The Worst Secret In the World

streaming on Twitter YouTube. However you're joining me today, I'd just like to say say thank you if I can actually get those words out. It's hot, folks. Usually this is when I say, hopefully, wherever you are, it's sonny outside, and if not, hopefully it's sunny inside your mind. Sonny here on Del Marva, very sonny, it's very hot, and hopefully wherever you are, if the son is out, you're getting some sort of calm, northeasterly breeze, because man, it

is sweltering out there right now. We're on that don't know what it's like where the Big Boss Man Brian Alvarez is right now. But wherever it is, I'm sure he's happy taking another day off. He'll be back with me tomorrow. But as you know, it's Thursday, and you

know what that means a lot to get into. Last night ae W Dynamite, we have got the worst secret in the world ended up being revealed, and that is Pac and Coda Abushi being members of the respective teams for Blood and Guts, which is coming up next week in Boston. It all broke down and let itself be known during the main event segment of the show and the BCC and Don Kallis and Knoski Takeshna try to pilmanize poor Kenny Omega inside of a steel chair, but

he stopped him. So guess what, Pac just attacked me with that steel chair. He's helping you. I got a member that's going to be joining us as well too. And then the video played It was Codo Bushie and again not a surprise to anybody, but it does make everybody happy. So we're going to be talking about that. We have Rush saying that he now is going to show up for the Triple A Triple Mania Leg two show taking place in Tijuana. It's gonna be an incredibly

busy weekend. And then a little later on in the show, author Emily Sweeney will be joining me to talk about her new book, Dropkick Murphy. So we'll get it started when we get back from break Wrestling Observer Live. Welcome back to the show. Mike Simper bb here with you. You know, we do this show right here for an hour at a time every single day. But if you want to try to find us twenty four to seven, you can do so on either Twitter, Instagram, or threads.

I don't have everybody's Instagram or threads, so I'm just gonna go ahead and give you mine. It's at semp on every platform. That's how you can go ahead and find me. And since Brian's not here, I'll tell you to make the Wrestling News part of your day. Everything you need to know to get your day started, get you up to date, or get you to your favorite

review pod like Wrestling Observer Radio. A brand new version of that is up for subscribers, with Brian and Dave posted up this morning talking about aw Dyne Mite Well really, it's just Dave talking about aw Dyne might because unfortunately Brian did not have a chance to see the show when they had recorded. So you know that's how that goes. But back to my plug daily free between five and fifteen minutes every single day, no clickfait, no speculation, no rumors,

no paywall, just the Wrestling News. For more information, head on over to the Wrestling News dot com and at Wrestling News on AV, Wrestling News AV on Facebook and Twitter, ASMR kids. There it goes. Look, I obviously need the caffeine just to start this show off. Here here I go delicious. I like that new Red Bull flavor I do. Probably not the best thing to drink when it's nine thousand degrees outside. That's okay. I get some water here too.

I'm gonna balance everything out, don't worry about that. Try to get this show back on balance. NXT is always balanced. Every time you look at NXT, they're balanced when it comes to their ratings. The Major League Baseball All Star Game took place on Tuesday, did not take anything really out of the USA Network at all, as NXT scored the third highest total audience of the year for the show, as well as the second highest key demographic rating of

the year. A total of six hundred and seventy one thousand viewers tuned in, up nearly a third from last week's audience of five hundred and eight thousand. The rating in the eighteen to forty nine year old demographic was point two zero, representing two hundred and fifty six thousand viewers, and that's up more than fifty percent from last week's point one three key demo rating. So there is I mean again, we talked about it yesterday. We've talked about

it over and over again. Talk about getting hot at the right time, talk about putting your best foot forward and making an incredible imprint into things. When it comes to WWE and their future television deal prospects, obviously they're trying to pitch NXT as a third brand on par with Raw and SmackDown. Now, they're not going to get that kind of money for it, but if your USA network.

And again we talked about it when they were having all of those media and telecom conferences that Nick con went and spoke at a month or two ago, and he talked about how great that of a partner that NBC Universal always has been and how great Peacock is for him. But you know, we're really great for Peacock too, And I've got the numbers, and I told them I wouldn't give those out to anybody, because you know that's how good a partners we are. But we know how

important we are to you. And not only that, he also mentioned the fact that you know your ratings are looking pretty good right now, and that's probably because of us. Let me tell you something. I know that they're trying to get Amazon into the mix, and maybe they do end up with SmackDown on Friday. I still don't think

that that's a good move at all for WWE. I still think them sticking with Fox and writing with that is going to be their best option, staying on network TV, continuing to get the attention that they are now continuing to be propped up as you know, of a failing primetime TV schedule. And when you look at the primetime TV schedule, how many are game shows, how many are reality shows? How many are a different show but in

the same city. Because there's Chicago, Men in Chicago fire and Chicago this in Chicago that you got, ncis Bakersfield, ncis Tuscaloosa and all of this stuff, and they're SmackDown and SmackDown, pulling almost the number that WWE had guaranteed Fox the one point zero eighteen to forty nine key demo rating number. They got a point nine to seven last time around. So to me, them sticking with Fox and SmackDown, to me, is the best way to go

about things. But they have I'm not saying that they have NBC Universal and the USA Network over a barrel, but if you were USA, what are you replacing that with? What have your successes been? What has been going on good for you? Besides WWE RAW and NXT. You don't have Below Deck, you don't have vander pump roles. What do you have? You have those shows that are kind of propping up their original quote unquote content that they have there on that network. So eventually, look, I don't

know how much they're going to get. We've talked about it. You know that Nick con Is is trying to downplay things and saying, hey, you know, we're hoping for one and a half, and man, we think we can get you know, two times the amount. But you know, we got to be easy about this. I have a feeling from NBC they're going to kick out whatever they need to keep Raw and to keep USA on there on Mondays and Tuesdays because obviously, number one, they're hot right now.

And again, if you don't have anything else to try to fill the void with, look, Fox can, Fox can just once this thing is over, just kind of turn their noses up and go, Okay, we're gonna put this here. It may not do the eighteen to forty nine numbers that SmackDown does, but Fox is going to continue to roll on. They could put sports on there on a Friday night and make that look because that was part of this whole deal to begin with, was SmackDown was

going to be the start of their weekend. You know, you get baseball on Saturdays in the summertime, as ball comes and you're gonna get your Big ten game of the week, and you're gonna get whatever it's going to be that they're going to show on Saturday nights, and then on Sunday you have the NFL. So they could easily put and again I have to see when the

Peacock Big ten game is. They would have an issue there, But there are plenty of other things that they can go ahead and put on there that right now, USA can't. So I have a feeling that no matter what USA and NBC Universal, they're going to end up remaining with WWE. What happens in a couple of years when it comes to the streaming deal and Peacock and where we are, then you know that's something we're gonna have to see. We got to see how all these streaming services play

out anyway. But like, look, if if Fox is serious about maybe taking two B and turning that into a pay service like a Peacock or a Disney Plus or something like that, you know it would be nice. It would be a great boost to and then immediately bring over the entire WWE library and say here you go. Apparently nickn knows those numbers, but he won't tell them to anybody, but he knows they're worth. We'll see what happens.

Rushe is somebody that knows his worth. I think he was trying to flex that on Triple A and our own Brian Rose posted this up on the main page. Rushe is going to be at Triple Mania this weekend. On Wednesday night, Rush posted a video confirming that he would be a part of this weekend's Triple Mania event in Tijuana, where he has set to team with La Park against Sam Madonnas and Psycho Clown and and Dom judge me on this in the finals of a Guerrera Day reval Dades tournament. How'd I do?

The team that loses the match this Saturday will then face each other in a mask versus hair match at the third and final Triple Mania event that will take place in Mexico City on August twelfth. Now, Dom, you know what, I'll save this I think till coming after break. But have you heard that the Denver Broncos and the Rustling Organization CMLL have gotten together. I have not.

myself here on Wrestling Observer Live. Back on the show, Mike send for vv here with you Wrestling Observer Live. Big boss Man Brian Alvarez will be back tomorrow on Friday. Until then, if you want a little bit more of me, you can find the mid Atlantic Championship Podcast across social media at mid Atlantic Pod. Free feed for the show is available wherever you find your favorite podcast, or at mid Atlantic pod dot com. And if you like what you hear, I encourage you to join the show's Patreon

at Patreon dot com slash mid Atlantic Podcast. If you like reading and learning about wrestling history, or just like hearing a good story, it's a great place for you, Patreon dot com, Slash mid Atlantic Podcast, and the Adam and Mike Big Audio Nightmare is It is the longest running Japanese based professional wrestling show anywhere in the world, and it's only available for subscribers at fourw online dot com, head on over to the Wrestling Observer dot com, or

wherever you find your favorite podcast. Our seventeenth consecutive at least on this website. Look at the g one Climax Tournament is up right now. We go match by match, we go pick by pick, and we see what happens at the end, and we see who comes out as our predictions for the g One Climax Tournament are all up there at the Edamin Mike Big Audio Nightmare you can find on the front page of the site. Now, Dom, you're still there, I'm ready for you to butcher some

some words. Mike. This is on now, This is on Broncos and Espagnol. All right, already right there. You know it's going to be bad attention on Rudosi, Technicols and Broncos Country. I don't know. Also, why I go into a fake soccer announcer voice when I do this too. It just I don't know, but.

It's got to be the Cowboys and the Raiders. And as you mentioned during the break, it's got to be the San Francisco forty nine ers, right, I mean all of them. I don't think Denver and think, you know, boy, this is the this is the group that needed to work with CMLL. I don't know. I don't know about that one.

handled the pressure and the expectations well. Again, it also was really good having him in there with Swerve, somebody who he's been in the ring with, I would imagine tons of times.

on with Darby Allen. Obviously, Darby Allen is going to be playing into that Swerve attacked him during his match. Darby goes out there and Nix his you know, nixt his guy, his friend. You know, he's the one who's kind of kind of overseeing him here, and I have to see what happens. They did show Nick's mom a lot during the match. I don't say a lot, but they showed her you know, two three times during it. They made sure that swerve was in her face at

the end of the match. I have a feeling, and I tell you what, Prince Nana he was in been in the business a long time. I'm sure he's been hit hard by somebody. I've heard rumors here. You don't want to get hit by Mamawaane. So I have a feeling that we'll see what happens here, We'll see what the hell the whole plan plays out. But you know, again, this could be incredibly entertaining. I saw Nick Wayne at GCW shows and that's the first time that I had ever seen him live work, and I had seen clips

of him working out with Brian way back. Brian was making one of the comebacks. I can't remember what it was, and he sent me a video and I could not believe it. And it's like, how old is that kid? And he was I don't know what the time, fourteen or whatever it was, and it was like thirteen maybe, and it's like this kid is won. You're short and

this kid is tall and he was moving. I mean, you saw it last night during the video package that they had where he's such a He's like sixty years old and he's doing RNA's on Buddy and Lakess is on Buddy, and it was just it was it was crazy to see him. And as soon as Avery saw him, he wanted to be a wrestler, not that he didn't want to, you know, maybe want to be a wrestler before, but he saw Nick Wayne, saw somebody two years older than him, you know, looks like him a little bit,

and was like, I want to do that. I like this guy. This is my dude. And that's what Nick Wayne's gonna have going for him. It's Billy Starks is gonna have going for her, you know, when they expose her more on the aw roster. I think she's on the roh side right now, but at some point she's going to be there. Two eighteen year old kids with just five tools, you know, as far as being prospects, they are blue chip prospects here and we're going to

get to see their evolution happen on national TV. And I would never suggest to anyone that you get your kid in the wrestling business under the age of eighteen. In fact, in some places there should probably be laws and rules around that. And I know that there were people that when Nick and Billy started to make more of a name on the independent scene, people kind of turn their nose up at it. And I get it, I do get it. But because there's a lot of

predators in the wrestling business. There's a lot of garbage in the wrestling business, especially on the independent level. There's a lot of drugs, there's a lot of bad influence, there's a lot of nonsense. You don't want your kid exposed to that. You don't want to send your kid off for trading. That type of mentality I don't get. But these are two people that again, and the only thing I don't know the lucha scene, But I know, look,

kids start thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, it'll be minis. You know, Raymisterio started as a mini and then you know, as he started to grow, you know, that's when he took on the Raymisterio Junior name, you know, from his uncle, Raymisterio Senior and all that. And that's the only thing I can I can try to equate, you know, starts and Wayne to Yes, Nick's father has passed away, but let me tell you something, you don't want to cross

Mama Wayne. And on top of that. There's just a lot of people that really care about that kid because Buddy was such a good guy, because Buddy did influence so many of those guys. You think Craig Proper is going to let anything happen to Buddy Wayne. Hell no, you think Garby Allen or Swerve Strickland or about a zillion people, you know, No, absolutely not. And they were very well protected. Same thing with Billy Starks and her father being a photographer or stepfather being a photographer. He

would be there at all the shows. We met her mother, you know, wonderful lady. And those two kids are the exception to the rule. And there's somebody I think that aaw is really going to be able to get some make some really great hay out of because there are kids like my kid who see them. And again, wrestling, you want to identify with somebody. That was one of the whole points of bringing in more diversity into the writer's rooms. It's one of the reasons that you want

more diversity. You do want somebody that you can identify with and go, that's my dude, you know, or that's my person, that's the person I want to root for, you know, And again. They have that with Nick Wayne and they and I think they're gonna have that with Billy Starks. And I tell you a lot of pressure on Nick right now. You know, obviously being on national TV your whole career. There's not many examples of this. You know, a Ketsuhikinakajima was one case in Noah recently,

but there's not there's not a lot of this. Tommy Rich is a good example of it though. When WTBS started in nineteen seventy six and went up on the on the satellite, one of the big things that they did, which unfortunately did not make it to tape, was Abdullah the Butcher killing Tommy Rich, you know, killed him. But

then it was the fight that he showed. It was the expressions he showed on his face which Nick showed, and they went through a series and then finally he beat Abdullah the Butcher, and then that really sealed a deal with him being the most over guy not only in the state of Georgia, but anybody that had a TV that was watching WTBS. Coming up after the break, author Emily Sweeney to talk about her great book, Dropkick Murphy, available through Hamilcar Publications. Back on the show, Mike simperviv

here with you Wrestling Observer Live. Brian Alvherez. We'll be back with me tomorrow, but right now, it's my pleasure to introduce our next guest. Emily Sweeney's the author of several nonfiction books, including Boston Organized Crime and Gangland Boston, as well as writing for the Boston Globe newspaper. A journalist known for taking people through time to recount the often violent adventures of nefarious people from Boston's organized crime scene.

Her new book, Dropkick Murphy, A Legendary Life, shines a light on a man who really was a shining light in Emily, How are you today?

And so, you know, writing this book and learning all about you know, professional wrestling, you know, Dropkick Murphy was active in the thirties and forties, and just learning about, you know, how wrestling was back then was just really really interesting.

high school football game. They're more dazzled by him being the drummer of the band. And it seemed like that continued throughout his wrestling career and into his his medical work, where he just seemed like a light or a crystal that people just could not like help but be drawn to.

he was. He would wrestle at night, and then he put himself through four years of medical school that way during the day, going to classes and labs, and he successfully graduated, you know, and then obviously went on to you know, open up detox center for alcoholics.

you went and looked back, what was it like? Because you write about it in the book about the fact that there was no alcoholics anonymous, there was no narcotics anonymous or any of that sort of stuff. There were these types of getaway relaxation forms for people, but there really was nothing. I mean, this book is really a lot of it's about the evolution of recovery and his part that he played in it, being so again being

so forward looking without ever even knowing about it. Can you kind of talk a little bit about just kind of the times and what made him want to help people so much where it seemed like there were so many others that would always turn people away because of their alcoholism.

fitness classes. This is like the nineteen forties, you know what I mean, you know, before like you know, gym memberships were like really you know, mainstream, and he was really ahead of his time and really enjoyed helping people. And I think that's why he went to medical school

as well. And there was definitely a need because you know, he ran the Fellows farm for decades and had steady business throughout, so clearly there was like a need for you know, this type of you know service, like having a place to go to dry out and to also you know be among you know, your peers too for support. And yeah, yeah, it's pretty incredible.

sort of thing. It was really seemingly about getting these people together because they were all really in the same boat, whether they were you know, businessmen or bankers or whatever that led them there.

he had like politicians, all kinds of people. And drop Kick actually was very clear eyed about it too, you know, he's you know, looking back, he said he wasn't sure, you know, he wasn't looking to cure anybody of alcoholism, but he did want to just provide a place where somebody could go and you know, get a break, and you know what, if they continued to be sober, great, If not, he'd probably see them in a few more months,

you know what I mean. But you know, it was uh, you know, it was a service that was really needed, you know, And and yeah, yes, pretty incredible and like like you said, he was really forward thinking, you know what I mean, kind of ahead of his time.

air of you. There was a story about a guy who he was uh that that that that dropkick was fond of, that got a ride from Prince Edward Island two hundred and ninety dollars cab fare, which god knows what that is adjusted for inflation. But he would seemingly do those things for I don't want to say for everybody, but anybody that came around that he felt, you know, really was trying or really he felt something about, he would really go out of their way to help them.

right now, it's a wrestling show. Okay, wrestlers went through. Surely, wrestlers probably did go through, But it was the boxers that came as a getaway to train the same way that you know that the custom model would have his place in the cat Skills or people go to dig Bear to train before Dala Hoya before a big fight. His location because of all the state of the VR equipment and because of a apparently the best masuse on

the planet. Guys would go up there and get ready for big championship fights.

spa and everything. So, I mean that's another interesting twist to it all too, because you know, it was like this interesting, really interesting place because you had all these guys who were you know, bleary eyed drying out from being drunk, and then you had like these elite athletes who are like training like you know, feet away from them. So it was it was interesting, that's for sure.

the whole place, and Dropkick thought about it. And even though like it was like a very generous offer, you know, Jackie was willing to pay top Jalla, you know, Dropkick you know decline, you know, declined his offer because he didn't want to close up shop, you know what I mean, because he had to study, you know, study in flow of patients coming in all the time, and you know, he didn't want to turn anybody away.

how much did they help you out with this? And did you have any idea what it was going to be like when you started to go back through history and kind of start, you know, looking back and retelling the tale of the Dropkick portion of John Murphy's life.

number one. And then also professional wrestling back then, you know, I mean, especially following Dropkicks career wasn't exactly you know, documented perfectly, but you know, talking to guys like Julian

Schabaz it was so helpful. I talked, you know, had phone conversations and exchanged emails with him and and all the you know, wrestling historians before me who like helped dig up information, you know, I you know, I I relied on you know, you know a lot of their work, you know, and then also just digging through old newspaper archives and looking up old state laws. Yeah, like I mean,

you know, professional wrestling was regulated so differently. Some places it wasn't regulated you know, different state by state, could change year to year. It was uh yeah, it was. Yeah, it was quite a research project from BACA, that's for sure.

anywhere you buy books, Amazon and all that sort of stuff. Emily, I thank you so much for hanging with me during the break. Look, I gotta be honest here. As I'm reading the book, I kept waiting for a shoe to drop on this guy's life, like something bad is going to be said, something he did something. There was seemingly nothing, and his family loved them and they accepted what he was doing. And they again he says, it taught his kids a lot of humanity doing what he was doing.

Was there any negative at all that you saw going through this journey and finding out about Murphy?

a really incredible story. And you know, I hope books who are interested in wrestling will check it out because you know, I think he's a little overlooked, you know, in the wrestling world, and I'm hoping the book changes out a bit.