Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Discussion of our pro wrestling pod/vidcast Sidewalk Slam, and pro wrestling in general.
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Graham
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Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Graham » 14 Feb 2016, 00:46

Let's chat about Sidewalk Slam Ep1!!
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Eric the Orange
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Eric the Orange » 14 Feb 2016, 02:58

I guess this is a good a place as any to explain my history with Wrestling before watching this podcast.

When I was a young child in the 80s I watched some wrestling. I don't remember much of it other than a few of the colorful characters like Macho Man, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, ect.

But when I was in high school from about 2000-2003 I regularly watched wrestling with a group of friends, So I remember a lot from that era. It's funny how people talk about John Cena now, Because I stopped watching right when he was getting introduced. I specifically remember that Halloween episode where he had a vanilla Ice costume and he just started using that as his gimmick afterward.

So anyone who knows wrestling of that era will understand my shock at you guys saying that female wrestlers are good now.

For some context during that time "women's wrestling" was a joke. Women were eye candy and nothing more. It's no secret that if you wanted to get on TV as a woman in the WWE you needed breast implants. During that era their were only 2 standout women wrestlers with Trish Stratus and Lita, and as Graham said Trish had to grow into that role. Their were some from the previous era with Jackie and Chyna, but they got increasingly less focus as the company went more and more for "hot girls", than ones that could actually wrestle.

And the less said about women in story lines the better. I'll just leave you with two words "Katie Vick".

So While surprised I think it's great that Vince and the rest of the WWE writers are actually letting women wrestlers be a thing now. Lets just hope the story lines are better as well.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby theycallmejokke » 14 Feb 2016, 03:46

I know you've already gotten similar comments G, but I just wanted to echo them. I've never watched wrestling and I don't believe I'll start, BUT I really enjoyed you and Adam geek out about it and I do believe I would tune in again if Sidewalk Slam became a thing.
Also I never once felt lost, or out of the loop during the entire episode which was awesome that you managed that, mad props!
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Brinson » 14 Feb 2016, 22:50

theycallmejokke wrote:I know you've already gotten similar comments G, but I just wanted to echo them. I've never watched wrestling and I don't believe I'll start, BUT I really enjoyed you and Adam geek out about it and I do believe I would tune in again if Sidewalk Slam became a thing.
Also I never once felt lost, or out of the loop during the entire episode which was awesome that you managed that, mad props!


Hearing that still makes me smile. I had no idea how it would turn out, but it seems to have struck a nerve with people that aren't even into the product which is super cool. Thanks, friend.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Antitonic » 15 Feb 2016, 03:29

It's very refreshing to hear an outlook that comes from a position of enjoyment. I've been watching wrestling since 1997, and it's easy to fall into the cynical traps after a while. The community at large doesn't seem to foster a positive environment either.

You guys make it fun again.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Dubious_wolf » 17 Feb 2016, 11:41

Not a fan of wrestling but I enjoyed hearing about the nuances to the product. (Product is a good word for it, thanks)
Adam bringing his usual passion was great. I liked most listening to graham talk about the production aspects. And I enjoyed Adam breaking down the characters and story telling.
Over all I'm curious to see where side walk slam goes. 2 hours is a bit long though.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Genghis Ares » 17 Feb 2016, 12:08

I, too, don't follow wrestling in any way. I had Wrestlemania on NES and I like The Princess Bride and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and that's pretty much the end of my connections to it. I had 20 minutes to watch something, so I fired up this podcast and ended up watching the whole thing. You guys did a great job on detailing the basics of the WWE, the current line-up/storyline stuff, and the Rumble fights. Overall, I'd give it an A.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Dubious_wolf » 17 Feb 2016, 12:12

I hope there's a podcast about some of these acronyms because that's a lot of history that I just don't get.
So my only experience in WCW vs NWO on N64
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Duckay » 17 Feb 2016, 13:51

I don't think 2 hours is an unreasonable amount of time to talk about pay-per-views, but it would be serious overkill if there wasn't a specific event to discuss.

I am basically a casual fan - I watch the major PPVs and catch RAW maybe once a month. I felt this podcast was very much on my level.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby counterjockey » 17 Feb 2016, 17:03

After over 7 years of LRR fandom, this podcast finally forced me to join the forums. Please keep this around. I love hearing people discuss their passions, and after Spoony trailed off on his show Wrestle Wrestle there was a wrestling shaped hole in my life. The length is fine, you guys took your time making sure to cover the relevant information. I would suggest forgoing a set run time in lieu of a dynamic length based on the content, though 'can-of-worms'ing tangents out to separate, shorter discussions might help keep the run times reasonable. Bonus, because of this video YouTube suggested WhatCulture Wrestling.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby RytelCSF » 17 Feb 2016, 21:41

Strangely enough, I started watching wrestling years ago because Graham mentioned that he watches wrestling offhand on a podcast once, and I thought "Huh. Wrestling was cool when I was a kid, but it seems like it'd be really dumb now. But, Graham generally has good taste."

So I checked out the next episode of Raw, and you know what? Wrestling is dumb. But that's why it's awesome.

Anyway, on to my review of the pilot of L2S4 (and to whomever came up with that acronym, severe props).

To put it simply, I really enjoyed it. Wrestling fandom is, too often and like too many fandoms, negative for the sake of being negative, and I'm glad you guys have strayed away from that, but without going so far as to refuse to give criticism where it's due. In fact, I probably would've been harsher on the PPV than you were (which isn't to say I didn't like it).

While it went quite long, it didn't feel nearly as long as it was; you guys simply had a lot of material to cover and covered it thoroughly with little meandering. I think something close to this length would be long for an episode that isn't a PPV review, but for PPV reviews, it's fine.

Speaking of, since you stated that you were going to release this podcast biweekly, and WWE PPVs occur approximately once a month, alternating between "Here's the PPV that just happened" and "Here's whatever else we want to talk about" seems like the best option. Then again, some of the more "filler" PPVs might not even be worth that. I trust your judgment.

In addition, your editing work and use of clips is fantastic. Usually I prefer to listen to your podcasts on iTunes so I can listen to them while I lay in bed and unwind (no offense Featherweight), but I think having the clips there substantially improves the show, as the visuals get all the nuances across that you don't have time to cover in that much detail.

The only real criticism I really have is something that I'm not sure can be helped. Often, you guys will be going over something and using wrestling terminology, and then stop the conversation to have a brief aside explaining what that terminology means. This, itself, is not a bad idea; in fact I applaud you for making the show more accessible to non- and new fans, but it also kills the conversation's flow. The pros still outweigh the cons, however, so it might not even be worth trying to fix.

Overall, this is the first fan-created wrestling podcast I've listened to, and it's become the first anyone-created wrestling podcast I'm subscribing to. Good work.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby DennyR » 18 Feb 2016, 02:53

I don't really listen to too many wrestling podcasts (I follow OSW a bit, I've known Jay a while through boards.ie and it's posted there so that helps). I really enjoyed the show, I think the length was good, and I appreciate the explaining some of the more hardcore fan terms for those that won't get them. I'm looking forward to the second show whenever it pops up.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby AdmiralMemo » 18 Feb 2016, 05:04

RytelCSF wrote:The only real criticism I really have is something that I'm not sure can be helped. Often, you guys will be going over something and using wrestling terminology, and then stop the conversation to have a brief aside explaining what that terminology means. This, itself, is not a bad idea; in fact I applaud you for making the show more accessible to non- and new fans, but it also kills the conversation's flow. The pros still outweigh the cons, however, so it might not even be worth trying to fix.
Yeah, I did notice that, but as a non-wrestling fan, it certainly did clarify a bunch of stuff.
Graham wrote:The point is: Nyeh nyeh nyeh. I'm an old man.
LRRcast wrote:Paul: That does not answer that question at all.
James: Who cares about that question? That's a good answer.

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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Genghis Ares » 18 Feb 2016, 12:29

I like it when they take an aside to explain something as I don't know them myself. But if they wanted to minimize that, they could do what I've seen others do and add an onscreen text box that explains the term while they keep the conversation going. But this only works in video form of course.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby counterjockey » 18 Feb 2016, 12:39

Genghis Ares wrote:I like it when they take an aside to explain something as I don't know them myself. But if they wanted to minimize that, they could do what I've seen others do and add an onscreen text box that explains the term while they keep the conversation going. But this only works in video form of course.



I so support an anime style aside, like a little Alex or Cam cutout pops up with a speech bubble and a cultural explanation of the term.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Planes » 19 Feb 2016, 08:13

I would personally like to thank Graham for starting up this new vidcast. I used to watch wrestling a lot more when I was younger, and kinda fell off once having cable was no longer a consistent thing on my end.

I really enjoy the fact that you guys break things down on a story telling level, as I don't really see that done for any other wrestling coverage out there, and all the points can get extrapolated out to story telling in general. That is pretty great.

Perhaps more than anything, though, I am eternally grateful for being introduced to The New Day through this episode and the explanation of their origin. That alone makes directing my attention back towards the WWE worth it.

Keep up the good work, guys! I look forward to our next Sidewalk Slam in MTGO!
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby JustAName » 20 Feb 2016, 08:27

Like others, I'm not really up on the wrestlemans at all, but I enjoyed the hell outta this podcast. Or vidcast really, because the video component did add a lot and was a very enjoyable part. Please keep it up! I'm now considering getting into wrestling a little more, at least peripherally... and even if I never do, I'm pretty sure I'll really enjoy this thing!
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Xinran » 01 Mar 2016, 06:35

Fayili wrote:Like others, I'm not really up on the wrestlemans at all, but I enjoyed the hell outta this podcast.


Agreed here. It was really nice to just hear two people talk about something they like for a while.
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Re: Sidewalk Slam 01 - Royal Rumble 2016

Postby Mothra Fighter » 15 Apr 2016, 07:35

I've not watched any wrestling in a long time. While several others I knew growing up were into it, I didn't start watching until around the time of the nWo storyline in WCW and the "attitude" era of WWE. At least 10 years have passed since I paid more than casual attention. But thanks to these podcasts, the LRR Autumnal Rumble, and how good NXT looks in the clips, I feel like getting back into all its cheesy, addictive glory again. Thanks guys!

Edit: BTW, I like the, and I kind of loathe to use the word, tone of this podcast. It was mentioned at the start of this one, but it's also my experience that wrestling fans, like any fandom, can be joylessly serious about the game. Sometimes even on TV Tropes pages, for example, there can be a lot of negativity/venting/ranting (for justified reasons and not). So, commentators who love the goofy stuff, like R-Truth's appearance, as well as good wrestling, showmanship, and storylines is refreshing.
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