We Work Stiff

The podcast has been on a technology imposed hiatus but makes its triumphant return with Josh and Dave answering all of Redd's questions about a crazy World Series of Wrestling event in Melbourne  - including a meet and greet where Dave found out some huge news from Cody.

We hint to this big stuff in the episode, but, we promised Cody - who was at peak Cowboy when shooting with us - we wouldn't give it all away. However, like the BTE boys, we are dropping some hints....and subtlety ain't our thing.

This is a tough edition of the Stiff Observer. Josh's $5 tier weekly show on Patreon. Cancer is no laughing matter. But also our podcast could never be confused with a serious show. So how do we tackle this issue? With good and transparent intentions. We kid. We joke. But we are Australians - that's how we set up the serious stuff. And we have plenty of serious chat in here.

Josh had many thoughts. On why wrestling fans need to grow up. On how sad it was that Roman had to qualify his statements. On the boos. On the role of WWE in positioning humanity outside the universe. And Dave and Redd force the discussion to go in interesting places that we hope reflect the spectrum of fan responses.

Coming off of last week's Crown Jewel talk this week's Stiff O is not any easier - with more questions than answers - but we hope to explore the RAW nature of this reality in a way that doesn't negate Roman/Joe's future struggle.

On this free $2 Patron tier Stiff Notes, Redd explores the great highs of Fire Pro Wold. His love for the game and its relevance for fans of all kinds of pro-wrestling - but especially New Japan fans. Trying to convince Dave to get on board and Josh to pick the game back up.

Then Josh ruins the positive chat by discussing the big news amongst the online wrestling community this week – New Japan’s continued and extended crackdown on online content creators. We discuss the potential impact this could have on the popularity of the product.

Music Credit: “I’m Japanese” – Gefilte Fist

Whilst Dave appeared to have a life affirming sojourn to Japan, Josh had his own revelatory journey in the past few weeks.

On this shorter edition of our $2 weekly Patreon show, Stiff Notes, recorded last week, you can listen as Josh details his WWE live super show experience, explains why he was there, discusses some of the surprises at the show, talks about the real heartbreak on the show, and realises that there is no going back now.

Music Credit: “I’m Japanese” – Gefilte Fist

In what is probably the most awesome happening since the shows inception Dave travelled to Japan and attended King of Pro Wrestling live! So, listen along as Josh and Redd sit captivated by Dave’s stories and experiences– from meeting potential future Mrs Redd’s on the street of Japan, to investigating the mystery of Scott Norton by inspecting some ‘flash’ jocks to witnessing his boys crowning heel moment – it’s all here.

This is a Stiff Notes roundtable for anyone interested in attending a New Japan event anytime in the future - or people who, like Dave, are weirdly fascinated by the psychology of crowds.

Music Credit: “I’m Japanese” – Gefilte Fist

We have spoken alot about Tama Tonga during G1 and the Being the Elite crew on our last BFF season - but we have never talked about them like this.

In this free Stiff Notes we return to some well tread topics, but, in light of recent happenings our loyalties may surprise long time listeners. We talk New Japans modern business practices, Meltzers 'sources', the Elite contract situation and Tama Tonga's fire Twitter game as we try and figure out who to believe and who to like in this brave new world of work-shoot pro wrestling.

Music Credit: “I’m Japanese” – Gefilte Fist

As you are likely aware, thanks to the repeated intros for this week’s podcasts, free Patreon week continues, this time with a traditional $2 tier Stiff Notes.

On this edition, Dave dives deep into his former flame – the UFC – and discusses what the crazy events of UFC 229 mean for the future of combat sports. The boys tag alone, linking the many crazy happenings to the world of pro-wrestling, as Dave goes about psychoanalysing fighters and drawing some truly inspired comparisons.

Music Credit: “I’m Japanese” – Gefilte Fist

Free Patreon week continues with the launch of a new $5 Patron tier exclusive show: Stiff Observer Radio. Sure it's a cheap pun masquerading as a serious pro-wrestling show - but it will be the home to Josh's sarcasm riddled weekly rants.

On this first episode there was only really one topic worth getting irrationally worked up over. The boys join Josh to launch the show as he goes off on WWE and the Crown Jewel. No not, Chase Owens, the next event in WWE's tone deaf relationship with Saudi Arabia. We discuss the geopolitics of the region, WWEs role as propaganda agent and then try and link this to the potential financial and creative decline of the company.

If you are mad or upset about this decision to leverage your fandom against your morals, join us in a vent that achieves very little but highlights a lot.

Been eagerly anticipating the new season of We Work Stiff? Hopefully you are not alone.

We can't wait to launch our 3 Stiff-keteers season, but before then, we wanted to do something different. We have decided to open up our Patreon feed for all our listeners this week, spamming your pod feeds every day with heaps of new Stiff goodness.

Our Patreon feed is Uncut, Uncooked, Uncensored - it's STIFF - but its also scarsely popualted. We are creating content we are really proud of and want to share this with as many of you as possible.

Over the next 7 days, you will hear 5 episodes from 2 different show types, and a supercut of our previous Patreon Stiff Notes shows. Each episode giving you a different example of the type of stuff we like to explore when not talking New Japan long form storytelling (although we always find ourselves circling back to our love for the Lionmark).

This first podcast is a supercut of some of the best bits from our already recorded Stiff Notes. Our Patreon only show - available at the $2 tier.

We cover topics like: Dave Meltzer....sexist???, Vietnamese Toilets, Pulling off Macho Man tights, Brian Pillman's, Best WCW Posters and WWF Promos and much more.

So, if you like the show, give this a listen and consider joining us on Patreon - any support is greatly appreciated. We want to grow the Stiff Community and we can't wait to have you listen to, comment on and help guide our content on Patreon.

Music Credit: “I’m Japanese” – Gefilte Fist

What's this? An early release? Yep. The Stiff Lads just couldn't wait to get this dose of Go Home Stiff goodness out to our 'growing' fan base. With Dave in Japan, Josh (yes Josh) heading to WWE Super Showdown in Melbourne, and Redd going as deep as humanly possible into FirePro World for PS4, this episode needs to come out right now.

And what an episode. We have peaked with this roundtable exploration of the Young Lions system in New Japan. By exploring the history of the process, the many aspects surrounding Young Boy development (what did we just write?!?!) we cover the good, the bad and the ugly of the NJPW dojo.

Look, it can get weird, with all this boy talk, but, trust us, if you have ever had any questions about this system - you are not alone - and we try to answer these, and our own, queries on this journey.

A journey that will lead us into what we hope will be our best season yet.