Episode: 2967
Title: HPR2967: Wrestling As You Like It Episode 2
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2967/hpr2967.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-24 13:59:37

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This is HPR Episode 2967 for Tuesday the 17th of December 2019.
Today's show is entitled Wrestling as You Like It Episode 2. It is hosted by The Dude
and is about 27 minutes long and carries an explicit flag. The summer is
wrestling as you like it Episode 2. This episode of HPR is brought to you by
An Honesthost.com. Get 15% discount on all shared hosting with the
author code HPR15. That's HPR15. Better web hosting that's honest and fair at An Honesthost.com.
Okay, here's the dude and here is the second episode of Wrestling as You Like It.
Okay, so after listening to the community news, I kind of wanted to change a little
bit of what I had planned before I had planned was to cover some events from over the course of the month and
the wrestling promotions that I follow, but I had to redo things since I have to explain some things,
especially since a lot of people that listen to the podcast are from the UK and the systems are
kind of different. So I figured I would take this episode to really explain
how American wrestling works and also a little bit of background of the
promotions that I watch and that I will be covering. I will say that the ones that I
cover or at least plan on covering all broadcast their stuff on YouTube or the
fight network and it's all free, it's all online. So there isn't really any
shall we say worries about what channels something on or whether you have this channel and your
cable package, it's just whether you have internet or not.
Now, first things first, I think this part will be totally obvious.
The top promotion and the United States and also the top promotion in the world is the
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, which started out as a
capital wrestling corporation when it was part of the National Wrestling Alliance,
at the time the government body of all wrestling, now it's just a smaller
promotion that Billy Corrigan from the smashing pumpkins bought. And yes, that is
one of the, well, the NWA is one of the promotions that I plan on covering
frequently throughout this podcast as it goes. But WWE went from
wrestling corporation, LA, and they had a following out with the National Wrestling
Alliance when they wanted to get the bell off of, well, the National
Wrestling Alliance wanted to get the bell off of a Nature Boy Buddy Rogers,
the original Nature Boy, pretty much Ric Flair's gimmick. It whole stick
was pretty much copied from Buddy Rogers, but also done more at 110%
because it's Ric Flair. But Buddy Rogers was extremely popular
in the Northeast, which was capital wrestling's territory was in like the
Northeast or in the United States. So everything from like
Maryland north up to Maine was capital wrestling corporations
territory, which is what they called the promotions then because
how the National Wrestling Alliance set everything up, each
promotion had their own set up area and territory that they would operate
in and nobody would encroach on each other's turf, which that
all changed in the 80s and we'll get to that when pretty soon.
So after they broke away from the NWA, they became the Worldwide Wrestling
Federation and they still just operated in the Northeast.
They had Buddy Rogers as their first world champion by creating a
fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which they also did to crown the
first intercontinental champion, which is another title that's
still used today by the WWE. But yeah, so they made up a
tournament, so that way they could legitimize Buddy Rogers as a world
champion. So they became the third league at the time.
There were three leagues. You had the National Wrestling Alliance, then
you had the AWA, which folded in 1993 and was bought by the WWE.
And you also had the Worldwide Wrestling Federation.
Now Vince, Senior, Vince McMahon Senior, who is the
father of Vince Kennedy, McMahon, the owner of the WWE today.
So Vince Jr. He sold the company to a son in the 80s and
his son decided to take the promotion national and pretty much
rated the talent from all the NWA territories until one by one.
Very much all shut down and the NWA was pretty much a former
shell of itself for a very, very long time.
And it's now kind of, I mean, there's a little bit of research that's
every now and there. But it's never been the way it was.
It's not like the top promotion, how it was back in the
40s through the mid 80s. But I'm going to say that time
when Vince Kennedy, McMahon, Vince Jr. bought the company from his
dad, the Worldwide Wrestling Federation. He shortened it to the World
Wrestling Federation. And then after a lawsuit with the,
I think it's a, yeah, the World Wildlife Fund.
They changed their name to World Wrestling Entertainment.
Why they chose that and not went back to the moniker of Worldwide Wrestling Federation.
You know, the WWE WF. But then again, I guess WWE goes off the,
rolls off the tongue better than WWE WF.
But anyway, they pretty much became the top promotion by buying TV
slots and rating everybody's talent, especially when it got to the point
where one of the NWA territories at the time Jim Crockett
promotions was pretty much kind of doing the same to KP with the WF,
which is now WWE. Actually, I'm just going to say WWE.
So that way I don't have to get things confused. But anyway, they compete
with the WWE Jim Crockett promotions, bought a lot of failing NWA
territories to have itself be national, but it ended up becoming,
you know, bankrupt. And it was bought by Ted Turner.
And that company became WCW, which was the WWE's main competition
from then on, pretty much from the late 80s to the,
until like 2001 when WCW folded and was bought by WWE.
So WWE, the top dog, top promotion and wrestling today,
although they do have competition in Mexico and in Japan because
New Japan for wrestling, so huge in Japan. And same with
CMLL and AAA in Mexico. And what I was going to say after that,
where was I going? And, but when it comes to the states,
when it comes to the states, WWE is the top promotion.
However, recently a former WWE talent, Cody Rhodes,
him with a famous tag team that has performed in Japan,
with great acclaim, Ring of Honor, which is a slightly bigger
promotion in the states. But not as big as WWE,
they came together with the son of the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars
and created their own wrestling promotion, AEW. And people might see
that as to growing as in direct competition against WWE.
So it's kind of like having another WCW. But anyway,
with that being said, any promotion outside the WWE is considered
by, in general, to be independent promotions, although that is debatable.
The way how I describe it is is that some people think some promotions.
And I am in this category that some promotions are a little bit too big,
just to be called independent. As like an independent
promotion to me, they're a little bit higher than that.
They're a higher caliber, and I consider those to be like Ring of Honor,
New Japan, Impact. They all have TV deals, they all have some sort
of like corporate thing, and they're not like your neighborhood,
friendly wrestling promotion. So that being said,
despite me not agreeing with the fact that anything not WWE is indie,
I'm still going to call it indie just for the sake of simplicity.
And so far AEW may be the top independent promotion in the United States.
Due to rating Ring of Honor and New Japan's talent,
and also talent from other organizations such as the WWE itself,
and a few guys from Impact Wrestling, which used to be TNA Wrestling,
which also used to be part of the NWA, back in the early days of the promotion.
Because for a while, after WCW left the NWA,
the NWA seems to have like a main promotion that builds up.
Ellen, they break off, Ellen, the NWA has to start over again,
but now the NWA, as opposed to being a governing body,
it is now its own promotion, which is probably for the better
for the organization.
Now, pretty much what how American wrestling works,
you have the WWE is the main promotion,
and you have wrestlers that go to wrestling school,
they wrestle in the Indies to get experience,
and hopefully one day they get into the WWE,
although that might change depending on how big AEW and how successful AEW is going to be,
or any other smaller wrestling promotion,
because wrestling is more popular recently now than it has been for a while,
we're kind of digging out of a down period.
And also with the internet, you don't need necessarily a TV deal
to showcase your wrestling product to a national audience
with things like YouTube, the Fight Network, Twitch,
or many numerous streaming services.
So, it's kind of getting back to the 1980s before the WWE went national
to the point where you have a whole bunch of different promotions
where wrestlers can go to work and still make a decent living.
Now, we're not necessarily at like a boom period,
but it's growing, so hopefully it might get to a boom period,
and not just burst before its full potential happens.
Now, that being said, each promotion has its own style of wrestling.
I'd like to really get into this in detail,
but I probably won't be the best person to really explain
like different styles of professional wrestling for the sheer fact
that I'm just a fan and a wannabe wrestling journalist.
So, I'm not necessarily an expert.
I recommend going to the YouTube channel Dave knows wrestling
because he has really good videos of explaining different styles of wrestling,
including New Japan's strong style, all Japan's king's road style,
the WWE style wrestling, different styles of independent wrestling.
And even like British wrestling, I think he has like multiple videos
of like the UK style of wrestling because England has their own style of wrestling,
which I believe is more ground hold oriented as opposed to like in
Mexico, Lucha Libre, which is more like flips in aerial attacks.
Now, but in general, you have the Japanese style is more hard-hitting
and realistic. The WWE style is more showy.
The independent style is even more flashier than WWE,
but more focused on the wrestling and the matches,
as opposed to like backstage storylines like WWE.
And you have the National Wrestling Alliance today,
which brings back the old Southern wrestling style,
which is kind of like more ground oriented,
such as the British style, but yet it's also very brawling
and the storytelling is done in the ring as opposed to like backstage.
And like I said before, if you go to Mexico,
it's Lucha Libre, which is more flips,
a lot of showmanship, a lot of mask wrestlers,
and in Lucha Libre, like when it comes to like mask wrestling,
a lot of cases, the identity of the wrestlers is extremely protected,
and which is why in Lucha Libre, a big thing when it comes to like a match
is a mask versus mask match, which the loser has to remove his mask
and reveal to people who he is.
Which is why I'm excited for a match between
Caristico and Grand Guerrero,
because they're kind of leading up to a mask versus mask match.
Now Grant, we know who Caristico is due to him working under
as the original Sincara and WWE,
and also working as the original Mystico outside of the WWE.
So we know who he is, but I'm not sure if he's been unmasked before,
so it'd be interesting to see how he looks Ellen with Grand Guerrero,
no one knows who he is.
They know he's Ultima Guerrero's son, but that's about it.
So it'll be really interesting if he gets unmasked.
And when it comes to unmasking,
it's usually like the wrestler is going to wrestle
without his mask and as himself,
or he might be changing gimmicks,
and put on a different mask and be a different character.
Ellen, if the person's not a masked wrestler,
then they bet their hair and get their head shaved in a humiliating fashion.
But that is a big thing in Lucha Libre.
It's really, really interesting,
especially since there's the mysteriousness of who's under the mask.
And those matches seem to kind of be more important than title matches,
where in the States it's the title matches that are more important,
as opposed to like special stipulation wager matches.
Like title matches might have special stipulations,
or like a grudge match between two wrestlers that don't like each other
in the whole universe of pro wrestling,
not like in real life,
although sometimes wrestlers don't like each other in real life
and it spews over into the wrestling world,
such as Shawn Michaels versus Brett Hart.
Those two did not get along.
And so it made their pro wrestling feud like on TV feud more realistic,
because those two guys literally didn't like each other.
But usually you have like a,
the baby face, the good guy versus the heel,
who is the bad guy,
and if they have a long feud going,
and if it's like a very, very good important match between the two,
as into YK that settle this,
as opposed to, you know, two wrestlers going for the championship,
that might be a little bit more important
if the storytelling that is being told in the ring or outside of the ring
is very, very compelling.
But yeah, this is really rambling, unfortunately,
but I think I might have covered things more.
Be free to mention some things in the comments
with any other questions.
I'll try to answer them the best I can.
And thinking next month,
I'm gonna, well,
think next month,
I'm going to do like a review of the NWA's
Pay-Per-View that's this month into the fire.
And maybe also see if I can
answer more questions,
keep people up-to-date on different wrestling promotions that I watch.
Like I said, the main ones I watch is capital wrestling,
not to be confused with capital wrestling corporation,
which became the WWE capital wrestling as a independent promotion,
like a legit independent promotion,
despite them having like a TV show on the internet.
They don't really do like,
first of all, I understand they don't really do set contracts
and they're pretty small.
So therefore, I believe they fall under as an indie promotion.
But anyway,
they are out of like New York City and New Jersey.
And I follow them due to the fact that I like
a lot of the talent that's there,
such as Kobe Carino,
who is the son of a legend in the business, Steve Carino.
He's a legend in the States since he wrestled for Paul Heyman's ECW.
And he also used to have,
he's also a former champion for the National Wrestling Alliance
during a part where they were in a weird spot.
It was when the promotion was pretty much like trying to recover
from falling off of its perch.
But you have that, you have a couple other wrestlers
that aren't really that big,
but people would probably know them.
You have homicide from TNA that's there.
He's also wrestling from the National Wrestling Alliance as well.
And this one person that's just,
as far as I know,
hasn't really worked for any bigger promotions.
I think capital is probably the biggest,
but I could be wrong on that.
And that is Darius Carter.
To me, Darius Carter is really like the ultimate bad guy wrestler,
I think, as in like he is extremely cocky
and the only way he can win is cheat.
So he definitely plays that bad guy role to a T and it's great.
But there's that, and when,
if I'm able to keep up on it
because following two promotions such as,
it's kind of difficult, you know,
like I said, I follow mainly the NWA and capital wrestling,
but I also try to follow CMLL,
but that's going to be hard
because CMLL is, well,
A, it's not only the world's oldest wrestling promotion
that is still here in existence,
it's also located in Mexico.
So there is a language barrier.
And if I,
I really have to pay attention to
get what's kind of going on,
see what the feuds are,
I have to go to like different blogs that explain
what's going on due to the fact that
I don't speak Spanish, unfortunately,
but I do like their product
and how the wrestling matches are.
It's a real excitement,
seeing like a lucha match.
So that being said,
hopefully I can keep everybody updated on that.
Maybe also throw in some stuff
like from wrestling's history and pass
into there and I don't know,
maybe also taking suggestions
from people listening to this.
So anyway, this is the dude signing out.
Thank you guys for listening.
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