Wrestling

The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts- Wrestling Observer Live 

Tom Lynch The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello everyone and welcome to the this weeks edition of The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts where we look at different wrestling podcasts you may have never heard of , you may be overlooking or maybe an episode of a wrestling podcast you should go out of your way to listen to. This week on the docket I’m going to talk to you about Wrestling Observer Live. Hosted by F4Wonline.com’s Bryan Alvarez & Mike Sempervive, Wrestling Observer Live airs Sunday thru Friday across the sports byline USA networks as well on Sirius Satellite Radio. Without any further ado lets get into some of the highlights of the show.

Highlights

1) Daily Wrestling Radio- As a lifelong wrestling fan I’ve always dreamed of a time where I could head home after a long day of work and turn on the radio to hear some wrestling radio. Well one of things I love about WOL is that it airs Monday thru Friday at 3PM EST. The show is also easy to find replays of either on F4WOnline.com or by finding a replay schedule on sports byline USA’s website. I personally love to listen to WOL on the way home from work as its a great source to find out all of the up to the minute news in a concise fashion.   Being that it’s only an hour each day, It’s the perfect way to get my fill of all of the wrestling and MMA news of the day quickly. Also don’t forget about the Sunday show, which airs at 6PM EST for two hours each week. The 2 hours on Sunday allow for the show to really go in any direction and it’s often my favorite show of the week. In particular, these two hour shows often end up making for a great pre show to the pay per view on Sundays when there’s one. For an example, just last night they did their own commentary to the Meta Powers/Ascension pre show tag match prior to the payback show.

2) The Hosts- Bryan & MIke are both incredibly knowledgable in both wrestling and MMA. Bryan Alarez in particular not only has been covering the world of pro wrestling for over 20 years but used to wrestle in his own right. This, to me sets him apart from other wrestling journalists because he can offer that in ring perspective, and that’s meant as more praise for Bryan than a knock on anyone else. That said, while the guys will offer there opinion in an entertaining fashion, you know that the insight you hear on Wrestling Observer Live can be trusted.

3) The Guests–  One of the real highlights of Wrestling Observer Live is that you never know who’s going to show up for a guest appearance on the show.  Anyone from Chris Jericho to Rey Mysterio to Ethan Carter III has been on WOL recently and this really makes the show can’t miss.  Guests are usually on the show on Tuesdays and Thursdays and what’s cool is that if you subscribe to f4wonline.com then you can usually catch a longer interview with Bryan and the guests, though the free interviews on Observer Live are also great listens.  What’s great about the guests is that they are usually timely so that when a guest is on they’re also their to promote something that may otherwise go unnoticed by the wrestling fan.  For example, last week JTG was on to promote his book “Damn Why Did I Write This Book?”  which I knew nothing about prior to Observer Live but picked it up after his appearance and found it quite enjoyable.  Other appearances included Court Bauer & Wale prior to Walemania as a part of Wrestlemania week as well as Jay Briscoe prior to a Ring of Honor pay per view.

Closing Thoughts

I think Wrestling Observer Live is definitely worth going out of your way to listen to.  While the hosts may be critical, I feel that they come off fair as opposed to many in the wrestling media that are often negative for the sake of being negative.  I also feel that the guys do a great job in mixing in some mixed martial arts chatter, but not enough to overwhelm the wrestling fan listening.  If anything Wrestling Observer Live and the coverage that they do on MMA makes me more of a fan of UFC and keeps me up to date on important issues going in the sport. That said, on shows where a big wrestling show is coming up, you will rarely hear any MMA talk on the show and vice versa on the shows prior to a big UFC show so it’s a good mix.  In closing one other really cool thing about WOL is that because it’s also a radio show, fans are given the opportunity to call in towards the end of the show provided that they stay on topic. The phone lines remain open a good amount longer on the Sunday shows where really nothing is off limits.   Thus, go out and listen to wrestling observer live which you can find streaming live here  http://sportsbyline.com/wrestling-observer-live/ or you can subscribe to the wrestling observer website at f4wonline.com.  If you check out the show I would love to hear some of your feedback and if you have any other suggestions for future editions of the spotlight on wrestling podcasts feel free to leave those as well as I’m always looking for more content.

If you didn’t get a chance you can check out my spotlight on wrestling podcasts from last week which focused on the Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast and you can view that right here https://thedailyspotlight.com/2015/05/09/the-spotlight-on-wrestling-podcasts-the-lapsed-fan/.  Thanks for all of your support, now go listen to some podcasts!

The Spotlight On The WWE Network- 24: Roman Reigns Never alone

Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , ,

This past Monday night WWE launched the latest “24” Mini documentary following Roman Reigns on his road to Wrestlemania on the WWE Network.  First off, let me start off by saying how great it is that the WWE Network is producing more original programming for the Network.  I returned from my vacation Monday and while there I tried to keep up.  I watched Extreme Rules (How cool is that by the way? I watched a pay per view from my phone from my hotel room the same night as the show.  I used to have until the end of my vacation in order to catch the show that I missed but with the network this isn’t the case) and caught some of Jerry Springer’s “Too Hot For TV” but once the wedding craziness took over (my best friend got married and I was his best man) and then my family and I embarked on 3 days at Disney World and 2 days at Daytona Beach, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with all of the new content.  Honestly, I was pleased with this. I want the WWE Network to have so much new programming that it’s hard to keep up with everything.  I would love to see a time when the WWE Network has three hours of original programming each night during the primetime hours like most other networks & I think they’re moving in that direction.

As for the 24 series, it is quickly becoming my favorite series on the Network.  Being that I went to Wrestlemania this year I was intrigued to see how Roman Reigns’ Road to Wrestlemania unfolded from a behind the scenes perspective.  I can tell you now that you should go out of your way to watch this piece.  The piece, at only 33 minutes long, flies right by and even leaves a bit more to be desired.  I think the piece did a good job in showing the man behind Roman Reigns.  I feel like if this type of special were to be released while Reigns was recovering from his injury at the end of last year, then people may have gotten a bit more behind him in going for the title at Wrestlemania.    Let’s get into some of the highlights and lowlights of the piece.

Highlights

1) The Mania of Wrestlemania–  I always love to see the crazy schedules that the WWE superstars go through during Wresltemania week.  Does it look hectic?  Of course it does, but it also looks like such a good time and all of that is featured in this piece.  Reigns is followed going through all of his different media appearances, the hall of fame, his autographs signings and more.  They even show some footage from the Wrestlemania dress rehearsal, as you see Triple H preparing for his entrance.  It’s all really cool material that amplifies how big time Wrestlemania is.

2) I Can I Will- I enjoyed the parts of the piece that focused on Roman Reigns interacting with the fans as he seemed like a guy that you’d want to meet at a signing.  I particularly enjoyed the part where he was talking about being a role model and how he was embracing the role.  I’ve always admired Tim Tebow for the same thing as Reigns explains that he wants to be a role model despite the reputation he knows he has to live up to in being one.   Having kids then explain how the “I Can, I Will” catchphrase inspired them was a great tie in and showed how Reigns was already becoming a role model to many.

3) The Family Man–  All you hear about the famous Samoan wrestling family is how close they are and here you really got to see it.  It was nice to see how much support Reigns gets from his family especially when they showed his mother watching from the rafters at WrestleMania.  I enjoyed the scene which featured his family sitting at the table on the deck relaxing and reminiscing about the past.  Then the stuff with Reigns and his wife and daughter tugged at the viewer’s heart strings to show that he is a pretty good guy and a family man in every essence of the word.

4) “Everyone Stays At The Fairmount”-  Anyone who went to Wrestlemania knows that the Fairmount was one of the busiest places in San Jose that weekend as fans quickly found out that this was the WWE hotel.  If you were able to get into the building, you would have enjoyed the WWE replica chocolate belt but many fans seemed to enjoy waiting outside for a glimpse of their favorite superstars.  I really enjoyed the piece on the Fairmount as it showed that the building had history and gave a nice tour.  One of the first things I remember from Wrestlemania week was when Roman Reigns & Hulk Hogan took to the balcony of the Fairmount to greet the fans, really nice stuff.

Lowlights

Again this was a great piece that flew by and that I would really suggest checking out, I don’t think there were any clear lowlights of the film.  That said, there were a few things that I would have personally changed.  For one, I don’t think it was necessary to show as much of the main event in the documentary.  The match was great but that’s what the show itself was for.  Instead, if they are married to the 33 minute running time, I would have liked to see a lot more of the crowd reactions and maybe some of the wrestler reactions instead.  Where I was seated, on the floor towards the entrance ramp, there were many WWE superstars, NXT superstars and divas enjoying the main event live in person.  I would have loved to see some of those talents’ reactions as it would have added to importance of the match.  I would also have loved to see some of the crowd reactions and hear some of their reactions left in rather than the music.  Being a part of that crowd, I can tell you it was one of the best live crowds I’ve ever seen and the fans passion enhanced the match that much more.  Yes, Reigns was booed a good amount during the match but that’s ok as they established that some of the fans booed him at the Rumble and he’s just going to work hard to win them over.  I believe that Reigns is starting to win people over and pieces like this will only help his cause.  Imagine the story of Reigns getting booed out of the building during Wrestlemania 31 and then coming back to win the title at Wrestlemania 32 to much fanfare and adjulation.

Well that is going to do it for me, another strong documentary for the WWE Network.  Feel free to let me know what you think.

The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts- 4/13 to 4/17 

Tom Lynch The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been listening to wrestling podcasts now for quite some time.  If you’re going to get into where it all started it was probably back in 2003 when I was in Orlando, Florida visiting my grandfather. My grandfather  had fallen ill and unfortunately passed away while we were in town visiting him for about a month.  During this period of time, I noticed a show on Orlando’s 740 the team called Between The Ropes which was a local weekly radio show dedicated to professional wrestling.  I immediately jumped on my computer and saw that BTR had a website and had a list of all of their past episodes.  I was instantly hooked! This was way before the days of podcasts and BTR was a great show. Hosts Fritz, Dickerman & Vito ( and sometimes D’Lo Brown) got me through a tough time. The show was a two hour long program that broke all the news of wrestling & mma. During the second hour they were usually an interview featuring WWE superstars, independent wrestlers or members of the wrestling media. BTR introduced me to a whole new side of the wrestling industry, it was no longer just about Raw & Smackdown, rather there was a whole community out there.   Of course, this probably doesn’t fully count as a podcast because it was a radio show but I do still enjoy much of BTR host, Brian Fritz’s stuff.  If we’re going strictly podcating, I’d say it started in 2010 when I first started listening to Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling.  I was seeing a girl who lived in Woodbridge, New Jersey and so I would travel from Queens, NY two to three times per week and spent four-six hours in the car each time. With Cabana always being one of my favorite wrestlers,  I instantly became hooked to his podcast because it really gave an inside perspective to the world of independent wrestling and the conversations were always so fun.  Over the past two years wrestling podcasts have exploded.  I never would have thought we’d hear from Chris Jericho & Stone Cold Steve Austin as podcast hosts each week. Wrestling podcasts continue to grow at such a clip it’s both exciting and intimidating.  With this column I’m going to point out three podcasts from last week that you should go out of your way to listen to and, if applicable, a podcast or two that you could skip this week. My goal here is not only to focus on the more known wrestling podcasts but also to maybe find a podcast or two for you that you may not know about. So, without any further ado, let’s get into three highlights from last week.

Highlights:
1)  In The Pit With Piper with Ronda Rousey- 4/13/2015-  Show of hands who knew Rowdy Roddy Piper had a podcast every week?  It’s ok if you didn’t as for whatever reason Roddy’s podcast hasn’t caught on as much as the other ones have, at least not right away.  Truth be told, Roddy’s podcast has really started to get better and this past week’s podcast was my favorite thus far.  Ronda Rousey is absolute pleasure to listen to and you can tell the mutual admiration that both Rowdy ones have for one another.  What I found interesting was that Piper actually gave the Rowdy moniker to Rousey.  The conversation also touches on Ronda’s future with the WWE which should provide some optimism to wrestling fans around the world.  A fun listen all around and you can find Roddy’s podcast every Monday at podcastone.com
2) The Ross Report with Shawn Michaels- 4/14/2015-  I know that Shawn has really made the podcast rounds lately as he promotes his new book and it gets to a point of how much you can listen to one guy but I really like his appearance on The Ross Report.  Ross was really in his element asking Shawn questions you don’t hear during every interview.  In particular, Ross gets into shawn’s in ring return while training talents prior to his return to the WWE as well as what plans would have been had Shawn stuck around post Wrestlemania 14.  Fun listen and the Ross Report can be found Tuesday evenings on podcastone.com
3) The Human Podcast Machine with Todd Grisham- 4/14/2015– If there’s one podcast I’m really enjoying, it’s The Human Podcast Machine with Taz.  Taz has such a knack for this podcasting world and makes for a great host.  His shows are always pretty light hearted and good for a laugh.  His episode with former WWE play by play man, and current ESPN anchor, Todd Grisham is actually one of his best.  Grisham may have come across on camera as a little bland but he’s actually got a great personality and hearing the two catch up was a pleasure to listen to.
Lowlights:
1) Talk Is Jericho with Team Tiger Awesome- 4/15/2015-  I usually love Chris’ show and I’m sure his interview with William Regal is great but Team Tiger Awesome didn’t do much for me.  If you’re thinking it’s because they aren’t wrestlers, that isn’t the case as I’ve enjoyed countless episodes of TIJ with his non wrestling guests, this one just seemed a little too much self promotion.  Jericho is the king of self promotion and does it so well that I got his book and new Fozzy record based on what I heard on TIJ!  That said I would have preferred this interview be a sub interview to go along with a bigger interview guest as I didn’t think over 90 minutes on Jericho’s new Comdedy Central gig was necessary.
That’s going to do it for this week, I’ll be back next Monday with my picks from this past week.  Until then, go out there and listen to some podcasts!

The Spotlight On WWE Raw Albany- 4/20/2015

Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello Everyone and welcome to the spotlight on WWE Raw where every Tuesday we’ll have your highights and lowlights from the previous night’s episode.  Now I shoud make it clear that highlights include anything that I personally enjoyed and that I feel like you should go out of your way to see.  Lowlights, on the other hand, can either be something on the show that didn’t work for me whether it be a bad match or bad booking, something you won’t miss much of if you decided to skip that portion of show or maybe just something that all around left an overall bad feeling for whatever the reason.  With that out of the way let’s get into Raw.

The highlights 

1) RKO Outta Nowhere- I loved the use of Randy Orton last night as I felt that by delviering a promise in the beginning of the show that Rany would RKO everyone before finally getting to Rollins, then hitting people with an RKO throughout the course of the night before finally delivering an RKO to Rollins at the end of the night was all great.  It gave fans tuning in at 8 pm that hook, then kept them engaged throughout the show wondering where he would show up next (the highlight for me being catering) and then delivering that payoff at the end of the show was a great way to lay out Raw and get everyone ready for Extreme Rules on Sunday.

2) The Big Red Machine–  I really enjoyed the Kane stuff last night especially his passionate promo against Seth Rollins.  I felt this was the best thing Kane has done since he feuded with Bray Wyatt.  Say what you will about Kane but it seems like the people really want to see him in a babyface role.  I even thought his match with Cena was pretty good and I like that Cena acted very serious for his match with Kane as he had with every US title open challenge.  I’m just hoping like anything that this is not some kind of Authority setup because we just went through that with Rollins a weeks before Wrestlemania.

3) Ambrose and Harper– These guys are just a joy to watch and they remind me to the days of the hardcore division that has been missing from WWE over the last several years.  Ambrose and Harper are both so good and fearless in some of the things they do.  I liked that they brawled around the arena and appreciate the sacrifices both of them take seemingly every time out. 

The Lowlights

1) The Battle For “The Miz”- I’m not sure what I was expecting but it was more than this. Miz & Mizdow had been, what I thought, a great feud with tons of momentum behind them following their breakup at the Royal Rumble. Fast forward just a little more than three weeks & their first blow off match doesn’t even happen on a pay per view and is given just a little more than five minutes here. The ending was also predictable as I don’t think anyone believed Summer Rae was going to be featured against her Marine 4 co star. Then in the end the Miz (who I really feel can be a main event heel for WWE) became a bit player in Randy Orton’s onslaught & did quite possibly the silliest face after taking an RKO. In the end, I just hope these two don’t get lost in the shuffle now that their feud is done, especially Sandow who I thought was on the verge of something good. 

2) Bo Dallas- I liked his promo, I always have, but to me it’s just a shame that their isn’t more to be done with Bo Dallas. I’m in no way suggesting he should have gotten one over on Roman Reigns but to me there’s more to Bo than a comedy heel. Prior to NXT’s rise on the Network, Dallas was a focal point of the brand and I hope he gets a little more juice moving forward. It’s especially sad that while Sheamus got months of build for his return, that Dallas got nothing at all. He’s young, he’s great on the mic & solid in the ring. I hope WWE notices all of this as well. 

3) “Kiss Me Arse”- Sheamus has been on fire since his return to the company as a badass heel. Likewise, Dolph Ziggler has also looked like a cranked up a notch star since the two have been feuding over the last several weeks. I’m sure that the two of them will have a great match on Sunday but that “Kiss Me Arse” stipulation is rubbing me the wrong way. That is a stipulation that should be reserved for the likes of Santino Marella or Henry Godwin, not two former world champions. 

That’s going to do it for me this week but before I go I would like to wish a speedy recovery to Daniel Bryan. I hope that the injury is minor as I would hate to see Bryan go through anymore turmoil in his life.