Small wonder that around this time last week it was NXT's resident beacon of light who found herself in a situation that, for non-fans of chilling alternate universes, most easily brought to mind It's A Wonderful Life.

It was almost as if main level WWE chose this show to invite the hardcore NXT fan into their own private Cypress Creek constructed out of anything and everything that'd induce a season pass on the trollocoaster if we weren't talking about a nine or ten figure multinational corporation. After all, who needs dumb ol' Bill Regal in charge when you can have the voice of the WWE, Michael Cole? And why shouldn't Eva Marie get a title shot and overrule the arch-villain's wishes? After all, she's been undefeated for the past few months! No wonder she used Regal's office as her dressing room, or welcomed along brand new buddy Nia Jax to Team Red Rocket To The Moon Push, and if this was going to be a prestigious title match then you needed, nay demanded, the presence of someone like main roster senior zebra Charles Robinson on the case just in case.

And in the face of all these odds slapped one on top of the other in front of her like a short stack at a breakfast place, Bayley remained sanguine. After all, as she pointed out in the back pre-match to Tom Phillips, she was a *wrestler* who'd beaten Sasha Banks. After shrugging off some early Eva Marie offense almost designed to get the audience caught up with their reading, the Champ recalibrated everybody's watch to Bayley-To-Belly O'Clock, thus ending this particular red menance.

Except for Jax pulling the ref. Good thing WWE Corporate had the foresight to bring in another ref in Charles Robinson for the occasion! Lest you think he was entirely the racist puppet on some Jeff Dunham gone sellout strings, his counts were fair and even. There was even a point where he stepped in front of Bay when she was doing her corner shoulder series and set up for the big one, claiming Eva's foot was between the ropes. It was done so well that on the broadcast without the benefit of rolling back the replay that he might've been correct; as it does when it's at it's best, NXT allowed multiple interpretations of the same event, so those willing to give credit even in a begrudging manner to the Total Diva could do so and those who wanted her to go fight ISIS by herself on the front line... well, they were probably in the audience already, Eva even managed to Slice the Bread, but it didn't bring an end to the Hug Era.

Shortly thereafter, Bayley (accidentally?) sent Eva into Robinson, fended off Jax, and then rocked the ring with the avalanche Bayley-To-Belly -- just in time for the still injured original referee to come in and count the pinfall. You could almost hear Brian Pillman's ghost cackling and reiterating the two words he was best known for in his ECW debut promo were it not for the sound of Nia Jax laying out the Champion and dropping the Legdrop of Doom 2k15 a couple of times. That was how the show ended, not with Bayley in the arms of her family having realized doing a swanton off a bridge wasn't necessary, but with a land monster trying to bruise her trachea.

Still, though, the machinery at large seemed to be saying through a grin brought to you by Smilex. Come inside, all of you. Come inside and see. We could've ripped you all out of this heaven that *we constructed* and have the right to change our opinion about at any moment. We could've made Izzy cry and grown men's neck veins explode, but we chose not to.

YET.

But come, come inside and see for an hour just what we could do to you at the flick of a fingernail if we so desired to. And always--always--keep that in mind.

Enjoy the show.

It was a show that started differently thanks to Cole laying out the evening's agenda, but then quickly went into the same thing that's been happening seemingly week in and week out for weeks now. See Finn Bálor. See Finn threaten Samoa Joe. See Finn hold his own. See Finn suddenly get choked out. See Finn going to sleep, something that if it happens on the 16th will mean a new owner of the Big X.For the second time, Joe managed to turn an attack from behind into his signature Clutch, and third overall. He entirely blew off Bálor's entreaties to look at him in the face to realize the severity of what he'd done, signed the contract head down and left the same way before jumping the artist formerly known as Prince on the ramp and Coqinaing him so hard in the middle in the ring that there was drool coming out of the Champion's mouth afterwards. It's becoming more and more apparent that Bálor is Going To Have To Go To That Dark Place if he doesn't want to be a former Champion known for his Samoan-induced narcolepsy

(Speaking of former Champions, it only took a minute-long video package for some of us to find our inner Mojo Rawleys. But that's probably more future fodder than anything else at this point. Still, though!)

And speaking of former Champions, the Vaudevillians failed in their attempt to unseat Dawson and Dash and regain their crowns. It was a hard-hitting match that saw the new Champions switch up their usual point of balance attack by targeting arms rather than legs, and saw both teams reverse each other's signature finish before Aiden English fell victim to the new Champs' Co3DBREAKER two-man combo platter. Really, the only complaint about the match was that it was too short; but then again, we needed time to remind the Champions that just because you attack someone's leg doesn't mean they can't recover and seek revenge. Exit challengers. Enter challengers, full of piss and vinegar and not even bothering with their usual smacktalk before unleashing the clubberin'. The answer would be "staggering up the ramp", and that'd be the rejoinder to the question "How you doin'?" posed by the resurgent Big Cass and Enzo Amore. Hopefully, this doesn't mean the end of the Vaudies' run unless they get the Monday night demotion. But every division has had the most over like Rover personality take forever before finally getting to the top of the food chain (Hi, Sami Zayn! Hi, Bayley!), and it looks like for the Bridge and Tunnel squad that their time may be coming up to do in the tag division what the aforementioneds did in the men's and women's singles squads.


With Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin officially making their contretemps for Takeover: London and Emma jumping Asuka from behind and eventually Locking her down to probably set up something similar there, we were reminded of just how logically organic and evolving NXT was, is, and continues to be. But for a few moments, we gave in to our hysteria. We fed the trolls, and they served us up a puupuu platter right back. We gave in to the fear, and as a result we almost saw all red about everything when the alert level didn't even need to be raised.

But -- at least for now -- that threat's been squashed and quelled.

And every time a Total Diva gets suplexed out of her boots, a Champion grows her wings further.

The accusations against Honma are grave, but accusers should be believed Photo via Wikipedia

Kiyoko Ichiki, a former wrestler and current significant other of New Japan Pro Wrestling's Tomoaki Honma, has come out and accused him of domestic violence against her. While the accusations are just that, the fact that they have been brought to light is troubling. Yes, I hope the accusations aren't true, but the most troubling fact in the world right now is that the default in public perception is to assume that the accusations are bullshit. More care is taken to tapdance around the charges and do everything to discount what accusers have to say, or worse, lay blame at accusers' feet.

That way of thinking has helped create a chilling world of silence, where victims of abuse cannot step forward. Domestic violence victims live in a world of involuntary omerta, because if they do speak out, no one believes them. That atmosphere is beyond shitty, and it needs to change. It shouldn't take video footage to make people believe, and that video footage shouldn't make people question what the victim did to provoke the attacker. The onus for change in the world needs everyone's participation.

I don't know what action should be taken against Honma right now. Personally, I doubt he should be wrestling right now, whether or not he's fired, suspended, or what have you. Whatever happens right now is in the hands of Japanese authorities and NJPW officials. But the best thing that you, an observer, is believe Ichiki, believe that she was victimized, and that she survived. The same goes for Janay Rice, Debra McMichael, Nicole Holder, Tina Turner, or anyone who has endured and survived abuse from their partner, male or female. While a majority of domestic abuse incidents are male on female, it happens in all demographics in all situations. Whenever someone with a distinct advantage in available force takes violent action against someone who cannot defend themselves, it is wrong.

Too many times has a victim of that aggression been shamed into silence because no one believes them. Maybe the world at large needs an attitude adjustment, from the most influential observers to the least exposed people. Don't shrug off accusations. Don't make flippant comments. Don't victim blame or victim shame. Believe victims. Believe survivors. The world would be a far better place if you did.

The League of Nations gets prime audio real estate on Cheap Heat Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Cheap Heat
Episode:“The Clotheshorsemen” (Dec. 2, 2015)
Run Time: 1:08:25
Guest: None

Summary: Peter Rosenberg, David Shoemaker and Stat Guy Greg are in studio this week. They spend some time on the RAW open featuring Sheamus and the New Day before a tangent into WWE Network episode numbering and some Shoemaker YouTube deep dives. They get back to discussing the League of Nations, consider repackaging the Usos and remember Rikishi. There’s a decent discussion about modern starpower in relation to looking back on past RAW eras and which current stars might one day be Hall Of Fame members. That leads to recalling bad wrestler fashion. Shoemaker explains why WWE writers need better advance planning for NXT performers, then they briefly touch on the Charlotte-Becky Lynch story before offering MVP Of The Week suggestions, looking at new Network content and then end with small talk and corrections.

Quote of the week: Shoemaker: “If we laugh at Tyler Breeze at NXT, in a good-natured way, and you kind of light chuckle — 'but by the way, he’s a great wrestler, watch this.'— the laugh that comes form 20,000 people in a basketball arena is not a kind laugh. … It’s not gonna work if people laugh at you, no matter what. I mean, unless you’re 'Adorable' Adrian Adonis, but even he wouldn’t get over now, because it would be too silly. They would push it too far and you wouldn’t have him being a tough guy in the ring at the same time.”

Why you should listen: It did seem like this episode had more focus than usual, but upon further review that might be because the tangents were at least about wrestling. Still, it’s nice to be able to commend almost a full hour of audio before things fall off the rails. The discussion about which current WWE starts might one day be in the Hall Of Fame is decent, though it cries out for a Shoemaker written piece. My favorite part probably was envisioning ways to improve the Usos, though the strongest was Shoemaker’s advice for how and why WWE should plan for the worst with each new member of the roster.

Why you should skip it: If you expected any acknowledgement of Mick Foley’s public beef with WWE storytelling, you’re out of luck. Further, Rosenberg seems to be proud of how little attention he paid to RAW (something that would seem in conflict with his role as podcast host) and ultimately the show is still just disorganized enough to be inessential.

Final thoughts: I miss Shoemaker’s writing, so I love getting a chance to hear his weekly thoughts. Greg does a great job as not just the voice of the fan, but being aware of the capriciousness common in instant feedback to WWE products. Together they are solid, but always overpowered by Rosenberg. I find him to be more like Colt Cabana — often annoying but occasionally brilliant and usually at least entertaining — as opposed to Jim Ross, whom I like less with every passing week. But there are times Rosenberg drags down Cheap Heat to the point where it doesn’t add anything to my appreciation of WWE. It’s not quite so bad this week, but still I spend most of the hour waiting for it to happen, which deflates the experience in its own way. And yet, I’ll be back next week looking for nuggets of gold. Maybe we’ll all get lucky.

Scorpio appears on the Art of Wrestling Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Art Of Wrestling
Episode: 279 (Dec. 3, 2015)
Run Time: 1:00:45
Guest: 2 Cold Scorpio

Summary: Colt Cabana sits down with a personal hero. The chat begins with Scorpio discussing his transition out of wrestling and reflecting on his time working security. They get into his personal background and the origin of his aerial arsenal, and Scorpio explains how he ended up in the Mile High Wrestling Association. There’s a bit of chatter about some of Scorpio’s real-world jobs and a bit about his marijuana affinity, then a lengthy discussion about the influence of Vader, Scorpio’s time in Japan, how Chris Benoit helped him understand shooting and Scorpio’s pre-WCW globetrotting. Cabana brings up the iconic music video, and Scorpio talks about what he learned in ECW, his meeting with Vince McMahon and the way he embraced the Flash Funk character. They end with a look at Scorpio’s personal and professional plans.

Quote of the week:“I had always learned from the Steiner Brothers, they used to come to Japan a lot, me being a young boy, Ron Simmons… I never forget them always saying WWF is not for everybody, but I truly believe everybody, once in their lifetime, have to experience the different business side of the business, ’cause the WWF has always been more business sided than it was in WCW, ECW or even over in Japan. … And they was not bullshittin’. They know how to take the wrestling, the fun right out of wrestling. I mean the shit that we love to do, you go to WWF, you will hate that you love to do that shit, the shit that we love to do — wrestle. You still got to give it a shot ’cause you never know.”

Why you should listen: This is Scorpio’s first appearance on any podcast. His stories about Japan don’t come across as unique, but he tells them with distinctive flair. Scorpio has a generally positive yet pragmatic worldview, which allows him to be heard as someone who appreciates his innate skill as well as the good fortune of influence and circumstance that allowed him to succeed. I’ll admit I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I left feeling far more endeared to Scorpio than at the outset, and isn’t that somewhat the point?

Why you should skip it: This one does take a while to get into a groove, surely a result of Scorpio’s lack of familiarity with the medium. Cabana is sufficiently awkward at points — not enough to turn off most folks, but anyone predisposed to bristle at his faults will find a few on prominent display herein: the topics are narrow in light of the guest’s background, too much time is spent in some areas and too little in others and bad jokes are made at the expense of conversation flow.

Final thoughts: For my money, there was far too little time spent on the more interesting parts of Scorpio’s lengthy career, but Cabana’s not an interviewer, he’s a pal with a microphone, and so we end up with a lot of color more so than substance. It’s good for getting to know Scorpio’s demeanor, just not much of his philosophy and biography. If you calibrate your expectations, chances are you’ll enjoy the hour. Hopefully Scorpio lands a spot on Steve Austin’s Unleashed show — that has the potential to be a blockbuster.

We're getting to the end of the year, and, for one of the best (and perhaps most underrated) promotions in the country, it means one thing, and one thing only. CWF Mid-Atlantic is going to try and knock our socks off again. And I, for one, am betting on them. Because they might be the best promotion that not enough people are talking about. BattleCade, their end of year spectacular where we assume all of the major storylines will be ended in satisfying fashion. But what if you're like me, and can't get down to Burlington, NC for the big show but are still a fan of this company? Welcome aboard. I'll help.

I know it seems weird to say that CWF Mid-Atlantic is underpraised. This is the promotion of Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee, after all.


But if you think of CWF and think only of the two men you just saw in that admittedly SWANK music video, I feel like you're missing out. There's Lance Lude, an undersized little ball of Red Bull, sugar rush, and the best beard on the indies. I will brook no arguments on that last point. There's Arik Royal, who more clearly and believably reps the idea of being the Ace of a company so well that you want certain people to come and notice how he's doing it. There's Cedric Alexander, who is explosive without being a parody of the term.

But above all else, it's their domineering heel faction that has gotten me here. You see, like a proper Southern wrestling company, the heels run the thing. And right now, the big heel faction is the Riot. They're sort of a Carolina variant of the BDK. And they ran roughshod over the place, caused brawls everywhere, and generally acted like horse's asses.  And they were running roughshod over the company until about two weeks ago.

What happened 2 weeks ago? Well, the whole thing fell apart. And so at BattleCade, you have to assume the Riot finally breaks apart. That is the only thing I'm sure about. But that's okay. Because I trust CWF Mid-Atlantic to put on one hell of a show. And so should you.

The close of the program this week showed Samoa Joe, borderline frothing at the mouth with the look of a man possessed and Tommaso Ciampa still recovering from having almost being pressed into a cube before being made to tap out lest he get choked out. In the previous 600 seconds that'd wrapped up the show, the message to Finn Bálor being about as transparent as a newly cleaned glass window--the Champ better show up with a handful of explosives if he wants to keep his reign going, since what we're getting now is Peak Joe, a superheavyweight who moves like a cruiser and only blows up his opponent's internal organs with his striking capabilities.

NXT's history is too rich and too lustrous to have Joe/Ciampa be even maybe in its top 25 matches of its lifespan, but it was still highlight-filled and the sort of match that everyone should see at least once. (The last time a comparable match happened on big brother Monday nights, The Jorts That Run The Place was in it on his way to another "against the odds" victory back in the summer.)

While Ciampa failed on his pre-match promise to change everything by besting the resident Submission Machine, he more than lived up to the other promise he made of wrestling like a man who had nothing to lose. Both he and Joe wrestled the other as if there was genuine rancor betwixt them, and while you couldn't go so far as to call the contest stiff you would be well within your rights to call it snug in one of the hardest-hitting matches in NXT history full stop, let alone on a "throwaway" weekly show. Some of their forearms hit harder than Fannie Mae's collapse to pensions, and watching Ciampa's reaction to getting beaten up being slapping Joe -- repeatedly -- and Joe firing back in kind before things just (d?)evolved into a cut-rate Japan homage replete with Joe exacting his opponent's pound of flesh was worth the look-see alone.

It looked and felt like something borderline reckless, and that's because they spared no expense when it came to their realistic offenses. Hell, Ciampa even had to get on the Twittah Machine after it aired and reassure his supporters it was all good and just part and parcel of the match. Even though his accompli was fait, Ciampa continued to add another bullet point to his "shouldn't you guys have skipped the crap and have him in full time by now?" c.v. by showing Rafterian onions before finally getting obliterated by a vicious triple combo platter that started with the STJOE and ended with the signature Muscle Buster and Coqina Clutch back to back. And that's not even counting the vicious CroCop styled kick he ate in the corner that looked on its lonesome like it could induce a concussion. Hell, the Full Sailors were busting out the "this is awesome!" chant when Joe was doing nothing but going OVER 9,000 with his basic strikes and some of his lower-level signature offense. If this is the Joe WWE's got on their hands now, they might as well throw him in the Rumble next month, let alone if he becomes the man to unseat Finn Bálor's seat in the catbird perch.

As Joe regains his form by losing his humanity, it was hard not to think back about the other high-quality match that was on the show and wonder if Aiden English and Simon Gotch were going to go back to living up to their team name. Fresh off the admitted disappointment of failing to regain the tag Championships last week from Not The Mechanics, they were on this week to face the quickly rising Chad Gable and Jason Jordan. In the back, while dueling catchphrases rolled out, things still ended civilly with both teams engaging in shook hands no matter how badly both of them wanted to win. But while the Vaudies' mojo seems to have fled into the 21st century away from them, JJABLE keep climbing the tag ranks' ladder with their innate charisma and amateur backgrounds. It couldn't help but be noted while the fans were certainly supportive of Aiden and Simon, the chants went to both members of their opposition.

About the only thing wrong with the match was that it was on a regular program instead of a Takeover where it could've gotten the 15 or 20 to make it really great, but as it turned out the match was merely well-done table dressing to set up the real dukes up punch of the winning squad once again wishing to adhere to the Code of Honor with the vanquished, only to see the Vaudevillains possibly for the first time ever turn their backs on a handshake. For the second consecutive week the young upstarts put a huge notch in their belt by successfully and cleanly beating former NXT Tag Team Champions only to have to bloom come off of the rose to an extent with the churlish post-match response of the former belt holders. Hopefully that bit of trivia gets more watering and room to blossom as we wonder if what happened for the retro aesthetes was a one-time blowoff of steam or an opening salvo in the villainous clip unloading to come in 2016.

But there's still such good stuff to come with what's remaining of the year. Bálor and Apollo Crews will unify on next week's show to take on former rivals Baron Corbin and Joe, with Corbin running through Tye Dillinger in short order in the opener while by contrast Crews was following it up post-match in the back, speaking clearly about wanting to dominate next week so he can get back to seeing whether he or Finn is the better man. While that's the amalgamation of two Takeover matches, another was made official as Asuka responded to Emma destroying the new girl from Jersey with a simple five words - "Emma. See you in London." She then went back to merrily kicking a punching bag from wherever the pretape had taken place while the crowd gleefully informed the Aussie of her impending demise. And, Emma? Real talk? It could've gone worse; Blue Pants made a celebrated return (with inferior new theme music) only to literally end up under the boot of Nia Jax, who would later go on to jump Bayley from behind in the back and throw her through a door. Both these things surely won't do anything to undercut the scuttlebutt that between the former joshi and the bootleg Kong suddenly showing up that when they finally get together in the immovable force/irresistible object dyad that both will be undefeated and the belt will be on the line when it does come to pass.

Bayley can't reign forever, and neither can Bálor; nobody can. Just ask the recently disgruntled Vaudevillains. That's why people are so afraid of the future to the point of it inducing hatred to many. It's the intransigence, the arrogance, the unseen dismissive smirk as it legdrops your dreams and puts a foot on your chest. It's the Mama Blissdamned inevitability of it and the undefeated record.

So far Joe's proven himself to be indefeated. Now the only question left to ask is is his title reign imminent and inevitable?

The Patriot is on Steve Austin's show Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Steve Austin Show — Unleashed!
Episode: 278 (Dec. 2, 105)
Run Time: 1:29:56
Guest: Del Wilkes (5:42)

Summary: Austin is at the Broken Skull Ranch and on the phone with the man who played The Patriot. Wilkes discusses his new autobiographical DVD set and what it’s like to be on the appearance circuit. He then explains developing the Patriot character in GWF an and encounter with the other person who had a Patriot character, a story that has some parallels with his 1995 falling out with World Championship Wrestling. They spend a good while discussing Wilkes’ extended time with All Japan Pro Wrestling, the lasting effects of a serious neck injury and if he has any concerns about his brain as well as traveling with Doug Furnas and his relationship with Giant Baba. Wilkes recounts his WWF run, but eventually the topic turns to Stan Hansen and the rigors of working in Japan, as well as stories about the Big Boss Man, Vader and Terry Gordy. At the very end is a Wilkes family update.

Quote of the week:“It was like having a meeting with the godfather of, you know, a crime family with Baba. You just didn’t walk up to Baba and say ‘Hey man, c’mon, I wanna talk to you.’ You know, you had to go through the proper channels to set up a meeting with Baba and then they’d send back a time and a place you could meet with Baba and, you know, so we had a couple of those sitdown meetings and I just, you know, I couldn’t get him to see my point of view: I have literally busted my butt for you, man. I’ve come over on a handshake and given you everything I’ve got to the point of costing myself good health. I’ve destroyed my body for you. I signed up for this. Nobody made me do it, you know. I did it on my own. But, knowing that, that I’m literally tearing body down to work at this company and work for this company at the level I need to, hey, I gotta be out six months for an injury and a rehab process. Take care of me, that’s all I’m asking. Just take care of me like you do Kobashi, like you would Kawada, Misawa, Taue, any of your top Japanese guys. And he wouldn’t do it.”

Why you should listen: Wilkes is a repeat guest on Austin’s show, and this episode delves much more into his actual career while only touching in a few brief moments on his incredible history of substance abuse. More specifically, the focus falls extensively on parts of his career likely to be least known to American audiences — yet without ignoring those periods. To be fair to both men, Japan is where Wilkes put in the most significant ring work of his career, and he does an excellent job here focusing on the actual work and personalities, in contrast to other wrestlers who speak about Japan and tend to focus more on the culture and lifestyle.

Why you should skip it: Anyone who plans to watch the Wilkes DVD set can likely skip this one, as I can’t imagine a three-disc set somehow failing to cover something Austin unearthed. As good as Wilkes is at telling his own story — no small feat considering the ravages of wrestling and his remarkable drug use — he’s ultimately not that interesting. The people he mentions are fascinating characters, but if we’re being honest, Wilkes doesn’t offer much in terms of unique insight. It’s not offensive or dreadfully boring, but it barely rises above the level of what would easily be found with a few web searches.

Final thoughts: I’m trying to decide where to come down on this one. It’s great for Wilkes to be able to do an interview where he’s treated as just a wrestler and not a druggie who escaped the ultimate penalty. But… he’s also not all that compelling only in the context of wrestling. Austin deserves high marks for continuing to seek out guests and avoid the dreaded solo show, and Wilkes is at the very least not a crusty old guy complaining about everything, which is worth noting given what else is out there. Still, it’s just not an essential listen, so don’t feel bad if you’ve got better things to do.

Trouble amongst friends again? Photo Credit: WWE.com

Should Be Friends – Neville and the Miz
They teased Miz taking Neville under his wing and while the reference they used was Daniel Bryan, I'd really, really like to see Damien Sandow return as a result. Maybe he could pop up to warn Neville or feud with him. I don't care. It's a crime that Sandow has been off my TV for so long, and Neville needs something to do, since every other potential storyline he's been involved in has been pretty instantly aborted. His match against Tyler Breeze was fine, but Neville could have been anyone, as the match was just furthering Breeze's angle with Dolph Ziggler (who managed to not be insufferable on guest commentary). Neville needs something of his own, and the Miz is so good at being awful that everyone who associates with him is instantly elevated.

Impending Friendship Break-Up – Becky Lynch and Charlotte
After Charlotte cost Becky Lynch her match against Brie Bella, Lynch denied the pinky swear. This can only mean that an official breach is imminent. I'm liking Lynch as our plucky protagonist and the only likeable person in the women's division. I mean, I love Team BAD, but they're not being positioned as people to root for, whereas Lynch clearly is. I also don't want Lynch to look like a fool and keep giving Charlotte opportunities to sabotage her in the name of misplaced friendship. Here's hoping this actually goes somewhere and we're spared listening to Brie Bella try to pronounce words (“gullible” = “golble” apparently).

Better Friends – The New Day
The Usos and Dean Ambrose teamed up to face the New Day in order to determine whether Roman Reigns could have the assistance of his allies during his main event match. The New Day came out on top, though it wasn't for lack of effort on the other team's side. It's just that nothing can beat the power of positivity and friendship. I know the whole thing was engineered to stack the odds against Reigns, but I do like the idea that, though Reigns may count both the Usos and Ambrose as his family, they aren't as close to each other, and it's that lack of an extra layer of communication and instinct that puts teams like the New Day on top. The Usos may be a great tag team, but add a third and they won't be as effective. Meanwhile, the New Day are on top of EVERYTHING. Big E got knocked out of the ring and Xavier Woods immediately helped him get back in while Kofi Kingston was ready to take the tag; one of the Usos got knocked out and no one did anything. The match ended with Kingston throwing himself in harm's way to both prevent Jimmy Uso from hitting Woods and cause him to hurt his already injured knee. Kingston himself took some damage, but it enabled Woods to make the pin. That's true friendship.

Friends Returning to Form – The Wyatt Family
I feel like I should just started dedicating an entire segment to how effective the Wyatt “pose over a prone body” thing is from week to week. This week it was actually intimidating and didn't leave me in despair at their ever being taken seriously again. If WWE is going to insist on running out more and more old dudes against the Wyatts, at least keep also giving me Bray Wyatt wrecking them and proving why he's the bayou boss I know and love. Wyatt just ripped through D-Von Dudley, and when Bubba Ray and Tommy Dreamer brought out kendo sticks after the match I was already groaning because I'm really supposed to believe a stick is going to faze a dude like Braun Strowman? It turns out that, nope, I'm not: seeing Strowman snatch and snap the stick and then squeeze Dudley into submission was such a relief. I doubt that this momentum will last, but it was a nice change of pace this week.

Best Friends – The League of Nations
I have a soft spot for all four guys in the League of Nations, so I'm happy to see them together being best friends. They're so supportive and affectionate with each other, and I'm sure they'll be an effective force for a long, long time, just like the historical League of Nations. Oh, wait...

I mean, they were pretty ineffective on Smackdown. Four-on-one and they couldn't win? Poor Barrett got himself kicked out (and the rest of the league didn't even get mad at him because they're such good friends! That and they probably knew exactly what they were getting with King Barrett the Hapless) and all three of the remaining team mates managed to get counted out. That's quite a feat of failure. Still, more friendship is always a good thing. Roman Reigns may be good at strategically rolling back into the ring at the right time, but has he ever been hugged by a burly Bulgarian BFF? I think not.

Starks and ACH hear Hoyt roar Photo Credit: Joel Loeschman

Inspire Pro Wrestling's Undeniable took place February 15, 2015 at the Marchesa Theater in Austin, TX. This report is done in the TH Style, of course. You can get this event at Smart Mark Video on DVD or VOD. I strongly recommend that you do. Also, if you're in the Austin area on January 17. 2016, head on over to the Marchesa for Ecstasy of Gold III: Gold Runs Cold, which will feature Scot Summers vs. Eddie Kingston. You can get tickets here.

Highlights:

• Athena defeated the debuting Nicole Savoy with the O-Face in the opening match.
• In the New Movement Performance Evaluation, "Jiggle-O" James Johnson made Chris Trew promise not to interfere in their matches anymore. In return, Trew got Johnson a shot at the J-Crown for the next show.
• In an elimination match for a spot in the XX-Division Championship Tournament Finals that also included Paige Turner, Delilah Doom scored the upset pin on Angelus Layne via modified sunset flip.
• Alex Reigns returned to Inspire Pro Wrestling angry he was replaced in the World Class Syndicate and beat the guy who replaced him, Barrett Brown, with a Go 2 Sleep style kick out of a full nelson.
• Steve-O Reno retained the J-Crown by rolling up "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti into a pin out of the Lou Thesz Special. Afterwards, the Hollywood Strangler struck again, only to be chased off by TD.
• ACH bested Lance Hoyt and Ricky Starks in a three-way dance for number one contendership to the Inspire Pro Championship by reversing a Hoyt chokeslam into a modified casadora victory roll.
• Barbi Hayden defeated Leva Bates via countout in a match that was originally slated to be for the NWA Women's Championship before Hayden lost the belt to Santana Garrett.
• Mr. B took out an out-of-it Jojo Bravo with a superkick duo before eating a beatdown from Thomas Shire, whose Pure Prestige Championship B stole at the prior show.
• Vanessa Kraven debuted for Inspire Pro by taking out Jessica James with a huge powerbomb.
• In the main event of the evening, Matthew Palmer, Franco D'Angelo, and Ray Rowe defeated "Dirty" Andy Dalton, Davey Vega, and Tim Storm when Palmer hit the Centerfold Splash from a seated-on-the-top-rope Rowe on Palmer. After the match, D'Angelo challenged Rowe to a number one contender's match for whoever was to win the upcoming Palmer/Dalton Inspire Pro Championship match.

General Observations:

• Brandon Stroud made the unfortunate announcement that Takaaki Watanabe would be missing the show thanks to massive amounts of snow prohibiting his travel from the Northeast. Watanabe's excursion brought him to plenty of cool places with several big matches, but few promotions made him feel as big a deal as he could have been like Inspire Pro. Luckily, this news was probably the only real "bad" news of the night.
• Athena vs. Nicole Savoy - If you like martial arts-styled kicks, this was the match for you. Savoy's debut for Inspire Pro saw her utilize her long legs for some big kicks. She feels like a wrestler who'd excel bringing in the new era of #grapplefuck to the women's game, especially since she's based out of California. Anyway, this match was a great tone-setter for the evening.
• Athena came to the ring with both her Absolute Intense Wrestling and Anarchy Championship Wrestling women's titles, which was odd to me given that Inspire Pro and ACW don't feel like they're on the best of terms. But then again, I don't know the whole story here.
• If this show was to be a display of HOSSDOM, then Athena got the party started early by countering out of one of Savoy's triangle chokes with the Bob Backlund Memorial Short Arm Scissor Lift™. She might be compact, but she looks damn good pulling off the occasional feat of strength.
• Incidentally, color commentator Nigel Rabid dropped the info that it was "Jiggle-O" James Johnson who invented the O-Face, but even he admitted that Athena does it way, way better.
• Backstage, Lisa Friedrich had Chris Trew dot biz for an interview, and he promised that his new assistant, Roxy Castillo, would give performance evaluations for his crew. If Paige Turner hadn't already been booked in Inspire Pro, she could have broken in in this role.
• The next in-ring segment, actually, turned out to be said performance evaluation. Trew promised that Keith Lee and Cherry Ramones, neither of whom was booked at the show, would be safe, but that Johnson and Delilah Doom would get their evaluations. My biggest critique of any Inspire Pro show is that anytime someone other than Trew or Andy Dalton has the microphone, they sound like they're saying the same thing, and when Johnson started talking, it was more of the same. It was a lot of talk about respect, but at least he moved the narrative forward.
• Angelus Layne vs. Delilah Doom vs. Paige Turner - I understand why Turner was involved in the match, but she felt totally superfluous. She spent time first trying to one-up Layne and then tried building her own "redemption" story and it just didn't come off well at all. However, once the action turned to Doom and Layne, the match picked up bigtime. Doom was great here as the underdog, as she has been in her entire career at this point, and Layne went full HOSS in addition to adding some great cocky heel flavor. The second part of this match should get you pumped the f up to see what those two will eventually end up doing.
• Layne was introduced as being billed from "The nearest emergency room." If you're trying to rebrand yourself in a more bloodthirsty direction, that is a great place to start.
• One point in the match saw Layne position Doom in the corner in the Tree of Joey Lawrence (™, Excalibur [I think]). After Layne got Doom in place, she placed her knee right on Doom's, uh, delicate parts, and posed. I'm not sure it gets more hardcore than that.
• Alex Reigns vs. Barrett Brown - It was a decent match elevated because Brown bumped his ass off. Both guys hustled, but Brown hit high eight on the Ziggler Scale at least twice, once in the beginning on a powerbomb and later on towards the end of the match. The intensity was later further backed up with a Reigns interview where he revealed his distaste at being replaced in the World Class Syndicate by Brown.
• Stroud promoted Inspire Pro's social media presence between matches, and somehow brought up Ello, that one site everyone joined for a hot second when Twitter was down earlier this year. His quote: "I don't know what Ello is; I think it's a suppository?" I would probably agree with that assessment.
• Steve-O Reno vs. "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti - After a few years of a tamer, fan-friendlier Mr. Touchdown, seeing him play up more of a rudo was refreshing. However, he played a more mature heel, incorporating more stalling and slippery counters. He provided a great canvas for which Reno could work and create.
• After the match, the Hollywood Strangler came out and accosted Reno again, and Touchdown made perhaps the slowest, most nonchalant save in the history of saves. It was still satisfying to see him save the day, but man, he's lucky the Strangler is perhaps the least efficient asphyxiator in history.
• Lance Hoyt was not technically booked to be at the show, but he had to show up to bully Stroud anyway, which drew out ACH and Ricky Starks. I don't really see a satisfying end to the angle, but that's okay. As long as Hoyt continues to be booked by Inspire Pro, his tormenting of Stroud can be used as a good way to get legit babyface noise for anyone.
• ACH vs. Lance Hoyt vs. Ricky Starks - You can read about this match below, but believe me, it knocked my socks off.
• Barbi Hayden vs. Leva Bates - This match would have been a fine title bout had Hayden not lost the NWA Women's Championship the night before in Florida. Hayden has evolved into such a strong heel in the ring, both in using her size to clamp down during heat segments and in finding ways to win cheaply, as evidenced by the finish which felt cheap, but in a good way if that makes sense. Bates was strong here too, especially on offense with her long-legged karate kicks. I don't know where the "Blue Pants is bad" talking point comes from, because when she's not in enhancement mode, she can definitely go.
• Bates, for the record, cosplayed as Cobra Commander for this card.
• Hayden promoed on Bates' enhancement status in NXT before the match. On one hand, it's a certain heat magnet, so why not go for it. On the other, it feels like such a bush-league, e-fed QED tactic that it could backfire with the wrong crowd. The Marchesa crowd, however, is not that wrong crowd.
• Jojo Bravo vs. Mr. B - This match was perhaps the most uneven on the card, more notable for visible shifts in mood and demeanor by Bravo than anything. Mr. B at times looked really slick but he didn't mesh well with Bravo, who is perhaps the personally most disappointing big-time wrestler since I've started following Inspire Pro, at least from an in-ring standpoint.
• Yes, Mr. B came out with the Pure Prestige Championship belt, which he stole at the last show, giving the announcers a chance to debate the ol'"Possession is nine-tenths of the law" chestnut that seems to be evergreen in pro wrestling.
• One of the perks of watching the show on tape as opposed to live is that the producers have more freedom to add story tweaks in post production. I doubt that the crowd at the Marchesa was subjected to the high-pitched beep noise and discolored close-up on Bravo midway through the match. I would love to see more of that kind of signpostage in the future and across more promotions as well. You have the ability to doctor things in post; use it.
• After the match, Thomas Shire came out to reclaim his belt and attack Mr. B in revenge, culminating in a sweet-looking short-arm European uppercut. Even though Shire is more a technical wrestler, it'd be interesting to see how he'd fare in a tense, emotional brawling situation. Mr. B already has that wild street fight with Scotty Santiago under his belt from 2014; he'd be a more-than-capable partner.
• Bravo after the match cut a promo on the fans' bloodlust and showed some exasperation at his tenure in Inspire Pro to that point, which was a refreshing change from the usual post-match "Davey Richardsing" that usually happens with the mic after matches. Reno, who was on commentary during the match, confronted Bravo for his change in attitude, which led to some shoving. Reno has become one of Inspire's go-to guys, so a feud between those two wouldn't be the worst idea.
• Jessica James vs. Vanessa Kraven - This match was a classic David vs. Goliath set-up, if Goliath could do things like super-stiff corner cannonball splashes and other athletic stuff. James' offense made sense for fighting a much larger opponent, and the spot where she countered an offensive with her arching scorpion kick was amazing in its suddenness. But Kraven imposing her size and hitting big power moves with authority made her a perfect addition to the card.
• The next segment had Ray Rowe talking about his motorcycle accident in full detail with Friedrich, and it's amazing that he survived let alone came back to wrestling in full in the time he was able to recuperate. I think I'd take Rowe in a fight with the Grim Reaper any day.
• Matthew Palmer, Franco D'Angelo, and Ray Rowe vs. "Dirty" Andy Dalton, Davey Vega, and Tim Storm - This match was the crazy, throw-shit-at-the-wall main event that this show needed to have on top. Everyone was on point, even D'Angelo, whose year run in Inspire Pro to that point had been erratic at best. Dalton showed why he's probably been Inspire Pro's in-ring MVP with his dedication to being as scuzzy as possible and finding the shortcut as creatively as he could. He tried recreating the finish from Ecstasy of Gold early on the match, resorted to biting the thigh, and avoiding Palmer at any cost until the very end. The faces did a good job of subtly creating dissension as well, with Palmer doing his normal finish with Rowe instead of D'Angelo.
• After the match, D'Angelo got on the mic and called out Rowe, saying that he respected him but didn't like him. It was a simple, effective lead-in for their match the next month.

Match of the Night:ACH vs. Lance Hoyt vs. Ricky Starks - Three way matches have a low rate of satisfaction for whatever reason. Adding the third person sometimes is a cheap way to cut around storytelling or provide a quick deus ex machina for something to happen at the end of the match that could have been achieved through outside interference or better planning. But when a three-way match is good, it can be magical. ACH, Starks, and Hoyt got together and told a cohesive story with the three man gimmick and elevated their contest above the rest of a strong, strong card in the process. ACH's performance reminisced of his magnificent 2012, while Hoyt turned in maybe the best performance of his that I've ever seen.

The match had such a well-developed story in two parts. The first saw Starks and ACH attempt to double team Hoyt to take him down, with the larger member of the Killer Elite Squad mostly taking them down singlehandedly. They could have lazily worked through that due to the immense size difference between Hoyt and each of the other two competitors, but each wrestler threw their weight behind their performances. The smaller guys bumped, and Hoyt kept his own engine running, showing that size alone wasn't going to beat them, but size and energy. He was the perfect monolith.

But then when Hoyt finally was neutralized and Starks turned inward against ACH, the match's narrative showed its complex threads, and even at the point in the beginning of the match where the two "showed-off" against each other for the crowd, they added more than one overarching wrinkle to the proceedings. Brandon Stroud's involvement in the end made sense as well, and even though it, without context, may have cheapened a babyface win, it played into a long-standing story and provided some catharsis for a character in the show. Plus ACH's chokeslam counter into the pinning combination at the end was super slick.

Overall Thoughts: Ecstasy of Gold II, while still worth the watch, was a departure from the action-packed, all-killer, no-filler tone set by Inspire Pro Wrestling. It was less a "Lone Star PWG" show as much as it was one of those story-heavy Chikara shows that are sprinkled between the marquee cards. I'm happy to report back that Undeniable was undeniably more in the vein of Relentless and Battlewars '14. This show was jam packed from first bell to final curtain with hot action, big spots, and especially giant-sized men and women exerting their dominance. While the show certainly featured its fair share of smaller and more athletic competitors, the hosses were on the prowl and perhaps made the biggest impact by throwing their considerable weight around. The biggest upset in that vein is that Keith Lee wasn't even on the show.

Of course, Undeniable wasn't the first time the bigger wrestlers were on display; Relentless had the HOSS BOWL, for crying out loud. But so many of the best performances on the show were scattered across the card and were had by the larger-than-life behemoths, when most indie shows feature the smaller competitors. One might expect Ray Rowe or Vanessa Kraven to own, but it was refreshing to see other quantities, whether unknown (at least to me) like Alex Reigns and Tim Storm or underwhelming in the past like Franco D'Angelo and Lance Hoyt, come out and shine. Even Angelus Layne, who's not a giant in her own right but might as well be one in comparison to the diminutive Delilah Doom, was able to channel her inner HOSS and believably pull off the giant act at her size.

Of course, the giants stood out, but the whole cast came to party. The match quality was insane in how consistently good it was. While some matches were better than others, even the lower tier ones on the show were engaging and had big, eye-popping spots that felt energetic, even to the eye that had been sitting for three-plus hours taking it all in. The run time on the show was in the neighborhood of three hours and 40 minutes, which is pretty long by most standards other than Central Texas' (seriously, whether Inspire or Anarchy Championship Wrestling, Austin and San Antonio shows go the distance). To have a show be that packed for that long is nothing short of stupendous.

Whether you get this show on DVD or make the trip for Ecstasy of Gold III: Gold Runs Cold, you should make it a point to let Inspire Pro Wrestling into your life. In fewer than three years, it has become one of the premiere independent wrestling promotions in the country, and it deserves your support and money, whether for video or live shows. Undeniable is just another example of the kind of quality and quantity you get when you attend or view the best wrestling in Texas.

An important Champion Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey

At the end of Top Banana, Chikara's season 15 finale, a small girl, couldn't have been older than seven, walked by me. She was decked out in a tiara and the Disney-stylized "We believe!" Crown and Court shirt, completed with a huge, beaming smile on her face. She had a good reason for walking out of the 2300 Arena (formerly ECW Arena) in such high spirits despite the fact that the show probably ended two hours after her bedtime. Kimber Lee left the arena as Chikara Grand Champion. Chikara is not a promotion where women are segregated from men, but it's also not necessarily a promotion where women are considered to be title contenders as a rule. So when the show ended with Lee, who scored the decisive pin for her Crown and Court over Blaster McMassive in the Challenge of the Immortals finals earlier in the night to earn her the three points necessary to challenge for said Grand Championship, as the Champion, that little girl had all the reason in the world to be jolted into exuberance. Someone who looked reasonably like her ended the show supremely victorious.

Just when one thinks that Chikara is done surprising and amazing, the company exceeds its expectations. The promotion flirted with putting the Grand Championship around the waist of Sara del Rey, but just when the booking put the Queen in its crosshairs, she accepted a job training the next generation of wrestlers down in Florida for WWE. Since her departure, Chikara, which had received high marks for evolving gender integration (even from this web rag, especially from this web rag), stalled on that front and some might say it has regressed. The Saturyne experiment was a failure for several reasons. One such reason is that she was plagued with mishaps in the ring, mishaps which could be blamed on a mask. She seems to have improved by bounds as the unmasked Hania the Howling Huntress, much in the same way Hunico was a far better worker as Hunico than he is now as Sin Cara v. 2.0.

Even now, although Lee and Heidi Lovelace hold both of Chikara's singles Championships, the actual percentage of female performers in the company is confined to them and them alone. The fact that women in the company have a 100% rate of Championship should count for something, but at the same time, as laid out on Twitter Saturday night by the esteemed Bill Bicknell:


For now though? Having Lee provide that little girl and all the other girls in the audience a shot at representation in the same fantastical world as wrestling ants and Halloween demons and the essence of beefy '80s tag teams distilled and enhanced in a lab somewhere is to be commended. It was satisfaction at its height, especially on a show where satisfaction was guaranteed at nearly every turn. Whether it was the reunification and healing of The Colony or the initial feelgood story of Crown and Court ascending the staircase to immortality, Top Banana had a sense of resolution that poked into the crowd with prescience, a stark contrast to this time last year. Icarus ending The Flood with Thunder Frog's hammer in theory was supposed to be a triumphant satisfaction, and the implications of it did lead to the rise of Kevin Condron's masterpiece of a 2015. However, ending the cycle of murder by continuing it felt fractured.

But the ends were not islands unto themselves, as each wrestler on that card felt like they had to put in the extra work in order to make those resolutions, whether satisfactory or even in instances where the rudos were set to triumph, feel earned. The moves looked extra stiff, especially in the torneo cibernetico. Lovelace looking like she's getting murdered on every bump she takes is one thing, and hoo boy, did she put on a clinic of making the other guys look good. Her rag-doll bump on that head whip toss thing Mark Angelosetti did to her looked as violent as anything anyone has ever done in wrestling history. But it was like everyone else took a cue from her and went just a little bit harder. Everyone executing moves did so just a little bit crisper. It's like the roster heard whispers of Chikara's popularity not stemming from in-ring quality, and they felt like they had to go out and prove everyone wrong.

In the process, Chikara produced the first show since its comeback that felt like an older, pre-shutdown show. About the only thing missing was a guest star on the level of Kota Ibushi or El Generico, but the show turned out  not needing it anyway. Most of the shows since the comeback have been two hour sprints, and I didn't have problems with those because they still felt like they packed bang for their buck. However, when the company can produce a four-hour tome and still feel quick, it has hit the sweet spot. And when that show can make children happy, then the show has hit the sweetest spot of them all. Kimber Lee winning the Grand Championship was satisfying and important for many reasons, not the least of which that now Chikara is open game for everyone to come out on top, not just ones born with a certain anatomy.

And as an addendum, I don't know if the shock appearance of Archibald Peck means that he's coming back for a spell or if it was just tying up a loose end from the original shutdown time-travel story. But even if it's the latter, then kudos to everyone involved for the attention to detail which rarely is a thing that is tied to any wrestling company in a positive manner.

Jericho has the Lass-Kicker on his podcast Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Talk is Jericho
Episode: 201
Run Time: 1:19:42
Guest: Becky Lynch

Summary: Backstage at a WWE show in Mexico, Chris Jericho and Becky Lynch sit down to discuss life and the wrestling business. Lynch talks about starting at a wrestling school in Ireland at the age of 15, being taught by Finn Balor and spending her summers training in the UK (alongside Zack Sabre, Jr.). She had a promising opening to her career, but at the age of 19 she got a small injury, bowed to pressure from her mother, and quit wrestling altogether. It took her 7 years to return, biding her time working as a personal trainer, flight attendant, and even attending a clown college. Very quickly after she returned to wrestling, she was signed to NXT, and made her debut on RAW exactly two years after.

Quote of the Week: Lynch, on clown college: "There was an exercise where we had to just stand up there, and this was the first exercise we did where we put the nose on, and we weren't allowed to do anything. The teacher said, 'You can't move.' People would bawl, just bawl their eyes out. There's this silence, you're just standing there as yourself, stripped down. You can't do anything, you're just you. And I don't know, there's just such a vulnerability there."

Why you should listen: As one can tell from her Twitter, and as proven in this interview, Becky Lynch is a fun person. She has a naturally gleeful disposition, so even her more depressing stories contain a lilt of hope. Jericho meshes very well with her, and they have a great time with each other by exchanging puns and realizing connections in the wrestling business they didn't even know they shared. Though her mom was a flight attendant for 29 years, Lynch is hilariously dismissive of her two years in the profession, saying it was constantly stressful and almost never enjoyable. We also get a nice glimpse into what was going through her mind when she stood in the ring after her fantastic match with Sasha Banks at Takeover last May.

Why you should skip it: I have a feeling that the success of Talk is Jericho is highly dependent on the quality of the guest. When Lynch isn't on the show, Jericho is left to his own devices to tell an uninteresting story about showering in a hotel room. He also plays a Fozzy song. Does he do that on most episodes? Boy, I hope not. How about this: instead of skipping this episode, skip any opportunity you might have to hear a Fozzy song.

Final Thoughts: If you weren't already rooting for Becky Lynch to find continued success in WWE, you'd be a cold-hearted wretch to not love her after listening to this. She sounds like she's smiling at every moment she speaks, but it's not a put-on, and it's not grating. She loves wrestling and still can't believe such good fortune has come upon her. Jericho smartly gets out of her way most of the time and lets her tell her story, though he probably tries a little too hard to force some puns into the proceedings. When you start trying to do more than one pun a minute, someone will want to "pun"ch you. (I'm so sorry, please forgive me.)

Austin talks to a daredevil this episode Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Steve Austin Show
Episode: 279 (Dec. 8, 2015)
Run Time: 1:17:13
Guest: Lathan McKay (21:48)

Summary: Down at the Broken Skull Ranch, Steve Austin opens by explaining how this episode came to be, then delves into his guest’s personal background, how he came to portray his idol Layne Staley in a film that may never be released and then the beginning of his collection of Evel Knievel memorabilia. They go over some of the most famous items in his and other collections, and talk about plans to open a museum in Topeka, Kan. McKay explains his relationship with Knievel’s family, biopics and the controversial Shelly Saltman book. Then Austin and McKay rehash Knievel’s career, some of his most famous events and his legacy. They end up talking about beer and future projects.

Quote of the week:“I’ve got partners, you know, with Harley-Davidson. My main partner, Mike Patterson, who saved my life, from Historic Harley-Davidson — basically that whole dealership saved my life. I was just owned by my possessions, basically. And I went into a lot of debt and just had a lot of faith. I did the same thing Evel did, basically, without jumping. Somebody else jumped.”

Why you should listen: Only if you care about Evel Knievel. Austin is clearly fascinated, which is in no way surprising. If you like hearing his curious fanboy side, you’ll enjoy the interview.

Why you should skip it: Because it’s an hour of talking about Evel Knievel memorabilia and sweet baby Jesus is that boring

Final thoughts: Sadly there’s not much to say here. This falls so neatly into a category of Austin episodes that any veteran listener will know exactly what they’re getting, even though the guest is unknown. McKay is less charismatic but also more modest than the knife guy, and Knievel is (for me) a mildly more interesting topic than brewing beer but way less compelling than video production. And all of it is better than reading emails or Uberfacts.

Next week was the trip to the fireworks factory, and it's not exactly a secret. Given the fact that it's going to be not only a two-hour live spectacuganza that usually causes a spasm of hosannas and fist pumps from the cognoscenti, but in addition will not only be the first time that NXT takes such things out of the country but into a sold-out and presumably rabid London crowd to boot? Well, it can be forgiven that this week's show was the bubble wrap to make sure the value package that the entire imprint has on the line coming up on the 16th got delivered across the pond safely.

Go-home shows almost exist in their own bubble or back tab since the focus is on the push for the upcoming, bigger card while still making sure the participants put on a show while not injuring themselves in the process.

But before the predictability ensued on the last show before Takeover: London, something at least semi-shocking did occur to start off the show.

Enzo Amore and Big Cass' music started, the crowd roared, the Bridge and Tunnel boys came out with the Queen of Staten Island...

...and Enzo failed to make the intros.

In fact, none of them said anything. They looked bypass serious as they got in the ring, and even Marlee Matlin could tell that these

guys

were

piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiised. The fact their cannon fodder showed up looking like non-Mexican non-union equivalents of the reigning champions D and D (a fact immediately noted upon by the best announce unit the E's got on offer) meant their mood wasn't going to be brightening up any, and despite the fact Chanukah was well underway it wasn't going to stop them from serving up 500% of the USDA's recommended daily serving of squash. Cass channeled his inner Nash, Amore somehow summoned whatever infected Husky Harris off of a vicious crossbody of all things, and they used their usual two-man projectile signatures to vaporize the poor victims before making sure Scott and Dash got the message; they were family, family that'd been doing the damn thing longer than any other team in NXT history, and retribution would come when they got the belts. Their post-match promo provided a (necessary?) subtext to what Corey Graves as much as said put some fuzz on what had been more or less known for being affable goofballs. Which is fine -- you want credibility when it comes to the fighting, and Amore's been getting better on the stealth tip all year long and Cass' physical presence means he'll always be taken seriously. SRUS BISNISS Amore and Cass isn't exactly a selling point, but they carried out the duty well here in communicating their bond as well as being able to play against type to show how important the climb is to the top and how crucial the belts are in a land such as NXT.

No belt is bigger than the Big X, and once again it was the focus of the borderline parejas incredibles main event (after all, why give away the singles matches on the live special when you can plug two matches at the same time in a tag event that also triples ((?)) (((quadruples?))) as a way to get the big names out there but not pick up too much wear and tear on them?). In the recent past, Samoa Joe and Baron Corbin were at each other's throats, and in the even more recent than that past, Apollo Crews had more than held his own against the champ before falling victim to Baronference. But at least the heels had the common sense to admit to not getting along pre-match, as well as Crews cheerily threatening to come after the belt once again post-Takeover and a presumed win in another similar segment for the white hats up to and including picking up the belt only to put it on the champion's shoulder before walking off.

Despite the frisson teased on both sides, the match went off without any in-ring intrafighting, highlighted by the fact that the Joe/Crews and Baron/Finn Bálor teases both pointed to potential future matches that could be done (and in the case of the former, done quite well) but hamstrung by the fact the bout only went about 600 seconds in total. In the end, Joe busted out a Death Valley Driver to set up his Clutch, Baron and Crews were brawling their way towards the concession stands if Full Sail has those, and Bálor was finding himself choked out for what seemed like the umpteenth time since Joe decided to go for his. For such an usually astute group, in the lead-up for London the announce team hasn't even gone so far as to mention the champ's dark passenger, one that if memory serves correctly hasn't been seen since it appropriated the crown jewel of Orlando away from current Intercontinental champions back at the outset of the summer It's quickly becoming evident that despite reserves of fighting spirit, moxie, and any other synonym you want to throw in here, one thing Finn Bálor isn't is ready to handle Samoa Joe and still prevail as champion. Now the Daemon on the other hand...

...is what Emma and Dana Brooke looked like they were facing before they left the high ground of the stage and scurried to the back. Ladies. Ladies. Ladies. Sometimes that crowd can be chanting for the sake of doing so, but when they're saying "Asuka's gonna kill you"? Like Eric B. and Rakim before her, she ain't no joke, and the evil dyad found that out the hard way when after some big talk backstage with human armrest Tom Phillips, they wandered out while Asuka was tuning up on some poor organ donor from Jersey. On Monday nights, the heel(s) show up, the babyface gets distracted, and then they proceed to lose via chicanery and evil laughs because good is dumb. On this Wednesday night, the babyface got distracted, made sure they weren't about to get jumped, and then landed a roundhouse kick the results of which could best be described in 2015 as christuckerreactioninfriday dot gif. And then in this case good laughed because good is also kind of evil in this case, while evil was left sputtering "welp that didn't work" before turning tail between their legs.

This was a natural pairing to a later part of the show in the semi-main as elsewhere in the division, Bayley had a successful run up against Peyton Royce only to be in the presence of the Troll Queen of Full Sail and her evil henchwoman Nia Jax, the latter of whom will get her shot at the belt next week and the both of whom drew that Ohio Players level fire in heat from the crowd. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that it was Vicki Guerreroesque. Jax informed Eva she'd be doing her own talking and Bayley that she'd be doing her own taking of the belt. As much as BCB supports Hug Life, there is just something inherently compelling to putting Asuka and JAx on different undefeated runaway trains until they collide for the belt. Then again, there is something to be said for having the first triple threat title match in Women's Championship history. (Let us rue for the umpteenth time WWE's refusal to have full-out three-way dance elimination matches.)

But that's the thing -- well, amongst a fusillade of others -- that makes NXT so damn compelling right now. Every Champion has multiple future paths they could be going down. Bayley, as mentioned, is going to have some iteration of the Eva Jax alliance after her belt, and Asuka's still borderline putting chumps in the hospital while Emma's going through a career renaissance and while not of the Revolution certainly helped put the track down so the Horsewomen would end up having somewhere to rumble over. Dash and Dawson, in addition to the upcoming Bridge and Tunnel challenge have got to have the ascendant Jason Jordan and Chad Gable team on the horizon as well as the Hype Bros (who took a W away from the free-falling BAMF in the show's other match). And Bálor's in the soup with everybody else that was in the main event, in addition to the man suddenly out of NXT's time, Sami Zayn about to make his return to the place he used to rule if only all too briefly at the outset of the year.

(In another nice bit of unspoken storytelling, as Bayley emulates Zayn in alignment she's also the one of the 4HW who's still down in Florida full-time, so her landscape is now filled with new faces that she's got to try to fend off and co-exist with. When Zayn left, Bálor had barely earned the number one contendership, Crews hadn't even debuted, Corbin was still somewhat beloved, and Joe, as you remember, showed up first when it looked like Owens was going to move his modifier from FIGHT to KILL. Still can't believe we didn't get a Joe/Owens headlining match for a live special.)

To quote Mae West, too much of a good thing. To quote a former WWE Champion, wheels up, let's fly.

After all, we've got a metric frakton of fireworks to set off next Wednesday.

Reigns as a Mongol warlord? The idea was floated on this podcast Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Cheap Heat
Episode:“Tables, Ladders, Who Cares?” (Dec. 10, 2015)
Run Time: 56:24
Guest: None

Summary: David Shoemaker and Stat Guy Greg are in studio while Peter Rosenberg calls in from traffic. They open by thanking the AV Club for mentioning the show in its year-end awards. Rosenberg brings up declining RAW ratings, which leads into a look at this week’s episode. They consider the past and future development of Roman Reigns, and Rosenberg draws a parallel to Charlotte. The talks bleeds into New Day and Team BAD, then somehow diverts into Shoemaker raving about Terry Funk in Paradise Alley. The next big chunk is predictions for Sunday’s TLC card. They circle back to ratings and Greg offers a correction, then they end with another look at Reigns.

Quote of the week: Shoemaker, on Reigns: “It doesn’t seem like there was any room for second guessing or for trying new things. Maybe it would benefit the guy if he just had to go play, you know, a Mongolian warlord that would, like, emerge from a block of ice, just have him go do that for six months. Because, like, at least that gets you out there improv-ing and trying new stuff and figuring out what’s comfortable for you. We’ve seen the same thing with his in-ring stuff, because he’s, you know, I mean, he would have been better served to be in developmental a lot longer.”

Why you should listen: Anyone who has shifted to the “skip RAW and watch the pay-per-view” model of following WWE could do much worse than using the back half of the episode to get ready for Sunday. While the current use of Charlotte likely warrants its own episode, Rosenberg gets points for initiating the conversation on how her presentation compares to what’s been done with Roman Reigns over the last year and a half. And while I’m still not sure how he got there, Shoemaker’s praise for Paradise Alley is unlike anything I’ve heard on a wrestling podcast for quite some time.

Why you should skip it: Do you want to hear Rosenberg praise the rack of a woman he sees walking down a New York City street? No? Well, sorry, that’s a thing that happens. And while this episode does a good service in terms of TLC preparation, there’s nary a breath of next week’s NXT supercard from London — and the recording schedule makes it unlikely we’ll get that next week, which means a significant ball has been dropped. Also, the navel-gazing at the outset is largely a waste of listeners’ time.

Final thoughts: It was unclear as I listened whether Shoemaker would be given space to preview TLC in writing on ESPN.com. That’s a shame, because it’s always a better way to get ready for a show than the podcast. That said, the guys do take what I consider to be the correct approach to Sunday’s show: consternation at both the build and the card coupled with an acknowledgment that WWE has underpromised and overdelivered on more than one Sunday night in 2015. With Rosenberg out of the studio, Shoemaker effectively (if not completely) guided the direction of this episode, and it yielded a noticeably better output. Still, the guys are much better at discussing what happened than predicting what will, so I fully expect next week’s episode to be much more worthwhile.

The season-capper Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey

The Year-End Blowout begins in its new, changed form that will last past the new year with a look back at the fun and funky Americanized lucha-libre extravaganza, Chikara Pro Wrestling.

Promotion: Chikara Pro Wrestling

What Happened in 2015: The waters of the Flood had receded quite tidily after Icarus used the Estonian Thunder Frog's hammer to dispatch Deucalion at the 2014 season finale. With the behemoth and his hype man, Jimmy Jacobs out the picture, Chikara was left in a state of flux, albeit a happy one given the ragtag band of masks had been granted a new lease on life. Still, the way the Flood was beaten back left many with a bitter taste in their mouths. Deucalion killed many Chikara stalwarts, but was fighting death with death the best path to go down?

Hallowicked and Frightmare got scary new looks Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey

The season premiere in Philadelphia gave some answers to that question and others that were posed in the prior finale. Kevin Condron, the former Kid Cyclone who unmasked and destroyed Eddie Kingston with a pipe wrench, debuted in dazzling glory, having acquired the services of the Lithuanian Snow Troll (formerly under the lock and key of The Flood). Hallowicked and Frightmare, done in by the Eye of Tyr as Delirious' parting shot from Chikara, got a macabre makeover in service of a new master, the demonic Nazmaldun. The Princess Kimber Lee showed enormous fighting spirit against the formidable Wrecking Crew, but ended up faltering under their immense power. And the Grand Champion showed signs of reversion to his "Worst in the World" state with questionable tactics against former FIST stablemate Chuck Taylor. Just as Kingston was poisoned by the Grand Championship, Icarus started to show signs of becoming mentally unstable thanks to the hardware's power.

The post-Flood skirmishes didn't last too long before the company funneled its focus into a season-long endeavor in the Challenge of the Immortals. The ten-team round-robin divided the roster via a fantasy draft. Right away, the Osirian Portal was split up as Amasis and Ophidian were team captains. Lee, Max Smashmaster, Hallowicked, Dasher Hatfield, Juan Francisco de Coronado, Chuck Taylor, UltraMantis Black, and Jakob Hammermeier were the other captains charged with divvying the roster up. The teams fell as one might have expected with a few surprising exceptions. The Colony was rent asunder as Silver Ant was taken by Hallowicked's Nightmare Warriors while Fire and Worker were snapped up by Amasis' Battle Hive. Even furthering the formiciform strife, Hammermeier's BDK team selected the nigh-invincible Soldier Ant. The Batiri and Wrecking Crew were apparently split up too in the draft, as the Crew drafted Obariyon while Mantis, in retaliation, selected both Flex Rumblecrunch and Jaka. Sidney Bakabella drove a hard bargain and made the difficult choice to sacrifice Oleg the Usurper in a trade to reunite the other teams. The Challenge itself was to be a double round-robin tournament, where each team faced each other in various matches, from singles to relevos atomicos. Early on in the season, the Wrecking Crew jumped out to the early lead, and looked to be easily in line for the prize, three points to whatever title the team member wanted to challenge for at the end of the season.

But the Challenge was not the only thing driving the narrative. Chikara reinforced its status as a worldwide promotion, making its return to Europe and its debut in the United Kingdom with a tour in the spring. Icarus' descent into madness was interrupted as Hallowicked claimed the Grand Championship in the fourth and final show across the pond. Under the spell of Nazmaldun, his mind was already dark enough and best-equipped to hold the Championship. His powers grew stronger and stronger, as he started to gain an unholy grip over Silver Ant. Even though he resisted his partnership with the evil Warriors, he slowly slipped further under their power.

Silver wasn't the only wrestler to acclimate to his new team more than his older one. Oleg the Usurper's association with the Batiri and UltraMantis Black started making him more popular by association. Even though Bakabella still managed him in non-COTI action, that bond grew more and more tenuous as Oleg soaked in approval from the fans. He began to act more and more like a tecnico, which strained his already burdened relationship with Bakabella and the others in the Wrecking Crew even further. Even though the Crew kept tearing through Challenge bouts, their grip on the formidable Viking warrior was loosening.

Outside the Challenge, Condron kept waging his crusade against the hypocrites and murderers in Chikara. He felt he was unjustly kept out of the COTI, so he started assembling his army of misfits that he dubbed Battleborn. First, he freed the former Flood acolyte Volgar of his mask and allowed him to be the man he wanted to be, which apparently was a bluegrass singer and dancer named "Juke Joint" Lucas Calhoun. He then gathered Missile Assault Ant, who had abandoned the rest of the Colony: Xtreme Force for lagging behind him. In the summer, Condron convinced the heavy artillery-carrying member of the group to lose his mask and become Missile Assault Man. With the Snow Troll still on a leash, the Battleborn petitioned to get into King of Trios. Director of Fun Mike Quackenbush granted that request, and Battleborn went into the tournament with the ten COTI teams, the Bullet Club, Blue World Order, two English guest star teams, and the Lucha Underground-inspired team from AAA, Drago, Fenix, and Aerostar.

Goodnight, sweet pay window Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey

The tournament played out with some key developments. For one, the previous year's finalists, Hatfield, Mark Angelosetti, and Icarus, were knocked out in the first round by Condron's Battleborn. They could not, however, overcome the Young Bucks and AJ Styles the next night. Meanwhile, the Arcane Horde, with Oleg the Usurper in tow thanks to an injury to UltraMantis Black, did battle with the defending Champions, the Devastation Corporation. It was a raucous affair that saw the beefy Wrecking Crew emissaries take out senior referee Bryce Remsburg. However, Oleg would make his final decision, answering interference from Bakabella by taking him out for good with Off With His Head. Although the Horde fell in defeat, the craftiest manager in the game had been compromised to a permanent end, and Oleg had chosen his lot.

Night three saw the Devastation Corporation fall in defeat to Team AAA. While it could hardly be considered an upset seeing as Team AAA had a legit dragon on the team, but for over a year, Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive, and Flex Rumblecrunch had been nigh unbeatable. Was it a fluke? Either way, their hold on the Challenge had been ironclad to that point, but Princess Kimber Lee's Crown and Court, featuring Jervis Cottonbelly and perennial sad-sack losers Los Ice Creams made a late surge, getting more momentum with a win over the Gentlemen's Club. Team AAA ended up defeating the Bullet Club in an all-time classic to finish the tournament, but the biggest happening didn't involve the three-man slate at all.

Condron's Battleborn team of Calhoun and Missile Assault Man were embedded in the Tag Team Gauntlet, a Gauntlet that helped show that despite their adversarial positions in the Challenge, the Osirian Portal was still as unified as a tag team as ever. Anyway, the Battleborn were in the ring waiting for the penultimate duo to emerge, and to their shock, Orbit Adventure Ant and Arctic Rescue Ant emerged. They dosey-doed for a bit until the Battleborn got the win. However, Condron didn't just want the win. He saw his WrestleFactory peers lost to Deucalion's chokebreaker. Calhoun saw Kingston decimate his fellow acolyte. Condron ordered Missile Assault Man to end his former running buddies. MAM refused, so Condron took it into his own hands, shockingly lifting Orbit Adventure Ant into the chokebreaker and ending him, like Deucalion ended so many wrestlers, including the Estonian Thunder Frog. It would be revealed later on that Condron's body had been inhabited by a dark spirit what called itself Snowflake.

Speaking of the Thunder Frog, while he was ended in horrific fashion late last season, a frog bearing a sash with his logo on it was found in the fields of Minnesota in a vignette at the conclusion of the '14 finale. Shortly thereafter, a wrestler known as the Estonian Farmer Frog started wrestling in the Upper Midwest. He had the same look, mannerisms, and even voice of the departed Thunder Frog, but he denied any association with the mythical hammer-wielding amphibious demigod. Still, the fact that someone highly resembling the fan favorite froggy appearing put him on Chikara's radar, and he debuted (some would say returned to Chikara on a tour of the Midwest in the fall.

But his return, if you want to call it that, was not the most dramatic. Sadly, Mantis' injuries were announced to be career ending, and he could not fulfill the rest of his commitments in the Challenge. However, he did fulfill a promise to his teammates, the Batiri. The demons from Bled Island lost the most fecal member of the group at the return show in 2014. Kobald was the first victim of Deucalion's chokebreaker, and he was thought to be lost forever. But through dark magic, Mantis raised the dead, and the Batiri was whole once more.

The Challenge wasn't so kind to other teams, however. Feeling badly for Hatfield after he lost his Grand Championship opportunity to Hallowicked, Angelosetti thought he'd make it up to his teammate by attempting to cheat his way to some victories for Dasher's Dugout. His teammates, Hatfield, Icarus, and Heidi Lovelace, did not appreciate it, and they ostracized him from the group to the point where he joined against Hatfield's team at cibernetico at the finale. Nazmaldun's grip on Silver Ant loosened, and the former resilient rookie broke free from the Nightmare Warriors to reconnect back with his Colony brethren. Fire Ant was in the midst of his own war to help reclaim the mind and soul of his brainwashed friend, Soldier Ant. They were on a collision course.

But no group was hit harder after Trios than the Wrecking Crew. Without Bakabella, the team went into a tailspin. Smashmaster and McMassive lost los Campeonatos de Parejas to the rookie team NRG. Their grip on the Challenge itself loosened and loosened to the point where Crown and Court was able to surge into second place slot after the double round-robin was concluded (with a little help from the aforementioned falling out between Hatfield and Angelosetti - Hatfield vacated Dasher's Dugout's points due to the cheating). Lee had willed her team into contention for all those points. The stage was set for the finale.

Finally, the Colony is whole once more Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey

And boy, what a finale Top Banana was. In an appeal for mercy against fellow WrestleFactory grad Argus, Condron claimed that he was "Kevin" and not "Snowflake" before the mythic turtle being put him down. Was it a ruse? Did Snowflake leave him? Can he turn "Snowflake" on and off? In cibernetico, Angelosetti kept apologizing to Lovelace and Hatfield, but Juan Francisco de Coronado used him to keep Hatfield out of the ring to be eliminated by countout and then got the easy win himself to take the crown. It's unclear whether an "I'm sorry" across the ring is enough to mend that friendship. Fire Ant was finally able to make Soldier Ant snap out of it, and their match was ruled a no-contest. Instead, the reunited OGs of the Colony chased off Jakob Hammermeier and reunited once more.

And the Challenge of the Immortals was finally paid off. The Wrecking Crew could not finish its hot start, and Kimber Lee was a house on fire, throwing German suplexes and pinning the statuesque McMassive with the alligator clutch. In the madness, Cottonbelly even got his own personal reward, a kiss from the fair Princess. Each member of the team received three points to go towards the title of their choosing...

...and Lee did not waste any time cashing hers in. Hallowicked defeated Kingston and Icarus in the first ever three-way match in Chikara history to retain his Grand Championship. But his night was not over, as Nazmaldun's chosen warrior had to face Lee, battered and bruised from her own war earlier in the night. Hallowicked threw everything he could at Lee, but she kept kicking out. The other Nightmare Warriors came down to try and save the title, but they were thwarted by Cottonbelly and the Ice Creams. Finally, Lee hooked in the Chikara Special. Hallowicked tapped. Season 15 ended with a surprise new Champion, a royal Champion, a Princess who can save herself.

Condron was ruthless Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey

2015 MVP: Chikara's year could be described as a team effort. A lot of energy went into the Challenge of the Immortals, and thus, a lot of stories were played out within the context of the tournament. It would be easy - and justified - to give the nod to Kimber Lee. Oleg the Usurper probably deserves a look as well. Dasher Hatfield, Hallowicked, and even Chuck Taylor all had great campaigns too, but the glue that held the company together was outside of the Challenge. Kevin Condron is my pick as Chikara's MVP for how hard he came in from debut through his personal season's end, as underwhelming as it may have seemed. Still, he had such a flair in-ring. He carried out his narrative to a tee, which is huge, but he also had me believing at times that he was the truth, even if his whole oeuvre was supposed to be hypocrisy incarnate. And the ring gear was, in a word, fabulous, which can't be discounted. Condron was everything one could have wanted from a pro wrestling heel, and it was only his first full year as a member of the narrative. He's wrestling's Mike Trout.

What's Going to Happen in 2016: Kimber Lee is the Grand Champion, which is insanely cool for a myriad number of reasons. However, Eddie Kingston's mind was warped by "her" as he termed the belt. The Championship started to show signs of ghoulishly possessing Icarus later on in his reign. Hallowicked was already evil when he won the belt, so it's hard to gauge how much the belt moved him on the insanity meter. Can Lee's royal blood help her withstand the curse? If one can remember back to her beginnings in Wrestling Is Fun!, she had her divaesque qualities, so it's not hard to see the Grand Championship moving her towards a less courteous path. As for her first challenger, all signs point to Oleg the Usurper, who has three points. However, Jervis Cottonbelly also has the points thanks to the Challenge of the Immortals. How awkward would that match be if it happened? I doubt Cottonbelly would use his golden opportunity now, especially since he got his long-awaited kiss. However, things have a habit of changing in wrestling, especially Chikara, in sudden fashion.

Take for example the relationship between Dasher Hatfield and Mark Angelosetti. The Throwbacks were once one of the most indomitable forces in Chikara, but now, Angelosetti is in the doghouse for his rudo tactics. He came up through Wrestling Is Fun! and his initial Young Lions Cup run as a bearer of malfeasance, so it's possible a leopard is unable to completely change his spots. That being said, the dynamic between the two, especially since Mr. Touchdown cost Hatfield a shot to continue in cibernetico in his mind, will be interesting to observe in the open of the upcoming season. That relationship seemed fine enough even at Trios, but now, they could be on the outs for good.

AS for the man (pumpkin demon?) Lee defeated for title, Hallowicked's loss may come as a blessing in disguise for him, at least from a narrative standpoint. The Grand Championship may have been holding a fuller story dealing with his master, Nazmaldun. Is that master an actual, corporeal being, ready to debut in Chikara, or is it more a spiritual guide that always remains off-camera? Either way, I doubt his dark work is finished. Conveniently enough, Hallowicked and Frightmare have three points towards a shot at los Campeonatos de Parejas. One might think they could make quick work of NRG, but then again, the spunky Champs have taken out the Devastation Corporation. Also, they've improved by leaps and bounds since last year at this time. The title bout should be pretty slick at least.

Kevin Condron's house of cards seems to be on the verge of falling apart. He's already on thin ice with Missile Assault Man, who clearly wasn't ready to see Orbit Adventure Ant "die." Arctic Rescue Ant may still be out there, waiting for his chance to strike. Additionally, the emergence of the Estonian Farmer Frog might point to a conflict over the continued captivity of the Lithuanian Snow Troll. Perhaps if someone were to help him remember his past life, a battle may be imminent.

Will the happy times stay for Cottonbelly? Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey

Five Wrestlers to Watch in 2016:Jervis Cottonbelly - Cottonbelly's life is content right now. He's a member of the Challenge of the Immortals-winning Crown and Court, his overtures of affection towards Kimber Lee have finally been returned, and he has three points to use towards any title he so pleases. He's too old to win the Young Lions Cup by about a century, and he has no partner with whom he can challenge los Campeonatos de Parejas without splitting up Los Ice Creams. So he sits at a crossroads. Does he dare wait until Lee loses the Championship, or does he realize that true chivalry and sportsmanship means giving his beloved a fighter's shot for her title?

Kevin Condron/Snowflake - Cracks in his slick facade are starting to show, but Condron, or Snowflake, if you will, has to have another trick or two up his sleeve. Besides, he's only started to annoy those whom he feels have weathered the good name of Chikara. The list of people who want cracks at him are numerous and powerful, so he has no shortage of battles to fight in the coming year. The biggest question of them all, however, remains whether it's really Snowflake, or whether Condron has been in control all along.

Hallowicked - Nazmaldun's Army heads into 2016 on a downward trend. Even though Frightmare scored a victory over Silver Ant at Top Banana, the fact is that Hallowicked almost certainly wanted him as an ally and not an enemy. All signs point to a clash with The Colony now, a reunited and healed Colony with four members strong. Hallowicked will have his lieutenant Frightmare and foot soldier Wani by his side. Will Blind Rage return? Or will he summon forth the corporeal form of Nazmaldun and rain a more vicious destruction upon Chikara than he has in the past year?

Argus - His rookie year has had its up and downs, but the Master of Gecko-Roman Wrestling ended the year on the solid upswing. He's got to be the favorite to win the next iteration of the Young Lions Cup once Heidi Lovelace relinquishes the trophy at the end of her year-long run. What other entanglements will the feisty mat amphibian have in his future? I see big things for him early on in the year.

Kobald - The joy in the air when Kobald returned to action was palpable, but at what price did his return cost? He has talked about wanting to dine on brains in the recent past, but even if those pangs have subsided for now, how much longer will they be staved off? UltraMantis Black has played with fire before, and it burned more than just himself. Will Kobald's return be too good to be true? Will the undead rise and turn the feelgood ending of Season 15 into a zombie apocalypse in Season 16? Only time will tell...

Why not Thunderkitty? Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey

What I Want to See in 2016:1. More female competitors, please - Bill Bicknell's Twitter spiel from Top Banana is absolutely correct. While Chikara should be absolutely lauded for integrating women enough that they now hold the two top singles Championships, the company needs more women on all levels. The unintended implication is that women can only compete in Chikara if they can absolutely win titles, which feels like a barrier. Several women have history with the company. Thunderkitty and Veda Scott could fit right in again (unless Scott has barriers via her Ring of Honor contract which could be the case). Cherry Bomb has links to the Grand Champion and would fit right in once she recovers from her current injury. Chikara would be a great place for folks like Brittany Blake or Penelope Ford to get some reps in as Young Lionesses. Women on top is great, but let them permeate the entire card structure.

2. Please come back, Lucha Underground guys! - My dream is for the King of Trios medals held by Drago, Fenix, and Aerostar to have mystical powers in The Temple, but that's a dream, a pipe dream at that. However, Lucha Underground and Chikara fit together like peanut butter and jelly. All three of those guys would be welcome back, obviously, but what about some fresh faces? Pentagón, Jr. is a no-brainer, and a match between him and, say, Eddie Kingston in a Chikara ring would be hot fire. King Cuerno making an appearance would melt faces too. Hell, imagine if MATANZA went face to face with the Devastation Corporation? The possibilities are endless, and I want them to be explored.

3. Something for Jakob Hammermeier to do - Condron and Juan Francisco de Coronado have come off as major stars this year, and they plan to figure in strong for the next year. However, I hope that Hammermeier still parades around with his BDK in the future. His purpose of being Soldier Ant's handler may have finished at Top Banana, but the dude is such a naturally annoying villain that it would be stupid not to feature him prominently.

The Boogie Woogie Man sits down with Cabana Photo Credit: Pro Wrestling Illustrated via WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Art Of Wrestling
Episode: 280 (Dec. 10, 2015)
Run Time: 1:01:16
Guest: Joey Ryan (3:00); Jimmy Valiant (12:17)

Summary: Colt Cabana has a quick interview with the viral star of the week before the main event, a sitdown with the legendary “Boogie Woogie Man” himself. Valiant talks a bit about his approach to modern technology and staying fit before talking wrestling: the influence of Leo Martinez and how Valiant bounced between working for Jerry Jarrett, Crockett Promotions, the AWA and WWWF, as well as his long-running independent career. Valiant recalls being at the forefront of wrestler entrance music, reflects on creativity and charisma and the importance of Dick The Bruiser. After plugging his book and “camp,” Cabana asks Valiant about comedy in wrestling. That somehow leads back to the beginning of Valiant’s career, and the last bit is about the songs Valiant recorded with Jimmy Hart.

Quote of the week:“Johnny Gilbert and Billy Gills was our first match. You never forget, brother. Hey, I may not remember who I wrestled last night, but you’ll never forget the first match. … I fell right into it. Right away within six weeks I was with Dick The Bruiser, he introduced me to him, Dick took me under his wing. Dick sent me to The Sheik in Detroit, and then Dick sent me to AWA and Verne Gagne, which was 400 (miles) from Chicago — Hammond. The Sheik was 300 in Detroit, he’d send me another 300 this way to St. Louis, Sam Muchnick, but Dick was my main guy.”

Why you should listen: Jimmy Valiant is an iconic character in North American wrestling, and Cabana here guides him through a pretty decent conversation that, if nothing else, inspires the listener to explore a bit more of his guest’s career. Valiant drops names left and right — all in appropriate context and never with a sense of selfish pride — from the very famous to the barely known, which makes this a delightful walk through history absent any of the pretension or angst of a Ross Report.

Why you should skip it: The problem with interviewing Jimmy Valiant is you’re dealing with a 73-year-old man who still occasionally works matches. While he’s a fantastic living history specimen, he’s not exactly able to follow Cabana through the typical Art Of Wrestling format, such as it is. That means Cabana’s attempts to discuss in-ring comedy lead nowhere, and plenty of other potentially interesting conversational avenues encounter unexpected detours. Cabana seems to be having a great time throughout, yet also must have been frustrated trying to lead Valiant along a logical path.

Final thoughts: This isn’t the interview I would have conducted with Valiant — I’d focus much more on his early days working the Midwest circuit, which is something he and Cabana have in common yet that shared experience comes up only briefly near the end. Regardless, it’s a fun way to spend an hour, and to be fair to Cabana I got the sense he was more or less in the presence of a runaway conversational train. Other hosts might have gotten more historical information from Valiant, but that’s all available in his autobiography in far more detail than any podcast would cover. This is an episode that probably defies nitpicking: Just have some fun with the Boogie Woogie Man and leave it there.

A moment well earned by WWE's deserving new ace Photo Credit: WWE.com

The last time WWE was in Philadelphia for a live, televised event, Roman Reigns was booed out of the building. He won the most lackluster Royal Rumble in history, one plagued with terrible layout, uninspired performances, and an inexplicable positioning of Kane and Big Show as the big bads. Not even The Rock, who usually guarantees a decibel level above the OSHA threshold for hearing protection, could save his crowning moment. Imagining that moment in time as the impetus for Vince McMahon deciding that WrestleMania 31 would end not with Reigns triumphant but with Seth Rollins cashing in Money in the Bank is not a stretch of the imagination by any sense.

Monday night, the same venue hosted another landmark moment in Reigns' career. The reaction could not have been any different. Instead of vociferously giving Reigns the proverbial business, Philadelphia cheerfully welcomed him as WWE's new standard bearer. Eleven months is not a long time in pro wrestling, even if it seems like forever since the last Rumble. How did Reigns get from rejected and falsely-entitled inheritor of the mythical ball to a celebrated hero? The answer is more complex than a single thing WWE did for his booking, even if the final step had everything to do with his direction.

When Reigns came back from his hernia injury in early 2015, replete with a Superstar of the Year Slammy that rankled many an observer, he was seen as too green to be pushed to the main event level. His mic skills and in-ring work had been well-hidden in The Shield, and his initial singles run produced unmemorable matches, including a stinker against Randy Orton at SummerSlam. His build-up to the Rumble did nothing to deny those doubts on the microphone, but he started to show more ability in the ring. The Rumble match did no one any favors, but once that match was through, Reigns started to build goodwill.

His match at Fastlane against Daniel Bryan was well-heralded, but many wrote it off as a case of the American Dragon having another classic with something akin to a broomstick. I didn't see that match in question, but everything that I saw after build Reigns' case up in resounding fashion. The WrestleMania main event match belonged in the conversation with Steve Austin vs. The Rock for the best Mania main event in history. The key to that argument is that Brock Lesnar really doesn't carry people to matches. He's perhaps the most unique wrestler in WWE history in that regard (or at least the most unique since Andre the Giant). I don't want to say that when one works Lesnar, they're working against him and not with him because I'm not in the ring with them and don't know how they do it. But it feels like the onus of the match rests on Lesnar's opponent and how he reacts to Lesnar's signature spots. By that metric, Reigns passed with flying colors.

The secret to getting over that the Vince Russos and other sports entertainment huggers don't want to admit is that being good in the ring can be as much of a hammer as knowing how to translate raw charisma into crowd manipulation. [REDACTED] is as good an example as any of this. His promo skills were always shit, but the man could work a crowd into a frenzy through his sequencing of spots and building to a crescendo in a match. The Rock's rise from talker-extraordinaire to complete promotion ace coincided with his improvement in the ring. Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, John Cena, CM Punk, and of course Bryan are all examples of wrestlers who could walk the walk in addition to talking the talk, and their match resumes were as important as their execution on storylines and interview spots.

Reigns' resume since Mania helped his reputation along with the rest of the crowd that wasn't already cheering him. He made a feud with Big Show watchable because of the matches, including a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules. He dragged watchable matches out of Bray Wyatt, who has been hit or miss since his call-up to the main roster two years ago. Most telling has been his series with Sheamus. Now, Sheamus isn't exactly a slouch in the ring. The man has at times been the best in-ring performer in WWE over his now six year career. But he's seemed uninspired since his latest comeback. He got into the ring with Reigns, however, and the vibrancy returned. The stiffness was back. Sheamus appeared to be back to an older version of himself. Of course, to credit that all to Reigns may be fallacious. Sheamus is in a position of importance for arguably the first time since the Bryan feud around WrestleMania XXVIII. But Reigns getting the best of guys while returning some A-plus work himself can't be discounted either.

Of course, that undercurrent of support didn't rear its head until the butt-end of TLC, after Sheamus had retained the Championship and when Reigns proverbially snapped. Sometimes, all the work one puts into improving oneself doesn't mean anything if the directors and producers aren't channeling that wrestler's strengths into the right ports. Reigns up to that point had been a mutated variant of the hard-luck Bryan, a man whose prize kept getting snapped up before his eyes. The reason why McMahon and the rest of WWE's braintrust had stars in their eyes when they gazed upon Reigns is the absolute reason why that line of booking could never work with him. A guy the size of Reigns needed to start exerting force and taking what was his from the people who'd kept denying him through trickery, subterfuge, and chicanery. When Reigns' talent aligned with his best direction, the fans finally had a reason to believe.

Would those moments of power and triumph soared to the heights they did without the work Reigns put in? One can never tell, but I get the feeling that if one took a poll of the WWE Universe, that person would find that the average fan would prefer rooting for someone who was good and not bad. WWE couldn't have put, say, Heidenreich or Jackson Andrews, or even Braun Strowman, a guy whom I personally like and think has a high ceiling but who hasn't had the chance to earn it yet, in that spot and had them evoke the crowd reaction. Reigns over a year became a singularly good professional wrestler, at least in the "sports" portion.

Granted, his coronation was hardly a moment of perfection. His ability while on the microphone is still suspect at best. Back when McMahon was obviously scripting his material and he was off babbling about beanstalks and other ill-fitting fairytale analogues, he had a convenient scapegoat for his troubles. He's improved with better material, but he's not the kind of guy one would conceivably put out in front of a crowd to fire them up by talking alone. He still gets glassy eyes from time to time, and his voice loses confidence when he's asked to be on the defensive.

Additionally, the follow-up story, which will be as important as the shows Sunday and Monday, seems to be a tangled morass. Jumping to conclusions that Triple H was behind the year of misery for Reigns feels tenuous at best, especially recently. WWE's writers have done a poor job of tailoring promo material for exposition, whether it be the Authority explicitly stating that they were behind it all, or Reigns making fluid accusations with more than just "NO, YOU'RE THE DISGRACE" behind it. Of course, one could give the benefit of the doubt that WWE is being subtle, but allowing concessions for McMahon's company for nuance and implication is about as irresponsible as giving a starving pit bull the task of watching a rump roast on a low-lying table without eating it.

But regardless of the normal traps WWE has set for itself, the company finally got out of its own way and allowed a man who has become ready to stand at its vanguard as The Man to step into that role. Any denial of Reigns' readiness as the straw that stirs RAW's drink should have been cast out when he stood in radiant celebration in front of a crowd that had spewed vitriol at him not even a year prior. Roman Reigns won over the WWE Universe, and he did so by proving that when hard work and talent meets the right opportunity, it creates a singularity that will turn even the blackest hearts soft and willing to greet the righteous conqueror.

A double shot of Austin recaps Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Steve Austin Show — Unleashed!
Episode: 280 (Dec. 10, 2015)
Run Time: 1:27:01
Guest: Ted Fowler (13:10)

Summary: It’s deer season at the Broken Skull Ranch, and that means Ted Fowler is back on the scene. He and Austin talk a bit about hardwood floors and the recent end of Fowler’s relationship before Austin’s harrowing tale of an encounter with a deer stand yellowjacket. After revisiting the demise of the ranch’s burn pits, they take listener questions and wander off into discussing mixing Jack Daniels with Dr Pepper, the possibility of live podcasts, where to go for fun in Dallas, exercise, Fowler’s dating scene, SUVs, deer watching, staying amused on the road, terrorism and capital punishment, if Austin and Fowler would ever do a hunting TV show, upcoming UFC fights and their favorite trucks.

Quote of the week: Fowler: “No streetlights, no car horns, no sirens. Every once in a while we’ll get a plane. You know, you’re absolutely right. We get to see stuff that city people don’t. And it’s totally cool, it’s a totally different type of work. You know, I mean, I work my ass off during the year, you work your ass off during the year. Come out here and it’s fun work, you know? That’s what I like. That’s why we do it.”

Why you should listen: Longtime Austin show listeners will relish a chance to get back into the winter vibe when Austin pals around the ranch with Fowler. The shows generally shift away from wrestling and toward drinking, hunting and having fun — certainly parts of Austin’s persona that attract many of his fans. In a way it’s great to be able to sense him unwinding on the air, and the proud rednecks especially must love this kind of episode.

Why you should skip it: We got kind of spoiled with Austin over the last several months as he was never more committed to either following WWE closely or at the very least bringing listeners the kind of personal wrestler interviews that framed the early days of the podcast. This is a strong departure from those types of shows, and for folks who haven’t clicked the download button two times every week since day one, it may be somewhat jarring.

Final thoughts: I’m not sure Fowler and I would have a heck of a lot to discuss in person, but I’ve come to view him as a character on the show, and he’s quite welcome in that capacity and serves as a pretty good second banana. That said, time is precious for a lot of listeners, and if you’re looking for a podcast that gives you good information or fun stories about the world of wrestling, look a little bit more, because No. 280 doesn’t deliver on that promise.

• • •

Show: Steve Austin Show
Episode: 281 (Dec. 15, 2015)
Run Time: 1:42:03
Guest: Wade Keller (7:23)

Summary: Austin is on the phone with Wade Keller, of the Pro Wrestling Torch, and aside from plugs at the end this episode is all about going beat0by-beat through the TLC card. They linger a bit on a few names, such as Big E, Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose, Ric Flair and, of course, Roman Reigns, but aside from ignoring the preshow, the guys give TLC complete and total attention.

Quote of the week: Keller: “I want to underline that I am absolutely appreciative of the effort, the athleticism, and a lot of the aspects what that we talked about specifically about the opener — but that bump meant something, because it’s two top guys. And that’s when bumps like that should be taken. Wrestling, you know, what’s the cliché? Wrestling’s not ballet, I get that. It’s when it’s violent and risky — and as you just said, that can do real damage — I want it to be for a purpose. And the purpose here was very real. …It really established the moment that it should have been Roman’s victory. And so you did a very big, dangerous spot for a very deliberate reason at a very particular part of a match, and that’s where I like those calculated risks.”

Why you should listen: Austin plays two roles quite well on this episode: the global icon and national treasure who is legitimately modest about his run as the most white-hot wrestling star of all time and also the pretty regular WWE fan who hasn’t been watching RAW lately and isn’t bothered by a lot of week-to-week aggravation. Keller, who is educated enough to have standing and not crusty enough to lose credibility, is a delightful foil for Austin, challenging some of the host’s conclusions as too friendly but ultimately deferring to the face who runs the place.

Why you should skip it: Austin loved TLC. If you didn’t, and don’t want his praise to damper your feelings for him, well, move along. Aside from that, there are plenty of podcast fans who are out on current day WWE, and it’s safe to advise those folks to take a pass as well as there’s maybe two dozen syllables altogether that don’t focus on a very small window of WWE programming. And for you sticklers, the chat was recorded Monday before RAW, so it is technically dated already.

Final thoughts: I’m never sure how much detail to go into on these pay-per-view review episodes. I’m assuming nearly everyone can make a pretty quick judgment based on the iTunes description alone. Still, I found this one particularly useful — perhaps in conjunction with a well-executed RAW — for helping to rejuvenate my fan excitement on the road to WrestleMania. If you usually skip the PPV recaps, I suggest giving this one a listen. Both guys have good thoughts on match pacing and card order that will help fans get a better appreciation for why they (or especially the live crowd) might respond in certain ways, and the difference of personal context between Austin and Keller enriches their discussion far beyond a session featuring two people who have seen exactly the same amount of broadcasts.

The cheeseburger man gets mad and red at Muslims on his wrestling podcast Photo via @FightOwensFight

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: The Jim Cornette Experience
Episode: 106
Run Time: 1:03:12
Guest: None

Summary: After a long section of plugging his various endeavors, Jim Cornette and his Terry Gross-soundalike cohost Alice Radley begin the show with memories of wrestler Steve Bradley, who died seven years ago today. Bradley worked for Cornette in OVW, and he regrets that WWE dropped the ball on hiring him in a significant role. Cornette then moves on to the shooting in San Bernardino, and how we live in a terrible country where a shooting like that can occur, yet no laws will change because of it. They read an email from a listener about the Second Amendment. Then, they read an email from a Muslim listener who takes issue with Cornette's depiction of Muslims as a violent religion, and this is where things go off the rails. Cornette yells at this listener for a while. Finally, Cornette explains why he hated the Joey Ryan "test of dick strength" spot so much, and how back in his day, Joey Ryan would have been assaulted by the entire locker room for exposing the business (no pun intended).

Quote of the Week: Cornette, toward a Muslim listener: "I'll admit, a lot of the people running the United States are a really fucked up bunch of people. However, you think it's bad, but those fuckin' Dalmatian eatin' fuckin' psychopaths that run your fuckin' countries over there get a hold of our resources, and you see what would happen. The whole fuckin' earth would be blown up in six fuckin' weeks, because your people are a bunch of goddamn lunatics."

Why you should listen: If you agree with Cornette's opinions on both gun control and the violent tendencies of Muslims, then you'll have a great time here, because that takes up the bulk of the episode. Cornette occasionally says some insightful things that might make you think for a bit. As for wrestling talk, Cornette's hatred of Joey Ryan will ring true for you if you are a Cornette apologist, or over the age of 50.

Why you should skip it: I listened to the very first episode of this show back when it premiered a few years ago, and I found it odd that Cornette was spending so much time talking politics. There are some people from whom I only want to hear wrestling talk, and Cornette is one of them. Apparently, he is still falling victim to this podcasting sandtrap. Cornette should not wade into politics, and never is this more clear than during his rant about Muslims. It's so offensive and awful that it sounds as if Donald Trump suddenly took over the podcast.  In addition to his old-timer opinions about Muslims, Cornette continues to have old-timer opinions about wrestling, as he berates Joey Ryan for "wiping his feet on the wrestling business so he can make some money." This issue could be debated back and forth, but the problem is that Cornette only comes off here as an out-of-touch jerk.

Final Thoughts: You can watch Fox News if you want to hear someone saying some ignorant garbage about how all Muslims are terrorists, but you don't need to hear it on a wrestling podcast. Cornette is getting by on his name and history only, clearly not on his ability to have a fresh or insightful take on the wrestling business, or just how we should treat each other as human beings. If this is what Cornette's podcast is always like, then I won't be returning anytime soon. And hey, if anyone sees Cornette at a Meet and Greet sometime soon, do me a favor; when you're meeting him, put a rug on the floor, face the West and do some prayers to Allah. I'm sure he'd love it.

Roman Reigns is the big topic of discussion this week Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Cheap Heat
Episode:“Everybody Loves Roman” (Dec. 16, 2015)
Run Time: 1:19:35
Guest: Phonte (26:02)

Summary: David Shoemaker and Stat Guy Greg are joined by a back-in-the-studio Peter Rosenberg. Greg attended TLC, but the talk starts with Roman Reigns’ big title victory. They consider if he’ll face Triple H at WrestleMania and weigh in on the history and current approach to WWE TV as it relates to house shows and pay-per-views. In the midst of reviewing TLC rapper Phonte joins the party. Shoemaker pitches his idea for a Network show shaming inappropriate WWE fans, talk abut this week’s RAW spotlights the future of Kevin Owens before a complete derailing into an in-depth undershirt conversation. Pulling it back to WWE, they look at Mauro Ranallo’s hiring, which quickly derails again into Shoemaker’s high school theater career and Greg’s time with the school dance troupe. Eventually they list the five categories for “the MAJies,” which somehow leads to Rosenberg promoting his wife’s podcasts. After corrections, Phonte participates in a look at Hulk Hogan’s potential for redemption. At the very end Shoemaker mentions Kimber Lee’s CHIKARA Grand Championship victoy.

Quote of the week: Shoemaker: “Obviously great job by WWE to get him over in that environment. But, you know, I think that a lot of the time wrestling fans like us sort of overlook the fact that even when wrestling crowds are just like, you know, seem like 50,000 smarks that have all just logged off the same message board and stopped listening to the same podcast to start cheering, like, people like us are not the majority. And I’m setting aside the fact that people like us were probably cheering last night, too. … When WWE tells a story well, or when they just push those right buttons and make you revert back to that childlike state of cheering for the hero and booing the villain, like, so much of the crowd is gonna follow along. If you do it right, if you do it well, you don’t need to worry about crowds vetoing the idea.”

Why you should listen: Most podcasts that reviewed TLC did so before RAW, which makes this episode the freshest of the bunch. There are flashes of brilliance throughout from all four men, and the way Greg conveys his live TLC experience displays the benefit of having a well-spoken fan voice on the show, especially one who is willing to defend his reasoning and refuse to fall victim to hive mind. I’m usually not one for Rosenberg’s tangents, but somehow I found the ones in this episode to be mostly amusing and endearing.

Why you should skip it: The amusing nature of some of the divergent discussion aside, this episode is something of a train wreck for people looking to be immersed in one of the bigger WWE weekends of the year. They bring up some stories — such as Rey Mysterio heading to Lucha Underground and NXT’s London show — just enough to let listeners know they’re intentionally overlooking those situations, and while I liked Phonte well enough as his guest, I think Rosenberg could have done more to establish his friend’s bona fides.

Final thoughts: Man, I ain’t even know. Cheap Heat is never going to be the show I think it could be, so the best thing I can say for this week is it came across as pretty darn close to what I think the hosts envision as their ideal. It’s absolutely all over the map, but there are multiple occasions where the hosts reveal genuine affection for each other, a relationship fostered with listeners across the country and an absolute appreciation of a fine American art form. Its most definitely a part of my wrestling week, even when they drive me crazy.