Smark & Friends

We were going to call this episode "the art of wrestling" but we don't want to step on any toes. John Kirby and Sam West of the UK's theatre-led promotion Wrestling Resurgence join the show. Wrestling Resurgence has something of an unconventional background for a wrestling promotion, as the creative team - Sam and John included - all have backgrounds in the arts. What exactly makes wrestling an artform? What's it like showcasing wrestling in art galleries? What would the rules of a Sam Beckett match be? This and more!

Terrific actor, brilliant singer, and now the teacher of her own school! Alana Cosgrove joins us on Smark & Friends to talk about Songbird Music School before we watch an AAW Pro match between ACH and Garza Jr. We still want you to check out the Powerslam Wrestling Network, but if you'd like to watch along with us this match is freely available on YouTube! Check out Songbird Music at musiquesongbirdmusic.com

He's the Monster Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion, but before he found success in wrestling he was a lightweight division fighter in the UFC. "Magnificent" Mitch Clarke joins us to talk his upcoming defence at MPW's The Return before getting very candid about his time in UFC. Mitch DOES NOT pull punches in this one! Will Zak's stomach survive Mitch's list of injuries and surgeries? Listen and find out!

Future guests have big shoes to fill. Zak's four-year-old son Buddy joins the show for a wrestling watchalong! Unlike our usual guests, Buddy doesn't have anything to promote, but he will let you know about what books he's reading and what he had for breakfast. Then we jump into a fatal-four way match from Qatar Pro Wrestling with Rey Mysterio Jr, PJ Black, Carlito and Mil Muertes!

This is a throwback! Back in February we did our first interview with someone in the wrestling industry about their outside projects as part of TFGC's 28in28 Challenge, but now it made sense to migrate this episode to the Smark & Friends feed. We're joined by a man who wears many hats both in and out of the IWS wrestling ring, and on top of a real what's what of responsibilities, our guest Andrew Stott also writes comics! Learn how Andrew got into comics, a lengthy conversation about his work on WWE Comics, as well as chatting about IWS's rapid growth in the independent wrestling scene. It's an older episode but it's still plenty fresh! Give 'er a listen!

He's a graphic novel illustrator who brought a comic book character to life in the wrestling ring! Andy Belanger - aka Bob "Animal" Anger joins the show! Andy's extensive list credits include Friday the 13th, Kill Shakespeare, WWE Comics, Southern Cross (sidebar: we got some breaking news on that in this episode), and recently Pound For Pound out of TKO Studios. Plus: Andy shares info about his ambitious wrestling graphic novel that he's been working on called Mother Trucker, which you're going to want to read as badly as we do after hearing more about it.

Smark & Friends gets adventurous on the latest episode as we welcome the team behind the interactive storytelling gaming platform for kids called Adventures To Go, actors Elizabeth Neale and Jonathan Silver! We're watching a matchup straight out of a tabletop gaming session where King Khash takes on the one and only Luchasaurus in DEFY Wrestling.

If you haven't listened to episode "Pub Trivia", do not listen to this episode! Open this up only if you've finished our wrestling themed quiz and check your scores while Zak blitzes through the answers! Find @smarkandfriends on social media and let us know how you did!

Almost one year ago, Zak hosted trivia night at Hurley's Pub in Montreal in promotion of Smark & Friends. The questions were wrestling themed, but not entirely about wrestling? Are you up for the challenge? Take the quiz!

Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com

This episode is BANTS(are we using that right?)! The stars of the web series Sofa Queens Kelly Harvey-Mykula and Shanice Bowrin joins the show for a wrestling watachalong as Jamie Hayter takes on Session Moth Martina at EVE Riot Grrls of Wrestling!