ASK TITO: Drew McIntyre & Jack Perry, WWE SummerSlam 2024 Predictions, Beth Phoenix, and More

I want my, I want my, I want my NoDQ… Columns for nothing and your chicks are for free. Welcome to ASK TITO where I provide my snappy answers to your questions submitted mostly via email but also from private social media and your comments below regarding current events. Personally, I want to THANK everyone for their ongoing readership whether you were with me when I wrote daily columns through 2002, found me during my comeback during the early 2010s, or have joined me here at NoDQ. I really appreciate my audience!

Now, I want to emphasize something that Arn Anderson said to WCW management during the Monday Night Wars. In efforts to defeat WWE and remain as the #1 company, WCW tried to STACK their Pay Per View cards monthly while also giving away big matches on free WCW Nitro television. Arn argued that “WCW was going to run out of match-ups” because WCW was burning through so many matches on all of their shows. No match-up would be unique.

I feel that is AEW right now… They are just shredding through match-ups, whether it’s placing them on AEW Dynamite to boost ratings (MJF vs. Will Ospreay 2 weeks ago, Blood & Guts this week) or having a 4-5 hour Pay Pay Per View packed with matches. Honestly for AEW, what is the “special match-up” that still exists? And we’ve already seen many of their possible match-ups in New Japan but those featured the wrestlers when they were younger. Lots of mileage on the bodies of Ospreay, Okada, and Omega that may cause marks to have less of an O-face now than when they did back in the day.

If the news is true that AEW is going to pump out monthly Pay Per Views, they’re NUTS. Completely nuts… You’re meaning to tell me that AEW wants to put 5 hours of televised stuff out there, per week, and then a 3-5 Pay Per View monthly on top of that? Oh, and you’re charging them $50 per month, so ask wrestling fans where they’ll get $600 to pull out of their arses (unless the new reported deal places them all on the MAX streaming service).

Meanwhile in the WWE, they are slowing down… 5 matches per Pay Per View is becoming common, while there are far more talking segments than matches on RAW/Smackdown, or the talking segments are accumulating more time than matches. The end result? More character development for WWE, more guys are getting over, and wrestlers are RESTED for when they need to throttle up any big Pay Per View matches as needed.

LESS IS MORE, Tony. You and Eric Bischoff have zero comprehension of that as a fact, and hence why you’re burning out wrestling fans by throwing stuff at the wall weekly. At least with Eric Bischoff, he came up with a brilliant idea in the form of the NWO storyline that allowed him to keep Hall, Nash, and Hogan from wrestling weekly and consequently, that grew the business. Tony has never conceived of such storyline idea. Hey, can you tell me what happened to that Devil idea with Adam Cole’s group attacking MJF? Can you update me on that storyline? How about the Young Bucks, Jack Perry, and Okada attacking Tony Khan and Kenny Omega? Can you update me on that storyline and if it drew money?

I’m happy that AEW exists because it’s SOME form of competition for the WWE and a lingering threat out there for WWE to take their talent seriously. But you’d need to time me to a chair and staple my eyelids open to watch AEW right now. Their sugar high booking does nothing for me and I cannot support a company that is run by a complete idiot like Tony Khan. The window to defeat the WWE has closed thanks to Tony surrounding himself with enablers instead of challengers to thought processes.

Onto your questions.

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Thoughts on Drew McIntyre getting a photo with Jack Perry and posting it on Social Media (before he deleted it)?

I found it to be hilarious and showed what balls Drew McIntyre has with his current character. The egg is truly on AEW’s face, not Drew or WWE’s. If you’re a promoter, you’ve got to tell your wrestlers to NEVER make appearances for the other side’s wrestlers. Granted, there are exceptions such as Bayley and Sasha Banks supporting each other. Everyone knows that they are real life friends and Bayley is there 100% to support her friend and not show-up the WWE. Why? Because we all know Bayley loves her job at the WWE.

What makes this different is that Jack Perry and CM Punk had a physical incident at All In 2023 and said incident was why CM Punk was fired from AEW. Currently, Drew is feuding with CM Punk and hence why Drew getting a photo with Jack is hilarious. But it makes AEW look really bad, as Jack should NEVER get in any photo associated with WWE wrestlers unless he had a valid friendship link such as what Bayley has with Sasha. Those two are like sisters, but Drew and Jack are not close. Furthermore, the SIZE difference between the two… HOLY COW. Drew looks like an entire foot taller than Jack Perry while being thicker and much wider than him too.

If I were Tony Khan, I’d be PISSED right now and either discipline Jack Perry for participating in that photo and allowing it to be posted, or I’d look into tampering charges. Because after all, WWE controls part of Drew’s social media platforms along with owning anything posted in the name of “Drew McIntyre”. Whatever is posted on Drew’s site is property and communications of the WWE. Hence why I believe it was deleted so fast, but luckily, someone screen captured it. The internet always wins and remembers…

Trust me, Drew and CM Punk are LAUGHING about this now… While Drew disliked Punk in the past, he’s appreciating the great business that both are drawing right now. They pulled off the impossible to get Jack Perry to take the photo and it just makes AEW look foolish.

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Is Beth Phoenix the next ex-WWE wrestler to join AEW?

She’s 43 years old now… Can’t be called “Beth Phoenix”, as WWE owns that name and definitely won’t give it up. Easy name to call her is “Beth Copeland” and acknowledge her as Edge’s wife on AEW television. She’d be a solid, credible addition to AEW’s female roster.

BUT, she’s older… And does she want to endure pain in her 40s that Adam Copeland has endured in AEW? The guy broke his leg jumping off of a cage.

Money always talks, but I don’t see her being a big splash draw for the company to merit a big offer especially if AEW is the only negotiator at the table.

Sure, she’ll probably join but will an older version of herself draw with a different name? I just don’t see it. However, smart booking could make her strong again, as she has THE best finisher in the business with that Glam Slam finisher that would look very effective on AEW’s smaller female wrestlers.

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Do you think that London will get a Wrestlemania?

Yes. Their government reached out and they want it. Thus, they’ll give up a big pile of cash to make it happen. That simple.

But I would also point out that SummerSlam, after 2024, will become a 2-night event. I wouldn’t doubt that Royal Rumble will also morph into that as well… But by making SummerSlam a 2-night event, the WWE is essentially going to push 2 big events that states or countries will want to host. Thus, if London gets Wrestlemania as the first across-the-sea Wrestlemania event, North American fans won’t feel left out because SummerSlam will be boosted by going 2-nights.

Moving forward, you’re going to see TKO and WWE promote other shows harder to make them look as good as Wrestlemania and then maximize deals with states or countries to get these well promoted events. Then, it’s OK that Wrestlemania goes somewhere else because you still have SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, etc. that are amazing too.

There are many wrestling fans whose vacations are surrounding bigger WWE events, particularly Wrestlemania. THAT is who moving Wrestlemania to London could affect, so thus WWE is responding by making SummerSlam even bigger. “Oh, I can’t go to Wrestlemania this year with it being in another country but SummerSlam is still here”. Simple logic as that.

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What are your WWE SummerSlam 2024 predictions?

By the way, it’s VERY tempting to possibly go to this show… BUT, I know that Cleveland area well and the parking around Cleveland and surrounding areas (Science Center, Hall of Fame) is AWFUL. When you have a big lake acting as a geographical boundary and then a city in front of the stadium, there’s not much room left for parking. Dealing with that hassle isn’t in the cards for me, along with the extremely high ticket prices. So, I’ll just enjoy it at home with great camera angles instead of being blinded by arena lights all night.

– Damien Priest vs. Gunther – Time for a change, Gunther wins and begins his World Title run that will probably clash with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 41, I predict.

– Bayley vs. Nia Jax – Bayley wins due to Tiffany Stratton threatening to cash-in MITB but it distracts Nia instead. Then, you’ll see a Nia vs. Tiffany feud starting immediately. I sense that WWE wants Tiffany to morph into a babyface… Fans are cheering for her anyway and we know why, in addition to her being a talented wrestler.

– Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley – Dominik Mysterio turns heel on Rhea, helps Liv Morgan win and retain. Too obvious to me and we’ll get more fun with Dom and Liv to really pour on the heat and make Rhea into a HUGE babyface.

– Logan Paul vs. LA Knight – Seems like the perfect place to put over LA Knight, but I’m just not feeling Knight these days. Rock’s return really exposed his character. With that, I’ll predict Logan Paul retains.

– Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker – Many were shocked that Sami won at MITB, but SummerSlam is the bigger event that more people will watch. Bron wins the rematch in a convincing fashion to free-up Sami Zayn to possibly return to the Bloodline storyline…

– Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk – Drew has to win this match for his character to stay strong. CM Punk is CM Punk, he’s always over no matter what (or polarizing no matter what). Drew needs the win to keep his momentum going and allow for multiple great Punk vs. Drew matches to carry the WWE through the Fall months’ PLEs. I predict Drew steals the win here, but I expect a really good and heated match between these two.

– Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa – Cody wins or it’s a No Contest. I don’t see WWE making Solo champion, yet, and I can see the match becoming a beatdown on Cody and then Roman makes his big return. That Cleveland Stadium will BLOW when it happens… If Cody vs. Solo is the MAIN EVENT of SummerSlam, then you 100% know that Roman Reigns is returning… However, if it’s not, then that may be a sign that Roman will return on another night. There’s NO WAY any match can follow Roman Reigns returning and getting revenge on the Bloodline.

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Thoughts on AEW’s Jon Moxley getting time off?

Wrestlers need time off, too. Take a bump inside any ring and it will wear on you.

That said, wrestle the kind of matches that AEW expects you to wrestle, then you’ll need some time off to heal. AEW requires wrestlers to MAYBE work twice a week, whereas WWE workers have 1 television and usually 2-3 houseshows to work. Unless your name is Roman or Brock…

What AEW needs to realize is that they don’t need to wrestle their top guys on every single television show, let alone letting them wrestle violent matches and bleed.

Enjoy the time off, have fun with your beautiful wife, and enjoy being a Dad. But when you come back, start to control yourself on the violent matches and the blood. AEW already paid you guaranteed money, so who are you trying to impress by overdoing it?

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What are the chances of WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump winning the 2024 election?

They have weakened a bit… Kamala Harris, to my surprise, has proven to be charismatic, great promo cutter, and has delivered much needed energy to the Democratic Party. Furthermore, she’s actually challenging Trump on his transgressions such as his many lies and crimes reviewed in the court of law. Democrats were BEGGING Joe Biden to go on offense with Donald Trump, but Biden’s age caught up to him and he just didn’t have the energy to fight like he once did (see 2020 or delivering VP debate knockout punches to Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan).

Now, the focus will be on who Kamala’s VP choice will be… That is going to matter huge for Kamala, particularly for her drawing ability in the Midwest. Both sides need Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin aka the “Blue Wall” to help secure the Electoral College victory. Hence why I think that you’ll see a Governor selected as her VP from those areas or surrounding areas, whether it’s Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear or Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, I believe, is someone to run at the top of the ticket. That said, Kamala could focus on Georgia and North Carolina where I believe she has greater appeal versus the Midwest and maybe securing North Carolina’s governor Roy Cooper makes sense. Securing Arizona as a swing state with Senator Mark Kelly makes sense, too, but I think Kamala should select someone who can either win 2/3 Midwestern states between Wisconsin/Michigan/Pennsyvania or select someone who can help win both North Carolina, Georgia, and possibly Virginia too.

The VP selection matters… George H.W. Bush struggled with Dan Quayle as his #2. John McCain tried to roll the dice with Sarah Palin but once she was exposed, the energy of the party was gone. I always thought that Paul Ryan was too swarmy to be VP. Hillary Clinton made a huge mistake with her #2 in Tim Kaine. In my opinion, J.D. Vance is a liability for Donald Trump. Instead of selecting someone more experienced and credible like he did with Mike Pence 8 years ago, he’s selected a guy who flip flops often and has some very radical views on recorded tape. How can someone call a guy “America’s Hitler” one day, and then praise the guy another? Because Vance has big money interests controlling everything he says. History may show that Trump had this election wrapped until selecting Vance and then having a bad RNC speech.

I still say that Democrats are climbing up hill, as they cannot just uproot a candidate less than 4 months away from an election. However, this is like the Monday Night Wars… Reason it became so competitive was not just due to WCW growing, but WWE declining to them. Kamala has legitimate momentum while Trump’s campaign may have peaked and is declining in interest. What will matter next is the MONEY game of campaign ads and whether (or not) they hold debates. If I were advising Trump/Vance, I’d lean against NOT doing debates and emphasize that Trump has “nothing to prove” since he already debated Joe Biden and delivered the knockout punch to him. When Trump gets angry, even more ridiculous stuff comes out of his mouth and I believe Kamala attacking him like a prosecutor would bring out that ugly side of the WWE Hall of Famer.

I’m leaning a 50/50 toss-up now on who wins, depending on the circumstances of who Kamala’s VP is and however many other feet that Trump and Vance can stick in their mouths. If you’re going to win an election, you need discipline. Instead of riding the sympathy wave of an assassination attempt, Trump and Vance are saying things that are harmful to their campaign.

We’ll check back next week to see what the Democrats could do, as they could select the wrong VP, too…

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