Edge and Christian open today’s show speaking about the upcoming Chris Jericho/Kenny Omega match at WrestleKingdom. Christian thinks this is a very exciting thing for the wrestling business, and he thinks the business could use more stuff like this. He thinks it’s a good time to be a wrestling fan right now, with NJPW raising their stock since they started airing their product on AXSTV in the US.
Edge points out that WrestleKingdom is a stacked event so WWE really needs to step up their game to ensure that WrestleMania is must-see this year. He points out that it’d be amazing if Jericho worked both WrestleKingdom and WrestleMania within a couple of months of each other.
Speaking about A.J. Styles’ WWE Title win on last week’s Smackdown Live, Edge thought this was ‘hotshot’ booking. He thought WWE rushed this Title change but Christian says he liked it because nobody expected it. He thought Mahal had a good Title run as a legitimate heel, and Styles was the right guy to take the Title from him.
Edge points out that USA Network was debuting a new show after Smackdown Live last week and they probably asked WWE for a favour here. By having the Title change hands they guaranteed a good audience leading into USA Network’s new show. Edge says WWE has booked big moments like this on their programming in the past as a favour to the Network, to ensure a good lead-in to the following show.
Edge goes on to say that A.J. Styles is an incredible athlete and he’s amazed at the things Styles can do athletically at his age. He also credits The Singh Brothers for the role they played in Jinder Mahal’s Title run. Styles versus Brock Lesnar is somewhat of a dream match, and Edge is happy that it’s taking place on one of WWE’s big 4 PPVs.
A listener calls into the show and asks Edge why he stopped using his Rob Zombie theme music. He says that WWE only had the license to use the Rob Zombie theme for a short period of time, and that’s why you don’t hear it now on old PPVs on the WWE Network. WWE has had to replace it with either Edge’s Alter Bridge theme or his original WWE theme.
Christian thought the Ric Flair 30 for 30 documentary was quite compelling. Edge points out that maybe Flair’s recent health scare has put his life into focus as well, and he assumes Flair’s priorities have changed since the documentary’s filming. Christian says it’s incredible how the wrestlers lived during Flair’s prime, and Edge was really happy to see that the Flair/Steamboat feud got some attention during the film.
Edge and Christian welcome Mike Elgin to the show.
Elgin says he’s very proud of his accomplishments in the wrestling business, going from the fat kid in high school to a successful professional wrestler. He did most of his early wrestling training in Ontario, Canada, and when he started touring as a wrestler around 8 years ago nobody could make a living off of wrestling alone. He points out that the business has changed dramatically since then and there are lots of indie wrestlers making a comfortable living.
Edge recalls training with Elgin and Tye Dillinger at their training facility in Ontario when he was recovering from an injury during his time in WWE. He was trying to shake off the rust before returning to WWE and he trained with Elgin and Dillinger because he didn’t trust any of the other local trainees.
Elgin believes that a big issue in the business today, is the wrestlers don’t know when to slow down or to speed up during their matches. They know they have to do it so they randomly insert those spots into their matches, but they don’t understand when they should be doing it or why they’re doing it.
Edge agrees and also says that everyone just wants to execute the newest, biggest move. The problem is, if you continue to randomly insert these huge spots into matches without any buildup or story, they just don’t mean anything.
Elgin says he’s couldn’t believe it when he first heard about the Jericho/Omega match. He says this is a dream match, and the only other match right now that’s comparable in his opinion would be Shawn Michaels versus A. J. Styles, if Michaels were to come out of retirement.
Elgin says he has tremendous chemistry with Kenny Omega, and he considers Omega to be one of his favourite opponents. He says it’s like a day off when he has to wrestle Omega, and when they’re in the ring together it’s almost as if they’re finishing each other’s thoughts.
Elgin informs that he has talked to WWE in the past and while working for WWE has always been a goal of his, he’s more concerned with his happiness at this point in his life. Money is nice, but he wants to ensure that he and his family are happy. If he can accomplish that in WWE then he’d consider wrestling there, if not, he’s more than happy to work for NJPW.
That sums up this week’s episode of E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
