How Wrestling Explains the World

2.11 - How the Intercontinental Championship Explains Wrestling

Nick and Dave kick off the next cycle of How Wrestling Explains with a discussion of one WWE's most prestigious championships, the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship.
This week’s edutaining banter features discussion of...
- The brazenness of pre-internet/pre-Meltzer professional wrestling's promotional tactics
- Why Savage is the definitive Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion (OHHHH YEAAAAHH)
- What changed with the legacy of the belt during its Golden Era (the New Generation)
- How the Attitude Era ruined the IC title, like did it with nearly everything else
- Where the title can go from here
If you dig the show, be sure to follow How Wrestling Explains on Twitter at @HWETWPod and subscribe to our YouTube Channel, How Wrestling Explains the World.
If you could find it in your heart to rate and review the show, that’d be a mitzvah as well!
For those who are just discovering the show, check out our previous episodes in the archive: https://howwrestlingexplains.podbean.com/
Follow Nick on Twitter: @THEN1CKSTER
Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveWritesJunk

2.10 - How Wrestling Explains A Fish Called Wanda

Nick and Dave finish out this sensational cycle of How Wrestling Explains with a discussion of A Fish Called Wanda.
This week’s edutaining banter features discussion of...
- The parallels between Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Sherri Martel, as femme fatales and physical performers
- How does Otto (Kevin Kline) relentless shit-heelishness helps to define the central themes and values of the movie?
- Why is his comeuppance so important to the movie?
- What did John Cleese do to "pop smart marks" of comedy?
- Who are the best physical comedians in the history of wrestling?
If you dig the show, be sure to follow How Wrestling Explains on Twitter at @HWETWPod and subscribe to our YouTube Channel, How Wrestling Explains the World.
If you could find it in your heart to rate and review the show, that’d be a mitzvah as well!
For those who are just discovering the show, check out our previous episodes in the archive: https://howwrestlingexplains.podbean.com/
Follow Nick on Twitter: @THEN1CKSTER
Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveWritesJunk

2.9.EV - How Sensational Sherri Explains Wrestling, Essential Viewing

The Wrestling Estate's David Gibb and Juice Make Sugar's Nick are here with their off-cycle supplement to the pleasantly in-depth discussion on what makes professional wrestling, well, professional wrestling (and, at least every other week) what that means for the world.
For today's essential viewing of the "Sensational" Queen Sister Sherri Martel, Nick and Dave break down her transcendent work in some of the worst (and one of the best) matches of the Hulkamania era in WWE and WCW.
Sherri vs. Moolah
- Moolah = farts
Savage/Sherri - Dusty/Sapphire
- Sapphire is probably the worst worker we’ve ever seen
  - And Sherri makes her less that!
Savage (w/ Queen Sherri) - Warrior
- A pantheon match, moment and performance from everyone involved
Sting-Flair
- The match that breaks Sting's brain
Harlem Heat-Amazing French Canadia(e)ns/Sherri-Colonel Parker - World War 3 (‘96)
- One of the best tag finishes you'll ever see (Seriously!)
- A *classic* appearance of the "get your hands on the manager" trope
- The announcers are very giddy to see Sherri stiff the shit out of Parker
- It even makes very good use of the three rings

2.9 - How Sensational Sherri Explains Wrestling

Nick and Dave kick off the next cycle of How Wrestling Explains  with a discussion of one of the greatest workers of her era, "Sensational" (Queen/Sister) Sherri Martel.
This week’s edutaining banter features discussion of...
- The reverberating damage of Fabulous Moolah's reign over Ladies' Wrestling in the mid-century
- Why Sensational Sherri walked so Becky Lynch could run
- What place in the pantheon of Hulkamania era performers
- How to deal with Elizabeth's legacy in the context of Sherri
- Where Sherri would have ended up on the card in the modern era 
If you dig the show, be sure to follow How Wrestling Explains on Twitter at @HWETWPod and subscribe to our YouTube Channel, How Wrestling Explains the World.
If you could find it in your heart to rate and review the show, that’d be a mitzvah as well!
For those who are just discovering the show, check out our previous episodes in the archive: https://howwrestlingexplains.podbean.com/
Follow Nick on Twitter: @THEN1CKSTER
Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveWritesJunk

2.8 - How Wrestling Explains The Beatles: Yellow Submarine

Nick and Dave kick off the next cycle of How Wrestling Explains (sponsored by One of the Greatest Heroes in the History of Our Pod, Michael Montalbo) with a discussion of the seminal animated film The Beatles: Yellow Submarine.
This week’s edutaining banter features discussion of...
- The importance of knowing your audience
- Liverpudlian accents
- The oddness of voice actors playing "The Beatles" playing ""The Beatles"" 
- Why Ringo works so well as a babyface
- What "Only a Northern Song" has to do with Will Ospreay and Ricochet
- Which wrestling promotion comes the closest to Yellow Submarine?
If you dig the show, be sure to follow How Wrestling Explains on Twitter at @HWETWPod and subscribe to our YouTube Channel, How Wrestling Explains the World.
If you could find it in your heart to rate and review the show, that’d be a mitzvah as well!
For those who are just discovering the show, check out our previous episodes in the archive: https://howwrestlingexplains.podbean.com/
Follow Nick on Twitter: @THEN1CKSTER
Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveWritesJunk

2.7.EV - How the bWo Explains Wrestling (Essential Viewing)

The Wrestling Estate's David Gibb and Juice Make Sugar's here with their off-cycle supplement to the pleasantly in-depth discussion on what makes professional wrestling, well, professional wrestling (and, at least every other week) what that means for the world.
For today's second part of our look at the bWo, Nick and Dave break down the most important matches in the history of the faction, what happened to them after ECW and what they would be able to do in 2019 if invited back to WWE. 
Meanie debuts as Stevie’s sidekick - November to Remember ‘95
Joey Styles' pervasive shittiness
Seriously, what makes a half-shirt gay? It’s just stupid.
bWo begins - November to Remember ‘96
The bWo Makes Peace with Tommy Dreamer - CyberSlam ‘97
Stevie Richards vs. Terry Funk vs. Sandman - Barely Legal ‘97
- Literally the highest someone can aspire to and still be a career “underneath guy”, The fundamental inherent appreciation of such wrestlers that made ECW the “players’ league” relative to WWF or WCW at the time
bWo vs. F.B.I. - Wrestlepalooza ‘98
- A great example of the fundamental mindfuck of ECW, in which two tag teams who are basically parodies of what’s being done in bigger companies are over bigger (relative to their audience) and have more satisfying matches than the bigger, better wrestlers on bigger, better platforms
Blue Meanie vs. JBL - SmackDown (7/7/2005)
- “Hey everybody! We’re all gonna get laid!”
bWo vs. Mexicools - Great American Bash ‘05
- Actually, nobody gets laid
- The *most* 2005-ish
If you dig the show, be sure to follow How Wrestling Explains on Twitter at @HWETWPod and subscribe to our YouTube Channel, How Wrestling Explains the World.
If you could find it in your heart to rate and review the show, that’d be a mitzvah as well!
For those who are just discovering the show, check out our previous episodes in the archive: https://howwrestlingexplains.podbean.com/
Follow Nick on Twitter: @THEN1CKSTER
Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveWritesJunk

2.7 - How the bWo Explains Wrestling

Nick and Dave kick off the next cycle of How Wrestling Explains (sponsored by One of the Greatest Heroes in the History of Our Pod, Michael Montalbo) with a discussion of ECW’s answer to the nWo, the Blue World Order.
The episode explores how three lovable goofballs (Stevie Richards, the Blue Meanie, and Nova) turned a game of dress-up into one of the all-time achievements in wrestler-audience resonance.
High-concept talk aside, this week’s edutaining banter features discussion of...
 
Nerd Comedy of the ‘80s and ‘90s
Weird Al Yankovic
The use of Irony and Allusion in ECW
The greatness of Raven as a heel and the bWo as his strangely babyface lackeys
The relative “realness” of ECW (and whether or not it’s a misnomer)
The evolution of the “Everyman” character in wrestling
Comparisons between the bWo and their WCW counterparts
 
If you dig the show, be sure to follow How Wrestling Explains on Twitter at @HWETWPod and subscribe to our YouTube Channel, How Wrestling Explains the World.
If you could find it in your heart to rate and review the show, that’d be a mitzvah as well!
For those who are just discovering the show, check out our previous episodes in the archive: https://howwrestlingexplains.podbean.com/
Follow Nick on Twitter: @THEN1CKSTER
Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveWritesJunk

2.6 - How Wrestling Explains Black Panther

The Wrestling Estate‘s David Gibb and Juice Make Sugar's Nick Bond are here bi-weekly to provide a pleasantly in-depth discussion on a specific subject  wrestling explains in ways you may not have realized.
This week, we're looking at the MCU film Black Panther. The boys start off with a focus on the history of positive representation for black performers in professional wrestling history, the parallels between NXT and Wakanda as well as the role both played in the development of, respectively, the New Day and T'Challa. On the back half of the episode, they break down T'Challa's battles for the throne against M'Baku and Killmonger, what makes the latter such a great heel and what wrestling can learn from the success of Black Panther from a business and cultural perspective.
If you liked our theme song, "Dog of War" by the Hell Yeah Babies, you should buy their album All The Things You Believe on Bandcamp.
If you like the show after the theme song: Rate, Review and Subscribe to us on Podbean, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and the Google Play Store.

2.5.EV - How The New Day Explains Wrestling, Essential Viewing

The Wrestling Estate's David Gibb and Juice Make Sugar's here with their off-cycle supplement to the pleasantly in-depth discussion on what makes professional wrestling, well, professional wrestling (and, at least every other week) what that means for the world. This week, along with "The Whole Afinshou" Daron Jackson, Dave and Nick explain the impact of The New Day in the 20th entry of their ever-expanding wrestling compendium of things that explain wrestling.
For today's Part 2, we are joined once again by Daron to break down must-watch matches from the New Day's respective early singles careers, along with their best collective work IN THIS RING AND ON THAT MIC against the Usos (and children).
If you like the theme song, "Dog of War" by the Hell Yeah Babies, you should buy their album All The Things You Believe on Bandcamp
If you like the show after the theme song: Rate, Review and Subscribe to us on Podbean, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and the Google Play Store.
 

2.5 - How The New Day Explains Wrestling

The Wrestling Estate's David Gibb and Juice Make Sugar's here with their off-cycle supplement to the pleasantly in-depth discussion on what makes professional wrestling, well, professional wrestling (and, at least every other week) what that means for the world. This week, along with "The Whole Afinshou" Daron Jackson, Dave and Nick explain the impact of The New Day in the 20th entry of their ever-expanding wrestling compendium of things that explain wrestling.
For today's Part 1, they'll start by taking a very unfortunate historical survey of the WWF/E's treatment of African American wrestlers, looking at New Day's place in the evolution of representation in the wrestling industry, why the Unicorn shirt was so popular and what their respective legacies will be in and out of the ring.
For Part 2 -- which'll comes out tomorrow -- we will joined once again by Daron to break down must-watch matches from the New Day's respective early singles careers, along with their best collective work IN THIS RING AND ON THAT MIC against the Usos (and children).
If you like the theme song, "Dog of War" by the Hell Yeah Babies, you should buy their album All The Things You Believe on Bandcamp
If you like the show after the theme song: Rate, Review and Subscribe to us on Podbean, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and the Google Play Store.
 
 
PRODUCER'S NOTE: Dave got knocked offline for 20 minutes or so during the recording, so that's why you won't hear anything from him for the middle third of the podcast while Daron and I talk about unicorns. Everything was returned back to normal, however, so he does finish the pod with us and will be in all of Part 2.