Pro Wrestling Radio

Pro Wrestling Radio

 

It was August of 2008, or September, I don’t fully remember, but whenever I hear the glass shatters and Eric Gargiulo welcomes us to the show, I’m content for around an hour to an hour and 15, depending on how many calls Gargiulo gets on the week I’m listening to.  In about fifteen months or so that I’ve been listening to Gargiulo and his internet radio show ‘Pro Wrestling Radio,’ I’ve been an e-mailer, I’ve been a caller, and I’ve even write for his wrestling/sports website, Camel Clutch Blog.  So over the months, one can say that I’ve been a loyal listener to Gargiulo and the show, ‘Pro Wrestling Radio.’

            The first time that I made an “appearance” was when Gargiulo commented about my e-mail on the air when his show was on an AM radio station from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, back on the afternoon of Saturday, November 22^nd, 2008.  My question for Gargiulo was his thoughts for the next night’s wrestling pay-per-view, asking if he can see WWE Creative would drop the World Heavyweight Championship from champion Chris Jericho to returning John Cena.  After hearing the show when it was put up on iTunes, and hearing his thoughts on the matter, I got excited and created a Facebook note and tagged a lot of people, even the host himself!  Shortly after that, I e-mailed him again asking his thoughts on another wrestling storyline, and in his e-mail response, he thanked me for putting that Facebook note up, helping him promote his radio show.

            Why I was nervous about Jericho losing the World Heavyweight title to Cena was because Jericho’s been my favorite wrestler for, at that time, almost nine years, and never really had a chance to be in the main event picture because of back stage politics, and Cena was coming back from an injury that put him out for about four months.  To top that off, at the biggest show of the year for the business, WrestleMania, Cena defeated five of my favorite wrestlers in five consecutive WrestleMania’s.  So I was a little bitter about that.  And to top it off, Cena had a feud with Jericho right before Jericho left for two years back in 2005.

            I remember the first time I called into the show; it was Saturday, January 24^th, 2009.  I called in the night before the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.  I remember I was scared out of my mind for calling in, because it was the first time I would be calling into a radio show.  When Bill Melody answered the call, “WBCB 1490?” and I responded “I got a question for Eric.”  Bill said, “Okay, I’ll put you on hold, just one second.”  After Bill put me on hold, I heard the show live coming from my phone, and I was nervous, I had a tough time not shaking.

            I wanted to talk about the upcoming pay-per-view event.  The main event match, the Royal Rumble, was a 30-man over-the-top-rope elimination match where two guys start the match, and every 90 seconds another person enters the match, and the winner is the last person not to be eliminated.  I wanted to place my favorite wrestler, Chris Jericho, as my pick.  While pacing the living room, I thought I hope none of my roommates come up and try talking to me when I’m on the phone.  Especially Dan.  I wonder what he would think.

            For about five or so minutes while on hold, I was pacing back and forth in the living room, not to stumble over my tongue, etc.  When I was on the air, I gave my prediction of Chris Jericho to Gargiulo, and told him I like Chris Jericho because he won his eighth Intercontinental title (the mid-card title) on my birthday in 2008.  He said, “That’s cool.  When’s your birthday?”  I thought that was cool.  I still remember that.  It still blows my mind away, that the first time I call in, the host asked me when my birthday is.  Probably just to have conversation.

            That was the only time I called into ‘Pro Wrestling Radio’ when it was on WBCB.  He was asked to step down and let someone else in.  So in March of 2009, he ended his show from the airwaves, and a couple of months later, he was able to bring it back and make it the way he wanted it, Gargiulo brought his show to TVByDemand[dot]com.  I was happy to hear that, because ‘Pro Wrestling Radio’ was the first wrestling radio show that I found interesting.  Hearing the show again, where it wasn’t edited down to 50 or so minutes and he doesn’t have to cut anyone short to take a break, I started to feel like I’m in wrestling radio heaven.

            To be honest, I haven’t listened to the shows that I called from when ‘Pro Wrestling Radio’ when it went to internet radio, so I really don’t remember anything about when I called in.  And to be honest, I’m still trying to figure out all the shows I called into for Gargiulo’s show, and it’s this time period where I am a little clouded for memory when I called in here.  Up to recently, the show moved from Saturday afternoon to Wednesday night’s.  I do remember when Gargiulo made the switch to Wednesday night’s, he had pro wrestler, Snitsky on his show.  I know that I liked the show.  Snitsky was by a bunch of television radars when he called into the show; that I do remember.  It was nice because for the most part, Wednesday nights were my nights to relax.  So having a radio show that I enjoyed for almost a year, I was very pleased with knowing such.

            Talking about when ‘Pro Wrestling Radio’ was on Wednesday nights, I remember having my mother up in St. Cloud to hang out for a while because I had to get to a meeting that, weirdly enough, started at 6pm like the show did.  It was for an organization that I was on leadership on for the up-coming school year.  Well, I called into the radio show, and lucky for me, I was the first caller to make it on the show.  And then I called one of the people who were leading the meeting, saying I was on my way, which my mom brought me over to where we were meeting.  And sadly enough, the meeting lasted around the same length of time as my call into the show.

            Another great thing that I enjoy since Gargiulo moved to the internet radio is that live, during the shows, he has a chat room going and it’s awesome talking to other professional wrestling fans while hearing Gargiulo talking to whoever called in and discuss the latest news in the business of pro wrestling.  Also when Gargiulo has guests on air, the listeners can always ask questions in the chat room and if Gargiulo approves of them, he’ll ask his guests those questions.

            But another time I called in was during winter break this past school year.  The reason why I remember calling in is because my mother and I were at a coffee shop in Isanti, MN, about five or so miles from where we live in East Bethel, MN.  When I finally got in, I got up from my seat and my mom got up from hers, went to mine, sat down, and put my head phones in to listen to me talk to Gargiulo.  I remember talking to him about the up-coming Monday Night Wars, which was huge in the mid-90’s to early 2000’s, where World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) were in a ratings-competition with one another for about six years, and WWE would buy out WCW in 2001.  Now, it’s the WWE going against Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling (TNA).

            I think I tried to call in for about fifty minutes that day in the coffee shop in Isanti, MN.  Then after my phone call, I packed up my computer, my mom put away her book, and we left.  She was surprised that I didn’t make that phone call last as long as I normally am on with Gargiulo, which is normally fifteen minutes or so.  When I called in that day, I think I was on for about five or six minutes.  It wasn’t that long because I was getting tired of being there, and I knew other people were trying to call in and I didn’t want to hold people off to long, because I was getting frustrated with not getting in myself.

            But now days, whenever I am planning on calling in to talk to Gargiulo, I need to let my mom know for she can take time out to listen to me talk about wrestling.  But if she missed the show when I called in for whatever reason, she would expect me to download it, burn it on a CD, and have her listen to it when she leaves from seeing me after that phone call.  In ways, it has brought us a little more closer than we have before.  I think one thing she likes is to hear me on the radio.  I guess if I ever have children, I would want to listen to their segments, too.  And she knows that pro wrestling is a passion that I have for years now.

            I feel the reason why it has brought us closer is because it gives us a little bit more to talk about.  If I would ask a question about Ric Flair on the show, she would ask me my thoughts on it later, seeing if my opinion has changed any at all since the show.  I think she likes that a lot.  She did ask me the other day on the phone what kind of stuff do I like, because she feels that I’ve changed a lot since I came to college almost four years ago.  I told her the only three words she needs to know is “you,” “us,” and “forever.”  I told her that I have that up on my Facebook info page, under interests.  She seemed a little surprised at that.  I don’t know why. 

            I guess when I first started to listen to Pro Wrestling Radio in August of 2008; I never thought I would be a frequent caller, a contributor to the host’s website, and never imagined that a pro wrestling radio show would ever bring my mother and I closer to one another.  It still boggles my mind just thinking of it that it has.  I think it boggles my mind because I never imagined that she would take interest in this because she never seemed to be interested in it when I was growing up.  I could very well still be in that mind-set.  But who really, fully knows, right?  I wonder if this experience that I have, calling into “Pro Wrestling Radio” could bring my two brothers and I closer together as well.  Or even with my father.  But I guess only time will tell, like is has with my mother and I.  Could I use this to be friends with freshmen and sophomores?  Time will tell, I suppose.

Reviews

[The Good Luck Victoriou..]

A couple of things;

First, I think your introduction needs to more introcutory- at the moment it just hits you with the content, and it takes a bit of reading to work out what the topic is. Maybe you could start off by mentioning how Pro Wrestling Radio had an enexpected influence of your relationship with your family, and then begin your story.

That being said, I do like the way you re-tell your first call-in experience. You use a nice blend of factual and emotional information that makes it easy for the reader to imagine the scene and empathise with you.