Luchaundead

The issue for me isn't EVOLVE getting WWE support. My issue is that it's hard to fully invest in a company whose top storyline is a propaganda tool to babyface the dysfunctional market leader, rather than put their own company over as the be-all end-all. That doesn't help either

Elgin has gotten much much better but he is short and not ripped. It seems that thickness doesn't really come through on TV as well so what size he does have isn't going to be impressive but in person he's a big big dude. If Elgin can press slam Moose why couldn't he do it to Brock?

What device are you using? And why aren't you using some form of offline storage integrated podcatcher?

This comes down to pre & post production in most cases. The reason a lot of those other shows are able to keep the length down is the do a good amount of work before recording to prep for their topics and then they tend to edit down long form conversations into bite size pieces so they come across more exciting. A lot of this passion project podcasts just don't have the time or resources to do the same thus what you end up with is a much longer, raw product.

We have been trying to keep the Lucha Undead podcast under 45 mins but it's tough especially on interviews because I love to let people talk

It's going to be a network show called Holy Foley. I had heard Noelle was training at CAP dropped out and came back once of twice so I wonder if this "training" show is going to be mostly gimmick. Will see I also wonder what first name only they are going to give her?

If the wrestling is good now, was good six months ago, and will probably be good in six months, then why does it matter? It's not a political party or a union you're a part of or something. It's a pro-wrestling company and you're a consumer of their product, not some sort of shareholder. You are right and wrong here, as I say I enjoy the product way more that ROH or really any other American company right now but, it's hard for me to have the same emotional investment on them growing that I can have with a company that I know is openly competing to be #1. It does not have a negative impact on the shows for me but I can't rally around the company the same way I use to knowing they have upward limits. On top of that these are living companies it's not like watching 90s AJPW and you just know what you have is what you have because both Evolve and ROH exist in real time there upward mobility and future prospects are important to my personal investment in the product

The idea that both Dijak and Page turned heel after very recent face turns reeks of poor planning. ROH has already pretty much ruined Page and if they keep this up with Dijak the same will happen with him. On that same front now Castle is #1 contender for Fish and I can see him winning the title in a face v face match so either they turn Castle which seem impossible right now or they turn Fish which seems pointless right now or once again Castle comes up short which I not sure he can afford a title shot loss right now as, he is just seeming to build up a hot streak. Any comparison to Evolve right now, outside of in-ring, is purely laughable and even in-ring to my taste Evolve is head and shoulders above ROH. The one big difference for myself as, I am pretty turned off by WWE product whole cloth, is that Evolve's connections to NXT/WWE make it hard for me to take them as seriously going forward. While with ROH because I know they are teaming with NJPW but theoretically should still have aspirations to continue growing that makes me excited for them as an over all property. Meanwhile when Evolve comes out talking about going to more towns and during their debut in Maryland ask the fans if they want to see them back soon it feels less important to me especially asking the crowd that when their return shows are already booked and have been announced. That situation felt like they are manufacturing the appearance of growth. Knowing that Evolve is getting support from WWE it makes me feel like while they are getting more exposure they will always be held to a certain level and I can't get to invested in a company that has a pretty clear, no pun intended, glass ceiling.

I came here to also mention this Yukio Sakaguchi has been wrestling for about 5 years at this point for DDT his career highlights are a pretty universally panned KO-D Openweight Title run (that I absolutely adored) and having a pretty great match with Minoru Suzuki at the DDT 19th Anniversary show earlier this year. Thinking about Seiji and Yukio it's a bit unfortunate that they both weren't really around for Rings, Pancrase, Battlearts, or UWFI as they both work/ed the judo/shoot style really well.

Jokes on you Johnny it was a Jimmy Buffett Club shirt

Thank you Andrew you're doing the lords work. That is amazing I wonder if "Jobber has a Cagematch profile?

Has anyone see a screen shot of this "Calvin Knapp vs "Jobber"" graphic? that killed me.

Has it been made clear if this is just terminating his "talent contract" that maybe had been left over of years but still keeping him employed behind the scenes? I ask because you don't "release" employees and it would seem that most of his work for the past few decades was not as talent.

Speaking from personal experience having roots in both Pacific Northwest and Southern California, both regions don't really seem to have bias against them but more just a lack of exposure. Even to this day people seem to be very unaware of there being an indy scene here at all other an PWG which at this point is all fly in talent from around the world. I do find my self stumping for my "local" guys more than other even if I do think Brian Cage would be better suited a Botchin' Machine rather than a fornicating one. So I do see that there clearly are regional bias at work even just in my own opinions.

This is a good point. I tend to not think of the bible as non-fiction and think that most things where written with some type of intention but I completely over looked them attempting to keep things time period correct. While that dose sway the intent of original text it does not change the effect it may have had on the subconscious of society.

I really enjoy out theme being "we like wrestling" I couldn't imagine listening to another B&V style hate watch podcast. What is also a great wrinkle is that I feel like Johnny and I have totally different taste so you get to come away with 2 totally opposite positive views and then Pete who is somewhere between us both but still positive as well. Fall 2 for the next episode I know is going to be a good one based on what I've seen so far.

No, not at all. They were drawing in the low hundreds for most shows outside of NYC. Turns out "Former OVW star and Spirit Squad member Mike Mondo FKA Mikey" on posters at Six-Flags wasn't as big of a draw as Cornette had expected.

I was on the same page as you on Bravados originally, they seemed like a bad Young Bucks knock off so I thought Young Bucks are bad enough but, now since their return I am really enjoying them as they seem to really have their own unique style and are damn fine in-ring works. I'm happy to see all my recent bitching about Cedric's placement in ROH is paying off with him getting a big return to Evolve. If we do get Ced v Yehi I really hope it doesn't lead to Ced just being another member of Catch Point. What would actually be nice is if, to make Ced seem special, he refuses an offer to join Catch Point.

For all of his faults, he stabilized the product after Cornette ran into the ground. He's just good enough to not get rid of in favor of someone else. He knows the fanbase and what to give them.i honestly think his biggest fault is the same as the rest of the company and that's the poor eye for upcoming talent. If you believe Cornette he was also Jim's right hand man as he ran the company into the ground so shouldn't that really be a double edged sword situation? It's like saying "Hey thanks for helping us fix what you helped someone else fuck up"

I'm perpetually hopefully that Royce will put it all together soon as start to break out of the pack

Quick nit pick technically speaking because wrestlers in WWE are deemed, wrongly or rightly, independent contractors it would actually be a guild rather than a union. So what I would see easily working would be if a guild existed they would negotiate the benefits as in paid travel, expenses, and insurance. For a more "fair" pay structure I could see nightly and program based pay splitting. The way it would work is pretty simple everyone in a match on a house show would get the same pay based on card placement and crowd draw then, any merch sales in the building for everyone involved in match is added together and divided equally. For long term feuds you do the same for merch sales that come from dot com, TV taping, and PPV/Special event live shows. It can get more complicated of course so you could easily point out instances where something would cause issues but those issues once again would be negotiated by the guild to be more fair to the group rather than the company preferred performers.

This is so true, if they could get their coordination better, ROH and NJPW are really suited for each other right now as they both complement each others weakness and strengths right now. ROH may have the strongest current roster going, with the possible addition of Hero and other Evolve guys that don't' "...have upward mobility to move onto WWE developmental." It's only going to keep getting better. What comes with such a strong roster is that every show has multiple matches that can easily be seen as MOTN or even MOTYC. Unfortunately ROH booking is stale and almost no match ups feel fresh. Conversely NJPW just lost all their top workrate guys but, the Shibata, Omega, Elgin and Naito/Ingobernables stories, characters, and pushes have all seemed to catch fire chasing NJPW shows to feel like exciting and new even with matches we've seen dozens of times. A more that prime example of such was the recent Ishii vs Naito main even from Wrestling Dontaku, these two have been wrestling each other regularly for nearly a decade the most recent encounter being within two months yet, this match still delivered and felt new. If ROH and NJPW can use their strengths succinctly to mitigate their deficiencies we could see something truly special very soon.

I was going to say that part of the given name only trend with women may play in to the subjection of women visa-vis expectation of surname change upon marriage. My thought process there is that women's last names don't matter as their lineage is not important for they are not entitled to anything in terms of line of succession or inheritance. When a woman marries they will throw away their own identity to become nothing more than a reflection of the man that has chosen to mary them. Then Madonna got me thinking that the singular named female phenomenon goes all the way back to The Virgin Mary or Madonna once again an example showing that it does not matter her past of where she came from, all that really matters is her role as the vessel for the miraculous birth of God's only begotten son. So is it a subconscious choice to for women in wrestling to be treated as less-than, identity-less, without back story or familial ties based on histories poor treatment of women being ingrained in society or is a conscious effort to make them more easily treated as nothing more than eye candy because without a surname we can pretend she isn't someone daughter or even a person at all?

Finally finished the DOA match and wow it was great as always I think a lot of the problem with it is that while it's always impressive and a fun watch the match losing something if you are not familiar one with the format and two with the back stories. That being said WTF was CIMA doing with that ball launcher, he almost killed Cyber Kong. The new unit that I will be referring to as "The Coolest" until they get a proper name is probably the best group of underdog faces you could possibly put together right now but, I do think they need a heater and if Fuji unaffiliated combined with his friendship with Maria I would love him acting as their muscle. All in all great show and I'm super excited for King of Gate can't imagine anyone but Yamato winning it after this and I just saw a down right nasty main event for the show on the 15th, Cyber, Doi, and Shingo vs T-Hawk & Strong BJ? I don't know if they make the DG rings strong enough for this match.

If they don't do mini-Vampire Warrior they are really missing the boat