Transcript
Speaker: Live.
Speaker: Laugh.
Speaker: How's it going, everybody?
Speaker: You may know her as Nadia Hunter from Ring Announcing and just making wrestling happen.
Speaker: Or you may know her as Nadia.
Speaker: No love in the ring.
Speaker: But we are joined today.
Speaker: Do you have a preference on which last name you would like us to use?
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: I'm chilling today.
Speaker: So we just, you know, Hunter.
Speaker: Okay, cool.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: We're just chilling.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today.
Speaker: Definitely a big fan of what you're doing, trying to conquer every realm of wrestling, which is awesome.
Speaker: For those who don't know, where can people find you?
Speaker: And do you have anything upcoming that you'd like to promote?
Speaker: Yes, definitely.
Speaker: You can find me on all social media platforms, no matter what it is.
Speaker: I'm up there at Nadia Hunter on everything.
Speaker: A couple of things that I have coming up.
Speaker: We have DCW this weekend and Selma NC.
Speaker: I'll be out there.
Speaker: We also have DPW.
Speaker: this Sunday in Durham and then also it's me versus Amira at Wrestle Revival coming up on August 27th awesome yeah that is a all three of those shows are going to be great we'll be working at the DCW show we'll be at the DPW show we'll also be at the Firestar show which all should be great tons of great matches to be had speaking of wrestling that's
Speaker: That's probably a good point to start at.
Speaker: This is a wrestling podcast, by the way.
Speaker: I always like to get the awkwardness out of the way first.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: You just front load it.
Speaker: So then you just ease yourself off by the time you get to the end.
Speaker: I'm a very awkward person.
Speaker: But, yeah, as far as wrestling goes, where was that start for you?
Speaker: When did you first come in contact with wrestling?
Speaker: And what was it that kind of made you get hooked if you got hooked?
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Okay, so, like, my first very first, like, just watching it.
Speaker: And it's so funny because the video is so iconic today.
Speaker: And, like, it was, like, my first time ever seeing it.
Speaker: My cousin, she was, like, in the room.
Speaker: She was watching wrestling.
Speaker: Didn't know much about it.
Speaker: It was probably maybe, like, six or seven.
Speaker: I can't remember how old I was at the time.
Speaker: But it was actually the segment where it was Triple H and Shawn Michaels, and they were making fun of Vince and Shane.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And that was my first time ever watching that episode.
Speaker: And it was that very exact same segment.
Speaker: So I thought it was so funny.
Speaker: And I started watching it more and more.
Speaker: And it was so funny because like I would go around and I would tell people, Oh, I'm going to be a wrestler when I grow up and this, this, and this.
Speaker: And, you know, I'll go with my grandma.
Speaker: She was like, why don't you tell people, you know, you want to be a doctor, you want to be a nurse, you know, I would go, I want to be a wrestler.
Speaker: So around the time I was 18, I,
Speaker: um, my friend, she had went to church and there was this guy there and he had a belt and it was cam Carter.
Speaker: And, um, she was like, Hey, um, I see you're a wrestler.
Speaker: My friend, she wants to, um, start training.
Speaker: Can I get you in contact with her?
Speaker: And he hit me up and said, Hey, there's this training school in Greensboro that I train at.
Speaker: Um, I want to, you know, bring you in.
Speaker: So cam brought me in and I met LeBron co-zone and I just started training from there.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: So, um,
Speaker: Firestar, great first place to land.
Speaker: Cam Carter, underappreciated wrestler, I'm sure, as far as what he did in the ring.
Speaker: But going back to when you first started watching, obviously, was it the first or second iteration of DX?
Speaker: I might be able to answer that.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So that segment was like 2006, 2007, I think.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I think, I think that's when like Sean comes back or Triple H came out and that's your, which one came back, but they came back to feud with the McMahons.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That was my first introduction to them as well.
Speaker: I don't know if you remember what a PS, the PSPs, the little PlayStation.
Speaker: I had my background was DX on there.
Speaker: So yeah, it definitely was a big part of my fandom at the time.
Speaker: What about, I guess, maybe that segment, maybe about just the first time watching wrestling, first few times watching wrestling, like really drew you in?
Speaker: Was it the theatrics of it?
Speaker: Was it the moves?
Speaker: Like, what about it do you think really just drew you in?
Speaker: it was definitely the the actress I was just like it was the storylines because I was like I was so amazed like by the storylines and what was going on and then like they they got the fighting right afterwards I was like this is amazing this is instant payoff yeah and I think that time period is kind of like I think it's probably nostalgia but that was so fun for me like
Speaker: You had all of the greats there.
Speaker: You had Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, and his second run is this workhorse guy.
Speaker: It's the tail end of Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio and all these great guys.
Speaker: For me, that's the glory days.
Speaker: Although everybody has their own glory days with wrestling.
Speaker: So, at what age did you know that you wanted to be a wrestler?
Speaker: I think it happened...
Speaker: Probably.
Speaker: I knew I wanted to start getting into the business around, I'll say like in between 18 or 19, like when I started college.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because around that time I found this podcast called map men.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And I was online listening to their podcast and I really started getting into the discussions, you know, kind of like about the business, what was going on.
Speaker: So yeah,
Speaker: I think that really made me look into it into a different standpoint.
Speaker: And so it was just the right timing when Cam reached out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So you started training at Firestar.
Speaker: What iteration of Firestar was this?
Speaker: Because we just had James Ryan on and he kind of walked us through like the different like time zones of kind of what went on.
Speaker: Is that at...
Speaker: I'm forgetting the name.
Speaker: It's like he referred to it as like the street name.
Speaker: I think it's the very.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I was a Mellie Street kid.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: I think that that room had such a cool look to it.
Speaker: From what I've heard, it wasn't the most fun there in person.
Speaker: like watching videos back like it's the the aesthetic is awesome like the fire stall of the on the wall the the stage that comes right out to the ring it kind of reminds me of um the germ armory how it's just like this is just kind of it's it's cool looking it's cool looking yeah um so for you training was that have
Speaker: Was that a straight stint?
Speaker: At what point do you decide, hey, I want to give re-announcing a try?
Speaker: Like, walk us through that bit.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Funny enough.
Speaker: Okay, so I started and I lasted maybe, I want to say three weeks and I quit.
Speaker: I was like, wow, this hurts.
Speaker: I was like, wow, this hurts.
Speaker: And, um...
Speaker: I ended up having to take, I think this was like right after Wrestle Revival.
Speaker: No, not Wrestle Revival, WrestleCade.
Speaker: And I was taking Cam to the school and he was like, you know, come inside and speak.
Speaker: And I'm like, no, I'm embarrassed.
Speaker: Like I quit and everything.
Speaker: He was like, no, Kozone, I don't want to talk to you.
Speaker: I was like, okay.
Speaker: I came in.
Speaker: I was like, hey, Kozone.
Speaker: He was like, oh, no, you can't be.
Speaker: I'm just stopping to say hi.
Speaker: And then, um,
Speaker: He was like, you don't want to wrestle?
Speaker: I was like, no, I ain't got my shoes.
Speaker: I'm good today.
Speaker: He was like, okay.
Speaker: And just tossed me into the ring.
Speaker: And just tossed me into the ring.
Speaker: So that's pretty much how I got started from there.
Speaker: And then I asked him, I was like, hey, this was maybe like a month or two into wrestling, just consistently training.
Speaker: I was like, hey, I do sports announcing at my college.
Speaker: I kind of want to try out ring announcing.
Speaker: And he was like, oh, I want you, you know, to focus on wrestling and this, this and this.
Speaker: And so we can start getting you going.
Speaker: I was like, just let me do one women's match.
Speaker: And I was like, OK.
Speaker: He was like, OK, I'll let you do it.
Speaker: And then so happily, there was a promoter in the crowd that day.
Speaker: And he was like, hey, I heard you ringing out that one match.
Speaker: I want to bring you in.
Speaker: So everything just started from that point on.
Speaker: And I just started going to promotion, promotion, promotion, because at that point I just started getting bookings.
Speaker: Like, yeah, it just started happening frequently.
Speaker: So the wrestling kind of got put on the side while I was taking all these bookings.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: That's a good problem to have.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: How would you say that wrestling announcing differs from sports announcing?
Speaker: Um, one standing up and having the confidence.
Speaker: I like in sports and I was in like nine times out of 10, you're in a booth.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And people are kind of like, Oh, what's that voice in the air?
Speaker: And this isn't this.
Speaker: And if you mess up, you know, nobody knows who's messing up.
Speaker: But in ring and I was saying, you have to stand up.
Speaker: You have to have that confidence.
Speaker: You have to feel the energy of the crowd and you have to know to work with the crowd.
Speaker: If you need to just be straight to the point or if you need to do a little bit of entertainment.
Speaker: Was that something that had a learning curve attached to it or was it just kind of from the get-go like, yeah, this is something I feel like I'm good at?
Speaker: I felt like I was good at it in the beginning.
Speaker: I felt like I was good at it.
Speaker: I knew I could improve, of course, but to first start out, I was kind of like, I'm kind of ahead of the game because I've been doing this for four years previously just in a booth.
Speaker: Yeah, okay.
Speaker: That's very cool.
Speaker: Were you calling all types of sports or were you focused on just like one sport?
Speaker: It was mostly baseball and basketball.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Do you have a favorite between the two?
Speaker: Oh, no, no, sorry.
Speaker: Baseball.
Speaker: Baseball is definitely my favorite.
Speaker: Is it because it's kind of like slower and allows you to kind of...
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, I would say that because it's like once you start, like, you know, with the starting lineup, everything is kind of like smooth from there.
Speaker: You're just calling who's coming up to the base and everything.
Speaker: With basketball, I have to call everything that's going on, like, you know, the turnovers and whenever the ref calls something, like, yeah, I have to focus.
Speaker: Yeah, I did something kind of similar, but not super similar.
Speaker: I used to, I call myself a sports DJ when I was in college.
Speaker: I did like the music for the only let me do volleyball.
Speaker: I never got to do anything else, but it's probably the best because there was somebody about to serve and I actually just blasted Rihanna in front of the whole crowd.
Speaker: So similar story, but not the same.
Speaker: A surefire way to make volleyball much more entertaining.
Speaker: There should always be Rihanna before.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just a random question.
Speaker: If you were a baseball player, what would your walk-up song be?
Speaker: Oh, oh, oh.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: I thought about this one time.
Speaker: If anybody was to ever ask me, it has to be a hard-hitting question.
Speaker: Homecoming, Kanye.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: Would that differ?
Speaker: Well, obviously you're wrestling now, but how would that differ, I guess?
Speaker: Because I guess the walk-up song is more for pumping you up for baseball, whereas the theme song for wrestling is about getting the crowd involved and betraying your character.
Speaker: I guess the difference between picking a song for wrestling compared to...
Speaker: For baseball.
Speaker: But if you could also talk us through, I guess, what your personal process was with picking this song for wrestling.
Speaker: Was that something that was given to you?
Speaker: Was that something, a vision you saw all the way through?
Speaker: Like, just talk us through that.
Speaker: Yeah, so... The song that I picked, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you.
Speaker: It was inspired by Tim's entrance song.
Speaker: Because when Tim comes out...
Speaker: It's a whole different vibe.
Speaker: Like as soon as you hear like the girl singing in the beginning, like it's like, you know, it's about to go down.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I wanted that same feel.
Speaker: So I went on YouTube and I tell you, I searched for hours for the perfect song.
Speaker: What did you end up going with and why?
Speaker: is this, it's honestly, it's just a mix on YouTube and it has like these guitars in the beginning and then it's kind of like the beat just hit.
Speaker: But I definitely wanted that feel of like, like you know something is coming.
Speaker: Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Yeah, Tim's entrance is awesome in that regard.
Speaker: I find myself like every day when I listen to music, just like that'd be a good entrance song.
Speaker: Oh, constantly.
Speaker: I almost want to become a wrestler just so that I can have an entrance song.
Speaker: And for everyone to point out and be like, man, that's a good one.
Speaker: That's on a different level.
Speaker: Yeah, I just want to do this long enough for somebody to let me come out of the curtains to a song.
Speaker: I don't have to.
Speaker: I could walk right back in the locker room afterwards.
Speaker: Just in and out.
Speaker: Yeah, I definitely think for a Wrestle Revival, I think I'm going to switch it up since this special occasion.
Speaker: It'll be like my first ever like title match.
Speaker: So then it's Wrestle Revival.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Exclusive.
Speaker: Tis the season.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: My favorite thing is Rehan Itteis for APW Chester.
Speaker: He does those promos that are pretty iconic.
Speaker: And at the end, he always plays a little clip of the song.
Speaker: And that's the song he comes out to the next week.
Speaker: Yeah, his song is different per show.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So wrestling's so cool, like, yeah, where you can just kind of come out to a different song whenever you want to and keep the crowd guessing.
Speaker: So I think given how...
Speaker: your career has been structured, we're going to have to jump back and forth a little bit.
Speaker: So I guess my first question with that in mind is what brought you back to wrestling in the ring rather than ring announcing?
Speaker: What's the balance like?
Speaker: Just talk us through that.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: So I guess like the moment I was like, okay, I'm gonna get back into the ring.
Speaker: Like I was like, I kind of want to do this.
Speaker: And it was Suyong versus Sadie.
Speaker: And I was at the very first Jewels of Wrestling show.
Speaker: And I watched that match and I was like, I want to do that.
Speaker: But at the time, I don't think I was just mentally ready.
Speaker: I wasn't just mentally ready.
Speaker: And I just started training and training and training.
Speaker: And I had one bad match.
Speaker: And that was really the match that kept me out of the ring for like a year.
Speaker: It wasn't really like, oh, this hurts or something.
Speaker: It was really just a mental thing that I had to get over.
Speaker: I'm like, you know, everybody's not perfect.
Speaker: As long as I'm in training and, you know, improving and working on it, you know, I should have the ability to get in a ring just like anybody else.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's what honestly brought me back into the ring.
Speaker: It was just a lot of mental.
Speaker: But it was so many people that encouraged me to get back into the ring.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I could definitely see that, especially just mentally doing anything.
Speaker: I still think about the person that I accidentally waved to.
Speaker: A lot.
Speaker: I have a, this is not, this might lighten the mood, but it might also kind of point to vibe.
Speaker: So when I was in college, I also did like the video.
Speaker: They said, no more volleyball.
Speaker: We're going to put you behind the camera.
Speaker: No more Rihanna.
Speaker: You're done.
Speaker: I was doing a baseball game and I was on the third base, like right by, like, here's the dugout and then here's me.
Speaker: And I was, the game was over and the coach walked over and I was packing up and he said, Hey, good game out there.
Speaker: And I just looked up to him and I goes, thanks coach.
Speaker: And he just looked at me and then I turned behind me and the starting pitcher was behind me, like packing up his bag.
Speaker: And I,
Speaker: I look back at the coach, he's like, you did a good job too.
Speaker: I think about that at least once a week.
Speaker: If that is anything like wrestling that I completely understand.
Speaker: Daniel, you are playing a great game.
Speaker: I want you to hear that, okay?
Speaker: You are playing a great game.
Speaker: I did pretty good.
Speaker: I caught all the movements.
Speaker: I got all the crowd shots.
Speaker: Oh man, that is funny.
Speaker: That's something that sticks with you for life, I swear.
Speaker: Yeah, I have a few of those.
Speaker: Like when you wave, you realize somebody's, they're waving at somebody else.
Speaker: Like dumb things you say.
Speaker: I still think about dumb things I said in high school.
Speaker: So definitely can understand the mental block when it comes to wrestling.
Speaker: Something that's a lot more serious.
Speaker: And the things that got you through that was just keep on training, just keep on pushing, just keep on doing your thing, right?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: And, and while you're training, you're still doing ring announcing.
Speaker: You're still doing like taking your bookings, doing all that.
Speaker: Cause I think it's very rare that we go to shows and you were not ring announcing it, which is probably a testament to the work you're producing.
Speaker: Um, and like our introduction, at least my introduction to you was DPW.
Speaker: Um, and, um,
Speaker: How did that deal get put together?
Speaker: Was that just you're killing it on the Carolinas?
Speaker: They're going to be in the Carolinas, so it's a natural fit?
Speaker: I'm just making sure.
Speaker: You said DPW because you started cutting it out, right?
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: They reached out to me.
Speaker: Honestly, I don't know what made them pick me, but they reached out to me.
Speaker: It was like, hey, we have this show.
Speaker: This is in this.
Speaker: We want you to ring it out.
Speaker: I was like, yeah, okay, cool.
Speaker: I don't mind ringing it out.
Speaker: Then I went to show and I was like,
Speaker: what's going on?
Speaker: Like, there are so many people and these, and these fans are amazing.
Speaker: I was like, I've never experienced a show like this, but I am so very blessed because DPW definitely came in a point in time in my life where I felt like, um,
Speaker: maybe I need to take a break from wrestling.
Speaker: Maybe I need to be revamped and come back and, you know, just self reflect.
Speaker: But they came in at the perfect time when I was like, nope, they just really like confirmed for me that I'm exactly where I need to be.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: This is a DBW.
Speaker: I'm sorry, Christian.
Speaker: Go ahead.
Speaker: This is a DPW question.
Speaker: Not really related to anything else.
Speaker: Just my curiosity.
Speaker: So the phone that you read the matches off of, is that your phone with a case on it?
Speaker: Or is there a phone just for that?
Speaker: Is my phone with a DPW case on it?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That makes a lot more sense than the alternative.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I've thought about that so much.
Speaker: Almost every show.
Speaker: I can't write questions about the phone.
Speaker: Honestly, it's why the podcast exists.
Speaker: Honestly.
Speaker: Sorry, Christian.
Speaker: Please go back to your serious good question.
Speaker: Goodness.
Speaker: What was my question?
Speaker: Yeah, it's gone.
Speaker: It's gone.
Speaker: It's okay.
Speaker: We'll come back.
Speaker: What is the least favorite name that you've ever had to announce?
Speaker: Oh, least favorite name?
Speaker: Oh my goodness.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I never really like have like a least favorite.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Honestly, like once I mess up somebody's name one time, like I'm probably not gonna mess it up again.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Type of ordeal.
Speaker: But like, I'll say like probably like one of the most difficult things for me.
Speaker: And it's the reason why I have the phone in the first place.
Speaker: And you'll notice on like upcoming like DPW shows that you won't see my phone in my hand.
Speaker: But when I ask people, like, oh, what do you want me to call you?
Speaker: And they'd be like, oh, yeah, call me the superior king of the kingdom of this from this, this, and this, and this, this, and this, but hailing from.
Speaker: And I'm like, oh.
Speaker: oh my god like this is why my phone exists because before i was using note cards and i would you know write everything out but then people would have these long intros and i was like oh no yeah and like and that's kind of become like because in wrestling you can look at like little time periods where certain things are popular like like anything else there's been a period of time where the really long intro um
Speaker: is like very apparent now.
Speaker: Like, and I feel like five, 10 years ago, it wasn't like, it was just like from Georgia.
Speaker: But now it's like very, that's such a, that's such a thing nowadays.
Speaker: It does make sense that you would need to look at your phone.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker: Very much so.
Speaker: And I do want to applaud you because I saw you fighting back the urge to say your least favorite name to announce is Oliver Sawyer.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Without a doubt.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: Thank you for reminding me.
Speaker: You're welcome.
Speaker: You're welcome.
Speaker: I don't know if he's a friend or an enemy of the podcast, but that's just... Oh, he's an enemy for everybody.
Speaker: It's a very uneasy relationship.
Speaker: But yeah, going back to DPW...
Speaker: You said the crowds are different.
Speaker: Definitely, like, the matches that you see are a lot different.
Speaker: What are some of your favorite matches that, like, you've seen at a TPW show?
Speaker: Oh, yes, of course.
Speaker: Okay, Kanosuke and Andrew, that's one of my favorites.
Speaker: Tankman versus Malachi, definitely one of my favorites.
Speaker: Ooh.
Speaker: Ah.
Speaker: Probably all of Emmy's matches are my favorite because it's Emmy.
Speaker: I think that's about a good just of kind of my top favorites.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You have a least favorite?
Speaker: Oh, wait.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: And to add Kobe and Lucky.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: That's fun.
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: Least favorite?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: All of their matches are pretty bomb.
Speaker: That's what I love about the DPW show because they're long, but every single match is good.
Speaker: So you're never tired throughout the whole entire show.
Speaker: Not at all.
Speaker: When I go to shows, I'm kind of like, maybe like midway.
Speaker: But even with that midway point, I'm ready to go for the next half.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Although that one show at the Takeshita match where they had three intermissions because it was so hot.
Speaker: That was a little tough.
Speaker: The lights kept going off.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker: Have there ever been any moments where you're like, oh shit, I'm about to announce this person?
Speaker: Angelina Love.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: Yeah, Angelina Love.
Speaker: I was definitely in the ring like
Speaker: This is Angelina.
Speaker: This one hits.
Speaker: Because I used to watch her so much on TV.
Speaker: I'm trying to think of anybody else.
Speaker: Honestly, I think that was the only one so far.
Speaker: Yeah, it was Angelina.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So we did a little bit of the announcing
Speaker: We've done a little bit of, of wrestling.
Speaker: We'll get back to all of these, but you also have, uh, the distinction of running your own promotion with rep, let wrestling live.
Speaker: Um, tough to say, fun to see there's your new catchphrase.
Speaker: Um, but talk us through the formation of let wrestling live.
Speaker: And I would say it's unique and like its purpose, like it's different than most wrestling promotions, especially in this area.
Speaker: So kind of, um,
Speaker: What was your goal with that?
Speaker: What is it like being on that journey?
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: Okay, so when I started Let Wrestling Live, I was like, I don't see enough diversity in the shows in the area.
Speaker: It's kind of like...
Speaker: one of the other kind of situations.
Speaker: But I was like, I want to create a show where there's just a mix of everything, right?
Speaker: And we could just make it a really, really good show.
Speaker: And then on top of that, it's like, there's so many good people like on the indies, but they never get to come out here and wrestle.
Speaker: So I was like, I want to do that.
Speaker: So I created this idea and I was like, okay, I want to get a team together, you know, a team of people like who are like,
Speaker: not as appreciated as they should be.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I talked to Charmaine.
Speaker: I talked to Yo-Yo.
Speaker: I talked to Kevin Pierce.
Speaker: I talked to Jamal.
Speaker: And I just got a whole group together.
Speaker: And I was like, this is what I want to do.
Speaker: If you guys can help me pull this off, I mean, we can do some really big things out here.
Speaker: And they was on board with it.
Speaker: And they loved the idea.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: So how do you go from having this idea to leading up to your first show, which I'm forgetting the name.
Speaker: We were there.
Speaker: It was a fun night, but
Speaker: Can you tell me what the name was?
Speaker: First day out.
Speaker: First day out.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So you're I'll edit this out so nobody will hear.
Speaker: So your first show, Let Wrestling Live.
Speaker: I said it right that time.
Speaker: First day out.
Speaker: What was it like, like from somebody who this is your first show?
Speaker: Like, where does where does that start for you as the process goes?
Speaker: The process was starting with who did I want on the show in general?
Speaker: And let me do some research on some people who are not from North Carolina.
Speaker: Mm hmm.
Speaker: who are, like, really good, and I want to make sure that this is diverse, and we're mixing.
Speaker: So I just did, like, a lot of research on a lot of people.
Speaker: Like, I had a group of people, like, I was like, okay, like, I know I want them on the show.
Speaker: Like, I already knew, like, I want Gustavo on the show, because it's Gustavo!
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, um, yeah, and it kind of went from there.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: That show was awesome.
Speaker: You had, like,
Speaker: I've never heard of Karen Bam Bam or, um, is it Cody Larkin?
Speaker: Is that his name?
Speaker: Oh, um, Conan, Conan Larkin.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like, sorry.
Speaker: Like, yeah.
Speaker: And then one guy who I can't remember his name, but looks like Batista, uh, apologies to him.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Uh, Graham, like a such, like, like you said, you're trying to bring a talent that many people haven't heard of.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So you start out with saying, these are the people I want to book.
Speaker: Then I'm guessing you try to find the venue.
Speaker: And of course, Cozy was.
Speaker: Yeah, because that's my trainer.
Speaker: So yeah, I ran it past him and he was totally cool with it.
Speaker: And I was like, OK, this is amazing.
Speaker: You know, I like I can have my show.
Speaker: Yeah, I can have it at my training school.
Speaker: So, you know, that meant that meant a lot.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So a question for me coming from somebody who h as a lot of ideas and the first thing I ever do with an idea is I just make a logo for it before I have any idea what anything is.
Speaker: What is your creative process on creating the brand of Let Wrestling Live?
Speaker: Did that come kind of after the fact or did you have like ideas like beforehand?
Speaker: I kind of had ideas beforehand.
Speaker: I knew I want the logo to be something that's memorable.
Speaker: When you look at a GCW logo, you're like, that's GCW.
Speaker: Anytime you see it.
Speaker: So I wanted to make sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, something that like when people see it, they're like, okay, that's let wrestling live.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then secondly, I knew that I had to find a graphic designer that can make something that's eye catching because I know that's like an issue with a lot of wrestling shows like they'll have like a good show or a good lineup, but maybe the graphics are all the way there to put over their show.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, we've seen a lot of those.
Speaker: And for anybody watching, there might be one of those.
Speaker: If you guys need help, reach out to us.
Speaker: We're happy to help.
Speaker: Our least favorite thing is shitty indie wrestling posters.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: It's my favorite pastime is when I see one, I'll look at the stars on the show, and I'll be like, I'm just going to spend an hour, make one, I'll send it to the promoter, and just see if they post it.
Speaker: And normally, sometimes they do.
Speaker: Sometimes they do.
Speaker: Yeah, it's definitely huge to have a cool poster.
Speaker: And you guys have had the coolest posters around, I would say.
Speaker: Like, very visually pleasing.
Speaker: But there was a moment at your show where we talked about this with Roberto Moss, who you were very kind to let him attend.
Speaker: He said he was kind of the fourth man in.
Speaker: He just kind of got called in.
Speaker: That was supposed to be a joke.
Speaker: I don't want... Never mind.
Speaker: I don't know where I'm going.
Speaker: But there is a little problem with the person ringing the bell.
Speaker: And it's a hard job.
Speaker: I just want to preface that.
Speaker: This is not a gimme job.
Speaker: What is going through your mind when that's happening?
Speaker: Honestly, at the time, I didn't even know that it was happening.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's the funny part.
Speaker: I didn't even know that it was actually happening until the match was done.
Speaker: And then everybody came to the back with a pout face.
Speaker: And I was like, what's going on?
Speaker: And it was like, yep, they rang the bell early or they did this.
Speaker: And I was like, okay.
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The reason I asked that.
Speaker: Like, whoever was ringing the bell, like, happened through that show got replaced, right?
Speaker: Am I remembering that right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, they did.
Speaker: They did.
Speaker: Did they come back to the back after that?
Speaker: I appreciate their hard work.
Speaker: I appreciate their hard work, but last thing I want to deal with is some very angry wrestlers.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: The reason I brought that up was not to point out something that went wrong with you, but to point out something that went right with Christian.
Speaker: We worked the last UPW show.
Speaker: It's a tough job.
Speaker: I want to preface that with... I remember that happening, and when this happened to me, I remember thinking, man...
Speaker: I bet there wasn't orientation.
Speaker: I bet there was no on-the-job training.
Speaker: Because I got none.
Speaker: We were doing social media for a UPW show.
Speaker: And I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Speaker: A ref grabbed me wide-eyed and scared and was just like, you're ringing the bell.
Speaker: And at that moment, I forgot everything I knew about wrestling.
Speaker: Everything I knew was a lie, and it was awful.
Speaker: It's hard!
Speaker: But we bring this up because we have a video and I'm going to do this for every episode until we no longer do these.
Speaker: But I would like for you to rate his bell ringing as somebody who has seen the bad.
Speaker: Yeah, because you were qualified to answer this.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So we had Kevin Pierce weigh in and give some constructive criticism, which was nice.
Speaker: But here it is.
Speaker: It's three seconds, so I'll play it twice so you don't miss it.
Speaker: one more time.
Speaker: Thoughts?
Speaker: Did that play for you?
Speaker: I didn't even get to hear it.
Speaker: What happened?
Speaker: It played, but I couldn't hear it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'll see if we can get one more time.
Speaker: Did that work?
Speaker: It was actually decent.
Speaker: There we go!
Speaker: That was the last time.
Speaker: That was the last time.
Speaker: It was the last go.
Speaker: It took me to that point.
Speaker: I hit it as hard as I could.
Speaker: Then I put it down and I walked out and we left.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I feel bad because I was just hanging out with all the rest.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Like, I walk outside, like, angry, upset that I was dragged into this.
Speaker: And Daniel's just hanging out with TJ Boss.
Speaker: And I'm like, what the?
Speaker: I missed out on that?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: But, yeah.
Speaker: I remember it was this one show.
Speaker: I can't remember.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: It could have been this past show that we just had.
Speaker: I can't remember.
Speaker: But I remember somebody took the thing and they hit it on top of the bell.
Speaker: And I said, well, it's amazing.
Speaker: I learned this from Kevin Pierce.
Speaker: You see, GCW has a recording they play.
Speaker: It's just an audio cue.
Speaker: And I think that's a hell of a concept.
Speaker: I'm going to plug our episode with Kevin Pierce again.
Speaker: Because what you said, I asked him about that.
Speaker: his opinion.
Speaker: So if you want to know what Kevin Pierce thinks about GCW's Bell, we ask the good questions here.
Speaker: The questions people want to know.
Speaker: But Kevin says that for New Japan, they hit it from the top.
Speaker: So maybe they were just confused.
Speaker: Maybe they thought you were doing it New Japan style.
Speaker: So just a possible answer.
Speaker: Until you do it, you have no idea what it is, Daniel.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You think you do, but you don't.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Back to the story, though.
Speaker: So Let Wrestling Live, first show, awesome.
Speaker: Then you just have your most recent show this past weekend.
Speaker: Talk us through that.
Speaker: How is it?
Speaker: What was it like running your first show versus your second show?
Speaker: Second show was definitely way more chaotic than the first one.
Speaker: You would expect for the first show to be chaotic, but...
Speaker: first show was actually kind of like it was smooth for the most part besides like the bell ringing and everything but the second show it was definitely way more chaotic because it was like a lot of time crunching and everything just trying to make sure everything's good for doors to open and you know it was a good show like overall man Brian Kendrick
Speaker: one of these smartest and I cannot like express this enough that man is so smart like I was busy like for the most part like getting everything together but I was listening to him while he was doing this seminar and I was like people need to tap in like if you're not tapping in and listening to him teach I don't know what you're doing yeah I don't know what you know yeah definitely a very
Speaker: skilled wrestler and uh a great talent yeah yeah of course um what's when you're working a show like that where a lot of people have like like one like big name that you bring in like yeah gtg is that correct my mouth is not working jtg yeah jtg yeah um
Speaker: You brought him on for the first show.
Speaker: You bring Brian Kendrick in.
Speaker: Is that something to where it's just like, these are guys I really like?
Speaker: It's just like, this is my show.
Speaker: This is who I want to see wrestle.
Speaker: Or how do you go about choosing those type of names?
Speaker: Nine times out of 10, I choose people that are going to be good connections for the other workers and that they can learn from.
Speaker: That's what I go based off of.
Speaker: I'm not kind of like, oh, let me bring in a big name just because they're a big name.
Speaker: I'm like, yeah, no.
Speaker: Like there's a lot of good talent out here that needs to be seen, needs to be heard.
Speaker: JTG could have connected with somebody, maybe gave them some good advice that they need to know for the next show.
Speaker: Could have corrected them on something just to just the small stuff.
Speaker: I kind of book teachers more in a sense.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: That is great in comparison and no shade to any promoter who does it this way.
Speaker: But the fact that you put in a big name to work with someone who can benefit from working with them.
Speaker: And it's also high work rate guys.
Speaker: It's two for two, but it's high work rate guys.
Speaker: It's not, you're bringing in two big names to work each other.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because I don't think anyone grows in that situation.
Speaker: So like good on you for doing that.
Speaker: Cause I think that elevates everybody involved.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I appreciate that.
Speaker: I just, I just want to see everybody win.
Speaker: And if we could do that,
Speaker: Just bit by bit.
Speaker: And if people take the opportunity to go out to a JTG seminar, take the opportunity to go out to a Brian Kendrick seminar or whoever we bring in next.
Speaker: I mean, that helps them grow and that helps them like build their portfolio, put that down as a seminar and then also make that connection if they put in the effort.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Can we pitch some people for your next show?
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Christian?
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: You go first.
Speaker: Oh, I go first.
Speaker: You pitched the idea.
Speaker: You're going to give me a second?
Speaker: Yeah, but I didn't have anybody in mind when I pitched the idea.
Speaker: So I thought I'd give... Jaden Newman.
Speaker: Yeah, Jaden Newman's good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Ichiban numero uno.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Very, very nice guy.
Speaker: A fan of Cracker Barrel.
Speaker: I asked the question.
Speaker: I had absolutely no idea.
Speaker: I'd love to see Shug D because I know he's supposed to be at that show.
Speaker: I don't think we get to see Shug D enough.
Speaker: We love Shug.
Speaker: We're still trying to get him.
Speaker: Our schedule's just got to line up.
Speaker: Every wrestler I've ever known is just fogged out of my head.
Speaker: Brian Keith would be cool.
Speaker: He is so good.
Speaker: He is so, so good.
Speaker: I'm looking around my room for just inspiration.
Speaker: Effie would be cool.
Speaker: We definitely tried for Effie, but our schedules didn't match up, so we're waiting on that too.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: There's so much good talent here, though.
Speaker: Like you mentioned, including bringing somebody in to work with somebody.
Speaker: But if you're working with Jay Malachi, though, you're also getting elevated with that.
Speaker: We're fortunate that we have guys like Bojack, we have guys like Jay Malachi, these people that could be on TV.
Speaker: Lucky Ali.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess that brings us to a question we ask every episode, but who are some wrestlers, and we'll go with ring announcers too, that you think that more people should know about?
Speaker: That more people should know about?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Ring announcer, Carmen Childers.
Speaker: that that's who we announced um the last show that we had amazing if you i don't know what to tell you if you don't know i don't know what to tell you you better get put on um is just to cut you off real quick because of your background in ring announcing how bigger of a deal was it to bring someone in to do it um
Speaker: Because, like, is any part of you going into it being like, oh, maybe I could just do it or da, da, da.
Speaker: Or is it like such a fine selection point that like, okay, if it's not me, it's them.
Speaker: No, absolutely not.
Speaker: When I said I was going to do this show, I knew that I was not going to try to book myself or doing it.
Speaker: Cause first of all, that doesn't help anybody that, that doesn't help anybody.
Speaker: Guess what?
Speaker: With the, with the people I'm working with on the show, like I already have that connection cause I'm booking these people.
Speaker: So if I book someone else to be on the show, then they get to make connections with other people.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then like one thing, like I've learned and I've heard, um,
Speaker: scrap say like if you if you see somebody this is not a shot at anybody who does this yeah but if you see someone like you know like there's a champ at their own promotion then like you probably shouldn't be like working there yeah i kind of have that mindset in mind so it's just like i i'm not gonna put myself to put myself over my job is to put other people over yeah yeah so i want to get that spot to somebody else
Speaker: That's great.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: And I'm going to interject with the question before the question I just asked you.
Speaker: Where do you see or where do you want to see Let Wrestling live in five years?
Speaker: In five years?
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: Oh, boy.
Speaker: That's a good question.
Speaker: I really want to have a building, honestly.
Speaker: I don't want it to be something that's, like, big or –
Speaker: I'm not trying to be on TV or something like that.
Speaker: Like, I just want more people to know about wrestling.
Speaker: If it's something like APW, like where everybody plans to go there every weekend and they have that good community of people, like, that's where I want to be in five years.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Like, I want to be able to run every two weeks.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: And I think that's so great because it allows you to actually tell stories, whereas it could be tougher, like, when you're only doing it, like, four times a year.
Speaker: Like,
Speaker: We've had a lot of people that work with AEW Chester.
Speaker: Just for instance, what it was able to do for Drew Hood, working there every two weeks, his rise from where he's at to now.
Speaker: Drew Hood's another name for your next show.
Speaker: I think that'd be cool to have.
Speaker: We don't get to see Drew Hood on this side of the Carolinas enough, which is weird because I think he lives here.
Speaker: He's like based on Apex.
Speaker: But yeah, just the ability to tell those stories and
Speaker: Like we also had somebody named Balaam links on.
Speaker: So the guy you should check out, he's out of Colorado, but they Rocky Mountain pro they do TV like twice a week.
Speaker: Like, so like they're, they're a training school, but they're also showing people like how to work on TV, like providing them with the fundamentals to work on their character, to, to get better at the basics, to know which hard cam is so that when they're going to places where like,
Speaker: big eyes might be on them.
Speaker: They're like not only good as a rig, but they're good for like 10,000 or 10 people.
Speaker: So that's really cool.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You just reminded me because I remember somebody asked me like when I first did the promotion and I was doing the show, I remember they was asking like, you know, like, are you going to try to do like a training school and this, this and this and like my intentions is not to have a training school.
Speaker: If you want to, if you want to train, I'm going to tell you to go to CoZone.
Speaker: Because I know Cozum is the best at what he does around here.
Speaker: Point blank and period.
Speaker: So that's not my goal.
Speaker: I'm going to send you straight to Cozum.
Speaker: I'll run a show because, you know, it's fun.
Speaker: We get to put people over.
Speaker: You know, we're different than everybody else.
Speaker: So that's what makes us good.
Speaker: But the training, I will always point you to Cozum.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I don't think a lot of people would disagree with that.
Speaker: For sure, a few would, but most people probably wouldn't.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So going back to that original question of people, talent that should be looked out for on the Carolinas.
Speaker: Or the whole world, because I think your point is to bring more people in this area.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I'm going to.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: So I would definitely say there are some people I know coming into this didn't know who Juicy for now was.
Speaker: And that surprised me.
Speaker: But Juicy is like that.
Speaker: So I think more people should know about Juicy and Diego, of course.
Speaker: Malachi.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: I mean, most of the people that book on the show was kind of like they have their areas where they're not known.
Speaker: And I really just want to, you know, really get them together.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Jada Stone.
Speaker: She's amazing.
Speaker: Of course.
Speaker: Y'all are really good with these questions because it's like some questions I really have to have to think on a little bit.
Speaker: That's completely okay.
Speaker: Let me come back to this.
Speaker: I may pop up randomly and be like, oh, this person.
Speaker: Who
Speaker: And like whether this year, next two years, who's on your list of people that you want to get in the ring with?
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: We've been all over the place.
Speaker: That's a great question.
Speaker: I have to get in the ring with Melina before she retires.
Speaker: Yeah, especially if you started watching it like 2006, 2007.
Speaker: Yeah, I can see that.
Speaker: She's definitely one of the people that inspired me.
Speaker: So I definitely have to get in the ring with Melina.
Speaker: Like that's like my number one at the top.
Speaker: Other than that, I would like to wrestle.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Sorry, I have to gather my thoughts together for this one.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I would like to wrestle, of course, Angelina Love, because we talked about that earlier.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That'll be a dream.
Speaker: I actually would like to work with Leah Knight on a DCW show.
Speaker: I would like to work with Leah.
Speaker: I would like to wear Dream Girl Ellie.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We've been going back and forth about it, but it's just about the right timing.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: And probably Thunder Rosa.
Speaker: Those are great.
Speaker: I have a follow up question is, are these matches?
Speaker: Because of course you have the platform to where you can very easily book these matches for yourself.
Speaker: But are these matches you feel like I want somebody else to book me on?
Speaker: Because like, if I'm at this point, I want people to like, I want to have earned it based off my merit.
Speaker: Or is that something like where you're like, yeah, I'm just going to like over the next year, I'm just going to cross people off the list.
Speaker: Nope, you will never see me book myself in these matches.
Speaker: Absolutely not.
Speaker: Because once you start doing that and trying to put yourself over, you'll never know where you're really at in wrestling.
Speaker: That's when you start blindsiding yourself.
Speaker: You're not knowing if the crowd is really behind you or not.
Speaker: You're just put there.
Speaker: You didn't earn that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's fair.
Speaker: Very fair.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think for me, I would want to earn it too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because I think with wrestling, obviously it's championships, but we have so many stories where we talk to people about one match for 30 minutes.
Speaker: We had Robert Margaron, we talked about Suzuki.
Speaker: Wrestling somebody like Suzuki, not only what that means about a cool moment, but there's a level of respect and there's a level of trust that has to be put into you for that position.
Speaker: So wrestling these people a lot of times is one way of winning a championship.
Speaker: It's like an accolade for your career.
Speaker: So definitely understand where you're coming from in that regard.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker: That was a really good question.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Thanks, Christian.
Speaker: That's why I'm here.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And since Christian's taken the serious route and he's asking the good questions, I'm going to ask his typical question.
Speaker: Is that OK, Christian?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: What's your go-to cookout tray?
Speaker: My go-to cookout tray is two cheeseburger quesadillas.
Speaker: Then I do two bacon ranch wraps and a huge sweet tea.
Speaker: When I don't want a sweet tea, I always go with the banana pudding milkshake.
Speaker: That's perfect.
Speaker: That's a great answer.
Speaker: Cheeseburger quesadillas, underrated.
Speaker: Everybody always goes for the chicken wings.
Speaker: Until this moment, I didn't know it existed.
Speaker: And that's on me.
Speaker: But let me tell you what to do.
Speaker: Dip the quesadilla in honey mustard.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Game changer.
Speaker: I know it sounds crazy, but... That sounds crazy enough to work.
Speaker: We had Tim on it.
Speaker: He suggested, and this is one of the reasons I love this podcast.
Speaker: This is mostly for the cookout questions.
Speaker: But a chicken quesadilla, extra chicken, add bacon.
Speaker: Oh, I didn't even know you could add bacon.
Speaker: You could add bacon.
Speaker: So you could add to the cheeseburger one too.
Speaker: So next time you have a really bad day and you just need to take the edge off.
Speaker: that'd probably be my uh place to go to tonight yeah there you go that's my go-to after work so yeah for sure um this has been awesome yeah i feel like we barely touched the surface with you like we we talked a little bit about dbw but like not a lot we talked a little bit about wrestling not a lot we talked about let us live so there's a lot more to talk about and i'd love to have you next uh on again um
Speaker: Everybody, if you are ever near a Let Wrestling Live show, you have to go to it.
Speaker: Even if you're not near it, make the drive.
Speaker: It's a fun time.
Speaker: Yeah, make the drives.
Speaker: Hit the towns.
Speaker: See Let Wrestling Live.
Speaker: August 26th, Wrestle Revival.
Speaker: You're facing Amira Rose.
Speaker: Check out DCW, correct?
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Saturday.
Speaker: And then
Speaker: DPW, which that card is... Oh my gosh, it's going to be a crazy day.
Speaker: I can't wait.
Speaker: Anacenderm at the Armory, my favorite venue.
Speaker: That's our favorite venue too.
Speaker: That was our first venue we ever saw DPW in.
Speaker: It's very confusing that there's two of them now.
Speaker: Very similar.
Speaker: But yeah, just the wood floors, the brick.
Speaker: Perfect.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: It's perfect.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: All that to say, we'd love to have you back on.
Speaker: I'm really excited for people to hear this.
Speaker: Be on the lookout for you and your many different, very talented ways.
Speaker: But yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker: Thank you guys for having me.
Speaker: No problem.
