SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE THE DAY OF
TLC 2020
I often wonder if there is ever any reflection after WWE does a piece like this on how they have portrayed a wrestler. In this case, it’s Charlotte Flair and how likable she is during her interviews as opposed to the general awful promos they give her to perform on television
This little mini-documentary starts with Charlotte talking about how she felt a lot of questions and assumptions from people that she would automatically be going off to have a child. She said that wasn’t her plan at the time, but that she did need to step away due to the burnout of her schedule leading up to WrestleMania along with a few health issues they don’t explore. Charlotte said she felt she was doing good work but wasn’t getting much out of it.
Charlotte reflected on why she ended up coming back when she did and said she missed the family-style environment of WWE. It sounds like some promotional PR for the company, but I can say that I’m currently on a leave from my day job caring for a sick parent and can relate.
Charlotte briefly went through some of her robes and said her choice for the robe for TLC was based on it being similar to the robe she wore at WrestleMania when she faced off against Asuka. Charlotte complimented Asuka as being the MVP of the women’s division during her time away.
WWE’s production is always top-notch but I did notice a bit of digital editing on a few of the interviews with Charlotte in the white room. I watched it on both my computer and TV and it remained, so that is on their version of the video.
This was a pretty solid look at Charlotte that makes you wish they’d let more of the real person shine through as opposed to the robotic performer we get on Monday nights.
Survivor Series 2020
As someone that started watching wrestling the year the Undertaker debuted, watching Survivor Series 2020 was a moment that felt like the end of an era. I was never a big Undertaker fan, but can’t deny that he was a major figure during my tenure as a wrestling fan.
What I thought was one of the strangest things at Survivor Series was rectified here as a lot of the older wrestlers that appeared got to speak on camera. Mick Foley reflected a lot on his feuds with Undertaker and how they helped solidify him as a star in the WWE. Savio Vega talked a lot and even grabbed former referee Tim White and put him over huge before Tim got his chance to talk to the camera.
Phineas Godwinn said he would never be in the Hall of Fame, but even if he was this night was better. There was also a very nice scene of Phineas talking with The Riott Squad and talking about how big of a fan he was of theirs.
Triple H got to say his thoughts on the day. Michael Cole talked about his early days during backstage interviews with Undertaker and credited Undertaker, Rock, Austin, and others of that era for helping to establish him and hone his craft. I always forget just how long Michael Cole has been around until I’m reminded of it.
Jeff Hardy talked about how when he got to the building he saw the symbol on the wall that day and just decided to paint it on his face. He said he was pleasantly surprised about how well it turned out.
Henry Godwin said the BSK hadn’t been all together in 20 years. Godfather talked about the origins of the BSK starting with Yokozuna, Taker, and Godfather playing Dominoes. From there, Kane talked about how he is forever indebted to Undertaker for getting to be a part of the Undertaker mythos. Jey Uso said this night transported him back to when he was young and running around as a kid with these guys hanging out.
One thing I did find interesting is that Undertaker nor Vince McMahon spoke to the camera during this mini-doc.
This reminded me a lot of when I’d go with my grandpa to his reunions with his platoon buddies from World War II. You could tell it all meant a lot to these guys to be there and to be there for the man behind the Undertaker.
WWE Formerly Known As
“How Tyler Black became Seth Rollins”
I’ll be honest, I had never even heard of this show, but as I was on the Network watching the “The Day Of” episodes I saw this by it in the documentary section.
Seth talked about his earliest days in wrestling and then took the camera crew to the venue of his first show in the very small town of Donahue, Iowa. Seth went through his evolution of names including his name of Gixx which was named after a character from Magic: The Gathering. What’s amusing about this is that Seth wasn’t into Magic himself but his brother was and that’s who gave him the name. Seth said it was a terrible name.
Another name Rollins had was Taj the Destroyer before he finally settling on the name Tyler Black at the behest of his trainer Danny Daniels. I didn’t know that Tyler Black came from a combination of Tyler Durden from Fight Club and Sirius Black from Harry Potter.
From there, Seth took the crew to the venue of his first WWE event in Moline, Illinois, and talked about how he hoped someday he could inspire some kids like he was inspired by whom he saw at the age of four.
This was a fun little show. There are only four episodes and most are right around 10 minutes long.
“Harper’s indie journey to Bludgeon Brother”
As I looked into more episodes of this show, I immediately saw that I needed to watch the episode on the recently deceased Jon Huber. Huber’s episode started by going to where he trained, which was at a martial arts school. They aired some very cool footage of Huber doing his earliest matches at the martial arts school while wrestling as Huber Boy Number 2. Huber Boy #1 would go on to become a chemist.
From there, Huber espouses for his love of Rochester and said that he spent the minimum time he needed in Florida for developmental before he moved back. Huber visited with some of his other friends in Rochester that he wrestled with in Upstate Pro Wrestling.
Huber talked about the origins of Brodie Lee as coming from the resemblance he had with Jason Lee and Lee’s character Brodie Bruce from Mallrats. Huber said that his time in Chikara was when he got his tank top/jeans attire as Mike Quackenbush gave him a roving truck driver gimmick.
Huber then talked of when he had gotten hurt at the same time he found out his wife was pregnant. He said it was a low for him, but also an important test for his character.
Towards the end, a clip aired that showed Huber talking about keeping and collecting all of this stuff for his son to have. Huber also talked about how he hoped he was going to be a good dad – as good as he had. This was a rough watch two weeks ago when I watched it then and still tough now. Not just the world of wrestling, but the world in general seems to have lost an incredible human being in Jon Huber.
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