Favourite Wrestling Podcasts?

I've only recently got in to listening to the odd podcast instead of the radio at times, in part due to the fact I feel that sometimes the music can ruin a good radio show and talk radio can be pretty limited, but it's overwhelming how many wrestling podcasts there are to choose from. It really is insane. So there it is, anyone got any particular favourites or does anyone even bother with them? Thought this is the best place to ask for wrestling ones for obvious reasons.

Of course when I started I went with what I know... Edge and Christian... and I wasn't disappointed. So I can recommend that to anyone that does or even doesn't do the pod thing. Lots of different guests to choose from so I just picked a random one at first "Samoa Joe and Pete Gas" haha... With E&C the general vibe is silly shit, but their views on the business kind of mirror mine, they also have great insight and because they are so laid back and universally liked they can lure some great stuff out of their guests too.

Cena was the this week's guest, so there's plenty on the current feud with Roman.  It wasn't a complete barrel of laughs, but it was a good discussion. And highlights why I've never been able to hate Cena, even if he does seem like he is a knob sometimes I never got the "he can't wrestle" beyond the few things that do look a bit sketchy, because wrestling isn't just one thing. It made me want to watch some classic Edge vs Cena too. "Down goes Cena!!" no one does a mainstream heel now like Edge did on such a consistent basis haha.

https://art19.com/shows/ecs-pod-of-awesomeness here is one way of getting the pod of awesomeness, there are a tonne of other ways, obviously if you already get podcasts from Spotify, Apple or whatever source anyway you can listen there.  

So yeah? Recommendations? Thoughts? I do really like the idea of using podcasts to replace radio, even if I missed the trend for seemingly ages. Also listening to the radio makes me feel old, but listening to podcasts make me feel hip   yep...

Here is an excerpt, seeing as it made the online news.

John Cena has long been criticised as a company man throughout his WWE career, and following his recent appearance on the latest E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness, the criticism may grow louder.


Cena’s upcoming No Mercy match with Roman Reigns has been based around both respect and the idea that Reigns hasn’t earned his current reputation as the heir apparent to John Cena.
The 16-time World Champion told hosts Edge and Christian that complacency has become an issue in WWE.
The amount of complacency is staggering. I mean, these guys are all so gifted and there’s never been a better time, ever, to make a name for yourself in WWE. With all of the platforms that we have, with Raw, with SmackDown, with NXT, we’re increasing our number of pay-per-views, we’re throwing so much content at the Network it’s obscene. We have so many guys who have so many chances I just don’t get it.
You guys certainly know better than I do because I came in on the tail end of like ‘hey, man, everybody is just going to have to quit for me to even get a chance.’ I got my chance by mistake, and I knew that. You guys were in the thick of it with Rock and Austin and Taker and Triple H and D-X and the show is so freaking stacked you’re lucky to get out there for a couple seconds.
Wrestlers in the 1990s and early 2000s were known to share their disagreements with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, despite McMahon’s historic reputation as a strong-willed character.
John Cena calls WWE dressing room 'complacent'
Here’s the great thing about Vince: He will explain everything. So a lot of guys go down the creative process and they get upset, and they just put their head down, and they say ‘X, Y, and Z,’ and that’s that. If you’re really that upset, go to the person you work for just simply ask the question ‘Why? Why are we doing this?’ Because 99 times out of 100 when Vince will tell you ‘hey, this is the creative ethos behind this thought’ you walk away going ‘okay, that helps me out, I can do it.
After he was challenged on the idea that approaching Vince is a fairly nerve wracking prospect, Cena fired back with more opinions.
Man, I don’t understand the nerve wracking of it all. So the Titanic is you get fired, that’s the worst scenario, but we are in the business right now of holding onto a lot of guys. So like I said, and I mean this, there’s never been a better chance for someone to be a WWE Superstar, a WWE megastar, than right now. It is wide open, throttle wide open, foot to the floor. If you ever thought you could do it, step up right now.
And I don’t know… I think these guys just feel a piece of the system rather than this creative force that… man, you guys both know there’s not a better feeling than being out there when everything clicks and everything goes right. And no one can write that for you, no one can produce that for you, no one can create that behind a curtain for you. That deals with gut decisions and passion and YOUR creativity. It has to come from the individual. And I’m not, once again, I’m not saying that we don’t have great talent — as a matter of fact, I’ve said that guys have more talent now than I’ve ever seen. I just think it’s the ability to apply creativity to their skillset. I think that’s what’s missing.
Cena finished the interview by revealing his biggest issue with Sunday’s opponent, Roman Reigns.

In a very legitimate sense my biggest hang up with Roman Reigns as the frontrunner of the WWE is the fact that he seems to lack in his ability to communicate with the audience. It’s not that he can’t, because I know Roman. Socially, he’s a great guy. He has a presence that’s undeniable, so I know it’s there. Just nobody has had the nuts to try to bring it out of him, nobody.
So my job in the WWE is to either be the best or be a vehicle for the best. I was going to go out there and rip that kid every single week until he said ‘enough.’ I thought his promo on Monday was brilliant.


Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/22/john-cena-calls-wwe-dressing-room-complacent-ahead-of-no-mercy-match-with-roman-reigns-6949766/#ixzz4taa6fosE


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Cena' s words made me think of the revival as well, because they revealed on debut no one asked them to beat down New Day's ice cream cart, Scott Dawson just thought fuck it, it's our debut I'm going to tackle their shit as he came out and just saw it there. And that showed more of their character to new fans than a simple beat down of the guys. It probably cost a bit and took the prop department some time to make, did Vince get mad? Nope. Add depth and value to his show and he will take notice. There's about 70 on roster? Complete guess, so he can't micro manage everyone, you just have to show him you get it. Like Edge and Christian did, Austin did, every major star probably did, Undertaker made that his thing, the Rock used his strengths to get over, HHH and HBK just dicked around, even Breezango are doing their own thing with a terrible gimmick on paper. Turn your base gimmick in to your own thing with your own flair. That's the business

In terms of podcasts, Austins and Jericho are the two I've listened to. I tried the Jim Ross one but didn't think much of it. He was just trying to hard to use every guest as an excuse to criticise wrestling as much as possible.

Cena... Where to start? He's probably right in what he's saying. Someone like Dolph Ziggler, who's had so many huge opportunities, still isn't over and prefers to bitch about it on Twitter. However, wwe doesn't help guys. The Ascension came up with a big reputation fromNXT, only for JBL to slaughter them on commentary. Someone like Apollo Crews has never cut a promo on TV so is nothing more than a smiley guy.

It's well and good being Cena and having Vince on speed dial, but for a debuting Tyler Breeze or a nobody like Curtis Axel? No chance does Vince has the time to explain everything.

Cena also implies that wwe have long term booking plans. We all know that's rubbish!

In terms of becoming a big star though he's nailed on. The undecard just have to plug away and in most cases do what is needed for the show as they are interchangeable, which is a bit unfair, but the WWE is so big that's always kind of going to happen to a bunch of talented people. There are some crazy decisions, like the ascention and obviously sometimes people get punished on tv for backstage stuff, which is really dumb (still think Corbin isn't really being punished though, he has way more depth to him now) but there's still scope for growth in a small role. There will always be those blue chip favourites too, but Vince still wants people to prove him wrong. He throws blue chippers in at the deep end too, which can work out, Jordan he clearly been thrown in at the deep end because of his athleticism and ability in ring, and his look. But that shouldn't discourage others. If Brock leaves TV, the Miz could be the real star of Raw, which he will have earned with work ethic and passion.

Think of the Uso's as another example. They are a tag team, will always be a tag team, and it finally clicked that they could actually talk to Vince. Another good interview on E&C confirmed that too. They were set to do their initial heel promo in front of a purple curtain in the back, and they said they don't think that makes sense, some writer penned in the setting, Vince quickly okays it, but they came back to him to give their view. Vince also saw them doing it in their old paint too. But they just told him they don't think it will work like that and he said okay do your way.

Most of the time Vince just says okay to the writers, but another opinion will get him to see the bigger picture most times. The Uso's added value to themselves, which improved the whole show.

I kind of think Finn and Bray could have questioned their build up to Summerslam. Why waste the demon with no build? I think Finn could easilly say tassels don't make his appearance right as the demon too. The focus was always on the paint, the mouth on his neck that moves as he lunges around like it's taken over his body. And that is lost when it's obscured by some cheap ass thing they can sell on WWE shop. I hope there is a long term booking option for Balor and Bray though, it could be used to make both more credible with less focus on the supernatural, but it probably won't, we shall see. Maybe Bray will realise he's not a God, but just a very persuasive dude.

Nearly everything good ever is changed by wrestlers too, because one man just can't see both sides of every writers idea. Edge cashing in money in the bank? They were just going to have a match. Edge says but I'm a heel, why would I do that. Vince sends him away then the next week he cashes in and that's history. He even thought he'd still be putting Cena over even with the heel tactics of capitalising on an exhausted rival haha.

I wouldn't be surprised if Cena is saying it in the hope some people step up too. A Balor could be doing more. Ambrose is constantly being prodded to do more on his own initiative. Vince obviously values Dean, he's been a champion more than not I'd guess. But the door is open for more. The Jericho feud was a taste of his own vision, the king pin never really got fully going on SD. I honestly think he wanted to keep the title for a long time in a classic fashion, but with AJ in waiting, he probably needed to show more.

JERICHO. That's who I forgot had a podcast. I'll definitely look in to that one, thanks.

Jericho's is pretty decent, especially when he does non-wrestling interviews. He did a really good one with a porn star who's name escapes me which was really good and taught me a lot about grot!

It's difficult to work what Cena meant. He's a guy who got to the top without putting on good matches - when he became a world champ the first time, his matches were edited to hell on the taped SD and as soon as he went on RAW, the crowd started to turn on him when they realised he just wasn't very good. Another part is the the crowd (and I'm including myself in this) is someone who has paid their dues not only in WWE, but in wrestling as a whole. it's why Edge, Jeff Hardy, Punk, Bryan all got so huge - people knew they'd worked their asses off for it, and deserved their big break. Owens - paid his dues, deserves his push, fans accept it. Mahal - hasn't so we don't.

Now you get a Reigns or a Jordan being the focal point of the show or the biggest storylines just given to them. Imagine what being positioned as the son of Kurt Angle could have done for a Sami Zayn or Neville...

Cena is hopefully trying to get the guys to step up and not just settle for being a Heath Slater or Bo Dallas. Dean Ambrose was on fire in 2015, getting bigs pops, but when the booking he gets doesn't back him up, the momentum goes. People will only cheer the guy who keeps losing for so long before they just lose faith and give up. Cena also took on the most stupid amount of public appearances for years, learned Chinese to appeal to the new market for WWE, does Total Divas even though it makes him look creepy as hell... some people just don't want to take on that amount of stuff alongside the travelling and media stuff they have to do. I wouldn't - is it reasonable for Cena to expect more people to be more like him?

Thats Cena paying dues his way, I suppose. But basically he made himself marketable so Vince marketed him, regardless of how ready he was in ring. Anyone can do that just the same as anyone can scream ruthless aggression and it not work out. And he learned how to do the WWE style really well, he had the crowd in his palm calling most of the spots in all his big matches. The Miz is the closest to him, and he has had a run of great matches despite being a bit like a bag of coleslaw with a tan. But the main thing is he gets attention, he can lead a show on mainstream tv, that is the core of WWE in that sense, not just a wrestling company, but a weekly tv show with regular viewers who aren't too fussed about wrestling. Conversion of casual viewers in to fans of wrestling takes charisma and the drama.

But then there's guys like Bray, maybe he moaned a bit about his push, but he should really be winning some matches. And I did also have that argument about Ambrose, he gets booked up and down which kills his momentum, but maybe he should stop being really good at doing anything with anyone and get selfish, and make sure he has to only be booked in big matches and big feuds. He performs at such a good level for any match, any result vs anyone, which us good in one way, but it also means bookers can just go well who can we use to make Corbin look good, Dean will do it, forget the fact he could set out for vengeance on AJ Styles. And to his credit he made Corbin look great, I can remember them doing that spot with the camera in Dean's face while Corbin squished him into the chains at EC, who else would do that for someone after being world champion a few weeks before?


Guys who worked the Indies shouldn't really need to come in as Kurts son, they are proven draws, they just have to convert that into WWE. I think they have a plan for Zayn to be the next Daniel Bryan, but it's just not obvious yet, because he looks like he's being screwed. Maybe he is, but he would be the perfect babyface to match up to KO eventually.

I mostly agree with you anyway Grec, as long as the guys who earned a shot are marketable in some way. There's exceptions where making Vince see dollar signs in you means you get the push regardless too though. Cena wasn't really coming in with favouritism, so has this chip on his shoulder where he had to earn their attention and work at being memorable in other ways so he'd be the guy to go to. In a roster stacked with guys who could be worthy of a push, who's going to make sure they get chosen?

With things like Jason Jordan, it's different, he's being pushed as the blue chipper, but can't fall back on Rock like mic skills to get himself over face or heel on his own. He's the anti Rock. He has a tonne of ability in actual wrestling, but he is just a shy guy. I can't see how it's going to work out. Lots of people think a heel turn is enough, I can't see him as anything other than a babyface, but booking him a bit differently would benefit him. Vince believes in sink or swim though.

A basic thought would be that things in wrestling that are interchangeable are wrestlers. Things that aren't interchangeable are stand out characters that connect in some way to a mass audience.

I'd argue that Neville worked out what he needed to do. At one stage he was given s title match vs Rollins, a damn exciting one. But after that he was still just Neville. A British guy that flipped. There was scope to grow and he is finally showing what he can do. If his work doesnt earn him more, thats when the questions should be asked, as he's done it in WWE.

If it's AJ vs Nakamura and KO vs Zayn at Wrestlemania I think we can say, okay, guys get chances these days. That will be the stage that determines whether they stay at the top, or sink down too. They are all marketable if they deliver to casual fans, and will always be marketable to wrestling fans.


And I suppose the main message is, if you get a chance - if you get a push - wherever you started make it your own and make it stick. A push isn't an achievement, turning a push into a hall of fame career is.

Anyway... podcasts

Here you go Grec, Jericho's latest two podcasts are celebrating the life and work of Bobby "The Brain" and one with a pornstar couple. http://podbay.fm/show/767016946

I don't know where to start with Talk is Jericho, I can only ever seem to find the last 16 epidodes, no idea where to find the download archives to see what jumps out for me.

Whereas E&C you can find any episode.

Try iTunes, they have fairly substantial backlists of Jericho, Austin, Ross and others. Cheers for the recommendations, I'll try and listen at some point...

I still can't find a proper backlist for TIJ lol. I'll just have to listen to random current ones instead and go in blind to the format. Expect it's mostly fresh stuff anyway depending on guests. Downloaded the Breezango one so I'll probably whack that on at some point.

Just seen that after last week with Cena as the guest E&C have got Randy Orton in for his first ever podcast too, which might be interesting.

If you do check out any of the E&C's listen out for the voicemails/voice contest. The Stone Cold is funny as fuck.

See I like Jerichos podcast when he actually has wrestlers or former wrestlers on Im not to interested in it when its just celebrities to be honest, I listen to Austins podcast I think that's one of the best podcasts, JR's and Biscoffs podcast is suppose to be really good not listened to either though.

E&C with Orton is good again. Not heard a bad one yet out of the random ones I've picked. Main take away is Orton is "sick of this babyface shit"

Smaller points: they rate Aiden English. I said a while back his match with Tye on one of the PPV kick offs was really good. I think he could be a sleeper talent for a breakout year at some point. Orton said how he is one guy who genuinely seeks advice to improve. You could tell in their match and the encounters recently that Orton is happy to give him the rub. If he could find a new tag partner with equal promise they could really flesh out that division and build some guys up ready for the future.

They also break down the rivalry Christian and Orton had and explain why the title flipped from Christian to Orton so quickly.

Aiden English is married to Eddie Guerrero's daughter. He is decent, but his gimmick is another that would work in a small arena, but doesn't translate to TV particularly well. And it would be nice for Orton to give someone the rub, it must be time he did something like that...

I'm off work tomorrow so will give it a listen.

i can see it now English Vs Elias in a sing off on one of the shows in the future

I quite like gimmicks like those for getting heat on tv. It never fails to wind up the crowd, and I enjoy watching a wound up crowd. Obviously it's only ever short term with gimmicks like that, but it's also something that people can easily forget if he gets an improved role that needs a fleshed out character.

There was just something that stood out in the Tye match though that made me think this guy has something about him. And Orton gave him a lot in their match and he was booked to stick around to cost Orton too.

There is some good insight into Shelton Benjamin on the E&C pod. Apparently when planning matches they could just basically come up with anything and tell Shelton "yeah, you can do that no problem" so he'd just go along with it lol. He is an athletic anomaly that always came across in matches, but it's funny to think how every one could just create mad shit and he'd go along with it.

Teaming him with Gable might bring some of that back, the Uso's have probably got some crazy ideas too

Man, if Shelton could do any kind of promo, he'd be a multi-time world champ by now. Batista, in his book, basically said the same - the guy is an unbelievable athlete, is funny as hell outside of the ring, but just dry as anything in it.