I Listen So You Don't Have To: Cheap Heat with Bray Wyatt

Wyatt was a guest on the most recent show
Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you're new, here's the rundown: I listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are better wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but these are the ones in my regular rotation that I feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If I can save other folks some time, I'm happy to do so.

Show: Cheap Heat
Episode: Sept. 11, 2014
Run Time: 1:13:07
Guest: Andrew Goldstein, Bray Wyatt (at 58:23)

Summary: The guys talk with frequent guest Goldstein for about 45 minutes, starting with the death of Sean O’Haire, which rolls into a discussion about the end of WCW. They also touch on the CM Punk lawsuit They also talk about the ongoing Bella Twin and John Cena-Brock Lesnar stories. They next segment is listener email, followed by a pre-recorded 11-minute interview between Peter Rosenberg and Bray Wyatt.

Quote of the week: Wyatt: “I think I was born to be something else. I never was normal, I was always special, there was always something different about me. I always stuck out of the crowd. I was not the biggest, but there was just something different about me. Legacies? I don’t really care much for legacies. I’m not the type of person that hangs his hat on where I came from or who I’m supposed to be. I just move forward, man, and I’ve got my own mindset. I’m invulnerable. I’m invulnerable as long as I’m walking straight.”

Why you should listen: If you really need more thoughts about the Bella Twins story and the Cena-Lesnar feud, and if you think wrestling was better when booking wasn’t so pointlessly convoluted, the first chunk of the show is totally for you. Also, if you haven’t heard Bray Wyatt interviewed outside official WWE channels, well, that is a thing that happens here.

Why you should skip it: When RAW is bad, discussion about RAW tends to be not great as well. Such is the case here, a dead horse I feel we’ve been beating since right after SummerSlam. The reader question section freshens up the show a bit, but Rosenberg’s heel shtick dampens the fun. As for the Wyatt interview, it would be nice if Rosenberg could decide whether he wanted to interview Bray Wyatt or Windham Rotunda. Trying to do both doesn’t work, at least not in his hands.

Final thoughts: Goldstein has something to offer as a former WWE creative team employee, but the end result of his appearance is wishing he and Shoemaker were co-hosts instead. Having a third man in the booth reduces Shoemaker’s presence this week, which is the exact opposite of why I listen to this show. Maybe check the Wyatt stuff if you like, but the audio quality and his accent are a bad mix.