All Episodes

November 1, 2024 • 47 mins

News and a special guest highlight the Halloween show.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Live from San Francisco. I'm a sports byline broadcasting network.
You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with your hosts,
Brian Alvarez and Mike semper Vv.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Right you ready, You're ready, Let's get it off.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
How's it going everybody? Brian Alvarez here on Wrestling Observer Live.
We are here every day Monday through Friday, New Pacific
three Eastern Sunday three Pacific sixth Eastern Saturday Mornings with
Jim Valley, Tenday and Pacific one Eastern Sundays with andrews Arian.
And it's Halloween on this show Thursday. You know that

(00:50):
means simper vv better have his costume when we come
back from the break. We got a lot of news
to talk about here today, and not only that, but we
have a special guest which I'll tell you about.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Here in a while.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
But yesterday was fright Night Dynamite, so we can tell
you about that here today on the show, as well
as all of the shows we got coming up this weekend.
What is with this hair everywhere? Driving me nuts doing
my best here. We got SmackDown coming up on Friday night.
Of course, Crown Jewel is coming up on Saturday, so

(01:26):
we'll give you the full line up for that show.
And there is an injury. We actually had a lot
of injuries to talk about, aw ANDWE injuries, so we're
gonna get into those after the break, Plus an update
on the WWEID deals. There are half dozen slightly more
wrestlers currently under ID deals, and we're gonna tell you

(01:47):
what the situation is if somebody gets an offer from
somewhere else, So that'll be after the break. Then the
injury update, and then the rest of the news including
NXT ratings and a former WWE wrestler has retired, and
the Dynamite report. We'll talk about Dynamite as well. Final

(02:08):
second of the show, our old friend Ario Winner is
gonna be on the program. Theten a new book, forty
years of pay per View, literally going back and reviewing
every single pay per view and book one is now
available in paperback on Amazon nineteen eighty five through nineteen ninety.

(02:31):
This is gonna be a long series of books back
in a month with more Observer Life.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
My Monster from his slab began to rise, and suddenly,
to my surprise, he did the Monks to Main. It
was a craveyard small, it caught home in a flag.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
He did the.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Monster mash from My Love Tory in the cast release.

Speaker 5 (03:03):
I'm at the movies asking people if they'll switch seats
with me for five hundred and seventy four.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Dollars here take mine.

Speaker 5 (03:10):
So what about five to seventy four if you switch
your home insurance to All State?

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Too much work?

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Not if you call them, they handle the switching.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Now that's a plot twist.

Speaker 5 (03:18):
S Check all State first, and you could save hundreds
on quality home insurance.

Speaker 6 (03:22):
Today. You're in good hands with.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
All State not available in every state, based on the
national average annual savings for new home insurance customers surveyed
in twenty twenty three who switch to All State and
reported savings savings very Keep.

Speaker 7 (03:31):
Listening for a free virus protection offer. Protect your computer
from crashing and online scams. According to National Research, one
third of all computers are infected with some sort of
computer malware, and one third of you have been a
victim of online fraud. Protect yourself now with my computer works.
We're an eighteen year old US based company with a

(03:54):
four point eight Google rating. We've helped your neighbors protect
their computers for almost twenty years, and now you two
can be protected for less than one dollar a day.
Get your total PC home support right now. Call our
US based specialists right now and learn about our free offer.
And remember, if we can't help you, our services cost

(04:15):
you nothing, so call right now.

Speaker 8 (04:18):
Eight hundred three five two seven six one eight, eight
hundred three five two seven six one eight eight hundred
three five two seven six one eight. That's eight hundred
three five two seventy six eighteen. Do you need to
sell your home? If you sold a home before, you
remember how stressful and expensive it was. Sold dot com

(04:39):
is here to help you sell your home for the
most money and with the least amount of stress. There
are new ways to sell your home that you've never
heard of before. Did you know there are companies who
will offer you cash for your home. Did you know
you could trade in your home for a new one.
Did you know there are realtors who'll sell your home
for a flat fee instead of an expensive commission. It's true,

(05:01):
soul dot com services are free, so if you're looking
to sell make this free phone call right now and
learn how your next home sale can be faster and
easier than you ever thought possible. Pick up your cell
phone and call right now. Eight hundred two five one
seven eight one six, eight hundred two five one seven

(05:22):
eight one six, eight hundred two five one seven eight
one six. That's eight hundred two five one seventy eight sixteen.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
And here's the pitch.

Speaker 9 (05:33):
Want to score some runs with your family. How about
an all inclusive, five day, four night vacation for two
adults and two children at the Ocean Spa hotel and
CanCon for only six hundred ninety nine dollars includes airport, pickup, hotel,
and all food and drinks, including alcohol. And you can
travel anytime in the next twelve months with no blackout dates.
So visit cancoonescapes dot com slash radio to book a

(05:53):
family vacation for four for only six hundred ninety nine dollars.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Going Going Gone with cancne escapes dot com slash radio.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
You were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
and Mike simperviv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
I am so disgusted right now, why's that you saw
a mirror show show, Mike, Look at this. You had
one job, one job? How's to find a costume? Couldn't
even do it? You don't have a sheet. Could you

(06:36):
put a sheet over your head or something?

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Oh?

Speaker 10 (06:38):
Yeah, because that's what I want. The chat saying, hey,
look he's dressed like a Klansman or something like that.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
No, not a Clansman outfit, but like, get a sheet
and put some holes in it. Fries like you're a ghost.
You soon as you don't have a Luca mask.

Speaker 10 (06:54):
I was looking for one, actually, and I thought I
knew where they were in No, like a mysterio mask
and a mask somewhere.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
And here, I'm gonna make you a deal. I'm gonna
give you a five minute break from the show to
see if you can find a Luca mask. I'll just
talk about the first bit of news here, which you
ain't gonna care about anyway. Alright, just a bunch of injuries.
You go find a mask. The chat is so disgusting.
Right now, goll Lee Dom's got a costume on. He's

(07:22):
a radio producer, right.

Speaker 11 (07:23):
Tom, You're damn right, And I have a Plinko shirt
on pretending to be a price is Right contestant today.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Also, Wow, a Plinko shirt. I've gotta, I've gotta. I've
got a Shahalas Flying Saucer party shirt.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
I don't know why.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Actually my workout shirt. Alright. Well, while, uh, while this
guy is trying to find a mask, should probably be
wearing every day.

Speaker 6 (07:49):
All right.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
First, a bunch of injuries to talk about here. Former
former aw tag team champion Nick Jackson has been working
with a separated shoulder has been bothering him for weeks.
News comes from Brian Albert. Hey, that's me. Yeah, I
did report that. I don't know, I don't know when
he got hurt, but apparently it's been a while. And

(08:13):
if you guys saw the tag match with Private Party
at the pay per view, and then the tag match
they had last night, which was absolutely last night was
like even better than the pay per view, and the
pay per view match was great. He did that entire
match with a separated shoulder. And if you've ever had
a separated shoulder, I mean you can work through it,

(08:35):
but I mean can't even lift his I think he
obviously can lift his arm, but can't lift weights anything
like that. So yeah, he did both of those matches
with a separated shoulder, so there's that. And then also
Dave reported last night Bandido is healed. He actually injured

(08:56):
his wrist in June of twenty twenty three. It is
currently basically November of twenty twenty four, so he's been
gone like seventeen months with his broken wrist because apparently
they gave him surgery, it did not heal properly. He
had a second surgery and is now finally able to return,

(09:21):
so he should be back at some point here. But
that is the update on Bandido and Rear. And keep
in mind, by the way, keep in mind Adam Cole
completely shattered and destroyed his ankle. They had to put
like a cadaver, you know, they not a full cadaver obviously,
but they had to do a lot of They had

(09:42):
to do a very very intense too surgeries. I believe
it was multiple surgeries and he was only had a
little more in a year. So yeah, eighteen months out
with a wrist injury for Bandido, and then this rear
Ripley will be out for an undisclosed amount of time.

(10:03):
They did an angle on NXT where she showed up
because she's friends with Zaria, and I believe she even
said that she knew Zaria's dad. And this, by the way,
is a slow build to Zaria going to the main
roster to eventually feud with Rehea Ripley. So kind of
planning some seeds right now, that's the long term, but

(10:26):
you know, she was there wishing all the baby faces luck.
And then they cut outside a little later and there's
Live Morgan and Raquel. They're walking off the set with
you know, baseball bats or whatever, and they zoom in
and there's Rhea Ripley covered in blood. Yes they're doing bloody,

(10:46):
and I'm sure was fake Halloween blood, but she's all
bloody and laid out and dead. And apparently she suffered
a broken or I guess fractured orbital bone, and this
was the angle to write her off for a while.
So she actually, I mean she did a storyline a
little bit. I mean she did the appearance earlier in

(11:07):
the show, so I mean you can't really see it,
but I mean, I cracked my arbital bone in it sucks.
So she's out of action for a while, and that
was a storyline injury to put her out of action,
So when she'll be back, I don't know, maybe able
to wrestle with one of those face masks on. I
guess we shall see. And speaking of liv Morgan has

(11:33):
signed a new five year deal with WWE. She wants
to stay with WWE as long as the company will
have her. She was on Logan Paul's podcast and talked
about a lot of things, including signing a new five
year deal. My five year plan is WWE, she said,
that's my five year plan. So she has re signed,

(11:57):
and apparently elsewhere in that interview, she talked about I
forget why she was arrested, but it was I don't know,
six eight months ago, maybe a year ago or whatever,
and she said that when she took the mugshot, the
officer taking the mugshot said, this mugshot is going to

(12:20):
go viral. It's one of the best I've ever taken,
or something to that effect. So talked about that on
the podcast as well. Then we've got a couple of
notes on WWEID which every time I bring this up,
everybody comes out of the woodwork. But thankfully I've begun

(12:40):
just blocking people on the twitch chat to thus not
to be distracted by rampant stupidity. But as noted yesterday,
there's probably around eight was what I was told. Around
eight people are already under WWEID deals, and this has

(13:01):
been in place for several months now, the beginning of
this program, and everybody's asking like, well, what happens with this,
what happens with that? So essentially the guides with WWE
ID deals at this point are free agents, and so
they're able to wrestle where they want, they can do jobs.

(13:24):
They're free agents. But the situation is, if for example,
AW comes knocking or TNA or whoever, if they get
an offer from another company because they are under ID deals,
they have to report this to WWE. And at that
point WWE can either say, all right, we're offering you

(13:46):
a full time developmental deal you're moving to Florida or
eventually Vegas, or they can say you're free to negotiate
with these other companies and sign there. So essentially this
ID deal, you know, the wrestlers get a small amount
of money to uh work on their their appearance and everything.
But also they w W has right of first refusal

(14:10):
for contract offers. But they are free agents other than
the I D designation they can wrestle wherever they want.
They can do jobs, but contract offers have to be
uh brought up with the w W E and hey,
who's here doing jobs?

Speaker 6 (14:26):
No?

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Finally, finally, are you don't tell me? What's his name?

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Dang it?

Speaker 1 (14:35):
What's that guy's name in w CW that had the
mask with the goggles on it? Who was that? No,
not Clo.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Who had the goggles?

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Who are you? Are you hooving tude Mysterio? It's an
old Ray Mysterio mask. Yes, Raysteria has more masks than
mill Maskris, whose literal gimmick is man of a thousand masks.

Speaker 10 (14:59):
Ray's got a million.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Much better, Mike, that's much better.

Speaker 6 (15:03):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Hey, and you know you made some money by not
having to work for ten minutes here.

Speaker 10 (15:07):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
You missed a lot of very exciting news about injuries
and such.

Speaker 10 (15:11):
Oh no, I don't want to hear anything more about injuries.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
But when we come back, you're gonna be able to
talk a little bit about the super Coolo.

Speaker 10 (15:19):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Ah, I thought you were super Kello.

Speaker 10 (15:23):
Oh man, what happened to him? I don't know, But
did super Kolo? No he didn't. Who was the one
who was Silver King right, who won the uh who
won the on a pole match and then stole Lex
Luger's cap.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
I think that might have been Silver King. All right
back in a moment, we'll do Dynamite and then we
have a special guest.

Speaker 11 (15:41):
Observer Live Got the Magic King, got the Magic Baby
from the Ghost snap.

Speaker 12 (15:53):
Awsome dressed up magic magic magic magic magic magic.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
and Mike simperviv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
Whoever's doing the tweets today, we have a shot at
me and Mike. I need a new one put up
on Twitter. There we go.

Speaker 10 (16:34):
Oh that's a new mask. Now you're mystico. Yes, and
you know what, I have an announcement to make. I
don't know if people have heard this or not have
seen this or not, but I am the NWA Historic
Middleweight Champions I now.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
You vacated that exactly, and That's what.

Speaker 10 (16:50):
I'm going to do right now. I'm going to take
this belt and dump it in this trash can. Oh
right there, horrible, horrible. I'm ready for more action in
MLW and New Japan Pro wrestling.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Brian Rose made a great comment, which is it right now?
It's Ricky Morton and Mystico, which is an incredible tag team.
He said, Ray Mysterio, But I guess that was in
the in the last Either way, that would be an
incredible tag team.

Speaker 10 (17:18):
I see right now, see it was? It was before
it was Ray Mysterio and Bobby Eaton. Now it's Mystico
and uh Bobby Eaton.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah, that's kind of what I don't know about Bobby Eaton.
This This is definitely more Ricky Morton, I think. All right,
we got to talk about some highlights from the UH
from the Dynamite show. Let's start with the UH. Let's
start with the best thing on the show, which was
Young Bucks versus Private Party tag team titles Private Party

(17:50):
must split up forever if they don't win. And my god,
speaking of Ricky Morton, you know it's gonna seem like
an Odalian, but I must put myself over myself and
filthy Tom wrestled the Rock and Roll Express. That's right,

(18:11):
we wrestled the Rock and Roll Express Ricky and Robert
and granted we didn't win, but for fifteen minutes of
that black Label pro show, we turned it back the clock.
And I bring it up because I watched this match
and listen, I was there and Wrestle Dream. Okay, I

(18:33):
was there in the crowd. I watched the Young Bucks
versus Private Party at Wrestle Dream and it was like
it was like a really good match. But when it
was over, it was like, yeah, it was a really
good match, But was it like an all timer, like
an all time great Young Bucks?

Speaker 6 (18:48):
It was.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
I mean, it was just like it was really good.
I think I gave it four stars or something. It
was like good, It was like really good, but there
was just something about it. Then it kept it from
that level. It was a I don't know what it was.
My god, this match last night, Oh my god. I
thought this was way better than the pay per view match.

(19:10):
And granted, it's funny because like there were sixty five
hundred people seven thousand somewhere around that in the Tacoma Dome,
but you know, they were cheering and everything, but it
wasn't like a barn Burger. They had thirty two hundred people,
I believe in the show last night, which was a
good crowd for a Dynamite and these people were just
going nuts during this match, and they just had incredible

(19:35):
heat from about five minutes in and they're doing all
of these crazy spots. Everybody looks great. It's probably the
best match Private Parties ever had in their lives. And
they finally win the titles and the place just fricking
exploded and it was like, for twenty minutes, it's like

(19:56):
twenty nineteen all over again, Like this was twenty nineteen.
Aw stuff right here. Just an incredible match. I mean,
everybody look great, crowd's going haywire. It was awesome, absolutely awesome.
And then the Bucks give the belts to a Private

(20:16):
Party and they leave, and then they pack their bags
and they leave the building and Chris Daniels is trying
to stop them, and they're like, nop, this place is
pure chaos. We came back and want to try to
make this place. Nobody wanted to listen to us. We're
out of here. We're working from home, so I don't
know they could be back in a week, but I

(20:38):
watched this thing and it was like they're gone for
a while. And it's kind of interesting because it's like
they're two different universes in aw there's like this John
Moxley universe where he's trying to take over the company
and like all these babyfaces are just getting murdered every week.
And then there's like the other half of aw where
like none of this even exists, like Swerves there, but

(20:59):
he's dealing with the hurt business and this and that,
and the Young Bucks are kind of right in the middle.
They don't want to be involved, but like they're they're
at least acknowledging that this is going on. And I
watched it and I thought, Okay, well, they're gonna go
home for a while, and then the day's gonna come
where they return to try to save AW as Babyfaces.

(21:21):
But the problem is there's another universe where they've got
an issue with Kenny Omega, who's gonna be coming back soon,
and he ain't coming back as a heel. So I'm
not sure what's going to happen in terms of what
the Young Bucks are going to be doing when they
come back. Are they coming back to feud as heels
with Omega or are they gonna come back and reunite

(21:41):
and like be conquering Babyfaces. I have no idea, but
I think they're gone for a while. But that was
the best thing on the show by miles.

Speaker 10 (21:49):
Easily, easily, And even if you didn't like the post
match stuff when it came to the deal afterwards when
they left, that's fine, but it was by far the
best thing on the show, right It was probably the
best private party match that they've had since the last
time they faced the Young Bucks, or really back in
twenty nineteen when they debuted and nationally, you know, came

(22:11):
on the scene against the Young Bucks. I and for
Matt Jackson to have a separated shoulder and granted the
different Lord Nick Jackson to have a separated shoulder. Again. Granted,
there's different severities to this, and I don't think it's
too bad, but the fact that he's been working like
that and the match was that good and you really

(22:33):
wouldn't know.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Both matches, the pay per view match as well.

Speaker 10 (22:37):
Yeah, so hopefully he didn't make it any worse. It's
something that he's probably gonna be out a couple of
weeks for. That's one of the reasons I'm sure they're
kind of stepping away right now. But you're right, it's
gonna be interesting to see how all of these worlds
collide together and then move the entire project of product forward,
because we are going to need to have some sort
of tie in here at some point, because once Orange

(23:00):
Cassidy is out of the way, sure we have Moxley
and Darby Allen, but what about the rest of that
group and how it fits into everything else. At some point,
you figure they're going to have to come across the
hurt business, and that's going to be interesting.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
The thing with I don't know exactly how bad his
separated shoulder is, but when I separated both of mine,
and when I separated the one that was the worst,
like I couldn't even lift the bar, Like I couldn't
bench the bar, which is forty five pounds. Not one time.
I couldn't mention it one time. It hurts so bad,
but like I could do normal things in life. And

(23:35):
I believe because I remember because at the pay per
view Matt, Matt got pinned, okay, and I had somebody
ask me. They were like, does Nick ever do jobs?
Because it's always Matt, And I had noticed that Matt
was usually the guy that did jobs, but I knew

(23:56):
that he wasn't the only one because I remembered there
was a time when Nick got pined and I remembered
it because it was unusual. Okay, so you know, Matt
did the job in the in the pay per view match,
and I was asking around, you know, like someone's asking
me this question, like how come? And as it turns out,
Nick was supposed to do the job in the pay

(24:16):
per view match, but the finish they had he couldn't
lift the guy because of his shoulder, and so Matt
ended up doing it and he ended up getting pinned.
But if you watch last night, Nick did his job.
So anyway, there's there's no conspiracy. Nick does do jobs
for the Young Bucks, but for whatever reason, I think

(24:36):
Matt really likes doing jobs for some reason.

Speaker 10 (24:39):
And you know what's gonna be interesting too, is what
role will Jack Perry play as things going along? Because
it seems to me that absolutely you get omeg it
back together with the Bucks and you have a force
that's gonna try to fight back against this group. Obviously
you would have a Boushey tied into that, and you
have Okada there who everybody wants to cheer anyway, But
when he comes to Jack Perry, would he be a

(25:01):
part of that or is he more served maybe being
towards Moxley or a line closer to Moxley, or as
a loaner. What about Hangman Page as well too. That's
gonna be interesting to see how they might fit in
a mix where once Omega comes back.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
And then the main event was Shelton Benjamin and Swerve.
And if you've listened to interviews with Swerve, I mean
the guy loves Shelton Benjamin. And if you have not
listened to interviews with Swerve, all you have to do
is watch this match to realize he loves Shelton Benjamin.
Because Shelton took like ninety five percent of this match.

(25:37):
I mean, Swerve just sold and sold and sold, and
Shelton looked great. He's just thrown this dude around. This
is like one of the best working forty nine year
olds you'll ever see. You never know he was forty
nine years old if you showed some rando this match.
And Swerve did eventually win with the Swerve stomp, and
then yes, Bobby Lashley debuted, I got a big pop,

(26:01):
came down to the ring, and the hurt business murdered
poor Prince Nana and Swerve and I presume this was
literally the exact angle. I can't say for sure, but
this is my presumption. I presume this was the exact
thing they were gonna do in Tacoma, because they were
gonna do this in Tacoma. I don't know if it
was this exact, but the idea was they were gonna

(26:22):
kill Swerve in Tacoma. And then eventually it was sort
of like, wait a second, we're killing Brian Danielson in Tacoma.
We should We're gonna kill Swerve also in Tacoma, And
so the decision was made, no, we will not kill
all the hometown babyfaces in this town. And they held
it off until until this show. And honestly, honestly, you know,

(26:43):
Tacoma was Swerve's first match back, his first appearance back,
I believe, since he lost the title and so to
be gone for like weeks and weeks and weeks, and
on his first appearance back in his hometown getting murdered,
I think this was way better. He got to come back,
he got to be victorious, he got to do some

(27:04):
stuff on TV, and now he gets killed, and I
think it was better, you know, give MVP showed up
first a few weeks Shelton Benjamin shows up, and you
don't need Lashley showing up immediately. Several more weeks then
Lashley shows up. You know, if you remember like the
original nw O, when Hall and Nash showed up at

(27:24):
the same time. Haul showed up first, a little while
later Nash shows up. A little while later we get
the famous third man. So anyway back in a moment, observerlive.

Speaker 12 (27:36):
Got I've got him, got him.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
That's attention. And then here's a great way to have
more fun in bed and save money. If you want
to take something like viagra. They can give you a
way to pay as little as two dollars a pill.
Ys two dollars a pill. Compare that to prices as
high as sixty dollars per tablet. These pills work for

(28:16):
men to improve their performance and confidence. You'll love them.
And now for the price of two or three pills,
you can get fifty or more for around one hundred dollars.
You'll save hundreds of dollars off retail prices. That's enough
to buy your data nice dinner. Don't pay expensive prices
for viagra. Call now, order fifty or more of our
blue pills and pay as little as two dollars a

(28:37):
pill and save hundreds of dollars. Call any time for
confidential shipping.

Speaker 8 (28:42):
Call Steelman Pills now eight hundred nine sixty five one
two nine five, eight hundred nine sixty five one two
nine five eight hundred nine sixty five one two nine five.
That's eight hundred nine sixty five twelve ninety five.

Speaker 5 (28:58):
This report is sponsored by the After School Alliance. Across
the US, a million people are rallying for after school
this October. The twenty fifth annual Lights On after School
is organized by the After School Alliance to share the
many ways after school programs support students. Superstar Usher is
honorary chair. This year, thousands of Lights On after School
events are showcasing the skills students gain and the talents

(29:21):
they develop. After school events will feature science fairs, student performances,
academic contests, student art shows, community service and more. Alliance
Executive Director Jody Grant after.

Speaker 13 (29:34):
School programs keep our kids safe, inspire them to learn,
and give working parents peace of mind. But millions of
children are missing out. For every student and after school program,
four more are waiting to get in. We need to
invest more in after school to help our youth succeed
in school and in life.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
Visit www dot Afterschool Alliance dot org to learn more
about lights on after School.

Speaker 14 (29:58):
This is a true sad story for ADT, the leader
in home security systems. My favorite dog, Oliver, was stolen
from our garage recently. If I had a camera system
installed in my home from ADT, I would have known
exactly what car possibly pulled up in my driveway and
stole my little friend. If I had a security system

(30:18):
from ADT, my dog would still be here. I called
ADT this weekend and they're coming out in a few
days to install a camera and a new security system. Unfortunately,
it's a little too late for me. Listen, protect everyone
you love in your family. Call ADT now, have them
come out and give you a quote to install a
full security system in your home. Don't let it be

(30:40):
too late for you.

Speaker 7 (30:41):
Call right now.

Speaker 8 (30:42):
Paid for by the Home Security Hotline. Eight hundred three
six one three four nine one eight hundred three six
one three four nine one eight hundred three six one
three four ninety one. That's eight hundred three six one
thirty four ninety one.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
If you were listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian
Alvarez and Mike Simperviv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Back of the show. Bright Alvarez here Wrestling Observer Live.
Mike Simperviv also Wrestling Observer dot Com. Very happy today
to be joined by our old friend Mario Whittner. We
got a lot to talk about, including a new book,
which appears to be the first in a series of
about nine hundred books. Are you how you doing today?

Speaker 6 (31:32):
I'm doing pretty good? And yeah, so the first of
about seven hundred and four. I'm sorry if you just
heard a motorcycle go off the street behind me.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
That's all right. Yes, you have written book one of
a series forty years of pay per View, and this
is nineteen eighty five through nineteen ninety and the book
just came out a couple of days ago. It's available
on Amazon dot com. And uh, what in God's name

(32:01):
possessed you to watch forty years of pay per views?
So it was.

Speaker 6 (32:09):
Actually started about a year ago. I realized that twenty
twenty five was the forty year anniversary of when Vincikmanhn
started putting wrestling pay per views on and it just
kind of snowballed from there. It was originally going to
be a podcasting project. But then I realized, nobody listens
to my podcast now, so while they listened to it then,

(32:32):
So it since I came to that realization after I'd
already written like twenty year thirty shows. I'm like, let's
turn this into a book, and here we are. And
I released it Monday, the day before my fortieth birthday,
which was the goal.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
The day before your fortieth birthday. Yes, that means you
are now forty.

Speaker 10 (32:57):
Yes, it does go Wait, my goal for a long
time was just to make it to forty eight. Now
then I got there. Man, it's all gravy after that.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Your goal was to make it to forty.

Speaker 10 (33:07):
It was tough. I had some stretches there.

Speaker 12 (33:10):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
So so forty years of pay per view, meaning this
all begins the year you were born.

Speaker 6 (33:18):
The year after I was born in eighty four.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
But yes, I see, Okay, I guess that's how birthdays
worked down, doesn't it?

Speaker 7 (33:24):
All?

Speaker 14 (33:24):
Right?

Speaker 1 (33:24):
So what is the what is the the ID?

Speaker 6 (33:27):
Here?

Speaker 1 (33:28):
We talking all pay per views? So eventually we're gonna
get like Heroes of Wrestling and the weekly pay per
views for TNA.

Speaker 6 (33:38):
Yes, oh, in this book is the AWA super Clash
three pay per view. That's the only non WWF slash
NWA show from that period. But the next one, which
is tentatively ninety one through ninety four, you have the
LPWA show, you have herb Abrams UWF. You have a

(34:01):
whole bunch of wonderful non big two pay per views
coming up down the line.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
So you are going to review every single pay per
view from any company that has ever existed in professionals.

Speaker 15 (34:18):
Collide and you got that one, Yes with an asterisk
on the every single pay per view ever because it
has to be a limit somewhere, so like no eye
pay per views, because I'd be here nice, you know,
my grandkids would need to do this.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
So it must it must air on traditional pay per view.

Speaker 6 (34:39):
Correct, and it has to have some degree of a
national following or at least national clearance. Like WrestleMania one.
It was on a handful of shows, but or a
handful of pay per view providers, but it was so
few that it doesn't even register. So I note that
in the book that I'm not going to review WrestleMania one,

(35:02):
like maybe in some future project, but I don't consider
that a pay per view.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Interesting. Yeah, that's gonna drive a lot of people crazy,
a lot of completionists.

Speaker 6 (35:13):
Oh, my friend and co host Trey, it's driven him
crazy already.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Wow. Well, we have to have rules right exactly, Yes.

Speaker 10 (35:23):
Including like UWFi into that too, or big you know,
shoulder wrestling pay per views that were a big deal
at the time.

Speaker 6 (35:33):
As long as it aired in the United States, either
live or did a good job of pretending to be live,
like SummerSlam ninety two or UWFi, they'll be on the list.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
So now, the title of the book is forty Years
of pay per View, Book one, So I guess that
means you have decided that the cutoff is going to
be twenty twenty five four.

Speaker 6 (36:05):
Honestly, I never really thought that far. I just thought
it was a cute title.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
I just read your title.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
Or you forced me to like put out like ten
books or twelve books in the next year and a half.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
I've forced an end date. Yes, yes, forty years of
pay per View eighty five through ninety God how many
pay per views were in this first book, thirty thirty
so thank god.

Speaker 6 (36:34):
It was originally going to be eighty five through eighty nine,
and then the next one was going to be ninety
through ninety four, but that ninety to ninety four period
has a load of shows, so I cut off ninety
and added it onto the first chat of the first book.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Okay, I mean this with all due respect. Did you
think this out when you started?

Speaker 6 (36:57):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Ish, okay, because you mentioned you mentioned how many pay
per views are in book one thirty Okay, that's like
a year nowadays, right.

Speaker 6 (37:09):
It's a it's a year in two thousand because it's
between WWF WW andw this thirty one.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Oh my god. So you're gonna have to go year
by year here pretty soon.

Speaker 6 (37:20):
I haven't quite gotten that far, but yet, especially in
that ninety nine two thousand period, it's probably gonna be
twelve to eighteen months.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Well, you gotta think about this too. Once you get
to the weekly pay per views with TNA, you're gonna
have to do like three books per year.

Speaker 6 (37:37):
For that. I'm thinking of just doing the TNA shows
as one book, and so all of.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
The pay per views are just one book, like the
TNA pay per view years.

Speaker 6 (37:49):
Just the TNA weekly shows as one book, and then
ww and whomever else from like two thousand and two
to two thousand and four. Ish.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
I'm trying to think if I would want to read
a book that just recapped all of the TNA weekly
pay per views. There's part of me that we're like there,
like I would never ever read that book, and then
there's that other part of me that thinks, I have
to read that book.

Speaker 6 (38:16):
Wow, I have. I have actually been watching them for
my for my Wednesday show with my co host Cindy,
and where we've almost reached the point where you and
Vinnie and Sean gave up, and at least the last
two weeks have been pretty good, but the next week
is the week that you gave up. So I'm kind
of curious just.

Speaker 10 (38:37):
How bad it is.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Oh God, Aria.

Speaker 10 (38:39):
I was a big boxing fan my entire life, and
I was always fascinated with pay per view and close
circuit and things like that. I've done a lot of
research on it. So when the idea came for TNA
to do weekly pay per views, even though it was
found out to be a complete disaster of an idea,
I was interested in it, especially because there really was

(39:01):
no other American wrestling at the time unless you were
a tape trader or buying VHS tapes DVDs, so TNA
was actually an interesting thing a concept to me at
the start. But one of the things I also liked
about pay per view was finding the numbers and things
like that. Are you going to have that added in

(39:21):
as far as buy rates and dollars and maybe some
of the crazy things that happened. Obviously more crazy things
happened in boxing when it came to pay per views
and putting them on, but wrestling there's been plenty of
those cases as well. Are you going to give a
little bit of a backstory and some stats when it
comes to these pay per views?

Speaker 6 (39:40):
Oh, definitely, every show. It's not just like me saying, oh,
Wrestlania four first Match Battle Royal, No, it's like Wrestling four.
Here's all the crazy stuff happening in the world that's
happened since the last thoty of pay per view. Here's
how this show is done, and how it compares to
the last show they did and the last WrestleMania and

(40:01):
any fun little story. And I bring up Wrestlemany four
just because my favorite passage that I wrote in the
book was the Wrestlingia four passage, because that's the show
that went head to head to the clash of the Champions,
and I basically wrote on this day it was one
of the greatest shows of all time. It created a
brand new star and had some of the best matches
you'll ever see. And this is the story of the

(40:24):
other show that happened.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
That day, brutal. And then you rate all the matches, right,
but not on a five star scale.

Speaker 6 (40:32):
Parrect I've always preferred the zero to ten scale, my
grand scale. Yes, pretty much, yes, And I tell you, like,
if it makes it feel better, just cut it in
half and say that's how many stars. It is interesting,
you know, And I do tell but at the end
of the day, if you disagree with my opinion about

(40:53):
how good a match or a show was, that's great.
Like life would be pretty boring if we all had
the same opinion.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Now, let me ask you this question, because a lot
of I don't even know what age it would be,
maybe maybe somewhat younger than us. A lot of fans
I guess younger than me. You know, they think of like, well,
you know, the eighties NWA was awesome and WWF sucked.
But and I've gone back and watched a lot of

(41:23):
that mid eighties stuff and a lot of whole Cogan
matches like on Saturday Night's main event, and it's not
that bad. Some of it is bad, but like I
mean some of this stuff with like Hogan until about
like nineteen eighty eight, I mean, he would just kill
it in these main events, not not so much the

(41:43):
Andre match, but like other matches, and like you had
Randy Savage and Ricky the Dragon Steamboat and Cowboy Bob Orton,
and like there were some freakin good matches in the
mid eighties and WWF, but people kind of remember the
really horrible stuff and I think start to fixate on
like the real late eighties and early nineties when there
was a lot of terrible stuff.

Speaker 6 (42:07):
Oh definitely. And I mean at the end of the book,
I put like the top ten overall ratings of all
the shows during this period, and three of the top
five shows are WWF shows. And so it's not like, oh,
it's all just gonna be NWA shows, you know, It's no,
it's likes had a lot of good stuff, just it's

(42:29):
easier to remember the bad stuff sometimes, or it's easy
to paint it with a giant brush. And I know
you're bringing up the WWF, but like Lex Luger. He
is so underrated during this period, it's not even funny.
And I know he's wrestling Flair and Steambone and Pilm
and et cetera. But you know something, it takes two
to have a great match. Takes one to have a

(42:51):
good match, but two to have a great match.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Well, you know, it's funny. I have I have watched
a fair amount of of mid eighties and WA, and
I have rewatched all of the Monday Night Wars, and
I really haven't rewatched like nineteen ninety through nineteen ninety
four NWAWCW. But I mean, I mean, I mean I

(43:14):
thought the same thing, like Luger always got kind of
a bad rap. But I watched him during the Monday
Night Wars, and this guy was so over and they
never pulled the trigger on him, like they would give
him a big win and then they would take it
away and they would focus on other people, and it
was like, dude, this guy is like he's right on
the cusp and they never pulled the trigger. And yeah,

(43:35):
watching a lot of the uh, you know, I watched
a lot of the mid eighties NWA, and I'm waiting
to see like horrible X Luger, but some of his
interviews were kind of boring. He'd go on forever. But
as far as like matches, I mean, he wasn't bad
at all. In fact, he was often good.

Speaker 6 (43:51):
No, and I think it was the motorcycle wreck and
also just in general going to the WWF where he
realized he could get by by doing a lot less.

Speaker 10 (44:02):
I think one of the other issues with Luger too,
in the moment when we had Tully and Arn and
Flair and Sting was at a different Luger just he
never Unfortunately, he never got the shot in the NWA
because when he should have, when the belt after Sting
got hurt, Blair didn't want to get the belt to him,
and that's probably when he should have won it. And yes,

(44:22):
you go into eighty nine he turns heel on steamboat.
He was actually really really good and told pretty much
the time he left to go to the WWF.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
All right, stand by back in the moment with more
Wrestling Observer Live, Baby soopsticks, long.

Speaker 12 (44:51):
Letter.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
You are listening to Wrestling Observer Live with Brian Alvarez
and Mike Semperviv on the Sports Byline Broadcasting Network.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Man, everybody here in the chat says, it's Looch's gimmicks
really working for you. Mike, you may be the next
ex Caliber.

Speaker 10 (45:16):
Don't insult me like that, although again, covering up my
face more. That's that's, that's what it's about for these people.
I do look better when you don't see me.

Speaker 6 (45:25):
Well.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
We are joined by Aria Witner forty years of Pay
per View Book one of eighty nine, nineteen eighty five
through nineteen ninety available on Amazon dot Com. It says
your paperback. Is it only paperback?

Speaker 3 (45:40):
No?

Speaker 6 (45:40):
You can also get it on Kindle, Elk, Kindle unlimited.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
Oh wow, I have Kindle unlimited. Wow. You'll need Kindle
Unlimited to read this entire series.

Speaker 6 (45:50):
Yes, you do. And by the way, since I've just
discovered the economics of Amazon, if you get it on
Kindle Limited and hate it, do me a favor and
just slip through the entire book books. Did you get
paid by the number of pages people read?

Speaker 10 (46:03):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (46:04):
I did not know that.

Speaker 6 (46:05):
I did not here's it all until I had to
look it up.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
I'm going to write a really long book with one
word on each page. That's my that's my that's my idea.
Get some plugs in here for your book and everything
else you're doing.

Speaker 6 (46:18):
But it's forty years of pay per view book one
nineteen eighty five through nineteen ninety. It's available on Amazon.
It's one of the I don't want to say best selling,
but it's one of the hottest new releases right now
in the pro wrestling market. If you want to hear
what else I have to say, check out the Something
Else podcast network, available on almost all your favorite streaming platforms.

(46:40):
Just don't listen to it at work because we tend
to go off on some rrated tangents.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
You mean, don't listen with speaker on pretty much. Yes, well,
don't worry. Nobody listening to any of these shows ever
listens on speaker. It would be a bad idea.

Speaker 10 (46:55):
Ario.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
I want to thank you so much for doing the
show today. Best of luck, and we'll see you about
ninety two times in the future when new books come out.

Speaker 6 (47:02):
Sound good, sound Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Thanks so much, and of course thanks everybody for listening.
Have I happy all away everybody. We'll talk to you
next time. Wrestling Observer Live. You have been listening to

(47:50):
the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.