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It’s been roughly a month since Wheel of Fortune’s WWE Week and Evan is talking to the champion contestant Grant Salzano. Grant won over $50,000 in cash and WWE-themed prizes over two shows in addition to the grand prize of tickets to Wrestlemania, Smackdown, the Hall of Fame and a Front-Row VIP experience for Monday Night Raw. Evan and Grant relive the key moments in his Wheel journey and how everything fell into place. Plus, he talks about being paired with Natalya Neidhart and how he designed a premium, customized title belt from the experience. All that and some pilot talk as Grant is making the most of his new license to fly. And as always, this episode has a license to be awkward.
Check out Grant Salzano on Twitter at twitter.com/salzano14.
In honor of Grant’s run on Wheel of Fortune, order a WWE Title belt on Amazon.
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My first image of Joe Biden is inappropriately rubbing a woman’s shoulders so, obviously, I could have compared him to the Attitude Era’s Val Venis, but the comparison would end there.
While Saturday Night Live may call Harris a ‘funt’ (fun aunt), in reality, she is a beast, much like Nia Jax. Both Kamala and Nia are ‘not like most girls.’ They can be savage and love to assault their competitors. When Nia Jax was coming up the ranks she would smile and then squash any competitor that got in her way. Kamala cuts to the chase and sometimes avoids debating her fellow Democrats, instead going straight to Trump and his Twitter account. Don’t expect a nice Nia when she returns from injury. Both these ladies mean business.
Pete and Drake, who while both young-looking and diminutive, are actually quite versatile. The South Bend mayor is well-educated, a veteran and fluent in seven languages. Since leaving his TNA Rockstar Spud persona behind, so far at WWE, Drake has been the general manager of 205 Live, the manager of Authors of Pain and a multi-time 24/7 Champion (who also strives to consummate his marriage). Not much was expected from both these personalities, but they have made the most of their opportunity and shown their potential.
This pairing could not have been more copacetic, both in name and attitude. Both these Bookers are showmen. Cory can throw down a great political speech with the best of them, and Booker T can also command an audience whether it’s as a 5-time WCW champ or King Bookah!! Their streams also crossed during one of the early debates when Joe Biden was trying to make a point to which Cory Booker gave Biden a Booker T-esque look of “Tell me you did not just say that” and, lo and behold, Biden steps into a flavor of Kool-Aid he is not familiar with. Cory sometimes falls into the trap of trying to moderate his fellow candidates rather than push through so people know what it is he stands for. He should be primed to rise to the head of the field, but just like at Wrestlemania, the establishment of Triple H thwarted Booker T’s coming out party.
Both Sanders and Lesnar/Heyman are mainstays in their arenas and four years ago they were each an unstoppable movement, but each was derailed for different reasons. Sanders had the nomination swiped away from him so that Hillary Clinton could benefit. Lesnar lost his Universal Championship many times over so that Roman Reigns and later Seth Rollins could benefit. There are still fierce, but a slightly diluted version of their earlier selves, which might be inaccurate because Lesnar’s recent work has been fabulous.
Warren appears to be is at the top of the Democratic totem pole (metaphor intended) when it comes to who will be the chosen one. McMahon is already a McMahon: she is the chosen one of professional wrestling (notwithstanding Drew McIntyre).
Castro comes to the race as the former HUD Secretary. Corbin is ridiculed for coming to Raw and Smackdown looking like the former manager of an Applebee’s. Both men come off a little smug and out to prove others wrong. Castro wants to promote that he is the ‘antithesis of Donald Trump’ and Corbin masterfully comes off as the anti-thesis of anything likable. They have both settled into their roles, but Corbin is growing more prominent as King Corbin while Castro spites America’s king by escorting vulnerable asylum seekers from Mexico into Texas.
While Bayley recently turned to the dark side, Klobuchar inquired about Brett Cavanaugh’s alcoholic darkside. Regardless, as they are mainly known, both women have that Midwest appeal. Klobuchar is a moderate and a fighter. Bayley is the only WWE women’s Grand Slam champion (Raw / Smackdown / NXT / Tag-Team) and a hugger. Klobuchar and the old Bayley are virtually clones, but then the new Bayley would simply strike both of them down. Perhaps if Klobuchar turned heel she could reach a new level that Bayley is currently enjoying as Smackdown Champion.
Perhaps these are hidden, underappreciated crown jewels of their endeavors. Both women are veterans as Gabbard has served in the National Guard and continues to go on training missions during her campaign. Evans is a veteran of the Marine Corps. Both made their biggest impingement by going after their respective ‘big fish.’ Lacey Evans went straight to Becky Lynch when she debuted on Raw and Tulsi trended on Twitter while retorting back at Hillary Clinton for being accused of being a Russian asset. Both have the rare ability to straddle both sides of the aisle as Evans can use her military experience to instantly get the crowd on her side and Gabbard is not afraid to communicate with accused enemies by appearing on Tucker Carlson. One final reason for the comparison is that both women have made headlines for trips overseas. Gabbard is criticized for visiting the Syrian President, while for more monumental reasons, Evans just participated in the first ever WWE women’s match in Saudi Arabia.
Williamson and Wyatt are rare breeds and both have extremely tailor-made viewpoints. Williamson, a self-help author, has challenged some fixed beliefs of Washington including the political zeitgeist, a blind faith to Big Pharma and mandatory vaccinations, but lacks Wyatt’s resolve as she has cowered a few times into backtracking.
The Million Dollar Man gimmick and the $1000/month proposal clearly highlight that, to Yang and Dibiase, it’s all about the money. Dibiase frequently claimed everybody has a price whether it was making someone dribble a basketball or rub the sweat off his body for $100. Yang just hopes his $1000/month trickle-up economics will buy him some votes. Dibiase’s signature is his laugh while for Yang it’s the fact he refers to his followers as the “Yang Gang.” Check please.
This senator from Colorado is out to end the toxicity in partisan politics. When Sami Zayn returned from injury, rather than just being over-the-top annoying, he made it a point to turn the finger on the audience and point out all the toxicity on social media from the always-critical WWE Universe. Both men may realize it’s extremely hard to castigate people you regularly interact with when you’re trying to convince those same people you frequently interact with. Not sure how much longer Bennet can endure, but right now Zayn is playing mouthpiece for Shinske Nakamura.
At least we can always say Delaney is Mr. Mackey from South Park. But like Delaney, Gulak has workable ideas (via his Powerpoint presentations), which basically state that everyone else is wrong. And prior to his PPT slides, Gulak was a political persona on 205 Live.
Bullock and Owens are impressive figures from Montana and Canada, respectively. The connection is a little light, but Owens could pass for someone from Montana. Bullock supports gun reform while Owens supports ‘stun’ reform (i.e. the Stone Cold Stunner). See what I did there? Unsure if Bullock can break through, but perhaps he can go straight to attacking Biden like Owens went straight to John Cena.
Beto’s surprise withdrawal will make most of this moot, but he and Philips both play the role of straightedge white men. But let’s go further: people have even accused Beto as being ‘White Obama’ i.e. an inspiring, slow talker. Philips also has that mild, milquetoast onscreen demeanor that allows him to contrast his frenetic fellow commentators such as Corey Graves and Byron Saxton. Beto had a plan to re-possess all guns everywhere, while Philips would just like to re-possess a commentary spot on WWE programming.
Inslee’s sole issue was climate change. A limited platform led to a limited return, but at least he seamlessly corresponds to Daniel Bryan who was known as “The Planet’s Champion” as he lectures the audience about sustainability and even abandoned the traditional leather WWE title for one made of hemp.
New York City Mayor de Blasio was running for workers’ rights, but according to many he was the village idiot, much like R-Truth. Unfortunately, de Blasio has to withdraw to return his title as “worst mayor ever” while Truth, whose ridiculous irrationality and one-liners, complement his achievements as a 20-time 24/7 Champion. But then again, like de Blasio, this title can be viewed as a joke title for lesser Superstars.
Who says billionaires can’t just swoop in and change their landscapes. Back in the 80s, McMahon said to heck with territories and decided to just buy up all the talent from the early territory days and do things his way. Bloomberg, who is registering for the Alabama primary, is saying enough to the Democratic field eating each other and is swooping in to say, “If you are going to eat each other, you cannot accompany this feast with an extra-large soft drink.” Vince was Trump four years ago and we learned you should never bet against a McMahon. Will Bloomberg follow suit?
