5 YRS AGO FLAGSHIP: Keller & Sam Roberts talk WrestleMania at the PC pros and cons, Raw and Smackdown without fans, hype for WM36 storylines

Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast

Wade Keller

Leisure, Sports, Tv & Film

3.8 • 903 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week’s Flagship Flashback episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast from five years ago (3-17-2020), PWTorch editor Wade Keller was joined by Sam Roberts from the WWE Kickoff Shows, Not Sam Wrestling podcasts, and his show on Sirius XM radio show with Jim Norton. They delve into the WWE dilemma of dealing with the coronavirus and empty venues for TV shows and WrestleMania. What are the strengths and weaknesses so far of Smackdown and Raw at the Performance Center? Can or should adjustments be made, radical or otherwise? What were the key factors that went into the decision to hold WrestleMania on the scheduled date at a new location versus other options? They also discuss the hype so far for WrestleMania with a focus on the key interviews and segments of the past week including John Cena and Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Edge, Becky Lynch, and more. Sam also gives his take on how the job of announcers is changing and how he feels Michael Cole did on Friday’s Smackdown.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	One benefit of VIP membership is access to our back issue library, contemporaneous, in-depth, insider reporting on pro wrestling in real time over the past 30-plus years.
0:11.7	And throughout the year 2022, we're going to begin our March through the year 2002 with back issues posted each week in PDF and all text formats.
0:20.8	You can read it in a PDF format with our original
0:22.7	magazine slash newsletter style layout on your screen and flip through the pages, or you can read
0:28.0	a straightforward all text format on your phone or tablet or laptop. The back issues early in 2002
0:33.5	covered the arrival of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan to WWE, and all the controversy
0:38.4	that came with them. Plus my cover story that broke the news on the planned launch by Jerry
0:44.3	and Jeff Jarrett of a promotion called TNA. Also, the early 2002 features are 2001
0:50.4	year-in review features, including ranking Pro Wrestling's most influential power brokers and our
0:55.9	torch year-end awards, the year in quotes, and the top 50 stories ranked in order from the year
1:02.5	2001. So go VIP and dive into our back issues. We have most of our back issues available
1:08.2	as soon as you sign up with new back issues week by week from the year 2002 one at a time throughout the year 2022 pwtorch.com
1:16.5	slash go VIP pwtorch.com slash go VIP that's pwtorch.com slash go VIP for full information
1:24.8	and our sign up form. It's more than podcasts.
1:28.3	It's an unmatched library of wrestling history spending more than three decades as soon as
1:33.5	you sign up with more issues added throughout the year.
1:53.2	Now. Now, P.W. Torch and Spreaker bring you the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast.
2:01.9	Five years ago on the Wild Card Tuesday episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling podcast, I was joined by Sam Roberts from the WWE Kickoff shows, The Not Sam Wrestling Podcasts, and also his show
2:06.8	on Sirius XM Radio with Jim Norton. And we doveed into the WWE dilemma of dealing with the
2:11.7	coronavirus and empty venues for TV shows, including WrestleMania. What were the strengths and weaknesses of SmackDown and
2:19.8	Raw at the Performance Center? How were they doing with the conundrum of not being
2:23.4	able to have fans and be in major arenas? Could and should adjustments be made
	...

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