WWE Now - Can Seth Rollins or Bron Breakker survive the Steel Cage? | Night of Champions Preview

26:11for Ricky Saints to be in a position like this where all eyes are watching him. It is certainly a tremendous opportunity for him to not only become a champion, but for him to let the world know who Ricky Saints is. And for Trick Williams, I like to see him in this different type of match. Yep. You know, we saw what he did at WrestleMania. Then we saw the gingerbread man in that fiasco that went down on SmackDown. Some would say debacle. Others say fiasco. Well, it depends who you're talking to. I think Sami Zayn would certainly describe it as, yeah, maybe fiasco, he might say. Listen, I think Sami Zayn's got the gingerbread man behind him because he's main eventing PLEs now.

26:54Okay? But we'll get there. Yes, we definitely will get there. We have a lot to talk about as it relates to Sami Zayn. But I'm excited to see Trick Williams in, you know, this pace of match with Ricky Zayn. You mean with the athleticism that Ricky Saints has?

27:11Sam Roberts:Yes, and not to take anything away from other matches he's been in. But what we saw on display between Ricky and Carmelo Hayes, it's a different type of match than what we've seen Trick operate in since he's been on the main roster. And there is, I think, a hunger that goes along with the fact that you know this is your shot. And I think, make no mistake about it, Ricky Saints knows that this is his shot. Ricky Saints is not one of these guys that came in as a D1 athlete, and that's not to take anything away from those guys, because we've seen incredible success from people who came in that way.

27:44D1 athletes, they're just bred differently. You know, they are fine-tuned. Wow, as a former D1 athlete, I, you know, I couldn't agree anymore. No, you were a DB athlete. Okay, well. D-bag.

28:05So Ricky is a guy who has been wrestling for years to finally get to the dance. This is a place that Ricky has wanted to be at for years. And he's put a lot of work in and he's wrestled in a lot of rings in front of a lot of different crowds and is aware more so than most at what an opportunity this is. and quite frankly, how fleeting these opportunities can be. Make no mistake, Ricky Saints is good enough to have opportunities rain down upon him for years to come. But that doesn't mean that they will. No, because it's all about when you can step up to the plate. It's timing. It's everything. There's so many different elements.

28:49It goes so far beyond just talent. And so I think the fact that Ricky Saints is here and he's not only competing for a title, not only competing on a PLE, but doing it against somebody that's got so much buzz right now. The whole world is talking about Trick Williams. I think that there's two roads for Ricky Saints to go down. One is that the moment gobbles him up and eclipses within him, that he gets lost in it somewhere. And the other is that he tallies up all of those elements and goes, look at the opportunity that's in front of me. I have to execute. And that's what Trick Williams may have to deal with.

29:33I mean, Ricky Saints has the opportunity to completely stop Trick Williams in his track. Yes, and that is a great point. I believe that if Trick Williams were to lose to Ricky Saints, a tremendous amount of momentum would be lost with Trick as well. And he's been a machine this year. A machine. Think about that entrance at WrestleMania. Massive. Think about all the stuff he's been doing with Lil Yachty. Yes. Does Boat stick around with Trick Williams if Trick Williams is not the United States champion? Listen, I can't speak for Boat, but if I were a boat, I wouldn't. You'd sail away? Probably.

30:09That's a terrible thing. That's a real shame. That's a real shame. All that said, I mean, this Trick Williams feels special to me. Yeah, I'm in lockstep with you. Like there is something different about Trick Williams. And I think that it seems like as the spotlight grows bigger, so does he. He fills the moment. And, you know, I think I saw on the internet, he's out here getting married. He's out here starting a family. And again, you go back to Ricky St. Two Roads, that's two roads for him too. Is that a distraction or is that motivation? You hope for his sake that it's motivation. You hope for his sake that he realizes like, okay, now as if we weren't already, it's time to get real buckle down and maybe Trick feels like he has to show the world maybe Trick feels like it's time to go beyond this sort of exciting new guy and lay down a performance that's going to show everybody why he's here for a long time.

31:10You guys all thought that was it? Oh no, we were just getting started. Right we haven't even gotten out of first gear yet I think that we're going to get the performance of a lifetime out of Ricky Saints. I don't think it'll be enough. Right there with you. Trick Williams retains the United States championship. Wow. Wow. Well, I do want to tell you that WWE fans, which I hope are most of you, where else can you experience the thrill and excitement of ripping Topps card packs with the instant gratification of having your collection conveniently on your phone? Why, WWE Slam by Topps, of course. WWE Slam by Topps offers fans around the world the chance to collect and trade their favorite WWE superstars, rip new digital packs every day, complete collector-based missions and seasons, and combine cards to craft them into rarer digital collectibles.

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32:48It's a true workhorse. Right now, get 0 % APR financing on a Silverado 1500 pickup. It doesn't get any lower than zero. See your Chicago land at Northwest Indiana Chevy dealers for details. Chevy drives Chicago. And while we just talked about the United States Championship, The Women's United States Championship is also on the line at Night of Champions as Tiffany Stratton defends against Jade Cargill. Yeah, you talk about two young stars that have completely captivated an audience and taken the attention. That's Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill. But it is interesting to me to see this match because I feel like Jade has been involved with so many different women on SmackDown.

33:34Yes. Yes, but that was part, I mean, that's because she was the champion. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's going to happen when you're the champion. Didn't make a lot of friends as champion. No. And most champions don't. But guess what? She had a couple of them. Their names are B-Fab and Meechand, and they ended up being very, very helpful. Yeah, and I'm sure, you know, after Charlotte Flair learned the hard way to overlook their involvement. How much of this, when you look at Tiffin, so clearly the women's division is ultra competitive right now. Of course. that United States championship I think is very very important in this division you got Tiffany Stratton who has had Wrestlemania moments this was the person who came the minute she came on the main roster it was who's that yeah remember Elimination Chamber in Australia that's when Tiffy Time was born was it 25 it wasn't even that long ago and that international crowd just going crazy for her Jade Cargill the same way Jade Cargill from the minute she stepped on the WWE roster before she was even in a ring when she was just having backstage interactions with people fantasy matches started happening in fans' heads she was showing up everywhere yes and the dialogue started happening but now they're both on the main roster and now they're both mainstays on the main roster and it feels to me like this is one of those matches where there can only be one of us that's up next.

35:04Only one of us. I think between this is an opportunity for either Tiffany or Jade Cargill to truly define the Women's United States Championship. And for both of them to also, you know, in the bigger picture go, well, we're both gonna be a part of the future of the division. But who is the woman? who is going to lead this division on SmackDown or wherever else into the future. And I think that's very difficult for me to say. If you just came up to me and said, who do you put your money on? If you can only do one, Tiffany Stratton or Jade Cargill. That's tough. Yeah, I don't know if I could do that.

35:48I feel like that's what this match is about. It answers that question that maybe previously we wouldn't have been able to answer.

35:54Sam Roberts:And it's a great question. I'm really looking forward to seeing Tiffany Stratton on a premium live event because it has been a while. You know, she had an incredible reign as the women's champion over on SmackDown. Yeah. The WWE women's champion. And then she was off our TV screens for a while. Sure. She came back before WrestleMania, wasn't on the WrestleMania card. She wins the United States Championship off of Julia. And I think she's been impressive ever since she's been back. Yes. But we haven't seen her have that big PLE match. And I think that this Tiffany is different from the Tiffany we saw before she went away for some time.

36:32Sam Roberts:How different? Yeah. I think we'll find out. Yeah. I think there is more aggression here. Yeah. I think even seeing the interactions with her and Chelsea, it's like, and she might want to think about, you know, embracing having an ally. I mean, especially when you look across the other side of the ring and Jade Cargill is big and strong and dominant as she is. She is. She's got she's got reinforcements. But there's also this thing, right, of everything you just said is correct. And Tiff is different. And she was gone. And now she's back and trying to reestablish herself. At the same time, I think Jade Cargill probably defined herself by that WWE Women's Championship.

37:08And what do you do when it's gone? And she lost it. So now it's like, are you that person? Are you a champion or were you a champion? I think that's a big question. And I think that if Jade is unsuccessful here, it starts to draw into question how far to the back of the line is she going? You know, that's a big thing to deal with. If you lose a United States championship match, can you realistically go forward and say, okay, well, that's fine, but I am looking for another shot at the women's championship. Well, you just lost for the U.S. title. I think you got some proving to do. Yeah, you got to really go back to the drawing board and figure it out.

37:53All that said, I think Jade Cargill is not spending a ton of time without gold around her waist. I think Jade Cargill is going to knight a champion and coming home a champion. Wow. I think Jade Cargill walks out the U.S. champion. You know, the stakes are so massive for Jade Cargill that for me, I really want to see what this Tiffany Stratton is made of. And if that level of aggression translates on a PLA, PLA match against one of the strongest forces in all of WWE, I'm going to take Tiffany. Wow. It really is one of those where either one could win, but it is, I think going to be at least in the short term, a career defining moment for either one.

38:35This is this, this one more than maybe any other match on the show feels like a something's got to give match where it's like both of these two women have the potential to do incredible things. For which one of them is now the time? And I think that that's what gets answered inside this match. Speaking of inside, inside of a steel cage, we get Seth Rollins and Braun Breaker. Now, Seth Rollins thought that he was done with the vision and the vision made it clear that he can be as done with them as they want. They're not done with him. However, he sat down with Corey Graves on Monday Night Raw And he made it clear that if he is able to beat Braun Breaker inside that steel cage, he can put the vision behind him.

39:20All that said, Braun Breaker is the one that led the vision to turn on Seth. Braun Breaker has to beat Seth. Braun Breaker has to be in the position to be like, yeah, we threw you out because we don't need you anymore. We're better than you. and I think that that Braun Breaker's in this position where Seth Rollins looked at him in the face a month or two ago when he came back and you told him he wasn't ready and said you're not ready and I think it's up to Braun Breaker to prove him wrong at Night of Champions

39:54Sam Roberts:I think Seth Rollins as the visionary that he is has proven many times that when he's operating at the highest level he seems to be a step ahead of everybody else he seems to have an answer for everything that the vision has thrown at him but just when Seth had an answer for all of those things had an answer for Paul Heyman had an answer for Braun Breaker had an answer for Logan Paul had an answer for Austin Theory a week later it was as if Seth forgot about the whole thing he had put it behind him and the vision beat Seth at his own game. Now, Seth showing up on Monday Night Raw and costing the vision, the tag team championship, clearly showed that Braun Breaker is vulnerable in a sense.

40:50I mean, it was masterful what Seth did. I thought it was masterful. I thought the performance that Seth had a couple weeks ago when Paul Heyman got speared through that barricade, that's exactly what you're talking about. With Seth being one step ahead of them mentally, I think he was three steps ahead of them. And I haven't said this yet, but the more I thought about it, right, the more I watched how composed Seth was in that interview with Corey Graves. And then I saw the way he acted. Everything he was doing was for a reason when he got out there into that match. The reason that he went through the back was so that Braun Breaker would be double distracted.

41:31The reason he went into the crowd was not because he was scared. it was so that he could get Braun Breaker away from ringside. He did all of this to prove that he is one step ahead of Braun Breaker, but then to also make it so that Braun Breaker is walking in to Knight of Champions on a loss. Austin Theory got pinned. They lost the tag team championship. And I said, this is a guy who's using that big brain. This is a guy who's using that brain. And I said, you know what? I would call, and it's so interesting, based on Seth Rollins' previous companions. But I said, if there was anyone to bestow this name upon, it'd be Seth Rollins.

42:16He was acting like a cerebral assassin. Wow. It's what I came to the whole time. This guy is using, like you said, all of the Vision's own tricks against them. He's doing it all. And you can see it. Once it gets done, you never would have seen it coming. But once it gets done, every single step you see, I go, this is what being a cerebral assassin is. You got questions? I got answers. Yes. I have all of the problems solved. Right. And I know what they are before you even know. Before you've figured out what your plan is, I've already figured out what the solution is. I've already figured out what my counterattack is going to be because I already know what your plan is going to be.

42:57And if that's the Seth that comes to the steel cage match this weekend, nobody's beating Seth. I don't think so. Especially, I mean, he has a confidence about him that you haven't seen. And that's where I think that cerebral assassin thing comes in. This is just me talking, but I go like, okay, we saw the Monday Night Messiah. We saw the visionary. We saw the architect. We saw the revolutionary. We saw all this stuff. But I mean, I don't know. Is it too much to just sit there and call him a cerebral assassin? My only hesitation is the fact that he was a cerebral assassin. And then the next week, the vision was able to play cerebral assassin against him.

43:35But then what did he do the week after? Was able to prove himself once again. Okay. So he got back up. Got knocked down. Got back up. He thought he was done. He thought the job was done. He was wrong. Let me ask you this. If he is successful at Night of Champions in the cage, is the job done? Yes. Definitively. The job is done. done finished done this ends in one place in a steel cage match do you think the steel cage will be effective in the sense that like the steel cage is designed to keep people who shouldn't be there out yeah i do you do i don't no it's a good thing seth has allies i think that seth is going to have to make sure that he gets those long trip airplane tickets for montez ford for angelo Dawkins for Joe Hendry for whoever he needs whether they're his friends or just enemies of his enemies.

44:28He needs to get them all there. Because let me tell you, I don't care if that cage is ten stories tall. Logan Paul can't climb up it. He's got his whole arm in a brace. But you know what fits through a little cage link? Brass nux. Brass nux. Okay? You mean to tell me Austin Theory wouldn't climb up there? Austin Theory would. You mean to tell me Logan and Paul wouldn't act as a distraction. I've seen Austin Theory climb as a masked man, and he's pretty agile. He's super agile. He stomps. I saw him got F5'd off an elimination chamber chamber one time. I saw that too. Crazy. Okay? But like, you can fit brass knuckles through there.

45:06You can act as a distraction. You can hold back. There's a million things that you can do. I don't think this is going to have that effect. I think that Seth Rollins is still going to need to have all the backup that he ever has. I'm hopeful. Listen, if I think Seth has the ability to be the winner here. Yeah. And it's something I'd like to see happen. I just, to your point about holding your breath before you say cerebral assassin, because you've seen him be ineffective before. What are we going to get on Saturday? Are we going to get the guy who's one step ahead? or are we going to get the guy that fell underneath the numbers game?

45:53It is crazy because for someone who has the resume, like Seth Rollins does, and for everything he's done in this business, I think if anything, what's been going on with Braun Breaker and the Vision shows Seth that at every single moment, you have to have an answer for A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. And then, by the way, you know what's going to actually do it? H. H always does it. It's that other one. It's always H. It's always H. But for all that he's done and all of the experience he has, and while he makes the claim that Braun Breaker isn't ready, Seth has to have all those answers. Every single one of them.

46:32Otherwise, it's not getting done. I would agree with you. I would absolutely agree with you. You know, maybe this will be the one that we get a moment that Topps now is able to capture. They capture major milestones and viral moments from the biggest events. We saw incredibly, incredible cards. Already this year, we got from WrestleMania, from Backlash, Backlash, Clash in Italy. But, as they always do before PLEs, Topps put out a Knight of Champions poster card, which is available. Customers who buy this card have the chance at receiving rainbow foil short prints and gold super short prints that are limited to just 26 copies of each.

47:09These cards are available from Friday, 626 until Monday, 629. So you've got the weekend to scoop them up and then that's it. Also look out for the big moment WWE Tops Now cards coming out of Night of Champions this weekend. Make sure you're following at Tops on social and sign up for notifications on tops.com so you don't miss when a big card drops. And I'll tell you where I think we're gonna get a Tops Now type of moment. and that's coming out of the WWE Championship match. We get to SmackDown last Friday and we have Cody versus Gunther. Sami is the referee. Sami and Gunther, it ends up they don't get along.

47:55Sami gets shoved. He slaps Gunther in the face. Gunther responds with a powerbomb. The match continues. Eventually, Cody's able to roll him up, get a schoolboy, whatever it is. One, two, three. Fast count. Sami Zayn crowns Cody Rhodes the winner, which I think a lot of people thought it was going to go the opposite way.

48:13Sam Roberts:Yeah, because Gunter is the one who picked Sami to be the referee. Absolutely. Well, you can't trust Dan Engler. Cannot. And who's another referee you can't trust? Jessica Carr. Okay, so now you're starting to run out of refs. Danilo is always available for pay. For pay. Yeah. And let me tell you something. He won't share it. Nope. Not one dime. Not that cheap ass. They restart the match. Sami Zayn is so furious he gets involved. The whole thing gets thrown out. We end up with Cody Rhodes telling Nick Aldis, I got to beat both of them. And here we go with the triple threat match. Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, and Gunther.

48:50That was like backwards hat Cody Rhodes. Backwards hat. With the snap back in the front. It's not a look we see often from Cody. No, it's all business. But I liked it. All business Cody. Track jacket. Backwards hat Cody.

49:02Sam Roberts:It looks like QB1. I got to beat them both. and then go, okay, backwards hat. Well, then you'll have the opportunity to beat them both. And he's out here now defending his title in a triple threat match. Not the best thing to do as champion. You don't have to be pinned to lose your title. Champion's advantage is thrown out the window. And you have someone as destructive as Gunther and someone as nuts as Sami Zayn that you're staring at. But I've got a... That's a good way to describe it. Nuts. You see what he's done to these water bottles backstage at SmackDown? Oh, I've seen it. Not good. I've seen it.

49:32Not good. And Johnny Gargano is doing no help to calm down Sami Zayn. None at all. He's just lying there. I don't think Sami even realizes that Johnny's not helping, though. No. And he doesn't ask Candace one question. No. I would definitely open up the conversation to Candace. So rude to Candace. It's a rude thing. Rude thing. But at the same time, in my travels, on my radio show, I've never heard more. Well, I'm not going to say I've never heard more people. I would say I don't know that I've heard more people speculating on the idea of Sami Zayn winning the WWE championship since a certain elimination chamber pay-per-view in Montreal.

50:11Yep. You know, that was the last time I think there was this kind of guy. Somehow, and I mean, a couple of weeks ago, it was different. Yeah. But people are seeing a world where Sami Zayn, lunatic that he is, comes out of this with the WWE championship. And a lot of people are making a huge deal about the reaction that Sami Zayn historically gets in Saudi. Yeah, sure. And a lot of people are thinking about this Tops Now moment. Maria? Where we could see a real world where Sami Zayn is the undisputed WWE champion. I don't remember the last time Cody went into a match defending his title where I've heard more people have more thoughts about him not being successful.

50:57Yeah. It's usually a given that Cody's going to retain. And I'm hearing a lot of people going, and you know what else is surprising?

51:04Sam Roberts:What's that? You think you'd hear so many more people going, clearly Gunther is going to win. And I think Gunther's being heavily underestimated. Yeah, you haven't heard a lot. I mean, most of the conversation that I've heard and seen has primarily been about Sami and Cody. Yes. It's either, well, wouldn't it be interesting if Sami, or then we go to SummerSlam and Cody Rhodes defends against X. Cody Rhodes defends against Y. When you talk about the King of the Ring and Oba and Jey Uso, Jey was talking about it on Raw. I'm going to SummerSlam to face Cody Rhodes. Didn't even think about this match.

51:41But the people who aren't thinking Cody are thinking Sami. and I think there should be a lot more people being reminded of who's in there with both of them. I think because people genuinely hate Gunter so much for retiring John Cena, for retiring AJ Styles, for retiring Bill Goldberg. That's right. Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. People just think, oh, I don't want Gunter. Because I so don't. I'm not going to put that energy out there.

52:12Sam Roberts:So I'm not going to talk about it. Yes. But it would be an all-time Gunter moment because the reaction would be exactly that. Hideous. We don't want this. Boo. That's the thing we didn't want to happen. Boo this man. But you know what Gunter typically gives us? The thing we don't want to happen. I know. I know. He takes that hope away. He stomps on it. And given just all of the layers that are there with Sammy and Cody and this friendship that maybe isn't so much of a friendship. Oh, I don't think it's a friendship. I think Sammy Zane is out here acting as if like you owe me a friendship. And Cody Rhodes has had it up to here with Sammy Zane.

52:56Sam Roberts:Did he say something like enough? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He hit him with one of these. Enough! Yeah. Yeah, that's how Cody feels. I mean, you can't say you're friends when you look at somebody and go, you know why they're chanting that you suck because you do? I'd be like, bro, I mean, I've heard of tough love, but we're not cool. Like, if you said that to me, I'd go, Meg, I'm not going to quit the show. I'm not going to go crazy. But, like, we're not cool. But then Sammy goes, just being real, man. Right. Just being honest. Just being honest. Just being real. Like a friend would do. Right. just gonna be real with you it's complicated your real friends are the only ones who are gonna tell you like it is and that's who sammy's being right now yeah and we all have that friend right that's like i'm just gonna be real with you because i'm your friend and then they're you're like you're insulting me for sport with all due respect no i'm not it doesn't just mean you can say whatever you want and i say it with peace and love how what with what no you don't and i think Gunter is in a situation here where that can play out the way it does between Sammy and Cody.

54:07All it takes for Gunter is one sleeper hold. I think that's right. I think that's a great point because I think that Gunter, he has to stop with the emotions. It was really odd on SmackDown that he got so worked up that he powerbombed the referee. Yeah. Like, if Gunter is able to stick to the task at hand and allow Cody and Sammy to have, you know, whatever this weird emotional thing going on is, then Gunther's going to be able to win this match. But, you know, I mean, I can come up with a million different ways that a million different things could happen. It's still difficult for me to picture the idea of Cody not winning the big one, of Cody not leaving the show as champion.

54:52Of QB1 not being the undisputed WWE champion. That's just the way I see it. I think that there are more versions where he's not than ever before coming out of this match. But I still, my jaw would be on the floor. And I'm prepared for it to be on the floor. But my jaw would be on the floor if Cody lost the title. All right, I'm going to say something a lot of the people aren't going to like to hear. So I'm going to look directly at this camera. With those beady eyes. But y 'all are going home disappointed. No! because Gunter is going to be your new undisputed WWE champion. That's horrible. And you took joy.

55:32What are you saying? Boo or Boo Ernst?

55:33Sam Roberts:Boo all you want. Boo all you want. It's going to happen. Boonter is more like it. I haven't heard that one yet. I know. I think it's good. I think it's as is. We're sticking with it. We're sticking with it. Let me know what you think in the comments. I cannot wait for this show. Megan and I will be back with you here on WWE Now for the Night of Champions recap show. So make sure that you're subscribed across all audio platforms. Make sure that you're checking us out on YouTube, leaving comments, hitting like, doing the whole thing. We'll see you on Saturday afternoon after the big Night of Champions show.

56:11Thank you, everybody.