First Match

On the ***SEASON FINALE*** of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with WWE Referee Charles Robinson!!! Blood capsules, razor blades and a hair vs. hair match?! Jump in the first match time machine and learn all about when Little Naitch was really little! From watching wrestling with his grandma, having the police watch out for him because he was rooting for the heels, his big break, what makes a good ref, the important relationships with the wrestlers and much much more! Thank you for being a part of the first season of First Match, see ya in 2021! Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on! Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/ As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!  First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com (US shipping only at this point for merch) Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL. Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL. Want to support the show with a donation: Pay Pal: [email protected] Venmo: @Jesse-KageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with SoCal Val!! Was so great catching up with Val and we talked everything from her persona as Nikki Hollywood in her RPG wrestling league back in the day to her first show that was 3 days before her 16th birthday! Then on to her move from LA to Orlando, learning from the legendary Francine, chair shots to the face and bumps from Abyss! Enjoy this amazing journey! Next week we welcome WWE Referee Charles Robinson as we wrap up Season 1 of First Match!! Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on! Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/ As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!  First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com (US shipping only at this point for merch) Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL. Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL. Want to support the show with a donation: Pay Pal: [email protected] Venmo: @Jesse-KageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with the Hardcore Icon, Justin Credible! Like a lot of wrestling fans, Justin's love of pro wrestling came from watching WTBS with Flair and the Horseman and then an ad in PWI grabbed his attention and off he went! From training at the Hart Brother's Camp with Chris Jericho and Lance Storm teaching him the ropes, to his First Match to his journey to the WWE where he was CM Punk, Bautista and others first match and then to becoming a major star in ECW! We also talk who he's digging today and his podcast with Vince Russo! Next week we welcome SoCal Val! Enjoy!!! Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on! Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/ As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!  First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com (US shipping only at this point for merch) Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL. Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL. Want to support the show with a donation: Pay Pal: [email protected] Venmo: @Jesse-KageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with Vampiro! We start in Thunderbay, Ontario with Vampiro playing hockey, playing in bands and needing to just get out of the middle of nowhere Canada. The journey to the ring would start with him staying in the back of the ring truck, selling merch and setting up the ring. All he learned to do was "lock-up" before he was thrown into the ring, with no gear for his First Match! Then we talk his journey to Mexico and beyond! Ian's (Vampiro's) story is an amazing ride that also dives in to his struggles with mental health, where he is now with this struggle and what he deals with on a day to day basis. It's an exciting, emotional, and poignant interview with a wrestling legend! We also chat with Michael Paszt, the director of "Nail In The Coffin: The Fall And Rise Of Vampiro", the incredible new documentary that focuses on Vamp's life. Make sure you check it out today! https://www.amazon.com/Nail-Coffin-Fall-Rise-Vampiro/dp/B08FWXY5VJ Enjoy!!! Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on! Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/ As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!  First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com (US shipping only at this point for merch) Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL. Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL. Want to support the show with a donation: Pay Pal: [email protected] Venmo: @Jesse-KageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with the Worlds Most Dangerous Man, Ken Shamrock! Stabbed at 10 years old, foster care, and a lot of fights, Ken had a rough start to say the least. But resiliency and the heart of a lion helped him to persevere and become one of the best fighters of all time! We follow Ken through those early years, being a "heavy" for Buzz Sawyer, his First Match, to Malenko introducing him to the strong style and bare knuckle world of Japan, working stiff with Vader, and we talk his part in the Attitude Era and his thoughts on his time in WWE! Enjoy!!! Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on! Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/ As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!  First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com (US shipping only at this point for merch) Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL. Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL. Want to support the show with a donation: Pay Pal: [email protected] Venmo: @Jesse-Kage  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with WWE Hall Of Famer, Ricky Morton! Ricky takes us back to traveling with his dad, setting up rings and learning the ropes, being "greener than owl shit", and the journey to becoming one half of one of the most prolific tag teams in the history of the sport, the Rock 'n' Roll Express! Ricky's stories about Flair, Anderson, Dusty, the Midnight Express and more will blow you away! Robert then pulls no punches in talking about the state of pro wrestling today from how it's presented to a lot of it being "all high spots and no stories". Then we are schooled on some ring psychology! Enjoy! Make sure you listen until the very end to find out who's up next week...hint...he's a very dangerous man! Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on! Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/ As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!  First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com (US shipping only at this point for merch) Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL. Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL. Want to support the show with a donation: Pay Pal: [email protected] Venmo: @Jesse-Kage    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with the FTW Champion and current AEW superstar Brian Cage! From making a "Who Betta Than Kanyon" sign to befriending Kanyon, creating his own backyard wrestling fed only to then have Kanyon come in and wrestle him in what he considers his first real match! It's truly un-real and awesome! Then we get into his early WWE try-outs, getting concussed on his first dark match, what his opinion is on the way his character is portrayed and what he wants to see happen with it. Make sure you listen until the very end to find out who's up next week...hint...he's a member of the WWE Hall of Fame!   Enjoy!!!   Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on!   Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/   As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!    First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com   (US shipping only at this point for merch)   Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL.   Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL.   Want to support the show with a donation:   Pay Pal: [email protected]   Venmo: @Jesse-KageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with a WWE Legend, The Brooklyn Brawler! Steve Lombardi had zero intentions on being a pro wrestler, he was all about body building. That is until he sat in the Garden for some matches and that's when his world changed! From the Garden to the bar to hang with the wrestlers to find out what it's all about, to being told to get the hell away by Mr. Fuji only to find his own way in to their world through a crazy first night in Portland with Curt Hennig! The Brawler's journey is as unique as they come in pro wrestling and it led him to wrestle a lot of the superstars "first matches" in the WWE, including The Rock! Don't miss this amazing episode! Make sure you listen until the very end to find out who's up next week! Enjoy!!! Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on! Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/ As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!  First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com (US shipping only at this point for merch) Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL. Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL. Want to support the show with a donation: Pay Pal: [email protected] Venmo: @Jesse-KageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with one of the hottest tag teams in all of pro wrestling, Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, FTR! Dax was sold on pro wrestling from the first time he saw Gordon Solie introduce Ric Flair, Cash saw Hogan first and was hooked! Both then took different journeys to the ring but their passion and style brought them together to create a "throwback" tag team powerhouse! In addition to the their road to the ring we talk learning the "Art Of Wrestling", tag ropes, un-creative tag team wrestling, Cash gets fired up about making refs look like jack-asses and lack of selling. Dax gets fired up on the "Southern Thing" and a conversation they had with Vince McMahon. What's next and a lot more on this deep dive into the beginnings of FTR! Make sure you listen until the very end to find out who's up next week!   Enjoy!!!   Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on!   Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/   As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!    First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com   (US shipping only at this point for merch)   Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL.   Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL.   Want to support the show with a donation:   Pay Pal: [email protected]   Venmo: @Jesse-KageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of First Match we go all the way back to the beginning with the former president of WCW and the creator of the NWO, Eric Bischoff! From a list of pre-wrestling careers that spanned from being a print model to landscaping but NOT owning a butcher shop, to teaming up with Sony Onoo, Eric's journey to pro wrestling was a fun ride! He sold for the AWA until one day he was thrown in front of a camera and the rest is history! We talk about how to be a good announcer, how some rules are made to be broken, wrestling Larry Zbyszko with a fractured knee, who he digs in the industry today and the fact that $20 bucks is $20 bucks, you don't want to miss this episode! Make sure you listen until the very end to find out who's up next week! Enjoy!!! Also, please make sure you SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW the podcast on whatever platform you are listening on! Thank you to Boulevard Burgers St. Pete Beach home of the "Kage Burger" for signing on as a sponsor! Visit their website https://blvdburgers.com/ As well as a special thank you to Georgia Print House at https://www.georgiaprinthouse.com for being the official merch provider for First Match!  First Match T-Shirts are now available to order!!!! http://www.firstmatch.bigcartel.com (US shipping only at this point for merch) Sizes still available: S (limited quantity), M, L, and XL. Until we restock next month, we are out of 2XL. Want to support the show with a donation: Pay Pal: [email protected] Venmo: @Jesse-KageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.