The OVW Podcast

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Hi. Welcome to Podcasters. This is the unofficial wrestlers after show. We are the OVW podcast crew. I have your OVW podcast hosts here with me, starting directly to my right, Jackman Oates. Jackman, how you doing?

Jackman Ochs:

I'm doing all right. How's it going? Shout out to the juggalos.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Always shout out to the juggalos.

Jackman Ochs:

Shout out to the juggalos.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I wish I had some Faygo. Right here. Further to my right (he watches Fox News a lot?) Is Brian Hines. How you doing, sir?

Brian Hines:

All right. How are you?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I think I may have slandered his name there.

Jackman Ochs:

Really? We have some things to talk about after this. Wait until you hear about- this isn't the place for it.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

No, we do have things to do.

Jackman Ochs:

Never mind.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

But it is good to be with you guys and actually be on this side of the mic. Usually even when I'm on the mic, because I do find my way into episodes. If you've been listening to our podcast, you have heard my voice before. But this is my first time. I've actually came over here properly sat down. Going to talk with you all for the whole segment. And we are on video. Do you guys like the new set dressing we came up with in celebration of Podcasters?

Jackman Ochs:

Look at this.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, I think it's great.

Jackman Ochs:

This is our 500 download plaque right here.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yes, YouTube. Well, the podcast people, whoever they are, I don't know. Itunes sent it to us. It's lovely. Yeah, sure. So how you all been? I know it's been kind of a stressful week.

Jackman Ochs:

This is our Blimpy, actually. Yes, this is our Blimpy for 500 downloads.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

That's right. So how you all been this week? Been a stressful week so far. Been a good week. (fellow hosts sound uncommitted) Overwhelming response from the hosts this week, but we are excited for Wrestlers.

Jackman Ochs:

This is super exciting. I was watching it this morning. I mean, one of the great things about wrestling and all of the things that surround wrestling is that no matter what's going on in your life, you and I could fill a podcast. I'm sure you could, too. I'm sure if Malachi wanted to hop on mic, he could too. We could fill a podcast with all of the woes of the world. One of the great things about wrestling is that you get that little bit of a break. Yeah. And then with something like the wrestlers that we're covering this podcast, it kind of extends that break a little bit more, even though this is decidedly much more real than a wrestling show is.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, real is a relative term.

Brian Hines:

It's a break from my reality, but it's a window into somebody else's.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And so we do want to say right here off the top, that full spoilers ahead for Wrestlers. This is episode one, "Ohio Valley Wrestling." So if you have not watched "Ohio Valley Wrestling," episode one of Netflix's Wrestlers, go! Pause this! We will be here. We'll wait really patiently, in your hard drive. So go do that now. But we are going to spoil everything that happened in this first episode, so make sure you have actually finished it. So anything else you guys want to talk about? Any wisdom before we get into this?

Brian Hines:

No. I charge for wisdom.

Jackman Ochs:

Eat your vitamins and say your prayers.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Always good advice when talking wrestling. Before we actually get into breaking down the episode, what's yall's general thoughts? Like in five words, what did you think of this first episode? Brian, what'd you think?

Brian Hines:

Better than I expected.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Interesting. You Jackman?

Jackman Ochs:

For me, in five words.

Brian Hines:

That's four words.

Jackman Ochs:

Is this real or not?

Brian Hines:

Is this real or is this just fantasy?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, I was on my way to quoting Queen, too.

Brian Hines:

We will rock you.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yes.

Brian Hines:

Because we are the champions.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And I'll be your fat bottom girl throughout this whole season.

Jackman Ochs:

That really changes the definition of that song, for me.

Jackman Ochs:

It does change the dynamic of the podcast right here off the top.

Jackman Ochs:

It certainly does.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So we will get into all the action of episode one right after this.

Jackman Ochs:

My name is Jackman Ochs. I'm the best there is, the best there ever has been, and the best there ever will be.

Brian Hines:

And I'm Brian Hines. And whatever he said, only more.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And I'm TyniBrian. I don't have a thing. But we are back and we are getting into episode one of Wrestlers. This in the whole series was produced by Greg Whiteley, who is the same gentleman behind, I believe we've said this before, but behind Last Chance U and Cheer. And he has this theme of sports documentaries, I guess.

Jackman Ochs:

Off the beaten path sports documentaries.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. I guess we're not doing the NFL here, right? Maybe do the XFL.

Jackman Ochs:

It's very easy to tell the stories of the known knowns, the weekly television athletes. It's very hard to provide nuance to stories of people who are trying to get to that level or may never see that level. And that's what Greg Whiteley and his team does very well.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, real pathos. They dig in there and make these people human. So tell me, are you big watchers of this sort of programming? Is this your thing, sports documentaries? Besides wrestling? Have you watched Last Chance U? You have you watched Cheer?

Brian Hines:

No, I'm not familiar with either of those shows.

Jackman Ochs:

I've watched Last Chance U. You have not watched Cheer. I'm down for basically any documentary. If I can make it 15 minutes in and don't want to turn it off, I'm pretty much there for the entirety of the run.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Excellent. So we open up this episode with basically the walk ins. I think we started with Hollyhood. Haley J. Then Cash Flo.

Jackman Ochs:

And it's a Thursday afternoon at the historic Davis Arena.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, we know that Thursdays are show nights there in Louisville. We've been there a few times. Always a good time. We certainly recommend it. They're all showing up and they're prepping. While they're doing that, they are kind of giving us the rundown on what professional wrestling is and kind of just walking through the background. I actually took a couple of notes. Al Snow, I guess everybody should know these characters.

Brian Hines:

They should, but we shouldn't assume that they should.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, Al Snow is the owner. The dude in the salt and pepper. Somebody told me once there was this phrase. I'm not entirely sure what happened with it, but yes. So, yeah, Al Snow is the boss. He's the co owner, or he's the commissioner. Gordon commissioner of the thing. How would you describe him Jackman?

Jackman Ochs:

He's the booker, he's the pencil. He's the most important man in the entire company. He's the brains behind the operation.

Brian Hines:

He's the Kermit the Frog, as he put it.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yes. as a man who was- and that was all over the trailer. That he runs "The Muppet Show."

Brian Hines:

I think that is a perfect analogy for him.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Can I tell you, that was my dream job growing up, was to be Kermit the Frog. And I thought The Muppet Show was the coolest thing in the world.

Brian Hines:

It was the coolest thing in the world if you grew up in the late 70s, early 80s.

Jackman Ochs:

Was there, and it sucked. I was born in 1991, so yeah, no where near there.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Couple of my favorite things that happened is I think it was Ryan Von Rockit was putting on, like, body lotion with sparkles in it.

Brian Hines:

Well, shout out to you, Ryan Von Rocket.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah.

Brian Hines:

And excellent job on the National Anthem on the pay per view, by the way. I was very impressed. Good job. Even if it was, like, really over the top. I think that was the point, actually.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Actually British, I had assumed he was affecting a British accent when I had seen him in the week to week shows. But seeing him behind the scenes, I'm like, oh, that man is actually from somewhere in the United Kingdom.

Jackman Ochs:

I don't know, because before the Ryan Von Rockit character kind of took off, I don't really remember him talking with that affectation. I think he's living the gimmick a little bit.

Brian Hines:

Well, maybe we could have him on the show and he could talk about it.

Jackman Ochs:

That would be great. Hey, Ryan Howe. Ryan Von Rockit, let us know.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

You are formally welcomed into the microphones and studios of the OVW Podcast.

Jackman Ochs:

You've been sliding in a lot of things recently. Sliding into our DMs.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Absolutely. You can find us @OVWpodcast everywhere media is social.

Brian Hines:

And currently at The Nuthouse.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

We are currently literally at the Nuthouse.

Jackman Ochs:

Well, for you, Ryan Von Rockit, it's exactly what you think it is.

Brian Hines:

I don't know what you just said, little kid, but I believe you.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So yeah, we see people getting into tights and girls talking about whether or not the tights show off their goods.

Brian Hines:

Not for free goods and services.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

We have a strict you have to pay to play policy.

Jackman Ochs:

What a great line.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

It really yeah, it's all hilarious and yeah, they're all getting ready and like an Al and David Shoemaker from The Ringer who they interviewed for this documentary, they're both kind of talking about the history of wrestling. We get a quick nod to the Gold Dust Trio, who are our first known people to stage matches.

Jackman Ochs:

A couple of things, if I could sure, I'll be a stickler here. I think that David Shoemaker has roots in Kentucky. He has a really great book that's kind of like a history of American professional wrestling through the stories of dead wrestlers. Wish I could remember the name of it. But he opens up in that book talking about seeing his first live wrestling show in Louisville. I want to say. It's either in Louisville or Rupp Arena, it's been several years since I've read that book. But he has roots somewhere in Kentucky. And with a name like Shoemaker, of course he's from Kentucky. The second thing is, I would be remiss to say that organized matches, predetermined matches, were probably happening a long time before the Gold Dust Trio. The Gold Dust Trio worked in what would become the WWF and then the WWE. So when you're talking about the history of wrestling and North American wrestling especially, you are kind of always seeing it through the lens of the WWE. And so the WWE is very quick to point out, like, oh, these guys were the first guys to kind of come up with predetermined matches. In all honesty, predetermined matches in, "professional wrestling" had probably started happening as early as the Pyramids. Forever. There's hieroglyphs that literally would suggest that professional wrestling matches were happening as far back as the time of The Pharaohs.

Brian Hines:

Did it show people taking money to take a dive?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Do we know? Do we see people, like, with their hand like-

Brian Hines:

Hands over their heads doing the diamond cutter?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Doing the diamond cutter.

Brian Hines:

Or that number? The DX.

Jackman Ochs:

The big quote from that is or from the Hieroglyphs when it comes to wrestling is, "I will make you fall to your knees at the feet of The Pharaoh."

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh, wow.

Jackman Ochs:

So the trash talk is there and the pageantry is there.

Brian Hines:

I bet if they look hard enough. One of the hieroglyphs says, "Wrestling is real and people are fake."

Jackman Ochs:

One of them actually says, "You can't see me."

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

But we can't find it, for obvious reasons.

Jackman Ochs:

I would be kind of not doing my due diligence as like, the wrestler Nerd Nitpicker here for saying that the Gold Dush Trio invented predetermined matches because, in all honesty, predetermined matches were probably happening for thousands of years prior to the Gold Dust Trio, which came to prominence in, like, the 1930s.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

But I do love the name the Gold Dust Trio, and I couldn't help thinking of.

Jackman Ochs:

Really?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh, yeah.

Brian Hines:

It's weird that that's the first thing that you came up with. I guess not, since this is a wrestling program. But the first thing that popped into my mind was Gold Dust Woman by Fleetwood Mac.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

True. But I mean, it's wrestling, I think of Golddust. For those of you not watching on video, I brought my hand slowly up my chest as I was inhaling a creepy breath to illustrate Golddust. Yeah. Oh, by the way, David Schumacher's book is called "The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling."

Jackman Ochs:

Yes, it is a seriously one of the best wrestling books out there, one of my all time favorite wrestling books.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And we love an intellectual take on wrestling around, so sure.

Jackman Ochs:

And David Shoemaker's Podcast is also great. "The Masked Man" podcast. He's a great, really good addition to this Netflix series, to this documentary. He's one of the smartest people in wrestling covering wrestling, at least.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I do have a couple of quotes from this opening segment that I want to just kind of raise your attentions to, first. I really love this one from Al Snow. It's a little long, but I really enjoy it. He says, "To work an audience is to make someone believe to the point that you can control directly when they stand up, when they sit down, when they cheer, when they boo, when they cry. There's nothing else like it." And that's fascinating to me, that thought of how wrestling works.

Brian Hines:

Oh, sure, yeah. And he's 100% right on that. If you go to a live event, that's exactly how it is. And that's one of my favorite reasons for going to live events.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

For joining in that moment. That's why the dude with the Kilt at Davis Arena is so great, because he kind of helped get everybody-

Brian Hines:

Oh Joe Cooley. Oh, yeah. he was my favorite guy there.

Jackman Ochs:

I've personally spent more time crying at a wrestling event than I would like to admit. So there is definitely something to be said about when a performer has you in the palm of their hand.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And circling back on the notion from the Gold Dust Trio and the state things, David said at one point about wrestling fans, "It's not just that they're forgiving. They're in on it." And I love that it brings us all in and kind of gives us that feeling of being part of something together, being kind of in it together, if that makes sense.

Jackman Ochs:

The first ever book kind of written about wrestling in America, North America Being "fixed," came out in 1919. As wrestling fans, we've known on a huge level for over 100 years that this thing is not what it portrays itself to be. But that is what we like about it. That's what draws us in. That's what kind of connects all of us as wrestling fans is, we're watching a story. There's plenty of places to see a fight. I want to watch a story.

Brian Hines:

Oh, yeah. It's great. It's one of the things that I've loved since I was a wee lad back in the day of the 80's.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So we end up with Hollyhood Haley J laying on the mat. That's where our main title comes in. I noticed, like, usually Netflix has these downright indulgent titles. I expected like two minutes of oil pouring over a turnbuckle. But no, just, "Wrestlers." And then we're on with it. And the first image past that was a pretty famous image of I think it was Andre and Hulk Hogan?

Brian Hines:

Oh yeah! From WrestleMania 3. That's probably one of the, if not the biggest match in WWE history, professional wrestling history. There are others that are big, but arguably that is among the biggest. Literally and figuratively.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

That was the moment when Andre put Hulk over, right?

Brian Hines:

Yeah. And nobody knew what was going to happen until they got to the match. Like, Hulk Hogan was nervous the whole entire time because Andre just said, "I'll take care of it."

Jackman Ochs:

Back to the WWF, loving to write history in their timeline. That's kind of known widely as the first time that Andre was ever body slammed. But I think that there were actually three people who body-slammed him prior to Hogan doing it that night.

Brian Hines:

In the ring, yes. Although, off the record, other people did too. I went to see Jake the Snake stand up a couple years ago and he said that it wasn't in a match or anything, but he slam Andre once.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I thought it was like in house shows. Like a show that was like a non televised kind of situation.

Brian Hines:

I can't remember what he said during the stand up. He did say that he did slam Andre once. So take that with a grain of salt. There were a lot of stories that night.

Jackman Ochs:

I know Harley Race did, and I want to say Anoki did as well in Japan in the 70s. But I might be wrong about that. But I know for a fact Harley Race was one of them.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, in WWE canon, that was the first and only time anybody had ever slammed Andre, even though that may or may not have been true.

Jackman Ochs:

Sorry, I'm nitpicking tonight, guys. I'm nitpicking tonight.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

No, we're here to pick the knits. That's what this whole podcast is about.

Brian Hines:

You can have my knits.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

No, thank you. We'll keep all of our knits to ourselves.

Jackman Ochs:

Got him.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So yeah, they open up with some familiar images of WWF/WWE.

Jackman Ochs:

I just saw Logan Paul in there. Quick.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

They sure. Wow.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Just one quick blink and you'll miss.

Brian Hines:

Not really fitting for the rest of this, being that everything else is like so storied and stuff.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

They quickly cut to, oh, look at that. So I love the one moment where they go back to 1993 and they've got the Ohio Valley wrestling with the American flag and the eagle, and it's just lovely.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah, it's very just like post territory wrestling, too. It's just like we know who we're trying to appeal to directly. So let's just give these people everything they like. Eagles, patriotism, big baby faces, shaved oily guys, we're just going to give them everything they want because that's kind of the only resource they had to stay in business.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, yeah. And as they mentioned during the show, in the 80s, wrestling was about international politics, and then it became about labor relations. Then it really became about invasion. I don't know what's the societal issue of that the NWO and then the WCW invading WWE?

Jackman Ochs:

This is a little bit of off topic here, but I don't think necessarily looking at it as addressing societal issues as much as you're addressing what's happening in the Zeitgeist at a certain time. So when you have Hulk Hogan, just red blooded American, you're at the height of Reagan and he's knocking out all these foreigners because you're at the height of the Cold War.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Right.

Jackman Ochs:

And then when the late 90s roll around mid 90s, late 90s roll around with the NWO and with Stone Cold Steve Austin, it's just kind of this, I want to say childish take on kind of like anti authoritarianism. Where it was the height of being like a straight white guy and thinking that society owed you something because you were a straight white guy and things weren't perfect for you. And that's kind of what the NWO was. It's definitely what? Stone cold Steve Austin was. Not to take away from either of those runs, but that's what was connecting with wrestling fans at that mean. That's why Linp Bizkit was popular at that time. That's why Korn was popular at that time. It's all about just like, my life isn't as good as my parents life was, but I'm still a straight white guy, and I still have all of these things that are afforded to me.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So give me mine.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah. So I think that it's just every once in a while wrestling touches on a Zeitgeist. It doesn't always address a societal issue. A lot of the time it's after it's post zeitgeist, and sometimes it's right on it. And that's what the Attitude era was. That's what Hogania was or Hulkamania was. It was just right place, right time.

Brian Hines:

I kind of felt like the Stone Cold Era had more of a Johnny Paycheck kind of flavor to it.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Kind of a "Take this job and shove it" to the floor.

Brian Hines:

Exactly.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Kick it. Pin it, "One, two, three."

Brian Hines:

Give it a stunner, give it the middle finger. Chug a couple beers. One, two, three, we're done. And then I kind of felt like the NWO, to borrow another Queen phrase. "I want it all and I want it now." They came from the WWE and went straight to WCW and pretty well waged war without some of the people backstage and everybody watching, without their knowledge.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So getting back to the actual first episode, as much I enjoy these asides with you guys. But can we talk about the fact that this wrestling promotion has had a TV program on since the 90s?

Brian Hines:

That's pretty amazing.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Almost 1300 episodes now.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, I want to say 1258 as this week.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I mean, we put it in every one of our regular episodes.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, sure do.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

What I was not aware was they are the only other promotion that has a TV show.

Brian Hines:

Good for them.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

AEW, WWE and them. And that's the list.

Jackman Ochs:

Well, a live broadcast television show, right?

Brian Hines:

Yes.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I guess Ring of Honor has something.

Jackman Ochs:

ROH, Impact, MLW. There's a lot of, there's several "OVW"s throughout the nation. OVW is kind of the biggest OVW.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Right there was the point when WWF closed up their, or WWE closed up their developmental league, all of them except OVW just faded.

Jackman Ochs:

Basically, yeah. There's other televised wrestling throughout the nation. But to have live broadcast wrestling at the level of just a regional or citywide level or statewide level is unheard of. It's like actually insane that they have the capacity for it and that they pulled it off for as long as they have.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

It really is. And I've known about OVW most of my adult life. I remember in 2000 hearing about it, that it was right there in Louisville. It was on TV. Here. And I lived in Lexington at the time. So I would see it sometimes on TV. But to realize how much longevity this has had and apparently mostly hanging on by the skin of its teeth once WWF left or WWE I don't know why I'm using the mid 90s nomenclature. I think it's because they showed me Hulk Hogan earlier.

Brian Hines:

Could be, but could be a lot of reasons. Who knows?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Who knows? But yeah. So the thing then takes some time and sets up all the wrestlers. After we've met Al and we've talked about wrestling kind of generally and the promotion specifically, we set up all the wrestlers and they start with The Baby Faces and they list the Baby Faces as Shera, Cash Flo, Reverend Ronnie and Layla Gray.

Jackman Ochs:

And knowing if you keep up with our weekly podcast, knowing how some of these characters have turned out, it's kind of ironic looking back a year and seeing that this is our group of babyfaces.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I was going to say our Baby Faces are now just Cash Flo, right? I think everybody else is a little bit Healy.

Jackman Ochs:

Pretty much, yeah. Out of this list for sure.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So can we talk about the notion and they mentioned this when they were setting up the heels, which we'll get to in a second. They mentioned the heels lead the dance. Are the heels really kind of setting the tone for matches?

Jackman Ochs:

In tradition, the heel would be the person that is calling the match. The heel is supposed to be the more experienced, more often than not. It's kind of changed now just with guys on TV or what have you, but in classic territory and definitely the way that OVW is booked, your heels are going to be your more experienced people and they're going to be the ones that are calling the match.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

That's fascinating. So in this one we have Amon, who says, "If you don't get booed, the baby face doesn't get cheered, and the story means nothing." And I thought, wow, that's words to live by there.

Jackman Ochs:

Absolutely.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Then we had Freya the Slayer. "Slaya." sorry. Mr. Pectacular, Eric Darkstorm, Amazing Maria and finally, HollyHood Hailey J And yeah, most of those heels are kind of baby faces now.

Brian Hines:

Yeah! And that's just the nature of the business itself. You go and see live wrestling and you're cheering for somebody who wins a match over tremendous odds one week, and then you go back and you see him a few weeks later and that person has just gotten a complete and total personality change. And it's just human nature, really.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I don't know. Sometimes it feels like it gives everybody a chance for redemption. If you're hated if you're hated, everybody hates you. One thing can happen and all of a sudden you're being cheered for. And I find that to be comforting. And that's one of the things I really like about wrestling. Someday we'll talk about my first wrestling experience. Both of you have in another episode. Someday we'll get to mine.

Jackman Ochs:

This is something that OVW just does such a great job with as well, is just like making the connection with their fans that you can go from heel to baby, heel to baby, over and over and over again and people are still going to remember where you came from. They're going to realize your motivations whenever that change happens. And it really does just speak to the dedication of the fans of OVW that they've had these characters on the roster for so long and they're able to switch back and forth with ease.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Keep using them and everybody's just cool with it. Just a good company of performers, really. Can we talk about the fact- and there he is on screen right now, Mr. Petacular himself. Can we talk about the fact that Jessie Godderz apparently actually never gets off that damn Segway scooter?

Brian Hines:

I don't know what episode it was in, so I'm not sure...

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I know the line you're talking about, though.

Brian Hines:

What?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Where he's like, no, I have to conserve energy.

Brian Hines:

That was one of my favorite lines, too, but that wasn't what I was referring to. I was referring to he was outdoors doing some outdoor chores.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Was he scooting? I may have missed this.

Brian Hines:

Yeah.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh, my God.

Jackman Ochs:

We'll cover that.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

We will cover that in future episodes. But yeah, I just wanted to take a moment and say, holy crap. That guy is completely committed to that stupid bit, and I really want to ride the scooter. Jessie Godderz, if you're listening to this, I want a turn on the scooter.

Brian Hines:

I do not want a turn on the scooter. I'm old, and I will break a hip.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I will probably break a hip, too, but I will break the scooter on the way, and that would be hilarious.

Jackman Ochs:

This kind of takes me back to my five word synopsis, too. It's just like, I respect the hell out of it. It's not a negative thing by any stretch of the imagination, and I've been very pleased with what I've seen so far in Wrestlers, but there are certain things where I just can't help but think these guys can't help but work. They're always in their own T shirts. Jessie's always on the scooter. I think that some of the wrestlers, the characters of the wrestlers or the characters they're portraying are having just as much fun kind of toeing the line. And I enjoy that as a wrestling fan, but I wonder, maybe as a non wrestling fan, how some other people would view that, or if they would even know to think that they're working.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So we all three know that I like wrestling. You guys, to various degrees, love wrestling to a greater extent than I do.

Brian Hines:

Sure.

Jackman Ochs:

I don't like wrestling very much.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, let's just isolate that for a sound clip. But I don't know where I was going with that. But, yeah, I love it. The idea of them watching them kind of be their thing and kind of can't break away from it, it just makes me happy. I'm like, oh, that's delightful.

Brian Hines:

It seemed like almost everybody in the show was wearing their own shirt, like their own merch.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Seems like they would all kind of get together and go, okay, I'm going to wear your shirt. You wear my shirt. He wears their shirt and he wears their shirt. They should all kind of be wearing one another's shirt, support one another.

Jackman Ochs:

I think the only people, as we'll find out that are wearing each other's shirts are Darkstorm and Hollyhood Hailey J.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Because I think it's already clear in this first episode...

Jackman Ochs:

This first episode, just to put that one out there.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, they're wearing each other's shirts, so to speak.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah, so to speak. Biblically. They're getting to know each other biblically.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Also. Can we talk about that? What's the demon? Amon? They show Amon. and he looks like he should be working at a Blockbuster Video, except those don't exist anymore. Like that guy does not look. And when you see him in character and I've seen him in character before, he's startling and a little scary. But when he's like, if I don't get them to boo at me, no one will cheer for, I'm like, easy, dude. I'll rewind the tape, I promise.

Brian Hines:

He kind of has this vibe like, if I don't get my stapler back, I'm going to burn the building.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Burn the building down. Absolutely.

Jackman Ochs:

I saw a match with the Reverend and Amon once, and the reverend kind of took a hit that was a lot harder than he had anticipated. And there was a minute where I was concerned about his safety, like legitimately concerned about his safety, but we were around kind of a rough crowd. And I said, oh no, it's the first match of the night. And I said, oh, no. If this demon from hell beats the reverend in the first match, this is all going to go off. I think we might need to just get out.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

This could go downhill from here.

Jackman Ochs:

It's still real to these folks around here. I'm not trying to stick around. Yeah.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So we're now at about halfway through this episode, we've introduced OVW, it's history. We've talked about Al snow. We kind of glossed over it. But Al is a storied professional. And what does everybody want? It's head. So there's all of that.

Brian Hines:

He ain't lying.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. They introduced the baby faces and the heels. And I feel like they very specifically, having done that, having set the pretend good guys and the pretend good bad guys. No, all these guys are good guys. And here's our real bad guy by the name of Matthew Harper Jones.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

In fact, I have it bold here on the top of our note on this page where we start a new page. Matt enters.

Jackman Ochs:

I'm a KSR guy for a long time. He did not look good in this at all.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, yeah, they definitely portrayed him as the boss. And honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't come in like a Vince McMahon style 90s, like terrible boss. I guess he won't take the bumps.

Jackman Ochs:

He could never fill out one of those suits.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, no, no one can. Vince McMahon had to have special surgery to fill those suits out the way he does. I still don't understand how he walks the way he does, but that's a whole other question.

Jackman Ochs:

With a whole lot of pride.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

With a whole lot of pride. I do love that. So if you missed it from the show, Matt and I assume that there's going to be some people who are listening who have just found this through Netflix, who have no idea what Kentucky Sports Radio is. Welcome!

Brian Hines:

Or where even Kentucky is in general.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, they know Kentucky because we have fried chicken.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, that might be true, but can you find it on a map?

Jackman Ochs:

And we have several rare character bourbons, too.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, there's bourbon. We have bourbon, we have horses, we have fried chicken. Yeah. If you're watching, we are on YouTube and you can see there are some note our bourbons, they are not a sponsor. They've given us nothing. We just wanted to hide the ugly bits of the table. But yeah. So let's talk a little bit about there he is, there's Matt himself on the screen. We've kind of got it running in front of us, but let's talk a little bit about Kentucky Sports Radio and what it means to this state. It's hard to deny the impact.

Brian Hines:

I didn't realize it was as big a thing. I'm from Ohio, so I haven't been in Lexington for very long, but I have lived in Kentucky for several years, off and on, going back to the Mid 90's to the present. But never really around Lexington much. I had no idea it was that big a thing. I mean, if you're in Kentucky, you know that UK anything is a big deal.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. The University of Kentucky, specifically our basketball program, is I mean, if you've not heard of us, then you should.

Jackman Ochs:

Where you been, baby?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Where you been? Welcome. C-A-T-S Cats! Cats! Cats!

Brian Hines:

As an outsider, there are three things that I don't talk about on general principle. That's politics, religion, and UK sports, because I'm probably going to end up pissing somebody off along the line.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

We'll try to be nice.

Jackman Ochs:

And there's really not that big of a difference between politics, religion and UK sports.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Not in this commonwealth. So would you say, calibrated for the state of Kentucky, is Matt Jones the biggest celebrity in the state?

Jackman Ochs:

Yes.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Colonel Sanders is dead, but he's still a celebrity. Well, yeah, but every actor in Hollywood played him a few years ago. So let's narrow it down to living people.

Jackman Ochs:

In terms of what KSR really is. It is this thing that is run by fans, for fans, and when you tune into it as a fan of UK, they're saying the things that are kind of off limits for traditional media. Traditional for basketball or football media.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

That was their whole stick for a few years. Until they kind of became traditional media.

Jackman Ochs:

But even now they're still muckrakers.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh a little bit, because it's fun to rake muck and their on everyday.

Jackman Ochs:

If your friends had a radio show and you tuned into it is essentially what it is.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And it's so much more than just Kentucky sports. I mean, that is the first two words of the title, but you get a lot about just Kentucky in general. You're not just learning about who's making the best free throws. This is kind of where the whole state comes together. This is where we all come.

Jackman Ochs:

It's a cultural touchstone for the whole state of Kentucky.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. Five days a week, from 10:00 A.m. To noon, coast to coast, all the way from Pike County to Paducah.

Jackman Ochs:

Then on whatever podcasting app. Yeah, the same podcasting app that you can use to find our podcast, the one you're listening to right now. OVW Podcast. Give us five stars. Whatever.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Word. If you're having trouble envisioning how popular Matt Jones really is, he bought this with the mayor of Louisville, Craig Greenberg. And Greenberg is the second banana. He's not in this as much as Matt. He is certainly not the focus of this like Matt. Matt has one of those personalities like, "I'm going to go and get things done." And then he does. He was a lawyer and he built this website just kind of yelling about Kentucky and turned it into a radio show by sheer force of will. So the presence of Matt is hard to overstate in this.

Jackman Ochs:

You could not tell the current story of OVW without mentioning Matt Jones. And I've been somewhat vocal about not wanting this to be in our week to week thing, a Matt Jones thing.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

The Matt Jones podcast, yes.

Jackman Ochs:

But whenever we're watching this, he is a focal point. It's impossible not to talk about him.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

As I said, they held off and he entered like the villain. I'm hoping by the end, as as you always hope with these sorts of things, that they kind of come together and they sing a little kumbaya by the 7th episode.

Jackman Ochs:

Well, and we know, having lived here, what has happened since this is ended taping. But for someone maybe not in Kentucky, not affiliated or a listener of KSR, you have no idea. They do a great job of painting this picture of this is very dire. This is a very dire situation. Well, yeah, we know, fortunately, that OVW is probably doing the best that it has in many years.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Spoiler alert. They did okay out of this.

Jackman Ochs:

That's a big bottle.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

That is a large bottle of water. It's just hard to miss. So yeah. I love that Craig also has his name on his shirt. That's always great, walking around out there.

Brian Hines:

That's a very laverne DeFazio move.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

It really is.

Jackman Ochs:

Well, I mean, all the wrestlers also have all their names.

Brian Hines:

Okay, that's fair.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. And I do love that one by one, Al's wife, and Hollyhood Haley- One by one, everybody's like, "Oh, well, I just don't like that Matt Jones guy. He doesn't know what he's talking about." And they're meaner than that, but I'm not going to be.

Jackman Ochs:

This is one of the things that I was looking forward to the most. Wrestling is a very interesting world, and I have next to no experience on the other side of it. But having someone like Matt Jones, who is, like we said, kind of the biggest celebrity in the state, come in and tell these people- when he's never taken a fucking bump in his life.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

That is said more than once.

Jackman Ochs:

Essentially, the only thing he's done is write a check, and then he's going to come in and tell these guys how to do what they're supposed to do. This is what I've been looking forward to. I want to see it in real time, like how outside money and outside ideas really do affect the industry and really do affect a promotion. And that's what I'm looking forward to the most.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So, I love that Eric Darkstorm, when he's talking about Matt Jones, as long as we're in this moment, they film him in his car, like in his 1992 Turcell.

Brian Hines:

It's like a Corolla or something.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah he's just hanging out of it like.

Brian Hines:

Are they trying to imply that he's a scrub? Is he just hanging out the side.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Apparently it was his car, and he is dating Haley J. So no.

Jackman Ochs:

To be a scrub. You're in your friend's car.

Brian Hines:

He's not a scrub. Because we don't want no scrubs.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

No, we have a scrub free policy here on the OVW Podcast

Jackman Ochs:

Except for you Malachi. Well, he's not even paying attention.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

He doesn't even have vocal cords. Oh, there he is. Wow. Voice from the nether producer Malachi. Look at that.

Brian Hines:

I do need to give Matt Jones credit, though. That's a nice pair of kicks.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh, that is the thing.

Brian Hines:

Some purple shoes.

Jackman Ochs:

Can't imagine how long he decided how.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

How long it took him.

Jackman Ochs:

To choose the purple ones. Yeah.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Honestly, I don't think he thought about it too much. I mean, he has all nice shoes. He talks about them on the show. I'm a daily listener of KSR.

Jackman Ochs:

If he thought about it more, he would have wore a shirt that matched.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Love his heart and I do, but the man is not fashion forward.

Jackman Ochs:

Just for frame of reference, I'm wearing Dragon Ball Z sleep pants right now.

Brian Hines:

I hadn't noticed that.

Jackman Ochs:

I have no room to comment on other people's fashion choices.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. And I'm wearing sleep pants that are a solid color rather than being anime themed. But we're in pretty much the same boat. But my favorite story out of that opening bit with everybody rolling their eyes at Matt was Eric Darkstorm being like, "hey, I cussed him out and he said he's going to fire me. And we went to Al and guess what? I didn't get fired." It's like, okay, thanks. Good job, Eric.

Jackman Ochs:

He says it kind of like a kid who got away with something. He's very precocious.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

It's like Stone Cold Steve Austin, if Stone Cold's big thing had been stealing candy from the dollar store.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah, yeah. If he liked strawberry milk instead of beer.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Like, wouldn't that just be Kurt angle? I'm sorry.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, kind of.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

It's like, "I stole this snicker bar. And that's the bottom line, cause Eric Darkstorm says so."

Jackman Ochs:

"I told my mom I was running away from home with a broken freaking neck."

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So we get both sides. Yes. So let's see oh. Then we kind of break out. And there's the set up here. We're going to do a summer tour with a bunch of house shows. That is the term for it, right? When you're not really televising, when you're just kind of going places. So they're going to every county fair, and this was last summer. From our point of view. Some of us went to a couple of these shows. I think we'll actually have our first OVW podcast personality spotting in the very next episode.

Brian Hines:

Yeah.

Jackman Ochs:

It is funny to see Danny Moe in this, too, because I think that.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, she's not in it now is she?

Jackman Ochs:

She left. I don't want to spread rumor inuendo, but my understanding is that her and her partner, the Neon Ninja. Oh, Lord. If I could remember his name.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Wow. They would be contrasting because that woman looks like Elsa from Frozen.

Jackman Ochs:

They're a cute couple, but they left OVW under some- they were not very happy and took it to social media when they left OVW. So it is funny to see her in this moment. Yeah. Because this is probably the most exposure she's ever going to get.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Sorry.

Jackman Ochs:

I listened back to last week's podcast or last episode we uploaded. I've been in a bad mood the past few days. I don't know why I'm being like this. I need to do what Hollyhood Haley J does.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. We did get the scoop here in this first episode that Hollyhood Haley J smokes weed. Apparently, alot of it. It's on in front of us right now.

Brian Hines:

It's epilepsy, right? That's what she says since going back to when she was 15.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. I doubt she's actually being prescribed that, but she is apparently with we've talked about Reverend Ronnie a couple times, and he is apparently her personal trainer. And we see that in a nice scene with Zayden, which is apparently her son's name. Since they said it on the show, I guess we're okay to say it here. They did put a chiron up and said the kid's name.

Jackman Ochs:

Well, she really is kind of like a cute mom. To watch her and her son.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

This is an endearing part of the show.

Brian Hines:

Yeah.

Jackman Ochs:

And I think almost intentionally. A little obnoxious. Well, yeah, in her interviews on the show so far, but the bits with her son are just really adorable.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. She's basically a year older than Malachi. Pretty sure she was born in, like, 2000.

Brian Hines:

She's 23.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah.

Jackman Ochs:

Malachi call her?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I don't know. Doesn't she date a wrestler? I don't know that we need to have that heat.

Jackman Ochs:

Oh, yeah. Sorry. No, Malachi don't call her. You don't stand a chance against that guy.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, not against Eric.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I mean, certainly not in the ring.

Jackman Ochs:

Or outside of it. Malachi don't call her.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So my favorite thing she does in this sequence know she's playing around with her kid. She's playing around with the kid, and it's all adorable. But then, she's in there by herself, and she basically kind of goes through. She looks like she's taking a bunch of hits, but it's just her in ring.

Brian Hines:

Like she's fighting the invisible man.

Jackman Ochs:

I almost forgot until you mentioned it, that was a really great thing.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I mean, it just look, she could have sold that as I'm fighting somebody you can't see I think we're about to see yeah, it's coming up here by our as our video is playing here.

Jackman Ochs:

That was a really fascinating and, I mean, I thought I'd seen almost like everything there was to watch in terms of wrestling. I don't know that I've ever seen somebody...

Brian Hines:

In a Claude Reigns match?

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah, I've seen the sex doll match in japan. If you've never seen a dramatic dream team wrestling open weight challenge match before. I can send you one.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Wow, that was a mouthful of stipulations.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, those are a bunch of words.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Do you have some dressing for that word salad.

Jackman Ochs:

I'll put it in the group chat. You guys got to see this.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

See, here it is. Here it is. She pulls herself down.

Jackman Ochs:

This is on a different level than that, even.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I mean, she looks possessed.

Brian Hines:

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Look at her begging nobody, and now she's kicking and swinging.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah, this is one of the more fascinating things from episode one, for sure. Just getting to sit and watch her flip and flop for nobody.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, it just kind of shows the level of skill that is involved here, and it's kind of crazy. So let's go through some other things real quickly, because we kind of get a little bit more time with our performers know, we do spend time with Reverend Ronnie and Hailey here at the what is this place called again? I got it in my notes here somewhere. The Arena wrestling gym. I wonder if that's in louisville or where that is.

Jackman Ochs:

Bet it's on the other side of the river, probably. I want to say that she is central out of indiana, but I might be wrong about that.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So then we move on to Cash Flo and his tanning routine, which was in the trailer. Just tiny little butt Cash Flos, considering how big.

Jackman Ochs:

Tiny butt.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Big dude, tiny butt.

Brian Hines:

The hank hill, if you will.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And then we cut to Jessie Godderz actually tanning, which I found to be a fun contrast. Know, Jessie is laying there in the tanning.

Jackman Ochs:

You know, it's your everyman versus Hollywood.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Versus your Jesse Godderz. Yeah. Get a little taste of Jessie here. Oh, good. One of the things I love is that it opens up. We're just treated to a nice picture. There he is. There's the business. There's the good bulge. There's a little Pectacular. So that's fun. And, yeah, Jessie is intense, and they're all fun. To watch in their own way. Sure.

Brian Hines:

We wouldn't be here talking about it if they weren't, so yeah.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So Haley has her kid, Cash Flo spray tans, Jessie Godderz real tans, and Shara delivers food.

Jackman Ochs:

That scene really affected me for some reason.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Like, you felt for Shera because of.

Jackman Ochs:

Like, this guy is massive. I mean, he's chiseled and just, like, looks just enormous.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I've seen him in person. He is larger than life.

Brian Hines:

Yeah. He's a beast.

Jackman Ochs:

He's a beast on OVW. He's a really touted force and then just to kind of see him in something as everyday and mundane as driving for DoorDash or Uber Eats or whatever it is he's doing. Yeah. And how humble he is about it. It really affected me for some reason. I'm not really sure why.

Brian Hines:

How many episodes in did you get today before we started?

Jackman Ochs:

I am ten minutes out from the end of the second one.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

There's more development.

Brian Hines:

There's plenty more development. And if you got that out of Mahabali Shira's segments in episode one, you're going to get even more of that in an episode.

Jackman Ochs:

Very much looking forward to it. And then we see some old footage of him in India in Ring Ka King, which is kind of the Indian expansion of Impact Wrestling. But yeah, I think it's really this shot where it set in, because I knew, like, oh, of course, these guys all have other jobs. But it's not just that he's delivering food.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

He's setting up Qdoba.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah, he's setting up.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Not a sponsor.

Jackman Ochs:

Yeah. Give us some queso, though. But it's just like, for some reason, this segment really did kind of stick with me. I don't know. Can't really describe why.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, and the idea of if he had stayed in India he's a celebrity. He said himself. He's huge there. I mean, he's huge anywhere he goes. He's Shera. But he had a level of fame. He had a level of success. He had a level of money he could make there. But when he comes here to try to he wants to hit these levels know, WWE. He has to drop back, he is not doing as well as he would do if he had just stayed home. He would technically be better right now, but he would have a lower ceiling.

Jackman Ochs:

It's just it was very kind of humbling and very kind. Know? I don't know. I'm looking forward now that you guys have told me that there's more stuff on.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh, yeah.

Jackman Ochs:

I'm looking forward to that because I think Shera is a great wrestler, and I felt very connected to him for some reason after this segment.

Brian Hines:

There were a lot of times in the episode that I watched today where I very much felt connected with whoever was part of the story at that time.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I'll go ahead and admit it. I've already cried once watching this. I'm a big softie. I am three and a half episodes in, and I have already bawled, open-mouthed, just kind of (makes crying noise)

Jackman Ochs:

What's the more embarrassing thing you've ever cried about?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh, God, I cry. Look, I love Wrestlers. I love all of this. I am not tough. I cry at all kinds of things.

Jackman Ochs:

I'll go ahead and say mine a children's play version of The Ugly Duckling.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, that's making me tear up just sitting here thinking about it.

Jackman Ochs:

Boy, I bawled for probably the last half of that play. That's definitely the most embarrassing thing I've ever cried to. No, actually, the most embarrassing thing I ever cried to was Summer Girls by LFO.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh, wow. Yeah. Pretty sure that's a dance pop hit, sir.

Jackman Ochs:

That's definitely the most embarrassing.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, now I'm going to have to go listen to it and see if I can find the cry in it with you. So after Shera delivered the Qdoba, we get into what I think to be would be a fascinating sitcom, which is Haley and Maria and Eric Darkstorm all working together at a bar and a restaurant.

Brian Hines:

Like in a hotel, right?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, it's like a hotel bar and restaurant and Haley's the bartender and Maria's the boss, obviously.

Brian Hines:

That's almost like the premise of the Golden Palace. The Golden Girls spin off.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Deep cut.

Jackman Ochs:

But yeah, a lot of people don't know that that even exists.

Brian Hines:

They do now.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Did you know Cheech Moran was in that?

Brian Hines:

And Don Cheadle.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And Don Cheadle, of all people.

Brian Hines:

I saw the first few episodes once I realized it was on Hulu, and.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

I watched it with my girlfriend, and she was confused. We both were really sure I would love like, this could be its own show. The Haley J. And Maria and Eric Darkstorm randomly all working at a bar, yeah I could watch.

Jackman Ochs:

This kind of takes me back to my thing of, is this real? Or like I'm just like, how perfect is it that they all work together and her new boyfriend is working?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, Maria got her the job.

Jackman Ochs:

Know hotel bars they don't really check.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

They don't really they're not what? Distinguished? They're not particular.

Brian Hines:

Sticklers for anything.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Discriminating, that's the word I was looking for.

Brian Hines:

For anything discriminating.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

So they kind of go through all this and we get back and the printer is down, and we're coming up on a section where technical issues are going to be, and I'm wondering if we should maybe set up, like, a drinking game where every time they have a technical issue on the OVW, we should drink. But I think we would get really drunk.

Brian Hines:

We would be dead. And then they've got audio, but they don't have video at one point. And even when we went and did our weekly episodes a few weeks ago, we had one of our episodes. I think we almost titled technical Difficulties.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. Because that was all about Fite TV, the app. So they kind of go into once they've kind of given us a moment with Maria and Holly. And Holly. Her name is Haley, but because it's Hollyhood, I just want to call her Holly.

Jackman Ochs:

I want to say to defend you, in all fairness, I want to say that her name on Women of Wrestling is Holly.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, of course it is, let's just be confusing. They go into a moment where everybody's doing business. Like, Al is in his office. They're running through what the angles are going to be for the upcoming show.

Jackman Ochs:

A couple of people you would recognize, Adam Revolver backstage kind of running over.

Brian Hines:

Comedy genius Adam Revolver, by the way.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And they cut between that and Matt and Greg and somebody else there talking about the money side. And I kept thinking it's like they're cutting between Al and Matt, between doing real business and then doing real business. And I was like, which one of these is the real, real business of this sport? And maybe that's the question of the whole series.

Jackman Ochs:

Money business and wrestling business with a real business.

Brian Hines:

Will the real business please stand up? Please stand up.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And of course, it's both. When you really get into it.

Jackman Ochs:

Like you've never seen some business before. Jaws all on the floor, adam Revolver in the door. Cut me off before I keep going.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Well, we'll think about it. So let's get down to the end of this episode where they've prepped out this regular episode coming up on 1200 about a year ago. And Holly is in a match with- who was the girl who came out? Because she came out just aggressive! Because somebody had taken the turnbuckle cover off. And then they were warning Haley, and they were all like, yeah, right. Let's be careful. And then Layla Gray, I think it was.

Brian Hines:

I don't know. I'd have to go back. I woke up at five this morning to watch this, and I haven't watched it a second time through. I was a little groggy. And the coffee has not kicked in just yet. Just get up here, scrub forward and.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

See if we can show it. So another thing I want to talk about while they're showing us this YouTube ad or this Netflix ad, because we didn't pay for ad free because we're cheap here at the OVW. Podcast blacklight Moon productions. Blacklight Moon Productions is run on a shoestring budget. And love and love love is what makes it go.

Brian Hines:

Does that make this the Love boat?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Can we talk about Al just sitting backstage giving Bryan, like, feeding Brian Cranson lines?

Brian Hines:

That's great.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

It's like, oh, what would you expect? And he's immediately, "What should anyone expect from Hailey?" And it makes me happy. I'm like, that's the job right there. That's Kermit the Frog. And I don't want to say I'm a little jealous of Al, but Al's taken a few more bumps than I'm willing to. Yeah, but he definitely has the thing.

Brian Hines:

Comes off jared cripkey. Big whiskey.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Big whiskey. We have big whiskey and big beef, don't we? There's lots of big guys in the OVW.

Brian Hines:

Yeah. And there are a lot of food groups. There's the whiskey group. There's the beef group.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

There's the barley group. There's the cider group. There's the groups that remind you of the good times.

Brian Hines:

There's the groups that remind you of the better times.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh Danny Boy..

Jackman Ochs:

Oh, that's "The Spark" Jada Stone.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And doesn't even realize and immediately goes to the thing. And then I believe in this same match is when they have a computer go down so they have no monitors backstage, and so they're flying blind. Maria, completely unexpectedly, this is the best part for me is maria has to jump up and go out there and make some drama just to fill time. Like, that was not the plan. That was not what they were going to do.

Jackman Ochs:

Is this real or not?

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yes. So, yeah, she had to run out there and then the great little push down and the look from Haley when her mom pushes her down that little bottom lip, like, everybody was like they.

Jackman Ochs:

Knew that they had printed money with that shot.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

And I love that it changed everything. Like, that was completely unplanned. But as soon as it happened, well, we can't waste that. We got to go. We got to use it.

Brian Hines:

That whole part kind of reminded me of the end of pet cemetery.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

How so? I'm curious where this goes.

Brian Hines:

Okay, so you've got a child.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Sure.

Brian Hines:

That is unruly, to say the least.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Hollywood is I mean, she's a hood rat by her own description.

Brian Hines:

In OVW this case would be Hollyhood. Haley J. Being the unruly child. In pet cemetery, you have Gage, the son, who is also unruly, and that's being nice about it. If you haven't read that book I recommend it.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Before or after he comes back from the dead?

Brian Hines:

After.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah. Unruly is certainly one way of putting it. Right.

Brian Hines:

And when he is ultimately taken care of, at least in the movie anyway, he goes from being very angry and terrorizing to a normal kid again, and the only thing he really kind of says is, "not fair. Not fair."

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

That was a long sleigh, rod. I didn't know if you had it, if you were going to bring it around, but I feel that I see where you're coming from.

Brian Hines:

I reign in blood, man.

Jackman Ochs:

That was our obligatory bone throw for the listeners of Hillbilly Horror Stories.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Oh, yes. If you're here with us through Hillbilly Horror Stories, please come join us. Yes, come join us ovwpodcast.com.

Brian Hines:

And thank you, Hillbilly Horror Stories.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Thank you so much, Jerry, and thanks. So, yeah, we're pretty much at the end of the episode now with that little bit of serendipity. I just love that they just kind of take whatever comes and make meat out of it and yeah. This is the start of if they don't do well in this upcoming tour, if the big one doesn't come off, they're in trouble. And so we'll see where it goes. Any final thoughts, Brian, on this episode?

Brian Hines:

At the end of this episode, the cliffhanger is, okay, we're in trouble. What are we going to mean? Not only was this put together well enough to make me want to watch the next episode anyway, regardless of being a wrestling fan, I enjoyed this on several levels. I enjoyed this as a wrestling fan. I enjoyed this as somebody who likes live events. I enjoyed this as somebody who's gone to OVW to see them live and have met some of these people and gotten a chance to interact with them on a person to person basis. So this had a lot of levels for me and it turned out being even more detailed and more entrenched in the personal stories behind the stories on TV than I thought they were going to be. And I thoroughly enjoyed everything so far. I feel like it's very well done. Cinematography, cinematographed, cinematically, what you said, only more. It's pretty.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

It is very pretty.

Brian Hines:

Yeah, very pretty.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Jackman, your final thoughts on the first episode so far?

Jackman Ochs:

Really, really liking what they've set up. It's hard to judge anything by just one episode. Very much looking forward, though, to seeing how all of this kind of evolves over the next six or so episodes because the first episode laid a fantastic base, fantastic structure. So looking forward to it.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, it's excellent. Yeah, I'm loving it. I'm in. This is what we're all here for. So I think we've gone. Malachi just sent me a text saying we've gone a little over an hour here.

Brian Hines:

Wow.

Tyni Brian K Woodard:

Yeah, we've been gabbing a little longer, but hopefully you enjoyed it. And as again, this is episode one. We will be back with episode two tomorrow and episode three the day after until all seven episodes are out and then we'll see what else we talk about wrestlers then, or hopefully they get a season two at some point. We'll have us a season two speculation episode where we talk about that. But in the meantime, once again with joining me is Brian Hines and Jackman Oates. And I am TyniBrian, and I just want to let you know before we get out of here, that Podcasters, The Unofficial Wrestlers After Show, is presented by the OVW Podcast. The unofficial podcast of Ohio Valley wrestling. Podcasters is produced by Black Light Moon Productions at Nuthouse Studios in Lexington, Kentucky. Our studio engineer and editor is Malachi Woodard. Executive producer is tiny. Brian K Woodard. That's me. Senior producer for the Blimp is Victor Anderson, your fellow hosts slong with me is Brian Hines and Jack Man. Oates. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Rate us five stars and give us a review. You can also follow us at OVW podcast on facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and that weird old van that drives around the edge of town. Until next time, this is Tiny Brian reminding you to beware of rabbits. They use carrots.

Jackman Ochs:

Thanks, you guys. Love you guys.