Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” #277 Mega Show (Nov. 19, 2015)

The Art of Wrestling with Colt Cabana #277
Guests: Ontario LIVE featuring Cedric Alexander, Dick Justice, Monster Mafia (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page), and Colin Hunter of KayfabeNews.com
Release Date: November 19, 2015

DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

Report by Chris Davidson

Hot Topics

– Live Art of wrestling podcast features stacked lineup of top independent stars

– The author of humor site Kayfabe News talks about his process and writing wrestling satire.

– Colt Cabana reminisces about Nick Bockwinkel and counts down his favorite Canadian wrestlers.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 – Introduction
10:11 – First Guest: Cedric Alexander
21:00 – Second Guest: Josh Alexander
27:53 – Third Guest: Ethan Page
39:57 – Song of the week
42:33 – Fourth Guest: Office Dick Justice
55:05 – Fifth Guest: Colin Hunter of Kayfabe News
1:09:49 – Colt wraps up the show

Episode Summary

0:00 – Introduction – Colt kicked off the first ever live podcast in Canada by joking with the live audience at Alpha-1 Wrestling in Hamilton, Ontario. Colt joked about Sabu now having a genie at live events, and called out the younger guys in the audience as Sabu’s new manager. Colt bantered with the eight-year-old boy in the audience and asked if it was okay if he said the “F-word.” Colt brought up Nick Bockwinkel’s recent passing and told a story of wrestling in front of Bockwinkel in Japan. Colt ran down a list of the “greatest” Canadian wrestlers of all time. Number three was “Iron” Mike Sharpe, number two was Bruce Hart, and number one Christian. Colt joked that Christian gave him hope that his wrestling name could be “Jew.”

10:11 – First Guest: Cedric Alexander – Cedric Alexander started by saying that they love him in Canada, and then riffed with Colt about why Canadian’s hate Americans: healthcare and crappy beer. Colt was surprised that Cedric had only been wrestling for six years. Cedric said his connection with HighSpots.com gave him access to a lot of shows where they are affiliated. Cedric is from Charlotte, which led Colt to jokes about Ric Flair selling his robe. Cedric was trained by George South and Jake Manning, who initially didn’t like him. Colt asked what it was like working with George South, and Cedric said he got a lot of nicknames from South, including Koko B. Ware, Jr. and Black Lesnar, but ultimately South calls him Cedric. Cedric talked about South’s collection of wrestling memorabilia, and briefly talked about his contract with Ring of Honor. Cedric plugged his social media and said not to message him on Facebook before Colt wrapped up the interview.

21:00 – Second Guest: Josh Alexander – Colt welcomed his next guest by welcoming “the weirdest thing of all time [Cedric’s] brother, Josh Alexander.” Josh said when Ring of Honor was interested in signing Monster Mafia, they wanted Ethan Page to change his name (because of Adam Page) but didn’t care that Josh and Cedric Alexander had the same last name. Josh said he wrestled his last match this summer and Colt said it makes his sad that Josh is no longer wrestling. Josh said that he had neck surgery, but returned to wrestling after five weeks because he was trying to get to PWG. After he got back to normal, he broke his neck again. Colt talked about the need for wrestlers to be in the ring, even though no fan would hold it against him if he said he had a neck injury, sometimes wrestlers and promoters push themselves perhaps too far. After the second neck injury, Josh wrestled through the PWG DDT4 tag tournament and planned his retirement. Josh said it’s hard not to get back in the ring, even though he knows it’s for the best.

27:53 – Third Guest: Ethan Page – Colt called up Josh’s former tag team partner Ethan Page to tell Josh it’s better to not wrestle than to break his neck again. Colt asked if Josh and Ethan got together because they had wrestled enough that they just became a tag team. Ethan said that they wanted to get to PWG, and it made sense to start as a tag team, since there was less competition. Ethan credited the Young Bucks for giving them an opportunity at an iPPV. Ethan said his plan was to go to a lot of small towns to build their team until they got enough exposure to get flown to California for PWG. Both guys talked about horror stories crossing the Canadian/American border. Ethan talked about his new work with WWN and talked about his relationship with Gabe Sapolsky. Josh said he’s currently working as a mechanic and both guys plugged their social media before Colt wrapped up the interview.

39:57 – Song of the week – Colt brought up James Wilson, the operations manager of Alpha-1 Pro Wrestling, and made him sing “I’m the Mountie” with him. Colt plugged CutMyPromo.com, where James recently made an appearance.

42:33 – Fourth Guest: Office Dick Justice – Colt started the interview asking Justice if he had any issue with border control. Justice said Ethan Page told him to be at the show earlier than expected and while crossing the border, they got sent into immigration for his first “negative” Canada experience. Saying that he had a negative experience drew a chorus of “Sorry” from the Canadian crowd. Colt asked about the origin of Dick Justice, who worked his way up the ranks as a second generation police officer until he obtained the title of “Super Cop,” where he has jurisdiction to fight bad guys anywhere he sees fit. Colt and Justice talked about all the times they have wrestled and what Justice is good at. Colt asked if Justice thinks he could beat Ronda Rousey in a shoot fight, which Justice did not think he could. Justice said his goal is to wrestle in England, and Colt told him he could say the “C-word” in England, but Justice feels it is still very disrespectful.  Justice signed off plugging his Tinder profile.

55:05 – Fifth Guest: Colin Hunter of Kayfabe News – Hunter started off talking about how Kayfabe News is The Onion meets pro wrestling. Colt talked about submitting an idea to Hunter to use, and Hunter talked about some of the best and worst headlines he has had on the site. Both men discussed seeking out information about yourself online, and being surprised when people care about what you’ve done. Hunter recalled a story from a recent Art of Wrestling podcast where Super Crazy thought a Kayfabe News article was real. Hunter talked about his inspiration for his headlines, and about how Kayfabe News is read by 96% men. Hunter then brought out a list of his favorite terrible fan-submitted headlines. Hunter talked about writing for wrestling magazines and making up fake interviews with wrestlers. Hunter also discussed his process of making funny wrestling articles. Colt and Hunter discussed the funny things that happen behind the scenes in wrestling, and how weird wrestling is in general. Hunter then covered some of his favorite bad headlines that he had written. Colt closed the interview talking about funny people having fun with wrestling.

1:09:49 – Colt wraps up the show – Colt apologized to the audience for doing his plugs during the live show. Colt thanked his fans, all his guests, and his sponsors, plugged his upcoming appearances, joked about eating Chinese food on Christmas day, and signed off.

OVERALL SCORE

Score: 8.0: Live episodes of The Art of Wrestling are always a lot of fun because of the different types of people and stories on the show, as well as the live audience contributing in unique ways. The best moment this week, and maybe the best moment on the podcast in a while, came when Dick Justice said he had a negative experience in Canada, and the Canadian audience responded by spontaneously yelling out “sorry.” Colt really feeds off the energy of the crowd, and the guests all kept the audience hot for the entire show. The audio quality for this episode was also fantastic. Typically, live episodes don’t sound great, as most locations they are taped aren’t conducive to a recorded show, but this episode was very clear and well produced. Colt mentioned a few weeks ago that he and purchased new sound equipment and, assuming he used it during this episode, it was a great investment. Live episodes typically don’t feature any huge name stars, and they’re more about shooting the breeze than getting really deep into a wrestler’s history, but this episode is a solid entry I would recommend.

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