Wrestling’s So Stupid

We sit down with NGW promoters Eddie Shepard and Cody Ford to talk about how they built a Knoxville indie wrestling crowd that feels loud, modern, and different from the usual local template. We get real about booking risks, surprise appearances, and why the simplest stuff, paying talent, welcoming fans, and delivering quality, ends up being the whole game. 
• chasing a PWG-style atmosphere through venue, crowd, and match quality 
• building NGW from Newport roots to Knoxville growth after COVID 
• learning to draw with grassroots promotion plus early social media 
• why Matt Cross became a turning point for NGW’s trajectory 
• blending big names with local talent to grow the whole card 
• what makes wrestlers want to work NGW, fair pay, clear communication, strong crowd energy 
• using surprises to create a “can’t miss” reputation even when plans change 
• Avery Styles debut and the reality of AJ Styles speculation 
• biggest risks, running Sundays, booking TV talent, and bringing in international wrestlers 
• behind-the-scenes stories with legends and a lesson on treating people right 
tickets are on sale now at www.nextgentn.net
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Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:28

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of children of all ages, the team that brought you the show on color podcast, NT4 Productions, proudly brings to you the greatest wrestling podcast in the worr. No one the work on you podcast.

SPEAKER_06 0:47

If you don't like that, we got two words for ya. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_07 0:55

That's

Cold Open And Guest Introductions

SPEAKER_07 0:55

all it for you guys.

SPEAKER_08 0:59

It was beautiful. Okay. Super, super, super, super, four super. Special guests. Two for each of you. Eddie Shepard, Cody Ford, next generation wrestlers. Next generation wrestling. Promoters, owners, uh, iSoom bookers, everything all the way, all the way through, doing it all. Uh out of Knoxville. Right out of Knoxville, Tennessee. Uh, we've been to we've been to some of their shows. Uh boys, welcome in. It's a pleasure to have you.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

We appreciate it, man. And uh, you know, circling back to what you said about us being special, Eddie and I are both special uh in two different types of ways. As we progress through the podcast, you'll get to decide uh what type of way. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_08 1:56

Mom told me I was special.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

She lied.

SPEAKER_08 2:01

She did lie. Okay, so great show tonight. Um gonna talk about, gonna go over a bunch of stuff. Um, just so you guys know, just to start with, not that we're marks or anything, but when we go to your show, it's a whole different feel for us than everybody else's shows. Uh, because it feels more like professional wrestling than anything else that we watch. So love the shows. And, you know, um kudos to you guys for what you all are doing right now. You know, and it's and it's fantastic. Um you know, you guys got a big show coming up, and that's what we're here to promote.

SPEAKER_06 2:36

And Noah, you know, what's that date, Noah?

SPEAKER_09 2:39

It is uh July 26th. Correct.

unknown 2:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_09 2:43

It is correct, right? It is correct. Rassive wars. I know I know my stuff.

SPEAKER_08 2:50

The meal in mine in Knoxville, uh, is probably my second favorite uh venue. It's very awesome. Uh as soon as I walked in, I was like, oh, those rafters. Yeah. Somebody's coming off that.

SPEAKER_09 3:06

Yeah. I just I just want to first say first, and I walked into there and everything about it, venue and all that, you y'all probably been y'all probably been told this too, but very PWG feeling coded. In my words, I'll say that's like it's like East Coast PWG.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

So so the thing about the PWG, I I think maybe uh it's gonna be a long story, but I think the first time I heard you guys was when you were reviewing the show, and maybe it was you that brought that up.

SPEAKER_09 3:37

Pardon me, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

So I was uh the thing about PWG is like, so you got the building and the crowd and also the wrestling. So it's like those three aspects you can kind of

Chasing The PWG Feeling

SPEAKER_00 3:49

like judge based on that. But the thing is, is the building we were in before the Millen Mine is literally right across the street from Mill and Mine, and it's called uh Jackson Terminal. It's right on those train tracks. Yeah. And uh it's funny that you brought up PWG because I was standing next to Rich Swan at Jackson Terminal, so not our current venue, but the last venue we're in. And uh I want to say it was a Mance Warner. Do you remember what match it was, Eddie? Maybe Mance Warner and Calvin Tankman. It was either that one or the match you had with Stallion. So it's either Kurt Stallion and Mance Warner or Mance Warner and Calvin Tankman in singles. And I'm standing next to Rich, and we're actually outside of the curtain. We're just like behind the crowd, kind of, and uh everybody's like super into the match. It was a killer match. Like anybody that wants to go back and watch it, I would, you know, definitely encourage you to do that. But um Rich looks at me and he points to his goosebumps, and he he literally tells me, He goes, dude, this is just like PWG. I swear to God. And the thing is, is like, you know, we're kind of from that era where you know you would watch those highlight videos. And so I don't know that I've ever watched like a full PWG show, but I definitely would watch like the highlight videos they would put out on YouTube and stuff. And um, that's kind of what me and Eddie always said we wanted to like model the show after is this like new age indie style. Um, and then so for you guys to see that and then say it, and then also for a guy like Rich Swan, who's literally been to PWG, worked PWG, like like it's one thing for us to see it online, but it's another thing for a guy that's been in the building and worked in front of that crowd to literally get physical goosebumps and tell me that you know it's just like PWG, it's just really fulfilling because that's kind of the blueprint that we you know modeled ourselves after.

SPEAKER_06 5:51

So yeah, it's nice to know. Yeah, it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

And and I think like circling back to what you said, like you said that about the venue, and that certainly is true, but it's it's nice to know that it carries over, like because this was in our old venue. So it's like not just the venue, but just the the environment itself. I mean, you can, you know, you can Eddie and I will, I'm sure, talk about Newport, which is where we were running before Knoxville, and the armory was literally like, dude, paint peeling off the ceiling, like no AC, just like the shit, the shittiest little building, but it still had that same feel, you know. So it's like you go it's really cool to like go into an empty building, no ring, just four walls, and you're just standing there, and then you just know in a few hours, you know, it's gonna be chaos, and um it's good to know that we're still projecting that PWG style because that's always been the goal.

SPEAKER_08 6:51

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_09 6:53

Like it if like I said, venues started out, but then like fans started coming around beating on the apron, and I was like, oh wow. And then I get might have been the main event, the streamers started being thrown, and I'm like, they would get out of here. Like because see the biggest thing for me, like PWG, like prime PWG, you know, I was like in middle school. So me and my friends, like we was like crazy. There was nothing better than indie wrestling during that time. And of course, I never I'm over here, you know, we're over here on the East Coast, so I never got to see PWG before going down. So then I walk into there and just get that feeling, and I'm like, like this is this is what it had to have been like.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, he was he was marking out the whole show. That's how it was for us. Like in the OG days, you know, we'll I imagine we'll talk about kind of the beginnings with NGW, but we went from kind of just having local dudes, like even ourselves working these shows, like they were god awful. Uh still not as bad as some of these shows you'll see out here now. Like, I at least think we were still actually drawing too. Um, but when we started bringing in names, that was kind of the idea, like the exact blueprint. Me and Cody looked at each other and said, we want this to feel like PWG. We want people to come here. And we first of all want to blow everybody else out of the water locally. But then also when we started having people travel from multiple states to come to shows, that's when it started to kind of sink in with us, like, dude, we're doing some really cool shit here. Uh and that like you like Cody was saying, for you to say that just kind of kind of validates everything we wanted NGW to become.

SPEAKER_08 8:27

Yeah, unsolicited say that too. It's like that's that works out. That that feels good too, to know that uh what you guys were trying to build, you know, it feels that way. And feels good. No, what you you wanna you want to go ahead and start with a question?

SPEAKER_09 8:42

Well so starting y'all started in Newport, uh and 2014.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yes. So so yeah, so so the thing about it is is that's when like modern day NGW started. Um Eddie and I both have ties to this area like years and

How NGW Started In Newport

SPEAKER_00 9:10

years before that. And Eddie actually ran NGW for a short stint before modern day NGW became a thing without me. Um I always was like involved in some way, but not the same way that I am now. Um so it I I don't I don't think it's a very interesting story how it came to be. But yes, modern day NGW started 2014, but Eddie and I uh have both either been working shows or um helped promoting shows, whatever, for years before that.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Which that was a I'd have wondered too if y'all, if y'all started it together, or if one might have, you know, and then so just kind of in a nutshell, uh me and Cody actually met when we were both getting semi-trained for professional wrestling. Um but we we met, we had um, we just kind of met, and me and Cody have a really weird personality. Like we just you have to be around us. Like everyone here thought we were like assholes, but that's just our personality. Like we me and Cody, I'm probably Cody and myself are probably meaner to each other than we are to anybody else, but but we mean it out like at a in a loving way. So some people when they see it on the outside, they don't under they don't under they they don't know how to take us. But when you know we first started doing shows, um I wanted to do I realized I like the booking part of wrestling, I like the promoting part of wrestling. I don't like taking bumps because it hurts. So I like other people taking those bumps for me. So like that's like the whole idea of it. And I I really, you know, even as a little kid, loved matchmaking in my head with my action figures and stuff like that. So as I got older, you know, the people look at you weird when you play through action figures and you're you're older. I wanted to do this, you know, as an actual thing. Problem is it's a lot to take on by yourself. So from you know, renting a venue to getting talent, decent talent, which was hard enough just to you know find you know money for try to find money for sponsors. No one wants to sponsor like indie pro wrestling, like local pro wrestling. So the shows were not good, and it was frustrating because I had like a really cool vision of something I wanted to do. Luckily, Cody was there. Cody would work shows too, and Cody would make flyers. All the graphics are made through Cody, even now. So every single flyer and graphic you see, video, that's Cody. So we get to a point where I'm pretty much done. A buddy of ours buys a ring and he goes, uh, you know, he he wanted to do some shows. Nothing really kind of panned out with that. Cody buys the ring from him and he says, Hey, I'm gonna buy this ring. You can still work for us, but we want to do NGW. So we had a group of like six of us that were kind of like, yeah, man, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this. And slowly but surely, as like the months progressed, and it was just me and Cody left. Um, and essentially that's why we're still the two guys doing this, because it's not necessarily feel like we have to do it. Our big thing too is a lot of other wrestling promoters will tell you and make it seem like this is like their end-all be all. This is just something we like to do. This isn't our life, man. Like we could stop tomorrow and be fine with it. Like it doesn't matter. You know, it's all it's it's people wrestling around in their underwear, dude. It's like it's it's so stupid when you think about it. Like wrestling's so stupid that people take it way too seriously. And like, but that's our thing, though. Is like we just got everything kind of just going. And uh those shows we started we started doing shows on like Saturday nights in Newport. We had the armory out there, and essentially we weren't drawn. It got we got to a point where Cody's like, dude, if we don't start making money, we can't we can't make any shows, like we can't do any shows anymore, we're losing money. Uh, we did this one big fans bring the weapons tag match, and people showed up and we drew like 80, 80 to 100 people, and that was huge for us because you know at the time we were doing like 40 or 50 people, and then from that show on, consistently we were drawing about 100 people, and this was just like we were wrestling these shows, you know what I mean? Like this wasn't like really over-the-top stuff, and then we started bringing in more outside names, guys from like Nashville, guys from like the Carolinas and uh Kentucky, stuff like that. And um, one thing led to another, and we eventually get to our our big kind of break, and we kind of was you know, most of those guys from the past are long gone, and it's still just me and Cody doing this and still putting on shows like this.

SPEAKER_08 13:23

What was your what was your first like what was the first big break you feel like? I know the fan brings the weapon, but what who was like the first big draw?

SPEAKER_00 13:37

What do you got, Eddie? I don't know. I don't remember that far.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

I mean, truly, truly, the first big draw we brought in was Matt Cross. We did uh so me and me and Cody were both big fans of like uh Matt Cross. Back in the day, man, on tape, you'd have these backyard wrestling tapes, and Matt Cross was on those tapes, and the backyard wrestling video game, Matt Cross is on the cover of that game. Matt Cross is in the game. Um, so you'd go back and

Early Breakthroughs And First Big Names

SPEAKER_01 14:04

this is like the early days of YouTube, like Cody was talking about PWG shit. Like you would see highlight videos of this guy named MDO MDOG20, and he was doing these cartwheels and he was doing these flagpole presses on the ring post and dropping elbows while he's like looks like the wind's taking them. And we're like, dude, that bet that guy's cool, man. And um, he was like Matt Cross. I feel like you can ask Cody, I feel like he spoiled us a lot because he was one of the first big names we ever brought in, but he's even to this day, like the coolest dude you could meet, and he would do everything he can to make everything work for you. And I feel like we never forgot about that. And that that show was like what 2015, Cody?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yeah, that's probably about right. Um, the thing about Matt, too, is it's like, which you know, obviously it's been like over 10 years, so we've known him and pretty much had him on every show since then that we could bring him in for. Um, but he's like a good friend of ours now. Um, but I think back to that time a lot, and I wonder had we brought someone else in that didn't have such a great attitude and was willing to work with us, and like, you know, how the ch trajectory could have changed. Because, like Eddie said, I mean, it'd be nothing for us to close up shop tomorrow. And like, especially now, I feel completely accomplished, and I would be totally fine with it. So it's like, but back then when we were really just trying to, you know, get the ball rolling, um, it was super convenient that we brought a guy like that in. That um, you know, I remember conversing with him before we knew him, and he was like, guys, like y'all don't have to give me a hotel, like I'll sleep on one of your couches if you need me to to like save you some money. Like, you know, he's like super willing to work with us. So um and and to be fair and honest, like mo like we've had very few negative interactions, especially with like guys that have a name. Um, so uh, you know, who's to say that we would have ever had that, but it certainly you could have brought in a guy who would have been, you know, big leaguing you or whatever, and then maybe me and Eddie would have just looked at each other and said, hey man, this sucks. Like we know we want to bring in good talent, but if all the good talent's like that, we're just gonna, you know, wrap it up here. So uh that it was a very pivotal, like like Eddie said, I guess that was a very pivotal time. Um, but you know, before like I guess just circling back to before that, it was like Eddie and I wrestled at that Newport Armory before we ran there. And the shows that we wrestled there for, they they wouldn't promote and they wouldn't take themselves seriously and like really try to bring in a crowd. And me and Eddie kind of started doing that for them, um, just because we like we want to wrestle in front of a crowd, you know, we wanted to pack that place out. Yeah. So as far as Newport is concerned, it was a good place to like cut our teeth because we learned a lot about um how to get people in the building, and we learned how to get people in a building without a name on the card. And so then once you start sprinkling these names on, it makes it so much easier to promote and so much easier to feel good about what you're promoting. You know what I'm saying? Because, you know, I'm like, oh, I I want people to come see this man because I always say, you know, even if people aren't wrestling fans, um, you know, if they come to our shows now, it's like, dude, there's so much variety and so much cool stuff to see that I I we we feel really proud about promoting. So um yeah, Newport was just a cool place to cut our teeth and kind of get some of that like grassroots um knowledge under our belt, and it's helped a lot uh since we moved to Knoxville. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

The cool thing. Go ahead, I'm sorry. No, no, no. You go, Eddie. No, the only thing I was gonna say, like the the the funny thing is because me and Cody, whenever we hang flyers, usually Adrian Habibi will help us hang flyers too. Um, but it's only usually just us three or us two, like the last time we went and hung flyers. And me and Cody always talk about like that time period, the early, like say like the 20, like 14, 2015 time period. Everybody was making a big deal, like, you gotta hang flyers, man. You can't promote on Facebook, no one's gonna see it on Facebook. You have to hang flyers. So we did both, and that's how we kind of we grew up following because people started following us on social media. Like, we were one of the first people around here to be on like Twitter and like Instagram and shit like that. Like, people, it's like it's like the dark ages here. People are like, Oh, what do you mean you can by drawing on social media? People weren't getting social media. Like, why not do both? Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. So now we always joke now. It's like we're we're still hanging flyers up here, and and like we have a huge following. But you know, we always joke too. Like we were just we went out for a couple hours just a couple the other day, you know, this past week. If one person sees that flyer and comes to that show and then they keep coming to that show, it made it worth a couple of hours to hang a couple of flyers.

SPEAKER_08 18:52

Yeah. Like, did it cost you ten dollars? Like, did it cost you the price of admission to go hang that that poster up? You know, if you if you get if one person sees it and comes to your show, it was worth the it was worth you selling a ticket. That's you and and it's crazy to not try to promote in both places. It's like it's you know, radio, does radio sell?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah, yeah, that's good stuff. And and going back really quick too, like you're talking about pivotal moments like Matt Cross, like shortly after Matt Cross, like we were on Leo Rush's bandwagon before Leo Rush was real big. Yeah. Um Sanja, I'm just thinking of like some other names like Sanjay Dutt, uh Abyss, and then uh Johnny Gargano, he was already in NXT, but they were still letting them work indies. He was on it. We had him once, and we couldn't get him again because they like they mixed that stuff real quick that yeah, it wouldn't let them work you know NXT. Oh we actually indies.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

We actually brought in Gargano while he was under WB contract. So he was it was on NXT television. Yeah, he was on NXT and we brought Matt Cross.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

But that dream. And then yeah, and then like you know, the the biggest kind of point for us, like the biggest kind of threshold, and we realized we were kind of not in over our heads, but realized we're doing things a little wrong, we need to change them, is when we booked Cody Rhodes. And we booked Cody Rhodes and Matt Cross, and we were like very, very lucky to get on the Cody Rhodes bandwagon before it really took off.

SPEAKER_06 20:18

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_08 20:19

Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_06 20:21

Well we're was that in Knoxville?

SPEAKER_01 20:24

No. We didn't start running Knoxville, we didn't start running Knoxville until after COVID.

SPEAKER_08 20:30

Oh, okay. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_09 20:33

Yeah, but most of most of the most of the big names. I went there and just made a whole list of just

Booking Philosophy Behind Cody Rhodes

SPEAKER_09 20:37

all all the big names that had been through there. And that like I like I was saying earlier, like that's where I was marking out. I was like, get the fuck out of here.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Like so, so to to, you know, you talk about the names, and Eddie will tell you that um so one thing about us, like Eddie said, you know, we don't take ourselves too seriously. We also don't take wrestling too seriously, we don't really care. Like we do this for fun, it's not a big deal, whatever. Like, have you even seen Dan Helsin? Right, right, right. He's worked first too. He's worked first too.

unknown 21:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

So so the thing about that is is like, you know, with social media and everybody having their opinions and stuff, you'll get other people that'll, you know, have what whatever they want to say, they'll say. And um, when we brought Cody in and he worked Matt, the big thing everybody was saying was like, why would you do Cody versus Matt? Why wouldn't you do Cody versus one of your local guys to get your local guys over? And uh, you know, Eddie and I thought we were doing things the right way. And like the thing about it is is when you put Cody in there against somebody else that has, you know, half a million accumulated social media followers and they're both sharing the flyers. Now you have more people seeing the stuff, and then your guys that are local that are working the undercard, you know, the the show's gonna draw better, so they're gonna be able to wrestle in front of a bigger crowd and and all that. And um once we started kind of learning how to like blend the names in with a local talent, um, I think that's kind of when we just got a rocket ship kind of strapped to us and um more people from like not just our region, but like like you know, Eddie will tell you, dude, like we have people sometimes, I mean, like we've had people drive from New York to come see the show, you know, just like people from all over. And um I was gonna make a point about the names. Oh, yeah, you were bringing up like the names that we have. And the crazy thing is is like you never know when somebody that you see at our show might be like the next whatever. Because I mean I I think Eddie and I have like such a good eye for talent. Um just just like an example like last year Moose was the TNA champion, Shane Strickland was the AEW champion, and Cody Rhodes was the WE champion. All three at the same time. And all three of those guys have been at NGW multiple times. And you have Penta too, right? Yeah Penta, but I'm just making the point that all three major world champions consecutively at the same time have been at NGW multiple times. So I mean it's like you know there's so many young guys now that you see um and I just like spitballing but like Ichiban or Trey Lamar or any like those guys could be on TV tomorrow. Like they're ready for TV. They're excellent talent. So it's like so it's like not only the names that we promote but it's like dude you never know who you might miss seeing if you don't just show up and like come see these guys while they're available to be seen on this level.

SPEAKER_09 23:42

Absolutely and that's and that's what I noticed too like because I was looking at the dates and stuff like I realized that y'all had a big portion of these names like really before they were hugely known.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Like they've always been hugely known across the indies but like looking back now to where I would say 90-95% of them are nowadays or have done since then like I just thought that was so neat that so like um Shane Strickland was our champion right and Shane came to me and Shane was like hey man um I'm about to be signed by WWE like the contract's done um we got to figure out a way to get this belt off me because I'm about to be done. Like I can I can't do indies anymore. So um at this next show we need to get this belt off me. So uh at the same time he had put on social media I think uh some sort of graphic that had like the WWE logo the AEW logo and um the TNA logo and he was like teasing like where am I gonna go what's gonna and one of the dudes around here commented or shared it or something and was like Shane Strickland isn't even on any of these like like he's not on their radar. Like they don't know about Shane Strickland. He's not gonna get signed and meanwhile I already knew because he had already told me he's like oh dude I'm going to WWE like I'm I'm signed. And it's like so it just kind of shines a light on how some people think around here where it's like this dude really thought that the WWE or AEW or TNA like Shane wasn't on the radar. And now like we're a couple years removed from that and he he won some championship at WWE and then now he's gone on to AEW and he was AEW champion. It's like dude you really think that we our eye for talent is that bad where this dude's just gonna like float around on the indies for the rest of his life like no he's a superstar. We knew he was a superstar from day one literally the first time we brought him in we're like this guy's gonna go do whatever he wants to do. And sure enough he did and I mean it just when it when when things like that happen it just reinforces me and Eddie like just like the PWG thing we're talking about earlier.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

It's like oh yeah dude we were actually right like we're not idiots you know absolutely so like really quick so going back to like bringing in Cody Rhodes and like the drama like I literally have posts and like they're in my memories and every time they pop around that time period I screenshot them and Sam Nicody and I remember one of them was like dude these people the and now by people I mean like a lot of the local promoters around here now a lot of the shit's been settled for years like we have no beef with anybody if people have problems with us that's their business but we have no beef with anybody. But the fact the the fact that people who were like talking all this shit and I was like you know we can book a show with shitty wrestlers on it and you guys complain and then we book Matt Cross and Cody Rhodes and you fuckers still complain that we're putting on this quality of match. And while all this is going on Cody is sending me the list we used to use brown paper tickets is what we used to use. And it will give you a breakdown of who bought tickets and where and we're like Chicago so we already knocked out Illinois like Indianapolis uh Louisville so Kentucky we're knocking out Georgia and Alabama and people from Florida and like by the time you know it we're like nine states in of people coming to this show that in Ricky Deakin Newport to see Cody Rhodes wrestle Matt Cross and I'm like dude how why are people like bitching about this and then later on of course I mean they've f a lot of people have come out flat out said it was jealousy and which I mean I get it like I understand like they're upset that we were able to kind of do something like this but it was just like so frustrating. It's like nobody would let us have it you know like no one would let us have that win to be like hey you guys did a great job good job good on you guys instead they're just gonna be like why why would they put a name versus a name it was so stupid and then like everybody's gonna find something to complain about yeah it it and then and that's and that's what it is. And then uh shortly after that show the crossroads show what it was called like we had like 500 something fans in that little rinky dink armory um we just we both took a a step back and we're like there's no reason why you or me should be wrestling on this show. And we're gonna start booking we're gonna start booking this like a super indie but like Cody said we'll have some local guys and we'll get them over uh I don't know if you guys are familiar with Sean Hoodrich no not yet Sean well Sean Sean was one of our guys that came from Nashville and he we kind of made him this big deal because of this people were coming to see the big names but they were following guys like a Sean Hoodrich so much so that Sean Hoodrich is the one that takes the title off Jane Strickland from us. And people people put that match over and stuff like that. But we both were like there's no reason why we should be wrestling we both enjoy the promoting part and that's the thing too me and Cody will spitball ideas even you know as of like what two or three days ago like what should we do here? What's this what are we doing with this? What happens this person doesn't make it blah blah blah you know blah blah blah. So it's just an ongoing thing but me and Cody get each other so well that I think if I was to do this with somebody else they would probably try to stroke my ego and if someone were to do it to Cody they would they would try to stroke his ego we're both like that's fucking stupid why would we do this he does it to me I do it to him so and that's that kind of it really like leads in my my question for you all you really answered right and and just meeting you guys you kind of answered it for me because lots of promoters have trouble you know booking and lots of lots of promoters have trouble you know getting the people getting the workers there you know doing it regardless of regardless of the reasons or um you know other than just other than just big names that they pay to show up.

SPEAKER_08 29:46

Right. And and it's very obvious that the feel of their show is just because they just pay people and that's all that they care about. You know what I mean? And it's very obvious I think with that you guys seem to have a different angle on everything. Like that that specifically anyway you know what makes you guys different than other promoters that you're able to you know that you're able to draw like you are and and book like you are and people want to work there.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

The dudes who innovate talk about working for you guys like we talked we went to we went to Friday night we were at Battlegrounds um shot our boy Crazo lost a title Nick Blackwell but um but yeah those boys talk about you all like it's you know like that's where they want to be it was also I was gonna say it's also uh because when we we came

What Makes NGW Different

SPEAKER_01 30:42

to the party bowl I had seen about it online but it was all it was Habibi who insid he's like man he's like y'all gotta come y'all gotta come to a party bowl and I was like oh it's already it's on it's on the itinerary like yeah I think the I think the biggest motivator too is that if a worker comes to an NGW show they know they're gonna be paid and they're gonna be paid what they asked for and that's a hell of a motivator for good wrestlers to come. And then once they get in like they get in front of our crowd which like there was a clip that you I think you guys saw it of somebody running in the Newport armory and then the show was god awful and it like I was I was furious because of how hard I know myself and Cody worked to put good wrestling on in that place. And the crowd that we have you know it's kind of dwindled a little bit from those people that were from that armory but they still come to the shows in Knoxville even though it might be further for them now than it was at the Newport Armory. But we have a good diverse crowd of people there. Now like we I mean you you guys saw it there's you know there's no what what's what I'm trying to say we don't discriminate against anybody. It doesn't matter what color you are who you like whatever you come to that show you're coming there to have a good time and people continue to come back because they feel welcome there. And it's like hey man we're all wrestling fans here it doesn't matter about anything else and yeah nothing else matters. And I think that's the biggest thing that bugged me about seeing those that clip is because we've worked so hard to develop a crowd and a following that other people will come and do stuff like that and it almost feels to me feels like it tarnishes what we've worked so hard to do. And we put a lot of work into making the show actually good.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

I'll I'll tell you guys this too about the crowd since we're talking about the crowd a little bit um we we talk to these guys and these guys travel the world you know what I'm saying like uh Matt has been to I think every country that exists I'm pretty sure like he he tells me all the time about like wrestling in like I think Pakistan or somewhere where he had to like get brought in by like the military or some crazy you know just like crazy so so when you've when you wrestle everywhere and that's your life like I'm not talking about nothing against these local guys okay but there are guys that only wrestle in a you know 100 150 mile radius and sometimes starting out that's how it is and that's how it goes. But when you get these guys that are you know really burning up the road and they're on one side of the country one day and the other side of the country the next they see every type of crowd that exists. And so when those guys you know pull us aside and say hey man you guys have got something really special here like this crowd is really special they appreciate wrestling um you know you take it to heart because they know you know what I'm saying I uh who am I gonna listen to like the local promoter who has literally never even been outside of Tennessee or or North Carolina or whatever part of the region we're talking about or am I going to listen to the guy who, you know what I'm saying, like literally sees wrestling three or four times a week in a different state every single time and has seen every type of crowd there is. So we're we're we're super like happy with the crowd that we've built um because at the end of the day if it wasn't for the like that's what makes us who we are if it wasn't for that like crazy fan base that we have um that's so much different than any of the just like Southern you know traditional fan bases then I don't I don't think I guess going back to what your question was I don't think that uh people would care to work for us as much as they do but everyone wants to you know wrestle in front of a crowd like that. Everyone wants to feel that energy and appreciated at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Well and give yourself some credit there that you guys have developed that you know the way you want it to well and I think I think a lot of it too some promoters come off carny and some come off a tad bit stuck up we're not dude like you want to come talk to us like hey man I'm a people person that's why I'm usually at the at the the door and I'm gonna talk to you I'm like hey man what's going on like I'm gonna talk to you and like hey what we got y'all got tickets talk to y'all and I'm gonna make sure you have a seat. People remember little shit like that. You know like it's uh years and years working with the public will do that to you but make you realize that the little things is is kind of what matters. So if you go to another show and no one says all right man come on in or anything like hey here you go whatever blah blah blah you're gonna remember that experience. So when people come in if you're waiting outside and I talk to you and I cut up with you people are going to remember that and they're gonna feel welcome before they even get into the venue. So that's a big part of that to me. I I I feel like that that's that's kind of a big part to me. And then once everybody gets around each other and everyone realizes they're around their like their own everyone loves you know coming and watching wrestling it it makes everybody open up more my biggest thing dude I hate going to wrestling shows and people set on their hands like you paid money to be here have fun. Yeah like have fun.

SPEAKER_08 35:58

Yeah if you're not coming to an NGT show and you're not having fun then there's no reason for you to be there like that like why are you here then like you you paid money to be here have fun like this we give the crowd as much shit as we do the wrestlers like we give the crowd shit like if they're if they're dead we're like I y'all need to bring it up just a level we're you know we're usually we're usually the life of the party at a lot of at a lot of shows honestly in a lot of shows we can only carry the crowd so much. But but you know obviously not there and and uh we go to Knoxville Knoxville has a wrestling following for sure that's uh people are people are a little bit crazy so we get you know we went to that same weekend of uh the same weekend of party bowl we went to NWA at the Joe as well so we had a we had a whole weekend of wrestling in Tennessee innovate on Saturday before before the party bowl and wrestler wars we're definitely getting ringside this time and that's and that's and that's the cool thing too though is you can go to three different shows and get three different vibes from each show.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

And because that's a that's a that's a plethora of choice for you. If you want to go and watch you know Tony and watch Dan and do net pro stuff and innovate and stuff like that, you have that option. You want to go to Severeville and see Tommy Henry and KFW and uh NWA Crossfire you can go do that. If you want to go uh I mean I don't even know where Joe Kazana stuff runs I don't know where they run out of.

SPEAKER_09 37:32

But people we've only seen them at the Joe.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Yeah yeah so they they run as well you can go see that or you can come to NGW show. But the my thing is if you like professional wrestling you'll find a way and um I just think that it's nice to have that choice and that each show is kind of different. We like to value the stuff that we do but they like to value the stuff they do. You know what I mean? For sure.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

So so you know me and Eddie feel like what we provide to the fans with NGW is such a unique alternative to what you see around here. And not to shoot too hard or like get anybody's feathers ruffled but we feel like a lot of what you see in this area is very similar to each other. Even when it comes down to posters like if you blur out you know like I've dealt with Will Trotter a few times he's a really nice dude he makes most of the posters around here if you blur out the logo of the show and you just

Standing Out With Cards And Presentation

SPEAKER_00 38:37

see the poster you're gonna have no idea what show you're looking at. Like it's it's designed the exact same way. It looks the exact same way. Like um now since like AI's kind of taken over I think a lot of people are kind of using that which teaches on on that I I mean you know I think there's a place for leveraging AI and certain things but that's another tangent. I think just back to the show itself um a big thing that we run into is like everybody wants to use the same guys because those are the same guys that'll drive the 50 miles and not charge you you know $200 or whatever. Yeah. But me and Eddie's thing is it's like dude why would we book the exact same dudes as somebody you know an hour down the road from us and I mean you're gonna get a mixture some of that like especially some of these guys that make themselves valuable that are local. I'm not saying you can't book any of those guys but you got to do something to set yourself apart. I mean I guess you don't have to but I mean that's what we want to do you know like we want you to feel like when you walk in the building you know you're at an NGW show you know it's gonna be different you know you're gonna get your money's worth and then some um and and it's just you're not gonna say oh well I could have just not drove the 45 minutes and just stayed in my town and watched whatever local indie you have in your town.

SPEAKER_08 39:56

And if you guys had the same card that we watched Friday and Saturday that weekend we wouldn't have come to your show. Right like I mean you had some of the same dudes but it's some of the same dudes that we love to see anyway. You know and uh uh but that was on pre-show right like the card the card was completely different.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

The funny thing was I put over the pre-show really hard because we we don't normally do that many pre-show matches um we honestly do the pre-show matches a to give people opportunities because there's people that are now like Thomas Heim he was on our pre-show in December and now he's a tag champion.

SPEAKER_09 40:32

Motherfucker knocked my hat off this this exact hat this hat.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

You got worked brother and then on top of that uh on top of that you know it gives guys like um to like us we had so many people on the pre-show and to be completely transparent those dudes help us set up they're earning an opportunity just to work a pre-show match it takes it takes stuff off our back now I always tell people too me and Cody used to set that ring up by ourselves in that armory. I remember my little daughter my daughter's like almost 13 now but being like six and seven and carrying things to the ring because it was just me her and Cody at the at that armory. So I feel like after this much time I think I don't have to really carry much shit you know what I mean so if somebody wants to be there to help us they're gonna earn our spot and they and they do that. So like this last show we had so many people but we know Habib had busted his ass with us so many times when we're like hey man who wants to come hang out hang flyers with us he's the only person that will ever respond say I'll be there man what time and then when we hung we hung flyers the other day he was pissed that we didn't tell him I said dude you just had to baby and he's like no dude I was like it's fine we could we wouldn't find I was like nah dude just stay at home like it's fine he's about it dude he's about it and so he that's why if you go back to that pre-show there was one singles match on that pre-show and one like six man tag Habib worked that that singles match because he deserved that pre-show match but the whole point of what I was saying about all the pre-show match stuff is you could watch that the two pre-show matches and you could compare that to anybody else's actual card anywhere else around here.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Yeah because the quality was also one that was in my opinion best pre-show I think I've ever seen yeah pre-show Rob you know like it was the pre-show was as solid as the show itself got your money's worth man absolutely so uh um wes you you got a question um yeah actually I do um I mean I know you guys have had so many you know guys that have gone to the next level and big guys you guys were talking about Cody but is there anybody you know that you can think of that would be just like a dream booking for you guys no matter where they're at who it is time anything I thought he was gonna let us shit on somebody so hard I'm so disappointed it wasn't that question because I had one load in the chamber um um what do you think I'm trying to I'm trying to think of some that maybe slip through the cracks that we like tried to get um and I'm sure Eddie probably has a better grasp a lot of times guys like we'll we'll bounce back and forth and then Eddie will be the one that sends the email you know we both kind of just have our responsibilities that we accept and and Eddie a lot of times does like the social media and communication and all that um I I will say you know we we have it's funny they had the Phoenix mask on we have booked Phoenix obviously Phoenix and uh ultimo dragon both but um we were scheduled to have those guys work singles uh at one point and uh it was when Penta and Phoenix were both uh wrestling for impact and impact pulled phoenix uh kind of at the last minute but the internet was super stoked about that match and it would have been a uh it's never happened before and I would say it's probably never gonna happen now uh considering that you know Phoenix is such a big deal where he's at and uh Ultimo probably won't be wrestling too much longer but um I know that doesn't really answer your question but I wish we could have had a chance to have that match happen because it was uh you know it was a kind of a big deal and I know both the both of them were like I talked to Phoenix afterwards and you know he was just pulled for like a a pay per view or something but he you know being A luchador, being from Mexico, all this stuff, growing up, idolizing Ultimo Dragon. Um he was telling me, he was like, Man, I was so of course he didn't sound like this. He sounded very uh but he was he was like in his broken English was telling me how bummed he was that you know he didn't get to wrestle Ultimo. So um that's just off the top of my head, one that I wish we could have had. I I I I know that isn't exactly what the question was, but no, that that's a great answer.

SPEAKER_04 44:55

That's a great answer.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Yeah, Eddie, do you have any um yeah, my my I'll uh well I'll tell you about maps and I'll tell you about some people that's kind of like misconnections, if you will, like we didn't get, but yeah, uh doing Cody and Matt 3, because we did crossroads and Cody got the win. He he debuted his uh his arrow tights from the episode of Arrow that he was gonna be on. So he was hyping that season and like that episode. Um so he he did that, which my wife was super stoked for because she loved Arrow. Um so we did that. Yeah, Matt Matt breaks his leg, and then like we go ahead and book Matt versus Cody two right at round two, and Cody's in the bullet club by this point, and uh we basically get you know, round two, Matt wins round two, but we never got round three because AEW starts shortly after that. So also fun fact if you go back and watch the original all in, Matt Cross wrestles uh MJF on that show, on the first all in, original all in. It wasn't AEW, it was just all in, right? It was just like and I mean unofficially, I feel like I can tell you the reason Matt Cross worked at shows that the matches he had with Cody at our shows. So Matt Cross beat MJF on the opener of All In because of our matches with Cody Rhodes and Matt Cross.

SPEAKER_06 46:15

Oh, did he beat MJF? He did.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

Yeah, he did well. I remember it. Cody was there. I was supposed to have I was I actually bought tickets, but I ended up having to work. I had I had started a job and they would not give me off for uh Memorial Day weekend, so I couldn't get it off. But I would say some people I can tell you off the top of my head, Jay White is one person that we did not get that we tried to get. Um God, man, there's so uh I can tell you the first Jay Lethal originally, because he was that's when he was ROH exclusive. I remember that was a big thing because he messed we messaged him and Cody he got an email back from and says, sorry bro, ROH exclusive. Hope you guys have a good show. That's what he said.

SPEAKER_00 46:54

So uh I'll tell you guys this this story, this story real quick too, while uh while Eddie's drumming up some more. Um Swan almost didn't happen, other than uh he obviously, I don't know, I'm sure you guys probably know the story about his WWE release. Um, but he uh we had hit him up, and that's when they had just started doing 205 live, and he had just signed with WWE, and um he emailed us back and basically like Eddie said, same thing. He's like, guys, good luck on your show, but I've literally just signed with WWE, and then so we kind of got a second chance to

Dream Bookings And Near Misses

SPEAKER_00 47:28

to bring him in, and he's been a big, big part of uh kind of growing what we've grown um and been a staple for you know since we brought him in that that first time.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Cedric Alexander was another one that we reached out to around the Cruiserweight Classic time. Um then we ended up getting him, so we he wrestled for us at last year's WrestleWars show. Um I'm trying to think of some other ones, man. I know uh we had talked to Orange Cassidy. So the big thing is when wrestling, like booking a quote unquote names was so much easier when AEW wasn't a thing. Yeah. Um once AEW kind of came a full-fledged thing and more power to them for signing, whoever they sign, you know, people making their money, and I'm happy people are getting paid. Um it's made it very difficult sometimes because uh a good friend of ours tells us the names don't sell the tickets, our letters do. And I've we like to think it's both. It's uh we like to think that our NGW people want to come see it, but they also want to see people they don't normally get to see anywhere else. It's always enticing to see somebody. Um I got one I got one, Eddie.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

Kurt Angle. Kurt Oh, that was so close to happening.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

Yeah, so close to happening. So we forgot about that.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

Yeah, so we we went back and forth. This was one for whatever reason that I was doing the emailing. Um, but uh we were going back and forth. Yeah, it was stressful. Um we're going back and forth with Kurt Angle's agent, and we had everything worked out. This was maybe a year or two ago, um, but we literally had Kurt Angle nailed down to be a special guest referee, which would have been just like uh pretty bonkers because he doesn't really do much physical stuff anymore. Like, obviously, he can't really work because of the condition his body's in, but like we're like, okay, what can we do besides assigning? Because the the deal was was Fanboy was in town in Knoxville and Kurt Engel is at Fanboy. And so we're like, okay, everybody's gonna have already gotten his autograph. Like, we're not gonna, you know, like there's only gonna be so many people to do that. So I was like, what can we do to get our money's worth? So I pitched to his agent that he would be a special guest referee for one of our matches, and he's like, Well, let me talk to Kurt and I'll get back to you. And um, he said, Hey, Kurt said he'd do that, like he'd be good with that. But what they didn't realize was that the show was on the same day as Fanboy, so we run on Sunday, so it was the last day of Fanboy. So because of some sort of contractual obligation to the vendor that brought him in for Fanboy, he wasn't able to do anything else that day. Like he wasn't able to, I guess, because then you know it makes sense because it's like, well, if you were gonna go to Fanboy and see him, but he did, but then you knew he was doing the wrestling show later that night, you might not go to Fanboy. So they basically have like his full rights for that day. So uh once he got back to me and said he would do the referee spot, and then they started looking at the dates, they're like, oh, we actually can't, you know, do this. Um, but yeah, we were that close. Like we thought we had it in the in the bag, and then that that happened. So that was one that that would have been super cool, man. Like it would have been big time to uh to get him in for sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

Yeah, it'd been cool. See, I I I forgot all about it. That's the kind of see, that's the kind of stuff like I don't even it's out of sight, out of mind after once we hear we can't happen, it's like, oh shit, what are we doing next? Then where are we going next with this? Um, I'm trying to think some other ones. So the fun fun fact too, people don't realize when we the first time we booked Breeze was uh Wrestle Wars would have been what 2024? That sounds right, 2023, 2024, it's around that time period. I can't remember now. It's all it's like I said, it's all blur now. I'm trying to look at the date and see. Um we get a randomly get a text, like an email. Cody gets an email from somebody named uh oh my god, I'm trying to think what his shoot name is.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

I'm not I'm gonna pull the email up so I can just read it. Okay, like I thought it was I thought it was fake. Like I thought the email was just like a prank because I'm like, there's no way, you know. Um let me think.

SPEAKER_01 51:32

And that's uh Tyler Breeze is now your champ, though. So he was a champion then as well. He's a two-time NGW champion.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

Oh nice. So not to spoil it, but I'll give you guys the email address. I get an email, I'll get an email at 241 on show day, okay? Um, and it's from awesome Austin Creed. And so it starts off, hi Cody. This is Xavier Woods. I wrestle for WWE as part of the trio The New Day. And I am close with Tyler Breeze. I came into town my family so that I could see Breeze work at your show tonight. We're really excited, and I was wondering what your seating arrangement was like. And then he just goes on and on, you know, I'm not gonna read the whole thing. But I'm sitting there and I'm like, there's no way that this dude just emailed me and said, I'm Austin Creed and I wrestle for dope. It's funny that he he emailed me, the guy who doesn't watch wrestling. But like I'm obviously I'm obviously aware of him, but it's like it's kind of ironic in a way because it's like, oh yeah, I don't watch wrestling. Like maybe I didn't know who he was. Obviously, I I do, but um, yeah, that was wild because it's like, what so yeah, so I mean, I I know we're like rambling and not really answering the question again, but yeah, he shows up he literally sets in the back row, nobody even realizes who it is. No one ever saw him. He's in the crowd just watching the the whole show, and no one knew that he was there.

SPEAKER_09 53:02

It's kind of awesome though. Yeah, okay. That does kind of lead me to a question that I know y'all been asked so far, you know, kind of talking about the upcoming Raspberry Wars. So we have Avery Styles debuting, and I know you've been asked this. Do we think you know?

SPEAKER_01 53:24

We can either confirm or deny um if it means more people will buy tickets. Uh maybe uh if you're not gonna confirm it.

Avery Styles Debut And AJ Speculation

SPEAKER_09 53:35

Even if there's the speculation alone. So here's no anyway, because it's I mean it's speculation that y'all don't have to put out, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 53:44

So here's the thing we can confirm that we have no idea, but sincerely answer. We do not know. But with that being with that being said, Eddie and I have speculated this amongst ourselves, obviously. And it's like your son's like third match or something like that, and you're you're in you live within driving distance and you're and you're retired. So what do you what are you gonna do? You're gonna stay at home, or you're gonna go to your kids' like third match. First match. Right, right, right. Um I know what I would do, you know what I'm saying? If I'm if I'm AJ Styles. Um, so yeah, we don't know, but we'll I guess we'll find out soon enough.

SPEAKER_08 54:28

So just to clarify, your answer is if I was AJ Styles, I would be there.

SPEAKER_09 54:34

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 54:36

Impossible, just look in the back row. We will take every publicity that every like any kind of publicity we can get that's in a positive light. I'll take that.

SPEAKER_00 54:44

So I we might even we we might even make a uh a graphic that says AJ Styles may like it just has AJ Styles and it says AJ Styles in big font, and then like in little font it says may be there, you know.

SPEAKER_08 54:57

You can put that on every show though. You can get every show. AJ Styles might be there. Right.

SPEAKER_01 55:04

But here's the thing in reality, random reality.

SPEAKER_09 55:07

Random name, every a random. Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 55:09

It's a 50-50 chance. He might he it's either yes, he will be there or no, he'll be there. So he's either there or not. You don't know. Um be there and find out.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

It's kind of funny because tying into what we were talking about earlier, even if AJ Styles is not there, which hopefully is, that'd be cool. Um you guys know for sure Avery Styles is like the next WB Intercontinental champion, right? Like, like he's already signed. He you might as well already just like it, it's just a matter of when. Like, is it is it is it this year or is it two years from now? You know what I mean? That's I mean, so you're literally watching history in the making. Like the kid's gonna be a certified star. Um, he has every connection in the book. It looks like his dad's making him work his way through the indies, which is you know, great. Um, so he's gonna have to cut his teeth a little bit and not just be handed everything, which is which is awesome. Um, but um, like I said, he's I mean, I'm sure if his dad has anything to do with training him, which I'm sure he does, um you know, it'll all pan out and he'll he'll get some opportunities, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_08 56:10

Yeah, he'll be he'll be NXT champ before before this episode airs, I think. Right.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

So the the cool thing about that whole deal is like not giving too much, revealing too much behind it. That one kind of just fell into our lap, and we were like, all right, that's cool. So we'll take that. Stuff like that happens to us every once in a while. Now there's situations like last show where Mance the day before is like, sorry, fellas, I won't be there. I got other commitments. And he goes, please let it the big thing was he wanted to tell everybody, but then there was another organization, and I can't even remember what it was, that was like Mance ain't gonna be here, he's gonna be at AEW instead. So not only did you ruin Mance's surprise, but you went behind his back after he told you

Surprises And Last Minute Cancellations

SPEAKER_01 56:47

not to tell anybody until he said something. Because I'm just assuming he said the same thing to us that he told them, and they wouldn't do it. So now I had to be the bear of bad news, and people were coming in. We're like, Oh, I'm so excited, excited to see Mance. I'm like, did you not see our post? He will not be here. And they're like, why? And then literally, what like the during the pre-show of the pay-per-view that they had, he's literally out there, and I was like, that's why he wasn't here. Like that's out of our own.

SPEAKER_09 57:14

The promoting of Mance is what is what is what drew me to want to come to Party Bowl.

SPEAKER_05 57:19

See?

SPEAKER_09 57:19

And we was we was in line at Innovate when I saw the post that he wasn't gonna be there, and I was just I was being me and I was bitching about it. We come to we come to the show. I mean, Mance not being there didn't make respectfully, didn't make a difference because it was a great show. And then we get in the car, we get in the car leaving, and I'm just scrolling online and I said, Oh shit, Mance was at all in.

SPEAKER_01 57:42

Yeah, I just want to do that. That's a big thing with us too, man. If someone Buddy, buddy, come on, man. So here's so here's the thing people don't realize that side of this aspect that is very frustrating because myself and Cody worked really, really hard to book stuff. So like we already wanted to know we wanted to bring back Rich as well, and then we wanted to bring back you know other people. Itchabom was another one we wanted to bring back. However, like when we started booking the show, we're like, sweet, we gotta we gotta like a good two-month head on this show to start booking this. Every single person we reached out to is booked in Canada that day. All in. What pay-per-views is all is it double or nothing? Is that what that was? I said all in. Legacy or some shit like that. Is that the one that's coming up? It's something different. I think so. There's an AEW show coming up, but it's the same day as our show. But also Maple Leaf Pro is running, uh, Juggalo Championship Wrestling's running. There's a lot of people that we like to like that we like to book that's all booked up because they're already in there. So it makes us get creative. So the whole idea of Avery Styles kind of falling into our lap is kind of a product of that, which was not us fishing for anybody. They it was somebody else reaching out to us saying, Hey man, we're gonna be in that area. Are you interested in having? Yeah, I am interested in having you. Well, I'm also bringing this person, so it's like, sweet, we'll take it.

SPEAKER_00 59:12

But circling back to Mance, too, and how that all happened, is like, you know, the the promotion that Eddie's talking about that like kind of went to social media about the whole thing. And I don't know, there was like some heat with I guess Tony Khan like tweeted something at them because it, yeah, however it went, it went. But but but Mance uh reached out to me and he's like, hey man, I hate to do this. And I mean, we're talking like a day or two before the show, you know, it was like that Friday or something, the show's on Sunday. And he explains to me kind of the deal, and it's like, dude, what am I supposed to say? Like, you have an opportunity to wrestle on an AEW pay-per-view. Do you think I'm gonna be upset? Like, do you think I would expect you to be at any like no, dude? Congratulations. I'm happy for you. We'll figure it out. However, we have to figure it out. Like it's yeah, like our show's gonna happen no matter what. I do not like the and that's how we handle things, you know. And the funny thing is, the funny thing is, is like we already had uh breeze uh set up to be a surprise, so we knew we're like, okay, you know, the fans aren't gonna get to see Mance, but we're giving them a little extra here with Breeze that they don't know about. So that's kind of like gonna make up for um Mance missing out. And then the thing about Mance dropping off is like, okay, now we have to fill a spot on the show, so what do we do here? Um, and that's kind of how Swan got involved because we had been back and forth with Swan about doing the show, and um, we just couldn't like seem to nail him down. And literally, like right after Mance canceled, uh, Swan is like, hey man, I got that Sunday open, like I can drive in. And uh that's why we're like, well, let's just keep Swan a surprise too, because this late in the game, we don't know how many more tickets we're really gonna sell based on an announcement. So let's just make let's just make people feel like they really got their money's worth here and give them some surprises. And we're notorious, or I guess notorious isn't the right word, but we we do that all the time uh with the surprises because you know it's just one of those things where it's like I'm not gonna promise you there's a surprise on every show. There might not be one on this show, but we do it so that people feel like, hey man, I can't miss an NGW show. You never know what might happen, who might be there. And if I'm not there and something cool happens and I miss it, I'm gonna be pissed. So it's just I'm sure Eddie probably has some uh that we've done in the past that he can drum up, but well, he just let you think of that guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:41

Like we posted the Avery Styles, you know, graphic, and he's like, Will AJ be there? And I was like, I don't know, will you be there? Because like come to the show. Maybe you'll find out if he's there. Right. If you're interested enough to possibly think he might be there, why not buy a ticket and come?

SPEAKER_08 1:01:57

Listen, that's that's what sold me on you guys, really. I know that's like a small thing to sell me on, but I swear to God, your caught the comments like that that comment, I was like, oh actually, I think I love these guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:08

That's the kind of stuff that me and Cody used to get heat for all the time because we would do that to local promoters posts too.

SPEAKER_08 1:02:14

Bro, I do that shit. I do that shit constantly. I do that shit constantly.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:19

Yeah, to the point where he's banned from stuff on the guy blocked. Yeah, he's the biggest fucking troll.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:25

And it's it's not even me being a troll, it's just like No, you're not. I'm just using common sense. Like, you know how many messages and shit we get from people and people comment stupid things? You know the biggest complaint I have? If you have a flyer right in front of you and it tells you the show is July 26th in Knoxville, Tennessee, why are you gonna fucking message me? Hey, when is that show and where is it at? Can you read? You obviously can see and you can type, but you can you read the date? Is it that hard? Like this is the stuff so Cody will literally Cody's done this plenty of times. Where we'll make a post and I'll say where the venue is, the address of it, and everything. And someone says, Where is this at? And Cody will literally circle it on his phone and then send that screenshot to the person. Says, say it's right there, buddy. We may lose fans of that, but then at the same time, this is that's me and Cody's personality. That's how we are. That's why we that's why people have a hard time taking us sometimes because we're used to talking to each other this way that when other people catch strays, they don't know how to handle it. It's just it's kind of funny.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:29

Bro, I promise we don't even when we go to wrestling shows, we don't we don't even look like friends. We're so mean to each other. So that's how it's supposed to be.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:36

That's how you know you're friends, dude. If you want to see being mean to each other, you should see me and Eddie when we're setting up the ring and like doing all that stuff. Because I'm telling you, if I even said half the things on here that I say to Eddie on show day, then you could just might as well kiss this podcast goodbye because we we'd all be canceled tomorrow. Tensions are high.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:58

I can only I can only think though, Cody, because there's there's people around us, like what goes through their heads and they're like, what the fuck are these guys saying together?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:05

Are these guys friends? There so there's a there's a funny moment. So we so one of the coolest things we ever did, we did a joint show with Impact. Um we did it on Twitch with Impact Wrestling. It was NGW versus Impact, and um it kind of stemmed from them taking Phoenix from us. It was kind of like we owe you a favor, and we were really close with Sanjay Dutt. Sanjay Dutt was doing a lot of the talent stuff for them at the time, and so we got to have uh you know do a joint show, and there's a picture of me and Cody in this elevator, and I said the most god-awful thing, and literally some uh our buddies that were kind of there with us, they took a picture as right as I'm saying it, and then everyone just kind of looked at me and said, What? So it's just like it's just the kind of relationship me and Cody's had. Like when me and Cody first met each other, we were both single. We we did not have kids, we didn't have wives. Uh now, like Cody has a daughter. I have two kids. I've been married for like 13 years. Cody's been with Michelle for so long. Uh, it's just kind of funny. And he's watched my kids grow up, and I'm watching his daughter grow up. It's kind of really cool that we've had this bond, and it went from like six dudes trying to put this show on to just the two of us, and that's pretty much I mean, we have other people who help, you know, God bless Trey, yeah, who does our announcing and all of our lights and stuff, and our buddy Travis, who does all the camera stuff. But it's the constant's been me and Cody, and it's it's been kind of cool, like what wrestling has brought us. You guys are so cute. We are. We hold hands all the time. You should see us we're hanging flyers. People we get a lot of rhythmics then too. Skipping down the sidewalk.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:32

Loosen. I have to rat on our boy Terry. Terry kind of put us on uh uh you guys, uh the Michael's the photographer. Uh and uh you know what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:46

Yeah, create bastard. I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:49

Yeah, no, you're no you're not wrong. Uh he um he put us on we're like we met him at Innovate and he's got close we got close with him at Innovate and he put us on you all really like I mean he put he was putting you all over like crazy. He was like, hey, you gotta be the innovate. Because he obviously knew like I guess he knew about uh Rich Swann and Breeze, I guess, or one or the other. Oh well, I don't know. Well he knew he knew there was a surprise. He was like, You guys have to show up. And he's like, There's a surprise.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:20

I was assuming he just knew there was gonna be surprises, but we didn't we can't. So here's the thing about Rich Swann, the workers in the match. even oh Rich was gonna be there. That rocks. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:31

We there was one time um I guess back in Newport um I want to say Abyss had left TNA. I want to say Abyss was maybe he was going to WWE to be a producer or something like that um at that time but he was still doing indie dates and uh you know they had already on TV they had already split up um what was the what was the the decay they had already split them up on TV so um you know crazy Steve Abyss and Rosemary and uh we had abyss coming in and we brought in crazy Steve to tag him up with Abyss one more time um after they had already disbanded on TV and we did not tell Abyss. So Abyss was there and he had no idea that Crazy Steve was coming there. So like Crazy Steve showed up and they you know it was like they almost had like this emotional moment because they thought you know okay this is over it's never gonna happen again and then we were able to like put that together. So like not only do we Yeah not only do we like surprise the fans but we also try to uh you know keep the boys in the dark sometimes too that's that's actually the best like getting them look keeping them in the dark's actually uh that's uh gotta be one of the most fun the most fun part of it fun really is what what it sounds like you you got a quite another question you want to ask yeah I got I got one um so for you guys what was the biggest risk that you had to tight to start the company question cody so it didn't feel risky to us like a lot of the things that we did and it kind of goes back to the mentality that we were talking about how we had where it's like dude we don't care like how this flops like what like nobody's gonna like come get us like it just flops you know um but like Eddie mentioned there were more of us when we started um and basically how it came to be that it's just Eddie and I is because a lot of the decisions that we were making um so just like to shine a little bit of light on it I I I'm sort of the president of this thing. Like it all boils down to whether I say yes or no um at the end of the day. I I highly I take Eddie's um advice and wrestling knowledge like it's it plays a huge role in the decisions that are made and a lot of times we make the decisions together but at the end of the day if I say we're not gonna do something then we're not gonna do it. With that being said at the time there was I can't remember the amount of people that we had kind of you know all kind of making decisions together and and saying what we should and shouldn't do. And Eddie and I agreed on pretty much everything that we wanted to do and the others did not and that is why it is now just Eddie and I because um we you know these guys are pretty much saying like hey what you guys are doing like it's not gonna work like they wanted us to do the classic southern local like thing. Yeah and so um I wouldn't I mean I it didn't like said it didn't feel like a big risk but I mean we had people in our ear telling us like hey we know Newport like this isn't gonna work in Newport people aren't going to like this um and it turns out that even if some of the people in Newport didn't like it apparently wrestling fans liked it because we were still able to pack that building out um so I don't know I guess like part I don't want to say I ever felt like we were doing the wrong thing but I mean when you do have people in your ear telling you like hey what you're gonna do isn't gonna work like you at least like think about it you know I'm maybe Eddie has a different perspective or can think of something.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:28

I'll be honest with you the biggest risk I feel like we took was running on Sundays.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:32

Yeah because that was a lot of pushback we had from a lot of the our like original core dudes were like can't run on Sundays like no one ever draws on Sundays and I was like why like WWE runs pay-per-views on Sundays at least they used to and now it's you know it's kind of all over the place but like that was kind of the the the common thing uh AEW still runs pay-per-views on Sundays for us we realize it's actually smart to run on Sundays because you catch guys at the end

Biggest Risks Running An Indie

SPEAKER_00 1:10:59

of their loop a lot of times guys have Friday and Saturday booked they have nothing Sunday so if the guys are already out and about it's easier for us to get somebody booked because of that so it typically used to be we could book whoever we wanted we could book a Shane Strickland we could book um I mean I'm gonna throw like some old names out even some canceled ones out there uh like uh oh my god Michael Elgin's a name that we had back in the day I noticed that too yeah a beast but a controversial beast um but like having people having people like that go ahead yeah yeah I I mean I know since we're just since we're on the cancel train um we used to use Joey Ryan pretty much at every show that we had um and the the thing about that just I'm just using him as a uh supported piece to to to what Eddie is saying at the time he was probably making more money than anybody else on the indies like he was such a draw he was constantly booked um and and just so but but so like like I said using that as fuel to what Eddie's saying we were able to pretty much have him on every show because we're running on Sundays and everybody else is running Fridays and Saturdays. So there's no competition to bring a guy like that in that has a lot of popularity at the time because you know like Eddie said at the end of the week you know he's already they're already done with their Saturday shows nobody's running on Sundays we can pretty much pick and choose.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:27

For sure so that that that's that's the big I'd say the biggest risk probably run on Sundays but also I mean going tagging on to that even before all the controversy with Joey Ryan which I can honestly say we never had any of those weird issues that were brought up ever happen at our show. Like we never had anybody say anything so we only saw one side of that I mean it's you never know what truly happened. I'm not defending anybody I'm just saying from that standpoint. Right yeah but booking Joey Ryan at the same time was also a very risky thing because there was a lot of people who didn't like that shit. There was a lot of people who didn't like the whole Dawn flip. However for every person that was pissed there was you know 40 people who had a great time with it. So it's the risk reward kind of thing there and he would flat out tell you when he was working those shows he would he was the top merch seller at our shows like he would sell pretty much his whole merch that bag that he would bring of cloth of you know shirts and action figures and stuff he would sell through it. But someone like that definitely being a risk but also the same thing is you know when it comes to risk is booking these guys that are signed to like AEW because you have to get the okay from these guys and then you get people not going to mention who we're currently waiting on somebody else to get back to us because they have to check in first that they are going to be free that day. So then you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting and then you're like okay at what point do you stop waiting? So those are that's another kind of the risks you run into now if you have you know Johnny B from you know uh Johnson City or Kingsport Tennessee that's available and he's not gonna have to check in with Tony Khan or Christopher Daniels if he's available or not if he can work it. So that that's just one of those other risks you run into. You want to keep bringing people quality entertainment but then you kind of have to sit on your hands for a little while and and wait and wait and wait and that's kind of the the thing I hate doing I want to get this card book now. I want to promote it I want to get the stuff out I want to sell as many tickets as we can that's the hardest part of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:27

Yeah that's part of it. I I've got another one too um that is kind of overlooked a lot but um bringing in international talent is also very risky um not only just from the standpoint of travel but like you have guys like Ultimo and uh Tajiri and Phoenix and Penta that you bring in and like I don't speak a lick of Spanish voice. Like I don't I I have none you know what I'm saying I just don't so now I'm having to talk to these guys about like travel and money and then tell them what I want out of the wrestling portion of the show and I just don't it's like it's one thing to even just get them to the building and then it's another thing to like kind of deal with them in that capacity. So um that can be kind of intimidating and uh you know you don't want things to get lost in translation or um anybody to you know be unhappy or whatever. But um it's definitely it's definitely stressful I would say maybe maybe not so much a risk but just something that you have to deal with that is not the normal you know just bring a guy in or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:37

I'll I'll finish my la my last thought on wrists uh back in the day when we'd have to drive people from Knoxville airport to Newport it take it takes a good minute it takes maybe like an hour to do to make this drive give or take I will never forget we did Don't Call It a Comeback 2. That's the show that Shane Strickland drops the title. So we had Shane Strickland on that show Ultimo Dragon was on that show Tajiri was on that show and uh they Tajiri or Dragon had an interpreter there. I can't remember who it was it was this really nice woman I got the task to take Ultimo Dragon Tajiri and this woman back to the airport and it was the most quiet car ride I've ever had in my life and I let him out I let him out and Ultimo Dragon does not have his mask on which as a kid the kid in me died a little bit because I saw yeah so like I was like holy shit that's ultimate like fun fact he was like smoking before his match like shit like that's like little things like that you never would think you would see like you saw and you're like what the fuck man that's so Japanese of him dude it's yeah uh I get I get them to the airport and I shake the woman's hand and I said thank you you know like because we that's where the the hotel was that they were staying at I was like thank you so much and then I shook Tajiri's hand and then Ultimate Dragons walked up and gave me a big hug and like you know we all get into this because we're wrestling fans. Like the mark of me's like holy fucking shit Ultimo dragons giving me a hug like that's you hugged Ultimo Dragon dude holy shit but the thing that was going through my head risk I kept I told Cody afterwards I said my biggest fear is that somebody or someone was going to hit me and I was going to kill all of us in a car crash and I was going to be the fucking guy like two legends dead due to guys driving.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:24

It'd be so bad if you lived through it dude that was my thought I was like dude I killed dragon I killed the Jew that was like people are going to hate me. They're gonna stone me so like talking about risk that was probably the biggest risk I think I've ever taken you're driving like 40 like this dude and I mean you gotta be respectful man I'm like yes sir I mean because I mean it's fucking you know it's fucking dragon and it's fucking tenjeri and I'm driving I'm trying to drive fast too because they want to get back to their fucking hotel.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:50

It's pitch black I can't see for shit. I wear glasses can't see for shit at night and I'm just like oh fuck oh my god please get me there and as soon as I got done I messaged Cody's like dude I had the craziest thought in my head it's like oh my god dude if something bad would have happened the internet would have fucking hated me so bad does that feel does that feel surreal like or are you guys used to it at this point that you're that you're dealing with like Ultimo and Tajiri and you know and Cross and I mean even Tyler Breeze you know that's cool. We we keep a good like exterior but there's times where like we booked uh Eric Bischoff he did a signing and he announced our Eastern States title belt he we didn't tell anybody about it he so me and Cody are literally looking at each other's like that's fucking Eric Bischoff dude it's fucking Eric Bischoff's in the fucking room man that's the motherfucking guy that almost put Vince out of business like that's fucking wild that's Eric Bischoff so the thing about it for me the the thing about it for me

Legends Backstage And Real Relationships

SPEAKER_01 1:18:47

is like you know we have dealt with so many people that have made a name for themselves and done really well for themselves in the business and they're all so cool like like not like just like what I was saying about me and Eddie not taking ourselves too seriously all these dudes are just cool dudes like they're just dudes.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:11

You know what I'm saying? Like they they they could be on here chatting it up with us like just as you know it's not um it's very rare that we've ran into somebody that would make you feel intimidated or like any sort of tension. The biggest thing we we've had is like you know there's been times where maybe you get a TV guy who can't lose because his boss says he can't lose now you're kind of having to go back and forth between this guy and the guys wrestling and like it's kind of awkward or whatever. But as far as like literally like you know like like Eddie said Eric Bischoff he's the coolest dude ever. Like he's just he he like bought me a beer.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:53

He's like hey man you want a beer I'll go get you bought me a beer.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:58

So it's like all those guys like Cody Rhodes is the coolest dude ever. Like he's just a cool you know like after you after you meet him and you you're around him it's just like I mean you do have that initial like you want to know how this is all going to shake out. How do I have to treat this guy as he does he expect me to be a certain way whatever but after that like icebreaking um there's not been like one dude that's not you know is it's like dude like Pentagon I'm setting in like from the first time we booked Penta to the second time we booked Penta his English got a little better so I was able to like talk to him a little and um you know like dude it's just he's like asking you how's your family like what's you know like like it's not it's not it's just not all wrestling um we we brought Shad and JTG in a lot you know and um you know when Shad passed away it was one of those things where it's like dude I like I did watch him on TV but also like that was my friend dude like that like that guy like we were around him so much just cutting up and like joking and laughing and after you do that so much it's like you you kind of forget that you're even doing a wrestling show. You're just like oh this is my buddy that I like to like joke and laugh with like I I I I saw Shad I remember like I was at WrestleKade one year. We had a booth at WrestleKade and you know everybody's there like literally every single person you know you know from wrestling that you've ever seen on TV or whatever that's available to be booked. And um I remember walking through and I saw Shad and JTG and they were talking to somebody and Shad saw me out of the corner of his eye and he literally made a beeline to me you know to come over and um at the time like my dad used to come to the shows a lot and he had he had talked to Shad a few times and and I remember Shad just being like hey man you know how's things going blah blah blah and then he asked how my dad was you know and I'm like this isn't you know it's just like stuff like that that you it's kind of more than wrestling you know what I mean it's just like you you build like true relationships and you know I probably I feel like I might get judged for even saying this I was on the phone with Matt Cross the other night for like four hours. You know like dude I haven't even I didn't think I ever talked to any of my girl like girlfriends when I was younger on the phone for two like four hours. I'd probably just fall asleep or like hang up on them or something. But it's just um you you get to know these people and it's just like they're just cool people and and it's you know we're super I mean even in the same thing with the fans too you know and it and the thing is is we don't deal with the fans in the same capacity as the wrestlers because we're not having to organize and orchestrate things with them. But um it's uh it's cool to just develop relationships we all bond over the same thing and we all want to be you know entertained and and it's I don't know it's it's um it's really it's it's a special relationship amongst all of us. Well we all love wrestling except for you Cody Well that's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:06

So like so like when we were talking about Shad I got kind of got it's I smiled it's because like I used to always pick them up from the airport and it was that long drive to Newport. So me Shad and JTG he would they would literally share stories and then Shad found out I was a dad so all we talked about was our kids. So like when when Chad passed away like it really hit me because like I really got to know Shad. Yeah and uh we love JTG as well but I got I really got to know Shad and he was a great dude. And then like just little things like that you don't think about until like especially you know after he passed away you're like man I made a really good bond with that person. Me and Shane Strickland got really close because I was always the one handling taking him and me and him were hanging out and going to eat and he was paying for my food and stuff like that. Jeff Cobb broke my van window out of my van on accident. Yeah that that's just that was a crazy story. So Jeff Cobb felt really bad and I made him he bought me food. He wouldn't I didn't make him pay I wouldn't let him pay for it but he bought my food for me. But like seeing like we were talking about Ultima Dragon without his mask seeing Pinta and and Phoenix without their masks on kind of was kind of threw you off a little bit Pinta and Phoenix didn't have their masks on either no and then on top of that there's an old that same show we had Zack Saber Jr. on which I was really happy about putting that one together. I was I was really awesome about spearhead and that there's a picture of me and him together and I cropped the picture because we're taking down the pipe and drape and I was like Zach I got to get a picture with you man just because me and him were I was his contact point. Like I'm the one that so I like did everything with him getting them set up. So uh I have a picture and I have that poll and I said let me let me put this poll down real quick he goes no leave the poll in the picture I said why he goes because no one's gonna have any fucking reason why it's in the picture and I said okay so like it's little things like that. So in that picture that's all I remember is him laughing about that. And uh it's it's it's cool like the the stuff that we've got to do. Like this is stuff like people dream about getting to do and I got to do it with like one of my bet like one of my better friends one of my best friends.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:01

I I'll tell you guys this story. All their shows were being pre-recorded and then they were airing them on um at the time I don't know what network they were on whatever Access or something like that. Access yeah something like that yeah so um Josh Matthews had reached out to us about trying to help them um maybe kind of draw in some more fans because they were having a hard time doing three days in a row um you know keeping the building full. And because we're a Tennessee show they have a relationship with he's like hey you know could you guys maybe

A Locker Room Lesson From Impact

SPEAKER_00 1:25:43

do like a promo code for tickets and put it out on your social media and you know maybe try to get some people to drive up from Knoxville to Nashville to come to the impact tapings. Like oh yeah we can do that you know no problem we don't mind to help um and you know you want to be in good with those guys anyway so you do whatever you can um and then you know he's like well you know if you get a chance like why don't you just come on up to the taping and like you know just be here and we'll see what's going on. I'm like oh yeah I'll I'll come to taping whatever so so I end up um they they needed extras for the show so like I end up doing an extra spot and what basically what I was doing was um I was uh part of the Conga line for No Way Jose. So I'm like you know whatever. So um me and my buddy Travis go up there this was right outside of COVID. So people were still wearing masks and stuff um but we things were open like you could go do things and go to events and stuff. So um I this was when Impact had a working relationship with AEW um and they were bringing in like uh who were they bringing in Eddie do you remember exactly yeah Omega was there um Don Callis I guess was like part of something that they had going on um but they were doing they were doing whatever um so I like get to the building that day I'm going to walk into the back and I had already been told that you had to get COVID swabbed so I I didn't have you know to each his own but I didn't get the COVID vaccine and I also wasn't wearing a mask because Tennessee was kind of the wild wild west like no one had to wear masks we just kind of hang out do what we wanted um but I was cool like getting the the test or whatever. So I go to the back door and right as I'm gonna about to enter I start talking to um what's the dude's name that tagged with Enzo Cass? Big Bill yeah he's sitting outside he's sitting outside I start talking to him I'd never met him before but he said something to me about I had like a red skin shirt on and so he started talking to me about football or something we're talking and right before I walk in the back this car pulls up it's Tony Khan and Christian okay so um you know they come they they they walk up because they have to go through the same door I'm going through they walk past us um Christian gives everybody knuckles right which I should have knew like at that time like he wasn't shaking hands he was just giving knuckles so like you know COVID whatever we go in me and Christian basically go in about Same time, the guy starts to give us our COVID tests. The guy asks me if I had had a COVID vaccine, and I say no. And Christian hears me say no. And it uh it angers him that I don't have a mask on. Um, so he says, so Christian says something to me um out of the way about hey, you know, nice job not wearing a mask, or like something along those lines. Um, oh man, this sucks. Christian's pissed at me, and like I just got here, and you know, like whatever. So yeah, it was it kind of sucked, you know, but whatever. Um, so both of our tests, we did we did our swabs about the same time. So our tests come back. Obviously, I didn't have COVID, he didn't have COVID. So then you're allowed to go into the locker room. I know this is a long story, but this is the point of the story. We go into the locker room, we go into the locker room at the same time. Half the locker room is like, oh, it's Cody, what's up, dude? Like coming up to me, like swans like dapping up with me. Uh Caleb Conley, Caleb Connolly's in there. He's like, Oh, what's up, bro? Like, how's things going? Da-da-da-da-da. Christian just drags his bag over in the corner and sets down by himself. Not one person said anything to him. No one acted like they cared to say hello. So it was like a moment like that where I'm like, you know, it really matters how you treat people in this business. Like it matters, like, you know, so it's like all these people that we have relationships with were excited to see me because they know I'm a good dude. Like, I'm not like like there's not not one person we've ever dealt with that can tell you that we treated them in any type of way that was negative. We've always paid everybody exactly what we agreed upon. We go above and beyond to try to make everybody's experience with us good. And also we try to be personal and you know, uh meet these guys on a personal level where it's like, hey man, we're buddies, like we're all in this together, trying to make like a good show for everybody. We want everybody to have a positive experience, whatever. Um, and then like I said, that day it was like you see Christian and he just rolls his bag in and sits in the corner and gets on his phone and no one says anything to him. And when I walked in, you'd have thought I was like the president of the company or something, because like half the locker room like came up to me saying hello and asked me how I've been and all that. So it's you know, it's just one of those things, man. You just you gotta treat people a certain type of way, and also like we said throughout the whole entirety of this thing, is just don't think take things too seriously. Like it's just wrestling. We're all just we're all just here to have a good time. That's it. Boy, we definitely don't take a thing seriously, so you guys fit in real well with us.

SPEAKER_08 1:30:56

We're not we're not really serious about anything. We seriously love wrestling, but we're not serious about anything. Especially not wrestling. We I I like every form of wrestling. That's the best the best part of NGW, like you guys said, is it's you know, it's it's a little bit of something different. You know, no matter where you go in Tennessee, you can get a little bit of something different in all those shows. And WrestleWars seems like it's probably gonna bring a little bit of everything, you know. Um and that show, I mean that show's gonna be huge, and that's one of your all's big shows, right? WrestleWars from uh big names in the past show up at WrestleWars.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:39

Yeah. Yeah, so our our OG big show used to be Uncivil War. Uh that was like our first, like we call it like our pay-per-view. Um, but like WrestleWars has been consistently kind of like the last couple years our big thing. Um, with Breeze debuting at our first WrestleWar, one of our first WrestleWars shows, uh, and shocking everybody and beating Matt Cross for the title. We had like Cold A Hullock or uh watch wrestle, I can't remember which one it is. They were they were actually talking about our show and him winning the title on their show. So it's like you know, it's a it's a cool little you know tip, you know, tip of our hat that we get to do you know some some shit like that. Um but we've we almost feel like every show almost feels like it's a big show. We don't run a lot of shows, and I think um I think that bothers people more than it bothers us, like it bothers other promoters than it bothers us because it's like we come in, we come in right around summertime, we come in right towards the middle or end of summer, and then we do a fall or closer closer to a winter show, and that's what we do. We want to potentially add more stuff in between there, but the way our venue works is we kind of have to take the dates that we can. Um, because that venue, like you, I heard you when you guys say it's like a bar. It's not it's not just a bar, it's an actual like concert venue. Like people, like bands go there, like Tech Nine was there recently, uh bowling for Superstairs, uh gonna go to Deep Cup. Dexter and the Moon Rocks was just there like last year or two. Like, there's a bunch of people that come there like full on show. Yeah, I've heard that. Um that come that come there. So, you know, when we're on stage, we're like, I told Cody, I was like, Tech Nine was on the stage like just a couple weeks ago. Like it's crazy. Um, and so the venue, we kind of have to pick and choose our dates. The venue is awesome. The people are awesome that work for that venue. Uh, the lady that's always there with us, she's always super nice. Uh, going back to what we were saying, like wrestling's stupid. Uh, the uh the bartender that was working there, every time something crazy happened, I was like, wrestling's so stupid. And he would just laugh. And I but I did it so much for the show. Like, Rich Swann came out and everyone was dancing. He's like getting all excited. Like, wrestling's so stupid. And then Facade does the dive off. It's like, man, wrestling's so stupid. I just kept doing it the entire show. Because I mean, and and wrestling's cool. I love wrestling, but wrestling's stupid. Like, we argue and make posts and and and bitch about what's going on in wrestling. It's really stupid when you think about it in the long run. Like, this is what like there's guys out there like Sean Rossapp and and and people like Melter that have made a living off of wrestling, and it's so stupid. It's so stupid.

SPEAKER_08 1:34:18

I think you know, there's also people that are just talking about Love Island, so you know, uh it it's like Which is also stupid.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:25

It's just a lot of things.

SPEAKER_08 1:34:25

Which is also stupid and equally entertaining.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:29

Yeah, I think too, like Eddie was saying too about us not running a whole lot. It's uh especially amongst promoters and promotions, it gets to be like this dick measuring contest where it's like, oh, well, I've ran 1,000 shows and you've only ran 995. So, you know, I'm better than you because and it's like, dude, like none of this matter. Without your 995, though. Well, and even even not selling out, you know, it's like none of this has a there's no rule book to this. It doesn't matter. Like, like there's no like like dude, do you know, I know I don't want to put it over, but like I know there's this really bad show that's been going around that everybody's been talking about or whatever. Um and it's like, you know what, man? If the people that are at that show enjoy that show, then like it's just entertainment, dude. Like, there's no like if you do a hip toss this way or you do a hip toss this way, like it like who really cares, man? Like it's I mean, I know that you know there's some stuff that's universally said to be awful, but I mean, if the people that are there that paid liked it, like I don't know that you can really shit on it too much, you know?

SPEAKER_08 1:35:41

So yeah, you who are we to judge how you enjoy wrestling?

SPEAKER_00 1:35:44

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:45

So here's the here's the thing with all that too. Like, uh, does it matter? Does it matter that they're running it? Here's the thing. If people look at that show, we're talking about was it King Wrestling, whatever the bullshit is, whatever it is, and then you and then you look at NetPro, does it really matter? Is King Wrestling really gonna take fans away from you guys?

SPEAKER_00 1:36:06

No, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it's stupid because right we wrestling stupid the other day we were all me um Adrian and Eddie are in like a group chat just like because we if we're gonna get together and put flyers up, like a lot of times we'll communicate in that. But the other day we were all watching a live stream of a Tennessee backyard wrestling show, and it was the weirdest. But dude, we loved it. Like we we were all like chopping up about it. We're like, this is the best thing ever. And it's yeah, you're gonna send me that link when that happens.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:35

Yeah, I was like, this dude's weren't worth a box, he's definitely here to party.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:40

Yeah, so I don't know. I just think uh I just think well, I I guess getting back to what we're talking about and not running that many shows, it's just we really do like our whole idea is like we want to put as much effort into the shows as we can. And Eddie and I both have like you know, real life stuff that we care about, and we have our kids, and it's it's a lot of work that it takes to put these shows on. So like if we started running every other week or whatever, it's like I don't know if the quality would be quite what it is just because we're so busy.

SPEAKER_08 1:37:09

Um the anticipation of your all shows is is real too, like the anticipation of not running all the time.

unknown 1:37:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:15

So the big thing too is like we're talking about like people running 100 shows and this and that. I've been running shows since for 20 years. Here's the thing, man. I want you I want you to use this quote whenever possible. You can be 18 years old when you first start fucking and be 40 years old doesn't mean you're good at it.

unknown 1:37:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_08 1:37:36

You heard that with us.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:39

So that's true. Facts.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:42

Going back to WrestleWars. Uh, we've already announced a plethora of people for this show. Uh that's called a segue, Cody. Uh, where we've had uh where we've we've already announced a bunch of people for this show. Uh the Good Brothers uh have already been announced, Avery Styles have already been announced. Um uh Breeze is gonna defend the NGW title on this show. Uh Trey Lamar is gonna defend the Eastern States Championship on this show. Cody, do we want to announce like a match? Do you want to hold off on doing that? You want

WrestleWars Details And How To Buy Tickets

SPEAKER_01 1:38:11

to announce a match here?

SPEAKER_00 1:38:13

I don't have any graphics made, so maybe we'll make the people wait for that. I just hate to announce a match here and then not be able to put the graphic out, you know. Sorry, guys.

SPEAKER_08 1:38:22

I know No, you no, it's okay. You can I mean you tell us we'll we're gonna share it anyway. So I we'll share it with the show, so that's no problem.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:31

Do we get to find out off the record?

SPEAKER_08 1:38:34

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:35

We're gonna move all like that. Never talking to us again, actually. This is like is it fightful select? I want you to, there's a paywall. You gotta pay for that. Um yeah, I was gonna say we gotta give you guys a sub.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:48

Wrestling's stupid. Um, but yeah, guys, so like I know you were mentioning it too. I know we've been rambling for a while, but like WrestleWars, Mill and Mine, uh in Knoxville, uh Sunday, July 26th. Uh tickets are on sale now at nextgentn.com slash tickets. Uh, if you're planning on coming to the show and you're listening to this and you plan on bringing a card, go ahead and buy your tickets now and save us the headache for when you get there because we're gonna make you order them that way anyway, because we're not set up for a card. But if you have cash, you can pay cash at the door, which is sweet, and it makes it easy on all of us.

SPEAKER_08 1:39:21

Yeah, and we'll share that link. You can find that link. You'll be able to find the link on our page. Like um with this episode, you'll be able to find you'll be able to find a link to get to get tickets to get to your all's page and you know, uh see see everything going on. The show the show looks awesome. Uh it looks insane. Uh, we can't, we can't we can't you have to be there. You get you gotta be there to just know how great it is. How awesome it is when the streamers start flying and the and everybody's you know hitting the apron and the the group is crazy, like the crowd is crazy. There's they're they're they're nuts. So my my favorite message.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:00

My my favorite thing really quick is listening to you guys talk about the show and you literally fuck up every single person's name that was on the show, and it made me laugh so hard. Like for the last show, I heard you guys when you talk about Cole Raderick, and I can't remember what you called him. It was really funny. But that's the kind of shit that we think's hilarious because obviously me and Cody don't care enough to be like, they said their names wrong. I'm saying it now just as a joke because I think it's funny that you did it. Yeah, but like there's different situations where like I don't think of it, it's just like I've watched WWE since I was a kid, so obviously I know everybody that's on television for some reason because I've watched it since I was a kid. Yeah. Now, if someone came to an NGW show dry and not knowing who anybody is, you're not gonna know their names, right? So like I totally get it, but it to me, I just kept looking at Cody. I was like, they can't they can't remember anyone's name, and it made me laugh so hard.

SPEAKER_09 1:40:56

We did it when we first went to We did it when we went to the first Innovate show, too. I think I I I fucked up uh Big Scary's name. I think I called him Scary Terry, and I was like I'm gonna get your bitch.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:12

Wrestling's so stupid. Wrestling's so stupid. That's the title of this episode, wrestling so stupid.

SPEAKER_08 1:41:17

No, it's it's a hundred percent is, yeah, wrestling so stupid. Wrestling's so stupid. Hey boys, does my crew, you all got any more questions uh for for Eddie or Cody?

SPEAKER_04 1:41:28

Man, I you know, I I know Cody has a watch, he he hates mainline wrestling. Um like Eddie and Cody chime in, you know. Um, but like with with the bigs AEW WWE, is there anything like you guys notice like be like, man, I would change that the way they're running it or something or anything.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:55

I personally would tell you going to WWE shows and AEW shows. AEW shows run way too long for anybody to actually full on have a great time. They have great fans, but it runs so long. On a Sunday night, you want shows to last almost one in the morning when people have to work the next day. That doesn't make any sense. Don't do that. On the other hand, WWE, if you're doing a big show, you can have more than four matches on that show. You can have a give me a fucking tag title match on a pay-per-view, please. For the love of God, I'm gonna tag wrestling. Nobody fights for those. No, no, and it's all makeshift tag teams. It's fucking wrestling stupid. Um, but my but my big thing too is um affordability. Um everybody goes through like troubles right now. And I mean, I've seen AEW tickets too. They're expensive as well. They're not as expensive as WWE, but they can't. Um, but like I get it. I I 100% get it. Um, but my big thing too is uh the only thing I can tell you in wrestling that I really hate, and it may make you guys mad, I fucking hate deathmatch wrestling, I think is the stupidest shit. I I don't understand it. I don't know if I'm just older and just don't get it. I don't see the point. Like I even asked Shane Strickman myself because he worked CZW shows, and there's a big infamous spot of him going through a glass pane and his back is all scarred fuck. And I said, dude, and Cody was there too, and he may have mentioned it to Cody. He's like, Why why do you why did you do that? He goes, at that point in time, he had to do everything he could to stand out, which I understand. But at the same time, if I watch a deat match show and I'm watching somebody with a wiffle ball bat with thumbtacks on it, and then the very next deathmatch I see somebody else do that, what's the fucking point? No one's gonna remember it, no one cares. Where's your tennis racket? I know. Oh, don't get me started. And it may be like a purist thing in me, too. Like, but I mean, I love hardcore wrestling. You can have hardcore wrestling, but if you go to a show and every single match is a deat match, it makes everything fucking meaningless. If I just saw someone get thrown through glass and then someone else gets thrown through glass. No, I agree. It's not that big of a deal. Like if you're having a main event match and you're using barbed wire and using thumbtacks, 100% agree. But if every match has that, there's no fucking point because it doesn't mean anything anymore. And everything you're doing, you're hurting yourself for nothing.

SPEAKER_08 1:44:16

Yeah. No, I'm I'm I'm with you. I I actually agree with you on all that.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:20

Like and and and no, and more power to you. If you like death match wrestling, that's cool. It's wrestling is just opinion-based. Everything's opinion-based. Like my what I mean, like Yeah, everything's stupid. Yeah, every wrestling's stupid. I I may love Bret Hart, you may fucking hate Bret Hart. I may love Shawn Michaels, you may hate Shawn Michaels. You know, you might be you know a Kenny Omega fan, I might be a CM Punk fan. It's everything, it's it's all subjective. And that's the problem with wrestling, is everyone it's just like promoters. Everybody thinks that they're right and everything they say is the truth.

SPEAKER_08 1:44:52

I guess that's and that's why I appreciate you guys, is because you I don't feel like you're like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:59

Is wrestling stupid? Is wrestling stupid? You know there's some promoters seething watching this, and I can't believe they're it's okay. Promoters don't watch this.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:10

Not all is is wrestling stupid, but but we are also stupid. Like Eddie and I are both idiots. Like we're like stupids. We're stupid.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:17

You should see the the videos we send each other. Not like of ourselves, but like funny videos we send each other. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:45:23

Stupid.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:24

Same.

SPEAKER_08 1:45:25

We're all stupid. We all send stupid videos to each other. We're all yeah, we're all Mark. Uh everybody's a Mark. Everybody but Cody, actually.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:33

So uh if you guys are Marks, I'll be a Mark too. Whatever. You're a mustache mark, though.

SPEAKER_08 1:45:39

Best mustache. It's good. Boys, this has been awesome. Honestly, you guys, you guys are incredible. Uh it's so much fun to have you all on. Uh you know, I give you guys the four. I think you you promoted, I think you did that ahead of me. You're you've done more podcasts than I have. Uh so you know, it's it's been it's been a pleasure having you all on again. You know, you can see you can get the tickets on our page, you'll be able to get it wrestle fast. Uh 26th, right? July 26th at Mill and Mine in

Plugs Final Thoughts And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_08 1:46:15

Knoxville. That's right. That's right. You got it right. Got it. Got it right. Well, it's because I didn't say the name of the next generation. Guys, this has been awesome. Uh we'll we'll catch you. We'll see you at NGW. Now you know who we're now you know who we're when we when we see you there. And we'll be there, we'll be ringside this time. We were taking a back seat the last time because we weren't sure what to expect, but now we want to smack that apron.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:44

We're gonna act like we don't know who the hell you boys are. And I'll be I'll be dead honest with you. 100% this happens every show.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:51

Someone's like, hey Eddie, is like, what's up, man? No fucking clue who they are. No fucking clue who you are.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:55

That's real. That's real.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:57

But you know what? I'm glad you fucking paid for a ticket.

SPEAKER_08 1:47:01

People talk to us all the time, they're like, man, that was and we're like, yeah. And we'll go as soon as they walk away, we're like, I have no fucking idea. I've never seen that person. Dude have you all the time.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:10

We had one dude walk up to Dusty, and he's like, hey man, that was a great promo you posted earlier. And like, I don't really think Dusty posted a promo that day.

SPEAKER_08 1:47:17

I didn't I didn't post anything, I don't know what he was talking about.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:21

I think the the big problem we run into, like uh genuinely, like we're gonna know who you guys are, and like we'll we'll give you a minute, but like on show day, it is literally the most bonkers. Like, we're like it's we know that too.

SPEAKER_08 1:47:34

We know that we don't fuck we don't fuck with people, right? Well, I know I know you're busy, I can smell it on you.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:39

Yeah, I got my first taste with that stuff. I helped set up our show up here about a month ago. Yeah, it's fuck, it's so just 100.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:47

I was in like I was in like full promoter mode, Cody. I don't think I told you this. Um, but uh oh man, Aaron Wade's manager. Um, is it Colin? Cullen. Cullen, his his manager was there. Uh they liter I literally stopped for a second and Cullen was introducing me to his mother, and I didn't had no idea who she was. Like, hey, I'm really glad you came to the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:10

Let's go to no, that's Colin's mother. Said, I I literally stopped and said, I am so sorry, ma'am. It's just been a morning, it's been a day.

SPEAKER_08 1:48:22

All right, Cody, you boys got anything else?

SPEAKER_00 1:48:26

No, appreciate you guys for giving us some time here. It's uh we always love talking about this stuff, and and we got stories for days. So uh anytime you guys, maybe maybe after the show or something, we can swing back by and see what we all want to loot.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:39

We could easily do a part two. Uh, and guys, I told I informed you guys I'm a shameless plug. Uh check out my podcast, wrestling recommendations. Uh we drop it, we drop every Friday on uh Spotify and on Apple Podcasts.

SPEAKER_08 1:48:53

Now we can do some collabs. Now now we're gonna now we're gonna now we're gonna do some stupid wrestling stuff together.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:58

And I don't have a podcast, but you guys can check me out on OnlyFans at Mustache Mark. Um that's we're 68.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:08

Yeah, there are Mustache Mark Rides.

SPEAKER_08 1:49:13

Alright, boys, thank you all so much.

SPEAKER_07 1:49:15

We'll see you the 26th. Well, thank you all. We'll see you at the end. Thank you guys so much. Alright, boys. That's our show for that's our show for the night.

SPEAKER_08 1:49:28

Um you guys tune in next time. Make sure you follow us on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts. Uh we don't have X, don't get us on there. Um I don't think we do anyway. I don't know. West runs the social, so nobody has any clue. Uh yeah, but don't worry about it. It's been a great show, guys. Thank you all much so much. Anybody got anything else?