I Listen So You Don't Have To: Masked Man Show Live

The Ringer crew discussed the aftermath of this match and more right after it happened 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 Masked Man Show
Episode: Live Survivor Series Special (Nov. 21, 2016)
Run Time: 34:41
Guest: Steve Kazee, Dan St. Germain, Dave Schilling

Summary: Right after Survivor Series ended, David Shoemaker gathered most of the regular co-hosts of his Ringer show for reactions to the shocking main event. They also talked briefly about Shane McMahon, the teased Shield reunion, WWE’s stories going forward and a quick look at the outcome of other Survivor Series matches. The chat was broadcast live on Periscope and Facebook, but here it is in podcast form.

Quote of the week: Kazee: “The thing you have to remember is, Goldberg, for better or for worse, was always built as the undefeated, indestructible monster, long before there was ever a Brock Lesnar. Like, he was the phenomenon, he was the guy. And it was hokey, and yeah, he was 178-0 and 230-0, like, you know, all these made up numbers. But the fact of the matter is you established that as his role, and now here we are 20 years later and the guy came in and laid, like, two really great spears and put him in a jackhammer and that was a wrap. And he conquered this thing that has been conquering every other star. So it’s the only real way to tell Goldberg’s mythology.”

Why you should listen: Going live for postgame reactions isn’t exactly novel in 2016, but it’s new territory for The Ringer and there’s no better way to capture the “WTF” attitude pervasive among WWE fans following Goldberg-Lesnar than to get it raw.

Why you should skip it: The guys were on and off throughout the night, but the podcast version covers only the post-show conversation, and as such gives the impression there was nothing to discuss on Survivor Series besides the main event. It was nice to get this released in pod form as quickly as it happened, but why not put the entire show out that way?

Final thoughts: If you must listen to this, you’re probably better off going to the archived Facebook Live feed. It was a fun experiment, but with four guys on set and a scant half hour to talk, most of it spent on one very brief match, there were some serious diminishing returns on display.