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| Always blame McMahon, not the writers, according to this podcast Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Episode: 162
Run Time: 1:29:49
Guest: none
Matt McCarthy, Vince Averill and Tom Sibley are the three-man comedian team who host We Watch Wrestling. This week's episode finds them retelling the experience of seeing RAW at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Because this is We Watch Wrestling, and not a strict rundown show that always stays on topic, their recap sounds more like three pals sharing only the funniest stories from the night.
Sibley went on a journey for a Sinful Cinnamon Wetzel's Pretzel, only to be thwarted by a guy in front of him who bought all the remaining Sinful Cinnamons. In the midst of his disappointment, Tom saw a guy wearing a homemade shirt with a huge picture of Chris Benoit's face and "BENOIT FOR HALL OF FAME" emblazoned on the back. "All I could think when I was looking at it was that it was someone who doesn't know about wrestling and said, 'Why don't they let that guy into the Hall of Fame? What, was he not that good?"
The guys had very good seats quite close to the ring, and they all admit that at many times in the night, instead of watching the actual wrestling, they kept looking to Rick Rubin to gauge his reaction to whatever was happening. The most excited Rick Rubin got the whole evening? Anything related to Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho.
The neat part of the night was that McCarthy got to go backstage and see his old co-workers. You see, he was a writer for WWE between 2011 and 2012, and this brief time with the company informs some of his discussion of the product (for example, NEVER blame the writers for what you see on TV. It's all Vince McMahon. It's always Vince McMahon's idea). McCarthy was greeted warmly by Michael Hayes, who looks dapper at all seconds of the day. His happiest interaction was getting to talk to Kevin Owens, who remembered him as a crowd member at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
"Do you still go over there?" Owens asked, in reference to PWG.
"Of course!" Matt replied.
"...Is it still awesome?"
Other than the recapping of their night at RAW, there is not a ton of discussion regarding current pro wrestling. If the guys aren't excited by much that's going on currently, they're more than willing to look to the past. One of their favorite subjects is the duo of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, whom the guys characterize as the loosest, druggiest, chillest guys in the land. Appearing on Legends with JBL, our hosts believe Nash is "cheebed to the gills," meaning super stoned. And as always, those guys still claim they never did anything suspect to any wrestlers, despite ALL evidence pointing toward the contrary.
We Watch Wrestling is a show quite comfortable in its own skin. Usually abstaining from having guests on the show, the hosts instead let the dynamic of their friendship be the star each and every week. This results in a lot of conversation that has little to no relation to pro wrestling, and for some people, that is an immediate turnoff. They want pure wrestling talk, and that's it. But for myself, and hopefully many others who love podcasting, the inner world of the hosts is what we're really listening for. It just so happens that these three funny guys also love pro wrestling, so their entertaining banter mostly happens to intersect with a thing I like.
A great podcast doesn't need to stay on topic. It can wander from Point A to Point B, then maybe to Point F and back around to Point C. As long as the people doing the talking are engaged and willing to explore new ideas, you'll be taken care of.