When It Was Real

🔥 WHEN IT WAS REAL – EPISODE 71 🔥 LIVE Wednesday, July 8th at 7:30 PM ET only on The Playa Entertainment Network! 🌡️ JULY...HOT AS HELL! 🌡️ The temperature is rising, and so is the excitement as Nikita Breznikov and Benny "The Playa" Scala fire up the Wrestling Wayback Machine for another unforgettable trip into professional wrestling's golden age! This week, the guys break down the epic July 16...

Every Wednesday night at 7:30 PM, climb aboard The Wrestling Wayback Machine with Nikita Breznikov and Benny "The Playa" Scala as they transport you back to the golden age of professional wrestling... WHEN IT WAS REAL! From legendary championship battles and unforgettable rivalries to the larger-than-life personalities who built the business, Nikita and Benny relive the matches, moments, and memor...

Happy Weekend to all! Here for your listening pleasure is one of our all-time favorite episodes...WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz, 5-Time WWF World Tag Team Champion Tony Garea, and the man with the PhD in Professional Wrestling, Davey O'Hannon...More affectionately known as The Three Amigos! If you like listening to some great stories from some true wrestling legends, look no further!

🚨 THE WRESTLING WAYBACK MACHINE IS HEADED BACK TO THE MECCA! 🚨 This Wednesday night at 7:30 PM, Episode 69 of When It Was Real takes a trip to one of the most legendary cards in professional wrestling history as Nikita Breznikov and Benny "The Playa" Scala set the controls for Madison Square Garden on June 30, 1973! The World's Most Famous Arena was packed with some of the biggest stars and futu...

Here's a little something to get you through the weekend! Our Christmas Eve episode entitled "The Night The Music Died." Nikita and Benny hop into the Wrestling Wayback Machine and visit Madison Square Garden on December 26, 1983. The fateful night when the nearly 6 year title reign of Bob Backlund was ended at the hands of The Iron Sheik. But this match and this night went far beyond the crowning...

🚨THE WRESTLING WAYBACK MACHINE IS HEADED BACK TO THE MECCA! 🚨 This Wednesday night at 7:30 PM, join Nikita Breznikov and Benny "The Playa" Scala on The Playa Entertainment Network as When It Was Real travels back to the hallowed halls of Madison Square Garden on June 27, 1977! The main event alone was enough to shake the foundations of the World's Most Famous Arena! Fresh off his stunning champi...

🎙️ WHEN IT WAS REAL – Episode 67 🎙️ 📅 LIVE Wednesday, June 10 at 7:30 PM 📺 Exclusively on The Playa Entertainment Network This week, your fearless pilots Nikita Breznikov and Benny "The Playa" Scala fire up the Wrestling Wayback Machine and set the coordinates for June 27, 1981, landing at the legendary Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland for another unforgettable night of classic WWF action! T...

Greetings all! If you haven't gotten enough old school wrestling this weekend, take a listen to one of our favorite episodes...Nikita and Benny are graced by the presence of a true professional wrestling legend, The Unpredictable Johnny Rodz! Johnny recently celebrated his 85th birthday, and was inducted into the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame in May. The accolades keep coming for Johnny, and th...

🚨 THIS WEEK on EPISODE 66 of WHEN IT WAS REAL! 🚨 The Wrestling Wayback Machine travels to the most famous arena in the world — MADISON SQUARE GARDEN — for a HISTORIC night in professional wrestling history on June 4, 1979! 🏆 The VERY FIRST Battle Royal ever held at the Garden! 💰 A $10,000 prize on the line! 🔥 Before the world knew him as The Iron Sheik, he was the feared HUSSEIN ARAB — and on...

🎙️ WHEN IT WAS REAL – Episode 65 | LIVE Wednesday, May 27 • 7:30 PM 🎙️ The Wrestling Wayback Machine powers up once again as Nikita and Benny travel back to May 28, 1983 and land at the legendary Capital Centre for a night packed with championship battles and an entire roster that reads like a Hall of Fame reunion. This week’s deep dive revisits a classic era of WWF action featuring Don Muraco def...

For your additional listening pleasure during this great holiday weekend, here is our first episode of 2026! Nikita and Benny cover two of the most shocking heel turns in the history of wrestling! Spiros Arion, The Golden Greek, did the unthinkable and turned on his friend and tag team partner, Chief Jay Strongbow. And 5 years later, Larry became Judas when he turned on his mentor, wrestling's Liv...

🔥 WEDNESDAY NIGHT (May 20th) at 7:30 PM — the Wrestling Wayback Machine rolls back into the legendary Madison Square Garden for another unforgettable chapter of WHEN IT WAS REAL! Episode 64 of When It Was Real takes you back to May 19, 1980, for a STACKED night of classic WWF action from the Mecca of Professional Wrestling! Nikita and Benny break down every match, every moment, and every memory f...

🚨 WRESTLING WAYBACK MACHINE SET FOR NEW YORK CITY! 🚨 This Wednesday night, Episode 63 of WHEN IT WAS REAL goes LIVE at 7:30 PM on The Playa Entertainment Network! 🎙️🔥 Nikita and Benny travel back to May 16, 1977, as the Wrestling Wayback Machine lands inside the legendary Madison Square Garden for another unforgettable night in wrestling history! 🗽💥 This historic card features: 🏆 Superstar B...

🚨 WHEN IT WAS REAL – EPISODE 62 🚨 Baltimore… April 30, 1977… a night etched in wrestling history forever. The unbeatable champion. The working-class hero. The man who never lost… Bruno Sammartino. And then… the unthinkable happened. The flamboyant, charismatic challenger… Superstar Billy Graham… shocked the world and ENDED the reign of a legend, capturing the WWWF Heavyweight Championship in fro...

🚨 WHEN IT WAS REAL – EPISODE 61 🚨 The Wrestling Wayback Machine stops at the legendary Madison Square Garden… April 26, 1976… and what should have been another triumphant night for the champion turned into one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history. A sellout crowd came to see the unstoppable Bruno… but left in stunned silence. A new, dangerous force had arrived — Stan “The Lariat” Ha...

🔥 WHEN IT WAS REAL – EPISODE 60 🔥 The Wrestling Wayback Machine is fired up once again as Nikita and Benny take you back to April 23, 1983, in Landover, Maryland—where the giants walked tall and the action hit HARD! Step into a night where legends collided and the stakes were sky-high… 💥 André the Giant vs. John Studd – a true battle of behemoths that shook the ring to its core! 🏆 Don Muraco v...

 The Wrestling Wayback Machine is rolling ALL THE WAY BACK to April 14, 1975… 📍 Madison Square Garden… the MECCA of professional wrestling! This week, Nikita and Benny take a deep dive into one of the most intense nights in WWWF history… 💥 HEADLINER: Champion vs. Former Friend turned BITTER ENEMY 🇮🇹 Bruno Sammartino ⚔️ vs ⚔️ 🇬🇷 Spiros Arion 🔥 in a brutal GREEK DEATH MATCH 🔥 Once allies… now fu...

🔥 WHEN IT WAS REAL – EPISODE 58 🔥 Step inside the most legendary arena in wrestling history—Madison Square Garden—and rewind the clock to April 6, 1981… when the lights were brighter, the stakes were higher, and wrestling felt REAL. This week, Nikita and Benny fire up the Wrestling Wayback Machine and drop you right into a night packed with pure, hard-hitting history: 👑 The WWF Championship han...

Nikita and Benny wish everyone a Happy Easter! This is actually an interview from our former sister podcast (Classic Pro Wrestling With The WFIA) from the Fall of 2025. Our guest is the lovely Desiree Petersen, former WWF Women's Tag Team Champion. Although she wasn't in the business very long, Desiree most definitely made her mark in the world of professional wrestling!

🔥 MSG. 1979. PURE WRESTLING MAGIC. 🔥 The Wrestling Wayback Machine lands in the legendary Madison Square Garden on March 26, 1979—and business is about to pick up! 🏆 WWWF Champion Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine The All-American battles “The Hammer” in a hard-hitting main event for the gold! 💥 But that’s just the beginning… This STACKED card features legends at their peak:  Bruno Sammartino  I...

🚨 THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT 🚨 Step inside the legendary Philadelphia Spectrum and witness one of the most STACKED cards of the late ‘70s! On Episode 56 of When It Was Real, Nikita and Benny fire up the Wrestling Wayback Machine and take you back to March 25, 1978 — a night where legends collided and history was made. 🔥 DOUBLE MAIN EVENT 🔥 🏆 Bob Backlund makes his VERY FIRST Spectrum title defense...

Here is one of our favorite episodes for your listening pleasure! The 1999 Heroes of Wrestling event still evokes controversy, over a quarter century later! Get the straight scoop from Nikita, who was there!

The Wrestling Wayback Machine fires up once again on Episode 55 of the When It Was Real Podcast!* This week, Nikita and Benny land in the mecca of professional wrestling — Madison Square Garden — on March 24, 1980, for one of the most electric nights in wrestling history. The spotlight shines on the first Madison Square Garden showdown between teacher and student as the Living Legend Bruno Sammart...

Here's a special bonus episode to get you through the weekend! In this episode, Nikita and Benny talk about those guys we watched on the losing end every Saturday morning! They'd get that one flurry of offense in, only to be put to the mat for the 3 count in short order. But even though they lost, we loved them anyway!

Step into the Wrestling Wayback Machine with Nikita and Benny as Episode 54 of the When It Was Real podcast transports fans back to one of the most electric nights in wrestling history! On Wednesday, March 11 at 7:30 PM, live on The Playa Entertainment Network (please like and subscribe!), the guys land at the legendary Madison Square Garden on March 17, 1975—a night when the Cathedral of Professi...