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Last Ride Of Gator Magraw plus Night Of Champions Preview
101 Plays4 days ago
We preview this weekend's Night Of Champions show, discuss the latest and greatest in wrestling figures, and answer your Listener Mail.
Then, a very special interview with Mike Kinney aka Gator Magraw as he gives us a peek behind the curtain for a very special project he is working on, Wrestling With Tomorrow, a documentary about Gator's push for one last match and so much more.
Link to Gator's Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikekinney/wrestling-with-tomorrow-documentary-0
Use code CHICKFOLEY to save 10% at www.ringsidecollectibles.com
Find all things CHICK at www.CHICKFOLEY.com
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Transcript
Welcome and Episode Preview
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome the Chick-fil-A show. um
00:00:23
Speaker
What is up, Foley fan? We are back with another episode of the Chick Foley Show. You know, hasn't been anything else noteworthy going on in the world for the past week, so we are just going to talk some some wrestling, man. We've got our Night of Champions preview.
00:00:36
Speaker
We're going to figure talk. Most importantly, at the tail end of this episode, we got Mike Kinney, a.k.a. Viking Hall Toys, a.k.a. Gator McGraw. Got about a 40-minute long interview. Sheena did an outstanding job kind of getting a mic to open up about his new Kickstarter. He's got this crazy documentary. We know if you're Foley fan member, he's posted about it in the group. but Please stay tuned into the show.
Introducing Sheena and Heatwave in Omaha
00:00:57
Speaker
We'll have that tagged out at the end.
00:00:59
Speaker
Before we get to any of the rest of that, though, let's start off by introducing the star of the show. Sheena, how are you doing? I am doing good. just went and checked on my kids. it look like they're dozing off while asleep, so we shouldn't have any interruptions tonight.
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah. we shall wish We had to turn the fan off in here in the office for sound purposes. So I'm kind of roasting. It's been a heat wave here in the, in the mid South. So um I'll be, I'll be glad to, you know, kick that bad boy back on once we complete this show.
00:01:24
Speaker
Jordan, what's happening out in Omaha, dude? Yeah, it's ah it's been a heat wave here, too. it was over 100 every day this weekend. So, yeah, we we didn't do much outside this weekend. there's just It was like 85% humidity and 100 degrees. ah just Just an absolute no for being outside for me. there was There was no mowing with the tarp off this weekend. It was ah sitting in the basement trying to cool my nuts off so I didn't sweat to death. Yeah, it was... just to gets you one of those frog talk towels that you can like drape over you when you, when you're mowing, you know, keep it, keep you cool. No, I don't. Sheena, you just know how i do things. Just some basketball shorts and a tarp off. That's all I need.
00:01:59
Speaker
just wrap it around your neck. I mean, you ain't got to like, you know, it's not a poncho or anything, you know, you just put it around there. keep It keeps the nape of your neck cold. And I'm not trying to get like the pain, man. Sheena, I've been doing yoga in the attic during this heat wave.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, true. You are weirdo. And you've also been mowing with the tarp off and you're you look like freaking Mr. Iguana with your freaking shedding skin on your shoulders, dude.
Backyard Box Turtle Story
00:02:22
Speaker
Hell Shayna, tell us what's new on the farm.
00:02:24
Speaker
Speaking of reptiles, um you know, we have this backyard box turtle that we love and adore totally. um She showed up and she had an ear infection, which, you know, I guess. Did you know turtles can get ear infections, Jordan? No, I had absolutely no idea. How how do we diagnose this?
00:02:41
Speaker
i didn't you know I didn't know either. So I found her on Monday and you know we were I was playing with her and stuff. And I noticed she had this little like, it looked like a little like nodule on the side of her head. And i was like, has always been there? That's really weird. But it it wasn't red. It wasn't inflamed. It just looked like it was like kind of just like a bumped out. i was like, maybe I've just never noticed that before.
00:02:58
Speaker
And so I took some pictures of it because I was going to ask. um I have a friend who you know runs a wildlife discovery center, like a rescue for you know exotic animals and stuff. and I was going ask him about it. and i totally forgot. Then she showed up on what was it? Friday? Saturday. Saturday. She showed up on Saturday and it had like the abscess had burst. So she had this like cottage cheese esque infection. Like coming out of the side of her head.
00:03:23
Speaker
And, um you know, turtles don't have, they don't have like, so like, um you know, we have pores and everything. Like they don't have any way to expel if they get if they get an infection. So yeah, it just kind of like pops. And it's not like, you know, sorry for anybody who's triggered by this kind of like, you know, gross talk, but it just, it doesn't like ooze out. Right. Like, you know, if you, if you pop a bump on yourself, it's kind of like liquidy or whatever. This is like really thick. So I was like, crap, dude, like, you know.
00:03:49
Speaker
do we take this turtle to the vet and spend, you know, $1,200 getting this thing fixed up? And ah so I watched a few YouTube videos and um I fixed her up myself and got, got the infection out and I consulted my, my reptile expert and he said I did an amazing job. So I was very proud of myself. I could, I completed a, a turtle surgery over the weekend. So, you know, another, another box checked in the, ah the skillset.
Discounts and Patreon Reminder
00:04:13
Speaker
Was that a box turtle pun?
00:04:14
Speaker
Ooh, yeah, it was. Yeah. I want to remind you guys, use code ChickFoley to save 10% on ringside collectibles. They have the new Survivor Series sets in stock. The new Vault Series is in stock. We'll be talking about those later on this episode.
00:04:28
Speaker
And go to www.chickfoley.com to find all things Chick. Most importantly, you can join our Patreon exclusive Facebook group for only $2 a month. Best value in wrestling. You're going have a lot of fun in there. Just do it. we're We're circling the end of the current Picks League season. So we'll have another Picks League season start here in about two, two and a half months. So I redeem myself. Yeah, it's it's like fantasy football combined with wrestling. You know, you're going to have a good time. And it's for cold, hard cash, most importantly.
00:04:55
Speaker
And a belt. Don't don't. And a custom figure belt from ah from Dan Turnquist. All right. So let's get into it
Interview with Mike Kinney: Redemption Tour
00:05:03
Speaker
again. We have a great, great interview with Mike Kinney. She talked little bit about that.
00:05:08
Speaker
So Mike Kinney, a.k.a. Cowboy Gator Brown, independent wrestler. No. Gator Brown is the bait shop that we go to. Gator McGraw. i did this I did this just when we got off the air earlier. Gator Browns is the name of a bait shop where we go and get bait here.
00:05:23
Speaker
locally in the ah in the Memphis area. His name is not Gator Brown, but it just rolls off the tongue, Gator Brown, because I'm so used to saying that. It would be a good wrestling name. Gator Brown does roll off the tongue, but he's a cowboy Gator McGraw. Spent 10 years wrestling the Indies, um you know came came off you know became a parent and you know quit wrestling Cold Turkey,
00:05:45
Speaker
And, ah you know, just had some demons he had to fight. And now, you know, he's back and better than ever. And um he's doing a redemption tour, one last match. They're doing a documentary on him. that we'll We'll post the trailer in the show notes so you guys can watch it. but ah And more importantly, the links to the Kickstarter. And the links to the Kickstarter. There's all kinds of tiers that you can you can support. Most importantly, it's there's a micro brawler. There's a micro brawler for all of our figure fans. going be one of the, you know, one of the rarest micro brawlers. You know, who knew they were going to get ah a Cowboy McGraw micro brawler this year?
00:06:14
Speaker
Definitely wasn't on my bingo card. So you can do like the Chick-fil-A chocolate shorts. I know. Now I feel like I need a Chick-fil-A micro brawler. It's expensive. So anyway, support this, support this project. It's super cool.
00:06:27
Speaker
I don't want to like, you know, get into all the dirty deets because we do that at the end in the interview. But ah Mike is just an awesome guy. And, um you know, he has a ah lot to offer. And ah i hope you guys support this project.
00:06:38
Speaker
Definitely. So yeah, that'll be at the tail end of this. It was such a great conversation that we did go long. I encourage you guys listen to the very end. Jordan had an absolute banger of a final question for this guy. So you guys are going to get a kick out of that ah and a possible
Night of Champions Preview
00:06:51
Speaker
entertainment recommendation. Yeah. And he's a Foley fan member too. So yeah, long time Foley fan. He's been, he's been, i don't know if he was quite day one, but he was at least in like, you know, the,
00:06:59
Speaker
the, the day, you know, 100 or something like that. He's been around for it not the most active, but he has been around for a long time as a public member. So sure support, listen to the interview. Um, but I said, i want to so that'll be, you know we're going to just tag that on at the end of the show.
00:07:13
Speaker
Want to remind you guys, um, That ah just just keep it playing. you know you'll You'll hear the normal outro. I don't know. We'll figure out what we're going to do on the production side of it. But because that conversation went so long, we're going to go a little speed round preview of Night of Champions for this weekend. We are going to do some quick figure talk. And then we got some awesome listener mail from you guys. and then they'll have the interview. So that's how the episode is going to go.
00:07:36
Speaker
You guys got any more housekeeping before we get into it? Let's roll. All right. So let's start off. Night Champions this Saturday in Saudi. All signs point to the show going on as scheduled.
00:07:47
Speaker
ah What do you think, Shane? Is this the right call or should they have moved it to the United States? I mean, you're the intelligence specialist. You tell us, dude. From a safety aspect, I really think there's minimal risk. I i think there's absolute minimal risk of any sort of, like,
00:08:00
Speaker
physical harm the rest was going be in. I could see potentially, uh, I'm, and I'm doing, you know, I'm an intelligence specialist, but I'm doing more like a HR work right now than true. Like Intel works. I'm not, I'm not, I haven't even logged onto to a top secret machine in, in a long time at this point. Um,
00:08:18
Speaker
But I think there's minimal risk of them being a physical harm. I think there is a chance that they run into some logistical nightmares, like they get over there then the airspace gets shut down for some reason. Yeah, that's what I can see. i Honestly, I foresee this thing with Iran blown over pretty – I think it's going to be more of a quick burnout than something that's prolonged. So I doubt it's an issue. i they The wrestling fan in me, I love the chaos. and I feel like WWE always does an outstanding job when they have to – go on the fly and like, you know, some chaos gets introduced to the situation. So I wouldn't have been like, I would have been excited if they said, Hey, you know what? We're canceling the show and we're going to, we're running it in Chicago Saturday night, you know, and to hurry up, you know, they, they get a packed house. So they dropped the ticket prices a little bit to get the, you know, cause you only got a couple of days to sell tickets.
00:09:02
Speaker
That would have been neat. But nah, I think it's going to up being a non-event that it's actually being held in Saudi. Good thing about for us, it's going to be a noon kickoff on this thing. So that's always fun.
Night of Champions Highlights
00:09:12
Speaker
For sure. We got a you know a little a little deeper card than we normally have. you you know me yeah was We got a bonus match. I love i love a good four-match card, but we got six.
00:09:21
Speaker
you know We're in Saudi. Everything's bigger in Saudi. so you know We got six matches that we have to get through.
00:09:28
Speaker
want me to go ahead and start with... Yeah, let's just start. Let's start at the bottom and work our way up. So first off, we got Karrion Kross finally getting a match. He's been on main event mostly the last couple of months, going up against Sami Zayn. Jordan, I know he's getting a lot of steam online. Seems like he's getting pretty big pops every time he shows up on TV.
00:09:47
Speaker
What kind of legs does carry does this Karrion Kross thing have? I mean, i would like to say that this will just continue. um ah i hope it does. I like this guy a lot. I know that Adam Cole thing kind of just derailed him in WWE, and I get it But, dude, I don't know, man. You got to kind of feel sorry for this guy. He's just been middling around doing nothing for the last, what, four years, five years at this point? Like, it's just there's nothing going on.
00:10:17
Speaker
He is a really down-to-earth guy. You can tell, and, like, he's really thankful for the the fan support and stuff. Like, he put out a tweet the other night that was really cool, um just basically thanking everybody.
00:10:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think his shirt was up to, like, number two or number three on on merch sales on WWE Shop there for a minute. Only behind R-Truth. I mean, you got to admit, though, him getting a a match on a pay-per-view, especially this pay-per-view of all pay-per-views against Sami Zayn, who is very outspoken on the issue of them wrestling in Saudi. Like, don't know, man. I think this is cool for him. like if this is as high as it gets on the main roster, this is still really cool for him.
00:10:53
Speaker
And it's still an achievement. No, no matter how you look at it. You see, you hear the reaction he gets from the crowd. I think Sammy Zane's a true blue main eventer at this point, man. Like I, he's, he's absolutely on the short list ah most over guys in WWE, man. Um,
00:11:06
Speaker
the To me, karen he's a he's like you said, Jordan, awesome dude. I love him. you listen Go find a any podcast he's been on. He's a great interview. You can tell he's got the charisma, right? there That's what's gotten him over in all these backstage channels. Great talker.
00:11:20
Speaker
Dude, I think it's something about his work style and moveset that you know I think he's the classic definition of that guy. Bruce Pritchard always says, you know eventually the bell's got to ring. Not that he's a bad wrestler by any means. ah Technically sound, you know, can execute stuff well, but it's just something about his kind of like methodical, little bit like m MMA based style, dude, that I feel like it just sucks the life out of the crowd when he's in there, man. So hopefully he's worked out the kinks. You know, if you can't have a good match with Sami Zayn,
00:11:46
Speaker
I'm not sure if he have a good match with anybody. yeah um And I'm rooting for him, dude. Because, yeah, he he is a good dude. Always been a cool character. Loved loved the entrance with Scarlett, man, back when they were doing their their thing, dude And Scarlett, you know, she's she's a joy to see on TV every week also, man. So I'm rooting for him, but the jury's out for me, dude. I'm not i'm very interested to see how this match, how it goes and how it's received by the wider audience on on Saturday.
00:12:10
Speaker
Same. All right, and let's move on. We got Rhea Ripley versus Raquel in a street fight. To me, this is like a throwaway, dude. don't This could have totally been on Raw. I think that they wanted to have two women's matches. If you look at the dirt sheets, it sounds like we were supposed to get some version of eo Sky versus Liv, but they had to they had to pivot. But how did this get on the show? And then we got Tiffy versus Nia like for the title. You know what I mean? Like like this night of champions. and I think there's like three title matches on SmackDown. The gimmick is, I don't know why they didn't just call this King.
00:12:44
Speaker
And queen of the ring again, because this is not night of champions. Night champions used to be every single belt is defended. And I think we have two belts being defended on the show. and I think there's more belts being defended on Friday on SmackDown than there is on, uh, on, on Saturday, man. So I, you know, don't ask me to defend that, and but the pay-per-view names haven't meant anything for a long time. I think this was legit.
00:13:05
Speaker
like we need to get They wanted to hit a quota and get another women's match on there and screw it, let's throw Rhea Ripley in. I'm sure it'll be a fun match, man. and I know they're going to go wild with a street fight since it's a cold build, so they've really got to go all out to get everybody into it. and and ri is just goingnna It's going to be a showcase for Rhea Ripley.
00:13:21
Speaker
It's going to be wild seeing Rhea Ripley in a bodysuit, though. You know you're going to love it. I mean, I'm not saying I'm not going love it. I'm just... Yeah. I mean... Yeah, them cakes are going popping in that free candy. We've seen it before. Remember, she was in the... I want to say she was in the Elimination Chamber match few years ago. Oh, yeah.
00:13:36
Speaker
In Saudi. um Whenever they're done... don't recall. We're going to do Google search. I'll do quick Google search so you guys discuss the next match. Well, whenever they're done with that latex bodysuit, go ahead and ship it to my house. Wow. Go ahead and put it on whatnot. Wow.
00:13:49
Speaker
the So we got Jacob Fatu versus Solo Sakoa for the U.S. Championship. I'm really surprised. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm surprised they didn't just save this for SummerSlam. I'm sure it's going to be like a a series of matches. So I can imagine this is going to end in some sort of like, you know, schmoz or like interference.
00:14:08
Speaker
I don't think either of these guys is going to get a clean win. Yeah. or loss but i think uh because i think i think this is a summer slam match like the the blow off yeah needs to happen at summer yeah i'm sure we get some sort of uh you know we saw jimmy uso kind of kind of aligning himself with jacob on smackdown this past friday so yeah i think we get a lot of a lot this is going be bloodline man this is going to be right out of the uh the the bloodline playbook What about you, Jordan? Any thoughts on Fatou versus Sakoa? I really don't like that they're doing this here. i Like you said, i'd prefer this was at SummerSlam just for the the first time. I mean, Jacob is so over and they're finally imploding the bloodline completely. So, yeah, this feels way more...
00:14:52
Speaker
like a summer slam match to me but i get it they got to put matches on this card but again like just throw two title matches other than this on there like i mean you could like you said could have done live match and yes seth just sent me that picture of uh ria wrestling raquel two years ago at crown jewel yeah like how could i forget that yeah so we're just gonna run that match back again with the same outfits and everything yeah um any thoughts on um Timu Bloodline blown up? I just i think this is going to be more of an angle than a match. Yeah, same. Like Jordan said, this is a SummerSlam. I see this being like you know this could be like the co-main event one night of SummerSlam where there ends up being these guys going on going again and we get some sort of Bloodline match.
00:15:36
Speaker
Bloodline's still money. Pretty much everybody gets involved. It's over. One thing to watch out for, man, that I think we may see on... um Yeah.
00:15:48
Speaker
you know they brought in hikul leu the other son of haku you know their brother ah tongga low and tomatonga this is the seven foot tall tonkin yeah um he's been wrestling some matches on main of it and he's been wresting some dark matches at the show so you know they signed him i want to say it was about a year ago they signed him And he he's getting like the the Jacob Fatu, you know, Jeff Cobb treatment. He's going to be showing up right to the main roster because he has not been at all shown on NXT.
00:16:11
Speaker
So, you know, if you want to throw, you know, another Samoa, another Tongan in the mix, I feel like Saudi could be a good place to debut him because he's going to have the wow factor, right? The dude's seven foot tall, he's former Bullet Club member, wrestled a couple matches in AEW.
00:16:24
Speaker
um So i think it'd be a lot of fun seeing him show up. So, you just something keep an eye on, man. a little nugget for you guys to be thinking about. We may see Hikaleo debut. on Saturday. does Is Umaga's son a wrestler? I saw him like, float there was a bunch of videos floating around. Zilla. You know, I'm not, I got to pull up the Rocks graphic he had from that building. Yeah, I saw him, there was a bunch of videos zi of him at like Fanatics, Fanatics Fest. Is Zilla Fatu, is that, is that Umaga's son?
00:16:46
Speaker
Um, hold on I'm looking it up right now. I'm literally looking the Rocks, Bloodline, Family Tree. Yeah, it's Umaga's kid. Okay, yeah, I know he's got a lot of buzz on the Indy, so it's, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before, uh,
00:16:58
Speaker
Before he showed up. The one thing. So you just brought up. um Say his name again for me, Seth. Hiku Leia. Okay. No, I thought it was Hiku Leia. Hiku Leia. Let me see. H-I-K-U-L-E-O, dude. Hiku Leia.
00:17:12
Speaker
I always heard it say Hiku Leia. Hakalugi, whatever. Okay. ah There's also rumors that they there to be trademarked Tala Tonga. Tala Tonga for the seventy seven foot? There's a chance when he actually makes his date. He's been billed as Hikaleu on main event. yeah He has been billed as Hikaleu on main event. But it's not there's a greater than 0% chance that he debuses Tala Tonga. If he's Tala Tonga, I'm turning off.
00:17:42
Speaker
that turn ah off ah Yeah, Dude, what the hell? Does WWE just not like to give you surprises at all anymore? Like, they put this dude on main event. He's been in dark matches. Everybody's already seen him. Like, you couldn't have saved this for this thing? Like, I...
00:17:57
Speaker
I just don't. Maybe he doesn't show up. I feel like the fact that he had been putting... think you overestimate the amount of people that watching main event and shit. You know what I mean? The people that are watching Night of Champions, there's going to be... Oh, wow. He freaking tall. He's got the wow factor. And that's why said, you know, Saudi's more like an old school type crowd.
00:18:18
Speaker
I think there's less smart fans in the audience when they go to Saudi. Not that Saudi's people aren't smart. I just think they're not as plugged in as the American wrestling fans. on tracking all this stuff. And I just think it'd be some wow factor. I could totally see them debut with him on Saturday.
00:18:30
Speaker
Yeah. Tala Tonga. I really hope that's his name. Hickle A is a good name, man. Yeah. hopefully they keep it, dude. I think it's a cool name. And like I said, that's what he's been shown at. He looks awesome. His real name is Tala. Great, dude. So...
00:18:45
Speaker
I mean, Tala is not Tala. You know what i mean? Like Tala is a totally different, ah you know. I really hope his name is Tala Tonga. I just. Tala Tonga. I would just love it.
00:18:59
Speaker
It's Tala time. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh, wow. um All right. I think we've, I think we've teased out everything we can out of a Jacob versus
Queen and King of the Ring Matches
00:19:13
Speaker
solo. So let's move on to Sina versus CM Punk for the WWE championship.
00:19:21
Speaker
ah Should be fun. i i don't – I think there's a bigger match to have from these two guys as well, man. You know, there's there's so – WWE's got so many different coals in the fire right now.
00:19:32
Speaker
um There's so many different big shows. Yeah, so many Michael coals in the fire. I feel like this is – I feel like we're getting some sort of archery finish. That's what's keeping me from being – not that I'm the hugest fan of even one of these guys, but it's definitely a big deal.
00:19:44
Speaker
Cena and CM Punk getting in the ring together. Like that's just – regardless you feel about them, it's undeniable this is a big match. But I almost ah put it as like a lead pipe lock that it's going to end in some sort of R-Truth interference. Yeah. Yeah, Cena walks out as champ.
00:19:59
Speaker
I think I honestly, the more I think about it, I'm starting to think that Cena's last match will be against CM Punk at this point. i could see that. He's one of the candidates, man. To me, I think Punk, i think punk Cody, and Roman are three choices. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:20:12
Speaker
with Roman kind of being probably Roman's I think Roman's the outlier for sure. You can make it happen to mean, Roman was the guy I like there's better stuff for Roman, but there, you either there's not, there's like no track way down for that at all, where you got, you got some clear storyline set up for Cody or Orton. Orton would be fun too. You'd rather see the, not that Cody is a spring chicken, um, but you'd kind of rather see it be Cody than, than Punk or Orton, but Orton and Cena would be fun if that does turn out to be the last match. And he's got a bone to pick with, you know, um,
00:20:40
Speaker
John Cena after everything that happened. It well was a backlash. Yeah. Yeah. I've enjoyed this. You know, and we've been down on it for sure. I've enjoyed the last maybe five or six weeks of the Cena heel turn, dude. I think it's, ah yeah they I think they found, I think they found their footing. They kind of got it dialed in. I've i've enjoyed it. Travis Scott off TV. Yeah. I think we're, I think we're, we're kind of hitting the, you know, the, the home stretch on this thing And I think it's been fun. How have you, how have you received the last little bit of the Cena storyline, Jordan?
00:21:06
Speaker
It's been better for sure. I still am not in love with the whole heel thing. And when they did it, I i was so excited for it. And it just, don't know, the majority of it has just fallen flat for me. And yeah, probably a lot of it was the Travis Scott stuff and then the rock not showing up. Like it just, it felt like it was going to be so big. And then it just, yeah I don't know, it just kind of went off the rails. The truth, the truth thing has definitely breathed some life into this, I think.
00:21:33
Speaker
I think they, I think, you know, you got to commend them, right? Because you always want them to be, to take chances and stuff, man. I feel like they kind of just like overthought this whole thing, dude. I think if we had just gotten the John Cena, Babe Ruth treatment, like the full Thurwell Tour, AEW gave the blueprint with Sting, bro. Have him have him make a quest for, i think, have his last match be for the championship. If you want to have him win it, dude.
00:21:58
Speaker
and then put it up in the Royal Rumble, i don't think anybody would complain about that. You know what Forfeit it and have the Royal Rumble decide the next champ if his last match is truly in December, man. I think it would have been...
00:22:09
Speaker
I don't know. I think it'd be better, man. I would rather like it if we got to see Cena get the... yeah He's still been getting cheered. That's the other thing, dude. He's still getting cheered at every place he goes, man. I think they should have just leaned into that and let us celebrate John Cena for the last year. Because even though I'm not the the the biggest John Cena mark as much as I used to be, I still think he's earned it. And you've kind of just had this mixed bag storyline that's going to be...
00:22:33
Speaker
I think that's what's going to end up being talked about about this final run more than just celebrating all the great work that John Cena has done over the years. the I think the biggest part with this, and this is the biggest problem with all of it, is he is enjoying this so much. And every appearance he makes, I don't, I mean, I just see it on TikTok every once in a while, but he was just in New York with, uh,
00:22:54
Speaker
i what is his wife or his girlfriend whatever he put her in the car and then he got back out and signed for everyone that was standing there and was taking pictures like you can tell he's just enjoying this last run and i don't know man yeah i'm with you like the the last year of sting that is the blueprint for how you retire somebody i i don't think that'll ever be beaten that was like the most perfect year ever for just a retirement tour Agreed. All right let's move on to ah the Queen of the Ring. We have the finals for the Queen of the Ring.
00:23:29
Speaker
Asuka versus Jade um for the title you of Queen of the Ring. I got to say, ill know I know I'm of the camp that I think work rate is like probably the not that it's not important. I think it's definitely the least important of all the big you know attributes of a wrestler that match Monday night between her and Roxanne. It took me out, man. It was so clunky and awkward and just, you know, badly paced, badly paced spots that like.
00:23:55
Speaker
I just had to be like, what the heck, man? Like, I don't know, dude. I'm kind of, I'm selling i'm not selling off all of it. I'm selling off some of my shares of Jade Cargill stock, though. She's going backwards wrestling-wise. Like, I thought she was going to take it. What do you think it What do think the deal is? Dude, just the style of work in WWE is just so much different.
00:24:13
Speaker
And the way AEW did her matches, they were always just... squash yeah they were always just so birds yeah they were just to the point like it was it was going to less than five minutes every time she was in the ring so i mean that's just what you were getting you were getting basically the five minutes of doom with jade and she just did her move set and got out of the ring yeah they they tried to put on an actual match on monday night and it was I mean, it's it's a shade above awful. if I watched it last night, and it was really bad.
00:24:42
Speaker
Sheena asked me, you know i did that do you think it's Roxanne, dude? I don't think so. that seen rock I think Roxanne is really, really good. Was Jade an athlete prior to being in WWE? She was fitness model. Fitness. See, that that's it it's a totally different realm. because like the the I mean, she looks like...
00:24:59
Speaker
12 out of 10. Awesome character, dude. I think user is more like a China type. Yeah. I mean, if you don't have the functional fitness, like if you're not like Bianca, you know what I mean? Like, you know, it's just, that it's a totally different. doesn't seem natural to her at all. Right. You know, again, she's doing her thing. Like she's passable, but.
00:25:16
Speaker
I think you got to get, I think they need, you know, whoever the the current Pat Patterson is, if it's Tyson Kidd or whoever, i think you really got to go ultimate warrior style. Like, you know, for warriors, because warrior could work, man. But for warriors, biggest matches, the the match against Hogan, the match against Macho Man at WrestleMania seven, those, you know, you'll hear in the interview, we talked to Mike Kenny about, you know, the old school ways kind of just freestyling it and calling it the ring.
00:25:37
Speaker
No warriors, big matches. They literally planned out every spot, man, every transition, everything was rehearsed from, from, you know, from step one to step 35, I think you kind of need to do that, man. In the meantime, she was great in the tag team with Bianca, right? Get the hot tag, get in the kick. it she looked when When her big moves are hitting, it looks awesome. You know, you could put together a badass like TikTok or Instagram reel of ah the highlights of her matches, but it's like the in-between, you know, like just this the little stuff, picking them up off the mat, getting them set up for the different moves.
00:26:07
Speaker
There's always these little hesitations and kind of like just slightly awkward setups that they add up over the course of the match. And they do what to me is the worst possible thing when I'm watching wrestling, when it's something breaks my suspension disbelief. know what I mean? Because you all know me. I like the kayfabe out.
00:26:21
Speaker
And that match Monday night, like you could tell, like Roxanne was really, really having to lead Jade big time. Hey, I would just like to point out that I was ridiculed when Jade was leaving w WWE for saying this exact thing. that yeah Yeah, when she was leaving AEW to come to WWE, this was the exact same thing that I said, that we hadn't really seen her wrestle a full-length match, and that's why I said she should have went to NXT right away and probably worked a year there just to get used to the style.
00:26:51
Speaker
I think them hot shotting her to the main roster was the worst thing they could have done for her. I was surprised that she... And she hasn't worked that much either. She's probably done three or four dozen matches, man, in almost two years she's been selling them. Yeah, I was really surprised that they didn't send her to NXT because I feel like she would have... I mean, obviously she has the aura and the personality, but I feel like she could have been a freaking star in NXT. You know what I mean? And just...
00:27:15
Speaker
Got in more reps and got in you know more practice. but i mean i was good in this dude at that I think I think they just got work with her, dude. I don't think you can just throw her out there, man. I think it needs to be well choreographed. as dude her Her rumble appearances have looked good. She's looking badass in the tag matches. She just gets exposed when she's left out there and like you said, she's got the ora She's got the star power. looks like a freaking action figure. Her action figure is actually less buff than she is in real life. I'm looking at...
00:27:40
Speaker
her new battle pack right now, dude. The action figure is somehow less impressive than the real-life product, man. But they just... ah Yeah, I just... And I'm sure... you know We know, dude, WWE is super online. I'm sure they've seen all this.
00:27:55
Speaker
And I wouldn't be surprised if... you know she's She's going out with one of the best wrestlers in the world. I would not be surprised at all if she goes out and puts on you know a four-star banger with Asuka on Saturday because they're going to respond to this, man. I'm sure they got her in the lab working it. If if she puts on a stinker with Asuka, though...
00:28:09
Speaker
I think the, you know, I'm kind of at an orange flag right now. oh i'm great I'm upgrading to a red flag on on the long-term potential of Jade Cargill if this match with Asuka doesn't deliver. yeah monday made me feel a whole lot different about like her winning the queen of the ring i think she is gonna win but i just don't know man if how does she beat oscar though dude yeah yeah i remember two weeks ago too and you're like ah who cares that oscar's coming back dude i think you forgot how much of a badass oscar is in the ring like she's the look is crazy too she's incredible man and
00:28:41
Speaker
Yeah, at this point, like, how do you even sell her beating Oscar right now with what we just watched on Monday? I just, I don't know. It's WWE. I'm sure they'll figure it out and yeah we'll be okay with it. But don't know. Because i just think that, I think that, I think that path is leading there. Because I think you have, you know, her her win the Queen of the Rings. She gets a chance at the title freaking.
00:29:01
Speaker
Naomi cashes in and gets the title and then somehow they shoehorn Bianca into a triple threat at Mania. I don't know. Obviously, they can anything at any time. You can have a little of botched Naomi interference on Saturday. Maybe she goes for Jade, takes out Asuka, then you get Asuka tied into the storyline. There's ways you can get there.
00:29:21
Speaker
and Like I said, I'm sure they've seen the... I have no doubt, man, that they've they've seen all the criticism. They're going to do something to respond to it. But Monday night, yeah that was that was a rough night at the office for Jade all the way around. I do think – I'm with you, Jordan. I think she wins, man. I think Asuka – it's not impossible. i think it's definitely a greater than 0% chance Asuka gets it, but my money is going on Jade Cargill pretty strong.
00:29:42
Speaker
It is really good to see Asuka back and that she still does look really good in the ring because was a welcome sight seeing her back. Yeah. All right, and last but certainly not least, we have Randy Orton versus Cody Rhodes for the title of King of the Ring.
00:29:58
Speaker
I say Cody wins. I'll double down. Cody's getting that belt back at SummerSlam. I agree. Yeah. Dude, I don't see any way that they don't take that title off Cena at SummerSlam. Take it off SummerSlam. That gives you just enough time to do the the redemption of John Cena over the last four months of the year.
00:30:12
Speaker
Because he'll lose, and then he'll just shake out of the the whole heel thing. and Yeah. Yeah. i At first, I thought the it made sense to have Cena have the belt until the end of the year. But yeah, I think he needs to drop it at SummerSlam and then just have his actual, like you like you said, redemption tour for the last four months of the year. Yeah.
00:30:36
Speaker
that's That's it. That's the whole... One thing I want to check on, man, AEW, build for all in, keeps going great. It's gonna be an amazing show. ah Goldberg, dude, in the time since since ah you know we talked, we got Goldberg set up for his, you know, quote unquote, final match against Gunther.
00:30:52
Speaker
Do we think that there is a any chance, man, that that Goldberg takes this freaking belt, dude? No. I don't. I mean, ah it could happen.
00:31:02
Speaker
It could very well happen. I don't think it's going to happen. I think it's at least in the realm of possibility that Goldberg wins this thing, gets the awesome final moment, and then Seth cashes in. That's how we send Goldberg off to the...
00:31:14
Speaker
I can totally see Braun Breaker hitting him with the spear. You know, Goldberg's tight with the Steiners. They're all buddies. You got Braun Breaker with, you know, one of the best. I didn't really consider the cash in. yeah Yeah, I think there's a chance that, you know, we see the classic Goldberg match, you know, a couple of spears and a jackhammer on Gunther and then Seth cashes in um or Seth cash in the middle of mag But I think that way, yeah i think you could give Goldberg his big final moment for the crowd there in Atlanta.
00:31:39
Speaker
and And then Seth cashes in. i Do I think that's the right call? Probably not. i think you send yeah I think we need to see the the classic kind of take the dog behind that you know out the pasture and put old Yeller to to to rest one last time.
00:31:51
Speaker
And Gunther's the right guy to do it. But I don't know, man. They already they took the belt off Jey Uso to make it happen. The quarter old buddy Tom Montalto. i don't know I don't know if they came this far just to come this far. I don't know why you take the belt off of Gunther if you're not flipping it to Goldberg, man.
00:32:07
Speaker
Dude, just the thought of him trying to jackhammer Gunther is just like the most cringe thing I cannot possibly think of right now. I think he could do it. I don't think he's doing the big suspension. You know, you know back in the glory days, he'd he'd hold him up there for three, four seconds and then then smash him into the ground. I think he could do a quick almost, you know, more like like the Keith Lee finisher, right? Like suplex, power slam combo more than like a true ah ah true jackhammer. I mean i think Gunther could do most of the work on it, man. I agree, but the problem is he almost killed Undertaker less than five years ago trying to do that exact same move. So I don't know. Yeah, Undertaker is similar similar body style, but you know I think Gunther would be able to help him out more than the Undertaker could. Undertaker's...
00:32:49
Speaker
All the heat went on Goldberg. Undertaker's got some fault in that match, too, man. Undertaker didn't cover himself in glory, that that infamous match in Saudi, either. Dude, I think one shot from Gunther to Goldberg might like turn Goldberg into dust at this point, though. It could stop his heart.
00:33:03
Speaker
Yeah, I don't do not have high hopes for this match at all. I mean, I won't see any of it that night. I'll have to watch it another time, because we'll just be getting out all in and stuff, so... It's going to be a freaking ah a spectacle for sure, man. Goldberg's last match in Atlanta.
00:33:18
Speaker
um'm at least I'm interested to see what happens. it's It's definitely got the potential to be an all-time nightmare of a match. but Will you have it on your phone while you're watching the sweet ballads of Aaron Lewis?
00:33:29
Speaker
Probably. I'll probably be catching Twitter highlights, man. I don't know how good the cell reception is going to be in Beaverdam, Kentucky. That sounds like a NATO place. Yeah.
00:33:40
Speaker
All right. um That's it for anybody got anything else they want to talk about with the wrestling talk? No, I think we're good. All right, let's hit some figures.
Wrestling Figures and New Arrivals
00:34:10
Speaker
Did you guys happen to, you know, we got Ric Flair drip as the intro to the the figure segment. Did you guys see that Reddit post that popped up about Ric Flair? shiless bands This was in the Tampa forum. saw that. I didn't think was real. This was in the the Reddit forum the city of Tampa. some person Somebody in the service industry you know mentioned it. like it might It's something to affect, am I the only one that's seen Ric Flair shooting his pants? He's done it six times in our ah at our you know bar or whatever over the last... ah Over the last year or so, dude. So I guess he's going out just drinking until he shits himself. I've heard of drinking until you piss yourself or pass out. haven't heard of drinking until you shit yourself. I mean, when you're 70, you don't have to control your bowel. Kind of gives new meaning to the Ric Flair drip.
00:34:55
Speaker
Oh, God. yeah ah Shane, do you want to go reviews or news first? Let's go news. All right. So we got another batch of Mattel figure reveals.
00:35:08
Speaker
um Let's kick it off. We got another John Cena. I think this one's going to be, don't quote me on this. I think this is a Walmart exclusive collector's edition. This is from ah the last time that they were in LA and the Dodgers blew clean figure. I'm probably passing on this one.
00:35:23
Speaker
I just don't need a ton of more John Cena figures in my life at this point, but it it is a cool figure. It's fine. I'm probably passing on it as well. It's fine. yeah We're using our buddy Alex West Collects IG feed. One of the best figure follows in the game.
00:35:39
Speaker
So definitely check him out. you know get Give him a follow if you haven't already. But we're kind of using using his post to kind of go through this recap. um What about this John Cena three-pack, man? Walmart exclusive.
00:35:50
Speaker
ah You got him in the... It's his Eros edition. Yeah, I'm not sure which specific events these are from because a lot of this is Ruthless Aggression. But you got him with like a red button-up and a visor. You got him with the camo.
00:36:02
Speaker
And then you got him from WrestleMania 31, man. This one's near and dear to our heart. It's his Ruthless Aggression. It's got the word life. And then it's got a You Can't See me Yeah, pretty cool pack, man. That WrestleMania 31 is the only one that I'm like kind of really fiending for just because we were at that show.
00:36:17
Speaker
with jordan um what do you think jordan is this one gonna sell out or is this one gonna gonna warm the shelves at walmart dude cena sells well like his his figures sell really well i'm gonna get this just like you said for the wrestlemania 31 cena but i like this whole pack actually i think this is a really good pack and be cool to get signed for sure. Yeah, 100%. I like this one a lot. And I think Walmart, I think they've done well since you know that original Maya Villa three-pack with Rocky, or with The Rock, with Rocky Johnson and with ah High Chief Peter Maya Villa. That one was obviously a you know contender for the Shelf Warmer Hall of Fame. I feel like The Rock set with the Wild Samoans, that went fast. The Roman.
00:36:57
Speaker
ah Yeah, excuse me. Yeah, the Roman set with the Walt Simones, that went fast. And the NWO set, I've seen it pop up a couple times, but it hasn't been too plentiful here in Tennessee. How's that NWO set doing out in Nebraska, Jordan?
00:37:08
Speaker
So I've seen it at like two or three different Walmarts, and there's usually like two or three on the shelf at any given time, but I haven't seen it a ton. it's not It's not like that Maya Via pack where they were setting, you know, you had a whole NBA roster. of late and The Walmart by my house had like 25 of those at one point. and I'm like, these ain't ever selling.
00:37:27
Speaker
Yeah. Let's keep going. We saw our next Legends. This is going to be a Target exclusive Ultimate Edition. This is a Randy Orton from like, you know, I'm thinking like 04, 05. Pretty cool figure. Probably a pass for me. That's a Amazon, dude.
00:37:41
Speaker
Oh, it's an Amazon exclusive. Okay. Oh yeah. This was fan takeover, not legends. Okay. Yep. You're right. Fan takeover from Amazon. ah Probably a pass for me. how about you, Jordan? I mean, I'm going to get it just because still am going strong on the ultimate edition completionist, but yeah, I, it's not my favorite figure by any means.
00:38:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's definitely a clean figure. it looks nice. I have that ah very similar. I think it was a SummerSlam Randy Orton from a couple of years back in the orange trunks that kind of scratches my itch for that era. Randy Orton, I don't necessarily need this one, but it is a nice figure.
00:38:13
Speaker
um Scott Steiner, is this one? is this our Monday Night Wars? Is this Walmart? It's so hard to keep up with it now. You need to, you need it's almost, you need a second job just tracking all these different exclusives. So yeah, Big Papa Pump. this one This one's pretty cool. Oh yeah, we're we're all buying this one for sure.
00:38:28
Speaker
I still want the white singlet, man, that one that they showed us for the the the Monday Nitro stage. i don't know if we're going end up getting – I'm sure we're going to eventually get it. We've gotten most everything else from that that was teased in that set.
00:38:39
Speaker
I don't know if that's going Ultimate or an Elite, but this one's cool. I wish – if I got to pick Knits, man, that they're using that exact same horrible chainmail mode yeah that they used on that first Elite. I hate that one. we we need you know Give us some real chainmail. I feel like you could do that and it would work They did the Triple H one in the Ultimate Edition set and it looked fine. like why couldn't they right Why did they have to do the mold? They've already done it.
00:39:03
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. That Triple H one did look good. Yeah, I don't know. These figures are getting so expensive now. yeah give us some real I don't think it'd be that much trouble to give us some real authentic chain mail that just kind of drapes over him. This looks like he's got a gray towel over his head or something, man. It does not ah does not look great. Looks like they didn't finish the Shockmaster's helmet.
00:39:21
Speaker
All right, we got the next Monday Night War set. It's going to have a build-a-figure Michael Cole. This is significant because, dude, Michael Cole is as much of the voice of WWE as he's been for damn near going on 20 years. He's only got one figure. It was another build-a-figure from, think it's about 12, 11 years old at this point. But this is going to be an old-school, like, Attitude-era Michael Cole, like, you know, think doing the backstage interviews and stuff with the red shirt. That's Bischoff.
00:39:44
Speaker
the build-a-figure in it, though, is Michael Cole. Oh, like i was I was like, Seth, are you okay? My bad. Sorry. Yeah. The Build-A-Figure from this set is going be Michael Cole. We're getting Silver Fox, Eric Bischoff.
00:39:56
Speaker
ah Awesome. Heart Foundation, Brian Pillman, man. I absolutely love this figure, dude. It's probably in my top five like most anticipated figures right now. You get another American Badass Undertaker, which is fine.
00:40:07
Speaker
And then another cool one, dude. We're getting another Shark figure, but I'm more excited that they included the head scans to double as John Tinta when he had his like mental breakdown and you know didn't even know what gimmick he was anymore. What's your thoughts on this set, Jordan?
00:40:19
Speaker
Because there's a the the other ones, the chase, right? It's a chase in the blue. Yeah. um Yeah. I like this set. I mean, the Undertaker, it's just another Undertaker, but you're going have to get the whole set just to get Michael Cole. Obviously, I like the Bischoff. I think that's actually ah good Bischoff. And then, yeah, that Pillman's phenomenal.
00:40:39
Speaker
Yeah, the Pillman and the John Tenta are great, man. It's really cool shark figure. And then, yeah, the chase is so you can make John Tenta. And, dude, that's I think all we're missing now. I hope they give it to us, man. We need Avalanche, dude. If we get John Tenta Avalanche, we'll have every single John Tenta gimmick now, dude.
00:40:55
Speaker
Like, they got to finish it off, right? You would think so. Yeah, you would definitely think they're going to do it. There's there's the Michael Cole machine. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, we saw Elite 119 We're getting a ah Judgment Day live With the Dirty Dom gear I love this, I think this is right up there With her Money in the Bank live for her best figure That she's had That Dom is really good too I really like that Dom that comes in the Dom's on a heater of a run For figures dude, there's the Dom Sheen He's definitely had some banger figures This might be the best It's between this and his Ultimate Edition for the best Dom we've got Yeah, that looks great, and I love Dom as a character anyway So that's awesome
00:41:33
Speaker
All right, we're getting an Ethan Page, which, you know, kind of hard to get too excited about an Ethan Page figure. You know, I think his, I think Jazzbars did a pretty good job and, you know, not super needed, but these these are nice, man. Nice, clean figure.
00:41:46
Speaker
um And then I think the coolest, we're getting another brawn breaker with the cool, like, you know, zebra stripes with the yellow ah gear. But I think most importantly, man, this YS6 Dexter Loomis. Dexter Loomis looks awesome. Yeah, we're getting that. I think we're getting the rest of them. There's going to be a three pack,
00:42:02
Speaker
at Walmart. And then you got to assume that we're going to get one more um the the last one is going to be coming as in and another ah super near-term elite set. So the White Six are to look absolutely incredible on display. I'm just trying to figure out which Bray figure I'm going to display with them in.
00:42:18
Speaker
I feel like I'm definitely putting a Bray with the White Six. Like a Fiend or like a Bray? Probably a Bray. I think this Dexter Loomis is going to give everybody a run for their money for figure of the year. I think this is really, really good.
00:42:33
Speaker
I don't know, dude. the dude that The House of Black figures are pretty freaking dope. If you're going with this kind of like vibe. Yeah, I'm interested to see how this looks in hand, especially with the mask on and stuff, because I it think it'll look cool with the mask on.
00:42:48
Speaker
You know what's a figure we really need, man? I'm searching right now, dude, that I would love and it would go perfect with the White Six. If they give us um Bray from that promo he cut right when he returned, dude. was just in like the street clothes and stuff. And it was like one of his best promos ever. You know you know what I'm talking about? Jordan when he first came back on SmackDown?
00:43:07
Speaker
Yep. Yeah, that would that would be awesome, dude. It's like a special release, man. Like, I think... He was just wearing sweaters and jeans. Yeah, it was just regular clothes. Yeah, it was regular clothes. But that was that was a moment, man. It felt like for a minute there, like, what Bray was doing was going to end up being, like, the biggest thing in wrestling. Obviously, it didn't pan out and then, you know tragically passed away.
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah. But I think something to capture that that little run he had from that big return and then then showing up. And and then, you know, when he finally went away for the last time would be cool.
00:43:36
Speaker
But yeah, Dexter Lewis figure. Very, very well done. That's it for our new releases. a Quick roundup on the recent stuff in at ringside. So we got the vault set. This has got John Cone, John Cena, Boogeyman, and Hornswoggle. To me, probably one of the least exciting vault sets that they've done. It is cool see a Hornswoggle back in the line. That's from ah elite six dudes that's a super deep cut man that john cone was from just a couple years ago as a summer slam build a figure that boogeyman's from elite 48 back in 2015 which how crazy that was 10 years old now dude like that to me like 2015 was like five years ago all right stop reminding me um but that's a decade old figure at this point and then same thing with that john cena that prototype style john cena for when challenged um
00:44:17
Speaker
When he challenged Kurt Angle, that was a Toys R Us exclusive back in 2015. The cool thing about this, it comes with the, ah I didn't realize this we had it in hand. It comes with the alternate head scan with the blonde hair, which is like the true, like when Cena was first starting out, man. So it's it's definitely the coolest figure of the set to me. There is a chase also with John Cone with a SmackDown ref shirt.
00:44:38
Speaker
Nice. And then we got the new Survivor Series set, which this is just an absolute banger of a set, man. I think all four figures are great. whats What's your favorite out of these four, team? We got the JD McDonough Judgment Day heel, one, two, three, kid from towards the end of his WWF run.
00:44:55
Speaker
ah Cody from the Survivor Series 2023 poster with I call him camo dust. Yeah. And then we got Brett from Survivor Series 93 with the short singlet. I mean, I love the Brett with the short singlet, dude. I mean, that's just iconic. The 1-2-3 kid looks incredible, though, too. Yeah, that 1-2-3 kid is sick, man. i'm I'm looking at it up on the shelf right now. I think it's my... Gotta let it digest, man. I think it might be the best Sean Waltman figure we've ever seen, though.
00:45:22
Speaker
It looks really good from the pictures I've seen. it's ah It's a cool one, man. cody Cody's fun, dude. Our Cody does suffer from what I call the Vietnamese leg syndrome, which he's got, you know, supposedly they fixed up most of these, but he's definitely got a bad, he's from that original batch they were cranking out there. I think can't remember if he was left or right leg, like is basically has no articulation at the hip, dude. Yeah, got a bad set of stems. Yeah, bad stems, man.
00:45:47
Speaker
Yeah. But yeah, so that those are in stock right now at ringside. Use code Chick-fil-A to save 10%. I think that's it for the figure talk. Sheen, you wanna get some listener mail and get out of here? Let's go.
00:46:07
Speaker
All right. The OG Fig Kid, Tom Montalto. If you had to sell your entire wrestling figure collection but could keep just three figures, which ones are staying and why?
00:46:19
Speaker
I'm probably going Hasbro, Bret Hart off the rip. um I'll probably Seth Rollins from WrestleMania 31. So I got a Seth, I got a Bret, and then i probably keep Galoob Sting.
00:46:33
Speaker
So I'm going on nostalgia, man. I'm going from the first WrestleMania I was at and then my two favorite figures from my childhood, Hasbro, Bret, and Galoob Sting. I'm going strictly from the heart. um I'll also go Hasbro, Bret, because I had that in the ah the room with me when I became a mom. It was in the you know, the birthing center when we had our little Brett.
00:46:52
Speaker
Um, I will keep my custom Chick-fil-A, uh, from Mad Reaper, from the Mad Reaper. soli And then, um um, I was going to say my Guker. Yeah. My Guker, um, is one of my favorite figures. The custom Guker, not the Mattel, the Mattel, the Mattel Guker is still awesome, but, uh, my custom Guker from, uh, you know, uh, Mike Kinney.
00:47:18
Speaker
Oh, boy. Trish Stratus, Jax, Trish Stratus, Elite, Trish Stratus, Funko Pop. The Warrior Eljan is for sure a key. Solid call. That's the only figure on my desk, my work desk, so that's not going to do Great figure to you, man. I can't wait to get that Ultimate Edition with the same look. Um...
00:47:38
Speaker
I'd probably keep the the first Bray Wyatt we got with the Hawaiian shirt. Another solid choice. And then my last one would probably be... God, dude, I love the defining moment, Sting. That would probably be my my last one that I would keep. I love that figure, man. I have that inbox, and that's another figure that's in my office. That's just probably three of my favorite figures ever.
00:48:03
Speaker
Yeah, that defining moment, Sting, is a great one. Jordan got me into the Elite line in early 2000. Yeah, fun fact that Bray was our very first and Bray was our first one, yeah. Jordan got us into the Elite line in early 2015, and that Sting was like coming soon. we actually saw the the prototype of it at WrestleMania Access that year, and I remember just being like so hyped for and it, and it delivered totally. like I really wish that they could get Sting under some kind of similar deal to how...
00:48:28
Speaker
They got Billy Gunn, you know, ah he used to be a legend and stuff at AEW, but let us let us get him in figures and video games for Mattel because they did OK by Sting. But I feel like, you know, there was a lot more they could have done with him figure wise. And obviously they've improved a ton since Sting, ah you know, left the left the company.
00:48:46
Speaker
And I'd like to see some of those original ones get re-released. All right, Tom Montalto coming at us with another big question. He says, what's one trend in modern figure wrestler modern wrestling figures you'd kill off immediately if you had the power?
00:49:00
Speaker
Dude, you don't always need more articulation, dude. if you're not get I get it playing with them. In their defense, Brett loves playing with the AEW figures and with the Ultimate Editions and stuff because you know he calls the articulation the movement. and He's all about the the movement of the figures.
00:49:14
Speaker
But... if If they would make basics, but just still had the same level of detail and stuff as the the elites, I'd take those, man. I just like the cleaner look, dude. Strictly for display, I feel like sometimes too much articulation just kind of kills the the look of the figure.
00:49:29
Speaker
What about you, Jordan? I mean, I would agree. I just, I hope we get rid of Vietnamese leg syndrome, too. Yeah. It's the worst. It's so annoying. You feel like you're going snap the fucking legs off just posing them, man, in basic poses, dude. I was really hoping that was going to be a term on Urban Dictionary. It was not, though.
00:49:47
Speaker
um Tom also comes with us with a two-part question. Two-part Tom. Two-part Tom. Something you would bring back from the past and bring it into modern wrestling and something from modern pro wrestling you'd like to see go away. Dude, the Battle Bowl.
00:50:04
Speaker
I've been preaching it for years. Bring back the Battle Bowl. ah gimmick, man. to Go back watch some of those WCW Battle Bullets. That would be so much fun. Something that would go away, did Phillip Dunnett, our good buddy from the UK, he kind of i can't remember what thread he was talking about, but he he kind of had a really super detailed comment to kind of put a pin on it, man.
00:50:22
Speaker
I love women's wrestling. It's really grown on me. like you know When I first got back into it, I was kind of like, take it or leave it. But there's some really, really awesome women, especially in NXT. We don't need to have 100% equality across the board. I like it being equal, but dude, let's alternate, man. like Dude, let's do one year, yeah do the men's run. Even if it's just money in the bank or king and queen in the ring, alternate each year. like have me know One year, do men's money in the bank and do queen of the ring. and The next year, do women, do Mrs. Money in the bank.
00:50:49
Speaker
and King of Ink. I think it would keep both of those things super fresh, man. Especially with Money in the Bank. I hate the two briefcases floating around, dude. like It'd be a way bigger deal if you alternated them from year to year, man. What about you, Jordan? um I think...
00:51:05
Speaker
Man, I really wish we could bring back the original w WWE Network. and I know that's kind of a cop-out saying that. No, let's not. no It's a very yeah its very valid request. I miss that so much. And one thing I'd get rid of is two-night WrestleManias.
00:51:19
Speaker
i just i wish I wish we could go back to one night. Get rid of two-night WrestleMania. Yeah, now it's going to be two-night everything, which yeah we just we don't... I know Seth is going to just say I'm always going want more wrestling.
00:51:31
Speaker
But, dude, I'm so thankful that we got to – I mean, you guys got to go to 33, so you guys got to see one of the last One Night Manias. But I'm so thankful we got to go to 31. That was like the last buttoned-up WrestleMania where it didn't feel like it just was going on just for going on's sake. Yeah.
00:51:49
Speaker
That was a nice, tight card. It was so fun, and I just miss that. like I do like two-night WrestleManias, don't get me wrong. i mean I'm all for that weekend feeling really meaningful, but I just miss just waking up on WrestleMania Sunday and that being the one day of WrestleMania. like it just i It always felt different when it was just the one night.
00:52:10
Speaker
Yeah, I would bring back the ah the big blue cage. I would bring that back from the past and bring it in into modern wrestling. And then i would, out yeah, I've accepted two night WrestleMania.
00:52:21
Speaker
um I would get rid of two night SummerSlam. Like I just, I'm like, why are we, why are we continuing this? Right. And I know the answer is more money. But I'm just, you know, I've already accepted two-night WrestleMania, so why are we, you know, let's not push it. If they're doing it, man, let's get creative with the format, dude. WrestleMania 40 was so good because the two nights felt like it was part of a set. It wasn't just these two independent cards, man.
00:52:42
Speaker
Like, yeah, say, we're going do two nights, it doesn't always got to be tied into the absolute, like, main event, end of the show, biggest angle
Critique of WrestleMania Format
00:52:48
Speaker
going on. But... Just do some fun stuff with the two night format, man. No, 40 worked so well because the end of night one tied into the end of night two. Like, that's why it worked so well. i yeah I don't think we're ever going to get that again, though. I wish we would because, mean, that's what made that so special.
00:53:04
Speaker
Yeah, you never know. and Tom's last question. Did you know that the Fig Guys had ah both Matt Cardona and Brian Myers on as guests? Check it out today. Solid plug, yeah. Fig Guys, it's our buddies, Tom Montalto and Mike Belcaster. Two great guys. Great podcast.
00:53:20
Speaker
Definitely check them out. All right. And ah Kevin Eugene, how do you book the GOAT, John Cena's last six months? Logan Paul, Roman Reigns, Brown Breaker, Seth Rollins?
00:53:30
Speaker
Question mark, question mark. I don't know what to do for his final match. I think we got to get the redemption storyline going. I don't really know exactly what like the, the final, final, you know, point of it is, dude.
00:53:42
Speaker
But what are the matches? So like, once you, once he loses the belt, then like, I think we need to try to see him get it back. Right. I think he, I think so. He loses the belt. need to see him desperate at first to get it back.
00:53:54
Speaker
And then once he realized like he's fallen short and he's got to slowly let the fans back in. Right. Like, you know, I don't know exactly how you get from point a to point B and what the final match looks like. But yeah, I don't know. That's a good question, man. I haven't really thought of it. it's's it's I can kind of think of like the storyline beats, but what the specific matches that, then you know, you ring the bell on, I don't know.
00:54:14
Speaker
Jordan, do you have any ideas? There's something that I really want to see happen, whether or not we get it, but I'm putting it out there because hopefully someone's listening. I hope at Survivor Series we get Team Cena versus Team Punk.
00:54:27
Speaker
in some some form of that whether they do war games or not I don't care I just I want like a Survivor Series style match with with Cena and Punk or Cena and Orton whatever you want to do I just I feel like that would be one of the like the really good moments for for the Cena end of his career run just just so we get to see it one more time and I miss the Survivor Series matches so much like it's just I think that would be a cool nostalgia thing too All right. Brian Vermeer, what is the best age to bring a child to their first wrestling slash sporting event?
00:55:03
Speaker
I'd say a mature four-year-old could handle a wrestling show. Brett was four when he went to his first show, and he did fine. think Zoe was three. I wouldn't go much younger than that, dude. I think Zoe was three, and she did really well. Girls are more mature than boys, though. Yeah, and Zoe was a different kid, too. like Zoe was completely fine being out in public and never caused a scene at any point, so...
00:55:23
Speaker
That was, that was Brett. Brett was all you could, you could take, you could take Brett anywhere and he was just fit in like a freaking, you know, peg in a hole. You just get, well, now when you take him to Memphis wrestling, you just got to be prepared for a snack every 12 minutes.
00:55:35
Speaker
Oh, yeah. The snack. mean, thank God. you know Thank God for Memphis Wrestling for keeping their snacks. The concessions are cheap. The concessions are super cheap. How about $4 beers, George? Yeah, that was awesome. $4 beers, like dollar hot dogs. $2 ice cream. $2 ice cream. It's like so normie, and you're just like, oh, my God. So, yeah, when he gets up after every you know after every he set, I'm like, okay, it's fine. We do wear every episode. every time So every that's kind of our battle rhythm. We get there, and we get our snacks, and when they kick off the second episode, we watch the opening segment, and then we go hit the snack bar.
00:56:05
Speaker
yeah um but yeah it's uh i would say yeah five for me i would say five probably i just think it's just you're just safe with five-year-old you know what i mean expensive as tickets are now you don't you don't want to risk it that's what that's what i was gonna say are we talking a wwe event because if so teenagers because i'm not dropping five hundred dollars for five-year-old at this point yeah yeah they need to be able to work so that way they can supplement some of the you know offsets with ticket price Exactly. All right, do your paper route. start off with the indie though, man. Indies are a little bit low risk. Yes.
00:56:35
Speaker
If you got it, Memphis Wrestling gets really rowdy. If you got a local indie that's kind of like, you know, medium intensity, maybe try them out on that first. And it's hard. I will say, ah you know, taking a young kid to TV taping, like if you're going to a pay-per-view, it'll be a little bit different. I don't know about now. Now there's so many commercials and stuff, but um a TV taping is really tough. we've We've talked about it before. You know, there's a lot of downtime. You're just in there watching stuff on the screen and like the kids get,
00:57:00
Speaker
bored during that time. So yeah, I would say, you know, five, five and six, you're, you're probably pretty solid to, ah to take them and, you know, trust that they can sit there the the whole time. um Jason Koenig says, which wrestler looks better bald than with hair? I mean, the obvious answer is Stone Cold Steve Austin, right? Yeah.
00:57:17
Speaker
Yeah, Stone Cold Steve Austin. If he have kept the long blonde hair in WWF, I don't think Stone Cold happens. No. I'm going to go with the big show. I think he looked like more of a badass bald. i I liked him with long hair. I mean, he was completely fine. But once he shaved his head, it just like went into a different mode for him.
00:57:35
Speaker
I really, I liked hair on the big show. I really liked Shawn Michaels with the bald head at Crown Jewel 2018. Nicked it all all the hair off. That that was a good look. And next accidentally got his, ah you know, hat knocked off and the bandana knocked off. So it was like, you know, the twofer. I don't know why. Well, no, he didn't even wear the bandana for the match, dude.
00:57:55
Speaker
Oh, he didn't have a bandana on that match? He'd been wearing a bandana. You know, he got the hat knocked off a couple times on the build. It had like the the bandana headband. Like I rock when I'm on the yard and stuff, dude. And like, i thought that I thought that looked okay, dude, right?
Wrestlers' Appearance Changes
00:58:08
Speaker
It still wasn't HBK, but I thought the bald head with the the tied off headband looked good.
00:58:13
Speaker
And I'm assuming, I gotta think he just fucking forgot it when attacked band. for Saudi dude because it looked just straight up bald but so much worse dude like I said the headband with it looked it looked fine I could kind of accept alright we're getting one last old man Sean match but it's a shame that he went full bald because this nightmare of a match that was Sean still held his end of the bargain dude Sean was really the only thing holding that together you know Triple H got hurt Undertaker and Kane dude I think it was just they're too old and it was too damn hot over there for them but I thought Sean was totally passable in that match man
00:58:45
Speaker
um But in my mind, like the only thing I think about when it is just Sean's bald ass head. Yeah. Where do we stand on the rock ah bald versus? ah I mean, he always had such a tight, you know, he had a little bit longer hair when he was first coming up. But once he really became the rock, he always has such a tight fade that I didn't feel like it was that big of a transition going bald. He always kept a really, really tight fade.
00:59:05
Speaker
I think Triple H looks better bald than he did with hair. he he looked like more of a badass with his head shaved as opposed to with the long, like, just granite knob hair. think he's, you know, he's get you a man that can do both. I thought he looked good with the long hair, but I think he pulled off the bald hair. I think for the era that he had the long hair, it made it made sense. and then ah as he got a little older, I think, and huger, you what I mean? Like, as he got older, his, like, you know, neck and his freaking... That's definitely not a worry. Yeah. Huge. his ah
00:59:37
Speaker
His biceps you know grew like three sizes. I think the bald head really you know it didn't really Remember when Undertaker shaved his head and he looked like Skeletor when he came out for WrestleMania? That was not it. ah Something about Hulk's bald spot helped him too. I don't know if it was just made him unique or made him just like a touch more relatable, dude. But like if you see Hulk from the early days when he had the full head of hair, I think the bald spot just made him...
00:59:58
Speaker
a bigger baby face or yeah he wasn't much the ball it's about it was more just like the super receiving yeah but yeah he had a long larry david yeah something about hulk being bald just kind of worked man I'm trying to think. Any other super, super stars? You get Karrion Kross to do the opposite. He's got such luscious locks. Yeah. The fact that they shaved that man's head. had his head shaved for so long. Wild to me. I mean, I get it with like, you know, just like the crazy Karrion gimmick that they were going for. But dude. He's like Triple H. He'll work for both. think the bald head looked good, but the long hair looked good too.
01:00:30
Speaker
Yeah. And that wraps it up for listener mail. Wow. We've been a full hour tonight. All right. So remember guys, we're not getting the traditional outro. We're even going to save the plugs because we want you guys to listen to this. Tune in into this interview, man. It's going to be good. It's going to lift your spirits.
01:00:44
Speaker
If
Special Interview with Mike Kinney
01:00:45
Speaker
you got a little bit of extra money sitting in the PayPal or something, dude, you know, we encourage you guys to know you don't got to even do the full tier, man. This, this, uh, micro brawler is going to be awesome man but if you could just toss a couple bucks uh his way every single dollar helps out to bring this project to life you know we're going to have the link in the show notes check out the preview it's going to be awesome it's going to be you know i think it's i think it's going to resonate for everybody but i think us wrestling fans are really really going to like it and you know if you got a loved one or you know a significant other that's uh you know hasn't really got it this could kind of be like an on-ramp to get them into wrestling man showing them this documentary so
01:01:19
Speaker
Hit the link in our bio, check out Mike, AKA Gator McGraw's documentary, and then support the Kickstarter if you can and enjoy this interview. I think Sheena did a really good job putting everything together. And Mike just had some awesome thoughts to share. Sheena, Jordan, you guys got any closing and thoughts before we wrap it up? No.
01:01:34
Speaker
I'll just double down and say, listen to the interview.
01:01:43
Speaker
All right, we have a special guest for tonight's show. Best-selling author, Ted Speaker, self-proclaimed most famous wrestler you've never heard of. And lastly, but most importantly, is a longtime Foley fan member, ah Mike Kinney. Welcome to the podcast, Mike. How are you doing? I'm great. it's it's It's nice to finally be able to ah to be on the show.
01:02:02
Speaker
I know. i feel Like I said, we we were talking a little bit before we hit record. We feel like we've known you forever, but this is the first time we've really gotten into to talk in person. So stoked to have you on the show, man. but We know we got a lot of crossover between the wrestling, and you know, strictly wrestling fans and the wrestling figure collectors. so Those who don't know, you know, Mike's Alter Ego is Viking Hall Toys, man. One of the coolest figure customizers in the game with a real specialty and that classic like peak ECW era stuff.
01:02:28
Speaker
Yeah, Mike always, he has a special place in my heart because he handcrafted one of my all-time favorite figs in our collection, my custom gobbledygooker. You know, there was years and years that I wanted gobbledygooker in the collection. And, you know, we eventually, yeah, we eventually got it from Mattel, but even still after getting it from Mattel, like it just, it doesn't hit the same because the, like the fabric feel on, on my custom gooker is just so amazing. So yeah, I want to thank Mike personally for creating, for creating that little relic.
01:02:57
Speaker
It's crazy, too, because it came out ah it came out strikingly close to what Mattel made, too, dude. did soft goods, it would have basically identical to what Mike made. I'm convinced Mattel saw the picture that we posted on Instagram and was like, damn, we do need to make this figure, man. Mike made me one, too, as well. I have the same one you guys have.
01:03:13
Speaker
Nice. That's awesome. There's probably only three ever in existence, and the the three people that own them are on this figure. Very exclusive club. So for for all of you who aren't ah aren't a part of the club, I'm sorry. Mattel does have one for you that that looks really good, but ah yeah, it just it just don't hit the same.
01:03:31
Speaker
um But we are not here to talk about Mike Kinney. We are here to talk about yeah Cowboy Gator McGraw. If you you never heard of him, like I said, Mike said it's the most famous wrestler you've never heard of. So I want Mike to give us a little a little backstory on ah on the Gator.
01:03:50
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So i um I broke into professional wrestling in the late 90s, almost by accident. I um i grew up in ah in a small town in southern Minnesota, and we never really had any pro wrestling, per se, come through town.
01:04:05
Speaker
would hit up the, know, in the town I up was like 20,000 people. yeah. um I'd hit up the local bookstore, which had a ton of magazines. And that's where I got exposed. We didn't, we couldn't afford cable back then. So my only exposure to any kind of ah wrestling beyond WWF was, was through wrestling magazines. And so I would just constantly be in that bookstore. And There was one specific day that i had I had gone in there and the guy that owned it knew me from all my visits. And he said, hey, somebody dropped off a flyer. There's going to be a show at the armory here and a couple of weeks.
01:04:39
Speaker
So, you know, I didn't recognize a single face on that. on that flyer. One of them actually turned out to be Lenny Lane. Um, but before he was known as Lenny Lane, I suppose. Um, but man, I remember going to that, to that armory very, very early on in that day. I had, uh, I spent the night at my buddy's house, his mom and dad dropped us off and it was a like full blown stalker mode. We were sitting outside the yeah armory and we were just like,
01:05:03
Speaker
pumped to just watch some of these wrestlers pull up and you could tell who they were. I mean, it was very, very obvious just by the, really by the way they walked. I mean, yeah, they're a different kind of self-confidence, but we kind of snuck into the building when they were setting up the ring and, um, you know, the boys were yelling kayfabe and stuff right when we walked in and we were we were just, we were teenagers, man. I was like 15.
01:05:25
Speaker
And so, um, you know, we helped them set up the ring and, Then they i we'd ask them to show us some moves and they bumped us around a little bit, but they beat the pants off of us. I mean, they they really didn't want us to come back at all.
01:05:37
Speaker
They were being stiff on a couple of teenagers. they Not only did we set the ring up, then they made us like leave and then buy a ticket to get back in. Stop. Yeah. Yeah. um The guy that ran that show, the funny thing about it is after I got into the world wrestling, he had, I ended up wrestling on numerous shows that he was on. We tagged together a little bit. We'll kind of laughed about that, but you know, it was a different, it was a different time, man. And and it was, the business is still kind of protected back then. And, and I understood that and I understood why they were doing it at the time even, but yeah,
01:06:12
Speaker
To me, it it was very much like this weird, ah mysterious you know club that only a select few were allowed into. And back then, I think it kind of was. you know Was that the first live wrestling event you had ever been to? Was that ah was the indie show that you went to? was, yeah. I had never even been to a ww WWF house show or anything like that. So it was my first everything that day.
01:06:34
Speaker
That's super cool. Um, you know, and i mean, that's, that's what's so cool about the indies and like the house shows. It gives like those smaller towns and those places where, you know, WWE and all those like WCW, they're never going to run a show. So, uh, you know, ah that think that's one thing that's really missing in this is modern era of wrestling is just the house shows, man, because, uh,
01:06:53
Speaker
you know, it's, it's hard out there. for to make fans for life, That's what Vince always said. That's why they would, even the when it was, they were losing money on those. He said, you still like, you make wrestling fans for life. those experiences Yeah. Especially now everything, you know, going to raw, like it costs so much to take your family to like a raw or a SmackDown even. So, you know, not being able to have those house shows that are a little bit cheaper, a little bit smaller towns, a little bit smaller venues. Uh,
01:07:15
Speaker
Extremely, extremely unfortunate. But you know I understand that's just the the way of the business nowadays. um So Gator, he started out as a teenage guy going to his first indie show. And then um this persona kind of came about, right? And you you you jumped into the business yourself. So tell us a little bit about how you got started and your wrestling journey.
01:07:38
Speaker
So that that same wrestling circuit kept coming through town. And every time they would come through, i would show up. And they finally just kind of i think they got tired me picking on them. And they they told me about a camp that one of the boys was running.
01:07:50
Speaker
um I showed up to it. And it was it was in a storage unit in some little town in northern Iowa. um I went there with a handful of friends of mine. And there were a couple of just local indie guys there that were, i guess, running it.
01:08:04
Speaker
It was just literally a ring set up in an outdoor storage unit. And so... A storage unit. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. um They showed us, ah they showed us how not to hurt ourselves, I guess. best Yeah. as a ball but What size was the ring, man? We talking like an eight by eight, 12 by 12. It was full blown, man. It was 20 by 20. It was a huge ring. Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah.
01:08:25
Speaker
Um, so yeah, we were, we were able to bump around a little bit, uh, run the ropes, learn how to like actually get into the ring, out of the ring. It was the hardest part about it was though, is that that this dude had built the ring himself and the, the canvas wasn't canvas. It was a vinyl.
01:08:39
Speaker
And so we're under the sun, man. And it got, oh man, and it was, oh it was a griddle. And then your sweat then you're sweating and slip. It turns into a slip and slide. was wild It was wild. But yeah, so they, they showed us some stuff and then we ended up,
01:08:54
Speaker
Me and a couple of the other guys, we got on some local indie shows and just started kind of working our way into the business like that. Over a couple of years after doing that, um we started to get some more advanced training by a couple of Ken Patera students out of the Twin Cities.
01:09:07
Speaker
And that's when kind of my my whole wrestling, we we kind of went from mud show to like actual indie show two years in. And, um, everything changed at that point. And they were like, look, man, you can't just wear like camouflage pants and a t-shirt out to the ring anymore, which was what I was wearing to the ring. Cause I didn't tell that to Tony Khan.
01:09:25
Speaker
one I didn't have gear or anything, man. And so, um, you know, it was, it was, we have to come up with a gimmick for you. And back then, you know, so by this time we're looking at like 2002 and UFC was hot and, um,
01:09:39
Speaker
ufc was hot and A lot of guys on the Indies wanted to look and sound like they're like UFC fighters, right? Everybody kind of looked the same. They did the same stuff. It was such a win. Everybody used their real name and it was an odd thing. and And I didn't really have the body type that everybody else had. And I knew I needed to set myself apart a little bit differently.
01:09:59
Speaker
And so I had a little bit of musical theater background, so I knew I could do some character acting. And I just started thinking about, like, what kind of characters don't I see, especially in Minnesota? And being this far north, it was like we never see cowboys. And so I kind of wanted to, like, do a persona that reminded me of, like, my dad and my uncles and my grandpa and stuff. It's just, like, big macho tough guys.
01:10:20
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And, um, and so that's what I did is I picked a cowboy character and then through a couple of trial and error pieces came up with, um, the, the, the McGraw part of it. And yeah I had played with some names, you know, like Hanson and like Stan Hanson and Brooks as in Garth Brooks and just like all these different like country music, you know, and McGraw stuck, man. And so I, I went with it.
01:10:45
Speaker
I think, I think McGraw works. And for those of you, um, you know, if you want the, like the whole, the whole rundown and everything, you have to check out, um, Mike's Ted talk. Uh, it's, it's just a good, it's, I love it. It's a heart filled story. It tugs on the heartstrings. It makes you laugh.
01:10:59
Speaker
Um, it was 15 minutes. yeah Yeah. Yeah. 15 minutes of your time. It'll motivate you. Uh, you'll get the whole backstory on how, how Gator McGraw came to be. Um, and it'll, it'll give you a good way to, you know, feel good way to start your day. Um,
01:11:14
Speaker
So highly recommend. We'll put the link to it in in the show notes. But ah you have, so we know we kind of give you a little backstory on on Gator McGraw. um You know, he's been an indie wrestler. He had ah a ah an appearance on Monday Night Raw. yeah So we can't we can't, you know, say that you just... Best security guard history wrestling. Best security guard in the history of wrestling. um You know, he you had an appearance on Monday Night Raw.
01:11:36
Speaker
um So let's not, let's not ah you know, undersell you. how How did that come about? how Was that just that they just put out like an all call to like the local Indies or how did how did you get your foot in the door? and it was to get out of WWE screen because, you know, not to not to blow smoke up your ass, but just the fact that, you know, i heard Arne Anderson say this on one of his podcasts couple weeks back. He said, if you make it to TV on one of the big companies, you are already like inside the one percent, you know, whether you're doing a squash match or whatever, you get your face on TV like that.
01:12:02
Speaker
You're already in the less than one percentile of, you know, everybody that ever steps in a wrestling ring. sure and i And I don't take that for granted either. You know, it was one day, but still to me, like there's kind of a pattern in my life where I get these opportunities to happen for one day. And it's, yeah it's cool. It's, it's, it's, it's what it is. And, you know, ah I think it helps make me a normal guy in a lot of ways, but that, that opportunity really came about ah through Ken Anderson at the time um i knew. And at the time he was with the WWE, he was Ken Kennedy.
01:12:31
Speaker
um he and i knew each other because we were on the same circuit and he was based out of the twin cities and we were on a lot of the same shows and he was looking for some guys that actually looked like security guards and some guys he trusted too like because that's part of the deal is he has to put his name and on on the people that he brings in and so it was me and a small handful of other guys i remember there you know the the the story is as i was riding home in the middle of the night in middle of nowhere iowa um back from a show and I was excited because I had a day off. And typically then i was wrestling like four nights a week and I was pumped because I had a night off, but then Ken had called and, um, there was like me and two other guys in the car, two or three other guys.
01:13:12
Speaker
And one of the guys that it was me and one of the other guys in the car got asked to go. The other guy refused to cut his hair. He's like, look, man, I'm not going to cut my hair and go do a TV thing. So Gator, you're on your own. And to this day, I still give him a hard time about that because he really did miss out on an opportunity just to not cut his hair. But, um, but I went, man, I wasn't goingnna miss it.
01:13:30
Speaker
Yeah. I think I remember, I heard something about you telling like my car was breaking down, but I was going to make it there. It didn't matter. You know, it was like, you know, driving a clunker, but we were, we were going to get there, you know, come hell or high water. I didn't care. and in Green Bay, from where I was, cause the show Raw was in Green Bay that they wanted. Yeah.
01:13:46
Speaker
And I was at this time, I was still living in Southern Minnesota. So we're talking like a five hour drive. It wasn't just a casual thing. right It was an 11 a.m. m call. So it was like, had to get up super early, make sure that I got there early enough where I didn't like not make it to call at 11 o'clock. Right. So it was like, i don't even know what time we left. We probably left like four in the morning just because I was so pumped. And, you know, and and it worked out. It was it was ah an experience I'll never, ever forget.
01:14:16
Speaker
So let's talk a little bit about, you have a really cool project that you're putting out into the world. um So let's just give ah give a quick synopsis. Gator spent 10 years on the Indies, had ah had an awesome send-off, um but now you're working on a ah super special heart project. um And I want you to to tell the listeners what you got going on and why you're coming back for one more match. Yeah, it's...
01:14:42
Speaker
if you, you mentioned my Ted talk. So if you watch that, I intentionally left a lot of my story out. And when I say a lot of my story, um, I, it's, it's kind of a hard thing to even talk about,
01:14:55
Speaker
generally, but I got out of wrestling and, you know, everybody tells you like, you know, when you're, when something's bad for you, you just need to quit it. Right. Smoking's bad. Whatever. Right. So when I left wrestling, I tore my shoulder to pieces. I needed another shoulder surgery. that The surgeon told me you will never wrestle again.
01:15:12
Speaker
and at the same time, my wife was pregnant with her first kid. And so in my mind, it's like, okay, the stars are lining up to tell me it's time to go. Um, and so I got this kind of like cool, like mini send off with some of the boys and, um, it's in the trailer, the the Kickstarter that I'm launching and kind of see my, my farewell. But what I didn't realize was, is I had quit wrestling and then I walked away from the business altogether. I didn't watch wrestling. I, I didn't talk to the guys that I knew from the wrestling business. I mean, I completely walked away from the wrestling industry.
01:15:44
Speaker
And what I accidentally did to myself was I caused myself to go down this rabbit hole of depression. And I remember feeling really guilty about it because it was supposed to be such a great time because my daughter was just born. Right. And I'm and i'm a dad now. And like all these great things are happening. I'd gone back to college. I was working on my degree, but I was so freaking sad and I couldn't explain it to anybody. So all I did, I just like medicated. Right. And I just drank i drank and I drank and my drinking got worse. And,
01:16:13
Speaker
Um, next thing I knew, i was in a spot where I had to, I had to choose. I had to pick my family or I had, or I had continued on the path that I was on of of drinking and and putting myself and others in harm's way. And,
01:16:28
Speaker
So I picked, I picked my family and I never looked back. So it's kind of this really, you know, I, when I did my Ted talk, I'd only been sober for two years and I kept it secret. It was kind of like one of those deals where I just suffered in silence. I didn't tell anybody and I wasn't ready to tell anybody I'd been going to AA and I was ashamed of it. You know, I,
01:16:47
Speaker
I didn't know how to tell people that I had failed so miserably and the guilt that I had carried with me because because of what I had done to the people around me was really, really hard to get through.
01:17:02
Speaker
and And there's probably a sense of fear of failure of like failing, like going to AA and becoming sober, right? Like you set your mind to this and like, you know, there's probably some some sense of like, well, if I tell people I'm doing this and then I fail, then I've failed again, you know? So it's like, it's all stacks up and just compounds on each other.
01:17:21
Speaker
The TED Talk actually made it worse because here I was two years sober. My TED Talk went viral. And i'm not now all of a sudden, I'm this self-confidence expert. And it scared me to death because here I'm like getting all this notoriety. And I'm hiding this big secret, you know, and it was, it was a really, it was a really hard time for me. And, but I wanted to be able to give back. And so I started to do some public speaking engagements after the Ted stuff went live and, and I loved it. I love to be able to go give back and go speak at these schools and talk to kids and all of those things. And then of course COVID happened and that put a kibosh to all of it.
01:18:03
Speaker
So last year i was talking with a friend of mine and we were, I was just discussing like how am I going to get back out there and and and really try to figure out how to give back. And I think I'm ready to tell the rest of the story now. And I want to be able to do some public speaking. And, and she said, well, how come you don't lean more on your wrestling stuff?
01:18:21
Speaker
And I said, because I haven't wrestled almost 20 years. Like I don't want to wrestle again. Like that's not the thing. She goes, wait a minute. She goes, I don't know a lot about wrestling, but I know the rocks involved all the time and he's not a wrestler anymore.
01:18:32
Speaker
I'm like, yeah, but he's the rock and he can kind of get away with whatever he wants. And,
Mike Kinney's Documentary Project
01:18:36
Speaker
you know, so she and I just, put together this weird plan is like, well, what if I came back for one match? And what if it was around the same time that would mark my 10 year sobriety, which it will this fall.
01:18:49
Speaker
And what if we were able to just do some really cool stuff with it? And, um, it just so happened that I had a, I had worked with a woman who her son was independent filmmaking. And I said, Hey, look, i'm're I'm doing this kind of comeback thing.
01:19:04
Speaker
i want to talk to your son. And he'd done some documentaries and, Maybe he'd be interested. And if it's stupid, if it's a dumb idea, he'll tell me it's a dumb idea. Well, I met with him and some other folks that had done some projects with National Geographic and Netflix.
01:19:18
Speaker
And I sat there and pitched them and they were like, they just kind of like stared at me. And I said, what do you think? I mean, is this something that we could do? Does it have legs? And they're like, ah yeah, this project has legs. We we need to do this thing.
01:19:33
Speaker
And so that's where we're at. And so, you know, i we've been filming since um I want to say March. um I've been kind of working this angle with an old friend of mine, um that someone I try to trust not to hurt me too bad in the ring this fall. But we're kind of just like working this angle back where, you know, he's the heel on the baby face. And we're just really trying to figure out ah get me back in the ring for one more match. But the match itself is what we're going to use as the vessel to kind of tell the story in the documentary about how you know, you, you get, you look at all these like athletes, you look like any football player, maybe a football player, they win a high school championship and then maybe they play in college. Right.
01:20:12
Speaker
And then maybe they get drafted and maybe they play for a year or two and then they get hurt and they're 23 or 24 years old. And, and it's like, well, I've been Mike, the football player for my entire life, but What do I do with the rest of my life? And that's the piece that never gets talked or talked about.
01:20:30
Speaker
And so it's we're going to we want to be able to talk to some sports psychologists and and things like that as well about that piece. like What is the mindset of people who have to try to like pull themselves up by their bootstraps after they've lived their dream without letting the people around them down? And and so that's the story we're going to tell through the sort the documentary. And we've launched a Kickstarter to be able to lift up some of the funding for that because it is not a cheap project.
01:20:54
Speaker
No, i can't I can't even imagine what goes all into a ah into a project like that, especially. This thing's cinematic as hell, dude. Like the trailer or sizzle reel or whatever you want to call it, dude, look was awesome, man. Like this is not like, ah you know, yeah a YouTube video on steroids, man. This thing is legit. It looks like, you know, again, like i I could totally see this thing being on Netflix, man. Like as, ah you know, just something people will pop up. They don't don't even got to be wrestling fans to get into. Yeah, we're we're kind of in this weird spot right now. I think we're developing the film around the idea that it's going to go on the um ah the film festival circuit.
01:21:27
Speaker
We initially thought, okay, there's ah all of the streaming platforms right now where they're really like clamoring for content. And we thought we could pitch Netflix, we could pitch Amazon Prime, we could pitch all of these places, but really like...
01:21:41
Speaker
It might have a chance to win some awards. It it might have a deeper reach for a deeper audience. We don't know, but we thought the film festival circle would be the best way to reach as many people as we can. and just Well, and the cool thing about the film festival circuit is you can always pitch Netflix and everything after, right? So like if you do the film festival circuit, then it's like, oh, it gets, you know, good reviews. And then it's like, okay, well now you go, you go to Netflix or go to Amazon prime or whatever. So that, that would be super cool. So yeah, it definitely is not just your typical sports documentary. You know, it's, um, you know, but there's a story of redemption and identity and just, you know, I think, don't think you're unique in that, you know, you have a dream and there's so many people that like fight for their dream and they,
01:22:21
Speaker
you know, they spend so many years just, you know, grinding toward it, grinding toward it. And whether it's, you know, they they just finally quit on it or whether it's taken away from them um or they get to the end of their career, or they have a successful career and just get to the end of it.
01:22:35
Speaker
um That transition out is super hard. And I, you know, I don't think a lot of people talk about that. You know, I think it's just, it's hard to go from the mentality of just you know, really putting all of your energy and effort towards something that, you know, is your life's mission. And then just saying now what, you know, so, and I don't think it has to be sports, right? doesn't have to be sports. It could be any goal or any, anything that you're trying to achieve out there. Sometimes when, when those things get away from you or they come to an end, you know, it's hard to, to, to make that transition to, you know, the next best thing.
01:23:05
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I had a friend in high school that wanted to be a cop and he went to school to be a cop and he went to the police academy and he got hurt at the police academy and realized he couldn't be a cop anymore. and then was like, well, I put all my eggs in this basket. did I transition away from that? And so, again, yeah we get told we can be anything we want to be until we can't.
01:23:25
Speaker
and And then it's like, well... what's plan B? And frankly, when I was wrestling, there was no plan B. Wrestling was it. I was all in, man. I was going to do whatever it took. And, um you know, I think that was the biggest part of the struggle is that I wasn't prepared for that. And a lot of people aren't. So I think the story is fascinating. I think the fact that um You know, and i'm I'm like very self-aware where I'm at in the and the pecking order of the pro wrestling world. And I think that kind of adds to the charm of it. Like I'm not.
01:23:53
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. I wasn't on TV. I'm not some like Ring of Honor guy. I'm just like a dude, you know, who like chased it and happened to do okay with it, you know, and and got to do some cool stuff. So.
01:24:05
Speaker
I love stories like that. I think I just think there's so much merit in stories like that, too, because, yeah, you could go on WWE Network or, you know, Peacock now and um watch the documentaries about The Rock and about Stone Cold Steve Austin or Cody Rhodes or whatever. and you're just like, OK, that's just like it's so unattainable. Right. But when you're watching something that it's like.
01:24:23
Speaker
you know, Oh, this guy is like me. I could, I could do this, you know, like there's an opportunity for me out there. I think it's so much more motivating and so much more grasp graspable. If that's even a word for, uh, for people that are, that are taking it in. Yeah, I agree. Yeah.
01:24:38
Speaker
um But you have some really cool, something that for our audience specifically, there's some really cool tiers here in the ah in the Kickstarter. One specifically that I think a lot of our our fan base will um appreciate.
01:24:50
Speaker
You have a Cowboy Gator McGraw micro brawler, which is just super cool that you you took advantage of the opportunity to have a ah micro brawler made of your of your character. I think that is awesome.
01:25:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's really a timing thing. You know, when when ah the filmmakers and I were thinking about doing the Kickstarter, it was like, okay, what do we even offer as rewards? And we had some decent ideas and a lot of them actually, you know, made it to the to the Kickstarter itself. But that the email that that I had gotten from Pro Wrestling Tees,
01:25:21
Speaker
um was directed to all ah wrestlers who have stores on there. And it was like, look, if you guys want um your own micro brawler, your you need to put X amount dollars down for deposit. And then um once the rendering of your figure is made, then it costs X amount of dollars to complete the project. And here's how long it takes to bring it in. And so it was like, well,
01:25:42
Speaker
This is like poetic. I can, you know, I know it fits so well to what's going on and who doesn't want to figure themselves. Right. So it's absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So it's hopefully, you know, the Kickstarter, we, we,
01:25:55
Speaker
We're trying to raise $50,000. As of right this minute, we're sitting at about $1,700. We got about 27, 28 days to go. um I'm optimistic, um but I'm also a realist. you know And I think that if there are people out there that want to get behind a project like this, there are various tier levels that um will satisfy your needs and you're helping out a great cause in the process.
01:26:19
Speaker
And if you don't want to do it, that's okay too. I understand that. And in some ways, I forget that you're being humble. Get out there, empty out those pockets, folks back this project, dude, let's make this happen. This dude has been a solid contributor, not just to the wrestling world, but to the wrestling figure world, man. Some of the most creative customs we've seen in a while, dude, like,
01:26:37
Speaker
you never you By the time they end, you get to say you were part of something awesome, man. I'll tell you straight up, man. like I get it e Economy's tight. it's never It's never the funnest thing to put money into something that you may not see the tangible result for for a year or more. But the Kickstarter projects that I backed, when you finally get that final product in hand, it's so freaking cool and such a good feeling, man. Yeah.
01:26:56
Speaker
you know I know, Mike, I know you're being humble, man, but yeah I really encourage you guys support this. Plus, we want that micro brawler, man. like yeah We we you know we just we just ah just bought ours. If you're a micro brawler completionist, this could end up being in one of the... This will be like right up there with the Matt Cardona wedding micro brawlers for the most rarest of all time, man. So so let's make it happen, guys. Yeah. and there's no tier too small. I mean, I feel like if, if the fake everybody listens to this and everybody that, you know, follows ah Mike's other channels and everything, just, just share it and, um you know put it out there. Even if you can't contribute personally, sharing it out to, ah to other people and letting other people know that this is going on um is so, so important. And,
01:27:32
Speaker
there' like I said, there's some cool stuff. You can get your name in the credits. There's some real like hand painted turnbuckles that are going to be available. There's, you know, you get, you obviously get the, the copy of the documentary. um And, you know, you just, like you said, you get to be a part of something collectively for the wrestling community, especially like, you know, represent the Indies. You know what i mean? Like there's just, there needs to be more representation for the independent wrestling scene for sure.
01:27:57
Speaker
Well, I do appreciate the plug. I think that, you know, there's definitely, the humble thing always kills me, right? Because again, ah trying to be very self-aware about it, you know, and man, I'm catching some heat too on some boards about, you know, who is this guy? And, you know, but that's part of the deal, right? It's like, you're never, you're putting yourself out there. yeah Yeah. And so I think that even if it it doesn't get funded um all the way up to the fifty k I think there's a little charm in that too, where, you know, my my whole story is about,
01:28:23
Speaker
getting beaten down and figuring out a way to get back up. And I think that I will, it's going to be an embarrassing thing for about a day a day or so if the Kickstarter doesn't get funded, but it it it adds to the story. it really, really does. So I really don't have any shame in it either, man. There's been bigger, more well-publicized. I think back to that WCW Nitro stage that Mattel put out, man.
01:28:44
Speaker
You dropped this on WrestleMania weekend with all the you know, promotional muscle. Every mark in the world had their eyes on it. So there there's no, no shame whatsoever, man. If you don't quite, uh, get all the way to the top, man. And I commend anybody who has the courage to put themselves out there and chase their dream. Cause there's so many people out there. They will talk shit on the forums. They'll, you know, go in your comments and be like, you know, who are you? And those are the people, like a lot of those people are never doing anything. They would never put themselves out there. They're the ones that need to go listen to that Ted talk. Yeah, exactly. They're the ones that need to watch. They need a little motivation. They need this movie more than they know,
01:29:16
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. So I take people's commentary on ah social media specifically with with a grain of salt. So I want to personally let you know, I'm proud of you because I i know how much um you know how much courage and how much you know gumption it takes to put something out there for for public consumption. Well, thank you. i you know I think you brought up Cardona before and he said something that just resonates with me so often is that no matter where we're at, no matter who we are and what we're doing is you always have to bet on yourself.
01:29:46
Speaker
You always have to. And if you don't, um then shame on you because yeah who else is going to bet on you? Right. So that's kind of where I sit with it is I I'm always going to bet on myself. I know how hard I'm going to work and how hard I'm going find. And um I really, really, really want to be able to put this story out and make some, make a difference in some people's lives. And this is the the first step of me being able to do that.
01:30:10
Speaker
Well, we love to hear it
Mike's Return to the Ring
01:30:11
Speaker
and we are here to support it and we're going be posting about it um in our Facebook group and on our social media channels. So, um you know, you you got the Chick-fil-A stamp of approval for sure.
01:30:21
Speaker
yeah jim know Do you know when, do you have a month range as as to when this this match is going to be? Because it's going to be in Minneapolis, correct? That's correct. I know you said quarter four. I just do you have like like ah um like a range of like in the quarter four, is it going to be like November, December? what are you looking at here?
01:30:38
Speaker
I'm working so closely with that promotion that's that's helping me out with this. I know them from when i my wrestling days. and So we go way back and they're always very, very honest with me. um They have some internal things that are going on right now, but really the short end of it is is that the the high school that they're wanting to run it at have not released their winter sports schedule and they're waiting on that before they can finalize the date.
01:31:01
Speaker
The tentative date for it as it stands in this moment um is November 1st in North St. Paul, ah Minnesota. And so, um which is kind of cool because, you know, like at my house and I know, know you guys, you're big Halloween marks, right? So yeah yeah Halloween at my house is not a day. It is a season. So we celebrate, we we go hard, man.
01:31:23
Speaker
And so having this match be the day after Halloween would be so much fun. But yeah, Yeah, um that's the tentative date right now. And as soon as the minute I get word on when that thing is, um I will be blasting that all over all over the Internet.
01:31:38
Speaker
The reason I love that answer, man, that's so ah so indie wrestling, you know, like we got this huge angle cooking, but it's ah the payoff is going to be determined by, you know, the the Wildcats junior varsity schedule. Yeah. yeah I'm going to try i'm gonna try to go if if I'm able because Minneapolis is only six hours for me. So I'm definitely going to try to make it for your last match if I can go. That would be amazing.
01:32:00
Speaker
Yeah, um I'm going to do my best. If it's November 1st, probably going be tight for me because my daughter's birthday is that week and she's turning 13 and it's Halloween. So it's going to be kind of tough. Take her to the match with you, dude. Take her to the Twin Cities. Hey, teenager, let's go watch some wrestling tonight. I'm i'm pumped about it. You know, I have, uh, there's a gear maker that's based out of the twin cities who does, uh, makes a lot of gear for some AEW and some w WWE guys.
01:32:26
Speaker
He's actually working on my gear and, um, you know, new, new vest chaps, uh, trunks, knee pads, the whole, whole thing. And so we're planning on the filmmakers and I are planning on doing an unveiling for me.
01:32:40
Speaker
um here in a couple of weeks and we're film it um and that will be the first and the reason this is so important is because that will be the actual first time that i've seen this gator character since i left the business and so they want to be able to kind of capture that moment as i walk into the room and see it kind of fully dressed on a mannequin um it's like a bridal first look for sure you know that's exactly right well i'm really excited with how it looks it's a little bit different than what i wore back in the day but um Well, yeah, i mean, you're we're we're in our 40s now. Yeah, it's a little bit different than being in our 20s.
01:33:15
Speaker
ah So on that note, I want to know, you know, not related to the documentary, but what is the train? How was it that first like were you totally that first bump where you just like gassed out of your mind when you you know, it's been 20 years since you've been in the ring and you're like, oh, my God, dude.
01:33:29
Speaker
but Yeah. So it's kind of funny. I went to, um, so Ken Anderson has a school here in the twin cities. And I went there a couple of weeks ago to just kind of chit chat with him about the documentary and about recording me training at his school to prepare for it. And, um, I got in the ring with just by complete accident. I just hopped in the ring with some of his students and I didn't have any, like,
01:33:51
Speaker
I didn't bring my ring gear with. I was just like in street clothes. And I hopped in there with the guys who they've never had a match and they don't know who I am. And I thought that was kind of cool. And I started showing them a couple of things and let me bump around a little bit. And then I was like, man, this is a different, these guys work so fast. And I'm just like, hold on, hold on. I'll get there. Let me.
01:34:10
Speaker
Let me kind of feed for you here and and figure this all out again. So it's, but it's also kind of funny how much muscle memory I noticed that I still have. Like I can still run the ropes. I remember exactly the timing of it.
01:34:21
Speaker
um So it's just like all these little things that I'm trying to figure out, you know, and, but yeah, it's definitely, your body yeah definitely doesn't respond the same way when you're in your forties versus when you're in your twenties. That's for sure.
Evolution of Wrestling Industry
01:34:33
Speaker
So would you say that's one of the biggest um one of the biggest changes from the indie scene from when you were when you were there it's just like the the pace and like the athleticism of the talent that's out there now? There's there's a couple of changes and I'll talk about them real quick. So the first the very first thing I noticed was is that um I'm sitting in the locker room at one of these shows very recently and I lean over to the guy who that I'm going to be wrestling and we we broke in at the same time.
01:35:00
Speaker
And I said, man, it's so weird back here. And he goes, I know, right? We started talking. the The reason I said it's so weird is because it wasn't uncommon when I was wrestling to see a case of beer in the locker room or pills or having some, you know, and forgive me, yeah there'd be some rats running around and there'd be all kinds of stuff going on. Right.
01:35:19
Speaker
um and And frankly, that kind Dark side of the ring. Dark side of the ring stuff. It was legit though. And that kind of made me a little bit nervous about coming back is having some of those temptations again. Right. And I couldn't have been more wrong.
01:35:30
Speaker
These guys in the locker room. Now they sit around and talk about video games and all like all that kind of stuff. and And I'm like, wow, this is such a radical difference.
01:35:40
Speaker
Yeah. And the, which is great. It's, it's a very yeah positive change. And the other thing I noticed is, is a lot of these guys have the ability to make money now. So when I was working in the Indies, s it was like, well, we're lucky if we got like 20 bucks that night. And most of the time we'd go get like a pack of baloney and we'd split it with the boys. Or if we'd get a hotel room, it'd be at the Red Roof Inn, you know, be four of us, we'd pull the mattresses off the box springs and we'd flip a coin to see who gets the box spring and who gets the mattress, right? One of those. Wow. um Now these guys have such an easy ability. I shouldn't say easy, but therere they're finding ways to market a little bit better because of the internet, because of social media.
01:36:17
Speaker
um All of that stuff is really at their fingertips. I was hauling around totes and totes and totes full of t-shirts and cowbells and all kinds of stuff when nobody else was it. Oh, yeah. Now you just you just plug your stuff into Pro Wrestling Tees or you know one of the other billion shops, and that you don't have to ship anything. You don't have to make anything. I mean, it's it's like you know it's easy peasy. So, yeah, I can totally see how that would be like different. you know Carrying around...
01:36:41
Speaker
Like you said, suitcases of your merch, just hoping you have the right size that somebody's looking for. they And they put the last thing that I noticed was is how matches are put together. You know, it i I ended up going to a camp that Harley Race and Ricky Steamboat ran. I was with those guys for about a week. And so you kind of learn some of that old school craft to it as well.
01:36:59
Speaker
And where you like, you kind of call out the the the stuff you need to know in the locker room and then you just kind of call the rest of it in the ring. And that's kind of the way I was taken through the wrestling business. Yeah. Everything is kind of different now in that regard. that It's a lot of, well, I'm not going to expose anything that isn't already ex exposed. It's lot of choreographed stuff. and um yeah kind of mean there is no There is no fourth wall anymore. Speak for yourself. I'm the king of K-Fames. I'm about two seconds away from just taking my headphones off and walking out of the room. and Sheena can yell for me when y'all get done with this part of the convo, man.
01:37:33
Speaker
i Yeah. I leaned over to the guy that I was going to be wrestling. I said, man, I hope you're not planning on calling out all these spots beforehand because I'm going to forget all of them by the time. And he's like, no, don't worry about it. We got this. And I was like, all right, all right.
01:37:44
Speaker
So yeah, it's those couple of things are different, but um mostly positive changes in my opinion. Yeah, we've been ah supporting our local ah indie promotion here, Memphis Wrestling. and They've just, you know, we love the guys over there. The talent's awesome. They've had some incredible just, you know, cameo stars come through. It's fun, too. They they got like a really cool blend of, you know, kind of like the weekend warrior guys, man, that good as hobby. And then they actually have like WWE ID signed prospects and stuff. So yes ah it's a fun mix. Like Sheena said, they typically bring in like one legend for all their shows. Yeah.
01:38:19
Speaker
Yeah. um
Supporting Grassroots Wrestling Projects
01:38:21
Speaker
Well, Mike, I just want to commend you once again on what you're doing. I think it's super cool. I think everybody should support it. um For those of you you know who who supported all the Mattel rings and all the things, like support something you know support something out and in the indie world.
01:38:37
Speaker
grassroots yeah that's the word i was looking for support some grassroots uh stuff and um you know mike get all your plugs tell us where we can find you tell us all you know any deets that we need i have to ask my one wild card question oh sorry georgia i have to do one wild card question now mike they could completely cut this so if it happens only the four of us will know this question ever existed Take take us back to 2010.
01:39:03
Speaker
You were in a horror slasher movie called Strip Club Slasher. Oh, boy. A teeny small town strip joint takes a down and dirty donkey punch to the back of the head when one of the girls is brutally murdered.
01:39:16
Speaker
Tell us about your character the movie. but Let's hear it all. um So that was the second campy horror film that I had done with that same group.
01:39:27
Speaker
um Again, this is like an era where I got out of the wrestling business in 2007. So I was kind of looking for that next thing. And I had said that I had done some theater and things like that. So naturally to me, I love, love, love horror movies. And so my um I met some of these guys at a convention in Minneapolis and they did a casting call and I kind of showed them, you know, some of the wrestling stuff happen to be fans.
01:39:50
Speaker
And so they asked me to kind of come on board. And, uh, I was in, in that particular film, it was kind of funny because I was this, um, I was, I was this villain who was like, you know, kidnapping these strippers and and selling them and putting them in trunks of cars and stuff, man. but It was like, wow. you You talk about movies that are on shoestring budgets. We
Mike Kinney's Film and Social Media
01:40:11
Speaker
filmed that movie. It's, um, um,
01:40:14
Speaker
run down strip club and it was an actual strip club, but they, they let us come in and use it. Um, just, uh, just on the very, very far West side of Wisconsin, right over the minute, right past the Minnesota border.
01:40:28
Speaker
And we filmed it for, I think it was two days. And, um, man, it was like, was having to pick these girls up and, you know, like chloroform them and pick them up and put them in the trunk of this car. Right.
01:40:42
Speaker
It's like hitting their heads from the trunk. And these poor girls were just getting abused by me on accident, you know, and I felt horrible just trying to make all this work, but it was you know, what it was, it was a lot of fun.
01:40:53
Speaker
We had, taken they actually did a premiere of this in Minneapolis um for, you know, the, the actors and their friends and family and stuff. And so I had ah bunch of um my wife's friends come along and, and,
01:41:08
Speaker
We hadn't told them that there's kind of like this inappropriate scene in there with me in it and stuff like that. And I remember the looks on their faces when they had to see me doing this weird sex scene. and you know I am dying. Oh, my gosh. It was brutal. So, but yeah, that's um not my not my shiniest moment of my ah of my professional career strip club slasher. But, hey, it was ah it was a lot of fun.
01:41:30
Speaker
well hey Does this film exist anywhere right now? or I don't know if it doesn't know. You might be able to find one somewhere. There was that one in Terror Overload.
01:41:41
Speaker
so Those were the two movies I did with them. yeah so So Foley fam, that is your retro, semi-wrestling recommendation of the week where we write well we recommend a a retro viewing experience for for all of our listeners out there. So go find, um what was the name of the first one? Strip Club Slasher.
01:42:01
Speaker
Strip Club Slasher. And and then... Yeah. Yeah. seth Seth is doing a ah frantic Google search as we, as we speak here. But while he's doing that, go ahead, ah Mike, and give everybody your plugs and let us know where we can find you. Well, first and foremost, the Kickstarter is at strictlygator.com.
01:42:20
Speaker
Yeah. and And real quick, the reason that I have that, that was my original Gator website that was advertised on my wrestling vest when I hit the ring 20 years ago. And it's kind of an homage to my old, ah my old website. So I got the URL again and here we go. So strictly.com is the Kickstarter. um You can find me on the social medias, the Instagrams at Gator McGraw. It's M-A-G-R-A-W, not Mick Graw.
01:42:45
Speaker
And you can find my website is Kennyconfidence.com. Awesome. And we'll have the link to the Kickstarter right in the show notes. So on whatever platform you're listening to, swipe up and you can tap it right there and go ahead and and support.
01:43:00
Speaker
Yeah. And like I said, you need to go and listen to his TED Talk. And also he has written ah he has written a book, um A Pro Wrestler's Guide to Confidence. So make sure you're available on Amazon, yeah right, Mike? ah Yeah, that's right. And it's really just ah an extension of the TED Talk itself.
01:43:15
Speaker
Mm-hmm. check all that out. And Mike, once again, i want to say thank you so much for ah being on the show. And Seth is- I got one last question, man. We don't do a ton of interviews on here, but we have kind of an established gimmick for the interviews that we do when we have guests on.
01:43:27
Speaker
Got to ask you, man, what is your all-time favorite wrestling match? Oh my gosh. Um... I, it's going to be such a weird answer. My all time favorite wrestling match is Samoa Joe versus the Necro Butcher at the ECW arena. The first time they fought each other after Necro beat the shit out of those Chikara students.
01:43:48
Speaker
That is a deep cut. Deep cut. Another retro wrestling recommendation. you stop me That's one I haven't seen, dude. and you know i i've seen just He watches as much wrestling as anybody I know. That is one I have not seen, so I will have to search that. Jordan, have you seen that one?
01:44:00
Speaker
I have not. and as Wow, and you're a huge Samoa Joe mark. I'm Samoa Joe mark, so the fact that I've never seen it is saying something. You guys see him on my commentary. it's It's something, man.
01:44:11
Speaker
it's It's awesome. Cool. Awesome. Thanks again, Mike. We'll talk to you again soon. My pleasure.