I Listen So You Don't Have To: The VIP Lounge, April 24

Mysterio is one of MVP's guests 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: The VIP Lounge
Episode: 4/24/16
Run Time: 59:57
Guests: Rey Mysterio, Johnny Mundo, Konnan, Hugo Savinovich, Carlito

Summary: MVP is at a hotel in Santiago, Chile, on a big tour headlined by Rey Mysterio, Matt Hardy, Pentagón, Jr., and many others. To get an episode released, he visits with his peers and does some short, guerrilla-style segments with them. Hugo Savinovich put together the tour, so he talks about its great success in spite of torrential flooding in Chile. Rey Mysterio comes on for a little while to talk about life on the road and what has made him a continued success in wrestling. We cut to a short vape session with Konnan, Johnny Mundo and Carlito where they laugh a lot. Then MVP does a one-on-one with Johnny Mundo where he talks about his self-financed movie, The Bounty Hunter.

Quote of the Week: Mysterio, on connecting with fans - "After seeing my kids grow up and seeing how they would want certain things, or meet certain people, and being who I am, I would be able to make that happen for them, I would see their happiness. So just to see that, knowing that I can do the same for other kids, or for other people, knowing that I have that gift to put a smile on somebody's face, man, I'm all up for it. That's who I am."

Why you should listen: I was quite thrilled to hear Mysterio mention his "left knee," echoing that famous line that used to play before every WWE DVD. I've also never heard Mysterio use curse words, and that was cool too. These are, for the most part, very unguarded conversations where it's clearly just a bunch of guys relaxing after a night out and processing their current situation. MVP and Mysterio are sitting outside the hotel at midnight, vaping in the rain. Beautiful, right?

Why you should skip it: MVP openly admits that he is doing one of these segments just to fill time and slam out a quick episode. This is probably a fair assessment of the entire episode. MVP is in Chile and obviously very busy, so he turned on the mics and interviewed some friends with surface-level questions. When he talks to Hugo Savinovich, he brings up the perpetual destruction of the Spanish Announce Table, and this smacks of laziness.

Final Thoughts: The general tossed-off nature of this episode is summed up when a dog comes up to the wrestlers during an interview, MVP puts the mic in the dog's face, and Johnny Mundo says, "You realize we're trying to get a dog to talk into your mic at 3AM?" That's the level of looseness that goes on here. Some of the conversation here is totally inconsequential, like when Johnny Mundo talks at length about the headaches of self-financing his own movie. But there are enough moments of interest that would make it worth it to skim through. Rey Mysterio talks about his place as a Lucha legend, and hearing him speak so egocentrically is refreshing because if one guy deserves to have an ego, it's him. MVP gets these insights from his subjects by just turning on a recorder while he and the boys hang out, and this fly-on-the-wall approach will be fascinating for those who wish they were cool enough to drink and vape with Konnan after midnight.