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Nice Boys (Who Like Death Match Wrestling & ...)
64 Plays4 years ago
This week Heeter and Garrett are chatting about "famous" fans, Garrett's trip to All Out/Second City Summit shows & more!
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Transcript
Pat McAfee and Joe Rogan: A Humorous Comparison
00:00:33
Speaker
I know since we've been doing episodes you had talked about watching SmackDown. So I would watch the highlight episode. It's not really a highlight episode. I would just watch all the SmackDown highlights.
00:00:56
Speaker
Um, and then I would watch, uh, Pat McAfee's, um, Mr. Friday Night. Like, he has this vlog about, like, going and doing SmackDown. And, like, I really enjoyed those because I enjoy Pat McAfee, because I think he's a very funny person.
00:01:13
Speaker
Like it's but like it's like the most sportsy like like jockey humor I'm into It's like at McAfee. I don't I'm trying to would it be like if Joe Rogan? Yeah. Yeah. Yes like that's what I would say is is that like Joe Rogan is very Like like to me very jockey
00:01:34
Speaker
And so like I'm like, I don't fuck with Joe Rogan, but like the fact that like Pat McAfee, who who used to be a kicker for the NFL and hosts a fucking a a a football podcast, essentially a sports podcast throughout the week. Like I don't give a shit about his podcast, but I think he's very funny on smack.
Wrestling World: WWE vs. AEW vs. GCW
00:01:59
Speaker
He's the the announcer.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, he him and Michael Cole. I have not watched a second of WWE programming in. Well, since the last podcast did you did you watch SummerSlam? No. Oh, I did.
00:02:16
Speaker
Oh my God. I did. You're. Hey everybody. Welcome to another. Hello. Nice boys who watch deathmatch wrestling and I guess fucking summer fucking other dumb shit and wrestling. But yeah like.
00:02:37
Speaker
I don't know. You're kind of at a point where watching wrestling is a little more difficult. Yeah. Yeah. It's a mental. It's a mental game. I'm playing a mental game at this point like that being said. So you're like I don't know if I want to watch GCW but like Smackdown's barely wrestling.
00:02:55
Speaker
Yep. And sometimes you hit the nail on the head because that's 100% what it is. It's like, it's like WWE is barely wrestling to me at this point. It's like to be fair, to be fair, to be fair.
00:03:11
Speaker
It's sports entertainment. Yeah, you're not it is not it's wrestling adjacent like Like it's got similar tropes to the thing that I love but it's it is 100% not the same It's I mean it's like if Disney fucked wrestling Exactly
00:03:33
Speaker
It's what they would schedule. It's Disney, it's Nickelodeon, it's whatever cartoon networks version of children's shows are because I feel like they get a little out of pocket. I feel like people complain far less about cartoon networks programming.
00:03:54
Speaker
But I think the reason they complain is because it's adult. It's adult. It's adult featured. Like I feel like when the kids show that is literally being viewed by 50 to 70 year olds. Exactly. Exactly. Well, what I would say is is that if you think about it, when I feel like I started like I'm going to use the example of Adult Swim. I'm going to talk about Adult Swim. I feel like when I started watching Adult Swim, that shit didn't start till like midnight.
00:04:23
Speaker
And now I feel like Adult Swim comes on at like nine o'clock. Like they've moved up like four hours. And Adult Swim just kind of came out of nowhere. That's fair. I don't even remember them advertising Adult Swim. Like it just at one point existed. Yeah at one point it was just a part of our lives. A huge part of our lives. Like very important.
00:04:45
Speaker
like the shows that it's brought back like it brought back king of the hill like you can thank adult swim for bringing back king of the hill for like i think they ran for like one more season but they brought back king of the hill um
00:05:01
Speaker
Anyway, let's but back to wrestling. Yeah, I I I struggle with watching some of the some of the more independent stuff. But I have been watching like, you know, I've been watching AEW. I've been watching a not like I mean, it's the most fun.
00:05:18
Speaker
our whole lives, we've been waiting for a wrestling show that we like. Like a large scale production show that, does it have some issues? Yes. Does it have a thousand issues?
00:05:35
Speaker
Not really. Not really. Like it's people I want to watch wrestle wrestling. Yes. And getting to be fun on TV. This is all we want. So the way the way I keep thinking about it is is like so what is your favorite era of PWG?
00:05:55
Speaker
What is your favorite era of Ring of Honor? What is your favorite era of impact? We have it all. We put it all under one roof. Well, I can't say that about WWE because, what, they got Paul White? I mean, I know there are other guys from WWE there, but Paul White, to me, is a very WWE guy. Yeah, I mean, even though...
00:06:24
Speaker
He started WCW, but he's always been more, he's always been like that prototypical WWE guy. Like the same way Billy Gunn, prototypical WWE guy. But like, so like, I don't feel like they've got, because they can't resurrect Eddie Guerrero. They can't- As much as they've tried. Yeah, as much as they've tried. I don't know how good S.A. Rios is anymore.
00:06:53
Speaker
I haven't seen him wrestle recently. So you can't really bring in those WWE guys. You can't unbreak Stone Cold's neck. But what I can say is that, yeah, it feels like all my favorite parts of Ring of Honor, like my favorite area of Ring of Honor, the only thing that's kind of missing is Joe.
00:07:21
Speaker
And it seems like it will be for yeah Yeah for the foreseeable future, but it's like all my favorite parts of that. It's all my favorite parts of PWG like I mean realistically who Aren't they using that? I wish that they were using and it's hard to like I can't even really come up with the name of people like that were people back in
00:07:48
Speaker
in the day that I felt like deserved a shot. Now they're getting their shot on like TNT weekly. Like it's just fucking amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's just really cool to see because I'm getting to see things that I was like, man, I can't wait to see that. So I did go to all out and I did think it was funny that the it's so hard to call him Paul White.
00:08:18
Speaker
he's a big show yeah yeah I mean yeah it's so funny because it's so many people that were probably chanting please retire at the big show got to watch him again at the just one more time at the biggest pay-per-view ever yeah yeah yeah the the the best booked pay-per-view of all time the semi-main event Paul White
00:08:41
Speaker
I did see what do you think it was I think it's worth talking about if it was I have a hard time I have a hard time saying that it wasn't because they the way though I would have been happy with the way that pay-per-view went if at the end of that pay-per-view Kenny Omega went goodbye and good night and Adam Cole didn't come out
00:09:07
Speaker
and Daniel Bryan or Bryan Daniel said I'm so sorry Bryan Daniel said didn't come out if he had just went goodbye and good night like that's a solid pay-per-view that's already like they've already scored like ninety three ninety four percent
AEW Live Events: Surprises and Experiences
00:09:25
Speaker
The surprise of seeing Suzuki was enough. Right. Exactly. Yes, I was happy there. I was happy with this new character choice that that Moxley's taking. You and I talked about it the other night. Moxley's new character is I just want to beat up old Japanese wrestlers now. That's his whole character now. And you know what? I'm here for it. Cool. Let's go through everybody. I very much want this.
00:09:54
Speaker
But I think that the idea in my opinion is like that was already 93 94 percent like you brought
00:10:06
Speaker
It was like, you know, like the really smart kid in high school that like like you knew we studied and then like the teacher would offer like that extra credit, like those two extra credit questions and like they knew they fucking ace the test and they'd still do those two extra credit questions. That's how AEW that's how that all about pay-per-view felt was like they went so above and beyond that I
00:10:32
Speaker
After Suzuki came out, I was like, there's no fucking way that Brian Danielson is coming out at the end of this thing. There's just no way. So you're saying they were at about an A minus, which is very good. Yeah. And then they had what they had at the end. Right. And they got about 107. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. They went above 100. Like, and at that point, like, you're just bragging.
00:10:54
Speaker
I did see a buddy of mine, my buddy Andrew, that listens to the show posted today that he wasn't for sure if it was the best pay-per-view of all time, but it was definitely as good as Dominion 2018, which is one of the best pay-per-views of the last 10 years. Yep, I would, you know what, yes. I thought even that one hit the nail on the head. What a succinct way to describe that because that's absolutely correct, is that it was as good as that pay-per-view.
00:11:24
Speaker
Um, like it was just a fun, I mean, it was a fun watch. Like, well, you know what? You were there. I watched it on TV and, and sat there and enjoyed it, but I wasn't at what some people are considering the greatest pay-per-view of all time. You were. So what was it like being at the greatest pay-per-view of all time? Some people are saying,
00:11:53
Speaker
I think the highlight of being there for me. I know, I don't know if everybody will know this person by name, but if they go back and watch any fucking ICW, GCW, you see this motherfucker everywhere, Mittens. Fucking Mittens. Fucking Mittens. Wrestling fans know Mittens. CM Punk kid. This kid has been dressing like CM Punk. I assume in his everyday life, not just wrestling. For the last seven years.
00:12:22
Speaker
And I've seen him in a lot of shows. But I realized when we sat down in our seats, he was like four rows ahead of us to the left, so I had a perfect view of Mittens. And I will say, so I introduced, I was with Derek, who if you listen to predetermined, my co is predetermined, love you Derek.
00:12:43
Speaker
We were sitting next to Mittens at JCW's three cup stuffed, and I explained the idea of Mittens to him. And Mittens kept pulling out his flags for every wrestler that came out. I will say, I told Derek, tonight's the night, I'm gonna finally shove Nick Gage. I'm gonna give him a push, we're gonna yell at each other, it's gonna be great. Right as I went to do it, Mittens stepped in, stole the handshake.
00:13:08
Speaker
And Derek leans over and goes, I'll be honest, man. I don't know if I like mittens. And I said, that's fine. You don't have to like mittens. And then a few seconds later, mittens did something. I don't even remember what he did. But Derek goes, I fucking hate mittens. And then I don't feel bad saying this. Mittens is mittens. He's an acquired taste.
00:13:37
Speaker
But during the show, we looked down, seeing Punk is wrestling. We looked down at Mittens, just tears going down his face, and I'm like, fuck yeah, Mittens. Get it. Get that cry. Right, right, right. He's getting seven years. He's fucking wanted this for so long.
00:13:54
Speaker
and walked around in his daily life, dressed as CM Punk. At a certain point, he dropped the edge, he started drinking, so he started putting his own logo on the thing. I mean, I'm just saying, man, like seven years of his life. But as we're waiting out, the show lets out, we file out, we're hanging out in front, like as people we know are coming out and just being excited. I see Mittens walk by, and I just shouted Mittens.
00:14:23
Speaker
And he like turned and he said, how was it, bud? And he just came over and like high five me and was just so amped. And he's like, I lost my voice. And he went away and Derek just quietly goes, Mittens is all right. You goddamn right, Mittens is all right. Hey, Mittens, if for some reason you hear this,
00:14:46
Speaker
congratulations dude like all of us had lost hope and you didn't lose hope not a day not a day did you lose hope and i'm so i'm proud to know who you are
00:14:59
Speaker
Congratulations, dude. As much as that was for CM Punk, that was also for you. Oh, it felt like it was for him. He's not even from Chicago. A motherfucker was more excited than everybody in that room. Yep. I think that Mittens could have given everybody in the arena a run for their money of excitement because of how long and how dedicated he was to that.
00:15:26
Speaker
how long do you think he would have gone if punk did not come back i believe mittens is uh like in his early 20s yeah do you think he hits 50 years old do you think he's like it's time to put the tape away it's not happening wait but i think that what happens if
00:15:44
Speaker
eventually is is that people no longer associate the tape with CM Punk and they associate with it becomes a mittens thing which I would have fucking been here for I would have like they've been like oh you tape your hands up like mittens yeah I take my hands up like mittens
Wrestling Fans: Dedication and Stories
00:16:05
Speaker
guy has merchandise yeah like there's so many like I don't know if you want to call him like famous fans but just fans you see in the crowd at every show like WWE has had like the distinct four yeah for like Brock Lesnar guy
00:16:22
Speaker
He sat, he might be an AEW guy now. He sat across from us at Art of War Games and I will say Brock Lesnar guy, not wearing a mask, was not actively drinking or eating, didn't even come in with a mask. So already I'm sitting there like mean mugging Brock Lesnar guy where I'm like, this isn't your scene, man. What are you doing here? Get the fuck out of here.
00:16:52
Speaker
The GCW crowd is a progressive crowd. You can get the fuck out of here Brock Lesnar guy But yeah, like so like what we got Brock Lesnar a green smiley face shirt guy Yeah, sure if we go watch Smackdown right now is it's area Probably probably there. He's probably fucking there Goth guy with his mom mom or older girl or older girlfriend
00:17:19
Speaker
maybe fun ant we don't know do you have any relative that you're like I'm gonna hang out with him every week and travel the country no like and I don't hate my family by any stretch of the imagination but there is no family member that I want to hang out with that much I want to continually eat
00:17:42
Speaker
arena tendies Like what do you remember when he went through that really weird phase where he was wearing sunglasses? Oh, yeah, like I don't know if he is still now because Like I feel like he's not in the front row as much anymore And in a certain point he dropped the goth like he just started wearing like nice, but yeah He's wearing like button-ups and fucking sunglasses, which we all evolved but
00:18:05
Speaker
He has consistently been a WWE fan. Your WWE goth, like Brock Lesnar guy is still wearing affliction t-shirts. Understand and know your lane. Such a specific type of goth. WWE goth.
00:18:25
Speaker
Like, what the fuck is that? That's like, you only buy Undertaker t-shirts. Or Bray Wyatt. It has to be a spooky character. But what music does WWE goth listen to? I feel like a lot of Five Finger Death Punch, probably. Like, some like... See, I was hoping you were gonna go like, I don't know, maybe stuck with Power Man 5,000. Oh, yeah, okay, okay. You know what? He listens to a lot of Spider. He listens to a lot of Spider-Man 5K.
00:18:54
Speaker
uh you know what i take back five finger death punch he listens to a lot of pyromat 5k because he's because spider is related to rob zombie he listens to auxiliary bands so he was also a big edema fan because like that's corn's little brother
00:19:13
Speaker
like he doesn't listen to the main act he listens to the brothers band of the main act like he hears dig from mud man fuck I wish one of these guys brothers exactly
00:19:28
Speaker
um wait let's so who else is there there's fucking so we got we got fucking ww got who turned into like ww weirdo creep who wears sunglasses inside holy shit you know who i saw all weekend who
00:19:43
Speaker
it's still real to me damn it really he was all over the place everywhere every GCW like you know what that you know what that makes me happy because I would have assumed that guy would not be a GCW fan he still like he wears his own merch he had he was literally wearing a it still feels real so he's essentially wearing a t-shirt with his face on it
00:20:09
Speaker
No, I know. I know. I know. I'm just saying that, like, essentially, that's what he's doing. The wrestlers are doing it. Why can't I fucking. Oh, my God. You telling me that when you get that shirt in the mail that struggles made, you're not going to walk around wearing a shirt with your own face on it. Listen, I might wear it to the ring once, but I'm going to crop top that motherfucker.
00:20:30
Speaker
I'm going to scare people at the gym. Yeah, I'm going to scare people at the gym. I'm not going to scare people in my daily life. No, I just like I've never been a big fan of like merch with my face on it. Like like it's just it feels weird to me because how the fuck do I wear that shit without looking like the fucking biggest goddamn goof in the entire world? Like imagine being okay.
00:20:56
Speaker
not to get off topic but imagine being razor Ramon with that all over print do you remember the fucking all over print razor Ramon shirt where it's just razor Ramon all the way down the shirt and it says Uzi machismo on the side and it's just a big old picture of him and he's gonna wear that on himself like what the fuck like it's like inception you like i don't fucking hate that shit
00:21:23
Speaker
but yeah it was so wait hold on we got really off there um so i'm trying to think of the other fucking uh the fanboys uh i got one i got one uh wrestlemania dallas i was sitting near is he oh yeah and this was like i mean i know she's like probably a teenager now and she's like training to wrestle i think tessa blanchard's training her
00:21:45
Speaker
Don't love that That was a fun all-out chant. Do you hear that on TV? No, I didn't there was a pretty big Not a pretty this one was a small chant But it was we want Tessa and then a larger amount of people screaming. No, we don't Good thank you But we were next to Izzy when it was Bailey was still champ and
00:22:12
Speaker
okay and i believe she was going up against oscar and oscar beat her for the title and they left oh they left family left like she was inconsolable yeah
Injuries in Wrestling: WWE's Cautious Approach
00:22:27
Speaker
And she was like fucking a 10 right right right right like like I understand I understand like that's good heat like like I'm like I'm very much for like Making an eight-year-old cry because Bailey lost a title or a ten-year-old crying because Bailey lost the title But what I will say is is that like it seems very strange to me that she wasn't sitting down by the ramp and
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, some WWE love that kid. Why did she sit in the cheap seats with me? Well, I mean, I guess I assume that you weren't sitting like like ringside ringside. So you weren't sitting ringside ringside.
00:23:08
Speaker
No, we were like near the top. OK, it was a small arena, but like, yeah, we were up towards the top. Well, so my thought, yeah, because my thought process is is that like they would stick her left hand side. Right before the ring, because they had to have that Bailey is the interaction where she hugs her or gives her one of her fucking snap bracelets or whatever the fuck piece of merch they were pushing for Bailey at the time.
00:23:37
Speaker
but now like like what a fall from grace to like like wwe doesn't even want to recognize you no get out of here we you you buy tickets like the rest of these motherfuckers that's what i feel like that's a conversation that they had with their dad or his or their mom is this like you buy fucking tickets wait
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah, at what point did WWE be like not cute anymore? There is no will call for Izzy.
00:24:12
Speaker
Oh, that was a match too that she didn't just get beat. She got destroyed. She got destroyed. If I recall, she even passed out in the match from being like... And I don't even feel like it was that long of a match either. I feel like it was maybe 10 minutes.
00:24:31
Speaker
That was the year that Sami Zayn and Nakamura had that match, so that's what I remember from that show. It's okay to forget everything else from that show, honestly. Well, that was the same. Samoa Joe, Finn Balor. But they kept stopping that match because somebody got busted open and it was too much blood. And people kept cheering and let them fight.
00:24:57
Speaker
Yeah, and they would not let Joe fight. What a boring thing to happen in a main event. Well, I think that like I remember I do vaguely remember that because I think he got a cut over his eye. It was a lot of it was pouring.
00:25:15
Speaker
Like they were having to stop every like 20 seconds and they were putting superglue. I remember seeing on TV. They're putting superglue and that blood was like, fuck you. I'm still bleeding and would bleed out the fucking superglue. Like that's wild as fuck. And so they had to stop it like three times. And then finally they got the fucking blood under control. But at the same time, it's like, fuck you. Just let them bleed.
00:25:40
Speaker
It's gonna be fine. I was sitting here like, how the hell did we get on this old of a takeover? I was like, oh, Izzy. Hey, listen, we know that this between you and I, this is very freeform.
00:25:55
Speaker
We don't know what we're gonna talk about. You know how you guys are in the dark about what we're gonna talk about? So are we. There needs to be the deathmatch equivalent of an Izzy. I want a little kid dressed up as MDK that goes to all the shows with the parents. How fucking amazing would it be of like mini MDK? I've seen pictures of Gage with like, oh. I've seen pictures of Gage with kids like in his gear. I love it when he's walking out to the crowd to pick up a kid and put him on his shoulders.
00:26:24
Speaker
And then he'll be like, let's fucking go right into that kid's ear. And I'm like, you scream fucking into that kid's ear. I love you, Nick Gage.
GCW's Rise and Influence
00:26:34
Speaker
Gage did make my weekend, though, at Three Cup stuffed. OK, let's go. He was it was shit. Who is it? It was Gage and a second gear crew versus Warhorse, Dan Housen and.
00:26:49
Speaker
That's two WWE legends, Barbarian and Warlord. Yeah, right? Am I making that up? Is that wrong? I know one's Barbarian because I smacked him. So let's tell this story. Go. Nick Gage has two fans like, hold him.
00:27:07
Speaker
and two fans grab him and then he points at a guy and is like, chop him. And he was next to my buddies and like both of them were shitting their pants like hoping that Nick Gage didn't ask. I was like, please, my turn, come on. And he pointed at me, looked me right in the eyes and said, chop him. He was like, yes, fucking sir. And before I even had time to react, Derek was shoving me towards Nick Gage.
00:27:30
Speaker
But did you get to chop him? I got to chop him. If I could go back in time, I saw the video. It's not bad. It could have been better. I mean, it was overhand. Let me say this. You didn't overhand. You got good noise. I get a good noise. You can hear the noise off of it because if you watch the person who chopped right before you didn't get so much like it was there was not no noise. You got better noise than the guy before you.
00:27:55
Speaker
Well, what made me feel like I did a bad job is when I looked up at Barbarian, he had a big smile on his face. He loves that. Like, he loves it. He loved it. It was the best. Because they had them. They looked fucking miserable because they came out first. Oh, yeah. And when you have War Horse, Dan Housen, second gear crew and Nick Gage, that's like 15 more minutes of introductions. Yeah, yeah.
00:28:24
Speaker
You've got a solid 20 minutes of just introductions that you're gonna have to do. Any stretching those two did in the back before they came. Did mean shit. They haven't been in a ring in 15 years. Yeah, and wait, one of them was mance with sacred gear, right? They've stopped doing, now that mance and justice have the belts together, they get one entrance song.
00:28:50
Speaker
Okay, they come out to walk but but that's fine. But my question is, is did they go through everybody's full interest?
00:28:59
Speaker
pretty much because because man's warner's entrance is long as fuck in fact if we if you would just hold for just one minute i know like like i know that fucking that nick gauges is long nick gauges has always been long because he's got to talk about cell blocks hate clubs he's got to talk about it all he's not he's not missing he he's getting all his shit in
00:29:23
Speaker
and uh the thing with mances is mance also gets all his shit in in fact i can go through what his is is uh it's uh king of the big dog style the eye poke god mouth of the mid south medium-sized man beast lariats and light bears macho mancer
00:29:46
Speaker
weighing in at 187 pounds from Bucksnort, Tennessee, psycho, Mance Warner. That is just his pin tweet of what his entrance is. That is how you have to intro him for a match. So if that's, and like, I don't think that, I don't think that Matt Justices is that long.
00:30:07
Speaker
Like I think it's just like my name is Matt Justice and like this is Matt Justice. This is fucking Matt Justice. Like I like taking chair shots to the head like second gear crew. You know, Dan Housins is not not sure.
00:30:25
Speaker
I love his new song. I had not heard the tequila, the fake tequila song, but Dan housing. Well, I think that that's I mean, I would my assumption would be that's from Ring of Honor. Did they OK? I think I think that that's what he comes out to at Ring of Honor. I know that he still does the spot. And they still use the music.
00:30:49
Speaker
So my assumption is that's probably what that was born from. But like, I also say this, that since I've been laid up with the injury and there's no way that he's ever going to hear this, my assumption is he's never going to hear this. But like Dan Housen's online.
00:31:08
Speaker
Content is something I've been spending a lot of time watching since I've been laid up. Like, listen, I enjoy watching that man open boxes. I can't get my wife to watch wrestling. But over the last three weeks, I can get her to watch Dan house and open mail.
00:31:25
Speaker
It's fantastic. Like, like the way in which he, he like just interacts with the people. Like, like I know that I'm supposed to be like big tough, you know, like I'm hard way heater. Like I like, I like blood and guts. Listen, I enjoy him opening into packages.
00:31:44
Speaker
His names for everybody is Undertaker's Kane's brother. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Chris Judas. Yeah, Chris Judas. Cold Steve. Pepsi man. Pepsi man. He's just nailed all of it. Just watched one where he went to the pro wrestling tea store, and he was kicked out, and he had to sneak back in. So he put on a mask that was his own face.
00:32:12
Speaker
and like comes in with a hot and ready because he heard Pepsi man delivered some pizzas to the guys in the back I mean I just like he's that it's all so enjoyable like
00:32:27
Speaker
Uh, you and I talked about it on Wednesday, um, because I came over here to watch dynamite. Um, but we were talking on Wednesday about like, how much like, as an example, how much I've enjoyed Cardona's run at GCW. Like it's just been fun. Like.
00:32:46
Speaker
It made like, I've always felt like GCW was a big company. Like that's, I've always felt that way. Like I feel like it is on par with Ring of Honor or even like early TNA. Like when TNA first got started, like when you were like, Oh shit, like there might be somebody who could potentially be a contender. Like they weren't quite a contender yet, but they felt big.
00:33:11
Speaker
GCW's always felt big to me. But Cardona, for some reason, he made it feel so much bigger. He elevated it a lot. And it didn't raise the price of the pay-per-view at all. Not at all. Exactly. And that's elevate the production, elevate the talent.
00:33:33
Speaker
keep it at the same price point because that's how you that's how you create new fans like i don't need a whole bunch of cardonas to come in but add in that one guy and and the just the way he played the character him coming out over the weekend as a deathmatch king dressed as like macho king oh my god it was he was dressed like the macho king action figure which is just the greatest thing in the entire world like
00:34:01
Speaker
I don't give a fuck what you have to say about Matt Cardona. He's fucking intelligent because that was the smartest move he could have made because it made me hate him just a little bit more. What's exciting. So big news. OK. And I do have a question to ask about this. I may have done bad at the show. I want to see what show etiquette is. OK. I was sitting next to a guy the entire show and we were
00:34:25
Speaker
Like chatting a little bit. Right. And then after the... What show? Art of War games. Okay, gotcha. And it was after the cage match and they were like sweeping shit out. Actually, they didn't even sweep anything out. They were getting ready for Cardona. And I said to the guy next to me, I'm like, so Mox is showing up, right? And he looked at me and he goes, why would Mox be here? And I was like, he's in town. Like...
00:34:53
Speaker
I was like, all outs tomorrow. I was like, how GCW has been going, like it would make sense if Mox shows up tonight and does something. And he was like, very shocked. But did I ruin somebody's surprise? Are you not supposed to give spoilers to the people next to you? OK, here's how I would do this, is I would put myself in that guy's shoes.
00:35:22
Speaker
Me and you were sitting there. Uh, you turn to me and you go, Mox is in town. I go, yeah, that's true. Like, because. Okay. I guess I think of GCW fans as a smart, a smarter crowd. Like.
00:35:44
Speaker
But maybe that's something that we have to kind of come to terms with, is that maybe the GCW's, I don't think you did anything wrong. Let's start there. Because if you said that to me, I'd go, oh fuck, yeah, you're right. Like, duh. It wasn't like in college, when I'm sitting in a class getting ready to watch Citizen Kane for the first time, Zach Stebbins sitting next to me, leans over right as it's getting ready to start and goes,
00:36:10
Speaker
It's a sled. I fucking love him for that. But like I think that we have to come to that realization.
00:36:23
Speaker
That's very interesting because I think we have to come to that realization that like with the popularity of something like a GCW or AEW that much like WWE has casual fans
00:36:43
Speaker
GCW, as growth and popularity comes, casuals come along with that. Especially when Saturday night before All Out, it's the only show in town. It's just down the street. And it was the most people, I don't know if they've officially released the numbers. I know before Spring Break 2 was their biggest show they've ever had in New Orleans at the Pontchartrain Center.
00:37:10
Speaker
and this show was fucking packed. That's what I heard. We were hanging out with the curtain jerks that were on pre-determined a few times. And one of them went outside to have a cigarette, and while he was out there, he was talking to somebody who I guess is like a wrestling reporter, and they're like, oh yeah, they oversold the capacity by like 400 people. Like this shit could get shut down.
00:37:36
Speaker
And while he was out there, they said, if you're not in this room, when the door closes, doesn't matter if you have a ticket, you're not getting back in. Fuck. And so he, like, hurried back in. That's fucking that's I mean, I mean, there had to have been some this was exactly as is I'm here to see a W. Oh, shit. There's some to them. It's fucked up because to them that's just local wrestling.
00:38:04
Speaker
They don't like, they might've heard of GCW in passing, but like, like to them, GCW is a local promotion. Like they're just here to watch a local promotion because they're in town for wrestling. And why not go to this other wrestling show if we're already in town? And so like, there might be guys, like I'm not saying that the guy that was sitting next to you that fucking clearly
00:38:32
Speaker
didn't put two and two together the fact that fucking AEW was the next night and Moxley's currently working with GCW but speaking of which I have I have another question a follow-up question after that but we'll get to that in a second um but uh but like there's a possibility that there will be casual GCW fans which is wild but even more importantly there will be casual AEW fans
00:39:02
Speaker
Isn't that weird to think about that there is the potential that there are people who only watch AEWs all out? Like that's all they watch. Like some WWE fans only watch WrestleMania. There will be people who only watch all out.
00:39:22
Speaker
Good thing is with AEW four paper views a year, they put a lot into them. They're typically pretty solid. Absolutely. But that just hit me as we were sitting here talking about it. It was, oh, holy shit. That guy was a casual. Right?
00:39:38
Speaker
Fucking a G raver comes out and I'm like, okay He's gonna be mocks is gonna be one of G ravers minions, right? And as they're coming I was like, why why do you think that why? Like why do you have any reason to believe and I was like, yes story He's like, do you think one of these are hit them? And I was like, it's a hundred percent that one right there And I put the one that is bigger than everyone else. Why do you think it's that one? I'm like one he's wearing wrestling boots and
00:40:05
Speaker
I said, two, he's hunched over like Quasimodo and the rest of them are standing up straight, like. He's not exactly burying the lead on me. God damn it. I felt so bad for Derek at these shows. Why? Because Derek, his favorite wrestler since we've been in high school has been Christian.
00:40:30
Speaker
Christian's fucking main event in an AEW show against Kenny Omega. Absolutely. Huge. Yeah. Huge. That's giant. So Derek comes with us to, or he doesn't come with it. Like he wanted to go to the GCW shows, but that's not his scene. Right. Like that's not like, that's not his, he's a new dad. He doesn't want to get poked in the eye with glass. There's a reason why
00:40:51
Speaker
that it was called predetermined and now it's called uh nice boys who like death match we love death match and Derek can appreciate death match but it's not necessarily his seat he would rather appreciate it from a distance and not be me like being like oh we're from bro motherfucker we're
00:41:10
Speaker
Whereas you and I would like if there was a possibility of getting tickets inside of inside the actual ring. If I could have been in the cage. Yeah, I would bought the I would have fuck about the tickets. But yeah, mocks comes out and is facing off with gauge. Derek's losing his fucking mind like going crazy. The next day we meet up with him and he's like,
00:41:34
Speaker
So the whole time that Christians in there, I'm just like, I'm sorry, but he wants to cheer for him so bad. Well, like I told you the other day, hey, Derek, get your ass down to Nashville and we'll get you into some impact tapings and we will watch Christian up close and fucking personal defend that belt. Yeah.
00:41:56
Speaker
We'll hang out there for like seven hours. That would be great. We can set through we can set through the three to six and the seven to ten. We can do both. And they're fun like because you and I both done them like they're not they're not they're fun taping. Yeah they they run really smoothly.
00:42:16
Speaker
Yeah, like like we were getting fun matches like there's nothing that like there's nothing that I feel like I've gotten that oh I can't take I can't say that I haven't got anything that I was like fucking excited about because I was very because it wouldn't be that I'm not I haven't got anything I'm not excited about it's just that there was I did get a match that I was very excited about I got the Chris Saban Josh Alexander match
00:42:43
Speaker
Mm. And that match was fucking amazing. And that was a really fun match. And then I got a I got Tommy Dream Reverse Ace Austin. That was the other one that I got when I went with Josh. I went with Headley. OK, for the second for the second for the second round. And I'm going to go to this the next set to. Oh, you are. Yeah. OK. Go this next set, too. So.
00:43:04
Speaker
But anyway, not not to go off on a tangibly dare. So now is a good time to be going to impact. Yeah. Yeah. There come down for the seriously. Like if you get if you get an opportunity to come down, come down. We've got you. We've got you handled. Come down for the impact tape. They're very fun. They're next weekend. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're next weekend. Oh, shit. They're next week. Hey, I feel it out for next. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I should have probably told you before right now.
00:43:34
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was a good weekend of I mean yeah first-ever war games deathmatch like what okay, so so What was your biggest takeaway from everything that you experienced this weekend? And it was just solid wrestling all around you know like I didn't see anything that sucked I
00:43:57
Speaker
That's so awesome. That's such an awesome thing to hear. Because AEW, of course, we know. We've already talked about that there's a possibility of it being the best pay-per-view of all time. There was a possibility of the punk mansion not being good. We didn't know. Yeah, yeah. It was good. But Black Label Pro brought it. The three-cup stuffed.
00:44:26
Speaker
Yes, yeah, okay. Is it the least strong show? Yeah, well, the only show I missed that weekend was, I didn't go to AAW in the city, and I didn't go to the Tom Lawler, Black Label Pro Show, which they did a thing that I found out later, I very much appreciated. What's that? They had a table of free deodorant. Oh, yeah?
00:44:52
Speaker
I fucking love that like they're just like we know our audience like and we know you fucking forgot and that's fine just take one I will say this weekend may have been the least smelly like Wrestle weekend I've been upon really I didn't consciously think like walk into a building like
00:45:14
Speaker
This place smells like shit. Effie's Big Gay Brunch, fun as hell. I think it was the highest attended one they'd ever had. A lot of people there, the hot crowd, great matches. And to see those good matches at fucking 11 in the morning.
00:45:30
Speaker
Like the show opened with Edith Surreal. I wanted to see her. I mean, I've been watching her all fucking year through the pandemic. And like the camp leapfrog stuff. And then like because Edith used to be Still Life. Yes. Great name. Still Life. I still love Bears and Apricots. But I don't remember if it was Edith or Still Life. I can't remember which name they were going by.
00:45:59
Speaker
But it was them and Effie and that was like for Camp Love Frog. I watched like the February. I think it was like their their Valentine's show. That's one of my favorite matches of the year because it just it showed how good both of those two are.
00:46:18
Speaker
and just one of my favorite matches like if if like in like when we do our like uh potentially when we do our 2021 year in review or whatever that match will come up again because i fucking love that match it was great yeah um yeah they've just they've had such a a killer year yep were they in the top 500 yes good uh i can't remember what i want to say 170 something top 200 um
00:46:49
Speaker
uh top yeah well i want to say top 200 uh well earned very well earned uh let me uh actually um um listen you guys this is this is a podcast and you gotta give me a second to get through my um uh my twitter's because i follow
00:47:09
Speaker
several people and I just got to get to where ever because I know that they posted about it 192 great great absolutely would even say would even argue higher should go higher
00:47:24
Speaker
Um, let's see another highlight of that. I'd wanted to see Billy Dixon for a while. I'd never seen. Straight Bill. Straight Bill. And he had his personal straight ring announcer. So they brought MLJ out to introduce straight Bill. Hell yeah. It was MV Young in straight Bill versus second gear crew. And one of my favorite spots of the weekend is Mance and Justice pancaked his head between steel chairs.
00:48:04
Speaker
I don't know if he actually said this or if in my heart he said this, but I feel like he said I'm gay again.
00:48:16
Speaker
I love it. I love wrestling. It was just, yeah, it was overall just a great, great weekend to shit. I mean, honestly, mental health wise, I needed that shit. I needed a wrestle weekend. Like I needed to scream my full head off and just, yeah.
00:48:35
Speaker
What was your favorite match of the entire weekend? You know what? Let's exclude AEW. Because there's strength in every single one of those matches. Let's just go with the independent side of things. What was your favorite match?
00:48:52
Speaker
Like, one that keeps coming back to me. I only watched it live, I haven't gotten to rewatch it, but it hit me just right at the time. Three cups stuffed, Effie versus Jake something was really good. I really liked that match a lot. Fucking hoofy broke his foot in front of us.
00:49:10
Speaker
Oh really? He landed, oh nasty crack sound when he landed on the floor in front of us. Speaking of, sorry Hoobie, I'm sorry Hoobie and I don't mean to bury what you, bury Hoobie, but I think that you need to tell the story about Nicholas Gage and during the Dan Housen tag match.
00:49:30
Speaker
We were lucky enough to be front row for two Nick Gage matches this weekend. Both were, I guess, kinda goofy on the goofier side. But the one was, I feel bad, I don't remember. It was supposed to be Frank the Clown and Robert Anthony. And it was supposed to be Nick with Kylie Rae. Kylie dropped off, which I also saw she just had to give up the freelance title.
00:50:03
Speaker
anyway he gets teamed up with Danhausen MD Danhausen and they were right in front of us this match starts with Danhausen while he's in the ring with Frank the clown or whoever
00:50:18
Speaker
God damn, Nick Gage sees the little jar of teeth in the bottom corner, picks it up, turns to us and just goes, the fuck are these? Like doesn't shout it to the crowd, like just delivers. Working to, working to exactly you. Yeah, working to like the four fucking people that were directly in front of him. And we just said, teeth. And he's just like, what the fuck? And he just sits him back down. It goes back to watching. It goes back to being a good tag partner.
00:50:47
Speaker
Then later that night, he ends up eating those teeth. Oh no, did he? Yeah. The next, uh, three cups stuffed. He had to fight Dan house. Oh yeah. Cause it was him and, uh, him and war horse. And why can't I remember the, their tag name, the WWE guys? Cause one's barbarian. I'm pretty sure one's warlord. Yeah. What the, what were they called? I got the fuck makeup.
00:51:15
Speaker
I feel like anyone listening right now is demolition. It's not demolition. It's.
00:51:22
Speaker
Shit, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Yeah. And they're listening and they're sad. Yeah. I mean, listeners are really sorry. I don't know anything about it. Also, listen, like we are in a deathmatch. Like we remembered Nick Gage. Yeah. And we remember second gear. As far as if we have to talk about a little bit of deathmatch. I really only saw a couple this weekend. Jimmy Lloyd and G Raver. Yeah. They had the end match. The end. And Jimmy Lloyd set his ass on fire.
00:51:51
Speaker
Yes, he certainly did. He certainly did. I got some video. You got that. That that three count was underneath the fog of extinguisher. The next night for art of war games, Jimmy Lloyd wasn't part of it. He was just in the building and he was walking by and we saw a girl like bump into him a little bit and the look of pain on his face.
00:52:22
Speaker
From like a like a maybe a little too burnt ass. A little unscripted burn ass. It happens. Hey Jimmy it happens. And then of course the war games match which
00:52:42
Speaker
I need to rewatch it honestly because there was just so much as two rings side by side we were in front of one of the rings like there was a lot going on RSP's last deathmatch RSP's last yeah got thrown off the scaffolding through a bunch of glass which was a wild spot like I went back and re-watched that spot a couple times and like the like the the visual of like the hard cam
00:53:06
Speaker
Like, because I've watched like the hard cam footage of it and it is, it is, you know, fixated and you just see him leave and he disappears completely. And the only thing you see is just glass and like just just shit fly up in the air and the sound of like a very hefty bump. I mean, if you're going out on your last deathmatch and just as well be fucking war games. Yeah, you're goddamn right. I mean, because first time ever.
00:53:34
Speaker
first time ever and I was I know we just talked about how in our minds GCW is a big company like to me they hang with everybody yep like they put a show out I here's my $14 yeah I know like take it I was a little concerned with how they were gonna set up a cage in that room
00:53:54
Speaker
Yeah, I've never seen them put on something of that quality before, you know, like where I knew it wasn't going to be like a big WWE steel cage covering the whole thing. Like what was this thing going to look like? I feel like they kind of fucking nailed it. They did a great because I even like the fact that they put the scaffoldings on the other side, like on the sides of it, like because if you're going to create a death match, war games match.
00:54:17
Speaker
like fuck it let's put fuckery around and like those scaffoldings were really fun like i really enjoyed that because honestly like there was a lot of work up on top of those scaffoldings and it didn't suffer from the same way that i feel like other war games matches suffer where um you've got very minimum amount of room to work on
00:54:40
Speaker
Whereas like now we've got these scaffoldings where you it remind me. OK, so do you remember in NXT? I don't know if you do the it was Champa and Thatcher. And they were in that weird cage with that fucking that like walkway up top.
00:55:01
Speaker
I don't think I remember this. Okay, so that's what it reminded me of is there's now room to work on the top of the fucking cage, which is the time that the audience gonna be able to see the most. Like your vision is not impeded at all. So I love the idea of the scaffolds above it. I love the idea that there's now like, I just thought it was such a fucking smart choice, like just from like a look perspective.
00:55:30
Speaker
Um, but yeah first fucking deathmatch war games and I hope they make it like a thing I mean if that I was gonna say annual but When they have I mean this was a two-year storyline in an indie promotion. Yep that actually got a huge fucking payoff. Yep, and and what like where does 4 4 0 go now
00:55:53
Speaker
I mean, at the end of that match, Atticus seemed pissed at RSP and left before everybody else. I mean, honestly, I can see Atticus taken... I mean, arguments could be made that Atticus is... His own man now? Better than RSP. He's had a good year. He's had a great year. I mean,
00:56:22
Speaker
Like I'll use, I'll use like, I know that not all wrestling is connected storyline wise, but I'll use ICW as my example. Uh, Atticus was the one that gave Reed Bentley his first defeat at ICW. Really? Yeah. Atticus has had a banner year. Like.
00:56:48
Speaker
if if 2021 in my opinion 2021 has two breakout stars if if the year ended tomorrow and we had to go who were the breakout stars of 2021 um from the independent scene the two people I would say are Atticus Cogar and uh Daniel Garcia it would be very hard to argue against Daniel Garcia right because think about the year that guy has had
00:57:19
Speaker
Um, like I was, I, I like, I knew a rudimentary knowledge of Daniel Garcia, um, early on in the year because of like the stuff he had done with ICW. Like I remember, like one of the things that sticks out strong is, uh, his match with, uh, Shay Mercer, where he just got tossed the fuck around. Um,
00:57:47
Speaker
But that is my rudimentary knowledge beginning. That's not the entire rest of the year that fucking guy has had. He's been everywhere and worked his ass off everywhere. He's the first guy who touched CM Punk. What? He's the first person to touch CM Punk in seven years. If you were gonna guess who...
00:58:16
Speaker
Yeah, I'm on that roster. Wait a minute. I don't think he's even signed, right? Like he's still just he's on a he's on a per per per appearance deal. He's still on a per appearance deal. Oh, speaking of which, hey, shout out Lee Moriarty, by the way. She got signed. AEW. He is one of the guys that for the last year, he's another longer that we've just been saying, like, why isn't this dude signed? And now he is.
00:58:45
Speaker
Yeah shout out Lee Moriarty very happy for that dude put in the work put in all the work
00:58:53
Speaker
But yeah, it's very interesting to see where Daniel Garcia started this year versus where Daniel Garcia ended this year. Because I believed in his talent. I never did not believe in his talent. But just to see him get the opportunity, he's got Minoru Suzuki coming up.
00:59:19
Speaker
Like, where's he doing that? I can't remember. I want to say limitless, but I don't think that's right. I know he's got it. I know he's got it. I can't remember somewhere. Look, just go to Daniel Garcia's Twitter page. Like it shows where he's wrestling. It'll be one to tune into IW TV. Yeah, it'll definitely be an IW TV match.
00:59:42
Speaker
but like he's got that like he's I mean there's no signs of him slowing down at AEW I mean especially when you have Danielson saying I want him yep he's my son yep and that's like it's just that's that's the year that dude has had
01:00:03
Speaker
it's it's it's just interesting and so like not to not to go okay so I guess that I guess that I think of Garcia's having the best year like as we're sitting here talking about I guess I kind of see Garcia's having the best year but it's hard to not argue that Atticus hasn't been nipping at his heels
01:00:26
Speaker
all year long. I mean, he's had non-death matches as well. He's very, very good. Very good.
Deathmatch Wrestling: From Niche to Mainstream
01:00:34
Speaker
I don't know why this always comes to mind for me, but there's something about him that I could just see him being like the next Seth Rollins. Somebody like that. He gives off that. There's a genuineness to Atticus Kogar. There's a genuineness to how he wrestles. There's a genuineness to how the character is portrayed of
01:00:58
Speaker
It would be very easy because Atticus is a handsome dude. He's got good in-ring gear. For all intents and purposes, he should be a well-liked heel.
01:01:17
Speaker
But he goes that extra mile to get you to say, fuck Atticus Kogar. Like he doesn't try to be cool. And that's what I love about Atticus is he doesn't try to be cool. He leans into the fucking Ohio shit. He, fuck you. I'm, oh, I'm from Ohio. Like it's, it's fucking perfect. I'm so like that dude has had a great year. I can't wait to see more of him.
01:01:42
Speaker
And I kind of hope that he does kind of take the mantle of 4-4-0 because again, we're sitting here talking about people in 4-4-0. Eric Ryan's still in 4-4-0 and I love Eric Ryan. He's been everywhere this year. I hate 4-4-0. I hate 4-4-0. I want to fight every single one of those motherfuckers, but
01:02:05
Speaker
You can't argue that they haven't had a great year. You can't. Like, Eric Ryan's been everywhere. Everywhere. I fucking... Eddie only's back. Eddie only's back, and he came back dressed as Sandman. So like, how can I be mad at a guy who dressed like Sandman for his return?
01:02:35
Speaker
I don't know but yeah so yeah the first ever war games deathmatch AJ was in there it just yeah yeah he was yeah he was in there and we see all his hand yeah gross gross gross as fuck hate that still did it yeah it's just the idea of where GCW goes from here
01:03:00
Speaker
it seems limitless like I don't want I mean their next pay-per-view I mean maybe not the next but October 9th we get mocks versus Nick Gage in Atlantic City yep they didn't I thought this was they weren't making us wait anymore there's like it's happening yep and see like you and I talked about it and I assumed that they were gonna stretch this out till
01:03:22
Speaker
spring break spring break and they did and now mox has got the title you know like hold on mox came out this is how big GCW is at this point mox came out on the AEW pay-per-view to wrestle kojima in a GCW hoodie
01:03:45
Speaker
Like, that motherfucker is willing to wear GCW colors on his back, literally. That's how big GCW is now. There was a full-on GCW chant at the now arena. I mean, how much better can it get? Like, we said, I think in the first episode, you and I, when we first started this, I think we said in the first episode that deathmatch is more mainstream than it's ever been.
01:04:14
Speaker
Um and I did I honestly like like there have been benchmarks like the fact that there was a deathmatch on TNT like like there have been benchmarks this year alone that makes what we said in the first pay-per-view null and void like things that are bigger than what I thought that it was gonna be I mean
01:04:42
Speaker
The guy who was voted the number one wrestler in the world last year is fighting Nick fucking Gage. Yep. At the showboat. Yep, exactly. Like, like there. I kept thinking like, well, there's no way you can go more up than this and it just keeps going more up.
01:05:02
Speaker
So I think that as a deathmatch fan, like it doesn't feel like, and the thing is, is that at no point has it felt watered down. Like it doesn't feel watered down. It get feels like we're getting the same quality.
01:05:21
Speaker
throughout. And like you said, there wasn't a crazy amount of death matches on the GCW or the two cups or three cups stuffed or show at one. Yeah, at least had one. But but do you feel like from popularity that deathmatch is suffering?
01:05:41
Speaker
Not at all. Exactly. But at the same time, we've talked about this too, like GCW has gone from like a full on deathmatch company to a company that uses deathmatch as like the cherry on top of a great show. Exactly, exactly. Like they've extended and changed their business model to not just be deathmatch.
01:06:04
Speaker
like because as much as I love like a straight up straight up and down death match show like I'm very much a part of when I'm wrestling I'm very much a part of just straight up and down death matches like doing a no-piece show that's gonna be traditionally it's going to be four to six death matches like in a row I don't I still don't think that cheapens it especially if you're if you're coming out the gate saying hey this is a no ring death match show
01:06:34
Speaker
Well, especially too when a company like No Peace has so many people that are deathmatch wrestlers that I want to see. I want them to be able to work. I want to be able to see them. Since the Indianapolis weekend,
01:06:51
Speaker
I want to see Sawyer wreck more times. Exactly. Like she's somebody that I if like continually thought about like, I would love to go see her live again. Absolutely. You know, and I want to see her break tubes. I want to I want to see her wreck shit. Yeah. Yes. So so like, that's what I would say is that I think that the fear of deathmatch getting more mainstream
01:07:19
Speaker
I think the fear, at least for me, was always like the more mainstream deathmatch becomes, the more watered down it becomes. And what I'm finding is the exact opposite is the cream is rising to the fucking top. Like, like you can tell this is very inside baseball. And I will I will admit that this is very inside baseball. But you can tell motherfuckers who actually love this shit when they're doing it. And you can tell people who don't actually love this. Like we're just trying to get it on the resume.
01:07:49
Speaker
And that's like from a deathmatch, like I even have a hard time calling myself a deathmatch wrestler because it's not like I've got 50 under my belt. It's okay. Jericho calls himself a deathmatch wrestler now and you've got more than- And Cardona calls himself the deathmatch king with one.
01:08:11
Speaker
But what I would say is is that with a few under my belt, like I can sit here and say that it's frustrating. Sometimes it get like it can be frustrating on the end of doing it for clout versus doing it for the art of it and.
01:08:31
Speaker
I don't think deathmatch is for everybody. I think there are certain people who should stay away from it because of how they're going to react to being smashed through a glass pane.
01:08:48
Speaker
you know the story I've told you the story AJ I'm scared like when I went through that glass pane I was scared I was legitimately scared because I just didn't know like I I'd never experienced it before but I did that and then I've had a few more after that you know what I'm saying so it's not like it's not like there is the fear
01:09:15
Speaker
in a bad way, it's the fear and the good way, the ooh, what do I get to experience this time? Did you hear Cardona talking to Jericho about Deathmatch? I didn't. It was a fun interview. It seemed like the only thing that, it's, well, I guess for both of those guys, them discussing what it was like to be in a ring, to be what it was like in a ring with Nick Gage and saying like, oh, it went way further than we talked about beforehand.
01:09:45
Speaker
But Cardona saying, he's like, everything was worse than I thought it was gonna be. But he said the one thing that when I got near it and I realized he was gonna put me through it, I ran away. There was, I hate that I know the name of this fucking thing now. The Detolf. The fucking figure case on the end. He said, I've put those together. He's like, I know how thick that glass is. He's like, I didn't want any part of that.
01:10:15
Speaker
I fucking love it. Like it's just like, but like, even, but I would say this, like, I haven't listened to those two talk about it, but I bet that they speak with reference. I bet they speak with like, yeah, I'm scared of that stuff. And like, I don't want to do it again, but they understand. Like there is an inherent danger to it.
01:10:36
Speaker
And even if they're like, oh, I never want to do it again, you can't sit here and tell me that fucking Chris Jericho and Cardona didn't have fun doing it. Well, especially because with Cardona, I assumed he was done. I figured this was his GCW couple shows he's gone. Yeah. He's signed on for the New York show. Oh, really? We don't know what he's doing. It said he's coming to speak. Ooh.
01:11:03
Speaker
I'm fine with him sticking around. I kind of think he's a welcome addition. Somebody said something. Somebody made a tweet. I don't remember who it was. So I'm sorry. I can't give you credit. But somebody said RSP crawled so that Matt Cardona could walk because that is 100 percent true with GCW is is that if if we didn't have the last year and a half of RSP, we wouldn't have Cardona right now. And Cardona has made it like
01:11:34
Speaker
Cardona, Cardona, Nick Gage's name is in more people's mouths now, strictly based off the fact that Matt Cardona wrestled him.
01:11:43
Speaker
And and looking at the comment section of I maybe never look at the comment section of anything. Yeah. But looking at the comment section after Cardona and after Jericho and people being like, this was bullshit. This was too dangerous. Like, why would they put him in there with this guy could have hurt them like this is like motherfuckers. You guys are getting worked so good. Yeah, I love it. I love it.
01:12:10
Speaker
because this guy should be in jail. Like people legitimately saying, I bet Nick Gage was just loving it. And the other part of that is that like the rest of us who like, if I had the ability to do that every weekend, that's what I would do every weekend.
01:12:31
Speaker
Like if if I had that ability, I would. But the fact that the that like there are people who are like almost appalled, like they're appalled because they never expected to see one of their heroes go through something like that is just the fuck. It's the icing on the cake.
01:12:53
Speaker
it's because like agreed like you just said like of course they had agreed to different things before they got in the ring with Nick Gage but it's been well documented that once Nick Gage is in there everything that you called is out the fucking window everything that you would agree to he's gonna take it one step farther because if he can get you to agree to one thing then what are you gonna do when you're in the moment
01:13:21
Speaker
Like, I can't hate on Nick Gates for doing that.
01:13:25
Speaker
I think Moxley has given him a little bit more legitimacy, too, in the dark side of the ring, talking about, like, I thought he cut my fucking tongue out. And that's what I'm saying. Like, Arquette helped with it, with being like, oh, fuck. Like, Arquette saying, once I was in there, I realized I was in over my head. And he did that to a man who bought a mistake dinner before the match. Goddamn right.
01:13:55
Speaker
but yeah it's just like it's so interesting how because that wasn't even a year ago like when we said that the deathmatch is the most mainstream that it's ever been that wasn't even a year ago that was like four months ago mate yeah like before mania right before mania i think is when we we said that um and i don't think we really knew the limits that it could get and i what i'm saying is i think there are
01:14:24
Speaker
I think there is a I don't know that you could put a full blown top to bottom deathmatch show on cable TV. But it is absolutely proven that you could put on a a wrestling show with one deathmatch. We've seen it. So where do we go now? Like, where do we go now? Like we've reached the fucking we've reached the the fucking pinnacle.
01:14:54
Speaker
they could it was broadcast on live television and then the fucking pizza cutter man i'm still going to be very upset about the fact that dominos didn't lean into that i'll always be upset about they didn't lean into the fucking pizza cutter spot and then it went straight to one of their fucking
01:15:10
Speaker
their ads like come on dominos all you had to do is get nick gage for one commercial and you just could have made money at least broadcast the commercial just on a ew you know you don't have to be a nationwide you know what yes it does give nick gage a national tv commercial because i don't want him to have to worry about money ever again
01:15:32
Speaker
Make him the new, like, fast-talking guy from the FedEx commercials. Make him the new, you know, the fucking micro-machines. Make him the new, where's the beef lady? Where's the fucking beef? Yeah.
01:15:46
Speaker
But yeah, but it sounds like you had a good weekend. It was it was a very nice Russell weekend. I was very happy for ready for the for the next one. I hope I hope you can join me for the next. Oh, yeah. One hundred percent. Like my hope is that I could be out of this damn brace before I go to my my next like long Russell weekend just because, you know, shit gets uncomfortable after a while. But yeah, any other thing you want to touch on from the weekend?
01:16:17
Speaker
I feel bad if I don't mention his name at least once. Okay. Got to see my guy Craig Mitchell. Hell yeah. Got to see him wrestle Shane Mercer. That fucking bully. That fucking piece of shit, Craig. No, I love Craig. It was fun getting to see him again. We talked about him a lot from Southern Underground Pro on the other show and it was just...
01:16:37
Speaker
I'll always pop for Craig. Yeah, you and I've talked about like, I think I've told you my favorite sub spot of all time is Craig putting Alexander into a fucking trash can. It's my favorite spot of the basement. It's my favorite spot because it was just so well done. And the fact that like he put him in the trash can and then immediately just mean mugged everyone in the crowd like it was so perfect. It was so fucking perfect.
01:17:04
Speaker
It was just it was so weird. Well, the the freelance show that he wrestled on, I was I was expecting like a pretty big crowd. Yeah. But it was at the same time as Rampage. Oh, yeah. So it was probably the is the lightest crowd, the lightest crowd of the weekend, for sure. Great show. Yeah. Yeah. Watch wrestling. Sup tickets are on sale. Get some get some fucking support. Maybe. Hey, they've announced one match from it.
01:17:31
Speaker
I saw it and it's a banger. Yeah, makabe versus fucking radrick. That's gonna be fun. Uh, but yeah, uh, yeah, go to sup. If you are in the Nashville area and you haven't been to a sup show like number one, what the fuck are you doing? How are you listening to this show?
01:17:51
Speaker
and not going to a sub taping. Come drink with us. Yeah. We're going to have a good time. Like it's like sub Sundays are just, you know, they're just a different experience than you're going to have any other wrestling show. I feel like I'm not sitting here saying that it's like different than, you know, whatever your local promotion is. I'm sure that people who are free freelance regulars or black label pro regulars feel the same way.
01:18:21
Speaker
but SUP is just our version of that and it's so much fun.
Southern Underground Pro: Local Impact and Growth
01:18:31
Speaker
The first sub show I went to Was while we were doing predetermined and I did bus ups balls a little bit What is it? I mean, I just like a couple things But one of them a hundred percent I busted balls over that ended up being huge later Danhausen was the shit
01:18:52
Speaker
That guy, I was not into Danhausen originally. I was Donovan, old Donovan. Old Donovan Danhausen. Like, who knew that, like, he was gonna be the... He become the guy he is now. He was gonna be the fucking man later. But just him, I'll never forget. He was trying to do this, like, nightmare in Elm Street spot, like, sliding out of the curtain, like, wrapped up in plastic. Yeah. And it just... It didn't work. It didn't work. He needed some special effects that he didn't have, and, uh...
01:19:21
Speaker
Like, here's what I'll say is that is that the face paint worked. The nail on the teeth was good. Yeah. Yeah, that was good. It was the entrance that didn't work. But the entrance, unfortunately, is what happened first. Yeah. And and that like is I couldn't get it out of my head and fuck like I because I had also that was my very first like true indie wrestling show.
01:19:48
Speaker
right like i got very spoiled with indie wrestling like my pwg being my first like in quotes indie wrestling my introduction to indie wrestling which i would even say that it's like a shelf above indie wrestling because essentially what it was like especially the time that you were going it was guys who hadn't quite made it to wwe yet
01:20:11
Speaker
you know i mean yeah like like like guys who were getting ready to be signed first show i saw opening match with champa versus gargano right exactly and then in the parking lot i saw william regal talking to both of them and then i didn't see him again exactly
01:20:28
Speaker
So yeah, so like pwg win during that time what the winners would have been like what? 2000 been like 16 ish 16 like like late 16 early 17 somewhere in somewhere in there Like yeah, that was just guys who were gonna be in a next year
01:20:49
Speaker
dudes who were like on their way to being gods. Yeah, exactly. Or they were either going to be in NXT or they were going to be at New Japan or they were going to be at AEW. Like that entire fucking roster. Like if I pulled up the card of who was at my first show, every single person is signed to a major company. Yeah. Yeah. So I it took me like I I was probably a little bit of a piece of shit for like having like I had been spoiled.
01:21:17
Speaker
I mean, that's okay. But while I'll say this, I will say this, that sup, as sup has grown, sup kind of feels like that sometimes. Like, we used to see Alex Zane.
01:21:32
Speaker
Yeah, we see Kurt Stallion, Matt Justice, Matt Justice, like, like we've seen all those guys who ended up getting signed, like, and so like MJF, Joey Janela, you know, like it's it's very much like sup has always kind of felt like the PWG of the South.
01:21:57
Speaker
in my opinion I don't think that I don't know that everybody would think that but I would say that at a time that's how that felt is it felt like Marco was there you know it just like for a time that's how that felt who did Marco beat for the title did he beat Brett he beat no he beat was it did he beat Dom did Dom have the title Dom had the bone storm
01:22:22
Speaker
I feel like in my mind, the majority of the time I was going to shows it was Brett. Because I think the first person to hold that belt was Kurt.
01:22:38
Speaker
Shit. Was it? It was either Kurt or AJ. I can't remember who held the title first. One of those two held the title first. And then Dom got it. And then Marco got it. And then Brett had it. And then AC got it. Yeah. And then it went. And then AC got beat by AJ. So. And that was the collective in Indy. In Indy. Yeah. In October.
01:23:06
Speaker
that the collective 2020 in October. It'll just honestly, it'll be nice to have wrestling that I can drive to in my in the town. I live in again. It'll be nice for that. Let me let me do a little plug ski here the night before that sub show. T.W.E. is running a show in Chattanooga. I know matches. The only match that I know that's been announced is I sit versus Akira.
01:23:33
Speaker
Oh, hell yeah. And so that happened before. Is this the first time? This will be this will be a first day. So I think that's this. No, no, no, no. I'm so sorry. That's that's in September. That's their show coming up. It's going to be Iceland versus Akira. So still good. Doesn't. Yeah. Yeah. Still really like I don't I don't. It's never happened before. This is the first time that they've actually face to face.
01:24:00
Speaker
which will be interesting uh to kobk guys going up against each other like that um but be a handshake beforehand hopefully a handshake uh but the thing with kobk is is like we hit our brothers harder than we hit anybody else so and god damn if those aren't the more most fun matches to watch yep
01:24:21
Speaker
so I mean we can expect those two to just beat the absolute shit out of each other let me touch on something that is kind of connected to that about like local wrestling so Resolute Wrestling ran a benefit show for me and I just want to shout out Resolute Wrestling
01:24:42
Speaker
for doing that. Me and Mo's kind of got to put a card together with the help of Brett and Caleb, who runs Resolute. But I just want to say thank you to those guys. We had a really good time. It was nice to get to step foot in a ring again in front of a crowd. I got to talk to them. You got a good pop, too.
01:25:06
Speaker
They were excited to see me because the last time they saw me, I was being essentially dragged out of their ring. So because my legs weren't working quite right. But I got to do that with them. It was a good time. We had a good time.
01:25:29
Speaker
Got to raise a bit of money for me to help with medical bills. Got to see like a very fun match between some people that are very important to me. I got Jaden Newman and Vinny Pacifico. This is the main was Jaden Newman, Vinny Pacifico versus Brett Ison and Carrie Awful.
01:25:54
Speaker
as a tag. So it was very interesting to get to see what could be said or my two biggest mentors in wrestling as a tag team versus two guys I respect immensely in this business. So that was a really cool match I got to see with a W for Brett and Kerry with a spiked street justice.
01:26:23
Speaker
Oh fuck. Off the top rope spiked. So, Street Justice, Carrie jumps off the top rope, spikes Jaden on the Street Justice. One, two, three. But really fun match, got to have a good time.
01:26:40
Speaker
I got to go out, interact with the fans, made me recognize why I was in the situation in the first place. You know what I'm saying? You know, I'm hurt right now and it sucks and I just want to be back wrestling and all of those things.
01:26:59
Speaker
but just to get to step out there in front of that crowd met the world to me and I would like to thank Caleb and Mo's and Brett like because they were the ones that put that together and it was just a good time but if like let me just plug their let me plug their socials real quick the you can follow him on Twitter at resolute r e s o l let me start that over
01:27:27
Speaker
at Resolute Rasslin. R-E-S-O-L-U-T-E underscore R or underscore W-R-S-T-L-N. Resolute Wrestling. But yeah, go check them out. Give them a follow. They have like wild matches like tonight. They have Brett Ison versus Adam Priest.
01:27:49
Speaker
Oh shit. It's just happening tonight. AEW dark superstar Adam Priest. Last week they had last week they had I can't remember the match because they had like a Saturday show and it was Caleb and I believe Cage first verse Rhino.
01:28:12
Speaker
And I can't remember the other. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Rhino was there. And I can't remember who rhinos tag partner was at the time right now. But oh, Biff. So like they just have the like they'll have wild matchups. Alex Zane has spent a lot of time there. Like has wrestled a lot there. So it's just like it's a very local promotion and they use a lot of the local guys. But but the but the
01:28:40
Speaker
quality of show that they put on is fantastic. And that's all on IW TV as well. No, no, it is not. I got to go see a lot. You got to go see it live. This it's a very live like I think that they they have a YouTube presence. But yeah, it's very much a go see it live kind of show like is most wrestling. I would say I would say like how I feel like how kind of like how PwG kind of started out like that.
01:29:06
Speaker
like if you wanted to go see a show like you needed to go to recita like you had to go see the show
01:29:13
Speaker
because they hadn't always been on high spots. They did DVDs, but it would be like when it came out. Six to 12 months out from the DVD coming out. I'm not saying that it's exactly that, but what I'm saying is that it's that kind of experience.
Mental Health and Wrestling: A Personal Journey
01:29:30
Speaker
Good atmosphere, just good wrestling. Yes, it's a fun show. And you should just go check them out. What city are they in? Crossville, Tennessee. It's about an hour and a half drive from Nashville.
01:29:43
Speaker
Um, but it's, I mean, it's, it's a local indie show, but they have a, like, Brett Eisen is their, their heavyweight champion. You know what I'm saying? Like granted I'm very biased, but, but like you're dealing with people like Brett Eisen, like Alex Zane used to go through their, you know, out of priests is there tonight. So they get bigger. They get big names to come in and wrestle. And it's just, it's an interesting show. Um,
01:30:13
Speaker
But yeah, shout out to those guys. Thank you so much, Caleb. Thank you so much. Resolute wrestling. Thank you, Mo's. Thank you, Iceland. I can't tell you all of you enough how much I appreciate you. But yeah, that's the that's the that's the only live wrestling I've been to in a few weeks.
01:30:33
Speaker
I bet it felt good though. It did feel good. It felt good to be in front of a crowd. It felt good to be in front of a crowd and get to do like the old baby face thing where like, I'm like, I'm like, how are we doing Crossville? And they gave me something and I was like, no Crossville, I need more. How are we feeling Crossville? And then they got louder and I was like, I got them. But yeah, it was fun. We had a good time putting together some matches with the local guys.
01:31:03
Speaker
It was just a good time. A lot of fun wrestling, a lot of fun fan interactions. It was just a good time. It was awesome. Yeah.
01:31:16
Speaker
We've been going like 90 minutes. I feel like it's time to maybe wrap this up. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm having a good time like that. I mean, but we also got to order some pizza and we also got to watch some wrestling. Yeah. Tonight is we're going to watch some rampage and watch some Andrade versus the Pac Pac. Yeah. And then. Oh, wait, that's not till next week. We don't get to zoom in. Well, we get Suki good next week. Oh, shit. And we also get Adam Cole's first match on dynamite.
01:31:45
Speaker
For real? Like we are. Remember he said he said my first match will be next week on Dynamite. Hell yeah. So next week's Dynamite is going to be great. And just fucking wrestling so good. Oh, let me touch on one more thing. Hey, I know that it's been a while since we've done one of these and I don't want to set a precedent that I don't feel like we can keep. The intention now is for us to try to release weekly.
01:32:09
Speaker
Think we both need it. Yeah something something scheduled At at least once a week it would be great I think we're both just in like a mental health part of our lives where it's like this is having a little weekly something something good My mental health has been hey, we're just gonna keep talking for a minute. It's been dogshit. Yep, like absolute dogshit Like
01:32:37
Speaker
suicidal thoughts on the rise and all that shit like i know it's not fun to say yeah but then like the daphne thing happened and that fucked me up um so i started seeing a therapist again yeah yeah yeah and i i had like a therapist at an office that i had been seeing right quit seeing her she couldn't get me back in i've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately and they've been promoting the better help
01:33:02
Speaker
website yeah yeah yeah or the app that you can get a therapist i had seen this lady twice and i called her yesterday for my third appointment uh-huh the video app part wouldn't work so we're just on the phone oh no 15 minutes we only have a 30 minute session mind you 15 minutes in she goes oh i remember who you are
01:33:27
Speaker
I'm like, bitch. We halfway through this fucking session, you just now remember who I am? Like, what does your note say? Like, sad boy? And you're just like, you wrote that for all of us? Jesus. She goes, oh, you're the one with the facial hair.
01:33:46
Speaker
What? Well, because I currently have Kenny Omega's facial hair. Right. Because the anxiety, you know, if you saw the movie Young Adult with Charlize Theron, she plucks a bald patch in her head. I do that with my beard. Right. My facial hair looked ridiculous, so I had to shave it and give myself the limit. See, and I thought it was all out of solidarity for the fact that I had to do it.
01:34:12
Speaker
But just when you hear your therapist part way, like halfway through a fucking... Oh, I remember you. Like, why say that out loud? Yeah, you could have kept that to herself and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. This is the worst way, like, to be like, you know what, if you're having problems, get therapy. But I'm like, yeah, I got therapy. Shouldn't fucking know who I am. Fuck. Fuck.
01:34:37
Speaker
man. Yeah, man. I don't know that she should have a license. Well, I don't know how good better help is or whatever. I mean, I used to offer code dough boys for the oh Jesus Christ. Yeah, save 10% of my first month. Yeah.
01:34:52
Speaker
So, I think that I haven't entered therapy completely yet. I've had conversations about entering therapy with like people on the phone. I haven't got in yet. I'll be honest. I'm mostly using, like, I'll be honest, I'm using friends and family right now as fit therapy. I'm telling them how I feel. And I understand that that isn't necessarily the healthiest way to go about it.
01:35:22
Speaker
Once you get a therapist, it becomes real. Yeah. Unless I don't know who you are. Right, right, right. But it was real to you before. It's still real to me, damn it. And then she made it very much not real. But once I get a therapist, it becomes real. So that's been my big struggle. And I'm not sitting here saying that I recognize that. And I know that I need to follow through.
01:35:52
Speaker
And so one of the things, one of the ideas I've kind of been coming up against is, is do I want to just go straight to like Vanderbilt and talk to like one of their kids that needs like a practical, like somebody who's doing. Yeah, exactly. Because then it's real to me. But like if they say, oh, I remember you, I don't know if I feel that bad because they're they just need their practical hours. Yeah.
01:36:21
Speaker
like I want like it's the same as getting a haircut from like the beauty school like that's how I like and there's no shame in that yeah yeah my I'm treating my mental health like I would treat a bad haircut I don't know how comfortable I am now that I've worked that out of my head with what I'm saying
01:36:44
Speaker
So yeah, mental health over here has not been great, everyone. We just need to watch some wrestling, talk it out. Yeah, yeah. Today, earlier, we were talking about the things that we watch when we are kind of having mental health struggles.
01:37:00
Speaker
And like I was talking about my, the fact that I watched nail painting compilations. Like that's one of the things that I watch when I'm, uh, when I'm struggling mentally. Uh, one of the other things is watching guys fix cars from a, from a junkyard to try to make it, to try to make them run. And I don't give a fuck about cars. Like I care about cars, but I, like I care about well, well working cars. I don't really give a shit about. Like I told you earlier, they'll talk about distributor caps.
01:37:29
Speaker
I know what it is because I know the word because it's been set up my face both of those words process those words I still have no idea what a distributor cap does for an engine see I want to hear what you guys watch when you get sad because I know what heater watches for me I just was telling him there's this I'm not a fan of Disney
01:37:52
Speaker
I don't even like the Marvel movies, really. But there's this fucking YouTuber, Tim Tracker, who'll walk around Disney all day and just look at things and he'll tell me how neat it is. And I need that at night. So it's a nice little, him giving me a bedtime story. Nice little serotonin bump before you go to sleep.
01:38:14
Speaker
Like, no joke, if I went to Disney World, ran into this Tim Tracker guy, I'd come in my pants. Like, you were just as famous as Nick Gage to me. Right, right. That's the beauty of the fucking internet, though, isn't it? But, yeah.
01:38:31
Speaker
So, so we are nice boys who like deathmatch wrestling. We are also nice boys who like new girl. We are nice boys who like regular wrestling at times. We like old WCW like hilarious gimmicks, but we're also nice boys who also love mental health.
01:38:48
Speaker
And if you need help, talk to someone because I feel like this is important. This is an important part of mental health is is telling other people, hey, I'm struggling right now and we are two full grown adult men.
01:39:04
Speaker
who had a serious conversation where we have some laughs talking about our mental health and about how it's not good. I do death match wrestling people. I have light tube smashed over my head.
01:39:19
Speaker
And I can sit here and tell you that right now I'm not okay. It doesn't make you any less weak. Talk about your mental health, it's okay. And if you need help, get help. And I'm gonna take my own advice and I'm gonna sign up for fucking...
01:39:36
Speaker
Some therapists talking so by next week. I'll be able to tell you about my first therapist visit I Will say the first one at least through this better help very disappointing. I don't know She sat down and filled out a form with me for a half hour. How was our whole session? You got to pay $65 fuck. Yeah In this form that we filled out all the questions I answered I had to answer to join the app and
01:40:02
Speaker
Oh fuck, for real? So it seemed like... You had to do it twice. I had to do it twice, but once I got to pay for it. Oh, that's fucking rude. And you know what? Don't let that fucking discourage you. I just want to give you the heads up. There's gonna be a little bullshit along the way. You're already trudging through this quicksand right now. Shit's not gonna be perfect.
01:40:22
Speaker
You're not going to go in for one session and feel better. It's, but yeah, just fucking talk about your mental health. It's okay. Hey, nobody fucking do it. Like the only thing, the only way to get better is to fucking work on it. That's it. That's the only way you get better. You, it's not just going to magically go away. We all know that if you struggle with depression, you know, it doesn't magically go away.
01:40:46
Speaker
That's it. I'm sorry. It got real heavy right there at the end. We needed that. Yeah. You know what? Everybody needed to hear. They need to know what we're going on. This is why this podcast exists. Yeah. This podcast essentially until we say otherwise
Music and Mental Health: Colleen Green's Influence
01:41:00
Speaker
is to help with both of our mental health. All right. So before we get out of here, I do want to I want to plug one thing. Go.
01:41:07
Speaker
One of my top five favorite musicians ever released an album today. Okay, Colleen Green She hadn't released an album in like five years and she released an album today called cool And it's very fucking good and you should buy that album so that we can listen to more calling green now What we were listening to on the way over it was in the car. Yeah, okay. All right We were talking a lot, but I could still I could I could hear the smooth jams. Yeah She's great
01:41:35
Speaker
and now I'll save this for next time okay but yeah I had to go to her house once and it was very awkward because I cannot wait for next week so you tell that story I am at guard Ted on all social medias I am at hard way heater on all social medias and we will see you next week kisses kisses