Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast
Release Date: September 28, 2017
Guest: Charlotte Flair
Recap By: Matthew Wilkinson
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Newsworthy Item
- Sam Roberts claims Charlotte and Ric Flair’s book is a must read
- Charlotte was told to say goodbye to Ric in the hospital
- Charlotte is pleased with her transition to being a babyface
- Sam believes Braun Strowman can be the guy
- Sam thought the Bullet Club invasion was well done
- Sam thinks Cody Rhodes signing with ROH is a big deal
Show Highlights/Rundown
Sam welcomes everyone to the show, and as usual, says there is a lot to talk about after a busy week of wrestling. He mentions that he bought Natalya’s cat t-shirt, as he felt he would’ve regretted not having it so he picked it up.
Sam states that WWE is good at picking up on trends and going all the way with it. He thinks they can do that with women’s wrestling right now.
He says he buys into Charlotte, especially after how last week’s Smackdown Live ended, which he thinks is a rare thing in this day and age. Sam then plugs her book and says it is an incredible read and would recommend it to anybody as it is real life.
Charlotte Flair Interview
Sam starts off discussing the last time they spoke, it was when NXT had begun travelling and she was working with Sasha Banks. It was a night that started the progression to the main roster for them.
New Book
Sam mentioned the new book and Charlotte said she never expected to write one, especially not at 31. He said it was more real and in-depth than he had expected.
Charlotte says the book came about because people wanted Ric Flair to do another one, but he was her manager so it made sense for her to be added.
She said that Ric is a very open person. She had to decide whether or not she could do this, as she had kept things in her life private and the Charlotte character is tough to relate with. Charlotte felt her real life is very relatable and she wanted to do the book because it might help other people, as she wanted help when she was in that situation.
Sam asked if there were parts she didn’t want to include. Charlotte immediately said her failed marriages as she is embarrassed about it.
She said she grew up fast and people only look at the stats and compare her to Ric, such as the fact she has had two marriages, without looking at the reasoning behind them.
She said when she goes through the curtain she wishes she was Charlotte and had that confidence in real life. Charlotte then spoke about how Ric had been insecure, but said their insecurities are very different from each other. She grew up just wanting to be around her family and didn’t know what to do when her parents separated and she moved to college.
Reid Flair
Sam mentions that when she got into wrestling it was to live her brother’s dream out for him. Charlotte admitted that is something she is still doing to this day.
She just enjoys being in the ring and wrestling, it isn’t because of any accolades or magazine cover shoots. Wrestling allows her to express herself; she just likes it.
Charlotte then spoke about moving to SmackDown and worrying that her character would be stuck again now that she isn’t a heel. She hasn’t changed anything, as she’s comfortable when the fans now do cheer.
Ric Flair’s Health
Charlotte said she had flown back from China and the doctor had told them if they didn’t do the surgery he would die but they weren’t confident he would survive it. The doctor told Charlotte and her family that they should say their goodbyes to him.
She said now he is back to normal after nearly two weeks of being in the hospital and being in a bad way. When he first woke up, Ric couldn’t remember her but was quoting numbers from house shows back in the ’90s.
When he first got told to walk with his walker, he did his Ric Flair strut straight away. When his 30 For 30 comes out, people will realize how much he loves the industry.
Sam asked if she believes he can slow his life down and stop drinking. Charlotte admitted it is hard to stop totally, but said he was scared in the hospital and believes he is ready to enjoy his life.
Mae Young Classic
Sam asked if there was anybody from the tournament that Charlotte would like to wrestle in the future. The first name mentioned was Piper Niven, who she enjoyed watching. She also wants to wrestle Dakota Kai and Tessa Blanchard, who she says has improved so much from when she had a tryout two years ago. Kairi Sane is another opponent she’d like to face and then likens Sarah Logan to Becky Lynch.
Sam brings the interview to an end asking Charlotte if she will stop doing the Moonsault to the outside as it is scary to watch. She said she hasn’t done it in a while (without saying she will stop it).
End of Interview
Sam believes Charlotte has adapted to wrestling better than anybody since Kurt Angle (which is a great observation) and announces a competition to win a signed copy of her book. To have a chance of winning Second Nature, signed by both Charlotte and Ric Flair, you must go to iTunes before next week’s show and leave a positive review with 5 stars.
Speaking of merchandise, Sam believes he deserves some credit for the Mattel action figure based on Virgil, exclusively to Toys “R” Us.
State of Wrestling – No Mercy
Sam said he was surprised by how mixed that No Mercy was and thanked everyone at WWE for allowing him to be on the pre-show.
He believes the build and the hype was felt by people in attendance and created a WrestleMania feel in the building. However, Sam feels some fans blew the show up so much in their heads that it couldn’t deliver no matter what. With that said, Sam didn’t enjoy the finish to the main event and thinks the match did nothing for Braun Strowman.
He thought the John Cena and Roman Reigns match was pretty good and enjoyed the ending, although he doesn’t buy into the fact Cena is retiring as he has a lot of gas in the tank.
Sam is of the opinion WWE is building Reigns up to defeat Brock Lesnar, probably at WrestleMania. Before that, he thinks he will have one more big moment first.
He added that someone from SmackDown should win the Royal Rumble, as Reigns winning isn’t a good idea. He also thinks this is a very good long-term story that has plenty of smaller stories to build Reigns up, whether the fans think it is a good thing or not.
He believes the reason people are questioning the decision is because fans can’t see past WrestleMania. Until ‘Mania it is all about establishing Reigns as the guy, but he can also see Strowman taking that spot.
Sam thinks the turning point for Strowman is going to be him against Samoa Joe, something he believes needs to happen, especially with Strowman being the good guy. This is the feud he believes will make the turn happen and let people see Strowman can be the guy.
Sam points out that practice makes perfect and Strowman has gotten much better, especially when he has been working with Reigns on the live loops.
He then moved the conversation on to the tag team match at No Mercy, which he thought stole the show. Sam thinks Sheamus was in a Reigns-like spot, in that he was pushed early and wasn’t an indie darling.The fact all four guys were doing nothing until being put in these teams is making them all bigger stars in Sam’s opinion. He feels that because of Cesaro’s teeth situation it helped the match. Sam gave him big props for working so hard after it.
Sam thinks what is happening with Enzo is weird, the way he won the title and then acted like a heel, but he was then beaten up by all the 205 Live division, which garners sympathy, is something that happens to faces. He doesn’t believe this is all happening because Enz has ‘nuclear heat,’ as WWE wouldn’t make him a champion or give him the main event segment if that was the case.
Sam moved on to talk about Raw and said that Curt Hawkins has one of the best stories going on right now, to be getting beaten every week. It makes you more excited about a match that is, in reality, just about getting somebody else over.
SmackDown Live
Sam felt that SmackDown was a good show but believes they need to pick things up ahead of Hell in a Cell, because the build to No Mercy felt big, whereas this doesn’t.
He doesn’t understand why New Day and Usos are inside the Hell in a Cell, which is always an issue, but he did think it was a matter of time until A.J. Styles and Baron Corbin were announced.
Sam still feels Shinsuka Nakamura needs to kick Jinder Mahal’s arse, especially considering his MMA background. He also loves the James Ellsworth collar situation and thinks it is funny.
Bullet Club Invasion
Sam said WWE will likely not be thrilled about the invasion as the original segment was done because WCW wasn’t cool. With that said, he thought it was really well done and he enjoys seeing guys taking a risk on themselves.
He thinks that Cody Rhodes signing an exclusive deal with ROH is a big deal, which the company has said will last for years. Sam mentions how his previous interview with Cody had him state he wasn’t very interested in being exclusive to somebody.
Sam believes this is great news for ROH, as having people like Cody and Young Bucks with exclusive deals will make younger talent consider doing it as well.
Rating: 7.5/10
This was a really interesting episode this week, as the interview segment with Charlotte was very fun to listen to. The questions asked were very different to what you usually get from Charlotte interviews, and it was intriguing to listen to more about her real life outside of wrestling. It was also incredibly personal and raw. The State of Wrestling, was as ever, a solid listen although I do feel Sam spent a little too long on Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman, with SmackDown and Raw itself not getting much focus this week; but it was still fun to listen to overall.
Subjects Covered (with timestamps)
00:00- Sponsor Ads
01:50- Show Begins
13:49- Charlotte Flair Interview
15:00- New Book
27:00- Reid Flair
32:10-Rich Flair’s Health
40:21- Mae Young Classic
43:40-End of Interview
51:36-State of Wrestling- No Mercy
1:29:01-SmackDown Live
1:32:30-Bullet Club Invasion
About the Author
Matthew Wilkinson is from Bradford, England. He’s been a fan since the late ’90s with the Attitude Era and was then heavily invested again through the rise of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. He can be found on Twitter at @MC_Wilkinson1
For more, check out our archives of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast.
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