For fans of old-school wrestling — especially the Attitude Era — there are few wrestling podcasts as compelling as the MLW Network hit Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard. As Prichard was in rare company as a member of Vince McMahon’s inner circle for over two decades, the industry veteran is privvy to a lot of details and stories that even the most informed wrestling journalist wouldn’t be. The detail-oriented podcast of Prichard and co-host Conrad Thompson not only explores a different topic of wrestling history in depth with each episode, but is full of great bits and impressions from the hosts.
Impressively, Something To Wrestle upgraded its game in not just presenting a weekly podcast but also producing live events all over the United States. When advertising their live shows, Prichard and Thompson often emphasize that these shows are not being recorded and vary from one another. Although Prichard has been in the wrestling business for far more of his life than not, the insistence of live shows being their own animal had me curious as to how much material Prichard had to work with.
On Saturday, August 19 — the day before Summerslam — I had the pleasure of attending Something To Wrestle With Live at the Gramercy Theater in New York. The first of several shows at the Gramercy, doors for this one opened at 12:30 PM. Showtime was around an hour later. As early as this was, the venue’s bars were open and plenty of people — hosts included — were imbibing.
The format of the show was simulteanously loose and structured. Both hosts were seated at a table on-stage with microphones and notes in front of them. But as per the aforementioned consumption of adult beverages, the show did not take long to go off-course. By the time surprise guest Shullie from The Howard Stern Show came on-stage, the show was really going in a unique direction; Shullie did have the chance to share a story or two about his old touring buddy The Iron Sheik.
Without giving too much away, the show was full of fun stories — many of which were Vince McMahon and/or New York-themed — that had never been told before. Nothing had been told on a podcast episode. Just about every impression a fan would have wanted to hear was done at least once by Prichard, often with accompanying visuals. The event wrapped with audience Q&A. Then after the show, the hosts took pictures with attendees without any obligation to buy merch. Rumor has it that the following show had Brian Gewirtz as a surprise guest.
Ultimately, Something To Wrestle With Live proved to be both value-oriented and entertaining on all ends. If the show comes through your town — upcoming shows in Detroit and Houston are already announced — do yourself a favor and be there. At the very least you will get to show your appreciation for “Brother Love and The Mortgage Guy” in-person.
