Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast
Hosts: Sam Roberts & Katie Linendoll
Guest: Tyler Breeze
Release Date: October 28, 2015
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Recap by Mike Booble
TOP NEWS
– Tyler Breeze interview discussing Breaking Ground, his role in NXT, his training before he arrived at the Performance Center. and the training he’s received since and how those two are drastically different.
– State of Wrestling with Katie Linendoll recapping Brock Lesnar on the Stone Cold Podcast and they recap the Hell In A Cell PPV.
– Discussion of how Bray Wyatt should be utilized heading towards Wrestlemania and the way Tyler Breeze was used on his debut.
– Fantasy booking for Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose.
EPISODE SUMMARY (w/timestamps)
Introduction – 0.00
Tyler Breeze Interview – 2.09
State of Wrestling – 21.01
HIAC recap – 32.43
Breeze debut – 53.00
Fantasy booking – 1:04.13
Sign Off – 1:15.55
EPISODE RECAP
– Roberts opened the show quickly recapping last week’s interview with Roman Reigns and setting up the Tyler Breeze interview this week. This interview was conducted at the Performance Center just a few days before Breeze made his main roster debut on Smackdown.
– The interview started with Roberts asking if the new show Breaking Ground was a big deal for Breeze. He said most people like to get lost in the illusion. They want to know more than they do and want to see things they’ve never seen.
– Roberts asked if this kind of show could have been done during the days of FCW, before the advent of NXT. Breeze said yes it could have been done, but because of the rise in popularity of NXT the show wouldn’t be as big as it’s going to be.
– Roberts asked about his role in NXT, basically having the Dolph Ziggler job of making everyone else look good at the possible expense of self preservation and advancement. Breeze gave a company answer saying he looks at every match as an opportunity to show what he can do inside the ring. He used his match with Jushin Liger as an example of how he’s trusted to have a good match with anyone and how he uses that spotlight to showcase his talent.
– Breeze was asked when he knew he could put on the kind of performance he’s now known for and he said not really until he became Tyler Breeze. He was asked what’s next for the character and he said he likes to incorporate new technology into the character and to basically stay tuned.
– Roberts transitioned into asking about Breaking Ground and what Breeze hopes is shown on the show. He said the E.60 special he was featured in was filmed right around the time he was beginning the character and this show will focus a lot more on the personal life of the Superstars.
– Asked about training at Lance Storm’s school before getting to the Performance Center and the differences between the two, Breeze said at Storm’s school it focused mostly on basic, in-ring work. Very little in the way of character development. At the Performance Center they focus heavily on character development and having more than one trainer, with more than one style gives you a lot to pull form.
– Roberts finished the interview asking what is in the future as it relates to the main roster. He said the goal is to always perform at WrestleMania and if you’re on the NXT roster chances are that isn’t going to happen. So the goal is to make it to the main roster, but he likes being in NXT because he’s on the ground floor of a lot of the new stuff they do, like Breaking Ground and that’s a good feeling.
– After a quick recap, Roberts welcomed Katie Linendoll to the State of Wrestling. They started by going back to last week and discussing Brock Lesnar on the Stone Cold Podcast.
– Roberts said he enjoyed the interview but thought they needed to spend more time talking wrestling and less time talking about trucks and hunting. He said the Triple H and Vince McMahon interviews were perfect examples and that this one didn’t have as much for the wrestling fan. He said a lot of people didn’t want him on the podcast because he’s publicly stated he doesn’t love wrestling, that it’s a job to him. He punches in, punches out, and goes home.
– Roberts equates Lesnar’s attitude about the business with C.M. Punk. He said when people got angry at Punk when he left for “turning his back on them” that they misunderstood. Punk had more of a love for wrestling than Lesnar, but at the end of the day he didn’t like his job. And if you don’t like your job and financially are no longer dependent on it, then why stay? He said Punk doesn’t owe anything to anyone in wrestling.
– Linendoll feels that Lesnar is disrespectful to the fans and the business because of his viewpoint on it. Roberts disagreed and said he’s a performer. He’s there to sell a performance. Fans by his merchandise because of the job he does in the ring and if they were truly offended, don’t by the merch. Roberts said it’s better he’s brutally honest rather than pretending to love something he doesn’t. When he left after WrestleMania XX at the peak of his run he basically said without saying he doesn’t care about the business. And people still were happy to see him come back.
– Linendoll referenced the SportsCenter interview where he announced his intention to resign with WWE and how he said he loved the business. Roberts thinks he was lying. The part he likes is how easy it is. He appreciates the money and the schedule he has. He feels if he hadn’t gotten sick he would still be in UFC and the reason he’s in WWE is the toll it takes on his body.
– Roberts and Linendoll transitioned into the HIAC match between Lesnar and The Undertaker. Roberts said it seems like Lesnar bleeds in everyone of his matches that it appears he fights for real a lot of the time. He said blood isn’t tolerated by management but he doesn’t care. What are they going to do to him. He has all the leverage. They talked about the apparent direction WWE is heading revisiting the Undertaker – Bray Wyatt feud. Roberts said Wyatt has the reputation of losing all big matches and if he’s going to be the heir apparent to The Undertaker he needs to win. Wyatt should not be used to put people over,he should be the one being put over.
– They talked about the John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio match. They found in interesting that after all the guys Cena has beat, kicking out of every finisher imaginable, it was weird to see him lose so easily with a kick to the head. He said Cena is at that point where wins and losses don’t matter because he’s been built as unstoppable. Tyler Breeze has the same problem in NXT where he loses all the big matches he’s in. It gives the appearance of less importance and less than a threat because they can’t win.
– They talked about what looks like Undertaker’s last run and last WrestleMania match. Roberts thinks he needs to lose every match, because like Cena he doesn’t need to be put over. After throwing around some scenarios they landed on the possibility of it being Cena. Linendoll said she doesn’t like it because Cena is too big of a star to face Undertaker. After understandable shock by Roberts she clarified Cena needs to be in a bigger spot of the card, a la the World Title match or Era vs Era like his match with The Rock. Undertaker was never THE GUY in his era so the match doesn’t hold quite the magnitude as it has in the past.
– They did a 180 and talked about Breeze’s debut on Smackdown. They liked the surprise of him showing up unannounced. Linendoll doesn’t like the partnership with Summer Rae and feels he would be better by himself. Roberts disagreed because he’s from NXT and all those guys get cheered and Summer gets him heat. They felt he did a good job on Raw, but worry because of how he debuted and the feud he’s placed in, because of Ziggler’s place on the card, it might lock him into that position. Roberts said wins and losses sometimes matter and that they just tend to throw NXT talent in to sink or swim and really need to give them a slow build to establish credibility.
– After quickly revisiting Del Rio-Cena, they talked about Kevin Owens and how he comes across differently than Rollins. Rollins is your typical slimy heel, as is Owens. The difference being every now and then Owens wins clean over big time opponents like Cena and Cesaro whereas Rollins most of the time cheats or has a non-finish.
– They talked about the rise in popularity of Reigns and how that might be due to the quality of his recent matches. Roberts feels the obvious storyline is Ambrose turns on Reigns to become heel but that it should be the other way around Reigns should turn, become a monster heel then become a good guy when the time is right.
SCORE & REVIEW
Overall 5.5. The interview segment was a big disappointment. Breeze wasn’t really in-character and gave mostly cliched, company-driven answers. Roberts and Linendoll asked the right questions and did the best they could making it entertaining, but it was just missing something the last few interviews have had. The take on the Stone Cold podcast was interesting just a week late. I feel like they could have touched on it briefly if they wanted but to spend almost twenty minutes on something from a week ago left a lot of the other discussions short. The big noteworthy item from this week was Katie saying Undertaker wasn’t big enough to warrant a match with John Cena at WrestleMania. When you hear the case it makes sense, it’s just a shock to the system of any WWE fan. Usually this viewpoint is the other way around and opponent X isn’t big enough to face Taker.
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