SummerSlam.
Does Seth have a match two weeks out?
Whatever it is can blow his knee out.
Like, bullshit blow his knee out.
But we shoot… shoot with it, like it's legit.
- Don't tell anybody. - Mm-hmm.
You know what I mean? Do the whole shebang.
He's on crutches for a couple of weeks.
He's got his leg brace on, and, you know, "SummerSlam, here comes Seth Rollins,"
throws his crutches, runs down to the ring,
smashes them, cashes it in,
and fucking takes the title, walks out of there as the champ.
Yeah.
He'd be such an asshole too.
He'd probably hobble out for two, four seconds,
and then just be like… He-he!
- Just fucking run, yeah. - Run down.
Then go running down that whole thing.
But this would be one of those ones
where I wouldn't wanna fucking tell anybody.
Yeah, if we're gonna do this, we've gotta keep it literally this team…
Don't put that in the notes.
And if we could sell it like legitimately like he was fucking hurt
and out of SummerSlam,
you might have some people who, "This might be a work or something."
- What is a work? - Yeah.
Uh…
At this point, I would like to invoke
my Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Son of a lawyer, you know.
Sorry to disappoint everyone, but
I'm not a fan of this show.
I grew up in an era
where you defended the secrecy of this business
to the point where if you didn't,
you were beaten up and ostracized from the business.
It's jarring to someone who grew up in the industry
where secrecy was a matter of life and death
of your career.
I think this show is gonna flow a whole lot better
if you simply just… depose me.
I'll treat this like a deposition.
Ask me your questions. I'll tell you no lies.
How important is a work in wresting?
How important is a work in wrestling?
- What? Whoa! - Look at that!
It's a miracle! Kevin Nash lives!
Khali will crush his skull.
- No. No. Oh my God. - No!
A work in wrestling…
A lot less important today than it used to be,
except at a very top level.
We had a very famous moment
where Tommy Dreamer was in a match against The Sandman.
And The Sandman lit his cigarette.
Then Tommy Dreamer hit The Sandman's hand,
and the cigarette went into The Sandman's eye.
And Tommy Dreamer took the Singapore cane and cracked The Sandman in the other eye,
and The Sandman went down.
- Get some help! - Get some help out here, for God's sake.
- Jesus Christ. - My eye!
Oh my God!
And for five weeks on television,
we were telling you that The Sandman was blind.
Stay awake, Hak. You gotta stay awake.
- What's wrong with you guys? - I'm trying to shoot!
Come on, get the camera all the way out of here!
For five weeks,
he never left his house.
He didn't take his kids to school.
He didn't go grocery shopping.
And we brought him back for his retirement ceremony.
A very sad moment.
The Sandman has already announced his retirement
after being blinded.
The Sandman peeled off the bandages from his eyes,
revealing that he wasn't truly blind.
You're finished.
Wait a minute! He can see!
That's your problem.
He can see! He can see!
Thirty-one years later,
people still talk about that.
Are you kidding me?
Now, you tell me.
Was that a work?
Or was it just performance art,
in which the performance art was protected
so that you were more emotionally involved in the moment
when he revealed that he wasn't blind?
That's how we earn our living.
For a lot of business reasons,
events are coming faster and more furiously
than they have ever come before.
You end up with a weekend like we're at.
Saturday Night's Main Event and Evolution.
And, oh, by the way,
they're only three weeks out from SummerSlam.
It's incredibly challenging.
This weekend, we're also trying to do business
with a guy like Jelly Roll.
Uh, my name is Jason DeFord,
and my mama gave me the name Jelly Roll as well.
I was a chunky kid, as you could imagine, a super fat kid, and I loved doughnuts.
Instead of calling me "jelly doughnut," she called me "her little jelly roll,"
and it just stuck.
I always thank my mama.
She might have called me Slim Jim. I might have had a six-pack.
I spent my whole life trying to live up to my name.
I am 40 years old,
and my normal profession is I'm a musician.
When it's all said and done
I'm not okay
But it's all gonna be all right
I don't know where you're at in your life or what you're going through,
but I wanna tell you to keep going, baby.
I wanna tell you success is on the other side of it.
I wanna tell you it's gonna be okay. Let's party, Nashville!
I'm not a wrestler, for those just tuning in.
Bad Bunny!
I watched these celebrities get these cool matches,
so when I started doing music and people started noticing me,
it was always kinda my North Star.
"I wonder if I'll get famous enough that I'll actually get involved
to be in one of these wrestling matches as a celebrity."
Boom, shakalaka!
A lot of times, we're approached by folks not in the business and celebrities,
that think, "This might be fun."
It is fun.
But you have to be able to do it.
It was Monday Night RAW in Nashville, 2023.
And Randy Orton's there.
Who do you think you are?
It was super cool. That was the first time I was like,
"Dude, I'm famous enough they let me get involved."
So it was really cool.
The CMA Award-winner just dunked Dominik.
All I got to do was push Dominik Mysterio,
but I wasn't physically able to do much more.
SummerSlam 2024.
When I'm getting up from doing the Five Knuckle Shuffle,
I'm hanging onto a rope, R-Truth's got one arm,
and Miz has got another arm.
And at that moment, I realized I was so big
that it took two grown men to get me to stand up.
I knew that if I didn't do something, it was going to kill me.
And I just remember leaving there and being like,
"I will be back next summer a different fucking human."
I kind of shot my shot, and I was like,
"Hey, Triple H, I'm losing this weight, man."
"What's up?" You know what I mean? I'm dead serious about this.
Training for SummerSlam.
We're gonna see how much we weigh today.
Will it stay on there when I get off? I can't even see it, I'm so fat.
327 pounds, baby.
300 pounds.
We're gonna walk to that ring that night under 300 pounds
for the first time since I was probably… …14 years old.
That exact number, around 330 pounds,
was the exact time I jumped off the horse last time I tried to lose the weight.
On a selfish level, I need this.
This might motivate me
to push me past that number I've never seen before on the scale.
Jelly Roll approached us.
He fought… to be a part of SummerSlam.
Then Jelly Roll moved,
got a house, got two houses, actually, in Orlando.
One for him, and then one for his crew,
so that when he finished working out,
he went and wrote songs at night, 'cause that's his job.
Walking in that first day and looking at Matt Bloom like,
"My bubba, I'm not even a good piece of clay here."
That's all right.
We've got a lot to learn…
I have never done a flip, ever.
We've got a lot to learn…
At my size, getting up from here is a bit of a chore.
Every day, it scared me.
Three, two, one, go!
My fear in wrestling was, had I bit off more than I could chew?
Was I physically gonna be able to do it?
Lovely.
You can imagine, my first week, my body was going, "No. You're not…"
"There's no way you're gonna be ready for this."
But, uh, that same dog that came out of me
that was determined to make it as a songwriter
started coming out of me in there.
Yo.
From eleven to two every day,
I'd let Coach Matt Bloom, Coach Moss, Coach Brookside beat me to death.
- Look at this fella go. Look at him go. - Good!
Wednesday, we're gonna work on selling.
- Yes, sir. - You're getting your ass kicked.
Can you see me now?
Can you see that now?
We've got a lot to learn…
I've never been through something more grueling
that I cannot wait to get back to doing.
Dude, I'm gonna fucking have a SummerSlam match.
It'll be the coolest thing ever.
Where's the fucking rest of you, you skinny motherfucker?
What are you weighing? What?
- Right at 300. - Yeah?
- First time since middle school. - Fuck…
First time since middle school.
Yeah. What's your spine feel like?
I mean, I can feel it. I know where it's at.
My ass crack went down a little bit.
Oh my gosh. Proud of you, man.
- Fuck. It's fucking inspiring. - Thank you.
Makes me wanna go to the gym right now.
- Did you watch any of the video? - I did.
He's in better… He's good… He…
- He ain't fucking bad. - He ain't bad.
- That was… - Second time in the ring.
Yeah, but I mean, like, literally, they worked out for an hour or two,
and then he did, like, the first five minutes of the match.
- Yeah. - He's pretty good.
He was bouncing around the other day in between shit,
and he was throwing jabs, and I was like,
"This motherfucker's Dusty. He's like a sloppier version of Dusty."
He would get up, he'd get knocked down,
and he'd get up and do the dance around, bounce around shit
and I thought, "Goddamn."
There could be something there.
And in looking at different people to team with Jelly Roll,
you've gotta have a leader.
You've gotta have someone that can control everybody and everything.
Randy Orton was perfect for a tag team partner.
When you look at assholes to beat up, you got Drew McIntyre. That's an easy one.
And then Logan Paul.
It really fell together very well.
Ready for tonight?
I'll be a lot more ready in three weeks.
I'm sore. I'm still sore. The first… Hell, I'm still sore, Cole.
I'm sore now. Shoulder hurts, neck hurts, everything. I'm bruised everywhere.
Once we get cameras out here and everything, Jelly,
we'll go over tonight.
When he comes face to face with you, he'll throw the punch.
You block it, lay his ass out.
Now you go back to Randy and we'll do the Claymore.
- Okay. - Does that make sense?
- You feel good about everything, sir? - Great.
Yes, sir.
The truth is, in this business, one of the hardest things to do
is make everybody lose
that sense of scripted or unscripted.
If we can make people believe that Seth is injured,
there's a really cool payoff at the end.
There wasn't very many people in on it, that knew about it,
very much like the John Cena Elimination Chamber situation.
For this to work to perfection,
that circle of people that were in the know
had to be very small.
Okay.
I wanna smarten you up to something that nobody knows.
- Okay. - Um…
So we're… And… But I want you to not repeat it to anybody. But…
you're our guy.
- You need to know what's going on here. - Okay.
We'll do an angle tonight where Seth blows his knee out against LA Knight.
- Okay. - Paul.
We're gonna do this now 'cause they've gotta steal LA.
And we're kayfabe-ing this like a motherfucker.
I don't want you to mention it to anybody. "Well, if Hunter told everybody…"
You know, it got out.
The only people that really know, me, Bruce, Ed, Bobby Roode, Seth, LA.
Um, Heyman knows 'cause he was there when I came up with it.
- Yeah. - Right now, that's it.
I don't know what move they'll do yet, Towards the end of the match,
he'll blow his knee out and LA sets up for the next thing. But Seth ain't there.
- He's not coming. - He's down. He goes to Jess.
Jess gives the X.
- Medical comes out, legit. Goes to him. - Wow.
He'll call an audible, which Jess will go tell LA Knight.
Did the referee need to know? No.
Her responsibility is report if somebody is injured or not injured.
Did medical need to know? Yes.
Because I can't let them believe an injury is real.
If they believe an injury is real, they have the power to shut it all down.
A wise man once told me,
"Two people you can't lie to in life. Your lawyer and your doctor."
He'll take a BFT from LA Knight and get beat.
LA Knight will leave. We'll help Seth out of the ring.
Yeah.
One of the few people
that I couldn't in good conscience let think that this was real
was LA Knight.
I'm sure Seth will just say, "Tell him to… I'm gonna pull myself up."
"Tell him to fucking give me his finish." And just go over and, like…
Whether you kick him, give it to him, or he'll feed to you and…
- Know what I mean? - Yeah.
We'll figure that out.
But Seth said, "Why does LA Knight need to know?"
"I don't feel like he needs to know." I said, "Seth."
"If the roles were reversed on this and I didn't tell you,
you would be out-of-your-mind pissed at me."
"You're a professional in the ring,
and your first thought is make sure your opponent is safe
and doesn't get hurt and all these things."
"And he gets hurt on your watch,
and then you find out later it was all bullshit?"
"You'd be out-of-your-mind mad that I didn't clue you in on that."
And he paused for a few seconds, looked at me, and was like, "Fair enough."
And he never brought it up again, right?
He has to know.
If you're able to, like…
If he just feeds you and you pull him out and you just hit it or kick…
As awkward as it can possibly look.
- And be very careful hooking his leg. - Okay.
We're gonna play it off as full-blown legit.
- This is gonna hook 'em. - So he's out.
Yeah. Oh, that's great. Awesome, okay.
Oh, happy day
I was nervous about everything. Could I hurt somebody?
What if I come in this business for one night,
into their world, selfishly, and I hurt one of these guys?
I didn't want nobody to get hurt on my watch. That was super important.
La, la, la-la-la-la-la
La, la, la-la-la
He taught me how
All right?
All right, yeah, there you go!
The hardest part of that night was fireworks happening inside of me
and me not being able to emote it.
Tonight, everyone is buzzing about this spectacle.
Saturday Night's Main Event!
Pyro!
- God! - Good, good, good.
It's okay. Everyone, we're good.
Okay.
Chris, you ready to rock and roll?
Let's do this, baby.
I hear voices in my head…
Making his way to the ring, accompanied
by four-time Grammy-nominated country artist Jelly Roll,
from St. Louis, Missouri,
"The Viper" Randy Orton!
Randy! Randy! Randy!
Tremendous history between these two.
They know each other extremely well.
Randy! Randy! Randy!
McIntyre's dominating early.
Logan Paul enjoying what he's seeing,
Jelly Roll less so.
Logan and Jelly now. Here it is.
You're in the wrong arena, buddy!
And I told you that yesterday, and I'm gonna tell you again.
You're in the wrong arena, bucko!
- One more time, we gonna have a problem - Yeah? Or what, brother?
I'm pushing you, then.
Logan Paul dropped by Jelly Roll!
And Randy Orton, an RKO out of nowhere by Orton!
Here's the cover.
One, two…
Orton with the win!
Nice.
And now, that one lucky punch to the jaw of Randy Orton.
And now Logan Paul unloading on Orton.
Jelly Roll has seen enough.
Jelly Roll is not a fighter.
Paul across the ring.
And Jelly with a right hand! Jelly with a right hand!
Jelly, Jelly Roll
No!
A Claymore by McIntyre!
Jelly Roll is a musician.
Stay out of the ring.
What happened?
If I were to, uh, describe Jelly Roll,
he's a natural performer.
He's someone who's performed all over the world.
He does shows where people come just to see him.
You can just tell that he's a lifelong fan.
He loves this business, and he's been watching
because he knows what it takes to perform in that ring.
And he just did it so well.
- Hey, Randy. - Me?
- Ha-ha! - Fucking A.
- Jelly. - How'd I do, baby?
- Baby, it was awesome - How'd I do? Did I do it right?
It was fucking awesome, man.
I was so impressed.
He blew anyone else out of the water
that's ever tried to step out of their world and step into ours.
- Congrats. - How'd I do?
- Fucking badass. - Am I getting over?
- You heard 'em chanting "Jelly"? - I can get better.
Listen, I'm gonna go home and watch this like I did last night,
make notes, and get better.
You heard 'em chanting your name. Fucking great.
When I heard the Jelly Roll chant, it was like Jelly, Jelly Roll…
That's why I love wrestling.
Unique to the WWE Universe.
I'll never hear that again at a Jelly Roll show in my life
unless God and… …and the WWE bless me to come back there.
Well, what a…
For a megastar, what a down-to-earth dude.
- My brother. - I love you, brother.
- Did you see me? - Are you being serious?
Yeah, you're fucking… Dude, you're amazing. Hey, you got…
Good… Hey. That's good shit.
- Yeah. - It's gonna be good, man.
- So, yeah. - Yeah.
I wasn't really sure when Bruce first sat me down.
What was that?
I wasn't really sure when Bruce first sat me down.
- I was like, "Ooh…" - Put it this way.
Having seen that motherfucker train…
because at first, I was like, "I'll put him in a little something."
"It'll be a fucking big deal."
I watched him go in and train twice.
They sent me the video, so I was like, "Okay, now I'm thinking bigger,"
and I was like, "He's all in, dude."
- I'm very thankful for the spot. - Yeah.
- Thank you. I appreciate it! - Yeah.
Whoa-oh-oh. Whoa-oh…
A lot of the creative… ideas that I've had in my career have been mine.
This one I can't take full credit for.
What I saw when this idea was presented to me
was an endgame that created a moment that was special and memorable.
Whoa-oh-oh.
'Cause that's really what our industry is, a series of moments.
Storytelling that builds to special moments
that affect our audience on a deep level.
Whoa-oh-oh.
If this was a real situation, how would we all react?
I didn't wanna overreact.
I think Triple H as well
and Bruce in Gorilla acted as if it was real.
There was only four people, five people, six at the most
that actually knew what the situation actually was.
Two-time United States Champion LA Knight
battling the five-time World Champion Seth Rollins.
Seth Rollins… And Rollins now launched outside the ring to the floor.
Tell them to keep going.
Oh!
We had to make sure that we didn't get the bell rung.
In situations like that when someone is actually hurt,
typically, we'll ring the bell right away.
We had to be very careful that we didn't do that.
Brian, kayfabe, just me and you.
A little bit of fucking, uh… fuckery here,
kayfabe fuckery on the end of this thing.
Do not let the fucking ring bell ring
until the one-two-three happens,
and I will tell you when.
As I wrapped my head around it, I realized it was a brilliant piece of storytelling,
but you wanna protect everybody involved.
You wanna protect the company.
You wanna protect your babyfaces, in this case, LA Knight.
Oh, a knee right to the midsection.
Frog splash coming.
"The Visionary" now heading up to the top rope,
looking to put LA Knight away.
Frog splash to the injured midsection and ribs.
Rollins for the win.
Hook of the leg… And a kick-out.
That's the fun part of what we do as performers. You never know.
You never know when it's a work and when it's a shoot.
And LA Knight with a clothesline!
And now Knight looking to rally.
And that gray area is what makes us special as performers.
If you can see through every single thing that we do,
it becomes… boring.
- LA Knight! Yeah! - Yeah!
Elbow delivered.
Knight, cover.
One, two…
And Rollins kicks at two.
When you get into the excitement of telling a story,
you look to exhaust whatever resources you have to tell that story
in the best possible way.
And Rollins… with a buckle bomb.
I don't think there's any line that can't be crossed.
You just gotta figure out what's worth crossing.
Now Rollins…
Oh, and there's that flying senton. Springboard senton by Rollins.
And now a moonsault. Lands on his feet, may have tweaked his knee.
Is he all right?
Now LA Knight with an opportunity.
Seth okay?
Rollins into the corner. The official there to check on Rollins.
Oh no.
Back off LA. Back off LA. Back off LA. Tell him to give him a minute.
Rollins tweaking his knee. Heyman over to check on his man.
Let's… let's get… Do we need Doc? Do we need the doc?
- Hold on. - Look of panic in the eye…
- What's she saying? - He said he needs a doc.
Fuck!
Goddamn it, man.
Come on.
The ringside doctor now is over consulting with the official
on the… the situation with Rollins.
What's he saying? Is he all right?
- You hear that? You good with that? - What was that?
He want… Seth… Seth is fucked. He said to LA, hit his finish.
Okay, you gotta do it.
Tell LA… Tell LA what Seth… just whatever Seth told him.
Rollins hobbling back up into the corner.
LA Knight… BF… BFT by LA Knight!
This is the finish. Finish, finish!
Cover now. Hook of the leg.
And Knight with the win.
- Go. - Go, Larry.
Here is your winner…
Get Doc in there. Get Doc in there.
And that is a bleak sight,
seeing Seth "Freakin'" Rollins down and out.
Get LA out. Tell him to sell up the ramp.
Truly catastrophic moment here.
- Is that his bad knee? - I don't know.
Just give him some room.
Moments ago, Rollins tweaking the knee.
It appears to be much more serious than we first thought.
When the time comes, everything changes.
And I think that suddenness is what alerts people to believing
that it's real.
And that's the art of it.
- Anybody that doesn't need to be here… - Clear this area.
Get everybody out of here so he can get through.
What matters is this much.
This much doubt.
That's all we need.
This much doubt.
If you have that,
that's where the magic happens in our business.
That's what makes it special. Just that little bit of "I don't know."
- Did it come off okay, Bobby? - Unbelievable.
- Just out of nowhere. - Yeah. Out of nowhere.
The way they shot it. Jess is… Everything. Everything was really good.
- How did it feel out there? - Legit?
- Awkward. - Yeah.
- It's supposed to.
It was awkward backstage too. It was great.
It was awkward as hell, but that's kind of what sold it.
So, um, with it being that awkward, it just kind of…
You know, it probably felt flat in the moment,
but that also allowed people to be like, "Oh shit, okay."
"Yeah, dude's really hurt."
Get these fucking cameras off for just two seconds, please.
LA Knight played it perfectly.
His facial expressions were on point of "oh shit."
No…
You could see his confusion and you could see his, "Ah shit."
Come on.
It helped fans to believe in the moment that,
"Mmm, something real just happened."
LA did great. Played it to a T.
We were able to get out of that situation,
making it look like it was an actual, real injury.
You know you got cameras all over. They're all gonna be up your ass.
I'll be working until I get in the back of the bus
with my fucking gimmick.
Right?
From the second I got "hurt,"
you had speculation all over the Internet
about what… what this was gonna lead to, if it was real, if it was not real.
Wow, Seth Rollins really might be injured.
There was every story under the sun,
and so, when everything was flooded, you had no idea what the truth was.
No one really knew what was going on.
- Ready? - Yeah.
The most important thing about five-minutes handstand,
like, uh, keep my mentality.
Of course, so hard, five-minutes handstand.
I really think about, "I'm gonna fall."
But, uh, I always think about, "I can do it."
"I have to do it 'cause I am the champion."
Four, three, two, one…
My first name is Masami, in real name.
So Masami…
But nobody calls me Masami
'cause I started wrestling since 16 years old.
I used to, um, use my ring name Io Shirai.
- Oh my word! - Look at Shirai!
- Wow! - What the…?
But now my name is Iyo Sky.
You could say my style involves lots of jumping from high places,
like the top of cages and such… Jumping from a high place, of course.
Sky with that missile dropkick.
I like heights.
Right down the middle. Connected!
And my finishing move is Over the Moonsault.
"Genius of the Sky," moonsault! Cover.
- One! Two! Three! - Iyo Sky!
War Games is my favorite.
I did climb up the cage,
and then I put on the trash can.
Put it on my head.
Aaah!
She's the "Genius of the Sky," but this is ridiculous.
So, I'm kind of stupid.
I didn't realize,
since I put on the trash can, I couldn't see anything,
and so dark here.
At the time, I asked myself, "Why am I doing such a stupid thing?"
And, oh my gosh, I got scared.
I was rather scared, so I decided to hurry up, jump,
and get it over with before I panicked
Oh my God!
Iyo Sky from the top of the cage,
with a trash can on her head,
wiping out everybody.
Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!
So… that's crazy, I know.
I'm so short.
My height is 5.2,
158 centimeters, so…
Walking outside… I walk on the street, so nobody think about I am a wrestler.
Iyo, from day one, to me, just had this innate charisma.
Iyo Sky!
When she walks out, there's just little things she does.
If I said to somebody five years ago, "We're gonna have a female,
and… that is going to be this huge thing," right?
You'd be like, "Get out of here."
Iyo Sky.
When she does it, it's money. It's spectacular.
If I was to get decimated on a roster of people and say, "We gotta start over,"
I would look at it and say, "If you leave me Iyo, I'm good."
The impetus for the Evolution PLE
kind of dates back about a decade to around 2015.
Our audience kind of took to social media.
They wanted our female Superstars
to have as much air time and investment in their stories
as the male Superstars do.
That's where the concept of Evolution came about,
and it carried on to, then, this past year,
where we did our second Evolution PLE.
The main event with Rhea Ripley versus Iyo Sky
was a perfect main event for that show
because, one, Rhea and Iyo have amazing chemistry,
but also because Rhea Ripley,
who, some may argue, our biggest Superstar in general,
has never beaten Iyo Sky, and so it was kind of that quest
to kind of win back the title that Rhea has lost.
Iyo Sky, top rope.
Over the Moonsault connects.
Sky, cover, hooks the leg.
Iyo Sky is the World Champion!
And so that quest to kinda see Rhea finally conquer
what she has not yet been able to conquer
was just kind of a natural big-fight-feel-storyline for that show.
At Evolution,
I can choose who to defend the Women's World Championship,
and that means
Rhea Ripley.
I'd rather main event at Evolution
than wrestle for the championship at WrestleMania.
My reason is that Evolution is an exclusive showcase
for the women’s division.
I believe that only Rhea and I could tell that story.
You're on.
I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility and pressure.
The weight of responsibility is immense, and it falls upon me.
The Money in the Bank briefcase contains the contract
for you to be able to cash in on any champion, anytime, anywhere.
That's so much power.
Where's her shirt?
Whoever has the Money in the Bank briefcase,
you have to keep it with you and take it everywhere you go.
But, um, I also clean it out when I'm traveling
so I don't get in trouble because I be having all kinds of stuff in there.
I'm just packing my… briefcase.
- New "caution" belt. - Mm-hmm. Choke somebody.
- What you call this? - A thong harness.
It's like…
- Mm. - Aah!
- Okay. - Like it?
Yeah, go ahead.
"Caution" fan.
Got Old…
Faithful.
Fully charged.
Just in case you're trying to shock a bitch?
Some pepper gel.
- Hey, hold on. What is that? - Pepper gel.
The lock is on. It's on security.
- You don't even know how to use it. - It's okay. I'll figure it out the day of.
Gear.
Fresh pack of blades.
Little something to take the edge off.
Always gotta have a fresh wig on deck.
Never know when this one gonna get snatched.
Rat pellets to poison Jade ass.
And my contract.
Hold on. I got one more thing left. Hold on.
Hold on, girl. Before you close that, go on and put this…
go on and put this right up in there.
You wanna do something crazy, think about your boy.
- Oh, foofy! - You know what I'm saying?
- All right? - Can't do nothing without my foofy-foofy.
You know that makes you an accomplice now.
- Love you. Thank you. Love you. - You're doing good.
I love you so much.
Naomi, did you get your junk out of there before they take it away?
When the time is right, I'll pull her out.
Is that… Is that your, like, regular, legitimate suitcase?
What the fuck is going on in there? Shot glass?
Rhea Ripley is special,
so that's why I wanna make special match with her,
which means Iyo Sky is special.
We are going to be main event.
That's… like a dream coming true.
I was telling Iyo to possibly make a moment out of this.
Like, climb up here, act like she's gonna dive,
then look up,
go up further, if you think that's warranted.
The edge will be right here?
So you're gonna be right there. That's the edge.
- Right there. Yeah? Okay? Yeah. - Yeah.
You want somebody to bring you a trash can?
This is an area that we are prepping for one of Iyo Sky's high falls.
you know, um, which…
She loves height.
What's your… what is your concern?
The bump that Rhea's gotta take.
It's a hell of a bump. Are you padding this?
Yes, sir.
- Don't want you to hit your head. - Yeah.
It's always a challenge
to creatively make it look like it's part of our backstage gear,
but to also give her a safe platform.
Could you lay down?
Here. Yep.
Nice.
All right.
I have no words how I'm feeling, so…
I'm just nervous and excited.
The show must go on.
We come back to the two of you in the ring, sitting in the corner,
fucking selling, looking at each other like, "What the fuck?" Right?
Yeah. Okay.
You can actually even say that. "What the fuck?"
- Know what I mean? - "What the fuck?"
Yeah, see?
- It still sounds cute. - Phenomenal when you say it.
It does. "What the f--?"
Anybody else, you go, "They're cussing." "Ah, it's Iyo."
Too cute.
- Japanese accent. - Yeah.
The weekend of Evolution in Georgia,
I ended up having a triple threat match.
I'd had matches with Bayley. I'd had matches with Becky.
But this time, I had the two of them.
I had been in a tag team with Bayley coming up to Mania.
Bayley and Valkyria are heading to WrestleMania
to take on the tag champs.
And then we found out that Becky was returning,
and she was essentially going to take Bayley's spot
as my tag team partner for the biggest show of the year.
Bay, what happened? Are you good? No, are you good? What happened?
It was, like, bittersweet in a way when I was told that this was gonna happen
because, you know, I was excited to have Becky back,
but it started really sinking in, like, how much it sucks,
like, as professional as I can be,
"Man, I worked for that," you know? I worked for that.
Bayley deserved to have a WrestleMania match,
and I was… taking her out.
And really, right up until the last moment,
I was like, "Should we maybe do this differently?"
I'm not even on social media, so I don't know,
but I believe the vibe is like, "Oh, it's gonna be Becky."
"Ah, that's funny. Ah, we feel bad for Bayley."
So, in a last-minute pitch, and you can tell me to go fuck off…
WrestleMania's like Christmas.
You're being good all year long
so that you get the most amount of toys on Christmas Day.
That's how it works.
It felt like I was The Grinch. Like, "I'm taking all your toys."
- You don't wanna take it away from her. - Yeah, I don't.
Yeah. I hear you. I hear you.
- Let me think about it. - If it was anybody else…
- I got kinda pissed at Becky. - Fuck 'em.
But, like, I don't want to be put in the match
because we begged for it. I had already accepted it at that point.
- So happy and excited. - Okay.
I'm so happy for you.
So we took this thing that happened,
that we had no control over, that was very real,
and used it on-screen.
I keep hoping things will go back to how they were before WrestleMania,
but you won't let that happen.
We went on from that moment and told the story with the three of us.
Evolution, the women's show.
It was so important that we had a banger.
Welcome to Atlanta.
Tonight, we get ready for an historic event.
WWE Evolution.
Here we go.
Fuck yeah, Bayley.
For Becky Lynch, it's about defending the title tonight,
the Intercontinental Championship defended in a triple threat match
for the first time ever.
The crowd sounds different, right?
I think there's a lot more girls.
I love it.
Here we go.
They're on their feet in Atlanta.
Man, they're going crazy already.
First woman to gain a pinfall or submission
becomes the Intercontinental Champion.
Dog-eat-dog world at the very top.
There simply are no friendships.
Oh!
Ignorance is your new best friend
And this is the best thing That could've happened
Any longer and I wouldn't have made it
It's not a war, no It's not a rapture
I'm just a person But you can't take it
That same tricks that…
Hell yeah, Lyra.
They won't get you anywhere
I'm not the same kid From your memory
Well, now I can fend for myself…
Oh yeah!
…hear your sad songs I don't wanna feel your pain
When you swear it's all my fault But you know we're not the same, no
We're not the same, no
Oh, we're not the same…
This crowd is red-hot tonight.
They are getting a show from these three women.
Three of the absolute best.
Very smooth. Fucking awesome.
Ignorance is your new best friend
Ignorance is…
Oh fuck, that was cool.
Ignorance is your new best friend…
Bayley's hair is magnificent,
like Michael Hayes in the morning.
She looks insane.
If it was blue, she'd look like fucking Marge Simpson right now.
Bayley! Bayley! Bayley! Bayley! Bayley!
Might be trying a Rose Plant here.
- Oh! - Oh my God!
Well, it's nice to meet you, sir
I guess I'll go
I best be on my way out…
- Bayley saves the matchup. - Perfect timing.
We're heading home right here.
Here comes our finish.
Rose Plant, finally.
Bayley stacks up Lyra.
Becky from behind…
- Wow! - Nice!
One! Two! Three!
Becky retains!
Here is your winner,
"The Man" Becky Lynch!
That was great.
I'll tell you right now, this is the coolest pin I have ever seen
in my entire time watching wrestling.
One! Two! Three!
All three women brought their absolute A-game tonight.
Becky Lynch successfully retains the Women's Intercontinental Championship
in a classic.
- That all right? - Yeah. No, more than all right. Hell yeah!
Thank you. You okay? Are you okay?
If I was to just zap back to 2018
to show myself one match, just… just even the flash of the match graphic
of me, Becky, and Bayley,
I genuinely wouldn't believe it.
That finish was awesome. The back… It looked great!
I'm a fucking athlete.
Not the only athlete in Ireland now, huh?
No, honestly, I'm not that great of an athlete, so…
…so that was the most athletic I've ever felt in my entire life.
I'm in there with two of the best,
and it's an honor to be right there, side by side.
- My God, that crowd was wild. - What a crowd.
That before-the-bell-rang moment, I was like, "Fuck."
- Yeah. - Oh yeah.
My favorite thing about what we do has always been the magic you feel
when everyone in the room is on the same journey
watching a wrestling match.
There's nothing better. To have had it at Evolution,
to wrestle two women that really made me wanna do this,
on this specific card…
You just can't summarize how special this is to me
and how much it means to every woman in this locker room today. Phew.
Breathe.
The following
is a no holds barred match!
In this match, there are no count-outs,
no disqualifications,
no holds barred!
Time to make order.
Here to get the girlies in check. Tonight, this is done.
Please welcome special guest referee
Bianca Belair!
We were talking earlier today
about whether Bianca Belair can call this one down the middle.
Yeah, where do Belair's loyalties really lie?
Hasn't spoken to either Naomi or Jade really since Elimination Chamber.
We knew where we wanted to end.
We knew that we had Naomi
that was going to cash in. We knew we were going there,
but first the culmination of the Naomi-Jade rivalry.
This is the fourth women's no holds barred match
in WWE history.
Naomi not thinking about the contract tonight.
She's thinking about surviving Jade Cargill.
Here she comes.
- Spear by Cargill! - Whoa!
And now a… steel chain.
Cleaning the clock of Naomi.
Jade just grabbed the camera from the cameraman and now…
…gonna be up close and personal.
Jade now measuring Naomi…
Oh, and a big kick!
Weapons match.
Jade beat the hell out of Naomi.
Nice chair shot.
We're working to the Jaded.
Please hit this, girls.
From up there! She'll break her in half!
- Jaded through the table! - Good shit.
One! Two! Three!
Cargill with the win!
Have them tell Naomi to sell big.
B, tell Naomi to sell big. Naomi has to sell big no matter what.
Tell Naomi, "Don't move. Just stay down."
I thought it was pulled off to perfection.
When Naomi was in the ring,
you think, "I have seen the last of Naomi."
You don't even think about the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Do you have something to do now? Or do you wanna go…
After this, I've got a run-in.
Okay.
Let me see if they wanna glue it first.
- Are you doing it during this match? - Next one. I've got, like, 30 minutes.
Okay.
I would just let the… let the blood drip and dry.
Okay.
All right. We're every bit of 25, 30 minutes.
Can you go 20?
- Fuck no. - Okay.
You make the others do their fucking times.
I'm the fucking main event.
- Damn right. - I'm gonna do what the fuck I want to.
The following contest, scheduled for one fall, is for
the Women's World Championship!
Our audience doesn't want good, clean, squeaky girls.
They want badass bitches. That's why they love her.
Exactly.
Rhea looking to win her fourth World Championship.
She's won tag titles and NXT titles and the Royal Rumble.
But tonight would feel oh so good for "The Eradicator."
From Tokyo, Japan,
Iyo Sky!
Remember what happened back in March
when Iyo Sky shocked everyone,
taking the championship from Rhea Ripley.
The two best female wrestlers on planet Earth in 2025.
The question remains, though, who is one and who is two?
- Iyo Sky, DDT! - Oh!
Oh, Rhea said… Oh, interception!
Face-first goes Ripley! Stomp to the midsection!
And Ripley is really rocked here now.
Razor's Edge here in a second.
Into a powerbomb.
Boom!
- …so many counters, as Iyo-- - Oh my goodness!
Oh shit!
- Oh God! A Poisonrana! - This is awesome!
Rhea okay?
God, you just feel the adrenaline in this arena.
They're witnessing something very special.
After no ref, Rhea's gonna go fucking apeshit.
Iyo, top rope… Oh no!
Rhea ducked out of harm's way! Iyo inadvertently hit the official!
Rhea Ripley now with a Riptide to Sky!
One! Two! Three!
Rhea Ripley had Sky pinned, but there's no official.
Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven!
The referee was taken out of this match.
Rhea Ripley had the damn match won, but there was no official to count!
Well, this must feel like a curse to Rhea Ripley.
Nice, Rhea!
Good shit.
How does her little body take all that?
This is spilling out all over the place.
Ripley and Sky fighting into the WWE Universe.
And Rhea Ripley, understandably, has now completely lost it.
I am not quite sure what Rhea Ripley is capable of
in the state of mind that she is in right now.
Try not to shoot the floor at their feet until we get over there.
They're now on the equipment cases over there in the corner of this arena.
Once Iyo counters this, she's gonna go to that first level.
Well, it's gonna be nasty as hell!
Then pause, look up, and go one step higher.
Oh no.
Don't do it, Iyo!
Iyo climbing up high.
Widen out. Widen out. Don't get too close to her.
I wanna see crowd behind her. I wanna see how high she is.
"The Genius of the Sky" with Ripley in trouble!
Widen out, widen out!
The highest-risk Superstar of them all!
Iyo with a crossbody, and Iyo and Rhea are down!
Nice!
Iyo had to be 20 feet in the air.
Holy shit! Holy shit!
And both women are down.
Holy shit! Holy shit!
Everybody okay?
Two women knocking the hell out of each other
in pursuit of excellence, in pursuit of greatness,
in pursuit of history.
Is the ref coming?
Let me see her coming in.
The official's coming to!
Iyo Sky hits it! The Over the Moonsault…
And Rhea kicked at two! Rhea kicked at two!
Now it's Iyo Sky's turn to say, "What the hell do I do now?"
Holy hell!
Nice! Atta way to cover that shit, Lee.
That's storytelling.
Rhea Ripley tapping into something different tonight,
and it needs it against this version of Iyo Sky.
Rhea Ripley…
Oh my goodness! Spanish fly!
Both women are down!
Iyo's out! Rhea's out!
World title's on the line!
I'm ready. You, Hunter?
Yeah, okay. Here we go!
Oh… my… God.
Naomi… Naomi…
- Miss Money in the Bank! - With a referee in tow!
Okay, once they announce it as a triple threat, briefcase shot to Iyo.
You can hear this.
Cash me in. Now!
Ladies and gentlemen, Naomi is cashing in her Money in the Bank contract.
This is now a triple threat match.
It's a triple threat match. Anything goes!
There are no disqualifications under triple threat rules!
Officially cashed in against two completely decimated women!
Split-legged moonsault! Cover by Naomi!
Two! Three!
Naomi's the World Champion! Holy cow!
- Fuck yeah! Yes! - Here is your winner!
- And new Women's… - Fuckin' A.
Fucking awesome.
That's fucking… one motherfucker of a show.
…Naomi!
Take that, motherfucker!
I told you!
Okay, that was awesome top-to-bottom.
It was a "holy shit" moment.
She's the new champion,
and she is on top of the world.
Me returning, I wanted to be better, do better, become better.
This solidifies that. It proves that.
It's very emotional. I'm trying to keep it together.
First time ever being the Women's World Champion.
Who knows what's ahead of me now?
- You did badass. - Thank you.
- That was badass. - How'd that feel?
Amazing.
It just shows that, um, as women in wrestling,
we're still progressing. We're still getting better.
For those who have been watching me since 2009,
if I could just sum it all up, my journey is just to keep going.
Evolution is such a massive deal for us women here in the WWE
and just women in general. There's a lot of male-dominated things.
Sports, businesses, etc.
So to have something that's all women is such a massive, massive deal to us.
- Come here, rock star. - I'm so happy! I'm so, so happy!
Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Oh, it's okay. You were great.
You always believe in me. Thank you so much.
Yeah, I always will. You were fucking great. Rock star.
A lot of times backstage, I could just call her "rock star"
because I don't know how to put a label on her for anything else.
She's just the nicest human being of all time.
Will do whatever you want and will come back and just…
She's just hoping you tell her it was good.
When you tell her it was good, it's like the world lit up for her.
You know, most people, when they're up high, they just dive.
- Yep. - Right? No jump. You jump up.
- Oh yeah. I did. - Yeah. It was very good.
Oh, thank you. Yeah, I'm… I enjoyed it. I fly.
- No, ne. - Oh, ne.
- Ne! - There you go.
You like it.
Does that scare you?
No, no. I wanna be special.
I… I will take any risk to become "I am superstar."
This is what we work so hard for,
and it's all accumulated to this moment right here,
because this is what the future of
the women here in WWE are going to show, and we're gonna take our opportunities.
We're not gonna wait for them anymore. This is where we start,
so it was a really cool experience.
I love you.
You're so cool.
Let's talk about Evolution. Just… What a night.
The bar for what women do in this industry,
all of it has been raised so high.
Man, they showed tonight what a change that business has been for them.
Incredibly proud of them.
I'm sure somebody here will ask about Seth. He came here tonight.
He was not going to miss his wife's performance tonight.
He'll be in Birmingham tomorrow with Dr. Dugas.
I'll just say right now, a little bit inconclusive.
Doesn't look good, but we'll, uh, get MRI
and… hope for the best.
So keeping a secret,
not letting people know that Seth Rollins doesn't need crutches,
that's part of the thrill.
Is it secrecy?
Is it a work?
Or is it simply the planning of performance art?
On me.
Now.
Burn it down