Tights And Fights

It's been a full weekend of wrestling and, thankfully there were tons of great matches. Most of them were on TakeOver Brooklyn III. Drew McIntyre beat Bobby Roode (to allow Roode to make his debut on Smackdown later); Asuka beat Ember Moon for her biggest victory yet; Andrade “Cien” Almas beat Johnny Gargano, and Aleister Black beat Hideo Itami. Best TakeOver yet? It’s definitely up there! And then SummerSlam… was okay. There was a great Universal Title match between Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman along with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins’s reunion win. We’ll talk about what else worked… and what didn’t. Plus: Big Cass and Asuka are injured! John Cena will probably face Roman Reigns! Shelton Benjamin made his big return!  Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.    Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @TightsFights on Twitter. If you liked the show, please share it with yo

It’s time to for the biggest… longest… most exhausting… Party of the Summer! We’re all set for a big weekend, especially after a ton of crazy stuff has gone down this week. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are friends again! Baron Corbin failed to cash in his Money in the Bank! Akira Tozowa has brought the Cruiserweight title to the Titus Brand! Plus we found out that a bunch of people on Lucha Underground are actually immortal! (Which is just a normal day at the temple apparently!) Main Event How has SummerSlam evolved over the years from a fun fringe show to WrestleMania Jr.? And what makes the event unique in the Big 4? We’ll take a look. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.    Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @TightsFights on Twitter. If you liked the show, please share it with your friends and be sure to leave us a quick review on iTunes or wherever you get podcasts.

It's time for another bonus episode of Tights and Fights! This week, we're delving into the temple for our very first extended look at Lucha Underground.  What caught Hal and Mike's eyes as relative newcomers to the brand? Is there anything that they thought this promotion does BETTER than WWE? And do they plan to watch any more now that they've gotten a full taste? Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.  Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @TightsFights on Twitter. If you liked the show, please share it with your friends and be sure to leave us a quick review on iTunes or wherever you get podcasts.

We’re getting closer and closer to SummerSlam weekend and boy will there be a lot of wrestling had; six hours worth that Sunday alone, in fact! Luckily the Universal Title match is hitting all the right notes, especially Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman who have both helped create the feud of the year so far! That includes the great chair spot from this Monday that we’re totally going to gush about. But there are a couple of other matches on the card that we’re not so sure about. Specifically John Cena vs. Baron Corbin and Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt. But there’s always hope as long as they work on it for the next two weeks. Plus: When will WWE let Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins’s love run free? How great is it for the New Day to recapture their edge against the Usos? And can we survive 6 (!!!!) hours of SummerSlam? Main Event This week, Bayley was very audibly booed by the crowd as she announced her injury. It’s not the first time that a babyface has been abandoned by the audience that they were once loved by. W

The Summerslam card is filling up fast! By beating John Cena, Shinsuke Nakamura, secured a date with Jinder Mahal for the WWE Title! And in, the most dad match of the Summer, AJ Styles will defend his US Title against Kevin Owens with Shane McMahon as the guest ref! But has WWE managed to maximize the draw power of its stars or is there more it could be doing to get its wrestlers over? Plus: would Brock Lesnar really leave if he loses the Universal Title? And why did so many people change their entrance music this week? Fashion Corner From the luscious, the thinning, to the bald… hair is an important part of a pro wrestler. We’ll take a deep dive on the hair of superstars throughout the ages.   Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.    Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @TightsFights on Twitter. If you liked the show, please share it with your friends and be sure to leave us a quick review on

We did it. We survived the Punjabi Prison to hopefully not see it again for at least another ten years.  While that match and most of Battleground were pretty average, this was a pretty great week for RAW and Smackdown. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman vs. Samoa Joe is officially on for Summerslam! And Chris Jericho made his big return to the blue brand! Plus, next week Shinsuke Nakamura and John Cena on deck for next week. We’ll talk about that and what’s good headed to the biggest party of the Summer.  Main Event We’re just about a year into the modern version of the WWE Brand split. At first, Smackdown seemed to have the most momentum between the two shows for one important reason: under-used stars were getting the spotlight.  But now RAW has actually succeeded in building a really great roster of main event talent and storylines while also keeping a lot of its mid card extremely over. We’ll discuss the biggest strengths and weaknesses of both shows. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford a

Intensity! Integrity! Intelligence! Interracial love! Kurt Angle has been dominating the headlines for one reason: he’s Jason Jordan’s fake white dad. And that… is really weird. But we’ll talk about why it could be a great chance for Jason Jordan to get some star power. Plus, RAW has actually had some really compelling stuff lately, especially in their Universal Title scene which features Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman.  But Smackdown? Between the Punjabi Prison match and canceling Talking Smack, we’ll talk about why the Blue Brand has seen better days. Gimmick Corner In his early main-roster WWE career, Neville was a high-flier with a generic good guy attitude and a cape. But he’s since joined 205 Live with one of the best role-changes in recent memory. We’ll talk all about why the King of the Cruiserweights is so great. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle. Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sur

It’s a shame that Great Balls of Fire was actually a really fun show because that means it’ll be back next year. Samoa Joe came incredibly close to beating Brock Lesnar and winning the Universal Title… but he still lost. Now him and Roman Reigns are jockeying for the next shot at Lesnar for Summerslam. What’s the best path going forward? We’ll discuss! And why did AJ Styles win the US Title from Kevin Owens off TV at Madison Square Garden? Why is Dixie Carter suddenly appearing on WWE-sponsored content? What the hell is on Kurt Angle’s phone? All this and so much more on this week’s jam-packed episode! My Special Wrestler Emma Phipps is a comedian and writer for Reductress. She’s a relative newcomer to the world of wrestling, but one independent performer helped her learn that wrestling is for everyone: Zack Sabre Jr. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Lindsey Kelk Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @

Goodness gracious, we’re really only a few days away from Great Balls of Fire! And we’ve really solid feuds to look forward to ahead of the damnedest named PPV of the year: Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe, Enzo vs. Big Cass.  What are our hopes? We can’t wait for you to find out! Plus: New Japan Pro Wrestling held it’s first-ever show in the United States. Chances are it will never be able to truly challenge the WWE, but what do we want from the world’s second biggest wrestling company as they expand stateside? Main Event: Is WWE going too far with its latest treatment of things like race and nationalism? Sure, the “evil foreigner” is a wrestling staple and Jinder Mahal and Rusev might not have seen the level of success they’ve currently attained without it. But sure it’s time to evolve it in some way shape or form, right?   Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.  Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week

So after a really rotten week of WWE’s portrayal of women’s wrestling, we were due for a really GOOD week! The RAW women main-evented the show, with Nia Jax looking great AND Sasha Banks winning the right to challenge Alexa Bliss for the Women’s Title. On Smackdown, Carmella won the official redo of the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match! But was this an outcome that was worth all that other nonsense that we had to deal with last week? We’ll take a look. Misandry Corner It feels like we needed this right? This week we’re spotlighting the clip that lose Linda McMahon her chance at a U.S. Senate seat: Vince McMahon making Trish Stratus strip and bark like a dog. And to wash that taste out of our mouth, we’ll recast that sexist segment with men!  Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.  Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @TightsFights on Twitter. If you liked the show, please share it with you

Wow, what a week it’s been. The WWE decided that the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank match should be won by James Ellsworth. Well, not really, he won it on behalf of Carmella. But was having Ellsworth climb the ladder, retrieve that briefcase and taking the spotlight from the women good heel heat or a bridge too far? We’ll talk about it. Plus, there were a ton of other things that happened: The men’s Money in the Bank match! Cass turning on Enzo! Baron Corbin’s tummy! So let’s dive right in. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.  Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @TightsFights on Twitter. If you liked the show, please share it with your friends and be sure to leave us a quick review on iTunes or wherever you get podcasts.

Rebekka Johnson and Kimmy Gatewood star as "Stacey" and "Dawn" in the upcoming Netflix series "GLOW." The show is all about the 80's LA-based wrestling promotion Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling. It tells the story of a group of women who were cast to learn how to wrestle and appeal to a demographic that the mainstream WWF had often ignored. They tell Mike, Hal and Danielle what it was like to take their first bump, if they feel like they could work a legitimate match and whether they plan to continue wrestling in the future. GLOW begins streaming on Netflix on June 23rd.

WWE has got us incredibly excited for Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar! Paul Heyman has done his job to sell the match as the dream encounter that it is and we can’t wait to go along for the ride. Plus, Smackdown’s tag and women’s divisions are both so much fun right now. Hopefully that rubs off on RAW soon? And Danielle finally gets to talk about Lucha Underground once again (and Hal gets to try and figure out what she’s explaining) Main Event:  Money! Money, money, monaaaaaaay! Money in the Bank is this Sunday! We’ll talk about our favorite winners of the big event, the best cash-ins and what we think about it being a brand exclusive pay per view for the first time ever. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Lindsey Kelk. Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @TightsFights on Twitter. If you liked the show, please share it with your friends and be sure to leave us a quick review on iTunes or wherever you get p

Joe’s gonna kill you! It took a little while, but Samoa Joe is officially in the main event spotlight, where he deserves to be! He’ll face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship… and probably lose, but for right now, this is AWESOME! Plus, what ever happened with Bayley? How did the RAW women’s division get to be such a rudderless ship?  On the flip side, we think Smackdown’s women’s division is looking great! They’ve got a shiny new Money in the Bank briefcase to fight over AND they’ve just debuted Lana as a title contender. We’ll explain why we’re on board. Main Event:  Out of WWE’s 13 titles across all of its respective brands, only one of them is portrayed as a hero or babyface. Does the WWE have a problem with creating compelling good guys? And just what makes for an effective crowd-favorite these days? Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.  Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @Tight

Because you demanded it: Here's a Tights and Fights special devoted entirely to Total Divas! We're breaking down Season 2: Episode 2 of one of the most popular shows on the E! Network. We'll discuss things like Daniel Bryan's bus, Nikki Bella and John Cena's sexual habits and why Cameron is such a snake. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle. Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.

Since this week’s storyline developments from WWE were lacking, at least there were some pretty solid matches. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins had a great RAW main-event match; Finn Balor and Samoa Joe are looking great going into Extreme Rules; Bray Wyatt… is at least doing stuff. Plus: The New Day returned and set their sights on the Usos! Alexa Bliss was forced to try to make a bad segment work! The first ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match is coming! And we’ll even talk a little bit about New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Battle of Super Juniors tournament (fair warning: we haven’t seen much of it). Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle. Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun. If you wanna talk about more wrestling throughout the week be sure to join us on Facebook or @TightsFights on Twitter.

All hail the Maharaja! Jinder Mahal is officially the WWE champion! His big win the biggest shocker from BackLash on Sunday, and it seems like fans are divided on whether it’s a good thing. We’ll explain why we’re firmly on board to enjoy this ride as long as it lasts. But there were also some great pure wrestling matches from WWE this week. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens may have been the best match on Sunday, but Pete Dunn vs. Tyler Bate may have been the best match of the weekend. Plus, we’ll talk about the possibility of Finn Balor vs. Brock Lesnar, the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV and Mike’s plan to make Goldust vs. R-Truth interesting. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle. Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.  

We’re tagging in Lindsey Kelk to talk with us about the last show before WWE’s big PPV weekend! And while Smackdown didn’t have that much happening, how can you not love the Usos and Breezango constantly putting together brilliant promos? But we’ll explain why that’s good… and a potential problem for the tag team scene. And Braun Strowman is officially out of wrestling until he gets his elbow fixed. How big of a bummer is this? A pretty big one, but we’ll all get to be sad together. Plus: Adam Cole has had his final match in Ring of Honor! And he’s been fired from Bullet Club! Now that Marty Scurll is his replacement, we’ll explain what makes him Scurll so compelling and why we’re looking forward to seeing Cole in NXT soon. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Lindsey Kelk

This week, the team is joined by comedian and podcaster, Hannibal Buress to take a special look at the music of Triple H! From his early WWF days as Hunter Hearst Helmsley to the modern King of Kings, we promise you’ll never hear his music the same way again. Plus, Nation of Conversation will still break down all the news of the week. That includes whether WWE is using Samoa Joe the right way, what we think about Sheamus and Cesaro as the No. 1 contenders for the tag-team championships and why the Fashion Files continue to be the greatest thing in wrestling today. Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle. Lindsey Kelk Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.  

Payback was on its way to being a really solid show! There were plenty of smartly told stories in the ring, great moments throughout… and then the House of Horrors match happened. Then the quality went as backward as Bray Wyatt’s tractor. We’ll tell you exactly how we felt in this week’s main event. And Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman had an amazing main event to the show! But what’s keeping Mike from fully embracing him as a performer? And why is everyone going after the Secondary titles on RAW and Smackdown instead of the world titles? There’s a lot to get to, the Nation can’t wait to go through it all with you! Hosted by Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford and Mike Eagle.  Produced by Julian Burrell for Maximum Fun.