Heated Conversations with Booker T
Episode 186: Alex Riley calls out Cena, Thanksgiving Meals, Chuck vs Tito, Enzo Invades WWE, Live callers and more
Release Date: November 25th, 2018
Recap By: James Hayes
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Booker and Co-Host Brad Gilmore welcome you to the show!
Season Greetings
The guys have gotten all festive.
Brad says, “You know what I’ve been doing all day? I’ve been hanging Christmas lights. Now you guys go all out for the holidays, don’t you?”
Booker says, ”We go half way out. We don’t spend all that money, like everybody else in the neighborhood. They go and hire someone. Bring in all the professionals. They put it all in the trees and make it look perfect. One year I went out and tried to put them in the trees and the mosquitoes ate my behind up. I see why these guys get paid that money. They make it look all pretty like.”
Brad says, “It’s real labor. It’s hard work.”
Booker starts to talk about Thanksgiving. He likes giblets. “Giblet is when they put the gib on it and when you taste it, you go, ‘Oh my goodness!’ It’s giblet.’ I don’t know what they put in it. A little bit of this. A little bit of that.”
Brad already knows Booker is going to bring up what white folks do.
Booker says, “White folks don’t know too much about giblets gravy. Do you know anything about giblet gravy?” Brad confesses it was not on his table, but there was brown gravy. He’s still a little confused about what giblet is. “Booker responds, “I know when you put it on the stuffing… and the thing is you guys cook y’all stuffing different.”
Brad wonders how they cook it differently. Booker answers, “I don’t cook it, my Mother used to cook it. She used to burn it, man. My Aunt, Visalia, she throws down. My sisters, they get busy. Sharmell, on the other hand… She makes a mean macaroni and cheese. I’m telling you. And some biscuits. Her grandmother’s biscuits. But when Sharmell makes the biscuits, it’s like cooking for a platoon. She got to cook the ingredients the way her grandmother laid it out, she can’t shorten it up or cut it down or she’ll mess it up. We have biscuits for like a year. They are in the freezer from last year.”
Brad says, “That’s forward thinking.”
Booker says, “This year what happened was, I thought I was going to be on some business, and I didn’t plan it as I should have. I missed out on getting a great turkey dinner. We thought we’d just do it at home. Sharmell said, ‘Baby, I’m just gonna go to Boston Market and pick up some stuff.’ Did not realize the brothas don’t eat at Boston Market. She should have gone to Frenchy’s Chicken.” Brad laughs. Book continues, “It was all good. We ate and said, ‘Thank you, God, for everything that we have. And that was the most important thing. My little boy running around, my little girl running around. I had the day off, so it was a good day.”
Hyan Young
“The independent wrestling scene right now is totally off the chain. Doing big things. One of my students down there Hyan Young ran into some promoters in Japan, they want to bring her over early next year, so big ups to Hyan for doing such an awesome job. I kicked her out of school. I think she said, she just joined to have some fun. Something like that. I told her to bounce. Take your gear you are going on a trip. And that what’s happened, she got out there and for some reason, she humbled herself and came back. In the last year, Hyan has set Reality of Wrestling on fire. If you haven’t see Hyun go to Reality of Wrestling. You can check out he profile. Check her out on FITE TV.
ROW Profile
Su Yung vs. Hyan
Reality of Wrestling is getting ready to do something really big in the next month. Be on your Twitter at the beginning of 2019.
Open for Listening
The phone lines are open, today.
The number is 713-572-4610
The first caller is some gentleman named Alex, who hails from Indiana.
Alex wants to know Booker’s thoughts on WrestleMania being headlined by Becky Lynch or Ronda Rousey.
“You know the main event would be the top ticket. It would be huge. Is the time right? Should this be the year that the ladies crash through that glass ceiling? Ronda Rousey, she is definitely the player. She’s been doing a Hell of a job! Becky Lynch, now that she has switched gears and totally created this different persona, as a heel, as well as pulling it off in the ring. Could this be the year? Me, personally? If it happens this year I would be all for it. Especially with Evolution being touted as the year’s best PPV. The ladies went out and left nothing on the table. My thought is: Give them the nod. Let’s start a petition right now! GIVE THE LADIES THE MAIN EVENT AT WRESTLEMANIA, because Alex said so.”
Brad wonders, “Do you think Becky and Ronda would be the main event or Ronda and Charlotte?”
“Ronda and Charlotte would definitely be a show stopper. The thing is… this is how I look at stuff…It could be a great movie and the poster has two little kids running around and the name is “Jack Johnson” and you don’t want to see that. It’s one of those movies that was winning all kind of awards. (?) Becky Lynch vs. Ronda, that’s a great poster, but just imagine the poster you can put together with Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair Main Event at WrestleMania. That poster screams louder. It’s almost like the Saturday Night Fever poster with John Travolta on it. You wanted to get out and see that movie!”
“You think Ronda and Charlotte on a poster would be the optimum…” Brad starts. Booker finishes his thought, “Charlotte. She deserves it. She’s done a lot for the women’s division. I wouldn’t say she put them on the map, but as far as having a highlight reel. Charlotte Flair has picked up that momentum and she’s running with it. She’s delivering every time. She is the best female wrestler of this era. I say give her and Ronda Rousey that spot. It’s not gonna get bigger than Ronda. Let them in.”
Brad says, “Rhonda and Charlotte killed it at Survivor Series. It was left open-ended.” Booker concludes, “You got Ronda, Charlotte, and you can still use Becky Lynch.”
Start of Rant
(Why does Charlotte deserve it more than Becky? She’s not better on the mic or in the ring. Charlotte “borrowed” her Dad’s gimmick, then she built herself to fit the WWE mold. She is great. But… Becky earned it the hard way, and she has gotten over despite Vince’s fixation over cosmetically enhanced blondes, as wells as an accent that he reportedly disliked. Becky got over organically. No woman in WWE has ever gotten over like that, to the degree, that my non-wrestling friends know her.)
End of Rant
Tyrone from Pennsylvania calls in and ask Booker when his next match is.
Booker responds, “As far as me getting in the ring and laying hands on a man? That’s a hard question. But, I’ve been training really hard. Never say never. I gotta always be ready, willing, and able to test myself at a moments notice. If a man jumps, he better be real froggy, cause I’m gone be all over his behind. Look for me to do an exhibition match for Reality of Wrestling. I had an active career for twenty-three, twenty-four plus years, and I’m just glad people like yourself had a chance to be part of it.”
Alex Riley
Booker reports that “He (Riley) called John Cena out. He says he’s going to do everything in his power to make John Cena’s life miserable. What can you make of that? Literally Alex Riley, former WWE Superstar, he had a run with The Miz. And then something happened, I don’t know what it was, but Alex Riley faded away a bit. They put the guy on commentary, he had a good look, I think his Dad was a former broadcaster, himself. Good voice. I thought that was a good spot for him. You can have that spot forever. I’m gonna try to get Alex on the show. I tried when he left WWE, but he went radio silent.
I told him, “You could ride this out for a long time. You can be part of the broadcast team. That’s a 10 to 15-year spot. And longevity is better than that quick payoff. You can go spend that money up real quick. He was like, ’No. I gotta get back in the ring. I gotta do it. I’m missing it.’ So, Alex Riley begged, I won’t say literally begged, but this is how much Alex Riley wanted it. He went back and said, ‘I want to get back in the ring.’ And he was willing to go back to NXT, instead of the main roster.”
Brad recalls, “He wrestled a couple times down there.”
“And then he blew his knee out,” Booker remembers. “The lazy legs. My thing is your worst enemy is time off. He went back in and hurt himself. He was on Glow! Brad confirms, “The Season Finale.” Booker says, “We gotta talk about Alex Riley and the secret to all his madness.”
Booker gives it some more thought and concludes that Alex Riley knocking on 40, must have meant he was coming for John Cena’s acting career.
Chuck and Tito
Brad asks Booker who he picks.
Booker predicts that Chuck will beat Tito.
He was wrong.
Before The Final Bell:
Enzo Invades WWE
“Real1 aka Enzo Amore now just NZO. Enzo had his concert last Monday night at the Whisky a Go Go in LA. I tell you he did the run in on Sunday’s PPV. He literally crashed the party. He caused a scene. Security had to take him up out of there. I think they banned him from the Staples Center for life.”
John Boehner, their DJ says he saw NZO’s merchandise on his website and was tempted to buy it. Here it is.
Brad asks Booker how many people were at his “concert”? Booker answers, “I think he had 80 people. It was a small show.” Brad says it was less than a fifth sold, making it an intimate gathering. (Ha) Booker won’t hear of it and calls NZO a phenomenon that rarely comes once in a lifetime.
Enzo at Whisky
“The guy is a lyricist,” Booker exclaims. Booker says he did a freestyle at the show. Brad asks, “Grade the bars. Was it a hot 16?” Booker says the freestyle was off. “It’s hard getting out in front of people like that when you haven’t done it before. You just can’t jump out there and do something like that and hit a home run.” (Even if you are a rare phenomenon?)
Brad notes, “A lot of fans after they saw him on the Survivor Series acting a fool. Some fans actually wrote a song for NZO. You know that classic song, “That’s Amore”? I think Dean sings it. They wrote a remix to it:
“When you get released, so you buy your own seat. That’s Amore. When you’re thrown to the floor, and escorted out the door. That’s Amore. When you stand up and shout, so security throws you out. That’s Amore. When you don’t even make it on air, or keep your commemorative chair. That’s Amore.”
John Boehner says, “That’s a cold sixteen right there.”
Rating: 8.0 out of 10
Overall Observations:
I like the new addition of taking callers throughout the show. It keeps things fresh and it’s fun hearing Booker and Brad interact with the listeners. It would be really awesome if they decide to implement this throughout the show permanently. There were a lot of topics on today’s show and I loved it. It guarantees that the show keeps moving at a good pace, and if you don’t like a subject, just wait, it will be over soon. I would also appreciate a little more interaction with their DJ, John Boehner. He’s a riot.
Another good one!
See ya next week!
About James:
Based out of New York, James Hayes is an independent filmmaker and podcaster, currently working on a true crime series focused on African American crime. When he needs a break from the seriousness of true crime he turns to pro wrestling. James has 27 years of following the sport. Here is a link to his film credits https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2026980/, as well as his Twitter @JamesHa34395813.
I think when you look at in ring stuff, Becky doesn’t come close to Charlotte with what..a three move arsenal? I think the reason she looked so good at Evolution was that Charlotte is someone who can perform all the spots of a match whether hitting or missing them and make an opponent look great. That said, it’s Beckys time to run with it and hopefully she doesnt lose steam.