bunch of different options for them when their rights deal’s up, which it’s not because they just signed a new one. I think they had three to five years or something.”
Johnny confirmed the timeline and Canadian stability: “I think they got at least three years left on it. This is pretty much the US. So this isn’t going to change anything for Canada. It’s still going to be on TSN Dynamite, USA Network for Collision, and buy pay-per-views. It’s going to be the same thing pretty much across the board, Amazon Prime. That doesn’t change. You can get it on YouTube, pay-per-view dot com. It doesn’t change that much. I don’t think it’s really going to change this in Canada at all. In the US slightly, but I don’t think that much at this point.”
Dave laid out the contract details. “The new deal that they signed with Warner Bros. Discovery at the end of 2024 was a three-year deal that started January of this year. So they have two more years. This year is almost done. They’ve got 2026 and 2027. So they’re up for a new deal in 2028. It was three years, 555 million, which honestly is so cheap.”
The price point makes AEW affordable for any prominent streamer. “$555 million for three years of AEW TV is an effortless purchase for Netflix, which paid $5 billion for 10 years of WWE Raw alone and the international rights. Five billion for 10 years. You could get three years of AEW for half a billion. So you could get 10 years of AEW for, what, a billion and a half, two billion. I’d say you get 10 years of AEW. It’s cheaper than WWE. I think AEW will be thrilled for a two billion 10-year deal.”
Multiple platforms could accommodate that price. “For Netflix, I think it’s manageable. For Amazon Prime, I think it’s manageable. For Apple, I think it’s manageable. For Meta, I think it’s manageable. For Google, I think it’s manageable. I think for a lot of things, it’ll be a deal worth doing. So I wouldn’t worry about AEW’s future broadcasting rights and everybody thinking that the sky is falling today. They’re going to cancel AEW today, it’s a dream. They’re not going to. They’re doing fine with AEW. It’s a low-cost operation, and they’re getting their return on their investment.”
The timeline counsels patience. “We’ll see where we’re at in 2028, but let’s get through 2025 first and chill out here. Let’s enjoy the holidays, brother. What are we doing?”
The Bigger Picture: Culture Over Wrestling
Dave’s most passionate commentary addressed what the Netflix acquisition means beyond wrestling. “How about what does this mean for culture and for film and for film history and for just everything, entertainment? It’s bigger than pro wrestling here. This is a bigger moment than pro wrestling. Warner Bros. is one of the oldest movie studios that we have. It’s Bugs Bunny now, which is owned by Netflix, a streaming service that produces slop. Warner Bros. has produced some of the finest cinematic works in history. Netflix has made some shit.”
The cultural implications worried him more than AEW’s fate. “I think we should be less concerned about what this means for All Elite Wrestling. Maybe more today, what this means for culture as a whole. Because I think it’s a dark day for culture and for film, and I’m disappointed. For someone who respects art, I think this is bad.”
His critique of Netflix’s approach was scathing. “I don’t think Netflix respects art. They respect streams, algorithms, clicks, and money. And art doesn’t factor into any of those things. It’s sad that they bought Warner Bros and I think it’s a signal of the death of art, which continues to plague our society in music, in movies, in TV. Art is getting killed and it’s really all about streams and algorithms and clips and singles.”
Dave called it the “TikTokification of culture,” describing Netflix content as disposable entertainment without depth. “There’s no replay value on anything they make. That’s a sign of lack of art. There’s a difference in art and entertainment. Entertainment is fine. I don’t hate entertainment, but you got to appreciate when you’re making something that’s a little bit deeper. Some movies, some TV shows have that. True art is made sometimes. But Netflix just, it’s not about that.”
The distinction matters. “A sign of art is when a good movie you can watch many, many times. And sometimes you’ll catch something new. Or you’ll see a different meaning or feel. You can watch it at one point in your life and feel one way about it, and then watch it from another point and feel differently, and see it from different perspectives. Really good movies exist. But then other stuff’s made where you just go, I’ve seen it. I saw the end. I saw what happened. I know who’s the guy who did the thing. Now it’s over. And I never need to see that again. And I feel that’s mostly what’s made now.”
The streaming model eliminates staying power. “It’s disposable. It disappears. You don’t even think about it ever again. Art will make you think. A good movie will make you think. You will think about it. It will stay with you for days, weeks, months, or years after. But a lot of the things Netflix makes, you don’t think about. As soon as it’s over, it’s out of your mind. You never think about it again. It has no impact on you because it’s not good. It’s entertainment.”
Johnny acknowledged the grim reality: “It’s just a sad reality that we’re facing.”
Dave agreed: “I don’t it. The more the streaming things take over, the less there’ll be room for good things to happen, real art to take place.”
What’s Next
Wrestling Uncensored returns Friday, December 13th at 10:00 PM ET for comprehensive coverage of Saturday Night’s Main Event featuring John Cena’s final match against Gunther. The crew will also preview WWE’s January 5th Raw premiere on Netflix and break down any late-breaking news in the constantly evolving wrestling landscape.
Saturday brings UFC 323 with a special watch-along episode starting at 10:00 PM ET. Dave and the crew will provide live fight analysis, betting picks, and their signature unfiltered commentary throughout the entire card.
The show wrapped with birthday shoutouts and acknowledgments to the loyal Wrestling Uncensored community, who’ve supported the show through 760 episodes of honest, analytical wrestling coverage.
Watch Wrestling Uncensored every Friday at 10:00 PM ET on YouTube, Rumble, Twitch, DLive, Kick, and Twitter.
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