Tights And Fights

This week Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Vita Ayala. They’re a comic book writer whose work has been published by Marvel, DC Comics and Valiant. Before getting into the news, Vita will explain how they getting into wrestling led to them to some rough sleeping arrangements growing up. For a limited time, from Thursday, January 31st to Sunday, February 10, Tights and Fights listeners can go to Comixology and put LIVEWIRE #1 in their cart and enter the code LIVEWIREFIGHTS at checkout to access it for free! NXT TakeOver: Phoenix Like most of the last few TakeOvers, this show was built around the ongoing drama between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. Now both of these two are on the same page and are champions. What’s the future hold for Dark-DIY? And while those two are fixtures of TakeOvers, Bianca Belair had her first showing at the event, coming up short against Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s championship. But no one on the panel is ready for this feud to be over any time soon. Plus, how the War

This week Hal and Lindsey discuss the premier of WOW: Women of Wrestling. The show finally made its AXS TV debut last Friday. It’s got tons of great action and colorful performers. But does it lean too far into caricature rather than character? We’ll discuss. Plus, Finn Balor and Daniel Bryan have major title matches at WWE’s Royal Rumble event on Sunday. Will Finn regain the Universal Title against Brock Lesnar and fulfill the underdog win of the decade? Will Daniel Bryan retain the WWE Title against AJ Styles in his quest to be the planet’s champion? And with the WrestleMania card still looking murky, there are still tons of options in play including who will take on Ronda Rousey for the RAW women’s title, whether or not Asuka will still be the Smackdown Women’s champion and plenty more Main Event It’s the annual event that symbolizes the road to WrestleMania: The Royal Rumble. Last year we had two really solid versions of the match. Will the men and women be able to deliver shows of similar quality? How sh

This week Hal and Lindsey discuss NXT TakeOver: Blackpool. It was the very major TakeOver event from the UK side of WWE’s developmental promotion. Responses from viewers were incredibly strong, with plenty of familiar faces to reintroduce some new ones to a wider audience. What’s behind the positivity surrounding the brand? And what does the future hold, especially now that WALTER has debuted to challenge Pete Dunne for the UK Championship? One person who was at the TakeOver event was Finn Balor. But that was just the start of his week. Not only did he defeat his protege Jordan Devlin, but he was named the new number one contender for the Universal Championship! But do we have any hope that he’s going to win, even with that +10 Demon modifier? Plus, WWE introduced their brand new Women’s Tag Team Championships. The designs are great, but WWE hasn’t followed it up with quality women’s wrestling for all of its stars. There’s some great stuff like with Becky Lynch and the IIconics; And then there are some awful

This week Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Shawn Marek. He’s a podcast host and producer who’s worked with wrestlers such as Lance Storm, Steve Austin and more on their respective shows. The panel will take a deep dive into New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 13. The annual show from Japan featured matches from Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Jay White and more. The show had the feeling of the start of a new era, with champions The Young Bucks, Cody and Kenny Omega all losing their titles. The reason for that is that Cody and the Bucks will be devoted to their new promotion All Elite Wrestling. The organization had their first ever promotional press rally that outlined new details on the company. That includes practices like equal pay for men and women and paying for wrestling injuries. Also announced was the involvement of stars like Britt Baker, PAC, Hangman Page and Chris Jericho. What are the reasonable expectations for AEW as it gets set for launch? What does this mean for Kenny Omega, now that his New

This week Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Mat Ricardo. He’s a variety performer who actually sees a lot of similarities between his profession and the art of pro wrestling. There’s a lot for wrestling fans to look forward to in 2019, including WWE finally announcing new tag team titles for the women’s division! Danielle share her reaction to the news and Lindsey will explain why she knew this was a real possibility for months. Plus, All Elite Wrestling has officially been confirmed! The panel will explain how they hope that this builds on the success of All In and offers another place for wrestlers and fans to benefit. All of this, plus a requiem for Mean Gene Okerlund, reactions to Becky Lynch teaming up John Cena and which matches we’re looking forward to from Wrestle Kingdom 13. The Main Event The panel reflects on the wrestling news and events in 2018. Whether it was Kenny Omega winning the IWGP title, the rise of Becky Lynch, the return of Daniel Bryan or the news from Roman Reigns, there were tons of

This week Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Selina Majors. She’s been a wrestler since the 80’s for promotions like AWA and WCW. These days, she spends her time with WOW - Women of Wrestling, where she continues to perform and train the next generation of stars. Amid laughs and tears, Majors will discuss why she’s still passionate about wrestling after all these years, who she’s had a hand in training and why she’s so excited to share WOW with a new audience. WOW - Women of Wrestling debuts on AXS TV on January 18th. Hosted by Danielle Radford and Lindsey Kelk. Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you want to talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook and @TightsFights on Twitter and Instagram. If you liked the show, please share it with your friends and be sure to leave us a quick review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get podcasts.

This week Hal and Danielle are joined by Chris Cubas. He is a podcaster and TV host who’s been watching wrestling for years. Lately he’s gotten more into New Japan Pro Wrestling, Progress and other international wrestling promotions than WWE. But he is ready to dive into TLC and the fallout from RAW and Smackdown… especially because he really liked it! There were tons of great matches on the show, especially the main event for the Smackdown women’s title match between Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Asuka. Where will each of the three competitors go from here? We’ll discuss. Perhaps the biggest WWE news of the week, though, came from RAW. The entire McMahon family opened the show to declare that both brands were due for a fresh start. The thing is, no one on the panel is feeling all that optimistic about how “fresh” this new direction is going to be, especially when the first match of the new regime was a rematch from Sunday. But maybe things like Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens returning and Mustafa Ali being add

For the last several weeks the panel has been in agreement: RAW is in a funk. It’s featured segments with juvenile humor, interesting stories and a lack of stars that make us want to watch. Turns out there’s someone who agrees with our commentary: Vince McMahon! We know this because he had Seth Rollins come out chastise Baron Corbin for all of RAW’s shortcomings. But was this acknowledgment of the problem properly followed up with steps to fix the issue? The crew will take a look. In the meantime, Smackdown continued its momentum from the past several weeks with a match that got the internet buzzing: Mustafa Ali vs. Daniel Bryan! It’s the first time a 205 Live star has wrestled the WWE Champion and everyone hopes it won’t be the last. All of this plus a look at the Asuka vs. Charlotte match and how the Nation of Conversation feels on the way to TLC this Sunday. WOW - Women of Wrestling David McLane is a wrestling promoter who’s known for creating the original 80’s program GLOW. The show gained a reputation fo

Jeff Dye is comedian and star of numerous TV shows like Girl Code and Money From Strangers. He also happens to be a lifelong wrestling fan who’s got tons of thoughts about WWE’s past and present. That includes things like why he wants WWE to hardly ever turn and why he supports Vince McMahon’s image of a promotion full of giants. Jeff, Hal and Danielle also break down why Smackdown continues to be so good (especially with its women’s division), why it may have been too early to break up Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler and he’ll even turn Hal and Danielle onto some promising future careers in wrestling. The Three Count Jeff put over the promotion Wrestling Pro Wrestling in Burbank. Danielle put over Rhyno’s career after his apparent retirement. Hal put over Daniel Bryan’s new catchphrase. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Jeff Dye. Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you want to talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook and @TightsFights on Twitter and In

TLC is the last WWE event left in the year and both RAW and Smackdown have begun to build towards it. The difference is that the reception for both shows has been very different for the last few weeks. While Smackdown has generated a lot of buzz with exciting new directions for Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Daniel Bryan, RAW has struggled to regain its identity with both Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman out of action. To figure out what’s behind this dichotomy, we’ll start by taking a look at the things we’ve loved from Smackdown; that includes Asuka winning a battle royal to be included in the triple threat TLC match with Lynch and Flair and Samoa Joe’s mic work against Jeff Hardy which could give Joe his long-elusive win. Then we’ll draw that back to RAW and its shortcomings; Whether it’s a lack of competent babyfaces, Dean’s trite promos about burying the local city while he gets his booster shot or that AOP(ee) segment, there’s plenty to get into. All of this, plus a look at the latest rumors surroundin

Dave Schilling is ready to join the Nation of Conversation! He, Danielle and Hal were all in Staples Center on various days this week to take in all the WWE wrestling that happened in Los Angeles. NXT TakeOver: War Games The final NXT TakeOver of the year featured a pair of great matches that all had strong character work and wrestling. But as for the War Games match itself? The panel will explain why it still feels like a concept that needs to be refined to be as effective as possible. Plus, what’s the deal with Velveteen Dream dressing up as Hollywood Hogan for the second time? Is it a cheeky homage or something that will ultimately end up biting us as fans if Hogan does eventually return? Survivor Series This could have also just been called “The Putting Smackdown in its Place” show. In the battle-of-the-brands, RAW emerged victorious in every match (minus the tag match on the preshow, which WWE obviously doesn’t care about). But even though the traditional Survivor Series elimination matches were a pretty

This Saturday, Danielle Radford, Hal Lublin, Lindsey Kelk and Julian Burrell will be at NXT: TakeOver War Games at the Staples Center in Los Angeles! If you’d like to meet up with them beforehand, they’ll be eating lunch at Yard House at 2 PM. Katie Willert is ready to rejoin the Nation of Conversation! Becky Lynch is as hot a star as anyone in WWE right now. She led the Smackdown invasion into RAW that left her a bloody mess and as a bonafide sensation in wrestling. Unfortunately, because of a stray shot from Nia Jax, Becky is no longer medically cleared for her match with Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series. Where does that leave her as the champion? And will Charlotte Flair, her replacement in the match, be able to deliver a satisfactory replacement for a conflict everyone was excited for? Plus, Daniel Bryan defeated AJ Styles for the WWE championship! But in the process, he turned heel and shunned the persona and attitude that made him the hottest babyface in the company in 2013-14. The panel will discuss wh

Jacquis Neal from the Culture Kings podcast joins the Nation of Conversation! Crown Jewel was that rare show that managed to disappoint and frustrate just viewers of every stripe. Hulk Hogan made his return that many dreaded, but also felt inevitable. And Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman to become a two-time Universal Champion. Even as the build to Survivor Series begins, there’s a distinct lack of urgency in booking right now that hopefully gets filled soon. But that’s not to say everything is doom and gloom in the land of WWE; Becky Lynch is on her way to being the most white-hot star in the company. Her promo skills have been remarkable and her matches have been great, including her victory this week over a debuting Nikki Cross. The panel will explain what’s making her work so effective right now. The Beat-Down The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin were two of the biggest stars in the history of the WWE. Their star power and fan interest culminated at and on the road to WrestleMania X-Seven. We’ll take

Evolution was WWE’s very first all-women Pay-Per-View. And by most accounts, the event delivered in just about every way possible, including providing a candidate for match of the year. Mike, Hal, Danielle and Lindsey provide their reactions to the matches (including Lindsey’s account from attending the event in person). But now this is immediately being followed up Crown Jewel. Not only will no women wrestlers be at the event, but John Cena and Daniel Bryan have also been written out due to, in all likelihood, their own personal disagreement. Plus, Lindsey and Mike explain their feelings about Roman Reigns’s leukemia diagnosis and WWE decision to immediately capitalize on the real-life illness for story-telling purposes. How do you balance the need for the show to go on with sensitivity towards consequential issues? Especially with WWE toeing the line between characters and reality as much as ever with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins? All this, including Danielle looking forward to Lucha Underground’s Ultima L

Roman Reigns opened RAW with the announcement that he will be surrendering the Universal Championship since his leukemia has returned. This was the first time Roman had gone public with his diagnosis. His first encounter with the disease was 11 years ago. Danielle and Hal discuss their reactions to the news, including why it affected them personally, their hopes for Roman’s return and what this means for a Monday Night RAW and WWE that now has to move forward without their biggest full-time star. Plus, the pair will discuss the lackluster build to Evolution. The booking has been slipshod and lackluster for the past several months. Outside of the novelty of a brand new women’s only event, WWE hasn’t done much to get people excited about this show. Add in the fact that it’s happening so close to Crown Jewel, which won’t include any women and will still air from Saudi Arabia, and it’s hard to take the “women’s evolution” seriously these days. The Three Count Danielle put over Asuka and Naomi’s fun moment in the

Mike Eagle is already known as the insightful, funny and sometimes heelish co-host of Tights and Fights. He’s also regarded as a great rapper; he’s even started touring for the next several weeks. But recently he also became an undefeated pro-wrestler. That’s right… Mike went to the promotion OVW and took on wrestler Shiloh Jonze and actually came out victorious. How did all of this get started? What possessed Mike to think that he could actually have a successful wrestling match? He’s ready to tell the story. Mike will detail everything; from why he was petty enough to answer Shiloh’s callout to any MC on the internet, to how he only had one day to learn how to wrestle, and how he decided what he was going to wear in the ring. Plus, he’ll talk about how this may have been the ultimate culmination of everything he’s done throughout his life and career as a rapper. If you want to see Mike’s wrestling debut, It will be on episode 1000 of OVW. Hosted by Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle. Produced by Julian Burrel

This week, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Dan Sinker Dan Sinker. He’s the host of the creator of tons of things on the internet including the Says Who? podcast and The Hitch podcast. But his presence on the internet pales in comparison to his greatest accomplishment: Getting his wife and kids into professional wrestling. Which segment does he credit for helping him do this successfully? None other than the Festival of Friendship. The panel has plenty of things to get into this week, including the ongoing International drama surrounding WWE’s planned show in Saudi Arabia, the lack of build towards Evolution and why the Bellas vs. Ronda Rousey already feels like it’s off on the wrong foot. Main Event Last week Shawn Michaels, one of the WWE’s all-time greatest performers announced that he was officially coming out of retirement for a match against The Brothers of Destruction alongside his partner Triple H. Retirement rarely ever sticks in WWE, especially when it’s by choice. And while we never want to deny

This week, we’ve got two conversations with people who have made big waves in the world of wrestling in the past few weeks. First, Mike Eagle speaks with Aubrey Sitterson and Chris Moreno. They’re the creators of The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling. The two go deep on the book and what it was like creating the first major historical record of the art form that is wrestling. Then, in a conversation recorded live at San Diego Comic-Con courtesy of Gamma Ray TV, Danielle and Hal sit down with Marty the Moth. These days he’s known for being the Lucha Underground Champion. But there was a time that he was just trying to get the attention of WWE for a chance to live his dream as a professional wrestler. Marty will detail his journey from watching wrestling for the first time to WWE’s reality show Tough Enough all the way to the temple of Lucha Underground. Hosted by Danielle Radford, Mike Eagle and Hal Lublin. Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you want to talk about more wrestling throughou

This week, the founding members of the Nation of Conversation return for a fun look at all things wrestling! There’s been tons of news this week to dive into, especially in the midst of the go-home shows for WWE Super Show-Down in Australia. Which titles should change hands at the stadium event? Is there actually any chance that WWE follows up on the possibility of Dean Ambrose betraying the Shield? And in news from the international wrestling scene, Neville is officially back in the ring. He’s returned to his original name of PAC in Dragon Gate is finally set to perform everywhere that the WWE doesn’t touch. But why Dragon Gate? We’ve got some ideas. The Main Event This Saturday begins a string of 5 PPV’s for the WWE in two months. It’s two international stadium shows and three arena events. But for the viewers, is it really ideal for them to have so many shows airing at what, for U.S. fans, are off hours? Especially when so many of them are in this weird space of mattering to the overall narrative but not t

This week Danielleis joined by Joe Starr! He’s a comedian and writer who’s new EP is entitle A British Murder Robot Tries Stand Up Comedy for the First Time. He’s been a wrestling fan since he was young enough to unironically pretend to be the British Bulldog and is here to chat about the week! That includes Lucha Underground’s new champion: Marty the Moth. The wrestler’s managed to come all the around from being a total joke to the top of the mountain and it’s really been something to see, even if you haven’t watched the entire saga from the beginning. Plus, Samoa Joe has taken his rivalry to a whole new level after threatening AJ Styles’ family via Facetime from Smackdown. But Joe will explain why he wishes the rivalry for the WWE title was kept a bit more simple. And why Danielle Radford is no longer interested in watching wrestling without any women, what the duo thinks of some of the biggest teams in the WWE and why The Revival is having such a hard time getting establishing themselves as a solid heel ta