Wednesday PWTorch Livecast with Pat McNeill
Special Guests: Former ECW champion Justin Credible (P.J. Polaco) & ROH wrestler Christopher Daniels
Aired Live: February 24, 2016
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Recap by Dominic DeAngelo
SUBJECTS COVERED
-ROH’s 14th Anniversary
-Justin’s Life After Wrestling Full-Time
-Shane, Stephanie & The WWE
TIME STAMPS OF COVERAGE
(2:15) Pat McNeill intro
(4:00) Justin Credible intro
(6:40) Inter-promotional wrestling
(9:40) Shane vs. Undertaker
(13:30) Has P.J. given up on a backstage role in WWE?
(17:55) Impact of WWE’s Global Cruiserweight Series
(21:40) ROH vs. WWE & Sapolsky
(26:40) Justin’s last match with Tommy Dreamer
(30:28) Is Stephanie a better booker than Shane?
(32:48) Christopher Daniels calls in!
(37:40) ROH 14th Anniversary Show
(43:20) Future plans for The Addiction?
(44:50) What does Las Vegas add to ROH?
(45:52) Daniels vs. Styles 1,000?
(49:45) How does Daniels keep injury-free at his age?
(53:30) Daniels cuts a promo on Alex Shelley
### COMMERCIAL BREAK ###
(1:03:55) Roman Reigns as a babyface
(1:08:00) Aldo Montoya’s origin story
(1:09:05) Reigns’s lack of bad-assery
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
– Justin Credible will be at WrestleCon during WrestleMania, along with Lance Storm, who Justin says is incredible. Never drinks, never smokes and is still in fantastic shape.
– (6:40) Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway are defending Gabe Sapolsky’s EVOLVE Tag Team Titles during WrestleMania weekend, which is crazy since Gargano wrestles for NXT and Galloway wrestles for TNA. Justin says it hearkens back to the territory days. Pat also says how WWE treats this more as a scouting opportunity now, much different from past years as WWE would make an effort to detract the independent promotions from leeching on.
– Justin brings up a fun factoid that JR never saw his matches before he got to WWE.
– (9:40) Pat says it’s hard to wrap your head around Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker. Justin says it’s right up Mark’s alley – not as daunting as a Lesnar, but a gimmick match with a couple of stunts. What Justin doesn’t get is the dynamic, babyface versus “The Babe Ruth of WWE?” It could be a success or it could be a bomb.
– (13:30) Kylin calls in: has Justin really given up hope on a behind the scenes role in WWE? Kylin thinks he shouldn’t. Justin says it’s more about his current life situation, he’s in the real world now. He’s a family man, a father of three kids, and if you’re in the hunt for that pro wrestling job, you’re compromising that other side of life. Justin says it’s a hard truth, not that he doesn’t love it, but it’s a reality of the fact. Kylin believes he’ll be back. Justin really hopes so – he has a lot to add with his territory experience and his knowledge of wrestling, he feels he has a lot to add.
– (17:55) Is Triple H’s Global Cruiserweight Series the correct direction for this generation of wrestling? Justin says there is a lot of components to it, but his opinion is as long as Kevin Dunn and Vince have the reigns they’ll still maintain their vision. He thinks Triple H has a purist vision of wrestling, but there is a lot of things to go through nowadays. He says Kevin Dunn is a big problem with that. Pat says as long as they find a few guys out of the tournament, it should be a success. It’s has to happen organically and Justin agrees. He’s excited to see the tournament.
– (21:40) What does ROH need to do to counteract’s WWE’s relationship with EVOLVE? Pat doesn’t think they should try to respond in that way. They should just keep doing what they’re doing as far as their broadcast goes and their relationship with New Japan. One thing Justin finds is that it is very difficult to get in touch with ROH. He once sent a message to Delirious in hopes of having a conversation with him – a very heartfelt message – but there was no response. With that type of mentality ROH has, he’s interested to see where they go.
– (26:40) How would Justin rank his current match with Tommy Dreamer? Not very good, he says. He’s 40 pounds overweight and he’s gained the Samoan weight (in his butt and belly), but they did a lot of parlor tricks to make the match work. He plans to get back in shape at some point, but he’s been working out all his life, and his body needs the break.
– (30:28) Is Stephanie a better booker than Shane? Justin has known Stephanie since she was 16 so she’s been working for them since them. Shane, however, was always a favorite among the boys. He’s not as consumed as Stephanie is, which is no fault on him, just a personal choice. He’d say Stephanie.
– (32:48) Christopher Daniels is the surprise call-in. He’s facing Alex Shelley this Friday on the ROH PPV. What can people expect to see in Las Vegas? The best way they can thank the passionate ROH fanbase, so not only can you get to see the ROH roster in Vegas, but New Japan guys, where there has been some big things going on with ROH. Justin says how great it is to speak with Chris, he’s always a professional and is a great person. Daniels reciprocates the notion too in a cool moment.
– (37:40) Pat runs down the ROH PPV line-up. Daniels say a focus for ROH is trying to blow the fans away with matches to talk about the next day. Pat says Justin was there around the one-year anniversary. He remembers working with Dusty Rhodes and remembers it was an opportunity to fill the void for those wrestling fans.
– (41:15) Pat’s assuming that Daniels will be at ROH’s WrestleMania show for Supercard of Honor 10. Daniels says absolutely since he’s on the poster. Justin will be at the same venue, too, that weekend and Daniels says maybe they can have their rubber match there.
– (43:20) What plans does Daniels see for The Addiction after he beats Alex Shelley? Daniels is perfectly fine with defeating War Machine or Starlight Express for the belts again – they are the first in line for the straps since The Kingdom is no longer there. (Kayfabe ain’t dead, folks!)
– (44:50) What’s special about the Vegas atmosphere in ROH? Daniels says he’s the surest bet so put you’re money on him. Vegas is the perfect wrestling venue.
– (45:52) What are the chances the fans get to see Daniels take on Styles for the 1,000th time? That would have to have ROH & WWE coming together. He says if WWE looks at him on paper, he wouldn’t quite fit their typical age requirements, but with the way their mentality has changed, you never know what could happen. Justin says back in the day, companies would consider guys like Daniels at his age in their prime, which Justin thinks Daniels still is. Daniels thinks that the big difference is that if he had a bigger name recognition like someone from WCW, that age doesn’t matter as much, but who knows? He could go back and have a voicemal from Triple H right now which would refute his whole theory.
– (49:45) How does Daniels keep injury-free at his age? The difference is that he doesn’t work as often as a WWE roster member does. It’s been a long time since he wrestled that type of schedule. Plus guys are wrestling PPV style matches on a daily/weekly basis. Justin adds in asking Daniels doesn’t he think guys are getting hurt more often now? Daniels agrees, and it’s the way the business is evolving today because since the expectations are higher.
– (53:30) Daniels cuts a promo on Alex Shelley and plugs the ROH PPV before leaving.
### COMMERCIAL BREAK ###
– (1:03:55) Emailer thinks they’re sticking with a Roman Reigns babyface run because he’s a hero for kids and will sell merchandise. Justin was talking to Steve Austin about how there is a group of writers that don’t know who the wrestler is. Justin likes Reigns, but it looks like he is trying too hard. You have got to let guys open up and take bullet points. WWE is the only game in town, not only from a featured role perspective but from a financial perspective. Justin thinks they should loosen up on Reigns and let him be himself.
– (1:08:00) Pat brings up Aldo Montoya: Justin remembers being in Bushkill, Pa. where the seamstress handed him his mask (he never wore a mask before) and that’s how he started off. What else could he have done?
– (1:09:05) Emailer asks about Reigns: he’s not the badass he was and hasn’t shown any character since losing the title. What are their thoughts? Pat says it perhaps means that if you’re looking for guidance you’re not at the place to turn your character up to 11, maybe due to those restraints they just talked about. Justin says WWE makes it very tough to be yourself in that environment.
– Follow Justin on Twitter @pjpolaco, go to his website at TheJustinCredible.com and subscribe to his YouTube Channel.
SCORE & REVIEW
9.5: Adding P.J. Polaco to any show is almost a surefire way to get an 8.0 rating or higher, then add a surprise appearance by Christopher Daniels and you get one tasty episode. Both guys are extremely smart, are extremely engaged, and know their way around a wrestling podcast just as good as they do the squared circle. Justin isn’t afraid to speak his mind and neither is Daniels when it comes to the possibility of wrestling somewhere besides ROH down the line. Hearing this on-delay made me extremely disappointed I didn’t order the 14th Anniversary Show as the line-up sounded killer, but I thought it was really cool for Daniels to keep kayfabe kicking by going a little heel during his interview. It was also great to hear Justin and Daniels exchange respect for one another. P.J. by all means deserves to be involved with wrestling in some capacity and I hope he gets to do it again in a full-time backstage role that pays him the money he deserves – he consistently proves that interview after interview.
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