Alan Angels

Um, Uhura, Akira, Francisco Akira, Cedric Alexander, Titus Alexander, David Ali, Mustafa Ali, Darby Allen, Joe Alonso, AlphaZo, um, and then a bunch of other A-name people, Lance Archer, and then you go into Hayden Backlund.

There's Rachel Armstrong, Austin Aries, Alan Angels, Action Andretti, Andrade, but no Athena.

So you look at the, in the modern era, the top two longest reigning wrestlers, Um, uh, longest reigning champions in pro wrestling today.

Um, and of course he's not currently in that rain, but we're talking about modern era.

Um, there was, um, I don't know.

It was, it's, The Production I feel like are usually heels, that being Katie Arquette and, and Dillinger, but I think it's just, like, Alan Angels is, like, the, the mega heel everyone dislikes so much to, people were willing to, to root for The Production.

Um, this was [laughs] like a f- the...

I know I've just ragged on Torkelson, but they actually, he and, um, Conway had, like, a funny exchange early.

You know, like, there was RED, the faction with Steve Maclin and Alex Colón and Jessicka Havok, and they lasted, like, six months, you know? It's, it's all, it's just kind of the same story.

There was Cruel and, um, Mad Man Fulton were a faction.

And, um, and Alan Angels.

Yeah.

it's underrated

it's underrated like there's there's shit like i i know that i've slowly been combing through my my backlog of of stuff that i had written at the time um and like there's there are things that happen during this period for for omega that are and i i know that in saying all of this i'm kind of breaking from the template that you and i had put together for this so i'm sorry um like there are like the point of kenny omega at at this particular moment in time for him um is that like basically making it so that there is somebody against whom literally anyone can test themselves like here is the standard if you're thinking about what a great wrestler is and his name is Tyson Smith um aka Kenny Omega is it Tyson Smith I don't know it's Tyson Smith it's yeah thank god there's so many Canadian Tysons very Canadian names uh um so like you know here's this fucking guy who like if you can if you can challenge him you might make it in this in this sport in this great sport that is professional wrestling um i i think that there is Definitely a valid critique to be had in, in the notion of Kenny Omega, like going 20 minutes, uh, and going like, you know, maybe like 50, 50 or 60, 40, uh, like with him on top or whatever against your Joey Janela's and like Alan angels is of the world and whatnot.

But to me, like the thing about Omega is that like his, I think it's printed on the back of his tights frequently and it's definitely in his, I don't even know what they call the titantron in AEW, like the idea of changing the world.

And it's not enough to change the world and starting a wrestling promotion and having it orbit around you.

everyone loves cody rhodes uh that that song when we do get to the cody episode we're going 30 on how it's incredible that he doesn't understand his own dad's promos um but uh but like for omega like the idea of changing the world is giving people a platform on which they can be their best selves like their most actualized selves as as professional wrestlers um And I like, it's these early matches, like his first singles match against Ray Phoenix is one that's like, it sticks out in my head as being spectacular.

Like some of these like later ones that we will talk about, like, um, like if anything, like the, the big like downfall of a lot of the stuff that Omega is doing at this time is that I don't think that the folks up in Stanford, Connecticut were paying particular attention to things like AAA, uh, Until they were appearing on a quote unquote rival brand like I think that like the sort of like opening of I don't want to call it the forbidden door but like making wrestling a more collaborative global endeavor which is I think one of the things that AEW has been.

very good about whether or not that has floated your boat in terms of like stylistic ideas of wrestling writ large worldwide is one thing or another but a lot of that channels itself through kenny omega and it's because he's so good at doing literally every kind of wrestling match that you get wild swings from the technical brutality of omega versus pac to the brutality brutality of of a moxley versus omega to like the all-out firework show of like a death triangle versus elite match or you know omega versus ray phoenix or like giving somebody who has never had that kind of platform before like an alan angels uh an opportunity to test themselves in front of the world basically like it's it's such an awesome uh way of carrying yourself as a wrestler um it's really admirable frankly like i i i can't say enough uh good stuff about omega like really the negatives are are are mostly like well i wish he hadn't put so much heat into

uh that lost

yeah.

But yeah, it's against Alan Angels in the casket match.

Not familiar with this person.

He's an EWA star, huge guy.

Uh, Farbod, who has worked with New Japan, AEW, he says, "We were talking at the show last night at 1:00 AM.

I cannot believe this." Alan Angels, who wrestled for AEW, said, "At a time in my career where I was very unsure of myself and my abilities, I had a match with Pac.

He pulled me aside afterwards, talked me up, and told me how good he thought I was.

I thought, 'If this guy, who is one of the best in the world, thinks I'm good, I must be doing something right.' I really don't understand how and why it's always the nicest people that no one has anything, uh, to say about, and then they go too soon.

and we want our wrestlers to take things seriously so we'll take it as a win but there you go that's all out and we've talked pretty much yeah everything notable from Dynamite and Collision as well on top as well so there you go that's your AEW TV and also ROH took place too is also a thing so if you've got a couple of hours before you watch the pay-per-view you could catch some ROH TV which apparently featured Lee Moriarty beating Sir Pentacle on it so there you go if you like Trios titles JP the lethal twist taking on the Dark Order that's where we are On ROH, Tommy Billington was on there, though, as well.

Alan Angels.

Justice for Alan Angels.

One of Gannett's favorites.

But