You've heard of this new creature in wrestling, the lapsed fan? That fan who obsessed over wrestling in the late 90s during the Monday Night Wars and then fell off? Likely a teenager during the Attitude Era, and a wide-eyed boy when Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and Bret Hart ruled the roost?
The multimillion dollar question for WWE and its new network – chock-full of good ol' days content – is how to get through to these fans, how to sway them to sign back on to pro wrestling. What do they want to hear? What do they want to see? What did they used to love about professional wrestling?
The Lapsed Fan podcast, launching Wednesday at WrestleZone, will answer these questions with a combination of passion, sarcasm, and frivolity.
Hosts and lifelong rasslin heads Jack Encarnacao and JP Sarro bring a unique chemistry and perspective to discussion of the pro wrestling of lore, reviewing archived pay-per-views with a fresh set of eyes, and identifying just what it was that made wrestling better – or, often, worse – in years past. Consider it the definitive audio guide to the archived shows in your WWE Network. Or don't, but be sure to listen for the spills and thrills.
Each week, the hosts pick a pay-per-view at random, watch it, and sit down to chop it up for two-plus hours, as any wrestling fan worth his salt would do.
Up first, the 1991 WWF Summerslam, a show at Madison Square Garden that took place at a crucial transition point for the WWF amid controversies and departures. In a two-parter, Jack and JP pin down:
– What the Mountie good or terrible?
– Is Bret v. Perfect the best Intercontinental title match of all time?
– What did Jack's dad think Gen. Adnan's name actually was?
– What Bobby Heenan line appeared to cut too deep when he dropped it on broadcast partner Roddy Piper?
– All the context about the show we recently came to learn via Warrior's lawsuit against the WWE
Join us as we give voice to the Lapsed Fan, every Wednesday on WrestleZone!
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
