This week’s Wrestling Uncensored episode, featuring Dave and Ben Simon, was packed with breaking news, sharp commentary, and lively fan interaction. Get ready to hear about the real talk surrounding wrestling’s biggest stories and some surprising turns from the recent shows.
The Return of Goldberg: A Controversial Comeback
The show opened with a clear declaration of some less-than-thrilling news for Dave Simon: “Ooh, ooh, ooh, Liv Morgan injured Randy Orton going to the King of the Ring finals, and Goldberg’s back. We got bad news all around. It’s wrestling on sense.” He reiterated, “Just terrible, terrible news.”
The return of Bill Goldberg was met with strong disdain from Dave. Goldberg is scheduled to wrestle Gunther on July 12th in Atlanta for the World Heavyweight Championship, billed as Goldberg’s last match. Dave’s immediate reaction: “Please let it be Goldberg’s last match. It has to be. He’s 58.” He then critiqued Goldberg’s physical state, noting, “And he was not moving well. No, he was pretty sweaty.” “And like he could barely get to the top rope or the second rope. Like he was stumbling. His knees looked like they didn’t exist. His legs were completely stiff. I’m not sure he can bend his legs.”
Dave questioned how Goldberg would execute his signature moves: “How’s he gonna spear? I don’t know. Jackhammer?” He passionately wished for Gunther to dominate, saying, “Can Gunther just squash him? Goldberg’s been squashing people for years. Let’s have Gunther go bam bam bam. Sleepy hold. Yeah, over. Just choke him out quick. Put him out of our misery.” He suggested this would generate significant “heat” from the Atlanta crowd, Goldberg’s home turf. Dave firmly stated, “Because I don’t think Goldberg can wrestle more than two or three minutes. I don’t want to see Goldberg wrestle for more than two or three minutes at a time. And he doesn’t deserve to have a match with Gunther that lasts longer than two or three minutes.”
Dave expressed his deep personal dislike for Goldberg, rooted in the infamous incident with Bret Hart. “Bill Goldberg, who kicked Bret Hart in the head, ” ending his career. Anyone who would do that to Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart is a piece of crap. Bret doesn’t forgive him. I don’t forgive him. Bill Goldberg sucks forever. I’ll never forget. Worst wrestler ever.”
He recalled stories from Chris Jericho’s book that painted Goldberg in a negative light, particularly his arrogance about his car and wealth. “He bought the same car, or he had some car, and he would like to drive it to the front of the parking lot where all the boys would enter. So, everyone walked by, and he would stand and lean on his car, just waving to people, saying, ‘Oh, nice car, boo.’ And like, oh, and like he wouldn’t even say thanks. He would say, ‘Oh, it’s just that it costs more than what you were in a year.’ Like he just did it to be a dick.” Dave concluded, “Goldberg is a dick. He’s awful. He acts like he’s the toughest guy ever. He never fought. He’s an ex-washed-up football player who stumbled into pro wrestling and was pushed way more than he should have, believing his gimmick. Super. He still believes in his gimmick. Huge mark for himself. Complete Jack.”
Dave further characterized Goldberg as insecure about his actual fighting ability, despite his physique. “Like, Goldberg comes off as one of these guys who’s like big and jacked, but super insecure about his actual fighting ability. So he projects this tough guy image, but he doesn’t have any credentials to back it up.” He referenced the infamous “works” with William Regal, where Regal easily exposed Goldberg’s lack of legitimate skills in the ring. “Also, like when a guy did test him. Yeah. Regal. It was William Regal whose body looked like shit compared to Goldberg. Yes. And he could have fucking completely killed Goldberg if he wanted to in the ring. So like, and that I think adds to Goldberg’s insecurity.”
Dave’s passionate criticism continued: “I really, really dislike him. I dislike him as a human being. I dislike him so much for what he did to Bret Hart. I dislike him for his attitude towards pro wrestling, where he just feels he deserves everything and he’s owed everything. He’s very selfish, very self-centered, very just gross.” “His run in like two thousand and also a shit wrestler, a shit wrestler. He barely lasted a year.” He cited Goldberg’s self-inflicted injuries due to carelessness, calling him an “absolute moron. Mark for himself time and time again,” Dave concluded, “the fact that the WWE keeps feeding his ego is just deplorable and is really an insult to the tradition of professional wrestling. Like it’s an he’s an insult to pro wrestling and the fact that WWE keeps bringing this piece of crap back is an insult to the tradition, the history of pro wrestling. They spit in the face of pro wrestling when they hire Bill Goldberg to do a match in the ring.”
WWE Injury Woes: Liv Morgan and the Women’s Tag Team Titles
Beyond the Goldberg news, Dave highlighted another piece of bad news: Liv Morgan’s injury. “Liv Morgan injured Randy Orton going to the King of the Ring finals, and Goldberg’s back. We got bad news all around.”
The hosts discussed the impact of Liv Morgan’s torn shoulder, which is expected to sideline her for six months and put the Women’s Tag Team Titles in jeopardy. Dave and Ben struggled to recall the last time Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez defended their belts as a team, with Ben suggesting it was at WrestleMania. Dave noted, “The day after Mania, they won the belts back from Becky and Lyra, and then apparently they had a show on NXT the day after that, but since April, they haven’t had a tag match. So, since winning the belts, they haven’t even tagged together.”
Dave explained the nature of Liv’s injury: “Looks like she… Liv tore her shoulder? Yeah. Looks like she… You know, just the impact. It doesn’t take much. You know, I’ve been grappling for a long time, right? And sometimes you’re swept or whatever, and you go to post, and your shoulder gives a bit. And nine times out of ten, that post when you go to land, you’re fine. But once in a while, you go and you go, ‘Oh, I jammed that a bit.’ And you didn’t necessarily tear your shoulder like Liv did, but you feel it.” He added, “And when I saw her do that, I was like, ‘Yeah, that can happen to anybody at any time.’ That’s just a thing that happens when you fall forward and land on your hands like that. Most of the time, you can support yourself, but sometimes if you just land slightly off, you could pop your shoulder, and she popped her shoulder, and it’s bad apparently, and she needs surgery.”
This injury is a significant blow, given Liv’s pivotal role in WWE programming. “She’s going to be gone for an extended period, like six months, which is awful for Liv, for what they had planned with the Bellas, for the tag titles, for Raquel, for the whole Judgment Day and everything they have going on that revolves around her on Raw. Like she’s such a…, and Roxanne, there’s like a budding thing there. Yeah, exactly. Roxanne loses out on this. There’s so much going on that they have revolved around Liv Morgan on Monday Night Raw. Her departure is like a major blow to the show. She really is. She’s one of the main stars. It’s kind of like just you listen to others like, ‘Oh yeah, Liv Morgan is like a load-bearing wrestler for Raw.’ A lot revolves around her being on the show. Yeah. It’s kind of interesting.” Dave emphasized her importance as the top female heel: “She’s the top female heel on the show. Yeah. By far. That’s a big blow. Like more than Becky. Yeah. You know, like Rhea is the top babyface and Liv is the top heel, and they have that rivalry there that’s just always built in.”
Dave suggested a creative pivot for the Women’s Tag Team Titles storyline: “I would pivot to Roxanne jumping in with Raquel. Raquel is going like Roxanne going, ‘Look, Liv’s gone. I know you don’t like me, but you got those tag titles. We’re here. Finn likes me. Dom likes me. I’m all you got.’ Yeah. And then Raquel goes, ‘Okay.’ So then, when Liv comes back, it’s similar to when Rhea came back from injury, where it’s like all of a sudden there’s this new one who’s been accepted into the group. You’re kind of on the outside looking in, and maybe Dom’s a little too cozy with Roxanne, and it’s very similar to what happened with Rhea.” This would allow storylines to continue and set up a primary babyface return for Liv.
The injury also throws a wrench into rumored plans for a tag match at the Evolution All-Women’s Premium Live Event on July 13th, where Liv and Raquel were allegedly set to defend against the Bella Twins. Dave noted that Brie Bella was already “non-committal” to the match. He also highlighted the existing history between Liv and Brie, with Brie legitimately knocking out Liv several years ago with a kick to the face.
WWE King and Queen of the Ring Semifinals & Beyond
The episode moved to a review of SmackDown from Grand Rapids, Michigan, which featured the King and Queen of the Ring semifinals. Dave noted the show was “interesting” and mentioned John Cena and R-Truth were scheduled for the main event.
In the King of the Ring semifinal, Randy Orton defeated Sami Zayn with an RKO to advance to the finals. In the Queen of the Ring semifinal, Asuka defeated Alexa Bliss. Dave was critical of the finish, noting, “Oscar hit. Oh, yeah. She went for a hip attack, like a running butt to the face, but Alexa just totally moved out of the way. It didn’t hit her. The camera caught that it didn’t hit her. It looked terrible, and we’re like, oh, that wasn’t good. She missed. And then Oscar went to pin her. It was the finish. And that was the finish. No good.”
Dave discussed Alexa Bliss’s history of poor bumps due to concussion issues: “That’s Alexa’s done that a lot. Like she’s taken a long break, however, that was something we used to expect from her matches. She just kind of bumps for like drop kicks or certain moves way too early and flies away. And it just doesn’t look very good. It was a problem she’s always had. Well, I think she had concussion issues, and maybe she doesn’t really want to take a solid impact. But you’re a pro wrestler. So yeah, not a person that you can rely on for big bumps. Yeah. And to make your stuff look good. She’s not. Yeah. She’s not a strong style wrestler by any means. She’s very light.” Alexa Bliss appears to be aligning with Charlotte Flair, possibly as a tag team, which Dave thought could help hide Alexa’s deficiencies in the ring.
The King of the Ring finals will feature Randy Orton against the winner of Cody Rhodes vs. Jey Uso on Raw. Dave predicted Cody would defeat Jey Uso and then beat Randy Orton in the King of the Ring finals at Night of Champions. He believes a Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena match at SummerSlam is the most logical next step. Dave dismissed the idea of Jey Uso facing Cena, saying, “Jey Uso against Cena would be awful. No one would believe he would win. He wouldn’t win. It would be terrible. Cody Cena needs to happen again. SummerSlam is the place to do it.” He admitted, however, that he has a small doubt that WWE might book Jey Uso instead.
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John Cena’s “Farewell Tour” and CM Punk Drama
John Cena was a prominent figure on SmackDown, participating in a segment that involved a match with R-Truth and a heated promo battle with CM Punk. Dave recounted the chaos: “CM Punk Cena just took out our truth with a belt shot. Truth was walking away. Cena hit him with the belt. The match. The match table. The match went out the window between Cena and Truth. But now CM Punk came out to save Truth. But Cena has hit Punk with the belt now. Punk is down, and Cena is grabbing the Slim Jim table because all the tables are now branded with Slim Jim. So I think we have to call them Slim Jim tables.”
Cena then delivered an Attitude Adjustment to Punk through a Slim Jim table. What followed was a highly meta and intense promo from Cena directed at Punk. Dave noted Punk’s long sell of the move: “CM Punk going on eight minutes now unconscious and counting. Not moving. I mean, it’s nuts how long he’s been selling this for.”
Cena’s promo included direct references to Punk’s famous “pipe bomb” and his perceived hypocrisy. Cena taunted Punk, “Punk, as you’re sitting there. Hopefully, as uncomfortable as you possibly can be. Yeah. Is he saying that? Yeah. He is. Yes. As you lie there. And you’re most uncomfortable. He didn’t quite get the line. But he botched the line, John. No take twos. He couldn’t quite do it. Somebody’s afraid of what I’m going to say. There you go. He’s gotten the CM Punk pipe bomb on him.”
Cena accused Punk of selling out: “Cena said you’re no longer the voice of the voices. You’re freaking millionaire. You’re a capitalist. And you’re not against TKO. You are Mr. TKO. Wow. They have sold out to TKO and everything. He’s going to Saudi Arabia. He went back to WWE. He is a total sellout. Cena is right.”
A viewer, Jason Pete, highlighted another past incident involving Goldberg and Matt Riddle: “Remember when he tried to pick a fight with Matt Riddle as if Bill Goldberg would have done anything besides talk.” Dave confirmed this, recalling Riddle’s comments about Goldberg being a “phony tough guy” and the legitimate tension between them. “That was 100 percent legit. That was the Riddle who would have killed a man. Yeah. But like that whole interaction wasn’t like a word. No, that was real because Goldberg is a petty little bitch.”
Dave Simon expressed his enjoyment of Cena’s “farewell tour,” focusing on his old rivals. “Like, I like that Cena is wrestling all his old foes, you know, on this farewell tour. He’s doing a little thing with the truth here. Then CM Punk. Like, it’s fun that he’s wrestling Punk again.” He mentioned wishing Kevin Owens wasn’t hurt, and suggested AJ Styles as another good opponent for Cena.
WWE’s “Petty” Behavior
Dave also discussed what he perceived as WWE’s “petty” behavior regarding former AEW talent. He mentioned WWE’s apparent unhappiness with Wardlow appearing on “American Gladiators”. Another example was Netflix’s desire for WWE to promote the new Happy Gilmore movie starring Becky Lynch, but WWE allegedly wanted a commercial without MJF in it. Dave found this “really funny” and criticized their continued refusal to acknowledge competition: “They’re so massive, but they’re just still like– We don’t want to acknowledge the competition. What competition? They’re like AW is not competition.”
Regarding the Money in the Bank briefcase, Dave noted Paul Heyman was carrying it around on SmackDown, despite Seth Rollins being the actual winner and the “leader of this whole group”. He felt the current storyline involving the “goons” (Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed) feuding with LA Knight was “filler”.
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AEW Dynamite: Mexico City Show Review
The show then shifted focus to AEW Dynamite’s recent show in Mexico City. Dave Simon expressed his general disappointment with the episode: “I didn’t love their show this week in Mexico City. It felt like a spot show. You know, there was just a lot of matches between AEW guys and CMLL guys. Yeah. Where it didn’t feel like anything was really happening in AEW. It just felt like one show for one night only in Mexico. For the fans. For the fans. For the little world’s collide kind of thing.” He felt there was no urgency or significant build towards upcoming AEW storylines.
A notable moment that didn’t air on TV was Bryan Danielson making a save for some lucha libre wrestlers. Dave noted, “Brian Danielson… Oh, yeah. …came out, made the save for some lucha guys, did his running knee, took a bump. The crowd went nuts. It wasn’t on TV. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because it was just for the crowd and he could do one bump, but he’s not planning to do any story in AW. So… And if it was televised, you would expect more.”
One of the most interesting segments for Dave was MJF’s match against Mistico. MJF emerged with an overly patriotic American gimmick, complete with an American outfit and flag. Mistico, representing Mexico, was met with enthusiasm from the crowd. MJF cheated to win, then notoriously ripped off Mistico’s mask and wore it, generating massive heat. Dave shared a rumor: “And MJF got attacked at the hotel. Oh, for real? I mean… But he was like… The word is that he was pleased with it, due to the great heel work. But the crowd was pissed at MJF. Seriously, unmask someone. Yeah. And being super pro-America, they seemed like they were not happy with America in Mexico.” Dave observed, “Americans are taking some heat around the world right now. And we saw it in Canada; now we’ve seen it again in Mexico. And therefore, MJF was getting major heat doing the pro-America gimmick.”
Other matches on the card included Mark Briscoe vs. Kazuchika Okada (which Okada won) and a four-way match won by Hologram. Mercedes Moné also defeated Zeuxis for the CMLL Women’s World title, adding another championship to her collection. Dave joked, “It’s like eight or something? She’s got no room on her arms. I’ve lost track. She’s got every other promotion title. And the AEW TBS title.” Toni Storm attacked Mercedes Moné after her match, setting up their highly anticipated clash at All In.
Dave admitted he was “wavering” on his prediction for Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Moné. While he initially leaned towards Mercedes Moné, he’s now starting to think Toni will win. “I was going with Mercedes, but Mercedes just has so many belts. She doesn’t need another belt. But at the same time, though, it makes sense if she just has them all. And then she becomes the first– I mean, she’s already the first to hold a crazy amount of belts because she’s also held WWE belts. Yeah. She’s done it all. But she’s never held the AEW Women’s, so it’s like the last one. I think she’s going to win it.”
Dave, however, leans towards Toni winning to maintain AEW’s identity, especially since Mercedes Moné is a former WWE star (Sasha Banks). “But it’s still Sasha Banks, and I think the perception would be a WWE person beating an AEW homegrown talent. Even though Toni Storm was in WWE, timeless Toni Storm wasn’t in WWE. And even though it’s the CEO, Mercedes Monet, it’s still the boss, Sasha Banks, you know? So I’m more into the idea– I liked it. I’m more into the idea of Toni winning because she’s awesome, and she’s like the AEW person. And she’s still so good.”
He also sharply critiqued Mariah May’s recent promo on NXT, noting its derivative nature and how it highlighted Toni Storm’s unique talent. Mariah May cut a promo this week on NXT, and it shows how good Toni is. Mm-hmm. Because that was entirely derivative. Mariah May cut a promo on NXT that sounded like she was still feuding with Toni Storm, except Toni Storm doesn’t exist in that world. It was bizarre. Yeah. It’s like they told her, ‘Do some of that stuff you were doing in AEW.’ And it’s like, ‘Okay.’ But I was just doing the stuff that Toni does with Toni, and now I’m not with Toni, so… It’s like WWE didn’t realize that Mariah May’s entire AEW run revolved around Toni Storm. It’s true. She was only there for like– I think they’ve got Mariah May but meant to get Toni Storm.”
Dave praised Toni Storm’s ability to elevate others: “It sucks, because I liked her so much as Mariah May, and I really would like to see her do cool shit in WWE, because she’s awesome. I’ve seen her be awesome, but maybe that was just the illusion of Toni Storm and her exceptional talent. Yeah, just– Like Toni’s so great– You get that rub. Toni’s so great that if you do stuff with her, you’re better. And honestly, like judging on what I’ve seen with Toni and everybody else, it’s true. Yeah, she just elevates– Toni elevates every– She elevated Meghan Bain. Mercedes? Mercedes was always like, ‘This isn’t working. This doesn’t feel right.’ But she and Mercedes, it just works. Yep. You know, like the little sniffs. Yeah. Toni– Oh, she’s so good. Yeah. She’s the best in the business. Yeah. She’s like the best thing going– There’s nobody that works as well as her. Yeah. Always. And there’s always like fresh.”
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AEW’s Belt Confusion
The hosts expressed significant confusion over AEW’s growing number of championships and their hierarchy. They discussed the upcoming match between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada at All In for what is being called the “inaugural AEW Unified Championship”. Dave found this confusing: “That sounds like the main belt. It does. It sounds like the main heavyweight championship. Yeah. That’s stupid. It’s dumb.”
He elaborated on the problem: “So Kenny is the international champion. Okada is the continental champion. They’re going to have a match where they unify the belts, though, for the Continental Championship and the International Championship, which means nothing. They’re gonna have this match, and the winner will be the AEW Unified Champion, which sounds like what’s more important? The AEW World Champion or the AEW Unified Champion. It’s kind of hard to tell.”
Dave argued that AEW should have simply created an “Intercontinental Championship” to establish a secondary title clearly. “And shouldn’t the AEW Unified Champion wrestle the AEW World Champion? Because if you’re the Unified Champion, wouldn’t your whole goal be to unify belts? Yeah. Oh my god, Tony Khan. It’s so bizarre. It’s so weird, man. They thought about it for like 10 hours, they said it for 10 hours, and then they came out with it. And they couldn’t have just done the thing that we all want them to do, which is just go with the Intercontinental Championship. You have an international champion, you have a continental champion. So you are the Intercontinental Champion. So you kind of merge them. And it’s not intercontinental champion, it’s intercontinental champion. So it’s not quite like WWE, which is funny.”
He stressed the common understanding of an intercontinental title in wrestling: “And then you have an intercontinental champion, which is cool because everybody that has watched wrestling for the past 40 years understands that the intercontinental champion is like the number two champion. Yeah. So, if you have that in AEW, all of a sudden you have a belt where people say, ‘Okay, that’s the number two.’ Because, as it stands, you have the continental champion, you have the international champion, and you have a TNT champion. Still have that, man.”
Dave even admitted he couldn’t recall who the TNT Champion was, a belt that “meant something” in 2022 but has since fallen in prestige. “I don’t know who the TNT champion is anymore. Honestly. No, no, no. Holy shit. Who… is it, Adam Cole, the baby? Adam Cole? It’s Adam Cole, the baby. He won it from Daniel Garcia at AEW Dynasty on April 6th. Adam Cole, the baby, is the AEW TNT champion. But you see how far that belt has fallen. Like, at a certain point, that was the number two belt. That was the Cody belt. Cody had it. First, then Brody Lee, then Cody, then Darby, then Miro, then Sammy Guevara, then Cody. Like, that belt meant something in 2022. But in 2025, the TNT belt meant so little that I couldn’t even tell you who the champion was. It’s Adam Cole. It’s Adam Cole, the baby.”
The hosts expressed concern about All In’s build-up, with only three matches announced just weeks before the event. “So Kenny and Okada is official for All In for the unified champion. That’s ridiculous. Jon Moxley is defending the world championship against Hangman Page, and Toni Storm is defending the women’s world championship against Mercedes Moné. And that’s all we have for a show that’s like three weeks away. And you know, knowing AEW, it’s gonna be about seven to ten more matches on this show. Yeah. Yeah. It’s gonna be like a 13-match card.” Dave criticized the Mexico City show for not contributing to the All In build. “But my God, it’s just that to do this Grand Slam Mexico show when you’re so close to your biggest show of the year, and you don’t set anything up. On this they they didn’t make a new match on the show. No. Right. So we’re not building towards anything more.”
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Final Thoughts and Viewer Engagement
The hosts engaged with viewers in the chat throughout the episode. Jason Pete, a Super Chat leader, was thanked for his support, as were Angelo Conteconas and Leore. Dave also gave a shout-out to Johnny North, who was absent from the show due to injuries sustained in a strap match. Dave showed a photo of Johnny’s severely scratched back, saying, “Look at that. That’s Johnny North’s back tonight. Look at the lacerations, brother—good God almighty. And look how jacked he is, too, by the way. My goodness. Johnny North. That’s our boy. So he was in a match tonight, and he took several slap shots and he sent me a picture. It’s going to be pretty painful to sleep on. You’ll be all right. He’s a toughy. He’s a big toughy. How about that, Johnny North? What a monster he is. I hope he won. I always hope he wins. He’s the man.”
Dave concluded the show by promoting the Ringside Report Network: “And thanks to Johnny North for being a tough guy. He’ll be back next week. Took a vicious beating tonight. Let’s bring that one up one more time, just in case you missed it. If you didn’t see Johnny North and the photo he sent me of his strap match that he had tonight. Rasslin and Sudbury. There he is. Big Johnny. So I hope that he heals up and he’s okay.” He encouraged viewers to like the video, leave a comment, and subscribe to the channel, and visit ringsidereport.net for more content, including articles explaining wrestling terms like “What is Kayfabe?“ and “Botches. When wrestling goes wrong.”
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