Friday, July 31, 2015

I Listen So You Don't Have To: Cheap Heat July 30

More Hogan talk on this week's Cheap Heat
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: July 30, 2015
Run Time: 59:08
Guest: none

Summary: Since Hulk Hogan is still on the minds of wrestling fans, the show opens with more Hogan discussion, acting as an extension of the special emergency episode of Cheap Heat released last Friday. Rosenberg reveals that he offered Hogan to come on his Hot 97 show to explain himself, only to then see Hogan retweeting ignorant comments about President Obama using the n-word. This episode is informally titled “The ‘John Cena’s Exploding Nose’ Edition,” so obviously we hear about the nose-break heard ‘round the world. Rosenberg cannot stop looking at pictures and video of Cena's nose, even though he finds it horrifying. The guys discuss the upcoming SummerSlam and NXT shows coming to their area, which diverts into a discussion about the Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden. Shoemaker voices concern for Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady amid their possible transition to the main roster, as he hopes their characters don’t become neutered and then dead in the water. The last main segment covers wrestling-related TV shows like Total Divas and Swerved, which the guys admit are like visual candy: bad for you, but lots of fun.

Quote of the Week: Shoemaker: “For all those fans who complain that nobody bleeds anymore and you miss the blood, you miss the violence: this is why it’s so awesome that they don’t do it anymore. Because a random episode of RAW is now a thing we’re going to remember for the rest of our lives, because we’re not just completely blindered to blood because we’ve seen so much of it. This was like somebody getting their head chopped off in the ‘90’s.”

Why you should listen: Rosenberg has righteous anger over the lazy commitment to face/heel alignments on RAW, and he’s at his best when he’s justifiably upset about the show. He later goes full heel when admitting that on the day of SummerSlam he is DJ’ing an event for Polo. The sport. Otherwise, Shoemaker is his usual thoughtful self, trying to lead the discussion into relevant matters. Stat Guy Greg continues to be a welcome addition to the show, and he is slowly gaining Rosenberg’s respect.

Why you should skip it: Against all logic and reason, and against all measure of good taste, Rosenberg is using his soundboard again. Amazingly, he is able to resist it for about 30 minutes, but once he uses it, he can’t stop. This is still the absolute worst part of Cheap Heat. We listen to podcasts because they’re not typical morning radio, yet Rosenberg is trying to turn this podcast into his Hot 97 show where they probably do all types of inane nonsense that takes away from listener enjoyment. Other than the soundboard stupidity, this episode does jump around quite a bit in the last half, as the guys never stick to one subject for more than a couple minutes. When they do get impassioned, it’s regarding Brooklyn vs. Manhattan and other inside New York baseball topics that outsiders (i.e. most people) will tune out.

Final thoughts: They did an excellent job of continuing the Hulk Hogan discussion with some slightly new perspectives, and then pulled away from that discussion at just the right time. Luckily for the show, we are in a time of the year in which they have a lot to discuss, and even though they have trouble finding their bearings, the guys are excited about wrestling. That’s enough to make for a fun listen.