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| The lads discuss whether or not Jericho is mad at them or not and other things Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Show: Cheap Heat
Episode: The New Era Begins (Sept. 1, 2016)
Run Time: 1:28:37
Guest: None
Summary: It’s official; ESPN’s Brian Campbell is a permanent member of the panel with Peter Rosenberg and Stat Guy Greg. The guys open with a look back at their live show, then go deep on Daniel Bryan’s ESPN interview and his encounters with The Miz. Then they remember Mr. Fuji and consider the lack of modern managers. Trying to talk about SummerSlam leads into a tangent on Chris Jericho and then Bret Hart’s statements about Seth Rollins. Rosenberg calls his wife, Alexa, ostensibly to discuss NXT but mostly focusing on Bobby Roode’s entrance music, which spins into a larger conversation about WWE’s new music team. Then they talk at longer length about SummerSlam, wrapping up with Kevin Owens’ Universal Title win and how it spawned a controversial tweet from an ESPN colleague.
Quote of the week: Rosenberg: “Let me be honest, I have started to believe, guys — I’m very transparent to a fault, so let the repercussions be the repercussions — I believe that when we speculated several months ago about if Chris Jericho was talking about our podcast, Greg, I believe that he was. I believe that Chris Jericho has heat with Cheap Heat, no pun intended. I have reached out to Chris Jericho since that time — and I’ve known him for a long time — including leaving him a voice mail after his wonderful podcast with Nancy Benoit’s sister. I left him a voice mail, which I don’t do often to tell someone this was a phenomenal piece of work. And I called him and told him that, never heard back, never got a text back, nothing. Not a word from that guy. Which makes me think that he does, in fact, have heat with us over our comments about his match.”
Why you should listen: You don’t always get to hear Rosenberg be the voice of reason, but he absolutely is in reminding everyone that even in a worked shoot, the key syllable is work. Greg earns points for focusing on Mr. Fuji’s in-ring career, and Rosenberg contributes as well by asserting the importance is not in the number of title reigns but in what the championships and length of reigns says about the company’s value of the performer and his drawing power. The theme music discussion is interesting, though it does run the risk of being lost in an otherwise jam-packed show.
Why you should skip it: How the guys talked for almost 75 minutes without getting right in to Kevin Owens’ big win — like even acknowledging it happened in the context of discussing stuff from 10 days prior — is staggering. The cred Rosenberg earned for other moments was lost in the usual self importance that plagues his persona as well as failing to grasp why people were upset about the tweet of an ESPN colleague. Ultimately, this one suffers because it is more or less a recap of the weekend in Brooklyn but it was released after another week of WWE storytelling that advanced the conversation ahead of where this panel was prepared to go.
Final thoughts: Campbell seems a nice enough fellow, but I’m not sure what he adds to the show — his main role seems to be attempting to add legitimacy to Rosenberg. I’d much rather hear a podcast with Campbell hosting, Greg as the sidekick and Rosenberg calling in for a 5-minute rant once a week. The constant reminder of how important the podcast is among a certain set of fans mainly serves to alienate fans who don’t see the world through that lens and would just rather hear wrestling talk.