Going Ringside With The Local Station

She walked in late to the Going Ringside interview as Al Snow yells “Now business is picking up!”

In the art of pro wrestling, entrance is everything and Hollywood Haley J knows that. By nature she’s a heel, and by the reality of society she’s an overnight superstar. She’s one of the young wrestlers thrust into stardom when the juggernaut streaming platform decided to produce a show called “Wrestlers”.

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From their time gaining national prominence in the “Attitude Era” to AEW and beyond in the 2020′s the wrestling world has belonged to Matt and Jeff Hardy. The duo really cemented their legacy at WrestleMania 2000 against Edge & Christian and the Dudley Boyz in a tables, ladders and chairs match. The match was so well received it eventually spawned its own TLC Pay-per-view.

On this episode Host Scott Johnson is joined by A.J. Francis who wrestling fans knew as “Top Dolla’” to interview the brothers as well as take questions from fans. It was on a panel set up by River City Wrestling Con.

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The dynamics of politics and pro wrestling have been fascinating to watch this summer. First, the Republican National Convention was headlined by Hulk Hogan speaking where he endorsed Donald Trump.

Now, weeks later it appears the Democrats have a response with another very high profile ex-wrestler. Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Ventura did as much for mainstreaming the industry as anyone in 1998 when he was elected Governor of Minnesota. The former Navy SEAL is now endorsing Vice President Harris and Governor Tim Walz. This comes two years after Ventura, a self described independent endorsed Walz for Governor.

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On this episode we’re joined by Nease High School graduate and former WWE Superstar VIctoria Crawford. Crawford spent almost two decades in WWE under the name Alicia Fox where she won the world title.

Now Crawford is out of WWE and on her own traveling the independent wrestling circuit and the only black Divas champion for WWE. And she’s using her success in a new business venture for independent wrestlers. It’s called MastersOfTheRingAccelerator.com. It’s a free virtual event on Sept. 9-10 to teach new wrestlers skills like building a personal brand and developing a social media strategy.

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It was 1997 and the World Wrestling Federation brought in the closest things to a demon from the depths of Hell they had ever seen. Kane had arrived.

A character made famous by Glenn Jacobs to portray the brother of the famed Undertaker. “The Kane character was amazing. I’d had a couple failed runs then Kane came along,” said Jacobs who often gets confused as Undertaker’s real life brother. “A lot of people think we’re brothers outside the ring because we look alike. We’re virtually the same size.”

His iconic career spanned several decades in WWE but an image that could not have been more opposite from how he began was shown 21 years later. Glenn Jacobs, now with his hand on the Bible, was sworn in as the Mayor of Knox County, Tenn.

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A fascinating thing — from a wrestling fan’s perspective — happened at the Republican National Convention. The final night, which is the big one, was filled with stars from pro wrestling and UFC.

Specifically three primary speakers: Hulk Hogan, Linda McMahon and Dana White.

Why this matters: It shows the sheer cultural influence of these forms of entertainment.

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In an unprecedented interview for pro-wrestling podcasts, we’re joined by former WWE owner Linda McMahon, who built the WWE alongside her longtime husband Vince McMahon.

But several years ago Linda McMahon stepped away from WWE to pursue a career in politics. Following two failed runs for the U.S. Senate in the McMahon home state of Connecticut, she was tapped by former President Donald Trump to head up the Small Business Administration and served in his Cabinet.

Linda McMahon stepped away from the administration midway through Trump’s term to take on other priorities but remained a large financial and political backer of Trump.

In this interview, I caught up with Linda McMahon at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where she will be a featured speaker.

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In 1988 no one ever suspected a young man named Mick Foley would be one of the greatest pro wrestlers in history.

However, by 1998 the world totally realized he was special.

After spending years wrestling around the world in the scariest of hardcore matches — including everything from barbed wire to flaming 2X4s — the beloved veteran captured the hearts of wrestling fans around the world.

In fact, his popularity soared so much that he was voted Time Magazine Man of the Year in 1998 by WWE fans who flooded the voting. Time Magazine actually disqualified Foley because they didn’t feel a pro wrestler deserved such an honor. Foley responds to that in this interview.

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Seldom does one person affect an entire industry the way Eric Bischoff has. When Ted Turner owned World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the early ‘90s he had a few different old-school bookers in charge like Ole Anderson and Bill Watts.

But when Turner changed things up and tapped a third-string announcer with a sales background as the new executive in charge of WCW, everything changed for the Atlanta-based promotion.

Bischoff’s first major move was asking for a primetime spot to go head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation (today’s WWE). That was unheard of in the industry and quickly Monday Night Nitro was started on TNT. And the “Monday Night Wars” were underway.

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On this episode of Going Ringside we’re joined by Bray Wyatt’s fiancée JoJo Offerman. Wyatt (real name Windham Rotunda) passed away last summer and Offerman opens up about life without him. Offerman of course was a WWE star herself for many years and is now still recovering after losing her fiancé and father to her children. In this very special interview, Offerman will discuss life now as a single parent and her plans for the future. Also, on this episode we’ll discuss the “Wyatt 6” Clan that has recently arrived in WWE.

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