We’re Back+ New Monday morning blog + Archive

Hey everyone. Just seeing if this works. I (Mike) am to blame for this not being updated as much as it should with all the new podcasts. I hope to have that up soon if you have missed them on our Twitter. which is where we do most of our postings on stuff like that. Just renewed MikeandTomPresent.com for year two and I’m thinking of doing a Peter King/Elliotte Friedman 30 Thoughts type deal every Monday morning for you to read at work/before class/during class/whatever. I mean, who the hell am I really? But I watch a lot of stuff of all sorts of all years and I guess this is where all my thoughts will go.

Also, go back and go through our archives. There’s some real good stuff by Tom and Ben Pasco, among others. In a way, I wanted this website to be a Grantland for ProWres, before Grantland ever came on board. It’s the grandfather to It’s Raining Meng, which you should now bookmark.

Talk to you soon.

– Mike

A Personal Christmas Letter From Tom…

(Note: we were going to record a Christmas show, but our schedules are in complete disagreement of each other during the holiday season. I had asked to record this as an audio segment with someone else just so we had content, but I got to thinking and I don’t know if I’d be able to say some of the things I want to say aloud into a microphone. If Mike wants to take this down, I completely understand. It gets intense. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

Episode 53: This Big Group of Women

EPISODE 53 – DOWNLOAD

Two episodes in a week…we haven’t pulled this one in a while, eh?

First, Tom is joined by Jae Renfrow of the Devil May Care blog to discuss Billy Corgan’s Resistance Pro and their first show, held this past Friday in Chicago! From almost literally a bird’s eye view, Jae observed the whole show and came on to talk about the entire mess of a main event, the lack of a promised wrestling revolution, having a non-verbal conversation with Victoria/Tara about Teddy Hart’s vomit, if anyone’s figured out what the heck the “King of the Night Time” is, the elusiveness of the mysterious Cubs Fan, the stark difference between Chikara’s crowd from June and the people who showed up for this show, the startling ratio of men to lovely ladies in the audience and more! Catch Jae on Twitter @JaeKRenfrow

Then, Mike and Tom Richards talk about sex and orgies. For the first thirty seconds, at least. Then, they go into their thoughts on Chikara’s first night of JOSHIMANIA from Philadelphia at the Asylum/ECW/CZW/WEW Arena! Included in what they discussed: gushing over Archibald Peck and Tim Donst, Tom Richards not being able to tell if Gami was a lady or not, Tom’s buddy who promotes shows when he gets the time off of work, Mrs. Richards: joshi wrestler, the abrupt ending to the main event and more! Catch Tom on Twitter (yes, Tom finally got on the Twitter bandwagon) at @TheTomRichards

All of this, plus the first bleep in the history of the podcast!

Approximate time: 65 minutes.

Next week, we begin our look at this year’s Observer Awards!

Episode 52: The Episode Where Mike and Tom Kissed

Episode 52 DOWNLOAD

We’re back after a Thanksgivingish hiatus with one of our most popular guests: Joe Gagne! Joe steps out of the the Funtime Pro Wrestling Arcade and stops fighting the world for an hour to discuss some thoughts on the 2011 IWA Mid-South King of the Deathmatches, the future of Chikara after High Noon, when the heck his 1993 WWF retrospective episode of Joe vs. The World will be released, things that exist in movies that shouldn’t, a running tally of reasons why Tom should never promote independent professional wrestling, the perils of going grey.The 90’s Are All That, Tom’s sister that marries weirdos, and more!

Approximate time: 63 Minutes.

As usual, the show is free, but in honor of Joe being on the show, we’re going to post the link if you’d feel like donating to the March of Dimes. It’s a really great cause that’s helped a lot in giving the gift of life. Joe usually posts this link when he posts new episodes of his WWF retrospective series, so we figure we’d jump the gun for him.

*****

We WILL be back later this weekend with a live report from Mike and Tom Richards from Chikara’s JOSHIMANIA event in Philadelphia and Jae Renfrow talks to Tom about the debut event from Billy Corgan’s Resistance Pro!

Episode 51 – Tim Donst: A Masculine Renaissance Man

Episode 51 – Tim Donst: A Masculine Renaissance Man

This Sunday night, Chikara debuts on internet pay-per-view with their season finale, High Noon (go HERE to order the iPPV show). The night before marks the 2011 edition of their annual Cibernetico match. Who better to join us on the episode leading up to these two big shows than the captain of the rudo team in the cibernetico and a man with his hair on the line at High Noon: the BDK’s Tim Donst!

On this episode of the podcast, we analyze the Cibernetico match on Saturday in Easton, Pennsylvania, how important keeping his hair on Sunday at High Noon is to him in the Lucha de Apuestas no-disqualification tag team match as he and Ares (risking the Eye of Tyr) face Hallowicked and Ultramantis Black (risking their masks), how important this weekend is to Chikara as a company, and how important captaining his first cibernetico team is to him personally!

Plus, we discuss “Who’s The Man?”, exclusive details on Tim’s first album to be released soon and why the world will soon be “doing the Donstaroo”, his recent ventures into improv comedy, tales from a Hanson concert he attended on his birthday this year, wrestling in a senior citizens’ center, masculinity, how characters from Glee would fare in the world of Chikara, the debut weekend for Wrestling is Fun! on November 18 & 19 in Fountain Hill/Moosic, PA, his match with Madman Pondo from Absolute Intense Wrestling’s Todd Pettengill Invitational and all sorts of various hijinks. Come and find out why Tim Donst is a masculine renaissance man.

Approximate time: 45 Minutes.

Also, if you would like to see High Noon for FREE, go to http://onekontest.com/HighNoon for details on the contest! If you’d rather see EVERY Chikara show ever for free and in person, enter their “Fan for Life” contest!

Episode #50: Condition Crystal Lake

EPISODE 50 – Download

We’ve seriously recorded fifty episodes. For real.

This week, we’re joined by Ben Turpen of Free Admission (For Real) to discuss the 2011 Jeff Peterson Cup, promoted by Full Impact Pro! Ben was there live and got to see both nights of a tournament that has caused a few positive waves in the days since it’s gone down, partially due to names like Johnny Gargano, AR Fox, Jonathan Gresham, Pinkie Sanchez and Bobby Fish. But, as Ben explains on the show, some lesser-known talents tore down the house and stole the show on this particular weekend!

Plus, we discuss the Impact Wrestling tapings in Macon, Rampage Pro Wrestling out of Warner Robins, Georgia (which Ben recently saw Davey Richards, Kyle O’Reilly and Tony Kozina perform at), the retirement of “Mr. 630” Jerrelle Clark, some rising talents out of the Georgia indie scene, the proper pronunciation of “Uhaa”, Chikara’s events from Tennessee and North Carolina and more!

Next week, we’ll be joined by popular guest Tim Donst to discuss his role in Chikara’s upcoming Cibernetico and their first-ever iPPV, High Noon!

Episode #49: Double Tom’d Love

Episode #49 – DOWNLOAD

This week, both Toms are on the line together with one Mike! Tom Richards joins us, as he and Mike went Bound for Glory in Philadelphia this past Sunday! The power of Hulkamania came alive throughout Impact Wrestling…or something, and they were eyewitnesses (things they were also eyewitnesses to: Jerry Lynn taking far more risks on a bad back than Hulk Hogan, the most hyped pre-show match since the Huckster versus the Nacho Man, Ring of Honor nostalgia and more!)

Then from there, we talked about the FANTASTIC AWE pay-per-view from Saturday in all of its naked, saggy glory, frustration in shoddy camera work on indie wrestling DVD’s, the modern wrestling fan’s struggle with time management, Silas Young, the underutilzation of Mike Enos and every single B-level pro wrestling television show currently in production! It’s almost a full hour of hodge-podge wrestling audio theatre!

Approximate time: 57 minutes.

Be sure to join us next Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, as EPISODE FIFTY IS ON ITS WAY! We’ve got something so big planned that even WE don’t know what it is! But it’s big. We swear.

Episode #48.5: Jae Spoke to Me

EPISODE #48.5 – DOWNLOAD*************

On Tuesday night, Tom recorded what was supposed to be a 20-25 minute segment for Episode #49 of “Mike & Tom Present…” with blogger/actor/father/good fellow Jae Renfrow. It ended up going so well that we went one hour. Thus, I present to you Episode #48.5.

We discussed a hodgepodic cornucopia of pro wrestling, including this most recent season of NXT, the massive potential of “Showtime” Percy Watson, how just giving WWE undercard wrestlers simple storylines can motivate them to be better, Tatanka improving with age and defending his 40-Man Battle Royal Title, the absurdity of Florida Championship Wrestling’s new Ascension stable, the awkwardness of oggling Eddie Guerrero’s daughter, who would play the title role in an indie wrestling revisioning of “Rudy”, DA MOTHEREFFIN’ SOUL TOUCHAZ FEATURING WILLIE DA BOMB RICHARDSON, the horribleness of Evansville, Indiana, how cruel kids can be towards those with fanny packs, Sugar Dunkerton love and more!

Plus, we took an in-depth look at the entire Resistance Pro (aka, “The Billy Corgan Promotion”) roster and hopes for the new promotion heading towards their first show on Black Friday in Chicago, as Jae interviewed Gabriel Baron of Resistance Pro for his blog (which you can read HERE).

Check out Jae’s afformentioned blog featuring the WWF NEW GENERATION ERA PROJECT (where he’s going back and reviewing a ton of WWF TV shows, pay-per-views and random house show matches from the New Generation Era in chronological order), Japanese wrestling reviews, modern WWE TV reports and great indie wrestling live reports. Also, follow him on Twitter at @JaeKRenfrow 

Approximate time: 61 minutes.

Episode #48: Not That Kind of Episode

EPISODE 48 – Download

Episode #48 is a special one, as we split up and spread our powers of conversation and charisma across the eastern part of the United States for a special edition of the podcast!

First in Indiana, Tom Green is joined by a couple of up-and-comers who are lighting up cards throughout the Midwest that you should probably hear about now before they blow up in the next couple of years: Tripp Cassidy (who you can listen to on Episode #34 if you click the link) and “Big” Sue Jackson! Topics brought up include a really great six-man tag match that they had at Insanity Pro’s biggest show of the year in August, the uniqueness of the Sue Jackson persona, Tripp’s love of Sean “X-Pac” Waltman, Sue being mentioned in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter a few months ago, fantasy-road agenting a Triple H versus Facade match and more! Check out Tripp and Sue on Twitter (@TrippCassidy and @BigSueJackson)

Then, Mike is joined at his home by the returning Tom Richards (and their buddy Joey)! They were at the Combat Zone Wrestling event this past Friday and are here to tell the tales! They talk about how underappreciated the Irish Airborne is, their thoughts on Devon Moore as CZW Champion, Joey’s ability to talk with his hands, praise for Matt Tremont, how difficult it is to begin your career in a major promotion like CZW, some TNA discussion (Mike and Tom are going to Bound for Glory this Sunday in Philly), the young ladies who hang out at Combat Zone Wrestling shows and Tom Richards’ crazy summer (this is a story you really should hear).

Also, Leonard F. Chikarason gets a ridiculous amount of love in both segments since he’s awesome.

Approximate Time: 57 Minutes.

M&T Indie Spotlight: Reed Bentley

M&T Indie Spotlight: Introducing Reed Bentley (DOWNLOAD)

On this special, bite-sized podcast, I (Tom) was joined by cohort Nick Maniwa, as we sat down with rising Midwestern independent star (and member of our “10 for ’11” independent breakout class) Reed Bentley (Insanity Pro Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, Destination 1 Wrestling) to discuss his time so far in wrestling. During the half-hour, Reed spoke on the importance of travelling and wrestling often to meet new people and learn under everyone you can as a young wrestler, wrestling at IWA Mid-South’s King of the Deathmatches in his first deathmatch ever, learning under wrestlers like Drake Younger and Chris Hero, his upcoming match at IWA-MS against Jimmy Jacobs, the other young wrestlers coming up through the Midwest indie scene with him, wrestlers he’d like to work with in the future and STRICTLY HARDCORE WRESTLING (including a story involving a gun being pulled on him)! Reed is a really talented young wrestler with one heck of an upside, so I hope those of you who’ve never heard of him give this a chance and become interested in his work.

To follow Reed through social media, check him out on Facebook and on Twitter ( @TheReedBentley).  Also, if you’re interested in seeing Reed wrestle after hearing him on this show, check out his Youtube channel (with plenty of full matches)!