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The Chick Foley Lounge: Q&A w/ Stat Guy Greg
30 Plays6 years ago
The Hot Take Kid sits down with Stat Guy Greg from ESPN's Cheap Heat podcast to discuss how he got into wrestling as a kid, how he met Peter Rosenberg, his wrestling fig collection, AEW, delicious chicken, and much more!
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Goals
00:00:14
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Chick Foley Lounge. I am your host for this evening, Phil Gentile, a.k.a. The Hot Take Kid. And a special segment here we're doing on the show. We're trying to get some extra content for you
Meet Greg Hyde - 'Stat Guy Greg'
00:00:29
Speaker
guys. So I handpicked some individuals I want to do some interviews with from the the podcasting slash wrestling world. And I have one of my favorites on the line right now, Mr. Greg Hyde. You might know him as Stat Guy Greg from Cheap Heat. What's going on, Greg?
00:00:44
Speaker
Oh, man. Introduction was far too kind. Dude, I love your stuff. I'm glad you were able to make some time for me. I know you've got a super busy schedule, so we'll hop right into it, man. You guys can follow Greg on Twitter, if you don't already, at Stack Guy Greg. And he is one half of the cheapie podcast through ESPN that does weekly wrestling
00:01:06
Speaker
recaps and with Peter Rosenberg, another one of my favorites. How did you become involved with the
Becoming the Statistician for Cheap Heat
00:01:11
Speaker
show, man? Because I've been listening since the beginning, since Mr. Shoemaker was on there with you guys. And you were kind of a add-in at the end. You were the intern almost answering questions. Marco. Yeah, you were Marco. That's right. Yeah, man. How did it all come about? Did you know Peter from before? Were you just a wrestling fan that reached out to them? What was the background? I did not know Peter.
00:01:35
Speaker
from before, or Shoemaker, or anyone that worked on their show with them, or any of their friends. Well, I had one mutual friend with the two of them, DJ from New York, who's since veered off into comedy. I know he's still DJ, but he's heavy in the comedy world right now, too, by the name of Cypher Sounds. So I was friends with Cypher, and again, huge wrestling mark.
00:02:04
Speaker
So I obviously was already listening to Cheap Heat, just like you going through all the errors. I remember when it wasn't even named Cheap Heat, it just had no name. So that's how far back I would listen. And I was just a fan. And then one day, I was listening. And it was right around the time of the Hall of Fame. And the Bushwackers were going in. And they made a comment about the Bushwackers being from Australia.
00:02:32
Speaker
But I was like, and I'm listening, I'm just like, no, they're not from Australia. I believe they're from New Zealand. Yeah, they were the sheep herders back in the day, right? Right. Yeah. So Shoemaker made a comment just about them being from Australia. And the level of nerd that I was back then was just like, all right, I can't take that they made this error. So I went to social media to sort of correct them. But then it was like, I would listen late because their schedules
00:02:59
Speaker
a bit inconsistent some things have remained the same from the beginning because our schedule is also a little bit inconsistent but my dig was I was going to go and basically correct them on it but then I figured you know by the time I got to them I might have been like the sixth or seventh person in line
Transitions & Dynamics of Cheap Heat
00:03:15
Speaker
with this same comment and so at that point I'm just being annoying right I'm just piling on yeah and then the light bulb went off that you know maybe I could offer myself as their statistician
00:03:29
Speaker
so that when they make these mistakes and I'm catching them in real time, which I was sort of doing anyway, just listening to the podcast and noticing things on my own as a fan, I can come in at the end and then correct them so that our listeners who make it through to the end don't bombard them on social media with these corrections or what have you. So I've sort of
00:03:53
Speaker
put myself in as the middleman. It's like they can go have the discussion, be as free as they want, say what they want. And then if they slip, they don't have to worry about 10 or 15 different people coming at them with the same comment because I would have corrected it. And then if I didn't, then those people would come to me so they wouldn't have to deal with it. And it just so happened that right around that same time, they were already looking for somebody to fill that exact role. So me asking Seif to pitch it to Rosenberg was sort of serendipitous.
00:04:24
Speaker
And then he asked me to come in and I went. And that's when I met them officially for the first time, Rosenberg and Shoemaker, I sat in, I did it. And they were like, all right, come back next week. And it's been like four and a half, almost five years of next week.
00:04:41
Speaker
That's crazy,
Unscripted Nature of Cheap Heat
00:04:42
Speaker
man. That is so cool. But let's hope for you, Marco. Yeah, I was going to say that we basically stole that idea. If anybody listening to this does not listen to Chief Pete, number one, you should. But I mean, we basically stole this exact same plot line for Marco because Marco is one of our diehard fans. And now he's part of the show every single week as the intern and the MVP. So, yeah, Marco, you've got some big shoes to fill, man.
00:05:02
Speaker
How has it been being involved with the show? I'm sure you've gotten to see a lot of cool stuff. Before we get into some of the different places you've been and people you've met, what's the process for when you guys record? For us, it was Sheena. Now it's Marco that kind of puts the script together. We kind of chat back and forth via DM and messages about what we want to talk about. Do you guys just go in? Peter seems like
Meeting Wrestling Legends
00:05:25
Speaker
a guy who can just go off the dome with stuff, but do you guys have like a loose script that you follow? What's the process every week and when do you typically record?
00:05:32
Speaker
No, there's no script. And I didn't think so. You. Yeah, we tried. And, you know, I'll say the script does help. It does make it easier because like there's less surprises and we are able to fill the time. But then, you know, he has about 40 different jobs where he's on A.M. radio at the number one hip hop station in New York Hot 97. Then if now
00:05:59
Speaker
afternoon whatever he does I don't know maybe naps because he has to be up at like 6 a.m. and go for four hours and then I'll even say mid-morning that afternoon and like 3 o'clock he jumps on the Michael K show ESPN so he does like an afternoon drive show and then you know he's still DJ's still hosted events still parties at one point he had a show on complex he has had multiple shows you know he was working with WWE for a little while so
00:06:28
Speaker
Yes, so with all of that, you know, our heart is in the right place. We try to have some type of script and things we want to hit on, but most weeks it just ends up being.
00:06:40
Speaker
p freestyle to be trying to keep up cuz i i mean he's a pro yeah it means all over the place but in a good way and and and the script is kind of a a gift and a curse uh... we have one that we just i can look over it uh... i try to look at a while recording is the new kind of like reading it sounds almost robotic so i can see why not having a script and just kind of going freestyle uh... works for people and uh... for me i would just i would i forget what i had for breakfast this morning so i would miss our right now admit something happen on either somebody shows that a recap of my god i mean you
00:07:09
Speaker
You know, you listen to our show and by the time we're done, I'm still, there's two or three things that we've forgotten to talk about. So it's tough. It's definitely tough to juggle. What's the process been with, you know, obviously Shoemaker was there while you were there, then Brian Campbell, both of those guys moving on to other companies. What was the process like? Was it kind of just annoying? Was it just a lot of like,
00:07:31
Speaker
Stop and starts when those guys were around and then leaving it or just the the show just flowed No matter who was there because it didn't sound like he missed a beat to me. Yeah, and thankfully, you know it was because shoemaker was there when I got there right and so I feel lucky enough that I think I was able to make a good smooth transition in and Then the three of us developed our own sound and it worked
00:08:00
Speaker
And then with Shoemaker leaving and then us bringing in Brian Campbell, he was able to slide right in and fit as a third mic sort of seamlessly. He came in and out and then now with me and Rosenberg doing it, I think we have it so fine-tuned and well-loyal that it's
00:08:20
Speaker
I mean, it's hard to put, each era is different. Obviously, it's special to me. I think Shoemaker and Rosenberg, them by themselves was the best just because I was a fan and I was able to listen to it and enjoy it. But thankfully, every era has its own sound, its own fan base, its own everything. But I wouldn't say, we've been lucky because you don't really feel it. They're all made, they're all championship teams almost.
00:08:49
Speaker
And I don't want to give you too much of a shine and just make you think I'm brown-nosing you. But I mean, you've done a great job. And if you don't have any kind of experience before you started doing this, I know it's been four or five years. But I mean, you're co-hosting a major podcast for the biggest sports brand in the world. Do you ever think about that sometimes? Obviously, you have a pretty busy day job that consumes most of your time. But I mean, you've done a great job of just making this kind of a, I don't want to say second career, but I mean,
00:09:19
Speaker
When I would listen to the show, I mean, you have a great fan perspective, but I mean, you do well. You come off sounding very intelligent. I mean, you seem like you know what you're doing on radio. I would have thought just listening for the first time that you've done this your whole life. So I mean, you've definitely stepped in there and done well. Well, I mean, first of all, Brown knows as much as you like. I'm not going to stop that. Do it as you do, sir.
00:09:46
Speaker
But no, I have no experience. And like I said, everything I've learned has just been from watching Rosenberg and doing it with Rosenberg and Shoemaker and Campbell. Like those guys, they have it sort of perfected. And you can tell, right, Campbell went on, he has his own show that's doing well. Shoemaker, same thing. And Rosenberg, like I said, he's all over radio nationally, internationally. So I'm just lucky to be around those guys.
00:10:15
Speaker
What's been some of the coolest experiences you've had since you've been on the show? Obviously, you've been backstage and do a bunch of big, high-profile events. And who are some people maybe you've met that you didn't think were going to be as cool as they were and just turned out to be pretty down-to-earth awesome people? OK, so this is what we're here for, right? The shoot era is happening in a cheap heat. We name names. We just keep it real. I think, for me, the coolest person that I've met
00:10:46
Speaker
throughout all of this has definitely, I want to say has been Samoa Joe. I've heard that for my friends Jimmy Seafood here in Baltimore are big, big fans. He always comes to town gracious down to earth kind of guy. So yeah, I've, I've heard that from other people as well. Yeah. Now he's, he's very chill. Like he's just, he's mad cool. Like, and it's funny cause his persona, um, you know, the heel, like beat them up. Bad guy. I also get the sense that that's,
00:11:16
Speaker
True to a side of him, but people aren't one dimensional, right? So just as much as there's a side of Samoa Joe that will break your nose if he has to, there's also a side of him that'll put his arm around you, give you advice. If he's having a drink, make sure that you're sipping, too, if you're willing to partake, laugh with you, joke with you, break bread with you. And I've been fortunate enough to see that side of Joe.
00:11:45
Speaker
And I think he's one of the coolest to Mark Henry's real cool. Um, you know, obviously Rick, Rick flair, Nate. Oh my gosh. You can only imagine Jesus. Nate is like, he's everything you imagine from the promos in terms of how he's able to like walk into a room and, and command it and have everybody gravitate towards him. And just like,
00:12:11
Speaker
You know be the beam a light at the center of the room. Obviously Brett Love talking to him love getting to meet him So many people Adam Cole is is Absurdly cool like it's just ridiculous Kevin Owens is you know Basically everybody I'm trying to think I can't think of anybody who
00:12:36
Speaker
who has been like not nice or like mean to the point of turning me off of them as a fan. But I mean, yeah, definitely Bray Wyatt. Mad chill. It's cool, man. Yeah, there's a lot of a lot of cool people. Sasha Banks is cool. Bailey's sweetheart. She's so nice. Yeah. Charlotte, too.
00:13:01
Speaker
Oh man, dude, you got a Rolodex of people here. What's been the moment you were like, is this my life right now? When you're hanging out with Rick Flair, are you just thinking, what am I doing? How did I get to this? It's got to be crazy as a wrestling fan to be where you are right now from just listening to a podcast, right?
Critiquing AEW vs WWE
00:13:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's sort of wild. There was one year
00:13:27
Speaker
when you know the show ended it was after a mania the show ended and then we sort of bolted to beat the traffic and a car was waiting for us to get us back to the hotels like alright I'll take this this is pretty cool you know just go backstage get into your waiting vehicle and then be whisked off you know and even like
00:13:52
Speaker
from time to time, I go back on the network and I watch myself on Holy Foley. There's no reason I should be on an episode of like a network show, not to like toot my own horn, but like this, this is just things that are so surreal, right? You know, like as a fan, especially if, if time travel is a thing and I could go back and tell my younger self, my younger Mark self watching during the attitude era or, you know, even the new generation era before that, like,
00:14:22
Speaker
You're going to meet Bret Hart and you're going to be speechless. You know what I mean? Or like you're going to be sitting at a hotel bar and like Rick Flair is going to be like a few people down, regaling people with stories. It's probably the same story. They probably heard it before. It's just one of those things that you wouldn't believe.
00:14:45
Speaker
It's got to be crazy, yeah, man. What wrestling event that you can think of that you've been to was just like, I'm sure you've been to the last couple of Wrestlemanias. Is there one that sticks out that was just like, I mean, obviously this last WrestleMania with Kofi winning was an awesome moment and a great time. What's been like your favorite event that you've attended with these guys during this role that you've just like, just sticks out in your head? My favorite is still that first Takeover Brooklyn.
00:15:14
Speaker
What a show that was. Yeah, it was it was my first event going as a as a member of cheap heat and like the whole squad basically went I Sat like third row. It was their first event outside of full sail It was the first time I think that they did that whole like facing the crowd thing. Yeah, and Rick Flair and Oscar were the two I
00:15:41
Speaker
faces in the crowd of like, all right, this is what NXT has coming up next, which I think was kind of cool. Like Sasha Banks and Bailey was on that card. You know what I mean? That's probably one of the most easily, probably one of the best matches of the decade. And it's definitely one of the most important matches in terms of women's wrestling. And when you think about where they are right now, none of it happens without that match going the way it did.
00:16:09
Speaker
and that ladder match baller and Owens. I mean, there's so many, everybody on that. I mean, you look down Apollo Crews, Samoa Joe, Corbin, Bailey, Sasha Banks, Baller, Owens, Murphy. I'm gonna skip over the Vaudevillians real quick, but everybody else on that card was like, you know, it's just Alexa Bliss. I mean, everybody on that card is now main, you know, main level big time name. So it's crazy to see where NXT has come from.
00:16:36
Speaker
Let's get into AEW a little bit because me and you seem to get the same knock from people on our shows or on social media that were complete haters of this brand. And didn't you get a cease and desist about something from AEW? What was that? I did. What was it? I forget for some reason. My mind has left me. I did get a cease and desist about a, it was sort of an offhand comment, but AEW
00:17:01
Speaker
How can I describe them in a way? That's not gonna get us get get you hit with a cease and desist actually because this is your show They so they sort of want to have it both ways, right They want to be treated like This player at the top of the mountain, but then they don't also carry themselves that way. What do I mean by that? WWE Withstands
00:17:29
Speaker
every critique and every bit of slander without attacking the fans. Now, yes, they definitely slander and attack the fans at large, like as a collective, as a group of fans. But WWE, as far as I know, like if I say something that they don't like, they're not going to come at me with a cease and desist or like a legal letter or threat and litigation.
00:17:57
Speaker
and demand an apology because they're just not that sensitive because they don't have to be. But then AEW, that happened. And then it's like one of the first peak courses of action was go straight to that, which I don't mind. I'm an attorney anyway. So I have to be in court. You're not going to stop. It doesn't bother me. It was just more of a hassle to have to like
00:18:25
Speaker
you know, the suits at ESPN and, you know, different people didn't want to deal with it. Again, I didn't mind, but it's also not worth it for me to go down that road. So yeah, whatever it is. I mean, you just said, you just said like negative comments about them. I mean, is that you can get a seasoned assist for, for, for that. I mean, I thought it was, so basically it, it's centered around,
00:18:52
Speaker
Um, some business dealings. Oh, okay. I never, I know. Now I remember. Okay. This is false and blah, blah, blah. And then it's just like the same stuff Randy Orton brought up a couple of weeks ago on, on track. Yeah. Okay. Right. The same, the same stuff that everybody brings up, but you know, I don't know who else got here with those letters. I know I got one. So.
00:19:17
Speaker
So I've been watching AEW, I've been to two of their events. I went to the first AEW Dynamite and I went to the pay-per-view here in Baltimore. And if you listen to our show, I criticize the WWE when they do stuff that I don't like. I try to be positive, but it creeps in there. But when you criticize AEW, it's almost, and I hate to compare it to this, but it's almost like the rabid Trump fans to me that like,
00:19:42
Speaker
just come out of the woodwork and attack you. When it first started, I have never, I don't know about you, I had never seen a Young Bucks match. I don't watch New Japan Wrestling. I've been a WWE fan since WrestleMania 8 or 9. I've watched WCW back during the Monday Night Wars when I was a kid.
00:19:59
Speaker
I never got into Ring of Honor or TNA. I'm willing to try AEW and give it a chance, but when they do something that I don't like, they do a stupid battle royal or you have a fight for a ring, like a physical ring that you put on your finger or something stupid. The same way if I don't like the Bray Wyatt gimmick, when there's a red light in the ring, I'll criticize it on the show. But it just seems like you don't know what you're talking... People have just come out of the... They just have this fan base and it is great for them that they have this rabid fan base already. They've been around for
00:20:29
Speaker
a year or whatever, I think 11 months. It's just crazy, but I know there's some things about the company that I like. I think they're trying to do things differently, but I just don't feel like it's there. And I feel like you have the same sentiments as me. I mean, you have the same guys. I mean, you had Cody and Jericho. Now you have Jericho and Dean Ambrose. I mean, if you want to start a new company,
00:20:57
Speaker
I mean, you're just recycling guys that we already know. And there's a couple of young guys that I think they're Scorpio Sky's a great young talent. I think MGF is going to be a good young talent, but I just don't think it's as different for me to make me totally say that WWE has a serious competitor. Do you feel the same? Agreed. I mean, and I don't care how people feel about this. They're small time, right? Like I remember when AEW first
00:21:26
Speaker
you know, was becoming a thing and they were grumbling to what was going to happen. Everybody was like, okay, they have a billionaire. They're automatically a player. You know, WWE needs to be worried. And it's just like, if a billion dollars was the secret sauce, WCW would still be around. Ring of Honor would be way bigger than it is. TNA, I'm sorry. Impact would have much more respect in and around the industry.
00:21:53
Speaker
A billion dollars is not the secret sauce. A billion dollars is not what has WWE at the top of the mountain. It's the money plus the sponsorships, the business relationships outside of that. The fact that Vince made his billions in this one specific area versus TV guys or sports guys or energy guys coming in and trying to fund a wrestling company.
00:22:19
Speaker
that they have the greatest collection of wrestling minds. It's much more than just a billion dollars. And to think about it that way was very short-sighted, but also like people immediately threw AEW as this player at the top of the mountain. But then it's like, you can't have it both ways. Either AEW is this credible threat and then they need to be treated like such and criticized the same way that all these other big companies are.
00:22:49
Speaker
they're small time and they need to grow and then they're not okay. We can coddle them, but their fans want it both ways, right? When they do something great, it's like, this is a revolution. The industry is being changed and shifted and this is what it means. And then when they stumble, it's like, oh, these are growing pains. And it's like, have you arrived or are you on your way? You can't have it both ways.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah, if it was all about money, the Yankees would win the World Series every year. It's the perfect analogy. Vince McMahon has literally grown up. He's an elderly man now who's been doing this literally his entire life.
00:23:27
Speaker
And also AEW, it's just a parallel. You want to be different, you want to be new, but you're going to go back and use the bash of the beach and all these older WCW themes. It's just a weird, you have Diamond Dallas Page showing up randomly and Tully Blanchard and all these older guys. I think they'll get there and I don't want them to fail. I think it's okay to have an extra brand. But I mean, when you're losing in the ratings to the WWE's third brand, you're not serious competition.
00:23:56
Speaker
maybe they get there. I don't know. I think the cons will probably back out of this after two, three years. I mean, if the numbers keep going down and down, I mean, maybe they signed some guys from WWE and make it a little bit more of a competition. But I mean, the ratings have been
00:24:12
Speaker
steadily declining each and every single week. And I just think people wanted something new, and then they have something new. And then you're on social media. Wrestling fans loved Seth Rollins, and now they hate him. They loved AEW. They're already finding problems in the women's division and the lack of the push of guys that they like. And it's just the same problems. It's just going to be the same thing. So I mean, yeah, I wish them all the best, but I don't know what's going to happen with them in the future. But I'm sure we'll get some hate for our comments.
00:24:42
Speaker
you know, I just, I look at everything glass half full and I want to, I want to be honest with it, but let's move on to something a little more positive. Did you collect wrestling figures as a kid? Because that's a big part of our show. Um, do you still have any, do you, do you, do you remember collecting
Nostalgia in Wrestling Collectibles
00:24:58
Speaker
him as a kid? What, what tell, tell us your background there. So like every proper mark, right? I had to have,
00:25:06
Speaker
wrestling figures collection, you know, I listened to I think it was the latest episode where you guys talked about that episode of the toys that made us. Yeah. Yeah. And it was it was such an education, but also like a trip down memory lane. Right. I had like I had the LJN figures that didn't move at all. Well, I'm not I won't say I had actually. I felt like I was grandfathered into that because my older brother had those. OK.
00:25:32
Speaker
And so when he sort of aged out of it, I was like, oh, I'll take this George the Animal Steel. You know, I'll take this Fuji. I'll hold on to them. And then then they moved on to Hasbro. I had a nice little collection of the Hasbro's. And then for me, Jack specific was obviously Mattel is the king right now. What Mattel is doing with those elite figures up. I love it. But for me, it was like Jack specific is what started to really
00:26:02
Speaker
Really make these figures sort of must-haves because even these Mattel figures they sort of resemble those later lines the jack specifics figures Yeah with the elites. They're doing everything that jacks was doing and Those were the ones that like I love those. I even love the toy biz WCW ones and I don't know if you remember these but jack specific like in between
00:26:29
Speaker
making the figures that we sort of see now and like know and love but right after You know the the sort of like jelly ones with the metal inside of it that like articulated. Yeah Yeah, yeah the bone crunches so they had ones it was called like our three figures that were like to scale and everything was like perfectly
00:26:54
Speaker
sculpted to look like, do you remember these? No, I wasn't big into the jacks. I know Sheena was, but I got out of collecting in between Hasbro's and now with the Mattels. But I'm looking at them now on the internet. They look pretty cool. They're definitely way more detailed than some of the Jack ones. Yeah, they were like R3. R3Tech. I think was like, yeah. Yes, R3Tech. They had different heights, and then even everybody was sculpted perfectly to match their body type and they looked
00:27:24
Speaker
And I think those were the precursor for what we have now. Number one, number two, when those came out, hands down my favorite. Now, unfortunately my collection is it's whittled down because of my own, you know what? Like I have to hold myself accountable just like I hold everybody else. It's my own lack of foresight in where the industry was going to go.
00:27:54
Speaker
Would you give them away to somebody or what? I did. I did. Cause I was going to law school, right? And I had a, I had a very nice healthy collection that I, that I maintained through college. I had title belts. I had different figures at this point. I was just doing like all elite, no pun intended, but I had all the elite, uh, Jack specific figures of like, I had, I had a, I had a tag team division. I had, I had,
00:28:23
Speaker
upper main event, mid, I had everything. And I was just like, it was like, you're going to, we're going to law school. Like you cannot, you cannot do this. This is just not, you can't be that guy showing up to law school with, with your little, I called them toys. They were definitely action figures, but I turned on them. I called them toys and I was like, you can't go to law school with, with your toys. So I gave them away. And now here I am like,
00:28:50
Speaker
full-on lawyer with about five figures, and I'm just like, you know, I wish I had that deep roster of talent. I feel like a lot of people are in the same situation, man. So do you collect the Mattels now? Do you collect current figures? So I'm not even going to disrespect what you do, you know, what Sheena and Marco, what you guys do and say that I collect.
00:29:20
Speaker
why? No, no, no. Under 10 figure is not a collection. No, it's not a collection. Under 10 is not a collection. Let's just call it what it is. I'm not a, I'm, I'm going to call myself a hobbyist right now. I have a few that I, that I have that I've been gifted. I purchased some, I play with them. Um, but no, absolutely not a collector. Maybe I could have been somewhere, man, you know, maybe I could have been, you know, maybe, but right now it's, that's not,
00:29:50
Speaker
I'm not even going to disrespect what you do. Well, we appreciate you listening to us. Either way, man, I'm sure it sounds like something you're still interested in listening to and hearing about, which is cool. Of course. That's all we care about. Yeah, man, you have to start somewhere. I've heard a lot of people that have gotten rid of years worth of figures going away to school.
00:30:13
Speaker
graduating and stuff, and it makes sense, but then you get that 10 years later, you get that fear of missing out, and it's a harmful thing. What's been your favorite match of 2019? This is a tough one for me. I prefaced this to you earlier via chat, because I wanted you to think about it, because it's tough, man, and there's a lot of... It's been a great year, and people have been sleeping a lot of some of these matches from this year, and I want to hear your take.
Impactful Wrestling Matches
00:30:43
Speaker
Man this like you said it's it is it's tough to sort of Choose one and narrow it down Kofi mania. Yeah was a fun one to watch This Adam Cole NXT run though, you know as much as I love Kofi mania I think if I had to choose and it sounds like I do I
00:31:13
Speaker
gotta go with, with an Adam Cole match. And I think the one that I would choose is the one in takeover Connecticut or wherever they were. It was at takeover 25, I think. Yeah. Yep. Just the level of made of that whole show. Oh, so good. Caught me by surprise. I didn't want to go to Connecticut. I didn't think I would ever have wanted to have,
00:31:42
Speaker
formal of something that was happening in Connecticut. And there I was, just like everybody else, just thinking, damn, that's a good show. And that match with Amin Gargano, that was a great match. Great trilogy, but I have to go with the TakeOver Connecticut match.
00:31:59
Speaker
For some reason, I don't know if you ever saw this match, you probably have. Walter versus Tyler Bate from, I think that was NXT UK, Blackpool maybe. A badass match, man, and there's been so many good ones. I'm sure over the next couple weeks on the show, we'll be hitting people up and asking people their favorites.
00:32:19
Speaker
Another reason that I think it's going to be tougher for AEW to succeed long-term. I mean, NXT, I feel like it's just getting better. I mean, they seem to get better every year. I mean, if you aren't watching NXT, it's insane the amount of talent they have. And I don't think we talked about this last week. I don't think we're going to see the purge like we've seen in previous years of like the night after WrestleMania, all their top guys are moving up to Raw or SmackDown. I think they're going to make that brand
00:32:45
Speaker
and maybe move a Finn Balor there or somebody here, you know, six months and move them back up. But I think I feel like Baszler and Gargano and Cole, I think all those folks are going to stay down there. Well, did you see what Ciampa said on whose pocket? I think it was Lillian Garcia's. No, he said he would. He told WWE if they moved him to Raw or Smackdown. I'm not going to call it main roster anymore because it's hard not to. It's like it's in your brain over after Sunday.
00:33:15
Speaker
Yeah. That's no man. NXT is the main, is the main roster after Survivor Series. But he told them that they moved him to Raw Smackdown. He was going to do six months and then retire. Wow. He'll stay in NXT as long as they want. But if they moved him to Raw Smackdown, I'm sure a lot of folks feel the same way. And then he's retiring. Man. I was just like, wow. Yeah. I mean, it just shows you where the brand is.
00:33:45
Speaker
I mean, you hear that from a lot of folks down there, and it sounds like, I mean, if you're comfortable where you live, it's probably nicer because you don't have to travel as much. I mean, you film the show at the same place, and I don't know, NXT goes on the road every once in a while. But I mean, damn, if you had a house in Orlando, wherever the hell they are, full sail, I mean, you're living good. You don't have to pay for hotel rooms and airfare and traveling, being in your rental car all year, man. It's going to be nice. Yeah. And you get to see your family, too, right?
00:34:14
Speaker
Oh yeah, they're nice too. You'll see in a couple years, man. Sometimes you want to get away a little bit, but you're getting married the same day I got married. You're getting married October 6 next year? Is that right? No, no, November 14. Oh, that's my birthday. I knew it was one of the two dates. Okay. All right, cool. I'm getting married on your birthday? Yeah, that's my birthday, man. Oh, shit. Sounds good. You're just about in less than a year now. Yeah. I'm sure that's been consuming a lot of time.
00:34:44
Speaker
Yeah, we're ready, man. She already has her dress. She has a reception dress. Oh, nice. Wow. I have I have yet to pick up my suit because I'm terrible fiance. But, uh, you know, I got her wedding band already. It's on its way. We picked out like playlists. We have the venue booked guest list booked. So, yeah, everything, everything is coming along nicely because I've always heard and she's heard the same thing that, like,
00:35:15
Speaker
three months out. It's like an avalanche or like a tsunami of wedding stuff that you have to do. So we're just trying to get as much of it done. It's a little bit perhaps. Yeah. All that stuff. Well, I say we, the captain of that team. Um, you just get the yes or no. You just give her like a, Oh yeah, that looks great. Yeah. I like those flowers. That was a match. Good.
00:35:37
Speaker
I should, yeah, she's definitely like, she's on it, man. It's a lot of work, man. I mean, yeah, you gotta give the ladies props that kind of spearhead that stuff. Cause I mean, you think of the flowers, the play settings and the DJ and all that stuff, you know, you gotta get the cha cha slide played a couple of times. Yep. Every detail is like taken care of. So yeah, I mean, props to her cause I'm indecisive on top of like the stereotypical man stuff when it comes to the wedding, like
00:36:07
Speaker
I'm also indecisive. So I was never going to be the right person for that role. Two more questions before we get out of here, Greg. I know your time is valuable. You guys can follow Greg on Twitter at Stack Guy. Greg, if you had asked this question earlier today, too, if you had to have a non-wrestling fan watch one match to explain why you love wrestling and to get them into wrestling, what match would that be?
00:36:40
Speaker
So another tough, tough question. And I think I have to take it back to that takeover Brooklyn. I think, I think when we look back, um, just at the state of wrestling, 10, 15 years from now, there's going to be a match that we can all point to as
00:37:09
Speaker
This is the match that changed everything. Let's see if I can predict what this is gonna be. It's one of two matches, just based on that description, right? Yeah. It's either gonna be, well actually it's one of three. It's either gonna be the Daniel Bryan, WrestleMania win, right? Or it's gonna be Okada Omega. Oh wow, yeah. Or it's gonna be Sasha Banks and Bayley. Oh my gosh, I thought of a fourth one that you didn't think of. What's the fourth? I'm interested.
00:37:39
Speaker
Stone Cold and Bret Hart from WrestleMania 13. Well. Funny, you should say that that is. I have a list of wrestling matches that I think are like the most important matches in wrestling history or whatever. Stone Cold and Bret Hart from WrestleMania 13 is on the list just because of what it's done for the industry. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, the Montreal Screwjob is also on that list just because, in my opinion,
00:38:08
Speaker
If that match doesn't happen, this conversation doesn't happen. If that match doesn't happen, nobody cares about what's happening behind the scenes. That's the match that it didn't give people a peek behind the curtain. It made people want to rip the curtains open and find out every little detail of what's going on. Now we need to know who's eating vegan at catering or whatever the case may be. We didn't care before that match. We did not care. But why I chose the three that I said,
00:38:37
Speaker
I think the Daniel Bryan match was the match that sort of gave fans a level of entitlement in the product and saying that, you know, well, if we don't like this, then it can't be so. We tried it with Cena, but it was literally like a thing that we did with Cena throughout his career. And now it's with everything, every storyline. If we don't like it, it can't be so. And it's because they played with that a little bit too much now.
00:39:06
Speaker
They sort of worked us into a shoot on that you have the power kind of thing, right? Because every one of their champions has been hand-picked always since the beginning of time. But with Daniel Bryan, we felt like we actually had a say, even though he's also just in a long line of hand-picked champions. So, you know, that changed everything in that respect.
00:39:29
Speaker
Okada Omega like blew the lid off like this indie things and just showed everybody that the Indies had just as much to offer as WWE if not more and like it created a ripple effect that has us talking about AEW right now and then Sasha Banks and Bailey I put that in there just because I Mean and I say this with no disrespect to the ladies but they were definitely Second tier
00:39:57
Speaker
for most of my fandom as a wrestling fan, most of wrestling history. And it's not through any fault of their own. It was just like, these were the roles that they were relegated to. And that match cut the head off of all of that to the point where the women main evented a WrestleMania and nobody had any legitimate arguments against, right? They main evented.
00:40:24
Speaker
Survivor Series and again, nobody had any legitimate arguments against them doing it Becky Lynch is unquestionably the most popular most over wrestler right now man woman any promotion anywhere and it does not happen if this match doesn't sort of
00:40:45
Speaker
not just shatter the glass ceiling off for the ladies, but also take the shackles off, let them know that they can do, we can do things that the guys can do. They've gotten ladder matches, war games, elimination chambers, they got in tag team titles, they got a fully developed division now with mid cards and everything like that, because this match let everybody know that the
Humor & Personal Preferences
00:41:07
Speaker
women are here. And Sasha Banks and Bailey would be the match that I choose to show a wrestling fan, because it's like everything you think you know,
00:41:14
Speaker
about wrestling and what it's supposed to be is completely wiped away with that match, especially when you add the element of it being a women's match. There's not really hair pulling. It's not a cat fight. It's like a straight up skill battle between two masters and it still holds up.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah, you're making me want to go back and watch that match. It's been a while. That was a very long-winded answer. No, no, it's good. It was a good answer, yeah. I have one that doesn't have really the significance historically, but just if someone, as far as a recent match, Sian Almes versus Gargano from that takeover Philadelphia is just a match I go back and watch once a month.
00:41:54
Speaker
that is just an amazing match and just like just the storytelling in the match just you know everything that they did just you know non-stop from bell to bell but that's a good list man i i enjoyed all those matches definitely played a part in my fandom
00:42:10
Speaker
One final question I asked every guest I've ever had on any of my podcasts, if you had one final meal, you're on death row, a better lawyer than you, could put you in jail or something, what's your last meal if you could eat whatever you wanted? And I'm sure it's going to be some sort of delicious chicken. Of course. And no, I know you guys had that cornet conversation last week. No, this is not. That was not one of those comments.
00:42:38
Speaker
I do like delicious chicken. Yeah, yeah. Who doesn't? Come on. Yeah. I mean, find me these people who don't and I'll find you people who can't be trusted. That's how I think about it. Sorry to interrupt your answer, but I'm in the belief that I would prefer if I can only have one for the rest of my life, I would have chicken over steak. Much more versatile, much more things you can do with it. I don't ever get sick of chicken. I could eat grilled chicken or chicken wings every day of the week. It's true.
00:43:07
Speaker
For like a stretch of my being in law school, I did. I ate bad chicken, chicken alfredo, grilled chicken, boneless chicken wings, bone-in chicken wings, baked chicken, rotisserie chicken, roasted chicken. You know, I mean, but to answer your question, before I go off the deep end with all this chicken,
00:43:36
Speaker
Believe it or not, my last meal would have to be a pasta dish. I really do love, I love pasta and I think a nice, a nice lasagna with a good red wine, like a full bodied red that pairs well with the lasagna and you know, a perfectly toasted bruschetta on the side with some olive oil to sort of drizzle on top of that. I'd go out like that.
00:44:05
Speaker
That's a good answer, man. Very good answer. Wow. Cool. Well, you guys do. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, damn. I know, man. I want to watch some wrestling and eat some pasta now. Pastas for me is like one of those things, like I don't ever think of it how good it is until you go to like a really like legit Italian place and order something. It's like, oh my god, why don't I eat this all the time? It's just like, it's hard to find like, you know, you can get some crappy pasta at home, but it's just on another level when you go to like a real deal Italian place and make it, you know, or have them make it for you.
00:44:35
Speaker
Especially somebody's Italian grandmother coming through with them. I mean
00:44:42
Speaker
It doesn't beat it. Only thing that beats that is delicious chicken. I said it. You can listen to his podcast. It's Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg. You can subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts. They do a show every single week. If you don't listen, you really should. Greg, thank you for taking some time out. I've been a fan of yours. Thank you. No, I've been a fan of yours for a long time and I'm thankful we're able to make our schedules work here and get on the phone together. Yes.
00:45:08
Speaker
Listen, I don't have fans. I have listeners. Thank you for listening. I like that. I'm going to steal. I'm stealing that one too. I'm just, I'm too low on the totem pole to talk about fans. It's true. That's how I feel. I'm surprised. We were doing this toy drive and I got people like sending me boxes full of toys that I've never met before. Meanwhile, not a single person I know in real life has donated shit. And I got people from all over the country, you know, spending hundreds of dollars for toys for kids here in Baltimore. It's pretty,
00:45:36
Speaker
It's pretty awesome when the internet is on its game. So thank you, Greg.
Closing Remarks & Appreciation
00:45:41
Speaker
Best of luck with everything, and I'm sure we'll talk again soon, man. Of course. We have to. We're best friends now. I like that, man. Yeah. This past 40 minutes? Yeah, 45 minutes, man. Get back to work. Come on. All right. Thanks, man.
00:45:54
Speaker
That was Greg Hyde from the Cheap Heat podcast. We've also dropped the first episode of the Chick Foley Lounge, which I guess is the name of this now. Just to give you guys some extra Patreon content, then we're going to post these out to everybody a week or two later.
00:46:13
Speaker
Our first episode was with AEW backstage announcer Chris Van Vliet who, if you don't know who he is, you should definitely follow him. He's interviewed everybody from John Cena to The Rock. He's done some recent interviews with Jon Moxley and Cody Rhodes and a bunch of the big names in AEW. I was glad to have Greg on from Cheap Heat.
00:46:32
Speaker
And there's a couple more names that we have in the chamber here. So if you're listening to this now, stay tuned. I'm trying to pick the brains of a lot of the folks that I enjoy listening to that interview or do podcasts that we don't really get to hear their side of things. And it's been fun so far. So thank you guys for listening. Thank you for our sponsors, Ringside Collectibles, the folks over at Chalk Line, and the folks over at Collar and Elbow brand.com for supporting us in everything that we do.
00:47:01
Speaker
And thank you to you guys, the listeners that have supported us both emotionally and spiritually and financially and all that good stuff. We appreciate you guys and stay classy, Marx. We'll talk to you again soon.