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AEW Unrestricted Adry Edwards will welcome to the official podcast of All Elite Wrestling. We've got new episode to be Thursday and you are here. You are listening to an exclusive interview with awesome AEW people. This is a really fun show. Sometimes you get to talk about fun backstage stuff. Before we recorded this intro, I was like, hey, Will, what are
we going to talk about? There was actually a funny story that happened on the day of Shelton Benjamin's debut that Will, you didn't hear about this. I haven't heard about this at all. That was at the Dynamite 5-year anniversary. It was a 5-year anniversary. That was my segment. That's what I'm really curious about. What happened to you? There's nothing to do with this segment. It's completely after the show. We do four ring of honor matches before. We do Dynamite. We do rampage and then
we have another ring of honor match after. It is a very long day. By the time that I'm getting on the bus, it is 12.30 at night. I was in the last match. One of the last people in the building. I'm sitting on the bus. Security is doing the sweep trying to get everybody that might be hanging out. This is the last bus. It's a good 20-minute drive from the venue to the hotel. It's going to be hard for anyone to get an Uber. Let's just make sure we
get everybody. We're sitting there. That bus had been already sitting there for 20 minutes before I showed up. We're sitting there. We're waiting a good 15 minutes, whatever. Then Shelton Benjamin stands up and goes, wait, I forgot a shoe and then runs off the bus. We're just like, it is your first freaking day. What is happening right now? He's like, I'll be right back. He leaves. This dude takes 15 minutes to find not a pair of sneakers,
a single sneaker. He's left in the dressing room. He comes back on and we're like, welcome to AEW. Bitch. We did not get back to the hotel until after 1am. What a first day. How to make an impression. Shelton Benjamin. I love it though. We just talked about the five-year anniversary of AEW Dynamite. Five years, congratulations. Congratulations. Honestly, I think it's to get to do that show right off the heels of celebrating our brand
new TV deal. It's just such a great time. That week in particular was such a cool celebration of all things AEW. I think this is the perfect show to encapsulate that because our guest today has been a part of so much AEW history and has really been the voice of all of that. I'm really excited to have him here on this show. Aubrey, who's our guest today? His guest is one of the, I was going to say day one peeps, but technically like before
day one, I am very happy to have Excalibur back on the podcast. It's been since early pandemic. I think we had figured out you had been on here. Welcome back sir. Yeah, thank you very much. I like to refer to myself as a day one and a half guy, whereas the bucks, Hangman, Kenny, all those guys are day one guys and I was there at the the Ticket On Sale thing at the MGM in February. That's day one and a half. Oh, count it. We'll count it.
Yeah. I've been with the company for a long time. It's been really rewarding last couple weeks, just to see where things have gotten over five plus years. So yeah, it's really cool and thank you guys for having me back. Speaking of five plus years. I think you were actually going to say the same thing. Yes, I think we were on the same page as far as we were going to. I like speaking of five plus years, Dynamite just celebrated. Did you just fucking take care of it? Yeah. I would have.
Dynamite just celebrated five years and you of course been really the voice of AEW Dynamite. I think it's only like a handful of shows you haven't been on. I'm pretty certain it's maybe like five or six if I'm not mistaken. That sounds about right. Yeah. But ultimately over 250 plus episodes, that's a huge accomplishment. Congratulations on that. So I want to talk about your favorite stories of being a part of live television.
Because you and I have had that conversation before about the fact that live TV was something that you kind of got thrown into. Yeah. Yeah. Before Dynamite began, the only televised live, like cable television or network television or any experience I had was the original all-in pre-show. That was on WGM, which I guess is on most cable networks. I don't know, even though WGM still exists. But their news nation now. Okay. Well, so I was on what I guess is now a news nation.
But the first experience, the first time I had any sort of inkling of doing anything live was that. And I remember in the moment, they cut to me to talk about the card coming up on paper view. And I hear this voice just started beginning to speak in my head while I'm speaking. And I just freeze because I've never experienced it before. And I kind of freaked out. But then I got my bearings and I kept going.
And Keith Mitchell, who was the director that day, he in the way, in his laconic, very studying manner, speaking, he's like, hey, buddy, just know if I'm ever talking while you're talking, I ain't talking to you. And I was like, oh, that's actually very helpful. And from that point out, I somehow just being able to cancel out all the noise, cancel out, you know, for the most part, anything that's going on in my headset and just really be able to get my thoughts across.
And so that was, you know, my first live TV lesson, but I would say it's my most important live TV lesson. Yeah, geez. It's one of those things that I don't think people realize how many voices each individual person is listening to while they're doing something else on television. It's very much a rub your stomach, pat yourself on the head type thing where you're just really trying to focus on the job that you're there to do, but also all of this other information is coming in.
Do you need a bit of attention to it? Because, you know, maybe there is someone who's not Keith Mitchell telling you something that you absolutely do need to know in that given moment. So it's a skill that a lot of people don't have, but from my perspective, it's a skill that you guys have just perfected at this point because I have no idea when you guys misbead. Your whole, you and your whole team is freaking incredible.
And I'm so happy that like people who are new to wrestling, they're hearing you and you're sort of the voice of wrestling for them, which is really freaking awesome. Speaking of which, let's talk about your cohorts a little bit because I think the last time we had you on was early pandemic. And then one of the things that sort of happened during the pandemic was the beautiful relationship that blossomed between you and Taz on dark, which was so absolutely great.
What has it been like working with Taz for as many years as you have now? It's been great. Taz has become at least in my opinion a good friend. I don't know if you had him on here, what he would say, but I don't want to, I don't know if he's not a good man, but to me, he's somebody that is a, not only a friend, but a mentor as well. He's been calling wrestling and not just doing wrestling on TV, but he's also done drive-time radio in New York. He's done all sorts of different media.
He's been in and around it for more than 20 years and somebody that has a really great brain about all these things. He's got, obviously he's got a lot of opinions and sometimes you get Taz talking and get down a bit of things. We'll start to snowball, but at the core of that, I digress. But I digress. It's something that is very beneficial, very informative.
The relationship that we had that really blossomed on dark, I don't think it would have been possible without the time we spent in Jacksonville where we would be filming and Taz and I would be commentating dark matches until 3-3 in the morning and you're commentating eight hours of wrestling in the cold while just drinking nothing but diet cooks and monster energy drinks. You get the attempt to get a little loopy and that came out and fans embraced that. I'm glad they didn't enjoy that.
For me, they were some very cold caffeinated nights, but for others, I've heard from actually quite a few people that they were part of the things that helped keep them entertained during the pandemic and that's actually super meaningful to me that something that I was a part of kept people busy, kept people sane and kept people entertained.
Also on the team and somebody who's had quite kind things to say about you talking about Ian Riccabani who of course is Voice of Ring of Honor, he's a voice that we try to get as often as we can when we're hitting the Northeast areas, but somebody that you've also had a great relationship with. Again, I don't want to put words in Taz's mouth. Taz, or excuse me, Ian says that I'm a good friend, Ian's a true dirtbag. It's coming here.
Ian, somebody that it was all in, that was the first time that I met him and the first time we worked together and getting put on a live mic on a paper review broadcast with somebody and just hoping that you have chemistry is not an easy thing to do and it doesn't always happen. Ian and I are both play by play guys and it's tough because as a play by play guy, you always want to take the lead.
I think when he and I work together, we have a good rhythm and it's like playing with two point guards or two. It's not always the point guard that brings the ball up the court sometimes it's the power forward, sometimes it's whoever. We're able to recognize when to lay out, when to pass off to the other guy.
Ian is a tremendous asset, not only for Ring of Honor, but for AEW and I wish Ian would be around more than just when we're in the Northeast, but I understand that Ian, first and foremost, is a dad and the way he likes to be available for his family doesn't always
get along with the AEW broadcast schedule and I totally respect that and I'm glad that he's in a position where he's happy with what he's able to contribute to not only AEW but Ring of Honor as well and so when we do get to have him, I think it's special and I love having him around. He's also just one of those guys that's like a good energy to have around because I don't think I've ever seen him mad or frustrated. I don't know if he has the ability to be mad.
If he does, he hides it really well. He's got a very good poker face. Good to know. I'm going to now try to like piss him off just to kind of see him break. Oh, he says nasty things about you all the time. I imagine that to be true. Okay, I got to start slipping him 20s when I'm in the ring. All right, we'll do that. So you'd mention like you primarily do play by play and your play by play is fantastic.
You have an encyclopedic knowledge of just wrestling moves, but then you also have at a moment's notice, you're able to pull in all of these story moments that are happening to kind of keep the audience up to speed. What does preparation for specifically play by play commentary look like? Well, so play by play is the actual play by play part of it is very reactive.
And so that's just being in the moment and kind of calling what you're seeing and for a very long time, for pro wrestling gorilla, I was played by play and color commentator. So I was I was handling both roles and I sometimes have to even still even though I've been doing a W for five plus years, so I have to catch myself and realize that oh, no, I have taz there. I have Nigel or somebody else that that's there to explain it as well.
And for me though, the actual show prep, the storytelling aspect of it is something where, you know, earlier the day or the night before if I'm on the plane or whatever, I'll sit down and I write out my notes, but during the show, I don't typically refer to it. It's just more the act of writing it out makes it fresh in my mind. It brings it to the forefront and it makes it a lot easier for me to recall. And for me, it's very easy to recall stuff that happened on Dynamite because I was there.
I was speaking about it, but if I'm watching a collision and I see something, but, you know, maybe I'm not as immersed in it as I would be if I if I was in the arena at the desk on on headset calling it, sometimes it takes me a second. So that's when it's very helpful for me to actually go and write out, you know, just kind of my thoughts. It's actually not even my thoughts. It's a recap kind of of what happened just to make it fresh in my mind. And that's that's my the majority of my show, bro.
And so, you know, kind of bringing it back to talking about the fact that, you know, you've been calling Dynamite now for five years. You know, what sort of things did you feel like you had to learn in the live TV aspect of things, like traffic things that you maybe didn't have before in your commentary experience?
The, I mean, the traffic is, you know, that's kind of the inside baseball term for it, but, you know, that's what we call the countdowns to when, you know, interviews to when we switch off to Renee or, you know, somebody else backstage that's doing conducting interview. That's when we switch off to a video package. That's when we go to commercial break. And that's something that even, you know, with, with AW, I'd called three shows.
I'd called double or nothing, fight or fest and fight for the fallen before the first episode of Dynamite aired. And those were essentially paper views. And there's not a lot of traffic on paper views. And also that was something where where Jim Ross was the guy that was in the lead chair. And so he was doing a lot of the play calling. And so that was something just by, by being near him and watching how, or hearing literally how, how he would throw to things.
And like when, you know, when we get a countdown our year that, you know, okay, Renee standing by, she'll be ready in 10, nine, eight, and how he would be able to wrap up his thoughts from, you know, from the match at hand or from whatever the business at hand was. And then transition in six seconds to, to whatever, you know, is going on backstage. That, you know, is an art. And it's a very tough art to grasp. And I think, you know, even five years in, I do an okay job at it.
I think there's always room for improvement. And it's something that I strive to improve at every, with every single broadcast. And, you know, it's, it's little intangible things like that that, that if I'm good at it, then nobody notices, you know. And that's, that's, that's the toughest thing is, is, you know, going, going unseen or going unheard for something that, that, you know, the best thing that people can do is just take it for granted. I literally just learned this term now.
Five years of live television. It's the first time I've ever heard that specific thing referred to as traffic. I had no idea. So thank you for that. Yeah. I mean, it's just, like the car coming down the road, you have to, you have to hold out the stop sign, you have to, you have to wave this guy through and then you have to pick up traffic coming back the other way.
Yeah, I forget because I did TV news 15 years ago and it's just like a thing that, I think when I say it, people know that and then it's like, by that. I know the concept, just not the name. Right. But now, now I feel more informed. I got something out of this podcast today. Thank you both. Well, that's it. That's it. Well, actually, this is a good time for a commercial break. So we have much more to talk about here on AEW unrestricted. Hey tuned. AEW unrestricted.
It's offering well with our guest ex caliber, the voice of all of the wrestling, the voice VW Dynamite, the voice of rampage, the voice of every pay-per-view we've done. I don't think you've missed the pay-per-view. Have you missed the pay-per-view? I've not missed the pay-per-view. I didn't think so. So he's one of four people who have been on every single pay-per-view. And like I said, it's, it's incredible how much you've gotten to be a part of so many incredible iconic AEW moments.
And that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about here. Because again, we just celebrated five years of Dynamite. We've had an incredible streak of pay-per-views. There have been some awesome moments that have had ex caliber on the call when you think about some of the greatest debuts in AEW history and the fact that you got to be the soundtrack to that. What are some of those? How do you prepare for those types of moments for one?
And then the other piece of that is what were some of your favorites? Preparation is very minimal. Oftentimes we, even as broadcasters, don't know when somebody's debuting, you know, we'll see, we'll see backstage that there's a room that's labeled reserved for special guest. That's my favorite. That could be a room that's reserved for Shotcon or that could be a room that's reserved for Mercedes-Menei.
And you know, like with Mercedes, that was an interesting scenario because the entire event was branded around her. So we had a pretty good inkling that she would be there, but actually, funny enough, the most recent one was not the most recent, most recent Shelton Benjamin, but prior to that was MVP. And we didn't know that MVP would be coming out to interrupt Prince Nana.
And the first thing that I think Taz and I both were doing simultaneously were radioing back to the truck saying, can we call him MVP? Right. Yeah. Sometimes that element of surprise, that surprise the fans at home also catches us by surprise. And so I think in those moments, you're getting a very, very genuine reaction out of us. And that's something that is not always easy to get.
There's a lot of things, not even just in professional wrestling, but in sports and entertainment that can have a tendency to feel manufactured. And my, and I think our at the desk, goal is to not have things feel canned or manufactured to be there and to share that excitement with the fans at home and share that moment with them. And so I think that's a lot of time why us being surprised works so well. You know, is that we don't know these things are coming.
And what it does happen, we're caught up in it, just like the fans at home, hopefully, are in the fans of the arena as well. And we were talking about it just before we had record. But I think still to this day, the most exciting for me, Triple Whammy was at all out when Menoros Suzuki was surprised. Adam Cole was surprised and Brian Danielson were surprised. And two of those three guys I knew quite well. Ruby Soho was one too that night. Oh, that's true. Yeah, that's true.
I did not mean to discount that. I was just so much going on that night, we forgot about it. Yeah, yeah. It was a huge night for surprises. And I think it was, it was almost the case of, well, there can't possibly be more, more to go like so. So yeah, that was the, I think the most memorable just out of sheer quantity of nothing else. I was telling you before the show how like, you know, the call I remember the most. And I was in the arena live.
So I hadn't even heard the call until I went back and watched it later. But literally as Brian Danielson has made his AW debut and the fans are guessing and everybody's just excited. And as we go off the air and you say 80 W is the home of professional wrestling. And that was just, that felt so good as we faded to black. And that's a call that to this day. I mean, we hear it in packages. We hear it in everything. That is a call that's so synonymous with AEW.
And it was, it was a spur of the moment thing. You know, it was just something that I had not intended on saying that, but it just felt right in the moment because, you know, we had such a great roster at the time and then to get that, that, you know, I mean, shot in an army, shot in the army, even kind of downplays the, the addition of talent that happened all in that one night. And it really, it felt good. It felt like, you know, pro wrestling had come home and the home was AEW.
And that's not to say that it hadn't been before, but, you know, having, having, if nothing else, the guy that many, many people looked at as not just the greatest wrestler of his generation, but perhaps one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, you know, come to AEW in order to wrestle in order to be a part of this pro wrestling company that I think set a lot, you know, in the actions of Danielson. And then so to be able to put words to it
was, is very cool. And it was something that I think, you know, I'm glad that it resonated with people. I'm glad that it's still something that's being heard today. So one of the things that is always really exciting is our forbidden door, pay-per-view, because we always end up seeing new guests come through and we have these new dream matches that no one ever thought was possible. That is now just a regular thing for us, which
is amazing. And you having also your encyclopedia knowledge of wrestling moves, you also seemingly have an encyclopedia knowledge of just all wrestling. So what is it like being involved in an event like forbidden door from your perspective as someone who is a fan of wrestling, but also someone who works in wrestling? And are there any particular moments that really stand out from any of the forbidden door shows?
The forbidden door is a really cool event because prior to AEW, I'd done commentary for New Japan Pro Wrestling a couple times. And so I'd been, you know, a long time fan of New Japan, a lot of the wrestlers there. And so to be able to call those shows prior to AEW was really cool, really rewarding for me. And, you know, after I joined up with AEW, I thought, okay, well, that part of my life, that part of my career is over with.
And so for Bidendor, it gives me an opportunity to, you know, call those wrestlers again. And it's not always easy. I mean, you know, I think you don't get the level of knowledge of professional wrestling that I or anyone has without putting in the legwork for it. And so it does require a lot of research, a lot of hours spent watching when, you know, maybe, you know, when you're a fan in your consuming pro wrestling, that's something that you're
doing kind of for fun. But when your job is pro wrestling and your job is, you know, almost a seven day a week job, then, you know, the last thing you might want to do is watch, you know, some, some video from Japan or from any other pro wrestling, you know, maybe you just want to watch a little bake off. And, you know, that's okay. But then you got to, you got to make time for, you know, you got to make time for, for destruction in Kobe as well.
And so, you know, it's just balancing it. And I think the most memorable moment in the year for Ben Dohr, it was not actually anything to do with, you know, a match itself. It was when the first time that Danielson came out to Final Countdown in a, I think that was at For Ben Dohr in Toronto. And he's coming, he's entering and he's doing, you know,
the entrance that the song is playing. And I didn't realize this at the time, but as it was going on, is I have an internal clock for that song because he used it on the indies for so many years. And I called so many as matches and PwG where he used that song that, when that chorus kicks in, like, I know that that's when the fans are going to shout. And so I'm doing this whole preamble that, you know, talking about Danielson, talking about
what this match means, blah, blah, blah, blah. And while I'm doing that, everybody is screaming in my ear, just saying, shut up. You got to wait for the course. You got to wait for the course. And then Tony gets out and he's like, the course, the course, the course. And I just somehow was able to ignore, finish my thought. I finished my thought. And then you hear the crowd at the Final Countdown. And then Tony gets my ear goes, that was fucking great.
You know, what's the best part too is I was sitting right next to Tony as that was all happening. And it's like to do it from two sides of it because then I've watched it a million times of watch that entrance. And I agree that was such an incredible call. You're timing on it was impeccable the way that you also threw in the, the, the pistons references and all of that. Yeah, it was all great. Everything worked out perfectly because those don't know
ex-Caliber is also a big basketball fan. And we'll talk about that here a little bit. But, but the fact that it was all it all played out so perfectly and it all laid out perfectly. But also knowing how much that entrance meant to Tony and to make it happen. And how excited he was really all day long to make sure that this entrance went off without a hitch that it was going to be perfect, that it was edited perfectly. Shout out, I think Mikey Ruckus
did make the, the TV edit of it. And so to make sure that was all perfect and everybody coming together to make that happen. So great. It's great. And I just after, you know, after it happened and he's after he said, Oh, that's fucking great. I just keep back. I said, thank you for trusting me. That's all, that's all I said, you know, yeah. And no, but I mean, I legitimately meant that because it's a high level of trust to put in one person put in me that, you know, I am for better
for worse the soundtrack of the broadcast. And it could be very, I could have very easily trampled what could have been a huge moment. And, you know, I obviously would have been super disappointed myself, but I would also let my boss down. And so, you know, for him to put me in that chair to put me in that position, it requires a lot of trust. And I, and that's not something that I take for granted. We avoided another Suzuki gate. So thank you for that.
What was that? What did the internet do? That was the Suzuki incident. Something or other. I don't know. Yeah, something like that is it was a great time. It was one of my all time favorite memes to come out of a W. And so again, you know, talking about some of the major calls you got to make and some of the education you have for talent. Again, you know, it's interesting bringing those two things back around because we talked
about some of the debuts that have happened in A.W. History and some of the people you weren't even aware were coming out. But at the same time, you're almost immediately able to draw from that ex-caliber brain and bring us the information that we need, bring fans that information of, you know, you may not have known this person was coming, you get to give the initial shock and then provide the audience with everything you know in that moment
about that person. And that I think takes a really talented commentator to make happen. Well, it's not something that was always there. I've mentioned it on a podcast before. I don't know if it was unrestricted or elsewhere. But you know, it's something that I had to learn the hard way because I was dynamite four or five when the butcher and blade emerged from under the ring. And I was like, oh my God, it's the butcher and blade. And Jim Roscoe's,
who are they? And what he meant was explain who these guys are, explain what they're doing there. But I just kept repeating, it's the butcher and the blade as if he didn't. And it's something that I'm still embarrassed by. But in something that I'm glad happened because it taught me a very important lesson that, yeah, I know who the butcher and the blade are. JR didn't know who they were. A lot of people that were watching the television show.
That was their first time seeing them. And so if I had been better prepared or, you know, had an answer that was ready to go. It's like, oh, these guys are, you know, the most interesting, there's the mercenaries I'll be wrestling. That's something that, you know, when these days, views happen, there's the initial shock. But then I have to think about, like, okay, how am I going to explain this person? I'm going to go back and watch that now.
It's freaking great, man, because I'm just sitting there like, wait, how did we build a hole into the ring? Like there were so many questions already had in that moment. It was great. This fantastic conversation. I'm learning so much. I love hearing just the different perspective for someone who's been around for so long. We've got a little bit more coming up here on AEW unrestricted, but first up, quick break.
AEW unrestricted Aubrey Will Excalibur. It's been five years of dynamite. And we've heard a lot of Excalibur's voice. He is the voice behind dynamite, the soundtrack to the AEW. And I'm so excited that we have him back for a second time on AEW unrestricted. So one of the things that I always wonder on paper of you day is when do you get a break? Because that's oftentimes six hours of wrestling. And no one can have a bladder that strong. So what's the secret?
Will power. No, we don't typically get breaks. It's just something that you just got to deal with. You got to persevere. And it's like being, those flights where the seats are five across. It's like seeing in that middle seat for six hours. You just can't get up and you can't use the restroom. So you just got to focus. It's a lot of zen, a lot of clenching. I don't know what the mail version of Kegels is, but it's a lot of that.
Yeah, it's not something that really bugs me until the end of the night. It's like when you're getting close to the finish line, I think never having run a marathon, I can't attest to this. But if you're 15 miles into the marathon, you're not really thinking about the finish line. You just think of one foot in front of the other. But when you're 22 miles of the marathon, you're like, all right, I know I'm getting close. And usually when the
main event gets in the ring, I'm like, all right. But routinely, many events are being the longest match of the minute. Right. Oh my God. So for you to be calling the matches you are as excellent as you are, knowing that you're in that physical state, I have even more respect to you now. Thank you. And the funny thing is that people ask me, it's like, well, you just must stop drinking drinking water or drinking anything at like two in the
afternoon. But it's speaking that much, you're, you know, you're, you're, you're spelling so much moisture from your mouth from your body. And then plus you're sweating, you know, you're in a suit under a mask in an arena under the lights. And you know, you're constantly, your body is as perspiring. So you're constantly. And I think really that's, that's what benefits me. I mean, having never really thought about the physiological aspects is that the amount
that I drink during a pay-per-view is actually just keeping myself level. It's not filling, filling everything up too much. At least I hope I don't know. The same amount in is the same as the outer kind of a thing. We don't disturb the balance. And the other side of that too is it has to increase tinful wearing a mask through it. It does. Yeah. It's, there was only one time that get really, really shaky was, I think
it was double or nothing. It was definitely during, it was in Jacksonville. I think it was one of the double or nothing's where it was so humid and so hot that even though I was sweating, you know, I wasn't, my body wasn't cooling down. And it was right as the main event started to get in the ring. I started to get light headed. And so I had to go, go off, you know, off camera and like pull off my mask and, you know, just take like a big, deep breath.
And then what I ended up doing was just took a bunch of ice cubes and put them in my mask and my mask back on and jumped in for the main event. And I don't know, I can't remember what show it is off the top of my head, but on air, J.R. turns me, he's like, you all right, kid? And I got it. And like we had this like weird, like all in or all out that year.
So one that was like super hot. It might have been, yeah, it might have been. And I, it was the first time I had worn that mask and what I had realized is like because of all like the sequence and stuff on it, the heat and the moisture couldn't escape as effectively. And so, you know, there's, there's masks that I wear when I know I'll only be calling wrestling for two hours. And then there's masks that I wear when I know I'll be calling wrestling for six hours.
Is that something that you specifically like go to your mask maker for like, hey, I need like a long, a long wear mask for this one. Use these sort of materials like, have it be something that I can wear for, you know, five plus hours? No, I, I mean, usually my request all the time, I mean, having, having learned from that experience is just, it needs to be breathable. It needs, it's, you know, it just needs to be comfortable for five hours. And so that was, that's, that's my,
my number one request above all else. And then everything else is kind of a delish choice. Damn. Oh, didn't even think about that. So I want to talk about Bola in January of 2023, because this is sort of one of the things that makes AEW great is that our people can kind of show up anywhere. And just to kind of set the scene like Chris Jericho and the Jericho Appreciation Society. Thank you for having me. This is my broadcaster mind kicking in and talking about pro wrestling
grill is 2023 battle wall sandals. Correct. Yes. Thank you for saying the full name correctly, just so we could make sure that we got the branding right. UWG Battle of Los Angeles. No, the way we should have done that is what's Bola? And then that's where you write. Right? It goes, it's, it's Bola. Anyway, just at the scene, Jericho and the Jericho Appreciation Society had shown up the night before is like a huge just surprise for the audience.
And then the next night on night two, they had a match was a tag match with you know, evil Uno, Jonathan Gresham, Kevin Blackwood, Michael O'Koo. There's someone else in there that I'm forgetting. SB. SB Ken To. SB Ken To. Yeah. Not to correct you, but they had shown up, they'd only shown up on
on night two that there's no, no indication on night one that would happen. So basically, Battle of Los Angeles is a two night, sometimes three tournament knockout elimination tournament in Purys and Gorilla that on the second night before the final round match goes, goes into the ring, there is a multi person match with all the people that were eliminated from the tournament on night one. It's one of the best matches of the entire weekend. I would say it's one of the most unique and
fun matches and a lot of surprises a couple of years ago. I mean, this is more than a decade ago, Juition Thunder Liger was in that the clips are all over you too. We've just looked up Liger, Bola, and really quick just for anybody who's not aware of your direct connection to PWG and kind of elaborating on that. So I am one of the co-founders of Purys and Gorilla began in 2003.
July of 2003 is basically the biggest independent promotion on the West Coast and it's where a lot of people like the Young Bucks, Scorpio Sky really kind of rose to prominence on a national level. And it's also where guys like Will Ospreay, Zach Sabre Jr. was really kind of the first time that they had a chance to break out in the United States. Kenny Omega was our world champion Brian
Danison was world champion for us. Kass only was world champion for us. So there was kind of been a who's who of professional wrestling that has come through pro wrestling gorilla through the years. And for a long time, it was it was the only alternative, you know, or not the only alternative, but it was it was part of the alternative of professional wrestling. It was a style of professional wrestling that was not represented on television where now the style that PWG kind of
pioneered or elevated is ubiquitous in professional wrestling. I mean, we just saw Will Ospreay and Ricochet have essentially what was a PWG match on free TV or you know on cable TV. So long story long, the big 10 person match at Bell Los Angeles Night 2 in 2023, all the the guys that were eliminated on the first night, they come out and everybody's waiting, waiting, waiting to see who comes out first. And I think it was first, June is starts playing. And then Daddy Magic
and Cool Hand come out, then Jake Hager comes out, then Sammy Ty and Anna Jay come out. And everybody's like I'm in my position is I'm right by the curtain, but I can see the fans that are sitting there on the right side. And people are just slowly losing their mind as they're realizing what's about to happen. And then finally everybody's looking at the curtain and as the true showman that he is, he takes a beat, takes an extra beat, takes a third beat, and then finally Jericho comes
through the curtain and the place erupts. And it was the thing that you know no one expected to happen, but because of PWG or because of AEW and its roots in you know not only places like Ring of Honor, but places like Pro Wrestling Gorillars, the thing that was still allowed to happen. And the genesis of it, which I don't know if you guys can see this, but this text was that text from 27 in the morning, Chris Jericho just said, I want to work PWG.
I liked that you took a screenshot of it. Well, because it was so ridiculous. And I just said, I mean, I was looking not just at the time stamp of that, but the date that was months in advance. That was quite some time prior. Yeah, it was actually, that's eight months. Eight to eight, nine months in the month. And so it was, you know, he kept on talking about it. And I was like, oh, Chris, you're full of shit. You know, that's never going to happen. And then
as it got closer, or you know, as time went on, Chris was like, no, I'm serious. I really want to do this. And I said, well, okay, I mean, here's this thing that we do on this tournament. He's like, that's perfect. We're going to do it. And so the backstage at the Globe Theatre in LA is not very large. And so what Chris did is he actually rented a party bus that went in the alley behind the
Globe and he used that as their locker room. And so those guys were all changing in there. And then I remember I saw Michael O'Koo in the afternoon and I said, are you ready for tonight? And he's like, yeah, I'm not even sure what I'm doing. I'm like, oh, you're wrestling Chris Jericho. He's like, whatever. And I'm like, oh, no, no, you're wrestling Chris Jericho. And like his face just dropped. And then, you know, he at the other night, I was like, hey, how was it?
You wrestled Chris Jericho and all you could do is just, man, I'm a wrestled Chris Jericho. Yeah. Such a good kid. Yeah. And so it was it was a really cool moment, but it wouldn't be possible without AEW. I mean, without without Tony A being so cool at things like this, but also too, Chris Jericho being so cool about things like this because he had said that, you know,
it'd been 25 years since he had wrestled in front of a crowd that size. And the thing was that on that night, and you know, I mean, as is commonplace with PWG, the size of the crowd belies, or I guess the noise of the crowd belies the size of the crowd because the routinely, so enthusiastic and so loud that you would think there's twice as many people in the building. And Chris, you know, Chris had said as much, he was like, he's like, I couldn't believe it when
he walked through the curtain. He said that he couldn't believe it when he walked through the curtain, how loud and how intense that was. Well, and it's like because there's the globe theater is such a beautiful building and because there's multiple stories, so you have all of this noise, just kind of funneling down towards the ring. It's an absolutely incredible spot and like
concert venue, you know, and it's not it's not a typical wrestling venue. Yeah. So it's all the energy is coming toward the stage and the stage happens to be where the ring is set up. It's such it's so cool. And like seeing stuff like that just makes me so happy to like work at a place like eight of you, where these ridiculous things that you never would have imagined could happen. And then now in 2024, we're just like, oh yeah, no, that makes sense. That's
totally something that would happen. But 10 years ago, like who would have thought you would see Chris Jericho at one of the premier independent organizations in wrestling. And he continues to do it time after time. He popped up in like in RevPro and the UK going down to CMLL. I mean, he's, you know, he's somebody that that eats lives sleeps and breeds professional wrestling and, you know, he's somebody that wants to leave the business better than than when he found it, you know.
And I think he's doing that. And I think also that's that really speaks to a large part of the philosophy of A.W. And you know, a lot of the veterans that we have here are here, you know, it's there's the the MLS, the Major League Soccer often gets knocked as the retirement league for European players. And, you know, if you were crass, you could say that about A.W. But, you know, being there day in and day out, that's definitely not the case. It's a place where these people are
coming to A.W. because they feel like they have more to give to professional wrestling. They have more to give to the next generation of professional wrestling. And just like the MLS has grown up and is no longer really retirement league, A.W. I mean, not to say that it ever was, but it is really just showing it time and time again when we add these people to our roster. It's not, you know, they're not just there to collect a paycheck. They're there to play a meaningful role. They're
there to impart knowledge on the next generation of pro wrestling. And that's that's something that's really cool to see on a firsthand basis, not only backstage, but on screen as well. So before we go, I have one more question. And we did just celebrate the five-year anniversary of Dynamite. So congrats to you both. We did just lock in a new TV deal. Congrats to you both. Congrats to us all. Congrats to us all. That was one of the best things about that day.
As everybody's walking around saying congratulations. Happy birthday. Like it was such a fun day. It filled us so much stuff. But that being said, it's been five years. We've all grown and changed quite a bit and become completely different people regardless of how long you've been in wrestling prior to AEW starting. So what would you say is the biggest difference with Excalibur at the five-year mark now compared to when you first started? And what do you want to see for Excalibur
in the next five years? I think five years ago I was just kind of reacting. You know, I was, I just kind of been like, oh shit, I'm, you know, like I'm between Jim Ross and Tony Shivani. I hope I don't screw up. I hope I don't, you know, I hope I don't make myself look bad. I don't
make the company look bad. And you know, because it was the early days of AEW and people were still, I mean, every time somebody tunes in, it's a judgment that they're making on whether I want to continue to watch this, whether it's a TV show or, you know, a scripted television show, whether it's pro wrestling, no matter what it is. And so, you know, that part of me that was very nervous is now replaced by more intentionality where I go in there saying like, okay, I want to do, these
are my goals during this broadcast. I want to, you know, I want to sell this paper view. I want to get people to tune in next week, but I also want to enhance these, these stories that are playing out on our program. I want to, I want to give people a chance to get to know these athletes and what, who they are and what motivates them and things like that. And that was something that maybe I was doing at the time, but it wasn't necessarily conscious. You know, whereas today,
it's more conscious. And I think if I'm lucky enough to be in this, you know, position five years from now, I think where I would like to be in 10 years of AEW is developing, helping develop the next generation of voices of of AEW and whoever could, you know, taking the knowledge that I've gained from JR, from Tash, Shavani, you know, from Nigel, from Ian, from Caprice, from everybody that that I get a chance to work with on air, taking all that knowledge, distilling it down and passing
those lessons along to whoever the next generation is. I think that is something that would be super rewarding, something that I hope I get the chance to do. I hope it's something you get the chance to do as well, especially considering since the last time you were here on this show, and it is an important point to note, you're a three time, three time, three time, an answer of the year, winner. And that, I think, is a strong testament to what you have brought to commentary on
all scales of professional wrestling and particularly on AEW TV. And we thank you for doing that for these last five years. And thank you for being a part of the show today. No, thank you guys. And Will, I'm glad, you know, Justin Roberts couldn't be here today, but he he perpetually reminds me about that and much to my chagrin. So I'm glad you were able to do it as well. Oh absolutely. There was no way I was going to let that get by here. Folks, keep checking out new
episodes of AEW unrestricted. It's available on all of your favorite podcast platforms. You can get it on Apple Podcast Spotify wherever you get your podcasts and you can check out video episodes of this show every Monday available on our YouTube channel, AEW unrestricted. Just do a search for that and hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode and catch up on all the latest AEW shows on the go when you download the TNT and TBS apps from the App Store and Google Play.
Then sign up for a weekly newsletter at tntdrama.com slash elite fleet to get updates on upcoming shows live events, sweepstakes, merchandise and more AEW Dynamite on TBS Wednesdays at 8 p.m. AEW rampage on Friday TNT 10 p.m. AEW collision live every Saturday on TNT and of course watch rawh.com for the latest RWH shows every Thursday on honor club. I'm Bill Washington. That's Aubrey Edwards for our guest, ex-caliber. We'll see you next time. Have a great day.
Come on, don't get ahead and let me see you.