Money in the Bank, 946 Won't Stop, Nepo Babies & Giving a Legend His Flowers | No-Contest Wrestling

Episode 103 of No Contest Wrestling opened with a birthday shout out to O'Shea Jackson Jr.'s mom, Miss Kim, and closed with a proper tribute to one of the most underrated wrestlers who ever lived. In between: title defenses, Money in the Bank qualifiers, and a kidnapping in broad daylight.

Start with Sami Zayn, who is still champion. One of the hosts had joked that WWE had the chance to do the funniest thing in the world and make the new reign last seven days. It didn't happen. Zayn defended the title with help from the usual chaos, including Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae, and the hosts are convinced he and Kevin Owens are wrestling's permanent rivalry.

There are two things certain in wrestling, the hosts agreed: death, taxes, and Sami versus Kevin Owens. For the anime crowd, Jackson settled on Naruto and Sasuke. For everyone else, TJ went with the Hatfields and McCoys.

The hosts also flagged that Zayn is still carrying CM Punk's side plates on the title, which reminded them of Baron Corbin once holding a belt with the previous champion's fur still on it. "That's not your belt." Punk made sure both Zayn and Owens knew he isn't leaving the title picture, sending both of them to sleep.

For both hosts, the match of the night was the women's triple threat of Iyo Sky, Roxanne Perez and La Catalina. One of them tweeted beforehand that nobody should text, call or tweet him while he watched. "These three women did not disappoint." It was La Catalina's Raw debut, another Chilean-born star like Stephanie Vaquer, against two of the best workers in the world, and there were four different moments where it looked like she was going over.

Instead Perez won and is headed to Money in the Bank. The show has been saying for weeks not to worry about her even while she was eating pins, because anyone on television every single week is never really buried. "She's too good. She's the prodigy." The women's field so far includes Sol Ruca, Lola Vice, who beat Raquel to qualify, and Perez, with two spots left. One host is still pulling for Giulia to get a spot like this, the way Money in the Bank helped Zoey Stark and Lyra. Both wondered what Perez walking around Judgment Day with a briefcase would do to Liv Morgan, who calls herself the greatest women's world champion of all time.

Liv, for her part, is headed into a triple threat. After she complained that Becky Lynch screwed her out of the championship, Stephanie Vaquer came out and made it Liv, Becky and Stephanie for the women's world title. The hosts pointed out that Liv had it coming. "You can't smack me in the mouth and expect me to hit you with a clean one, two, three."

On the men's side, the qualifier that jumped off the page was CM Punk against Gunther against Finn Balor. The case for Gunther was simple: after the names he put down at WrestleMania, including Cena, Goldberg, Styles and Rollins, "you just can't let him be a normal dude." The case for Balor was sympathy. Singles Finn has taken loss after loss since coming back from injury, and the pop for him cashing in would be enormous.

Whoever emerges joins a field that includes Penta, Trick Williams, Je'Von Evans and Bron Breakker. Penta got in by winning a triple threat over Dominik Mysterio and Dragon Lee, and the hosts gave all three their flowers. Dom showed he is more than the cowardly heel, Dragon Lee is "breaking physics" diving through the ropes, and Penta, who once called Dom a fake Mexican on this very podcast, started and ended the show. "They don't let anybody just do that."

That qualifier opened up because Solo Sikoa was kidnapped backstage by Royce Keys and the 946 crew. TJ loved LA Knight's promo that night, in which Knight told the fans they don't really believe he can beat Roman Reigns, and pointed out that Reigns always had help. TJ's wild theory: what if Knight is secretly running the 946 group, and they help him beat Reigns for the world title at Money in the Bank on October 10 in New Orleans? The hosts then floated that the LA in LA Knight stood for Louisiana all along.

Along the way the hosts detoured into Solo's acting career. He was in Destroyer with Nicole Kidman in 2018, which one of the hosts stumbled onto during the pandemic.

The other standout backstage moment belonged to Je'Von Evans, who walked up to Bron Breakker's group, outnumbered, and slapped him. Oba Femi then came out and "hit the ground running." The hosts have watched Evans wrestle since he was 14, and said you can see him going from happy to be here to knowing what he brings. The hosts also want Femi and Bronson Reed to go one on one, soon, because neither can be allowed to become just another guy.

There was also a larger point about NXT. The hosts said WWE acts like it doesn't exist, from not counting NXT championships to ignoring NXT history, when most NFL fans also watch college football and know the next wave. Both argued for more respect for the midcard, "the meat and potatoes" of a show, pointing to the WCW cruiserweights who opened Nitro with no direction and stole shows anyway.

Then came the episode's title theme: nepo babies. TJ said he has no issue with anybody following in their parents' footsteps, especially in wrestling, where fans rooted for the parents first. He noted the love Jackson gets at wrestling events, half for his dad and half for what he has built on his own in acting, music and podcasting. Then he ran through the new wave: Sting's sons Steve and Garrett Borden, with Steve teaming with Darby Allin in AEW and looking so much like his dad it freaks TJ out, Avery Styles, son of AJ Styles, Zilla, son of Umaga, and Aaliyah Mysterio, who just signed. "It tells me that wrestling is still thriving."

Which led to the new segment the audience asked for. TJ, the show's wrestling almanac, gave a legend his flowers while he can still smell them. His pick: Richard Blood, better known as Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, whom TJ called the ultimate babyface and someone who rarely gets mentioned among the greatest ever.

"If you want to see how an arm drag should be done to the highest degree, just watch Ricky Steamboat," he said. The same goes for a top rope body press, and for selling an injured body part from the moment it gets hurt until the end of the match. TJ also told the story of the first time he saw fans turn on a babyface: Steamboat bringing out his wife and son to represent family values, and Ric Flair answering with limos and six women, and the crowd choosing Flair.

TJ then gave five essential Steamboat matches. The first is WrestleMania 3 against Randy Savage for the Intercontinental Championship, which he called one of the best matches of all time. The second is a tag match from January 21, 1989, with Ric Flair and Barry Windham facing Eddie Gilbert and his surprise partner, Steamboat.

The third is Steamboat and Jay Youngblood against Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle in a cage match for the NWA tag team titles on March 12, 1983. The fourth is Steamboat against Flair in a two out of three falls match for the NWA title at Clash of the Champions on April 2, 1989, which TJ said makes a lot of people's Mount Rushmore. The fifth is Steamboat against Stunning Steve Austin for the WCW United States Championship at Bash at the Beach 1994.

TJ wore a Ricky Steamboat shirt for the occasion, while Jackson showed up in a Dragon Ball Z jersey. Neither had talked to the other since the last episode.

They closed with a plea to free Wren Sinclair from her NXT suspension, praise for an NXT promo against Grayson Waller, and one more happy birthday to Miss Kim, who is saved in her son's phone as "Mom."