WKPWP: Interview Classic w/Kevin Nash discussing CM Punk in UFC, Baron Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura, Trump, PG ratings + Riccaboni interview

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Now, PW Torch and Spreaker bring you the Wade Keller
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Pro Wrestling Podcast. It's time for this week's interview classic,
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where Wade Keller interviews one of pro wrestling's newsmakers.
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On today's Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast, it's our interview
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classic episode for Saturday, September 12th, 2026. And we've got
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back-to-back interviews for you. First up, my interview with Kevin
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Nash from September 15th, 2011. We talked about CM Punk
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and UFC.
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Baron Corbin. Raw ratings.
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WWE's PG ratings problem. Shinsuke Nakamura's upside on the main roster.
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Updated thoughts on Kevin Owens. The rise of AJ Styles
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in WWE that year.
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Raven.
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The new WWE belts.
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Donald Trump.
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And much more with live callers and email questions. And
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then in a bonus segment, we jump back five years
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to an episode of the PWTorch Daily Cast with Pat
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McNeil's interview with Ian Riccoboni, who talked about the last
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battle of Atlanta, which was released on WB Network, and
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some nostalgia topics in ROH with live callers.
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So let's get to it.
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These originally live streamed 10 years ago this week, and
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it is the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast interview classic
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episode for Saturday, September 12th, 2026.
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Here we go.
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Welcome to the PWTorch Livecast, I am Wade Keller, editor
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and publisher of the Pro Wrestling Torch weekly newsletter, which
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I established in 1987 back when Ronald Reagan was president.
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And I'm also host of this, the PWTorch Livecast, Mondays
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right after Raw, Tuesdays right after Smackdown. Wednesdays at 1
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Eastern with the midweek flagship talking all kinds of current
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events in pro wrestling. And Thursdays at 1 Eastern with
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the interview Thursday format. Tomorrow, the primetime Friday edition hosted
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by Bruce Mitchell and Travis Bryant at 7 Eastern. And
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then Saturday morning wrestling with a nostalgic approach to pro
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wrestling coverage. That begins 1130 Eastern on Saturday mornings. Pat
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McNeil filling in for Jim Valley this week. And we've
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got a big guest on today's program. one of my
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favorite guests on the livecast, his second appearance this year,
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Kevin Nash, formerly, of course, of the NWO, former WCW
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headline wrestler, world champion, and booker, formerly Diesel in the WWF.
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And he might have wrestled for WCW before that. Those
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are a couple names. Oh, yeah, Vinny Vegas and a
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couple others. We may or may not talk about those.
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So he'll be with us in just a moment. I
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do want to let you know that the PWTorch livecast
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is brought to you... to get all the essentials you need.
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All right.
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Our phone number, if you want to talk to Kevin Nash,
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if you want to ask a question or bring up
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a topic, is 515-605-9345.
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Once again, that's 515-605-9345.
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You can also email us a question if you're listening
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to us live at 102 Eastern on Thursday, September 15, 2016.
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You can email....
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PWTorchLivecast at gmail.com. That's PWTorchLivecast at gmail.com.
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Kevin, welcome back to the livecast.
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Hey, Wade. How's it going?
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It's going really well. Good to hear from you.
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Do you want to start with CM Punk? I'm curious
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what you thought of Punk's foray into the UFC.
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There's not much to say. It wasn't... It wasn't much
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of a fight.
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No, I mean, I thought he would. I mean, I
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thought he would fight. I mean, I didn't think it
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would take two years.
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Yeah. But I thought he was fine.
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And as the match approached the last couple weeks, I
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don't know how much you followed what he was saying
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and what people in MMA were saying, but did you
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have expectations that it would go differently than it did?
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Did you do any research or hear about Mickey Gall
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as his opponent? What kind of thoughts did you have
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going into that, just observing what you were able to
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observe about it?
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I mean, I think anybody that's ever been in this
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box or done MMA or any kind of actual competitive
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fighting where it's, you know, there's a fight set and,
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you know, you've got a date, you've got a time.
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You know, people get in fights in bars and it's
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out at the moment and it's adrenaline and it's, you know,
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booze or whatever. That's a completely different psychology when you
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actually know that You know, at nine o'clock on this
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night that you're going to get in the octagon or
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get in the ring with somebody, and it's you. And
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that person's going to try to knock you out or
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make you tap or whatever. So just the psychology of
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that alone, you know, if a person's had one pro
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fight and you've had zero, he's got a huge advantage.
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Like CM Punk in his next fight will be much improved. Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Because, you know, he just didn't. The thing was, to me,
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is you knew that the guy was going to want
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to guide you. I mean, I would have backed out
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of trouble with all my money.
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Yeah.
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He was just going to get him on his back.
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And, you know, I don't know. I just really thought
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that whoever would train Punk would add him to be
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a better striker. I thought that Phil came in soft.
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He didn't look like he was in very good shape.
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I thought that, I mean, obviously, well, one thing to
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me that was obvious is the weight cut was something
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just Paul Kent had gone through before. You know, he
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was a week and a half before the fight in
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the media conference call. He and Mickey Gall were on
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for about an hour. You know, somebody asked, you know,
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what's going to be the biggest challenge going into this fight?
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And one of the things Punk said is weight cut.
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He goes, I'm walking around over 200 pounds. You know,
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I mean, I don't think he's ever had to lose
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30 pounds in a week and a half and then
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make cut and then rehydrate and get that energy back
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a little over 24 hours later. I mean, he didn't
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talk a lot about that because I don't think he's
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one to make excuses. That's just, I don't think, of
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all things good or bad about Punk, just losing and
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then making a bunch of excuses. I didn't expect that
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from him and we didn't get it from him. I
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bet the weight cut played a factor now I'm not
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saying the fight would have gone a lot differently because
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it might have come down to he just didn't have
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the technique yet or the strategy and like you said
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you know the first time in my.
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Question is if you know the weight you're going to
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come in at I mean I'm 293 pounds if I
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had to come in at 265 for the weigh in
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I sure as hell wouldn't a week out be 290
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pounds right I know yeah.
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No, I mean, sometimes games are played. Maybe Punk was
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actually better, you know, in better, closer to the weight,
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just said that to get Mickey Gall thinking, oh, this
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is going to be easy. This guy's going to be
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drained for weight cut. I mean, you know, those games
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are played. But he, after the fight, Joe Rogan said,
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I like Punk. I respect how he approached this.
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But.
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I think.
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He was delusional in thinking that he could come in
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at his age and compete in UFC as his first fight.
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What's your take on that, Kevin?
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I mean, 37 is very old to be a kid
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in a fight game. Yeah. You know, and the thing is,
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somebody told me he got paid $ 500, 000 for that fight.
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Yep.
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So, to me, it's just like, you can say whatever
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you want about CM Punk, Phil, whatever you want to
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call him. I mean, my whole thing is, you get
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paid a half a million dollars for a minute and
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38 seconds of work. In my book, that's a win.
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Yeah, I mean, I would say he got paid.
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I'll take it, I'll take it, I'll take it. I'll
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take a beating for that.
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Although I will say that he got paid $ 250, 000 a
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year to train six, seven days a week. In that sense,
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I mean, he foregoed, he forewent, he gave up whatever
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he could have been doing instead to earn money those
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previous two years, autograph circuit, wrestling, comic book creating, whatever
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it was, you know, there was an opportunity cost for
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those two years, too, that when people look at that,
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and granted, that's still a lot more money than most
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MMA guys get, you know, when they go into a fight. Almost, well,
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it's more money than any first-time fighter ever has gotten
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in UFC. So, you know, there is that. Um, but
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you know, I don't, I bet punk would have done
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this for less Kevin. I mean, I think he's financially
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well off. I don't know what lawyer fees are costing
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him with this doctor lawsuit with the WWE doctor, but
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you know, he's got seven figures stashed away after taxes
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and road expenses from his time in that company. I
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don't think he's, I would guess he doesn't have probably
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more than 5 million, but he's got more than a million.
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That'd be my best estimate.
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Um, he's got some money to play around with if
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he lives, you know, relatively within his means. So I
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bet he would have done this for less just to
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do it. I don't think that he did this just
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for the money.
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Or primarily.
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I don't know. I mean, I don't know what his
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prerogative was. Yeah.
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Yeah.
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If it wasn't by, I mean, to me, if it wasn't,
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I mean, if he signed, if he signed for that
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kind of money, obviously that was, that was a factor. Well, yeah.
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I mean, he should have.
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I bet, I mean, the early buy rate indications, we
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had a story on this over at MMATorch.com yesterday. There's
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some indications this buy rate did very, very well. I mean,
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not $ 1. 8 million, but more than $ 500, 000 and maybe quite
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a bit more than $ 500, 000. That'd be way overestimates. That
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means Punk was a bargain from a pure business standpoint.
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He was a bargain, and he doesn't have to apologize.
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To anyone for that money.
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I think Dana wouldn't do that. Yeah. Yeah, I do too.
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Just because, I mean, help, I mean... You know, when
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Punk was on top in the WWE, his merchandise sold.
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Yeah.
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He was super over, so I mean, that fan base follows.
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Do you think that if, or do you think the
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way CM Punk lost is in any way a bad
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reflection on pro wrestlers or the pro wrestling industry? And
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I ask that question also in the context of some
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WWE wrestlers getting upset with Conor McGregor taking a dig
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at pro wrestlers, and Roman Reigns was among the people
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calling him little and trying to fire back, kind of defensively, hey,
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our sport's tough.
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Other athletes have said that.
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Does Punk losing in that way validate people thinking pro
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wrestling isn't tough, or do you think people are savvy
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enough to understand that there's just a difference between the
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two criteria?
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Well, I also think that there's a difference between the
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guys that do it. Not everybody's a tough guy that
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00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:29.610
does pro wrestling. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, if it's MMA,
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00:13:29.659 --> 00:13:34.610
I mean, you get weeded out pretty quick. You know,
243
00:13:34.629 --> 00:13:36.049
you're not going to get a whole lot of fights
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over 23.
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Yeah. You know, so it's as simple as that.
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I mean, you know, what we do with sports entertainment,
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what we do is a predetermined event. That being said,
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CM Punk in the main event... at WrestleMania or SummerSlam
249
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is going to give you a great 25-minute match. So
250
00:14:02.309 --> 00:14:05.580
from a performance standpoint, what he did for our industry,
251
00:14:06.100 --> 00:14:10.919
he did it very well. I guarantee you that Phil's
252
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.500
first match as a pro wrestler was the Drizzled Shits.
253
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Yeah.
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00:14:15.789 --> 00:14:18.210
You know, so that being said, I mean, this is
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his first fight. And he's old to be doing it. Yeah.
256
00:14:21.909 --> 00:14:26.600
You know, it took a beating.
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00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:34.159
I think in 1975, if a former world champion like
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CM Punk, who called himself the best in the world,
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lost like that. against a prelim guy with a 2-0
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record who hadn't proven himself yet, that would have been damaging,
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and I think a lot of promoters would have stayed
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away from booking CM Punk in the future, and it
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00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:50.080
would have hurt pro wrestling, and Punk would have been
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ostracized or criticized. It's just 2016. It's a different world.
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I mean, I don't even hear that topic being brought
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up much, but it's interesting.
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I don't think in 1975 that it would have been
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worth it.
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Good point.
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Yeah. It'd be a no-key Muhammad Ali, you know? It'd
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be some... It just wouldn't be a shoe. There's no
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way that 1975 would be a shoe. Yeah. Yep.
273
00:15:14.929 --> 00:15:18.730
All right, Kevin, we're going to go to our first
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00:15:18.750 --> 00:15:21.220
commercial break. We'll be back very quick and start taking
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phone calls and catch up on what you're up to
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these days. Kevin Nash is my guest on today's PWTorch Livecast.
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We'll be back right after this word from our sponsor.
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00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:38.029
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279
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00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:12.210
slash govip slash Amazon when you're about to shop at Amazon.
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00:16:12.929 --> 00:16:17.029
Kevin Nash is my guest, former WCW, WWF, main eventer,
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00:16:17.070 --> 00:16:20.740
world champion, and we just talked about CM Punk for
289
00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:24.139
a few minutes. Kevin, one more question that I can
290
00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:25.519
think of on Punk, and then we'll move to some
291
00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:28.960
other things. Do you think CM Punk is likely to
292
00:16:29.059 --> 00:16:32.190
fight one more time, multiple more times, and do you
293
00:16:32.210 --> 00:16:33.049
think it'll, what's your hunch?
294
00:16:33.070 --> 00:16:34.870
Will it be in the UFC or otherwise, if so?
295
00:16:38.009 --> 00:16:39.429
Do you sign a full fight deal?
296
00:16:40.350 --> 00:16:44.169
Yeah, although Dana White in the post-fight press conference gave
297
00:16:44.210 --> 00:16:47.610
some hints that that isn't locked in, you know, that
298
00:16:47.789 --> 00:16:49.149
he might not fight in UFC again.
299
00:16:49.669 --> 00:16:50.350
There's a possibility.
300
00:16:50.370 --> 00:16:52.429
I think with the buy rate coming in high, he'll
301
00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:54.129
fight again, probably on Fox, but.
302
00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:57.820
I don't know.
303
00:16:57.860 --> 00:16:58.620
I mean....
304
00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:04.579
I would have expected a higher skill level after two
305
00:17:04.619 --> 00:17:05.299
years of training.
306
00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:09.759
I think people are curious after just seeing two minutes
307
00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:12.059
of him after two years of training. I think people
308
00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:14.460
just want to see again if he can do something
309
00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:17.319
against a different kind of fighter. I don't think you
310
00:17:17.339 --> 00:17:20.960
can draw a really confident conclusion about Punk's skill level
311
00:17:21.180 --> 00:17:24.190
because it just could turn out he made one mistake and, oh,
312
00:17:24.230 --> 00:17:25.849
by the way, Mickey Gall might be really good.
313
00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:31.640
I think that's it. I think it's more the latter. Yeah.
314
00:17:32.059 --> 00:17:34.400
I think Gall's a lot better than people think he is.
315
00:17:34.460 --> 00:17:38.109
He's young. You know, it was one of those things that,
316
00:17:38.130 --> 00:17:40.089
you know, Punk had everything to lose and that kid
317
00:17:40.130 --> 00:17:45.269
had nothing to lose. Yeah. You know? And just, you know,
318
00:17:45.329 --> 00:17:47.049
just if they would have taught him some Muay Thai,
319
00:17:47.109 --> 00:17:49.269
anything to just, when he came in, he would have
320
00:17:49.289 --> 00:17:51.789
drove a knee in that kid's face, you know? Anything.
321
00:17:52.410 --> 00:17:54.269
Caught him with at least a hand to slow him down,
322
00:17:54.309 --> 00:17:57.220
but You know, he just went right underneath him and
323
00:17:57.440 --> 00:17:59.119
just took him into the cage and it was over.
324
00:18:01.099 --> 00:18:03.859
Yeah, I mean, some people look at that and go, ah,
325
00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:06.089
Punk survived a minute or so longer because of those
326
00:18:06.420 --> 00:18:09.769
two years of training than he would have two years earlier.
327
00:18:09.990 --> 00:18:13.910
You know, there were maybe some signs that he, that
328
00:18:13.950 --> 00:18:17.130
that two years paid off in only extending the inevitable.
329
00:18:19.210 --> 00:18:19.910
Right. Yeah.
330
00:18:20.410 --> 00:18:22.730
Well, Kevin, let's shift gears. What are you up to
331
00:18:22.769 --> 00:18:23.869
these days? Are you doing.
332
00:18:24.779 --> 00:18:27.279
many wrestling appearances are you doing other things what are
333
00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:30.599
you doing to stay busy and what's getting you up
334
00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:31.240
every morning.
335
00:18:34.980 --> 00:18:37.589
I get up I just like to go to the
336
00:18:37.630 --> 00:18:41.109
gym every day I just kind of have a groundhog
337
00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:43.849
day I go to the gym at 1.30 I'm sitting
338
00:18:44.170 --> 00:18:46.910
in front of my gym right now I go to
339
00:18:46.930 --> 00:18:50.160
the gym every day at 1.30 and that's just about
340
00:18:50.259 --> 00:18:54.619
it that's my day I've got several projects I'm working on.
341
00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:58.440
I've got an audition on Monday for a pretty big film.
342
00:18:58.460 --> 00:19:02.839
I've got a movie locked in in March. I'm going
343
00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:07.400
to be shooting over in the UK for 30 days.
344
00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:12.400
I've got a couple other projects. One, I think I'm
345
00:19:12.420 --> 00:19:18.279
probably going to shoot it either in probably February on Oregon,
346
00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:22.109
which is a lead role for me. Cool. I'm a
347
00:19:22.170 --> 00:19:28.529
serial killer. I'm getting some good scripts. I'm just going
348
00:19:28.569 --> 00:19:35.119
to try to do the acting gig for a while.
349
00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:37.880
I should go out almost every weekend and sign somewhere.
350
00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:44.410
When you go out and sign, have you noticed a
351
00:19:44.450 --> 00:19:48.970
change over time in how people approach you and what
352
00:19:49.009 --> 00:19:52.019
they talk about? um because i hear even just through
353
00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:55.079
wwe network that and i don't know if we talked
354
00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:56.240
about it one of the times you've been on the
355
00:19:56.259 --> 00:19:58.700
show but i know other wrestlers at least have that
356
00:19:59.339 --> 00:20:02.480
wwe network has in a way that didn't exist a
357
00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:05.700
few years ago introduced or made it much easier for
358
00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:07.940
for fans who are younger who go to these autograph
359
00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:11.700
shows to understand what your contributions to wrestling were, what
360
00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:13.880
your big moments were, and talk about it more.
361
00:20:13.900 --> 00:20:15.640
Is that something you picked up on?
362
00:20:17.710 --> 00:20:20.670
Yeah, I mean, there's more eight-year-old kids giving me the
363
00:20:21.829 --> 00:20:26.069
click sign than there are 25-year-olds in my life. Yeah.
364
00:20:27.190 --> 00:20:30.930
You know, and then by being, like, if you make
365
00:20:30.990 --> 00:20:35.579
the game, then they pick you in the game. You know,
366
00:20:35.619 --> 00:20:37.819
they find your character, they like your character, so they
367
00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:41.380
pick you in the game. And, you know, they bring
368
00:20:41.420 --> 00:20:44.000
you a doll in to get signed. I mean, it's,
369
00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:48.519
you know, to me, it's, you know, it's like, the
370
00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:52.769
network's like Netflix. I mean, for the young fans. I mean, they,
371
00:20:52.930 --> 00:20:55.569
you know, there's so many kids that know, you know, like,
372
00:20:55.730 --> 00:20:57.309
I had a kid the other day, he said, I
373
00:20:57.349 --> 00:20:59.990
think your best match was against Bret Hart in Survivor Series.
374
00:21:02.269 --> 00:21:02.710
That's cool.
375
00:21:02.950 --> 00:21:06.000
I'm thinking, okay. Yeah, I mean, it's just, it is
376
00:21:06.059 --> 00:21:06.920
kind of cool, so. Yeah.
377
00:21:08.049 --> 00:21:10.730
I'm a little into the weather. I was in the U.K.
378
00:21:10.769 --> 00:21:14.579
For a week. They've already got that thing going in
379
00:21:14.599 --> 00:21:17.170
the U.K. It's 80 degrees outside, but they've got the
380
00:21:17.210 --> 00:21:18.380
heat on in the hotels.
381
00:21:18.819 --> 00:21:19.240
Oh, God.
382
00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:22.779
You know, you go out the window and it drops
383
00:21:23.099 --> 00:21:25.519
to 55 at night and you get sick because you're sweating.
384
00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:28.119
I got that whole thing going, so that's why I
385
00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:29.140
sound so horrible.
386
00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:33.119
You and Hillary. Don't pass out on us.
387
00:21:35.299 --> 00:21:35.940
No, I won't.
388
00:21:37.890 --> 00:21:39.470
Let's go to some phone calls. We've got some people
389
00:21:39.509 --> 00:21:39.890
on hold here.
390
00:21:40.150 --> 00:21:42.849
Let's begin with area code 252, and then on deck
391
00:21:42.869 --> 00:21:45.250
will be 770. 250, go ahead and state your name
392
00:21:45.269 --> 00:21:51.109
and the city you're calling from. 252, you're up.
393
00:21:54.150 --> 00:21:54.490
Hey.
394
00:21:54.690 --> 00:21:55.609
Yeah, go ahead, 250.
395
00:21:55.609 --> 00:21:58.009
Andrew from Wilson, North Carolina.
396
00:21:58.950 --> 00:21:59.549
You said Aiden?
397
00:21:59.869 --> 00:22:01.069
Andrew from Wilson, North Carolina.
398
00:22:01.089 --> 00:22:03.670
All right, cool. Thanks, Andrew. What have you got for Kevin?
399
00:22:04.769 --> 00:22:08.250
Hey, Kevin. I met you about seven years ago here
400
00:22:08.269 --> 00:22:13.150
in Wilson at Bill Ellis Convention Center. And I just
401
00:22:13.170 --> 00:22:14.869
want to say that was pretty cool. But I have
402
00:22:14.910 --> 00:22:18.359
a question. It's more of a personal question to both
403
00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:24.160
of y'all. And the way, I'm a little person with achondroplasia.
404
00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:29.140
And the way little people are presented on wrestling a
405
00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:32.619
lot of times, I was just wondering, is there any
406
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:36.329
way you think in the future there will ever be
407
00:22:37.210 --> 00:22:40.250
a little person presented as a person rather than a
408
00:22:41.190 --> 00:22:47.140
leprechaun or a bull rather a serious character like Game
409
00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:52.279
of Thrones for example Peter Dinklage he's presented as a
410
00:22:52.779 --> 00:22:56.289
person obviously he's presented as a little person but he's
411
00:22:56.309 --> 00:23:00.069
more than that he's a character he's a human you
412
00:23:00.089 --> 00:23:00.849
know what I'm.
413
00:23:01.529 --> 00:23:03.869
Saying yeah fair question Kevin what do you.
414
00:23:03.789 --> 00:23:09.769
Think Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, and by you
415
00:23:09.809 --> 00:23:12.769
saying that just brings light to me that it is
416
00:23:12.869 --> 00:23:18.650
a stereotype that's kind of ridiculous. It's still very, you know,
417
00:23:18.829 --> 00:23:22.069
very 70s wrestling when they always, you know, take a
418
00:23:22.089 --> 00:23:24.130
little person and put them in that kind of a position.
419
00:23:25.230 --> 00:23:27.990
But it's, you know, how many big guys, they put
420
00:23:28.309 --> 00:23:34.250
Andre the Giant, Tarzan... Yeah. Big guys get stereotyped as
421
00:23:34.329 --> 00:23:39.130
a giant. You know, little people get stereotyped as elves.
422
00:23:39.150 --> 00:23:42.299
It's just, you know.
423
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:45.599
I mean, Horst Longwell had a great run. I mean,
424
00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:49.359
he did great things there. You know, he was on
425
00:23:49.380 --> 00:23:53.029
everyone's screen, and it helped bring awareness, I guess, more
426
00:23:53.049 --> 00:23:55.970
people got to see him. So whenever they saw a
427
00:23:55.970 --> 00:23:58.750
little person in the real world, it wasn't that shocking. But,
428
00:23:58.789 --> 00:24:01.750
I mean, it would just be nice maybe just to
429
00:24:01.809 --> 00:24:06.410
have someone, not necessarily be a bull or like a leprechaun,
430
00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:09.710
maybe presented, you know, just in a regular way. That's
431
00:24:09.849 --> 00:24:12.750
all I'm saying. I'm just saying that's what y'all thought.
432
00:24:12.769 --> 00:24:14.910
Yeah, it would be nice to have somebody that was
433
00:24:14.990 --> 00:24:17.799
an attorney, you know. Yeah.
434
00:24:17.859 --> 00:24:19.170
Yeah, yeah.
435
00:24:19.890 --> 00:24:21.720
You know, just somebody's attorney.
436
00:24:21.740 --> 00:24:24.019
Well, I mean, I'm a wealthy guy that was born
437
00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:26.420
in a wealthy family, but you just have to– to
438
00:24:26.460 --> 00:24:28.960
be a little person, you know, but he's a dirty heel,
439
00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:32.859
you know, he's conniving, you know, I mean, it doesn't
440
00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:35.779
have to be, obviously you can acknowledge it, you can
441
00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:38.099
bring in the storylines, but it doesn't have to be
442
00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:40.460
the center of the character, that's all.
443
00:24:41.059 --> 00:24:42.500
Yeah, I agree.
444
00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:44.740
Cool, Andrew, appreciate the call.
445
00:24:45.140 --> 00:24:48.690
Let's go to 770 next, and then got a couple
446
00:24:48.710 --> 00:24:49.549
of callers on hold after that.
447
00:24:49.589 --> 00:24:51.990
Go ahead, 770.
448
00:24:51.990 --> 00:24:53.089
Hey, Jimmy from Atlanta, Georgia.
449
00:24:53.549 --> 00:24:54.509
Hey, Jimmy, what have you got for Kevin?
450
00:24:56.420 --> 00:24:57.319
Two quick questions.
451
00:24:57.480 --> 00:25:00.720
What is your opinion on Triple H's decision with NXT?
452
00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:03.150
And do you think that after he takes over for
453
00:25:03.269 --> 00:25:05.269
WWE that a lot of things are going to change
454
00:25:05.289 --> 00:25:08.109
like they did in NXT? And second one is, how
455
00:25:08.150 --> 00:25:10.250
many title reigns did you have when you were booking
456
00:25:10.509 --> 00:25:11.130
in WCW?
457
00:25:11.170 --> 00:25:16.210
How many title reigns did I have when I was booking?
458
00:25:17.089 --> 00:25:19.390
Yeah, because I don't remember you really having any title
459
00:25:19.410 --> 00:25:20.829
reigns when you were booking. And I think you always
460
00:25:20.849 --> 00:25:22.549
got criticized for putting.
461
00:25:22.329 --> 00:25:22.910
Strap on you.
462
00:25:25.700 --> 00:25:27.259
I might have moved it once or twice to get
463
00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:29.869
it out to somebody that somebody else wouldn't do a
464
00:25:29.900 --> 00:25:33.690
job for. I remember that we wanted to put Booker
465
00:25:33.710 --> 00:25:42.170
T over and I did. The first one, I mean,
466
00:25:42.210 --> 00:25:44.890
I think Paul did, you know, it was Paul's baby
467
00:25:44.930 --> 00:25:48.349
with the NXT vision. I think that, you know, eventually
468
00:25:48.390 --> 00:25:53.950
when he is running the company, I think his vision,
469
00:25:53.970 --> 00:25:57.670
I mean, I think You know, NXT's the hottest product
470
00:25:57.730 --> 00:26:00.130
in the world right now as far as, you know,
471
00:26:00.569 --> 00:26:04.650
pro wrestling. And I just think that, you know, I
472
00:26:04.809 --> 00:26:09.769
think that the main products will just grow with his insight.
473
00:26:09.809 --> 00:26:13.029
When I tell you, Kevin, that Raw did a 1.88
474
00:26:13.029 --> 00:26:17.190
rating on Monday, what's your reaction to that?
475
00:26:20.390 --> 00:26:23.660
Man, that mafia was doing two-fours. Yeah.
476
00:26:26.369 --> 00:26:26.650
Yeah.
477
00:26:27.730 --> 00:26:29.769
I mean, the argument.
478
00:26:29.890 --> 00:26:34.819
I really think... I just think three hours is too much. Yeah.
479
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:37.359
I mean, I was sitting on a flight the other day.
480
00:26:37.430 --> 00:26:40.079
I had seven hours and 45 minutes to be on
481
00:26:40.099 --> 00:26:43.359
this flight. And when I would pull up a movie
482
00:26:43.380 --> 00:26:46.000
and it would say two hours and 43 minutes, I'd
483
00:26:46.019 --> 00:26:47.039
be like, I'm not watching that.
484
00:26:47.940 --> 00:26:50.680
And you're stuck on a flight for 745 and you
485
00:26:50.700 --> 00:26:52.180
still watch. Yeah, I know the.
486
00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:52.559
Feeling, yeah.
487
00:26:52.660 --> 00:26:59.180
Yeah, it's just... I'll give you 90 minutes of my time.
488
00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:02.089
I watched The Room, which I hadn't seen yet. I
489
00:27:02.109 --> 00:27:07.730
watched that, which was critically acclaimed. But just to watch
490
00:27:07.769 --> 00:27:10.869
some silly movie that I have no idea if it's
491
00:27:10.910 --> 00:27:13.829
good or bad and waste two and a half hours
492
00:27:13.890 --> 00:27:16.960
of my time, it's just like, I'd rather read a book.
493
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:22.970
I mean, when Nitro went three hours... That was a mistake, too.
494
00:27:23.109 --> 00:27:24.730
You know, I mean, you think we'd.
495
00:27:24.630 --> 00:27:25.329
Learn from history.
496
00:27:25.569 --> 00:27:28.529
That was the beginning of the end. Yeah. Two hours
497
00:27:28.589 --> 00:27:30.130
is tight, Chris. Yep.
498
00:27:31.059 --> 00:27:33.119
Well, when I interviewed Eric Bischoff, I did like a
499
00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:37.440
five-hour interview with him talking about, back I think around 2010.
500
00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:39.960
And we did like, I think, close to five hours
501
00:27:40.019 --> 00:27:42.420
talking about WCW and all that. And the thing that
502
00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:44.220
I remember most of the whole interview is I said,
503
00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:48.069
what was the biggest mistake that you made that you'd
504
00:27:48.109 --> 00:27:50.410
take back? And I think it was– well, I say
505
00:27:50.430 --> 00:27:52.069
I remember it the best. There were two things that
506
00:27:52.109 --> 00:27:57.339
were in contention. Thunder accepting that money from TBS to
507
00:27:57.640 --> 00:28:00.980
add Thunder and add that revenue, and Nitro going to
508
00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:03.900
three hours. I mean, it was the expansion of the
509
00:28:04.019 --> 00:28:07.920
quantity that watered down not just the quality. It didn't
510
00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:10.539
just spread out how much fans wanted to watch so
511
00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:13.220
that the overall audience for every hour of the five hours,
512
00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:14.500
by definition, went down.
513
00:28:14.900 --> 00:28:16.660
But also it wore out the booking team.
514
00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:20.400
It overexposed main event talent. It's not something that you
515
00:28:20.460 --> 00:28:22.599
pay the price for right away. I think you pay
516
00:28:22.619 --> 00:28:27.849
the price over time because people who love a wrestler
517
00:28:28.230 --> 00:28:33.470
love that wrestler even if they're on TV too often
518
00:28:33.549 --> 00:28:36.809
for a while. But over time, they become a lot
519
00:28:36.829 --> 00:28:39.069
less special. They become less of a commodity. You're never
520
00:28:39.109 --> 00:28:41.710
left wanting more. And then pretty soon, you just get
521
00:28:41.730 --> 00:28:44.869
worn out. And I just think WWE's... I think your
522
00:28:44.910 --> 00:28:49.349
reaction is my first reaction, too. The three-hour length is
523
00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:51.829
a problem. It was a problem for WCW. A lesson
524
00:28:51.849 --> 00:28:54.349
should have been learned from it. And WWE is paying
525
00:28:54.369 --> 00:28:55.369
the price now on Monday night.
526
00:28:57.549 --> 00:29:03.250
Yeah, I think so. To me, the first 30 minutes
527
00:29:03.329 --> 00:29:06.430
of the show is walk and talk, set up the
528
00:29:06.450 --> 00:29:09.549
main event. They go to commercial break to come back,
529
00:29:09.589 --> 00:29:11.430
and it's like one of those detective shows where they
530
00:29:11.450 --> 00:29:18.490
recap it. I'm thinking, well, jeez, if you're programming the show,
531
00:29:19.130 --> 00:29:23.490
for me, I didn't watch the first part. What is
532
00:29:23.529 --> 00:29:27.630
that telling me? I would love to see the show
533
00:29:27.650 --> 00:29:28.450
start with a match.
534
00:29:31.190 --> 00:29:33.490
This kind of gets into my follow-up question, what you
535
00:29:33.529 --> 00:29:36.130
just said, but when you look at the format of
536
00:29:36.170 --> 00:29:40.029
wrestling today, let's say they're three hours, let's say they're
537
00:29:40.069 --> 00:29:44.000
two hours, either way. What's the other thing that you
538
00:29:44.019 --> 00:29:47.279
think is contributing to the decline in the audience level?
539
00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:50.559
People say, oh, it's Netflix, it's on-demand, it's this and that.
540
00:29:50.740 --> 00:29:54.410
A year ago, they did a 2.4 something. every week
541
00:29:54.450 --> 00:29:56.029
in September, just about every week in September. I mean,
542
00:29:56.309 --> 00:29:59.130
this is a nearly 25% drop from just a year ago.
543
00:29:59.509 --> 00:30:02.869
And last I checked, Hulu and Netflix and HBO and
544
00:30:03.009 --> 00:30:04.890
On Demand and YouTube, we're all around a year ago.
545
00:30:04.970 --> 00:30:08.140
So this is a sharp decline, not just from the
546
00:30:08.180 --> 00:30:10.500
Monday Night War era, which people say, oh, that's a
547
00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:12.720
different era. Sure, but what about a year ago? What
548
00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:15.019
else besides the three-hour length? Because Raw was three hours
549
00:30:15.059 --> 00:30:17.460
a year ago. It jumps out to you. And I
550
00:30:17.460 --> 00:30:20.410
know you're not watching the product start every week these days, but...
551
00:30:21.150 --> 00:30:24.069
What's your kind of, from a 20,000 feet in the
552
00:30:24.089 --> 00:30:25.789
air perspective, what would you do?
553
00:30:25.809 --> 00:30:27.710
What do you suggest change?
554
00:30:29.990 --> 00:30:31.960
I mean, one of the things for me is, I mean,
555
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:35.819
because I travel so much still, it's just easier for
556
00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:39.480
me to sit someplace in an airport, in a crown room,
557
00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:42.700
and watch what I want to watch for Monday night's
558
00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:50.410
show on my tablet. You know, it's just easier than...
559
00:30:51.230 --> 00:30:54.579
Because if I go downstairs and take up the TV room,
560
00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:59.519
I'm taking up the TV room. Just to take up
561
00:30:59.539 --> 00:31:02.440
the big TV is just... So if you DVR it,
562
00:31:02.460 --> 00:31:07.380
and then you DVR, the next year you buzz through it,
563
00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:10.349
and you get through the show in 25, 30 minutes,
564
00:31:10.369 --> 00:31:11.990
because you're only going to watch the certain guys you
565
00:31:12.009 --> 00:31:14.690
want to watch. And that doesn't do anything, because you
566
00:31:14.710 --> 00:31:18.190
get no feel of the flow of the show. So
567
00:31:18.269 --> 00:31:25.400
I think it's just... People are so... I'll tell you
568
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:29.220
right now, my son doesn't even watch TV. He watches
569
00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:36.480
Netflix and plays video games. There's nothing... When you actually
570
00:31:36.500 --> 00:31:42.329
try to watch network television, it's like... Does America have talent?
571
00:31:42.349 --> 00:31:45.970
It's like three hours long. Ninja Warriors, three hours. All
572
00:31:45.990 --> 00:31:48.680
those shows are the same thing. They're just... I just
573
00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:51.200
throw this blob of garbage out there and hope somebody
574
00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:52.740
digests it for 30 minutes.
575
00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:53.960
Yeah.
576
00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:55.420
Yep.
577
00:32:03.609 --> 00:32:06.609
Are you a fan of AEW looking to sit back, relax,
578
00:32:06.730 --> 00:32:09.670
and listen to some like-minded podcasters who share your passion?
579
00:32:10.269 --> 00:32:12.130
Do you want to be talked off the ledge after
580
00:32:12.150 --> 00:32:14.329
a segment that has you wondering what the heck are
581
00:32:14.349 --> 00:32:14.849
they thinking?
582
00:32:15.500 --> 00:32:17.920
Do you want to join a discussion on what AEW
583
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.420
is doing right and what they could do to improve?
584
00:32:20.849 --> 00:32:21.890
Then join me, Joel.
585
00:32:22.230 --> 00:32:24.970
And me, Greg, for the All Elite Conversation Club every
586
00:32:25.029 --> 00:32:29.430
Friday on the PWTorch Livecast feed. Search PWTorch in your
587
00:32:29.450 --> 00:32:33.299
podcast app and subscribe to PWTorch Dailycast or stream our
588
00:32:33.319 --> 00:32:37.640
shows directly from PWTorch.com. Find full details on the PWTorch
589
00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:41.259
Dailycast lineup at PWTorchDailycast.com.
590
00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:50.829
You know, it's just....
591
00:32:52.059 --> 00:32:53.779
I just want... Do you watch the show Atlanta?
592
00:32:54.569 --> 00:32:57.230
I don't. I've seen previews for it. So I know
593
00:32:57.250 --> 00:32:57.910
what you're talking about.
594
00:32:58.029 --> 00:33:03.329
Yeah, it's good. It's Glover. That was in Magic Mike.
595
00:33:04.630 --> 00:33:07.589
He wrote it and stars in it, created the show.
596
00:33:08.349 --> 00:33:10.930
And I watched the premiere and then I watched another
597
00:33:10.970 --> 00:33:14.460
episode last night. And that's kind of like... It has
598
00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:17.339
such a real feel to it. Yeah. You know, it's
599
00:33:17.380 --> 00:33:19.079
kind of like... I mean, and I watched that and
600
00:33:19.099 --> 00:33:22.059
I said... There still is good programming out there, but
601
00:33:22.099 --> 00:33:28.400
it's channels like FX and those that are putting out
602
00:33:28.440 --> 00:33:28.940
the product.
603
00:33:30.910 --> 00:33:34.730
Yeah, the idea, you know, growing up, and you got CBS, ABC, NBC,
604
00:33:34.809 --> 00:33:38.509
maybe Fox eventually, and whatever your local independent was. You know,
605
00:33:38.549 --> 00:33:41.890
you just memorized the schedule, and you built your life
606
00:33:41.930 --> 00:33:43.349
around what was going to be in the event. Same
607
00:33:43.390 --> 00:33:47.009
thing with wrestling on weekends. And man, it is different now.
608
00:33:47.869 --> 00:33:53.170
I just don't... In WWE, not that USA is happy
609
00:33:53.190 --> 00:33:57.670
with a 1A, obviously. But WWE's attitude is, we got
610
00:33:57.690 --> 00:33:59.670
a good TV deal, we hope to get another one.
611
00:33:59.730 --> 00:34:03.690
But we're still, relative to what USA Network's doing and
612
00:34:03.730 --> 00:34:07.210
what's happening in the larger cable television scheme, we're still
613
00:34:07.230 --> 00:34:09.289
doing good audience numbers. And so I think they just
614
00:34:09.309 --> 00:34:12.849
look at it from a relativity standpoint. And to a degree,
615
00:34:12.889 --> 00:34:13.349
they're right.
616
00:34:13.710 --> 00:34:14.329
I still say.
617
00:34:14.820 --> 00:34:16.920
you should be alarmed by losing 20-some percent of your
618
00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:19.340
audience compared to a year ago.
619
00:34:19.860 --> 00:34:23.769
That, to me, says something that's going on. I really
620
00:34:23.809 --> 00:34:28.110
think that there's just no edge to the program. A
621
00:34:28.190 --> 00:34:32.329
PG show at 10 o'clock is not going to gather
622
00:34:32.349 --> 00:34:36.030
an audience. Not with the language that I watched on
623
00:34:36.179 --> 00:34:40.039
FX last night. Oh, wow, yeah. I mean, there was
624
00:34:40.340 --> 00:34:43.070
nothing they couldn't say. I mean, it was like watching
625
00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:46.829
a R-rated movie. It's just like, I don't see how
626
00:34:47.349 --> 00:34:51.130
you're going to gather anybody from the black audience when
627
00:34:51.150 --> 00:34:55.809
that Atlanta show's on with your programming. If you're PG.
628
00:34:57.250 --> 00:35:03.389
I mean, you've got to be current. They're talking about
629
00:35:03.429 --> 00:35:06.530
the kids that are watching it. You know what? Why
630
00:35:06.550 --> 00:35:10.369
don't you send out some control groups and sit in
631
00:35:10.409 --> 00:35:13.329
a bus stop where elementary kids are waiting to get
632
00:35:13.349 --> 00:35:17.269
picked up and see how they talk. See if anybody's
633
00:35:17.329 --> 00:35:21.289
saying they're going to beat each other's butts. I mean,
634
00:35:21.309 --> 00:35:25.980
that's life, man. But then again, in this PC world,
635
00:35:27.619 --> 00:35:29.039
we just continue to go backwards.
636
00:35:31.719 --> 00:35:34.449
If you're like me, you've got a list, WTorch.com.
637
00:35:38.349 --> 00:35:41.369
Do you have a public position on what's going on
638
00:35:41.409 --> 00:35:43.289
in politics, nationally, presidential?
639
00:35:46.860 --> 00:35:49.699
Besides the fact that I'm watching International House Hunters so
640
00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:50.920
I can find some place to move?
641
00:35:55.840 --> 00:36:01.050
Either way or, I mean, I don't want to. Right
642
00:36:01.070 --> 00:36:02.889
now I'm voting for Gary Johnson.
643
00:36:02.909 --> 00:36:04.130
You're going to be voting in Florida.
644
00:36:04.170 --> 00:36:04.409
Right.
645
00:36:04.530 --> 00:36:06.050
If the polling suggests it's.
646
00:36:05.889 --> 00:36:21.219
42%, 42%. Or 38-38, whatever, but there's two contenders going
647
00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:25.500
into that voting day. Do you still vote Gary Johnson,
648
00:36:25.699 --> 00:36:31.000
or do you choose then between Trump and Clinton because realistically.
649
00:36:31.980 --> 00:36:36.349
I can't let Trump be in office.
650
00:36:38.050 --> 00:36:42.170
Because that's what I'm wondering, is just standing back and
651
00:36:42.250 --> 00:36:46.429
looking at the scenario of the polls that include Gary Johnson...
652
00:36:46.690 --> 00:36:50.719
how many of those votes in close states will people say,
653
00:36:50.980 --> 00:36:53.159
all right, you know, if there was a five-point difference,
654
00:36:53.300 --> 00:36:55.219
I'd keep my vote with Gary, but if it's tied,
655
00:36:55.599 --> 00:36:57.219
I've got to either vote Trump or Hillary to keep
656
00:36:57.320 --> 00:36:59.539
one or the other out. I wonder in close states
657
00:36:59.559 --> 00:37:01.019
how much of that happens, but I don't know that
658
00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:04.449
it necessarily breaks strong for one or the other candidate statistically,
659
00:37:04.590 --> 00:37:07.210
even if all the Gary Johnson voters vote for either
660
00:37:07.250 --> 00:37:07.849
Hillary or Trump.
661
00:37:07.869 --> 00:37:09.570
I'm not sure there's a huge advantage for Hillary when
662
00:37:09.590 --> 00:37:10.010
that happens.
663
00:37:13.710 --> 00:37:15.050
You know, my whole thing is I just.
664
00:37:16.579 --> 00:37:20.119
It scares me because there's a lot of people that
665
00:37:20.539 --> 00:37:25.269
say they won't vote for Trump, but will. I think
666
00:37:25.309 --> 00:37:27.789
the racism has gotten so bad in that country again.
667
00:37:28.730 --> 00:37:31.250
I really do. I just really think we've got such
668
00:37:31.269 --> 00:37:36.559
a slide. I actually had people talk trash to me
669
00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:40.519
about Obama, and I'm thinking, does anybody not watch the news?
670
00:37:41.610 --> 00:37:45.969
Do they not watch their economic indicators? The market was
671
00:37:45.989 --> 00:37:49.440
like 7,000 when he took over. I just know personally
672
00:37:49.460 --> 00:37:53.280
what my portfolio has done in eight years, as opposed
673
00:37:53.320 --> 00:37:58.039
to the red line that he did with Bush. And
674
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:02.750
to me, it's just like, and to me, it's Trump
675
00:38:02.809 --> 00:38:05.750
a Republican? Or is he just the best worker?
676
00:38:07.849 --> 00:38:11.150
Well, one more politics question. When you say, I can't
677
00:38:11.190 --> 00:38:13.829
let Trump be president, what prompts you to say that?
678
00:38:14.210 --> 00:38:16.670
What scares you and causes you to look at international
679
00:38:16.690 --> 00:38:17.469
house hunters.
680
00:38:18.170 --> 00:38:22.590
With the prospect of Punk going into office? All right, Punk. Trump.
681
00:38:23.139 --> 00:38:27.199
I mean, number one, I mean, I just think that
682
00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:31.579
since he's been on the scene, the hate levels went up.
683
00:38:32.380 --> 00:38:36.409
That's the last thing we need. I really thought at
684
00:38:36.429 --> 00:38:40.730
some point in my life that Instead of talking about
685
00:38:40.869 --> 00:38:44.829
kind of people, we would just be talking about, like, mankind.
686
00:38:45.349 --> 00:38:48.670
That would be the only kind of people. Just mankind
687
00:38:48.730 --> 00:38:51.340
is the only kind of people. We're still talking in
688
00:38:51.429 --> 00:38:58.119
shades and tones, sexual preferences. It's just, like, get over it.
689
00:38:58.599 --> 00:39:04.880
But we don't. There's some 67-year-old lady got punched in
690
00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:08.659
a Trump rally two days ago. She's laying there with
691
00:39:08.699 --> 00:39:12.800
her oxygen gimmick in her nose. I'm like, yeah, this
692
00:39:13.070 --> 00:39:14.710
is what I want. I want these people.
693
00:39:15.909 --> 00:39:17.449
Yeah.
694
00:39:17.590 --> 00:39:25.630
All right. I like people that have less economic sense
695
00:39:25.650 --> 00:39:28.849
than I do. Going to have some really good plants
696
00:39:28.889 --> 00:39:31.090
for some really good jobs. We're going to bring our
697
00:39:31.110 --> 00:39:35.579
jobs back. We better hurry up because Forges put out
698
00:39:35.639 --> 00:39:39.800
yesterday that they're moving all the small car plants to Mexico.
699
00:39:40.699 --> 00:39:45.980
So those are gone. How do you get them back?
700
00:39:47.119 --> 00:39:51.480
You go for tariffs on U.S. automakers? It's just like,
701
00:39:51.500 --> 00:39:53.500
come on, what are you going to do? I haven't
702
00:39:53.539 --> 00:40:01.239
heard one piece of strategy. He's wavered on everything, immigration,
703
00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:05.719
everything he's talked about, he's wavered on now. Do you
704
00:40:05.739 --> 00:40:08.119
think he'll build a wall if he was nominated now?
705
00:40:08.219 --> 00:40:11.840
Hell no.
706
00:40:12.219 --> 00:40:15.510
I know you have strong points of view on politics.
707
00:40:15.530 --> 00:40:19.840
That's why I thought I'd ask with everything going on.
708
00:40:21.659 --> 00:40:26.449
It's just nauseating. My whole thing is I just can't
709
00:40:26.570 --> 00:40:33.989
wait for the first debate. When there has to be
710
00:40:34.010 --> 00:40:35.929
an adult in the room, that's what I want to see.
711
00:40:37.690 --> 00:40:40.400
I believe it goes head-to-head with Monday Night Raw. So
712
00:40:40.420 --> 00:40:42.639
you've got a Monday Night Football game and the first
713
00:40:42.659 --> 00:40:46.639
debate going against Raw. I'm steering this back into wrestling
714
00:40:46.659 --> 00:40:50.199
for a minute, but it's relevant. I cannot imagine Well,
715
00:40:50.219 --> 00:40:53.550
I can imagine. I can imagine how low that rating's
716
00:40:53.570 --> 00:40:55.449
going to be. I wouldn't be surprised if we see
717
00:40:55.590 --> 00:40:57.210
a 1.5 or a 1.4 that Monday. I don't think
718
00:40:57.230 --> 00:41:00.969
they've ever faced that level of competition, given the ratings
719
00:41:01.010 --> 00:41:03.210
draw that Trump is compared to most politics.
720
00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:05.659
Right.
721
00:41:05.940 --> 00:41:06.440
That's going to be.
722
00:41:07.039 --> 00:41:09.139
No, Trump does 18s on those things.
723
00:41:09.900 --> 00:41:10.719
Yeah, it's crazy.
724
00:41:11.219 --> 00:41:11.420
Yeah.
725
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:13.500
Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, it's just.
726
00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:18.880
Did you know that you can enjoy commercial-free versions of
727
00:41:19.079 --> 00:41:21.610
all of your favorite Wade Keller podcasts and PWTorch daily
728
00:41:21.619 --> 00:41:26.489
casts on Spotify? Just go to patreon.com, search PWTorch, and
729
00:41:26.530 --> 00:41:29.570
subscribe to a VIP membership tier. You get a seven-day
730
00:41:29.610 --> 00:41:31.570
free trial, by the way, to kick the tires a
731
00:41:31.590 --> 00:41:33.820
bit and see if you like the service. And then
732
00:41:33.929 --> 00:41:36.179
sync it with Spotify, and you can listen to commercial-free
733
00:41:36.219 --> 00:41:38.840
versions of our free shows, like the Wade Keller post shows,
734
00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:41.719
the Wade Keller podcast flagship, our flashbacks, and also the
735
00:41:41.739 --> 00:41:45.380
PWTorch daily cast lineup. Again, all commercial-free, a nice streamlined
736
00:41:45.400 --> 00:41:48.590
listening experience. But with third-tier membership, you can also unlock
737
00:41:48.780 --> 00:41:51.650
all the VIP podcasts, including Everything with Rich and Wade,
738
00:41:51.670 --> 00:41:53.269
The Fix with Todd Martin that I host with Todd
739
00:41:53.289 --> 00:41:57.670
every week, the Wade Keller News Bulletin's post-pay-per-view roundtables, and
740
00:41:57.710 --> 00:42:01.269
an array of other VIP-exclusive podcasts with different hosts and
741
00:42:01.329 --> 00:42:05.250
different themes. Check out the lineup. Go to Patreon and
742
00:42:05.349 --> 00:42:08.889
search PWTorch and subscribe and sync it up with Spotify
743
00:42:09.030 --> 00:42:12.309
or stay within the Patreon ecosystem. Either way works, go
744
00:42:12.349 --> 00:42:18.429
to Patreon and start your seven-day free trial. Okay, let's
745
00:42:18.920 --> 00:42:21.260
bring a caller in here. New York City, home of
746
00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:26.079
Hillary and Donald. 718, Steve Junaiman, where are you calling from?
747
00:42:27.400 --> 00:42:29.969
What's going on, gentlemen? This is Mike from Brooklyn. How
748
00:42:29.989 --> 00:42:31.590
you doing, Chad? How you doing, Wade?
749
00:42:31.789 --> 00:42:32.929
Doing good. Thanks for calling, Mike.
750
00:42:32.949 --> 00:42:40.070
Last time I spoke to you, Chad, we Me and Wade,
751
00:42:40.139 --> 00:42:44.219
we all concurred and we stand by the agreement of,
752
00:42:44.820 --> 00:42:49.340
you know, Joe coming up and being the opponent, you know,
753
00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:52.679
the ideal opponent for Brock Lesnar. Like, to add on
754
00:42:52.699 --> 00:42:55.750
to that, do you think, like, it would be more
755
00:42:55.829 --> 00:43:00.909
suitable for him to, like, come in, like, on SmackDown
756
00:43:01.250 --> 00:43:03.809
and being such, like, Daniel Bryan is the guy that,
757
00:43:03.869 --> 00:43:06.710
you know, he can't go, you know, but he got the...
758
00:43:07.389 --> 00:43:10.670
you know, surprise opponent for the Miz and it ends
759
00:43:10.769 --> 00:43:12.690
up being Joe and then you just have him go
760
00:43:12.730 --> 00:43:16.639
on the tear from, you know, from, I guess, maybe
761
00:43:16.679 --> 00:43:19.719
the next table view all the way up until Mania
762
00:43:19.800 --> 00:43:22.079
and have him be like the guy that Shane, you know,
763
00:43:22.119 --> 00:43:27.000
Shane McMahon chooses to go against Brock. And also, um,
764
00:43:27.119 --> 00:43:30.340
how would you, I mean, like, how would you reform the, like,
765
00:43:30.360 --> 00:43:34.519
how would you have done, you know, the club in WWE?
766
00:43:34.659 --> 00:43:37.119
Because to me, like, it makes no sense to have
767
00:43:37.969 --> 00:43:41.869
You know Gallows and Anderson on Raw, and you have
768
00:43:41.949 --> 00:43:45.230
a SmackDown tag title now, and now you've got AJ
769
00:43:45.289 --> 00:43:47.789
as world champ. And that's all I've got today.
770
00:43:48.449 --> 00:43:50.829
Thanks, Mike. Kevin, go ahead. Tackle those.
771
00:43:50.849 --> 00:43:56.309
I didn't hear you, Wade.
772
00:43:56.610 --> 00:43:57.610
You said you couldn't hear his questions?
773
00:43:59.929 --> 00:44:01.880
No, I heard the question. No, I think the Joe thing.
774
00:44:03.780 --> 00:44:06.340
I think Joe, I think he just, I don't know
775
00:44:06.420 --> 00:44:08.219
if I'd want him to beat Miz because Miz is
776
00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:10.579
one of the few people, like that belt kind of
777
00:44:10.619 --> 00:44:14.980
means something right now because it hasn't moved. So I
778
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.199
kind of, sometimes I like, I kind of like him
779
00:44:19.219 --> 00:44:24.449
with that belt. But for me, Joe has just got to,
780
00:44:25.010 --> 00:44:26.889
just got to get away and start going through people.
781
00:44:28.449 --> 00:44:30.510
You know, he's just got to get some wins. But
782
00:44:30.530 --> 00:44:32.150
I think they can do it in a slow enough
783
00:44:32.190 --> 00:44:35.210
fashion where it doesn't look like he's getting the ultra
784
00:44:35.250 --> 00:44:39.469
push as to keep him a part of NXT and
785
00:44:39.510 --> 00:44:48.510
have him just make appearances. But I think Lesnar and
786
00:44:48.630 --> 00:44:51.980
Joe would be a great main event at WrestleMania at
787
00:44:52.019 --> 00:44:52.599
Bill Wright.
788
00:44:52.619 --> 00:44:55.869
Do you.
789
00:44:58.070 --> 00:45:00.550
What about AJ and Anderson and Gallows and the club?
790
00:45:01.610 --> 00:45:05.590
I'm not in the camp that thinks WWE should put
791
00:45:05.670 --> 00:45:07.530
Anderson and Gallows and Styles together because of what they
792
00:45:07.550 --> 00:45:09.050
did in New Japan. I think you should put them
793
00:45:09.070 --> 00:45:13.210
together if it's best for 2016 WWE. Because I just
794
00:45:13.230 --> 00:45:15.050
don't think there's a huge enough... I think people who
795
00:45:15.090 --> 00:45:19.090
watch New Japan want to see that magic recreated, not because...
796
00:45:19.989 --> 00:45:22.789
The whole WWE audience knows that they had this cool
797
00:45:22.829 --> 00:45:24.510
run in New Japan as much as they think they
798
00:45:24.530 --> 00:45:28.179
have a good chemistry together. Do you make that a priority, Kevin,
799
00:45:28.219 --> 00:45:30.480
what happened in New Japan and the chemistry that they had?
800
00:45:30.500 --> 00:45:34.960
I think if you put Finn in it, if you
801
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.840
bring the Young Bucks in, and you make it like
802
00:45:38.900 --> 00:45:42.119
a stable, but I think that because the Bullet Club
803
00:45:42.139 --> 00:45:46.469
was a lot larger than that, you just still kind of...
804
00:45:49.550 --> 00:45:52.369
They've already screwed it up. I mean, they killed Gallows
805
00:45:52.409 --> 00:45:55.969
and Anderson when they had that six-minute elimination tag, and
806
00:45:55.989 --> 00:45:56.719
they pinned them both.
807
00:45:59.420 --> 00:45:59.579
Yeah.
808
00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:03.679
Yeah, but they were dead then. So now it's just like, okay,
809
00:46:04.579 --> 00:46:07.739
you've taken your lumps, you got over someplace else. Okay,
810
00:46:07.760 --> 00:46:10.989
now get over again. That's what you got to do. And,
811
00:46:11.010 --> 00:46:20.050
you know, I think that AJ has passed them. I
812
00:46:20.219 --> 00:46:23.880
think A.J. 's as an entity is, when I watched A.J.
813
00:46:24.019 --> 00:46:29.699
basically turn into a baby face, I was just like, okay. A.J.
814
00:46:29.699 --> 00:46:33.949
's in his group. A.J. doesn't need anything else. A.J.
815
00:46:33.949 --> 00:46:34.469
's A.J.
816
00:46:36.909 --> 00:46:37.409
No question.
817
00:46:38.329 --> 00:46:41.889
Are you surprised, having been around A.J. before, and knowing
818
00:46:41.929 --> 00:46:44.929
Vince McMahon and heck, Triple H, are you surprised A.J.
819
00:46:44.929 --> 00:46:49.219
's risen to become the centerpiece WWE heavyweight champ heel
820
00:46:50.500 --> 00:46:52.760
on SmackDown. Are you surprised that he was able to
821
00:46:52.800 --> 00:46:55.050
get the breathing room to show what he can do
822
00:46:55.090 --> 00:46:57.090
like this and still get that kind of push at
823
00:46:57.150 --> 00:46:59.489
his size, at his age, with his southern accent?
824
00:47:01.530 --> 00:47:05.329
You know what? He's such a likable person, and he
825
00:47:05.369 --> 00:47:09.030
just doesn't have any attitude. I think he's so, I
826
00:47:12.429 --> 00:47:16.699
would use the word coachable, but probably programmable. to do
827
00:47:16.739 --> 00:47:19.210
what they want him to do, and every time they
828
00:47:19.289 --> 00:47:20.710
asked him to do something, he delivered.
829
00:47:20.730 --> 00:47:21.409
Yeah.
830
00:47:22.469 --> 00:47:26.070
I think that goes so, you know, it's just, you know,
831
00:47:26.110 --> 00:47:30.829
when you're asked to do, it's one thing to, especially
832
00:47:30.849 --> 00:47:35.050
when you're the creative, you lay something out, the person
833
00:47:35.960 --> 00:47:38.219
does it, but it gets 70% of what you wanted,
834
00:47:38.239 --> 00:47:41.619
as opposed to somebody that goes out there and does
835
00:47:41.659 --> 00:47:45.760
it verbatim and gets over it. So it makes your
836
00:47:45.780 --> 00:47:50.769
envisionment like, okay, I knew that he's producing for what
837
00:47:50.809 --> 00:47:54.210
he's being asked to do. And that goes a long way.
838
00:47:54.289 --> 00:47:56.550
So all of a sudden it's just like immediately that
839
00:47:56.610 --> 00:48:00.369
trust and that bond is created. And then once that goes,
840
00:48:00.389 --> 00:48:02.110
you know, the sky's the limit.
841
00:48:04.690 --> 00:48:06.389
Yeah, I think he's been phenomenal.
842
00:48:06.469 --> 00:48:10.119
He's just not going to go into business for himself. Yeah.
843
00:48:11.320 --> 00:48:11.679
That's the thing.
844
00:48:11.699 --> 00:48:13.780
I mean, there are so many things. And you know
845
00:48:13.820 --> 00:48:16.360
because you've been there behind the scenes, Kevin. There are
846
00:48:16.539 --> 00:48:21.650
so many reasons, some good, some not good, but that
847
00:48:21.889 --> 00:48:24.030
are used as a rationale for not pushing somebody who
848
00:48:24.050 --> 00:48:26.969
the fans watching on TV see as talented and worthy
849
00:48:27.010 --> 00:48:31.130
of a push. And AJ doesn't have those traits. You know,
850
00:48:31.150 --> 00:48:36.889
AJ is the model employee in that sense, the model contractor.
851
00:48:37.760 --> 00:48:40.269
Yeah. There's so many guys that are talented that have
852
00:48:40.309 --> 00:48:42.219
a little bit of a chip on their shoulder that
853
00:48:42.260 --> 00:48:46.639
runs creative the wrong way, and they don't get those breaks.
854
00:48:50.920 --> 00:48:51.780
Does anyone come to mind?
855
00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:57.260
That's the whole thing about being sports entertainment. That's the
856
00:48:57.280 --> 00:48:59.940
whole thing about being sports entertainment. It's not like anybody's
857
00:48:59.980 --> 00:49:01.940
got to go out there and throw 92 miles an hour.
858
00:49:02.590 --> 00:49:05.409
It's not that anybody's got to hit a curveball. You're
859
00:49:05.429 --> 00:49:07.670
a world champion because somebody tells you you're a world champion.
860
00:49:12.250 --> 00:49:15.260
Does anyone come to mind during the Monday Night War era,
861
00:49:16.219 --> 00:49:19.050
your whole time when you were immersed in wrestling, who
862
00:49:19.389 --> 00:49:23.929
would have been a big star, but their attitude, their reputation,
863
00:49:24.829 --> 00:49:27.210
actually cost them big-time opportunities?
864
00:49:29.340 --> 00:49:32.139
I think Scott Hall. Scott Hall would have not had
865
00:49:32.179 --> 00:49:34.280
some of the demons he had, but would have been
866
00:49:34.619 --> 00:49:39.639
a multiple-time world champion. Yeah. It wasn't like he couldn't promo.
867
00:49:39.659 --> 00:49:41.780
It wasn't like he wasn't a great worker. Yeah.
868
00:49:44.130 --> 00:49:47.190
How about somebody even lower on the card, who you
869
00:49:47.210 --> 00:49:49.739
were like, this kid, he's going to be good, and
870
00:49:49.780 --> 00:49:52.119
then you got to know him, and you're like, okay,
871
00:49:52.199 --> 00:49:52.659
scratch that.
872
00:49:52.679 --> 00:49:59.889
I always thought Raven was way more talented than people
873
00:49:59.909 --> 00:50:02.289
gave him credit for. I thought he had a really
874
00:50:02.329 --> 00:50:05.650
good mind, but he was just like, the reason he
875
00:50:05.690 --> 00:50:07.670
got heat was because he was annoying, and that's how
876
00:50:07.690 --> 00:50:11.500
he was in real life, but He was annoying, but
877
00:50:11.860 --> 00:50:16.730
to me, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed his sarcasm. A
878
00:50:16.730 --> 00:50:19.670
lot of people just didn't get it. I think his
879
00:50:19.750 --> 00:50:24.269
personality really held him back.
880
00:50:24.349 --> 00:50:26.139
Raven's one of those guys who was a big name
881
00:50:26.420 --> 00:50:29.159
in certain ways during that hot run.
882
00:50:30.239 --> 00:50:30.860
Of pro wrestling.
883
00:50:31.039 --> 00:50:33.300
And I don't... You know, like, there's this talk now,
884
00:50:33.440 --> 00:50:35.400
you know, and Political had this story up today on
885
00:50:35.420 --> 00:50:37.929
Bill Clinton, no longer the closer. You had to be...
886
00:50:38.219 --> 00:50:40.409
You have to be 38 years old today to have
887
00:50:40.449 --> 00:50:44.230
voted for Bill Clinton. And that, you know, his... He
888
00:50:44.250 --> 00:50:47.690
just doesn't have that influence now on the electorate that
889
00:50:47.710 --> 00:50:49.909
he did, you know, eight years ago when Hillary was running.
890
00:50:49.929 --> 00:50:52.469
And even then it was diminished from what people anticipated
891
00:50:52.510 --> 00:50:54.429
it would have been when he left office. And now
892
00:50:54.449 --> 00:50:59.610
you have Obama, 58% approval rating, and... Joe Clinton is
893
00:50:59.690 --> 00:51:03.389
kind of this afterthought in a lot of ways now
894
00:51:03.590 --> 00:51:05.809
in terms of being able to help Hillary or be
895
00:51:05.849 --> 00:51:08.730
an advocate for her. And I look at Raven, I mean,
896
00:51:08.809 --> 00:51:11.469
it's a weird tie-in, but like Raven comes across to me,
897
00:51:11.969 --> 00:51:14.170
Raven comes across to me as somebody who had a
898
00:51:14.190 --> 00:51:16.730
big name during that time, but you had to live
899
00:51:16.750 --> 00:51:19.349
through it to know it because now there isn't that
900
00:51:19.389 --> 00:51:22.780
sense that if you didn't live through it to understand
901
00:51:22.820 --> 00:51:26.340
that Raven was, I mean, especially in ECW, especially on
902
00:51:26.360 --> 00:51:28.139
the first run, he doesn't like to talk much about
903
00:51:28.159 --> 00:51:30.809
the second run, But even in WCW, you know, he
904
00:51:30.849 --> 00:51:32.690
helped make Goldberg. You know, he was booked in that
905
00:51:32.730 --> 00:51:35.250
key match with Goldberg, Kevin. I think Raven deserves a
906
00:51:35.269 --> 00:51:36.969
higher place in the history books than I think he's
907
00:51:36.989 --> 00:51:37.530
currently getting.
908
00:51:37.739 --> 00:51:42.840
Right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I agree.
909
00:51:43.380 --> 00:51:44.599
Just with a few minutes left in the show, let's
910
00:51:44.619 --> 00:51:46.420
try to get in a call or two and an
911
00:51:46.480 --> 00:51:50.300
email or two. 952, you're up next. State what city
912
00:51:50.320 --> 00:51:51.889
you're from and your first name, of course.
913
00:51:51.909 --> 00:51:57.329
This is Brian. I'm calling from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hey, Brian.
914
00:51:57.349 --> 00:51:58.469
Thanks for calling. What have you got for us?
915
00:52:00.769 --> 00:52:03.050
One question, and that's just in regards to the new
916
00:52:03.130 --> 00:52:07.860
championships that WWE has as of the brand split. My
917
00:52:07.889 --> 00:52:10.340
question to you is in perspective to someone who is
918
00:52:10.400 --> 00:52:14.059
a newer viewer to the product. How do you explain
919
00:52:14.119 --> 00:52:16.699
or have them find investment in these championships that look
920
00:52:16.760 --> 00:52:21.960
almost identical and in many ways are? what's the difference
921
00:52:22.019 --> 00:52:25.719
between these two champions and why should you care? I mean,
922
00:52:25.760 --> 00:52:28.099
it almost becomes like boxing where it's so murky and
923
00:52:28.119 --> 00:52:30.340
so many different federations and stuff. It's like, who is
924
00:52:30.380 --> 00:52:33.980
the true world champion? And it's never really answered unless
925
00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:36.139
WWE does that at WrestleMania, but I don't think they're
926
00:52:36.159 --> 00:52:37.699
ever going to really want to do that until they,
927
00:52:37.719 --> 00:52:40.860
if they decide to end this again and go back
928
00:52:40.880 --> 00:52:44.579
to a unified product. what is your guys' thoughts on
929
00:52:44.599 --> 00:52:46.380
the look of the championships? And then how do you
930
00:52:46.420 --> 00:52:48.800
think people, in the end of this, perceive the look
931
00:52:48.820 --> 00:52:52.639
of those championships being so, especially the women, the tag team,
932
00:52:52.699 --> 00:52:55.360
and the world's universals looking so much alike?
933
00:52:55.880 --> 00:52:56.389
Thanks, guys.
934
00:52:56.699 --> 00:52:57.409
And have a great show.
935
00:52:57.610 --> 00:52:58.949
Thanks, Brian. Appreciate you calling. Good to hear from you.
936
00:52:59.530 --> 00:53:02.829
Have you seen the new titles, Kevin? The new belts?
937
00:53:02.849 --> 00:53:08.949
Yeah. I'm not a fan. Yeah. You know, but then again,
938
00:53:09.190 --> 00:53:10.789
I'm more a fan of that than I am the...
939
00:53:11.960 --> 00:53:13.739
the spinner or, you know.
940
00:53:14.420 --> 00:53:14.780
Uh-huh.
941
00:53:17.840 --> 00:53:20.239
But the final thing is this, is if, you know,
942
00:53:20.739 --> 00:53:24.440
if you put up a graphic once a week on
943
00:53:24.500 --> 00:53:29.019
each of the, each of the, each of the champions
944
00:53:29.559 --> 00:53:32.159
and has like, you know, the Miz is the IC
945
00:53:32.199 --> 00:53:36.199
champion and then underneath it there was the top 10 quality,
946
00:53:37.820 --> 00:53:40.449
like in boxing, like these are the next 10 guys.
947
00:53:40.510 --> 00:53:44.179
This is the first You know, this is one, two, three, four, five, six,
948
00:53:44.199 --> 00:53:47.039
you know, in line for that shot. And that way,
949
00:53:47.460 --> 00:53:52.239
if six versus ten happens at night and ten goes over,
950
00:53:52.300 --> 00:53:57.730
then it means something. I think if you're going to
951
00:53:57.869 --> 00:54:00.869
make it about belts and make the belts look so generic,
952
00:54:01.389 --> 00:54:05.179
then you've got to take the psychology of it and
953
00:54:05.219 --> 00:54:08.280
we're fighting for these belts, right? This is what we're doing.
954
00:54:08.909 --> 00:54:12.010
Because all of a sudden, Stone Cold had his own belt.
955
00:54:12.750 --> 00:54:14.989
When Warrior had his, when Warrior was in the IC,
956
00:54:15.030 --> 00:54:17.510
he had a different color belt. Like, they all fit
957
00:54:17.530 --> 00:54:24.019
the personalities of the people. It's just, I don't know.
958
00:54:26.300 --> 00:54:30.429
To me, it's like in boxing. You know, it's not
959
00:54:30.449 --> 00:54:31.969
the real belt, and it's not green.
960
00:54:32.670 --> 00:54:32.829
Yep.
961
00:54:34.059 --> 00:54:37.500
Some British guy was holding a red world belt. I'm like,
962
00:54:37.539 --> 00:54:43.599
what is that? What belt is that? I agree with him.
963
00:54:43.780 --> 00:54:46.460
It is a lot. It's very convoluted. It's a lot
964
00:54:46.480 --> 00:54:49.019
like boxing.
965
00:54:49.920 --> 00:54:53.019
Compared to the Stanley Cup, I don't want the Pittsburgh
966
00:54:53.039 --> 00:54:56.769
Penguins winning the Stanley Cup and skating around with black
967
00:54:56.989 --> 00:55:02.269
and yellowish gold cup that's shaped differently that isn't the
968
00:55:02.309 --> 00:55:05.329
same one that Gretzky carried around when he was.
969
00:55:04.909 --> 00:55:07.889
In Edmonton, Ireland.
970
00:55:08.190 --> 00:55:11.050
Yeah, I mean, let it be beat up. Let it
971
00:55:11.090 --> 00:55:14.800
be beat up. Heritage, history, that legacy.
972
00:55:17.139 --> 00:55:19.119
Yeah, go back. If you're going to do anything, mimic
973
00:55:19.159 --> 00:55:25.420
the first one. You know, mimic the first belt. Go
974
00:55:25.619 --> 00:55:26.460
back in time.
975
00:55:29.760 --> 00:55:34.010
I totally agree. Just too many belts. I get the
976
00:55:34.030 --> 00:55:37.670
reason they're doing it. Where do you come down on it?
977
00:55:37.789 --> 00:55:41.050
Are you pro-roster split, anti-roster split? And then if you
978
00:55:41.090 --> 00:55:44.030
accept they are doing it, do you want one world
979
00:55:44.070 --> 00:55:47.070
champion floating between both brands, or do you like having
980
00:55:47.110 --> 00:55:48.030
two singles champions?
981
00:55:51.679 --> 00:55:54.889
I mean, to me, if you cut Raw down to
982
00:55:54.909 --> 00:56:00.489
two hours, tighten both shows, and keep them separate, and
983
00:56:00.530 --> 00:56:06.690
then only have the inner SmackDown Raws at the five originals.
984
00:56:08.650 --> 00:56:13.690
You know, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, WrestleMania. Yeah, it's just.
985
00:56:18.659 --> 00:56:22.260
Just keep it... King of the Ring was the first
986
00:56:22.340 --> 00:56:26.119
one to end, so I make that the fifth one. But,
987
00:56:26.280 --> 00:56:29.800
you know, just the rest of them, I think, I
988
00:56:29.840 --> 00:56:34.739
don't think it would kill anybody if, you know, if
989
00:56:34.780 --> 00:56:37.340
they did that. I mean, they've got to be separate.
990
00:56:37.699 --> 00:56:40.519
I mean, every time they do this brand split, within,
991
00:56:40.539 --> 00:56:43.420
you know, six months, all of a sudden it's diluted
992
00:56:43.440 --> 00:56:45.159
and people are jumping all over the place. So.
993
00:56:48.539 --> 00:56:52.710
Yeah. Hey, everyone.
994
00:56:53.050 --> 00:56:56.250
Longtime PWTorch columnist Sean Radican here to let you know
995
00:56:56.309 --> 00:57:01.239
I've revamped and renewed the Radican Worldwide Podcast for 2026.
996
00:57:01.239 --> 00:57:04.820
a weekly VIP exclusive. Every week, I break down four
997
00:57:04.860 --> 00:57:07.789
or five of the biggest trending topics in pro wrestling.
998
00:57:08.090 --> 00:57:11.269
I also present my analysis, providing insight that helps you
999
00:57:11.329 --> 00:57:14.070
understand the story better or see it another way than
1000
00:57:14.130 --> 00:57:17.150
maybe is the controversial take out there. Then I bring
1001
00:57:17.230 --> 00:57:19.650
on a special guest for the second half of the podcast.
1002
00:57:19.849 --> 00:57:22.429
Sometimes it's a wrestler or someone else who works in
1003
00:57:22.449 --> 00:57:25.130
the business. Other times it's a guest analyst who brings
1004
00:57:25.150 --> 00:57:28.409
their specialized point of view on a particular key topic
1005
00:57:28.449 --> 00:57:31.510
in the news. Recent guests have included Bronson Reed from
1006
00:57:31.760 --> 00:57:34.630
WWE and PCO. One of my areas of specialty is
1007
00:57:34.650 --> 00:57:37.130
the Japan wrestling scene, so I often cover a big
1008
00:57:37.190 --> 00:57:41.429
topic from Japan with PW Torch's own Alan Farrell, Kelly Wells,
1009
00:57:41.670 --> 00:57:44.550
and Chris Lansdell. I don't just cover the news. I
1010
00:57:44.570 --> 00:57:46.599
don't just riff on the news or give a standard
1011
00:57:46.619 --> 00:57:49.500
hot take. I'll bring my decades of studying this industry
1012
00:57:49.539 --> 00:57:53.199
and talking one-on-one with dozens of wrestling promoters to each
1013
00:57:53.260 --> 00:57:56.500
week's show so you understand not just what's happening, but
1014
00:57:56.539 --> 00:57:59.510
the context of why. Get ahead of the news. Get
1015
00:57:59.550 --> 00:58:04.630
ahead of the pack with Ratican Worldwide only at PWTorch VIP.
1016
00:58:06.750 --> 00:58:09.130
Well, do you like the concept of one world champion?
1017
00:58:09.570 --> 00:58:11.750
Or do you like having a singles world champion on
1018
00:58:11.769 --> 00:58:12.630
both brands.
1019
00:58:12.710 --> 00:58:13.170
Both shows?
1020
00:58:14.230 --> 00:58:17.469
I would like to be one world champion. Yeah.
1021
00:58:19.510 --> 00:58:21.829
Yeah, that's my vote, too. I mean, I get the
1022
00:58:21.869 --> 00:58:23.469
pros and cons. You know, Vince likes to have a
1023
00:58:23.489 --> 00:58:24.789
world champion on both house shows.
1024
00:58:28.929 --> 00:58:30.050
I just don't know about that.
1025
00:58:30.250 --> 00:58:32.469
I mean, it used to be the IC champ was
1026
00:58:32.530 --> 00:58:37.650
on one and the world champs on the other.
1027
00:58:37.849 --> 00:58:38.050
Yeah.
1028
00:58:38.610 --> 00:58:40.349
I mean, I went to a lot of WBF house
1029
00:58:40.369 --> 00:58:42.210
shows in the 80s and the IC champ or the
1030
00:58:42.230 --> 00:58:45.030
tag titles or a Piper grudge match headlined.
1031
00:58:45.679 --> 00:58:49.340
And you had Hogan on the other one. Yeah, absolutely.
1032
00:58:49.920 --> 00:58:50.159
Absolutely.
1033
00:58:50.619 --> 00:58:56.699
Email question, Kevin, from Scott from Jamesburg, New Jersey. He says,
1034
00:58:56.800 --> 00:58:57.920
I'm excited to hear Kevin will be back on the
1035
00:58:57.980 --> 00:59:00.730
live cast this afternoon. I plan to call in, but
1036
00:59:01.909 --> 00:59:02.530
if they don't get to me.
1037
00:59:02.550 --> 00:59:03.130
Here's my question.
1038
00:59:03.730 --> 00:59:05.550
Did you and Scott Hall immediately hit it off in
1039
00:59:05.550 --> 00:59:09.989
1991 when you were together in WCW? And explain some
1040
00:59:10.010 --> 00:59:15.070
of the differences in the locker room from WWF 1993
1041
00:59:15.070 --> 00:59:18.380
compared to the WCW locker room when you left. And
1042
00:59:18.389 --> 00:59:21.159
then third, have your feelings on Kevin Owens changed at
1043
00:59:21.219 --> 00:59:21.900
all since his.
1044
00:59:21.840 --> 00:59:23.099
Debut last summer?
1045
00:59:23.119 --> 00:59:25.119
Alright, so those are his three topics.
1046
00:59:25.139 --> 00:59:26.320
You can pick any of them.
1047
00:59:28.590 --> 00:59:31.269
Go backwards. Kevin Owens, yes, he's growing on me.
1048
00:59:32.699 --> 00:59:33.360
Absolutely.
1049
00:59:33.780 --> 00:59:36.019
Yeah.
1050
00:59:36.619 --> 00:59:42.360
I'm actually a Kevin Owens fan. I watch his segments.
1051
00:59:47.929 --> 00:59:50.429
Scott and I, we hit it off pretty much the
1052
00:59:50.449 --> 00:59:52.849
minute we met. We both were gym guys. We went
1053
00:59:52.889 --> 00:59:55.989
to the gym. We were bodybuilding guys. It was just like,
1054
00:59:56.090 --> 00:59:58.210
you know, immediately you look at a guy that's got
1055
00:59:58.250 --> 00:59:59.860
a physique, you say, hey, did you go to the gym?
1056
00:59:59.880 --> 01:00:01.780
He says, yeah. And I said, who are you going
1057
01:00:01.800 --> 01:00:04.400
to travel with? Because you want to travel with somebody
1058
01:00:04.420 --> 01:00:10.340
that's going to live your lifestyle. So, and then what
1059
01:00:10.360 --> 01:00:12.989
was the other one? The locker room. The difference between what?
1060
01:00:13.210 --> 01:00:15.269
Locker room when you first got in versus the end,
1061
01:00:15.510 --> 01:00:17.630
WWF when you first entered versus WWF at the end.
1062
01:00:23.039 --> 01:00:26.360
You know, when you first break in, you just, you know,
1063
01:00:26.389 --> 01:00:29.550
we were probably the last generation that was taught by
1064
01:00:29.590 --> 01:00:31.690
the old school guys. You get up and you give
1065
01:00:31.710 --> 01:00:36.190
your chair to the veterans. And I remember I came
1066
01:00:36.230 --> 01:00:41.500
back to, it was the WCW one time, and, you know,
1067
01:00:41.559 --> 01:00:45.079
it's like the natural born drill guys came in and
1068
01:00:45.119 --> 01:00:48.440
they took our bags and moved them and took our lockers.
1069
01:00:48.519 --> 01:00:53.900
I'm just thinking like, wow, who built you guys that? So, yeah,
1070
01:00:53.980 --> 01:00:57.150
it was a different thing. It was still, you know,
1071
01:00:57.650 --> 01:01:00.769
my first, you know, year of house shows was still
1072
01:01:01.090 --> 01:01:04.590
separate locker rooms. We had to send the referee back
1073
01:01:04.650 --> 01:01:05.090
and forth.
1074
01:01:05.510 --> 01:01:05.710
Wow.
1075
01:01:07.530 --> 01:01:10.510
So it was still that old school, you know.
1076
01:01:11.309 --> 01:01:13.599
What about today's locker room when you are at a
1077
01:01:13.639 --> 01:01:16.380
big WWE event? Do you notice anything different now compared
1078
01:01:16.400 --> 01:01:17.079
to 15 years ago?
1079
01:01:23.230 --> 01:01:29.070
I don't know. I'm really not in the locker room.
1080
01:01:30.059 --> 01:01:33.900
I'm in areas, common areas. I'm not in the locker room.
1081
01:01:34.800 --> 01:01:41.099
I'm not one of the boys. You're the gray-headed, legit guy.
1082
01:01:43.460 --> 01:01:45.019
Nobody's going to come up to you and go, hey,
1083
01:01:45.199 --> 01:01:46.909
can I ask you a question? How can I get
1084
01:01:46.949 --> 01:01:51.329
more money? Because I know you're Paul's buddy. So it's
1085
01:01:51.349 --> 01:01:56.849
just like when you're When you're Hunter's buddy and you're
1086
01:01:56.889 --> 01:02:02.039
done wrestling, I mean, there's really no reason to have any.
1087
01:02:02.059 --> 01:02:04.199
I mean, you can ask me, you know, if you're
1088
01:02:04.400 --> 01:02:05.880
maybe a big guy, you might want to ask me
1089
01:02:05.900 --> 01:02:09.639
for advice or something. It's about it.
1090
01:02:11.019 --> 01:02:15.269
Brian from Phoenix, Arizona. 9,351 days as a PWTorch VIP subscriber.
1091
01:02:15.309 --> 01:02:15.929
Thank you, Brian.
1092
01:02:16.329 --> 01:02:18.750
Says, Kevin, I've always liked your work. My best friend loved.
1093
01:02:19.369 --> 01:02:22.590
to watch the July 29, 1996 episode where he threw
1094
01:02:22.670 --> 01:02:24.969
Ray into the truck like a lawn dart. My question
1095
01:02:24.989 --> 01:02:25.369
for you is.
1096
01:02:25.389 --> 01:02:29.010
If you could give Baron Corbin career advice, what one
1097
01:02:29.090 --> 01:02:30.840
thing would you tell him?
1098
01:02:30.949 --> 01:02:34.179
Say that again?
1099
01:02:34.739 --> 01:02:35.500
Baron Corbin.
1100
01:02:35.619 --> 01:02:36.239
Baron Corbin?
1101
01:02:36.280 --> 01:02:38.019
Yeah, what do you think of him and what advice
1102
01:02:38.059 --> 01:02:38.519
would you give him?
1103
01:02:41.239 --> 01:02:42.900
I like him. I think he's talented.
1104
01:02:43.179 --> 01:02:43.420
Yeah.
1105
01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.309
He just didn't mean anything. He just needs to get
1106
01:02:49.349 --> 01:02:50.949
some weight. I mean, that's just a push. He just
1107
01:02:50.969 --> 01:02:56.889
needs a push. Really. I don't think his work lies.
1108
01:02:59.610 --> 01:03:02.909
I love that he is a believable heel.
1109
01:03:03.809 --> 01:03:04.389
Absolutely.
1110
01:03:04.630 --> 01:03:09.449
He comes across as authentically... And it doesn't matter if
1111
01:03:09.489 --> 01:03:13.019
it's true or not. But he comes across as authentically...
1112
01:03:13.119 --> 01:03:16.380
that a bad dude, you know, like a guy who
1113
01:03:17.619 --> 01:03:21.400
would never give an autograph, who would act annoyed by
1114
01:03:21.739 --> 01:03:24.619
being asked to do any media work. He was great
1115
01:03:24.659 --> 01:03:27.889
on Talking Smack this week, the network show. I love
1116
01:03:27.929 --> 01:03:30.650
that old school approach, you know, that believability factor that
1117
01:03:30.670 --> 01:03:31.170
he presents.
1118
01:03:32.909 --> 01:03:35.730
I think the fact that he was also an NFL player,
1119
01:03:35.809 --> 01:03:37.809
you know, he's got that legitimate background.
1120
01:03:40.679 --> 01:03:41.760
Well, a related question.
1121
01:03:41.940 --> 01:03:44.760
Chris in Ann Arbor asked, what does Kevin think about
1122
01:03:44.780 --> 01:03:46.349
the role of big men in wrestling today? Should their
1123
01:03:46.369 --> 01:03:48.849
style be any different than it was historically in this
1124
01:03:48.949 --> 01:03:52.389
current era where super athletic, small to mid-sized wrestlers are
1125
01:03:52.409 --> 01:03:54.929
putting on a 20-minute match full of spots by both
1126
01:03:54.949 --> 01:03:55.750
heels and faces?
1127
01:04:01.719 --> 01:04:07.780
The reason the big men hasn't dominated in a while
1128
01:04:07.840 --> 01:04:11.139
is because of Arnie. They're so few and far between.
1129
01:04:11.159 --> 01:04:13.449
You know?
1130
01:04:14.889 --> 01:04:16.889
I mean, Cass is really the only big guy.
1131
01:04:16.710 --> 01:04:17.409
On the program.
1132
01:04:17.829 --> 01:04:19.469
What do you think of him, from.
1133
01:04:19.429 --> 01:04:23.969
What you've seen? I mean, I like what he does.
1134
01:04:25.690 --> 01:04:27.400
I wouldn't have thrown him in that mix of that
1135
01:04:27.780 --> 01:04:32.360
match that they had, that four-way. I don't think he
1136
01:04:32.380 --> 01:04:40.349
was ready for that. But, I don't know. He's I
1137
01:04:40.369 --> 01:04:45.320
think he's definitely over. Yeah.
1138
01:04:45.340 --> 01:04:48.659
All right, last question. Shinsuke Nakamura.
1139
01:04:50.340 --> 01:04:56.119
Where do you think he ends up in his WWE legacy, Kevin?
1140
01:04:56.480 --> 01:05:00.239
Does Shinsuke end up getting a fair... I don't want
1141
01:05:00.260 --> 01:05:03.699
to load the question up. Does Shinsuke Nakamura get pushed
1142
01:05:03.760 --> 01:05:07.179
as a top, top guy? If Vince McMahon gets his way,
1143
01:05:07.579 --> 01:05:09.340
will Triple H have to fight for it? Are you
1144
01:05:09.380 --> 01:05:13.679
in favor of it? how successful can Shinsuke be once
1145
01:05:13.699 --> 01:05:15.460
he gets called up to the main roster and how
1146
01:05:15.500 --> 01:05:16.210
would you utilize him?
1147
01:05:20.280 --> 01:05:23.380
I mean, I think he's, I think it'd be, I mean,
1148
01:05:23.420 --> 01:05:25.610
just the fact that they found like seven or eight
1149
01:05:25.639 --> 01:05:30.050
more Chinese guys, the fact that, I think that the
1150
01:05:30.070 --> 01:05:32.750
approach that the company is taking right now is a global.
1151
01:05:34.530 --> 01:05:36.630
And I think that's, I mean, that's where your growth
1152
01:05:36.710 --> 01:05:40.699
is going to be. I think that globally is, you know,
1153
01:05:41.860 --> 01:05:46.300
is where the money is. I mean, I think, you know,
1154
01:05:48.139 --> 01:05:51.929
the United States is kind of burnt out. Sometimes when
1155
01:05:51.969 --> 01:05:53.670
it gets burnt out like it is right now, the
1156
01:05:53.690 --> 01:05:56.170
best thing you can do is go other places. I
1157
01:05:56.210 --> 01:05:59.110
think he's a huge, you know, clog in that wheel
1158
01:05:59.130 --> 01:06:01.369
to make sure you can go other places and be
1159
01:06:01.670 --> 01:06:06.269
hugely successful. So, but I mean, I think he's phenomenal here.
1160
01:06:06.289 --> 01:06:06.369
Yeah.
1161
01:06:07.989 --> 01:06:11.380
So I think that he's going to be the first
1162
01:06:11.460 --> 01:06:17.519
huge Japanese star probably in the WWE. It's basically their guy.
1163
01:06:19.860 --> 01:06:22.179
Do you think Hunter's going to have to fight Vince
1164
01:06:22.219 --> 01:06:25.030
to get him to push him the right way? Or
1165
01:06:25.070 --> 01:06:27.110
do you think Vince is going to see something in
1166
01:06:27.150 --> 01:06:29.070
Shinsuke like just about everybody else does?
1167
01:06:29.590 --> 01:06:34.150
Yeah, I just think that it's one of those things...
1168
01:06:34.869 --> 01:06:37.230
you know, it's in him and it's got to get out.
1169
01:06:37.289 --> 01:06:39.949
You know, it's just like, it's like trying, trying to
1170
01:06:39.969 --> 01:06:42.719
hold down Elvis. Yeah. Like he's not going to be
1171
01:06:42.760 --> 01:06:46.820
able to do it. He's just, he's special. Yeah.
1172
01:06:49.340 --> 01:06:52.139
I totally agree. I'm excited to see him. I think
1173
01:06:52.159 --> 01:06:53.139
he can be a difference maker.
1174
01:06:53.159 --> 01:06:53.880
I really do.
1175
01:06:54.480 --> 01:06:54.739
Kevin.
1176
01:06:55.320 --> 01:06:56.159
Yeah, you too.
1177
01:06:56.639 --> 01:06:59.210
I appreciate your time. I know you got to get, get,
1178
01:06:59.250 --> 01:07:02.599
get your workout in and, and And I hope you
1179
01:07:02.840 --> 01:07:05.179
start feeling better after the UK trip. It's always great
1180
01:07:05.199 --> 01:07:06.820
having you on the show. We hit so many, a
1181
01:07:07.179 --> 01:07:08.380
wide range of topics.
1182
01:07:08.480 --> 01:07:09.840
Yeah, absolutely. Really appreciate it.
1183
01:07:12.840 --> 01:07:13.000
Yep.
1184
01:07:13.019 --> 01:07:13.360
Sounds good.
1185
01:07:13.800 --> 01:07:13.980
All right.
1186
01:07:14.000 --> 01:07:15.610
That is Kevin Nash. I know we got people on
1187
01:07:15.639 --> 01:07:16.219
hold and emails.
1188
01:07:16.239 --> 01:07:18.150
We didn't get to, uh, both Kevin and I are
1189
01:07:18.170 --> 01:07:20.210
a little tight on time today in terms of trying
1190
01:07:20.230 --> 01:07:22.829
to run over, um, or, or, you know, trying to
1191
01:07:22.869 --> 01:07:24.550
go past, uh, much past the hour mark.
1192
01:07:24.610 --> 01:07:26.489
So I, uh, appreciate everybody who.
1193
01:07:26.469 --> 01:07:28.369
Emailed, uh, who we got to and didn't get to,
1194
01:07:28.570 --> 01:07:30.349
and hopefully we can get Kevin Nash on again soon.
1195
01:07:31.949 --> 01:07:36.010
and have some more conversation with him. He's always got
1196
01:07:36.050 --> 01:07:38.369
thoughts on what's going on today and obviously has been
1197
01:07:38.389 --> 01:07:40.650
a lot of places and provides a really good perspective
1198
01:07:40.670 --> 01:07:45.730
on things. So that is today's show. Tomorrow in primetime,
1199
01:07:45.750 --> 01:07:48.360
Bruce Mitchell and Travis Bryant. In the meantime, if you
1200
01:07:48.380 --> 01:07:52.739
enjoyed the conversation on CM Punk, check out the fix
1201
01:07:52.860 --> 01:07:55.420
with Todd Martin. We did a lot of conversation on
1202
01:07:55.460 --> 01:07:58.559
CM Punk last night on the two-hour Fix with Todd
1203
01:07:58.599 --> 01:07:59.099
Martin show.
1204
01:07:59.429 --> 01:08:00.929
That is a VIP exclusive show.
1205
01:08:01.170 --> 01:08:04.730
Every Wednesday, Todd and I record for roughly two hours,
1206
01:08:05.050 --> 01:08:09.360
sometimes a little less, sometimes more, and discuss current events
1207
01:08:09.389 --> 01:08:14.460
in wrestling, answer mailbag questions. And he is an in-demand
1208
01:08:15.179 --> 01:08:17.939
writer and analyst in the world of MMA, in addition
1209
01:08:17.979 --> 01:08:20.199
to pro wrestling and his work with Pro Wrestling Torch.
1210
01:08:21.159 --> 01:08:24.850
Just has an article up on SureDog, a top MMA site.
1211
01:08:25.479 --> 01:08:31.130
this week, and he does MMA analysis every week on
1212
01:08:31.170 --> 01:08:32.770
The Fix with Todd Martin. And we talked a lot
1213
01:08:32.789 --> 01:08:34.689
about CM Punk in both Parts 1 and Part 2.
1214
01:08:34.670 --> 01:08:37.090
We reflected on UFC 203 and looked ahead to Fight
1215
01:08:37.130 --> 01:08:39.149
Night coming up this Saturday. You can get even more
1216
01:08:39.189 --> 01:08:41.479
perspective on everything going on in the world of MMA
1217
01:08:41.600 --> 01:08:45.560
every single day at our sister site, mmatorch.com. You can
1218
01:08:45.579 --> 01:08:49.300
also download our app in the Android or iPhone app store.
1219
01:08:49.899 --> 01:08:53.960
Just search mmatorch.com. Encourage you, of course, to check out PWTorch.com
1220
01:08:53.979 --> 01:08:58.850
every day. You can find this show on demand at PWTorchLivecast.com.
1221
01:08:58.890 --> 01:09:03.159
That's PWTorch Livecast. I had a busy day yesterday besides
1222
01:09:03.220 --> 01:09:05.600
two hours of The Fix with Todd Martin. I did
1223
01:09:05.640 --> 01:09:09.189
over an hour with Pat McNeil, a veteran Torch columnist,
1224
01:09:09.859 --> 01:09:12.130
on the midweek edition of the Livecast, and we covered
1225
01:09:12.149 --> 01:09:16.890
a lot of topics, not just Raw and SmackDown and Backlash,
1226
01:09:17.409 --> 01:09:20.409
CM Punk, Cruiserweight Classic. I think we did some Impact
1227
01:09:20.590 --> 01:09:22.289
discussion too and a couple other things.
1228
01:09:22.329 --> 01:09:23.250
So check that out.
1229
01:09:23.489 --> 01:09:25.890
And then the Ron Smackdown postgame show is also available
1230
01:09:25.909 --> 01:09:30.680
to everybody here at PWTorchLivecast.com. If you are not a
1231
01:09:30.720 --> 01:09:33.500
VIP member, you're missing out on a lot of what
1232
01:09:33.560 --> 01:09:35.340
we do. Not just the pics with Todd Martin, but
1233
01:09:35.739 --> 01:09:38.420
the weekend Bruce Mitchell audio show. That's been a centerpiece
1234
01:09:38.539 --> 01:09:43.039
feature of our VIP membership for a dozen years. And
1235
01:09:43.079 --> 01:09:45.319
you also get access to tons of archives, tons of
1236
01:09:45.359 --> 01:09:49.090
other VIP exclusive audio shows, and this livecast. The daily
1237
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livecast is posted on the VIP audio feed, which, by
1238
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the way, is compatible. Once you get your membership password,
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it is compatible with popular podcast apps on Android and
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01:09:56.909 --> 01:09:59.180
iPhone and iTunes, or you can stream it right from
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01:09:59.229 --> 01:10:02.720
your web browser. We've got a tutorial, a Q & A.
1242
01:10:03.800 --> 01:10:05.800
If you have any trouble knowing how to operate apps
1243
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on your phone, we give you recommendations, step-by-step how to subscribe,
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01:10:12.640 --> 01:10:17.020
category or catch-all. We're real flexible. We're real helpful. We'll
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guide you through it if you need any help at all,
1247
01:10:18.819 --> 01:10:21.239
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happen to stumble upon this show and just think you're
1249
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not sure how it would work with a VIP membership.
1250
01:10:27.079 --> 01:10:29.260
It works just as well when you're a VIP member.
1251
01:10:29.739 --> 01:10:31.300
There's just the same way as it does with this show,
1252
01:10:31.380 --> 01:10:34.479
other than you need a password to get that exclusive content.
1253
01:10:34.930 --> 01:10:37.909
Here's some more details on what comes with a VIP membership.
1254
01:10:37.930 --> 01:10:39.529
We'd love to have you as a VIP member. And
1255
01:10:39.569 --> 01:10:42.130
here's more information on how to sign up and what
1256
01:10:42.189 --> 01:10:51.329
comes with said membership. If you're a fan of the
1257
01:10:51.470 --> 01:11:06.560
PW tour. iPhone users, if you're listening to us on
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the native podcast app on your iPhone. You can unlock
1259
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our commercial-free versions of our free shows by searching PWTorch
1260
01:11:14.939 --> 01:11:17.260
in Apple Podcasts. You'll see a charcoal gray logo that
1261
01:11:17.300 --> 01:11:18.760
says PWTorch VIP on it.
1262
01:11:18.880 --> 01:11:19.460
Click on that.
1263
01:11:19.479 --> 01:11:21.880
There's some free samples of VIP shows, and you can
1264
01:11:22.140 --> 01:11:26.010
unlock the entire VIP lineup, which includes VIP exclusives plus
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commercial-free versions of the free shows by searching PWTorch in
1266
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Apple Podcasts and clicking on the PWTorch VIP logo. and
1267
01:11:32.789 --> 01:11:35.069
then activate your three-day free trial. And after that, you
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01:11:35.090 --> 01:11:37.939
can become a VIP member using your Apple account.
1269
01:11:38.020 --> 01:11:38.539
It's that easy.
1270
01:11:38.659 --> 01:11:41.859
Enjoy a streamlined listening experience to our free shows and
1271
01:11:42.100 --> 01:11:45.720
unlock all the VIP exclusives, including our post-pay-per-view roundtables, the
1272
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Wade Keller news bulletins, everything with Rich and Wade, the
1273
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fix that I host with Todd Martin, and a variety
1274
01:11:51.390 --> 01:11:54.869
of other VIP exclusives. Just search PWTorch in your Apple
1275
01:11:54.890 --> 01:11:55.430
Podcast app.
1276
01:12:00.579 --> 01:12:03.300
Good morning, wrestling fans around the world and here in
1277
01:12:03.800 --> 01:12:07.300
the United States. This is Pat McNeil filling in for
1278
01:12:07.359 --> 01:12:10.479
Jim Bally on Saturday Morning Wrestling. Hello, you people. We're
1279
01:12:10.500 --> 01:12:12.300
going to be spending the next, oh, I don't know,
1280
01:12:12.539 --> 01:12:16.279
almost an hour talking about wrestling nostalgia and some current
1281
01:12:16.319 --> 01:12:19.140
wrestling stuff here. And I am joined today by a
1282
01:12:19.220 --> 01:12:22.520
very special guest. He is an announcer for Ring of Honor,
1283
01:12:22.779 --> 01:12:25.600
specifically does a lot of work on the Women of Honor,
1284
01:12:25.680 --> 01:12:28.090
if you get to see any of that on YouTube,
1285
01:12:28.739 --> 01:12:31.989
and has been a guest on the live cast and
1286
01:12:32.010 --> 01:12:35.430
on my podcast on occasions. Please welcome, hold on a moment,
1287
01:12:35.449 --> 01:12:40.890
I need the right musical cue here. Anyway, please welcome Mr.
1288
01:12:41.289 --> 01:12:42.050
Ian Riccoboni.
1289
01:12:42.090 --> 01:12:47.779
Hold on, there we go. That's more like it. How
1290
01:12:47.800 --> 01:12:48.239
you doing, Ian?
1291
01:12:49.100 --> 01:12:52.819
Hey, Pat. I'm doing really, really well. I'm really pumped
1292
01:12:52.880 --> 01:12:56.159
because I heard the old Superstars theme. And, man, did
1293
01:12:56.199 --> 01:12:58.479
that bring up a lot of memories.
1294
01:12:58.680 --> 01:12:59.140
Wow.
1295
01:12:59.859 --> 01:13:01.420
Both good at that.
1296
01:13:02.159 --> 01:13:05.010
Yeah, Honky Tonk Man versus Sam Houston. That was, for
1297
01:13:05.020 --> 01:13:07.689
some reason, that was the first thing that came to mind.
1298
01:13:08.289 --> 01:13:09.489
Wow, that stuck out, huh?
1299
01:13:10.510 --> 01:13:10.949
Yeah.
1300
01:13:11.069 --> 01:13:11.630
Oh, yeah.
1301
01:13:11.649 --> 01:13:12.109
That was very.
1302
01:13:12.810 --> 01:13:14.739
very big in my impressionable mind growing up.
1303
01:13:16.920 --> 01:13:19.140
Okay, so the number, for those of you looking to
1304
01:13:19.159 --> 01:13:21.760
call in and talk to us, is... Hold on a moment.
1305
01:13:22.319 --> 01:13:23.880
There's a new number, and there's a lot of fives
1306
01:13:23.939 --> 01:13:26.159
in it, so I'm going to try to... Oh, jeez,
1307
01:13:26.859 --> 01:13:28.279
this is going to take a lot of money. Anyway,
1308
01:13:28.319 --> 01:13:32.220
our topics today are... Our topics today, we decided in
1309
01:13:32.260 --> 01:13:34.560
honor of backlash that we would be taking a look
1310
01:13:34.600 --> 01:13:37.479
at B-shows. You know, if you've If you know what
1311
01:13:37.520 --> 01:13:39.600
a B-show is, it's when you go to a show
1312
01:13:40.359 --> 01:13:43.140
and the A crew from whatever promotion you like is
1313
01:13:43.239 --> 01:13:46.939
not there, and you're getting some wrestlers who perhaps haven't
1314
01:13:46.960 --> 01:13:48.970
won as many titles or seen as many main events,
1315
01:13:49.050 --> 01:13:53.149
and those can oftentimes be fun. And another topic we're
1316
01:13:53.170 --> 01:13:55.350
going to look at is all the stuff that got
1317
01:13:55.430 --> 01:13:58.989
added to WWE Network this week, including the last Battle
1318
01:13:59.010 --> 01:14:01.840
of Atlanta. And, Ian, I hate to admit it, but
1319
01:14:02.140 --> 01:14:04.539
at the time the last battle in Atlanta was taking place,
1320
01:14:04.600 --> 01:14:06.100
I'm pretty sure that I was one of the people
1321
01:14:06.119 --> 01:14:09.319
who thought Jimmy Snuka versus Don Morocco was as big
1322
01:14:09.359 --> 01:14:11.579
as it gets. So I'm going to be looking to
1323
01:14:11.619 --> 01:14:15.390
you for some guidance here. Yeah, but anyway, and Bruce Mitchell,
1324
01:14:15.409 --> 01:14:16.970
I know, plans to cover it in detail.
1325
01:14:17.130 --> 01:14:23.760
Yeah, I grew up in Allentown, so Philadelphia, Morocco, Snuka,
1326
01:14:24.079 --> 01:14:26.890
for us, that wasn't as big as it gets. you know,
1327
01:14:26.909 --> 01:14:28.789
it was cool to go back about, what is it,
1328
01:14:28.789 --> 01:14:32.189
33 years later, and then kind of relive all of
1329
01:14:32.229 --> 01:14:34.390
the amazing last Battle of Atlanta stuff, so.
1330
01:14:35.750 --> 01:14:35.970
Right.
1331
01:14:36.449 --> 01:14:41.100
Okay, the phone number for people calling in, 515-605-9345. Also,
1332
01:14:41.140 --> 01:14:43.699
the chat room is open. I know people, I know
1333
01:14:43.779 --> 01:14:45.840
some of you listeners are surprised when the chat room's
1334
01:14:45.899 --> 01:14:48.560
open during one of these shows, but it does happen here.
1335
01:14:49.119 --> 01:14:51.000
I can check email, but I don't know how many
1336
01:14:51.020 --> 01:14:53.840
we're going to get, and I'll try to check on
1337
01:14:53.880 --> 01:14:56.819
Twitter in a minute at RealPatMcNeil, but that's That's what
1338
01:14:56.840 --> 01:15:00.500
we're going with here today. Just a lot of stuff
1339
01:15:00.520 --> 01:15:02.439
that got dumped here on the network. I might just
1340
01:15:02.460 --> 01:15:04.010
have to pull up the network here and look at it.
1341
01:15:04.800 --> 01:15:06.800
One which I'm hoping to get to, which I haven't
1342
01:15:06.840 --> 01:15:10.220
gotten to yet, is Luthez against Ray Gunkel, which, while
1343
01:15:10.239 --> 01:15:13.399
it's not exactly the last battle of Atlanta, Ray Gunkel
1344
01:15:13.439 --> 01:15:16.590
was involved in a battle of Atlanta at some point
1345
01:15:16.850 --> 01:15:22.489
before that. And Bob Backlund versus Harley Race, which, you know,
1346
01:15:22.529 --> 01:15:25.670
that's going to be... That's going to be interesting, them
1347
01:15:25.710 --> 01:15:27.770
going about, I think, over a half hour there.
1348
01:15:29.350 --> 01:15:32.949
Yeah, and a lot of just the appearance of this
1349
01:15:32.970 --> 01:15:36.710
stuff on the WWE Network is exciting for longtime fans
1350
01:15:36.729 --> 01:15:41.109
like myself. I wasn't exactly a tape trader, but I
1351
01:15:41.189 --> 01:15:43.489
did try and accumulate all of the things that I
1352
01:15:43.529 --> 01:15:46.449
could growing up on tape. And you would go to
1353
01:15:46.489 --> 01:15:49.550
these different baseball card shows or events that might have
1354
01:15:50.069 --> 01:15:54.590
folks selling wrestling figures or memorabilia. And so anytime that
1355
01:15:54.810 --> 01:15:58.130
I found something that wasn't from the Philadelphia or New
1356
01:15:58.149 --> 01:16:01.329
York area, it was so exciting. And I'm getting that
1357
01:16:01.390 --> 01:16:05.220
feeling again when all this stuff gets put on there.
1358
01:16:05.260 --> 01:16:07.699
And it gives us hope that some of the other
1359
01:16:08.039 --> 01:16:11.479
kind of holy grails of pro wrestling might actually eventually
1360
01:16:11.520 --> 01:16:15.619
turn up. Because I personally thought the last battle of
1361
01:16:15.699 --> 01:16:19.029
Atlanta was gone. It didn't exist. I mean, it's been
1362
01:16:19.029 --> 01:16:22.640
33 years. I follow some of the other lost media accounts. uh,
1363
01:16:22.760 --> 01:16:24.939
whether it be films or records or things like that.
1364
01:16:25.300 --> 01:16:27.880
And rarely do you find what you're actually looking for
1365
01:16:28.819 --> 01:16:31.880
as stupid as that sounds. Uh, but so this is
1366
01:16:31.920 --> 01:16:34.079
just an amazing development and I think it lived up
1367
01:16:34.460 --> 01:16:37.119
to the, the hype. I really, really enjoyed it.
1368
01:16:37.579 --> 01:16:37.819
Yeah.
1369
01:16:37.920 --> 01:16:39.399
And some of the other stuff that's on here, it,
1370
01:16:39.680 --> 01:16:41.779
I wouldn't call it so much hidden gems. It's stuff that,
1371
01:16:41.819 --> 01:16:44.939
you know, you, you knew existed like, you know, Brett, like, uh,
1372
01:16:45.010 --> 01:16:47.810
Bret Hart versus Terry Funk, uh, from the, from one
1373
01:16:47.819 --> 01:16:51.920
of Funk's retirement shows. And, uh, Another one, yeah, The
1374
01:16:51.939 --> 01:16:58.010
Undertaker versus Unabomb from Smoky Mountain. But it's just amazing.
1375
01:16:58.189 --> 01:17:02.289
It's still amazing to see them in as close to
1376
01:17:02.310 --> 01:17:03.750
their original condition as you're going to get.
1377
01:17:05.090 --> 01:17:07.630
Right, and I think that was the most amazing thing
1378
01:17:07.670 --> 01:17:11.890
about WWE Network when it first launched was I remember
1379
01:17:11.909 --> 01:17:14.050
going to the video stores and running the Wrestling Classic
1380
01:17:14.449 --> 01:17:17.289
and Survivor Series 87 or 88.
1381
01:17:17.289 --> 01:17:17.609
Oh, yeah.
1382
01:17:17.829 --> 01:17:20.050
And by the time I was seeing those, they were
1383
01:17:20.069 --> 01:17:21.930
already a few years old, and the tapes had been
1384
01:17:21.970 --> 01:17:25.449
played over and over and over again, and you wouldn't
1385
01:17:25.489 --> 01:17:28.659
get great quality. So that, as the nerd in me,
1386
01:17:28.699 --> 01:17:33.460
is also just routinely amazed by what's on there and
1387
01:17:33.520 --> 01:17:35.800
how nice of quality it's in because it's coming from
1388
01:17:35.819 --> 01:17:37.460
the masters in a lot of cases.
1389
01:17:38.159 --> 01:17:41.250
Well, we are going to take a break here. When
1390
01:17:41.289 --> 01:17:43.829
we come back, we'll be talking a lot more nostalgia
1391
01:17:43.890 --> 01:17:47.109
and a lot more wrestling. Go ahead and call someone
1392
01:17:47.439 --> 01:17:49.359
and place a call yourself while you're at it.
1393
01:17:49.359 --> 01:17:49.420
515-605-9345.
1394
01:17:49.460 --> 01:17:51.840
We'll take a break, and we will be right back
1395
01:17:51.899 --> 01:18:15.680
after this timeout. And we're back with more Saturday Morning
1396
01:18:15.720 --> 01:18:19.210
Wrestling here on the PWTorch Livecast, joined by Ian Riccoboni
1397
01:18:19.409 --> 01:18:23.710
of Ring of Honor. Ian, before we settle down to business,
1398
01:18:23.729 --> 01:18:27.810
let's talk about some old business. A lot of big
1399
01:18:27.850 --> 01:18:30.329
shows for Ring of Honor in the month of August,
1400
01:18:30.449 --> 01:18:34.439
including the one in Brooklyn. And that's up on Video
1401
01:18:34.460 --> 01:18:36.720
On Demand right now. What was your favorite part of
1402
01:18:36.739 --> 01:18:37.600
the past few weeks here?
1403
01:18:37.899 --> 01:18:40.020
Oh, geez, it's been a whirlwind. You know, being with
1404
01:18:40.039 --> 01:18:43.039
the stars of New Japan is something that I kind
1405
01:18:43.079 --> 01:18:46.100
of never imagined would happen to me. Um, you know,
1406
01:18:46.140 --> 01:18:48.960
just because of physical distance and things like that, I
1407
01:18:49.020 --> 01:18:50.880
know with ring of honor, we're the best wrestling on
1408
01:18:50.899 --> 01:18:53.579
the planet, but that relationship has been amazing because it's
1409
01:18:53.640 --> 01:18:56.619
opened up opportunities for not only the wrestlers, but for
1410
01:18:56.720 --> 01:19:00.149
commentators like myself, Kevin Kelly, Steve Carino, um, Kevin and
1411
01:19:00.189 --> 01:19:02.590
Steve go over and call some of the, the larger
1412
01:19:02.649 --> 01:19:05.010
live events with new Japan, which has been amazing.
1413
01:19:05.029 --> 01:19:06.069
They do a great job.
1414
01:19:06.170 --> 01:19:08.840
And, You know, for me to be able to kind
1415
01:19:08.859 --> 01:19:11.180
of interact with some of the New Japan talents and to,
1416
01:19:11.199 --> 01:19:14.039
you know, be involved in some of those matches as
1417
01:19:14.100 --> 01:19:16.689
well has just been kind of a, you know, a
1418
01:19:16.699 --> 01:19:19.510
dream come true. And the big thing for me, though,
1419
01:19:19.550 --> 01:19:21.250
the thing that I'm most proud of is that Field
1420
01:19:21.289 --> 01:19:23.710
of Honor, we had our very first ever Women of
1421
01:19:23.750 --> 01:19:27.090
Honor match at a Field of Honor event. And for
1422
01:19:27.149 --> 01:19:30.380
me to kind of see the seed planted about a
1423
01:19:30.520 --> 01:19:32.939
year ago or a little over a year ago, and
1424
01:19:32.960 --> 01:19:36.680
then for it to have grown to have a television special. um,
1425
01:19:37.029 --> 01:19:40.079
the most watched ring of honor video on YouTube, um,
1426
01:19:40.699 --> 01:19:43.520
video on demand, special, uh, a live event, women of
1427
01:19:43.560 --> 01:19:44.579
honor only in Baltimore.
1428
01:19:44.600 --> 01:19:46.180
Uh, it's just incredible.
1429
01:19:46.239 --> 01:19:49.100
And we keep adding and at a very nice natural
1430
01:19:49.199 --> 01:19:52.680
pace of how women of honor is growing. So, you know,
1431
01:19:52.800 --> 01:19:55.279
while it's amazing and it's always awesome to, to be
1432
01:19:55.300 --> 01:19:58.420
in the same room as Tanahashi and Jay Briscoe, Jay lethal,
1433
01:19:58.460 --> 01:20:00.680
things like that. And to be able to call some
1434
01:20:00.720 --> 01:20:03.640
of that action to me, the thing that I'm most
1435
01:20:03.699 --> 01:20:05.689
excited about is the women of honor and, and how,
1436
01:20:06.670 --> 01:20:10.260
fast and nicely that it's grown into something that people
1437
01:20:10.279 --> 01:20:17.680
are excited about. For me, pay-per-view, that's terrific, but just
1438
01:20:17.800 --> 01:20:19.619
to be out there with the women of honor has
1439
01:20:19.640 --> 01:20:20.279
been something else.
1440
01:20:22.079 --> 01:20:25.220
I can understand that. Some very talented women there. Let's
1441
01:20:25.260 --> 01:20:26.979
go to the telephones. We're going to kick things off
1442
01:20:27.020 --> 01:20:30.520
in the 704 area code. 704, please state your name
1443
01:20:30.560 --> 01:20:32.300
and town. You're on Saturday Morning Wrestling.
1444
01:20:33.279 --> 01:20:33.510
Hello.
1445
01:20:34.819 --> 01:20:35.279
Hey, Pat.
1446
01:20:35.300 --> 01:20:36.390
It's Brian in Charlotte.
1447
01:20:36.399 --> 01:20:37.020
How you doing?
1448
01:20:37.390 --> 01:20:38.550
Doing good, Brian. How are you?
1449
01:20:39.750 --> 01:20:40.250
I'm good.
1450
01:20:40.449 --> 01:20:42.010
When you first brought up the topic of the Battle
1451
01:20:42.029 --> 01:20:44.229
of Atlanta, I got real excited, but we might be
1452
01:20:44.270 --> 01:20:47.189
on different trajectories because to me, the last Battle of
1453
01:20:47.270 --> 01:20:50.649
Atlanta was Tommy Rich versus Buzz Sawyer in what I
1454
01:20:50.689 --> 01:20:53.930
think was the first enclosed cage match in NWA history.
1455
01:20:54.800 --> 01:20:56.840
And it was just, I remember the buildup to that
1456
01:20:57.000 --> 01:20:59.640
match being just so strong, and I think it was
1457
01:20:59.680 --> 01:21:02.279
the highlight of both guys' careers. So I was wondering
1458
01:21:02.300 --> 01:21:04.550
if you were still thinking of that also, or just
1459
01:21:04.569 --> 01:21:05.750
the WWE product?
1460
01:21:07.010 --> 01:21:09.890
That is actually what's up on WWE Network, that match,
1461
01:21:10.430 --> 01:21:13.670
the last bout in Atlanta in the Hidden Gems area. So, yeah,
1462
01:21:13.689 --> 01:21:14.949
we are going to be talking about that.
1463
01:21:16.409 --> 01:21:16.750
Excellent.
1464
01:21:16.789 --> 01:21:20.189
Well, what memories do you have of it, Brian?
1465
01:21:21.310 --> 01:21:23.189
I just remember that I was a high school kid.
1466
01:21:23.329 --> 01:21:26.300
I remember the buildup to the match. I remember that
1467
01:21:26.439 --> 01:21:29.680
everybody just wanted to see Tommy Rich just absolutely destroy
1468
01:21:29.760 --> 01:21:32.850
Buzz Sawyer. And then, you know, I live in Charlotte,
1469
01:21:32.869 --> 01:21:34.229
so I didn't get a chance to go to the Omni,
1470
01:21:34.250 --> 01:21:36.199
but I just remember hearing about what a bloodbath it
1471
01:21:36.239 --> 01:21:38.479
was and what a great match it was and how
1472
01:21:38.500 --> 01:21:40.079
it just really drained both of the guys, but it
1473
01:21:40.119 --> 01:21:42.140
was really one of the highlights for the Georgia territory.
1474
01:21:44.479 --> 01:21:48.079
Yeah, and it's, I mean, part of the appeal of
1475
01:21:48.159 --> 01:21:50.649
it is that it was, you know, Georgia Championship Wrestling
1476
01:21:50.670 --> 01:21:52.890
at the time, that was on TBS, and it was
1477
01:21:52.949 --> 01:21:57.489
getting viewed, you know, across the country for those people
1478
01:21:57.550 --> 01:21:58.930
who actually had cable back then.
1479
01:22:00.890 --> 01:22:04.750
Yeah, absolutely.
1480
01:22:04.770 --> 01:22:07.750
Brian, can I ask, have you been able to watch
1481
01:22:07.810 --> 01:22:10.390
it yet? And if you have, is it something that
1482
01:22:11.069 --> 01:22:13.289
lived up to your expectations as someone who lived through
1483
01:22:13.310 --> 01:22:13.729
the buildup?
1484
01:22:14.979 --> 01:22:17.579
I actually don't subscribe to WWE Network, so no, I
1485
01:22:17.600 --> 01:22:18.060
have not been.
1486
01:22:18.000 --> 01:22:18.539
Able to watch it.
1487
01:22:19.699 --> 01:22:20.100
Ah, okay.
1488
01:22:21.319 --> 01:22:25.180
It's something else. It's something, you know, it's better than I,
1489
01:22:25.520 --> 01:22:27.199
in a lot of ways, it's better than I expected.
1490
01:22:27.380 --> 01:22:30.109
I was a little worried that you know, the hype
1491
01:22:30.149 --> 01:22:31.850
around it had to do with the fact that it
1492
01:22:31.930 --> 01:22:35.550
had been lost and just hadn't been located. But it's
1493
01:22:35.569 --> 01:22:38.489
something for me that actually, you know, it was definitely
1494
01:22:38.529 --> 01:22:42.010
worth it to pour the subscription to finally see it.
1495
01:22:42.510 --> 01:22:45.409
And so that, you know, I'm curious, I'm really curious
1496
01:22:45.810 --> 01:22:47.819
for someone who kind of lived through the buildup and
1497
01:22:47.859 --> 01:22:50.720
whatnot to know, you know, if it had lived up
1498
01:22:50.779 --> 01:22:54.039
to what, you know, what they expected. Because for me,
1499
01:22:54.060 --> 01:22:57.479
it was just this amazing kind of bloodbath. And I
1500
01:22:57.520 --> 01:22:59.390
think the best part for me was oldie Anderson and
1501
01:22:59.430 --> 01:23:03.609
then Paul Ellering at the end. That was even just
1502
01:23:03.670 --> 01:23:05.149
as good as Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer.
1503
01:23:05.189 --> 01:23:07.930
But yeah, I believe for Paul Ellering, it was the
1504
01:23:07.949 --> 01:23:09.609
first time they'd really put a manager in the cage
1505
01:23:09.670 --> 01:23:11.310
also wasn't to keep him from interfering.
1506
01:23:13.069 --> 01:23:13.949
That sounds right.
1507
01:23:14.010 --> 01:23:14.350
Yeah.
1508
01:23:15.689 --> 01:23:15.970
Yeah.
1509
01:23:16.010 --> 01:23:18.170
So I'll, I'll YouTube it and go back and I'll
1510
01:23:18.189 --> 01:23:20.460
YouTube it and go back and watch it. But I,
1511
01:23:20.720 --> 01:23:22.920
I've just heard that that's one of the greatest matches
1512
01:23:22.960 --> 01:23:24.859
in NWA history. Now I don't know where it actually
1513
01:23:24.899 --> 01:23:27.359
stands in the pantheon of matches, but I know it
1514
01:23:27.380 --> 01:23:29.760
still gets a lot of talk, even today, like you said.
1515
01:23:30.939 --> 01:23:33.399
Well, I queued it up on the network, and I'm
1516
01:23:33.539 --> 01:23:35.550
looking at it now. I've got the sound down, but
1517
01:23:37.050 --> 01:23:39.850
there's the cage. There's fencing on top of the cage.
1518
01:23:40.989 --> 01:23:43.770
Buzz Sawyer pulling at the fencing, trying to get out,
1519
01:23:43.829 --> 01:23:46.609
and you can see Paul Ellering hanging in a cage
1520
01:23:46.649 --> 01:23:48.670
above the ring. Well, not above, off to the side
1521
01:23:48.689 --> 01:23:52.250
a little bit, but yeah. I'm just, you know, the, yeah,
1522
01:23:52.270 --> 01:23:54.739
I mean, it, it looks distinctive, but it's definitely not a,
1523
01:23:55.109 --> 01:23:58.609
I don't remember seeing anybody do a cage that exact way.
1524
01:23:58.670 --> 01:24:02.210
So yeah, it's interesting. And this, and they got at
1525
01:24:02.250 --> 01:24:04.609
the bottom of the cement was originally recorded without announcers.
1526
01:24:04.729 --> 01:24:07.479
So we're not going to get announcers, which is probably
1527
01:24:07.529 --> 01:24:09.920
fine because I've seen some of the things, some of
1528
01:24:09.960 --> 01:24:12.880
the old DVDs back a decade ago when the WWE
1529
01:24:13.199 --> 01:24:16.420
decided to put announcers underneath old matches and, you know,
1530
01:24:16.829 --> 01:24:19.180
Todd Grisham calling New Japan probably not the best move,
1531
01:24:19.229 --> 01:24:19.939
as I had noted.
1532
01:24:19.760 --> 01:24:22.439
At the time. I agree.
1533
01:24:22.460 --> 01:24:24.159
Well, I look forward to hearing what some of the
1534
01:24:24.180 --> 01:24:26.649
other callers saw who have actually seen the match. Thank
1535
01:24:26.689 --> 01:24:27.310
you for your time.
1536
01:24:28.170 --> 01:24:29.470
Hey, no problem. Glad to do it.
1537
01:24:31.260 --> 01:24:33.359
Admit it, you love Nick Barbatti when he co-hosts with
1538
01:24:33.399 --> 01:24:35.140
me on the Wade Keller Post Shows. Well, now you
1539
01:24:35.159 --> 01:24:37.439
can listen to him every week on the Nicky's Club,
1540
01:24:37.500 --> 01:24:40.550
a VIP exclusive podcast. Here's Nick to tell you more.
1541
01:24:40.659 --> 01:24:43.109
Hey, wrestling fans. It's Nick Barbatti, and I'm back with
1542
01:24:43.130 --> 01:24:45.210
the Nicky's Club, the place where the family of Nicky's
1543
01:24:45.270 --> 01:24:48.170
comes together for big laughs and sharp takes on WWE.
1544
01:24:48.270 --> 01:24:51.170
From WrestleMania rumors to surprise returns, I got you covered.
1545
01:24:51.329 --> 01:24:53.529
The Nicky's Club, where the wrestling feels like the coolest
1546
01:24:53.550 --> 01:24:54.130
club in town.
1547
01:24:54.350 --> 01:24:56.149
Nick Barbatti wants to be part of your pro wrestling
1548
01:24:56.170 --> 01:24:58.260
life every week, so... Why not let him?
1549
01:24:58.380 --> 01:24:59.180
GoVIP.
1550
01:24:59.319 --> 01:25:03.359
PWTorch.com slash GoVIP for full details on signing up. We're
1551
01:25:03.380 --> 01:25:06.859
compatible with Patreon, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and just about any
1552
01:25:06.880 --> 01:25:08.899
other iOS or Android app out there. You can also
1553
01:25:08.939 --> 01:25:11.979
stream directly from our ad-free VIP website. The Nicky's Club,
1554
01:25:12.000 --> 01:25:14.779
waiting for you every week at PWTorch VIP.
1555
01:25:16.899 --> 01:25:18.850
All right, Brian drops off. That opens up a line
1556
01:25:18.890 --> 01:25:19.250
for you.
1557
01:25:19.270 --> 01:25:22.960
515-605-9345. uh.
1558
01:25:23.000 --> 01:25:24.619
but uh... yeah i mean i i i a lot
1559
01:25:24.659 --> 01:25:26.039
of it but i i think you know had to
1560
01:25:26.079 --> 01:25:27.279
do with it had to do with the build-up of
1561
01:25:27.319 --> 01:25:28.680
the match it had to do with the fact that
1562
01:25:28.720 --> 01:25:30.699
there you know from what i heard there was a
1563
01:25:30.720 --> 01:25:32.600
there was a lot of blood uh.
1564
01:25:33.500 --> 01:25:34.020
and uh.
1565
01:25:34.060 --> 01:25:35.779
you know this was that this is definitely the high
1566
01:25:35.810 --> 01:25:38.970
point both of their careers you buzz sawyer uh... yeah
1567
01:25:39.649 --> 01:25:41.590
i mean that does or not back up to the
1568
01:25:41.649 --> 01:25:44.090
nicest guy ever he'd be a he uh... he died
1569
01:25:44.130 --> 01:25:49.229
at the age of uh... thirty-two yeah after yeah and uh...
1570
01:25:49.170 --> 01:25:52.810
that tommy rich uh... I mean, Tommy Rich never really
1571
01:25:52.949 --> 01:25:56.050
got to the main event level outside of Georgia.
1572
01:25:57.350 --> 01:26:00.210
Well, he did end up with the WCW six-man tag
1573
01:26:00.229 --> 01:26:03.079
team championship. That's true.
1574
01:26:03.199 --> 01:26:04.060
Cheap plug.
1575
01:26:04.119 --> 01:26:05.359
I shouldn't disregard that.
1576
01:26:06.659 --> 01:26:08.859
Ring of Honor will be introducing its first six-man tag
1577
01:26:08.880 --> 01:26:12.390
team championships coming up on our pay-per-view on September 30th,
1578
01:26:12.439 --> 01:26:17.399
All-Star Extravaganza 8. Uh, but Buzz, the most interesting, interesting
1579
01:26:17.420 --> 01:26:20.199
thing about Buzz Sawyer to me is his quick cup
1580
01:26:20.239 --> 01:26:24.600
of coffee. He had WWF and I believe it was 1985. Um,
1581
01:26:24.640 --> 01:26:26.260
right around the time, I think it was right around
1582
01:26:26.279 --> 01:26:31.800
the time of the first WrestleMania. Somebody can surely correct me, but, um, they.
1583
01:26:31.039 --> 01:26:33.439
Were hiring everybody. So yeah.
1584
01:26:33.819 --> 01:26:34.180
Yeah.
1585
01:26:34.199 --> 01:26:36.020
He was a blink and you'll miss some guy. He
1586
01:26:36.039 --> 01:26:39.079
was on, uh, you know, she had superstars one. It
1587
01:26:41.979 --> 01:26:42.939
seemed to be gone the next.
1588
01:26:42.970 --> 01:26:43.550
Yeah. Okay.
1589
01:26:44.750 --> 01:26:47.189
I think I lost phone connection for a second there,
1590
01:26:47.229 --> 01:26:49.569
but I think we're good. Let's go ahead and take
1591
01:26:49.609 --> 01:26:53.109
another call. We're going to go to the 240 area code. 240,
1592
01:26:53.109 --> 01:26:55.529
please state your name and town. You're on Saturday Morning Wrestling.
1593
01:26:57.180 --> 01:26:57.899
There we go.
1594
01:26:58.340 --> 01:26:58.779
Hello.
1595
01:26:58.880 --> 01:27:00.279
This is Ryan from Crumlin, Maryland.
1596
01:27:00.979 --> 01:27:01.460
Hello, Ryan.
1597
01:27:01.479 --> 01:27:01.979
How are you doing?
1598
01:27:03.000 --> 01:27:03.220
Good.
1599
01:27:03.899 --> 01:27:06.119
My question for you is a Ring of Honor question.
1600
01:27:06.720 --> 01:27:09.399
Do you know what Mandy Leanne is doing when she
1601
01:27:09.439 --> 01:27:11.199
does the triangle with the eye? A lot of people
1602
01:27:11.220 --> 01:27:14.090
think that's Illuminati, but does that mean something else?
1603
01:27:17.810 --> 01:27:24.100
Yeah, so Mandy's very mysterious, and I do think perhaps
1604
01:27:24.409 --> 01:27:28.579
that's some of the imagery that she's trying to convey.
1605
01:27:28.600 --> 01:27:31.300
I do think maybe it does have to do with
1606
01:27:31.340 --> 01:27:36.180
the all-seeing eye. Mandy is very proud of her background,
1607
01:27:36.300 --> 01:27:44.979
and she incorporates a lot of the nomadic-type spirit um, and,
1608
01:27:45.279 --> 01:27:46.720
and things into her character.
1609
01:27:47.520 --> 01:27:52.729
Um, we call that. I'm sorry.
1610
01:27:53.750 --> 01:27:57.949
No, well, to say for sure, I don't know for sure, but, um,
1611
01:27:58.109 --> 01:28:01.409
I do, I do know that that's a, uh, supposedly
1612
01:28:01.430 --> 01:28:03.489
I've watched it, watched YouTube videos. I do know that
1613
01:28:03.590 --> 01:28:07.619
that's the symbol of the all seeing eye as well. And, uh,
1614
01:28:07.699 --> 01:28:10.079
I'll have to ask her about that. That's a great question. Um,
1615
01:28:10.739 --> 01:28:12.279
And I know it's on her shirts as well on
1616
01:28:12.300 --> 01:28:16.119
Pro Wrestling Tees. And I've known Mandy for so long
1617
01:28:16.159 --> 01:28:18.260
now that I never had thought to ask her about it.
1618
01:28:18.420 --> 01:28:22.539
But it's definitely something that's an interesting part of who
1619
01:28:22.579 --> 01:28:22.960
she is.
1620
01:28:25.380 --> 01:28:27.619
Also, he's not giving out Mandy's cell phone number. We've
1621
01:28:27.659 --> 01:28:31.170
all asked for that. I'm sorry.
1622
01:28:31.210 --> 01:28:32.869
Oh, you think she gave it to me? No, I
1623
01:28:32.890 --> 01:28:35.829
don't even have it. Okay.
1624
01:28:36.569 --> 01:28:39.909
Well, there you go. All right, next question.
1625
01:28:40.390 --> 01:28:40.569
Right.
1626
01:28:40.609 --> 01:28:41.329
Anything else, Ryan?
1627
01:28:42.310 --> 01:28:44.100
Yeah, my second question is, do you see any other
1628
01:28:44.180 --> 01:28:47.260
old-school wrestlers coming to Ring of Honor besides Kevin Sullivan?
1629
01:28:48.600 --> 01:28:49.199
Oh, man.
1630
01:28:49.460 --> 01:28:52.199
So that's a great question. You know, Ring of Honor
1631
01:28:52.340 --> 01:28:56.319
is an amazing locker room, and, you know, Kevin Sullivan
1632
01:28:56.340 --> 01:28:58.460
has found a way to link himself up with, with
1633
01:28:58.500 --> 01:29:02.899
BJ Whitmer and Steve Carino. And, um, my answer is,
1634
01:29:02.960 --> 01:29:06.130
I hope so. Um, you know, as strange as Kevin
1635
01:29:06.170 --> 01:29:10.270
Sullivan can be, uh, he, you can also learn quite
1636
01:29:10.310 --> 01:29:13.149
a bit, uh, from Kevin Sullivan. And it was definitely
1637
01:29:13.170 --> 01:29:16.109
a personal career highlight to be able to do an
1638
01:29:16.149 --> 01:29:19.630
interview with him, you know, for the, and call a
1639
01:29:19.649 --> 01:29:21.010
match that he ended up being a part of on
1640
01:29:21.050 --> 01:29:25.350
the pay-per-view the, uh, So, you know, I know that
1641
01:29:25.670 --> 01:29:27.590
in the past, you know, Jerry Lynn has been a
1642
01:29:27.609 --> 01:29:29.869
big part of our organization, both as a wrestler and
1643
01:29:29.949 --> 01:29:33.270
as somebody who comes back, you know, perhaps he isn't
1644
01:29:33.350 --> 01:29:36.609
as old school as Kevin Sullivan. But, you know, I
1645
01:29:36.649 --> 01:29:38.789
would hope so. You know, we have a very inclusive
1646
01:29:38.829 --> 01:29:43.949
locker room and, you know, we always welcome folks who
1647
01:29:43.970 --> 01:29:46.520
come back. My favorite my favorite person that has come
1648
01:29:46.560 --> 01:29:47.939
around a bit is Bobby Eaton.
1649
01:29:48.649 --> 01:29:49.550
Um, Bobby.
1650
01:29:49.850 --> 01:29:51.189
Oh yeah.
1651
01:29:51.210 --> 01:29:51.729
Great guy.
1652
01:29:51.829 --> 01:29:52.260
Yeah.
1653
01:29:52.479 --> 01:29:55.300
Just amazing, amazing guy. And he makes you feel like
1654
01:29:55.319 --> 01:29:57.880
you're the biggest deal in the world. Um, when for
1655
01:29:57.939 --> 01:30:00.159
me and, and for, you know, I was standing with,
1656
01:30:00.279 --> 01:30:03.039
with Jay and Mark Briscoe and, um, we did a
1657
01:30:03.079 --> 01:30:05.420
double take. It was, he just, he was just, you know,
1658
01:30:05.460 --> 01:30:08.729
walking by and, um, he's being introduced by, by the
1659
01:30:08.770 --> 01:30:12.529
person that had brought him. And, uh, we just almost
1660
01:30:12.569 --> 01:30:14.010
lost it. We thought it was the coolest thing in
1661
01:30:14.029 --> 01:30:16.619
the world that Bobby Eaton came by. So, Every once
1662
01:30:16.659 --> 01:30:21.289
in a while, some of the legendary folks, legendary wrestlers
1663
01:30:21.310 --> 01:30:24.350
stop by and share some knowledge or just take in
1664
01:30:24.369 --> 01:30:26.529
the show. You never know who's going to pop up,
1665
01:30:26.689 --> 01:30:29.850
but I certainly hope so because I learned more from
1666
01:30:29.890 --> 01:30:32.850
Bobby Eaton in five seconds than I had in a
1667
01:30:32.869 --> 01:30:35.850
couple months before that. So I certainly hope folks like
1668
01:30:35.869 --> 01:30:39.619
Kevin Sullivan, Bobby Eaton, and so on continue to swing by.
1669
01:30:39.640 --> 01:30:43.859
Okay.
1670
01:30:43.880 --> 01:30:44.420
Anything else, Ryan?
1671
01:30:45.529 --> 01:30:47.670
And my final question is, are you the only student
1672
01:30:47.729 --> 01:30:50.560
that's threatening to walk out of Penn State over the
1673
01:30:50.619 --> 01:30:53.779
Jay Paterno issue, or more than just you?
1674
01:30:55.199 --> 01:30:58.359
You know, I don't know for sure. I really respect
1675
01:30:58.659 --> 01:31:03.039
Penn State as an educational institute, and all my experiences
1676
01:31:03.100 --> 01:31:07.199
with the faculty and such have been great. And, you know,
1677
01:31:07.220 --> 01:31:10.319
I wouldn't have selected Penn State for my post-grad stuff
1678
01:31:10.479 --> 01:31:14.279
if I hadn't, you know, done my research and whatnot. Um,
1679
01:31:14.500 --> 01:31:17.539
I did see a few articles pop up in terms
1680
01:31:17.720 --> 01:31:22.159
of other folks that, that may be thinking the same thing, but, um,
1681
01:31:22.439 --> 01:31:23.869
you know, but at this time, you know, I'm just,
1682
01:31:24.369 --> 01:31:27.369
just focused on my, my post-grad stuff. And, uh, I
1683
01:31:27.390 --> 01:31:29.770
think I'll root for the university of Pennsylvania right now,
1684
01:31:29.829 --> 01:31:33.529
instead of Penn State, because, uh, you know, Penn's got
1685
01:31:33.550 --> 01:31:35.970
a good shot and that's, that's my graduate alma mater. My,
1686
01:31:36.550 --> 01:31:39.810
my undergrad alma mater, NYU, um, they, they don't have
1687
01:31:39.850 --> 01:31:44.470
a football team. So they're, they're leaving me, uh, It
1688
01:31:44.489 --> 01:31:47.260
would leave me empty at the altar. But, yeah, I
1689
01:31:47.319 --> 01:31:50.800
respect Penn State as an educational institute. I respect the
1690
01:31:50.819 --> 01:31:53.840
football team as well. I just wish that, you know,
1691
01:31:53.859 --> 01:31:56.960
they would recognize the accomplishments of maybe the students that
1692
01:31:56.979 --> 01:31:58.430
have played on the football team instead.
1693
01:31:58.439 --> 01:31:59.550
Fair enough.
1694
01:32:00.689 --> 01:32:01.229
Okay, Ryan.
1695
01:32:02.289 --> 01:32:02.890
Yeah, thanks, Pat.
1696
01:32:02.909 --> 01:32:03.390
Thanks again.
1697
01:32:04.329 --> 01:32:04.770
Oh, thank you.
1698
01:32:04.789 --> 01:32:07.869
No problem. All right, Ryan drops off. That opens up
1699
01:32:07.930 --> 01:32:12.590
a line for you at 515-605-9345. We are due for
1700
01:32:12.729 --> 01:32:16.630
another commercial timeout, and when we come back, we will
1701
01:32:16.670 --> 01:32:19.850
talk some more about the hidden gems that are on
1702
01:32:19.890 --> 01:32:24.529
the WWE Network, and more with Ian Riccoboni. Don't you
1703
01:32:24.569 --> 01:32:32.020
go anywhere. Hi, we're back with more Saturday Morning Wrestling
1704
01:32:32.039 --> 01:32:36.500
here on PWTorchLivecast.com. Pat McNeil alongside a ring of honors,
1705
01:32:36.779 --> 01:32:39.520
Ian Riccoboni, who has nicely joined us for this show.
1706
01:32:39.880 --> 01:32:45.470
for this special occasion, 515-605-9345. I'm going to check Twitter
1707
01:32:45.520 --> 01:32:49.069
for you guys in a moment. Let's do a quick run-through, though,
1708
01:32:49.789 --> 01:32:52.550
of everything that's in the Hidden Gems collection, some of
1709
01:32:52.590 --> 01:32:55.770
which I didn't really think were hidden and some perhaps
1710
01:32:55.810 --> 01:33:01.350
not gems. Let's see. First one is May 1951, Luthez
1711
01:33:01.390 --> 01:33:04.649
defending the NWA title against Ray Gunkel in Texas in
1712
01:33:04.689 --> 01:33:07.810
a two-out-of-three falls match. Haven't watched that yet. It looks
1713
01:33:07.869 --> 01:33:08.590
black and white to me.
1714
01:33:09.609 --> 01:33:09.989
It does.
1715
01:33:10.189 --> 01:33:12.890
And do you remember back in, I want to say
1716
01:33:13.069 --> 01:33:17.609
the mid-90s or late-90s, ESPN Classic used to run lots
1717
01:33:17.670 --> 01:33:20.430
of old-school wrestling, and I wonder where they got it
1718
01:33:20.489 --> 01:33:22.949
from or if they still have any in their library.
1719
01:33:23.409 --> 01:33:26.039
This looks and feels like one of those, which is
1720
01:33:26.100 --> 01:33:28.640
kind of a good thing because a lot of that
1721
01:33:28.680 --> 01:33:32.420
wrestling has almost been lost to time, and I'm not
1722
01:33:32.460 --> 01:33:36.800
sure the circumstances surrounding this particular Luthez match, but Anytime
1723
01:33:37.640 --> 01:33:41.399
you can see Luthez, it's a real treat. So this
1724
01:33:41.479 --> 01:33:44.100
one's on my watch list. I haven't been able to
1725
01:33:44.159 --> 01:33:46.500
see it yet, but it's on my watch list for sure.
1726
01:33:46.520 --> 01:33:51.600
I know. There's just a lot of wrestling to watch,
1727
01:33:51.640 --> 01:33:55.340
both on the network and elsewhere. Garnier Metrics, the Vern
1728
01:33:55.380 --> 01:33:59.920
Garnier Foundation for Physical Fitness, that's just fantastic. I can
1729
01:33:59.939 --> 01:34:01.800
understand why they included that.
1730
01:34:03.079 --> 01:34:06.369
This one's become a favorite of mine. I'm a big
1731
01:34:06.630 --> 01:34:07.569
Gynometrics guy.
1732
01:34:08.439 --> 01:34:11.100
Yeah, that's a question to email the Bruce Mitchell Audio
1733
01:34:11.119 --> 01:34:15.039
Show about. He'll love talking about that. Gino Morella taking
1734
01:34:15.199 --> 01:34:20.390
on Dave Rule from 1961. This was before Gino was
1735
01:34:20.470 --> 01:34:23.569
found wandering naked in a stream in Manchuria and became
1736
01:34:23.850 --> 01:34:24.529
Gorilla Monsoon.
1737
01:34:25.909 --> 01:34:26.069
Right.
1738
01:34:26.090 --> 01:34:27.489
That was the story of the television.
1739
01:34:27.510 --> 01:34:27.670
Yeah.
1740
01:34:28.470 --> 01:34:29.729
Yeah.
1741
01:34:30.020 --> 01:34:30.149
Yeah.
1742
01:34:31.460 --> 01:34:33.760
It's a shame that Gino Morella guy, he was a
1743
01:34:33.800 --> 01:34:35.840
nice gentleman from New Jersey, and then all of a sudden,
1744
01:34:35.859 --> 01:34:39.319
you know, goes to Manchuria and look what happens.
1745
01:34:40.060 --> 01:34:42.229
That's what happens when you go to Manchuria. I mean,
1746
01:34:42.250 --> 01:34:46.810
you saw that movie, The Manchurian Candidate. Yeah, NWA titled
1747
01:34:47.050 --> 01:34:47.529
Dory Funk Jr.
1748
01:34:47.670 --> 01:34:48.069
Vs.
1749
01:34:48.109 --> 01:34:51.750
Gene Kaneski. Pretty sure this is just what's left of
1750
01:34:51.789 --> 01:34:56.199
that match, about eight minutes or so from 1969. Let's see,
1751
01:34:56.430 --> 01:35:00.550
Andre the Giant with impressive feats of strength. And, yeah,
1752
01:35:00.689 --> 01:35:04.060
I mean... They've got all sorts of Andre stuff that
1753
01:35:04.199 --> 01:35:06.659
they could probably put a two- or three-hour special together
1754
01:35:07.140 --> 01:35:11.250
just with stuff like this. I mean, watching Andre from
1755
01:35:11.270 --> 01:35:12.829
this era, it doesn't really get old.
1756
01:35:14.229 --> 01:35:16.569
No, no, and he was so unique, and he still
1757
01:35:16.630 --> 01:35:20.090
is so unique. And, you know, his presentation, the way
1758
01:35:20.109 --> 01:35:23.340
he carries himself, you know, there are people who are
1759
01:35:23.409 --> 01:35:25.479
large and there are people who are, you know, giants,
1760
01:35:26.319 --> 01:35:30.239
but no one quite has that same aura that Andre had.
1761
01:35:31.439 --> 01:35:36.380
Yeah, that's true. And I don't see any seven-footers in
1762
01:35:36.399 --> 01:35:40.229
the pipeline in developmental. I think if they find somebody,
1763
01:35:40.609 --> 01:35:42.770
I think they're looking for somebody who actually has potential
1764
01:35:42.850 --> 01:35:46.510
to wrestle well and have a presence other than just
1765
01:35:46.550 --> 01:35:48.510
being seven feet tall. I think they've just given up
1766
01:35:48.569 --> 01:35:53.060
on that idea. I'll see. Vince McMahon interviewing Muhammad Ali.
1767
01:35:53.079 --> 01:35:54.319
This I have to watch. 19 minutes, it says.
1768
01:35:57.619 --> 01:36:00.140
Yeah, and it looks like Classy Freddy Blassie is there
1769
01:36:00.180 --> 01:36:02.710
as well, so that's kind of an interesting development.
1770
01:36:03.510 --> 01:36:06.970
Well, Muhammad Ali was a Classy Freddy Blassie fan, so
1771
01:36:07.090 --> 01:36:14.399
that makes sense. Roddy Piper and Jack Briscoe from Mid-Atlantic, 1982.
1772
01:36:14.399 --> 01:36:16.979
Something that they've had that I don't think.
1773
01:36:17.800 --> 01:36:19.500
Yeah, I did catch this one.
1774
01:36:20.720 --> 01:36:23.260
Because it's in the... I mean, they have the Mid-Atlantic Library,
1775
01:36:23.300 --> 01:36:26.010
and they... They haven't exactly gone another way to put
1776
01:36:26.050 --> 01:36:27.770
up anything from the Mid-Atlantic Library either.
1777
01:36:28.329 --> 01:36:31.489
Strange, because we had a caller from Charlotte. We've had
1778
01:36:32.550 --> 01:36:39.350
Charlotte hotbed. I've been down to the NWA Legends Convention,
1779
01:36:39.449 --> 01:36:47.470
NWA Legends Fest, and wrestling is still tremendously well-received in
1780
01:36:47.729 --> 01:36:50.720
the Mid-Atlantic area, in the old Mid-Atlantic territory. You would
1781
01:36:50.739 --> 01:36:54.260
think that they would make an effort to put some
1782
01:36:54.279 --> 01:36:58.279
of the stuff out because for me, Roddy Piper obviously
1783
01:36:58.539 --> 01:37:02.310
at the top of my list of all-time greats, all-time favorites,
1784
01:37:02.850 --> 01:37:06.310
and Jack Briscoe, just because of the era that he wrestled,
1785
01:37:06.869 --> 01:37:10.109
not a lot of stuff in clean quality footage is available.
1786
01:37:10.210 --> 01:37:13.550
So I actually did watch this one. This one was
1787
01:37:13.590 --> 01:37:17.119
a cool match. and seen before i think it's been
1788
01:37:17.140 --> 01:37:19.760
available maybe through tape traders are other means but i've
1789
01:37:19.800 --> 01:37:22.979
never seen it and that uh... and in real life quality.
1790
01:37:23.439 --> 01:37:25.340
And a bunch of the stuff is on youtube too
1791
01:37:25.939 --> 01:37:28.439
yeah right yeah but it's nice to see it in
1792
01:37:28.460 --> 01:37:31.060
the good quality that's that's that's part of the draw
1793
01:37:31.079 --> 01:37:34.199
of the network i think uh... let's see here uh.
1794
01:37:35.100 --> 01:37:35.239
uh.
1795
01:37:35.439 --> 01:37:38.100
racing back when nineteen eighty they uh... they take this
1796
01:37:38.180 --> 01:37:41.239
match but they never showed on television because it did
1797
01:37:41.279 --> 01:37:46.090
didn't uh... didn't that the narrative I mean, and I
1798
01:37:46.130 --> 01:37:47.989
watched a good chunk of this, and it's obviously, I mean,
1799
01:37:48.029 --> 01:37:50.770
Harley's just doing, Harley's doing his basic, okay, I'm the
1800
01:37:50.810 --> 01:37:52.729
heel champion, I'm going to make the baby face look good,
1801
01:37:52.770 --> 01:37:53.869
and back one is back one.
1802
01:37:54.989 --> 01:37:55.130
Right.
1803
01:37:55.289 --> 01:37:57.250
And I haven't gone through the whole thing, but yeah,
1804
01:37:57.289 --> 01:38:03.300
that's just amazing to see. Yeah, last battle of Atlanta.
1805
01:38:03.600 --> 01:38:07.180
Let's see, that's, again, that's very good quality. Ric Flair
1806
01:38:07.220 --> 01:38:11.159
versus Barry Windham, January 1987. I'm pretty sure this match
1807
01:38:11.199 --> 01:38:15.439
has existed on YouTube, but again... You know, getting that, again,
1808
01:38:15.500 --> 01:38:18.720
getting back to that original footage. Yeah, that's here.
1809
01:38:19.619 --> 01:38:22.859
It has, and I don't want to, I hope the
1810
01:38:22.880 --> 01:38:25.689
statute of limitations have ran out, but back in the
1811
01:38:25.710 --> 01:38:29.930
day when there used to be ways of seeing things
1812
01:38:30.909 --> 01:38:34.750
that people were sharing as files, this was one of the.
1813
01:38:34.770 --> 01:38:36.140
Long, long, long, long time ago.
1814
01:38:36.479 --> 01:38:39.479
Long time ago. This was one of the rarer items
1815
01:38:39.520 --> 01:38:43.720
that would pop up. Somebody graciously had uploaded this, so
1816
01:38:43.739 --> 01:38:47.220
I've actually seen this match as well, and again, very
1817
01:38:47.640 --> 01:38:51.159
much recommended. I haven't seen it in Anything more than,
1818
01:38:51.199 --> 01:38:55.539
I think, 100 by 200 letterbox. So it's cool to
1819
01:38:55.600 --> 01:38:58.060
actually be able to throw it up on the PlayStation
1820
01:38:58.420 --> 01:38:59.770
or throw it up on the TV and see it.
1821
01:39:00.689 --> 01:39:02.810
Yeah, I mean, a lot of this stuff, I mean,
1822
01:39:02.829 --> 01:39:04.770
some of the stuff you've seen on YouTube, but again,
1823
01:39:04.850 --> 01:39:10.109
not quite the same quality. Undertaker versus Unabombed, Glenn Jacobson,
1824
01:39:10.289 --> 01:39:13.449
Smoky Mountain, that's... I'm sure we'll get to check that
1825
01:39:13.489 --> 01:39:15.710
out at some point. I'm pretty sure I've seen this one,
1826
01:39:16.010 --> 01:39:18.949
the South Africa match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin,
1827
01:39:18.989 --> 01:39:24.659
which both wrestlers really talked about how well that match went.
1828
01:39:24.699 --> 01:39:28.779
So there wasn't any resistance, I guess, in getting this
1829
01:39:28.819 --> 01:39:29.300
on the network.
1830
01:39:30.420 --> 01:39:34.520
Yeah, and I could have sworn some of this had aired,
1831
01:39:35.359 --> 01:39:37.380
but maybe I'm just confusing it with other matches or
1832
01:39:37.420 --> 01:39:41.529
the TV taping. that they did, I think, that one
1833
01:39:41.569 --> 01:39:44.770
year in March, maybe March of 97. The venue in
1834
01:39:44.789 --> 01:39:48.819
the background looks familiar, but perhaps this one has not
1835
01:39:48.920 --> 01:39:51.840
aired yet. So that's pretty neat. I'll definitely be checking
1836
01:39:51.859 --> 01:39:52.220
that out.
1837
01:39:53.340 --> 01:39:54.659
Yeah, absolutely.
1838
01:39:56.479 --> 01:39:58.439
You know that last segment you're just listening to and
1839
01:39:58.479 --> 01:40:00.510
the next one that you're waiting to listen to? Those
1840
01:40:00.560 --> 01:40:03.050
can be one second apart with a VIP membership. You
1841
01:40:03.069 --> 01:40:07.710
can unlock our commercial-free versions of our shows, pwtorch.com slash govip,
1842
01:40:08.189 --> 01:40:08.630
tells you how.
1843
01:40:08.590 --> 01:40:08.920
To do it.
1844
01:40:08.970 --> 01:40:14.569
That's pwtorch.com slash govip. Options exist within the Apple Podcast
1845
01:40:14.800 --> 01:40:17.479
app using your Apple account, through Patreon, which, by the way,
1846
01:40:17.520 --> 01:40:19.699
you can sync up with Spotify, or just about any
1847
01:40:19.859 --> 01:40:23.100
iOS or Android app with a full VIP membership. You
1848
01:40:23.119 --> 01:40:26.119
can customize the feed for individual shows and clusters of
1849
01:40:26.239 --> 01:40:30.649
shows and themes. Go to pwtorch.com slash govip for full
1850
01:40:30.670 --> 01:40:33.729
details on all the options to listen commercial-free. And with
1851
01:40:33.789 --> 01:40:38.210
upper-tier options, unlock our VIP-exclusive podcasts that run throughout the
1852
01:40:38.229 --> 01:40:38.810
week every week.
1853
01:40:40.489 --> 01:40:43.319
Let's see what else we have here. Oh, yeah, next,
1854
01:40:43.340 --> 01:40:45.859
of course, Bret Hart vs. Terry Funk, which, you know,
1855
01:40:46.399 --> 01:40:49.119
if you've seen the show from Texas, or actually if
1856
01:40:49.140 --> 01:40:51.640
you've seen, what's the one I'm thinking of, Beyond the Mat.
1857
01:40:51.659 --> 01:40:53.539
Beyond the Mat, right? Yeah.
1858
01:40:53.800 --> 01:40:57.069
That's the show. That's the one Dennis Stamp wasn't booked
1859
01:40:57.109 --> 01:40:59.810
for originally. Yeah, this is.
1860
01:41:03.609 --> 01:41:06.449
I'm guessing we don't get to see the lengthy argument
1861
01:41:06.489 --> 01:41:08.689
backstage where both Bret Hart and Terry Funk refuse to
1862
01:41:08.710 --> 01:41:18.180
win the match. It's a good match. It's a lot
1863
01:41:18.199 --> 01:41:22.340
of fun. From UPW, and I'm guessing they have UPW footage,
1864
01:41:22.460 --> 01:41:24.100
which I don't know how much of it they have,
1865
01:41:24.159 --> 01:41:27.399
but Ultimate Pro Wrestling, William Regal versus Samoa Joe.
1866
01:41:29.789 --> 01:41:32.789
Yeah, this one I didn't know existed. You know, and
1867
01:41:32.810 --> 01:41:34.560
I'm a pretty big wrestling nerd, and I was aware
1868
01:41:34.600 --> 01:41:38.180
of UPW. I believe that's where John Cena also came from.
1869
01:41:38.199 --> 01:41:42.720
Yeah, I think I reviewed one of their DVDs once
1870
01:41:42.840 --> 01:41:45.220
in the Torch. But, yeah, I mean, didn't know this
1871
01:41:45.260 --> 01:41:46.079
match existed either.
1872
01:41:47.159 --> 01:41:48.939
Yeah, so this was a real nice surprise for me.
1873
01:41:49.899 --> 01:41:51.920
You know, it does look like it was shot on,
1874
01:41:52.510 --> 01:41:55.649
you know, a step up above a camcorder, but it's really,
1875
01:41:55.689 --> 01:41:56.270
really cool.
1876
01:41:56.409 --> 01:41:56.869
You know, Joe.
1877
01:41:57.350 --> 01:41:59.149
Joe had been through Ring of Honor, of course, and
1878
01:41:59.350 --> 01:42:02.800
he came back in 2015. And, you know, to see
1879
01:42:02.840 --> 01:42:04.699
kind of where he started from and to where he
1880
01:42:04.779 --> 01:42:05.180
is now.
1881
01:42:05.539 --> 01:42:06.720
It's a cool journey.
1882
01:42:07.140 --> 01:42:09.119
And the amazing part is he must have been the
1883
01:42:09.159 --> 01:42:12.819
best kept secret in pro wrestling for quite some time.
1884
01:42:13.079 --> 01:42:15.260
And I realized that when he got to Ring of Honor,
1885
01:42:15.319 --> 01:42:19.149
he was already five or six years old. But I'm
1886
01:42:19.189 --> 01:42:22.159
not sure what anybody was waiting for before that. I
1887
01:42:22.359 --> 01:42:25.439
realized he lived in California, and the big companies were
1888
01:42:25.500 --> 01:42:29.260
in New York and Philly and Nashville at the time.
1889
01:42:30.380 --> 01:42:35.739
So maybe just transportation was expensive. But, man, he had
1890
01:42:36.149 --> 01:42:39.649
it for quite some time, probably out of the gate.
1891
01:42:40.029 --> 01:42:42.930
And it's just amazing to watch this and to see
1892
01:42:42.949 --> 01:42:48.420
him back then and then wonder why– I wonder why
1893
01:42:48.460 --> 01:42:51.500
it kind of took so long, because he's just a phenomenal,
1894
01:42:51.720 --> 01:42:53.960
phenomenal guy.
1895
01:42:54.079 --> 01:42:57.340
Yeah, actually there's pretty much a whole DVD full of
1896
01:42:57.380 --> 01:43:00.890
Samoa Joe and UPW footage when the announcers were calling
1897
01:43:00.930 --> 01:43:07.930
him Samoan Joe for several matches. I'm not sure what
1898
01:43:07.970 --> 01:43:10.159
the holdup was, but glad we're getting to see it.
1899
01:43:10.250 --> 01:43:14.449
And finally, from Florida Championship Wrestling, Seth Rollins defending the
1900
01:43:14.649 --> 01:43:18.149
FCW title against Cassius Ohno. And, again, this is another
1901
01:43:18.170 --> 01:43:21.090
thing where you know they have the FCW library. You've
1902
01:43:21.130 --> 01:43:24.670
probably seen scattered episodes of FCW up on YouTube. But,
1903
01:43:24.970 --> 01:43:28.750
I mean, this is fun to watch. It's kind of
1904
01:43:28.810 --> 01:43:30.909
like if you watch Chris Hero and Tyler Black in
1905
01:43:30.930 --> 01:43:32.689
Ring of Honor. It's similar to that.
1906
01:43:33.829 --> 01:43:34.390
It is, yeah.
1907
01:43:36.189 --> 01:43:38.720
And what's always interesting to me was, um, you know,
1908
01:43:38.729 --> 01:43:41.739
my brother lives in Orlando. So when I go to visit, uh,
1909
01:43:41.899 --> 01:43:44.640
this would air, I believe on the remnants of the
1910
01:43:44.699 --> 01:43:47.579
sunshine network, which I think became Fox sports, Orlando or
1911
01:43:47.659 --> 01:43:50.659
Fox sports, something. And, um, so yeah, I used to,
1912
01:43:50.680 --> 01:43:54.279
I used to catch this and, uh, it was pretty fun.
1913
01:43:54.560 --> 01:43:56.729
And then, but it's like you mentioned though, it's kind
1914
01:43:56.789 --> 01:43:58.529
of just the next extension of something you may have
1915
01:43:58.550 --> 01:44:00.970
seen in ring of honor, which is pretty neat. And, uh,
1916
01:44:01.430 --> 01:44:03.909
I like the, I like the callbacks. I like the, uh,
1917
01:44:04.609 --> 01:44:06.869
I like all that kind of stuff. And, you know,
1918
01:44:07.149 --> 01:44:11.069
Chris Hero, just phenomenal talent. You know, another guy that
1919
01:44:11.800 --> 01:44:13.960
I personally would love to see back in Ring of Honor.
1920
01:44:14.880 --> 01:44:19.260
You know, he's doing really well for himself. He continues
1921
01:44:19.279 --> 01:44:21.039
to do really well for himself in America and across
1922
01:44:21.079 --> 01:44:23.520
the globe. But this is a fun match. I saw
1923
01:44:23.560 --> 01:44:26.960
this actually when it aired. But I'm glad that they
1924
01:44:27.000 --> 01:44:28.899
put it up there because it's pretty cool.
1925
01:44:28.939 --> 01:44:29.529
It's a good match.
1926
01:44:30.569 --> 01:44:33.479
Actually, speaking of... Speaking of guys coming to Ring of Honor,
1927
01:44:33.520 --> 01:44:35.340
the one I guess I should ask you about is
1928
01:44:35.619 --> 01:44:37.659
Cody Rhodes is supposed to be coming to the final
1929
01:44:37.699 --> 01:44:38.720
battle in December this year.
1930
01:44:39.779 --> 01:44:44.210
He is, and that's a huge, huge, huge get and
1931
01:44:44.250 --> 01:44:48.069
opportunity for Ring of Honor. A guy as talented and
1932
01:44:48.130 --> 01:44:51.109
as creative as Cody Rhodes, I'm looking forward to meeting
1933
01:44:51.149 --> 01:44:54.329
him in New York. We returned to the Hammerstein Ballroom
1934
01:44:54.350 --> 01:44:57.470
for the first time in, I believe, three years for
1935
01:44:57.489 --> 01:45:01.909
our big seminal pay-per-view final battle on December 2nd. you know,
1936
01:45:01.949 --> 01:45:04.689
he can just bring so much to the table. Great wrestler.
1937
01:45:05.560 --> 01:45:08.239
You know, you saw the different ways he could be
1938
01:45:08.319 --> 01:45:11.899
creative with Stardust and with, you know, just the ways that,
1939
01:45:12.260 --> 01:45:14.000
you know, he was able to be himself.
1940
01:45:14.279 --> 01:45:15.119
Yeah, dashing.
1941
01:45:15.470 --> 01:45:19.510
Well, even that, you know, he's just a guy that
1942
01:45:19.569 --> 01:45:23.770
is always running at, you know, 110%. And you can tell.
1943
01:45:24.149 --> 01:45:28.279
And I'm curious to see you know, who he's going
1944
01:45:28.319 --> 01:45:29.760
to face in Ring of Honor. I mean, off the
1945
01:45:29.800 --> 01:45:33.500
top of my head, I can list probably 15 or
1946
01:45:33.500 --> 01:45:37.840
20 opponents that he could have a great match with
1947
01:45:37.899 --> 01:45:41.729
right out of the gate. And, you know, the list
1948
01:45:41.750 --> 01:45:43.890
goes on and on. You could, you know, he conceivably
1949
01:45:43.909 --> 01:45:47.149
compete for the ROH World Championship against Adam Cole. You know,
1950
01:45:47.189 --> 01:45:48.489
Adam Cole was on the list. I don't know if
1951
01:45:48.510 --> 01:45:50.909
you remember the list, but the list came out.
1952
01:45:50.970 --> 01:45:51.640
I remember the list.
1953
01:45:52.609 --> 01:45:54.340
Yeah, and Adam Cole was right there.
1954
01:45:54.359 --> 01:45:56.500
That would be something to see. I'm sure Adam Cole
1955
01:45:56.520 --> 01:45:57.159
wouldn't mind that.
1956
01:45:58.420 --> 01:46:01.600
No, not at all. Him versus Jay Lethal, him versus
1957
01:46:01.640 --> 01:46:07.270
Jay Briscoe, versus Mark Briscoe, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian. Put
1958
01:46:07.310 --> 01:46:08.729
him in a tag team match. Put him against the
1959
01:46:08.810 --> 01:46:15.189
Young Bucks, War Machine. The possibilities are endless. This is
1960
01:46:15.229 --> 01:46:19.149
just an amazing thing that he's coming to Ring of Honor.
1961
01:46:20.539 --> 01:46:23.920
Okay, we have to take our last time out of
1962
01:46:23.960 --> 01:46:34.520
the day. Back on Saturday Morning Wrestling with Ian Riccoboni
1963
01:46:34.600 --> 01:46:40.079
of Ring of Honor. 515-605-9345 is how you reach us, Ian.
1964
01:46:40.520 --> 01:46:42.159
One other thing I wanted to get to, which has
1965
01:46:42.199 --> 01:46:44.439
also on the network, also been added over the past
1966
01:46:44.510 --> 01:46:47.130
couple weeks. I don't think it's gotten the attention that
1967
01:46:47.149 --> 01:46:51.100
maybe it deserves, Bob. WWE Network has gone to, has
1968
01:46:51.140 --> 01:46:55.140
went and added the first few ECW television shows from
1969
01:46:55.140 --> 01:46:58.939
1993 before Paul Heyman had anything to do with the product.
1970
01:46:58.970 --> 01:47:03.010
Let's see, first episode, taped at Cabrini College, Jimmy Snuka,
1971
01:47:03.090 --> 01:47:06.970
the Super Destroyers, let's see, Hot Stuff, Eddie Gilbert, the
1972
01:47:07.029 --> 01:47:10.630
Kodiak Bear, and of course the Rockin' Rebel. You can't
1973
01:47:10.670 --> 01:47:14.210
have ECW without the Rockin' Rebel. The Suicide Lawn.
1974
01:47:15.949 --> 01:47:16.109
Yes.
1975
01:47:16.430 --> 01:47:23.489
You're You're bringing me back into a time machine. My
1976
01:47:23.630 --> 01:47:30.029
very first pro wrestling show was an ECW-type show in
1977
01:47:30.069 --> 01:47:32.859
the town of Cape May Courthouse, not to be confused
1978
01:47:32.880 --> 01:47:35.739
with Cape May, Cape May Courthouse, New Jersey, and it
1979
01:47:35.939 --> 01:47:40.180
had featured a lot of the early ECW stars. Interestingly enough,
1980
01:47:40.239 --> 01:47:44.779
it had Sandman, it had Crybaby Waldo, who turned up
1981
01:47:44.840 --> 01:47:47.329
on a couple of the early ECW shows. It also
1982
01:47:47.350 --> 01:47:50.090
had the Heavenly Bodies, which was pretty cool, and it
1983
01:47:50.130 --> 01:47:53.989
also had Jim Cornette and 123 Kid, who at the
1984
01:47:54.010 --> 01:47:56.600
time was Lightning Kid, and Jerry Lynn were on that
1985
01:47:56.640 --> 01:47:59.439
show as well. I still have the program. I still
1986
01:47:59.460 --> 01:48:02.800
have the printout piece of paper. So it wasn't an
1987
01:48:02.859 --> 01:48:05.260
ECW proper show, but it was around the same time period,
1988
01:48:05.279 --> 01:48:06.220
and they were using a lot of.
1989
01:48:06.180 --> 01:48:06.840
The same fellows.
1990
01:48:07.319 --> 01:48:10.760
I think it might have been 1992. These early 1993
1991
01:48:10.760 --> 01:48:14.920
ECW shows are pretty cool because a lot of folks,
1992
01:48:15.970 --> 01:48:18.960
they think that ECW out of the gate was pretty
1993
01:48:19.000 --> 01:48:22.239
innovative and things like that. But, you know, it wasn't until,
1994
01:48:22.979 --> 01:48:26.319
you know, Paul Heyman kind of inserted himself and, you know,
1995
01:48:26.340 --> 01:48:28.619
there was, there was some cool things happening with, with
1996
01:48:28.640 --> 01:48:31.159
Joel Goodhart and things like that on the East coast where,
1997
01:48:31.279 --> 01:48:34.810
you know, the Terry Funk cactus Jack matches. Uh, but
1998
01:48:34.850 --> 01:48:37.739
some of these early ECW shows are just, uh, a
1999
01:48:37.810 --> 01:48:42.529
combination of names and former stars. And then you don't
2000
01:48:42.590 --> 01:48:44.930
start to really see the influx of new talent until
2001
01:48:44.930 --> 01:48:49.529
1994 when you get guys like Sabu, Taz. You start
2002
01:48:49.550 --> 01:48:51.850
to see Rob Van Dam in, I think, mid-95 when
2003
01:48:51.869 --> 01:48:55.770
some of the luchadors come through. So, you know, some
2004
01:48:55.810 --> 01:48:59.090
of these are interesting just from a fan perspective to
2005
01:48:59.149 --> 01:49:02.710
see what it grew out of. But if you're expecting,
2006
01:49:02.729 --> 01:49:08.880
you know, mid-1997 or 1998 ECWs, You'd be disappointed when
2007
01:49:08.920 --> 01:49:09.899
you watch these shows.
2008
01:49:11.659 --> 01:49:14.210
I love 1995 ECW. I've still got a whole bunch
2009
01:49:14.250 --> 01:49:19.310
of them in the VHS box in storage. But, yeah,
2010
01:49:19.609 --> 01:49:23.170
that was an interesting time when people were less than
2011
01:49:23.210 --> 01:49:25.810
enamored of what they were seeing from WCW and WWF.
2012
01:49:25.829 --> 01:49:30.090
That's how ECW caught hold. And, of course, if you've
2013
01:49:30.109 --> 01:49:32.710
been following the past couple weeks, they've dumped a whole
2014
01:49:32.770 --> 01:49:38.289
bunch of NWA TBS stuff from the late 80s, 87, 88, 89,
2015
01:49:38.289 --> 01:49:41.069
those are up on the network. And we're all kind
2016
01:49:41.109 --> 01:49:44.250
of excited about seeing those again. So a lot of
2017
01:49:44.289 --> 01:49:44.750
good stuff.
2018
01:49:46.020 --> 01:49:48.420
And, you know, the nerd in me, there's a very
2019
01:49:48.460 --> 01:49:53.659
famous preempted edition of Saturday Night that I hope that
2020
01:49:53.680 --> 01:49:55.340
they're able to put on. And I know the one
2021
01:49:55.380 --> 01:49:58.920
week TBS actually aired the wrong Saturday Night. They aired
2022
01:49:59.000 --> 01:50:03.439
one that had already aired. So I'm hoping that the
2023
01:50:03.520 --> 01:50:07.520
quote-unquote missing episode finally turns up from Saturday night.
2024
01:50:07.640 --> 01:50:11.500
Yeah, I would think they'd have access to all these.
2025
01:50:11.520 --> 01:50:13.649
I think the key is that we're going to get
2026
01:50:13.689 --> 01:50:16.529
all these, what Joey Stiles said before they fired him,
2027
01:50:16.989 --> 01:50:19.630
we're going to get all these eventually, I think is
2028
01:50:19.670 --> 01:50:23.810
the word. Because, you know, I mean, and I understand
2029
01:50:23.880 --> 01:50:26.279
it takes a certain amount of time to get all these,
2030
01:50:26.300 --> 01:50:29.609
you know, to clear, in the ECW's case, to wipe
2031
01:50:29.689 --> 01:50:31.609
out the original music that they don't have the rights for.
2032
01:50:33.909 --> 01:50:37.149
I know it's a time-consuming process. I get upset, though,
2033
01:50:37.170 --> 01:50:39.689
when there's stuff that I know they have because it
2034
01:50:40.329 --> 01:50:42.670
was on when they did WWE 24-7 and we haven't
2035
01:50:42.729 --> 01:50:46.000
seen it yet. There's plenty of old stuff from the
2036
01:50:46.039 --> 01:50:48.399
Garden and the Spectrum from back in the day that
2037
01:50:49.359 --> 01:50:52.739
are there that we're still waiting on. I think there's
2038
01:50:52.779 --> 01:50:55.460
enough stuff that they can be uploading pretty much forever.
2039
01:50:56.859 --> 01:50:57.100
Right.
2040
01:50:57.300 --> 01:50:59.960
Well, you know, maybe that's the strategy, you know, maybe
2041
01:51:00.000 --> 01:51:03.399
time it out. I know with Ring of Honor's ringside membership,
2042
01:51:03.920 --> 01:51:06.060
we do have quite a bit. We have all the
2043
01:51:06.180 --> 01:51:09.899
HDNet shows, and then we kind of stagger out some
2044
01:51:09.939 --> 01:51:13.390
of the other older things. We just re-added ROH Goes Ultraviolet,
2045
01:51:13.630 --> 01:51:16.189
which is pretty cool. If you become a ringside member,
2046
01:51:16.210 --> 01:51:19.090
you can get a discount on that. So we kind
2047
01:51:19.130 --> 01:51:21.510
of stagger things in a way that, you know, so
2048
01:51:21.529 --> 01:51:22.689
you can't see everything at once.
2049
01:51:23.390 --> 01:51:23.670
Yeah.
2050
01:51:24.729 --> 01:51:26.390
You know, I'm wondering if that's the same thing, maybe
2051
01:51:26.430 --> 01:51:28.649
so that they don't burn out their viewers, because if
2052
01:51:28.729 --> 01:51:30.409
I took a week off from work, I would probably
2053
01:51:30.439 --> 01:51:32.979
just sit home and watch, you know, I'd sit home
2054
01:51:33.020 --> 01:51:35.539
and watch the network and watch the ringside membership stuff
2055
01:51:35.619 --> 01:51:39.899
and just veg out. So I could blow through probably
2056
01:51:39.899 --> 01:51:41.619
100 hours of this stuff and no problem.
2057
01:51:42.899 --> 01:51:44.920
I'm married. I can't do that anymore. But yeah, I
2058
01:51:44.960 --> 01:51:47.659
get the, I understand. I understand completely.
2059
01:51:48.739 --> 01:51:48.939
Yeah.
2060
01:51:51.010 --> 01:51:56.510
All right, 515-605-9345. But we also didn't really get to
2061
01:51:57.350 --> 01:52:01.250
talk much about B shows. Now, ECW, they would do shows,
2062
01:52:01.270 --> 01:52:03.880
and they would sort of stagger who got weft off
2063
01:52:04.760 --> 01:52:08.380
the house shows. So you'd get to see maybe two
2064
01:52:08.399 --> 01:52:12.180
or three of the top guys wouldn't make it. And
2065
01:52:12.220 --> 01:52:13.939
I mean, that and the fact that they weren't running
2066
01:52:13.979 --> 01:52:15.779
seven days a week is how they managed to keep
2067
01:52:15.920 --> 01:52:18.880
the talent somewhat fresh, because that's a That was a
2068
01:52:18.920 --> 01:52:26.960
very high-impact style there. Do you remember any WWF or
2069
01:52:27.239 --> 01:52:30.300
WCW shows where you got to see not necessarily Hulk
2070
01:52:30.319 --> 01:52:31.119
Hogan stand out?
2071
01:52:32.199 --> 01:52:35.439
Yeah, so the big one that comes to mind, I
2072
01:52:35.479 --> 01:52:40.229
went to the Allentown Fairgrounds in 1991, and this was
2073
01:52:40.369 --> 01:52:44.250
after they had stopped taping TV there. This was the
2074
01:52:44.270 --> 01:52:48.279
very famous Ag Hall, though. And they actually did an
2075
01:52:48.380 --> 01:52:54.140
outdoor show at the fairgrounds. And it was Big Boss
2076
01:52:54.180 --> 01:52:58.479
Man and the Mountie in a steel cage. And that
2077
01:52:59.500 --> 01:53:02.720
was actually an awesome, really fun match. But I remember
2078
01:53:02.960 --> 01:53:06.470
I was really confused and disappointed because... I have the
2079
01:53:06.489 --> 01:53:08.829
results up, and I remember there being so many switches
2080
01:53:08.869 --> 01:53:11.250
and things like that. So they had announced Coco Beware
2081
01:53:11.289 --> 01:53:14.739
versus Paul Roma, and Paul Roma, this was September, and
2082
01:53:14.779 --> 01:53:17.800
so Paul Roma had just left. So it became Coco
2083
01:53:17.819 --> 01:53:19.760
Beware versus the Brooklyn Brawler, and then it was supposed
2084
01:53:19.779 --> 01:53:22.739
to be IRS versus Jim Neidhart. They did a thing
2085
01:53:22.819 --> 01:53:26.229
where Jim Neidhart had been figured forward to death by
2086
01:53:26.279 --> 01:53:31.729
Ric Flair on TV. So in continuity, they did IRS
2087
01:53:31.770 --> 01:53:34.630
versus Tony Atlas, who had been gone for a good
2088
01:53:34.710 --> 01:53:37.510
nine months by that point. And then I got to
2089
01:53:37.590 --> 01:53:42.229
see the rare combination of the new new rockers, Marty
2090
01:53:42.250 --> 01:53:45.710
Jannetty and Jim Powers. Shane Douglas had been filling in,
2091
01:53:45.750 --> 01:53:49.750
but we got Jim Powers versus Pat Tanaka and Colonel Mustafa.
2092
01:53:50.489 --> 01:53:53.529
And then we also... Yeah, we were supposed to see
2093
01:53:53.569 --> 01:53:58.229
Jim Duggan versus Sid Justice. I remember being pumped about Sid,
2094
01:53:59.029 --> 01:54:01.479
but he got switched out for Typhoon.
2095
01:54:02.100 --> 01:54:02.560
So we....
2096
01:54:04.619 --> 01:54:08.260
We got a very interesting B card. That was my
2097
01:54:08.340 --> 01:54:12.930
first ever WWF show. Some of the other B cards
2098
01:54:13.409 --> 01:54:17.010
I'd seen in 2001, I went to see a WWF
2099
01:54:17.029 --> 01:54:20.329
show at Stabler Arena, or I believe 2002 rather, and
2100
01:54:20.350 --> 01:54:24.069
there was a fellow named Ross McCullough. It was the
2101
01:54:24.189 --> 01:54:27.439
first and only time I'd seen him. He was a seven-footer.
2102
01:54:27.479 --> 01:54:30.000
He faced Tommy Dreamer. I think he beat Tommy Dreamer.
2103
01:54:30.630 --> 01:54:34.710
And just a very cool presence, you know, legit seven
2104
01:54:34.770 --> 01:54:38.989
foot guy. But he just kind of came and went.
2105
01:54:39.090 --> 01:54:41.689
So B shows were kind of neat because, you know,
2106
01:54:42.149 --> 01:54:44.069
as a wrestling nerd, I kind of go through all
2107
01:54:44.100 --> 01:54:47.300
the results and you'll see guys like Russ McCullough kind
2108
01:54:47.340 --> 01:54:50.000
of pop up and, you know, here today, gone tomorrow
2109
01:54:51.260 --> 01:54:53.560
kind of thing. And you kind of wonder, you know, why,
2110
01:54:53.579 --> 01:54:55.800
you know, why they were there, why they weren't. You know,
2111
01:54:56.119 --> 01:54:58.220
in the 80s, Brickhouse Brown was a guy that seemed
2112
01:54:58.260 --> 01:55:00.979
to pop up on WWF shows and see shows all
2113
01:55:01.039 --> 01:55:04.140
the time. But he was always kind of a mainstay
2114
01:55:04.159 --> 01:55:07.460
somewhere else. So it's always interesting to see things like that.
2115
01:55:10.079 --> 01:55:12.100
Hey, Steph, do you ever watch WWE and think it
2116
01:55:12.239 --> 01:55:12.859
used to be better?
2117
01:55:13.159 --> 01:55:14.989
I don't know, Josh. Sometimes I think it used to
2118
01:55:15.029 --> 01:55:15.949
be a whole lot worse.
2119
01:55:16.289 --> 01:55:18.270
I mean, whether it's WrestleMania main events.
2120
01:55:18.630 --> 01:55:19.829
Old dudes at the top.
2121
01:55:20.350 --> 01:55:21.369
Too many titles.
2122
01:55:21.609 --> 01:55:22.609
Or women's wrestling.
2123
01:55:22.789 --> 01:55:25.590
We're here to answer the big question, is it worse
2124
01:55:25.909 --> 01:55:28.609
or better now? Join me, Joshua White.
2125
01:55:28.909 --> 01:55:30.250
And me, Stephanie Chase.
2126
01:55:30.510 --> 01:55:33.689
For Worse or Better, part of the PWTorch Daily Cast
2127
01:55:33.710 --> 01:55:35.310
lineup dropping on Monday nights.
2128
01:55:35.670 --> 01:55:39.189
Search PWTorch in your podcast app such as Apple Podcasts
2129
01:55:39.229 --> 01:55:42.680
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01:55:42.720 --> 01:55:47.760
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01:55:47.800 --> 01:55:50.579
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01:55:50.859 --> 01:55:54.060
Worse or better, finally, something for wrestling fans to do
2133
01:55:54.119 --> 01:55:54.920
on Monday nights.
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01:55:57.819 --> 01:56:01.590
All right, I'm looking through the first B-show I remember.
2135
01:56:02.010 --> 01:56:08.310
Capital Center, Landover, Maryland, July 27, 1990. The main event, Packsaw,
2136
01:56:08.329 --> 01:56:12.439
Jim Duggan, and Tugboat defeated Earthquake and Dino Bravo. that
2137
01:56:12.520 --> 01:56:14.479
because they didn't get dug in and talk but we're
2138
01:56:14.500 --> 01:56:16.479
trying to avenge the injury to all code and you'll
2139
01:56:16.520 --> 01:56:19.140
you'll recall that one right but i have a really
2140
01:56:19.159 --> 01:56:21.840
quick and you know prop yes uh... the match that
2141
01:56:21.859 --> 01:56:25.319
i remember enjoying a lot was uh... demolition uh... beating
2142
01:56:25.359 --> 01:56:28.720
the heart foundation long match uh... it billy the at
2143
01:56:28.779 --> 01:56:31.800
ringside for smash and crush that uh... feet and the
2144
01:56:31.840 --> 01:56:34.819
big boston beat tibia feet that that's good that that
2145
01:56:34.840 --> 01:56:38.899
the rest of the show the african dream akeem defeating
2146
01:56:38.939 --> 01:56:46.579
a pez watley Paul Roma defeating Paul Diamond. Justin Rhodes,
2147
01:56:46.899 --> 01:56:49.619
a rare appearance for him. This was before he actually
2148
01:56:49.659 --> 01:56:53.430
debuted on WWF TV. Defeated Playboy Buddy Rose and the
2149
01:56:53.470 --> 01:56:55.350
Warlord over Sam Houston.
2150
01:56:57.649 --> 01:56:59.930
All right.
2151
01:56:59.970 --> 01:57:00.149
Yeah.
2152
01:57:00.710 --> 01:57:04.750
Sam Houston wasn't really doing too many shots with WWF
2153
01:57:04.810 --> 01:57:06.489
at that time, so that's kind of neat.
2154
01:57:06.630 --> 01:57:06.869
Yeah.
2155
01:57:07.699 --> 01:57:09.630
And I'm looking at this on the history of WWE
2156
01:57:09.670 --> 01:57:13.550
right now. Yeah, the A-Show was Warrior and Roode at
2157
01:57:13.590 --> 01:57:17.359
the Sports Arena in Los Angeles with probably a bunch
2158
01:57:17.399 --> 01:57:18.520
of people I would have rather seen.
2159
01:57:18.600 --> 01:57:19.979
So there you go.
2160
01:57:20.000 --> 01:57:22.060
Well, it's interesting, too, because.
2161
01:57:24.460 --> 01:57:28.039
As you get closer and as you move forward in time, 1991,
2162
01:57:28.039 --> 01:57:32.180
you know, Allentown and Lehigh Valley got the B show. 1994,
2163
01:57:32.180 --> 01:57:34.439
things have kind of condensed and business slowed down, so
2164
01:57:34.899 --> 01:57:36.699
we were getting A shows. And all of a sudden,
2165
01:57:38.060 --> 01:57:39.909
the first TV taping I was ever at, I'm just
2166
01:57:39.930 --> 01:57:43.229
looking at the results again, we had Lex Luger versus Crush.
2167
01:57:43.310 --> 01:57:48.090
We had Razor Ramon versus Diesel. We had Brett Hart
2168
01:57:48.109 --> 01:57:52.050
versus Owen Hart for the, you know, for the championship. Yeah,
2169
01:57:52.090 --> 01:57:54.270
we also had to sit through, you know, we had
2170
01:57:54.300 --> 01:57:58.560
to sit through four episodes of enhancement matches but um
2171
01:57:59.239 --> 01:58:02.079
you know we got to see all the stars and
2172
01:58:02.159 --> 01:58:06.789
it's interesting how 85 they started to run you know
2173
01:58:06.810 --> 01:58:10.510
some more b shows um 86 they were a lot
2174
01:58:10.569 --> 01:58:13.189
and added kind of a c team into 87 at
2175
01:58:13.270 --> 01:58:15.529
one point there was like a d team um which
2176
01:58:15.569 --> 01:58:18.720
were some of the high school high school shows the
2177
01:58:19.359 --> 01:58:23.159
the sold shows and Yeah, and then as you kind
2178
01:58:23.199 --> 01:58:25.560
of get closer back to the Attitude Era, it kind
2179
01:58:25.619 --> 01:58:27.859
of slows back down, and some of the towns like
2180
01:58:27.920 --> 01:58:31.470
Allentown used to get, quote-unquote, A-shows in 83. We're starting
2181
01:58:31.479 --> 01:58:34.670
to get the A-shows again in 94 or so.
2182
01:58:34.689 --> 01:58:42.550
Yeah, it all comes around. Okay, let's see. I went
2183
01:58:42.569 --> 01:58:46.630
to Clemson here in South Carolina, and obviously at that point,
2184
01:58:48.229 --> 01:58:51.529
near a lot of WCW television tapings, Unfortunately, it was
2185
01:58:51.550 --> 01:58:56.260
probably the wrong time to be in that area. I'm
2186
01:58:56.439 --> 01:58:58.899
trying to pull the one that we went to while
2187
01:58:58.920 --> 01:59:05.000
basically all the other wrestlers were in Europe. They scheduled
2188
01:59:05.039 --> 01:59:08.020
a TV taping. Anderson, South Carolina. Oh, they don't have
2189
01:59:08.079 --> 01:59:13.300
the results on it. Everybody was in Europe. Luger, Sting,
2190
01:59:13.319 --> 01:59:17.130
the Steiners, Rick Rude. I believe, I'm trying to remember
2191
01:59:17.149 --> 01:59:19.970
the main event. I think it was something like, oh, God.
2192
01:59:23.899 --> 01:59:26.600
I think, yeah, they had, yes, Steve Austin was holding
2193
01:59:26.640 --> 01:59:29.060
down the fort, and I think it was Steve Austin
2194
01:59:29.100 --> 01:59:32.420
and Bobby Eaton with Medusa, and I'm trying to remember
2195
01:59:32.439 --> 01:59:33.779
who the, I'm trying to find who the poet was,
2196
01:59:33.850 --> 01:59:34.970
Big Josh and somebody.
2197
01:59:35.010 --> 01:59:35.270
Nice.
2198
01:59:35.689 --> 01:59:39.149
Anyway, not good times, I'm going to say.
2199
01:59:40.189 --> 01:59:44.670
Well, yeah, one of the shows I went to in Bethlehem,
2200
01:59:44.710 --> 01:59:47.210
the WCW show, it's funny you mention that. The main
2201
01:59:47.229 --> 01:59:50.130
event was Sting versus Bam Bam Bigelow, which was awesome.
2202
01:59:50.149 --> 01:59:50.659
It was a lot of fun.
2203
01:59:50.670 --> 01:59:51.010
Bam Bam Bigelow.
2204
01:59:51.029 --> 01:59:53.050
I was a big Sting guy. But, yeah, if you
2205
01:59:53.069 --> 01:59:56.909
look down the rest of the show, though, the rest
2206
01:59:56.949 --> 02:00:01.149
of the card, rather, you start to wonder where everybody
2207
02:00:01.220 --> 02:00:03.529
else was compared to who they were showing on TV.
2208
02:00:04.819 --> 02:00:07.539
It would be one of those moments, maybe if I
2209
02:00:07.560 --> 02:00:09.560
was a parent and I knew that my son or
2210
02:00:09.579 --> 02:00:13.590
daughter– really liked a few of their top stars um
2211
02:00:13.689 --> 02:00:16.989
beyond sting and bam bam bigelow uh you didn't get
2212
02:00:17.010 --> 02:00:19.149
to see a lot of the as seen on tv
2213
02:00:19.189 --> 02:00:22.569
type guys so you know that's something you know we
2214
02:00:22.609 --> 02:00:25.529
had another you know the last show in bethlehem the
2215
02:00:25.550 --> 02:00:29.109
main event was lex luger versus van hammer um wow
2216
02:00:30.479 --> 02:00:35.819
yeah so yeah it's And that was also the same
2217
02:00:35.880 --> 02:00:40.409
card that Jim Duggan had found the television championship in
2218
02:00:40.430 --> 02:00:44.449
the trash, and he had been carrying around doing open challenges.
2219
02:00:44.489 --> 02:00:47.409
So we saw, I think, three matches. I know he
2220
02:00:47.430 --> 02:00:52.409
defended against Steve Riegel, which was cool, especially considering his
2221
02:00:52.479 --> 02:00:55.960
history with the championship. But also, we saw him defeat
2222
02:00:56.020 --> 02:01:00.960
Robert Gibson, which was, again, considering at the time that
2223
02:01:01.020 --> 02:01:05.770
Goldberg was signed, Hulk Hogan... Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall,
2224
02:01:05.810 --> 02:01:09.250
Bret Hart, Sting. The main event was Van Hamer versus
2225
02:01:09.310 --> 02:01:12.350
Lex Luger, and the signature match was Jim Duggan versus
2226
02:01:12.399 --> 02:01:15.779
Robert Gibson for the television championship. So, yeah, some of
2227
02:01:15.800 --> 02:01:19.340
these B shows are fairly interesting.
2228
02:01:20.239 --> 02:01:23.600
Yeah. Actually, I think I wrote a column on it
2229
02:01:23.640 --> 02:01:27.189
back in the day. I went to a SmackDown house show.
2230
02:01:27.199 --> 02:01:30.750
This was in D.C. in, I think it's 2003. I'm
2231
02:01:30.770 --> 02:01:31.949
going to pull it up here in a little while.
2232
02:01:32.460 --> 02:01:36.149
This was at the– or 2004. This was at the
2233
02:01:36.189 --> 02:01:39.989
time when there were several parents there who didn't understand
2234
02:01:40.029 --> 02:01:44.729
the whole concept of the brand split and were wondering
2235
02:01:44.770 --> 02:01:47.010
where all the people that their kids wanted to see
2236
02:01:47.289 --> 02:01:47.890
had gone to.
2237
02:01:49.430 --> 02:01:53.850
Yeah, that's the part. And I mean nothing in disrespect
2238
02:01:53.869 --> 02:01:58.189
to Jim Duggan and Robert Gibson. It's just oftentimes they
2239
02:01:58.260 --> 02:02:00.380
don't put Jim Duggan and Robert Gibson on the poster.
2240
02:02:00.439 --> 02:02:05.300
They put Sting, Goldberg– Nash, Hall, Hogan. And so as
2241
02:02:05.340 --> 02:02:07.439
you advertise for that and then you get something a
2242
02:02:07.439 --> 02:02:11.460
little bit different, that can be disappointing. And, you know,
2243
02:02:11.479 --> 02:02:15.130
that's if you're the brand split, too, I think oftentimes
2244
02:02:15.170 --> 02:02:18.029
wrestling fans, we forget that we're kind of in our
2245
02:02:18.069 --> 02:02:20.369
own bubble and that we really understand the minutia of
2246
02:02:20.390 --> 02:02:23.350
what's happening in the story. And sometimes for parents who
2247
02:02:23.670 --> 02:02:26.909
are taking their kids who also understand the minutiae, and
2248
02:02:26.930 --> 02:02:29.170
they can be disappointed more disappointed for the parents of
2249
02:02:29.189 --> 02:02:31.890
the kid end up loving it i'd love every wrestling
2250
02:02:31.909 --> 02:02:33.449
show i want to no matter who was on the
2251
02:02:33.489 --> 02:02:35.909
show but some of the parents are wondering where hulk
2252
02:02:35.949 --> 02:02:40.199
hogan is yeah yeah.
2253
02:02:40.039 --> 02:02:43.680
Okay smackdown dc june twenty first point two thousand three
2254
02:02:43.960 --> 02:02:47.060
not only is it a smackdown house show but uh...
2255
02:02:47.060 --> 02:02:52.140
brock lesnar's not there so oh that's that's yeah so uh...
2256
02:02:52.100 --> 02:02:55.140
but geez uh... uh... again he's off the whole weekend
2257
02:02:55.159 --> 02:03:00.090
for some reason Yeah, that's not popular. So, yeah, no
2258
02:03:00.109 --> 02:03:04.060
Triple H, no Kevin Nash, no Randy Orton, Booker T,
2259
02:03:04.079 --> 02:03:07.180
none of those guys. You did get a main event
2260
02:03:07.319 --> 02:03:10.819
of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit winning a handicap match
2261
02:03:10.880 --> 02:03:12.840
over Big Show, Charlie Haas, and Shelton Benjamin.
2262
02:03:14.699 --> 02:03:16.250
Hmm. Okay, then.
2263
02:03:17.189 --> 02:03:20.390
And I don't know how I forgot this, but Billy
2264
02:03:20.409 --> 02:03:21.510
Gunn defeating John Cena.
2265
02:03:23.010 --> 02:03:24.029
Wow, isn't that.
2266
02:03:25.090 --> 02:03:26.479
Isn't it fun to see stuff like that?
2267
02:03:27.829 --> 02:03:31.010
Yeah. I can imagine Billy Gunn, okay, kid, here's what
2268
02:03:31.029 --> 02:03:36.210
we're going to do. That must have been... Well, you know,
2269
02:03:36.350 --> 02:03:38.569
I mean, people... You can't say that John Cena didn't
2270
02:03:38.590 --> 02:03:41.729
pay his dues. I mean, in as much as people
2271
02:03:41.750 --> 02:03:42.850
do these days, you know?
2272
02:03:43.949 --> 02:03:46.829
Well, was that when Billy Gunn was with Nydia after
2273
02:03:46.909 --> 02:03:48.970
he fought Jamie Noble, or was that right before that?
2274
02:03:49.270 --> 02:03:49.689
I don't know.
2275
02:03:49.710 --> 02:03:52.109
I mean, look here. This is a good question you ask.
2276
02:03:52.630 --> 02:03:55.890
Billy Gunn's still with Tori Wilson at this point. okay
2277
02:03:56.649 --> 02:03:58.050
I don't know if they've yeah I don't know if
2278
02:03:58.090 --> 02:03:59.989
they've done I don't know if they did the uh
2279
02:04:00.310 --> 02:04:02.350
I don't know if they did the uh the skit
2280
02:04:02.390 --> 02:04:04.369
where all four of them they peed with Jamie Noble
2281
02:04:04.390 --> 02:04:05.829
and Midian all four of them end up in bed
2282
02:04:05.850 --> 02:04:07.729
together but uh yeah that.
2283
02:04:07.590 --> 02:04:11.630
Which was the craziest ending of all time that was
2284
02:04:11.670 --> 02:04:13.750
the least probable thing I expected.
2285
02:04:13.409 --> 02:04:16.770
To happen yes the good news is not as many
2286
02:04:16.789 --> 02:04:19.600
people saw it as perhaps uh you wanted to oh
2287
02:04:19.609 --> 02:04:23.279
here okay here's something uh Smackdown house show Augusta Maine
2288
02:04:23.359 --> 02:04:28.750
June 29th 2003 Apparently they filled time by having Vince
2289
02:04:28.850 --> 02:04:30.670
McMahon as a guest on the Brother Love show.
2290
02:04:33.930 --> 02:04:40.899
What? He was killed. He was... June 29, 2003.
2291
02:04:40.899 --> 02:04:43.140
Well, I guess 12 years is enough time to recover.
2292
02:04:43.680 --> 02:04:44.609
So I guess....
2293
02:04:46.020 --> 02:04:47.699
I guess he might have been healed by then, but
2294
02:04:47.880 --> 02:04:51.500
oh my goodness. That's something I didn't... I didn't know
2295
02:04:51.560 --> 02:04:53.359
that happened. I didn't know Brother Love.
2296
02:04:54.800 --> 02:04:59.460
Returned after, after the ultimate warrior beat him, but I'm using, uh, yeah,
2297
02:05:00.680 --> 02:05:04.319
I'm using control control F here on history of WWE. And,
2298
02:05:04.520 --> 02:05:06.359
and sure enough, he was in the, uh, that battle
2299
02:05:06.399 --> 02:05:09.250
Royal with the, with the APA, with the Easter bunny and, uh,
2300
02:05:10.010 --> 02:05:14.289
Oh God, no hair. And, uh, can keep the conquistadors.
2301
02:05:15.149 --> 02:05:16.170
They were in that one as well.
2302
02:05:17.010 --> 02:05:17.210
Yeah.
2303
02:05:17.289 --> 02:05:19.229
And on that note, uh, we're about out of time
2304
02:05:19.270 --> 02:05:21.390
for this week. I want to thank, uh, I want
2305
02:05:21.409 --> 02:05:24.850
to thank you for joining us. Uh, Next week I'll
2306
02:05:24.890 --> 02:05:28.369
be filling in for Jim again. Bruce Mitchell has threatened
2307
02:05:28.409 --> 02:05:31.420
to drop by, and we'll see how that goes. And, Ian,
2308
02:05:31.460 --> 02:05:33.720
I'm hoping we'll get you to join us, and we
2309
02:05:33.739 --> 02:05:35.939
might do a real deal audio segment for the VIP numbers.
2310
02:05:36.000 --> 02:05:38.699
Thank you to everybody who listened, and thank you, Ian.
2311
02:05:38.859 --> 02:05:43.310
I really appreciate everybody coming out on a Saturday. Don't
2312
02:05:43.390 --> 02:05:47.449
forget torch backlash coverage all night tomorrow night. You can't
2313
02:05:47.470 --> 02:05:51.850
escape it, so we'll be doing that. And, Ian, Pittsburgh,
2314
02:05:51.869 --> 02:05:53.010
I think, this coming weekend.
2315
02:05:53.069 --> 02:05:53.489
Next weekend.
2316
02:05:54.390 --> 02:05:56.529
Yeah, Pittsburgh, and then Lockport, New York. We're going to
2317
02:05:56.550 --> 02:05:59.689
be in Pittsburgh Friday night, September 16th. Huge main event,
2318
02:05:59.770 --> 02:06:02.029
Adam Cole and the Young Bucks versus Jay Lethal, Colt Cabana,
2319
02:06:02.100 --> 02:06:04.159
and Dalton Castle. The next night, we're going to be
2320
02:06:04.180 --> 02:06:06.239
in Lockport. It's going to be Colt Cabana, Dalton Castle
2321
02:06:06.260 --> 02:06:10.180
versus the Briscoes, the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. But also,
2322
02:06:10.319 --> 02:06:12.640
Honor Rumble comes back in Lockport.
2323
02:06:12.659 --> 02:06:13.680
Oh, yeah, Honor Rumble.
2324
02:06:14.479 --> 02:06:16.630
Yeah, winner gets a title shot, Lakeland, Florida, and a
2325
02:06:16.739 --> 02:06:18.670
huge Women of Honor Tag Team match that I'm looking
2326
02:06:18.689 --> 02:06:22.239
forward to, Diana Perrazzo. Keep her name in mind. And
2327
02:06:22.739 --> 02:06:27.229
Mandy Leone versus Taylor Hendricks and the debuting Jessica Havoc.
2328
02:06:29.010 --> 02:06:29.430
I like it.
2329
02:06:29.710 --> 02:06:32.760
Yeah, big, big Women of Honor tag team match there.
2330
02:06:32.840 --> 02:06:36.199
So tickets still available, but they're going fast to ROHWrestling.com.
2331
02:06:36.319 --> 02:06:37.760
All right.
2332
02:06:37.840 --> 02:06:39.779
Thanks, everybody. We will see you next week.
2333
02:06:49.680 --> 02:06:52.859
Your time is valuable. Go VIP and listen to our
2334
02:06:52.880 --> 02:06:58.159
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02:06:58.199 --> 02:07:01.560
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02:07:01.909 --> 02:07:04.449
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02:07:07.649 --> 02:07:10.850
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02:07:10.930 --> 02:07:15.659
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02:07:15.699 --> 02:07:17.750
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02:07:17.770 --> 02:07:21.880
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02:07:23.319 --> 02:07:25.920
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02:07:31.489 --> 02:07:33.569
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02:07:39.390 --> 02:07:41.670
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02:07:41.909 --> 02:07:45.529
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02:07:45.550 --> 02:07:49.130
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02:07:48.529 --> 02:07:49.390
For our post shows.
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02:07:50.810 --> 02:07:52.869
It's next level coverage that you come to expect from
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02:07:52.909 --> 02:07:57.130
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02:07:57.229 --> 02:08:02.100
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02:08:02.260 --> 02:08:06.600
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02:08:06.619 --> 02:08:09.380
yourself away from the vacuous social media experience that I
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02:08:09.420 --> 02:08:11.539
know many of you regret once you get lost in
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02:08:11.579 --> 02:08:14.100
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2357
02:08:14.159 --> 02:08:19.199
settle in for high-quality PW Torch-branded wrestling coverage. Admit it,
2358
02:08:19.310 --> 02:08:21.260
you love Nick Barbatti when he co-hosts with me on
2359
02:08:21.270 --> 02:08:23.140
the Wade Keller Post Shows. Well, now you can listen
2360
02:08:23.159 --> 02:08:25.899
to him every week on the Nicky's Club, a VIP
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exclusive podcast.
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02:08:26.899 --> 02:08:28.199
Here's Nick to tell you more.
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02:08:28.319 --> 02:08:30.760
Hey, wrestling fans. It's Nick Barbatti, and I'm back with
2364
02:08:30.779 --> 02:08:32.859
the Nicky's Club, the place where the family of Nicky's
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02:08:32.920 --> 02:08:35.819
comes together for big laughs and sharp takes on WWE.
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02:08:35.920 --> 02:08:38.829
From WrestleMania rumors to surprise returns, I got you covered.
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02:08:38.989 --> 02:08:41.189
The Nicky's Club, where the wrestling feels like the coolest
2368
02:08:41.210 --> 02:08:41.729
club in town.
2369
02:08:41.989 --> 02:08:43.789
Nick Barbatti wants to be part of your pro wrestling
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02:08:43.829 --> 02:08:45.909
life every week, so why not let him?
2371
02:08:46.029 --> 02:08:46.829
GoVIP.
2372
02:08:46.970 --> 02:08:51.010
PWTorch.com slash GoVIP for full details on signing up. We're
2373
02:08:51.029 --> 02:08:54.520
compatible with Patreon, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and just about any
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02:08:54.529 --> 02:08:56.579
other iOS or Android app out there. You can also
2375
02:08:56.600 --> 02:08:59.640
stream directly from our ad-free VIP website. The Nicky's Club,
2376
02:08:59.680 --> 02:09:04.399
waiting for you every week at PWTorch VIP. Did you
2377
02:09:04.439 --> 02:09:07.840
know that you can enjoy commercial-free versions of all of
2378
02:09:07.880 --> 02:09:11.859
your favorite Wade Keller podcasts and PWTorch Daily Casts? Just
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02:09:11.899 --> 02:09:16.760
go to patreon.com, search PWTorch, and subscribe to a VIP
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membership tier. You get a seven-day free trial, by the way,
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to kick the tires a bit and see if you
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02:09:20.779 --> 02:09:23.510
like the service. And then sync it with Spotify, and
2383
02:09:23.529 --> 02:09:26.250
you can listen to commercial-free versions of our free shows,
2384
02:09:26.270 --> 02:09:28.750
like the Wade Keller Post Shows, the Wade Keller Podcast Flagship,
2385
02:09:29.109 --> 02:09:32.140
our flashbacks, and also the PWTorch DataCast lineup online. Again,
2386
02:09:32.380 --> 02:09:36.119
all commercial-free, a nice streamlined listening experience. But with third-tier membership,
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02:09:36.159 --> 02:09:39.539
you can also unlock all the VIP podcasts, including Everything
2388
02:09:39.560 --> 02:09:41.279
with Rich and Wade, The Fix with Todd Martin that
2389
02:09:41.300 --> 02:09:43.579
I host with Todd every week, the Wade Keller News
2390
02:09:43.619 --> 02:09:48.850
Bulletin's post-pay-per-view roundtables, and an array of other VIP-exclusive podcasts
2391
02:09:48.859 --> 02:09:50.550
with different hosts and different themes.
2392
02:09:51.029 --> 02:09:51.890
Check out the lineup.
2393
02:09:52.270 --> 02:09:56.689
Go to Patreon and search PWTorch and subscribe and sync
2394
02:09:56.710 --> 02:09:59.470
it up with Spotify or stay within the Patreon ecosystem.
2395
02:09:59.920 --> 02:10:03.250
Either way works, go to Patreon and start your seven-day
2396
02:10:03.329 --> 02:10:06.590
free trial. If you're listening to us on the Apple
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Podcast app, on Spotify, or any other app that allows
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you to rate our podcast, please take a moment to
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give us a five-star rating. It really helps us in
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the algorithm and helps them know that you recommend us
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to others. Just look for a place to rate the
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show on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening
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02:10:21.079 --> 02:10:23.319
to our shows, and please click that five-star rating.
2404
02:10:23.420 --> 02:10:25.050
And of course, thank you so much for listening.
2405
02:10:26.859 --> 02:10:29.479
A PWTorch VIP membership doesn't just give you ad-free access
2406
02:10:29.500 --> 02:10:32.100
to these shows and a ton of other VIP-exclusive podcasts
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throughout the week, but you also gain access to our unmatched,
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vast library of wrestling history, our contemporaneous week-to-week coverage through
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02:10:39.029 --> 02:10:41.250
our Pro Wrestling Torch weekly newsletters dating back to the
2410
02:10:41.310 --> 02:10:45.090
late 1980s, along with streaming and download access to hundreds
2411
02:10:45.250 --> 02:10:48.010
of retro radio shows from the 1990s, including some of
2412
02:10:48.050 --> 02:10:51.609
my interviews with wrestling's top newsmakers in the 90s, and
2413
02:10:51.670 --> 02:10:54.479
also our podcast library dating back to the year 2003.
2414
02:10:54.470 --> 02:11:00.060
There's no larger... longer-spanning pro wrestling podcast library than that
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02:11:00.159 --> 02:11:03.850
that comes with a PWTorch VIP membership. Now approaching 20
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years of podcasting. Go VIP and dive into our post-pay-per-view roundtables,
2417
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our coverage of some of your favorite eras of wrestling,
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02:11:10.810 --> 02:11:15.500
top-name long-form interviews, and special format podcasts that we've done
2419
02:11:15.520 --> 02:11:20.119
throughout the years. PWTorch.com slash go VIP. We have a
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streamlined sign-up form, and you can pay with PayPal or
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directly with your credit card or debit card. In one
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or two minutes from right now, you can be a
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VIP member and diving into our library, pwtorch.com slash govip.