Well folks, we're in for a delightful night of gentlemanly pugilism as we turn our sights on an exciting exhibition matchup between two champions! Competing under Admiral-Lord Mountevans with 8 five minute rounds and two falls to a finish... In one corner, Johnny Saint, the Lightweight Wrestling Champion of the World - and across him Steve Grey, your British Lightweight Champion.
Which of these two technical masters will emerge victorious this evening on World of Sport?
And of course, somersaulting into the studio to join your hosts is special guest Steven Screws!
[Johnny Saint vs Steve Grey, February 2nd 1980, Joint Promotions/World of Sport]
It is night 4 of the 23rd G1 Climax. 5th match on the card.
In one corner: The Stone Pitbull. The other: The Wrestler. Each man with a reputation. Each man with something to prove.
This instant classic only lasts 12:17 seconds bell to bell, but when it's over you'd think these men had wrestled for an hour.
8 years later, does the shortest match to to ever earn five stars from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter still hold up? Or does it come up...er, short?
Huge thanks to our guest Nico Bartoli! (Nothing Box)
[Tomohiro Ishii vs Katsuyori Shibata, NJPW G1 Climax 23 Night 4, August 4 2013]
Frank, Chuck and Joaquin (yes, Joaquin is back on WTE once again) break down all of the action from this year's Double or Nothing PPV. Did AEW deliver a solid four hours of wrestling action or did the show fizzle out like so many botched exploding rings?
Come for the takes, stay for the references to the classic 2009 Michael C. Hall and Gerard Butler vehicle "Gamer"
Send in your feedback @TIAPOD on twitter or at thisisawesomepod@gmail.com
Open the forbidden door! It's an inter-promotional dream match!
Christian, perennial WWE glass-ceiling cleaner, will attempt to reclaim the World Championship that was taken from him by the tattooed blue chipper Randall Orton. Will Christian finally be able to win the big one (via pinfall)? Or will he easy into his pending Goto-status like a warm bath?
Joining your wrestle-boys on today's episode to help apply some soft science is Ryan Lapine!
[Randy Orton vs Christian, WWE Over the Limit 2011, May 22 2011]
Another exciting edition of the TIA vamping series - this time Frank and Chuck sit down and run through the entire AEW Blood and Guts card from May 5, 2021.
Your boys are talking the highs and lows of the entire evening - the lit live crowd, a manic Miro promo, gratuitous amounts of crimson, a laconic opening tag match AND MORE.
Oh and somebody fell off of a cage. You may or may not have been whelmed. Enjoy the show!
Let us know what you think of Blood and Guts @TIAPOD on twitter.
Check out everything TIA at thisisawesomepod.com
Back to the impact zone we go - this time to watch the exciting conclusion to what many have argued is the greatest "best of" series in tag team wrestling. It's best 2 out of 3 falls to put a cap on a best of five series for the belts.
On one side, the beer-guzzling, wet-haired roughnecks known as Beer Money, Inc. - former champions and current challengers looking to cement their legacy by proving that their opponents' title win was as fluke.
And on the other, The Motor City Machine Guns - proudly rocking incredibly early-aughts haircuts and attire, who are looking to prove that they have truly arrived as the top team in TNA -- by retaining their Championships via an undisputed victory in this final match in the series against their heated rivals.
Joining the panel this time to break down the action is returning friend of the show Jason Gibbs!
[Beer Money, Inc vs The Motor City Machine Guns, TNA Impact!: The Whole F'n Show, August 12 2010
A very special episode of Watching the Elite - Frank and Chuck happened to watch BOTH nights of WrestleMania 2021 and decided to have a chat about it. Done in the format usually applied to all things AEW, your boys go through each match, discuss the highs and lows of a (mostly) solid two nights of action and get into the nitty gritty of everyone's favor part of this year's mania: the weather-related vamping!
Forged in the furnace that was the CHIKARA gauntlet, Sara Del Rey vs Kana (now Asuka) will now be put through the STAR rating grinder. Despite missing both a third rope and a hot program to raise the stakes, these two supremely talented wrestlers put on a match that CHIKARA proudly points to as it's first all-female main event.
But despite all of that, can the match overcome some particularly indie-rific atmosphere as well as the inherent challenges in being what amounts to an exhibition match to be counted among the greatest of all time? Listen and find out!
Joining the regular team of pseudo-scientists in the lab for this episode is Alex Keller!
[Sara Del Rey vs Kana, CHIKARA Klunk in Love, October 8 2011]
It's the return of the Gauntlet episode! For the season 9 edition your intrepid hosts are sifting through FIVE audience suggested matches from the now-defunct promotion: Chikara.
Joaquin, Chuck and Frank watch and discuss each match, putting them into a weighted ranking with the match that comes out on top becoming the subject for the next episode of TIA!
The Matches entering the gauntlet are:
1. Chris Hero vs Mike Quackenbush, Aniversario?, May 26 2007
2. Claudio Castagnoli vs Brodie Lee, Style and Substance, September 7 2008
3. Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw, Hiding in Plain Sight, September 13 2009
4. Madison Eagles vs. Daizee Haze, Chaos In The Sea Of Lost Souls, January 23 2011
5. Sara Del Rey vs Kana, Klunk in Love, October 8 2011
We could open an In n Out with this many potatoes!
This episode, for AJW's prestigious Red Belt, comes with a pretty big content warning. Despite there being zero thumbtacks and not an an inch of barb-wire there is still a significant amount the juice - so word of warning for our listeners who choose to become viewers.
Aja Kong, the Ace of AJW defends against the stoic Yumiko Hotta in a classic Joshi clash that can be summed up with a single inspired word: Violent.
Assisting in applying soft science to this fake fight is Ryan Saucier who joins the prestigious TIA three-timers club.
[Aja Kong vs Yumiko Hotta, AJW Ota Ward Champion Legend, January 24 1994]
The journey through season 9 begins with yet another first for TIA as we examine one of the most compelling matches in the short but remarkable history of WWE United Kingdom Championship matches.
Part promo for NXT UK, part mid card show-stealing performance, this contest between Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate was an instant classic in 2017. But has this matchup aged like a fine wine, or like a warm English-style Bitter (unless those also get better with age? In which case...the opposite)?
We are joined in the virtual studio by the incomparable Kahlief Adams! (@kahjahkins @spawnonme)
[Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate, NXT TakeOver: Chicago, May 20 2017]
It's the final off-season episode before we fire up season 9 and Joaquin has donned his blazer, mustache and game-master cap as he hosts TIA's first ever edition of Pro Wrestling Jeopardy! It's just like normal Jeopardy!, only all the questions are about wrestling and consumption of croix is highly encouraged.
Joining Chuck and Frank as players this week is Muscle Temple alum Jimmy Chang! (@Jimmythechang)
On this week's episode, Joaquin, Frank and Chuck don their WTE thinking caps and get to the business of Talkin' Bout AEW. Your boys look back at the year that was 2020 for the upstart promotion and then speculate on what is yet to come.
Discussion points involve building new stars, the state of the women's division and what each title picture looks like in 2021.
What the buck are we watching?
It's the final part of our two part series! We've dusted off the old Watching the Elite format to take a look at an artifact from the late aughts - the final five episodes of YBTV.
Your boys binge, recap. and annotate the rest of the youtube channel before throwing a good old fashioned Superlatives party.
What the buck are we watching?
For this off-season episode, we're dusting off the old Watching the Elite format and taking a look at an artifact from the late aughts - the first five episodes of YBTV.
Made by your favorite christian boys from Rancho Cucamonga all the way back in 2008, this primordial version of Being the Elite makes for a strange viewing experience.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this mini-binge where we will watch the remaining 5 episodes.