Don’t let that final segment on RAW fool you; there was actually a lot of really great wrestling to end 2019 and kick off 2020! Buddy Murphy and Aleister Black continue to impress in their second outing, Andrade and Zelina are back on track with the United States Championship in tow AND MJF cut another fantastic promo. But it’s not all good news: AEW’s production has continued to slip in the past few months. We’ll examine why the company’s picture-in-picture strategy isn’t working for us. Plus: ...
Jan 04, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 188
Tights and Fights has a new shirt available at maxfunstore.com ! Happy Holidays! And there’s no better way to celebrate this special time a year with the most important holiday that coincidentally shares a date with all other holidays: Rusev Day! Comedian and Writer Joey Clift joins us to talk about the careers of Lana and Rusev. We’ll take a deep dive into all of it, from their early days as the Ravishing Russian commanding the Bulgarian Brute to crush all the way to the present with the instit...
Dec 28, 2019•57 min•Ep. 187
We’ve made it through one of the last times that significant wrestling events will happen in this decade! After a hard-fought main-event contest against Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley is now the first new NXT women’s champion in almost a year and a half. We’ll geek out about her major accomplishment in a somewhat inappropriate way. While that was the biggest event on Wednesday, there were tons of things worth tuning in for across both AEW and NXT. Jericho had an entertaining match with Jungle Boy; ...
Dec 21, 2019•40 min•Ep. 186
Grab that spare knee brace, and prepare to have your body parts yeeted! RAW women’s champion Becky Lynch and AEW’s women’s champion Riho may be in very different places in their career but they both have one thing in common: They haven’t been on TV that often. But we’ve got very different reactions to their scarce appearances that we’ll explain. Plus: NXT and AEW had their usual assortment of quality matches and story progression, including the reveal of new number one contenders. From Dynamite,...
Dec 14, 2019•56 min•Ep. 185
Keep your ears front, this podcast will never be enter picture-in-picture mode! It’s been a full week of wrestling and Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are ready to break it down. Seth Rollins is getting a lot of attention for his new character direction in his feud with Kevin Owens. And on the surface, it’s really smart of WWE to play into the crowd sentiment towards Rollins and turn him as an overeager leader of RAW. But we’ll talk about whether or not this is actually solving the problem with Seth f...
Dec 07, 2019•51 min•Ep. 184
What better way to celebrate the holiday season than with a whole bunch of wrestling! Hal and Lindsey break down the two biggest WWE shows from last weekend. First, NXT TakeOver: War Games. It featured two very different versions of the signature match, each with their own surprises and takes on the concept. We’ll explain how each match was such a brilliant showcase for each of the competitors. Plus, with most of the people on this show pulling double duty the next night, we’ll hope and pray tha...
Nov 30, 2019•55 min•Ep. 183
It’s the first ever Tights and Fights on SATURDAY! Join us as we take a look at the most recent episode of AEW Dynamite. In addition to some of the matches like Nick Jackson vs. Fenix and the developing feuds like Luchasauras vs. Jake Hager, we’ll take a look at how AEW should help its talent get better. Plus, while WWE definitely provides less freedom for talent to find themselves on their own, is it possible that their more strict regulations have actually helped some wrestlers find success in...
Nov 23, 2019•56 min•Ep. 182
This week Hal and Danielle have a special announcement: Tights and Fights is officially moving to SATURDAYS! In order to talk about NXT and AEW in a more timely manner, we’ll be moving our recording and publication days later in the week. Look forward to hearing us as part of your weekends! Speaking of AEW, this past weekend was their PPV “Full Gear.” We’ve got a lot of opinions to share on including our thoughts on MJF’s actions at the end of the World Title match, whether or not we have an app...
Nov 15, 2019•39 min•Ep. 181
This week: WAR! Now that NXT is going head to head (to head) with RAW and Smackdown at Survivor Series, Hal, Danielle and Lindsey geek out about the first steps towards this new invasion. It’s already led to a lot of great matches like Tommaso Ciampa vs. Miz and Daniel Bryan vs. Adam Cole. That’s not even mentioning the promise of more at the PPV itself like Shayna Baszler vs. Becky Lynch vs. Bayley. Plus: AEW Dynamite has made a lot of strides lately in improving its story segments across the l...
Nov 07, 2019•51 min•Ep. 180
This week Lindsey and Danielle embrace the last week of wrestling before Blood Money Jewel and its fall out is upon us. Speaking of the Saudi show, news came through prior to our recording that Natalia and Lacey Evans would be allowed to take part in a match at the event. However, this doesn’t solve all of the issues we have with the show. Far from it. On the positive side, Finn Balor now has an exciting new direction as a heel for the first time in his WWE tenure. We’ll explain why this is the ...
Oct 31, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 179
This week Hal and Lindsey are joined by Bill Hanstock . He’s known for his wrestling writing in Uproxx and SBNation. But now he’s got a new project: a book about the complete and comprehensive history of WWE. Yeah. In addition to getting all the details about that, we’ll also talk about a bunch of recent wrestling programming. For one, RAW had no women’s matches. It certainly didn't make the show easier to watch, especially as the build to the Saudi show is in full swing. What did get us excited...
Oct 24, 2019•52 min•Ep. 178
Show: Tights and Fights This week Danielle, Lindsey and Mike break down tons of Wednesday night’s AEW and NXT. This week Danielle, Lindsey and Mike take a look at the October 9th editions of AEW Dynamite and NXT. Perhaps the biggest story detail from AEW was the introduction of Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle. Sammy Gueverra, LAX and Jake Hager are on the list of Le Champion. We explain our reservations with one of the members faction and marvel at the sight of Jericho as the very top guy of a comp...
Oct 17, 2019•55 min•Ep. 177
This week Hal and Danielle are joined by Jacquis Neal from the Culture Kings podcast . After months of build up, AEW and NXT are officially live in primetime on Wednesday Night on TNT and USA, respectively. Naturally, the two shows are going to be compared a lot but, more importantly, they’re going to be appreciated for the entertaining programs that they are. We do a bit of both, looking at the matches that we enjoyed, nitpicking the things that need work and explaining why Wednesday night may ...
Oct 10, 2019•56 min•Ep. 176
This week Hal Danielle and Lindsey take a look at the season premiere of RAW. With AEW and NXT going live, SURELY the flagship program of the WWE would come out swinging, right? We’ll discuss how we felt about everything, from the brand new set to storylines, to the surprising lack of wrestling for most of the show. The good news of course is that if RAW isn’t doing it for you, there are plenty of new wrestling shows to entertain you. And last week NXT showed that it will continue to deliver the...
Oct 03, 2019•49 min•Ep. 175
This week Hal Danielle and Lindsey take a look at the first week of NXT on USA. Tons of great wrestling got a chance to shine, including Candice LeRae who now has a shot at the NXT women’s title on Oct. 2nd. Not only that, but the Undisputed Era now holds every men's title on the brand. With Roderick Strong defeating Velveteen Dream for the North American title, it looks like NXT has its central antagonists for once their on for a full two hours. Plus: with NXT now on live TV, more people under ...
Sep 26, 2019•41 min•Ep. 174
This week Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Rachel Millman . She’s one of the founders of the "WrestleSplania" podcast. She’ll explain how her journey into wrestling led to her starting the podcast and how she plans to reboot the show in the coming weeks. Clash of Champions This past weekend, WWE held "Clash of Champions," the final PPV before they air three live televised wrestling programs every week. Seth Rollins may have lost on of his championships, but he is still the Intercontinental Cha...
Sep 19, 2019•53 min•Ep. 173
This week Hal, Danielle, and Lindsey are joined by RJ City . He’s an actor, comedian and wrestling raconteur across the international scene. RJ is involved in a lot of different avenues of entertainment.That’s given him a lot versatility as a performer since he learns a lot from working with so many different audiences. But it’s also made him acutely aware of the different… physical requirements with wrestling compared to being a stand up comic. He’ll explain. Plus, he’ll tell us all about why h...
Sep 12, 2019•55 min•Ep. 172
This week Hal, Danielle, Lindsey and Mike are reunited to discuss All Out! It’s AEW’s last show before they go live on TNT in October. The brand still had a few surprises in store. That included the debuts of LAX and Orange Cassidy; fan favorites from the international wrestling scene who have an opportunity to make a name for themselves on a bigger stage. Plus there was the somewhat surprising coronation of Chris Jericho as the AEW champion. But we all agree that the best moment of this story c...
Sep 05, 2019•55 min•Ep. 171
This week Hal and Danielle are joined by Ify Nwadiwe ! He’s the host of the Max Fun podcast Who Shot Ya? and a life-long wrestling fan that never took the PSAs to "Not try this at home" seriously. Now that AEW’s All Out show is just around the corner, the panel will discuss the career of one of the competitors for AEW World Championship: Chris Jericho. He’s been known as Y2J, Lionheart, The Alpha and a bunch of other nicknames. We’ll go through all of the major phases of his wrestling career to ...
Aug 29, 2019•59 min•Ep. 170
This week Hal and Danielle are joined by Travis McElroy ! He’s one-third of podcasting’s most famous brotherhood as the middlest brother on My Brother, My Brother and Me and The Adventure Zone . Travis joins us to talk about his experience as a lapsed fan of wrestling and as a fan of the Netflix series GLOW. With season 3 now available to stream, what did everyone think? Was it as strong as the previous seasons? And how much longer should the show continue? Plus, Lindsey joins us to discuss the ...
Aug 22, 2019•55 min•Ep. 169
This week, Hal Danielle and Lindsey discuss one of the busiest weeks of wrestling in recent memory. Despite all of the solid wrestling across WWE’s shows, one character has captured the imagination of people more than anything else: Bray Wyatt as The Fiend. From the entrance to the music to his destruction of Finn Balor, the character is bars. We’ll break down what makes it work. Plus, WWE managed to recapture some goodwill after another solid TakeOver, having Seth Rollins pin Brock Lesnar clean...
Aug 15, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 168
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains frank discussion of sexual assault from 4:57 to 5:57. This week, Hal Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Emily and Dann Read from Pro Wrestling: EVE . It’s one of the most prominent all-women wrestling organizations in the world. Recently, EVE announced that they would be embarking on a first-of-its-kind venture in wrestling: partnering with a union to make sure its performers gain representation. They’ll discuss how long the deal has been in the works and w...
Aug 08, 2019•49 min•Ep. 167
This week, Hal Danielle and Lindsey are joined by DJ Accident Report , Lady Bearica Andrews and Ariel Italic . They’re collectively known as The Nobodies on their YouTube series where they breakdown wrestling events. Bearica and Ariel are both relatively new fans while Accident Report has watched since childhood. And since they started their show they’ve learned something very important: the venn diagram of the world of drag and the world of wrestling is a very large circle. They’ll explain why ...
Aug 01, 2019•51 min•Ep. 166
This week, Hal Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Mike Quackenbush . He’s the head of the Philadelphia-based promotion Chikara . In just a few months, Chikara will be host to the largest pro-wrestling tournament in the world: King of Trios. Mike will tell us about which teams he’s excited to see. Mike is also known as a reputable trainer in the wrestling business. He’s worked with tons of well-known stars like Drew Gulak and Aleister Black. Even though he’s still a busy guy, he says that going t...
Jul 25, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 165
This week, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by their long-absent co-host Mike Eagle! Aside from putting on a great television show The New Negroes , where has he been all this time? He’ll explain everything, including why the return of Hulk Hogan to WWE led to him swearing off the company for the foreseeable future. But luckily for us, All Elite Wrestling’s rise has provided him with a new televised wrestling product that he’s been able to enjoy and critique. He and the team will take a close loo...
Jul 18, 2019•53 min•Ep. 164
This week, Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Rob Van Dam . Through his 30 year career, he’s been seen in dozens of wrestling promotions and been a champion for just about all of them. He’s perhaps best known for his time in WWE where he was a multiple time Intercontinental and tag champion before he beat John Cena for the WWE Title in 2005. RVD is also known for being one of the original founding performers of Extreme Championship Wrestling. While he doesn’t think ECW content will ever be ...
Jul 11, 2019•54 min•Ep. 163
This week, Hal, Danielle and Lindsey discuss AEW’s sophomore event, Fyter Fest. While, there was tons of great wrestling and promos throughout the entire show, there was also an unprotected chair-shot to the head Cody Rhodes that overshadowed a lot of the other good things on the card. But that’s not to say there wasn’t stuff to be excited about too. MJF, Jungle Boy, The Lucha Bros. and others had great showings and we’ll discuss what stood out to us… and what we’re still not sure about. Plus, i...
Jul 04, 2019•49 min•Ep. 162
This week, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Emily Pratt She’s a wrestling writer and reporter for Uproxx . There’s a lot of things to be really excited about right now, including the G1 Climax! The tournament kicks off next month and the card is STACKED! There are plenty of big returns advertised and incredibly talented performers facing throughout. Whether it’s KENTA vs. Ibushi or Okada vs. Archer, expect a lot of geeking out. On the WWE side, there’s also the prospect of Samoa Joe taking on ...
Jun 27, 2019•58 min•Ep. 161
This week, Hal and Danielle are joined by David F. Walker and Brett Weldele . They are the writer and artist (respectively) behind the new comic series "One Fall." The book is all about a third-generation wrestler who fights for survival and profit in a world of supernatural creatures who all want the honor of killing him in the ring… again. They’ll tell us all about their project, how they became wrestling fans and the finer points of the best bars to watch wrestling at. The Beatdown: Rey Myste...
Jun 20, 2019•54 min•Ep. 160
This week, Hal and Danielle are rejoined by Adam Pranica . He’s the host of the fellow Max Fun Podcasts "The Greatest Generation," "The Greatest Discovery," and "Friendly Fire." He joins the team to discuss one of the most important and storied figures in the history of wrestling: Ric Flair. He’s known as a 16-time world champion, a classic wrestling figure, and the father of Charlotte Flair. We take a look at his life and career form some of his best matches, most rambling promos, what made him...
Jun 13, 2019•59 min•Ep. 159
