Me as a hockey fan, I always enjoy listening to Jeff Marek’s podcast “32 Thoughts” and the way he breaks down every team in the NHL and it’s insane how much hockey history and knowledge he retains in his head, he’s a pure encyclopedia. Unfortunately, he was before my time of listening to The LAW but when and why did he eventually decide to leave the program? Was it just a matter of he wanted to cover hockey full-time and he found the opportunities to do so? And did he always have a soft-spot for it when you were working with him?
I hope I am not the only Macau fan of your Patreon, cos you guys are awesome. Hope one day I get to call in and talk to Wai in Cantonese, then look into John’s confused face, that would be my Brandon from NJ moment.
Since I am not familiar with how contract works in the US, so wanna ask you:
Recently it is rumored that Kenny Omega’s contract was frozen due to his timeoff for injury. Do wrestlers usually get paid during his timeoff, or is normally there is a certain max. period of injury leaves that they are being paid, while if it exceeds that period, they are no longer paid, like how sick leave works in a 9 to 5 job? Or is it a case by case scenario, that anyone could be handled differently base on his contract’s terms and conditions?
Do you have any particular preference on where we listen to the show? My go-to has always been listening on a podcast player (Pocket Casts) but since y’all started doing live shows on YouTube, I’ll usually watch there. That said, on the rare occasion that I am listening late, do you have any preference on one over the other? I know, it’s a very arbitrary question but I’d love to give you numbers wherever it benefits you best.
Thanks, as always, for all your hard work and great content.
I asked a question a few months ago about what your respective thoughts were about whether wrestling companies should have wellness policies/PED testing policies, from a company perspective.
What are your own personal perspectives on PEDs in pro wrestling, either from a “level playing field” perspective (less applicable in pro wrestling compared to sports like MMA), or any concern for performers’ health, given historical precedent. We frequently see wrestler physiques drastically change even now, and this aspect doesn’t seem to be discussed much (in general).
Let me preface this question by first stating three very obvious points. You guys have an incredibly busy schedule, classic PPVs can be very long and booking guests can be difficult, but…
Could we ever seen the return of some of the old guest reviewers from the Review-A-Wai days? I would love an old WCW review with Jordan Breen. A PWG show with Todd Martin. An XPW episode with Damian. An old WWF show that Mouth and his friends took a road trip to be in the crowd. An episode of RAW that Alex Greenfield help write. Maybe even a first time appearance of Jeff Marek. An Archivist can dream.
What are your opinions on writers for televised wrestling, and in particular, for AEW?
Cody and TK have made their distaste of formal writers known, and the awful writing of WWE has been on display for years, but for AEW in particular, I think that is part of their issue. Although TK has said he has a booking committee, he also is in charge of six wrestling shows if you include All Access, along with is Fulham and Jacksonville duties. Writers have worked for Lucha Underground, and current IMPACT has creative wrestlers like Jimmy Jacobs who became writers. Writers could also solve continuity issues that TK could miss, like why Dark Order didn’t come to Hangman’s aid last week, or bigger character issues, like Sammy and Daniel Garcia still being Jericho lackeys instead of at an MJF or Darby level.
After the last episode where John was so impressed with such great questions that really puts pressure on me… best I could come up with, what song is stuck in your head right now?
Around the time of the 2018 Crown Jewel show, you both talked about how you view and cover wrestling through a journalistic (rather than a fan) lens, and likened it to journalists in other fields that have to cover difficult subject matter at times. That said, we’ve lived through a particularly controversial period recently, with things like the Saudi shows, Speaking Out and Vince’s scandals amongst others, to say nothing of other scandals in the MMA world.
Does covering so many issues like this ever cause any kind of burnout? Particularly given (as you both have pointed out) there is often so little real impact for those involved, given the nature of the wrestling industry. If so, how do you deal with this?
Do you guys have anything you consider a comfort go to when you’re feeling down or having a bad day? for example a certain TV show or a specific hobby you tend to gravitate towards that always makes you feel better? I find walking my dogs while listening to the band Bon Iver always cheers me up.
I have been told that you get milk in bags in Canada. Can you explain to us Americans how that would work? Do you buy them in bags from the store and then pour them into some container at home, or is there a zipper on the bag that opens and closes? I have encountered milk in bags before, but it was when I was in grade school for school lunch, and you just press in straw into it to drink it (my record was 3 or 4 bags stacked on top of each other), so an idea of a non-single-use milk bag is foreign, and exotic.
Curious how the childhood wrestling fan inside you feels about the WWE no longer being owned by a McMahon? I don’t think I ever really thought I’d see the day so I’m a bit sad about it but the impact hasn’t really sunk in because we haven’t seen any changes to the product at this early stage. But I guess I always felt there would be a McMahon owning it!
As a doctor here in the UK I’m interested in how the healthcare system over there is coping as we come out of this pandemic? Over here we have strikes of almost all public sector workers and the healthcare system is struggling to keep up with the ever increasing pressures being put upon it, so waiting times are higher than ever, doctor and patient satisfaction are lower than ever. The Canadian system is very similar to ours here so just curious if you’re having similar issues, and if so is this affecting all other public sectors too?
Two questions: Firstly, any tips on how to be productive on relatively little sleep. My eldest son is 2 years and a barrel of energy. My daugher is 2 months old and requires feeding every 2 hours. I help out in the early mornings before work to give my wife a break.
Secondly, drive to survive(dts not bts) was all of our gateways into f1.
I’ve watched point break by the same creators on tennis. Not as good as dts but tennis is bearable now.
I stopped at the golf show. Any interest any of these reality programs?
Sorry if you have answered this , so I have included a second question. I was wondering about the creation process of forming Post Wrestling. After the Fight Network and The LAW what were your thoughts , your concerns , your feelings ,any doubt , nerves, any back up plans ,your family concerns? Did you have doubts, did you take out a loan, did you file any trademarks? What were conversations like? Did you know you had a loyal fanbase from Canada , to New Jersey, to a fool in Texas that would call The LAW to win T Shirts , that would follow you to a new platform? Finally, how are you feeling now?
Question 2
Your thoughts on Ricky Starks. I feel as a promo and in ring talent combo is is above the 3 other pillars in my eyes. The Y2J program was long and lackluster. Now he is in a program with Bullet Club he probabky will lose. With the 3 other pillars , Adam Cole, Bryan, Mox, Kenny and Hangman , Where does he fit in according to you guys?
Do you feel that a TV following a PPV works best the very next night, such as Raw, or is it better to allow the events of the PPV to breath a little such as Dynamite and Smackdown?
Also, do you think Pac would make a good MJF opponent for London?