Cheap Heat on Grantland – show’s future revealed (Nov. 11, 2015)

Cheap Heat Podcast at Grantland.com
Host: Peter Rosenberg
Release Date: November 11, 2015

DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

Recap by Corey Freedman

Top Newsworthy Items

– The hosts announced that the show will live on in spite of Grantland ending.

– The hosts agree that given the structure and participants of the WWE World Title tournament, there is little room for excitement/surprise beyond Dean Ambrose or Roman Reigns turning heel.

– The trio took particular exception to the New Day and Bray Wyatt not being part of the tournament and wonder why WWE didn’t leave a little more suspense when announcing the participants.

– The hosts also agree that they have no clue about the point of the MexAmerica angle.

Subjects Covered (w/timestamps)

0:00 – Introduction/State of the podcast
4:50 – Seth Rollins’s injury
6:45 – Rosenberg finished Gary Hart’s book/Doris Adkisson
12:15 – General Tournament thoughts
22:05 – The future for Seth Rollins
28:35 – More Tournament thoughts
41:00 – Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Colter
42:15 – Random discussions
46:50 – Wyatt Family vs. Brothers of Destruction
50:00 – Shoemaker interviewed C.M. Punk for Marvel.com
51:20 – Conclusion and sign-off

Show Highlights

Introduction: The show begins with Rosenberg saying that Greg will be replacing Shoemaker as the host…BUT we get a run-in from David Shoemaker, who announces his return to the podcast. Shoemaker announces that the show will live on. The hosts talk about the overwhelming response they received online when fans thought the show was in jeopardy.

Seth Rollins: The hosts talk about ESPN anchor Jonathan Coachman being the one to break the news of how long he will be out of action on Twitter. Rosenberg praises Rollins for tearing apart his knee and still managing to powerbomb Kane and finish the match.

Gary Hart’s book: Rosenberg briefly interrupts the Rollins discussion to mention that he finished Gary Hart’s book. He notes how depressing the ending of the book is with all the deaths Hart talks about. Shoemaker mentions the death of Doris Adkisson, the matriarch of the Von Erich family. The hosts have a brief discussion about Doris.

General WWE Title Tournament thoughts: Rosenberg brings up how Rollins getting injured led a lot of fans to hope that might spur widespread changes with WWE’s current product. Shoemaker follows by saying he is glad they didn’t record an episode last week because it probably would have been a lot of fantasy booking that is better than the reality. Shoemaker is hoping for Kalisto to beat Ryback because, given the way the bracket is structured, that seems to be the only hope for a surprise. Shoemaker wonders why the New Day and Bray Wyatt were left out of the tournament. The hosts believe Tyler Breeze is the weirdest inclusion as he just recently debuted and has little kayfabe reasoning to be involved in a tournament for the title. Shoemaker notes that WWE had a chance to shake things up, but it felt like they just shoehorned this tournament into Raw. He suggest that a better direction would have been to complete one side of the bracket in one night, rather than splitting up the entire thing on different shows. Shoemaker reads some online comments from a WWE.com article. Shoemaker brings up that Roman Reigns should have accepted Triple H’s offer and then turn on him once he won the title. Greg brings up that Roman has always been a mercenary and shouldn’t have such a deep code of morals all of a sudden.

Rollins’s future: Shoemaker starts by noting how valuable Rollins has been throughout his title run and that WWE could have done a better job with his booking. The hosts discuss the timeline of Rollins’ injury and where a potential return could occur. Rosenberg notes that when he returns, he will more than likely return as a babyface. Rosenberg wonders if you could bring Rollins back to TV before he is able to wrestle. The hosts briefly discuss that an injury in wrestling can’t be treated the same as an injury in other sports.

More Tournament thoughts: Shoemaker talks about Bray Wyatt winning the tournament (had he been an entrant) and how that would have signaled a clear changing of the guard in WWE. He believes a heel will leave the tournament the champion. The hosts seem to agree that the options for an exciting ending to the tournament are fairly limited given the structure and participants of the tournament. For example, Shoemaker points out that many people’s fantasy pick is Cesaro, and he has little chance of winning as he is Reigns’s next opponent. Shoemaker guesses that the final four will be Reigns, Ambrose, Owens, and Del Rio. He also believes that Owens and Del Rio stand little chance because they already hold other belts.

The hosts talk a bit about Kevin Owens. The hosts agree that the only interesting possibility is someone turning heel. They also think a bit of a run by Kalisto could be interesting. Rosenberg wonders if Daniel Bryan not being included in the tournament hints that he is far away from returning. Shoemaker responds by saying that he doesn’t think you can take anything from this tournament as it appears to be WWE’s way of continuing with their previous plans, just without Seth Rollins. He continues by noting that this tournament gives off a vibe that the WWE had very little conversation on how to shake things up. The hosts note that by telling us all of the participants in the tournament in advance, the WWE killed most of the potential excitement it could have generated. They wonder why they left no mystery/surprise surrounding who would be in the tournament.

Del Rio-Zeb: Shoemaker starts by wondering if either of the two have a clue as to what their gimmick is. He says he has no idea what the point of the MexAmerica storyline is. Greg likes the idea of Zeb and Del Rio together but also has little idea of what their current pairing is supposed to be accomplishing.

Random discussions: The hosts discuss Stat Guy Gregs role, the Dallas Cowboys, and NBA basketball in Texas.

Wyatts-BOD: Shoemaker starts by wondering why it was so easy for the Brothers of Destruction to escape the clutches of the Wyatt Family. Rosenberg follows by wondering what happened after they brought each of the brothers backstage. Shoemaker continues by asking whether Bray Wyatt actually has powers now (control of thunder and lightning) or what the point of that segment on Raw last week was. The hosts wonder who will join Undertaker and Kane at Survivor Series.

Shoemaker/C.M. Punk: Shoemaker discusses interviewing C.M. Punk just before Grantland ended. He notes that Punk seems very blissful and nice. They also talk about Punk’s work with Marvel.

Conclusion: The hosts talk about a Cheap Heat t-shirt they created.

Score and Review

Score (9.0): Cheap Heat is back with a bang! After announcing that the podcast will be continuing, the hosts turned in an excellent show. They spent nearly the entire show talking about Seth Rollins and the WWE Title Tournament. I thoroughly enjoyed their thoughts on the tournament’s presentation, execution, and predictions for how it will all play out. Given the importance of the tournament, I thought it certainly warranted the amount of discussion time it got on this episode. This was a pretty simple episode with little distractions or diversions from the main topic. I think any listener who follows the current product will be entertained by this in-depth discussion of the tournament and what Rollins’s injury means for his and the WWE’s future.

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