Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.
Speaker 2: By from San Francisco. I'm a sports byline broadcasting network.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with your hosts
Speaker 2: Brian Alvarez and Mike sempervv.
Speaker 3: Right, you're ready, When you're ready, let's get it on.
Speaker 1: How's it going to everybody? Brian Alvarez here on or
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Live. We are here every day Monday through Friday,
Speaker 1: New Pacific three Eastern at Sunday three Pacific six Eastern
Speaker 1: Saturday Mornings with Jim Valley, Today Pacific one Eastern Sundays
Speaker 1: with andrews Arian. And it is a Wednesday here on
Speaker 1: the show. You know that means we got a lot
Speaker 1: to talk about. As always, last night at XT, a
Speaker 1: lot of good wrestling on NXT. I couldn't hate the
Speaker 1: show yesterday. The booking sucks, but the wrestling itself was
Speaker 1: very good, particularly the women's main event, which was actually
Speaker 1: the best match on the show. So we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that here today. We got Dynamite coming up tonight. We
Speaker 1: got a full lineup for the show. More added, including
Speaker 1: some new signees, who, as is always the case in AW,
Speaker 1: will be debuting to get beat. But that's the way
Speaker 1: things go. We've also got a ton of notes on
Speaker 1: the Netflix, WBD, Netflix, and AW. What's the latest. We'll
Speaker 1: tell you here today TENA impact ratings from the Thursday
Speaker 1: AMC debut. We actually have a correction from the end
Speaker 1: of the show yesterday. Champa is gone from WWE, Shingo
Speaker 1: is injured, somebody maybe coming to WWE. Got an update
Speaker 1: on RUSSEV and Nixon, Newell quote which I will read
Speaker 1: without comment, Moose and plenty more filthy. Tom Lawler is
Speaker 1: joining us US here today and I believe we have
Speaker 1: a special guest as well, so uh, we talked about that.
Speaker 1: We'll come back from the break. If you want to
Speaker 1: text us here today. Four two five seven eight zero
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Speaker 1: Affordable Online at gmail dot com is the email Affordable Online.
Speaker 1: Also on threads, Instagram and cameo Affordable Online if you
Speaker 1: haven't gotten a cameo yet, Man, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you're waiting for.
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Speaker 1: Are you a fan of paranormal radio? Bigfoot, UFOs, ghosts, Hauntings,
Speaker 1: Cryptid's True Crime? After Dark Radio with Brian Alvarez, Theer's
Speaker 1: live on Sports Byline every Wednesday at two pm Pacific
Speaker 1: five Eastern, talking all manner of the strange and unusual,
Speaker 1: from the latest news of the weird to interviews with
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Speaker 2: You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
Speaker 2: and Mike simper Vivi on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 1: Well, we're back here on the show. We're on top
Speaker 1: of our game like we always are, right Tom.
Speaker 8: We sure are. I mean, there's no departure from the norm.
Speaker 1: We have no guests today, but we will have a
Speaker 1: guest later this week and I can alert you all
Speaker 1: also next week and the week after what they're coming
Speaker 1: out of.
Speaker 8: The woodwork you didn't even alert me of to appear.
Speaker 1: Well, I just found out to appear on this show.
Speaker 3: Ha.
Speaker 1: People jumping out of the woodwork, and I'm sure there
Speaker 1: will be more to come. There's an open invite to
Speaker 1: be a guest on this show. You know, everybody, it's
Speaker 1: not like we ever got anything to talk about.
Speaker 8: The only people that ever really want to come on
Speaker 8: and talk to us, Brian are people who have something
Speaker 8: to sell.
Speaker 1: Well, of course any times to Indian.
Speaker 8: Yeah that's true. But you know, we try to keep it,
Speaker 8: you know, at least on the academic side, not ruin
Speaker 8: people's days on the radio. So we have some esteemed guests,
Speaker 8: or at least on my end, we have.
Speaker 1: They're all esteemed.
Speaker 8: Tomorrow will be the author of Way of the Blade
Speaker 8: one and two Oh Wow, including the aw edition, a
Speaker 8: man who has promoted the Dean shows in the past,
Speaker 8: and the now upcoming Death Valley Days show taking place
Speaker 8: next month. Tomorrow we will have Phil Schneider, who I
Speaker 8: am very excited to speak to.
Speaker 1: You know, Yennie pop Pye here says I'm available with
Speaker 1: my price is high, which reminds me there's someone else
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be trying to get on this show,
Speaker 1: Tom do Jordy forget no, I remember, Okay, you just
Speaker 1: haven't done anything yet.
Speaker 8: I'm tempering it.
Speaker 1: Okay, listen aw Dynamitis. Tonight we have a full card
Speaker 1: Key Omega versus Josh Alexander, which Josh Alexander is very
Speaker 1: excited to have this match. He's it's a dream match
Speaker 1: of his. It should be great. M j F will appear,
Speaker 1: Swerve Strickland versus Kevin Knight, which should be great. Mina,
Speaker 1: Shira Cow and Tony Storm versus Megan Bain and Penelope Ford.
Speaker 1: We're already kicking off the Death Writers and a don
Speaker 1: Kallis family that escalated very quickly from collision. Moxley Wheeler
Speaker 1: and Daniel Garcia versus Rocky et Cicero and Lance Archer.
Speaker 1: I thought Echi Sarah was injured, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: Triangle of Madness will make an appearance. Samo Joe faces
Speaker 1: Speedball Mike Bailey and it is a It would not
Speaker 1: be aw if we do not have a brand new
Speaker 1: debuting team put into a match that they will assuredly lose.
Speaker 1: Alex Price and Jordan Oliver, newly signed, will be facing FTR.
Speaker 1: So that is the lineup for Dynamite tonight, and that
Speaker 1: brings us to this story that came out yesterday. Hollywood
Speaker 1: Reporter delved into a five hundred and night teen page
Speaker 1: SEC document that it came out Tuesday morning, heralded Netflix's
Speaker 1: all catch adjustment to their offer to acquire the Warner
Speaker 1: Brothers Studio and other assets from WBD, which would leave
Speaker 1: the cable channels behind. In their research, Hollywood Reporter surmised
Speaker 1: that because AW was not specifically mentioned in document, that
Speaker 1: after the deal is done, AW programming, including pay per views,
Speaker 1: are expected to continue streaming and simulcasting on HBO Max
Speaker 1: to the end of their current contract, which ends in
Speaker 1: either twenty twenty seven or twenty twenty eight, depending on
Speaker 1: the option, and they opined that AW would likely join
Speaker 1: Turner Sports streaming app that would be operated by Global
Speaker 1: Linear Networks, the company that would hold all the assets
Speaker 1: not to being taken by Netflix. This would be if
Speaker 1: the option is picked up and if they re sign
Speaker 1: with WBD.
Speaker 8: Yeah, who's in charge of Global Linear Networks? Is that
Speaker 8: just like somebody left over from WBD?
Speaker 1: Now app, it's the Turnersports streaming app.
Speaker 8: That's what their parent company will.
Speaker 1: Be it'll be Global Linear Networks.
Speaker 8: Wow, that really rolls off the tongue.
Speaker 1: It sure does. They also speculated some kind of non
Speaker 1: exclusive arrangement could be cut where both HBO Max and
Speaker 1: Turner Sports are AW events. All of this would be
Speaker 1: assuming that AW remains with WBDGLN after the current deal
Speaker 1: is up. The report confirmed, which is something that we
Speaker 1: have known for a while, that in fact WBD does
Speaker 1: own a minority stake in AW, which will remain with
Speaker 1: GLn post Netflix sale. The steak in AW would have
Speaker 1: to be less than ten percent, or else WBD would
Speaker 1: need to disclose that information publicly. AW head Tony Kahan
Speaker 1: has been asked to confirm this before. While he has
Speaker 1: never done that, he has also never denied it. So
Speaker 1: they own less than ten percent, but they do own
Speaker 1: ownership stake. Report opine and Netflix and HBO Max would
Speaker 1: probably not fight to keep AW, perhaps due to the
Speaker 1: unconfirmed non complete non compete clause TKO incorporated in their
Speaker 1: Netflix deal quote a relic of the old days. In
Speaker 1: other words, they believe that when WWE went to Netflix,
Speaker 1: they had a non compete clause basically stating no other
Speaker 1: pro wrestling programming, live weekly programming while they're on Netflix.
Speaker 1: And that's the story there. So really I don't think
Speaker 1: anything we didn't know, you know, if WBD, if Netflix,
Speaker 1: you know, wins and ends up purchasing the studio and such.
Speaker 1: I mean nothing, There's nothing that's going to change with
Speaker 1: AW until at least next year, okay, and that is.
Speaker 8: With the end of the contract with HBO Max.
Speaker 1: Yes, they will stay on HBO Max through this contract
Speaker 1: period which ends in twenty twenty seven, although there is
Speaker 1: a one year option that could be picked up to
Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight, which presumably will be. But there's no guarantee.
Speaker 8: I mean, if you are a new sports app like
Speaker 8: this TT sports app is going to be, I would
Speaker 8: think that you would want to at least hold on
Speaker 8: to the properties that have some fans that you have
Speaker 8: control of. And AW is like the only thing that
Speaker 8: they currently have in that realm. I mean they have hockey, right,
Speaker 8: hockey does well, but college basketball.
Speaker 1: Also. Yes, yesterday we had the impact number at the
Speaker 1: end of the show, but that number was in fact incorrect.
Speaker 1: It was incorrect. Are you saying you were wrong the
Speaker 1: actual number of viewers? Actually? I mean I don't want
Speaker 1: to throw the guy under the bus, but we did credit.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't even I don't want to throw him nder
Speaker 1: the bus. But anyway, the actual number for the debut
Speaker 1: on AMC was one hundred and seventy three thousand viewers.
Speaker 1: I believe the ninety thousand number. The original number that
Speaker 1: came out was like ninety thousand, I think. And the
Speaker 1: reason that number came out is because they had some
Speaker 1: weird ranking thing, and I think what happened was Impact
Speaker 1: was ranked ninety, but it was mistakenly thought that that
Speaker 1: was the actual viewership of the show. So anyway, one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy three thousand viewers and a zero point
Speaker 1: zero four.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 1: They did fewer. If we're gonna make any comparison, this
Speaker 1: past week's Collision did more viewers. They did two hunred
Speaker 1: seventy one thousand viewers, but TNA did beat them in
Speaker 1: the demo. TENA did a point zero four, Collision at
Speaker 1: a point zero three.
Speaker 8: So and with both you also have to imagine there
Speaker 8: are people watching streaming. I don't know what the percentage
Speaker 8: is comparatively between the HBO Max streaming network and the
Speaker 8: AMC streaming You would imagine that HBO has a much
Speaker 8: larger reach, but that doesn't necessarily mean that more people
Speaker 8: are watching.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the other thing is is when it comes
Speaker 1: to TNA, we actually have them streaming in two different places,
Speaker 1: so right, no, I don't think I don't think. We
Speaker 1: have TNA Plus and AMC Plus. So they're on AMC,
Speaker 1: AMC Plus and TNA Plus. So obviously more people are
Speaker 1: watching than this. But we're not going to do this.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just these are the these are the
Speaker 1: numbers everyone. And uh, my guess is that Collision will
Speaker 1: probably I think Collision and TNA and AMC are the
Speaker 1: fairest comparison because I think they're going to probably be battling.
Speaker 1: Although I do think that, you know, it's always the
Speaker 1: first week that does the best, and especially after that
Speaker 1: first show. If they do one hundred and seventy thousand
Speaker 1: and point four this coming Thursday, they should be thanking
Speaker 1: the good Lord. I did not expect that to happen.
Speaker 1: In fact, it could be closer to that ninety thousand
Speaker 1: and zer point oh three, but we'll see, we shall see.
Speaker 8: Yeah. I think TNA used to have a subscription service
Speaker 8: on YouTube that is no longer there they am confused
Speaker 8: for sure, but now it is no I am on
Speaker 8: their YouTube and that is no longer an option. So
Speaker 8: although you could go watch oh right now, Bully Ray
Speaker 8: doing a promo with Devon and Jeremy Borash backstage, look
Speaker 8: at that you know about live all right?
Speaker 1: Back in a moment with more news, Well do the
Speaker 1: NXT report later on. Back in a moment Observer Live.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
Speaker 2: and Mike simper Vivi on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 1: In the show, ray Albatz here Wrestling Observer Live. Chop
Speaker 1: confirmed is WWE departure, He said, in the very near
Speaker 1: future of my contract with WWE officially comes to an end.
Speaker 1: Like to thank every single person who contributed the last
Speaker 1: ten years of this incredible journey, very special thinking. All
Speaker 1: the men and women in the locker room would be
Speaker 1: remissed not to give a special thinking to my Black
Speaker 1: and Gold family, my wife and daughter spend the first
Speaker 1: decades of my career traveling world in the independent scene,
Speaker 1: second decade traveling world with WWE. I have one decade remaining.
Speaker 1: I'm unexcited for whatever challenges that lie ahead. I'm an
Speaker 1: incredibly lucky person, one of the few who has spent
Speaker 1: his entire adult life living in his childhood dream and
Speaker 1: it continues to evolve. And he says with that said,
Speaker 1: for the first time in over ten years, I'm available
Speaker 1: for all appearances, signings, photo ops, seminars, movies, TV appearance.
Speaker 1: It's finish collaboration, sponsorships, and so forth. Funny, so am
Speaker 1: I in contact him at book Chop at gmail dot
Speaker 1: com or I'm at f W online at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I should get that guy in cameo. It's another good one.
Speaker 1: He might be on there for all I know. But anyway,
Speaker 1: all right, uh, Shingo tokagiy today only now you tell
Speaker 1: me this?
Speaker 8: No, but I think I think that's the way that
Speaker 8: we should do it.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, let me get through some news real quick,
Speaker 1: and then we'll talk about NXT and then we'll make
Speaker 1: a switch here. All right, Shingo Tokagi. We'll be missing
Speaker 1: some upcoming New Japan events, but he won't be out
Speaker 1: of action long. He's got Are you ready for this?
Speaker 1: Damage sustained January nineteenth and twentieth due to his left
Speaker 1: rib cage and torso.
Speaker 8: This is Shingo Takagi. Yeah, did this happen on his honeymoon?
Speaker 8: I don't know, man, because didn't he just get married
Speaker 8: married to nets and now now he's injured?
Speaker 1: It said this was it did say? Ad?
Speaker 8: What did you say? Is Pelvis region?
Speaker 1: Bro, we gotta get moving here? Geez? By the way,
Speaker 1: by the way, Evil Evil might be on his way
Speaker 1: out of Noo Japan, and it is it is strongly
Speaker 1: rumored that he is on his way to Wwe Well, which,
Speaker 1: of course, Tony Khan does like Evil. Remember that, Remember
Speaker 1: that weird story that came out. I always love weird
Speaker 1: stories that are so oddly specific. Tony Khan doesn't like Evil.
Speaker 1: It's like, what do you mean you don't like evil?
Speaker 1: Like there'll be a mark, Like the guy can work.
Speaker 1: He just does those houses, torture manches. You don't have
Speaker 1: to let him so anyway, Evil.
Speaker 8: Evil is one of the best heels in the business. Yeah,
Speaker 8: without a doubt, There's no doubt in my mind, like
Speaker 8: top ten heel. You can hate the stick, you can
Speaker 8: hate what it represents, you can boo it all you want,
Speaker 8: but he is fantastic at what he does. I love,
Speaker 8: I absolutely love nothing more than a heel who's not
Speaker 8: trying to get cheered, and evil is exactly that.
Speaker 1: I evil, I will very quickly say with no comments
Speaker 1: added Nixon. Newell did a long interview with The Wrestling
Speaker 1: Classic and she believes there was no ill will on
Speaker 1: either side and that they could be back moose. Guys
Speaker 1: watching that TNA pay per view with that guy took
Speaker 1: that backdrop onto the steps and he landed about his
Speaker 1: perfectly use you can land and it played into the
Speaker 1: match and everything. Apparently he screwed his back up, so
Speaker 1: that was that he did get hurt on that spot,
Speaker 1: but he didn't make it back in and he did
Speaker 1: continue the match, and he has had back problems for
Speaker 1: a long time, but like it worked so perfectly into
Speaker 1: that match. I thought for sure it was like all
Speaker 1: by design, and apparently it wasn't. He hurt his back,
Speaker 1: so I'm sure he was supposed to take the bump
Speaker 1: and sell the back for a while. But it's like
Speaker 1: one of those deals where you know you do an
Speaker 1: injury an injury spot, and then you actually get injured
Speaker 1: doing it. What is happening over there? If you weren't
Speaker 1: going to ask producer for this show while we're at it,
Speaker 1: just say we're gonna give him a call on the telephone.
Speaker 1: It wasn't even him, Okay, all right, hopefully it's not
Speaker 1: Nixon Newell. All right, a couple of notes from the
Speaker 1: NXT show. We just got to do a quick couple
Speaker 1: of notes here. So the booking's terrible. Nothing has changed there.
Speaker 1: We'll get the negative out of the way first. The
Speaker 1: booking sucks. The Tony d storyline is death. Literally, his
Speaker 1: gimmick is like bearded angry mute. He never talks. He
Speaker 1: just stands there with his beard, looking into the camera
Speaker 1: with his beady eyes, and he beats everybody up. And
Speaker 1: that's all he did on the show. And finally Ava
Speaker 1: called the cops and he got arrested, and he just
Speaker 1: kept interfering in all these matches, and I was just like,
Speaker 1: are we going anywhere with this?
Speaker 8: Like?
Speaker 1: What are we doing here? This sucks? Am I supposed
Speaker 1: to like the guy? Dislike the guy? Like why is
Speaker 1: he employed? I don't get it. And then they're doing
Speaker 1: the same thing talking about stupid booking. They got that
Speaker 1: guy what's that guy's name? No, the Carver, Brian he
Speaker 1: Keanu Carver. Okay, so like Tony D, who is a
Speaker 1: contracted wrestler, keeps showing up and beating up people, and
Speaker 1: so Ava has had the guy arrested. The cops came
Speaker 1: and arrested him. Okay, Meanwhile, this Keanu Carver is not
Speaker 1: only basically doing the same thing, but they set him
Speaker 1: up for an interview and he says, I ain't talking,
Speaker 1: and so this numbskull interviewer decides asking him a question anyway,
Speaker 1: he goes to hear me I said, I'm not talking,
Speaker 1: and he stands up and he leaves. And then they
Speaker 1: did another one later where like he was asked to
Speaker 1: do something and he didn't and he just he just
Speaker 1: stormed out and it was like, why are you employed?
Speaker 1: Who is employing you? What are we paying you to
Speaker 1: do here? So that sucks.
Speaker 8: Blake Blake is the guy's Blake Howard. He infuriates me
Speaker 8: every single time he's on screen.
Speaker 1: Oh this guy, he's I've turned the corner on Blake Howard.
Speaker 1: His absolutely completely useless. That's his gimmick.
Speaker 8: Tony d is getting arrested and he decides this is
Speaker 8: my chance. Yeah, this is my chance to make a
Speaker 8: shot in this industry. I'm gonna get the Scoop and
Speaker 8: he runs up. Well, Tony D is getting cuffed and
Speaker 8: shoved into a cop car and he's badgering him, asking
Speaker 8: him questions, and I howled. I died because as he's
Speaker 8: like miffed by what's going on, he's baffled. Otm walks
Speaker 8: up and they push this nerd. They bush pushed him
Speaker 8: to the ground and then kind of promo on Dark State. Yes,
Speaker 8: I loved.
Speaker 1: It all right now some good. The opening match was
Speaker 1: Ethan Page and Eliel Lafleur NXT North American Title. This
Speaker 1: match was really frickin good and Eliel Lafleur. You can
Speaker 1: see that like he still does have a way to
Speaker 1: go with certain things, but he's really good and the
Speaker 1: fans love him and he's really spectacular, and this was like,
Speaker 1: this was so NXT in twenty twenty six. They do
Speaker 1: this match and I just thought, you know what, you
Speaker 1: just lost at least four big name talents, Like you're
Speaker 1: out of talent right now. You've got like Ricky Starkz
Speaker 1: and Ethan Page on the men's side at least, and
Speaker 1: it's like, you guys need to make a star like
Speaker 1: right now. And this Elie Lafleur it was like the
Speaker 1: perfect day, bring this guy in, have him have an
Speaker 1: awesome match, beat Ethan Page for the North American title.
Speaker 1: Anybody want to guess. They beat him, and then later
Speaker 1: he SLINKs his way to av and just goes, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for the opportunity, and she goes, don't worry, Ilio,
Speaker 1: We'll make sure that you have another appearance someday. I'm like,
Speaker 1: you made him the biggest nerd in his debut when
Speaker 1: you could have just made him the champion on the
Speaker 1: first day and actually made a star. God, I was like, whatever,
Speaker 1: who cares. Then Shiloh Hill and Josh Briggs they just
Speaker 1: had like a pro version of a fight.
Speaker 8: Oh my god. On commentary Booker T. I could not
Speaker 8: believe what Booker T said. I think I wrote it
Speaker 8: down word for word. But like he's wrestling shallow Hill
Speaker 8: and Booker Steve starts saying, man, this Josh Briggs. If
Speaker 8: he doesn't gonna win soon, he's gonna get cut from
Speaker 8: ww You know what happens after WrestleMania people get cut.
Speaker 8: You're gonna lose his job. And then he lost.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Booker was Wow. Booker was Booker But
Speaker 1: that was a really good match, and then Sean Legacy
Speaker 1: and Eli Knight This was also a really good match.
Speaker 8: Also Swipe Wright who are now just the Vanity Project?
Speaker 8: And Chase You I thought was great.
Speaker 1: It was actually it wasn't so much that match that
Speaker 1: was great. But what was great about that match was
Speaker 1: Kale Yeah, the guy named after.
Speaker 8: Like, the Vanity Projects are awesome, come.
Speaker 1: They did a good job, but like, this was the
Speaker 1: best Kale Dixon I've ever seen in my entire life. Like,
Speaker 1: he looked so good in this match. It was like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: if this guy looks like this all the time, why
Speaker 1: is he not on the main roster? I've never seen
Speaker 1: this guy look this good. He was freaking awesome in
Speaker 1: this match.
Speaker 8: He did one of the best Fosbury flops you've ever
Speaker 8: seen and then a fantastic the full twist splash. Yeah, well, maybe,
Speaker 8: you know, maybe he's got some other things that he
Speaker 8: needs to shore up before he obviously gets the main
Speaker 8: roster or he's in a singles role. But man, what
Speaker 8: we saw in this match was beyond promising.
Speaker 1: And then after all that, the best match on the
Speaker 1: show was Kendall and Wren versus Fatal Influence versus Solenzaria.
Speaker 1: The only problem with this match, which isn't really a
Speaker 1: problem with this match in particular, is they did so
Speaker 1: much stuff. It was so ultra choreographed that I watched
Speaker 1: it and I just thought, you know what, no one's
Speaker 1: actually learning anything that's gonna help them on the main
Speaker 1: roster in this match. They're just having this incredible performance
Speaker 1: that they practiced. But my god, this match was incredible.
Speaker 1: And this Kendall, this like Kendall Gray. We had Kendall
Speaker 1: Red both the d and Fantastic Soul and Zaria, but
Speaker 1: bro Kendall was the best woman in this match. By miles.
Speaker 8: Her and Ren looked like the best team on the roster.
Speaker 1: And this Kendall like she did gymnastics when she was
Speaker 1: like a little girl, but she wasn't like a world
Speaker 1: class or like she It wasn't like her thing. She
Speaker 1: did a better moon salt off the post of the
Speaker 1: floor than any gymnasts that they have on the roster.
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Speaker 2: You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
Speaker 2: and Mike Sempervivi on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 1: Good Gun, Almighty, We're back and Yes, Phil Schneider is
Speaker 1: on the show today. Everybody right now, he's here.
Speaker 8: Phil Schneider, the author, Yeah, the author of Way of
Speaker 8: the Blade, the promoter of Segoon deck Kaya Action. Thank
Speaker 8: you for being on the show as we had planned today, Phil, no.
Speaker 3: Good, I'm glad to do it. This actually day works
Speaker 3: better for me today than the day I thought I
Speaker 3: was working. Our second car is in the shop, so
Speaker 3: I'm just at home reading law school files.
Speaker 1: It's sitting around, very very exciting how we made this work.
Speaker 3: Phil.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever been on the show
Speaker 1: with me? Have you? Have we ever spoken with them?
Speaker 3: I was talking to Tom about this. I think Brian,
Speaker 3: me and you briefly met at the APW King of
Speaker 3: the Indies in two thousand and one. I was there,
Speaker 3: and I think that I used to call the IATE
Speaker 3: a show occasionally, but outside of that, I think it's
Speaker 3: been twenty odd years since we've chatted.
Speaker 10: Im.
Speaker 1: I remember I used to go on Death Valley Driver
Speaker 1: all the time. I stole all the Dean's gimmicks, and
Speaker 1: I know your name like the back of my hand.
Speaker 1: But we've never like done a show here. So very
Speaker 1: exciting today to talk about all this stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but happy to be here, glad to glad to
Speaker 3: touch Basically obviously I know Tom well, but like I said,
Speaker 3: this is a first, first chance in many, many decades.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll let I'll let Tom ask about the book
Speaker 1: in a second. But I got asked the one, the
Speaker 1: one question here, which is, uh, tell us about how
Speaker 1: the The Dean shows began and and they have now
Speaker 1: they've been altered? Is that right?
Speaker 3: Well? So, uh, the first I kind of wanted its
Speaker 3: bucket list thing to do was promote a show for
Speaker 3: a long time. But something I always kind of always
Speaker 3: was on my you know, long list of things I
Speaker 3: wanted to check off. And I got in touch with
Speaker 3: Matt Griffin, who promotes Action wrestling in Georgia and he
Speaker 3: was also a death ally driver board guy going back,
Speaker 3: you know decades, and had the idea of kicked around
Speaker 3: the idea surely of bringing Yuki Ishikawa and Desuki Akida
Speaker 3: to America or wressel their match because they've done it
Speaker 3: in Japan a lot, and did in Germany but never
Speaker 3: done it in the US. So that was the original idea.
Speaker 3: We got somewhere down the farther down the road with
Speaker 3: those guys ended up they Ishikawa basically said, look, I
Speaker 3: think my back's two messed up to travel and do
Speaker 3: this kind of match like I need to sort of
Speaker 3: pass along to the next generation of guys. So then
Speaker 3: we kind of shifted to Mania Weekend, shifted to a
Speaker 3: different you know, card ran the media weekend show that
Speaker 3: people seem to really enjoy, got a lot of you know,
Speaker 3: was a artistic if not a financial success. Then ran
Speaker 3: you know, got in, I got in touch with Tony Kahan,
Speaker 3: and we ran D two and D three sort of
Speaker 3: in relation with a relationship with ROH. And then this one,
Speaker 3: the next show that we've got coming up in five
Speaker 3: or a death Valley days. We you know, we did
Speaker 3: left the D name, put the D name to the
Speaker 3: side a little bit. I thought we sort of covered
Speaker 3: it with the first three shows. This one's gonna be
Speaker 3: more of back up. We're not in a major label anymore.
Speaker 3: We're back on Discord Records, doing more of a smaller
Speaker 3: indie show, but with some really cool ideas, and theoretically
Speaker 3: might be hook up back with r o H later
Speaker 3: this year, but you know, that's in the that's in
Speaker 3: the discussion rather than the date.
Speaker 1: Plant and Tony Kahan was a Death Valley Driver troll
Speaker 1: back in the day, wasn't.
Speaker 3: He Yeah, yeah, he was a he coached Tony K.
Speaker 3: I had obviously no idea, uh.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I slapped him around a couple of times
Speaker 1: on that board.
Speaker 8: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I was a bigger, much bigger dick had when I
Speaker 3: was like twenty five than I am now. So probably,
Speaker 3: but I'll mean here, he didn't hold it. He didn't
Speaker 3: hold it a grudge. Obviously we're buddies now.
Speaker 8: I'll phil this upcoming show, the Death Valley Days show.
Speaker 8: It's taking place in just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. Is
Speaker 8: that Chattanooga. Oh, I'm sorry that Chattanooga is a much
Speaker 8: better place to be fair, So sorry, Chattanoogan's out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've ever been. I've only been to I've been
Speaker 3: to Nashville is the only part of tendency I've been
Speaker 3: due before. So I'm looking forward to checking out, uh Chattanoo.
Speaker 3: Yet the Red Bank Arena, which is where a promotion
Speaker 3: called twe runs pretty regular.
Speaker 8: What do you have on the card so far for
Speaker 8: that night?
Speaker 3: So so far we've got three matches, Uh, well, two
Speaker 3: matches officially lined up and then a third appearance. I
Speaker 3: don't think we've officially dropped the opponent, but we've got
Speaker 3: mad Dog Connolly who had versus Slade and mad Dog
Speaker 3: Connolly was main evented semi main event of the first
Speaker 3: show against Demas, which is a match that a lot
Speaker 3: of people really loved. May evented the second show against
Speaker 3: Adam Priest and a dog collar matches in the third
Speaker 3: show with e w Arena lost his haired Demons. So
Speaker 3: he's been kind of the guy that's been on the
Speaker 3: top of most of the shows that we've done. He's
Speaker 3: wrestling Slay. He was a you know, really great brawler
Speaker 3: from the East Coast. The guy has been at you know,
Speaker 3: sort of does the prison gimmick both as a shoot
Speaker 3: and in real life. He wasn't on the first show
Speaker 3: because he was locked up.
Speaker 8: He's headlined many state penitentiary cards in his.
Speaker 3: Day, headlines all of those, and you know, and we
Speaker 3: had him on he was on part of Dean three
Speaker 3: and I remember him just kind of being pacing backstage,
Speaker 3: terrifying back to so it.
Speaker 1: Felt like, before you go any further, no swearing on
Speaker 1: the show or on the radio, Go ahead, I apologize.
Speaker 3: Podcast. Now you're doing radio. So Uh, so that's what
Speaker 3: Then we've got.
Speaker 1: Can do it?
Speaker 8: Can you do it?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 8: Do we need to cut the interview short?
Speaker 1: He could do it? You kidding me? Go ahead, Phil,
Speaker 1: I apologize.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm a father of small children. I should
Speaker 3: learn to keep by leguage clean and ready for the
Speaker 3: family consumption. You've got Nathan Mawy is wrestling sort of
Speaker 3: the returning mister and sanity. Toby Klein was kind of
Speaker 3: a death King of the Death Match Icon guys, guy
Speaker 3: from like the two thousands. And then we've got the
Speaker 3: return of Carl Malako, who is one of the great
Speaker 3: shoot style wrestlers of all time, fighting champion Battle Arts Icon,
Speaker 3: the guy who has not wrestled a professional wrestling match
Speaker 3: in fifteen years plus, really hasn't wrestled regularly almost twenty
Speaker 3: and we pulled him out of retirement and he's wrestling
Speaker 3: on that show. And that's that's a pretty so I
Speaker 3: as a guy who was a gigantic, you know, at
Speaker 3: a large fan, obviously, that was sort of the impetus
Speaker 3: for the whole idea of the show initially to actually
Speaker 3: be able to pull that off. That, Yeah, out of
Speaker 3: all the crazy things that I've done, and I've written
Speaker 3: two books. I've written for The Ringer and GQ and
Speaker 3: Yaou Sports and had Blue Panther on two of my shows.
Speaker 3: And to have to pull Carlmelank out of retires the
Speaker 3: apex of the My Pro Wrestling Lunacy Journey for sure.
Speaker 8: Yeah, there's so many announcements I see in pro wrestling.
Speaker 8: There's so many cool matches like today just actually Gangrel
Speaker 8: versus Matt Tremont announced, which is a Matt I never
Speaker 8: thought I'd want to see. But nothing has got me
Speaker 8: more excited. Nothing popped me bigger than seeing that video
Speaker 8: of Carl Malenko training in his backyard like he's Carl
Speaker 8: Gotch forty years ago on VHS. I got so excited
Speaker 8: seeing that I cannot wait. I cannot wait to see
Speaker 8: him in that ring.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm super amped for it. I mean, like I said,
Speaker 3: the video if she said, is that video? And he
Speaker 3: said the only note was could you put stranglehold over
Speaker 3: the workout? Thing?
Speaker 8: That? Like?
Speaker 3: Can that? I think I can absolutely do? And it
Speaker 3: really felt to be like if you guys should watch
Speaker 3: the video, It really felt to be like something you
Speaker 3: know Central States would run. They're bringing in an opponent
Speaker 3: for Bulldog Bob Brower or something like that, which is
Speaker 3: very much the vibe that you know, we're going for
Speaker 3: follo of these shows. We want these to be like
Speaker 3: I want them to feel like a Death Valley Driver
Speaker 3: video review as a wrestling card. Right, So we wanted
Speaker 3: to have a lot of you know, variety, have a
Speaker 3: lot of different people, introduce you to things that you
Speaker 3: didn't guys you never heard of, Introduce you to guys
Speaker 3: that maybe you'd heard of but never seen.
Speaker 1: Well, talk about about these books.
Speaker 3: We'll tell you about the book. So I've written two books.
Speaker 8: The first book trying to get you some money, Phil.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tom needs to buy at least one of them
Speaker 1: because it got stole.
Speaker 3: Right, Yes, I thought, I thought, I'll give you a
Speaker 3: copy next time I see you, Tom.
Speaker 8: I've owed you a look at that.
Speaker 3: Tom.
Speaker 8: I just hope you said, Phil, you set me the
Speaker 8: digital copy.
Speaker 3: It's fine, I say, that's funny, but yeah, but you've
Speaker 3: gotta have something. You got to feel the paper in
Speaker 3: the Yeah. The first book is Death the Way of
Speaker 3: the Blade hundreds of the greatest bloody matches in professional
Speaker 3: wrestling history, and that is sort of an essay about
Speaker 3: all of these different matches, stuff dating back to the
Speaker 3: nineteen fifties in France, the lucha, the Japanese wrestling, to
Speaker 3: you know, Indian wrestling, to you know, WrestleMania matches just
Speaker 3: sort of a snapshot of the history of pro wrestling
Speaker 3: through bloody wrestling and a really really incredible illustrations and
Speaker 3: that by Chris Bryant, so that his first book and
Speaker 3: then the second book is sort of sort of a sequel.
Speaker 3: This is it was a way of the Blade a
Speaker 3: W editions, and this is talking about the great bloody
Speaker 3: matches in a W history, similar essays and then the
Speaker 3: art and then I also did a lot of interviews
Speaker 3: for that book. So I talked to you know, John
Speaker 3: Moxley and Tony Kahn and Eddie Kingston and Ryan Danielson,
Speaker 3: and they were you know, with you know, the Boni
Speaker 3: m jan you know, Darby Allen, you know, everybody, almost
Speaker 3: everybody I wanted to talk to him I was able
Speaker 3: to talk to. And then they kind of went pretty
Speaker 3: in depth in the way that they sort of looked
Speaker 3: and approached the matches that they were in. So I'd
Speaker 3: write about you know, Brian Danielson, MJF. Iron Man, match,
Speaker 3: have a cool art for it, and then you know,
Speaker 3: long interview excerpts of both those guys about that match.
Speaker 3: So it's pretty cool that they've been It's been fun
Speaker 3: to sort of turn writing from a hobby into something
Speaker 3: that I sent I make some money from, which is
Speaker 3: something that's happened in the last year three or four years.
Speaker 3: Like I said, I was writing a weekly column for
Speaker 3: The Ringer for a while, and now I'm doing you
Speaker 3: know a lot of writing for uh Yahoo.
Speaker 1: Now are you looking? And we're put together a third book.
Speaker 1: Is there something in the works.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I probably probably just gonna do a more traditional
Speaker 3: way of the Blade sequel. I got a couple of
Speaker 3: other ones that are kind of sitting on my hard
Speaker 3: driving my computer. I'm doing it with a Hybrid Shoe,
Speaker 3: which is John Stone's publishing company. So I've got one
Speaker 3: that's probably thirty five percent done, and then another couple
Speaker 3: that are you know, floating around. And my goal is
Speaker 3: to try to do it, you know, Michael Connolly style
Speaker 3: where you can accept it. Expect to do Bosh book
Speaker 3: every October on the yeah, and that sort of expect
Speaker 3: to do Phil Schneider joint every year. Not there yet,
Speaker 3: but that's my eventual goal with that.
Speaker 1: Are you as into progressing as you were twenty years ago?
Speaker 3: Probably not like a kids now and I'm married, you know,
Speaker 3: it's easier to not be it, and I, you know,
Speaker 3: I So it was interesting for a while when I
Speaker 3: was writing for the ring, I was doing and I
Speaker 3: was watching everything, which like I think you guys is
Speaker 3: similar to what you guys do. Or I was watching
Speaker 3: you know, raw and this fact Dynamite and you know, right,
Speaker 3: I was worrying about the Indies two, So I was
Speaker 3: dating into that in Japan, Mexico. So for a while,
Speaker 3: I was like really on my grind. And since I
Speaker 3: stopped doing that, I'm now started just more into you know,
Speaker 3: weirder projects, you know what I mean, Like I'll you know,
Speaker 3: get a I got a wrestling U May Factory handheld
Speaker 3: from nineteen ninety four, and I'm watching right now for Sigurdicayaena.
Speaker 3: I'm doing stuff for the book. So I still him
Speaker 3: into the more obscure stuff. I would say I'm significantly
Speaker 3: less interested in the modern stuff. Although gets two thousand
Speaker 3: and six, I don't the highest interested. I wasn't modern
Speaker 3: wrestling in two thousand and six. Either, So I don't enough,
Speaker 3: probably less than I was the nineteen ninety eight Phil.
Speaker 8: You've been obviously like a tape trader forever since it existed.
Speaker 8: Is there like a holy grail that's still out there
Speaker 8: that you could think of that you would love to
Speaker 8: get a hold of.
Speaker 3: There's so much, right So, there's some things that I
Speaker 3: know from a friend of mine who went down to
Speaker 3: Mexico that apparently one of the owners of IWRG just
Speaker 3: has lucha from Arena knock Upon going back to the
Speaker 3: nineteen eighties, Like so, you know, has just footage of
Speaker 3: rookie year Polino and all of these incredible hair mass
Speaker 3: matches that happened in that arena, and I know that exists.
Speaker 3: So that's something that I'm salivating over. Obviously, the stuff that,
Speaker 3: you know, whatever omni footage they have it in the
Speaker 3: vault that they haven't released yet. It's unclear about how
Speaker 3: much stuff they really have there, but obviously they were
Speaker 3: releasing that any fits and starts, and so there's all
Speaker 3: kinds of shows that you might guess they might have incomplete.
Speaker 1: Well, hold that out right there. When I do a break,
Speaker 1: we'll talk more lost media after the break. Observer Live.
Speaker 2: You were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
Speaker 2: and Mike simper Vivi on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.
Speaker 1: Back in the show, Bran Albers here Filthy Tom Phil
Speaker 1: Schneider is joining us. We got two more pieces of
Speaker 1: pro wrestling lost media, and then we got some plugs. Phil.
Speaker 3: That's good. The other one is the NWA Houston Archives,
Speaker 3: which there were somebody bought and was releasing on the internet.
Speaker 3: There's a Terry Fumm Harley m Patricks is one of
Speaker 3: the best matches of all time. And then the guy
Speaker 3: sold the NWA to Billy Corgan and then they stopped
Speaker 3: releasing that stuff. And then I want to get my
Speaker 3: friend Ayisuki Okada to give me all the food tent.
Speaker 3: But two of those things I'm working on. I'm working
Speaker 3: a night of RG.
Speaker 1: And FU ten twenty six excellent. Well, tell us about
Speaker 1: the books and the shows and let's get some plugs
Speaker 1: out there.
Speaker 3: Sounds good. So I've got the two books. They're both
Speaker 3: available on the Amazon Way, the Blade Way, the Blade
Speaker 3: the aw Edition. Both of them I think are really
Speaker 3: cool for you know, hardcore wrestling nerds or even people
Speaker 3: just you know if you're listening to this, you're a
Speaker 3: big enough nerd that you'd enjoy both of those books
Speaker 3: a lot. I think we've got the show coming up
Speaker 3: February twenty eighth, if you're anywhere around Chattanoogaut, Tennessee. Those
Speaker 3: tickets are tickets are available to look up action on
Speaker 3: x so you can buy them there. But that's going
Speaker 3: to be a I'm really excited about the show. It
Speaker 3: should be sick first three First, the D two is
Speaker 3: on YouTube. D three is on our Oh the roh
Speaker 3: on our club. DAN one is on IWTV. I've got
Speaker 3: some articles from Crowned one that I'm working on right
Speaker 3: now that I'm really proud of and excited about, and
Speaker 3: some other really cool ones if you want to look
Speaker 3: at my archives there.
Speaker 1: All right, well, Phil, I want to thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Filberd in the show today. Are totally at a time, Yes,
Speaker 1: lose again sometime as professionally as we can. Thanks for listening, everybody,
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Live. You have been listening to the Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network