The Greatest Podcast In the History of our sport!
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“Host Conrad Thompson is joined by star and former WCW announcer Tony Shivonay for a new podcast on the MLW Radio Network. It is a spinoff show of Something to Wrestle W/ Bruce Prichard also hosted by Thompson. For the first episode it is a career retrospective on Bill Goldberg. It was a very relevant topic for the first episode with Goldberg being back in the ring for the first time in over a decade. This show continues the trend of listener contributions by having topics voted on by the masses on Twitter. The first episode was not voted on but it probably would have won hands down in my opinion. Tony was a great choice to tell the story of NWA and WCW just like Bruce told the story of WWE and TNA. If this show catches fire I wonder who Conrad will choose to be the star of an ECW What Happened When.
Just like Something to Wrestle With most of the research of the topic seems to be based on Dave Meltzer reports. Meltzer has one of the greatest wrestling sites the Observer and most famous wrestling journalist around. Meltzer’s biggest strength is his wrestling history but I think his opinion based on news isn’t very reliable. Tony will probably have to call BS on a lot of what Conrad says based on Dave Meltzer’s reports. The small problem is that Tony has been out of the wrestling business since 2001. Bruce was active in the sport for years after leaving WWE. Bruce also seems to have a better memory than Tony does. We might be hearing more of Dave Meltzer’s opinion on this show than on Something to Wrestle With. It will be interesting to see in the weeks and months to come to see how much Meltzer’s “dirt” as Bruce would call it will be rebuffed by Tony. Thompson also does try to bring in numbers and figures into the discussion on Something to Wrestle With but Bruce often (or always) refuses to answer those questions. Bruce worked in Talent Relations which means he had to have the superstar’s complete trust. He doesn’t violate that trust even to this day about what people earned. Tony might not have that kind of information because he wasn’t a talent relations guy. Thompson owns a Mortage Firm so numbers are something he deal with on a daily basis. This will prove to be a very interesting and different show than Bruce Prichard’s with the different background of Tony even though it’s also a pro-wrestling podcast.
Goldberg’s career was talked about throughout the course of the episode. Tony kept the story on message based on his first match in WCW. When Goldberg debuted WCW producers didn’t know what to call him. Before the match the announce team didn’t know what his character’s name or direction was to be. WCW was a disaster of creating new talent but this is the one that they are given the most credit for. His career path followed the path of that first match as Tony told. In the early minutes of the match the announce crew was oddly silent (a rarity for a WCW announce team at that time produced by Eric Bischoff.)
Tony talked about every misstep including not jumping on the merchandise train quickly enough. If I remember correctly there was a “Austin Rules! Goldberg Sucks” t-shirt being sold bootlegged around the country before WCW had an official Goldberg t-shirt. It was at least six months before Goldberg debuted that they had a t-shirt. Tony and Conrad also talked about the similar look between Stone Cold and Goldberg. Many fans called Goldberg a rip off of Austin and a pushed version of the Warlord. Goldberg was also not booked in hot angles during his undefeated run. They talked about a terrible feud with Steve McMichael. This led to one of the best moments of the show where Tony went off topic to describe how hot Mongo’s now ex-wife Debra looked. We also found out that Goldberg was not under a long-term contract when the streak was getting hot. Goldberg could have easily walked and started in WWE had they dropped the ball on that. In the end the WCW Machine creating stars was ground to a halt by the creative control of the top talent. Goldberg won the World Title on television in front of a jam-packed Georgia Dome. It could have been huge on a ppv which was booked a week after. Goldberg would lose his World Title at Starrcade 1998 to newly hired WCW Booker Kevin Nash and then was injured in an accident punching a window with his fist. Kevin Nash has said before that he was going to drop the title back to Goldberg but this accident derailed all of the plans. In the end Goldberg cooled off and it was never the same like it was the first time around. Tony also said the biggest thing that destroyed WCW was Thunder on TBS. Both WWE and WCW leaped to get a second TV show before they were ready. WWE jumped and succeeded and WCW took the jump earlier but failed.
It was a great first episode and as a longtime fan I learned things I hadn’t known before. It was my first time hearing the story about WCW and WWE wrestler Meng punching a guy’s teeth out of his mouth using just two fingers. It was a great story and it taught a great lesson to not call wrestling fake (at least not in the presence of Meng.) Hulk Hogan once said that if Meng was running to him and he had a gun he would not shoot. Hogan said he’d be too scared Meng would kill him if he tried. Also learned for the first time Goldberg wasn’t under a long-term contract when he was getting hot. I can’t wait for the next episode and really hope we have some great topics to vote on twitter. Bruce’s show is one of the most interactive podcast around like the 6:05 Superpodcast also on the MLW Radio Network. What Happened When is sure to become a great part of any wrestling fans Monday Nights. Will it become the Greatest Podcast in the History of Our Sport? Only time will tell but it looks like Sting is about to try to come down to the ring so we’re outta time!”
rdamon1982 via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
02/02/17
More reviews of What Happened When
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“Great podcast starring the voice of my childhood. Love hearing the behind the scenes stuff for NWA/WCW. No better place to get "the dirt" as Mr. Barnett would say.”
Bravevol via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
02/13/17
“This retro podcast about WCW AWA should be an exciting look at the brands with a consummate professional at podcasting like Conrad Thompson. I expect actual guests, great insight and excellent quality as always. I look forward to this podcast and don't expect anything less than PERFECTION...”Read full review »
Smithtyler1983 via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
01/28/17
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mreddiehyde via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
01/29/17
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