With This Ring #7: Royal Rumble

In this edition of With This Ring, Cindy and Ryan look at 5 Royal Rumble matches. They talk about the beginnings of the Royal Rumble, as just another chance for WWF to screw with Jim Crockett Promotions, the rough going early on and how things really got cooking with the 1990 event and the Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior showdown. They discuss how star-studded both the 1990 and 1992 Royal Rumbles are, Jack Tunney’s questionable Presidential decisions, and how Ric Flair has the best Royal Rumble performance. Cindy is shocked to hear that Shawn Michaels sings his own music! Then, they discuss an Attitude era Rumble with 2001, Kane’s possible finest hour in the WWF, a hardcore Rumble segment, and how Austin/Rock compares to Hogan/Warrior showdown. Ryan and Cindy then go to 2005 and discuss the changing of the WWE and the infamous Vince McMahon quad blow-up. They end up in 2010, looking at C.M. Punk’s sermons, DX exploding, and Edge returning. Listen to how Cindy’s final fours are not great. Sit back and with a tear in your eye, PUT THAT CIGARETTE OUT!
***SPOILER***This was recorded back in January so please excuse the talk of WrestleMania 36 at the end. I know many PTBN members are still upset about not being able to go, so you might want to end the podcast with about 3 minutes left.
Royal Rumble Match 1990Royal Rumble Match 1992Royal Rumble Match 2001Royal Rumble Match 2005Royal Rumble Match 2010
 

With This Ring #6: WrestleMania Matches- Part 2

In this super-sized episode of With This Ring, Ryan and Cindy double back on a premise from a few episodes ago, this time watching famous WrestleMania matches and then following up with rematches they had later. They look at the famous Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match from WrestleMania and try to decide how to weigh historical significance with actual match quality. They also look back at Ryan’s first live watch of Pay-Per-View, with WrestleMania and Ryan’s favorite match of all time. They talk about ladder matches and how they would go on to influence so much over the next 15 years. Also, the duo takes a detour through wrestling theme songs when Cindy finds out that Shawn Michaels has sung his theme song for the past 27 years. Once again, hear Cindy fawn over a superstar’s bare ass, this time Heartbreak. In the second half, they compare the WrestleMania classics and rematches they had, all within a year and a half between their original match. Ryan and Cindy wonder if any matches can recapture the magic and how much of an edge the WrestleMania mystique adds. Enjoy all this and much more on the WrestleMania edition of With This Ring!
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant - WWF Title Match - WrestleMania IIIUltimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage - Career Ending Match - WrestleMania VIIRazor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels - WWF Intercontinental Title Ladder Match - WrestleMania XShawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle - WrestleMania 21Undertaker vs. Batista - World Heavyweight Title Match - WrestleMania 23
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant - WWF Title Match - The Main Event 2/5/88Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior - WWF Title Match - SummerSlam 1992Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels - WWF Intercontinental Title Ladder Match - SummerSlam 1995Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle - Vengeance 2005Batista vs. Undertaker - World Heavyweight Title Hell in a Cell Match - Survivor Series 2007
 
 

With This Ring #5: Survivor Series

In this edition of With This Ring, Ryan and Cindy discuss some of the greatest Survivor Series matches in history. They have a quick rundown of the history of the event starting as a move against Starrcade and trying to capitalize on Hulk/Andre, talk about how the style of match was different from other events and how much the Invasion flopped. They discuss how 20 guys in a match, and more importantly, 18 guys on the apron are probably too many people and Cindy gets really excited about Paul Roma’s ass. The pair also look at how often Survivor Series matches had high stakes, including can Steve Austin stun people? Also, Sting’s debut and Cindy not understanding what that means. Plus, looking at NXT’s first version of War Games, while looking forward to our own journey to War Games which was a few days away at the time. Come for Paul Roma’s ass and stay for discussions about how the American Airlines Arena bathrooms originally faced the streets.
Strike Force, Young Stallions, Killer Bees, British Bulldogs & Rougeau Brothers vs. Islanders, Demolition, Hart Foundation, Bolsheviks & New Dream Team - Survivor Series 1987
Chris Jericho, The Rock, Kane, Undertaker & Big Show vs. Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, Booker T., Kurt Angle & Shane McMahon - Winner Takes All Match - Survivor Series 2001
Chris Jericho, Christian, Mark Henry, Randy Orton & Scott Steiner vs. Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Rob Van Dam & Shawn Michaels - Survivor Series 2003
John Cena, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan & Ryback vs. Kane, Luke Harper, Mark Henry, Rusev & Seth Rollins - Survivor Series 2014
Undisputed Era vs. Sanity vs. AOP & Rodrick Strong - War Games Match - NXT Takeover: War Games

With This Ring #4: WrestleMania Matches- Part One

In this episode of With This Ring, Ryan and Cindy pick up where they left off last time, looking at the more famous, and in most cases, higher rated WrestleMania matches. They talk about the Randy Savage/Ricky Steamboat legacy, Angry Bowl Cut fan, Ken Shamrock’s referee attire, how perfectly the Austin/Bret Hart double turn worked, the raising of the bar in TLC matches, and ask is Austin vs. Rock II the best World title match ever? Along the way they also touch on how many WrestleMania sites we’ve both been to, fun times at University of Phoenix Stadium for a Bears/Cardinals game, and a quick look at the WrestleMania Gimmick Battle Royal. Enjoy all this and more on With This Ring!
Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage - WWF Intercontinental Title Match - WrestleMania IIIBret Hart vs. Steve Austin - Submission Match - WrestleMania 13Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz - WWF Tag Team Title TLC Match - WrestleMania X-7Steve Austin vs. The Rock - WWF Title No Holds Barred Match - WrestleMania X-7John Cena vs. Batista - WWE Title Match - WrestleMania XXVIGoldberg vs. Brock Lesnar - Universal Title Match WrestleMania 33

With This Ring #3: Before WrestleMania

In this episode of With This Ring, Ryan and Cindy discuss matches that have more famous rematches at WrestleMania. Next time they'll look at those matches, but this week they look at their lesser known predecessors. In this show the duo talks about how the matches naturally built to WrestleMania, the Austin/Rock/Corporation feud of 1999, where matches will have to rank on Ryan’s scale to get in the top 20%, how Vince Russo main events worked, Richard Nixon, the politics of major sport arenas in Toronto and just what the hell is Midget Racing? 
Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage - WWF Intercontinental Title Match - Maple Leaf Garden House Show 2/15/87
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin - Survivor Series 1996
Steve Austin vs. The Rock - WWF Title Match - Backlash 1999 
Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz - WWF Tag Team Title TLC Match - SummerSlam 2000
Batista vs. John Cena – SummerSlam 2008
Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar - Survivor Series 2016

With This Ring #2: Bloodbath

In the second episode of With This Ring, Ryan and Cindy continue going over the GWWE match ever list. This time they look at a list of bloodbaths, a hard chore for notably squeamish Cindy. They talk about Bruno Sammartino, Sgt. Slaughter, Ryan’s 14th birthday at SmackDown in 2000, and Creed and Scott Stapp’s drunk slurring of words at the Allstate Arena. 
Sgt. Slaughter vs. Iron Sheik - Boot Camp Match - MSG Network Madison Square Garden House Show 6/6/84
Bruno Sammartino vs. Roddy Piper - NESN Boston Garden House Show 2/8/86
Cactus Jack vs. Triple H - WWF Title Street Fight - Royal Rumble 2000
John Cena vs. Umaga - WWE Title Last Man Standing Match - Royal Rumble 2007
John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar - Extreme Rules Match - Extreme Rules 2012

With This Ring #1

In the debut episode of With This Ring, husband and wife Ryan and Cindy Everett look at five matches and discuss their placement on Ryan’s GWWE matches poll and on Cindy’s personal list. Ryan has been watching wrestling since he was four, while Cindy has had wrestling be something on in the background since she started going out with Ryan. In this episode both go over their personal history with wrestling, how their viewing habits have changed, Cindy talks about how to better format a Google Drive spreadsheet, the familiarity of WrestleMania 6, the Kliq, Ryan’s confusing rating scale, the annoyingness of Jerry Lawler, the excitement around the launch of the WWE Network and WrestleMania XXX, and NXT.
Matches: Colossal Connection vs. Demolition - WWF Tag Team Title Match - WrestleMania VI
Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs. Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid - WWF Tag Team Title Match - Action Zone 10/29/94
Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz - Ladder Match - No Mercy 1999
The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family - Elimination Chamber 2014
DIY vs. The Revival - NXT Tag Team Title Match - NXT Takeover: Toronto