📼 THE YEAR OF THE CASSETTE 📼
What happens when someone sends you a box of wrestling cassettes from the 1990s?
👉 You turn them into a podcast.
We’re officially launching The Year of the Cassette, a deep dive into Cassette Wrestling News — the OG audio wrestling experience that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin once called the first ever podcast.
📅 Here’s how it works:
• Episodes will drop on the MAIN FEED every other week starting February 11th, 2026
• BUT… they’re available RIGHT NOW on Patreon — WEEKLY!!
https://www.patreon.com/c/shootintheshiznit
These cassettes were mailed to subscribers during the heyday of wrestling fanzines, featuring Jeff Osborne & John Seaton delivering zany fun, real talk, and raw 90s wrestling energy.
Sit back, hit play, and take a trip to the past with the usual gang of CWN.
📼 The Year of the Cassette has begun.
👉 Patreon listeners get it first.
https://www.patreon.com/c/shootintheshiznit
Cassette Wrestling News – Episode #15 (July 1991)
(Originally released as Issue #54)
Episode #15 of Cassette Wrestling News captures the volatile, pre-internet wrestling landscape of mid-1991, as hosts John Seaton and Jeff Osborne react in real time to one of the most turbulent periods the business had seen.
The episode opens with extensive discussion of Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert, praised as one of the hottest feuds in wrestling, while also covering Eddie Gilbert’s departure from Memphis and speculation about his future in WCW. From there, the show spirals into a wide-ranging, often chaotic breakdown of the wrestling world, touching on WCW production blunders, the flood of new gimmicks under Jim Herd and Dusty Rhodes, and frustration over creative direction.
A major focal point of the episode is the breaking (and ultimately historic) news that Ric Flair is leaving WCW, with Seaton and Osborne treating the situation as an existential crisis for the NWA. The hosts passionately debate Flair’s value, Dusty Rhodes’ influence, and what the future might hold including early speculation about Flair heading to the WWF.
The episode also features:
A detailed arena report from Australia courtesy of Joe Messinio
Coverage of the George Zahorian steroid trial, with audio from John Arezzi and commentary from Superstar Billy Graham
Blunt discussion of wrestling tabloids, scandals, and media coverage surrounding Hulk Hogan and the WWF
Criticism of wrestler pay, territory economics, and the declining state of the USWA
A full live event recap from the Evansville Coliseum, including Jerry Lawler, Eric Embry, Tony Anthony, Tom Pritchard, and more
Satirical sketches, impressions, and the raw, unfiltered banter that defined CWN in that era
Episode #15 is a vivid snapshot of how hardcore fans consumed, debated, and documented wrestling news before podcasts, social media, or streaming complete with rumor, outrage, dark humor, and genuine passion for the business.
This transcript is preserved as part of an archival effort to document Cassette Wrestling News as one of the earliest true ancestors of modern pro wrestling podcasts.
