Corey Graves and JBL graced the second episode of Bring it to the Table with Peter Rosenberg after Monday Night Raw. The show featured an interview with Kurt Angle, a discussion about WWE cancelling Legends with JBL, and WrestleMania 33. The inaugural episode featured Paul Heyman and JBL on the panel, but the second episode swapped Heyman with Corey Graves.
The show began with JBL accusing Rosenberg of stealing from Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan. Corey Graves commented that he did not possess the resume of JBL, but he pointed out that he made up 33.3% of his commentary team while JBL was just 25% of the announcer’s team over on the blue brand.
Rosenberg got things going with the Hot Start segment where he spoke of Charlotte’s broken streak. Corey said that he was The Queen’s biggest fan and he was heart-broken after the streak was broken in controversial fashion. He compared Charlotte’s streak to the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak calling it organic in the fact that nobody had planned for it to happen.
JBL weighed in on the matter too, saying that Bayley was a victim of the ‘Daniel Bryan Syndrome.’ JBL stated that Daniel Bryan went from being an underdog to main eventing WrestleMania and marrying one of the most beautiful women on the planet. He questioned whether the WWE Universe would still cheer for Bayley after the way she retained the title at Fastlane.
The discussion then shifted to Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Graves said that Reigns was booed because it was the hip thing to boo Roman at the arenas. JBL compared Reigns to Cena saying that the former would sell out arenas anywhere in the world. He said that people would pay money to watch Roman Reigns even if they hated him, just to watch him get beat. Rosenberg then changed gears to discuss Golberg’s historic win at Fastlane.
He said that the fans might be booing Goldberg after the overly one-sided booking at Fastlane. JBL related a backstage incident where a creative guy knocked on Goldberg’s door, and Goldberg thought it was his entrance cue. When he was informed that it wasn’t his time yet, Goldberg became furious and wanted to kill the guy.
That was the kind of intensity and aggression that Goldberg brought to the table. JBL said that the Attitude Era had numerous stars like the Rock and Stone Cold and did not need part timers. He agreed that the present roster had superstars, but they needed guys like Goldberg for bigger draws.
Rosenberg asked Graves whether he thought that the fans would turn on the match like they did back at WrestleMania XX. Graves said that it was an entirely different situation because they were both leaving the company after WrestleMania XX, and the fans were more invested this time. Rosenberg then hyped Corey’s interview with Kurt Angle as they cut to a break.
Rosenberg then drew attention to the rumours that have been circling about a match at WrestleMania between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon. Corey Graves stated that he was excited to watch anything that AJ Styles does in the ring, but claimed that the match did not do much for him.
Graves pointed out that Shane was a great performer, but all he did was create moments. Corey recounted Shane jumping from the top of Hell In a Cell last year at WrestleMania to drive his point home. He compared AJ Styles to an artist in the ring and said that his matches were a piece of art.
There was a look of utter shock and disbelief on the face of JBL as Graves spoke about how AJ Styles would run circles around the SmackDown Live Commissioner if the match were made at WrestleMania.
They shifted the conversation to the Kardashians sporting WWE shirts in the ‘Dig It’ section that followed. Rosenberg then spoke about a porn parody of the Montreal Screwjob that is in the works. The topic had JBL stunned silent while Corey said that he would like an advance copy of the film purely for ‘research purposes.
Moving on to 205 Live, Rosenberg said that fans were not getting the top class wrestling action that the Cruiserweight Classic had delivered. Graves agreed and said that 205 Live had made the transition to becoming more about talking and less about wrestling. JBL agreed with the premise stating that the shenanigans such as gentleman’s duels and Alicia Fox eating flowers had to be done away with.
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After the break, a snippet of Corey Graves’ interview with Kurt Angle was aired which showed the duo talking about Kurt’s departure from the company about 11 years ago. They discussed Kurt’s life away from WWE, his reaction to the news of the Hall of Fame induction and his first interaction with Vince McMahon in more than a decade.
JBL said that he was intrigued by what Kurt had to say and wanted to watch the interview in its entirety. He put over Angle saying that he was a fast learner and that Olympic gold medal was a testimony to the fact that Angle was the best amateur wrestler in the world at that time.
In the segment called Don't Get Hot, Rosenberg gave JBL the chance to air his grievances after his show was cancelled. Graves sympathised with JBL stating that he had been in the same shoes when his show had been cancelled. JBL said that it was unacceptable that his show was cancelled for some cartoon and road trip shows.
Rosenberg then asked about fans asking for pictures from superstars outside the arena. Both JBL and Corey agreed that fans need to be respectful and understanding when they approach wrestlers at airports and other public places.
All three members of the panel then revealed their favourite WrestleMania moments. JBL said that his most iconic WrestleMania moment was Hogan bodyslamming Andre at WrestleMania 3. JBL pointed out that although Savage and Steamboat had the best match that night, Hogan and Andre sold out the arena in Pontiac.
Corey Graves said that he enjoyed WrestleMania 12, where Shawn Michaels beat Bret Hart after a gruelling Iron Man match to win the WWE Championship. Rosenberg went on to say that his favourite moment was the Hollywood Hulk Hogan going toe-to-toe with the Rock at WrestleMania X-8.
Rosenberg commented on the success of Talking Smack with The Miz taking shots at John Cena and Nikki Bella last week. JBL confessed that he had become a fan of The Miz. Graves revealed that the late great Dusty Rhodes had told them that a good promo should make the crowd uncomfortable and that was what the Miz was doing on Talking Smack.
Rosenberg concluded by saying that the next episode of Bring It To The Table will air from the Citrus Bowl in Orlando on March 30th.
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