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Episode 41: Halloween Halpin Takeover & NWA 70
57 Plays7 years ago
This week Derrick and our listeners selected the matches we watch for our Halloween hangout! We saw blood, people on fire, confusing steel structures, monster fights and more! Also, Garrett talks attending NWA's 70th Anniversary show feat. Cody Rhodes Vs. Nick Aldis 2!
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Transcript
Introduction & Halloween Theme
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey there, everyone. Happy Thursday. And since it is the season, I'll go ahead and say it. Happy Halloween. Welcome to a special episode of Predetermined to Pro Wrestling Hangout. I'm your host with the most Derek Halpin and with me, as always, a man who is generous enough to let me intro this episode and have my own Halloween themed takeover of this podcast, Garrett Calendar.
00:00:24
Speaker
I mean, it just seems fitting. You're the Halloween hero. You're Halloween helping on Twitter. This is your episode. This is good branding. Oh, you are Mr. Halloween and it doesn't make sense for you to not just take the reins on this one.
00:00:38
Speaker
Well, I appreciate you letting me do this. And I think we've got a really fun episode for everyone. And lots to talk about.
Wrestling Highlights & Listener Engagement
00:00:47
Speaker
So many matches we're going to be reviewing. A lot of them submitted by our listeners. And God, this has been a big week in wrestling.
00:00:55
Speaker
There is a lot happening. We had the NWA 70 show over the weekend. You had me watch one of the most fun fucking block of matches I've watched in a while. Yeah, I mean, when I came up with this idea for what we would watch for our Halloween episode, I thought we'll keep the theme of Halloween and we'll just do things that involve masks and gore and strange, bizarre gimmicks. And I really think that we kind of covered everything that you could imagine.
00:01:23
Speaker
But, uh, Garrett, I think it's time to hit our spooky-ass music.
00:02:05
Speaker
Hey, guys. Thanks for listening to the episode. We want to start at the top by reminding you if you haven't already, please rate, review, subscribe on iTunes. Give us those five stars. Leave us a fine review. And also, if you haven't already, follow us on social media at predetermined podcast on Instagram at Wrestle Hangout on Facebook at Wrestle Hangout on Twitter. When you leave a review, we do something special for you.
00:02:29
Speaker
Well, if you leave us a review, we do a lot of what we're doing in this episode. If you leave us a review and you tell us something that's pro wrestling related that you want us to watch, it can be a movie, it can be a match, it can be anything, as long as it relates to pro wrestling, we'll watch it. We'll talk about it on the show. That's our little way of saying thank you for leaving the review. Garrett, where do you want to start this episode?
00:02:52
Speaker
You had me watch six really fun matches. Thank you to you and the listeners. If this is the way wrestling was every week, this was just a delightful block of matches. It was a smorgasbord of fun matches. Where do
Review of Muda vs. Liger Match
00:03:08
Speaker
you want to start with? Do we start with gore or do you want to start fun and work our way up to violence?
00:03:13
Speaker
I think we'll start somewhere in between. We had a listener by the name of Andrew Hendren who suggested a New Japan Pro Wrestling match from 1996 between Great Muda and Jushin Thunder Liger. This was a fun match, man. Everything about this was fun.
00:03:28
Speaker
I like that, I mean, since we're on the topic of Halloween and everything, you know, it's two costumed men in this fight. And Great Muda coming out to the ring looks like not really like a Universal Halloween Horror Nights character, but more like the Six Flags version.
00:03:48
Speaker
He's a scary skull. He's got a what like a silver dragon hanging off his shoulder Yeah, I mean he's got his face painted when he takes what he comes out. He comes out in a mask. Oh, he's masked and then painted He's masked and then I mean, it's just an appropriate match given the theme of the show We got a guy in face paint. We got a guy wearing a mask and
00:04:09
Speaker
and you start this match off and the first thing Muda does is press his finger to his throat and spits green mist into the air like he's a fucking geyser. He did a great job throughout this entire performance scaring the shit out of the crowd.
00:04:26
Speaker
He did. And the funny thing is that we've talked about it before on the show about matches that take place in Japan with the you hear the Japanese women kind of screaming and stuff in the background. I mean, it really fit this match. It felt like it was a horror show. I mean, there were so many times that he would just like kind of fake out the front row and people would actually scatter.
00:04:47
Speaker
Yes. They would shriek and they would run off. I think my favorite thing about this match, and there's a couple other things I want to talk about for sure, but I want to make sure I don't forget this. My favorite spot in this match is there's a point where
00:05:00
Speaker
Muda goes up under the ring. Just disappears under the ring. Just disappears and Liger goes after him under the ring and they take the camera and they show you the chase up under the ring and Muda disappears on the other side. He emerges and he emerges with a fucking broom.
00:05:19
Speaker
And Liger finally reappeared. He was under there for a way longer time. Liger was chasing Muda under the damn thing. And they both have completely disappeared at this point. The ref is looking around confused. No one knows where these guys are coming out at.
00:05:35
Speaker
Yeah, so Liger reappears and he promptly gets smacked in the face with a broomstick. And- Muda did a heel- heelish thing that I don't think I've seen a lot of wrestlers do. And that was- he was constantly fucking with the ring apron throughout this match.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah, it was really bizarre. It was like he was constantly searching for something under the ring. I guess he found it. I don't even know if he was looking for anything. I thought he was just fucking it up. Like, just kind of being an asshole. Just being destructive? Yeah, just being like, yeah, this doesn't look visually pleasing, does it? Like, that's right in hard game. That's a heel tactic you don't see very often. Just them just fucking up the set. Just messing up things. Not for the use of a weapon or anything. Just to mess with it.
00:06:17
Speaker
Well, maybe Liger has OCD and he knew that was going to be the greatest tactic against him was to just slightly dishevel the ring apron. Well, it looked like it worked. Were you freaking out? Because there's a point in this match where Muda is ripping off.
00:06:33
Speaker
Liger's mask and he does it. Oh, and I was terrified cuz I realized oh my god I don't think I've ever seen Liger's face before I'm does Liger want me to see his face. I felt a little dirty Well, you got your answer cuz technically you didn't see his bare face
00:06:49
Speaker
Motherfucker pops up and is painted like Muda. He's painted like Muda and then he starts ripping up his fucking tights. Which you know what immediately came to my mind was because remember there was some match we watched where Liger didn't have his shirt on and I didn't realize how ripped Liger was under that bodysuit and I was like holy
00:07:12
Speaker
Fuck, this is a handsome, ripped man. But in this, he's like, oh, you want to take my clothes off? It made me think of Freddie got fingered when he's like, you want to fuck your daddy, Gord? Come over here and fuck me. Get over here, Gord. Get over here and fuck me, says Liger. Was he tatted up or was that body paint? Those were tats, right? I thought he just had extra body paint on because I don't remember him having tats recently when we saw him shirtless.
00:07:37
Speaker
I haven't seen enough nude Liger photos to know if that's just temporary makeup or permanent tats. The horns on his mask, because Muda wanted to keep grabbing him, and the Rev is like, no, no, no, no. You're not grabbing those horns. Hands off the horns, bud. That's too much. The broom's okay.
00:07:57
Speaker
I mean, there was some good stuff in this. I mean, even just wrestling wise, some hard hits, too. He gave, Muta gave Liger that German, or not a German, but a vertical suplex on the ramp. Really hit with a thud. He also did, he charged up a clothesline. That ramp was really fucking long and he made sure to go like all the way to the end of it and then run half a mile before clotheslining Liger.
00:08:22
Speaker
Did you like the evil Jushin Thunderliger? Like once he became Muda, he just, he had the chair out. He was really beating the shit out of him. I did, there was a spot where he was like on the top rope and he, he hit Muda in the face with the chair with a jump from the top rope to the outside. Yeah, and he had a hell of a time getting a table in there at one point. He set that table up in the corner. Easiest I've ever seen a new Japan table break.
00:08:52
Speaker
usually takes a little bit more abuse. And then I guess, you know, fucking Muda breaks out the red mist at the end of the match. He ends up getting the W. Yeah, overall, this was just it was it was fun. You know, it's two two costume monsters fighting each other.
00:09:09
Speaker
And a pretty cute match. Yeah, I mean, this definitely fit the theme. Muda ends up walking out with the win. But fun one. You should check it out. It's on YouTube. Look, I think it's New Japan Pro Wrestling 1996. Great Muda, Jushin Thunder Liger. Got this match recommendation from one of our listeners, Andrew Hendron. Thank you, Andrew, for the recommendation.
00:09:30
Speaker
Yeah, Andrew is really knocking it out of the park. He is, I think every match he has recommended us so far on this show, we have enjoyed a lot. So Andrew, your recommendations are welcome anytime around here.
00:09:43
Speaker
So we really only cover the one new Japan match. I think we should take a moment to remind our listeners before we continue down our, uh, we have, we have a WCW section of this show. We really haven't talked a lot of WCW on, on this podcast, dude, getting to go, because we, you and I were both WCW kids growing up.
00:10:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's how I got into pro wrestling was through WCW. I mean, we would watch both, but WCW was our main show. And I have not gone back and watched enough 90s WCW. Well, we watched several WCW matches before we do. Garrett, remind our listeners Southern Underground Pro has another show coming up. You're going to it. There's some stuff going on. Tell the people what's happening down there in Nashville.
00:10:29
Speaker
Alright guys, we have another Southern Underground
WCW Uncensored 1996 Discussion
00:10:31
Speaker
Pro show coming up here, and once again, pre-determined to Pro Wrestling Hangout is sponsoring this event. The show, it's November 4th down at Basement East, here in Nashville, shows at two o'clock. I wanna say it's 15 bucks to get in. It'll be money well spent. Marco Stunt, he's our champ now. Oh, and this blew my mind. The Bonestorm Championship, I always thought that was a weird name for...
00:10:56
Speaker
God damn it. Just so you know what that sound was, because I'm gonna leave that in, I am talking to Derek through headphones and my cat got really interested in the headphones and just pulled my phone and the cord off the table. Fucking quit it. Is that cat botching this show? You are really fucking things up right now. Get away. This is garbage cat. No, fuck off.
00:11:23
Speaker
You won't take no for an answer. I'm still petting the cat. I'm being nice to this cat. It's just being mean to me. November 4th, Southern Underground Pro, Basement East. I would have said the Bonestorm Championship. Thought that was a weird name. Didn't realize came from Bonestorm, the game in the Simpsons. Really? That's what they base it off of? Yeah. Jesse, one of the guys who runs it, actually posted that the other day on Twitter. Made me love Southern Underground Pro even more.
00:11:48
Speaker
Nice, but we're going to get we're going to get our buddy Craig Mitchell. You're going to see him. I think he's in a three way match now. What else do we have? Marco Stunt with our Bonestorm champ going up against Brett Ison that he's going to get killed. He is going to get killed in front of our eyes. You called Craig Mitchell your buddy. Does that mean your Craig hate is kind of done and over with? Oh, don't don't think that it's done. Never think my Craig hate is done.
00:12:18
Speaker
Maybe someday if he changes his attitude. If you were in the Nashville area, Garrett's been going to the Southern Island Grand Pro Shows for months now. They keep getting better and better. Marco stunts the champ. Get out there and check it out.
00:12:32
Speaker
Garrett, let's hop back into this WCW. Let's talk some motherfucking WCW. This is my show now. I think we'll just go by year. We had one of our loyal listeners and a friend of the podcast, Joey Walker, had made the recommendation to us recently that we needed to check out some dungeon of doom stuff from WCW because that's how he remembers getting into wrestling.
00:12:56
Speaker
Joey, I'm so sorry that this is how you got into wrestling. I know I said I got into wrestling through WCW, that's how you got in. But when we got in, it was way cooler than what we watched, right? I mean, it's hard to say that this wasn't cool.
00:13:16
Speaker
WCW uncensored 1996. It's the mega powers. Hulk Hogan and macho man, Randy Savage against the four horsemen and the dungeon of doom and a handicap doomsday steel cage match.
00:13:31
Speaker
Where do we begin? Well, why? Let's try and describe this structure first, because I don't think they knew what one. They didn't know what this match was. They didn't. I still don't know what it is. They the announcers definitely didn't know the rules. So, OK, let's start out by just saying who always in this damn thing.
00:13:52
Speaker
Okay, so we've got Hogan and Savage against Arn Anderson and Ric Flair, Meng and Barbarian, the Taskmaster in Z Gangsta, and... Which Taskmaster is Kevin Sullivan, Z Gangster was Zeus. Yeah, and the funny thing is the thing I know him from most is his prison guard role in The Dark Knight. I think a lot of us know him as Deebo from Friday.
00:14:21
Speaker
I'm not, I feel like an ass now. You guys have a more significant, you guys have a more significant relationship with him than I do. But then what the grand, what is it? The grand solution? Whose nickname was originally the final solution, but they realized that was too anti-Semitic. And Lex Luger. I mean, clearly the intent of this match was to make, I don't know, fuck, I don't know, make Hogan and Savage look good. I was about to say that. And then I thought, I don't think anybody walked away from this looking good.
00:14:49
Speaker
Well, it ended up being fucking Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage fighting eight guys. But, spoiler alert, they do end up winning the match if you're worried about what happens to Hogan and Savage. I guess we have to try to describe this fucking setting here because this, this is like, what, is it a double or is it a triple tiered steel cage? Okay, so there is like the normal, like a little smaller than like the Hell in a Cell cage on top of a ring directly in front of the entrance ramp.
00:15:19
Speaker
Yeah, and then on top of that cage is a cage and then another cage and all of these cages are sectioned off into little rooms with doors and Trapdoors that you have to pull up and go down into Yeah, and there's and it's surrounded. It's got like scaffolding slash stare like a staircase alongside it so that you can conveniently get up and down if you get outside the cage and
00:15:42
Speaker
Yeah, well the scaffolding seemed like it was for the camera crew and to lead them to the top to get in because they loaded Luger and Flair and let's see, it was Luger Flair and Arn Anderson in the first tier, Meng in the Barbarian in the second and then I guess
00:16:05
Speaker
All the other guys scattered throughout this fucking hell, it was hard to tell. I know for a fact the audience could not see what was happening in this cage, because me watching on television I could barely see. Well fuck, when Dusty and Shivani are introducing the match before it starts, you can tell that they don't quite understand what they're about to watch. And if you have the courage to pull this match up on the WWE Network,
00:16:32
Speaker
I do not expect you to sit through all this it is it is for the most part a completely boring match between a bunch of people who are either slow or old or both and maybe maybe once you see the structure you think oh that something could have been done with this and maybe it could have but not with these guys and the match is pretty brutal but I guess the spectacle was there
00:16:55
Speaker
Well, it was my understanding that they had to start at the top tier and pin somebody and then move down to the next tier. But at one point, Hogan goes to the ring and wrestles like the regular wrestling ring that's in the middle of the arena. This cage structure, this double top bottom steel cage structure is like on the ramp. We have to explain this to you. It's a completely separate part of the arena.
00:17:24
Speaker
Yeah, there's another ring in this place. There are currently two rings set up. So we get them up the top, we get them in the cage, we start out with Hogan and Flair and Savage and those guys. You said, we were talking about this earlier on Twitter, and you said you think maybe with different guys, something could have been done with this, but this was the wrong set of old timers.
00:17:48
Speaker
oh yeah you know they don't there's I don't know they just there wasn't enough creativity to actually use what they were doing it looks like a terrifying adult McDonald's play place if everyone understands that reference yeah you've been in a play place and then run run into your uncle arn
00:18:06
Speaker
Who's shirt was scaring the shit out of you when you round the corner and Meng is there too? Fuck this place. This is a haunted house. And it's terrifying if you're able to watch all this match like you did, God bless ya, because I skipped, I would watch 30 seconds and I'd skip two minutes and then I'd watch 30 seconds and skip another couple minutes.
00:18:31
Speaker
if yeah just I mean this was just a disaster it's widely regarded as one of the worst matches of all time I don't know if you knew that I didn't but I believe it because nothing fucking happened like it looked like they just abandoned the match partway through it because so
00:18:46
Speaker
Savage goes down- no, Hogan goes down the hole. They flip this thing open. They haven't beaten Flair Luger. I don't know if they think they're supposed to, but they're laying down, so they flip this thing open and just jump down into where Ming is. Ming's just looking around like he didn't see him coming. He didn't have shit to do until they came through that hole. There was nothing going on, and it was Steel Kate. It wasn't like he was blocked off.
00:19:09
Speaker
It wasn't fucking legends of the hidden temple where they suddenly emerged in a room and you're scared by one of the temple guards No, you saw what was coming So so he fuckin gets through the hole and I guess he hands a special coin to Ming so that he can pass through the next door Without getting his ass beat cuz Ming didn't do shit Hogan goes through this door and then I
00:19:30
Speaker
fucking arn anderson jumps in but somewhere they get a chain and they chain the door shut so now arn anderson and men are just hanging out together in a thing never to be seen again in the match they're done that's it they're stuck in this fucking room hogan just abandons the cage all together and goes out on the scaffolding where he proceeds to
00:19:50
Speaker
He's like kind of kicking the Taskmaster, trying to kick him off three stories onto the floor, which now we're watching the ultimate babyface try and murder a man, which doesn't seem very Hulkster-like. It was foreshadowing to when he joined the NWO. It was foreshadowing his heel turn.
00:20:08
Speaker
You know, I was having a Twitter conversation with our friends over at the best there ever was podcast, the curtain jerks. And they made a good point, which is an illusion to what I had said, which was with the right people, this match could have worked as a war games match or a team versus team. And you're in your sectioned off in a different parts of this cage. You could have done something fun.
00:20:30
Speaker
But good lord, this, I mean, if this was meant to make Hogan and Savage look good, it didn't work. Hogan and Savage end up winning, I think Savage gets the pin on, who the fuck knows? Keep in mind, before they ever even touch the fucking ring that's in the cage, they all just leave, and then they go have a match in the ring in the middle of the thing, and then it was like somebody said,
00:20:53
Speaker
you can't win there you have to go back to this one so then they all just walk back there somewhere they get a fucking frying pan and they're just whacking dudes with frying pans which breaks immediately and it reminded me of that scene in the movie the wrestler with mickey work when they break a fucking frying pan in like a dollar tree
00:21:11
Speaker
Well, and I was watching a couple other matches throughout this card before I got to the main event. And anytime something illegal happened, Bobby Heena would just say, it's uncensored, man. It's uncensored. That's how you get around wrestling making sense. Hey, name of the pay-per-view is uncensored. Shit doesn't have to make sense. You just get to hear the absolute worst commentary during this match because nothing
00:21:34
Speaker
There's no way they explained anything to Dusty Rhodes or Bobby Heenan before this started, because they have nothing to contribute to this. I wish, I wish so badly. I had seen this match before we went to Starcast, because I would have made it a point to go up to Tony Schiavone and ask him what he was thinking while watching this piece of shit. Well, now, okay, if you could redo this match today, who would you put in it?
00:22:05
Speaker
I mean, like I said, I think you would have to do stable on stable. I mean, undisputed era, like it would have to be a war game situation and you would have to split people up in the teams. When I think of this now, I think like if you just took the elite versus LIJ.
00:22:21
Speaker
they could probably come up with something fun. Yeah, for this. But they're so confined. There's no room to do anything. And you don't have good footing because you're literally walking across fencing. And when I see goddamn Arne Anderson walking on these cages, all I'm thinking is, well, I guess I know Arne Anderson isn't dead, but I'm worried that he might collapse through three cages at any point.
00:22:45
Speaker
So I hope, I hope we got, Joey Walker, I hope this itches your, scratches your itch, that's what I'm trying to say. Because I watched some Dungeon of Doom shit, it was bad, that's what I thought I was gonna watch, and this was just, what the fuck?
00:23:00
Speaker
25 minutes and 16 seconds. Watch the whole thing. No regrets. I was just sitting there just... It blew my mind. Because I was trying to figure out the rules and the commentators were just like, well, I guess it's... I guess it's... Unscented, daddy. Like, this is... I don't know. It's got a frying pan. Your dusty impression is too good. Why don't you do that more often? I like doing dusties. But, you know, I want to honor the man and not...
00:23:31
Speaker
I think for next year's Halloween episode we should do the whole episode in character as other pro wrestling personalities. Oh baby, after this things get bloody. Can you do the predetermined intro as Dusty? Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Predeterminate Pro Wrestling Hangout. This is the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, and with me as always. I'm gonna get a headache from laughing. Oh shit, that's good.
00:23:58
Speaker
All right, Joey Walker, watch some dungeon to doom stuff. Hope you're happy. Thank you for listening. Enjoy. We love you. Uh, watched another WCW match. That's the theme of this block of matches here. We watched a match from Halloween Havoc 1997. This is actually a pretty popular and famous match. Uh, this was recommended to us by a friend of the podcast, queen of the ring. Great recommendation. Eddie Guerrero versus Ray Mysterio cruiserweight title versus mask.
00:24:27
Speaker
I had watched this a long time ago. I think I had it like on a VHS or something like that. How? Yeah, I definitely rented this from Freeze's video. Yeah. Yeah, I had seen this before, but God, it's been what? How long? Like 20 years. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, I guess I actually. Yeah.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yeah, it would've been the late 90s. That's crazy. We're getting old. But Eddie Grover versus Ray Mysterio, you know when you hear those two names, you know that they have history together. You know they have great chemistry. Hadn't watched it in forever. This was probably the best wrestling match that we watched for this episode, wouldn't you say? Oh, as far as pure wrestling goes, this was fun as hell. There were some really good spots in this where I thought, I mean, where Ray was just seconds from breaking his neck.
00:25:17
Speaker
Or, you know, just inches. If you're not into high-flying, flippy shit, don't watch this match. If you're into good, flippy, high-flying wrestling, this is the one for you. Mysterio does some shit in this match that basically is what he's famous for now. He really cut his teeth in WCW.
00:25:39
Speaker
and it's matches like this that put him on the map and he and Eddie just have such good chemistry together and Eddie's such a dick and there's another spot in this match where you got a guy and he's trying to tear Mysterio's mask off mid-match and he almost does like he gets like half the goddamn mask off
00:25:58
Speaker
I kind of forgot. I couldn't remember the outcome of this because I remembered that Ray lost his mask at some point in WCW, but I could not remember when that was. I'm pretty sure it was Kevin Nash who a couple of years later beat Mysterio on Nitro or it was a paper or something. Well, because it was Mysterio lost his mask that way.
00:26:19
Speaker
because next what are we talking we're like after this we're probably going to great american bash but i know in the great american bash card he was part of the misfits or something and yeah didn't have a mask at that point yeah yeah that was after he lost his mask but guys seriously eddie grower's ray mysterious from halloween havoc 1997 there's so many spots in this match i mean we just talk about different things there was it was the spot where like there's a like
00:26:43
Speaker
Mysterio flips Eddie to the outside and then on top of that in the same move does a hurricane Rana Yeah, he runs flips out of the ring and does this hurricane Rana That's where his head just barely misses the floor and you can see when he lands like you just see his fists Clench and shake a little bit you can see he's celebrated on the floor that he's not dead
00:27:04
Speaker
Not only that, there was that other spot where he has his back facing the ring, but he's standing on the top rope and does a backflip, turning it into a DDT onto Eddie. Yeah, and it looks, I mean, that's the thing that, like, I feel like we are so numb to this kind of stuff after watching a lot of the stuff on the Indies right now, but these two guys made it look so fluid and so easy, and it's not.
00:27:32
Speaker
It's just occasionally you find two guys that just work together so goddamn well. And that was Eddie and Ray.
00:27:42
Speaker
The funny thing is, we wouldn't even be talking about this match. If this hadn't happened at Halloween Havoc, it wouldn't have fit in with the theme, but good call by Queen of the Ring picking this one from Halloween Havoc, 1997. Eddie Greer versus Ray Mysterio, man. It looked like Ray Mysterio had on kind of a kigurumi for this one. The Japanese onesies that make you an animal. He had a full bodysuit on it. Looked like the mask was attached to the suit so that he couldn't get it off.
00:28:09
Speaker
I had made the comment that Eddie Guerrero was wearing his Twix-colored tights, like the wrapper for a Twix candy bar, and Mysterio looked like a purple version of the Riddler and Spider-Man. Yeah, is that what he was trying to do? There were question marks all over it? Was there something in a storyline that made those question marks be there? Well, no, the question mark, I think, goes in line with his last name being Mysterio. He's mysterious. Ah, I'm dumb. I'm dumb. Yeah.
00:28:36
Speaker
That makes sense. I'm glad I finally explained that to you, but can't recommend this match enough, man. Do you find these type of costumes distracting? Like by Mysterio? Yeah, because I know when we were at all-in, I was just like, God, Wolverine being on the side of the ring is just, I can't stop looking at him and he's not even in the match yet. Well, I think there's a difference between seeing fucking Wolverine and then this guy wearing a bright purple outfit.
00:29:04
Speaker
To me, this wasn't a big deal. Like to me, this was just fun. Like I acknowledged it for a minute, but the Wolverine costume at all in was definitely, you leaned over to me and said, I can't just not see Wolverine, like actual Wolverine standing on the ring apron. And that's distracting. Like I get that. And looking over all these matches that we're covering for this episode, it's Eddie. The only guy that appears twice on this list.
00:29:27
Speaker
Uh, yeah. That's, that's some foreshadowing for later in the episode. Oh, before we move on to the next match though, can I say what two matches came ahead of this on the card? Absolutely, because it's relevant now because we talked about the New Japan match earlier. Yeah, I hit him with it. I was surprised the opening match on the card was Yuji Nagata against Ultimo Dragon.
00:29:50
Speaker
Which was a lot of fun, and I totally forgot that Yuji Nagata did anything over there. He's still in New Japan, pops up once in a while. And then after that, fucking Chris Jericho versus Gato.
00:30:03
Speaker
It's weird, I think this time period in WCW, they were bringing in a lot of the Japanese guys, so you'd be surprised who you'll find when you go back through the network and start scrolling across the cards of these shows. For real, if you pop one of these on and just go to the beginning part of any of these cards, you're probably going to be a little shocked at some of the people, the young versions of these people that are showing up. Yeah.
00:30:26
Speaker
So we skip ahead a few years. Now we're going to hit on WCW Great American Bash in the year 2000. And this is when WCW is dying? Or is it already dead? What would you say?
00:30:43
Speaker
It's really, I mean, it's okay. Do you know where Eddie was at the end of his match with JBL where he's like just bleeding everywhere and you know he's about to die in real life? Well, we're talking about that later, but yeah. Yeah, you get it though. At this point, WCW has just covered the ground in blood. They're really just crawling trying to get help. Yeah. So we got a match here between Sting and Vampiro. This is a human torch match. Gimmick City.
00:31:12
Speaker
This was recommended to us by our friend Sean Jankowski. This definitely fits in with the Halloween theme, but there's not a whole lot to this
WCW Great American Bash 2000 Review
00:31:22
Speaker
one. You got an opener,
00:31:25
Speaker
with Sting dropping down onto the Nitro Vision, their version of the Titan Tron. And he repels from the ceiling, lands on top of the Titan Tron, and dares Vampiro to come up to the top of the Titan Tron, or the Nitro Vision, and start the match with him up there. And they've got a torch. And Vampiro had come to the ring with a canister of gasoline. And Vampiro, there's this awkward moment, because I hadn't watched this before, where Sting calls him up to the Nitro Vision, and I'm like, oh shit, that's where we're starting? And Vampiro just refuses.
00:31:54
Speaker
So Sting then has to awkwardly climb down the side of the nitro vision, go to the ring and do maybe, maybe two minutes of whatever wrestling with Vampiro that wasn't anything to note. And then they immediately go back to the nitro vision and start climbing up the side of it.
00:32:13
Speaker
This was the best worst match I've ever seen in my life. And I will end the year 2018 by saying this was my favorite match of 2018. Just from watching it? I actually remembered watching this match. Obviously not live on pay-per-view, but watching it on VHS or whatever later.
00:32:39
Speaker
Good fucking god. This is another weird one where the announcer the commentators are put in a very very awkward position to call nonsense and That's what they got like the match starts with them saying like by the end of this somebody's gonna be on fire
00:33:00
Speaker
I was like, what the fuck? Well, yeah, that is the match. But then at the end, when somebody was on fire, they all seemed surprised that somebody was on fire. They weren't ready to see it. There's no way we're gonna go all the way through with this, right? They were probably okay because they thought, oh, it's Sting. He's definitely going over, so it's gonna be Vampiro that burns. No big deal. Oh, that's not true. The icon Sting. On top of the fucking nitro vision,
00:33:27
Speaker
and gets set on fire and thrown off onto some crash pads. Let's not downplay that second part. This thing falls a long way while on fire onto some mats.
00:33:43
Speaker
And I'll go ahead and tell you, not a chance in hell that was actually Sting. Because they had the 100% worst camera angle they could have ever had of these two guys fighting on top of the Titan Tron. They were so far back on it and they only had one camera shot, so you're really only seeing heads going up and down for a good chunk of this seven minute match.
00:34:04
Speaker
And to make it even more difficult to watch what's going on, for whatever reason, when they climbed up on top of this thing, they decided to turn off the lights and turn on that old strobe light that's supposed to look like lightning, like the old thunderset. And they clearly were like blurring the line on what was going on so they could just like disguise the fact that they were slipping in a stuntman. Oh my God, I was loving it. I even said to Leah, I was like,
00:34:32
Speaker
I don't know why people complain so much about this. This is wonderful. Like you don't get this anymore. We deserve this. If you want to see one of your favorite professional wrestlers get set on fire and then fall off the top of the Titan drawn.
00:34:50
Speaker
Check this match out from Great American Bash 2000, Sting and Vampiro, human torch match. This is by Sean Jankowski. Thank you for the recommendation. You just made Garrett's life. Oh, you made my day. Thank you for bringing this back to me. And I want all of you to tweet at me and let me know if we want to redo this human torch match or whatever the fuck it's called. Who would you pick? What two wrestlers would you have recreate this match where one guy ends up on fire?
00:35:18
Speaker
That's a good call. And you know what? Maybe do the cage one, too. Who you throwing in that cage? Try and get a couple guys that can work. Let me go and tell you, with the fire match, you can get fucking anybody in there. We could get goddamn Jerry Lawler in there now, and he could still handle this thing, I think. That seems like a match that was designed for Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose. We're all going to die tonight. He sits himself on fire and then hugs Bray Wyatt. I'm doing the job. Check it out.
00:35:49
Speaker
That's why he's always so, that's why when you see him, he's always so shiny and wet. That's not sweat. It's not water. It's not baby oil. No, man. That's gasoline. Dean Ambrose comes to the arena every night hoping for a human torch match.
00:36:04
Speaker
I just thought of who needs this. We need to get in contact with Joey fucking Janela. Because I'm gonna tell you, both of these matches that we just talked about would be excellent additions to Spring Break 3. Joey Janela versus Nick Gage in a Human Torch match. Oh my God. We're giving them ideas. But like you said, I wanna hear some suggestions from our listeners.
00:36:33
Speaker
send me these guys, I wanna talk about this. I'm not done with people on fire matches. Garrett, this next match was not suggested by one of our listeners. This next match we're gonna talk about was suggested by me. I love you, by the way.
00:36:51
Speaker
Thank you. I love you too. Happy Halloween. I was trying to think of a match that would just be a bloody fucking mess. And one came to mind immediately that I hadn't watched in years.
Survivor Series 2003: Undertaker vs. Vince McMahon
00:37:04
Speaker
And I knew you hadn't seen WWE Survivor Series 2003, The Undertaker versus Vince McMahon in a buried alive match. Garrett, tell me what you thought.
00:37:16
Speaker
Once again, this was the most fun block of matches I've ever watched all in a row. This would be the perfect card of any show. If I could have witnessed all these live on the same night. There was so much blood, and it's all from the very first punch. I mean, this is a squash match, essentially, where you get to watch Vince McMahon just bleed all over the place. And wherever he lands, there is a puddle.
00:37:46
Speaker
It doesn't matter where in the arena, the blood goes all over the announce table in this thing, and it's just, you know at some point backstage, he's like, now Mark, you better lay into me, god damn it, I don't wanna look like a pussy out there.
00:38:02
Speaker
That's the thing is you hear these stories from the guys that work with Vince, and he always hypes them up and tells them, now don't you fucking baby me. You hit me like I'm one of the boys. Fucking lay into me. And fucking, I love that we're calling him Mark. Well he, at this point like he's not hitting him like he's one of the boys, he's hitting him like he fucked his wife.
00:38:23
Speaker
like he he is really in the corner just laying these goddamn punches and it looks like vents actually has his arms up like mark mark you're not exaggerating for anyone who hasn't watched this match before the first punch
00:38:41
Speaker
Vince has got his hands clasped in prayer, believing that God is going to protect him from the Undertaker, who, by the way, in this match, this is his final match as the American Badass Biker Undertaker. But from the first thing that happens in this match is Undertaker hauls off and punches Vince in the face. And he, as you put it, just explodes.
00:39:06
Speaker
First punch, gushing blood out of the face. And we're talking, anytime he leaned over the mats, anytime he leaned over the announce table, a puddle of blood was there a second later. Like a soup bowl of blood. Somebody had, cause you gotta understand, the guy who usually runs the show is now in the ring bleeding to death. There's no one in the ref's ear, there can't be, he's just like.
00:39:32
Speaker
like you just see him scream, help. I like to imagine Bruce Prichard's just in the back gorilla just saying, just let him die. Let him die. He asked for this. This is what he wanted. This is what he wanted. This is what the boss wants. Give it to him.
00:39:45
Speaker
if anything mark the undertaker probably had an earpiece in and he was getting fed instructions from everyone in the back on what to do to him next for having that makes them be on the road for 300 plus days a year and the undertaker got to take it out on him in one match
00:40:04
Speaker
Remember when Ronda Rousey fought Triple H at Mania and she got him in the corner and was really like laying in with the MMA punches? Yeah. That's in the first three seconds of this fucking match. He has Vince McMahon in the corner and is just punching the shit out of him. If any of these are working punches and not just real punches to him, good on you, Mark, because it's the best ones I've ever seen.
00:40:26
Speaker
And that's not even the most brutal part of the match. I mean, they got a spot where he wraps Vince's legs around the ring post. He breaks his ankle. He does. I completely forgot about that. He puts Vince's ankle up on the bottom half of the steel steps, grabs the top half of the steel steps, or was it a chair? I think it was the steel steps. No, he took the steps and smashes it down on his ankle. Smashes his fucking ankle.
00:40:51
Speaker
then he gets him back in the ring, goes up to where the Buried Alive shit is, because don't forget, this is a Buried Alive match, and he could have done it already. Like, at this point, like, you fucked my wife, I'm gonna make sure you bleed to death in this ring. And he goes and gets like a snow shovel.
00:41:10
Speaker
Vince McMahon turns around and I almost fucking threw up from the sound that Shovel made as it connected to his bare face. We talk about how brutal it is to see unprotected chair shots in this day and age. Going back to this match, that's a fucking wake up call about how things used to be in this business.
00:41:30
Speaker
leo was sitting next to me while i was watching it and she goes can you rewind that and i rewound it and she and she she pulls out her phone and takes a video and said i need to let instagram know what my mood is right now keep in mind your wife really doesn't give too much of a shit about pro wrestling but she made you rewind this spot and and this is the fucked up thing not only is it a hard
00:41:55
Speaker
hit to the face with a shovel. Keep in mind, he was already gushing blood like nobody's business. This is just a gory match. And the funny thing is, I didn't spoil the surprise for you at the end of this match. I kinda wanna spoil it though, because it was, when the surprise happens, I spit fucking water all over my computer at work.
00:42:21
Speaker
If you don't want to get spoiled by the finish of this match, skip ahead a couple minutes. Garrett, tell them what happens. Good God. So there's an in-loader at the top of this where you got to put the guy in the thing. He gets McMahon in the hole. He goes to open the in-loader cab. And when he pulls the door open, it fucking explodes. There's a fucking terrorist attack in the middle of a wrestling match. Is that what you thought happened? I didn't know what the fuck happened because usually those don't explode when you open them.
00:42:53
Speaker
So your reaction was you spit water out all over your computer? I was taking a drink right as it exploded and just spit it everywhere. Fuck. It's so dumb. It's so dumb. I fucking love wrestling, guys. And it's because of matches like these. Yes, occasionally we get these hour-long Broadway matches, but sometimes you just need to see a guy bleed all over the place and get it blown up. I don't know.
00:43:22
Speaker
And the mayor of Knoxville shows up, no mask, bald, looking horrifying, punches his brother in the face, knocks him down into the grave, Vince turns the in-loader on, buries the Undertaker alive, and that is the last we have ever seen of the dead, or I guess not the dead man, of Biker Undertaker, the American badass.
00:43:46
Speaker
Which, one of Leah's big takeaways from this match is she really, really, really wants his pants. Just the leather pants that say big evil on them. She likes that? Oh, she wants them real bad. Well, don't you say you have a connection there in Nashville to somebody who knows The Undertaker? Oh yeah, I met a guy at work whose best friend is Undertaker's kid.
00:44:10
Speaker
You should see if he still has the pants. Hey, can you ask your buddy if he can get us a pair of those pants? Really mean a lot to me. Those big, evil pants were tight. God, Leah would just fit in both, I hope. Not for Leah. I mean, sure, she would be able to fit in one of the pants' legs, wouldn't she? I mean, there would be a sleeping bag for her. That's true.
00:44:34
Speaker
What do we got next? We have one more match to review on our Halloween playlist for this episode, and it's another fucking bloodbath. This one I had seen before, like this is probably one of the most famous bloodbath matches.
00:44:50
Speaker
I'll be completely honest with you. I have only seen clips from this match. I did not know the finish and the finish that I thought was going to happen did not happen. I was pleasantly surprised all these years later and I realized I didn't know exactly when Eddie Guerrero lost his WWE Championship.
00:45:09
Speaker
This is from WWE Judgment Day, 2004. Eddie Guerrero versus JBL for the WWE Championship.
Judgment Day 2004: Eddie Guerrero’s Bloody Match
00:45:16
Speaker
This was submitted by our friend Luke. Do you know how to pronounce his last name? Luke Shoop? I don't. It's Luke. I went to PWG with him. I went to BOLO with him. He's in the band Hearts Like Lions. So I'm promoting your band. Don't know how to say your last name, bud. Is this his Twitter or his Instagram? I gave you his Twitter.
00:45:39
Speaker
his twitter handle is luke is number two sweet luke is too sweet good guy if you're into the if you're into the pop punk check out his band hearts like lions they're on a tooth and nail records and luke wanted us to watch this very very very famous and bloody match between eddie graro and jbl
00:46:00
Speaker
I had never seen this before. The theme going into this match was that JBL was a new man and he was focusing on his wrestling career and he's no longer APA guy. But along the way, he causes Eddie gross with his mom to have a heart attack in the middle of the ring at a WWE live event. So Eddie's pissed off. And even though he's defending the WWE championship against JBL, he's out for revenge.
00:46:25
Speaker
Okay, so the main spot where this happens is they're on the outside of the ring and Eddie takes a motherfucker of a chair shot to the head. So, was this more brutal than the shovel spot, you think? Yes, because I think the shovel seemed a little gimmicked.
00:46:41
Speaker
It made a terrible sound, seemed a little bit, this didn't. But do we know, did Eddie blade too deep or did he actually get cut by the chair? From what I understand, and I do not know, so if somebody out there knows the answer to this and wants to make fun of us for not knowing, from what I understood, he bladed too deep and cut an artery. No shit.
00:47:05
Speaker
And when you see this match, you will understand that that makes perfect sense because he's raging out on JBL at the beginning of this match. JBL is not getting much offense. And then when it spills out of the side of the ring, ref gets knocked down. JBL cracks him with the chair, brutal fucking headshot. He blades.
00:47:25
Speaker
And he is gushing so, so, so, so much blood. And his heart is pumping because they've been working so hard. So it is just coming out in spurts. Like literal, like a water fountain of red.
00:47:40
Speaker
I mean, he ended up in the hospital for a while after this one, didn't he? Because he actually lost so much blood. I would believe it, but this is the fucked up thing. He blades, he's bleeding everywhere. They still work like another 10, 15 minutes, don't they? Oh, as he has to be out on his feet at some point. He has lost many pints.
00:47:59
Speaker
I mean, they said like mid-match, they needed to give him a goddamn cookie and some orange juice so that he didn't get dizzy. He gave too much blood to the business and now he needs to recover. Good Lord. But I mean, JBL is fucking covered. The crowd is so behind Eddie, but I mean, Eddie can't even, he can't see at this point. There's just so much blood gushing straight into his eyes. Is this the most blood you've ever seen in a match?
00:48:28
Speaker
I'm trying to remember that. I feel like it's hard to imagine something coming close. I feel like we've probably seen some right there. I feel like there are a lot of dusty matches that ended in a lot of blood. Was there a lot of blood in the Magnum TA? Totally Blanchard one. I mean, there was blood, but I don't remember anything like this. No, I mean, there may be something out there that has more, but I haven't seen it. So yeah, this is the standard. OK, I got one.
00:48:51
Speaker
That match we saw at GCW where the guy landed on all those razor blades that was pretty Fair a lot of blood there where he turned into a fish with gills on his back And then wrestled a tag team match again later in the night. Yep, no big deal
00:49:07
Speaker
But, uh, no, I'll tell you the truth. I did not know the finish to this match. I would have, I knew Eddie dropped the title to JBL, but I never saw this pay-per-view live. I didn't, we didn't, uh, get many of the, the smackdown side pay-per-views back in the day. So.
00:49:24
Speaker
I didn't know what show he dropped the WWE Championship to JBL. I thought it was this match. So there's a point at the end of the match, the ref comes back to and JBL tries bringing a chair and the title into the ring. And the ref takes away the chair and while he's trying to take away the chair, he goes to use the belt on Eddie. Eddie takes from him and smacks JBL on the face with it right as the ref turns and JBL wins the match by DQ.
00:49:51
Speaker
but Eddie ends up beating the shit out of him for another five minutes. Which is hilarious. Because Eddie hits JBL with the belt and JBL blades and there's just like the weakest little trickle of blood coming from his forehead. By comparison. As this other man is just crimson. Like it looks like he's wearing a Rey Mysterio body suit at this point. Who are you? I'm Daredevil because I'm blind and red now.
00:50:18
Speaker
Good Lord. I mean, like, I think these last two matches are two of the bloodiest matches I've ever seen. This one was recommended again by our friend, Luke. Thank you for the recommendation, man. Good Lord. If you haven't seen this, go check it out on the WWE network. This, I mean, I think it's cool that we kind of ended this set of matches. We did like the bloody gory stuff last.
00:50:40
Speaker
Yeah, next week, hopefully we can talk about that Michael Myers versus Eddie Guerrero match. That might be the only one with more blood.
00:50:49
Speaker
He slits his throat and he wrestles another 20 minutes. It's the damnedest thing. Speaking of which, we both saw the new Halloween movie last week. What did you think? Oh, it was so good. It was so good. I loved it. I loved it. You and I grew up on these movies. To me, these movies are as important to my childhood as Star Wars is. Yeah. And I haven't had this level of excitement going into a movie theater in a while, and getting to walk out satisfied always feels nice.
00:51:18
Speaker
I think you kind of know what you're getting into. There's only so many creative things they can do with it, like a slasher movie, but such a good follow up to the original Halloween. It's a new timeline. If you haven't seen it, it's the number one movie in America right now, isn't it? Yeah, I believe it's the highest grossing female led horror movie ever. And now the highest grossing movie starring a woman over 55.
00:51:45
Speaker
And the movie was made on a budget of 10 million dollars and it's getting already near 100 million. Yeah. So we're going to get more. Yeah. So if you haven't go check that out from the from the Halloween hero. That's a recommendation. Before we you know, we're nearing the end here, but I feel like I got to talk about this. I attended NWA's 70th anniversary show here at the asylum in Nashville.
00:52:11
Speaker
Yeah, the funny thing is, this happened the other day, and I haven't heard you talk about it a whole bunch. You did message me before the show to talk about all the hilarious hijinks leading up to the show. My God, my God. We've got some time, man. Tell the listeners what happened. Okay, so before, I had bought a meet and greet with Cody Rhodes.
00:52:32
Speaker
And it was the VIP, what did they call it, the 10 pounds of gold pack, which just meant I was gonna meet Cody Rhodes. They were supposed to give me a pin, like a little wearable pin of the 10 pounds of gold and an autograph or whatever, I don't know.
00:52:49
Speaker
So wait in line, get into this place. Usually when you do these meet and greets, like I know anytime we've done it at pro wrestling tees, some other places, you can usually bring another person with you to be in the photo. Right, you usually get a plus one. So my wife waits in line with me for an hour, they won't even let her into the building when we get up there.
00:53:10
Speaker
Jesus. She just wanted to meet Cody and Brandy. That's maybe one of the only things she enjoys about pro wrestling is just them as people. Does she like Pharaoh? Oh, she loves Pharaoh. The whole time in line, she's like, you think Pharaoh's here? And it's like, not a chance. There's no way they just brought a dog to Nashville.
00:53:28
Speaker
But so if they hand me these two tickets and a pen and they said yeah she can't come in. And I was you know instantly not happy about that and I was even angrier when I saw the pen that they handed me.
00:53:41
Speaker
Cause I saw a lot of people walking around with these really cool 10 pounds of gold pens on their jackets and I was like holy shit that's a cool pen. And the thing they hand me is a little gold pen with a sticker on it that kind of resembles the 10 pounds of gold.
00:53:59
Speaker
And I say, kind of. Cheap. Very, very, very cheap. So I get in line to meet Cody, and when I get up there, I add these two tickets, and they said, oh, do you want the autograph and the picture? And I said, oh, if I just get the picture, do I keep the other ticket and I can use it for somebody else? They say yes.
00:54:19
Speaker
So I get up there, talk to Cody Rhodes, who was very, very loose-lipped about what he's got going on in his life. I think he's fucking with all of us, because I heard him say it to other people.
00:54:30
Speaker
So I even want to talk about it and say what he said. Oh, I'm going to say it because I heard other people say he told me this and said don't talk about it. He's going to refuse to be on our podcast when he hears about this. He's obviously spreading the word because everybody in the goddamn line knew and there's no way you can just tell all of Nashville.
00:54:51
Speaker
But he I mentioned I mentioned that we were at star cast and I you know that we had a good time at all in and everything and he's like well man Yeah, you should come back and do it again with us for the other sequel. It's in it's in May don't tell anyone But he also said that to many other people in the line
00:55:10
Speaker
He also said to the guy walked by in a bullet club shirt and he points at it and goes, yeah, I'm not going to be in the bullet club anymore after this weekend. Uh, the elite splitting off and the bullet club is going to be its own thing. Just something that, you know, we kind of assume is going to happen, but to just so casually say after dropping bombshells left and right, Oh, all into is going to happen in the spring. Oh, by the way, a bullet club, we're not going to be a part of it anymore.
00:55:32
Speaker
So I could also see that maybe I have a feeling he was just fucking with everyone and just being very casual. But as far as meet and greets go, he was a really good meet and greet. He was giving everybody the time to just chat and just seem like a genuinely nice guy. Your picture with him is a joy to look at. He especially, you both look so happy, but he looks overjoyed to be hanging out with you. And you didn't tell me until I saw the picture, you got to hold the 10 pounds of gold. That was pretty cool.
00:56:02
Speaker
It was something that you know I get ready to pose for the picture and then he just handed it to me And I wasn't expecting it so I was like holy fuck so I didn't really get to Fully enjoy how cool it was because he just kind of sprung it on me But he also had the new Japan title sitting there as well
00:56:18
Speaker
Nice. So it was kind of cool to see both of those. Which one, if you had to pick, which one would you have gotten your picture with? Only one. I'm at the NWA show. Cody's the NWA champ. There was no way to know how much longer he was going to hold that. I definitely would have gone 10 pounds of gold.
00:56:36
Speaker
Yeah. Right. It's going to be from an odd specific time from his career. And that was the correct selection, too, because it didn't last much longer. Man, their their match at the end of that night, the show was fine. Like it was a pretty good show. But their match, they treated it like they were in a huge arena. They really gave Nashville a show
NWA 70th Anniversary Highlights
00:56:58
Speaker
that night. They treated it like it was special and that they knew the crowd cared and they gave us something that night. That was really, really good.
00:57:07
Speaker
I've only seen a couple highlights from it, but you did have the match essentially spill into your lap as well. Yeah, we had, if you remember Kelsey from Super Kicking It with Kelsey from Starcast, she was at a table near us and she was actually sitting right in front of me. And at one point, Cody motions to us and just says, move.
00:57:28
Speaker
So we all run to the side. He throws Nick all this right in our laps. They end up fighting right in front of us for quite a while. Then they move over to which the Cornette was right near us. I could see Cornette all night. And, you know, I just wanted to get a chucky tea chant going over there for him.
00:57:45
Speaker
I told you to harass him. But also the other weird thing is that entire night inside the venue, Billy Corrigan's just like always an eye shot. Like he was always just kind of standing around. You said Magnum TA was there too. He was. He was there to present the, was he there to present the, what, they premiered the NWA national title.
00:58:08
Speaker
So kind of their version of the North American title. A lot of people complain in online about the look of that thing. Because it's a red strap with a gold United States on it. Just the shape of the United States is the actual title part. That's a throwback to how the older belts looked though.
00:58:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's fine. I don't have a problem with that. I think what we learned after the Finn Balor match, the Finn Balor Seth Rollins match, don't complain about fucking belts, because you might end up ruining a match that you're never gonna get again. And it might actually grow on you over time. Yeah, do you think all those people in that arena are like, I really wish we had paid more attention to the Finn Balor Seth Rollins match, because we only got to enjoy him as the champ for one night. Yeah.
00:58:51
Speaker
Yeah. So you said the show overall was fun. Yeah. Oh, back into the thing, though. I got this extra ticket now. So wait in line to meet Brandy. Get up to Brandy. She said, sorry, I only take cash. They won't let me take the tickets. And already that's kind of awkward because I'd waited in a line. I don't want to get up there and just be like, OK, I'll leave then.
00:59:12
Speaker
So I give her 20 bucks for a picture, talk for a minute to her, then move on where I'm like, all right, I got to find somebody to give this ticket to. So I go over to Penelope Ford and she goes, oh, I don't charge for pictures. And it's like, oh, cool. Get a picture. She's like, but if you want to support me, you can buy this T-shirt. Well, I'm not going to say no to Penelope. Of course you want to support her. I love Penelope Ford and I didn't even know she had a shirt. So I bought one. Then I go over to one of the people running the thing. I'm like, who takes these?
00:59:39
Speaker
and they said anyone any wrestler takes these and i pointed at scorpio sky in the corner and i said so i go hand this to scorpio sky and i'm gonna get a picture and he said absolutely and i said we'll see so
00:59:53
Speaker
So I walk over to Scorpio Sky, we're talking, exchange some pleasantries. I go to hand the ticket and he goes, oh, sorry, man, I only take cash. I can't take this ticket. WTF. So at this point, I'm having to have a lot of awkward interactions with wrestlers. And already when you're meeting these people, it's kind of weird that you're giving them money for their time, essentially. And you don't want to have to waste that being like, I have a coupon to meet somebody and I'm not going to give you money.
01:00:22
Speaker
But at this point, Penelope Ford and Brandy already got my money. The ladies got it already. I'm sorry, Scorpio Sky. I don't have money for you. So I walk back over and the guys, I tell them like, this doesn't work. Scorpio Sky doesn't take it. And he gets a manager and the manager tells me only people on the card can take these. And I said, on the card. And she points at the card and I point at Scorpio Sky's name on the card and then point to Scorpio Sky.
01:00:53
Speaker
Spelling it out for them. And she goes, well, only people on the NWA roster. Well, what the fuck? Who the fuck is on the NWA? I was like, does anyone in this building know who's on the NWA roster right now? God. So I ended up giving it to Colt Cabana. You got your picture with Colt. I like Colt Cabana. He deserves the money. I like his show. Boom, boom.
01:01:16
Speaker
So yeah, get out of there, we get into the show. It's kind of a weird crowd inside the asylum. It's pretty full. I think they said it was the biggest, like the most people they had ever had at a wrestling show there, which kind of confused me because I know when I was there for that Arrow Lucha show, I didn't see an empty seat in the place. That place was packed. I saw a few empty spots in the GA section.
01:01:40
Speaker
but were the tickets more expensive or something like that? In GA, the tickets were 20 bucks, ringside was 70. Gotcha. So I mean, it's kind of pricey for the size of venue it is, but you know, it had this big match. I think we all wanted the Cody All This match, so to me, that was worth it, because we were getting something special. There was a dark match at the beginning. Surprise, James Ellsworth's here. He's been everywhere lately, hasn't he? Probably the second biggest pop of the night was Ellsworth. Good lord. Isn't that insane?
01:02:11
Speaker
Well like a positive reception. Yes. He's getting like booed everywhere else. He shows up. The crowd is excited that James Ellsworth is here. So Nashville is a James Ellsworth town. Oh this is a James Ellsworth town baby. And we duh. I don't guys over at Southern Underground Pro. Please don't book James Ellsworth. Please. I kind of want to see him book James Ellsworth.
01:02:38
Speaker
And if you're gonna book him, you get him in there with Kevin Ku and just have him high-five his hand off. You're telling me you don't want to see Marco Stunt versus James Ellsworth? We'll see that eventually somewhere. I don't need to see it here.
01:02:53
Speaker
I'm trying to think what else, yeah, Magnum TA was there and I felt uncomfortable with that. Cause you know, they had him on a Segway with a chair on it. So, but he can't come down the ramp so they have him going by down this really narrow space that he can't fit through. And I feel like they just keep making him go back and forth and it just looks uncomfortable. And I felt bad for Magnum TA. Like to just get him a more comfortable entrance way to get in here.
01:03:17
Speaker
But there were a lot of big names in the house for the show. Yeah, they had a lot of old timers there, like this one. They had a lady with a microphone go, and the next person needs absolutely no introduction. And then he goes like, oh, shucks kind of thing. And she's like, no, you don't. Rory Funk Jr. And you hear him go like, my name's Dory.
01:03:42
Speaker
Awkward. Oh man, that's gonna be on some fail clip somewhere. Is a lady saying- That's gonna make botch a mania. Oh, this man needs absolutely no introduction. Rory Funk Jr., my name's Dory. Apparently he does. And then he looked like he was 90 years old. I have no idea how old he is now. He's out there cracking a goddamn whip, like right towards Kelsey. And I'm just like, where am I at? Wrestling has never been
01:04:11
Speaker
more exciting and just like this youthful thing and we kind of have we're bringing out a lot of older guys and I don't think this is gonna get the kids to pop
01:04:21
Speaker
But I also understand it's the NWA 70th anniversary, so you bring out who you got. They're trying to revive the brand, so that makes sense that you would pay homage to your past. But yeah, we saw some good stuff. I mean, obviously, the highlight was the main event. I think that's the thing most worth talking about. And it was 100% worth watching. I don't think, based off the way the rest of the night went, the crowd wasn't always super hot.
01:04:46
Speaker
But goddamn, when Cody and all this were going at it, they finally really, truly came to life. And that was a hot, hot crowd. They were on their feet the entire match, which I love. I love when it's one that you realize, oh my god, I didn't realize we were all, the whole place is standing right now. And where can people watch the show if they want to watch it? Well, I know they had it on Fight TV. I have to imagine that it'll gradually make its way onto the Wild West over at Daily Motion. But I think Fight TV is the place to watch it right now.
01:05:15
Speaker
Gotcha. I'll have to check out that match because I know I enjoyed all this versus Cody from all in. So got to see the sequel. And I mean, all this to me, he's these two matches have made him a star to me. I am all on board all this. And this was clearly getting Cody there to just kind of help jump start this revival of it because clearly he's gone now. But I would hope there's a three. But I don't know. I do you think that's smart to bring in that big of a star and then take him away?
01:05:44
Speaker
I don't know, I mean, I don't know the right way to handle it. Yeah, I don't either. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that, because I know Billy Corrigan of the Smashing Pumpkins and the owner of NWA had a long post about it, and he kind of said the show didn't really go the way he wanted it to, and he realizes he's got a long way to go before he can present people with a show that he's comfortable selling tickets to, kind of.
01:06:09
Speaker
Well, at least he's self-aware and he's trying to put out a good product. But I think he put on a show that had a good, I don't know if it was 100% sold out, but people really enjoyed it. He had a good thing going. I would be happy to see more. We're getting towards the end of this Halloween themed episode.
Kaiju Mono Film Discovery
01:06:25
Speaker
You did have one more Halloween themed thing to talk about. You got the idea to watch something from my friend from Canada, from up near Toronto. His name's Johnny. I've known him for over a decade now, about 12, 13 years.
01:06:39
Speaker
Who else we got up in? We got Lowell in Canada. We got Johnny in Canada. I want more Canadians. Bring me the Canadians. They're the best. You know what? Maybe we'll do a whole Canadian wrestling episode and just have the Canadians tell us what to watch.
01:06:54
Speaker
Well, what did what did my friend the Canadian Johnny? What did he what did he have you watch? What did you discover? Something Kaiju related, right? He pointed out to me that a movie exists called Kaiju Mono, which once I put it into my my Blu-ray player, I see that that means monsters versus humans with two exclamation points.
01:07:16
Speaker
I ordered this for $12 off Amazon. It is a movie that the cover of it is Koda Obushi fighting a Godzilla-like creature. And then when you flip it over, you see Minoru Suzuki giving the same creature a double drop kick. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't finish this movie because some big news dropped while I was watching it.
01:07:37
Speaker
But you were watching this last night, correct? I mean, we're recording on a Tuesday. Yeah, I was watching this Monday night, you know, a little before Raw started. And obviously once Raw got going, got some big news. But where I got so far, I didn't know what this was going to be like. And the movie was dubbed.
01:07:55
Speaker
So it's an English dub and it's silly as shit. It's definitely, do you remember the movie Kung Pao Enter the Fist? I never saw it but I remember it. It's that kind of humor but some of the jokes I can't tell if they were lost in translation or what the fuck is going on. There is a lady and a guy and they're out in the woods and they see the Kaiju and it eats her.
01:08:20
Speaker
and a brassiere falls into his hands and he says, she said she wasn't a virgin.
01:08:28
Speaker
once yeah i didn't get it i didn't get it and then at another point in this they're talking to like an old sensei kind of guy and she's explaining that her scientist father uh now wait was that was the joke that because she said she wasn't a virgin that she was more experienced to this and so she ended up getting eaten so she botched it
01:08:51
Speaker
No. There was no joke. I think that it just didn't translate. I'm gonna be laying in bed tonight trying to think of ways it makes sense. Oh, I took a video of this clip. I'll post it on our thing and you guys can watch it and see if there was any context that I missed. But she's talking about her scientist father.
01:09:10
Speaker
And she goes, he's been very sad since mom died. So now he dresses like Sailor Moon. And then it cuts to this like really wacky, bright clip of just an old Japanese man dancing around in a Sailor Moon costume and like giving peace signs. And then it cuts back to the sensei and he just goes, I can't get an erection anymore.
01:09:31
Speaker
Basically, mother nature has fucked everything up, some kaiju have come, this scientist has created a serum that he can give you a shot with, and it'll make you the best version of yourself. So he takes a nerdy guy, gives him a shot, it turns him into, it turns him into a kaiju-size Kota Ibushi.
01:09:52
Speaker
and they tell him like you have to start naked and they put down a giant pair of like wrestling tights you know like the trunks and they have him get naked and stand in the middle of these giant trunks so that when he transforms he'll have pants to put on right so they thought this through so the world marvels at kota abushi's gigantic cock
01:10:15
Speaker
for a while. And then he has a fight with a Kaiju, which is just a guy in a plastic suit and he is shoot kicking the fuck out of this guy. Like they really, they put Koda Obushi in this and like kick his goddamn head off. He kicks this thing in the head so hard. I have to imagine the actor in that suit had a concussion.
01:10:39
Speaker
He starts doing actual wrestling moves so they have him power bombing him, they have him climb on top of a building, and do the double knees. That he does. That's about as far as I got in this movie, but when he gets small again, he is still Kodaabushi. Was it funny or was it just weird? Both.
01:11:00
Speaker
Both because there's parts where I can't like I can tell it's meant to be a comedy But I can't tell if all the jokes are landing in the way they're intended to
01:11:10
Speaker
Make it funnier though. But I didn't, I'm gonna keep going on it. I'll talk about the, I'll to let you know what, how it ends. But I'm having a feeling the old scientist probably gives himself a little of the serum and ends up turning into Minoru Suzuki. That's what I'm guessing. So there's gonna be a follow up to this story on next week's episode. But so far do I recommend this? I don't know. I guess like this is one of those movies that it's like, hey smoke if you got them. That might make it better.
01:11:38
Speaker
I had them, did it make the movie better? I don't know. I feel weird that I interrupted this, whatever you wanna call it you were watching.
01:11:49
Speaker
I interrupted your fun time with sad news, and it's sad news that everyone listening to this is probably aware of now. Yeah, you interrupted a lot of like boner jokes and farts. There are so many farts in this movie, so this is where my head is at. Well, I felt like you needed to know.
Roman Reigns’ Leukemia Announcement
01:12:07
Speaker
It seemed like we have a wrestling podcast. I need to let you know when stuff like this happens.
01:12:12
Speaker
Everyone knows by now the news Roman Reigns I guess has been dealing with leukemia for over a decade off and on and it's back and on Raw this week he had to relinquish the universal title and he's gonna be away for a while while he tries to fight leukemia and be with his family.
01:12:34
Speaker
It's such a bummer note to end this episode on, but I think you and I are both on the same page and just kind of wishing Roman Reigns the best. Even if we're not huge Roman Reigns fans, it doesn't have anything to do with this. Not a Roman Reigns fan. I used to be a huge Roman Reigns mark. When the Shield was a thing at the beginning and he wasn't like the guy, I enjoyed the shit out of him. I thought he was cool as hell.
01:13:00
Speaker
got to go watch him headline the last four Wrestlemanias. So I was definitely there for some prime Roman Reigns times. It just sucks and it's and it caught so many people off guard. There was there was no warning that this was coming in like like you open raw with that. It definitely hung in the air the rest of the show. So
01:13:21
Speaker
I guess we should just say that? His name's Joe. I guess we can call him Joe. Wish you well, Joe. Predetermined to pro wrestling. Podcast wants the best for you. We hope you get well soon.
Dean Ambrose’s Heel Turn on RAW
01:13:31
Speaker
God, that sucks. But I know I saw some people complaining about this on Twitter. I don't think you can complain about this. What happened at the end of Raw?
01:13:42
Speaker
Oh, Dean Ambrose turned on Seth Rollins. He's a heel monster reaction. See, I think that's the best time to do it. I completely agree. If you're gonna have this horrible situation, you have a chance to finally work these people and make them feel something.
01:13:59
Speaker
They won the belts, everybody's expecting to have this, you know, happy celebration because, yeah, they lost a brother to the not, I mean, that sounds worse than it is, but like, you know, he he's gone for the time being. And you'd think we're just going to get this happy celebration. Dean Ambrose kicks him right in the dick, dirty deeds him. And it ends with Seth Rollins crying again.
01:14:19
Speaker
It was a brilliant way to end the show and great heel turn. I think Ambrose is going to be an amazing heel. There were some people who were, like you said, upset on social media thinking that was the wrong timing. I completely disagree. I'm with you. Great time to turn a guy heel. He's going to have monster heat. Did you see the footage that Queen of the Ring posted of Ambrose when he left? He left through the crowd and went up like onto like the concourse and everyone was like asking him why and booing and
01:14:48
Speaker
Yeah, I thought that was pretty awesome. Yeah, that was pretty rad. You know, they're making the best out of a bad situation.
Pro Wrestling Storytelling & Social Media Engagement
01:14:55
Speaker
And I think in pro wrestling, this is maybe one of the only places that after something bad happens like this, you can kind of use it in story.
01:15:05
Speaker
You make lemonade, right? You gotta. I mean, this is a rough situation that I'm sure throws everything off. So it's going to be interesting to see where everything kind of goes after this. Garrett, thanks for letting me kind of be the host of this Halloween edition of Predetermined to Pro Wrestling Hangout. It's been fun.
01:15:27
Speaker
Garrett, let everyone know how they can reach us on social media. We're at Wrestle Hangout on Twitter. We're at Predetermined Podcast on Instagram. We're at Wrestle Hangout on Facebook. Be sure to hop on iTunes, give us those five stars, rate, review, subscribe, write a nice review, and we will watch whatever you want. I mean, if you recommend us matches, we can watch those if we want. But if you write me a review,
01:15:52
Speaker
We have to. It's a contractual obligation. We will watch whatever you want us to watch wrestling wise. And Chris Dash Law just left us one on the iTunes. So Chris, let us know who you are. I think it could be one of the curtain jerks or a fan of the curtain jerks because they were mentioned inside of that. I don't care who did it. Let us know what you want, buddy. We got you.
Halloween Farewell & Personal Notes
01:16:14
Speaker
This has been a lot of fun, man. Thanks again.
01:16:18
Speaker
If I haven't made it clear enough for anyone, I'm a big Halloween guy, so I'll say it again. Happy Halloween, everyone. Garrett, you know what comes next. Happy anniversary to me. That's true. Happy one-year anniversary between you and your wife, Leah. And hit our goddamn music.
01:17:09
Speaker
Oh!