 |
| The crew talk about Banks' win and not much else of worth Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Show: Cheap Heat
Episode: Money In The Banks (July 27, 2016)
Run Time: 1:10:33
Guest: Bryan Diperstein (40:37), Brian Campbell (1:04:40)
Summary: Stat Guy Greg joins Peter Rosenberg in studio before the latter has to leave for Japan. They open by plugging their upcoming live show and its attendant t-shirts, then wade through Battleground and RAW, including some of the production differences and the looming title splits, then end with a lengthy consideration of the Sasha Banks-Charlotte title match. Diperstein’s brief call most focuses on the new RAW feel, Campbell is called in to defend the decision to have Banks win the belt Monday instead of at SummerSlam.
Quote of the week: Rosenberg: “I’m a little more into girls who are like, really in shape. Like Becky. Like Becky’s arms are kinda jacked, but I kinda like it. Is that weird? … I’m not mad at having jacked arms, even though you’re more jacked than me. I’m OK with it. I think it’s because, from a sexual standpoint, meaning — and this is what I’m referring to in this moment, I’m talking about girls physically — I sort of like the idea that you’re stronger than me. But hopefully — and I’m not talking about Becky Lynch specifically, as she’s a professional, I’m not trying to approach her sexually — but if there was a real-life Becky Lynch, right, who I knew, I would like to think that, though you’re bigger and stronger than me, I have the power.”
Greg: “And that’s not as sexist as anything that you were ranting against last week?”
Rosenberg: “Sexually you’re allowed to be as sexist as you want, right? I mean, listen, the strongest woman in the world might take on the most traditional sexist role in bed, that’s totally — I’m comfortable with that. I just mean as far as professionally, I see it quite differently. I just mean that I notice this body type that Becky has, I find it to be more attractive than I used to. …
“Do you think everyone’s going to see that whole aside as going back completely on my conversation last week about sex that so many people were moved by, because now this week I’m talking about women as sexual objects? … Are they gonna be offended that I even brought up the idea of Becky Lynch’s attractiveness and her arms? Will people be offended by that? I can’t. I can’t worry about it. Because I do love and admire women’s wrestling for one thing, and then I can objectively then talk about … which people in life we find attractive. That’s just what life is. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, most everyone who’s ever in the WWE women’s locker room I find attractive.”
Why you should listen: Greg watched all of Battleground. The conversation about the RAW changes was useful, if brief, and to be fair to Rosenberg, he was right to question the timing and presentation of the Women’s Title change both in context of its own story as well as the larger presentation of the product.
Why you should skip it: The episode starts with plugs, which belong at the end. Rosenberg has only seen half of Battleground and is flipping through the show while recording the podcast. He takes a break to talk about who in the wrestling world contacted him on his birthday, loses focus to converse with other people in the studio and places two phone calls to “guests” who aren’t exactly prepared to actually discuss wrestling. The only potentially worthwhile conversation starts well more than halfway through the show.
Final thoughts: Considering it in the light most favorable to Rosenberg, his remarks on body types he find attractive are not inherently awful, as they are subjective opinion and surely not criminal. We could even argue he tried his best to present these thoughts as “look, I’m a dude who likes girls, and these days I like girls who look like this.” That on its own should not be offensive. However, listeners are well within their rights to question why the hell that is remotely close to relevant on this (or any) episode, especially when there is legitimately great wrestling to discuss as well as actual narrative developments that warrant attention.
I cut Cheap Heat a lot of slack in the slow weeks during Roman Reigns’ suspension and waiting for the draft. There was jack squat going on to discuss. Last week the guys actually added context to the happenings and enhanced the fan experience. This week, for whatever reason, we’re back to a classic (for the wrong reasons) Cheap Heat in which the show’s primary host openly disregards his audience by both failing to fully prepare and then doubling down by wasting his precious studio time to talk about things wholly irrelevant to the actual wrestling news on which he could effectively comment.
In short, there are any number of ways to better spend 70 minutes. Please do not listen to this episode.