GSR

Frenchy Martin was the one WWF manager that immediately sprang to mind who you didn't mention in the segment. Kendo Nagasaki's manager after George Gillette was Lloyd Ryan, whilst another terrible British manager was Charles McGee (usually managing whomever was opposing Daddy in the obligatory tag match). There aren't any more from that period who I can remember bar Princess Paula, and I certainly wouldn't class her as a terrible manager.

Someone tweeted Meltzer about him and Dave's reply was that he is out injured with a knee injury and will be back later in the year.

If you do an Exile or a podcast devoted to the Zahorian trial I remember Zenk talking about his experiences on one of the old eyada shows (including that comment that Bix mentioned about him being the kind of guy who'd get drugs out of a bin). I've never seen Wade's writings on the trial, but that double issue of the Observer is one of my favourites so Wade's must be something pretty special if it's better than Dave's.

Agreed. I don't know if Jeff had done plenty of preparation for this by watching stuff from the timeframe recently or what, but he had a great memory for things, was extremely knowledgeable on all areas and really added to the discussion. After Chikarason the other week where, despite his admitted blind spots on certain areas, it was his enthusiasm for the product (and show!) that made it such a fun listen, it's good to see the show back on form when it comes to the guests after the poor Brandon episode and the truly awful one with Les.

I'm not a regular listener of Jericho's podcast (it all depends on the guest) but this really was an excellent podcast. If you've a long commute, or a couple of hours of work to do and want something to listen to, this comes with the highest of recommendations. Also the idea of Nancy doing Jim Barnett impressions (and then imagining her doing them) just sets me off laughing every time!

You're still not harping on about that match and getting people to try and review it are you? There is a reason they've commentated on Patera against Judo Joe Black and Koko Ware against the Masked Patriot.

I don't think the chatter slowing had anything to do with the digs that were made at this board or some posters on here, and I for one found it pretty laughable that they clearly cared so much about the criticism that they received on here. I had never heard of the podcast before someone started this thread, tried to listen to an episode and thought it was awful. Overly long, way too much filler, could've done with an editor, not as funny as the hosts clearly think it is, subject matter that has been done to death and is hardly unique or new, I could go on. Issues that quite a few seemed to have with it. If it wasn't for their one man advertising squad that is Judy Bagwell constantly bumping this thread it would be pages down by now.

I thought he was one of Wales's best players against England (along with Chester and Robson-Kanu). A very infuriating night if you were an England supporter. I wasn't pleased with the resting of all these players when the team was confirmed before the match, and even moreso at full time. Bertrand was woefully out of his depth, Henderson was poor (and his delivery was garbage), whilst Wilshere was only slightly better. The Slovakians clearly came for the draw (as evidenced by their celebrations at full time) and for all their possession England couldn't break them down. When yesterday afternoon I was planning England's route to the semis via beating Albania in the last 16 and Hungary in the last 8, it now appears we may well end up with Portugal and then France. Good on Wales for doing to Russia what England couldn't, and that game and the late consolation has probably ended up costing us more than this Slovakia game.

I've taken to skipping the Top 10 at the start of the show. It's pretty much the same every week; Brian does his Sue the Shooter voice, annoying Yomamba sound bites, Brian does his Black Scorpion impression, some unfunny tweets from Denim Fritz, Orgasmic Larry Nelson sound bites etc. It also doesn't help that this is dragged out for a good hour! If it was a quick run down or maybe even just in depth once a month I wouldn't mind it so much, but every week is just overkill for me. I appreciate I'm in the minority from the feedback that gets read out and people who send in their fantasy booking for the Top 10, but it's not what I listen to 6:05 for, which is the old wrestling talk and the fascinating and unique interviews and guests that they have. When the show runs for four hours each week too I don't feel bad skipping all this and joining it an hour in.

From an English point of view I thought it was the best we had played in a tournament for quite some time (probably going back to Euro '96 or maybe the Argentina match in France '98), so to concede a goal so late was pretty deflating. The Russian keeper made two very good saves from Rooney and Lallana but we had enough chances to be out of sight. My main concerns were Sterling who for all his pace has zero end product (my mate was saying he's becoming more and more like Tony Daley every day) and what on earth was Harry Kane doing taking all the corners? If he had a decent delivery I could 'maybe' understand it, but he doesn't and rarely found a man. When you've got one centre forward on the pitch, and one who is good in the air, why on earth isn't he in the box? The Rooney substitution was a strange one as not only is he our most experienced player by some way, but he was also having a good game. I also felt the game was crying out for Vardy (I would have replaced Sterling with him) but good old Roy left him on the bench.

In regard to the white wrestlers pretending to be Asian, there was also Chris Champion when doing Yoshai Kwan in WCW.

Excellently put and couldn't agree more. First time I've ever just given up on an episode of Between the Sheets and it was all down to 'Les'. I know the guy is obsessed with Meltzer but can't he keep this to his own podcast? Whilst I appreciate you can't always get the likes of Prazak, Naylor, Dylan on as guests, there are times when I just wish it was Kris and Bix discussing the events, this week with 'Les' and last week with Brandon were two such occasions.

When running down the wrestling families and talking about the McGuirk's, you forgot to mention Mike's son Max who for a period of time was under a WWE developmental deal. I did wonder whether Bob was at the Pintor/Owen fight when he started talking about attending Boxing matches at the Auditorium and lo and behold he then starts talking about that very fight. It was tragic in more ways than one in that Owen had some sort of issue with his skull and that if he was alive today, tests would have picked up on it and he wouldn't have been allowed to box. There is also a nice piece of film on youtube where Pintor goes over to Merthyr to meet Owen's family and they unveil a statue of him in the town.

Great stuff as always, but it was (to me) one of those occasions where the guest didn't really add much to the discussion. I always enjoy listening to stuff about Pillman and although BIx mentioned 'gravity boots', I was surprised there was no talk of Mark Coleman either as that always seemed to be a staple of whenever Dave would tell or write about that incident. Also, please never let Bix sing on a podcast again!

Having watched his complete tenure in SMW I'm in full agreement with you here; in fact I think Mantel blows Ventura out the water.

For British families in wrestling there are the Knights, and in regards to twins in wrestling there are the Shane twins (aka Gymini) and the Klimaszewski twins (who were very briefly under a WWE developmental deal in the early 2000s).

This is a more aggressive match than the one Haward had with Clive Myers and is all ground based. They get so much out of the simple things such as arm and wrist levers here. The third round sees Cullen start to focus his attention to Haward's left leg and we see some really nice selling from Haward, nothing too over the top, just believable. Cullen continues to concentrate on the left leg in to the fourth, however as both wrestlers are on their feet and he has hold of it, Haward leaps up over the top of Cullen and rolls him up from behind for the pin. Haward gets fired up after Cullen stamps on his hands in the next round following a knucklelock posting him hard into the turnbuckles, so hard in fact that referee Ken Joyce loses his footing. A second posting from Haward, but Cullen comes out and catches him in a small package to tie things up. The aggression continues into the third fall predominantly from Haward, and when Cullen has him in a side headlock Haward belly to back suplexes him over the top rope to the floor. Unfortunately, Haward then proceeds to throw himself over the top rope to the floor and Ken Joyce informs us that both wrestlers are injured and the bout is stopped and ruled a draw. Despite the shitty finish (primarily the bump from Haward, as if they'd just had Cullen take the fall from the belly to back and announced he was injured and couldn't continue it would have been far more plausible. They could even have then done that Haward didn't want to take the win that way, and still declared it a draw) this was a solid match. Very different to the one with Myers as it is less high impact, but if you enjoy matwork, isolating a body part, selling, you'll enjoy this. Just prepare for yourself for the terrible ending!

Breaks is sporting a silver jacket with the words 'CHAMP' on the back and shoves Lee during the referee's instructions. Lee starts skipping and bouncing around the ring which doesn't impress Breaks; some flashy kicks, a backflip and someone from the crowd yells 'sort him out Sammy', which receives a 'shut yer mouth' response from Breaks. A super quick leg trip takedown from Lee, an Indian Deathlock and Breaks crawls to the ropes for the release. He gets up and points his finger to Lee whilst mouthing off at him. Breaks again has resort to grabbing the ropes to break a Lee submission, and then he's not happy when in his eyes Lee doesn't break the hold quickly enough. Towards the end of the round he's looking for the Breaks Special and starts to bend the rules, punching and hair pulling behind the referee's back. The cheating continues into the next round, but as he's choking Lee on the ropes he tries to propel him backwards to the canvas but Lee pulls out a backflip, Mongolian chops and a folding press for the pin. The crowd starts chanting 'easy, easy', which does little to ease Breaks' temper. Breaks opens the next round with yet more closed fists to the face behind the referee's back, this time Lee retaliates finally having enough of Breaks' persistent rule breaking. Closed fists to the face of Breaks, forearms, a dropkick and then an uppercut, but because he didn't allow Breaks to get back to his feet he gets the first public warning of the match. The crowd aren't happy, Lee turns his back on Breaks giving him the advantage he needed to drag Lee down and get the equalizing fall. The ref finally catches Breaks in the next round giving him his first public warning. He tries to post Lee, who runs up the turnbuckles and does a backflip, unloads with rapid fire kicks, chops, a reverse kick before getting a folding press for the pin. As Brian Crabtree is about to announce the result, Breaks goes 'what about the kicking Crabtree?', and then challenges Lee saying he'll wrestle him for money. This was a very fun sprint, not a great match per se, but highly enjoyable, entertaining and a ton of fun for what it was.

This is one of the earliest Grey bouts on tape, with the only one earlier that I could find being a match against Eddie Capelli from the year prior. It is also during this bout that Kent Walton informs us how Grey teaches handicraft to OAPs and the handicapped! Nearly the entire first round of this contest was worked around a headlock, firstly with Cortez in control and then Grey. After two rounds of straight wrestling Cortez starts to get more aggressive in his offense, firstly palming Grey in the face and then hitting him with a great sounding uppercut. He cartwheels out of a headmare immediately throwing a dropkick and Walton is not happy with Cortez losing his cool thinking that it could spoil the contest. Cortez continues to be the aggressor into the fourth giving Grey a shot whilst he is on the ropes and another uppercut. Grey responds with a dropkick of his own which catches Cortez in the chest. He does a nice sell job as though he's been winded, even delaying releasing Grey when they are in the ropes on the next move to give him a little bit more time to get his breath back. Grey lands on his feet from a monkey flip and when Cortez tries it again Grey holds on to the knee as he goes over to take it with him. The finish comes after Grey again lands on his feet from a monkey flip and surprises Cortez with a dropkick, he follows up with a headmare but Cortez comes back with a cross body for the pin. A slow burner of a bout as I went in with pretty high expectations from these two. It really picks up from the third round and it's interesting to see them work for so long just off a headlock

The only PTBN podcasts I listen to are Between the Sheets and Exile on Badstreet (and the occasional PPV review), but how on earth could those two be limited to 60-75 minutes? Even when they've gone over four hours there are times when I've wished Kris and Bix would've elaborated more on something. So much would be omitted if these were restricted in length. I fully agree with what Karl above has said, in that I'd rather have a long podcast that covers everything than a short one which just scratches the surface.

Prior to this match Johnny Saint comes into the ring as this is to be an eliminator for a shot at Saint's World Lightweight title later in the year. This is fought at a much quicker pace than the previous bout with Cortez having the advantage in the first round, even going for a pin attempt when turning a Grey back hammer escape into a sunset flip. At the end of the first we see Grey lose his temper thinking Cortez's attack came after the bell. Into the second and a front head chancery by Cortez which Grey spins out of and again Cortez is not breaking when on the ropes. Great action towards the end of the second as Grey tries to keep hold of a wrist lever whilst Cortez does all he can to escape. Full nelson by Cortez which is reversed by Grey, which Cortez then turns it into a crucifix for another pin attempt, but he's not happy with the referee thinking he's slow with his count. Cortez goes for a straight arm lift submission and then continues to concentrate on this hold, applying it a second time and when he goes for it a third (which could well get him the submission) Grey responds with a forearm smash that drops Cortez who has a look of 'Well the f____, so it's like that is it?' on his face. The bell rings to end the third but the two continue to argue after the bell with Cortez not happy at all about how Grey got out of the hold. Both are sweating considerably at this point with Cortez again looking at the left arm of Grey. Another straight arm lift but Grey escapes the fingerlock, stands on Cortez's shoulder, leaps to the canvas and hits a dropkick. Cortez barely beats the count and looks shattered. He bides his time trying to rest in the corner and slowing the pace whilst Grey beckons him to come in to the centre of the ring to continue. Leg grab from Grey and a kick to the thigh of Cortez and he isn't happy, complaining to the referee again. Grey has him backed up to the ropes and Cortez strikes him which prompts Grey to retaliate with a forearm to the chest and another kick to the leg. They again continue arguing after the bell and butt heads this time. The penultimate round and Grey looks for the surfboard, but has to give up when he can't get Cortez's arms. Cortez continues to suffer and sells the surfboard attempt nicely with his legs seemingly giving way. Monkey flip attempt from Cortez and Grey lands on his feet, tries it again but to his dismay he again lands on his feet. Goes for it a third time, but Grey drops him down for a folding press and Cortez just about kicks out in time and yet again there is more argy after the bell with Grey slapping Cortez. With one round left, Cortez jumps Grey immediately. Grey ends up getting his legs caught between the bottom two ropes and falls backwards hanging upside down outside the ring. The Red Cross and St. John's Ambulance come to help Grey, but the bout is called off with him unable to continue and Cortez is the victor by TKO. This is a great, great match, and is probably the best match I've watched from 80's WOS so far. It doesn't have the high impact moves of Haward vs Myers, but I feel is a better match. The bout is really heated with both being more aggressive than normal (you rarely see Grey like he is in this one), as the added incentive of the title shot against Johnny Saint for the winner gives an added dimension to the contest. It'll take something special to beat this for my WOS match of the decade.

I think this might be quite early into Myers' transition to the karate fighter gimmick as Kent Walton is rather taken aback by Myers' snazzy and sharp yellow pants and headband! Sadly the second round was cut from the broadcast, but the first two televised rounds sees both wrestlers go back and forth exchanging holds and trying to gain the advantage. There is a super quick sequence of snap mares and wrist levers between the two in the first and the third there is a unique set of pin reversals that I haven't seen before. One man has the other covered, then the one on the bottom powers up and rolls over and this continues for four or five times eventually with Haward getting the advantage and at this time Myers has to bridge up to avoid being counted down. Haward tries to pull the back of Myers' head to flatten him out, but using his neck strength he holds the bridge and slowly slides towards the ropes forcing the break. The fourth round sees Myers bring out all sorts of big moves as he looked to gain the first fall, from a straight arm lift, to a double underhook suplex, hip toss cross press, some strikes before a second double underhook suplex finally scores the pin. Haward gets the equaliser in the next round following a beautiful tilt a whirl slam, before both men go all out in the final round to try and get the winning fall. Double leg nelson from Haward which Myers counters, a third double underhook suplex, Fireman's carry takedown countered in to a headscissors, a side surfboard by Haward before the bell rings signifying that the match is over and it's a one fall draw. This was a really good bout, and the last round especially was great with both men going all out trying to get the win and them constantly countering and reversing each other. Plenty of high impact moves and a great showcase for both of them.

This is a return contest from the previous December where Grey came out on top. They open up quickly with Saint catching Grey in an armlock, who does all he can to try and escape; he biels him off the ropes, holds on to referee Peter Szakacs to flip over, tries using the top rope all whilst Saint maintains hold of the armlock. With the round closing out Grey finally works out an escape and frees himself. On to the second and the two exchange holds, each trying to gain the advantage but with Saint mainly having the upper hand. He moves back to working on Grey's arm and similarly to the first Saint holds on to the move despite everything that Grey tries to escape. Head mares are having no luck and eventually he rolls backwards, forwards and throws a grounded kick to the chest to release himself. Saint moves to working on a hammerlock as the bell sounds to close out he second. Again Saint concentrates on the arm and with a back hammer in place looks for a pinfall, but a series of reversals sees Saint spin Grey out of a folding press. Grey grabs the arm and wrenches Saint as he finally starts to get some ascendancy in the bout. He turns his attention to Saint's left arm, but Saint flips out of the hold and again moves back to holding the advantage. Hip toss takedown and pin attempt from Grey for a two count, double arm stretch by Saint and Grey repeatedly kicks Saint gently in the jaw to force the escape. Dropkick from Grey and Saint comes off the ropes with a sunset flip for a near fall. Saint takes a bump over the rope early in the fourth after being spun out of a Grey hold. A series of pin attempts by both and then Grey runs off the ropes, Saint leaps over him and immediately drops down into a ball. Saint offers the hand, Grey takes it, Saint flips him over and covers him for the first fall. Saint opens the next round with an abdominal stretch as he looks to take the contest in two straight. Grey briefly makes a come back, but Saint goes back to working for the submission. A single leg crab is followed by a full boston crab that Grey ends up powering out of, over the knee backbreaker, side surfboard and a version of the torture rack backbreaker all by Saint as he tries for that second fall. Before Round Six starts, Kent Walton says that Johnny Czeslaw hasn't been well and sends him his best wishes whilst quipping about not putting any half nelsons on the nurses! At this point Walton stops calling the action and mentions how Steve Logan has recently had to retire due to injury and both Johnny Yearsley and Gwyn Davies are out of action recovering from injuries. He then talks about the 'clever boys' who write for 'sleazy newspapers' who say that the wrestlers don't really get hurt, and how he wishes they could get in the ring with one of these two. Back to the action and Grey has a back hammer on Saint that he flips over the back of. Grey misses a dropkick, Saint shoots him into the ropes looking for a hip toss take down but Grey reverses it into a backslide for the equalizing fall. With the bout all even Grey is back to working on Saint's arm, but he escapes and turns the tables starting on Grey's ankle in an attempt to try and slow him down. Monkey climb escape from Grey, Saint lands on his feet and looks to try and post Grey in the corner but he reverses it. Saint blocks the posting and ducks under Grey who goes over the top and down the back for a double leg nelson, folding press by Saint and Grey spins him out. Saint drops down and tries to schoolboy Grey but he turns on the move and tries for another pin attempt. Double leg nelson by Saint this time, folding press by Grey and he has the legs trapped and shoulder's down for the decisive fall. After the bout Saint says that as Grey has now beaten him twice, it's only fair that Grey now gets a shot at his World Lightweight title. This was a great match that was fought at a tremendous pace from the onset. Often these matches will start out slow and they will move things up as the match progresses but that was not the case here. I hated the way that Saint got his fall, but this bout is a really good advert for him as a lot of his 'kooky stuff is kept to a minimum and wasn't really on show here. It'd be interesting to find out what led to Walton going off on one as it was so out of the blue and unexpected. I'd rank this a notch below Grey's bout with Jon Cortez but still one that is well worth checking out.

Kris' Dunn & Marcus line had me laughing way more than it had any right too!