Too much wrestling

Wrestling is terrible and Jeff has always remembered that when he referenced it in the pre-Dan days. Now that Dan is aboard, we get so much more enthusiastic wrestling mentions on the podcast, in videos, or in Dan's Twitter feed, that if people were to say "hey Dan, wrestling is terrible so stop talking about it", I think that would be the end of Dan on this website and I don't want that. Still, wrestling is terrible and needs to be enjoyed ironically at all times (unless you are talking about Miss Elizabeth bringing Hulk Hogan from backstage to save Macho Man from the Hart Foundation and the Mega Powers forming, in which case that is a top 10 moment of the human race).

I don't mind it that much, personally. Sure, I'm not a hardcore fan or anything, but it's decent white noise for me. I don't HAVE to understand everything they're talking about. I just like to imagine.

This. It's like Brad with DOTA 2...the crew have their hobbies that they'll bring up. Brad at least figured out that nobody wants to see DOTA 2 on GB, so he stopped doing that, but I'm pretty sure there's lots of wrestling fans on GB, even if they only watch to see how much worse WWE can get.

It's pretty easy to avoid wrestling on Giant Bomb, I know because I do it. This is part of the reason we keep all non-gaming discussions in Off Topic - if you only want to see gaming stuff, turn Off Topic view off in your preferences pane and you won't see the Anime, Wrestling, or other topics that aren't related to games.

If they stopped talking about it i wouldnt hear about its insanity by proxy and thus lose the only way i enjoy wrestling. :(

I don't watch wrestling and I've never been fan of it, yet I listen to every Powerbombcast and enjoy it quite a bit

I stopped giving any kind of a shit about wrestling somewhere between the ages of 18-20 but the wrestling references don't bother me at all. The only thing I find odd is Dan's insistence on filtering everything through wrestling when talking about other topics. It doesn't bother me and find it more baffling than anything and sometimes it brings about gloriously dumb and hilarious conversations so it works out in the end I say. I would rather have the dudes talk about something they really enjoy, even if it's super dumb then another bout of negativity or shitting on things they don't care to even try to understand. That always bummed me out more then wrasslin' talk.

Also, the 16th president of the united states, a guy you might of heard about called Abraham Lincoln use to wrestle in his youth and was quite good at it. So when you insult wrestling, you insult America and one of our greatest presidents and I can't abide by that sir. NOT ONE BIT.

So let the Danimania run wild I say, wild and free all over you brother.

The title of this thread makes no sense.

The stages of me reacting to this thread.

If it was less WWE talk it wouldn't be that bothersome, other not shitty wrestling exists.

I really don't care about wrestling. To quote Dan's dad - "It's the dumbest thing in existence. Not trying to exaggerate for comedic effect, it's really stupid". Might be paraphrasing here, but I completely agree with him.

Honestly, though - hearing Dan talk about it is okay, cause he's genuinely excited about it. I can't really complain about it if someone enjoys it that much, even if I think it's really dumb.

Jeff, though - holy crap, that's entirely different. He hates wrestling now, but still watches it for some reason. Dude seems to thrive off of any and all forms of cynicism. He can be really funny and insightful at times, but for some reason - he seems to gravitate towards things that he hates and loves to rant about them. He barely mentions or talks about things he likes. Only occasional mentions of "it's pretty good". Nowhere near the same level of enthusiasm as when he talks about stuff he doesn't like.

I agree, the wrestling discussions are a bit too frequent on the podcast and I wish they'd cut down on it. Brad doesn't squash it anywhere near fast enough, he jokes about it but then does nothing. Dan needs to stop comparing everything to fucking wrestling.

It's especially annoying because the Powerbombcast exists. There is already an avenue to talk about wrestling!

Wrestling is complete garbage, and I'm pretty confident in saying that. The wrestling talk on GB hasn't offended me as of yet, but I really don't care when they do talk about it. Except that phone game Jeff keeps playing, that's hilarious and he can talk about that whenever.

I do have to say I think for non-Americans it's probably way worse, as virtually no-one here gives a shit about it (and rightly so).

As someone who stopped watching/paying attention to wresting in the early aughts (2000's), I some what enjoy the brief talk they have about it on the bombcast. It reminds me why I stopped watching it, and that I will never, ever watch it again.

I haven't watched wrestling in over a decade. I absolutely love hearing them talk about stupid wrestling crap. And that is not sarcasm.

I'd rather listen to wresting talk then ever have to hear about Dota 2 or Destiny ever again and I don't even particularly like any of those subjects.

If I was some kind of omnipresent statistician with an infinite amount of time, I would listen to every podcast and video featuring Dan to see how often he actually references wrestling. I am pretty sure it would be less of "he brings it up all the time and filters EVERYTHING through it" and more of "he brings it up a few times, just as much as Jeff brings up hip-hop, home ownership, and weird observations about his hometown that most listeners do not live in." Seriously, he doesn't actually do it all that often.

I think it just stands out to so many people because they just hate wrestling. It is kind of like how a lot of people like to bring up how Dan's favorite Terminator movie is Terminator 3 or how in the 2011 GOTY, Brad whined and filibustered for four hours until Skyrim won Game of the Year. Anyone who goes back and listens to these discussions will quickly realize that these perceptions are insanely wrong. I think they are created due to the emotions and popular opinions involved making modern Giant Bomb myths. It is okay to hate wrestling, but I stand by my opinion that Dan isn't as bad with talking about it as those who hate it make it seem.

What I am trying to say is that we should create a race of all powerful and omnipresent statistical super people.

So many people have said what I wanted to say about rather hearing wrestling than Dota 2 or Destiny talk, that makes me very happy. I care more about dumb out of place wrestling talk than Dota 2 or Destiny talk, though Dota 2 business has been pretty quiet for a while as has Destiny chatter after the final GOTY podcast came to a sad deranged end.

Without the wrestling talk there'd be less laughs and shits and giggles and shorter podcasts, things would be a bit more on topic, but you know what? Nothing shines as much as men partaking in their passion, be it talking about wrestling with somebody just as into it or something else, I can hear the feelgood and happiness even though Grumpy/Sleepy Dwarf drifts off moaning thinking about Dota or Destiny in reaction to it at times.

I'm on team Brad here. I don't like Destiny, Dota, or wrestling. I'd much rather hear about Dota 2 or Destiny than wrestling. I don't know how to explain it correctly but wrestling is just too potent. It's one of those things that requires such commitment to understand the allure of it. It's its own world. It's like Middle Earth for children.

Maybe it's more like watching Days of our Lives or General Hospital. You watch one episode and it's garbage. You watch a whole season and it's still horrendous garbage and a waste of time. But if you continue watching it for years and years, it becomes a part of you and you're forced to carry around the burden of knowing who poisoned who and why a kidnapper is now totally cool with the parents of the child he took.

Wrestling is too much. I can't get past it. I thought I could but I'm not strong enough. I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH!

They keep most of the wrestling talk to a dedicated Bombcast, I don't see how people can be upset about them referencing wrestling on other content. They very rarely discuss it at length there.

How 'bout that Sting?

Wrestling is the worst. Much like video games.

I don't like it either. It's permeating everything.

As someone who barely plays video games/hates a lot of video game culture, the main reason I like this site is the personalities on and all the stuff they talk about from their personal lives and things that aren't related to video games. Wrestling is hilarious and dumb, and I'm glad they talk about it.

I'm sure you would actually enjoy anime if you gave it a chance. There's just as much over the top manliness and fighting spiritu.

@milkman said:

Sorry but we run the show around here now. You don't have to love it but you better learn to accept it. Somebody too sweet me.

I'm pretty good at listening to the wrestling talk while retaining zero of the information that is being transferred. They can talk about whatever they want, though I do prefer it when I can listen to the podcast without zoning out midway through because I'm bored.

Finally! We have someone willing to challenge all this Powerbombcast, Ultimate Muscle, HHH hair-tech, and Ghost Stories folderol!

The people who dislike the wrestling talk make it seem like the site is 50% wrestling at this point, and they are ridiculous. It gets referenced here and there, but so does a million other non-gaming things.

I especially loved the comment where someone said they had to stop watching any wrestling game coverage. Yea, the whole 1 or 2 videos a year they do? You just had to stop watching those right? And the comment where someone said they are fine with off topic stuff in the Bombcast, but only if it stuff they can personally relate to or understand. Good to know that the Bombcast has to personally appeal to you 100% of the time. God forbid the guys want to talk about something you aren't into.

I also love the super pretentious comments from people basically putting down others for liking wrestling, or asking why anyone could possibly watch it. Why does anyone like any tv show? Because they find it entertaining. If you don't like it, then great, but you don't have to be a dick about others liking it.

I don't have any opinions on wrestling and the closest I've ever come to ever watching it was when my grandma bought me a poster of the rock for my 10th birthday because I guess she assumed that's what a 10 year old boy would want.

I don't mind the wrestling coverage at all though. It's fairly sparse, and I actually enjoy it in a weird way. It's a window into a bizarre world that I'd otherwise never encounter.

We should get more hip hop discussion. Like did anyone hear that song from Rihanna that Kanye is on with Paul McCartney? Shit is wack.

The main thing I've learned from this thread is that wrestling fans have access to many gifs...

Can't stand it myself but, c'mon guys, there really isn't much of it on here. It's ok for people to like things we don't like and occasionally mention it in conversations, even if we do pay part of their wages. ;-)

@williamhenry: "you don't have to be a dick if someone else likes it".

Tell that to the bomb crew.

The problem with that is Jeff is the only one who really cares about current hip hop.

I never understood how the Powerbombcast started. Really, someone enlighten me.

Jeff knows stuff about it and there are a couple people that routinely post in the wrestling thread. But how did it become significant enough to become a part of Giant Bomb Original Programming? I mean, I listen to it but I see like 3 PPV's a year.

It just seems like there were so many other options for a new off-topic podcast. Like rap. War history. Magic.

Maybe it's just because wrestling combines all these?

Hiya there. That was me with that comment.

If you go and actually read it, you'll see that I specifically say that I actually enjoy when people talk about things I don't like on the site, but the wrestling talk happens to be an exception and make me dislike it. The point being that I watch coverage of games I dislike on this site a lot, because I enjoy watching the guys talk about stuff, but the wrestling QLs, the wrestling talk in the Bombcast, the Power Bombcast as a whole and other segments related to wrestling paraphernalia are beyond my ability to cope, so I skip them or fast forward through them.

So... yeah. If you're gonna ride a high horse to criticise people who get on their high horse to criticise stuff you like, I'm not gonna say be aware of the hypocrisy, but you could definitely take some time to read the points people are actually saying rather than make up your own version.

Hell, as is often the case in GB, I feel that this thread has provided very level headed, constructive feedback from both lovers and haters of the wrestling coverage, and hopefully the guys can dial it in to make it palatable for all. You have no good reason to rant that way, and if you really want to do that, there's a whole Internet full of assholes out there you can go berate that I'm sure will respond in kind.

Whenever they bring up wrestling they only ever talk about it for 2 minutes at most, before they remember that they have a podcast dedicated to wrestling and can leave the discussion for that. The only time they talked about it for longer was when they were talking about Supercard or Immortals, which are video games based on wrestling and therefore deserve to be discussed. These were also relatively recent releases which is why it might feel like there has been a lot of wrestling talk in recent weeks.

I had absolutely zero interest in Destiny, yet have listened to very lengthy, almost weekly discussions about the game. I don't mind though, because I like listening to the guys talk about absolutely anything.

But it's also okay to just tune out of segments you're not interested in. I tuned out of some of the Destiny talk, and I've tuned out of other a number discussion about games I had zero interest in. It doesn't matter, because it doesn't last that long relative to the overall length of the podcast.

I dunno. They're interested in it. I want them to talk about what they enjoy .

I don't really care if they drop references here and there, but the amount that Dan Ryckert's life appears to revolve around wrestling is almost confronting.

The only fair thing would be for other types of theatre to get their dues though, so I'm waiting on Drew and Vinny's Kabuki podcast.

I have zero interest in wrestling and since I don't listen to the powerbombcast I don't see how it is on the site all that much. I don't think the Twitter feeds really count. Dan's gonna put wrestling wherever he can but he's just one duder.

I feel that way about a lot of the Track IR/Oculus stuff.

@damodar: You took the words out of my mouth there. I love Dan and all the cool stuff he has done for the site, but the way wrestling seems to occupy his mind every waking moment is astounding. I mean I'm a 30 year old guy that thinks about video games all day long and still I think Dans wrestling fascination at his age is weird.

@williamhenry: I think there is a subtle difference in off-topic tangents being about fast food, which is something everyone can relate to, and being discussions about Wrestling which is a very specific thing you need to know to get anything out of it. The bombcast doesn't have to cater to my interests 100% of the time, and often it doesn't when they discuss games that I care little about - but I still get something out of the conversation because I like games overall and it's interesting to hear different opinions.

I solved the wrestling problem by getting into wrestling. Seriously duders, grass is much greener over here!

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em y'all!

As a non-American with pretty much the minimum possible knowledge of wrestling, I'm starting to wonder if there are a bunch of references going past me that I don't even know are references, because there doesn't seem that much random wrestling stuff. The site would die in a week if they only covered genres and topics I like, anyway.

Agreed. It's kinda sad to see this kind of stuff on GiantBomb to be honest.

Relies too much on a very specific set of references, but it seems kind of finicky to call him out for that. I think he mostly thinks it's funny?