Tunnel Talk: Recent Episodes
Tunnel Talk Productions
A new podcast from 3 born-sexy-yesterday know-nothings who won’t let their lack of facts get in the way of a good joke! Join Allie, Anne, and Lea every Sunday as they discuss the hunks, dweebs, and local bad boys of the All Elite Wrestling world.
Your girls are doing a lite run through this week--we NEEDED a little summer treat! After a brief discussion of the Orange Cassidy/Kyle O'Reilly/Don Callis Family Universe, we skip on over to check in on mommy's little Elite and the ELECTRIC energy between Swerve and Will Ospreay. We say "I'll have what they're having!" Once we're done being complete perverts, it's over to our very special summer themed dating game, which somehow didn't end up very summery OR date-y but hey, that's how it goes sometimes!
00:00 Intro
12:54 - OC, Kylo, Willow, Stat, Trent and DCF
35:53 Elite + Swerve/Ospreay
1:02:39 Game
It's our fourth installment of our From the Reviews series! If you give us a 5* review on any platform and shoot us a message with a request, we'll watch whatever match you ask and record ourselves watching it!In this episode we watched:3:20 Mystery Wrestling 5 (requested by @cfettback on twitter)24:06 Chiitan & Pokotan Vs Andreza Giant Panda & Super Sasadango Machine (requested by @kingofthenorth on Twitter)47:08 Kenny vs Ibushi 2008 (requested by Charles)1:06:30 Kenny vs Ospreay (requested by Cody)
This week we get to talk about all our favorite things: the Elite having a storyline! The Best Friends having a storyline! Mariah, Toni and Mina having a love triangle! Plus we get to clarify some stuff about Having a Special Guy, as well as really get into OUR very special guy, Chuck Taylor, FINALLY giving us more information on his injury. Do we sound crazy talking about it? Of course we do, he's our special little guy! Plus, if Taz and Tony Schiavone don't work out what's going on with them and resolve some of this conflict we are absolutely going to go insane. It's another Tunnel Talk, baby, buckle up!
And FYI, on June 29, we're going to be on the Poisonrana Pod's Charity Stream to raise money for the Maddy Cusack Foundation! We'll be appearing from 2:00-2:30 pm Eastern time, so tune in to watch us play some games and then donate to this great cause!
(00:00) Chitchat Time (What’s Making Lea Happy)
(09:02) The Elite storylines
(27:33) Mariah-Toni-Mina love triangle
(35:15) Chuck Taylor on Close Up with Renee Paquette
(42:25) Special Guy clarifications
(44:52) Orange Cassidy, Willow Nightingale, Trent Beretta, Kris Statlander
(53:14) Taz and Schiavone marital troubles
(58:11) Chris Jericho & the Learning Tree
(1:08:25) MJF
It's our post-Double or Nothing episode (Deeble or Neeble for the real ones) and the girls once again bravely break away from the wrestling podcasting herd and say things like "It was a fun show," "Enjoyed watching that match." Please don't cancel us, folks! We discuss: our aborted love affair with The Brood, the absolute insanity of Anarchy in the Arena, the joy of finally getting to see Mercedes wrestle, and the searing agony we felt watching Orange Cassidy writhe in the ring, Completely Alone. Join us for the hot takes you're not getting ANYWHERE else!
00:00 Chitchat Time
06:10 Cope and Malakai
18:44 Anarchy in the Arena
36:52 Ospreay and the Gauntlet
50:32 Swerve and Christian
1:02:30 Willow and Mercedes
1:20:47 MJF
1:29:50 OC, Trent and the Don Callis Family
It’s ice cold shower season and maybe that’s why your girls showed up in such a good mood this week, but we had LOTS to talk about. Trent and OC continue their psychological torture of us and each other, and we have a live-on-the-air realization that Dustin Chuck Taylor may have been the first wrestler we saw go out on his back! Team AEW is not doing their best work but our beautiful Elite are doing great storytelling, as are Swerve and Christian, and shockingly, even Malakai Black decided to be interesting for the first time in years. This week had flamethrowers, it had TK in an SUV, it had a period bloodbath — but the most important thing we talk about is the utter failure of the wrestling media. Media criticism? From Tunnel Talk? You’ll have to listen to find out!
(00:00) Chitchat Time
(07:15) OC and Trent, Ospreay and Roddy
(31:05) BCC
(42:41) The Elite vs. Team AEW
(1:04:59) Darby’s Tent City for Wrestlers
(1:21:08) Swerve and Christian
(1:28:19) Copeland and Malakai
Your girls are having a wild one this week and their grasp on the “facts” is way looser than normal. They discuss: Claudio and his grudge against Eddie, The Elite and the futility of expecting us to root against them, the newest development in the Mina/Mariah/Toni storyline, and whether Jericho University is fully accredited. Don’t bother us, we’re busy interpreting!
00:00 Chit Chat Time
6:48 BCC
16:44 Elite
41:18 Mercedes and Willow
47:12 Swerve
55:41 Mina/Toni/Mariah
1:00:02 Cope
1:15:24 Jericho
Your bravest girls bear up under another week that’s trying to keep them down! Mommy’s very best elite are doing their finest work and we vote to LEAVE them in charge forever. Plus, we try to get to the bottom of what’s going on in the Toni/Mariah/Mina triangle and we’re starting to suspect lesbionic activity. Also we try frantically to become medical professionals in the wake of Chuck Taylor’s diagnosis which has mixed results. What’s making us happy? Not this!
00:00 Chit Chat Time
09:38 Team Elite vs Team AEW
25:39 Swerve and Christian
35:01 Serena Dweeb and the WLW scene
48:44 Big Cope
58:58 Best Friends
Well friends, Chuck Taylor is dead, and may his memory be a blessing to all of us. The girls process their big feelings about Orange Cassidy's announcement and speculate about Dustin's future. It is simply not rewarding being a Chuck Taylor fan. In happier news, the Elite have taken over Dynamite, and honestly, we think they're doing a great job. Sorry Kenny! Plus Serena Deeb is scaring the hoes, and Chris Jericho is back on top. It's a mixed bag!
00:00 Chit Chat Time
05:05 Best friends
27:48 Elite
48:34 Toni and Serena Deeb
54:43 Cope and Kyle
1:02:09 Jericho
This week was QUITE an exciting one for Fun Loving Girls, so as a treat we went long to talk about ALL our favorites. We were giving out awards left and right: Trent Beretta, congrats on your Most Persuasive Argument Award for a truly coherent and impressive Heel Turn Monologue. Jack “JB” Perry, GREAT work on snagging the coveted Damon Salvatore Mommy’s Little Ham award. And Nicholas Jackson? You took your shirt off so you got a very much deserved MVP/Locker Room Leader award, and tell your brother that if he does the same, there’s another one where that came from. Your plaques will be arriving in Jacksonville shortly. Plus: Swerve’s the World Champ!!! Willow’s the TBS champ!!!! Ospreay and Danielson put on a banger! Toni Storm’s gimmick continues to kill, and you must NEVER count out Chris Jericho!
00:00 - Chitchat Time
07:41 - World Champion Swerve Strickland
16:19 - Callis Family - Ospreay vs. Danielson
29:56 - Kylo Riley’s Pale Heaving Belly
34:57 - Best Friends!!!!!!
51:56 - Willow Nightingale
57:03 - The New Elite!!!!!
1:21:53 - Toni Storm
1:30:10 - Chris Jericho
Mox came back and suddenly AEW feels like home again! We discuss the BCC’s feud with the Don Callis family and whether Ospreay has any concept of why it’s happening. Then it’s over to mommy’s little Elite and this week, Okada receives a very prestigious award! But he’s not the only one getting accolades this week, we also feel incredible relief over Jericho’s increasing confidence as he welcomes all of us to his Learning Tree atop Wizard Mountain. We do a check in with the heartbreakers formerly known as Best Friends and the horndogs in the Women’s division. And as always, Stay Frosty!
00:00 Chit Chat Time
08:23 Mox return, Don Callis and Ospreay
21:14 The Elite
39:23 Jericho
57:36 Best Friends
01:08:38 Willow, Mercedes, Cope
01:15:14 Stardom, Mariah, Toni and Rosa
1:24:29 Swerve and Joe
It was a weird week in wrestling, and we discuss our mixed feelings about AEW airing All In backstage footage of CM Punk attacking Jack Perry. But even though parts of that were a bit of a bummer, at least we had a great time seeing the unlikely tag team of Willow Nightingale and Adam Copeland come together, and were very entertained by witnessing what seemed to be Alex Marvez’s first time sitting in a chair! Plus, kissing??? Tender perfect kissing between Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa? And if that weren’t enough, we got to indulge ourselves in a little wrestling regency game and boy, did we have fun!
(00:00) Chitchat Time & What’s Making Allie Happy
(08:06) All In Footage and Young Bucks vs. FTR
(35:52) Willow and Adam Copeland surprise tag team
(41:39) Mercedes Moné and Alex Marvez sitdown
(44:52) Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa
(51:06) Wrestling Regency Game!
Hey guys? Greg turned heel. Greg turned heel and he kicked OC and Dustin left with Sue, and OC was left in the ring. Cue Taps, and 1 billion years of sobbing. We talk about some other stuff too, like Kris going heel, Joe actually bothering to be a heel, and Dave Meltzer’s hypothetical reaction to Ospreay having something called a Kissing Match. Also? Greg went heel. Thank you for your kind words during this trying time.
00:00 Chit Chat Time
11:58 Copleopen
21:13 Greg Went Heel
44:09 Willow, Kris and Mercedes
52:01 Men’s Title Scene
57:32 Ospreay and Danielson
We only had a luxurious, cool two hours of AEW to review this week and your girls frankly enjoyed reveling in it! We get into the taggy tourney in all its important manifestations: Young Bucks, Best Friends (OC and Trent version), and of course, the Other, Less Fun side of the bracket. We also talk about what's going on with Chris "Big J" Jericho, exhort Samoa Joe to start pulling his weight on the World Title group project, and give a little undeserved time to our favorite cannibal Kylo Riley.
(00:00) Chitchat time
(05:37) Taggy Tourney - Young Bucks vs. Private Party
(18:41) Taggy Tourney - Best Friends vs. Undisputed Kingdom
(26:42) Taggy Tourney - Right side of the bracket
(30:06) Chris Jericho
(41:43) Ospreay vs. Shibata
(46:41) Swerve vs. Takeshita
(53:21) Kylo Riley
(56:05) Mercedes Moné and Women’s Four Way
(1:03:28) Darby Allin
Some of our listeners who've left five star reviews took advantage of our rewards program to make us watch a match of their choosing, and BOY did they deliver! Rory Beckett gave us Swerve vs. Athena and those were some EXTREME HUNKS IN ACTION. Then Young Boy Joshua Smith of Keepin' It Strong Style got us to watch a 1985 I Quit match between Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard and uhhhh that was a lot more sexually compelling than we were prepared for. Tim Hunter gave us a Stardom Escape the Cage match that was frankly the best thing I've ever seen in my life - honestly we now have big plans to become Stardom bitches and learn Japanese. Swaggamice had us watch Lucha Underground, whose aesthetics made us declare AEW to be trash, and finally, Angelkitty6201 had us watch MCMG vs. Generation Me (Young Bucks) in an empty arena match that we hadn't watched up to this point for fear of it being TOO activating, and guess what, we were right! Did you know wrestling is good, you guys?
(00:00) Chitchat time
(02:30) Swerve vs. Athena
(23:37) Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA
(42:12) Stardom - Queen’s Quest vs. Oedo Tai Loser Leaves the Unit match
(1:25:22) Lucha Underground
(1:53:01) MCMG vs. Generation Me (Young Bucks) Empty Arena match
It’s Tunnel Talk’s third anniversary, and as is traditional, the girls are in their cups! Despite slowly descending into a negroni hole, your hosts still manage to cover the horniness of the I Can’t Quit You Match, the diversity of storylines in the women’s division, the impending end to our podcast over Ospreay’s likeabilty, and who is not participating in the group project that is the Swerve/Joe feud. Join us for this episode, and perhaps for another three years!
00:00 3 yr anniversary reflections
21:10 Cope and Christian
31:36 Mercedes Mone, Willow and Stat
45:17 Ospreay and Okada
1:06:45 Tag Tournament
1:17:32 Swerve/Joe
Allie's at the rodeo so Lea and Anne bravely walked themselves through a very exciting week as Lea was there in person to see Mercedes Moné debut! We talk women's division; we talk how the other recent debuts are fitting in; we talk about what Adam Cole should be up to if we HAVE to see him. In other news - Samoa Joe: phoning it in. Wardlow: pointless. Kylo Riley: still scarred by his cannibal past. Eddie Kingston and Chuck Taylor: beautiful bodies training... for the future? And Darby? Well, God or Tony Khan intervened to make sure he's NOT going to Everest. Let's get into it!
00:00 Chitchat Time
01:40 Boots on the Ground Big Business Reporting
09:08 Mercedes Moné debut!
21:06 Toni Storm and Deonna Purrazzo
27:37 Men’s World Title Scene
40:33 Kylo Riley and the Horrors
44:31 Young Bucks/Okada vs. Eddie, Pac & Penta
53:35 Darby vs. Jay White
1:04:50 Will Ospreay
1:09:57 Chris Jericho
1:14:48 Best Friends
TUNNELS ARE BACK and so are your girls! The whole of the Social Suplex Network is in a good mood this week, and we’re right there with them. We discuss men leaving on their fronts, the debut of Okada, Swerve facing down the idea of karmic retribution, the return of Kylo Riley and what Horrors he might have seen while he was gone, Danielson’s hard look at his own failure to respect Eddie, and more! The men were doing the EMOTIONAL WORK this week! And hey, we got to see a butt! Viva la Revolution!
00:00 Chitchat time
03:46 Revolution impressions and Tunnels
09:48 Sting& Darby, Bucks, Okada, and Jay White
38:41 Swerve, Joe, and Wardlow
55:39 OC/Roddy and Kylo Returns!
01:10:52 BCC vs FTR
01:19:25 Danielson/Eddie
01:23:45 Ospreay/Takeshita
01:33:36 Toni/Deonna
01:37:12 Garcia/Patriarchy/Copeland
This week, your girls went to an art gallery, swirled their wine, and said, “Provocative.” They also said a lot of things about men’s titties and going out on their backs! Join us as we preview the matches for Revolution this weekend, and talk through the ongoing feuds as well as Ospreay’s delightful drunk girl Kermit-the-frog debut, FTR’s ongoing long, boring invasion of Dynamite, Young Bucks fashion, Sting's retirement, the disappointment of the OC vs. Roddy feud, Swerve and Hangman's characterizations, and so much more!
(00:00) Chitchat Time
(11:23) Will Ospreay debut
(23:53) FTR and BCC
(41:38) Young Bucks and Sting-Darby
(1:09:59) OC vs. Roddy, Daniel Garcia vs. Patriarchy
(1:20:21) World Title Scene
(1:35:56) 8 Man Scramble and Toni vs. Deonna
We’re still in the most February February of all February, but your girls march on, cackling all the way. Dynamite this week was hmm…subpar, but we made the most of it it anyway with our admiration of new Best Friends member Jake Hager. Wardlow yelled at us for approximately 20 minutes, but he had a good clear enunciation so that’s something. But hey, Hangman and Swerve are still trying their best to tell us a story, and Christian remains the GOAT, the best in the biz, the only one who knows how to do it. Thank you Christian, and long live the patriarchy! After we work through our Dynamite review, we get down to what we really came here to do: assign wrestlers to Percy Jackson-style Greek god cabins. Join us!
00:00 Chitchat time
08:14 OC and The Kingdom
20:45 Wardlow
32:08 Title Scene
39:54 Christian and Garcia
44:50 Sting and Darby
49:56 Percy Jackson Game!
It's been a very fun 2024 in AEW, to our intense relief! Samoa Joe is doing everything he can to get Swerve and Hangman's attention, with little success — whatever, he's only the world champion! Danny Garcia is continuing to experiment with FTR, clearly because of his BROKEN HOME. Matt Jackson is thoroughly in boymode and getting praise for it, which we have not failed to notice. OC and Matt Taven had a kickass Texas Death Match while Roddy continued to look like a dweeb, and the women's division is absolutely cooking! O brave new world etc etc!
00:00 Chitchat Time
08:39 Samoa Joe, Swerve, and Hangman
16:30 Adam Copeland and Danny Garcia
31:04 Young Bucks and Darby Allin
49:15 Orange Cassidy and The Undisputed Kingdom
1:00:33 Blackpool Combat Club
1:10:05 Deonna Purrazzo and Toni Storm
1:15:06 Willow, Kris, and Stokely
It’s a very February week in February and the girls do a quick check-in about some of the stuff we haven’t been talking about in the other company and recommend some of the very good podcasts in our little community. Then we turn our attention to this week in AEW, where we try to make sense of the FTR/Daniel Garcia relationship, and how it’s intersecting with The Patriarchy. Is Daniel Garcia just standing in for Adam Copeland? Speaking of Big Cope, we watched Percy Jackson, and honestly, it got us a little FEVERED. We’re priestesses of Ares now, for sure. Swerve and Hangman had their 3rd match this week, and well. We sure said what we saw. Those men….communicated. With their Bodies. We discuss some of the Heel/Face dynamic stuff going on with them, and what things we’re struggling to make sense of. Then it’s over to the other sexiest feud of the week, Deonna and Toni! The ex-friends met in the ring, and Toni took a big old SNIFF of her rival. The woman is out of her MIND, and we’re obsessed. Then, Sting and Darby fought Ricky and Big Bill and took the belts as expected. But Sting and his large adult sons did not get to celebrate for long, because the Evil EVPs came out—god we love them. WE LOVE YOU MATTHEW AND NICHOLAS. Finally, we’re still on Best Friends watch—either everything means nothing or this time, something means everything. We’re still debating! Join us!
(00:00) Chitchat time
(07:31) WWE Lawsuit discussions
(15:35) Mark Briscoe/FTR/DG
(23:59) Percy Jackson
(26:47) Swerve and Hangman
(45:17) Deonna and Toni
(59:49) Tag Team
(1:18:01) Best Friends
We found a lot to talk about this week! FTR & Daniel Garcia had a cagematch with House of Black that was the most nonsensical thing we've ever seen; Deonna Purrazzo gave us more details on her and Toni Storm's matching tattoos PLUS a package of youthful photos of them; and the Young Bucks let us wonder: are they lying about having had a goth phase? (Yes). Plus: we say some things about Hangman's mustache that we have a hard time recovering from!
00:00 Chitchat Time
04:01 Rankings
11:53 Blackpool Combat Club
19:54 FTR & Danny Garcia vs. HoB Cagematch
34:27 Deonna Purrazzo and Toni Storm
43:31 Swerve and Hangman
56:26 Tag Team Division
1:10:29 Best Friends
There's a new member of Anne's family, and we're so excited for her! After we hear the whole story and offer her warm congratulations, we turn our attention to the wrestling. Allie finds out that the Cope Open (or the Copleopen as Schiavone calls it) is an open challenge, not the opening of the show, which makes a lot more sense. In the title scene, Joe is still doing fabulous work, and we all swoon over Swerve's lavender eye shadow, and marvel at the lusciousness of Hangman's mustache. Then we take a little step back in time, and watch Sting and Darby's first meeting in the ring, and it was every bit as magical as we remembered. And morale is up everywhere, now that the Young Bucks are patrolling the hallways, keeping everyone in line. They've chosen to do this important work dressed as 90s teen comedy extras, and we bless and adore them for it. Plus--is the Women's division good now? The fuzzy ducks on our ankles say MAYBE SO!
(00:00) Anne’s Batperience
(10:10) Copleopen
(18:24) Joe, Hangman, and Swerve
(36:19) Sting and Darby
(48:00) Bucks n Belts
(57:02) Optimism in the Women’s Division
(01:09:43) BCC Hates Eddie
(01:16:06) OC and Best Friends
Anne's back and so are SO many of our favorite boys, who we talk about in perhaps too much detail: the Young Bucks, Jungle Boy Jack Perry (sort of), and of course our beloved Chuck Taylor! But don't worry, we also spend plenty of time talking about how Samoa Joe has finally stopped phoning it in, Swerve and Hangman's shared obsession with each other, and our new daughter Deonna Purrazzo. Join us!
00:00 Chitchat Time
05:15 Young Bucks and the Tag Division
15:36 Wardlow Digression
17:53 Back to the Tag Division
24:13 Jungle Boy Shows Up in NJPW
27:19 Deonna Purrazzo and the Women’s Division
36:21 World Title Scene; Samoa Joe, Swerve, Hangman
57:04 Trios Titles
58:46 The Return of Chuck Taylor!!!!!!
1:11:42 The Copen, Dustin Rhodes, Willow’s merch
Beautiful Anne is traveling this week and leaves Allie and Lea alone with no babysitter. Many will say, “Bad idea!” The girls discuss the biggest news of the week: BUCKS BACK. MOMMY’S LITTLE BUCKS ARE BACK!!! We also talk through Samoa Joe’s championship committee, what’s going on with Claudio, the mustachio moment, and much more!
(00:00) Chitchat Time
(03:40) Darby, Sting, and the Young Bucks Return
(20:55) Return to Daily’s Place
(25:45) Claudio, Hangman, Swerve and Joe
(44:02) Adam Cole and the trio’s division
(49:30) The Women’s Division
(53:07) Miscellaneous Gripe Sesh
Tunnel Talk is so excited to be joining the Social Suplex Network! And as our introduction to our new home, this week we return to our roots. That's right, the Continental Classic has wrapped up so we're not focused on "sports presentation" anymore, and we're back to men doing "what they needed to do" and "making beautiful music together." Beautiful music... with their bodies. We get into the World's End PPV, Continental Classic outcomes, Mox and Eddie, Swerve and Hangman, and Darby and Takeshita! Plus Christian Cage really overdelivering when it comes to comedy, and the debut of some new women. 2024 is really going to be our year, you guys.
00:00 Now on the Social Suplex Network!
05:04 World’s End overview
09:42 MJF and the Devil storylines
21:59 Continental Classic and Eddie vs. Mox
30:23 Miro and Andrade
32:54 8 Man CC All Star PPV match
37:45 Swerve Strickland
49:20 Tag division
52:28 Christian Cage
1:00:58 Darby vs. Takeshita
1:10:05 Mariah May and Deonna Purrazzo
You know what your girls love? That's right, it's MATH! It's CONTINENTAL CLASSIC SPORTS MATH!! You'll be shocked and amazed to hear us get halfway through the episode before using the word erotic once because we're so obsessed with the "path" to various scenarios. But we do talk Jericho's sweet announcement of Kenny's diverticulitis, if Claudio's the only man not letting the Conny take him on an emotional journey, MJF's character problems and how we are gently tugging him off stage with a giant hook, and we end with a classic game: casting wrestlers as characters in a Muppet Christmas Carol. God bless us, every one!
We know you must be wondering how your favorite girls felt about Swerve and Mox doing a little kissy, and the answer is: we lost our complete shit. On top of that, Bryan Danielson spit on Daniel Garcia, and Eddie finally won a match? The Continental Classic RULES! Elsewhere, we revel in Hangman opening and closing the show, Kenny and Jericho are on island time, and Willow and Mercedes do the sexiest violence to each other. It's so fun to be pandered to!
It was a GOOD WEEK in wrestling! Christian and Adam Copeland gave us everything we've ever wanted in old man yaoi; Hangman and Swerve are forever connected through what they did to each other's bodies; and these sports girls? LOVE the Continental Classic. All this and more this week on Tunnel Talk!
It's a bonus episiode of Tunnel Talk with special guest Rich Latta of One Nation Radio. The girls talk to Rich about his history with wrestling, the question of sports vs entertainment, what "WWE shit" really means, and what the HELL is going on with the Elite. Then we make Rich play our classic dating game, and we're still recovering from the stories Rich spun us. Join us!
Rich Latta is @RichLatta32
One Nation Radio is on the Social Suplex Network
Check out his music and other stuff on his youtube channel
Initially dubious of the Continental Classic, the recent glut of twitter promos from our contestants have gotten your girls veeeery interested. We take stock of the tournament so far, and where we hope it's going to go. Then it's old man yaoi time--Christian Cage tells Adam Copeland everything he's ever wanted to hear but NOT for the right reasons! We are INVIGORATED. Then it's a trip to Boyzone where we welcome beloved Dante Martin back into our hearts. Be CAREFUL with him. He's fragile! Plus, we check in with MJF and his devil friends and discuss an important theory--is Julia Hart the only member of House of Black doing House of Black stuff right? Join us!
The girls tried their hardest this week to be thankful but unfortunately did have to join the IWC in being annoyed at a lot of Full Gear, a turn of events which brought them no pleasure. We get into specifically what's not working for us around the MJF storylines, the deflation we're feeling around the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, and disappointments around the women's belt changes. But we also had a blast with Christian Cage, got horned UP for the bloody gorey blood drinking gore of Swerve and Hangman's stapletown match of the night (do NOT project squeamishness onto us, squeamish men of the IWC!!!!), and enjoyed a little kissy-kissy romance storyline. All this and more on our post-Full Gear Thanksgiving weekend pod!
It's Full Gear, baby!!! Due to the dictates of our schedules versus Tony's, we're recording this before the pay-per-view airs, but releasing it after! Join us as we run down the match card making all the foolish predictions and jokes you've grown to love! How exactly will the Elite fracture? Will Swerve and Hangman explode when they finally get their hands on each other? Is Kris really in danger of losing the belt? Who is the Devil? These are all questions we attempt to answer to an audience that almost certainly already knows. What could be more fun?
Okay, now your girls are annoyed. Last week, the whole internet was up in arms about the direction of Dynamite while we looked around in polite bemusement. This week, everyone seems to have calmed down, while we're really sharpening our pitchforks. We get deep into our issues with The Elite's tragedy, MJF and Max Caster's romcom, Daniel Garcia's bildungsroman, and the horror that could be Samoa Joe's reign. Join us!
It was a very divisive episode of Dynamite in the IWC this week, which came as quite a surprise to the ladies of Tunnel Talk, who had an inoffensive, moderately good time watching it. Anne was our reporter on the ground and was there in person with her dad, who came as an anthropologist and left impressed by the feats of strength and soap operas for men. This podcast we get into the important topics of the week, such as: what big boys are good at selling for small boys? Is it really "obvious" that Chuck Taylor was injured? Plus the women actually have a storyline going and we discuss how maybe we should just start emailing Dave Meltzer our feelings. All this and more!
It’s spooky season here at Tunnel Talk and the girls take on the events of the week with an eye towards their favorite horror movies! Is MJF starring in his own version of Ready or Not as he dodges the killers dogging every step? Is Hangman playing Sarah from Labyrinth to Swerve’s Jareth the Goblin King? Exactly how soon after the movie starts is Matt Jackson going down? We cover all this and more on this week’s episode!
Allie's back! And how did wrestling reward her for coming indoors? By withholding Hangman and the Bucks from her and from all of us. But our mental health remained strong and we had a blast being reunited to really bluesky how Tony Khan could prevent possible shoot heat scenarios from festering backstage. Ricky and Cope, we're looking at you (maybe). We get into the whole week in AEW, from Sting's impending retirement to MJF and the Case of the Too Many Feuds, from Best Friends eating on screen to why the ex-Jericho Appreciation Society still hangs out with Jake Hager (it's called LOYALTY!!!!!!). And a bunch more stuff too, you're just going to have to listen to find out what!
The British Invasion continues with the fabulous Trish Speirs of the Trish and Sarah Wrestling Podcast joining Anne and Lea! The stars aligned to give us a Hangman and Jay White match to thirst over, and the girls had a blast dissecting the lore, theorizing about the implications, and of course, admiring the bodies. Also in fantastic news, FTR finally lost their belts, Orange Cassidy and Shida regained theirs, and Edge gets the upper hand in his and Christian's acrimonious divorce! Join us!
Allie's still off experiencing #vanlife, so Lea and Anne are joined by Sarah (@awfullywaffly) of the Waffly Bollox podcast! You would not believe how much happens when you take two weeks off podcasting and then there's a PPV. We take a little time to celebrate the things we did not have to have takes on while we were out, and then get into the many, many wrestling events of the week, including rating new man Edge! No — Adam. Adam something. Don't worry about it. Anyway, we hit the important stuff — Hangman's bad gear, Mark Davis's butt, who's punched Sammy, how Julia Hart is doing House of Black better than any of the men, and so much more!
The girls live up to the description "Horny English Majors" this week as they challenge themselves to sort all their favorite AEW feuds into romance tropes! Is Roddy Strong a Sarah Dessen romance hero? Is Adam Cole addicted to drama? Are Eddie and Claudio reenacting our favorite Georgette Heyer? Are Kenny and Ibushi operating their romance on an eternal timeline that's hard to even comprehend? All that and some honestly pretty disturbing appreciation of the Jericho/Sammy promo discussed this week on Tunnel Talk!
There was a LOT to talk about this week — CM Punk? Fully fired! Collision? Suddenly fun! Pay-per-view? Our second in two weeks! We go through all the greatest hits of this week in wrestling: OC and Mox! Toni Storm's new gimmick! Darby forgiving AR Fox! Hangman and Swerve's sexy new feud! Meat! And frankly so much more. Our sons grew suicidally beautiful and galloped terribly against each other's bodies and we could not have enjoyed it more.
After a happiness check-in from producer Marjorie, it’s All In week! First up, the CM Punk & JB of it all, which of course we love (but there’s an addendum that we do love ;))… And then, in the Mommy’s Little Elite section, we discuss whether the match order changed, what’s up with the Bucks and FTR, and a very important sign at the show. Next it’s time for unmitigated joy: Best Friends defeat BCC in a Stadium Stampede match in front of eighty thousand people, because we manifested this. You’re welcome! A moment for OC’s in-ring promo, and he and Mox will fight at All Out. Adam Cole and MJF won the ROH tag team belt in the pre-show, and in the main event: Roderick Strong begs Adam Cole to hit MJF, but he can’t. We discuss: masculinity, vulnerability, fighting with yourself, what made this match so well-executed, what it all means for MJF, and why wrestling men are wrong about this storyline. Plus we check in with the women’s division!
It's the last of our Girls on Vacation series, and friends of the pod Anna and Josh join us as we try to make sense of all of the card changes, explain some of the chaos going down, and Anna debuts her newly invented rating system which we WILL be using going forward. Plus, we break down the hilariousness of the Young Bucks/FTR promo, and make our predictions about where the non-brotherly lovers MJF and Adam Cole will take us. Join us!
Lea flitted off on vacation this week, so friend of the pod Jeff joined us and started us off with what's making him happy lately. And we're ALL pretty happy this week, because BEST FRIENDS HAVE A MATCH AT WEMBLEY!!!! So actually the build for All In has been exemplary, absolutely no notes. It was an overstuffed Dynamite this week, but one for the girlies — we got Eddie, we got a Stadium Stampede, we got MJF and Adam Cole on a date to Outback Steakhouse, we got Sting being the Joker, we got Kenny sitting down with JR to discuss his traumatic childhood, we got Golden Cowboy Lovers, we got Don Callis and Chris Jericho being absolute comedy kings. This week we did also endure a lot of nonsense and drama from the Collision side of the roster, but even they can't keep us down. It's still summer happiness season and we're determined to enjoy ourselves!
It's the second installment of our scheme to wheedle 5 star reviews from you guys! Listeners Jess Kelley, @ChiMothBoy and @AwfullyWaffly told the world we're the prettiest princess in the land, and instructed us to watch 3 different matches, and honestly we had a fricken ball.
First up was the team of Naito and Takahashi vs the Golden Lovers, and we fell in LOVE with the cat man. We did mess up the NAME of the cat man, but we got there in the end. Also? Golden Lovers good at wrestling. You heard it here first!
Up next was Eddie Kingston vs Mike Quackenbush in a CHIKARA match from 2011, and we spent the whole time lusting over Eddie, and peeping at all our favs around the ring. Ten stars, loved the experience.
Lastly, we had our minds blown apart by a British indie match of Pac vs Cara Noir. The aesthetics! The camera work! The dramatiques! We were ENRAPTURED, and then CRUELLY were sent to hell by the knowledge that Riptide Wrestling no longer exists, and the new love of our life Cara Noir is injured. Donate to his GoFundMe here, because we MUST have this man back on our screens!
After a happiness check-in from Allie, we discuss: the Bucks won a Best Brothers Ever match vs the Hardys, and Nick got on a live mic and said… well, not much. Plus we discuss Kenny and Hangman at All In, and we return to trying to figure out what exactly other people see in FTR. Next, we get some solid family therapy in from the Jericho Appreciation Society. MJF and Adam Cole went to a trampoline park — but we have lots of other good ideas for pre-tapes too. Plus: the world of women; Best Friends fought a parking lot brawl that melted our brains in the good way (but we’re concerned about what we’ll see of them at All In); and Lea has quite a bit to say about AR Fox, Darby, and Swerve!
Hey, it’s a HUGE day for us and we’re bursting with delight to talk about the BIGGEST news around! That’s right, the tunnels came back! Oh, and also the Elite re-signed. That was kind of cool too. Friend of the Pod Sarah is here to help break down what the new contracts mean for All In, All Out, and AEW’s future in general. Plus--Greg WON? Dustin had a MIC? Best Friends have an ANGLE? Can three girls hurt themselves by being too happy? Join us and find out!
It's a heat wave baby, and things on AEW are getting STEAMY. New Lovers Adam Cole and MJF seal their bond with sweet, earnest promises, but Roddy Strong furiously interrupts the wedding in his big Speak Now moment. Unfortunately for him, his heart is broken once again when Adam Cole advises him to find his chill. Elsewhere, FTR also disapproves of the new couple's sublime happiness, but for way less fun reasons. Ugh. Then we get into Darby vs his ex boyfriends and Mox vs his child's other parents, and how those two feuds somehow pretzeled into each other. In true Tunnel Talk fashion, we don't really explain it that well, but we had the time of our lives. C'mon in, the water's cold!
Anne shared what was making her happy this week, which was playing on easy mode because wrestling made us happy AGAIN. Who knew! Lea brings hard-hitting boots-on-the-ground journalism to the Blood N Guts experience, which was intense one, with nails, broken glass, thumbtacks, Matt Jackson on top of the cage—! We were on the edge of our seats, despite the homophobic camera work. In the end, the Elite and the power of friendship triumphed over the BCC and the power of violence, and that's what we like to see! We also talked about date night at AEW, with both MJF and Adam Cole and Don Callis and Chris Jericho having VERY successful dates that delighted us to no end. Dance-offs and shenanigans and pathetic Roddy Strong? Yes, please! And now we're all off to get drunk at the Kowloon...
Allie shares what’s making her happy this week, and then it’s on to wrestling, which actually has made us happy as well! First up, MJF and Adam Cole continue to grow their friendship and we discuss the love triangle with Roderick Strong. They’ll face Sammy and Daniel Garcia in the finals of the Blind Tag Team Eliminator Tournament, and we examine possible outcomes. Next up, Swerve Strickland defeated new man Nick Wayne and we get into the narratives (and how hot Swerve is). Jericho and Don Callis plus curl talk! And last but not least, in the world of BCC vs the Elite, both groups announce their fifth men for Blood & Guts—love wins!
After starting the episode with what's making Lea happy (feminism and cheese powder), we launch right into the week in wrestling. The girls break down the latest installment of the Elite vs the BCC, Mox and Eddie's non-kayfabe romantic trip to Japan, and Kenny's adorable promo hinting at an Ibushi appearance at Blood and Guts. Then it was off to the Adult Lovers part of the podcast, and some frankly alarmingly thirsty things were said about Don Callis and Chris Jericho. Look--it's not our fault. When Big J looks good, we're GONNA say it. Finally, after giving TK a lot of crap about not-really-random teams in the Blind Tag Team Eliminator, we play a little game and discover how difficult it really is to have a truly random pair-up!
We start with our Summer Happiness recommendation, but we didn't even need it this week because wrestling itself made us so happy! We had the return of Eddie and Moxley and their marital problems, plus the addition of Renee to the mix; Hangman wanting to be a good friend but being a bad one to the Dark Order; Roderick Strong apparently dealing with how he recently confessed his love to Adam Cole who let him down gently; and after being too intense about how Hook was his best friend, Jungle Boy finally losing it and going heel. Also featuring: how good Kenny Omega/Will Ospreay was, Bryan Danielson's broken arm, and how funny Final Countdown is as an entrance song. It's a PPV week so it's a long one, buckle up!
After Allie shares something that’s making her happy and we dive deep into TV shows of the 2000s, it’s time to talk wrestling: Daniel Garcia & Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Orange Cassidy & Shibata and we discuss what might happen with the belt. Next up, The Elite set up their Forbidden Door matches and Eddie and Mox have more chemistry than anyone in the game. Unfortunately on our TVs: CM Punk. Then, Sting and Jericho: surprisingly also SO much chemistry. And we end the week with a new game!
We're Back and We Hate It Here. The girls re-adjust to the dry world after returning from their vacation, and boy is it a rough adjustment. We get into it about whether Adam Cole is a pajama boy, whether Hangman is a babygirl, whether Bryan Danielson ever comes in from the woods, and whether Taz was consulted at ALL when Jungle Boy decided to start romancing his son. It's another week on Serious Wrestling Podcast Tunnel Talk!
It's our post PPV episode, and we discuss the sandwich that was Double or Nothing: great bread, not so good filling. Our faves all really came through with great matches to start and end things, and our least faves were broadly panned in the middle, so no one can say your girls don't know how to pick 'em! We discuss all the wrestling action of the week, plus important topics like: Anne's love affair with a PPV cheesecake; the Mountain Goats's wrestling album; rehashing of an argument over a shirt color; and Matt Jackson - foot fetishist? Join us for another chaotic week!
It’s a jam-packed Pre-PV week here on Tunnel Talk! On the pod this week, your hosts start by discussing Collision, and general vibes heading into the PPV, and then run through the whole Double or Nothing card as far as we know it. First up: The Pillars and our thoughts vs the negative reviews the storyline is getting from wrestling men. Then Jamie Hayter vs Toni Storm, and Ethan Page and The Gunns vs The Hardy Party. The Elite and Blackpool Combat Club will face off in an Anarchy in the Arena match, and we cover Hangman’s suggestive promo and fears about Kenny leaving. Next, unfortunately: FTR. Then, also unfortunately: Wardlow fighting Christian Cage. Then the Blackjack Battle Royale and our thoughts on OC and the belt. Plus much more!
We were absolutely battered by this week, both in terms of wrestling and by the difficulties of being human women. Don't worry though, we didn't let it stop us from recording a podcast, even though many, perhaps, would hope we would have. Beautiful Hunky Hangman accepted Kenny's Broom of Marriage, and the Elite are once again Complete. We are? Happy. Not much else made us too happy, but we work our way through the Collision news, gossip from the dirtsheets, and our feelings about the ROH shoot interview that turned up on Reddit this week. Thank God we have each other and all of you, because some weeks, you really just wanna pilot a dirigible into the ground!
First up, Kenny and Mox had a cagematch this week, which, as promised, ended up giving Kenny a broken body and a broken heart. We then return to a classic topic, the relative sizes and shapes of men, to discuss Claudio and Fenix's Double Jeopardy match, and how sick it is when tag wrestlers go for singles belts (we're looking at you, Kyle Fletcher). Does no one in this industry understand love and commitment??? Lea denies ever having said that OC shouldn't have his international belt, and the Best Friends chose the world's dumbest rule for their Open House match. But hey, at least they're out of the indignity of a Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal feud, and who IS now subject to that indignity? FTR. Hell yeah, suck it. And finally, we discuss the last episode of All Access and how successful the show was in whatever it was trying to do. It's another week in Tunnel Talk, baby!
First up, Orange Cassidy, Adam Cole, and the Chris Jericho non-appreciation society fought the Jericho Appreciation Society in another loss for coherence in wrestling storytelling (but the non-appreciation society won). Next, ironically: Will Washington’s new role tracking continuity at AEW! Then we check in on the Pillars and look ahead to the fourway at Double or Nothing. In the world of Blackpool Combat Club and the Elite, we get into the BCC promo from last week and Mox and Kenny’s upcoming cage match. Plus: Women, Trios, and we play a very special new game!
It's the last episode of Sleepy April and as usual, we're giggling our way on through! On Dynamite this week, the Pillars were back and this time, they were back to making sense! But you know who bravely chose not to make any sense? Our new favorite tag team, Orange Adam Cole. The girls break that down and more as we investigate the epic love story that's this week in wrestling!
We were low energy girls this week, but heroically pulled it together to talk about the week in Tony Khan's wrestling circus. The Pillars had their most scattered segment yet, and we spent some time getting into what they could've done structurally to improve it. MJF's plan to get Sammy to throw a match didn't make a lot of sense as explained, but don't worry, Sammy's going to break that glass ceiling and that'll make things a lot better for all of us! In other exciting Dynamite news, Shawn Spears is back, Wardlow won the TNT belt, FTR is leading the tag team division, everyone's probably prepping for a Saturday roster split... okay, so it wasn't the most exciting episode of Dynamite ever, but at least we got to see Matt Jackson risk his beautiful body by throwing people around despite his arm injury. To which we say: Matt! We discuss all this and more, this week on Tunnel Talk!
Hey guys, mommy's home from vacation and she brought everyone souvenirs! Also one giant dead rat, but that's fine! No problems here! The girls have a cathartic vent session about the rumored return of Grima Wormtongue before moving onto the events of the week. We get into it about Brandon and Nak standing up to bullies (derogatory) in defense of their bullies (complimentary). We also deep discuss the developments in the Pillars storyline, and the most important question that has ever been asked: Max, are you happy? Plus is Orange Cassidy good at wrestling? We say...yeah :)
This week on Tunnel Talk: we discuss the surprise debut of Jay White of NJPW, who appeared in a match with Juice Robinson to beat down Ricky Starks. Next, Tony Khan’s latest anticlimactic Big Announcement: AEW will get their UK debut with All In at Wembley Stadium. On Rampage, Malakai Black and Brody King fought Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta, leading to OC and Best Friends’ match vs House of Black on Dynamite for the trios title. So we get to talk about Chuck Taylor three weeks in a row, mostly legitimately! Then: we get to celebrate MJF Day on Long Island, and check in on the Four Pillars. But after that, Unfortunately We Have To Talk About Sammy. Then it’s this week’s All Access episode, which unfortunately was also Sammy heavy. Plus much more!
Allie's out of town, so Lea and Anne are walking themselves with the help of special guest Sarah this week, and we had a lot to talk about with the premiere of AEW All Access! We talk reality show tropes, wrestling kayfabe vs. reality kayfabe, and what kind of cocaine they put on the wrestling ropes that make injured wrestlers so desperate to go back. We also get into Danny Garcia's adventures with streamers, Lea puts on her Victorian mourning garb for Matt Jackson's injured bicep, and we discuss the villainous unpredictability of Don Callis. Best Friends actually did some stuff this week, so we got to discuss Chuck Taylor two weeks in a row, which was very exciting. Plus we give Taya Valkyrie a New Woman Rating and talk the comedy genius of the Firm!
Happy two years of Tunnel Talk! The girls get blastered on Orange Cassidy cocktails and reflect back on how far we've come--Remember Mister Italy? And hilarious jokes about loving Chris Jericho? We manage to do a little bit of wrestling talk and discuss why Don Callis is keeping Kenny and Hangman apart, the unreal things Vikingo was up to, and how Stokely Hathaway's Big Match sent us into hysterics. Plus we finally throw the schedule to the wind and unrepentantly have a Chuck Taylor segment, where we get into it about his hair, his teeth, and his behaviors. Love you, our beautiful boy! Then it was onto the games! Listeners threw us some wrestlers, and we sent 'em out on dates, some of them more successful than others! We're pretty trashed by the end, but we had so much fun and we hope you do too. Happy two years, babies! Let's do it for many more!
Wrestling was good this week! It was a huge week and your hosts are here to break it down for you, as AEW finally kicked off a new season’s worth of storylines. First up: BCC fought Hangman, Evil Uno, and special Canadian guest Stu Grayson in a six-man tag, and we get into BCC’s heel turn. In the main event, we had the Elite vs JAS vs House of Black. And then, thrillingly, at the end of the show, the BCC/Hangman/Dark Order fight spills out onto the stage, Mox, Claudio, and Yuta menace Hangman, the Elite show up to back Hangman, Hangman turns to them, and then: Fade To Black. So that’s going to kind of take up most of the show this week! But we do have time for MJF and his Re-Bar Mitzvah, and the three ghosts who visited it. Plus! On the women’s side, we explore the Outcasts, and get into the dynamics of heels as a whole.
Hey, it's a bonus pod! Have you ever wanted to listen to audio of three people watching a video you're not watching? How about listening to people react to gifs you're not looking at? If so, you're in luck, because we're FINALLY making good on our promise to watching things our 5-star reviewers requested! First up requested by Listener Nicole is the main event from Black Label Pro's "Ground Control to Filthy Tom" where we became women watching Daniel Garcia wrestle Tom Lawlor. After that, Listener Emi requested we queue up Hangman Adam Page playing video games with Evil Uno and everyone takes a bold position on caffeine. Finally, Listener CasuallyPretentious asked us to review a tweet thread where someone explained Naito and Hiromu, and we were intrigued enough to want to know more!
Is this good content? You tell us!
THE THINGS WE WATCHED:
From Nicole: Ground Control To Filthy Tom Lawlor on IWTV
From Emi: AEW Games stream with Hangman
From CasuallyPretentious: Why I Love The Hiromu/Naito Relationship
Happy PPV week to everyone out there! It's an extra long pod as we get into all the action on Revolution and the Revolution fallout, starting with the new buy-in format and ending with a little QT and Hobbs callback, as a treat. We talk fashion, from Ricky's pearls to Christian Cage's sleeveless turtleneck! We talk corporate synergy, with the International All-Atlantic Traveling Belt for Boys joining forces with TK to promote Shazam! Fury of the Gods! We honor the Mommy's Little Hams among us! We vow to stop reading unpleasant opinions on the internet! We talk about grieving your real dead father by putting a father figure in a coffin on live television! There were high highs this week (Hangman and Mox absolutely destroying each other for our entertainment) and low lows (FTR came back) and we're here to talk about every last detail.
Your girls committed a mutiny this week! We sped through the pay-per-view matches at a breakneck speed, covering such topics as Why The Elite Are Being Silenced, What's The Hell Is Going On With The Four Match, Where Does Eddie Think He's Going, and How Is Hangman/Mox The Only Reason We're Buying The PPV?
It doesn't matter—none of it matters. Who cares! What's really important is that Producer Marjorie gave us nine random names, and out of them, we fashioned a Fellowship of The Ring. Is Dave Meltzer going to give you an intellectual debate over whether Shida makes a good Gimli? We don't think so!
We start off by talking about the week’s big announcements: the new reality show, AEW: All Access, premiering in March, and Adam Cole’s scheduled return on the same night. Next up is Mox and Evil Uno’s big main event match on Dynamite, and Hangman and the Bucks. Wheeler Yuta and Orange Cassidy had a confrontation and a match, and we’ll get into the family dynamics at play plus wrestling men’s reactions to OC in general. Also, Best Friends competed in the big Tag Battle Royale and actually stayed until the end. Then, the Acclaimed fought Big Bill and Lee Moriarty on Dynamite. Next up, MJF tells Bryan Danielson that he should be home with his family instead of getting brain damage on TV, and Bryan Danielson took issue with this. All these men: living life out loud! Then: Ricky Starks tricks Chris Jericho into agreeing to fight him on the PPV, plus much more!
It was a weird week in wrestling that we mostly felt lackluster about, but we cover the important topics of the day: Hangman eating Moxley's ass, whether Mox was wearing a woman's shirt (complimentary), Kenny Omega's shorts, Wardlow's dead dad hair, and whether Hook is going to start doing a Hamlet-esque play-within-a-play about the Elite suspensions. We also cover the build to Revolution, the good the bad and the ugly of the women's storylines, and debut the new name of the Gunn Fan Club, of which we are the pre-eminent members. Enjoy us!
What a week in February this February week was! We start out with honoring our surprise new Tag Team Champions, Billy Gunn's Silly Sons! It's a move many in the community "hated" but your girls respect a little silliness. Then it's onto a discussion of the Elite's two matches, both of which we thought were an absolute blast. We check in with the new developments in the Outsiders vs Homegrowns feud, and whether we think LOSERS is an effective heel insult. Plus Allie finds out why she watched the Garcia-Guevarra Gauntlet, and we all react to Bryan Danielson's trapped rat face when MJF had him locked in. Happy A Week In February, y'all!
The Elite are finally back on our TVs with an actual promo, so we’re here to lovingly dissect it in the manner you’ve come to expect from us. Hangman defeated Wheeler Yuta on Rampage last week, and then possibly the most sexual match we’ve ever seen: Hangman and Mox, doing things men should but don’t always do on our TVs. Next, we have a series of questions about the MJF/Bryan Danielson side of AEW. Also: Jamie Hayter and Emi Sakura fought in a banger of a match. Jade fought Red Velvet and won, meaning she’s now 50 and 0—guess whether or not we care about this. Darby lost his belt to Samoa Joe in a decision that we also question, vehemently. Plus much more!
We’re back from our week off and ready to get into it with Anne freshly back from attending AEW’s show in Lexington, KY. She reports on how Best Friends’ bodies were looking, and we find out who knew there was a heel corner of the ring and who didn’t: the answer may surprise you! Other topics of debate were the Gunn Club’s comparative dirtbag hotness, whether FTR “did a great job” at “taking it from the Acclaimed”, what Bryan Danielson’s deal is right now and what kind of stories he tells (or doesn’t), as well as Hangman and Mox doing classic man behavior of triangulating their feelings through a woman. We also deep discuss the women’s storylines, talk about how incredibly futile it is to try to turn Eddie Kingston heel, and brainstorm how to make JungleHook’s romcom emotionally resonant. All this and more!
Game 7 of the Best of 7 series was on Wednesday, and the girls aren't crying because it's over, they're smiling because it happened. We reflect on the success of the series as a whole, discuss the Elite's ineptness at ladder climbing, speculate about how a younger brother swap would go, and whether Kenny has become a disgruntled cat who vengefully pees in corners. Normal stuff! Plus we LUST over the Hangman/Mox match which was everything we dreamed it could be and more. You may not like to hear it, but both of those men are in prime female demographic attracting form. On the less sexy end of the spectrum, we discuss the MJF promo and how actually, racism isn't fun to hear! Always brave takes on this podcast. Plus, we simply don't care about the Mercedes drama, Danielson has a diapered baby body (complimentary) and everyone's lighting a candle for a Chuck vs OC match in Kentucky!
This week on Tunnel Talk, we’re in a post-tunnel world but that won’t slow us down. As a special new year’s treat for us, we have a Best Friends storyline to discuss, but as always it could disappear at any moment! OC was eliminated from the trios contest by Kip, and Trent eliminated Kip so he wanted a title shot — leading to a heated OC vs Trent match that OC won, but we may not have heard the last of this. Or maybe we have! Next up: Bryan Danielson, MJF, human suitors, and an hour-long Iron Man match? From the week we missed: the Elite defeated Death Triangle in a “Falls Count Anywhere” match, plus Kenny talk! Hangman is dying to fight Mox but has to get medically cleared first, and that’s about to finally happen next week. Plus much more!
It's a Very Special Holiday Episode of Tunnel Talk, which means — that's right — we play that classic game, "Which Wrestler is Scrooge and Which Are the Ghosts." Heels, it's your time for supernaturally-induced repentance! But don't worry, we found time for plenty of regular wrestling talk too, and get into whether Renee should be more biased, if wrestling promos could be written by ChatGPT, the specific kind of shop-local hippie that Bryan Danielson is (misunderstood by his fellow wrestlers, presumably all libertarians). Plus we discuss in depth what is going on with Kenny Omega's hair and if it's because he's spending too much time thinking about his ex and not enough time showering. Happy New Year, and we'll see you in 2023!
Beautiful Anne is a-traveling this week, so friend of the pod Sarah joins us again to help us review the week in wrestling. She brings her wild breadth of knowledge to the table and we force her to use it to discuss things like "is it sexual for MJF not to understand his changing body?" We have our fun! The girls get into it about whether the Elite would be good parents to Takeshita (no), our passion for Chris Jericho (as a wrestler only), Daniel Garcia's new accountabilabuddy (humiliating), and much much more!
This week on Tunnel Talk: Darby Allin (and his sheer pantyhose); leg lamps; more outfit talk on the subject of Orange Cassidy’s lumberjack match against QT Marshall; the Dynamite Diamond Ring Battle Royale featuring every man on Earth but ending with a win for Ricky Starks, who can now challenge for the ring (and we spin a little yarn about how that could, but won’t, go). And then MJF and Ricky Starks duel verbally, and will fight at Winter Is Coming. We talk about Blackpool Combat Club and get into narrative in wrestling more generally. Plus: what Saraya’s up to (rejecting kayfabe), and much more!
We're back! Did you miss us? We missed you! We had a LOT to discuss--last week Regal gave a promo and said nothing, then this week MJF gave a promo and also said nothing. Strong work! Mox is done with both of them and moved on to issuing open challenges to any and all who might be listening. Cue our favorite cowboy showing up to do more kissing pose! Plus: it's Game 2&3 of Elite vs Death Triangle, and your girls are LOVING LIFE. We get into it about how they dealt with the Chicago crowd, the expectations of any given Elite match, and whether most of the IWC should have posting privileges (we would say no.) Plus Ricky Starks gets his title shot, Claudio should join the BCC, OC never put on Hager's hat, Evil Uno is Bald, and much much more!
Joy has finally returned to Mudville, because the Elite are BACK, baby! Not only did we see their bodies — which thankfully were as juicy as we could've hoped — but we also had a great time during the rest of the PPV and feel very optimistic about where things are headed! The Acclaimed premiered a delightful new music video; Swerve and Keith Lee did some great longterm storytelling; Jamie Hayter got the belt over her sadgirl ex-roommate Toni Storm, and if you didn't know what being a roommate meant, commentary was happy to fill you in. Jungle Boy jumped off a steel cage; Eddie Kingston got his dream match and cried; William Regal threw his old sons into the trash as he went to join his new son, MJF; Orange Cassidy is going to wrestle Overinflated Orange Cassidy for the belt AND we got to see the greatest hat of all time. So yeah, what do we have to complain about? Happy Thanksgiving and God bless us, every one!
This week, we start with our standard check-in on the status or non-status of the Elite and do a thought experiment about how their bodies might look after having been out of our vision for so long! We preview what we know is coming up at Full Gear, and Lea was at the live show this week so we have her on-the-ground reportage of all the excitement (and non-excitement). To start, the Acclaimed & FTR defeated Swerve In Our Glory & Gunn Club. Next up, we delve into the interconnected web of the women’s division, where Britt & Jamie fought Madison Rayne & Skye Blue on Rampage and won, and we discuss Britt and Saraya’s dueling promos. In the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament, Ethan Page beat Eddie Kingston. Also: Samoa Joe Was Right, Stuart Little and men + mice in general, Orange Cassidy vs Shibata: two cute boys, the swirling vortex of ROH, Mox vs Max, and much more!
Boom, boom, baby, AEW is BACK. Maybe. I mean, the Elite are still playing games with our hearts and there are still too many ROH men running around. But we're thrilled to speculate wildly about what Colt's return means for the soul of the company. Another thing thrilling us? Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter were pandemic ROOMMATES? And then Jamie ignored Toni when she saw her again? Baby, that's the plot of Grease! We're overheated at the very possibilities! In other sexy storytelling news, Brian Cage and Powerhouse Hobbs are back together, which is very cool and probably will come up in a very interesting and coherent promo. Not holding our breath. Plus, we discuss a better distribution of big boys, Wardlow's Gaston tenancies, and the death of the small faction. Plus, is Matt Hardy deleting the Elite? Say it ain't so!
The Elite are back, baby! Sort of. Kind of. Not quite, actually, and it's brought us to a place of frankly quite concerning energy. Are we happy they're coming back? Of course we are. Are we still struggling because we haven't yet seen their beautiful bodies? Absolutely. There's an extended metaphor where Private Party is cranberry juice, and we get in our dumbest fight yet, splitting hairs about whether it's that Nick Jackson can't or that he won't get big juicy naturals. We also somehow do manage to talk about MJF, the psychology of face turns, and some other actual wrestling, I guess. Plus for this spooky Halloween episode, we play a fun new game of Vampire, Werewolf, and Ghost!
We tricked Collective Crush of the Pod Trish Speirs (@trishspiers48) into joining us for an extra special bonus episode! It's a long one folks, but it's not our fault as we were spellbound by everything Trish had to say. We got into it about Hangman's title run and the ways in which he succeeded and the ways in which he never got a chance. We also ask Trish about the AEW originals who have been devalued, the popularity of Sammy Guevara, why Dax Harwood is always yelling, and generalize wildly about why men are so weird about the Elite. Punk and FTR fans, this one's not for you, but we could have danced all night!
First up this week at AEW, Mox & Claudio beat Butcher & Blade on Rampage. Then we cover the big news of the week: Hangman and Mox square off, but Hangman is injured during the match (he seems to be doing okay). Also: Danielson and Yuta do a sit-down interview with Renee. Ace Steel is officially let go. William Regal and MJF get some backstory, and we talk about MJF more generally. Jericho, Dalton Castle, and costume talk! And we got to see Best Friends fight!
This week, Mox and Hangman stepped into the Quantum Leap Accelerator to run back the world title fights the way they should have played out. Hangman gave an emotional promo that hit these girls where they live, not just because of the elite mention, but also because we're depressed, anxious and angry! We've always said it: Hangman is a relatable king. Elsewhere in AEW, OC won a belt! Hey guys, this time Lucy didn't take away the football! He really won it! But that wasn't the only bright spot in the week—we also deeply appreciate Mr. Ass and his whole striptease. Plus Private Party has officially been adopted as son status for one of your hosts, and the energy in this pod has never been steadier. Solid like a bag of water!
Day 34. Still no Elite. Every day the sun is setting earlier but Tony Khan just lets us sink further into the depths of despair. We discuss what they could possibly be investigating at this point, and what obstacles TK must have to be fist-fighting through to find out the results. We also talk through the shoot fight between Sammy and Andrade (tedious), Mox and Hangman's beautiful titty-to-titty promo (sublime), whether the Batman movies include Time Out toddler justice (no), how bad everyone apparently wants to punch Sammy Guevara (very), the ending of the anniversary show (terrible), William Regal's sexual passion for Excalibur (consensual only), what's going on with MJF (love?), and National Scissoring Day (the one tiny light in our darkness). Plus, the women's division had a great week, Lea thinks we have three eyes between us, and we talk about who Brian Cage should Freaky Friday with. No one can say we're not doing great!
It was a weird episode of Dynamite, but Lea was at the live show in Philadelphia so we have her on-the-ground reporting to help us break it down. This week, Sammy defeated Eddie in a match that we took quite personally. Then, Saraya gave her first AEW promo, and we have some feedback for all involved. Hangman defeated every other male wrestler in the company in a Battle Royale for a shot at the AEW World Championship, so we got to see him and Mox do a promo about it. Finally—something for us! Also: MJF and Yuta are feuding, pizza parties, and much more.
Day 20. Still No Elite. But we're doing fine, everyone says, and this episode definitely proves that. At least we have the Acclaimed, our light at the end of the tunnel. Or the middle of the tunnel. Or maybe a light that's leading us down a dead end side tunnel. Anyway, we're pretty happy Mox won the World Title, devastated that Orange Cassidy didn't win the Study Abroad title, and got to the bottom of what's happening in Paddington 2. Enjoy us!
It's been a weird week in AEW with almost no further news on fallout from The Scrum, and I think you'll find that we're handling it really, really well, emotionally. God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers and the Tunnel Talk crew are the bravest girls in the world as we somehow manage to discuss Sammy Guevara and what he could do to try to redeem himself with the crowd; whether Danielson's madly in love with Moxley but neither of them will ever talk about it; the beautiful specificity of an MJF promo and how some other people in this company could learn from it (looking at you, Will Hobbs and Ricky Starks); AEW reality show ideas; and finally, we thank God JR was not on commentary this week because frankly, we can't hear the word "jezebels" when we're in this state. Enjoy us!
Hey, it’s our All Out episode, and boy do we go all out in our coverage of the pay-per-view! The girls review it match by match—haha, just kidding. Can you even imagine? We talked about the scrum. Boy, did we discuss the scrum. Thank God Allie and Producer Marjorie are back because this was an episode that NEEDED a full team. We get into it about Punk’s muffin, The Superkicked Door, our Best Friends depressions, and our hero and savior, Chris Jericho. And as a chaser? Everyone really does love The Acclaimed! Okay sure, it’s a little excessive that this is a 90-minute episode, but hey, we’re trying to run a business here!
This week is another very special episode as Anne’s brother, Christopher, and his wife, Robin, join Anne and Lea on the pod to talk this week in AEW. We start off with the status of Punk vs Mox, including Punk signing a contract to fight Mox on this weekend’s PPV. In an upset this week, the Dark Order defeated House of Black, and it looks like Hangman will join the Dark Order to fight in the trios tournament vs Kenny and the Bucks, so our dreams of a Best Friends title are sadly dashed. We discuss how AEW handles woman vs how WWE does, plus lots of costume talk, and much more!
This week Allie missed a banger of a Dynamite episode by going to Australia, so Lea's legendary friend Sarah joined us instead to talk all things AEW! You wouldn't believe all the stuff that happened the week: Kenny came back to tag with the Young Bucks, Sonny Kiss came back to team with the... Trustbusters? CM Punk came out to call out... Hangman? Don't ever let anybody tell you that AEW can't surprise you. Join us as we discuss all this plus Bryan Danielson's aggressive play to recruit Daniel Garcia back to being a Wrestler instead of a Sports Entertainer, plus we bully Sarah into rating a new man more harshly than is her instinct. AND with Lea hosting, you get to find out what she thinks is important while you listen to her play-by-play the Young Bucks' emotional journey on BTE and not any of the matches. No facts, all feelings, baby!
Allie returns from seeing Quake on a Lake, and while the Kennaisance Has Still Not Yet Been Televised, we make the best of it anyway. We discuss some of the new people we’ve seen this week, intelligently discourse on the topic of Jamie Hayter, and then GET INTO IT about the trios tournament bracket. There’s a lot of ways this thing could go, and we’re not fantasy booking, we’re fantasy betting on every horse we can find!
This week on Dynamite, the Undisputed Elite return and Adam Cole betrays the Young Bucks, and who should come save them but Hangman. We get into what all this means for their relationship with Hangman and, potentially, one day, Kenny. Then, Best Friends & OC fought Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh & Sonjay Dutt on Rampage in a comedy match for the ages and OC fought Jay Lethal on Dynamite and lost, necessitating another rescue from Wardlow. The Acclaimed fought the Gunns in AEW’s first dumpster match, and it wasn’t even the main event. Also: Anna Jay fought Ruby Soho on Rampage; Yuta and Garcia; Stokely Hathaway and Ethan Page; and much more!
Lea got to see Dynamite in person this week because TK loves her more than us, but everybody had plenty of opinions to share about a very surprising and entertaining week in AEW! The big news of the week was that Jungle Boy leveled up his promo work and had learned some very adult new words, having it out with Christian while the specter of Dead Luke Perry, as always, loomed over everything. Will Hobbs was a very loving and supportive tag partner to Ricky Starks, right up until the moment of his sudden horrifying betrayal, and to cap off the surprises, Bryan Danielson came back Too Soon and lost to baby Daniel Garcia. We also discuss whether the Jericho Appreciation Society and Blackpool Combat Club are getting so big the entire company is going to be sucked into their orbits; how much money AEW could raise for charity if they auctioned off slapping Sammy Guevara in the face; and how Anna Jay is doing as a heel. All that plus discussion of the new Trios belt and the ongoing Hangman/Young Bucks romcom storyline!
Happy Shark Week from our family to yours! This week on AEW, Swerve and Keith Lee celebrate their tag title win on Dynamite. Eddie and Jericho had their big barbed wire match, and we discuss Jericho’s problem with going TOO big. Best Friends’ long-term storytelling pays off this week when they fight Mox and Yuta, giving them a chance to let out their emotions about Yuta’s betrayal of his original fathers. Kris and Athena fought the Renegade Twins and won, and Billy Gunn abandons the Acclaimed for his sons and doesn’t actually explain why. Plus much more!
It's another huge crossover event, as we welcome Marty DeRosa of Marty and Sarah Love Wrestling to the pod! He's a longtime wrestling fan so we got to pick his brain on topics like the appeal of FTR, what makes for a good belt storyline, his favorite wrestling moments, and then had a ball finding out about things like 1-900 wrestling hotlines of the past. We also got him playing our classic dating game, and discovered that he was an absolute natural. You'll come in thinking "Mark Henry and Ethan Page? There's no way," and go out thinking, "Wow, Marty's really convinced me they could have something real."
So Long, Sweet Bucks Summer! It's Swerve in our Glory season now, and we're not mad about it! Orange Cassidy's still on his crusade to reward us for our weeks of patient desperation with banger match after banger match, blessings to him for that. Also we award 10,000 sweet kisses to his two ratboy managers as Trent and Chuck are on very different pages about how "cheating" works. Plus, Takeshita fights both Mox and Eddie, Christian's back on the dead dad beat, and Mercedes Martinez is fed up with Serena Deeb. Hey, join the club!
This week's Dynamite had a weird energy, but our energy? Flawless. Our patter? Naturalistic. Our imagines about Orange Cassidy going to summer fishing camp? Extended. It's another week on Tunnel Talk where we discuss important issues like: what exactly is a street fight? Why does Wardlow's hair look so stupid when he's wrestling, and what should he do about it? How activated were we by Matt Jackson thinking about making up with Hangman on BTE? Plus, we cover our problems with FTR, volume 1; how Billy Gunn needs to have a Summer of Love with the Acclaimed; and Lea tells us another classic story about how this time Marina Shafir has never known kindness!
Hey, big news in our neck of the woods: Chuck Taylor's back! We've never been happier to see our very favorite guy even if he did look absolutely deranged. Oh right, also Forbidden Door happened which was "technically" also big news. We saw LOTS of new men including Claudio who earned a high rating from 2/3s of the pod, and a "meets expectations" from one harder grading gal. Plus we get into it about Blood and Guts, The Acclaimed's non-paternal relationship to Billy Gunn, and Christian Cage's recreation of the 1993 animated classic We're Back!
It’s the crossover event of the century!! Sarah Shockey from Marty and Sarah Love Wrestling joins the Tunnel Talk Girls for a freewheeling conversation on how she got into wrestling, what she prizes in a storyline and her opinion on the mysterious answer to What Women Want. Plus we made her play our very favorite dating game, and we came up with some truly amazing scenarios. Hangman and Abadon at Fright Fest? Hell yeah!
This week, we break down Christian Cage’s heel-turn promo on Dynamite in which he tells Jungle Boy what he really thinks. Then: Orange Cassidy was back in action and thrilled to be there, and we were thrilled to see him, even, or perhaps especially, teaming up with Roppongi Vice (vs Will Ospreay and Aussie Open). Next, Hangman fought Silas Young with Adam Cole on commentary. Willow Nightingale fought Jade Cargill, and we were the real winners, because we got to see Willow Nightingale. A slew of injury announcements; Marina Shafir vs Toni Storm; Mox vs Dante Martin. Also: good wrestling vs bad, some choice lines from this week’s recaps, and much more.
This was a true crossover week on AEW, as torrents of New Japan men poured all over us — some of us ended up loving it while others of us less so, and that’s how you know we’re independent minded women who are NOT in a full-time echo chamber. The Young Bucks took the tag team titles off Jurassic Express in a match that slapped, followed by Christian Cage finally going full heel after experiencing a moment of pure disappointment in Jungle Boy; Jay White's not going to fight Hangman in the PPV, but he's not going to fight you either, Adam Cole; and it turns out the bottom of Sammy Guevara's face is disturbingly recognizable. Other important topics are Orange Cassidy's triumphant return, Miro's triumphant return, and AEW's muddled view of labor in the Wardlow storyline. We had a lot of fights in this one about who is the biggest weirdo re: horse mating, Will Ospreay, and Chris Jericho, so yeah, there's some stuff for you to weigh in on. All this and more!
Hey Punk's gone! Probably forever. Wait, actually not forever. But for awhile. But maybe not that long. Is this confusing? We give up on figuring that out and instead try to make sense of the Chaos Battle Royale for the Interim Big Boy Belt with limited success. Trent Beretta continues to punish us for sins unknown by teaming with FTR, and we ARE going to ground that young man as soon as we figure out how. Plus Our Beloved Bucks are the worst boys in their hometown, Adam Cole will NOT be ignored by Hangman and Julia Hart's eye somehow was mysteriously healed by her surrender to the darkness. Oh yeah, and that Marina Shafir promo absolutely took our knees out from under us. Happy Pride, gays, that one was for us!
It’s an extra-long episode to go with an extra-long PPV! (The PPV should’ve been shorter, but our episode? You decide!) First, MJF’s extracurricular activities and the MJF vs Wardlow match both certainly happened. And then we have no choice but to discuss the Double or Nothing main event: the Punk vs Hangman title match, plus Punk’s heel turn and character as a whole. And then there’s everything else, including some segments that did make us happy: Hookhausen, Samoa Joe vs Adam Cole, Ruby vs Britt, the Bucks and the Hardys, Athena’s debut, and much more.
It's our Pre-PV episode and your dumbest girls make our very smartest predictions about how it's going to go down. Plus this week in wrestling: Hangman finally gave us the perfect promo we'd been begging him for, but how much of it was shooting on Punk's backstage behavior? Wardlow had his cage match with glistening Christmas Ham Shawn Spears, and MJF (shockingly) was NOT a very ethical ref. Mox and Eddie were back together, the Owen Hart Tournaments march on, and the Hardy Boyz bleated their way through the strangest promo we'd seen in awhile. In the words of Jungle Boy—what the f*ck?
This week on Tunnel Talk we discuss, first and foremost, the total and complete meltdown we had when we thought Best Friends was breaking up, which sort of derailed our viewing of the rest of Dynamite this week. But we bravely soldiered on! It was quite a little fever dream of a week at AEW, with MJF's public flogging of Wardlow, William Regal revealing that he nonconsensually sticks other wrestler's toothbrushes up his bottom, and Serena Deeb declaring she got a boob job for this sport... just a reminder, this all airs on basic cable every single week, and is VERY normal. We also discuss Ricky Starks' outfit, Matt Jackson's split ends, and all the other top serious wrestling topics you can think of — for instance, does Jeff Hardy paint his face like that so that Matt Hardy can stay the hot one? You be the judge!
AEW was in Long Island this week, and we cover an important tournament going on! The Owen Hart Tournament? No, this is one in our hearts, and it’s the stiff competition for the Damon Salvatore Mommy’s Little Ham Award for Boys. But we cover that first one too: Jamie Hayter and Toni Storm had their quarterfinals match, and once again we must confront the dichotomy of “good wrestlers” vs wrestlers who can do good promos. Next, tune in to find out if our hearts are softening towards FTR. Then it was Darby vs Jeff Hardy and our hearts are big-time soft for this. Hookhausen! Hookhausen! Hookhausen! Plus: CM Punk Mean-Girling Hangman, Eddie Kingston’s wife of 20 years, and much more.
MAGNETS:
It's another week here at Tunnel Talk and what a weeky week it's been! Beautiful Angel Hangman has come out of the gate foaming at the mouth and we could potentially be into it. Serena Deeb had shockingly interesting energy in her promo with Thunder Rosa. Is this the beginning of our journey to becoming big Deebheads? Plus Bobby Fish (time traveller from the 1940s) fought Jeff Hardy (time traveller from a furry convention from the 80s) and our loyalties were split. Still, friendship prevailed and we sail on! Hey, we're selling magnets now, and they DEFINITELY stick to your fridge. Check our socials for more info!
It's SPRING BREAK and another exciting week on Tunnel Talk, where we discuss whether we've done a 360 or a 180 on Jade -- the consensus is that it must be a 180, because we love her now. We also get into the excitement of Christian Cage going full disappointed-dad on Jungle Boy, whether Ricky Starks and Will Hobbs should take the tag team belts (yes, obviously, you big dumb bitch), and the fun of Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland finally having a promo together. Do they have a Paris Salon where they discuss art and literature? In Allie's head they do. Jamie Hayter and Toni Storm do yet another of their patented terrible promos, still terrible no matter how many other women are added to the mix, and we continue to swim against the FTR zeitgeist by thinking they're garbage no matter HOW much they tell us they're in love. Also did you know that they're 34 and 37 years old??? All this, Shida's hot new outfit, Daniel Garcia's desperate quest for Eddie Kingston's attention, Scorpio taking the TNT title back, and much more!
Kyle O’Reilly fought Jungle Boy this week, and we think you’ll agree that all of us have normal reactions to it and Kyle is a perfect rat boy. Then, Adam Cole fought Hangman in their big Texas Death Match—it was a banger, as is Hangman’s ongoing character work both in-ring and out. We also cover Dustin Rhodes vs CM Punk; Tony Khan’s latest big announcement; the Bucks: depressed now; Thunder Rosa vs Nyla and Sammy vs Scorpio Sky on Battle of the Belts, and much more!
Big Yoots finally got the fatherly handshake of approval and the strict parenting he’s been craving, and good for him. Wardlow didn’t get the MJF beatdown he’s been craving but we sure laughed our way through that segment so also good for him. The foursome of Swerve, Keith Lee, Ricky Starks and Hobbs continue to show the rest of the roster what cool is, and guys? Take note, please. Plus we’re very impressed with our two new women, and we finish up with another chaotic game of Plan That Date. Y’all into the Roosh?
This week AEW was in Boston, and Lea was there to give us some on the scene reporting! Should she have been allowed so close to the ring when it was only last week that she enthusiastically opted to kill Matt Jackson? Probably no, but we couldn't stop her. We discuss whether we've been infected by the FTR bug that's hit the rest of the internet (absolutely not), and how we feel about Christian Cage after having been reminded he exists (horny... at least Anne is). We also talk through Wheeler's storyline with Best Friends, the crowd's reactions to Sammy and Tay who are ABSOLUTELY becoming heels through their horrible couple behavior, and how much more fun Jade has gotten lately. All that plus Julia Hart's oncoming delightful demonic cheerleader angle and whether Allie should watch Austin Powers for the first time in 2022!
It’s been a week, and this week we start off by checking in on the MJF/Wardlow feud and associated goings on in the Pinnacle. Then: reDRagon delight us; we get into some Marko Stunt contract talk; and, at long last, we have a very sexy match to discuss from little Yuta, who fought Danielson this week. We also cover Mox vs Lethal, Eddie vs the Jericho Appreciation Society, Max Caster vs CM Punk, Nyla vs Thunder Rosa, and much more. Plus a hair talk segment! And we wrap up with a game of FMK — listener discretion advised, mostly because of the K.
It’s a loose one this week and we weren’t even on the bubbly! There were a lot of strange matchups to cover, and we tried our best to make sense of them. From fantasy booking Julia Hart and Kris Statlander joining the Blackpool Combat Club to debating whether reDRagon is emotionally ready for the responsibility of the belts. There were things we liked (Swerve hitting on Ricky! Max Caster getting thrown around like a twink!) and things we didn’t (Vicky’s gross promo! The…belt fluids…) We get into all this and more on Tunnel Talk!
This week we celebrate one full year of Tunnel Talk! That's right, it's our podcast-iversary -- you'd think that after a whole year of podcasting we'd know all kinds of wrestling stuff, but if there's one thing we girls do? It's defy expectations. We celebrate by each downing a full bottle of Chris Jericho's vanity champagne (excuse me, "American sparkling wine") while discussing such classic topics as Kylo Riley's thighs, Chris Jericho's Costume Trunk, and whether anything looks better than old men wearing the clothes they wore as young men. Podcasting is good for our brains, like a dad taking up crosswords to ward off Alzheimer's. We also get into how in wrestling, the wicked person ALWAYS falls into their own snares, discuss how societal masculinity and femininity affect the stories wrestlers are telling, and each accuse the others of joining the Chris Jericho Appreciation Society. Happy one year of Tunnel Talk to all, and here's to another year of live wrestling shows, soliloquy analysis, and being unable to remember what we just saw five minutes ago. Cheers!
It was PPV week, so we have an even more ungodly amount of content than usual to talk about! We rate some new men (Erick Redbeard, Swerve Strickland), then dig into the Eddie vs Jericho match and resulting beef and therapy session, the Hangman vs Adam Cole showstopper (including costume talk!), the tornado tag team match (fashion highlights!), and a very delightful ladder match! And then, thank god, it’s a good old fashioned dog-collar match for MJF and CM Punk, and it was everything we wanted. Plus much more, including yet another new man about whom we do not agree!
This week, we get the third installment of MJF and CM Punk’s soliloquies, and we remain big marks for our Shakespeare boys! Sammy cruelly refuses to give us backstory for why he’s suddenly pals with Darby, so we invent some for him. Have you considered writing “Support the twink union as we try to keep out of Andrade’s Child Sweat Shops,” on some of those cards, Sammy? Plus Top Flight’s back, and we’re DELIGHTED to see them! Darius, please, make sense of your brother’s actions for us! Join us for all that plus a few PPV predictions which I’m sure your very smart girls who know nothing will be proud of after Sunday night!
We start the episode by benchmarking our lives by when we learned to love our Brass City Bitch, and it just gets more normal from there! We get into the fantastic promos this week by Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho, and CM Punk and MJF (who gets awarded Best Performance in a Leading Role), as well as Bryan Danielson's disappointingly appropriate match against Daniel Garcia. We also do a deep dive into wrestlers just doing moves versus digging into the psychology of their characters, which ends in us concluding that wrestlers should take up journaling, and you know what, we're RIGHT. In other news, do Mox and Bryan Danielson want to co-menstruate, and is Adam Cole is going to lose his mind trying to keep the people he's actively gaslighting from tearing each other apart? Plus, with the help of some generous listeners we've become huge GoldenLoversheads. All this and more this week on Tunnel Talk!
The big news of the week is that Cody and Brandi Rhodes have left AEW, and there’s a shocking amount to say about it. From the crowd reactions he gets to his own brand of wrestling storytelling, how did Cody see his role in the company and where did the cracks form? We’ll speculate as informedly as ANYONE could! Then all the action from this week: Hangman vs Adam Cole cut a promo and the Elite are exploring some compelling storylines; the Bucks vs Roppongi Vice; Bryan Danielson and Lee Moriarty “wrestle”; Lea's Ladies, and much more!
Wrestling was GREAT this week, and so is this episode! The misery of the Inner Circle’s Mandatory Family Arbitration Session sent us into hysterics, and so did Andrade as he FINALLY got to meet Mister Sting. Tony made us meet two MORE new men, but we LOVED Keith Lee and his meditative symphony of pain. We’re reserving judgment on Jay White so far, but to be fair, the Bucks seem to be, too. We cover Hangman’s deathmatch, MJF’s celebration, and Lea’s ALL in on Mercedes Martinez. Plus: Happy Valentine’s Day, tunnelheads! Producer Marjorie unmutes to assign us randomized pairs of wrestlers and your girls debate the success of their hypothetical relationship and plan their perfect date. Spoiler: we’re so all in on the last couple, we might never recover.
This week? Not our favorite. AEW took a fun little dive into the waters of sexism and misogyny and it was deeply trying. It's the dead of pandemic winter, the weather sucks, we're all depressed, and now we have to deal with this garbage without even being able to do some violence about it? Hangman knows what we're talking about. We cover the two (2) cursed Dan Lambert segments in this week's episode, plus a litany of other things that sorely tried us. Storylines that we have no idea where they're going, twink vs. twink violence, squash matches — just a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. But at least the Inner Circle is going to do some group therapy... oh god, is that really our highlight? Join us as we finally become real wrestling fans and bury the product!
We're thrilled to all be back together this week! Also back is Mox, looking good and fighting Ethan Page. Next: a Nick Jackson v Trent singles match (ft. Matt and OC ringside) that raises some questions, like: where is the Trent storyline going? We don’t know but we have some ideas. Then OC and Adam Cole had their Lights Out match, and Danhausen debuted! Happy!!!! Plus: Jade Cargill v Anna Jay, Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevera's ladder match, CM Punk and MJF's masterful promo craft, Inner Circle's tainted defeat of 2point0 and Danny Garcia, and everything else we could fit in a tight hour.
Anne is away this week, so we called upon some friends to serve as guest hosts for this week’s episode! Anna and Josh aren’t wrestleheads but they got into the spirit of the thing, with Anna declaring herself a Darby girl right up front, and Josh bravely agreeing to offer a much needed man’s opinion on the events of the week. Their takes on Mox’s return, Adam Cole’s kissing abilities and the hotness of Sam Punk alternately cracked us up and opened our third eyes even wider. All this and more this week on an EXTRA deranged episode of Tunnel Talk!
Your favorite dummies from Tunnel Talk come roaring back from break with a lot to cover and more opinions than you can shake a stick at! All of them frankly concerning — we start with Lea worrying she’s going to get brainwashed into liking the Big Bang Theory and end with learning how Allie’s feelings for Kylo Riley are similar to the omicron surge, so your thoughts and prayers are deeply appreciated in these unprecedented times. In between we do manage to discuss what makes wrestlers have characters we can invest in, whether or not My Chemical Romance should enter the AEW-verse, what on earth Dante Martin thinks he's doing and why he refuses to tell us, plus do a dramatic reading of Andrade's beautiful turn into being a comedy boy, and rank all the new men as far as the eye can see. All this and so much more!
Longtime listeners won't be surprised by the length of our Young Bucks segment (came in at a cool nineteen minutes) but we were truly delighted by everything they did this week and literally couldn't help ourselves. We also got into it about the Sad Facepaint Clowns and debated why the Pinnacle doesn't just unionize against MJF. Plus, we vote on what was the most unacceptable thing commentary said this week, and the contenders were strong!
In our penultimate episode of the year, we discuss whether 60 minutes of wrestling without a winner is legal (Hangman vs Danielson), celebrate a women's trio's match (Nyla/Penelope/The Bunny vs Tay/Anna Jay/Ruby Soho) that tested the muscle memory of commentators who are used to talking about men, and finally get to talk about Hook's debut! Plus a special segment about the language of wrestling commentary, and? Much more.
As always, this pod is doing GREAT and has NO problems. Anne reports back from her little trip to the world of indie wrestling, which she loved and she vows to return. We're thrilled to expand our horizons out in that direction! Back on our home turf, we watched everyone visit the Bizarro World of Long Island where heels were faces, faces were heels, and nobody knew what the hell Dante Martin was up to. And we all lost our minds for the Best Bucks feud featuring the long awaited and greatly enjoyed return of Bald Trent. Thank you, Papa Tony! Plus we spin out our hopes and dreams for Malakai's possible new feud with the Varsity Blonds! Corpse Bride Julia Hart? Yes please. Can we stay in Long Island every week? (The first time anyone's said that.)
This week, the gang covers the nontraditional commentary team on Dynamite (including Hangman during Danielson vs Alan Angels and MJF during Punk vs Moriarty). And the even less traditional commentary of Adam Cole (did not do any commentary). Plus last Friday’s tag team matchup of Adam Cole & Bobby Fish vs OC & Wheeler Yuta, and the normal things Jericho said on commentary there. Promos: the one we need from Dante Martin, and the one we got from Miro! Also: Eddie Kingston vs Daniel Garcia, Kris vs Ruby, Billy & Colten Gunn vs Sting & Darby. And we end with a VERY challenging game of f***-marry-kill!
In this post-Thanksgiving episode, Lea gets 2 pm drunk on Brandi Rhodes's vanity wine, which Lea tells us is "good" but is unable to describe further. Brandi, sponsor us! We also debut the Teacher's Pet of the Week award, which MJF and CM Punk took easily with their 30 minute deep psychological dive of a promo -- why can't the rest of you be more like Very Good Boys MJF and CM Punk??? We also contemplate profound philosophical questions, such as, "Is a man not his own boy?" and "If JR were asked to commentate on a porn, would he notice it wasn't wrestling?" P.S. Tony Khan, please sign Danhausen. All this and more, this week on Tunnel Talk!
It's our post-Full Gear pod! Allie, in her capacity as an Unaccompanied Woman Attendee, reports back on everything she saw, heard and experienced. Plus, we review how we did at predicting the Full Gear outcomes, simp over our beautiful cowboy hunk champion, and as always, praise our teacher's pet Young Bucks for doing the best job at carrying a story. This week was long and we had a LOT to cover, but don't you worry—we got into all of it in the strange, disturbing and probably factually incorrect way you've come to love!
Eddie Kingston brings a LOT to the table this week, including a very juicy CM Punk feud and a Players’ Tribune article that made us all cry. Daddy Tony punished The Acclaimed with a Bryan Danielson fight, and also Anthony Bowens fought Jungle Boy on Dynamite, and we get to have a (body) hair talk segment about that last part. Plus: our Young Bucks, earning our praise at every turn; and we visit Best Friends world for, most importantly, whatever is happening between Kris Statlander and Ruby Soho, but also joining Chaos (?) and how are sons are doing as fathers to their son, Yuta. And our thoughts about this weekend’s Rampage and Full Gear!
We have a lot to get through this week, starting with our best wishes to Jon Moxley and his family which are MUCH more important than our extreme disappointment about missing out on his match with Orange Cassidy and our dubious feelings about the reshuffling of feuds and storylines... again, all our good thoughts go out to Mox. We also get into Miro's tender caresses, whether CM Punk should go heel, Matt Jackson disappointing everyone by wearing a shapeless tan jumpsuit, what characters in Romeo and Juliet Hangman could play, along with more mentions of the show Arrow than you've heard in your entire life to date. We also review the movie About a Boy (2002) for no good reason? Another rollicking episode of Tunnel Talk straight into your earholes — we're back on schedule, baybee!
Surprise, it's us! Your Sunday Girls are popping into your feeds with a Tuesday episode to go over the last two weeks of wrestling! And hey, guess what? We're Pinnacleheads now! Lea reckons with her attraction to MJF torturing and and humiliating Sting, Anne reckons with her attraction to a behatted Shawn "The Chairman" Spears and Allie? Actually Allie's at peace with what's going on with her. It's called Self Actualization, and she's been fine the whole time. Plus—we talk about the reportage from the Jericho Cruise, discuss both the Men's Eliminator Tournament and the Women's TBS Championship bracket, and we give some serious kudos to our very own Jungle Man!
There was no Dynamite this week, but don’t worry, we found plenty to talk about! Maybe too much… Anyway, we cover a Punk/Garcia match, The Acclaimed/Lucha Brothers, Jade/Skye Blue, Brian Cage/Ricky Starks, BTE, and much more. And then Tony Khan inadvertently lets us in on match planning, OR is purposefully misleading us, so there’s a (potentially) spoiler-filled discussion of the Full Gear matches, which we’ll warn you about when we get to.
Hangman's back, baybee, and we're the happiest little clams you've ever met. We also tackle such important questions as: Is Bryan Danielson a changeling or just a timetraveler from the 1927 Olympics? Why is Jade Cargill a thing and who is she blackmailing? What female should win the TBS "Very Funny" Wrestling Championship Belt for Girls? All that plus Dante Martin's Final Girl energy, Daniel Garcia as Sid from Toy Story, and Bobby Fish, our very own small town carnival barker.
Once again, the problem of the Wet Men plagues and occupies us. They're TOO wet, and it's NOT right! On the other hand, we're much nicer to Bryan Danielson this time, and we LOVED what he's doing to Kenny Omega. Plus, MJF is feuding with Darby? Tony Khan, you DO love us!
This week we discuss: panty boys, puppy-body boys, and who's cute under their mask versus who maybe should keep that little mask on. That's right, even though AEW isn't giving us enough time to develop our takes, we still manage to say a lot of very mean things about men's bodies and faces. And we have a lot of questions: What DID Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson do that made their match so effing good? Is what women want just Ruby Soho and Britt Baker replaying the dynamics from Empire Records? Are we huge Rancid fans? And most importantly: Should MJF and Max Caster get married in Vegas? All this and more on this week's Tunnel Talk!
This week: the Dark Order keep fighting, the Butcher is back, there's plenty of hair talk including the body variety, and we have new sons! They are loved by us all, and everyone is going to enjoy hearing about them! Plus stay for some disturbing revelations from Lea toward the end of the episode. Listener discretion is advised. Kidding, but use your judgment!
We're BACK from All Out, and whew is this episode a long boy. We simply could not make ourselves SHUT UP about our observations about our very first in-person wrestling show, our opinions on the resolutions of the last week of storylines, and the way we got absolutely SWEPT AWAY in the fever of all the new debuts. Tony? Please don't actually ever start a cult, because it turns out we are very susceptible the energy of a crowd.
In our pre-All Out episode, Brandon Cutler gets dominated and Matt Jackson suffers a real-life loss. CM Punk continues to delight us, this time with Darby, and we try to get to the bottom of the Jungle Express–Best Friends alliance. Yes, there's Hair Talk! And most importantly, we visit a little town called Stoneybrook, Connecticut, to figure out which wrestlers are most likely to start a small business, go boy-crazy, hide candy around their room, or be bookish and shy but date a hunky southerner. That's right: it's a Baby-Sitters Club casting!
Tunnel Talk is back, and we're looser than ever! Wrestling seems to be on every night of the week now and Papa Tony is having his BEST SUMMER EVER! Plus—Anne is BESOTTED with CM Punk, and admits to being the crying man in Chicago. Lea's getting her new sons 2.0 settled in her dollhouse and Allie? Allie's hard at work casting a wrestling version of A Little Princess. Another NORMAL episode from your favorite normal girls!!!
In this very special episode, we talk to longtime wrestling fan Chris Browder of the band Mansions to let him explain some wrestling basics to us. Oh, you thought we'd have the latest in CM Punk news? Well, this interview was recorded in the first half of July, so enjoy the part where a younger, more innocent Anne barely knows who CM Punk is. Anne and Chris get into the history of the Monday Night Wars, whether WWE hates their fans, which wrestlers are naturally heels, and much more!
Joey Janela's heel turn continues to be happening, Dante Martin is the flippiest of all boys, tunnel talk, hair talk, and happenings in the world of trios. And most importantly: we explore the theoretical world of AEW wrestlers as Tumblr users ✨
Guys, we feel better this week! But Chris Jericho sure doesn’t—the man is looking rough. But Mox continues to be the happiest crowd-loving boy and he was finally reunited with his little Hot Topic Teen Son, a pairing we haven’t seen in a hot minute. You couldn’t tell from Darby’s face, but we think he LOVED being surrounded by His Three Dads. Plus, we actually give props to AEW this week—we LOVE what’s going on in the women’s division lately! It was a good week!
We were personally going through it this week, but not as much as Hangman was. We got into it about the Elite’s Space Jam cosplay, philosophize in all seriousness over the true meaning of propwork and get ourselves so worked up about the possibility of Britt’s new minion. Plus: we have a BRAINWAVE--should the TNT belt be reserved ONLY for twinks? PS TK? We put a lot of faith in you regarding the booking for All Out and if you betray us? You will regret it.
After technical difficulties last week, we're back and ready to get into Chris Jericho's distressing facepaint, the troubling trend of Disney adults at AEW, how much the Young Bucks may be spending on their outfits, and whether the women's division is being oppressed by our corporate overlords, Turner Network Television. Plus, we address JR's concerns about the exact relationship between Orange Cassidy and Wheeler Yuta, and in HAIR TALK, should Kenny Omega learn to scrunch out the crunch? (Yes.) All this and more!
AEW overstimulated us this week with a Hangman/Kenny Omega face-off followed by a juicy therapy session for Darby Allin and Ethan Page. And then we overstimulated ourselves buying All Out tickets! But don't worry, of course we made time in this episode for several huge stories around the world of AEW hair, including how much of it is on the Young Bucks' faces, how little of it is on Mox's head, and how to describe the style of it that Marcus Kross is wearing.
We've got HAIR SCOOPS! Then, the tension between Jungle Boy's fatherlovers does not intensify, but the tension between Kenny and Hangman does. And we check in with our children whom we love even though they vex us. Also what's happening with the women of AEW and, more importantly, what do we think should be happening.
We got a sexy MMA-style cage match on Friday Night Dynamite (no relation to regular Dynamite) this week, plus fights for many of our beloved children, including, FINALLY, Chuck Taylor. Also this week, good promos from some, and... where was I? Sorry, I got distracted thinking about Eddie and Mox's relationship.
In a special Father's Day edition of the podcast, topics include good and bad promos, heels doing face stuff, and a lot of emotions about Darby Allin. And, some tunnel talk on Tunnel Talk!
We want to be clear—our podcast is not broken, and we're not here to fix it! Wrestling is still on at a weird day and time but somehow we've watched it anyway, and we're here to tell you about it. Plus listener questions!
We're back from vacation and full-capacity crowds were back for the latest Double or Nothing, so we're breaking down all the matches, costume choices and propwork, except for the ones we weren't interested in! Plus find out who wins the coveted meatiest match award, and perhaps one of us will win an award, too.
It’s a packed week discussing AEW’s future move to TBS, twink talk, Orange Cassidy championship watch, and our endless parade of sons including Hangman, Eddie + Mox, and of course the Bucks who we continue to feel so normal about. Come for the style analysis, stay for the disgusting facts about blood-borne pathogens in wrestling!
Real injuries, fake feuds, real hams who are doing a good job hamming, fake crying (with potentially real emotion), and real insights into the psyche of heels — this week has it ALL! And don’t worry, we also get into it about Nick Jackson’s new beard.
Hair updates, updates on how shelter dogs are doing with their new families, and updates on who we want to see fight and who we think will fight based on “the standings.” Also, AEW showed us two butts this week! But were they the RIGHT butts?
It’s a good week because we have a lot of Planet Best Friends wrestling to discuss, which means we can ask important questions, like: how does Orange Cassidy think about pockets in his character work? And does he HAVE a mom? Plus: everyone’s son Max Caster who no one dislikes, relative sizes of men, and everything else in our government-mandated 6.5 hours of AEW wrestling per week.
This week Allie, Anne, and Lea dive into more of the unknowable topics of the AEW universe: adult men being forced to be young boy (derogatory), the wormhole behind Daily’s Place, and what does “I’ll be your huckleberry” mean? Plus everything else on AEW this week that we watched, remembered, AND could fit in the pod!
We have a few ideas for Tony Khan, and we put them right at the beginning so they’re easy for him to find when he listens! Allie, Anne, and Lea also have important hair and costume updates, revelations about who was a male cheerleader in high school, and—Team Taz finally makes it into the primary section of the pod. Plus everything else we watched this week on AEW.
Allie, Anne, and Lea get to the bottom of one of wrestling’s great mysteries: why are the men so wet? But we don’t get to the bottom of our love for Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, because it’s bottomless. Plus dance moms, diss tracks, and storylines we’re actually having no trouble following at all, thanks—and more from the week at AEW.
The gang explores this week’s Elevation, classic bathroom reveals, sexiest (…?) Chris Jericho moments, and who on BTE looks good, knows his angles, and is keeping it firm and taut. Also, why is everybody mad at Matt Jackson? We don’t know, but we like it. And most importantly, we get to talk about our treasured sons! All the waiting around for Greg’s broken boob was worth it, because Arcade Anarchy happened and it ruled.
Plus, find out who’s honored in a new segment: the first ever “Tony” awards (not the ones you're thinking of)!
Hit us up on Twitter @tunneltalkpod if you know what franchise Allie is thinking of where a bunch of people combine to form a giant person (not Transformers)!
Allie, Anne, and Lea discuss which members of The Elite are most emotionally fulfilled, go over what reality shows AEW is and should be producing, and try to answer a critical question: who’s in The Pinnacle? Plus much more from this week at AEW.
Allie, Anne, and Lea break down the new web show Elevation, a Britt Baker vs Thunder Rosa Lights Out match that's seared into our brains forever, and all the blood, thumbtacks, and sexual menace of this week at AEW we could fit in a podcast.