Loading summary
Transcript392 lines
- [00:03]
Sam Roberts
David. Yes?
- [00:04]
Naomi
Have you ever noticed that the way.
- [00:05]
Sam Roberts
We use our phones is ironic? Phones are for connection, but we look at them more than we look at each other. That's ironic. Griffin, it's like rain on your wedding day. Listen. That's ironic. So U.S. cellular created U.S. mode to help us reconnect, you and I. That's right. A phone company wanting people to use their phones, less ironic. A phone company wanting people to use their phones, less ironic. But let's find US again with US mode from US Cellular. Visit uscellular.com built for us to get started. What are the other things that are ironic?
- [00:47]
Megan
What?
- [00:47]
Sam Roberts
Oh.
- [00:48]
Megan
Oh, my God.
- [00:48]
Sam Roberts
Oh, baby.
- [00:52]
Naomi
No, no, no, no.
- [00:54]
Sam Roberts
No way. No, no, no, no, no way. Oh, my God.
- [00:57]
Megan
Naomi's the champ.
- [01:00]
Naomi
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [01:04]
Sam Roberts
Naomi just won. This is nuts. Okay, Evolution just went off the air. Rhea Ripley has still not beaten Iyo sky, but Iyo sky is not the world champion. Thanks to that briefcase, Stephanie Vicaire is going to Paris. I saw Charlotte take a soul snatcher. Much. To recap, luckily, this is the Evolution recap. It's a fanatics and WWE original production. We are here in Atlanta, Georgia, in the State Farm arena. Backstage, Megan and I just left the floor where we witness pure and utter first madness, then absolute history. A cash in that I think has to go down with the seth Rollins WrestleMania 31 cash in as right there in the top two best biggest cash ins ever. Because for a few reasons, number one, this was a big show. Number two, Rhea Ripley versus Iyo sky was a huge match. And number three, no one saw it coming. When you had this conversation, it was all about, this is gonna be the main event of the show. It's gonna be Rhea Ripley and IO Sky. And the whole story was that Rhea Ripley can't beat Iyo Sky. You were talking about that. I heard you on the Countdown show. And the idea for me was, well, perfect evolution comes around and we'll get the big heroes ending. Rhea Ripley wins the title and finally beats the one person she could never beat. But that all goes out the window when these two women absolutely physically dismantle one another. And then out of nowhere, as soon as the referee wakes up again, Naomi's music plays and I mean, no one saw it coming. Nobody even discussed the idea of Naomi being women's world champion. It was always centered around that.
- [03:13]
Megan
That's right. That's right. Women's especially, because we're all focused on Naomi and Jade Cargill. Of course, we're all focused on the fact that Jade Cargill Has a championship opportunity at SummerSlam.
- [03:24]
Sam Roberts
Yes.
- [03:24]
Megan
And Naomi had a brutal match with Jade Cargill earlier in the night that she lost.
- [03:29]
Sam Roberts
It was brutal enough that she didn't win it.
- [03:32]
Megan
I mean, she came out to cash in. She was beat up.
- [03:34]
Sam Roberts
Yeah. But guess what? She had been beat up, like, an hour, hour and a half ago. These two women were actively beat up. I mean, the referee had gone down, and that's where. And that's what I always say about this money in the bank briefcase, that it complicates every single championship match, even the ones that you don't think it complicates. Like I said, it was written in advance that this would be one of those things where Ria stands strong. But once that referee gets knocked out, once these two women go out into the audience and Iyo sky is jumping off crates.
- [04:12]
Megan
He's doing genius of the sky things out in the crowd.
- [04:15]
Sam Roberts
And Rhea Ripley is headbutting all the livelong day. And both of them are just, like, trying to figure out the one thing that's gonna keep the other one down to the count of three. And Naomi coming. And I'll tell you why. It was a genius cash in. It was a genius cash in, but because Naomi recognized the rules of a triple threat. No dq. Oh.
- [04:35]
Megan
Oh, look who's here.
- [04:36]
Sam Roberts
Perfect. Perfect.
- [04:37]
Megan
I'm so excited to talk to you about this, Natty.
- [04:39]
Sam Roberts
Oh, no. Oh, no.
- [04:43]
Megan
Put Sam in a sharpshooter right now.
- [04:44]
Naomi
This is how.
- [04:45]
Natalia
This is how Natalia rolls. I mean. I mean, Natty. I mean, Natalia.
- [04:48]
Sam Roberts
That felt a little more like Natty. I'm so happy to have you. That was a Natty figuring out who's.
- [04:53]
Natalia
Natty or who's Natalia.
- [04:54]
Sam Roberts
Yeah.
- [04:54]
Natalia
Am I sitting here?
- [04:55]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, please sit down. My collarbone feels like that was probably.
- [04:58]
Natalia
Natty had to choke. Sam. Sorry. I'm back.
- [05:01]
Sam Roberts
And you did that for the listeners. I think a lot of people have felt that way.
- [05:04]
Natalia
What a night.
- [05:06]
Megan
So Natty, Sam is saying this is right up there with greatest cash ins in WWE history. This is up there with the heist of the century.
- [05:13]
Natalia
Disagree with that. Tonight was just magical. And here's the thing, okay? I know Naomi is in the role of a. Of the ultimate bad girl, but I've always been on team Naomi. I've always, like, from our. From our days just starting together in WWE and fcw, and then, of course, total divas. And then you saw this. You know, you saw her return to WWE a couple years ago and really just come into her own. And so tonight, I think she found her fu.
- [05:41]
Sam Roberts
Really?
- [05:41]
Natalia
I don't want to say the F word in wwe, but she. She found her.
- [05:46]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, that's right. That's right. You can. You can read the lips on the YouTube version. I mean, you're not wrong, because I was looking at the crowd, and I was looking at the crowd during the Jade Cargill Naomi match, and I was, like, zeroing in on specific female fans that were sad that Naomi lost because they had been on that journey with Naomi. Naomi is that person that. It's like, nope, I'm just gonna keep fighting, much like you are. I'm gonna keep fighting. I'm keep fighting, and I'm keep fighting. I think that's why you got the reaction that you got when you came out for the battle royal. I'm sure you heard that instant reaction when your name popped up there. And then to see those people who were. That they want victory for Naomi, to see those people on this night, to watch her, because I think there were a lot of people that thought that the days of Naomi being a world champion were over.
- [06:41]
Natalia
Yeah.
- [06:41]
Sam Roberts
And to see it actually happen and to see it happen on that platform where it's IO and it's Rhea in the ring, like, that's tippity, tippity top, like, rare air. And for Naomi to come in and own that spotlight to the extent that people were, like, not going, oh, this is nonsense. They were going, oh, my God. We just saw something amazing.
- [07:01]
Natalia
And it felt right. Like, it just felt like everything in the universe came together for her to have this moment. And, of course, like, there has been a great story all the way up until now, and I've been saying that to the girls. I actually told Jade tonight backstage, I was like, I really enjoyed your match with Naomi because the match can't be excellent without the story. And we think about the great stories in wwe, we think about Bret Hart versus Shawn Michaels or, you know, Shawn Michaels versus the Undertaker or, you know, Triple H versus the Undertaker or Eddie Guerrero versus Rey Mysterio. We there all about the story. So we tonight just felt like a magical, very iconic night because the story was there. And I told Jade, I was like, this is the first night that I really felt, like, a visceral vibe from you where she was, like, coming into her own. Even seeing her do. I call it the glam slam, but seeing her do the glam slam off the top, Little shout out to Beth Phoenix.
- [07:58]
Sam Roberts
Yes.
- [07:58]
Natalia
But, like, seeing her do that off the top and seeing, like, just. Just. Just the physicality and the way that she was, you know, processing all the pain. And on the inside, it's called selling. But, like. But it was just so good. Like, she really came into her own tonight doing that. I thought Jade killed it, and I think people were just ready to see Naomi have that moment. What. What a night to do that at, like. I mean, there's no other night, no better night to do that at. Than at Evolution.
- [08:27]
Megan
You're right.
- [08:27]
Natalia
You know what I mean?
- [08:28]
Megan
You're absolutely right. And this story is something that we've all been following since before WrestleMania. I mean, we loved the big three. And then what happened? Jade Cargill was taken out. Who was Jade Cargill taken out by Naomi. And we've been waiting. We've seen the backstages. We've seen Naomi hit Jade with the briefcase and telling her to proceed with caution. And Jade really reached that breaking point. And tonight we got to see that. And Naomi prevailed. I mean, after. We were all feeling the glow for so long. But I think each and every week that Naomi has been on television since, she's been proceeding with caution, she's leveled.
- [09:04]
Natalia
Up, and she's really taken her character in, like, in. In a very organic, realistic way, helped it evolve. It wasn't. I didn't feel like it was contrived. Yes. You know, and sometimes we talk about character development, and, like, it's like we. We've seen the layers of Naomi and what I've loved about her in that. In the sense that she's been in WWE for a long time, I think she might be the second most tenured woman here besides myself. Like, I might. Yeah, she was a bunkadactyl. And so we saw her through all these different phases. But what I loved about it is that Naomi proved to the entire world, but especially to people, you know, to upper management in wwe, that old dogs can learn new tricks and they can be better than they've ever been, ever. And so she. She literally is just such an inspiration where it's like, you know, you think about, like, Bret Hart, you know, of course, I know him a little bit. He said, like, in his. In his early 40s, he's like, I didn't really start to hit my stride until my early 40s. And he said, I did the best work of my career in my early 40s. And I love hearing that, because tonight we celebrated women from every different ethnicity, shape, size, color, race, religion, all the. You know, we just really fully embraced it. And Naomi is proof that, yeah, she might have been here for a minute, but she took. She took all of her power back, reinvented herself and literally did her homework and did what brought her. Brought her to the dance and killed it tonight, like, literally, she went out there and not only elevated herself, but elevated every single person that she worked with.
- [10:29]
Megan
And I think that's really been a theme kind of of the week. I mean, I was reading Charlotte Flair's Players Tribune article, and she was talking about how she feels like just in the last couple years, she's doing her best work. And we talk about the men's division, and no one's saying, like, oh, the men are aging out. But for some reason, we look at the women's division and we say, oh, you know, the future is bright. Oh, they had their time. They had their time. But to your point, with Naomi, we're watching this play out, and these veterans in the locker room, they still have a place, they still belong, and they still can be champions and make history.
- [11:03]
Natalia
And I really do think that, like, you know, of course, Triple H is all about storytelling. I feel like he. He wants to make sure that the right stories are there for the matches. But he, in a huge way, isn't saying, hey, she's too old, or, he's too old. Like, I don't feel. I feel now more than ever, age is not as much of an issue as it has been before in sports in general. Like, when I look at the Rock, I'm like, he's in his early 50s, and this guy is in the best shape of his life. I saw Serena Williams. She posted a selfie, a gym selfie. And I was like, she's in her early 40s. She's in the best shape of her life. I saw Tori Wilson backstage tonight, and I was like, okay, Tori, I gotta get. You are my girl crush. I was like, I see you. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, she is so sexy. She looks amazing.
- [11:47]
Sam Roberts
Like, I mean, about Trish Stratus going.
- [11:49]
Natalia
Like, move for move with Tiffany Stratton. And so that's what I feel like Triple H is looking at it and going, I don't care how old you are or where your background is, I just want you to do great work. And so we saw people tonight. This is why I loved tonight so much. We saw people tonight from the past, the present, and, of course, the future all come together. But nobody was like, all, oh, you know, she did good for her age. When I watched Trish Stratus, Tiffany gave her this crazy, like, backbreaker. It was like a vertical suplex standing back. I was like, holy Shit, she's gonna be feeling that the next day. But Trish can go. And that's the thing, is that if you can go, you're good to go. And we saw that tonight. And there's no, you know, hey, we're not gonna bring these girls in because they're over 21. You know what I mean? Like, everybody's looked at. We just gotta keep Dominik Mysterio away from all the girls is the big thing.
- [12:38]
Sam Roberts
That's right. He's a magnet. I mean, they, they, they. They go right to him. But I think you're. I'm glad you brought up Brett, actually, because I think it's such a good example. I do. I have Sha and Brett socks.
- [12:48]
Natalia
Oh, my God. You have. Wait, hold on. You got to show everybody these socks.
- [12:52]
Sam Roberts
All right. These are my WrestleMania 12. There's Brett.
- [12:56]
Megan
Thank you for keeping your shoes on.
- [12:57]
Natalia
Epic.
- [12:58]
Sam Roberts
There's Brett and Sean.
- [12:59]
Megan
Can we see them?
- [13:00]
Sam Roberts
If you're. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see the Brett and Sean. Did you get them? Okay, we got them.
- [13:05]
Natalia
But that's the thing.
- [13:05]
Sam Roberts
But, but, but I was going to say, I mean, even then, right? Brett And Sean, that's 96. Brett was already having Match of the Night by WrestleMania 8. He was main eventing WrestleMania by WrestleMania 9. But it was 97. Brett that was completely untouchable.
- [13:21]
Natalia
And he was not 21.
- [13:23]
Sam Roberts
Exactly.
- [13:23]
Natalia
Right.
- [13:23]
Sam Roberts
Like he was. And then. And I feel the same way. We've talked about this before. We talked about this after Money in the bank about Naomi, who. It's like, she's always been good. Yeah, we all love the glow. She's always been good, but she's untouchable now.
- [13:35]
Natalia
But she also had an incredible story. And not only. And so it take of things to come together to build that story. It takes a lot of people aligning to make that story happen. It's not just Naomi woke up one day and thought of a great story. It's everything aligning. It's the universe aligning. It's the company getting behind her and saying, hey, when we present you with this opportunity, all these little building blocks came together for her to go. She nailed it. So any opportunity that she was given, she kept on gaining momentum. And so that allows more momentum and more opportunities to come for her, to come to her. And so. So with that momentum, she was able to continue to grow this story. And I can't say it enough, but girl, the girls, the women's division, we really do an extraordinary job of maximizing our Social media in a way that it's like, hey, if we're not getting time on Raw or Smackdown or NXT or wherever it may be, we can still go to our social media and blow it up. And Chelsea Green is a great example of that. You give Chelsea Green 20 seconds on TV, she'll blow it up into a six minute freaking mini documentary.
- [14:37]
Megan
She will.
- [14:38]
Natalia
And I even say that to Maxine because we, Maxine and I, we haven't actually had a match on Raw. We haven't really done anything like, as far as, like an actual match on Raw. We did a match on smackdown, but people don't know that because we are doing everything in our power to try to condition the audience that we're together with social media. The girls do a phenomenal job with that. I can't give the girls enough credit because, listen, we're constantly on our selfie game, we're constantly taking pictures. I had Scarlet tonight doing a whole photo shoot with me and Maxine. Yeah.
- [15:09]
Sam Roberts
And I think also, I mean, in terms of social media, it's helped that people see how hard a lot of everybody's working hard, but a lot of specifically how hard the women are working.
- [15:20]
Natalia
Yeah.
- [15:20]
Sam Roberts
There's a reason why B Fab is night and day better in a very short period of time. And people see what's going on at the dungeon and people, people see what's going on. Like television is a weekly experience, right? Like, I turn on smackdown, I turn on Raw. When you look at what you guys are posting on social and going like, oh, while we're like just doing, living the rest of our lives, waiting for the next episode to come on, you guys are working, are in the dungeon, working reps, matches, promos, just going, going.
- [15:51]
Natalia
And really putting ourselves out there. And that's the one thing. And I say this to the girls all the time because it's advice that I actually need for myself. The thing is, is that when you're in the public eye, we all fought very hard for this position, to make it to the main roster, to work for wwe, to work for the largest global juggernaut. This is the biggest entertainment company in the world. When you put yourself out there, especially as much as we do, to do what we love, but we also want to entertain the fans. You also put yourself out there for scrutiny. And I will say it's. I said this earlier, I was talking about this in an interview, but I want to say it again. There was this like little study that was done and it was like the top 15 most harassed people on social. On, like, top 15.
- [16:28]
Sam Roberts
WWE saw that.
- [16:30]
Natalia
You saw that? Like, the list of, you know, people. Pro wrestlers. Basically the top 15 most harassed. And I was laughing with TJ because I was like, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I'm almost, like, slightly flattered that people give a rat's ass about me. They literally. I was. I was top 15 with Nikki Bell, and I gave Nikki Bella a high five today. I was like, did you see that we made that list? I was like, people, whether they like us or whether they hate us, they are engaging with us. She came out tonight and she got a massive reaction. So while people.
- [17:02]
Megan
Especially from Sam. Sam is out of his big. Nikki Bell. Yeah, he's very.
- [17:06]
Natalia
And the audience loves her. She looks great. She's on. On a roll.
- [17:09]
Megan
She, you know, she told Sam Roberts that he looked like he got a glow up.
- [17:13]
Sam Roberts
She did say that. Can you believe that?
- [17:14]
Natalia
Stop My life.
- [17:16]
Naomi
Wow.
- [17:16]
Sam Roberts
Like, why? I'm being sarcastic.
- [17:18]
Natalia
Well, you do look very handsome.
- [17:20]
Megan
Oh, we need to listen, Natty.
- [17:22]
Sam Roberts
It's about the women today.
- [17:23]
Megan
This is about the women. We don't.
- [17:26]
Natalia
That's why I put you in a sleeper when I came out here. We gotta get you in the dungeon. I've got to get you in the dungeon. I want to get.
- [17:32]
Sam Roberts
Like.
- [17:33]
Natalia
I told Jelly Roll. I saw Jelly Roll a couple days ago. He was at Smackdown.
- [17:37]
Megan
Yeah.
- [17:37]
Natalia
And I said to him, I was like, jelly Roll, I want to get you in the dungeon. I want to get. I want to work with you on some, like, submissions. Anyway, he was so excited. He's like, I love this.
- [17:46]
Megan
We need to get some sort of, you know, RK Roll. Jelly Roll. Like, some. Something.
- [17:51]
Natalia
I want to put. I want to work with him on the sharpshooter, and I wouldn't mind working with him on some sort of, like, I don't know, just like, maybe a mandible claw or something.
- [18:00]
Sam Roberts
That'd be perfect.
- [18:01]
Megan
I love this.
- [18:01]
Sam Roberts
I want to go back to what you were talking about, about stories, because I think that there is this level. I think tonight's evolution was so much different than 2018's evolution, and that's because, really, the story of evolution in 2018 was, man, do you think we can pull this off? Man, look at what we can do. And I felt like tonight this happened to be a premium live event of all women's matches, but every single match had investment from the audience that were invested in the outcomes, because every single match had a story to tell. And when there were matches with multiple people, like the battle royale or the four way tag match. There were multiple stories within those matches where every participant had something to do.
- [18:49]
Natalia
And, you know, even when we're structuring these matches, like, everybody's really thinking about what's the story and how can we tell the story and what can we do to tell how can we make it better? And that's why I think the audience tonight was so entertained from the very first match with the girls triple threat, which I thought the girls triple threat killed it. As much as I know Becky lynch is a badass heel, and she leans into that role of being like, you know, she's holding people back and she's holding people down. Let me. I'm gonna ruin Becky's whole.
- [19:18]
Sam Roberts
Oh, no, you don't tell me Becky Hogan doesn't exist.
- [19:21]
Natalia
So Becky is like, she's just so. She wants. She really, really cares about the girls.
- [19:27]
Megan
For a really long time, I've been trying to.
- [19:32]
Natalia
So I loved watching her really lean into that heel character tonight, knowing that she backstage is fighting for more for the women. And I love that because if we. If nobody fights, then we don't move forward. Everything is about moving forward, even 1%. So tonight we walking out through that curtain and seeing this, like, just seeing this arena full of people screaming and they're so passionate about women's wrestling. There wasn't a man on the show.
- [19:56]
Sam Roberts
Right.
- [19:56]
Natalia
Even as far as referees, it was all women. And so I just. It was. So was. Was it all women?
- [20:02]
Sam Roberts
I think the referees?
- [20:03]
Natalia
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I saw. I saw one. I saw one guy, referee wandering tonight, so I thought maybe he was out there, but it was. It was all women. And then seeing Stephanie McMahon, I saw her coming backstage and I was with some friends tonight. My guest, I brought in the very first woman I ever wrestled in wwe. Her name is Cherry. She was with Deuce and Domino, of course. So Cherry is my.
- [20:24]
Sam Roberts
Wearing roller skates.
- [20:25]
Natalia
Yes, she was my. She was my guest. And everybody was running up to her going, cherry, Cherry. Like I said to Cherry a couple weeks ago, I said to her, I said, I have a question for you. Would you like to be my guest at Evolution? Because you were the very first woman I wrestled in WWE. And all these years later, 18 years later, you're my best friend. She lives five minutes from me. We spend every weekend together. And I was like, I would love to have you as my guest. And so Stephanie McMahon was walking by and I was with this large group of people. Stephanie was on her way to go open the show. And she took the time to talk to all of my friends, talk to Cherry, and talk to, like, the people that I had brought backstage. And I was thinking, that's why this company and that's why the girls and that's why all of us to want women. It's why we're doing so well. It's why we're moving ahead, because we pay attention to the details. Stephanie talking to Cherry, Stephanie talking to all my friends. She was on her way to the ring to open the show. She had a lot of to do, but she still made the time. The girls in the locker room, they all take the time to take photos and talk about our gear and talk about what inspires us and watch each other's matches. And everybody was watching the opening match. Everybody was watching Naomi cash in. All the girls were all, like, in gorilla or outside of gorilla, watching and supporting each other. Even if we're in storylines where we hate each other, it's just a cool feeling that we really step up for each other. From Stephanie all the way down to people from the past like Cherry.
- [21:45]
Sam Roberts
I will tell you that every time, and I won't say who it was, but every time I went from the floor to backstage today, every single time while a match was happening, there was somebody there on the roster with their phone up, videoing. They were watching.
- [22:00]
Megan
Love it.
- [22:01]
Sam Roberts
A friend watching. Like, they were looking at the screen. They were just watching to support and. And because they were happy for their friend.
- [22:08]
Natalia
And I was like, I. I was like, because, you know, my girl crush is Tori Wilson.
- [22:13]
Megan
Yes.
- [22:13]
Natalia
I was hoping Tori didn't see me do the worm because I was like, maxine, okay, can I talk about that? Maxine Dupree, she screams at me in the middle of a ring in front of a basic. I'm pretty sure tonight was sold out. It looked sold out to me. It was packed big. So pretty. I mean, yeah, a sold out crowd. Maxine Dupree screams at me and she goes, do the worm. And I was like, maxine, for sake. Sorry, guys. I said the F word again. Maxine, for the love of God, I don't do the worm. And she goes, do the worm. Like she thought she was Bubba Dudley saying, get the tables. And so I did the worm. It was the absolute shit. I'm sorry. And. And, And I was like, I'm never doing that again because you cost me elimination, you little brat. So, yeah, I was. Tori said. I asked Tori if she saw it, and she's like, it was fine. It looked okay. You did great.
- [23:03]
Megan
Oh.
- [23:04]
Natalia
I was like. She thought it was awful.
- [23:06]
Sam Roberts
Well, yeah, I feel like you got to. While you were doing the worm, you got to the bodies much quicker than you had anticipated.
- [23:12]
Natalia
Well, and I was.
- [23:13]
Sam Roberts
Now you're doing the worm on top of one.
- [23:14]
Naomi
Yeah.
- [23:15]
Natalia
And so the thing is, is that I need to tell Maxine that I don't actually know how to do the worm.
- [23:19]
Megan
You guys can work on that dungeon. You've been teaching her, you know.
- [23:23]
Natalia
Yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna do the worm again. I mean, it's literally not gonna happen. So if I do it again. I was so mad at her after. I was like, don't you ever. I blame the elimination on her, too. She's going to make up with. You know, she's going to. Tomorrow, she's going to have a tray of cupcakes for me, and she's going to come in with a cute little pink dress and tell me to put it on. We're going to look really sexy. We're going to take photos.
- [23:41]
Megan
We're.
- [23:41]
Natalia
Put it on Instagram.
- [23:42]
Sam Roberts
That's great.
- [23:43]
Natalia
She'll make up for it. But, yeah, Natty, she's not doing the worm ever, ever, ever again.
- [23:47]
Sam Roberts
But what about the confidence that you have instilled in Maxine, who has come in and is. Is came in learning this business, and.
- [23:55]
Megan
She'S been very open about that, too. I'm so humble that she's. She's in this position where she's learning each and every step of the way.
- [24:03]
Natalia
Now.
- [24:03]
Sam Roberts
She's got that confidence. She call out.
- [24:06]
Natalia
She came to the dungeon with Nikki Bella. We trained all week. We trained Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and we had some really intense training sessions in the dungeon because we don't have air conditioning. We don't really want it. We want it to be hot. We want it to feel like.
- [24:18]
Megan
And you're in Florida.
- [24:19]
Natalia
We were in Florida during the middle of summer, and we want it to feel like the original dungeon. So they, both, Nikki and Maxine were training, and TJ was watching Maxine train with me and Nikki, and he's like, this is the first time that I really believed in you and Maxine being a team. He's like, she has it. And TJ's a tough critic. He's like, at first, I didn't really see you guys as a team. He's like, I didn't see you and Maxine as a team. He's like, I didn't really think, like, it was gonna go anywhere. He's like, I really see you together with her now because she's gotten so much better.
- [24:47]
Sam Roberts
And I have to. And I'm sorry to interrupt you. No, I do have to say that, like, while I was watching, something clicked in because I looked up at the big screen during the battle royale and I saw her face. And it was her face that I was like, there's something different about like, her face. It believed what was happening and then I believed what was happening. And all of a sudden I'm like, I'm rooting for Maxine Dupri here.
- [25:11]
Natalia
She did amazing. I was just so proud of her. I was like, she just really, like, owned it. So she just. That the thing is, is that no matter what your background is, you know, you look at Bianca, she didn't come from an indie background. And you look at Jade, she didn't come from an indie background. Even Naomi didn't come where, you know, she was like, grew up in a big wrestling family. But if you did grow up in a wrestling family like myself or Charlotte or Ava at nxt, like, it. It doesn't matter what your background is, as long as you're always trying to progress and move forward and grow and entertain and tell the story and really bring a great attitude to the table. So I was also impressed with Kalani, Jordan, Jada Parker, Lash Legend, of course, Stephanie, Julia, a lot of the newer talent that came to the ring tonight. I'm just trying to think who to. Did I leave out? Who did I leave out? Oh, Tatum and Izzy.
- [25:57]
Megan
Yes.
- [25:58]
Natalia
Like, I thought they all did great. I. I really would love to feud with Kalani. I would love to feud with Jada. I would love to beat Lash Legends ass.
- [26:08]
Megan
It was a big night for Lash Legend.
- [26:09]
Natalia
She did amazing.
- [26:11]
Megan
Yeah. Her and Stephanie, you know, teaming up to eliminate Naya. And anytime you're in a battle royal or Royal Rumble, whatever, it's like, how is anybody going to get Nia Jax eliminated from whatever?
- [26:22]
Natalia
Well, Anaya is really the biggest monster on any of our shows. On Raw, smackdown, nxt, any of our shows, she's really the biggest monster. So she was a dragon that everybody had to slay in that match. And it's great because as much as we know Nya is a force, truly an unstoppable force, Lash really proved herself. She really stepped up. And that's what the division is all about. Literally the word evolution is about us continuing to pay it forward and build the division. If we don't build the division, nobody's going to have anyone to wrestle. And that means that my dungeon is going to be empty.
- [26:57]
Sam Roberts
What was more rewarding for you? Like, just personally, you felt it. Was it when you got the reaction that you got coming out and your name come and everybody just instantly reacts? Or was it when you looked across the ring and saw that the crowd was fully on Maxine's side with her.
- [27:15]
Natalia
Forcing me to do a worm that.
- [27:17]
Sam Roberts
I wasn't comfortable doing?
- [27:19]
Natalia
No, but I'm just joking. But just to see people believe in Maxine, like, there is something really cool about watching that light bulb go off for her. And so while I. Like, here's the thing, when I come out through the curtain, I always. This has just been the way it's been throughout from the very beginning of my career. I never assume that anybody's gonna know who I am or even like me, because, I mean, I just don't. I don't jump to conclusions. But when I see the work that we've been putting in in the dungeon, and I see Maxine and I see the light bulbs start to go off for her and I see her growing, I know that it's gonna come back to me. You know what I mean? And that's the thing, is that because we're working together in a team, seeing her really get it tonight, yeah, it was just like, she's such a good person. You know, she cheat. Like, she's the one that came up with the name the Dungeon Dolls. The merch shirt that we have, she's the one that designed it. She's the one that went to the merch department was like, we need to make shirts. I mean, we hadn't even been told that we were going to be called the Dungeon Dolls. Maxine walked into a creative meeting with all of our writers from raw. And she goes, by the way, Natty and I are going to be called the Dungeon Dolls. And they were like, we need to get that, like, approved through legal. And she's like, well, too bad we've already got shirts being made. I'm. I'm adding a little extra tea onto that. But. But yeah, she.
- [28:29]
Megan
Oh, here we go.
- [28:30]
Sam Roberts
Oh, look at this.
- [28:31]
Natalia
She did great.
- [28:33]
Sam Roberts
The Dungeon Dolls. Fantastic merge.
- [28:35]
Megan
Holding up the Dungeon doll shirt for all of our.
- [28:37]
Natalia
It's so cute. I love it. I love it.
- [28:39]
Megan
You know, you hit on something. You. Nikki Bella and Maxine were all training this week in the dungeon. And I mean, we all got a front row seat to you and Nikki Bella, I mean, on Total Divas way back in the day, and how much you helped Nikki and Nikki helped you and Bree in The mix as well. And now it's Bree's coming back and all three of you are working together. And so it's one of those things where it's, you know, Nikki, she hasn't been here every week for a long time, but she's never done with it. And now still helping the next generation. What does that say? Just about. I don't know if it's cliche to call it a sisterhood, but just this group of women that are still coming back to pay it forward.
- [29:18]
Natalia
I love it. I just loved seeing tonight. We saw Ivory and Jazz and Jacqueline and Tori and, you know, how about Leilani Kai? Leilani Kai. And just, it was such a cool night. And like, seeing Trish and, you know, I, it never gets old. And like, there's so many more women that I do want to see. You know, of course I really want to. You know, there's like, I, I, I miss seeing Lita. Of course we want to see Bri. And I'd love, absolutely love to see a huge, total divas reunion. You know, I wouldn't be against seeing Eva Marie back in WWE or, you know, just. I'm just trying to think of some of the girls that I want to beat up again.
- [29:52]
Sam Roberts
Slap Summer Ray.
- [29:53]
Natalia
Slap. I would love to slap Summer Ray again. But, like, it was so cool seeing the legends and, you know, like, Victoria. I would love to see Victoria back and, But I mean, there's, Listen, I'm manifesting another evolution is what I'm trying to say. So there will be an Evolution 3, and I'm setting it up and let's just plan it for the same day next year this time.
- [30:12]
Megan
I love it. The crowd wanted to be there too. I mean, there's a lot going on in Atlanta. There is Beyonce. There's a lot of wrestling this week.
- [30:18]
Natalia
And people showed up for us, and it meant the absolute world.
- [30:21]
Megan
Not only did they fill the seats, but they made their verses, voices heard all throughout the show.
- [30:26]
Natalia
It was so, Everything was so entertaining. And I love that about the battle royal was like seeing Nikki and Lola Vice do their booty shake together and like seeing like, step. Like, the thing is, is that there was entertainment. Whether it was like, it was. It made you feel something. You, you felt something when you watched every single girl have their moment. Even from Tatum and Izzy getting eliminated, like, that was shocking. People were like, oh, right. You know, like, that's what I'm, that's what I'm saying about that. That list of, the list of most online harassed people, whether they like, you. Whether they hate you, they're making noise, they're. They're getting involved, they're engaging, they're cheering, they're booing, they're yelling, they're screaming, they're laughing, but they're watching. And so we saw that tonight. We saw boos, we saw cheers, we saw mostly cheers, and we saw people literally making noise. For the women's division.
- [31:10]
Sam Roberts
I did notice before we let you go, because I know you're a busy, busy woman, but I did notice that when you talk about, like. Like, sort of, you know, the women can still. There are a lot of women that can still go, yes.
- [31:25]
Natalia
Yeah.
- [31:25]
Sam Roberts
And I feel like even as you're talking about the people in that battle royal that you want to face, it feels like when you can still go, you get almost inspired by that younger crop that's coming in. It's like, no, no, no, this crop isn't here to replace me. This crop is here for another group of women that now I can work with. And I felt that strongly, not only in, like, those moments where you saw, like, Lola Weiss and Nikki Bella together, but in the tag match, I felt. And probably it was because there was a positive reaction coming from the audience, which I think is something that Charlotte Flair has been trying to achieve and hasn't gotten there. And hasn't gotten there. And tonight it clicked in, but I felt like we. It felt like we got the old Charlotte back tonight. And I think that part of it is. That is the audience, and part of it is Alexa Bliss, But I also think part of it is having, like, Soul Ruka in there with her and realizing, like, okay, it's time to, like, click into phase two.
- [32:23]
Natalia
Yeah, of course. And also, I think it comes down to, like. And this is what I love about this different version of Charlotte is, like, not being afraid to fail. And so I think so much of me, like, Ashley and I both. I call her Ashley, but we both have grown up around the business where we felt like the. I remember the first time I met Charlotte, we both felt the pressure to be great. And she. The first time I met her, she's like, I just feel like I'm not good enough. And I think that we put them. Charlotte and I have put the most pressure on ourselves, because when your dad is Ric Flair or your uncle was Bret Hart or the British Bulldogs, or, you know, my grandfather, my dad, like, I have put so much pressure on myself, and I've spent a lot of my career in this tightly woven ball of, like, I gotta be perfect. I gotta be perfect. I gotta be perfect. When Charlotte let the guard. Let her guard down, and, you know, she wrote this really cool Players Tribune article about, like, hey, I'm not perfect. None of us are. It made. It really helped, I think, her connect in a way that she needed to. To the audience where it's like, even, like, again, go back to that shitty worm that I did. But TJ goes. The audience loved it.
- [33:24]
Sam Roberts
Yeah.
- [33:24]
Megan
Yeah.
- [33:24]
Natalia
And the thing is, is that none of us are perfect. So when you can kind of let your guard down and go, like, I can be great. I can be like, some days I'm awesome. Some days I struggle. Some days I've. You know, she. She said in her article, she's like, I've gained friends, I've lost friends. I've screwed up. I've made mistakes. I've failed. I'm human. And so I think tonight people really, like, were behind her and they're rooting for her because none of us are perfect. And that's so relatable. It's so relatable. And I think Alexa Bliss has brought that out in her. But I also think Charlotte's getting excited about the women that she can work with in the future, like Sol and, like, you know, Zaria. Like, I mean, even just the girls that were in our match, like I said earlier, I'm getting excited about working with Kalani, Jordan and Jada, Parker and Lash, Legend and Lola, Vice and Izzy and Tatum and all these different women, Stephanie and Julia. People say to me, natty, you've done pretty much everything in WWE. I've wrestled over 65 women I've been in. I've got six world records for working my ass off. But here's the thing. I just have so much more I want to do. I want to work with all these different women. And I. I know they're. It's not always going to be easy to get there, but again, this is what inspires us to move the division forward we saw tonight. I do feel like Charlotte was firing on all cylinders, and it was nice to see that scene sparkle in her eye again where she's just like. She doesn't feel like she has to be perfect. The Queen. The Queen Charlotte had to be perfect. She couldn't falter. Everything had to be perfect. And I think sometimes getting injured is often it's the best thing to happen to us because it really reminds us of what is important. And. And it kind of makes you go, hey, slow down a little bit. Stop and smell the roses, and realize that like, there's layers to this stuff, you know? So tonight was just awesome.
- [35:03]
Sam Roberts
Awesome.
- [35:03]
Natalia
Ria and eo, by the way, crushed it.
- [35:05]
Sam Roberts
What a match. I mean, and. And also, like, before the cash in and everything, I'm just watching. It was a true main event.
- [35:12]
Natalia
Yes.
- [35:13]
Sam Roberts
You know what I mean? And it felt like a main event. Well, Natty, we appreciate you giving us your time. By the way, you know, nanny is my channel mate. She's my coworker at Sirius X.
- [35:22]
Natalia
Serious? Yeah, I have my. I'm turning into a very. I'm turning into like a. Like, Tony Little. I'm selling all sorts of things and I'm talking and I'm getting into it. I, like, love. I just love doing the show. And, like, when they asked me to do this tonight, I was like, I cannot wait to jump on. Of course. I've missed you so much. I saw your beautiful little girl. She's adorable. I gotta choke Sam. I gotta see Sam's cool socks. And you guys are both such students of the game, so I love you both. I appreciate you guys. And now I'm getting on a party bus with Bailey and she's brought champagne. Oh. So don't miss that bus.
- [35:58]
Sam Roberts
Don't miss that.
- [35:59]
Natalia
By the way, pictures will be posted on Instagram, so check out my stories.
- [36:03]
Sam Roberts
Thank you so much for that. Thank you. Natty, you are the best.
- [36:07]
Megan
You're the best.
- [36:07]
Sam Roberts
Yes.
- [36:08]
Megan
Evolution does not happen without superstars like Natalia.
- [36:14]
Sam Roberts
You hear that? That's not just a Toyota truck. That's the sound of no crowds, no alerts, no distractions, and no telling what you'll find next. You know, like a detour. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour? Toyota trucks? No. And I gotta tell you more about these shirts. You know, we saw the dungeon doll shirt was on display. Don't forget commemorative and amazing. Or you can commemorate an Amazing Evolution event with new T shirts right now at WWE Shop and at Fanatics. Whether you're celebrating your favorite legend. Like, as we mentioned, Leilani Kai, Jacqueline, supporting current stars, whether it's Tatum Paxley, Candice LeRae, the Dungeon Dolls, WWE Shop and Fanatics have you completely covered. And of course, you know, we were just talking about the Naomi man. We were just talking about Naomi cashing in. Mrs. Money in the Bank. Naomi has a new replica Money in the bank briefcase available at WWE Shop and Fanatics. There are both signed and unsigned versions for your collection.
- [37:34]
Megan
Is it the caution tape?
- [37:36]
Sam Roberts
It's completely customized for Naomi.
- [37:38]
Megan
I love it.
- [37:39]
Sam Roberts
And the fact that you can get it signed. It's like this is. Again, I'm talking about it as one of the top. It's one of my favorite cash hands ever. And the idea that you can have that kind of commemorated now with the briefcase is great. So go to WWE shop or go to Fanatics and check all that out. I really. And we'll talk more. We'll have another guest who's gonna be here on the way. And I don't think that you'll want to miss that guest. She's just slightly unpredictable, so we don't know when she's gonna come in, but.
- [38:12]
Megan
What?
- [38:14]
Sam Roberts
What?
- [38:15]
Megan
Yeah, we're getting who I think we're getting?
- [38:16]
Sam Roberts
Well, I don't know. I don't know. It could get unpredictable soon. We'll just proceed with caution in the meantime. But I will tell you this, by the way, that's how this podcast works. I don't tell Megan anything.
- [38:30]
Megan
Nothing.
- [38:31]
Sam Roberts
But that's. It's the best.
- [38:32]
Megan
Yeah, I mean, I'm in the dark sometimes, but.
- [38:34]
Sam Roberts
And you should. And it's fun. Becky Lynch.
- [38:39]
Megan
Oh, you're putting some respect on her name.
- [38:42]
Sam Roberts
Becky Lynch. I'll tell you this. Becky lynch successfully defends the Intercontinental Championship against Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, who, even though you gotta give Lyra Valkyria a lot of credit, even though the aisle way was specifically slim, she still managed to get them wangs out on a Sunday night.
- [39:02]
Megan
She did. She had the black wangs.
- [39:03]
Sam Roberts
She got them wangs out. It wasn't enough, though, and I'll tell you why. I mean, it was a. First of all, it was a great match. It had like three or four different justified. By the way, this is awesome chance going. It had the whole crowd going crazy for it. There was, you know, so many counters. It felt like as you're watching this match, you're watching the story of three women who have gotten to know each other so well from. From Bailey and Becky, as to the original four horsewomen, to Lyra, who's been a student really of both Bailey and Becky Lynch. But ultimately, man, Bailey hitting that move and then Becky coming in with the backslide. I respect people who have a psychological strategy for a specific match type that is a perfect finish for a triple threat match. If the story that you're telling is of a champion who has simply come to an arena to keep their title.
- [40:06]
Megan
And that's exactly what Becky lynch does. I mean, she's evolving and getting even better, which is hard to believe because she's already the Best to ever do it. But she's finding new transitions to. To getting into these pinning combinations or just, like, to.
- [40:23]
Sam Roberts
To realize, like, okay, what I need to know in a triple threat, if this one has knocked out that one, that means that one's knocked out. So all I have to do is knock out this one. And, you know, for three seconds, by the way, I didn't need them unconscious.
- [40:36]
Megan
And you know what I love about watching? I mean, I love watching everything about Becky lynch wrestle.
- [40:40]
Sam Roberts
Oh, are you a Becky fan?
- [40:42]
Megan
Huge.
- [40:42]
Sam Roberts
Oh, okay.
- [40:43]
Megan
A massive Becky lynch fan. Good to know. I love the way that Becky never seems to get flustered. She hits a big move in the match, it's in your fall. That's okay. Throw a disarmer. She never seems to get rattled. She's always moving on to the next thing.
- [41:03]
Sam Roberts
You're right. What's funny, though, is, like, when you look at this story that is run. So, I mean, it goes all the way back to Wrestlemania. Becky filling in for Bailey, whom she also attacked and then also attacking Lyra because Lyra.
- [41:18]
Megan
Well, because Lyra.
- [41:19]
Sam Roberts
Lyra did get pinned and let her down. Lost the tag team championship. But, I mean, speaking of. Speaking of champions, I told you to proceed with caution.
- [41:31]
Naomi
You better watch y' all take out.
- [41:34]
Sam Roberts
How my voice is gone. I mean, your voice can be gone because you are the women's world champion. Naomi is here.
- [41:45]
Natalia
Tell him about it.
- [41:45]
Naomi
You better tell him about it, baby.
- [41:47]
Sam Roberts
The champion of the world. There is no briefcase. You don't have to carry it anymore because instead you have a giant gold belt that says world champion on it. The last time we talked to you at a table like this, you had just won the briefcase. And I don't feel like that was that long ago.
- [42:06]
Naomi
It wasn't. But I had to strike while the iron was hot.
- [42:09]
Sam Roberts
You did.
- [42:10]
Naomi
The girl had to do her big one. I had to do what needed to be done.
- [42:12]
Sam Roberts
And I was telling Megan that one of the things that I thought made this so amazing was that there wasn't. I'm not talking about Rhea, Ripley. I'm not talking about EO Sky. I'm talking about fans. I'm talking about us. I'm talking about the people in that building. They did. Or this building. We're still in it. They did not for a second think, oh, there'll be a Naomi cash in. No, nobody brought it up. I don't even think that anybody associated you and that briefcase with that championship. Everybody was focused over here at the WWE Women's Championship and all of A sudden.
- [42:44]
Naomi
That's why I'm a genius.
- [42:46]
Sam Roberts
You're sitting there, the world champion. I mean, how. How does it feel? I mean, for those of you listening, you have a bandage on your nose and there. There's blood on it.
- [42:56]
Naomi
That girl tried to. She tried to end me. She tried to end me. I'm hurt, I'm banged up, I'm tired. The adrenaline is wearing off, so I'm not feeling as good as I did a couple minutes ago. But it was all worth it. It's all worth it to have this sitting on my shoulder.
- [43:17]
Sam Roberts
I mean, that should probably kick up the adrenaline just looking at that title.
- [43:20]
Naomi
Oh, man, it do. I keep going, like, up and down, and then I look at it and I go up.
- [43:27]
Megan
Yeah. I think even the last time we talked to you, I asked you specifically, who are you focused on? And it was Tiffany. The answer was Tiffany, when at that.
- [43:35]
Naomi
Time it was her. But then after I learned a little something after the first two failed cash ins, I was like, uh, you can't keep doing the same thing expecting a different result. And I think that's the difference in me, I'm paying attention to what ain't working. And if it ain't working, I switch it up. That's why they don't know what to do with me right now. Cause I keep switching it up.
- [43:55]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, that's very true. I mean, I don't know I'm even surprised you got the contract out of that briefcase. I saw what appeared to be explosives and firearms being put into that briefcase on social media. I'm sure they found the contract, though, in time to cash it in. I mean, listen, you also have to keep in mind what you did was you took a show, Evolution. There was a show to celebrate the entire women's division. And to me, and I'm sitting there on all these podcasts that I do and the radio show, and I'm going, well, what's going to be great is at the end of Evolution. This is what I said. I was ignorant. I said, at the end of Evolution, Rhea Ripley will be able to hold up the championship and she'll be back on top of this division. What I didn't realize was that we were gonna have the same vision, but it was going to be somebody else. That evolution, of all times, is the time that you stand up.
- [44:48]
Naomi
I am.
- [44:49]
Sam Roberts
And you're back on top of this division.
- [44:51]
Naomi
I am the evolution.
- [44:52]
Sam Roberts
You are the evolution.
- [44:54]
Naomi
I am.
- [44:54]
Sam Roberts
I agree.
- [44:55]
Naomi
My whole journey, everything I've evolved and adapted and adjusted for 60 years, years I am the epitome of evolution. And when you look up evolution in the dictionary, I want a picture of me next to that. Like this.
- [45:13]
Megan
Better laugh.
- [45:14]
Sam Roberts
Ride that level. Yeah. I mean, listen, Naomi, we were just having a conversation with Natalia and she was talking about people, people finding themselves, people coming into their own and sometimes like years in and years in the same way. We were talking about Brett the Hitman Hart that it was. I mean, he was in for well over a decade until he found that. That real groove where it's like, oh, this guy is the number one guy in the industry. And Megan and I were talking about it with you the last time that I think a lot of people have said, you're doing your best work right now, and you're doing your best work now as the women's world champion. At what point did it. Do you feel like this. This clicked in for you?
- [46:04]
Naomi
Me and Natty talk all. And I learned and got this from Natty. She always says, find your fu.
- [46:10]
Megan
That's what she said.
- [46:11]
Naomi
She said, find your fu. And like, I get it, I get it. And I think I found this. Not like fu as in like you don't care or it don't matter, but it's just like, find that whatever that. That that string is or that. That that thing that fires you up and that just makes you not give a crap to get to your goals and dreams and where you want to go. I think it's very hard now with social media. When I started, we. There wasn't even Instagram. So to now be in the time where there's so much criticism, racism, and we're already as performers, hard on ourselves, it can really get to you. It can affect your confidence. It can make you not even want to do this anymore. And you just gotta find. You gotta find your fu. Cut out all the noise and push through and just. And just keep going. If you stop, which that may be good for some in certain situations, but also on the other side of that, which I. Which I learned during my time away, if you just keep going and see it through, you don't know what could happen, what could change, where you could be. Like, wrestling is so amazing and incredible and beautiful in that way. And I think that's what keeps us coming back. Those who understand it and connect in that way, you never know what you can be, what can happen, what can be done. It could be tomorrow, it could be next year. For me, it could be 16 years later, and you don't know. And I think that's what for Some. Some of us, I think that's what drives us. That's what fuels us. And I just, I love that saying from Natty, find your fu.
- [47:55]
Sam Roberts
And I think that it's. It's also worth mentioning that. And I don't know if it goes along with finding your fu. But like this, this version of Naomi, if somebody else were doing the things that you're doing on television, we could look at them as a cartoon character. We could look at them like they'd say, this is ridiculous. What is? This person is doing crazy stuff for some reason with you. Not only do we believe it, but everybody's buying in.
- [48:22]
Naomi
I think we all got a little unhinged in us. Like we're all human. Some days shit ain't cool.
- [48:31]
Megan
Yeah.
- [48:31]
Naomi
And I want to snap. And I think most of the times we contain it and we, we hold it in and we, we just push through and we, we fight another day. But I think that's what I love the most about this character, because I can release all of that pent up feelings, frustration, stresses anything into this character. Sometimes I'm messing around, but sometimes y' all got to write one today. And sometimes it's very much real. And I think that's what people are.
- [49:07]
Sam Roberts
People can't figure out the difference.
- [49:09]
Naomi
But that's the art and the beauty of it. Cause you don't know. You don't know and you don't need to know.
- [49:14]
Sam Roberts
That's right.
- [49:15]
Megan
And we were all.
- [49:15]
Naomi
But sometimes it is, I'm mad and I'm crazy.
- [49:21]
Sam Roberts
I don't want you to remember that.
- [49:24]
Megan
Yeah, I mean, Naomi, we were all feeling the glow for such a long time. And the glow was an incredible era of Naomi. But, you know, Sam and I were at Fanatics Fest not too long ago, and there were so many fans cosplayed as Naomi with caution tape wrapped all around them. We were out in the crowd today. During your entrance, your music hits. We saw fans completely losing their minds. Now, the glow always got a reaction, but this is something different. You talk about social media and how whenever you try something new, whenever you put something out there, there is feedback, some of it good, some of it bad. When you switched up to this Naomi, what allowed you to really lean in and go there? Because I'm scrolling through my phone every night looking at the tweets you're putting up. And not only are you going there, you're buying property.
- [50:19]
Naomi
I get on Twitter right now.
- [50:22]
Megan
So what allowed you to just lean fully in?
- [50:26]
Naomi
I think I felt I did. And try My best to do everything so right, so good, so polished, because that was me, like, the glow, really, to be honest, the glow is like, really me. It was.
- [50:44]
Sam Roberts
But what happens when the glow crashes out?
- [50:46]
Naomi
But in wrestling and in real life, you know, sometimes you gotta. You gotta change. You gotta grow, you know, and succumb to your environment and your circumstances. And I just think through the. The evolution of that and everything that I've gone through, through life and everything, just. I started this. This when I was 21, and just going through life, losing family, losing friends, losing my job at one point, it just. It just changed you. You change as you go through life. And I just got to a point, not just in real life, but also in wrestling, where I was like, the I can't be glow no more like that. It's just. I love her. She's still in there. But right now, this chapter of life where I'm at, somebody else got to show up and cut up and handle business, and that's where we at now. And I think it's cool because that's also a part of me as well now at this stage in this age and then this part of my career, and, you know, that's just y' all on the ride with me, and I appreciate it.
- [51:53]
Sam Roberts
Does this title feel different from when you've been. You've been smackdown Women's Champion? Does. Does this women's World Championship feel different than those did?
- [52:03]
Naomi
Absolutely. Absolutely. Even though it feels similar. Because even the first championship, even that first ring, it took a lot of work. It took me, like, six years to get there, and that was cool, and I appreciate it, and I love that journey as well, but this one just hits different because I just. Nobody saw it coming. Not even myself.
- [52:33]
Sam Roberts
Yeah.
- [52:34]
Naomi
You know, returning. I knew I wanted to be better and do things and grow, but it wasn't like I have to be, you know, like, I just. I was finding it and enjoying that process and journey, and I knew I wanted to give my all and be my best. If that meant becoming a champion again, which we all want, that's you. You should want that, you know? Hell, yeah. But. But if not, I was also happy with being here and starting back from the bottom, working my way to the top, and just being surrounded by so many great athletes, and the man, the.
- [53:15]
Megan
The.
- [53:15]
Naomi
The. The newer and younger talent are just on a whole nother, Whole nother level. It's a whole nother wave, it's a whole nother era. And so just to still be here, be in the mix, to have this and be trusted with that role.
- [53:36]
Natalia
Sheesh.
- [53:37]
Naomi
It's. That's what makes it better than the first time.
- [53:41]
Sam Roberts
It makes sense. And I'm sure you're feeling that same way when you realize. Right. And I don't know if you took the moment to realize it or not, but when you're standing in the ring and you've won the World championship and the match that you interrupted and the people that you took that title from, it's Rhea, Ripley.
- [53:55]
Naomi
Jeez.
- [53:56]
Sam Roberts
And it's EO Sky. These are, like, you know, tippity top of the industry. And there you are standing above both of them.
- [54:04]
Naomi
Clock it.
- [54:05]
Sam Roberts
There it is.
- [54:07]
Megan
Y'.
- [54:07]
Sam Roberts
All.
- [54:08]
Naomi
Proceed with caution. Ain't no gimmick no better. Watch out.
- [54:11]
Sam Roberts
What do you. And this is an experience that most of us will never have, but you have had. When you're lying on the ground, there's a big metal toolbox falling from the sky about to hit you. Well, I mean, what do you. I mean, is. That is a fight or flight that kicks in? Yeah.
- [54:30]
Naomi
Pure terror. The hell.
- [54:35]
Megan
It's. It's.
- [54:36]
Naomi
I don't know, 60 pounds coming down on your head.
- [54:39]
Sam Roberts
Yeah.
- [54:40]
Naomi
Any. Any second delay, I'm out of there.
- [54:43]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
- [54:44]
Naomi
Your girl gonna be healed.
- [54:47]
Sam Roberts
Yeah.
- [54:49]
Naomi
That's terrifying.
- [54:50]
Sam Roberts
I mean, can you imagine that? These are the options.
- [54:53]
Naomi
And y' all think I'm nasty, right? Y' all think I'm crazy. Y' all think I'm bad. Ain't trying to drop no toolbox on nobody head.
- [55:00]
Megan
Well, you did put her through a windshield on a car.
- [55:03]
Naomi
It's just a little pushy.
- [55:05]
Sam Roberts
All right, that's true. That's true. No, no, no. And she'll be okay. Now you're. Now you're.
- [55:12]
Megan
Go ahead.
- [55:13]
Natalia
I mean, if you're thirsty.
- [55:14]
Sam Roberts
If you're thirsty.
- [55:16]
Megan
That's not open.
- [55:19]
Sam Roberts
Just wrap it up. Are you. I mean, I guess you're now on the. The Raw roster. Is that right?
- [55:25]
Naomi
I'm.
- [55:26]
Sam Roberts
I'm.
- [55:26]
Naomi
Well, I need to be.
- [55:27]
Sam Roberts
Yeah.
- [55:28]
Naomi
Well, yeah, obviously, because I gotta. You know what I'm saying?
- [55:31]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, That's.
- [55:32]
Naomi
I'm about to create pure hell and havoc over there. I can't wait. Because I always feel like Raw did me dirty. I ain't never had no success over there on Raw, so. Yeah, I wanna. I wanna turn that around. I got some stuff I need to go do over there.
- [55:46]
Sam Roberts
Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like you haven't been in the conversation with the women that have been over there.
- [55:49]
Naomi
No. And they. They about to have some good conversations.
- [55:53]
Sam Roberts
Yeah.
- [55:53]
Naomi
There a new big mama in town.
- [55:55]
Sam Roberts
Oh, and you would have thought the whole thing here be like, oh, what's next with Jade Cargill? What about you and Bianca Belair at this point?
- [56:05]
Naomi
Damn, Bianca did me dirty tonight. She's. Yeah, I'm done with her. We're done.
- [56:10]
Megan
Done.
- [56:11]
Naomi
Nasty work. Yeah, we. That's another com. That's another podcast you're mad about. Give me. Give me another session so I can talk about her.
- [56:20]
Sam Roberts
Okay, we'll have you back, cuz.
- [56:21]
Naomi
Why was she counting so sl.
- [56:23]
Sam Roberts
You thought she was?
- [56:25]
Megan
Yes.
- [56:27]
Sam Roberts
Yeah. Because I saw even, like, you were at the. The beginning of the match being like, hey, it's good.
- [56:31]
Naomi
I was eating her up.
- [56:32]
Megan
I saw you were in her social media comments, too, tagging her a bunch. Really?
- [56:37]
Naomi
Yeah. I don't want to talk about her right now.
- [56:39]
Sam Roberts
Well, you won't have to anymore. You're gonna be busy on Mondays now.
- [56:42]
Naomi
I am. I love that. For me, you're the champion.
- [56:46]
Sam Roberts
You're the champion. Congratulations. Congratulations. Naomi, I want you to go. I want you to celebrate.
- [56:57]
Naomi
Oh, yeah.
- [56:58]
Sam Roberts
We appreciate you giving us some of your time. Thank you. You have had the night of all nights, but all's well that ends well.
- [57:08]
Naomi
Thank you.
- [57:08]
Sam Roberts
And there you are, the world champion.
- [57:10]
Naomi
I got a couple parties. I'm throwing a party at the Waffle House. I'm going to Bulldogs, and I think Quavo got something jumping later on. I'm about to run up over there. Oh, wow. So you got my number. I'm gonna text you.
- [57:22]
Megan
You gonna pull up? I might have to.
- [57:24]
Naomi
Girl, you stop that bald face like you ain't coming, girl. Bye. Don't play me all that well.
- [57:33]
Megan
I do love Waffle House, so, you know, maybe I get you a little.
- [57:36]
Naomi
All Star special now. I could afford a little All Star. I can afford a little more. Oh, I got the title now.
- [57:42]
Sam Roberts
Oh, yeah. It's the champion's purse.
- [57:45]
Megan
That's right.
- [57:45]
Sam Roberts
Get the All Star special.
- [57:47]
Naomi
I'm gonna text you.
- [57:48]
Megan
All right. Thank you, Naomi.
- [57:50]
Sam Roberts
Naomi, you are the best.
- [57:53]
Megan
Love you. Bye.
- [57:55]
Sam Roberts
Congratulations. There goes the champ. I mean, what a night, Megan. Unbelievable. You can hear her jingling as she leaves the room. But that's the jingling of razor blades. Razor blades. Many, many razor blades connected to her gear that she's wearing.
- [58:16]
Megan
Well, that's this version of Naomi.
- [58:18]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, I think it really is the.
- [58:20]
Megan
Gear always delivered, even in the GLOW era. But I do love the intensity of this gear.
- [58:25]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, it really, really is a special thing.
- [58:29]
Megan
Oh, she's coming back.
- [58:30]
Sam Roberts
You all right? She's lost. She's a little lost, but. No, you got it, Naomi. Thank you. I've got to imagine. I hope, I hope we'll find out tomorrow on Raw recap where Tops now lands with Evolution. I got my fingers crossed for Naomi cashing in the briefcase successfully. The first Naomi is world champion card. Maybe we'll get it, I tell you. You know, because tops down, we talk about all of this time, all the time here on the show. They capture all these, all these amazing milestones and moments that happen on the, on the biggest shows. You know, they did I show speed getting speared by Braun Breaker. I got the Dominic Mysterio winning the Intercontinental Championship. I got that one.
- [59:17]
Megan
Yeah, I, I'm, I'm sure you'll get a title defense one any, any time now.
- [59:22]
Sam Roberts
They did a Logan Paul John Cena card. They did a, There's a, there's a ton. A CM Punk John Cena card. I got that one too. Cause who knows, some of them, if you're lucky, you order them, they're available for like three days sometimes. If you order them, you get them. If not, they'll never be printed again. They're printed in the amount that is ordered. And then of course, they make the parallels, different colors, numbered editions, autographed editions, all kinds of stuff. But Topps now is announcing that they're releasing a Goldberg card celebrating his retirement during Saturday night's main event. And Stephanie is getting a card. After winning tonight's Evolution Battle Royal. Stephanie Vicaire will have a card from Topps now. You can also grab the Evolution poster card, which you can get until Monday at 3pm Eastern. Just make sure that you're following ops on social and sign up for notifications so you don't miss out on any big moment cards that are coming in because you never know when they're going to drop another one. Tune in on Monday or Monday night, Tuesday morning to RAW recap, where we're going to have more details and images of all the cards coming out from this weekend's events. Saturday night's main event, Evolution. I mean, what I think that there is so much to talk about with, with the performance that Trish Stratus put in. Even though it was Tiffany Stratton that ended up getting the victory.
- [60:57]
Megan
We're still on Tiffy time.
- [60:58]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, we are still on tiffy time. I mean, and now it's like, I guess it'll be Jade Cargill and Tiffany Stratton at SummerSlam. Is that where we're headed to next That's a wild. Yeah, that's a wild match. Not one that I would have, like, penciled in, but yeah, now that Jade Cargill's got Naomi. I mean, out of the way. Or Naomi has Jade Cargill out of the way. Jade beat Naomi, but Naomi's the champion, so I don't know who ends up.
- [61:25]
Megan
Yeah, I mean, Bianca Belair, Jimmy. She doesn't have the opportunity at SummerSlam, but Bianca Belair is back in the mix maybe, right?
- [61:33]
Sam Roberts
100. If Bianca Belair is on the active roster, Bianca Belair is in the conversation for world title matches.
- [61:38]
Megan
I think so.
- [61:38]
Sam Roberts
But as long as Bianca's on smackdown, I don't know if she'll get a crack at Naomi's new World Championship. As a matter of fact, I would imagine that both Iyo sky and Rhea Ripley are going to be looking at Naomi as a potential match. But I'm sure a lot of people are. It's. It's fairly unpredictable. I did very much enjoy the four way tag match. I thought, like I was talking to Natalia about. I really thought we saw a different side of Charlotte. I thought those gears kicked in. I don't know if it's Alexa Bliss. I don't know if it's that Players Tribune article. I don't know if it's the people she's in the ring with. I don't know if it's a combination of everything.
- [62:16]
Megan
Well, you talked about how she's been trying to get a reaction from the crowd. She's been trying to get the crowd to cheer for her. And when she was.
- [62:25]
Sam Roberts
Charlotte thinks she's a babyface.
- [62:26]
Megan
Yeah.
- [62:27]
Sam Roberts
And the crowd said, I don't think you're a babyface. We're gonna boo you.
- [62:30]
Megan
That's right.
- [62:31]
Sam Roberts
But tonight, tonight, tonight at Evolution to get tagged in, bro, Charlotte's a babyface.
- [62:37]
Megan
And the entire crowd is chanting, we want Charlotte. And we did. We wanted Charlotte. And finally, when she gets tagged in by Alexa Bliss, in case you forgot, right, that Charlotte Flair is one of the best to ever do it, you are quickly reminded tonight, everybody's coming at.
- [62:57]
Sam Roberts
Her and she's going boom, boom, boom. Ate a Soul Snatcher, which was amazing. I still don't understand the physics of that move. I don't like. I sit there. Every Soul Snatcher I see, I'm going like frame by frame, like the Zapruder film, trying to figure out exactly how a human body does this. I have not figured it out yet, but it wasn't enough. How about Charlotte saving Alexa Bliss?
- [63:19]
Megan
That for me was I mean, I was sitting next to you on the floor, and I said, I really want Charlotte and Alexa to win. So when they didn't win the match, I.
- [63:29]
Sam Roberts
Part of me was. I said this. I said, nah, it's a Judgment Day, baby.
- [63:32]
Megan
Of course you did, because you're. You're trying to join the Judgment Day.
- [63:36]
Sam Roberts
Yeah, that's right.
- [63:36]
Megan
And so when the Judgment Day retains, I. I said, oh, I love the match, but, you know, I really wanted to see Charlotte and Alexa, but, Sam, I know they say they're not friends.
- [63:47]
Sam Roberts
They felt a little friendy, but Charlotte.
- [63:49]
Megan
Saved Alexa, and friends save their friends. So I. I think that they're trending upward, and I'm excited to see what comes next for them.
- [63:57]
Sam Roberts
How about the level to which Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez were working together? It was like they had been teaming for years tonight.
- [64:04]
Megan
Yeah. That's interesting, too, because Raquel has been a little bit reluctant to totally let Roxanne in.
- [64:12]
Sam Roberts
Yeah. And Liv Morgan hasn't been thrilled about it either.
- [64:17]
Megan
No. They've had a whole shrine for her in the Judgment Day.
- [64:19]
Sam Roberts
Cats away, the mice will play.
- [64:21]
Megan
Is that what Dominic says?
- [64:23]
Sam Roberts
Bro, I've seen some pictures of Dominic. I was talking to Nikki Bell about Dominic. I was talking.
- [64:27]
Megan
You're talking to Nikki Bell a lot. Wow.
- [64:30]
Sam Roberts
Nikki Bell and I have a lot to talk about.
- [64:32]
Megan
Do you?
- [64:33]
Sam Roberts
Yeah. We both love wrestling.
- [64:36]
Megan
That's what it's about.
- [64:37]
Sam Roberts
Big wrestling people.
- [64:38]
Megan
Okay.
- [64:39]
Sam Roberts
That's all that is. Yeah.
- [64:40]
Megan
I'm happy for you.
- [64:41]
Sam Roberts
Yeah. Thank you, Edge. We're. I love having wrestling friends. Jordynne Grace, not only the muffle muffin, the muff. I can't call her that. I don't know her like that.
- [64:50]
Megan
But not only she'd call Nikki Bella that.
- [64:53]
Sam Roberts
That's not her name. Her name's Nikki Bella. Regardless, Jordan Grace not only tastes that cold sting of defeat, and again, I feel like everybody came in doubting J.C. jane. It was a mistake. I did. Jacy Jayne not only wins the match, but Jordan Grace lost the match and more importantly, lost a friend, Blake Monroe, with the turn of the C. Yeah.
- [65:15]
Megan
And, you know, you talked about the main event and was like, oh, at the end of Evolution, we're going to see Ria Ripley hoisting the title. Because this is really what we've been waiting for. Ria to be back on top, Mommy to be back on top. Ever since Jordan Grace joined the NXT roster, we've been waiting for Jordan Grace to become a champion, and I assumed that this was going to happen. At Evolution, we saw Jordan Grace go through glamour training. I thought, like, you know, this partnership with Blake Monroe is going to be really great for Jordan Grace because I haven't really. We know Blake Monroe does some tremendous character work and I wanted to see what she would bring out in Jordan Grace. And I was just so excited for this friendship moving forward. Did not see the losing of a friend coming. Especially after all the glamour training.
- [65:58]
Sam Roberts
You gotta, you gotta look at the tapes. You gotta do your tape study and realize that Blake Monroe in another life has always been somebody that, you know, you don't want to put your full trust in. We'll just put it that way, man. Evolution was a once in a lifetime mega event. But, you know, that's not to say there aren't once in a lifetime mega events happening this year still to come. For instance.
- [66:29]
Natalia
We'Re here.
- [66:31]
Sam Roberts
How about the end of the summer? How about. How about Saturday, September 13th? You know what's happening on Saturday, September 13th? Of course you do. It's the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez facing undefeated three division king Terrance Bud Crawford in a historic clash that transcends titles. It goes down again on Saturday, September 13th at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Much like Evolution, Canelo Crawford is going to be a once in a lifetime event that marks the beginning of a bold new era in boxing. The best news about all of it is you can register for access to pre sale tickets before they go on sale to the general public@wwe.com boxing. That's WWE. There is so much exciting stuff happening right now, but I wanted to make sure that we shouted out all the legends that we saw in attendance tonight. By the way, I guess somebody must have got the word out that Evolution was ladies night because Mark Henry was in the house. You know, I couldn't, I couldn't. Mark Henry was here.
- [67:52]
Megan
Yeah. I was kind of wondering, what is Mark Henry doing here?
- [67:55]
Sam Roberts
Oh, we know what Mark Henry is doing here.
- [67:57]
Megan
Okay.
- [67:58]
Sam Roberts
Mark Henry was in the house. Always good to see Mark Henry, but I mean, I mean, Vickie Guerrero, not only Vickie Guerrero, but Vickie Guerrero drop in and excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. Seeing jazz, seeing Ivory, Jacqueline, Maryse, Torri, Wilson Molina, Molly Holly, Alundra Blaze, Leilani Kai. If there's anybody that I haven't mentioned, I apologize. Cherry was backstage stage with Natalia. I mean, it was an absolutely epic, amazing, legendary night where we see these superstars who paved the way from the past. We see these superstars that have been working tirelessly for years now to really lay the foundation of this division. We see the present Superstars that have made such a huge impact and elevated this division to places where we never thought it would go. And we saw the future that will continue to clearly elevate this division to places that it has absolutely never been. Megan, what was your. Because you were all over the place. One of the many women in the WWE that wear many hats that are invaluable to the way everything gets done here. What was. What were your takeaways? What was your big takeaway from getting to not only see but be a part of evolution?
- [69:23]
Megan
I loved the video package that played right at the top of the show. It displayed a lot of what you're talking about, the Superstars that paved the way and how we got here. And, you know, women's wrestling is at such a high level right now, but all of wrestling is. And you look at a lot of these shows and sometimes there's not a whole lot of time to tell all of these stories for all of these women to find their way on the card. Tonight there was that time. And, you know, as we're watching it, it wasn't like, oh, this is great for women. This was great for wrestling. These were. This was a great show from top to bottom. I mean, they were great matches. They weren't just great women's matches.
- [70:12]
Sam Roberts
They were awesome wrestling show.
- [70:13]
Megan
That's right.
- [70:14]
Sam Roberts
Yeah.
- [70:14]
Megan
And that's the biggest takeaway for me.
- [70:16]
Sam Roberts
I love that. That's a perfect takeaway. Megan, you're the best. You guys are the best. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast feed everywhere. You get podcasts across all audio platforms. Apple, Spotify. Watch the podcast if you'd like, on the WWE's YouTube channel, hit like, leave a comment. We will see you tomorrow when we're back. To recap yet another show. This time it's Monday Night Raw. See you then.