Much Ado About Wrestling

The Scholars run down All In 2025 and Saturday Night’s Main Event, and go through the history of counterprogramming

The Scholars start by briefly talking about how they approached this mammoth Saturday of wrestling (spoiler alert; one Scholar elected to see Weird Al in concert instead) then they get into reviewing AEW ALL IN 2025 while touching on Saturday Night’s Main Event. They talk through the nitpicks of the length of the show and missed opportunities in some entrances/pacing of Omega/Okada V, but highlight the strength of the four main event matches. They also speculate the difficulties of producing the Saturday Night’s Main Event card in the wake of Seth Rollins’ injury, and discuss how Bill Goldberg did in his retirement match. They also touch on Adam Cole’s surprise retirement, Cope’s return, and Tyler’s new favorite female wrestler. (01:00)

Then, the Scholars pivot to the Word of the Day: Counterprogramming. They discuss the origins of the practice within wrestling and the past battles between WWF and JCP/WCW. They also talk about counterprogramming in a larger media landscape, mentioning the battle for attention during the Super Bowl halftime show, some strange feuds in Brazilian soap operas, and reverse counterprogramming or “burning off” an unwanted TV show. (50:00)

They close their episode with a discussion about all the recent counterprogramming on WWE’s part, how this has effected the potential success of WWE Evolution, and whether there is a way to do this ethically. (1:06:55)

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The Scholars run down the top matches and wrestlers from the Raw after Mania 40 through night 2 of Mania 41

The Scholars start by briefly talking about Hangman’s Spanish promo, John Cena’s pipebomb and upcoming match with CM Punk, and the possibility of a Ron Killings World Title run (01:00)

Then, the Scholars dedicate the rest of the episode to their Top 10 Matches and Wrestlers of 2024-2025. They begin by running down the criteria for the voting and why we think of the wrestling calendar this way. Then they get into the lists:

Top 10 Matches of the Year (10:50)
Top 10 Wrestlers of the Year (58:15)

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VOTING IS OPEN FOR OUR ANNUAL TOP 10 WRESTLERS/MATCHES OF THE YEAR!

VOTE HERE FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A $50 PRO WRESTLING TEES GIFT CARD!!!

POLLS CLOSE JUNE 13th, 2025

Text Link: https://forms.gle/vC43KmwGgqGukoLk6

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from internet journalism, it’s that everyone loves a list EVEN if they tell you otherwise. With that in mind, we’ve tried to make a respectable list of the best matches and wrestlers each wrestling calendar year, as voted on by the hosts of the podcast and the fans of the podcast.

While other “best of” wrestling lists tend to be promotion-based, or lean heavily on kayfabe strength (like the illustrious PWI 500), the aim of the Much Ado About Wrestling best of lists is to provide a clear picture of who and what was successful critically at the time in wrestling. Who were the big stars? What were the biggest moments? Who took the biggest creative swings? What were the technical classics? All are represented on our lists.

A note about the wrestling calendar: with no off-season in pro wrestling and multiple global promotions, it’s hard to delineate when a year of wrestling truly begins and ends. In this spirit, we mark the beginning of each “wrestling year” at the Monday after WrestleMania, and ending at the conclusion of the following WrestleMania.

Why do we do this? Simply because it’s the largest show from the largest promotion, and one where various storylines build up to and conclude at. It’s the cleanest version of a season finale, a championship game, a gold-medal event as we are going to get.

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The Scholars get BOLD when predicting the next wild turns in the world of Pro Wrestling for 2025

VOTING IS OPEN FOR OUR ANNUAL TOP 10 WRESTLERS/MATCHES OF THE YEAR!

VOTE HERE FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A $50 PRO WRESTLING TEES GIFT CARD!!!

POLLS CLOSE JUNE 7TH, 2025

Text Link: https://forms.gle/vC43KmwGgqGukoLk6

The Scholars start by talking about married life, followed by recent Wrestling Surprises — did the right man win in Hangman vs. Ospreay? Should an NXT Wrestler be TNA Champion? Why is WrestleMania 42 going to moving from New Orleans to Las Vegas? (01:00)

Then, the Scholars dedicate the rest of the episode to their Bold Predictions. They begin by grading last year’s predictions (one scholar is on the honor roll while the other is flunking out), then go through guesses on next first time world champions and “same face, new place” candidates for the year. Finally, they count down their 5 most bold predictions; Where do the scholars think Dom Mysterio might get his first World Title? Who does Tyler have coming out of retirement to try to break a record!? And wait, why are our scholars talking about Vince McMahon and what directly opposing predictions do they have about him!?!?!?!? (28:01)

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The Scholars review WrestleMania 41 immediately after the end of Night 2

The Scholars set the clock for 30 minutes and discuss their hot takes immediately following the end of Cody vs. John Cena in the night 2 main event of WrestleMania 41. They discuss the fall out of both main events, the surprises (Becky Lynch, Joe Hendry, the Steve Austin ATV Wreck!), the highlights and lowlights, what might be next for the Raw after Mania, and whether or not Andrew was right with his wild prediction of LA Knight vs. Jacob Fatu being the match of the weekend. (01:00)

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The Scholars preview WrestleMania 41 from top to bottom!

The Scholars start things off with some chatter about Triple H’s interview comments this week and WrestleMania being on Easter – then a John Cena Heel Turn Press Conference where Tyler delivers a prepared statement, then answers follow-up questions about how the long awaited John Cena heel turn has gone. (09:06)

Then, the Scholars dedicate the rest of the episode to previewing the WrestleMania card. Which match did Andrew say was going to be the match of the week? What does Tyler think will be the final image of WrestleMania? What are the myriad of options that the Scholars cooked up for competitors to answer Randy Orton’s open challenge? Why was Raw Roulette mentioned!? (20:30)

Finally, very briefly, the Scholars attempt to redeem themselves from their poor WrestleMania prognosticating by breaking down the card for next month’s Backlash PLE! (1:27:45)

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The Scholars do their annual tradition of predicting the WrestleMania card, which forces them to figure out tonight’s Elimination Chamber PLE.

The Scholars start things off by talking through Elimination Chamber, the number of matches on the card, what the card order will be, how long will the segment over Cody’s Soul be, and what is going on with The Rock in general? (03:06)

Then, the Scholars dedicate the rest of the episode to predicting the WrestleMania card. They’ve got to save face after a historically bad run of predictions last year. They start with the two hardest decisions, who faces Cody and who faces Logan Paul, and they end with trying to figure out which WWE Championships get left off the card and how to fit in multiple women’s division storylines into 2 or 3 matches. (20:05)

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Get ready for a history lesson, as the Scholars run down the different eras of professional wrestling, and recap a surprising Royal Rumble.

The Scholars start things off by giving their reactions to the 2025 Royal Rumble. They start with the winners, the eventful final minutes of the men’s rumble, and the long betting odds. They also talk their favorite performers and pops from the night (Chelsea Green, Alexa Bliss, Bron spearing people!), and John Cena’s amazing media scrum promo. Finally, they look ahead to Elimination Chamber and chat about the rumble bottomline news ticker. (02:20)

Then, the Scholars dedicate the rest of the episode to the history of Wrestling Eras. They take us from the Golden Era all the way to today, looking at the characteristics of each other and what storyline and outside factors should be remembered as the first/last moments of each era. They close this out by talking about the latest era we’re entering now, who we think will define it, and what could possibly happen down the line to END this era.(37:05)

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Welcome to the streaming age of wrestling! The Scholars preview Raw’s Netflix debut by revisiting other Raw “network debut” episodes.

The Scholars start things off with some quick discussion of the new streaming era of wrestling with AEW’s launch on MAX and the contraction of WWE content from Peacock, and highlight the recent AEW and New Japan barrage of shows including World’s End, WrestleKingdom, and Wrestle Dynasty.(03:15)

Then, it’s time to look at the three “debut” episodes of RAW in its history of changing networks. They look at the very first episode of RAW on USA in 1993 – running down what WWE programming was like before Raw, who and why was Rob Bartlett there, and what glimpses of success were in that pilot. Then they move on to the cash grab move to TNN in 2000, and how that revolved around Steve Austin playing detective to try to find out who ran him over with a car 10 months prior. And finally, they look at Raw Homecoming from 2005, with the move back to USA, a reliance on legends segment, and the Raw vs. Smackdown of it all. (19:30)

Finally, the scholars talk about the history of RAW’s theme music and build expectations for the first Netflix Raw. They talk about which matches on the card should open or close, how and why the aesthetics might change, and whether John Cena will be appearing and who he should first feud with on his retirement tour. (57:24)

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Don’t you dare be sour, as the scholars recap the unique career of The New Day, and talk fallout from their 10 year anniversary episode of Raw.

The Scholars start things off with the “now” heard round the world! Big E returned to RAW to help get Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods back on the same page, and he succeeded! But at what cost!?(06:30)

Then, it’s time for the career retrospective of The New Day. What makes them the most atypical (and best?) tag team in WWE history? What are our favorite moments of their story, and how did they manage to turn bad ideas into good ideas. What kind of value do they have going forward and is their success repeatable? (24:43)

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