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. Ready, Ready,
Speaker 1: let's get it all. What up though? Hello everyone, and
Speaker 1: welcome to a very special edition of Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 1: Brian's on a boat. Mike semper vv is temporarily am
Speaker 1: I A. But this is your boy KG Kevin Gill,
Speaker 1: the man Ron Functions calls the voice of independent wrestling.
Speaker 1: You might know me a little bit better from Game Change.
Speaker 1: You're wrestling, and we're here today to talk about everything
Speaker 1: that's going on in the world of professional wrestling. I
Speaker 1: thought I heard Mike semper vv creeping in, but while
Speaker 1: we wait, there's so much happening in the world right now.
Speaker 1: It's the holiday season. N x T was last night
Speaker 1: a e W dark. Let's light it up in those
Speaker 1: comments on twitch Right off the bat, I want to
Speaker 1: send a shout out to everyone that just supports and
Speaker 1: believes in professional wrestling. For me, this platform, this show,
Speaker 1: The Wrestling Observer Alive is something that I've I've been
Speaker 1: listening to for for many many years. I'm a subscriber
Speaker 1: to the print version, and what a time it is
Speaker 1: to be Alive, coming to you live from San Francisco, California,
Speaker 1: and I didn't really have an agenda today, so maybe
Speaker 1: I would use this time to address certain inflammatory comments
Speaker 1: made about me last night by one Matthew Cardona. You
Speaker 1: may know him as Zach Ryder, would probably be the
Speaker 1: only way you know him. His desperate attempts to remain
Speaker 1: relevant are very interesting, some would say successful. He has
Speaker 1: trended number one on Twitter. But as an individual, as
Speaker 1: a human being, I find him to be as phony
Speaker 1: as the orange tanner he uh surrounds himself in. He's
Speaker 1: a man that must remain in motion because if he
Speaker 1: stays in any place for more than a second or
Speaker 1: two at a time, he leaves a lasting orange stain.
Speaker 1: So that is what I have to say about Matthew Cardona.
Speaker 1: What do you What do you think about matt Cardona?
Speaker 1: What do you think about g c W? What did
Speaker 1: you think about an x T last night? I thought
Speaker 1: it was an interesting show, to say the least, a
Speaker 1: lot of new talent. But you know what, I hear
Speaker 1: that bumper. We're gonna throw it to a commercial and
Speaker 1: we're gonna see if our friend Mike Semper v of
Speaker 1: your turns for segment two of Rustling Observer Live. Ryan
Speaker 1: Alvarez is at see Mike Semper, vv is in the
Speaker 1: digital stratosphere, and your boy KG Kevin Gill is holding
Speaker 1: it down across Sports Byline, across Twitch for all the
Speaker 1: troops overseas. It's going down. And one of the things
Speaker 1: that's caught my eye and my attention and is regarding
Speaker 1: some statements that Tony Khan has made regarding a E
Speaker 1: W T Dynamite airing of course tonight, the Man has
Speaker 1: promised huge announcements as well as a surprise. And if
Speaker 1: you look at the history and the track record of
Speaker 1: promised surprises in the wrestling industry overall mixed bag. If
Speaker 1: you look at the track record of Tony Khan and
Speaker 1: a W in terms of surprises and announcements, the man
Speaker 1: has uh six stars at the Tokyo Dome, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So the fact that they're putting this
Speaker 1: out there for such a loaded show, um, it really
Speaker 1: could open the door to you know, we all know
Speaker 1: the holidays is the toughest time to to get a
Speaker 1: raining and to get the audience's attention. However, is a
Speaker 1: W stacking the deck? So convincingly tonight with this lineup
Speaker 1: that they could possibly take a little notch into that
Speaker 1: loss that happens. We saw n x T last night
Speaker 1: introduced aj Styles into the mix to try to counter
Speaker 1: that Tuesday Night nfl um taking nothing away from the
Speaker 1: star power of Styles. You know what I mean? But
Speaker 1: I think a W is really stacked the deck for tonight.
Speaker 1: I know Semer bb is gonna jump back in and
Speaker 1: he's excited because a W tonight is the Holiday Bash
Speaker 1: Dynamite from the Greensboro Coliseum in the wrestling town of Greensboro,
Speaker 1: North Carolina. Uh, and Mike Simber, give you what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the show tonight? Forget about my thoughts
Speaker 1: on the show tonight. Let's talk about the show right now.
Speaker 1: And what kind of professional that Kevin Gill is to
Speaker 1: jump in here when we're having all sorts of technical
Speaker 1: snaff foos getting from Brian's studio to the Bye line
Speaker 1: back to the beach on the East coast over here,
Speaker 1: all this sort of nonsense, and look at you just
Speaker 1: going at it. What is going on? My man? Oh,
Speaker 1: it's it's a thrill to be here, Mike. As you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a daily listener, a big supporter and fan,
Speaker 1: and it's an honor this year the air waves man.
Speaker 1: Much love to Granny too, if I can say that,
Speaker 1: and much love to producer Dom who was doing some
Speaker 1: s hambling to save the day there. So here you go.
Speaker 1: A watermelon red bull for the working man that I
Speaker 1: will open up right there, and Kevin a look again.
Speaker 1: I thank you very much for coming on the show. Obviously,
Speaker 1: thank you very much for covering for me here as
Speaker 1: I was able to jump on the the byeline highline
Speaker 1: and get this show started here man. But you know,
Speaker 1: I just when it is great to finally have you
Speaker 1: on here. It's great to be able to talk about
Speaker 1: game change or wrestling. But there's a lot that I'd
Speaker 1: love to get into today with you. And one of
Speaker 1: the things I wanted to talk out a little bit
Speaker 1: about was tonight's a e W show. And I'm not
Speaker 1: sure exactly what you ran down there when he came
Speaker 1: to the show tonight. Did you have a chance to
Speaker 1: speak about the owen Hart Cup and some of the
Speaker 1: things that they have planned for that tonight. No, I
Speaker 1: did not name any of those details. I was just
Speaker 1: about to. But the only thing I did mention was
Speaker 1: the Tony Cohn is teasing major announcements and a major
Speaker 1: surprise tonight on Dynamite and his track record on delivering
Speaker 1: announcements and surprises is on paralleled. So that alone has
Speaker 1: my attention, and then we can run down that amazing card. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And you know they have mentioned on Twitter and in
Speaker 1: other places they have put this out that tonight they
Speaker 1: are going to have a very special video on the
Speaker 1: Owen Hart Cup Tournament, which will include stars of multiple
Speaker 1: generations speaking about his legacy and what will be very
Speaker 1: cool for I think a lot of wrestling fans out there.
Speaker 1: I think some of us olds take this for granted
Speaker 1: because you know, we've had a chance to see a
Speaker 1: lot of Owen in New Japan pro wrestling. But I
Speaker 1: think for a lot of people who get a chance
Speaker 1: to see Owen Hart mix it up with Jusian Lieger
Speaker 1: or or however, they're you know, so many guys of
Speaker 1: that generation, one of the greatest generations of the New
Speaker 1: Japan junior heavyweights that ever at that time when he
Speaker 1: was there. Uh. They're gonna be showing some of that too,
Speaker 1: including and as well as private movies that Martha Hart.
Speaker 1: Uh is allowing to be to be aired. So this
Speaker 1: is going to be a very emotional surely in a
Speaker 1: very educational night. I think for a lot of people
Speaker 1: that you know Owen has been it's been a long
Speaker 1: time now, and we have so many of our listeners
Speaker 1: and viewers of this show that I mean, they were
Speaker 1: born in the two thousands, so they you know, they
Speaker 1: know the story of what happened to Owen hartp. But
Speaker 1: I don't think they really know in some ways you
Speaker 1: know who he was or how great his legacy is
Speaker 1: in the ring because unless you saw that New Japan stuff,
Speaker 1: and you only go off the W W E stuff,
Speaker 1: which is great, you know a lot of it, you know,
Speaker 1: you don't really know how how impactful and how revolutionary
Speaker 1: of a guy he was, and how wonderful is it
Speaker 1: that now his his true legacy with the cooperation and
Speaker 1: the spirit of his family and and and all the
Speaker 1: platforms that a w can provide and to bring this
Speaker 1: this Owen hard cup uh for for male and female
Speaker 1: performers like it's it's really just fabulous. The whole the
Speaker 1: whole thing is populous, absolutely, and they have a Britt Baker,
Speaker 1: Tony Chevanni, Christmas party which is going to be set up.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you saw the little Control
Speaker 1: Center segment that Tony Chevanni did where he invited on
Speaker 1: his former tag team partner in the booth, David Crockett
Speaker 1: to come on, and Tony did mention that he may
Speaker 1: be bringing the mistletoe, and uh, he was kind of
Speaker 1: poked by David there a little bit. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's really all that good of an idea,
Speaker 1: considering Adam Cole has not been in a good mood recently,
Speaker 1: going back and forth with the best Friends, and he
Speaker 1: will face off against Orange Cassidy tonight, as well as
Speaker 1: the TBS tournament semifinals between Nyla Rose and Ruby Soho,
Speaker 1: as well as Griff Garrison going for some revenge on
Speaker 1: Malachi Black, and that will all lead to the main
Speaker 1: event that I am very much interested in. M JF. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just just a little bit. M JF and FTR against Sting,
Speaker 1: c HM, Punk and Darby Allen Sting's first match in Greensboro,
Speaker 1: North Carolina in twenty seven years. Man, it is a
Speaker 1: long time, and even crazier thirty four years ago is
Speaker 1: when he faced off against Rick Flair, which means thirty
Speaker 1: five years ago is when Jim Crockett promotions about the
Speaker 1: u WF and they got sting and it is it
Speaker 1: is wild that he is still going right now. It
Speaker 1: is going to be a wild scene for sure. I
Speaker 1: would assume in Greensboro and Boy surprises being promised. I
Speaker 1: know there are a lot of people last week that
Speaker 1: were hoping that the Briscos would kind of pop out
Speaker 1: there at the end and be that surprise, but it
Speaker 1: ended up being sting in Darby Allen, which makes complete
Speaker 1: sense to lead into the match in Greensboro tonight. But Kevin,
Speaker 1: you know, it's the massive speculation station. Sometimes when he
Speaker 1: comes to a W, they have a lot of tools
Speaker 1: at their disposal, a lot of people and surprises that
Speaker 1: they could try to pull off. Tonight would now be
Speaker 1: a good time for the g c W World World
Speaker 1: Tag Team Champions to make their first appearance in a W.
Speaker 1: I very well could be the Brisco brothers. Den boys
Speaker 1: have been on a roll and Mike, you followed their
Speaker 1: career from a very up close perspective for a very
Speaker 1: long time, and not only have those guys not lost
Speaker 1: a step, but there the level that they perform at
Speaker 1: is unprecedented, and in a way, as Ring of Honor
Speaker 1: has had its own challenges, it felt like less and
Speaker 1: less of the world got to be as hands on
Speaker 1: familiar with the Briscos greatness. And now the world's attention
Speaker 1: is back on the Briscos. The biggest audience possible is
Speaker 1: seeing the Briscos. It's about to blow up. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: the Briscos are are that damn good and that that
Speaker 1: why not that no time better than now, And with
Speaker 1: the challenges of the holiday season and the ratings, Let's
Speaker 1: blow tonight up and see how it does. I think
Speaker 1: that's a great strategy. And if I made my real
Speaker 1: quick he talked about Sting returning to Greensboro. Uh, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of missed opportunities in the wrestling business. One
Speaker 1: of the biggest missed opportunities of this generation was Sting
Speaker 1: not winning his big match at WrestleMania and then doing
Speaker 1: that big tour with w W Lee and coming to
Speaker 1: all these towns and wrestling one last time and appearing
Speaker 1: and all that. But instead a w is there to
Speaker 1: make the tactical move and and the feel good vibes
Speaker 1: for the holidays. Man, it really really is and I
Speaker 1: would assume that a lot of old traditions are going
Speaker 1: to be on display, or at least a lot of old, old,
Speaker 1: fuzzy war memories. It would be hard for me to
Speaker 1: believe that there's not going to be. I mean, Tully
Speaker 1: Blanchard is right there. I mean, so many of those
Speaker 1: guys that not only are in the ring but work
Speaker 1: for I mean, you forget about how many guys that
Speaker 1: now work for a w behind the scenes that grew
Speaker 1: up as in the Jim Crockett Promotions era and in
Speaker 1: that especially in that Dusty Rhodes era of being the
Speaker 1: booker there where we got Flair and we got Dusty,
Speaker 1: and we got the horsemen and Sting in so many
Speaker 1: of these other great memories. And it is going to
Speaker 1: be fascinating to see how they weave all of that
Speaker 1: into the show tonight. And hey, everybody, we made it
Speaker 1: through one. Let's see if we have any more technical
Speaker 1: snapoos for the rest of them. Mike sember bby Kevin
Speaker 1: gil Wrestling was over alive back on the show. Mike
Speaker 1: Sember BB joined by Kevin Gill. This is Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 1: Brian Albert is still out on that big boat in
Speaker 1: the water somewhere, floating alongside Oreo the orch. I am
Speaker 1: sure he is enjoying his time. I am sure he
Speaker 1: is enjoying not dealing with a whole bunch of headaches
Speaker 1: that come with doing this show sometimes. So everything seems
Speaker 1: to be all settled now, KG. And and you know,
Speaker 1: I have wanted to return to favor for a long
Speaker 1: time and have you on the show and things just
Speaker 1: you know, it hasn't really worked out to be for
Speaker 1: you to be able to come on as a co
Speaker 1: host for the entire thing. But you know, you know,
Speaker 1: far past the g c W thing, Like you know,
Speaker 1: we're old, you know we we we go back in
Speaker 1: this thing. We go back for a minute here, like
Speaker 1: you know the way back. And in fact, you know
Speaker 1: you're you know, is that what you want to call
Speaker 1: it this season. We're battle tested, We're callous to the
Speaker 1: way of this thing. And I've been doing this now.
Speaker 1: Wake's very experienced with with all the x is in
Speaker 1: there that that may be required depending on what the
Speaker 1: experience was at the time. But you know, twenty years,
Speaker 1: I've I've been in this thing now and in some
Speaker 1: form or another, uh, starting off at the torch doing
Speaker 1: impact or at the time it was n W a
Speaker 1: t N A weekly pay per views, because who else
Speaker 1: was stupid enough to buy those? You know, for a
Speaker 1: week I was. I thought it was a cons sept
Speaker 1: and I was I had to get away from w
Speaker 1: W at the time everything else died out. Yeah, Like
Speaker 1: I had a viewing party for the night one, did
Speaker 1: you really Absolutely? I had like twelve people over. I
Speaker 1: felt bad though, I'll be honest, I felt I kind
Speaker 1: of felt bad at the end because it wasn't well received.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, how many came back in the
Speaker 1: next week. Yeah, it was a very disappointing, Like we
Speaker 1: were so hyped for it, and then there was like
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, little people in trash cans,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't what I was. There was some there
Speaker 1: was some eyelights, but it wasn't what we were expecting.
Speaker 1: Oh puppet with Dusty roose Midet beating off in the
Speaker 1: trash can. This was These were words uttered on on
Speaker 1: real TV. But you know, that was when I got
Speaker 1: into this. But by that point, you know, you were
Speaker 1: already into all of this. And I guess for some
Speaker 1: people out there who really only know you as the
Speaker 1: g c W guy or maybe they know you from
Speaker 1: Juggalos or something like that, like just the wrestling stuff.
Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about like kind of who you were,
Speaker 1: and you don't have to give a big buyo or anything.
Speaker 1: But like I don't know if people they see you
Speaker 1: with Lars, but like they don't know you were in
Speaker 1: the punk game in New York and putting out your
Speaker 1: own stuff for a long time and putting people on
Speaker 1: and they don't know about that. They don't know that
Speaker 1: you were in the video game business and you know,
Speaker 1: all of that sort of stuff and how you got
Speaker 1: the backyard wrestling stuff off the ground. Like you talk
Speaker 1: just a little bit about who you are and where
Speaker 1: you came from to get to this point. Now, sure, man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate the kudos. I mean, I'm I'm a wrestling
Speaker 1: a music fan from Queens, New York, and uh, like
Speaker 1: many people, I found an escape. I found magic in
Speaker 1: in music and wrestling and video games and my passion
Speaker 1: in being in New York, a wrestling mecca, a music mecca.
Speaker 1: It wasn't long before I, while being a wrestling fan,
Speaker 1: I got to experience your masson Square Garden and Naessa Colosseum,
Speaker 1: and you know, even got to see Jimmy Valliant versus
Speaker 1: Abdulla the Butcher in white Stone Queens. I got to
Speaker 1: see Roddy Piper wrestling white Stone Queen's Crazy Things. But
Speaker 1: I was a fan, and uh, my fandom of wrestling
Speaker 1: and music led me to putting out a series of
Speaker 1: New York hardcore records. I put out nineteen records for
Speaker 1: Striving for Togetherness Records, a New York card core label
Speaker 1: best known for artists like Vision of Disorder to Life,
Speaker 1: No Redeeming Social Value six and Violence. Um. That was
Speaker 1: a total d I Y thing. I didn't have any experience.
Speaker 1: I was a kid who moved out of his house
Speaker 1: at seventeen years old. But I saw an opening. I
Speaker 1: was like, how is this super underground band that I'm
Speaker 1: seeing play in a tiny room with everyone screaming the words?
Speaker 1: How do they not have a record? How are they
Speaker 1: not playing better shows? And I just learned how to
Speaker 1: do stuff. Let me book this band shows, Let me
Speaker 1: get this band a record deal. Why aren't I putting
Speaker 1: out the records? And through that d I Y approach,
Speaker 1: I got to meet and work with a lot of
Speaker 1: people and this was at the same time that e
Speaker 1: c W reignited my passion for wrestling. So I was
Speaker 1: so I was escaping from hardcore music by going to
Speaker 1: e c W shows working on the label during the week,
Speaker 1: and uh, that was just an amazing crossover that led
Speaker 1: to me getting up my work in branding and marketing
Speaker 1: and and all that led me to an opportunity with
Speaker 1: a startup company called rock that wasn't even have a
Speaker 1: name yet, but it went on to be known as
Speaker 1: rock Star Games. UM. So I was one of the
Speaker 1: first handful of people to work there, and I'm grateful
Speaker 1: for those opportunities. From there, I worked on a lot
Speaker 1: of great games there and had incredible opportunities. Uh. From there,
Speaker 1: I went to IDAs Interactive. I worked on games like
Speaker 1: Tomb Raider, Backyard Wrestling, hit Man. I got to create
Speaker 1: the Backyard Wrestling series. I got to do the soundtracks
Speaker 1: for it, bringing time all the other stuff together. So UM,
Speaker 1: I feel very blessed to have the track record that
Speaker 1: that I have, and UH to have worked on hundreds
Speaker 1: of video games and put out all these records. And
Speaker 1: UH there was even a time with rock Star Games
Speaker 1: where we we had assigned contract from Paul Hayman to
Speaker 1: do the e c W video game, and who knows
Speaker 1: how that could have changed everything, But in the end
Speaker 1: it wasn't. It was meant to be. But I've gotten
Speaker 1: to meet my heroes and work with them. Most of
Speaker 1: them are awesome, and uh, I really wouldn't change the thing.
Speaker 1: I'm just grateful to be here and to lend my
Speaker 1: experience and my p l V from a d I
Speaker 1: Y New York hardcore underground every man's perspective, but with
Speaker 1: kind of a maybe a worldly overview. Now, how did
Speaker 1: they how did you get past the mike and pro wrestling?
Speaker 1: Because a lot of people are like, well, how did
Speaker 1: you end up in the position that you're in like
Speaker 1: talking to me, and it's just like, you know, well,
Speaker 1: just I was a big wrestling fan that got on
Speaker 1: somewhere and I love to talk and I love to
Speaker 1: banter about wrestling. It just it started with the parress
Speaker 1: who power our podcast, and it just kind of went
Speaker 1: from there and then you know, here I am. You
Speaker 1: know it didn't still doing this thing, still learning, still grinding,
Speaker 1: but it's like, you know, there's there was no book.
Speaker 1: I never learned how to do this stuff. Obviously, you
Speaker 1: can listen to me and tell you know, I didn't
Speaker 1: go to college and get my mask calm degree. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. It's like I just I just
Speaker 1: had a passion for something and I really poured myself
Speaker 1: into it, and I've learned everything as people have painfully
Speaker 1: followed along with me in my process of trying to
Speaker 1: learn how to do video and audio and the nightmares
Speaker 1: of sin lament A shows and all that sort of stuff,
Speaker 1: like you know, you know, but it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: nobody told me it would trained me how to do
Speaker 1: this when you first got the mic? Who passed it
Speaker 1: to you? And did you have any experience doing anything
Speaker 1: when he came to wrestling play by play? Okay, so
Speaker 1: the only experience I had do in wrestling play by
Speaker 1: play was literally sitting in the stands and I would
Speaker 1: kind of call match, not the entire matcher all the time,
Speaker 1: but I would kind of call certain stuff when I
Speaker 1: would just go to a show, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: for my me or my friends amusement type of thing
Speaker 1: like uh, calling spots or calling little sequences with a
Speaker 1: little extra comedy or whatever. Um, but that's just messing around,
Speaker 1: you know what. I mean the first time, the first
Speaker 1: time I ever got the mic. Uh. Outside of wrestling,
Speaker 1: I got the mic a lot in video games like
Speaker 1: rock Star would use me to talk to the press,
Speaker 1: talk to investors. They would fly me out to sell
Speaker 1: games to Walmart and other people, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I would actually go and do the talking. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean, I would do the pitching. So they
Speaker 1: they saw something in my talk and let me talk.
Speaker 1: But for wrestling, Uh, my first opportunity in wrestling was
Speaker 1: being a referee, So referees don't talk. So I was
Speaker 1: just being a referee. And there was an independent show
Speaker 1: here in San Francisco and a wrestler named Dylan Drake,
Speaker 1: who's the champion. So he's he's the big dog, he's
Speaker 1: the vet, and uh, the camera crew was set up
Speaker 1: and they call out to locker room, Hey, we need
Speaker 1: a mic check. And someone checked this mic and everyone's
Speaker 1: just talking and lacing up their boots and whatever, and
Speaker 1: no one gets up, and I go, I can cut
Speaker 1: check the mic and then go go ahead. So I
Speaker 1: just cut off the top of my head like ninety
Speaker 1: second promo about like a radio commercial almost for what
Speaker 1: tonight's event was going to be And at the end
Speaker 1: of the promo, the champion stood up Dylan Drake and
Speaker 1: he said, why is this guy not on the microphone
Speaker 1: on our show? And because of the way wrestling works,
Speaker 1: they did not put me on the microphone on the show.
Speaker 1: They did let me cut a few promos down the line,
Speaker 1: but at that moment, I felt like I should be commentating.
Speaker 1: Uh and to answer the question. Finally the first first
Speaker 1: time though, that was someone passing into me. The first
Speaker 1: time I ever did commentary, I passed the mic to myself.
Speaker 1: It was the backyard Wrestling video game tournament at the
Speaker 1: l A Convention Center with Super Dragon, m Dog, Mac Cross,
Speaker 1: Men Man Pondo, all these people at the E three
Speaker 1: Video Game Convention. I put together a backend wrestling tournament.
Speaker 1: It's an all video game industry audience. The show starts,
Speaker 1: I was the ring announcer. As soon as the match begins,
Speaker 1: it just feels a little dead in the room because
Speaker 1: there's all these people that don't know how to react
Speaker 1: and respond. And I looked at the person who's producing
Speaker 1: the the booth for for IDAs and I say, it
Speaker 1: almost feels like it needs commentary, and she's like, it
Speaker 1: does so I just turned the microphone on and I
Speaker 1: did play by play for a multi day wrestling tournament,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, that was fun, but that
Speaker 1: was a poll was I didn't do anything officially, uh
Speaker 1: until I c P offered me Violent Jay's spot on
Speaker 1: the commentary team. Violent j wanted to step away from commentary.
Speaker 1: He wanted a new partner for Shaggy Too Dope. They
Speaker 1: thought it should be me and Uh and then that
Speaker 1: that that's really the arc. Keevin, we have about a
Speaker 1: minute left to go in this segment here. How did
Speaker 1: you hook up with Game Changer as far as coming
Speaker 1: over and doing j c W, doing the g c
Speaker 1: W stuff and hooking up with them. I was a
Speaker 1: fan and supporter of Game Changer Wrestling from the beginning,
Speaker 1: and when they announced the original Joey Janelle spring Break
Speaker 1: that literally the second day announced that, I thought it
Speaker 1: was genius. I thought it was groundbreaking. Joey Janelle was
Speaker 1: a very unsung hero of the Northeast. It was a
Speaker 1: big risk for them, and I respected their hustle and
Speaker 1: I asked if there was any way I could be
Speaker 1: a part of it. I was a little friendly with
Speaker 1: Joey and stuff at the time, and at Lorderdale gave
Speaker 1: the okay and I got to come in and call
Speaker 1: a match at the original spring Break, and I've worked
Speaker 1: every spring break since. You know, we're pushing up to
Speaker 1: break here, so I won't throw anything at you, and
Speaker 1: I'll just you know, say that that it hasn't been
Speaker 1: that long since that first Joey Janilla spring Break, and
Speaker 1: g CW has obviously reached a certain level, and you know,
Speaker 1: it really is about how they present themselves, the authenticity
Speaker 1: that they provide, and how they make their fan base feel.
Speaker 1: And in a time where WWD seems to be actively
Speaker 1: fighting their fan base, a w obviously empowering their fan base,
Speaker 1: there doesn't seem to be a relationship anywhere and wrestling
Speaker 1: like there is between the fans of g c W
Speaker 1: and and themselves. So I want to get into that
Speaker 1: with you, as well as a whole lot of what
Speaker 1: g CW has coming up, including the Indie Wrestling Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame, which I think is another really cool concept.
Speaker 1: Kevin Gil Mike SEMPERVIV Wrestling Server a lot. I could
Speaker 1: have said something right there, but I wanted to let
Speaker 1: that Skies who Track play a little bit more Wrestlings Overlive.
Speaker 1: Mike Simper VB here with you. Kevin Gill is joining me.
Speaker 1: The homie, the o G. He's not the big homie
Speaker 1: because right now, Brett Lauderdale that's the big homie. And
Speaker 1: that is what we're gonna get into right now. Game
Speaker 1: Changer Wrestling. What has been going on? What is going on?
Speaker 1: What is gonna be coming up for this UH promotion
Speaker 1: which is growing by leaps and bounds. Kevin and I
Speaker 1: mentioned it before the break. You know, p W G
Speaker 1: and their fans have a special relationship. I've seen it
Speaker 1: with a W and their fans in Chicago. Special relationship.
Speaker 1: You know, indie wrestling, that's what it's built on. It's
Speaker 1: built on you know, your your locals and your people
Speaker 1: and your fans. It's just those people getting them and thralled,
Speaker 1: getting them motivated come to your show, to spend money
Speaker 1: to support you, to come out there every single time.
Speaker 1: You know, no matter what the weather is, no matter
Speaker 1: what what is going on. Like that's how you build
Speaker 1: a promotion from the ground up. You've got to empower
Speaker 1: your fans. And it does not seem like right now,
Speaker 1: and I could be wrong. I could be a little
Speaker 1: biased because you know, g c W has been one
Speaker 1: of the only promotions that's really made me feel something
Speaker 1: here in the last couple of years. Like, is am
Speaker 1: I am I over selling it? Or is the relationship
Speaker 1: between the fans and GCW a little bit more special
Speaker 1: than then it seems to be in other places right now?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I've never seen anything like it
Speaker 1: in wrestling. And like you said that, I think a
Speaker 1: W has a great bond with their fan base. What
Speaker 1: you said with p W g true. But the engagement
Speaker 1: in the connection with Game Change of Wrestling is on
Speaker 1: another level and people are going people will die for
Speaker 1: Game Change of Wrestling. Yeah, for Game Change of wrestling,
Speaker 1: for for m d K, for their support on Patreon
Speaker 1: is unprecedented. Um, it's really hard to put into words.
Speaker 1: For me again, I came up. You mentioned Lars Fredericks
Speaker 1: in earlier and one of my favorite quotes that's almost
Speaker 1: become like a philosophy. It's from a Rancid song and
Speaker 1: you just change bands to wrestlers and it's the same thing,
Speaker 1: but it speaks of the same philosophy. All these bands,
Speaker 1: all these people. Um, and now I'm messing up the quote. Well,
Speaker 1: we were friends and we were equals, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? And that's the key thing. Like you're there,
Speaker 1: You're seeing your favorite bands, they're your friends. You're supporting
Speaker 1: this community. You're a vital part of this community. You
Speaker 1: have a voice in this community. You belong in this community,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? And that feeling of
Speaker 1: belonging that I felt in the New York hardcore scene,
Speaker 1: the feeling of belonging I felt in the Juggalo scene
Speaker 1: is the same feeling of belonging I feel in the
Speaker 1: game Change your wrestling world. And it's the same thing
Speaker 1: I see with other fans and and some of them
Speaker 1: have been writing testimonials in sich In in the Patreon,
Speaker 1: But it's it's amazing to know that by who knew
Speaker 1: that listening to the people and giving them what they
Speaker 1: want and being acceptable and doing from a gressroots level,
Speaker 1: that you could really really connect with people and make
Speaker 1: them feel something like as you said that that some
Speaker 1: of us haven't gotten to feel it in some time,
Speaker 1: and for the younger fans, they might have never have
Speaker 1: gotten to feel before that excitement, in that organic passion
Speaker 1: that you cannot produce script or write. And you know,
Speaker 1: everybody always makes the joke about the forbidden door, Like
Speaker 1: when it came to g c W, it seems like
Speaker 1: and especially going to see the show in Atlantic City,
Speaker 1: and we talked about this when you invited me on
Speaker 1: h the g CW podcast, where you know, there is
Speaker 1: no door. It's come in and we're gonna kick your
Speaker 1: ass out that door if you act a certain way
Speaker 1: or you treat other people in a in a certain way.
Speaker 1: But everybody's welcome here, and not only shows. You know,
Speaker 1: when it comes to the fans, when you look around
Speaker 1: and you see so many different types of people from
Speaker 1: all walks of life, all just you know, down in there,
Speaker 1: gritty and and and loving what you know they're you
Speaker 1: know they're watching and obviously what's around them. But it
Speaker 1: also translates into the ring, where again g c W,
Speaker 1: it's one thing to put on shows and you have
Speaker 1: all these great flyers for all these you know, great
Speaker 1: matches or you know competitive matches PWG style of things,
Speaker 1: or you have w w E styles of shows or
Speaker 1: indie shows based on big stars, you know, big names
Speaker 1: that they'll bring in. But g c W is the
Speaker 1: place where, look, if you can go, it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: what you look like, doesn't matter how big your name was,
Speaker 1: You're welcome to come in. Whether you're a Matthew Justice
Speaker 1: or whether you're Effie or whether you're Blake Christian or
Speaker 1: Nick Wayne. You know, there's a place for everybody here,
Speaker 1: Juicy Finale. I mean, from what you've seen, how this
Speaker 1: how is this evolution kind of in your eyes, kind
Speaker 1: of been with you know, Look, Matt Cardona is obviously
Speaker 1: getting a lot of the attention now him and is
Speaker 1: He's a horrible person, He's got a horrible wife, he's
Speaker 1: got a horrible attitude, he's just a terrible artisan. But
Speaker 1: he brings a big name in. And now you're seeing
Speaker 1: guys that that were in the big league's quote unquote
Speaker 1: did have their their big contracts with WW or somewhere
Speaker 1: else that they want to be involved in g c W.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's got to be crazy to see how
Speaker 1: this thing has evolved and seeing some of the talent
Speaker 1: that's gone through there without a doubt, and right off
Speaker 1: the bat, everything about Matt Cardona is fake. Mattcardona is
Speaker 1: not even married. From the fake tan to the died beard,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Uh true when Mattcardona came
Speaker 1: in and took on Nick Gauge in a death match,
Speaker 1: a match many people never expected to see that Rider
Speaker 1: not only uh wrestling, but to go on and win.
Speaker 1: But g c W trended number one in the world
Speaker 1: that night, and that was during a UFC pay per
Speaker 1: view and the Olympics. So you have to give the
Speaker 1: devil his due. But I think it's all about that,
Speaker 1: that passion and the people who weather. You're Zach Rider
Speaker 1: and you've been riding a chair in catering for years
Speaker 1: hoping that the Mojo rowlie thing gets picked back up.
Speaker 1: Or you're someone who's actually on the bleeding edge of
Speaker 1: today's wrestling, and maybe you're just out of a contract. Uh,
Speaker 1: maybe youre's someone underneath that wants to get seen. I
Speaker 1: think all roads lead to g c W in the
Speaker 1: same way all roads lead to the Hammerstein Ballroom. There's
Speaker 1: a passion, there's an openness, there's the art form of
Speaker 1: professional wrestling is practiced at g CW, and the fandom
Speaker 1: is very attuned to it. And I think if you're
Speaker 1: anyone in wrestling, and if you don't want to be there,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, that's up to you, But
Speaker 1: I think it's hard to look at it and not
Speaker 1: want to be not want to feel bad. And I
Speaker 1: wanted to do big part of why Matt Cardona wanted
Speaker 1: to move out of the perennial lower mid card to
Speaker 1: be a main inventor for a second before we rage
Speaker 1: quit a he quit like a b uh and and
Speaker 1: that is up on the the g CW Twitter on
Speaker 1: cards Twitter whiny event is just a whiny person. Forget
Speaker 1: about him. For for one bad person to another. One
Speaker 1: of the people driving the car to the Hammerstein Ballroom
Speaker 1: is Atticus Kogar. And I think one of the big
Speaker 1: paves of of road that took place for g c
Speaker 1: W was Ricky Shane Page and four four oh. And
Speaker 1: I would still argue that for g c W fans
Speaker 1: if you just took you know, obviously there are bigger
Speaker 1: promotions that got more shine. But as far as a
Speaker 1: guy that may have been the best bad guy, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put it in nice terms like it's p
Speaker 1: W I in the nineteen eighties the best bad guy
Speaker 1: in the business. I mean, nobody infuriated a fan base
Speaker 1: like four four on Ricky Shane Page and he really
Speaker 1: helped even though again another terrible person, he helped really
Speaker 1: start to get this thing going. And by going after
Speaker 1: the gauge and going after just everything about GCW, because
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier the magic of this g c
Speaker 1: W experience and community, and prior to this it was unpolluted,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And then you have Ricky
Speaker 1: Schane Page assemble an army of douche bags and obviously
Speaker 1: radio language uh to to try to ruin and to
Speaker 1: try to take over and corrupt what GCW means and
Speaker 1: what what it's doing. And ultimately, obviously at the Art
Speaker 1: of War Games, Ricky was vanquished. But Atticus Kogar, so tenacious,
Speaker 1: never stops moving forward. You never see hesitation from him.
Speaker 1: And to say he's a blue chipper is an understatement.
Speaker 1: To say he's the people like him and Jordan Oliver
Speaker 1: are the future of this business, It's an understatement. And
Speaker 1: they about killed each other and blood on the hills
Speaker 1: and took place last Saturday out of the Ukrainian Cultural
Speaker 1: Center in Los Angeles. That was the main event. No
Speaker 1: rope barb wire match that they had flaming doors there,
Speaker 1: there was glass involved. It was a hell of a thing.
Speaker 1: But give me your thoughts on that show. And there's
Speaker 1: a couple more shows that we're gonna have going forward
Speaker 1: as we get into the Hammerstein. Obviously there are the
Speaker 1: the shows taking place on uh New Year's Eve weekend,
Speaker 1: But talk a little bit about those shows uh coming up,
Speaker 1: and also about this one that just passed here in
Speaker 1: LA this past weekend. Well, as you said, Mike, we
Speaker 1: talked about the Brisk Goes earlier. The Briscoes were an
Speaker 1: action defending the Belts against Brodie King and p c O,
Speaker 1: both making their returns to g CW. That match, UH
Speaker 1: standout one of the standout matches of the night when
Speaker 1: you don't want to miss, of course, the replace on
Speaker 1: Fight TV, but to see the Brisk Goes versus PCO
Speaker 1: and Brody in the type of violent, super violent, bloody
Speaker 1: brawl that they had was truly spectacular. That main event
Speaker 1: barbed wire match, the first main event for both of
Speaker 1: those young competitors, Jordan Oliver and Attics Kogar, was certainly
Speaker 1: something to see where Oliver totally out of his element,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, and and Kogar right at
Speaker 1: home in the wire. What jumped out at you, Mike
Speaker 1: with those two It really is how Kogar is again
Speaker 1: for his age, and I just look at him and think,
Speaker 1: if he doesn't kill himself in the ring, this guy
Speaker 1: is going to be a megastart. He's gonna be a
Speaker 1: megastar for GCW for a long time going forward. And
Speaker 1: Jordan Oliver, he is just all the grit in the world.
Speaker 1: I look at Jordan Oliver and Nick Wayne and I
Speaker 1: see the same thing. I see a lot of the
Speaker 1: same kind of parallels. And obviously Nick's got a little
Speaker 1: bit of a different background than Big Breakfast has, but
Speaker 1: it's like you just see this drive and this determination
Speaker 1: and this almost You look at them and you just
Speaker 1: like this baby face fight. You just look at them
Speaker 1: and know that they have it. And Kogar has kind
Speaker 1: of got the same thing, but he's just it just
Speaker 1: in the opposite way. He's just such a devil and
Speaker 1: you know, is willing to do almost anything, you know,
Speaker 1: and including you know, breaking out the glass, breaking out
Speaker 1: the the lighter fluid, all of that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: But the amazing part is when you see him actually
Speaker 1: go in the ring and there's not all of that,
Speaker 1: all of that stuff. You know, all three of those guys,
Speaker 1: I just mentioned, especially Nick because of the background that
Speaker 1: he has. I mean, the sky seems to be the
Speaker 1: limit for all of those guys, whether they're doing high
Speaker 1: violence matches or whether they're just they're just telling stories
Speaker 1: in the ring. Yeah, and and Tony Deppen and Nick
Speaker 1: Wayne had an absolute banger. You know that the show
Speaker 1: was just hot, hot from the rip. It opens with
Speaker 1: the scramble right into the Briscoes versus Brody and pc
Speaker 1: O depfen In. Wayne absolutely tore it down. And how
Speaker 1: can we not talk about Bussy Effie and Alley catch defeating,
Speaker 1: definitively defeating, causing Matt Cardona to go on act trying
Speaker 1: emotional breakdown attack in the parking lot of the venue.
Speaker 1: What a match it was to see Bussy just reigned
Speaker 1: supreme and to see the cardonas the unmarried, totally phony
Speaker 1: Cardona is just be vanquished and hopefully exiled. I tell you,
Speaker 1: it was a hot, sweaty night there. Who doesn't love hot,
Speaker 1: sweaty Bussy. You know what I'm saying, It really isn't
Speaker 1: Seeing Alley catch pile drive both Cardona and Chelsea and
Speaker 1: get the pin. I thought that was absolutely awesome. You know,
Speaker 1: she's another one that you know, it's so early in
Speaker 1: her career and you can see how I mean. The
Speaker 1: match with thunder Rose It that they had in Jersey,
Speaker 1: I thought was again very very good, and you gotta
Speaker 1: can talk about a lot of big Look that Trey
Speaker 1: Baxter ri E Sterling match was pretty good too. It's
Speaker 1: just thank god they were Blake Christian and Alexane and
Speaker 1: those are two other guys that you know, my god,
Speaker 1: and we got about forty seconds here Kevin. But I
Speaker 1: mean talk about the sky being the limit and where
Speaker 1: g c W is When people look at it and go, well,
Speaker 1: it's just garbage russing, it's death matches, it's this, It's like, no,
Speaker 1: it's not. And it's guys like those two that are
Speaker 1: going to continue to elevate things. Absolutely wrestling. To me,
Speaker 1: it's a carnival show in the sense that it's a
Speaker 1: variety show. There has to be something for everyone. For
Speaker 1: every Jacob Fat there must be uh a cruiser weight,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like you have to have
Speaker 1: that diversity in sizes and styles. Who doesn't like a
Speaker 1: little violence mixed in with the Luca, mixed in with
Speaker 1: the scientific, mixed in with John Gresham. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: variety is the spice of life. I love these shows
Speaker 1: because of that. You get Jonathan Gressim, Ninja Mac who
Speaker 1: Lenja Mac is going to be on this show. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, and you get you get that,
Speaker 1: and it's just it's fantastic and I can't wait. Ninja
Speaker 1: Max is gonna be on the show. Kevin. I got
Speaker 1: to throw in a question about the Indie Wrestling Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame because I love that concept coming up. Everybody
Speaker 1: is gonna have to put a ball on this show.
Speaker 1: I don't want to. Kevin Gill is gonna be back
Speaker 1: again to co host this thing very very soon, so
Speaker 1: we can talk for longer. But if I talk for
Speaker 1: any longer, we won't get to the break. Wrestlumes are alive,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the show, Mike's favorite Wrestlings over Life,
Speaker 1: down with the the good music right there, Kevin Gill,
Speaker 1: g C W Wrestling, so many other things. We only
Speaker 1: got about two minutes left, my man, but I had
Speaker 1: to ask you about this. The Indie Wrestling Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame will be taking place Saturday, January twenty two, the
Speaker 1: day before g c W is in Hammerstein, at the
Speaker 1: Cutting Room in New York. Dave Praisak one of my
Speaker 1: all time favorite people ever to be involved in wrestling,
Speaker 1: and I can admit this since he's not listening to
Speaker 1: this show. Of all of the people that I got
Speaker 1: to meet for the first time who I have corresponded
Speaker 1: with for forever at that g c W show, he
Speaker 1: was the one I was actually most honored and happy
Speaker 1: to see because he's just been always there and I've
Speaker 1: always been in a lot of of all about all
Speaker 1: the things he's done, he's accomplished, and he has been around,
Speaker 1: including I just I just tons of of incredible Dennis
Speaker 1: Corluzzo stories for sure. But you know he's gonna be
Speaker 1: going in. Nobody's said that to induct him yet, but
Speaker 1: Jerry Lynn by shal And wall Man, Homicide by Chris Dickinson,
Speaker 1: Ruckets by Sanjay Dudd just a little bit about what
Speaker 1: that's all about. Well, the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: is an event I feel like it is long overdue,
Speaker 1: and kudos to Game Change and Wrestling and Orange Crush
Speaker 1: for having the huevos to pull it off at such
Speaker 1: a beautiful, uh and historic venue like the Cutting Room
Speaker 1: in New York City, to honor people like Dave Praysack,
Speaker 1: the Assault of the Earth, who's also been digitally reissuing
Speaker 1: and physically reissuing a lot of great shimmer material which
Speaker 1: you can get from him. But I'd like to give
Speaker 1: you one a night and the love in the room,
Speaker 1: the feeling in the room, the vibes in the room. Um,
Speaker 1: did you mention homicide being inducted by Chris Dickinson as well? Yes,
Speaker 1: Homicide by Chris Dickinson, Ruckets by Sanjay Dudd and Jerry
Speaker 1: Lynn and o G by Sean Waltman. Exclusive. Let me
Speaker 1: give you an exclusive. Tracy Smothers is being inducted into
Speaker 1: the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame. That my friend is
Speaker 1: awesome in an awesome way. To end the show, Tracy
Speaker 1: Smothers a legend, a legend for so many wrestlers, young
Speaker 1: wrestlers who have come up. He didn't get bitter about
Speaker 1: the business. He gave back to the business and kept teaching.
Speaker 1: Kevin Gill, you keep grinding. Can't wait to have you
Speaker 1: back on the show. Thank you everybody for sticking around.
Speaker 1: Thank you Producer Jared, producer Dom and everybody else involved
Speaker 1: in making this show happen. We shall talk to you
Speaker 1: again after a while. You have been listening to the
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.