Paypress testing

Category: Wrestling Weekly

  • Wrestling Weekly: 56 Glorious Years, Chris & Nancy, Mailbag

    July 4th will mark Les Thatcher’s 56th anniversary in the wrestling business!  Les & Vic start off talking about what it was like early in Les’ career to walk into locker rooms filled with guys he’d paid to see just a few years earlier, including the time young, inexperienced Les was ribbed into doing something he shouldn’t have done to of all people, THE ORIGINAL SHEIK.  We’ll also discuss Chris Jericho’s recent podcast with Nancy Benoit’s sister (21:12) and Les will share some personal memories of both Chris & Nancy.  We’ll wrap up by opening the mailbag and answering your questions on whether Les saw WCW’s impending doom (40:41) when he had a developmental territory deal with them, HWA’s television coverage (44:03), wrestling Hiro Matsuda in Florida (51:01), the lack of time limit draws in wrestling today (55:01), that Stephanie McMahon interview from a few days ago (58:24), and what Les thought when he watched the Ali vs Inoki fight on that fateful night in 1976 (65:21).  Thanks for listening, have a great weekend and if you’re celebrating the US Independence Day, Happy 4th and be safe~!

    Right click save

  • FREE Wrestling Weekly: BJ Whitmer interview, Dean Ambrose, WWE CWC talk

    Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa return to talk Dean Ambrose, the Cruiserweight Classic & ROH’s Best in the World PPV w/special guest BJ Whitmer!

    We’ll start with Ohio becoming the state of champions between LeBron & and Cavs along with Dean Ambrose.  Les shares some of his history with Dean (5:45), which dates back to the beginning of Dean’s career.  

    We talk about the WWE CWC Opening Ceremonies (10:32) and segue into talking about some guys Les has worked with who are in the tournament.  Note, there are tournament spoilers from the 13:46 mark to the 19:12 mark, so if you don’t want to know who won their 1st round matches, you’ve been warned!

    After that, there’s a run-in from ROH’s BJ Whitmer (23:52) at Charlotte Douglas International Airport to talk about his Fight Without Honor with Steve Corino taking place tonight at ROH’s Best in the World PPV.  We’ll also discuss Roderick Strong finishing up with ROH (41:12), memories of the soon to be torn down Cincinnati Gardens (46:38) and Roman Reigns suspension (54:29); specifically, whether or not he should return in the exact same spot on the card from which he left.  

    Thanks for listening to this FREE SHOW, please feel free to share it and spread the word about this site and consider subscribing!  Thousands of hours of archived audio content, 12-15 new shows weekly and both the Figure Four and Wrestling Observer newsletters are part of the very affordable price. 

    Right click save

  • Wrestling Weekly: WWE CWC, MITB, GCW & more~!

    Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa return with a potential sleeper pick for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, Money in the Bank thoughts and more~!

    – This week, we start with a few thoughts on the late Gypsy Joe and then some thoughts on the WWE Cruiserweight Series (6:04)

    – Vic will give his thoughts on someone in the tournament he’d like to see go far, and why…and it may not be someone you suspect

    – Les will share a story about what a young wrestler was told by an unnamed executive (16:07) and why Les was a bit troubled by the story.

    – From there, some thoughts on the big matches at WWE Money in the Bank (25:17): Cena/Styles, Seth/Roman, the 4 way for the tag titles and the MITB match itself

    – We’ll close with a question about Les running the Georgia Championship Wrestling tours in the early 80’s (49:45) when they came to Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. 

    Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

    Right click save

  • Wrestling Weekly: Les loves NXT, Danny Miller memories, Brock Lesnar

    Just how big a risk for WWE is Brock Lesnar’s return to the Octagon at UFC 200? Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa will talk about it from WWE’s perspective on the latest Wrestling Weekly!

    We’ll start with Les sharing some thoughts about his good friend and former tag team partner Danny Miller, who passed away this past Monday at the age of 84, as well as remembrances of the late Emily Miller (no relation) who was a longtime fan in the Mid Atlantic area. 

    From there, we’ll spend a few minutes discussing the one and only Muhammad Ali (18:35).  After that, it’s time to look at Brock Lesnar’s return to UFC (22:18) and how it impacts WWE.  We’ll wrap the show by discussing the latest NXT Takeover special (35:52), and why it has filled Les with hope for the future of the business. 

    Subscribers can listen by clicking the link below or right-clicking to save.

    Right click save

  • Wrestling Weekly: WWE Injuries; Schedule or Style?

    Just how much has the injury bug that’s bitten WWE in recent years been a result of the schedule?  That’s the main topic of discussion on Wrestling Weekly!  Les and Vic will start the show with some sad news about Danny Miller, who is a longtime friend and former tag team partner with Les.  After some quick talk about Roderick Strong and Zack Sabre Jr.(4:25) and the very few things that went well on Raw this week, (6:47) we’ll take a look at Dave Meltzer’s article in the new Observer regarding how many of the guys who work the most matches in WWE in recent years have suffered significant injuries the following year (13:41).  Is it the schedule?  Is it the style?  Or is there something that has to do with one of those things that may not be talked about often enough?  After that, we’ll open the mailbag and answer questions about Vader (40:09), adding talent to the WWE main roster for the brand split(44:00), Randy Orton being a bully (47:09), guys who didn’t speak great English during the territory days but got over big anyway (50:50), promotions that had split crews years ago (53:41), and whatever happened to the elbow drop (56:44)?  Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

    Right click save

  • Wrestling Weekly: Cody Rhodes Quits, AJ Styles Dilemma, WWE Brand Split

    From Cody Rhodes to Extreme Rules to the build to Money in the Bank to the WWE brand split, it’s been an incredibly eventful week and Les and Vic return to talk about it all!  We’ll start with Cody and the statement he released that didn’t do him any favors at WWE Headquarters, how many guys feel the way he does, and having a lot of respect for him being willing to walk away from a good amount of money if the money doesn’t come with the opportunity he’s seeking.  Vic was live in the building for Extreme Rules last Sunday and he’ll talk about a feeling he couldn’t shake while watching AJ Styles vs Roman Reigns (18:41) and just how far (and for what reasons) AJ Styles is willing to go to have a great match.  Also, is that willingness doing him any good within the company at this point?  No discussion would be complete this week without touching on the brand split (47:10) and the announcement that Smackdown is moving to Tuesdays and going live in July.  We’ll talk the idea of 2 champions as opposed to 1 and something that might be missing from the product today that will be essential to the brand split being a successful one this time around.  We hope you have a happy and healthy holiday (in the USA) weekend and thanks for listening~!

    Right click save

  • Wrestling Weekly: WWE roster continues to deepen; Mr. Wrestling I & II updates

    With the WWE roster close to being as strong as it’s been in a while thanks to the imminent returns of John Cena, Seth Rollins and more, how will the main event scene shake out? That’s just one of the topics of discussion on Wrestling Weekly today for Vic and Les!

    – The show begins by talking about the late Mac York (Ricky Morton’s uncle) and a bit of a health update on Johnny Walker, better known as Mr. Wrestling II.

    – That leads us into some talk on the careers of Mr. Wrestling 1 (Tim Woods) and 2, as well as some of the deepest rosters in the territory days (15:45) and why that was not uncommon back in the day.

    – From there, we discuss what the main event scene in WWE could look like (30:01) with all those returning from injury to go alongside AJ Styles, Roman Reigns and the guys featured currently on TV. 

    – We close by opening the mailbag (45:49) to answer your questions about whether or not the art of wrestling has been lost, recruiting mainstream sports stars into wrestling (49:03)and how much longer are the McMahons going to dominate the main storylines in WWE (51:47)? 

    Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

    Right click save

  • Wrestling Weekly: Mauro & Josh, Getting Started as a Wrestling Announcer, Mailbag

    Time for another fine edition of Wrestling Weekly where we’ll start with Les returning the favor from Smackdown this week and giving Mauro Ranallo a mention, including the story of how Les gave him some pointers early in Mauro’s career and didn’t realize it at the time!  We’ll also discuss the great interview Dave and Bryan did with Josh Barnett (6:23) on Wrestling Observer Radio regarding Josh’s views on both wrestling and his role as an analyst for New Japan on AXS.  That leads to the story of Les getting thrown into his first broadcasting experience with no training, no advice and barely any advance notice in the Maritimes (19:19), as well as a little bit on the Maritimes territory.  We’ll then open up the mailbag to answer questions about cable vs ropes for a ring (29:06), the biggest differences between wrestling today as opposed to 30 years ago (34:54), a look back at wrestler Bobby Shane (49:18), and older wrestlers who do shoot interviews where they blame everyone else for their problems except themselves (57:18).  Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!


    Right click save

  • Wrestling Weekly: A Casual Fan’s Thoughts on Payback, Ryback, Roman/AJ

    A fun mix of classic and current talk on the show this week!  Les gives us the latest on his friend and great wrestler back in the day Billy Wicks to start us off.  From there, we’ll tackle a question sent to us regarding a match from the Memphis territory (9:31) featuring two very inexperienced guys and the way it was laid out.  We’ll segue into a little talk about WWE Payback (16:05) with some thoughts Vic shares that come from a very new, pretty casual wrestling fan who has the kind of background that gives her views a unique perspective.  Of course, the missive that Ryback fired off this week (33:12) gets a going over, as does the comments Yoshi Tatsu recently made (55:48) about WWE in a Japanese magazine.  We’ll close the show looking at the powerbomb AJ Styles took to end Raw and whether or not AJ should have a gripe with Roman Reigns (72:10) for the way he was tossed onto the announcer’s table on Monday night.  Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!


    Right click save

  • Wrestling Weekly: Flair, Living the Gimmick, Bongs (!), Gallows & Anderson

    Lots of interesting topics today including Ric Flair’s party lifestyle, whose side are Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson really on, certain things Les refused to do in the ring during his wrestling days and more!  Some great questions in the mailbag this week, so after a rambling start on the NFL Draft, getting to ballgames really late, having your Instagram hacked on the biggest day of your life, Rip Rogers and a little more wackiness to start, we’ll answer your questions!  First, we’ll tackle guys who “live their gimmick” so much that it seems they can’t turn it off (17:44), the greenest wrestler ever called up to WWE from HWA when Les was in charge of that developmental territory (29:08), instances where Les refused to do a certain spot in a match because it didn’t work for him and why (including a situation that saw Les as a HEEL MANAGER) (34:34), could a tag team (past or present) be a main event act in 2016 WWE (43:40), nearfall sequences near the end of matches being too formulaic (59:16) and is it ever too late to get into bodybuilding (70:17)?  Oh, thoughts on which side Gallows and Anderson are on are at the 77:53 mark.  Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

    Right click save