Wednesday PWTorch Livecast with Pat McNeill
Special Guests: Shimmer founder Dave Prazak & wrestling artist Rob Schamberger
Aired Live: March 23, 2016
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Recap by Dominic DeAngelo
SUBJECTS COVERED
-Shimmer
-Rob’s Artwork
-WWE’s Indy Involvement
TIME STAMPS OF COVERAGE
(2:05) Pat McNeilL intro
### COMMERCIAL BREAK ###
(7:38) Dave Prazak intro
(8:55) Shimmer Volume 80 in Dallas
(15:10) What are the plans for the buffer between the semi-finals and the finals of the Shimmer tournament?
(16:19) What visitors from WWE have gone to Shimmer to scout talent?
(17:50) Any banned moves in Shimmer?
(18:40) How’s Dave feel about inter-gender wrestling?
(20:05) How would you re-book WrestleMania?
(23:05) Monday’s mis-use of Terry Funk
(26:20) What American indy cruiserweights could wrestle in the Global Cruiserweight Championship series?
(28:50) Cherry Bomb signing with TNA
(30:15) Rob Schamberger answers Pat’s phone call
(31:15) Is Rob getting a WWE Network show?
(33:00) Rob’s art style
(34:27) Who was the first female wrestler Rob drew?
(35:20) Painting the McMahons
(36:30) How long does a piece take for Rob to complete?
(37:40) What piece is he most proud of?
(39:10) Has Dave considered switching Shimmer’s viewing format?
(41:10) How much input does WWE have when it comes to Rob drawing subjects?
(42:10) How did Rob get on WWE’s radar?
(47:40) Has any other wrestling promotions commissioned Rob for paintings?
(48:50) If Dave had to bet his house, who would WWE sign from Shimmer?
(50:25) Connor’s Cure
(57:07) Get tickets to Shimmer Volume 80
(58:40) Follow Rob and Dave on social media
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
(8:55) Shimmer Volume 80 will take place on April 2 at 5:00 p.m. There will be a tournament to crown a new Heart of Shimmer Champion. There will be six first round matches three second round matches and a three-way elimination match for the finals. The line up is stacked with the likes of Cherry Bomb, Blue Pants, and Candice LaRae. Dave says it’s a good way to see a single show from start to finish that tells a complete story. Pat and Dave go through a list of Shimmer alumni that is quite impressive.
(15:10) What are the plans for the buffer between the semi-finals and the finals of the tournament? Not sure if there will be a match, but MMA fighter Shayla Bayslor will address the audience
(16:19) What visitors from WWE have gone to Shimmer to scout talent? Sara Del Ray is an obvious one and Dave is happy that WWE is more open-minded about scouting from other promotions as there is a lot of great women wrestling talent out there.
(17:50) Any banned moves in Shimmer? Nope, nothing’s banned – people just have to be careful.
(18:40) How’s Dave feel about inter-gender wrestling? He can see how people criticize it, but he’s not against it. It’s something that sets Lucha Underground apart from the other promotions.
(20:05) How would you re-book WrestleMania? Pat says it’s hard to predict injuries. Dave says to showcase NXT at WrestleMania. That’s a good way to build for the future. Pat says he would have put Undertaker against anybody else. Dave jokes Taker vs. Bayley so she gets a big payday. Bearhug, Taker taps.
(23:05) Do we need the fake camera backstage? What’s the point of Terry Funk giving Ambrose a chainsaw? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Funk to help Reigns break into arena to give Reigns some rub? Pat thinks so, but they wouldn’t want the Philly crowd to boo Terry. Dave mentions Ambrose’s extreme CZW background to make some sense of the chainsaw angle.
(26:20) What American indy cruiserweights could wrestle in the Global Cruiserweight Championship series? Dave’s not sure, but there could be a lot of EVOLVE talent.
(28:50) Cherry Bomb signing with TNA: Dave says there are a lot of opportunities to get TV exposure besides WWE and thankfully TNA is open to allowing their talent to still wrestle on the indy scene.
(30:15) Rob Schamberger answers Pat’s phone call.
(31:15) Rob may be getting a WWE Network show and has a YouTube show with WWE called “Canvas To Canvas.” He’s going to be painting Triple H vs. Roman Reigns at WWE Axxess throughout the whole weekend.
(33:00) Pat says Rob’s work not only resembles the wrestler but it captures the essence of who the wrestler is. That’s exactly what he goes for: to make the person feel what it’s like to watch to the wrestler perform.
(34:27) Who was the first female wrestler Rob drew? Mildred Burke, he was a big fan of hers. Rob’s a huge supporter of ladies wrestling.
(35:20) Has Vince asked Rob to update his own portrait that’s in Vince’s living room? Rob laughs and says no, but he did do a portrait of the McMahon family that hangs in Vince’s private conference room in Stamford.
(36:30) How long does a piece take for Rob to complete? He says it varies depending on size and concept, and can range from an hour to a month.
(37:40) What piece is he most proud of? Last year when he painted the Warrior Award picture of Connor The Crusher and The Ultimate Warrior. Before that it was the jacket that the Warrior wore on Raw in his final appearance. Both his and Connor’s stories resonated with him so he was happy to give the Warrior Award painting to Connor’s family.
(38:25) He drew Bayley? Yes, he did one that’s on a shirt from WWEShop.com.
(39:10) With the influx of streaming services, has Dave Prazak considered switching his format? He understands that technology is changing, but he’s probably going to stick to a streaming show once a year. However, they will be doing a lot more with their DVD library.
(41:10) How much input does WWE have when it comes to Rob drawing subjects? Occasionally they’ll ask for things, but for the most part they let Rob do what he wants, which is an awesome opportunity.
(42:10) How did Rob get on WWE’s radar? He became friends with Jim Ross and reached out to him for a Make-A-Wish show. JR went the extra distance and told execs that they needed to hire Rob. He may have been the last person JR hired for the company.
(43:40) What made Rob decide to cover pro wrestling as a major subject? For years Rob was trying to be a comic artist, but he wasn’t making money. He wanted to celebrate wrestling in a fine art medium and did a Kickstarter for a showcase of his “Wrestling Champions” collection. He has done a lot of old-school wrestlers and would enjoy doing more.
(47:40) Has any other wrestling promotions commissioned Rob for paintings? Not yet, but he’s had talks and does his own work to celebrate other promotions.
(48:50) If Dave Prazak had to bet his house, who would WWE sign from Shimmer? Dave says it would probably be Candace LaRae. She’s got the look and the experience that WWE is looking for.
(50:25) Rob thinks it’s amazing that WWE is doing a lot more work with Connor’s Cure. He’s become a personal friend of Connor’s father Steve, who wells up when he talks about WWE’s help.
(57:07) According to the advance buys, the WrestleMania Weekend show might be the second-largest attended show in Shimmer history, To get tickets, go to MorethanMania.com. General admission is $25.
(58:40) Follow Rob on Instagram and Twitter @robschamberger and follow Dave on Twitter @ShimmerWomen.
SCORE & REVIEW
8.5: What’s great about the All-Star Panels is you typically get guests from two totally different spectrums which gives the episode a wide range of talking points and subjects to cover, and this one delivers. Dave has a simple, yet extremely effective pitch for people to purchase or attend Shimmer Volume 80: a story that starts and ends in one night. It was also fascinating getting to hear Rob’s path to working for the WWE (certainly a cool story). Both guests were engaged and Pat did some mighty-fine question asking that kept the show chugging at a good pace. Definitely a good listen for women’s wrestling and/or painting/art aficionados.
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