EP04: Claudio’s Masterpiece (Rivals Series)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Claudio Caacciatore: Watching the evolution of (00:02):
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Claudio from that first
match to this match,
I could see him go from Sandman
to Tommy Dreamer.
I never thought about it.
It wasn't something
in my brain like,
I'm gonna be like the Sandman.
It's just like,
I grew up loving
real ECW from, like, 95 to 2001.

(00:23):
I was 13 when I first saw ECW,
so it's imprinted on me.
So everything that I do in the
ring is just part of that,
because that's, like,
at the time,
that's when I was like
I'm absorbing.

Zeitgeist (00:36):
Right.

Claudio Caacciatore (00:37):
That shit,
and it's just stuck with me.
And there's no intent behind
all that shit.
It's just like Claudio's.
This makes sense.

Zeitgeist (00:45):
Yeah. Well,
and a beer can coming out of a
pumpkin that you smash over
somebody's head and a rivalry
is the most, like,
ECW moment going back
to the Sandman.

Right.

Zeitgeist (00:55):
That's 100% it.

Claudio Caacciatore: I see. What do we got there? (01:10):
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We're starting with the.
The whole story, huh?

French Wonder (01:16):
Yeah.

Zeitgeist (01:17):
You know, well, I guess I.
Maybe I didn't make it
abundantly clear what
I intended,
but Greg thought we were just
talking about the pumpkin head
match, which, you know,
obviously, we want to do that,
but.

Right.
I figured we were talking.
We have to talk about everything
else anyway.

Zeitgeist (01:34):
Exactly. Yeah. So, I mean,
you know, I think it's just.
It's interesting that you guys
had a rivalry that started in,
you know,
the first 10 episodes
ended in season six.

There wasn't.
There's not that much content
between he and I.

Zeitgeist (01:53):
Right.

Except for, like,
a couple vignettes.

Zeitgeist (01:58):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Few promos and, like, (01:58):
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three important matches, maybe.

French Wonder: What kind of call is this? (02:03):
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Claudio Caacciatore: So you can hear him now? (02:05):
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Now you hear.

French Wonder: I can actually hear him. (02:08):
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Just wanted to come and
say hi to Brian.

Zeitgeist (02:11):
That's.
That's a good thing to do.
We.
We were talking about this
with Greg last night.
But yeah,
I just kind of want to start
from the beginning and just,
you know,
tell me about your rivalry with
the mayor. Greg Dust.
Greg maker. Like,
how did that all start?

Claudio Caacciatore: I don't. You got specifically. (02:30):
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I don't remember, to be honest.
I know. Like, there's.
What is it, episode 99 or 100,
the COVID episode?
Like, a little 90.

Yeah, that's like our.
It's like our greatest
hits episode.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah. But there's, like, (02:48):
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a good section in there with
pieces from it, because the.
That I remember most is
all the little things.

Zeitgeist (02:58):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: You know, the. The. (02:58):
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All the Things that happened in
the match before, after this,
that and the other thing.
But, like, when it comes to,
like, the grand.
Like,
I couldn't tell you how I said.
I know it started with the pasta
sauce tasting thing pretty much.
I think that's like, the.

The first
thing, which is a vignette,
by the way.

Claudio Caacciatore: What is this? You're. (03:28):
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Zeitgeist (03:29):
You get.

What is this?
Oh, my God.
Your father's pasta sauce.
This pasta sauce is disgusting.
Are you kidding me?
We weren't enemies or anything
at that point.
This is when we became enemies.
Well, and by the way,
just a side note.

Zeitgeist (03:46):
Yeah.

As a chef,
I am disappointed with myself on
camera right now with that
pasta. I didn't make it,
but I am disappointed with how I
prepared it. It looks like shit.
I just dumped sauce on it.
No wonder he didn't like it.
I deserve that beat.

It was the most, like,
sloppy. The way our.
The way we started. The way we.
Like the way we started in Ewa
was so, like, like, like,
let's do a match.
We put pasta sauce on my head.

Honestly,
those were the best days for.
For me, like,
in terms of the sheer and
stupidity. It's like, to.
To think, like,
upstate, we would.
We would typically
maybe book one,
like a week in advance or maybe.
Maybe we'd have a law, like,
something we'd want to do

(04:38):
further down the road.
But usually ideas came. Yeah.
In the car ride. So.
But like we were much older too,
so we could.
We were better storytellers.
But this was just like,
my favorite time because
everybody was just
drunk on drugs.
We would arrive at, like,
12 in the afternoon or 11am and

(04:59):
we'd be there until it got dark,
filming all this shit.
And it was just whatever,
whoever was there.
That's how things came about.
It's like, who do we.
Who's here today?

Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: You know, that's how some, like, (05:10):
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you know,
redacted dark matches
took place.

French Wonder: Right. It was. It was very, (05:19):
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like, just sort of stuck.
Okay. Hey, let's do. Hey,
why don't you. And also, like,
I will say this,
the one thing about.
And Joey talked about
this yesterday,
but the one other thing too,
was, like, the pasta sauce,
my rivalry,
the French wonders rivalry with
Claudio and stuff like that.
That was all stuff that, like,

(05:40):
the Joey was always so concerned
with. Like, it was like, Joey,
Chris,
Steven and James were always
fighting for the belt.
For the big one.

Zeitgeist (05:52):
Yeah.

For the Ewa.

Yeah.

French Wonder: The rest of us were like, (05:53):
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all right, well, like,
what do we do this?
Like,
so there was that like Slap Dash
kind of like we're just like,
we'll just things to do.

Well, yeah, that.
That was the kind of thing
like we were the Scrubs,
you know, we.
It went without saying, right?
To. To.
Because they were more concerned
with that. They were like the.
We were Mid Carters or.
Yeah, whatever. But like,
that's where you get this shit.
That's so much like who the fuck
was champion at this time?
Do we remember?

Zeitgeist (06:23):
Well, no.
And like the development of the
mid card in some sense,
you know, like, it's.

It's.

Zeitgeist (06:28):
It's Claudia. It's.
It's the beginning of
Claudio's rise.
And it starts with Greg Dust.

Claudio Caacciatore: And this is pre stead squad too, (06:33):
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I think. Yes.

French Wonder: This do not squad doesn't (06:38):
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form for like
like this has to be a while in.

Claudio Caacciatore: That was a good question. (06:46):
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French Wonder: 10 more episodes or something. (06:47):
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Because you and I have our
rivalry at this time.
Like at sometime after
this sandbag.

Sorry.

Zeitgeist: You know, in Greg's defense, (06:59):
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I also have no idea what the
hell you were trying
to do there, Brian.

Claudio Caacciatore: I was trying to. Because. (07:03):
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Trying to do a Samoan drop.

Zeitgeist (07:08):
Oh, okay, okay.

The angle slam.

Claudio Caacciatore: It's like the same thing flying. (07:11):
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You just pick him up and
then fall backwards.

Zeitgeist (07:16):
Exactly.

Simple.

Greg would say,
what are we doing?
What are we doing?
A suplex, dude. A suplex.

Zeitgeist (07:25):
Well, Brian, for.
For you at this time, you know,
what was it like wrestling?
Like had you been doing it long
enough to feel like you knew
what the hell you were doing or.

Claudio Caacciatore: No, none of us did. (07:37):
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Not even Joe.
Don't even let him convince
you either. Why?
None of us knew shit.
We didn't plan anything.
We would go like, well,
let's do this, this and that.
And like later on we would go
through spots and practice them.

Zeitgeist (07:53):
Right?

Claudio Caacciatore: And we try to say this spot (07:53):
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here, that spot there.
And sometimes we forget.
We fuck it up.

Zeitgeist (07:58):
Sure.

But like,
we would have an inkling of an
idea of what to do to tell a
story here. It was like, okay,
the. In the end,
I throw pasta sauce at you.
Let's go. That's it.

Zeitgeist (08:08):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: And that none of us, neither. (08:09):
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None of us or most of us
probably weren't confident
enough to do certain things.
So that's why you get like
hesitation like that
where it's like.
And then we just crumble.
And then somebody sells
something. It's just like, okay,
that looked like you got hurt,
so you sell it. That's it.

Zeitgeist (08:27):
That's it.

Claudio Caacciatore: So it's just Again, like, (08:28):
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for me, it's. It's.
I was always
like,
I'm pretty much the
Italian sandman,
you know, probably like,
mostly drunk, if not, you know,
acting drunk, angry.
At this time. I was smoking,

(08:48):
so I probably was.
I think I did have a cigarette
during a match one time.
And so it's like that.
It's just like brawler style
with some, you know, like.
I think Claudio's always
like the comeback guy.
So I always tried to have
moments in the match where
it just looks like,
yeah I'm getting the kid, like,

(09:08):
right now.
And then I would try to do
something where it was just
like an explosive.
Do a cool move and then
change the. What.

French Wonder: What is doing he. Greg? (09:16):
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Zeitgeist: I gotta be. I gotta be honest. (09:19):
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Like, that stf,
like the step through,
it actually looked better than
John Cena's somehow.

French Wonder: I love this move, dude. (09:29):
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Zeitgeist (09:31):
Greg is doing a lot of stuff.
I'm like,
I'm thoroughly impressed.

It's like a

Zeitgeist: Based on what I understand, (09:35):
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he's working.

Claudio Caacciatore: The legs at least, right? (09:37):
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So I don't know, like.
There we go. See,
that's a clothing right there.
Like, that was well done.
That.
That's the only thing I really
prided myself on.
And my punches and my
kicks like, that.
I could do a good super kick
without hurting anybody. Like,
brawl stuff like this. Striking.
I think your stomps are good.

Your stomach.

Yeah.
And my punches are I always
prided myself on, I think,
like, meat and potato like this.
I always felt solid.

Zeitgeist (10:09):
Yeah, you.
You were also a bigger
boy back then, Brian.

Oh, yeah, I was.
I think I got fatter
after this too.

Zeitgeist: Yeah, but I mean, you like, you. (10:16):
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You know, I don't think.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, I was like, you're fat. (10:20):
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Well, yeah,
but then there's some picture of
Claudia with like
a half shirt on.
That was the impetus for me to
lose. Start losing weight.

Zeitgeist (10:30):
Oh, really?

Claudio Caacciatore: That picture? Yeah. (10:31):
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But I think that was probably
like a year after this maybe.

Zeitgeist (10:35):
And it's like, okay,
how much you weigh in there?

I. I don't think I.
Probably two something probably
here. Probably 190 something.

Zeitgeist: Yeah, I was gonna say you don't. (10:46):
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Claudio Caacciatore: Maybe or 180, 180 something. (10:47):
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But I know I never made it
to it actually, almost.
And that was the point where
I was like, all right,
190 something is right.
Pushing it.

Zeitgeist (10:59):
Okay, so you guys.
You guys must have talked about
that spot you just did right
there where you're doing like.

Claudio Caacciatore: I was looking at you. (11:04):
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I was.

I.

Zeitgeist (11:06):
Okay,
I gotta back this up because,
like, this is, like,
remarkably
coordinated,
so. All right.
I'm not even sure what to call
it. It's like. It's like a.
An Irish whip,
like reverse arm drag.
I'm not even. What? Here it is.
Here it is. Look at this.

(11:26):
Look at this,
you guys.

Claudio Caacciatore: That's like the. What is that? (11:29):
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The the Japanese one.
I think it's almost like
the dragon. No,
I forget what it's called.
It's Japanese arm drag,
where you instead of like,
go,
you know
what, you know, you, like,
body over.

Zeitgeist (11:46):
I've seen it.
I don't know what it's called.
But I'm just like,
you guys kind of hit
that perfectly.

Claudio Caacciatore: That's what. Yeah, (11:50):
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that's what that was.
Yeah,
the timing was pretty
good at that.

Zeitgeist: You guys. You guys locked arms. (11:56):
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Greg got over.

Yeah.
That was one of the few times
Greg did not sandbag.

Zeitgeist (12:04):
That's right. That's right.

Claudio Caacciatore: Well, that was it. I think, (12:06):
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to be fair, it was his own.
If you watch this, right,
and then you watch the
pumpkin head match,
you could clearly see
two guys who, like,
figured each other out.

Zeitgeist (12:16):
Yes.

Claudio Caacciatore: Oh. Figure it out. (12:17):
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Like I know who Greg is.
I know.
That's why brawling works.
First off,
it works in terms of the story.
He's like,
I'm not going to be doing, like,
technical with somebody I hate,
right?
I'm going to be punching
and just do it.
Throwing desperation shit if
I feel that, you know,
so it's going to be a fight

(12:39):
rather than a wrestling match,
you know,
so it was always that with him.
And also,
I know his limitations.
I know he doesn't want to do
certain things he's afraid of.
Like, you know,
like one time I choked
him too hard. Like,
I think I gave him a headlock
or something.
And I think I was just over,
too. A little bit overzealous,
right? And it's like,
please stop. Please stop.

(12:59):
Something like that.
And I'm sorry. And then Oh,
it was the time.
I think I actually,
I don't think I was sorry.
I think I was a dick about it.
And he had the.
He had the makeup on, right?
So I got. I.
He got mad at me or got upset
that I was giving him a headlock
that was too tight.
And I was like, okay, all right,
I'm sorry.
And then I just gave
him a forearm,

(13:20):
but it was a little.
It was a little too spicy.
And I just had Greg Dust's
face printed. My.

Zeitgeist (13:27):
Nice.

Claudio Caacciatore: Then I think I was sorry. (13:28):
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Then I was like, oh, I'm sorry,
man. Yeah. Yeah,
because you could feel it.
You can feel it,
like when you make that sort of
harmless contact that still
makes, like, contact,
but this one felt like, oh,
I think I got some
nose cartilage.

French Wonder: Was this the same day as Joey (13:48):
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going through the light
bulb table?
Because that table to your right
looks like.

Claudio Caacciatore: I think it is the table. (13:57):
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Or at least maybe it was
under construction.
Maybe it was probably the same
day or same weekend.
Because we would do this, like,
two, three days in a row.
You know, if it was.
I mean,
sometimes this would start
Friday and end on Sunday,
you know
and parties would happen
in the house.

Here it is.

Zeitgeist: And we're. We're getting to it. (14:21):
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We're getting to it.
That. That was, you know,
and you guys didn't go too long.

Claudio Caacciatore: But here's the thing. (14:26):
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This was just supposed to.
This is like one of those
things is like,
this is a story for the
TV episode, right?

Zeitgeist (14:35):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: He talks about my grandma's (14:36):
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sauce. We have this match.
I win.
There wasn't really supposed
to be a rivalry.
We didn't think ahead of time.
Like,
Greg Dust and Claudio
are gonna have a.
A program that lasts a decade
or more.

(14:56):
This is what, 2013, 2012?

20.

Zeitgeist: No, Greg said 2010, 2009 or 9. (15:00):
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Claudio Caacciatore: I don't think it's single (15:04):
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digits at this point.
I think we're in double
digits at this point.

This is maybe.

Zeitgeist (15:10):
Well,
the first year you guys
were upstate was 2011.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (15:15):
Or maybe. Maybe 12.

No,
I think it was 12
because.

Zeitgeist: I joined you guys 2012 and you (15:20):
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guys were already upstate.

Yeah,
Brian and I talked this out.

Claudio Caacciatore: Oh so this is earlier (15:24):
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than this is.

Zeitgeist (15:26):
Greg said 2010.

Claudio Caacciatore: Greg said I would say so. (15:27):
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Greg has.
That could be 2010
brain for that.

This was also like.
What's interesting too, Brian,
what you were saying was that,
like
you did not intend for this.
You guys didn't intend for this
to be some lengthy rivalry.
But also what's funny is that,
like,
Greg just didn't exist
at this time.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (15:50):
Right.

Well,
this is what kind of leads him
into becoming Greg Dust. Right.
If I'm not mistaken, these law.

French Wonder: He needs these losses. (15:56):
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Zeitgeist: This is part of a losing streak (15:58):
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that leads him to, like,
join the underworld.

By the way,
this is probably the same
day because now it's
that match.

Yeah.

I think it's this.

French Wonder: Look at our amazing camera work. (16:09):
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Claudio Caacciatore: Quick, Everybody. (16:12):
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Everybody's like, I know.
10 Peronis deep. @ this point.

French Wonder: There was no. We were all. (16:19):
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We were all a bit inebriated
when we were. Yeah,
we were wrestling. Commentating.

Zeitgeist (16:29):
What's.
What surprised me was Mike was
saying yesterday or sometime
when we talked recently that,
like,
you guys drank way more back
then. I'm like, dude, like,
I feel like we drink a lot now.
Or at least.

Claudio Caacciatore: We definitely did because we (16:43):
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were all like, this is 2010.
We're in our mid-20s. Yeah.

We're like

Or some.
Some are in their early 20s.
And it's like,
that's the time when you're
doing this drinking
and just move
Some are better than at like a.
You know,
self preservation than others.
Some of us are like it.
Let's just go wild.

French Wonder: Cable Inception here, buddy. (17:09):
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Zeitgeist (17:11):
Yeah.
And Well, this is, this is,
this is the spot you were
thinking of, right?

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, yeah. So it is the same. (17:16):
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This is definitely the same day.
Same cars are parked
in the same spots.

French Wonder: Joey's dad pushes him over, (17:23):
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and then this leads to Joey
going to the hospital.

Zeitgeist (17:29):
Yeah.

Actually,
did he go to the hospital or did
he. I think wasn't Rosalind,
like,
cousin?

I think.

Yeah.
He didn't go to the hospital.
Like,
he had somebody who was a nurse
to help him out and give
him like stitches.

There it is.

Claudio Caacciatore: I mean, good for him, right? (17:47):
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To be fair,
we did too many light bulbs.

Claudio Caacciatore: Well, that was a. That was cool. (17:53):
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This is a big, like,
rivalry blow off episode, huh?

Huh?

Jesus.
This is a pay per view, right?
This is,
that's why.

Zeitgeist (18:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh,
yeah, that's the,
that's the same day. Yeah.
And I think Gary was there the
same day and before we
started wrestling,
he asked Joe to hit him with a
light bulb and he got a
huge gash on his back.

French Wonder: Oh, no, no, his wife, remember, (18:24):
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he had.

Claudio Caacciatore: Oh, yeah, Katie. Yeah. (18:27):
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And he's this.
It's in the bloopers.
It's at the end of some
episode where he's.

Yeah.

French Wonder: Hes yelled. He's like, come on. (18:34):
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And he calls her,
Calls her like a. Or something.

Zeitgeist (18:39):
Shut up.

French Wonder: And just them over the back. (18:41):
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Claudio Caacciatore: Do we know for sure? (18:43):
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Like that is the pasta sauce
match? Is that the.
That lead up to him joining
the underworld?

I don't.

Zeitgeist (18:53):
Is that on It's not like
a causation thing,
but it's more like.

It's like,
it's one thing in a sea of
things that aren't going
right for him. Right.

Zeitgeist (19:04):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: And then he's desperate and then (19:04):
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the underworld kind of
takes him and so.

Zeitgeist (19:09):
So Brian,
before moving on to the pumpkin
head match, and by the way,
just pausing to hover over this
to say that this was August.
This episode at least
was published.
Samtoberfest 7.5 published
August 9,
2012 I don't know if
it was filmed that.

Day,
but we didn't film with that.
We were.

No, I think,
I don't think we had a YouTube
at that point.

Zeitgeist (19:30):
Okay

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (19:32):
When you think about that,
when you think about that,
how long ago that was 12
years ago, Brian. Like,
what does that make you think?

I, you know, you,
you think like,
you know being 42 is like,
you know,
you think about all the you
didn't do and all that stuff.
But then
I, I, I talk to people.
Right.
That new people and people
I work with down here.
When you get to know people

(20:00):
and you just, like,
nonchalantly tell them, like,
something like this.

Right.

Claudio Caacciatore: They look at you. They, (20:06):
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they're not,
they stop listening because
they're thinking, like,
did he just say he had a pasta
sauce match that's on YouTube?

Zeitgeist (20:16):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: And then you show them, (20:16):
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and they're like, what?
And then you think about
all the. That you did.

Zeitgeist (20:21):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Like so many people our (20:22):
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age at this time,
we're probably just at, like,
a frat party or, like, at work,
like, working, like,
doing some other. Or like,
or at some, like, that.

Zeitgeist: They didn't want to be doing, (20:35):
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like,
with their wife or their kids.

Claudio Caacciatore: You just think about all the, (20:38):
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like,
Like,
I would so much rather be doing
this than be in New York City at
some shitty bar with people.

Zeitgeist (20:48):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Or at some dance club. (20:49):
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Like, so many. This was, like,
the height of clubbing. Right.
And this,
this is what we were doing.
And this is far more memorable
to me than, like,
going out to a club.
So I love it. I mean,
I feel old. Yeah. Yeah.
But this,
I also feel pretty much better

(21:10):
about the way I look now than
I did that, you know.

Zeitgeist (21:14):
Well, and,
and I was just gonna say
that this match, like,
we were talking with Greg about,
like,
Greg was just so happy to talk
about this for an
hour last night.
And he kept texting me again and
again and again how much
he enjoyed it.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (21:26):
And I know why. Because,
you know, this,
this match is the reason I
wrestled with you guys,
because Greg and I were
reporters together.
And he was just showing this,
like, like you were just saying,
Brian.
He was showing this match
at the newsroom.
And so all the reporters huddled
around Greg Maker's laptop.
And besides the porn,

(21:47):
we were looking at Claudio
Cacciatore having his hand
raised after you were just
dousing this idiot with pasta
sauce. And we're all.
And he's showing all of
us all at once. And I,
I wasn't even in front of it,
looking at it. I just knew.
I heard wrestling
in the newsroom.
So I stopped what I was doing,
dropped the story,
and I walked over, like,

(22:07):
you know what's going on?
Like,
I think is someone wrestling.
And I heard about you guys,
and I was like, holy.
Like, can I do that?
Yeah.
Like this is the reason that
I wrestle with you guys.

Yeah, this, Yeah.
I remember you guys
worked together.
I didn't know he did that,
though. That's funny.

Zeitgeist (22:21):
Yeah, this.
And I do that all the time.
Like, I show everybody.
I had a coworker of mine do the.
Those, like, big,
giant printouts we had for the
first EWA Gallery

French Wonder: This episode, by the way, (22:37):
undefined
is the precursor.
The pasta sauce match.
Is the precursor to the
Greg Dust vignette.

Zeitgeist (22:48):
Oh, really?

French Wonder: And is the precursor to the (22:49):
undefined
Greg to the formation.
Because I just looked it up.
The. So episode eight.
So this is 7.5 episode
is the vignette.

Claudio Caacciatore: Oh. So I think. Yeah, (22:59):
undefined
it's like the last. What is he.

French Wonder: Is the reveal of Greg Dust, (23:03):
undefined
which, like, what's funny,
too is, like,
when we film the stuff,
we film stuff.
Joey put all the episodes
together,
so we film stuff so out
of order. We, like,
we would just wrestle stuff and
Joey would string it together.
So they were like.
Like,
I don't know if the vignette and
Greg Dust were the same

(23:24):
physical day.
They were two separate episodes.

Claudio Caacciatore: I don't think they were the same (23:26):
undefined
day. I mean, they. I think this.
Yeah,
I don't think it was the
same day because.
Yeah this is definitely.
Oh, man, I miss that costume.
Oh, look.
Whatever happened to that?

(23:48):
Do you think that's in the.
The loft in the cabin somewhere?
I don't know,
because
we had that for a while.
There were two of them, too.

These things.

Zeitgeist (24:01):
Oh, wow. Yo, Brian,
you were so strong. Holy.

I am of myself.

French Wonder: I love the way Joey just. (24:08):
undefined
He just flips over like a water.

Claudio Caacciatore: What Do I give him I think I (24:14):
undefined
give him a splash because it's,
like, the perfect suit to do.
Like, it's an airbag.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (24:20):
Yeah.

So I think.
I think I might just go, like,
just.

Zeitgeist (24:25):
Yeah.
You got a frog splash in there,
buddy.

French Wonder: But yeah, the vignette. (24:28):
undefined
The vignette is the
very next episode.

Zeitgeist (24:34):
Well, he's. So he comes out.
This is so.

What is this?

Zeitgeist (24:38):
This is eight.

Claudio Caacciatore: So it might be whatever loses. (24:39):
undefined

French Wonder: And he loses to the dark (24:43):
undefined
outsider. So, like.

Claudio Caacciatore: And a complete match, (24:47):
undefined
ladies and gentlemen,
on his way down the ring.
So it's probably after this,
then he.

Zeitgeist (24:53):
It might be later.

Claudio Caacciatore: It might be later in (24:55):
undefined
the episode, too.

It is. It is.
It's the next episode. So Greg.
First, Greg, the mayor maker,
has to. He loses to.
After losing to Claudio,
he loses to the dark outsider.

Zeitgeist (25:10):
Right.

French Wonder: And then after that is the. (25:11):
undefined
It ends with the vi.

Zeitgeist: Oh here. So he's getting drunk. (25:14):
undefined

French Wonder: Exactly, he's getting drunk. (25:18):
undefined
And the vignette is just.
I talked about it.
We talked about it last night.

Claudio Caacciatore: This is the moment that I always (25:23):
undefined
show people because I always.
I go from. Well,
I just go to episode 90 so
people could watch, like,
the abridged version.
This is my favorite storyline.
This is my characters, like,
arc.
I show people. And, like,
everybody loves the Greg Dust
reveal, too, because.

(25:45):
What's his name?
What is
James's character?
Seer. Right. Like, he, like,
the lead up to it is like,
you know, it is time to reveal.
Let me take the paper
towels away. Great.

French Wonder: Like the savage butterfly (26:03):
undefined
hatching from its cocoon.

Claudio Caacciatore: And then at some point, (26:07):
undefined
it's probably episode day after
this, where you get that promo.
Claudio in the bait.
Because now Greg Dust,
like,
Claudio's got it easy over
Greg the mayor, right.
Just destroyed him in the match,
you know, took him out.

(26:27):
But now, as Greg Dust.
Greg Dust really up
Claudio's psyche.

Zeitgeist (26:34):
Right?

And so it's just.
There's that promo where I,
like, grab my face and my eyes,
like,
nearly popping out of my head,
and it's about him.
It's about Greg, though.
That's the first, like,
insane
promo, I think, from Claudia.

French Wonder: Yeah. And The Underworld really, (26:54):
undefined
like, honestly,
the whole underworld becomes.
Was like a fantastic.
Like it was such a fantastic.

Yeah.
And it was.
I wish we had done more that to
go because I think we did enough
with the Underworld versus
Tsunade Squad,
which is pretty much why the
Stenod Squad formed.
But given the fact that
it required like

(27:27):
pretty much six of the same
people to be there consistently,
we couldn't do it that often.
So we would have like, match,
like little matches,
maybe, maybe a tag match.
And we know our tag matches.

And after this,
Greg just becomes a character.
He's just there.

Yeah. Yeah.
This is like looking at some of.

The other cards.

Zeitgeist (27:53):
Well, and,
and to keep we got a diaper
match here. Great.
But to go from 7.5 all the
way to episode 68,
that is where this picks up.
And, and so for.

Claudio Caacciatore: And there you go. (28:08):
undefined
Like we said that there's
a lot more. It's just.
That is too much.

French Wonder: And this is going to be where (28:15):
undefined
I leave you guys. I'm gonna,
I'm gonna head out. Brian,
lovely to see you. All right.

Claudio Caacciatore: Love to see you too, man. (28:22):
undefined

Zeitgeist (28:23):
Later.
Jumping all the way
forward in time,
you win the championship
and in the 30s,
Battle Mania 2
up to Battle Mania 3.
And we know this now because Joe
has told us and Greg
has told us.
And so now I have the timeline
pretty straight.
But you lose the title to Chaos

(28:44):
because the mayor screws you.

This is. Yeah,
yeah. And that's,
yeah.
Won the title of Battle Mania 3.
It's the only person do it.
Why? Yeah,
the title was vacated. Right.
And that's why it was up.

Zeitgeist (29:02):
Title was vacated. So yeah,
that was the. For the belt.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist: But yeah, you. So you go to 40, (29:07):
undefined
you hold the belt and then you
lose it to Chaos in a match
where you actually walk out with
the mayor by your side
and then in the end
he screws you.
So Chaos takes the belt
and then that.
That's episode like 40 or 40.5

(29:29):
or what the hell ever.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (29:30):
And then we don't get to
this until episode 68.
So do you know, like,
do you remember what you guys
were talking about in relation
to that or what Joe.
Like, was it Joe trying to plan,
you know, Greg Dust coming back,
or was it you guys
wanting to do it?

Claudio Caacciatore: I think it was mostly us. (29:48):
undefined
Pretty sure Greg was not living
in New York State at the time.
That's why it jumped from like
40 to 68 or whatever.

Zeitgeist (29:59):
Right.

Because I,
I'm not 100 certain because Greg
was There often enough when
he was in New York.
And I think I.
I want to say I was more the
driving force at it because
Greg, I think,
is Claudio's muse.
And I never had.
I had cool matches and.

(30:20):
And things.
I think you and I had
a pretty cool.
I wish you and I had more.

Zeitgeist (30:26):
Right.

Claudio Caacciatore: Because I think your character (30:26):
undefined
is the type of character that
pisses off Claudio a lot.
So, you know,
and I think we would have had
some cool because of that.
But I think it again, that,
like,
there was a lot going
on because we had
the. The kids. I forget that it.

Zeitgeist (30:46):
Yeah.

Scott.

Zeitgeist (30:47):
And it's not mucus crying,
Ryan
and, and.
And piggy
and. Yeah,
there were some plot points
along the way.

Right.

Zeitgeist (30:58):
That.

Claudio Caacciatore: But the pumpkin head match (30:58):
undefined
was day of booked.

Zeitgeist (31:02):
Really.

This was not.
We were gonna have something.
And I'm.
Yes,
it was because we did not know
they were going to be because
this is November.
This is shortly after Halloween.
So I think when we're
going up to
the ring,

(31:23):
as we leave in town,
one of us, as usual,
steals something from somebody's
front yard,
which would be a couple
of Jack o'lanterns.
And I think that's where the
idea came from in the car.

Zeitgeist (31:41):
Is it possible.
Is it possible that somebody
literally.
Because I'm the one that
took the hollow,
took the fucking pumpkin.
Was it possible somebody said,
hey,
steal that pumpkin and that's
how that idea came to be?

Yeah, I.
I just know one of us stole
pumpkin or a couple. Yeah.
And I think we.
I think it was a whole pumpkin,
right?

Zeitgeist (32:01):
It was a whole pumpkin.
It was a big old pumpkin.
We carved it up there
at the right.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, up there for this reason. (32:05):
undefined

Zeitgeist (32:07):
Damn.

Claudio Caacciatore: But there wasn't an idea before (32:08):
undefined
that we didn't steal a pumpkin
because we would have just
gotten a pumpkin beforehand,
you know?
So I think it was a spur of the
moment. Things like, oh,
we could use this.
How about we have this match?
And it's similar enough to the
pasta sauce thing where like the
gimmick is pull this thing off,
put it over somebody's
head or whatever,
and it's kind of like

(32:29):
a full circle thing,
which I don't even think we
were thinking at the time.

Zeitgeist (32:34):
That's kind of amazing
because it is.

Claudio Caacciatore: Just kind of ended up that way. (32:36):
undefined
Yeah.

Zeitgeist (32:38):
Yeah. Like it.
It comes across almost like
it's so intentional,
but it's just a long series
of accidents.

Claudio Caacciatore: And I think we. We. (32:47):
undefined
I think. What.
Again this is our.
This is one of my favorite
matches.
If not My favorite for Claudio
and that, like I said,
my other favorite match
is the one where,
because I think it's at the same
time period that Claudio's
crazy, so he wrestles Chaos.
But since Claudio

(33:08):
is so up and crazy
at this point,
Claudio is a match for Chaos.

Zeitgeist (33:15):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: So that I think this (33:16):
undefined
is a probably,
maybe that Chaos match
is before,
a little before this or maybe
after, I don't know,
around the same time,
maybe 2015 or whatever.

Zeitgeist (33:26):
Yeah.

And
yeah,
that was my other favorite one
because it was just fun to see
a crazy Claudio be like even
surprise Chaos in his brutality.

Zeitgeist (33:38):
Right.

Claudio Caacciatore: And his resilience. (33:39):
undefined
And which I think is what
makes that match.
So it still tells a story,
even if it's not a long story.
Even if it's just a insular
one match thing.

Zeitgeist (33:52):
No, I mean,
it was a great fucking match.
And I'm just hitting play on
some of this and, you know,
it's still on the note of just
things coming together
really nicely. Like,
Greg's promo here was perfect,
you know. Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: And again, so on point I had. (34:07):
undefined
And then here's the thing about
the promos that we do is that
typically we probably don't
talk to each other before.
So we're like,
we're gonna wrestle next
Saturday. Right.
Here's who we're wrestling and
what it's about. Right.
We really didn't ever.
Maybe not you, maybe not me,
maybe you did,
but like talk beforehand.

(34:29):
I'm gonna say this.
Here's part of what I want to
say and all that stuff.

Zeitgeist (34:32):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: It was usually again in (34:32):
undefined
the car and stuff.
So I remember this promo
that you're gonna play.

Zeitgeist (34:41):
You want to hear it?

Yeah,
if you want to put the sound up.
Because I didn't have
this planned.
I was literally into that point,
meaningless.
Gonna say something else.
I had a whole promo.

Zeitgeist (35:00):
Oh, really?

Planned.
And then because we hadn't free
plant like communicated before
what I was going to say,
kind of really didn't have as
much power because he already
said what he said.
So I was like, fuck it.
I'm going to be crazy.
He's broken me at this point.

(35:21):
I just thought I scratched.
That promo,
and this is what the.
I'm gonna say.

Zeitgeist (35:28):
Amazing.

It works.
Does not exist.
Greg Dust is meaningless.
Greg Dust does not exist.
I accept.

(35:49):
And I don't even know.
Like,
I'm trying to think of the
reasoning behind saying that.
Yeah,
I think because he's not.
I don't know.

Zeitgeist (35:58):
But it was there.
Was there an idea of you
becoming obsessed with
Greg Dust already,
or did that develop after this?

Claudio Caacciatore: I think I had the idea already (36:04):
undefined
of wanting to become Greg Dust.

Zeitgeist (36:09):
Right.

Claudio Caacciatore: That's where I wanted this (36:10):
undefined
whole thing to end.

Zeitgeist (36:14):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Was to me to just disappear (36:14):
undefined
as Greg does,
you know,
and just
never show up again. But, like,
just.
It didn't work out with
how we

Zeitgeist (36:29):
Yeah. Every.

Claudio Caacciatore: You know, timing. (36:30):
undefined

Zeitgeist (36:31):
Well, and so for.
For anyone listening, you know,
like, you, at that point,
you were about to move, or Greg.
Maybe Greg moved before you did,
right?

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, yeah, this is. Yeah, (36:40):
undefined
I moved to 2020. So, like,
at that, like, I wanted to Like.
But then Greg wasn't around,
so I couldn't really.
It really didn't make sense
for me to just.
What the.

Zeitgeist (37:00):
Yeah, I think.

Yeah. Yeah.

Zeitgeist: I had it on his bodega grabber. (37:02):
undefined

Yeah.

Zeitgeist: When you say you wanted to (37:08):
undefined
become Greg does, like,
what do you mean?

Claudio Caacciatore: I wanted to literally do these, (37:11):
undefined
like,
little vignettes where I want.
I want to do little things
where you would see,
you know,
people would ask me about Greg
Dust or something. Right.
And I'll be like,
I don't know who the that is.
I don't know what you're
talking about.
And then I'll pick up my bag and
then. And I start walking away.

(37:32):
But there's a gold wig dangling
out of my gym bag.
Right.
And somebody will just
make comment like,
what the fuck was that?

Zeitgeist (37:39):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Did you see that? (37:39):
undefined
And then little things like that
until it ended up where,
you know,
Greg Dust was going to make
his return. Right.

Zeitgeist (37:48):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: And there would be like a little (37:49):
undefined
thing where you'd see.
I wanted to get like,
as close as we could
get to a vanity.

Zeitgeist (37:59):
Right.

State. Right.
With a mirror and some lights
and some, you know, like,
cute little gold things and
everything. And. Oh, my God,
it's Greg does. Greg does.
Could we have a moment
of your time?

Zeitgeist (38:12):
Yeah.

And you just.
You just walk up and it's
me putting, like,
gold and black lipstick on over
and over again. Oh, my God,
it's Claudia. Get out of here.
You know,
and then that would be the
last you see of me.
That would be the end
of Claudio's story.
She became his own worst enemy.

Zeitgeist (38:32):
This is something that just
came to you or like you.

No,
it came to me and I talked to
him about it. He was like,
everybody was like, yes,
this needs to be done.
But it just didn't work.
There was just not
enough time and
it didn't work.
It still would have been great.
And what we have is great.
And if this is like the last

(38:56):
kind of dude thing is just
perfect, you know?

Zeitgeist (39:00):
Yeah.
Well,
and it would have been perfect
too because Greg wasn't really
trying to do much Greg Dust
stuff at that point because,
you know, the ring's upstate.
It's not easy to put
on take off makeup.
So he wasn't doing

Yeah, yeah.

Zeitgeist: So that would have been the (39:15):
undefined
perfect way to blow that off.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, well, exactly. (39:17):
undefined
It would have been great.
Like they're the,
like the triumphant return
of Greg Dust.
And he's all in the gold.
Not the purple one.
He's back in the gold.
But then it turns out it's me.
But again, yeah.
From as far as I remember in
this we had a few spots
and stuff planned,

(39:37):
but the whole idea is
like we agreed upon
as far as I remember.

Zeitgeist (39:43):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: It's like, let's take it easy. (39:44):
undefined

Zeitgeist (39:46):
Sure.

Well,
because the excitement when
you get up there.

Zeitgeist (39:52):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: When you get in the ring (39:52):
undefined
sometimes gets the better of
you where you're like,
you think you've planned
out a match. Right.
And you've just blown through
five spots and you're like,
we only have two left.
It's only been five minutes,
you know.

Zeitgeist (40:06):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: So like this whole (40:07):
undefined
thing was like,
this needs to be a slow build
struggle and the match
is that long either.
But it's just we know our
limitations. I know his,
he knows mine.
We know you other's strengths
and stuff. So they said like,
let each other work.
And that's like,
see that's what I'm doing here
now. I'm letting them.

(40:27):
I'm gonna win. Right.
So I need to let him just
do what he's got to do.

Zeitgeist: Well, and for. And for Claudio, (40:33):
undefined
who you mentioned earlier,
is the come from behind kid.
You know?

Exactly.

Zeitgeist (40:41):
You get a hot,
you get a hot start because
you're angry. You're,
you're dealt,
you're telling the story.
But Greg,
Des is still getting the,
the advantage early.

Claudio Caacciatore: And that was. Yeah, (40:49):
undefined
I would like to say that like I
went from Sandman in the early
days to like Tommy Dreamer
and in my later Claudia,
because again, it's like,
it's the same Type of thing.
Just getting your ass kicked
crazier and crazier. Like,
he's my Raven.

Zeitgeist (41:07):
Yeah.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (41:09):
You know,
Hell, yeah.
Well, and. And there's, like,
there's similarities in the
match when you look at it,
but it's so different because
you guys are kind of, like,
moving in coordination pretty
well, whereas this is, like,
clear sauce match.
It was just like, you know,
there's like,
two people in the ring
and shit's happening,

(41:29):
but this is actually a match.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah. And it's not just like, (41:31):
undefined
do something, right? Call a.
Call a move and do something.
To me, it's like,
we. We.
I don't know how many spots or
anything that we planned.
It's just like, we.
We were very calm and
less urgent. Yeah.
You know what I mean?

Zeitgeist (41:47):
Well,
and learning how to slow down
is the hardest thing.
That's the first thing
Greg told me.

Claudio Caacciatore: Just a few seconds there just (41:52):
undefined
on that mat was, like,
cleaner than anything
from that last.

Zeitgeist: Yes. Yeah. Dropping the elbow, (41:57):
undefined
you.
Both of you sold because
you're on the outside.

And again,
I don't know if that bulldog
was planned or if it was.

Zeitgeist (42:07):
Just, you know,
was the finish plan okay?

Claudio Caacciatore: The finish was okay. But again, (42:10):
undefined
that's. That was booked before,
like,
maybe an hour before we
went in the ring.

Zeitgeist (42:17):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: And nobody, I believe, (42:17):
undefined
knew about the end right
until it happened.
And that was only me, him,
and maybe whomever was the ref.

Zeitgeist (42:30):
Right.

Claudio Caacciatore: Knew, and that was it. (42:31):
undefined
And that Because most of
you guys were outside.

Zeitgeist (42:35):
Yeah.

Because this is.
I think this might have been,
like,
the last thing we were
doing or whatever.
Nobody was in the cabin getting
prepared for another thing,
so everybody was watching it.
So we had a crowd, too,
even.

Zeitgeist (42:48):
Which is.
Which is so rare and so
fortunate that we
had it for this.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah. And it was just like, (42:52):
undefined
what if. You know,
it was just one of those things.
I mean, to.
I don't want to reveal it,
but it was like,
one of those things.
What if I did this?
Great.
Yeah.
He was totally down for it.
We. We.
You know, it's not like a.

Zeitgeist (43:11):
Well,
you know what I love about this,
too,
is that you guys have such a cat
and mouse game going on
this whole match.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist: You know, like, it is one thing. (43:16):
undefined

Right.

Zeitgeist (43:18):
Which is nice.
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: That was a great little. (43:22):
undefined

Zeitgeist (43:23):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Set right there. He did, like. (43:24):
undefined
I think he did an eye gouge.

Zeitgeist (43:27):
And then shoved you
off the apron.
Little eye gouge. Little,
you know, leg drop.

Claudio Caacciatore: Ghost line into a leg drop. (43:34):
undefined
Yeah. Now he's going.
Now it's getting exciting.
Now he's going with it.

Zeitgeist (43:40):
Well.
And the other thing that I loved
when we could do it was having
these like second cameras
that have like.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (43:45):
Close ups.
It was because it
changes things.

It really helps.

Zeitgeist: Look at this. Look at your face. (43:50):
undefined
Yeah, look at this.

Claudio Caacciatore: And I knew the camera was there, (43:53):
undefined
so I'm pointing to it,
I'm looking at it.

Zeitgeist: There isn't a happier human on (43:57):
undefined
earth than you right there.

Claudio Caacciatore: You're absolutely right. (44:00):
undefined
There was any chance I could get
to like really like
not hurt him,
but make it look like I did?
There was. Yeah, it worked.
And obviously I like Yeah,
go for it. Let him go.

Zeitgeist (44:14):
Right, right. Yeah. You, you.
You are the,
the king of the in ring.
Like physical taunt,
like a Freedom Mania. When.
When I'm down and James
is choking me out,
you lean over and you're like
telling me you want to quit.
You want to quit, you little.

Claudio Caacciatore: And then I, Then I think I get, (44:28):
undefined
don't I? Yeah. Break it.
Right. I break it up.
Because I actually don't want
you to give up because you
would. Then he would win a man.
Yeah. So just.
But I was just like taunting
you. Just waiting till last.

Zeitgeist (44:42):
Right, right, right.
Which was extra special because
my friend John's like 7 year
old daughter's yelling.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (44:51):
And you're like taunting
her too.

Yeah.
Those are those rare moments
when we did have crowds
were like just,
it's different.

Zeitgeist: And we have these characters (45:02):
undefined
that can play so freaking well.
Like the Golden Nugget at Condom
Awards. You at Freda Mania.
And you know,
you like we're going into the
whole crowd with like
the pronoun.
You're taunting little children
here with the pumpkin.
It's like, you know,
we do have characters that are
kind of like, you know,

(45:23):
crowd ready.

Yeah.
I think none of us are really
that shy or you know,
I mean it's scary to be in front
of that many people.
It wasn't nerve wracking being
at Freedom Mania. Like, holy.
This is it.
There's a real ring in front
of a bunch of people.

Zeitgeist (45:44):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: And it's just scary like to. (45:44):
undefined
And you hold their attention.

Zeitgeist (45:51):
You felt that?
Because I remember
thinking like,
I'm going to pause for a second
just to watch this and
appreciate this.

Claudio Caacciatore: We go back a little bit because (45:57):
undefined
did it get knocked off or did we

Zeitgeist (46:02):
Did I take it the pumpkin?

Yeah,
I think the top sign right now.

Zeitgeist (46:10):
Yeah, I mean, I think I.

Claudio Caacciatore: Mean it really doesn't matter, (46:12):
undefined
but I'm wondering like where.
Yeah, I think it was off.

Zeitgeist (46:17):
Greg had picked it up for
a second somewhere.

Oh,
and then I do the

Zeitgeist (46:21):
Then you do the.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (46:22):
undefined
This is definitely
probably my personal best match.
Just in terms of nothing.
I mean,
it's not a professional
wrestling match, but it's,
there's really no ass botches
or anything like that.

Zeitgeist (46:40):
Well, and it's, it's fun.
Like if you were in a real ring.
Say it for this match and
you didn't have like,
the sagging and the drooping
on different things,
there would have been like,
I think perfect beats
more along the way.

Claudio Caacciatore: Solid. Yeah, exactly. (46:53):
undefined

Zeitgeist (46:54):
Because, like, you know,
I'm real. Like,
as we've done a few in the,
in the Freedom Mania and the
Condiment wars now, like,
you realize, like,
when you actually have
the spring of the,
of the ring and the ropes.

Claudio Caacciatore: It'S easy to walk around. (47:06):
undefined

Zeitgeist (47:07):
It's easy to walk around.
The little things sound better,
you look better.
Move better.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, the bounce. (47:13):
undefined
I don't know what the hell
I'm doing. Talking.
Am I talking to you?

Zeitgeist (47:18):
Talking to the pumpkin.

Claudio Caacciatore: I think I'm talking to it. (47:19):
undefined
You kissed it and they cheer it.

Zeitgeist (47:22):
Yeah, you kissed it,
you cheers it.
And then you made a.
By the way,
I gotta go back because like I
was telling Greg last night,
I never.
I don't think I appreciated,
like one of the best parts of
this is the sound Greg makes.
Oh, my God. Oh, my.
Oh my God. Ladies and gentlemen.

(47:44):
Oh, my God. He had a bird.
The pumpkin.
The pumpkin is on crack.
The pumpkin is on. And you guys,
like this,
you got the pumpkin seeds
falling out of the pumpkin.
Now that the pumpkin is on his.

Claudio Caacciatore: Head, the ref's gotta stop it. (47:57):
undefined
Like it's such a. Yeah, it's.
There's still.
But you could see like how
agitated I am. It's.

Zeitgeist (48:06):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Still kind of not enough (48:06):
undefined
for Claudio.

Zeitgeist: Right, right. Exactly. Exactly. (48:09):
undefined

Claudio Caacciatore: Like, I'm still going after him. (48:11):
undefined
Like it wasn't satisfying
enough.
Because to win the match
isn't to win for him.

Zeitgeist (48:17):
Right.

It's to. I need to.
Yeah, I need to.
I never thought, like,
I need to kill this guy.
Right.
That's why it would have been
sort of the ultimate revenge
to become him.
Because it's like I am you now.
You no longer exist, you know?
Right. It's. It's.
It's like that silly

(48:39):
ending to a movie,
you know?

Zeitgeist (48:42):
Yeah.
The silly ending to a movie
where you put the top of the
pumpkin on your head,
you breathe deep.
Like it's.
It's something akin to like
taking somebody's girl. Right.
You know, it's like you're.
You're in that person's place
now. But for you.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (48:58):
It's taken their actual
own identity.

Yeah. I just.
I really wish I could have
done that. Like,
just because it would have been
the ultimate. Like Claudio.
Claudio one and lost at the same
time. Like, because. Great.
Like in terms of on camera
story, like,
what. Where's the mayor?
Who is Greg Dust? You know,
like, kind of like, I think.

(49:23):
Did he wrestle?

Zeitgeist (49:26):
You know, after this,
he probably.
Like we did a match where the
night Greg was moving
or like whatever.
Like the last time we were up at
the ring and Greg was moving,
it was cold ass winter.
And we did get into the ring
and actually I dropped.
As a zeitgeist,
I dropped the belt to Greg,
the mayor.

(49:47):
But he was so high and drunk,
he couldn't really
like function.
So it was like a 10 second,
like he like, threw a punch,
I fell down, like,
poke of doom style.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist: And he pins me and becomes (50:00):
undefined
the champion.
And I think that might have been
the next and last time
he was in the ring.

Claudio Caacciatore: But is that canon? (50:09):
undefined

Zeitgeist (50:11):
Well,
so what we did was because
it was like.
Because it wasn't really
a match. Yeah.
Joe and I were like, okay, like,
what do we do with it?
And, like,
Joe was just gonna use it,
but I suggested
what if it was just like a bad
dream the zeitgeist had
that he lost the belt

(50:35):
seconds.

Claudio Caacciatore: It just makes. Yeah, (50:35):
undefined
it makes more sense.

Zeitgeist (50:39):
And it was like, I, Like I did.
I filmed a vignette of myself,
like, waking up in, like,
a barren bedroom because we had,
like,
this middle room because we were
between roommates in my old
apartment with John.
So it was like an empty room
that had brick and the zeitgeist
was, like, sleeping in it, like,
with no bed, no nothing.

(50:59):
Just, like, holding a knife.
Sleeping and wakes up, like,
trying to, like, stab somebody.

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, that. Which makes. Again, (51:06):
undefined
see, it's like that. That's why,
like, when you ask, like,
was that planned or whatever,
it was like, no, we had a thing,
and then that thing turned into
this thing because it either
didn't turn out the way we
had planned or something,
or this person is no longer

(51:27):
going to be here.
So why would they have
a championship?
So we need to do something with
this footage that we have.
And you just. Again,
that's where I think most of
our best ideas come from.
If we did not steal a pumpkin,
this would not exist.

Zeitgeist (51:43):
That's.

Claudio Caacciatore: But the idea came from the (51:44):
undefined
theft of a pumpkin.
So I'm sorry to whomever's
pumpkin we stole. But you, You.
You helped us a lot.

Zeitgeist (51:54):
You. You fed a generation.

Claudio Caacciatore: Our degeneracy turned into gold. (51:56):
undefined

Zeitgeist (51:59):
Well,
and as Greg put it it was
already after Halloween. The.
The pumpkin was probably rotting
and going to be thrown out soon
anyway, so we did him a favor.
We were the cleanup crew.

Yeah.

Zeitgeist (52:11):
No, man. But like, the pasta,
like I said before,
the pasta sauce matches.
The reason I started wrestling
with you guys,
this just felt like such an
amazing part of that.
That era of ewa.

Right.
A lot of us could.

Zeitgeist (52:28):
A shining example.

Yeah.
And I think that's where we
shine too, is when we.
We have those,
we're just pushed into a corner
that this is what we have to
work with. And then we.
There's so many storylines that
are just from convenience of
who's available and what weapons
we have available or something.
Like that and how much time we

(52:51):
have, how much daylight we have.

Zeitgeist (52:53):
Right.

Claudio Caacciatore: All those little things add up (52:54):
undefined
to, like, okay, what about.
What if we do this?
And.

Zeitgeist (52:58):
Right.

Claudio Caacciatore: But that one, I wanted to be, (52:59):
undefined
like, the Greg Dust thing.
I wanted to be little things
like that where even in certain
moments where like,
there were strands of the wig
while I was doing a promo
hanging from my head and, like,
so, like, you know, thus,
or whoever's interviewing
me or who,
or Dusty street is like,
you got something there. And,

(53:20):
you know, like, wait a minute.
What was it he. Like,
don't worry about it.

Zeitgeist (53:23):
That's right. The.

Claudio Caacciatore: Did you want to say to me (53:24):
undefined
what you. You know?

Zeitgeist (53:26):
Well, no, I mean,
and these are the things that
made it so fun to be up there.
Like,
the wrestling is obviously
great, but, like,
it's all this other stuff.
Right. You know, the,
like the promos, the vignettes,
like,
the little ways that
you get to the.

Claudio Caacciatore: To the match, it's the more fun. (53:38):
undefined

Zeitgeist (53:41):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Because that's where, like, (53:41):
undefined
you get
you. We're all.
I think we could all be amazed
by how each one of us how funny
and creative we are.
I'm always surprised that, like,
the. That Joe will do.

Zeitgeist (53:59):
Yeah.

Like, with just.
Just with the Golden Nugget,
you know, and again,
I think a lot of that maybe
has been planned ahead,
but there's certain.
Like with the crayons
and with the
You know,
counting skittles or whatever
the hell he was.

Zeitgeist: Counting skittles. Yeah. Yeah. (54:14):
undefined

Like,
that is some of the funniest.
And again, that's just.
We have crayon costumes.

Zeitgeist (54:23):
The crayon.
The crayon idea came out of a
car ride up to. To Gary's.
Right?

Claudio Caacciatore: Yeah, that's. I. I think again, (54:28):
undefined
I think that that vignette
with the. The candy,
was it really where the.

Zeitgeist (54:37):
Crayons are, like,
paying up to the. To the.
To the boss. The Black Nuggets.
Yeah, to the Black.

Claudio Caacciatore: Probably around post Halloween. (54:42):
undefined

Zeitgeist (54:45):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The candy corn.

Claudio Caacciatore: We just have candy left over. (54:48):
undefined
Let's bring that. Yeah.
But this is the whole.
The whole thing, too, with the.
Him being the black crayon
was just amazing.

Zeitgeist (55:00):
Oh, my God.

Is outstanding.

Zeitgeist (55:02):
The reveal,
the. The. The boas.
The evolution of it.

Yeah.
And it all feeds off of
all his favorite wrestlers.
Right. And I don't even think.
Sometimes I don't think.
Like I said,
watching the evolution of
Claudio from that first
match to this match,
I could see him go from Sandman
to Tommy Dreamer.
I never thought about it.
It wasn't something in my brain,

(55:28):
like,
I'm gonna be like the Sandman.
It's just like,
I grew up loving
real ECW from, like, 95 to 2001.
I was 13 when I first saw ECW,
so it's imprinted on me.
So everything that I do in the
ring is just part of that,
because that's, like,
at the time,
that's when I was like,

(55:50):
I'm absorbing.

Zeitgeist (55:51):
Right.

That.
And it's just stuck with me.
And there's no intent behind all
that. It's just like, Claudio's.
This makes sense.

Zeitgeist (56:00):
Yeah. Well,
and a beer can coming out of a
pumpkin that you smash
over somebody's head.
And a rivalry is the most, like.

Claudio Caacciatore: ECW moment going back to (56:06):
undefined
the Sandman. Right.

Zeitgeist (56:10):
That's 100.
It

Claudio Caacciatore: There's so much. Like you said, (56:12):
undefined
we went from, what,
episode seven to 68.

Zeitgeist (56:16):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: In less than a decade. (56:16):
undefined

Zeitgeist (56:18):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: Between these two matches. (56:19):
undefined
And this went on for
another five,
six years at this point,
you know, or more.

Zeitgeist (56:29):
It's crazy. I mean,
when I joined you guys,
you guys had kind of a big ish
roster and actually producing 10
episodes a year. Like, that's.
That's.

Claudio Caacciatore: Well, that's why we could. (56:40):
undefined
Because when we were
in Rye Brook,
we had so many people.

Zeitgeist (56:47):
Yeah.

Claudio Caacciatore: It was every. I mean, like, (56:48):
undefined
Lulo was.
He came up State a couple times,
and, like, gradually,
people dropped out because it's
not their thing. Right.
They were just there,
and they were having fun.
Lulu lived with them I believe.
Did he live there?
I don't remember.
I don't remember. But if.
If not, I mean,
it was in Rybrook.

(57:09):
It was in Westchester,
and we all lived within, like,
five miles of that place,
so we could all get
there within.

Zeitgeist (57:16):
No, man,
I'm jealous of that time and not
being around back then because,
man, that just.

You were doing.
So you never were in
the Rybrook ring?

Zeitgeist (57:25):
No, I never.
I didn't know you guys yet.

I thought you.
We knew you at that point.
I was gonna ask you that.

Zeitgeist (57:31):
It was like, Greg like,
is the one that reminds me of,
like, this, I guess.
I think when I joined you guys,
you guys or Joe and them had
literally just moved the
ring upstate. Like,
it was the first year you guys
were upstate, which is.

Claudio Caacciatore: Just missed it a long time. (57:47):
undefined
That was probably 2013, 2014.

Zeitgeist (57:52):
Yeah. Yep.

Claudio Caacciatore: I think there might have been a (57:54):
undefined
year in between Rybrook and
the bringing.

Zeitgeist: Up State back when Greg was (58:00):
undefined
covering money earned
in Mount Vernon.
But, no, this has been fun, man.
I think.
Yeah this is definitely, like,
one of my.
My favorite rivalries.
Just because, like,
it's just so fucking, like,
it just puts a smile
on your face.

Claudio Caacciatore: All right, brother. (58:20):
undefined

Zeitgeist (58:21):
All right, dude.

Claudio Caacciatore: You have a good one. (58:22):
undefined
Been a pleasure.

Zeitgeist (58:27):
Nightmare.

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EP04: Claudio’s Masterpiece (Rivals Series)

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