Contesting Wrestling

In advance of this Friday's AEW Collision featuring Ricky Steamboat as guest referee, we've unlocked this Premium Episode in which we the first ever match between Bryan Danielson and CM Punk, which took place at the ROH Reborn Stage One event, which was the last time Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat refereed a CM Punk match. We also delve deeper into the career of AJ Lee, discussing her FCW Divas title victory over Naomi Knight on 12/10/2010 and her WWE Divas title defense against Paige on the 4/7/2014 episode of Monday Night Raw. Subscribe at  at Patreon.com/contestingwrestling for $5 a month to access our complete Premium library including almost 100 exclusive episodes!!! #contestingwrestling #wrestlingpodcast #prowrestling #wwe #fcw #roh #ajlee #naomiknight #paige #bryandanielson #danielbryan #cmpunk #rickysteamboat #rickythedragonsteboat #womenswrestling ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This time on Contesting Wrestling Doc, Ben, and Scotland Green watch the CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe trilogy from ROH in 2004. This episode was recorded six months before we are releasing it, but since it is for matches that happened almost 20 years ago, that's ok! These matches are some of Doc and Ben's favorites, but Scotland hasn't seen them before so we get down to the analysis and contesting.Follow is on IG: www.instagram.com/contestingwrestlingpodcastFollow us on Twitter @ContestingWFollow Doc Diamondfire on Twitter @DrDiamondfireFollow Proffesor Ben Abelson on Twitter @ScribeBenFollow Scotland Green on Twitter @MisterGreenMistIf you like the podcast support us on Patreon! Get access to almost a hundred premium only episodes as well: www.patreon.com/ContestingWrestling ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This time on Contesting Wrestling we talk to Eddia McNamara, author of "Toss Your Own Salad", about matches where one participant famously carried the other through the match! An interesting topic to breach, for a variety of reasons sometimes one participant has to take control and lead the other, step-by-step, through what they're doing. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. Eddie McNamara is an author. He can be found on Twitter @EddieMcnamaraYou can support us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling where the full archive of bonus episodes are available for your listening pleasure, with new ones being added whenever we have time. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In celebration of Thanksgiving, we've unlocked one of our earliest Premium Episodes, from the beforetimes of 2019, in which we discuss the classic Survivor Series 1993 match pitting the Hart Family against Shawn Michaels and his "Kings" as well as the first one on one match between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns from Fastlane 2015!Happy Thanksgiving!Subscribe at Patreon.com/contestingwrestling for $5 a month to access our complete Premium collection of over 100 episodes! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

As a slightly belated Halloween gift, please enjoy our Premium Episode from last year covering the WCW Halloween Havoc event, featuring Sting vs Sid Vicious in the main event for the World Heavyweight title, Lex Luger vs. Stan Hansen for the U.S. championship and the classic encounter between the Steiner Bros. and the Nasty Boys for the U.S. Tag Team titles, plus much much more!!! Subscribe to Patreon.com/contesting wrestling to access our complete Premium library of more than 100 episodes!!! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This time on Contesting Wrestling Doc, Ben and out guest Zack Pond talk about early CM Punk. Punk in IWA: MS, Punk in TNA and the first ROH Punk vs. Raven match! We will be doing a series on CM Punk as we have time and this is a good start. If you enjoy Contesting Wrestling, consider joining our Patreon! For $5.month you get access to our archive of over 100 extra episodes, plus new ones at this point whenever we have the time. We get really into the weeds on Patreon so if you enjoy our musings, jump on it!www.patreon.com/ContestingWrestling★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Doc, Ben and our guest AJ Lupo contest a selection of matches from Wrestlemania 38! We look at a few matches, and we give our opinions on today's WWE! We check out Biana Belair vs. Becky Lynch, AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn, Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins and more! Support us on Patreon for access to over 100 more episodes of Contesting Wrestling, plus more coming out when we can put them out! www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In celebration of 4/20, we've unlocked our premium episode all about "The Whole F'n Show" Rob Van Dam. To access our complete Premium collection of over 100 episodes, subscribe for $5 a month at patreon.com/contestingwrestling Happy 420 to those who partake!

This time on Contesting Wrestling Ben and Doc talk with their dear old friend and older wrestling fan Omar about Bob Backlund, one of the longest reigning WWF champions of all time and later, one of the shortest. We have a great time talking about nice old crazy old Mr. Backlund so check it out!Support us on Patreon for access to over 100 more episodes of Contesting Wrestling, plus more coming out when we can put them out! www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Doc, Ben and three time Contesting Wrestling Guest Space King Bobby talk music! We talk about some of our favorite and least favorite wrestling theme music and what that music means to the wrestling fan. We have fun as always on this one so check it out!Twitter: @ContestingW@DrDiamondfire@ScribeBen@SpaceKingBobbyAnd sign up for our Patreon which currently has 99 extra episodes of Contesting Wrestling on it, soon to be 100!www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Merry Christmas, folks! Join Ben and Doc for a discussion of an event we went to personally that shaped our fandom and relationship with wrestling. In 2007 JAPW was a large regional indy that competed directly with ROH and had a different roster and a different flavor. We attended this event in early 2007 and wanted to give our modern impressions, as well as illustrate the growth of the indy world at the time. Subscribe for $5 a month to access our full catalog of nearly 100 premium episodes at patreon.com/contestingwrestling ! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode of Contesting Wrestling, Doc and Ben bring on Will Fink, one of Ben's oldest friends who has watched wrestling only sporadically over the years to talk about Bret, Yokozuna and Hulk Hogan and the events where they all traded the WWF Championship. This episode is full of nostalgia and (surprise) a lot of praise for Bret Hart. Enjoy!Check out our Patreon to unlock almost 100 extra episodes!: www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In celebration of Thanksgiving and the recent Survivor Series, please enjoy one of our earliest Premium Episodes, featuring the debut of The Undertaker at Survivor Series 1990 and 2 matches from Xtremely Serious Wrestling, including one with Orange Cassidy! Subscribe for $5 a month at Patreon.com/contestingwrestling to access our full Premium library of nearly 100 Premium episodes! Happy Thanksgiving!★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

As a belated Halloween gift, please enjoy this premium episode from last year, in which we discuss the late, great, spooky wrestling manager extraordinaire, William Moody, aka Paul Bearer. Ohhhhh Yesssss!!!!!! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The Contesting Wrestling gang went to AEW Grand Slam and we took a new guy! Ben's friend Sergio (Instagram: @gomdiaz) had never been to a live wrestling event before and had barely paid attention to it in his life so let's get his impression of all the action.We at Contesting Wrestling are always interested in getting impressions from those who aren't otherwise soaked in pro wrestling and Sergio does not disappoint. We saw all the big AEW stars, and he has no idea who any of them are. Maybe Sting. If you enjoy Contesting Wrestling, consider subscribing to our Patreon! We get 2-4 extra episodes out a month, time permitting, at the $5 tier so you can get as much contesting as you want! www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Evan, Ben and Doc talk to author, philosopher and scholar of Islam Michael Muhammad Knight! We talk almost exclusively about wrestling. Shawn Michaels vs. Sid from Survivor Series 1996 and the triple cage match from Nitro 2000! The sudden popularity of Sid and the almost unexplainable existence of Vince Russo make this a must-listen.Michael talk about his history of fandom and compares wrestling and religion. We had wanted to do an episode with Michael for a very long time and are thrilled that he was able to come on the show. Follow him on Twitter @MM_KnightThis episode is the next-to-last with Evan on it so keep an eye out for Evan's farewell, coming soon! We will be continuing Contesting Wrestling of course. Just in a new phase.If you enjoy Contesting Wrestling, consider supporting us on Patreon! 5 dollars a month gets you 3-4 extra episodes every month. We have over 90 of them in our archive so go to www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling and check it out!Follow us on Twitter:@ContestingW@DrDiamondfire@ScribeBen@EvanBurkeEtc★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

To celebrate the return of CM Punk to pro-wrestling and Samoa Joe's return to the ring in NXT, here's a Premium Episode in which Ben and Doc revisit the first ROH show they ever attended, back in 2004, which was also the first time they saw either Punk or Joe, who battled in the main event for the ROH World Championship. Subscribe for $5 a month at Patreon.com/contestingwrestling to access our full library of now almost 100 Premium Episodes with a new one dropping every week!★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Evan, Ben and Doc check out some British Wrestling! Plus, Evan has had enough and addresses his status with Contesting Wrestling. On this edition of Contesting Wrestling we check out both classic and modern British wrestling, as well as what it looked like through the WWE lens. We see Marty Jones take on Terry Rudge in a World of Sport classic, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Zack Gibson from NGW and the Duchess of Queensbury rules match from WWE Backlash 2001 between William Regal and Chris Jericho.Evan is on the verge of tapping out. We only have a couple episodes maximum with him left so check this one out! We are going to continue to Contest Wrestling in new ways, and we do it every week on our Patreon! Check out www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling where for $5/month you get all the Contesting you can handle. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

A short message from Dr. Ben Abelson for the purpose of excusing our recent absence★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In Contesting Wrestling Premium Episode 76 we are joined by @matt2jay Matt Josephson and discuss a classic Madison Square Garden WWF House Show featuring one of the first ever one on one meetings of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Subscribe at Patreon.com/contestingwrestling $5 a month gets you a new Premium Episode each week plus access to our full library of Premium Episodes.★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week on Contesting Wrestling Evan, Doc and Ben welcome Wrestling superfan AJ Tignonsini to the podcast! AJ is a big fan of NXT and has selected a couple of matches for us to contest. We watch the Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano 2-out-of-3 falls match and we check out Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens Last Man Standing! This episode is quite interesting as none of the regulars on this show are big fans of Cole OR Gargano, and the Contesting lens falls on Ben and Doc for a change! Evan mediates well and it gets just heated enough. If you enjoy Contesting Wrestling you should subscribe to our Patreon! We put out a premium episode of Contesting Wrestling every week for our $5 tier Patrons so if you want more CW, this is the place!www.patreon.com/contestingwrestlingTwitter: @ContestingW@ScribeBen@EvanBurkeEtc@DrDiamondfireOur Instagram: @contestingwrestlingpodcastAJ on Instagram: @ajt_9898★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week we unlock the first episode of our Premium series The Art of Raw, in which we discuss the WWE series Monday Night Raw from its inception in 1993. In this first installment, we cover the first two episodes of Raw, from January 11th and 18th, '93. To continue hearing this series and to get access to all our other Premium episodes, subscribe to our Patreon for $5 a month at Patreon.com/contestingwrestling ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week on Contesting Wrestling we talk to The one and only "King of Chaos" Logan Black as he brings us some of his favorite Terry Funk matches and brings some insight to the psychology of doing hardcore wrestling. We take a look at the "I Quit" Match between Terry and Ric Flair, as well as late stage WCW at it's finest as Terry takes on Norman Smiley for the WCW Hardcore title! We also discuss Logan's match with Jeff Cannonball from H2O Subterrenean Violence 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-JINqpwTE4If you enjoy the podcast consider supporting us on Patreon! Five bucks a month gets you an extra full episode of Contesting Wrestling every week and we tend to get into a bit more freeform and varied stuff. www.patreon.com/contestingwrestlingFind Logan Black @KingOfChaosNYC on Twitter and Instagram★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Evan, Ben, Doc and Katy take a look at both main events from Wrestlemania 37! Plus, we check out Cesaro vs. 3 men in a Seth Rollins shaped trenchcoat and Evan starts negotiating a way out!If you enjoy Contesting Wrestling, join our Patreon! You get a bonus episode every week at $5!www.patreon.com/contestingwrestling★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week on Contesting Wrestling Evan, Doc and Ben are joined once again by podcaster extraordinaire and the king of all space, @Spacekingbobby! Bobby wanted to talk about wrestlers that were made specifically for each other so we showed Evan "Coming Soon" Glacier and his foil, the covered-in-skulls Mortis! We also take a look at the saga of Kane and the Undertaker, along with their match at Wrestlemania 14.

To give Evan a break during his midterms, this week we're unlocking Premium Episode 67, in which we are joined by comedian and Twitch streamer Scotland Green for a discussion of the UK independent wrestling promotion PROGRESS, specifically their 83rd volume, subtitled: Remove Child Before Ironing. This is one of several premium episodes we've done recently without Evan, for which we get to watch a bit more wrestling than usual and geek out fully without fear of alienating our non wrestling fan co-host. Follow Scotland on Instagram @mistergreenmist and check out his "Pro-wrestling Potluck" show here: https://www.twitch.tv/mistergreenmist

Our look at Daniel Bryan continues as he finds his way into and to the top of the WWE!

This week on Contesting Wrestling we welcome independent professional wrestler Brian Burgundy! When we asked Brian what we should show Evan, he wanted to check out Kane vs. Shane McMahon and the hardcore evening gown match between Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson. We thought it was high time to move Evan away from the excellence of Bryan Danielson so we were happy to oblige!

Doc, Ben and Evan cover one of Doc and Ben's favorite things in wrestling history, the ROH championship reign of "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson.

Evan Burke returns to Contesting Wrestling as we take a look at the quick rise and abrupt stall of Damien Sandow!

In honor of the upcoming Royal Rumble event, we've unlocked our Rumble Premium Episode from last year, covering the '99, '05, and '07 Royal Rumble matches!

We discuss two classic "strong style" matches: Kenta Kobashi vs. his protege KENTA and Samoa Joe battling Low-Ki.

We are joined by English Professor and media scholar Geoff Klock for a mind-bending conversation about the surrealist 1991 Coen Brothers film Barton Fink.

Ohhhhhhhhh Yeeeeahhhh!!! "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Dig it!

Our first film club episode, discussing the 1988 film Hell Comes to Frogtown, starring "Rowdy" Roddy Piper

Chris Olson, co-host of the Pop Culture Lens podcast and member of the Professional Wrestling Studies Association, joins us to examine a key match in NXT history, and the fates of its participants.

Jen Ortiz, Deputy Editor at Cosmopolitan and scholar of the Bellas, joins us for a discussion about the pivotal role Nikki and Brie played in the women's division.

In which we reflect on the end of our Eddie Guerrero series, and talk about the changing future of Contesting Wrestling.

Writer, comedian and actor extraordinaire Eddie Dougrou (@didgeridougrou) joins us to examine the beautiful, decades-long relationship between two great wrestlers who just love hurting each other.

We return to the illustrious career of the late great Eddie Guerrero. A major event happens in the Contesting Wrestling storyline.

This week we're unlocking a Very Special episode recorded in the Before Times, chronicling one of the richest and most complex relationships in all of wrestling history...the intertwined fates of the Golden Lovers.

It's been something vaguely like a year that we've been doing CW, and figured it was time to see if Evan's attitudes towards the early matches we watched have changed at all.

This week we have a major correction up front. Once that business is taken care of, we talk about why wrestling stories were better at points in the past and what the WWE in particular has to do to get better. We also debate the merits of Hamilton and let our minds wander a bit. Some deep conversation in this one. Don't miss it!

In Minisode 48 we talk Rey Mysterio and the rise of Dominic! We have Evan watch their tag match from Raw vs. Seth Rollins and Murphy. Plus we get Evan's take on the THUNDERDOME! As fun as it is a few days late, give Minisode 48 a listen and enjoy!

We delve into the tragic and beautiful story of Eddie Guerrero, and Evan feels the love wrestling fans have for the late, great master.

We reflect on our conversation with Francis Wright, and Evan sees the Mimosa Mayhem match between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy! Evan gives us his impressions of the first feud he has now taken in beginning to end.

We delve back into the career of the greatest luchador of all time, and discuss the complicated path his career took after the tragic death of Eddie Guerrero.

Wrestler and "purifier" Francis Wright joins us for our most....contentious episode yet. We examine two matches of contrasting quality, and delve into the question of wrestling's negative impact on society. Evan finds he has more in common with Francis than you'd think.

In Minisode 46 we discuss Phantom title changes, Roman Reigns as a fireman and Russian politics! We let the conversation take us where it takes us like Minisodes allow us to.

Ref extraordinaire Devin Simmons joins us to talk about the legendary Ron Simmons (no relation). We watch him toss Vader around like a sack of something lighter than Vader, then enjoy the early rise of the Nation of Domination.

We review our week with Rey Mysterio, and give you a preview of next week's series on legend Ron Simmons, featuring referee @DevinTSimmons, who is not related, BUT is a wellspring of both charm and wrestling knowledge.